Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I don't know how courts work… that well. This is a result of searching the internet several times, but I hope I at least made this scene interesting.

Anyways, I was bored, so I wrote this basically directly after the last chapter.

-SpiritOfErebus

"I've gone over your witness lists." the trio of judges said. "Most of your picks were identical. However, All Might was a rather… interesting pick for both of you. However, there was one place where your choices differed."

"Where?" the two lawyers asked at once, despite already knowing the answer.

"Hans Christian Andersen."

"Hans Christian Andersen is a critical part of this case." the defending lawyer said. "His speech, according to the police reports, was what made my clients defend the students."

"He is much too biased to be a witness!" the prosecuting lawyer almost shouted. "Look at his statements! They're clearly biased towards the defendant."

"That's no reason to deny a very key witness in this, though." the defending lawyer replied. "If a family member gets murdered and another member of the family witnessed the whole thing, do you not call them up as a witness?"

"You're just extremifying the situation!"

"And a villain attack with the intent to kill all of them wasn't extreme? Just because nobody died doesn't mean that-"

"Silence." the judges said. "We have made our decision."

…

"Hans Christian Andersen got called as a witness, huh?" the Hero Association's president said. "This… is not good."

Twirling her blond hair, she looked out of the windows. "With forces like the Meta Liberation Army lurking in the shadows, we can only guess as to how they will utilize this court case to further their platform."

"Is there any way we can stop the court case, then?"

"There is." the president said, turning around and looking at her associates. "And we can stop this Hans Christian Andersen once and for all."

"You're not saying… Assassination?"

"Have our operatives claim to be with the League of Villains, and then kill both the villains that defected, and also get rid of Hans Christian Andersen as collateral. His combat ability is still… negligible, to say the least, according to the teacher reports. He's barely exerted himself in his quirk training class."

"...There's no changing your mind, is there?"

"If he keeps on speaking, more of the flaws in hero society will be shown, and eventually, he'll be the figurehead for the downfall of it. And more importantly, without heroes, society will fall into chaos. This trial is being broadcast across Japan, too, so anything he says will be spread across this country like wildfire."

"I mean, he does say that heroes would still exist." a board member argued. "They'd just focus less on fame and more on stopping crime if they were incorporated into the police force. We won't lose our jobs."

"And because of the reduced presence of heroes in their lives, ordinary citizens will feel less safe. Villains will start acting more and more boldly, and with All Might on his way to retirement and a reduced number of fresh heroes because of the lack of prestige… This isn't even about ourselves anymore."

"We could be looking at the beginning of anarchy…"

"Indeed." the president said, looking back out of the window again, from the tall windows of the Hero Association headquarters. "Which is why, even if it's wrong… we must do it, for the balance of society…and for the greater good."

…

"Amidst the tumultuous outcome of the USJ attack, we are here to report on the decision of the Musutafu District Court. This would be a monumental case, as we are here today to question: What is Villainy? And how will the villains that infiltrated the USJ with the goal to kill children face in the legal system after some saved the lives of class 1A of the hero course? This is their story."

Rikiya Yotsubashi, more popularly (or discretely, given the secrecy of the existence of the Meta Liberation Army) known as Re-Destro, rubbed his forehead as he felt his stress slowly accumulate.

It was like a dark weight. An oppressive mist that clouded the back of his mind and pushed him to act. To release the weight that piled on his shoulders.

But this wasn't a problem that could be solved with violence. Or marshaling the forces that he had amassed over the years.

This… was a matter of public opinion. The USJ attack had been devastating for the MLA. It showed the consequences of unchecked quirk usage, and how one single group could even mount an attack on the most secure facilities in Japan.

"Ah, public opinion." he sighed, "The most powerful and dangerous of the battlefields."

But with the existence of the blue-haired child that had inspired his change, that had started his protests and had now given a speech in favor of his cause… It had exposed yet another societal disease.

Discrimination based on quirk, not based on whether you had a quirk or not.

After all, the illusion of all men being equal had been shattered completely and utterly with the introduction of quirks and the troubled century. In his youth, he could still remember the days where whispers of an all-powerful villain lurked the shadows, and was beaten back by All Might. When the previous Meta Liberation Army was persecuted and defeated in their own attempt to liberate quirks.

If they lost this case, the public would never accept that quirk use by anybody but a hero was a crime. They would never open their eyes to the circumstances they forced upon the less fortunate.

"Are our lawyers there yet?" Re-Destro said, fidgeting with his green-striped black suit nervously. "Have they gone through the crowd of reporters?"

"Yes, sir." his secretary said, nervously standing off to the side. He understood that it was probably himself that was causing the nerves, but he wasn't in the right state of mind to say.

"Turn on the live coverage of the court case." Re-Destro said. "I need to see this."

"...And what if we lose, sir?"

"Then maybe our movement was doomed to fail." Re-Destro sighed. "With All Might present, no violent revolution could take place in this age."

"We must have confidence, then." his secretary said. "For the Army."

"No." Re-Destro said. "We must have confidence in the average civilian to be able to comprehend what they've done."

…

Rikasakusei rubbed his grayish skin and scarred features gently with his oversized fingers. It had already been seventeen days since the USJ, but he still felt like it had happened yesterday.

Standing with the villainous crowd in a fit of desperation was easy, but standing against it was like standing in the face of a tide. Sometimes, he would still dream of the knives. The screeches of that terrible creature. The crackling electricity of his strangely frankenstein-themed heteromorph quirk. The scene of the blue-haired kid drinking somebody else's blood just to stay upright.

But that was over. Now, he had a worse nightmare.

A court case.

It was hard to find a presentable suit that still fit him, considering the fact that he had been off the job market for several years now.

He hadn't even gone home, considering the fact that he, along with the rest of the group that stepped up to defend the kids, had been in police custody during the past two weeks where the court system was preparing a jury… or something like that. Rikasakusei was many things, but a law student was not one of them.

The two weeks in police custody were… actually pretty good. He had gained a couple of pounds due to his low-maintenance constitution and the pork chops with rice that they were constantly given as food. Keeping the rest of his compatriots in line, however, was pretty difficult, especially considering the fact that most of them were, to say the least, braindead.

He didn't even know the teenager with gun fingers that well, but he insisted on calling him "big bro" and constantly badmouthed the police. It was only because of his apparent authority over the group of fifteen that they managed to remain civil and not destroy anything within the charitable conditions of police custody.

They didn't even have to wear handcuffs. They were just… in the cells, given the fact that none of them actually wanted to escape, even if fresh air was tempting.

However, there was a serious question to be asked.

"Why are you even helping me?" he said to the lawyer that was also sent to represent them by some company named Detnerat, a lifestyle support equipment manufacturer for heteromorphs. "Why are we worthy of your attention?"

The lawyer looked from left to right within the empty halls that were kept free of reporters for the two to converse.

"We're actually part of the Meta Liberation Army, a group advocating against the restriction of quirk use for the general public." the lawyer muttered. "Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen, we've taken up non-violent protests, and your attack on the USJ was… rather inconvenient for us."

"Then why are you helping me?" Rikasakusei said, his voice deep and loud. Slowly, he stood up to his full height of about seven feet and towered over the rather short lawyer.

"Because people need to know your story!" the lawyer said fervently. "Most civilians live in an illusion created by heroes: that there are just inherently evil people trying to destroy society for no reason. The truth is that most villains are just victims of circumstance, right? Like you and your group. You've even acquired a GED, right? But you couldn't get a job anywhere."

"Yeah." Rikasakusei sighed. "I couldn't. And what would happen if you won our court case? You wouldn't do this if it didn't benefit your cause somehow."

"If we win this case, then people will understand more about villainy, and how quirk use does not impact villainy at all. It's the attitude of society, and Japan's judgmentalism and strict social rules that cause people such as yourself to be alienated. People that have been discriminated against based on looks or inconvenient quirks only turn to villainy because of the lack of options!"

"...Passionate, aren't you?" Rikasakusei said.

"Indeed." the lawyer said, much less fervently. "But I didn't come up with this by myself. Hans Christian Andersen, the blue-haired kid at USJ, said all of this."

"He… he did?" Rikasakusei stuttered. "And out in the public, not as an attempt to stall us? A hero student would say something like that?"

"Yeah." the lawyer said. "And that's what makes him all the more admirable. Part of the upper echelon of UA students, yet willing to look past the gilded cage that heroes have created. Educated, but not unwilling to overlook the struggles of the impoverished and unfortunate. It's almost like he's lived a life amongst us. To know of failure and rejection from society."

"The case is about to start. Stop praising a small child." Rikasakusei said, regaining his composure. "I… really want to be free of all this, you know? The crime. The villainy."

"Save the speeches for the court, buddy." the lawyer said, trying but failing to pat him on the shoulder.

…

"Hey, Shinso, what are you doing there?" one of his classmates said, leaning over his shoulder and pushing past his frizzy, purple hair to look at his phone. Out of instinct, Shinso almost laid his phone flat, but then realized that here, he wasn't ostracized and blamed by his class because of his quirk. His quirk was still… sort of a secret.

"Just watching that new court case." Shinso said. "It's… pretty interesting."

"Man, I can't believe they're defending villains, right?" his classmate laughed. "Just ship them to Tartarus and have it over with, right?"

"Ha… Ha… Yeah…" Shinso said, his unpracticed smiles slowly slipping back into his default grumpy frown.

"Anyways, good luck preparing for the sports festival, man!" the other student said, putting his arms around Shinso's shoulder. "You can probably beat that unheroic bastard, right?"

"Maybe." Shinso muttered.

"Alright, students." their teacher's voice barked. Yes, quite literally barked, seeing as Hound Dog was their homeroom teacher. "Back to your seats."

Shinso almost sighed in relief as the other student left and he was treated to the silence of the homeroom class. There was nothing to do today. Most people chose to quietly converse with the people next to them, but Shinso returned to watching the opening statements of the court case.

Hopefully, those reformed villains would get off the hook. Well, they never even did anything at the USJ against those students, and actually stepped in to defend them…

What made Shinso more concerned was just… how against the defendants the other students seemed. It was almost like they were blind to the fact that they were human too. That they were people with an innate desire to live and be happy, too.

Just like his middle school.

He would become a better hero than those who shunned the lives of so-called disadvantaged people. That'd show them.

Shaking his head from his disapproving thoughts, he returned to the court case.

…

"Given my inability to handle the biggest villain of the group, I would personally like to thank those people for saving my students." Aizawa said uncomfortably, standing in the witness stand wearing a formal suit, a far cry from his normal attire of a black jumpsuit and his capture scarf.

"And with them infiltrating with the original crowd, do you think that they should be punished for that? A yes or no answer, please." the Hero Association's prosecuting lawyer said, crossing her arms.

"Objection! The prosecutor is limiting the witness statement!" the defending lawyer said defiantly.

"Overruled." the judge said, stony-faced. "The premise of the question is in a valid format. The witness shall answer the question."

"Different circumstances mean-"

"A yes or a no." the lawyer said firmly.

"Yes." Aizawa said, sighing. "But they acted differently in the end, and-"

"Okay, next question!" the lawyer said. "What about the-"

"Just let me talk, woman." Aizawa said menacingly, his eyes glimmering red menacingly.

"This is a witness interview." the lawyer said, not intimidated by Aizawa's soulless stare. "Were you there to see the villains defend the students? Yes, or no?"

"I was unconscious, so-"

"A yes, or a no." the lawyer said firmly.

"Again, I was unconscious."

"Please answer the question, Eraserhead-san." the lawyer said.

Aizawa looked to the ceiling. Why did witness interviews in court have to be such a pain?

…

"Is Thirteen here today?" the Hero Association Lawyer said.

"She isn't available because of her injuries, but she did send in a video message." an attache from the hospital said. "I have it here with me."

As the man in the lab coat stood up and projected the message on the screen, the prosecuting lawyer sighed as she realized it was yet another message in support of the villains that saved the students.

"As I was indisposed by the mist villain's quirk at the time, I was unable to see what was going on from my position on the ground." she wheezed from under the gas mask. "Most of my back had been vaporized by an effect of my own quirk, but- cough, cough."

"Thirteen-san!" the nurse in the professional recording shouted, rushing forward to help her.

"No matter." Thirteen said, coughing, the relatively short locks of her hair still shaking as she writhed on the bed, before stilling. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Anyways… They really played an invaluable role in keeping the students alive. If any of them are present while this message is played, I'd really like to thank them. Thank you for stepping up and protecting our students, even though society had wronged you, as Andersen-kun said in his big speech. I don't think they should be charged for villainy like the rest of the captured villains. They acted like good Samaritans, and as rescue heroes do, they stepped up to save lives."

There was a lot of clapping in the stands with this statement, which wasn't obnoxiously interrupted by lawyers asking for yes or no questions.

The hero association lawyer sighed. These weren't going well for them.

…

"Why yes, I did see the villains fighting to protect my students!" All Might said, wearing a yellow suit and smiling his signature, wide smile. "Even though you were tempted down the path of villainy, I still believe that you made the right choice in the end. Good job, young man!"

All Might extended a thumbs up towards the seven foot tall, scarred, and gray-skinned man sitting in the defendant's chair. Said grown man then proceeded to sob into the sleeve of his suit jacket very noisily and loudly.

(This time, the Hero Association's lawyer didn't have the guts to ask for a yes or no question from All Might, out of all people.)

"However, breaking in was definitely the wrong decision to make." All Might said, his smiling diminishing slightly. "I cannot in good faith say that such an action was done with good intentions."

The prosecution whispered to each other, before nodding. All Might didn't paint the villains in a positive picture this time, at least.

There was still a very good chance for them to win.

And besides, the court case wouldn't matter anymore if all the defendants were dead, right?

…

"Being called in as a witness? Isn't them, well… being this fast… sort of illegal?" Hans said, scratching his head.

"Yes, but according to the internet, being held for over twenty one days without a sentence is… sort of illegal as well. So they expedited the process" Hans's father said, sighing. "At least they'll be waiving the costs for a taxi."

"And I have to go, right?" Hans said, sighing. "Or else, it'll be a felony."

"Yup." his father said. "Now, let's get you a suit and some pepper spray."

"You do know that it's illegal, right?" Hans said, raising an eyebrow. "You can't bring weapons into a courtroom."

"If you can bring quirks into a courtroom, who's going to care about a bit of harmless pepper spray?" his father said, smiling slyly. "Besides, who knows whether or not those villains are going to turn violent again? Even if you say that they've changed, I still don't trust them."

"...If you insist." Hans muttered.

That little speech he gave back at the USJ was causing way too much trouble. Now, he had to trust in Japan's legal system, which has a 99% prosecution rate?

Hans sighed. This was going to be amazing.

But seriously, this was an official government building he was going to. What was he possibly going to use pepper spray for?

"Oh, fuck." Hans cursed. "I'm in a shounen series."

…

AN

Lighten up on the sarcasm there, Hans. I wonder what's happening in the next chapter…

I have a legitimate question, though. Do people still like where this fic is going? All of this socioeconomic things in a shounen/magic thing crossover is a bit of a stretch of both the source material (well, for BNHA they never answered a lot of the society issue questions I think so it's more of a lack of evidence than a lack of problems), and my own writing ability and the ability to make things interesting.

Please leave a review/private message me with ffnet/do something to let me know what you think. This is new territory for me, too! Just look at all the other somewhat generic fics I'm writing.

Discord link: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV

Come roast my writing in the discord server, and follow/fav if you liked the story. It gives me self confidence, something I am in a heavy deficit of.

-SpiritOfErebus