Chapter 245: CHAPTER 241(Above the sheep)
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CHAPTER START---
---Minato Tokyo, 5AM...
Sitting in the interrogation room of a police station, a gorgeous Japanese woman sits in the interrogation room.
Both her hands were cuffed to a bar in the middle of the table, a bored expression on her face as she looks down at the table.
Her outfit was a simple pair of black jeans and a loose white top, with some tears and slashes in it.
CLICK!
The door to the room opens and in walks a detective, well dressed holding a folder in his hands.
"Lady Bonsai," he says. "Not so scary without trees around for you to manipulate huh," he takes a seat opposite her.
The woman remains silent, she doesn't even look up at him.
"Now let's see," he opens her file and skims it, as if he didn't have the entire thing memorized already. "Killed 2 people that we know of, injured 3 Pro Heroes and 17 police officers yesterday when being arrested. Caught moving a small convoy of illegal firearms from the countryside into Tokyo."
"..."
"You know your organization is pretty smart, doing this while Horizon isn't in Tokyo, very smart," the detective says. "But you were so quick to move in the time he wasn't here, that you got sloppy, and we caught you. So, where did the guns come from?"
"I want my lawyer," the woman says, her only words since being arrested, repeated any time her mouth opens.
"Normally that's fine, but, since you've been filed and officially transferred to Tartarus, not happening," the man says. "You know how this works, when someone is deemed a big enough threat for Tartarus we skip all the tedious legality and paperwork."
The woman flinches at that, she knew exactly what Tartarus was.
Everyone knew, and not everyone liked it. The government tries to keep Tartarus out of the news for this reason, because a lot of people don't approve of them skipping the legal and criminal process and simply throwing major threats into Tartarus.
No trial, no wasted time, just a criminal locked in a box forever as quickly as possible.
Stacked atop the numerous concerns of human rights violations Tartarus allegedly does to contain certain individuals, it was a powder keg of civil unrest waiting to explode.
Truly this woman didn't quite deserve to be locked in Tartarus.
She was a simple villain, not even that powerful outside of a forest, and even then her Quirk isn't anything any top 20 Pro Hero couldn't casually deal with.
"Tartarus is for monsters, not people like me," she says, finally engaging with the detective. "You can't just lock me in there to threaten me."
The detective relaxes in his chair, letting a tense silence form between them.
"That's not for you to decide, the Hero Public Safety Commission gets the final say on that," he says.
"And they know I'm not as bad as people like All For One, or worse, Arsenal."
"Well, you can explain that when you're locked up next to her," he says. "Or, you could give up your boss, and we'll send you to a basic prison, without plants around."
The woman stiffens, clearly caught in an impasse.
"All I need is a name or location, we get what we want and you don't get locked up with the monsters."
"I..." she looks away from him, down at the floor. "I can't, just send me to Tartarus."
"Tch..."
As the detective is about to speak the door opens behind him, and he sees the woman's eyes open wide, as if they were trying to fall out of her skull.
Her breath hitches and the cuff buckle as she tries and fails to get away from the table, but can't move.
"Detective, you can leave now, I'll handle this," Horizon's voice causes the man to relax.
The man carefully gets up and leaves the room, and Horizon casually takes his seat.
His sword hovered beside him, and her eyes never once left it, which he noticed.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, actually," Horizon leans forward and touched her cuffs, then with his other hand he grabs Scalpel.
SHAMBLES!
He disappears, startling her, and as he does, the sword and the cuffs leave the room with him.
And in the next moment only he returns as if nothing happened, "better?"
The woman was still shocked that he was here, but nods as she rubs the bruises on her wrists.
"So, you know the deal right? You got caught, but we want your boss, not you, blah blah blah," Horizon casually leans back and waves his hand about, completely bored with this process. "So what'll it take for you to give him up?"
"I can't."
"I see..." Horizon thinks about it for a moment. "Oh well, I tried," he shrugs and gets up.
She looks even more confused, not expecting the famed Horizon to give up that easily.
"How about we go get breakfast, I know this great place but I need to get there before the sun is up," Horizon says as he walks over to her.
"What?"
"Get up, lets go."
Hearing those words spoken so casually, she wasn't sure if this was some kind of trick, but she was too scared to disobey.
The moment she stands he puts a hand on her shoulder.
SHAMBLES!
They both appear at a small food stall in Minato Tokyo, close to the docks.
The sun wasn't up yet, and usually, within an hour of sunrise this vendor is sold out for the day, so Horizon always comes extra early to beat the crowds.
The woman looks around, still trying to wrap her head around what's going on. Seeing that she wasn't locked up anymore, but is now mindlessly following Horizon as he approaches the food stall.
"Take a seat," he gestures to the tables and chairs set up in front of the stall while walking to the vendor.
She does exactly as he says, still looking around waiting for this to go bad, seeing that only they and the vendor were here, the entire place was deserted.
In a perfect world, if Horizon wasn't here, she could try to make a run for it.
'Or take him hostage,' she thinks while looking at the vendor, who Horizon was casually chatting with. 'But Horizon is here, so I guess I'm stuck here too...'
Now even without the reinforced walls of a police station, or the cuffs, or the armed men around her, she felt more trapped than ever before.
All because he was here, not even paying her any mind at the moment as he gets their food.
Walking back to their table he puts a large egg sandwich in front of her, along with a bottle of water.
Then he sat down and began eating his, "You probably haven't eaten since you got arrested right, and you won't be getting food like this for a while, maybe ever again. In Tartarus, they just feed you a bland paste."
The woman waits for the trap to get sprung, but instead, Horizon retracts the mouthpiece of his visor and begins eating, enjoying his breakfast.
Suddenly aware of how hungry she was, and seeing him eating, she couldn't help it and began eating her food.
"Thank you," she says, not wanting to piss him off.
"It's no problem, so, was a sandwich enough for you to give me your boss?"
She stops chewing for a moment, then just looks down at the table, "No."
"You sure? Because I mean, I've tried a lot of breakfast places here in Tokyo, I think this is the best one, I'm a regular here, pretty sure it's worth it."
She ignores him and takes a sip of her water, then continues eating.
"I mean honestly, in about 20 minutes the first set of customers will be showing up, every morning, like clockwork. You can't believe the crowd and the line that will be here, but its definitely worth it."
She continues to ignore him.
"Mhm, oh," he snaps his finger. "Maybe you should bring your daughter."
She chokes on her food, but washes it down with some water.
"I mean she's only five, but I'm sure she can appreciate good food right?"
"How do you know about her?"
"Because I'm Horizon, knowing things is half my job," he takes another bite. "Too bad you'll probably never see her again, right? I mean, she'll be dead by the end of the day," he continues eating, casually.
"What?!" the woman drops her food even as Horizon is casually eating.
"Well yeah, I mean I had to get here early just beat the crowd, but also like... they don't tell you this but, being a celebrity is super annoying. People always coming up and taking pictures, or sometimes just taking creepy pictures without letting you know.
Then they post if before you give permission, so I don't even patrol by walking the streets like everyone else, I just stay in my tower until something goes wrong," he gestures to Horizon Tower in the distance, not too far away.
"What about my daughter? Is she in danger?"
"Not yet, but I mean... your boss is probably using her as leverage against you, so when the crowd gets here and sees us sharing a nice meal together, takes some pictures, post them immediately...you look like a snitch," Horizon shrugs. "I wonder what he'll do to her..."
The woman begins breathing more erratically, overcome with too many emotions to think clearly.
Then a minute later she sulks in her seat, glaring at him, "You're a monster."
"Wow, and all I did was take you for a nice breakfast, such an ungrateful lady."
"Take me back to the police station, I'll take the deal..."
---6 PM...
SHAMBLES!
Horizon and Jiro appear in the rafters of a stadium in Tokyo, and below them is the massive concert venue, currently closed.
The place was dimply lit, and would be darker when people are let in and the music starts, but right now they could see all the last-minute checks begin done on stage.
"Wooowww," Jiro's eyes go wide as she looks around, having a full view of the entire show from here. "I was worried I wouldn't be able to see anything, but this is something else."
"You wanted to be in the crowd?" Horizon asks as he stands with his back against the railing, not watching the stage.
"That's where you get the full experience, so yeah."
"You're tiny, you'd get trampled."
"I'm not that small! And you could put me on your shoulders."
"To block everyone behind us? Also, I'm not going into a mosh pit of losers."
"What makes you so sure everyone that'll be here is a loser, you're here after all."
"I'm here because this is what you wanted, oh, that reminds me. They also agreed to take some pictures with us after the concert."
"Seriously!" Jiro excitedly hugs him, pressing herself against him. "You got me a chance to meet Deep Dope?!"
"Yeah jeez, they wanted pictures with me so we traded, but told em not to post anything till tomorrow so people don't know I'm here."
"You're the best!"
"Obviously."
Jiro reaches into her backpack and gets out her camera, ready to take some amazing pictures.
"And in floods the losers," Horizon says as the masses begin to enter the stadium.
"And what makes them losers exactly?" Jiro doesn't even bother to look at him, just continuing to take pictures.
"Paying money to stand in a crowd of sweaty and possibly drunk people like sardines in a can, while basically worshipping some people on stage who they don't even know, and who probably don't care about them," Horizon shrugs. "What part of that doesn't scream 'loser' to you?"
Jiro looks at him and scowls, "That's not what concerts are about you know, it's not just about the party and music."
"Could have fooled me."
"It's about the shared experience," Jiro says. "A lot of these people probably had dark times in their life and used the same songs and music to get through it, being here and seeing all these people means you aren't alone in what you went through, it helps us not feel like nobody knows what we're dealing with."
"Hmm, maybe you're reading too deep into it," Horizon glances back to see the place quickly filling up.
"Wouldn't you like to know that someone out there is dealing with the same thing as you?" Jiro asks.
"No, I don't ever want anyone else to have my problems," Horizon says. "Not having your family with you, and not being able to rebuild a normal life because of this," he gestures to the distance between him and the crowd.
It's already isolating enough, but now as a top pro, I need to hold myself apart even more and much more literally, most people can't handle that. They'd snap, so I hope I'm alone in this endeavor, at least at my age."
Jiro gives him a sad look, "Well when you put it like that, I hope you're right too I guess, now, how about we enjoy the concert together."
"Well, their music isn't bad, so I can try," Horizon admits.
"I knew you loved their music too!"
"That's not what I said."
"That's basically exactly what you said..."
END CHAPTER---
Chapter 246: CHAPTER 242(Semester 2 Wrap-up)
Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene (Unlimited chapters ahead)
CHAPTER START---
---December 16th, 2315, 2PM...
Over 1 month after the new #1 Pro Hero Endeavor was attacked by the High-End Nomu, now named Hood. The Pro Hero recovered within a day of the incident and has been working more than ever to maintain stability in Japan.
In this time the state of affairs across the nation has been stagnant, with no incidents of note interrupting the monotony of everyday life.
But the entire country was holding its breath, feeling an underlying sense of tension, waiting for the next big disaster to appear.
But all the good citizens and Pro Heroes had one desire, knowing this event was an eventuality, they wished for it to happen in Minato Tokyo.
The heart of Tokyo where the most people would be in danger.
But this desire was not a selfish want to put others in danger instead of themselves, no, it was sheer and absolute confidence in Horizon, to immediately snuff out any dangers happening in Minato Tokyo.
According to all statistics, Minato Tokyo no longer has any villain activity, not even petty crime. Even when Horizon is confirmed to be at UA, villains and criminals simply stayed away.
Rumors had quickly spread about him hunting the mercenary Wolfram across Japan, and nobody knew why he did such a thing.
It could have been for a serious incident, or simply because the man took a stroll through Minato Tokyo and Horizon caught his scents, but the outcome was clear.
Horizon stands victorious, and Wolfram is locked away forever.
And now, while all the villains are hiding, terrified of Horizon knocking on their door and warping them into a cell.
He sits on the couch in the common area of the 1A dorms, dressed casually in his own merch with a few bullets in his hand.
As he inspects and compares them, working on a new case that he got earlier today before returning to UA, Eri is sitting nearby with a few coloring books.
Tomorrow is the last day before UA closes for the winter break, ending the semester with the 1A Christmas party before most of the students go home to their parents.
"I did it!" Eri declares as she gets up and rushes over, showing Horizon the page she colored.
Looking at the page Horizon keeps fiddling with the bullet in his fingers.
"All Might huh," he says while inspecting the page, seeing a picture of a healthy All Might nearly perfectly colored in. "You colored out of the lines a bit, but you're getting better."
"Yours is next," she says excitedly and turns the page, showing Horizon's logo on it. "I'll do it good, promise."
"Alright, I'll be waiting to see it," Horizon says as she goes back to sitting on the carpet and coloring.
Horizon arrived at UA a bit later than usual and decided not to go to afternoon classes today, which surprisingly Eraser didn't mind.
But that might have been because he wanted Horizon to babysit Eri since she doesn't have school right now.
---Elsewhere...
In an undisclosed location, the consequences of Horizon's darker side are still being healed.
Standing in the observation area Pantu looks through the glass coldly, seeing Hawks standing in the middle of an open room, arms raised as he circulates his feathers around him.
She sees his limbs trembling, feathers that would normally be swirling around him, perfectly controlled, were now bumping into each other.
They would bump into each other and fall to the floor, only to then be commanded to rise into the air yet again and continue the training.
After a few more minutes Hawks was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily as he falls to his knees.
All the feathers crash into the floor and lay there motionless.
Pantu's façade doesn't falter, she simply speaks clearly so the man beside her can hear.
"Take him to another week of mental care, he can't go out into public like this."
"Yes ma'am..."
The man leaves her alone in the room, and she takes this moment to consider her thoughts, and her assets.
'Ryukyu is in much more danger than I realized, but telling her about any of this will make it more like she'll be discovered, what a complicated situation...'
---Elsewhere...
Stepping out of a Warp Gate into an open clearing amidst a large forest, Shigaraki takes a deep breath.
He feels the clean air enter his lungs and takes a moment to soak it all in.
"Ahh, I haven't been here in a while, and one day it'll all be mine," Shigaraki says.
As Kurogiri steps out of the Warp Gate beside him, Shigaraki checks his phone.
"Alright, this location will do," he says while checking the map. "Close to some cities, but isolated enough that nobody will notice him."
"Yes," Kurogiri says. "According to our benefactor, Gigantomachia needs time to relearn his limits, and practice the routines programmed into him to counter Horizon."
"Tch, Horizon," Shigaraki scratches his neck. "And he's sure this version of Machia' can deal with that freak?"
"Titans are among the few beings in myth that can kill gods," Kurogiri says. "He was built with Quirks selected by All For One and your mysterious benefactor, using all the data they collected during the battle with Horizon."
"His new attack is concerning, that Gamma thing Hawks told us about, it counters Super Regeneration."
"Yes, but Machia is too large for him to effectively use it," Kurogiri says as they begin walking around the clearing. "Add to that the variation of many Quirks he was given to deal with being warped about, or at least being somewhat able to stay on the battlefield if he's warped away."
"Horizon has too many cheats, we can never be too careful. If we let our guard down he'll cut Machia' up and just scatter him about...but if the doctor thinks he's rebuilt Machia' with enough counters and power to deal with him, I've got no real choice but to trust him."
"Yes, but Hawks gave us important data, not only about Horizon's power, but about his mind."
"I remember," Shigaraki says. "Horizon cares more about being seen as a Pro Hero than about actually being a Pro Hero. The amount of cities around this area is perfect, especially since most Pro Heroes are all the way on the other side of Japan, the only one nearby is Ryukyu, but she's weak, so its a perfect place for Machia' to execute him."
"A brilliant plan."
"So was the USJ plan, so was the Summer Camp plan, and we know how those ended," Shigaraki says. "We need to get more countermeasures in place, just in case Horizon has some tricks we didn't account for."
"More forces, more distractions to keep the others away from him, and something to destroy Hero Network communication systems."
"Yes, make him use the public systems, the media won't be able to resist listening in and broadcasting it live, he will be forced to take our bait immediately."
"Anything else sir?"
Shigaraki thinks about it for a moment, then nods, "Yeah. I think Hawks has done enough to at least get a meeting with me. He gave us weapons and a top Pro Hero, and constantly feeds us information on Horizon and his location...tell Dabi to organize a meeting, I want to talk to him."
"Hawks is unavailable at the moment," Kurogiri says, which surprises Shigaraki.
"What?"
"He didn't respond so we sent someone to extract data from some Hero Public Safety Commission agent's minds, it seems he had a...altercation of sorts, with Horizon."
"Really? And why am I only hearing about this?"
"Because we only learned of it earlier today, Hawks has been in mental and physical rehabilitation for the past month."
"Well, that explains why he's so eager to give us data on Horizon, he's probably more scared of him than we are," Shigaraki says. "We'll keep that information quiet, can't have Hawks losing face, that would limit how useful he can be for us."
While he was now someone much more worthy of being an organization leader, Shigaraki was still by far the youngest and least experienced leader of each major faction fighting in Japan.
Nezu is a master of logistics and organizing people.
Endeavor is arguably the best Pro Hero in the world at commanding a battlefield of people he's never met or worked with before. A boon for any constantly shifting battlefield.
But Pantu, she's a master manipulator on every level, even from a position of weakness, everyone around her is simply playing in her hands.
This is why Shigaraki is so blissfully unaware of exactly how many layers of this plan were crafted by Pantu, just for this specific response.
---3 PM, 1A Dorms...
"What do you need?" Horizon speaks in his visor as the call connects.
"I need you to come to the training ground," Eraser says.
"You said I didn't have to do this part of the exam, also, I have Eri, so I---"
"I need a tiebreaker," Aizawa says. "And maybe you'll get lucky and get to fight Midoriya, just get here so we can finish this quickly."
Horizon hangs up and sighs, "Alright Eri, looks like you get to see me in action today..."
END CHAPTER---
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