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CHAPTER START---
---December 16th, 2315, 2PM...
Over 1 month after the new #1 Pro Hero Endeavor was attacked by the High-End Nomu, now named Hood. The Pro Hero recovered within a day of the incident and has been working more than ever to maintain stability in Japan.
In this time the state of affairs across the nation has been stagnant, with no incidents of note interrupting the monotony of everyday life.
But the entire country was holding its breath, feeling an underlying sense of tension, waiting for the next big disaster to appear.
But all the good citizens and Pro Heroes had one desire, knowing this event was an eventuality, they wished for it to happen in Minato Tokyo.
The heart of Tokyo where the most people would be in danger.
But this desire was not a selfish want to put others in danger instead of themselves, no, it was sheer and absolute confidence in Horizon, to immediately snuff out any dangers happening in Minato Tokyo.
According to all statistics, Minato Tokyo no longer has any villain activity, not even petty crime. Even when Horizon is confirmed to be at UA, villains and criminals simply stayed away.
Rumors had quickly spread about him hunting the mercenary Wolfram across Japan, and nobody knew why he did such a thing.
It could have been for a serious incident, or simply because the man took a stroll through Minato Tokyo and Horizon caught his scents, but the outcome was clear.
Horizon stands victorious, and Wolfram is locked away forever.
And now, while all the villains are hiding, terrified of Horizon knocking on their door and warping them into a cell.
He sits on the couch in the common area of the 1A dorms, dressed casually in his own merch with a few bullets in his hand.
As he inspects and compares them, working on a new case that he got earlier today before returning to UA, Eri is sitting nearby with a few coloring books.
Tomorrow is the last day before UA closes for the winter break, ending the semester with the 1A Christmas party before most of the students go home to their parents.
"I did it!" Eri declares as she gets up and rushes over, showing Horizon the page she colored.
Looking at the page Horizon keeps fiddling with the bullet in his fingers.
"All Might huh," he says while inspecting the page, seeing a picture of a healthy All Might nearly perfectly colored in. "You colored out of the lines a bit, but you're getting better."
"Yours is next," she says excitedly and turns the page, showing Horizon's logo on it. "I'll do it good, promise."
"Alright, I'll be waiting to see it," Horizon says as she goes back to sitting on the carpet and coloring.
Horizon arrived at UA a bit later than usual and decided not to go to afternoon classes today, which surprisingly Eraser didn't mind.
But that might have been because he wanted Horizon to babysit Eri since she doesn't have school right now.
---Elsewhere...
In an undisclosed location, the consequences of Horizon's darker side are still being healed.
Standing in the observation area Pantu looks through the glass coldly, seeing Hawks standing in the middle of an open room, arms raised as he circulates his feathers around him.
She sees his limbs trembling, feathers that would normally be swirling around him, perfectly controlled, were now bumping into each other.
They would bump into each other and fall to the floor, only to then be commanded to rise into the air yet again and continue the training.
After a few more minutes Hawks was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily as he falls to his knees.
All the feathers crash into the floor and lay there motionless.
Pantu's façade doesn't falter, she simply speaks clearly so the man beside her can hear.
"Take him to another week of mental care, he can't go out into public like this."
"Yes ma'am..."
The man leaves her alone in the room, and she takes this moment to consider her thoughts, and her assets.
'Ryukyu is in much more danger than I realized, but telling her about any of this will make it more like she'll be discovered, what a complicated situation...'
---Elsewhere...
Stepping out of a Warp Gate into an open clearing amidst a large forest, Shigaraki takes a deep breath.
He feels the clean air enter his lungs and takes a moment to soak it all in.
"Ahh, I haven't been here in a while, and one day it'll all be mine," Shigaraki says.
As Kurogiri steps out of the Warp Gate beside him, Shigaraki checks his phone.
"Alright, this location will do," he says while checking the map. "Close to some cities, but isolated enough that nobody will notice him."
"Yes," Kurogiri says. "According to our benefactor, Gigantomachia needs time to relearn his limits, and practice the routines programmed into him to counter Horizon."
"Tch, Horizon," Shigaraki scratches his neck. "And he's sure this version of Machia' can deal with that freak?"
"Titans are among the few beings in myth that can kill gods," Kurogiri says. "He was built with Quirks selected by All For One and your mysterious benefactor, using all the data they collected during the battle with Horizon."
"His new attack is concerning, that Gamma thing Hawks told us about, it counters Super Regeneration."
"Yes, but Machia is too large for him to effectively use it," Kurogiri says as they begin walking around the clearing. "Add to that the variation of many Quirks he was given to deal with being warped about, or at least being somewhat able to stay on the battlefield if he's warped away."
"Horizon has too many cheats, we can never be too careful. If we let our guard down he'll cut Machia' up and just scatter him about...but if the doctor thinks he's rebuilt Machia' with enough counters and power to deal with him, I've got no real choice but to trust him."
"Yes, but Hawks gave us important data, not only about Horizon's power, but about his mind."
"I remember," Shigaraki says. "Horizon cares more about being seen as a Pro Hero than about actually being a Pro Hero. The amount of cities around this area is perfect, especially since most Pro Heroes are all the way on the other side of Japan, the only one nearby is Ryukyu, but she's weak, so its a perfect place for Machia' to execute him."
"A brilliant plan."
"So was the USJ plan, so was the Summer Camp plan, and we know how those ended," Shigaraki says. "We need to get more countermeasures in place, just in case Horizon has some tricks we didn't account for."
"More forces, more distractions to keep the others away from him, and something to destroy Hero Network communication systems."
"Yes, make him use the public systems, the media won't be able to resist listening in and broadcasting it live, he will be forced to take our bait immediately."
"Anything else sir?"
Shigaraki thinks about it for a moment, then nods, "Yeah. I think Hawks has done enough to at least get a meeting with me. He gave us weapons and a top Pro Hero, and constantly feeds us information on Horizon and his location...tell Dabi to organize a meeting, I want to talk to him."
"Hawks is unavailable at the moment," Kurogiri says, which surprises Shigaraki.
"What?"
"He didn't respond so we sent someone to extract data from some Hero Public Safety Commission agent's minds, it seems he had a...altercation of sorts, with Horizon."
"Really? And why am I only hearing about this?"
"Because we only learned of it earlier today, Hawks has been in mental and physical rehabilitation for the past month."
"Well, that explains why he's so eager to give us data on Horizon, he's probably more scared of him than we are," Shigaraki says. "We'll keep that information quiet, can't have Hawks losing face, that would limit how useful he can be for us."
While he was now someone much more worthy of being an organization leader, Shigaraki was still by far the youngest and least experienced leader of each major faction fighting in Japan.
Nezu is a master of logistics and organizing people.
Endeavor is arguably the best Pro Hero in the world at commanding a battlefield of people he's never met or worked with before. A boon for any constantly shifting battlefield.
But Pantu, she's a master manipulator on every level, even from a position of weakness, everyone around her is simply playing in her hands.
This is why Shigaraki is so blissfully unaware of exactly how many layers of this plan were crafted by Pantu, just for this specific response.
---3 PM, 1A Dorms...
"What do you need?" Horizon speaks in his visor as the call connects.
"I need you to come to the training ground," Eraser says.
"You said I didn't have to do this part of the exam, also, I have Eri, so I---"
"I need a tiebreaker," Aizawa says. "And maybe you'll get lucky and get to fight Midoriya, just get here so we can finish this quickly."
Horizon hangs up and sighs, "Alright Eri, looks like you get to see me in action today..."
END CHAPTER---