A Collection Of Other Adventures

The Burden Of Assassination

Date: March 17th, 2025

It has been about a month since the newly formed Tuffle Imperium fell in a rather humiliating way. Can you imagine being our enemies that day? Forced to dimension hop because we wouldn't stop chasing them, even after we marched on the capital of the fascist and imperialist nation with the people of the world known as Nacirema that it was on. We were relentless. We did everything we could to wipe them out because there was no being civil with them. Their hearts were set on terror, chaos, death, and destruction. It takes a nearly impossible miracle to dissaude someone from following doing all that. A nearly impossible miracle we dont have time for in the heat of a intense battle where so many lives are at stake. Our conflict with our foes is no fairy tale where just a heartfelt speech and a few good magical blasts are really enough to stop a baddie hellbent on destroying and killing and convincing them to fix their hearts. That really only works if the adversary was never always twisted. People like Elon Musk have been twisted for such a long time that reasoning with them is far too risky, with all the harm theyre doing in a single second and their willingness to keep making things worse. You really cant reason with that. The Tuffle Imperium is gone because our collective worked together as usual but this time, we got so many citizens and angry workers and some allies working with us to really make it happen. We created a truly popular front of the people to help crush our fascist enemies. We pushed as hard as we could and gave them no peace as we chased them down and killed nearly all of them in the process.

It helps that we all went through trials to earn a new power: a star power that comes from the stars. Our worlds were created from exploding stars, which became basically dust that came together into new solar systems. We are all star stuff, that makes us all connected. Including on Earth, of course. The Earth would be dead if it werent for the Sun's rays as well as the likes of the ozone layer. Since the day Aigami scopped up Baby after we destroyed the Tuffle Imperium, many of us have gotten a handle on the star power but many of us still havent, myself included. The star power unlocked a evolution of my knighthood: solar wind knight. Previously, my prior evolution allowed me to eventually tame my inner darkness. Now, I will get to learn how to control even winds as powerful as solar winds eventually. But still, Im struggling to fully take in the star power within myself. I feel this constant pressure all over my body. I split up the power throughout my body so it didn't explode my chest or something but if this keeps up, in mere days, my whole body will explode. Fortunately, more and more comrades are learning to fully take in their own star power. And that has caused another change.

We've been able to go on a lot of smaller missions lately because our main enemies are in hiding again. We did beat them down really good last month after all but Im sure they cant take constantly having their butts handed every month like this for much longer. While membership into BRAINS has slowed to a halt for now, we have been collectively getting stronger and stronger. When dealing with fascists, you can never be "too strong". Not only is there always room to improve but fascists tend to be very patient, waiting even decades to execute their vile plans and they constantly try to demoralize those who hate what they're doing. They rarely give up and always put in the work to bring their dystopian wet dreams to life. Many are incompetent because theyre so power hungry and hateful towards others that they dont care about governing properly or being proper leaders. That said, hierachy is no longer sufficient in many places to be used as a vehicle for change by the people anyway but thats a whole other thing. The day is March 17th, 2025. And today, all BRAINS members are involved in trying to finish up the whole star power mastery thing which has taken longer than most of us expected for more reasons than I can list. I am in a training room at home in the Miitopia base with various others. We are doing everything we can to make sure the likes of me finally manage to master the star power. I mean, would you expect a power given to you by the sentient version if an actual star to be mastered so easily?

I very well expected this to prove a challenge myself. Among all the members of BRAINS, I am far from the strongest. So no, these stories I tell of my adventures do not put me centerstage as the heroic knight who is the destined strong warrior slated to lead the charge to save the multiverse again. But yada yada. Lets go to a while into the training session. The moment I began to get frustrated, to be precise. I was not doing anything martial at the moment. All I was doing was trying to use the power of my brain as well as my magical abilities to finally take in the star power. I was visualizing everything correctly. Just as some of my dearest friends were instructing me to but it wasnt working. What is even going wrong here? I do not understand. My mind is focused and calm. Im drawing from my inner tranquility. I know who I am. My loved ones are actually here for me in ways that my actual biological family dont feel like they actually are. And yet, despite all of this, it wasnt working. I have spent many hours trying to master the star power, even through martial things like sword drills and flicking at something with my wind power. I am constantly surrounded by a usually very light breeze due to my advancement to solar wind knight. If my skills and techniques for doing this are correct, then something else is wrong. And there isn't much else that can be wrong. Bray speaks to me as I begin to really get frustrated: "Swift, take a deep breath. You know you cant do this if you're frustrated."

I nod: "It can be so easy to forget to stay calm and relaxed when handling a difficult problem in a situation where someone isnt actively trying to kill you or chop you up into pieces.. Thank you.. I needed that." I take a few minutes to relax by doing some light sword training and footwork. That helps me focus more and makes me pretty happy. And some friends including Bray talked to me while I was doing that. I may be a introvert but even I need others to have social interactions with to actually live a meaningful life where Im not constantly feeling miserable and powerless. Capitalism is trying to make humanity forget that social interactions have always been the backbone of pretty much anything human beings have ever done. Our species would have gone extinct without social interactions a very long time ago. And now, we have fascist scumbags whose ideas and plans are downright apocalyptic. That makes me so angry. I have high emotional control so the anger quietly builds up for that and other reasons. But as I prepare to try again, Im not thinking of my anger even though I can call on it if I need some more motivation, should I need it. Anger can be a powerful motivator and a tool for fortifying one's resolve, as long as they dont lash out at those who dont deserve it. Theres a reason we feel anger. That emotion is natural to feel. And we have to accept it and understand why we feel it when we feel it. I decide to get as comfortable as I can by relaxing in a comfy chair on the wall of one side of the training room. Such things were set up to help us rest and recover faster and all that. I close my eyes and focus as hard as I can withojt pressuring myself to hard to do what needs to be done.

It would seem clear that the martial route of embracing the star power is the best way of doing it but I must disagree. Taking in a power so strong that refuses to be taken in so easily requires a lot of mental effort in order to be done successfully. But of course, each of us has our own way of mastering the power. For some, it took using it to power a powerful attack and to keep doing that again and again to master it. Others took in immediately or almost immediately without any issues. The likes of me? Well.. I use my strong imagination to try even harder to visualize what Im trying to do than even before. I try and try. Struggle and struggle. Whenever I began to get frustrated, my concentration would break and someone would encourage me and help me get back in the zone. But again and again. I failed and I failed. We have tried to have a small number of those who have mastered the power to do things like do inside the minds of those they wish to help to master it themselves. But that didn't work. The star power is sensitive to that kind of thing, which means it has a true life of its own which explained everything to us all once we confirmed that piece of information. We have spent some time studying it based on our experiences with it and that studying is helping more of us master the power. But still, I fail and I fail. Time and time again. Over and over again. I want to give up but also refuse to do so. Im too damn stubborn. And honestly, thats pretty often a good thing.

Stubborness is vital to rejecting what fascists want us to see as completely normal. But it can have its all too well known downsides too. Time goes on. Fail and fail. Fail. Fail. My frustration grows every time despite the efforts of my loved ones to help me and others get through this immense struggle. The pressure is rising throughout my body, the pressure from the star power combining with the pressure from my stress. At this rate, Im on the verge of breaking down. Herbsalvin sees this and tells the others: "Please, allow me to take care of my dark knight. You must aid the others. I shall do this sufficiently on my own, worry yourselves not." They nod while my fellow knight and lover embraces me. "You can do this. You will do this. I will be here and I will hold you close as you continue to try with all of your heart in it." This is what it means to have genuine bonds and connections. Not a single person can do every single thing they could possibly want or need to do on their own. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or farrrrrrrr too powerful to exist in our reality, readers. Herbsalvin truly aids me in overcoming this difficult challenge. Their constant physical and emotional support is exactly what I needed to begin fully absorbing the star power bit by bit. Because of the chaos of trying to get everyone on base who hasnt mastered the power to master it, not just me, no one has been using the blood pact mind links to help me get through this. But Herbsalvin does because they remembered that we still have that as a thing. It must have taken me a couple hours because by the time I finally got it and finished absorbing the star power, it felt like an eternity had passed and my legs were pretty damn stiff.

I struggled a bit to stand back up but my knight was there to help me get back up, of course. My brain was so fried after all of that. I only got up to better face my dearest friends who had been notified of my success because I knew they wanted to briefly congratulate me before I rested my mind before I would then join them all in helping those still struggling out. Carlos sticks his tongue at me: "I got it down way before you! Hehe! Just kidding! You did it! Yippie! Im so excited for you!" Bray was next: "Friend, you have succeeded at last. I am filled with relief and excitement over this. Truly, I am just so.. Even I am missing the words I need to state how I feel about your success. But I know what youre going to say so I shall do it instead. It wasnt just your success, it was our success together because you could not face this challenge alone, no matter how hard you tried to. And you are correct. It is taking all of us working together for us all to grow stronger collectively by helping one another master the star power." Dominic goes after her: "How do I put this? Im usually not great at this sort of thing. *yawns* Well you beat it. The challenge is now toppled, gone. Im very proud of you, Swift. I had a nap causation of a time mastering the star power so I know what you just went through. Okay.. Time to go back to helping for awhile because this may be our greatest chance yet to most quickly strengthen our fellow comrades just like that!" The others go and then Herbsalvin does so last. They say: "Im so glad youre okay now. That was so hard on you but its over. Huzzah! You have conquered the peril you faced. *kisses me*

You are so tired, I can feel it through our link. I love you so much, my dark knight. I shall let you rest now but.. may I escort you to- I kid, even I believe that formality is nonsense, as everyone well knows already." "Was that your attempt at a joke?" "Yes. Did- did you like it?" "Aww you should see your rosy cheeks. So cute. And yes, I did like it even though it wasnt that humorous. But seriously, my brain feels all bleh and mushy like I can hardly think at all about much. I just want to sleep right now. Im going BLEHHHHHHHHHHHH." I teleport to the nearby relaxation room after saying a see you later to Herbsalvin and just nap for a bit. Thats not something I like doing when theres so much to do but it was literally just what I needed. I didnt even feel up to at least reading like a comic or manga. So there. I woke up when I woke up and returned to where I was before to help some of the others master the power too. By nearly day's end(as in sunset), we managed to get everyone in our branch of BRAINS to fully master the star power. The more of us mastered it, the easier it became to help the others, and so forth. And we choose to celebrate in the most awesome way possible. A exhibition battle royale in which we all show off what the star power has allowed each of us to do respectively now. I show off with ease that I can run with all of my armor on without the weight of it slowing me down anymore so effortlessly. And my augmentations in speed and strength resulting from my evolution to solar wind knight as well as training my legs and control of the wind at times recently. And I also show my increasingly powerful control of the wind. In my hands, I can create and control winds that reach up to that of a category 5 hurricane if I try hard enough.

Still have a very long way to go to reach my goal for that front of things. But I will be patient about that. Being impatient about that is something I really dont need in the kind of dangerous climate we're in because of our enemies who hate the workers, the artists, the good troublemakers, and just about anyone else who they see as annoying or inferior. The battle royale went by a knockout rule. When someone couldnt keep fighting, they were out and that was that. I lasted a while but was eventually unable to fight anymore myself. It didnt matter who won to me. So I just went to the relaxation room where many of the others were now to rest again. But in the middle of my resting again, I was suddenly teleported to another dimension. Some kind of ritual summoned me to wherever I am. It looks like a modern bedroom. Strange.. I would be reacting much more strongly if it werent for the fact that many of us have experienced this exact situation before and made well to speak about it, myself included. I speak: "Hello there. You have summoned me to kill someone for you, right? I dont need your name. Just tell me about the target and why you want them dead. If what you say means theyre actually innocent, I will put your name on a list and your soul will be forfeit if you summon someone else to kill that individual despite their innocence, I wont tolerate unjust harm. Your name would be on a list of the shadows, in fact." "..Who are you?" "Kid, Im Swiftdrawer. Im a knight as well as a part time assassin. I'll kill anyone who poses enough of a danger to the innocent and just cant be stopped through peaceful means. No other choice.

Those who wish to make the streets flood with the blood of the innocent is marked for death at this point. Killing the innocent is unforgivable. When you cross that line, its very difficult to attone for what youve done and regain the trust you have lost. So tell me about the target you wish to be killed and I'll see what I can do. I kill as quickly as possible. Making a target suffer is something I usually minimize. I dont see much of a point when the goal is elimination anyway. I will not accept any payment. No tributes or souls. No money. Nothing. I do it for free because I dont need the money. Now you understand the conditions of this little potential agreement of ours. But I do hope youre doing okay. You have to be in bad shape to summon someone to kill someone for you, after all. Im a little out of it because you interrupted me taking a nap but I forgive you. I can just get another nap later. To remind you once more, please tell me the details on the target. I want this done as soon as possible. I will aim to kill them in a single strike, if possible. One hit and they die. Thats my preferred method." "Youre a real knight?! But why would a noble knight like you choose to be an assassin?" "Long story but some of the most twisted people out there just have an early demise coming for them in light of what theyve been up to. Making millions suffer and much much worse. When your acts intentionally harm millions, you have crossed many lines and into a state that shows no one can possibly trust they can reason with you without them playing you like a fiddle or stabbing you in the back. If you need some comfort or support before I continue on, let me know. You look like you need a hug. But please, tell me of the target."

"Well.. okay.. Theres this rich person and hes been hurting a lot of people around here but no one's stopping him and hes even idolized as like a household name! And yes.. I need a hug.." "Thanks for being honest. *hugs them* This world is so cruel that a kid like you is seeking the death of a rich person. I would say unbelievable but I very well believe that thats a more common thing in my own world than anyone really realizes. Alright then. Just tell me where I can find him, his name, and what he looks like. I'll take care of him and put in a nice little message for anyone who sucked up for him or whatever. But act as if we never met. You dont need to be implicated in the 'mysterious death' of a rich person. I cannot kill rich people in my own world in the body I live in that world in, the body I thus work my plain job in, far too risky and dangerous. If someone's going to kill any of them, its not going to be me. But in any other world besides the one I come from in which everything Im saying right now has already been uploaded as the chapter of one of my fanfic stories, I dont have to worry because I have this body." The kid tells me the details and I tell them to stay tune on the news. I teleport to the corporate building the rich man is currently in, disguised as a very ordinary person who looks very generic. And I use my shadows and Ki sense to track down the exact location of the target. After a couple of minutes, I have found him. Bingo. I go into a public bathroom in the building only to come out several minutes later, donning my colorful mask and Akatsuki cloak over my armor and cape. I pull out one of my daggers.

I have found it to be even faster to use one of my daggers to get the job done if the target isnt that hard to kill. I dont have the means to pull off an assassination of any kind in my other body so in our world, dear reader, I won't be becoming a assassin ever. And its just too risky for me to do so. I have too much to lose. That said, the rich do deserve to have all of their wealth taken from them at the very least. I teleport to the office where this rich person is currently meeting with someone else whose life signature doesnt feel sinister at all. The rich person's life signature was the opposite, very much sinister. He was incredibly loaded which tracks. The more rich a rich person is, the more people they've stepped on to get so rich. There are very few exceptions to that rule out there. I speak: "Hello there, generic rich person. Its time for you to die. For making so many people suffer needlessly, you have violated their human rights and are therefore subject to tasting the logic of the golden rule for yourself: treating others the way you want to be treated. You treat so many people like theyre less than human, disposable bodies to hurt and kill as you please. Well, thats not going to happen anymore. That means you should be treated in the same manner unless you wish to choose attonement and to sincerely try to fix your heart. But I can see it and sense it. You arent willing to change to become a decent person. I'll make this quick. No need to speak as I finish you off. People like you are dragging humanity down to rock bottom and would happily have anyone butchered as long as you managed to not be found responsible."

I decapitate them effortlessly and leave after taping a little paper note I wrote in advance. It reads: "To those who would happily kill millions of people for whatever sick excuses you have, this is what you deserve to happen to you too. You dehumanize others and leave them for dead while you bring in all the power and profit because youre such sore losers. Youre the ones who are really behind the decay of so called 'decent society'. The death of this one rich person is enough to frighten you. There's thousands of other extremely rich people out there, some of whom are well known in the public eye. The Akatsuki is always watching. We punish those who selfishly inflict pain onto others and/or manipulate them for twisted purposes. This is your warning. Give into the will of the people or seal your fates to early graves." I teleport back to base as soon as Im done and fill in the others on what happened. That eased their worries, giving us more time to take care of other matters. Bray sighs: "Its a true shame that we have to kill anyone because they refuse to change and wont respect the dignity and rights of others including those who are vastly different from them." I nod: "But we dont have a choice. We kill them or they hurt a lot more lifeforms. I both pity and despise the likes of them and I have the right to as do all of us, naturally." "..Indeed. We shall never take away lives lightly." "What scumbags, those kind of people just cant find the meaning of community and connection without hurting others to climb the social ladder."

Half an hour later, myself and a few others were at the art museum featured in the 3 season long Big Hero 6 show as we were tipped off about a rich baddies going rouge, gaining powers, and deciding to steal physical artworks because running a AI slop program based off of stolen media made by creatives online wasnt enough for them. But we werent the only ones there. All of Big Hero 6 were too but they couldnt detect us at all. We are one with the shadows when we choose to be and have advanced magic and technology at our disposal at all times. They also have advanced tech. Basemax(secret base) and Baymax have very powerful sensors that can detect just about anyone within San Fransokyo. Hiro Hamada is a robotics prodigy and his friends are all brilliant in their own ways, even the comic nerd Fred who can breathe fire in his costume. Honey Lemon is the kindest and most energetic of the bunch and specializes in chemistry. She uses a purse while in her hero costume to throw what is basically gum at things and enemies. The gums have varying effects. Go Go is the tough one, an athletic individual built for speed, as shown by the wheels of her costume. She studied industrial design and chemical engineering. Wasabi is the sometimes most nervous of them all due to being extremely cautious but is pretty down to Earth and sweet. He is also something of a solid martial artist, even able to fight well against some sword wielders with the blades of his costume as well as someone who majored in applied physics. Baymax is a personal healthcare companion who is even capable of attacking someone when he needs to but does so in a pretty pacifist way.

Then theres Minimax, a robot designed to have the big personality of a cartoon icon level superhero willing to put up a fight and get things done. He is usually around Fred, due to partly being invented to keep Fred out of trouble. Together, they are members of Big Hero 6, a nice depature from the usual trope of superhero teams being composed of mostly members with actual superpowers. Instead, they are either robots or are people who wear suits that give them superpowers. So like Iron Man/Tony Stark. We use our own abilities and tech to search for the target. We were called to this dimension because the enemy has joined forces with Aigami. That means our target is willing to cause a lot of mayhem, destruction, and disruption. And by doing so, this guy's actions would soon far surpass the actions of every last antagonist who has ever caused trouble for San Fransokyo. It didnt take us long for us to find the target who was borrowing the power of the Prana to send away artwork after artwork without tripping any alarms. In fact, the whole museum is shrouded in a darkness that only could have come from that power. Big Hero 6 are lucky they havent been sent to another dimension yet with all of this datkness around alongside the creepy site of children with glowing eyes just silently standing around. But seconds after we began to move towards our target, Baymax spoke: "Multiple extremely powerful life signatures have just been detected." Dominic yawns: "We forgot to suppress our power levels. What a true nap causation."

Hiro yells: "Who's out there?! Show yourselves!" And that trips off the enemy. We hear his laughter: "I CAN HEAR YOU, HIRO HAMADA! THATS RIGHT! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" Blaze speaks: "Awoo! Not so fast!" They reveal themselves to Big Hero 6 before effortlessly stopping time in its tracks. Only us and Big Hero 6 can freely move now. I go after our adversary and use the dueling anchor which was also used by Kaito and other number hunters in Heartland City in the past to restrain our foe for when time eventually resumes. Now, he is anchored to me. We cant truly separate unless the anchor is withdrawn or destroyed but it is now invisible so it wont be so easy for our foe to break it. We all get to the museum floor and calmly walk to the members of Big Hero 6 who are clearly on edge. I speak: "Hello, Big Hero 6. We arent here to hurt you. We have no reason to. Not when we also wish to protect the innocent and stop those who wish to harm them." I hear Wasabi speaks: "Whoever these people are, I dont think we can trust them." Go Go replies: "Something feels off. Its almost like I can feel their presences and thats not something thats ever happened before. What can this mean?" I remove my helmet and put it into my inventory for now. Our weapons are hidden or secured at our sides. We will show them that we come in peace. Bray speaks: "You do not need to fear us. We shall explain everything." I give Carlos a look, warning him that this isnt the time for mischief. He can get carried away sometimes. I also give Yappa Yappa a look to remind him not to reveal his bloodlust to Big Hero 6.

And we keep calmly walking until we finally see them face to face. They are all preparing to strike, in case they think they need to. They look at us all with heavy suspicion. I sigh: "*I look at my loved ones* Okay, who wants to start or should I start as the one of us who most understands this universe out of all of us?" Go Go raises an eyebrow: "Universe?" Wasabi sighs: "I dont think I like where this is going." Baymax comments: "Time has been stopped around us. I do not understand whats going on." Now these heroes can clearly see things like our gear, the gentle breeze constantly surrounding my body and making my cape lightly flutter even with time completely still, Dominic's tired expression, Blaze's adorable face, Yappa Yappa's bladed pitchfork and Terror Fiend/Demon Lord style plate armored outfit, and so on. None of my loved ones speak up. They trust me to do the talking. Last time we got into a standoff like this one, Bray was the one to do the talking by and large so I was okay with being the one to speak up. We just kind of take turns with this kind of thing I guess. I finally reply to Go Go, Wasabi, and Baymax: "Im going to be honest. You are going to have mixed feelings about what we're going to tell you. I mean, some of them look genuinely terrifying while the rest of us still just feel intimidating. Our abilities are far out of this world and we are strong enough combined to easily destroy at a bunch of military tanks in an instant. I alone can take out a few city blocks with my sword. Though maybe not as much here, given that cities like this one are designed to be earthquake proof.

The giant earthquake that devastated San Franciso so long ago is why such design is common around here. Okay. *points at Blaze* Our furry friend here who is not wearing a fursuit and is actually a real walking cartoon wolf in time themed purple armor stopped time. I myself am actually among the weakest of us in power level, a standard way of interpreting someone's overall ability to cause destruction by their own physical efforts. *points at Fred* Im sure you get the reference. I bet youve read the Dragon Ball Z manga." He replies: "I have.. How did you guess that?" "Big Hero 6, you are rather famous, pretty well known in some universes in which you are considered mere fictional characters. Including where I come from. You already know other realms exist out there due to what happened to Callaghan's daughter Abigail. We know the whole story of what happened as well as your heroics because I witnessed them as a movie and a TV series of cartoons. I doubt you will be shocked when I say this. The multiverse is not only real but its larger than anyone could possibly imagine. It would take more than the entire lifespan of a universe to write out how many universes exist in scientific notation form. My name is Swiftdrawer and as you can guess, I am a knight. Its a pleasure to meet you. You are shining examples of genuine people trying to do good so it truly is a pleasure to meet you, even under these circumstances." We explain everything we need to and I finish it off by saying: "Oh and in case you were wondering why we're here, the guy youre trying to stop is someone we're after too.

He is working with our enemies, though the extent of his damage has been limited because we tracked him down so quickly. A sudden burst of malevolence in another universe doesnt always go unnoticed by the likes of us. To protect space-time and stop him from hurting anyone else, we are here to stop him by any means necessary. As you can see by the scar on my face, we have been through a lot of stuff that no one should ever have to deal with. The story of this scar can wait for later. Because time is about to resume and I have our enemy in my grasp. I will stand in one spot and because I have him anchored to me, its going to be hard for him to move freely again. Now then, lets work together to finish him off. We're taking him with us for information should he not be dangerous enough to have to terminate immediately. All the art theft he has done will be reversed when we're done with him. He is playing with power no malicious figure should ever have." Less than a few minutes later, our foes was finished off in a confrontation too unremarkable to write about. He was unprepared. That sealed his fate. The moment time was stopped, his defeat was guaranteed. He screams while trapped inside a cage I made with some of my shadows: "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" I speak calmly: "Not yet. For now, you're taking a trip to a facility where you will be treated well but will have to answer our questions once we go there ourselves to visit you. Now that you no longer pose a threat for now and might be redeemable, we dont have to end you right here right now."

Madison does the honors of sending him away after I recall my shadows, thus unforming the cage in the process. Go Go speaks: "Hey, why do I feel like Ive seen your faces before? You have earned my trust, which is an accomplishment few really achieve. But I have this feeling of deja vu now that I think about it.." Hiro and the others ponder with pensive expressions on their faces. Fred suddenly perks up: "I got it! Your faces are among the hundreds of others put on wanted posters all over town recently!" Dominic gets to work immediately, hacking reality itself and pulling all the stops to investigate. Seconds later, his tired expression becomes tired but with wide eyes: "What a nap causation! Its true.. We are wanted now and many of our comrades' faces are also on wanted posters too." I was about to say something but it was pointless to say it so I didnt. Instead, I just said: "Our enemies havent just gained an ally in this universe. They have actively infiltrated it and developed a new strategy to try to get us all reduced to meat paste or even less: the old school way. Wanted posters with rewards for captured dead OR alive. This isnt good. The more people know about us, the more trouble we're going to run into. The enemies you heroes have faced are little to no threat to us but combine them with people looking to cash in on bounties and.. needless bloodshed is afoot along with resentment towards the likes of us. By the standards of a capitalist society, we are villains destroying tradition and the social order. You can call us heroes or you can call us villains. Personally, I stopped entirely caring because we just basicalky make the good kind of trouble. And that's good enough of a describer of us.

Trouble is good when its used against terrible people and other terrible life forms and isnt meant to hurt actual innocent people. You dont operate within the law neatly yourselves either. You get it. Hey Dominic, anyone else of note come up in the faces you saw?" "Yes.. Hiro, Honey Lemon, Baymax, Go Go, Wasabi, Minimax, Fred. Your faces are on wanted posters too.." Go Go sighs: "Of course.." I nod: "Very on brand for fascists to antagonize a team of heroes whose abilities to help people come from a mix of scientific innovation and genuine compassion. Fascists love painting those trying to help those in need in a bad light, it's all part of their efforts to normalize suffering while making kindness seem like the weakest thing to have ever. Well then. This is all the more reason then. Okay, lets go somewhere a little more secure. Dominic will take care of the video surveillance. Its time to teleport." After we teleport to another dimension with Big Hero 6, I speak: "Okay. Let me finish now. All of this is more reason to.. *extends a metal gauntlet covered hand* invite you. Join our collective if you wish. We invite you to join us. Join the BRAINS Collective or not, its up to you but we would very much like to at least have you around as allies. You help us and we help you either way." They decide to accept and we take them to our base in Miitopia as well as the main base which has been used less often than it has been before lately in order to help reinforce the decentralized aspect of the collective. And some of our comrades help them upgrade their pre existing secret base into their own BRAINS base as well, making even more secure than it already was.

While Big Hero 6 get settled in, myself and other Akatsuki members have a meetup to discuss dividing up work to assassinate a large number of targets that have come in recently within a short period of time. As usual, we split up into our long chosen pairs. Barla speaks to me: "Lets get this taken care of, taking a life isnt that fun, even for me." I nod: "Yeah. Its good to repeat the obvious at times to reinforce it. Let's just get this over with and be done with it. I think pincer style will do nicely to most efficiently eliminate our targets. Each target has already been vetted with the ones that are still targets after that process of vetting being the ones who wont reason with us. The others who were culled out were captured previously or will be captured soon enough but not killed unless they fight back badly enough." "Hell yeah! I want to get this done so badly! I like your plan! But who gets to attack from the front?" "Toughie. We're both extremely intimidating when we're on the hunt for a target. Its hard to say which of us is scarier to a fascist for example. Im a neurodivergent non binary gay artistic mostly red knight who uses their inner darkness at times along with the shadows and has a rather big sword and solid arsenal of other weapons: both melee and ranged ones. You are a black lesbian gunslinger and explosives expert who is always armed with exploding things and guns. Okay, actually. They probably see you as more intimidating considering how black women are treated by the wretched society I was raised in. Black women are often seen as even more aggressive than drunk white men are. Need I say anymore? Its utterly ridiculous and unfounded. Go ahead. Strike fear in their hearts.

I'll stab or otherwise cut into them from behind while you pump them with bullets or lasers or something from the front. No one will be able to stop us from carrying out the elimination of our targets." "Hell yeah! I like that plan! If you hadnt come up with it, I would have done so myself! Okay! Lets get this done and then go back home already!" We went from dimension to dimension. One by one, our targets died quickly with fear in their eyes. The tougher to kill targets were left to some of the others so that they too could be killed quickly. And as we kill them, we wear our Akatsuki cloaks. To conceal her identity while still allowing her face to be seen, Barla put on some makeup and made sure her hair was hidden. They say wearing a face covering is the best way to hide your identity visually but thats not the full story, though it likely still messes with facial recognition software very well. Im wearing my colorful mask so my entire face is hidden. That means my hair and forehead along with my helmet and knight visor arent visible either. As an artist, I can safely say that the lower half of someone's face gives away their identity less than concealing their eyes and hair does. Its as clear as day to me. The eyes, eyebrows, hair, and forehead are all more distinctive features. My family would struggle to recognize me irl if I concealed my hair and the upper half of my face but when Im around them with only my nose and below it covered by a N95 mask, they can clearly see its just me. If you play Yugioh Duel Links, you have seen moments where only the upper halfs of the faces of characters are visible, like when they summon a secondary ace monster.

If only the lower parts of their faces were shown, unless they had something distinct there like Yusei's criminal mark, you would be confused and might even question if you were really seeing part of their faces or not. Thats why black sunglasses and black hoods also come in handy for fighting mass surveillance. Barla and I cleaned up. All targets fell without too much fuss. They all died in terror while being shocked as they were killed quickly without hesitation. Its true we could just poison our targets directly or discreetly but we are more interested in just offing them swiftly instead of watching them writhle and suffer with great agony. We will not tolerate those who are willing to hurt millions if not more. The rich and powerful want to destroy our world and crush the people, readers, just as the baddies you see in these stories wish to do so but on a much more multiversal scale. Its a war then. They hurt the people, they get the pain they deserve in return. It's as simple as that. When we had finished killing over 100 targets one after another, we went back home and relaxed with the others. It can be hard to deal with the weight of having so much blood on my hands as Ive said before. Thats why having comrades in arms, especially those who are close friends or even more than that to share the pain with if you can safely have that without too highly risking the enemy sniffing you out as a result is so important.

Our individual body counts are far too high. We shouldnt have to kill anyone but sadly, thats not how things work when we're dealing with fascists and others like them. No, taking a life isnt exactly the right thing to do because it shouldnt have to be done in socially and technologically advanced civilizations. But in a kill or be killed situation, you have to make a brutal choice to survive. It isnt pretty. It doesnt have to be this way. But right now in so many places, it is. And we have to keep working hard to end this cycle of kill or be killed in as many places as we can. We will not be bound by the paralyzing state known as victimhood. We do not behave as the those in power in so many worlds have tried to program the likes of me to be. We behave as the oppressed who have and will continue to bite back while still holding onto kindness, compassion, and so forth. This is the burden of assassination when performed by those the their hearts in the right place.