The Takeover

Chapter Eight

Referrences to suicide. If y'all need help hmu. If you text 741-741 that works too. 1-800-273-8255 is the call number if you prefer. 

Aizawa hated funerals. It was an open funeral for all to come, and he noticed a lot of people that Midoriya had met in passing were. A lot of pro heroes were there, and a lot of children were there too. No one but Aizawa, Hizashi, and Nemuri were there for Hitoshi. Hizashi was the first person to talk. He stepped up in front of everyone and addressed them. Tears stained his cheeks but he remained as stoic as he could.

"My son's... were amazing children." He looked at the caskets sitting side by side. "They both had issues, and both came from different backgrounds, but I loved them. Midoriya... he was wise beyond his years. He could read anyone just by looking at them. Hitoshi... reminded me of Aizawa. He worked very hard, and didn't give up. He really was his fathers son." 

Aizawa stepped up beside Hizashi, and wrapped an arm around him. 

"You going to be okay?" He whispered this into his ear.

"Yeah, I'll be okay.." Hizashi sniffled. 

They stepped down from the podium. Next up was a small girl. She had short brown hair and rosy pink cheeks.

"I heard some people talking, saying that because Midoriya was quirkless he was useless and he deserved it. I want you to know exactly what your words do. How many times have you met a quirkless person?" Everyone remained silent. "Exactly. Did you know that 20% of the population was born quirkless?" Everyone glanced around at each other. "86% of quirkless die before they turn sixteen. 94% of those deaths are suicide. Think about that." A soft murmur rises from the crowd. Reporters were sitting in the back of the room, and recording everything that went down.

"I did a little bit more digging, and I found out that those who don't die by sixteen have a 100% chance to die by 35, by either murder, suicide, or exposure to the elements. They get exposed because they are homeless. No job hires quirkless. Let me ask you this - why does anyone need a quirk to mop the floor? Why do they need a quirk to be creative, to help file taxes. Why do you need a quirk for the mundane things?" (Uraraka had looked up some words for this. A lot of words. A lot of words were looked up so that she looked smart. She had her smart friend edit it, as well.) 

No one spoke. They were too shocked. 

A small woman with deep black hair stood up.

"My brother was quirkless," She announced, "He was beaten into the ground at school by two teachers who said that he was wasting air just by existing. He died from his injuries a day later." 

Next, a tall man stood up. He had spiky orange hair. "My daughter hung herself in her bedroom. She left a note saying she was a waste of space."

Person after person they told stories of their quirless relatives, friends, and loved ones. All of them dead. 

And it was society's fault. 

This needed to change, and it needed to change now.

-----------------

Midoriya had been banned from the news. He had no clue why. His phone was taken away, and his media consumption was very filtered. He knew something was off, but knew not to question it. He trusted his family, and knew that for whatever reason he should stay off the news.

They decided to go to a rally against quirk discrimination together. Be a little bit more peaceful than they usually are. 

They got into their aliases clothes and headed out with some signs. The rally was well underway when they got there, and it was full of people. They walked in, and were immediately welcomed. People smiled at them, and patted them on the backs. They were safe there, for the most part. 

"Hiya!" Midoriya very nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to see an energetic girl with pink hair holding an electric sign that read, "people are not their quirks!" 

"Hi," He replied apprehensively.

"I'm Mei Hatsumei, but you can just call me Mei! I love your sign!"

"Oh, thanks!" Midoriya glanced up at his sign. He had painted it black and white and written in bold letters "Not everything is black and white." He smiled at Mei. "I'm Ozul Tanaka. Just call me Ozul. I love your sign! How did you make it so thin?"

"I made it to where the battery holds more electricity with less space by using a..." Mei went off into a spiel about how it works, and what she used to make it. Midoriya was connected to every word, and Mei was pleasantly surprised by this. Usually people tend to get bored by what she's saying.

"Have you tried..." Mei listened intently to what  Midoriya Ozul had to say. He had some good points. She made mental notes of everything that he said.

While Mei and Midoriya Ozul talked, Toga, Dabi, Shigiraki, Shoto, and Hitoshi pretended to not be watching the interaction. Me: Realizes exactly how many characters there are.

The familiar blare of sirens ruined the atmosphere.

"Please separate this is an unlawful gathering!" was announced by a police officer with a megaphone.

"What about this is unlawful?" shouted back a tall woman with Pink hair. She was sporting the same sign that Mei had - Mei's mother, Midoriya realized.

"You are distracting passing cars." 

"We are distracting no one. We are in a public park, and so far not a single car has even slowed down. We are perfectly fine."

"You are making noise."

"PEOPLE ARE TALKING! THEY DO THAT SOMETIMES!"

"I don't have time for this. You have a a minute to disperse before we use force." The police officers began to look agitated.

"We are doing nothing wrong." 

After sixty seconds, everything became hectic. Luckily, they had an engineer family on their side. Everyone quickly pulled out the gas mask that was provided by the Hatsume family, and put them on, to avoid the tear gas. People then began protecting their face with their arms, expecting rubber bullets to begin to be fired into the group. 

Shouting and cries could be heard from all around. The Kurogiri's, Midoriya, and Hitoshi were all in the center so it took a little bit longer for the police to get to them. 

Hitoshi wanted to tell the police to just leave. To not hurt anyone, but that would put him on a watch list, and that would reveal that he was alive. Instead he just endured. He hated how little his family reacted to the pain of being restrained. How little they reacted to being hit with the guns.

The jail cell was packed with people. Midoriya Ozul sat next to Mei and they chatted as if nothing was wrong. His family could see his little tells saying that he was definitively not fine. 

Sensei showed up about fifteen minutes and bailed them out.

They all expected to be chewed up in the van. What they did not expect was for him to be proud. He exclaimed his praise, and said that they should be more apart of the movement. Every bit of help counts.

He got them extra dessert that night.