Zhanna and Heavy shared the same thought, even if they never told.

Should I say something to him/her?

Heavy guessed his sister didn't trust him. Or think he was stupid, for that matter. Koshka...Sargeant Bug...What was all of that about? Why not be direct? Did she not trust her big brother Misha anymore? Were they in danger and she didn't want to tell him? Perhaps...she couldn't?

As for Zhanna, she grew fond of Plagg and wished to introduced her little friend to her siblings, most specially Heavy. She wanted to show him all the things she could do thanks to him. She was sure he would love him, and Tikki too, like she did. She wanted to tell her brother how marvellous Soldier was, all the things he was doing for the team, the great responsibility resting in his hands.

They spent the day together. Heavy told her about Bad Hoss and what was going on, with the intention that she was wary and took precautions; he told her she shouldn't pay attention to her lowest impulses. Zhanna listened faking surprise, when in reality she knew everything—contributed to erasing the problem.

She wanted to tell him this.

Heavy wanted to her to tell him.

But they changed the subject before addressing it.

If those who knew Medic from the very moment of his birth could speak, they would have affirmed that he had always been a very curious person. His father, the doctor who assisted his own wife's birth, smiled when he saw the sparkle in the baby's eyes, how precociously he recognized the source of sounds and shapes. When he was a child, he began to feel interested in the anatomy, the processes inside the bodies which made them sustain life. As a teenager, instead of being interested in girls and doing mischief, he spent the money he earned from little jobs on treatises, microscopes, all kinds of things meant to be used by people double or triple their age. Many lose that sense of wonder when they grow up, but he...getting older just served for him to realize of the possibilities, of the mysteries waiting to be unfolded in the world, in nature, people's bodies.

This akuma issue...it had to be the most fascinating thing he had ever encountered in his life.

He made calculations. Could he sell more souls to the Devil to acquire knowledge on them? He was just amazed by the possibilities. Monsters which changed people, turning them into upgraded, superhuman (or inhuman) versions of their darkest self! Armies would pay billions for that secret. Governments would love both and fear the idea.

He never told anyone, but Heavy showed him the most encouraging vision, when he transformed into Leshi. He saw himself in God's place, commanding at whim, twisting the Creation, improving it, correcting the old Architect's mistakes, experimenting with his unlimited power, finding that he had no limits...

Yes, akumas were little gods, and he needed to get their essence and become one himself!

There were cameras all around his infirmary, recording all the time. So he wasn't taken by surprise again. He made an effort to be in the worst mental condition possible in order to attract them. He ate badly or stopped eating at all, slept only when his body shut down, had arguments with everyone for the smallest reasons, remembered about his sister Klara and how much he hated her guts and she hated his, all insults he suffered in the past, what he had to do after the people didn't understand his art; fed his imagination with the despair of failure, of him dying and his name being forgotten forever, inflicted himself pain with his own tools, saw the worst in everyone he came across.

"Come...Come to me..."

The thing with knocking insistently at doors is that there will come a time when someone answers.

Merasmoth smiled at his disposition and gladly granted his wish.

The doves perched all around the place tilted their heads and looked interestedly at the black butterfly coming in through one of the windows. Euclid tried to peck at it. The akuma avoided its beak and Archimedes jumped onto the table to see from close how it came into Medic's Medi Gun, which he was holding, performing some tests.

Most people felt cold when an akuma entered their body, when that voice spoke to them. Medic's chill, though, was of excitement.

A grin grew on his face when the connection was finally established.

"It was about time." He was the first to speak.

"Merasmoth can say no to such an enthusiastic volunteer. From now own you will be Reanimator. I am granting you the power over life and death that you so desire. I return, I want you to bring the Miraculouses to me."

"Your terms are acceptable." Medic grinned, removing his glasses.

And the cameras recorded how he opened his arms to welcome darkness inside him. Archimedes cooed, flapping his wings a little bit—he wasn't disturbed, just a little confused.

When the transformation was complete, the birds watched as Reanimator took a good look at himself then turned his eyes at Archimedes, who approached, curious.

"You know, Archimedes?" He purred in delight, opening his own wings. "I have never felt better."

"I'm telling you, brother!" Soldier called Heavy this, but it didn't seem to please Heavy. The giant's eyebrows furrowed even more when Soldier slapped his back friendly. "We'll celebrate the wedding in May, when the countryside's looking its best and there are flowers and bees everywhere and the skies are sunny! You're gonna love it! It is paradise on Earth, I'm telling you. You gotta see this. It might do you good: it'll make you forget all the communist propaganda you've been made swallow. When are they gonna take our orders in this pub?"

He had barely said that when someone attracted his attention tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to find the owner of the bar looking at him with a not very pleased expression. Behind him were the three cooks and the two waiters, all of them with kitchen tools and bottles in their hands. In fact, more and more people were coming in. All of them owners and workers from the bars and restaurants of Teufort.

"Is there a problem?" The owner asked.

"Yes! We've been sitting in here for twelve minutes and no one came to take our order!" Soldier replied.

"I'm sorry but you have to go."

"We haven't eaten yet."

"You are not welcome here."

"What?! See these bills? American bills! They are of legal course and absolutely not printed at home! I am paying and I demand to be attended like everyone else!"

"Last December you snapped the neck of one of our customers!"

"He looked at us funny!" Soldier justified it.

"He was cross-eyed!"

"Maybe he should have known better than...!" Soldier was rambling, standing up, when Heavy held him.

"Stop. If he wants to leave, we leave. Is not the only bar." He told him. There was no need for unnecessary trouble.

"All of us want you to out. You mercenaries are the cancer of this town, and we are not letting you keep ruining our businesses any longer." The owner of the bar told them.

"Ever since you came, everything you've brought us is trouble!" Another one said.

"We are through with you!"

"Yeah, out, out of here!"

"And never come back!"

"Didn't you hear us, fat boy?! We said...!" One of the men was shouting at Heavy. He stood up and looked at him menacingly, and only when he did was the other aware of his real size, practically double than his, and the size of his muscles, and all his determination left him, and was left stuttering and drawing back slowly.

Plagg snickered inside of Zhanna's pocket. "This oughta be good!"

"Prepared for a good beating?" Zhanna asked him discreetly.

"Remember you can't use my powers to-"

"I don't mean that. You just watch. I am kicking all these men's ass myself."

"Soldier, I mean, sir, please don't." Tikki whispered to Soldier.

She was used to see her holder get in fights for reasons she didn't understand. Soldier ended up convincing her that this was his natural state and preventing him from fighting was like telling a bird not to fly or a dog not to wag its tail.

It was something else. An uneasy feeling. Like something was wrong and they needed to...to...

To be alert and not waste their energy, perhaps...

There were ways to convince Pyro to get experimented on. The one Medic found to be the best working was giving her a lollipop as a reward.

But Pyro had a sweet tooth and was mischievous like a little child, and wanted the prize without going through the injections and the sugeries, and so entered the infirmary on the sly, trying not to make a noise.

Medic had been practically living in there, barely walked out, and when he did, he barked all the time. Their teammates said he was unbearable and it was good that he was isolated. When Pyro looked through the window on the door, she didn't see him, and supposed he was sleeping in the little room for the long-stayers or somewhere else. Either way, she had green light.

She sneaked in and tiptoed to the jar where he kept the sweets. With the stealth of a robber, she lifted the lid and grabbed a handful of lollipops, which she put inside the case in her belt. She took another one to eat right there. No one was going to know, with the mask on.

She was making her way out when a strange noise made her stop. She looked around, unable to identify its source. Did the doves do it? No, they were nowhere to be seen as well. She looked under the table. No. Through the window. There was no one outside. She followed the sound. The fridge. She practically glued her ear to its door. There. It was coming from inside. Perhaps it was malfunctioning? If it was so, Medic needed to know. She opened it.

She didn't see smoke, or any burnt out light bulb or anything. Just the usual things inside Medic's fridge: beers, the ashtray he used to allow the enemy Spy smoke while his head was trapped in there, which he hadn't taken out after he got rid of it for not being promising enough, hearts of different size, for they were from different animals...

Huh?

Pyro got a bit closer, to make sure she was seeing correctly...

And yes, it was so: these hearts were beating on their own.

Yep, nothing wrong in there. Pyro closed the door and walked out of the infirmary so happy to have her loot, off to watch cartoons.

"Bye, Engie!" She said to Engineer when she walked by his side.

"Howdy there." He smiled, and got into the infirmary too.

If Pyro walked in without Medic shouting at it, that had to mean he was in a better mood and allowed visitors.

"Doc?" He called. He got no response. "Listen, I've been thinking of working with lasers to try to come up with a way to detect those little winged bastards."

Medic couldn't refuse to help him detect or capture those things. Engineer was sure he would change his attitude when he told him. But it wasn't so. In fact, he found out Medic wasn't even there to listen. Therefore, he looked for him everywhere.

"Did you see Medic?" He asked everyone he encountered. All of them said no. "I don't know you guys, but with everything going on lately, it creeps me out not knowing when you are at all times..."

Perhaps he went out to town for hunting more thugs to experiment on...Yep, that had to be it. Engineer reminded himself of the consequences of him feeling uneasy and worrying too much, so he attempted to relax and told himself that Medic knew what he was doing.

He walked to his van to check if he had forgotten some blueprints he was looking for in there. He was halfway through when something made him stop. Something flying over his head at high speed. Sniper, who was sharpening his knife sitting outside his camper rose his head and cautiously approached, kukri still in hand.

"Did you see that too?" Engineer whispered.

Sniper nodded and pointed into the direction he had seen it go. Engineer grabbed the pistol in his belt and both of them walked towards it.

They found nothing there. Just the fence where Soldier kept the severed heads of the enemies he killed, all of them with soldier helmets.

However, the fact that there was no one there didn't mean that there was nothing.

There was something off...

With his eyebrows furred, Sniper approached the fence. He stopped in front of the head of that Native-American who used to be his counterpart until Soldier crossed paths with him. The guy still kept the expression of shock he had when Soldier burst his lower body with a rocket.

Sniper came closer to it.

And the other Sniper yelled at him to the face.

All the other heads opened their mouths, their eyes moved. Some babbled, most of them screamed in terror and agony.

"Sweet mother of...!" Engineer exclaimed, drawing back.

Something freaky was happening and this was no time to be unarmed.

Pyro was lying on her stomach on the floor, watching the television, when her teammates burst in, alarmed.

"Did you see...?!" Demoman started to say.

"The heads? Yeah." Sniper replied.

"No, I mean this!" Demoman finished, showing them something he was carrying on one hand. That was supposed to be their dinner. A rabbit Snipper himself had hunted, skinned and eviscerated. The animal was now trying to escape from his grip, with no skin, no paws, no guts. Scout let out an exclamation of disgust and stood as far away from it as possible.

"What the hell is happening now?" Engineer asked.

It was Pyro who answered, when she let out a small exclamation when she turned her eyes back to the cartoons she was watching and found a figure standing there, next to the television.

Reanimator looked like an angel: he had neon wings, made of the same material as his uber shields, a gold accented white armor, golden too was the fabric attached to the back and front, his hair was slick back combed...But he was not an angel. There was something in his face which screamed danger. His eyes, which didn't seem to need glasses to see clearly anymore.

"Oh, no, not again." Scout hung his arms in desperation.

"You don't seem to be very enthusiastic about my experiments." Reanimator said.

"This is horrifying, Doc! Stop it, for God's sake!" Scout said.

"Stop?" Reanimator chuckled. "I have just begun!" He grinned showing his teeth. "Watch..."

He extended an arm, touching the television. The image glitched for a moment and then the cartoons started moving slower, like there was a technical problem. Then the cat and the mouse stopped chasing each other and looked at them. Yes, at them, at the mercenaries. They could see their eyes fixing on theirs. And next, they jumped out of the television. One-dimensional. Bright-colored.

They advanced towards them. Spy shot at the cat and made a hole in his chest. The bullet went through him and broke the television, but didn't stop the toon. Of course. Toons get shot all the time and nothing ever happens to them.

"This is only the beginning...I just shiver at the thought of what I can do!" Reanimator savored each word, all in him was pleasure.

"The spell's just making you think it's a good idea. It's not. Come on, Doc, we can fix this..." Demoman said.

"I don't want to fix it." Reanimator said. They now realized he was holding a camera on one hand. With a gesture with the free one, he commanded the cartoons to attack them.

Being hit with a mallet in a cartoon seems like no big deal. You just get a little flatenned and that's it; you'll be fine in the next sequence. But in real life...Engineer found it the bad way. There was nothing he could really do to the cat except fill him with holes like he was a cheese, but he, on the other hand, just had to hit him with his hammer to almost break his spine and leave him in great pain. The mouse lit a stick of dynamite and tried to shove it down Demo's throat: Pyro and Scout prevented it; they threw it to a corner and the blast hit them all.

Insensitive to their pain and struggles, recording them in fact, Reanimator laughed.

"Yes, why stopping here? I want more...I need to see how it behaves in a different environment!" He stopped recording and let Archimedes, watching everything from a corner, perch on his finger. "Come, Archimedes. Let's experiment."

And they two flew out the window, off to Teufort.

On the way, he watched the billboards by the road. Smoke this, drink that, buy this, drive that. He only had to focus, see them move, to make that happen. He laughed, seeing how the cowboy from a cigarettes' ad spinned his lasso, how a stork flew away and Dolly Parton started singing.

But this was nothing compared to what he projected...

The cemetery of Teufort. Built on an Indian burial ground. Like in the rest of the town, the soil was contaminated: this is where many pipes of waste ended.

Archimedes alighted on the tombstone of Mildred Button (1880-1952) and watched as his owner left the camera recording on one grave and elevated above the cemetery to contemplate it from above.

"My senses are enhanced...Senses I didn't even have before...I feel...Yes...I can feel the organic remains, every little trace of life...I can bring it back...Manipulate it!"

He extended his arms and his glowing beams rooted into the ground. The whole place shook. A rotten hand burst out of it. Nails scratched coffins, a putrid small arose as some succeeded breaking them. Faces with no eyes or skin popped out like daisies in Springtime. Bodies crawled out of their tombs grunting, wailing.

This was the moment chosen by Mayor Mike to visit his mother's tomb.

"Good night, sir." He said, not minding this man floating, all the evil-looking lightning. He kept on humming a merry song just thinking that a lot of people had the happy idea of visiting the cemetery at night, too.

He could ignore their smell and putridness for a bit. It was when he saw bones exposed and limbs falling that he started to feel something was strange. It finally hit him when his own mother escaped from her tomb.

Reanimator laughed maniacally.

"Yes! YESSS! I AM A GOD! I AM LIFE AND DEATH!"

"Do not forget the deal."

"Of course. A deal is a deal." Reanimator addressed the living dead. "Find the Miraculous! Soldier is in here, somewhere! Get him!"

The swarm of undead obeyed and marched as quickly as their decayed bones allowed them.

Fight broke out indeed. The number superiority didn't matter. Not when Soldier, Heavy and Zhanna were in the other side. Soon the street was filled with men with black eyes, broken bones, barely conscious, toothless. The police was called, and they made sure these criminals were put into jail, for the decent citizens' rest.

"One of these days. You. Me. Naked. No weapons." Soldier was threatening the owner of the bar, close, so, so close he was almost kissing him. The man couldn't hear him, for he had snapped his neck.

The Teufort people thought that made everything alright. They thought now that those mercs were behind bars they could sleep better at night. That was until Reanimator appeared.

"These damned kids..." An angry driver honked. "Get out of the way, damn you! I've got places to be!"

They kept on walking insufferably slow in front of the car. The man grunted and pulled down the window.

"Didn't you hear me?!"

One of them kids turned around. His face was being eaten by worms. He stumbled towards him—perhaps he kept the Miraculous inside his car. The driver's anger turned into fright when all of these corpses started surrounding him, gluing themselves to the car, tried to get in.

They marched into town...

The grocer was closing up his business for the day when he saw the crowd coming. Screaming, he opened the door hurriedly and locked it. Thinking that the Miraculous could be in there, they broke the glasses and got in. There was no establishment, no house they didn't invade.

"Roger? But...I killed you!"

"Dad! You're always finding ways to embarrass me!"

The police shot at them. But they kept on moving, kept breaking every window, every door, facing everyone who resisted!

Unaware of this, the mercenaries prepared themselves to spend the night in jail and perhaps being sentenced to be hanged in the morning. For Zhanna and Soldier this was the best way to end a night: in jail, sharing cell with exhibitionists and drunk drivers. Heavy remained sat with his arms crossed in a corner, patiently waiting, while they whispered sweet nothings to each other.

"I must admit I liked the way you left that one guy without teeth." Plagg said to Zhanna.

"Thanks." She smiled proudly.

Mayor Mike's visit was a surprise. He came along with a couple of cops who were talking to him like they didn't need to breathe.

"Good night, lady and gentlemen. Yes, you, the mercs. Uh, I know we have had our..., hehe, run-ins, and we may have said very mean things to each other. But I'm gonna need a liiiiitle favor."

"I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire." Soldier declared.

"Let him talk. He seems worried..." Tikki whispered to him.

"Hehe. What a nice fella. Now seriously, there is a problem going on out there. Uh, it's nothing too bad—it's just that our deceased neighbors have risen from the grave and are destroying our town, and I thought...You know a lot about punching and weird things, and I said to myself: they are the ones who can take care of something like this. I know you can't do anything locked in here, so let's make a deal, shall we? I..." He ordered his guards to open the door. "Let you out, you get rid of this pest and...we forget this ever happened. Will you do this for me? Your good friend Mike?"

Undead! They didn't move because they thought he was kidding. A trick to make them get out and order to shoot at them for allegedly trying to escape. But something proved his story: they heard shouting, and a walking corpse appeared, her jaw horribly dislocated.

"They are being quite rude, so, please...?" Mayor Mike insisted, having that woman's hand on his face.

Her face turned to Soldier, and, letting out a howl, she rushed towards him. Soldier kept her away from him with a punch. More like her entered the police station. They knew he was there.

"Let's get out of here now!" Heavy said, walking through the swarm, out of the station.

He was out when he noticed he had lost his sister and brother-in-law. He saw them running into an alley.

"We...Nature's calling!" Was the excuse Soldier used.

"Yes! We must answer!" Zhanna suscribed, and followed him.

This was not the time to split! Heavy punched all undead he found, though he soon realized they were all after those two and didn't mind the rest.

"You found them...Good!" A familiar voice made him turn.

Heavy's eyes widened when he saw his friend floating with the help of wings.

"Doktor!"

"I will be in a moment with you, my friend. Just give me a second while I kill Soldier." Reanimator said, and descended to the ground.

A mechanism in his armor made a couple of blades come out from his arms. There was a flash of red light, and two heroes, Sargeant Bug and Koshka punched their way out the alley.

"Oh, no, they possessed Doc too!" Sargeant Bug exclaimed.

"You've got something I want. And I always get what I want." Reanimator said, and punced on Soldier.

Experience had taught the group that their feelings towards their friends did not matter: when they were akumatized, their forgot their friendship and would stop at nothing. They couldn't stop either, and so felt nothing while he avoided his attack with a good punch in the face. Koshka got rid of several corpses which approached and attacked Reanimator, using her claws. She made some serious cuts in Reanimator's neck. After that, now that he was stumbling, Heavy grabbed him from behind and tried to contain him.

"We will solve this!" Heavy shouted.

"I am warning you: don't get in my way." Reanimator told him, and pushed him back with the force of his wings.

Heavy finally convinced himself that beating his friend out of his senses was the only way to bring him back, and so pushed him to the ground and unleashed the most brutal punches on him. In the sordid environments he had fought in as a boxer, he was known for the internal bleedings he caused. In normal circumstances it was probable that Reanimator would have lost his conscience or something worse.

But akumatized people, they had seen, had a great endurance, and Reanimator had a special trick himself.

He was surrounded by a red halo, and they all saw how the cuts Koshka caused him closed, how the bruises disappeared, blood stopped flowing and he recovered his smile.

Sargeant Bug wrapped his yo-yo around his neck to try to tame him. Reanimator flew up, dragging him. He tried to cut the cord with his blade and found that he wasn't able to—whatever material it was made of, it was highly resisting. He decided to just slam him against the nearest building. Heavy and Koshka wanted to help, but they were being surrounded by dead people, and needed to take care of them too. One had been too close to Koshka's ring.

"Your toy is very interesting. Remind me to examine it once I kill you." Reanimator said.

"The Miraculous! Don't forget the Miraculous!"

Reanimator finally got rid of Sargeant Bug's leash and pinned him against the wall, choking him with one hand and tried to grab the Miraculous with the other. Sargeant Bug kneeled him in the jaw with such force he broke it and released himself.

"Run!" He said to his partners.

Of course, Reanimator got up and healed immediately.

"You can't run from me!" He shouted, chasing him from the air.

"Ideas?" Heavy wanted to know.

"Lure him into the morgue and entertain him with the organs?" Sargeant Bug suggested.

"Not good idea."

"True...We need something more effective...We need the help of..."

His yo-yo would give him the solution.

"LUCKY CHARM!"

He was expecting something manageable to appear. They had to run not to be crushed by a Ford.

"To run much faster with?" Koshka scratched her chin.

"No one's running here, we're fighting like men!" Sargeant Bug replied, and looked around, trying to figure out what his stupid powers wanted him to do with this. Sure Medic wouldn't want to accept a car in exchange for the Miraculous.

His vision highlighted what he needed: bricks from a nearby construction site, the water tower, Archimedes, which was watching from a banister.

Sargeant Bug nodded to himself.

"Koshka. Do what a cat does best." He said, pointing at Archimedes.

She nodded.

Reanimator smirked, seeing Sargeant Bug trying to get into the car.

"I didn't think you'd be a desertor, Sargeant." He said.

He grabbed him from the collar and sent him to the ground. When Sargeant Bug tried to grab him, he went through his hand with his blade and then went for the cuff links. The box was under his coat. That idiot thought they were safe in there!

"MWAHAHAHAHA! YES! YES! YOU'VE GOT THEM! THEY ARE ALL MINE NOW! FINALLY! HAHAHAHA!"

Reanimator smiled. "Correction..."

"Huh?"

"They are mine."

Merasmoth froze. "What?!"

"Their power must be really amazing if you are so interested in getting them. I won them, I am keeping them."

"...Y-You can't do that! I gave you your powers! I can strip you from them!"

"Keep them. When I have the Miraculouses, what will I want them for?"

Merasmoth, many miles away, was at loss for words, didn't know what to do. He had been tricked! He couldn't believe he had been tricked. This...couldn't be happening! He chose his next puppet poorly and became a puppet himself! What was he going to do now?! He needed that! How was he going to pay his debt with the Japanese mafia without the Miraculous?

"You simpleton don't know how to use it...I will give your powers a better use..." Reanimator said to Sargeant Bug.

He was too blinded by ambition to see the car moving thanks to a brink on the gas pedal...

"Hey! You!"

Koshka attracted Reanimator's attention.

"Let him go or I'll...!"

She had a hostage. Archimedes tried to escape from her grip.

Reanimator scowled, standing up, his foot on Sargeant Bug's neck.

"If you dare touch-!" He began to say.

Koshka fulfilled her threat before he finished. She opened her mouth her widest and shoved the bird in.

"I will skin you alive!" Reanimator roared.

But he knew that they were using his poor pet as a distraction. He would steal the Miraculouses, then kill her. He was about to grab the Ladybug Miraculous when he realized he had been tricked indeed: he had given Sargeant Bug time to sneak away while he was looking at Koshka. Sargeant Bug was hiding behind the monument conmemorating the town's Proud Legacy of Hiding.

Letting out a grunt of frustration, Reanimator used his beam of life to make the horse statue come to life and try to crush him with its hooves. Then he took flight to fight him.

There was a crash. Koshka spat Archimedes and used her cane to jump up to the roofs. Sargeant Bug grabbed Heavy and used his yo-yo to do the same.

The car collided against one of the pillars of the water tower, leaving it without the necessary support. It started to crumble.

Reanimator turned around just in time to see what was coming down on him.

The force of the water sent him to the ground. Sure, he was going to survive such a brutal impact, but those seconds of confusion and surely some pain were precious and they took the most of it. The trio descended and Heavy was the one who approached. It was time to free his friend from this evil spell. He ripped the Medi Gun machine off his back and crushed it on the ground, making sure it was destroyed stomping it with his feet.

"Curses!" Reanimator grumbled, unable to move on time.

The akuma left the broken device.

Sargeant Bug was quick to intervene. He opened his yo-yo and captured the akuma in. When he opened it back again, the butterfly was now white and innoffensive.

"Quick! Arrest it for its criminal acts!" Mayor Mike ordered.

"Let's all forget about this!" Sargeant Bug exclaimed, before everything went back to normal. And indeed there was no trace left of what happened: the water tower and its content were restored, the horse statue calmed down and went still, the corpses started dropping completely dead. Back at the base, the mercenaries, cornered by the cartoons, saw a flash and then they were back to their usual antics on the screen, not minding them. Just in case, they shot at the television anyway.

And Reanimator disappeared, leaving Medic behind.

"Oh, what a headache..." He muttered.

Mayor Mike clapped enthusiastically. The townspeople approached to cheer and clap at the three heroes, ignoring their town being filled with rotting corpses all around.

"I don't know how to thank you for your display of heroism!" He stopped to walk over a corpse which fell in front of him. "You have saved us all! I want to reward you! From now on, go to Peggy's cafeteria anytime you want and say you are friends of mine! You're getting a 20% discount!"

They all wanted to take pictures, know the name of their heroes.

"We only did what we had to do." Was Sargeant Bug's response all the time.

The earrings and ring started beeping, warning them that they were about to change.

"Oh, uh, gotta go. Thank you for your cooperation, big man." He said to Heavy, and ran away along with Koshka.

Many tried to follow, but they jumped over the roofs and disappeared from sight.

Soon, Soldier and Zhanna joined Heavy and Medic.

"Doc! Fancy meeting you here! What's up?" Soldier said to Medic.

"Experiment got a bit out of hand, Doktor." Heavy said to him, patting his shoulder.

"Absolutely! I don't remember anything, but I finally have something to work with!" Medic replied, showing him the camera he had used to record everything. "Ah! One step closer into unveiling the secrets of akumatization!"

Yes, Medic had no idea of what regret meant...

Merasmoth sighed in relief.

"That was a close one...Merasmoth must be much more careful next time he chooses a victim...I cannot risk it...No one else must know about the true power of the Miraculouses...It is bad enough that idiots like Soldier and his girlfriend own one...Next time Merasmoth will be more careful...His skin depends on it..."

When they returned to the base, Medic chuckled joyfully, seeing the homecoming committee receiving them.

"What's with those long faces?"

One just had to look at their teammates to see. Sure Medic had never tried to fight an invulnerable, immortal being. Engineer had every bone in his body broken, Spy's right hand had been cut with an axe, Scout was all covered in mouse traps, Pyro had a very disturbing hole where her navel was supposed to be, Demoman had been shoved a pineapple in his empty eyesocket and Sniper's skin was all burnt.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for attempting to murder you. But, hey, I think we made progress today!"

Seeing he was receiving glares, Medic clicked his tongue.

"Don't act like a bunch of little kids. I'll be healing you in a second. First let me take a look at what I filmed. This is pure gold!"

Tikki couldn't help chuckling a little.

"Is he always like this?" She asked Soldier.

"Yep." Soldier smiled.

"He's weird. And disturbing. But in the funny way."

"That's our Doc. That's how we love him."

"In fact, I think everyone in your platoon is charming in their own way."

"We are assassins, Tikki. We are not charming. We are disgusting. We are monstrous. We are wardogs who bark out bees with pistols in their tiny hands."

Soldier paused and his smile widened.

"But yes, once you get used to them, they are good to be with..."