Endless Bounds

Chapter 12 (Deku)

"What is your name?"

Deku blinks, his lips curling into a devilish smile. Yet another officer accompanied by a pro hero comes into his little cell. All the security, the straps holding him to his chair, the heavy fire-resistant clothing hugging his body and wrapped tightly around his hands. The room monitoring the temperature, the gas and alarm just waiting to go off at the slightest rise in temperature. All this security, and they still need an escort to see a prisoner behind 3-inch glass with the ability to withstands the intensity of hungry fire.

Their efforts are amusing.

"What's yours? I'd love to pop in and say hi to your family when I'm in the neighborhood. But it may be a bit sense I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

The officer tosses a folder of papers on the table on his side of the glass and slides into a chair. "Izuku Midoryia."

Deku's smile drops off his face at the sound of his name.

"Otherwise know as Deku by one Bakugou Katsuki," the officer continued as he started flipping through Deku's file. "Disappeared before finishing Junior High, presumed dead. About a month later, there's a new devil in town. Villain name: Hell's Puppeteer. Quite a name for a kid."

"I didn't pick it out."

"And yet you have your own personal symbol, seared into every crime scene." The officer takes out a photo of his tattoo burned on to the street.

Deku cocks his head. "Which one came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Then the officer pulls out his family. Not something the others.

Rage surges through him. His chest rises and falls rapidly, and his breathing deepens. Against his command, fire lights in his hands.

The alarm immediately goes off. Three defining beeps and the gas would release.

"It's okay," the officer signals to the camera and the alarm cuts off. "Born to one Midoriya Hisashi and Inko. Mother used to be a stay home mom and father is working abroad. Both parents have quirks, but you were somehow born quirkless. No wonder why we had a hard time identifying you before. Must be quite the story there."

Deku bites his tongue, reining in his quirk before shrugging. "Must be your imagination."

The officer continues to show more photos, giving no attention to his silly remarks. "Now you've got some sort of fire manipulation and fire creating combination quirk. Not only that but you are aligned with the League of Villains; participated in the infiltration and attack of the USJ and UA class-1A students; and snuck into the UA Sports festival, killing and injuring more innocent people."

"Are any of us really innocent?" Deku asks.

"They were doing nothing but enjoying a festival. Bystanders that got caught up in something that shouldn't have happened."

"So you say."

"So human morality says."

"He said she said. Who gets to say who is right?"

The officer shakes his head with a sigh, thinking the same question Deku has been asking himself since the first round. How many more times were they going to do this?

Five? Ten? Twenty even? There's only so many times before they realize.

"Alright then. What the hell happened last year of your disappearance?"

"Sir," the pro hero escort steps forward in surprise at the directness. "He's a kid."

"Is he? Because he could have fooled me. He sure doesn't act like one. Maybe all we need is to be blunt. Black and white." The officer yanked out a crime scene photo and slammed it to the glass. The words, "I'm watching," were smeared on a wall in blood. His first hit. "You killed an innocent woman in cold blood! To send a message! Tell me, did she deserve to die?"