Chapter 3: Phoenix

For all the terrible things about his situation, Izuku wasn't really complaining. He was still working to bring down his father, but progress on that was slow when he was no longer on the inside of things. Most things he found he sent on to the police, because he wasn't quite reckless enough to attempt to stop some of the more powerful crime lords in the middle of their heists.

He arranged another meeting with a small crime lord, someone his father had never done business with yet as far as Izuku knew. In the fake email, Izuku laid the flattery on thick and offered a Reverse vial for a million yen.

Most of it played out exactly like the set up with Locksmith, but Izuku did have to resort to his quirk to fight off someone who fought using their cigar smoke, and then he needed to burn the lock off the briefcase.

But he had a million yen, and taken from a fledgling crime lord. The hit would probably be devastating enough to put him out of business.

Half the money he put aside for future rent. The rest he used for his own computer and his new night job.

He loved his new night job. Once the papers labelled him as a vigilante, he'd fully embraced it. At this point, it was probably the closest to being a hero he'd ever be.

So he made himself a black mask, covering everything on his head but his eyes, and he made a costume. It wasn't flashy. He wanted to be able to blend into a crowd at a moment's notice, so it was simple black jeans and his black sweatshirt. The only color came from the bracelets he'd started making in his free time.

The cords were expensive, but they were durable. Braided together and then tied off with a constrictor knot, they made decent temporary handcuffs.

He was still coming up with a name for himself, but it was probably better if he stayed an anonymous figure. There'd be less people looking for someone they weren't sure existed.

His life wasn't ideal. He still missed his mom and Katsuki and his old classmates. He ached whenever he realized he wouldn't be going to UA with Katsuki after all, that he wouldn't be a pro hero. He was lonely as hell, and the occasional dinner with Mrs. Ishiyama didn't really help. Nightmares plagued him constantly.

But he kept himself distracted. He immersed himself in training and research during the school day, hiding all over the city and never staying too long in one place. He didn't want people asking questions about him.

At night, he patrolled the dark alleys most people avoided. Sometimes he used his quirk, a lot of times he didn't. When he beat whoever was trying to harm someone else, he left them tied up with one of his bracelets and called the police to that location. Then he promptly got the hell out of there before the police showed up.

It was a good system. It was working great. Until it wasn't.

He was trying to help a drunk man to his feet and get him some help before he passed out when a paper origami star embedded itself in the wall next to his head. The man slipped from his grip. Izuku whirled around to see a familiar face standing farther down the alley.

"Nice to see you again, Little Dragon," Hiroki called out. He walked closer, a few more paper stars between his fingers.

Izuku's mouth was dry. He'd been so careful, but he shouldn't have underestimated his father's resources. "Hiroki. Weren't you arrested?"

"You mean the night you ratted us out?" Hiroki asked. "It was a close call, but once that hero was shot I had my chance to escape. Not that Boss cared, as long as he got away."

The drunkard groaned and slipped to the side. Izuku propped him up again. "I'm sorry, Hiroki, I had to. If Reverse hits the market, it's going to be bad."

Hiroki held his hands up, stopping about ten feet away from Izuku. "I know. Believe me, I understand why you did it. Sometimes I wish I had the luxury of caring more for what's right than where my next meal comes from."

Izuku's stomach twisted. The downside to bringing his father down was all the people he'd bring down with him. Some of them were nothing more than victims of their circumstances, like Hiroki.

"I can't go back with you," Izuku said. "You know what my father will do to me."

Hiroki sighed and slipped his paper stars back into his pocket. "I'm not here to bring you back to him. I came to warn you."

"Warn me?" Was his father in town already? The last Izuku had heard, he was on the other side of the country. It could have been a false lead, he supposed.

"Dragon knows you're the one who keeps tipping off the cops about us. He hasn't figured out where you are yet, thanks to me and couple others who are fond of you."

The sudden lump in Izuku's throat made it hard to breathe. "You've been covering for me?"

Hiroki gave him a sad smile. "Course, kid. We don't want to see you charbroiled any more than you do. But this is a stupid game you're playing, and you know it's only going to end one way."

Izuku's fists trembled at his sides. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Flee the country? I can get you to America, or China."

If he could take his mother, he might have considered it. But his mother had to be in witness protection by now, and he didn't have the resources to find her. And being alone was bad enough when he could speak the language and knew the customs, what would he do in a foreign country?

He shook his head. "I can't."

Hiroki rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Just…promise me you'll be careful, kid. No stupid risks. You're been under the radar enough it's not hard to hide it from Dragon, but we're not going to be able to cover everything. Like your little stunt with Locksmith."

Izuku winced. "He knows about that?"

Hiroki nodded. "Locksmith was furious. He thought Dragon set it up. Wasn't hard to realize you're the only who could possibly fake an email from him."

It was a good thing he'd already done what he could with that, then. He hadn't been planning to do another set up, and now it sounded like the worst possible thing he could possibly do.

"He's also set up a bounty for you," Hiroki added.

Izuku whipped his head up. "He what?" That was very bad. That would send every shady character after him, and there was no way he could outrun all of them.

"We haven't let it go live yet, and thanks to you and the cops breathing down our necks all the time he hasn't realized, but it's only a matter of time."

Izuku started pacing.

"Now will you consider fleeing the country?" Hiroki asked.

Grimacing, Izuku shook his head again. It was hard to explain, but he liked his life right now. He missed what he had before, sure, but he enjoyed helping people at night. He lived for the thrill of finding new leads for the police and sending them anonymous tips.

Hiroki blew his bangs out of his face. "Please don't tell me you're planning to actually fight Dragon. Do not tell me you're that ambitious."

Izuku laughed. "I wish, but I know I'm not strong enough for that. That's why I'm sending the cops after you, because I can't do it myself."

"Yeah, about that, do you know how many heart attacks you've given the rest of us? I've had to move four times in the last six months."

Izuku did feel bad about that. He genuinely liked Hiroki, and he didn't want to see him in jail. But Hiroki was still working for his father. He could have sent in anonymous tips to the police at any time, too, and he never had. Just because Hiroki was nice to Izuku didn't mean he was a good person to everyone else.

"I'm sorry, Hiroki. But I won't stop. You should quit and find a real job."

"You say that like it's so easy," Hiroki muttered.

"Easy peasy," the drunkard slurred, making both of them jump.

Izuku dragged a hand over his face. "Thank you, Hiroki, for warning me. I promise I'll be careful to avoid my dad."

Hiroki inhaled deeply. "It'll be the only time I do. If I see you again, you know I won't be so friendly."

"Yeah, I know."

"Alright, Little Dragon. Take care of yourself." He retrieved the paper star he'd thrown earlier, pat the top of Izuku's head, and then strolled out of the alley.

Izuku stared at the drunkard for a few minutes. "I really made a huge mess of everything, didn't I?" He hadn't even had a chance to ask about his mom.

It wasn't too late to chase Hiroki down and ask, but the cowardly part of Izuku didn't want to know. He wanted to keep believing she was safe.

"Dragons whoosh," the dragon muttered, throwing his arm around.

Izuku caught it. "Alright, time for this dragon to fly, let's go." It was not a pretty sight helping the poor man to his feet. He had a good foot on Izuku's height, so it was awkward for Izuku to be holding the man up. His limbs trembled with the strain, and he took shaky step after shaky step towards the main road.

He left the man on a bus stop bench, somewhere easily noticeable but at least sheltered if it started raining. After that, he slipped into the back alleys again and climbed up a fire escape to a roof, thinking over everything Hiroki had said.

He'd have to do better at keeping himself hidden. It wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up and find a new city, either, but he doubted he'd get so lucky in renting a room again. And he knew this city, now. He'd made a life here, maybe not a happy life, but a life.

If he was ever going to stop fearing his father, maybe this was it. Maybe choosing to stay instead of running every time his father got close would be his way of saying he wasn't afraid of Dragon.

It might just get him killed, in the end, but so could running.

"What would Kacchan do?" he asked himself, and then he laughed. Katsuki would never back down from a fight. He'd be demanding they take the fight to Dragon with a full frontal assault.

While Izuku wasn't about to attack his father wherever he'd set up a new base of operations, he could stand his ground. He would fight, in a manner of speaking. He'd just have to keep the police on Dragon's tail so much his father never had time to come after him.

Xx

The day after Hiroki's surprise visit, Izuku bleached his hair. It looked bizarre and terrible, but if his father was looking for green curls, then pale blonde (and orange patches? He was pretty sure he did something wrong…) should throw people off.

While his hair was setting, he dug into the dark web to find out the latest on his father.

He didn't find anything new about Dragon, but he did learn something else. There was going to be a demonstration for Reverse in Hosu city, the next town over.

His father was bound to have his fingers in this somewhere, but Izuku couldn't keep his nose out of it no matter how hard he tried.

So, a week later, he shivered on the roof of a warehouse, peering through the windows of the next warehouse where the demonstration would actually happen. A makeshift stage had been set up with a curtain clumsily erected over rope strung between the walls. Right now, the only thing behind the curtain was a single chair.

Izuku really didn't want to consider who was going to be sitting there soon.

Footsteps shuffled on the concrete, and Izuku reached for his lighter on instinct, getting into a battle ready stance.

Eraserhead paused on the other side of the roof.

Izuku only relaxed slightly, but it was enough for Eraserhead to cautiously approach. He wasn't favoring his side at all, and Izuku was glad to see the bullet wound not giving him any trouble. It had been about six months, so it shouldn't still be an issue, but Izuku was glad all the same. He hadn't heard anything about the underground hero this whole time.

"I didn't expect anyone else to be here," Eraserhead said cautiously. With his goggles on, Izuku couldn't tell if the man was looking at him or at the warehouse.

It was probably both.

"Me either," Izuku answered, attempting to pitch his voice deeper. He tried not to talk much when out doing vigilante stuff, because he knew his voice would give away his age.

"You a new hero?" he asked.

Izuku tried not to show his panic. "Uh, yep. Fresh out of school."

Oh great, his panic was starting to speak for him. This could only end badly.

"What's your name?"

Ah hahaha, a name. One would think that after five months of being a vigilante Izuku would have thought of one by now, but he hadn't found one he really liked yet so he didn't have one ready to say now.

Which was suspicious, because Eraserhead was expecting an answer that Izuku should have ready to go at a moment's notice. He didn't have time to think.

A couple cats started hissing and clawing at each on the street below, making them both jump.

"Alley cats," Izuku muttered, trying to calm his heart.

"What was that?" Eraserhead asked.

"Uh, Alley Cat, that's my name."

Alley Cat. That was what his panic decided to go with, really?

Eraser stared at him for a minute. "Can't say I've heard of you before." His voice was a flat monotone, but Izuku could hear the suspicion hiding in it.

"Guess I'm doing my job right, then," Izuku joked.

Eraser grunted, half his goggles still trained on Izuku.

He needed to focus on the demonstration before Eraserhead figured him out.

"Have you done one of these before?" Izuku asked. He shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, where he had a Molotov cocktail prepped. He was hoping not to use it, but he knew if this turned into a fight he would be outnumbered.

"Few times. Main problem is going to be the potential hostage. We don't know who they're testing this Reverse thing on, but I doubt it's one of their friends."

Izuku nodded. He'd been thinking that, too. "Well, since there're two of us, I can grab the hostage and get them out of the way, if you want."

"Only logical," Eraserhead agreed. "For now, we'll wait until we can see the whole situation."

He hadn't really needed to say that. Another pro would know they were going to wait. Izuku knew they needed to wait.

That didn't mean he didn't appreciate someone else giving orders right now. He was nervous as hell.

A few minutes later, there was movement inside the warehouse. People were starting to gather on one side of the curtain. Izuku recognized a few of the henchmen from his father's clients. He didn't remember any of them working for his father, but that didn't mean someone wasn't there.

"So the big bosses didn't come themselves," Izuku muttered. "They sent representatives."

"You recognize them?" Eraserhead asked.

"A few. The one with the monkey mutation works for Locksmith, and the one with the tree growing out of his head works for General Cross." There were more, but he'd made his point.

Eraser grunted again.

There was finally movement on the other side of the curtain, a door opening and people shuffling through. One was the scientist probably designing the Reverse serum, wearing a long white lab coat to make it obvious what his part was. One was a guard who had some kind of rock or armor quirk.

The last was the hostage, a boy with lizard mutation quirk. Short lengths of chain bound his hands and feet. He couldn't be older than Izuku.

"They're using a child?" Eraserhead hissed. "Damn these lowlifes."

Izuku agreed. "How long do you want to wait?"

"Until we know for sure who has Reverse, we hold."

It was hard, but Izuku stayed put. A kid's life was on the line, he wasn't going to rush in when a seasoned pro was right next to him.

The kid was forced into the chair, and the doctor stepped in front of the curtain. He droned on for a few minutes, until he finally pulled a syringe out of his pocket.

"You get the kid, I'll get the serum. Try not to get shot." Eraserhead used his scarf to launch himself across the short distance and through the window of the warehouse. He made an impressive entrance, falling through the shattered glass.

Izuku dove through the hole he'd made, not as eager to get cut up by glass as the pro.

It was already chaos inside. He'd expected they'd have to fight everybody, but a few of the representatives in the audience were choosing to flee and not get caught. Their running made for a lot of confused commotion on that side of the curtain.

Eraserhead had said that wasn't his problem, though. Izuku ran under the curtain. The guard was trying to run off with the kid.

Flicking the lighter, Izuku summoned a long stream of fire into his hand and blocked the doorway. The guard drew up short, turning on his heel to face him. The poor kid looked terrified.

Before Izuku could even attempt to figure out how to work out a hostage negotiation, the guard threw the kid over his shoulder and charged Izuku. Izuku brought his fire in front of him, making a shield. The guard stopped again, and Izuku had to wonder why. Surely, with all that rock incasing him, he'd be fine?

Or was he more worried about the kid?

"Look, I don't want to hurt either of you," Izuku said. "So put the child down, and come quietly, okay?"

His quirk was a bad matchup against rock armor like this, unless he could force the flames into the cracks of the armor, but that would cause serious damage. He'd only do it as a last resort

That left hand to hand combat against a much bigger and stronger opponent. Plus, he had to worry about the kid.

He did not see this ending well, but he was here. He had to try. At the very least, he had to stall for Eraserhead to properly save this kid.

The guard snarled and glanced at the kid. "You want him so bad, fine! We can find another." He took the kid and hurled him at Izuku and his fire shield.

"Wait, that's not-" He swept the fire to the side, out of the way of the flying kid, and stepped forward to catch him.

'Catch' was a generous word. 'Broke his fall' would be more accurate.

"Ugh, you okay?" Izuku asked, struggling to sit up.

The kid squirmed on his chest, nodding, but close to tears. "I want to go home."

"I'm going to get you there," Izuku promised.

The guard was almost out the doorway, so Izuku flicked his hand. The fire rushed ahead, cutting off his exit. He didn't hesitate this time before running through it.

Izuku swore. He sent small pin size flames to the back of the guard's neck, hoping to at least slow him down. He couldn't find the chink in the armor, though, and the guard kept running.

He glanced at the kid. It was too dangerous to leave him alone, but Izuku couldn't very well take him with him. Eraserhead had made it clear the priorities tonight were saving the hostage and getting the serum.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," Izuku said, calling his fire back to break the chains. He couldn't get them all the way off, not without leaving major burns on the kid's skin, so breaking the chains in the middle would have to do. He compacted the flames into one tiny ball of heat and sliced through the metal easily.

His natural instinct here was to bundle the kid into his arms and rush to safety, but the kid was as tall as he was. Izuku settled for taking a trembling hand in his own and leading him out an emergency fire door.

To his surprise, a police squad was waiting for him. It wasn't a whole raid force, but enough to help back up Eraserhead. They were just as surprised to see him.

He recovered quickly, passing the kid off to the first officer he came to. "Make sure he gets home safe, okay?"

"Roger that," the officer said, rushing the kid to the back of the force.

Huh. It was weird to be listened to so easily like that.

He kind of liked it.

"I'm going back in to help Eraserhead," Izuku told another officer before turning to do exactly that.

Except, inside, Eraserhead had things covered. The serum lay in a puddle on the floor, which was unfortunate, but accidents happened. He'd wrapped everyone still in the building up in his scarf and was inspecting the puddle now.

He glanced up at Izuku. "Kid safe?"

"With the police outside," Izuku stated. "The guard ran off though, I'm going to see if he's still in the building."

He ran towards that door. Eraserhead called something after him, but Izuku didn't stop. He'd only partially been telling the truth. He was looking for the guard, but he expected him to be long gone by now.

He was mainly looking for a way to get past the police without them seeing him. It was all well and good to partner with a pro for this. In fact, if Eraserhead hadn't been here, he wasn't sure he'd have been able to pull it off. But that partnership could only go so far when he wasn't actually a pro himself. It was only a matter of time before Eraserhead called him out on it.

The next time they met like this, Eraserhead wouldn't fall for the underground hero lie again. Izuku would bet on that.

He found a window with a fire escape that led up to the roof. He jumped to the next roof, and the one after that, before climbing down to the street where he pulled off his mask and hoodie. Now he was just any other teenager.

Xx

Aizawa couldn't even pretend to be surprised when no one could find Alley Cat after everything was over.

The mission hadn't been as informative as everyone had been hoping. The doctor had smashed the Reverse serum as soon as he saw Eraserhead, so he didn't even have any samples for forensics to study and trace. The doctor didn't seem likely to talk, either, and no one else he'd arrested would have useful information. Rumors and gossip, maybe, but he doubted they would talk, either.

The only truly successful thing about the night had been saving the kid.

And that had been done by some stranger pretending to be a pro hero. From the moment Aizawa had laid eyes on the guy, every alarm in his head had been screaming SUSPICIOUS. He seemed too small, number one, but it wasn't like heroics had a height minimum. Number two, his costume looked shabby, to put it nicely. He couldn't imagine any support agency sending a pro hero regular jeans and a hoodie to go around saving people in.

And his name, Alley Cat? The guy came up with it right there. Aizawa had seen the panic when he'd asked, and he'd heard the cats below them, too. Honestly, if he was grading the guy on his deception skills, he'd have failed on the spot for that one.

But he'd been focused on the task at hand. Aizawa thought at first he might have known the hostage they were going to use and had been trying to save a friend or something, but that didn't seem quite right. The guy knew some of the audience members. He wasn't a random civilian.

He felt like he'd met the guy before. Those eyes…they were familiar. He'd seen those eyes before. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out where.

It was one very large headache, especially since he had to discuss it with the police chief before he could go home.

The chief rested his elbows on his desk and crossed his hands (paws?) in front of his face. "A small man wearing all black, you said?"

Aizawa nodded and sipped at his coffee. It was the cheap crap from the station, but coffee was coffee. He wasn't picky about his caffeine.

"Hmm. I wonder if it's that vigilante from Nurugi."

He'd heard rumors of a vigilante running wild in Nurugi. Witnesses hadn't been able to provide much info on him. Small, wore all black, sometimes had a fire quirk, sometimes had no quirk. It wasn't a lot to go on.

He teased his coffee around the rim of his cup. He hadn't seen the guy fight, so he couldn't confirm what his quirk was. But if he was a vigilante then it made sense why he would know so many members of the black market.

"If it is the same one, what could have brought him out here? Vigilante's usually pick a territory and stay there," the chief said.

"Unless this was personal. I thought he was there to rescue the hostage at first. Never saw them interact, so I can't judge if they knew each other."

"Likely," the chief agreed. He ran his hand over his head. "With how fast he disappeared from the police, they didn't see him interact much with the child either."

Call him paranoid, but the answer felt too easy, like they were shoving a puzzle piece in a place it didn't belong.

But if it wasn't because he'd known the hostage, then why was he there? Was he connected to the Reverse serum somehow?

He absently rubbed at his side. It was the first time he'd been shot, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. That night had gone better, for the most part. They'd recovered Reverse vials, but a major crime leader had gotten away with the kid that had been there that night. He hadn't known until a month later the kid was Dragon's son. He'd gone missing the next day, and no one had seen him since.

Considering who his father was, Aizawa doubted anyone was going to be seeing Izuku Midoriya ever again. He wanted to throw up every time he thought about it. It had been his responsibility to capture Dragon that night, and he'd failed. He'd been shot, and Dragon had gotten away and taken his anger out on his son.

Part of him hoped they never found the body. He didn't want to know how badly the kid suffered.

"I'll update our file about the vigilante. At least now we've got something to call him," the chief said, barking in amusement.

Aizawa grinned, too. That was what the guy deserved for not having a cover story ready to go.

Xx

When Izuku saw "Vigilante Alley Cat" in a newspaper the following week he wanted to scream.