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CHAPTER START---
---July 15th…
Sitting at the kitchen counter, Horizon continues eating his bowl of cereal while idly scrolling on his phone.
His visor is off, resting on the counter, but the mask he wears beneath remains in place with energy pouring out of his eyes.
He scrolls past a few messages from Ryuko, worried as always.
He types a quick response. 'The Trigger situation is almost done. I'll sleep enough to make up for the past week when that's done.'
'You haven't slept in days and you're constantly making Panacea. Come home and get some sleep!''Awe, you're worried about me. Babe, I'm Horizon, I'll be fine.'
'You're insufferable.'
'And busy. I'll see you tomorrow.' He rests his phone on the counter as someone approaches the kitchen.
President Jaja walks into his kitchen, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, frozen at the sight of Horizon.
"I hope you don't mind but, I don't really have any time to sleep or eat these days," Horizon says. "World crisis and all that…"
President Jaja looks out the window to see the night sky outside. He then glances at the clock, seeing it's well before sunrise.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asks, keeping his voice down as Horizon pours more cereal.
"We need to have a little talk," Horizon gestures to the seat across from him. "I'll keep things quiet. Don't want your wife or kids to walk in on us. That could get messy."
The man stiffens and moves to sit opposite Horizon, cautiously keeping his eyes on the hero while doing so.
"Is it stressful?" Horizon asks.
"Which part? Being a father, a husband, or a president?"
"Would picking either of them change the answer?"
"No, they're all stressful."
Horizon chuckles. "You know. I have the same roles. Well, not the husband part. Being made of pure energy makes…relations, impossible. But being a father, being a president. Yeah, I have that.
Because at 18 years old, the entire world looks to me like I'm its dad. All expecting me to solve their problems while going behind my back to misbehave. And if I try to discipline them, they get mad at me for it."
"Is that what this is?" President Jaja asks. "Are you here to 'discipline' me?"
"No. I'm just here to talk to you. About this whole Trigger situation."
"My people have given you everything you asked for, been extremely amenable to your requests. And we are thankful that you understand our lack of resources and personnel at the moment when considering what tasks to ask of us."
"Yeah, I just have two questions," Horizon reaches out, holding his hand out for the man to shake it. "Go on."
'She warned us of this,' President Jaja thinks, recalling all of Pantu's warnings.
But despite his fear, takes Horizon's hand.
"You're scared," Horizon says the moment he uses Scan on the man.
"You broke into my home and are questioning me. I also know how this ended for the president of Elkara. I would not like this meeting to end in the same way."
"He got in my way, you haven't, yet."
"So, how can I help you?"
"Mudman has been getting very close to finding the source of the Trigger attacks. They hid themselves very well but, he's very good at this. We're just doing a final sweep of anyone who benefitted from it in a major or obvious way."
"You think I engineered the death of hundreds of millions of my people?"
"I think you because president after this attack, that's a motive."
"I did not help them with this attack. And I am acting in service of my people, always."
Horizon detects no lies, and moves on to the next question.
"Which brings me to the next concern. You were credited with bringing China and Russia into the UN's new global response program. But it doesn't make any sense for that to be something you're capable of."
Horizon feels his heart rate spike.
"What really happened at that meeting?"
"That is an issue of national security. I'm not allowed to—"
"Do you know what separates people with Quirks, from the Quirkless?" Horizon cuts him off."
President Jaja stiffens, feeling Horizon's grip tighten. "Our vulnerability to Trigger. But your inoculation will solve that."
"Yes, but I was referring to evolutionary advantages. For example, many Quirks are closer to disabilities than superpowers. But we all have the baseline advantages. Higher physical genetic potential, we heal faster, and are more resistant to disease and infections.
And most relevant to us, we can regrow teeth. But naturally, some people can't afford to wait for their natural regrowth. Like people in the spotlight, celebrities, and politicians. So instead they simply use fillings and keep moving forward."
"How is th—"
President Jaja feels an invisible force on some of his teeth pull him forward, almost onto the counter. A jolt of pain flows through his mouth as the invisible force keeps him leaning forward.
"Non-sentient things are susceptible to my Quirk, to Takt," Horizon says. "So, tell me what happened in that meeting, and maybe I won't rip your teeth out…to start."
"Ngh!" the man groans as Horizon applies more force, causing his gums to bleed.
"My people told me Pantu was there. Along with the leaders of this entire hemisphere. What's going on?"
"We were making a plan," President Jaja barely manages to say.
Horizon releases his control of the man's teeth.
The man wipes the blood from his mouth, speaking through the pain. "We received word that you'd be moving to America next year. That made us concerned that our best defense would be on the other side of the world. We also know you won't be joining the UN team. So together, Russia, China, Western Europe, Japan, and North Africa came to formulate some type of bid. We discussed the price of you leaving, and of your staying."
"I see. And was that all?"
"No," the man says. "But I swear, the price of you retaining you and the cost of you leaving were the crux of that meeting. But we quickly realized that we had no chance of matching President Skyline's offer."
"And even if you could, I wouldn't stay."
"President Pantu told us as much. But we had to try."
Not detecting any lies, Horizon lets go of the man after healing him.
"I'm glad this went better than my last talk with a world leader. Tearing out someone's spine is always so…messy," Horizon says before warping away, with the bowl and box of cereal.
President Jaja immediately relaxes, thankful he could get by with those technical truths.
Now having a first-hand account of how dangerous Horizon can be, and how necessary President Pantu's plan is.
---Horizon Tower, Japan…
Moments after leaving North Africa, Horizon steps out of a purple Warp Gate into Horizon Tower.
He's immediately greeted by the noon sun pouring into the lounge and a few of his friends were asleep on the couches.
Shinso is asleep on one of the single seats while Tokoyami is filling out some paperwork beside him.
Monoma is laying across another couch, desperate to go back to bed, having been run ragged by damn near the entire world because of his Quirk.
And in the middle Juzo is sitting on the floor surrounded by documents, his laptop beside double checking all his data.
Seeing Horizon step out of the Warp Gate, Monoma immediately goes back to sleep.
"What do we have?" Horizon asks Juzo.
"A solid paper trail for once," he says as Horizon kneels beside him, leaving the cereal floating in the air. "Looks like it's pointing to…Western Europe? Lots of euros in the currency exchanges for these companies."
"Yeah, but that's the good news. The bad news is that I'm expecting another attack."
"That wouldn't be smart. We're better prepared now."
"But we can't innoculate the entire world easily. It'll take months for the process to be completed."
"And since their goal is global extinction, you think they're planning something bigger?"
"They have to be," Juzo says. "The first attack was big, but it was done to show that Quirkless people will be fine. The other attacks were smaller, places they couldn't hit the first time, those were just them distracting us. Casting our gaze to nations that they don't have any resources in, distractions."
"And the final attack?"
"One attack, a big one, accompanied by distractions, enough to keep you busy."
"Damn it," Horizon removes his visor and the mask beneath, rubbing his tired eyes. "How long do we have?"
"Maybe a few days," Juzo says as Law continues eating his cereal, already turning to leave the room. "You should follow Monoma's lead and get some rest. We'll need you at full power for this."
"I doubt that, besides, if this is as big as you think, then having more Panacea can't hurt…" Law says as he warps to a different part of the tower.
He appears in his bedroom where Ryuko is sitting in bed, working on her laptop.
"Let me guess, you aren't here to relax?"
Law just shrugs and leans down, kissing her. "This is the job. Juzo says it should be over soon, but I need you to be ready to move. If anything unexpected happens, Monoma will warp you out of here."
"This tower is the safest place in the world."
"No, standing behind me is the safest place in the world. But this might call me to the other side of the planet to resolve it."
Ryuko pouts. "Where are you going now?"
"To make more Panace, the inoculation variant. Star should be done fangirling over All Might soon. She'll come see me after that."
She eyes him warily.
"Problem?"
"No, it's just…I kind of liked it when only a few people knew who you really were. Now it feels like I have to share you…more than I already agreed to."
"Wow," he kisses her one more time. "To think someone so selfish was ever a Pro Hero."
Ryuko rolls her eyes, playfully hitting his chest. "If I wasn't selfish, we wouldn't be together."
"Yeah, but I'd be fine," he shrugs. "You, on the other hand—" Law warps away before she can yell at him.
END CHAPTER---