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!

242. Chapter 242: Countdown

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 242:

WoooooOOOO WoooOOOOO WEE-OOO WEE-OOO

Deku turned his head and looked down a block from the intersection he was at with Explosion King and Scorchle. The three heroes spotted the fast-moving police cars speeding through that intersection, and Scorchle called out, "Hold on!" He did not know if his two charges were about to rush off, but he was getting a phone call at the same time. Deku spun back towards Scorchle after he had already started bending his knees, while Bakugo grit his teeth and glared towards their senpai at the agency who snapped his phone to his head but also turned the opposite direction as those two cop cars had just drove.

More sirens came from the direction Scorchle looked, then to their right as well. Midoriya hesitated as he heard them, but when he listened closer, all of those sirens sounded like they were getting louder. They're heading this way. That way! Midoriya spun and looked towards where the initial police vehicles had headed. "Every second we're waiting-" Deku started to argue with the pro hero (even if he was Lemillion's sidekick). Midoriya froze though as he looked back and saw the color leave Scorchle's face. The way he looked at the two of them sent chills down their spines.

Scorchle was only one year older than the two interns who looked uneasily back at him. He lowered his phone after nodding and responding in a low mutter back to Lemillion that he understood. Scorchle had on an orange costume with flame patterns on it, his hair was straight and orange, and he had two metal pipes sticking up out of his shoulders. He was the top sidekick at Lemillion's agency, but he had a look of unease on his face mixed with intense pity and also, fear. His head turned and he looked in the direction more police vehicles were heading, along with several heroes all running down the sidewalks and yelling at each other in panicked voices. "We, need to get to the Karebo Office," Scorchle said.

"What happened?" Deku asked, his knees bending again and his face filling with intensity.

Bakugo just turned his head and stared across the street with his eyes shaking at something he thought he just overheard get shouted. Over the sirens and yelling around him, he heard Scorchle at his side tell him and Deku the same thing. He heard it but the words did not register in his head for a few moments. What? That's not… possible.

Five miles away, echoing footsteps filled a tunnel underneath Tokyo. A single figure walked down the tunnel on his own. Lights on the walls to his sides turned on when he walked past them. The automatic lights turned back off behind him after a few moments as well, because power in their underground tunnels needed to be conserved and limited to avoid notice. The lone man walking down the tunnel was on a slight incline. His hair was long, wavy, and bluish-gray. His body was lean and his eyes surrounded in dry skin just as his chapped lips were.

Shigaraki Tomura walked calmly all on his own towards the steeper ramp at the end of the tunnel that he could not see yet. At the top of that ramp, clanking sounds came from underneath the sidewalk and edge of an alleyway that two men just walked out of. The two homeless men did not notice the noise coming from the ground behind them. The silver-haired younger man of the two who was searching for new employment and housing spun his head to the left twice as two hero vehicles flew by him. He snapped his head to the right as he heard the yelling of people outside of a store window looking in at a television on display, and he and his fellow vagabond walked towards the glass that they stared inside at the 'Breaking News' in as much shock as everyone else.

"Ingenium! Wait-" Erra tried calling after the young man who was not yet a pro to be running off on his own in full costume. Ingenium was gone already though, and by the time Erra sprinted to the window she threw open, all the sidekick could see was a cloud of dust moving down the street in the direction of the center of Tokyo.

Driving down a main street of Tokyo, a small red sedan moved around two parked SUVs right in the middle of the road. "The light is green," the driver mentioned with a chuckle as he drove through the intersection on his way. He glanced to his left as he went around those vehicles, and he saw drivers staring at their phones in utter disbelief. "Haha, is it really so unbelievable?" The blond teenager driving through Tokyo wondered. His hair was shorter, recently cut back to a style he used to have while still in school. The black lightning bolt in his blond hair on the left side of his head was pronounced and visible, only blocked partially by the thin piece of metal from the red goggles pushed up on Raijin's forehead.

Raijin lifted his right hand from the wheel and turned his wrist. He checked his watch and smiled at the time. "Here we go." His eyes rose and stared through the windshield and down two more blocks to a building that had a huge glowing 'H' at the top of it. Billboards around the building were advertising various products. The city was abuzz with people on the sidewalks and driving their vehicles, with most drivers still going though a few had parked and had to get honked at first. Some of those vehicles pulled over to the sides of the roads and were now double-parked, all of their drivers staring at their phones and double-checking what they were seeing with as many sources as possible.

The red sedan driving through Tokyo pulled over in front of a thirty-six story building. The right side door opened up and the driver stepped out. Everyone was staring down at their phones. Not a single person looked towards the teenager with spiky blond hair who smirked while walking towards the automatic doors in front of him. The sliding doors opened up then closed quicker behind him as sparks came out of his back and hit them. The doors locked. His smirk rose up more, his blond eyebrows narrowing in towards his nose while everyone on the first floor of the building around the lobby was stuck staring at their phones or at the tv screens in their station. "Let's start the countdown," Raijin rolled his neck around and then turned to his right and made eye contact with a woman who glanced up from behind the greeting counter for a brief second before looking back down at her tablet. Her face turned twice as pale as it already was though, and her head slowly rose back up so her eyes locked on the yellow eyes staring back at her.

He wore a fashionable black jacket that was unzipped down the middle. It being unzipped showed the black and gold costume he had on underneath that stretched up to his neck as well above the popped collar of his jacket. He wore jeans but the knees of them were ripped and showed tighter black pants on underneath them. His boots were steel-toed and looked mechanical, high-tech of some kind and powered by the way they had a low blue glow coming off of them. Raijin stood there in the lobby of the Heroally TV station, staring at a receptionist who peed her pants at the sight of him. She had been scared and confused when she heard the breaking news, but it felt like her soul left her body as she stared into the cold calculating eyes of one of the nation's most wanted villains. She had watched this person cut the throat of her own personal hero, Fantasma. Her eyes filled with water as he stared daggers through her. She had never felt such fear in her entire life.

"Can you all hear me?" Raijin wondered. He started walking forward again while looking away from the woman at the counter on his right. She slouched into her chair and nearly fell off it but gripped her armrests in time. She was in a panic, but she grabbed for her phone and pulled it out as fast as she could. Raijin's voice came over the loudspeakers, while sparks came off his back and went into the doors and into the wiring of the building itself that he knew the layout of and the entire wiring plan. On every floor of the building, a voice started to speak to an office full of people who got confused as they heard him. "Let's take the security cameras down here, and wire them to all your computers and tvs," Raijin continued.

On the floor he was on, the televisions stopped showing the field reporters yelling into their microphones and at the cameramen with them. All the various news stations cut off. Everyone's work computers cut as well. The security office on the third floor had two guards in it who stared in terror at their screens that they had not been watching. All of the security footage was gone, and only one camera angle showed on every single screen now. It was footage from the first floor of the building. Showing Kaminari Denki standing in their lobby, sparks coming out of his back and out the top of his head into the ceiling. The company executives on the top floor and the maintenance men in the basement felt the same way. The janitor who had gotten confused as to why his streaming service was stuck buffering when he always had data in the building took out his headphones and stared towards the tv in his closet that just got hacked into. The four anchors at their desk where they held the morning news stared in absolute terror at the screens around them which usually showed their own faces or whatever was playing on their channel when they were not on the air at that moment.

"That's better," Raijin said. He lifted up his left hand with a tablet of his own on it. The security footage he cut from the security room was put on his tablet, and he could see all over the building at the same time. He rose his right hand and lowered his goggles down over his eyes. More translucent screens appeared on his lenses as well while he stopped in the middle of the lobby and looked towards the camera that was projecting him all around this building. "I can see you trying to call the police. It won't work. It may look like you have signal on your devices, but you don't," Kaminari taunted it, and then all the bars on the tops of people's screens disappeared.

The woman at her desk on his right and behind him who had been desperately trying to call the police started to cry. Her eyes darted to the automatic doors, an exit from this building. Then her eyes darted back to Kaminari Denki who was not looking at her. She jumped out of her seat and leapt over the counter using her Quirk, Leap. She made it to the door in one go, and though the doors did not open for her, she reached out to pull them apart. ZAP! Her hands touched the door and she was thrown back twenty feet so her charred body stopped just at Raijin's side.

All over the building, Raijin saw them panic. People on this floor screamed, and he zapped them. People on the floors above screamed, but his voice spoke over them, "Shhh. Shh Shh. No one is coming to help you." Voices quieted down all over the studio as they heard his menacing voice speak over their intercoms. The security camera he had full control of zoomed in on his face, and his voice became louder as his tablet's microphone transmitted his voice all across Heroally's station. "Your communications are blocked. The doors are all locked. On every floor, your lockdown safeguards have become your cell bars. This station is held together through steel supports. So conductive. With wires going along every steel beam, into every one of your computers, your doors, all around you."

Sparks came out of computers. They came out of light switches. People running towards windows got pushed back as electronic devices near them sparked and the sparks seemed to move with a mind of their own to attack them. Raijin's lips curved up at the corners, as he asked the building of several hundred people, "What can you do when you try to call the heroes but the lines are down?" He looked to his left at two people cowering behind a table in the lobby where they had been having coffee and eating breakfast together. "When no one in the entire Heroally TV station has a Quirk that can protect you? None of you have a Quirk that can call for help. No one here, has an ability that can help you escape. What do you do when the villain who came in here has no need for a single one of you?"

Heart rates spiked faster than they were already beating. People stared in terror into the eyes of this insane villain that got more severe each second he spoke to them. "This station is mine," Kaminari announced. "I picked yours specifically for my broadcast, because of how weak you all are. Every last one of you, so helpless. Unable to do a single thing to stop me. And all your heroes, called away. For some reason…" Kaminari's smirk rose even more, and the people who had just been watching some news that they all wished was not true, found themselves regretting those hopes. Because the tone in Raijin's voice told them that everything going on right now was all connected. His "broadcast" he mentioned was ominous and terrifying. Everything he said to them made them feel even more helpless. He knew everything. He had planned on everything. And the entire building sparked because he controlled everything too.

"Heroes can't save you. The Police Force can't save you. And in a few seconds when you're all dead, I want you to know," Raijin laughed and tilted his head back while electricity surrounded his body and everyone screamed once more as loud as they could. He shouted over their desperate screams for mercy, "Lifebringer won't be reviving you today!"

I failed! Deku flew over a street of Tokyo too blocked up by vehicles for anyone to drive down it anymore. He landed down on top of a cop car and leapt again, his body moving at such speeds the wind pulled after him and made heroes and cops below stumble. Then they ducked a second later as blasts went off above their heads too, as Explosion King followed Deku much faster than the pro they were patrolling with could keep up. Bakugo's eyes locked on Midoriya's back as they shot towards the Karebo Office, and he grit his teeth at the agonized look of failure that covered his childhood friend's face.

Nikko Enri? Zach! I don't know how- or why- or- I don't understand! Midoriya landed down on the street outside of the Karebo Office. Dozens of heroes were already gathered. The police were there and putting up barriers down the street with cops gathered together and looking terrified. Heroes were ahead of most of the police, packed at the base of the steps to the Karebo Office. The street just outside of the building was cleared of civilians and filling with heroes too. There was a single armored vehicle driving through the mass and being led by Lemillion who was already on the scene and only spun when he saw Deku arrive. "Deku! Stand back!"

Midoriya spun to his left and towards Lemillion. Then he spun to his right as he saw flames in the corner of his vision. Endeavor appeared on the scene, with Burnin and Shoto both on him along with several other sidekicks who were approaching just a little farther behind. The flaming heroes arrived on the scene though and Endeavor stormed through the crowd towards the steps where he was met by other heroes who were there on the scene earlier and beckoned him up the stairs to assist.

"This can't be real," Kirishima whispered in disbelief as he and Suneater showed up on the scene. People were yelling around them, and Suneater held back Kirishima from getting any closer as the redhead tried pushing through the crowd of other heroes. He spun towards his senpai whose teeth clenched in frustration and sadness, but so much more in pity as he looked from Red Riot who he had to hold back to the steps of the Karebo Office where someone was just led out of the building to the top of. Kirishima snapped his head back from Suneater and yanked his shoulder free, but then he froze in place and his eyes bulged as he spotted the person pulled from the building by the arresting heroes.

Midoriya felt his heart tear in half as he looked up those steps and at the figure being brought outside. One look at Zach's expression and his confusion and disbelief shattered. He leaned backwards. I failed. I failed him! I failed everyone else! Midoriya's face scrunched up. His breathing was ragged and he brought his right hand up to his chest and squeezed at the sight of Zach's glossed-over eyes. The way Zach carried himself was so far gone, so far broken, and his face unrecognizable as he gazed at the floor ahead of him with a thousand yard stare. I failed that woman too. All the people of Japan! By not arresting Zach on Inazuma Island! By letting things go so far! By not testifying about the worst things Zach did, to put him away! I should have! I knew Zach had mental problems! I knew he wasn't okay!

"Zach Sazaki is in custody after the murder of Nikko Enri. On the scene now is Trisha Furaima. Trisha, what is going on out there?"

"I- I wish I could tell you that the reports are untrue," Trisha's voice started back to her station. Her cameraman tried his best to follow her, but she could get no farther past a police line and started calling back to her station while holding a hand over her ear, "We cannot get any closer to the Karebo Office than right here. What I have heard though, is that Lifebringer was called to the Prime Minister's office today for a meeting. While there, supposedly, he murdered the First Lady… I don't know why, he would do something like that. We aren't sure of the details at this time, as this is a breaking story…"

All Might ran out through the gates of U.A. He had to stop though and he waved his left arm ahead as a couple of his colleagues looked back and asked if he was alright. The retired pro coughing into his arm lifted his gaze and called out at them, "Go!" Was I wrong? I never believed he would become what he feared. What he needed was more than that speech! "GO! Ack- kah ugh-uck-ack!" He coughed a fit after shouting louder at the heroes who looked back at him hesitantly about leaving him alone, but there were more pressing matters at hand and All Might's yell got that through to them.

"Let me through!" Pinky yelled at the heroes around her who were blocking her path. She pushed Bikergang to the side and then ducked and turned her body to slip between Ryukyu and Plucky who had tears spilling down her own face as she stared up those steps. When Mina got in front of those two older women, she was better able to see up the Karebo steps herself. "Zach!" Ashido yelled. "Zach! Tell them it's not true! You wouldn't kill- You didn't! Right, Zach?!" Ashido screamed towards him. She was close enough that he should have been able to hear her, but his head did not move as she screamed up towards him. "Zach!" She yelled louder, though her legs were feeling weak and her eyes filled with water now as she saw his face. "Tell me it's not true! Please!"

"You bastard!" A voice screamed behind where Zach Sazaki was led outside. He was at the top of the steps now and being brought down. Lemillion went to the bottom of the steps, yelling at other heroes to get ready and stay on guard. Endeavor was halfway up the steps, though he was staring in as much disbelief as most others as he saw Lifebringer's face from up close now. Endeavor turned his head slightly and looked up higher at the man who ran outside with Slidin' Go holding him back and trying to stay in front of him. The Prime Minister screamed down towards the arrested younger man, "Lifebringer! WHY?! Tell me! Why did you do it?! Why Enri?! AHh- tell me!"

"Stand back, Mr. Prime Minister," Slidin' Go said, holding back the smaller man's arm and keeping him from chasing down after or attacking Lifebringer. Slidin' Go glanced Endeavor's way for a moment then darted his eyes back to the heroes who had entered the Karebo Office a few minutes ago and taken Lifebringer from the heroes who were initially on the scene and apprehended him. Slidin' Go's expression shifted as he glanced back to his right, expecting to see some of those other heroes who were supposed to be here protecting the Prime Minister too. Where did they go?

Five blocks away, "Electro," "Bloodhound," and "Akemi Kuoko" were sprinting as fast as their legs could take them. They ran down a city street and ignored people on the sidewalks to either side of them who either looked down at their phones or up at billboards suddenly showing the breaking news. Not many people glanced in towards them, and no one stared for very long despite the confusing sight.

One person did stop and stare though who the three fleeing from Karebo wished had not. He was the one person they had seen since sprinting out the back door of the PM's office who they really wished had taken a different route to Karebo. Sakamata Kugo spotted them and instantly stopped his approach towards the Karebo Office though. Although Zach Sazaki would easily take the top rank for the nation's scariest heroes, this man had never once been left off of the top 10 list of heroes who look like villains, even though he was among the country's top 10 strongest as well.

Gang Orca's teeth bared an instant after he spotted the three he saw running his direction. None of them slowed down, though all three saw him and went wide-eyed at the sight of him stopping there right in their path. The road was open ahead of the fastest of the three, which was Electro. The gap between him and Gang Orca was shrinking fast though and Electro showed no sign of slowing down. He did slow however, when Gang Orca roared towards him, "Electro! Bloodhound! Where are you going?!"

In an apartment building on the same road, a group of four were watching a television in the safehouse that Gran Torino had been staying in as his de-facto apartment for well over a year now. His presence there was supposedly a stopgap measure in order to protect the girl in protective custody, however, as long as her life was in danger she was being kept in his care. Eri sat in the corner of the room with a boy around her age who was there on a play-date, along with his adoptive mother who lived with him far outside of Tokyo. The former pro hero Ragdoll was sitting on Gran Torino's couch and had the tv set at low volume so it was almost muted. Gran Torino was standing near his windows and staring back towards the television himself, but he looked away from the screen that Ragdoll's eyes were locked on only to dart away momentarily at times to check if Kota had noticed her anxious expression that she was struggling to hide.

The children in that room had become friends after Midoriya Izuku introduced the lonely kids a while back. Gran Torino was happy to have someone there closer to Eri's age to keep her company, but he suddenly wished they had gone to Kota and Ragdoll's place today far outside of Tokyo. Because as he looked out the window, he saw Gang Orca standing down on the road and standing in a ready position. The man who looked like a killer whale had his dark claws curling down at his sides, his expression fierce and intense as he glared at the three who came running from the direction of the Karebo Office. What are they doing… That woman. Gran Torino recognized the woman just as quickly as he spotted those two heroes sprinting away from where they should have been heading.

Gang Orca did not take long to recognize Nikko's secretary either, an assistant he swore to himself he had seen in press conferences behind Nikko before. He also recognized the two heroes ahead of her who were trying to get away from something quickly, and he knew in that moment that they were not where they were supposed to be. And he also understood, that they were not who they appeared to be. "STOP!" Gang Orca ordered.

Akemi glanced over her right shoulder nervously then snapped her head back forward. Bloodhound's eyes just narrowed. Electro yelled though, "Gang Orca! It's the League of Villains! They're here!"

"I know," Gang Orca replied. There was not a moment of hesitation. His mouth opened and he leaned forward, but he was already slowing down.

Electro himself kept sprinting forward just as fast though it looked as if he was moving even faster now because of how slow Gang Orca just started moving. Bloodhound and Akemi each broke off behind their faster comrade's back and moved farther to the either side of the road as they caught a glimpse of Gang Orca's enraged look past Electro who sped up faster and pulled out a pistol from under his costume-

"BRRAAAAOOOoooo!" Electro was still in mid-sprint. Gang Orca was too smart. He did not hesitate on Electro's call out to him that was supposed to make him hesitate or yell out a response. Gang Orca's look of fury intensified the instant that Sonic showed his Quirk. He recognized it. It was the same Quirk used against so many of his comrades in the Koimou Massacre that he arrived at too late to save them. Gang Orca only yelled for a second, his hypersonic wave stunning Electro in mid-sprint which caused the disguised villain moving too quickly to trip with no control over his legs.

Sonic hit the ground rolling and in pain, but on his right side sprinted up the red-headed hero whose right fist pulled backwards and flashed bright red. His fist grew in size bubbling in Magma, and Gang Orca's suspicions of who this was were confirmed. His eyes opened more which made the red in them more pronounced and terrifying to go along with all of his razor-sharp bared teeth. Meta sprinted as fast as he could forward, and though Sonic had been hit and knocked to the floor, Sonic's eyes snapped up and he glared at Gang Orca who had turned from him and was still Slowed…

But Gang Orca did not reach the highest ranks of Japanese heroes by accident. He understood the prestige of these villains well. And he moved faster even while Slowed than Meta was predicting. Bloodhound charged at Gang Orca from slightly to the hero's left, and Gang Orca's left arm that he had held out before curled forward and started to swing down. His sharp claws moved at Bloodhound's head while "Bloodhound" punched his right fist forward with Magma surrounding it and making smoke trail behind the swing. Gang Orca swung faster, "META! This is for Miruko!"

Bloodhound's eyes darted up to that claw swinging down at him. His feet did not slow though. Bloodhound did not slow down. He sprinted forward despite how Gang Orca moved too quick for his flanking maneuver to work. Meta's bubbling fist was too slow. And then it slowed down even more for some reason. Not even Gang Orca knew much about Sonic's Quirk. Pinoko herself was not privy to the downsides and weaknesses of her comrade who had been taken down instantly by All Might once upon a time. Some of his skill had been shown in the raid in Koimou, but the fact that Meta was Slowing suggested some sort of range to Sonic's Quirk rather than a targeting system involved in it.

Gang Orca had roared in rage and his expression was terrifying for those people caught on the sidewalks or near their windows and watching this in shock as heroes started fighting. Gran Torino's eyes locked on Bloodhound's arm surrounded in Magma. If that's Meta, and that Sonic, then who is that?! Gran Torino thought a step farther ahead of Gang Orca. The old man was thinking of the same person as Meta was at that moment. Gang Orca's focus had locked on Meta though as he swung at his enemy and one of the Top Ten Most Wanted in the country. If only a third member of the Top Ten Most Wanted was not also on that street. And Gang Orca's arm moved.

The power in Gang Orca's swing was insane. It was almost too much for Pinoko who had just swung both of her arms up from Gang Orca's other side that she flanked towards. She had been slower than Meta, and she had taken notice to the fact that Sonic's Quirk worked on Meta too, but she got her arms up in time to use her Quirk, Puppeteer. Meta was just too slow. With Slow added on top, he was not going to even be as close. But Gang Orca's arm swung down first, and it swung slightly off-track as Pinoko could not stop it in an instant and mid-swing, but she could redirect it. Her Quirk moved Gang Orca's arm's path so it swung through empty air, Meta ducking down in an instant as Slow suddenly stopped on both him and the hero. Sonic saw the moment that Pinoko caught the hero and released his own Quirk, suddenly speeding up how fast everything was moving so Gang Orca would have no time to process that it was Pinoko behind him in that third disguise.

While Gang Orca was still coming to that understanding, his eyes were darting down at that man ducking in front of him and stomping his left foot down between Gang Orca's legs. The wind from that powerful slash slammed into the ground on Meta's left side, and then Meta slammed his right fist forward into Gang Orca's chest at full speed. The force he slammed his fist into Gang Orca's body lifted the heavyset hero off his feet. That was just a show of Meta's brute force alone. His fist lifted Gang Orca off the ground, and then the back of the hero's costume glowed bright red in a circle from shoulder-blade to shoulder-blade. The circle of red burned through his costume just as it had his torso. The hole ripped through his body and out his back straight through his spine, and then a huge blast of Magma shot out of Gang Orca's back and into the sky.

"AHHH!" A woman on the side of the street screamed at the top of her lungs. Gang Orca's body lifted off Meta's arm and his red eyes dulled as blood and Magma poured out of the hole going through him as he flew through the air.

"What was that?!" Ragdoll yelled to her left, jumping out of her seat and making the kids on the other side of the room turn as well. Both instantly realized something was wrong, because Gran Torino had spun back to look at them with a conflicted expression across his face. Eri and Kota stood up and stepped his way, staring at the tall muscular hero who had gotten into his hero costume as a precaution a few minutes ago, even though he had told the kids it was just because he had a patrol planned for later.

Gran Torino's eyes darted from those kids then back behind him at the windows. He stared back to Ragdoll, "Protect them."

Ragdoll gulped but she nodded while taking a step back. She did not know what she could do if this was all some sort of trap to get to Eri. She had long had her Quirk stolen from her, and unlike Gran Torino, Eri had not used her Quirk on the former Wild Wild Pussycat. "Stay away from the windows!" Ragdoll called out at the kids behind her while she swung her arms out to either side.

Gran Torino had no time to go around. He saw Electro standing up out on the street outside. The three of them all looked back like they were nervous about something, and then all three started moving forward again. And they reached up towards their heads as they did…

"No point in wearing these things anymore!" Meta yelled, digging his nails under the skin-tight mask that ended under his chin. He dug his fingers under it and ripped upwards, peeling off the facemask that made him look like Bloodhound. "RAah! Fuck, that smarts!" He threw Bloodhound's face to the side along with the wig of red hair that was attached to it. He rubbed his hand over his bald head that was red from pulling off a mask stuck so tightly to his skin.

Electro ripped his mask off as well, and his long navy-blue hair fell out from under the black wig he ripped off. Pinoko's shorter black hair flowed out as she ripped off the receptionist's face from her own. Out from under her shirt too, four more arms punched holes in the secretary outfit and were clothed in the tight black of her costume she had on underneath. "Let's get the fuck out of here," Pinoko snapped and swung all six arms at her sides to pick up any speed she could.

Much farther across the city from Karebo and in the south, in the Shinagawa district, Kaminari Denki lifted his right leg extra high on his next step to walk over one of the charred corpses in the hallway. He walked over the heavyset woman whose phone was discarded a few feet from her crumpled body. So many of the corpses throughout the Heroally TV Station had their phones next to their hands. "Tsk tsk tsk. I told you it wouldn't work anyway," Raijin said, as he stomped his left foot down on a phone and cracked it under his boot. "Hahaha, pathetic. A whole building full of weak losers. It's sad, really."

He walked into a control room for the studio and stepped up to a microphone connected to a reporter in the field. This room was undamaged from the electric surge that filled the building, even though electricity had shot from the screens and killed the three people in here who he walked over to get to the mic. "Hey. Sorry about that. Some technical difficulties on our end," Kaminari spoke into the microphone after re-connecting the line between this room and the reporters out in the field trying to get word from their producers and coworkers. "Who am I? Mitchell Higashi, fourth floor. Assistant producer- hey! Hey get a zoom-in of Lifebringer's face. You're going to miss it!"

Kaminari leaned back up from the console and smirked as he made every one of the screens in front of him switch to that specific camera angle. Some sparks shot out of the screens that all showed Lifebringer's face that the camera zoomed in on from past all the cops and heroes. He was on his way down the steps from the Karebo Office, giving everyone a great view of him and the horror on his face. His glassy eyes, his slumped and defeated posture, the way his lips were parted and he looked to be panting, it all made Raijin's heart race. Perfect. Everything's going perfectly! Too perfectly. Come on, Zach. Don't make this so easy for me. Raijin reached his hand into his unzipped jacket and to the chest pocket of his golden and black costume.

"Hey! Hello?! Where is Keori?" A woman standing outside of Heroally knocked again and tilted her head, trying to look through the glass and see someone who could let her in.

"When is the whole first floor empty?" A male coworker wondered, a weird sensation filling him as he stared into their empty building. "Did, everyone get off early?"

"That doesn't make any sense. They just called us in! HEY!" Another man slammed his fist on the glass and then shouted into it. "Someone come let us in!"

The Keori they were looking for was dead behind her desk. And the other corpses on the first floor were just out of sight of the people outside, stuffed behind couches and around hallways out of view of anyone who could come back and see what was going on too early.

The end of the tunnel ahead of Shigaraki Tomura clanked louder then started making a loud grinding noise. Out on the sidewalk past the end of the dark alleyway, two homeless men looked back behind them from the shop window they were watching tvs inside of. They spun back to the glass because of whose face just got zoomed in on, yet the silver-haired middle-aged man turned more after a second at the sound of the ground opening up. He started walking cautiously away from the store, his head tilting so he could see around the corner to the alley earlier.

Knock... knock... knock... knock... The slowly approaching footsteps echoed down the empty tunnel and reached the end of it. The man nearing the corner froze when he saw the ramp with steep edges on the sides of it. "What the hell," he muttered, his right foot sliding back on the floor and his head spinning to that storefront again then to this alley. "What-" He took another step to his right so he could see better down that ramp, right as a figure got hit by the light coming into the tunnel now. And the homeless man froze, staring at the feet of the person walking forward, then up at his legs, and at the face still covered by the shadows of that tunnel. He fell backwards onto his butt and his hands pushed down on the ground at his sides. "Sh-Sh-Shi…"

Shigaraki stared up into the light outside, his own smile growing as he promised in his mind, Revolution.

"This doesn't make any sense," Jirou stared down from the rooftop she and Ms. Clue had run to. Her eyes were shaking as she stared down towards the top of her friend's head. "Zach wouldn't, do something like-"

"A week ago you wouldn't have said the same thing," Ms. Clue reminded her intern. Her own expression was dark but stern as she glared down at that murderer getting led out of Karebo. "Damn it, Yuranama. All three of them need to be held accountable for this- all of us, for just letting them let him off. Damn," Ms. Clue cursed again while bringing her right hand up to her head and grabbing it. "We messed up."

"No, no this really, doesn't make any sense," Jirou shook her head.

"Earphone Jack. Whatever he did to make you believe in him-"

"I'm telling you," Jirou said louder this time. Her head snapped to the right and her eyes were wide as she looked into her pro's, "Zach wouldn't have…" Her head turned slowly back to stare down towards him. They were on the lowest roof of any of the tall buildings around them. They were not that high up that she could not make out the expression on his face of guilt and despair beyond what could keep her from having any doubt. And yet, her eyes darted around at all those other taller buildings near her.

Ms. Clue did not tell her intern to drop it this time. She looked at that intense look covering Jirou's face mixed with fear on it for reasons completely unrelated to Lifebringer and the danger he might pose to them. Her own heart rate started to speed up even more, and she said in a low voice to the girl at her side, "Word is, that he attempted to revive her and was unable to because he killed her himself. Nikko Enri was dead for her first time, and he couldn't revive her-"

"So no one saw him kill her?" Jirou wondered. What's going on?! The assassins are gone, aren't they? So, so then this is Raijin's next plan, right? Zach, looks like he killed her though… He couldn't have. Why? Why would he have done that?!

"Damn you, Lifebringer! I should have left you in Tartaros to rot!" Nikko Kaizo shouted down from the top of the steps he stopped at. There were other heroes there now blocking him from getting any farther, more than just Slidin' Go who had backed up and was looking around confusedly from behind the Prime Minister. Those other heroes were protecting the Prime Minister along with his cabinet members who had left the building and were gathering at the top of the steps.

Where did the others go? Slidin' Go wondered. Sweat dripped down his face as he looked back forward and down those steps at all the faces he recognized.

Lemillion met Lifebringer halfway up the steps, and he stayed closer to him than Endeavor who watched in more shock like his son with him just a few more steps down. "You'll come quietly, won't you, Lifebringer?" Lemillion asked.

Zach could not say a word to him. The prosecuting hero who he had bantered against and defended himself to at the recent trial had an angry tone in his voice but also just full of regret for letting this happen. Zach's breath got heavier as he heard that tone, and his head barely moved to signify that he heard him and would not try anything. What did I do? I convinced them all to have faith in me, just for this? Midoriya gave me so many chances! They knew- they knew what I did and I'm making it so it's their fault! WHY?!

Midoriya stepped forward, his right hand shaking as he started lifting it. He froze and pulled that hand back to his chest while his eyes were full of water. He was at the bottom of the Karebo steps between them and the armored cop car that Zach was being led to by a mass of heroes, some keeping more distance from him and some up close and personal like Lemillion who still avoided even touching Lifebringer. The disturbed way that the world's most famous hero was looking made even the most hardened heroes there feel it was too dangerous to be touching him directly. His look of guilt and despair, the devastated look on his face, it suggested that maybe this was an accident. Maybe it was his Quirk. The Quirk that everyone knew was too dangerous for so long, in the hands of someone who could not handle that kind of overwhelming power.

Bakugo glanced to his right at Deku's face and then back down at the floor himself. His fists curled so tightly, and he glared back up towards Zach angrily only for that look to falter at one glance at his face from this closer position now. I knew he couldn't take it. I knew, but I- Bakugo's teeth clenched and his chest tightened up. I wanted to believe!

A gust of wind hit Midoriya who turned to his right and stared with shaking watery eyes at the face of his best friend and the class representative of Class A. "Iida," Midoriya whispered. Ingenium glanced down and to his left at Deku and Explosion King past him. He could see their other classmates around this crowd that was so densely packed at the bottom of the steps that it had been hard to run right up to Deku. Iida Tenya looked into his friend's eyes and his own filled with even more pain. He looked up to those steps and took one look at Zach to see him not fighting back or arguing against these claims that he had found unbelievable until this moment. "We messed up," Midoriya whispered on his side.

"I should have stopped him. I- I should have done more," Midoriya hissed it out in agonizing regret. He wanted me to kill him! I couldn't do that, Zach. Even if now, you're in even more pain for- and Nikko Enri! I- I'm so sorry! "That first night we knew, we should-"

"Deku," Iida said. Midoriya lifted up his regretful eyes full of sorrow and they opened wide at the serious expression covering Ingenium's face. "We are all to blame. But right now," Iida's teeth clenched and he had to pause for a moment. He continued though through a strained voice, "As a hero who has been revived by Zach before, I am needed." Iida bit down twice as hard, then he ran forward through the crowd. He ran up the steps that were empty just below Zach.

Lemillion looked down and into Iida's eyes. He had met the boy when he still wore glasses, and he knew why Iida no longer had to. "I will assist in taking him in," Iida said to Lemillion who looked like he might be worried that Zach's friend was trying to help him. Lemillion's expression shifted to a more impressed one as he nodded towards that teen who walked up and grabbed Zach by his right arm. "Let's go, Zach Sazaki," Iida said while looking forward down those steps and taking a step himself. His eyes locked straight ahead of him as he spoke, "You are under arrest-"

"Iida," Zach whispered. His lips trembled and his eyes squinted as they filled with water at the sound of his voice next to him. Zach turned his head to the right as they paused on the next step. Iida tried to keep looking forward, but his head turned partially to the side while Zach was raising his own back up. Zach looked into Iida's eyes next to him, the first person he really made eye contact with in the past twenty minutes. The last pair of eyes he had been staring into were the cold dead ones of Nikko Enri. Zach thought of those eyes as he looked into Iida's, and his heart gripped so hard he wanted to turn it to Death. Never use it again. You can't! Zach's eyes shook and his lips opened more as he gasped out, "I'm sorry. I don't know- I…"

I don't know what happened. What did happen?! I was just sitting there and, and she was dead! When? I don't remember. Wait- Zach took another step while his head bowed more. His breathing was heavy and his vision blurry through tears and just glossy eyes from everything overwhelming him at the moment. And yet a voice carried over all the others as he walked another step with Iida so he was closer to the bottom now and a sidewalk lined in dozens of heroes, quickly becoming hundreds of heroes.

The city was loud. Heroes were arguing. Some thought they needed to be ready for a fight in case Lifebringer tried breaking free. Others were yelling about finding out what was going on and clearing up the confusion. One girl in a red costume was trying to push through the crowd she reached too late that she barely caught sight of his face before taller heroes blocked her from him. "Zach! Zach, it's not true! You didn't do this!"

"Creati!" Assurely yelled up towards her sidekick who had moved too quickly and was getting separated from her with a lot of other heroes in between them.

"You wouldn't have done it! Zach, focus!" Yaoyorozu yelled. If you eliminate the impossible, which is that you really killed the First Lady, then whatever remains has to be the truth! I know the assassins are all dead! Whatever's happening right now is the League! "We need you to snap out of it! Whatever they did to convince you, it wasn't you!"

Zach did not hear her. Endeavor did though. His son had already turned and looked with a pained expression towards their classmate and Zach's ex-girlfriend. Shoto took a step down towards her and moved to get in her path to stop her if needed, but Endeavor listened to the words coming out of Creati's lips instead. It could be a trap. One look at Lifebringer and you'd think it was all true. I knew though. I knew from the provisional licensing exam! Something snapped within him. If Lifebringer's unstable, then that makes him easier to mess with-

Except that's not true! Endeavor countered himself. I'm just searching for other options. I know that he's as capable as he's ever been. His expression steadied and got darker as he glared towards the murderer brought down only three steps from the sidewalk now. He was close to him but higher on the steps and looking down now, and he narrowed his flaming eyebrows down as Lifebringer's head twitched.

"You killed her! Why?! Why did you kill my wife?! Lifebringer!"

Zach's feet stopped on the third step from the bottom. A man's voice filled his head. He felt chills down his spine. Wait. Zach turned his head to the left. Iida looked to the back of his head and frowned as Zach stopped again. He glanced towards the car then said while looking to his friend whose apology just crushed him to hear, "We need to get you in that police car, Zach. Zach?" Iida said his name more sternly and trying to get Zach to take another step without them having to drag him. Other heroes tensed up at Lifebringer not walking anymore on his own, and the crowd actually quieted down a little just as Lifebringer's head slowly turned to the left and pointed back up those steps.

"Lifebringer!" Prime Minister Nikko yelled down at him. Kamui Woods stood in front of him and had his left arm out in front of the nation's highest elected official. "Why?! Why did you do it?! Why did you kill Enri?!"

Zach opened his mouth. For a brief moment, Iida thought that Zach was about to apologize to the Prime Minister too. Instead, Zach questioned in a hoarse voice that cracked as the word came out…

"Toga?"

Several blocks away from Karebo, three villains started sprinting from the corpse of Gang Orca they left on the street. As they started running again, Sonic snapped towards Pinoko, "You left Toga behind! That was your job, Pinoko."

"Too many eyes on her now," Pinoko said while still running, cracking a small grin as she did.

"Damn, that's cold," Meta said back. He did not sound upset about it or anything, maybe even impressed at Pinoko for doing it.

Pinoko's smile lowered back down though as she continued running. "I wish I could take credit for coming up with it," she admitted.

Sonic and Meta both looked back at her. They each realized it at the same moment. That fucking kid, Meta thought uneasily.

Now I understand, Sonic thought. Why it is we were told not to discuss our roles in the plan with anyone else. I don't have any secret mission, but we were all left in the dark just thinking that Pinoko had Toga. I didn't know we were leaving Toga behind, but that girl doesn't even know that there's a reason to run! Sonic grinned and shifted his eyes towards the south for a moment where he knew Raijin was at the moment. Wonder if she'll figure it out when she notices that we're gone-

Sonic ducked. He threw both arms up and yelled, "FUCK NO!"

The tall man in a yellow costume flying out of the sky towards his head was slowed down, and his leg passed over Sonic's ducking skull. "I don't fucking think so, old man!" Sonic jumped up faster than Gran Torino was moving, and he spun a kick into the side of the man who pushed out air under his feet and spun his body so Sonic's leg almost missed.

Gran Torino hit the ground in slow motion but sped up and bounced across the road before pushing out air using his Jet Quirk. Sorahiko spun around and landed then glared at the villains who heard glass slamming into the road back behind them after Gran Torino had already reached them. His shattered windows hit the ground on a sidewalk that had emptied when the fight between supposed heroes took place. Despite missing his best opportunity to take out the enemy he personally felt was most dangerous, Gran Torino looked strong and started in a deep voice, "You will pay for what you just did-"

"We don't have time for this!" Pinoko yelled.

"Shit, Gran Torino too," Meta growled. The sight of the man who looked younger than he was when he came with All Might to take down the entire Braizos made Meta's blood boil and his fists to cover in Magma. He darted his eyes to the side, not completely taking them off of the hero, but anxiously checking behind him once more. "Sure you have the time to waste with us?" Meta wondered, changing his tone that had suggested he wished they could stay and fight and kill the older hero right now. He did not want to be stalled here any longer though, and he cocked his head to the side, "Are you sure, that's where your priority should be right now?"

"We need to get the fuck out of here," Sonic snarled. "You two, go. I'll catch up in a minute."

"What are you running from?!" Gran Torino yelled. "What is about to happen?!"

The right corner of Sonic's lips curled up. "Old man, you're about to find out."

"'Toga?'" Iida repeated what Zach just said up the steps.

The man at the top of the steps who was behind Kamui Woods opened his eyes huge. Nikko's eyes narrowed a second later and he resumed shouting down at the teenage boy who stared up at him in utter confusion even at what he himself just said.

I don't get it! Don't turn your eyes red. Think! Just think faster. No Death. The raw power. Use everything. Think constantly! Zach looked back forward as Iida tugged on his arm.

"Zach, let's go."

"Iida, I'm-" Zach started speaking but his eyes were pointed down and he was breathing even faster in what appeared to be rising panic. Show an unstable man grasping at straws. Think calmly. Look at all the heroes around me. No Death. What's going on? Think clearly.

That's Toga. I didn't kill Nikko Enri. Something's going on at this very moment. I have seconds at best. Kaminari did something. Nikko Enri is dead. But there's a third option. A third reason why I can't revive her other than it being her second time or that I was the one to kill her. It was past her time limit. Zach took another step as he put it together. "Toga!" Zach turned his head, but Iida tugged on his arm and Lemillion moved between him and those heroes at the top of the steps who just got a lot more unnerved and worried that Lifebringer might try attacking the Prime Minister who leaned back himself.

"Did he say, 'Toga?' As in Himiko Toga?"

"He's crazy."

"He lost it."

"Calm down, Lifebringer!"

"You're Toga! Aren't you? I know- that's… That is Toga!"

"Zach, please," Iida begged.

Zach darted his eyes towards him but then through the crowd before the police car on the street. He stared ahead of him and yelled out, "Midoriya! Bakugo! Nikko's Toga!"

Bakugo's eyes bulged. Midoriya leaned his head backwards. His teary eyes shook and then rose up those steps past Lemillion who started looking much more nervously towards his two interns still eighteen years old. Midoriya stared towards Nikko who darted his own eyes towards those two young heroes who just looked straight up towards him.

Zach looked into Bakugo's eyes. "We're friends, aren't we?!" Bakugo's thoughts that just jolted started speeding up rapidly as he stared towards Zach who Iida pulled with him down another step. "Bakugo, it's over, Shigaraki's right. You should join us…" "...The hero society is broken at its core, don't you agree? Come on, I know you. We're friends. You've never agreed with the current methods, they're too restricted for you."

"We're friends…" Bakugo heard that line before years ago. He heard it bouncing through his head, and he remembered when he was in the villains' base and Zach said that to him. A younger and less mature version of him did not realize that Zach was trying to tell him something in code to show they were on the same side, since Zach would not have considered them friends as they had barely spoken to one another. He knew exactly why Zach just shouted that towards him now. Back then I had no faith in Zach at all. I thought he had completely turned into a villain, and I hated him for it… but I was wrong. Bakugo saw Zach bleeding and barging into Recovery Girl's office to force her into showing them her Quirk, which she couldn't. Zach knew. Zach knew right away. "I believe him," Bakugo whispered.

Of course it's her, Bakugo thought. His eyes narrowed in an instant after glaring up those steps, and thirty heroes around him all stared with growing panic on their faces at the shift on Zach's friend's.

He called out to us specifically, Midoriya thought, his breathing picking up speed and the corners of his vision blurring as he stared up towards Toga. A hundred heroes around us. We're on our own here.

"Iida, I'm telling you the truth," Zach begged the boy leading him down the steps so the next one had them on the sidewalk. "You have to believe me! The Prime Minister is Toga!"

Zach looked into Iida's eyes after shouting it, and he pulled his arm but not that hard as he saw fifty heroes around him start readying themselves. "Move, Ingenium!" Presto Change-o yelled.

"Get back, Iida!" Midnight called to her student, grabbing at her own costume while ignoring the tears in her eyes as she saw the panicked and disturbed expression on Sazaki's. She saw as her student was trying to break free so he could run up and attack the Prime Minister who he just suddenly started accusing of being Toga Himiko. Her eyes did not even shift towards the Prime Minister as she looked so painfully at him, "Sazaki… Zach! Please, do not resist!"

"You two! Do not move!" Lemillion yelled down at his interns who both started glaring up towards Toga.

Zach knew that Toga was posing as Recovery Girl, Midoriya thought. No one else noticed. No one knew, but he figured it out. He knew! And he knows right now. I believe him. I believe in him!

"Lemillion," Bakugo growled. Lemillion's eyes grew huge at that tone threatening him from his intern. Deku's eyes darted to his side, and he sturdied his own expression as much as Bakugo had made his own. "We know exactly the position we're in right now," Bakugo told the pro who was between him and the Prime Minister. Between him and Toga who had pretended to be him and shot an Explosion into Fantasma's face using his Quirk. His teeth ground as he saw the heroes all around him who were suddenly focused on the teenagers who they had seen fight each other at the last Sports Festival. No one took them lightly. No one took Lifebringer lightly either.

Iida's grip on Zach's arm started to loosen. He looked back and his shaking grip tightened, "It, can't be…"

"Ingenium, careful," Ectoplasm warned his student who he saw thinking way too much after Zach just begged him to his face.

"Bikergang!" Roady yelled out at his former pro who just got in his way. "I believe him-"

"I know! And that's why I'm stopping you! He's lost it, son!" Bikergang grabbed Roady by the shoulders and gripped them tightly. "Look at me! And take a breath!"

"Endo, Stop!" Popfire yelled.

"You don't understand…"

Nagiso looked from his pro to one of the agency's old sidekicks who he knew was a friend of Zach's. Jelloman turned and looked towards his old middle school classmate. Did I make a mistake? I- I hate you. I really do not like you, but- but you knew Toga!

"Hawks!" Tokoyami yelled to his side at the second ranked hero in the country. "Zach wouldn't have done this!"

"There's no reason- how could Toga have become…" Hawks was trying to work it out in his own head. It was too unbelievable. Sazaki said that video evidence could be faked. It's a one in a million chance, but it was a legitimate defense… but that was a lie! The most obvious reason is usually what's true, and the idea that the Prime Minister has been replaced by Toga- how much power would they need to have-

Hawks' eyes grew huge. His breath sucked out of his chest. Where is Electro?

"What is he doing?" Skeptic snapped. The dark-haired man in a dimly-lit underground tunnel stood next to Yotsubashi Rikiya who had a tablet held out in front of him. "He needs to blow it now! Lifebringer's gotten wise!"

"Raijin knows exactly what he's doing," Re-Destro replied to his subordinate. His eyes did narrow at the tablet though, and he thought, I hope.

Raijin's fingers of his left hand tapped incessantly on the control panel in front of him. A bead of sweat was rolling down the right side of his face. More heroes entered into the frame, more arriving every second, and on a screen on his left he saw the emerging figure from a tunnel underground. His right hand gripped the detonator tighter. Heroes fighting each other. Complete chaos and panic at the moment of revolution! Just a few more seconds. Show them Lifebringer and Class A attacking the Prime Minister. Then cut it to him! This is it! A lump went up and down in Kaminari's throat.

"Listen to me!"

"Zach knows what he's talking about, Togata!" Deku yelled towards Lemillion.

"Enough of this-" Bakugo started stepping forward, and a hand gripped on his shoulder and spun him sideways.

Scorchle's usually friendly and personable appearance darkened and steam coming out of the metal pipes sticking up fro his shoulders started to shroud his face. His eyes glowed deep blue through the steam as he glared into Bakugo's smaller red irises. "Are you seriously, about to attack the Prime Minister?" Scorchle growled at his fellow sidekicks he had been patrolling with that morning and working with for close to a year.

"I- I'm not- I mean it! Toga!" Zach yelled up in fear and panic towards Toga. Too fake! He'll know! Zach yanked his arm from Iida and pushed away from him.

His body erupted in darkness. Iida spun back in realization of what Zach was doing. The heroes closest to Lifebringer all found their worst fears realized as Lifebringer turned back up the stairs and shot that way in a cloud of Death.

Toga's eyes bulged in her fake appearance as Nikko Kaizo. "AH!" She screamed, and she did not know if it was acting as Nikko or if she was screaming herself. Her protective heroes moved forwards though or pulled back to protect her.

"Stop now, Lifebringer!" Kamui Woods yelled.

"Don't do this!" Mt. Lady shouted too.

"STOP HIM!"

"Zach!"

"He's telling the truth!" Kirishima yelled, pushing Suneater to the side and sprinting forward.

Two octopus tentacles shot out from under Suneater's white cloak and wrapped up Kirishima's right arm to stop him in place.

"Dad!" Todoroki yelled towards Endeavor who was caught between a rock and a hard place. People looked to the top hero in Japan who just yelled for Lifebringer to stop and covered himself in more flames to chase, and yet Enji stared towards his son who stared him back in the eyes in complete panic. There were no other words spoken between them after the one shout, but someone else yelled Endeavor's way.

"Endeavor! Stop him!"

Endeavor turned. He stared through the crowd at a man who had pushed forward ahead of his colleagues who all approached from the same direction. Endeavor's breathing slowed down while Hawks was flying down from above and screaming out his name. Endeavor stared at one of the high-ranking members of the National Diet who had come here from the Diet Building where there was supposed to be a session going on. Endeavor could see everyone in his peripheral vision and it made his heart drop. Hawks, Lemillion, Kamui Woods, Class A, his own son, the Diet, the "Prime Minister," his cabinet members, the entire line of succession going down at least 7 members of their highest ranking leaders in government. Ryukyu, Underguard, Bikergang, Even though their agencies are so far. The thought that maybe this was just a ploy by the League of Villains to get Lifebringer arrested and thrown back in Tartaros only crossed his mind for a fraction of a second. If he didn't do it, the evidence wouldn't hold. That's not their plan then!

"Now," Kaminari said, a smirk covering his face as Zach charged at Prime Minister Nikko who had freed him from prison. As Class A clashed with heroes holding them back from helping their friend. As young heroes fought their pros they were interning with, and hero teachers attacked their students, and people screamed in panic and the heroes looked lost at what to do… Kaminari started pressing his thumb down on the red button on top of the detonator. Then he froze and his eyes grew massive, his thumb lifting for the slightest of moments as a look of panic covered his face. No! Zach!

"DAMN IT!" Raijin screamed, and he slammed his thumb down.

The black cloud of Death had covered a lot of the steps. The silhouette of a man made out by that dark Quirk had sped ahead of all the rest, growing larger and with wings breaking off its back that were targeted by other heroes who attacked him. Nejire-Chan just fired energy waves using her Quirk, Wave Motion, into the mass of Death in front of her as she moved to protect the Prime Minister. Her Waves blew apart the figure of Death, confusing her and the others who thought there was a more solid body attacking them.

Zach's decoy brought all attention up the steps as it looked like he was attacking the Prime Minister. If he's waiting for the right time, it's right now! If I'm wrong then everyone's dead. But I know Kaminari! I know how he thinks! He brought everyone here all at once and made a horrific scene, the last one that will be ingrained in everyone's minds…

A shadow flew up out of the smaller mass of Death that had been left behind farther down the steps as if just a trail left by the fast-moving crazy teenager as he attacked Nikko. The shadow that came up through that thinner trail also pulled that thin trail with it, leaving the steps exposed so everyone could see the massive hole ripped in the stone to the open space underneath them that should not have existed. Every single hero and citizen, press and politician, stopped moving and stopped speaking as they stared up at Lifebringer flying out from under the steps of the Karebo Office, carrying some giant object in his hands.

A scene played out in Zach's head as he had bashed straight through the steps while covering them with enough Death to keep what he was doing from sight. He knew the optimal positioning for the bomb that he located, and it was exactly where he suspected it to be. But as he grabbed the bomb, he just thought back to when he entered the Karebo Office now that his eyes were red and his thoughts already processing so quickly sped up even more. He imagined Toga walking towards him upstairs so he saw Enri's face. Then he pictured her slipping into that next room over and turning into Kaizo Nikko, before moving into his office through that side door so that by the time he was allowed in, the Prime Minister was there waiting for him.

He thought about talking to Toga. How didn't I notice? Zach's regret was almost as bad as it was thirty seconds ago as he was walked down those steps thinking he had killed Enri. He thought of how distracted he was, not to realize that someone else was using a voice modulator in that side doorway. He cursed himself that he looked away when they only barely poked her head into the office, keeping their face pointed away from him so he could be tricked. I didn't see her the second time. The body was there on the floor the entire time. They planned out where my attention was from the second I entered the building. My eyes were drawn to Nikko immediately after entering his office, and I saw! I saw the way his face shifted when I looked to the other chair. One where her body would have been in view from. I'm a fool. I let it get this far, and now I need to correct that mistake.

Zach's arms grew and wrapped around the large bomb that he recognized. In his mind he imagined giant plumes of smoke that curled out at the top in the shape of a mushroom. He could hear the screams and saw the burned bodies. The massive pillar of flames that the heat from slammed into him, buildings blowing apart in front of his eyes. Not today! Zach grabbed the bomb, and he flew back up through the hole that he made larger using the Death coming out of his back and shrouding him as he also pretended to attack Nikko at that same moment with a different portion of his Death body.

He flew out through the stairs and skyrocketed into the sky with Death pushing out below him and giant wings snapping down from his back once he was twenty feet off the ground and would not hit anyone with them. The only way Kaminari came up with this idea was through understanding that I was on the verge of a breakdown. My panic had to show even as I thought out where the bomb was. Even as I desperately asked them for help and to believe me, because I knew he was watching! Kaminari! FUCK YOU!

Zach heard the clicking inside the bomb before he was sixty feet off the ground. It was the same second he started flying up with it, and it was detonated. I'm not high enough! The panic and fear that filled him was too intense. He could see them all down there. He could see her screaming up towards him. He could see all his friends and heroes within range. And Zach could see the roof of that building he just passed, and the other girl on it who stared towards what he was carrying in absolute horror.

Hawks stared back up from where he and the other flying heroes just descended to. They were below Zach Sazaki now. They stared up and Hawks' jaw dropped at the sight of the bomb. Everyone in the same place like this, there had to be something. A bomb though? And, not just any bomb, Hawks' eyes shook so much because he recognized the make of the bomb. Midoriya and Todoroki, Uraraka and Ryukyu, Todoroki and Tsuyu, a few others recognized the look of it as well. Some from experience and some just from research. Many had researched these kinds of bombs specifically after the H-3 Cyclone Bomb almost blew apart half of Musutafu. That was not an H-3 that Zach flew up with though. This one was bigger. It's going to kill us all! Hawks stared up in horror.

An H-9 Cyclone Bomb, Midoriya thought. His eyes were fast enough to track Zach better than most. He watched as Zach flew up from out of nowhere, the rest of his Death that was supposedly attacking the Prime Minister all fading away or flying up after him once he shot for the sky. Midoriya saw the bomb and instantly placed it, because he had studied up after seeing what the H-3 had almost done to Musutafu.

"BLOW IT!" Re-Destro screamed at his tablet. His smile from watching Lifebringer attack Nikko wiped in an instant as he screamed that at the top of his lungs.

Raijin slammed his thumb down and the signal transmitted almost instantly. Zach heard it get triggered, but he was moving fast enough that he managed to get a little more height as the inner pieces of the bomb started to explode. Zach was not even higher than the taller buildings on his sides. Raijin's reaction time was too fast. His finger had been on the detonator, and he only hesitated for an instant when he saw Zach directly holding the bomb. Not far enough! Zach thought as the bomb in his huge Death arms triggered.

All the Death he had focused on his back and below him spread forward and up into the bomb as it exploded. Everyone who gawked and stared in horrified disbelief at the bomb in Lifebringer's arms realized it the moment Lifebringer stopped rising to instead surround the bomb in his Quirk. They understood that they were wrong, or that something was going on, but above all else, they understood that what he had just flown up with was definitely a bomb. Ms. Clue dove to her side and tackled Jirou down to the floor of the roof after both of them snapped their heads up to follow the bomb. Jirou still screamed even as she was tackled, "ZACH!"

The ground under their feet shook. Every building across the middle of Tokyo vibrated. People put their arms out to steady themselves. Some fell to their butts though. People inside the windows of buildings around Karebo were staring out in absolute terror at that massive sphere of Death that just bulged three times its size. Ashido fell to her butt down on the sidewalk still covered in heroes all staring up in horror. None of them were moving. There was not much anyone could do against a bomb stronger than one that had left trauma in many of their minds after Hawks only just saved them all last time. Lifebringer tried flying it away, but the bomb exploded still way too close.

The rumbling stopped after the initial thud made everything shake. The pause was eerie. All eyes locked on him. Cameras that followed him up trembled as the cameramen tried to keep recording, because they were not dead yet. The sphere of darkness that just bulged three times in size shrank back in half what it became.

CONTAIN IT! No one could see what was inside of that massive black sphere, but the expanding explosion was faced with an impossibly powerful force wrapping around it. Zach's thoughts moved faster than they ever had before. Equal on all sides! Don't let the shrapnel get out even! I need to hold- HOLD! FUCK- OVER THERE! Light shone through a crack of the shaking black mass. Darkness spiked out from around the crack and wrapped over the light starting to shine through. Five new cracks formed around the dark sphere that bulged out from ten different areas that the force of the explosion pushed too strong into. Equi-cover! All sides- WAVES! Cracks in the Death globe formed quicker than Zach was covering them back up.

Force of an explosion pushed out through a crack that branched several times. The heat and fire that pushed out like a flare from the sun got grabbed by a dozen black tentacles that ripped it back in. Then the top half of the sphere popped open and flames billowed out, but the explosion's blast curved out towards the buildings on the sides and Zach needed two massive tsunamis of Death to blow out of his body and engulf them. No one but Midoriya had ever seen so much Death in their lives. Shadows fell over the Karebo Office and everyone outside of it. Zach Sazaki's body was enormous. His power was beyond anything they had imagined. His body was growing larger still, and yet even this insanely powerful person could not contain the entire explosion that just doubled his size again and made cracks of light shine out all over the sphere.

Zach's mind was splitting. There was no area of the sphere that he could fill with much more Death than anywhere else. He pulled from the core of his Death to fill in the cracks, and so his core became smaller and smaller each second. He had no eyes, but the entire Death sphere was so thick that all around it he was able to see. A 360 degree field of vision inside and outside of his darkness. And he saw the glass windows the exterior of his mass was getting pushed towards. He could see the cowering people pressed against far walls, crying and screaming as he pushed towards them.

In his mind flashed an image of Huangdoo. The darkness all around the explosion bulged twice as thick and dense. He crushed it in more. Never again! I swore- I made that promise to MYSELF! NEVER AGAIN! Zach could see the corpses surrounding him in that building. He could feel the surge from his Death hitting the innocents when he was smashed into a skyscraper by his own friend. He saw Zombieman flying through the sky towards him, pieces of a hill still breaking apart in the air around him as he shot towards the city full of people all going to be killed horribly. He could see them all. The Chinese people in his memory replacing with the ones he could "see" at this very moment: in the windows, on the street, all over the city!

The darkness on the inside of his sphere replaced by some that was outside. Replenish! Quicker! INSTANTLY! Time was slowing down for him as the explosion burned through Death. It was such a fast-moving blast that was being contained by a sphere of no solid nor liquid nor gas. The Quirk Death held back the explosion. But Zach knew it from his training against electricity. My cells. There aren't enough. Death is burning through! I need to spread out thinner… but I won't have any core left. There won't be a core! I- I need… I need to do it! SPREAD! Around all of it. Use… everything… Try to… hold… grip…

The thickest parts of Zach's sphere of Death spread out over the weakest areas of the spreading explosion. The entire city was shaking as the cracks got wider, as flames pushed out of them and licked at the buildings… The three buildings closest to the blast all got blocked in with huge walls of ice. Todoroki Shoto had his right hand slammed into the ground, and the ice covered the buildings that Zach was desperately trying to protect. His reaction time was amazing to people all staring in horror and shock towards the explosion about to break free from Lifebringer's hold. Todoroki started with the buildings full of civilians, and those buildings shook even more as the huge walls of ice collided with them. People inside screamed more thinking that this was it, but they stared out through semi-translucent walls outside of their windows to see the darkness enveloping all of the cracks and fire… one last time.

The darkness could not contain it all. Death split in different areas and bulges of it that tried to cover up got pushed through by the bursts of flames. Out from the top first, then out the sides, and finally the bottom of the sphere of Death completely burned through as the explosion erupted and escaped its Death prison. A massive sphere of red and yellow in the sky, and smoke surrounded it as it collapsed in on itself. The force of the collapse shattered some of the ice, and windows for a quarter mile shattered. On the ground, the sound of the blast finally escaped, but it was not the eardrum-breaking cannon that everyone expected. BAM! The force knocked a few people back off their feet, and the heat pushed into them, and they had to cross their arms in front of their faces or bodies in fear as it looked for an instant like the explosion was coming at them.

But people started lowering their arms. They squinted open their eyes and stared into the huge cloud of smoke in the air above their heads. Between all the buildings that had cracked ice melting off of them. They stared into a cloud of gray smoke that replaced the fiery blast. Zach. Where are you? Midoriya's eyes scanned the cloud he never took his eyes off of. His arms he crossed in front of his face lowered, and he stared with a trembling gaze into the cloud of smoke. Any Death. Please! There- Midoriya spotted what he thought was a blacker wisp of smoke than the rest, but it just faded. Small pieces of shrapnel held back by Zach's body started raining down. Tiny pieces of metal raining over the heroes below who got back up and stared into the sky, trying to find hope despite Zach Sazaki just taking a Cyclone Bomb to the face.

"Fweee! Failure, huh?" Raijin whistled and tilted his head back. "Zach… you really were…" Raijin sighed and lowered his gaze for a moment. "Well," he chuckled and rose his gaze back up with a determined look on it. "Still a lot left to destroy. Never make a plan without a few contingencies." His smirk rose back up, and he pulled out a tablet while flicking his other hand at the screens in front of him. Only one of those screens remained showing the outside of the Karebo Office, and that was just for his own sake.

The televised images being sent out from Heroally suddenly switched to a different angle on a street miles across the city from Karebo. Electricity coursed through the building and up to the radio tower on the roof as well. Different stations cut off their regular programming or the images that their own reporters were showing. Cartoons cut off and commercials ended halfway through. Every single channel across Tokyo switched to the cameras set up just outside of an alley. Out from the opening in the floor of that alley, stairs started to rise up starting on the sidewalk and then right into the middle of the street. Metal steps rose up, the ground sliding away to either side, as a man walked out of the tunnel in the alley and into the light. Everyone around him turned back, and they backed away or fell to the floor.

"And Dabi thought it would be useless," Raijin remarked with a chuckle while looking back at the single screen not showing Shigaraki Tomura. He looked at the screen covered in heroes outside of Karebo who all started stumbling around and then yelling out in panic to evacuate the citizens away from there.

Deku looked down from the cloud of smoke he stared at in disbelief and horror. At that moment and only at that moment, did he realize that this was not over. It's not just to kill Zach. Midoriya saw the cracks spread across the street. The pavement cracked, and a cop car started dipping forward and falling into it. Midoriya's body coursed with One For All, and he shot over and grabbed two police officers who he yanked away from a splitting piece of ground.

"Look there!"

"Oh my God, is that…"

Midoriya heard the reporters in front of him where he brought the police officers, and he turned his head and looked down an adjacent street and up at a giant advertising billboard on the side of it. It had the same images on it as every other billboard, and on every single television across Tokyo. Outside of Tokyo, not every station was hijacked, but there were those who were still watching in cities like Yutapu. The man on those billboards had a microphone pinned to his shirt, and as he spoke, millions of people listened in fear.

"Move away from the cracks!"

"It's the whole street!"

"Get back! MOVE!"

Midoriya spun back the other way. He looked towards the middle of the road where heroes evacuated each other and dove for cover. The sidewalks were splitting too, as the ground below them all started to crack and crumble. Midoriya and the other heroes snapped their heads up as a giant metal leg snapped up through one of the cracks. The leg did not have a foot at the bottom but instead just a thin steel point. The leg had heavy steel plating around it and was painted purple. It rose up from underground and bent at its knee twenty-five feet up from that tipped foot, and the foot slammed down onto solid ground. Then three more huge metal legs broke up from underground.

"Rubbergirl! Move out of the way!" Underguard screamed towards his sidekick who dove for cover and screamed as the ground she landed on started to fall into an emptiness below them that should not have been there.

Yaoyorozu aimed her grappling gun and fired off to the side at a streetlight she pulled herself to. Her eyes snapped to the giant spider-like robot coming out of the ground, to a distant billboard where she saw the leader of the League of Villains whose voice she suddenly heard start speaking and echoing across the whole city. Then her eyes rose back to the smoke above though. Those gray eyes trembled like her lips did. She was unable to make a noise, staring up at the smoke that was heavy and thick in the air but already starting to thin and blow around, at least enough that if there was something inside it she would be able to see it. This was not a video of some battle long past though where she knew she would see him in the smoke if she watched long enough. Be there. Please, be there! Her eyes scanned it, and her lips moved, and she yelled up in despair, "Z-ZACH!"

Even if we weren't going to have any of our forces in waiting to die in Chiyoda, Raijin thought smugly as he watched the scene unfolding outside the Karebo Office. National Diet members were fleeing with a few hero escorts trying to keep up with the rapidly unfolding events and protect the VIPs. Everyone else was mainly focused on the massive robot dragging its body up from below the surface now, and Raijin thought, I could spare a single Spider to stall, in case they managed to stop the bomb. Before Shigaraki does his thing and Decays everything else. I've planned for everything, Deku. Bakugo. Iida. Yaoyorozu. Todoroki. The Battle Of Tokyo has begun. You're all in it now. Try to counter me. Do whatever you can. It won't be enough to save you. It won't be enough, not without Zach.

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A/N I got cut from work this morning (lack of students at the ski school). Wish I had some time to do review responses but I have to get back to the mountain to (hopefully) get an afternoon lesson. Dang COVID really making it hard to get work. I don't have any time right now but promise I'll do a long review section next time to make up. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading, and for all of you who followed, faved, and review to this story! The Battle Of Tokyo has begun! XD