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CHAPTER START---
An eerie hush befalls the courtroom as Horizon enters.
One step behind Nezu, followed closely by Mirko and Edgeshot who close the doors behind him.
He stops for a moment and looks around, seeing the room filled with Pro Heroes and Press, rows of cameras facing forward to capture and broadcast everything to the world.
And many people were holding cameras to capture his first moment in the room.
Ahead of him he could see the judge's desk, fifteen chairs elevated above the room with two seats slightly lower in front of it.
In front of them are two tables, one on each side. Nezu walks to the right side while an older Japanese woman is sitting at the table to the left, a stack of documents on the table and three assistants sitting behind her.
The prosecutor was currently having a meeting with her assistants, and Horizon just ignored it to get to his seat beside Nezu.
"She seems serious," Horizon says as he sits beside Nezu, glancing over to the prosecutor for just a second.
"Win or lose this case is a career ender," Nezu says.
"I forgot to ask before but, how many times have you had to use your law degree?"
"Every time I want to really get new things done at UA, or deal with a mess on campus," Nezu says. "You should have seen the mountain of paperwork after USJ and the summer camp incidents."
Horizon chuckles at that, "two national assets and this is what we have to do."
"I didn't slam a meteorite into Japan," Nezu says.
"Tch," Horizon leans back and takes his Provisional Hero License out of his wallet, dropping it onto the table. "Can't wait for this whole thing to just be over..."
"Why'd you take that out?" Nezu gestures to the card.
"That's what this is all about right, might as well remind everyone."
Watching Horizon relax in the seat beside him Nezu realizes something, that since Horizon woke up after the Gigantomachy, he never once asked, "how do you feel about all of this?"
"Honestly, tired, really damn tired," Horizon says. "But this ends today, so that's good."
Nezu looks at him strangely, "this case could last days, if not weeks."
"No, it won't," Horizon says.
After a few more minutes of soft murmuring across the room the Supreme Court Justice enters the room from the large double doors behind the judges desk.
Everyone in the room stands as the older Japanese man looks around, eyes lingering on Horizon for a long moment before he moves to the middle chair.
"Please be seated," the man says as two other men enter the room behind him, moving to the seats in front of his desk slightly lower, facing the room.
These two men are the Judicial Truth Seers assigned to this particular case, belonging to a collection of men and women who have pledged to use their lie detector Quirks to uphold honor and honesty within the courts of Japan.
"I am the honorable judge Boshu, here to preside over the case of, 'The People Of Japan VS Horizon', the prosecution on behalf of 'The People Of Japan' is being represented by," he gestures to the woman sitting at the other table with her assistants.
"Lady Gisei of the Gisei Law Firm, your honor," the woman stands and says.
The judge nods and gestures for her to sit. "And the defense on behalf of 'Horizon' is being led by," he gestures to Nezu who stands up on his chair to be seen.
"Principal Nezu of UA Academy," Nezu proudly says before he's instructed to take his seat.
"Now that everyone is introduced, please do be aware that everything within this room is recorded," the judge says. "This case is a matter of both national and international interest and therefore all records of it will be made public by regulation, I urge both prosecution and defense to keep that in mind before any evidence is presented to the court."
He gets nods from both Nezu and Lady Gisei.
"Very well then," Judge Boshu gestures to lady Gisei. "Let's begin, as of 9: 13 AM, we shall now begin with opening statements from the prosecution, lady Gisei if you'd speak."
"Thank you, your honor," Lady Gisei says as she stands and takes a deep breath. She glances over at Horizon for a moment, seeing that he was apparently more focused on the license on his table than her.
"On behalf of 'The People Of Japan', I am here seeking justice for the millions of people affected by the excessive damages caused by Provisional License holder Horizon.
Over a quarter of a million people have been confirmed dead or missing and countless more are injured, not to speak of the billions of dollars in property damage stretching from every side of Japan all the way to South Korea's coastline.
These damages and tragic losses are so severe that if it were anyone else, they'd be locked in Tartarus for the remainder of existence, yet here we are, holding a case in our sacred Supreme Court.
The very act that proves how far Japan's preferential treatment of Horizon extends, and now we are here to question how we should treat him moving forward, if this is how allowing him to act freely in good faith is rewarded.
This, is our chance, to truly show the world, that at least within these islands we call home, not even Horizon is above the law..."
Lady Gisei takes her seat as her words reach far and wide across the globe, emboldening many that resonate with them.
"And for the defense," Boshu gestures to Nezu.
"Thank you, your honor," Nezu stands on his chair. "I would like to bring it to the attention of the court that Horizon was not in his proper state of mind when this tragedy occurred.
Had he been operating as per usual, he would avoid unnecessary destruction and strive to save everyone as he normally does.
This was a ploy made by the villains specifically to target Horizon, just as Shigaraki confirmed multiple times, a trap designed to push him to his limits and kill him to leave us defenseless.
I do not believe Horizon should be held fully responsible for the events that occurred, considering the magnitude of the threat he faced and exactly how much effort it took to destroy Gigantomachia."
Boshu gestures for Nezu to sit as the room remains silent, the man contemplates his next words very carefully.
"I see, so you argue that Horizon wasn't thinking clearly, somehow adversely affected by the experience?"
"Yes, your honor," Nezu says.
"Then please elaborate, give us all the details you can regarding this event. If what you speak is the truth, then this is not as simply as deciding a punishment for Horizon, but ruling on whether or not he should be allowed to use his Quirk at all if this can be the result of him losing control."
As Nezu dives into the elaborately scripted and practiced explanation's they'd rehearsed, Horizon zones in and out of the conversation.
Looking at the judge from behind his visor with a bored expression as he recounts all the fond memories he'd taken for granted.
All the times he's spent with his parents, and now surprisingly some of his moments with his new friends from UA, and even teaming up with certain Pro Heroes or fighting some unique villains.
All the new and interesting Quirk's he's been able to study and the research the Miracle Ward has allowed him to access.
"Is that true Horizon?" The judge asks, snapping him out of his daydream. "Can you say with absolute certainty that such an incident will never happen again?"
"Yes your honor," Horizon says. "As Principal Nezu said, this was caused by a defensive mechanism of my Quirk, one which no longer has control over my power."
"I see," the judge seems to write a few notes at his desk, then glances off to the side.
Horizon can sense him looking at his phone behind there before he reads his notes once again.
"And should we assume that you can and will return to your previous mode of operation at this current moment?" The judge asks.
"I'm ready to resume Hero Work at this very moment, your honor," Horizon says.
"Hero Work which is shaping up to credit him with the greatest record of public service…prior to this tragedy," Nezu says. "The sooner we can get him back to stopping villains the better for everyone."
"Hmm," Judge Boshu rubs his chin for a moment while he looks at Horizon. "Yes, considering how instrumental this case is for the future of both Japan and the world at large that would be the ideal scenario, and if the loss of life wasn't so egregious I would have already had you back to working to protect the people.
But too many have died or been hurt by this for me not to peer deeper into the past, present, and potential future of both Horizon and his mental state, along with the root causes of this event."
"A very wise decision, your honor," Gisei says, as she stands up, holding a stack of 50 pages in her hands. "But the public record is only the heroic side of the story, as I've recently learned…"
All eyes shift to her, including Horizon's as he's not sure what she's talking about.
"Permission to approach?" she asks.
"Granted, and you may explain yourself for the record to show," judge Boshu says.
Lady Gisei begins begins to elaborate as she moves to hand him the documents, "it appears that the scale of this catastrophe we now call 'The Gigantomachy', was so great that some people deem it necessary to place themselves in harms way to bring light to our so called 'Miracle'," she turns her back to the judge after handing him the papers but remains in the middle of the floor, all cameras focused on her.
"Some of these people include members of public stations, namely, high-ranking members of the Hero Public Safety commission who have been sworn to secrecy."
Horizon's eyes widen as both he and Nezu stop themselves from glancing back at Pantu.
Using his Scan he can feel her eyes widen for a moment as her features take a look of surprise and confusion before they return to normal unnaturally fast.
"These brave men and women knew they would surely be tried for treason for sharing this information, but it is necessary for the sake of us understanding exactly what we're dealing with.
The documents I handed Supreme Court Justice Boshu, share detailed, signed accounts, of multiple acts of cruelty, brutality, and even capital murder of a surrendered foe, all done by Horizon."
The crowd gasps and the judge raises his hand to silence them, then gestured for lady Gisei to proceed.
"At a certain point in preparation for this case I simply had to describe the brutality at the top and have the next few pages only listing names, three columns per page, both sides, well into the thousands of names," Gisei says. "All covered up by Hero Public Safety Commission President, Lady Pantu."
As she gestures to Pantu the doors open and a group of eight armored police officers enter, making their way toward the woman.
"What is the meaning of this?" Pantu asks as the men get her away from the crowd and move to put handcuffs on her.
"Lady Pantu, you're under arrest," the man leading the group says as all cameras shift to them.
"You're making a mistake, those records she has must be fake," Pantu says.
"Lie," both the lie detectors sitting before the judge say in unison, sensing her lie.
"You're under arrest for perjury, fraud, falsifying government documents, complicity in capital murder, hiding evidence, and treason," the man says as he quickly puts the cuffs on her and begins shoving her out of the room.
The murmuring grows into loud chatter for a moment before the judge slams the gavel, silencing everyone.
"Prosecutor, please continue," he says while continuing to read the documents she handed him.
"Thank you, your honor," Lady Gisei says. "The most notable examples were printed on the first page, namely Horizon's murder of Wolfram.
He was admittedly a villain and the cause of the metal storm months ago which decimated Port Island, however the sources who are here and willing to testify their accounts of what happened have all stated that Wolfram surrendered, yet Horizon seemingly became enraged and 'beat him and tore into him with his bare hands until the upper body looked like burger meat', to use their exact words.
Pictures were also included in the documents of that specific example."
As she says that the man has a disgusted look on his face as he turns the page, "yes I saw the pictures, very detailed…"
"The second example is Horizon's excessive use of force against the League Of Villains," Gisei says. "Now while the League Of Villains do hold the disdain of the world, this encounter simply showed how far Horizon's cruelty can stretch when he believes there isn't anyone who will stand up for his victims.
He split the villain known as Mr. Compress's arm in two, down the middle, fractured his skull and neck, left him covered in 3rd degree burns, and multiple broken bones all across his body.
The villain known as Spinner was brutalized in much the same way but suffered extreme nerve damage in his legs, most likely permanently impairing his ability to walk.
And the villain knows as, well, her name, Himiko Toga. She was afflicted with a spinal injury which left her paralyzed from the neck down, along with a fractured skull and broken jaw."
The judge can see the crowd go from not caring to being surprised by the brutality delivered to these villains.
"The records show that Horizon's brutality grows with the severity of the crimes as he must clearly think less people will care for worse criminals, but that is simply not how the justice system works, at least not in this great nation.
The following pages go on to list the names of his victims, people who suffered everything from fingers and limbs being cut off, permanent disability, drowning only to be brought back at the last moment.
And there are even some cases of him constantly warping people into the middle of the forest, and every time they reach civilization he'd warp them deeping into the middle, for days at a time.
All to get answers out of them. Or warping someone to a river, and every time they try to drink he'd warp them back to their previous location, torturing them by dehydration.
The documents show no end to his creativity in regards to cruelty…"
"Yes I've noticed that," the judge says as he keeps reading, trying his best not to show any emotion. He glances up to see the crowd unsure of what to think anymore while some are glaring at Horizon. "Horizon, do you deny any of these accusations?"
Horizon stands up, "no, your honor," he says.
"And were you aware of President Pantu's manipulation of government forces to hide your activities?"
"Yes I was your honor," Horizon says.
"Then you may take your seat," the judge says. "I hereby add perjury, excessive cruelty, torture, capital murder, cruel and unusual torture, misuse of Quirk, and Heroic misconduct to your list of charges. Do you believe that within the eyes of the law these charges apply."
Horizon stands up, "Within the eyes of the law, yes your honor."
The judge is so surprised by this he actually looks up, noticing Nezu isn't shocked either, but Endeavor looked confused, which all the cameras saw.
"I see, then you may take your seat."
"Your honor may I call for a short recess to discuss this newly presented evidence?" Nezu asks.
Without looking up the judge sighs and nods, "it will take me atleast 20 minutes to read all of this and take notes, so we shall resume in thirty minutes…"
END CHAPTER---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"What the actual fuck was that?" Law asks as he paces back and forth around the living room within Horizon Tower.
Nezu was sitting on the couch typing away on his phone trying to figure out what's going on while Law kept walking.
"I'm making a call to the Prime Minister," Nezu says. "Hopefully he can give us a hand."
"Yeah I hope so," Law runs his fingers through his hair as he walks to the window, staring out at Tokyo. "Those fuckers really betrayed Pantu, betrayed us, I didn't ever think she'd lose control of her own people."
"When someone rips a city from the earth, crumples it into a ball, then throws it at their country, that inspires enough fear and doubt to make people turn on each other," Nezu says.
Law glances back over his shoulder, seeing Nezu begin talking on the phone.
Ignoring Nezu he closes his eyes, focusing on Scan, sensing Pantu being processed at a police station only 25 miles away.
Her items have been removed, and now she sits cuffed to a table in the interrogation room, under heavy guard, waiting for what he assumes is her legal team.
SHAMBLES!
He warps his visor onto his head before looking back at Nezu, "I'll be back in a minute…"
SHAMBLES!
He warps away, appearing across the table from Pantu, seeing the woman staring down at the table deep in thought.
"You shouldn't be here, breaking into a police station," Pantu says without even looking up at him.
"I just want to know what's going to happen to you, any ideas?"
"I've been charged with everything short of treason, and since I'm not a National Asset like you and Nezu, lethal injection," Pantu says.
"So you're definitely in no position to help me," Horizon mutters. "I was hoping you'd have some way out of this…"
"Covering for you is what got me into this," Pantu looks up at him, then gestures to the cuffs. "I was so desperate to keep you in Japan that I covered up all those things you did without hesitation, because I knew that even if I lost my job, or worse, all I had to do was last until your contract was done."
"Then what?"
"Then, hopefully you'd be so happy with the support I'd given you, and with some convincing from Nezu, you'd stay in Japan," Pantu sighs and leans back, rattling the cuffs. "But I didn't account for you being so scary that my own people would be willing to turn on me, just to get you out of Japan, the filthy cowards."
"I see," Horizon sits on the chair opposite her. "And all the spy games, trying to learn about me…"
Pantu scoffs, "considering how things played out, do you really think I was wrong for wanting to know how to bring you down if you did turn against us?"
Horizon nods, "no, that's just you doing your job."
They sit in silence for a moment before Pantu asks,"Was I close?"
"I…don't even know anymore," Horizon admits. "You were closer than I'd like to admit, I was really starting to like this hero stuff."
"I spent my entire life working myself ragged, sacrificing everything to keep Japan safe. And now, when I was so close to getting some immortal war god to protect us, everything blew up in my face."
"At Least you have someone else to blame," Horizon says. "In my case, everything that happens now is all on me, and I just have to grit my teeth and deal with the outcome."
"Consequences, yes," Pantu reaches forward and gently touches his hand. "I'm sorry but, if you're hoping I can tell you where that facility is, I sent them to a place I don't know the location of, just in case I was compromised."
Horizon doesn't detect any lies from the woman, before she withdraws her hand.
"Sorry, standard procedure for the paranoid," Pantu says.
"You had good reason, but that's not why I was here," Horizon says, and Pantu doesn't detect any lies.
She collects her thoughts for a moment before speaking, "then why are you here?"
"I, um… I don't know," he lies, which she easily detects. "But I suppose this is goodbye, thank you for trying to help me, I'm just sorry it turned out like this, for all of us."
SHAMBLES!
He warps away, leaving her alone in the room to face her fate.
Horizon appears back on the couch in his living room, then quickly removes his visor once again.
"Where'd you go?" Nezu asks Law.
"To visit Pantu," Law says. "She's going to be executed, probably sooner rather than later."
"The Prime Minister confirmed that much," Nezu says as he continues writing some plans for their new courtroom strategy. "He also said he isn't allowed to get involved in this matter, and is in the process of deciding who the next President of the HPSC will be."
"Already trying to replace her huh."
"The country cannot function without someone in her chair," Nezu says. "Do you feel bad for her?"
"No, she knew the risks of helping me," Law says. "I just never expected things to go this badly for us, what about you, how do you feel?"
"I'm fine," Nezu says. "Lives were lost but humans will mourn then move on as if nothing happened, it's what you're all best at after all. Adapting and overcoming."
"Wow, and they think I'm the monster."
"I'm not human," Nezu reminds him. "My students and staff are one thing, but people who don't affect me are another story entirely."
"And what about me?" Law asks. "You turn a blind eye to all the horrible things I've done, why? Why can you easily look past all the lives I've taken?"
Nezu looks at him in surprise for a moment, then shakes his head and continues writing.
"Because, you're Horizon, it's really that simple," Nezu says. "I will guide you down the hero path as long as it takes, no matter how many times you stumble and fall, I will pick you back up, because the good you can bring to this world is boundless.
And so long as you keep returning to the hero path, no matter how many times you are knocked away from it, or even if you abandon it on your own. So long as you return to it, we have endless chances, to have our own Guardian Deity."
"I see," Law mutters.
"I also quite like talking to you," Nezu quickly admits. "But you've probably noticed that. After all, you're the only other person I've met that's truly unique, so we can best understand the isolation it brings when you operate differently from every other thing in the world."
"Yeah, it's lonely being better than everyone," Law says.
"Well I wouldn't put it like that."
Law sighs, leaning back into the couch. "Just me, you, and apparently Pantu, versus, everything. Never would have expected this to be the outcome."
"Yes we're all in this together."
"And I'm sorry, for whatever repercussions you'll be facing for standing by my side, and for whatever happens next," Law says as he warps his visor back on.
"Ready to get back into the fight?" Nezu asks.
"I'm ready to end the fight," Horizon says as the both warp away.
Minutes later Nezu and Horizon, along with everyone else are back in the courtroom.
Horizon's Provisional Hero License rests on the table in front of him, but as Nezu and Lady Gisei go back and forth making their points either for or against Horizon, everyone can feel Nezu's points being shredded.
The odds were far too stacked against them, mass murder, government corruption, and all the smaller crimes that lay between them.
For the first time it seemed as if being Horizon simply wouldn't be enough.
This is all but confirmed when he gets a message on the inside of his visor from the Whitehouse, extending another offer from President Christopher Skyline.
'Everyone is ready to pick apart Japan's corpse…' Horizon thinks as he recedes into his own mind.
He thoughtlessly begins playing with his Provisional Hero License again, making it hover and slowly rotate above his palm as he considers his future.
'Even if I win this case by some miracle, Pantu is going to get executed, and my parents will soon follow.
UA will be in serious trouble when I leave too, so Nezu will have a mountain of problems to deal with.
Endeavor will be the main target for Shigaraki, and at this rate he'll be dead before the end of the year.
And I… I don't even know what I want to do anymore. I really didn't count on enjoying this hero crap,' Horizon thinks.
He recedes further into his mind, recalling his parent's words to him, December 24th the year before last.
How they begged him to forget about them, to move onto a new chapter of his life. To simply let them go and live the life he wants to live.
"---Horizon!" Judge Boshu snaps him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" Horizon asks.
"Did you not hear the question?"
Horizon looks around, seeing everyone looking at him, "uh, no, i wasn't really paying attention."
"You are on trial for serious crimes, and you weren't paying attention?"
"Well, yeah," Horizon takes a deep breath as he gets up, still hovering his license above his palm. "It's not like I'm the one on trial here, right?"
He walks closer to the judge, making the man a bit nervous as he gets to the middle of the room, taking the floor.
"But you are," Lady Gisei says.
"No, I'm really not," Horizon looks at all the cameras and spectators, then points at them. "All of you are."
He sees some people look confused while Endeavor just nods, knowing what he meant.
"Because this case doesn't decide my future, it decides yours, all of you. Because if I lose, it's not like I'll be locked up, I'll just go to a different country, they've already sent dozens of offers, I just have to pick one.
But all of you, well, if I leave, you're all going to die. Because when Shigaraki sends his next monster, you won't have anyone capable of fighting it, and it will leave Japan as a pile of rubble.
And the very best you could hope for, is that whatever country I move to allows me to come stop them, but that's unlikely, and it'll be too late anyway."
Horizon sighs and raises his Provisional License to float even higher.
"All of this drama, to decide if I can keep this, as if you could possibly survive without me. You need me, because none of you, can save you, only I can do that, because I'm Horizon, and you're not.
You need me, and I…" he pauses for a moment, finally coming to the realization, and accepting his parent's words. "I really don't need anyone," with those words he feels a weight being lifted from his spirit.
As a newfound sense of freedom rushes through him, allowing him to finally be whoever he wants to be.
The room is still for a moment until he looks around, seeing most of the people here terrified of what comes next, but some such as Endeavor and Mirko are smiling, knowing this was the only way for the masses to understand.
Horizon exhales and relaxes his shoulder, "the fate of a nation is in your hands now," he hovers the Provisional License over to the judge. "But I only stay if Pantu stays, so think very carefully about what you decide…"
With that being said he warps away, leaving everyone stunned silent.
They now realize they'd not taken a single breath since he began speaking, fear and astonishment was so thick they couldn't drink in the air.
Judge Boshu looks at the license in his fingers, unable to collect his thoughts.
Everyone expected this case to continue for days, but it seems that Horizon's patience had run thin after only a few hours, now the fate of a nation rests in his hands.
'So this is the pressure that child must have felt, every day as Horizon,' he thinks to himself as he looks up at the crowd, into the cameras. Billions of people ready to hand onto his every word.
But he is not Horizon, he is not ready to face such a daunting challenge head on, so he retreats to collect his thoughts, and the facts.
"Court will resume after a 2 Hour recess," he slams the gavel, and the room immediately erupts into chaos as reporters rush toward Endeavor and Nezu…
END CHAPTER---
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