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CHAPTER START---
"This is really the list, my god these people suck," Horizon says while looking through some papers. "That moron Deku can beat half these Pros..."
He and Pantu were sitting in a small meeting room on the upper floors of this building, discussing some important matters before the ceremony begins just over an hour.
She was at the head of the conference table with him to the right.
"Power isn't everything, lots of these Pro Heroes lead teams and agencies which efficiently protect their own communities. They make people feel safe which is why they also get recognition from us."
"You say that, but I see Rocklock on this list," Horizon looks over at her, "we both know he sucks."
"It was unavoidable," Pantu says, not reacting to his childish antics. "Need I remind you that he knows exactly what happened with Overhaul, the popularity from working with you on the case as well as his diligence in keeping that secret earned him a small boost."
"Small, going from mid two hundreds to number 47 is small?""In the grand scheme of things, and in comparison to maintaining your image for the citizens, its most inconsequential..."
"Well, when you put it like that, yeah," Horizon leans back in his chair and continues looking at the listings. "Hey, did you raise Ryukyu's ranking because of popularity because of me, or was there more to it?"
"Concerned about your girlfriend?" Pantu asks.
"Not my girlfriend," Horizon says, and she doesn't detect any lies. "Its been bothering her so I'm just curious."
"She's done good work, and the public trusts her, she earned the promotion."
"Mhm, what kind of bonus does being #1 get you?"
"Is the man who always donates his monthly pay to charity actually concerned with money now?"
"No, I'm just curious."
"There isn't a bonus for rankings, but companies are naturally more likely to reach out to you for sponsorships and products, it simply makes your name more valuable. But more importantly it shows the public there are people willing to risk their lives to protect them."
"So its useless, got it."
"From where I'm sitting you're enjoying the celebrity aspect of being a respected hero," Pantu says. "Or at least you enjoy other people knowing you're better than them."
"Because I am better than them, no reason to hide it."
"You are many things, but humble clearly isn't one of them."
Horizon continues reading the listings for a moment until the doors open, and Hawks walks in, holding a can of black coffee in his hand.
"Sorry I'm late, had to get a drink," he gives them both a casual wave and moves to sit opposite Horizon.
"Hey, did you make this guy rank 2 because it makes his job as your little weapon easier? I mean he just suddenly appeared on the scene years ago and started his own agency, and got into the top ten that same year, would make sense."
"Oh please," Hawks rolls his eyes. "As if I'd need any help getting so close to the top..."
"I artificially boosted his ranking and popularity," Pantu says.
Hawks frowns and deflates into his seat, folding his arms. As he was sitting all his feathers separated from his wings and hovered behind his chair individually so he could get comfortable.
"Hawks is part of a program where we take especially powerful children and train them to become Pro Heroes that also keep an eye on the more corrupted members of our society."
"And you're telling the kid all of this because?" Hawks asks.
"Because if he really wanted to know, he would find out. Not to mention he knows your true name, so he likely knows a lot more than he wants me to think he does, this saves us all some time and puts us on the same page," Pantu says. "Because Dabi was part of the class with Hawks."
"We never did learn about how you got my name," Hawks says, then pauses for a moment as he processes what she just said. "Wait! Dabi was in my class, so Dabi is Toya?"
"95% chance that's the case," Horizon says. "So I guess you can add him to your list of people to investigate while you're spying on them."
Hawks rubs his chin for a moment, "Dabi was the member I had to least info on, and he's the least trusting. After I handed Yoroi Musha over to them I got to meet Toga and Spinner a few times but Dabi still keeps his distance."
"Your priority is still to get locations for Kurogiri and Twice," Pantu says. "If we can secure Dabi that's good, but we'd have to find any data caches he has, if something gets released connecting him to Endeavor it'll cause problems we don't have good answers to.
The words of a villain that heinous won't carry much weight, but anything is possible. Your main target is Kurogiri however, that remains unchanged. Once we get him out of the way, Horizon can operate freely in whatever manner he deems necessary to deal with the others."
"Well the last time he operated in 'whatever manner he deems necessary,' it scared them so much they went into hiding while building power," Hawks says. "They're preparing some kind of weapon to deal with Horizon, and won't be out until its ready, for good reason."
"Good reason?" Horizon asks.
"Well, I met Toga, and she's still in a wheelchair."
"Really?" Horizon was genuinely surprised. "I broke her spine in ways she shouldn't be able to move anything below her neck...whoever is making the Nomu is naturally able to solve something like that, but if she isn't fully healed yet then they aren't quite as good as me."
"That's still a long list," Hawks says. "And after we checked everyone that matched it in Japan, we still came up empty handed. Either this person isn't an official doctor or is in another country, which makes sense since they've got Kurogiri to make travel easier."
"I'm sure you'll find us a lead when they trust you some more," Pantu says. "Right now I simply need both of you communicating and on the same page. The League of Villains has tasked Hawks with keeping track of where you are, so you'll have to give him daily updates as to where you'll be."
"I still think you should just let me take care of them," Horizon says. "I'll have it done within a month."
"And the person making the Nomu for them won't be found," Hawks says.
"I'd find them, everyone talks when I put hands on them."
"Violence isn't always the answer, and unlike you I don't like killing innocent people."
"I don't enjoy killing innocent people," Horizon says, and Pantu detects no lies. "And violence has never failed me, when applied correctly."
"Well I'm not surprised you think that considering who raised you," Hawks snaps at him.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You know exactly what it means," Hawks narrows his eyes at him. "What Arsenal did in Los Angeles is the most horrific act of terror in the past century at least, she killed nearly 80,000 people in an afternoon, if that person raised you its no wonder you're so messed up."
"Hey!" Horizon raises his voice, yet Hawks nor Pantu react. "My parents are perfect alright, collateral damage is just part of the job, it just happened to be part that mom liked using to distract heroes and cops. Plus she toned it down after I was born...mostly."
"That doesn't change what she is," Hawks says. "Plus your dad is a traitor to the oath he swore as a doctor, I mean who literally steals a patients heart? You were raised by monsters who think might makes right, and that's why they're both locked up in a deep dark hole for at least a few more years..."
Horizon doesn't respond.
No yelling, no screaming, not even moving.
Instead the tension in the room continues to grow and grow, until suddenly Hawks was bombarded by a strange sensation.
Nothing, for the first time in 18 years, he couldn't hear anything beyond his ears. As if he'd been completely stripped of his extra sense provided by the feathers.
"What did you do?" Hawks asks.
"Oh, so when they're 10km away you can't connect to them," Horizon says.
Hawk's features twist into a horrified expression as he spins around in his chair, seeing where his feathers were, there were simply floating leaves.
His eyes widen as he jumps to his feet, and look over to Pantu, who was gone, warped away somewhere in the building, so nobody can stop what's about to happen.
He turns back to Horizon, only to see him gone as well, then a large hand grasps his shoulder.
Before he can turn around to properly see Horizon, the man palms his face and lifts him up, slamming him down onto the conference table, breaking the table and taking him to the floor beneath.
"MMMMM!" Hawks tries to claw Horizon's hand off his face, barely seeing Horizon looming over him through his own yellow tinted visor.
With practiced ease he reaches onto his belt and talks out a combat knife, and swings it at Horizon's arm, only for the weapon to stop, as if it were stuck in space.
He pushes as hard as he can but it wouldn't dare to move,
Horizon lifts him up and slams him back down, cracking the back of his head against the floor.
Hawk's vision gets blurry, the yellow tint of his visor only makes it worse as he sees Horizon look at the knife he tried to stab him with.
"Thanks for the knife, but to operate on you, at least to start, my hands are enough..."
Horizon immediately grabs Hawks's face with both hands, crushing his skull like a apple.
Hawks feels his brain being squeezed as his visor gets blocked by Horizon's thumbs, then before his eyes the reinforced plastic begins to crack, as both thumbs press down.
"No no no no!"
SQUELCH!
"Ahhhh!" Hawks scream bounces off the wall of this heavily soundproofed room as Horizon hollows out his eye sockets with his thumbs.
Hawks immediately black out, only to jolt awake as a current passes through his body.
Still completely blinded he screams and begs for it to stop.
But the same pattern happens over and over for almost ten minutes.
The feeling of Horizon holding him, then tightening his grip until bones started to creak and snap, until bone fragments were piercing skin.
Until pain was the only thing to exist in his world.
Then the cool sensation would wash over parts of him, and he'd feel better for a moment, before Horizon broke them all over again.
"Arhhhh---" Hawk's voice breaks, overstrained vocal cords no longer able to speak.
He silently screams into a hopeless dark void as pain continues wracking his body.
And just when he thinks its all over, finally some relief was coming.
He felt his very same knife tracing the skin on his belly...
END CHAPTER---