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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---