Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 102:
Present Mic walked out of Class 2-A and closed the door behind him. They had a few minutes until the next period, but the class stayed pretty quiet even after their teacher was gone. Not many of them realized it until June of the term before, but Kaminari had often been the one to start class discussions. He would talk loudly about a topic, ask others in the class freely about it without caring whether or not he was that close with them, which at some point had just made everyone feel like they had known him. No one wanted to take that place in the classroom, even though it seemed like a necessary role for someone to take as the outgoing person to tie them all together.
Iida would get the whole class together to do things still, and there were people in the class like Sero and Ashido who were pretty carefree and continued being themselves even after Kaminari's betrayal and Zach's subsequent flight from the country. The problem with Ashido and Sero being the most outgoing of the class though, was that the two of them had had a thing over the summer that was still lingering over their heads, especially without another boisterous person to talk with so it would not be too weird. Usually they could get Kirishima to join in with their conversations, and the routine was normalizing a bit more as Kirishima's mood had gradually rose back to his old self after the now world-famous Lifebringer Incident.
Uraraka leaned forward and asked Iida a question over his shoulder about something in their English class she had not understood. Sero looked over his shoulder and said something to Sato, and with Koda and Tokoyami in between them the two got sucked into the conversation. Yaoyorozu glanced to her right side as the boys started talking, then she stared back towards the front of the room and the half-erased board Present Mic left mostly for the next teacher to clear off. She already had detailed notes down in her notebook, and it was not like the lesson she just observed was one she was having trouble retaining. She tried distracting herself with the board though and it worked for a few more seconds as she re-read it to make sure her notes were the same.
As she was reading through her notes though and nearing the end of them, she realized her lips were pursed. She was trying hard to keep her mind off it, but realizing that made her think of why she was making that face. Someone came back to life, she thought, and she closed her eyes before shaking her head to try and get rid of the thought. The German guy, the news says it was someone in the Army of Death. He didn't say it was Death himself. And maybe he wasn't… except, someone in Guatemala said the same thing. The two news reports she had heard so close to each other made her head hurt as much as it frustrated her. I don't know what to think. It's probably Zach. I didn't think there was doubt- but there could be others with the Quirk to bring people back. Like the news is arguing. Or some of them, they just don't want to say anything for sure though, nothing definitive.
They say that "Lifebringer" wouldn't have even known his Quirk could bring people back if he had done what he was told as a kid and never tried to be a hero. If Zach had just kept his hand in his glove. Momo hummed and she pushed her pencil in and out of her fingers, twirling it around aimlessly while lost in thought. So in this world, where a couple of countries have started educating youth on training Quirks. Or just places, where people may be training their Quirks more to protect from raised villain activity, highest number ever in our lifetimes. Who's to say some of them haven't discovered a similar Quirk? It makes sense. She lowered her pencil down and her hand clenched around it. But it's you. I know, it's you.
After Iida answered Uraraka in a concise way, he looked back forward and towards the door with his hands together over his desk. He thought about getting everyone to quiet down, but they still had a couple of minutes to the next period so he could wait before taking charge of his class rep responsibilities for a bit. Sitting there and doing nothing made him think of what he had been watching last night on the news though, and he clenched his hands tighter together while narrowing his eyes. A terrorist. I, should have raced after him quicker once Backfire's forcefield went down. Before he had a chance to become a terrorist!
In front of Iida, another student who had been brought back to life by their long-gone classmate had a sad look in her eyes. The green-haired frog girl shifted her gaze to the left and across the classroom towards Momo. Tsuyu stared at the taller girl for a few seconds, imagining what was on her mind as it was stuck on hers too. I wish Zach had stayed. I hope he never returns now. Tsuyu looked back forward in a sadder way at the thought. For both our sakes…
32% Full Body Cowl. I want to increase from there, but I have to master this new level and fighting style first. Midoriya clenched his right hand into a fist a couple of times at his side, to work out his fingers and exercise his arm muscles a bit. Using kicks is good, but not being able to use my arms is a big disadvantage. I can't break them anymore. I won't. But, 32% of One For All is already so much. More than a third of All Might's power, because it's been compounding more and more. He agrees that this is more, but not more than what he was. He's just saying that so I don't push myself too hard. I know though. I know I can't go on like I was…
On any part of my body. Sweat accumulates most on the palms, and they're the easiest to direct with. Crazy Eyes is fixing up the new costume though. Different collection points around the body. Blasts from specific points, can make better mobility. I'll blast into the air while already having hands pointed forward. No gap time between pointing behind and aiming forward. Bakugo's eyes were intense and focused straight ahead in the room though his mind was far from the English words on the board.
There are limits to both Cold and Hot. Dad isn't where he is because of his Quirk. His strength, his experience, his fighting skills are all next level. Using fire and ice at the same time is a step forward. Regulating the temperature is difficult, but should I focus on mastering it? Months of training to only get this far, when my Quirk was already the most powerful… Todoroki lifted his left hand and he looked at it over his desk. He clenched that hand into a fist and rose his eyes up from his hand to his arm that was nowhere near as muscular as his father's, or even some of his male classmates. Strength training. Speed, without my Quirk. Then when I do use Cold or Hot to speed up, it's in a burst so I don't need to waste my Quirk on mobility and can keep focus on defense and attack.
I can't make a single mistake, Ojiro thought while leaning back in his seat, an intense look in his eyes as he stared down at his desk. My first real internship. It's a big opportunity. I didn't think I stood out much the other day on the class patrol. Those first years weren't half bad, but I'm surprised someone noticed me at all with Todoroki there with us. A small smile formed on Ojiro's face. I'm glad I finally managed to stick out.
Jirou sat at her seat near the windows staring out them with her right hand on the side of her desk. Her index and middle fingers were tapping on the desk, and she was nodding her head while humming to herself only in her head, no sound actually being made aloud. The tune she was imagining was sounding great though, and she started lowering her index finger only to wobble it and then hit both her index and middle fingers down together and start tapping both faster than they were before. "Never stop me. Can't stop me. I'm flying and there's… there's no limit- height, I won't reach. I'm flying and there's no height too high." Mm, oh yeah. "Jamming in the sky, rocking on a cloud- in the clouds?" Hmm. The rhythm of the song she was creating quieted down in her head and her gaze rose outside shifting up to the sky above.
Mineta had his head half-turned to look behind him towards Yaoyorozu. She was too distracted by something to notice, but after a second the pervy boy looking back at her lowered his eyes from her seat down to the floor. He shook his head around and spun back to the notebook in front of him that he had gotten out in preparation for the next class already. The next class would be starting in under a minute, and Sero turned back from the others behind him too to start getting another book out from his desk.
"I wonder what Zach's up to right now?" Kirishima muttered. He grumbled to himself afterwards as that was not something he wanted to be thinking about, especially considering he was not interested enough in the next subject to get his mind off it now. "Or where," Kirishima added in a lower voice.
Sero glanced at him and then over to the window past Jirou. He stared out it like she was doing, and then his gaze shifted back inside and to the empty desk in front of Jirou's. "Yeah,"Sero replied quietly with a sigh, just loud enough for Kirishima and a couple others around them to hear. "Me too man."
On the other side of the world, thirteen hours earlier because of the time zone change, Zach stood at the door of a fraternity house in the southern United States. He had a black hoodie on, the hood up, wore jeans, and his right hand was down in his pocket with his glove on. On his left arm hung a girl with long brown hair who wore makeup and had the guys on line their whole way up to the door looking at her. She was five foot three inches, her C-cup breasts pushed out in her sexy cat costume, and she had on a tight pair of black yoga pants below her short-cropped leopard shirt. Darling had her arms looped in the crook of Zach's elbow, but despite her beautiful appearance, the bouncer at the door of the house frowned at the shorter figure in a hoodie who did not look like a college student to him.
"I.D.," the burly bouncer with horns sticking out of his forehead demanded. Zach lifted his gaze while pulling his right hand out of his pocket. The seventeen year old kept his hood up and shadowing over his face decently, his jeans did not really match the black hoodie and shoes, but it was not the strangest appearance of anyone on line with him. Zach lifted his right hand in a black glove that normally would have brought a lot more attention considering he was not wearing one on his left.
He extended his hand forward and said, "Here it is." The bouncer looked down and his eyes opened wider as the kid in front of him who still did not look much like a college student handed him a small stack of bills held together by a paper clip. The top bill was a $100, and the bouncer getting paid a fraction of that per hour working at the door just nodded while looking down at his hand like he was checking an identification.
"You're good," he said, nodding Zach forward and looking behind him at the next people in line. Where have I seen that face before? The bouncer wondered as the two walked by him, for a split second considering that they were trying to get out of showing their I.D.'s for a reason other than just to get into the party where a famous musician had been hired to perform tonight. He had to focus on the next people in line though, and he was not getting paid well enough to look into that any further.
Zach and Darling walked into the party together. The building the party was going on at was a huge mansion-type house where a group of over fifty guys lived for the year paying high prices in dues not only for their housing but also to be able to host huge parties like this. There were a couple of security guys inside the house, but they were not really focusing on the party-goers and were just there because the university the house was on required the parties to hire them. Every person in the house was holding a drink, though most of them were in red cups so the security guards could keep from doing anything and just act like they had no idea what was in them or how old the partiers holding those cups were.
"Should I get us some drinks?" Darling asked while leaning in towards Zach's hood. "Purrrr," she purred into his ear in a cat-like way, though attempting to be seductive too.
Zach saw two guys on his left side gawk at the two of them as that girl just purred at Zach like she was trying to bang him right there. "Yeah. Just fill with mixers though," Zach specified, because he could not be sure when glancing towards Darling what it was she was suggesting. "And keep only speaking English. Don't draw attention."
"Stay here," Darling said. She let go of Zach's arm in a reluctant way and then headed off to one of the tables in the next room where some bars were set up with the frat's members standing behind them pouring drinks.
Zach looked after Darling as she walked off, and he had an uneasy feeling seeing looks of guys in costumes around him watching her. They're all trying to get drunk and get laid. It's a party. I've never, actually been to a party like this. Is this what I was suggesting, back in the first term to… Yeah, this is kind of what I imagined once we realized parties usually just have alcohol. Actually, Zach looked to his left where he saw a couple making out with a guy pressing a girl up against the wall and both of them holding their drinks out to one side as they macked. His friends hollered, then her friends came over and tugged on her arm to get their too drunk friend to stop embarrassing herself before any of the guys pulling out their phones could get a video.
Zach shifted his eyes to the stairs and watched as someone started sliding down them and waving his arms out to the sides to try and keep on his feet. He had fake bear paws on his hands though and the gloves did not have good grip so he just face-planted after a second to a chorus of laughs, and then one of the other members of his fraternity yelled at him for spilling his drink. Zach's eyes shifted past them and to the stairs where he watched some girls and guys start heading up in their costumes. The upstairs rooms are better places to look than down here. Too open. Too many prying eyes. No one will want to talk to us.
Darling walked back to Zach and she handed him a red cup that Zach pulled towards his lips then eyed suspiciously before taking a sip of. I am at a college party, he thought. And I didn't pour my own drink. And Darling, he glanced at the girl next to him who eagerly put her arm back inside his to wrap around his elbow. Darling wouldn't do something like that. I trust her. More than… Well, time to work. Zach smiled and he lifted the red cup to his mouth, and he took a sip before walking forward and grinning like crazy. "This is great!" Zach called down to Darling on his right in his best loud English voice. The music was loud, people around them were louder, and there were flashing lights inside and even some smoke machines going off in other rooms.
"I want to go see Ray-V!" Darling called back excitedly about the rapper in the backyard.
Zach nodded his head in agreement. "You bring any Serum?" He asked, and the girl next to him shook her head.
Darling took another sip of the cola in her red cup, then she replied sheepishly but in an excessively loud voice at a moment where the music actually dipped 'unexpectedly.' "I ran out. I thought you'd have some."
No one's taking the bait. Probably just means none of them know where. Or even if they do, we probably do look a bit young. Though I see people here who can't be a year or two older than us. Maybe some other high-school aged people snuck in too. "Let's go upstairs," Zach suggested loudly and motioned for the steps. He started over with the girl next to him, keeping his hood up to shadow over his face though he was fine with letting people see it anyway. He saw a girl look over in surprise at his face for a second, and he grinned as she turned away to tell her friend something without getting all too shocked. Halloween is the best. Even if this party is a few days after, it's like Americans love Halloween so much the whole season is dedicated to it. Everyone's having a good time too, but I have to be careful. Places like these are dangerous… Zach cracked a much bigger grin and he actually started laughing to himself.
"What is it?" Darling asked as they reached the second floor of the house.
"I was just thinking of how I have to be careful here," Zach replied while leaning down towards her.
Darling grinned big and started laughing too. Sneaking back into the US without papers is nothing. Bribing Mexican police officers a couple days ago, and shutting down that meth lab yesterday- but this! This is crazy! She wanted to say it all out loud in a sarcastic way and laugh along with Zach some more, but he motioned towards a door near them that a lot of people were going into to get more drinks or hang out and talk to each other. Something was happening in the room, and the two of them leaned in from the doorway only to open their eyes wide in surprise as the girls in the room were all chanting at two young guys who looked just a little older than Zach.
What are they- Zach leaned around and watched as the two guys were racing to funnel very tall beers. Their were older guys holding the beers over the tops of the funnels, and the younger guys were getting yelled at by the older ones to drink faster. This is… Zach thought, then he watched as one of the two pushed the funnel away and waved it around showing nothing but foam coming out. One of the girls who was cheering for him screamed loudly in excitement while the two older guys behind him started laughing and patting him on the back, then the girl who screamed leaned forward and kissed the guy dressed like an orange traffic cone on the mouth.
The other kept chugging for another few seconds and then shook his head and covered up the bottom of the funnel. "Ugh," he groaned, and he shook his head before running towards the door and out of there between Zach and Darling who moved to the sides for him. He ran over towards the bathroom in the middle of the hall, and loud 'Ohhhhs!' came out from the bathroom's other occupants as well as from the room next to Zach and Darling where the others started laughing afterwards.
"PUKE AND RALLY! YAAA!"
"KJ can't hang!"
Zach glanced down towards Darling while she was still staring over towards the bathroom. No sarcasm, this is actually… The atmosphere is too exciting. Too much fun. Everyone's, enjoying themselves way too much- that's weird. Not really something that shouldn't happen, though, I guess that's why there are rules supposed to be stopping fun like this. Out of control, reckless, fun. Carefree. No one's worrying about the consequences. No one's worried about that guy. They just assume he'll be fine. And, he probably will be. I'm not here to worry about people getting too drunk. Not here to shut down a party. I'm not here to screw with things that I might not necessarily like. I'm here because people are going missing because of Serum.
"Zach look," Darling whispered, then she turned and said it louder to the boy who refocused as she sounded serious. Zach looked down the hall and spotted someone stepping out of a room with a wide smile on their face and far-off, distant look in their eyes. They had a hand down in their pocket like they were shoving something away just after coming out of the room, then they looked back and forth before throwing their hands up in the air and cheering as a couple of guys dressed like pumpkins came running out of doorways on opposite sides of the hall and slammed into each other. One of them was bigger than the other, and his round costume bounced the other's back into the room he had come running out of, followed by the sound of a loud crash that immediately made the winning pumpkin run back down the hall in Zach and Darling's direction and to the stairs. A few seconds later the losing pumpkin came stumbling out of that room and running after his buddy with a nervous look on his face but a big grin too.
"Hey who was that just coming out of Rick's room?"
"Hey!"
Some commotion started on the floor, and Zach motioned down the hall while taking a sip of his red cup. He and Darling walked down the hall though kept focusing on what everyone else around them was looking at too. They oohed when some guys looked like they were going to get into a fight, and they nodded their heads along as the rapper outside put on his most popular song that both Zach and Darling had listened to earlier that day on the bus ride into town. They had shared headphones with one in Zach's left ear and the other in Darling's right while they rode the bus, preparing themselves to fit in more with the partiers at this college right in the center of where the missing persons' reports were most condensed.
Thirty people in the last two months alone. All only have Serum in common. The total number isn't clear. But that's a lot of people missing for just some party drug, Zach looked towards a cracked-open door that had just opened and nearly closed again as two more people went in. Zach stepped up close to the door, and then as he took another sip from his cup he heard at the edge of his range one of the street-names for Serum. He remembered one of the drug dealers they had taken down recently in the surrounding region brought up that name during their questionings. Big shot heroes aren't going to come around places like this to stop college students from partying, even if a drug is killing them. They might have before, but things like this are getting more common now that people know pro heroes are too busy with the high villain rates. America doesn't really have an overly high an amount of villains right now though. We should move through the rest of the country fast and get back. I said a week in America, but me and Darling have been doing solo missions too much. Not enough big picture stuff happening. Zach shook his head around and he lowered his cup as he remembered hearing the street name for Serum and how one of those solo missions he had been bringing them on was currently in progress.
He turned to Darling and nodded his head twice, then he got a really drunk look on his face and leaned towards her. He started laughing, and he pushed her a bit before turning his back to the door next to him. Darling smiled big and laughed herself before pushing forward into him, making sure to shove her breasts hard into his chest which Zach pretended not to notice while getting "pushed" into the cracked-open doorway and into the next room. "Haha, and I was," he turned his head a bit and just smiled in a friendly way at the others in there with him. "Hey," he said, turning a bit while still holding an arm around Darling's shoulder.
Good. Not just those two and the guy in here. Zach was hoping it was not just the two he had last seen go into the room, and he saw some other, more carefree, people hanging out inside. There were some people on the beds as well as a girl and guy closer to the window with the guy leaning his head out and shouting along with the rapper in the backyard that the room had a good view of. Darling made sure to finish a lot of her drink already in preparation, and she looked around after getting inside with a very drunk look on her face. "Ooh," she said, letting go of Zach and walking over to a table with a bottle of liquor on it and some mixers too.
"What's up?" The guy talking to the two who Zach had last seen enter the room said and nodded towards the boy in the hood who was smiling drunkenly and in a friendly way after walking in. The room had a red tint in it from lights set up in there and since the main ones were off. There were bunk beds on the right, with a guy sitting down on it next to a couple of girls who looked up interestedly at him for a moment before turning back to the funny guy dressed like the president wearing three fake horns and everything.
"I'm Mark," Zach said. He cupped a hand up next to his mouth and added, "This room is sick."
The guy who greeted him grinned big hearing that. Zach noticed there were other decorations other than the red lights that looked to have been bought specifically for the Halloween party. The guy he just said it to started talking about the place, though he turned back to the two in front of him who started frowning as the excited room's owner had already told them about it. "Oh yeah," the guy said, losing interest in Zach quick which made Zach turn to his own girl before the guy could turn back feeling like he had to talk to him.
Zach walked to Darling and he handed her his cup as she shook the bottle of rum she was holding. He smiled as she poured it in, but he said, "Come on. I'm going to have to keep sipping this while we talk."
"It'll be fine," Darling began.
"No really," Zach started in a slightly more serious way.
Darling elbowed him. "I mean it. I didn't actually put any in my own," she handed her cup to him and then lifted his and took a sip which made her scrunch her face up at the taste of liquor. Darling leaned up while lowering the rum bottle, and she whispered to the taller boy looking at her in surprise, "I know why you won't drink. But act like you enjoy it right now, okay?" She asked with a smile, but her tone was understanding and soft.
She, understands? I never told her. I never even said it aloud to myself like something I'd never do. Is it something I wouldn't… No, I never even thought about starting. Dad. Seeing that, I probably decided back as a kid- she knew? Or just from that one look I started having, Zach smiled as he noticed someone looking towards him, and he lifted the cup she handed him and dinked the plastic against hers before taking a big sip. He felt a lot of relief as there actually was not any booze in it, and he also felt impressed at her sleight-of-hand as he had thought for sure he saw her pour rum in.
Zach watched as a drug deal casually went down in the middle of the room. It was the most casual drug deal he had ever witnessed. These are the lowest level dealers. Guys who probably don't even do it professionally, just to make some quick cash. He might've even just bought some more from his own dealer to sell this stuff to his friends at this party. Or he could be a regular dealer. Either way. Whether or not he knows anything. I'm going to, do exactly what Kaminari would. I learned from you. If you're willing to go that far… Zach lifted his drink and took another sip before making his way towards the window and then looking between the couple at it and towards Ray-V on the stage outside.
Canvas the room, Darling thought while walking after Zach Then she leaned forward to one of the girls on the bottom bunk and started saying excitedly how she loved the other girl's cat costume. The American girl in the costume looked down in surprise and then smiled up at the stranger who complimented her so nicely out of the blue. She said she liked the Asian girl's costume too, and Darling got an excited look on her face before talking about how she didn't know if she did it right being her first Halloween in the States. Within a few seconds she was in a full conversation with the three on the bunk.
Zach glanced over at Darling and shook his head with a small laugh. "So Mark, you're not in the frat huh?" Zach turned and saw the guy whose room it was looking at him with lifted eyebrows and a mock-suspicious look. Zach chuckled and scratched the back of his head, but the guy in front of him just laughed at that look and said, "I'm just messing with you bro. What are you dressed as though? I'm tryna figure it out."
Sounds a bit like Rebel. Wonder if Mica lives around here somewhere. Maybe this guy is Rebel! Zach almost laughed while responding with a planned out response avoiding the subject. The thoughts on how this guy could secretly be Rebel kept him in a good mood, better making his expression look carefree and like he was having as much fun as everyone else at the party. He didn't want it looking like he was working. He did not want anyone to know he was investigating missing persons' cases, and he needed to make friends with the guy in front of him fast.
I always knew, I could be a great actor. Next time I'm in Cali, definitely have to head to Hollywood. Maybe even put in an application! "Lifebringer stars in: Death 2- Party Town!" I could see that headline. He mentioned baseball and that poster on his wall is for the school team. It's not baseball season. Get interested. Zach started talking about baseball, then his eyes opened huge as the guy in front of him admitted he was on the school's baseball team. "Are you good- I mean, I guess if you're playing college baseball you'd have to be."
"Oh hell yeah, but I'm even better. I mean, I'm like a pro already!" Paulie put his hands on top of each other and swung like he was swinging a baseball bat. He laughed and did it again calling out the name of his favorite pro player. As he swung the imaginary bat, Zach's eyes focused more intently into his new friend's eyes for a moment. Definitely high. Is he on his own product? He should get off of this stuff. If he really is good at baseball- or just, because he's a person. A good person it seems like. Or at least, not a villain. I'll get him off Serum, scare him straight before he becomes a villain. Might be a little traumatizing though. Might be hard to trust people after this too, and it sucks when he was such an easy-going guy quick to make friends… Good thoughts! Zach's rushed thought to try and make his expression keep its fun look actually made him grin at how bad of an attempt it was at coming up with something good to think. He rushed that thought because Paulie looked back into his eyes too, and Zach agreed that the player Paulie just called out was one of his favorites.
Zach started going into baseball, one of many topics he had gathered up a large amount of information on in case of possible conversations while working as a spy. There were a lot of things in the room, at the party, and all over the place that he could use to start and continue conversations. Baseball seemed like the easiest one, but he easily bounced right off of that and onto a new topic, and then the conversation just started flowing better as he actually convinced himself he was friends with the guy he was talking to. And then the door opened and Zach found his moment as the guy he was talking to looked over his shoulder and got a reluctant look on his face.
They were too into the conversation, and Paulie looked back at Zach like he did not want to cut it off, however the guy who just walked into the room was coming right up to him. Zach looked at his new friend oddly, with a look showing he knew something was up that Paulie was being weird about yet looking at him skeptically like there was no need for him to be weird about anything. "Hold on a sec," Paulie said, and he nodded at his other friend who just came in and said to come over.
"Oh shit," Zach said with a laugh as Paulie opened a drawer near them with an open box in it. There were little vials smaller than a pinky in the box, and Zach admitted as Paulie looked to him that he had run out of his Serum the weekend before. Paulie got a huge grin on his face at the sound of that and laughed as he did not know if "Mark" was on anything. Zach asked in surprise if Paulie was on it already, and Paulie said he was while at the same time handing a vial back to his friend who gave him some cash and joined in on the conversation for a few seconds. The new guy who was an older fraternity member stared at Zach oddly for a few seconds, looking him up and down as if trying to figure out what his costume was.
A part of Zach had wanted to wear a mask to the event. He could tell already though that it would have been a lot weirder for him to be wearing a mask, considering everyone had drinks in their hands and a mask would really cut out the most important part of being at the party. The older member lifted the vial he grabbed and he downed the Serum in a shot, and then he shook his head around before lifting the corners of his lips up far. His pupils dilated and he said, "Whoa." Zach looked at him closely as the twenty-one year old got high in seconds, the drug taking effect almost instantly.
Darling looked over from the bed she was sitting on the edge of now with the girls she had made friends with. One of the girls sitting there had an uncomfortable look on her face but then laughed as the guy next to her leaned in and whispered something in her ear. The two at the window kept talking to each other, occasionally singing along with the rapper outside. Ray-V was taking a short break though, and a DJ took over the slack to put on a mix to keep the party going until the rapper's next set. Zach got offered some Serum from Paulie, but he admitted he did not have money on him and then added quick that he didn't want to be 'that guy' when others in there were paying for it. Paulie nodded at him and then winked the first chance he had that no one else was looking over, and Zach laughed as it looked like Paulie was going to give him a vial for free anyway even though he tried denying nicely.
High people are generally nicer, just because they're in great moods. Zach kept smiling and talking with Paulie, though he noticed a couple of other people walking out of the room once the DJ started his set. He might not actually be a good guy at all. Selling dangerous drugs like Serum… though, considering how new it is, there aren't any proven dangerous effects of it. Couldn't even find stuff on the internet about it. Some message boards, a few school newspapers discussing a problem, but all in this region and nothing at a big enough scale there've been scientific reports. No labs have ever been located. Police have only confiscated it as an unidentified narcotic matching Serum's description.
"So really, I'm surprised you fly. Would have thought a party like this you'd be on it for sure though," Zach nodded and grimaced but took another sip anyway as if showing he was not having a bad time despite not having Serum.
"Flying" was a slang term for using Serum, and Zach was glad he had heard the term before though he figured he would have understood it in context. "I don't do it too often but I love the shit," Zach explained.
"Who's your dealer?"
Zach got a bit of a hesitant look on his face. Paulie's eyes widened and he went, "Yo don't worry about it. We just met and all, I get it." Zach looked like he did not want to give up his dealer's name to another dealer who might be his competition, but he also looked hesitant about looking that way since he had gotten to know Paulie pretty well. His new friend saw that it became awkward though and was quick to let his buddy Mark know that it was all good. Zach chuckled and scratched the back of his head over his hood in an apologetic way then added that his guy wasn't as good as Paulie at least, since he didn't have any more for him by tonight.
As Zach started talking more about Serum with his new dealer friend, Darling had gotten up to talk to the people at the window. She was wobbly on her feet, and although she was smiling and being friendly, she was being overly friendly. The people on the bed had just mentioned going back downstairs to get up to the front near the stage before Ray-V's next set, and Darling did not want to be offered to go along with so she had made herself another drink before going to the couple at the window. The group on the bed split up, with the guy staying on his mattress and leaning back on the wall after pulling himself more underneath the top bunk. He took in a deep breath and looked to need to calm down a bit, which Zach noticed out the corner of his eye when Paulie turned towards him and asked why he wasn't going with "Cherry."
The college girl at the window saw Darling get a little too close to her man, and though Darling made it out as an accident, Darling looked very good in her cat costume. It was not her fault, and she continued laughing and calling out how the DJ was great, but now the girl on her right side was giving her boyfriend a shifty look because of the way he had looked at the beautiful girl who bumped him. His gaze shifted to his girlfriend who he noticed looking, and he realized the best way out of it. He looked at Darling when she wasn't looking at either of them, and he rolled his eyes with a smirk back at his girl who smiled as they both started making fun of the stupidly drunk girl between them. And as soon as they both got to making fun of her, it became annoying when Darling turned back and started talking to them again as they could not keep up their teases but could not show to their partner they were having a normal conversation with this person they both just silently agreed was weird. Darling leaned towards the window again, and the girl said behind her how they were heading out. Darling just bobbed her head back and forth while still staring out, and the couple behind her laughed at how oblivious she was.
The couple walked out and Paulie glanced back towards Darling who was still singing with the DJ's song outside. She actually had a pretty good singing voice, and Paulie grinned as she was getting the rhythm and words right. He glanced back towards the bottom bunk, then to Mark who was actually in the middle of talking to him about the cool party he had been at the weekend before. "Hey," Paulie said, cupping a hand to his mouth and speaking quieter to his new friend who grinned big while cutting himself off. Zach laughed as Paulie motioned back towards his drawer, "I have been having the greatest night on this stuff. I don't know if it's a new batch or something, but it just feels better- or, well I said the same thing on Wednesday night. Hahaha…"
"Hahaha…" the guy on the bed laughed along and Paulie looked towards him with a grin. "That shit was tight," his buddy agreed. The guy on the bottom bunk laughed a couple more times and took some deep breaths, then he scooted back to the edge of the bed and looked to the black-haired guy in a hood behind Paulie. He had not focused on the teen much before, and he was surprised as he looked a bit young. Then again, he laughed to himself, because he remembered he could never correctly guess the age of any Asians he had met before. He looks pretty Asian, right? "Hey you- I mean, I'm Ted-"
"Call 'im Teddy Cruiseship!" Paulie cut in, spinning around and saying it to Mark who laughed and asked Ted why he should call him that.
Ted groaned as Paulie started going into the story about their spring break cruise where Teddy Cruiseship got his name after getting a bit too drunk one night. Neither of the young men who shared the room noticed Darling walking to the door that was still partially opened after the last two left. She had looked like she was on path to go get another drink, but she reached the door and shut it while Paulie was in his drawer and Teddy started saying how it was a great night. Zach grinned, but his smile was lower now than before. In the corner of his eyes he saw Darling look towards him and nod, right after she had locked the door.
"That was a dope night," Paulie agreed with a laugh, while pulling out a vial and turning to Mark. "Not as great as this one though. I've been waiting for us to get someone as big as Ray-V for years. And the party's just getting started…" Paulie noticed Mark was not smiling anymore. The mood was gone. The laughter the three of them were sharing almost immediately cut off. And in the corner of Ted's eyes, he suddenly noticed the window on his right was closed. It had been open the last time he looked, but Darling had only closed it a few seconds ago when they were all loud in there and the music outside had gotten so loud that it would not be muffled much by the closed window. The music had gone down a bit though, and the laughter had stopped.
Zach looked into Paulie's eyes, and he leaned his head forward a bit so the shadow of his hood cast over the top of his eyes. "Your night's about to get a lot worse."
"Ha-" Paulie made out a single laugh. He had a brief thought that he was being pranked, or that it was a joke, but he failed at convincing himself and his laugh got caught in his throat. His right hand lowered with the Serum in it, and he opened his eyes wide as he saw Darling stepping away from his locked door. "You serious? Are you- robbing me?" He darted his eyes down and saw Mark's left hand was in his hoodie's front pocket. Ted stared in front of the bed he was sitting on with his eyes opened huge at the confrontation of the two right in front of him.
Paulie was not a small guy. He was muscular, five foot ten but broad at the shoulders, and a college athlete. He started grinding his teeth in anger, and steam started coming out of his shoulders. Zach whipped out a knife from his pocket and pointed it forward so fast that the blade was inches from Paulie's neck. Paulie froze, and then his eyes darted to the left of Mark where the girl behind him had risen her right arm to show a gun at the end of it. There was a black pistol not held in her hand, but replacing her hand, and she aimed it straight at Ted whose eyes bulged as he caught the movement in the corner of his vision. Ted started turning and his mouth opened wide, only to freeze that way as the cute girl in a cat costume lifted her other hand to her mouth and put her index finger in front of her smiling lips. "Shh," Darling shushed him, and Ted very slowly closed his mouth.
"Alright," Paulie started. His shoulders stopped steaming, his attempt at threatening the two would-be robbers going much more poorly than he thought it would just from the looks of them. "I'll get you all-"
"Shut up," Zach said. He said it in a short, dark voice and then he pulled back his knife a bit to give the dealer some room. "Get out your phone," Zach ordered. Paulie stared at the teen in front of him in a confused way, but he gulped and then reached down to his pocket. He looked towards the door and wished someone would come try and get in, but he did not know what he would even do if someone started knocking right now. "Don't make me repeat myself, mother fucker," Zach growled.
Paulie's eyes opened huge at how threatening that voice sounded. Ted stared up at the teen who said that too, and he started breathing heavier than he already was with a gun pointed at him. He noticed the girl in the corner of his vision lowering her gun though, and he darted his gaze back to her and then to Paulie's scary young friend again.
"Beat their asses up, Zach," Darling said from closer to the door, speaking Japanese and making the boy she just spoke to frown.
Maybe she wasn't faking it all, he realized, glancing back at the girl who he remembered was actually drinking some alcohol. "Are you drunk?" He asked her in a serious tone in Japanese, which meant he could have been telling her to keep her gun up and aimed at the guys who had no idea what they were talking about. Zach looked back at Paulie and glared at him, and he reached up his right hand and pulled his hood off letting his black hair get all messy and wavy around his head.
"Your dealer," Zach said, and Paulie's eyes shot open huge as the thing Mark acted all awkward about before since they had just met was actually what he was planning on pulling the whole time. It made Paulie start grinding his teeth in anger again, and he was feeling more confident than ever with the Serum still rushing through him. It made him feel like the ideas he had were all good ones, and the ideas he was having right now revolved around beating up the strange foreigners in his room.
Teddy Cruiseship pulled back on his bottom bunk though. He was sweating profusely, and after hearing that Asia-speak, he pushed his hands down on the bed next to him and pulled away. "I- I know you," Ted gasped out. Paulie glanced his way and suddenly all his ideas of fighting back were destroyed at the scared-shitless look on his roommate's face.
Paulie had his phone pulled back. He looked hesitant about snitching, even after seeing Ted's scared look and the knife still in front of him. Paulie could see the girl Mark just talked to looking hesitant herself about something back near the door, and she took the hand she used to shush Ted and breathed into it to smell her own breath. What the fuck, is happening right now? "I'm not, no snitch-"
"I am not kidding about this," Zach started, and he let his Japanese accent show through more as he figured it would be more intimidating. He intentionally had his voice lowered, and he moved the knife he had held up back closer to Paulie's neck which the dealer pulled away from while stepping back. Paulie's right foot bumped into his dresser behind him and startled him at the feeling which made him move quickly. Darling snapped her gun arm up towards him, and Zach took two steps forward and bent his right arm while getting right up in Paulie's face and pulling the knife up to his throat. Paulie did not make any sudden movements, just stared down at Mark with a terrified look in his eyes as he felt the knife blade touch his neck for a second before pulling back to keep less than an inch between it and his skin.
"D-Dude listen to him," Ted said in a panicked, rushed voice. "He's fucking serious," Ted's eyes were shaking, and Paulie darted his eyes over to see Ted scooting farther back onto his bottom bunk. "Th-That's the Japanese kid, the one who went on a rampage and slaughtered a bunch of villains." Paulie's shaking eyes started shifting back to the face he knew he recognized from somewhere. To the scar beneath his right eye, to the split on his left ear, to the horribly dark eyes staring back into his. Ted gasped out in a whisper as Paulie met Zach's eyes again, "Dude, it's Lifebringer."
"Call your dealer," Zach said. He stepped back and lowered his knife a bit, but he kept glaring into Paulie's eyes which made the older boy nod his head quickly to listen to anything this terrifying kid told him.
Lifebringer?! Paulie thought in terror while raising up his phone so fast he almost threw it at the ceiling. It bobbled in his hands and he failed at opening it up three times in a row before taking a breath and typing in his passcode slower. Wh-What is he doing at our house? Why is he here? "Wh-What do you want me to say?" Paulie asked while hesitating over the contact information for his Serum dealer.
"I want you to calm down first," Zach said, his voice getting calmer itself and his knife lowering to his side. "It's very simple," Zach said. He kept his voice loud to speak over the music outside, and then he brought his knife up when there was a knock at the door behind them. Ted froze and turned his head towards the door, only to freeze as the girl in a cat costume turned her gun on him and shook her head. "Don't say a word," Zach warned Paulie when he darted his eyes to the door. "I don't want to hurt you," Zach added. "But Serum has been making people go missing. Thirty in the past two months." Paulie started staring at the kid speaking in a low voice to him too quiet for anyone outside the door to hear. "You're going to help me stop whatever is going on. If you do not, things will go very, very badly for you."
Paulie gulped and Ted spun back to his roommate and started whispering towards him to stay quiet. Darling grinned as the guy she threatened started trying to calm his friend who had looked to her more like he might respond to whoever was trying to get in his room. The person outside apparently decided that Paulie and Ted had left their room and locked it behind them, because there were no more knocks despite there still being a lot of noise coming from out in the hall. They were in the middle of a huge party, but the four of them were isolated from the hundreds of other people there. "What do you want me to do?" Paulie asked nervously.
"You will call him," Zach began. "You will tell him that you have run out. That there were a lot of people here who wanted Serum, and many more who still want some. If he says he cannot come right now, then tell him you rose the prices for tonight only and people are still buying because of low supply. Offer him twice as much for the same amount." Zach glared into Paulie's eyes and then said in a lower tone, "I do not plan on arresting or hurting your dealer either. Just as I did not hurt the person who told me who you were." Paulie's eyes shot open huge and he felt an anger welling inside him, though no longer focused towards the scary Japanese teen in front of him.
Who fucking snitched on me?! As betrayed as Paulie felt, he also looked back down at his phone and started frowning while looking at his dealer's contact information. "He'll know I snitched," Paulie began.
"He won't care," Zach said. He stared into Paulie's eyes and said, "Because he'll be telling me who gives him his stuff too. He'll be so much more worried about them, higher up in the line, that he will not be focusing on you."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ted whispered from the bed he scooted back to the edge of. "People going missing, and, are you like infiltrating the… Oh man," Ted's eyes shot open wide, and then the small knowing grin that started to appear wiped from his face as Zach looked out the corners of his eyes towards him. "Are you- is this- oh man, oh fuck!" Zach glared harder at him and Ted froze with his mouth open. He gulped and he started breathing faster and faster, while thinking in terror, Is Lifebringer, is he really, people said he might be- in that- he's a terrorist?! Is he one of those Death guys?!
Zach snapped his gaze back to Paulie and he snarled, "Do it. Now." There was no room for argument in Zach's voice, and he was done having a conversation about this. He glared at Paulie and then lifted his right hand up and slid his fingers out of the black glove he was wearing. Rumors, news stories, an occasional conversation, they were all Paulie had ever heard about Lifebringer. They were some pretty crazy things, but he had other things to do, more important things to care about than some kid across the world. He did know the name of the kid's Quirk though, and the thought of Death made Paulie call his dealer and start taking deep breaths as the phone rang. Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't mess up.
I really hope he doesn't screw this up. I might've scared him too much already. Well, if it works it will be worth it. Remember Paulie, anyone could snitch on you. Don't be a drug dealer anymore. Zach thought about the doubt he cast in Paulie's mind even about just being a low level dealer like he had appeared to be. The fact that Paulie was this quick to call up his own dealer too even to give to someone who was clearly going after drug dealers also showed Zach that he was bottom tier. Zach watched Paulie carefully and with his fingers continuously out of his glove. He did not move his hand closer to Paulie at all during the call, as it might make the student more nervous and mess up in his conversation which could spook his dealer. He also did not lower it as he did not want Paulie to calm down too much and try warning the drug dealer about what was coming for him.
Lifebringer's here, Ted thought with sweat all over his face. What the hell is he doing here? Is he a terrorist? One of the Death dudes? Oh man I am freaking out. Is this a hallucination? I've gotta cool it on the Serum. I heard somewhere you get badass trips if you do it enough, but fuck this! No way this is a hallucination, Ted reminded himself as the girl over near the door started muttering to herself before glaring his way and raising her gun. He gulped, and she gulped while looking back at him.
Am I drunk? Is Zach mad that I drank too much? I didn't even notice! I thought I just poured a little in, but I didn't want anyone around me thinking I was trying to hold back for some reason so I- He would know if I'm drunk wouldn't he? Oh my God, he must hate me! What did I do?! I can't believe I did something so stupid!
Ted was desperately trying not to freak out as the girl pointing a gun towards him was scrunching her face up and getting tears in her eyes. Zach turned from Paulie and said to the girl Ted was looking at in a really scared way, "It's fine Darling." Then he asked her louder in English, "You got some Serum?"
"I've been looking for some," Darling replied back with a big smile back on her face. She wiped her eyes fast and then looked back to Ted who was so weirded out by the girl that he did not actually feel any better despite her expression looking a bit more stable.
Paulie looked nervously at Zach and Darling as they said those things, but then his look got darker and he nodded at what the voice over the phone just said. Zach saw Paulie's look start getting dark, and he called out with a completely stern expression but in a fun voice, "Hey Paulie, you getting more?" Zach's eyes were cold and after saying it his lips curled down with his teeth flashing for a brief second clenched in anger.
Paulie stared into Zach's eyes with his own huge, and he responded to the dealer on the line with him, "As soon as you can. Yeah, yeah behind the house in the back lot… Alright, see you in a few. Text me when you're here," Paulie lowered his phone and his thumb hesitated over the end call button, then he pressed down and lifted his gaze back to Zach's. "I did what you asked, now can I-"
Zach stepped forward and held his right hand out with his fingers back in his glove. Paulie got a confused look on his face, and Zach said, "Your phone."
"Dude, don't take-"
"You think this is a game?" Zach asked. Paulie's annoyed look wiped from his face and his eyes opened huge again at the terrifying look spreading over the younger boy's. He was quick to hand his phone to the kid, and Zach put the phone down in his sweatshirt pocket fast and then his knife too. Then Zach lifted his eyes and stared into Paulie's in his menacing way, and he stepped towards him which made Paulie step back and start rambling how he did what Zach asked. "I was never here," Zach said. Paulie froze with his mouth half-open, and Ted looked over from the bed too to see Zach look towards him as well.
"If anyone ever knows," Zach continued. "If even the smallest rumors come out that I was here, like if you tell a single friend and they tell a couple of their friends… all of the drug dealers in the region will know it was the two of you who snitched."
"Me?" Ted asked in a scared voice.
"You can't-" Paulie started, his eyes widening in terror at the idea of everyone finding out it was them.
"Shh sh sh," Darling stepped closer towards them and she lifted her lips into a crazed grin which made the two looking towards her get a lot more nervous. "As long as you keep your mouths shut, no one will ever know. Especially not the heroes who we would tell all about your drug business."
"I don't have a-" Paulie started.
"I haven't done anything-" Ted began at the same time.
Zach glared towards Ted and cut him off, "If people find out I was here, then you did." Ted's bottom lip dropped at that threat. The idea of both heroes and villains coming after the two of them had both college students scared silent. And then while they were silent, Zach pressed his right hand into his chest with his fingers sliding out of his glove. A black aura spread around his body, and Ted yelped only to cover his mouth with both hands as Darling pointed her pistol towards him. Paulie held his breath and could not yelp if he wanted to as the kid in front of him turned into a dark monster with his bones barely visible through the thick veil, with red eyes boring into his own in the most horrifying way.
Zach's voice was dark, low, scratchy and overlapping with his normal voice. "It was all a hallucination of Serum. And you two aren't going to do any more of that drug anyway. You will not sell it, you will not buy it, and I'll never have to see you again." Zach's red eyes glared into Paulie's, "You will not speak a word of this to anyone. As much as you might want to," he added with a glare over at Ted who covered his mouth harder and started nodding his head fast at the terrifying kid. "I do not want to come back here." Zach stepped away from Paulie and he tapped his chest with his right hand again. He turned away from the college boys without another word. He turned confidently and without any worry of retaliation, and neither of the others even thought about trying to attack him while they were trying their hardest to control their bladders.
Zach picked up his red solo cup that he placed down on the table when Paulie first turned to his dresser to get more Serum. "Dump the rest of it down the toilet or something," Zach said over his shoulder as he remembered the drugs still in the dresser. He did not think he really needed to say anything to keep Paulie from selling any more Serum, but it was all for good measure. Zach smiled in a fake way while lifting up his red cup, and then his eyes narrowed and he said in a darker voice, "What's my name?"
Ted's jaw dropped and he tried calling out fast to answer correctly, but then his face covered in sweat as his response would have been wrong. "Mark," Paulie responded correctly, and he gulped at the nod Zach gave him at his response. Ted was very glad he did not call out "Death" as he was about to, and he screamed at himself in his head never to say a word about this if Mark really was who he thought.
Zach unlocked the door and turned back to Darling with a smile on his face. "Here," she said, reaching up and grabbing his hood, putting it on his head for him while he had one hand on his red cup and the other on the doorknob.
"Haha, thanks," Zach said while opening the door and stepping out in the hall with her. Darling looked back into the room one last time in a menacing way herself before flipping her expression and stepping out after Zach. She slammed the door shut behind her a little harder than she needed to, just for good measure. Then she looked up and saw Zach taking in deep breaths after all that. He glanced down at her face and saw a semi-nervous look back on it again. "Don't take any more sips on our way out. We're good with…" Zach glanced down at Darling's cup that she moved down to her opposite side as him in an embarrassed way. "It's empty?" Zach asked with his right eyebrow raised.
"I'm sorry," Darling said with her gaze lowering and her lips pursing. "The mixers made it so I could barely taste it- and the rum was flavored anyway so it actually was good, and I didn't notice. Don't hate me-"
Zach lifted his left hand and put it around her head onto her opposite shoulder. He started walking with her and smiled, and he said in the carefree tone of someone enjoying a party, "I could never hate you. Okay?" Darling remembered she had to keep that expression on her face too, and she brought it back to her face though fake as she could not tell if Zach meant what he just said or if they were just acting. His hand squeezed a bit on her shoulder though as they headed down the hall, and Zach added while leaning down to her ear like the music was too loud, "Really. You did great back there."
Darling smiled brightly and she turned to Zach and said in an excited way, "We were so in sync. That was like- bam! They had no idea what hit them!"
"Haha, ha," Zach chuckled but he still felt bad about what they had just done. I didn't need to scare them so much. Even if they do talk, people would think they were just hallucinating. Though I guess now after showing them Nightmare, it'll definitely sound more like a bad trip. Maybe they'll believe it themselves, though hopefully not since I don't want them talking about it even as a joke. Plus, I want them to remember it. Get their shit straight. Focus on school and baseball Paulie, you don't seem like you need the money too badly. Or find a better job. Zach felt a buzz in his pocket while he and Darling were walking down the stairwell. He lifted up Paulie's phone and saw a text message on the screen. He had watched Paulie type in his passcode, and he opened the phone up himself and started texting back while he and Darling made their ways back towards the front door of the house.
The two of them headed out and they started around the building to a parking lot behind it. They could hear Ray-V in the backyard they were walking around the back fence, and the two of them kept talking and nodding their heads for the people on the streets or hanging out around the outside of the house. Some cars drove by on the street to their right as they walked on the grass, and Zach said to the girl next to him as he spotted a car waiting behind the house with a single man in it, "Get in the back ten seconds after me." Zach let go of Darling and started walking towards the car still with his hood up. He sent a text message as he approached, and he became fully confident it was the right car as the man in the driver's seat looked down as a light illuminated in his lap.
Zach sent, 'I'm here,' so when the man lifted his head and saw a figure in all black walking up to his car he did not get too nervous. Zach walked to the passenger seat and opened the door, and he got in and then turned to the man next to him who opened his eyes wide that it was not Paulie who just sat next to him. "Hey, sorry," Zach lifted his left hand and took his hood off still with Paulie's phone in his grip. The phone was on and turned to the text message conversation which showed the confused driver who darted his eyes to it that this was the person he was texting. "Paulie's girlfriend got all mad at him and he sent me out 'cause she wouldn't let him go on his-"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Mark," Zach began slowly, lifting an eyebrow at the driver's harsh tone like he was being weird about this. "Really, he gave me the money and said to get- hey cool down," Zach told the guy, lifting his left hand as an open palm so he would not freak out even as the back door behind his seat opened up. "It's my girl," Zach started, while a girl in a cat costume climbed into the back. "I thought I said to wait outside," Zach said with an annoyed voice while looking into the back.
The driver had his head turned looking over his shoulder, but he spun to 'Mark' in annoyance and started, "Tell Paulie this isn't-"
Cold steel pressed up to the side of the dealer's neck between the head cushion of the driver's seat and the back. The boy he was talking to lost his friendly look, and he reached his left hand out and grabbed the dealer by the arm. "Listen to the girl, Drex."
"Start driving," the 'girl' who 'Mark' just mentioned said in the backseat.
Zach pulled a knife with his right hand and he lowered it down to the driver's right thigh. He pressed the flat of the blade on the man's leg. The man was in his mid-twenties, and he turned back towards Zach after looking like he might try and bolt out of the driver's side door. He stared at the kid and his eyes were huge at the serious look on the teen's face, as well as a dark look yet with the right corner of his lip lifted up. "Right where my knife is touching, is a soft part of your leg with a very big artery in it. The femoral artery. It bleeds a lot, and none of the drunk people here would be able to stop the bleeding."
Now that he's thoroughly scared. "Start driving, Drex. You're going to take me to whoever sold you your Serum." Zach's lips twisted up more as he changed his script and what he was going with, "Because this is my territory now. You're either going to get with the program, or things are about to go very badly for you." Keep it vague. Already he has a few terrible things in mind that could happen, Zach turned the blade a bit to get the sharp edge pressing on the scared driver's thigh, but he flattened it out again in case the man started fidgeting or got too jumpy during the drive. "Do you understand?" Zach asked. He lifted his left hand from the man's arm up to his chin and nodded his head for him. "Good. Now do what I say, and you'll get out of tonight alive…"
A/N Thanks for reading! Zach and Darling team up on a trip across America, going to parties and mingling with college students... bribing security guards and cops... and taking down meth labs and threatening drug dealers to find their dealers! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review telling me what you think or predictions for the coming chapter. Zach's seventeen years old now, as we reach November (couple days after Halloween I mentioned in here). So I know the story's slowed down a bit from all the huge plot developments that happened in the 80s and early 90s, but it can't all be plot twists and huge character changes. One thing I regret about Death so far is how I think I rushed getting Zach to VTS. I didn't want to show what he was doing with the villains so that I could gradually reveal that more through the following chapters, but I wished I had put in more development about it so the connection with Dabi, Toga, and the others had seemed a bit more genuine. I felt like I managed to show it pretty well, but revealing everything through flashbacks isn't always my fav way of doing things. Like I skipped through the summer, then gave Cee her flashbacks, and I liked doing that because while I was skipping I didn't know who she was going to be, just that two people were going to have joined Zach already by Hawaii when Rebel teamed up. Sometimes wish I had done certain things in order though and that it's because I write at such a fast pace that I often miss things I could have put in chronologically but now have to show in flashback. So I do have these big arcs and stuff planned out and coming, and if you guys aren't into too much of missions and character developments and just want to see plot twists and huge world events, maybe wait a couple chapters and then binge 4-5 in a row. It's a big story I'm writing though, and again I'll say I'm not close to the end yet. Just a bit of a ramble here^ gonna hold off on review responses today. Again, thanks everyone for reviewing, reading, faving, and following this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and leave a review below telling me what you think/ questions, predictions, etc! 'Til tomorrow!