Annnnnnd we're Back again! I hope you've all been doing well. I don't want This note to hold anything up, so let's jump right into the Chapter. Please check the bottom for another A/N. Let's GO!
CHONG MAI – COUNTRYSIDE
June 6th, 2008. 1600 (4:00 PM) KST
Jack's POV:
The military facility faded behind them quickly as the army green transport truck rushed forward towards the mountains in the distance, the wind whipping at his face through the open window.
Jack swiveled his head back so that he could look at Grundy while Helena pushed their transport forward, seeing that the large zombie was seemingly unaffected by the dire situation they were headed into.
'Maybe it's because of his healing factor? Or the fact that he is a zombie in the first place? Either way I'm glad to have him here.' Jack thought to himself before he spoke out to his compatriots.
"Alright you two, you know the plan. We need to harry that mech as best as we can. Hopefully we'll be able to do that without any interference from the local military, but I've got the strangest feeling that things aren't gonna play out that way. We do this thing by the numbers as best as we can. The focus remains on the mech, but if the local forces make a nuisance of themselves, you can take em' down; but use as close to non-lethal force as you can. The last thing we need to be doing is to be riling these people up any more than they probably already are. The other thing to consider is said forces or even the locals being in line of the mechs attacks. That means we prioritize getting people outta the way. Grundy? You've got about as much or just a smidge more mobility than I do considering your leaping distance, so given the chance, whether they be soldier or civilian you get people clear. Huntress? You need to stick to hit and run tactics. If there's people to pull out, do it as quickly and as safely as possible. Failing that, I want you to focus on confusing any of the local forces that decide to make our day more difficult. Here's hoping that won't be a problem. Going after the mech needs to be your absolute last resort. Everyone know their jobs?"
Jack's small monologue was met with two very distinctive responses.
"I Understand." And "You got it partner." Being said back as Jack turned his gaze off of the space between his two teammates to the road in front of him.
The transport truck had already made it to the very first road that would wind around the large mountain that the mech was working its way around, and Helena was forced to swerve and shift around the now more closely placed together divots from the mechs large footprints.
The dark green truck came around the final edge of the mountain, revealing the area in full to the small team.
Other mountains were nearby and easily visible but the area within the immediate vicinity of the first mountain was made up of the carved road, lush green fields, and a small scattering of large trees and assorted bushes that made up a small forest.
'The parts that haven't been decimated that is.' Jack thought as he took in the clearly blasted out portions of the surrounding forest, the mechs large black and red armored body clearly within sight as it continued its steady walk through the area as it traipsed through the now slightly blackened and flaming landscape.
As their transport continued its approach Jack got to take a closer look around, and intermingled along the edge of the field slightly outside of the small forested area was an assemblage of a dozen or so small houses and other similar structures; and upon seeing them Jack realized that he wasn't the only one to have spotted them.
The mechs large almost earth-shaking movements had petered out, as it was seemingly attempting to take up a good firing position against the assembled homestead in the distance.
Jack went to speak out to Helena to get her to head towards the homestead, but he was cut off because of the pinging of gunfire as it bounced off of the side of their truck as a small group of soldiers unleashed a hail of automatic and small arms gunfire at them from the forest near them.
"Grundy! Huntress! Get to that area as fast as you can I'll be right behind you!" Jack shouted as he jumped out of the passenger side of the truck with nary another word.
Jack came down on his right arm shield first, and as he came rolling up he amped himself up to 35% of his power before bursting forward in a sprint.
Jack blurred into the forest, the constant ringing staccato of metal-on-metal buffeting against his ears as the enemy's gunfire continued to rain down on him.
Jack wound up during a break and tossed his shield to his left, before quickly launching himself at a tree; turning himself into a wreathed blur as he bounced between the closely knit together trees of the forest.
Back Fist, Right Cross, Snap Kick, Roundhouse, all of those blows and more rained down on the enemy soldiers as Jack blitzed through the enemy lines as he closed in and took away their ranged advantage.
Having made it firmly into their assembled ranks, a vast majority of the enemy hesitated out of shock…
Said hesitation was all that Jack needed to take them out of the equation.
Jacks shield throw also came into play, as the shield had bounced off of at least six men before returning to him via his iron clad will; and within seconds of catching it as he passed another large tree, he spun on the back of his right foot and launched the implement again at another gathered set of the Chong Mai forces.
A man lunged into Jack's personal space with a bolt action rifle that had a large bayonet attached to it, but all that attack did was give Jack the chance to showcase his enhanced strength and speed.
Jack slipped with his right side, allowing the blow that could and may have skewered him to pass by his person. Jack's left hand snapped up and caught the rifle by right above the loading chamber, his right hand lashing out in a blur to catch his assailant square in the nose with a palm strike; before the hand raised minutely up and back only to come down on the wooden part of the old-fashioned rifle in a hammer blow.
The hammer fist blow that followed the jab to the nose shattered the assembly turning the wood of the rifle into shattered bits of kindling, and if the seemingly broken nose hadn't been enough to slow the man down the strike that came from the rest of the gun's assembly in Jack's grasp to the left side of the head was more than enough to finish the job of sending the enemy soldier into the land of unconsciousness.
That small altercation took all of three seconds, and one second later Jack was already sprinting again as he darted for another group of soldiers.
'Danger Sense' flared hard a moment after Jack had started his new run against the enemy in front of him, and a quick leaping springboard off of a tree to his left showed him why his ability had activated.
Said tree that Jack had used his legs to catapult off of turned into a small a falling flaming projectile as an explosion rocked the bottom of it from an RPG shot that had been meant to take him out, and once again Jack found himself grateful for the extra abilities of 'One For All'.
The tree fell to the earth at almost the same time as Jack did, and as the large tree falling caused a small tremor Jack was already using his momentum to springboard off of another nearby tree trunk so that he could once again turn himself into a human sized rocket against his enemy.
With a twitch of his right hand his shield flew from his right and bounced off of the face of one of the closest soldiers, the metal implement flying from his grasp with all of his available unnatural speed and strength behind it; before it flew back again.
Jack caught his most famous tool mid-flight and slotted it over his right forearm while bringing it to bare, a fresh wave of the constant pattering sound of metal on metal assaulting his ears anew as the assembled enemy seemed to realize their folly as he bodily flew towards them while they tried to gun him down as he hurtled at the RPG wielder.
His star-spangled shield kissed said RPG holder full frontal as Jack came out of a flying dive at him, and as gravity took hold Jack lit off 'Smokescreen' while he bodily crashed on top of his most heavily armed assailant as his three gathered fellows turned in shock at his move.
Jack pushed off of the man and quickly rolled over his now groaning form as he cut off the blast of 'Smokescreen', the sound of foreign shouting gracing his ears before automatic gunfire started up again; causing the man he'd downed to scream and shout in pain.
'Dammit' Jack thought as he quickly pin-balled himself between some trees again to reorient his position, before taking another straight run at the last of the standing and capable soldiers.
Six men were left, and within seconds each of them had been summarily disarmed and rendered unconscious; either by Jacks shield or his fists.
Even in his amped state it took a moment to gather the assembled men, the total being 17; before Jack began popping glue capsules to secure them.
Jack attempted to check the man who had been using the RPG, but it only took a moment to figure out that he'd been riddled with far too many bullets from his compatriots in their attempt to kill him.
Jack thought to take a brief second for the fallen man, but he was pulled from such an action as a sound unlike anything he'd ever heard before assaulted his ears while the air took on an oppressive feeling as a dual blast rang out from the Brimstone mech; the ambient temperature spiking even with the considerable distance that separated him from the devastating machine.
The sound of the blasts, the pressure wave that came from their impact, and even more so the bright golden light drew Jacks full attention.
Not needing any more prompting Jack secured his shield to his back and was again sprinting like a mad man as he took off out of the forested area and onto the more open field where the assemblage of houses had been.
'The use of past tense being absolutely necessary.' Jack thought morosely while keeping a steady and staunch face up as he bolted into the thick of the now smoldering area.
This situation was unlike anything he'd ever faced, as the remnants of what had been a small community was all a bustle with activity as people attempted to flee the devastation.
What was left of homes, sheds, and even what looked to be a small market and farming field all were alight with bright almost golden flame; a deep pair of three-foot-wide trenches that extended for about twenty feet sat at the entrance into the area before they ended where a large set of scorch marks showed where the blasts had first fully touched down.
People were all running in the opposite direction of the mech towards where the last few standing buildings were, some carrying an assemblage of belongings, while others carried small children or ushered older and infirm people away from all of the damage.
Jack spied a dark patch of purple which gave off Helena's position from amidst the fleeing mix of other colorfully dressed civilians, the assembly finding itself disturbed by a small boom of sound ringing out as Grundy's large form fell from the sky at an ark to land and help continue to try and move the people along; though it was quite clear that the civilians of Chong Mai were slightly unnerved by the zombie's appearance... they still began to try and follow the former villain.
A large raging mechanical roar rent through the air, the direction of the sound causing Jack to whip back around and stare at the massive mech as it began to slowly move itself closer towards the village; each of its steps slowly but surely starting to cause the ground to shake as its massive size shifted the ground beneath it as it lumbered forward.
Jack quickly spun back around and darted forward quickly sliding in between the slowly dispersing group of people, putting himself at Helena's side.
"Huntress, is the truck viable to get these people out of here?"
Helena's eyes locked with his briefly and he watched as a bit of desperation settled onto her more visible features as she quickly shifted her gaze around at the group of moving civilians and back towards the mech before she locked eyes with him again and responded.
"Even with Grundy out and about I won't be able to take more than maybe a dozen of them at a time. I'd need to make at least three trips back and forth, even with them moving alongside if we did it that way it doesn't look good. Might…we've got at least forty to fifty some odd people here, and that's not counting that one farmer who's being a completely obstinate ass and keeps insisting that he's bringing his herd of oxen with him. We're not equipped for this!"
Helena's words crashed against him like a physical blow, and it took all of his willpower to keep himself focused and ready to make his next move.
Grundy landing back next to them set his brain into overdrive, and Jackson saw a new set of transport vans pulling into the area in the distance; causing him to have to move quickly.
"Grundy listen to me. I need you to distract the mech. Do whatever you can. Use felled trees, parts of the burning buildings, whatever you can throw at it; and I mean that literally. Whatever you've gotta throw, you do it. You just have to keep the mechs attention off of the villagers. I'll be with you as fast as I can. Keep your head on a swivel and move fast, you hear me? You heal really well, but I don't know what'll happen if you take a full-on blast from those double cannons."
Grundy nodded at Jack as he finished speaking, a quick reply coming out before the zombie super jumped over him and towards the incoming machine.
"Grundy got it Shield Boy!"
The response had Jack wanting to shake his head, but Jacks train of thought strayed back to where it was needed as the inbound military transports arrived just a few feet away from Jack and Helena; Jack quickly ushering Huntress on so that she could help to load women and children into the back of their procured transport.
Eight sets of green fatigued feet emptied out of the new trucks as Helena began to drive away with a collection of civilians now trying to trail alongside her, each of the men armed as they took up a position to try and seemingly box Jack into place using a half circle formation.
'They've got another thing coming if they think that's gonna do anything to stop me.' Jack thought as his eyes took in the final two figures to join the now assembled troupes, two men dressed in more formal military dress: one of a far more advanced age while the other looked to be middle aged with a very similar appearance.
"Greetings, young hero. I am General Bai Kwan, and this to my left is my son, Lieutenant Gang Kwan. I am sorry to report this too you, but in lieu of your presence here you have violated the Justice Leagues charter with the United Nations; as Chong Mai is not an affiliated country. You have infiltrated our sovereign borders and are to be detained as an enemy of the state. Effective Immediately. I am deeply sorry for this."
…
Ignoring that the man didn't sound sorry in the slightest and was oozing smugness; Jack could only stare in almost complete incredulity at the man.
Not even less than what maybe came out to be eight blocks away was a rampaging nuclear super mech…and the man was more worried about Jack and possibly his team's presence…
'Time for a reality check.'
Clearing his throat Jack spoke clearly and put every ounce of defiance he could ever remember having in his life behind his tone.
"I'm not with the Justice League. None of my people are. We're here right now because these people need help. End of story. You want to stop me from cleaning up the mess that you caused? You and your men can feel free to take your best shot. But I've got better things to do then stand here and deal with your stupidity."
Jack's words clearly ruffled a few feathers, as all the men's faces that had come with the General set into deep sneers as they hissed words in Mandarin amongst themselves while staring at Jack; their weapon hands looking twitchy as some even began to fully shoulder said weapons.
The General himself however looked surprised at Jack's rebuttal, and he held up his right hand while gesturing at his men to put their weapons down.
"Oh really? You aren't with the Justice League? Then why come to Chong Mai at all?"
Jack found himself completely baffled that the man was still trying to have any kind of discussion with the rampaging mech so close by, and the gall of his brazen attitude rankled Jack in a way he could barely describe.
Jack made that abundantly clear with his next set of words.
"I'm gonna save these people. We're done here." Jack said before half turning to head towards Grundy and the mech.
The sounds of weapons priming, and foreign shouts filled the air, but Jack remained unimpressed with it all as he leveled his half glowing stare at the General and his men.
"Regardless of what is happening right now, however it may have happened, you…are Not a citizen of my country. You will come quietly, or you will be executed by my men right here and now."
Jack was already amped, as he had been for a while now.
He was about to blitz into the assembled men and take them all down hard when something he never would have expected happened.
A bright beam of yellow energy carved a small gouge of a trench into the ground in a straight line between him and the military forces of Chong Mai, a loud and powerful voice calling out from above them all right as the beam cut itself off.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"
CHONG MAI – COUNTRYSIDE
June 6th, 2008. 1625 (4:25 PM) KST
Captain Atom's POV:
It hadn't taken Atom long after getting off of the phone with General Eiling to offer up what little information he could to brief the rest of the League about the way he'd be handling the developing situation.
He let his compatriots know exactly why he'd been chosen, and that he'd be heading out as quickly as possible.
'Of course...that's about all I was able to say about it.'
In his mind it made total sense, and thankfully his abilities helped sell the argument.
He had been in service before and had continued said service as he'd volunteered for the program that had given him his abilities, so it stood to reason that even though he had his personal beliefs and loyalties to the Justice League; he had already sworn his service to the Air Force.
That set of vows took precedence in a lot of ways, and Atom took his given word very seriously.
He had fortunately already been in his transformed state before having answered the General's call, and as such didn't have to take that very minor step before coordinating with the other members of the League to figure out where their nearest Zeta tube was to Chong Mai.
It took a bit of time afterwards for the official green light to come down which would allow him to go forward with the operation, but once the Presidents official call came in, he was off.
A quick bit of Zeta beam travel after that and he was quickly airborne, headed towards his target from the Japan based Zeta tube.
A typical airline flight from Japan to Chong Mai typically took up to around four to four and a half hours, and that was considering that a commercial airliner could get up to a maximum speed of around 580 mph.
Atom knew that with his own top speed topping out at around Mach 2.2, he'd be at his target destination much faster.
'Or at least that had been my hope.' Atom thought with resignation as he bobbed and weaved through the clouded airspace above the country of Chong Mai as he was pursued by a trio of Chengdu J-7 specials.
He had barely entered said airspace before he was immediately accosted by the enemy fighters, and as such he was currently leading them on a merry chase in his best attempt to get the pursuing pilots to burn out their aircraft's resources.
Bullet fire sounded out behind him in a constant and loud staccato, tracer rounds flying by him as he was impacted by pings from the steady streams of machinegun fire that was launched at his person.
This carried on for a scant few moments before Atom turned his brightly yellow glowing vision upon the three fighters as he was flying inverted, and watched as all three of the pursuing fighters each dropped an individual missile.
Stopping on a dime, Atom used all of his considerable strength and turned himself straight up and shot higher into the upper atmosphere.
The missiles chased after him relentlessly and stayed on his tail the entire way up as he climbed higher into the sky; the ambient temperature slowly but surely dropping around him as he climbed higher.
Atom began channeling his power deep within his core, all the while starting to slow his own ascent as the missiles continued their pursuit of him; the enemy fighters still within sight as they too kept pace enough to keep an eye upon their target.
Passing through a thick cloud Atom looked down and saw that the missiles were close upon him, and that's when he chose to make his move. He dropped his own mental control of his ability to fly and felt the earth's gravity reassert itself upon him, before his body turned and headed back towards the ground.
His accumulated energy surged from the center of his being and passed down both of his arms in a burst, and as he fell the missiles were only a few feet away from his person. Atom cupped his hands together while reasserting his ability to fly on himself, and unleashed a wide cone shaped blast of his irradiated energy.
The blast was only meant to clip the closest missile, and that alone was enough.
A brilliant cloud of shrapnel, smoke, and flame lit off as Atom's energy ruptured the head missile; setting off the chain reaction that ended the initial pursuit.
Atom came hurdling through that very same cloud at almost half of his full speed, both of his hands wreathed in the glowing golden light of the typical irradiated energy he'd use.
The enemy fighters quickly attempted to shoot him down as they continued towards him, three more missiles lighting off to streak at him; but Atom was now on the offensive.
Atoms hands blurred, three quick and powerful beams of golden energy lancing out against the incoming enemy projectiles; said armaments exploding in brilliant clouds of debris like the previous ones had.
The missile that was launched from the third fighter detonated too close to the fighter that had launched it as it had not had enough time to even leave the fighters area, and Atom watched while soaring down at the other two jets as the pilot of the third quickly ejected from the now decimated fighter.
Atom came flying through a lingering and large plume of exploding material, his right hand still wreathed in brightly golden yellow energy; and that hand sheered through the right-hand wing of the lead fighter jet.
Atom heard, more than saw the jettison function of that plane, while quickly orienting himself to land right on the nose of the final jet that had been in the formation.
Atom brought his right hand up and wagged his index finger in a 'no, no' motion at the pilot, and said pilot quickly followed their compatriot's example and jettisoned from their craft.
Atom did all three of the pilots a favor and ensured that they were clear enough from the jets as he flew after said plummeting aircraft, before charging his hands up again and summarily vaporizing all that was left of the enemy fighters.
After ensuring that the enemy pilots were secure in their descent back down to the earth, Atom aligned himself with the ground; and after checking the GPS transponder in his left glove, shot back onto the path that he'd need to be on to head towards the 'Brimstone' mech.
'The mech may be my priority, but the very last thing any of us needs is Chong Mai attempting to claim that they were attacked first.' Atom thought as he continued his flight path, knowing that while he was here to put a stop to the mech; the entire situation was still extremely delicate.
Chong Mai's higher up leadership had already covered their own ass's, having put out a statement for the UN that the mech wasn't something that they had commissioned. Their claims sighted that a dissident faction from within their own military had gone 'rogue' and was thereby entirely responsible for the mech's existence, and that because of such a thing they would be responsible for dealing with the current catastrophe befalling their country.
'And because of that I have to be careful with every single step I take during this incident. Everything I do can and will be under extreme scrutiny, and any interactions I have with the locals can wind up being used against not only the United States; but against the League if Chong Mai attempts to stir things up with the UN since their claiming innocence of this whole mess. A lot of people already have enough reason to debate the Leagues existence…this whole situation will just be adding more talking points to their arsenal.' Atom thought as he shook his head while he came down on the area.
Only a few moments later Atom found himself flying by a facility that was clearly military in origin, and the sight of the area brought him up short; for more than one reason.
Not only was the facility melted and parts of the area still alight with flame, but there were groups of men and women surrounding their compatriots as they attempted to pull them from what looked like some kind of foam.
'What in the hell is going on here?!' Atom thought with shock as he took in the area for a brief moment longer, before a loud and booming mechanical roar sounded out from his right past the mountain range ahead of him; said sound shaking him from his funk as he pushed himself back into soaring toward the clear line of destruction in front of him.
It only took him a few moments longer to clear the distance so that he could alight around the mountain range near a slightly large patch of half broken forest.
What he could barely see in the distance caused his blood to run cold, and he shot towards the scene as quickly as he could while maintaining a decent distance from the ground.
Atom found himself floating above a group of gathered soldiers as they surrounded none other than All Might, and in two separate directions there were others with him. Solomon Grundy seemed to be lobbing whole sections of flaming homes at the waist of the 'Brimstone' mech, and in the complete opposite direction if the glance of purple was anything to go by; All Might's partner Huntress was here too relocating scattered civilians.
Atom could barely hear what was being said due to the accumulated noise of everything else that was going on, but what little bit he did pick up on as he floated down toward the amassed group caused him to act, which drew the gathered groups attention onto himself.
"You will come quietly, or you will be executed by my men right here and now."
Those words had been enough.
Atom's energy surged into his right hand again, and a solid beam of irradiated energy carved a small straight trench between the young hero and Chong Mai's forces.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Atom shouted out as he lowered himself fully to the ground for the first time since his arrival in this country.
Chong Mai's forces all quickly turned and pointed their weapons at him, and Atom would be lying if he said that it didn't take a serious amount of restraint to not lash out at the assembled foreign soldiers.
As it stood, his right hand was still primed with energy; but he wasn't the only one that was primed. All Might was still wreathed in the lighting that Atom had seen from the video footage of him, and the enemy soldiers priming their weapons saw the other hero almost blur slightly as he pulled his shield from his back and onto his left arm.
That bit of movement saw the gathered soldiers seemingly split on what to do, as some of them almost shifted to look at All Might again.
The same couldn't be said of their apparent leader.
An older man of Asian descent stepped forward with clear confidence in his stride, his military dress uniform separating him from every other member of his contingent outside of one younger man who was dressed exactly the same: the only difference being his insignia and number of medals and ribbons.
"Ah. Captain Atom is it? I am General Bai Kwan, the Officer in Charge of the facility that is nearby. You do understand that you are in direct violation of the Justice League's UN charter by being within Chong Mai's sovereign borders, as we are not an affiliated country yes? Much like this other…hero, you too will have to be detained immediately. Failure to comply with this will result in…hostilities."
…
Atom found himself completely taken aback for a moment at the man's seemingly impassioned words.
Everyone's attention was diverted from their confrontation however…
Because Solomon Grundy's smoking body hurtled past their assemblage, coming to a halting stop as his large body cratered into the ground about ten feet to their left hand side.
A large rumble shook the ground next, which was followed by an almost bone shaking roar of a call from the 'Brimstone' mech.
All Might's voice called out as he burst into action.
"MOVE!"
Not needing to be told twice Atom was already in the air, pulling off a flanking maneuver as he shot empowered blasts from both of his hands while doing his best to bring the mech's attention onto himself; as opposed to any of the men on the ground.
Unfortunately, his own irradiated blasts seemed to have the same kind of effect that a bee sting would have against a piece of living stone as the mech didn't even pay him any attention while his blasts washed against the super alloys of its hardened body.
Out of the left corner of his vision Atom could see that All Might had actually gotten Grundy to his feet, and at first Atom was resolved to tell the young hero that that was a foolish waste of time…
He found himself eating his own words as he strafed around the mech and saw All Might point at the soldiers, before Grundy's large frame grabbed three of the now obviously struggling men while jumping into the distance.
All Might was shouting at the remaining men who had seemingly decided to take up position to try and assault the mech…
And that was all the attention the mech needed to line up its next set of targets.
The bright golden glowing flames that had been constantly emanating around the mechanical like skull dimmed slightly, as both of the mech's arms came up to point towards the assembled men and the other hero.
Two bright golden glowing beams erupted from the front of the funnel shaped fists of the mech, a pressure wave of terrible and rending heat hitting the area as the beams came out.
The beams connected with the ground in a horrific crash a dozen or so feet away from the gathered men, and in a combination of torturously slow and insanely fast; the burning beams chewed up the space between their starting point and the men who had taken up their attack positions.
It was in that moment, that the soldiers of Chong Mai all collectively seemed to realize their collective mistake.
Atom watched while casting his own blasts at the mech's back as the soldiers of Chong Mai attempted to turn and flee as the terrible blasts ripped through dirt and rock as it headed towards them, an epic heat haze shooting into the sky as smoke billowed off of the ground near them.
Atom got front row seats to just how fast All Might was.
His well-known shield was already secured on his back again, and in a brightly glowing blur the hero had seemingly grabbed both of the more formally dressed soldiers as they were closest to him; and had started to try and clear the area with both of them almost up and over his shoulders.
The younger of the two men had been on All Might's right side…
For whatever reason, All Might attempting to save him had set him off.
He seemed to struggle as All Might cleared around fifteen feet of space in a matter of seconds with him still aloft, but his movements and struggling caused All Might to drop him.
All Might seemingly hesitated for but a moment to try and turn back and get the younger man back up.
But that move was quickly abandoned to the apparent distress of General Kwan.
The brightly glowing golden beams had already burned through the rest of the gathered soldiers, leaving nothing of them behind.
That same fate befell the General's son as All Might carried the struggling and distraught older man towards the steadily approaching transport truck that his partner Huntress had been using as she made a return pass.
Atom watched as the beam touched barely a foot away from the young Asian man…
He erupted into golden flame, and thereby disintegrated into ash in an instant; his own screams of agony completely drowned out by the sound of the beams that destroyed him before the blasts ceased.
Atom continued to barrage the mech, and with all other available targets now seemingly far away; the mech now deemed him worthy of its attention.
One of the mech's massive arms came up far faster than he'd been expecting, and the appendage connected solidly with him; the blow sending him reeling as he crashed to the ground in an ark to the right of the village from over three flights up.
'…ugh. Thank God my transformation held.' Atom thought, his brain completely awash in the haze and shock that the blow from the mech had left.
He slowly peeled himself up and out of the small four-foot-wide crater he'd wound up in, and after shaking his head for a moment he finally registered the booming and shaking of the mech's approach to his downed form.
Atom looked up just in time to see the mech stand at its full height over him with only a few feet between them, as it leveled its right arm cannon to point directly at him; the energy beginning to stir as it looked as though it would burst out at him.
'Oh shit.' Atom thought as he remained with his left knee on the ground and his right foot underneath him, throwing both of his hands up in a desperate attempt to try and absorb the blast that was about to assault him.
Atom almost completely lost his balance as he was startled by a voice he heard address him just before the blast lit off in full.
"Keep your focus, Atom! I've got your back!"
The ambient temperature once again rose to staggering heights, the very air around him felt heavy, and the sound of the blast washing over him made it feel as though the world itself was attempting to wrap around him and swallow him whole; only to leave him entombed in its crust forever.
It took everything Atom had, to do as the voice had said and keep himself focused so that he could absorb the incoming energy; and even with that focus it didn't mean that he was prepared to absorb the absolutely Insane amount of energy that was pouring out of the mech.
For torturous moments his body started to gain the feeling of being too heavy and too hot, the clear sign that he was taking on too much energy.
He'd only dealt with this feeling once before during a nuclear plant meltdown in Texas…
'And if it hadn't been for Superman, I would have lost my life.' Atom thought, before the pressure slowly began to recede.
Another moment passed and Atom realized that the pressure had fully receded, and his eyes alighted upon the mech as the ports on its back opened to allow itself to attempt to vent out the excess heat as to cool itself from overexerting its mechanisms.
The thought of that brought his glowing golden gaze over his right shoulder to the hero standing beside him, All Might.
All Might had stood directly behind him and held his shield level right above Atoms head from his half kneeling position on the ground.
The shield was glowing. Glowing a bright golden yellow color, much like the blasts that could and should have wiped them both off of the map.
After staring in wonder at the shield for a moment Atom turned his gaze directly on the hero holding it…
And in doing so he realized the one serious problem that All Might had.
He was trembling.
His skin was sickly pale, and the lightning that normally coalesced around him so well; was now terribly erratic.
'Oh god. The Radiation.' Atom thought as he realized what was happening.
Atom knew that he never had to worry about such a thing, as energy was the very basis of his power. He'd been exposed to more than his fair share of different kinds of radiation, including a more than healthy dose of the nuclear variety.
'But All Might's human. Radiation sickness is probably already settling over him. He's in serious danger.'
The young man looked like he was having a slightly hard time keeping up on his feet, and Atom after taking a stance to his own full height; put a steadying hand upon All Might's left shoulder while the young man kept his shield clenched between his two shaking hands as he glared half glowing daggers at the mech.
Atom wanted to check on the young hero but was left with no time…as another mechanical roar wracked the area.
The vent ports on the upper back and shoulders of the mech sealed shut, and immediately afterwards the mechanical monster brought both of its arms to bare.
'Sweet Jesus.'
The Captain was pulled from having any thoughts by All Might's voice.
"Captain! Put your hands on my shield and focus! Push your power into my shield! Plant your feet and hold on! Now!"
He had a split second to decide, and fortunately he'd been in enough situations in his time that had been in the same vein of desperate as this one that he was able to act accordingly.
Both of the mech's arms seemed to be in their own charging phase before their inevitable firing sequence.
Atom felt himself overcome by the second strangest sensation he'd ever felt, this one only being topped out by when he'd gone through with the experiment with the alien metal while he'd been in prison which had sent him into the quantum field to become what he now was.
The sheer loss that overtook him nearly stole his breath away.
In that moment, All Might's seemed to glow even brighter, it's brilliance like a miniature star as it absorbed almost all of the energy that Atom had taken from the mech's assault.
"Hope you planted your feet!"
Those words were overtaken a literal second later by a sound that was even louder than the roar of the 'Brimstone' mech.
A solid beam of intense glowing golden energy erupted from the front of All Might's shield while the both of them held on for dear life, the ground beneath both of their sets of braced feet cracking and denting from the effort.
The beam that shot out actually came out at about two feet wider than the exact size of the circumference of All Might's shield…
And when the beam connected with the right shoulder joint and upper right shoulder and chest area of the mech, nothing but devastation was wrought as the beam passed straight through the mech and off into the distance in the sky; ever so slightly grazing one of the mountains they had passed to get to where they were now.
The arm fell from the mech with a solid crash, the area shaking as it landed port end first to then come crashing backwards and away from the mech into the recently devastated village. The supposed super alloys had given way as though they were as weak as wet tissue paper, the affected area looking warped having turned to half molten slag as some of the metals ran and blended together while actually blackening from the sheer heat and force of the blast.
'Speaking of force…'
The force of the blast and the loss of the arm caused the mech to stumble backwards a step, causing the other blast to cut off abruptly.
…
'Sweet mother of god…' Atom thought as he took in the aftermath of All Might's counterattack with a mixture of awe and dare he say fear, as said counterattack showcased just how dangerous the young hero's shield could actually be.
'…they really weren't kidding. Nth Metal is something else.'
The hero by his side fell to his knee's right next to Atom right after having unleashed the epic blast, his shield making a small 'ding' noise as its edge kissed the ground while the hero sagged against it with his head tilted slightly down to come and lean against it.
'I've gotta get him out of here now. That thing surely can't do anymore damage, so that means the jobs done. There'll be time to talk to him about him and his people's involvement here later. Right now, medical attention and EVAC is my top priority.'
Atom reached forward to put his right hand on All Might's left shoulder again but was pulled from that action as the mech moved back into position again.
'There's no way!'
The walking death machines left arm leveled itself at All Might and himself again in a terrifyingly fast movement and lit off.
Atom again only had a split second to move, but it was all he needed.
This time he was standing on both feet with both of his hands splayed out above his head as he placed himself between All Might and the deadly blast as it poured down upon them.
This time was different though.
Having transferred almost all of his energy to the attack that All Might had launched at it, Atom's reserves were almost completely empty.
That worked in their favor.
The blast came down upon them, but Atom just stood fast against the fiery golden beam of annihilation as it came against them; draining and absorbing the blast into himself as it fell.
Once again, time took on that strange feeling for Atom.
Mere moments felt like hours as the violent onslaught continued, and after a few extra beats of his own heart in his ears Atom started to feel a small bit of fear bleed into his psyche as the pressure began to mount within his body again.
'Why hasn't the damn thing let up yet?!' Atom thought, as the feeling of the offensive energy was starting to feel oppressive to him.
Atom found he couldn't puzzle it out at first and began to feel not only the physical stress of his labor but the mounting pain.
Then it hit him, like a bolt of lightning.
'The damn thing was supposed to be able to support both cannons at the same time.' Atom thought as despair and dread began to fill him.
Another few scant moments passed, and Atom felt his knees beginning to buckle, while the edges of his vision began to creep towards darkness.
'I'm gonna fail. We're dead. I can't hold it. I'm…I'm sorry everyone.' Atom thought as he began to feel not only his control of the incoming energy slip, but as the control of his transformation began to slip.
Atom believed that it was a trick of his mind, a dying man's psyche trying to grant solace in his final moments. But as the darkness began to fully encompass his vision, and as his transformation began to fade signaling that he was passing out and would revert back to his fully human state, he could have sworn that he felt All Might stand up on his left side.
CHONG MAI – COUNTRYSIDE
June 6th, 2008. 1705 (5:05 PM) KST
Jack's POV:
He felt…awful.
Jack had felt plenty of pain, plenty of sickness in his life.
'But nothing like this.' Jack thought as he tried to bring his gaze up while he sat leaning on his knees on the ground.
It had all gone wrong. He hadn't taken into account that the blasts radiation would still hit him full force. Missing that detail had put him here now, leaving him vulnerable. Nothing more than a liability.
That, and what was worse. He hadn't really been able to save anyone. They had been obstructing him, no doubt. But he'd only wound up being able to save General Kwan out of the contingent of soldiers that had accosted him for his involvement in all of this.
He'd gotten General Kwan away from the blast that had not only claimed his men, but his son as well; and he'd only done that because the man had seemingly gone into shock and had ceased his own struggling for a time.
'Not surprising. Considering his kid got vaporized right in front of him.'
Jack had been forced to disarm the General before knocking him out while putting him in the back of the stolen transport that Helena was driving as the man had begun to swear and scream his vengeance at Jack when he finally came back to himself.
Grundy was currently policing another group of soldiers that had shown up, to ensure that they didn't bully the village people just a few clicks away, and Helena had said she'd be right back to join him; siting that amongst the soldiers a scientist had arrived with a batch of carbon rods.
'The only way to shut this damn thing down. At least that hasn't changed from the JLU episode. Unless we can get really lucky and replicate that first reverse shot.' Jack thought morosely, before his train of thought was thrown off by the voice of Hikage Shinomori in the back of his mind.
: Jackson! You Must stop! Your sick! Your connection to the shield is the only thing keeping you alive right now. Please, stand down. You've done enough. Let Atom finish it now. Absorbing the blast was a gamble, and while it's paid off, if you keep this up, you'll die! None of us wants that! This world needs you.:
The fourth wielders words warmed Jack slightly, but thinking about those feelings was cut off as he was forced to focus on keeping himself from retching as a sour feeling assaulted his gut.
'Jesus. Death by radiation poisoning. What a way to go, am I right?'
His morbid and self-depreciating thought about his own possible death was met with silence from within his mental scape, but general silence wasn't meant to be as Jackson watched as Atom quickly interposed himself between Jacks downed form and the 'Brimstone' mech as it raised its only arm and once again unleashed Armageddon upon them.
Jack watched as Atom waged the battle of absorbing the mech's rampant energy attack, all the while doing his damned best to not let the sickness debilitate him any more than it already was.
Surprisingly his earpiece crackled to life in that moment, Helena's voice sounding slightly desperate as she called out to him.
/Might! Might, Are you there?! I'm right nearby, and I've got a cut down carbon rod. I've just gotta line up a shot! /
Jack did his best to swallow the burning and sour taste in his mouth, a nasty nagging thought at the edge of his consciousness.
'…is this really the end?'
…
: Stand up.:
…
: Stand UP Young Jackson! Your time hasn't come no, It's Only begun!:
'That…I know that voice.'
Jack was pulled from any introspection over the thought as a booming and very recognizable laugh sounded out from his mental scape.
: HAH HAH HAH HAH! Come Now… Young Jackson! It's Time! Show them ALL what you can do! Show them what it means... what it means to GO BEYOND!:
…
Jack watched in what seemed like slow motion as Atom's body started to slacken.
A second later and he was standing beside Atoms falling body, a renewed sense of purpose and energy coursing through him as he brought his shield up; forcing his body through the pain and sickness to move.
The blast picked up in intensity for a brief second as Atom's hold over the deadly energy ceased while it continued to rain down upon them, but after that the energy seemingly continued to disappear as Jack's shield took over the absorption process.
Jack held his ground, the temperature and the pressure around him almost making him feel like he wouldn't be able to handle it…
As soon as the thought manifested, he quashed it with an iron grip of his will.
'I know your there Toshinori. I'll do you proud, I Promise.' Jack thought as he let out a primal yell at the mechanical monster in front of him.
"GRRRAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He didn't know why he did it…he knew in a way that it didn't make even a lick of sense.
But it felt right.
Standing against the seemingly impossible enemy, shouting his defiance at it.
"YOUR NOT GONNA WIN YOU HEAR ME?! BECAUSE I AM HEEEEEERE!"
All along the energy continued to pour down upon him while Atom lay behind him passed out in his military uniform.
Moments passed and finally the energy began to peter out, until the shot finally stopped; the machines back vents opening again in its attempt to cool its systems down.
Jacks' visage suddenly shifted into a vicious full-blown smirk that he was sure looked downright evil and villainous…but he couldn't have cared less.
He leveled his shield up and took aim, unleashing a second irradiated blast at the 'Brimstone' mech's other arm.
For the second time that day the machine was relieved of its weapon; this one being the final time, as it wouldn't be able to blast anything ever again.
A solid beat passed after the second arm fell, and his comm link crackled back to life again.
"Might! I've got the mech's engine port in my sights! I'm takin the shot!"
A sense of swelling victory filled Jack, and he didn't know if she'd hear him, but he shouted out to her.
"DO IT HUNTRESS!"
Jack had been looking right up at the thing, and he had thought that the stupid thing was already done; but apparently whatever system was running it was a sore loser.
The mech let out a wrenching roar as it lifted its right foot up to bring down on Jack and the downed Captain Atom.
Jack slapped his shield onto his back, and he tensed while watching the mech's leg lift up, and in that moment, he did something that he'd only ever done while training in private, while doing absolutely nothing with it.
'Full Cowling…100%'
Sheer and absolute Agony lanced down both of Jacks legs, electricity and absolute power filled him, and then he realized that he was already shooting at the mech's flaming mechanical skull head with a speed he could barely describe.
'Clench your butt cheeks kid!' Jack thought to himself with a private laugh as he wound back with his right hand.
The mech suddenly lurched, and the flames on and around the mechanical skull head seemingly died; signaling that Helena had scored her mark, but Jack was already resolved.
'Let's see em' use the damn thing when it doesn't have a head! SMAAAAAAAAAAASHHHH!'
BOOM
Jack's right hand connected right above the ports of where the nose would be on the mech.
When asked about it later on, he wouldn't be ashamed to admit, that the level of pain he had felt in that moment was just too much for him.
Jack passed out as the punch he threw took the 'Brimstone' mech's head clean off while crumpling it in on itself.
CHONG MAI – COUNTRYSIDE
June 6th, 2008. 1720 (5:20 PM) KST
Helena's POV:
…
She couldn't believe what she'd just seen.
Academically she knew that what she'd just seen had happened, all of it.
But a massive part of her just couldn't comprehend it.
Her best friend was impossibly strong, in a way that she couldn't really explain.
The entire situation that she'd just witnessed and been involved with highlighted the sheer gap between them.
Securing all of the villagers had been a relatively simple task until the extra military personnel of Chong Mai had shown up, though thankfully Grundy was a serious deterrent.
One of the men had actually shot the zombie point blank with a shotgun of some kind…
Their undead friend (and boy was That still weird to say) had tanked the hit, and then literally tapped the man on the head, rendering him unconscious.
Things had gone smoothly after that.
They hadn't been able to stop the villages destruction, but at least they'd saved the villagers lives.
The battle with the mech hadn't been something she'd thought she'd be taking any part of…
Upon finding out that the mech had a port that was made for inserting the carbon rods to render it inert?
It gave her the chance to stand on a stage the likes of which she believed would make her Jacks equal.
That thought had already been blown away when she'd witnessed him taking on the first blast from the mech with Captain Atom.
Then he'd actually removed the mech's arm…
Then the other.
But was Jack content to leave it at that? Oh, absolutely not.
'He goes and shows me that he can literally punch what equates to a fuckin Kaiju, hard enough that its entire face folds in on itself!' Helena thought with complete and utter incredulity as she caressed her friends face fondly as she had his head resting in her lap.
Helena had almost had a heart attack as she watched Jacks body literally plummet from the height of the mech's head after pancaking its entire face.
Thankfully, Grundy had arrived shortly behind her; and had run and super jumped up to catch their friend from midair.
Unfortunately, after that, Helena found herself on the back foot and worried for Jacks safety again.
His face was horrifically pale, and even with his helm on Helena could clearly see that that fact was even more pronounced by the fact that a bunch of the veins on his face were overly visible. His right arm was clearly shattered if the color of the skin was anything to go by, and the fact that his glove and half of his sleeve were just gone left some terrible implications to the force that her friend could output in a simple punch. His legs were dangling at odd angles, and it had taken her guiding Grundy to help lower him to the ground so that they wouldn't over exasperate his already horrific condition.
Since setting his head in her lap with his shield resting halfway on his chest, Helena had drawn one of her hand-held crossbows while her larger two handed one sat beside her, while she gently stroked Jacks face.
"Shield Boy…is gonna be, okay?"
The timber of Grundy's voice spooked her a bit still, even with her keeping her head on a swivel; and if she was being honest, she hated that they were so exposed. They had moved both Jack and the unconscious Captain Atom a smidge away from the fallen mech, but even with that; they were still out in the open which left them vulnerable to long range gunfire.
'At least Grundy can provide us cover for a bit if someone comes lookin for a fight.' Helena thought as she considered possible retaliation plans for if they wound up being attacked, before answering the zombie's question.
"I don't know Grundy…I just don't know. His breathing isn't good, there's something wrong. It's gotta be radiation poisoning. We need the others to get here so we can figure out our next move. Fast."
Helena's words couldn't have been more opportunely timed, as the House of Mysteries seemingly bloomed into existence only a few feet away from them; the rest of their gathered group joining them out on the field.
Upon seeing Jack laying as he was, Ted was the first to quickly be by Helena's side, working himself into a terrible state over Jacks condition.
"What the Fuck?! What the Fuck happened?! Hey! Might can you hear me?! What the hell happened?!"
Helena stone faced Ted for a moment, because his own overreacting was making Helena even more anxious; and she had been battling with that more than enough before the others had arrived.
Thankfully Occult spoke up.
"Ted let her speak."
Helena took a deep breath and then did her best to explain the situation as she knew it, even though when pressed she didn't really have a good timeline to explain the how or the why of Captain Atom's presence as she hadn't even gotten to speak to the man.
That surprisingly changed mere moments later when the Leaguer woke up and quickly put himself back into his transformed state.
Afterwards he had immediately launched into accosting the groups mere presence in Chong Mai, siting that relations with the country would be worse than ever over their involvement; and that the situation with the UN would be worsened because of them.
Helena got front row seats to Ted utterly losing it on the nuclear-powered hero.
"You listen and you listen good buster! Way I hear it; you wouldn't even be breathing if it wasn't for All Might being here, so how about a thank you?! And that's not even taking into account all the people here that would have been wiped out by that frickin death machine if our group hadn't have gotten involved. You wanna know why we came here? We came here to save Richard Tyler. Sandman's his godfather…and we were too late. Your throwin a hissy fit because some foreign jackasses decided they wanted to try and even a nonexistent arms race, when we're the ones who basically stopped it for you while losing one of our own?! Well guess what? You can go to hell!"
Helena was shocked as she watched her mentor dress down one of the widely considered strongest members of the Justice League, as she had never seen him yell at someone like this.
'At the very least Atom looks a little ashamed now that his brain seems to be catching up with everything.'
Everyone's attention was pulled away from Ted having gotten up to dress down Captain Atom as Jack coughed a bit, before speaking.
"Did...did we do it? Did we win?"
Most everyone of their group crowded in a little closer as Occult and Constantine still argued at the back as they had been since their arrival, talking about decontamination and the best way to help heal Jack from the state he was in.
Ted attempted to divert Jacks line of thinking, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Hey, listen to me. Don't worry about anything now, we're good."
"Wildcat. Did we save him? Is everyone else okay? Did we get Richards pills back?"
Wildcat was kept from answering as Sandman stepped up while clearing his throat.
"Un…cough…Unfortunately…Richard is…no longer with us."
A beat passed, and Jack himself coughed in a slightly wet manner before Helena watched him turn his gaze slightly to the left so that he could look directly at Wesley.
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry Sandman."
Wesley seemed to straighten up minutely before basically waving Jack off.
"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. He was a man grown. I…Loved him. Like he was my own, and I will miss him. But there's nothing for it now. When we get back I'll be making arrangements."
Helena watched as Jack seemingly took that information in before again pressing the gathered group.
"The Pills?"
Ted once again stepped up as the one to answer Jack's question.
"They're gone."
A look of bewildered frustration settled upon Helena's face and she could see the same was etched upon Jacks, but thankfully things were expounded upon, by John Constantine of all people.
"It's not just that old timer. Listen to me Might. Occult and I got there to back these ones up, and they had said that they hadn't found the pills yet. I tried to scry for em'. Now, unless these blokes have got some hidden 'magical division' that I couldn't pick up on; the pills have been destroyed. Because I couldn't magically track em' at all."
Helena saw the worried yet exhausted look on Jacks face and he seemed as though he was planning to say more, but everyone was interrupted by Eva stepping forward with a shining white looking sash in her hands.
"Alright enough ae this shite. Ah suggest we heal him up fast so we can bounce right out ae this wasteland, 'cause, if none o' yous hae noticed? Got a bit of a convoy headed right to us, and Ah for one dinnae want tae be here when they get here. Had enough excitement fer one bloody day thank you very much."
Eva's words brought everyone's attention to the slowly approaching military vehicles in the distance, and at that Captain Atom finally spoke up in a way that was seemingly helpful for their group.
"I'll see if I can't buy some time and slow them down. I'm here in an official capacity, so they can't really say or do anything to me. You all…you're Not supposed to be here; and my opinion on that hasn't changed. I understand and respect the why of it, respect your willingness to act even; but you shouldn't have, and we will be revisiting this event again sometime in the future. Good luck." Atom said before flying towards the approaching Chong Mai force.
After a moment the silence that had developed was broken by Eva.
"...He's got at least two dozen centimeters ae pure tungsten shoved right up his rectum ah swear tae Christ. Can we Leave now?"
Helena still not particularly liking or trusting the girl, leaned back a bit with Jack still in her lap as he had at some point passed back out.
"What is that?"
Helena watched the girl eye her like she was particularly dim for a moment before she spoke.
"This here…is the 'Priceless Sash of Panacea'. It's a one-off healing item that ah had made with a Golden Drachma a couple years back. Lets the user transfer all the damage that's accumulated onto someone onto themselves. It'll fix the lad right up."
Helena found herself equal parts shocked, and equal parts grateful.
The girl had a rare magical item, and not only was she willing to use it to help save Jack, but she was actually willing to take the damage on in his place.
"Why…why are you willing to go so far for him?" Helena asked, knowing that the question was uncalled for, though the slight pit of jealousy in her stomach over the girl's closeness with Jack wouldn't let it be.
Helena saw Ted look at her out of the corner of her eyes as though they'd be having words about this event when all was said and done, but she kept her gaze focused on the girl.
"He's saved my arse more than a few times now…And every single time a've bin barely any help. He's a decent guy, n' a'm tryin tae make it up. This'll let me start daein' jis that. There need tae be any mair'n that?" The girl asked while slowly inching the shining white fabric towards Jacks prone form.
Helena was cut off from giving any answer by Constantine stepping in.
"It's a nice gesture and all luv, but you ain't gonna be the one to do this."
Helena watched as the girl turned a defiant eye on her mentor.
"Oh? And why the hell not old man?"
Helena was looking right at the man but was 100% sure that she would have literally felt the eye roll that he did, had she not been looking at him. The tone he used for his response made it sound like he was speaking to a particularly slow child, which sold the whole thing over the top.
"Because why in the hell would I let you put yourself through that kind of pain, when we've got someone who can easily tank it standing right in our midst huh? What do you say Grundy? You wanna help out your Snarky Sister and Shield Boy all in one go?"
Helena would swear that by the look on his face, someone had told the zombie that Christmas had come early.
The zombie stepped forward and took the opposite end of the sash from the one that Eva tied lightly around Jacks left wrist.
A few words Helena didn't know or understand later, and the already bright white bedazzled lookin sash began to glow ethereally.
Slowly everyone in the group watched as all of the accumulated damage disappeared from Jacks person as his body was encompassed in a light white light, while Grundy let out small grunts and growls for a bit as said damage quickly materialized and then healed right off of him.
When the process was done, the once white and shimmering sash slowly turned brown before turning into nothing but dust.
"To the dust we shall return, eh?" Eva said as she watched the magical artifact fall apart.
The girl's words did nothing but seemingly remind everyone there that there had been a lot of death involved with this particular mission, and because of that Helena had a quick and simple rebuttal.
"The only place any of us need to be returning right now is Home. Let's pack Might up and go."
At her words, the group carefully moved Jack and one by one quickly entered the House of Mysteries; the closing of its front door heralding the end of their first truly impactful mission…as the house disappeared as though it had never been there at all.
Annnnd FIN! That's it folks! The mission itself is over, and this ark will be considered closed with the ending of the next chapter. A big shout out and thank you to my Bruv Sauron on Discord who pre-read the chapter. He's an amazing sounding board, and a fantastic person in general. Once again, a big thanks to each and every one of you who have read and will continue to read this story as it goes forward. I don't wanna beat a dead horse, as I know I've spoken about my schedule for updates (The lack thereof), but I do wish to express my apologies that the update for This story took so long. Life, and other ideas were banging at my brain. Thankfully I was able to work on this and finally get it out. This story's next installment will be Chapter 25 ya'll. That feels like a huge deal to me. I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought. Until next time, I hope everyone stays safe, happy, and most importantly healthy! This is Sojiro, Signing Off. Laters Gators.