บท 253: CHAPTER 249(Weight of Leadership)
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CHAPTER START---
---Friday, January 5th, 2316, 10 AM...
"I have some more people here!" Kamui Woods yells out as he reaches out, slowly extending his wooden limbs like twisting roots to invade the rubble.
Overnight an entire city on the northeast coast of Japan was hit by a typhoon. The winds raged to such an extent that the nearby beach was overtaken by the sea.
Waves reaching dozens of meters high flooded the city after obliterating the sea wall, ripping homes apart and tearing down massive buildings.
Now they stand in the rubble and carnage, looking for trapped people and recovering corpses.
Kilometers of destruction and death that most had no chance of surviving, much less stopping.
As Kamui Woods parts the rubble he sees an older man, holding what appears to be his granddaughter.
Narrowing his eyes he focuses, slowing the progress of his branches to avoid destabilizing the house they were trapped under.
With each movement, he sees the fear in their eyes, up to their knees in filthy brackish water that tried to drown them hours ago.
"It's ok, the Pro Heroes are here, a lot of us," Kamui Woods says as he slowly wraps the branches around them. "We'll get you to safety, and Wash will get you cleaned up and give you something to eat, sounds good right?"
The older man nods but the girl just keeps shivering, lips already blue and skin rather pale.
"I'll get you and your grandpa out of here," Kamui Woods says as he slowly removes them from beneath the rubble.
But as he gets them out safely he doesn't let it collapse, terrified of the idea that someone else could be under there.
He holds them up with his branches and begins walking through the devastation, ankle-deep in thick mud and water.
Both the man and little girl look around in horror at the surroundings.
The city they've lived in their whole lives, is entirely gone. Pieces of houses and broken buildings were scattered about.
Teams of Pro Heroes and rescue workers as far and wide as their eyes could see, constantly working to rescue anyone they could.
Even skyscrapers were reduced to loose rubble by the freak typhoon last night.
Seeing the look in their eyes Kamui Woods ignores the scent of salt, blood, concrete, and mud. Ignores his aching feet and waterlogged boots, and tries to distract them.
"Once I get you and your granddaughter to safety you'll get to dry off and eat something," he gestures to the edge of the city where an army of white tents was.
"She's not my granddaughter," the man says. "I just saw her floating away and grabbed her..."
"Oh..." Kamui Woods feels his heart break, yet again, for what felt like the millionth time today. "Well, please stay close to her until we find her family."
"I will," the man says.
While walking through the disaster site Kamui Woods picks up some more survivors by extending his branches, allowing the other search and rescue teams to continue working instead of having to walk back.
"Kamui!" a deep and rough voice calls out from behind him.
He turns around to see Ectoplasm and Hound Dog approaching him.
"Didn't expect to see you two here, UA's security team, but we need all the help we can get."
"School doesn't start till Monday, and our Quirks are good for this," Ectoplasm says while Hound Dog is already sniffing the air and listening for survivors.
"Did you bring anyone else?" Kamui Woods asks.
"He should be here soon," Ectoplasm says, understanding the importance of not mentioning Horizon by name.
"That's a relief."
"But until then, you're in charge of the search and rescue, so where do you want us?" Ectoplasm asks.
"Since you can work as a duo and go wherever Hound Dog's nose carries you, search wherever you want, focus on survivors of course, and take them to Wash when you get them."
"Got it," Ectoplasm immediately begins releasing white goo from his mouth, which becomes a small mob of clones.
As the clones spread out the help wherever they can, Hound Dog leads the main body to the nearest survivors.
Kamui Woods sighs and continues up to the hill beside the city where all the tents and survivors are gathered.
After passing the survivors off to Wash he's immediately approached by Ragdoll, who was holding a clipboard.
"Kamui," she gets his attention, nodding for him to follow her a few dozen meters away from where people are being treated.
Standing on a hill overlooking the destroyed city she stops with him to take in the destruction once more.
"We have a serious problem," Ragdoll says. While speaking her eyes were locked onto the city, tracking all the present Pro Heroes, including her friends Tiger and Mandalay.
"Another one?"
"One of the roads to this city collapsed, there was a landslide."
"What about the boats bringing help?"
"They won't be here until this afternoon, that typhoon tore up the entire coast, and the seas are still rough."
Kamui takes an annoyed breath, "So supplies will be delayed even more, damn it."
"They got close, if we could send some Pros out there maybe we could get some of the lighter supplies, these people really need it."
"The team we sent to clear up the rivers should be back soon, that's our most conventional muscle," Kamui Woods says, then sees Ectoplasm's clones moving about, and remember something. "Actually, tell the people bringing supplies to stay where they are, I'll send someone to get them."
Ragdoll looks confused for a moment, then realization dawns on her. "I see, alright, I'll tell them. Aside from that the first five zones are clear of survivors."
"Good, that just leaves 20 more..."
After discussing where the new supplies and tents should be placed, Ragdoll leaves Kamui Woods alone on the hill.
And he takes this precious moment to steady his own thoughts, looking out at all the people who expected him to take charge and have all these answers.
'So this is what being a Top Pro Hero is really like huh...' he questions if he would have tried to get so hard to be here, if he knew from the start how heavy this pressure would feel.
"Hey boss man, how ya doing?"
Kamui Woods doesn't react as Mt. Lady saunters up beside him and leans against his shoulder.
"I've been better," he says. "Did your team manage to clear all the rivers, bridges and roads?"
He looks down at her, seeing she's almost entirely covered in mud.
"Yeah, and we even found some...unfortunate people in the mud."
"Oh, I see," both Pro Heroes tune out the world for a moment and simply enjoy each others company.
And even as the familiar sounds of rescue and news helicopters flying above reaches them, they don't part.
Too tired to care if people learn about their not-so-secret relationship.
"What do you need me to do?" Mt. Lady asks a few moments later.
Kamui Woods takes out his phone and begins sending a text, "go check in with Ragdoll and clear a spot for the new trucks and busses to setup the supplies we have incoming."
"Alright," Mt. Lady stretches a bit. "Heroes never rest huh, time to get back to work."
After she walks off a few Pro Heroes and first responders rush over to Kamui Woods, and more than anything he wishes there was a higher ranking Pro Hero here.
But until then, he's the one everyone expects to take control of this situation.
Even now there were already pictures and articles reported by the present news crews scattered about the scene in circulation. All pushing him forward as a great Pro Hero and leader, but he had bigger things to worry about than popularity right now.
As the minutes go by, adding more and more hours to the clock.
The pile of corpses grows, thankfully dwarfed by the number of survivors.
But he could see the toll it took on their morale.
Pro Heroes and civilians alike were walking around with tired and saddened looks on their faces, trying their best to put on fake smiles to keep everyone's spirits up.
'So this is what its really like not having All Might, to not have that ridiculous smile around all the time...' most of the people realize.
Before noon however, while helping Mt. Lady and a few others clear a spot to receive more aid and personnel, a sudden wave to cheers and excitement resounded across the medical area.
The Pro Heroes looked up at the hill, trying to spot the commotion, only the see dozens of objects descending from the sky.
As if descending from the heavens, a fleet of trucks and busses slowly lowers onto the disaster site.
Many of the Pro Heroes are on guard until Kamui Woods raises a hand, and they relax as they see Horizon standing atop one of the busses.
Setting them all down in the clearing, much to the relief of the drivers and medical professionals on board, he hops off the roof and is caught by his Hoverboard which he stands on.
A wave of relief washes over the camp as they take in Horizon's appearance, now feeling as if this disaster was already handled.
The news crews immediately aim their cameras and microphones at the duo as they begin talking.
"Sorry I'm late," Horizon says.
"I'm just glad you're here, and a bit surprised you could get permission to leave Tokyo so easily," Kamui Woods says. "Now, can you please take over already, everyone is tired and our morale was getting low before you got here."
"Nothing could stop me from coming here to help, so you don't need to worry anymore, I am here," Horizon waves at the survivors being treated under tents as he floats outward, over the destroyed city. "Good call with me passing by to bring the convoy of supplies, now get everyone ready to provide first aid, I'll warp everyone to safety..."
"We're already ready!" Kamui Woods yells out as Horizon flies forward.
"Good," Horizon says as he raises both hands, palms facing downward.
ROOM!
He opens a new Room, 28km wide, enough to envelop this small city.
SCAN!
His mind is instantly flooded with information, every person and object down to the size of a single finger is imprinted perfectly into his mind. Information constantly being updated in real time as it all moves.
He expects mental feedback, expects a headache, expects a nosebleed.
But nothing happens.
'Hmm, I'm closer than I thought...' he thinks as locations of survivors and corpses appear in his mind.
SHAMBLES!
Suddenly he begins warping the survivors, swapping them with pieces of rubble close to the medical area, where people were waiting anxiously to attend to them.
Over the next few minutes, thousands of people would be saved with seemingly absolute ease.
A job that would take hundreds of people days to do, and it was handled with effectively the wave of a hand.
Before long Horizon began moving to the medical tents to assist with aid, and Kamui Woods looked around to see smiles everywhere.
Even in the face of such a disastrous and tragic event, his presence was enough to inspire a feeling of safety and hope.
This was what he, Kamui Woods, and no other current Pro Hero could do.
This is something he hasn't seen since All Might.
'You make it look so easy kid...'
After only 9 months in the public eye, Horizon is already revered as a Top Pro Hero, placed on a pedestal above most if not all the Fully Licensed Pro Heroes in Japan.
All while he only had access to the most basic understanding on his Quirk, of himself.
All while his Ascension to become fully realized, was 65 days away...
END CHAPTER---
This is the first chapter of VOLUME 8-HORIZON: Ascension.
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