He, along with a handful of other Underground Heroes, had made it to the location Nezu sent them early last night.

The plan was to sneak in, knock out and take any threats or immediate suspects into the station, and then find Midoriya. If Midoriya was not at the base, interrogation processes would commense.

All was relatively normal until they snuck into the house. Almost immediately, a soft stench made itself known. Aizawa scrunched up his nose ever so slightly. Almost immediately after entering the house, he knew something was utterly amiss.

Almost immediately, an Underground hero named Shudder spotted someone lurking around the house. He was dressed in clothes littered with holes and grime.

His hair was relatively matted and greasy, as if he hadn't washed in a couple days. His expression was one of nervousness, borderline paranoia. He looked tortured.

Shudder followed the suspect into the other room. A couple other heroes went off to search the rest of the small house.

Aizawa followed Shudder.

He felt an internal pull to both interrogate the man as well as pumble him into the dirt. As a hero, he wouldn't be allowed to act on his impulses, yet as a teacher...

He definitely wouldn't.

Shudder paused at the lip of the hallway, looking around the corner. The hero was in a crouched position.

That allowed Aizawa to also lean over and see around the hall's wall to observe the suspect who had walked further into the house.

The man was twitching, his neck folding in odd angles as his arms spazzed slightly. He was rocking forward and backwards on the balls of his feet. Clearly the man was unwell.

But he was currently in the kitchen, facing a cabinet. Standing there and twitching.

Aizawa looked down to Shudder, both met eyes and nodded in agreement.

Observe a little bit longer.

After a few more moments of tense silence, the suspect jerked around, twitching ever so faster. A chilling smile formed as he made eyecontact with Shudder and Eraserhead. The distance between the hall and the kitchen cabinet was less than twelve feet, so they were able to get a fairly good look at the individual.

His hair was brown, skin so pale it was almost colorless. Purple and red welts littered his skin where bruises weren't located. His smile showed blood covering his yellowed teeth, overflowing and dripping down his chin. His hands were clenching and un-clenching, sometimes flapping uncontrollably. His eyes were almost sunken in completely, and his figure was ghastly.

"Escapee." Whispered the glitching voice of Shudder.

Eraserhead whipped his head down to look at the man's wrist. Indeed there was a quirk erasing bracelet that covered the man's wrist. The bright orange color signaled the bracelet was from Tartarus.

A Tartarus escapee.

But the only recent escapee was...

Eyes going wide with realization, Aizawa looked over the man in front of him. The picture of the Eight Precepts' escapee flashed through his mind and Eraser attempted to match up physical characteristics.

Of course there were similarities, though they were vague. The ex-member had changed a lot. Reports in Tartarus said he was fairly well behaved, and maintained his self-health as well as one could in a massive prison.

The man in front of the two heros was not remotely well nor was he any form of healthy.

That was not a good sign.

Because if this man was the one who kidnapped Midoriya...and he is currently in this shape...then Midoriya was probably not faring any better.

Aizawa shivered, a chill running up his spine like cold fingers dragging across his skin.

Shudder began to rise from their crouch, not taking their eyes off the suspect. The Eight Precept man began to chuckle, his dry, blood-soaked voice crackling as he folded over in insane amusement.

The time for observing was over.

..........................................................

The man from the Eight Precepts, Koga Shigeru, was tied up in the corner of the room, slumped against the wall. Shudder and Eraserhead watched as the man's chest heaved up and down. Overall he had been an easy takedown, but his state before they got there was concerning.

Koga's torso twitched, making his body jut away from the wall before falling back. His mumbles were inchoherant.

"I'll ask again," Shudder said, voice raised slightly to show their growing annoyance. "Where is Izuku Midoriya?"

Aizawa heard a crackle in his earpiece. A few gasps were also heard. Mumbles followed.

But Eraserhead couldn't hear what the people were mumbling about in his earpiece because Koga decided to begin yelling.

"I d'nno who the 'ell you both 're talkin' 'bout." He all but screams out, blood spitting everywhere. Aizawa turned his head slightly to glare at the loud suspect.

Shudder grumbled something about Koga being a dirty liar.

Glancing meaningfully at Shudder, Eraser begins to walk off to a...quieter corner of the room. He taps his earpiece, "We caught the suspect and escapee, any news on your end?"

Shudder Stayed with the tied up man, who had resumed rocking back and forth by now. They were on babysitting duty while backup arrived.

"Eraserhead, you might want to--" A soft voice began.

"--Down the hall, third door on the right, down the stairs." Inserted a more firm, masculine voice.

Aizawa hummed in acknowledgement. Turning to Shudder, he made sure they didn't need any further assistance before leaving.

As he made his way down the hall, an intense feeling of deep-rooted foreboding sat in his gut. He didn't like the feeling whatsoever. He briskly walked down the steps, only to be unable to hold in a gag. The smell of blood and rotting assaulted his nose.

He spotted the other two heroes standing near the far wall to his left, so he immediately made his way over.

"No..." He whispered, halting as the two Underground heros parted, showing what they were standing over.

Eraserhead, even through all his training and experience, could feel a lump forming in the back of his throat and his eyes begin watering.

Not even five feet in front of him laid the body of Izuku Midoritya, mutilated beyond belief. Aizawa made his way over to the body, holding his breathe. Crouching down he attempted to get a better look at the teen.

The teen was laying on his side, looking as if he had simply laid down to take a nap. But his face held the distinct emotion of suffering.

Slowly, Aizawa brought his shaking, nervous hand towards Midoriya's neck. He felt around for a pulse.

"It's no use Eraserhead. He's been dead for a few days it seems." Said the deep voice of Under-Tally, the other male underground hero on the mission.

Aizawa refused to listen, not wanting to believe anything unless he saw it for himself. Midoriya had no pulse. Midoriya's eyes were glassed over and skin was sickly.

Slowly, Aizawa began actually analyzing the teen's body.

He had a black eye, busted nose and lip. One of his ears had a chunk missing from it and the other looked about to fall off, only holding on by the smallest bit of cartilage. He had clearly been choked if the bruises around his neck were any indication. There was a big blood stain on his torso, but no deep wounds. No, the most horrid injury were the teen's arms. His right hand had been severed from his arm. Only a small, bloodied nub remained, meaning his dominate hand was out of comission and practically useless. Skin chunks were scattered around where the hand used to be. His arm had a few more cuts and chunks missing, but none as bad as the severed hand. On his left, three fingers remained, the rest having been severed as well. The remaining three fingers included the pinky, middle, and pointer finger. His palm was slashed as well.

Cuts littered the boy's body, heck even his legs weren't safe. Though his feet and toes were intact, clearly his left ankle and right shin were broken.

Aizawa gulped, taking in all the blood, skin, and bone fragments littered around the body.

Even though majority of the main injuries were roughly tended too, it was a miracle the teen hadn't bled out sooner. Blood welled under his stiff, cold body, like a water leak.

A shiny object was left close to the teen, almost clutched to the teen's chest if not for his severed arm and missing fingers. He had been guarding and holding his phone close.

What Aizawa didn't understand was why the teen didn't answer back on any of the calls. Clearly the kid had been able to press buttons, why not speak? Was the phone rigged? Was all the dried blood around the teen's mouth from his busted lip and nose or something more?

"He...as...unge--" Came a distraught voice from the other side of Aizawa's earpiece.

"What?" Aizawa mumbles in reply. His mind was running a mild a minute, the room was beginning to spin, and his head was pounding to the beat of the blood running through his veins.

A cough was heard from behind him, and a hand paced on his shoulder.

"She said the escapee had part of a tounge in his pocket, presumably the kid's." The woman, Fragment, softly explained.

"Midoriya..." The hero trailed off. His voice was laced with pain, and his eyes watered as he looked at the mutilated child in front of him. The mutilated classmate and hero in training. The mutilated son and friend.

Midoriya definitely didn't deserve this treatment.

Aizawa felt like an ice bucket of cold water was poured over his head. If only they had found the location sooner. Then we could've had more chance to save him...

Aizawa eventually found himself succumbing to sadness. Midoriya, a mere child who would have been a wonderful hero, and who should have had a long life ahead of him.

He felt tears falling down his face.

Life just isn't fair.