The city was empty, as many nice places are, but Kana was there, which severely reduced the niceness of the place. At least, this is what Kana thought. Still, he did quite enjoy the silence city-Z brought, even if it was a lonely one. He did admit that he wasn't really feeling himself, but in many regards that felt like a good thing. He had been walking along the sidewalks for… Hours? Days? He hadn't been keeping track of time very well. Now that he had thought about it, he decided he would very much like to stop walking, as many tired people often decided.

He looked up to the tops of the skyscrapers, the buildings themselves curving out so far above him that the roofs felt more so like new worlds rather than something a door and an elevator ride away. The breeze must be nice up there, he thought. I would very much like to be up there instead of here, he thought, as many tired people often did.

He did not stop to rest, as many tired people would, he began to climb the windows and scaffolding. The building was very high indeed, and often Kana felt as though he was traveling much farther than he actually was. Occasionally, he would look inside the building through a particular window, it was always empty, as many nice places are, but Kana could see his reflection, which severely ruined the niceness of the place. At least, this is what Kana thought. Still, he managed to land himself within arms reach of the top of the building, he reached forward with all of his might, and the sky began to be peeled away.

The giant cement boulder weathered and crumbled away as Genos blasted it with beams of light from his palms. Tanaka sat next to him on the ground doing her best not to pass out again. Genos was still not fully certain of what he was doing or why he was in City-Z. The woman he had brought, whom he had since learned was named Tanaka (though he still preferred to call her "the woman"), seemed to become sick when he told her about what had happened at the Hero association. She seemed sicker still when she had learned about the man Genos had met in the street that had told him to go to city-Z. Finally, she had once again collapsed, this time keeping consciousness, when she had taken a chance to look and see where in city-Z they were.

"I know this place, I've seen it before." She said to Genos, who had only known her as the the woman who had infiltrated the HA and the woman that had collapsed into his master's arms, according to his master, that is. He couldn't exactly say why, but he felt a bit sour over the whole situation.

"As have I, Me, master, and the Tornado of Terror find ourselves here daily." Genos said back, wondering if perhaps losing her balance was going to become a trend.

"No, you don't understand!" She said, trying to get up but lacking the strength to do so and falling back down. "I've never been to City-Z before!"

"Pictures then, or perhaps you've seen it from afar." He said, starting to wonder how someone could lose their balance so often and still be an assassin. It was like losing something necessary to everyday life, like an arm… Genos stopped thinking about it immediately.

"No, no! It was t-the doors or… The Gate! They Showed this place to me!"

There was a deafening silence as the two looked back and forth between them. Tanaka was desperately reaching out to Genos who was wearing his serious face as usual. Genos turned away from her and began searching for a place to sit.

"Oh my g- why don't you believe me!?" She yelled.

"I recommend you take a moment to review the things you've said and then ask yourself that question again." He said, still looking for a place to sit and wait for his master.

She made a few guttural noises to communicate her frustration. She gestured to the giant cement boulder. "Kana- my brother, is under there, all you have to do is move it and then-"

"No, I am not going to try and remove a giant concrete boulder for something that is more than likely a farce." He said firmly.

Tanaka let out another grunt of frustration before realizing something. She looked Genos, who had recently found a spot to sit, dead in the eyes. "Saitama would."

And then before either of them knew it, there they were, Genos steadily destroying the rock until he saw something: black dress shoes peeking out from a second hole that had more or less been covered by the boulder. Once he had stopped firing to stare in what should have been silence, the distinct echo of a voice Genos had become used to hearing in his head came up to them from the hole. Genos immediately continued to blast away at the giant concrete boulder until an extremely disheveled Kana was fully revealed. Tanaka slid down to him laughing and crying, Kana continued to stare towards the sky with a frustrated and confused look on his face. Genos also walked down the slope to the hole that held Kana, though he only stared at the manager with an equally frustrated and confused expression rather than laughing and crying.

Tanaka fell into the hole, picking her brother up and holding him in her arms, his hand was glued to his chest with dried blood, but he had a pulse. Kana continued to look to the sky for some time as he was cradled, until he snapped out of his delusions, or at least it looked that way. He began to look around him with the face and detachment of someone who had just woken up in the middle of the afternoon. Eventually he focused on Tanaka's crying face.

"Ah, little T-Tanako, why are you crying…? Did something happen at school?" He said, his voice weak and his jaw chattering.

"What?" Tanaka managed through her sniffles. "Kana, I haven't been… Kana where are we now?"

"We're at home, silly. We're in my room, see?" Kana said as though it was obvious.

"Oh, Kana, no, no we're not. Can't you see?" She said moving back and revealing the gray sky behind her.

"I… Can't. All I can see, is my tired little sister in my room." Kana insisted. "Perhaps, you should get some sleep, Tanako. Are you feeling yourself?"

Tanaka swallowed hard and took a shaky breath. "No, no I don't think I am."

"Oh, well, maybe that's a good thing, I just had the most bizarre dream about just that." He said, with a weak smile.

"You'll have to tell me about it… In the morning, okay?"

"Very well." He said, his smile becoming stronger. "In the morning. Good night, Tanako."

"Good night, Kana." As soon as she had said his name he had drifted back to sleep. She picked him up and turned towards Genos, her face determined and deadly serious.

"I've made this mistake of giving up on Kana before. I thought that, perhaps, we could never be a family again. I made a mistake. We need to get him to a hospital, now."

"I have analyzed his wounds, his heart has been injured beyond repair, but his blood is still pumping, and his brain his still active. I do not know how this is possible. Something else is keeping him alive, we should wait until my master gets here."

"Genos, look at him, he can't stay here any longer, he needs help."

"We will get him help when master Saitama manager is a very resilient man."

"We don't have time!"

"Time for what?" A familiarly bored voice said from above them. Tanaka and Genos looked to the top of the pit to see Saitama standing there, his arms crossed. He slid down to meet both of them. "Genos, I thought I told you to take Tanaka back to my apartment so I could ask her some questions."

"I was going to, master, but-" Genos began to say before Saitama spoke up.

"Yeah, that weird guy butt his head in, Tats told me. She'll be catching up soon, by the way." Saitama said, waving off Genos' excuse as he walked around to Tanaka. "Woah! Is that who I think it is?" Saitama said, pointing to Kana. "Genos, we should get him to a hospital."

There was a moment where Genos and Tanaka made eye contact, she still looked determined and serious, but she also looked smug. Genos did not look smug. He looked serious, as usual, but also upset, maybe slightly angry. Saitama did not look smug or upset, but slightly concerned over the fact that his boss looked mostly dead. Kana looked mostly dead, but not quite, he was still breathing very clearly and heavily.

"What even happened?" Saitama said, trying to poke at Kana before Tanaka pulled him out of reach, shielding him with her body. She answered, nearly overcome with shame and embarrassment.

"It's… a long story. A long, long story." She said, and it was the truth, in order to properly tell the story she required time. On the other hand, this answer was not the truth and she only said it to avoid telling the truth.

"Long story short." Said another sly voice from above. They all looked up this time, even Kana stirred in his sleep, to see a young man in a trench coat, wearing a hat that could overshadow his eyes. However, because of the angle,everyone could see his eyes now, with those small, distinct pupils. They could see his orange hair, his freckles, and his murderous smile.

"She killed him." Said the Prince.

A/N: Wow, another delayed chapter, this is getting to be a real problem, isn't it? Well, I'm sorry, my life has done nothing but get progressively more stressful and busy since the fire. I'm not sure when the final chapter of this act will come out, I'm aiming for the 27th and the epilogue of this act/ prologue to the next to come out the day afterwards. I can prioritize working on it, though, if I can get funded over on my . Since I can't post a link here all you have to do is go to , search Marshall Bradbury, and click on "creators", and It'll say my name and that I'm creating written stories. I'm the only Marshall Bradbury there right now and I don't have an avatar so you can't miss it.

It feels a little dirty to ask for money like this but I'm in a real bind finance wise right now. If I get enough support over there then Act three can have longer chapters, more chapters, and even come out weekly.

If you donate three dollars or more you will see the final chapter five days before non-patrons. Five dollars will get you a vote on what I work on during the hiatus following the final chapter of this act (and just a vote in general whenever I launch an important pole). I have a slew of things I want to work on, including rewriting the first act of this story, actually writing that Kana backstory I talked about, other stories for different fandoms, and working on and publishing my original story: the Death of Home. Making the Hiatus shorter will also be an option. Those are the only prizes I can give right now, but anything helps, I really mean that. The final chapter is going to be quite large, I've already started working on it. Alot is going to happen in it, so brace yourselves for that.

Finally I want to thank everyone who has sent a comforting message to me, it keeps me going, you guys were the reason I kept this series going. Thank you, sincerely.

Final chapter of act 2: Locks the Gate