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CHAPTER START---
Sitting in Pantu's office, Horizon has his feet up on the coffee table, arms spread out on the back of the couch, head laid back as he tries to relax.
His entire body was still sore from...whatever happened earlier tonight.
Now it was past midnight, and most of Japan was resting easier knowing Wolfram was arrested and locked away, because Horizon swooped in and saved the day.
Perfect and flawless as always...
Beneath the visor Horizon had his eyes closed, doing his best to stay awake, but he could feel his mind and body begging to just get to bed.
But that would have to wait, first he'd have to get through this meeting, after he'd already debriefed everyone who needed to be informed at UA. Of course certain details were withheld from most people, but that's besides the point.
Now he had to finish up this meeting, then go take some samples of himself at Horizon tower, maybe then he'd get some rest.'With my luck the moment I lay in bed a bank gets robbed near the tower,' he recalls when he was in a similar exhausted state after the first raid against the League Of Villains recruiting site, and that's exactly what happened after.
'I wonder how Endeavor is dealing with that Dabi nonsense, haven't heard from him in a while. Shoto hasn't been extra moody lately so I guess he doesn't know, smart move. Waiting till he has confirmation is better, at least let me get my hands on Dabi to test it myself.'
As he's trying to relax he gets a message from Ryuko, because only she would be texting him at this hour.
Opening one eye he reads the message displayed inside his visor.
'Are you going to Tokyo like usual?' she asked. Usually he'd head to Tokyo Wednesday night -which is in 18 hours-, do hero work from Thursday to Sunday, then head back to UA.
At least this is his new schedule for the past few weeks, Yoroi Musha being killed certainly changed how much Pantu and Nezu wanted him out in public.
"Response," he lazily commands his visor to start writing a reply. "Finishing up a meeting, will be there in a few hours. Send"
With that he goes back to relaxing on the couch, for all of two seconds.
Because the door immediately swings open for Pantu to stroll into her office.
Her usual guards remain outside, but Horizon doesn't even react to her entrance. His Quirk was off, giving his brain time to recover, but he just didn't have the energy for a casual greeting.
Pantu had a few sets of documents in her arms, hundreds of pages of work she had to complete before getting some rest.
"Are you asleep?" Pantu asks as she takes her seat, starting up her computer via optical scan -a new addition since Horizon is a frequent guest here-.
"Yes," Horizon says.
"Would you care to know how much your fight will be costing Japan?" Pantu asks as she begins reading the documents. "You did destroy our main port for trade to South Korea and most of Asia and Europe after all."
"Does this mean I won't get paid this month?" Horizon asks.
"Your payment will be the favor I did by sweeping Wolfram under the rug..."
"Can't I at least get paid for stopping the nuke from getting into Japan?" Horizon says jokingly.
Pantu stops, gives him a deadpan stare for a moment, seeing him still relaxing on the couch, then goes back to work.
"How bad was it?"
"Extremely bad economically," Pantu says. "Luckily Wolfram was wanted by most major nations so they sent their thanks, in the form of money. And the United States sent a sum since he's one of their monsters that went rogue, and the last thing they want is us telling the public that little detail."
"Really?"
"He was a special forces operative that didn't like the pay they gave," Pantu says. "A lot of nations wanted him dead or in a cage...preferably a wooden or glass cage."
"I didn't know he was that bad, hadn't even heard of him till this."
"Probably because he wasn't in the same circles as you. He wasn't a assassin, he's the kind of person you hire to train a private army or a terrorist cell, but he did have a knack for collateral damage."
"I noticed..."
"You're in no position to talk," Pantu says. "Arsenal is infamous for the trail of bodies she enjoyed leaving in her wake, what she did in Los Angeles is still hundreds of times more horrific than anything All For One or Wolfram have done in terms of sheer scale and loss of life."
"That...was unavoidable, considering the specifics of the job, which I won't go into."
"And I won't pry, but clearly you don't appreciate the effort that goes into covering up what you did, considering how casually you're treating this."
"Well, you make it look so easy, what can I say?"
"You can start with what happened, and I don't want you killing villains to become a habit. Overhaul was...unavoidable, but from what you said this one was because of mistakes on your end, so, explain, now."
Horizon sits up properly, taking his feet off the table, and looks over at her, seeing the woman sitting back in her chair awaiting his explanation.
In all the time he's known her, and all the times he's tried to get under her skin, even now, after covering up a death, she remains without expression.
He can't help but wonder what kind of things she's done and seen from that chair.
"Consequences?" Horizon asks.
"You mean the contract?"
Horizon nods.
"Our contract states that if you are found guilty of breaking any laws, you forfeit your position as that will get you expelled and barred from the Hero Course programs across Japan," Pantu says.
"Which means this counts."
"Yes," Pantu says. "And normally in a matter like this, you could be taken to criminal court."
"Quirk Court," he corrects her. "This was a Quirk issue, not a issue of intent."
"That's...possibly even more concerning," Pantu says. "But, Japan isn't stable, in fact we're quite far from it. So for now I'll sweep this away, and bury it beside the files on Overhaul. We can't afford to have you expelled from every Hero Course and leaving Japan, but if it came to that..."
"I won't hold it against you," Horizon says. "Honestly if you wanted to use this as a grounds to make the contract null and void, I'd understand, and we'd simply part ways right here."
"Because you're the one who broke the terms of it?"
"Of course, I signed it, so I can't get mad when you simply follow the rules we agreed to, I'm just lucky that you're unlucky enough to need me here to stabilize Japan."
Pantu detects no lies, which is quite a relief.
While what she said about needing him is true, part of her was terrified that using this to dissolve the contract would cause him to lash out at her, or worse, at Japan itself.
But for better or worse, he's a man of his word.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it, so from this moment we have a clean sheet, as if the incident tonight never happened, assuming you can do one thing for me."
"And what's that?"
"Tell me exactly what happened, and why Wolfram is dead," Pantu says. "You mentioned Quirk Court earlier, that means this is a matter of you not controlling your Quirk rather than you trying to hurt him. But from the pictures I've seen, you were quite clearly trying to hurt him."
"Its my Quirk," Horizon says. "During the summer camp when I fought All For One. I got pushed to limits and levels I didn't know I had, that I guess I didn't even know existed since he was always a myth to me.
After that I encountered some difficulties with my Quirk. I hit glass ceiling of power that I can feel cracking, but every time it cracks and I feel my access to my full potential growing closer, its like my body or mind aren't ready.
Tonight it came out, like a rush of adrenaline and...euphoria. And I guess my training just took over, and obviously not the Hero Course kind. My mind got cloudy, and one minute I'm defending from his attacks, the next minute I'm waking up as my body is tearing him apart piece by piece."
Throughout his entire explanation, Pantu doesn't react, she simply focuses on his words. But she detects no lies.
Obviously she knew he wouldn't tell her the whole truth, that simply wouldn't be smart of him, but this raised even more alarms in her mind.
"So you were pushed to your limits mentally and, your Quirk simply took over?"
"I'm not really sure, but we can go with that for now," he says, and she detects no lies.
"And have you made any progress in controlling these, outbursts?"
"Yes, and it won't be much longer until I get it under control. And when that happens, I'll be so much stronger than even I could have imagined..."
'Fuck,' was the only word that popped into Pantu's head, even while her ice cold façade was maintained. 'So he becomes some kind of a rage monster that's even stronger than the regular version of him if he feels threatened? Seriously?'
"I see, well then, thank you for informing me, and keep me posted on your progress," Pantu says. "But do remember, I won't be covering up any more bodies for you, one more incident like this and you'll have to fight it in Quirk Court, without my help, understand?"
"I understand," Horizon says.
"Good, now why exactly did Wolfram kidnap Melissa Shield?"
"He wanted to force David Shield to make something, or at least give him the plans for it. Someone named Tech hired him and apparently already made the device, but Wolfram got paid and wanted to finish the job anyway."
"Devoted to his contract, sounds familiar."
"Yeah, but I think maybe he just wanted to fight me, to really make a name for himself."
"A foolish decision, and what was this device."
"Sorry, but I can't say. Doctor-Patient confidentiality and all that," Horizon says jokingly, but she doesn't detect any lies. "But now it should be safe for the Shields to leave, which is one less thing for me to worry about."
"Good, that gives you more time to focus on your Quirk, I can't imagine solving Quirk problems are easy for you, since you're one of two Mystery Class Quirks in the world, you have no studies or research to help you."
"I'll manage, now, is that all?"
"Yes, if anything else comes up I'll notify you," Pantu says. "Aside from that, have your full report done and send it to me within 24 hours, I'll falsify a report matching the story we fed the media and upload it onto your Hero Network account."
"Thanks, now I'll get out of here, because I really need some rest," with that Horizon instantly warps away.
As he leaves Pantu sighs and relaxes back in her chair, looking at the stack of paperwork she had to deal with.
'So he definitely isn't perfect, but that imperfection makes him even more dangerous. If anything happens to him before he solves his Quirk problem, he lashes out and falls back on the instincts Arsenal instilled into him...which makes him one of, no, THE most lethal person on the planet.
And when he does solve this Quirk problem, he ascends from what is seemingly a god to...whatever comes next. Hmm, I should figure out how Wolfram was able to push him that hard at least, it should give me some insight...'
With that Pantu makes a quick call, and surprisingly the man picks up on the first ring.
"Lady Pantu, this is quite unexpected," Dr. Garaki's voice greets her.
"Goodnight doctor, I have a body I'd like you to examine regarding a certain associate of ours..."
END CHAPTER---