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CHAPTER START---
---The Matani Estate, December 31st, 11 PM…
"I think they're almost done with Endeavor," Ryuko says while watching the TV.
She sits on Law's couch in his beachside mansion, sipping champagne wearing only a pair of panties while he's only wearing short pants, lying across the couch with his head on her lap.
His eyes are closed as he enjoys her playing with his hair. He doesn't even have his Quirk active. Committing, albeit with some resistance, to taking the night off.
"Does this mean I'm technically 'Rank Zero'?" Law asks.
"That's not a thing.""They's been reviewing the top 20 ranked Pro Heroes all night, and since I'm unranked, and they're saving me for last…"
"They're saving you for last because you're Horizon, rank zero doesn't exist."
"It's the same thing. After all, it can only exist for me."
"Ugh, you're so full of yourself," She rolls her eyes.
"Jealous?"
"Don't tease me about that, jerk."
"Right right, projects for la— Ouch!" Law winces as she pinches him.
"Projects?" Ryuko scoffs. "Don't call ou—"
"It's starting."
They both focus on the large TV as Chitose is on screen again.
"Welcome back everyone, and as we enter the final stretch before the New Year's countdown, we can get to the recap of the star of this year. It's no secret that Japan, and much of the world at that, has been enamored with Horizon.
He's had a busy career since his debut two years ago, and this past year in particular has been filled with feats and controversy alike.
As well as some changes that not everyone is supportive of.
So now we're going to recap it all from the beginning of the year, and let everyone know what they can expect from the next year."
"This should be fun," Law says. "Lots of people hated me until Tech…"
"Starting with Horizon's apprehension of the League Of Villains member, Kurogiri. This case arose suddenly while Horizon was already hard at work in The Mircale ward. 𝑅άℕ𝐎ᛒĚS
The Miracle Ward is his section of Tokyo General Hospital where he treats specific patients throughout the year. He has a very clear and admitted bias toward prioritizing the health of children over adults, so most of his patients who receive free and direct treatment are transferred from children's hospitals across Japan.
This is a practice he has kept up so long as he is in Japan, and he has no desire to change it in the foreseeable future."
Ryuko smiles before taking another sip of her drink. "Almost makes your ego tolerable, almost…"
Law closes his eyes and listens.
And a few minutes later as he's falling asleep, Ryuko pinches him.
"Ouch!" He sits up, and turns to see her with her arms crossed, glaring at him. "What the hell?"
"You didn't tell me you had a thing with Star And Stripe."
"What?" Law sees the reporter on TV questioning his relationship with The USA's #1 Pro Hero. "Ugh, she's like an annoying older sister. You're the only sexy blonde in my life."
She relents and leans forward, kissing him. "I'm in the mood for ice cream. Want some, or will brain-freeze cripple you?"
Law lays back on the couch and rolls his eyes. "My brain was healed within hours, stop worrying."
"That's a tall task after seeing a hole in your head."
"Yeah well my Quirk Factor isn't actually in that part of my brain, I kind of got lucky."
"And it will never happen again, right?"
"I can more easily differentiate between natural and altered light, no more blind spots," Law says as she hops off the couch.
"Good, because I'd hate to have to go back to actually paying my own bills," Ryuko laughs as she struts into the kitchen.
A few minutes later she walks back to the couch with a bowl of ice cream.
Leaning against Law she glances at her phone, "Shino is here. She's at the gate."
"Does that mean we have to get dressed, or is she getting naked too?"
Ryuko sighs. "Do you plan to sleep with my entire team?"
"Well, not Tiger."
She elbows him in the side.
"Alright, alright, I'll bring her in. Might as well get this conversation out of the way." Law's eyes glow blue as he activates his Quirk. "Room…"
---Hours Later…
Slowly descending and landing on top of a Manhattan skyscraper, on the western side of Central Park, Star and Stripe sees Horizon dangling a man over the side of the building.
"Seriously?" she asks while strolling over to him. "When they said your USA Hero ID was pinged in Manhattan, I hoped you were just here to watch the New Year's fireworks."
"They already did that in Japan a few hours ago…well, technically a few hours ahead of here."
"Well you traveled 14 hours into the past, might as well celebrate again," she says. "The show will start in a few minutes."
"Busy," Horizon drops the man, who falls all of two stories before disappearing.
"You can't kill him. This isn't Japan and he isn't a Japanese citizen, be gentle."
"I'm always gentle," Horizon turns to look at her. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to fly between some fighter jets?"
"That's Independence Day, this is just the New Year."
"Right, not nationalist enough."
"I don't want to hear that from a Japanese."
"Half Japanese."
"Whatever," she stands at the edge of the building with him, looking down at the streets far below. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home being someone else's problem?"
"My house was fun for a few hours, then it just got…chatty."
"So you pop over here to torture someone?"
"No, I got a message from Mudman. One of his sources gave up this guy's name. And he had this in his lab," Horizon hands her a small vial of dark green liquid.
"Trigger?" She scrutinizes it. "Since when is a shot of some Quirk Enhancer worth your attention?"
"Since if you crack that it becomes a gas, instead of needing to be injected as a liquid."
"So a group dose?"
"Yeah, not much in that version. But the problem is the removes the balancing chemicals from it and cranked it up to a million."
"So it makes people overdose."
"And makes their Quirk overload, and since most people have a drawback that affects them physically—"
"Their Quirk will kill them before the Trigger frys their brain." Star carefully hands him the vial. "So they made it into a biochemical weapon."
"Yeah. Mudman has been working on this since he joined my team. At first, we thought it was all about some labs trying to make a stronger version, but each version we uncovered became less stable. More power, but more harm to the user. Then he found some lethal versions."
"So there are multiple versions?"
"Damn near every Trigger lab in the world has been competing, so whoever is bankrolling this can afford a very high bid for the winning formula."
"And the prime suspect is now in Tartarus. Do we have any other leads?"
"Somewhere in Europe maybe, a lot of traffic for this is flowing there. Aside from that, we're at a loss. It's hard to get intel when nobody you question knows any details in the first place."
"What about Nezu? Can't he just hack into some systems?"
"Tried that, but there isn't anything about this anywhere," Horizon says. "They're playing the game very well."
"We have some Telepaths that are trained for this kind of thing, send that guy to the holding cells near The Pentagon."
Horizon nods, "Done."
Star then calls them to begin the interrogation process, and after a few minutes, she ends the call.
"So, why are you dealing with low-level people like this yourself, instead of sending your lackeys?"
"Not lackeys, and they're busy."
"Too busy for you? I didn't know that was a thing people could be."
"It's winter break, they're back home with their families. Everyone is…"
"Mhm, except us," she says. "But someone has to keep the world spinning, right?"
"Exactly. And I'm sure you've been bored without me, figured you could use the visit."
Star laughs, "Yeah, right. After you left Villains started showing up again so now I have to work for a living. I can't wait for you to just graduate and move to America, that'll make my life so much easier."
"You sound like you're counting the days."
"No, but I'm counting the months. Fifteen to go."
"Yeah well, one thing at a time. And first I have to make a lot more Panacea. That's my top priority right now."
"I doubt you'll ever be able to match the demand for that. Everyone wants it, and it's impossible to decide who deserves it more."
"Which is why I left that problem for the governments to solve, so I can't be blamed for it."
"Maybe it would have been better if you chose the recipients yourself," She says. "People attack suspected storage facilities when they're denied. Politicians get attacked now too. But if the person making the choice was you, nobody would try that crap."
"Ha! I kill people, but I'm not dirty enough to be a politician. I'm honest about what I do," Horizon says as he warps Sunder from its resting place nearby. "Now, I'm heading back to Japan, sorry I can't stay for the fireworks but I have an exciting lunch waiting at home."
"Have fun, and try to visit more often."
"You could always come to Japan."
"And have the entire government yell at me? No thanks."
Horizon shakes his head, then turns to leave.
But stops and looks back at her. "You know, people have been bugging me for the past three weeks about how I'm feeling. Ever since Lightshot. I guess having a large hole in your head raises some concerns. But you never did, never asked how I was, never even called."
She raises a brow at him. "Why would I do something stupid like that? You're Horizon, you're invincible, even against me…"
Horizon laughs. "See, this is why we're friends, you just get it..." he says before leaving the rooftop.
END CHAPTER---