Touch of Chaos

Chapter 42

Izuku looked up, meeting green eyes. He was never one to stare at his reflection, but sometimes you have to do things you don't want to.

He let his eyes trail down; angry purple-red skin stared back at him. He sighed; at least it didn't look like a handprint. The scar on his neck would most likely never fully fade; The Doctor said it would dull over time, but his neck would always be a mess of raised melted skin. He pulled his shirt over his head and turned to see his back in the mirror; fresh gauze covered the majority of the skin; The Doctor hadn't been able to heal all his injuries in one go; Endeavour really did a number on him. At least his back was easier to cover. It looks like Izuku would be adding a turtleneck to his hero costume. He sighed at the thought.

He left his bathroom with a deep-rooted feeling of dread settling in his stomach.

Izuku dropped onto his bed with a huff. It was still dark out, but the faint chirping of birds told him dawn wasn't far away. He had only intended to rest his eyes for a few minutes; it wasn't his fault he had a shitty day and needed to catch up on sleep. When he woke, he was disoriented, persistent pounding on his door ringing in his ears as he tried to shield his eyes from the sunlight shining through his open curtains.

"Fucking hell! I'm COMING!" he groaned out, rolling off his bed with a loud thud.

"Your teachers are here, Izuku, watch your language." his mother grumbled from behind his door.

Fantastic, he forgot about that. Today was already going so unbelievably well.

He rummaged through his room, quickly throwing on the same shorts as yesterday, just swapping the hoodie for a plain turtleneck; he could make up an excuse for that later.

Izuku changed and raked his fingers through the messy curls atop his head. He rushed out of his room and took the stairs two at a time, following the sound of small talk to the living room. His mother sat in front of All Might and Aizawa; she held her signature scrutinizing look on her face. He rolled his eyes as he walked past the nervous heroes and plopped down next to his mother.

"What's with the long faces?"

"Problem child, you know why we are here." Aizawa snarked.

Inko cleared her throat, eyes flicking between the two heroes before her, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Izuku leaned back, suppressing a laugh. The number 1 hero sat in their dinky apartment, terrified of a 5'3 woman.

"I would like to start by telling you how deeply sorry I am, Inko." Aizawa finally pipped up, "I swore to you that while under my care, your son would not get harmed, and I failed to do that."

"Ah, yes, I too wish to extend my deepest apologies!" All Might butted in.

"I don't forgive you, and I never will. You failed not only my son but every student under your care, and then, you stood by idly as he was kidnapped." She glared daggers at the dejected men in front of her, "You failed as heroes and as teachers, and now you stroll into my home and expect me to sign away custody of my child to the very people who got him into this mess in the first place. Shameful."

At that moment, Izuku had never loved his mother more. He was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to go to the dorms; he could keep up his well-behaved student act for just a bit longer.

Of course, she had to go and ruin the moment.

"I refuse to sign away full supervision. Izuku will not be under your care during weekends, even if he decides to stay at these dorms; you will be fully responsible for him, Monday through Friday," she turned to look at Izuku, "Unless you have any objections?"

Izuku laughed bitterly, "yeah, I have a problem with that. I'm not staying in any fucking dorms." He glared at the heroes, daring them to speak.

"Great!" his mother cut through the air, clapping her hands in emphasis, "Now that that's all settled, Izuku go start packing your things." she turned to the heroes with a small smile, "Good luck, you're going to need it!"

Izuku was pissed, and what do you do when you are pissed? Break the rules.

He stomped up to his room in a huff, slamming the door shut with far too much force. He didn't bother hiding the noise of his window scraping open; he couldn't give less of a shit if they spent all day searching for him. He was going to take advantage of his last few days of freedom.

Or at least, he would have.

He was halfway to Kattsuki's house when his phone dinged. Aizawa texting him with a simple

C 45 ?

He rolled his eyes and slammed himself down on the nearest roof; Chaos in 45 minutes.

The Old Man wasn't the fucking boss of him; he thought while jumping back to his room to change into his vigilante gear.

Izuku recognized this place he realized all too slowly. Aizawa stood at his side, taking it all in. To any conventional person, it was the slums; it was unsanitary and full of criminals; to them, it was a hunting ground.

Izuku's heart sank.

It was his hunting ground.

"Eraserhead, you gonna explain? Or would it be quicker for me to learn telepathy?"

"There was an attack here last night."

"Yeah, somehow, I have the feeling that Endeavor is involved." He gestured around to the melted metal and plastic littering the rooftop they stood on. The same one Izuku had stood on last night.

Eraserhead rolled his eyes behind his yellow goggles, "Wow, the student becomes the teacher." he draws out sarcastically, "Yes, Endeavor was involved; he got in a fight with someone he thought was a Vigilante."

It was Izuku's turn to roll his eyes sarcastically; he was supposed to take the bait, "And who was it really?"

"The Watcher." Aizawa stared at him, searching for a reaction, "He's been tied to The Hero Killer Stain, The League of Villains, and possibly the Shie Hassaikai. We don't know much about him, only that he likes to organization hop and that he is extremely dangerous." He sent him another pointed look. "Though I was more interested to hear what you know about him."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Eraserhead sighed, "Kid, we both know you are linked to Stain; we also know that your patrols were often centered around here. I would be surprised if you HADN'T run into this guy."

Izuku shrugged in disregard, "dunno what you want me to say, I've never seen him."

"But have you heard of him?"

Izuku laughed; he might as well make his downfall entertaining. "Yeah, everyone has."

"Why are you being deceptive, problem child?"

He sent Aizawa a strange look, "I don't want to get on that maniac's bad side. He's probably listening to us now."

"What is that supposed to mean, Chaos?"

Aizawa sounded concerned at the least; he smirked under his mask. "C'mon, Aizawa, everyone knows The Watcher; he's like villain Santa Clause if Santa was a psycho killer with no morals." He let his eyes roam over the streets he had already imprinted into his memory, "The Watcher takes out Villains and Heroes alike, he's never cared before, and by the look of this rooftop, I think he's a bit pissed off right now."

Aizawa groaned, "Kid, you worry me."