This work contains whump, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, and attempted murder.

"Get Down!" Gran Torino shouted in alarm.

One moment Izuku was standing on the sidewalk after a harrowing battle with Stain. He thought he was safe now that the pros had arrived.

The next moment the ground was plummeting away, and safety with it.

Izuku pulled at the claws grabbing him around his ribs, craning his neck to see that the Noumu with wings had him in one of its bird-like feet. "L-let go of me!"

A loud commotion made him look back down. Stain had somehow broken free and was scaling a building composing half of the alleyway. He stopped for a moment clutching at a windowsill, sides heaving.

The Noumu tilted, like an airplane taking off, and they quickly rose well above the Hero-Killer.

The man looked at them and scowled (At me or at the Noumu? Izuku wondered through the panic), resuming his climb with a shocking burst of manic energy.

He had somehow made it above them now. He stopped again and crouched on a ledge, looking very much like a gargoyle.

The vigilante tensed with sharp eyes calculating and planning.

And he leapt off the building, arcing towards him with arm outstretched.

Izuku gasped. What was he thinking?! If he falls from this height—

Without thinking Izuku grabbed Stain's reaching hand.

"HRK!" As the full weight of the man pulled on his arm and shoulder, he felt something inside pop and crack. White hot bolts of agony shot through his arm. His brain screamed at him to let go let go stop the pain.

But through gritted teeth and eyes filling with tears he held on. Tightened his grip through protesting muscles.

"Kid!" Stain yelled over the rushing air. "Hang on as long as you can! Our weight will bring this thing down!" He was right. The heavy breathing of the Noumu filled his ears as it fought against the unwelcome weight, slowly but surely descending.

Izuku couldn't reply. His arm was a rope slowly unraveling and tearing. It would be easy so easy to let go. Seconds stretching into hours into days.

The world narrowed and shrunk until his existence was just holding on. Just hold on just hold on justholdonjustholdonjustholdonjus

The world exploded.

Everything was filled with a blinding light for a few moments.

A sharp whining drone filled Izuku's ears.

He could smell something burning. Musky and coppery.

He stared at his arm dangling limply, fingers curled around the air.

Stain was gone.

Everything was spinning.

They were plummeting from the sky.

The realization that he was going to die came to him distantly. Thoughts from a muffled emergency radio. He hoped his mom didn't have to see the body.

He could see two figures on a water tower below. He thought he could recognize them but his thoughts were muddled and slow.

The winged Noumu moved him around, holding him tightly to its chest with its arms. He felt rather than heard the rapid thump thump thump of the creature's heart.

Well, Izuku thought with a strange calmness, at least I won't die alone.

Its wings engulfed him, wrapping around him like a leathery blanket. Shutting out the warm glow of the fires. Why was it doing that? Could it not fly anymore?

He felt gravity pull them, his legs pointing to the sky that he could not see. In fact, he couldn't see much of anything. The air smelled like burning.

A few silent seconds passed in the Noumu's embrace.

The impact hit them like the earth itself was body slamming them.

A final wave of pain crashed through Izuku's being.

Then the world was no more.

Shigaraki stood over the broken, smouldering corpse of the winged Noumu. Stupid thing had flown right to his position with that U.A. brat in its claws. The first thought he had was that this Noumu was somehow defective, but that couldn't be right. Sensei would never give him a low quality Noumu.

Then why the hell did this one only target that brat?

"Tomura Shigaraki. We should leave. The heroes will certainly try to follow this Noumu." Kurogiri said behind him.

"You think I don't know that?" he sighed in annoyance, starting to turn when a slight movement caught in the corner of his eye.

He stared at the balled-up corpse. There it was again. The slightest of tremors.

He crouched down over the body. The thing's neck had snapped in the impact, blank eye glazed over. Its back was a smoking mess of exposed muscle and bone. It was very much dead, but yet there was movement.

Shigaraki had seen the Noumu get hit by one of Endeavour's fireballs, forcing Stain's grip on the brat to fail. The Noumu then drunkenly flew to the location of its master and Kurogiri, still holding on to the boy. It then spiralled out of the air and crashed into the building next to the water tower.

He touched at the tattered wings wrapped tightly around itself, disintegrating a wide hole to see inside.

Within was Izuku Midoriya held by the dead creature's arms, tight in death's embrace.

He felt at the boy's neck. A slow pulse of life thrummed under his fingertips.

"Kurogiri, look what we've got here. We got ourselves a live little wannabe hero."

"...Whatever your decision is, hurry. A news helicopter appears to have seen us."

Shigaraki's first instinct was to finish the job. It would be so easy to let all five fingers touch his unprotected neck. Let him scatter in the smoke and flames. A cremation for a foolish child.

An idea came to him. A wicked smirk cracking his dry lips.

He crumbled the Noumu's arms and pulled the brat out by his stupid costume's hood. This action irritated the knife cut in his shoulder, but right now it was a minor nuisance.

"We won't kill him...not yet. Get the warp gate ready."

The villain let the helicopter get close, camera lens gleaming in the light of the flames. He let them see the oh-so-precious U.A. student in his grip. He even lifted him up in the air so they could see his unconscious face.

Let the world see who they failed to protect.

Then the villains stepped into the portal and vanished along with their new captive.

Izuku came to in darkness, a killer headache, and dull pain pulsing through him. He was slung over someone's shoulder. Rope cruelly bit into his bound arms forced against his back, nearly cutting off his circulation. His legs, too, were bound. Rough fabric engulfed his head, filling his nose with the stench of old sweat, dirt, and blood.

"What an annoyance," Shigaraki's voice crawled through the air behind him. Izuku tensed, but the person carrying him either seemed not to notice or care. "Even with my Noumu, Stain took most of the spotlight from us. Trying to get us stuck in Elo hell."

The villain carrying him grunted in either agreement or feigning interest.

"But with Sensei's generosity...we will force them to see us. See us and acknowledge our power. And with this brat we can fulfill that."

Izuku heard a heavy door being opened behind him.

"Hold on a sec."

Four fingers grasped the hood and pulled it off Izuku's head. He yelped as fingers grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled back sharply, forcing his face up. Shigaraki looked down at him, red eyes gleaming on his unmasked face.

"I want to show everyone your face as you die." the villains face split into a too-big smile, all teeth exposed in a living rictus grin.

Izuku's face slammed into a shoulder as Shigaraki suddenly released his grasp. "Throw him in."

Before he could even struggle Izuku was thrown through the open doorway.

Agony exploded through him as he crashed onto the floor, pinning his broken leg under him, a pained scream tearing through the air.

After he was reduced to wheezing when he finally ran out of air, Shigaraki shouted through the doorway:

"Noumu! Eat."

The door boomed as it was shut. The sound like a drum signalling an execution.

With gasps of exertion Izuku pushed himself off his bad leg and onto his stomach. He tried to breathe evenly through gritted teeth, waiting for the pain to slowly ebb away.

From his position on the floor he assessed his surroundings.

He seemed to be in some sort of large room, judging from the way his breaths echoed a bit. The cold concrete floor seemed to suck all the warmth from his body. A dying lightbulb set above the door was the only source of light, its feeble glow barely penetrating the darkness.

From within the deep darkness came sounds.

Sounds of movement.

Dread rising in his chest Izuku wriggled and pushed against the floor with his uninjured leg, flipping himself on his back. A wave of pain shot through him as his weight pushed down on his injured arm, making his eyes clench shut. His eyes flew open again as the sounds approached. No time to wait for the pain to fade. He had to get to a wall to prop himself up against, to see what was coming.

He managed to push himself one more time before the floor shook under him and something grabbed him around his entire torso in a pincer grip. A strange jolt sparked up his spine as contact was made, hair standing on end.

He squirmed as he was lifted into the air, eyes darting frantically to take in what he was up against.

Four Noumu surrounded him, blocking out the dim light with their dark silhouettes. A quick glance down at the floor let him estimate that he was at least five feet off the ground.

An additional, absolutely massive Noumu was the one holding him in its chitinous claw, staring at him blankly through six compound eyes. Sharp mandibles drifted away from lipless teeth parting to let out a hiss.

He had to do something! Had to fight back somehow!

But with his limbs bound, he could only writhe in the Noumu's grasp in a desperate attempt to break free.

This attempt was short lived as his erratic movements sent a renewed wave of agony through him, dark spots swarming his vision.

His body seemed to give up. Making him go limp. The adrenaline had run out, energy draining out of him. One for All's power was out of reach. Like sand pouring out of a broken hourglass.

Izuku was tired.

Completely at the mercy of the monsters.

He couldn't stop the tears trickling from his eyes as the Noumu pulled him towards its mouth.

He wasn't going to be a hero after all.

He was going to die this time. Torn apart and eaten. The villains were going to show everyone his brutal murder. All Might, his mom, Bakugo, Iida, Todoroki, his classmates…everyone.

He had no new plans, no new strategies.

He was so tired.

He closed his eyes.

Izuku Midoriya's story was going to end here.

...

Instead of teeth piercing through his skull, Izuku felt something...bizarre.

Something hard and unyielding moved against his head.

A few seconds passed until Izuku opened his eyes, curiosity getting the better of him.

The Noumu was rubbing its jaw against his head, mandibles carefully angled back as if to avoid poking him.

The Noumu was...nuzzling him?

A Noumu. A mindless creature who obeyed only the will of the villains who created it.

It. Was. Nuzzling. Him.

A wordless sound of complete confusion escaped Izuku's mouth.

He had to be dead already. This was his brain showing him a false reality right before his head was eaten. Can't be real.

"W-woah!" he gasped as the Noumu turned him around in its claw. He wiggled a bit in discomfort against the appendage's edge digging into his stomach.

Izuku froze as the Noumu's cold breath puffed over first his bound hands, then his feet. From his view of the floor, he could see some other Noumu's feet as they drew closer.

Sharp teeth brushed against his wrists. It started to carefully mouth against the bindings, trying to work its mouth around it. But its teeth were simply too big. A nervous whimper crept up his throat as it seemed to become impatient, grazing his wrists through the fabric of his gloves.

With a frustrated chitter the Noumu had pushed against him a bit too roughly, tipping him too far. Unfortunately the Noumu's grip had loosened and he slid off.

A hoarse yell escaped his tired throat as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Something grabbed his uninjured leg, yanking him out of the fall.

Blinking against the blood rushing to his head, Izuku peered up at the Noumu that caught him.

This Noumu seemed very heavy set, a denser mass of shadow standing out from the darkness. It lifted him up to its face, handling his weight with ease. Two softly glowing lens-like eyes regarded him blankly. It huffed as it sniffed at him, breath strong enough to blow back Izuku's hair a bit on each exhale. His nose scrunched a bit as the creature's scent hit him. It smelled very…smoky. Like diesel exhaust.

Seemingly satisfied from its inspection, it gingerly laid Izuku back on the floor.

Fearing that any wrong move would set the Noumu off, he stayed as still as he could. Only his body shivering from the cold floor against his chest betrayed him.

More footsteps. New ones that sounded like bare feet softly padding on the concrete.

Izuku startled a bit as he felt a long-fingered hand feel at the bindings of his feet. Soft warbling broke the uneasy silence as the Noumu tested the rope knots, gently pulling on certain parts.

He gasped softly as circulation suddenly flowed freely through his feet again, the rope sliding off his throbbing ankles. Pain and relief mixed together in a strange cocktail that flowed through him. The Noumu was untying him.

But why?

Shigaraki had ordered them to kill him not… whatever they were doing now.

The Noumu moved on to his wrists with the same careful deliberateness.

Izuku winced as an inquisitive touch grazed his injured leg. He glanced behind him to see a more animalistic-shaped Noumu examining it, no longer touching but tasting the surrounding air with what he assumed was a tongue. Something dripped from its head and sizzled on the concrete.

And with the quiet hiss of rope loosening, he was free of his bindings.

It took all of his willpower not to crawl as fast as he could away from the abominations around him. Fear and bewilderment swirled in his gut.

From somewhere above, the Noumu that had untied him whined in apprehension. It nudged him gently in the side. Izuku held his breath at the unexpected contact.

He felt its hands wrap around his torso, lifting him up a bit and turning him around.

The barrel of a massive gun was pointed at his face.

Instinctively he shielded his face with his left arm, curling in on himself as much as he could with his injuries. The boy's heart hammered in his ears as he waited for the gunshot.

Something sharp scraped softly against the floor, and the Noumu grunted as its hands slipped off of him.

The room went quiet.

A cold hand briefly brushed against his hair.

Cautiously, he lowered his arm.

This Noumu, this last one...something seemed different about it.

He couldn't see its eyes, only a dark visor-like screen covering a large portion of its head. Its porcelain-white skin seemed to trap what light there was, making it almost glow. Its figure was sleek and sharp. Strangely, this one didn't seem to be taller than Izuku.

The small Noumu's hand hovered over his head, while the other hand was pushing away the large gun.

His vision finally adjusting to the darkness, Izuku was starting to make out a bit more detail.

The gun's eye flicked from the small Noumu to Izuku repeatedly.

No, not a gun. A head shaped like a gun.

There was something on its back that almost looked like extra limbs folded in on themselves.

But before he could look more closely, a scaly hand loosely grasped his upper right arm. The animalistic Noumu from earlier seemed to scrutinize the injured arm. It was reptilian with sickly green spines bristling out from its spoiled milk-colored skin. A slender, forked tongue brushed against his sleeve as the Noumu's hand slowly traveled down his arm.

A pained hiss escaped Izuku when the Lizard Noumu found the injury somewhere below his elbow. The creature flinched slightly, as if it was the one in pain. It stared intently at the injured spot with its strange x-shaped pupils.

The Glass Noumu had retreated, standing stiffly to the side. The others continued to watch with their dead eyes.

A deep gurgle bubbled up from the Lizard Noumu's throat, almost-fluorescent-green saliva escaping its lips. He heard that same hiss earlier, the same dripping.

He glanced at the floor to see where the drool fell, the ground melted.

Alarmed, Izuku pulled away from the creature.

As it reached for his arm again, the Noumu's scaly skin seemed to pale, the spots on its body and its still dripping saliva turning from green to an unhealthy red.

Whatever it was trying to do, he wanted nothing to do with it. He attempted to make that clear by scooting a foot or so away from the Noumu.

This resulted in… more staring. Staring and an uncomfortable silence now that nothing was happening. He was once again reminded of his headache, which pulsed painfully with each heartbeat.

Well, since they didn't seem too interested in killing him at the moment, he let his fatigue catch up to him and he closed his eyes for a few minutes.

Izuku's uneasy rest was painfully interrupted as the Lizard Noumu grasped his injured leg by the ankle. It tried to roll up his pant leg but the injury had swollen, the smallest touch bringing agony. So much so that he actually blacked out.

When Izuku came to he immediately wished he hadn't.

Everything hurt.

They loomed over him.

Through barely open eyes he could see the Lizard Noumu, open jaws about to close onto his leg.

The Glass Noumu stopped it, pushed its reptilian head away.

The Glass Noumu put something in the other Noumu's hand.

Something sharp that caught a sliver of the feeble light.

Oh.

Oh no.

He tried to move away.

Something pushed down on his chest. Smelling of smoke.

Pinned. Can't move.

He clawed weakly at the Smoke Noumu's hand pinning him to the floor.

"S-stop...please…" He pleaded, barely a whisper.

The Noumu made a rumbling sound, but made no move to release him.

A nauseous panic filled him as he watched the glass shard, an impromptu scalpel, scrape against the fabric squeezing his leg.

These things were going to cut his limbs off!

One last desperate jolt of self-preservation flowed through him. He squeezed the Noumu's arm, feeling tendons and bones start to creak under his grip.

There was a blur of movement then a brief, sharp new pain coming from his thigh.

His grip loosened.

Izuku stared at the massive scorpion tail piercing into him.

The Scorpion Noumu's multiple eyes stared at him.

All the other Noumus stared at it.

The stinger tip came out wet with his blood.

He shuddered and trembled as an unnatural numbness began seeping through his body. Everything started to feel heavy.

The pain bled away, only to be replaced by fear at the sheer unreal uncertainty of his situation.

Izuku felt absolutely nothing as the Lizard Noumu cut alongside the rip made from Stain's knife, around the sliced skin.

They peeled away the sweat-dampened fabric of his pant leg, the cold air leaving its claim on the now bared skin of his leg. The Smoke Noumu's hand left him.

He shivered.

It was cold.

His stomach turned as they reopened the battle wound.

The Lizard Noumu's mouth closed around it.

This time, Izuku could feel something.

A tingling, itchy sensation started up.

It blossomed into a barely-contained suffering.

A vague notion of a promised Hell.

But with whatever he was injected with flowing through his veins, he could only imagine the pain he should be feeling.

He should be seeing the Noumu's acidic saliva melting his leg off.

But he wasn't.

He watched as his leg turn a less angry shade of red.

Something inside snapped back into place.

It had a healing Quirk.

By that point, Izuku couldn't lift his head up anymore.

He couldn't keep his eyes open.

He just wanted to sleep.

Distantly, he felt the Lizard Noumu move on to his arm.

Another cut.

Another bite.

Another sensation of not-pain.

Then it was over.

He was being lifted.

Carried.

It was darker now.

Warmth surrounded him.

He could hear a heart beating against his ear.

Steady and calm.

Izuku drifted off to the sounds of an organic lullaby.

The boy slept.

The Scorpion Noumu kept watch.

The Noumu's shell was cold, but the Smoke Noumu was warm. It would keep the boy warm.

It sensed vibrations from the hallway.

Running.

Angry.

The door opened. Loudly.

The boy must rest. The boy could not rest if noise levels became too high.

A young man stood in the doorway.

INDIVIDUAL IDENTIFIED: TOMURA SHIGARAKI.

CLEARANCE LEVEL: BETA.

AWAITING ORDERS.

Tomura Shigaraki glared at the boy. Upset.

"I order you to kill him, Noumu!" TomuraShigaraki yelled shrilly. Too loud.

UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH ORDER.

CLEARANCE LEVEL SUPERSEDED.

THREAT LEVEL INCREASED.

The Scorpion Noumu rose away from the boy. It sensed the other Noumu circle around the boy protectively.

It clicked its mandibles aggressively. A warning.

The boy should not be harmed.

He must be protected.

Tomura Shigaraki hesitated. "What is this? You defy your master?"

Tomura Shigaraki stepped back. Confusion.

The Noumus stared at Tomura Shigaraki.

"I must report this to Sensei."

Tomura Shigaraki left. The door was closed.

The Scorpion Noumu walked back to the other Noumus, to the boy.

The boy still slept.

It lay back down.

Noumus didn't sleep.

They are always aware.

Watching.

They would watch over the sleeping boy for reasons unknown, for both the Noumus and the human.

An invisible force that could usurp a direct order to a creature created to obey…

It could only be a Quirk.