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CHAPTER START---
---Japan, October 25th, 10 AM…
Standing in a massive warehouse, Horizon is on the third floor, leaning against the railing.
Beside him is President Pantu, and below them is the open floor filled with stacks of reinforced shipping containers.
The large doors opened, revealing the runway outside, and a few planes loaded with containers.
One of the foreign Pro Heroes walks around, checking the containers before loading them and leaving Japan.
A few others from different countries wait to do the same, feeling the immense pressure and trust their nation has placed on their shoulders by assigning them the task of securing this delivery.
"How much is all of this worth?" Pantu asks.
"Depends. Each container has enough to cure two hundred thousand people. How much is that worth?"
"All things considered, not much," she says.
"That's not the answer you're supposed to say."
"I'm a security director, not a politician. I make these decisions often."
"Is this the part where you ask me to charge for The Panacea?"
"No, I was merely curious about how much the current supply is worth. But as you said, we can't put a price on human life."
"True, but the people can decide that for us. We just control the supply and let them bid."
"And if they break the containers in transit?" Pantu asks, noticing how carefully everyone moves the containers. "Do you replace them?"
"No, every country gets a set amount, depending on the population. They're responsible for transportation and security. They get one shipment annually."
"Eventually, one of these countries may attack another for their supply. What then?"
"Then I make an example of them, and they get nothing for two years," Horizon says. "Examples must be made, and painful lessons are easy to remember."
"Geopolitical instability is the inevitable outcome. This could be disastrous."
Horizon chuckles. "An entire world begging for me to help them. What could be bad about that?"
"I'm not even going to humor that question."
"You're no fun."
"The bunker has enough for two more years after we send out this shipment, but people will want more."
"Not to mention the headache of distribution to the civilians, the politics of who gets to be first in line for treatment, and a million other things."
"Yes, I'm aware." She shakes her head. "Japan has a relatively unlimited supply and we still have problems deciding who takes the highest priority, and everyone is always upset."
"Imagine how that'll be when I leave."
"Is there a version of this where I don't have to?" she asks, looking at him.
He glances over at her momentarily, then focuses on the crates again. "No."
"Bad memories?"
"And half the population of Japan still hates me."
"23%, we take weekly surveys," she says. "You dropped a city on itself. After all, killing half a million people has negative lasting effects."
"Yeah, and all it took was me saving the world and making a miracle cure to get it that low, not to mention dropping the national crime rate below 0.2%...ungrateful fucks."
No one has ever accused the public of being smart; that's why we decide for them.
"Whatever, that's not even the worst thing I've done."
"Really?"
"Don't worry about it. You just deal with the public. That part isn't my job."
"Technically, it isn't my job either. My job is to manage the Pro Heroes of Japan, to manage you."
Horizon shakes his head, as if getting an unpleasant taste out of his mouth.
"It still feels weird when people call me that," he says.
"Because it's a lie?"
"Because it feels like there is some truth to it."
'That's new,' Pantu thinks as she doesn't detect any lies.
"Speaking of going to new places, Ryuko?"
Horizon stiffens for a moment. "Be specific."
"The cat."
"What about her?"
"She's scheduled to return to Japan in a few days, but someone extended her vacation multiple times beforehand."
"Just say what you mean?"
"Do you want to dispatch another security team to guard her?"
"No, my people can handle it. Besides, I'd rather not have your people that close to her."
"I'd never use her against you," Pantu says. "You barely have a heart. I don't want to threaten it. I have no intention of experiencing that side of you."
"Good, because I'm not sure what I'd do if you crossed that line," he says, and she's surprised by the uncertainty in his voice. "But it would be historic."
"We almost had a pleasant conversation, but you just had to ruin it."
"Well, this is the part where I stop pretending to be pleasant," Horizon leans back against the railing, now facing her. "I received the intel from Hawks."
"And?"
"And I found the person it points toward, but he's a judge, in Chile."
"You can't kill a judge. You can't even touch a foreign public official."
"Cellophane and Simon should be kidnapping him right now."
"So you aren't asking for permission, but for forgiveness."
"No, I'm giving you a heads-up, because I'm about to do everything within my power to get the answers out of him, without killing him, so you need to get started on the apology letters."
"For the record, I am ordering you not to kidnap, assault, and torture this man."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll call you before I start any more fires."
"You should contact Hawks when you arrive. He's still spying on them, and if they see your team take this man, Shigaraki could panic and reveal more information."
"I'll call him, now, I need to get out of here. They just got him to the safe house."
Horizon warps away, leaving Pantu along on the walkway to observe the shipments being loaded.
'Hopefully, this reveals more of the cards they're playing so I can properly adjust, or perhaps it will outright end the game,' Pantu thinks as she hopes for the best.
---Elsewhere…
Sitting on a moldy couch with his feet up in an abandoned airplane hangar, Dabi idly scrolls on his phone while Mr. Compress and Twice, the original body, sit at a small table nearby playing cards.
Standing along the opposite wall are three Nomu, one of which has a massive antenna protruding from its back.
And just outside the hangar is a cargo helicopter, fully stocked and ready for flight.
Dabi's phone rings, and he immediately answers, all but leaping out of his seat.
"Yeah, is it time?" He asks.
"It's time," Shigaraki says, and Dabi waves Twice and Mr.Compress over.
"How long do we have?" Dabi asks while walking toward the helicopter.
Twice falls into step beside him while Mr. Compress directs the Nomu to board with them before getting into the pilot's seat.
"My source says Horizon and his team are all in Chile right now. He'll get enough intel to lead him to Canada next."
"And we're sure he won't pop back over to Japan for a little check-up."
"I'm sure, the intel is time-sensitive," Shigaraki says as they all strap in. "You have as long as you can protect that Nomu."
"That will be plenty of time. The range on it should allow us to place it within Musutafu and still jam the signals in UA."
"Good, and remember, I won't be able to contact you until this is over."
"I know, and I'm not concerned about what happens after," Dabi ends the call as the engines start.
"So, what'd he say?" Twice asks.
"Horizon is far away, so once we block the signals, we've got all the time we need to play."
"It's a shame we couldn't bring more Nomu," Twice says. "Him being able to sense everything is such a jerk move. I thought villains were supposed to have the cheat codes."
"Haven't you seen the news lately?" Mr. Compress asks as they ascend into the air. "Horizon is a villain. The only difference is the people cheer for him."
"Doesn't matter, just stick to the plan," Dabi says, looking directly at Twice. "Don't get carried away, got it?"
"Yes sir," Twice salutes him. "All I have to do is use my Quirk on the attack Nomu to create a distraction, then go find Kurogiri in the main building."
"That's our escape route, so let nothing distract you," Mr. Compress says. "I'll be making a name for myself by stealing the most valuable thing in the world. Principal Nezu, come get me as soon as you're done with Kurogiri."
"On the roof, right?" Twice asks, and Mr. Compress nods. "What about you, Dabi?"
"Don't bother coming back for me. Just get out of there. I'm on a different type of mission."
With that, Dabi takes out his phone and sets a timer to automatically upload some documents.
He then leans back and closes his eyes, smiling, thinking about the aftermath of the pain and death he aims for.
END CHAPTER---
Currently using feedback to trim some parts of the story, if anyone has more feedback please let me know. I'm always trying to improve :)
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
You.tube: @KeanuEugene
CHAPTER START---
"We're approaching Musutafu, everyone ready?" Mr. Compress asks from the pilot's seat.
In the distance, the port of Musutafu was now visible as they approached from the water.
Dabi turned toward the front of the helicopter, barely seeing UA atop its hill overlooking the city as he stretched his limbs.
"Most of them should be at lunch right about now, perfect timing, they'll be disorganized," Twice says. "Lots of chaos, makes it easier to get to Kurogiri."
"Whatever, just send one of your Doubles to find me if you locate Shoto," Dabi says as he snaps his fingers.
The Nomu at the back of the helicopter wakes up and turns to him as they fly above the city.
"Activate, block all signals," Dabi commands, and the creature obeys.
The metal antenna protruding from its back sparks to life and the trio hear static in their ears.
"Right, now all signals are blocked so nobody, including us, can call for help. There's no going back now. " He gets up from his seat and walks to the front of the helicopter, leaning against the back of Mr. Compresses's seat.
"If I get too close they'll probably shoot us down, how do you want to do this?" Mr. Compress asks. "I need to split off from the two of you to go get Nezu, so where you start, I'll be in the other direction."
"Take me to the front gate, this is a 'Smash and Grab' type mission, you keep that stealth crap for yourself."
"Time for some action!" Twice yells. "I'm so excited. And so scared!"
'Endeavor, Dad, today you'll suffer,' Dabi thinks, narrowing his gaze at UA. 'I'll make you watch me kill your precious, perfect crea—'
Dabi's eyes widen as the helicopter disappears from around them, leaving them falling through the sky.
Dabi manifests blue flames in both hands and spins in the air, looking around for any sign of Horizon while Mr. Compress reaches out to grab Twice.
'He's not here. Is he at UA? No, Shigaraki said they confirmed he was in Chile. Something is wrong,' Dabi thinks as he looks down, seeing that both Mr. Compress and Twice are closer to the ground than he is.
They were all directly above the city, hundreds of feet above the ground, so he nosedives toward them, propelled by blue flames.
As he does so Mr. Compress reaches out to grab Twice, trying to make them easier for Dabi to save.
But moments before they make contact, both villains disappear.
Dabi instantly adjusts his flames and slows his descent to hover in the air.
"You bastard!" Dabi screams, looking around and not seeing Horizon anywhere. "Where the he—"
Dabi is shocked as he suddenly appears atop UA, standing in front of Horizon.
Before he can react Horizon buries a fist in his gut, knocking the air out of his lungs and almost bringing up his breakfast.
Dabi responds by using that massive exhale to release a stream of blue fire, only for his throat to burn as it's suddenly flooded with water.
His eyes barely catch any light as he's nearly ten meters deep in the ocean, cold water all around him quickly flooding his lungs.
Dabi shuts his mouth and begins frantically swimming to the surface, desperate to get some air while his head is spinning.
But after a few feet, his brain demands air.
And his mouth opens.
His body instinctively breathes in and his lungs are lit ablaze by saltwater flooding it.
The pain stalls him for a moment before he pushes through it and fights his way to the surface, his vision darkening but the pain keeps him awake until he feels air when his hand breaches the surface.
"Gah!" he desperately breaths in as his head gets out of the water.
Then immediately vomits up all the saltwater in his lungs.
He pants a few times before looking around, only seeing open water around him, not even the islands of Japan in sight.
"Where the he—"
He suddenly finds himself back at his starting point beneath the water.
And for what would certainly not be the last time, the process starts all over again.
However, while Dabi is undergoing his torturous loop, in Musutafu Square, Horizon is sitting patiently on a bench with two still-beating hearts beside him.
On the ground in front of him are Mr. Compress and Twice, both slowly waking up, and at the edges of the plaza are the civilians, watching, and taking pictures and videos of the entire event.
When the villains finally wake up, they sit up to see Mudman standing beside Horizon.
"The Nomu weren't anything special, just some basic ones," Mudman says. "I'm guessing their plan was to use Twice and overwhelm us with numbers. Not sure why he had to be here in person though."
"Probably so he could make a full copy of their target, since he doesn't know anything too specific about Kurogiri. Maybe that was a limiting factor."
"Ahh, that makes sense," Mudman says. "Do you need me for anything else? I'd like to get back to Chile now."
With that Horizon waves his hand and Mudman disappears.
'Japan to Chile?' Mr. Compress thinks. 'No, he would have easily found Horizon by now. Kurogiri might have been turned against us somehow, or we're missing some important details here…'
"Ah, my head hurts," Twice says as he takes in his surroundings.
"Don't worry, that won't last," Horizon says, pulling their attention onto him.
"Can we atleast stand?" Mr. Compress asks.
"I don't see why not, you can't activate your Quirks without these either way," he gestures to their hearts on the bench.
Both villains weakly stand and look around, seeing all the people taking pictures of them.
"What is this?" Twice asked. "You want us to do a dance for the crowd or something?"
"Why would—"
Twice begins dancing, surprising Horizon.
"You could have warped us into a cell, but you didn't, why?" Mr. Compress asks.
"Because I need you to deliver a message to Shigaraki."
"Huh, what kind of message?" Twice asks, only for Horizon to nod toward the cameras. His shoulders slump as realization dawns on him. "Oh."
"You'd do this in front of your sheep?" Mr. Compress asks. "You'd show them what kind of monster you really are?"
"In all the worst ways," Horizon says. "I'm the man who brought peace to Japan and gave the Panacea to the world. I can do whatever I want, because the people who hate me also want the treasures I bring, so they're sure as hell not going to try getting rid of me."
"If you expect us to grovel and beg then think again!" Twice yells. "We're the League Of Villains, and we'll never surrender or turn on each other!"
"That's right, and we'll go down fighting!" Mr. Compress says as they both leap back.
They did so the moment Horizon moved a hand, and a second later Sunder appeared.
The blade was already free and pointed toward them, the sword floating in the air.
DANCING SWORD!
The weapon flies forward and spins, cutting Twice's forearm but narrowly missing Mr. Compress.
The man tries to run around it but his mask freezes in place, causing him to effectively ram his face into a solid wall.
"Ah," he groans before falling backward, his Mask remaining in the air.
As he gets up the sword spins and slashes the back of Twice's kneecaps.
"AHHH!" Twice screams as he falls onto his back.
Horizon reaches forward and seemingly grams the air, then makes a pulling motion.
He uses Takt to control Twice's costume and pull the villains toward him, bringing the man to skid to a stop in front of him.
Twice is looking up as Horizon leans forward in his seat, looming over him.
He tries to move, but he's already lost so much blood and Horizon is controlling every part of his suit, particularly his belt and reinforced gloves, locking him in place.
"If you want to live, this is your chance," Horizon says. "Tell me where Shigaraki is and what he's planning."
"I'll never tell you anything!" Twice yells in his face.
"I know," Horizon reaches forward and casually takes off Twice's mask. He sees the plain-looking man with a scar in the middle of his head and grabs his face. "I know you wouldn't talk. But it's so much easier to get useful information when it's at the top of your mind, like when you're thinking about it. Or thinking about trying to not think about it."
With that, he grabs Twice's head with both hands and releases a controlled current.
Mr. Compress tries to get up and help his friend, but Sunder stabs him in the shoulder. The massive blade runs him through, all the way to the hilt before raising him off the ground.
But he barely even registered the pain, for so overwhelming was the sight of what his friend was suffering.
Twice screams for a moment before his voice breaks, the pain having pushed his vocal cords to the point of rupturing in a fraction of a second.
Mr. Compress and the onlookers are horrified as Horizon slowly moves his hands away while keeping his palms facing Twice.
They see the electricity dancing between his palms and the villain's skull, burning and frying the flesh and hair.
Flesh pops and bursts as the body convulses.
The ears, nose, eyes, and mouth bleed profusely as massive burns spread across the skull before his eyes popped.
The horrific sight along with the scent of burning flesh causes many onlookers to throw up, simply praying for it to end.
And moments later, Twice's corpse crumples to the floor.
"Man, that was annoying. Multiple voices in one head, and he barely knew anything useful," Horizon rubs the back of his visor and leans back into his seat.
While holding onto the hilt of Sunder to ease his pain, Mr. Compress snarls at Horizon. "What the hell did you do to him?"
"Bioelectric Mimicry. It lets me copy the electrical patterns in your brain, and since your brain is like a drop of water compared to the ocean of processing that's mine, I get all the memories at the top of your mind when I do it.
All without picking up your personality traits.
But I need some more practice before I can perform it without killing my target. I mean, honestly, you should have seen what it did to Spinner and Toga, their skulls looked like charcoal when I was done," he gestures to Twice's body. "This is honestly a big improvement."
Mr. Compress winces in pain as Sunder lowers for him to stand. "How is that even possible? What kind of thing are you?"
"This kind of 'thing', " Horizon says.
And much to the surprise of everyone, he removes his visor, allowing it to collapse into a more compact form before he rests that on the bench.
Then he reaches for the mask he always wears beneath it and begins removing that too…
END CHAPTER---
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