Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 101:

A dark figure with red on parts of his costume stepped out of a warehouse in the dead of night in southern Kazania. On his right thirty feet away was a truck that had been pulled up to the building, and some figures in pitch black costumes and helmets were loading up the villains Lavamander had left alive. Lavamander ignored the looks of a few men while just walking away, but he stopped as a voice called out on his left.

"Hey." Lavamander turned and he frowned at a figure whose voice he recognized because she had shouted back in the warehouse during his initial confrontation with Sazaki. "Where are you going?" The girl asked, her helmet clipped down on her side so she was facing the anti-hero with her face revealed.

"None of your damn business," Lavamander snapped at her. He started turning, and then he lifted his head and frowned at the girl who flipped over him and landed on his other side.

She spun after landing and frowned at him harder with her eyebrows that had lifted up in a questioning way narrowing back down. The girl had blonde hair and fair skin, her eyes were blue but with small red pupils in the centers, and on her costume's belt was a single holster with a pistol in it she had never used. "You don't remember me," Cee said, and she kept frowning at the figure who lifted an eyebrow behind his visor. I even took off my helmet. I thought he would-

"Should I?" Lavamander asked, sounding uninterested and turning his head to look back the direction he was originally going.

"We met once," Cee said. She glared at the visor of the large man before her and said, "Ms. Calico."

"Oh," Lavamander stared down at the short girl in surprise. Is this, he looked the girl over and hummed to himself. She looks what, seventeen? Been a few years, but, "You're the kid she had with her."

"I'm not a kid," Cee said, her eyes dark as she glared where she figured Lavamander's eyes were. "Now where are you going?" She asked again in a more stern voice, deepening it a bit too as she questioned him.

"Now, move out of my way," Lavamander snapped, back to his annoyed tone already and turning from the kid in front of him. He started walking and moved to the left of the girl to step by her, and Cee turned and glared at him as he did. "What I do is my choice," he muttered, darting his eyes to the right in his visor to glare at the girl. He stopped at the look in her eyes when he was right at her side, and then he asked in a lower, darker voice, "And Calico?"

Cee's teeth clenched and then she responded in a dark voice, "Dead."

"Is it his fault?" Lavamander asked.

Cee's eyebrows narrowed in more and her eyebrows dipped towards her nose. "Yes, it is." She glared at him and then added, "But I'm still here."

"Good for you," Lavamander said and started walking again.

Cee spun with her eyes wide, then she stepped after Lavamander and glared at him with her eyes flashing pink. Lavamander kept walking without noticing a thing, and then he slowed down and came to a stop, because he was walking back towards the warehouse and the girl standing in front of him with a pissed-off look on her face but the right corner of her lip pulling up a bit. "It might be, Death's fault," Cee said and her lip curled back down, a dark tone coming through her voice and stopping Lavamander from threatening her. "But I can see the good in what we're doing. What he's doing. Didn't you?" She asked and watched as the man's teeth bared through the slits of his visor. "Why are you leaving?" She asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"I work alone," Lavamander growled back in response. He stopped baring his teeth and pulled his head back a bit while looking down at the young girl. He took a calming breath and then glanced back at the warehouse he had just been in alone with "Death" for a few minutes while everyone else was outside. Lavamander's eyes narrowed at the building, but then he popped his visor up and looked down into the girl's eyes, "I remember you," Lavamander said. "Back then, you were a little brat who followed Callie around so closely…" Cee stared at Lavamander with her eyes widening at the nickname she had never heard anyone use before with her old mentor, except it sounded familiar. Did he call her that, back then?

"…You might be able to change that easily," Lavamander continued. "Up and switch from what you were, to what you're a part of now. Here." He looked around again and his teeth clenched before he turned away from the girl. "You'd be surprised at how old I am though, girl. For decades, I was an anti-hero. Longer than you, longer than Call-ico, longer than Ganji. He helped us out, made things easier, but I was the one who brought him in." Lavamander started walking and his clenched fists loosened up at his sides. "I was once told by my mentor, that anti-heroes don't live long. The good ones, die young. The bad ones, die younger. But forty years later, and I'm still trying to prove her wrong…" he turned his head to the side and looked back at the young girl, for once, with a softer look in his eyes. "Sorry to hear about Callie."

Lavamander turned back forward and kept walking again. Then he started running and dropped down to his hands to sprint much faster on all fours while Cee stared after him with her eyes opening wide at how big of a speed boost that gave him. The anti-hero disappeared into the night, and he glared down a dark road he sprinted onto with his mind foggy.

"Who's this kid?"

"I'm not a kid! My name, is Calico!"

"Like the cat?"

"Yes! Duhh."

"She's acting as an anti-hero in Kiribati. But she also works around the other Pacific Islands. There aren't any supports for islands in Oceania, so I figured-"

"You're spreading too far, Ganji."

"The more interconnected we are, the more we can do as a whole-"

"And just who are you to say-"

"Alright Callie, let me give you some advice."

"Callie?"

"In this country, you respect your elders-"

"Callie?! It's Calico!"

She really, used to hate that nickname… Lavamander clenched his hands down harder and then grimaced as he accidentally ripped through the pavement he was running down. Fuck. FUCK! Everyone. All of them… In his head he saw the girl who just confronted him, a girl he had seen before when coordinating a mission with Calico half a dozen years back. Seeing her try to defend Sazaki back there had Lavamander grinding his teeth in frustration. A group that big can't do anti-hero work. Our work is done in the shadows! It always has been. "Villains around the world think they can keep getting away with what they're doing, but they're wrong… We're coming for them… The Army of Death's only mission, is stopping villains…"

In Lavamander's head echoed the speech he had heard in that recording in Saudi Arabia. A big group like that is bound to get caught by heroes. There's a reason for being in the shadows. There aren't enough of… but there are less heroes now than before- but not in the old days. I remember, All Might's rise. Fighting with him, in those early days. Against All For One… But he's gone now. Gran Torino's lost his power. Shimura, Master, Vostranus… The old generation is gone. A vestige of an age long past. Is that all I amount to? Those kids back there, do they know something? Times change. It might not be wisdom, but just stubbornness, arrogance, and hate that I'm being blinded by. Or maybe that little shit is going to get a whole new crop of anti-heroes wiped out with his fucking stupidity!

Cee stared out into the darkness where Lavamander ran off for a few seconds. She had a small hope he might come back around, but it quickly dwindled as she realized there was no reason he would do so. Cee bit down on her bottom lip for a second and then turned around and started over towards the warehouse. Stubborn old man. He's so strong. If we had his help, and his experience, we could do a lot of good! That's what matters most. It's why I'm here, you idiot. Why I can just- Cee's eyes started narrowing at the building in front of her but she shook her head fast to shake away the emotions only welling up because of the things Lavamander had been saying.

It's why I can just push those thoughts away…

4 Months Ago…

"Who are they?!" a seventeen year old girl exclaimed in panic. A short girl with long blonde hair sticking out of her bright pink costume's popped collar ran after a woman who wore a similar costume only the cape she wore was black and had white stripes through it. The older woman's costume also had a black top hat, or at least it usually did. However Calico was sprinting away so fast that she had no time to grab her hat when it came off during the initial fight. Her straight black hair waved behind her as she sprinted, and she glanced over her shoulder to check on her apprentice who shouted from not far behind.

The short blonde anti-hero stared towards Calico's face and she started breathing heavier and with more panicked pants as she saw the bloody gash on the right side of her teacher's face. "Ms. Calico," she began in a scared voice at the look in her teacher's eyes. "What's going on?"

"Keep running, Cat," Calico said, while she spun her body around and skid backwards on her heels. "Keep running!" She shouted as Cee started to look back where Calico was staring with her arms raising up in front of her.

Catherine Am'bahu, a girl who had gone by a shortened version of that name for almost ten years, only had her head half turned to the side when Calico shouted louder at her. Only halfway turned though, and she could see the flash of yellow in the corner of her vision that made her blood run cold. How?!

He's so fast! Calico's eyes darted left and right at the flash of lightning zipping across the rooftop behind them.

Cat ran by the side of her teacher and then turned and her eyes flashed pink towards the next roof right as the yellow flash was about to take the leap over the gap between buildings. A grin spread for an instant on Cat's face, but it vanished as the figure stopped at the edge of the last roof. The blond boy standing there and looking down towards them lifted his left hand to his head, and sparks started coming out of his skull all around it. Sparks flew out of his hair, and then he sprinted forward and leapt off the roof towards their with a big grin on his face while the younger of his two enemies stumbled back in fear.

"What? How did he-"

"I said to-" Calico began shouting.

"She won't escape," Raijin called across the roof. The boy with a black lightning bolt in his blond hair smirked and his body erupted in a much brighter flare of electricity. Calico turned her head sideways a bit and her eyes darted off the side of the roof where two figures flew up. Behind Raijin on the roof he just came across, some slower villains were sprinting after him and leapt after him onto the increasingly crowded building.

"The League of Villains," Calico began. She lifted her right and left arms straight out in front of her and all her fingers curled down out of her open hands. A wand flew out of the right sleeve of her cloak into her right hand, and her feet lifted off of the floor while she glared straight towards a boy she had seen on the news just a few days earlier. "What are you doing in this country?"

"Oh I just came for the nice hotels, beautiful beaches…" Raijin's friendly voice and genuinely just excited expression about being on the beautiful Pacific island vanished as his head leaned back forward. His mouth twisted up and his bared teeth showed in a crazy way as lightning sparked off of his hands. "And to purge some more of you anti-heroes. I'm oh so glad you all decided to work together, give Ganji information," Raijin pulled the corners of his lips up farther while the two women in front of him stared his way in horror.

Ganji?! Calico thought with her heart rate speeding up. Her eyes darted around the building and she realized she was being cornered. They were gathering on all sides of her. Villains. He escaped from U.A. all on his own! In the middle of all those heroes, he was there the whole time! Calico's eyes shot back to the boy who started laughing at her terrified expression of realization.

"That's right, you're fucking screwed!" Raijin sprinted forward and he rose his hands to create two lances of lightning. "Kill them all!" Raijin shouted, and he vanished in a flash of lightning before racing right beneath Calico and at the girl behind her who had redirected him and his guys for long enough that they had almost escaped. "I'll start with you," Raijin said, and he swung a bolt of lightning at the girl. Her eyes flashed pink again, but sparks flew out of his head as he felt the attack and his own feet shifting like he was turning around to try and see her.

The roof beneath Raijin's feet started shaking, and Raijin flew off his feet that he managed to keep pointing at Cat. All of the villains running forward lifted off the ground, and Cat did too. Calico's hands glowed while her head was mid-turn back to where she realized Raijin was going. A bolt of lightning flew down and just missed Cat's side, but the explosion of electricity where it crashed still collided with the young girl and made her scream out in pain. "INFINITE!" Calico shouted, pointing her wand towards where Raijin was raising up. The end of her wand extended out and slammed into the blond villain, and it pushed into his chest and kept slamming him farther through the air while Calico herself rose higher.

BANG BANG BANG BANG

A whip flew up where Calico was dodging bullets, and it wrapped around her right leg and then yanked down hard from the muscular woman who swung it. While she was being swung down, electricity raced up her wand and made Calico drop it with a scream. "Ms. Calico!" Cat yelled through her own electrifying pain. She staggered forward, glaring around and making her eyes flash pink again and again though they started bleeding as she hit the third time in a row without breaks.

"Where are you idiots going?!"

"Shit! That's the ledge!" One of the winged villains who Cat had not glared at with pink eyes still had to turn and fly off the other way as one of their sprinting comrades just took a dive off the side of an eight story building.

"Are you alright?" Cat helped her mentor up as Calico was panting down on her hands and knees. The muscular woman who swung her down sprinted into an air conditioning vent she had not noticed was right in front of her when she thought she was charging at the two girls down on their knees. She stumbled back in confusion, then the villain turned and glared towards the anti-heroes who were actually back behind her.

Calico lifted her head and looked at the young girl trying to tug her up to her feet. The thirty year old woman stared at the scared look in the girl's eyes that had blood on the bottom of their eyelids. Calico saw the muscular woman on her right turning and lifting her whip again with a furious look on her face, and she saw a flash of lightning far off the building where she had pushed the enemy's leader. Other villains were moving towards them, and Calico's eyes focused into Cat's in such a soft way. A smile spread over the woman's face, thinking back when she was in her early twenties and found the little orphan girl shipwrecked on a small island in the Pacific. Calico's right hand lifted and pressed on Cat's face, on her right cheek that Cat pushed into the hand while clenching her eyes shut.

It's all over, Cat thought. She pushed her face in her mentor's hand and whispered, "I love you."

Calico's right thumb rose up and wiped a tear of blood away from beneath Cat's eye. "Then live," Calico said. She rose up her other arm fast while Cat's eyes were opening wide. She pressed both hands on Cat's face and then pushed forward, "LIVE!"

"Ms. Calico!"

A flash of lightning slammed down on top of the building. White flashes went off from the barrels of guns of villains who had been pointing towards them. And a blond man who just crashed down and electrocuted the woman getting lit up by his subordinates turned his head. He glared out into the sky at an object moving way too fast away from the building for him to follow. He could not even hear the scream of the girl after a second, and he turned back and looked at the woman he just charred on top of the roof.

"You let her escape," Raijin said, glaring towards the muscular woman on his left who stared at him in shock at that.

"I didn't-" she began, and then she closed her mouth and took a step back nervously at his look.

Raijin lifted his right hand and pushed it up through his hair to spike it more in the center. "This was a quick stop on the tour. Take care of the girl and call me when it's done." Raijin looked over his shoulder towards two others who were close to the anti-heroes when that girl got away. "You two, with Testostrogen. End it quickly," Raijin turned and started walking towards the charred corpse. He glanced back up and laughed, "I mean, finish up here quickly. Take your time with how slow you actually kill her." He looked down at the charred body of the anti-hero who tried saving that girl. "Can you hear me? If you still have lingering thoughts in that brain of yours, even after your heart has stopped. Let that be your last thought… it will hurt."

3 and 1/2 Months Ago

"What are we doing here?" La Brava asked in annoyance at the back of the black-haired boy in front of her. "Hawks will wake up soon, and he called us out on really going east. We should be in America by the time he- are you listening?" The short woman snapped at the teen who was just staring down at his right palm.

"Don't yell at him," Darling snapped angrily ahead at the shorter woman who turned and glared right back at her through the glass windshield of the motorboat they were on. Darling was slowing down the engine, and she glared right back through the glass at the other female on the boat.

Zach closed his right hand into a fist. He curled his fingers in on his glove over the ripped part of it, and over his scabbed skin beneath. "We could use more gas before going across the ocean-"

"We are plenty stocked," Gentle said while walking up next to the boy at the bow. He stepped past La Brava who he agreed with, but he asked the boy when he stepped next to him, "What is your real reason? Do not lie to us-"

"He isn't lying!" Darling shouted up at Gentle.

A sweatdrop formed on the left side of Zach's face at that shout of trust. He turned his head sideways and said, "Alright, there's another reason. But it's not…" he stopped himself and then looked back at the island they were approaching. "It's more of just a, hunch- no, just, something I need to check on."

"In Micronesia?" Gentle questioned, an eyebrow lifted in confusion and surprise. "What could be here?" He asked, wanting Zach to answer but also just asking for himself in interest at what the boy could possibly have to do in the small islands around them.

"Tarawa," Zach began, saying the name of the atoll in Kiribati that they were approaching. "There's a hotel here, where…" Zach clenched his eyes shut and thought hard. He raked through memories in his mind, and he thought about staring down at a sheet of paper in Seiki Ganji's office. He thought about designing a costume, while Ganji and Webb discussed several things right next to him. Webb wanted me to focus on these things. He knew I was listening, and he was disappointed because I didn't do anything about it! What did I hear about this island? He thought about how he saw the name Tarawa on the map they were using to navigate across the ocean in their escape from Japan. Tarawa. A hotel here, some, crime. And the "acquaintance" in Kiribati. It's not a lot to go on. It's nothing! But, Kaminari only started his purge after he betrayed me, so that I wouldn't figure out it was him. He said he'd already done it, already destroyed it all, but I have to hope he missed some. I have to warn them, in case they don't know!

"It might not be anything," Zach said. He turned to Gentle and then said in a serious voice, "But there could be an anti-hero here." Don't lie to them. They fled the country with me. They deserve to know what I'm doing. "I have to warn them about Raijin's purge."

"'Could be?'" La Brava asked in a skeptical tone. "This doesn't seem like an important-"

"Fine," Gentle said, holding up a hand for La Brava to wait a moment. La Brava looked at him in surprise, but Gentle smiled and looked towards the island himself in a much more interested way now. "I have been quite intrigued as to the existence of these, anti-heroes, you have mentioned."

"I was serious about stocking up for the trip," Zach started. "I can really just do a quick look around on my own-"

"We are a team now," Gentle said, looking down and lifting the right corner of his lip beneath his bushy mustache.

La Brava smirked and walked up to his side in a cocky way too. "We could all ask around about a mysterious non-hero superhero. It will go faster," La Brava said, raising her eyebrows at the boy who frowned for a few more seconds and then just started nodding at the two who he doubted he would be able to convince otherwise.

"Then Darling, could you deal with," Zach began while looking back at the girl at the center console. Darling's eyes were wide and shaking as Zach started that to her, and he sweatdropped before sighing and shaking his head. "Nevermind. We'll all go together. Thought we were in a hurry," he muttered, looking back at the other two up front with him while Darling called out happily that he wanted her to come along. La Brava lost her cocky smirk after hearing the last thing Zach said, but she glanced up at Gentle and saw he did not look dismayed by how long they would be staying so she felt more confident too. Zach frowned a bit as he did not manage to manipulate the two next to him with that, then he just shifted his gaze back to the island ahead they were slowing down a lot on their approach to so as to stay quiet.

"Stay in disguise," Zach started, lifting a hand and pushing down on the rip of the cap he was wearing. He had on a long-sleeved shirt which he knew might draw some attention, but definitely less than if the scars all over his left arm were visible. "And don't draw too much attention. I don't even know if I'm remembering correctly, so just keep a low profile…"

The Next Day…

"How is that low profile?!" La Brava shouted at the girl next to her whose arms started un-transforming from a rocket launcher.

Darling took a few heavy breaths as she had fired a lot of mass out of that cannon, but La Brava gained a nervous look on her face at the sight of the younger panting girl at her side. Darling was panting, but her lips were curled up high at the corners and her eyes were wide with glee as flame-light flickered on her face.

The two girls stood on the slanted wooden roof of a beach bar with a pool behind them that was empty considering how late it was in the night. There were beach chairs set up on the sand in front of them, though some of those chairs had been blown apart and were on fire. There were some craters in the sand, two unconscious figures laying around inside of them, and a third was sliding down from the top of one where a tall man just tossed her. Gentle frowned while releasing the muscular woman, but he did not feel very bad as he turned back to the short blonde girl who had been in her clutches as they arrived.

The dark aura vanished around Zach's body and he ran over to the girl who was on her knees rubbing at her throat while staring at him in shock. Really, what was Darling thinking? "We have to get out of here," Zach said quickly towards Gentle.

"I suppose we will meet you back at the boat then," Gentle replied. He swung a hand in front of himself while keeping a close eye on the blonde girl who wore some interesting pink clothing. He bounced himself over to the beach-side bar and grabbed La Brava by the hand. "Be careful my dear," Gentle said to the other girl on the roof, making La Brava's eyes open wide and her mouth curl down in jealousy. La Brava's mouth curled up a lot more though as Gentle flew off and left Darling behind.

Darling turned and watched them go through the air with a low frown on her face. Then she turned back to the beach that was getting less lit up as some of the flames died down. She jumped down onto the sand and did a roll as she landed, and she started running towards Zach with her eyes narrowing more at how close he was to that blonde.

"You're," Cat began softly. "Lifebringer," she whispered.

"No," he replied. He held his left hand out to the girl who pulled back quickly at the movement, then started calming her breathing and reached out to take his hand. Her arm shook a bit as she was about to grab it, and then she clenched her eyes shut and grabbed his hand fast to stop herself from hesitating any more. "Are you, the anti-hero, from around here?" Zach asked.

Cat froze while her hand was still holding his. Her entire body tensed up. Lifebringer, was his- Raijin's! They were friends at school! The girl's eyes shot open wide, and Zach let go of her hand and pulled back. He lifted his hands defensively and with an apologetic look on his face for scaring her. "I was one too," Zach said.

The blonde in front of him was panting hard. She stared at him, deep into his eyes, and then she whispered, "You were?"

"Yeah," Zach replied. Oh man. Fuck. FUCK! I, I can't- Zach grit his teeth and got such a pained look on his face as he stared at her. "I, heard about you once, from Ganji. I knew there was someone here-"

"It wasn't me," the girl replied. Darling came up behind Zach and stopped on his left side, but her eyes opened wide and she lost her slightly jealous and annoyed look for a more pitying one at the look in Cat's eyes. "My teacher, Ms. Calico. She w-was," the blonde girl clenched her eyes shut thinking about what she saw while flying away from the building Ms. Calico pushed her from. "LIVE!" "She was the best, hero in the world-"

"I'm sorry," Zach whispered. Cat opened her eyes that she had clenched shut, and she stared at Zach's face as the boy stared back at her with so much regret in his eyes. "Kaminari, I-" Zach stopped as Cat's eyes bulged. The girl staring at him and speaking Japanese took a step back, feeling like she just got punched in the face by the boy she had started talking to in a trusting way so fast.

They were friends. He was an anti-hero. Raijin knew. He mentioned Ganji. Ganji knew everyone. Oh my God. "It was you," she whispered.

Lights shone down the beach and Darling snapped her head to the side at the sound of shouts in the distance. She leaned back with her face covering in panic, suddenly regretting her big attacks even if they had done damage to the villains unconscious in the sand around them now. "Zach, we have to go."

"I'm sorry," Zach repeated. He looked into the girl's eyes with so much pain in his own. Then his eyes shifted down to her left leg that had blood all over it, and back to her reddened neck, and then around the three villains who were still here hunting her down. They'll send more. He'll come back for her. She, she can't. "You're right," he said, locking eyes back with the girl's but stepping towards her instead of away with Darling. "It was my fault. I told him, and he- I'm sorry." Zach shook his head and pulled it back while the girl in front of him started breathing faster and glancing over her shoulders at the lights getting closer.

"The anti-heroes are gone now though," Zach continued. Cat spun her head back forward and stared in shock into the eyes of the boy in front of her who looked so desperate for her to listen to him. "Please," he said. "We can stop Kaminari- Raijin. Get justice for Ms. Calico, and Ganji, and Webb, all of them. Please," Zach took a step back and Darling looked at him in shock as he motioned with his head the other direction from the incoming authorities. "He'll come back for you here. I know, you must hate me right now. But we have to go. And we can protect you."

"Zach," Darling started.

What is Lifebringer doing here? How did he know about Ganji? Was he really an anti-hero? He told Raijin, and Raijin killed them, and, and he…

"Lifebringer killed Kurogiri after setting a trap for the League of Villains in that forest. I'm thinking it must have been his relationship with Raijin, or Denki Kaminari, who was there that night, which gave him the insight on how to prepare that trap… It's regrettable he's on the run right now, but there is no other way to define him. Whether or not he was really just trying to help us all, he's breaking the law…"

"He'll come back for you here."

"LIVE!"

"W-Wait," Cat started. She started running after the other two, wincing with every step of her left foot. She ignored the pain though even as more blood came out of the gashes on her upper leg and her calf that could not heal while she was running. "You'll let me, come with you?"

"I don't think," Darling began, but Zach took a step back in the other direction.

"Do you really, want to come?" Zach asked with his face covered in shock. He couldn't lie to the girl. As much as he wanted to save her, he also could not lie to her and leave out what he had done. It wasn't how he wanted to start a relationship. He knew if he did not tell her it would come back to bite him later on. He knew she would be more likely to come if he did not though. And yet the only real reason he said anything was the guilt weighing down on him hearing how pained she was over the loss of her teacher.

They're strong. They defeated those three without any… and if you are a villain. If you're really, evil. Then maybe I could stop you. Maybe I have to. Or, or maybe I just need a place to go. Cat's stomach ached of hunger, her eyes shook as she stared into Zach's, her hands trembled in fear and anger at the same time. And then in his eyes she saw him thinking about what she looked like when she talked about losing her teacher, as he started thinking about his own anti-hero mentor. The thought of Webb, what Kaminari said he had done to him and his family, it echoed in Zach's mind and filled his heart with pain.

"Damn it," Darling whispered. She lifted up her right arm and started transforming it into a kind of cannon like she had back on the beach bar. "We need to go," she said.

"Don't-" Zach started while spinning to her.

"Smoke bomb," Darling called out in a whisper. She needed to tell him she was not really attacking these authorities chasing them, while also keeping quiet in case they had not been seen yet. She fired the smoke over near the villains they had knocked unconscious, which would slow the heroes on the other side from running down the beach as well as blocking them from sight. "Let's go," Darling said, and she reached out and grabbed Zach by the sleeve and tugged backwards.

"I don't," Cat finally responded to Zach after spinning with him when the brown-haired girl suddenly attacked behind them. She looked in Zach's eyes and whispered, "But Ms. Calico told me to live, with her last breath. So let's do it," she stepped towards Zach. "Let's take down Raijin together. The name's Cee. C double e." Don't trust him. Don't trust any of them. Ms. Calico, I'll take all of your teachings. And I'm going to become a better anti-hero. One who could have given us more time to run. One who you wouldn't have had to protect. Someone who could have fought with you, to the end! "Let's go," she ran past the boy who was staring at her in so much shock at her answer. She ran by him and then let the tears fill her eyes, I can't be on this island anymore!

Present

Cee stared towards the warehouse in southern Kazania as a dark figure stepped out of a hole in the wall. Several other soldiers in the Army of Death ran over to him and started talking fast, and he responded while looking over at trucks and then back into the warehouse behind him. Cee's hands at her sides that had almost clenched into fists before loosened more, and she rose one up and scratched the back of her head before lifting up her helmet in the other. The eighteen year old girl adjusted her helmet on her head, then she stared forward at the dark figure who just came out of the warehouse but was now walking her direction.

"Hey," Cee said as Zach walked towards her. "He's gone," she said, frowning again while glancing back behind her.

Zach looked over Cee's shoulder and then thought about what he and Lavamander talked about alone back in the warehouse. "Yeah," he replied softly. "But, we'll see him again." Cee turned back in surprise at the optimistic tone she just heard in her leader's voice. "Did you know him?" Zach asked after she turned back to him.

"Not really," Cee replied. "He came to help Ms. Calico with a mission years ago. She made me stay behind for it, so I only met him right before they left together."

Years ago. She's been at this since she was a kid. An anti-hero, with Ms. Calico… "Back in there," Zach began softly. Cee looked through her visor and into Zach's. Both of them were just staring at visors as they could not see each others' eyes through them. Yet they imagined each others' eyes fairly well with just the tones in their voices. "You tried defending me," Zach said. Then he just asked in an even softer voice, "Why?"

Cee stared at the visor and could imagine his face. She doubted he was masking his expression at all either, hidden behind that visor already. So she could picture how his face looked right then, all scrunched with his lips curled down in frustration and his eyes wide in confusion. Her own started looking that way too as she thought about his question. "Why?" Why? It's because- "I don't kn…" Cee stopped herself and her eyes shifted down in her visor from the boy just a couple inches taller than her. "Because," she began more truthfully, and she lifted her eyes back up. She stared at him, and she imagined them standing on those dunes at the edge of Saudi Arabia together. And facing villains in the Pacific, Hawaii, California, Nevada, across the US, terrorists in Gorran, mafia, and drug dealers, and she knew they were still just getting started. "I forgive you."

"You do?"

"Seeing Lavamander get so furious, I was trying to stop him because I knew he didn't understand. I didn't even think about what I was doing. But, I did that without thinking, because I don't really need to think about it. You're a good person."

Zach stared at the girl in front of him with his heart racing faster than it had in his whole fight with Lavamander. "But," he whispered. "Ms. Calico-"

"Raijin killed her," Cee cut him off before he could try and make her hate him as she saw coming. She took a deep breath herself since he almost succeeded in making her get angry at him again. "And we're going to get him," she continued, nodding her head seriously at the boy before her. "And all his League of Villains, and all the other villains too. I never considered it possible, and it still sounds ridiculous in my head. Ha, ha," Cee chuckled and shook her head, then she finished in a serious way again, "But I believe you. When you say what we're doing is going to work. So I think it will. It will, right?"

Zach stared at the girl in front of him with his eyes wide for a few more seconds behind his visor. Then, a smile pulled at his lips and he nodded his head. "Right," he said. Kaminari killed them. As much blame as there is to go around, it was him. And one day, I am going to kill him for that. For all of it.

Xander Carmen, the US ambassador to the United Nations, stepped up to a podium for a press conference. He cleared his throat and put his hands up on either side of the top of the podium, then he began in a steady voice, "As you all know, a few minutes ago the UNGA convened to vote on a very important issue. In a unanimous decision, the General Assembly has labeled the Army of Death as a terrorist organization."

"Oof," Akhmed ran a hand up through his dark hair. He frowned at the screen in front of the majority of the Army of Death who were gathered together in one room. "Unanimous? Really thought we'd get a couple votes."

"Those assholes," Darling started, glaring at the screen as she said it. "We saved Saudi Arabia, and even they didn't-"

"Its members are villains," Xander Carmen continued. "Who have broken several countries' immigration laws, carried out acts of vigilantism, and killed. The brutality of the Army of Death's actions has been exemplified clearly in recent days with the release of crime scene photos from Kazania…"

"That wasn't even us!" Hummingbird called out from the back of the group where she was flapping her wings fast to stay hovering and looking down over all the taller members in front of her.

Cee ground her teeth and then muttered in a pissed-off voice, "Soon as I saw the pictures of Lavamander's victims in the warehouse." She shook her head. They had gathered up the unconscious ones and brought them to the authorities in Kazania, but they had not done much clean up at the warehouse other than that. They had left several bodies inside the building. and the authorities knew where it was so they put two and two together, wrongly. "That asshole," she said in a lower, more annoyed voice at the guy who did not even join them which would have at least made the UN's reason legitimate.

"Saudi Arabia's new ambassador Farrah Khalid, and Gorran's ambassador Val Shishiek voiced their countries' opinions that the Army of Death has done certain things to help them. However they also agreed, that an international group of unregistered Quirk users who act outside of the law, are nothing more than terrorists. They have killed in several countries. Their members are powerful and do not answer to anyone. No oversight. No regulation. Their existence is frightening. It is not something that gives us hope."

Zach's eyes narrowed at the screen straight in front of him. If you didn't do something like this, we wouldn't scare anyone. This still won't really. As much as you try to push it. It's not regular people who will be getting scared here.

"We are now in the process of creating a task force to counter this Army of Death, and to arrest those involved…"

The people of Saudi Arabia aren't the ones calling for this. If their government said they didn't think of us as terrorists though, other countries would assume we were still there. If we had stayed they might have given us protection, but that would have hurt them more than anything. It's better this way. I never expected people to think of us as heroes. "It's fine," Zach said. The others who started murmuring around him and watching the screen nervously looked over at their leader instead. Zach turned his head and looked around at everyone around him. He looked each of them in the eyes as his gaze shifted over them, and then he said with an intense look on his face, "We can handle it. The rules stay the same, even for heroes who might become a part of this task force."

Zach turned and looked back at the screen himself. His confidence spread to the others around him who reminded themselves why it was this was on the news, why heroes were being called to fight them, why the UN just had to make a decision on them. They were making a difference. Most of them grinned, some still looking nervous as they did though while watching the US ambassador start speaking directly to them about their villainous ways. "…the brutality like what you have been committing against villains of different nations is not the same as heroism. It is murder. Torture. And you will be brought to justice."

Zach's hands clenched down on his knees as he glared at the screen. We won't though. Everything you said will startle some normal people, maybe a few will get scared for a bit, but we will vanish from the news- the less we do in the light. The more powerful we are, the less visible we have to be. So try and make normal people afraid of us, it won't work. This will only work in our favor, to strike fear in the hearts of villains.

A/N Thanks for reading! Get some backstory this chapter into Lavamander and a lot on Cee. Cee was the first person to join up with Zach's crew after they left Japan as we see here, then Mark from that flashback in Hawaii where Rebel joined them. Didn't really know what I was going to do with her until a couple days ago but now I'm really liking her. Anyway, Lavamander heads out though Zach seems confident after his talk with him that they'll see him again, Cee forgives Zach for what happened with Ms. Calico, and the UN unanimously votes that the Army of Death is a terrorist organization that needs to be stopped! Hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter! Leave a review below telling me what you think, comments, questions, or predictions!

Shinn of Destiny chapter 100 . 11h ago

Congrats on chapter 100 but who do u like writing about more? Momo or Darling?

Thanks! I don't really know, I like both of their characters in this a lot though I'm getting a lot more character development for Darling recently. It's also pretty fun writing in someone who doesn't have all their screws together...? Eggs in their basket? She's a bit crazy XD is what I'm trying to say, and it's fun writing her for sure. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

GDawg4826 chapter 100 . 2h ago

God damn. 100 chapters and more than 1 million words. You are absolutely and truly insane. Awesome chapter as usual, and I am so glad an anti-hero survived. Can't wait to see if Lavamander joins the army, battles Zach, or just tells him to fuck off and leaves. Hyped for the next chapter as usual, and here's to another hundred!

Haha thanks a lot! Glad you've enjoyed the story this 100 chapters, and I hope this one lived up to the hype! Lavamander winds up taking off, but we'll probably see him again... Thanks for the review!

Logargon chapter 100 . 6h ago

OMG LAVAMANDER IS BACK, I actually really was interested in knowing what happened to him cuz he didn't seem like a chair for that would die so easily

Lavamander! Glad you remembered him, and yeah I really liked his character when I went back a re-read the first 63 chapters of Death recently, and I came up with some cool stuff to add him into. I had written in back then that All Might considered him the strongest of the anti-heroes, he was pretty cocky at the time, and all-in-all I liked what I had set him up as. Definitely had some fun writing his bits at the beginning of this chapter too. Hope you liked his development, and thanks for reviewing!