"For starters-" Mr. Principle chirped in shifting in his chair, "-who are you three?"
"We are no one special-" Shiro forced himself to answer, "-we are just a bunch of kids in the wrong place, at the wrong time."
"What does that mean?" Midnight asked, "Why did Shadow Jack target you?"
"He liked us." Shiro said, glaring into the distance as his eyes glassed over being pulled into a broken past he cannot escape from.
"And by that you mean you displayed great promise with your quirks?" Midnight guessed.
"Yeah." Shiro nodded, "He tracked us to our homes, when it was dark he and his Jackers slipped into my house and slaughtered my family with a smile on his face."
"Wh-" Midnight gasped, looking to Aizawa.
"How old were you?" Aizawa brushed off the dark back story.
"Ten." Shiro said, glancing towards his friend. "Gray was a few months older than me, and (y/n) was six."
"S-Six-!?" Midnight breathed, "-as in years old!?"
"That is how age usually works." Shiro muttered.
"How did the heroes and police in your hometowns not get alerted to three missing children?" All Might tightened his fists, feeling like he failed!
"They didn't take us at the same time, a couple months apart in different small towns so suspension wouldn't get raised."
"What did they want with you three?"
"Like I said-" Shiro shrugged his sore shoulders, "-he just liked something about us."
"If Shadow Jack was so taken by your quirks-" Aizawa butted in, "-then why were you three shoved inside that machine?"
The teachers turned to look at Shiro, waiting for the interesting question to be answered.
"Shadow Jack-" All Might trailed off, "-he said it was a punishment. What did you do?"
"More like what didn't we do." Shiro corrected, "He brutally trained us-"
"To do what?" Aizawa pushed.
"Every good villain has exposable tools." Shiro answered as broadly as he could.
"You did his dirty work." Aizawa figured out.
"That's one way to sum it up." Shiro muttered playing with the blanket in his lap.
"So, what changed?" Aizawa took over the interrogation.
"Well..." Shiro trailed off, turning to look at you. "...her."
"Huh?" Midnight and All Might replied together.
"What about her?" Aizawa asked.
"She was the first one of us forced inside that machine." Shiro sorrily went on, "She had had enough during our last mission together."
"What was that mission?" Aizawa pressed even harder.
"To take out the chief of police."
"Wh-What!?"
"Yeah." Shiro nodded, "But she refused."
"Why?" Aizawa replied.
"Because she refused to take a life of an innocent person." Shiro turned looking into Aizawa's eyes. "So, when they couldn't crack her to do what Shadow Jack wanted...they repurposed her."
"Inside the machine to make you into a human battery." Aizawa summed up.
"Yes."
"Did you know about what Shadow Jack was building?"
"No." Shiro shook his head, "We had no idea he was making something like that."
"How did you not know?" Midnight tossed in a question, "If you were one of their-"
"Don't get the wrong idea here-" Shiro lightly laughed, "-we weren't anything but tools to that bastard."
"How so?"
"We didn't hang around waiting for orders, when we weren't being used, we were shoved into a shoe box, sitting alone in a tiny cell for days sometimes even weeks."
"Why?"
"We were...difficult to control." Shiro smirked feeling proud. "So, Shadow Jack locked us up, barely feeding us enough to keep us alive and if we were fed it was stale pieces of bread. If we were lucky, we would get rice or sometimes oatmeal."
"When you were sent out on 'missions'-" Mr. Principle commented, "-why didn't you run then? Find a pro-hero or get to a police station?"
"You think Shadow Jack was stupid enough to release all three of us at once?" Shiro laughed harder. "Nah."
"What do you mean by that?" Midnight wondered.
"What do you think it means." Shiro sneered.
"Why don't you break it down for us?" Aizawa snipped back.
"Shadow Jack trained the lot of us together for a reason." Shiro replied with dulling eyes.
"To use one as a bargaining chip." Mr. Principle realized.
"Yeah." Shiro confirmed. "We were never all let out at the same time, he always kept someone under his thumb. If we didn't complete the mission, that person was beaten, tortured and even killed if we didn't get the job done."
"Wait-" Midnight leaned forward, "-you said killed!?"
"You really thought we were the only three kids Shadow Jack stole and trained?" Shiro's face twisted, "No."
"How many are there?" All Might's heart felt heavy inside his chest, wondering just how many kids were still out there, locked up and petrified out of their minds."
"When that sadistic fuck collected us up, there were a total of sixteen of us."
"Do you know where the others are!?" All Might quickly asked.
"Dead." Shiro involuntarily shivered at his own harsh tone.
"D-Dead?"
"We failed a few times." Shiro glanced over at you.
"Since it seems Shadow Jack was so adamite on you doing his dirty work-" Aizawa stepped over the depressing conversation. "-why waste all that effort by putting you inside that machine? Why not keep threatening one of the kids from your group and force you to keep working?"
"Simple-" Shiro shrugged, "-we are the only ones left from his collection of 'toys'. (y/n), Gray and I were his favorites for a reason."
"And what was that reason?"
"We were the best." Shiro said, "He didn't want to kill us since we completed and survive his training, but after he killed four of our friends back-to-back because we refused to kill the chief of police, that was when he realized we had come to terms with the fact one or all of us would be killed soon."
"So, he put you in the machine." Mr. Principle concluded.
"Yeah."
"I just think it's all to sketchy-" Midnight shook her head, "-Shadow Jack wanted you to do his bidding, so he nearly killed you in his 'training' but decided to waste all that effort by throwing you in a pod."
"It does seem he gave up to easily." Mr. Principle nodded.
"Shadow Jack doesn't seem to have a problem with kidnapping." Midnight added.
"Yeah-" Aizawa agreed, "-why not just steal any old person with a quirk from off the street?"
"Because a person with multiple quirks would be a stronger battery for the machine." Shiro bluntly answered.
"Yo-You-" Midnight uncrossed her arms.
"Wait-" All Might re-stood, "-you have more than one quirk?"
"We all do-" Shiro said, "-we did survive Shadow Jack's training after all."
"What does that mean!?"
"She looked up to you-" Shiro swiftly changed the conversation, locking eyes with the mighty hero.
"H-Huh!?" All Might blinked,
"-(y/n)." Shiro repeated, "I have no doubt in my mind that you are the reason (y/n) found the strength to break through her pod and free us."
"How-" All Might looked over to you. Your head was slightly to the side, you breathed lightly through your mouth.
"For years-" Shiro went on, "-we were forced to do horrible things. Gray nor I could shield (y/n) from Shadow Jack, life was so bleak and dark for such a young girl. I watched life drain out of her eyes as holes were burned into her at just six years old-"
"Oh..." Midnight breathed looking over to you with a twisted face of pain and pity.
"-when we were pulled from our cells, the Jackers dragged us through their little break room where a TV was. I remember the day she first saw you on TV. Even though the Jackers were cussing and throwing trash at the screen your light reached her, I saw hope bloom inside her for the first time in years."
"I-..." All Might was speechless.
"The chance to see you on TV gave her something to look forward too...she believed with everything she had in a hero who would never come to save us."
"All Might may be the symbol of peace-" Aizawa said, "-but he is still just a man. He couldn't have known you needed help; he can't see into the future."
"Then he shouldn't portray that in TV."
"I think this is a good place to end for today-" Mr. Principle hopped off his chair. "-Shiro, you need your rest."
"Whatever." Shiro rolled his eyes as the heroes began to take their leave. "Hey field mouse-" Shiro called, Mr. Principle felt his eye twitch as he turned around. "-you can lock me up and throw away the key for all I care-" Shiro called, "-but let (y/n) and Gray go, they deserve to be free."
"So do you young man." Mr. Principle grinned.