*Shimizu Hada's POV:

"Today is a very important day for us. It is a day where we welcome the experimented people with open arms. Today in the day we acknowledge that this whole time, they were just like us."

I stood behind the curtain as I listened to the new President. A cold sweat ran down my face as I tried to calm my shaking breath. She was finishing up her speech to welcome us into the open arms of "Regular Humans" after being discriminated against for so long. Total bullshit.

"You okay?"

I turned around, Celosia was there, approaching me from behind. She was with Beval, Gaia and Katie.

"I-I am not used to talking on a stage, that's all", I gulped.

"Hey! You're gonna do great. You're gonna go out there and knock em dead," she encouraged as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me into a kiss. My anxiety lessened by seventy percent, but went back up as the kiss broke.

I glared back through the curtain, waiting for her to introduce me. It could happen at any second.

"If it makes you feel any better. We can all get a drink after this. Except for you Katie, you're 20," Beval sneered. We all laughed as Katie shoved him.

"Thanks guys, for coming backstage and encouraging me. I deeply appreciate it," I smiled, a bit teary eyed. I furrowed my eyebrows as I noticed something. "Wait, where's my dad and Hikari? Where's Tyler and everyone else?!"

"Roshni just texted me that she and everyone else are here," Celosia responded.

"They're probably in the large crowd, waiting for you," Gaia spoke up before looking through the curtain. "Which is where we should be right now as a matter of fact! The seats are filling up!"

Grabbing Beval, Katie and Celosia's shoulders, she proceeded to shove them away from me.

"Good Luck Shimizu!", Beval shouted as he looked back at me. Next thing I knew, they were out of my sight of vision, sneaking out from the backstage.

Peaking through the curtain again, I noticed she was finishing up her speech. Only paragraphs away from introducing me to the hundreds of people in the crowd.

My friends in the distance proceeded to sneak in and blend in with the crowd. They scooted by and took their seats next to Hikari, our dad, Danny, Celosia's previous coworker Roshni, and my friend's families.

"Now, I have a very special guest here today. An experimented person raised in the city of San Francisco. He has been through a lot of turmoil these past 8 years, but has concurred all of it. It was only three years ago that he saved us from what was to come!"

"Here goes nothing," I say to myself, adjusting my shirt and tie as I moved to the far left of the stage.

"Coming upon the stage, is 23 year old experimented human, Shimizu Hada!"

I forced myself to walk, my knees wobbled with each step I took. The transition from the darkness of the backstage, to the bright light of the stage was overwhelming. The claps from many sounded like a roar, with the occasional cheers and whistles from friends and family.

The cameras from news outlets flashed at me, making sure each moment was caught.

I walked up to the stand and shook hands with the president, staring at her brown eyes with a warm smile. She patted me on the back before standing over to the side. I adjusted my black tie once more as I slowly approached the stand. There, a microphone was on it.

The cheers and claps slowly died down, until there was nothing but the sound of occasional throats clearing and coughing.

"Um," I say into the microphone. I silently cursed at myself for starting off that way. Taking a deep breath, then exhaling, I continued. "It gives me such honor to come to you today on the behalf of my people. But I come to you today not just as a person with powers, but a human being, a friend, a brother, a son, an American."

I started out at the crowd, watching all of the blank faces stare back at me. I bet there weren't even experi-babes in the room outside of my friends and some family. I bet most were "regular humans". The same humans that once judged us for even being in the same space as them.

I glared at Hikari. She was staring back at me, eyebrows furrowed, wondering why I stopped speaking. Is this the world I wanted her and her friends Yasmine and Devon to live in? Is this what I wanted Tyler to live in? A world where they sweep things under the rug and pretend it never happened? A world where we aren't getting our proper apology and reparations? A world where we have to kiss the asses of our oppressor just for the sake on peace?!

Confused muttering filled the crowd. My eyes looked out towards Danny, who was sitting right next to Isabella and their son Christopher. He smiled at me, sending me a nod.

He had psychic powers. He already knew what was going through my mind. He always did.

I wasn't going to follow some stupid script that they wanted me to memorize. If I was going to be the spokesperson for experi-babies, then I refused to be a puppet. I needed to have a mind of my own.

"No. No, this isn't it," I said through the microphone. I looked down at the paper that the president sent my family a week ago. The paper had the speech that I was supposed to memorize. I held it up for everyone to see, then ripped it into two pieces.

A large commotion arose from the audience. My friends and family stayed silent, keeping their eyes on me.

I turned to the President, she stood near, starting at the crowd and me with confusion, not knowing what to do.

"With all due respect Mrs. President, I'm not going to follow this speech. If I'm going to speak for 'the experimented' then I have to keep it honest and real. For their sake."

Her facial expression softened and with a small smile she nodded, stepping back a few more steps away from me.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I was very young when I received the power to control the element of water. And since then, I faced nothing but hatred and hostility from the very people you call 'Regular Humans'.

I paused, observing the reactions of the crowd. I swore I heard Celosia's cheers from afar.

"We were labeled by you as the barbaric and violent ones. We were told we were the ones that were uncivilized and not human. And yet it was the very 'Regular Humans' that set it up for us to have these powers. It was 'Regular humans' that tried to rid of us as a form of population control. It was the very Regular Humans that unleashed a deadly virus out into the world after I destroyed the W.E.A headquarters before they could experiment on more of us!!"

More and more shouts of agreement came from my friends and family. One after another.

"And yet somehow we were labeled as evil, as anything but human, and as a monster by the very evil monsters we had to interact with on a daily basis! You call yourselves regular humans?! There's nothing regular about you to make agencies around the world to give us abilities and paint us in a bad light, just so you can have a reason to get rid of some of the population! Disgusting! United Nations, I'm talking to you! U.S. Government, I'm talking to you! I have lost people I shouldn't have! Kamryn! Mohammed! Kimberly! My mother! My dear loved ones. One from an extermination camp riot! One from a landslide! And the other from a bomb being dropped on us after raiding a prison they had no reason to be in!! As a result for three years I ended up in a maximum security prison in Colorado. And it took many months of protest just to release me and those who fought with me. It took that long just for you to see the error of your ways! My mother died at the hands of the World Leader and you still look at us like we are the problem!

I felt powerful. For once I had a voice. For once I spoke up about how I felt and people actually listened. This was a feeling like no other.

My friends and family stood up in their seats, loudly cheering and clapping in agreement. That's when one by one, more people got up and cheered with them. Most sat in their seats, sitting in their own discomfort.

Good. Let them be uncomfortable. This is how we have felt for so long. Uncomfortable.

"The United Nations are the cause of this and until you all realize this, there will never be change. There will always be a disconnect between the 'Experimented people' and 'Regular Humans'. You say you want to live in peace? You say you want to forget about all of this? Don't sweep it under the rug!"

I pause, letting the crowd wait with anticipation.

"We want reparations! Pay us back for the pain, the trauma, and the families you have torn apart. Just saying "my bad" doesn't do shit! Pass laws protecting us from discrimination! Give our kids scholarships for college! Punish those who actively hurt us! Allow us to be able to live in just as much peace as you have lived. That's how you say sorry! Don't just say you're sorry! Show us and we just might forgive you! Thank you!"

I nodded at the smiling and clapping President before walking back from where I came. I disappeared from the stage into the backstage, where I let out a huge exhale.

The crowd was still applauding my speech. I could hear my friends and family shouting my name.

It was euphoria to be on stage, to be the spokesperson for all Experi-babies. I loved it. I felt heard for once. I didn't care what the audience who didn't agree thought. I only cared about the ones that did. And from the looks of it, it was more than half. They slowly came from their shell as I did and they applauded. I gave them a voice. I said things they would be afraid to say. Things they always thought but couldn't put into words.

I noticed a long mirror nearby and walked towards it. My ocean blue eyes stared deep into my reflection, scanning every itch of myself.

I looked at myself.

The Shimizu that everyone knew to be quiet, polite and kept himself small, was gone. This was a new Shimizu. A better Shimizu. A Shimizu who could shake the room and didn't care who was in it.

This is what my purpose was. This is what I lived for. Not photography. Not being in the military. I wanted to be in politics, to speak my mind and how I felt. I wanted to advocate for those facing discrimination of all kinds: gender, race, disabilities, and of course...abilities.

That was what I wanted to I lived for.

I fixed my hair as I looked at myself into the mirror. I inhaled, then exhaled.  "I want to go to school, for Law. I want to be an attorney who fought against discrimination.

That was my calling. That was how I could help people.

A week had went by. Everywhere I went, my name was in the mouths of others and my face was on the big screen. My speech was being played numerous times on social media. The speech was on YouTube and had almost 1 billion views.

"It's such a beautiful spring day. I can't believe it's April already," Gaia smiled, looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge. She laid her head on Beval's lap before he began playing with her hair.

Together, we sat on a big blanket, watching the sunset on the shore of the bay.

"The atmosphere is so different now. It's...peaceful. I never felt anything like it," I replied before looking at Celosia. She sat next to me on the blanket, smiling with warm eyes.

She placed her hand on top of mine. "That's how it should be for us. Thanks to you, it will be for now on."

I leaned to kiss her cheek. She placed her head on my shoulder as we stared out into the distance.

The surroundings didn't cause the peace. No. It was the feeling of never having to care about if we were welcomed in an environment ever again. It was the feeling of never having to secretly use our powers. It was the feeling of finally being able to use them freely without the disapproving looks or comments. We could finally be ourselves. This whole time, we were "regular humans". We were people first, but with powers second.

We never let them define us. Nor will we ever have to worry about them defining us any longer.

Suddenly, I got an idea. I smirked as I got up  from the blanket and stretched. "Anybody wanna race?"

"What are we? Ten?", Beval chuckled sarcastically, getting up on his feet along with Gaia and Celosia.

"Hey, it's only once in a while we can embrace our inner child. Why not do it now? There's a vast shore and a beautiful sunset. The vibe is perfect."

Celosia, Gaia and Beval looked at each other, mischievously.

"No babe. I don't feel like-"

Before Celosia could finish, she dashed off, running down the beach with our friends following.

"Hey! That's not fair!," I yelled as I began running too.

Laughter and squeals from Celosia and Gaia filled the air as the wind rushed to our faces.

Eventually, I was ahead. I was sprinting faster than all of them and yet I felt like I was going in slow motion.

Running down the shore felt like an eternity. An eternity of pure bliss.

We proceeded to splash each other in the midst of playful laughter. The water was cold, yet so refreshing.

This moment is what I've been yearning for my whole life and I finally received it, thanks to my friends. Thanks to Danny. Thanks to the Experi-babies still out there, fighting alongside me for our rights. And thanks to the "Regular Humans" who had the courage to stand by us.

Together, we made tons of progress. We made them listen. We made them hear our plea.

Together, we changed humanity for the better. We still have some work to be done. Some minds to be changed. Nonetheless, we will continue to strive for a future where both Experi-baby and Regular-Human can live in harmony.

For what it's worth.