With a flash of light, Mr. Abrams reappears in front of a large, grey building decorated with long, thin vines. Then, another two flashes immediately followed. After they dimmed, two bodies seemed to fall from the sky. These were the injured bodies of 4 and 5. One of them was badly burnt, flesh had seared and blood was beginning to blacken. He looked dead, but there was a slight pulse. Still, it was good enough for Ms. Daisy to perform her magic. He retrieved 5 from the medical staff security called over to save his life. Ms Daisy was called, but she rejected them in favor of healing Noel and Rise. It was only after Mr. Abrams requested from Mr. Byle to hand 5 over for just the night, and personally visited Ms. Daisy that she took action. Although, she only kept him alive and nothing more. Her overseer, Mr. Abrams, didn’t want to risk healing 5 too much, since his own attention was bound to be occupied today.

It wasn’t just 5 he requested though. Ms. Daisy, Wuce, Ava, Winney and Georgia’s other patient, Four, also received his own personal summons from the homeroom teacher. At first, Georgia refused due to not having completed the young man’s delicate treatment, but it fell on deaf ears. She had already removed all of the bone splinters scattered throughout his body. Thanks to this, Four would gain a much higher rate of survival even if he’s transported somewhere else without rest for the night. In order to make sure his odds at living increased exponentially, Ms. Daisy, after finishing 5’s hasty treatment, rushed over and closed up a few of 4’s wounds, appearing a little too dire to put off for ‘tomorrow’. He couldn’t leave immediately for that reason, alone. The semi-brightened sky quickly darkened by the time everything was finished.

But clearing these two for discharge was only the initial step for Mr. Abram’s plan: a method to prevent his enemy from taking more victims while he was otherwise preoccupied. This was why he was allowed to have 5 and 4 discharged. Mr. Abrams didn’t mention his reasoning to the others overseeing this pair of patients, but his word of warning and the fact that yet, another ‘emergency’ was possible due to tracking methods, only hastened his clearing for the night.

All anyone in the know understood was that, true to his nickname, he would be ‘monitoring these two overnight in case of trackers. They also heard he was going to report to Hero Society Headquarters inside their capital; Revenice. There would be only an increment of time the villains are left alone and unguarded, but it’s far better than potential intruders assassinating the only nurses available for the night.

Mr. Abrams: “The sun is finally setting…I should prepare.”

Mr. Abrams recalled his conversation with One vividly. One’s warning triggered their deal and allowed Mr. Abrams to see inside the mercenary’s head. And what he saw, were the silhouettes of many people. And most of them, he recognized!

There was a decrepit, old woman out in front of the mass of silhouettes, but ahead of even her was the blackened outline of a man Mr. Abrams was certainly well acquainted with:

.

.

.

The Principal!

Mr. Abrams: “(But wasn’t he in the announcer’s booth the entire time?!)”

He was certainly shocked by this revelation. The Principal was the mastermind behind this assault??

...No. The principal is a very famous, retired old man. He won many battles that he wasn’t expected to and shouldn’t have. He accomplished many ‘miracles’ in the past and his prowess only continued to skyrocket upon the daring terrorist assaults on Herotopia by Villain Haven. In fact, he is the only man alive to successfully injure Villain Haven’s former greatest villain before his retirement, the Elite villain: Sorrowed Soul. And THAT guy is nigh untouchable, even for people with the ability to touch intangible bodies! Not only that, just standing before him is supposedly a death sentence already, so for Principal Leyman to actually injure him is nothing short of a miracle. Unsurprising that he became so famed in his era. For such a man to be the mastermind of this whole assault is just unthinkable!

But the evidence was right there…

Unless, this too was an act of brainwashing? Could it actually be the case?

...It didn’t matter. Right now, at the present time, this was the biggest lead he had going for him.

Furthermore… he learned something critical. There would be another attack tonight!

Not only that, but ‘Zero’ also warned One that they were at risk if they failed. If she didn’t receive a response properly from One’s men, her other team would probably be sent after them. This meant, approximately two separate battles were going to happen tonight!

...Which inadvertently happened to spark Mr. Abrams’s creative juices. What if he were to combine the two battlefields into one?

He stared at his captives, before securing them to their beds as tight as possible with magic-imbued straps. Afterwards, he left the building entirely and waited.

With every passing second the sun would set, Mr. Houdini Abrams recalled the dying memories of his traumatized students:

Ophelia…

[Ophelia: “How...unfair… *Sniff* Please…”

3: “Heeheehee! Don’t worry I’ll end your suffering now~ Although, I don’t really know if those muscles of yours are edible or not~ I’ll soon FIND OUT!”

Ophelia: “Please *Sniff* anybody...anybody at all… please… let me try again…! At least...At least *Sniff* allow me to move my right arm…”]

Oliviera…

Oliviera: “(No…I don’t … please don’t kill me. Please… I…

...I don’t want to die…

.

.

.

Daddy … please don’t let them kill me, please…!)”

Leos…

Leos: “(Chuma…Fabian… it seems like, heheh, I’ll be visiting you a whole lot sooner then I expected. I wonder which of us you’ve been protecting this whole entire time. IF you’ve been protecting Rebeccah and I—REBECCAH!

…

…

…

She has co-workers now. She should be fine…

she should…

...she…

.

.

NO! I don’t- I don’t wanna die! Ahhhh!! Why – why me! Why does this have to happen to me! I can’t…

Hey. If you Gods really do exist out there: why can’t you just let me be happy for once? I…)”

Alyandrea…

Alyandrea: “(No…No…Please no…! I don’t – I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna- I’m not… I’m not ready! Momma…I – I’m sorry! Please help me, I don’t need to go to this school anymore! Please help me! … I don’t wanna die…

Daddy…I - I’m not ready to see you…!)”

-

Elijah: “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! *Sniff* I’m sorry I’m so fucking, FUCKING USELESS!!

I’m so fucking… *Sniff* so useless… I don’t deserve to be a hero. Never again… NEVER AGAIN!!

…

Uuwaaaa...!”

Li Shun…

[Li Shun: “N-No! We cannot...fall here! We…can’t... ”]

Brennan…Ian...

[Brennan: “You know…”

Ian: “Now’s not the time!”

Brennan: “Heheh… even though I was so eager to leave this place and run away… There’s this one thing that I always wanted to become. One single thing that people laughed at me for, and said I could never achieve with a Z-grade power. I only wanted to leave this place because...Well, I can’t accomplish my dream if I’m dead.”

Ian: “...What was your dream?”

Brennan: “Hahah…….I always… wanted to be a hero.”]

Ian: “(…To be a hero…I also wanted that.)”]

*BANG!*

Wayne…

Wayne: “Huff...Huff...Huff… This… this stupid, stupid school! How could they allow villains to attack us? And why didn’t our teacher notice the villains sneaking over?? How could they … treat us like this! *Sniff* First everyone in our freshman student body hates us, then we’re forced in the middle of a forest with no cell phone signal in sight, and now we’ve been abandoned while villains hunt us down…! I… I… *Sniff* Are we not good enough to assign security guards to protect?”

Tonight, more villains attack – but this time, they aren’t dealing with a group of inexperienced children.

No.

Mr. Abrams: “...The sun has set. Tonight, they plan on finishing the job those fools from before had already started.

Again, they will come.

*Clenches fist*

Those pieces of trash! If I don’t ‘teach’ them a lesson this time around, then I might as well relinquish my title as the 7th Ranked Hero on the Hero Society Leader Board!!

…Haah.

Tonight, I will make each and every one of you suffer for the pain you’ve brought upon my students! And after that...Principal Leyman! And the other silhouettes I recognized! You’re all destined to be next!”

…

…

…

.

.

.

???: “So...they didn’t call back? No texts or emails, no animal, technological or magical messengers… absolutely zero response, whatsoever?”

??: “That is correct, ma’am.”

???: “...Enact the back-up plan, as we’ve discussed. I want EVERYBODY whom we’ve already commissioned, present and on school grounds before the light entirely disappears! Also, bring Principal Leyman and the Board of Trustees here to me. It is time to decide our next contingency plan. That dumb gorilla girl destroyed the whole arena! The short boy, Noel...That fat thing, Oliviera...and the swollen gorilla girl, Ophelia. ALL of them embarrassed our touted Kings! If we continue this way, our 10 Kings will be viewed as a laughingstock, instead of a powerful up – and - coming generation of Geniuses! Those shitty non – combatants have to disappear! By tonight! Every last class! While the Monitor Man is away, only that stupid Haldeen and Pierce pair are left, and they’re with us! Even if he comes back, those two can work together to hold him off. I would have PREFERRED having them erase those cretin children, but they won’t respond to me.

…

It’s rather...worrying...perhaps I need to make a few extra calls, just to be on the safe side. What do you think, Eric Leyman? Should your father pay them a short visit? Hehe~”

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