Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia.
Chapter 65:
"You two need to take a break," Doctor Honda said to the boys sitting on a soft bench outside of a hospital room one of them had just walked out of. Zach had dropped down to the bench as soon as he walked out, and Monoma nodded and dropped down next to him before slouching in the seat and almost sliding off of it in exhaustion. The doctor who had just stood by as Zach brought back her most recently deceased patient ran a hand up through her hair and then started scratching at the right bull horn sticking out of her blond curls. "I'll come get one of you if something comes up, but try and get some rest," she said in a worried way at the exhausted looks on their faces.
"Thanks-" Zach started.
"You can come get me," Monoma claimed, grinning more maliciously than the doctor would expect after hearing what sounded like a selfless statement. "Because I'm from Class B," his eyes half-closed and he ended quieter than he started, feeling too exhausted to try and claim he was better at this than Zach, which he really wasn't. Zach was glad Monoma was still there with him though, despite how much more Monoma was screaming than him as they alternated between who brought someone back. Sometimes they both did it at the same time when Monoma's hand came off a victim too much, and Zach had actually brought back two in a row once too, but he still wasn't complaining about Monoma's help.
"Well, alright then," Kimiko Honda said, and she turned and headed off through the hospital to go check on her endless number of patients. She glanced back towards the boy with black hair wearing a pair of blue doctor's scrubs from the hospital, because the clothes he arrived in were so damaged when he showed up. Honda had been there when the chief of medicine, who had been injured from the earlier attack on the hospital but was still working, gave Zach the scrubs to use after he arrived. She thought about the parts of his body she saw that he did not have his gym clothes over, It was worse than that final video of the torture. Is his mind really alright? After a mental break of that magnitude-
Zach looked towards the woman who quickly turned back forward as she continued walking. He sighed, Going to start seeing those looks from everyone I see. Zach was tired himself, and he yawned while leaning back on the wall behind him and sliding down a bit like Monoma had. They stared across the hall in front of them and up at a television in the corner that a maintenance man was on a step-stool trying to fix. They watched him for a minute before Monoma said, "You hear about the Ants?"
Zach shook his head once in response. He glanced in at Monoma who had only looked his way out the corners of his eyes while asking, and the slouched blond boy next to him said, "Apparently a large number of them were stolen by the villains." Monoma was frowning as he said it, and Zach grimaced too hearing that. Monoma was wearing blue scrubs too since he had wrapped his gym uniform around Ibara Shiozaki's head during the fight against Inhuman earlier. The Class B student dressed like a doctor continued, "They were tracked pretty far, but the trackers all got removed so they don't know where they are now. Those ones that showed up to help us fight Inhuman, and all got destroyed, had left with Endeavor."
"Endeavor?" Zach asked. He got a slightly confused look on his face, then he thought back to the lunch they had after the second event of the tournament. He remembered Todoroki mentioning something about Endeavor leaving early, and he questioned the blond slouched next to him, "He went to fight Nomus?"
Monoma nodded his head once. "He got permission from the school when a couple of Nomus had appeared a hundred miles out of the city. It was surely a move on the League's part to take him out of play in the battle," Monoma explained his hypothesis. "And it was right after he had seen what the ANTs could do, so when Principal Nezu offered Endeavor the help, our top hero accepted it and took half of them away with him." Monoma sighed and then looked up and across the hall where the repairman finished tweaking something with the tv. The guy pressed the power button on the side and the screen flashed on to life. Zach looked up too while Monoma finished, "Endeavor rushed back though and sent them to the stadium, while he went into Musutafu and, well," Monoma nodded at the screen where Endeavor's face appeared on half the screen in the middle of a press conference.
Endeavor looked pretty bloody and beaten, but he was standing tall in front of the cameras in the middle of Musutafu. Zach leaned up out of his seat with his eyes opening huge at the title he read on the bottom of the screen, and what he could see on the second half of it. "No way," Zach whispered, his face full of shock at what he was staring at. Monoma opened his eyes a little wider too, staring in surprise at one of the two figures being shown chained up on the second half of the screen about to be taken away.
"That guy, from the training camp," Monoma whispered, and he gulped thinking about the beast that smashed the wall down in their extra lessons' room.
"Ganeshi, and Twice," Zach whispered. "Both of them…" Zach's lips started curving up at the corners and he slouched down on the soft bench again. Awesome. Great job, Endeavor… Zach's smile dipped a little, but he shook his head around and then stared closer at the screen as the camera showing Twice and Ganeshi started panning around. It cut to different camera angles too, and there were heroes all over Musutafu who had come from around the country.
Kamui Woods and Mount Lady helped take them down. Nice Mount Lady, I'm sure that must've felt great, Zach thought about the woman who Ganeshi had killed finally getting payback on him. Though the mindless drone he turned into after taking so much Death into him, after coming out of that coma… well hopefully he remembered her. Either way, he's out of the game now. Both of them. And the Big Three from last year all came too! Zach saw Lemillion appear in one camera angle helping a group of civilians and smiled some more. A lot of people died, but hundreds of villains were ultimately caught. The ones who ran are being hunted out of the city, I guess Kurogiri probably passed out from using Trigger like the rest of them and couldn't get them out of there. As much as it's terrible, the League took a- Zach's breathing started speeding up while he got out of his slouched position.
The maintenance man who had picked up his step-stool and started walking away froze. Monoma's breath caught in his throat, as someone shouted at Endeavor something that made the flaming hero in the press conference open his eyes huge. "I never even thought about it," Zach whispered, getting off of the bench and raising his hands up to the sides of his head. He started shaking in horror, and he heard someone scream down the hallway. Something crashed in a different room where he figured someone else was watching tv, and Zach heard Monoma gasp behind him as he finally found his breath.
"H-How?" Monoma whispered.
Why? I never even thought, why they would do this. They're villains. It's evil. It just made sense. Taking the ANTs could have been a reason, but even that just seemed ulterior. But why was Spinner in charge? Why didn't Shigaraki appear? I never even- Zach gasped and his eyes started shaking as the screen cut to another camera hundreds of miles from Musutafu. This is, the absolute worst thing that could have happened. We're… we're so, so fu-
Four Hours Ago
"Oh man, oh man this is bad," a man with smooth black hair parted down the middle said as he stood in front of the television in a small control room. His slick hair was gelled so he was not running his hands up through it like one of his partners next to him who was scratching his head like crazy in a panic.
The guy with longer black hair who was scratching his head like a madman had to reach down and pull out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face again. He wiped, then pulled his glasses off his head and wiped his sweat cloth around on the bridge of his nose too. When he put them back on he gasped as he saw a camera angle switch to show a skyscraper in Musutafu falling down. He took a step back, then he glanced at the guy next to him and whispered, "Invading a city? This isn't like- geez man, what are we going to do?"
"Well," the man with gelled hair said. He calmed himself down, patting his hands down his uniform and getting a more serious look on his face. "We just have to stay professional. You can be sure we're going to have a whole ton of work later, and for the next week considering how many villains the heroes are about to capture."
"If they win," the other guy said, but he straightened his uniform too and started nodding after saying that. "No, no you're right. We just have to stay calm. Everything's going to be-" The control room they were in started blinking red, and both of the men standing near the tv spun towards each other with terrified looks in their eyes.
"Open all doors," a mechanical female voice echoed through the control room. "Emergency evacuation procedure activated. All cell doors will open in ten seconds."
"What's happening?!" the man with glasses spun and sprinted towards a control panel behind him where their chairs were.
"Tom!" The man with gelled hair spun from his partner to another man farther back in the room who just jumped up from behind his computer ten feet away from their fourth guard who was a woman with long red hair. "Cancel the emergency procedure. Ally, call the police and say-" a knife flew across the room and into his throat, cutting off his orders. Ally and Kato who was turning back from the panel stared in shock at their guard post captain who reached up to his throat and stumbled backwards while trying to hold himself together. He pulled the knife out of his neck though, and blood splashed like a faucet up in the air.
"TOM!?" Ally spun to her right as she saw the man near her with his arm outstretched. He spun towards her and sprinted her way while pulling out another knife. His face twisted with a mad look, and Kato spun to the control panel and started typing fast even with blood all over his face. "Kato! Help me- AHH!" Ally got grabbed by her long red hair as she tried running and pulled back, and "Tom" looked down into her eyes while sliding a knife across her throat.
Kato lifted his right hand and brought it down to press on a button, but a knife flew through his wrist and he screamed while spinning around. Tom was walking towards him, but Tom was melting as he did it. The man walking his way was melting, only there was a different figure beneath the melting form who was smirking madly and started laughing at Kato's look of despair upon seeing her. "Hehehe! Kato-kun, what's wrong? I didn't think you were brave enough to try canceling it after seeing Ando get killed like that."
"H-H-Himiko, T-Toga," Kato stuttered out as he saw the crazy teenage girl walking towards him with a bloody knife in one hand. Kato rose his right hand and a steel spike started coming out of his palm, and then a bloody knife stuck into his left eye and straight into his brain at how fast Toga threw it.
Toga hummed happily to herself as Kato collapsed in front of her and down onto the controls. She turned her head to the left and looked up to see camera angles all over the prison where cells were opening up. Prison guards around the prison were spinning around in panic, and many of them started running for exits that they could separate themselves from the villains behind. "Uh uh uh!" Toga sang while pushing Kato's body to the side. She typed onto the control panel and started laughing as doors slammed shut, locking prison guards in cell blocks they had been patrolling. The guards pulled out their stun batons and shouted at each other and up at the cameras for help, while Toga brought up a hand to an earpiece in her right ear. "Tomura-kun! Tomura-kun! I did it!"
"Thank you, Toga," Shigaraki Tomura said. On one of the camera angles Toga was looking at, right in the middle of the prison's most secure floor, an enormous black portal opened up. Kurogiri appeared there looking like a monstrous mass of shadows spreading wide across the floor, but he was also panting and straining himself to the top of his abilities even on Trigger. Toga started laughing more as she saw Shigaraki step out of Kurogiri's body, followed by twenty of the most elite members of the League of Villains, and a hundred others who stormed by and into the prison.
"Sensei!" Shigaraki called out after stepping through the portal. "It's okay now, why?" Prison guards who were backing away from the army of villains appearing before them stared towards Shigaraki Tomura in horror as he started smirking behind the hand attached to his face. Shigaraki threw his arms out to the sides and shouted, "Because I am here!"
Present
Zach Sazaki stared with his arms limp down at his sides at the hospital's television. The cameraman pointed towards the massive dark prison Tartaros, a prison covered in holes with bodies littered around the outside of it. There were some fire trucks there firing jets of water up at the prison, and Zach swore he saw blue flames beneath a black cloud on the far side of the prison. "There is no official statement yet regarding what exactly occurred here at Tartaros prison," the reporter in front of the camera began. "Though we have heard that there has been a massive breakout. A large number of the prison's staff has been killed, including the prison warden, but the vice warden has agreed to meet with us as soon as he's finished giving his report to the police."
"Lifebringer," a voice called down the hallway. Zach and Monoma spun their heads and looked down it to see a nurse calling towards them. They had no time to rest and let this new information sink in, and the two of them started jogging down towards the desk where the nurse was standing in front of. The head nurse behind the desk was a large woman who had light brown skin and both hands up to her mouth with a terrified look on her face while staring at the computer in front of her. The male nurse who called to them turned as they were nearing him, and he said, "Outside we just had someone crash. We didn't know the extent of their injuries, and two people who were air-lifted out to Tokyo Metro are being brought back here for you."
Zach froze for a second as he heard screaming behind him down another hospital corridor. He and Monoma spun around instead of chasing the male nurse outside, but the nurse spun and called to them that they had no time. "Listen, I'll get the guy outside first," Monoma started, a serious look on his face as he glanced down the hallway they heard that last scream. The blond thought for a second that maybe it was just someone else seeing the news, but he spotted a nurse and just another volunteering civilian pulling a screaming woman out of a room while two doctors ran inside yelling about a crash cart. Monoma put his right hand on Zach's shoulder to Copy his power, but then Zach grabbed Monoma by the wrist tightly before he could take his hand away.
"Be, careful," Zach warned in a stern voice. He leaned forward as Monoma started to smirk, and he glared daggers into the other boy's eyes to shut him up before he could say anything. "I have had my right hand hidden inside a glove for my entire life. If you accidentally bump into someone, if your finger even comes in contact with clothes that might be touching skin, anything," Zach leaned even farther forward while tightening his grip on Monoma's wrist. "This place is full of panicked nurses and doctors running around, not to mention scared people. You understand what I'm saying?" Monoma got a really nervous look on his face, and Zach finally let go of his wrist as that was the look he wanted to see Monoma have. "Don't accidentally kill anyone. You can't just bring them back if you do. Not when it's Death that killed them."
"I got it," Monoma told him, and he grabbed his own right wrist and held it close to his chest. He was careful not to actually touch his chest though and spread Death all over his body, and he gulped while looking down at the most dangerous Quirk he had ever Copied.
"We have to go, the helicopter will be here in five!" The nurse behind the two called to them, and the man knew that it took a lot out of them to bring people back. He knew it took a while, and the people being air-lifted back had already died too which meant the time-limit was running out. Monoma turned to the man and told him to lead the way, while Zach spun and ran for the hallway where the woman who had been screaming before had collapsed down to her knees outside the door.
Oh man. Alright. I can do this. Just one more. Every time, it's just one more. I just need to get through one more person. Zach ran past the woman who lifted her head and then started back up on her feet as she saw him run right up to her father's bedside. The girl he ran by was younger than he had thought from a distance, and he realized she was probably the man's daughter once he saw the bald man with wrinkles on his face, and a huge wound in his right side where a piece of steel shrapnel was sticking out.
"Is he," Zach started, looking at a doctor who he had not seen yet and was looking back at him with wide eyes.
"I was, just about to call it," the young doctor said, as the others in the staff with him were heading out of the room as there were other places they needed to be.
"Get the shrapnel out," Zach said, shaking his head at the doctor. "I'll seal the wound fully so you don't need to worry about-"
"Lifebringer, you save him," the girl Zach had run past grabbed him by the back of his blue scrubs. Zach glanced back at her over his shoulder, and he saw a furious look on the college girl's face. "You better save him," she said, a desperate and threatening look on her face that unnerved Zach.
"Yeah," Zach replied, nodding at her and then pulling forward to get out of her hold. He walked up to the man who the doctor removed the piece of shrapnel from, and he checked the man's pulse himself just to make doubly sure he was not going to just kill an almost dead man. Okay. I can do this. I'm reaching the limit, of how many I can save. At least back when I was Lifebringer- No! I AM Lifebringer! But, back with the villains I hit a limit. A maximum. And I haven't trained to up that maximum in… It doesn't matter. I'll do it. I'll do it because I have to. Zach lowered his right hand to the man's chest and slid his fingers out of his glove when he was just touching him.
"Ahh haaa, ahhh haaAA! AHHhh," Zach cursed mentally and brought his left hand over to his right wrist. The woman behind him stepped closer and yelled at him not to let go, but Zach yelled back, "Don't get closer!" His right arm turned black from his hand up under his scrubs' sleeve, and he heaved and wheezed for a few seconds as he felt his insides ripping apart. Focus on something else. I can't do this! IT HURTS! "AHH!" Zach screamed, then he snapped his head to the left and looked towards the corner of the room where there was a small tv he barely noticed before.
"…and how is it that you and the rest of the staff made it out of there? Mr. Ryusuke, these are the worst villains of our time-"
"You are mistaken, Miss. The 'rest' of the staff did not make it out. A great deal of our coworkers laid down their lives attempting to stop the villains from escaping, and they succeeded in stopping many." The vice warden on the screen being interviewed paused after saying it, and the reporter apologized for suggesting anything different. Then Ryusuke lifted a hand and he rubbed his forehead where there were many wrinkles despite him looking like a man in his mid-thirties. "As for how those of us who escaped managed to do so, we owe it to the heroes who did arrive on the scene…"
Three and a Half Hours Ago
"What's wrong with Kurogiri?" Shooter asked while stepping towards Dabi.
Dabi had their Warp Gate tossed over his shoulder with his yellow eyes closed, and he said to the villain he had not seen since November when the man got arrested, "New Trigger. Less side effects during, but it makes you tired. If some people could have escaped faster, maybe he still would have been conscious when we were supposed to be escaping."
"Wait! Wait Shigaraki please!" Shatterer backed up with holes in his arms and legs from where Shooter lit him up. He hit a wall and had a terrified look in his eyes as he pushed himself against it. He spun left and right and called out, "Damian! Kratos! Asgard! Help me!"
Shigaraki Tomura reached down while the former War Boys did nothing to stop him, just watching as their gang leader who got them all arrested got a hand wrapped around his face. "Shh shh," Shigaraki said while Shatterer whimpered into his hand. Shigaraki Tomura smirked behind the gray hand attached to his own face like he was grabbing Shatterer's now. "I'm not going to kill you," Shigaraki said in a soft voice, as if the idea was laughable.
"R-Really?" Shatterer asked in shock.
"No," Shigaraki replied in just as soft a tone, and his lips twisted up right as Shatterer started Decaying into dust. Shigaraki then stood up and turned towards Dabi, "Dabi, our secondary transport here yet?"
"Arriving now," Dabi said. "Let's get out there." Sirens were going off and red lights were flashing through the floor they were on. Prisoners were running wild all over the place, but the League of Villains who had infiltrated the prison started shouting for everyone to hear.
"Listen up!"
"We're leaving this shit-hole, right now!"
"Our ride is here boys!"
"Let's end this with a bang!"
"Should we take some of these hostages with us?" A villain who had been locked away in Tartaros for ten years called towards Shigaraki, lifting up a female prison guard by the back of her neck. He had spikes sticking out of his skin on many different places, and the guard could feel small spikes coming out of the palm of his hand ready to be extended farther and straight through her throat.
"Take her!" Damian yelled, a mad look on his face. He licked his lips and the guard suddenly did not think getting impaled through the back of her neck was the worst thing that could happen. Tomura was playing it smart though, and he also nodded towards the villain who started dragging the guard with him to the exit.
The villain dragging the struggling guard was a tall man at nine feet tall and had a long mane of red hair as well as a long red beard that he had not trimmed once since getting to prison. He swung her up and slammed down, before dragging her head back up in front of him as their massive group started heading outside. "I don't know if you remember, sweetheart. But you zapped me with that stun baton of yours four years and sixty eight days ago." The woman's eyes opened huge as the spiky and hairy villain leaned his face closer to hers and smiled a mouth full of sharp teeth. "I have been waiting for this-"
The woman in his arms was pulled one way, while a thin line went through his neck and he started collapsing to the floor. Hordes of villains coming out of Tartaros stopped in their tracks and stared forward with wide eyes. Many of them stopped, others bared their teeth and started using their Quirks, but more stepped backwards with nervous looks on their faces as the hero appeared before them.
"When I heard about the invasion, I knew something was off." Shinya Kamihara stood with his left foot slightly more forward than his right. His hands were down at his sides, his silver hair spiked up twice over his head and once down in front of the right side of his face. He wore an all red and blue costume that made him look mysterious, and he said, "As a ninja, I know about misdirection well. And as the number four hero," Edgeshot glared forward at the villains who eased back more at the eyes he showed them. "I will not let you destroyers break out of prison. None of us will."
Farther back at one of the guard posts, a pair of heroes wearing matching costumes stepped out from behind a wall with another girl struggling between them. Mandalay and Pixie Bob had Himiko Toga tied up, and Toga started shouting towards the others who she saw behind the front line of random prisoners and grunts who had come out of the prison. Nearby, Tora had the female guard Edgeshot had pulled away who he grabbed and ran over towards some other prison staff the heroes had saved. The man in the costume of a cat like his female teammates turned and glared towards the villains while standing between them and the would-be hostages. "Get out of here and call in more support," Tora said out the corner of his mouth, something the vice warden sitting behind him heard and opened his eyes wide at the sound of.
"E-Everyone, let's move," Adam Ryusuke said, getting back to his feet and calling to the rest of the staff near him who were terrified and crying and injured.
"Edgeshot," Shigaraki Tomura started, scratching at his neck while walking back out of the prison that he had stayed behind in while others had been heading out. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be heading to Musutafu? There are so many people in danger right now who need a hero's help," Shigaraki scratched harder at Edgeshot's glare, then Shigaraki stopped for a second and glared so much harder at the hero in front of him. "Where's our extraction, hero?"
"Your ships will not be arriving," Edgeshot said. The villains glared harder at the hero who glared right back and declared, "You will not be leaving this prison, Shigaraki Tomura. Thank you for saving us the trouble of hunting you down." Edgeshot rose his hands as the villains started moving forward, most of them snarling and despising the aspect of going back to their cells.
"That's impressive. As to be expected of a hero of your caliber." A deep voice came out of the prison behind Shigaraki, and the prisoners and League of Villains' members all over started moving aside. One prisoner in particular did not look back with as much fear or reverence as the rest of them, and Stain just kept glaring forward at the heroes gathered before them. Edgeshot was only focused on one villain now though, the only one there who scared him though he did not let it show on his stoic face. "But Edgeshot. Against so many villains. What is it that you and the Pussycats think you can do?" All For One stepped out behind Shigaraki who turned with a small smile at his sensei.
Edgeshot's body turned thin and it rose up high in an instant with his upper half coming out of the thin line that just shot up. "We will stop you all!"
Present
"…Edgeshot and the other heroes fought bravely, and more hero reinforcements showed up through the fight. As the top prison officer still present, I had to make sure everyone else was out first so I stayed behind. When I was about to go though, as more heroes were arriving, All For One…" Ryusuke trailed off for a second and gulped, making the reporter and the cameraman very nervous at his facial expression. Ryusuke looked at the camera hesitantly like he did not want to go on, but he did continue, "He activated the unconscious Kurogiri's Quirk, creating a portal that every villain who could move ran through. Edgeshot tried to stop them, but he was hurt from all the fighting, after stopping so many villains- and Stain, Stain got him."
Zach gasped as he stared at the screen, the same time the others in the room with him did while staring at the television in shock. "And, they freed Himiko Toga from her binds. In order to save a fellow hero, Tora got in the way of an attack," Adam Ryusuke was trying to make the heroes sound as heroic as he could, even though he knew everything he was saying was spreading despair to the people watching. He needed to finish, and he just said in a low voice, "Not all of the villains escaped. A number were restrained by Pixie Bob's Earthbeasts, and even more were killed by the League of Villains themselves. We are currently repairing the prison as fast as we can to prepare for the hundreds of villains captured earlier…"
Zach was so caught up in what he was watching that he almost missed the moment where he felt the man he had his right hand on come back to life. He felt it and gasped again, but this time while looking away from the screen. The young woman behind him spun back too, and she sprinted to the bedside this time and leaned over the bald man, "Father! Father!" The man whose eyes were fluttering open turned his head a bit and looked at his daughter who was crying tears of joy onto him.
The boy in blue scrubs took in a deep breath as he pulled his hand back and slid his fingers into his glove again. He was panting but had a small smile on his face as he looked down at the man who his daughter started embracing. That's… good… Zach panted harder, but he took in another deep breath and tried calming himself, while the doctor who had stayed in the room during this decided he needed to check on this patient who was suddenly back to life.
The older man lying on the bed started closing his eyes again with a feeling of exhaustion washing over him. His head started tilting back, then he heard a voice saying, "It's natural." His daughter had looked worried, but she turned to the voice and the man opened his closing eyes a little more to see someone at the foot of his bed. "Everyone gets pretty tired after. Some people, don't even open their eyes for more than a second-" The man snapped up on his bed and reached forward, grabbing the teen by the front of his scrubs with a panicked and angry expression on his face.
"You!" The man shouted, and the doctor just about to check on him leaned away with a nervous expression. Zach also had wide eyes as the guy was tightening his grip in his scrubs looking furious. "My wife!" He shouted, and the girl on the bed's other side as the doctor pursed her lips and then closed her eyes as tears started filling them again.
"Y-Your wife?" Zach asked. He started panting harder, and he asked, "Is she, is she here? Is she hurt-"
"She's dead!" The man yelled. "You have to, you have to bring her back! Please!" Zach's lips started trembling as the man looked into his eyes from up close. "What's wrong?! Go find her!"
"She's, back at our," the daughter started. "The building it… Heroes couldn't get her out in time, and her body should-"
"How long?" Zach whispered.
"That doesn't matter!" the man yelled, pulling Zach closer in and pressing the boy up against the edge of his bed. "You have to save her! This, this is your fault!" Zach bit down on his bottom lip and tried pulling back, but the older man was stronger than he looked and pulled him even closer. "It was, all about you! That's why!" The guy had tears in his eyes, and Zach tried pulling away harder as his eyes shot open much wider. "Go save her. Go! You have to! It's your fault!"
The daughter who had been looking at Zach as angrily as her father was when he first came into the room lifted a hand towards her dad. She looked over him and towards the television in the corner of the room as she thought about what she had just seen. "I, I'm sorry," Zach whispered, and he pushed the man's hand off of the scrubs. The young woman in her early twenties about to speak to her dad turned at the sound of that cracking voice, and she looked to see the teen panting even harder as he stumbled back from the bed. "It wasn't my fault," Zach said, his eyes narrowing and looking furious. The man started crying though, even as he yelled angrily at Zach and the boy couldn't keep that look on his own shaking face. "I'm sorry, I can't save her…"
I, I have to get to the people being air-lifted. Their time limits, Zach spun and he ran for the door, bumping into the edge of it on his way out. He clenched his eyes shut as he heard the old man behind him shouting out 'Lifebringer' in such an angry way. I just saved your life! Damn it, damn it! Zach shook his head around and snapped his eyes open as he heard voices and realized he was about to run into people. "Are the helicopters here?" He asked, spinning to the head nurse who was still hyperventilating from what she saw on the news.
"Listen to me," Zach said, leaning over the desk to look at the large woman who brought her head up. Zach smiled with sweat all over his face, his face looking more pale than two minutes ago when she last saw him. "It's okay now. Those villains aren't going to do anything else today, and you need to focus alright? Please?" He asked hopefully, and the woman lowered her hands from her mouth that she was breathing into heavily while leaning back on her chair. "Now is the helicopter here yet? There are recently dead people on it I could bring back."
"Ch-Check out front. The helipad on the roof is busted so there are platforms out there. Just look around-"
"I know where they are," Zach said, turning from the desk and running off. It did not seem like the nurse knew what was going on, but he hoped that maybe she would refocus after that brief pep talk. Are they- now! He heard whirring sounds of helicopter blades as he jogged down a hallway, avoiding people running back and forth different directions. Monoma better not have bumped anyone. Zach was keeping his own right hand from doing the same, even though he had his black glove on anyway.
Zach ran outside and kept panting while watching a helicopter lower down up ahead of him. Kimiko Honda was not far in front of the hospital over at a makeshift station for people who were hurt badly but not badly enough to need to be brought inside the cramped hospital. She spun as someone mentioned Lifebringer, and she called out, "Head to the helicopter. It's already been over twenty minutes for each of them."
"Where's Monoma?" Zach called back to her.
"Sazaki," a different voice called over, and he turned to see the male nurse from before looking his way. Zach looked past that man and to a cot lying next to one where there was a man covered in his own blood. Zach started jogging over, and a look of dread spread over his face as he saw the blond-haired boy unconscious on the bed next to that man drenched in blood. "He finished first," the nurse said as Zach opened his mouth while looking at the other patient. "Right after he finished though, he started to collapse. He just warned me not to touch his hand then passed out."
Nice, Zach thought, though he could not give Monoma a bigger compliment. Not when he had to turn his head to the left and look at a helicopter lowering down with two fatalities inside. They're both nearing the time limit, Zach thought, his breath speeding up and a more panicked look spreading over his face. And this long, it's going to take longer to bring them back. It'll hurt more. It'll take more out of me, and it'll be harder anyway because I'm already so… I can't! I need your help! Zach spun back and said, "Monoma, get up. Get up man," Zach kicked forward into the bottom of Monoma's left foot, lightly and without much effort as he was not trying too hard.
"Hey, Sazaki are you," the nurse stepped closer to the boy whose eyes had half-closed as he kicked his friend in the foot.
"I'm fine," Zach whispered, turning the opposite direction as the nurse and heading towards the helicopter. He heard someone in that direction call out for him, and he brought his left hand up to his mouth and cupped it there. "Over here! I'm on my way!" Zach rose both hands to his head and smacked himself in the cheeks a couple of times. His blurring vision refocused, then he slowed down and took some deep breaths. Whoa whoa. I'm acting too much like I'm on my last legs. I have to do better than this. I can't just reach my limit. I have to go beyond that, PLUS ULTRA! Zach screamed it in his head and then started jogging towards the landed helicopter where some people were being unloaded onto the flat ground around it.
"Who died first?" Zach asked in as steady a voice he could muster, which still made the EMTs who just arrived look at him hesitantly. His voice and his appearance were not giving them much confidence, but Zach said at their looks, "Don't worry. I can do this. Now who was the first one?" He asked. That's how I'll make the decision. It's easier this way. Then I'm not choosing-
"They were at about the same time in different parts of the hospital. We heard you were here," one of the EMTs who was speaking trailed off at Zach's frustrated look after her response. "What?" She asked.
"Just, just tell me which one was first," Zach said in a hoarse voice. A couple of other people jumped off the helicopter too, two people who looked worried and separated from each other to move to one of the lowered deceased people each. Zach panted harder as the two of them looked at him and gained nervous looks. They each shot each other looks too, then they spun to him and started yelling that their 'husband' or 'girlfriend' was first.
"It's chaos over there too," the second EMT who was an older woman than the one who was just speaking started. "Calling out times, we're not too sure if they're accurate… Lifebringer, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Zach said, and he started walking towards the woman who was the younger of the two deceased. "I'll get to him in a minute," Zach promised while glancing at the older woman bent down next to her husband. "I promise. I'll save him too," Zach said, and he removed the option of passing out afterwards with that statement. He lowered next to the woman in her late twenties who had a crushed right arm and shredded left thigh that had bled too much before she was able to get help.
"You can really, bring her back?" The girl's boyfriend asked, a scared but hopeful look in his eyes as he faced the boy bending down over his girlfriend. "I, I was going to propose tomorrow," he said, his lips trembling as the boy looked up into his eyes. "She's my, everything," he whispered.
"Stand back," Zach said. He brought his right hand over and grabbed it by the wrist tightly as he could feel it already shaking. The idea of putting himself in that much pain again, the pain he kept going through over and over today, it was making his body hesitate. Zach's hands shook, then he pushed down his right into the woman's chest right above her breasts. He pressed down and winced as his hand turned black immediately. His fingers sticking out of the glove darkened, and up his sleeve too in a second. Her right arm was so badly destroyed, that the entire blue sleeve of Zach's scrubs on his right arm started ripping apart only seconds into it. He still managed to hold out from screaming for ten seconds, then his head snapped back and he screamed so loud that his voice gave out.
Zach gasped as his scream scraped his vocal cords, but as he tried taking in a breath, he felt something ripping apart his insides. He hunched over and his face turned blue as he was out of breath but could not breathe in. "Aaaoooaahhhh!" He managed to suck in breath then he yelled again, though his voice came out scratchy and not nearly as loud. "Aahh, Aaaahhhh!" His right sleeve pulled apart even more as rips of black pulled out of his arm and sliced through it. Zach's eyes were bloodshot, and he could not think of anything except for the pain. NO! DON'T! He felt himself fading. There are still, so many people! Tears filled his eyes and he gasped instead of screaming out again, even as the pain continued. "Your fault!" It's not. It's not my fault. But, but even so, I still feel responsible. No that's not it. I just, I just want to save them! Zach pressed his right hand down more, biting down his teeth and falling forward onto his right arm so hard that he was pressing down into the woman's lungs with his whole body weight.
And then he felt it. Zach collapsed down on top of the woman, and his arm started losing its black color. He was gasping for breath, and he made sure to pull his fingers back into his glove as the boyfriend dove forward too and started shaking his girlfriend to try and wake her up. Zach was on his stomach over her, but he lowered his left arm to the ground at her side. His right arm felt like mush after all the pain he just felt in it. The girl's right arm had looked like his arm felt now, but he ignored that while lifting his head and staring a few feet away towards a man lying flat on his back. He had a peaceful look on his face, unlike the woman on her knees next to him who started staring at Zach with huge eyes at the expression on the boy's face and the tears of blood coming down from his eyes.
Zach dragged himself forward, sliding his knees up under his body and maneuvering away from the woman he just brought back to life. I can do it. There's no limit. I just need to, bring everyone back. Make everyone happy. Save everyone! Zach coughed while sliding himself forward more on his knees and left hand. "Get back," he whispered to the woman he glanced up at. I have to. He brought himself right up to the guy's side, and he lifted his right arm with as much strength as he could and placed his palm on the man's chest.
"Lifebringer, you're going to kill yourself," Dr. Honda said, and Zach glanced up for a second as he did not even know she was there.
"I'll be fine," Zach said, looking back down at his palm that was resting on the patient's chest. He stared at his palm in confusion for a few seconds, then his eyes shot open wide and his blurred vision cleared. Zach brought his left hand to his right wrist and pushed down harder, focusing harder and biting down as he glared at his right hand. What the- Why isn't?! The time limit can't have passed! Not, not in that short a time! A desperate look spread on Zach's face, and he groaned while leaning his body harder forward onto his right hand, pushing his fingers farther out of the glove though the people around him could see his fingers were not turning black this time. No. Not because I, I chose her first. Not, I didn't, I couldn't have, tears built up in Zach's eyes, and he groaned while putting even more pressure on his right arm.
"Save him," the woman on the man's other side whispered. "Please," she said, her voice getting louder. "Lifebringer. Please save him."
"I'm, trying," Zach gasped. He started coughing, then he snapped down, "Come on! Come on work! Why, why isn't it- WHY?! AHHH!" Zach clenched his right hand down harder, and he clenched his teeth and eyes and roared while pushing his palm into the man's chest. "WORK! The time, it's not too late!" If the woman he just saved had died around the same time as this man, he knew he could do it. He knew it was a matter of willpower, and he yelled, "I can do this! I can! Ahh! AHHH!" His whole body felt so exhausted that he knew it was messing with his head. Everything was spinning in his vision as he snapped his eyes open huge and yelled at the man he was trying to bring back.
The woman kneeling across from Zach stared down at her husband's peaceful face with a trembling expression of her own. She bit down on her bottom lip, and then she turned and said, "Does, does it still work, if you've already brought someone back before?"
Zach froze. His mouth froze open while everyone around turned to the woman who just asked him that. Zach stared at his hands with his look shaking violently, his eyes filling with more water as he wheezed out such a hard breath. "What?" He whispered, his head turning a little so he could look up at the man's face again. "I did?" He asked, falling backwards onto his butt. He stared straight at the man's face and that look on it, and he did not recognize it at all. "I, I didn't remember," he whispered. "How couldn't I remember?" The tears welling in Zach's eyes came out and slid down his face, and he brought his left hand up to the side of his head looking so distraught as he turned back to the woman who just asked him that, whose face was filling with despair. "I, I'm sorry. I- can't do it again."
"Please, you have to try," she said, even as tears poured out of her eyes as she had just seen him trying.
"It's not, how my Quirk works," Zach whispered.
Eight Months Ago
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Zach responded, sitting up from his hunched-over position knelt next to a sheep's body. He glanced at the man next to him with spiky black hair and a patchy appearance, and he said, "Is there something different about this one than the last one I brought back?"
"No," Dabi replied. "The opposite. This was the same one," Dabi motioned with a nod down at the sheep he killed in the same exact way he did the first time. "Guess you can't bring something back twice." Zach smiled as he looked back down at the sheep himself, and Dabi muttered, "What's with that look? Figured this'd make you feel pretty depressed."
"Well now," Zach began. He stood up and shrugged, then he turned and said, "We can't just kill and bring back the same sheep over and over. I know it's mean to the other animals, but just torturing the same one over and over again seems worse to me. I think this sheep's probably glad to just have to die twice…"
Present
I was wrong. This, this is, Zach's face scrunched up and he pulled back onto his knees. He lowered his head when he started moving his hand back, clenching that hand into a fist and just whispering, "I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."
The older woman in her fifties leaned back and sucked in a huge breath at that look of resignation. She heard the boy apologizing with his head bowed, and she lowered her own head and looked down at her husband's body. She stared at his face that looked so peaceful, despite what his chest and legs looked like. "I love you," she whispered. The woman leaned down over his face and put her lips on his forehead, tears still spilling out of her eyes even as she smiled and said goodbye.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, sor-" Zach's mouth froze open and his eyes opened huge. The top of his head was pushing into something soft, and he felt two arms around his back. "Wh-What?" He whispered, lifting his head a bit and seeing the clothes of the woman who had come over from the other side of her husband.
"Thank you," she whispered, and Zach was shocked as he heard the tears on the woman's face. He could tell she was crying, and he didn't know why she was thanking him. "Thank you, for giving my husband another 8 months to live." Zach looked up more and then lifted his left arm as he felt her arms shaking on his back. He put his arm around her back and hugged her too, and he closed his eyes as he heard her continue, "He had a brain tumor and was already suffering a lot from it. That's why, we think, he walked right into a busy street that day. He must have been delirious, but then when you brought him back, he was back to his old self again. He was like a new man. The tumor was gone, and we- we lived our lives to the fullest this past year."
Zach closed his eyes again and let out a deep slow breath. "So thank you, young man. For giving us some more time together…" Zach didn't realize how close he was at that moment when he closed his eyes, but he was unconscious before he even heard the woman finish her sentence.
As he was fading into unconsciousness though, he did hear a couple of voices calling out to him together, "Zach!" His mouth curled into a small smile at the sound of them, but it didn't stop him from passing out.
A/N Thanks for reading! Tartaros prison break?! Edgeshot?! Tora?! Zach can't bring people back twice?! Lots of developments this chapter. We find out where the rest of the League of Villains were during the invasion in Musutafu, the reason the person at the end of the last chapter alluded to when talking about how they were making a big commotion with the attack. I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review below telling me what you think or predictions for the coming ones!
Shadowjab17 chapter 64 . 23h ago
Screw off.
Aw come on. It was pretty funny. Though admittedly your review after 63 made me regret it... just a little bit though :P I'm glad Zach is compared to Liam Neeson though!
D-Koy24 chapter 64 . 17h ago
*tick mark appears on forehead* Well atleast there's more to come, but I don't think many people enjoyed being played like that *cracks knuckles* (Inner me: Oi! Let me at em! The punk... [I might be younger and weaker than you so this is my rage talking ;)]... thinks he's funny eh? Just give me minutes please!) but I am glad the ship has a chance (inner me: Ey I dare you to try that again!) and I really want it to.
Okay ignore everything I said above... I think trolling us was a bit naughty and I can't say I wouldn't do it... Nah I'd defiantly do it. Yay Toga! Our favourite psycho-knife wielding villian that's a highschool girl (don't deny you're into it) and I think what would've made the troll even more effective was making to story a complete, oh man but I'm glad you're back and death get to live on... wait what?
As always, looking forward to the next chapter... hopefully it involves a certain tall girl and a certain short boy...? *
Lol had a little too much fun with that. Glad you enjoyed the chapter... though what you said about Toga last time, we see where she really was during the invasion now so that definitely wasn't her at the stadium. The person said it too, that Aizawa was canceling their Quirk so he knew it wasn't Toga even though that's what he said. Aizawa just didn't want to believe who the "student" in front of them really was... ;) No Zach and Momo this time (which I'm assuming are the tall girl and short boy) but who could be shouting his name there at the end? Thanks for the review!
GDawg4826 chapter 64 . 9h ago
You jackass, I was starting to get worried the ship had really sunk! Glad that it's not over tho, would've been really pissed off if you just ended it like that. Once again, you've written an awesome chapter that leaves me wanting more! Can't wait for the next chapter, I already know it's gonna be a good one!
Thanks! Glad you liked the chapter, and are happy Death is continuing on! Hope you enjoyed the new one!
Momozaki chapter 64 . 22h ago
YEEEEEES
You fucking troll
I love you
YES! Haha, back at it. Thanks for the review!
Toxic chapter 64 . 22h ago
BRUH that was actually funny what you did i bet you can feel the anger from people at what you did
Yeah... (couple people don't seem to think it was as funny, but... XD) Glad most of you took the joke well though haha. Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!
Guest chapter 64 . 20h ago
...YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Wait, Snipe is dead?...NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh yeah, it's back! Thanks for the review, but Snipe! And, well... Snipe's not the only one... Again, thanks everybody for reading and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!