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CHAPTER START---
Pantu sat in her office behind her desk as a hologram was project upward from it.
Showing Chitose breaking down yesterdays raid operation, the most recent, and which turned out to the among the most successful in history.
Almost as if Horizon somehow knew exactly when higher value items would be in Japan before getting shipped to America.
Only a few people put this together, but the woman sitting across from Pantu isn't one of them.
Ryukyu simply sits back and watches the broadcast.
"Horizon was busy as always when I reached out for an exclusive comment," Chitose said. "But after the reports of the suspected value of the seized assets were announced by the Hero Public Safety Commission, I just had to as. Why not trust a more experience Pro Hero with such a important operation?
After all, Horizon, regardless of how we view him, is technically still signed on as a Work Studies student under Endeavor, who he commanded during the raid. For this to be not only the largest but most monetarily successful operation of its nature in history, in the hands of, well, a teenage, the risk seemed far too high.To this, his only response was, and I quote, 'I intend to lead the next generation of Pro Heroes, so that we may guide Japan into a better future than ever before. Why not start to practice now with the current generation?'
But with that being said, of course since he did most of the investigation and planning process to make all of this possible, handing it over likely wasn't something he was willing to, or should have done.
After all, when the future of Japan is at risk, who better to trust than Horizon? Now w---"
Pantu shuts off the screen, snapping Ryukyu's attention onto her.
Even now she maintains her icy facade, perfectly concealing how annoyed she is.
"Horizon's value just shot even further through the roof," Pantu says. "Have you spoken to him since the raid yesterday?"
"Only on the phone for a few minutes," Ryukyu says, and Pantu detects no lies. "I stayed at his tower a while longer than I needed to last week, met his... pet cat?"
"Oh, her," Pantu says. "Her personality is far too caring and honest, approaching her for information is announcing to him that we're keeping closer tabs on him than he knows. But we have her on a short list of people to avoid interactions with, its not worth the risk."
"He knows you're watching him at all?" Ryukyu was surprised by this.
"Of course, he knows that everything we can monitor, we do, but his daily movements are impossible to track when he's in the tower or simply wants to disappear."
"Well Ryuko is head over heels for him," Ryukyu says. "And she knows he doesn't particularly care about the heroic part of being a Pro Hero, from what we spoke about he doesn't have anything he cares about. At least not enough to stay in Japan."
"Well hopefully that changes within the next few years," Pantu says. "But other countries will be making even larger bids for him. I need information on what he really likes, because at a certain point money stops mattering and the other perks will outweigh it."
"Have you tried asking?"
"I did, and he doesn't have any such interests at the moment, but if it happens to appear, you're there to find out."
"And to spot any vulnerabilities he has," Ryukyu mutters.
"Naturally, but you don't have to worry about fighting him. It will never come to that, worst case scenario, I give him what he wants and he abandons Japan."
Ryukyu winces, "the loss of life from him suddenly leaving, the influx of villains and chaos that would cause... unimaginable."
"And at this rate, unavoidable, because it seems he's determined to insert himself as the pillar of our society, replacing All Might. But there are much worse things than him simply leaving us alone."
Ryukyu thinks about it for a moment, "well, hopefully we at least clear out the League Of Villains before he leaves."
"You don't have to worry about them," Pantu says. "I have a man working on that as we speak..."
---Elsewhere...
"Where the heck is this?" Hawks asks as he steps out of the warp gate, only seeing the ocean ahead of him and a dark forest behind him.
Looking around the warp gate closes, before another opens and Dabi walks out.
"Why do you look so confused birdie?"
"I prefer to know where I am, what, we couldn't meet up in a mall, maybe get some food?"
"Do I look like I want to watch you eat birdseed?" Dabi rolls his eyes as the warp gate closes, keeping his hands at his side as he approaches Hawks. "You said you had something good, this better not be a waste of my time, Hero."
"For the record, I prefer eating chicken," Hawks says as he turns away from Dabi and looks at the ocean. "So, did Shigaraki have his supply lines disrupted by those raids we did?"
Dabi rolls his eyes, "we have Warp Gate moron, we don't pay transport fees, from the manufacturer directly to us, instant and cheap."
"Did you at least keep up with the news about it, we got a lot of stuff?"
"Estimated 3 Billion dollars of things the news won't tell us the specifics about," Dabi says curiously. "Is that number real?"
"A low estimate," Hawks says, which surprises Dabi. "But the most valuable thing is already back with its owner, so it wasn't counted in all of that."
"And you called to meet me the day after these raids because---"
Hawks pulls out a piece of paper from his coat.
"---There we go, payday," Dabi says. "A few billion dollars to expand our operations will help out a lot, maybe even earn you some facetime with the boss. We're planning a big...uh, nevermind, you aren't that trusted yet. Just know this will help."
Hawks hands over the page and Dabi quickly skims it, "this is only one location, the report said over a dozen locations were raided. They couldn't have moved them all to one location within a day."
"Nope, they're all sitting at individual armories and strongholds across Japan, but most of it, roughly 2 Billion dollars of fine art, artifacts, gems, and some more fun items are sitting in the most heavily defended spot in Tokyo."
"This isn't Tokyo," Dabi says, gesturing to the page.
"Nope, that's Yaiba city, Yoroi Musha, a top 10 Pro Hero will respond fast when you guys attack, but only him and some other weak Pros. You can handle that, right?"
"The 'Senior Citizen Pro Hero', yeah, I can handle that myself. But why this location, and only this one, huh, Hero?"
"I figured all the arms and ammunitions at that spot would have been more valuable than trying to sell off art, at least to Shigaraki."
"We've got more than enough of that, the money would be better," Dabi glares at Hawks, then just looks annoyed. "We're looking to increase our war chest since one of our big benefactors got killed recently, not long after you joined us."
"Wasn't me," Hawks raises his hands in surrender, jokingly.
"I know, cops said its a break-in gone wrong. Just the same shit luck we've had all our lives, but if you can get us one of the more lucrative storehouses from this raid, the boss will appreciate it."
Hawks thinks about it for a moment.
"Mmm, one is close to my agency, but after you guys supposedly broke out under mine and Ryukyu's watch I can't afford to fail at defending that. If I drop down from #2 then the intel I can get becomes a lot more limited.
I chose that one because Yoroi Mush should be a easy kill for your league, plus he's far from any other power Pro Heroes, not to mention the equipment there is most immediately useful."
"What about the others, you'll probably have to respond to anything in Tokyo, but Ryukyu was on that raid, and she's far from Tokyo."
"Yeah, but she's friends with Horizon, well, at least they worked together a few time. And the plan is to avoid giving him reasons to start looking into us, remember. Plus Yoroi Musha's raid went the most public, so you guys actually have a believable reason to know where that is," Hawks gestures to the map he gave them.
"And it covers the fact that we have a spy," Dabi adds, and Hawks nods along. "Well, we can always use the firepower, and killing a Top 10 Pro before the big hero ranking ceremony next month should remind the public that we're out there."
"Exactly what I was thinking, anything else you need me to look into?"
"Just keep doing what you're doing, knowing where Horizon won't be is still very important for us," Dabi says as he begins turning, a Warp Gate already behind him. "Oh, and just incase we suddenly have something super powerful on our side, where's the stronghold with all the big shiny things in it."
"Wanna go after the big money items huh, well its pretty obvious. That raid was in Tokyo, and what's the most secure place that no smart villain would attack?" Hawks gives him a cheeky grin.
Dabi sighs, "nevermind then, there isn't enough money in the world worth picking a fight with him, not until---" he cuts himself off, not wanting to reveal Gigantomachia's new modifications.
"You sure? A billion is a lot," Hawks says jokingly.
"Yeah, and breaking into Horizon tower is also a lot, just keep doing what you're doing."
"Gotcha!"
"Kurogiri, I'm done here."
A purple mist manifests behind Dabi and envelops him, warping him away before it closes and disappears.
And suddenly Hawks is alone on the beach, in the middle of nowhere.
"Uh, Kurogiri?" he asks, looking around for his warp gate, but after a few minutes nothing happens. "Sigh, great, I though we were over this crap," he begins flying toward the sky, trying to get cell reception.
"Why can't anyone who likes me ever get a warping Quirk," Hawks mutters as he still sees nothing denoting civilization round him.
---Horizon Tower...
"Wow, if I didn't know better I'd say you wrote the script for them," Ryuko says as she sits on couch.
Horizon is beside her working on his laptop, on the TV Chitose's report just finished, 45 minutes of stroking Horizon's ego.
"Can't help it that I'm amazing," Horizon shrugs. "Definitely can't wait to see what my new offers are to move abroad."
"Hmm," Ryuko thinks about it for a moment, "I'm hoping Germany wins the bidding...even if that's unlikely, I mean living there seems super relaxing."
"What makes you think I'd take you with me?"
Ryuko rolls her eyes "what makes you think you can get rid of me?"
END CHAPTER---