Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 104:

Zach Sazaki let out a long breath and stared through the fog as it slowly rose in front of his face. His breath pushed through the white mask he had on over the bottom half of his face, and it was hot enough that it melted some of the snowflakes falling past him diagonally and then horizontally as a fast breeze flew into him. Zach stood firm even on the steep slant, and he stared up through the snowfall with goggles on that tinted everything a bit darker than the white surrounding him. He had on a thick winter-jacket, heavy waterproof pants, boots with spikes on the front of the toes, and he had thick gloves on his hands that were wrapped around the hilts of pickaxes. He leaned up and slammed an ice pick into the even steeper slant above him, then he rose his right foot and jammed it above where it had just been stuck in the snow. "We're almost at the top. Stay frosty."

"Now that was a bit better a use of that phrase," Grabble said while climbing up down below Zach thirty feet. He had his climbing gear down at his side, as he had yet to reach the steeper part he was going to need them for again. The man with a hood pushed high up because of the pincers sticking out of his skull had missed out on joking about this with everyone else as he had passed-out after Zach brought him back to life in Saudi Arabia, and he had woken up in a humvee on the way north to Gorran. Grabble had heard about it though from the others in the vehicle who joked about it to him as they had felt bad he missed out because he died. "It works as a pun here too," Grabble added with a smile below the white mask he had on to keep the bottom half of his face warm.

I knew that, Zach thought, though he did not smile even as he felt a bit glad that someone got it. It's a long trek from the helicopters, but we couldn't get too close without announcing our arrival. I know everyone has to be hating this right now, but just hang in there a bit longer. We'll be inside soon. Zach's eyes got darker behind his goggles while he climbed faster towards the edge of the mountain he saw up above. The high-tech goggles told him the altitude in the top-right corner of them, and the yellow numbers were almost at the set altitude shown below them from what Zach set earlier as the target elevation they had to reach.

Down the mountain slope, close to the bottom of the team of 15 Army of Death members climbing the mountain, Cee stood near an edge of a narrow ledge out of the mountainside everyone before her had jumped to. She had jumped to it as well, but the ground felt unstable beneath her when she landed. "Careful," Cee said back to the girl in all white heavy clothing behind her. The younger girl by one year ignored Cee, looking up the mountain slope with a frown on her face behind her mask as she heard Zach's voice in her ear but was so far she could not even see him up through the snow.

Darling looked forward and she took a running start and leapt for the ledge behind Cee who was starting to turn forward again to continue up the mountain. The blonde darted her head back though as Darling came down, because they both heard cracking sounds beneath her feet. The ice broke, and Darling rose up her arms quickly trying to turn them into ice picks again. Her eyes opened wide behind her goggles in panic as she was not transforming fast enough, and she just opened her hands up in mid-transformation so they were part steel already but not yet in a different shape. She dug her fingers into the new ledge of the ice, and her fingers dragged through the ice while her legs fell off so she started hanging off over a hundred foot drop.

"Ah! Death! Zach!" Darling's right hand came off after the first shout, then she called his real name as her other hand slipped through the ice.

An arm reached down and grabbed Darling around her left sleeve when her arm had just come off. Darling jolted and her eyes opened wide while she snapped her head up, only it was not Zach who was right above her with a strained look in her eyes through her goggles. Cee had her body tensed with her other arm reached back above her with her pick slammed into the wall, and she dug her feet down hard while trying not to put too much of her weight on the new edge she doubted was very stable. "Got you!" Cee called out through her strained voice, and then she groaned and started yanking up which made Darling reach up her right arm too and grab hold to try and make it easier.

"Let me assist you," the man who had been taking up the rear and was behind Darling back on the ledge rose his arms and took a spear off of his back. He reached it forward and carefully put the spearhead down beneath the bottom of Darling's boots, then he rose up in a slow movement without much of a struggle, yet strong enough that Darling felt herself getting lifted without issue. Cee yanked her back onto herself and higher up on the ledge as soon as Darling was high enough so they could get away from the still cracking ice.

"Everyone okay down there?" Zach asked, looking down the sharp slope of the mountain below him with a nervous look in his eyes. Darling, be careful. I, I can't bring you back! His heart had started pounding at her shout of his name, but the others' voices down there had him calming down a bit. "Darling?" Zach asked.

"She's fine," Cee said, while rolling the girl on top of her off so they were both flat on their backs in the snow on the slant. Cee turned and looked towards the man behind them who pulled his spear back and strapped it over his back again. The man put the spear right over the huge white shield he had strapped to his back as well, and he was wearing much heavier clothes than the rest of them including a knight's helmet over his warm winter mask. "Thanks, Exodus."

"We must continue on," he said, and instead of jumping the gap he just stared at the two of them through the thin slit-visor of his helmet.

Cee nodded back towards the man who was told to take up the rear and would not continue himself until they were going again. "Let's go," Cee said, turning to Darling who looked back at her and hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. The two girls started moving again in the path after the man in front of them who had stopped and was looking back down to see if they were fine.

"Don't rush, keep quiet, but get up here quickly." Zach ordered while continuing his climb.

"It's hard to see."

"Snow's getting thicker."

"Deeper too."

"Hey, less ice at least-"

"Stay off the comms," Zach added. "I'm going to do a quick check of the ledge we're approaching. Make sure it's clear. Everyone stop at the set elevation, we'll establish breaching plans from there."

"Understood, sir," Exodus said from the lowest point on the train of soldiers.

Zach nodded his head and he put his ice picks down to his waist before speeding up the snowy slope in full winter-camo.

As Zach raced up to the edge to get a quick look around before putting any of his men in danger, all the others below him sped up too not wanting him to get caught in a fight on his own up there. Cee and Darling jogged up the slope themselves, occasionally using their hands for quick handholds if it got to steep. Darling glanced to her side a couple of times, and then she leaned in so she could stay off the comms but still say, "Thanks."

Cee shook her head and continued up the slope. "Be more careful," Cee said to the girl who frowned a bit at that response but then nodded back at her older comrade. Cee looked straight back up and continued climbing, and she shivered as she felt some snow get underneath the glove on her right hand. She wanted to pause for a second and take her hand out to get the snow away before the inside of her glove got wet, but she knew getting her glove back on after that would be an even more difficult measure, and she did not have the time to spare.

The man ahead of Cee and Darling glanced to his left and down at the woman about to reach him on his climb. "I bet whoever gets up there first is the one who cares about Death more," Mikey said while leaning towards them. His breath hung in front of his white mask, and the girls rushing by him just glanced his way before continuing their climb. Cee shook her head in annoyance, but then she rolled her eyes as Darling sped up more so they were not side by side anymore. "You're getting left behind Cee," Mikey said while climbing up behind the girl with heavy white pants, yet still his eyes lingered and Cee got an even more annoyed look on her face at his voice right behind her. "You don't want him thinking you're-"

Cee turned her head, and she said in a calm voice, "If I use my Quirk on you right now, you'd fall right off the mountain. Everyone would think you were just being stupid and fell on your own." Cee turned back forward and continued up the slope.

Mikey gulped but a big smirk crossed his face and he said while looking back at Exodus below him, "I think she likes me."

"You are wasting time. I will carry you if you fall behind too far."

Mikey's eyes opened wide and he turned forward as the man behind him did not sound to be joking at all. He started rushing up the slope with a sweatdrop on the side of his face, and he shivered as that sweat almost froze while dripping down. Everybody's so serious. I'm staying frosty, don't worry. Just trying to enjoy myself too. This is pretty fucking cool after all. Mikey's arms started covering in warmer fur, and he removed his gloves and shoved them into the pocket of his heavy white jacket. Claws extended from his fingers, his teeth extended a bit, and he dropped down onto his hands to start bear-crawling up the mountain faster. He passed Cee again and then raced by Darling, stumbled in the snow and reached his hands up to dig them down hard, shivered through sharp teeth, then he grinned his bigger teeth and kept racing up with the top half of his body transformed into the last animal he had touched. He was not entirely a grizzly bear, but he had gained some characteristics and no longer felt as cold even after taking his gloves off and sticking his claws into the snow.

"Slow down, Michael," Pastor said with a glance to his left as the younger man stumbled in the snow and almost started sliding down the slope again.

"Exodus told me to speed up though," Mikey said with a look to his right. He grinned his sharp teeth but then stopped after a second as he realized his mask made it so the religious man next to him actually could not see his smug look. "Also it's Mikey. Michael sounds-"

"Michael was God's strongest archangel," Pastor said while continuing his climb up the mountain in the middle of the Alps. The man originally from Switzerland, the only man actually from the country they were currently climbing a mountain in, turned to the younger man again and continued to the surprised figure, "I believe Michael sounds much more fitting. Mikey, makes you sound like a ninja turtle. It is a bit childish."

Cee lifted a hand and put it over her white mask, and she did not even care that she got some of the snow on her glove on it. Pastor had been speaking a bit loudly, and everyone on the train pursed their lips. Even Zach at the top of the slope looking around through night-vision binoculars cracked a smile. Only Exodus at the rear did not smile, just nodding his head in agreement with Pastor and continuing his climb after Cee.

"You know," Mikey started. "That's a great point. Thanks Father, hey guys! Call me Michael for now on!"

Cee's smile dropped down as instead of getting embarrassed, Mikey just went with it completely. She opened her mouth to criticize and say that he was immature enough that a ninja turtle's name fit better, but Exodus spoke up first, "A fine choice, Michael."

Michael's smile went away as did everyone else's in the train. Zach had just opened his mouth to remind them to be quiet in case there was need for actual important information to be passed around, but Exodus did a good job at killing the mood there. He just lowered his binoculars and put them back in his pack before saying in a low voice, "I see two guards patrolling this side of the summit. It's a wide area though, and neither are coming this far to the edge or down. I'm crawling back to the set altitude." Zach was prone on the edge of the summit, a high enough point he just climbed to that he could see through the snowstorm with his goggles that had thermal vision as well as night.

Zach retreated to the ledge he was glad was pretty flat and wide enough that his comrades were already gathering there despite it being a few feet off from the height they had coordinated beforehand. He crouched in the snow, and others got low with him and started getting more serious looks on their faces as the climb was over. Soldiers in white camouflage came up one by one over the edge and stayed close together. Some of them had on large backpacks with equipment packed into them. Some also had rifles with Arctic camo, as well as silencers attached at the end of the barrels. Zach waited until the fifteenth member had climbed up, and he nodded at the man with a shield on his back who nodded back after finishing his climb as the rear-guard.

"Fillian, keep a lookout while we set up," Zach said to his right at a thin man who was almost as short as their shortest member which was currently Darling. The man nodded back at Zach and rose up his rifle, and he closed his eyes while pressing his left hand forward away from his gun and into the gentle slope Zach had just slid back down to reach them. A pulse only Fillian could see rippled out in his mind in the darkness he saw with his eyes closed. In the darkness he saw the fifteen of them with white silhouettes that glowed and had small beating brighter white parts in their chests, two beating hearts for one of them which Fillian rose his eyebrows at the sight of as this was new information to him.

Fillian tried not to be distracted by Pastor's second heart, and he continued watching as his pulse expanded up onto the summit and across a hundred meter radius around his body. There were no other heat signatures below them on the slope, but he spotted two figures in his Radar which confirmed what Zach had seen himself. Fillian kept his eyes closed even as those figures faded in his dark vision that surrounded everything for a hundred meters around him. Another pulse came out of his body as the ten second interval ended, and he kept track of the guards' positions while Zach started speaking quietly to the others at the staging point.

"Infiltrate the base, take everyone down. Sounds simple enough." Theo glanced to his right at Mikey, now Michael, who nodded in agreement with a smirk on his face visible now as he had pulled his white mask down a bit.

"Just like Varellia all over again," Michael said smugly.

Zach turned towards him and looked his comrade seriously in the eyes through their goggles. He shook his head at Michael and the man whose face was lightly covered in fur lowered his smile down a bit. "Don't get cocky," Zach warned. Varellia was a mission that had gone well without any losses, and Zach frowned as he wanted to believe things would go that well but did not want his people feeling over-confident about it. They were all speaking English no matter where they came from, they were all armed and wearing heavy clothing, and they all gained more serious looks on their faces though Michael lifted his mask to cover his mouth with as he was about to keep grinning anyway.

"This lair of evil," Exodus began to the young man he was down on one knee across the circle from. "Will be crushed beneath our might."

It would have sounded funny if the man was being sarcastic or trying to make a joke. Zach just stared at him and then nodded after a second. He takes this super seriously. I've never seen anyone as into it. He calls it a "crusade," and he treats me like a general, president… It's actually pretty nice. I thought it would get on my nerves, but he gets most of the others acting a lot more serious. Zach stopped after a single nod and then he looked around the group in front of him, "You might feel like it's funny, calling it an evil lair, but here's what we know. The villains here are funded by a wealthy businessman in Saudi Arabia who survived Mongoloid's invasion by siding with him. He was weeded out for this, and an investigation into his affairs revealed a lot of other shady practices before Mongoloid's invasion. The new democratic Saudi government got in touch with us in secret to let us know about this location after he told them all about it while they were torturing him for information." Zach paused, and then he continued, "He tried getting a plea deal for himself by giving away some things, but the stuff he started admitting to got the government to switch to torture fast which revealed a lot more."

Cee started in a low voice, "We should get on that." Zach looked to her, or over to a couple of figures in all white where he thought Cee was standing. They were all in heavy clothing that made it a bit difficult to tell people apart just by body sizes, and Cee did not have any distinguishing feature or weapons to set her apart from the other two at her sides who were similar heights as her. She continued to the boy trying to figure out which one she was, "Get them to cool it a bit. A lot of war criminals were put to death after those war trials-"

"Many were imprisoned too," Zach argued back. "And some were even pardoned. It's a rule of law which they've instated democratically." He paused and then added in a lower tone, "Torture isn't something I won't consider, so who are we to go shut down their government's right to do so?"

"The torture you've been doing, is the same as just intimidating and scaring people. What they did to that businessman, you really think it was only as bad-"

"Cee," Zach started in a harsh tone. She froze with her mouth open, and her eyes narrowed at the younger boy only to widen a bit at what he continued with. "It's not the time for ideology debate. You want to discuss it, let's do it later." Cee frowned for a second but she nodded in agreement, only getting riled up in the first place because he did not just agree with her. She decided to push it off for now though, and then Zach turned and looked back up the gentle slope towards the area he had been at a couple minutes ago. "The Saudi business mogul had been to this base a few times himself which was how he was able to give the Saudi Police Force so much information on it. The layout they described to us that he told them matches what I just saw up there too, so what we went into before we arrived is confirmed."

Everyone nodded and serious expressions spread around while more of them took out their weapons. Fillian said in a quiet voice, "One of the guards just left my radar. We have an opening." He glanced back towards Zach as he thought this was a good time to move in.

"Hold on," Zach said. "We're going over the plan one more time. I don't want any mistakes in there. No casualties." Zach looked around and added, "And we are here to capture these villains. We came ourselves instead of passing on information to the Swiss, because the mogul did not know much about the operations of these villains. He gave up other funders, and we're looking into them too, but our objective here is finding out how his investment was paying off. What are they up to? Who else works with them? What other villain operations are associated with the villains on this mountain? Villains don't tell heroes much, but they will tell us. Then we hand whatever evidence we have against them, and the villains themselves, over to the Swiss…"

"The Saudis said they are handing their information over to the Swiss government themselves in a couple of days, so we have a short window to make this work. We'll keep the evidence we hand over as only new evidence, leave what we already know for the Saudis to hand over themselves…"

"If a worst case scenario arises and we are losing, we regroup at Point Bravo as determined earlier on the map everyone should have memorized. Scatterbox only has one shot a day, so if we need it know that that's our only retreat opportunity. Once scattered, return to the helicopters within an hour. We will leave without you if you cannot make it back in time. We are not going to retreat though, understood? The Army of Death cannot be known for losing a single fight, and we've already had one setback on that front…"

"Once inside, stay in your squads. If any squad loses their third member, immediately head to entry point Alpha where I'm moving in from. Only Darling and Grabble are exempt from this, but those two are with me anyway so this goes for everyone. As a reminder, if you see my Death, make sure you stay away from it. I will only be going to knock out villains, but we do not want to have to lug around dead weight so if you accidentally get touched know that you're dragging the rest of us down and can't do anything to fix it. I won't take responsibility for knocking you out, since if I need to use that much Death that it's at risk of touching you, I needed to use that much on whoever I'm fighting. This shouldn't be a problem, but those of you who have yet to fight with me you need to understand how simple it is for Death to knock you out. Especially if I use Trigger, which gets me to the next point…"

"…reported that each time he was here he saw at least twenty villains on the premises, so we can expect that number to be greater-"

"Another opening, Death," Fillian said, looking back over his shoulder again. "This time both guards have left the range. Could be switching patrols."

Zach frowned and he said in a low voice, "Not necessarily great. New guards are fresh guards, not tired or cold from walking around in this snowstorm." The blizzard is supposed to work to our advantage. Who would attack in these conditions where it's impossible to even fly up to the summit? Of course, they could be prepared for enemies to think like that. Especially if they know the mogul is being tortured. However, the fact that they're still here at all shows they are not cautious enough. "But let's move. Take it slow. Don't kill unless absolutely necessary. Take the base. Don't let them destroy any equipment, and if they seem to be especially interested in doing so, make sure to plug in your USB drives that will extract all the data from the hard-drives. They could wipe memories from a distance, or from a central computer, so don't wait until after the assault to go back." Zach started up the slope, and fourteen figures moved up behind him as he continued speaking fast into his earpiece.

Zach glared towards the base partially illuminated in the distance. He saw vehicles parked outside, planes and helicopters starting to get buried in the snow on a small airfield, and he took in a deep breath before starting to sprint forward. "Protect each other. Stay alive. And stop these villains with me…" The people behind Zach started splitting apart in groups of three. Two people ran right after him on either side of his back, Darling raising up a rifle and Grabble doing the same. Darling had just chowed down on a half dozen power-bars at the set elevation, and she smiled at Zach's back for a second before looking towards the base ahead of them. The comms stayed quiet for a second, and then Zach said in the most intense voice, "Mission is a go." He rose his right hand and slid his fingers out of the thin glove inside the white one, and the white glove's warm material was thick but not enough to stop his Quirk from passing through it and through the layers over his chest. Zach's body erupted in darkness, and he shot forward much faster with snow blowing after him so there was a dark form moving like a missile with a wave of white flying after him.

A couple of guards who just moved away from their perimeter to get under an overhang near the base had one hand cupped in front of their mouths and the other lifted trying to light up the cigarettes they had too much difficulty lighting out on their patrols. One of them finally got his lit and then took a puff and turned to his buddy next to him to see if he had his yet, and then his freshly lit cigarette dropped out of his mouth. "OH FUCK-" He started reaching for the rifle slung over his back, while the other man turned and started dropping his cigarette and lighter at the same time. He just stepped back instead of reaching for his weapon though, a terrified look on his face as a black form with a spiraling wall of white behind him flew towards them with a flash of red on his head.

"Morte," the man who just stepped back whispered, right before Death flew between them and reached out to his sides.

Zach stopped short and knocked them out with as little Death as possible. Don't want you out for days. Zach looked down at the collapsed figures, and then up at the double doors in front of him. He tried a doorknob, confirmed it was locked, then looked down at the figure on the right of the two and he turned off Nightmare with a tap to his head. Come on, Zach rolled the guy over and patted his hands along the man's body, and he pulled out a set of keys and started trying them on the door. I don't think they had enough time to radio in. Might as well attempt to sneak as long as possible. Keep them from figuring out what's going on, Zach started trying keys on the door and grinned as one turned and unlocked it. Until it's already over…

"Hey."

Two men holding assault rifles and a woman between them who was ten feet tall spun around. Not one of them hesitated. She yelled, "Fire!" The men next to her were already pulling the triggers of their guns.

Bullets flew accurately straight into the chest and face of the man who had just announced his presence to the three he got the drop on. He stood in a doorway and looked down as the first bullets hit him in the chest, then his head snapped back as a couple shots hit him in the cheeks and forehead too. One bullet even hit him in the right eye, and he closed that eye and shivered. The man started lifting up his rifle that had a silencer on it, and he pointed it forward only for bullets to slam into the gun and break it apart. "Oh no," he said, looking to his weapon that fell from his hand that broke apart too for a second and then reformed slowly into its normal shape as the rest of his body kept doing.

"What are you?!" the man on the left of the huge woman shouted in a mad, and scared, tone.

"I'm a…" Juno started. He smiled behind his mask and lifted his tone at the end like he was waiting for something.

"You're a what?" The man on the other side of the big woman shouted, taking a step back and keeping his shaky rifle raised.

"I'm a…"

The big woman in the middle had enough of it. She started marching forward and her shoulder muscles bulged twice their size, then her biceps, then her forearms as her shoulders shrank. Her fists started to bulge, and she opened her mouth, "Whatever you are-"

"Wait!" Juno called out. The man with the Quirk- Air, called out, "Don't you want to know what I am?! I'm a… I'M A…" He grinned so much bigger and then said in a smug voice, "Distraction."

The big woman in the middle who had just stepped forward heard a thud on her back left. She started spinning around, her eyes opening huge, and she turned fully just in time to see the second of her comrades dropping to his knees. Seraphim was crouched and darting forward towards the big woman, and she rose up her hands in a quick movement towards the bottom of the muscular woman's face. The villain snarled at the younger woman in white, and she put her hands together fast in front of her body and started slamming down.

Seraphim slid down in mid-sprint, heading between the larger woman's partially spread legs. At the same time, a very light figure grabbed hold of the large woman's shoulders and poked the top half of his body over her face to make her eyes dart back up to him instead of the girl sliding below him. Seraphim leapt up behind the large woman who reached a hand to the man above her and grabbed him by the head. Her hand slipped through his body and his head started dispersing around her hand, and the woman swung her arm around in the human-air for a second before a pair of hands grabbed the sides of her head.

The villain closed her eyes and her legs wobbled then collapsed below her. Juno's head started reforming, and Seraphim took her hands off the taller woman's temples and just pushed her forward so she fell flat on the floor with her comrades. Juno finally reformed after ten seconds, and he started panting while reaching up a hand and grabbing his white jacket, curling the material in front of his chest up in his fingers. "You alright?" Seraphim questioned, and Juno turned to her and gave her a quick nod.

They heard more gunfire coming from farther inside the building than the hallway near their entry point. The two spun that way, then Juno took a deep breath and said, "I'll go ahead."

"Don't jump out again until I'm actually there," Seraphim warned.

"Got it," he replied, deciding not to argue as he was feeling tired already.

Seraphim turned back once he started off, and she jogged over to the door of a small room they had entered through the roof of. "Access? Are you-"

"Got it," Access said, pulling a USB out of the computer in front of him and shoving it into his pocket quickly. He picked up his rifle off the table next to the computer, then he smashed the butt of it into the computer screen. He turned and ran towards the door, his goggles pulled up on the top of his hood so his eyes were revealed just like the others in his squad of three. "Where's Juno?" Access asked while leaving the room, then he glanced to the left where he had heard gunfire a minute ago and nodded his head in smug satisfaction at the sight of three unconscious villains.

"He's up ahead. Let's move." Seraphim started running down the hall, and Access ran after the faster, smaller woman who was making the chubby team leader get in a hard work-out.

The earpieces in all three members of the team's ears turned on and Death's voice said in their heads, "Located Avalanche. Took him down before he could get outside." A couple of the team of 15 smirked at the sound of that, as the only individual who they had information on in the whole base was the leader whose Quirk was apparently much stronger on nights like this when there was heavy snowfall.

Michael smirked in the lower level engineering room where the boilers were letting out a lot of steam around him. He chuckled and then spun around and swung the metal pipe he was holding, slamming it into the face of the other hairy villain leaping at him. Sharp teeth broke in the villain's mouth and slashed up his cheeks, and Michael grinned more as blood splashed on his face from the collision. "Felt the vibrations in that one," Michael said, and he dropped the now-bent pipe to the floor. He dropped to all fours and sprinted towards the villain who pushed his hands down on the ground at his sides, only to lift up his face into a knee from the member of the Army of Death.

"Got you now," a forty-year old woman with a cigarette in her mouth muttered. She had on a tank top with lean muscles sticking out of the sweaty white arm holes, and she had a rifle resting on a bar farther in the boiler room masked by some steam. Her finger rested on the trigger and she breathed out some smoke, and then through the steam flew an object that made her pull her head away fast and dart her eyes to the right where it was passing by the side of her face. A cross?

Pastor's cross stuck into the boiler behind the woman. It was sharp on all the edges, like a shuriken, which was exactly how he threw it. The weapon was so sharp in fact, that it pierced through the thinner and weaker steel of the boiler and made a jet of hot steam fly out at the woman who crossed her arms and yelled out in pain while dropping her rifle. She felt something press against her lower back and her scream caught in her throat with a gasp at the two sharp points she felt pressing into her skin through her shirt. "My apologies," Pastor said, before the two black points sticking out the top of the cross he was holding tazed the woman in front of him. He dropped her but lowered himself down and rested her gently to the floor, before checking on her face that he was glad she managed to mostly protect from the steam by crossing her arms.

She was twitching on the floor below him when he finally rested her down, and Pastor hummed to himself as he did not want to taze her again. He pulled out some ropes and said, "Do watch your back Michael. You were very nearly killed."

"I would'a dodged it," Michael argued back with a grin towards where he heard the older man. He had his jacket unzipped, his hood off, and even his white mask pulled down to his neck as it was far too hot down in this basement to keep them all on. There was a red tint to the room that was still full of steam and getting even more steamy with the fights going on down there. "How you doin' over there CC?"

"Why isn't he tied up yet?" A girl's voice asked behind Michael. He turned and saw the girl he was calling to standing walking towards him still with all her heavy clothes on, her mask up, even her goggles down over her eyes though she had to raise a hand and wipe them again as they got too foggy. In her other hand was the end of a rope, and on the other end of the rope were two villains tied together with bloody noses, black eyes, and busted jaws. "He's not even unconscious," Cee said in annoyance, letting go of the rope and darting towards Michael fast. She sped towards him and then slammed her right foot into the side of the hairy face of the man moaning on the ground below Michael. He still did not just fall unconscious, and Cee dropped down in a swift movement after her kick, wrapping the villain's neck with her legs and squeezing her thighs together which made the villain's eyes bulge for a second before closing.

"What I would give to be between those thighs-" Michael began, undeterred by the girl's quick dispatch of her opponent.

Cee darted her eyes to him in a pissed-off way, and she started shaking her head instead of saying anything in annoyance at him. She glared at him and he kept grinning, then the red lights in the boiler room cut off. The room fell into darkness, and the only noises in there were the blowing steam and high-pitched whistling that came with it. "Get your goggles on," Cee said in a rushed voice, while switching her own back to night vision and darting her gaze around the basement.

On the main floor above, a group of five guys who got on their winter gear as fast as they could were making a break for the closest exit to them. One fell behind the others, and the man in the middle of the five spun around and kept running backwards while yelling, "You get the keys?!"

"There's no way we can take off in this storm!"

"It'd be safer taking snowmobiles down the most gentle slope!"

"CATSO! È qui!"

The doors of the base flew open and snow blew down the hallway pouring in from outside. Visible winds of white pushed inside, and the two men at the front of the group of five who were the quickest to prepared themselves rose their guns and aimed out into the open doors. Nothing was rushing in with the wind though. It almost looked like the wind had thrown the doors open itself. None of them believed that though. The man at the front of the group turned his head once he had stepped back to be at the same spot as the second man behind him. He looked towards the back of their line and called, "Start the-"

The other two behind him opened their eyes huge in fear at their comrade's expression. They turned, and there was no fifth man in the hallway with them. "Dalvin! Where did you go?!"

The ceiling tiles between the group right above them broke apart and a body fell through and slammed into the floor. They all looked down and saw their fifth member unconscious between them, Dt dt dt dt dt dt dt dt! The four men yelled out in pain and started dropping all at the same time, as bullets ripped through their legs and made them all scream out. They yelled curses and screamed in agony, and then they screamed in terror as a dark form dropped from the ceiling and reached a hand down to the man who had kept his hands on his rifle despite getting shot through his right leg and grazed on his left.

Zach knocked out the other three in order of who had looked most dangerous when he first observed them. Then he turned his head towards the outer doors and watched as a man with pincers sticking out over his hood ran back inside, slamming the doors shut behind him and crossing his arms to rub them in the cold. He turned the other way and saw the girl who had rolled out of a doorway down the hall when Zach dropped the body standing up.

Darling checked her magazine again and then frowned and put it back in to keep using the silenced rifle she had brought with her. I want Zach to be able to use my Toolbody, but he's right. I should keep from transforming to save as much energy as possible. Just like him! She thought the last part in more excitement as Zach turned off his Nightmare form again to save his Death.

Zach let out a deep breath and then he looked back and forth and nodded at his comrades. "Keep sweeping the building," Zach said while tapping his right ear again and the earpiece on it. "Each of them is dangerous. We are not finished until we are sure the building is clear. No, the summit. Squad 4, how is the rest of the mountaintop?"

"A few more patrols out here than expected," Xia started.

Her twin Shang continued for her, "But Exodus needs no help. We might as well be taking a shit out here."

"Don't listen to Rebel," Darling said in a low voice. He told me to use that phrase before and everyone laughed. Why isn't anyone laughing at him?

"Stay off the comms," Zach said in a low, serious voice that sounded upset with the two having this talk. Darling's eyes opened wide at the scolding, and she spun back to Zach who gave her a serious look through their goggles. "Fillian. Do a check."

There was a brief pause before Fillain replied, "Going to be hard to make out friendlies from villains."

"There are twelve of us in here. Standing. Give us an estimate."

"We've got a problem in the basement," Cee said, her voice sounding rushed. She started panting and she backed up more with a scared look on her face before continuing in a stronger voice than she felt she could use at the time, "Something's down here with us. It's-"

"I feed on your fear…"

Cee's earpiece was on, and that voice came through very close to her.

"Squad A is coming to your position-"

"Ahh-"

"I've got him!" Michael shouted and laughed on the other side of the comms. "Cutting the lights is like saying you don't want to fight me fair and square!" He yelled, baring his teeth and pulling the corners of his lips up so much more as he hunched forward with his muscles bulging. "You know a bear's sense of smell is the best in the world they say? Could smell your shit from across the basement!"

The team in the basement was no longer on comms. Cee had gotten off as soon as Michael leapt in and knocked away the man next to her who had filled her with terror with what he had said in her ear. Why say that? Why not just attack me? Did he want me more afraid?! Cee darted her eyes around farther in the basement as the man Michael was facing sprinted off and ducked behind some boilers. "Pastor, keep careful. Death's on his way."

"Death's here?" The menacing voice Cee had heard before asked again, and it sounded like he was bouncing off the walls from the way his voice echoed. The most terrifying thing about the voice though, was the fact that it sounded more excited than anything. "Sllp slp," the sound of licking lips, and then a low intense moaning of pleasure came from around the room, and the three Army of Death members in the boiler room spun around looking through the steam and getting more nervous.

Michael closed his eyes tighter and he sniffed a few times, standing right in the middle to show he was not afraid one bit. "Over there," he started, turning to the right with his mouth opening wider and his sharp teeth baring again. SO FAST! Michael had started taking a step, but the scent of the man he was smelling could not follow the figure fast enough. The guy was suddenly right in front of him, and as Michael tried stopping, the villain only moved faster at the sudden fear in his only fearless enemy, and the one whose sense of smell, speed, and strength all had him most wary.

The head engineer responsible for upkeep of the base slammed his hand forward so fast it did not stop on the thick hide of Michael's chest. It ripped through his clothes, and his torso, and out his back. Cee stared towards the middle of the room where she heard a gasp and a horrifying squelch, and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of another heart in the red hand sticking out of Michael's back. The heart beat again, and then the hand holding it crushed into a fist and blood splattered out to the sides.

"NO!" Cee shouted.

The engineer pulled his hand back out of the hairy man's body. Then he turned towards the woman who screamed. She froze though while staring at him. Her mouth was open, but her eyes stopped shaking in terror as much, though he could still feel she was afraid. Yet as strong as he felt from her fear, he felt the same fear himself that he had felt earlier at what she had shouted to her comrades. He felt that terror, because of a voice he heard behind him, "Michael."

Darling rose her right hand and shone light out of a flashlight the end of her right arm turned into. The light shone straight onto a pitch black figure with red eyes that was behind the villain turning around. Light broke apart in the shadows and wisps of Death's body. It pushed to the sides and was blocked by Death, who the engineer was seeing for the first time. The villain immediately regretted using the idea that Death was there to his advantage, trying to make his enemies more afraid by the fact that he was not afraid. Because he was afraid now. He felt his Quirk power draining. He backed up a step, staring through his own night vision goggles he had put on while cutting the lights.

Don't. Don't do it. Zach swept his right hand forward, and a wind of Death blew out of his hand and towards the villain who turned to run. He made it a couple steps before the wisps that had hit him started draining all his strength. He dragged his right leg forward, feeling a bit of strength remaining from the fear of the girl in front of him. Yet Cee's fear disappeared while she stared over towards Zach's large dark body.

He, didn't kill him? Cee thought in surprise before shifting her gaze back to the man who just collapsed before her.

Calm. Calm. Zach rose his right hand to his chest and returned himself to normal. "Michael," Zach said in a lower voice, while Darling ran up next to him and pointed her flashlight down at their comrade's body. Zach looked to the girl at his side and he said, "Help Grabble find the-" The lights turned back on and filled the room with a red glow. It was still pretty difficult to see in with all the steam. Zach turned away from Darling and back to the floor though. Between four unconscious villains, Michael lay with a pool of blood spreading below his body with a huge hole in his chest.

"Zach," Cee began while walking towards him. She glanced down and to her left only to frown at the unthreatening appearance of a man whose Quirk was much more frightening. She turned back to him and saw him looking down in such a regretful way even though she could not see his face with his goggles and mask on. Just the way his head was bowed looking at their comrade proved it to her. "He dropped his goggles back somewhere. I told him he was an idiot, and then he went and, he bragged about his stupid nose. That idiot. What was he…" Cee's eyes had water in them behind her goggles, and she stopped talking as her voice was starting to show it.

Damn it Michael, Zach thought, and he took a step forward and got down on his knees next to the man's body.

Pastor started walking over out from some steam. He tapped his forehead and then his chest, then his left shoulder followed by his right. He turned to Zach and said to the boy knelt next to their fallen comrade, "The fiend crushed his heart. There is nothing for you to repair."

Zach nodded his head, and he stared down at the hole in Michael's chest while fixing the positioning of his body next to him. "Then I'll make him a new one," Zach said in a calm voice. He stopped fidgeting Michael around, as he knew the real reason he was hesitating here. Darling got down on her knees next to Zach, and he glanced at her only to see her reach down to his left with both hands and grab it. His eyes widened for a second, then he grit his teeth and rose his right hand to Michael's chest. For once, he did not check to see if the person he was about to revive still had a beating heart.

Zach pressed his right hand down on Michael's chest right next to the edge of the hole. He felt his heart ripping open immediately, and he gasped out in agony as he felt it explode inside his chest. The pain of his heart erupting continued, and piled on top of it was his skin ripping apart and his ribs and sternum breaking. Holes tore in his lungs, or at least it felt like they did. He tried to scream, but he was out of air immediately and started gasping instead as he could only take breaths in. He started panting after a couple of seconds as he was given air to breathe, because his lungs were not actually cut for capacity.

"Well guys, it seems like we're finished." Fillian's voice spoke through the interconnected earpieces. "I don't sense anyone other than the team clustered in the basement, and the other six of us, still standing in the rest of this fortress. Got nearly forty on the ground though… Who died?"

"NO ONE!" Zach roared, making the man who just asked lean back with his eyes wide at how furious that shout was. Zach started panting after roaring it, while the hole in Michael's chest continued sealing up next to his right hand.

"Jesus Christ," Grabble muttered, lifting a hand and scratching his head behind his pincers as he watched Michael's chest sealing. He looked to Zach and he felt a pain in his own chest as his leader let out another yell of pain. "I'm sorry," he whispered, thinking about how much it had hurt him when he died back in Saudi Arabia. I had no idea, this is what it's like for you.

Pastor had glanced over at Grabble when he mentioned 'Jesus' but the former priest did not scold him for using it like that. Instead he just stared back down at Michael who he had been doing a prayer for up until a few seconds ago. Pastor watched his muscles reappear, skin reforming over them, and then his chest moving while an organ inside that had created before his very eyes started pumping blood through his body again. You truly, Pastor turned to the younger man who gasped out and pulled his right hand off of Michael's body. You have been given a gift.

"Are you alright?" Darling asked fast as Zach dropped his right arm back down. She grabbed his left arm tighter, but he pulled it from her grip and just nodded once without looking at her.

"The exterior is clear as well. I am carrying seven prisoners of war back into the base," Exodus announced in all their headsets.

"This guy's too fast," Shang muttered in Chinese to his sister as they followed after their comrade. Xia nodded in agreement with her twin and they just shook their heads as Exodus walked towards the base with seven bodies piled up on his left shoulder.

Fillian's eyes widened a bit as he continued doing a scan of the base in case anyone was hiding from his sensory Quirk. He spotted movement from a figure down below who did not have a beating heart the last time he checked. Death's too amazing. Always thought Lifebringer was a bit of a preachy guy, from what I saw subtitled in his speeches. The things he said in court about wanting to stop the villains, what he said at press conferences, he seemed like an idealist. Like a child. Fillian leaned back on the wall behind him and he put a cigarette in his mouth he grabbed from a box one of the unconscious villains at his feet had. "Sparky," he said over to a man crouched next to the villain who had left a nasty gash on the side of his face their third squad member was cleaning out for him.

Theo and Scatterbox looked over, and Theo lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. A spark lit up the end of Fillian's cigarette and he nodded in appreciation towards his teammate who just shook it off as nothing. Fillian had just saved him from the villain who almost cut through his face after all.

Down in the basement below them, Michael opened his eyes and he started leaning up to stop himself from falling asleep. His eyes opened wider and wider as he saw who it was kneeling right next to him. Michael looked around and saw the other two in his team looking his way through their goggles, as well as a man he recognized because Grabble's pincers were hard to hide. Darling got up next to Zach and glared down at Michael, but the older man did not look at her. He just stared at Death and started getting up to his knees, glancing down at his chest and a hole through his clothes that he could also feel on his back. His eyes started opening wider, because he remembered getting his heart ripped out, as quick as the death had been.

"I- I was- I-" Michael's eyes were huge, and Zach stared into those terrified eyes through his goggles for a couple of seconds before reaching up and taking them off. He pulled his mask down too and Michael stared into Zach's eyes with trembling ones of his own. The older man gulped a few times and then started, "Th- Thank you-"

Zach leaned forward on his knees and pressed his forehead into Michael's. Michael's skin was back to normal and he had lost his partially bear-like appearance. Zach pressed his forehead into his comrade's softly, and he said in an angry but relieved tone, "I told you not to get cocky." Michael's eyes opened huge, and then he saw how much relief was in Death's eyes looking back into his own. Yet there was regret in those eyes too, and anger that Michael was making him feel that regret.

Michael started getting upset at himself as he saw that regret in Death's eyes. So he wiped the fear from his face. He pulled his head back and got up to his feet fast and stretched his arms up above his head. Zach looked up in surprise at him, but Michael was grinning as he looked back down at his leader. "Yeah yeah, that's my bad. I'll, be more careful next time. Promise," he grinned some more and then started laughing which had Zach staring at him with wide eyes for a few more seconds, before just shaking his head and then letting out a low chuckle of his own. "Thanks-" Michael started to continue.

"You idiot," Cee snapped. Michael turned towards the woman on his team who stomped towards him and then stopped with her fists clenched at her sides. She had not thought Zach would be able to do it, not after seeing Michael's heart get smushed like it was. "What would you have done if he couldn't have brought you… Next time I tell you to put your goggles on, you better not respond with 'oh those things, I dropped-'"

Michael's eyes started lighting up so much, and Cee cut herself off sharply. Oh no. The man who was getting over dying very fast curled the corners of his lips up super high. "I'm so happy! CC was worried about me!" Michael started running towards her and threw his arms out to the sides for a hug. Clank! Michael stumbled backwards in pain and a lot of confusion. He opened his eyes he closed after slamming into something hard, and he blinked confusedly at the boiler he had just run face-first into.

Cee's eyes lost their pink glow behind Michael, while Darling started laughing loudly at the confused idiot looking around wondering how he got turned around so fast. Zach started back up to his feet, and he smiled too, while Pastor just kept staring towards him in amazement before lifting a hand and grabbing the cross he had around his neck. Grabble laughed along with Darling, and Cee hid it behind an annoyed aura she tried to keep around herself, but behind her white mask a smug grin crossed over her face.

A/N Thanks for reading! The Army of Death grows and is taking on some cool stuff now... Got a lot of cool plans set up for this international army of terrorist/anti-heroes, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Zach, Darling, Grabble, Cee, Michael, Pastor, Exodus, Shang, Xia, Access, Seraphim, Juno, Fillian, Theo, and Scatterbox. Let me know which of the new Army of Death members you like the most and who you'd wanna see more of in the upcoming villain fights!

Naruffoku chapter 86 . 55m ago

This is a dream chapter right? Right?

Lol couldn't even believe Kaminari would do something so terrible. Man you are catching up fast, bet you'll see this by tonight since you've read 86 chapters in 2 days already! XD Thanks for the review, hope you're enjoying the story!

Eedura chapter 103 . Oct 27

Dude, I'm just so lost after Zach left japan. What is even happening anymore?

Well, Zach has started an army and is fighting crime around the world, gaining allies and resources along the way. Things are jumping around a bit, because I'm not showing too much of the small stuff like how they got to this mountain, why they went here (just mention it during the chap instead), how Zach decided the team, how he recruited each person, etc. Hope it's not too confusing for ya.

Big fan of Death chapter 103 . 2h ago

I know you said that you didnt put in anyone from reviews, but you did sort of put me in. It was before I ever made a review but Darling is also a big fan of Death(as in Zach), so I made it into your story sort of xDDD.
P.S just a joke lol

XD lol I guess you did get put in there then! Haha thanks for the review and I'm glad you're a fan!