Zack stood in the wreckage of his life. The crowd was gone, so were the cops and paramedics. It wasn’t like they could do anything for Perry, frozen solid and crushed between the weight of Zack’s lies.

How fitting.

The authorities would bring in heavy machinery soon to clear out the wreckage of his collapsed and frozen house, but they had made it clear this was now a recovery mission. Zack knew this all too well. He had watched in horror as Perry, frozen solid, was shattered into a million pieces by his falling house.

When the authorities returned, they would find Perry in pieces and likely have to scoop his scattered remains into a bucket. They would ship him back to his parents in Chicago, a sad and harsh end to a friend who only wanted to help.

Blake had left shortly after it happened. Watching her boyfriend die in such a horrendous way was too much for her. She shouldn’t be here to watch what happened next.

But Zack would. And he should.

That last part wasn’t true. Zack should be crushed and buried under that house, not Perry. That would be justice.

But Zack wasn’t living through a revenge tale. He was living through a tragedy, or more specifically, his friends were stuck in a tragedy - the ones still alive anyway - and he was the bad omen that haunted their lives and brought ruin to all of them.

It had only been a matter of time.

Zack let the cold night air prickle his skin. It was only a fraction of the pain Perry felt as he was frozen solid and left to die. He gazed at the shattered and broken remains of his house, now a pile of jaunting wood and cold bricks, with one of his oldest friends similarly cold and fractured somewhere beneath.

That wasn’t the only thing lying somewhere beneath the wreckage of his life. Buried even deeper below the surface lay the Knightbrand armor. Zack had thought about trying to summon it, but he doubted the jet boosters could penetrate the fifteen thousand pounds of ruin atop it. Instead, Zack was resigned to his fate. The authorities would find it eventually, and then, they would have questions.

Zack would be exposed for the fraud he was.

Which was all Zack really deserved in the end.

Liar.

Somewhere deep within him, he heard Perry’s voice chide him.

You deserve to be under here, not me. I had a good thing going. Good grades, a girlfriend, my whole life ahead of me.

Now I’m a human jigsaw puzzle mixed with all of your shit.

And yet, here you are, none the worse for wear.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Zack knew all of this was true. Once Shaw and the rest of the authorities figured out the truth of his identity, he would gladly take the punishment. Using another superhero’s identity was a major crime, even if the hero was Unaccredited like his father. There would be consequences. Zack would take them. If he was lucky, they would lock him in a deep, dark cell somewhere far, far away from his friends.

The icy bent frame of his front door glistened in the moonlight. Zack grimaced as he realized there was still one more task he would need to complete.

He couldn’t find his father’s killer. That mission was over. The best he and Perry had accomplished was striking Dirk Saber’s name from the suspects list, but that had left Zack back at square one. Zack’s obsession with finding his father’s killer had long since ruined his life.

And now it claimed the life of one of his oldest and most loyal friends.

There was no point in continuing this crusade before it claimed anyone else.

But there was still one last drop of vengeance to be answered.

Icer.

He was still out there somewhere. Zack didn’t know where. He never did quite understand where Icer went when he wasn’t running missions for Zack. He probably frequented one of the many dive bars in a place like Innshadow, or perhaps to some low-rent motel on the edge of town.

It shouldn’t be too hard to track him down. And then he would make him pay for what he did to Perry Adams.

If the police caught up with Zack before he got his vengeance, that was all the better. If there was any justice in this mess, Zack and Icer could share a jail cell - they were both equally responsible for killing Perry after all.

But If Zack had his way, Icer wouldn’t be going to jail. He wouldn’t be going to the courts to plead his case. He wouldn’t be going anywhere except the ground, buried in a shallow grave just like the horrid one he left Perry in.

Zack would see to it, one way or the other.

He had known that Icer would betray him sooner or later. That’s what supervillains do, after all. He had never let his guard down around Icer. For all the banter, Zack knew exactly what Icer was and what he was capable of.

Or so he thought.

Zack surveyed the wreckage of his life. He crossed his arms and sighed. He felt as though he were trapped somewhere beneath the rubble, with broken pieces of his best friend scattered all around him.

He knew Icer was capable of general chaos and mischief. He was certainly capable of outwitting supes on campus.

But murder?

And not just any murder. He had left Perry frozen and helpless for him to find. He had ensured Perry would survive just long enough to watch the house collapse upon him, killing him in the most horrid way possible with the maximum number of witnesses.

That was beyond chaotic. That was premeditated depravity.

Icer needed to be put down, one way or the other.

And Zack would be the one to do it.

He would leave here. He wouldn’t tell Blake or Rachel where he was going. He wasn’t on speaking terms with Scott after what happened at the Alpha House. Zack would find Icer.

He would end this.

And then he would pay for his own crimes, in that order.

Zack turned around to see another figure approaching him from behind, his arm in a sling. Dirk Saber regarded him with a strange mix of sadness and kindness. He looked at the rubble behind Zack.

“What a mess, Zack,” he said. “Or do you prefer Knightbrand now?”