Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 114:
"Everyone. Everyone! Settle down," Ali Vrishnuku said to his students after raising his voice a bit. The class started to settle in their seats, and usually he would have had issue in how long it was taking them. The weekend's events were still so fresh in everyone's minds though, and since many of their classmates just returned back from internships on Sunday night or even that morning, it was the first time eighteen members of Class 2-A were together since the defeat of Faith and the Stain Cult.
At first some news stations went with the label for the incident as the 'Close Call' of Musutafu based on the bomb. The heroes assured in the press conference that the bomb was simply made to be too difficult to defuse so they went with letting it explode in the sky instead. Hawks had laughed and then said he lost a few feathers, but the bomb was nothing they could not handle. Despite the Number 2 ranked hero being at the press conference, he did not receive many questions at all like most of the other members of the actual attack team. Miruko had hopped off quickly, and she took her interns with her so the media missed out on interviewing Bakugo and Indago as they had really wanted to, as almost all questions were targeted to the U.A. students.
Deku sat at his seat in Class A's classroom, and his eyes shifted over towards Bakugo who he had seen a video about yesterday showing him soon after the incident had finished and everyone was gathering for the press conference. While they were all coming up with how to treat the event to the media, Indago, Bakugo, and Miruko were seen at a restaurant in Tokyo. Maybe she took him out for beating Faith. Or maybe they were just hungry. When Kacchan said he wasn't going to the press conference, I thought Miruko would probably make him but…
Midoriya tried to keep his focus on Bakugo, but his eyes shifted over to an empty seat not far from him that made his bottom lip curl and a frustrated look to form on his face. Ashido, please be back soon. Recovery Girl said it was serious, but she assures us you are alright. I do not like how close it was, and the fact that you are not here right now is-
The door of Class A opened up and a pink head poked into the classroom that Vrishnuku had just settled down. "Look who's-"
"Ashido!"
"Mina!"
Vrishnuku opened his mouth to say something to his students who just jumped out of their seats, but instead he turned back to the pink girl himself. Recovery Girl said she'd probably be out for most of the week. "Hmph," he grinned at the girl in her school uniform who quickly apologized for being late before running over to her friends who just jumped up. So she doesn't want to miss class. Good. "It's a good thing you're here, Ashido. You clearly need more training."
Ashido dropped her jaw and spun to her teacher who everyone else started gawking at too. "Now take your seat so we can begin class," Vrishnuku added to the girls standing in the middle of his classroom. "It is good to see you are alright, by the way," he added the last part and then walked back to his desk that had an open laptop on it.
It took her a second, but Ashido smiled back at her teacher and then turned to sit down. I know I need more training. I didn't do anything except be a burden for everyone. All Tight's the third pro now to pull my… Alright don't get down! No moping. I'll just get a new hero to see my greatness. The news has been saying nicer things about me at least. Ashido started pulling out her books, and she turned her head and laughed at something Kirishima just mentioned to her.
Yaoyorozu sat back in her seat too after jumping up when she saw Mina arrive. She let out a breath of relief as she saw Ashido smiling and talking like her usual self. I was so worried. Everyone was, Yaoyorozu added to herself while glancing around, noticing that a lot of people were stealing relieved glances over towards their returned classmate. Ashido was trying hard not to show the discomfort on her right side as her stomach was still completely wrapped in bandages, but she actually was feeling better just talking to her classmates around her.
Everyone was in even better a mood now. Before homeroom had started, they were all talking excitedly and about how the news was treating their class and all of U.A. since the attack. The credibility U.A. had lost after so many attacks seemed to be recovered in a single moment. None of the students who rushed out were killed or even badly injured, with the only student named as in bad condition being Pinky who was part of the initial team fighting the cultists anyway. There were news crews all outside of the school, trying to catch any and all students they could to talk to since the event. All of the students who had not made it back from their internships for the incident had to say that a dozen times that morning just trying to get back into school.
Midoriya glanced to his right and looked over at Uraraka and Iida who were looking back towards Ashido themselves. They shifted their attentions forward as Vrishnuku started talking about their schedule for the week, including patrols out in the city more than usual so they could help with some reconstruction down on the east-side of Musutafu. As much as they had kept damage to a minimum, a couple of blocks had had bad fires on them or fighting that was too intense to worry about property damage. Midoriya tried to focus on what his teacher was saying, but he lifted his hands over the table and stared down at them and the scars covering them.
Soon. I could use my punches again already, but I can't risk breaking them anymore. Soon though. I've made another step. Midoriya clenched both hands into fists and kept staring at them as he turned them over to look at the scars on the backs of them. All Might told me that sometimes to surpass my limits it had to be fighting the strongest villains. I knew it when he told me, because of Muscular, against Bakugo, fighting Inhuman, all those times it was true. And in that intense situation fighting dozens of villains and Faith, all with my Quirk being depleted… I can reach 50% now, like I did fighting Inhuman without destroying my body. Needing to become stronger when I was suddenly so much weaker, it was something I haven't had to deal with for a while since even just 20% of One For All has been enough for the majority of villains. If I had learned back with Dandy, then maybe Wonderlass wouldn't have had to… Don't think about that. She didn't say anything because she knew back then too, she pushed herself too far. And it took her out of commission. Just like All Might. Just like Faith said…
Faith was insane. Don't listen to anything he said. That's why Wrangler, Midoriya's eyes twitched, and his hands loosened a bit on his desk. He thought about running back out of that store after telling the hostages to escape out the back before it got too full of flames. He knew he had to help Wrangler and Ms. Joke against Faith, but when he got out and saw them- Midoriya clenched his eyes shut. Faith, gave him a heart attack. We heard afterwards that Wrangler knew about his condition but he was allowed to return anyway, and he was treated like a hero who died fighting on the news, just like the others… But, Ms. Joke went into retirement, supposedly for her face and shoulder injuries. She had someone else do her press conference, I, I don't think she could have gone up there and smiled. The look on her face- what did he say?! Why did we listen to him? What could a man say to another to give him a heart attack? Wrangler was so convicted to fight Faith too, to stop him, yet, yet Faith was too evil. Kacchan said he didn't let Faith say much, which was good, probably how he stopped him so, quickly…
I need to train this 50% Full Cowling more. I can't use Doubling with it, already pushing past what feels normal at 38%. I can keep 50% for an extended period of time now, as long as I don't think about attacks as any different from usual movements, if it's a constant strain to 50% on every jump and step- though, I'll probably break a lot of property if I have to move that fast all the time- which is why I need to train more! If it's a constant strain instead of jolts with every jump that my body isn't prepared or used to… and this will speed up how quickly I reach 100%, since I'll get used to 50 and then move up doing the same to reach the next level. And with that amount of power, even the point I'm at right now I should be stopping everything like All Might did. Midoriya grit his teeth and clenched his fists hard again, because he heard Faith telling him something similar a couple days earlier. The Stain Cult has to just be the beginning. If I had gone after them alone though, I would have lost. Dampener, Hangover, Banshee, Mirror Mind, The Ant, Velkro… Black Widow. Midoriya stared down at his hands sadly, thinking about the woman he had kicked in the face as he leapt back out of a window still early in the fight.
He thought about the man he had tackled through that window in the first place, the one who Black Widow had cut up with her long steel nails. "We did everything we could…" SkyLord… ReBird, and Repairman. Changeling, Officer Hove driving the decoy villain car, and Officer Kardo. Wrangler. Seven in total. We lost seven people, five members of our team of thirty. Almost six, Midoriya's eyes shifted back to Ashido in a dark way. And Ms. Joke's retired too. It was a hefty loss… but everyone's calling it a victory. Midoriya tried refocusing up at their homeroom teacher as he discussed which Ground they would be going for their practical training that morning with All Might. As soon as he refocused past Ashido's head though, looking at the teacher and imagining getting into schoolwork, he was plagued with what Faith said to him. I should be out there right now. I can be so fast. 50% One For All isn't half of All Might's power, it's more than that because I've been accumulating strength too! Yet I'm still just going to sit in… school… I have to. I can't do what he did. I can't do things my own way. There's a method to becoming a hero. Hero high school. A full hero license. Not just going around to save everyone because I think I could. I'm still, still not ready… Which is why I need a new internship!
It can't be with Wonderlass, and FlyGuy says he's going to go sidekick somewhere else instead of making his new agency he always mentioned… He blames himself for not being able to protect the others, so how could he be good enough for his own agency. That's what he's thinking. I wish I could help him too. It's not his fault. If anyone, it's the two officers found responsible for ratting out the plans, though, Midoriya furled his lip and stared at the board in a more upset way, his eyes darkening as he did. The cultist cop is being treated worse than the other, considering the other received pictures of his kids while they were at school directly from Faith shortly before the attack. "His… mother." No! Don't let what Faith said get to- he knew. But he's in jail! Is he the only one who might… no, no because Shigaraki went for Zach's…
"Since we still have some time left in homeroom, I thought you might all be interested in a video I have acquired," Vrishnuku started to his students after checking his watch and seeing he had some time. His students looked towards him confusedly, and then their eyes started growing huge as the man said, "It will most likely come out on the news soon, but we have our first believed spotting of Zach Sazaki since the Philippines."
"What?" Bakugo muttered, lifting an eyebrow and looking at their teacher in confusion and wondering if the man was serious.
Kirishima glanced to his left in similar confusion, and Sero glanced back and shrugged at him. Sero looked back forward and asked, "Do you mean, like his face?"
Sero's asking if he had his helmet off, Yaoyorozu thought from back behind the boy with Tape in his elbows. I would very much like to see the clip. "Can we see the clip?" Yaoyorozu requested in a serious tone, looking towards their teacher who nodded back at her and then reached down and clicked on the screen of his laptop.
The board at the front of the room changed colors in the middle as he connected his computer. Vrishnuku started while pulling the video up, "There was a robbery at a convenience store in Mississippi, America this past weekend, and for evidence security footage was taken to see who did it. The culprits on the clip were masked but knew exactly where the safe was in the place, so they went through security footage over the past few months looking for suspicious behavior to signify someone scoping out the joint to rob." A surveillance clip got put up on the screen with a play button in the middle Vrishnuku hovered the mouse over. "They are still working on finding the ones responsible, however they found this from early in November."
Vrishnuku started the clip and all of Class A focused on the gas station convenience store that they had one of the camera angles of in the edited video. The first angle was on the front of the store pointed down, and it showed a hooded figure walking out of the rain and into the convenience store. There was a date and time marks on the bottom of the screen, so when it switched to the next angle inside they knew it was only a second after and showing the figure in a dark hoodie stepping inside the store. He instantly turned his head to the right and walked along the edge of the room looking into the glass cases of drinks on the wall. When he turned, his head was lowered down and his face shadowed over so all that could be seen were the white headphones' wire sticking out of his hood.
The boy on the screen was just over five and a half feet tall, he had a similar body shape that the others recognized, but they still could not confirm it themselves. Todoroki narrowed his eyes at the screen and the hooded figure who he was confused to see there, especially as he darted his eyes back over to the date stamp again. "Believed spotting," Vrishnuku sensei knew what he was saying. It's not a "confirmed" sighting of Zach. It couldn't be. In early November, that's nearly a month after Mongoloid-
The hooded figure lifted his head a little while grabbing a couple of snacks from a middle shelf. He was already holding a couple of energy drinks in his other hand, and he nodded his head to the music while he picked out some bags of chips and some jerky. Then he turned and walked over towards the store's counter where one person was already standing. The bottom of his face had been revealed for a second when he grabbed the snacks, but just because his skin was light and he had a similar jaw-line did not mean anything. He walked up to the counter though and the angle of the cameras changed to the one above the counter and just behind it to point down at the customer and the register.
The customer put his stuff down on the counter and took out his headphones for a second while pulling out some cash. The cashier smiled after a moment of talking to the hooded figure, though there was no sound on the surveillance footage. The person the clerk was talking to had not taken off their hood, but the man seemed to be laughing at something as he rang up the items the customer brought in. The clerk added something himself while handing back some change, and the hooded figure lifted their head and smiled at him.
The top part of his face was shadowed by his hood and long black bangs, but the scar under his right eye was clear. He said something back to the clerk, smiled, pocketed his change, then he grabbed his bag and headed out. Everyone in Class A stared at the screen with their eyes wide at what they just saw. The camera angle switched back to the one just outside the store where the figure, who they all could believe was Zach now after seeing that scar, stood under the overhang just outside the shop. He did not want to step farther out and into the rain it looked like, but while the camera was pointed at his back, he turned a bit to the left and tossed one of the energy drinks he pulled out of his plastic bag.
A shorter figure in a red hood walked up to him. Her face was shadowed in the darkness and with her hood, but she opened up her energy drink while coming up to his side and she tilted it back to drink. The bulge on the chest of her sweatshirt made it clear she was a girl, and everyone stared at the board with their eyes even wider. They gawked at the two on the screen, as they talked to each other with their backs to the shop behind them. The one in the darker hoodie lifted up a hand and handed one of the headphones sticking out of his sweatshirt to the girl next to him who put it in her own hood, and then he held a bag of chips he had opened out in the middle of them so the girl at his side could eat some too.
The girl lifted up her phone and then put it back in her pocket after checking something. She pointed as a car pulled up in front of them with a Ryde logo on the bottom right corner of the windshield. The two of them jogged through the rain up to the back of the taxi, got in the back seats, and the Ryde drove off. The clip ended.
"Facial recognition did not have a 100% match," Vrishnuku began while turning from the clip back to all his students himself. "But it looked to me like your old classmate, Zach Sazaki."
Everyone kept staring at the board in so much confusion. Sero leaned back in his seat and ran his hands up through his hair in a super confused way. This is after Mongoloid. Like, a while after Mongoloid. This was while they were doing that UN stuff about the Army of Death, because of Kazania… But Zach was in America. Just like, I thought. Before anything came out about Death since the Philippines, I thought he was heading to America.
"I don't get it," Ashido whispered softly. Kirishima turned to her, still with a baffled expression on his own face. The pink girl on his right was more than just confused though. Ashido looked down at her desk, her eyes huge, I really believed he was Death. So, so if he's not, does that mean he really wouldn't have gotten to me to save me the other day? If I had died, he wouldn't have come? The thought confused and saddened her even more.
Yaoyorozu tried to smile. Zach's alright. That's all that… I'm happy, to see him alive so recently. In her head she saw that shorter figure with him. "Darling!"
It wasn't a complete match, Yaoyorozu started to herself. But, that was him… Yet, he is Death. I know that for sure.
"So, did Zach and that girl break off from the Gentle Criminal, you think?" Hagakure asked Shoji who she turned to after the video ended.
Shoji turned back to her and he hesitated for a few seconds before humming slowly. "It is, possible," Shoji began. I thought the man in the purple cape was likely the Gentle Criminal, but, but what if that is not an indicator that Zach really joined Death? I thought he was Death himself, but that, that doesn't seem likely here.
Iida lifted a hand to his chin and scratched it in confusion. He leaned back in his seat and lifted his eyes with perfect vision up to the ceiling. Being a vigilante in America, is not impossible. The U.S. Government is very relaxed against them, and they do not send heroes after them unless they do something really bad. Midoriya said so in his report, that since heroes are not under as much scrutiny there already, the idea of punishing those who fight villains is not a popular concept.
Zach's planning something with this. Somehow, he wanted this video to come out, Midoriya frowned so frustratedly at the screen. Unless… No! I know for a fact, that Death is Zach. I have known it for a long time. He has so many plans in motion, but maybe, maybe this was not part of his plan. Mississippi, early November of last year, I'll look up all the villain incidents and figure out why you were really there. Why you took off that helmet to go in, why you left your army behind to… You weren't even watching them?! A bunch of lawless- you're being irresponsible. And, and you were just smiling to make that clerk not get suspicious of you in the hood. You weren't really happy… but then again, what if you have new comrades? I, I never understood, after the Sports Festival, how you still smiled so genuinely. Whenever you were hanging out with Kaminari, you were happy. Or with Yaoyorozu or Jirou or Ashido or Kirishima or Sero, or... me. You were just in a good mood. I knew there was so much darkness there, but to see you enjoying yourself after what had happened to you, it always confused me.
At least he seemed happy, Mineta thought, finally just smiling as he got over his shock. And he's with that cute… crazy girl! That's kind of weird, but Zach wouldn't use someone like that. If he brought her back to life and, and there is a good reason why she's there with him. Maybe he really does love her? A pair of vigilantes from Japan fighting crime in the U.S. That sounds pretty cool. "I guess he's in America because they aren't too strict on vigilantism," Mineta said, looking to Ojiro next to him as he suggested it.
Ojiro nodded in agreement as it was something he was just thinking about. "It, is more realistic to me than my old thought process," Ojiro admitted. "That the six foot tall guy with a bunch of swords who spoke English while leading an army…" It all sounded pretty ridiculous to him now that he was saying that aloud. Then he grimaced and muttered, "What about those people getting brought back?"
Mineta frowned, That does sound like Zach. "Maybe," Mineta started, lifting a palm and raising his eyebrows at his classmate with a thick tail. "Some of the people brought back were someone else, or maybe some were Zach, and maybe those ones who said they were brought back weren't killed at all and that was just rumors. Or someone else just has a similar Quirk as Zach's around this huge world…" Mineta offered a bunch of reasons, but that one got Tokoyami frowning and Aoyama humming to himself with his smile lowering down a bit.
Tokoyami lowered his gaze to his desk and stopped being so adamant to deny what he just saw as proof against Zach being Death. Even if it is not proof that he is not there, it is a more realistic- it is more proof than we have the other way. With so many countries allowing Quirk usage on wider scales now, some smaller ones allowing all citizens to train for protection even, more Quirks will start to arise with a similar power as Zach's unless it really was that unique.
If Zach's not with Death though, Aoyama thought, the dazzling boy shifting his gaze back towards the board. Then where is he? And what is he up to?
Sato leaned forward as he talked to Koda, "I thought he was probably just being a vigilante somewhere-"
Kirishima spun his head and snapped loudly to the two larger boys behind him, "No way!" There were a few others in there who were not doubting either, but Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, Jirou, and Midoriya were all being less vocal than the redhead. "That's not proof of nothing. I know that Zach's… with the Army of Death at least."
"You should hope he's not," Vrishnuku countered the noisy teen who turned back to the front of the room and his teacher. "Should he be a vigilante in America like some of you are suggesting, he would not be a terrorist. He would not be hunted by heroes as the Army of Death is. And, it will be easier for him to be located if he is in one country. This clip has already been sent to the Lifebringer Search Team, so they will likely find more information on him soon, and hopefully they will catch him."
As if.
Ch, like they could.
If Zach can beat Hawks… Tokoyami shook his head and then refocused down on his desk. I got my provisional license back, even after Dark Shadow's rampage. Hawks put in a good word, I didn't think it would be so easy. But Zach, if you came back here there isn't going to be anything for you.
Geez, and I thought Zach was Death this whole time, Sero leaned back in his chair. He lifted his head to the ceiling and his smile lowered down a bit, While you're off being a vigilante somewhere, we just stopped one of the worst villain groups in Japan. The Stain Cult. Led by an insane Tartaros villain with a dozen other escapees with him. You should have stayed. We can make the difference together, here. Man, I wish you'd just come back already.
Ka-Clunk A helipad lowering into The Cloak's main hangar finally came to a stop on the floor. The metal pole it had been sliding down retracted down into the floor which left the room more open. Stain looked behind him towards a huge metal door slanted on the back of the ship with a crack in the middle showing it could be opened up unlike the walls on his sides. The hangar did not look as wide as The Cloak did from above, so he knew the side walls had hallways and other rooms past them. Still, it looked to him from inside that the hangar took up the majority of the back half of the ship.
A couple of guys without helmets on started over towards the group of three once their helipad finished lowering. "Yo Sparky, how was the mission?" Michael walked up to his comrade's side and smacked a hand down on Theo's shoulder.
"Ah buzz off," Theo pushed his hand away and then grinned while nodding to the side. It looked to Michael like he was showing off who he brought, like Theo must have thought he had not seen the man yet.
Michael just frowned at Stain though for a few seconds, then when the man shifted his gaze over back at him Michael just turned away instead of making an introduction. "This is BS," Michael said, glancing to a man his left while saying that. Everyone else around there stayed quiet and looked over to the only one of them in a helmet who stopped walking over to just watch Michael head to the right side of the room. "I'm sitting in for it."
"Not everyone's as stoked that you're here," Hybrid said, cupping a hand to his mouth and whispering it at Stain.
Stain did not glance at the man on his left with long dreadlocks. He just stared forward at the dark figure who had a katana horizontally on the back of his waist, two hilts sticking out over his shoulders, and more knife sheaths around his body than Stain had on his own, though Stain could not tell if there were as many hidden ones too like he had himself. "Stain," Theo started, looking back to his left after watching in annoyance as Michael walked away for a second. "Meet Death-"
"Bring him into the recruitment room," Zach said, turning and following after Michael towards the starboard side of the hangar. Michael was already heading up the stairs over there up towards an open door where another two Army of Death members in full costume were standing.
Stain looked up towards that door and stared at a purple visor he recognized from video he had seen of Hatto. The man he looked towards was staring straight back at him, but Stain ignored it since he could not tell if it was an interested, excited, or pissed look that the man was giving him. Instead he just started walking after Death, his eyes narrowing as he said in Japanese, "I did your task. I was told that was all that was required of me."
"Do you speak English?" Zach asked, in English like he was annoyed at Stain for switching languages.
Stain narrowed his eyes more at Death's back. "I know who you are," Stain continued in their native tongue. "You do not need to pretend not to speak Japanese."
"Who's pretending?" Zach asked in English. "We speak in English on this ship, since no one else around us right now would know what we're talking about. There's no need to hide what we're discussing, is there?"
Hybrid walked behind Stain by a few feet and he looked past him towards Death with his eyes huge. Holy shit, this is intense. Stain's fucking huge! But Death is also, like huge!
"He helped us out a lot in the scouting mission," Theo mentioned up towards Death who he felt was being overly hostile for a first meeting.
"I know, I got your report," Zach replied. He started up the steps, and he glanced back for a moment through the edge of his black visor. "I never pegged you for someone who could follow orders."
"I do what is right," Stain countered. "And I can see that what the Army of Death does, returns to the roots of real heroes-"
"We are not heroes," Zach said while turning back forward. He walked for the recruitment room and did not say another word, leaving Stain to glare at his back for a few seconds before stepping into the dimmer room himself. Others in the Army of Death walked in with them, and then Gentle stepped to the inside of the door and closed it before turning so he was standing there in front of the exit.
Stain looked back towards him, then to Death who walked straight to the middle of the room before looking back at him. "Come here," Zach ordered. Then he turned his back to Stain and he took in a deep breath inside his helmet. Zach's eyes narrowed, his expression dark, and he walked over towards a table with three seats behind it. He just stood in front of that table in the darker edge of the room for now though, his jaw locked and his hands tightening and loosening at his sides. Stain stepped into the middle of the room though, right where Death told him to go.
"Why do you want to join the Army of Death?" Zach asked.
Behind Stain, Gentle glared at the villain's back and ground his teeth in his helmet. He was hesitant, uneasy, and he was not the only one watching Stain carefully. On his left leaning against a different part of the wall in the recruitment room, Michael had his arms crossed and glanced to his side at Jetflame who had his helmet on.
I was wrong about everything. Jetflame balled his fists tightly at his sides. The Hero Killer, bringing someone like that in here. What is Death thinking? I trusted him. I believed in him so much.
"The Army of Death, is an outlet to spread the ideals of true heroes," Stain replied. Hybrid and Theo stared at their new comrade's back with their eyes huge at his response which he had not told them when they asked or had just been vague about. "Acts of heroism without begging for recognition-"
"As I told you, we're not heroes," Zach repeated. He narrowed his eyes at Stain, "Our goal is simply, to fight villains. As often as possible we will give the credit for defeating them to heroes."
"That's foolish," Stain remarked back. The room was silent for a few seconds, and then Stain continued while looking straight at Death's helmet, "The recognition should go to those without faces, to spread the idea that heroes are-"
"How many times do I have to say it?" Zach asked. The room became silent again, the tension thick at the low tone the leader of the Army of Death just used. "We aren't heroes. If you think being here would mean that you would be a hero, you're the fool."
"You are heroes. And-"
"Then why are you here?" Zach questioned. "Because you, are not a hero at all. Take back what it means to be a hero? You think that's what we're doing?"
"Yes," Stain replied. He stared straight into the black visor and said, "Doing whatever it takes. Stopping villains all across the world with no regard for glory, or fame, money. Killing those who get in-"
"You're wrong," Zach said. "We aren't murderers. We don't just kill people." Zach glared so much harder out at Stain. His fists clenched tighter at his sides, and he growled, "We don't kill heroes. We don't fight real heroes-"
"Then you're weak, for not spreading your ideals," Stain countered right back.
"You're wrong!" Zach shouted. He stepped forward from the table and glared harder at Stain, and he said in a low voice, "Everything you've done, was wrong. You didn't even try to lead for your own ideals, so villains use your name to justify whatever they want." Zach paused and a silence filled the room as he stood there glaring furiously at Stain. Gentle tilted his head back and rose an eyebrow inside his helmet, staring over at Sazaki oddly while some others in the room were feeling more nervous. "What you've done, has incited the worst villains in the world," Zach said straight to Stain's face, glaring the villain in his eyes as he said it.
"Something needed to show the world that the heroes protecting them were not-"
"You were used as a pawn by All For One!" Zach shouted at Stain. "Don't try to justify it like you wanted this to happen, because as strong as your conviction was, you were a tool for others above you. All For One wanted you to be there that night Shigaraki attacked, and Shigaraki used your name to recruit all his executives…" Zach stepped towards Stain again and then snapped, "Everything you stand for, is wrong."
Stain glared straight at that black visor. He glared into Death's visor, the two of them at an impasse due to their difference in ideals. Stain glared into that visor, and then he turned around, "I'm leaving."
"You can't leave," Zach said.
Stain froze. Every nervous person in the room froze. And then the door behind Gentle opened up, and Gentle turned his head with his eyes opening huge. Exodus stepped into the doorway, and when Theo tried to take a step forward with his mouth opening, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. "Don't move," Fillian said. Theo turned his head and his eyes opened huge at the voice he heard in that helmet.
"Fillian?" Theo asked in shock. "But, Yusef said…"
Stain darted his eyes over towards Theo, then to Hybrid who looked as shocked as he spun his head back and forth. "You're too good Stain," Zach said. "If the ones bringing you here knew it was an ambush," Zach stated it straight out and Stain spun his head with his eyes narrowing in rage. "Then you would have been able to figure it out. If the reactions of the people who saw you upon your arrival were strange too, I wouldn't have you exactly where I want you. Sorry everyone," Zach said it and then pulled out a pair of knives as Stain did the same. "No one move!" Zach shouted.
Stain hesitated too. He froze and stared at Death, and Death stood still across the middle of the room from him. There were twenty people in the room other than the two of them, and no one moved against what Death was doing. Hybrid had an extremely frustrated and confused look on his face, and Theo started narrowing his eyes angrily at Fillain before shrugging his hand off. Neither of them moved though. They just stared forward like the others as Death said, "I'll take him on my own."
Darling held her shaking arms up towards Stain in the shape of rifles. Her eyes shook in fear and excitement, and her smile could not get wider despite the worry covering her face under her helmet. Be careful!
"Lead me into an ambush, just to attack me by yourself?" Stain asked, his voice laced with a deeper anger than before during their argument. He had no idea how many of the people in the room knew the ambush was coming, how many were genuinely confused, but none were moving to help him.
"Death! Why are you doing this?" Hybrid called at his leader. "Stain can help us-"
"No," Zach said. He glared at Stain and said in a lower voice, "He can't. There is one move that has a better outcome than any other." Zach lifted his knives up in front of him and held on pointed to his right and the other pointed to his left, both arms in front of his chest and his hands close together. He glared at Stain who stepped back towards him and tightened his grip on his knives. "I won't let Stain go back into that world. I led him into a trap, because I want to stop him. And I suspected you might want to join me," Zach sprinted at Stain while 'me' was still coming out of his mouth.
Zach flicked the knife in his right hand at Stain, and Stain dodged so the knife slammed into the wall behind him in a space between two of Zach's comrades. Zach pulled his katana while blocking Stain's first strike with his second knife, and he swept the katana up at Stain fast. Stain was fast too though, and he leapt straight up in the air and threw three knives down at Zach in succession. Zach dove, and then he sprung from the spot he rolled into to a different spot, letting a smaller katana slam into the ground where he just was for a brief moment.
Zach flipped up onto his feet and slashed his katana across the front of his body, smashing it into Stain's and then pushing against him. Stain pushed right back, and Zach shoved right back into him and then pushed his body forward while bringing up his knee. Stain lowered a hand from his hilt but instead of grabbing a knife he went for Zach's rising knee instead, and then they both leaned their heads forward just behind their crossing blades. Zach lowered his leg, pulling it out of Stain's grip, then he slid his sword down Stain's and towards where he was flicking up another knife he just drew from under his belt. Sparks flew as the swords shredded against each other and Zach flicked his sword to block the rising knife while already moving his other hand up.
Stain leaned his head left and dodged a knife, then he slammed his sword down and made Zach's legs creak below him as his legs bent. He unbent his knees hard though with a slash of his katana, and Stain had to jump backwards as the force pushed him away. He skid back on the floor, then his eyes darted right and left, then straight down as the dark figure was right in front of him. Stain's reactions were fast, and he slashed downwards the moment he saw Zach suddenly right in front of him. The right hand he thought was coming for his body pulled back though, and the left slammed forward instead as a punch but with a knife sticking out of his clenched grip. Zach slammed his left fist into the left side of Stain's gut while he pulled away, then he twisted his hand and slashed his blade across Stain's side.
Stain's blade slashed across Zach's right shoulder at the same time, getting just deep enough to cut through his armor near his collarbone. Blood splashed out, and half the people in the room moved forward. "Don't," Zach said. Everyone thought he was talking to them, but Zach said it straight towards his enemy who skid backwards from getting punched and slashed but managed to stay standing. "Toga never would drink my blood in fear of Death." Neither of them looked towards the blade on the ground on Zach's right and Stain's left, that had Zach's blood on it.
Stain heard his enemy say that and he ground his teeth in fury. Then he just drew a different blade, "Is that why you refuse to use your Quirk on me? Because you really believe I can't use mine on you? What kind of honor do you live by, Sazaki?"
"I know you met her," Zach said, ignoring everything Stain just said and continuing where he left off. "Back when she broke you out of Tartaros, and I know how she wanted to follow you, like all those others did. She wouldn't shut up about you back then, when I was in the League of Villains. All those villains wanted to follow you, only for them not to and to follow another insane villain instead, and they almost blew up Musutafu for you!"
"I never told them to do-"
"You allowed it to happen!" Zach roared back at him, fury covering his face and his teeth baring so hard after he screamed it. "You incited all of them!"
"How people act is not my-"
"I know exactly what you did!" Zach shouted at him. "'If you really do follow those ideals, then don't get in my way.' That's what you said! And then you told them, you wouldn't get in their way either!"
How does he know that?! Stain ground his teeth. "You weren't there Sazaki. How do you-"
"I was there that night, Chizome Akaguro!" Zach roared right back at the man who used his real name. He lifted his hands above his shoulders and pulled out a pair of curved blades that he slashed across each other with rage covering his face. "In Hosu City. I was right in front of you and saw your conviction, but conviction doesn't mean right!" All the others in the room looked towards Death with their eyes huge. Not a single one knew what he was saying. They stared at him with their eyes wide since he was not in the famous Stain video and had escaped any publicity that night. Zach glared at Stain and pointed the blade in his right hand forward at the man whose video he had watched every night for months, whose ideals he had himself been influenced by which made him grind his teeth so much harder at the moment. "Just because you believed that what you were doing was right, didn't make it so! All the heroes you killed, were people who gave others hope. People who could have saved others who were killed by villains because they weren't there-"
"I've only killed fakes-"
"None of them were!" Zach yelled back at the villain, any hesitation wiped from his face and replaced with rage again. "They all fought you and were willing to put their lives on the line, and it doesn't matter if some of them did it in part for money and glory. You murder them, butcher them, cripple good people just because heroes can't survive without money, because heroes are human like the rest of us. They need food, and homes, and sometimes they get married and raise children and they need money for these things. You're a fool, and people who can't see past the money, that it's not an important part of what heroes are, to look at what the heroes' true ideologies are, those people are fools too! Heroes who like to be in the spotlight are true heroes, because we need people like that in the world for normal people to look up to! Because normal people can't look to us as their heroes, because of stuff like this! Because I know that capturing you and handing you in will give Stain more publicity. It will make the world remember a man who is going to fade from everyone's minds now that the Stain Cult is gone." Zach ground his teeth while the others around the room all stared towards their leader with wide eyes and shock. "If you got back out there, even arrested and then put on trial, it would bring up those old videos. It would make people who had not seen them before get influenced. And I, WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"
Zach sprinted at Stain again. The roar that came out of Death's helmet was so full of anger, and conviction, the belief that he was right, that his comrades started glaring at Stain as well. Most of them were surprised when Zach brought up how he couldn't hand Stain in, but they stayed still and kept their more hesitant comrades in their visions to make sure they did not try stepping in.
They clashed swords, and they swung knives at each other. Zach tossed a knife up above him, then he slashed one in his left hand while catching his longer curved blade he had tossed up a few seconds before. Instead of waiting for the knife he tossed up to come back this time though, Zach flicked the knife in his left hand up at it so they clanked together loudly. Stain had to divert some attention in case that knife was bouncing back at him, then he had to dodge as the curved blade came slashing up at his side, then he darted his eyes up as he only caught a glimpse of the fast-moving Death up in the air. Zach flipped in the air, and while he was in mid-flip he kicked down on the hilt of one knife, slamming it down fast past the right side of Stain's face he almost pulled away only for his cheek to slash open.
Zach landed and he sprung off his hands and feet he landed on, picking up his other discarded curved blade as he shot just above the floor. He swept both blades up, and Stain tried dodging back while throwing a knife down. Zach saw pain cover Stain's face, and he easily dodged the older man before slashing his swords out in a crossing pattern that he caught one of Stain's legs in and cut shallow wounds into. Zach landed and shouted towards the man stumbling away from him, "What's wrong Stain?! You're not moving as fast as I thought you would from what my friends who caught you said. In fact, you're too much slower that it couldn't just be from fighting them. It was Edgeshot wasn't it?! I heard you were limping as you left the other escapees! He crippled you didn't he?!" Stain bared his teeth back at the boy but Zach kept yelling in rage, "Edgeshot was as real a hero as it got. He didn't seek out media attention, he fought All For One a villain much stronger than him as hard as he could, he tried to save me and Bakugo from the villains in Camino Ward! HE CAME FOR THE HOSTAGES THE WAR BOYS TOOK! And you didn't kill him because he was a fake, you did it because you wanted to escape from prison!"
Zach marched towards Stain who was having trouble standing on an already injured leg that just got slashed through a couple of times. "I was able to trick Toga and the others into letting heroes live when I infiltrated, by using your ideals. Spinner held back when I would say, that Stain wouldn't just kill a hero without knowing whether or not they're a fake. Because I was one of those manipulating others by using your ideals! Everyone just uses you for their own purposes. While you yourself can't stand by your own ideals that are too big for one man. People think you're perfect. They think the idea of you is… But they're wrong. Everyone has flaws, yet, yet Ingenium was a great hero!" Zach screamed it at Stain and his fists tightened around his bloody curved blades in anger.
Stain's eyes opened wide at the sound of that name. As the boy was just telling him how no one was perfect, no ideals, he shouted another name of a hero he was personally connected with. As many reasons as he was giving for taking out Stain, he was admitting there with that name alone that it was in part for revenge. As much as Death had to stand for something else, Stain could hear hatred in that boy's voice.
And Zach could see Iida's face, as they got on the train to Hosu. When he sat in front of Iida and tried to talk him down. "He didn't deserve what you did to him! Neither did Iida who you deemed as unworthy! And, and I should have killed you that night in Hosu, but instead I allowed you to do so much to this world!" Zach bit down in fury, his hands tightened harder on his swords, and his eyes narrowed so much darker inside his helmet. His voice came out as a raspy growl, dark and cold as he finished, "No more."
Stain did not last much longer with his speed decreased so much. Death stood in front of him with his hands pushed forward on the hilt of a curved blade, slammed straight through the middle of Stain's chest and buried to the hilt. Blood came out of the wound and down the hilt, getting on Zach's black gloves. He ripped the sword out and the weapons shaking in Stain's hands fell to the floor. Then Stain fell to his knees. "No one will ever know you died," Zach said to the man kneeling in front of him. "You disappearing for good, is the most you can do for this world."
Stain fell over. He fell flat to the ground without a word. There were no dying words, Zach's sword had cut up too much inside his chest for that. He stared down at Stain's body for a few seconds, then Zach lifted his left hand up and grabbed his bloody right shoulder. Damn that hurts.
"So if we try to leave, will you kill all of us?"
Zach turned his head more, hurting more at the sound of that than the fading pain in his right shoulder that he moved his left hand from. He looked towards Hybrid who was glaring angrily at him, his fists shaking at his sides and a betrayed look spread across his face. "No," Zach replied.
"Good, because I'm out of here," Hybrid turned and started for the door.
"You really, just had to do this huh?" Theo snapped.
He stepped forward, and Fillian started behind him, "Come on Sparky, you know this was-"
"Shut up," Theo growled. "I don't, want to hear a thing from you. What happened to the recon mission Fillian and Exodus were on?" Theo turned to Death and asked in a loud voice. "You tell Yusef that just to trick us all? Or was Yusef in on it too? Hell, I don't fucking know who I can trust here anymore, so screw you. I would have fucking died for- fuck, just fuck man." Theo turned and started for the door where Hybrid was looking back at him.
"Death, come on try and stop them," Fillian started towards his leader, feeling like shit after his friend just said all that. "If you explain-"
"We'll lower down," Zach said to the two near the door. I explained enough already. I gave Stain his sentencing. I- I killed another person. At least this time I didn't use Death… Though I should have. 19. "I've made myself clear before, no one is being forced to be here. If you're following me though, you're following me. If you can't believe in me anymore then go. It would only hurt us, to have people who can't trust each other here."
"How am I supposed to trust you?" Zach turned his head and looked to the other side of the room where someone who was in the hangar and not part of the actual ambush plan was standing. She stepped forward and Zach grimaced at one of the newest members in the Army of Death who was shaking her head disappointedly at him. "After this? After you lied to your own comrades just for a revenge trip?"
"It wasn't for revenge," Zach said. "And I know, I was angry. But I didn't want to kill him. I, never want to kill anyone." Zach paused and then said softer, "But I truly believe what I was saying about him getting more publicity. Stain sent a powerful message every time he made an attack, every time the news talked about him, every time he did anything. His last arrest became a foundation for the League of Villains, making them a force powerful enough for the SFI, which instigated the highest increase in villain activity across the entire world." The woman speaking to him stopped looking as disappointed but just kept frowning at him, and she shook her head again while lowering her eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry, Icefall. I couldn't take the chance of something like that happening again. I couldn't, let him be an influence even from jail."
"He doesn't just influence villains," Icefall said, lifting her dark gaze from the floor back to him. "I'm sure it's the same for Theo and Hybrid, and that's why you picked them right?" Zach grit his teeth inside his helmet but nodded at the woman who scrunched her face in more frustration at him. "Well I, I joined you because of Stain," Icefall admitted, something she had not told him when she was in this room herself only a few weeks ago to be recruited. "Because I believed in what he said that night too. I didn't believe everything he did, but-" she looked down towards Stain's body and she bit down harder.
"I believed him too," Zach said softly. Icefall looked at his visor, and Zach reached up and grabbed his helmet. He took it off and lowered it to clip on his side. He stared into her icy blue eyes with his hazel ones and then added in his softer voice, "For a long time I thought I just watched the Stain video because I was afraid of all the villains it would create. But I found myself able to, to understand where he was coming from. Yet his actions didn't match his beliefs. Or, or we misunderstood them. Or maybe he just thought because crime was lowering a bit in the places he went to, that what he was doing was the difference. Yet people were afraid of Stain. Innocent people lived in fear of him, in fear of his ideals, and in fear because the heroes who always protected them were being massacred by this maniac. He killed great people, and I have no doubt this mass-murderer would have kept killing more heroes. He would have kept spreading his dangerous ideals that don't always result in people like you."
"I understand why you did it," Icefall said. She stared into Zach's eyes for a few more seconds and then turned her head towards the door, "But be it my own feelings towards Stain, or towards how you killed him, the fact that you lied to us… I can't be here anymore."
Icefall headed out of the room. Zach looked around at the others to see how they felt. He looked towards Gentle who hesitated for a moment, then gave him a strong nod which was all Zach needed to see. He had only kept Gentle in the dark because of Gentle's easy-to-distinguish costume which he wanted Stain to see upon arriving. Exodus walked forward past Gentle, and Zach looked down at Stain's body, then back at Exodus and he nodded.
Jetflame leaned back on the wall next to Michael. He could see the man next to him smirking, a more relaxed look on his face and even chuckling and shaking his head at himself. It was foolish of us, I suppose, to believe he would let Stain in here, Jetflame thought it but looked away as Exodus started to rid Stain's body with his Light powers. But as much as I do believe in Death like the rest of you, killing without a system is… Stain needed to die. I agree with Death. That's, that's all I need. I can leave if we ever begin to disagree. If he stops making so much sense, when he explains why he does what he does. And I know he's just saying it to justify his actions to us, but I truly do believe in those actions once you have justified them.
Sazaki's getting better at this, Gentle stared towards the boy in the middle of the room who narrowed his eyes towards Icefall's back and then lowered his gaze to the floor in such a self-hating way.
"Wait!" Zach called out. He marched out to the door back into the main hangar, and there were other people gathering about now from around the ship. Dozens of people were around him, and Zach looked at Icefall and then past towards Hybrid and Theo who were standing at the railing of the upper level surrounding the main hangar they were on. They glared back at him in frustrated and angry ways, and Zach stared straight back at them with his expression hardened from the self-hating look he had back in the room behind him. "Those of you who are leaving, leave behind your weapons and costumes," Zach said.
Icefall's eyes shot open wide and then she started glaring at him just like Hybrid and Theo were. Zach's expression was dark though, and he said, "I said that at any time you all can leave. If you can't believe in me any longer then that's fine, but you can't have things the Army of Death's money paid for out there. You can't have our weapons being used for purposes that are not mine."
"I'd only use them for what's right," Hybrid said, stepping back towards Death and glaring harshly at him. "What's really right, and not just what Death decides-"
"You're fine to do so, but not with my equipment. Not as Death. Not related to Death. You can't use them without following my rules, and my codes, and following my orders." Zach kept all anger off of his stern expression, and the three facing him shifted their expressions themselves. "You can leave because you disagree with me, but I will not change my mind. I made my decision long ago of what Death would be."
The Cloak landed on a Greek island in the middle of Mediterranean. The back of it was opened up, and Mark handed each of the four people in front of him small bags. "Money and some papers that'll get you wherever you need to go. There's an airport on the other side of the island. The papers will show when you came here so they won't be suspicious."
Mark turned and walked back into The Cloak's hangar. He was in his full black armor with his helmet on, since they were parked out in the open and had the risk of being seen. The four he just turned his back to were all wearing casual clothes, clothes they had not worn in months for some of them, weeks for others. Mark walked past Death and nodded at him once before heading farther inside. I believe in you, Zach. Always. You should have known not everyone would though.
"You shouldn't have killed him," Hybrid said. He was at the top of the ramp with the other three, looking ahead at Death with a dark, angry, and regretful look covering his face. "I really, wish you- he could have helped-"
"Stain was weaker than me, trapped, surrounded, and I killed that man who I could have captured." Zach said this while staring through his visor straight at Hybrid. Then his voice lowered softer and he continued, "It hurt me to do so, because I hate killing… but it did the most good. I believe that and I wish you could. Bringing Stain back into people's minds as he's about to fade away, it would be irresponsible. He could always be caught later too if I had tried to use him. A man who had killed so many heroes, great people, and he would have been executed in many of the places I would have brought him to anyway if we turned him over. Except, he'd still get publicity that way. The famous last words of Stain, spurring on another generation of villains. So I did it this way. Because this was the best way. The way that kept a mask hiding my expression since I had Stain convinced that I was a cautious person because of the way we were initiating him. The only way I could really see Stain lowering his guard enough to be trapped, was having him have that mission with you two already, and I'm sorry for that. I know how much closer we get out there in the field, so I knew this might happen and still… I'm sorry."
The two he was looking at could hear sincerity in that voice, and it just made them grit their teeth harder while trying to keep glaring at him. "Stain would have thought something was up if Death just immediately wanted to meet him, might suspect a trap, but if he helped Death first and proved his usefulness then he would be quicker to accept it when Death finally accepts Stain's request to meet him." Zach shook his head at Scotty who ground his teeth in frustration back, having told himself that he couldn't sit there and pretend like he was not betrayed over this. He had been lied to about multiple missions, he thought he was talking to Fillian a hundred miles away when Fillian was on the ship with him, and he couldn't even stay and call back Yusef he was so angry when he was told what had happened.
Scotty had a betrayed look on his face, but he was also sad and regretful as he looked back into the ship he left his uniform in that he had been wearing for months now. Zach could see hesitant and sad looks, but his own expression steadied inside his helmet. "When you leave here you are no longer Army of Death, and you never were Army of Death." Zach paused and grit his own teeth at the looks on their faces. "Because you are not when you leave, just are you are not now. You were all faceless here, which means the ones who leave this place are not the same as the ones who were here, and those ones who were here accepted our identities being kept secret. Trusted-"
"We wouldn't rat you out," Icefall said. She shook her head, sadly as it seemed like he was about to tell them not to tell anyone who they were. The others immediately agreed with Icefall, and Zach nodded back at them.
"We still care for, and believe in our comrades here even if they didn't stand up with us against this," Hybrid said. He looked at Death's helmet and calmed himself down the most he had since Stain was ambushed. He was about to leave, and he didn't want to leave things like this, so much left unsaid. "But killing Stain," he continued. "He had influenced some of us, he had been an inspiration to get me to step outside of the lines of normal heroes."
"Yeah," Theo agreed softly. He looked past Death and farther into the hangar, and he saw some others in all black with their helmets on staring his way. It hurt him more that they all had their helmets on, because he could not look at the ones he had been really close with even as he knew they were watching him leave them. He recognized Grabble's pincers, and Sagitus' horse body, and Exodus' large figure, and Gentle's purple accessories. He shifted his gaze back straight at Death, "Stain was the reason I came to you."
"I watched Stain's video every night," Zach admitted to the group in a soft tone. "From the night I saw it in person, to when I downloaded the video, almost to the day I infiltrated the League of Villains. I was influenced as well, but I always knew that Stain was a villain. I never mixed him up as a hero." Zach paused and then said to his regretful former comrades, "As much as what Stain said made some sense, to villains it meant more than that. It was an excuse to do whatever they wanted, it was a stimulus, and it ignited something that I had been unable to stop at the time but I knew I could stop from rekindling now."
Stain told the world that the only true hero was All Might, and then All Might fell. He fell and, and the villains who were only afraid of one thing became so emboldened. Kaminari used Stain, to try and feel out who in our class might have ideals fit for a villain. All the times we talked about Stain after he asked if anyone had seen the video, after he said Stain was cool… How did I not know? Fuck. Because it's not just villains who think so. I thought it too. And these four… Zach opened his mouth to apologize to his hurt comrades again. Then he closed it, scrunched his face inside his helmet, and he told them, "Goodbye."
They wished he would have tried harder to stop them. It was too late now. They had made their decisions, and as much regret as they felt as they turned from The Cloak, they all started away from the ship that had been their homes. As they walked out in frustration and considering their choices, Zach spoke down to them, "You can think about it, and then try to come back if you want." The group of four hesitated on the metal ramp, and Zach's face twisted in as much regret as theirs each had.
"Because I still believe in you too."
A/N Thanks for reading! BAM with that reversal! Zach vs Stain in a heated yelling match of ideals, as well as an actual brawl. Death loses some comrades over the trickery he pulled on them, but the majority stay with him trusting his decisions. Meanwhile, Class A watches a clip of Zach and Darling back in their trip to America a while back which casts doubt in their minds over him being Death too... 2nd Stain arc finished! Lol, the next set of chapters have me hyped to write, but unfortunately I have 2 weeks left in this semester and SO much work to do. I have to write 15 pages of my Thesis on Japanese Population Decline by Friday (it's my degree paper posing solutions and societal issues with immigration...) anyway that, and all of the next week I have finals too. X( Then it's winter break though! Going to write a lot during that, and I'll try to get up a couple chapters if I can these next two weeks. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Leave a review below telling me what you think and if I caught you off guard with this, as well as predictions for what's ahead for Death!
Naruffoku chapter 113 . Nov 23
Is he gonna come back to japan any time soon?
Maybe... no spoilers ;)
GDawg4826 chapter 113 . Nov 23
NO FUCKING WAY! STAIN! FUCKING STAIN! IN THE ARMY OF DEATH! YOU ARE INSANE! ZACH IS INSANE! THIS CHAPTER IS INSANE! ITS ALL INSANE!
Ahem. Really loved the fight scenes this chapter. I don't even care that I had to wait a week for it, it was phenomenal.
I can't believe Zach is actually letting Stain into the AOD, yeah he's strong, but he's also a dangerous murderer. As far as I know, Zach hasn't brought anyone like that in. I know he's got some criminals, but I'd never expect him to take in a killer. I doubt that Gentle approved of it.
Also, you better not kill off Mina. Ever.
STAIN?! STAIN! XD Lol glad you enjoyed the last chapter, hope this didn't kill the hype! And Mina makes it so there's another plus. Thanks for the review!
sakareal2 chapter 113 . Nov 23
The only fanfic I look forward to :)
Keep it up man!
Awesome! Hope I can keep up some quick updates these next few weeks. Thanks for reviewing!
Laxca chapter 113 . Nov 24
I don't want to sound rude or anything, but you have a plot planned out, right? Also, great chapter as always, thanks for writing!
'Course I do! I've had the ending planned out for over 50 chapters now. I can still add in more arcs and stuff in certain areas, but yeah there's a set-up in progress. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the review!
Yes chapter 113 . Nov 24
Weeeeeew. From a nuke to a bomb, nice.
Wasn't expecting Stain to be relevant again.
The stakes are staying high! Neither the nuke nor the bomb go off where they're supposed to though, so at least the good guys are still winning! And Stain... well, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!