Death

by tmb1112

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

131. Chapter 131

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 131:

Sleep.

Zach had his eyes closed, laying on his side facing the wall in the small room his bed was in. He rolled over again to the other side so he was facing more of the room when his eyes opened back up. He turned back so he was flat on his back, staring at his ceiling, then he closed his eyes tightly after staring at the ceiling for a few seconds without feeling tired at all. I need to sleep. Recharge… Death… Not that it's out. I'm not at full anymore, but… Don't think. Just sleep. Sleep!

Zach clenched his eyes tighter, his eyelids scrunching over his face though his breathing stayed completely calm. His breaths slowed down too, by force, as he repeated to himself over and over that he needed to sleep. Maybe I'm used to movement while I sleep. Resting on solid ground feels weird. When was… when was the last time I slept not on a vehicle? Since, before The Cloak- no, even earlier than that. I can't sleep like this. But I need to. Please, just clear your mind and sleep. Clear it of everything. Push those faces away. Don't think too much, just sleep. Faces pushed into his mind anyway, as thinking about not thinking about them had the opposite effect.

Some time ago…

Clunk Clunk

Jameis Jones turned to the steel door behind him in a dim basement hallway off of a room full of loud shouting and yelling. The man wore a tight black tank top that showed off his big black muscles. His skin was so dark brown it was almost black, only noticeably brown because of his pitch black tank. Jameis reached up to the sliding slot at his head level and said in a gruff voice while opening it, "Password…" He looked through the slot and his heart fell. A look of pure despair covered his face and filled his eyes looking through the slot at the four figures standing outside the basement.

"How about you just let us in?" The man standing directly on the other side of the door stated. It was less of a question and more a suggestion, yet Jameis felt he had little option as he stared out at the four soldiers in black uniforms and helmets. The bouncer gulped, then he reached over to a latch and opened it up while screaming in his head.

Outside the door, one of the four figures looked over at Death and smirked inside his helmet. Spiral whispered so his voice would only be heard by the four of them and Rebel who was on the same comms link, "I can't believe that worked."

"Shut up," La Brava hissed, silencing the younger man in front of her who regained an intense expression as the door started opening for them.

"Thanks," Death said, walking forward through the door while Jameis Jones stood to the side. The bouncer pulled farther back as Death stepped in, and he jumped at the feeling of his back touching the wall. Death ignored him and just kept moving forward, and two others followed behind him. One was around the same height as Death, and the other behind him was a couple of feet shorter.

Jones started turning his head to follow them walking away, when the fourth stopped in front of him and stepped his way, making Jones pull even harder back into the wall. Gentle leaned his purple visor close and questioned the man inches in front of his face, "Would you like to run away?" Jameis froze where he stood, his eyes darting to the open door and then back at the man in front of him. He nodded quickly, and Gentle made a motion of his head towards the door.

The bouncer started running, and Gentle turned to the other three and walked down the hall after them. "Our exit is cleared," he said, letting out a soft chuckle as he did since the move was not all that necessary.

"Stay on me. Keep your eyes peeled for targets we're after." Death walked down to the end of the hall and paused for a second at the corner. Around the bend was the opening into a much wider room that dropped farther down too from what they knew about the place. There were a lot of people shouting, sounds of violence and banging noises of steel too. The yells of those in the basement all sounded like those of villains, cursing and roaring at each other in anger and raucous laughter. "Remember, we're not here for this place. We'll shut it down only if necessary."

Death stepped around the corner and started forward farther into the basement. Behind him walked his three fellow soldiers in black, and a squad of four Army of Death members walked out into a huge basement full of villains. The section they stepped into stretched around four walls in a perfect square, with bars on two of them, a booth on the opposite side as the entrance with papers covering the counter and pinned to the wall behind it and around the box, and a lot of men standing around drinking together and looking towards the middle of the room. Very few people were looking around at the outsides of the room, though there were a couple of more alert people in there who immediately turned their attentions to the entrance, as well as some just on the opposite side of the room as that entry hallway.

There were also a couple of men just on the right side of the entrance looking towards the middle of the room when Death arrived. The room dipped down in the middle with more people on the lower elevated levels shouting at the cage in the center of the room too, but most of those people were too focused on the match to realize anything as the dark figures entered. They just shouted at the two men inside the cage who kept fighting each other while covered in blood. The two were both big men, and each hit was slamming the other into the sides of the cage that must have been built with some powerful steel to be surviving those blows. The two men on the right side of the entry were still yelling down themselves, when a drink fell out of one man's hand and they both just dropped their jaws at who walked in next to them. Beer poured out the corners of one man's mouth, and then one of them started reaching down for his waistband.

The man reached down for his waist, and the dark figure in front of him turned his head the smallest amount so the villain was looking into that visor. The villain froze, and then Death looked back straight forward and started walking right past the sweaty men unable to say a word. The guy next to the one who had started reaching nudged his buddy and turned to the door, only to freeze as just one of the four figures kept walking after Death. Spiral stayed close behind Death, leaving Gentle and La Brava in the entryway that was already filled with an invisible barricade which just cut off the entire room. La Brava's voice filled their headsets, "Facial recognition isn't picking up on anyone big in here. Looks like it really is mainly a local thing like Williams claimed. I see a few illegal firearms though, and actually, I see some kids in here. Drinking and yelling about the fight, but they're definitely teenagers. The fight itself too, looks like it's as brutal as we were…"

La Brava's voice trailed off. Death was walking around the outside of the room, and nearly everyone on the top level was gawking over at him now as he headed around the room. Whispers started and more people started noticing what was going on, and with that meant a decrease in the volume of the room that had been full of shouting. One of the two men down in the arena did not care about that, but the other who looked to be winning the fight lifted his head and looked around in frustration at the lack of cheers. He froze and stared up to the outside of the room too at the top level near the betting booth where he had almost reached. "Is that…" the man with bloodied fists and bruises on his face and chest began softly.

His opponent was not going to let him get away with looking away during their fight. He slammed a fist into the other man's gut so hard his fist was visible on the unprepared fighter's back, before he was released into the other side of the cage with his barbed tongue sticking out and his legs coming out from below him. He slumped into the side of the cage, his eyes rolling back from a punch more powerful than anything he had ever felt before. "Look away from me will you," the other big fighter growled, feeling pissed by the way the other fighter let that end. He stepped towards him too, but his eyes lifted and he saw the people around the cage all backing away nervously and looking to one side of the room in fear just as his opponent had. "What?" he muttered, turning and glaring back through eyes that were filling with blood from the gash on his forehead.

Death stepped up to the booth where a terrified man stood wishing he had run the second he saw Death. The guy had thought Death had maybe come for one of the people in there though, and the fact that this dark figure was standing before him now had the front of his pants getting soaked. He would have been glad that the counter was high enough to hide that fact, if he was focused on anything else other than the dark visor of the man before him. "Do you run this place?" Death questioned, his voice deep and making the entire room fall silent instantly.

"I- I- I- I- I-" the teller tried several times to start making out his sentence but could not stop sputtering 'I' out instead.

"Calm down," Death said, his arms still down unthreateningly at his sides. Spiral on the other hand had walked in with an assault rifle lifted and held across his chest by both hands, but his helmet was also focused straight ahead on the teller and not anyone else in the room. The lack of interest Death and his subordinate seemed to have in all of them was a relief. No one in there was angry that Death was ignoring them. Teenagers pulled back far and cursed themselves for ever thinking this was a good idea. The bartenders working there felt their bowel pressure increase but were holding it in unlike the teller, who was also their boss. There were a couple of angry people in there though, men who had bet on the fight and were going to lose their money now. Even they were not too worried about their cash though, as a look towards the exit showed them two more Army of Death members waiting for any of them to try running away.

"I'm not here to fight. Just answer the question." Death stayed still despite feeling fifty sets of eyes on him. He looked at the man behind the counter who he already heard was in charge of this place. "Mr. Brick. You run this establishment, correct? An illegal fight club where gambling on Quirk cage-matches is alright." Death finished his statement and then added, lifting his tone a little even with it modulated, "It doesn't sound all that bad. So calm down. I have not come for you."

Brick felt the invisible hand clenching around his heart and lungs loosen up. "O-Oh. Al-Alright. I- Yes. Yes this is, I run this…" Brick reminded himself of how many people were watching him right now. He always gave off an intimidating presence and felt he needed to in order to keep an establishment like this running without his patrons causing too much damage, especially since he did not have many people on his payroll to help him out with that. He yelled at himself internally to calm down, then he nodded at Death and asked in an almost steady voice, "What can I do you for?"

"Your cage-matches," Death started. "Do your fighters kill each other?" Just like that, Brick felt his entire body covering in a new layer of sweat. Death's tone scared the living shit out of him, and anyone else in the room thinking about trying something felt themselves get dry mouth at the voice that just spoke.

"W-Well there's no, there's no rule ag- but I can change that!" Brick yelled it and leaned forward over the counter with a pleading look at the figure before him. "For now on, all fights will just go until a knock-out, or someone taps. I'll hire a ref to make sure too!"

"There are underage patrons in here," Death added. He turned his head and looked across the room towards someone he had noticed when La Brava mentioned it before. He looked back to Brick fast, since he felt bad as the kid he looked towards who, despite being older than him, looked like he had a heart attack at the look from the Death. "What's your excuse?"

"I had no idea!"

"Bullshit," Spiral replied, and he lifted his chin and looked down through his visor in a pissed-off way at the owner. In his head though he mentioned to himself, Not that those kids would be drinking illegally in like, half the world. This is America though.

"I promise. I'll have my, bouncer, he'll-" Brick paused when he was about to mention his bouncer, because he started a cursing rant at Jones for running away on him and not warning him that these men had arrived.

I have bigger things to worry about, Zach thought, not really focused on Brick anymore. This lead led nowhere. Most of the people here don't look like hardened villains. The few with guns might just be so afraid they're not giving away how bad they really are. They're all just here to enjoy a fight though. Fuck it. I'll check on this place again, or send someone to go undercover and re-check it out in a few weeks. If it's worse than it looks, or if nothing changes to at least be better than before, I'll call in a tip. "Hey Death," La Brava started. She wanted to mention something for a while now, but Zach had gotten into his zone and she did not want to distract him. "Look over at the cage."

Brick gulped and he started speaking fast again. "I'll get an I.D. scanner! And, I'll definitely hire that ref so no one gets killed in-"

"That's BULL!" A voice roared down from the middle of the room. Zach looked down and he stared at the figure on the fighting stage who reached out at the steel bars closest to him and started yanking to the sides, ripping the cage open with his bare hands and then dropping off the stage. The man had not been fully focused on what everyone was saying for a minute there, but he heard that last part of what Brick was saying. "If it's not to the death, then it's not a real fight!"

"Rappa!" Brick yelled down at the man who just broke apart his very expensive cage. "You can't-"

"Rappa?" Death muttered.

"He's a Tartaros escapee, Death," La Brava started. "He was with the-"

"I know who he is," Death said, not keeping his voice quiet like the woman across the room from him. His other three soldiers looked his way in some surprise, Brick gawked at Death and felt a new sense of terror that his fighter was someone Death was actually after, while Rappa stopped glaring so furiously up and started smirking instead.

"Death! You here to fight me?!" The excitement was impossible to hide on Rappa's face. "Let's fight, and kill each other!"

"This is about to get out of control," Gentle mentioned, right as everyone between Death and Rappa started running to the sides of the room. They were too afraid to go to the opposite side as Death where the exit was because of the soldiers waiting for them there, so everyone started running at the bars instead and diving over the counters to crouch down with the bartenders.

"Sure," Death replied. "But not here," he added.

"What are you doing?" La Brava asked. "We taking him back to Tartaros?"

"I was not expecting to find a high profile guy in a place like this," Spiral admitted, looking over at what must have been a powerful villain to have escaped in the world famous Tartaros breakout. "Why not just knock him out here? We can drag him with us-"

"You mean it?!" Rappa yelled up, an even more excited tone in his voice this time.

"Yeah. Not to the death though," Zach replied.

Rappa's eyes narrowed, and Zach looked at the face of a man who he was definitely not expecting to find here. Kirishima never saw what he looked like under the mask. I didn't recognize him at all. "When I win I'm going to kill you," Rappa retorted, while marching up the steps towards the higher point in the room where Death was still standing. "The only fights that really matter are ones where your life's on the line. Stake your life on it, Death!"

"Didn't you enjoy your fight with Red Riot?" Zach asked.

Spiral looked in at Zach in more confusion again. Then he spun back to Rappa who had frozen on the spot with his smile lowering down and his eyes opening wide. "What did you, just say?" Rappa asked.

"Red Riot, and Fat Gum, you had fun with that fight didn't you? And none of you died."

"How do you…"

Death knows everything!

What is going on?!

I want to go home.

10 dollars an hour isn't worth this shit! A bartender behind his counter getting squished by the men ducking down on his sides curled down even farther as he heard Death speaking so calmly about things he didn't understand. And then he really didn't understand them, as Death started speaking Japanese.

"I'll fight you Rappa, but if I win," Death continued, stepping towards the man who had stopped instead of reaching all the way up to him. Zach stepped to the start of the decline and looked down into Rappa's eyes. "Then you come with me. You can fight to your heart's desire, every day in life or death battles. You'll have to do as I say, or I'll send you straight back to Tartaros." Zach paused and then he continued in a lower voice, "But why not do some good for a change? You don't really care who you fight for, do you? As long as it means you get to fight."

The majority of the people in the room did not understand a word of that, including Spiral who wished he had practiced more Japanese despite never being to Japan himself. One of the patrons hiding behind a bar understood it all though, and he started breathing heavier and in a more nervous way while his friends who knew that he spoke a language sounding like this tried getting what was happening out of him. Gentle and La Brava glanced at each other, then they looked back forward and accepted what Zach was doing without any argument. Rappa stared up at Death and his huge fists clenched at his sides, "You think you can beat me? In a regular fight, no weapons or-"

"I know the fight you're looking for," Zach said. He was strapped all over in knives right then, so he understood why Rappa would ask him. He nodded once at Rappa and replied, "And yeah, I can beat you. When I do, will you follow me? It's your choice. I can either send your unconscious body to Japan to be put back into your cage, or you can come with me and fight every day until the day someone too strong puts you down." Rappa's lips started curling up and the ugly man whose face was covered in scars and blood smirked huge at the dark figure. Death turned and he motioned towards the opposite side of the room. "Then let's go. We can't go all out in here."

"So how'd you know about all that stuff?" Rappa ran up and right up next to Death who did not react like they were currently fighting.

Spiral lifted his rifle and aimed it at Rappa's head but held his finger off the trigger as neither of the two tried beating each other up. He grunted, wishing to himself that Zach had just stayed in English so he would have understood the current situation. His eyes darted around though as he took up the rear. "Hey! If you've got a gun, toss it over the bar! I'm collecting all of them now, and we already checked when we came in who here had one on them! Try anything funny and I'll fill you with holes! And put on the fucking safety! I don't want you tossing a gun over the counter and a bullet flying at me when it hits the floor, you fucking idiots!"

"You heard him," Zach repeated after a few seconds. His modulated voice sounded different from Spiral's, and the armed people there who knew who just spoke decided not to try anything and just tossed their guns. A handful of clanks filled the room as they threw their guns over the counters that every single one of them had gone and hid behind except for the owner and the defeated fighter on stage who Rappa had not bothered finishing off thanks to his distraction. Zach turned to Rappa while the big man was still just smirking down at the top of his head, "Rappa. I'll let you come and fight with us if I beat you, but if you go too far while under my command, then I'm sending you back to Tartaros."

"As long as I get to fight you," Rappa started, his smirk rising more as Death was making it out like he had already won again, bringing his anticipation for this fight up so much more. It felt like the fight was going to be the one he was always looking for, and Zach could see that nearly childlike excitement on the villain's face as he held himself back to wait until they were somewhere else for their fight. Good, he can hold himself back, one of the requirements Zach had made in his head about allowing Rappa in was being fulfilled just by the impatient man agreeing to follow him at that moment. Rappa. This trip wasn't for nothing after all. His strength to break through even Kirishima's Unbreakable. I'll put it to good use.

Present

Zach opened his eyes up at his ceiling. Even with them open, he still saw Rappa's face hovering above him and it made his flat lips curl down. The fight was fun. I told myself, to get in his mindset for it. So that he would not just be following me like he followed Overhaul, but so we would have something in common. Only thinking like someone like him, can I help him. With the League I tried to understand them, and I was able to change them at times. I failed back then, but I've done it better here. Gentle and La Brava for one. Blackjack, trusting him. Rappa, fighting with him. Understanding people even when they might seem crazy. Not just throwing them into jail. Rappa helped. He really, helped…

"Death, Charlie Squad is returning. Turning off cloaking and opening landing pad 3."

"That was too easy! Send me to a harder one next time Death!"

"Rappa, sit down until I've landed!"

"It's fine Vince. If he falls out, he falls out."

"You three doing alright? Slipspace, how's the leg?"

"Fine. I told you before you flew off. I'll get Curalia to-"

BOOOOM!

Zach flinched and he turned onto his side again to face the wall, but he could not close his eyes this time. The voices he heard in his head were accompanied by his imagination of the events of that day. His side hurt and his left shoulder ached, so he brought his right hand up to it and squeezed while feeling a cold sharp sensation shredding through it. I should have been better prepared. I, wasn't ready.

"Slipspace! Can you hear me?!"

"They're dead! The chopper's going down!"

"HOLY SHIT!"

"Look around us!"

"What's going on?!" Zach had his eyes open, but he saw himself in the bridge of The Cloak. Other soldiers in black were running in behind him, while the rest of them stared out the curved windshields of the ship's cockpit. Screens popped up on top of the windows showing a full three-sixty angle of what was around them, including a zoomed-in look down on the surrounding landscape far below too, and Zach could see through the glass and in every single screen the forces that appeared before them.

"How?!"

"They had a cloaking system too."

"They're all around us."

"We're fucking surrounded?! What do we do-"

"DEATH!"

"You guys are fucked! They're all targeting The Cloak! They have RK-12's, SG-16's, Super-Jets and… their tech matches-"

"Rebel, calm down. Send in the drones as soon as you lose contact with us."

"Wh-What?"

"Death! There are too many of them! We have to run!"

"WE'RE SCREWED!"

"I don't usually say this, but we need to get out of-"

"Gentle, believe in me."

"…"

"Death! What are we-"

"Cody get out of here. Now. Rebel I need full comms. Raylei send my voice across The Cloak. Everyone listen. Calm down. We knew the counterattack was coming. Whiteout's about to Emp. Get ready for a crash landing and meet up a whole on our way to the hangar. They may have hacked our comms too. Don't panic-"

"Their targeting systems are locked on!"

"They have more air support coming!"

"Whiteout do it!"

"Are you crazy?! She can't! We're twenty thousand-"

"EMP!"

"AHHHH!"

A white flash filled Zach's mind and he clenched his eyes shut as if it were blinding him. What am I doing? Don't think about, it. I need to sleep. That's what I'm supposed to be… If I don't learn though, how do I stop, more of them from dying? I need to think about it and, and I need to accept what I did wrong. Zach rolled back onto his back and stared at his ceiling through the darkness his eyes had adjusted to. He took in a deep breath and then lifted his right hand and stared at it. He curled his fingers in and then opened back into a palm, before slowly resting that palm down on his chest. I knew the plan was risky. There was no time to second guess myself though. Not then. Not while they needed me to be completely sure of myself, even when I wasn't.

"Are you crazy!?"

"We're going down!"

"So are they. We're even with our technology. Just listen to Death and shut up! All of you!"

Thank you Darling. "Maelstrom! Whiteout! Raylei! Stay on the bridge and shoot out the windows when we get close to the ground! Fire around at all sides and keep them thinking we're on the ship and that there aren't a lot of us left. Everyone else on me to the hangar!"

"Death! Let me stay too. I can guard-"

"I need you for something else Michael. Shang! Stay with the girls and protect them from behind! They're going to try and board the ship…"

Zach closed his eyes again and his heart pounded harder while he held his right hand over it. He heard Michael's voice again, much later that day, "Death. I need to know…"

"What?"

"You left those three inside, because it was their first time dying right?"

"That wasn't-"

"You knew they were going to break through from the start. I need to hear you say it."

"I didn't. I knew, it was high risk though. And I picked Shang instead of you, because Shang couldn't have done what you all needed to out there. He couldn't have convinced anyone, couldn't have held a conversation or held back his rage or, and his body size would have been too much of a- Michael I mean it, I wasn't sacrificing anyone. Everyone could have died. Shang just, was a better choice to leave behind with them…"

Zach opened his eyes again and saw Shang's face in the darkness over his bed. That angry face shifted a bit to return to the face Shang had when he first met him, without any scars, and smiling as another face that looked similar but more feminine appeared at its side. Zach curled his right hand's fingers into his chest and then took in another deep breath at the feeling of his heart racing fast, which caused pain inside his chest. Curalia keeps telling me I need less stress. That's not going to happen. This job is stressful. Fucking idiot. Why even tell me that? Why even try? Zach flattened his palm against his chest and took another deep breath. Chill. She's just, being a doctor. Being kind. And worried about me…

"What about the infirmary?! Some of us need to go there and protect-"

"We have a failsafe lockdown set up for the infirmary. In case of an EMP, the whole system locks down immediately. It should be strong enough to hold off any attackers, and Curalia and the injured in there will just have to hold out if they do break in."

"Death! We're getting closer to the ground! Their ships are falling too but the ground is covered-"

"There are so many of them! What are we going to do against forces like those?!"

"Did you see the faces that appeared on the screen? The facial recognition caught all the top cartel heads, the Triakuza bosses, the mob and the Carollo pirates…"

"Ape Lord, Yusugoro, The Retainer! Death, everyone we've missed on the world loop, they all teamed up!"

"It's beyond our expectations!"

"There are armies out there! Full fucking armies! We've never dealt with-"

"Foundation! Scatterbox! Slip- When we hit the ground we are going to carve through the bottom of The Cloak and dig into the ground!"

"We're running away?"

"That's perfect-"

"We are not running!"

"You can't seriously think we can fight that many-"

"I didn't sign up just to die-"

"Don't argue with the Commander."

"I don't want to die!"

"Listen to me! I have a plan. We have all the villains we've missed. The ones we've been looking for who could have just gone deeper into hiding, but who all joined up for the first time to come get us. And with only a few people firing from in here at them, and our headquarters crashed, it's going to look like they succeeded. Fabrica! Will put everyone into disguises matching the outfits of those on the ground above you, and Scatterbox will send you up into their ranks based on what languages you speak! Dead Silence, keep Foundation silent as he digs the tunnels beneath."

"Death!"

"Slipspace?!"

"You were on the helicopter-"

"I left as it was exploding. Managed to make it into the hangar and heard what's going on-"

"Hey, your leg- and your-"

"I'm fine. Death, where do you need me?"

"In the tunnels with Scatterbox. You'll send everyone up into the enemy ranks while they focus fire on our crashed ship. Can you do that in your condit-"

"I said I'm fine! Now let's move!"

"Can we really do this?"

"Death isn't panicking, so we shouldn't either."

"Get your helmets on. Guardian, Gentle, A.J., get ready to soften our crash landing. We're falling right into heavy fire and there's no time for mistakes. Exodus! Trigger on impact and break through straight at the North American villains we saw in the east. La Brava! Put Gentle into Lover Mode at the last possible moment so it lasts longest, then Gentle go for the South Americans! They had the most, but we'll also have the most forces in there! Anyone who knows even a bit of Spanish go there. They must have used some of Bolivar's hidden stashes to get all that tech after we bankrupted them all in Wampajawa. I'll take Asia on my own. Everyone else, when you're teleported up onto the surface act like one of them! Their forces have never fought with each other before, but it's not just the different armies from different continents! Even in their own groups, different ideological villain groups have teamed up with drug lords with pirates with sex traffickers. They've never worked with each other before, they don't trust each other, and they definitely don't trust the other armies! They all came together for one purpose! To beat us!"

Zach started breathing faster on his bed, thinking about the faces of the comrades around him that he saw for the last time during his speech on the run into the hangar. He saw their faces getting more confident looks, the fear dying down at his plan he was making on the fly, and then he saw helmets dropping down over their faces that he would never see again. I failed so many of them. The plan wasn't great. It wasn't even much of a plan. Us four heading out there to make a big scene, some small fire from The Cloak, of course they were going to realize that there were more of us hiding in their ranks. Not all villains are idiots…

"Death! It's Sagitus! They shot him in the head!"

I should have singled him out for a different plan. A centaur running through their ranks, of course they were going to notice that he hadn't been there the whole time. It's even more noticeable than Shang. I just got so used to him being around all the time that I forgot… it just slipped my mind. Slipped-

"They're flooding the tunnels! Mark!"

"Where's Mark?!"

"We need comms back on!"

"Ahh, gah, ack ack, I barely got out, but the wall of water hit Slipspace before… she's down there. Drowning. Where's Faye-"

"She's been dead! Get up Scatterbox we need y-"

"SPIRAL!"

Zach gripped his chest and felt his heart pounding so much harder than a minute ago. He started panting at the faster breaths, but his mind was stuck on the battle a few days back with no chance of him sleeping anymore. Don't just think of them. The plan! What went wrong?! What didn't I think about?! He yelled at himself mentally and managed to calm down a bit as he backtracked from the horrible thoughts going through his mind.

"Darling wait. Go get Snow. Bring her with you into the tunnels."

"Understood!"

"Death, you can't be serious-"

"All fire is going to be focused on the ship. It's safer down there than up here… And without Fillian, we need someone who can tell us the exact locations above of the enemies for our teleporters."

"She's just a-"

"This is why I said we shouldn't have brought her-"

"ENOUGH! We're about to crash! Fabrica start changing everyone's clothes. You don't want to be caught out there in an AoD uniform. If you think they might know your faces from underworld bounties and such, then have Fabrica give you a mask too! Enough of them are wearing one!"

"Death wait!"

"Jetflame, Trigger up and go after the Europeans. Too many will know you immediately anyway! Arko! You lead the African team-"

"We're crashing!"

"Death I am coming too."

"Gentle!"

"Right after we crash my dear."

"Let's do it Exodus! Together!"

"Full power. Today Death, we will make the future-"

"LATER! JUST GO!"

Zach slid his hand off of his chest while his heartbeat returned back to its normal speed. He stared down at his chest and watched as dark wisps slipped out of his chest right through his dark costume he was wearing to bed. Maybe I could sleep if I actually got out of it. I'll just have to put it back on though. In not too long probably. How long since I tried to start resting? I gave myself four hours, but if I actually get to sleep now it wouldn't be much. Would still be rest though. Everyone needs rest. I do too. I think, I still need rest. When was the last time I slept though, that it wasn't because I forced myself to? I've been tired, but mentally just exhausted. Do I need sleep? Am I still human? After what I did that day?

"Fire at him!"

"Death came here?!"

"OH SHIT!"

"This is where you die, Death!"

"DEATH WAVE!"

"AHHHH!"

"Take him down!"

"DEATH! I'm coming!"

"Rappa?!"

He was one, strong bastard. Helicopter explodes and he falls a few miles, still just walks it off. Zach's small smile that formed for a second dropped back down though. We only fought that one time. I beat him, but Curalia scolded us and said we couldn't do it again. I thought he'd be pissed and demand more fights, I heard he tried fighting Overhaul a bunch of times… But he was satisfied with just the one. He accepted that I only did it because he wanted to, and that I didn't want to fight him since it would weaken me for the other battles we were constantly going to.

Zach thought about the talk he had with Rappa when he wondered why Rappa never asked a second time. He just, was fine staying and having fun with our fights against villains. His fights were fun to watch even if we could have left those locations sooner if I could have just stepped in or attacked from behind. Rappa could usually do it on his own though, and out of all of us that man probably had the strongest honor. And yet even if his honor told him to kill his opponents, he restrained himself on my orders. And then the Asians killed him twice. You idiot. After the first time couldn't you have just backed off? I wish, you had…

"No. That can't…"

"Death! Let me introduce you, to our Champion! Hahahaha!"

"What's wrong? You know that guy Death?!"

"It can't be. What did you- WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM-"

"RRAAAAAAGHHH!"

"ZOMBIEMAN!"

Those fucking animals, Zach thought, while raising his right arm to his face and leaving it resting over his eyes. He pressed his skin-tight black sleeve into his eyes that he closed but still could not help from watering up. The Champion of the Asian army, the monster the Triakuza brought with them as a trump card against us, Zombieman… Without Rappa's help, I never could have beat him. That immortal who Death couldn't even kill. Or maybe, it could have. If I hadn't- Damn it. DAMN IT! More tears slipped through the cracks of Zach's eyelids.

He got to the point. I got him there! To the point that he asked me to bring him back while he was dying! Zach ground his teeth at the thought of Zombieman asking him that while dying in his arms of the poison from an enemy's Quirk just a month ago. It was the exact opposite as Pastor! And I, was so fucking happy. Damn it. Why'd he have to go missing? Right before Wampajawa, I wished he had just taken out his comms and decided to walk away from all this… Why? Why couldn't we find him? He was probably just nearby, getting dragged away and I- I didn't find him! And they turned him into… They tortured! AND I DIDN'T DO- I HAD TO KILL HIM! "Fuuuccck," Zach whispered it through clenched teeth, grinding them more in anger and shifting his emotions away from how depressed he was feeling there for a minute.

"What did you do to him?!"

"We made him into your worst enemy, Zach Sazaki! An immortal who you can't kill! And only we can control him! CHAMPION, kill Death."

"RAAAAAAAA!"

He was too strong. Much too strong. The things they must have done to make him that powerful. The things they did to destroy his mind, I can only imagine… And it wasn't his fault what he did. The damage…

"SHENME?!"

"AHHH!"

"Damn it! Zombieman stop this!"

CRASH! Ka-BOOOM!

"AAYYIEEEE-"

"Zombieman please! Stop! Bring it out of the city!"

I thought we were far enough away, but I'd never fought a fight like that before. Zach could still feel some of his bones creaking as he imagined the blows he traded with his former comrade. Tearing up the landscape. I never even knew how strong I was, but he kept matching me step for step, blow for blow. And even when their guy with the Obey Quirk went down, it just set him off on a rampage. Damn you. Zombieman I, I'm sorry. I should have just let you die. You had a full life and ended it on a great note, smiling and happy to be being brought back. I should have just… let it end there.

Zach pursed his lips again, then he shook his head fast on his pillow. He pushed his mind away from the man who he could not prevent himself from getting sad just by thinking about. His mind shifted backwards, and he saw the faces of those comrades around him again. So many of them… They listened to every word I said. They followed my orders to a t. They believed, that my plan would work.

"Get in there and convince them that everyone around them is an enemy! Convince them that the villains around them are already thinking about what's next! Or convince them that now with Death gone, they could be the big shots of the world! The new League of Shadows if they just kill their competitors right there, while they're not paying attention! They'll never have a better shot at this, and they're all suspicious of those around them already! Fire pot shots and when shots come near you then blame it on the enemies you know have had bad blood with the ones around you! We all know the relationships between those villain groups down there! We all know who will turn on who without barely a push, so MAKE IT HAPPEN!"

"There are thousands of them, Death. I, I want to believe-"

Clank dink dink dink- RIIPPP Ka- DNK

"They're starting to fire at the ship!"

"We're falling faster!"

"Death! There aren't even a hundred of us and-"

"How many of them are one of us worth? Spiral?!"

"A hundred!"

"Michael?!"

"A THOUSAND!"

"Don't give up on me. We don't give up. We don't run away. We don't lose. The Army of Death has never lost a single battle! If thousands of villains defeat us here, then they know that what we say means nothing! Then Death, didn't come for them like we said it would! Some of you weren't expecting this so soon after joining, but suck it up! We are DEATH! They can't escape us! They think because they caught us off guard and with overwhelming numbers they've beaten us?! All they did, was make it easier for us. Now we don't have to track them all down! Now, they came to us so we don't have to go to them! They're saving us a lot of time with this, and WHEN we win today, we will have destroyed the last semblance of an organized villain world! SO FOLLOW ME!"

"YAAAA!"

"Each one of you has the power of an entire army! Start in-fighting between all the villain groups, and let them massacre each other! Turn their 'organized' forces into a chaotic mess of men firing at each other both in and out of their own armies! Have the cartels fighting the mobs by telling them that the mobs want to expand and take their territory! Let the Rippermen know that the truce they seem to have called with the Gravitous is a lie like I'm sure most of them already think! And let the Gravitous know that all is NOT forgiven! Take a shot into a crowd, and if you're in that crowd then roar the name of a rival villain group and yell that they're trying to take advantage now that the Army of Death's been finished off! They don't know each other, so they don't know if you're one of us or just another villain they don't know around them!"

"We can do this!"

"I believe!"

"This is their retaliation for Wampajawa! We bankrupted them, so they rallied up all their forces and spent the last of what they had on hand, for one final push! Because they know they can't survive in this world if we're still here! Are we going to let them wipe us out? Or are WE, going to be the ones to take the day, and end this time of villains for good?!"

"It's not my time!"

"I'm with you!"

"WE'RE THE ARMY OF DEATH!"

"NO ONE CAN STOP US!"

"HHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The roars Zach heard of the comrades screaming along with his shouts started to devolve in his head. The tone of those yells started to shift, "AAAAAAHhhhh… AAAHHH! RRAAA! IT HURTS!"

"FUCK! Man down! DEATH!"

"Death we need you over- gah-"

"I've got the comms back up. Drones are doing what they can but-"

"MY LEG!"

"Ah AH! Wait- wait please don't- NO! NO!"

"You're one of them! I recognize you!"

"I'm not! Wait wait wait- ugh AHHH ahh please sto- oh aaaGGhh agh- ack ack- AAHHH!"

"Death, please… I don't want to die like this."

"AHHHH!"

"Wait don't! I'm not one of them I swear!"

"FOR DEATH! YOU MOTHER FU-" Ziiip

BOOOM! CRASH

"The Cloak! It's on fire!"

"MARK!"

"Death! They're outside the bridge! A large force are in the ship."

"Just hold out Maelstrom!"

"Whiteout's down! I'm hit, Death where are you?!"

"I'm in a city. I can't get back to-"

"AHHH!"

"Zombieman stop it! Get away from them!"

"What is happening?! My satellites are showing… holy fuck. What the hell is going-"

"REBEL! Just call Chinese heroes and get them here now! I need to get to the battle and the casualties are piling up in this city!"

"They're piling up back here!"

"THE TUNNELS ARE FLOODING! Everyone out! Move move move!"

"AGH!"

"They're breaking into the bridge! SHANG! Nooo- Get away!"

"I'm coming back-"

"Just hold them off a little longer! Fire on them and out the windows, I'll, I'll save you! I will definitely, bring you back!"

"I don't want to die!"

"UNDERSTOOD, COMMANDER!"

"Raylei… RAAA, I'M BRINGING THE STORM!"

"Whoa! Maelstrom watch what you're- HOLY SHIT!"

"USING TRIGGER! GET READY FOR A DOOZ-" Bang

"The winds are stop-"

"Maelstrom! You bastards! FUCK YOU! I might be the last one in the whole Army of Death, but YOU FUCKERS ARE THE LAST ONES THE ARMY OF DEATH WILL KILL!"

"RAYLEI!"

"AHHH!"

"Sagitus?! Fuck they found him out!"

"Someone get to-"

"I'm on him- oh shit!"

"Dodge!"

"Valkyrie!"

"Death, where are you? It's horrible, I, I can't-"

"There you are."

"Please, don't-" VrrroooOOOOMMM VRM VRM VRM "Oh God, stay back! AHHH!"

"AHHHHH!"

"Death! They need you back there… Zach! What are you doing?!"

WwooooOOOOP WwooooOOOOP WwooooOOOOP WwooooOOOOP ERR ERRR ERRR ERRR

"TAKE COVER!"

"Get down, get down I said- FUCK! We lost another-"

"AHHH! Death!"

"DEATH!"

"AAAHHhh!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Brrring. Brrring. Brrring. Zach lifted his head and looked to his side at a bedside table where a small black tablet was sitting. He reached over and grabbed it, lifted it up and saw that the four hour timer just reached an end. His eyes that were unfocused and cloudy started to focus in on his screen, and as his mind cleared and he realized what he was looking at, he started to raise his upper body. Zach sat up and he shook his head around, swinging his legs to the side and dropping them off the bed he had just used for the first, and last time.

How long? How long was it just screams? I didn't sleep at all. No rest. I don't need it after all. I'm awake now. It's time to be awake. Zach stood up and he grabbed a belt off the counter just across the small gap on the floor between his bed and the opposite wall. He clipped the tablet to his belt while putting it on, then he grabbed the shoulder straps and the ones that crossed his chest too. He grabbed some knives all alone and strapped them into hidden pouches on what looked like skin-tight parts of his costume. Then he reached down and he started sliding his feet into his boots, before sliding in some more knives into his boots too.

Zach stood back up straight and he checked to make sure he had everything he needed with him. He grabbed his helmet and clipped it down to his waist, then he turned to his door and took in another deep breath. I don't need to recharge Death anymore. As much of it as I use. Fuck. Focus on what's next. Thinking about that fight was just to know what I could do better, but I still don't see what a better option would have been. Sagitus staying on the ship still would have died, leaving him in the tunnels he would have had to get up to the surface or drown too, like Slipspace did. Sooner or later he would have had to fight. And like most of the others, he still probably would have died. Chinese heroes turned the tide a bit, and when Fabrica got us back in our costumes and they saw how much damage had been done while we were still strong and alive, it demoralized those villains who could not regroup and fight together after so many had already killed each other. It had truly become, chaos. All of them against each other, against me, against the heroes. Nothing could have been different. We survived. We survived an unwinnable situation. And now, I have to push forward. Like always.

The leader of the Army of Death walked towards the door of his room. He reached out and grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and he stepped out into a hall that was dark but had some dim lights coming from the end of it where there was a room with no door blocking off the hall. That room had no lights on, but the computers and the big screen on a wall gave off enough light for Death to see everything around him as he headed down the hall towards it.

Zach stepped into the room and he walked right over towards a light switch that he flipped on. The lights on the ceiling illuminated and a few people at computers looked back to see their leader had arrived. There was a door on the side of the room leading into another, and that door opened up right after the lights turned on in the main one. Curalia stepped into the room, and a few others who were leaning against walls or sitting down with their heads bowed started rising up. Zach looked towards the big screen covering one wall and his eyes focused on the different windows up, the maps, the names and locations that were highlighted, secret reports they had copies of, and live news reports from around the world. Look like you're checking on everything. Fuck. What can I tell them? They're all looking to me for motivation. Our morale is low. Lower, than it's ever been. Just pushing forward isn't enough. This isn't a place to have fun though. They're awaiting orders, not a friend to talk to. They're soldiers. They're still here because they know they're needed.

"Darling," Zach said. He looked to the girl who had stood up from her seat at a computer unlike the other two women at her sides. "Go wake everyone else up and tell them to get ready. We're moving out."

"Sir?" Raylei asked, turning her chair and looking over to the teenager with long, messy black hair. She lifted her blocky fingers from her keyboard and she rubbed her left knee with one hand while looking into her leader's eyes. "Where are we heading?"

"Northeast. We'll check out the fort for the Ungy in southern Siberia, then head for Moscow."

"The Ungy were all taken in after the battle," Raylei started.

"Maybe, or maybe they left a few behind. Maybe some other villains took up in the abandoned fort after they left. And maybe, we'll just have a new spot for a temporary headquarters. But we can't stay here. Raylei, Justice, start packing up the equipment." Zach made his voice out as more of an order near the end, and Raylei got up out of her seat with a nod. Justice pushed off the wall she had already slid up after waking up, and she started forward to one of the computer stations that did not have anyone on it at the moment. Darling headed off too in a quick jog the direction Zach had come from for other rooms that their comrades were resting in.

"Do we have our transports?" Zach asked, looking around for an answer.

A black window appeared on the screen with a white line through it that squiggled with Rebel's voice. "Morning Death. Your first vehicles are arriving shortly, there are two more bigger convoys about an hour behind it. Couldn't help with that."

"It's fine," Zach said, while already changing up the plan he was making in his head. "Mark. You have the teams set-"

"We're going on the first transport. Squad Alpha," Mark replied quickly and without waiting for Death to finish. He was sitting at a computer up just behind the big screen on the wall, and he typed fast on his keyboard to make some windows appear for Zach to scan as he continued speaking. "It's going to be you and I, Darling, Raylei, Maelstrom, Dagon, Incite, and Blackstar. If we're heading up to the Ungy's fort in Rehrmun, we should check out the tip we had in Kabbas. Then after the other transports are filled and heading north, we meet up with them and hit the fort as a whole. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Let's do it." Zach turned to Curalia after agreeing and immediately continued to the doctor who he could see had things she wanted to tell him, "How is everyone?"

"No one's died since you went to rest," the tired-looking doctor began. The woman had short brown hair only an inch long that stuck up over her forehead instead of falling down as bangs, though it looked unkempt as she had been up for two days straight now. Curalia continued to her younger leader, "Atlas is still in critical condition though, and Raptor's condition is deteriorating as much as I try curing him. Elsa's tail doesn't look like it can be saved, and I had to cut off her right leg. The infection was spreading too far, and the poison that she was hit with was messing with the antibiotics meant to fight it. There was no other way."

Zach nodded at the woman, feeling bad she had to do that as he could see the anger and regret on her face as she talked about amputating a limb. Elsa can't fight anymore. That's why Curalia looks like that. Elsa, cares a lot. She wants to keep helping, she begged to stay even after that wound. Now though… "Alright. Write down everything all your patients need. A very detailed list," Curalia was nodding along with Death, but she froze cold when he finished, "And give that list to Arko. Arko," Zach turned to a dark-skinned man who just came out of the hall after quickly getting ready from Darling's wake-up. The man had a bull horn sticking oddly out of the right side of his head that looked so weird because the one on the opposite side was gone, just as his left arm was too. "You'll be taking the injured in the infirmary to the doctors we've-"

"Wait a second," Curalia tried cutting in.

"Rebel got in contact with them. They should be en-route to a location Rebel will send you on the way in order to keep it as secure as possible." Zach was ignoring Curalia and speaking louder in a tone saying he did not want to be interrupted. "Arko, I'll have your new arm sent there too. The doctors we've called in have healing Quirks, and one of them I'm sure will be able to attach the prosthetic so you can get back to us as quick as possible." Arko had started frowning there for a minute, but he nodded at Death towards the end and glanced down at his left side himself where he could still feel his arm moving if he tried to move what wasn't there.

"I need to watch after them," Curalia began as Death turned back her way. "I'm the only-"

"You're the only doctor we have," Zach said. "And we're going out into the field. We're going out to fight more, and we're going to need you out there with us. You're a soldier. You're combat ready unlike the other doctors willing to help us out. So just, don't argue, okay?" Zach said it and asked a question at the end before regretting it instantly at how he left it up for her to give a response. Don't lose your grip. They need you to give stern, decisive commands right now.

Curalia nodded and replied, "Understood… Commander." You're all my patients. Death, I need someone else. I need someone to replace Hank. And Miraculu. I can't be the only one…

"Death. Did you sleep well?" A voice asked behind Zach. He turned his head and looked at a man stepping towards him who smiled in a way that showed nothing that had happened recently was getting to him at all. He was the only one though.

Zach nodded once, a lie that he hoped no one would see through. "Drac. I need you to go on some more scouting missions. Northeast. I'll speak with you and Rebel about your specific targets as we move."

"Very well. I suppose my first stop shall be, Kabbas?" Zach nodded again at him, and Drac smiled before giving his leader a small nod in reply. "Then I shall see you soon, Commander." Dracard turned and he headed towards the door Curalia had just gone back through to start checking on her patients and making a note of everything she thought was important about their conditions. As Dracard was almost out of the room though, a fast tornado of black seemed to spin around him while at the same time shrinking his body inside. He turned into a bat, but he flew like a falcon as he shot out of the room and out of sight a second later to head into the darkness of the night outside.

Dracard the Deadly. Mark had his eyes shifted to the side from his computer, an uneasy look on his face as he looked out the door Drac just flew through. Only a few of us left who haven't died once. Exodus, me, Gentle, a couple of the rookies who somehow survived that fucking battle, and you. Only you give me the creeps though. No, not the creeps. The chills? I don't know how Zach does it. Trusting you when we know just how old you are, just how crazy that is. Mark shook his head and refocused on his computer that he only had a short time left with as he could see on his screen the location of the truck and jeep that were coming for Alpha Squad to take. Then again, Mark added to himself while typing away and checking out all the locations they had for northern Asia and Europe. You trusted Blackjack too, and that worked out well. I kept saying it was a bad play, but fuck it we never would have taken Wampajawa without him.

"Maelstrom," Raylei started as she came back in the room after bringing some equipment back out to the garage. Maelstrom looked over from a computer she had been sitting at for a while, and Raylei nodded at the station she was at, "Pack that up and bring it out. Once the truck comes I want to set up inside fast so I can work on the road."

"You got it," the girl with short orange hair replied. Maelstrom had it recently cut in a crew-cut over her head, much different from the big spiky pigtails she had had since most of them met her.

Zach looked over towards the open infirmary door as he heard an argument start on the other side between Curalia and one of her patients he knew she probably just told the plan to. Curalia needs a break. The first few we're heading to shouldn't be bad, and Alpha Squad is stacked. I should be able to protect anyone who needs it, and I'm not moving to the fort really planning on a big fight. We can't stay in one place for too long though.

"Hey Rebel," Zach started, looking at the screen where the black box had stayed quiet for a little. "How did things go with Cherasaw?"

"He called me up while you were out," Rebel replied. "Got real pissed at me 'n Rampart for ditching him like that. Told me he'd leave his girl and come after us. I told him they were your orders though, let him know what you said."

Zach let out a light exhale and he closed his eyes for a second. "Alright. Thanks."

"You know I met his girl? She was actually pretty cool-"

"Rebel, it's done," Zach said. Cherasaw asking to tell his girlfriend about all of this. It's too much. "If his girlfriend had freaked out, you would have all been screwed. Besides, with our current numbers we don't need three of you in that command center."

"Hell, you could do it with just me."

"Oh so you don't need me here?"

"I'm not saying that, of course I appreciate you… I'm just saying that I'm the best."

"Like you do at least three times a day."

"You let Cherasaw know though, right?" Zach asked. He cut in on Rampart and Rebel's petty quarrel that a lot of the others were getting annoyed at just listening to. This was bugging him through it though and he had to ask. "Everything I wanted him to hear?" Rebel. I know you're not the kind of guy who gets emotional so I didn't know if I should leave it up to you to pass on.

"Yeah, I told him. You appreciated everything. You didn't ditch him 'cause we don't trust him, trying to bring his girl in. We ditched him because he found a girl he loved, because you wanted him to be happy and all that jazz… Don't worry, I worded it a bit nicer when I-"

"Thank you," Zach said, more assured this time and his tone showing he meant it.

Cherasaw's out, huh? Maelstrom thought while packing up her computer. Only met him in person the one time. Was surprised he came out though when we needed the extra hands. When I asked who he was, no way was I expecting one of Rebel's boys… since I kind of expected all of them to be really fat for some reason. Maelstrom started off for the garage with her computer, keyboard, and some wires dangling at her sides. A small smile came to her face for the first time in a while. Someone had a happy ending. That's, awesome. I hope he holds onto it, that love he found.

"Are we moving?" Exodus questioned, stepping out of the hall with a few others and wondering what the current situation was.

"Five minutes for the first vehicles," Mark announced. "Exodus, you're-"

"You'll take the next transports that arrive, all except one special truck that Arko will be taking to a new infirmary," Zach continued for Mark, as he felt all caught up from the time he had rested after his quick briefing. "Bring your teams up to the Ungy fort in Rehrmun, southern Russia. Navigation will get you there."

Exodus nodded along and then replied in his usual short but respectful, "Understood, Commander."

We need to get an infirmary that can move with us again. "Rebel, how is construction on the new Cloak?"

"Oh, Cloak 2.0?" Rebel asked. "Well, there are plans. There are definitely plans… We're not very far in."

"I need you to get it to speed up," Zach replied harshly at the way Rebel said that there.

"Hey I'm tryin' here. It's difficult with a whole lot less donors now, after that mess in China. Everyone pulling out 'cause of the way we look right now… We still have a few though, and some stored up on top of that. You should get the new HQ up and running soon. Paid a lot of smart people and some guys with pretty useful Quirks to get this thing expedited. I'll be able to give you a more accurate timeframe by, let's say later today."

"Stop dicking around," Darling snapped towards the screen on the wall. "And just answer with that next time."

"Hey, I like to build up suspense," Rebel countered back. "Besides, it didn't sound as hopeful at the start right, but the way I ended it-"

"Oh my God, Mark," Darling said, looking down from the screen to the man closest to it who nodded his head and tapped a button on his keyboard. Rebel's window closed and a collective exhale released from the exhausted people filling the room.

"Thank you," Jetflame muttered, lowering the hand he was rubbing the side of his head with. "If I'm not on the first team, I'm going to get a little more rest."

"That is fine," Exodus said, before Zach could speak up though Exodus did not notice he accidentally pre-cut-off his leader. "I will awaken all of you when we are ten minutes from leaving. If you are on my teams and wish to rest longer, go ahead, but make sure you are prepared for a ten minute departure."

"Dagon, Incite, Blackstar, you're on Alpha Squad," Mark called back since those guys had just come into the room and didn't hear it the first time he said it. "We're Oscar Mike in three minutes. Get out in the garage and open the doors when I tell you. Keep guns up and stay frosty."

"Hey Death," Darling whispered, stepping up to Zach's side and beginning softly to him. "They aren't back yet."

"I can see that," Zach replied. "They will come back though. Sometimes, people need breaks." Darling looked more hesitant, and Zach turned to her with a reassuring glance. "They said they'd be back. Trust them." Darling hesitated for another second, then she nodded quickly at the taller boy at her side. Then she looked past Zach, and he saw where she was looking and turned himself. Zach nodded at the man who walked up to him and stopped with just two feet apart between them. "Michael," Zach greeted, nodding at his comrade who nodded once slowly back at him. "What is it?" Zach asked, feeling strange at the way Michael was looking at him.

Michael's expression was dark. He stared at the boy in front of him and glanced at Darling too, before looking back straight into Zach's hazel eyes and saying, "I, have been thinking. And I think I'm, done." Zach's expression stayed straight as he faced the more muscular man before him, though Darling's eyes grew wide at what she just heard out of the blue. Michael continued to the stone-faced younger man, "After that battle, after this world loop, I think we've done what I set out to do."

"We aren't finished," Zach replied, and he frowned while gritting his teeth behind his lips in a frustrated way. He did not want to show it too much, and he opened his mouth to say something else but froze with it open. If I suggest he take a break like Gentle and La Brava are doing, he's not going to, will he come back? "I," Zach continued, and Michael's eyes widened at the look that flashed over his leader's face right there. "I need you, Michael. The amount of people here with your experience…"

Michael grit his teeth right back at the boy before him who looked half desperate and half frustrated which Michael understood. He could see on Death's face how much he wanted to tell Michael to stay, and yet they all knew that in the Army of Death they were allowed to leave whenever they wanted. "I'm sorry," Michael whispered, then he tried to steady his gaze with the conviction he had gathered to say this in the first place. He rose his eyes back into Death's, "But, at this rate I'm going to die again. You won't be able to save me."

"I haven't been able to for months, and you've stayed alive," Zach countered back softly. Then his own expression started to harden and he stared deep into Michael's eyes in a serious way. "That battle, you're right. We did what we set out to do. The endgame I was talking about though, it was the end of our world loop, the end of the peak. Not the end of everything." Michael ground his teeth back as he already knew this, but Death continued to him, "They fled during our purge following Wampjawa. Knowing they were being hunted they fled, joined up together, and decided to put an end to our weakened Army of Death. And they almost succeeded. Michael, we're too weak right now."

"I know that. But, we'll never reach the strength we were again. We don't need to any-"

"You're right," Zach replied. His voice was strong and steady, and he looked sternly into his comrade's eyes while continued, "After that battle, I do believe we've really wiped out crime in a huge way. Wiped out crime organizations that thought they could stand against the Army of Death. Maybe even, ended the age of villains." Others around them who were trying not to stare during the conversation started looking over at what Death was saying not in a low whisper. "We've shown the Army of Death's superiority in tactics, fighting style, Quirk strength, in every field. Now, we have truly succeeded in establishing that for ourselves. We can't stand to lose it right after."

Zach saw Mark looking back over at him, making a motion that the transport was arriving. He continued though now that more people were looking towards him, and he glanced around too so everyone knew he was speaking to all of them for this. Some who had thought about going to get more rest stopped when they heard what Michael had told Death, and they stared at their leader's back while he spoke. Maelstrom, Raylei, and Justice had come back in, and Mark got up from his seat as it was time for him to go too. The Army of Death that was smaller than it had been for months looked to their leader as he spoke in a powerful and confident tone, "We made it through the world loop. And now the game has changed. But it's no less important now that we stay, vigilant."

He turned to the infirmary and a tired Curalia and continued, "We can slow down just a bit, but we need to stay around the entire world. Our presence has to be felt by villains alone now. The fear we have instilled." Zach paused and he took in a deep breath before steadying his gaze and shifting it back to Michael. "We can do more now too. Since we're running out of locations to go to and don't have an infinite list like at the start of the world loop. We'll circle around again and take down what's left on our list, and this time we need to go slower actually. So that we can try to find out locations that we may have missed, or even new ones that have sprouted up since we removed the old. We'll continue to recruit. Continue to fight," Zach said it sternly, in a motivating tone though not too optimistic as times were still dark. There was no hesitation in his voice though. There was no sign of weakness or doubt. Zach clenched his fists at his sides and then continued, "And we can focus on other things without so much on our plate. We can properly hunt down Eziano Mozcaccio and the assassins. We can go after Amaterasu and the chain of corruption that he has a hold of choking this world."

"The endgame I mentioned before was for the age of villains, but just ending that age doesn't mean anything if what comes out of it isn't better! Isn't something that can prevent a new rise. On top of fighting villains, we will make things better. Because we need a better world, a peaceful world that won't fall as easily as the last one." Zach looked around while saying this, and he got nods from the soldiers around him. Some of them had been disillusioned, some were depressed and did not know what they were still there for except to die. Their expressions steadied back at their leader's words though, their fists clenching and heads nodding at the teenager who sounded so motivated to keep going that each of them felt that motivation rising in themselves.

Michael grit his teeth and lowered his eyes to the floor. What are you, doing? "Michael," Zach said, and the man started raising his eyes while his head was still partially bowed. "Cee believed, even as she was dying, that we had the power to stop all villains." Michael's eyes opened wide and Zach narrowed his gaze at him before continuing, "Grabble was there with me the day we declared war on Eziano Mozcaccio, and he believed that we could crush those assassins as nervous as Mark, Gentle, and I were. Access came to join us after just being support in Saudi Arabia, and he -"

"Those ones who were here before me," Michael started, stopping Zach while his mouth was still open. "The ones after too," he added. "Everyone dies... I'll stay though, because you asked me to." Michael looked into Death's eyes and then asked with his eyes looking confused and uncertain, "But, is there actually a way we'll ever be finished?" He looked into the younger man's eyes and said, "What they all died for is why I still fight, because they believed it, but I don't-"

"Of course there is," Zach replied. He smiled back at Michael, still the same confidence on his face that made Michael's eyes open wide again and stay that way as Death nodded at him. "We haven't seen it yet, but what we have already done is about to start something. We've laid the foundation, for the better world we all want. And now is the time to build on that." Zach turned his head to Mark as soon as he finished talking and nodded at him.

"Alright Alpha Squad!" Mark called out, reaching down and picking up an assault rifle leaning against the wall. "Let's get moving! No time to waste, we aren't building that world tomorrow!"

Michael spun to look at Mark when he started shouting, then he turned back to Death and his expression returned to normal. A corner of his lips actually lifted a small amount as he nodded back at Death, and Zach felt relieved to see that look on his comrade's face. Michael oofed and leaned forward as a hand smacked onto his back, and he turned while Alpha started heading for the garage. "Don't give up hope," Icefall said to the man who looked back at her. "And don't worry, you're not going to be the last one alive if that's what you're scared of." She cracked a smirk back at Michael and started walking past him, "I'm not going to die before you at least."

The blunette walked by him and stretched an arm up over her head while heading the opposite direction as the guys on Alpha. "Might as well take a bed, now that there are some free rooms." Icefall had been sitting on the floor in the main room with her head down when Death came in, as there had not been enough beds or rooms in the building for all of them. Many had acted like they were not tired and were going to work through the night, while really just saying that so that Death would take a room with a bed before finding a place to sleep themselves. The woman with light blue hair glanced back over her shoulder while heading back into the hall, she looked straight at Michael who had watched her walking away, and then she flashed a smirk at the man who froze at that look on her face.

Michael smirked right back towards his comrade, losing the momentarily stunned expression at the 'care to join me' look in her eyes. Blackstar was walking by Michael when he saw that smirk on his comrade's face, and he glanced at him and then back towards the woman who was already turned away and heading farther down the hallway. Blackstar lifted his own dark expression and let out a long exhale before punching his fists out in front of him to do a quick stretch. Still not as low numbers as when we started, or after that big team got practically wiped with Gentle. How many from back then are still here? Fuck it, who cares? There's been a lot. I've missed a lot too. Blackstar looked ahead at Death who led them into the garage and straight towards the trucks without looking back to make sure they were following him. All the new guys I started to make friends with since coming back got fucking merc'ed. I was feeling pretty down myself. But we can die any day. I'm at least going to live as I wait for that.

"Hey Incite," Blackstar looked at the man on his left who glanced back at him semi-darkly. "What's that piece you got on you? You bling that shit out?"

Incite looked down and he drew the pistol from his waist. He turned it over and then held it out, and Blackstar grabbed it, "Damn. It's heavy," Blackstar moved it back and forth on his palm, then he twisted it and slammed the bottom down on his other hand while holding his arms out in front of him. "You order this thing custom?"

Incite was slow to pull out and hand off the gun the first time, but he took it back and slid it into his holster without as much hesitation. He shook his head at Blackstar while they were climbing into the back of the truck. "Got it off this Recyclo bastard in that battle. Saw him pop Upload with it, so I Incited him and all the others around him to light each other up." Incite kept his hand down on the hilt sticking out of his holster, and he added while looking next to him into Blackstar's eyes, "Guess it's a memento, or something. Packs a serious punch, can blow a guy's leg straight off. I've seen it," he added, with a dark chuckle that Blackstar wondered if he should laugh along with back.

Backstar had been on a team with Upload and Incite together before, though he did not remember the two of them being particularly closer than with anyone else. He nodded at Incite though at what he said and then pulled out his own piece to show off to his comrade. Raylei and Maelstrom were finishing setting up a couple of computers and bolting them to the floor, and Dagon called back from the front that he had the ship's mobile Wifi working. Zach looked around and took in a deep breath, then he called out, "Mark, Darling, take the jeep ahead of us. Dagon, you're driving the truck. Everyone put earpieces in, we're moving out."

"Understood, Commander!"

---

"Hey Pinky!"

Mina Ashido turned her head and looked across the street, and she rose a hand and waved with a big smile at a couple of college students who had called her way. "Hey!"

"Whoa! And that's Midnight too!"

"What a pair."

Midnight chuckled at the enthusiasm from the pink-skinned girl walking with her, but she mentioned as she continued walking, "Keep walking. Don't give them too much attention, or they'll fall for you."

Ashido spun back to the teacher she was patrolling the streets with, and she nodded at the sexy woman whose advice she took to heart there. "Does that happen to you a lot, Midnight sensei?"

"Hmp," Midnight smirked while making that noise in her throat, as if the question was silly and the answer obvious.

Ashido laughed to herself at the response and could imagine some of the fans Midnight might have had to deal with. I've had a lot of people coming up to me for years, but I really like that! A couple are kind of weird but not usually. Midnight sensei's been doing this for years though… decades? She's really beautiful for a… thirty-five? Forty? Thirty? I want to ask… probably not a good idea. Midnight glanced at the younger girl next to her who quickly looked ahead in fear that Midnight would somehow discover what she was thinking about.

"Things are pretty calm today," Ashido mentioned, as the two of them continued closer towards the busiest part of Musutafu. "Again," Ashido added with a half sigh, though it was not an actual disappointed one.

"That's always a good thing," Midnight countered anyway, even though she could tell Ashido was not really upset about the lack of action. "Boring it better."

"Yeah, who needs excitement?" Ashido said, putting her hands behind her head and laughing at the idea of wanting there to be something to do. "Things are really down though," Ashido added, still with her hands behind her head but turning a bit to her teacher again as they continued down a busy sidewalk. Pedestrians moved to the sides for the beauties in skin-tight costumes passing them. A lot of them stared, a couple of men got annoyed smacks from the women with them, sometimes even when they were not staring but the women just assumed they were because of the gorgeous heroes walking by full of confidence.

Ashido and Midnight walked onto one of the most main streets in Musutafu and started down a busy sidewalk together. There were tall skyscrapers on their sides, cars whirring by down the road on either side of the street, and people rushing on the sidewalks to work or to places to get some lunch in the busiest part of Musutafu. Most of the people rushing around were too busy to bother with the heroines, though most still did glance their way at least for a second just to see what was drawing the attention of so many others. The women were walking towards a bustling intersection that was so big that it had a middle section not part of any of the roads but as more of an area to walk around and even to visit for tourists since it was a picturesque location. On the tall buildings around Main Square, there were huge screens and flashing electric signs that made the place look amazing at night, though it was still a trendy place to be during the day too.

Ashido spotted a lot of the people on the Main Square they were heading towards were looking up towards one of the screens in particular. She and Midnight slowed down and brought their attentions up to the screen too, and they could hear the anchors on the news show even over the loud sounds of the city around them and the other screens. There were subtitles too to help when the city became too loud, and there were labels on the screen too which the heroes stared at before shifting their attentions to the pictures being shown by the program.

"…the courts are still backed up, and even after so many sentencings, now there's the new problem that, there just isn't enough space in the prisons. They're full and convicted villains are needing to be sent to other holding locations, county jails, to prisons in states or countries where they were not originally wanted or tried in. It's a whole mess."

"As much as there's some trouble with getting everyone processed, you're not saying this is a bad thing though?"

"Of course not. No no, don't misunderstand me. This is, amazing. I thought for sure that last month would be an even sharper drop in villain activity than in March, but somehow it wasn't. With the arrests of so many in that huge fight in China a couple of weeks ago, that we were just showing pictures of the devastating aftermath of, there is a new statistic we can say for the month of April though. And that stat, is that in the month of April more villains were arrested than in any other month, in history."

"I don't really understand that Keito. How is it that more were captured than ever and yet the drop wasn't as much as in March?"

"That's simple. They were caught without actual villain incidents occurring. Villains tried to go into hiding. After seeing what happened in March, they realized that the way they were doing things was getting them all caught. It was too late though. So many had been captured in March, and plea deals some of those villains took led to more and more being discovered by heroes. Anonymous tips hit an all time high too, as civilians did their part stopping those villains trying to hide. The drop might not have been as high as in March, but it was still a massive drop this last month too, dropping us back down to levels no one imagined at the start of this year that we would be down to only a third of the way in. Across the world, villain incidents are at an all time low for the past few years. Which is great! Especially when we're having trouble getting villains from jails to court to prison. I know their lawyers are just doing their jobs when they make the cases that the trial periods are taking too long, pushing for mistrial cases against their clients, but this is an epidemic we're having right now that I never thought I'd have to say: Heroes are doing too well."

"Hahaha-"

"I mean it Inda! Any villains captured right now would just be thrown into overcrowded cells, stuffed in cramped confines to await a trial that could be weeks away if they don't find a way to expedite it. So I'd definitely not suggest getting tossed in the drunk tank for the next couple of weeks," Keito added, glancing at the camera with a suggestive glance as he warned his viewers.

"Admittedly," Inda began, holding up a hand. "Japan is not facing this problem as much as let's say, China is right now."

"But because of the joint hero action deal our governments made last year, we have been taking in some of that overflow while those villains await trial." Keito shook his head and he continued in a different tone, slightly lower and darker, "Not all of the villains part of this overflow are from that battle in China, but because of how capacity was already almost reached and the system was at its most strained levels, an extra eight thousand villains suddenly thrown in was way too much and brought us to the highest arrest numbers ever. There's no way the Chinese government could have handled all of them on their own, but the stunning thing was the diversity of the villains in that fight. It's not even that China's struggling with their own villains who they captured at it, but that the countries they wanted to extradite most of their prisoners to couldn't accept all of them! Now China's stuck with criminals from around the world who all showed up on their soil, breaking their laws too which is what the countries they came from have used as excuses to just leave them in China. Like they're handing them off to the Chinese government to figure out a way to deal with them."

"Well would you take them back? If you were Argentina? Mexico? Egypt? I don't think they necessarily care if they're the ones who try their villains who got captured, they're just happy those villains are gone! It costs a lot to process and hold all those villains, and at some point it's too much. People are saying 'build more prisons' and then those same people yell and protest when their governments raise taxes to pay for new prisons. It's a tough position we're in… though, it's definitely preferable to the alternative. Imagine if all of those villains had decided to join up instead of falling apart like they did. It's chilling to consider."

"I agree. But, I don't think there was ever a chance of them really working together. Some people are calling the location the fight occurred at as the Villains' Summit. So many gathering at once, they must have thought they could help each other. Villains are naturally violent and uncooperative though. Without the League of Shadows, which may have been a powerful enough organization to have united groups from different continents before, these villains were never going to be able to work together."

"And throw the Army of Death in there," Inda added with a tilt of her head to the side and a pull of breath in through her teeth. She shook her head and just said, "Chaos. All those egos in one place. The biggest international villain groups, drug cartels, mobs and mafias, wanted men from every corner of the globe! I still can't believe the pictures we saw, most of which we can't even show on tv. What we showed were mainly pictures of the crashed planes, destroyed trucks and tanks and other huge vehicle carcasses. It's like all those big groups brought everything they had and then just, wiped themselves out."

Keito nodded his head in stoic, somewhat grim agreement. "Eight thousand captured, a few thousand more on the run, and hundreds killed. I have to believe these really were the majority of organized villains across the whole world, for there to have been so many. All of those international villains, the Army of Death, and Chinese heroes who moved in as the fight in an uninhabited area of Tibet got so big that it dragged into the nearby city of Huangdoo. Those heroes and the allies they called in from neighboring countries, including our own, have been capturing the escaped villains by the hundreds every day since that fight. The airfields that private jets arrived in from different continents, or commercial airliners that villains used fake passports to try and escape home in, trucks and boats and tunnels..."

"Adding more and more villains on top of an already saturated justice system," Inda said in an exhausted, exasperated tone. She was smiling as she said that though, as those problems sounded so trivial as they discussed taking down so many villains. "You know though, not one of the thousands who have been captured already, are from the Army of Death." Keito frowned at her as she said it, and Inda added, "Really doesn't seem like the heroes are doing 'too well' when it comes to them."

"No," Keito said, nodding his head with his colleague. The man on the news bulletin shook his head after and continued in a lower tone, "The Chinese government went so far as to declare no blame for the Army of Death. I don't know if they're still stuck on how they helped out during the flood a couple of months ago, but reports claimed that the fighting that dragged in Huangdoo and caused civilian casualties involved the Army of Death. Dragging civilians into their violent crusade against villains, that's a new low for them."

"Come now. The way the Chinese are reporting it, it's only because the Army of Death was there that civilian casualties were as low as they were."

"They shouldn't have been there at all. If the fighting was on a smaller scale, maybe it wouldn't have been dragged away from the empty area at all… But we're getting off topic a bit. They did help the Chinese heroes when they arrived on the scene, which was why I think those heroes allowed them to leave afterwards. Whether you think it was good they were there or not though, one thing's for certain from the reports we've heard. The casualties for the AoD were staggering. How few of them were reported to be leaving that battle, some are saying the reason is because the one who usually brought them back is gone."

Inda nodded her head slowly. Her expression got a little sadder herself, and she added on, "If Death died, and no one could get revived anymore, maybe that's why we haven't heard from them since. Maybe they just, dissolve the AoD."

Keito nodded at her. "Fighting while knowing that they could be brought back is one thing. But I'd be surprised if they made the news again for anything big. Maybe some copycats will pop up around the world, but at this point it doesn't feel like they'd be needed, not that they ever were. Just accept those losses and end it here is what I say."

"Speaking of bringing back the dead though," Inda said, changing the topic and getting more into it again as she started a new conversation with that half sentence alone. Ashido's eyes that had been pointed down at the ground rose back up and she stared at the screen and the woman on it who had a small smile herself while a graphic spun around and appeared on a green screen behind her. "Let's talk about Lifebringer. The mystery of Lifebringer, the plot which has thickened just recently has it not?"

"Heh, I wouldn't say so. Though the new rumors would make the mystery surrounding him more interesting."

"You don't believe them?" Inda asked. "Eyewitness reports from multiple people in different locations in Germany claiming that they saw Lifebringer. They saw Zach Sazaki, and one man went as far as to say that he asked and Sazaki did not deny who he was."

"That's where I find this so hard to believe," Keito replied. "It just gets more ridiculous depending on who you ask. Lifebringer's been in hiding for over ten months now, and he suddenly pops up in Germany telling people who he is?" Keito shook his head, and then he continued while holding up a hand, "I still believe the only credible piece of information we have about Lifebringer since he slipped away in the Philippines, is the security footage of the gas station in America that was leaked a few months back. There he was actually trying to hide his face at least with that hoodie, and the scar? Lifebringer's in the U.S., at least, that's my theory." He smiled at the end as he was saying that, as it really was just a theory without much to base it on.

"Well, I'm just hoping that the theory that he was Death, really is wrong," Inda said. Keito's smile lowered down and he nodded more solemnly with his co-host. "I'm sure we'll be hearing more rumors about him, the longer he's gone."

"I hope to hear some really crazy ones next time…"

"Come on, Pinky," Midnight said, speaking to the girl next to her who turned and saw the teacher motioning down the sidewalk. "Let's continue the patrol. No time to dawdle."

Midnight started ahead again, but she could see the girl next to her out the corners of her eyes looking sadly forward despite trying to keep a smile on her face. I don't think he's Death. Not anymore. He could be though, and if he is… Ashido's eyes lowered back to the sidewalk in front of her, her head bowing a bit again as she thought of what had just filled her mind a minute. Then he just lost a lot of friends. People close to him, again. And maybe even him too- but it's not him! He's in Germany now! Maybe… Ashido smiled and rose her head up, shaking away the strange thoughts and changing the tone in her own head.

"I'm sure he's alright," Midnight said suddenly, and Ashido spun her head in surprise to her teacher.

The younger of the women stared at her teacher with wide eyes and then smiled brightly at her. "Yeah me too." Ashido looked back forward with more confidence in the optimistic thoughts she was just having. "You know," Ashido began again. "Zach was actually the first new friend I made at U.A.?" She looked at Midnight and who turned back, and Ashido added, "Since he saved me during the entrance exams."

"I remember that," Midnight said with a smile back at the girl patrolling with her.

Ashido's eyes opened huge. "Really?" She asked in shock.

Midnight nodded back again. She opened her mouth, then she froze and hesitated for a moment with her lips lowering at the corners, but Midnight shook her head and continued instead of stopping herself. "I was part of the group judging the entrance exams, and I was really impressed with him. He didn't have enough points-"

"I remember that!" Ashido called out in amazement as Midnight really was talking about the same thing she was. "He was muttering something to himself about how he only had two points and I felt really bad for him, and I was surprised he got in, but it was because of the rescue points that he did. It was because he came and helped me out," Ashido lowered her excited smile and finished off slower, more nostalgically and almost sad, though she tried to keep a good feeling around the memory. She lowered her smile though and got a more confused look on her face instead as Midnight started shaking her head.

Midnight smiled softly as she shook her head a couple of times in a way like she was saying Ashido did not understand. "It wasn't just because he ran in and saved you," Midnight said, and she glanced next to her at the girl to see a confused and very interested look on her partner's face. Midnight stopped where she was and fully faced the girl who spun her body to face her teacher. "What he did really stuck out to me. Just saving you like that, really wouldn't have given him enough points to make it, tied for last place as he was. What got him such a high score on the rescue section was that he was in the middle of chasing after a 3-point robot going in a different direction, when he saw you with the 1-point robots going for you."

Ashido's huge eyes grew even wider and she stared at her teacher in that stunned way for a few seconds with her eyes shaking. Midnight shook her head and chuckled once softly, then added, "He didn't have a lot of points, and it could have cost him his entry into U.A. based on what he knew. All to just possibly help out a stranger… He gave up on those extra points just in case she needed the help, and it paid off double for him." Midnight got quieter at the end, and her own eyes shifted down from Ashido's face. She kept a smile on her face as was needed of a hero out in public, but Midnight thought sadly after finishing, Because of that decision. That single split-second decision, he got into U.A, and his life was…

Ashido's thoughts did not go the same direction as Midnight. She smiled and interrupted her teacher's thoughts with a laugh that got Midnight looking back into her eyes. There were tears in the corners of Ashido's eyes as she laughed, but she stopped and just smiled brightly at the older woman and said, "That sounds just like him."

Midnight's eyes widened for a second and then her smile rose back up again in a more genuine way. "Yeah," she agreed, thinking of the boy she had not been able to discuss with her colleagues or with anyone, as everyone had different opinions on how to view him. Not talking about him for so long made it difficult for her to know how she felt herself, but she knew when she just agreed with the younger girl that she meant it. He was a good kid. A great kid actually, Midnight thought. A natural hero, before he could use his Quirk. Death- We were all cautious when we saw that name on his application sheet. Getting into U.A. without using his Quirk in the entrance exam. He showed some guts that day. The news was right, after the Lifebringer Incident though. Shigaraki and Raijin broke him. The rise of villains took some of the greats from us. Snipe, Aizawa, and you too kid. I really do, think you were great.

---

A/N Thanks for reading... Also sorry, busy, no time for responses. Thanks for reviewing though guys who did!