Chapter 322: CHAPTER 314(Hot Trail)
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CHAPTER START---
SHAMBLES!
Horizon appears just above a tree, swapped with a lone leaf in the wind, and looks down at the swampland below him.
Walking through the air he takes a few steps forward, looking around under the blistering mid-day Florida sun to see sparse trees and tall grass between the countless pools of muddy water covering the area.
"You know, when you said Miami, I was thinking sand, waves, girls in bikinis...not this," Horizon says as he slowly descends to hover just an inch above a small barren island.
"Well, the city isn't that far away," Star' says. She was standing directly atop the water, with another man just a bit older than her, standing beside her.
He wore a fur-lined vest and long cargo pants with a knife on his left leg and a large pistol on his right hip.
"She's right," the man says. "You can always go have some fun, after we get this work done, of course."
"Well with you here this shouldn't take long," Horizon says as he walks over to them, still hovering an inch above the water instead of standing atop it like them.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but my nose isn't very useful right now, but that's not the first thing not to make sense today, especially after that," the man gestures forward, and ahead of them is a 300m -930ft- wide circle of swampland that's entirely frozen.
Water, land, trees, unfortunate animals and all, frozen solid.
There were even some shattered birds atop the ice, broken from their fall after being flash-frozen mid-flight.
"This is a top-level mission," Star' says.
"My lips are sealed," the man says. "So what can the Great Hound do for you?"
"A villain, codenamed 'Kelvin' is on the loose, we need to get him under control before he does something like this to the public," Star' says. "Your nose can lock onto one scent and track it for hundreds of miles, we figured you'd be the best bet."
"If he's going into cities, cameras might be more useful," Great Hound says. "Honestly with facial and gait recognition software, I'm mostly used in more rural areas or to find bodies...or unique animals."
"Tech won't work on this guy," Horizon says. "Star' neglected to mention that he was the head of a CIA death squad that had a disagreement with the government, he knows how to avoid all the tricks in their book."
Star' glares at him, but Great Hound doesn't seem bothered by being left in the dark about this.
Normally Horizon wouldn't be so casual with this information, but Great Hound is former Special Forces.
"Well, that explains why there's a secret base under there with a lot of dead people in it," Great Hound says, pointing to the ice.
Star' sighs, "This underground lab was a training facility, are you sure there are no survivors?"
"Frost burnt to the heart, all of em," Great Hound says. "But it does make sense, most prisoners who escape usually run to where they feel most at home, if this was his base they should have expected him to come knocking."
"They did, but he wasn't this strong when he got locked up," Star' says.
"Can you really not get any scent from him?" Horizon asks.
"Sorry, I---" Great Hound stops as he turns to Horizon, then looks down at Horizon's feet. "Uh, I think you made some friends."
Horizon looks down to see two large alligators sleeping at his feet, and sighs. "Ignore it," he says while stepping over them, only for them both to rush over to his new spot and resume their nap at his feet.
"Right...well, as I was saying," Great Hound turns back to the frozen underground base. "He was obviously here, but it's like his scent doesn't exist, maybe he's using the same trick you use."
"Who? Horizon?" Star' asks.
"Yeah, his suit is sealed, right, that's why I can't smell him," Great Hound gestures to Horizon.
"It's a bit more complicated than just that, but sure," Horizon says. "After Hound Dog revealed that weakness in my setup, I resolved it."
Star' turns to the frozen area and taps her chin, "Should we just excavate the base whole, or maybe just melt it to find some clues while it's in there?"
"I'm just here to help track," Great Hound says. "Ripping entire military bases out of the ground is above my pay grade."
"Moving the base isn't a good idea," Horizon says. "The way his Quirk works means the entire thing is too brittle."
"What does that mean?" Great Hound asks.
"Kelvin is a codename, his real name was deleted from all records when he joined," Horizon says. "His Quirk allows him to control, absorb, or transfer thermodynamic energy, to either extreme."
"If that's true, then..." Great Hound reaches down for a floating piece of wood and picks it up, then gently tosses it onto the ice.
The piece of wood immediately freezes and shatters upon impact.
"Yeah, definitely above my pay grade," he says with a concerned look. "No wonder they sent you two, he can get anything he touches to absolute zero or absolute heat."
"Honestly I'm just here for the investigation part," Horizon says. "If a certain someone would figure out more detective-style applications of her Quirk, I could be back in New York getting work done."
"Tch," Star' side eyes him. "Hand Of God is supposed to see everything, so go see some clues for us..."
"I already found one, it's that way," Horizon points to the far side of the marshland before warping away.
Both the alligators seem annoyed that he left before swimming away from both Pro Heroes.
"So he controls animals?" Great Hound asks as they walk over to Horizon.
"No," Star' says. "They just... they don't really see us as people, I suppose. We're more like part of nature, but it's a lot stronger with him than with me."
"Ah, I see," Great Hound says. "So, how's Agpar?"
"He's back in L.A., but I've been trying to convince him to get to New York to see Horizon."
"Just to meet him, or...for the miracle doctor side?"
"I think it's about time he got them back, enough with this crap about punishing himself."
"Well I don't know either of you well enough to comment on that, but he seems like a good man," Great Hound says.
"He is," Star' says as they arrive at Horizon.
"So, what's the clue?" Great Hound asks as they arrive a few hundred meters away at a small broken-down dock connected to a dirt road out of the marshlands. "I can pick some scents but, too many people, which is why I was looking over there. Looks like people come here to fish pretty often."
"Here," Horizon points to a pair of muddy footprints in the ground. "These are fresh, and the bigger ones are cold, even under this sun."
"Kelvin," Star' says. "And the person he was talking to, a hostage, someone we can at least track. He must have either kidnapped this man or stolen his car, that gives us a scent trail."
"No, not a hostage, an ally, look," Horizon crouches down and both the heroes do the same. "Kelvin's boots were moving back and forth, but not getting off the ground. He was excited about something judging by the way they got deeper. But the other guy was just standing still, at least until they started walking."
"A friend?"
"Or at least a temporary ally," Horizon says as he points farther up the dirt road. "Farther up the new guy overtakes Kelvin while they walk away, then eventually starts walking in reverse, like he's talking to a friend he's familiar with, before they leave the road and cut through the grass closer to the main road ahead."
"So they were both excited about whatever they're planning," Great Hound says. "Well, I can only imagine one thing Kelvin would be excited about after years in lock up."
"Which means his ally must share a goal, he wants revenge too," Star' says. "I'll make some calls and try to figure out who they'd want dead. The CIA is always difficult to get any information from, but they won't refuse me."
"You'll likely have to go get a hardcopy of the files, so we'll stay on the trail," Horizon says.
"And I've got a hit," Great Hound says. "It continues for just about a hundred miles north, then things get tricky, we should go there first."
"Alright, let's get out of here, Star'?"
"I'll catch up when I've got something, remember, no talking about any of this over comms," she says before rocketing into the sky.
"Can you estimate where on the map we should warp to for you to keep the scent?" Horizon asks.
"Sure," Great Hound takes out his phone and looks at that map, but as he does so he can't help but ask. "So, animals like you?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yeah, sure..."
END CHAPTER---
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