Chapter 21: Network Revealed

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya was a planner. He always had been and since he'd started the Zero Network it had become ingrained in his very soul to plan for every single incident he could think of. His backup plans had backup plans and each backup had contingencies and alternatives. There was a way this was supposed to go. He was supposed to call Nova who would contact his lawyer and alert all the Zeroes to lay low. Alternate identities had already been prepared for all the former Zeroes in case they were compromised and every member of the Network was ready to run at a moment's notice.

He would work to mitigate the fallout with his lawyer, playing off his knowledge of the missing individuals or taking the fall for withholding vital information. Izuku was prepared to keep his silence from a jail cell if that's what needed to happen to keep the Network going. He wouldn't let his freedom be the cost of their lives. He hadn't planned for Nova going rogue.

His lawyer showed up, a serious woman named Hina who happened to be the older sister of a Zero they had relocated after a hate crime had almost cost him his legs. Hina had raised her brother and was overjoyed when he found a way out of his life that kept him alive. She had been the first quirked person to join the Network's ranks since it was started and she would do anything in her power to keep it afloat.

They sat across from Aizawa and Tsukauchi in the interrogation room, both men looking like they wanted no part of this. Tsukauchi had gone through the required disclosure of his quirk and telling them they were being recorded before he started the questioning. "Are you connected in any way to the disappearances of these quirkless people?"

Izuku took a deep breath while he looked at the pictures laid out on the table. The detective's quirk worked by identifying if a person believed what they were saying. The people in those pictures weren't quirkless anymore. "No."

Tsukauchi frowned, "True. Have you seen or talked to any of these people since they went missing?"

He couldn't lie to that, he'd already given that away before coming to the station. "Yes."

"True. Where are these people now?"

Izuku kept the smirk off his face, the wording was too ambiguous. "I have no idea." He didn't, they could be anywhere right now and he wasn't actively tracking them.

"True. What do you know about the circumstances leading up to the disappearances of these individuals?"

He didn't even need to pause, he'd figured that would come up at some point. "They were tired of the way society treats the quirkless and wanted out. They disappeared of their own free will and are in no danger."

Tsukauchi's frown lines were going to be very prominent after this. "True. Midoriya, how could all these people have disappeared with no trace and be in no danger? If they were out there living their lives there would be records of that."

Izuku shrugged, "There are plenty of ways to go off the grid and they utilize them."

"True. Now, in order to go off the grid or to stay that way, were any crimes committed?"

That made Izuku freeze for a second, they'd committed several crimes and technically still were since living under a fake identity was a crime. He opened his mouth, planning on admitting they had and refusing to elaborate. He would go down for it, but they wouldn't be able to find them and he was okay with that. Then a loud noise sounded from the pocket of every adult in the room.

Confused they all pulled out their phones with mumbled apologies having thought they'd silenced them. Then they realized it was coming from each phone and tensed, something weird was going on and Izuku was just as confused. The screens lit up and Nova appeared on each phone. Izuku felt his stomach drop, this wasn't part of the plan.

Red eyes stared out from their screens and Nova started speaking, "Hello Japan! Don't bother trying to turn your computer, phone, or TV off. I'm on every channel on every device and you're all going to listen to what we have to say for once."

Aizawa was standing now, clearly ready to take action even if he had no idea how. Nova continued, "My name is Tenko Shimura and I am quirkless. I've had it a lot better than most of my people, my grandmother was a hero with the power and resources to keep me from the worst of the treatment Zeroes face. That's what we're going to talk about today, the mistreatment of our people."

"We gave ourselves the name Zero, because that's how many fucks we give about the opinions of quirked people. But thats also how many fucks you seem to give about us. The life expectancy of a Zero is twenty years old. Because you beat us down with words and fists. You keep jobs from us and deny us medical treatment and you riot when one of us dares to enter a hero school."

All eyes in the room snapped to Izuku but Tenko kept going. "Izuku Midoriya is already a hero. He has been since he created the Zero Network and for the last five years we have been working to better the lives of Zeroes everywhere and it was all because a quirkless boy got tired of our people killing themselves or dying at the hands of bigots who would never face justice for their crimes."

"We work as information brokers for heroes and help them protect the very people who would see us dead. We have been giving new identities to Zeroes who can't live with the hatred you all hold for them just for existing. Yes, that means we committed crimes in the process, hacking, identity fraud, and the like. But it was that or live with the knowledge that the world hates you until you die and no one grieves for you. Now our hero is in a police station, prepared to go to prison for our freedom and we won't stand for it. Because we are Zeroes and we protect our own."

The image of Tenko faded and another face replaced them. "Hello! My name is Aimi and I'm a Zero, or I was until Izuku got me a fake identity with a fake quirk. Now I have a job as a nurse where I take care of babies in intensive care. That wouldn't have been possible if Izuku hadn't offered me a second chance." The young woman took a shaky breath before she continued. "I scraped through nursing school, my teachers gave me incorrect grades and pretended to lose assignments to try to get me to drop out. I made it through on spite and determination, but no hospital would hire me."

Tears were gathering in her eyes now. "Several interviewers who actually brought me in instead of just never giving me a chance laughed in my face and asked why I thought I could ever amount to anything. I couldn't even get a retail job, I ended up living on the streets and eating food from dumpsters and I was ready to take my own life. Then I got a new one and within a month I had a great job and an apartment. I get to save lives and it's all thanks to Izuku."

Aizawa had sat back down, trying to process what he was hearing and Tsukauchi looked shocked. Another face took over the screen, a man in his sixties appearing. "My name is Minato and I'm a Zero. I was living in an abandoned building and working three shitty jobs being paid less than the minimum wage, sometimes not getting paid at all. Any complaints to the authorities or my employers went ignored, a quirkless should just be glad to have a job."

The run down look on his face tugged at Izuku's heart as he kept talking, "I was fired from one of my jobs when a customer complained that they didn't want a diseased quirkless serving them. On my way home a customer that had seen it happen pulled me into an alley and stabbed me five times. I barely survived and the recovery time cost me my other jobs. I was too old to find another job willing to overlook my quirklessness and I was prepared to starve alone and uncared about. Then Izuku offered me a new life and now I have an office job that hired an old man with a weak quirk no problem. I make enough to support myself and I have enough free time to volunteer at the homeless shelter so I can help other people avoid the life I was living."

A familiar face popped up on the screen and Izuku wanted to throw up. How could Yagi jeopardize Shinso's future by coming forward? "My name is Yagi and I'm a Zero." Tsukauchi was frozen, pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. "I was sick and dying. My illness was treatable, but legally doctors aren't required to give treatment to a quirkless person so I was going to die because of the hatred of our people. Izuku gave me a new identity and I got my treatment and I'm going to live for a long time. I was able to adopt my son who is a hero student at UA and that would have never been possible as a Zero. We aren't allowed to adopt as we are considered unfit to care for a quirked child. I have a family because of Izuku."

The screen changed and Loud Cloud was grinning up at them. "I'm Oboro, or Loud Cloud if you prefer. I'm not a Zero, but Izuku was my intern and I can attest that he is a hero better than most I've seen. He cares about everyone, even the people who hate him for something he can't control. Izuku is a hard worker and a determined person who shouldn't spend the rest of his life in jail for breaking laws just to save people the law wouldn't protect."

A flicker and Nezu was staring out from the screen. "I am Nezu and I'm not even human! Izuku Midoriya is one of the brightest humans I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Midoriya is brilliant, kind, and hasn't let his mistreatment or the mistreatment of his people turn him bitter. He wants to make the world a better place and he can't do that from a cell."

Now the Todoroki family was looking at them, "I'm Shouto Todoroki and this is my family." Waves and smiles from everyone but Dabi who simply stared at the camera. "Izuku was the only person who saw that my father, Endeavor, was abusing his family and his power as a hero and did something about it. He got my father to leave us alone and have my mother released from the mental hospital she didn't need to be in. Izuku reunited us with the brother we thought was dead and made us a family. If that is the person you want to throw in jail, then I can't continue on the path to become a hero. Saving people who can't see what an amazing person Izuku is isn't something I want to do."

The biggest surprise so far was seeing Hawks take over the screen. "I'm Hawks. I've never met Izuku, but I've heard about the boy who saved my boyfriend from a life on the streets. I want to meet him as a free man so I can thank him for giving the love of my life the chance to meet me. Throwing a boy like him in jail would be the real crime."

Sero smiled sheepishly at them, "My name is Sero and I hated Midoriya. I had believed the nonsense fed to us about quirkless people. Then I got to know him and I realized he was so much better than any quirked person I've ever met. You will never meet someone more heroic than him. He saved my sister and forgave me for everything i'd done or said to him and if you don't let him go free so he can become a hero, the world will be a lesser place."

Tenko appeared back on the screen. "Izuku Midoriya should go free. All crimes he committed were to save lives when you wouldn't. Pardon him and help us change the world so these crimes will no longer be necessary. If you need more proof of the good he's done go to the Zero Revolution website. We've opened it to the public so you can see for yourselves the kind of things Izuku has saved us from. Make the right choice, let him go."

Izuku was crying, he'd never expected any of this. He never would have thought so many people would be willing to speak on his behalf. It may not be enough to save him, it may even make things worse for him, but Izuku could live the rest of his life happy knowing so many people considered him their hero.