Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 62:

"Now Hagakure!"

"Alright!"

Three villains who were facing off against some students from U.A. opened their eyes wide at the sound of that shout in the middle of the three of them. They started looking in, then swinging their arms and swords and tails inwards but wildly because they lost their abilities to see at the bright flash of light. Hagakure refracted light through her body and blinded the villains, then tape wrapped around two of their bodies while the third slashed his sword to the side and cut through as Sero tried again.

The guy who managed to cut the tape in the corridor inside the stadium was not reacting as panickedly as his comrades, and Hagakure had to dive out of the way as his sword was the one thing that actually came close to her when the blinded enemies attacked. Ojiro bounced off the wall and he went for the swordsman first, and Sero fired more tape sticking out his right arm towards the villain who started slashing up for Ojiro's tail only to realize the tape was coming. He reached down his left hand to grab a gun from his side, but Ojiro spun around in the air and smacked the sword slashing at him with his tail. He hit it so hard that the sword snapped, and then Ojiro spun around and smacked the tail into the man's face.

The other two who got wrapped up squinted their eyes open, and they tried struggling out of the tape. One of them was really muscular and the tape actually looked like it was pulling apart, while the other lifted his sharp tail and sliced up the side of it. As they were getting out though, the fourth student in the group had ran up and Hagakure shouted that she was far enough back. Denki Kaminari slammed his hands out and electricity slammed out at the villains around him. Ojiro flipped over the other side of the swordsman who also wound up getting hit by Kaminari's electricity, though the electrocution was less serious for him at a longer distance where Ojiro smacked him back to.

"Thirteen, are you alright?" Sero leaned down to the teacher who they came across with another pro hero, both of whom were injured from the fighting. Whether they got hurt against these villains who were facing them or from battles before the children did not know. Hagakure ran to the other one and called out that he was bleeding a lot, and the others all started running over to help as Thirteen told Sero that he was okay.

"I'm worried those people didn't get out," Ojiro said as he reached the guy who Sero started wrapping tape around his wounds to at least try and stop the bleeding for now. Their group had been told to evacuate people who were stuck in the stands, but when they saw the fight going badly down this hallway, the four sent the civilians with them ahead towards the exit that had been just ahead of them.

"Even if they did get out…" Sero muttered while wrapping more tape around the pro hero's back where there was a deep gash, which Thirteen mentioned was from the villain's sharp tail as he staggered up to his feet. Sero did not finish his sentence, but the others all understood what he was talking about. Where can we send them though?

Thirteen was inside his hero costume, but the four students were only in their gym uniforms and Thirteen shook his head as the teens just saved his life there. "They caught us completely off guard," Thirteen said in a regretful tone. The hero reached down and grabbed at his left side where he had a shallow wound, though reaching down with his left arm hurt anyway. The situation could not be worse.

"What about the raised security measures?" Ojiro asked.

"We weren't prepared for something like this," Thirteen responded. "An attack on this scale, in this era, is unheard of. We need to come up with an evacuation plan, as sending people out of the stadium is not enough when the whole city is under attack."

"If we can't evacuate people," Sero began, taking a few deep breaths as he stood up from the pro hero he hoped he had saved. He lifted the hero with him and held one of the guy's arms over his shoulder, and he asked, "Then what should we do, Thirteen sensei? Try to defeat all the villains?"

"Protecting civilians is first and foremost," Thirteen replied. "However, to do so we need to stop the villains as well. Our goals are split, while it seems so far the villains only have one goal. To create chaos and destruction."

"One goal," Kaminari whispered after hearing that. His head was turned towards the wall on his right, the side of the hallway closer to the middle of the stadium where most of the screams and loud blasts and shake were coming from.

Ojiro glanced back at Kaminari and then at the wall himself. His serious look got a more sad look on it as he looked there himself, I know what you're thinking, Kaminari. I want to help him too. Ojiro thought about the videos they watched before the explosions went off and the portals appeared. Zach. I saw you. I knew you didn't have those scars before the Villain Training Simulation. I tried not to think about it too hard though, because you told us… But I knew you were lying. From the start I knew, and I didn't think- I didn't know- Ojiro's fists clenched hard at his sides, and his tail curled up behind him.

"In that case let's keep evacuating. There should be an evacuation point set up already for the city, right? It's just because the signals from the stadium are being jammed that we don't know."

"Yes that is true. Students, this is the epicenter of the attack so it is the most dangerous place. But you are all heroes now," the students all looked back at Thirteen who moved his hands away from his sides and turned to show he was still going to continue despite his own wounds. "Save everyone you can. Get people to an evacuation point outside of the stadium, and if you locate it then pass on word to all other heroes." Thirteen started running and called out, "The attack is being televised, so heroes from around the country will be rushing here to assist. The Police Force will be mobilizing as well, and we need to hold out until then. Do not let the villains have any time to rest! Do not give them a foothold! We cannot lose!"

The four students running after Thirteen opened their eyes wide, and then their faces all covered in serious expressions. "Got it!"

"What did you do to her, Spinner?" Zach asked as he faced his opponent from ten feet away. He had a bloody cut on his left arm going through his sleeve, and he had a knife in both hands now as his grappling gun had been broken apart when he threw it at Spinner's face, forcing the villain to slash his large sword in front of him. Zach was only throwing it to cut off Spinner's vision though, and Spinner slashing the sword only cut it off more, so Spinner had a bloody wound in his right shoulder now where Zach had thrown his knife. That bloody knife was back in Zach's hand after he ripped it out trying to take Spinner down, but he increased the distance again when Spinner slashed at him, slicing open his left arm pretty deeply.

Despite the blood getting his sleeve wet all around the wound on his left arm, and the scraped skin on his palm and fingertips from before while he was saving Shoji, Zach held the knife in his left hand steady. He even spun the blade around a few times in his grip to make his moves more unpredictable. "The woman in Higucha!" Zach yelled, and he charged at Spinner, swinging his left arm forward but not letting go of the knife like he looked like he might. Spinner moved the sword to block the throwing knife, but he did not raise it enough to block his vision. Zach reached over and slowed down as he grabbed at his arm wound with his right hand, but he was only acting like his arm screamed out in pain from that movement, even though it actually did too. He grabbed it just so that when he swung his right hand back in front of him, he threw blood towards Spinner's face.

Zach ducked down as Spinner spun and threw a throwing knife with his left hand, then Zach darted to that left side to try and strike his enemy. Spinner already had another knife in his hand though, risen up and coming down as Zach got into his new spot. Zach rose his knives and crossed them, stopping Spinner's blade as he jammed it down. Spinner's super-sword was coming around at Zach's left side, and Zach bit down hard but jumped back again, then had to put both of his knives down on his left and turn to the blade. The blade hit him fast but he thanked Momo in his head that her knives did not shatter from the force of Spinner's hit. He was still lifted higher off the ground and thrown back though, but when he landed he just stumbled farther and then pulled his head to the side and mostly dodged a knife that skimmed his right cheek, beneath the scar crossing that side of his face.

"Little slow on swinging that sword there," Zach taunted, even though he had been pushed eight feet away by the swing. "Your arm hurt?" Zach asked, which made Spinner grit his teeth more at the pain he actually did feel in his right shoulder. "Tell me, Spinner," Zach growled, his taunting look vanishing and an angry look spreading over it instead. "I want- I need to know! What happened to the woman I left beh-"

"She's dead," Spinner said. Zach's mouth froze open, and then he bit down so hard and the knives in his hands started shaking.

Zach's eyes filled with water and they spilled out of the corners while he ground his teeth even harder. Damn. Damn it. Damn it damn it damn it! "Why?" Zach asked, his voice cracking as he said it.

"She was shooting at us," Spinner said, his face getting even more furious at Zach's expression. Spinner's right hand tightened on the sword and lifted it straight out again despite the blood coming out of his green shoulder. "With the gun you gave her, to give yourself time to escape-"

"That wasn't!" Zach started, but he had to cut himself off while clenching his eyes shut in pain. He snapped them open fast as he did that, and then he dove to his left and barely escaped the huge sword that Spinner sprinted forward and slashed at him. He dove under it as it moved diagonally into where he had been standing, and he spun afterwards and slashed at Spinner's legs. Spinner jumped up though and pulled up a katana in his left hand he was holding now instead of knives, yet he threw that down at Zach too. Zach had to barrel-roll to the side, just avoiding it. Then as Zach came out of that roll he threw one of the knives up at Spinner who pulled back his multi-blade sword he was starting to swing, and after the knife clanked against it and he kept moving the weapon, Zach was already up on his feet holding Spinner's katana in his right hand.

Zach ran forward and tears splashed off the side of his face, but no more were coming out. "Why?! Why kill an innocent person like that?!"

"She wasn't-" Spinner started, but he had to block as Zach slashed his sword into him. "You don't even know who she was," Spinner growled as he leaned forward over the sword he pushed harder into Zach's smaller one, pushing down on the kid who had to lean backwards from the pressure as Spinner grabbed his hilt with both hands. Zach flicked the knife in his left hand above where they were pressing their swords into each other, and just like Zach almost pulled away but got a slash on the right side of his face, Spinner did the same this time and blood splashed out of his right cheek as he jumped back away from the kid he was fighting.

"It doesn't matter who," Zach began, shaking his head angrily as he glared at Spinner. Over their heads Midoriya suddenly went flying, and Zach darted a quick glance towards the monster who his classmates were battling together. Those five together should be able to beat anyone… so why isn't he even hurt? Damn it, and Spinner's, is Spinner in charge of this? Of all of this? Zach's eyes shifted around the entire arena, and he looked straight back so angrily at the villain who he never fully took his eyes off while Spinner grabbed at his bloody cheek. "Is something like this, really what Stain wanted?"

"Shut up!" Spinner yelled. He swung his big sword out to his right and reached down to pull another knife out of armored padding in front of his left knee, where there were still more backup knives to grab inside. "Don't you try to take the high ground! You are a bastard! You killed Mr. Compress, and you betrayed Shooter and Hydro-"

"Don't fucking try that!" Zach yelled at Spinner, swinging his blades out to the sides and then crossing his arms and pointing the weapons out at his enemy. They started circling each other on one side of the arena stage, while Yaoyorozu glanced over still holding up her shield in front of a recovering Shoji. Zach continued yelling at his opponent, "Don't even pretend like you were betrayed! You're a murderer! Don't act all self-righteous about Stain, and Mr. Compress like you really care-"

"Shut up!" Spinner yelled, looking so frustrated as he continued circling Zach. He bit down harder and his eyes darted around now, all over the stadium and his hands tightened harder around his hilts. "You betrayed us," Spinner hissed, snapping his gaze back to Zach whose eyes widened. "And yet," Spinner growled, and he stopped circling Zach while his eyes narrowed more behind his bandanna. "I know, Stain would consider you a true hero." Zach stared in surprise at his opponent, while Spinner glared even angrier at the boy before him. "I only do follow Stain's teachings, but yet, I can't forgive you." Spinner pointed his sword forward at Zach who bit down again and rose up a knife up front of his chest and the katana down at his stomach pointed the other way.

You said you hated me! You said you never considered us allies, never considered us… Why can't you forgive me then?! If you never did, then you wouldn't be betrayed right? Right?!

Seven Months Ago

An SUV sped down a dark highway at two in the morning. The next exit was coming up, and the motorcycles they were chasing looked like they were going to go straight, only to cut right at the last second and take the exit. "Don't lose them," Dabi snapped from the back of the black SUV where he looked down for a second and called into the car. He was standing with the top half of his body sticking out of the vehicle, all of his spiky hair pushed back behind him because of the high speed of their chase.

Zach grabbed onto the handle up above his door and held the center console on his left even harder, his face wide-eyed and a giant smile spread across it. "This is crazy!" He yelled, as Spinner started spinning the steering wheel to the right, and Zach's side of the car lifted off the ground. The tires lifted and the car drifted hard only on its left wheels so much that Zach's face filled with panic thinking they were actually going to flip and start doing rolls down the highway.

"GRAND THEFT AUTO!" Spinner yelled with a huge grin on his face, and he spun the wheel the other direction. The car fell down and they cut across the corner onto the exit ramp and sped after the enemies who tried robbing a truck that members of the League of Villains were transporting drugs in. As soon as Spinner shouted it, Zach's smile returned and he started laughing as they came out of it fine and sped off.

"WHOO!" Zach yelled, and he leaned up and out of the window again with a submachine gun in his hands. He did not aim, except a little just to make sure he didn't actually hit, but he laughed the whole time as he started unloading down the road towards the motorcycles that swerved left and right as if trying to dodge bullets. Idiots! Not even aiming for you! Zach laughed and yelled out too, "Grand Theft Auto!" The magazine hit empty and he pulled back in the car, right as Spinner pulled the wheel more to the side as they had to go around a curve on the smaller side-road that they had pulled onto off of the highway.

"Drive straight!" Dabi yelled down at them. Zach snickered while looking to Spinner who just kept grinning while darting a glance to his right side at the masked boy in the passenger seat wearing an all black costume. The two of them smirked, and then Spinner changed the gear and sped up more, and Zach laughed while popping a new magazine into his gun. This is fucking awesome!

Present

Zach ground his teeth so hard he thought he might break them as a memory came into his head. "You watched me get tortured!" Zach yelled, stomping forward and then sprinting at Spinner who just stomped right back. They ran at each other, and they slashed and parried each other's moves over and over. Zach's knife got knocked out of his hand and up in the air, but Zach jumped up and parried the sword with the katana he was still holding. "You stood there and watched as they killed them!" Zach caught the knife that got knocked up, and he slammed it down towards Spinner's head, only to move it away to try and jam in Spinner's left shoulder instead.

The extra distance between the top of Spinner's head and his shoulder was enough that Spinner was able to pull his body back so the knife did not hit. It just made Spinner even angrier though, and he smashed his huge sword up with his right and hit Zach in the body with it, except with the flatter side of the multi-blade weapon. A few of the blades were still sticking out and cut across Zach's chest, but the wounds were shallow and Zach stumbled back in some pain, but mainly just hurting from the force of the heavy weapon hitting him. "You betrayed us," Spinner said, narrowing his eyes behind his bandanna, while some strands of pink hair fell in front of his face from how close Zach got to stabbing the knife down into his head.

"And that justifies it?" Zach asked, his face disbelieving and almost as frustrated as Spinner looked. That frustrated feeling on Spinner's face that got worse at Zach's question, it made Zach's chest start pounding. It was so easy, Zach thought, while lifting the bloody weapons in his hands, while his own body was getting bloodier itself. To tell myself that all villains were evil again. All League of Villains at least. It wasn't hard to convince myself, to forget everything that had happened for months, by focusing on those six weeks as the only part of the time with the villains that mattered… Thinking about Jenny and the Akers. That made Zach's teeth bare again and he started snarling, but his chest clenched up even more as thinking about that juxtaposed with what else he was thinking made his heart so conflicted.

But I remember, how I had come to believe that villains were not so far off from regular people… Zach ran forward, yelling out in anger as he slashed the katana in front of his body. He slashed it before he would have reached Spinner, then he slammed his right foot down hard and threw the katana like he would a javelin. Spinner knew he did not have to block Zach's slash, but he did not expect the sword to suddenly come flying, or any projectile since Zach had the knife unprepared for a throw.

Blood splashed out of Spinner's side, then Zach dove forward and picked up a knife from the floor he saw before throwing the longer blade. He came out of the roll and blocked the big sword with both knives, then he had to push to his side as one of the knives broke from the force, his arms creaking under the pressure. He dove to the side but his right shoulder got the cloth ripped off and blood ripped from the deep wound in it that he just pulled away from before it got very long. Zach spun after dodging away from it though, and before even standing back up or looking fully at Spinner, he flicked his last knife at Spinner's right leg and got it behind the padding and into Spinner's right calf.

Spinner yelled, then he slashed the sword back down at Zach the other way. Zach ran though and he dove towards where his other knife had been, one that would not break as he trusted in Momo's craftsmanship. He picked up the knife, but several things happened as he rose it. The quick thought of how Yaoyorozu's weapon would be strongest made him think about the girl, and just thinking about her for an instant made him need to check if she was still doing alright. She was, but his instant check did not just account for her, it accounted for who was putting her in danger. The fact that Momo was alright was great, but she was turned around currently talking to Shoji, distracted. Although her shield was still up and she was creating another one while coming up with a plan with the six-armed boy, Zach saw the long-range villain moving around the outside of the stadium.

Spinner saw where Zach was looking and he started turning himself after pulling the knife out of his calf. Spinner stared at the short girl with brown hair who was still wounded from his fellow villain in the white robe she tried fighting earlier, and then Spinner spun back towards the black-haired kid fighting him who never looked back his way.

Zach started running the opposite direction as his opponent who he had been fighting one-on-one. None of Spinner's fellow villains had interrupted without needing the mission leader to tell them not to. Zach had put a knife in Spinner's leg, so he knew Spinner would not run as fast as him now. Zach expected a throwing knife coming at him so he kept Spinner in his peripheral, seeing the villain sprinting after him, and he called to Yaoyorozu, "Watch out Momo! Uraraka!" He called out, and he ran towards the girl who was sitting up but grabbing at her shins with a pained look on her face. Are her legs- Zach saw the villain get a good angle, and a hero who dropped down on the outside of the arena who had been holding him off for a little was slumped against a wall nearby with a smear of blood going down it above his back.

Yaoyorozu started turning with the shield she had, but instead of giving Shoji the other one she had just finished creating, she stood up and yelled, "Take this!"

"Let me," Shoji said, and Yaoyorozu turned to see the much stronger boy reaching out. She nodded as she was hoping to throw it to Zach before he got any farther, but if it was Shoji throwing… Shoji tossed the shield all the way over towards where Uraraka was sitting.

Uraraka reached up a hand to get rid of the shield's gravity as it fell so she could position it even as she sat, but Zach yelled at her, "Uraraka duck!" Zach dove towards Uraraka as he sprinted even faster, and he dove on top of the girl whose eyes shot open wide in shock. Spinner's eyes bulged as Zach covered Uraraka with his entire body, while the shield was still heading towards them, and while the villain with guns on his fingers had them raised already towards the stage.

Uraraka felt pain in her legs as Zach fell on her, but her eyes were huge as Zach pulled her body the other way from the edge of the stage and rolled his own towards it. His eyes were clenched shut and there was a panicked look on his face that only lost a bit of the panic once he had hit his side, like he was afraid he would hear the gunshot before that happened. "Zach," Uraraka gasped out right as she hit her side, seeing that look on his face of semi-relief that he had gotten in the way.

"Zach!" Yaoyorozu and Shoji shouted over as they saw the other villain ready to shoot too.

BANG BANG- The villain in the middle of shooting froze with his eyes opened huge. He fired from both hands' ring fingers, scatter shots that from that range spread out as they reached the stage. One of the shots was higher up towards where Uraraka's head had been, the other was lower down where the teens had fallen flat with Zach rolling over his way. Zach clenched his eyes shut even harder, and Uraraka shouted, "ZACH!" as she thought him clenching his eyes like that was because he just got shot twice in the back.

Every other person on the stage and many around it were looking down at the arena with huge eyes though. Inhuman froze and his eyes shot open wide behind his mask, and the thin-eyed villain who shot dropped his jaw before shouting, "Seriously?!" His voice was angry and his gun-hands were shaking while sweat covered his face.

The five in the middle of fighting Inhuman were scattered around the stage and off of it. Iida had a bullet hole through his right arm, and Kirishima had blood dripping down his chest and the left side of his forehead, both from the same villain who just fired. They all stared towards the same spot Inhuman was looking towards too. Bakugo's eyes opened huge as he first darted his gaze over and then turned his head too and whispered, "Why would-"

Finally Zach risked moving away from Uraraka. He released his arms from around her while Uraraka stared in huge relief at the sight of Zach's confused, and bloody, but alright expression. Zach turned and got to his knees while looking behind him towards the villain who must have missed him. He stared back, and his heart skipped a beat. Zach stared at a man facing him, standing on his left leg while the right was a bloody mess and barely held together below his thigh. Blood splashed out of it, the foot was gone, and the leg looked completely shredded. That was almost as bad as his stomach and waist though, and finally the man standing there collapsed down to his left knee.

"Maybe he was an iguana," Inhuman mused. Todoroki turned back to the villain before them whose expression returned to normal inside his mask, though then Todoroki got a very bad feeling as the corners of that large man's lips curled up and he saw the villain's teeth for the first time through the vertical slits of his mask. What does that mean? Todoroki thought, getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach from the look in the villain's cold dark eyes.

"Spinner?" Zach whispered, as he stared at the guy on one knee in front of him. "I don't…" Zach started, and then Spinner who was wobbly on his knees, since one was blown to pieces, collapsed forward with a woozy look on his face. Zach started reaching his left hand out, before wincing in pain and stopping himself from trying. He froze and looked down at Spinner who put his arms down below him as he fell, trying to stop himself from face-planting using arms that started shaking as soon as he grabbed the ground. A shield that hit the ground slid by on their side before coming to a stop near the edge of the arena.

In the corner of Zach's eyes, he could see Spinner's large blade behind him and on his side. Did he let go, to get there faster? Why? Why would he?!

"Damn it," Spinner growled while staring at the floor beneath him, and as he panted while glaring at the floor, bloody spit came out of his mouth and puddled there. "I really, fucking hate you," Spinner muttered.

"Oh, so all we had to do was get you away from electronics on the same server? That's not very hard," La Brava taunted as she typed fast into a laptop computer in front of her. "Can he hear me?" She wondered without glancing back.

Gentle Criminal looked down at the dark-skinned man with piercings all over his face who was bloody and broken beneath his right foot. "I don't believe so, no," Gentle replied. "My apologies my dear," he said, though he was smiling as he said it.

"Oh no it's fine!" La Brava exclaimed, not wanting Gentle to feel sorry for anything.

"Have you taken control of the system?" Gentle asked as La Brava stopped typing. They were in a back room in the stadium of the Sports Festival, at a computer they had managed not to break while beating up the League of Villains' Hackerman.

La Brava smiled proudly and said, "Not just that." She turned to the tall man behind her, and she said, "I stole all of his files too." She glanced towards Hackerman, then spun back to the computer in front of her opened up with thousands of video clips on it. She opened up a folder that looked important and was the most recently used, labeled 'Sazaki.' "Hmm," La Brava hummed while scrolling through. Her smile lowered down a little at the labels of all the different clips, and even as Gentle told her she did an amazing job, she found it hard to smile at the praise she always desired.

Gentle knelt down next to La Brava and looked at the screen. "Hey," La Brava glanced back at the creepy man lying behind them. "Any reason this clip got cut so much? You took one of the terror videos out of it, so why cut so many edits near the end?" She got an interested look on her face while Gentle was giving her an odd gaze wondering what she was talking about. La Brava pulled up some files on the screen and a video played, one they had seen earlier, only the original version of it and not the clip used for the Sports Festival invasion. The two criminals who were inside Hackerman's system stared at the screen in surprise as the clip kept running this time. Then La Brava leaned back a little as she stared at the screen, and then her eyes opened wider just as Gentle's did next to her at what they heard coming out of the laptop.

"La Brava," Gentle started. He stared closer at the screen, and he said in a lower voice, "Do you think you could get this up?"

"Gentle," La Brava whispered, staring at Gentle still with huge eyes at what he was asking. Then she turned back to the screen, and a slightly frustrated look formed on her face but she nodded her head. "Give me a few seconds…"

"That villain," Kirishima whispered, staring towards the green guy who he had seen back in Camino Ward. "Why would he…"

Midoriya stood at the edge of the arena, looking towards Uraraka and Zach with huge eyes that had filled with fear when he heard Zach shouting Uraraka's name a few seconds ago. He had seen what happened though, and he stared at the villain with shaking eyes as he collapsed in front of Zach to his knees and then his hands too. "I was stupid for doing it, but I really tried Midoriya. I tried to look for the good in them. Those monsters, Dabi, Kurogiri, Spinner, Toga, Twice… And I even thought I saw it. I was dumb. No! You're wrong. They're villains. They're, they're all, evil…" Zach, when you said their names, Midoriya's eyes widened more as he saw Zach moving forward on his knees, closer to where Spinner was on his hands and knees. You looked so frustrated. That day in my room, you told me you thought there was no good in them, but I could tell you were lying. And it wasn't me you were lying to. Those villains you spent so much time with, you really- Midoriya spotted something at the top of his vision and he rose his head and looked to the side of the stadium.

"Why, Spinner?" Zach asked, his fists clenched so hard as he hissed it down at the man's green head bowed in front of him. Uraraka was just behind Zach and she was pulling herself up again, but she stared at Zach in shock as she heard the tone of his voice there.

"You are someone, who Stain would- ack," Spinner spat up more blood with that cough, and his arms started shaking more.

"I hate you," Zach whispered. "I hate you, but…" Zach's eyes were wet as he looked down at the growing puddle of red below Spinner who down on his hands and knees, gave Zach a much clearer look at the wound on his lower back where the other villain's first shot entered from. "I'm sad. And I hate that I am," Zach hissed, his voice so pained as he forced it out. Spinner lifted his head just a bit, and Zach glared into Spinner's eyes through the white bandanna around his half-closed eyes. "You helped murder my family," Zach hissed at him, even as his eyes filled with more water thinking about Spinner grinning at him in that car back in October. "Killing innocents," Zach gasped, "is not what Stain's ideology- you failed. You, you didn't follow him at all," Zach snapped, so much anger in his voice.

Spinner bit down, and blood seeped through his teeth as he glared straight back into Zach's eyes. "Yeah," Spinner seethed, a frustrated and pained look covering his face as he forced it out. "That's why, this had to be…" Spinner paused and mouth blood poured out of the corners of his mouth and down his chin. His arms lost strength, but Zach reached forward and grabbed him by the shoulders as he lowered.

As Zach spoke to Spinner, only Uraraka was still looking at them while everyone else had lifted their gazes to the screens surrounding the arena. One was completely broken, two had cracks going through them, so most people looked to the one screen that was completely undamaged over the bleachers where Class A had been sitting before. On the screen appeared Zach with his arms held out to the sides by rusty hooks, blood dripping down from his feet that were dangling off the ground, Shigaraki standing in front of him with a picture held up in his hand.

The video was paused, and there was a mouse cursor moving over the screen. What is this? All Might thought from higher on the bleachers where two heroes and a group of citizens who they had brought over were standing.

Someone pressed play, and Shigaraki was pulling away a picture of Katsuki Bakugo to show the one behind it. "And Midoriya?" He asked. Everyone staring at the screen knew they had seen this scene already, but a few of them stared with much wider eyes as this played a second time.

He held out, right? Midoriya thought nervously, glancing back towards Zach for a second only to see the dark haired boy holding Spinner by the shoulders and speaking to him with a look of anger spread across his face. Please Zach, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. But, I thought you didn't. For them to start this back up now. I should break the screens… Midoriya darted his gaze over to Inhuman, but that villain was just staring up at the screens like everyone else.

In the video, Zach Sazaki was hung from a metal bar dangling in a dark room. He had scabs and scars and bloody wounds over much of his body, as well as recent burns on different parts of his torso where his skin had been melted off. It was hard to watch for most people as the boy with trembling lips replied to Shigaraki Tomura, "Izuku Midoriya, Quirk Power-Up. It's strong but he can't control it so he breaks his body easily."

Don't you do it, Bakugo thought, glaring towards Zach on the arena and then up to him in the video again. His wrists were screaming in pain himself, but he did not find it hard to deal with the pain looking at the video he was seeing now. Hold on…

"He's the one I want you to kill the most," Shigaraki said, leaning forward towards Zach more and lowering the pictures in his hand. He leaned towards the boy whose bowed head twitched but did not pull away as Shigaraki said that. He had looked so scared a few seconds ago, but slowly Zach's head lifted up and his eyes were brighter than they had been a moment ago.

Everyone looking up at the video stared with wide eyes as Zach whispered in it, "Kill, Midoriya?" The right corner of Zach's lips curled up as he asked it, his tone skeptical and losing the broken tone that had been in it a moment ago. It was like hearing Shigaraki say that made him realize where he was, and his eyes darted around a couple of times, before he chuckled to himself and re-made eye contact with Shigaraki. He opened his mouth to say something, but all the pain looked like it got to him and his mouth started shaking again as Shigaraki started lifting the hand that wasn't holding the photos, showing a knife in it to the boy in front of him.

Then, Zach's face stopped shaking and he bit down. He looked straight into Shigaraki's eyes and said, "Midoriya's going to save me." On the arena stage, Midoriya felt his heart tearing as he heard that come out of Zach's mouth. He had seen Zach's body many times since Zach returned in January, and he knew there was so much more wrong with his body than could already be seen just in this video. And he thought, I would…

Bakugo stared with wide eyes too, though he was thinking about something else. In Camino, he told Shigaraki the same thing. He said Deku was going to come for us… SHIT!

"He won't," Shigaraki replied, smirking more though his face was twitching as he did. "Everyone thinks you're dead. No one will ever come for you."

Zach's head lowered a little for a second, and then he whispered, "Well then, he'll still destroy you." Zach's head lifted up, and his expression was stronger than it was since the video started. "Midoriya, all of my classmates, they're going to destroy you League of Villains."

Shigaraki ground his teeth in a pissed-off way while pushing the knife forward and across Zach's right side just under his ribs. Shigaraki dug the knife in, and Zach ground his teeth but refused to yell out in pain, glaring at Shigaraki defiantly instead which really angered the man in front of him. Shigaraki leaned his head forward and yelled as he dug the knife from Zach's side around the front of his body, down diagonally across his stomach and towards his left side. He was pushing so hard that most people watching were afraid he was about to disembowel Zach, but although blood poured down from the slash cutting across him, Zach's insides stayed in, and Zach's voice stayed in as well.

Shigaraki's eyes actually opened wide as Zach bit down through it and did not let a scream out this time. In the video clip, Zach just ignored the pain, or he was fighting through it. He stared straight at Shigaraki and the villain who pulled the red knife away leaned back at Zach's strong gaze replacing what had been a broken look leading up to this. "You messed up, fucking with Class A so much," Zach said. His lips stayed flat, his gaze intense and serious as he spoke. "With U.A. as a whole," Zach continued, even as blood spread down from his stomach and sides and down through his boxers until his legs were starting to drench red too.

Shigaraki stepped forward and he jammed the knife into Zach's left shoulder, and Zach let out a yell, "AHH!" The boy stopped himself though, biting down hard, then he snapped his head forward and spat a huge glob of spit into Shigaraki's eye between the fingers of the hand on his face. Shigaraki stumbled back and reached up to his face while clenching his teeth in fury, but Zach yelled at him despite the anger on Shigaraki's face that would not be good for him, "You only made them more ready for you, attacking them over and over again! You prepared them to fight you!" Zach yelled it, and then he glared harshly at Shigaraki as he said, "They're all strong. Stronger than me, and stronger than any of you villains."

Shigaraki reached forward and grabbed the knife in Zach's shoulder, and he yanked it out splashing more blood and making Zach scream in pain again. Zach started panting, and Shigaraki snarled at him, "Your classmates are going to-"

"You can slaughter the people I love," Zach growled, lifting his head back up after he cut off his own screams. His face was looking pale, and his body getting worse by the minute, but his expression was only getting stronger. "Threaten the only people I have left, and torture me to death or until I go mad!" Zach screamed the last part and his face looked a little more afraid as he yelled it, like he could already see it happening to him. Zach clenched his teeth, a single thought filling his head as he pushed his body forward and said firmly, "But I'll never kill for you."

People were watching the video all around the Sports Festival stadium, but elsewhere as well. Anywhere the screens had shown the other video first, they were now showing this one. Anyone who had seen Zach Sazaki talking about killing All Might and his classmates, before screaming like a madman 'Not Lifebringer' over and over, stared in shock at the video as Zach screamed, "I'll never let you use Death as you want! It's mine, and it won't be used like that! I choose what my Quirk does, and I… AM LIFEBRINGER!"

Yaoyorozu stared to her right and up towards the big screen with Zach's face centered in the middle of it. Her heart was racing, and she turned back towards the same boy on the stage with her, only for her awed eyes to shoot open even bigger.

Zach had been listening to his own voice on the big screens, mainly at first because he needed to make sure he did not give away Midoriya's secret. His focus was barely on what he was hearing up there though, as Spinner was dying in front of him. Spinner's insides were all messed up on his lower torso, and blood was pouring out of his right leg that had been shredded too. There's no saving him. Recovery Girl isn't, and even if she was- "I won't bring you back," Zach whispered, his voice less angry than before as he heard his own above him.

Spinner did not respond for a few seconds. "So," Spinner muttered, before grinding his teeth in pain as he tried forcing himself to lift his head. "Do it then," Spinner growled, blood filling his mouth more as he looked at the boy in front of him. There was fear on Spinner's face, and pain, and Zach's hands started shaking on Spinner's shoulders as he saw that expression. "Or, do you really want to make me suffer?" Spinner asked, and his face got an even softer look to it. It was one of desperation, but also acceptance if that was Zach's answer to that question, like Spinner believed the kid might really just want him to die slower.

Uraraka stared at Zach's back with her eyes huge, and she tried pushing herself up more only to wince at the feeling in her legs that felt sprained or fractured. "Zach," she whispered, and Zach's head lifted a little as he heard her voice. They heard Zach scream in the background in the video that he was Lifebringer, and Zach heard that too which made him clench his eyes shut as he knew what he had to do. "Don't," Uraraka whispered behind him. "You don't have to-"

"Please," Spinner whispered.

Zach kept his hands on Spinner's shoulders, and then he flexed a muscle in his middle finger on his right hand that he had to lift from Spinner's shoulder to do. He slid the tip out of the glove, and he looked straight into Spinner's eyes with such a sad look replacing all the other emotions in his eyes. "Hey Reaper, I'm heading to Hawaii on a 'recruiting mission.' You wanna come?" Zach pressed his middle finger down on Spinner's shoulder, and then he let the man go and Spinner dropped flat to the floor. Zach's black finger was back inside his glove the second Spinner dropped from him, and Zach just lowered his arms down to his sides and looked down at Spinner who had collapsed flat on the floor in front of him, his head only inches from Zach's knees.

Did he… Yaoyorozu thought as she stared over, but she was unable to see what had happened.

Most of the people there had seen the condition Spinner was in before Zach got that close to him, so Spinner collapsing like that did not make any of them think twice about it. Only Uraraka stared at Zach's back with knowing eyes, her heart clenching as she did not know what to think about what Zach just did. He, killed him, she thought. Uraraka knew the villain was dying slowly and more painfully than that, so the fact that he was unmoving now meant Zach had done it, even if she had been unable to see his hand from where she was sitting. But, he did it because, because he didn't want him to suffer? Even though- you say he killed your family? Uraraka's eyes got more water in them, but the boy in front of her rose his left arm and rubbed his eyes, then he started rising up onto his feet.

At the same time on the screens around the arena, Zach from back at the end of last year was panting hard after what he just shouted. His body looked like it would not hold up much longer with all the injuries and blood he was losing. Shigaraki had stared in silence for a few seconds at the boy who just made that defiant shout at him. "It's because you're Lifebringer, huh?" Shigaraki's knife lowered and he leaned his head forward, and the boy in the video lost the strong look he had at the crazed expression that spread over Shigaraki's face. "Then why don't we change that?" The video cut off there, and all the screens just turned to black.

You did change it, Zach thought as he stood up on both feet, and everyone on the fighting stage looked towards him as that video cut off. People in the stands too, and around the arena all looked towards the middle of it as Zach Sazaki took in a deep breath and tilted his head back. You did change it, but I- I am… "I. AM. LIFEBRINGER!" Zach screamed, yelling it at the top of his lungs just as he had in the video. He yelled it like he had back when he had held strong against Shigaraki, even if he could not remember that day at all. He was screaming it for everyone else to see him do so, but hearing that shout come out of his own mouth was something he needed as well.

Zach panted after he shouted it this time as well, though his panting was more from his fight with Spinner this time and the pain from the bloody wounds he got during that fight. He felt the pain from the times he was slashed in that fight, and after he lowered his head from shouting his gaze focused back on the villain he had just killed. I'm a hero. A good guy. It wasn't hard to think of villains as the bad guys, after the torture, and Jenny. But I wasn't wrong when I thought there was good in them. Spinner, why did you save me? You yourself, probably didn't even know. Why you would come here to kill me, and die just to… I wish, I could have changed you.

Inhuman did not look up when Zach made his shout of declaration. He just kept staring down at the figure in front of Zach's feet. Other villains around the arena who were looking down for that all gawked Spinner lying there, unmoving and in a puddle of his own blood. "K-Blaster," Inhuman said, his voice loud and stern.

The villain with thin slits for eyes and guns for fingers spun towards Inhuman with a terrified look on his face, "I didn't mean to shoot-"

"I don't care about that," Inhuman said, and everyone spun his way as his voice boomed around him. His voice echoed out in all directions so much louder than it should be, and Inhuman called out, "Spinner's dead. I'm in charge of the operation now." Inhuman's eyes narrowed and he said, "Kill everyone." His voice sent chills down heroes' spines, and down many of the villains' spines too. "We don't leave here, until all of the heroes are dead. If you haven't used your Trigger, do it and murder them all."

The mood of the battle switched twice in a matter of a few seconds. Everyone was suddenly feeling great after seeing Zach talk about the downfall of the League of Villains in that video, heard him shouting about being Lifebringer, and one of the country's most wanted villains going down was a plus too. Those people lost their more driven attitudes though, as all of the villains around them stopped looking nervous at Spinner's defeat and refocused their attentions on the task at hand.

Things started exploding around the arena again, and the whole Sports Festival started shaking seconds after Inhuman's shout. The villain started chuckling after this, only a couple of times and in a deep menacing tone that chilled the students still facing him around the fighting stage. "Humans, so quick to kill each other if given orders," Inhuman's voice was full of contempt and ridicule for the race he was speaking of. Shoji, Yaoyorozu, Zach, Uraraka, Midoriya, Bakugo, Iida, Todoroki, and Kirishima all looked in at the dark villain near the middle of the fighting stage who had black eyes with small yellow pupils in them that looked a dark gold now. "What separates heroes and villains but a thin, imaginary line humans made up for themselves? Nothing. Yet they will end each other's lives because of that line. There is no goal here for the League. Just destruction, and chaos." Inhuman speaking about humanity like he was not a part of it, his rant as a whole, and the supposed goal of the villains here was chilling each of the students facing him. "But my own personal goal is simpler," Inhuman continued, his voice darker and more ominous. "And that is: Extinction."

A/N Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Zach vs Spinner, Inhuman and K-Blaster still moving about the arena stage, showing what some of the other students were doing too back at the start of the chapter. Spinner takes the L, though the way he goes out maybe I'll give him a Win for it. Next chapter we get Inhuman vs all... Leave a review below telling me what you thought of the chapter! Review responses:

Celestial stratos chapter 61 . Aug 15

If zach has nightmare that represents death than couldn't he also have a form that represents the part of life/resurrection?

Awesome question! Never thought of it. Not even once. Read this a couple times though and started having some vague ideas, but it sounds pretty cool and I'll spitball some plans with it. No promises but def thought it sounded cool. Thanks for the review!

D-Koy24 chapter 61 . Aug 15

Gentle and LA Braga gonna save the day! And wow I'm pumped for the next chapter, I want to see more of what will happen in the attack!
~D-Koy, I'm back to my young awesome self... you welcome!

You know what, they did kind of save it... for a couple of seconds. Inhuman destroys the momentum they created playing that video out for people to see, though Gentle and La Brava have taken down Hackerman still! Glad you're pumped and hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks for reviewing!

Eskimobill1919 chapter 61 . 15h ago

Well, looks like Inhuman is going to show everyone true pain.

XD Caught me. Might or might not have gotten the idea for his Quirk watching the Pain v Naruto fight... Lol it was actually just taking me a while figuring out what a great Quirk would be that's simple but could be really strong and I really liked the one I came up with. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and look forward to seeing Inhuman go off next chapter! Thanks for the review!