Sorry for the late chapter. I've been busy with other stories and IRL stuff. That being said, however, this chapter is going to be pretty dense. From what I could garner from people's opinions regarding the last chapter, you all want to see some bastards suffer. Trust me, you'll get to see that happen and then some. This is the final arc for the Summer Camp arc (funny considering in canon it's only been 3 days, lol) and the next arc will explore a little bit more of the changes in this AU, and THEN, we will get to The Boiling Isles.

I know a lot of people want me to just get to The Boiling Isles, but trust me, the story will benefit from me doing this. If I just jumped into The Boiling Isles immediately after the events of the Summer Camp, then it would cause a lot of problems.

Besides… there are some people who Luz may or may not want to catch up with after this….

Anywho, before we begin, however….

I have a P-Atr-Eon. Please check it out! The links are all in my bios on Wattpad, FF Dot Net, Ao3, and Qoutev. Just in case, here is the link: gobblegum2?fan_landing=true&view_as=public

That being said, let's get into:

[The Hunt Begins – Part 1]

-12 hrs Before the massacre at Alpha Squadron Base-

The moon lit up the night sky with a brilliant white gleam, the night sky filled with millions of different stars, lighting up the black abyss above Earth. Underneath a set of trees that the moon's light illuminated were Luz, Judy, Jean, and Ronny; all of whom were asleep. They were getting whatever rest they could, all the while Stanley stood guard, leaning against a tree just a few feet in front of them, flashlight in hand as he kept an eye out for anyone in the immediate area.

Originally, they were going to have a rotation put in place, where it would go: Stanley, Ronny, Jean, Luz, then Judy. But, seeing as everyone was out like a light, Stanley was the only one awake to stand guard. Besides, he wasn't exactly against the idea. If he had been against the idea of standing guard, he would've made a vocal protest about it. That being said, he was starting to feel tired, especially after walking all the way here.

Their walk was a success. They had found the chest's supposed location, however, Judy had run out of supplies. Surprisingly, Ronny had quite the appetite. No one faulted him, seeing as no one really bothered to ask. So, they couldn't camp out the spot where the care package was going to be. Instead, they decided, and by they he meant Luz, stated that they were going to head back and gather more supplies. And currently, they were on their way back. Right now, everyone was just stopping to rest for the night.

His eyes drifted toward Luz. Luz… his leader. She reminded him a lot of his younger sister. Both were naïve, or at the very least were not as mature as they should be for kids their age. Stanley was 18, and his sister was 14. Luz, by looks alone, seemed to be in the same age range.

He imprinted on her, and it wasn't hard to see why, seeing as her mannerisms and overall behaviour reminded Stanley of his sister, Marie. He wanted nothing more than to go home and see Marie, to be there for her. But, he was stuck in this camp, and his chances of living were low enough as it was. He might've been able to withstand a ton of damage, but that didn't mean that his chances of dying were low.

And while Marie may not have been here—which was good—he now had someone who was like Marie to look over. To make sure nothing bad happened to them. And he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was safe. After all, she probably had friends and family to go home to, right?

Of course, though, something just had to get in the way of that goal. And it was staring him down right now.

A frown formed on his face, as he stared at someone standing just across from him. His hair was golden blond, and he wore a white pullover, bright blue jeans, and white dress shoes. Stanley could see that just beyond him were a few more pairs of eyes, and his heart sank.

Looks like their team weren't the only one with the same idea. He bit his lip and made no effort to show hostility. In a low tone of voice, barely above a whisper, he spoke. "The hell do you want, Kennedy?"

Kennedy smirked. "You remember our pact?" Kennedy asked as Stanley's eyes narrowed. A part of Stanley wanted to nod, but he also knew that the situation was different. Kennedy and Stanley had known each other for years—ever since they were two. They were as thick as thieves, and both believed that the other was amazing.

Both of them were on the same soccer team for years, both enjoyed playing basketball with one another, and both had each other's back no matter what. The pact that Kennedy spoke of was the idea that both of them would help one another out, regardless of what was going on.

But… things changed, and rapidly. The camp turned out to be something different, and now… now things were getting dire. And now… now he was bringing up the pact that they made. Stanley wanted to clock him in the head for even thinking that.

"That was before the camp turned out to be a murder game, dipshit. We might be friends, but I'm not about to let you do something you're going to regret. Do you even know what it is the asshole is asking for?" Stanley growled, crossing his arms as Kennedy frowned, dropping his arms to his side as he narrowed his eyes.

Then, his expression changed from a frown to a smirk.

"C'mon, Stan! We're allies, friends even! Besides, we're getting an extra reward for doing this. Just hand over the Latina, and we'll be on our way! Unless, of course, you have feelings for her?" Kennedy said, making Stanley grit his teeth.

"Shut your damn mouth, Ken. If anything, she reminds me of my sister back at home, you twit. And secondly, I don't give a shit what The Governor wants to award me, or you and your merry band of assholes. I'm NOT handing over Luz to anyone," Stanley said, his tone defiant as Kennedy's eyes fell to a neutral look, his expression going from a smirk to a flatline. The boy scratched his cheek, then frowned.

In the blink of an eye, Kennedy punched Stanley in the gut, though Stanley did not budge. With a limp backhand, Stanley sent Kennedy flying into another tree just a few feet away from the muscular teen. The boy hit the ground, hard, with a loud thump. Kennedy spat out a small blob of spit mixed with blood, as he slowly began to stand up.

"C'mon, Ken. You should've known that wouldn't have worked. Besides, I thought we were friends," Stanley spat as Kennedy rose from his feet, wiping some blood from his lip. When he got to his full height, he sneered at Stanley, balling his right hand into a fist. He looked like he was just about ready to punch Stanley again, before regaining composure and growling at the muscle head.

"You… you're gonna regret this! The next time you see me… you'll WISH you listened!" And with that, Kennedy ran away, and those who were following him followed in line. Stanley sighed, shaking his head. Kennedy, despite his newfound power, was a fool. A small cut made itself apparent on Stanley's waist, as he sneered at it. There was no pain involved, and the cut itself wasn't deep enough to worry about.

Kennedy's power, at least from how he explained it on the bus, relied on the person's understanding of pain. If the person Kennedy was going to attack understood that they were going to die, then Kennedy's power would react to that, do the same amount of damage the person thought their attack was going to do, and put that damage into real life. And the name of Kenndy's power? Pain Assurance.

It was quite the deadly power, Stanley had to admit. Well, at least it would be to those with weak wills. That was why Stanley had next to no damage done to him. And with his Shock Absorption, he knew he didn't have to worry about it too much. Closing his eyes, Stanley lowered his head.

A part of him felt… wrong. He didn't know why, but he did. With the number of people following him, Stanley thought that he was about to be jumped. He thought he counted 5 people with him, at least. He couldn't tell if there were any more than that. And quite frankly, he didn't want to find out. When he backhanded Kennedy, he was convinced that they were going to rush out and capture Luz regardless.

But… they didn't. Which meant that there was something else going on. But, the question was… what? Stanley let out a small sigh, shaking his head, before looking up at the night sky. Whatever it was that Kennedy was planning, it wasn't good. As soon as morning hit, they were going to have to get moving and head back to base.

Closing his eyes, he slumped down against the tree and closed his eyes. He was going to get some rest… something told him he was going to need it anyway.

-Present-

Smoke was the first thing that Luz was greeted with when she woke up. It made her nose wrinkle as she started to cough. Sitting up, Luz blinked several times, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she slowly began to get out of the sleeping bag that she had slept in, courtesy of Judy. She sniffed the air again, before looking at her hands to see if she accidentally activated Flame in the middle of the night.

When she found that to not be the case, she stood out of her sleeping bag and looked around. In front of her, their backs turned, and completely silent, were Judy, Jean, Stanley, and Ronny. They didn't move an inch, nor did they say a word when she tried to muscle her way past them. She caught a glimpse of Judy's mortified expression, and just when she was about to ask what the look was for, she turned to see something that made her jaw drop—and not for any good reason.

A giant plume of smoke was rising from off in the distance. She couldn't explain why it was there, but what she did know was where the smoke was coming from. And, immediately, she made a dash for that direction. She blocked out any other sound, even voices, as she ran toward the area in which their base was located.

When she realized that she wasn't making fast enough ground, she gritted her teeth and turned her fingers into vines. Honestly, she was thankful to her mother for one thing, and that was how she made her take gymnastics from when she was seven years old, all the way till she was 11.

Wrapping the vines on a branch, she swung herself forward spider-man style, and continued doing that for the next 8 minutes. Behind her, she barely see everyone else trying to catch up, though she didn't care for their shouts for her to slow down. Their base was under attack, and she needed to get there before anything bad could happen.

Only a few questions were bouncing around in her mind right about now, all of which related to how their base was found, and if anyone who remained in the base was okay. Her mind flashed to Julia, and the smile she had on her face when they departed three days back. When she promised that she would be safe.

And by the time Luz got to the base, running through the flaming hole in one of the walls…. Her mind ground to a halt. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and once again, her jaw hung low.

Blood….

There was so… much… blood.

It decorated parts of the ground like a fine carpet, some of the buildings had giant splatters of it against the walls, while most of it was haphazardly thrown around as if it meant nothing. She looked to her right, and saw the body of Giovanni, lying there, limp, with no head. Over to her left was Johnny, a giant hole blasted through his torso as a look of shock and horror marred his face. In the distance, she could see Carla splayed out on the ground with several small holes all over her body, as well as what she thought to be Arla's charred remains in the distance to her right.

And then, off in the distance, tucked away by the main cabin, was the headless body of Julia.

Luz's eyes narrowed, and a small sneer made itself present on her face. She told herself that she wasn't going to cry repeatedly, over and over again. But… it didn't work. She fell to her knees, hands lying limply on her legs as she sobbed.

She failed them.

She failed them all.

If she had just been there and decided to NOT go with the scouts, she would've been able to stop this. She would've been able to stop all of this. She—

"No. You wouldn't have."

Shigaraki's voice pounded against her head like a rumbling earthquake. Luz screamed in agony, as she clasped her hands around her face. And then, a wave of anger rolled over her like an incoming tsunami, and suddenly, something in the back of her mind snapped. A damn of pent-up aggression cracked, then exploded, allowing a tidal wave of rage to overcome her.

Of all the years of being bullied.

Of all the years of being called a loser.

Of all the years of being treated as an outcast.

Of all the years of being told to be "normal" by everyone around her, including her mom.

All of it came to a boiling point. And it was all because of this… bloodbath.

Her tears were no longer of sadness but of rage. Pure, unadulterated, rage. Something that she never thought she had in her. For all of her life, she never had a single hateful bone in her body. She never raised a hand to anyone, let alone those who bullied her.

But this… this was different. This was something else. She was angry—no, she was beyond that. She was livid. Someone was to blame for this, she knew that much. Someone had ratted out their location, or, perhaps it was pure happenstance. The point was, however, that somehow, someway, someone had found their base.

And now… she was angry.

And Shigaraki was laughing the entire time in the back of her head. But not out of mocking, no… but of joy. Almost as if he had been waiting for something like this to happen, almost as if he knew something that she didn't. But even then, not a single part of her cared as he spoke.

"Yes! Noceda, feed your anger! Feed your rage! Allow it to overcome you! Allow your emotions to take center stage! Find those who killed your friends, and do unto them that which they did to you!"

For a moment, for just a brief moment, the rational side of her tried to play reason. Tried to play devil's advocate; but the more ferocious, angry, vengeful side of her—the one that wanted repentance—ignored that side and pushed it away into a corner that it could not be heard from. Slowly, she stood up, her bangs covering her eyes, and allowing for a shadow to cover them.

And then, a small, malice-filled grin made itself appear on her face. It looked… inhuman, devilish, and filled with nothing but contempt. She reached her hand down to Giovanni's body and placed a hand on his decapitated head. She didn't know why she thought it'd work, but she knew it felt… right. Black and red sparks jetted off of her arm as they transferred over to Giovanni's head.

And then… power. Power surged through her, just like the last time when she stole Cody's power. But she didn't stop there, oh no. She went around to every corpse in the base and took their powers. After all, they were dead, what the hell were they going to need it for anyway?

Vines, Flame, Sword, Vibration Control, Repair, Black cat, and Life-Giver. All of those powers, all of them, went straight to her. Luz didn't even think twice about it. It just… came naturally to her, like it was the right thing to do. She could feel the powers worm their way through her body, and upon activating Sword to test if they all worked, a giant black steel blade shot out of her forearm. Luz smiled, observing the blade as it slinked back into her body.

The smile was replaced with a complacent expression, her eyes gleaming with fascination. Vines could be used for range, as could Flame, though Vines were more or less meant for tripping people up while Flame was just for overall destruction. Sword was good for close combat, and Vibration Control could be used to do massive damage to everyone in a small area. Though, she couldn't judge its true potential until she actually used it. Repair, from the name of the power alone, seemed like some form of self-healing, at least, that was the idea she got from activating it momentarily, seeing as the bruises left behind by her sparring with Ronny disappeared rather quickly. She didn't bother to activate Black Cat and Life-Giver, namely because she didn't want to.

When she took her hand off Carla's head, she felt a small tinge of regret pile up in her heart, namely for exploiting the dead, but yet again, she rationalized it with the idea that they were dead, she wasn't, and she needed their powers, especially if she planned to get revenge for them all. Vines and Flame weren't going to be enough; that much she knew.

By the time she was done with collecting the powers, she heard someone gasp. When she turned around, she was met with the rest of the scouts, all of whom were standing in the burning doorway of their base. Appalled, mortified expressions filled everyone's faces as they observed the carnage surrounding them, but by far the one who had the worst expression was Stanley.

One by one, everyone walked into the smouldering remains of the place that was supposed to be their home for the next two-and-a-half months, burnt and covered in bodies.

"That's what he meant…." Stanley said, kneeling over to one of the corpses as his hand gently glided over it, anger flashing through his face before it switched to sadness. Everyone looked at him, confusion on their faces as he slowly began to stand up. No one said a word, as Stanley faced them all. He went to open his mouth but abruptly stopped before lowering his head. "This is what he must've meant by I would "regret it". I…." the muscular teen murmured as Luz walked up to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him to look at her.

A part of her wanted to slap him, to blame him for everything, seemingly because he was willing to just openly accept it for whatever reason he might've had. But the more rational side of her told the angry side to at least wait for an explanation. So, that was exactly what she prompted him to do.

"Who," Luz said, her tone of voice hidden within a snarl as Stanley tensed. "Who said that? Who did this? You obviously know who, so spit it out," Luz demanded, her voice becoming louder with each question as Judy went to say something but was met with a glare from the Dominican teen. Judy inched away, looking away, before Luz placed her attention back on Stanley. "Well? Spit it out!"

Finally, after a few moments of silence, Stanley spoke. "Kennedy. He… he approached me last night. He demanded that I handed you over to him. He… he was going to kill you, but… I refused. I refused to do that. He attacked me, so I attacked him in retaliation… then… he told me I was going to regret doing this. I…" Stanley covered his mouth, his eyes widening. "Oh my god… this… this is my fault…."

Luz took a deep breath and walked back from Stanley. A part of her wanted to blame him, but… she couldn't find it in herself to do that. "No…." Luz drawled, catching Stanley's attention. "This isn't your fault. It's Kennedy's. It's Kennedy and anyone who listened to him and allowed him to do this' fault. And once I find them…."

Luz left the statement ambiguous, clenching her hands into fists as she looked at everyone. No one got a good impression of what she meant by that, but from the glare in her eyes, they all assumed exactly the same thing, and each of them felt like they were staring a ticking timebomb in the face. Reluctantly, everyone took a step back, as Luz nodded. "All of you need to hide. Run, or go somewhere else. My best guess is that they're going to come back here when they don't find us back at our last place of rest. When they do… I'll deal with them."

There was a brief moment of silence. Everyone shared looks with one another, and just as they were about to do as they were told, Stanley walked up to her, wrenched her arm up to his head, gritted his teeth, and spoke in a demanding tone of voice.

"Take it. Take my power. I…." He paused, before continuing. "I don't deserve it. I don't care what you say, I have some part to play in this happening. And… And I don't think I can live with myself after this. So… take my power, because… I won't need it. You will…."

Luz was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say, and a part of her wanted to slap him for even so much as suggesting that she take his power. But… yet again, she knew that he was right. And if that was what he wanted…. "Fine, but a word from the wise, this is going to hurt."

And hurt it did, as once she activated All For One to take Stanley's power, his screams echoed throughout the remains of the base. Luz still wasn't used to it but didn't let it show this time around as she did with Julia. The idea of taking someone's power still disturbed her, though far less so now. Once the deed was done, she felt her body become 10 times more durable than she initially felt before. It was almost like the muscles underneath her skin hardened but still allowed for fluid movement.

It was… interesting, to say the very least.

Luz looked at Stanley, who was quick to regain control of himself. She let out a sigh of relief, before pointing toward the exit of the base. "Leave, and whatever you do, don't come back. All of you. Even if you hear screaming, I don't care. I… I'll deal with this myself."

Everyone glanced at one another with hesitant expressions but ultimately nodded. And once they were gone, Luz stood in the center of the remains of their base and once the scouts were out of sight, she sat on the floor, head lowered, waiting for those who started it all to come back. Because, if there was anything she learnt from watching horror movies, cop shows and the like, it was that the perpetrator always came back to the scene of the crime.

And when they did….

The sinister smile came back to her face, as the gleam in her eyes carried no real emotion, other than wanting nothing more than vengeance. And vengeance was exactly what she was going to have. For Julia, and for everyone who died at the hands of Kennedy and those who followed him. And then, after that, once it was all said and done, and the dust was settled… she was going to keep up her promise to snuff out that pathetic excuse of a Governor.

And thus… she waited.

And waited…

And waited….

The fire around her began to die down once it couldn't spread to anything else, charred walls and piles of ash surrounded her, as flies began to swarm the bodies of the deceased. She kept her head lowered, and her eyes closed. She found herself drifting to sleep a few times, but woke up at any noise that echoed throughout the base.

Unfortunately, none of them were footsteps.

A part of her was worried. What happened to the others? What happened to Judy, Stanley, Ronny, and Jean? Were they ambushed? Were they attacked? Were they still alive? Did the Governors lackies kill them for trying to run away?

All of those questions, and no answers. And while she wanted to run and look for them, she had to stay put. She was taking a risky bet, but as far as she was concerned, it was better than nothing. And so, she stayed put; not moving a muscle. Patience, for as little of it as she had, was all that she had at the moment.

After all, the best hunters were the patient ones.

Eventually, one day passed. She was hungry, and thirsty, but never really let it get to her. She was probably dehydrated, but even then she didn't quite care all too much about that. The only thing that was on her mind was wanting revenge. And if worse came to worse, and they didn't come back, then she would just track them down like the rodents they were.

Another day passed, and nothing happened. Her eyes opened, and she was met with the darkness of night. She was about to call it quits, and begin to walk through the forest when she saw something in the distance. Specifically, man-made DIY torches.

Standing up, she got into a balanced stance between defence and offence, and narrowed her eyes, while keeping her head low. Footsteps filled her ears, and then, a laugh. She glanced at who was in front of her, and lo-and-behold, her hypothesis was right. Standing in front of her was a blond-haired boy, with a white pullover, black jeans, and black runners. Next to him, however, was a girl with long black hair, tan pasty white skin, and yellowish eyes. She was wearing a bikers vest, and a pair of jean shorts, or jorts, with knee-high socks.

"Well, guess my hypothesis was right! We couldn't find the rest of you in the forest, so we assumed that you came back here," The boy, Kennedy she assumed, said. She gave no reply, only staring vaguely at the ground. Kennedy seemingly frowned, nudging his head over to some big guy in the back. "Oi, Thomas, get the job done. Then we can bring her body to The Governor and get our money."

Anger flashed on her face. Money…? This was all for money…?

Her friend… allies… dead for extra cash…?

She saw a shadow loom over her, as this Thomas person hovered over her. He looked contemplative, almost as if he was struggling to make his choice. He was in grabbing range, which meant that his indecisiveness would cost him dearly. He walked a little bit closer, wound back his fist, and just as he was about to punch, she jutted her hand out toward his chest, activating Vibration Control.

Ripples formed across his body as his skin moved like water, causing him to jitter in place, his arm going limp to his side as blood erupted from his mouth like a tidal wave. Her best guess as to why that happened was that the vibration that she sent through his body was pretty strong—strong enough to vibrate his heart into exploding.

Kennedy's eyes widened, as with Luz's spare hand, she grabbed Thomas's face, and activated All For One, taking Thomas's power from his body as his corpse fell limply to the ground in a heap. Her eyes hardened with anger, the colour of her eyes changing from chocolate brown to a crimson-reddish colour, as she stared down at everyone in front of her. Curling her fingers inward, she felt untold strength wash through her body—Super Strength, presumably.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, the blond-haired boy snarled and pointed at Luz. "Don't just stand there! Get her!" Kennedy shouted. But, unlike what he thought was going to happen, no one made a move, racked with fear as Luz smiled the same eerie smile that had stretched across her face earlier.

And with a foreboding tone of voice, she uttered the four words that would make everyone in the immediate area shiver in fear and would cause everything to go downhill from there, and make the date of July 2nd, 2018, to go down in history as The Massacre of Fools

"Now… it's my turn."

-To Be Continued-