Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter thirty-nine: High end heroes versus a high end Nomu
Natsuo and Fuyumi, respectively the older brother and older sister of Shoto Todoroki, were visiting their mother Rei at the special care hospital she resided at for various reasons. "I'm glad to see that you're doing well, mom," Fuyumi said, "At least well enough to occasionally leave to have girl time with a group of friends."
"It sucks that you can't leave permanently, though," Natsuo remarked, "Shoto and Fuyumi and I all love you, you know."
Rei gave a small but sincere and happy smile. "Thanks, Natsuo. The doctors say that the outings I have with Inko, Mitsuki, Mika, and Beru are actually helping with my recovery to an extent." Rei's expression relented a bit, showed a sad hint. "It's a shame what happened to Beru lately, though..."
"Hey, I got it from Fuyumi during the last phone call she had with you that Shoto's been writing letters to you?" Natsuo began.
"Oh yes," Rei said, "He says in the letters he's working hard to keep up with his classmates. He also said that he would have called or texted, but is afraid that his one teacher at school may listen in on it due to being, and this is a direct quote from one of Shoto's letters, 'a tyrannical, paranoid nutcase'."
As Natsuo let out an amused snicker, Fuyumi said, "Natsuo, grow up. This is almost as bad as what all you were saying about how we were going to break it to mom that dad had just officially become Japan's number one her- ERR!" Fuyumi turned her attention to Rei, giving her a worried look that the Todoroki matriarch didn't fail to pick up on.
Surprisingly, Rei held up a hand in a gesture indicating for her only daughter to be at ease. "It's alright Fuyumi," Rei said, "There's no need to worry too much about mentioning your father, as well as what success he finds, while I'm around and in earshot."
"How can you be so forgiving, mom?" Natsuo asked, "You do remember what crap he's put you though, what he's put Shoto through? It's injustice of the highest order that pretty much no-one knows of his bullshit-ery. Ten years, a solid friggin' decade, and not once has that brickhouse of a bastard ever even said sorry for his actions! How can y-"
Natsuo was cut off when Rei pointed out a vase of flowers to him. "...Those are my favorite kind of flowers," Rei said, "And your father had brought them, although he didn't bring them in directly. I told him that they're my favorites only once." Turning to look at her adult children, Rei went on, "Although I'm still a little scared of seeing your father face to face right now, he is showing signs that he's not wholly bad." Natsuo and Fuyumi were surprised, as well as not sure what to say, with how their mom here is showing as much of a level of acceptance as she was towards Enji.
Could what she be saying about the Flame Hero be true?
Meanwhile, Endeavor was facing off against the Nomu-like creature that attacked him and Majestic during their meal in a restaurant located in Hawks's old stomping grounds. Majestic, who had just finished evacuating all of the innocent persons, rushed to join Endeavor by flying on an energy circle he had conjured. Flying up, Majestic was surprised to see that Endeavor was flying. "Whoa, I wasn't aware that you can do that with your quirk," the Magic Hero called out.
"Less talky, more focus-y on this Nomu!" Endeavor said, "And yeah, I can tell it's totally a Nomu! It's even regenerating from the damage I did to it!"
The Nomu, as is regenerated, said, "Foolish... to try finishing me off... in one blow."
The new number one hero of Japan gave the nomu a serious look. "...White ones tend to lack the ability to regenerate, while black ones such as this one before us can. And this one before us in particular can talk, so it must be a special, adept one." Charging up for an attack, Endeavor barked out, "Majestic! We need to try to capture this one so it can be interrogated!"
"No need to tell me twice!" Majestic called back as he conjured an energy circle to try cutting of the talking Nomu's escape from behind.
Endeavor, after crossing his arms over his chest, had streams of fire fly out from the tips of his fingers and both thumbs, before pulling his arms back to his sides while making an X-shaped pattern, casting streams of fire while shouting, "Hell Spider!" The talking Nomu tried dodging, but the number of fire streams that Endeavor had cast, plus a conjured energy circle made by Majestic pushing against its back with one of its surface sides, meant that the talking Nomu got hit with six of the ten total streams of fire, taking a fair hunk of damage.
But the talking Nomu wouldn't quit, as it lunged right for Endeavor. It barreled into him, plunging him right through a building. But before Endeavor could be pushed out through the other end, he released a great burst of fire that sent the talking Nomu right back out through the path he made, landing him right outside at the point he had pushed Endeavor through the building at. Endeavor came flying back out right as Majestic had just smacked the talking Nomu down with a conjured energy circle that he had cast from a distance.
The building that Endeavor and the talking Nomu had been wrecking with their fighting was starting to fall apart, so Majestic quickly made numerous energy circles that caught and carried all injured persons out of harm's way. All saved persons were safely lowered to the ground before the Magic Hero went to go join the Flame Hero in battle in earnest. Conjuring three energy circles, Majestic cast all of them at the talking Nomu, two of them smacking it with surface sides, and the third with its edge striking the talking Nomu in the throat actually. Endeavor followed this up, not even giving the talking Nomu a moment's respite, with a far stronger version of his Hell Spider move from before, strong enough to cut the talking Nomu into pieces.
"I... thought that we were trying to capture the talking Nomu, Endeavor-sa-" Majestic began, only to stop short upon seeing the talking Nomu's pieces begin regenerating to reattach to one another. "...Eww."
"That wasn't even my strongest move," Endeavor said, "Only something that I knew would let me slow the talking Nomu down at least a little since we saw that it has the ability to regenerate from damage."
The talking Nomu, as it was finishing regenerating, said, "This fight... is getting interesting."
Endeavor, hearing the building behind him and Majestic continue to collapse, used Hell Spider to cut up the collapsing top half while Majestic used his quirk to conjure as big of an energy circle as he could to catch as many building pieces as possible. Working together, the Flame Hero and the Magic Hero managed to stop the whole of the building from collapsing while also minimizing residual damage to the area.
The talking Nomu snarled. "...Annoying," the talking nomu growled, "Wanted... to see more dam-"
*WHABAM*
The talking Nomu was cut off when it was hit randomly by an attack; looking down, the talking Nomu saw several pro heroes had gathered. "...They'll get... in the way..." the talking Nomu said, "...of my good fight... with the strong one." The talking Nomu then released a number of white from its person to go deal with the heroes on the ground, which they did while also seeing one or two try going after civilians.
Seeing the talking Nomu in action, Endeavor deduced that it at the very least has a shoulder-mounted jets quirk, an arm transforming quirk, a muscle augmentation quirk, a power quirk, that annoying Super Regeneration quirk, and a quirk that allowed it to spawn more Nomus' probably some manner of storage quirk most likely as the white Nomus came out of it. "...It's displaying rational thinking," Endeavor said aloud in a worried tone.
Down on the ground, Majestic raised a hand above his head and conjured an energy circle that he threw at some white Nomu while shouting, "Destructo Disk!" The move actually cut off the heads of the white Nomu before fading, saving some civilians in the process. Endeavor, seeing that out of the corner of his eye, was glad to see that Majestic was showing valid proof to warrant his place in the Top Ten on the Hero Billboard Chart JP.
"You're not making... as much fire as before..." the talking Nomu spoke up, catching Endeavor's attention, "...is there... a limit to your power?"
The number one hero let out an annoyed growl. Admittedly, the talking Nomu did make an accurate assessment on Endeavor; a major drawback to his quirk is that the more he uses it without allowing rest periods, the more Endeavor starts overheating, which could lead to continual degrading in his ability to perform in a fight. The Flame Hero, as he thought about how he started a family in the hopes of finding a way to compensate for his quirk's drawback, gave a passing thought to how Felgrand, Dabi's monster of a bodyguard, is able to deal with the drawbacks of using Hellflame.
Do his additional quirks, plus the constitution granted to him by being a dragon, help to make up for or even prevent overheating from using Hellflame? Or has Felgrand not yet experienced the overheating due to not using Hellflame as much as Endeavor has done overall? Questions for later as the talking Nomu, revealing a stretchy arm quirk of some kind, made another attempt for Endeavor, forcing him to fly around to avoid getting hit. Endeavor saw that he had no other choice than to try wrapping the battle up here as quickly as possible.
To hell with trying to capture the talking Nomu alive, it's proven too dangerous for that. Endeavor, going in with the clear intent to kill, got within range while still keeping some distance and ignited as viciously as he dared to risk while shouting out, "PROMINENCE BURN!" The talking Nomu's entire body was incinerated wholly, burning up until it was nothing but charred ash that fell to the ground.
...Well, Endeavor had thought that he had wholly incinerated the talking Nomu; looking ahead, Endeavor saw that the talking Nomu's head and neck had survived. It must have torn it off and threw it to the side. As the talking Nomu regenerated, it launched a surprise attack that pierced through part of Endeavor's torso and also scarred his face, going right over his left eye. As Endeavor fell down, the talking Nomu looked down to where Endeavor had landed. Seeing where the Flame Hero laid on the ground, it gently shook its head, as if in disappointment.
"...Pathetic..." the talking Nomu said, "...I had expected... a stronger fight..." Turning around, the talking Nomu looked prepared to take off. "...Gotta find... a strong opponent to fi-"
*WOOSH*
The talking Nomu stopped short when Endeavor, barely keeping himself from passing out, blasted himself towards the talking Nomu before launching a stream of fire at it. The talking Nomu dodged it, then retaliated by striking Endeavor through a building. Seeing that it had knocked Endeavor away for a second time, the talking Nomu looked around see what else was in the area. Suddenly, it spotted a large group of civilians and moved to go right for them. However, it stopped short when Endeavor came rocketing right back out of the building it had thrown him into.
"...You are stronger..." the talking Nomu said, "...Than I had given you credit for. Can you also... regenerate like me?"
"NOPE!" Endeavor barked at the top of his lungs, "I'M JUST PLAIN STUBBORN AS ALL GET OUT!" The number one hero was injured, and his vision was getting blurry, but he refused to give up; as he had so aptly put it just now, Endeavor is stubborn.
Even so the number one hero was not alone, for backing him was the number five hero. Majestic suddenly appeared, shooting up some energy circles that smacked right into the talking Nomu, with one circle even pushing back the talking Nomu's hood-like skin cloaking its face, thus revealing its face in the process. The Magic Hero then conjured a stack of energy circles on Endeavor's back and used them to push Endeavor as hard and as quick as he dared, giving the Flame Hero a serious speed boost to help him take down the talking Nomu. The flames from Endeavor also cloaked the circles, making it look like a single giant jet engine blasting him forward right up into the talking Nomu's face, fully prepared to incinerate the monster.
Reaching the talking Nomu, Endeavor shoved a fist into its mouth and began incinerating it from the inside out. The talking Nomu was being able to regenerate from that damage, so Majestic used his energy circles to push Endeavor and the talking Nomu as high into the air as possible. "There's nothing but sky around you, Endeavor!" cried out the Magic Hero, "Feel free to light 'em up!"
"PLUS ULTRA PROMINENCE BURN!" Endeavor bellowed at the top of his lungs, incinerating the talking Nomu wholly from the inside out, burning him so badly that the entirety of his form was engulfed in carbonizing flames. That assault went on for a few more moments until the talking Nomu... well, just stopped. The charred, fully immolated remains of the talking Nomu fell to the ground, partly breaking up into ashy chunks upon impact, as Endeavor was lowered back down to the ground safely by a similarly exhausted Majestic.
Endeavor, as he forced himself back up onto his feet, held one of his hands up, curled into a fist. He stood there, victoriously but exhausted and wounded. Majestic ran up to the Flame Hero, ready to receive him to help him. "Your victory just now was awesome," Majestic said to Endeavor as he began helping him away from the scene, "A superb way to kickstart your time as Japan's official number one hero."
"Hmph," Endeavor said, "I think I did a lackluster job."
"You're too hard on yourself," Majestic assured his fellow pro hero, "This was the start of something huge for you."
"Oh, I'd say it's the start of something big," a voice suddenly called out, one that was all too familiar to Endeavor, "The start of his funeral dirge." The two top ranking pro heroes, exhausted and hurt, looked over and saw that Dabi, the leader of the League of Villains, had shown up. Dabi then conjured a circular wall of blue flames, enclosing himself and the two heroes who just got off of fighting the talking Nomu who Endeavor had killed just now.
Setting Endeavor down, Majestic said, "Endeavor, you're too exhausted and hurt. Let me handle this one."
"Oh come on, Gandalf," Dabi replied, "Don't be so un-chill, especially since you and Endeavor over there just got done tag-teaming Hood to death." Arching a wry eyebrow, Dabi went on, "Although I'd say that Endeavor did most of the footwork." Leaning to his side, Dabi saw Endeavor and called out to him, "Wouldn't that be an accurate assessment... Enji Todoroki?"
Endeavor, although hurt and exhausted, still had enough wherewithal to hear and recognize what was being said. "...You know me."
Dabi nodded in confirmation, and took a step towards the exhausted and wounded heroes, Endeavor and Majestic both. However, he stopped in his tracks when someone suddenly landed in front of him from above.
"Hold it right there, you Hot Topic customer!" Mirko, the number three hero, declared while pointing an accusing finger at Dabi, "Who ever said that the boys would get to have all the fun?!" Pounding a fist into her hand, Mirko went on, "I'm fresh and ready to rumble!"
The blue flame villain arched a wry eyebrow. "...I'm glad to see you wanna play, Rabbit Hero. Because a... friend of mine... wants to play with you."
Mirko arched a wry eyebrow out of piqued interest. "...Oh really? You brought one of your little villain buddies to-"
"MIRKO!"
The Rabbit Hero was cut off by the loud, bellowing, inhumane roar of a being that was all too familiar to the people of Japan. Suddenly, and to the worry of the heroes, Dabi's bodyguard Felgrand landed down from above, striking down quickly like a bolt from the blue. The dragon villain roared vengefully at Mirko, setting fear into the hearts of the present heroes. Even Endeavor was worried, given he was by no means in any shape to fight.
Even though she was also frightened, Mirko quickly regain her composure. "...Oh, well if it isn't my fan from the Battle of Kamino Ward," Mirko said, a hint of knowing amusement in her tone, "Here to try and get my autogr-"
*SWIPE*
Mirko was cut off when Dabi's monster grabbed her with his right dragonic hand, pinning her arms to her side as he held her as if she were a doll; the size difference between them made that comparison more valid. Felgrand, his lips pulled back in an angry snarl, his brows furrowed into a vicious glare, stared down at his captive with a look that would kill a lesser person with the fright factor alone. "...You, Rumi Usagiyama," Felgrand snarled, "You boast of your signature as if it were a treasure that anyone would want. But I aim to get something else of yours." The dragon loosed a guttural growl, its tone making it clear to the number three hero that he was by no means amused with her.
Mirko then saw it as Felgrand reached towards her head with his free hand.
The Rabbit Hero's eyes widened a bit out of alarm, right before she immediately struggled in Felgrand's grasp. But try as she might, the rabbit couldn't escape from the dragon; he turned his gripped hand to the side, reached towards Mirko with his left dragonic hand, grasped Mirko's exposed head and, like a child doing something very much similar with a doll, began to pull, eliciting a pained scream from Mirko as Endeavor and Majestic, too hurt and tired to try anything, were unable to help as the both of them looked on in horror.
*RIP*
*SCLORCH*
Felgrand, gripping his left dragonic hand closed as blood that wasn't his oozed from it, tossed something at where Endeavor knelt and Majestic stood. It landed with a sickening, wed thud on the asphalt, even splashing the two high ranking pro heroes with life crimson still warm. The news helicopters above as they filmed live what was happening caught what all had happened more or less ever since Endeavor and Majestic began their efforts against the talking Nomu that Endeavor had killed, Hood its name was if what Dabi said is to be believed. That being said, they were bound to have filmed what just happened as well.
Felgrand ripping Mirko's head right off, then throwing her headless corpse at the feet of Endeavor and Majestic.
Felgrand looked down, his form seemingly shuddering as if he had just accomplished a goal that was of great emotional importance to him. Then, he suddenly turned his face skyward and loosed a loud, bellowing, inhumane roar as the air around him blew away. The skies above then began to darken quickly; a mere few seconds after the dragon had loosed his roar, heavy rains began to fall, with bolts of lightning striking in the general area around them but not directly in the area enclosed by Dabi's wall of blue flames, flames that even the heavy rain had trouble putting out quickly.
The ground around the entirety of the area began to roll, and bursts of fiery molten earth erupted in random spots; some outside of Dabi's flames, and two within along the sides of the battlefield. Looking forward, Majestic saw that the light of heat came from Felgrand's right hand which had thrown the headless body of the now late Mirko. That hand, now pressed into the ground, seemed to have the glow of heat in its palm. Endeavor saw this as well, knew enough about Felgrand thanks to what he had seen to know he was combining Hellflame with Earth Flow to make the eruptions. As for the sudden and too-quick-to-be-natural change in weather, Endeavor got it thanks to All Might that Felgrand has a quirk called Control Weather.
Heavy rains from dark skies above, lit up only by the accompanying lightning, rolling earth beneath their feet with erupting bursts of fiery earth every which way. This was cataclysm, pure and simple. Felgrand was unleashing such power, such... such rage... that he seemed like nothing short of divine wrath made manifest. And it had apparently been the late Mirko who had invoked the dragon's ire, if his ripping her head off were any indication of that. And then, just as suddenly as the dragon had started his outrage, he stopped.
Dabi, who was also surprised by what his bodyguard was capable of, got Felgrand's attention by patting him on the left forearm. At Dabi's call the dragon had stopped, bringing an end to what otherwise could have been the utter destruction of the town that the late Hawks had called home. "Easy there, buddy," Dabi said, "You might get Endeavor by accident if you keep this up!"
Felgrand, his head still raised, lowered his head so that others on the ground could see his face. The heavy rains made it difficult to tell, but from where Majestic stood, Dabi's dragon... looked to be crying? "...Yes," Felgrand said, "Endeavor is yours to kill one day. Apologies for getting carried away."
Seeing that he got the dragon to settle down, Dabi turned to look at where Endeavor and Majestic were at. "As much as I'd love to stay and chat," Dabi began, "We've got to get going. More heroes are bound to show up within due time, after all."
"Well what about me, villain?" Endeavor snarled bitterly, "I thought that you wanted to kill me."
"Hmm," Dabi hummed in amusement, "Not now, while it'd be easy but boring. No, I plan to... fatten the pig for slaughter, as it were. There's more I plan to do, more I want to do, before I do to you what Felgrand has done just now to Mirko." Gesturing to the Flame Hero, Dabi said, "But rest assured, Endeavor, that I will personally see to your demise. In due time." Dabi then took out an ear piece communication device and put it into his left ear before using it. "Ujiko, I need you to get me and Felgrand out of here." Suddenly, black ooze came from the mouths of Dabi and Felgrand, encapsulating the both of them before taking them away. The same warping ability from the bar raid during the chaos in Kamino Ward.
The wall of blue flames died down, its dying down sped up by the still ongoing heavy rains, as one of the news helicopters announced that the heroes won and drove the villains off, but not without Mirko losing her life in the process. Right as the heroes were declared victorious, Endeavor fell over onto his side, clearly passed out from the great effort he had just given. But he would be fine, for even as he fell over onto his side, paramedics came rushing over to tend to both him as Majestic, as well as two persons coming over with a body-bag to store the remains of the hero who had lost her life.
But the villains still took off to avoid dealing with more heroes; it was boasted as a win, and hero society needs all the wins that it can get right now.
A short while later in an abandoned alleyway, Majestic was meeting with, of all people, Dabi. The Magic Hero was giving off annoyed vibes as he faced the villain he had stood against a short while ago. "What happened to the plan of having the High-End Nomu fight a pro hero in an abandoned factory near the coast of this city? Why did the fight occur in the city itself, and with the High-End Nomu being as powerful as it was?"
Holding his hands up as shoulder level with the palms facing forward, Dabi said, "I had altered the plan, and it's clear that you had prayed that I didn't alter it further as I left things as is after my little tweaking around." Dabi lowered his hands, but casually gestured to Majestic with his right hand. "But you did bring Endeavor as the pro hero to test how strong Hood and other High-Ends like him can be. That brickhouse of a bastard is the top dog pro hero in Japan right now, so he served well as a means to measure how strong the High-Ends can be."
Majestic had a mildly unsure and wary air as Dabi went on, "By the way, I got it that, aside from Endeavor killing Hood, a move that still irks me by the way, the only deaths were caused by Felgrand. One was an obese old man who was seared up the front of his body by a random eruption of Hellflame, and bolts of lightning randomly struck and killed a twenty-four-year-old woman getting out of work, a thirty-one-year-old man who worked as a mechanic at the garage he just left, and a thirty-eight-year-old man heading into a bar for a drink." With an amused smirk, Dabi said, "He also ripped Mirko's head off, and yes Felgrand still has Mirko's head."
Majestic had a bit more of an unsure hint in the air he gave off. "...Yes. I remember you telling me that your bodyguard had personal reasons for wanting to kill Mirko. I figured that luring her in since I knew you'd bring your bodyguard with you would be a nice show to prove my intent to you."
"Ah, you wanted to help Felgrand get the revenge he wanted on that rabbit bitch," Dabi said, "And you not only pulled it off, but no-one on the outside is the wiser to your secret dealings with me."
"Well I do have to maintain my hero image," Majestic replied, "To better help me with relaying info to the League."
Dabi nodded once in understanding. "And here I was thinking that the zero fatalities outside of Hood and those Felgrand killed wasn't a show convincing me that you're willing to commit to a villainous cause. But you, through guile, carefully arranged for the death of a top ranking pro hero which simultaneously made things easier for the League and brought a measure of emotional comfort to one of my most trusted and valued subordinates. You're a pretty effective and manipulative schemer, Majestic. There's a bright future ahead for you, that much I'm able to tell." Turning around to take off, Dabi said, "I still can't bring you in on any big things just yet, but I will be getting in contact with you soon."
Majestic nodded in understanding, then parted ways with the blue flame villain. It would be rather shocking for one to learn that Majestic, the officially ranked number five hero (de facto number four now since Mirko who ranked above him was killed) was secretly working with the League of Villains. Even more so that he had decided to sacrifice Mirko in order to help curry favor with Dabi. As such, one would be even MORE surprised to learn that Majestic was trying to curry said favor with the League of Villains due to having orders from the Hero Public Safety Commission to be a double agent.
During the raid on the hideout where the Yaoyorozu girl had to be rescued, the HPSC wasn't able to gather much detail on the LoV or their abilities. The job was given to Majestic more due to necessity, as he was the highest ranked pro hero available and willing; Edgeshot was supposedly the HPSC's first pick for the double agent job, but apparently he couldn't or wouldn't take the job. Also, it was pointed out how Edgeshot, famed for being a ninja hero, would've been way too obvious to the villains as a possible double agent; the Ninja Hero suddenly wants to be friends with the League of Villains? That'd raise some red flags in the minds of the villains for sure.
All of that was on the Magic Hero's mind as he went into a hospital and, after getting clearance, went to go see how Endeavor was doing. Seeing the heavily bandaged Endeavor laying there in the hospital bed to get treatment, Majestic couldn't help but worry and feel sorry. He internally apologized to the Flame Hero before walking in to vocally say hello.
...
Dabi, as he stood on a pier overlooking the city, thought about how Felgrand, his loyal bodyguard, had suddenly demanded to get to kill the rabbit hero. Dabi, who was a bit surprised by Felgrand being so firm, said that he had no issue with it; hell, killing off one of Japan's top ranked pro heroes would be a boon to the League of Villains, and it helped that Felgrand wasn't taking the dibs that Dabi had on Endeavor. However, the blue flame villain, expressing honest curiosity, had asked Felgrand why he so suddenly wanted to claim Mirko's head.
The answer that Felgrand gave... surprised Dabi, to say the least. Felgrand's feelings when it came to why he wanted to kill Mirko also reminded him of his past, of happy times. Dabi, as he stood on that pier, wiped a droplet of blood that oozed out from around a staple under his left eye, like a normal person would wipe away a tear of... well, tears... from their eye. "...Yeah, we're both villains," Dabi said, thinking about both himself and his monster as he spoke, "But our respective reasons for why we became villains are, at the same time, very similar yet very different."
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees more or less the whole of Endeavor's fight with Hood, but Majestic took Hawks's place for obvious reasons. Majestic took Hawks's place not just as Endeavor's ally in the fight against Hood, but also Hawks's role as the HPSC's spy to gather intel on the League of Villains (Majestic further cemented trust by claiming to have lured Mirko in for Felgrand to kill, even though Mirko really showed up on her own randomly). How the Magic Hero will do will be a process that'll take time to fully develop, as the next chapter will see time with the Todoroki family and some One For All shenanigans. Also, the Joint Training business will soon start up; it's something I'm really eager to get cracking on, as it'll see Aizawa get to his worst yet.