Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 26:

"Ojiro!" Midoriya shouted, spinning to his right. "Get help!"

"Got it," Ojiro said, lifting his tail up as he spun to Midoriya.

"Run and I kill the hostage," the blond man with long hair on Zach's right said. The students and All Might all stared wide eyes at the man furthest to the left from their perspective.

That man lifted up his right hand and he laughed while brushing the long blond braid off of his shoulder and back behind him. "Wh-What hostage?" Ojiro asked.

Midoriya wanted to yell at him that they were bluffing, but it did not sound to him like that man really was. All Might's eyes started darting around the students with him, then they rose back to the boy standing before them who just made way too threatening an entrance. "Young, Sazaki," All Might began.

"Hey there All Might," Zach said. His mouth lifted back up from its frown into a flat lip as he spoke to his old teacher. "Long time no see-"

"Zach!" Kirishima shouted up towards the boy on the higher rock surface angrily. Zach turned towards him, and Kirishima narrowed his eyes even angrier back at him. "What are you doing? Did you- why are-" Kirishima shook his head a few times, then he snapped, "Come over here!"

"Sorry, can't do that, old friend," Zach said, and he lifted his left hand to scratch the back of his head with. His left hand wore a tight black glove just like his right, but the right had fingertips on it too making the glove look harmless. The students in front of him looking at Zach still felt unnerved though, because of what they saw before Zach reverted back into this state. "By the way, how'd you guys like Nightmare? I'm not hiding it anymore. I'm not hiding anything, anymore."

"Zach," Ashido whispered, water forming in her eyes. She steadied her feet on the ground though. The villains are attacking again. On campus, again! We have to stop them before this becomes a big incident!

"Are they only attacking here, or is it everywhere?" Midoriya whispered. "Principal Nezu said there were no cameras, but there are teachers and pro heroes all over the building. Cementoss sensei should be-"

"Hey kid, pick up the pace," the blond guy on Zach's right side said. Zach frowned at him, but the older guy frowned right back, "This is your big day, but I'm still in charge. Shigaraki said so."

"Yeah, whatever," Zach muttered, turning back to the group in front of him. "I'm here, to make my declaration. At the school where it all started," the corners of his lips started spreading up more.

Ojiro turned and he smacked his tail down. "Ahh!" Ashido screamed. Ojiro spun back after leaping up on the rock wall behind him. Ashido scrambled backwards and fell on her butt as the ground at her feet broke apart with two holes just in front of where her toes were. Ojiro's eyes opened wide, and he dropped back down as the three villains were all glaring his way.

"How?" Aoyama whispered.

I saw it, Midoriya thought. That blond man. He shot small projectiles out of his index fingers. I barely caught a glimpse of them though. They moved so fast! Could Full Cowling get me to him in time? What about the other one- the other two! If I get close, Zach could… "Zach!" Midoriya yelled, his fists clenching at his sides. He swung an arm in front of him and shouted, "What are you doing?!"

"Don't Shooter," Zach said, lifting his right hand and putting it out in front of the man on his right. Midoriya's eyes widened as it looked like Zach might be trying to protect him, considering the blond just lifted a hand and pointed his index finger out as if it were a gun aimed at him. "Midoriya, I'm here because apparently it's time I sent a message." Zach lifted his left hand and he scratched the back of his head, then he wound up just rubbing his hand around on the back of his black-steel helmet. "Shooter and Hydro are just to help me out with it," Zach said, nodding his head to the right when he said 'Shooter' and left when he said 'Hydro.'

The burly figure on Zach's left grinned more as his villain name was said aloud before All Might. The strongest, and most promising of the new batch of villains. Shigaraki said his strength comes close to what even Ganeshi's was, Zach thought after his second nod. Zach kept grinning as he looked back down at the group before him. "So this is my message: I'm not Lifebringer anymore. That name the media calls me, they should have stopped when I stopped spending all my time hitting hospitals and accident scenes. Those idiots treat me like some vigilante, but I am not. I am not a hero, or an anti-hero, or a vigilante." Zach's mouth curled up at the corners more, and he said while lifting his right hand and having his fingers slide out the tips of his gloves. "I am a villain."

"Sazaki," All Might whispered, lowering his gaze down. As he said it, he imagined the face of Titanium in his mind. He saw the man he once respected as a colleague and fellow hero, and then he lifted his gaze up to the boy who no longer shared his hair style. The boy who had an expression on his face that the hero Titanium never would have had. All Might's fists clenched, even as his eyes kept shaking and he felt the tears trying to well up in them.

"That it?" Hydro wondered, turning right towards the other two next to him.

"Not yet," Shooter said. Zach turned to the right too and lifted his eyebrows, then he narrowed them in as the man pointed his finger towards Ashido and All Might who she had just gotten back up in front of. He brought his other hand forward too, and then Zach swung his arm out to the right again and he put it in front of Shooter's lifted gun-fingers. "Don't do this kid," Shooter warned. "Not after you made such a strong declaration right there."

"I figured this would happen," Zach said, turning and glaring at Shooter who darted his gaze back.

Kirishima moved, he ran in front of Ashido and hardened his body. Shooter fired twice, both hit Kirishima and just made the boy skid backwards into the girl behind him. Zach's fingers that had slid out of his glove curled back towards Shooter, and Zach gave the man next to him a murderous glare. Shooter did not back up though, and he said, "You think this is enough of a message? No. When Shigaraki said to send a message, you know what he meant."

"Then it's me who has to send the message," Zach said. He glared at Shooter in a more harsh way, but the blond man's eyes actually widened in surprise. Zach's lips stayed dipped down, and he said, "So don't touch any of them. I'll do it. And then you call Kurogiri to get us out of here. Got it?" Zach's ungloved fingers were dangerously close to Shooter, and the kid had a dark look in his eyes that made the other villain narrow his back but then lower the arms he had dipped below Zach's to shoot towards the moving people in front of them.

"It's already been a minute. Don't slack," Shooter warned.

Zach turned towards the group in front of him, and he said, "Who wants to do it?" The people in front of Zach dropped their jaws at him as he stepped forward and started walking down the slant of the rock stump from the flat section sticking out of the wall. Zach glared around at his classmates, lifted his right hand with all his fingers sticking out of his glove, and he said, "Who wants to die?"

"I'm going to kick your ass!" Kirishima shouted, stepping forward and glaring furiously at Zach. His arms were still hardened, and his stomp forward made the rock ground beneath his right foot crack.

"Kirishima wait-" Midoriya started.

"If anyone else makes a move," Shooter called out. He grinned as the others looked towards him, while Kirishima kept his gaze locked with Zach's. "I'll shoot Pinky over there."

Never had Ashido been so afraid to hear her own super-hero name. All Might put an arm in front of the girl though, and he stepped forward to separate her from the villain. Shooter just grinned more though, and he said, "That works too. Shooter, the man who killed All Might. It just rolls off the tongue!"

"Don't," Zach said. "This isn't about you," he turned his head and glared back towards the blond man. "What do you think is worse? All Might dying to protect some students, or the former Symbol of Peace," Zach turned back and smirked as he finished, "unable to do a thing as a student was killed in front of him."

"RAAA!" Kirishima yelled, sprinting forward towards Zach.

Midoriya's whole body started shaking. His gaze snapped from Kirishima, up to the man pointing hand-guns down at All Might. The man looked annoyed at Zach's response, but that also told Midoriya that he was listening to what Zach was saying. Yet if he moved, he knew the man would use that as his excuse and shoot All Might in the face anyway. Am I fast enough to jump in the way?! If I do, will it kill me with Full Cowling around- "Kirishima!" Midoriya yelled. "Don't let him touch you-"

"I know that!" Kirishima yelled as he sprinted for Zach. "You, bastard," Kirishima yelled as he hardened both arms and then slashed them down in front of him. He slashed from above Zach's left shoulder down, and Zach leapt backwards to avoid the red-haired boy's range.

Zach stepped back again and again, moving his right hand forward once in a while which had Kirishima leaning away from it. Zach was leading Kirishima farther up the rock surface closer to his own comrades, but neither of the other villains were doing a thing to stop him. Then, Zach stopped stepping back. Kirishima slashed up from the ground towards Zach's front, in a move that Zach had dodged back from before attempting a counter each time before. This time though, Zach expected it as it was coming, and he turned his body sideways and allowed the hardened arms to start passing straight up in front of him. Zach's right hand lifted over Kirishima's rising arms, and Kirishima turned his head left towards it with huge eyes. Zach put his right hand around Kirishima's face.

Midoriya's body started glowing and he bent both legs. Then he froze. He froze and the Full Cowling faded off of his body. Midoriya, All Might, Ashido, Ojiro, and Aoyama felt their hearts skip beats. Their jaws dropped so far, and Ojiro clenched his eyes shut after a second. He wanted to sprint forward, just as he had the last time he saw this. In his head he remembered a blue beam of flames coming out of Kirishima's chest, and he recalled seeing the red-haired boy falling forward. This time though, when his eyes opened back up, Kirishima was falling backwards. The Hardening on his arms was fading away, as it did on his face that had hardened too before Zach's hand touched it.

Kirishima fell backwards, motionless, and he hit his back on the gentle rock slant he and Zach were fighting on. Zach stared down at the boy in front of him. He looked down at the unmoving body in front of him, his eyes wide, his right hand shaking where he held it in the air. Zach shook his head after a second and he brought his shaking right hand back down. He held it in front of his body, grabbing its wrist with his left hand so hard. Then he pressed his right hand into his chest again, and a black coating spread over his entire body. Wisps of darkness came off of his shoulders, off his arms that he lifted back up in front of him, off of his legs that turned so that he was facing straight down the slant again.

"No," Ashido whispered. She started shaking her head and she tried taking a step around All Might, but he put his arm out in front of her and she turned to him with a panicked look on her face. "All Might, we have to-"

All Might's face scared Ashido silent. "You won't be able to see Shigaraki as a villain. If you go after him thinking of him as Nana Shimura's relative, trying to help him." All Might's hands started shaking violently at his sides, his whole body trembling in anger.

"Don't try it All Might," Zach warned, his voice coming out deeper and distorted through his scary open skeletal jaw. "I know you can keep your muscle form for a second, but touch me and you die. Shooter shoots faster than a second too. And even one of your hits won't take Hyrdo down for the count." Zach's jaw did not smirk after he said it. He just turned and his glowing red eyes focused back down on the red-haired boy lying in front of him. He turned back up towards Shooter who was smirking down at him, and Hydro who nodded his way before Zach started walking back towards them.

"KIRISHIMA!" Midoriya screamed. He took a step, and Shooter crossed an arm over his other one and fired at the floor at Midoriya's feet. Midoriya pulled a leg back fast, because the projectile fired was actually aimed at his shin. He pulled his leg back while surrounding it in One For All, making a wind slam backwards as he managed to dodge it. He was not on balance to keep running though, and instead he had to freeze as one of Shooter's fingers was pointed at him now, the other still aimed at All Might.

"Almost shot All Might there," Shooter said, then his eyes turned straight ahead of him at the boy walking his way in between him and All Might. He had almost fired at All Might when he glimpsed Midoriya's movement, but he noticed Zach directly in his line of sight, making him spin his other hand towards the boy who was moving and stop him. The second hesitation he took when he saw Zach before him was what he blamed his miss on, and he narrowed his eyes towards Midoriya and said, "I never miss a second time."

"Should we take his body back with us?" Hyrdo questioned the other two who had been members of the League of Villains for longer than him. Shooter kept his eyes on the others, but Zach turned towards Hydro as he stepped up on the flat section again. Zach took another step before turning his head sideways and looking down through his glowing red eyes at the body down the slant a bit.

"I didn't even think about that," Zach mentioned. "That would be even more embarrassing for U.A. though. Not that things can get much worse, but to not even be able to give his family his body." Zach shook his head, then he turned to Hydro while his former classmates stared at him in horror. "Go grab it."

"Heh," Shooter said. He pointed both guns harder in front of him as he could see the people down there preparing to move to stop Hydro from taking Kirishima. Some of them were still holding onto hope that they could save him, while most of them were just too enraged with the aspect of the villains getting Kirishima's body. Three of them were crying, and Shooter started to laugh as he continued to the boy behind him, "Never thought I'd actually say it kid, but that was-" Shooter's eyes shot open huge and started darting to the side, but his eyelids were closing and his legs came out from beneath him.

Hydro started turning his head, only to feel a hand touch him in the right side. He lowered his gaze as he felt the dark feeling fill him, his eyes opening huge while he lifted his right arm up. Shooter kept falling farther to his right, while the dark figure behind and between both of them moved his hand off of Hydro after holding it there for a second. Zach took a quick hop back, but Hydro's arm that was slamming down slowed down and fell limp to his side anyway before his knees collapsed from beneath him.

The students down below stared in shock to the top of the flat rock surface where Zach was standing on his own. The two villains collapsed forward and fell onto the slant that they slid down a few feet before stopping. All Might's enraged expression filled with confusion, then he grit his teeth again at the grin he saw the skull-faced boy at the top of the rocky area giving them.

Midoriya's eyes snapped from Zach to the man Shooter, then to Hydro who was motionless just like him. Then he turned back to Kirishima, then to Zach again. He just killed three people! Midoriya started running up the slant. He did not sprint at Zach, but he ran towards Kirishima and stood between him and the other boy who just said to take Kirishima's body. "I, don't understand," Midoriya started. "Why are you doing this?" He asked. "Why did you-"

Ashido ran up towards Kirishima too, calling out his name while tears came out of her eyes. She lifted her head and screamed Zach's name angrily once, then she brought it back down as she reached the spiky-haired boy flat on his back. Ojiro stepped forward as well after shaking off the shock, and he yelled up towards Zach, "What did you do?! Why did you kill him?!"

Aoyama was still scared of the dark figure at the top of the hill, but he stepped forward so he was on All Might's side instead of standing behind him. He had strong long-range attacks, which in this situation meant he should be the one moving forward more than any of the others. Zach lifted his right hand and he tapped himself on the side of the head, seemingly leaving himself defenseless up on the flat rock surface. "Even though I'm glad I convinced you, I wish it wasn't so easy every time," Zach said, a mock-hurt look on his face. "Right, my 'old friend?'"

Midoriya was just about to sprint forward. Without the dark coating that he did not understand that no longer covered Zach, all he knew was that he had to move fast and stay away from Zach's right hand. At the sound of that phrase though, the emphasis on it that had Zach grinning even more, it made Midoriya's body tense up and freeze. Ashido had fallen to her knees behind him, and she called out, "KIRISH-" her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged open as the boy lying in front of her sat up in a single motion.

Kirishima sat up, then he turned his head towards Ashido with wide eyes at the tears streaming down her face. He turned the other way next and saw Midoriya's head half-turned, then turning the rest of the way in utter shock as Kirishima was getting up behind him.

"What is going on?" Ojiro called out, so confused at the moment.

"Good thing you got that message to me," Kirishima said, as he looked towards Zach. His mouth did not lift up into a smile as he said it though, and his eyes lowered from Zach to look at each of the villains lying just ahead of him. "I don't know why he wanted me to tell you, but he treated it like it was really important…" If Kuroiro never said anything, I would have thought he had really lost it here. But, still, "Zach, you," Kirishima began.

"How?" All Might asked. He took a step forward, and he glared up into Zach's eyes which made the short boy lean back a little. He was taller than the last time his classmates saw him, but that still meant he was only about Ashido's height at five foot three inches. "You touched him with-"

"Someone I brought back to life with my Quirk, can't be killed by it," Zach said. He wanted to grin, but all he saw were dark, upset looks directed back towards him. "It's the same as how I can't bring things back to life, that I've killed myself."

All Might grit his teeth even harder. His eyes lowered to the villains in front of Zach, and Midoriya took a step farther towards the boy in front of him. "You killed them," Midoriya said. "Again! You-"

"They're not dead," Zach said.

Kirishima, All Might, and Midoriya all opened their eyes wide. It was the reason Kirishima was still frowning even after he had played along with Zach's plan. "They're not?!" He asked in amazement, snapping his gaze up from their bodies to Zach to see if he was serious.

Zach lifted the left corner of his lip up just a small bit as he stared at the group in front of him. This is enough. He looked towards All Might who was staring at him in shock. I knew, one day I would be able to do it. It's like I told you, when you dropped me back off at home that day. Before you could jump into the sky and soar away to save the rest of the world, I made that promise. "I swear All Might, I'll become a hero. I'll do it without ever using my power to hurt someone!"

Zach's gaze lowered back to the villains in front of him. I didn't succeed. Not at first. "They're just unconscious," Zach said. As Zach said it, he spotted two peopled running up the slant on his left behind where Ojiro was gawking at him from. On his right side, he saw another person running towards him from the far end of the room that Midoriya's group had been trying to get to originally. Zach let out a sigh at the sight of these people rushing towards him. He lifted his arms in front of him with his wrists bent down, and he said, "My real declaration-" his classmates all looked up into his eyes, as did All Might. They stared in shock as Zach finished, "I came to turn myself in."

I can't stay there anymore. Zach thought while he held his arms out in front of his body. They were right to look at me in fear when I first appeared. If things had gone even a little differently, I would have gone down the wrong path, fully.

"Zach Sazaki?!"

"Are those the villains?"

"Did he kill them-"

"They're alive!" Zach shouted. He lowered his mouth into a deep frown after calling it out. His eyes lowered to the floor in front of him and the villains laying there. I considered taking villains' lives. It wasn't so long ago that if I had a chance like this, I would have killed them. If they had taken the box off in the first days, even weeks after I joined them. If they had trusted me back then, I would have killed any villain they asked me to. I was in such a dark place after that trial, and I didn't even realize it until I had been saving people for weeks. When people started smiling at me again, when people thanked me before I left, when they weren't scared to see me appear but relieved… I felt good again. And I remembered, why it is I don't kill people. But then, when Shigaraki threatened to stop me from doing my hospital work, to stop me from bringing people back to life, again I considered it. I considered breaking my new code. But I stayed strong, I kept myself from breaking it. I've come close though. Too close, too many times. And they slowly stopped me from bringing people back to life. They had me do it in less public situations, then they would only let me do it if there was no one else around.

"Sazaki," Aizawa started as he arrived behind the other teachers. He stood behind Snipe and Nezu who were both staring at Zach in surprise as he stood there with his arms outstretched in front of him. Aizawa looked down at the principal, then around the area up near Zach and his expression darkened. "What is everyone doing?" He questioned, taking a step forward with a dark grimace on his face.

"He's turning himself in," Nezu said, and Aizawa stopped before turning down to the principal. "And he says, the other villains are alive."

They wanted me to kill. They wanted it so much, but I knew they would record it. Zach thought, while he lifted his gaze from the villains and then shifted it around the other students in front of him, the teachers on his right, and then over to the ones on his left. He looked at Aizawa and Vlad King whom he had last seen at the court trial, and he gave them a small smile as if saying that there were no hard feelings about it. I got out though. I got out now. Before I had changed forever. I couldn't do it. If I killed, they said they would send me out more often to save people. I had so many opportunities. I could have killed villains, and saved the people they would one day kill, but I stopped myself! Because, I couldn't go out with the intent to kill people. Doing it on purpose, setting out for murder, those things were on their own enough to hold be back, but what stopped me when those ideas stopped sounding so far-off, was what Lifebringer came to become. People were questioning heroes, but not because of "villains." They were only questioning it because of "Lifebringer." But if I had done something truly villainous, if people saw me killing some and saving others, it would have made Lifebringer into a villain, but more than that! If I got to choose who lives and who dies, if it was up to me when to bring people to live, or who to kill with a single touch, I would have been like a God. And I'm not! I was just, trying to help people. And everyone saw that. That's what they thought of Lifebringer. So if a video came out showing me saving people at a hospital, followed by one of me killing a villain mercilessly, it would destroy people's faith. They trusted me. I understood, what I was doing, and the impact it would have on society. I knew people had gained trust in me, and that trust would not have gone away completely if they saw me kill a villain. But that's what would have been the end. If I was a complete villain, and still had a lot of people on my side, it wold have destroyed this society. Split it up into different sides who agreed and disagreed with what I was doing, and the more violent this world becomes, the more people would have sided with me.

Zach let out a small gasp of breath, then he relaxed a bit as the cloths Aizawa shot out his way only wrapped around the two villains laying in front of him without moving. Everyone in front of him moved closer, and Zach kept his arms right where they were in front of his body. Aizawa pulled the villains towards him, wrapped up in his powerful cloths, and he checked each of their pulses. Slow, but they're both alive. He lifted his gaze back towards Zach, and he thought while staring at the kid, He, actually found a way to make it weaker.

"Zach Sazaki," All Might began, stepping forward towards the boy on the higher rock platform ahead of him. All Might thought of everything Zach had said since he came out of the portal. He thought about how evil and deranged the boy looked, and how calm and relaxed he appeared in the moment. "Was it all, a lie?"

Zach met All Might's gaze, and he nodded his head once with a small smile on his face. "Yeah," he said. "I'm sorry, I made you mad. And I'm sorry guys," Zach continued to his classmates who were still staring at him in mixes of confusion and shock, other than Kirishima who was grinning. "I know that was scary…"

Principal Nezu was not as focused as everyone else on the apology Zach started giving his classmates. The teachers all knew that they needed to arrest him, but no one wanted to do it. He looked ready to come on his own, and his right hand was hidden back inside the black glove he was wearing with all fingers covered to show he had no hostile intent. He had not just killed anyone, he had finally come back, and all they knew he had done since he had left was save lives, a lot of lives. The principal's eyes focused on the two villains at Aizawa's feet though, then back towards Zach, then up towards the ceiling. Something is wrong. The video I saw showed that those portals had just opened up, the men just coming out before we came in here. Too much seems to have happened. Everyone is in different positions. Nezu pulled out a small tablet from his pocket and lifted it in front of him.

Vlad King and Aizawa both looked down to see the principal holding up a device that showed a camera view down on them. "No cameras, huh?" Vlad King questioned.

"This is wrong," Nezu said, his eyes widening a the sight of the screen. Aizawa and Vlad both looked down on it, and they saw Aizawa pulling the villains towards him and then bending down, checking their pulses.

"A time delay?" Aizawa began.

Nezu's eyes started lifting up, "They've been ha-"

"…and because Nightmare spreads Death across my whole body, it's power is diluted. If I only touch for a brief second, it won't-"

As Zach was explaining the creepy form his friends had seen and why it stopped him from killing the villains, and right before Nezu could finish saying the word 'hacked,' the air on Zach's left side swirled a dark purple color.

Midoriya's knees bent. His eyes darted back to Zach as he charged Full Cowling, then they shot open huge as Zach's eyes were widening as well. This isn't him?!

"Sazaki!" Snipe yelled over, lifting his guns to stop the boy from going through the portal.

"They can see!" Nezu shouted, while he typed fast into the tablet on his hands. How could they hack this! I thought for them to do so, they would have to know it existed in the first place and I am the only one who knows. A mind reader? Or someone who can scan for cameras or electronics!

"It's not-" Zach started, while turning his head towards the portal and moving his arms in front of his body.

Something charged out of the portal. It was big, eight feet tall and broad at the shoulders. It had metal spikes sticking out of its back, but the rest of it was black from head to toe, except for the brain sticking out of its skull.

There are still Nomus?! Zach thought in fear as he swung his right arm around, trying to pull it in front of his body while sliding his fingers out of the glove. A huge black arm grabbed down on his right forearm hard, as the Nomu sprinted through the portal faster than Zach could follow. The hand gripped his right arm while it was still moving, and then a loud crack sounded as the Nomu bent to the side while still sprinting forward. Zach's feet were lifted off the ground as he yelled in pain, and another portal opened behind him while the Nomu kept sprinting.

"SMAAAASSHHH!" Midoriya screamed, slamming his right leg as hard as he could around towards the side of the Nomu's head. He was the only one to arrive that fast, the only one who reached right as they were about to hit the portal. His leg collided with the Nomu's head and made it snap to the side, then the Nomu swung Zach's body and slammed his torso into Midoriya's face.

Shock absorption?! All Might thought while he ran forward, while everyone ran towards the portal the Nomu just smacked Midoriya away from. Two of Snipe's bullets slammed into the Nomu's arm at its weakest point, but the bullets just bounced off of Nomu's body and fell harmlessly to the floor. The Nomu hesitated for a second after the kick in the face, and then it sprinted the rest of the way into the portal, Zach getting swung forward through with it, a terrified last look on his face before he was dragged through.

The portals closed.

Midoriya had his arms reached out in front of him, and then he fell flat on his stomach with his arms crossing. He had kicked so hard behind him to send himself flying back towards Zach, and he hit the ground violently where the portal just was. He yelled out in pain, and he yelled out in frustration. "Ahhh AHHH! NOOO! No, No," Midoriya's fists clenched in front of him on the ground, tears spilling out of his eyes as he curled his body forward.

The teachers all stared towards the spot the former student just vanished from. All any of them could think about was that look on his face right before he went through, the look of absolute horror as he was taken away. "Zach?" Kirishima muttered after a few seconds, as if it was finally hitting him. "No no no," he brought his hands up and ran them through his hair. He had barely seen a thing. It had happened in an instant. The portals appearing, the Nomu sprinting through and decking Zach, Midoriya vanishing and reappearing after where he attacked the creature, how quickly it swatted Midoriya away using Zach's body. It was all too much for him to even react to until it was over.

"No way," Ashido whispered. She was just opening her mouth to yell angrily up at Zach for messing with her, and she was going to yell at Kirishima for tricking her too, but the upset emotions she felt that she was tricked were so petty that they vanished instantly as Zach did. "He was, back," Ashido whispered, her eyes watering up. "He came back," she whispered, her voice cracking. It was a scenario she had never imagined. Getting killed by the villains, or captured by heroes and the police, seemed like the only two ways things were going to end for him, at least to her. "He came back," Ashido said again, tears spilling out of her eyes now and running down her pink face.

A few hundred miles away, Zach was yanked through a portal and slammed so hard onto the floor that he could not think straight for a few seconds. When he finally could, his first thought was, It's not grabbing me. He tried moving his arm that was twisted behind his back, but another arm grabbed it this time. A knee slammed into his back, and Shigaraki Tomura's face snapped down to the side of his. The man with wavy gray hair had his head turned in towards Zach so their faces were inches away, Shigaraki staring between the fingers of the hand attached to his face and right into Zach's eyes. "That was the last time," Shigaraki said, twisting Zach's arm more and pressing his knee harder into the boy's spine.

Use the opponent's weight against- A foot stepped down on the top of Zach's head and slammed his face into the floor. He heard a voice he had heard ever day for the last few months, as Dabi said down to him, "You really fucked this up. You could have changed the world with us."

CLICK

Zach heard the locking sound, and his eyes shot open even as his face was pressed down into the floor. He tried swinging around his right arm, only to yell out in agony as he forgot how hard the Nomu had grabbed down on it. There was a metal box on his hand anyway now, a box that he had not worn in weeks, months even. "How?" Zach gasped out as the foot came off the back of his head. "Why? How is there a Nomu? How did you know what I did-" he turned his head sideways and looked up at Shigaraki's face that he leaned back down over Zach. Zach could see other figures past Shigaraki: Kurogiri, Spinner, a dozen others who he recognized and a bunch he did not too. "You- you told Shooter he had to call you to let you know when-"

"Hackerman found some cameras. I just told you three he didn't, so I could make sure, one last time, that you were really with us," Shigaraki grabbed the back of Zach's head and ripped his helmet off, then he brought his hand down to Zach's skull and he slammed the boy's face into the floor again. Zach felt his nose break, and he screamed in pain again. Shigaraki started laughing, laughing as he brought his head down next to Zach's ear, while scratching his neck with his other hand.

Zach felt terrified, because he had never heard laughter sound so angry. He's, really pissed off. I made it. I really, I was there! How did the heroes let me get taken? Zach's whole body started shaking as he felt Shigaraki's breath on his ear. I made it back! I really, I was home. What are they going to do? "What, are you going to do with me?" Zach asked, managing to make it out despite the pain he was feeling in his broken and bent right arm as well as in his face. His whole body ached actually from how hard the Nomu hit him when slamming him through the portals, and he was afraid as he could see that powerful monster standing by not far behind Shigaraki as if waiting for more orders.

Shigaraki laughed harder, and he leaned up off of Zach's back, taking his knee off the kid and standing up at his side. Shigaraki looked down at the sixteen year old who slid his left hand up and tried pushing himself into a better position. "You are going to wish you were never born," Shigaraki said while locking his eyes from behind the attached hand to Zach's.

The sound of that made Zach feel more fear, than he could ever imagine. His eyes darted around the room to all the people near him. They had been his comrades, his allies, for months now. Each one of them stood there staring silently towards him without pity in their eyes. He had been tricking them, sneaking around behind their backs, all this time. And they had finally caught him. The thing he was most terrified about, for months on end now, was this exact moment. His lips started trembling, blood running over them out from the nostrils of his broken nose. In a raspy voice, Zach said while looking into Shigaraki's eyes, "Just kill me. Just, get it over with!" Shigaraki's lips that were dipped so far down started twisting, his face distorting behind the creepy hand over it.

"Kill you?" Shigaraki asked. "You're, an important piece," he said, tilting his head to the side. "Don't you get that? Haven't you figured that out yet?!" Shigaraki yelled. He smirked in an insane way behind the hand, but his eyes were still full of rage as he looked down into Zach's. "You will," he said. Zach pushed his left hand down on the ground to try and get away, to push back from Shigaraki who scared him more than anyone else in his life ever had. "You, don't get to leave."

A/N Thanks for reading... Leave a review telling me what you think below...

You know what chapter 25 . 11h ago

I'm surprised. I first happened upon this gem before realizing it was a gem thinking it was not good because it seemed so out of the ordinary. Though, I admit now, I was severely underestimating how good this story got despite not following canon necessarily. I really appreciate the constant updates and I really like this story alot.
I do have some questions:

I'm really glad you got into this story! I knew right when I started writing it that it was out of the ordinary, for me too since I don't often write OCs. In my biggest story I've been writing for the past few years I made it a point not to add any OCs at all, and that one has 2.5 million words. But again I'm glad it works even without following canon, really at all at this point. Alright, to those questions: I might read the manga in the future, don't know right now but I often wind up doing so after a season ends. As for now though, we're already past the manga time-wise (I think, since I don't really know), but this Villain Training Simulation is coming after the internships after the hero license arc, so a lot of stuff that happened in canon can still have happened in this for if I do start reading or for whatever's revealed in the rest of this season. So as much as I like the suggestion (it's how I tried mixing the first few seasons of the show into this), at this point I'm past the point of doing so, but I'll still be adding more stuff that does come out into it... don't really know how to describe but hope you get it. Class-B's had a decent-sized role in this, and I don't know how big it will get. I developed Kuroiro's character hesitantly, as well as when I showed his Quirk's uses, because I do want to stick truthfully to characters and I don't know if his Quirk will ever come into play in the manga. That had me slow to do more with it at first, but I think I will just continue developing him without worrying about a possible future he might have canonically. Zach! Shigaraki's been trying to turn him, use him against hero society, but things have changed now. If you felt really bad for Zach before... well, things don't look good. Thanks for the review!

WWHHAATT chapter 25 . 11h ago

I thought Zach's code was not to kill anyone. But I guess scaring the living shit out of his former classmates doesn't violate that single rule he lives by.
I'm starting to think that you really like screwing with your readers... ZACH WHY?!
Great Update.

Zach managed to keep to his code from what we saw this chapter, though he did give everyone a pretty big scare. Glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing!

Celestial stratos chapter 24 . 7h ago

Zach and momo... Hmmmmmmm

Hmmm. Hmmmmmm. Hmm?

Logargon chapter 25 . 9h ago

You sir have spoiled me rotten with all this great reading material

Well I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for reviewing everyone! And, well, prepare yourselves...