Read auxiliary chapter World Info before starting the story.
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CHAPTER START---
---4 Days After Meeting Nezu...
Sitting on the couch of his condo Law is wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt, all black. A glass of scotch in his hand as he scrolls through a list of hotels in Switzerland.
ROOM!
Taking a sip of the drink he enjoys the familiar taste of it, placing the glass down on the coffee table as he drops his phone.
TAKT!
It hovers in place while he refills his glass with scotch. Refilling his glass he leans back into the couch and grabs the phone out of the air.
ROOM!
"This place looks about right," he says, finding a reasonably priced hotel in Bern that suites his purposes, losing access to all his family money truly hurt, and now he only has the cash they stored at this safe house.
Just after making his reservation, the phone begins to ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi there, I'm outside," Nezu's friendly voice answers back.
"On the sidewalk?" Law asks while opening a ROOM, reaching from his location all the way down to the other side of the street.
"Yes, I'm out front."
"Holding it?"
"Yes..." Nezu says a bit nervously, "I'm sitting in my car."
SCAN!
Law gets a full 3D map of the area, focusing on finding Nezu, sensing him in an armored SUV out front with his driver, a large metal briefcase in his arms as he sits in the back, phone raised to his ear.
"Shambles," Law tosses an ice cube to the couch opposite him, and just before it hits the couch it swapped with Nezu, briefcase, and phone in hands.
"Hngh," Nezu grunts as he falls from almost an inch above his new seat, looking up to frown at Law, "a little warning next time," he hangs up the phone and texts his driver.
"Sure thing," Law says. "Is everything ready?"
"I wouldn't have called if it wasn't," Nezu says. "Will you be able to operate here? If not I have a room reserved at a private facility."
"Here will be fine, the bedroom is ready," Law shrugs.
"I see..." Nezu silently looks around for a moment, taking in the simple apartment before noticing Law drinking alcohol. "You're fifteen, you shouldn't be drinking."
"It's been a rough week," Law shrugs. "Don't worry it doesn't actually do anything, want a drink?"
"Do you have tea?"
Law gestures to the kitchen, "feel free to do as you wish, I'd like to check out my gear," he nods toward the briefcase.
"Enjoy," Nezu says excitedly as he hops down from the couch and walks off toward the kitchen.
As Nezu walks away Law gets up and places the briefcase on the coffee table before returning to his own seat.
At the front of the metal case was a black smiley face with checkered teeth, large sold eyes, and a dot nose, six spokes protruding out of it with pieces of another broken concentric circle attached to them.
"You got the trademark for me?" Law asks.
"Of course," Nezu's voice calls out from the kitchen, his body hidden on the other side of the counter. "Horizon: Miracle Solutions Ltd. That smiley face is a strange logo but it's what you wanted."
"My dad's was hearts," Law says. "Mom's was gears, this is mine."
"Any all might inspiration?" Nezu asks cheekily from the kitchen.
"Mmm, yes and no, I figured people are only gonna see my back when I leave them in the dust, so it should at least be smiling," Law chuckles darkly and Nezu just shakes his head.
"You know you could have just said you wanted to heal people with a smile."
"I rather not lie," Law finally opens the case.
Staring back at him is a sleek visor, made of a super tough polymer, black with two blue eyes and white on both sides. Simple but mysterious and intimidating, exactly what he wanted.
Picking it up he gives it a once over, turning it at every angle and feeling it with his hands, smooth and cool. Looking underneath he sees blue circuits flowing within, entirely on the area at the back of the head.
"Anything I should know about this?" He asks while putting it on. The moment it's on he feels it tighten slightly, just enough to be perfectly comfortable, he also feels the base of the helmet extend all around. A hidden lip extends downward at the front and completely blocks his mouth, and he feels something like fabric reach down his chin.
"That feels weird," he says, his voice suddenly carrying a slight mechanical edge to it. "But...it doesn't feel like I'm wearing a helmet...doesn't really look like it either." He raises a hand to see if he could notice any visual change, but getting up to look into a nearby wall mirror, while the face of his helmet was still black with two simple blue eyes, from the inside the world was crystal clear. Perfectly crafted one-way vision.
Raising his head he looks under his chin, noticing the base of the helmet extend as if it tried to crawl down his neck, "huh...can't even feel it, and it doesn't bother my jaw at all when I talk."
"Obviously not," Nezu says before taking a sip of his tea, now sitting on the couch. "Power loader and I designed it personally, as well as your new sword, but that will remain at UA until you officially enroll, you can't take it off campus without a provisional license."
"I see," Law walks back over to the case and inspects the other items. Finding a set of dark black socks, long pants, gloves, and a long-sleeved shirt. Three of each. Looking inside them he sees that the outside is black but the inside is white, with the shirt having his logo in blue on the black side, and also in blue on the white side, as he requested. "Double sided huh."
"You asked for a white with the blue logo, but this was a more functional idea, plus the fabric comes in black so this was also faster, all three body gloves are the same, and they become active when fully connected, that includes the visor," Nezu says.
"Fully active?"
"Try it on..."
ROOM!
Law picks up each piece and gives it a quick SCAN, then shifts his gaze toward Nezu.
"I can't see your face to know what you're thinking," Nezu says, staring at the blank faceplate.
"I'll have to remember that, but trackers, really?"
Nezu shrugs, "it was a good idea at the time, and I figured you wouldn't have been able to find them."
Law just sighs and grabs each shirt, focusing on the trackers and then looking at his glass of scotch, focusing on the condensation at the base of the glass.
SHAMBLES!
Three small black objects, shaped like grains of rice, but one-third of the size, are swapped for drops of water.
"Incredible," Nezu mutters in awe. "How were you able to find and isolate them so easily?"
"I'll explain when the others get here, do I need to worry about a tracker built into the visor, or programmed into it?" Law asks.
"No, there wasn't any space for a tracker, and the only software is so you can use it as a wireless headset for your phone for better privacy, alongside the temperature control you requested."
"Good, I'll be taking your word for it, and thanks for not making the voice too mechanical."
"All I did was program the fabric, power loader did everything else, he's our resident support item genius after all," Nezu gloats, always happy to brag about his staff.
Law begins putting on the gloves and socks, flipping them inside out so the white side was showing. "Speaking of UA, shouldn't you be there since the school year just started...or is just about to start."
"It began yesterday, but I don't really have much to do this year since one of the first-year classes got expelled from the hero course."
"What, what do you mean a class got expelled?" Law asks, his slightly mechanical voice clearly surprised.
"We have a certain strict teacher that is very harsh with what he expects of heroes, he put them all into the general studies department directly afterward."
"Sounds like a dick," Law says.
"He means well, his ways are just a bit cold at times, but he will be your homeroom teacher next year. His quirk may be needed to help guide you," Nezu says.
"You mean to stop me from putting people in the ground?"
"That's one way to put it."
"What's his quirk, because it'll some serious magic to stop me," Law says as he finishes with the socks and gloves. Standing up he holds the pants and shirt, studying them for a moment.
"His quirk can temporarily erase other quirks," Nezu says.
"Shambles," Law's pants and shirt swap for the parts of the body-glove, now wearing the visor with his entire body covered in white fabric as the ROOM closes, retracting into himself.
"Shambles? That's what you call the warping?" Nezu asks curiously.
Law just turns toward him, allowing the blank visor to stare at Nezu for a moment.
"So Eraserhead huh," he looks at his body curiously, feeling the gaps between the separate pieces somehow being filled, as if the fabric itself was reaching out to the other parts and connecting. He walks over to the mirror and barely catches the tail end of the process, the turtleneck portion of his body glove reaching up to connect with his visor perfectly. "That's creepy..."
"Somewhat yes, but the smart fabric is needed to regulate temperature, which is a necessity for how long you plan to spend in that persona," Nezu explains. "And you looked into UA staff?"
"Always best practice to scope out a site before you enter."
"Fair enough."
"I can feel it cooling me down already," he notices a small thermostat appearing inside his visor before it disappears. "Body temperature gauge?"
"Precisely, as expected this equipment is purely for comfort so don't try to fight fire or ice user with this, it's meant to keep you cool on a warm day or warm on a cold day, nothing more. You'll still need a coat in the winter or ice-cream in the summer."
"It'll do, thanks. Now for the really important parts," he takes his seat back on the couch and pulls the case closer. Reaching into a small compartment to remove some documents.
Looking at the first set of documents, passport, birth certificate, ID, driver's license, medical license, all for his real identity of Law Matani.
"Wow," Law is genuinely surprised. "I expected just the basics honestly, medical license and even a driver's license?"
Nezu shrugs, "the doctors at central hospital put some of your more miraculous cases into a simulator after I gave them the relevant files. None of those people should have survived, they ever offered you a job. With that plus my own research, a medical license seemed earned."
"At fifteen, I know that since Quirks shook up the world there have been prodigies in a lot of things so exceptions are made, but...never figured you would have gone for it."
"Your medical skills are peerless, and you aren't using them for evil anymore so it's fine. The fact that your Quirk is a healing type made it very easy to get."
"Makes sense."
"The drivers' license was a bit more difficult honestly, getting you a license to drive any class of road vehicle in Japan, at fifteen, let's just say I had to get creative with the computers. But it still only took me a few minutes."
"I don't like public transport so thanks, especially since if things go as planned I should be able to afford some nice cars soon."
"Sooner than you think, you'll get all the information when you get there in person, but you'll certainly be able to get whatever toy you want."
"Mhm," Law continues reading the documents until something catches his eye, "Law Matani, Quirk: Heal?"
"Well, I couldn't put Hand Of God since that would reveal you to be Horizon as well," Nezu says. "I get that your Quirk allows you to warp and heal but that name is so pretentious, are you sure you don't want to change it?"
"My dad chose it for me, and it's very accurate, so it stays, besides I can do more than just warp and heal."
"Really?"
"You'll see eventually," Law says. He puts away his documents and takes a look at his second set, Horizon's. "You have the body glove and visor listed as Lifestyle Support Equipment, good, they can't legally have me remove or alter either then."
"Exactly, and even the picture is just that of your visor, be sure not to alter it."
"I know that much Nezu," Law continues looking through the documents, and he even has a driver's license for Horizon as well. "I don't think Horizon is gonna have any cars, he'll probably have a driver...unless I have a second house just for my cars as Horizon since I won't be able to bring them home...dual identity problems I guess..."
"Precisely why so many heroes just go public."
"Not worth it," he says sternly. "Put my current and future family in danger...I'd rather deal with the dual identity bullshit forever."
"True, the media won't report it much but villains tracking heroes to their homes isn't all that uncommon, not with people being so comfortable about showing their face."
"Exactly, I don't buy into the hero-centric media crap, I've been on the other side, I know how easy it is to track people down with just a face or Quirk name, never putting my family in that kind of danger just to save some strangers."
"I certainly can't argue against that, but most people don't take things as extreme as you do, although they usually aren't in such extreme circumstances."
"I want Horizon and Law Matani to be as different as possible," Law says. "One is the perfect pristine hero, and the other is a guy who looks like he belongs in a gang, tattoos and all. Nobody will ever connect them in person, just as you've made sure nobody can connect them digitally in Japan's system."
"True, but one thing... you don't have tattoos," Nezu points out.
"Not yet..."
"You'd go that far to separate your identities?" Nezu asks, not surprised but a bit concerned.
"No face tattoos, but yeah I don't see why not, when I retire or if I'm just off duty the last thing I want is people thinking I'm a hero and bothering me."
Nezu chuckles, "most people can't stop thinking about life as a hero, and you're more concerned about when you settle down and start a family," he nearly spills his drink as his chuckle devolves into a mad cackle.
Law just sighs and sits back, "don't think anything else really matters honestly."
Nezu catches his breath at this, "I can certainly respect your view on th---"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Nezu's phone goes off, drawing their attention toward it.
Nezu picks it up and looks at the message before turning to Law, "seems like your first patient is here... doctor Horizon..."
END CHAPTER---
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
Read auxiliary chapter World Info before starting the story.
Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Law and Nezu turn to look down the connection hallway from their seats in the living room.
"Right on time," Law mutters, still not entirely used to the slightly mechanical nature of his voice through the visor.
Getting up he walks down the hallway and in a few steps is at the front door. Opening it he's greeted by the sight of a 180cm -5ft11- man in a beige trenchcoat, a suit kept below it. And standing behind this man is a 204cm -6ft8- blonde man, with spiky hair with two bangs at the sides of his face. Blue sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, appearing emaciated, as if he was ready to fall over into a shallow grave.
Both men stare back at Horizon, slightly surprised to be greeted by the black visor that only had two triangular blue eyes. A white body glove hiding every piece of skin that would have shown with his pair of black shorts and t-shirt.
"Come in," Horizon steps aside and gestures for them to enter, locking the door behind them. Both men gave him a nod as they pass by. But Horizon can't help noticing how the blonde man towered over his 180cm -6ft- self, along with the fact that his suit was a few sizes too large, hanging off his frame.
Walking behind both men the trio joins Nezu in the living room.
"Now that we're all here, how about introductions?" Nezu asks.
ROOM!
Horizon reaches out to the plain-looking man in the trench coat, "I'm Horizon, the doctor."
The man shakes his hand, "detective Naomasa Tsukauchi," after a firm handshake Tsukauchi steps back.
"Detective? As in the detective from when I met Nezu?"
Tsukauchi only nods and moves to take a seat.
Next, the tall blonde man reaches out with a large hand, Horizon feels the man's hand like a vice around his fingers for a moment, "Toshinori Yagi, it's a pleasure to meet you, doctor..."
Horizon's face tilts downward, shifting from looking up at the man to looking at his torso, "wow, so you must be my patient," he releases the man's hand. "Don't worry Yagi, I can help you."
"Please call me Toshinori if you'd like," the man says as he moves to join Tsukauchi on the couch, leaving Nezu and Horizon on single seats.
"Yagi is shorter," Horizon moves to take his seat. "I don't particularly care for naming traditions and formality, I always use the short or easier-to-say name," he shrugs.
"Ahh, that's fine as well," Yagi says.
Horizon nods, then claps once to get their attention, "so, now that the small talk is over, how much do these men know about me Nezu?"
"Only the bare minimum," Nezu says, putting down his tea cup. "Toshinori only knows that you're a miracle doctor, detective Tsukauchi knows the circumstances under our introduction, but your name, face, and everything else has been withheld, as well as the specifics of our deal, just as I promised."
"Good," Horizon reaches down to the table and picks up his glass. "Oh...help yourself to anything in the kitchen," the base of his visor retracts slightly so he can take a sip of his scotch. "So... I assume you're the one I'll be operating on in a minute or two?" he nods at Yagi.
Yagi freezes, looking between Horizon and the glass of alcohol in his hand, then back at Horizon, "you shouldn't drink before performing medical acts," he says. "Actually, you shouldn't drink at all, aren't you a minor?"
"And you shouldn't be alive with those injuries, but here we are," Horizon says.
"..."
"What? I can't have one or two drinks before performing a super invasive operation?" Horizon asks, half-jokingly.
Yagi and Tsukauchi freeze while Nezu quietly giggles to himself.
"I'm kidding, alcohol doesn't work on me, I just like the taste, also, don't ever tell me what to do," Horizon says. Yagi looks at Tsukauchi while Horizon keeps talking, "besides, you're already dying anyway, not like I could make it worse."
As Horizon takes another sip the trio stared at him, Tsukauchi and Yagi were surprised by the casual manner in which he spoke about death, but Nezu wasn't surprised in the least.
"What do you mean?" Yagi asked.
"Well," Horizon raises a hand to count on his fingers. " One; You've only got one lung and its barely functioning, two; your stomach is the size of an apple and is also barely functioning, three; both your intestines are missing most of their length, four; your bone marrow doesn't have enough nutrients and can't process enough water to make blood, and five; your left kidney has already failed."
None of them are surprised by the diagnosis, this was all that they'd known for years, but Yagi asked what they were all thinking. "How do you know about all of that?"
"When I shook your hands," Horizon says, placing his now empty glass on the table and his visor seals itself, voice becoming slightly mechanical once more. "I did a full body scan of both of you, I can single out the obvious things with just a passing graze but if I'm going to scan down to the cellular level I need a few seconds."
"That's why you didn't let go at first," Yagi says.
"Mhm, and it's also how I know that the detective has some kind of ear Quirk, unless those extra bones in there are for show," he turns to Tsukauchi. "So, Super Hearing?"
Tsukauchi sighs, "lie detection, and impressively, you've never lied in my presence."
Horizon chuckles, "I see why Nezu keeps you around, and yeah, lying is for people too weak or pathetic to handle the consequences of their actions, it's beneath me."
Tsukauchi shakes his head, "I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned that you genuinely believe that..."
Nezu laughs, causing everyone to look at him, "well it's good to see everyone getting along well enough."
Tsukauchi grumbles but they ignore it as Horizon speaks, "so I assume you can't tell me what caused the injuries, right?"
"So long as you don't share the information with anyone else," Yagi says.
"Doctor-client confidentiality, I'll take it to my grave."
Yagi looks at Tsukauchi who nods, then he explains. "I was attacked, Rivet Stabs, Super-Power, Lighting Surge, and a few other Quirks, all at once."
"I see, a team of villains huh," Horizon says. Yagi nods along, not wanting to expose the truth of All For One. "Well from the looks of it you've got, at best eight years."
"That long!" Yagi's eyes open wide. "But the other doctors said that my injuries...that nobody can survive in my condition..."
"How long ago did this happen?"
"Four years ago," Yagi says.
"I see," Horizon leans back and taps the chin of his visor. "Well, you wouldn't have lasted even a few minutes if your Quirk wasn't so abnormal."
Nezu, Yagi, and Tsukauchi all sit up straight at that. "What exactly do you mean?" Nezu asks.
"His quirk is like nothing I've ever seen before, at least not outside of myself."
"Your Quirk is like mine?"
"No, not at all, your Quirk is obviously a power-type, the complete opposite of mine. But while mine allows me a sort of dominion over my mind and body like no other, yours provides energy at a cellular level. Your organs haven't been able to sustain you for years but it's like your Quirk has so much energy that it stretched your final few minutes into years. Assuming you never actively use your Quirk, the energy it provides you can take you to eight more years at best."
"That long," Yagi whispers in awe. "But what if I do use it?" he can't help but ask.
"I can't imagine a situation where you'd ever think that was a good idea," Horizon says. "Every bit of energy you expend is directly taking time off your life, the time you could be spending with your family or friends, if you want those full eight years then you should retire and try to take it easy."
"Mmm, everyone says that, but I can't do that, not yet, not until---" Yagi stops himself, realizing what he was about to say. "Not quite yet."
"Well it's your life, throw it away if you want," Horizon shrugs. "But for the record, I don't appreciate people wasting my time, and me extending your life for you to throw it away is exactly that, you're lucky being your doctor is part of my contract."
"Thank you," Yagi bows respectfully. As he sits back up he then asks, "how exactly can you help me? The best doctors in the world couldn't do anything," Yagi immediately panics and waves his hands about, "not that I'm doubting your abilities doctor!"
Horizon grumbles slightly then thinks for a moment, "I won't be able to completely save you from death, only extend your life slightly. If I was the doctor on site when you were first injured I could have gotten you back into top form...but at the time I was only eleven---"
"You're fifteen!" Yagi and Tsukauchi yell.
"Huh, I assumed you knew," Horizon looks at Nezu.
"I told you they don't know anything but the bare minimum," Nezu shrugs.
"Right, but I assumed you told them my age at least," Horizon sighs. "But anyway, perfect training since I was four then manifesting a powerful Mystery Class Quirk when I was five---"
"Mystery Class!" Yagi yells. Horizon revealed this about his quirk simply because the classification was on his ID.
"Plus constant training...means I'm the miracle doctor of your dreams, at only fifteen," Horizon shrugs. "And yeah, Mystery Class."
"A Mystery Class healing Quirk?" Yagi asks.
"Healing, warping, some other things too," Horizon shrugs. "All that matters is that it'll let me operate on you. I'll be able to restructure your organs and some of your bone marrow while healing it, pushing cell regeneration as opposed to cell activation, which I assume Recovery Girl used a lot to keep you alive, right?"
"Right," Nezu nods.
"Yeah well, most Heal Quirks force cell activation, effectively healing you by cutting down your life span since cells can only divide so many times within a lifespan and that's what it triggers. I'm able to use external energy to trigger 'cell regeneration', which is an unnatural process that doesn't cut into your lifespan. That paired with some of the other things I can do, I'll be able to get you from eight years up to fifteen years...assuming you don't use up more energy than needed to survive," Horizon shrugs, as if it were such a casual matter.
"A living miracle," Nezu says, all while Yagi and Tsukauchi are staring in awe. "I see why you chose that name for your company."
"Thank you," Yagi nearly doubles over as he bows, sincerely thankful for anything Horizon can do to help.
"Is there any way we could have saved him entirely?" Nezu can't help but ask, and all eyes shift to Horizon once more.
"Yeah, organ transplants within a week or two of the injury. It's too late for any of that now, his Quirk saturated the damaged tissue so much that if any foreign organs try to attach the energy it provides would overwhelm, reject, then destroy it," Horizon shrugs.
"I see," Yagi says. "And are you ready to operate?" he looks around the small apartment, unsure of what happens next.
"Yeah I've got everything set up," Horizon stands up and begins walking away, waving his hand in the air, "just follow me, this should only take an hour or two at most..."
END CHAPTER---
pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene
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