[MHA Characters are test subjects in a secret, underground lab (part eight) When Shinso comes down to the lab, measures must be taken to ensure that he can't use his ability to escape.]

"What goin' on?" Shinso Hitoshi, eighteen months old and only just starting to walk and form sentences, was terrified.

A stranger had come into his house, and made his parents fall down, and then took him away. He tried to fight back. He struggled, kicking and screaming. He begged the stranger, "Why doin' this? Stop!" but the stranger never said a word. The stranger wouldn't obey him. The stranger strapped Shinso into a carseat in a black car and drove away, and Shinso's meaty toddler hands couldn't undo the latch. He couldn't escape. He cried and he cried, but even that didn't get the stranger to say a word, not even to tell him to shut up.

Forever later, the car stopped, and the stranger unbuckled the still crying Shinso's carseat and pulled him out. Shinso was crying too hard to see his surroundings, but if he could have looked around, he would have seen a medium sized, nondescript building with a woman standing in front who had long black hair and green eyes, a woman whom he would later get to know as Miss Inko. As the strange man got closer to the strange woman, Shinso finally saw her.

"I did everything you instructed ma'am, never spoke a word," the strange man said. "Wasn't easy with the kid wailing in the back like this the whole drive here."

"Thank you," the stranger woman said, and Shinso saw her give the strange man a paper box, and then the strange man handed him over to the strange woman, and opened the paper box to look inside, where there was more paper. "It's all there. You're paid in full."

The strange man nodded, and headed back to his car, and the strange woman took Shinso into the strange building which seemed completely empty, and she carried him to a small room with sliding doors and there were buttons inside, and when she pressed some of the buttons, the room started to move. It moved down and down and down. Shinso didn't stop crying. Like the strange man, the strange woman didn't speak a word to him.

The ride in the little moving room was long, and even though he was still scared, Shinso eventually cried himself out. When he stopped crying, the woman put him down, but held his hand really tightly so he couldn't pull it away. He tried to ask what was happening, but no matter what he said or did, the strange woman refused to speak to him. His terror and dread mounted and before the room stopped moving, he was crying again.

When the room stopped moving and the doors slid open, there was a long hallway, and the strange woman dragged him forcefully past doors and through an open area and into another hallway and then into a room where she made him sit in a chair while straps held him still and another stranger poked his arm with a needle until there was something drawn there, a line and a circle, and then put a bandage over it. Then she changed him into blue and white clothes, and on the clothes was the same line and circle they'd drawn on his arm with the needle. Finally, after forever, with tears streaming down his face, she dragged him into a room full of kids his age, who quickly lined themselves up. The the woman spoke, but not to him, to the others.

"This is Subject 10. You are not allowed to speak to him for any reason," she ordered. "Do you understand?"

"Yes Miss Inko," the other children chorused and the strange woman left Shinso in the room and closed the door behind her. The kids crowded around him, not speaking, just like the strange woman had told them to. They pointed to the shapes they had on their own clothes for some reason. Some of them had a line like his, or a circle like his, one boy had a line and a circle, but they were backwards. A boy with yellow hair patted him on the back while he cried.

A little while later, more strangers put him inside a weird, round, clear box. They put a weird mask on his face, and it was connected to a tube, and then they sealed the box and it started filling up with water, except the water was too thick, and too green to be regular water.

Shinso panicked as the strange water rose up to his ankles, his knees, his belly. He looked around and saw the same thing was happening to the other children, but they seemed calm. Not happy, but it seemed like they'd all done this before and knew how it worked. Shinso didn't know anything. No one was telling Shinso anything.

A sound broke through Shino's panic, like a knock on a window. When he turned to it, he saw the boy with yellow hair in the clear, oddly-shaped box next to him. The yellow haired boy waved at him and smiled, although it was hard to see the smile clearly with the mask on his face. The boy stuck his hand in the green water and used it to draw something on the clear surface. It was just lines and squiggles and Shinso couldn't begin to figure out what it was, but seeing it calmed him down a little.

The water was up to his chest, his shoulders, his neck, he was starting to float in it. Shinso squeezed his eyes shut, and soon enough the water had engulfed him completely. Even though the mask on his face gave him air, it was hard to breathe underwater. A sweet smell like cotton candy was the last thing Shinso noticed before he was out like a light.

The next morning Shinso woke up sitting on the floor of his clear box and the water had almost completely drained away. More water started to rain down from the top of the box, but this water was clear and clean, not like the gooey stuff that had filled the box before. He looked over to see if the boy with the yellow hair was still there; he was. He had taken off his clothes and was cleaning himself with the water falling from the top of his own box. When he noticed Shinso looking, he scrubbed his yellow hair more forcefully as if to say "this is how you do it!"

Shinso peeled off his new blue clothes and followed the other boy's example, rubbing his body and his face and his hair until the water stopped and soap fell on his head instead. He looked over with an unhappy expression and saw the boy with yellow hair laughing at him and demonstrating how to wash himself again. Shinso scrubbed and scrubbed and when the water started again he rinsed and rinsed and then the water stopped and the box blew warm air at him really hard until all the water had drained away and Shinso was dry.

Finally, the box opened up, and Shinso climbed out, and there was another set of blue clothes, identical to the ones he'd been given before which he put on. He looked around and saw all the other kids doing the same. Once they were both dressed, the boy with the yellow hair took Shinso by the hand and led him gently through a door and into a room where there were two tables with bowls laid out on them. Each of the chairs had symbols drawn on them, and Shinso recognized the line and circle that was on his clothes and his arm, as well as the circle and loop-de-loop on the yellow-haired boy's clothes.

"Since I'm 09 and you're 10, we're gonna sit next to each over," the boy whispered to Shinso, clearly trying not to be heard by anyone else. He climbed up onto a chair and patted the chair next to him.

"Yur oh nine?" Shinso repeated, the boy with the yellow hair nodded brightly and pointed to the symbols on his shirt. Shinso clambered onto his own chair and looked into the bowl in front of him. Thick, light brown paste stared back at him. Glancing to the side he saw the same stuff in 09's bowl, and in all the other bowls, except for one boy who's food was darker, and there was a piece of paper next to it that he was looking at with a watery frown. "Wha's this?"

"Food," 09 whispered. His eyes went white, his cheerful expression slackened, and Shinso jolted back in a panic.

"No, wake up!" Shinso grabbed his shoulders and shook him to bring him back. That happened to his parents sometimes, and they would just do whatever he said, but he didn't want 09 to do whatever he said; he wanted 09 to tell him what he was supposed to do.

"Oh, weird," 09 said, shaking his head as the color faded back into his eyes until they were their natural yellow. His face scrunched up for a moment and then he picked up his spoon and said, "You should eat if you wanna have energy for training."

Shinso wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, or what the training was for, but if he asked, 09 might go white-eyed again and that wouldn't be helpful at all. Instead, he picked up his spoon and scooped the brown paste into his mouth, grimacing. It was grainy, and tasted like how he expected brown paste to taste like, not totally gross, but he didn't like it, either. His tummy growled for more, very hungry, and Shinso ate as much as he could.

Once everyone was done eating, 09 grabbed Shinso's hand and made him stand in line with everyone. A door opened, and the other kids started walking single-file through it and into a hallway, and through another door into another hallway. There were lots of doors and hallways in this place, and they all looked exactly the same to Shinso. Nervous, he gripped the back of his new friend's shirt so he wouldn't get lost.

They went through one last door and Shinso's eyes widened. This room didn't look the same as everywhere else! There were bright colors in this room, and he smiled at them. His mommy had taught him all about colors, there was blue like the sky, and yellow like his favorite blanket, and green like the grass, and orange like fallen leaves, and Shinso immediately decided that he liked this room much better than any of the other rooms.

"Morning kiddos!" said a tall person cheerfully. Shinso couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl because they had long hair like his mommy, but they had a mustache and glasses like his daddy. "Have a seat. I've got a special announcement to make."

"That's Mister Hizashi," 09 whispered, once Shinso had clamored onto the cushion next to him. "He teaches us language. He's so cool."

"We're gonna be learning a new language today!" Mister Hizashi said. "Isn't that exciting? It's called sign language, and its a language you speak with your hands, so you don't have to use your mouth. It's also completely silent." He stage-whispered the last word for dramatic effect and a couple of the more enthusiastic students gasped or giggled.

"I was planning on teaching you later on, but Miss Inko said I should start teaching you kids sign language starting today because of our new friend." He nodded to Shinso with a smile then he started to move his hands as he spoke, giving them their first example of sign language. "Nice to meet you, 10! I'm Mister Hizashi."

Mister Hizashi didn't say as much, but he didn't actually know why he had to teach sign language because of Shinso. The boy was neither deaf nor mute, and didn't seem to know sign language already, so he was a little confused. He hadn't been told about Shinso's ability or how it worked.

They started with how to finger-spell in Japanese Sign Language. Shinso didn't yet know how to regular spell. Unlike the rest of the kids, he didn't know how to read or write yet, and was only just figuring out how to speak. Because they were learning a whole new language, Mister Hizashi instructed them to speak out loud as little as possible, and practice their sign language instead of speaking aloud.

For about two months they focused on sign language exclusively. Even in Shinso's remedial classes where Mister Hizashi taught reading and writing one-on-one, they almost never spoke out loud except to read passages from books. The intensive sign language training came to Shinso pretty quickly, and since he knew so few spoken words, Japanese Sign Language became Shinso's first language for all intents and purposes.

Everyone at the lab was overly careful around him. Even the grown ups who didn't know sign language didn't speak to him. It took him a while to notice, but there was always a grown up staring at him, no matter where or when. Keeping a silent, watchful eye on him. It gave him the creeps.

Shinso was basically integrated into all the lessons and experiments and things by the first month, except for one thing. Except for 20, all the other kids had special training to work on their special powers. 09 could make lighting from his body, and 16 could make his skin get hard, and 17 could turn silver-colored, and 14 could make her hands get really big. They were so cool. Shinso wasn't part of that training though. Probably because, like 20, he didn't have a special power like they had.

One day however, once Shinso—or rather Subject 10 by this point, as he'd all but forgotten his real name—had become mostly fluent in Japanese sign language, Mister Hizashi escorted him into a testing room, where two grown ups were standing. Once of them was Mister Enji, the other was a man in a red vest and safety goggles whom he didn't recognize.

"Why am I here?" he signed.

"Miss Inko said it was time to test your abilities," Mister Hizashi answered. "Her instructions say you are supposed to ask the man in the red vest a question, then when he responds, tell him to do something simple." 10 nodded, face scrunched up in confusion.

"How are you?" he signed.

"You have to ask out loud," Mister Enji said gruffly. "None of that sign language crap. It won't work like that." Mister Hizashi cocked his head, just as confused, but said nothing, hands remaining still at his sides.

"How you?" 10 asked. He had not yet mastered the grammatical nuances of spoken language. In sign language that would have been completely correct, but Mister Enji let out a single malicious laugh at his broken speech.

"I'm well," said the man in the red vest. His eyes went white, his face and muscles slackened.

"Sit," 10 told him and the man in the red vest sat on the floor. The boy's eyes widened in surprise. It had been so long that he'd pretty much forgotten he could even do that.

"Tell him to do something else," Mister Enji demanded.

"Stand." The man in the red vest stood. Mister Hizashi stared in horror, but not for the reasons one might think. He was used to knowing everything that went on in the lab, but Inko had kept this from him, and in doing so had made him an accomplice to her manipulative schemes.

"Tell him to do something else," Mister Enji barked again.

"Spin." The man turned in circles. "Stop." He stopped. "Jump high!" He jumped. He landed heavily on the floor, the impact just jarring enough to shake him out of the mind control. His eyes went back to brown and he stared at the kid, terrified, and took a step back.

"I can't believe this," Hizashi said. "This is why Inko made me teach sign language as soon as he showed up? That heinous witch! That's horrible! That's oppressive education and she made me take part! That vile manipulator!"

"Mister Hizashi?" 10 signed, looking up cautiously at his fuming teacher. "What's wrong?"

"I'm such an idiot," he muttered to himself. Then he crouched down next to 10 with a sad smile. "Don't worry. I'll fix it." The boy nodded uncertainly, trusting Mister Hizashi's words, but not fully understanding them.

Mister Enji barked more orders at 10, telling him to speak louder, give more complex commands. Again. Again. Again. He tried to keep up, but he wasn't used to verbal communication anymore. His throat started to hurt, and he couldn't articulate very well. He didn't know how to give complex commands and when he tried, Mister Enji scoffed or jeered and told him he sounded like a Neanderthal. He didn't even know what a Neanderthal was but he could tell that it wasn't good.

Every time the man in the red vest came back to his senses he looked more and more uncomfortable. He looked disgusted and horrified, and 10 was hurting him and he didn't want to hurt him, and he didn't want to force him to do anything more, but Mister Enji made him do it again, and the man in the red vest kept responding to him, and 10 wished that he wouldn't. Mister Hizashi was there the whole time, he patted 10's head and tried to comfort him. He didn't like this either, but he couldn't do anything to stop it, not with Mister Enji there.

When the session was finally over, and Mister Enji and the man in the red vest left, 10 was in tears. He latched desperately onto Mister Hizashi, who picked him up and held him tight, whispering comforts that 10 could barely understand. The boy just wanted everything to be quiet again, no more talking out loud, no more questions or answers, no more orders. He covered his ears and cried as quietly as he could. Mister Hizashi stopped whispering.

The next day, in language class, Mister Hizashi made another announcement. Once they were in their seats he said (and simultaneously signed), "Starting today, you will no longer be required to communicate in only sign language. We'll still be learning it, but yesterday something came to light that made me very angry. Miss Inko had me teach you kids sign language for bad reasons. She wanted to alienate and control 10 by not letting anyone speak to him."

"What's alienate?" 10 asked, copying the sign, rather than the spoken word. His throat was still sore from before and he was afraid to speak, even if it wasn't.

"Alienate means to separate someone from a group and be unfriendly to them, usually because they are different from the rest of the group," Mister Hizashi explained gently. "Miss Inko was afraid of your ability, so she had me teach sign language so no one would talk to you."

"That's not very nice!" 09 screeched, slamming his hand down on the table. Electricity arced between his fingers, accidentally zapping 13, who was sitting next to him.

"Ouch!" she jerked her hand away, rubbing it tenderly. "You're right, but be careful 09!"

"Sorry... It's stupid to be afraid of 10's abilities!" 09 continued. "She's not afraid of anyone else's. I can't even control mine yet and she's not afraid of me!"

"I agree," Mister Hizashi said, knowing full well that Miss Inko had a healthy fear of all the children and took steps to keep them all contained. However, rubber insulation and obscenely thick walls were very different from forcing silence on a child just beginning to speak.

"I still think it's good for you all to be able to use sign language, and I think 10 might be more comfortable using it himself," he gave 10 a sympathetic glance, remembering the trauma the boy had been subjected to the day before, "but you shouldn't be learning something just so you can use it to hurt someone."

"Yeah!" 09 cheered. He'd always hated sign language anyway. 09 didn't like things to be too quiet because his mind wandered easily. "We don't want to alienate you 10. You're our friend!" He smiled brightly at 10, the same way he'd been doing since the boy first arrived.

They started talking again, insisting on speaking out loud to ten out of solidarity. They wanted to show Miss Inko that they were braver than she was, and that 10 was nothing to be scared of. 10 learned how to combine speaking and sign language so that he didn't accidentally use his ability on his friends. As he got older, he learned how to ask questions aloud without entrapping someone to bend to his will. He only used sign language out of habit, even when speaking aloud, until eventually that habit faded as well.

During the years that followed, Shinso would not remember any of this, except in his nightmares, where vestiges of what used to be lingered in the shadows of what still was. Where his was the only voice, and it ricocheted off the ears of dangerous strangers who refused to speak no matter what he said, as Shinso's mind terrorized itself to sleep.

[This took longer than I expected it to. I would have liked to have it done much sooner, but I've been preoccupied. I'm thinking maybe Kaminari next?? Or maybe Bakugo and then Kirishima? I want to update those two pretty close to each other, but I don't know when I'll be able to make that happen, so I guess we'll see. Love y'all.

<3 Raaor!]