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CHAPTER START---
"Keep your focus," Horizon says.
Through the surrounding screens, he can see the sky shift from purple back to blue, the energy that Star and Stripe saved them from dissipating harmlessly in the stratosphere.
Agpar grits his teeth and clears his mind, his lifetime of training shielding his mind from the fact that his daughter was now gone.
Nezu is much less composed, not used to being on the front lines, but Horizon's words help him focus.
A side effect, as he'd only directed those words at himself.
"They're launching more drones," Nezu says as he detects objects rushing toward them."Not drones, those are rockets," Horizon says as he senses the rocket swarm moving to intercept them. "He must have been saving these in case we destroyed the drones."
"This plane doesn't have any defenses from those," Agpar says.
"Don't worry about those. I'm still here."
Horizon splits his focus, ever so slightly, and uses Takt to reach out and break apart the rockets, causing them to collide with each other or harmlessly fall to the ocean below.
While he does this, he perfectly maintains the energy output of Counter Shock, but now he can feel his mind growing tired.
Not because of how much energy he's used, but because of the magnitude of focus needed for this encounter.
"Nezu?"
"I still need more time," Nezu says. "Just a few more minutes and I'll be able to get into the missile systems. It seems fighting us, suppressing the entire world, and constantly reinforcing the firewall is straining, even for a Technopath."
"We've got fifteen minutes before he kicks us out," Agpar says as he finally gets a moment to breathe.
While circling the fortress for another minute, he enjoys the silence, glaring at the fortress. Nezu is nearby typing furiously while in the middle of the plane, Horizon is doing his best to impersonate a nuclear reactor facility.
So Agpar focuses on his task, keeping them stable in the air, flying in circles around the man who attacked the world.
"We have a problem," Agpar says.
Nezu doesn't look up from his work, finally about to go through the virtual defenses.
And sensing this, Tech uses the only card that has worked against the heroes.
"This is a problem," Horizon says as the now familiar flow of energy moves across the fortress.
"Without New Order…" Agpar's voice falls silent as he sees the beam charge up. "We can't save anyone from that."
Horizon closes his eyes, considering all angles.
"Tech knows Star' is gone. He knows I'm not the type to sacrifice myself for others, and as far as he knows, I can't stop that attack, so why launch another one?"
"Desperation?" Agpar asks.
"Because I'm close to breaking his defenses," Nezu says.
"That's it," Horizon opens his eyes and looks at the map. "This time, he's not trying to make one of us sacrifice ourselves. He wants to hit the ocean. The waves will kill hundreds of millions, sure, but the goal is to his the data lines under the water, destroying those will break everyone's connections and the missiles will drop."
"So if he can't control them, he doesn't want anyone to," Agpar mutters, horrified at how deranged Tech's plan has become. "Can you warp it away?"
"Not far enough for it to matter. Maybe I can flip it upside down…no, he can always redirect the blast, and the rage would still be massive since any part of the ocean would have the same effect."
"You're Horizon. Give us a miracle," Agpar says. "That's what she said you do, so don't let this bastard win, not like this, not ever."
After a few moments, Horizon speaks, "Climb, maximum altitude."
"Yes sir," Agpar smiles as he begins a steep ascent, causing Nezu to hold on to his seat for dear life.
In a matter of seconds, they climb from 30 thousand feet to 98 thousand feet.
Before they can stabilize at the new altitude, Nezu sees his screens flicker.
"I'm losing power," he says, glancing at the screen showing Horizon's compartment.
T-ROOM!
Horizon opens a second Room within the massive Room surrounding the entire battlefield.
The T-Room forms as a basketball-sized translucent blue sphere in his hands, and a moment later, he fills it with electrical energy.
Enough energy to power Nezu's systems for almost twenty minutes, and he simply places it on the conduit ports.
"Alright, that did it," Nezu says as all his systems resume their processes.
"I don't know how long that will be stable, so try to finish before it collapses," Horizon says.
"What?" Agpar looks at the screen showing Horizon's compartment to see the young hero is gone, a bolt from a drone in his seat. "I hate it when he does that—"
SHAMBLES!
Agpar, Nezu, the entire plane, and the T-Room warp, their view of the curvature of the Earth replaced by the ocean below them.
"What the hell, current altitude..." Agpar glances at another screen, seeing that Tech's fortress had shifted to their previous location.
"You don't want to be up there where the atmosphere is thin when all the energy starts moving," Horizon says through their comms. "I needed something a bit more noticeable to swap him with. Sorry, things become difficult when I'm doing this much at once."
"Horizon, what are you doing?" Agpar asks, using one of their high-tech cameras to see Horizon standing just above to water below, Sunder in his hand, its blade already glowing, layered with a blue energy that moves like water along the metal.
"Something stupid," Horizon says. "But this gives us a chance…"
Before anyone can react, Tech fires the fully charged energy beam straight down, directly at Horizon.
Agpar's heart drops, not wanting anyone else to die on this mission, especially not Horizon.
He believed himself to be expendable, the only expendable person here.
But Horizon and Nezu were the most essential players. Without Horizon, this all falls apart, and without Nezu, they have no way to win.
"K-Room," Horizon's strained and exhausted mechanical voice flows through Agpar's headset, snapping him out of his mental crisis.
"What?"
Agpar looks at the screen while flying higher, giving himself distance from the blast and potential waves this impact could cause.
He sees Horizon holding Sunder with both hands, looking up at the monolithic purple beam descending toward him.
The energy around Sunder is perfectly still, almost solid, forming another layer around the blade, a shard energy of hardened blue energy.
The flat of the blade was much more visible, with translucent blue energy coating it, while the edges were solid bright blue.
The energy beam races toward Horizon, and he prepares to swing his blade upward.
The ocean below him shakes as Tech's attack descends, but the moment he swings, the entire surface becomes perfectly still.
"Divine—"
He swings, and all the energy from his blade moves, launched off the edge as a massive slash.
As long as a foot field and thicker than a four-lane street, it moves at astonishing speed.
Meeting Tech's attack head-on and pushing through it.
It not only splits his attack but also causes the separated energy to dissipate into the atmosphere.
Slashing through the beam all the way to the end, causing it to enter a contest of energy that only ends when his slash has fully bisected and dissipated the beam.
Agpar's eyes never leave the screen, not even when the purple haze fills the air, and Horizon attack breaches the stratosphere, narrowly missing Tech's fortress before disappearing into the heavens.
While everyone was stunned silent, Tech was sitting inside his fortress.
Within a sleep titanium control room, with nothing but flowing lights moving along the walls and a single light above.
He exists in the cold room, a husk of a man, sitting in a chair, wearing a black and purple suit with energy flowing through it, tubes and cables attached to his spine and body keeping him bound to the chair.
And one buried in the back of his skull, feeding him the particular sensory information of this battle.
For the first time in a decade, his hollow cheeks and sunken eyes move, having to speak with how vocal cords instead of technology.
Because this room had no such accommodations, there were no cameras or speakers, there was nothing but Tech, controlling everything there was, and with each word spoken, his straining vocal cords and eyes, long unused, felt immense pain.
Pain that reminds him of how he failed to plan for the unexpected, for the indefensible.
For his guest.
"Horizon," he says, his pale skin moves, and as his gaze falls upon the hero, his body shakes with frustration.
Standing in the middle of the small room, Horizon held Sunder with one hand, aiming it at Tech.
But the hero was clearly exhausted, breathing heavily and slightly hunched over.
"This is impossible. You can't be here," Tech says.
"Yeah, building a room with nothing I can swap with was smart," Horizon says as he lowers the sword. "But I can freely warp about in any space I'm familiar with, but now, thanks to you, I've overcome that little limitation."
"What kind of thing are you?" Tech asks, genuinely unable to quantify the creature he was now conversing with, coming to terms with the fact that because of him.
"I'm just a hero, and you're the villain," Horizon says as he strolls over to Tech. "Now, how about you stop all of this and surrender to us? You've lost."
Tech stares up at Horizon, then his bewilderment becomes fury, gnashing his brittle teeth so hard they crack and shatter, causing blood to flow from his mouth.
"Just because I lose, doesn't mean I'll let you win," Tech says. "This is my world. I was born to inherit it. It's not yours!"
Horizon sighs and takes a few steps back. "Well, if that's how you want to play it."
He turns around, infuriating the villain by turning his back to him, and reaches up to the side of his visor.
"Nezu," he speaks, now that Tech can't hear them. "Progress?"
"After his little tantrum, he changed his approach," Nezu says. "He's no longer trying to wrestle control from me, but only wants to launch them. They'll hit their programmed targets after that."
"He'd rather burn down the world than lose it," Horizon looks over to Tech. "Since I'm closer, have you scanned his systems better, that chair?"
"Neural interface."
"If I rip him away?"
"The circuit has a short timer, but he bridges the gap with his brain. If he's torn away from it for more than a moment, the missiles will launch, and I'll also be shut out."
"Do we have any options?" Agpar asks. "What if Horizon stabs him a few times, weakens him? Will that help?"
"No, any moves like that and he might just self-terminate," Horizon says. "He's insane, unpredictable, no goals anymore."
"We've only got five minutes left," Nezu says. "His new approach is too efficient, and the program is already self-sustaining."
Horizon thinks about it for a moment, the weight of ten billion lives resting on his next decision.
"Nezu," Horizon says as he walks toward Tech. "The program is already on autopilot, but if I rip him out, he can't adapt, right?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Then we should surrender," Horizon says.
"Please tell me you have a plan, please…" Agpar mutters.
"I rip him out and bridge the gap myself, and you change the target of the missiles, then we let them fire," Horizon says.
"It's possible, but that will fry your brain."
"One life for ten billion. It's the logical choice," Horizon says.
They're all silent for a moment, until Nezu speaks.
"It can work," was all he said, his voice small and scared.
Horizon takes a deep breath as he reaches forward and grabs Tech by his neck.
"If this kills me—"
"I know," Nezu says. "I'll consider it done. You have my word. I'll take care of it."
"Alright, get ready."
A few seconds later, Nezu sends his confirmation.
"NOW!"
Horizon rips Tech away from the seat, causing pieces of nerves to be left on the metal cables that were fused to his body as he's thrown to the metal floor.
Tech crumples to the floor, muscles too weak to move his body after years of sitting in his control room, only able to look up at Horizon, who takes his seat.
"Argh!" Horizon screams as he controls the cables and burrows them into his body, attaching them to his nerves and the back of his brain.
Every cell in his body feels like it's on fire, burning from the inside out as his nervous system is overloaded, and Hand of God's understanding of his body makes the pain a hundred times worse.
The technology in the cables immediately reaches out and attaches to the new host, sending and receiving immense amounts of data but failing to establish a proper connection.
Without technopathy, Horizon was simply bridging the gap for the signals using his brain.
"Do it!" Horizon screams as he bleeds from his eyes, ears, and nose, Hand Of God constantly healing him just enough to keep him conscious and not completely block the connection.
"Where do I aim them?" Nezu asks.
"Up! Send them up!" Horizon says, and a moment later he feels a dozen more waves of immense pain hitting almost simultaneously as Nezu changes to targets.
"It's done! Disconnect! Hurry!" Nezu begs as the missiles take off, racing into space where they won't be a threat to the world.
Horizon hears this and struggles to pull himself away from the cables, leaving pieces of his nervous system attached to them as he frees himself and collapses to his knees in front of Tech.
The quickly dying villain was forced to stare up at him, unable to comprehend any of what had just happened.
Horizon's head hung low, and through the camera in his visor, everyone could see blood falling to the floor beneath him.
"Horizon?" Nezu asks as more and more blood flows out of the visor.
"Ngh," Horizon can't even form words. Already using all of his focus to maintain his previous tasks, his single-minded determination to attain victory is all that keeps him awake.
"Horizon, can you hear me?" Nezu asks.
"Did we…did we win?" Horizon asks as his mind fades.
"Yes, we won."
Horizon's Room encompassing the entire battlefield collapses immediately, causing the entire fortress to fall.
The impact slams Tech into the ceiling, along with Horizon, who is barely awake.
Through the inside of his bloody visor, he sees Tech pinned to the ceiling, and he struggles to form even a single coherent thought.
The compounding effects of multiple uses of his Quirk Awakening, managing the entire battlefield, evolving Shambles, and using Divine Divide, all took a toll on him.
And now, after having immeasurable information flow through his body, he was completely helpless.
'Room! Room! Room!'
He tries over and over to form a Room large enough to warp away, but can't make anything large enough to get out of this Manhattan-sized fortress.
Luckily, he isn't the only hero on this team.
The ceiling crashes inward, and a large section of the room collapses.
And the last thing he sees is a half-burnt Star and Stripe reaching toward him.
Most of her body was blackened, with third-degree burns exposing charred bones. Her right arm and leg were completely gone, and the damage to the right side of her face was so severe he could see her skull beneath the skin.
And yet, she smiles while reaching out with her one arm and grabbing him, saving her friend.
END CHAPTER---