So, how have ya'll been? Back at it again with another chapter for All For Luz. This marks the end of the first arc of "Season 2". There will be three, possibly four if we count a short epilogue arc, and more arcs until we finally get to The Boiling Isles, which will be "Season 3" which I already have planned out in advance. Hopefully unlike "Season 2" it doesn't get upended and have to be re-planned out.

Though considering that TOH is no longer getting made (big sad, though the ending was GREAT if not a little rushed, then again what was the team supposed to do about it?) I don't think I'll have to run into that problem. So, with that being said, let's get into…

[Summer Break Shenanigans – Part 5]

The chaos began without a hint of warning. The moment Luz's body reformed and sealed itself back together in a mortifying display of what appeared to be immortality, her crimson-red eyes glowed with pure malice and hatred. Her face was contorted into a wicked sneer, the likes of which you would see more often on the face of a comic book villain.

Millie was the first to act. Instead of just using her pointer finger to create the magic circle, she used her entire hand—something that she was only supposed to do for a serious threat, which this was—as it turned a bright red. Tapping the center of the circle, she unleashed a wave of fire so hot that it would melt through skin and bone.

In response, Luz created not one, but two forcefields. One toward her back, which was where the witch had been positioned, and one toward the front, which had been where the police had been stationed. All of them drew their weapons, scoped Colt M4 Carbines, and began to fire. The bullets and fire hit the shields at the exact same time, and when they did, Luz fired off the forcefields, pushing both the fire and the bullets back along with them.

Millie was able to dodge out of the way, the forcefield aimed at her smashing into the Independent behind her. The resulting collision blew the entire top of the building away, scattering rubble across the parking lot, and crushing cars and trucks alike.

Metal shrapnel, tires, car and truck frames, chunks of concrete—anything you can think of scattered about as a result of the impact from the rubble of the building. It was complete and total destruction on a level not yet seen before by anyone within the town of Faraway. For Millie, though, she had seen this level of power before. Though not from anyone other than Emperor Belos.

"To think that someone so young can match the Emperor himself… perhaps she may even rival him?" As that thought entered the witch's head, Millie immediately shot away that blasphemous thought, erecting a shield to protect herself from the shrapnel and debris. "No. Surely not. No one can ever hope to rival The Emperor."

The police officers, on the other hand, didn't get the chance to dodge, as none of them had the time to react. All of them were wiped out at a moment's notice. One second, they were alive, the next second, they were dead.

The only person who got out of the way in time was Riley, and even then it was only by the skin of her teeth. Everyone, including the police chief, was violently blown away in a spray of flesh, bones, and blood. The impact left behind a crater the size of a small bus, and that wasn't where it ended.

The ginger nearly had a panic attack. The amount of human life going to waste… all because she had failed to kill her target. "How! How can one person have that much power?! It should be impossible!" Riley thought, eyes wide as she jumped back several times in order to avoid being impaled by Luz's Spear Fingers.

In passing, the ginger-haired adult was able to apply Explosive Touch to one of the metallic-like spear fingers, detonating it in the process. Luz was fast enough to use Multiply to eat up most of the explosion and regenerate the wounds that were left.

"She's not human… she can't be. This kind of power is unreasonable!" Riley continued to lament, as, in a blink of an eye, Luz was gone. It was like she never existed. It was only then that Riley felt something behind her. Looking over her shoulder, all she could see was a massive fist made out of over a hundred different hands.

Before Luz's right fist could collide with Riley's face, Millie generate a shield in front of Riley. Unfortunately for the pair of assassins, the shield cracked and immediately shattered under the force of the blow.

Riley was once again just able to jump out of the way, but not before losing her footing and narrowly tripping and falling on her back. Several spear-like fingers appeared just behind her, snaking underneath Riley as Luz hoped to impale the traitorous family member. Millie once again saved Riley's life by creating yet another shield underneath Riley, before leaping over to her, snagging her, and diving out of the way from several more spear-like fingers.

"What the hell?! Just what kind of bullshit is this! I know you said All For One had several powers, but this is ridiculous!" Riley shouted, looking over at Millie with narrowed eyes. "I know regeneration is a crazy ability, but she should have died! I literally blew her apart into several chunks!"

"How in the Realms was I supposed to know that she could survive that?!" Millie replied with an equal amount of shock, landing a few solid feet away from rampaging Luz. The second user of All For One stared daggers at the two, eyes blaring crimson and filled with hatred, before lunging forward, closing the distance and reaching her hand out for Riley's face.

"SHIT!" Riley thought. There wasn't enough time for her to react, but there was more than enough time for her partner to. Once again, Millie was forced to bring out a shield, barely being able to do so. Luz's hand bounced off of the shield, before another fist—her left fist—slammed into it, breaking it. In response, Millie summoned a wave of Abomination sludge to push Luz back, even if it was only just a foot or so.

It was at this moment that the pair knew that, alone, they weren't going to be able to defeat Luz. This wasn't a two-man job, this was a full team job. And even then, Riley was having doubts about ever being able to put Luz down. But one thing was most definitely certain, they would need more than just her and Millie to take on All For One and have a fighting chance.

The duo was nowhere near enough to take Luz on head-on. What they had in teamwork they lacked in ability to put a dent in Luz both literally and figuratively. Even with the amount of damage they were doing to her body, which would have been more than enough to kill a regular person, she simply shrugged it off and kept going.

That kind of power made that person a God.

To make matters worse, it seemed as if the police were ultimately useless in this. If Riley's Explosive Touch power did nothing to her, then what the hell was a few guns going to do? Pepper her with holes that would heal almost immediately? The only thing that would do would be to make Luz even more furious than she already was.

That, and even if they were able to get any of the police on their side, what were they going to do? Seriously? What could the police do? What was a man to, for all intents and purposes, a God? Besides, most of the other officers didn't give a shit about All For One or those with superpowers. The ones that came here were those who were on Belo's and more importantly, Wittebane's side. The rest actually liked All For One. Though considering what transpired today that was probably going to change.

Either way, they couldn't stick around for much longer. Luz was already fighting against the abomination wave and was even trudging through it as if it were just some water and she was moving upstream. The rage in her eyes was probably blinding her to the fact that her skin was being torn off and simultaneously being replaced by whatever overpowered regeneration power she had.

"We need to get out of here!" Riley shouted as Millie nodded.

"Working on it!" Millie shouted back, placing a finger on the earpiece in her left ear. "Oi! Charlie! Get us the hell out of here!" Millie said, and as soon as those words left her mouth, a black sludge-like liquid forced itself out of Millie's and Riley's mouths, quickly enveloping them and warping them away in the time it took for Luz to finally wade through the sludge and reach where she was trying to get to.

In frustration, Luz screamed in rage as she slammed her right fist into the ground. Thanks to Multiplyer and Super Strength, the result caused by this made an even larger crater than the one that had been created by the forcefield shot. It was around four buses in diameter, or just short of 25 feet.

Breathing heavily not out of exhaustion but out of frustration, the Dominican American gritted her teeth, relaxing her shoulders as she stared out at the destroyed parking lot. Destroyed cars, chunks of The Independent Store, pot-holes—all of it was her fault. She did all of this. She caused all of this damage. All in the amount of time it would take for someone to send a handful of text messages.

The "fight", if she could even call it that, was mostly her lashing out in a rage after being betrayed by someone she considered family. She was barely even coherent during the brawl, and it was only now that she was slowly beginning to think things out. Blood splatters littered the concrete, and she knew exactly where they came from.

The police had shown up to arrest her for… well, her ties to being All For One. While it was against the law to put the law in one's own hands, Luz didn't quite care for their opinions. What were a bunch of people with standard handcuffs and no superpowers going to do against a superpowered crook? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not unless they themselves had powers.

That was beside the point. The police officers were more than willing to gun her down, even if it didn't do anything. She was beginning to notice that happening a lot more often than she was willing to say she liked. It happened in the store, and now it happened outside of the store. One by a group of would-be killers, and the other attempt being done by law enforcement.

Why? Luz wanted to know why everyone hated her. Was it because of what she did at the camp? That was self-defence, or what could loosely be called self-defence. The whole point of that camp was to kill one another. The rest of the camp thought it funny to kill her friends, so she returned the favour ten times over.

Why couldn't people see that she wasn't given a choice? Besides, she valued her life over the lives of those who would wish to have her dead.

Not that it mattered. She didn't care about that anymore. It was behind her, and she had pushed it behind her for obvious reasons. If people were still hung up about what she had done back there, that it was on them for being so indecisive.

Luz could see a small crowd of people gathering across the street, directly across from the parking lot. The teen could barely make out phone cameras being pointed at the parking lot recording the fight to put on Youtube, and in the centermost front of the crowd, she could make out her mama, staring with horrified eyes and a pale face.

For the briefest of seconds, Luz was taken aback. It was only when she saw her mom that Luz realized that she hadn't even blinked at her actions. She simply… viewed them. Saw them, witnessed them and did them. There was no stopping to think that perhaps what she had just done was evil. That what she had just done was good.

That the fact that she had killed nearly a dozen people in one go was something that she didn't even blink at. She merely did it. A pit formed in her stomach for a second. Guilt washed over her, as did a brief moment of self-admonishment. It was quickly swept away by the fact that those whom she had killed were actively trying to kill her. Therefore it balanced out in a twisted sort of way.

"Good. I am glad you are starting to come to your senses, Luz," Shigaraki said, as Luz cringed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that it's about time you realize that you were never in the wrong. I know that there are days when you believe yourself to be, but you are not at fault for defending yourself."

"But… What about—"

"It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or believes. Judge yourself on your own morals. Not anyone else's," Shigaraki interrupted, before pausing. There was a brief moment of silence between them, as Luz walked forward, passing the carnage that she had caused.

Those police officers had families in town. She had killed them without even registering the thought. Did that make her the bad guy? Was she the villain here, or were they? They decided to fire upon her instead of targeting the one person, Riley, who had narrowly killed her. For whatever reason, they were siding with the bad guys.

Who could hire them? Better yet, who hired Riley and that strange child to kill her? Was it the government again? Or was it someone else? Some other group? It was in that search to find someone to blame that Luz realized exactly who could have been. There was only one group of people who could have possibly had it out of her, and by extension, all of those who had powers, to begin with.

The Wittebanes.

She had seen several news channels cover Tyler Wittebane's speeches about those with powers being called Demons and monsters that should be stripped of their rights. Outright saying that kind of thing to crowds of people. He was currently touring the southern United States to spread his message. Meaning that he wasn't actually in Gravesfield at the moment.

The Wittebane Mega Church had been long controversial for the things they preached. His church was extremely right-wing, to the point where it was common for him to go on long rants about how those who weren't strictly white, straight, or cis-gendered should not have the ability to live in Gravesfield.

Some time ago, Gravesfield had been a "Sundown Town." It was a stain on the town's history. As of late, it had stopped being such, with the current Mayor—Mayor Abscott—being the one to revoke those laws and make it illegal to discriminate against anyone for any reason, with a major fine being attached to those who offended. There was just one exception to the rule, and those were the churches.

The churches were allowed to do whatever they wanted, and that was most likely how Tyler was able to get away with what he was doing. And considering that he and his congregation most likely viewed those with powers as evil, and considering what kind of power Luz had… there was no other person in the town or country who would have a true reason to have her dead.

As Luz thought it over, she seethed in silence, her right hand clenching into a fist. As she approached the group of people, Immediately, almost like a knee-jerk reaction, those who had phones out put away their phones and stared. They looked afraid of her. To be fair to them, they had every right to be. Even her own mother looked horrified.

"It seems even your mother is scared of you, Luz. What are you going to do?" Shigaraki asked the teen, who ignored the fossil of a man resting in her head. Luz looked down at her hands, and for a brief second, she saw blood. It made her flinch, but nothing more. There was no visceral reaction to it, she simply saw it before it disappeared, and reacted as if it was nothing more than the blip it was.

As she looked back at the crowd of people, consisting majorly of people her age, alongside a couple of parents and younger children, along with her mother, Luz overlooked the crowd with a neutral gaze. The white and brown-haired teen knew exactly what it was she had to do.

She knew that, despite whatever excuse she could come up with, no one in the crowd was going to believe a word of what she would want to say. They saw her kill police officers. Whatever attempt to be a hero there was for her was now gone. No one liked or routed for a cop-killer, even if that cop was a dirty cop.

Luz looked at her mama, closed her eyes, then looked down the road. There was a police barricade with empty cars set up. No one was there, at least from what she could see. Even if there was, they had to have seen what had happened, and she had to harbour a guess that they weren't stupid enough to try anything.

"You know what needs to be done, correct?"

"Yeah, I do… the question is, where do I start looking?"

"Perhaps that priest you know may have some answers. After all, despite his apparent loathing for the head of the Wittebane Mega Church, he might have some information. It's better to start with those who share in the business in deluding the weak-willed than to go elsewhere and paint a target on your back."

"Just gonna ignore that last part and agree with you," Luz sighed, walking away from the crowd. It was only when she heard her mother call out to her that she stopped.

"Luz! Where are you going?!" Camila called out, a worried expression on her face as Luz glanced over her shoulder. She thought about saying something, like a catchy one-liner, but she decided against it. So, she said what it was that she was going to do in as blunt a-way as she could.

"I'm going to kill the Wittebanes. They're the ones that sent Riley after me. They have to be. So I'm finishing what they started," Luz replied, her tone of voice distant. She didn't want to show her mom the lack of conviction she felt saying that. She didn't want to show her how much she hated using the word "kill" to describe something she was going to do.

By all rights, her mother should have said something to admonish her. At that point, she should've cast her to the wolves. And if she did, she didn't vocalize it. She didn't say anything, and if she did Luz didn't hear it. Luz was more focused on the fact that she needed to stop this from happening. Before her mother was targeted. She had no idea just how much blood was on their hands.

She would make them rue the day they had decided to mess with her.

xxXXxxXXxx

"You failed. You said you would be able to kill her and you failed," Tyler spat, glaring down at Riley and Millie, as standing next to him was Charlie, the person responsible for getting them out of that horrendous situation. He was lanky, with pale skin and black hair. He had dark blue eyes and was darker-skinned.

Charlie was wearing a dark blue shirt with red stripes, and a pair of black jeans with rips in the knees. Alongside that, she had a spiked choker around his neck, and his hair was shaved at the sides. Alongside that, he had a star tattoo over his right eye, and his expression was blank save for the corner of his lip being upturned due to a burn scar.

"To be fair to us, sir, All For One should have died by Riley's hand. We never expected her to be able to piece herself back together… quite literally," Millie interjected as Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon?" Tyler asked, staring at Millie, who fidgeted uncomfortably under the man's gaze. It was just like The Emperor's stare. The kind of stare that demanded absolute devotion and absolute respect. Perhaps this Tyler Wittebane was this world's version of The Emperor. It would explain why he was so revered by the people that followed him.

"I mean what I said, sir. All For One, otherwise known as Luz Noceda, was able to piece herself back together from being tiny little chunks of meat left behind in one of Riley's explosions," Millie explained, hardening her gaze as she gave the man the report of the events. "By all rights, she should have died. But, by some… bizarre luck, she was able to come out of it alive, and as a result, she began to sprout millions of arms to piece herself back together, starting from her original arms."

"That sounds like Derreck's power. Did Derreck die?" Tyler asked as Millie nodded.

"I saw his death. He had his power drained from him by All For One and then had his head crushed after the fact. Once again, there was nothing that I could have done to stop it. By the time I had begun to assist Derreck, he was already dead," Millie continued as Tyler sighed.

"I see… then that does bring us some problems, now doesn't it. We only have 4 more assassins left. And with the information you've just given me, it stands to reason that we may not be able to take Luz Noceda down. In which case, we are going to need more support," Tyler stated as Millie frowned.

"Are you implying that you are going to try and get back into contact with Emperor Belos?" Millie asked as Tyler nodded.

"I do intend to. If he is a man of his word, he will send me more reinforcements. Clearly, this is much bigger than I thought it was going to be. Perhaps this… Golden Guard I've heard so much about might be able to help," Tyler said, as Millie shot to her feet.

"The Golden Guard is The Emperor's personal assistant! Why would he send someone like that to help a pathetic human like you—"

The barrel of a gun was placed gently against the back of Millie's head, as the child froze on the spot. Behind her, was a man standing around 10 feet tall. The gun in question was a standard 6-round revolver, polished and cleaned to perfection. The hammer was pulled back, and the man's finger was on the trigger.

As for the tall man, his eyes were a deep purple, his hair was a jet black that reached down to his cheeks, and over his mouth was a mask, connected to which were a pair of pipes that coursed with purple energy. He wore a black vest, with a white button-down shirt, alongside a pair of leather brown pants and cowboy boots.

"Aye there lil' missy. Ya best shut yer damned mouth. Yer talkin' to the boss with such a sharp tongue. Perhaps I should remind you just how far down the chain of command you truly are, runt," the man said, his accent a thick Southern one. Tyler sighed, staring at the gunman with a frown.

"Jonah, please, put the gun away. I despise infighting, and I would like to keep it to a minimum, okay?" Tyler stated as Jonah, with a frown, drew away his gun and let go of the hammer. The man put his gun back into his holster and huffed. "How is the mask I prepared working for you? Is it easier to maintain your Smog?"

"Yup," Jonah said, popping the p as he crossed his arms. "All I gotta do is point and the gas goes where I want it to. Although, I gots to ask, where'd ya get it from?" Jonah questioned as Tyler smirked.

"As I said, I made it myself. Now, if you're quite done, I have a job for you," Tyler said as Jonah perked up with an almost joyous jolt of energy. "I want you to… clean up a little. Get rid of some loose ends. I know I said earlier that we shouldn't drag innocent people into this, but… I believe we're sending the wrong message.

"The request is simple. All For One is too strong mentally for a single opponent to defeat. Clearly, no matter the betrayal, All For One is still under the belief that no one else other than her will be hurt. So, I suggest we make it quite clear that we are not to be trifled with. If All For One wants to make my life harder, then I will do the very same."

"What'cha saying, Boss? You want me ta kill 'er mother or something like that?" Jonah asked as Tyler smirked.

"Oh, not just her. I want you to kill anyone who so much as had any sort of positive connection to Luz Noceda at any point in time. Start with the mother, end with that damned Priest that's against me. And if by any chance you get caught in the act, I'll have Charlie warp you back safe and sound," Tyler stated as Riley's eyes widened.

"You said no harm would come to Camila!" Riley snapped as Tyler frowned.

"No, no. I said no harm would come to Camila… should you succeed, Riley. But you failed. Therefore, the deal is off. Learn to pay attention to what I say before you agree to something, child," Tyler spat as Riley flinched. Jonah smirked, cracking his neck from side to side.

"Alright. Consider it already done, Boss."

As soon as those words left Jonah's mouth, the black sludge created by Charlie spewed out from under the mask, then completely enveloped the man, sending him off to where he needed to go. Tyler looked down at Riley and sighed. "I am sorry, child. But it has to be this way. If you are looking for someone to blame, blame All For One, for she did not die as God decreed."

Riley said nothing as Tyler Wittebane turned around, and began to walk away. They had all been in a dark room, one connected to the house that Tyler had been staying in for the time being during his travel across the Southern States.

"Oh god… I fucked up… I fucked up big time…." Riley thought to herself, looking down at her hands. Not only did she betray Luz, she inadvertently, without even knowing it, killed her Aunt. Camila's blood was now on her hands because knowing Jonah, the death was going to be gruesome.

Jonah's crime, before Tyler had bailed him out, had been the rape and then murder of his wife who had been 37 at the time of her death. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, and placed on a 10 million dollar bail. When powers began to show up, Jonah, 19 years of age, awoke his power Smog in prison.

Now that monster… that degenerate… was going to kill Camila. All because she had failed to kill Luz. She had already betrayed Luz by attempting to end her life… but now… "Please… God, don't have Jonah do what I think he's going to do… I don't pray to you often, but this cannot be done. You can't let him do this…"

There was a haunted look in Riley's eyes. Drowning in her own guilt, knowing that what was about to happen was her fault, tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

For the first time since she had been free of her abusive father, Riley Stewardson broke down in a mess of guilt, grief, and tears.

-To Be Continued in – Death to Normality – Part 1