The Deku

Chapter 2: Spots

He ran as fast as he could. He didn't care how tired it would make him or how his lungs begged for more air. Or how his legs sought for one moment to rest. He ignored it all, his drive to see if his mother was okay over-powered him. Nothing else mattered.

As he turned the corner to face the block their apartment building was on, he witnessed several masked people carrying his mother in their collective arms towards a black, unmarked van.

She was kicking and thrashing and screaming, but it sounded like they already had put a gag over her mouth.

Izuku did not stop. The only time he had to think was in the seconds he spent charging the scene alone.

There were about five kidnappers. One was female from the shape of her body under the dark clothes. None of them had identical masks on, which meant they were probably different villains working together.

"Hey hey! There's a kid charging us!" One of them stopped and noticed Izuku from his peripheral vision.

"Don't kill him. We don't want evidence left." One of them ordered as he finished slamming Izuku's mother into the back.

"Should we kidnap him too?" Another asked.

"Nah. Too skinny. Plus his mom whined something about her son being Quirkless. If this is him, he's useless to us."

"Why would that stop us?" The female asked.

"Too much work for the Doctor. Just knock him out!"

By that time, Izuku was meters away, slowing down from his exhaustion. Thinking quickly, he swung his backpack from off of his back and used his momentum to launch the open bag at the criminals.

The closest one had turned to face him. His body was covered in spots like those on a leopard. Upon activating his Quirk, the spots expanded until they fused together, covering his entire body.

The debris simply bounced off with absolutely no affect. He snickered and kicked his foot out, hitting Izuku square in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

He sputtered and gasped feeling his breath escape his lungs and refuse to reenter.

"Wanna be a hero, kid? Do us a favor and get lost." He hissed.

Izuku coughed and growled. Something he'd never felt before at such a scale began to rise up inside of him. Pure hateful rage that clouded his thoughts of all logic but immediate retaliation towards these awful people.

It fueled him to stand up fast and charge the villain.

"Ugh, kid. Give it a rest!" He kicked down the boy again with one more hit.

"Shell-Horn, let's get out of here! Someone else might see this!" One of the villains called from inside the van.

"N-No..." Izuku turned his head to see that his mother was already in the back, probably restrained from making any movements of escape. The other villains were also inside, keeping her there and starting up the engine.

"Nothing personal, kid. Really. It's just...business as usual." The villain whose colleagues called Shell-Horn smiled. The spots on his body shrunk back down.

Izuku struggled, but managed to stagger back on his feet.

"Pfft. Pathetic." The villain scoffed before rushing to the van and hopping in the driver's seat.

The green haired boy limped quickly to the black vehicle. He gasped and whimpered. Groaned and growled. Tears filled his eyes before falling down his cheeks.

He thought he saw his mother's hand defiantly reaching out to the rear window for him as the van sped away in a cloud of smoke.

He stared ahead at the back, searching for a license plate. Nothing. He eyed the design of the van to as much detail as he could.

Then he collapsed on to his knees on the wet pavement and stared down, letting his tears redirect to trickling down his nose and falling off straight.

If only he had a Quirk. If only he was stronger. Faster. Smarter. If only he came sooner. His mother was the only one in his life who supported him and saw potential in him, even if it wasn't completely being a hero. Not only that, she was his best friend. The only one to nurture and love him and listen to him explain his favorite heroes and especially All Might.

What was this? Why was he feeling so hopeless? He had to do something. Anything! He struggled again, but he forced himself to straighten his back and rest on his knees. However, his rage and hopelessness battled inside of him, tilting his head back into the oncoming droplets of rain. He screamed out loud.

"Can you tell us everything you saw regarding the villains? What did they look like? What did they sound like? What did their vehicle look like?"

Izuku sat in silence in front of a desk with a towel around his back.

"Son we can't help you unless you help us first." The police officer frowned, sitting at his desk facing the boy.

"There was five of them. All dressed in black... O-One was wearing a cat mask. A-Another was wearing a robot mask, like the kind from an old black and white film. Another wore some kind of scuba goggles, at least, it looked like it." Izuku sniffed.

"Right. Yes." The officer replied.

"One was a woman w-with some kind of skull mask. And the last one didn't have a mask... He had leopard spots on his body that could expand to protect him like some kind of hardened skin." Izuku continued.

"And what kind of vehicle?"

Izuku paused for a moment. Fighting off his emotions, he seemed to think there was no sense of urgency happening. "May I speak to someone else?" He asked.

The officer exhaled, seeming more annoyed than frustrated. "Well, son, I can't do anything unless we have names and descriptions."

"It happened just outside of our apartment... Don't you have detectives? Or someone with a Quirk that can track them from there?" Izuku asked rather impatiently.

The officer sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"No!" The green haired boy bounced on to his feet. "Let me talk to a detective! Or someone willing to take me seriously!"

"Hey hey! I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry. It's not often the mothers go missing and the kids report it..."

His apology meant nothing. Sure he acknowledged how serious it was. Yet he didn't speed anything up.

"Please just let me talk to someone... Every minute we just spend talking, she... Th-They...." He sobbed.

The police officer signaled for someone to come over to his desk. "Don't worry, son. We're on the case. We'll get yer mom back."