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CHAPTER START---
"Are you fucking kidding me?" President Skyline mutters while staring at the screen.
Before they could even reach the Pentagon, the battle had been decided, and seconds later he was getting alerts about a seismic event in middle America.
"Sir," the agent beside him gets his attention away from the screen, snapping out of his stupor and away from Horizon, who was now down on his knees to catch his breath. "The quakes are, directed…"
"What do you mean 'directed'? Is that supposed to be a bad joke?"
"No sir, seismography detected it in a straight line from Tokyo to Kansas. It followed the vector of Sunder."
"Jesus Christ. Well, at least it's over.""No news from the UN as of this moment, but they've promised to keep us informed."
"Tell them I want to speak to Horizon, personally."
"Sir that's unwi—"
"No, it's the best course of action. We have to separate ourselves from Star and Stripe immediately, and doing that in person is the best choice. I don't think he's in the mood to deal with any messengers."
"I see. I'll pass the message along, sir. And the Minister of Finance would like to speak with you, urgently. As well as the national security council."
President Skyline sighs and leans back in his chair, still staring at Horizon on the screen.
"Just yesterday, we had both Mystery Class Pro Heroes in our pocket…what the hell happened?"
---UA Command Room…
"Don't move!" Red Riot yells as he rushes over to Principal Nezu, hardening his body to shield the bear-mouse from falling chunks of the ceiling.
The concrete harmlessly shatters against his back as the building shakes for almost a minute, then they both breathe a sign of relief.
"What are you doing here?" Nezu asks as he gets out from under his student.
"The evacuation is almost complete. You're one of the last people in the main building."
"I don't think we need to worry anymore," Nezu says as he looks at the screen, drawing Red Riot's attention to it. "The worst is past us."
"What happened?" he asks, as they missed the final moment while taking cover.
"Rewind," Nezu commands, and the video goes back to the final blow.
One moment they see Star and Stripe charging toward him, bloody stumps desperately reaching out. The next they hear those words.
'Plus Ultra: Shockwave.'
Then, Star seemingly ceased, and the absurd earthquakes shook three continents.
"What the hell was that?" Red Riot asks.
"I…have no idea."
Before Nezu could say anything else, his student scoops him up and sprints through the hallways. "The building is too unstable to stay here. If more of those quakes happen, it'll all come down."
"Take me to the others. We should focus on relocating the civilians now. Tokyo no longer exists, so we have quite the dilemma on our hands."
---Elsewhere…
Sitting behind her temporary desk, President Pantu stares at the screen with wide eyes as Horizon drops to his knees. Unsure how to react to how grossly she underestimated both Mystery Class Quirk users.
"A god huh," Hawks mutters. "Yeah, I can see it."
"Don't buy into his propaganda."
"Not much propaganda. I mean…" He gestures to the screen while Ujiko is hastily taking notes.
"This isn't over yet. Now Horizon has to make a decision. Surrender and be taken prisoner, or fight his way out."
"Horizon never surrenders."
"Then the choice is already made," she says. "Would you care to go join the fight, now that he's weakened to such an extent?"
"Even if he's on death's door, that's still Horizon. And as far as I can tell, he hates me, probably about as much as he hates you right now. Not to mention Star and Stripe was one of his friends and he did that to her. No thanks."
"He's more beautiful than I ever could have imagined," Ujiko says. "The information I can gleam from him will help us progress by centuries. His body is a treasure trove of medical advancement."
"Don't get your hopes up yet. First, they have to catch him, and I can't imagine that'll be easy…"
---Matani Tower, Manhattan…
"YES!" Mina yells as she hops off the couch, doing a victory dance as Horizon almost collapses from exhaustion. "He won! He won! He won!" She hops around for a few more seconds before stopping, realizing she's the only one celebrating.
Turning around, she sees Ryuko just staring at the screen with sad eyes, frowning.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy he won?"
"I am, but this only causes a lot more problems later on. The fallout from this is insane. Physical and political. It's no wonder you're here. Having you out there as his once-upon-a-time fake girlfriend would make you a prime target."
"Yeah, too bad this couldn't have been avoided."
"Tch, all he had to do was run away," Ryuko says.
Mina nods along. "Yeah, but you wouldn't be with him if he was the type to run from confrontation instead of facing it head-on, right? I mean, you're happy he won, right?"
"Of course I am. But I don't like the idea of him killing his friend. I mean, he doesn't have many of those. And she was the one who could truly understand how isolating it is being…well, him."
"Oh, right." Mina's shoulders slump as she sits beside Ryuko on the couch. "But you know, she wasn't his only friend. He still has his team, and me. And I think even Deku now. Plus, he has you," Mina bumps their shoulders together.
"Yeah. And it is my job to take his mind off the things stressing him out. So clearly I have a lot of work to do."
"Trust me, I know, that can be a lot of wor—" She swallows her words a moment too late, and slowly turns to see Ryuko eyeing her suspiciously.
"Hm," Ryuko turns back to the screen, not paying much mind to it. "I figured as much, but he's always so reluctant to tell me about his adventures."
"So, uh, you aren't…mad?"
"He just devastated an entire region, and I still want to have his babies. Don't tell him this, but there isn't anything he can do that would make me let go…"
---Osaka Japan, Emergency Evacuation Camp…
Standing in one of the private booth of a massive sports stadium, Ojiro and Toru stare out at the massive screen showing the fight, the end of the fight.
Ignoring the sea of evacuated people on the field doing the same thing, and unconsciously reaching for each other's hands, comforted by knowing that even if an apocalypse like that was happening, they'd be here, together.
"Ojiro," Toru says in a voice too small for her hyper personality. "I've been thinking, for a while now, actually."
"Yeah? About what?"
"This world is getting a lot more dangerous, more scary. And I kind of only joined UA because. I figured being invisible made it impossible for people to care about me if I wasn't a Pro Hero. But now I have friends, and I have you, and my Quirk works, and—"
"Toru," he cuts her off. "Be honest with me. Do you think I can make a difference? Do you think I can make enough of a difference to make up for my death, if I were to go out there and die to a villain someday?"
"..."
Ojiro smiles, "Yeah, I figured as much. So if you want to walk away from all of this, I'll walk beside you, always."
Before Ojiro can look away from the screen, she tackles him, pushing him over and hugging him, crying into his chest. Emotions running so rampant that even with all her training, she fades in and out of visibility.
"Thank you!"
He can't help but laugh and hug her back. "Yeah, but let's wait until after the evacuation, at least. Our friends could use the extra hands."
"Yeah, we'll tell them after…"
---UA Hero Support Course 3rd Year Workshop…
"I told you to get out of here. We can't afford to let anything happen to you," Aizawa says while rushing through the massive hallway.
Behind him, barely keeping pace while coughing up a lung, Toshinori -All Might- insists on following him.
"All things considered, Aizawa. You're far more valuable than I. I've got one arm, no Quirk, and I'm halfway in the grave."
"Yet you still insist on playing hero," Aizawa grumbles as they arrive at a pair of heavily reinforced blast doors. The doors open for them to see the familiar sight of pink dread locks hard at work at the workbench. "Of course it would be you."
Aizawa marches over to Mei, who ignores him, noting the laptop open with the remnants of the fight playing live beside her while she works.
"Mei!" he grabs her shoulder and spins her around, only to leap back when she clumsily turns around with a large Katana in hand, almost stabbing him in the face. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm making Horizon a new sword. He broke his last one, and needs this one!" She excitedly holds it above her head. "I still need to add a few finishing touches. If I don't, it'll break like that last one!"
"His sword is fine." Aizawa grabs her. "We need to evacuate. Now, this building is unstable."
"No, he needs the sword!" She protests, but he grabs her hand and begins dragging her away, leaving it in the workshop. "I told that dumbass the last one couldn't survive his Shockwave, and that idiot did it anyway. Just give me a half hour and I'll have this one ready, I swear!"
Aizawa drags her through the hallway, eventually slinging her over his shoulder and jogging away from the workshop.
"Horizon just killed Star and Stripe with your sword. Doesn't that at least make you hesitate to make him another one?"
"That just means I made the most famous sword in the history of ever! Plus, most of the other babies I made him survived because of how well I blended his DNA with the—"
"Quiet! Your rambling will give me a headache!"
"Mei crosses her arms and pouts as he carries her away from her babies…"
---UN Response Team Control Room…
Standing in the middle of the room, Mudman addresses the coordinators with Phantom Thief, Simon, and Cellophane beside him.
"Listen up. If this turns into a fight, then time is everything. Each second, he recovers some of his energy. He was barely awake when the fight began, and Star and Stripe got him down to death's door. But he's still Horizon, so every second we give him is another minute of fighting. Be ready for my command!"
A purple Warp Gate forms around them and transports Cellophane and Mudman to Horizon.
"You look like shit," Cellophane says before turning off his communicator, and Mudman does the same as they step out of the warp gate.
They see Horizon on his knees, sword in hand, as he desperately tries to catch his breath.
"And I feel even worse," Horizon says. "So, her big plan. Star and I kill each other. She sends in her agents to finish the rest, so I don't rip her spine out. Something like that?"
"Something like that," Mudman says before looking around, observing the absurd damage around them.
Even now, they could feel their skin reacting to the heat, throats going dry and lips cracking. In the distance, the ocean was dry, and the mountains were molten red.
'So this is what's left when gods fight,' Mudman thinks before turning back to Horizon.
"Pantu played us all pretty good. Turned you against Star. And she organized an army of Pro Heroes to join the fight if you win…when you win."
"Ah, that's the part I missed. Figured I was too important for countries to join this shit. Guess I was wrong."
"Cameras are on us," Cellophane says. "We've been ordered to arrest you, one way or another. But we literally can't stop you from warping away."
"Too tired," Horizon says.
"Well Monoma can—"
"No," he cuts Mudman off. "Not just too tired to warp out of this pit. Hell, too tired to warp off this little mile-wide island I made. But tired of all the bullshit. Of all the people breaking their word. People betraying each other. Tired of it all."
Mudman and Cellophane share a concerned glance.
"People lying and breaking their word got me here. Made me kill my friend. I hate it, I really do hate it. No more."
"We aren't interested in fighting our friend, in betraying our friend," Mudman says.
Horizon looks up at him, Quirk inactive, showing him the one red and watery eye through the crack, which silences them both.
"You took a job, you signed on the dotted line. So you aren't betraying anyone. You're doing what you agreed to do. And I'm doing what I was raised to do…"
"Fuck," Cellophane mutters as Mudman nods and turns his communicator back on. "We'll figure this out later."
With that, they both enter the warp gate and are immediately greeted by a sea of nervous looks.
And with a heavy heart, Mudman gives the order. "Send in the first wave! His range is limited to the floating island, so we have a better chance than expected. Don't stop pressuring him, keep him moving and burning energy!"
Purple warp gates appear and they all rush through them, leaving dynamite and Deku in front of him.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Bakugo asks. "Feels kind of, wrong."
"Yeah, but it's the job," Juzo says before turning to Deku. "You're our anchor. We can sort out right and wrong after, but for now, just focus on the task. We're all counting on you, Deku."
Deku nods as a warp gate appears behind him. "I'll get into position and be waiting for your signal."
"And I'll protect him so he can focus on the target," Bakugo says as he follows Deku through the warp gate.
Everyone in the command room gets to work while Mudman oversees the battle, with Cellophane and Simon helping the strategic groups and Phantom Thief standing beside him, ready to handle transportation.
"So, was there any good news?" Phantom Thief asks, and most of the room listens in, taking advantage of the tense silence as the first group approaches Horizon.
"Yeah. He let slip that his range is less than that island. A mile wide."
"Just a mile."
"Yeah, which means he's at about one-thousandth of his full power, if his range scales 1-to-1 with his percentage."
"So we only have to beat 0.001%, and we've got 2700 people. If it were anyone else, I'd say we've got this covered."
Mudman sighs, and the people around him feel their spirits wane, sensing the 'but' coming.
"Yeah, but it's not anyone else. It's Horizon, and if we don't play our card right, that'll be enough…"
CHAPTER END---