Chapter Text
There are whispers going around UA. Whispers that say there’s a traitor. A traitor in their class. Class 1-A.
Some say it’s the loud angry one, but those rumors are quickly shut down. Then the purple boy, the one with the “villains quirk”. These are the whispers that start among students, but as quick as they are to start, they’re shut down almost immediately by the class in question. But then a new rumor starts, and this one hits the ears of class 1-A far too late.
Izuku Midoriya, people whisper when they aren’t there to hear. Notebooks. They don’t know his brain. Creep. They don’t know his past. Villain. They don’t know what he’s been through, but they assume. And Izuku, always the first to think the best about everyone, is oblivious until the moment it’s too late.
Ochako is tired. If she’s being honest, she wants to go back to her dorm and sleep, but instead she’s in class sparring with Izuku, Shouto and Tsu. It’s her and Izuku against Shouto and Tsu, and they’re battling it out in gym gamma right now. Aizawa-Sensei has been acting strange all week, especially with Izuku for some reason, so they’re both fighting to prove themselves. Ochako is currently busy beating Shouto’s ass, but she pauses when she hears Aizawa-Sensei speak, although she can’t make out what was said. Shouto doesn’t seem to hear him, and sends ice at her, hoping to immobilize her. Aizawa erases his quirk when the ice is halfway to Ochako, and the area falls quiet pretty fast, all the collapse of debris and battle cries and explosions paused as Sensei walks towards the gate. There are two police officers waiting next to the entrance of the training ground, and Ochako knows neither.
“We’re here to take Izuku Midoriya in.”
Ochako turns puzzled to Izuku, looking for some emotion to see if he knew what was going on. He looks so confused, and Ochako was too. Why the fuck are there police? For Izuku ? By this time all of 1-A is standing clumped together, watching as Aizawa nods. The police officer walks over, and it’s only then that Ochako realizes he’s holding cuffs. Quirk cancelling cuffs. These don’t look like the standard issued quirk cancelling cuffs Tsukauchi carefully uses for them when they need to give a statement, though. These look like the cuffs they put on the villains.
“What’s going on?” Shouto asks, subtly moving a step to the right, moving to cover Izuku. Ochako takes small steps to the left, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Shouto, until Izuku is completely behind them both.
“I’m here to take Midoriya Izuku into the station.” The officer responds, shifting his free hand towards his belt. “Please move away from the person in ques-“
“I’ll move once you tell me why you’re taking Izuku.” she interrupted, Shouto nodding along.
Over the last few months, Izuku, Ochako, Tsu, Tenya, and Shouto had gotten closer, along with the rest of the class. They were a family, and nothing was going to separate them now.
The cop takes another step towards them, and Ochako silently laces her dominant hand in Tsu’s, so she can’t punch him. His lips are curled, clearly trying to force Izuku out from behind her, but Ochako had had enough of their bullshit. She could tell the class had too, because all around them there were subtle changes that you wouldn’t notice unless you knew the class well. The temperature dropped a degree, her hair for just a bit frizzier from sudden static, there were suddenly a group of birds perched on the roofs above them, and Ochako had to press her finger tips together to stop herself from floating Tsu, who’s hand she was still holding onto.
“Uraraka,” Aizawa-Sensei told her, “Let him through. Todoroki, you too.”
That makes most of their class stand down, but Shouto looks uncertain. Ochako knows he trusts his teacher more than most people, but the only exception to that is Izuku. Ochako also loves Aizawa-Sensei, but she stands firm in her ground. She’s not moving until the police officer tells them why he wants to take her family away.
“Uraraka, Todoroki, move out of the way, now.”
Sensei’s voice has taken on a slightly darker tone, the kind he gets when he’s protecting them from danger. From villains.
“...’Chaka?” there’s a soft sad whisper in her ear. Only Izuku calls her that. ‘Chako, Ocha, Ochako, ‘Raka, everyone in the class uses nicknames. But only Izuku calls her ‘Chaka or ‘Chaks. Nobody else.
“‘Chaks, move out of the way,” still whispering. He sounds scared. The capture weapon winds around Shouto beside her. She notices in the corner of her vision that Katsuki is also wrapped in the material.
“‘Chaka, please, let him get through,” he tells her again. Ochako isn’t moving. She’s a wall, standing fiercely against the man who wants to take her friend, her brother, her family away.
“Uraraka.” Aizawa’s voice.
Ochako tightens her stance in front of Izuku, baring her teeth at the cop as he struggles past her.
“Uraraka!” Aizawa-Sensei’s voice is raised. He grabs her forearms and yanks her away from the cop. “Let go of me, Sensei!” she shouts in frustration as the cop roughly grabs Izuku, her Izuku, and yanks him froward.
She screams when she sees the cuffs start to go on. She knows firsthand how much those can hurt if you’re not being careful. So she screams and screams. Screams when Izuku jerks his hands from the pain. Aizawa is still holding her back, one arm around her middle lifting her in the air as she kicks and claws with all her might against his vice grip. His other arm is holding Shouto back, even with all his fighting ability the dual colored boy can’t get past their teacher. Aizawa’s weapon is curled around Katsuki, holding him back while Ochako continues to scream.
The cop tightens the cuffs on Izuku, too tight too tight, too tight, Izuku doesn’t like things on his wrists, take it OFF him,
She’s still screaming and kicking and crying and Izuku’s voice joins hers, softer and more hoarse when the cuffs tighten on skin where he knows he has scars, scars that scare him and they scare her too, but she’s learned that he doesn’t mind them anymore if they handle them gently but this cop is not , and he’s scaring him.
He's yelling her name. She hears him yell out one last desperate, "CHAKA, STAY BACK!"
“IZUKU!”
They take him away. Ochako is flying, she’s out of Sensei’s arms and running to him, running to her family, but she’s too late because he’s gone.
Momo sits in stunned silence. They’re gathered in the common room.
Toru is passed out on Momo’s lap. Her face is wet with tear tracks. Shouto sits unmoving staring outside through the big windows in the common room. Rikido , Kota, and Tokoyami are on gathered around an armchair.
Another armchair seats Eijirou with Mina in his lap. Katsuki is leaning on the back of their armchair glaring ferociously into the distance and looking so upset that it broke Momo’s heart.
Hanta is sitting on the floor next to Shouto, crying silently, while Kyoka is sitting on the couch next to Momo. Their hands are joined together, and Kyoka’s got her other arm around Denki, who’s shaking with silent sobs. Mashiro is sitting on the floor in front of Momo’s couch, tail gently resting on Toru’s lower back.
Mezou, Yuga and Hitoshi have claimed the small couch, Mezou and Yuga sitting on the cushions, and Hitoshi perched on the armrest in a ball, crying slightly and staring at the floor.
The room is silent except for Ochako. Her, Tsu and Iida have claimed the last couch, and although there’s more space no one dares to go near them now. Iida has a blank look in his eyes, highlighting the blue that’s normally bright with enthusiasm, now dull and filled with sadness. Tsu sits with her knees tucked beneath her, face streaked with tears. But the worst is Ochako. She’d taken nearly twenty minutes to stop screaming, but now her hoarse, pained voice fills the room with heavy sobs.
Momo still can’t process what Aizawa had told them. She’s shaken to the core. They think Izuku- their Izuku , who cared so much about everything and everyone, is the traitor? The boy who had every reason to turn to villainy, and yet still fought for good at every given moment? It’s not true. Momo knows that. And so that means that if Izuku’s not in the wrong, UA is.
We could sue them to hell and back for this, she thinks to herself, then realizes she’s said it out loud when the room turns to face her. She flushes a bit but stays focused, trying to remember all the details of the arrest.
“Uhm... those cops entered without express permission from teachers... remember, they didn’t have visitors passes.. and uh, they aren’t legally allowed to conduct an investigation without his mother present, or another consenting legal guardian. UA has certain hold over our legal status but a parent or guardian needs to approve a lawful investigation,”
Momo remembers this. She’s been studying it for months after all, because Midnight-Sensei had told her that as a female hero it was a smart thing to study up on court laws and cases, as well as get a course license. Momo, of course, had immediately signed up for a three month court license course to obtain hers, and was currently eleven days away from finishing and legally being able to take someone to court.
“How do you know all that?” Mina asks from Eijirou’s lap, seemingly woken up from the sound of Momo’s voice.
“I’m eleven days away from obtaining my court license,” Momo blurts, without thinking.
“Do you really think we could sue UA for this?” asks Hitoshi, looking up at her questioningly.
Momo nods, dead serious.
“And a bunch of other things. Let’s see... we could press charges for.. uh, illegal investigation, endangering a student- that one of course comes after Izuku has been proven innocent-, unlawfully using quirk cancelling cuffs on a student... uhm.. if we’re talking outside of this situation, just about suing UA in general, we could also say they’ve been endangering students regularly.. that they haven’t been offering mandatory counseling after traumatizing events.. child neglect, but I’d have to check the parameters on that one? There’s also refusing medical attention to injured students - remember Recovery Girl said she wouldn’t heal any more quirk injuries of Izuku’s, also, only having one medical professional on staff is illegal for the staff to student ratio... We could maybe sue them for lack of background checks. Like All Might technically is teaching without a teacher's license, but I don’t know if that’s a charge or evidence. And the whole thought of there being a traitor too... the sports festival for broadcasting weaknesses.. oh, and tying up Katsuki on the podium, we could put that under a different charge of child abuse altogether... and uh...”
Momo pauses when she sees all the class’s eyes trained on her, looking completely serious.
“A-anyway! Yeah, we can sue them for a lot...”
The room still feels too big without their Izuku to fill the space.
But Class 1-A is family, and they’re going to get their brother back.
Izuku’s crying. They’re holding him in a police car with those damn villain cuffs and they’re driving carelessly, throwing him around the backseat. The movements mean that his wrists are hitting the small barbs in the handcuffs that inject a small amount of quirk suppressant into his body, but it hurts so bad.
He’s been called a traitor, a villain, a bitch, and more, and they’re not even at the station yet. That’s where they told Aizawa-Sensei they were taking him, anyway. He resists a shiver at Sensei’s image running through this head. Aizawa has always said he believed in treating villains correctly. He’d said that they shouldn’t treat them like they were good people, but to try and remember that they had a reason for what they did, that they weren’t to be treated like scum. So why were these cops acting like he was?
Finally, the car pulls into somewhere. Izuku’s dragged out of the car roughly, causing his wrists to be snagged on the cuffs again. It hurt like hell, and Izuku bent his head down to see if it was bleeding, only looking up when he saw stairs beneath his feet. He’d never been downstairs in the police station before. He hadn’t even known the police station had a downstairs.
He wasn’t sure where they were taking him, and that was absolutely terrifying.
“Ten?”
Tenya nodded, looking up from his book,
“Yes, Momo?”
“It’s been a day. Time to confer. Are you in?”
“Anything to get him back, Mo. You know that.”
Izuku was so tired. It had already been so long, and they hadn’t let him keep his watch, so he had no way of tracking time. He’s sitting in an unfamiliar investigation room. Across from him is a window, currently one-way, so he can’t see anyone but himself, but he can see himself, and honestly, he looks like shit. They told him that he wouldn’t get food ‘til he’d confessed, but when he asked what he was supposed to confess to, the two men had laughed and left him saying, “You know what you are,”.
Momo looked at each her classmates in turn before speaking. “Okay so, I have nine days until I get my license. Let’s talk about court trials. What’s our goal here? Who are we targeting?”
Mina raised a hand.
“Aizawa?”
“Don’t we want to target more than just Aizawa-Sensei?” asked Kirishima, “We would want to go bigger, like the management of UA... but that would be-”
Shouto cut him off, looking awake for the first time this week, “The Public Hero Safety Commission.”
“Momo,” started Tsu, looking skeptical, “Do you really think we could take down the Commission all by ourselves? We’re just a class of teenagers.”
“F uck yeah , we can take down the Commission.”
Izuku wanted Ochako. Or Shouto. Or Tenya. Or Tsu. Kacchan. Hitoshi. Eijirou. Momo. Denki. Kyoka. Mezou. Hanta. Mina. Mashiro. Toru. Fumikage. Kouji. Rikido. Yuga. Anyone, really. He wants his family back. Today the guards start hitting him. They do every time he doesn’t confess. They finally tell him what he’s here for, too. They think he’s the traitor. That he’s selling his classmate’s analysis papers to the League. That he stole information from Nezu himself because his analysis is good. He’s not sure why they think that. He just knows he wants it to stop.
“Wasn’t there that detective?” Mashiro asks day, out of the blue, when they’re all gathered in the common room, looking into cases with child endangerment charges.
“Detective?” Denki echoes, confused, “What does that have to do with the case?”
Mashiro shakes his head. “The... c’mon, he was there after the USJ attack.. Tsuki? Tsuka? He has a truth quirk.”
“Detective Tsucauchi?” Kyoka asks, ”What does he have to do with anything? Izuku was taken by the police three days ago, what’s the detective going to help?”
“Uh, Momo, correct me if I’m wrong, but Tsukauchi is assigned to all UA cases?” Hitoshi asks her, seemingly understanding what Mashiro is saying.
“Yeah, I think he is?” Momo replies, still lost.
“So why is Deku still at the station?” asks Katsuki slowly, “If they have the lie detector bitch, why isn’t Deku back here?” he asks, saying what they’re all wondering.
Momo comes to the conclusion af the same time her classmates do. “They’re holding him against his will,” she says out loud. “That’s so fucking illegal.”