Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 174:
"General Kathers! Kathers!"
"Step back people. Everyone step back," Blitz held his arms out, and the older hero with an intimidating presence did not even need all the police who helped anyway with keeping the press back.
The cameramen tried to get a good angle past the line of cops. There was a large estate behind the cop cars, and at the door of the main building were more cops along with some other heroes who were bringing a man outside with his hands cuffed behind his back. General Kathers seemed to have known the heroes were coming, as he was wearing his full green military uniform as he came outside, his hands cuffed behind his back but his expression stoic and stern. The cameras zoomed in trying to get a good shot at him, keeping up a proud look despite the humiliation of being dragged out of his home in the early dawn while it was still dark outside.
"Look at that asshole," Revellum sneered, while laying on his back in the middle of the sky between two others in black uniforms like his. Unlike Revellum, Firefly was using her wings to keep herself elevated at that level, while Jetflame had his palms pointed down at his sides and using only his costume was holding steady though less so than the other two.
Jetflame did not want to use his flames and draw any attention to them, despite how high up in the sky they were. The three of them floated above a thin cloud but one that kept those on the ground from seeing them. It was the middle of the day in Germany while it was dawn in the U.S.A., where Revellum was watching the country's formerly highest ranking general getting arrested. "He can try and look all hard-boiled all he wants, I know he's shitting himself over there."
"…That clip you just watched was recorded live at General Kathers' home in West Falls, Maryland. This continues a spree of recent arrests following the Exonbaba Oil Rig Incident. After the resignations of both General Kathers and Secretary of State John Franklin last week, this is a larger step towards finding the truth about what was going on over there."
"That's exactly right Mick, but I have to say I think it's China's turn to step up and accept their fair share of the blame. This was a joint venture between our two nations' governments, and the people here have shown our disapproval by pushing investigators and heroes to find out who in our government was authorizing that illegal weapons' facility. I don't want my taxes going to national defense if that money isn't going towards heroes and the police! Until we see Kathers and the others involved with this punished, I don't think Congress is listening…"
Rebel's voice filled the headsets of the three flying over Germany, "Looks like Blitz got my email. Kathers signed off directly on the project, but, it's not going to be as easy with China." The three heard Rebel typing away in their helmets, and Revellum rolled himself over from his back onto his stomach while looking to the right side of his heads-up display.
"The premier isn't untouchable," Jetflame said, though his voice was low and unenthusiastic.
"We've got Yue Fei on it. He was investigating anyway, thinks he came across it on his own." Rebel's voice was smug and he added, "But enough about them, you've got four minutes. Better get ready."
Jetflame tapped on a button on the side of his black helmet to switch up the channel on his display. Each of the channels were connected to Rebel, but he was on the one only locked-in with the three of them up there and their command center. He skipped past the open channel, and he hit the one he was looking for and started, "How's it looking down there?"
"This is a really old highway," Ledge said from the passenger seat of a cop car sitting on the grass on the side of the road. He had on a police uniform like the darker-skinned man at his side who was sipping out of a coffee cup and holding up a speed gun with his other hand. Ledge glanced to Blackstar who had on a pair of sunglasses and was nodding his head to the radio of their cop car. The larger man who had tan skin but not the black skin that Blackstar had, leaned back in his seat a bit more to relax himself despite how exposed he felt without his armor.
"Here they come," Blackstar said, leaning forward in his driver's seat a bit and looking down the road to his left straight towards the vehicles driving towards them. In the bottom of his vision on the car's radio next to the station playing German music, he checked the time and reported, "Right on schedule."
Hans Fischer kept driving straight, but his eyes shifted to the side while his expression stayed calm and inconspicuous. Another man in disguise as an average truck driver, he attempted to keep up that guise even though he was driving a very large and long black truck. There were two other long black trucks behind that one, and the only thing that made them look like regular vehicles meant to be driving around like that were the logos of a famous shipping company painted in white on the middles of them. Hans looked to his side and he slowed down a little even though he was doing the speed limit already. Wouldn't have been able to call anything in to the cops without drawing more suspicion than doing nothing. Still, with this cargo we should have gone for clearing the road anyway.
Ansel and Lina Krieger slowed a bit behind Hans, and the third truck behind them slowed down as well. In the back of the third truck, twenty two men and women sat on the sides of the mostly empty vehicle. Some high-tech weapons hung over their heads attached to the walls, and the space between the rows of seats attached to the walls had some gear tied down tightly too, though it was low enough down that they could see over it to the opposite side of the vehicle and their comrades' faces. The head of security in the back of that third truck did not just ignore the slight decrease in speed, instead opting to ask in a low voice, "Why are we slowing down?"
"It was a speed trap," Hans reported.
"This road's off the main expressway," Lina began, her voice calm and condescending towards the brutish head of security who had argued against moving during the day. "Drivers who treat this empty but more curvy highway like the Autobahn exceed the posted speed limits often. We were not speeding though, and they are not following."
"Then get back to the speed limit," Caleb growled at the woman who humphed back at him over their communications. Fucking scientists. They don't know the kind of danger we're in.
"If we got pulled over," Ansel started in a whisper to his wife, covering up his earpiece with one hand while looking at her nervously.
She covered her own too with one hand while keeping the other on the wheel, and she darted a look at the man next to her that had him shut his mouth quickly. "Then we would find our way out of it. The new laboratory is still three hundred miles away. Relax, and just keep driving straight."
"Shit, a car's coming," Blackstar said, putting down his coffee fast as he spotted the car speeding down the highway towards him. He smirked as the vehicle was going much faster than the posted speed limit, and Blackstar put his idle car into drive and shot onto the road in front of him so he was blocking both of the lanes going across the hilly German west. Blackstar kept from turning on his lights, his eyes darting again the direction those three trucks went. As far as they had gotten already, the road only wound a bit more than the mostly straight roads of the interconnected highway system in Germany. Luckily, they picked a spit of the road between three exits where the road did curve a little around a larger hill on the right side of the road. Blackstar held off on turning on his sirens, and he sucked in a deep breath a second after Ledge as the speeding driver still had not noticed them.
The car speeding down the highway suddenly slammed on the brakes, then let up a little, then braked harder still as they were still going well over the speed limit even after that first jolt. Blackstar opened his car door and he stepped out of the vehicle and started walking down the road in the direction of the driver slowing more, the woman in the passenger seat with him shaking him by the arm closer to her and scolding him for his reckless driving. The German man seriously regretting trying to show off to his girlfriend, suddenly found himself nervous for a different reason as Blackstar stepped his way in a calm way until he was eight meters away from his own cop car.
Blackstar lowered his hand down for a radio at his right side, and he lifted up his other hand in an open palm for the driver to stop. Then Blackstar turned his head to the side and looked back at Ledge who had opened the back of the cop car after getting out of his passenger side door. Ledge came around the back of the vehicle and walked up to Blackstar, holding an orange sign in his hands that he placed down while looking at Blackstar with a look wondering if that was a good place for it. Blackstar looked to his left towards an exit off of the road, a side road back towards a more populated highway that he nodded at while glancing back to Ledge and suppressing a grin.
The hand he had out as a palm he turned to the side, and he waved the shocked driver and his girlfriend towards the side road like that was the only reason he was stopping them in the first place. The sign said 'Detour' on it in German, as well as 'Road Work Ahead' above that to explain why the cops had come to redirect traffic.
"We've got the road block set up on the stretch going west," Dongwu reported.
"And going east is good too," Blackstar added. "We are good to go."
"Descending now," Jetflame said.
The drivers of the trucks heading east deeper into Germany did not think anything of the fact that they did not see any drivers coming towards them on the other two lanes to their left. The highway going east and the one going west were separated by a wide grass patch in the middle that dipped down a bit off the road but not too far that a car going off would roll easily. Hans relaxed more than usual because there were no other drivers around them. Their set-up was not ideal, but their time table was also short and so risks had to be made.
Harsh penalties are coming down for everyone involved with the Exonbaba oil rig. Even the regular workers are catching grief and even sentences for their involvement with the weapons' lab. They had their own oil rig though, and no matter how much was confiscated, the Americans and Chinese have those kind of resources. Ansel calmed down like his wife told him to, reminding himself why it was he was doing this which got him to put a braver face on. They have those better weapons as failsafes, failsafes we now know we need after the past couple of years. In case things get that bad again, we'll have these weapons we created to defend ourselves this time!
Lina's thoughts were darker though her expression stayed straight as she stared out through the windshield calmly. The inspection teams are made. I wish we knew what was happening earlier, but it must be hard even at the top with this much scrutiny now. Can't go through regular channels to get in contact with us. Still, that lab was state of the art, and this new one won't have anything I need to continue my work. We had to leave too much behind. If we didn't though, they'd know we were hiding something. With random inspections going to come after the first one at any time, stupid new rule, we can't even move all that equipment to this new one. Lina sighed and then took in a deep and strong breath. But I will persevere. Standards will be met back at the facility, and I will greet the inspection team with nothing but poise and gratitude for the work they are doing. To make sure all the rest of them meet the same standards we adhere to, a smirk crossed Lina's face and she leaned back in her seat with a more smug expression. These new rules might actually help us get ahead-
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
Caleb Hardedge shot out of his seat then stumbled forward as the driver of the truck slowed down hearing that noise above and behind him. "Keep moving," Caleb called out, while he ran for the back of the truck after recovering quickly. His run backwards was cut short as the truck's engine did, and he stopped his run back to instead fly forward in it and into three others who had jumped out of their seats. Others in the middle of getting out of their seats fell into each other, but the truck was not braking, necessarily.
"The engine cut off! The accelerator isn't working-" The driver tested the brakes, knocking down more of the people in the back again at the jolt while many were trying to stand. Luckily most of the equipment was tied down, but a couple of high-tech rifles dropped from the walls, and one of them fired off a thin beam of yellow light that shot straight through Dieter's left calf, the seat behind him, and the wall of the truck before sputtering out outside of the vehicle. Dieter screamed inside it, and his scream filled the earpieces of all the people in the convoy who were going from surprised and confused to panicked very quickly.
"Should we stop?!" Ansel exclaimed at his wife, as the third vehicle with all their support and security were falling far behind them.
"We still have Louis! And the most important cargo is with us!"
"You heard the lady!" Hans shouted behind him, and he sped up while reaching back and slamming a fist onto the wall behind his seats. "Get out there Louis!"
The 's' is silent. Louis opened his eyes and reached his right hand to the side. He breathed calmly through the respirator over his mouth that had tubes connecting it to the outside of the cylindrical tank he was floating in. The Frenchman pressed a button in the inside of the tank that drained the liquid out of it, and his skin started to heat up as soon as he emerged from the juice that had been coating him. The tank opened up and Louis ripped the wires all off him, then he climbed up over the boxes and equipment and weapons towards the back of the truck. He moved rapidly, his body blurring up over the supplies as he used his bare hands and feet to move like he weighed nothing. He slipped between thin cracks, and he slammed into the back of the truck as he was moving too quickly when he reached it-
The back doors of the truck were not locked anymore, and Louis slamming into them sent the doors flying open and the man inside falling out with his confident and stern look turning to one of shock in a second. The other truck behind Hans' was too close, and Louis fell towards the street that he was going to bounce on and under the wheels of the vehicle behind him. Lina swerved, but as the back of her truck swung out, a blur flew past the side of the truck anyway and dipped down to where Louis just hit the floor and bounced.
Twin jets of flames spiraled behind the man in a black uniform who shot through the air only two feet off the ground and hit Louis straight on. Jetflame pushed his feet down and powered up the flames firing out of his soles because he cut off the ones coming out of his palms. He needed those hands to wrap around the man in front of him who he continued tackling up through the air with more intensity after he felt how hard his body was from that initial collision. "Let me ask you something!" Jetflame yelled in English while pulling his head back and staring straight into Louis' eyes through his visor. "Are you an experiment, or did you volunteer for this?!"
"Volunteer," Louis replied. His hands rose up and he slammed them down in a combined fist, only for Jetflame to release his back and fire flames from both hands so fast that Louis wound up just spinning himself in a bunch of front flips at his missed and overpowered attack. His eyes opened huge again as he pinwheeled down, as he had no idea how high up Jetflame had just risen them so he was falling over a hundred meters down. Louis turned his head and looked back towards that figure flying through the sky with four flaming jets coming out of his hands and feet, and a look of awe spread on his face at the sight.
"If I'm such a huge success, then why not recreate the experiment? Mrs. Krieger!"
"You haven't heard? The Army of Death found a lab where they were doing human testing, and the Russians covered it up, not that they didn't throw all the survivors into supermaxes. But those survivors? We know why it is they killed so many…"
He's a volunteer. It really didn't seem like a human testing lab last time we checked it out. And he seems to be working with them, or for them, and he doesn't have that look of indoctrination and insanity on his face. A human weapon. A non-hero with enhanced powers to the point he's going to survive that fall, and that's just the start. Jetflame could see it on Louis' face and flew down after him to follow through after the man preparing for a hard landing hit down. In that moment he was focused on landing, Jetflame was going to get behind him and take him down for good.
"You're getting close to our blockade," Dongwu alerted the others.
"You on your way back, Firefly?" Revellum wondered. "'Cause I'm stopping these two."
"Was flying over to you, but a few of these guys are fast and chasing after me. Going to handle them first." Firefly turned around in the air, and the men of the security team who planned on reaching their other vehicles before the dark soldier found themselves stopping cold in the middle of the street. They suddenly realized, that there was no one around them in any direction. The roads were completely empty, and the Army of Death soldier did not look worried about it like someone could come across them.
"Should be fine. Looks like only three heat signatures left in those two vehicles," Raylei informed the team on the ground. "Open them up and report in what you find. The way they're reacting, we were definitely right about this."
"Should I come with the Confiscators?" Exodus questioned, stepping up right on the side of Raylei's seat and looking down over her shoulder at the drone images she was capturing from above.
Raylei turned the drone onto auto-flight for a moment and glanced back at the large man at her side. He's asking me? Raylei grinned and nodded at him, "Yeah. Go for it. No, you guys still report in what's in there. Death needs to know now, not once we get them up here."
Exodus walked back through the bridge and tapped a panel on the side of the doors that made them both slide open. He stepped out and across a hall to an open elevator, since two others ran out ahead of him and already pressed the button. "Incite, La Capra, have you flown a Confiscator before?"
"Always wanted to," Incite replied.
"I have, not," La Capra added.
"I will walk you through it. Do not mess up, or you may drop highly explosive equipment over Germany and bomb the country on accident." The two who were looking forward to trying out these vehicles looked in at the bigger man between them who did not say that as a joke in the slightest.
"Oh shit," Blackstar muttered, his voice filling the comms of all the teams working with him. "This isn't good."
Raylei turned her drone around and had it fly back Blackstar's way, and she zoomed in still from afar within seconds to get a look on what was coming towards him. Before Blackstar could start explaining she already saw what was coming his way, "Cops?"
"It's a single cop car," Blackstar countered. "Probably trying to set up a speed trap, same reason we were going for."
"Think you could talk your way out of it?" Raylei wondered.
"He'll probably get arrested trying," Rebel chimed in.
"Act French," Rampart suggested from the seat on Rebel's right, opposite the command room from their newer third member, Angie. "You can speak French well, right?"
"French cops in the middle of the road in Germany?" Ledge muttered skeptically under his breath, feeling more nervous but keeping his expression steady and calm.
Blackstar said in a steady voice, "I'll do the talking. You only know rudimentary German, Officer Boucher. Stay here." He stepped farther forward past Ledge and kept his arms down at his sides in an unthreatening manner. He walked up and looked through his sunglasses with his lips almost flat but curved down a bit at the corners. Blackstar frowned at the two cops sitting in the front of their cop car that looked identical to the one Blackstar and Ledge had been in.
Let's see. Guess I'll go with secret undercover. Like, they don't know but both our governments know why their are French police here. I'll have them call Inspector Wolf in Berlin. Otherwise known as Rebel, with a phone number with a Berlin area code and modulator matching Wolf's voice. Don't fuck me on this, Blackstar thought, though he was not too worried as those cops got out of their car. As much as Rebel could fuck around, when it came down to it in times like these he was always reliable. "Officers," Blackstar started, in German but with his most French accent as he nodded at the men before him.
In the neighboring country to the west, in the capital city of Paris, a dark figure walked up an empty emergency stairwell in a government building. The cameras in the stairwell were looping footage to the building's security, and Angie reported to her boss in a smaller voice than she used while talking with the two in her command center, "The hall between the exit and President Chuvreaux's office has three people in it. Two now- four, sorry."
"Quite fine, just let me know when I have my moment," Tobita replied. His tone relaxed the woman who was younger than the other two in the command center. The short, Asian American woman, was also the one who ran the command center they were working out of, or at least she had constructed it. The Army of Death's previous mobile command had been compromised, but Angie's Quirk worked to prevent any back-tracing of their activities across the world to their location, and her home. It was the main reason Rebel chose her to recruit even though he kept telling Death and Rampart that he did not need a third man when they kept saying how they needed someone to replace Cherasaw.
The two black men in the command looked over as Angie started speaking in a more rapid voice, "Do it. Right now-" Her eyes widened as she saw the black blur in the camera angle she was watching. I knew he had to go fast in order to use this window, but still- She flipped over her main camera angle she was watching so she was in the room at the end of the hall that Death prevented from slamming into like a missile using another Gently Rebound at the last second. He touched down and then stepped forward and calmly opened up the door and stepped inside.
"Excuse me-" President Pierre Chuvreaux looked up from paperwork he was going over with his reading glasses on. He stared at his office's entranceway where the door shut, and there was a dark figure on the inside staring at him through his visor. Chuvreaux's whole body tensed and he felt chills down his spine. His hands were both over his paperwork, but he was too nervous to reach underneath and press the panic button under the desk.
Gentle had modulated his voice after telling Angie to just tell him when he had his moment, and he spoke in a dark and deep voice not his own, "President Chuvreaux. It is a shame that we have to meet again."
"Death," Pierre whispered. He looks, different. Is he taller- shorter? He looks maybe a bit less, bulky. Is this even Death? I've only ever met the- Death nodded his head and Chuvreaux's thought train derailed with unease filling him again. Death stepped forward, and the French President said quickly, "Stay back."
"You lied to me," Death said.
"I didn't-"
"1452 Green Street," Death said. He cut off the President of one of the largest and wealthiest countries in the world, and he glared at the man through his visor with a dark look. "Do you know that address?"
"I, have no idea-"
"That is the location, of a weapons' facility on French soil that is funded by your government."
"It is a facility for testing hero support items," Chuvreaux started angrily, though he breathed heavier as there was a brief pause with Death just staring motionlessly at him. Chuvreaux regained his temper and held it much farther back, reminding himself who this was before him, and how he had just admitted that he did in fact know that address and what Death was talking about. "I understand, that you may be suspicious after, what happened before. But I have done nothing but support my country and build a stronger economy, a stronger system around heroes-"
"Are you sure, there are no illegal weapons at that facility?" Death questioned.
The President's eyes narrowed and his hands curled over his desk. He still held back from sliding them to the edge to press a button underneath, though that was less because of fear of Death now and more for the other reasons he did not want to antagonize the man before him. "I am certain," the French president glared at Death harshly as he stated it.
"Are you so certain, because all the illegal weapons were transferred out of that facility this morning?" Gentle wondered. Chuvreaux's expression tried to shift to surprise and confusion, but Gentle just continued in a low voice at the man whose lying face he could see right through, "Don't try to hide it. We hear everything. We know everything."
"I have no idea what, transfer, you're even talking about," Chuvreaux began. "And if there was some sort of transfer between facilities making hero equipment, it was a legal transfer at that."
Gentle rose a hand up to his helmet. He stared straight at the Frenchman before him, a forty-eight year old man with short grayish-black hair who found himself getting extremely nervous at the way Death nodded his head to what he was hearing. Death lowered his hand from his helmet and said to the president before him, "It seems all three of the trucks that left that research lab were carrying weapons far beyond international standards."
The French president was stunned. He sat back in his seat, his hands sliding over his desk and then falling at his sides while his eyes were huge and staring in shock at Death. Those shipments should be on the road to a secure facility outside of Munich right now! I heard from Jacoby that they reported in only fifteen minutes ago that there was no problem! What is happening out there right now?!
"You don't want this fight," Firefly said, speaking in French to the men and women down below looking back up at her. More of the security team had gathered on the road, and the ones who ran farthest ahead backed up to them, waiting for Caleb who came up and was now surrounded by his whole team.
"What did you do to our truck?" Caleb asked. His voice was low, dark, and menacing. It encouraged the rest of the detail with him who were ready to go through this person and chase after their other vehicles. They heard from the driver that two other figures had landed on their other trucks, and those of them with comms open heard how the other vehicles had been stopped not too far down the road from them. Their leader was muscular and wore a tight black long-sleeved shirt, tight black pants, and black combat boots. He had knives strapped to both sides of his belt, and he had two of the high-tech rifles slung over his back unlike most of his men who did not carry any in favor of their Quirks, or a few who only carried one. Caleb glared at the figure above who clearly did not have a Quirk to destroy their engine like that, yet he doubted they had sabotaged the vehicle beforehand. "How did you cut our engines?"
Firefly lowered down through the air, unarmed, and she replied in a voice that was feminine but modulated deeply anyway. Her combat armor already showed off she was a woman from the protruding chest, but she was muscular and it would not be easy to tell if the armor was a little thicker. Firefly replied to Caleb in an even darker voice than he used, "What truck do you speak of?"
Caleb glared harsher at the woman above, though he felt the biggest pit in his stomach that he could not shake for whatever reason. He did not want to take his eyes off of a potential enemy, but then he heard Dieter shout in all their headsets, "What the fuck?! Ahh!"
The European security detail looked back towards the truck they left two of their injured comrades, one who got knocked out when the second jolt happened in their truck and knocked her over, the other Dieter who was shot through the calf. Twenty one people looked back towards the truck, and they lifted their heads up and watched as the truck rose into the air, a giant steel claw sticking off of an invisible space in the air and gripping the truck on both sides. "Grab the one in the back, Incite." "It's okay that you're inexperienced, the least precious cargo is back there." Assholes. Incite felt a lot more pressure on him picking up the vehicle below with a couple people inside it than he would have just picking one up with weapons they would probably wind up destroying most of anyway.
As the security team stared in shock back at their rising truck, Firefly had flown down to the front of the group and shot a tiny tranq dart into the side of Caleb's neck. His hand shot up with quick reflexes as he felt it prick in, but he was not fast enough and dropped down to his knees. The sound of his knees touching the ground made a few others look back, though it was the sound of multiple thuds that made most of the rest look away from the flying truck grabbed by a claw. None of them had their weapons raised. None of them were ready to look back and see five of their comrades on the floor. And not one of them was ready to see the dark soldier behind them holding up one of their high-tech rifles that had fired a thin beam straight through solid steel not three minutes ago.
Firefly aimed the rifle at the men who had nowhere near the experience she did, who had let their guard down for multiple seconds which was much more than the one she needed. The Chinese woman thought at the group who had considered themselves pretty badass up until that very second, Amateurs. "Put down your weapons, slowly, or I'll slice you all in half."
"Firefly has apprehended the security detail," Raylei began. "All three trucks are up in the air. Confiscators seem to have a good hold. Don't fly too fast there Exodus-"
"I locked back up the back of that truck," Revellum assured. "Nothing should slide out."
"Just saying to be careful. Flight team, how's it going with incrimination?"
"Leaving the unconscious together with a couple of rifles doesn't seem like it's going to work," Jetflame began.
"The Confiscators aren't so we can take that stuff for ourselves," Raylei remarked back. "We're going to bring it back to that lab. The small group they sent out here aren't the only ones who knew about it. We're shutting that whole lab down, and when the heroes show up there earlier than the inspection was supposed to be, those docs thinking they escaped by the skin of their teeth are going to-"
"Skin of their teeth?"
"What are you-"
"Narrowly. They escaped narrowly," Raylei corrected, forgetting how many people were not native English speakers on her comms and did not understand idiomatic phrases. "Just, extraction team head down for our brave officers. And someone get those two out of Incite's truck." Raylei shook her head around and then tapped back into a different comms line she had muted since she needed to focus on leading the convoy capture. She listened in to what Death was doing in France while the rest of them and the Cloak were flying over Germany.
"…We knew the funders of that base come from all over Europe. Big names from the UK and Germany, and here in France. Here though, those names go all the way to the top of the French government. Your government. You were trying to hide what was in that lab from the inspections, because you knew what was going on inside. We have proof you knew. Only fifteen minutes ago you were contacted about the convoy." Chuvreaux pulled his head back and scrunched his face more as the responses and excuses he had to use were cut off as somehow Death knew about even that most recent talk with one of his Cabinet. How?!
La Brava sat in a car in a parking lot two blocks away from The Élysée Palace. She sipped out of a smoothie she just bought at the corner when Gentle had gone the other way towards the executive building the French president worked and lived in. On her lap was a thick black laptop she typed away in, a pair of wireless headphones in her ears hacked in to all communications coming in and out of that building. She had all the cameras hacked too, and she was working point on the mission and was in charge while Angie was more of her backup across the Atlantic on the east coast of the U.S.
Jetflame threw a weapon down at Lina's feet and glared at the group of four they were going to leave unconscious here for the heroes who would show up only minutes after they had gone. His fists balled tightly at his sides, thinking about all he saw in the backs of those trucks after he had taken down Louis. "What's up?" Revellum asked, switching to just a comms link between him and Jetflame, more specifically a link between only the people on their network within a thirty meter range which the two of them were the only ones in now.
"It's beyond what was found in the oil rig. More than," Jetflame paused and his eyes were dark as he shifted them away from the people they caught a part of this. I knew the United Kingdom's government was not involved with the facility in Scotland. I took Fergus down because of that, because they killed Titan and Red Team. I knew they didn't have a hand in it, but this time though, I know I can't deny it. They knew as much as Chuvreaux did.
"Let's fly up. We'll go through the rest of the equipment once we're on our way to their lab."
"Wish we knew where the facility they were heading to was though," Revellum mentioned, more of an aside as it had not been one of their objectives to figure that out. "They might have some more illegal-"
"I've got the address," Firefly said, having just entered their range as she was doing a quick flight in their direction to see how things ended up over here with the rest of the squad. "Their driver was quick to give it up; thought he was going to help himself. Don't know why they gave it to him if he was driving the truck in the rear. He was just following the other two anyway. Idiots." Firefly looked so annoyedly through her visor at the villains they had just taken down.
"Yeah, not the hardest mission," Rebel chimed in, hopping on the Flight Team's comms from the last team that was struggling even with his help. "But, just a head's up… The cops in front of Blackstar and Ledge are calling it in for heroes. I guess they didn't believe my German Inspector Wolf voice."
"Damn it Rebel," Jetflame muttered, spinning his head and looking back to the west where the trucks had come from. Jetflame switched to a more open channel, not full comms but connected with everyone attached to their mission, "Extraction team- Evader."
"What is it?"
"Fly down to Blackstar and Ledge and get to Rendezvous Point Bravo. They're in trouble."
"Opening up the back," Oscillate said from the co-pilot's chair next to Vintage who continued to descend them on a vertical descent towards R.P. Alpha. He flipped a switch and felt the pull of air and cool breeze that flew in as the back of their plane started opening up.
Evader put on her mask and stepped up to the opening doors after the cabin pressurized. She took in a deep breath, and then she sprinted down the ramp once the bottom half of the back door had declined in front of her. Evader dove off the back of the jet and curled her fingers in, making the bottoms of her shoes glow blue. Then she used her Quirk, Targeted Ignorance, as she spotted the two cops Blackstar and Ledge were arguing with, with Ledge spouting off in French in a frustrated way that was making the German police more aggravated but not more suspicious.
It felt more like mistakes made by upper management that had them all upset, but it was also strange for something like this to happen, especially with the officers in front of them telling them to call Inspector Wolf directly. They did not even know an Inspector Wolf, and although he had sounded like an important person the way the dark-skinned Frenchman first said how he had authorized them, and Wolf had given them the clearance, the whole situation made the local police call in their direct superiors for assistance to figure out what was happening. Blackstar's secrecy towards the "undercover" assignment he was on also confused them, as the French officers were blocking a highway and not letting them past to see what was happening on the road ahead.
The younger German officer was watching the French guys closely, though he was thinking about how this was probably going to be his entire day just because someone had messed up somewhere. The older officer put his radio back down inside his car though where he had walked back to in order to speak with his captain in a quieter voice. "You two are going to have to come with us. Whatever 'secret' reason you have, if you cannot explain why you are blocking the roadway, or why it is you have a German-model police vehicle, I must-"
The two men standing next to each other in front of the German police disappeared. They just vanished, and Blackstar and Ledge judged when that moment was based on those officers' reactions. The two of them turned and sprinted off the road with as light steps as they could, meeting up with Evader who landed in front of them and then started running in front of them away from the officers who started shouting in panic. One was yelling for LeFleur and Boucher, while the other realized something after a second of yelling 'where did you go,' and he ran back for his car to call in more backup.
"Disappointing we're leaving one of the cars," Blackstar admitted.
"No, you did a good job stalling them long enough for everyone to get out of there," Raylei countered. "Just get yourselves out now before heroes swarm the place. We're about to call in what really happened on that stretch of road too, and we'll add in that disappearing act into what those dastardly fiends did."
"R.P. Alpha is evacuated. Got the cop car strapped in the back, and some extra room so I guess we could pick you three up at Bravo, if you'd like?" Oscillate wondered.
"Get your ass over here," Blackstar ordered in a pissed-off voice. He was sprinting as fast as he could away from those cops, but other sirens and flashing lights were speeding down the road towards them. Evader's Targeted Ignorance could only hide the three of them from five other people, and although she turned and looked through the next closest cop car to make the two in the front of it unable to see them too, they were running out of time here without much cover to get behind. "Changing the extraction point to my location in fifteen seconds," Blackstar added, after the comms had quieted down and no one made a joke after hearing his tone.
"We'll be there in a minute."
"Can only make the driver of that third car- shit wait, using it on Jedenwurst," Evader switched it up as she saw a red sports car she recognized behind the third cop car that had a hero driving it.
"Should still be fine," Ledge said, trying to get the other two next to him speaking so seriously relax a little.
"Get behind that divot and crouch down," Blackstar ordered, and he sprinted for it and dove, hoping those cops had not seen him yet.
"Switching so one of the ones in the second car and one in the third can't see us. Both of the drivers-"
"Just run forward-"
"Crap, one's pointing towards us," Evader turned and sprinted for the drop, jumping and landing on the other side of it a few feet down, before crouch-sprinting after Blackstar around a risen hill of higher elevation that had tall grass on it but not tall enough to hide their dark bodies from the ones not ignorant of them. "Luckily," Evader continued. "The other three around her looked over while she was pointing and saying she could see me, they're telling her she didn't see anything right now."
"You think," Blackstar countered.
Raylei watched on her drone, and she relaxed a little bit as Evader was right. She did not say anything about it though, as Blackstar was being as cautious as he needed to be right there. "It's alright, Blackstar. Your ride is here."
"That's my line," Vintage said, and Blackstar turned around as he heard the sound of opening doors. "Get in quickly. They see you."
"Holy shit," one of the German cops muttered, looking out the passenger side window as the driver slowed down more behind the other four police officers all out of their cars.
The other three cops were staring at the fourth who had been telling them she was sure she saw people over there. She was staring that way again, and the others turned this time and looked in that direction only to drop their jaws. In the middle of empty air, a door was opening outwards. Evader dropped her Targeted Ignorance as there was no point anymore, as she was already back inside the vehicle. Ledge moved quickly inside too and ran for a seat, but Blackstar took two steps up and then turned. He grabbed a metal handle sticking out of the wall just inside of the doors.
The first two cops who had arrived and were talking mainly to Officer LeFleur stared towards that "LeFleur" in utter disbelief. They stared slack-jawed at the man who reached up to his sunglasses, took them off, and then tossed them to the side farther into the ship. His hand he released the sunglasses with stayed open, and he caught the helmet tossed his way that he lifted up and put over his head. He was still mostly wearing a police uniform when the invisible doors closed back up and left empty space rising over their hilly fields, but the officers and Jederwurst all knew who they really were.
Jedenwurst stood behind the officers, and he was glad none of them could see as he lifted the right corner of his lips into a small smile for a moment. He nodded up at the invisible space in the sky, then he shook his head around and started in a commanding voice, "We must look for wherever those two fake officers ran off to." The cops in front of him turned to the hero in a brown and red costume who marched forward towards the fake cop car and the 'Detour' sign they left behind. "But we must also see what is waiting for us on the stretch of road ahead. You six, follow me."
Back inside the Élysée Palace, President Chuvreaux spoke in a rapid and angry voice at the man before him, "We needed those weapons to- you have no proof that we ever had them in the first place. By now they're already in Germany, or in your possession," Chuvreaux corrected himself and glared harder at Death, while also looking regretful as he had let these weapons fall into the hands of terrorists.
Tobita saw no reason to explain to Chuvreaux his plan for all the confiscated equipment and weapons. Nor did he feel a need to defend himself, but he did need to say something when he saw that look of remorse that the President thought he had messed up by allowing the AoD to get ahold of that technology... "Death warned you what would happen," Gentle started. Chuvreaux lifted his head and his heart raced as he stared at the man who he thought was Death, and he thought still might be even while speaking in that person. "Death gave you the choice to do good before the end of your term, and you broke your promise-"
"I didn't!" Chuvreaux exclaimed, though his voice stayed in a yell-whisper at loudest. "Death told me to do right by my people! To do whatever I could for them, to protect and serve them." Chuvreaux planted his hands firmly down over his desk and leaned forward over it. He stated firmly while glaring into the visor of the dark man before him, "We don't have the level of heroes other nations have. Too many of our elite pros fell over the past two years. We do not have the defenses to protect our people from the evils that cover this world," Chuvreaux narrowed his eyebrows in at the figure in front of him, "The hope of an occasional assistance from the Army of Death isn't enough for me to feel my people are safe. I did this for them!"
Gentle stayed quiet for a few moments after the French president was finished. Then he spoke in a low voice, his tone dark, "You had good excuses back when Death first questioned you too. You were quick with us." Chuvreaux kept his firm look on his face but it twitched for a second as Death stepped right up in front of his desk. "That your people's lives were being threatened, so everything you did to help those villains wasn't just to protect yourself, but for them. I remember," Gentle's eyes narrowed behind his own visor in a darker way at the Frenchman. "But this is two mistakes now, and I cannot ignore it."
The President's mouth opened, but Death cut in first with a louder voice, "You're a smooth talker. I accept the wrong you did may have been for more than yourself," Death paused and then continued in a lower tone, "but as a politician, as the figure your people need to trust and put their faith in to do what they expect of you, when there are laws you publicly say you follow that you then ignore, it cannot go on. In any country." Gentle turned away, "I will not allow it. Get yourself a good lawyer, President Chuvreaux."
The older man sitting at his desk lifted a hand up, but the dark figure stepped straight out of his office and closed the door behind him without looking back. Chuvreaux's hand lowered with his bottom lip dropped, and his eyes clenched shut a second later with a thousand pound weight dropping on his shoulders. Bags formed under his eyes, and he brought his hands up to his face and put his head in them in shock and disbelief. It's all gone. Everything, I'm going to lose it- This is, it's so horrible. The feeling swelling inside him was the worst thing Chuvreaux had ever felt before. They know! They know I was blackmailed that first time- and it's my discretion to enact measures to protect my people! Whatever those measures, may, be…
The French president turned his head and his eyes narrowed at a phone sitting on top of his desk. If it's all over anyway. I won't allow them to continue this reign of terror. They won't get away with doing this to me! His hand snapped out and he grabbed the phone, then he reached down and slid out a drawer on his desk and pulled out a folder inside it with his free hand. Endeavor. I don't know what you've been doing all this time, but you will listen to me! He's here! In Paris right now! I know you're close enough to catch him.
"Wait for it, wait- I said-"
"There's no time," Death countered Angie, and he just Elasticized the ground as soon as he stepped out of the building. His legs bent down far, and then the man formerly known as the Gentle Criminal shot up into the sky like a rocket very few people saw. Those few still dropped their jaws to the ground though and then spun to the people closest to them, going to try, (and fail), to convince them of what they just saw.
"Pulling around to the first meet-up point," La Brava said, turning on the car as she said it to her partner. "Things sounded like they went well in there."
Did they? Angie wondered, feeling hesitant herself after what she had heard in there.
"I do not disagree with what he was saying," Death admitted. "But he can't have the attitude that anything is acceptable for peace, in his public and trusted position. That stance is reserved for us."
"Of course," La Brava agreed, like there was no reason for him to explain it to her.
"I understand, Commander," Angie agreed, wondering if he knew somehow the hesitation she had felt there for a moment. He had erased it though, and she typed away quickly before mentioning, "The President's making a call out of the country. It's to Endeavor, actually."
"We'll be long gone by the time he could get here," La Brava scoffed, though her expression did get straighter and her foot pushed down a little harder on the accelerator. She had gotten off her laptop to drive, and she made her way around the streets of Paris to the point that Gentle would reach seconds after she pulled up. They had planned it out beforehand where he would have enough time to get out of his dark armor and into the change of clothes waiting for him in an empty apartment they owned there in Paris, and he could put that armor into a bag that casual change of clothes was currently waiting inside.
"How are we going to get him caught?" Angie wondered, as despite what Gentle said, incriminating a head-of-state in any crime was a difficult task.
"We'll leave behind the evidence we have connecting the government leaders to the weapons' lab when we drop back off their missing trucks," Death replied. "If there was ever a time to reveal corruption, it is now in a great time for peace and stability."
"Plus, they're holding their leaders to higher standards," La Brava added, as the current world news about the U.S.A. and China's reactions to the Exonbaba Oil Rig Incident was the most popular story in the world. "Demanding resignations and getting those resignations they demanded. It'll be easier for him to be convicted when he's not a sitting president." La Brava paused for a moment and then mentioned, "People don't need that faith in their leaders anymore we were trying to preserve. It's going to stick even with some more bad eggs revealed."
People would only look to change the entire system due to a bad leader, in a time of unrest where a huge change might seem necessary. Death flew up high in the sky, and he picked a moment to bounce himself down very fast towards the roof of the building his change of clothes was inside. Even revealing his former corruption and these illegal activities will not make the French people lose faith in democracy. Solely in Chuvreaux himself. Other leaders will also learn that the trend beginning with the oil rig is not a fad soon to fade. They will see the trend of people with their level of power being held accountable for these sorts of things, and they will all be disinclined from following in their footsteps.
"Death," a voice spoke in Tobita's ear that shifted his train of thoughts while he made his way into the building's top floor and to his apartment on the east side. Jetflame continued once Death told him to, "We've searched the trucks completely. We found, something else," he had already given a preliminary report of the weapons he saw inside that were beyond the international standards, but he had not seen everything with it all packed so tightly together in those front two trucks earlier.
"They didn't just develop the tech here on their own," Jetflame's voice was regretful and he continued to look down at what many of their AoD members were gathered around and glaring at in similar levels of disgust. "It's tech from our own costumes."
Gentle's expression dropped and he stopped taking his clothes off for a second. His face became dark and he glared harshly at the casual clothes on the ground, though his hands started shaking at his sides in a fearful way. He had to clench those hands into fists, but the day he just thought of for a second reverberated back in his mind. It was filling Jetflame's head too, as the two of them thought about the comrades they had to leave behind at the "Villain Summit." We couldn't look around for all of their bodies, Gentle reminded himself, but it did not make him feel any better. The chaos was too intense. We couldn't destroy the corpses like we always do.
I can barely remember it, Jetflame thought in regret and guilt for whoever's armor this was in front of him. I was injured myself, and I still had to carry away two other wounded comrades including Gentle, Death now. We dragged ourselves away from that battlefield, and left our comrades' bodies, and our destroyed ship which had been my home- even the R&D department in Norway was looted by these bastards. How the French got ahold of it, I don't know. Countries are trading around our tech, and our comrades' bodies even? My own country!? If the UK can do it, anyone else can too. We'll put their names on the same list that gets Chuvreaux incriminated. You'll all go down for this.
Firefly glanced towards Jetflame, then she lifted a hand to her helmet and continued in a low voice, "They used our technology for their own purposes and developed weapons for their countries to use." A few people looked towards the woman who also had a dark look over her face as she remembered the Villain Summit, and how she had seen something similar that day as she fought against a dozen men flying around with super-powered jetpacks. "Just like that day-"
"What are you guys talking about?" Revellum wondered. A few others next to the third member of the Flight Squad looked over at Firefly too wondering where she was going there.
"Get back to it," Jetflame ordered, looking at the newer members who wanted to hear a story and giving them a harsh look showing it was not the time. He reached up to his helmet again, "Most of the armor was stripped. It's not all here, and what is has been taken apart and put back together it looks like. The helmet's a hollow shell. It's ours though. It's definitely, one of ours."
"Endeavor's on the way. Don't know who else he might be calling, isn't going to be as easy to hear his calls as the French president's," Angie started.
"Endeavor's in Greece," Rebel said without looking up from his computer. "He's at a press conference in Athens. They'll be out of Europe before he gets to France, or Germany, depending on where he stops first."
"What about other members of the ADTF around here?" Blackstar wondered at their command center who were speaking on an open line starting with what Angie announced.
"An inordinate number of them are overseas right now," Raylei replied, making Rampart close his mouth as he had been on that and checked again recently. Raylei was on top of it too though from up on the Cloak, and she went on, "With things normalizing though, more foreign activity is to be expected for heroes. Several European ADTF are off-continent right now, but there are a few Chinese heroes in Italy, two of them ADTF. Star Spangled Man is on his Europe tour too, but we all know he's in Moscow today. Team Canada are also over in Ireland, but they're scheduled to take a jet back in thirty minutes. Doubt they'll turn around to help out Endeavor, especially since only Kurt 2 is still a part of the Force."
"Outback Man is arriving in Berlin in two hours too," Rampart mentioned. "He'll be close, and he'll likely join up with Endeavor and any domestic ADTF members currently free."
"President Chuvreaux told Endeavor how Death had walked straight into his office. He demanded immediate response... though," Angie paused for a second and grinned. "It was pretty funny hearing Endeavor ask him why."
"What'd he say?!"
"He paused like- 'uhh,'" Angie exaggerated it, but the two men in the command with her started grinning and then laughed as she impersonated the French president yelling at Endeavor that the reasons didn't matter and that they are all terrorists!
Jetflame smiled before wiping it quickly from his face. I shouldn't be smiling right now. Angie just shouted how they were all terrorists, and even in the impersonation of the French president, which he had to admit was comical, he was a former hero. He lifted back up the left corner of his lips after a moment though, as he glanced around and noticed the mood of everyone in the hangar had shifted a bit there. She fits in great at command though.
La Brava connected a private link between herself and Gentle, then she mentioned in an annoyed voice, "It's like having a little female Rebel."
Tobita chuckled to himself as he casually walked down the stairs of the apartment building carrying a bag in his right hand. "Must be a certain type of person who can handle their work," he suggested to his partner who was pulling up in a car outside at that moment. Besides, you may say they get on your nerves, but I would bet you smiled right there.
"Parked out front."
Gentle did not stop walking and he twisted the handle to open the front door of the apartment building. He stepped outside in a warm winter coat, he had on a gray hat with a rim around his head, and the man with a silver mustache stepped down a few steps before crossing the sidewalk. He opened up the car door in front of him, climbed inside the car, and he closed it behind him before turning to the side. "Drive, my dear."
"Aw, I was thinking we could vacation here in Paris for a few days," La Brava remarked mock disappointedly. "On the run from Endeavor. In disguise but in plain daylight," she swung a hand out in front of her, even as she drove off the curb and down the road the direction of their own extraction point. "Just like old times," she mentioned with a glance back at the man next to her wearing a disguise like she had on similar to ones they used to wear when making videos to post online together.
"Some other time, perhaps," Gentle replied back, giving the shorter woman at his side a soft smile that made La Brava smile much brighter back at him that he actually was just putting a pin in it for later. Tobita Danjuro looked out the front windshield again though and then said in a dashing and chivalrous voice, "But first! We must save this world from- What is it?" Gentle cut off the voice he only used with La Brava now, as he saw Angie's name appear back on the right side of his visor to show she was connected in comms. La Brava sighed disappointedly from next to the man at her side, but as Gentle started talking to one of their support members, his free hand moved over and patted on top of her head. Aiba Manami's face lit up and she blushed, as her Love for the man next to her grew once again.
"It's not over Paris though," Lemillion started in English, while on the group video call with 86 other people. "Checking this soon after-"
"Death must not be with the member Suneater-"
"Exodus. It was Exodus who-"
"Enough." Endeavor silenced all the heroes who were speaking over one another and making it hard to have a conversation. He was in a back room of a police station, and the press conference he was supposed to be in was postponing in wait for him, but he had to do this first. Endeavor had his computer opened in front of him like all the other members on his Task Force currently in the call did. The computers and their phones were all built with tech supposedly making it impossible to hack into them. He continued to the rest of the ADTF, "The location is confirmed. Where our tracker is, will be where Death is returning to right now."
Suneater kept a steady look on his face, even as his chest swirled with unease for being the reason for all of this. His trepidation faded though, as he considered what Endeavor had just told them about Death walking right into the French president's office. He must have done something to deserve it, right? It doesn't matter though. That kind of power is insane, and we let it grow to that level by failing so many times before to stop them.
"So what do we do then?" Star Spangled Man questioned from a hotel in Moscow.
"Are we gathering now to go after them?" Outback Man also wondered, though from a jet crossing over western Asia at the moment.
"No," Endeavor replied. "We will have one shot at this." Everyone on the call started getting serious and focused looks too at the tone in Endeavor's voice. "We all know their strength. Their skill. The moment we show our hand, they will find the tracker and destroy it."
"It can't be pinged-" Crack started.
"They will locate it," Endeavor repeated, cutting off the American woman who frowned but did not try to argue the point again. "And we will lose our opportunity if we go in unprepared. This now takes priority over all other missions you are on. It is our one and only chance that we will get for a clean trap and capture of the Army of Death." Everyone focused in on Endeavor even harder, as he spoke in a voice getting each one of them feeling intense and like this was it. It was something Endeavor never would have been able to do a year ago. The old Endeavor never had the ability to unite their force like he was suggesting now, and yet no one doubted that he could do it this time.
"We do not want a violent clash with the Army of Death. We do not want to fight them in public where people will watch them only trying to flee from us. Nor do I wish to hurt them, myself." Endeavor admitted the final part and then continued much stronger though, "However! We must stop them. It is our jobs. It is the goal of this Task Force, to stop Death. You must each keep complete secrecy from everyone over what we plan out in the coming days or weeks, however long it takes us to ensure a perfect victory, and the capture of Death and all his soldiers."
Lemillion's eyes darkened and he nodded his head in an intense way. That might be directed more at me than anyone. Endeavor doesn't think Sazaki's Death though, but even for the chance that he is, he wants me to know not to say a word to my interns. Deku nor Explosion King can know. No one can know. Not until it's over. Not until we've captured them all.
A/N Thanks for reading! Always fun jumping back to the AoD and going on missions with them. They're continuing their work around the world, under the leadership of new Death, who's making tough decisions that will echo out across the world. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Look out AoD, Endeavor's coming for you. He's not going in half-baked though, he's taking every precaution to ensure that this time... there is no escape. Leave a review telling me what you think of the chapter! And time for review responses:
AMR-MNR chapter 173 . 15h ago
Ah, yeah, tried to review but I guess using the 'load last page' or 'back button' cancels out the review... So - this, and the last one, was quite a lot of talking and interactions, seeing people's viewpoints. You said that Zach had been lying about the battle of the six armies when he explained it to Iida, so I'm wondering what the real deal was? I mean, while I trust his figures for the AoD forces, the villains numbers are a little whack. Weren't there only 3-4000 villains in Wampajawa? Since the Six armies battle had more, though not too much more, I'd figure it was more like 6000? And what about way back when, when AoD members were mentioning something about a 'blood stained desert' of dead people numbering from 2-400? O had assumed Zach had killed all of them for some reason...
Oh, and I figure his lack of need to sleep is connected to Death. We know that it cured cancer and somehow made him campatible with organs and blood that are not supposed to be compatible, and that killing living thing gives him a life force of sorts, definitely a native power boost, but perhaps that also extends into his basic physical abilities and needs?
AAh, for every answer we get we also have another five questions to ask! Zach, please, just tell us the truth! And also fill us in on all the stuff that you've talked to us but only vaguely about...
See you next time, author San!
Hey! Thanks for the reviews and yeah I get it with what happened last time. As for the numbers... kind of wondering where you're getting with it. I don't remember mentioning how many villains were in Wampajawa (at least at the time of the attack, those numbers might have been earlier on when Mark and Seraphim first visited the city with Blackjack, if that's what you're talking about). As for the Battle of 6 Armies, in the chapter after that happened I think I showed Mina and Midnight watching a news report on the Villain Summit where it mentioned something about 8k villains being captured, and thousands more being caught while on the run after the Summit fell apart. The Tusukan Desert where there was that blood-stained desert, I haven't spoken of that much besides for that one chapter, and the occasional thought from Zach that always cuts it off... so still not going to spoil anything about that or the numbers, etc. Some cool theories about Zach's powers there, and yeah there are still as many questions as answers going around, but we'll see what those answers are... when they come! XD Thanks again and hope you liked the chapter!
.0 chapter 173 . 40m ago
I don't know about anyone else but I really loved the interaction between Sero, Zach, and Kotsumura this chapter. Sero's worry over how much Zach is telling him really brought up my respect for him, and reminded me of how much Sero cares about Zach even after all this time. While I love Momo and her relationship with Zach, I'm slowly realising how much more I like Sero and Mina. Especially after Momo almost gave up on him. (Momo's really got nothing on Airi/Darling at this point, and yet through it all Zach still loves her.) After everything Zach's done Sero still treats him like a friend, and backs him up when he can. Mina also has been a great friend, but I don't think her resolve is as strong as Sero's. I never really thought Zach would trust any of the Shiketsu students enough to confide in them, although I hoped he would, so Zach and Kotsumura's interaction this chapter really made me happy. (Ngl when Zach got emotional and started confessing to Sero and Kotsumura I kinda balled my eyes out. The combination of Zach talking about his past and willingly showing how he's feeling doesn't happen often so that scene hit me hard.) Anyway, really loved that scene. Now to something a bit off topic, I read another review that mentioned something about you not progressing the story recently and while I get where they're coming from I'd have to disagree. Chapters like these can have a huge effect on the story and can change the way a scene later on may play out. While I love chapters that have intense fighting and drama, I love chapters like these as well where it's simply a character expressing their thoughts and feelings. Like I mentioned earlier with Sero and Kotsumura, my opinion of them changed a lot off this chapter alone, all because of one conversation they had. (Same thing for Tsuyu and Sato) So while it may not seem like it, the story is progressing, just in a different/slower way. Sure its no Zach vs Eiziano, (really want that fight to happen btw) but it is pushing the story along. Whoa, this review ended up a lot longer than I intended. Sorry for making you read through all my rambling. XD All in all this chapter was fun to read and I can't wait to find out what happens next, keep up the amazing writing!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and the character interactions that happened in it. I get the feeling some other people (like xilos) might have towards those chapters moving slow, but there are so many open plot lines and character links Zach has between so many people in the BNHA world that I don't plan on just leaving open or suddenly having change out of nowhere. It takes chapters like these to build the character relationships, and I'm glad it hit you hard at points because I admit I shed tears while writing a lot of scenes in this story. It hits me hard as I get into Zach's mindset to try and better feel what he would be feeling to explain how he's feeling to others, and it's chapters like those with more talking than anything that I feel like are the most dramatic ones in this story. Even with the Darling chapters, there was not that much action in them, and yet those were some of my favorite ones to write recently... Anyway! I'm happy you enjoy these, and the relationship Zach has with Sero and with Kotsumura. They're different, but both of them are characters who Zach does trust to a certain degree more than most others. It's why it makes for a good scene having him talking to them, knowing he can reveal more without worrying as much about stuff coming out. Zach vs Eziano, the quicker progress in this story, things may happen quickly all at once, or they may take a while to come, but I won't let it show beforehand ;) so you'll all just have to look forward to it!
Guest chapter 173 . 14h ago
It's fucking terrifying watching Zach try to mend all these bridges and do so much good while knowing that Kaminari is in the background doing something that's probably about to come to a head and burn everything down.
XD You and DarkJokes both got that fear of Kaminari struck back into you this chapter. We'll see how Kaminari's got his plans working in the background soon... probably, but we know his plans are big since the last time we saw him was blackmailing the PM of Japan. The League of Villains are still out there, and Zach's focus is a little too split while they've got their huge plans too... ;) But then again, who knows what's coming?! (I do), Thanks for the review! And hope you enjoyed the new chapter!