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CHAPTER START---
---29th September, 2315, Horizon Tower...
Sitting on his couch Horizon had his feet up on the coffee table, a tablet in hand as he finishes up some work, finally completing one of his outstanding tasks.
He wore only his body glove and a pair of shorts over it along with his visor, because on one of the other couches beside him is Ryuko in a set of Horizon-themes pajamas, her laptop setup and a stack of papers beside her as she occupies the entire thing to finish up some of her own work.
They were both enjoying a quiet night inside with the TV on the wall playing an interview currently being hosted in UA, between All Might and Chitose, AKA Meta Liberation Army Commander: Curious, head of the recruiting and propaganda division.
Ryuko glances up at the screen, then returns to her work. "You know, if I didn't know better I'd say All Might is clearly betting on you to become the next him."
"Oh, and why would you say that?" Horizon asks.
"Well, his first interview since the Kamino situation and he says he felt ashamed because of Tomura Shigaraki and blamed himself, which is probably true since that's the kind of person he is.""Mhm."
"But since then he's just been going sort of on and on about how great you are and how much he trusts you to take care of the future, the scripting is subtle but not hard to miss if you know to look for it."
"Luckily most people don't know to look for it."
"How'd you setup this interview so quickly anyway?"
"Chitose is a friend that's always looking for a story."
Ryuko looks up from her work, seeing the beautiful blue Chitose on the screen, then glances over at Horizon, "just a friend?"
"Settle down cat lady, she's got a secret boyfriend and everything...plus she's too annoying for anything more. Probably would be interviewing me during sex, no thanks."
Ryuko giggles at that, "way to kill the mood huh? But it still feels weird knowing All Might is doing this because of you."
"Well he wanted me to save his fuckup, either this or Deku would be fighting in court still."
"Doesn't it feel like you held Deku hostage, just a little bit?"
Horizon shrugs, "not really, like any contract he had the option to just say no and leave, but when you sign the dotted line you don't get to complain about what comes after, so long as all parties keep their word."
"I guess you're right, still seems kinda extreme if you ask me, lots of kids mess up when they're out on patrol for the first time, the Commission had an extreme reaction."
"Partly my fault...entirely my fault."
"Huh?"
"Well, I've been pushing so much for the public and Commission to be harder on Pro Heroes, including Pro Heroes themselves, the standards to get a Provisional License have gone up significantly and the Commission is also looking for any excuse to flunk people out of Hero Programs."
"So they maxed out the charges to make an example? Punish someone who I'm sure they know must be innocent but a bit misguided...as an example of intolerance for Pro Heroes messing up."
"Pretty much," Horizon shrugs. "Luckily aside from you, the teacher, myself, and a few cops and a judge, nobody else really knows. And the Commission ofcourse."
"That, that doesn't sound heroic at all," Ryuko sits up and thinks about it for a moment. "Wait a minute, is that why even when All For One was revealed they never lessened the punishment against my team for the Summer Camp incident?"
"Yup, and why they never tried to defend you from the public, luckily Nezu covered the legal fees and fines for you guys, otherwise you'd be spending the next 5 years in debt."
Ryuko breathes a sigh of relief, "good this I retired when I did, this new status quo you're working on for Pro Heroes seems really unforgiving."
"That's the idea, because if you fail people die, as you know."
"Mhm."
"So best to get the losers out of the system as early as possible."
"Yeah but that causes another issue, doesn't it?"
"What issue is that."
"Well, people like me," Ryuko sees Horizon look over at her. "I mean I've got part ownership of the mountain resort so I wasn't completely desperate, even if it doesn't make much money. But a lot of Pros who suddenly lose their license will probably have to find work, the more famous ones will be fine since they can survive off brand deals and probably made enough to retire, but the D and C listers."
"The losers."
She narrows her eyes at him, "the people who only make enough to live a decent life---"
"While putting themselves and their family at risk, so losers and idiots, they should just quit at that point."
She furrows her brows at him, "can you not be an ass for one second and hear me out."
"Yeah yeah..."
"Well if suddenly a lot of people who have only ever trained to fight and use their Quirk get fired...and since that's the only skill set they have, do you see where I'm going with this?"
"Yeah, a new breed of villain, I know. But it's only the trash that's getting filtered out, the remaining Pros can deal with them, but the Commission will probably deal with them first."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing to worry about, besides, doesn't matter if an army of bottom feeders team up, you've got me."
Ryuko sets her work aside and gets comfortable on the couch, "yeah, but not everyone has a miracle in their bed."
"Well you're in my bed, but technicalities and all that."
"You know what I mean, and I'm done here, are you finished yet?"
"Just in time for the meeting tomorrow, I've got a lot of good info for Sir Nighteye and his band of losers, and Fatgum, and Ryukyu."
"Your dragon girlfriend," Ryuko tries to hide her giggling.
"Ugh, I get enough of that stupid rumor from the internet, don't need you humoring it either."
"Hey I just think it's fun, but my personal favorite is people thinking you're dating Nejire-Chan," Ryuko doubles over laughing. "I wish I could see how annoyed you are under the visor every time she calls you!"
"Girl talks too much," Horizon mutters.
"You say that about everyone."
"Maybe everyone just needs to shut up, but that's unavoidable."
"So can I see what you found for Nighteye?" Ryuko gets up and drops herself onto the couch beside him, leaning against his side.
"I'm not sure I should show you this, considering you've kind of got a weak tolerance for the darker side of villains."
"Well, that is partly why we became a rescue team instead of a combat team, but I'm sure I can manage."
"Alright, if you say so," Horizon takes his feet off the coffee table and swipes on the tablet, and the hologram projector built into the table displays two strands of helical DNA.
Two twisting spires with bridges connecting them like a warped ladder represents each strand.
One red, and one blue.
"DNA?"
"Human DNA, they came from the same person, to make the bullets."
"Someone is using their Quirk to make Quirk-suppressing bullets?"
"Not exactly..."
Ryuko looks at the projection, then back at Horizon, then back to the projection, as all the pieces come together.
"They're forcing someone else to do it?"
"Well considering the genetic markers match what would usually be found on the brain stem...yeah, I'd imagine so."
Ryuko rubs the back of her head and grimaces, "damn monsters."
"Oh it gets a lot worse considering what some of the genetic markers and telomeres tell me, but I don't want to deal with you crying tonight..."
"I can handle it."
Horizon looks at her and considers it for a moment, then turns back to the display, "no, you can't."
She frowns and just leans against him. "So what's their plan?"
"Red bullets stop Quirks, blue bullets undo the red bullet. Sell red to villains and blue to Heroes."
"How would they do that?"
"I'm checking out a few pharmaceutical companies and recently requested patents, eventually I'll get a hit. It'll be through a series of shell companies but since I'm using Nezu's system it should sort it out fairly quickly."
"A medicine that removes Quirks, in the right hands it could be a lifesaver."
"Yeah, lots of people would kill to have their Quirk gone, but because of 'Human Rights' and all that they have to be willing."
"You always sound so disgusted when you talk about human rights...kind of concerning Mr. Doctor."
"Too bad they use her Quirk to manufacture it, and the regulations to make and sell anything originating from a Quirk would never allow someone to sell pieces of their own brain stem."
Ryuko winces.
"Now imagine if I told you all the bad parts."
"You said 'her'..."
"Drop it."
"Alright alright...I'm already gonna have trouble sleeping tonight."
"We'll figure something out," Horizon chuckles. "Any more questions?"
"Yeah, aren't you worried about them hitting you with one of those bullets?"
"I'd never get hit, plus, it wouldn't work. The bullet itself has a stored package of Chronons, that's how it works."
"Time particles? So it ages the Quirk factor away for a while, and the blue one targets the red and ages it forward into...existing?"
"Into being useful and matured again."
"Ok, but what if they make a new one that just ages you into dust or something?"
"Awe, you're worried about me..."
Ryuko pushes his shoulder, hard enough to actually make him move, "just because you're invincible doesn't mean I don't worry. Or maybe I just like this lifestyle and don't think I could score another young, powerful, billionaire doctor," she giggles and leans against him.
"Oh there's only one of me, and he's here with you. But really the Chronos are mapped to the person's dna, like an infection, which means it will only affect me if I allow it, and I won't, plus...even if it ages me a hundred years nothing would really change."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I can control my aging, so when I'm around 28 I'll just keep my body like that forever, that's the plan anyway."
It takes almost a minute for Ryuko's mind to wrap around what he just said, "are you telling me you're immortal?"
"Well, it's not like I try to hide it," Horizon shrugs. "During the Sports Festival, I literally said, 'mortal diseases and ailments don't affect me', weren't you listening?"
"Nobody takes that stuff seriously, c'mon! We just all assumed it was just the heat of the moment or something."
"Well now you know better..."
Ryuko sinks back into the couch and folds her arms, pouting, "so when I'm a saggy old grandma you'll still be young and hot...fuck you."
Horizon bursts out laughing, "well that's one way to look at it, but the other side is that I'll outlive everyone I love forever and ever, over and over again, can't image what that will do to me."
"You'll be fine, your ego is enough to keep you company, its like you always say---"
"I am enough..."
END CHAPTER---