Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43:

In the middle of Musutafu City, Zach Sazaki walked down a sidewalk with a baseball cap over his head. His hands were in black gloves and shoved into his pockets, and he was wearing a hoodie with a jacket on over it and thick sweatpants too. It was mid-February, but the weather that had just started getting better suddenly took a one-eighty and hit them with more below freezing days out of nowhere. He had a cap on instead of a warmer beanie though, as he was trying not to have people recognize him as he walked down the road.

Two people already looked at me curiously. I wonder if they figured it out and kept walking, or if they just thought I was someone else, Zach kept his head down a bit and kept walking with the rim of his hat shadowing the top of his face. Not everyone's happy I'm "back," as the news was calling it. Too many people dying recently around here. I just don't know though, until it's too late. Sometimes hearing about it an hour after, and I want to rush over to see if the time limit's increased at all… But the hospital isn't close enough. I can't save, everyone. But I haven't saved anyone since last Wednesday. It's only been two people total since I got back. Really thought that would start back up a trend or something, but my life's barely changed because of it.

Zach let out a sigh and his breath hung in the air in front of him. He pulled out his phone as he hit a corner to double-check something, but he nodded as he was still on the right track and just waited for the walk sign to turn on at the corner. His eyes darted around while he rubbed his hands in his gloves in front of him. Waiting for the sign to change gave him a moment to look around seemingly aimlessly, though his eyes were darting around at every alleyway, every indent into a building. Anyone following me? Principal Nezu mentioned radio waves coming into the school, but something about ones made by Quirks. Can he tell the difference, or are they monitoring all the students' communications? Even if they're not, they might just be monitoring mine, even though I have two new phones. I didn't give anyone the number of the newer one I bought in Kyoto though. Which is why I brought that one with me…

He started walking across the street as the people on his sides did, making him turn to see the walk signal lit up green. Haven't noticed anyone following me yet. If there is, do they notice me looking around for them? It would definitely make me look suspicious. If All Might told them where I said I was going too, that would make it worse, since I'm not heading that way at all. Zach thought back on his conversation with All Might the afternoon before. Lying to All Might sucks so much more now that I apologized to the teachers. Feel guiltier.

Zach slowed down and he looked down the road a bit and across the street. He stared towards a skyscraper in the middle of central Musutafu, one of the tallest ones in the city. I'm still not sure what I'm going to be doing, he thought. But it's not urgent, since Webb told me I had to pick a specific day on my own. Leaving no date in the message gave me more time to figure out how to spin this, but it's only been a couple weeks since skipping town, I'm surprised All Might managed to get me a full day pass out. Zach crossed the road when the crosswalk's symbol turned green, and he started down that sidewalk towards the skyscraper. Rasheed Corporation. Had no idea what it was when I checked the address and saw this was the place. Still not entirely sure how they make their money, but the Adam Rasheed guy is a pretty well known name apparently. Philanthropy, his business invests in some smart fuels, the business's website had a lot of information. Wonder why Webb wants me to meet him here. There's got to be a bigger reason behind it. A company headquarters is such a weird place to meet up if we're just going to talk, but it's the middle of the day!

Zach shook his head since he was still in the dark about what was going on. He walked up to the front doors of the building though and he got nervous as he could see through the glass doors and long windows on the sides of them into the lobby ahead. There was a desk across the building's lobby, and the elevators were behind it, and Zach had no idea how he was going to walk in there and claim the reason for being there. "Sazaki," a voice said behind him and Zach's eyes widened while he snapped his head to the side. He relaxed after a second then shook his head in wonder at how the blind man with brown hair and a pair of sunglasses on got behind him without him noticing.

Webb was wearing warm clothes which Zach looked up and down and thought to himself, Wonder if he gets hot in those? He always wears such thin clothes even when it's snowing and I've never seen him cold. "Hey, guess this is the right place," Zach said, turning back to the building he had been hesitant about entering.

"We have an appointment, let's go in," Webb said. He wasted no time with pleasantries, and Zach just nodded and waited for Webb to go first to follow the blind man inside. Webb did not move for the doors though, and Zach suddenly remembered he was waiting for the blind guy with a cane in one hand to walk inside before him.

"Oh, this way," Zach said, and he turned and walked up to open the door for the blind man. He sighed internally as Webb walked up to the entrance and stepped in before him. "So, what are we doing here?" Zach asked as he walked in after Webb. "An appointment?" He thought curiously. "We're meeting with someone?"

"That's right," Webb replied. He tapped his cane in front of him as he walked, and they headed straight towards the reception desk across the lobby. There were a couple of security guards in the room, some men in suits walking out of an elevator and heading out to lunch, and the woman behind the counter had long green hair and matching light green skin. Webb walked right up to the counter and tapped it with his cane a couple of times before the woman greeted them. "We are here for a 12:30 appointment with Mr. Ganji."

The receptionist looked down at a folder in front of her and Zach walked up next to Webb to look over the counter and try to see what she was looking at. "So would you be, Takashi Huga?" She questioned, looking up at the blind man again.

"That is correct," he said.

"Could I see a form of identification please, Mr. Huga?" The woman behind the counter asked.

"Of course," Webb replied in a polite way. He took out a wallet and slid a card up after running his fingers over them for a second as if checking to make sure it was the right one.

Zach looked closely as Webb handed the card over. Takashi Huga? Is that really his name? Is he telling me his secret identity right now? Could be a fake though. Especially if this has anything to do with his line of work… I'm still pretty confused.

"Alright then. I'll call up to Mr. Ganji's office to let them know you arrived. You can go up to the thirty-eighth floor. Here is your pass," she held a slip of laminated paper over the counter, and Zach reached out when Webb lifted his hand only to miss the sheet.

"I got it," Zach said, and he grabbed the slip from the woman.

She turned to him, and she opened her eyes wide for a second as she checked the boy out for the first time under his hat. Zach sweatdropped that she immediately recognized him, and then he just smiled at the woman who opened her mouth but closed it quickly. She was on duty after all, and getting nosy into clients' business was unprofessional, even if she did want to ask what Lifebringer was doing there. Zach assumed that was why she held herself back and just smiled back at him after a moment, and he was relieved as Webb nodded at her and started moving around the counter.

"The elevators are over here," Zach said. He walked side by side with the older man, bringing them over to the elevators where he showed a guard next to them the pass. The man nodded and let them go through, pressing a button that opened the elevator for them. Zach and Webb walked inside, and Zach pressed the button for the thirty-eighth floor which was one down from the top floor of the building. The doors closed and Zach let out a breath of relief, then muttered, "Everyone recognizes me now."

"You should have gotten out sooner," Webb remarked, now that they were alone and in the elevator. Zach turned to him in surprise, and Webb turned back as they rode the elevator up. "Makes it seem like you'd rather not come when you take this long."

"It was only a week since you last- a week and a half when you texted me," Zach said, correcting himself as Webb's eyes seemed to narrow behind his sunglasses. His eyebrows dipped down at least, and Zach once again wondered what the man's eyes really looked like behind there. "And as you texted me, I had just tried repairing trust between my teachers and me. Couldn't just ask them right after that." Webb turned back forward to the doors in front of them, and Zach grimaced at his lack of response for what he said. "I figured since you didn't leave a date, there was no rush. I think a single week isn't bad."

"There was no rush," Webb admitted. "But there could have been." Zach gave him a confused look, since he still did not know why they were there. "I brought you here to meet with an acquaintance of mine."

The guy who's tracking Hunter? Or someone else? How big is the anti-hero society? I know I chose not to be a part of it, but I kind of wish I had let him explain more of it before making my decision. It seems pretty cool. Then again, no sure way to know that's why we're here. "An acquaintance?" Zach questioned. "Does he know what you do at night, Huga-san?"

Webb got an annoyed look on his face. Zach could have just been calling him by it to keep with the I.D. he had gone by at the desk, but he felt like the boy said it in a tone asking him if that name was real. "It's not my real name," Webb said, turning his head a bit and making Zach lean away at the annoyed expression. "Stay respectful in front of this man. He is the CFO of Rasheed."

"CFO?" Zach asked.

Webb frowned deeper that Zach did not understand, and they were about to reach their floor too considering the amount of time they had been on the elevator. "Chief Financial Officer. Seiki Ganji is a co-founder of the company with Adam Rasheed. A less public figure, but perhaps more important in the running of this company. Do not embarrass yourself," Webb said, though to Zach it sounded like Webb was saying not to embarrass him.

"Got it," Zach said, and he stood up straighter and pushed down on his jacket a couple times as the elevator slowed. Should have told me I was meeting someone important like that. I would have worn my best clothes under this. Surprised that receptionist didn't say a thing to me. She might have actually, if she didn't recognize me without seeing my I.D. I actually had no idea how I was going to answer if she asked me my name, so I'm glad she didn't. I would have said Webb was my uncle or something, made an idiot of myself when she actually checked my I.D. I have to have these kind of things prepared beforehand. Secret identities are hard when everyone knows your fucking name…

The elevator stopped and the doors opened up. They stepped out into a small waiting room with another desk ahead of them with a secretary sitting behind it. The man behind the desk had on a professional black suit, and he smiled towards the elevator at the two he had heard were on their way up. He lifted a phone from his desk and spoke into it, "Mr. Ganji. Your 12:30 is here."

Zach was walking forward towards the desk, but Webb was moving to the right and no longer tapping his cane on the ground in front of him. He lifted the cane up and walked around a few soft waiting chairs without caring that the secretary could see him avoiding them easily. Zach turned and followed him as it seemed like they were not going to walk to the secretary and talk to him, and the man behind the counter looked surprised for a moment before nodding his head and lowering his phone. Zach spun from the phone to Webb's back, Could he hear what the Ganji guy was saying through the phone? How good is his hearing? Or is he just going straight back since he and this CFO have a deeper friendship? I feel like he'd still refer any relationship as an acquaintance, at least to me.

Webb walked right over to a set of large wooden doors that he pushed his hands into and opened up. Zach's eyes opened wide as he followed Webb through into a huge office that seemed to stretch the entire length of the floor. The small waiting room only took up a fraction of the floor, while this room was at least ten times longer. It stretched far too, from the line of windows on the right to the wall on Zach's left seemed almost like the whole width of the building, though he knew there must have been something on the other side of that wall since there were no windows on it. There were some paintings on the wall, and some hanging plants near the windows, some furniture all over the office though it was mainly empty. Across the long room though, there was a thick wooden desk with a man standing behind it on the side of a large chair. There were two chairs on the side of the desk farther from him, and Zach started feeling nervous as the man standing there had his arms crossed and was watching them approach.

He stood eight feet tall. He had on a black suit jacket lined with thin vertical gray stripes every few inches. He had on a black tie over his white button down beneath the jacket, and he was a burly figure very broad at the shoulders. The man had a thin goatee, slick black hair pushed back over the top of his head and shiny like it was gelled, and his fists clenched out of the sleeves of his crossed arms looked as big as Zach's head. That intimidating man looked straight at Zach as he walked in behind Webb and on his left, and then he lifted the left corner of his lips and Zach felt a ton of relief at the sight. He was still incredibly nervous, but he had no idea what was happening and the powerful businessman's intense gaze had not made it any easier on him.

"Welcome, Zach Sazaki," Seiki Ganji said, as the boy and blind man walked towards him. "I am pleased to finally meet you."

Finally? Zach wondered. "Um, it's nice to meet you too, sir," Zach replied, coming to a stop just past the middle of the room. He bowed a bit to the company CFO, and Ganji let out a low chuckle at the boy's anxiety.

Webb turned his head after Zach stopped and waited with an impatient look until he lifted his gaze up. Webb motioned farther towards the desk, and Zach started walking again after Webb who moved just a bit ahead of him. Zach and Webb walked all the way up to right behind the soft chairs on their side of the desk, then Seiki Ganji looked Zach up and down from up close. His gaze focused on the scar cutting across the right side of Zach's face under his eye, then it shifted over to the boy's left ear. Ganji looked back and into Zach's eyes that steadied after the man checked him over. "So this is the boy All Might thought was worth saving," Ganji said, and he lifted a hand and started scratching his beard.

Zach darted his gaze to Webb, then to Seiki Ganji again, wondering how he should respond to that question. Webb didn't tell me who this guy is or what he knows. Why would he do that? Does this guy know everything?! If so, why use a fake name at the door? And why wouldn't he explain more to me- unless he wants me to figure this all out on my own. "You know All Might?" Zach asked in some surprise, his face having showed it from the second Ganji mentioned his teacher.

"Of course, I am the one he came to. And I was the one who called Webb." Webb sweatdropped on Zach's left while the boy darted his gaze over again, then Ganji slammed his hand from his chin down on the desk in front of him and leaned over it. "I figure that means you owe me one favor," Ganji said.

Whoa, what is he doing? This guy runs a huge company- "I do?" Zach asked in surprise. He got a confused look on his face and turned to Webb as if asking what the burly man was talking about.

Ganji leaned back from the desk and he hummed, lifting his left hand back up again and scratching his chin with it. He continued to the boy whose head turned back, "Good job the other week. The two of you did quick work of Diamondfist and his operation."

"Huh?" Zach lifted his eyebrows and got a really befuddled look on his face this time.

"It's fine, Sazaki," Webb said, deciding to get the kid to stop the act he was clearly putting up because he thought this was a test. "Seiki Ganji is an acquaintance of mine."

There he goes saying "acquaintance" again. Am I supposed to just assume that all of your acquaintances know your secret life? Zach frowned after his thoughts, and he narrowed his eyes before saying, "Why'd you tell him I was involved with Diamondfist?"

Webb frowned deeper and turned fully to the boy, while Ganji leaned his head back in some more surprise from behind the desk. Ganji opened his mouth, but Webb spoke first, "Fair point. Should have asked you first." Ganji's eyes widened as they darted back to the blind man in a pair of sunglasses, then he grinned more at Webb's expression as the older man continued to the boy, "Ganji is a, well-connected, acquaintance of mine however. In my line of work, a man like him is necessary. Everyone, in my line of work knows Seiki Ganji."

That's a kind of roundabout way of saying this guy is part of anti-hero society. Guess after just mentioning my annoyance at him talking about my involvement, he might be leaving it up to this Ganji guy to decide how much to tell me. "So," Zach started, and he turned from Webb and to the muscular man behind the desk whose burly body was not hidden well under his thick suit. "I guess, I do owe you one," Zach said, nodding as he accepted that Ganji did help him out if he was the one who contacted Webb. Does that mean Webb and All Might aren't in contact? Webb made it sound like he met with All Might, but I can believe this Ganji guy is the middle man… Which makes a lot of sense. A guy who's not a hero, but not wearing a costume either, at least right now. What if this is his, secret identity?! He's like a billionaire though! Oh crap, "well-connected" doesn't even start to cut it here.

"That's right," Ganji said, and he gained a serious look that made Zach stand up straight and lose his informal tone he just took with that thanks.

"Our line of work is run on favors," Webb said, making Zach turn back to him with wider eyes. "I'm not surprised you brought that up soon as he walked in the door, Ganji. Could have given him a moment though for introductions first."

"If he's smart, he already knows who I am. And I already know who he is!" Ganji called back at the thinner and shorter man who just stayed silent at that response.

That's true. Everyone would know who I am immediately. As for me knowing him, I did research the company but I didn't look up anything on the CFO. At least I know some of what this company does though, can ask about Rasheed… Favors. That's what Webb told me that first time we really talked. I told him I'd pay him back, and he took it really seriously. I told him I'd help him out again after Ugina and he accepted it too really seriously. In this world, it's just people's words that they rely on. He's telling me I owe him a favor, and it could be something like what Webb asked me to do, something crazier even. Are favors currency in this world? If so, am I about to gain a favor since I came here for them?

"I'm sorry, but I'm still confused," Zach began to the man whose eyes he looked into. Ganji's eyes had thick coal black pupils in them, and he crossed his arms again as Zach spoke to him in a slightly confused way while still standing straight up in a confident stance. "I do not know why I am here. Was it just to meet with you for the first time, and learn that I owe you a favor?"

"Hmph, of course not," Seiki Ganji said, scoffing at the idea. "You owe me two favors," Ganji said. Zach's eyebrows lifted up, and then Ganji continued, "Or you will, once this meeting is over." He turned and grabbed his chair, pulling it out from behind his desk. "Now sit. Both of you."

Webb stepped forward and pulled aside a chair he sat in without delay. Zach was only a second behind, not wanting to seem hesitant despite still being confused as to his purpose here. Apparently he was the one being helped out though if he was going to owe this man another favor, and Zach started realizing that made a lot more sense anyway. It's the middle of the day, and this guy's a billionaire with a lot of power in this huge company. There are a thousand things he can help me with, and about zero I could offer him right now.

"Before we begin on designing your costume," Ganji said, putting his hands over the table and together into a single fist. He faced Zach whose eyes just widened much bigger, and he continued, "I have certain questions I would like you to answer." Zach's wide eyes returned to normal size and a hardened look formed on his face as he prepared to be interrogated. Ganji lifted the right corner of his lip for a moment at Zach's look, confusing the boy again who just flattened his lip out instead of frowning at this intimidating businessman. "Webb brought you here, so I won't insult him by questioning if you have secret evil intentions." Zach glanced next to him at Webb who was just sitting up in his chair with a bland expression on his face like he was a third party in this conversation, which Zach started to imagine he might have been.

"Then, what do you want to ask me?" Zach asked.

"I have received new information from some acquaintances of mine overseas, as well as one in Kyushu," Seiki Ganji started. Webb leaned a bit farther forward with a thoughtful look on his face, and Zach's eyes darted to his occasional partner and back to the CFO before him. "Webb handed me a large amount of information at once a while back," Ganji continued while looking into Zach's steadying gaze again. "Information acquaintances of mine were able to use. Useful information," he added, with a nod at the boy whose lips curled up a bit before flattening again quick to keep a serious expression. Ganji leaned back, and he continued, "However, you spent months with the League of Villains. You may have tried to retell him everything that seemed important at the time, but there are specifics that only seem important for certain situations."

Like the schematics of a random base in a location I didn't know. Or Quirks of random grunts who I couldn't remember off the top of my head unless I was staring at their faces from up close. Zach nodded at Ganij as he understood these things well after their raid in Ugina City.

Ganji pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and he started, "Webb tells me you spent some time overseas. I'm specifically interested in Russia," he continued when Zach opened his mouth to respond to the first part. "You told him you recognized men speaking Russian in one of the locations."

"Yeah," Zach said, nodding his head. "I knew it from some movies, but I didn't know what they were talking about with Shigaraki."

"When was this?" Ganji asked.

Zach frowned, feeling like he was being interrogated again. No, don't think of it that way. This guy passes information around people like Webb. Webb probably doesn't know where he gets the info from, which makes it dangerous… But if this Ganji guy is well-connected enough, he can check up on what we give him himself before sending anti-heroes? Or does he just trust in the people who are in this information loop? Webb told me there are not many of them, but also that this society is kept in secret in the shadows. If none of them really know the others well, and only certain people like Seiki Ganji can band them together… Man this kind of stuff is heavy. "It was," Zach started, as Ganji frowned at him for his hesitation. "Really early on. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think we fled Japan after Camino Ward. I was barely let outside, and only to be teleported to certain areas and then back to ones I didn't know the locations of."

Ganji scratched the back of his head and he frowned more. "Camino Ward huh?" He muttered. "Probably no use if it's that long ago then. Did the group Shigaraki met with seem to side with him, or-"

"I couldn't tell you," Zach said, somewhat apologetically. "Just saw them for a brief moment. I was still thinking at the time about memorizing everything I saw to help when I got out… since I didn't know how long I was going to be there." He muttered the last part as he decided he was saying too much to this man he just met and still did not really know or trust. "In the time I spent overseas, or at least in bases I thought may have been, I only really got better in English. I was in America for a bit, and in Russia only at the very start when they were still recruiting really hard and avoiding spending much time in Japan. Top of the most wanted list and all," he said the last part softer.

"Makes sense," Ganji said, nodding his head and then writing something down on the paper in front of him, which Zach really wanted to know what it said. "Alright, I have a few more questions for you, but I want you to start working on this," Ganji slid another paper from on his side of the desk past the one he had been writing on, and he pushed it over the wooden surface and towards Zach. Zach leaned forward and slid it the rest of the way to himself, as the desk was wide as well as long. He brought it towards himself, then his eyes widened again even though he had already heard Ganji mention about this. There was a blank picture of a human body on the page drawn as a very average man with only a pair of tights on. There were lines pointing out from all over his body, and on the right side of the page were different articles of clothing and boxes beneath them to write specifics into. "Let's work on getting you a costume."

"I already have a costume," Zach began.

"The next time I ask you to come out," Webb began, speaking up for the first time since sitting. Zach turned his way and Webb continued, "I may need more than just a man-behind-the-helmet. You can't go out there in your U.A. costume." Zach grimaced and nodded his head, thinking about something he scolded Iida about back in the spring. He kept grimacing for another reason though, even as Seiki Ganji spoke back up again.

"This is the cause for the second favor. Do not worry about expense. Put down whatever you feel you need on the costume's-" Ganji froze with his mouth open as Zach narrowed his gaze towards him.

"Where do the costumes come from?" Zach's question was cold, low, and Ganji lifted his eyebrows up at the teenager before him.

Webb frowned deep though and turned his head to the right at Zach's seat. "You're a guest. Don't insult the-"

"Hmm, don't worry about it Webb," Ganji said, and he nodded his head a couple of times while Webb turned back to the larger man in some surprise. Ganji started grinning after a second though, and he said, "I think it's good you asked." He chuckled and Zach's intimidating look faded as the man was complimenting him despite him getting cold and angry right there. "It shows you care who it's coming from. I assure you though, I have my own contractors for things like this, and I watch over them closely to make sure these, unconventional, costumes are not supplied illegally to villains." The way he said it made it sound like he was calling what they were doing completely legal, which made Webb sigh and Zach sweatdrop.

Guess he doesn't consider what we're doing as villainous, Zach thought. That was a good response though, his expression relaxed a bit as he nodded at Ganji. He looked back at the sheet, and he stared at it closely as he thought about what he should do. Coming up with his new hero costume took him a while, and he had put a lot of thought into the colors, what side the colors were on, his weapons, and the helmet without a visor so that people could see his face. On this costume though, he knew he had to do things differently. In secret. But also so people don't recognize me. Can't just put a mask on and consider it a different look.

"Webb, there have been high murder rates across towns and cities in southern Kyushu for over a week now. Rumors of Nomus are spreading around again. We don't know where they're coming from, but these rumors have been confirmed…"

Zach was finding it hard to focus on his costume design as the two men started discussing villain activity around Japan and occasionally overseas as well. They seemed to be focusing on Japan though, but Zach heard a name come up a few times in the conversation. Conrad. He's been giving Ganji information? It sounds like more than the others- or at least he says the guy's name, or anti-hero name. Maybe that guy's like the Seiki Ganji of Russia? Wait, I need an anti-hero name too. Hopefully these two are the only ones who know who I am. If I get a costume and have a mask over it, and I meet with other people in the anti-hero society, I don't want all of them knowing I'm Zach Sazaki. I want as few people possible to know this part of my life. I'll mention it to these two in a bit… though, Ganji saw me get annoyed at Webb for saying something to him. I shouldn't "insult" him by insinuating that he would betray my trust. But he might also think me careless if I don't mention it.

Zach shook his head around and refocused on the costume design still blank in front of him. He tried to distract from the conversation that he was not a part of, even if they were letting him listen in to all of it. A costume for anti-hero work. It, it's pointless.

"What is it?" Webb asked, turning to Zach who spun in surprise. "If you do not appreciate this, you can go-"

"It's not that," Zach started quickly, wondering why Webb was so mad all of a sudden. He must have noticed I was losing any desire to keep going. Zach opened his mouth to explain, then he paused and closed it with a twisted frown on his face. He stood up and he backed away from his chair while turning to Ganji, "Maybe Webb hasn't noticed, but you'll be able to see the flaw in this whole thing right away." Zach lifted his right hand with his fingers curled in a bit, then he flicked his wrist and extended all fingers, pushing them out of his glove.

Webb started to move, but Ganji held up a hand and the blind man stopped. Webb frowned deeper though, as he had told Zach not to do this after the first time the boy "showed" it to him. Webb frowned Zach's way, but this time Zach realized this might have been something a blind man really could not understand. Zach touched his own chest and his body covered in a black veil. Ganji's eyes shot open wide, and he stared while getting out of his seat into the flaring red ones in the center of Zach's skull's eye sockets. "That is," Ganji began, "quite a Quirk." He finished it better than Zach thought he would, though the man's hesitation in the middle of his sentence made him think Ganji was planning on finishing it differently at first.

"Notice the problem though?" Zach asked, his voice deeper, scratchy and overlapping with his normal one in a strange and creepy way. Webb frowned deeper at Zach but stayed in his seat, frowning more just because he did not notice the problem Zach was speaking of.

"It covers your clothes," Ganji began. Zach started to nod, but Ganji scratched his chin and continued, "Yet, your bones are visible through the veil."

Zach looked down and stared into the front of his body at his bones on the inside. "I know," Zach muttered, and he looked back up at Ganji. "I don't really get it myself. The darkness covers anything touching me. A knife, a grappling gun, even my cell phone."

"It automatically covers it?" Ganji asked.

Zach hesitated, and he wondered where they were going with this as Ganji had barely stopped for a second to question what he was doing. "No," Zach said. "I actually, can manage to stop it from covering my cell phone for a little, if I focus. But it just spills over it-"

"This is interesting," Ganji continued, and he leaned over his desk and put both palms down on it. Zach could see gears turning in the man's head as he looked him up and down several times. "Are you wearing any white?"

"White?" Zach muttered, and he looked down at his body again, not that he could see what he was wearing. He thought about it and then shook his head, though he stared down at his feet closer. "My socks, but my feet are as black-"

"Damn," Ganji lifted a hand and scratched his chin a few times again. "I see why it is difficult for you to decide on a costume. If you use this in your hero costume and in this unofficial one for work on the side, people will recognize you as one and the same." Zach started to nod, but Ganji continued quickly, "When you keep the black veil over you from covering your phone, how do you do it?"

"I, haven't really," Zach began. "I don't use my phone often like this," he said. "My voice is weird, and I have to focus on it too much that I didn't think about-"

"So you haven't tried training it, that's good," Ganji said. "Do you have control over it at all? Expelling?" He asked. Zach hesitated, then he nodded while his veil of black mouth in front of his jaw lifted up into a small grin. The boy's dark mouth and jaw curving into a grin was slightly creepy, but Ganji just grinned more after a second and rose a hand to his chin again thoughtfully. "Control is good. I can see why you would focus on expelling, especially if that darkness can do some damage. But if you can focus on making it thinner as well, over certain parts of your body at least. If you could at least get the layer underneath your costume, on your torso and vital areas. It is bad to have your bones showing like this. Villains will aim for clear targets, and if you are injured they will have their targets shown more clearly to them. A single crack or fracture that you would normally try to hide from a villain would become your downfall if they could see how much damage you took."

Zach started nodding fast, but Ganji was not finished yet. "As for now, since your focus during a fight can't be on keeping down this darkness, especially because you can barely keep it off your phone as you are now, and I'm sure you're going to need to be expelling it from different areas while restraining from them-" he paused and took in a deep breath, then Ganji continued as he leaned back straight up and finished, "I'll have the contractors make your costume out of bone fibers. It won't be human bone, but all bones of mammals have the same general makeup. It shouldn't be hard to make you a costume that can at least make that dark form look different than when you use it as a hero."

Zach frowned and he lifted his right hand and tapped his head. He kept grimacing after the black aura disappeared off him, and he walked up towards his chair with that dark look on his face. There was something he needed to say now, but he also did not want to do so after he and Ganji had just worked on some preliminary plans on the costume together. "Realizing this," Zach began. "I feel the need to upgrade my hero costume as well."

"Understandable," Ganij said. Zach's eyes widened as he thought that was going to be harder, but Ganji continued, "I would never want you going into a villain fight, whether acting publicly or in the shadows of darkness, without your optimal equipment. You must keep the designs different though, and the most important aspect will be the mask. Does your hero costume have a mask?" He asked.

Zach shook his head, but this actually made Ganji frown. "I don't want to hide my face in public," Zach started. "People know who I am. I want to be able to smile-"

"That's fine," Ganji started, lifting his right palm to show he meant nothing too serious by his frown. "I just thought that your intimidating red eyes would have been good for use against villains in ways they will not be during the day." Zach's eyes started to widen at that, understanding what he was getting at there. Seiki Ganji moved back towards his seat and he sat down with a satisfied look on his face and a flat lip again. "Anyway, now that we have a good plan for the material make up, draw out a costume design. Remember that you do not have to think of looking heroic, only practicality, and intimidation which can work in your favor even though you may be going up against hardened villains. I have spent many years in this world, and I have never seen a Quirk that without witnessing what it can do, instantly gave me chills like yours did."

Webb turned back to Zach after hearing that, and he muttered, "Perks."

Zach lowered his bottom lip, Perks? He's not talking about for me, but him! Perks, of being blind?! Did he just make a joke?!

Ganji chuckled at Webb's remark, then he turned to the blind man and said, "As we were saying. An acquaintance outside of Hosu, I think you know him-" Ganji saw a nod from Webb, and he continued, "He spent the weekend at some industrial docks of Nagasaki. Big freight ship arrived covered in shipping crates. X-Ray didn't work through the crates, definitely meant to be hiding something. No big shots there yet, a couple of wanted men but small timers. Says a shipment this big though, likely LoV's involved. It's a private shipyard, no probable cause to search any of the crates since the wanted ones are staying away from the shipment altogether, making it look like separate entities according to him…"

Zach drew up a costume on the paper Ganji provided for him. He kept an ear open but had to focus on the design that he knew he would be wearing sometime soon. Made of bone. Creepy. Maybe it can just be lined with it though, and have normal material on the inside. If the bone really acts as a cover for my bones inside, then I'll just have a full white inside through the translucent black veil. Unless I thicken the veil around myself at all times. I won't have to try and hide it under my clothes if the bone suit acts as it should, as even under the veil it'd still show. I should still practice how low I can keep Nightmare at though. I've tried touching lightly and pulling the darkness away from my fingers when I touched the animals during training, but it barely changed the amount of time it took to knock them out or kill them. That's when it comes to using my power though. Just how it appears around me is different. I know because it's slow to cover things I'm just touching a part of instead of all of it at once.

He drew up a white costume for himself, then he drew a line away from it and mentioned to still make it bone, but he started shading it in. He thought about the intimidation factor Ganji mentioned, and he realized that bones did not need to be white. If the outer costume of bone covered up the ones inside, then if he could make it black and have nothing showing through the veil, he figured that was the best option. So he did the same thing for his mask, labeling it as made of bone, but making it a thick sheet that covered his entire face from his neck to forehead and then it stopped. My helmet on my hero costume covers up the sides, back, and top of my head. It covers up my hair, so let's let my hair free in this one. I'll let it wave around in the darkness, and then here, he started drawing something over the center of the mask near the eyes on the sample figure. I can still use the eyes for intimidation. As long as they don't see the skull face around them, and it's just a red glow coming out of a slit in the visor, they shouldn't be able to make the connection between me there and Zach Sazaki the hero in training at U.A. Even if they do recognize me, they'll more likely just recognize me as… Reaper…

Zach lowered his pen and he brought his left hand up to his forehead and rubbed it a few times. Oh I've totally been ignoring that. How many villains outside of the League have seen this form? Know my villain name that I was called by in those fights? Damn it. They'll put it together fast, and rumors will spread. But, that's all they'll be. I can just deny everything. Fix up my hero uniform to cover more of my body too, and I'll use different fighting styles in public and when I anti-hero, if Webb is planning on taking me to something soon which is why he's prepping this. Zach lowered his hand from his forehead and he picked up his pen again, shaking off the nervous feeling he had of being recognized. If it comes, you have lies prepared, and you can come up with others on the spot. Make the costumes different. Use good excuses. Keep a low profile when with Webb, and- "My anti-hero name," Zach started.

The other two turned towards him. They had just finished something they were talking about, with Ganji handing a slip of paper over the table for Webb to take. Zach did not know what was on it as he had lost focus on them for a few moments, but he turned to Ganji and then to Webb. "Reaper," he said.

"Reaper," Webb repeated. He did not say it skeptically or as a question, but he was repeating as if testing it out himself or letting Zach hear it repeated back to him. "Any reason-"

"Are you," Ganji began. Webb turned back to him, and Ganji looked at Zach whose eyes widened for a second before narrowing again. The boy nodded his head, and Ganji lifted a hand and scratched the back of his head. "That makes sense actually, with what I just saw," he admitted. "Choosing your villain name though. Are you sure about that?"

Webb turned back to Zach and frowned more at the boy next to him. "Villain name?"

Zach had not said anything about that name to Webb, but he kept his face steady after Webb asked. "Villains know me by it already. Ones outside of the League don't know it's me. The ones in the League who do, might get more intimidated after what they did to me. If they see me coming towards them, and I pop my visor up or force out more black steam around me. Be like a vengeful demon, or the Grim Reaper coming for them."

"Getting recognized is counter-productive," Webb began. "Even the words of a villain will be taken seriously if you have a shaky alibi for when they were captured." Zach frowned at that response and tried to think of a way around it. "However, I like what you said before mentioning the League. Villains who don't know what you look like outside of that form. As long as you keep from using it in public too often, or you change your appearance enough…" Webb trailed off and he started humming to himself as he wondered if it was actually going to work.

"We'll work on it as time goes on," Ganij said, having them reach an agreement for now and saying it did not all need to be decided at once. "As I said Saza- Reaper," Ganji said, and Zach looked surprised for a second as the man changed how he was referring to him. "You have to take every encounter with villains equally as seriously. Deal with them differently, but do not slack in either field." Ganji paused and he leaned his head back before continuing to the short boy across the desk from him, "A secret identity as an actual hero. Heh, I don't think anyone's done it before." Zach's eyes widened again, and Ganji continued to him, "Most of the time, the anti-heroes' ideologies pushed them from being heroes in the first place. To be able to stand in both worlds is seemingly a contradiction, when heroes are meant to uphold the rules and the existence of anti-heroes is due to the ideals of those who disagree with heroes but still wish to fight for justice."

Seiki Ganji leaned forward and looked into Zach's eyes, his hazel eyes that steadied at the rich businessman's gaze. "I wanted to see those eyes," Ganji said, a serious look on his face as he stayed there leaning towards Zach with his fists over the table. "Was the boy All Might went out of his way to ask a favor for really worth it? Was his conviction half-baked to have such a crazy idea of being a hero and anti-hero at the same time? An idealist who thinks he can have both? Or a realist thinking far ahead… What you are, I still haven't decided," Ganji finished. He leaned back and crossed his arms again, while Zach just felt confused by that little rant and tried to keep his own serious gaze despite feeling like he was being tested again. "But you're serious about it at least, and that's all I'm asking for. Now tell me some more about your time in America. As much as you can remember, as well as all your information on Shigaraki Tomura's plans, or even what you, as someone who spent so much time with him, think those plans might be. What do you see happening in our near future, Reaper…"

Zach answered Seiki Ganji's questions to the best of his abilities. Ganji had passed on his information to Webb, Webb had gotten a slip of paper and passed on some info back to Ganji, and Zach told another person about the inner workings of the League of Villains. He admitted that it had been several months now, just a little over a week into November, since he was actually privy to important information and treated like a member of the League. He was glad Ganji never asked him what happened in the time between then and when he escaped, though Zach wondered if Webb had mentioned it to him, or if Ganji was just tactful enough on his own.

How did a man like this get to be involved in the anti-hero society? He finally called it that. Enough with the "acquaintances" or sugar-coating his words like it was not against the law. He just went off on a rant back there about how different heroes and anti-heroes are. Zach thought this as Ganji wrote down some information that he said was more important than Zach himself realized. Can I really exist in both lines? Why not? This guy's running a business, and Hell, his work here definitely helps him with the anti-hero work. I know when I'm a hero and privy to information only heroes have, it will help if I continue to do this anti-hero stuff that long. And vice versa too. Information I can get from contacts like this, as long as I find ways to show that I obtained the info legally, it can make my hero work more effective. Rules are there for a reason, but they're also things that villains abuse. I knew that even when I decided to follow the rules and restrict myself with society. I knew because as a villain we were always careful not to leave enough evidence for heroes or police to get warrants. Move around if cops catch wind, because of the spies they have it wasn't hard to figure out, and the cops who have rules preventing them from acting quickly are always left behind.

"This was very useful for a certain investigation in Hokkaido. It will actually help the police and pro heroes more than it will my acquaintance up there," Ganji said, smiling at Zach after he put back down his pen. Zach looked surprised, but he nodded and smiled back after a second. There were things he could not tell the police directly, because if they learned it from him then they would figure out how he got that information. Going through a middle man like this to inform someone else who had a police contact, was a resource Zach did not expect to have. As he was putting that together, Ganji stood up from his chair, and Webb got up as well. Zach realized it was the end of the meeting and shot up to his feet too, but he was still thinking about the different possibilities of what Ganji just said to him.

Seiki Ganji watched Zach's thought process for a few seconds. His expression was discerning, but he nodded his head and he reached down for his desk. He slid open a drawer and took out a small business card different from the ones on his desk, though almost identical. He reached out over the desk and said, "Take my card." Webb lifted his eyebrows up behind his sunglasses, while Ganji continued, "Call the number, and use the code 'I would like to speak with the man.'"

"When?" Zach asked as he reached out to grab the card.

"If you need to meet," Ganji replied back, and Zach's eyes opened wide as the man did. Zach's fingers grabbed the card, the fingers of his left hand holding one side but Ganji did not let go of the other side just yet.

"I'll only use it if I need to," Zach assured. "And I won't say a word about this."

Ganji chuckled as he let go of the card. "Was actually just looking for a 'thank you,'" he started, and Zach sweatdropped while pulling the card back. "Didn't think you'd say anything, but I'm glad for the reassurance anyway." He grinned while standing back up straight behind his desk, and he crossed his arms before saying, "I think I see what All Might, and Webb saw in you."

Zach nodded at the man and when his head was down he said this time, "Thank you. I appreciate all you are doing for me, Mr. Ganji."

"Hmph, and they say your generation has no manners," Ganji said. He turned to Webb, "Thought you said he was rough around the edges."

Zach imagined the first conversations he had with Webb compared to the one with Ganji. He had not made a single joke, or commented on Webb's blindness in a snarky way, or anything that he realized he usually did when just with Webb. He did not want to look at the man next to him who he could already see out the corners of his eyes frowning at him below his sunglasses. Don't know what it is. Webb's more intimidating too, even though Ganji's got this giant office and billionaire status. Guess I adapted better before meeting him, or maybe it's just Webb. Being formal here but I don't feel like I have to around him. Maybe because he's always bringing us to box apartments and shitty motel rooms and meeting in convenience stores. Zach almost cracked a smile, but he kept his stoic expression while facing Ganji and just nodded again in thanks for that comment on his manners.

"Always good to see you Webb," Ganji said, turning back to the blind man and speaking in a more formal tone this time for their farewell.

Webb nodded, Zach thought maybe in agreement or just in respect. Then the blind man turned and started back across the office. Zach turned to follow him, then spun back to Seiki Ganji and bowed again, "Two favors. I won't forget it," he said, and he unbowed and turned away before the man could say anything. Ganji seemed like the kind of man who cared a lot about that kind of thing even though he had not mentioned it in the second half of the meeting, so Zach made sure the man knew he had not forgotten it.

"Good to hear," Ganji said as Zach walked off. "I'm expecting big things, kid. From both Reaper, and Zach Sazaki." Zach kept walking, then he stopped as the man finished, "And, from Lifebringer."

Zach froze where he was and stared forward with wide eyes. Not- damn it. Zach kept walking again. I am. The world thinks of me as it, yet, I changed my hero name. I told Principal Nezu that day at the station. One of the first things I said to him, "Not Lifebringer." I, I'm not. I am though! People cheered that name while I brought someone back to life. It's exactly what Lifebringer is meant to be, what it represents. "What is your name?" Zach clenched his teeth and he felt his scars aching all over his body. He walked out of the room with Webb though and out into the lobby, then over to the elevator while the secretary thanked them for coming.

They got in the elevator and Zach finally started panting, his left hand reaching up and grabbing his chest over his pounding chest. Webb turned to the boy standing next to him. He had some things he wanted to remark about the meeting, but he felt the kid's anxiety rising ever since the last word Ganji called across his office to them. He opened his mouth to say something to the kid, but slowly Zach's breaths were quieting, and his hand lowered from his chest. Webb closed his mouth and turned forward again, then he spoke as they dropped through the building in silence. "I'm surprised he gave you a card. You're learning about this world fast, faster than I thought you would be able to having chose the second option."

"Thanks," Zach said. "I won't be using it yet though. I'll be waiting for your next call."

Webb frowned deeply at Zach's response. "It is your decision," Webb said, but Zach heard a tone in his voice that made him turn to the blind man in slight confusion. He stared at Webb's face but did not see the feeling he thought he heard in the man's tone, so he just turned forward again and then looked down at his right hand he held in front of his body. Controlling Death to cover less of my body to keep it under my clothes. If I can do that, I don't need to alter my hero costume and I'll be able to hide my appearance as Reaper. I may have to add a visor for my hero helmet, only to slide down when I use Nightmare. I originally planned on just revealing it in time and having people accept it as long as I saved people while in that form, but if I am going to do this, and I am going to do this, then I take it seriously. The police, the heroes, the villains, the people of Japan, they all know me by different names. And that's what it means to have a secret identity. It's not something my classmates would understand. It's a life that means true solitude. A life that means isolating because you can never be completely truthful about it, to anyone, even other people in the field. What is Webb's name? Is Seiki Ganji really only in it to help people? Are the people he gets his information from anti-heroes like Webb, or do they go farther and kill villains?

The elevator door opened and the two of them headed out. Webb did not say anything as they headed to the doors, and Zach felt a bit more hesitant as he watched the man next to him walk. He had Seiki Ganji's card in his pocket, and he wondered if he said the wrong thing in regards to it considering Webb's reaction. There was no telling with Webb though, and Zach only felt like he was telling the truth so he did not know what else to say. So when they exited the building and Webb turned one way, Zach just frowned and turned the other back in the direction of his school. What to do for the rest of the day? Did I annoy Webb? No, we were only meeting up for that meet with Seiki Ganji. Zach paused and looked up, back towards the top of the skyscraper behind him. CFO of the Rasheed Corporation. I should look up more about him later. Or right now. I have the whole day off since I didn't know what was coming. Even got my meeting with Softy bumped back to tomorrow. A Saturday on my own in Musutafu, Zach reached up and he pushed the rim of his baseball cap back down. He had taken it off during the meeting for respect, but he had it back on by the time he was out the front doors of the building.

Guess I should just enjoy it. Do some research. And then maybe head back to campus early and get to work on training. Control, and keeping the veil less powerful. It was the most important thing to me at first. But once I got it under enough control to know how to knock out, and I knew how much it took for different weights and creatures, I just focused on expelling more, seeing how strong I could be. Going even lower than my current minimum is going to be difficult, but I need to focus. Mr. Ganji was right. I'm doing something crazy trying to be a hero and an anti-hero, I need to do everything I can. Check everyone's background, expect everyone might be lying, learn your own weaknesses and work on them, train up power, and upgrade your costume-s. Juggle all that, school life at U.A., missions with Webb, therapy, and socializing with your classmates… Not one of those things I want to give up. I can do it all. If I put my mind to it, I can do it. I will!

---

"Super Moves," Aizawa repeated.

Zach got a bead of sweat on the side of his face and grimaced at his teacher who said it again. I wanted to train making my power weaker today, he thought, as it was Monday morning only two days after his meeting with Seiki Ganji and Webb at Rasheed Corporation's headquarters. Super Moves. The others have talked to me about theirs, but we haven't done anything with it since the start of the term. Aizawa stood in front of Zach, while the rest of the students in the room were practicing their ultimate techniques with Ectoplasm clones or using rocky surfaces Cementoss made for them.

"Super moves, huh?" Zach repeated back, glancing around and watching as his classmates all got to work right away. "I guess I'm, a little behind in that aspect," Zach said. Why am I even thinking about training it weaker at all? Using that form at training, at school, in front of my classmates… "I think, I might have one," Zach told his homeroom teacher.

Aizawa looked down at the boy before him and nodded, humming to himself at Zach's response. He doesn't seem to sure about it himself. Will he use that form he used at VTS to take down the villains? I've yet to see him use it in class, and I admit I am looking forward to it. "You have one, huh?" Aizawa asked. Zach turned, and Aizawa looked down into his eyes. They were alone near the center of the room just in from the doorway, while everyone else was training farther in and up on elevated sections made by Cementoss. "Where'd you learn it?"

Zach stared hesitantly into his teacher's eyes for a few seconds. He felt like glaring Aizawa down for the question, but he had made up with his teachers. He could not act like that towards them now, as he was trying to get back in a normal student-teacher relationship with them all. Still, it was a question Zach felt like Aizawa already knew the answer to. He responded in a low voice, "I trained, while I was with the villains." Aizawa looked a bit surprised that Zach responded, but then he nodded at the boy whose expression got a lot darker as he made his response.

"Well, if it helps you become a better hero," Aizawa began, and Zach's eyes widened at the response his teacher had. Aizawa did not want to press it any further at the moment though just to make his dark student get more depressed in front of him. "Then show me what you've come up with," he finished, and Aizawa turned to his right towards a dark teacher in a scary costume not far from them. "Ectoplasm, send a clone over here would you?"

Using a special move on a U.A. teacher. On a pro hero. What should I do? A special move… Zach's eyes closed and he started thinking hard. Only using what's on my costume. I don't want to go Nightmare. The less people who see it, the less will know when I break the rules if anyone catches a video of Reaper doing stuff like that. Reaper, can't believe I actually picked my villain name. It's just going to let the villains know I'm after them. Wish I could have told Softy yesterday, but no one should know about this. And that's why I shouldn't use Nightmare in front of people. Only in combat situations, and when I train privately on my own. As for now…

A clone of Ectoplasm flew over and came to a stop fifteen feet in front of Zach. The boy wearing his new-and-improved hero costume narrowed his gaze at Ectoplasm and took in a deep breath. I need focus, he thought, and he exhaled the breath slowly. Focus. This is, a pro hero. Think about the final exams, how did Tokoyami and Tsuyu take him? Actually, I don't need to think of it as him having his Quirk. He's just one of dozens of clones. Just a clone of a pro hero should be intense though, and I know he's a good fighter at least. Zach lowered his right hand and rested it just over his belt and a white sheath there, while he kept his left hand curled up in front of him in a fighting stance he had learned a long time ago.

Aizawa stared at Zach's stance, Ectoplasm did too. They glanced at his right hand that looked close to pulling out his knife but had not touched the sheath. He was still his normal self, not something the two of them were expecting to see. They had each heard about it after VTS, and Aizawa figured this was going to be the moment he saw it since Zach had not used it during any other training exercises as of yet. Cementoss glanced over from across the room more, then he put his hands down and reformed a large rock wall in front of Kirishima who had just smashed one down.

Kirishima saw the wall rising back up, but his attention had shifted off of the risen stone platform he was standing on. His body lost its most intense hardened form and he took a few deep breaths while looking off the section towards the front of the room. He had to wait some time before getting that form back up, and part of his training was extending its time limit anyway. So as he waited to be able to try his Super Move again, he stared towards Zach and grinned as he expected to see the crazy form he saw back at VTS. He started lowering his grin though as Zach whipped the knife out of the right sheath and flung it forward in a single movement at Ectoplasm's body.

Zach swung his right arm up from his side out in front of his body, releasing his knife at the finish of his extend. He started sprinting forward at the same moment he started pulling the knife out of its sheath. Ectoplasm, or at least the clone in front of Zach, saw the knife coming towards him fast. He moved though, while thinking, Almost perfectly on target. A little to left of center- Ectoplasm's eyes widened, as Zach was not sprinting towards where Ectoplasm had been standing. The boy started running right as his knife was still coming up, but he never changed directions when Ectoplasm started his dodge. Was it off-centered on purpose? Ectoplasm thought, while raising his arms and stopping after his dodge. Zach's right arm snapped back to his side as soon as the first knife was off of it and he was running, and he grabbed the second white hilt while also grabbing the black hilt on his other side.

Zach whipped both knives out at the same time while sprinting another step at Ectoplasm making there only a short gap between them. The teacher in all black was a little impressed Zach closed the distance so fast, but he leaned forward and closed it more before the boy would be able to lift up his knives into a stance. Ectoplasm lifted up his right leg under his costume's trench coat, then his eyes shot open wide and darted back to Zach's lifting hands. The hands raising up from Zach's waist in front of his body, both released the knives he was holding. He did not have the speed or angle to be throwing them at Ectoplasm, and he did not flick his wrists. Zach just dropped the knives forward and Ectoplasm's eyes started following the blades, then they darted fast back to Zach's hands. The knives were a distraction, Ectoplasm thought, but he reacted fast despite the boy being this close to him. Zach's right hand that had balled into a fist after dropping the knife was swinging up for Ectoplasm's jaw.

Ectoplasm lifted both of his arms faster than Zach's hand was going to reach his face. Zach's right hand opened up right before Ectoplasm's arms crossed though, and though all his fingers stayed inside the glove, Ectoplasm's full focus was on the dangerous hand in its white glove. So his mouth opened and he let out a gasp as he felt a wire pull tight around his stomach. His eyes lowered while his arms started to uncross, to see Zach's left hand had shot back to his side as soon as it released the knife. It had grabbed the black grappling gun off of his side, and the boy fired it around his teacher. While Ectoplasm's arms were lifting to see what just happened, Zach's right hand that was not in a fist anymore grabbed down on Ectoplasm's arm.

Zach yanked back with the hand on his grappling gun, while pushing Ectoplasm's right arm farther in front of his body. He pushed the teacher off his feet forward, but Ectoplasm flipped himself around before he hit the ground. He flipped so hard he planned on yanking Sazaki off of his feet with the wire connecting them, but his eyes darted above his body and watched as the grappling gun went flying over him, pulled by the wire wrapped around him but no longer in the grip of the boy who had been holding it. Ectoplasm's eyes started turning more towards where Zach should be, while he hit down on his back instead of his stomach, but Zach was already diving forward. Zach slammed both hands out into Ectoplasm's arms he put on the ground at his sides to push up, while pulling his knee up under his body and slamming it down on Ectoplasm's lifting neck, crushing it back into the floor by shifting all his weight down on it along with his momentum. He brought the left hand he just used to knock Ectoplasm's right arm out from under him up and balled it into a fist, and he slammed down at Ectoplasm's face.

Zach's fist stopped right over the clone's face, and he started panting while sitting there looking into his math teacher's white eyes. Ectoplasm's clone was looking up at the fist and then at Sazaki's face with a shocked look on his own. The actual Ectoplasm was standing across the room a little, closer to Cementoss who glanced at him to see what he thought about that. Ectoplasm lost his shocked look after a moment and his clone did as well while saying, "Nice, job."

Zach got off of his teacher fast, and he kept panting for a few seconds while watching the dark man stand up to his feet. Well that, worked. I'm glad. Hope it looked like enough of a special attack to be considered a Super Move. Zach turned to Aizawa who was walking up to his back.

Aizawa lost the surprised look on his face when Zach first finished his move with a fist over Ectoplasm's face. He stepped up closer to Zach, but he darted a quick glare up towards some stone platforms students were supposed to be training on. Kirishima spun back towards the cement wall in front of him, and Ojiro, Midoriya, Uraraka, Sato, and Sero all looked away as well. Zach noticed the glare and looked behind him, but no one else was looking his way so he wondered what Aizawa did it for. He turned back to his teacher who stopped in front of him and asked, "You learned all that in a couple of months?"

Zach looked towards his discarded grappling gun that Ectoplasm got the wire off himself when he stood up, and the three knives laying around too. He thought about what Aizawa was asking him, and he responded slowly, "I only really-" He paused and frowned, then he shook his head around as he told himself there was no point in lying. I need to get better. It's the whole reason to come to school! Lying about this is stupid. "I only really learned how to throw knives, and use my grappling gun. Mastering those was hard, but once I knew how, it wasn't hard to incorporate them into my martial arts. It's still the same kind of thing, making distractions and feints with them-"

"You lost all of your weapons by the end of that move though," Ectoplasm mentioned from behind the boy.

Zach glanced over his shoulder, then back to Aizawa who seemed to agree by his expression. "Well, that's why it's a Super Move," Zach explained, feeling smug in his head as he came up with this on the spot. "It'd only be use to finish the fight, so if I lost my weapons during it it's not as big a deal."

Ectoplasm hummed and then nodded as that did make some sense. There were others in the class too who had attacks that once used would not be able to be used again and would make them weaker, some of them worse than just losing a couple of weapons. Aizawa kept frowning after Zach's explanation though. "It's still not much of a Super Move," he said, and Zach looked into his teacher's eyes in a bit of surprise. "It's a good combo," Aizawa admitted, "but not really a finishing move."

"It's the best combo I could think of without my Quirk though," Zach started. He took a second then added, "I'll, work on it though."

Aizawa frowned more at the boy's response. "What about with your Quirk?" He asked. Zach frowned more, but Aizawa continued, "Don't you have uses for your Quirk other than killing now? Like at VTS," Aizawa said, and Zach just furrowed his eyebrow more with a slightly frustrated look on his face.

"I, don't," Zach started. "Not really," he said. Using that here? For everyone to see. Forget about trying to be secretive, I know the real reason I don't want to show off this form. It's because it's terrifying! I scare the crap out of everyone who sees it, especially the first time. Everyone in here's working to strengthen their Super Moves, they don't need to be freaked out right now. And I don't, want them to see me like that right now. I'm already pissed Iida's seen it now too, and I think Jirou may have caught a glimpse that day too, but to just show everyone…

"Is that really your best move?" Aizawa asked. Zach lifted his head back up after staring down for a moment, and he saw Aizawa frowning deeply back at him. He was hesitant for a second, but he nodded his head at his teacher who just frowned more. "Are you taking this seriously?" Zach's eyes opened wide, and Aizawa took another step and glared down with a scary look at the boy in front of him. "I do not know what is holding you back, but the villains will attack again." Zach's lips pursed and his eyes darted around, and Aizawa finished to him, "We need all of you students to be ready to fight them."

I know that, Zach thought, looking back and into Aizawa's eyes. My training here at U.A., the help of my teachers, if I don't use it all and just hide my power, I'm only burdening them. And I want their help! Their advice. Pointers and suggestions for using my power better. Zach started nodding at Aizawa. "Sorry, sensei," he said. "I'll take it more seriously. I'll go again. I have a, different move," he said hesitantly, looking away since he had just lied to his teacher a second ago when he nodded at Aizawa's question.

Aizawa just hummed though instead of getting mad, as he was satisfied since the boy did not try and keep pretending. He backed away, and Zach turned to Ectoplasm who jumped backwards fifteen feet to make a gap between them again. "I won't let you get close this time," Ectoplasm began. He paused though, and then the dark teacher said, "Unless to practice your Super Move you need to be." Ectoplasm remembered this was to train up the boy's special attack, but he was still thinking about the boy taking him down a minute ago. He decided to forget about it and just work with his student, but that plan went out the window as Zach responded.

"You can be wherever," Zach said. He grinned as Ectoplasm narrowed his eyes, though he was feeling a little nervous at that look from his scary-looking teacher. Then again, he's not the only one who can be scary, Zach thought, while lifting his right hand and flexing his fingers all straight out for a second. His fingers slid out of his glove, and Zach pulled that hand towards his body. He hesitated though, and he lost his grin at Ectoplasm in a competitive way as he could kind of see what Ectoplasm was thinking of. His grin dipped and his eyes darted around without him turning his head. All of his classmates were working on their Super Moves, and some of them were behind tall stone pillars so not all of them would be able to see him. No one was really watching him either, as even the ones he did not notice but had been watching before got back to their own training after Aizawa's glare and when they realized Zach was not going to transform.

Here we go, Zach thought grimly, then he touched his right hand into his chest. He touched over the split between the white and black, and out from his entire body at once expelled black wisps. Aizawa and Ectoplasm both stared with wide eyes as the boy covered in darkness instantly. Zach kept facing Ectoplasm, and his serious look on his skull showing through the black veil got darker. The dark wisps over Zach's face made a translucent dark expression of their own, narrowed down with glowing red eyes that went back deep into the eye sockets of the skull. His skeletal body showed through his arms, his legs, the front of his torso too. His whole body was covered in a thick black veil that covered his costume and any part of his body beneath it. His helmet disappeared as well as his hair, leaving Zach's skull visible from the sides and in front, and both Ectoplasm and Aizawa stared into the red eyes of the boy, Aizawa from his right side and Ectoplasm from straight in front of him.

The teachers had already heard the description so they only looked at him in surprise for a second, unable to help it at the nearly instant transformation. In a second Zach's body was gone and surrounded by the black veil, but he still stood in the shape of a person, a five foot four inch tall human. Small wisps of darkness came off of his shoulders and the top of his head, breaking off the sides of his legs and lifting up from his fingertips as he lifted his hands in front of him with his fingers curled up. "Super Move," Zach began, his voice deeper and scratchier than a moment ago.

Kirishima was panting as he lowered his arms down to his sides again. He was exhausted, and his knuckles were bruised as he had kept on smashing until his Hardening failed him completely. He turned his head left again, and his eyes opened huge and he leaned that way with a grin spreading over his face again. Cementoss did not lift a wall in front of Kirishima to keep him focused on his training, because Cementoss and Ectoplasm's real body were staring over at the boy who kept lifting his hands up and moved them to his sides. Zach rose his arms at his sides then put them over his head, and Kirishima stared closer wondering what he was doing.

Kyoka Jirou pulled her earphone jacks out of the rocks in front of her that had been difficult to break through thanks to Cementoss making them harder than usual. She wiped some sweat off her forehead then looked down and to her left where she saw Mineta taking steps back with giant eyes as he stared farther back in the room. Jirou spun her head and jogged a little forward to see over a taller pillar next to her, where Bakugo was at the top of blowing stuff up. Jirou got around it and looked towards the front of the room, and her eyes opened huge at the sight of what Zach was doing.

Focus on pushing it all out, Zach thought, imagining the wind that came out when he first used the Nightmare form for combat. He had his hands pointed towards each other over the top of his head, forcing out darkness not in wisps but in a more steady wind that he pushed in and curled his fingers more around. Wisps broke free out of the dark mass accumulating between his hands, but the gaseous cloud Zach had created was getting thicker as he pushed his arms closer and closer together. He started bringing both lifted arms down to his right side, and they were shaking as he pushed his left hand in harder towards his right. The sphere condensed over his right palm, and his fingers curled up and gripped onto the sphere that when he grabbed it, his dark fingers stayed on the outside and did not seem to merge with the attack. He pushed his left hand down harder over it while forcing the darkness around his body through both of his arms. The dark coating surrounding him was actually thinning, and Aizawa noticed some white fabric on Zach's right side under the dark veil, but he could not see white sleeves as Zach's arms were still thick with darkness.

"What is that thing?" Mineta whispered. He shook his head around though, because he knew it already from Kirishima's description. His eyes were focused on the ball of darkness in the being's right hand though, so dark and black and scaring the crap out of the shortest boy in the class. "I don't like this," he said, his voice higher pitched as the form with glowing red eyes and a dark appearance clenched his right hand around the sphere of black on his hand tighter.

Jirou gulped as Zach pulled his left hand away from the ball. What is that? His Quirk is Death, right? So what is that thing? Will that thing kill whatever it- but Zach took down the two villains at VTS. Maybe it won't, kill whatever it touches, she shivered involuntarily but could not look away as Zach started lifting his attack.

Bakugo slammed his right hand down and blasted the pillar below him in a frustrated way as his newest Super Move was not working like he wanted it to. He caught Kirishima looking to the side instead of training out the corner of his eye, and he turned to follow Kirishima's gaze though he already expected where it was looking. "What is it now-" Bakugo started to mutter in annoyance, only for his eyes to open wide at the menacing dark form he had never seen before facing off against one of Ectoplasm's clones near where Zach should have been. "Is that," Bakugo began, but there was no point in finishing the sentence.

"So, you do have an actual Super Move," Ectoplasm said to the boy facing him. There was a large gap between them at the moment, and Ectoplasm's gaze focused on the sphere Zach was holding in his lifted right hand then back to the boy's red eyes that were focused solely on him. Ectoplasm narrowed his eyes back into those dark red ones, and he said, "How do you plan on hitting me? I won't let you get close, so unless its speed-"

Zach lifted up his right arm and put his hand behind him. He kept forcing darkness down his right arm to fill the sphere that would have lost power through the cracks of his fingers that dark wisps were coming out of as fast as he could power it up. So he kept it at the strength when he pulled his left hand away, and he pulled his right arm back with the strength of the sphere set, and he stomped his left foot forward. "Super Move," he said loudly and in his scary voice. Zach wound up, and he threw his right arm forward like he was throwing a baseball. "DEATH GRENADE!" Zach yelled.

Ectoplasm leapt off the ground and shot backwards, while the ball flying at him started arcing down to the spot he had just been standing in. "Not fast enough. For that much charge-up, you need something that will reach faster-"

"That's why it's a 'Grenade'…" Zach started, and Ectoplasm's eyes started shifting from the boy he was lecturing back to the spot he had been standing. Zach continued right before the ball hit down, "…It has shrapnel, Ectoplasm-sensei." The sphere of darkness hit the ground, and it exploded outwards in all direction with black wisps that were thicker at first and thinned out farther from the blast point. None of the explosive wisps were thick for long, but the initial blast made the condensed ball of Death expand before it erupted outwards. The clone that was closest to the blast crossed its arms while turning back fully to the attack, and several black wisps slammed into him and pushed into his body, blowing around his outsides like a wind.

Ectoplasm's clone hit down on the ground on his feet. He fell off his feet right after landing on them though, falling backwards and skidding on the floor away with his momentum from the leap away. The clone started falling apart into ectoplasm, while all around the room, Ectoplasm clones started hunching over. Zach snapped his head to the left as he heard someone call out something, and Aizawa spun around with wide eyes too. The two of them looked around, then over towards Cementoss and Ectoplasm where the real teacher hunched over just as all the other ones had. As his clones were vanishing, Ectoplasm fell to his knees and then collapsed down forward on his face.

Zach stared towards his teacher in wide-eyed shock, then he rose his right hand quick and tapped on his chest while running towards his math teacher. His eyes narrowed when Cementoss leaned down and checked on Ectoplasm, only to gain a relieved look on his face. "Thought something like this might happen," Zach muttered, as he slowed to a stop and saw Cementoss laying Ectoplasm out flat on his back. Zach lifted his left hand and put it up through his messy black hair, and Aizawa stopped on his right side instead of running farther forward after Cementoss said loudly that Ectoplasm was fine. The other students all rushing over too relaxed, then most of them looked towards Zach.

He glanced left and looked around his classmates, and he grimaced at all their looks. Why'd I have to scream it's name? I never even had a name for it before. Is 'Death Grenade' really a good name for a move a hero would have? It didn't even cause death. I used Death, to do it though.

"Dude, you took out Ectoplasm-sensei!" Kaminari called out, and he ran towards Zach instead of the teacher who Cementoss was still checking on.

"He, should be fine," Zach said. He turned from Kaminari back towards Cementoss and said as his gray teacher looked up at him, "If I don't touch something directly, usually it won't take someone down, or even knock them unconscious. The Death wind isn't focused enough, but with the, Death Grenade," he said it more hesitantly as he was just questioning the naming of the attack. "I guess the 'shrapnel' was too thick," he muttered, his voice getting lower as he looked down with some worry at his math teacher. "I didn't think- or I didn't know if, his clones… but I should have expected it to-"

"Don't think about it like that, Sazaki," Aizawa started, and the boy turned and looked up at his homeroom teacher. "Ectoplasm doesn't take damage that his clones do," Aizawa continued. "Or, he shouldn't," he added, and he lifted up a hand and scratched a finger above his left cheek and under his eye. "You're saying it won't do lasting damage though, correct?" Aizawa asked.

Zach shook his head quickly, glancing around at the others who had run over too, as he was feeling nervous under all their gazes like he had just done something really bad. Aizawa nodded though after Zach's quick head shake, and he said, "Good then. That's a good Super Move," Zach's eyes started getting wider, and Aizawa continued while turning to him, "But Ectoplasm was right, even if you did get him with it. The charge-up time for it was too long. Most villains won't give you the time for that."

"But that was amazing!" Ashido suddenly shouted, and Zach spun to the girl who could not hold it in anymore. After hearing that Ectoplasm-sensei was going to be okay, her shock turned into awe and she was practically jumping as she shouted that at Zach. "How'd you hurt the real Ectoplasm-sensei by attacking his clone? How long is he going to be like that?"

Aizawa wanted to scold the pink girl for cutting in on him, but he also wanted to know the answer of that second question, the first one too though he suspected Sazaki did not have an answer for it. "How long?" Zach began. He turned hesitantly back to Ectoplasm and said, "I can't be too sure. If everything that hit the clone transferred over to his real body, which would be strange, I feel like it'd be less, but if it is all of that… maybe two days?"

Aizawa lowered his bottom lip for a second, then he sweatdropped at the kid who got a sheepish look at everyone's dropped jaws. "Sorry," Zach repeated, while looking back to his teacher who he really hoped would wake up before that.

"That's a great move for capturing villains then though," Sero mentioned, closing his dropped jaw and saying it in a pretty amazed way. "I wondered how you got those two villains at VTS."

"Hey," Aizawa started to the group who had run over. "All of you get back to training," his voice was cold and his eyes flashed red, and all of the students ran off quickly. There were only five of them anyway, as most had stopped coming when Cementoss called out that Ectoplasm was fine. The ones who never rushed over had stared at Zach though, wondering how he took out their training partner without doing any damage to the real Ectoplasm. Aizawa told the others to get back to work, but he was looking down and to the left at the kid in front of him with narrowed eyes too. Zach stepped closer to Cementoss and knelt on Ectoplasm's other side, saying he'd help get the man to the nurse's office and that he was sorry again. Two days, and Ectoplasm dodged most of it. Sazaki said that'd still be on the high side, but it was his clone. Even this, is still too much. I shouldn't have pushed him to use it. He uses weapons for a reason. His Quirk is too much. I thought maybe he managed to make it weaker, and this is definitely a step up from insta-kill, but it's not enough.

Aizawa's eyes widened a bit more as he stared at the kid on his knees next to Ectoplasm's body. Was he holding back? It makes sense, if he thought it might be a possibility that his attack would kill at its strongest. I know he is cautious enough considering how he treated Pixie Bob's Earth Flow creatures. What is that form though? Did he know about it even in the spring? Or has he only created it recently? Training such a dangerous power, he'll at least figure out how much he needs to use to capture which is good… But this is a dangerous, very dangerous Quirk. An uncontrolled Quirk called Death is not as much of an issue, as long as the policy is just to 'not use it.' Sazaki, I know you're a good kid and I take back what I said at that trial, but I don't know. I feel like you're lying about something, whenever I talk to you. Which makes it difficult to tell when you really are lying, though you were not trying very hard when I asked about your Super Move. Zach lifted up Ectoplasm with his left arm holding one of his teacher's over his shoulder to walk him out of there, and he told Cementoss not to worry about it since he did not want to take away from everyone else's training even more. Zach offered to bring Ectoplasm to Recovery Girl's office, and Aizawa accepted and told him to hurry back. As the boy walked off though, Aizawa stared at Zach's back with a frown and a hesitant look on his face. He's going to become powerful, I can see that pretty clearly now and yet, I don't feel good about knowing. Not bad either, just- uneasy. Sazaki, you do not make it easy.

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A/N Thanks for reading! Another long chapter, probably could have split it into two, but I hope you enjoyed it all! Zach meets with Webb and the CFO of the Rasheed Corporation, Seiki Ganji, who we saw back when All Might first asked the anti-heroes for help. Zach delves deeper into that side of life while at the same time revealing his Nightmare form to his classmates and teachers. Training reducing his power, expelling it, and getting stronger and more connected... Leave a review below telling me what you think. Death Grenade!