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!

228. Chapter 228

A/N Hey guys. Sorry for the long update gap. Not much reason except I'm rereading through the entire story now (again) while still writing the next chapters, and I still have another 100 to read before I can write the next few for a reason I can't explain. Also got a construction job and have some other stuff going on, but I'll try not to leave you hanging again! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

---

Chapter 228:

Yesterday

"Yes. I understand, I'll pass the message on. No, no sir. Yes he is. Thank you." Ectoplasm waited until the call was ended by the other line before lowering his phone from his head. He did not give the newly elected Premier what he wanted exactly, but he made sure to be polite enough to be respectful and properly represent Japan. He lowered the phone down to his pocket and then turned to the back of the truck that was heading back towards the Fundong FLICC from the closest airport that he had landed at not ten minutes ago. Ectoplasm frowned while looking to the student who the Premier wished to speak to. He had denied the request, as the ride was not long and he had made Sazaki meet him at the airport so that he could talk with the student during the short ride that he knew might be his last chance to do so.

Deku had come to the airport as well to join them, and there were only four of them in the truck including Rin up in the driver's seat. Sheshou had stayed behind at the airport under orders from Szechuman to coordinate all arrivals into the city quickly becoming more than just the epicenter of the initial outbreak. The cure was being made in Fundong, the KO-14's were being produced there, and Zach Sazaki was back at the Fundong FLICC. The situation was still somewhat chaotic with all that was going on, and all the gratefully accepted assistance still needed to be organized so that all their resources could be utilized properly.

Zach was exhausted but he kept it from showing on his face as he sat on the right side of the truck across from Midoriya. Ectoplasm glanced to his right as from the front of the truck looking back Midoriya was sitting on his right side. He looked at the curly-haired student who had come for this as well. Are you surprised? Did you already know? It doesn't matter.

Ectoplasm looked back to his darker-haired student who lifted his gaze and met his teacher's. "I don't like the way you did this," Ectoplasm started. His deep voice paused, then he continued frustratedly, "The way you always do things so… so outside of the rules."

"I didn't break any rules here," Zach countered.

Ectoplasm shook his head. That isn't necessarily true. His white eyes narrowed slightly even as he held back from sighing at the response. "You lied about the reason to go to Yuanbo in the first place. You were going to try and slip away from our search to go find out information on your own, but you changed your plan when Kendo started coughing."

"That isn't against the law," Zach replied. I don't know if you're right. I think I may have done things the same, though there was an increased sense of urgency when I heard that. I cannot say that it did not change things. He countered his teacher in a way surprising him that Sazaki did not just deny his accusation, "It was my imperative to keep my contact's cover, but I failed. Either way, it doesn't matter. I could have done that but I didn't. I brought you with me and ruined the vigilante's infiltration."

"You ruined a placement of a villain in another villain group," Ectoplasm corrected. "And then you used his help to get the information-"

"We all used that help," Zach snapped. "He gave the address to me though because he had my number and knew I could get there fastest." Zach's expression was darker and angrier as he glared back at Ectoplasm. "Wei told you as simply as he told me that he was going to disappear after he helped us so as not to get caught. You listened in to the call afterwards telling us when the enemy gang would be coming and what my contact had seen, and nowhere in that conversation did Wei suggest he was going to come nor did I tell him to."

"Then you used a code-"

"There was no code!" Zach called out at Ectoplasm before allowing the hero to finish. "I haven't seen that man in a year. I had to track him down and had no idea what the guy would do."

"The guy," like you weren't friends, Ectoplasm thought angrily at Sazaki's blatant lying despite how truthful he sounded.

"He's a vigilante," Zach repeated. "And obviously the Fabu and their virus were the most important things he had to focus on. We had already broken his infiltration, so what else was there for him to do except help us out with the villains?"

"You let that Fabu villain get away," Ectoplasm accused. His voice was darker now and his white eyes glared directly into Zach's hazel ones. "So that your comrade could capture him and interrogate him on his own."

"Kendo fell," Zach replied sharply. "Coughing, in pain," he continued with a more pissed-off expression of his own as he narrowed his gaze down his nose at his teacher. "And I ran back to help her. With the villains around there was a chance they would take advantage of her weakness to attack her, take her hostage, or kill her." Zach stated these things firmly and then rose his voice louder and shut down any argument from his teacher, "Other villains could have been lurking about. Kendo had admitted that she already died before, so I wouldn't have been able to save her if I got back and she had been killed!"

"You knew that though," Midoriya said. Zach froze and he turned his head and looked back across the back of the truck. "And you brought her with you on purpose-"

"Of course I did!" Zach snapped at his friend who he did not have to feign being upset with that Midoriya was adding to this questioning. Midoriya looked surprised by Zach's response but Zach did have a good response for him too and continued, "I was most worried about her, so I wanted to stay with her. So I was not going to leave her behind to chase after a villain, when I knew that we would at least catch one between the two of you."

Midoriya bowed his head for a moment and then rose it with a painful look. He shook his head once denying everything Zach said. "You can't pretend like you had nothing to do with it," Midoriya replied. "It was all part of your plan, from the very beginning. That's why you broke your contact's cover."

Ectoplasm turned and looked towards his other student in confusion while Zach started shaking his head back at Deku. "You could have knocked Bango and the other villain out from the start before questioning 'Wei' but you didn't," Midoriya continued. "The fact that you revealed his cover first was the signal in itself, telling your comrade that you wanted his help-"

"That's ridiculous," Zach said.

"There was no reason-" Midoriya continued louder.

"The infiltration was ruined anyway! The minute we saw all those drugs and guns, as heroes we were forced to arrest all of the villains there no matter what," Zach snapped back with a frustrated look.

What Sazaki's saying makes as much sense as what Midoriya is, Ectoplasm thought. The issue is that we need proof to say that Sazaki knew what the vigilante was going to do, as that Ungi from the Fabu had been beaten… Though it was only a broken nose and busted lip- still! Sazaki picked that villain of the three who was most likely to crack with barely any pressure in the shortest amount of time. Deku's right. He planned it all, and yet I can't prove that Sazaki planned it. I was privy to his conversations with the contact. I was there the first time and allowed the vigilante to help us. That was my decision as chaperone. I allowed Sazaki to come to Yuanbo.

We caught the villains, Ectoplasm reminded himself. And it's not like the vigilante did much to the villain, from what we can tell. "Wei" caught him and within minutes had him tied up on a street corner with minor injuries and the exact address of the Fabu's base. He must have gotten it in seconds. The injuries might not have even been torture, rather just how that Army of Death member attacked and took down Ungi. Damn. He did what the heroes could not. Sazaki gave valid explanations every step of the way. Led me on the trail so that I could see every move he made. I may not believe Sazaki's excuses, but I never saw the kid do anything illegal. Nothing that was not sanctioned.

He never gave out orders to the vigilante we met with… Every move. From before even leaving Fundong! Likely, when he made that promise to Su-Jin and her son. Midoriya thinks he had the plan from before Bango's apartment and I have to agree even without the needed evidence to prove it. The amount of thought that must have gone into it though. The strategy to create those opportunities and get us to the terrorists… I already knew Sazaki was a tactical genius from his victory at the joint training, but watching him implement those skills so smoothly transitioned into real world scenarios is frightening. Because now I'm realizing that the transition wasn't smooth between training and this implementation but the other way around. Because now I realize why it is I believed that Sazaki wasn't actually Death. It's because that was part of Sazaki's grand plan.

Sazaki and Death share a Quirk. Sazaki was missing while Death was acting. Yet somehow most people have accepted the story that he left the world… Or at least that Death's still out there. When really, he's in here. Ectoplasm stared down at the student staring right back at him with an impossible-to-read expression.

"That man was an Army of Death agent," Ectoplasm stated. Nothing else he thought mattered as much as that one simple fact.

Zach breathed out sharply through his nose, scoffing at his teacher's accusation this time. "You're still one of the ones who believes that?"

"'Still?' I am not 'still' anything, as I did not believe it to be true before we came here," Ectoplasm countered the student harshly and glared at him for treating his serious accusation as a joke. "But I am now. I did not see it before, but you cannot think that we don't see what you did here?"

Midoriya shifted his gaze over to his teacher again then back to Zach hesitantly. How am I supposed to look right now? If Ectoplasm sensei asks me, what do I say? Can I lie to make it sound like I'm actually suspicious of that too? Do I- I have to, for Zach. But even still, I can't just let all of this go. If I show you I'm willing to do that, you'll take advantage, Midoriya's gaze narrowed on Zach himself when his friend glanced back his way to see Deku's expression.

Midoriya's not a good actor. He's not just pretending to be mad, Zach sighed and slouched in his seat right as the truck hit a bump.

"Sorry," Rin muttered from the driver's seat, though he stayed quiet while just listening to those behind him. Who cares if he is or not? He stopped them. We know it was him, who saved everyone… Well, the cure could've- but not if everyone was sick! And if we were all spread out around the country trying to deal with a massive explosion of cases, the villains might have been able to target the Costa Rican while he was unprotected. It could've happened that way!

Zach's expression stayed dark after his teacher's statement that rose in pitch at the end like a question. He remained silent and did not give a response to the question asking if he knew what he had done. Ectoplasm himself waited after the question but then frowned more and lifted his eyes without as harsh a look in them anymore. "You saved this country," Ectoplasm finished. What Rin was just thinking made the Class B student in the front dart his eyes to the rearview mirror for a second in surprise.

Rin was not the only one, as Zach looked up at Ectoplasm with his eyes growing wide too. Ectoplasm continued though in a way Rin was not expecting from the front, "It wasn't Recovery Girl's cure. It wasn't any of the doctors or scientists who came here. That man knew how to use his Quirk for a reason." Ectoplasm grimaced but gave the credit in the tone of a teacher rather than a hero scolding another for his methods. "You made the push for people to train their Quirks more, for the entire world to shift towards being allowed to use Quirks to help out just, with everything. And you did it without sounding like some crazy extremist, so people listened."

Like an extremist? Midoriya glanced Ectoplasm's way in confusion as to what seemed like a reference to something in particular, which he doubly believed considering the way Zach nodded right there.

"I thought your idea was wrong. Everyone training Quirks seemed to me like it'd spell disaster. You were right though. If an apocalyptic Quirk ever came up you said there'd be someone out there, a good person, who trained a Quirk to counter it," Ectoplasm said something that sounded very similar to a sentiment Zach had heard from Recovery Girl not far back. "That's exactly what happened here."

Is everyone noticing it? I don't think it's because of me… All because of me, at least. Other people were the ones who made the cure. My influence was indirect, mostly. Zach's lips furled and he lowered his gaze from his teacher who frowned himself at Zach's conflicted look when he was giving the kid praise at the moment.

"I thought your report was impossible, either too idealistic or futuristic and couldn't be accomplished in Japan-"

"In Costa Rica it wasn't exactly the most popular change in policy either," Zach cut his teacher off while still frowning and glaring down at the floor in front of his feet. "When the villains rose though, they rose around there hard. Esquomalador, Velumbico, Belize, San Porto, they saw their top heroes wiped out in the early days and what followed was so much increased villain activity that it terrified the Costa Ricans. Even with the Twin Jaguars and their united team, the people feared what would happen if they fell. And it's not like things weren't hard there either. Villains rose and there weren't enough heroes in Costa Rica to protect everyone. The people of those countries couldn't defend themselves, and others came in who protected them when their heroes were killed. Who died protecting them because they couldn't save themselves."

Ectoplasm stood still. His eyes bored into the top of Sazaki's head while wider than ever, his mouth feeling dry at what the teen was saying and how he started smiling there after a few seconds. I was, just giving you credit for your report having an effect on why that country allowed the man to train his Quirk but, I see now…

Samuel's death spurred so many of them to demand change. Partly because of how angry Rivona got at them for being so weak that no one helped Samuel fight the Slizards. The movement wasn't strong enough until then, Zach's smile lowered back down and he rose his gaze to his teacher to add something else about how it could work in Japan just as it worked elsewhere. He stopped though at the look in Ectoplasm's eyes. I didn't say too much. Said some unnecessary things, but nothing damning. I need to watch myself!

I see now that Sazaki had an even bigger impact in changing things, in making Quirk-usage more widespread, than I even imagined. Ectoplasm's darker thoughts from a minute ago had completely changed. He didn't say it specifically that he used those others' deaths to alter the policies. I saw some of his power here. He used that power to save China, but was he using that power to make his report a reality?! Wait… wait, even if he did. Even if he made that kind of effort, it's what led to this outcome where Kendo can still survive. Pushing his ideas on the world- why would that upset me? Because I was fine with it if he was just fighting villains?! Or because that's all Death said he was doing, on the walls of fucking Hatto?!

Ectoplasm riled himself back up but grimaced after a moment as Rin called out that they were stopping because the road ahead was too blocked-up with tents and other vehicles. What else do I even have to say? I know he's Death but my knowing means nothing. He's right, in that he didn't give me enough evidence to back up these accusations I'm making against him. I listened to his calls. I watched their single interaction with my own eyes. And until after defeating the Fabu's leaders he was never on his own. He found a way to take down the Fabu using his methods and somehow keeping himself clean at the same time. And I know that that's why he came back to Japan in the first place. Now he has the ability to act inside and outside of the law. Lemillion's right. Star-Spangled Man is right.

He's way too dangerous to leave things as they are.

Ectoplasm already started hiding his expression once again before telling Lifebringer to get back out there as he had called the student away from the important task he had returned to. Midoriya's expression took longer to shake off the shock of what Zach had said about Central American countries and how hard it had been for things to change there. He spoke like he was there throughout it. Like he had watched them change and fought against villains for them because they couldn't protect themselves, and that got his friends killed. He was there! The cure really isn't just…

Midoriya's lips curled and his eyes filled with frustration and anger. He shook his head around rapidly though at the feelings that hurt when he recognized them. Back to it, he jumped out the back of the truck after Zach and then just gave a half-nod to the side when Zach looked back his way. Midoriya crouched and leapt a hundred meters into the sky, shaking his head again once he was above the adjacent buildings. Get it together. There are ways I can help too.

---

Present

"Hi there. I'm Weng Chi, a professor at Kunming Hero And Medical Institute. I also worked part-time as a sidekick to Heiping in her small Yunnan agency where I was section chief-"

"Torterress," Zach nodded at the woman introducing herself to him. He said her hero name that he was familiar with, then he added, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Heiping was a close friend," the younger woman than her fallen pro said, though she kept smiling at the Japanese teen in front of her at the same time. "She did what she could to help with the outbreak and now I'm here to make sure it ends without any unnecessary casualties."

"And them?" Zach wondered with a look behind the teacher to a group of students who he could not tell if they were high school age or college students. KHAMI. I've heard of the school before and know it's prestigious. A few of them look as excited as teenagers to see me, but I've seen middle-aged women give me those same looks. I know it requires applications to get into… but that just means it's a private school. High school or college? Or is it neither and it's a graduate school? It has "Medical" in the name, so are these hero students or pre-med, or are they already doctors? How do I not know this? Zach distracted himself with his frustration at not being knowledgeable enough already, something he focused on to get his thoughts off of the agonizing pain he just went through again. Only two minutes ago he had been brought three air-lifted bodies from Xing nearing the end of his time limit which meant he had to bring them back immediately.

"Students of mine who volunteered to help. From the hero course is Feng Shui and Lipi Huei…"

Zach nodded along with the introductions of the group who had come to him directly. Were they told to do this? He wondered confusedly even as he politely greeted each student in a respectful way. Someone might yell at you in a minute if they see you taking my time. Should probably head off myself first before that happens. Don't want to get you in trouble when it's clear you just got here. They're just excited and want to meet me. Makes sense. Who doesn't want to meet me? "Well it's nice to meet all of you. Do you have something you need from me, Torterress?"

"No, I was actually asked to brief you. We just had our introductory briefing from Szechuman and he wanted me to pass on some information to keep you updated, said it had been a while since you checked in at command," she explained herself but stopped as Zach started nodding in understanding as to why she had been sent over. "The initial closing stages for the Beiju FLICC are over. It's not official yet, but the Beiju FLICC has been shut down, with only a small team remaining for cleanup."

Zach nodded his head and wished she just continued on but instead she added, "The release in Beiju was far enough back that they expect no new cases to appear in the city, especially considering the only van from the Failed Sleepless Release that was in the Beiju area, you stopped before it started releasing any Sleepless at all."

Another reason not to just massacre every villain you see. That guy broke down that he couldn't do it. Still felt like kicking the shit out of him for joining the Fabu in the first place but, but at least they'll take what he did into consideration when they try him. Maybe, Zach nodded back at Torterress and then rose his eyebrows wondering if she had any more information.

"Some assistance has been sent back, even though there is still a high demand for it." Torterress continued to the boy who rose his eyebrows a little, "The students from U.A. and from the United States have mostly returned home though. Todoroki Shoto had left Beiju in the first wave and departed with your other classmates who were not considered essential. Buccaneer left with Coola, and then a few other of the initial response members have left as well…"

Doesn't seem like she knows why some of them had to go. I know Tunnel Maker left. Heard some rumors about what happened to him. Otto… I'm sorry things here got so bad after I left.

"Do you know who from U.A. is still here?" Zach wondered, cutting off the Chinese heroine as he needed this to finish already as there were still bodies piled up he was only really taking a few minute break from. He could not risk bringing back too many at once and knocking himself out, so he was working his way up from the ones who had died farthest back. Unfortunately, as good as the cure was, and as long as the KO-14's allowed some of the worst-off patients to live, fatalities were still rampant. Everyone was working as hard as they could to prevent the surge in new cases at their first stages of symptoms from getting to the point that thousands were already at where they were precariously balanced between life and death.

I probably have messages on my phone and ERT. Zach had not even thought about checking them when he left the much larger morgue tent that had been set up while he had been gone. The new morgue was in a separate park as Deng Park where the FLICC was centered. The Fundong FLICC had grown so large however that this other smaller park was connected to the FLICC by a series of long white tents and medical stations that spanned blocks in every direction from the FLICC's core. Buses pulled in all around the FLICC and over fifteen thousand patients were already in Fundong with thousands more on the way. Zach wondered for a moment if the reason he did not check his ERT right as he started his short break was because he did not want to see just how many new patients were being brought in.

"Well there's you," Torterress started responding to the hero in front of her. "I mean, you know that you're here, obviously. But then Recovery Girl is also here still…"

She's as nervous as her students around me. Not afraid though. None of them look, afraid. Zach nodded along at the woman in her mid twenties to continue.

"Creati is also still here making more of those amazing KO's. I heard they took her off it for a little to see if she could speed up production of the serum, but they couldn't find a way for her to replicate Jon Juan's Quirk. She made some of the components for the finalized serum but they got her back on the KO-14's since they were in higher demand… And I believe that's all- except, for your…" Torterress trailed off and Zach nodded at her in thanks for informing him of all that.

"I have to get back to revivals. If you'd excuse me," Zach told the group in front of him. He did not ask what their role was or where they were going after this, but none of them felt it was rude. He walked away from the new team of help he hoped could relieve some of the others he had just been working with who were trying to keep going despite being ready to pass out. He himself had not gotten any sleep for over two days now. The revivals were weighing on him and making him more and more fatigued, but the amount of bodies that he had let pile up weighed too much on his conscience for him to sleep.

He could still picture walking into the new tent they told him they had to set up because there were too many bodies. And he saw as refrigerated trucks were brought around and opened up at both of the tent's flaps for him to try reviving them all. Zach felt many cold bodies and ones decomposing under his fingertips as their skin was too fragile to the touch. He felt so many that did not cause him any pain when he attempted to revive them after his time limit. It had become too difficult to label each dead body during the roughest of times after he had left the FLICC, and so many were unlabeled with no Time Of Death that he had to try bringing them all back. The result of that was putting him face-to-face with hundreds of corpses he failed to revive due to not being there.

Zach walked back towards the revival tent and went through a long white tube that he decided not to exit even though he thought he could use fresh air before. If Midoriya's already gone then I don't know where I'm going. Might as well end the break now. It wasn't that important anyway. Zach stopped before heading into the huge tent that smelled of death even through the mask he had back on. He turned his head and watched as two people went ahead of him wheeling a body with a blanket over it into the morgue. Never ending… Until it does. It will. Soon.

---

The Next Day

The Sleepless Cure worked fast on the human body. Recovery was slow however, but it was slower for those who had been infected with Sleepless the longest. The biggest fear across Gangwe, among the specialists and heroes, as well as among the people and the media who informed them of this concern, was that the cure would not be produced quickly enough to give to everyone. Their fears proved to be unfounded, as the teams that arrived in Fundong the same time as Jon Juan worked nonstop for over a day and a half until enough doses had been produced that now every patient was getting a shot no matter how far into their symptoms they were.

A newly implemented policy also allowed all those in the early stages who got the shot to go home rather than staying at the FLICC's or hospitals that were opening to Sleepless patients as well. The Command Center was still operational in Xing, however all the most serious patients had been transferred to Fundong while those still in the early-mid stages were sent the Sleepless Cure. The Xing FLICC was shrinking with Mulan reporting half as many patients in beds there than the day before. Fundong's FLICC was still at its largest size ever, but with news of enough cures for everyone and Lifebringer's retained presence in the area, a new calm was settling over the city.

Zach had finished up with the backstocked bodies he had yet to revive until there were none left at all. Then he had gone to sleep for four and a half hours before getting up to a new pile that took him two hours to gradually work through until he was back at zero again. Then he took another three hour nap that he got up from, revived the sixty-eight patients who had died in those three hours, and brought back the other two who died while he was doing those revivals. Then, and only then, did he finally leave the bigger morgue tent. He left it with purpose and went to the command tent only to find that Szechuman was asleep and Star-Spangled Man had control of the FLICC in the meantime.

He made his report to the FLICC interim-commander, as well as his suggestion to take down the larger morgue tent and return to using the earlier one that was closer to the center of the FLICC and was empty and cleaned. Star-Spangled Man saw no reason to deny his request, though he told Lifebringer to let other volunteers take it down as he ordered Lifebringer to go have himself a meal.

Not just fuel to keep up my revivals. A meal, Zach thought while he headed towards the cafeteria he had only been in to pick up food for patients or himself. He never stayed in there for very long to eat, but no one did. The staff had taken their meals to their private tent throughout the ordeal, so Zach was surprised to find that inside of the cafeteria tent, there were now over four dozen long tables set up. The tent also had a lot of people in it currently eating meals. Not all of them are volunteers. Lot of patients up and out of their beds. They're recovering slowly, but it's good to see them eating meals like this and not through tubes.

"Zach!"

Zach turned his head fast and looked towards a table he was shocked his attention was not immediately drawn to. "Momo," Zach said in surprise as he walked towards her.

"Grab some food first," Yaoyorozu told him when he was about to sit down. "That's why you came in, right?"

Zach nodded at her after a second and then turned and sped-walked to get himself some brunch. Yaoyorozu watched him go and lifted a small smile as every person he went by broke their necks as they snapped their heads to follow him around. The guys volunteering behind the counter and making the food were stunned too and tried to give him all the best-looking pieces of bacon and only the roundest pancakes. The rice was not too sticky and they made sure the egg rolls did not have any visible cracks on the outsides of them.

"Thanks guys. Keep up the good work," Zach told the group behind the counter whose days he just made.

Zach went back to the table Yaoyorozu was sitting at alone as she had only arrived a minute before her classmate and picked an empty table as she did not plan to be there long. She slowed down eating just a bit when Zach entered though, and Zach sat down on her right side a seat away from her with no gap between them. "How is it?" Zach asked.

Yaoyorozu smiled back at the light conversation he struck up. "It's good," she assured him, taking another bite herself.

Zach started eating the multicultural breakfast the similarly mixed group of volunteers had made for them. He hummed in agreement with Momo's assessment, then he mentioned to the tall girl next to him, "Feels like we didn't see much of each other during our time here."

"I know the feeling," Yaoyorozu agreed right away. "We were right next to each other for most of it, and yet-"

"Far away at the same time?" Zach wondered if that was how she was going to finish. She hummed and nodded, then she froze with her head mid-nod as Zach continued, "I wanted to talk to you, but you were so busy the whole time."

"Haha-" Yaoyorozu lifted her right hand up to her mouth. She covered it while laughing at the irony in what he just said, though Zach looked at her confusedly as she did. Momo lowered her arm and just mentioned back, "I felt the same way about you."

Zach smiled after a moment as he understood why she laughed. I was pretty busy too. The amount of time neither of us were busy was so small, and those moments barely ever coincided. His smile went down after a second as he looked down at his food that he picked at with his chopsticks without lifting anything. "Have you, seen her?" Zach wondered.

Yaoyorozu nodded her head back at him with her look getting more foreboding and serious too. "Kendo's been given the cure," Yaoyorozu mentioned.

"And I saw her on one of the KO-14's that you've been making," Zach added, his tone lifting optimistically while he also gave Momo credit.

"Machines that Dr. Olsen, and Dr. Khatri invented," Yaoyorozu countered Zach. He paused for a moment, then Zach started eating his food without commenting towards what she just said. As he ate though, Yaoyorozu noticed a small crack of a smile as if it was the taste that was making him happy.

"Olsen and Dr. Khatri may have designed them, but only you could make them," Zach said while looking back to the girl on his side in a bright way. "No one else…" I know, it's hard right now. Zach wanted to see Yaoyorozu's normal bubbly self that he had not really seen much of since returning to Japan. It always felt like there was a such a weight in the air over them, but he at least wanted her to smile in her new usual way. As much as he tried to add on the credit to her though, Yaoyorozu's mind was clearly stuck on their friend whose condition the two of them had both been keeping up with.

"Yue Fei's also still in critical condition," Yaoyorozu said under her breath. "He was in bad shape already, but his sidekicks refused all the attempts to get him an early dose of the cure."

"They did what they knew he would want," Zach replied in disagreement that that was a bad thing. "Yue Fei's a hero. If he got the cure before the civilians around him, he'd be mad for sure."

Yaoyorozu looked at Zach and nodded after a moment as she accepted he was right. As much as we all would like the incident commander back up again at full strength, his position does not give him special privilege in when he gets his dosage. The length of time after natural collapse that he was given it though, is a length that many others have still died at despite receiving it as well.

"I heard they're starting to reuse the KO's?" Zach wondered as it was something that had reached his ears.

Creati shook her head back at him though. "Some patients are beginning to recover and were taken off so theirs were repositioned. Others died despite being plugged in. Ah, haahh… We still need thousands more. Too many are at the stage they should be put on one already but aren't-"

"You're making life support machines for every infected person in a pandemic," Zach said in a tone telling her not to feel rushed or that she was not moving fast enough. He rose his eyebrows at her when she looked to him, and he added, "It's amazing, and you'll make them as fast as you can. No one doubts that."

Zach's toes curled and his eyes narrowed at Momo in front of him. Her gaze had started shifting past his head despite what he just told her in that reassuring tone. Yaoyorozu's eyes started to bulge and she moved to get out of her seat. Zach's upper half turned 180 degrees in an instant and his right hand snapped up. Five sharp red points came out the tips of every finger on the right hand of the man behind Zach who just lunged and tried stabbing him in the back.

Zach caught the man by the wrist. The Chinese man's face twisted in rage, though Zach saw pure agony in his eyes at the same time. "I recognize you," Zach pushed back on the man's wrist so hard that the guy stumbled back and fell onto his butt. Zach spun his legs around on his seat and his body reformed fully human, though some people looking his way had seen that his midsection had turned to Death allowing that perfect spin of his upper half as if he had no spine more than halfway down his back. "Didn't I revive you this morning?" Zach wondered at the figure sitting in front of him who pushed his hands down on the ground then slipped with his body falling to the right as he put too much weight down quickly to try and stand. His right hand still had the sharp points extended and they slid across the tile making him flail around in panic as he had no balance and was completely open to attack from the hero he just tried to strike down.

Yaoyorozu was standing up behind Zach but she did not rush forward as she looked down instead at the top of Zach's head. "You, revived him?" That man's not a villain. He's…

"Why?" the man on the ground who got rushed by a pair of young Chinese teenagers in their school's hero course who stopped him before he could get up and rush at Lifebringer a second time. The man leaned forward though as the teens a couple years younger than Lifebringer held him back. "Why did you let my wife die? Why?!"

Zach sat still and his eyes got softer and sadder as the man he brought back was about to be thrown in prison for this. He already saw someone else rush out of the tent to go tell someone, and he figured heroes or police would be coming back in with them in a minute. "I'm sorry-"

"You should have let me die, and saved her instead! We got infected at the same time… I don't understand. Why? Why didn't you save her?!"

The teens who rushed at this man to stop him felt at first that they were going to gain Lifebringer's respect by helping him. Neither wanted to be there anymore as the man they were holding started sobbing while still trying to pull out of their arms desperately. Zach nodded to the girl on his right then at the boy on his left too, and the Chinese teens hesitated for a moment then each slowly let go of the man who looked confusedly back at them for releasing him.

"I'm sorry," Zach started. He stayed seated and just looked sympathetically at the older man in his late thirties who turned back and lifted his gaze with his expression shaking at the apology. He spoke in Chinese, but Yaoyorozu understood it behind him and she frowned towards the man who made that tone appear in Zach's voice. "I wish I could have saved everyone. I really do-"

"She died while you went looking for the Fabu-"

"I couldn't have brought her back anyway," Zach replied with a slow shake of his head. "I have my limits. I tried, to save you all. And I failed," Zach's eyebrows lowered down softly and he dropped his gaze from the man's eyes for a moment too with a sad look of his own at this entire situation. "I wish I could have done more. You're angry, and you're right to be, but this was stupid and you know she wouldn't have wanted it. The ones responsible are already caught and will pay for what they did," Zach paused as the man in front of him started sobbing harder though no longer looked like he might try charging at him and attacking again. They'll take his distress into account, and the fact that he didn't really hurt anyone. He's emotional right now. If it wasn't me he was mad at though he could have seriously hurt someone. I don't know what I can do or say to make this right.

"That's him."

"Sir, come with us…"

"You are under arrest…"

Zach watched as the man was taken away. He sighed after the man left the cafeteria then he turned back to Yaoyorozu who took her seat again and looked him back in the eyes sadly herself. "I'm sorry," she said to him quietly.

Zach just nodded back at her rather than say anything about it, as he understood why she was apologizing instantly. "I have to get back to it too," Zach told the girl in front of him who he knew wanted to get to making as many KO's as possible. "I doubt we'll be leaving anytime soon though."

"Then I'll see you later. Eat again at 5?" Yaoyorozu wondered at him.

"It's a date-" Zach said the words then froze as soon as they left his mouth. "I mean, yeah, five sounds… I'll see you at five." He nodded at her then looked back at his food, and Yaoyorozu quickly got up from her seat with her tray to go put away.

As soon as she stepped away from the table far enough she let out all the air she had sucked in. Steady, she reminded herself at the number of eyes that had been locked in their direction. Her heart rate eased and she relaxed before immediately getting focused and back into a serious mindset as she sped back for her station.

Zach pushed at his food once Momo was out of the cafeteria. His eyes half-closed and he focused back on the man who tried attacking him rather than the girl who just rushed out. Thinking of his to-be assassin did not make him feel any better and he let his mind drift back to what just occurred instead, which only made him bow his head more and let out a groaned-sigh that turned into a yawn halfway out. That was so stupid. I just blurted it out. When do I ever do that? I wasn't thinking. If I revive too many people will I say more things that I… It doesn't really matter does it?

He stopped eating and pushed away from the table. On to the next- I don't want to do this. I don't want to go. The longer you wait, the worse it will be when they pile up. I did enough! Stop hesitating. Just go. Move before thinking. Zach ordered himself away from the cafeteria and he started walking while lifting his feet up high to prevent them from dragging. Just turn your brain off. It'll make it easier.

---

As March ended, more and more information came out about Sleepless after the mass quarantines were lifted across Gangwe. Even the epicenter at Fundong was opened up which allowed international media to rush to the scene, mostly still wearing biohazard suits and expensive face-masks and PPE as they were afraid of potential late Sleepless releases due to an unknown number of missing canisters of the deadly poison. The lack of official reports due to a shaky transitional government and necessity for working as fast as possible started to be criticized as heroes and officials had cut corners during the outbreak. Other officials and the media jumped all over their smallest mistakes, however public opinion of the heroes both foreign and domestic was high across all of China.

Even in Gangwe where some extraordinary judicial actions were taken to maintain the quarantines and keep people from escaping, the majority of the civilians in those places polled looked favorably on the actions of the heroes who had stopped the Sleepless Outbreak in its tracks. The media who traveled to Gangwe attempting to find people to criticize their heroes and create controversy quickly discovered how hopeless it had been for the people who came to understand in the last days of the outbreak that chances of survival for any of them was slim. Some people had killed themselves in fear of a disease that killed painfully and there was no cure for, though many who were interviewed claimed that as much as they had given up hope, they held strong in the faith that Lifebringer would revive them even if there was no other hope.

Outside of the shrinking Fundong FLICC, the media were still kept from coming inside with only a few privileged reporters getting the opportunity to record what was happening inside once things had calmed down enough. Every single current patient of Sleepless had been inoculated, however the lab teams were still working at full speed to provide a massive surplus of the Sleepless Cure. In case anything ever happened to the sole man whose Quirk could counteract the Sleepless' Quirk's effects on the body, they needed a surplus that could save potentially millions from future outbreaks. There was also fear that Sleepless was lingering on surfaces, due to a misinformation epidemic about the disease that came out soon after reporters were allowed in the region. Despite it being public knowledge that the virus did not last long in the air, studies found that it lasted much longer on objects than doctors first thought and released publicly in the early days of the outbreak. Their misdiagnosis was claimed by the media to have "seriously affected" the way Yue Fei handled the incident, and others latched onto those reports to demand repercussions and more people to blame.

Premier Tai Jin was more grateful in his responses to the front-line responders and heroes. Others suspected that if either of his older rivals in the election had won there would potentially be harsh penalties for failures in the Sleepless Outbreak, but Premier Jin instead focused on how much worse the incident could have been. He suggested a parade for the responders and announced awards to different heroes, memorials for the first-responders lost, as well as the rest of the 738 fatalities declared to have died directly from Sleepless.

Heiping was being memorialized by a nation she was very popular in. She had also been a critic of the nation's harsh view of the Army of Death after she herself left the ADTF. She had assisted in the takedown of the League of Shadows and died in the process, she rooted out corruption in the United Nations and in China, and she left the Task Force after Qingxiao despite her fellow heroes initially stating that the Army of Death had not been there. Heiping declared on a public broadcast that it would be impossible to hide that fact longer, but instead of apologizing for not attempting to apprehend the Army of Death in Qingxiao, she resigned from the ADTF on the spot. The fallen veteran hero had maxed out at ranked 6th in the nation, though by the time of her death she was ranked 8th on the nation's official hero leaderboard. Three days after the cure for Sleepless was discovered though, and it became clear that Heiping was the sole hero to fall permanently in the outbreak, her name was posthumously lifted to the Number 1 spot for a single day after Premier Jin announced his decision.

As the region of Gangwe opened back up and a sense of calm started to reemerge in the atmosphere, people complained about not being able to bury their loved ones who had died of Sleepless during the short periods where Lifebringer had failed to revive anyone. Those bodies had not been immediately disposed of, but the fact that Sleepless could spread from the corpses meant that heroes and officials had to declare funerals impossible. The risk of a secondary outbreak by missing Fabu members the heroes discovered still existed out there meant that the heroes could not intentionally risk infecting more people by allowing families to see their deceased loved ones. The ordeal was taxing even after the cure was created, for everyone involved, but it was nowhere near as stressful as during the height of it.

Luckily for the teenagers from another nation who were assisting in essential parts of the response, neither Zach nor Momo felt any of the political pressure or stress that the Chinese heroes were feeling in a rough transitional period. Heroes were trying to figure out what kind of leader Premier Jin would be, and different forces of authority throughout the nation were vying for close ties with the new head of state by blaming each other for botched responses to the outbreak. Zach watched it all closely on tv, but the exhausted teen sitting at a table in the staff tent just smiled softly as he watched the first public announcement from Yue Fei since his recovery started. He was already unconscious from natural causes. I thought I'd have to revive him for sure. Those two really did a great job… Though it wouldn't have mattered if you were any slower, Zach's eyes shifted to the girl sitting at the table with him who looked similarly exhausted as she snacked in less of a rush than she had been in all week.

Yaoyorozu's muscle memory meant she was eating without even looking down at her food. She picked up a cookie and brought it to her mouth then chewed and swallowed while picking up the next cookie. Her eyes were half-closed and she paused with the cookie near her mouth as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth much wider. "Aaawwhhh," Yaoyorozu let out a tired yawn and then lifted her other hand to her eyes and rubbed them so she could focus on the tv near her and Zach without her vision being as blurry.

"You saved him," Zach mentioned, and Yaoyorozu turned in surprise back to the boy she had been enjoying a quiet peaceful break with. No one else was breaking right now, but it had been over thirty minutes since anyone had died from Sleepless. The last person to die was the first one dead in 45 minutes too, and it felt to Zach like the deaths were getting so spread apart that it was unlikely many more were likely to die at all. Zach looked back to Yue Fei and then wondered to the girl next to him at the table rather than across it, the two of them only sitting five feet apart, "Has he contacted you-"

"He doesn't need to thank me. I am sure there are more important things he has on his plate right now," Yaoyorozu looked back to the top Chinese hero herself and smiled at the paler face of the top hero that still looked strong. "I'm amazed he's up and talking like that already."

"Yue Fei's strong," Zach replied with a smile of his own though it was small. He should thank you still though. I'm sure he'll get to it. If you had produced KO-14's even one second slower a minute, considering he got put on his so late, he probably would have died. So you saved me too. You saved me, thousands of times these last few days. Zach kept that thought to himself even as the gratitude he felt towards the girl on his left side surged and made his heart race.

"He may be, but his recovery will still be arduous," Yaoyorozu mentioned. "The Wall and E-Lass The City are both already helping with the search for the remaining Fabu, as well as the people funding them," Yaoyorozu's voice got lower as she added that part. She paused for a second then wondered to her friend and classmate, "Did you already suspect, that they were created by the Triakuza remnants-"

"Not really," Zach replied. He shook his head and then muttered in a lower voice, "Though the chaos they created was surely good for them if their plans had nothing to do with the Fabu's."

"I thought the Triakuza were defunct?" Yaoyorozu whispered.

"They should have been. I cut the heads off the snake, all of them. The Triakuza heads were finished but," Zach grimaced and shook his head at the thought of it. "Even their lower officers were experienced in fighting against the Army of Death. In a world where most powerful villain groups were annihilated, that experience made even the lower members of a group like that into the most powerful villains around. I just hope villains don't see what happened here and the media giving those 'funders' credit…"

"And join with that smaller group of surviving members," Yaoyorozu finished with a nod as it was exactly what she was worried about. "I do believe that with the hero presence in the nation right now, and the fact that the Fabu are nearly finished and the Sleepless Outbreak's under control," she hesitated as he gave her a look questioning if she was right with this line of thinking. She nodded though instead of backtracking on it, and she assured him, "I'm sure they will be successful. No matter how resourceful our enemies may be, I believe all the heroes here right now are surely better equipped to find them than they are to run away."

It's true. Plus, the heroes may have some help. Vannessa and the CIA, Shunfeng and Gentle- Death. The Army of Death. Chinese military forces, police, and every citizen in the nation who's outraged right now. There's nowhere for them to hide… Zach grimaced. Then again, that's what everyone thought about me once. And I evaded them all- Hawks found me. That doesn't count… Why? Because Hawks isn't here right now? He isn't finding the League either. Or maybe he did while I was gone, and he's already dead. Zach's thoughts he was trying to make hopeful just fell even darker and the look showed on his face.

"What is it?" Yaoyorozu wondered. The two of them were each exhausted but the look in Zach's eyes did not coincide with the positive news they were hearing right now.

"I know," Zach began. He looked to his side at the girl next to him and continued in a low voice, "That with my absence from Japan, Kaminari and Shigaraki are sure to have made many moves to get ahead of me."

"Are you sure you're not making too many assumptions of their plans?" Yaoyorozu countered. She did so cautiously as it was not often Zach's paranoia was unfounded, though there had been times where she had seen him think too deep into things before.

"I know I've fallen behind," Zach responded darkly and with a knowing shake of his head. He sighed after and tilted his head back, "The coalition of heroes coming against me grows by the minute, and the army I'm sure Kaminari is building grows larger at the same time."

It must feel like the walls are closing in. All of that and people still blame you for not saving enough of them here, Yaoyorozu pitied him for a moment but made sure to wipe the look from her face before he looked back her way. "I'm not against you," she reminded him, a soft smile on her face at the one consolation she hoped would help.

It did help too, and Zach gave her a smile back in a more relaxed way. The smile lowered back into a flat lip though after a second. He continued in a steady voice that lacked the darkness in it as he just kept his tone serious now, "My greatest worry right now is that the time will come when Kaminari is at the doorstep about to make his move, but because of me, all the heroes will be too preoccupied to see it."

Yaoyorozu wished she could tell him that was not true. Unfortunately, she knew that he understood the invisible hands moving society from below better than anyone. And she also knew Raijin, and she imagined him killing Fantasma in front of the entire nation before taunting them. He'll make his move soon. I don't know if Endeavor and Hawks can deal with them… but I know Lemillion is part of the detail going after Zach. The third ranked hero is focused on you while our real enemies… Real enemies? To some, I suppose you are a villain like any other.

"That may be true for some heroes," Yaoyorozu began, touching on how Zach believed their heroes would be too busy with him to realize what was happening. She shook her head once though and promised him, "But I know where my focus is needed most. I won't let that stop me from preparing for Raijin myself."

Zach nodded back at her. As much as he thought that should make him happy to hear though, he just felt an empty pit in his heart at the sound of it. Yaoyorozu felt the opposite though as she looked him back in the eyes, feeling she must have reassured him right there. I want you to know that I would never consider you a villain. Zach, I know that-

She and Zach turned back to the television as they heard his hero name mentioned specifically. A picture of a man neither of them wanted to see appeared on it, and Zach's head bowed with his eyes closing in an even more tired way. "The perpetrator reportedly tried killing Lifebringer for not saving his wife. Outraged people all over the country and back in Japan are demanding swift retribution. A source of ours inside the Fundong FLICC told us that Lifebringer himself apologized to his would-be killer for his failure after stopping the assassination attempt…"

Zach lifted his right hand and rubbed his gloved fingers on his forehead. He pinched together and wrinkled up his brow while letting out a heavy breath to keep himself breathing steadily. Can't do anything without it being an international issue. So many fucking eyes and I can't even… How do I smile when I failed so many people? It'll be like laughing in the faces of those I failed to save, and at their families.

Yaoyorozu watched as Zach got in an even worse mood from the news. As she thought about telling him something she knew he needed to hear though, she spotted something out the corner of her eyes slightly more in her peripheral vision than Zach's. She turned her head and her eyes opened wide at the sight of something even better than what she could say to lift Zach's mood. It lifted her own as well as she smiled brighter than Zach felt was appropriate, though he was also confused as she shot up out of her seat while turning around.

His heart started racing before he even turned back. That look, he could see the tears in Momo's eyes above the smile on her face full of more relief than he could imagine. He knew who was standing behind him already but still hesitated another second to try and force doubt into his mind so he would not be so let down when… He looked back. Zach turned and his shaky eyes steadied with his lips lifting at the corners finally at the sight of the orange-haired girl walking towards them.

"Kendo," Yaoyorozu whispered, then she quickly walked forward to her friend from Class B. "You should not be out of your bed if you just woke up-"

"I needed to come…" Kendo had glanced towards Yaoyorozu for a second before looking Zach's way as she said that. She paused though and turned more directly to the slightly taller girl next to her, "Thank you, Yaoyorozu. They said if it wasn't for the KO-14 they put me on…"

Yaoyorozu put her arms around her friend and gave her a quick hug. "I am so glad you are alright," Yaoyorozu cut Kendo off. She put her head next to Kendo's where Kendo could not see her face, then she lifted her right arm that she had wrapped behind Kendo and wiped away the relieved tears from her face. "We were all so worried about you."

Zach had his phone in hand and looked away from the girls when Momo hugged Kendo. I heard Rin didn't want to leave China until he knew you were safe. I'm sure all of Class B need to hear this right now, Zach doubted Kendo took the minute to first text everyone she knew before coming over here. He did not want them waiting another second without knowing whether or not their class rep was going to make it, and he received a response from Rin within seconds of the text delivering. He smiled at the reply and then put his phone back in his pocket before turning to the girl who released the hug she gave Yaoyorozu back before looking to Zach again.

"Kendo," Zach started while getting up from his seat. "I just, want to tell you…"

"I'm sorry," Kendo whispered. She said it with her lips trembling, confusing Yaoyorozu who got even more confused as Zach did not seem to know what Kendo was apologizing for either and looked more surprised than she did. Kendo glanced down at the floor and thought about the ride in Fu's arms as they were flying back to the Fundong FLICC. "Because when I closed my eyes," Kendo started explaining. She paused and pursed her lips frustratedly, before whispering while looking up into his eyes, "I really thought I was going to die."

Zach's eyes enlarged more and shook, his heart tugging at what she was telling him. "I should have believed you," she said quietly.

"I thought I was wrong too," Zach whispered back. His voice was pained that she was apologizing for this when even he had lost all hope. "And if the cure hadn't-"

"But it did," Yaoyorozu cut Zach off now. She stopped him before he could make Kendo think it was even closer, or before he could finish his own painful thought. Zach and Kendo both looked towards the dark-haired girl who smiled back at the two of them in a relieved and happy way. Her smile was infectious and after a couple seconds, the other two smiled as well because she was right. The cure had come in time. Kendo was alive. 'What if's didn't matter. Good news for once could just be good news with nothing else attached. Zach's smile could not be shaken, even as he saw a doctor he worked closely with step into the staff tent behind Kendo and look his way reluctantly…

---

"Deku!" Uraraka yelled over her shoulder.

Midoriya looked her way and saw the short girl in the couch area had big eyes looking back at him before she darted them to the tv again. Tokoyami just stood up from his seat on Uraraka's right and watched the screen with shaking eyes at the investigative news report an American news team was releasing in a special edition of their program.

Ectoplasm sat at his desk in his own dorm room at U.A.'s teachers' dorm building. He leaned back from his computer where he was watching the report himself, putting his hands together and under his chin thoughtfully with his white eyes getting darker at the title bar on the bottom of the screen. This is not good for him. Or any of us. Couldn't just give this information to Star-Spangled Man? Making it public like this…

"If that's true…" Ojiro muttered while looking to the side at the screen from the couch on Uraraka's left side. His expression got more serious, though he felt none of the shock he thought he might in this moment. He thought of the specifics of the encounter Toru and Zach had with Mysti, specifics his girlfriend had told him that she added never to let Zach know she had revealed to him.

Midoriya stepped up behind the center couch and looked towards the tv. He had been back at school for a couple days already trying to make up the work he had missed, but Zach, Yaoyorozu, and Kendo were all still in China with Recovery Girl. He watched the report from inside Gangwe where the American reporter stood with the main Fundong FLICC tent Deku was very familiar with in the background of her camera shot. "…Of those two infected patients who reported to have died before to the emergency personnel dealing with them, one Hisang Wang from Weiling came forward to reveal that he had never died in the first place. His family was worried about him dying a second time, and people already knew of his first death when he claimed to have been revived by Death nine months ago: last July. He revealed his deception however in fear that Lifebringer would not attempt to revive him if it was thought that he had died once previously."

"In our interview with a source close to Wang who had already been apprehended for filing a false police report and was unavailable for comment, we learned that Wang revealed to his doctors that he had been lying about being killed because Death saved his life from a villain attack in July. After Death saved him, supposedly Death requested that he tell people he had died first and that Death brought him back to life. He was one of the people who was reported to have been revived on the very same day in July that Zach Sazaki was reported to have been arrested a day earlier. It can only be speculated on why Death would ask people to claim they were revived, the same time that Sazaki was in custody. Although it could be stated that those false claims worked in Sazaki's favor when he defended himself against being Death during his trial…"

"Deku," Uraraka started while looking at the curly haired boy standing behind her. She looked up at him then hesitated at the look in his eyes so serious but not surprised in the least. Does he already know? She hesitated and then shook her head, deciding not to ask him a question that she was afraid to hear the answer of. I don't want you to lie to me anymore, Deku. I told you not to but… But this time, Uraraka thought of Zach's thoughtful look as he turned from her and Sato after slipping up during a lie he was telling them a few weeks ago. I don't think I want the answer.

Principal Nezu sat in his office on the off hours after school. He had paperwork in front of him in regards to his teachers and students traveling to China and assisting with the Sleepless Outbreak. His beady black eyes were lifted to his television screen though on his side wall, then they moved to the left side of his paperwork and a buzzing phone sitting there.

---

"Recovery Girl says to get ready. We'll be getting our return orders pretty soon," Yaoyorozu said while sitting down across from her classmate who she heard had just woken up.

Zach was relieved to wake up and not find a single patient awaiting revival. It had already been a while since his last revival before he determined it was alright for him to go to sleep, but he had not set an alarm to rather just wait for someone to wake him up when he was needed. He slept a full night only waking up from small noises he heard around him that he quickly went back to sleep after stirring from. "Are you still working?" Zach wondered to his ex-girlfriend who did not seem as tired as she was the last time they spoke.

"A little," Yaoyorozu replied. She sat in a relaxed way while saying it though, as her job was practically finished and she was in no rush to get back to it now. The two of them had done their jobs constantly for a week but right now, they were not needed as much as the others who were dealing with clean-up, the press, breaking down tents, and doing the paperwork that neither of them had to do. The two were able to just sit there and talk together freely, a couple of teens who had saved a country together and were two of the most popular people in China at the moment, if not The most popular.

"…The machines are starting to be reused only as they don't need more with less people on KO's than at the peak of the infections-"

"I heard that not one of the KO-14's you made malfunctioned during use. They're saying it's all thanks to you, and the designs," Zach added as he saw his friend opening her mouth to counter him and give credit to Olsen and Khatri again.

Momo closed her mouth and just nodded appreciatively of those people Zach was referring to again. She leaned back in her seat after a moment and continued thinking on them fondly, I'll continue to make more even though Szechuman said it isn't necessary. Having more is always better, though, I think I would just like to supply Virtucorp with as many as possible. As they are patented by Virtucorp, all of these machines will be returned to them after the incident is fully resolved. Even if we don't need to make any more, this will be my way of thanking them for all they did. I would hope that they could also profit from these designs as well in order for them to continue making such inventions.

"Dr. Khatri is an amazing woman," Yaoyorozu started. She looked back at her friend who agreed with a nod, then she added, "I heard from Recovery Girl that Power Loader sensei had mentioned her before. Did you…"

Zach nodded at what Yaoyorozu was asking him. His expression did not change much though his lips were flat. It did not look like he was happy she realized that he had something to do with getting their teacher a better prosthetic, which Yaoyorozu figured out after a second. Ah, that's right. Yaoyorozu hummed quietly to herself while thinking of another hero Zach knew who had suddenly gained amazing prosthetics allowing him to return to his job as a hero. Grappler's entire agency you worked with your first year. So many of us lost people we knew that day. Indago senpai… "I heard President Javier is recognizing Virtucorp's actions, and that the Americans are having a parade in New York for the heroes who came to China along with the scientists involved."

"He might be trying to use how Yue Fei attached what happened here to Gondorhan," Zach said, annoyed after Yaoyorozu mentioned the American president's name. Though if he took my threat to heart, it could just be he thinks this is the best thing he could do for the country. It better be. Or I'll come back for him. Zach just kept frowning even at the thought he used to make himself less frustrated. He sighed after a second as imagining beating up the U.S. president again did not make him feel any better and he realized that it was good that it didn't. He then smiled instead at the thought of how it did not make him feel better, Still don't like hurting people. That's good. How long until it doesn't bother me? If Ares was right… Just like that Zach's smile faded.

"Excuse me," the teens turned, and Zach smiled both in relief that he did not have to answer Momo's coming question and just to smile at whoever this stranger behind them was.

One of the newer volunteers was behind the two of them. She gulped, then the girl with short lime-green hair held out the cups of coffee that were shaking in her trembling hands. "I made you coffee. If you would like-"

"Thank you," Zach replied, using English as the Chinese volunteer girl was. He flashed a brighter smile at her when she lifted her head quickly at the response. He reached out and grabbed a cup, then the girl who stared at him wide-eyed for a moment turned and held out Creati's.

"Thank you very much," Yaoyorozu grabbed the cup then pulled it back to herself. She opened her mouth to continue but the girl rushed off too quickly, seemingly in a hurry or maybe just getting too nervous from the interaction so far. Yaoyorozu sighed but then frowned when she looked back at the cup. Such an expected reaction. Is this an attempt- Yaoyorozu's eyes darted to the side at her classmate who lifted the cup and took a sip from his hot coffee. He's not even worried about poison. Because all the assassins are dead.

She remembered coming up to him in the days after he returned to U.A. when he was in a strangely good mood. The power he was constantly emitting during their conversation like he could not hold it in had been as terrifying as what he was saying about the death of Eziano Mozcaccio and the end of his army of assassins. The Muindo Mountains were destroyed in the battle. Against the "God of War." Midoriya was there as well. You say you were not lying about what you started to tell me, but you got so angry… I've never seen you mad at me. After you got "sick" things seemed to return to normal, or, whatever your new normal is.

I still haven't talked to her about how I acted that night. She came to help. Zach did not let it show on his face but he was worried about the way she looked and wondered if it had to do with a conversation they had not so long ago. She knew something was wrong with me. I figured it out after that talk to. Figured out that I couldn't keep it all in. If I bring it up though, if I apologize for the way I acted, then I'll have to explain what happened which only Shoji knows the full extent of. Though Sato and Kirishima each saw a lot as well…

Zach shook his head around and took another sip from the coffee he had been brought. He pursed his lips after sipping and then hummed in an unenthusiastic way before sipping again. Zach glanced to the girl next to him who wondered about the noise he made, and Zach mentioned, "Seraphim's coffee tasted better. This one's got too much creamer, though I appreciate that girl for putting in the effort."

"Do you prefer your coffee black?" Yaoyorozu wondered. She sounded interested but smiled at the same time as to how casual a conversation this was about something so small.

"No," Zach replied. "Seraphim saw me put one cream and one sugar in a cup before. I was usually busy and just wanted the caffeine but, she always took the time out to make it just the way I liked it."

"She sounds like a pleasant person," Yaoyorozu mentioned. She smiled at the boy who was smiling as well in a carefree way. "What was she like?"

"An amazing warrior," Zach replied. "A beautiful woman who turned heads everywhere she went, but only if she wanted to." Zach added the last bit with a smirk at the thought of her clever nature and how great she could be at blending in despite her looks. He went on as he thought on that, "A tactical genius and brilliant mind, with the skill to get close to any enemy no matter how powerful…" Zach said the words nostalgically then slowly took another sip of coffee that tasted bland and wrong as he talked about Seraphim.

Momo stayed quiet for a few seconds as Zach sipped his coffee again. She did the same but lowered it after only a moment. "What happened to her?" Yaoyorozu asked, keeping her voice soft but asking the question against the nagging doubt in her mind telling her not to.

Zach's smile lowered and he continued staring straight away from Yaoyorozu and at the tv near them. "She died," he answered. "In the Siege of Razmatan. She fell fighting against…"

The "Siege of Razmatan?" Yaoyorozu had heard him talk about the event before. She imagined being in his apartment and checking his temperature, leaning in close to his face before asking about the scar on the right side of his forehead. Right now that scar was hidden by his bangs, but she could see the largest scar on the left side of his face that she looked at instead. He said he received many scars that day. However it is also something I read in Oda's book. Her eyes lowered down as Zach continued speaking on it in a low tone, He refuses to tell me, even now.

Zach stopped speaking and looked at Yaoyorozu confusedly. She looked back up at him and stared into his eyes that looked confused at the way she had glanced down. "What?" He asked, his eyebrows moving down and his eyes more confused by the way she gazed at him.

His question caught her off guard. Huh-

Zach spun his head and looked back to the tv as this odd moment with Yaoyorozu could wait. "…Not a time for celebration! China is in a rough state right now. Weren't heroes supposed to be back in control of things? These villains came out of nowhere, and now look at what happened! Hundreds of people died, workplaces were shut down for over a hundred million workers, and a lot of people are still scared that the Fabu have a lot of missing tanks out there full of Sleepless that could be released at any time by the missing members."

"That's right Arng. I wish we could say that the Fabu are finished, but we still don't know how many of them there are or where the former Triakuza members who apparently funded and gathered the Fabu are hiding. Premier Tai Jin needs to step up now and do something before these groups and others take advantage…"

You guys making a big fuss over the little problems remaining is what's going to spur on the rest of the villains, Zach thought in annoyance at the sensationalists on the news program. Or maybe it will make them feel cocky enough to step out right now, while there are so many foreign heroes still around. Could work out in our favor. Plus, it'll shut you up if the heroes can get some hard evidence or a confession of the real numbers they still have to deal with. After the UK made a big fuss about Governor Dengar being the temporary Number 1, I'm betting Tea Master sticks around to see things through.

"…Premier Jin's speech yesterday evening didn't say much of anything in regards to all the complaints people have about how this incident was handled and how his government will hold responsible those who allowed it to get so far. If it weren't for Lifebringer's intervention, who knows how many people would have died? Ten thousand? More?! We can't just say 'Well things worked out' and move right on with our lives. What if he's not here next time to bail us out?"

"Asking for help from our neighbors is something we should not be too proud to do, but relying on it is something we can't do. Yue Fei made the right call bringing in as much help as he could right at the start of this incident, but the fact that he knew we needed it before things had even gotten out of control shows me, and a lot of people I know who say the same thing, that even our best hero doesn't believe China has the power to handle these kinds of incidents on its on."

Don't you bring up the weapons' lab, Zach glared at the screen and the reporters on it who were sounding a little too opinionated. Someone needs to counter that maybe the villains this time were just that much better. That's what it was. Heroes were experienced and prepared. Yue Fei made the right moves. Sometimes things still go wrong, but don't go looking for "alternative" measures for future protection. This entire broadcast is becoming dangerous… Though I understand the feelings that are emerging. They arise from the fear that something like this could happen. And that it could happen when they believed that they were safe now from the villains who had become so quiet in their country…

China's afraid of looking weak. The people don't want it coming off like that. Mulan is just off injury. Yue Fei and others recovering from Sleepless, and Heiping dead. Zach hummed while his irises swirled with red lines for a moment as he thought even faster. They don't want the foreign heroes to leave but many are already returning home, as I will be very soon. My imminent departure is increasing the fear that China will be left unprotected and with heroes solely focused on clean-up from this incident. They're right to fear. If there are other powerful villains hiding around here they're going to take advantage. I suspect the Army of Death will remain nearby, unless they're in America dealing with the actual Gondorhan cause, or… I don't know where they are. I am not privy to Death's activities. My guesses are educated but not exact.

Still, I know that there will be conflict among the various powers in China. Heroes want to keep focus solely on the villains from this last incident they have to track down and finish off, but they cannot spend too long away from the others in power. They should know that they can't risk allowing another government to be corrupted away from their close watch, or for the military types lurking in the nation to convince inexperienced leaders like Premier Jin to turn back to illegal weapons' manufacturing. Convincing him it's necessary to protect the public while also gathering more power for themselves with the knowledge of the corruption they bred at the highest levels.

A different report had started on the news as Zach was thinking about the big picture and potential futures for China. He watched as a group of heroes at the Fabu's base near Weiling were moving about outside the huge hole in the front of the cliffside base. "…Although the united response is starting to be broken up, many foreign heroes remain and are searching for all connected parties to the Fabu. Alongside Team Canada and Star-Spangled Man, you can see Fu as well as E-Lass The City right there." The video on the screen turned into a graphic with a purple circle drawn over one of the figures whose full-body protective suit had traces of E-Lass's costume blended in with the special protective material.

Zach saw the two female heroes standing outside the quarantined base and speaking with the top American hero as well as the leader of Team Canada. His eyes focused on the two women and specifically Fu who got Kendo back to Fundong as fast as she could from what he had heard. She probably saved Kendo's life, Zach imagined. He wondered what Kendo was doing right now to help out, though he knew she was in Fundong with them and not out at the Fabu's HQ with many others they had worked with during their time in China. Thank you, Fu. And I'm glad E-Lass died after the end of our mission. If it had happened earlier, then even if you had begged me to save your friend I wouldn't have been able to do it.

I'm glad I saved her too, Zach thought with his eyes shifting to E-Lass The City again. I hope you two can find everyone involved and finish this. I wonder though…

Zach's eyes lowered down and a troubled frown twisted on his face. China was in a better state. Things were good here and people were not ready for this kind of attack to come out of nowhere. The Fabu were full of insane people. Villains I saw who were crazy. After all I did- after all WE did, for so long! Hundreds of people here still died in this villain attack. And if I wasn't here, they're right. Thousands would have died. Tens of thousands maybe. I did cause some change. Maybe that cure would have still been made but, but it would have been too late for so many people. So what did I do? All that time out there, what did I really accomplish?

I know it's possible! Is it? No one else would even imagine that it is. Naive. Pointless. Impossible. It's what people have told me, and it's what I've thought myself, but it still has to be the goal. The end goal, right? He asked himself it but then gulped while sweating and lowering his gaze more. If it's impossible though, then am I only holding onto the idea so I don't settle? Am I grasping onto the hope of stopping them all, to give myself at least one other option post-graduation? One other way I can save more people than just reviving them? Stopping all villains would be better. It would save more lives, because saving them isn't just bringing them back to life. It would be better for everyone… Especially me. Zach's lips shook as he sat at the table with his eyes pointed down and getting watery. Sleepless… hurt. I can't breathe.

Thinking about it stopped Zach's lungs from working properly. He wondered if he forced them to on purpose because he suddenly recalled all that pain at once. It hurt so much, he gasped out with his eyes shaking as he stared down at the tops of his legs and his hands gripping his thighs. Thousands… THOUSANDS! I couldn't do it. My mind is blanking. I turned it off- I tried. No. No I turned it off between revivals. I needed not to think as I walked to the next corpse because I'd hesitate and every second… Every second! WAS PAIN-

I can't do this forever. I need other options. But the Fabu weren't a secret criminal organization around for decades. They weren't led by a super genius. They had a half-baked goal and someone with an extremely dangerous Quirk, and a few smart people guided them into becoming the worst thing China's seen in… In? Is this the worst, of even the Age of Villains? It can't… 738. 738 people died in one attack. The Fabu were the worst. And they weren't even in the Age of Villains. What is that? What is the "Age of Villains?" Just something I imagined for myself. A way to tell myself that once we got through it that things would be better, but they're NOT! Not everywhere. Not forever.

All it takes are a few evil minds. A few smart thoughts. A couple useful Quirks. Zach's hands gripped his thighs harder. Is it possible to stop them all? Ever?! It sounds ridiculous to me right now. If it's so crazy, then I can't waste my time trying for something that can't be- My friends believed it until their last breaths- AND THEY'RE DEAD NOW! And there are people who are alive and who I can't let die just because I'm holding onto the hopes of my dead comrades. They died for the best world I could create. If I've come to understand that I can't do something so, so massive, then maybe I have to just do the next best thing… What am I thinking? If I do that, I told Mina what would happen. I told her what would happen if I choose to be nothing but the reviver. Except I didn't lose it.

I didn't. Zach repeated it to himself and looked up painfully towards the tv where they were still talking about the "horrible Fabu" who were nothing more than a pebble to him in the grand scheme of how many other villains he had had to deal with before. I didn't lose it, even though Sleepless hurt like nothing had before. That much Sleepless at once and I survived. I did not just survive but I saved them while also ending the incident. I can do it. I tell myself that I'm too weak, and that I will lose my mind and my humanity, because I'm a coward. I don't want to feel that much pain. And why should I? I'm trying. I'm still trying to save them all!

Pity party. Trying means nothing. When they die and you let their loved ones die, apologizing for your weakness doesn't soften the blow. It still hurts. I could have saved them. What stops me? What stops me from starting now?

Zach could see the girl in his peripheral vision pretending not to stare at him in confusion as to how he was acting. He imagined those friends back at U.A. who he was missing already. My soldiers didn't just want me to stop all villains. That wasn't the only thing they begged me. "Kill me!" "SAVE ME!" "I don't want to die." They also told me, not to forget to live. "Mommy! Mommy help-" "MOMMA!" I have to remember that. They asked me to live. Even if they didn't. The ones who wanted those lives, they died so that I could live. So many of them died in my place. I can't let this life go to waste. It's not wasted saving others nor in living a life I feel they'd want for me. What would they want for me? My army… I can't even remember, all their faces.

Zach closed his eyes. Remember. He sat still on the seat and his lips twisted as his face scrunched up, pain flashing over his expression.

"Lifebringer, and Creati," the teens turned. Zach opened his eyes as he turned and noticed the way the girl on his side glanced at him after they turned together. He ignored that brief pained look towards him and just glanced curiously at Dr. Reena who stood behind them.

The Chinese doctor who had worked closely with them smiled softly back at Lifebringer who she had come to speak to. She greeted Creati respectfully too, then she looked back to the boy who had revived her. "I have something to show you," Reena began. She paused for a moment and pursed her lips as she had been one of the doctors who had been working with Lifebringer towards the end. After he had revived her, she was quick to resume her role at the Fundong FLICC which had struggled dearly after she had succumbed to Sleepless herself. "It's something a lot of people worked on, but everyone's still so busy that there's really no good time to show it to you together…"

Zach rose his eyebrows with a quick glance to Yaoyorozu who looked confused herself. They were each interested but got even more intrigued as Dr. Reena stepped forward while lifting up her ERT, "It's just been posted to social media and has been shared thousands of times already, but I wanted to be here when you saw it…" Reena pursed her lips again then spoke quickly to the teen in front of her, "Hearing what happened in the cafeteria, I knew no one really knew. I told my friends and colleagues who weren't here how hard you were working trying to revive as many people as you could, and they spread the word-"

"That's not necessary," Zach started. He lifted a palm to get her to stop speaking as she was getting too emotional over this.

"Please," she stopped him first. "Just watch this," she smiled and held out the ERT that Zach took and lowered down in between him and Momo who scooted towards him.

She just posted this? Shares are over 120,000- 122? Zach watched the live tracker of the number of shares that could not keep up with the actual numbers. He tapped on the 'Play' triangle in the middle of the screen, and he smiled as someone had put in a lot of work into the making of the video. The first clip was from a helicopter shot over Fundong looking over the city and part of the FLICC. It had the sunrise in the background and looked well-made, but Zach's smile faltered as the screen changed after a second and showed Dr. Reena herself standing inside of the FLICC.

"To Lifebringer,"

"From all of us…"

Zach's mouth opened slightly as he watched the screen. When did they have the time- He saw healthcare workers standing out in front of their hospitals all over China. The signs labeling the hospitals were in the backgrounds of the doctors which made it known what cities and provinces they were in after the new Premier was just shown saying 'from all of us.' In between the flashing images of healthcare workers holding up signs appeared packed police precincts and EMTs standing in and around the backs of open ambulances.

Then the image flipped to an elementary school somewhere. A classroom of young students jumped up from their desks at the moment the clip showed them, and they all yelled out, "Thank you!"

The screen cut the next second to an entire school district crowded into an auditorium. A few dozen voices from one class turned into a thousand shouting at once, "THANKS LIFEBRINGER!"

Another doctor who Zach did not recognize but was an older man appeared in a hallway of a hospital with people rushing around in the background. He took out the moment though from his busy day and looked into the camera on him, "We know you're doing everything you can to help us."

"We know you're reviving as many people as you can," a group of nurses in pink and blue scrubs were standing around a rounded desk in a hall of another hospital.

A small girl wearing a helmet and standing in front of her bike, "You stopped the villains hurting us."

"And we wanted to pay you back!" Some fishermen on a pier in Beiju yelled back at the person who had called to them for the video's sake.

"Thank you."

"Thanks, for saving my life."

"And mine!" What had been one person telling Lifebringer thanks for saving their life, turned into a picture of hundreds of people that Zach recognized. Some of them were only faint images in his mind, but the sign behind them held over their heads labeled them as 'The Revived.' Their voices rang out over each other as they all shouted it at once at him, but the screen skipped onto the next one just as quickly after they had their second of gratitude.

"THANK YOU LIFEBRINGER!" Zach's eyes grew larger as the focus of the camera lifted up over the front lines of the people standing out on a city street. The camera rose and looked down a road packed with people all the way down past the next intersection and farther, with people leaning out their windows and cheering too as they yelled it. Qingxiao, he recognized the street as the exact one he had stayed at throughout the earthquake. It was where people brought their dead. Where Death had been unable to save many… but also where he had revived over a hundred lives.

"Thank you, Lifebringer," Premier Jin appeared back in his office and said, adding his thanks on as well.

"Thank you for responding when I called," Yue Fei added from the Xing Command Center full of others looking the camera's way with smiles too.

"And for all you've done for us," another group of heroes called out. Zach recognized many he had seen during the incident including Sheshou and Fu, Szechuman and Mulan, and two he had revived: The Wall and E-Lass The City.

"From everyone here," Jake Long added from a private jet he had taken a quick video on his ERT from.

"The whole nation of China wants to say…" Shān said with the capital city of Beijing in the background.

The screen split apart into a dozen of the different angles from previous clips. All of the other angles in little squares across the screen rang out together, "You're our hero!" They all yelled it out and then cheers echoed through many of the clips as the people who said it could not keep themselves from yelling more and clapping. Those sounds got quieter as the images all faded to one black screen.

'Thank You Lifebringer' faded into the black screen in white Chinese Kanji characters.

"Wow," Momo whispered. She looked up from the screen with a bright smile on her face. She opened her mouth to mention how amazing it was that they all did that, but she hesitated as she looked at Zach who stared down at the screen with his expression as flat as could be.

After a second he looked up from the screen and smiled at Dr. Reena who was surprised by his reaction as well. His voice was soft as he told her, "Thanks, for that." He held back out her ERT and Dr. Reena hesitantly took it from his hands.

Reena pursed her lips, wondering in worry as she turned away, Was that wrong? I thought he would appreciate it. She headed away as she was still on the clock and needed to continue with her important work right now. The doctor glanced back over her shoulder towards the boy whose reaction she had watched through the video, but it was now that she froze before she could leave the staff tent. Her eyes opened huge as Zach brought his right hand to his chest and gripped into it while clenching his eyes shut.

Yaoyorozu lifted her hand partially but froze as she herself could not speak at the agonized look on Zach's face that confused her so much.

…None of them will ever get recognition. No one will ever remember them, and I'm getting all this praise! It shouldn't feel so… Zach ground his teeth more and his eyes opened with his face scrunched up in pain, though he could not force it any longer as the corners of his lips lifted into a smile anyway. He rose his right hand from his chest and wiped his eyes, because as much as what he just thought about hurt, watching that video had made him so happy. He wiped his eyes more as the tears did not just stop right away as he stopped pushing down how good it felt, but he laughed as he realized what those tears must have been then if they were continuing despite it.

Zach turned his head and looked towards the tv that had been playing in the background the entire time. He continued smiling and just let out another laugh as the reporter on the screen continued, "We have just confirmed reports that when Lifebringer and Deku stopped the Fabu they prevented another release which was going to be even worse than the Gangwe-wide Failed Sleepless Release the other night. The canisters they found at the Fabu's headquarters were meant to be deployed the next day in all areas where heroes and healthcare workers had left to deal with the massive surge in infections. Dozens of vehicles were found inside already with activated Sleepless ready to be deployed, but Lifebringer got there in time…"

---

In the Karebo Office, the Japanese Prime Minister's home address and workplace that was built after the chaotic times around seventy years back, Enri Nikko walked swiftly down a hallway with red carpeting and turned the corner. She glanced to her left and looked out the windows in the residential area of the building, and she could see the National Diet Building (the location of Japan's parliament) sticking out between buildings as the legislature was not far in Tokyo from the executive branch's main office. Enri moved between the two guards standing at the end of the hallway who opened the double doors for her. She did not slow down but walked between them and out onto a tiled hard floor that she continued walking on without pause.

Enri went around the side of the building connecting to her living space with her husband. She encountered more people out of their residence, nodding to a few staffers as well as to a hero leaning against the wall just at the top of the staircase as they were on the second floor. She did not turn to the stairs to head down into a more crowded area of the Karebo Office, but rather she turned towards the hero and then walked up to and past the red-haired man chewing bubblegum who just nodded back at the Prime Minister's wife. Bloodhound sniffed a couple times as she was walking past, his eyes shifting to the side though he did not look directly at her as if accusing the woman of anything. The hero assigned there just hummed and kept chewing his bubblegum, while wondering in the back of his mind, Stupid bitch hasn't noticed either.

Does this freak really sniff people? Feels strange trying to "blend in" when my mark was a total weirdo. Meta blew another bubble and smirked once it got big enough to hide his mouth, though his lips were flat again before it popped. Hope Intanzo's having some real fun with these guys right now!

Enri marched into the room just outside of her husband's office. "Is Kaizo in there?" Enri wondered, not looking like she was going to slow down though she did glance to the receptionist at the desk outside the Prime Minister's office.

"He's in a meeting-"

"He'll want to hear this," Enri replied without slowing, moving for the door and opening it up to step into Kaizo Nikko's office.

So impatient are you? The anxious-looking receptionist thought while darting her gaze to the office she just allowed the Prime Minister's wife to barge into. She "relaxed" herself with a deep breath and then walked to the door herself to look inside in a hesitant way somewhat apologetic for allowing it while also looking for the glances in her direction telling her that she did not have much of a choice. Kaizo himself gave his receptionist a short and accepting nod when the woman he thought was actually younger than him looked in with worry on her face about the security of her job.

Kaizo did not stand up from his seat when Enri walked into the room. She paused though before speaking when others looked her way, as not everyone did. Prime Minister Nikko looked up at her and then past her before nodding at the receptionist who nodded back respectfully then closed the door. Pinoko rolled her neck around after closing the door, tilting her head back and then frowning as keeping up the act of a young intern on her way into politics was getting exhausted. Her frown continued when she looked back towards her desk, as keeping up the act was only one hard part of this job. Didn't realize I'd actually have to do her actual work. It's harder than I imagined it'd be. Guess I'll take back some of those insults next time I see her… Though, she isn't a hero. Doubt Intanzo's keeping her around for his "hero-prison." Raijin might have a use for her though…

"Kaizo," Enri started. She wondered what her husband and the others around him behind his desk were looking at on his computer screen. "Are you watching the news?"

"The news?" Defense Minister Abani looked away from the computer he was staring at intensely. The former hero official turned high-ranking official had thin white hair and a pair of glasses on. He looked towards Enri interestedly in what she had come rushing in for, which also told the shorter woman who just rushed in that what they were focused on had nothing to do with her news.

Enri pushed some strands of her brick red hair behind her right ear then walked farther into the room and towards her husband's desk. "A small group of big-shot Chinese villains were just caught. China's most wanted, the one called De-Lavio, included. I'm hoping his capture is going to be considered as the end to the Sleepless crisis, once and for all…" Enri walked more towards the side of her husband's desk while glancing at the monitor again where there had to be a video playing based on the shifting lighting on the faces of the few people sitting and standing behind it.

"Where did you get this?" one of the highest-ranking members of the Diet wondered in a low voice while looking to his left side at the younger Prime Minister.

"It was sent to our office anonymously," the secretary of the treasury muttered in response. He had sweat dripping down the left side of his face while glancing to his right at a costumed man with spiky silver hair that pointed up specifically in two rounded tops like the prongs of a plug. "Electro opened it and watched the contents first, just in case it was something dangerous."

"Dangerous is exactly what that is," Electro said while giving a cold and uneasy glare towards the flashdrive plugged into the side of the screen.

Enri looked at the drive and immediately felt a pit form in her chest. Someone sent us a strange flashdrive? Are they watching something brutal? Some threat against a hostage, making demands of the Prime Minister using… Enri shook her head around. All her worst fears of what could happen to her and her husband because of his position of power, and just the fear of the kind of decisions he would have to make in this position, had risen up all at once. She relaxed herself though and told herself not to jump to any more conclusions as she walked around the side of the desk.

Electro hesitated with a look at the woman but eased away and allowed her to look towards the screen. There's no way we can hide it from everyone… Electro grimaced as Enri looked at the screen with her eyes bulging as gunshots blasted out the speakers at that same moment.

A few of the others behind the desk winced and looked away, but they all returned their gazes onto the shaky video that had been on the flashdrive. They all stared at the screen, and Enri gasped with her jaw dropping, "That's-"

A hero is already here, Secretary Abani glanced Electro's way then darted his eyes back onto the screen. Electro knows that it isn't as simple as that though. Seeing this… Seeing it doesn't change- It does. Everything changes. But Electro knows it isn't simple. Nothing is anymore.

Kaizo grit his teeth behind his lips he attempted to keep as flat as possible. What do I do? That's obvious. I didn't think it was true. I wished it wasn't, and this might be a trap- it probably is. I just have to act as the Prime Minister would! What's going on underneath has nothing to do… Are they watching me right now? I need to tell Electro. I need to find courage for once in my… Nikko's lips twisted more with his eyebrows lifting up high as the shaking video steadied. His face scrunched up and then his eyes lowered as the camera itself did and then cut off. His head turned and he looked towards Electro who gave him a look back questioning what Nikko's orders were without saying anything about what he thought those orders should be.

You can't hide it from everyone. You know that Shigaraki will know if you do, Electro gave an intense but understanding look back at the Prime Minister who grimaced deeper while looking back straight at the flashdrive. Electro was the only hero in the room. He was assigned as Nikko's personal guard-hero by the Hero Public Safety Commission after the Koimou Massacre. The electric-type Quirk user was a strong hero in the top twenty of the latest rankings, though with half the top 10 killed over the past year, Sonic wondered if his ranking would actually be within 10 now. I'm having a hard time hiding my own secrets, you know? And apparently Hawks is buddy-buddy with me, at least more-so than he is with others.

Electro turned his head and looked at one of the Diet officials who suggested they just destroy the flashdrive right there. He frowned deeper but kept his mouth shut, The kind of guy I am wouldn't push it. I could do something, but it's definitely a risk. I'm not taking it. I wish we would have waited longer to infiltrate this deep…

The Prime Minister hardened his expression and press his hands down on the desk in front of him. Nikko pushed up out of his seat, then he removed the flashdrive and stared down at it silently for a few seconds. The murmuring of the other officials quieted down. His wife stared at the side of his head and felt the pit in her chest get even deeper at the moment most others in the room just felt impressed by how focused Nikko looked. His expression was grim but determined as he turned to Electro, "Contact Lemillion."

---

A/N ...End of the Sleepless arc. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Again sorry for the long update. Going to be a decently long one again because I'm doing construction and still working at the food bank too, and I really need to read the last 100 chapters again for my own memory's sake. No review responses tonight 'cause I gotta get to bed early, but to those of you worried about Kendo in the comments... :) I didn't make it horribly depressing for once! XD haha hope you're happy she survived, wonder who thought she was really a goner and who thought Zach was going to save her? Let me know in a comment below, as well as any questions, other comments, or predictions for what's about to come... ;) Thanks again!