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CHAPTER START---
SHAMBLES!
Horizon appears in a hallway beneath The Pentagon, beside Star and Stripe.
"Are you alright?" She asks, seeing him leaning against the wall to catch his breath.
"I'll be fine, just wish I got another day before this crap happened," Horizon says as he begins walking down the hallway.
She falls into step beside him as they walk through the hallways.
The hallway had what would be perceived as signs of a battle, pieces of the walls, lights, panels, and even concrete were torn apart.
Some rubble was still scattered about and the wiring was exposed in certain areas.Where all potential spyware was hidden.
Eventually, they arrive at a conference room with three people inside.
President Skyline, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the Secretary Of Defense.
From the other side of the glass wall Horizon and Star' could see them speaking excitedly, so they quickly entered the room, hoping to make a decision and resolve this situation immediately.
"Oh thank god," the Secretary-General says, standing up along with the two men and smoothing out her skirt. "Is our initial idea possible?"
"No," Star' says, plainly. "Even if I were fast enough to find and contain all the warheads he's designated to the US, he can always divert more, not to mention the rest of the world would be entirely helpless."
"The nuclear fallout from those things detonating within the atmosphere would kill billions," The Secretary Of Defense says. "What if Horizon uses his Quirk to push them into space, out of his range? Will that work?"
"No," Horizon says. "I can't reach them all, and by the time the first few are dealt with he'll immediately drop the others."
"What about a shield?" President Skyline asks.
"Between what? The Earth and the warheads?" Horizon scoffs. "Even if I were that powerful, that's not how my Quirk works."
"Well, he said we have twenty-four hours to acclimate before he contacts the world leaders with his demands," the UN Secretary-General says. "He claimed to be a Technopath, but his range is…impossible."
"Because he's amplifying it," Horizon says. "He's been collecting items and technology for years to build a massive antenna to project his Quirk across the globe."
"The robotics labs?" the Secretary of Defense asks.
"Yes," Star' says. "He also freed a certain prisoner to collect energy from him to power all of this, and the faux-nuclear football he gave to Sentinel was likely only meant to get close to the real one, so he could reach it with his Quirk."
"A Technopath who can control all technology on the planet," President Skyline leans forward, elbows on the table, and rubs his chin. "This really is his world."
"Not exactly," Horizon says, placing a phone on the table.
The three people immediately look horrified at the sight, having left their phones outside of the building to keep this meeting secret.
But before their eyes, a hologram of Principal Nezu appears, typing away at something as he looks around for a moment.
"Hello everyone," Nezu says, his usual cheerful demeanor gone.
"Your phone works?" President Skyline asks.
"My technology runs on a closed system," Nezu explains. "Tech tried to hack into UA some time ago, if not for that I never would have known how to insulate my systems against him." 𝙧ÂNÖ𝐛Εs̈
"Then why'd you keep this from us?"
"Because," Horizon says. "Tech is counting on communication systems being down globally, we need to let him see everything going exactly as he plans before we make our move."
"We could have used it to stop people from panicking and killing each other," the Secretary-General says. "Most of the world is ripping itself apart right now."
"Good, they'll provide a good smokescreen," Horizon says. "Let them kill each other in the panic, Tech will assume we'd never hesitate to stop them if we could, this will reinforce his confidence. We need him as surprised as possible when we counterattack, otherwise, forget a few hundred million, ten billion will die."
"Counter attack?" she asks. "So you have a plan?"
"I have a plan," Nezu says. "I'm currently creating a device that will let me get into his system, a counter-attack in the truest sense, but there will be some…complications."
"What kind of complications?" Star' asks.
"The device won't be small, and it won't be able to ride his connection back to him from just anywhere in the world."
"So it's big and heavy, and we need to be close," Star' says. "Which means we have to find him."
"He has to be at a Cortex, right?" Horizon asks.
"That would make sense," Nezu says. "A major connection hub for internet lines would make sense, but he's also using satellites so…it could be a Cortex, or it could be a wireless link from anywhere in the world."
"So we're back to square one," President Skyline says. "The three of us have to stall negotiations by asking for assurances, while you three track down that psycho."
"What about some of the other countries?" The UN Secretary-General asks. "It doesn't seem right to bet the entire world on our plan without getting their consent first."
"It's not," Horizon says. "But it's the only path I see that allows us to pull this off without some moron speaking too loudly near a mic or camera and revealing our plan."
"I have to agree with her on this," The Secretary Of Defense says. "And we could use the help to find him."
Horizon steps forward, toward the table, and looks between both people.
"If either of you talk, I'll show you how extraordinarily resilient the human body is, especially while I'm healing you," both people nervously share a look before they look down at the table, not daring to look at Horizon.
Horizon leaves this phone Nezu prepared for President Skyline to contact them, and warps out of the room.
"Where did he go?" President Skyline asks Star'.
"He has something to do, I'm here to fill you in on what we've uncovered so far," She says. "Nezu was able to find that the signal was stronger toward the west coast, so I'll be taking a look at the Cortex in middle America first."
"Will you be back before he calls?"
"Hopefully this ends before that," Star' says.
---Minutes Later…
"I need a vacation from this vacation," Horizon says as he walks into his room in Horizon Tower, Minato Tokyo.
"Are you alright?!" Ryuko asks as she rushes over to him, seeing him swaying as he walks.
She guides him over to the bed and allows him to drop onto the mattress.
"Just tired, I've had to use my Awakening a lot these last two days, and using it to warp from America to UA was…a lot."
"Then rest while you can," Ryuko says. "And, I'm sorry for coming here, I know you said that—"
"I'm glad you're here," Horizon says. "Horizon Tower, Tartarus, and UA are the most safe places for you to be right now."
"Shino was with me but she went back to the mountains since Koda is up there."
"The mountains," Horizon mutters. "Do you have your card?"
Ryuko walks over to her purse and removes the black metallic credit card, "This one?"
"Yeah, that one," Horizon sits up and immediately activates his Quirk.
He appears in front of Ryuko, and she's so stunned that she blinks.
And when she opens her eyes she's back at the Wild Wild Pussycat's mountain resort.
"There isn't anything worth nuking around here," Horizon says. "If anything goes wrong, you have a chance here."
"What are you talking about, since when do you think about failing?" Ryuko asks, voice shaking.
"I'm not going to fail, but this gives me one less thing to think about," he says before warping away.
Ryuko stands there, silent, not sure what she's even supposed to think.
And a silent tear falls from her eye before she sees Tiger and Ragdoll running over to her.
As Ryuko catches up with her friends, Horizon appears in the 2A Dorms, knowing he needs to see Nezu in a few hours when some progress is made he warps here instead of Horizon Tower.
He'd decided that whatever happened to cause Himiko Toga to be trapped in Horizon Tower, can wait.
What he sensed but didn't fully understand, however, was why he was currently standing in the common room surrounded by most of his classmates, and their parents.
Shoto's family was here, aside from Endeavor and Dabi of course, and upon his arrival, Fuyumi cheered.
Everyone else was either silent, thankful, or simply smiled at him.
They already felt much safer in his presence.
"What's going on here?" Horizon asks.
"Principal Nezu invited all the students' families to UA, since there is a fallout bunker under the school," Momo says, standing beside her mother. "But, how are you feeling, you've been going non-stop for almost three days."
"I'll be fine, there is still work to do," Horizon says. "We need to have a little chat, c'mon," he nods for her to follow him as he walks to the elevator.
Most of the room gives Momo a curious look, while some are concerned.
And Momo sees the hope in her mother's eyes, almost making her want to glare at the woman.
But Momo rushes off to meet Horizon in the elevator.
"What's going on?" Momo asks. "I know the world is in danger, and you may be stressed. But can't we save this until after the crisis is done, my mother is downstairs," Momo says as they arrive at the top floor.
"Well I'm glad that option isn't completely off the table," Horizon says as they arrive at his room and enter. "But this isn't about that. I need you to get ready to leave."
"Leave?" She asks while seeing him removing his Hero Costume from above the body glove.
"Nezu, Power Loader, and you," Horizon says. "The three of you are coming with me back to America tomorrow, I can't tell you any more details, and I'd rather not interrupt Nezu and Power Loader right now, so just be ready."
Momo's expression becomes serious for a moment as she nods, "I'll do whatever it takes to stop this villain."
"Hm, you're pretty cute when you're doing the hero act."
Momo glares at him, "Unlike with you, it's not an act."
"Fair enough," Horizon says as he's removed all but the Body Glove and Visor, then walks over to the light switch. "So, are you staying the night? I'm sure your mom is hoping you say yes."
"All the more reason for me to leave, disappointing both of you at once is the highlight of my summer," Momo says as she struts over to the door, right past Horizon.
As she's about to exit he raises a hand, blocking her, then leans in close to whisper to her, "I kind of like this feisty side of you, but I also like the more primal side of you that only I got to see."
Momo's face goes bright red as memories come flooding back, and her body begins reacting without her consent.
Seeing her blush Horizon moves his hand, allowing her to return to the common room.
As he locks his door and removes his Body Glove, taking off the lights to get some sleep, he can sense Momo and her mother sitting in the girl's room having an intense discussion.
And finally, after three days of constantly using his Quirk, including his incompleted, inefficient Awakening abilities, he finally gets a full night's sleep.
END CHAPTER---