Just before the huge villain arrest operation began, Re-Destro, or rather a Twice clone of him, was driving to the Safety Commission's headquarters for a business deal.

"Congratulations, President," said his secretary. "What a boon, sir. Who would have guessed the Commission would propose a joint venture to develop support items? They're not the biggest fans. They had an eye on us for some time, claiming that we played a big role in fuelling public anxiety across the country."

Re-Destro smiled. "The timing suggests that they called, because they cannot ignore our wonderful product any longer. We, after all, are the number one competitor of Haddock Industries. And if we succeed today and form a strong bond with them there is no end to the data we can mine. A few spies, some backdoors are not software, and we'll uncover every secret, including the identity of the clandestine agent they had under their wing since childhood. With an upgraded Krogan leading our fight, the Paranormal Liberation Front will make even greater strides towards progress."

"People will truly be free."

"The society that my father, the great Destro, forged for is so close. Can you feel it? The enemy is so happy."

Once they reached the Safety Commission's headquarters, he was immediately taken to the chairwoman's office, where she and several other personnel met him.

"I apologise for making you wait," she said.

"Please, think nothing of it," said Re-Destro.

"We appreciate that you pitch such a lucrative proposal to our company," said his secretary. "It was an honour to hear from you."

"We are the ones that are grateful," said the chairwoman. "Haddock Industries have provided massive aid to us in the past, but given recent events we feel as if we might need some extra help. I can speak for everyone when I say the Safety Commission would be thrilled to work with Destcon. You have developed so many groundbreaking products. However, as for the proposal…"

Then suddenly, her agent pulled out their pistols and aimed them straight at Re-Destro, who was surprised by this action.

"…there are some line items that I would like to discuss," she said.

The door burst open, and suddenly, police and heroes entered the office and scaled the outside of the building.

Re-Destro was so furious he began to transform.

Naturally, the heroes and police opened fire, but he was just so strong that many of them fell. The secretary was caught in the crossfire, but he had managed to kill the chairwoman.

"You suppresses played on our business acumen to catch as an ambush," he said as his body began to melt. "I knew we were being watched by the Safety Commission, of course, but I thought you would come around and couldn't live without our cutting-edge designs. It seems my celebration was premature."

"A double," said a hero. "It's Gruffnut Thorston's power."

"Wait, so he's a fake?"

"I didn't expect you to rely on such aggressive tactics," said Re-Destro. "Aren't you supposed to champion diplomacy and order? Oh, well, this was inevitable and necessary even, but we strive for a society without order. Pure freedom! The seeds have already been sewn, and you will be liberated soon!"

He then turned to mud.

The chaos that happened after the battle between heroes and the Paranormal Liberation Front was incalculable. The operation had not been an entire success. In fact, it was much closer to a disaster.

Giganton tearing through cities as he made his way to Los Angeles cost the lives of many innocent civilians and the destruction of many buildings. They were still counting the fatalities, and an even greater number were injured, overwhelming medical staff.

However, they were able to arrest several important figures. Among them was Drago's right-hand man, Hans Healson. He was charged with aiding and abetting murder, mutilating corpses, illegal metapower use, embezzling hospital funds and various other crimes. Giganton had been captured, but it took to transport helicopters to schools from the field.

Vladimir Mason, aka Mr Compress, was also arrested, but during the battle, he was gravely injured and had to be treated. Additionally, the heroes managed to capture a number of Red Deaths and were instantly restrained with iron maidens, who were to be autopsied later. The police had also confiscated the equipment within the hospital, hoping it would give them a better idea of how Healson used it.

At the mountain villa, the heroes were just about finished with the villains that had gathered.

Re-Destro was completely worn out, and his legs were destroyed again. "You have not stopped our liberation. Hear me… we have only just begun to—!"

He was then silenced by Edgeshot, who had punctured his lung and then kicked him hard in the face and knocked him out.

Outside, Geten was still unleashing a massive surge of ice across the battlefield, which clashed with Cementoss's cement.

"I can't lose now!" said Geten. "For my sake and Re-Destro's!"

"It is our responsibility to stop your nefarious plots!" Cementoss roared.

"Oh, shut up!" Geten spat. "You're a dog wagging its tail for the government!"

"If I have to be a dog for this world to have peace, then so be it!"

Using all his strength, he broke through the ice and completely surrounded Geten with his cement. However, he was struck by several shards of ice, which pierced through his skin and then collapsed backwards from exhaustion.

"I—sorry, Re-Destro," said Geten. "I failed because."

Naturally, Re-Destro and Geten were arrested, along with Trumpeter, who was trapped in the lower levels of the villa. In addition to them, 16,929 of the PLF that had gathered at the villa for a meeting had been captured.

Unfortunately, not everything went smoothly. Because of Giganton's rampage, at least 332 members managed to escape, including several lieutenants.

Rather, he was fighting at the hospital and the villa, and the police and local heroes managed to apprehend more villains hiding around the country. Thankfully, none of those targets had managed to escape, but unfortunately, the heroes had to arrest members of their own ranks who sympathised with the PLF.

Unfortunately, the mission's aftermath was ongoing, and there were no signs it would stop. Heroes and emergency responders were doing everything they could to save as many lives as possible and keeping an eye out for Turid, who was hiding in the area.

"Warning from Scarlet's works study students. Turid Bladedotter is on the run; she's likely somewhere nearby."

"Damn psycho, that's the last thing we need," a policeman cursed. "We're already overwhelmed."

They then heard screaming and saw a number of injured people.

"Where's mommy?" a little girl cried as she clutched her injured arm. "Where are you? It hurts so much!"

"Someone help us!"

"People are dying over here, hurry!"

"This is it. The whole building is coming down!"

"Oh, God, is anyone there? I can't move my legs!"

The policeman immediately turned to the heroes and his fellow policeman. "Our job is to save these people! I need ambulances, but there is no evacuation triage shelter, and I am calling every doctor you can find! God, not even that will be enough."

A little girl was struggling to free have brother, who was pinned down by some rubble.

"Come on, big brother! You have to get up!" she said. "Try harder, and you can do it!"

"Stop! You're making it hurt worse," he said, wincing. "You have to get out of here; the whole city is falling down. Do what I tell you. It's just too dangerous. How about if you leave, and I'll give you my Hellfire bag? I know you wanted, so please save yourself."

"No! No!" the girl cried stubbornly with tears in her eyes. "I don't care about the stupid back. I just want you to be okay!"

The building next crumbled, and the bubble began falling down towards them. However, Windshear arrived in time, creating a powerful tornado that blew the rubble away. Valkyrie then created a pole and used it as leverage to remove the rubble off the boy.

"That was crazy close," said Windshear.

"The boys hurt," said Valkyrie as she looked at his wounds. "His leg might be broken, so we need a doctor to check it out right away."

"Help! Over here! Someone is trapped!"

"I've got this, go," said Windshear and took off.

"Hey, hero," said a voice.

Windshear stopped in her tracks and saw someone limping out of a destroyed apartment building.

"Please, my wife is… inside," he said.

"Right, which apartment?" Windshear asked.

"403."

Windshear quickly rushed into the apartment.

'I'll rescue her and everyone I can; I have to,' she said.

She managed to rescue the woman and reunite her with her husband, and the two of them had one another. They looked as if they didn't want to let go.

"I hate to ask, but since you can both walk, can you head to the shelter on your own?" Windshear asked.

"Miss over here!"

Windshear wasted no time and immediately rushed to the next victim. 'There are still lives to be saved. People are struggling all around us. I have to go beyond!'

Anima was receiving reports from pigeons, who managed to locate many displaced people.

"There's an elderly couple huddled together on the rooftop!" he said.

"On it," said a hero and quickly took off into the sky.

"And someone is stuck on the fifth floor!" Anima continued.

"I can get them!"

At the refugee shelters, the medical personnel were completely overwhelmed with the casualties.

"I need O negative blood stat!"

"Oh no, there's only four bags left!"

"That's not nearly enough!"

"Doctor, this one is not responding!" said the paramedic.

"Lay him on the ground for now," the doctor ordered.

"But—"

The doctor was in tears. "I can't save everyone; prioritise treatable patients."

"Water," a victim moaned as Valkyrie removed the rubble on top of him.

"It's okay, we're here for you," she said. "We'll get you water in a second."

"Please hurry, or I'll dry out," he said.

"I give up," said a voice.

Valkyrie turned around and saw one of the heroes standing in utter shock at the devastation.

"Quick, and you hand over here!"

"Make it stop!"

"It's no use!"

"Keep going. It'll collapse!"

"I can't do this," said the hero. "It's just too much."

"Where are the heroes?"

"He's not talking any more!"

"If you're going to save us, do it faster!

"Don't you get paid to help us?"

"Where the hell are the ambiences?"

"I quit," said the hero, "I don't want to be a hero anymore."

Back at the villa, the Class-A students had just found Midnight and discovered that she was dead.

"Please, say something." Acid Girl begged.

"This is… how? Why?" said Red Riot in shock.

"But she was just on the radio," said Sugarman. "She was fine. You guys heard her? We all did."

"No!" Red Riot cried. "Wake up! Miss Midnight, please!"

"She can't be gone!" said Acid Girl. "Someone say this isn't happening?"

"Stop joking and open your eyes!" Red Riot demanded. "This isn't funny. Get up and tell us what to do. Can you hear me? We need you! Wake up! Please, wake up!"

Lizardy then approached them. "Fishlegs… it's Majestic."

Mudman had just given everyone else the bad news.

"Is this for real?" Grape Juice stared. "Because it feels like a nightmare. This cannot possibly be happening, right?"

The police immediately interrogated Healson, and he admitted that Krogan had died when he was broken out of his chamber. Given the state of the equipment, there should have been a way to resuscitate him. There was a theory that a small electric shock was what started his heart again, but given the fact that X-Less barely felt it and it was so weak, everyone agreed that that was not the case. It was soon decided that Krogan came back to life because of his feelings and hatred.

Many heroes had been killed during the attack, some by Giganton and others when they came into contact with Krogan's disintegration power. The operation was nowhere near successful, even though they captured a number of lieutenants of the PLF, and Diablo's testimony was circulated throughout the country.

"Oh man, this country is falling apart."

"Diablo is so annoying, but he wrecked Hellfire. The guys done for."

"Can you believe what all the headlines are saying?"

"If they're true, what happens next?"

"I never trusted that guy even when he was still number two."

"His one job was to protect us. Did he forget that?"

"He better explain himself and fast."

"It might be safer abroad; maybe we should move."

The kids Snotlout and the others inspired during their Hero Licence training group also discussed current events.

"Do you think we'll be all right?"

"Don't be a wimp. We've got five weenies on our side; he'll make sure that everyone is okay."

Drago was still locked up deep within Helheim, but he was well aware of the events that were transpiring outside because of his connection with Krogan.

'I feel it,' he said. 'Events didn't play out exactly to plan, but we have momentum.'

The rest of the League was with Krogan's body as Drago continued to talk through him.

'Poor fools,' he said. 'They like to think tomorrow will bring them hope, but I'm not giving the world time to recover. It's my turn now. My turn forever. Listen well, my tireless Red Deaths, it's time to give an important task. Free my real body.'