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CHAPTER START---
"So you really can't make it more precise?" Horizon asks.
He and Snipe were sitting in Nezu's office on opposite couches. His feet were resting on the coffee table as he hovers his katana above his lap.
Snipe was twirling his revolver, leaning back comfortably as they speak.
"That's the downside sadly," Snipe says. "My Quirk makes it so any projectile I launch hits the target...assuming nothing actively gets in the way. And once a route is set it can't really be altered much further so dodging behind cover works too."
"So it's just aim-assist, like a video game?"
"Pretty much."
"That's...a bit disappointing honestly."
"Oh, what'd you expect?" Snipe asks, still twirling his gun. "Bullets curving and tracking people like homing missiles?"
"Honestly, that'd be pretty neat," Horizon admits. "But your Quirk just puts you at the highest level a human can be at when speaking of accuracy."
"Well with guns yes, but I can use other things too you know."
"What, like a slingshot?"
"Well..." Snipe takes out a coin, which catches Horizon's attention.
Flicking it between his fingers he bounces it off two walls, the ceiling, and the table, before it soars directly toward Horizon's visor.
TAKT!
The coin freezes in the air, hovering between them.
"So the slower the projectile the more fancy you can make the shot?"
"And the more direct my contact it," Snipe says. "When I fire a bullet my Quirk actually uses the recoil to try throwing the gun out of my hand and at my target, the gloves are magnetic to help me keep it in my hand."
Horizon casually leans forward, raising his hand for the coin to descend, now hovering an inch above his hand as Scalpel floats off to the side.
"I can sense it," Horizon says. "Tactile Telekinesis."
"Guess the jig is up, but please do tell, how does one 'sense' Telekinesis?"
"Well, it's still moving toward me, or atleast trying," Horizon says. "I didn't stop it, just slowed it down a lot, it's still moving toward me, 1/10th of a millimeter per minute at a time."
"And?"
"And..." Horizon sighs. "My Quirk allows me to make a 3D map of anything within my range, and I can feel the pressure trying to warp this thing, twisting the metal on a scale too small for the human eye to notice."
With that Horizon flicks his wrist and sends the coin back to Snipe, who catches it without even looking.
"Well, I see why they say your Quirk is basically magic," Snipe admits. "And considering how far you sent Hound Dog today...your range is easily many magnitudes beyond mine," he twirls his gun one last time and rests it on the couch beside him.
"Oh, and what's your range?"
"1200 meters," Snipe taps his own visor. "Built-in scope to help with that, can't shoot what I can't see after all."
"Huh, short compared to Lady Nagant."
"Yeah," Snipe sighs. "Always wanted to meet her, but she had her whole metal breakdown and went psycho before that could happen."
"Yeah," Horizon plays along, knowing the truth after reading the files All For One left for him.
"What about you?" Snipe asks. "Why the sword? I mean, I imagine you'd be good with just about anything since your Quirk can do anything you want."
"Swords are just bigger scalpels," Horizon shrugs and gestures to how floating weapon. "And this one is actually named Scalpel."
"Seems a bit on the nose, but fits the whole medical theme."
"That's the idea, clean and precise, hence the white. And blue, like medical scrubs..."
Snipe looks at the door, sits up a bit more properly, then turns to Horizon. "So, the official story is Nezu found you as a doctor to save All Might, but atleast the teachers aren't dumb enough to just believe that, even if it's true.
You must have been in a ton of scraps before that, considering how well you carry yourself against even the most monstrous villain."
"You have a point or just talking in circles?"
"Ever had to use that sword?" Snipe asks. "Or did you just learn to keep in shape?"
"It's been used once or twice, self-defense of course," Horizon chuckles.
"Right right, ever lost any?"
"Well I wouldn't be here if I did, you ever lost a shootout?"
"Mmm," Snipe takes a deep breath, then sighs. "Once, was working security about...almost 12 years ago. Ever heard of Arsenal?"
"Arguably the world's best contract killer, and famous for doing the more...messy jobs, got arrested a little over a year ago," Horizon says.
"Yeah well, her putting five bullets through my chest is how we realized she was a native of Japan, all the evidence just lined up."
"So you fought her, how was it."
"Not much of a fight, I had a rifle, she turned her hand into a pistol and picked up some ammo from one of the security guards she killed.
Her quickdraw was faster than me, shot me in the chest twice, closed the distance, tried to cut off my arms with a darn...I mean, with a sword she transformed her arm into.
Edgeshot showed up and she just decided to call it quits, then turned her gun into some kind of a triple-barreled pistol, and shot the Pro she was after through my chest..."
"So...you lost."
"At the moment I did," Snipe says. "But now I'm sitting here with you and she's rotting in Tartarus. I call that a win, don't you?"
"I certainly would," Horizon admits and a moment later the door opens.
They both turn to see Principal Nezu enter the room, Snipe puts his gun in the holster quickly and sits up properly.
"Principal Nezu, I brought him here like I said," Snipe says.
"Thank you, Snipe," Nezu walks past the couch and sits behind his desk.
As he does this Snipe notices how casual Horizon still is even as the principal walks in, and that Nezu doesn't seem to care.
'I guess Nemuri was right, he is the golden boy... well let's see how the principal deals with him nearly killing a teacher.'
"So," Nezu gets comfortable and looks at them. "Snipe, tell me what happened, why is Hound Dog currently unconscious in the infirmary, soaking wet and still spitting out seawater..."
"Well, sir," Snipe turns a bit toward Nezu. "We were doing the civilian rescue exercise Eraser Head planned for his class, over at the USJ. Hound Dog and Ectoplasm interrupted, it seemed that Hound Dog found that Horizon's scent has changed."
"Right, and protocol in that situation is to apprehend the intruder," Nezu says.
"Exactly sir, we came to a bit of a standoff, Ectoplasm, Hound Dog, myself, versus Horizon. But the kid says it's his Quirk. I planned to call you to get another opinion since you know him best but, after the last few attacks on our students, Hound Dog got a bit...impatient."
Nezu turns to Horizon, "you mentioned Hand Of God allows you to perfectly control your body at every level, is this because of that?"
"Something like that, but yeah," Horizon says.
"You can do that?" Snipe was a bit surprised at that. "Wild..."
"Right," Nezu claps his hands to get them both focused on him. "So, what happened next?"
"Well, before Hound Dog tried to apprehend him, Horizon said he tried to touch him then...he'd warp him to the bottom of the sea."
"Which apparently he did," Nezu sighs.
"Hey, I warned him," Horizon shrugs.
"To be fair," Snipe says. "When someone says something so ridiculous...especially considering the ocean is atleast 10km from UA...we're inclined not to believe him."
"Unless it's me," Horizon says.
"And now we've all learned that valuable lesson."
Nezu pinches his brow and sighs, resting his elbows on the table.
"Great, well you still injured a teacher, he won't be out of bed for atleast a few days, even after Recovery Girl is done. So I'll formulate a punishment for you."
"Well I'm already on house arrest," Horizon says. "Basically have me chained to UA so Kurogiri doesn't show up, what else can you really do?"
Nezu frowns, then sighs, " just heal Hound Dog, and please don't hurt anyone else at UA."
"Is it that bad?" Snipe asks.
Nezu winces, "120 meters of water pressure is too much for his body, a few more seconds and he could have been dead..."
Snipe slowly turns, from Nezu, back to Horizon, then back to Nezu, "right, and his punishment is...' don't do it again', of course." He gets up and straightens his clothes. "Well, I need to get back to the class before it ends."
"Certainly, and thank you for covering for Aizawa," Nezu gives him a polite smile.
"Right..." Snipe just wordlessly walks out of the room.
'Yup, golden boy, can do no wrong...'
The moment the door closes Nezu groans loudly, "this is the second teacher you've had some altercation with, can't you just play nice?"
"Hey I warned the fucker, but he decided to rush in, so I gave him a little bath."
"At the bottom of the Musutafu docks?"
"It's the closest part of the ocean to us," Horizon throws up his arms in annoyance. "Honestly no pleasing you people."
"You could just try to get along with the staff..."
"I get along very well with them, considering almost all of them are Pro Heroes, and I'm, well, me..."
"You do remember that you spent your morning recess in this very room, because you got into a verbal fight with Nemuri this morning."
"Well, saggy should learn to keep her mouth shut."
"That's exactly what I'm talking about, and why---"
At that very moment the door opens, and in walks Nemuri Kayama, Ms. Midnight.
"Princip---" Midnight freezes as she sees Horizon sitting in the room, she gets a bad feeling about this. "What is this?"
"I'm guessing an intervention," Horizon says, clearly annoyed. "He's gonna ask you to stop being such a petty bi---"
"Horizon!" Nezu interrupts him.
Midnight gives him the stink eye as she closes the door behind her.
Nezu gestures for her to sit on the couch opposite Horizon, which she silently does. Folding her arms under her chest and giving him a blank stare.
"Well, is there anything you two would like to say to each other?" Nezu asks.
An excruciating long few minutes pass as they seem to be locked in a staring contest, not a word between them.
"Nemuri..." Nezu says, causing her to sigh.
"Fine, I guess I'll apologize first."
"Well you are the teacher," Horizon says, then mutters. "Even if you dress like a cheap whore..."
"See what I mean!" Nemuri jumps up from her seat and points at Horizon, all while looking at Nezu.
"Horizon..."
"Ugh, fine, I'll just let her talk."
"Thank you."
Nemuri scowls at him for a moment before sitting back down, then schools her expression.
"I, apologize for overstepping your boundaries and speaking of matters I clearly know nothing about. I'm sorry, and I was wrong."
"I know," Horizon says.
Then another long, awkward, echoing silence fills the room.
"Horizon," Nezu prompts him.
"What?" Horizon looks between them. He was genuinely confused.
"This is the part where you apologize," Nezu says.
"Huh, for what?"
"For being a---!"
"Nemuri!" Nezu cuts her off.
Beneath his visor Horizon rolls his eyes, "look, I never said anything wrong or false, you build this street whore persona, you deal with the consequences, get over it."
Nemuri rolls her eyes, more annoyed than hurt, then gets up.
"Whatever, I'm done with this, but just so you know. Compassion is vital to be a true hero, and you aren't anywhere near strong enough to show that side of yourself."
Horizon shakes his head, "haven't you heard, the commission only ranks us based on results, because you can't really measure 'heart'..."
Midnight shakes her head, disappointed, but not at Horizon, at Nezu. "Of all the people that have passed through this academy, you decided to bet on this, to be 'The greatest hero this world shall ever know.'
I hope he isn't the only one who can perform miracles, because, for a transformation like that, a miracle is what it'll take."
Nobody says a word as Midnight casually walks out of the room completely doubting the choices of her mentor.
END CHAPTER---
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CHAPTER START---
"I, I don't know about this," Momo's quiet, doubtful, unsure voice whispers out.
Looking across from her she sees Horizon, his blue, slightly glowing eye markings of his visor seem to pierce into her very core.
She bites her lip nervously, but her eyes couldn't seem to leave him.
"Momo, c'mon," Horizon's inviting voice reaches her eyes. "You want this, I want this, and it'll be fun for both of us. Tell me you haven't thought about it..."
"Well, I have, but maybe this is just how it was meant to be. We should just play the cards life gives us, right?"
"Or, we can help each other get ahead. Together, don't you think we'd make a great team?"
"I...I do."
"Then let's do it, together, right now..."
Momo mindlessly plays into his hand, giving up the treasure he coveted so badly, that she'd been trying to keep to herself all night.
But she couldn't resist him.
"Yaomomo what the hell!" Jiro shoves her, snapping her out of her daydream.
"What?" Momo blinks a few times, coming back into the moment.
Back into the 1A dorms common room.
Looking down she sees the monopoly board in front of them.
Jiro was sitting beside her, with Horizon and Sero opposite them. Yui was beside Sero happily watching the game, acting as the banker.
"You just traded the cards he needed to control an entire corner!" Jiro groans, ignoring the heat on her face and her own rosy cheeks, as Momo finally takes in the state of the board.
Momo holds her head in frustration, "what have I done?!"
"You made the most common mistake," Horizon says in a cool voice as he reorganizes his cards, Sero was laughing happily beside him. "You played the game, instead of the player..."
"The girls' team is losing now?" Shinso asks as he approaches the table, a sandwich in one hand and a can of iced coffee in the other.
Most of their other classmates were scattered about, either doing homework or just hanging out together.
"Well they're against me, so of course they'd lose," Horizon chuckles as Momo and Jiro try to form a new plan.
"Yeah," Jiro rolls her eyes. "Or Momo just can't think with her head when you're around."
"Jiro!" Momo gives her an embarrassed look, then notices nobody even reacts.
"Everyone knows," Shinso says, then takes a sip of his drink. "You're a terrible liar, and you light up like a Christmas tree every time he talks to you, atleast Jiro tries to hide it..."
Jiro slouches down in her chair, trying to make herself smaller.
Momo facepalms, "this is such a mortifying conversation..."
"Don't be so dramatic," Horizon says. "I'm irresistible, of course you'd notice."
"Irresistible?" Sero gives him a confused look. "Doesn't Mt. Lady sort of dislike you, and Mirko wants to kick you in the face, and then there's that other Pro, whatever her name was...Uwabami? That lady Momo interned with."
"She has a problem with me?"
"Yeah dude, she went on a whole rant about how everything you said felt like a personal attack on her."
"Well, then she should change her lifestyle," Horizon says. "Anyway, bank," he looks at Yui. "I'll need two hotels for my new property, now that I've got the full set."
"Mmm," she nods and reaches into the game box to get his tokens.
"We're about to go bankrupt," Jiro groans as she sees the transaction happening.
"I'm sorry," Momo mutters softly.
"Sigh, it's fine, I can't stay mad at you..."
As they continue playing for a few minutes, Shinso joins the table to watch the game unfold, until Aizawa walks into the dorm.
All eyes turn to him, first noticing the bandage wrapped around his head. Covering an injury from the guards knocking him out when he got agitated. Knocking him out before he could activate his Quirk in Tartarus, sparing his life.
His eyes were red, slightly swollen, and entirely bloodshot. The cost of his painful tears, shed for the memories of his dear friend.
And his face had some purple bruises from the impact of them pinning him to the metal floor of the prison.
"Wow, you look like shit," Horizon says, breaking the silence.
Aizawa doesn't even acknowledge it, just says, "important meeting, warp us to Nezu's office, now."
Horizon gives an annoyed sigh as he gets up, dropping his cards, "Shinso, tag in," and Shinso wordlessly takes his seat.
He walks over to Aizawa and reaches for his bandaged head, "hold still..."
BOOSTER SHOT!
The healing energy flows from his hand and moves like a soothing wave across Aizawa. His bruises fade away and his eyes return to normal. He takes a deep breath and relaxes as the throbbing pain below the bandages dissipates.
SHAMBLES!
They both appear in Nezu's office, seeing Yagi already sitting on one couch with Nezu.
"Now that everyone is here, we can start," Nezu says as Aizawa and Horizon sit opposite them. He takes out his phone and puts it on speaker.
"Alright, I'm in a secure location, now, what's this about?" Pantu's voice reaches through the phone.
'Oh great,' Horizon rolls his eyes beneath the visor. 'So this is going to be one of those fucking things...'
"I'd like to know that as well," Nezu says.
"It's about our visit to Tartarus," Yagi takes the lead. "Since you don't know, I assume you haven't had the time to listen to the recordings..."
"I've been busy," Pantu says.
"Well, we waited to say this in person, it's...a bit deal."
"Alright, what did he tell you?"
"The Nomu can be saved," Aizawa cuts in. "All For One said that we can study him to find a way of reversing the Nomu creation process, atleast for the intelligent ones. We can bring them back."
"He could have been lying," Yagi says.
"The machines in Tartarus said he wasn't," Aizawa says.
"Those can be tricked," Horizon says. "The man has a dozen Quirks atleast, I'm sure he can give false readings."
"And it could be a play to stall his execution," Nezu says. "Well, it definitely is, but if this is true then from a certain perspective, we bluffed and it worked."
"Bluffed?" Horizon asks, as everyone looks at Nezu confused.
"We can't execute him," Pantu admits. "He did something to his body after Kamino, whenever his vitals drop the readings climb."
"Climb to what?"
"Best estimates," Nezu thinks for a moment. "Small nuclear reactor, assuming it's a conventional Quirk, which it likely isn't, considering who we're talking about."
"When did you find out about this?" Yagi asks.
"Two weeks ago," Pantu says. "But he called for the final request of a conversation with you afterward, we figured if we let him know we found his final trap, he wouldn't talk to you---"
"And we wouldn't get any information," Yagi mutters. "Good call."
"Ok so he can't be executed yet, what about the guy you have studying him?" Horizon asks.
"He found the anomaly," Pantu says. "A second opinion confirmed it, and as always with his research, I used my Quirk to ensure the truth was spoken."
"Ok," Horizon sits up. "So what? You want me to find a method of executing him?"
"You still aren't cleared for Tartarus, and never will be, since you only listen to Nezu..." Pantu says, which causes Aizawa to shoot Horizon a curious glance.
"Ok, so why am I here?"
"I'm hoping you can save my friend," Aizawa says. "Oboro Shirakumo, he's Kurogiri..."
"What?!" Nezu nearly falls off the couch in surprise.
"They wanted me, but they got Shirakumo instead, and he became Kurogiri. All For One said they ran experiments, made him into the first successful 'High-End' Nomu. Did things to create the Warp Gate Quirk, is that possible?"
Everyone looks to Horizon.
"Well, yeah, Quirk integration is a natural process, that's how people like Bakugo and Todoroki exist. It won't be easy but I imagine with enough time and a solid lack of Human Rights and other crap like that...it could be artificially done."
They give him a concerned glance, worried by how casually he said that last part.
"And can it be undone?" Aizawa's voice almost gave away the desperation of his words.
"Splitting one being into its former selves will be a lot harder than fusing them, but...as difficult as it would be, not impossible, atleast not for me."
"So you can save him!" Aizawa gave a hopeful smile.
"In theory, but, that's not a good idea..."
"Agreed," Pantu says, finding herself agreeing with Horizon of all people. "All For One will naturally die within the next 5 years even if we can't figure out a way to put him down, but in that time we will be researching ways to expedite that process."
"But---"
Horizon cuts off Aizawa, "every day All For One is alive, is a day Shigaraki and the league of losers are spending to get stronger, and they'll eventually try to break into Tartarus to get him. Best to put him down quickly."
"And we'd be raising the chance of him breaking out, going solely on his words, and the very impossibly small chance that your friend is really buried deep down in Kurogiri," Pantu says.
"We can't just give up on him!" Aizawa pleads. "Think of all the Nomu they have, and the people they kidnapped and used to make those things. Men, women, children, Pros, all turned into those things. And this is probably the only person that can undo it," he points at Horizon. "Just give him a chance..."
"Absolutely not," Pantu says. "If Horizon wants to research this on his own then that's his business, but this information will remain confidential. The last thing I need is the families of those victims causing problems to stall the execution. All our efforts will remain focused on putting him down."
"You can't do that!" Aizawa jumps up to his feet, glaring at the phone.
"Aizawa, please," Nezu pleads. "I too would like to have Oboro and all the other victims returned to their previous states, especially since some of them were my dear former students. But the risk of All For One escaping cannot me ignored."
"Isn't that why you have him?" he points at Horizon. "He's supposed to be your answer for the next All For One, right, and he's already gotten stronger since the Summer Camp, just have him on guard."
"Absolutely not!" Pantu says. "Horizon won't be given that level of security clearance until he can be trusted."
"Trusted?" Aizawa was genuinely confused by that. "He's the most powerful person on this side of the planet and isn't hurting anyone with that power, what more do you want before he can be 'trusted' by you?!"
"Eraser Head!" Pantu growls out. "I suggest you remember exactly who you're speaking to, especially concerning matters you know nothing about."
Aizawa swallows dryly and grinds his teeth, "my apologies Lady Pantu."
Nezu sees Aizawa sit down and he breathes a sigh of relief, "Alright, now that we're all---"
"But Japan is a democracy," Aizawa interrupts him, with a dangerous tinge to his words. "And I don't think all the people of this country would agree with your choice, abandoning your citizens to be monsters, sending Pros to put them down. When we all know that with a bit of time, you could atleast save some of them, after all, Horizon can do anything."
The room is silent for a tense moment, before Pantu speaks.
"Are you threatening me Eraser Head?"
"No," Nezu says, "please forgive him he's just a bit emotional at the moment."
"Exactly," Yagi says. "Aizawa is a good man, he'd never threaten you."
"I didn't threaten you. I just suggest that I'd tell all the people whose loved ones became Nomu about this situation, I can't imagine they'd be happy."
"Careful now Eraser Head," Pantu says, casually as if nothing was wrong. "You spread the word about this and suddenly everything I've done in my career goes into the hands of someone else. Along with the general chaos and unrest your little gossip campaign will cause, I won't be there to honor some contracts I made."
Nezu sees Horizon's hand twitch, and he's instantly nervous.
"And people won't like that. Because they've sworn to protect the safety and stability of this great nation, and you're becoming a threat to that, so think very carefully if this is what you want, Hero."
All the while she is speaking, Nezu is just staring at Horizon, now seeing his hand open, as he does just before warping Scalpel into his grasp.
In the next moment, his office could be painted red with Eraser's blood, and there wasn't anything he or anyone can do to stop it.
And with each second that passes Horizon hates it more and more, having to be Pantu's lapdog. And part of him, for the first time, wanted this contract to fail.
Because now being forced to protect her like this, to do her bidding even loosely, it made the thought of killing her so much sweeter.
Aizawa scrunches his face, growls painfully, then sighs and drops back into his seat.
"You said it's ok if Horizon does his own research to fix them, right?"
"I did," Pantu says. "But that's between you and him, keep it quiet, whatever you decide to do, because my people are much closer than you'd ever imagine..."
Pantu hangs up, and Horizon is grinding his teeth beneath the visor, fingers curled into a fist so tightly it hurts.
They all take a few minutes in silence to calm down and compose themselves, then Aizawa turns to Horizon.
"Save it," Horizon doesn't even let him speak. "I'll add it to the fucking list of miracles you damn heroes want from me, but I'm not taking it easy on any Nomu I meet until then, and I'm not making any promises."
The fame and accolades from undoing the Nomu process would be a great boon for him, but he still wasn't happy about it.
"Tha---"
SHAMBLES!
Horizon warps away before Aizawa can even express his gratitude, in the worst mood he's experienced for quite a while...
END CHAPTER---
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