Death

by tmb1112

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

77. Chapter 77

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 77:

"Once again for anyone just joining us now, we are currently flying above Mosu Esupa in central Hokkaido at a horrifying scene. A hero raid gone wrong. As we pray that more heroes will arrive soon, the situation continues to spiral out of control below." The reporter with her head up close to the window on the side of the helicopter looked down with wide eyes while trying to keep her voice steady. The camerawoman at her side was doing her best as well to keep the camera steady too, and the helicopter pilot was trying not to get distracted so as to keep the vehicle as steady as possible.

The sky was brighter than it usually was on a night with no stars or moon showing. The bright orange flames around the north side of the warehouse, the blue flames that had spread over much of the warehouse's west and north walls, and blinking red and blue lights from the cop cars that had made another perimeter even farther back than the original one which was now the middle of the battleground all contributed to how clear a shot the camera had down on the scene below. Despite there being some smoke, they had a clear view down to the main battlefield on the north side full of flaming rubble and overturned earth. The brightest light, more than the flames or cop cars, was a villain who looked like a brilliant strobe going off over and over while he fought against a pair of heroes.

Heroes were matched up and fighting villains as hard as they could. Every villain who slipped out of the warehouse entered the battle, some had left other buildings near the warehouse and joined the fray, another had come inside the flaming fireball of the truck that exploded before crashing into the fight. The villains were not all out of it though; not all of them had used Trigger and even some who did still had good cognitive functions. There were a group of villains farther back towards the north wall of the warehouse who looked to be coordinating attacks and trying to push a route through between their fights against heroes who were also regrouping between skirmishes against villains they occasionally took down. Then there were a few villains who were trying to stay out of the fight completely and were still inside the building's northern entrance looking out cautiously to see what the others were doing.

The three villains at that exit never knew what was coming. The helicopter up in the sky was focused down on the man inside the flashing strobe who had garnered most of the attention of the heroes with his blinding light, though he blinded some other villains too and had made a short pause in the fighting that continued when people with blurry eyes turned away from him and got back to what they were doing. A skeletal figure with a shotgun walked out of the flames of a delivery truck's rubble and showed that it was not just the fire he had been inside that made him look like that, as his entire skeletal body was engulfed in orange fire. Some people even assumed, wrongly, that he was the reason the truck had exploded in the first place.

The camera pointing down towards the resuming fight on the north side of the building shifted back a bit as the attentions of heroes and villains behind the building started to shift too. The reporter in the middle of speaking about that skeletal figure covered in flames brought her attention back too and she continued, "…and another comes out of the enflamed warehouse. I just received word that a large backup force arrived in the south to back up the pro hero Bikergang and they pushed the villains back inside the warehouse and chased after them. Hopefully that team in the south can make it to this side of the building before they push…" the woman speaking rapidly into her microphone started lowering it as she stared at that strange figure in the northern exit of the drug warehouse. Something her colleague holding the camera mentioned that did not reach the mic made the reporter freeze and stare down with widening eyes at the figure standing inside an aura of darkness.

Zach rose up his right hand, a sphere of darkness on it that his fingers curled around to hold back the wisps trying to escape. He kept his left hand down at his side near his grappling gun and knives while staring out at the group of six villains closest to the exit. His red eyes flared and a black steam came out of his mouth to shroud his translucent skull with it. His body was visible through the black veil over him, showing the white shape of a person standing five and a half feet tall. Behind Zach on the floor inside the exit lay three villains unmoving and unconscious who could not be seen from outside.

Valerian turned her head and looked back at the dark figure who just left the warehouse. "Get over here," she snapped, her eyes returning to normal size after a second of staring at him in surprise. Don't know who used Trigger to turn into that, but it looks dangerous. "We're pushing-"

Kaito had turned away from the dark figure but did not look back at his gang leader as she talked. He turned the other way and looked back towards his older brother who was still flashing white closer to the perimeter of the cops and keeping them back. Kito, I'm not leaving without you-

Gogogo dragged her daughter back farther towards the police perimeter, only when she looked closer she saw that the two cop cars she was nearing had been abandoned. The cops who had been at it had retreated back to the next perimeter thirty yards back, unable to pull their cars away because of the amount of flaming rubble behind them from part of the truck that had crashed in. Gogogo could feel the blood all over her back from where she was shot shielding her daughter from the flaming skeletal villain, but her rough skin was thick enough she could keep moving. The pro hero snarled though while looking back towards the warehouse where she saw another villain just exit. Then her snarling stopped and she opened her eyes wide because she recognized that costume in the veil, and the form itself.

Zach wound up, and he threw his attack while thinking, Death Grenade! He had condensed the Death in his hand as much as he could as any more and it would start seeping out. He threw it high, not down at the six villains who to him seemed like they would be the most trouble considering how they were conniving together. His attack looked like it would arc over the villains towards some other target, and those villains started turning in the direction of where it would arc down to, confused since he did not seem to throw it far enough that it would reach the cops. The Death Grenade rose over the heads of the villains, but it never continued its arc. Zach clenched his right hand into a fist while his arm was in its follow-through.

The Death Grenade exploded, black shrapnel wisps shooting down towards the villains below who snapped their heads back up in shock. Valerian rose her arms fast, turning them into lava and making a shield to cover herself from whatever was coming for her. Kaito dove for cover to his right, and he put his hands over his head that covered in small triangle-shaped spikes for protection. Kaito lowered his arms after a second, his face panicked as he saw black wisps slamming down into the floor at the sides of his head but just missing him. He turned his body and sat up a little, only to stare in shock as all of the others behind him collapsed. They had been conspiring to escape unlike him who had just stood next to Valerian nervously watching his brother. All of them were scary and threatening and powerful, and all of them fell to the ground. Even Valerian who had blocked the attack with her lava wobbled on her feet and fell to her knees, then forward on her face after a second of looking confused and angry.

Before they recover, Zach started sprinting forward, straight towards the man he saw turn himself over after diving away who did not get hit by his attack. "Wait! I give up!" The man shouted, throwing his hands up with a terrified look on his face as the dark figure leapt down the stairs and sprinted towards him. Zach's right arm hesitated with more black aura covering it again, then he continued whipping it around and swung a faint black wave of Death over the man who crossed his arms and yelled a cut-off shout of fear before falling backwards.

Zach did not slow down as he swung his arm out to the right. He pulled his grappling hook off of his waist on his left side, and he pointed into the bright white light where a man flashing like a strobe had spun his way at the sound of that other man's fearful shout. The strobe had faltered for an instant when the man turned, staring in horror towards his brother. A wispy black hook flew into the bright light and wrapped around the flashing figure, making the man snap his head down in shock and then back up with a look of fury on his face. He started raising his arms, only to find that they did not have any strength in them so they fell back down to his sides. Zach yanked towards him to release the hook and pull the villain off his feet, while the white light started to get fainter and dimmed to nothing.

Not too far away, Gilgamesh and five of his sidekicks were tying up a group of three villains who had tried to break through the weakened defenses on the northeast side of the warehouse. The man in a bright gold costume opened his eyes wide as he saw the dark figure take down the one who had blinded everyone a minute ago, and he pointed his right hand forward in its golden glove. "Their momentum is gone! Now is the time to strike!" The floor in front of Gilgamesh's feet turned into a liquid gold that he shot forward across with a wave lifting under his feet, and his hands lost solid form too before he punched his right arm forward so it extended out in a long golden punch. A female villain spinning back to the east to try and escape the dark figure opened her eyes wide and then got encased in the viscous gold. Gilgamesh pulled his arm back but left the gold coating around the woman who it hardened over after a moment of her struggling to escape from it.

Kurt stared back towards Lifebringer with wide eyes, then a smile covered Team Canada's leader's face and he charged forward at the skeletal man holding a shotgun who had turned to the dark figure with a pissed-off look on his skull face. Zach looked towards the skeletal man himself and he leapt up in the air, dodging the shotgun round that hit the ground behind where he was just running an instant later. He pulled out a knife to swing down at the man, only to look behind the villain with widened red eyes for a second as Kurt's extended arms with lots of elbows swung around a ripped-off police car door and slammed it into the flaming skeleton's side. Kurt's Quirk, Joint Extend, let him extend his arms and legs while creating more elbows and knees inside them. It got harder to use while having to focus on so many different points of movement he had control over as well as normal people would over their own elbows, but a simple swing of a door that knocked the flames off of a moving skeleton was easy enough for him.

Zach landed and checked that the boney villain was really out, then he snapped his head to the right where the ground was starting to bulge up. He darted his red eyes back and forth and spotted a man using flames for cover pressing his hands down on the ground while looking his way. Zach forced Nightmare down strongest on his legs, and he kicked off the floor the opposite direction as the bulging earth. Deathpop saw Zach moving so fast that he would be out of range if he tried making his attack any bigger, so he blew the ground up as it was and the force lifted Zach off his feet as he ran. Zach flew off the ground and felt the force on his back, making him clench his eyes shut in pain. He opened them though while still in the air, and he curled his body and dropped down into a roll that did not hurt him again like it hadn't earlier.

I feel stronger today than ever. Why? Now's not the time, but, Zach spun towards Deathpop and he started running towards the villain who had to turn and be careful of other heroes who all started rushing in on the villains' positions at the same time. The heroes were not all tired too, some of them just arriving and backing up others who were more experienced fighting these villains now and were able to give advice. The tone of the battle had changed, and Deathpop realized it with a twist of his lips and furious snarl on his face. He rose his arms up and they started bulging in size, and he cracked a huge smirk despite all the people charging at him which made them all stop where they were.

Zach stopped where he was too. But, he thought, even as he tried focusing on Deathpop. What is it? I didn't kill anything. And I'm not getting stronger as I fight. I did train some more after the Sports Festival, but I didn't feel this strong before- or during… Is it because I died? Is this what changed? Except, I felt similar to this during the fight with Inhuman. After I killed Spinner. I'm not feeling as strong as I did then… or am I? I just don't feel, as excited? As good? Right after, when I first used Nightmare that day, I had so much power. I felt super-powered, but right now I feel like I'm exerting just as much Nightmare. Is it because of the feeling of killing someone that made me actually notice it? In that case, was it not just a temporary boost? Did it make me, stronger? Zach's eyes started to widen, and then they bulged as did all the heroes staring at Deathpop and waiting for his explosion before running at him again. Some long-ranged attackers were about to try and stop him from making his explosion at all, but everyone just froze what they were doing and stared in shock towards where Deathpop had just been standing.

A man had dropped out of the sky on top of Deathpop. His hands were pushed down on the floor and his feet too, both of which were covered in blood especially now that he had to pull them out of the body he had crushed. This is no time to think about that, Zach realized as he fully refocused on the task at hand. The villain ahead of him looked thin, not very strong, but the man had such an anger-filled look on his face that it made up for his physical appearance. That, and the fact that he had just murdered Deathpop with his bare hands and feet had the heroes hesitant about how to proceed. One of the long-rangers about to attack Deathpop changed his target, and he fired a pair of black claws out towards the man from his wrists.

The villain with scars over both eyes and one cutting over his lips turned his head to look at those approaching claws so fast that his head looked like a blur. Styles' mouth twisted into an even more ferocious snarl, while the Trigger that the other villains forced down his throat coursed through his body even more. The pain of one of his kidneys shutting down and his stomach ripping open only made the villain with an uncontrollable Quirk normally, called Rage, all the more furious. He snapped his head forward when the claws were close to him, and he bit down on the right black claw and tore off two fingers with how hard he clamped down. The sharp nails on the ends of those fingers sliced open the villain's tongue inside his mouth, and he spat the fingers to the side along with a glob of blood while the hero pulled his hands back and screamed in pain.

Psycho, Styles' villain name when he used his Rage Quirk, sprinted towards the hero in mid-scream. Zach started running after him, as fast as he could since the villain was way too fast for anyone else to catch up with. The villain punched a fist forward, but the hero slashed down his undamaged claw and managed to swipe it across the villain's face vertically. Psycho lost some force in his punch, but after it connected and his eyes snapped back open with blood filling them now, he put that force back into it and threw the hero back and towards the police perimeter that a cop just came out from behind to help drag an injured Lobscar back.

The pro hero slammed so hard into the cop's head that the man's neck snapped and he fell lifeless to the side. After colliding, the hero rolled through the air past him, bounced on the hood of a cop car, and collapsed on the other side coughing up blood.

Zach's red eyes darted different directions. They snapped towards Gilgamesh and some other heroes who were heading into the lab to back up other heroes and stop the retreating villains who they had momentum against now. His eyes shifted over the cop cars ahead of him where he saw scared officers, some members of the media, civilians who were huddled near the police because they did not want to run off alone with those loud sirens indicating the entire town was in danger. Those blaring sirens had gone off apparently to indicate that villains had made it beyond the perimeter so as to alert everyone in Mosu Esupa to be careful, and they continued going off for the last few minutes. Zach's gaze passed the collapsed officer he just saw die who two of his fellow cops were alongside shaking and shouting at since they had not seen how far his neck had bent on that initial collision and still had hope unlike Zach. While he had looked at it all his heart had been racing because of how much there was, but his breathing remained steady and he took in one deep breath.

There are a lot of things, a hero needs to protect, Zach thought. He pulled out a pair of knives and slashed the blackened weapons across each other in front of him. "Hey you ugly idiot!" Zach called out at the villain who was spinning side to side to face the heroes all scared of him after seeing how fast he moved. That man turned his way, and Zach grinned, the black aura in front of his face shifting the same way as the villain clearly acting on emotion was now targeting him. Catching Breakneck, Chemist, Shigaraki and… Saving all the people still alive around here, and bringing back those who are dead. Stopping the drugs from reaching the streets to decrease crime in the neighboring cities. And destroying Apocalypse to stop it from ever being used again! There's a whole lot! Zach's hands tightened harder on the hilts of his knives, and he sprinted forward while Psycho sprinted right back at him.

He's faster, but- Zach rose his right arm and flicked the first knife forward, but the fast and angry villain leaned his body to the side without slowing down his sprint at all. The villain pulled his right arm back and punched forward faster than Zach could dodge, if Zach was not already ducking down so the arm passed only centimeters over the top of his head. The villain's momentum kept him going so fast that as his punch passed Zach, the rest of his body slammed into the ducking boy and knocked him backwards. The villain fell over Zach and they rolled back (for Zach, forward for Psycho), multiple times before finally coming to a stop. And when they stopped moving, neither Zach nor Psycho got up for a few seconds. Ugh that hurt, Zach opened his eyes and then pushed Psycho away from him fast as he was still touching the villain.

Oh shit, Zach thought as he looked at Psycho's body next to him. He started panting black steam while looking down at him, then he had a revelation and his eyes brightened which unnerved a few heroes at the red glow in them. I don't feel any stronger. No way I just killed him. It's probably, more like Ganeshi. He was touching a lot of my body, but I've used a bunch of Nightmare already so hopefully it wasn't too bad. Still, I could see him being comatose… maybe, brain-damaged, Zach tore his eyes off of the villain he was starting to feel bad for, and he shook his head around while glancing back at the warehouse. He stared at it for a moment, then he brought his right hand up while spinning the other direction. Zach touched his chest with his fingers sliding out of his glove, and he ignored the shouts from heroes around him who were yelling to figure out who he was now that they were not in the middle of fighting.

Zach turned back to normal, his black aura disappearing to show him in a white costume and black helmet that did not cover his face. He ran forward and waved his left arm at the cops who were too close to their dead comrade. "Get away from him, I'll bring him back!" I can't spend too much time here! Zach sprinted straight towards the cop and did not bother wasting time explaining to the people around him what he was doing. The flames outside of the warehouse were getting smaller as Floodlight had arrived with his sidekick who had a water-type Quirk just like him, but the light from those flames and the lights from their cars still let the cops see who was in front of them to give them hope for their fallen friend.

Zach dropped down on the cop's body and pressed his left hand into the man's chest, then he brought it up to the guy's neck quickly to check his pulse. He almost dropped straight with his right to not waste time, but he had told himself before never to skip that step just in case. He was fast to bring his right hand down though once he was sure the man was dead, even though he was 99.9 percent on that already. Zach grabbed around the guy's neck with his right hand, thinking, When I put my hand over people's bodies when they're all cut up, the gashes closest to where I put my hand first always clear the fastest. So a snapped neck, maybe it could be, ah, ah AHH! Zach clenched his eyes shut and tried to focus on usability of his power as it was a great distractor away from the horrendous pain in his neck.

"Raaa, ahh AHHH!" Zach snapped his head up as he felt a huge jolt in it like his own neck snapping, and he felt terrified for a moment as he thought it had actually happened. Then he felt the man below him come back to life, and he looked down and did not feel a huge amount of pain that he would if his neck was still broken. I'm good, he thought, while pulling his hand away and standing back up.

"Is he-"

"That's it?!"

"Is he really alive?"

"Lifebringer over here!"

Zach spun back to the warehouse and was about to sprint towards it when he heard that last shout. He was ignoring most of the people around him as he could hear voices in his earpiece too from heroes still in fights inside the warehouse.

"We're calling to bring other casualties back here," a police sergeant called over to Lifebringer who spun to face her. The woman in a black, police special forces uniform had sent out the message while Zach was healing the other officer, but she did not think he would be done in twenty seconds flat that he might think about leaving before the others arrived at their area.

Zach bit down as he looked into the woman's eyes, then he turned to the warehouse again that still had blue flames rising from the walls. He heard shouts inside from the others at Bikergang's agency, from his friends and fellow heroes still in the fight, and he heard an explosion while looking at the building. How do I save the most people? Is it out here? Is it in there? Zach turned and saw a hero carrying someone in their arms his way, and behind him he spotted an EMT and a police officer rushing someone on a stretcher in his direction around the west side of the building. I can't just leave these people. They've died within the time limit! I have to keep moving fast though!

The option was his, and a huge part of him wanted to run inside. He knew he had the choice to do so too, and to just hope that there would be time after the villains were defeated for him to come back out and revive everyone. He knew he had the moral right as well to protect the others still alive first and stop the villains who could do so much damage if they were to escape. But then he considered that the reason he was looking for so many reasons to run back into the warehouse, was because he was scared of the pain he would feel bringing everyone back instead. Those reasons sounded a lot more like excuses now to avoid the feeling of getting shot, being stabbed, his body breaking, and dying.

If I start, will I ever be able to stop though? There are so many people who have been killed already it seems like. And by staying out here and not helping, won't there be more? I'll wind up doing this until I drop unconscious from the pain! NO! Don't, accept that as a finality! Surpass your limits right now. Zach started sprinting towards the people closest to him with a dead body with them, deciding that there was no time to waste and that he needed to work as fast as possible. Go beyond, Zach thought while yelling at them to put his next "patient" on the ground. He smiled at the officers who asked if he was alright, he wiped some blood from his face still there from when he painfully brought Plucky back, and he told them he was fine. The smile was half to put the scared people around him at ease and to show he was okay, but it was also half because of the creed he finished in his head, Plus Ultra!

On the west side of the warehouse, just through the hole in the wall so he was outside of the building, a spiky-haired villain looked to the north around the corner of the building and towards a boy who started bringing someone back to life and trying to smile as he did it. There were a lot of blue flames around the exterior of the building on his side, keeping heroes and police from rushing in at this angle. He could hear heroes running into the building behind him though and saw them enter through the north entrance as he had just heard they had in the south. The idea that the villains were once again losing control of the situation filled the back of his mind, but the man with a patchy appearance and discolored skin on the bottom half of his face and under his eyes just stared towards Zach with a dark look on his face.

Dabi rolled his right arm and he rubbed its bicep with his other hand. Inquisitor's body was slumped against a wall back behind Dabi in the wide outer hallway outside of the Trigger lab. It was burned up to a point it was no longer recognizable, and Dabi had been thinking about how two of the three Tartaros escapees who betrayed them were finished-off now. The three of them had not just broken away from the League of Villains which had been acceptable, but they had pretended to join only to leave after learning enough to be able to steal important "pieces" from the League. Dabi lowered his left hand that had some of his blood on it now, and he took a step forward towards the north. Then he froze, and he turned around and headed back into the warehouse. Dabi reached up and rubbed a thumb underneath the scars below his right eye, wiping off the blood trail that started dripping down his face.

---

"Shigaraki! Let's-" the Chemist's voice was cut off as an arm clotheslined across his chest and knocked the wind out of him. The man who collided with him wrapped his arm around Chemist's front while springing away from Shigaraki and towards the muscular woman with a shaved head who grinned as he reached her position.

Shigaraki Tomura glared towards Bikergang in a way that would terrify normal men, but Bikergang glared right back towards him before grinning. "You won't be getting your mad scientist back, Shigaraki Tomura," Bikergang pulled out his special capture-ties and yanked Chemist's arms behind his back while the scientist struggled against him. "Juno Kawasagi, you are under arrest. Now sit still or I'll have to do some damage to that head of yours which I'm sure a man like-" The doctor stopped struggling at the idea of damage to his head, and Bikergang grinned more while thinking, Lifebringer thought that might work on you.

Midoriya leapt backwards and dodged a spike of cement that shot out of the ground at his feet. He flicked a finger towards some bloody black whips flying up at him, ones Bikergang was being very wary of as he kept them in his peripheral vision. He had not grabbed his left side for a while now, but his costume was soaked around where he had been stabbed by that very same villain earlier while trying to rescue Underguard and Rubbergirl. Deku's finger flick made an air blast that sent the whips out to his sides, giving him a path between that he took by kicking his legs out behind him.

Deku slammed into the woman who tried curving her whips back up while still mid-stumble back from the wind force that hit her. Then as she gasped out in pain from their collision, Midoriya put his right hand on top of her head and the other on her shoulder and he flipped himself over her while picking her up off the ground. His feet finally hit down behind where she had been standing after flipping her upside-down, and he threw the woman he was holding forward into two other villains running at where he landed. He threw her so hard that she knocked the men off their feet and back towards the guy who had been making spikes shoot out of the ground.

As that six foot tall villain leapt up in the air to dodge his comrades, Midoriya spun away from him and back towards Shigaraki whose attention was split now that Chemist had emerged to try and join up with him. Deku knew from the short amount of time he had been fighting these villains that the gray-skinned bald villain who had leapt in the air could not use his Quirk when his feet were not touching the ground. So he had a moment. Before the other villains recovered, while Shigaraki's eyes had darted back to Chemist to see if the wounded Bikergang and Wonderlass would be easy enough to free the scientist from, Deku made his move.

"Reflect Wall!" A villain who had been watching the fight from nearby rushed towards Shigaraki when he saw that curly-haired boy turn back towards him. Midoriya's eyes darted that man's direction, and he clenched his left fist hard while kicking his right leg forward at twenty percent of his power. The wall he slammed his leg into that shimmered into existence ten feet away from where Shigaraki stood got covered in huge cracks. Those cracks covered the wall and made the villain who created it open his eyes huge in shock, then drop his jaw as Midoriya's leg bounced back in a ton of pain, but the boy who conjectured the Quirk's ability based off that attack name was ready for it.

Deku bit down through the pain in his leg and he slammed his left fist forward into the center of the cracks covering the wall. He felt a bit of recoil this time too, but he punched hard enough that his fist went straight through the wall and kept him moving forward for Shigaraki. He had sent himself flying at Shigaraki so fast by exceeding the limit on his left leg on the jump which was why he immediately switched to punching after his first kick, but he had lost a lot of momentum in the punch and kick against the Reflect Wall. Shigaraki had more than enough time to turn Deku's way, and with his slowed movements, Shigaraki was the faster of the two and started bringing up both hands fast towards Deku's falling body.

Midoriya saw Shigaraki's hands opening up and rising for him, and he flicked all of the fingers of his clenched fist out as fast as he could. He still had Full Cowling covering his body, so flicks from his support gloves worked as pressurized air cannons that flung Shigaraki back before his hands could Decay the boy just in front of him. Deku landed and sprinted forward while Shigaraki was still in the air, wind rushing by Deku's sides at how hard he pushed down on his feet despite the lingering ache in both legs from exceeding his limit and the powerful recoil from the Reflect villain's Quirk. Midoriya's moment was gone though, and he had to duck while running to dodge a spinning disk with blades coming out fired from a contraption on the wrist of a villain he had knocked down a few seconds ago.

As he ducked, the ground in front of him moved around as it always did right before spiking up. Shigaraki was about to land behind that spot though, and MIdoriya was not giving up his chance by turning back now. He took his next step down with his right foot but slammed it into the floor harder as it touched. He broke his foot through the solid ground and then dragged it forward, "HAWAII… SMASH!" Midoriya slammed his foot up and through the spike that just pulled out of the floor, blowing it apart into a hundred pieces meant to collide with Shigaraki.

Deku saw movement on his left side. Shigaraki had been blocked from sight for a split second when the spike of ground rose up, and he thought he saw behind that spike Shigaraki moving around the left side of it to come for him. Even when he saw the movement on his left while all the debris shot away from him, he swore it was in the shape of Shigaraki Tomura, only for that figure to disappear when his head actually turned left and focused on what he thought he saw. He felt the footstep behind him. Midoriya saw the woman who was just helped up to her feet and about to whip her long black arm-whips towards him freeze like she no longer needed to do it. On his left over where Wonderlass and Bikergang were restraining Chemist and another villain, he saw the pro hero he had chose to intern with look towards him in fear.

He felt the hand touching the back of his green costume and started swinging his left elbow around his body before he had even turned his head. His elbow gained power and speed as it slammed around, but it did not move fast enough to do more than push the hand that caught it back into Shigaraki's side. The hand touching his costume pressed into his back while the other caught his left elbow, and Midoriya screamed in pain, "AHH!" As he yelled though, he also slammed his head backwards as hard as he could and smashed it into Shigaraki's chest and the right corner of his chin as the villain tried pulling his head away and almost avoided it.

Shigaraki stumbled backwards and reached a hand up to his face where his chin had cut and blood came out of it. His chest hurt a bit too, as did his arm and left side from catching that elbow. It was nothing compared to the teenager in front of him though, who spun fully to face Shigaraki while panting. Midoriya panted and clenched his left fist tightly at his side which he was glad he was still able to do considering the amount of pain he felt in that arm. He could not see his back like he caught a glimpse of his elbow and how bloody it was, but the other heroes looking Midoriya's way saw that the back of his costume had completely torn away from his shoulder-blades to his lower back, and there was red all over it from where Shigaraki's Decay had ripped through Midoriya's skin.

Bikergang stared in shock at the damage the powerful young hero sustained from what had looked like an instant of Shigaraki touching him. Despite getting a bloody chin, Shigaraki grinned after a second. He lost the snarl from failing at killing Midoriya right there as he was trying to do, smirking instead at the boy who was clearly damaged from his attack.

Deku could see why Shigaraki grinned though, and he stopped panting and stood up straighter without as much of a panicked look on his face. The terror that he had almost Decayed right there pushed to the back of his mind. He had no time to think when it happened, he did not know what it was Shigaraki did that made him believe he was coming around the other side of the spike that he actually did, but he knew that was too close. I can't let him touch me again. If he had his hands on me for a single second longer, Midoriya clenched both fists harder at his sides, his blood pumping and his heart pounding in his ears.

"Shigaraki!" Chemist shouted towards the leader of the League of Villains. He would not try escaping Bikergang on his own with his hands tied as they were and the threat Bikergang used on him still open. "Help me!"

Shigaraki glared at Midoriya Izuku, and he was about to run forward when his gaze shifted fast to the left and a hole in the wall where some heroes just came running into view. Bikergang was the fastest to push in from the south entrance and back up Deku and Wonderlass, but others from their initial main entry point were running towards them. Roady was among them, as were some fresh heroes, and Spunky and Vixen came running into the group from the other direction looking injured but still able to fight.

"Where's the Apocalypse?" Shigaraki questioned, his eyes darting back to Chemist which made Midoriya stare at him in shock.

Is he trying to run now? Midoriya thought. Then the boy heard shouts from the heroes behind him who Shigaraki had just seen, and his fists clenched even tighter as he knew he had to be the one to attack if Shigaraki was planning to flee. "I won't let-"

"Dandy took it!" Chemist shouted. "I know-" Bikergang elbowed Chemist in the face, then he forced the doctor to the ground while the man yelled about his nose in a nasally and agonized voice. Then he just started shouting for Shigaraki to help him again as Bikergang told him not to move.

Midoriya started running at Shigaraki, while the other villains who had been backing him up lost their desire to do so at the sight of the hero reinforcements coming for them from the hole into the main lab. Deku was close to Shigaraki already, but he made it one step before spinning his head to the right and then jumping backwards. The decision to jump backwards instead of forwards at Shigaraki came without thinking too deep into it, and Midoriya grit his teeth in regret though he did not know if it really would have been better to keep moving when the outer hall they were in was suddenly split by a jet of blue flames.

"Dabi," Midoriya said, looking to his right where the spiky-haired man holding a hand out stared back towards him. Dabi saw the state of the kid's back and his left arm too, but he was not underestimating the curly-haired hero whose eyes were intense as he said Dabi's name.

"Heroes are coming in from the north and south," Dabi warned Shigaraki without taking his eyes off Midoriya. Dabi lifted his other hand and pointed it at the hole in the wall of the main lab. Midoriya saw Shigaraki running towards him through the path that the blue flames had just started fading from, and he also spotted the other villains still capable of fighting all get back into it with the backup from Dabi. They were all convinced they would be able to join the League and escape through Kurogiri's portal at this point, and as bad as the odds were starting to look, none of them were willing to just sit back and let the heroes capture them. Wonderlass grabbed the villain on the ground next to her and dove closer to Bikergang and Chemist. The Chemist pulled away on his knees and screamed out in panic as the blue flames came close to him, and he yelled at Dabi to save him not kill him.

Deku had wanted to stop Dabi from firing his attack, but the other villains could see the reason why Shigaraki had charged the kid was to stop him from doing just that. Another Reflect Wall appeared up on Dabi's side between him and the teen, and three spikes rose out of the ground next to him on that side too. Shigaraki reached for Midoriya's face, and Deku yanked his body to the left instead of the right towards Dabi where he expected Shigaraki thought he would dodge to. The other villains made it clear he would not be stopping Dabi from blocking the hero reinforcements, but Deku adapted fast and without getting discouraged. The other heroes can get past it, he thought, while swinging his right leg up in front of his body and into Shigaraki's left arm. The villain had brought it down towards Midoriya's leg that he saw rising, but Midoriya shifted the angle a bit to miss Shigaraki's hand and hit him in the forearm instead.

He slammed Shigaraki's forearm back too and into his stomach, kicking the villain backwards and off his feet to the ground for the first time in their fight. Deku had to pull his body back after the kick and almost fell down as he dodged sharp spinning disks and pointy black whips, but landing a blow like that on the leader of the League of Villains made the other villains sloppy. The Reflect villain got nervous and started panting harder than he already was as the wall he put up with a large amount of his strength turned out to be useless. It was even worse since Vixen unhinged her jaw inside the lab and spewed a purplish-black sludge out over Dabi's blue flames and was opening back up that path quickly.

Shigaraki got back to his feet quickly, even though he was in a lot of pain from that kick in his arm and stomach. He could see the other heroes behind Deku, and he knew the young hero knew what he was doing with his positioning between them and him. The other two heroes there had an important piece of his between them, but he was not the only thing that Shigaraki came for. Shigaraki took a step back and said, "Dabi, Dandy has the Apocalypse."

Dabi swung his arms down when he saw Deku's eyes shooting open wide. Before the boy could react, a wall of flames rose up in a line straight towards Deku but just off target to make him decide again. Midoriya had the option of racing forward to the other side of the wall, which would put him right in the middle of all the villains he would have to be fighting as well as cutting him off from the hero reinforcements about to make it through the lab. What was worse, before the wall of flames even finished rising, Shigaraki was already running Dabi's direction showing that he was planning on escaping from there.

I can't let them escape! What if it's a trap to get me farther away from the Chemist?! Midoriya hesitated, then he pulled back and just leaned away from the flames without jumping back to the others. He glared through the flames after Shigaraki, trying to find his angle and think of the move to make. The ceiling? Shigaraki would expect that. He knows I use Gran Torino's style. Power? Punch through the flames with a hundred percent. If I use my left arm already damaged from Shigaraki's Decay, how much of a sacrifice would it be if I can't use it normally in the rest of the fight? Is it worth it to keep them here right now?! Deku started running to his right along the flames on the inside path, even though he could see up ahead where it curved towards the wall so he would have to jump over or up to the ceiling to bounce off.

Midoriya was not the only one to get panicked as Shigaraki started running. Right as they were arriving, the reinforcements were not going to just let the League get away. Unfortunately, Vixen had a cool-down time before she could discharge enough of her Sludge to put out the flames again. A half dozen heroes ran towards Midoriya though, calling out for the villains to freeze on the other side of the blue flames that Dabi added to in order to make them stronger and hotter and push the heroes back.

"We won't let you get the Chemist, and you won't be leaving here!" Bikergang called out, glaring towards Shigaraki with Chemist still on his knees between him and Wonderlass.

"Oh, like this?"

Wonderlass and Bikergang started turning their heads back towards each other to the man they had kept in their peripheral vision. The voice came from between them, but it was not Chemist's higher-pitched nasally voice that annoyed them so much whenever he shouted for help. That nasally voice let out a scream of panic though, while everyone else in the area spun towards him with wide eyes at the sight of the man who was suddenly standing on Chemist's side closer to Bikergang.

Breakneck was smirking after making his appearance and taunting Bikergang. The Racing Hero had gotten too focused on Shigaraki which gave Breakneck the moment he had been looking for. Breakneck's appearance stopped the villains on the other side of the flames for a second too, though Shigaraki kept running after looking back for only a second. He wanted to smirk that Breakneck distracted all the heroes, but he also knew what Breakneck was there to grab which made him frustrated. The idea of Breakneck taking Chemist away though actually started making Shigaraki smirk after another second of running. Chemist will squeal in seconds, giving Breakneck a reason to stay. In his hands and not the heroes', the chance is still there.

Deku spun around at the sound of Breakneck's voice behind him. What Breakneck said when he appeared made all the heroes there step towards him, but Deku did more bending his legs and filling himself to the limit of his Full Cowling and beyond it even to the point he felt his bones creaking. "No!" He shouted, shooting off his legs and flying to the spot Chemist and Breakneck were in where Wonderlass and Bikergang each started reaching for. Deku lunged right between them through a gap, then he landed and spun his head to the right where he saw an appearance of two figures in the opposite direction as Shigaraki and the others were heading.

The building's exterior halls wrap around the lab, Midoriya thought rapidly. Dandy's somewhere with the Apocalypse they all want. If Breakneck goes that way and Shigaraki the other, but Breakneck might just leave now! He has something, Shigaraki didn't get anything he came for. Breakneck's more likely to slip away, but Shigaraki's the more important… Unless with the Chemist, could Breakneck be the more dangerous? No! All For One is- but All Might is the one who defeated Breakneck so there's no telling how dangerous- Midoriya saw Breakneck vanish again while facing the direction away from Shigaraki's group, though when the teen spun the other way towards the heroes putting out Dabi's blue flames he no longer saw the villains on the other side of them anyway.

Deku's head snapped back and forth and he was sweating with his fists clenching ever harder at his sides. Who? Which way?! What is it I need- "He's, the most disturbed, disgusting person I've ever met." What Zach said earlier echoed in Midoriya's mind and his eyes opened wide while turning back the direction Breakneck took the Chemist. Zach had referenced the Chemist once before when telling him something vague about his time with the villains, nothing nearly as specific as he got during their planning meeting for the operation. The thought that Zach considered Chemist the "most disturbed" individual he knew though, considering the things Midoriya knew had happened to him, it only now registered in his head. More than Shigaraki, who tortured you…

"I'm going after the Chemist," Midoriya called back towards Wonderlass and Bikergang.

"We'll chase Shigaraki," Wonderlass said, turning to her intern who nodded at her instead of mentioning her injuries as he considered doing. Midoriya knew there was nothing he could say to her when his own back felt torn up and his left arm was screaming in pain when he clenched his left fist.

"You two, get this one outside," Bikergang called to two sidekicks just about to rush out of the lab. They did not look happy to do it, but Bikergang had a serious wound on his side and an intense look on his face and neither were going to argue with him. He spun to the other heroes and called to the leader of the Feisty Foursome, "Spunky, we do not let Shigaraki escape from here!" Bikergang sprung over towards her and Vixen, and he glanced at Roady who had a bloody gash on his right arm but looked ready to keep fighting. "You alright?" Bikergang asked anyway, and Roady nodded before asking the same question back with a motion down to Bikergang's side.

"I'll slow the bleeding," Spunky said, stepping towards the two and reaching for their wounds. Her hand vibrated when she touched Bikergang's left side, but Roady pulled his arm away and shook his head at her.

"It's not too deep, and I don't want my arm slowed," he explained, and Spunky reluctantly nodded back at him considering the wound she could see was bleeding more than a shallow wound would. "Seriously," Roady added when he saw Bikergang looking at him with a hesitant gaze.

"Here we go," Wake called out as he arrived and saw what the problem was. He leaned his body back and the square on the front of his costume opened up, and a blast of water shot out at the blue flames that Vixen was trying to gather up enough Sludge to put out. The heroes started moving out, and Wonderlass ran after them with her teeth clenched in pain. She turned her head and glanced behind her once, the bald woman glaring harshly into the darkness farther around the side of the drug lab. I believe in you, Deku. Be careful.

---

"What do you mean, he 'took' it?" Breakneck asked, grabbing Chemist harder on his right shoulder that was covered in blood from when Dandy dug his claws in before. "Where is he? He's supposed to be grabbing it and getting it to-"

Chemist opened his clenched eyes and smirked madly at the man trying to threaten him despite his entire operation falling apart around them. "Oh, Dandy doesn't believe in your 'partnership' anymore," Chemist taunted. He sniffed in and winced from his nose that felt broken from Bikergang's elbow, then he continued in his nasally voice, "He was already so upset, it really didn't take much to push him- ackk ga-" Breakneck's hand moved from Chemist's shoulder to his throat.

Breakneck strangled the doctor who brought his hands up and tried to rip Breakneck's hand away, but the stronger villain just clenched harder and leaned his face towards Chemist's with a deadly look in his eyes. "I know. You're a manipulative bastard," Breakneck said. His voice was calm and collected, but with a murderous intent in it that terrified Chemist. It sounded to the doctor like Breakneck was considering twisting and breaking his neck, and fear covered the paling scientist's face.

"Ka- I- I ju-" Chemist was gasping and trying to say something, and Breakneck loosened his grip just a bit. He loosened it but got an angrier look on his face that told Chemist he was in dangerous territory depending on what he said next. "I know wh-where Dandy was heading." Breakneck kept his tight grip but glared harder at Chemist in a way telling him to continue. Chemist spoke rapidly even though his throat ached with every word out of it, "Dandy took the Apocalypse, and he just left me behind when I made a break for it, instead of chasing me again. I saw the look in his eyes. He, just kept going-"

"Which way?" Breakneck snarled, pulling his face closer to Chemist's and gripping harder again.

Chemist got an even more terrified look on his face at Breakneck's tone there, yet he thought at the same time, Yes! Bring me to Shigaraki you fool! As long as you do not reach him too soon, but, if it takes too long Shigaraki may leave through a portal without me. Chemist nodded his head and darted his eyes to the side, lifting his arm with keeping a terrified look in his eyes. "Dandy's ah- that-" Breakneck spun his head to the right, and he yanked his body backwards with his eyes huge at the form flying towards him from out of nowhere.

"You little fucking-" Breakneck started screaming as Midoriya did not even go in for the attack, instead tackling straight into Chemist who screamed in pain as Midoriya tore him out of Breakneck's arms. Midoriya landed, and Breakneck appeared on his right side slamming his fist down already when he appeared so it collided into the side of the boy's face. Midoriya's head snapped to the side, but he bounced to his left after getting punched without really taking much damage.

Strong too?! Breakneck snarled as he saw the boy bounce towards the wall faster than he could move without teleporting. Midoriya hit that wall though, and then he bounced the opposite direction than he just came from. He bounced in the direction that Chemist had been pointing, and Breakneck's eyes opened wide before he smirked and teleported after them.

I'm bringing Chemist straight to Shigaraki, but I can't let Shigaraki get the Apocalypse! A foot slammed into the back of Midoriya's head when he was turning a corner in midair, and Breakneck ripped Chemist out of his left hand with Midoriya reaching back wide-eyed as he lost the Chemist again. He hit the ground at a bad angle since he was reaching back for the Chemist, and he rolled across it fast before slamming into a steel crate up against the wall. "AH!" Midoriya yelled out in pain as he hit into it with his back, and the pain he had been ignoring from when Shigaraki Decayed through his skin returned all at once. "I'm fine!" He shouted after hearing worried calls to him through his earpiece, and he got back to his hands and knees fast before shooting himself after Breakneck and Chemist who were heading the same direction he was trying to go. I can't let Breakneck get it either! None of them can have that drug!

One of the people Midoriya called to ignored his shout. It was the second time they heard him shout in agony in a minute, and from the messages he was hearing over his earpiece he knew the situation. The Chemist, Dandy, Shigaraki, Breakneck, even Dabi, and Apocalypse, none of those things tore him from the casualties being brought to him outside of the drug lab. But hearing that shout again, and then Midoriya's shout after it, made him think about the training forest and how badly injured Midoriya was that night. He thought about how Midoriya with his arms as damaged as they were was ready to dive straight into the portal to go save Bakugo. And then Zach thought about why he was there. Not why he was outside of the lab, or at the raid, but why he was in Hokkaido. The reason he had picked an agency close to his friend's.

Then one final thought went through Zach's head, and he saw Overhaul and the Eightfold Cleansers attacking them so soon after he had went through the portal at the courthouse. Zach imagined in his head as Shigaraki grabbed one of those mafioso. He thought about how the guy had disintegrated with nothing left of his body. Nothing to bring back.

---

Dandy stood alone in the southwest corner of the warehouse. There was a metal overhang up above him, some large shipping crates up against the walls both on the south side and the east. He looked to his right farther towards the southern entrance where he kept hearing more voices of people running into the building, more heroes than he could take on by himself. And he was by himself.

The heroes were mostly running straight into the lab, or cutting to the right to trap a group of villains he heard someone shout were running around in his direction not too long ago. On his left side he saw a pair of people running his direction, stop, and turn and book it the other way. One of the two was moving sluggishly, as the Trigger they had used was wearing off and they no longer thought they had a chance of getting out of the building. He was too tired to keep going, but the other villain did not want to be all on their own and was pushing his comrade to keep going even though all he wanted to do was collapse.

They won't get away, Dandy thought while watching them run away just because they saw someone in this direction. He looked down and lifted his right hand, and he had such a sad look in his eyes as he stared at the black briefcase he was holding. But, I can't escape the heroes either. Dandy's hand tightened on the handle of the briefcase. All I need to make a business, is in here… Except, this isn't really that important on its own. I couldn't sell this. I don't even know why I grabbed it, if I'm not going back to Breakneck. Dandy rose his left hand and put it to his bumpy forehead, a frustrated expression covering his face and his teeth clenching so hard. He slammed his eyes shut and shook his head, I can't do anything right!

His eyes opened and he stared at the case of Apocalypse. Chemist was right. The only reason Breakneck wanted my help, was for him and this. What use do I have? I, I can't do anything without help from others. As much as I think I'm strong, smart, that I should be in charge! His hands clenched into fists again, though he loosened his right hand when the case was shaking too much. Wonderlass and Chemist both knew it right away, how didn't I see it? Breakneck even told me to just get the Apocalypse, like it didn't matter whether any of the guys or, or even if I made it out. Once I had brought this to him, then what was he going to do? Take it and run away probably, and leave me here to get caught. Everyone knew Breakneck was using me, and they were right! I'm such an idiot!

"Dandy, what's wrong?"

Dandy lifted his head and looked to his right. His eyes did not even widen as he stared at the man looking back at him between the fingers of the hand attached to his face. "Shigaraki, Tomura," Dandy started. He opened his mouth to continue, to say the things he wanted to say to Shigaraki when they met again. He had rehearsed things for this exact moment, but he felt like too much of an idiot to say any of them now. He just lowered his gaze down to the briefcase of Apocalypse, and then back at the man who was clearly not there for him. This was supposed to be, my operation. I was supposed to be in charge. But, but I don't even matter… "You came for the Apocalypse, right?" Dandy asked. His sad look started to fade, his breathing picking up as his fists clenched again.

"Why did you do it, Dandy?" Shigaraki questioned. Behind him, voices of heroes screamed and an explosion of blue flames went off near the southern entrance. Shigaraki's fellow villains were pushing their ways towards him, heroes would arrive soon too, yet Shigaraki still asked the big man whose eyes widened at the sound of it.

"I," Dandy began. "You never treated me-" he stopped himself again, as it sounded like such a childish reason now that everything had gone so wrong for him because of it.

"Were things, really that bad?" Shigaraki asked.

Dandy opened his mouth, but he stared at the man in front of him and in his head recalled the last few times they had spoken. And in none of those times, could Dandy recall being spoken down to or a time where he felt he was treated poorly. It was not Shigaraki at all, but Chemist who he had been left with for all that time, doing his grunt work as the scientist's bodyguard. I could have just, asked for a different job. Everything seemed so stupid to him now as he stared at Shigaraki's face, and he felt his chest ache as the walls were closing in around him. "Shigaraki," Dandy began, and he started lifting up the case towards his former boss. His teeth clenched again though, and his hand shook for a few seconds with his eyes darting to the case one last time and then to the man he was holding it out to. "I'm sorry, but I'm in charge here. I'm in charge, so, there's one thing I need to do."

---

Midoriya raced after Breakneck around the west side of the building after they had chased after each other across the north side and around the northwest corner. They had bounced around heroes and a fight between some heroes and a couple of villains in the northwest corner. A pair of villains just passed beneath Midoriya but he could not focus on the two who did not look ready to keep fighting anyway. They were on the other side of the building now from where they started, and both Midoriya and Breakneck were getting nervous since they had yet to find Dandy. They were about to reach midway across the west side, and Breakneck turned his head to the right at the man screaming in his arms as he was yanked through the air where Breakneck just teleported up to again.

"Where is he?!"

"He was right over here when I last- no!" Chemist shouted as he saw Midoriya bounce to the wall on his right. Every time they clashed Chemist was the one receiving damage and he yelled in fear as it came again. Breakneck tried teleporting again, but it was too soon since he popped up in midair. He pulled Chemist in the way of him and the kid to stop him from using any powerful blow, and Midoriya pulled his leg back and shoved his hand out instead. He grabbed Chemist and then the three of them were teleported to the center of the building on its west side where there was a huge hole in the wall on one side though still a lot of blue flames covering the area. Midoriya opened his eyes wide as he was no longer in midair and instead standing on the floor, but he got over the fact that he just teleported faster than Breakneck who was snarling as his time limit between teleports just got longer with the extra person he transported on accident.

Breakneck pulled his hand up to Chemist's throat and grabbed tightly around the front and side of it. Midoriya could not just yank away with the hand he was grabbing Chemist by the clothes with, and Chemist continued to scream as he was the rope in the tug-of-war game the two of the others were playing. "If I can't have him, no one can," Breakneck threatened, tightening his grip like he would really snap the Chemist's neck if Midoriya did not let go. As much as Zach had told Midoriya how much of a brutal monster the Chemist was, he could not just let Breakneck kill him because he did not let go. He also could not let Breakneck take him though, so as he released the Chemist he flicked a finger he was releasing with and threw the Chemist so hard back into Breakneck that his body bounced off him and started rising up a bit.

Deku ducked down right as the Chemist's feet lifted off the ground, the grip on his neck loosening since he was pushed instead of pulled like Breakneck was threatening against. Breakneck saw Deku dropping down, but he still was not ready to teleport. He let go of the hand he was grabbing Chemist with though, while Midoriya dodged his other hand that he punched down in a clear attempt to stop him. Deku was not actually expecting Breakneck to release the Chemist, but he had already felt Breakneck's punches and prepared himself for it as he slammed his right fist up anyway. Breakneck's hand opened before punching Midoriya in the face though, as he remembered how the boy had shaken off his last attack without any damage too.

He was wishing he had his gun right now, but Breakneck still smirked as he fought dirty and pressed his fingers into Midoriya's right eye. Midoriya clenched his eyes shut when those fingers were about to grab him over his eye, and Breakneck dodged his punch while Midoriya pulled the other way to avoid getting his eye popped, yelling out in pain. He pulled his head away, then snapped his eyes open though his right only opened halfway and was bloodshot and in pain as he did. Midoriya jumped up, grabbing the Chemist who Breakneck just reached up and grabbed again. He grabbed Chemist and ripped out of Breakneck's hold before kicking his legs forward to send himself back away from Breakneck.

He knew Breakneck's time had recharged. Breakneck smirked at him because he knew the kid knew it as well. Midoriya landed and was panting with an eye half closed. He had Chemist grabbed in his left hand that had blood all over it from the wound on his elbow that bled down his forearm, and Midoriya had to grind his teeth as he saw that smirk on the main villain's face. Then Midoriya threw up in the air with his left hand, and he ducked at that same moment.

"Got him!" Bikergang shouted, flying out of the not-so-secret passageway into the main lab that he had cut across to intercept Breakneck. He had thought about it when he was moving with the big group of heroes across the lab that he could help out Deku who had kept yelling out in pain. Using his Springs, he bounced through the main lab towards the halfway point and was waiting for the two he had heard from reports at the north side of the building had just gone flying by. Bikergang caught Chemist, Breakneck's head snapped up with wide eyes as the man he tried to appear next to was above him in the arms of a different man, and then Breakneck started turning back much too slow for the boy who had predicted which side of him he would appear.

Breakneck pulled away and tried lowering his arms to block, but Midoriya was too fast. Deku's right leg slammed into Breakneck's left side, pushed into his body so Midoriya could hear and feel the cracks on his leg. Breakneck flew off of the boy's leg and towards a huge metal shipping crate ripped in half on their side, but then he vanished right before he would have smashed into it. Bikergang dropped down next to Midoriya while gripping the Chemist tightly by both arms.

Kawasagi struggled in Bikergang's hold but whimpered and stopped as the pain in his right arm was too much for him to handle. "Just stop," he whispered. The Chemist stopped struggling at all and had an exhausted look on his face. After that traumatic battle around the building where he was getting ripped back and forth between Deku and Breakneck, all he wanted was for this to all be over at this point. He was exhausted, his wrists were bound together tightly behind his back, no one had his best interests in mind, and Bikergang looked at him with lifted eyebrows for a second before nodding his head.

"I'm getting him out of here," Bikergang said, looking back at Midoriya whose head snapped back and forth looking for Breakneck.

"Wait," Midoriya started. Is Breakneck going to pop back up and try taking Chemist away? Is he going to get a gun right now? Actually then- "Yeah, go now," Deku agreed. "I'll guard you. Let's get him out of here." They each glanced towards the nearest hole in the wall but the flames were still high there, and the next closest exit was in the south which was where they had been taking all the captured villains anyway.

In that direction as well though, Midoriya expected to find the man they had run around the building looking for. I need to get the Apocalypse too, but we can't bring Chemist over there. Yet I can't leave Bikergang to take him alone, just so Breakneck can get the drop on him and disappear with Chemist. I know I cracked some ribs, but he still managed to Flashstep out of here. Where did he go? I didn't see him, so there must have been a spot he saw while about to hit that container that I couldn't see from here.

"Let's go," Bikergang had been thinking similar thoughts, and he came to the same conclusion Deku had. They just heard in their earpieces a shout from Roady on the southeast side of the warehouse there was a big fight going on. It stretched back towards the main entrance, and a lot of heroes were showing up from around the building to join in. Shigaraki's over there, Bikergang thought. As he started running though, making Chemist run with him despite the villain's complaints, he was not worried about Shigaraki getting the doctor back. We have them cornered! Shigaraki came in from the east side, if that's where the portals were made then he should have to go out from that side too. They should have left when Dabi came back, but now we're not going to give them the chance!

"Wait a second," Chemist started as he ran between Bikergang and Deku. "Breakneck!" He shouted, his eyes opening wide as he was shaken from his exhaustion a bit. I'd rather him than the heroes! I had plans to escape from him, opportunities with him, but I'll never get out of prison! "Take me back!"

"Don't make me drag you," Bikergang snapped, tugging harder on Chemist's arm for a second to push him forward. I want to knock this bastard out, but carrying him would actually be a problem. I'm barely running this speed as is, I can't carry that much weight with my side in this condition. The kid's ripped up too, and he can't have his hands full if Breakneck's looking for a moment to drop in on us and take Chemist away again. If Breakneck comes too, even if he would rather go with him than us, he'd still try to break free again if he had the chance and force Breakneck to stay… Shit! We're stuck between Breakneck and the League, neither of us are doing great, we can't get Chemist out of here and stop Breakneck, stop Shigaraki, and get this damn Apocalypse!

Chemist was panting as he ran between the other two. He did not hear a response from Breakneck, and he could see brighter red and blue lights up ahead and on the top of the southern wall through those windows. The idea of getting thrown into a cop car out there had him shaking in rage, his mouth twisting in his anger and a pissed-off crazed expression forming on his face. "It's all Reaper's fault," Chemist snarled, slowing down and pulling his arm from Bikergang who tiredly turned in again to snap at him not to stop running. Bikergang was not expecting the beaten and restrained doctor to actually try something, and he reached out and grabbed Kawasagi by the front of his shirt again.

"I swear I'll do-"

"You shouldn't have known my name, he shouldn't have," Chemist snapped, and then his lips twisted up at the corners while Bikergang gained a hesitant look on his face.

Midoriya spun around and then darted his gaze up towards the ceiling, to metal crates and shadows that Breakneck could be hiding behind. They were almost at the southern exterior of the warehouse, and he had caught his breath a little with that run where at least he had not been using his Quirk, though his left arm and back were still in a lot of pain. "But Reaper… He told you who I was-"

"Lifebringer?" Bikergang muttered, leaning his face closer to Chemist who smirked back at the hero's confused and angry expression. In a low voice too quiet to be heard over his earpiece he questioned, "Is that what you called him when he was in the-"

"He wasn't just in the League," Chemist replied, his nasally voice getting higher-pitched as he hissed it back at Bikergang. His smirk went away though, and Chemist ground his teeth before growling, "That bastard was- When I presented the Apocalypse you're looking for, that Reaper must have told you about," Chemist had a crazed and furious look on his face, but he smirked more anyway as he said this. "Reaper's the reason those experiments were put on hold. The reason production was cancelled. He ignored all the amazing prospects of it when I presented it to the League's cadres, calling my unfinished product useless, a waste of time." Chemist's hands shook in their binds and clenched and unclenched in anger, while both Deku and Bikergang started staring at him with wide eyes now.

Reaper? Midoriya thought, his breathing picking up speed and his eyes wide at what the villain was saying.

"He convinced Shigaraki that the Quirk-Destroying drug was better on its own than as an ingredient," Chemist continued, and he stopped shaking in as much anger and just smirked more instead at the looks on the others' faces. "You didn't know?" Chemist asked, lifting his tone and raising his eyebrows with a smug and victorious look on his face.

A shout in the heroes' ears shook both of them to their senses. Deku grabbed Chemist who tried pulling back from Bikergang again, and he pulled harder while running towards the southwest corner again. "You're under arrest, Chemist," Midoriya said. His eyes were narrowed and he ground his teeth as he started running again, and Bikergang ran up to Midoriya's left side to move with him. Neither said a word about what the scientist who started complaining about the pain in his right shoulder again had said. Midoriya thought as he ran towards the empty corner just up ahead, Zach. Was that true? You, stopped Apocalypse from being made? You knew so much about it, but did you really, get them to stop production? You had, the power to do something like that? "…when I presented it to the League's cadres…"

Deku and Bikergang sprinted straight into the corner and turned for the south side of the building. They reached the corner, but before they had even fully entered it, they saw a man standing just on the south side around the corner. He was all alone. He stood back towards the south wall, and he turned his head when he saw the others running towards him. The hallway was dimly lit, but bright enough that the three could see who this figure was.

There were a lot of others in the south hall too. Most of them were scattered around the exterior of the main lab, but there were many holes in the south walls of the lab now allowing the battle to seep into the main lab as well as out on the exterior of the building a bit too. All of the remaining villains still capable of fighting, even if they had not been with Shigaraki and Dabi's group before, had been pushed back to the south side of the lab, so there were still over a dozen villains battling it out with heroes fresh and wounded who now outnumbered them badly.

One hero who just reached the southern hallway entered through the hole in the wall of the main lab farthest to the west. He jumped out of the hole in the wall, surrounded in a black aura with his eyes glowing red and his fists clenched in front of him. Zach Sazaki darted his eyes around in the chaotic mess he had just thrown himself into. He tried to ignore the blue flames over to his left, spinning to his right instead as he heard Midoriya shout something both in his earpiece and to his right side. He had heard which side of the building Midoriya was on a minute ago, and he grinned as he saw the two things he was most worried about after his friend's safety both in view as well.

As Zach looked towards a side of the hall that had Midoriya, Chemist, and Dandy all in it though, a villain looked his direction from farther off to Zach's left just inside the shadows between two shipping crates. Shigaraki Tomura stared out towards that shadowy form with glowing red eyes, and his teeth ground over each other behind the hand attached to his face. Only three minutes earlier he had been running around the warehouse with Dabi who had interrupted his fight with Midoriya Izuku. "Shigaraki, Reaper's here…" Sazaki's on the priority kill list, but, Shigaraki ground his teeth more thinking about what his spiky-haired comrade had said to him. "No. We're here for Chemist and the Apocalypse. Stay away from him."

Shigaraki's head turned to the left though as Sazaki called something out that made his eyes widen behind the fingers of the hand on his face. He stepped out of the shadows, a black briefcase in one hand but his eyes focused on the thin doctor who just came around the corner of the west side of the building, right in the area he just left himself.

"Chemist!" Zach shouted, his voice deep and echoing over itself in a dark way. Midoriya, Bikergang, and Chemist all spun from Dandy to the left and a boy in a black shroud who made all three of them open their eyes huge.

"You! This is all YOUR FAULT-"

"You sick fuck!" Zach shouted, something Chemist had heard the boy call him before and leaned back at the sound of. Zach was not scared at all from Chemist's rage-filled shout at him, and he grinned inside his aura instead as he glared furiously and with bright red eyes at Chemist.

Shigaraki took a few steps forward, then a hand grabbed down on his right shoulder. He spun his head and glared behind him at a man with spiky black hair who just ran up behind him. Dabi was not looking back at Shigaraki when he turned and glared at his comrade though, but instead straight towards the shadowed figure who the people past him started looking past as they caught glimpses of Dabi and Shigaraki.

"Zach! Behind you-" Midoriya started shouting.

"Shigaraki!" Chemist called out with a hopeful look on his face.

Zach started turning his head and caught glimpses of the men behind him.

Bikergang was staring straight towards Zach with a hesitant expression, he shifted his gaze back to Shigaraki when Dabi grabbed him which somehow made both appear in his vision where he had not been seeing them before. But Bikergang was also the first of any of them to turn his attention away. All of them were distracted by each other. Chemist and Zach were mad at each other. Bikergang and Midoriya were distracted by what Chemist had said and Zach's appearance, and the League cadres showing up so close to them and closer to Zach was bad too. Dabi was staring at Zach, and Shigaraki started turning back to the boy himself after looking at Dabi. Shigaraki was the next one whose attention changed back though, and a smirk spread over Shigaraki's face while he looked towards the big man who Zach spun his head towards with wide eyes.

Zach's heart was racing. Shigaraki and Dabi were not too far on his left side. The sight of them was only part of it though, while the sight of the black briefcase in Shigaraki's right hand was what really made Zach's heart race. His head turned back towards the man who Bikergang had looked to while feeling very unsettled, and who Shigaraki grinned at in a way that made Dabi confused and loosen his grip for a second. Shigaraki pulled his shoulder free from Dabi, and he said, "I have most of the Apocalypse. Call Kurogiri, and let's get out of here. With the Chemist if possible," Shigaraki's voice was calm, but also excited and his lips curled up even more.

Zach heard Shigaraki's voice in his left ear over the sound of his own heart pounding. "Hey-"

"I am not, just a side character," Dandy started. His breathing had been heavy and he had been hesitating where he stood near the south wall. Everyone showed up around him at the same time though, and not a single person had focused on him "I'm not, a grunt," Dandy said, snapping his head up with wide eyes and sweat all over his face. "I'm in charge!" Dandy shouted, while everyone looking his way was feeling super off-put by the look in his eyes. He rose up his right hand, a crazed expression spreading over his face. "THIS WAS ALL ME!"

"Wait a second-" Chemist began, darting his eyes from Shigaraki and then back to the man just ahead of him, much too close to him. He pulled backwards but Midoriya's grip on him was too tight, so instead he shouted, "Dandy stop!"

"Dandy hold on!" Zach started shouting too, his black right hand moving down to his side but hovering next to his waist in a shaky way.

Dandy huffed and wheezed, his teeth grinding while his lips pulled up at the corners. He had a terrified look in his eyes though, and Chemist screamed at him, "You know what it will do!"

"What is that?!" Bikergang shouted towards the man.

Midoriya started letting go of Chemist, but he froze as he realized what he was doing and who he had not seen in a minute.

I won't be in the background anymore, Dandy thought. He was upset, depressed, and his breathing calmed in a single instant.

"…there's one thing I need to do. I'm sorry Shigaraki. This was my mistake. I'm in charge, so I'll clean up my mess. Here," Shigaraki thought about when Dandy gave him the briefcase a minute ago. He stared at the big man whose determination set in while Chemist and Zach screamed at him to stop. "The rest is yours, I'll give you the diversion you need to get out of here. Please." Fix your mistake, Dandy.

Shigaraki took a step back and Dabi did the same with his eyes growing wide. I didn't think he had it in him, Dabi thought.

Dandy lifted his arm. "Don't do it!" Zach screamed.

"WAIT!" Chemist screamed.

Dandy jammed his arm back and injected the vial of Apocalypse he was holding into his chest. The liquid in the vial sank into him, and Zach and the Chemist both screamed, "NOO!"

---

A/N Bwwommmm bwwwommmm! Apocalypse has been injected. Thanks for reading. So, anyone see that Bakugo Deku fight yesterday? That was pretty epic XD. Anyway, battle damage is accumulating, the fight's momentum changed in favor of the heroes, but Dandy's inferiority complex has driven him over the edge. Everyone gathers on one spot and Dandy shoots up with Apocalypse. Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review telling me what you think or predictions for the next chapter!

Super Power Sensei chapter 76 . Sep 13

Three things...
One, the scene with Frycook had me actually laughing! Him being high on cocaine and trigger only to blow himself up was hilarious! Epic fail of the chapter.
Two, Zach is stronger than he gives himself credit for. Predicting and dodging bullets, even greater strength...I want him to take out some villains already.
Three, with the League having reached their climax in power(at least according to Breakneck) what has happened/will happen to them now. Will they just stagnate? Will they fade out? Will they get taken over or destroyed by a rival gang? And will another group take their place?

Glad you liked Frycook! I was originally planning to have a group of villains come back and disrupt the perimeter and add to the villains' forces. As I wrote them in though, Frycook picked up the grenades and I'm like "oh man, what if he..." and then I wrote it that way instead. XD Zach realized it himself this chapter what you mentioned there too, and he turns the tide of the battle with his arrival in the north of the warehouse. As for the third part... no spoilers! We've got Shigaraki trying to hold onto that power here, we'll see if he manages to retake his "pieces" or if he goes home empty-handed... or if he gets caught? Or killed? Who knows?! Thanks for the review!

Oblivious ninja IJ chapter 76 . Sep 13

Everything is heating up! Stain being mentioned and his cult of weirdos- not you Toga we love you! I wonder how the battle would end, and I've been wondering... Where is Zach's stalker? Shipping freak IJ! Is going crazy bout her.
So one for all is known by lé hand fetish? I guess All for one told him? Dabi being freaking awesome as usual!
~ Reading ninja IJ!

Breakneck's flashback reveals a lot about the current state of the villains we haven't seen since the Sports Festival. Those cult weirdos Zach saw online and the villains we saw last chapter... connection? Maybe. How will the battle end? Maybe Zach's stalker will show up in the middle of the fight and save the day? :P no spoilers though. Shigaraki almost extinguishes the flame here this chapter, but Midoriya gets that backwards headbutt to stop the Decay before it destroyed him. Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for reviewing!

Shade11224 chapter 76 . Sep 14

I feel like we never see Zach make a difference in any fights, he disappears for the majority of the fights or is reviving someone. Not only that but he waits until bodies start dropping too us nightmare mode and then somehow he never gets in a fight with anyone who fights in close quarters even though that makes up a majority of villains. Your really pushing the whole Midoriya is the messiah thing to the point that it's taking away from Zach who himself should be able to destroy midoriya in a fight as even hitting Zach should make him tired and Zach's smoke acts as armor you said in a past chapter. Really I just want Zach to at least get in a big fight and actually do more than bakugo who somehow did more in the inhuman fight than Zach who could wipe the floor with him as bakugo should have to be in the same range and wouldn't have the physical applications of Death. Plus for when Zach's status as Reaper comes out do remember the wording of his pardon, because if it says all crimes within a certain time frame that could get rid of the legal repercussions, not to mention his status as Lifebringer and that they are very short on heroes.
Ps #KILLTHESPY

Well, Zach def made the difference in this fight. I don't really know what fights you're talking about he hasn't been making differences in. I guess the robbery earlier that day, though Bikergang sent him to that one specifically to get him to bring back The Viking. The Sports Festival he was pretty big and really only saved Shoji at start of Inhuman fight, then took on Spinner and did some damage to Inhuman too with Death doing some damage when he attacked in Nightmare. Fight against Shatterer and War Boys too... anyway, the plan here was to keep the fight confined which was the reason he didn't use Nightmare right away, not because bodies hadn't dropped yet. I don't think Bakugo did more than Zach in Inhuman fight, as I think he and Midoriya and Zach noticed how Inhuman had slowed down when Zach's Nightmare attacks hit him, Zach cut him too, and it's not that I'm trying to push that Midoriya's the strongest there is... but he wouldn't just not be important with Zach's addition into the picture. Midoriya and the others aren't just there to react to stuff Zach's doing, they've all got their own stuff going on too. And though I haven't been focusing on Midoriya, his improvement of One For All, his increases in power very much, for an internship arc where he's there too he's going to have a big role. I also think you're either overestimating Zach or underestimating Bakugo and Midoriya to say that he'd crush them in fights just by using Nightmare. Both probably top him in speed, power, and they both know they can't touch Zach too. Won't say anything about Reaper, 'cause no spoilers... ps: whatspy?There' .:P Anyway, thanks for reviewing even though I disagree with most of it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

StandupSitdown chapter 62 . 15h ago

This has been an amazing story so far. I've only really been into My Hero Academia for about a month now, but I've been enjoying reading through this story about as much as the manga.

I do have one question that I hope you respond to. This is the latest chapter I've read so maybe it's answered up ahead, but why not have Zach team with someone who can numb the pain he feels when bringing people back? It's something I wondered about ever since he brought those two people back and blacked out. And then you had him meet those two random skater guys a few chapters back and one of them had the power to numb pain (unless I'm misremembering) I thought for sure that would come into play. Then all he'd need is another teleporter and he'd have an amazing three man Lifesaver team. Just something that's been bugging me.

Hey! Glad you've been enjoying the story so far and thanks for reviewing! So, if you're caught up by now, you'd see he hasn't met up with those skater guys again. The problem with what you're saying is bugging you... is that Zach's still in school. I mean if/when he got an agency of his own I could totally see him looking for a fellow hero with a numbing Quirk and a teleporter too, but it's not like he's currently searching for a hero team to work with. I'm not saying it's not a great idea to work with someone like that, but maybe in the future it'll come into play. Anyway, glad you've liked the story, and I hope you enjoyed the manga chapters with Gentle and La Brava after seeing them in here!