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!

226. Chapter 226

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 226:

"'Fabu?' Are you certain?" Mulan questioned the man reporting back to her.

Yue Fei had slipped into unconsciousness only a half hour before which Ectoplasm was informed of when he called in to the Command Center at Xing. Ectoplasm frowned at the question for confirmation. He looked towards Lifebringer who stood in the back of the police truck with him and two of his other three students. Rin was in the front of the vehicle behind the wheel at the moment, even though the truck was stopped in the parking lot of the police station they had just left as a group. Ectoplasm stared into Sazaki's eyes for a moment then responded, "Lifebringer's confident the information is legitimate."

"That's great to hear," Mulan replied. She grinned herself and curled her left hand into a fist that she could feel despite it not being made of flesh and bone. "Star-Spangled Man has more help now with the Third Response Team's closest groups that have arrived and scattered to help him. Let Lifebringer know and have him pass on all information to the TST-"

"I believe," Ectoplasm cut in. He paused for a moment but Mulan became quiet to listen to him. "That Lifebringer's lead is taking us somewhere, that he would like to follow-"

"You have my permission to remain there," Mulan replied, going back on what she was just explaining to him. As much as I want Lifebringer back to revivals, if he's on their trail then I'm not going to be the one to stop him. "Do whatever is necessary," Mulan continued, her expression more intense and her words implying something to Ectoplasm who looked down at his ERT with wider eyes at what she might be telling him. Then his head turned to the right with a look of regret over it as someone clearly overheard what Mulan just said.

Zach's look was dark at the sound of Mulan's order. Ectoplasm's got darker when he looked to the teen, Shit. Mulan just gave him vindication for everything he's doing. "Understood," Ectoplasm just finished, done with the call and ending it himself before she could say anything else that would make his job harder.

Ectoplasm collapsed the tablet and slid it into a hidden pocket on the inside of his costume's long beige coat. He looked back to Lifebringer, then to the left at Deku, then behind him and to the back of the truck where a girl with orange hair was looking closely at her ERT and reading up on all the recent reports that she had fallen behind on. Ectoplasm stared her way for another second but turned back towards the boys on his right and Rin who was looking back from the front of the vehicle that they had yet to even turn on. "Alright Sazaki, explain."

He hasn't been calling me Lifebringer. Is it just because of who we're around? That's still not a good sign. Shows he thinks of me less like a hero, Zach nodded back at his teacher without any hesitation. "We should start heading for the address though. Hide nearby before I get the message with the time so we don't have to show up when they're looking out for our approach."

"You think a police truck already being there will be less noticeable?" Rin wondered back towards him.

"I think if we check out the area we'll find somewhere nearby we can hide it without much trouble," Zach answered.

Rin nodded in response after a moment but looked to Ectoplasm sensei before doing anything or asking for the address he did not know. Zach looked back to his old teacher himself, and the man stared back at him across a small gap in the back of the truck. Midoriya stood up from his seat between them but across the open back of the truck from the row Zach and Ectoplasm were each closer to. "Zach," Midoriya started. The muscular teen in his green costume stared seriously at his classmate and nodded his head, "You need to tell us."

"I will. Let's go first though. I'll explain on the way. We cannot lose this opportunity," Zach said it to his teacher while desperately keeping his eyes off the girl behind him who was looking his way with bags under her eyes. Did she sleep last night?! How long has it really been for her?

"Then let's go," Ectoplasm replied with a motion of his head towards Rin. Zach turned and jogged up to Rin, and he opened up a folded piece of paper in his hand and showed it to his comrade. "Get us closer to here. Anywhere within five minutes of it we'll search for a place to park. We won't be moving the vehicle any closer than that, but it has to be close enough that the five of us can get close without drawing attention either. The threat of the disease spreading has shut down some of the nearby work plants to this empty lot so there should be fewer people in the area. I'm hoping we get this done before evening falls, but worst comes to worst we'll have the cover of night to approach."

Rin nodded along with Zach. He felt his hair standing on end but said nothing. He had Deku and Ectoplasm in view behind Zach giving Lifebringer looks he did not think he could match if he started questioning how Zach got this kind of information. Zach turned back around and he steadied himself as Rin turned on the engine and started getting them out of there. Rin lifted up a radio at the front too and spoke in Chinese in a low voice to the cops at the gate to give the clearance code he needed and was given by an officer Jumping Jong had reasoned with.

Jumping Jong and X Force had been overwhelmed by the paperwork and evidence and crime scene they had to deal with not much earlier. There was too much for the two of them to deal with on their own, and even with some help from the Japanese heroes, they were still not close to being ready to drop everything and move on to something new. Zach told Sheshou and Fu to continue helping them even though their team needed to get ready for their next move right away, and the Chinese heroes Yue Fei had ordered to come with him to "watch" them, easily accepted that request and stayed where Lifebringer told them to.

The team was smaller now. There was little oversight, and Ectoplasm just heard the new leader of the Command Center tell them to do whatever was necessary. He saw Zach hear their commander tell them that as well. His job was to come here and revive patients. Why is it that he's leading us straight to the villains terrorizing the country? It's because he's Death. It's because he has the resources that I never… "Explain. Now."

"I don't know what there is to explain," Zach replied to the older man. He stood and faced him in the moving vehicle with the other three his age listening in to him. He continued quickly as he knew either Midoriya or Ectoplasm was going to interject right away, "My contact gave us information and an address. I knew we might be able to find a lead in Yuanbo, and now we have a lead."

"How did you do this?" Kendo asked, lifting her head and wondering it softly but with a look not wanting him to give her some unbelievable excuse.

"That man was planted so deep into the villain's group," Ectoplasm continued frustratedly. "That they really trusted him."

"Bango and that other villain had betrayed looks," Midoriya added himself. He said with a shake of his head, "Like they really trusted the man who gave you the information-"

"Obviously," Zach replied, his voice holding some annoyance at the need to explain even this much. He frowned and explained anyway, "Someone who wasn't trusted wouldn't be able to get good information." He looked into his friend's eyes and said sternly, "It's called going undercover, Deku. When Kaminari did it that's a different story because he's the bad guy. When we do it, we're getting justice." Zach's eyes were cold and Midoriya pulled his face back as he thought of how torn up Zach sounded after defeating Toga and explaining how deep he had infiltrated the League. Zach saw him thinking of that and mentioned, "The League felt betrayed when I turned on them too. That doesn't make the infiltration wrong-"

"That man, 'Wei,'" Ectoplasm emphasized the common Chinese last name that he doubted was actually the contact's real name. "He is not a hero-"

"No, he's not," Zach replied. He shook his head and grit his teeth for a second, "And I wish I didn't have to break his cover anyway. Not in front of heroes like you. Not in front of the villains he had spent so long infiltrating to get that close." Zach got a steadier look in his eyes and continued strongly, "But I had to do it. I couldn't wait to find my contact at a time that wouldn't blow his cover, so we ruined his plant into the criminal dealings of a large area."

"Luckily," Zach continued after a moment. "Operations like what Bango was running should be the biggest things remaining around here, and him and his guys are getting arrested for gun and drug charges. It'll show off to other villains nearby that even those small crimes are going to be taken on by heroes now as there aren't huge villain groups remaining around here. And in the midst of a pandemic, heroes taking time out to take them down?" Zach shook his head but looked satisfied by the idea of what message that would send to other villains about. And Shunfeng will track down the other big leads he said he was dealing with once we're done with the Fabu. He'll wait for things to settle down or just have the huge force of heroes in the nation deal with it through tips after we handle this virus.

You're upset that you ruined his plant into the criminal dealings of a huge area- which makes sense, Midoriya countered his own angered thoughts. Just by being a part of this small villain group he managed to get information on the Fabu that no hero has managed to get so far. You told Ectoplasm not to say much in the report because if a massive force of heroes comes this way then there's no way we'll pull off tricking the Fabu's members into coming out. News that we're in the city has still not become public knowledge. At least many at the police station were shocked to see us! If the Fabu are relatively new and don't have too much resources because of the way they make their money and stay hidden, then there's a good chance they don't have any plants at the station or inside the heroes' forces to be able to warn them of our arrival and investigation!

"Are you sure though," Rin started from the front of the vehicle. "That this is safe? If the guy isn't a hero, and he's been working with villains, what if he turned and is working with the Fabu? What if- how do we know this won't be a trap?"

Zach shook his head and looked up front and into the rearview mirror to stare into Rin's eyes. "I trust the man who gave us the information. I trust him with my life, and all of yours," Zach added intensely and to leave no room for discussion about his reliability.

"The man who…" You won't even call him Wei right now. You won't act like that's his real name yet you won't give it to me. If I ask you, I'm certain you'll come up with a story… Ectoplasm grit his teeth and shook his head in anger. This isn't right. I don't accept this! His eyes rose and glared into Zach's coldly, "So did Bango."

"I know," Zach replied softer at the dark look his former math teacher was giving him. "But that's because… well, that's because my contact is good at what he does. I know him though. We're good friends. We have worked together in the past when I was a vigilante."

Rin hummed and just nodded his head before glancing down at his ERT to get ready for the next turn his map wanted him to take. It's pretty far away. That's good though. We don't want it near where we've done anything today, or they might have seen us! Or maybe they did see us. Maybe even if the guy who told Zach can be trusted, there are other villains preparing for us right now. And not calling in other heroes… Won't matter. Rin shook his head around. Ectoplasm sensei, Deku, and Lifebringer. No villains are taking the three of them down- and I'm strong too! It doesn't matter the size of our team. It's the quality of those here that matters.

It wasn't when you were a vigilante, Ectoplasm thought.

That's a lie. Deku's breathing was steady and his eyes shifted to his teacher. I know who that person was, and so does sensei. You don't care about hiding it anymore but you're still… You have to. You know Star-Spangled Man is here though. You know, how much attention this will put on you! But you brought us here? You, brought us and let us see, rather than just flying away and doing this yourself? You could have! I don't- understand.

That wasn't just some vigilante friend of yours, Ectoplasm maintained his gaze on Zach without looking away. I saw what happened in there. You gave him orders. That relationship was not as equals. You were the superior. And I could also see very clearly that it wasn't just being undercover, because going undercover means finding information on the group they were in so that they can arrest that group, usually. This, was just an insert into a villain group to get information about all sorts of other things. It was just… I don't know how to describe it.

If I had to describe something closest, Ectoplasm admitted to himself. It was like a nation placing a spy in another nation and that spy getting close to someone, and that person being married to a government agent. Or something along the lines. So detached from the information they want but in a position to get anything. The kind of power you must have had to have someone under you spend as much time as that Wei must have spent in Bango's employ. You knew exactly where to find him. Ectoplasm knew what he was feeling and why it had completely overhauled his opinion of Sazaki. He's been here since before Sazaki went to Tartaros. A plant of over 9 months ended in an instant because that's how serious you take this. He was not angry at you for breaking the cover. It was, it was like he just took the fact that you were there as enough to explain why- You're him.

There's no questioning it now. I can't believe- I couldn't! I was convinced it wasn't true. Convinced, that everyone else was still jumping to conclusions. Did I want to ignore it? Was I blind? Or, Ectoplasm thought of the kid who came to talk to him after class a few years ago. "Ectoplasm-sensei. I- just wanted to say- again… I didn't mean to knock you out. I didn't know- but I shouldn't have tried it without testing…" That kid. That same kid, Ectoplasm saw the boy bowing to him and the rest of the faculty to apologize for his rudeness, then screaming as he was tortured and-

"The Army of Death's only mission, is stopping villains."

"Ectoplasm! Get up! It's Sazaki… he, killed Kurogiri…"

"Zach Sazaki has turned himself in to authorities…"

How didn't I see it? Ectoplasm wondered. It was so obvious. Class A could see it. They knew- some of them, I know were positive. Jirou said so during that meeting, and Bakugo… You're Death. You lead the Army of Death. Are you still in charge now? You gave orders like you are. I don't imagine it's possible from inside U.A. If you decided though, that for some reason your next move had to start with going to Tartaros… In order to get the means to stop the League of Villains. Or the Radians. It's possible. It's very possible that your own position in Japan is a plant like Wei's here in Yuanbo. You want the resources of a top hero in Japan. The intel- What do I do? At this moment-

Zach broke eye contact with Ectoplasm first. He looked away and stared towards the orange-haired girl whose cheeks puffed out. She was not holding back a cough this time, and she did not manage to hold it back at all anyway so they all saw what she tried holding back as her body wrenched forward and she hurled. Her last meal was so long ago, but apparently not much of her lunch had digested. Kendo's legs pushed apart as puke hit her knees, and she emptied her stomach out onto the floor of the moving truck that slammed on the breaks and pulled over as Rin shouted Kendo's name.

Zach sprinted past his teacher who was still turning his body around as he had been facing the front of the truck unlike his student. Midoriya made it up to Kendo quicker than Ectoplasm too, and he put a knee down on the seat next to her while holding her left shoulder closer to him. "It's okay. You're alright." I noticed. I- I should have said something. Deku patted his other hand on Kendo's back then rubbed it up and down as Kendo's mouth opened wider and he heard the gagging from her throat that came out dryer and scratchier but with just spit falling from her lips now.

Ectoplasm took his eyes back off Sazaki who he had stared at for a second when the boy rushed by him looking as worried as the rest of his students. He marched towards Kendo himself, What am I thinking about? All of that has to be left for later. Right now, far too much is on the line to care. "Battle Fist," Ectoplasm said as he stood in front of the class representative of Class B. "You're clearly infected with the Sleepless virus. I need to get you back to the FLICC-"

"I can do this!" Kendo shouted, snapping her head up and looking desperately at her teacher.

Zach stood with one foot on her puke and the other closer to the back of the vehicle. His eyes shook as he stared at the look of desperation over Kendo's face. The ever-present fear in her eyes, as she shouted at Ectoplasm, "We have to find an antidote! I'm sure the villains have one!"

"I won't put you in any further danger," Ectoplasm countered the girl with a shake of his head.

"Kendo," Midoriya interrupted as she opened her mouth again. She looked to her side at the curly-haired boy right next to her trying to give her some comfort with a soft smile. "We'll keep going, but if we do not find the cure, you have to be away from here when Zach brings you back… So you won't catch it again, if that's possible."

Zach's chest tightened more and his worried eyes shook as Kendo glanced back his way. She shook her head at the others and up towards Rin who was rushing back to her after parking the truck. "It's fine," she told them, her voice gasping the words out. She lifted her right arm and rubbed over her wet lips, then she coughed into that arm and looked so angry and frustrated that she could not hold it back. "Please," she snapped when the others looked about to say something else. "I have to stay and find the cure. I need to!"

"I can't let you do that," Ectoplasm replied and shook his head.

"You'll be-" Midoriya began.

"Why?!" Zach shouted. His yell came out in so much frustration as Kendo would not say it on her own. Her eyes lifted back to Zach and trembled at the look on his face that was so terrified. The other three looked back at him, and Zach asked her through a strained voice full of fear of what the answer may be, "Why do you need to do this so badly? You'll be fine, once I bring you back." Zach grit his teeth behind his lips and then continued to her in a softer voice, "You just need to lay down and take it easy. Okay?"

Kendo looked back at him with a pained look over her face. I saw it the moment I started coughing. This, is you telling me that I can tell the others. Right?

No one else realized it. They saw the pain on Zach's face, but only Deku noticed that Zach was looking strangely at Kendo. Why is he-

"I died!" Kendo yelled. "I- I died on my internship in America." The other four in the back of the truck with her stared at her with shocked looks. Zach's was so believable that her lips trembled for a moment at the sight of them, and she gasped out while staring him in the eyes, "I died once, already. I'm sorry…"

Ectoplasm darted his eyes to the shocked expression over Sazaki's face that threw him for a loop. Is he just-

Rin looked Zach's way too for a second but right back at Kendo when he saw Zach as shocked and afraid as he was. "Why didn't you tell-"

Zach stepped closer to Kendo and crouched in front of her. The look of worry he had been hiding as best he could came out clearly on his face now. His feet stepped right through where she just hurled and he looked into her bloodshot eyes still with tears in the corners of them. "Kendo, I- don't know- I won't be able to revive you. So we will find them. And get a cure- an antidote, or some way to fight off Sleepless. Get the villain who released it to negate the effects, or something! We'll do it."

"Y-Yeah!" Rin agreed loudly. "This is going to work. This, is going to work, right?" He turned to Zach and asked it with terror in his eyes. Zach looked back at him and nodded fast though, then he did the same while looking at Midoriya whose heart looked crushed by what he just heard. The hope Zach was spreading though reached him as well, because he looked back at his friend and saw that Zach believed that it really was going to work.

"When we find the terrorists, we'll find a cure as well," Kendo said to her teacher. She stood up out of her seat, even shrugging off Midoriya's hand that was still on her shoulder to show off her strength. "We can stop the villain from releasing Sleepless and save me, and all the others they infected." She breathed heavily but then sturdied her face and gave Ectoplasm the most intense look which still looked strong despite her condition. And then she smiled. Kendo smiled optimistically and said, "Sensei, I need to do this. I need to stay."

"It, is possible," Midoriya began slowly. "That by stopping the villain whose Quirk is causing Sleepless, we stop the virus itself. Or we could have him or her stop using it, or call back the virus particles they've released-"

It could work like Pedro's. Zach nodded when Midoriya looked his way but then shifted his gaze back onto Kendo who he stared at with dread in his eyes.

You brought Kendo back to life. No one knew it but you- Midoriya's eyes darted down when Zach snapped his hand to his pocket. "Is it him?" Deku asked, his voice hopeful that things were moving that fast.

Zach frowned though as he lifted up his phone and saw Recovery Girl's caller I.D. rather than an unknown number. She didn't contact me through the ERT. His phone buzzed again and he picked up. "Yeah, Recovery Girl?" Zach responded with a disappointed look on his face as he stepped backwards from the others.

Ectoplasm watched Zach suspiciously for a moment but then turned to his female student. She looked back his way herself and gave a sad but determined smile to stick through this to the end. "Hmmm. The second I think you're incapable of staying any longer…" Kendo's face started to brighten which made Ectoplasm give her an even sterner look. "Or if your presence here no longer helps the mission, I will remove you."

"I'll do what I can," Kendo assured, strengthening her look and curling her fists to show she was still ready and able to fight if needed. She got up out of her seat after showing that look and walked across the back of the police truck, opening up a cabinet on the wall and searching through for a second. "I'll clean up my mess. Sorry about that," Kendo said, and she found a first-aid kid she managed to get some cloth from to at least clean herself up and try to push her upchuck out of the way. The back of the truck was still going to smell like sick, but the mood got better as Kendo went about it with only a couple coughs under her breath that Recovery Girl heard in the background just as she heard what Ectoplasm had told her.

"No. No Recovery Girl," Zach kept his voice soft as he stood away from the others and closer to the front of the vehicle but behind the front seats. "Kendo, died before. There's no point."

Recovery Girl's voice cut off over the line at the sound of what Zach just said. She rose her right hand to her forehead and pressed it above her mask, grimacing painfully with a glance to Creati who was dealing with other heroes, while continuing to create their materials, which meant she was also shoving food into her mouth between when she was speaking to the others during the time she was listening to their responses. Recovery Girl spoke in a lower voice after watching the younger woman for a moment, "We need you back here, Sazaki."

Zach shook his head again but did not deny her right away this time. His head bowed a little and his bangs shadowed over his eyes. "How bad is it?" Zach wondered. "If you just hold out until the Third-"

"It won't make a difference," Recovery Girl responded, making sure to keep her voice quieter so that others around her so hopeful for that imminent arrival would not hear that tone. The old woman took in a deep breath as she heard nothing from the boy over the line she was reluctant to say this to. "It was a, not so well-oiled machine that we had going," she explained. "Buses come in with sick from all over the region. The sick are moved around from tent to tent in a semi-organized way. And then when they die, they were brought to you for revival. Everyone else in the machine is replaceable. Your absence, it's shattered the, the weak infrastructure we had."

"Some are still confused as to why you left. How long you will be gone. They want to continue on and pile bodies in the morgue, but we ran out of room. Since the last time I called on your ERT to no response, 78 new patients have passed…"

Zach lifted his left hand and gripped fingers into his forehead that was already scrunched up but wrinkled more when he pinched it. I got that call while already trying to get us out of the station. That wasn't- that wasn't a half hour ago. Too many. Far too many. His teeth grit as he did short math in his head to come up with more than two dead every minute.

"We need you to come back here," Recovery Girl said. She requested it softly and had pain on her face even making that request to the boy. You know that I would not say this lightly, she thought too, as she could understand the pained silence on the other side of the line from the student who had poured his heart out to her the night before. Her voice got even softer, "Even if you can only revive a few, or, or just your presence. Your presence alone will calm the fear. Patients are scared as rumors have spread. More heroes are showing early signs of infection. The lab team found signs of Sleepless in the staff tent, somehow. No one knows how the quarantine failed… Lifebringer," Recovery Girl whispered into her phone while cupping a hand over her mouth and the receiver. "It's up to you. I cannot force you to return, but the FLICC is overwhelmed. Too much is needed at every station and every step, and the resources and staff are depleted. The deaths are speeding up rapidly. You have to make a decision."

Zach clenched his eyes shut. He only kept them like that for a moment though. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Zach looked around at the others in the truck with him who were watching him on the call. He felt the phone in his hand that he was awaiting another call on. He wished that at that exact moment another call would come in and he could respond positively to Recovery Girl with a short timeframe. No call was received. His eyes dragged back over to Kendo, then he looked at Ectoplasm and Midoriya who he took away from the TST. Shunfeng will succeed. I believe he will. Am I right? Don't go back on it! "Sazaki, the ones who died earlier, after you first left… They're still in your time limit, but only if you get here now."

"It's up to you." Recovery Girl finished under her breath.

"I'll come back as soon as I can. Just tell them: soon," Zach pulled his phone from his head and hung up before he could contemplate the decision or question it any longer. He pressed his finger into the end call icon and then froze with it held there. He shook his head though and took a step back, sitting down on the chairs lining the sides of the truck. The drop onto the chairs looked exhausting. Heavy. I forgot, the weight- I never really felt it. I was prepared for it then! I knew I needed to get back in the mindset- I'M NOT HIM! Zach put his hands over his legs and gripped them just above the knees, his teeth clenching and his eyes shaking. I don't know what's right. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

"Lifebringer," Ectoplasm started towards the teenage boy who looked older in that moment not from experience but just age. "You should return to the Fundong FLICC." Zach shook his head and closed his eyes tightly at what his teacher said. "Go back, and contact me when you receive his call. Or give me your, contact's number-"

"I don't have his number," Zach said in a dark tone. "I gave him mine. I have to wait for the call."

"We can do this without you," Ectoplasm countered anyway. "You should go back. They need you back there to revive-"

"There are people dying everywhere in the world," Zach said through grinding teeth while gripping his legs tighter. He rose his gaze darkly to Ectoplasm and countered, "Right now, in the past five hours, thousands of people have died. Hundreds in China alone who died from things other than Sleepless." He panted for a second or two then relaxed his grip over his thighs and let out a deep breath. Zach looked around at the others with him and continued, "What's happening is horrible, and we can slow it down and stop the illness from claiming others' lives. We can stop the Fabu and their plans whatever they may be." He looked to Midoriya who had suggested there could be other plans in the works that he humored for this speech. Zach finished though in a stern tone more resolved to remain, "So I'm going to stay, because I believe I can do more here."

Because fanatics are the hardest to get to talk. Zach finished to himself in his head while just giving an intense and determined expression to the others who accepted his resolve. And as they were nodding back at him, Zach felt his phone buzz again…

---

"God DAMN IT!" CRssshh

Shinso turned to the tunnel into the lab where it sounded like someone just sent vials and test tubes shattering onto the floor. "Calm down!"

"It's too persistent! TOO STRONG! I can't do, a GOD DAMNED THING!"

"Shut up! These walls aren't…"

Shinso shook his head around and continued rushing the two stretchers he held the backs of down the central corridor. Jirou yelled at him to focus and they moved into the decontamination chamber that just had its front and back flaps wide open, considering the air in all the tents had been contaminated and they did not have the resources to move everyone out of them for a long enough time for cleaning. Only the command tent and staff tent had scheduled cleanings but they were still searching for people to get that done and somewhere to carry out operations of the FLICC's command during the command tent's decontamination.

He and Jirou shoved the two extra stretchers right up along others just inside Tent 3, and Jirou yelled out, "Two more!"

"I have them," Szechuman slid across the floor of the tent leaving a trail of orangish-red liquid behind him. It made the inside of Tent 3 a mess, but he was the only one in there and did not need to worry about anyone else coming in and slipping. He grabbed the ends of the two stretchers Jirou pushed out closer to him, then he stopped before rushing to get them to the end of the tent where he kept in mind two life support machines that were recently vacated in this tent due to new fatalities.

"You two!" Szechuman yelled. The two teens panting in front of him behind their masks stood up straight and nodded rapidly at the Fundong FLICC commander who pointed his left hand to their sides in the connection tunnel. They looked the direction of the command tent and then spun back as Szechuman ordered, "Take five minutes! Catch your breath. You cannot drink water or remove your masks in there, but use the command tent and get ready. Three planes are landing with nine hundred patients from Xing!" He added loudly when it looked like the girl in front of him might argue. "Take this as your last break before they get here! When we deal with that rush we're going to have a few more assistants but until you feel you're going to pass out, you're staying here!"

"Alright!" Shinso backed up from Szechuman and nodded his head fast at the commander who did not need to waste any more precious time arguing with them. "Let's go, Earphone Jack," he snapped at the girl in front of him who grimaced but nodded and rushed to the command tent herself.

The decontamination chamber for the command tent still needed to be used as they hoped the tent's contamination could be fixed on its own just by having no infected hosts in it for a long enough time. When the two teens rushed in and put their hands down on their knees though, neither Shinso nor Jirou dared touch and adjust their itchy masks which were still keeping the Sleepless out. Neither of them wished to make the slightest crack in their armor for the disease to get them. They were hungry and thirsty, but the time for a longer break where they could get everything they needed was far away and they both knew it.

The pressure Szechuman just added on them as they imagined another thousand people suddenly being thrown into the mix all from the same location, it was nearly overwhelming. Shinso took his hands off his knees first and stood up straight, shaking his head around and focusing around the command tent at the other three people in there still working on tracking terrorists. One of them he saw was clearly trying to organize the FLICC electronically and was writing a mass email to send out for assistance, his face covered in panic as he had just looked away from those two teenagers behind him who came rushing in and gasping in exhaustion. The Chinese police officer had heard the specialists yelling a minute ago from the lab too, and he lifted his left arm and rubbed the fearful tears from where they collected at the bottom of his mask before continuing to type as fast as he could.

"The Third Response Team needs to get here already," Shinso whispered. Once they do, we can hand things off to them for a little. Get us some much needed rest and we can come back out here and help them when things get even worse. As long as we're not already sick! His hands froze while lifting to his mask as he wanted to itch just under the bottom left corner that had been irritating his chin for over an hour now. I don't want to get sick. I don't want to die.

"Zach just needs to come back here, damn it," Jirou growled in disagreement with Shinso at her side. He glanced in at her and saw the girl curling her hands into fists on her legs and dragging them up as she snapped her body straight and took in a deep inhale through her mask's filters. "Everything started falling apart the second he decided to run off and take it all into his hands. Like he always fucking does."

"To be fair," Shinso started countering. She glared next to her but he finished anyway, "Zach had some leads that he thought-"

"Of course Death has leads," Jirou snapped in response and cut off the Class B student. "I wouldn't be surprised if he knows the terrorists himself, or if he catches them," Jirou added the last part quieter and in an even darker tone.

She thinks he's going to capture them? Shinso had the thought in so much confusion. His confusion was not founded in why Jirou thought it as a strong possibility, as she clearly thought he was Death, but rather how she could talk about the capture of the terrorists releasing Sleepless and still sound angrier at Zach than them. "Why do you," Shinso started. He paused as Jirou turned to him and frowned darkly at the way that line of questioning began. Then he finished despite her glare, "Hate Zach so much? I thought, I thought he was your friend?"

"He was never my friend," Jirou stated. She looked away from Shinso for a moment and stepped towards a nearby table she needed to lean on to better catch her breath. Her eyes stayed dark as she leaned back on it, and she had to lift her gaze to see Shinso still watching her so she continued, "Not really. I never knew him, at all." Jirou's expression got angrier and she growled, "And what do you care? Weren't you pissed not ten minutes ago about Jo Wong?"

Shinso's eyebrows narrowed down angrily at Jirou for bringing that up. His look stayed angry though even as that anger shifted onto Zach as well. I am pissed. Zach should be here. Shinso imagined the chubby-cheeked man with a big smile who they had met on their first day at the FLICC. The funny man had been in high spirits in Tent 1 and telling jokes to the other patients, and Shinso and Jirou each recalled him encouraging the others to be cheerful in knowledge that Lifebringer was there to save them. It's been five hours since he died. A lot of people we met that first day, Shinso's look got darker but the anger eased up at the same time.

"Maybe…" Shinso began. "But, I don't know." Shinso glanced away himself but frowned as he had brought it up in the first place. He looked back ahead and saw the girl in front of him, and he imagined her sitting at a lunch table across the cafeteria from Class B's. He could picture Zach sitting there across from her and the two of them talking in a carefree way. In that past vision his eyes lingered on Zach's right hand in its glove, then up on his face and the scar under his right eye. "You know, I used to hate you guys."

Jirou rose her head with her breathing slowed more and just looked at Shinso oddly for bringing that up. "All of you in the hero course," he went on. "I was upset because my Quirk wasn't useful in the entrance exam. Angry because of the way people treated me thanks to my Quirk. People would always tell me, how great a Quirk mine would be, for a villain." Shinso tilted his head back and stared up at the roof of the command tent while Jirou looked at him with slightly wider eyes for a moment. She frowned as she saw where he was getting with this though and looked away from the spiky-haired Class B in front of her.

Shinso shook his head after a second and continued, "His Quirk didn't help him in the entrance exam either. And his Quirk was even more made for a villain than my own… In the first Sports Festival I had a chip on my shoulder. I just thought about how unfair it was, and then without even using his Quirk…" Shinso saw Jirou's deep frown and he just rose his right hand behind his head and scratched through his thick indigo hair. "After that, when everyone else gave me excuses for my loss because of what came out about him that day, I only felt stupid. Stupid for so much that I'd blamed… Anyway," Shinso lowered his hand from the back of his head and lowered the corners of his lips himself as he looked at Jirou's unwaveringly angry stare off to their side. "I just-"

"That's what Zach did for you," Jirou said. She turned and looked Shinso in the eyes, "But that's just something you came to realize yourself. He didn't actually try to help you, and even if he did-" Jirou grit her teeth but then eased her look while facing the usually underspoken boy who just told her all that stuff. "He's done terrible things too. Why do I hate him? You weren't there that night so don't ask like you saw what he did. The way he made us all think it was over, that he was dead. That he was going to sit there and let Kami- Raijin, just kill him."

Shinso stayed quiet and just watched as the girl with long dangling earphone jacks as earlobes gave him a harsher glare that could not hide that it was more sad than angry. "And then he just," she whispered. It doesn't matter how much you get hurt doing this. Reviving people. Doing anything you do! You can't just use that pain as excuses for, Jirou bit down behind pursed lips and then clenched her teeth even harder while shaking her head back and forth. "He just killed them," she gasped out. "As we screamed at him not to- he just, butchered them. Something I knew Zach couldn't have done, which meant the person I was watching, just like He did, had convinced me that he was someone else."

Could he do anything to make up for that, in your eyes? Shinso stared in silence for another couple of seconds after Jirou stopped. The Lifebringer Incident was taboo with the Class A students. Class B had known from the night it happened not to ask any questions of their counterparts in the hero course. Shinso closed his eyes for a moment and then looked into Jirou's with a focused gaze. "Despite all that, do you really think he's a bad person?" Shinso could not imagine it for a moment even with what Jirou just told him. All he saw was Zach knelt down in front of that mother and son, promising to save them not seven hours ago. "To me," he continued without backing down from her harsh look. "Zach's always seemed like… a good guy."

Jirou's eyebrows lifted at the way Shinso finished that. Her gaze lowered from his eyes to the white bandages he had around his neck that reminded her of someone else, then to the unique black gloves he had on below his clear disposable medical ones too. Jirou rose her eyes back up to Shinso's face and hesitated as she opened her mouth to counter him. You really think that? She wondered confusedly, as she imagined Zach's fist denting into the side of Shinso's face and knocking him out.

Her eyes darkened after a moment though and she finally muttered back, "There are no 'good guys.'" Her head turned and she looked off towards the glowing map of Gangwe with more red on it now than dimmed areas without infections. Jirou's voice stayed low as she continued, "Just people who do good things and bad things." Her eyes shifted darkly back to Shinso who eased away as he suddenly remembered Brainwashing her at the Sports Festival two years ago.

That's right, he remembered the second round of the SFI's festival more clearly. As they all battled it out on top of the first round mountain's summit, he had sent her running off the summit and as far away as she could get. "Though I guess he's not the only idiot…" Shinso suddenly recalled why it was he had been able to Brainwash her in the first place. It kept him silent this time and feeling no desire to counter the girl who had a look of anger on her face that she pulled from him as it was clearly not Shinso who that rage was directed towards. She got upset that I called him an idiot, but, Shinso's eyes closed more and shifted away from the Class A girl. But Kaminari got just as upset a second later when I said that to her.

He remembered Jirou's partner who was so mad about what he had just called her. The flash of yellow and pain that filled him afterwards, He got upset and hit us all with his electricity… "Did you hear? Jirou and Kaminari from Class A started dating…" I wasn't really surprised. And I guess, I don't know what that's like. I still don't think Zach deserves that kind of hate though… I spent all that time wallowing about Brainwashing being a Quirk for villains, but he made it in when I blamed my failure on my Quirk not being good against robots. I didn't know much about him- I still don't, but I admire-

Jirou and Shinso each got shaken from their thoughts and looked to the tent flap that opened up. A gasping Tunnel Maker stumbled into the command tent and grabbed at his mask but pressed it harder into his face. "Hey, Otto," Jirou held up a hand and took a step towards the German boy who was a little older than her. He spun her way and made her arm freeze where it was as she looked into his eyes. He held his hand over his mouth that he could not muffle through his mask, so his yell of despair came out loud and clear.

Tunnel Maker cut it off and he shook his head around, tears splashing out of his eyes as he started hyperventilating again. "I can't-" He shook off Jirou's hand as she finished reaching it to him, his whole body flipping out as he shook it back and forth and then ran forward a few more steps into the near-empty command tent. "We're not doing anything! Everyone's just, they're all dying-"

"We have to keep," Shinso began, while one of the support staff of a Chinese hero got up from her station while lifting her ERT. She looked worried about the boy, realizing before Shinso did that it was already too late.

Tunnel Maker dropped down onto his butt as his legs gave out. "Ah haha, ah-" he brought his hands up to the sides of his head, laughing as the tears kept spilling down. "I can't do anything. They all just-" So many dead kids and dying children he just saw seconds ago flashed through his mind. The refrigerated truck that he just drove in so they could load the excess bodies, only there was no one else there to load, leaving him to do it… His lips trembled and he screamed louder as he raked his hands up through his hair. "I can't handle it anymore!"

Dr. Gorn ran into the command tent and up to Tunnel Maker who started swatting at his hands frantically, pulling his knees closer to his chest as he shook his head back and forth. And then through his sobs and choked-off laughter, Tunnel Maker coughed a couple times. He froze and his eyes snapped open huge, the others in front of him looking at him in ways that they all regretted an instant later. It might've just been from the panic, Jirou realized, as all of Tunnel Makers sobs and laughter at once could have made him start coughing. It did not matter though. The fear that covered Otto Müller's face in that moment made Jirou's head tilt back and her eyes water.

"Come on," Shinso looked next to him at the girl who he shook with his right hand. She turned back to him, and Shinso nodded towards the connector out of that room. "Let's do some more then get water before the Xing group arrives. If you can't-"

"I'm not going to lose it-"

"I'm sure he thought the same," Shinso's reply was immediate and he just shook his head at the girl who frowned deeper still with depressed eyes at what she turned and glanced back at.

Jirou's gaze back only stared towards Tunnel Maker. Still, one of the support members still in the room when Tunnel Maker had run in and started losing it, glanced up for a moment with a look of concern of her own only to see that Earphone Jack was not even conscious of her presence let alone focused on what she was doing. Vannessa lowered her gaze back to her computer screen while the others in the room were focused on Tunnel Maker, entering or leaving, anything but currently working a lead as she continued to do.

Tabs on Vannessa's screen changed and minimized as others appeared. A black window opened on the top right of the screen above a messaging bar between her and an unknown user I.D. that was inside the system. This I.D. was someone she had contacted though herself, only they had to make sure they were not traced back. She got the access she needed though from them and made the satellite image appear on the screen that zoomed in and gave her a closer image of Yuanbo. Her fingers continued typing onto the keyboard and the angle shot across the city before zooming more on an area of several square blocks around an industrial complex near the edge of Yuanbo.

Vantage points. Escape routes. She had to mark them herself considering the one who gave her satellite access was not the same person who just contacted her with this address for her to assist him with on her own. I can't give you tactical support while you're in the field, but I can give you everything you might need to know before it. Her mouse circled areas on the image in red, then she dropped it down to a 3D imaging so she was on the street level outside of the facility and down the street. Need 3 places. Four if they need a place to store the vehicle, but just 3 for the teams on the ground. Could use a live feed, but Yuanbo's outside of Gangwe. Linking into private security cameras outside of Gangwe- martial law could save me. Only if I'm caught. If I take the footage though and see something we're not supposed to then it'll be saved. Unless I delete it myself- not an option.

Someone else might take care of that cleanup for me anyway. I won't lose my position for this, but I'll get you what I can.

---

"No! You listen to me! I am the organizer for all of Humans With Humans here and I need three more full-body protective suits. Made NOW!"

"If you don't give me the proper acquisition form, or at least," Yaoyorozu held her hands up with open palms to try and calm down the middle-aged Chinese man yelling right in her face. "Calm down for a second, and tell me where these new volunteers are? If they come here themselves I can make suits that would properly fit them-"

"One suit needs to be just smaller than my own," the man snapped at her, sweat on the sides of his face behind his mask as he said it. He darted his eyes around then continued firmly, "And the other two need to be made for youth- teens."

He is extremely agitated. Something is going on here. Yaoyorozu started nodding her head. "I understand," she told him, using a calming voice but turning her head at the same time and glancing behind her. The resource-acquisition tent had several other people in it but they were all arguing with each other and some yelling almost as loud as the NGO volunteer in front of her just was. I need to get back to making more beds and ventilators. I don't know what he's doing but, perhaps I should just- No. Creati frowned while looking back forward at the volunteer in front of her, This isn't how it's worked up until now. This would not be how three new volunteers get outfitted. Even in our more chaotic FLICC, this is setting off alarms. "If you hold on for a moment-"

"Listen here you bitch!" The man's hand snapped forward and grabbed Creati by the front of her protective suit that he yanked towards himself. His voice lowered as he yanked her closer, lifting his left hand between the two of them in the small gap so it was harder for other people to see him suddenly using his Quirk. "I need those suits now. My family, needs them, and I'm getting the fuck out of here- AHH!"

Creati pressed a taser into the wrist of the man's hand he was lifting with red liquid coming out of his palm. His left arm flung to the side as it twitched out, then Yaoyorozu elbowed up with the arm she just used to taze him. She hit the man in the throat and made him raise both hands to his neck, before yanking them away fast as he forgot in all the pain and disorientation that he had released his Quirk on his left hand. Steam came out of his throat as he let out a scratchy scream that was tough to make loud when his throat just got hit that hard.

The man was still able to breathe, though all the breath in his lungs got pushed out as Creati stepped forward and slammed her right palm into the man's solar plexus and drove the air out of his chest. He hunched over and started swinging his right arm up, only for Creati to grab it and bend it behind his back while stomping down on the back of his right knee. She dropped him to his knees while putting him in an arm-bar she locked behind his back in a pair of handcuffs that only took her a split second to make. The young hero-in-training cuffed the man's hands together behind his back then turned her head to one of the other volunteers rushing up to her looking confused and starting to argue for the sake of the older volunteer. Creati called out first though, "Officer Eng!"

Across the tent, a police officer had heard some commotion but was not paying attention much as he was getting yelled at by a supplier over the phone telling him that there was nothing left in the factory to send their way. He hung up though and started running over, and Creati told him directly, "Remove Mr. Ting from the premises. I have placed him under arrest for assault of a hero."

Eng's eyes opened wide and snapped down to the man on the ground who looked up and started pleading with Creati to forget what just happened. She turned the other way and went back deeper into the tent as she had a job to do, and she was not going to be distracted by his selfish actions any longer than she already had been. "You two! What are you standing around for?" A couple of other heroes-in-training from right inside Fundong who had joined the response that day looked to Creati who pointed at the ventilators she had made again. "Get these to Tent 3 now and ask Szechuman where he wants them! Come back here when you're done!"

"Szechuman," one of the teens repeated, a girl a year younger than Yaoyorozu who did not know as much English. She nodded though as she caught the name of their 2nd ranked hero and the commander of the FLICC. The two Chinese teens grabbed a pair of machines each and started wheeling them away, quickly but carefully as the equipment was made up of a lot of parts and could break if it fell over. The teens were doubly careful considering only an hour ago Recovery Girl was screaming at a different volunteer from an NGO based in northern China who broke a ventilator before even getting out of the R-A Tent.

"Creati!" Yaoyorozu was about to try speaking Chinese the best she could to make sure those teens actually caught her whole message, but she spun the other way as Recovery Girl poked her head back into the tent. Recovery Girl's head came in from the flap actually to the outside, as the tent was connected both to other tents and to the exterior of the FLICC due to most resources coming from outside the city needing to pass through the resource-acquisition tent first. "Come with me," Recovery Girl demanded the girl who only hesitated for a brief moment while glancing around the tent she had spent most of the last three days in.

The two of them exited the tent and walked across the grass outside. Yaoyorozu rose her right hand and put it behind her head to keep her hair down behind her as the wind picked up with the loud sounds of rotors from right above her. She glanced up at a couple of long supply choppers with heroes on the sides of them at open doors wearing combinations of their uniforms and virus-protection gear. Creati recognized heroes from all over but did not slow down to check out the arrivals from the TRT. She jogged to keep up with the running shorter woman down at her side who spoke louder to be heard over the landing choppers, "You've been requested at the command tent for a vital meeting."

"What's this about?!" Yaoyorozu yelled out as they ran around another tent with flapping walls that stayed staked down into the floor to keep them air-tight. She could hear loud sobbing and screaming on the other side of the wall that almost rose louder than Recovery Girl's voice, and a shrieking wail of sorrow pierced over the rotors for a second and made the two women dart their gazes at the tent by their side. Yaoyorozu quickly turned back to Recovery Girl who shook her head back at her though, a look on her face wishing she had more information about it too.

"I'm not sure. You're the one who was requested directly though. Governor Pi Leng is on the line awaiting our arrival!" Recovery Girl rose her voice as a truck screeched to a stop out on the road, men and women jumping out and yelling at each other to move in to give immediate support and relieve others of their duties. Recovery Girl and Creati each stopped at the entrance into the command tent and looked out to the road themselves at a tall broad-shouldered man in urban blue-and-black camo who was barking out the orders as if in charge of the entire FLICC.

The weakening hero command and Jake Long's departure from the capital have let loose the dogs, Recovery Girl grimaced at the thought but did not appreciate the fact that the military-types rushing forwards were demanding things from the volunteers just outside. This may be a problem, Recovery Girl looked next to her and motioned inside to Creati.

Yaoyorozu went into the decontamination chamber for the command tent which she heard just a few minutes ago had been sterilized itself. She still did not take her mask off as she went into the tent though, and her mind was elsewhere as she thought about that new group of Chinese soldiers arriving the same time as the foreign heroes. Jurisdiction problems are going to slow everything down. The election hasn't even gone on yet but they're assuming a winner based on early polls. Who's in charge of those men? The governors' coalition? Some general? The UN force isn't going to like them pulling rank, but Mulan's in Xing and the TRT is mostly coming here! Tea Master is still hours out though.

"Sir." Creati stepped up to Szechuman and nodded her head at the exhausted-looking commander of the FLICC who nodded back in an intense way. His look appeared dark but Yaoyorozu could not tell if that wasn't just from the deep bags under his eyes from lack of sleep over the past several days. Recovery Girl looked at Szechuman cautiously herself and wished she could order him to get some rest again, however after the near-collapse of the FLICC's infrastructure the last time he passed out, she was hesitant to say anything. She was concerned about that, and the fact that jurisdiction issues were now at the top of her mind, meaning that the different groups coming into Fundong would take any opportunity to call out Szechuman for being no longer fit to command so they could take charge of the operation.

"Creati has arrived," Szechuman announced. There were not many other people inside of the command tent. Other than Dr. Gorn and Dr. Kayate, only two support members were in there, and one of them lifted his right arm and coughed into his elbow though hitting his mask first that was in the way. The sidekick lowered his arm and continued typing away at the computer without lifting his cold focused eyes from his screen. "Creati, Governor Pi Leng is on the line."

"Hello, Creati. I must thank you. I have heard your assistance at the Fundong FLICC has been of great help to Gangwe."

"I'm doing what I can," Creati replied. "Why have you called me here?" Yaoyorozu wondered, getting straight to the point so that no more time would be wasted.

Szechuman nodded his head and spoke up before Pi Leng could add anything else in a roundabout way they knew politicians were so oft to do. "Also joining us on the call are two specialists who claim to have an idea for mitigating the losses that Sleepless is causing us."

Yaoyorozu nodded her head seriously back at Szechuman and then looked to the machine in the middle of the room where three images appeared in a split-screen video conference. It was no hologram but came out of the same tech. Yaoyorozu's mind was already racing so far off of this conversation though, her thoughts back on her work that she had been doing at a constant pace for hours and that this meeting was interfering with. Other nations are getting slower at sending the essentials that take more of my time to make. Their pilots and drivers don't want to come to China and those nations don't want to risk the planes coming back and carrying the virus over. It's too new and the new developments of person-to-person spread have eliminated hope of keeping up the supply of resources with the demand we need. The hardest-to-make, most expensive equipment is still in supply due to the special permission Yue Fei gave to ignore all costs and use Creation for mass production. I should be eating during this call.

Yaoyorozu pulled out a ration bar from a pouch on her side and started chomping into it before any of the people on the call started speaking. Pi Leng's face was one of the three that appeared and the only one that looked surprised as Yaoyorozu calorie-loaded during the call by eating a bland bar of nutrients that could best keep her using her Quirk at max-efficiency. "Creati," one of the two doctors who appeared on the screen began. "I am Dr. Olsen. This is my colleague Dr. Khatri," the Scandinavian-looking scientist motioned next to him the correct direction from Creati's perspective at the window where the Indian woman's face was.

The woman looked younger than Olsen and had a more unique body type, as she had two arms crossed under the top two that she lifted up while speaking to the young hero. "Mulan got in contact with me shortly after the Sleepless Outbreak began and asked that I look into it and assist in any way possible," Adriana Khatri began. The backdrop of a white-walled lab full of equipment behind her was different from what was behind Olsen who was in an office somewhere with a boring appearance. Khatri continued to the people on the call with her, which included Mulan, Coola, and Tea Master on her way via plane. The only one Szechuman made sure to tell Creati about was the governor who had complained to him about not being kept in the loop, but Yaoyorozu noticed the other names that were on the call at the bottom below the hovering screens.

"The two of us have been working in conjunction after receiving information on the specifics of the Quirk-based virus and how it kills its victims," Khatri said.

"We understand that the death rate is 100 percent," Olsen stated, indicating there was no need to beat around the bush here.

"How did that information become available to you?" Mulan wondered, speaking what a few other heroes were frowning about and assuring them at the same time that she had no part in telling these doctors.

"Information must be leaking," Szechuman began, using a steady voice to keep everyone appeased and not mad at the specialists trying to help them. "But it's not everywhere, as if the public found out it would be catastrophic already."

"We have no intention of making that information public," Khatri assured the heroes and governor of Gangwe. "And hopefully," Khatri continued. "We've come up with a way to keep that from being the truth for much longer. Olsen, if you would?"

Olsen lifted a tablet in his hands and started tapping away on it. The machine in the command tent of Fundong's FLICC suddenly cut off the three screens there, taking away the governor's face and making the doctors' images smaller and pushed up to the top corners of the holographic field. A black window appeared for a moment showing green writing taking over the system, then it disappeared and a holographic diagram of a device emerged at 1/3 scale as was shown on a key on the side of the hologram.

"H-Hey," one of the two support members in the FLICC began while lifting her head from the computer she had been controlling the call from. "They hijacked-"

"Apologies for taking the initiative. It is faster if we just do this ourselves," Khatri cut off the support team member who settled down as Szechuman just lifted an open palm for her to ease up. "The schematics you are looking at," she began, looking specifically at Creati who had not taken her eyes off the device since it emerged there. The machine on the hologram pulled apart and the pieces started to spin slowly to give Yaoyorozu a 360 degrees of view of them all, then they reattached slowly as Khatri spoke over the demonstration. "…Are for a ventilation, slash immuno-enhancing, slash bodily-function-suppressing life support machine. This device has the power to put someone who is completely healthy into a medically-induced coma where their body goes into a state of being almost shut-down, more-so than any of its predecessors. And it has the power to relax those functions gradually afterwards to give the body time to readjust and take back control of all functions itself, waking up a patient-"

"Hold on," Dr. Gorn interrupted the woman in New York City who paused and closed her mouth at the interruption from one of the most well-respected epidemiologists from her home country. Gorn shook his head and countered Khatri immediately, "I cannot comprehend what I am looking at. Why would you even want to enhance and suppress the immune system at the same time, if that was even possible?"

"The Sleepless 'virus' is unique in its actions inside the body, but it does cause the body to react in ways that we can predict," Olsen started in response. "It responds as if fighting a virus, and because it responds in this way it actually makes itself weaker to the virus that the human body has no experience fighting. In thousands of years, our immune systems have grown accustomed to fighting infections of various natures and has built up supports and failsafes to fight off those infections."

"But as we've discovered, the body's failsafe measures do nothing to stop Sleepless," Khatri continued. "Fevers and aches just weaken the hosts more and don't slow down the virus that spreads no matter what responses the body takes to fight them off." Khatri paused and then rose her tone up in an intrigued way, "But the same cannot be said about our methods of fighting it medically. Once the body has shut down and we put it on life support, the deterioration of the body does slow. That is why Chinese doctors were well within their right to start putting patients into medically-induced comas earlier than just allowing the virus to make the body reach that point on its own, even if we've found that the reasons your doctors did this were mainly to keep the patients from feeling excessive pain."

"Dr. Khatri," Coola started, shaking her head from the Beiju FLICC and getting a frustrated look on her face. "I'm not great with any of this medical stuff, but I know you." Coola frowned deeper and continued in annoyance, "You're the doc famous for giving heroes new limbs. I'm sure that's how you know Mulan. But this isn't really your field of expertise." Coola held her tongue as there were harsher things she wanted to snap at this young doctor who sounded like she was proposing new ideas and entirely new machines in the middle of an outbreak. Neither of the other specialists they had in Fundong on the call were agreeing with her, and the last thing Khatri said made it sound like she thought the one good method they had at somewhat slowing the deaths of their patients was simply a lucky fluke on the part of the Chinese doctors.

"I can assure you that the machine works," Dr. Olsen started.

"And what's your specialty?" Kayate questioned the doctor who stayed silent in the seat in his office. "Dr. Olsen? What do you have a degree-"

"I have built a prototype of the device myself," Olsen cut off Kayate who stared at the hologram with wider eyes as he got no answer. "In theory it works, however we do not have a working version to display to you today. Unfortunately, the parts to build it are hard to acquire and there is no production structure for the new invention we are proposing."

"You don't even know-" Gorn started.

"Enough!" Mulan yelled. Everything was silent for a second, but Mulan continued in a dark voice that had everyone, including the officer in urban camo who just stepped into the command tent and opened his mouth to announce his arrival, shutting their mouths and just listening. "Khatri is the most brilliant person I have ever met. She vouches for Olsen. If they say the device works, then I believe it will work. Now stay QUIET! Continue, doctors."

Olsen had a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Khatri was still smiling though because of the 'most brilliant person' comment and just nodded gratefully at the camera and her friend she had spent months with in physical therapy who said that about her. "This machine would boost the human body's immune system to spike the white blood cell count in order for the patients to create antibodies faster which could possibly kill Sleepless. Even though it is not technically a virus, the human body is amazing at creating what it needs to protect itself and with enough support, we hope that it can produce these antibodies."

"None of the patients have shown any signs of antibodies as of yet," Dr. Gorn countered. "How could you be sure this machine will do what you say?"

"We're not saying the machine will save their lives," Khatri replied with a shake of her head. "What the machine will do, is prolong patients' lives much longer than the ventilators you are currently using. Your life support systems are out of date and need to be used in conjunction with too many other machines. This device is more compact, and it carries out the functions of several different medical devices that are currently most commonly used around the world. It would act as a high-functioning ventilator to completely run a person's lungs, as its function-suppressing feature would also work on the lungs and stop oxygen from flowing which would disrupt everything. The function-suppressor is on the surface a way the machine causes the body's organs to shut down, temporarily of course. It would halt functions from several organs at once while keeping them running at minimum capacity in order to keep them working."

Kayate started shaking his head, though he did so slowly and with confusion on his face at the suggestions which sounded so far-out that he wanted to interrupt. He was a little afraid to speak up with Mulan's name still there below the schematics that he shook his head more at after giving a closer look. If something like this could work- Even if it could be designed and functional! Producing them- Kayate's eyes darted to a girl from his own country who kept examining the machine as closely as possible without taking her eyes off it to look at the faces of the doctors speaking to her.

The joints would hold each piece together. The screws, each tube is made of a synthetic stronger plastic material, with the atomic makeup- Creati's eyes widened as the part she was staring at pulled away from the machine and then broke apart, a piece of it flying to the edge of the hologram closest to her and revealing its atomic composition. The molecules with their connected atoms, protons and neutrons, they spun around and then pulled back into the piece that moved aside for a different part that displayed to the young heroine. It'd be impossible for them to design something functional specifically for the Sleepless Outbreak in such a short amount of time. It's why they can't make it themselves! It's why no other doctors would be trying to do so right now, but they knew I was here! They… They based their designs, specifically…

"The reason why Sleepless can break down organs so fast," Olsen explained. "Is because there is so much activity going on inside them even as the body starts to shut down. Even when a person goes into a coma, and the body begins shutting down to try and slow the virus, it's not enough and the rate of decay slows just enough to make that 24-48 hour period before death while the person is unconscious. What this machine would do, is put the patient under earlier on than when they go into a coma themselves or when the doctors would normally put them on a medically-induced coma. It would, theoretically, give them more time for the white blood cells to accumulate and create antibodies for a Sleepless virus that has yet to get out of control inside the body, one that will reproduce slower with the decreased activity of the human body, activity which Sleepless thrives on."

"We can't just halt all bodily functions immediately. We can't completely shut down the body," Khatri continued in a hopeful tone. "But as the virus dies after a short period of time outside a host, and it quickly dies in dead patients, it has become clear that the Sleepless virus demands a living host to reproduce inside of. So if we can convince the virus that it is infecting a dead host, trick it, or just take away its source of reproduction- Even if we can only do it part of the way!" Khatri rose her voice louder and stated firmly, "Then we believe that the virus' rate of spread inside the body will rapidly decrease. You say that no one has shown any signs of producing antibodies, Dr. Gorn," Khatri called out. "But no one has survived long enough for their bodies to do so! The virus hits too hard and kills too quickly, and this machine can slow that down. I believe it could double, even triple the length of patients ives depending on how early in their infections you put them under."

"You want us to put every patient infected into a coma?" Szechuman questioned darkly. "If we start telling people-"

"If you tell them it will save their lives, I'm sure they'll be happy to!" Olsen countered back loudly at the hero. "If you tell them-"

"We don't know if it will save them though," Szechuman growled back. "If we believe that this works, and then Sleepless just gets even more aggressive and kills them anyway while we're waiting-"

"Then we've at least extended the time it takes for them to die!" Khatri yelled back at the hero who leaned his head away at the shout directed straight at him. "How many doctors are currently working on a cure?! How many are developing new treatments for the disease?!" She rose all four of her hands up and looked around as if around at a room full of people even though most of the people on the call were in separate cities. Khatri lowered her arms and shook her head, "All we're doing is extending their lives. It's something, and something is better than nothing which is what we have right now. Hope is running thin in Gangwe, and this is progress. Do we know if it will work to save them? Of course not! No one can know that."

Khatri took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Then she said in a steadier voice again, "But it has a chance. A chance to save them, and that's more than anyone else has given you so far."

"So you're saying," Gorn started. "That even if the body's natural immune system can't fight it off, even if after being enhanced by the machine it can't stop it, it will still give the patients more time." That alone is all we've been asking for. It kills them so fast! Gorn started nodding his head, but he frowned and shook his head after a moment. Mulan herself was grinning and looking at her screen in a relieved way as that all made sense to her, but she could also see into the Fundong FLICC and watched as the lead epidemiologist shook his head. Kayate frowned and gave Gorn a discouraged look as well, but Recovery Girl did not share their looks when Kayate turned back to see her too.

Dr. Gorn lifted his right palm and explained his expression, "Even if these blueprints are in theory a great invention, truly remarkable…" He added that while looking over the designs himself of something so extraordinary that he never would have considered building it let alone known how to do so. "But we do not have the ability to produce these, things. Not the factories, not the materials, nor the stockpiles necessary for the current number of patients. No one in the world is making them as of now and I doubt that the ones who came up with this device would allow it to be built by just-"

"My benefactor," Dr. Khatri interrupted. "Is the CEO of Virtucorp. I was tasked with building and attaching Mulan's prosthetics, and making sure that she was as strong as ever with them. And I did it for free," Khatri stated that firmly and gave a harsher look at Gorn whose cynical response right there she was stopping in its tracks. "Ms. Entilla Oarn has patented the 'thing' you call infeasible, which we have labeled the KO-14. It took the two of us thousands of simulations of our other 13 failed prototypes to get one that worked more than 99.99 percent of the time in the virtual trials-"

"Where could you have the equipment-" Kayate began with huge eyes as he imagined the kind of testing that the lab in the FLICC was nowhere close to capable of. He could not imagine that with a month at the university he worked at they would get anywhere close to that many results or trials done. Even one trial with a brand-new prototype, it would be groundbreaking! They made fourteen of these- Not even! They didn't make anything! They did it all through, simulations?! How did they get the money to- WHAT?!

"And with that patent," Khatri continued. "She has also given me full control over what to do with it, and my choice is to have as many of these built for free as we can and get them to the people who need it in China right now."

"Neither Dr. Khatri or myself have been able to come up with the materials needed. All the different tubes and plates and needles and, and even building just one of these KO-14's would take us a day, and that's with reverse-engineering ventilators and other resources we already have included in the process," Olsen admitted.

"What is the point of any of this if it will take too long?!" Pi Leng started calling out.

"I'll make it." Creati said it firmly and nodded her head when the two specialists on the video conference looked down into her eyes. "If I know the makeup," she continued, looking back down at the detailed schematics that had elemental makeups for each piece. Her pocket buzzed. The name of every compound with their atomic makeups all appeared down on Yaoyorozu's ERT as she watched a grinning Dr. Olsen start tapping away on something below his desk in his office. Olsen. That's, Dr. Olsen. The same one he mentioned is in Life City. And that's the doctor Iida said gave his brother new Cyborginized legs. These doctors aren't trying to deceive us. I believe them!

"How do we know this isn't some sort of trick?" Creati looked over her shoulder and watched as the man in camo uniform marched forward with a dark expression behind his clear mask. He accused the doctors on the hologram, "You want to test out your new machine and say it's for free, but these aren't simulations out here, Doctors! These are people you want us to test your machines on as their first practical trials?!"

Szechuman's eyebrows narrowed in towards the figure he recognized from working with him once before with Yue Fei and Mulan a year ago in the national emergency declared at Huangdoo. As much as he disliked the figure marching forwards though, he growled, "The Colonel's correct. Untested hardware is not-"

"There are thousands of lives on the line, gentlemen!" Khatri yelled and made the two men freeze where they were. "There is a ZERO percent chance of survival if you don't do what I say, so what's the danger? Tell me! Are you looking at the same machine I'm looking at?! We took it apart in front of you on that hologram of yours, and the one who is going to be making the devices herself is right next to you! Do you think we could somehow tamper with the KO's post-production?!"

"Khatri-"

"Sorry!" She yelled at Olsen, then lowered her voice as apologizing that loudly did not really work as an apology. "Sorry," she repeated. "But there is no time for this. You all know it. We know it," Khatri glared darkly through the screens at the people who looked right back at her, some of them still in surprise at that enraged and passionate outburst.

"I know, and I believe you," Creati said. "I can do this. Let me," she looked to Szechuman seriously and the commander of the FLICC hesitated for another second or two before slowly nodding his head. The Colonel glared at Szechuman for giving up that easily, but then he lifted his gaze back to the hologram in surprise again as everything cut off except for Dr. Khatri's face which blew up larger.

"Good." Khatri stared straight into Yaoyorozu's eyes, "I'm glad you feel that way, because we've determined that if Creati works nonstop at an average of 2-3 KO-14's per minute, you will have enough to put all new patients onto those machines by tomorrow at midnight China Standard Time."

"You can't expect to put that much pressure, all your hopes-"

"I'll get started right away," Creati cut off Recovery Girl who started yelling at Khatri on her behalf.

Creati had her ERT lifted and Szechuman's eyes bulged as he saw that the designs and atomic makeups for the machine was already on the tablet somehow. He glared back to the hologram himself he remembered the support member complaining about losing control of, his eyes narrowing at Khatri's face and the lab behind her. Something's wrong here.

"Are you certain about the design?" Yaoyorozu snapped while examining each piece closely.

"I am not certain it will slow Sleepless. There's no way to know that for sure," Khatri replied.

Olsen's face appeared next and he continued for her, "The device will work though. It would just be nearly impossible to manufacture at a wide scale, making it economically infeasible for any company to produce it, and thus no one has ever been paid to come up with the idea before. Medicine, is unfortunately a business. And making one of these would cost far too much. The complexity of the device's separate parts alone would create costs that could never be made back through selling the KO-14. And yet it is my belief that the machine has no monetary value. There should be none put on it."

"In that we are all in agreement," Khatri added. "The fact is that this machine may mean life or death for thousands of people over the next few days alone. That, is priceless."

---

"Kendo." Zach whispered at the girl standing with him and lifted his right hand up to point at the earpiece she still had in. She did not hear him over the comms, so she turned hers off as she realized what he was telling her.

The two of them stood in an alleyway getting darker by the minute. The sky above was orange with splotches of yellow and red, light cloud covering causing the darkness to fall quicker in the evening in Yuanbo. "What is it, Zach?" Kendo asked quietly after cutting off her comms. Ectoplasm continued speaking to them, and Sheshou chimed in as she was back with the team though staying as tactical support alone in the hidden police truck farther from the address than they were all hiding.

The team was split in three. Zach and Kendo were in one alleyway, Midoriya was high up in the sky, and Ectoplasm and Rin were on the opposite side of the complex they only had the rough address of and not an exact meeting point inside. The mostly empty complex was under construction which seemed to have been halted recently. Rin mentioned something asking about the few vantage points from the complex and surrounding areas which did have a beat on their alleyway, but Sheshou assured them that no one was aware yet of their positions.

Zach stepped towards Kendo while their mics were off but they were still listening to the others' conversations. "I want to try something," Zach told the orange-haired girl who nodded back at him.

She felt her heart racing. Kendo Itsuka stood in front of her Class A friend who looked concernedly at her face and the sweat beads on it that she had been wiping away constantly since they established their positions. Her hands were clammy and she clenched and unclenched them a few times before wiping them on the sides of her costume. "What are you doing?" She wondered under her breath, then she rose her right arm and coughed into her elbow a few times before shaking her head at Zach as she assumed he would ask her if she was alright.

He just waited for her to lower her arm then started in a soft voice, "It isn't a long-term solution which is why I didn't consider it before. I'm going to do something to you though, and I have to ask you to trust me-"

"I do." Kendo's reply came so fast that Zach grit his teeth but hid the look from the girl in front of him.

What did I do to gain that kind of trust? Zach nodded back at her though and stepped closer so he was right in front of her now. He started lifting his hands that had darkness seeping out of them. "It's okay. My Quirk can't hurt you if you've died before." Kendo seemed to tense up for a second but at his words she relaxed and allowed him to reach his hands forward. She closed her eyes and repeated a mantra internally to relax and keep calm.

Zach's voice continued as her closed eyes became covered in darkness anyway so she would not be able to see, "But if what's infecting you is in any way alive, then I might be able to kill it."

"That's amazing," Kendo whispered, even as she felt weird tingling sensations all over her body. She imagined the darkness swirling around her but tried to push the scary thought from her head and just focus on Zach's voice in front of her. "Why don't you do this for others then?" She added softer, partially confused and in part just trying to distract herself. Kendo paused for a few moments and then realized it herself and whispered, "Oh- you can't do this to anyone you haven't revived before, or it'd kill them. But once you've revived more people though…"

Kendo stopped herself again. If this becomes a long term solution. If he has to revive everyone and then continue to keep them alive- only if reinfection becomes a problem. How many people would he have to revive though, if we became reliant on it? Is that why you decided to stop everything now? Using all your resources as Death?

"I can't do this to anyone who has been revived before," Zach just corrected Kendo's previous statement implying that he had been the one to revive her the first time. It's not working! Zach grit his teeth more and tried to keep his breathing steady even as he put his right hand directly to Kendo's face. "Breathe through your nose," Zach told her. Kendo's eyes opened up in the darkness in a sudden fear as her mouth was covered. "And stay calm."

Death flooded out of Zach's right hand directly into Kendo's mouth. It poured down her throat and into her body. She could feel it inside of her. Cold, her eyes trembled as she stared silently through the darkness, her voice muffled and higher-pitched as it whimpered through his hand. Everything was pitch black and swirling around her, and she could feel the darkness inside her mouth and insides throughout her entire body. Her head started shaking back and forth, her voice getting louder-

Zach pulled his hand away from her. "ACK- ack ka- ack kugh ka-" Kendo coughed over and over, and her huge eyes trembled as she watched the darkness spilling out of her body with every cough.

Her head rose slowly and she looked forward at the dark figure standing there who all the darkness pulled back into. Zach's face remained his own even after what just happened, though all Kendo saw on it now was regret and disappointment. She shook her head around though and stood up straighter, "Sorry. I couldn't breathe-"

"No, I'm sorry," Zach countered back with a sadder look on his face. He could not meet her gaze and shifted his eyes off to the side. "It didn't work."

"We don't know that," Kendo said. She rose her voice and smiled optimistically at Zach, "I don't feel any better right now, but maybe my body just needs time-"

"No," Zach replied. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I can feel it when I've killed something. I felt nothing."

"Maybe that's just because the organisms are so small," Kendo suggested as an explanation. "Or- ack ka ah- or just, ak- sorry. And because they're so small you didn't feel it. It's not like you feel it when you kill bacteria that touch your hand, right?"

Zach looked back at her and after a moment he nodded his head back. "See?" She asked in a happier tone. "Let's focus on the mission, and just hold onto hope that what you did really will make a difference here!"

I know you want to believe that. You really do. Zach nodded again at the girl who turned back on her earpiece as Ectoplasm was asking them a question she wanted to chime in with, a smile on her face and better mood that she just gave off. But you know. You're smart. You can't help but wonder why I didn't do this for Heiping. It's because it was a shot in the dark, or at least, that's what you imagine.

I'm not disappointed because I didn't feel anything, Kendo. It could be just as you say. Small beings are hardest to feel, Zach's eyes got darker as he stood behind the girl looking down the alley towards the more illuminated street that did not have as much shade from the neighboring buildings. But I wasn't looking to feel any small beings dying. I was hoping to feel a human die. Zach's look was darker and full of murderous intent behind the girl who could not see it but felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end anyway. I wanted the person casting this viral spell over China to die from that, and all those he infected to suddenly become better… like Pedro.

Things aren't always that easy though. Zach looked down at his ERT he pulled out and got an insanely more focused look in his eyes when he saw the time. Based on what he said in the call and the route they were taking. He rose his right hand and tapped his own earpiece, interrupting the conversation, "Everyone get ready. They're coming."

"Did you get another call-"

"No. But they're coming," Zach replied to his teacher. "Ignore the gang members who Wei got in touch with. When he met with them they agreed to get him in contact with the Fabu, but he said that after he left they all looked spooked. Their leader made a phone call and after thirty minutes they left to come here. They're coming to warn the Fabu about him. Probably worried my contact is in league with the Fabu and that this is a test to ensure their loyalty by seeing if they'll report it to them."

"We've got movement inside the compound," Sheshou began. "Where did he come fr- another."

"What side did they enter from?" Ectoplasm asked their team member who sounded flustered over the comms there.

"They, might have already been there. I have all the surrounding roads under surveillance and they just appeared inside the complex," Sheshou responded.

"How many?" Midoriya asked, too high above the clouds to look down and see himself. If they just appeared then they might be able to just disappear as well. We have to move fast.

We'll hit them hard. Three?! That's perfect, Zach's fists curled at his sides and his teeth ground over each other behind his pursed lips. He held up his right hand to keep Kendo where she was, though the girl next to him was tensing up and getting ready to rush forward. She stifled a cough in her chest and grit her teeth through the pain to stay silent.

"The same vehicle Lifebringer's contact described leaving just turned onto the connecting street to Yunong. It's them."

"That's four in the gang heading here, and three in the Fabu-"

"Only focus on the three in the Fabu. We need to capture them conscious, but I'll take out the other four as soon as we move in. The Fabu are professionals. Just focus on them. I swear that the others won't have any impact on what happens here onwards," Zach made the promise to the others to try and get them to focus as much as possible on their real enemies here. "Sheshou, describe the three of our targets."

"Zooming-"

"Sheshou," Zach repeated sternly.

Her eyes opened wider and she started speaking on their appearances just from what she got before. The SUV transporting the gang "Wei" contacted was turning onto the road just outside the complex now, and the team of five Japanese heroes listened to Sheshou explain what their actual targets looked like. Zach began as soon as she was halfway through describing the third villain, "That one will be mine and Battle Fist's target. Deku, you get the man in the black beanie. Ectoplasm and Dragon Shroud focus on the woman with six legs in the gogo outfit."

"Shouldn't we get whoever's closest to us when we move in?" Rin hissed back. Time was running short on them to be making plans now let alone arguing about them, but he felt like it did not make sense.

"If you need to switch after we move in then call out the team to switch with you. They're going to scatter rather than fight us, so try to just focus on one of them and chase them down with all your effort," Lifebringer countered Rin.

"The gang is moving inside."

"Sensei-"

"It's your call," Ectoplasm responded to the teen who he decided to get out of the way of. He leaned forward himself and Rin saw his teacher's body language and matched it next to him.

"On my mark then. Three," Zach took in a deep breath. Midoriya flipped around in the air and kicked above him. "Two."

Ectoplasm's body split apart, several clones appearing behind him made of an ectoplasm-like gas. They were all identical to the hero who shot out of the alleyway as Zach growled, "One, mark. Move in."

Zach shot out of the alley with Kendo sprinting after him. She grit her teeth as her chest heaved again and tried to make her cough, and the physical activity was not easy but she pushed her feet into the ground and tried her best to keep up with Lifebringer.

Zach sped towards the same entrance that the gang members had gone through, leaving the gate partially cracked open themselves to make it easier for when they returned to their vehicle. He pushed it out harder and ran forward towards a group of seven ahead of him who had just turned and looked the opposite way as one of them yelled about seeing movement. Of course they were going to see more movement from that side though, as there were fourteen identical heroic figures sprinting onto the premises and towards the group.

"It's a trap!" one of the gang members who just arrived yelled, confusing a Fabu terrorist who figured the gang were probably on the side of the heroes.

Neither of the other two Fabu members hesitated like their third one did though. Zach stared straight at the guy who looked confusedly to the drug dealer who just shouted in panic and started using his Quirk to try and fight. Just as I thought from his description, Zach sprinted faster, darting a look over his shoulder for a moment at Kendo who was not far behind him.

"Fabu! Stay where you are!" Kendo yelled out as loud as she could muster.

"Euno! Above you!" The burly dark-skinned Tibetan man yelled. He had no hair on his bald head hidden by a beanie, and on his forehead were six orange dots going up in a three vertical by two horizontal pattern. He rose his hands and turned his right over his left, then he pulled back towards himself while twisting those arms like turning a wheel. The man bent the air so everything above "Euno" twisted and shook.

Deku spiraled himself out of the way of the twisting air between him and the villain he had been descending straight towards. When Deku turned though and changed course, he focused directly on the man in the black beanie who was his actual target and whose actions just made him Deku's only focus.

"Go! Get out of here!" The big man yelled while spinning and rushing away from Deku whose gaze he saw snap towards him in a rapid reaction to him using his Quirk. The air behind him started to distort and twist as he ran, masking his escape as his body itself appeared to get lost through the refracting haze.

Euno's legs glowed white and then released that energy all at once into the rest of her body as she sprinted forward, weaving in and out of Ectoplasm's clones that tried kicking her but were too slow each time. She bent down and leapt up, her speed taking her above the Scales that fired at her from behind one of the Ectoplasms and broke straight through his teacher's clone as had been a strategy Rin came up with before and convinced Ectoplasm to go along with. Rin's eyes widened at the villain's reaction, but he spun around and sprinted towards where she was coming down as she had run straight towards them rather than another direction, the most surprising direction the pair had not suspected from their opponent.

"This way!" The third villain in the Fabu yelled while running away from Lifebringer and Battle Fist, the opposite direction of Euno and to the right of Deku's target that led him slamming into a half-finished wall of the complex.

"Z-Lifebringer!" Kendo called out over her shoulder as Zach was still too close to the middle of the complex and their villain was back where they had come from now. The man they were chasing was younger than the other two, looking just out of his teens, maybe. He had on a white tank top and had the rough skin of an elephant or rhino or something, but with long black hair that fell behind his head in dreadlocks. Zach finished swiftly taking down the other four villains though who were not so immediate on their reactions to run away, because they had not planned out the eventuality like the Fabu had.

Zach turned towards Kendo and shook his head, looking the other way as where Kendo was chasing and where that villain had called out. "It's a Decoy! Look!" Zach pointed a different direction and Kendo spun to see the back of a man climbing over a crate he dropped down onto the other side of. "You're not getting away!" Zach yelled after him, while Kendo turned and sprinted after the quieter version of their enemy.

Kendo cursed under her breath too that she was following such an obvious Decoy that had shouted out at her 'this way' like an idiot. These villains aren't stupid! What am I doing?! I won't just get in the way!

Zach ran up to Kendo's side as they crossed the industrial park getting closer to the fence but farther from the easy entrance they had before. "Are you alright?"

"Fine! Let's catch him- There!" Kendo pointed down the chain-link fence to where their enemy was crouched and speeding alongside it. He snapped his head around and then reached to the fence and pulled it apart as if pushing aside water. Composite?! Kendo thought in momentary shock. The fence closed back behind him as he ran through it, and Zach leapt up in the air to rise over the fence himself but farther back where he and Kendo still were.

Battle Fist jumped towards the fence herself while making her fists much bigger. She reached out and grabbed the top of the fence, and with her upper body strength she hoisted herself over and into a front flip she came down in mid-sprint out of. Zach glanced behind him in surprise as she landed it and just started sprinting diagonally across the road towards their enemy who cut back to a connecting road rather than run through the wall of a building he'd get caught in.

He ran into the road as a car was coming towards him, and the car swerved out of the way and to the left so it was on-path with the side of a building. The first floor of that building was mostly made of glass walls with steel beams supporting them, and there were people inside who yelled out as the car suddenly cut their direction. Zach shot between the car and the building in an instant and he lifted a huge black hand three times bigger than Kendo's fists. His hand curled around the car and his feet only skid a couple feet as he stopped it, then he retracted the arm and leapt over the vehicle and yelled out, "Stop!"

Holy shit! He's right behind me! I'm so fucked-

"Ack-" Kendo stumbled as she tried to hold back a cough but was in the middle of panting from all this running. She lifted her hands to her mouth, shrinking them as blood splashed out from her lips in front of her. "ACK- KA- akach augh-" Kendo stopped and dropped down to her right knee, coughing up her lungs as she felt her insides on fire.

"Kendo!" Zach yelled back towards his comrade.

Battle Fist lifted her head up and her eyes grew in panic as Lifebringer was running her way. Her head shook back and forth, desperation spreading over her face. She opened her mouth, "Ak-No- AaCK, ka- Ugh- ka- what are- ack ACka-"

"It's okay," Zach leaned down next to her and then snapped his head around and looked back down the road. "Shit," he muttered.

Kendo looked up and then past Zach to where he just stared down the road. A woman was getting out of her car and staggering around in confusion as to all that just happened. She looked towards Lifebringer herself a second later though and then dropped her jaw as she realized who it was that just saved her from getting in a wreck. Kendo did not focus much on that woman though. Rather, she looked down the road to where she saw no sign of their target. Her teeth bared and she darted her eyes back to Zach closer to her, only for those eyes to start shaking as Zach looked back and down worriedly at the girl he had already knelt next to. He had a hand on her back and he rubbed it up and down as her eyes filled with water through the frustration filling them. "Why?" She gasped at him in confusion and shock. "We had him-"

"It's okay," Zach assured her. He rubbed his right hand on her back and lifted his left, wiping some blood off the corner of her lip. "It's going to be alright," Zach told her encouragingly, smiling at the girl who looked so destroyed over letting their villain get away.

"You had him, and I-"

"It's not your fault," Zach told her as Kendo's face scrunched up more and got covered in pain thinking about what just happened.

If I hadn't of insisted- I had no right being in the field! I lied and said I was alright, when I was feeling like I'm- like I'm dying! Because I am! And I just ruined the one chance we had of finding a cure-

"I'm sure Midoriya, Rin, and Ectoplasm sensei all got their guys. We still have leads," Zach assured her. He lifted his hand from her back to the back of her head and he pulled her face into his chest for a moment as Kendo looked about to break down in regret and despair. "Come on. We'll go meet up with them. They'll understand," Zach assured her again. He stood up and helped Kendo up on her feet as he did.

Kendo's legs were wobbly after all that running though. She looked down frustratedly and ground her teeth as she could not stop her legs from shaking. "I- I don't think I-"

Zach crouched and he swept up Kendo's legs with his left hand while putting his right on her upper back. Her head turned towards him with huge eyes, and slightly red cheeks. Out from Zach's back ripped two black wings that slammed down and sent him and Kendo lifting up into the sky. Kendo felt the wind on her face and scrunched her eyes closed for a second before opening them when the wind had died down. She turned her head and looked out over the city of Yuanbo, an awed look covering her face at how high they just lifted and the sight of a city stretching out like this. "Don't look at it like that," Zach muttered, making Kendo turn and look back up at his face that was not covered in darkness despite his huge black wings.

"Huh-"

"Like it's your last sight, and it's so beautiful… You're going to survive this," Zach said. He said it while staring sternly down into her eyes. "Don't give up even a little. Got it?"

Kendo's teeth clenched again and she started shaking her head. I ruined- I, might have. There's a chance. There's, still a chance I didn't screw it all up. I have to hold onto that hope…

Zach and Kendo flew farther from the industrial complex than they had made it themselves. Even though they had lost their villain close to the address they had staked out at, neither Deku nor the team of two had been able to stop their own villains until getting multiple blocks away. Both other teams had managed to take their targets down though which they heard over their earpieces.

Zach landed down and placed Kendo on solid footing as soon as they landed, making it look like he had only been carrying her so they could travel the distance faster. They went straight to where Ectoplasm had a villain tied up on the floor in an intersection, as it was easier for Midoriya too who flew over and dropped his own tied-up villain onto the ground next to the woman Rin had ultimately plugged in the back of her right leg with two Scales.

"You really…" Midoriya looked at Zach in surprise as he did not have the third villain with him.

"I'm sorry," Zach apologized to the rest of the team. "Our guy was faster than I anticipated-"

"I slowed us down," Kendo cut in. Her face filled with regret and frustration the second Zach started apologizing, and she bowed her chin and seethed through her teeth, "I fell and, he came back for-"

"It doesn't matter," Zach said. "Since we got two of them and will be able to find the others through them." The others saw what Zach was trying to do but could not help but look towards Kendo in pained ways themselves at the regret covering her face. Zach marched forward and glared at the two villains on the ground who looked to Lifebringer and each eased their heads away after he said that menacing statement to them. The two just eased away for a moment though before spinning to Ectoplasm who started questioning them about the Fabu and their associates.

Rin was more cautious as Ectoplasm started demanding answers from the men. He turned his head and looked at a pair of cop cars that had pulled in close, and then he lifted his head as he saw someone descending towards them. Kiter. "Sensei," Rin started. "Be careful," he warned his teacher who glanced back at him. "In China villains have a right to stay silent too."

He had to come back for me, Kendo clenched her eyes tighter the more she thought about it. Midoriya walked closer to her and he put a hand around her shoulders to give her some support, a sad look on his face at the grief covering hers. Kendo shook her head though at his attempt to ease her pain, If he had run off, while we were so close to villains! And he saw that I was too weak to defend myself, so he couldn't do it. He couldn't leave me collapsed there, barely able to move. I'm an idiot.

"Listen to me," Ectoplasm growled at the villains who just stayed quietly defiant while giving him smug and dirty looks back.

A small crowd was starting to gather near the intersection Ectoplasm and Rin managed to take Euno down. Ectoplasm had just called the woman out by her name that her comrade mentioned before, trying to get her to turn on the other guy and at least give him that man's name for a start. "My name? GoFuckYourself," the muscular villain said it quickly in Chinese and smirked as Ectoplasm looked to actually be trying to figure out what he just said there as if that was his actual name.

"Ectoplasm. Allow me," Zach stepped forward. He walked towards the villains with a cold look on his face and an aura about him that made his teacher hesitant to take a step away. He did it though, and Zach said in a dark voice while staring coldly down into Euno and GoFuckYourself's eyes, "The two of you will tell me what I want to know. I can offer you immunity, but only if-"

Euno leaned her head forward and spat into the 'L' on the front of Zach's hero costume. She smirked without looking at all deterred by his threats, "You stupid child. You're nothing."

"You aren't Death anymore," the darker-skinned man added in a smug way at him. The right corner of his lips pulled up much more as Kiter approached with a few officers who all glared at these villains too. "You can't do anything to us now that you're a hero," he taunted Lifebringer. Zach was silent now though. He stood there silently and glared down at the villain who smugly added, "We won't talk, not in a million years."

"And all these people are going to die because of it," Euno added. Her eyes lit up excitedly and she smirked towards Kiter for a second before darting her gaze right back to an unmoving Lifebringer whose expression did not change like everyone else's did from her taunt. "You understand that already, huh? That there's no hope for anyone in this god-forsaken country-"

"You bitch," Rin leaned forward, his fists trembling at his sides as he desperately wanted to hit them.

Ectoplasm darted a stern look at his student who resisted as best he could. The Japanese hero glanced towards the Chinese officials though and wondered if they would have even stopped him considering how hatefully they all stared at this villain. People on the side of the road started jeering too, yelling at the villains whose identity they all realized when they saw the Japanese heroes who were all supposed to be inside of Gangwe at the moment. The villains' words had them scared too. And yet Lifebringer stayed silent while glaring down at the two.

Zach's phone started ringing.

He reached down into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The others on the street around him all looked towards him in confusion as to the way he was acting. Searching for leads had led to a dead end. They had captured villains who looked like they wanted to watch the nation burn and would rather that than talk to heroes. Deku's head had already pulled back in defeat as he doubted they would be able to convince either of these two to flip on the Fabu. Rin felt terror for his family, and Kendo lost the last bit of hope she held onto that they would be able to find the villains in time to get her a cure. They all fell silent as did the villains, and then slowly everyone around did as they stared towards Lifebringer.

"Yeah?" Zach wondered after picking up the phone call from an unknown number. His dark eyes were locked straight on the villains in front of him who started finding themselves getting extremely nervous and fidgety.

"Wh-Who is that?" the man on the ground in front of Zach asked.

"Where…" Euno began. The woman gulped and her eyes trembled as Zach Sazaki stared straight into them. "Where did Ungi go?" She tried to get her voice out strong but it just cracked as she questioned him.

"The third, in their group?" Rin wondered it confusedly. He asked the question, not realizing what others around him already were while sweating buckets and staring at Lifebringer next to them. He looked towards Zach himself and felt his heart pounding in his chest, finally reaching the speed that all the others' were already beating. Oh my God.

Kendo's jaw dropped farther as her mind raced as fast as it could. She was sweating and panting, exhausted and feeling pain in all parts of her body. He looked back at me, so genuinely worried about my health! That was- it was real… He was giving his contact an opportunity.

How far back? Midoriya's mind raced even faster than Kendo's. His eyes shook as he stared at Zach, He knew before he suggested the teams. He knew- how far? How far?!

The one who gave us the location, Ectoplasm thought, taking a step towards his student who he continued to stare at with huge eyes of shock and a new feeling that he could not keep from showing: fear.

He was there the entire time, Ectoplasm thought as he stared at the student who spoke in English calmly and without responding to the shouting villains in front of him demanding to know about their third comrade. He was on a completely separate mission than ours. One that Sazaki gave him-

Zach hung up the phone and turned around. "I know where their base is."

The two who were in the middle of shouting at Lifebringer froze with their jaws wide open and their expressions full of panic at that statement. The others around Zach who were not certain if what was going on was what they imagined felt their heart rates speed up even more.

He does? Ectoplasm froze with his mouth open and he had a question he needed to ask the student. His mouth closed. He gave you the location of the Fabu's base? Is that what you're saying?! How did he get it so fast… I know how he got it. I know!

"That man- your contact!" Deku stepped towards Zach's side and his friend turned and looked darkly back into his eyes. "Was that him?"

Kiter stared at Lifebringer with her eyes growing even wider as she fully caught up with what was going on now. Zach nodded his head back at Deku and then turned back away from the intersection and walked away from the villains. Deku turned and he stared in disbelief at Zach's back at what he was admitting. That man! He didn't act as a hero. How did he get the information? How?! You sent him-

"My contact figured we might mess up and went after the villain who escaped me himself," Zach said. He paused and glanced towards Kiter, "That vigilante left the villain he caught tied-up nearby on the corner of Arong and 48th street. He told me he was calling the cops to that location himself after hanging up."

In such a short time, Ectoplasm breathed heavily as he stared at the teen who had all of his nerves on end. He did what heroes could not. The actual address?! Of our terrorists-

"How did he get the information?!" Deku demanded to know, his fists clenching furiously at his sides. Others all looked to Deku and then to the back of the other teenager who did not flinch at the question.

Zach started walking away and replied in a dark tone making everyone else behind him freeze in place...

"I didn't ask."

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A/N Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed.