Calling

Week 3: Aizawa

Contrary to the belief of the class, Aizawa had known a multitude of kids were ringing up the missing problem child. And that said child accepted calls, yet nothing could be heard from the other side. Towards the beginning of this information being known, he had asked Nezu to check the connection.

So far, the phone had been nearly impossible to hack into. However Aizawa had hope. Nezu was still going strong with his attempts, slowly decoding the internal phone blocks one by one.

Slowly but surely, they would have the location of Izuku Midoriya's phone.

One of the problems remined was that if Midoriya was alone. Nezu seemed to believe the teen was. A "nagging feeling" he had remarked.

Aizawa had quite a bit of faith in Nezu's abilities within the Hero Work world. Yet that didn't mean Aizawa had blind faith in the rat. Blind faith was simply illogical and ignorant.

He and a few other heros had speculated and mulled over the idea that Midoriya was not alone. That he was being watched while the calls occurred.

Hound Dog even admitted that some nastier villains would mentally torture their hostages into listening to their loved ones slowly losing hope in finding them and eventually presuming their missing family members dead. That lack of hope their family held would crush any survivors listening.

Aftedall, hearing people belive you're dead and dropping the search was debilitating.

However Hound Dog also admitted that those villains tended to play "the long game." Meaning they were patient and cunning. Usually they also had a specific purpose in mind when breaking that individual.

The Eight Precepts escapee had no such drive to kidnap a UA child for the sole purpose of mentally torturing him. The Precepts were known for their fast kills, not any form of elongated torture.

There was also no direct link for him to kidnap Midoriya specifically. Sure he was widely known within UA for his determination and quirk. However he was also insanely introverted and never boasted about his quirk.

Midoriya wouldn't be even on the villain's candidate list for attempting to pull him to the other side of heroics. Midoriya was known to be a stubborn, observant brat, not a reckless one.

Even though he did seem to break his bones an aweful lot. Recovery Girl had even threatened Midoriya that she would put him on medical watch since he seemed to excessively break his arms a concerning number of times.

The kidnapping of the greenette made sense to no one. Nezu was stumped. Hound Dog was stumped. Tsukauchi was stumped. Everyone was run dry with ideas.

Until Nezu could bypass all the electronic firewalls that were programmed into Midoriya's phone, all heros were sent to rest. At any moment's notice, they could be called in for a raid. Nezu was close to cracking the code as is.

So that was how Aizawa found himself in his bed attempting to sleep.

It was also how he found a pitiful child pounding on his room's door at one in the morning.

Groaning, he got out of the comforts of his comfy bed. He slowly ambled towards the door that was threatening to crash down under the force of a child's frantic knocking. He swung open the door to find Aoyama, Tsu, and Uraraka.

Eww. It was actually three problem children.

Aoyama was holding Tsu in an embrace as she hyperventilated. Uraraka had been pounding on the door, but after analyzing her, Aizawa saw she was shaking with her eyes blown wide.

He sighed before opening his mouth to ask what the matter was.

Uraraka beat him to it. "It's Midoriya! He isn't answering! At first I thought he had just slept through the ring tone two days ago, but then Aoyama came to me saying he hadn't answered yesterday--Todoroki even said Midoriya has missed a call earlier today and just now Tsu called him--he isn't answering anymore and--and we don't know why!" After finishing her frantic rant, she took in a deep breath.

Aizawa pressed his lips in a thin line.

The sudden lack of answers was concerning. Extremely concerning.

Aizawa sighed, rubbing his face. He looked around the hall, then turned back towards his three problem children.

"It would be illogical for me to lie to you. The situation doesn't look good, but Nezu is almost finished bypassing the firewalls of Midoriya's cellphone. Once that happens, we will immediately move in to save Midoriya." He said calmly even though his anxiety was anything but calm. Aizawa could feel a bad feeling unravel deep in his gut.

Like he lost something important but doesn't know what it is or where it's at.

Uraraka begins to tear up, but reigns in her emotions enough to nod and turn to her other two friends. Together, Aizawa watches them lean on each other as they walk back up the stairs to their dorms.

He begins re-entering his own dorm room.

He sits on his desk and looks at his phone.

He was not a superstitious person. He didn't believe in karma or signs or omens. He believed that the world was cruel and that even though he couldn't save everyone, he could try to save as many people as possible. He didn't like the limelight. He didn't like being on merch. He just wanted to save people.

But also make sure they felt okay afterwards. Over half of his income went to charities. He would send some to pediatric hospitals and homeless units as well as some trusted friends that help children overcome negative mental health moments at no cost to the kids who come. He helped found their medication and therapy anonymously.

But he couldn't find a way to help Midoriya currently. Well...he couldn't help until Nezu found his location. However, Aizawa was itching to do something for the problem child. Even though the events were not looking good.

So even though it was illogical and out of character, he grabbed his phone and dialed Midoriya's emergency number. There was no answer, and instead he had went to voice-mail. That did not stop him from speaking.

"We will find you. Hang on, Problem Child."