Hey Ya'll. I havent posted on FF in something life half a decade, and honestly didnt really think anything of it until I became active on Ao3. So here we are, hope you enjoy. I accept genuine criticism!

Things had escalated so much quicker than he had planned for.

Granted, as the Revolutionary's Chief of Staff, Sabo is more than prepared to handle unfortunate circumstances. The inability to be flexible could easily get more than just him captured and killed, after all.

"Shit!" He ducked in time to avoid a laser beam narrowing missing the brim of his hat, wincing at the screech of metal behind him. Sabo hadn't yet adjusted to being impervious to so many debilitating attacks yet— though, as he glanced at the mess of molten metal and shrapnel behind him he decided it was... probably better that way. A cocky logia is a dead logia, a voice suspiciously like Koala's nagged insistently.

With this in mind, he carefully leapt back as a Pacifista slammed its palm where he had just been crouched. The crater was just big enough for Sabo to stumble on its edge. "Shit", he grit out, wobbling precariously. The pacifista charged him without an ounce of recognition.

Just like the last three, Sabo reminded himself. He tried in vain not to shudder. Kuma deserved better than to become this. Gritting his teeth, he swung his pipe in an arc of flame.

Kuma-Not-Kuma's face metal face shrieked as it caved in under his pipe. His familiar jaw line crumpled inward, crushed like an eggshell. Sabo's gut twisted. It's not Kuma, he whispered inwardly, that's not Kuma. He stared for a moment, helplessly frozen in the reminder that this may be all that is left of Kuma anymore.

The Pacifista's body creaked ominously, heating rapidly beneath him.

Sabo cursed loudly, scrambling to back up in time. Surrounded by rubble in a tight room, he wasnt able to get out of range enough to avoid being thrown roughly. The explosion forced him backwards from the experiment and he shouted in pain as whatever had been buzzing behind him crunched violently under his weight.

Unfamiliar heat hummed under him.

Sabo forced himself up on burning hands as another Pacifista climbed over the smoldering wreckage of the previous, light building in it's mouth aimed directly at him. Sabo's shoulders began to defensively flicker. His hair flared up around his face.

The metal supporting Sabo abruptly crumpled inward. Sabo screamed as he was jolted off balance, laser barely brushing the tip of his nose with a flicker of flames. Startled, he risked a glance down at the machine under him and yanked his hands off it to flick away molten bits of metal starting to cling to his gloves.

"What—?" Sabo began, frantically staring at the machine under him. He could now feel how hot it was, only getting hotter, and hotter— crunching and screeching of metal overpowering the warning beeping of another Pacifista rapidly closing in on him.

The metal under him trembled.

Every instinct Sabo had, even raw with exhaustion and pain, slammed into him with an overwhelming dread.

Sabo scrambled to get off and away from whatever device he had damaged, not even bothering to look up from the wreckage at the approaching threats. Everything in him screamed to move now— move, move, move—

He screamed as the room exploded in white around him.