MHA: Horizon

Chapter 264: (Team Players)

Chapter 264: (Team Players)

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CHAPTER START---

His eyes glow bright white for a moment as he feels it work, and with his job done, he then immediately begins having a seizure on the floor.

Seeing this, the man doesn't react, he simply leans back against the cold steel of the armored truck and waits.

SCREEE!

The trucks' tyres grind against the road as its driver slams on the brakes.

"Hng!" The man is thrown out of his seat and onto the floor, but smiles. "The kid really pulled it off."

Getting off the floor he moves toward the door, hearing some chatter outside. 

"Hey what's going on, why'd you stop?" One man asks, likely the driver of the vehicle behind them.

He doesn't hear anyone respond.

The man then hears the locks on the door moving as someone opens it.

He quickly steps back as the doors open to see four men looking at him, all armed and armored officers.

One of which looked confused at what was going on.

They were stopped on a desolate mountain path, late and night, perfectly isolated.

"What the, why'd you---"

BANG!

One of his friends quickdraws their pistol and shoots him in the head, and nobody even reacts.

The doctor looks around, seeing all the men unresponsive, so he takes a moment to look around, skeptical that things would work this easily.

Walking to the side of the truck on this desolate mountain path, he sees the officers in the vehicle ahead of them also standing idle and unresponsive.

"Hmm," the man says to himself while fumbling through one of the officers pockets, "thought he was supposed to command them to do a dramatic finish..."

BANG!

He drops the phone as a gunshot goes off just beside him, falling to the floor he holds his chest, not expecting that.

Only calming down when he looks to the side, seeing one of the men had killed himself.

All around him the remaining officers did the same, until he was standing among a crowd of corpses.

Taking out the phone he dials a number, and after it rings once he hangs up.

"Ok that'll do it," he pockets the phone and gets back into the back of the truck, kneeling beside the dying boy.

He feels for a pulse, getting a faint response, then lowers his head to hear the boy still breathing.

"Are you done in there?" Shigaraki's tired voice asks the doctor, causing the man's head to snap to the left, seeing Shigaraki, Dabi, and Mr. Compress all looking at him.

"The boy, he's barely alive, but he can be saved," the man says as he eagerly approaches the villains, hopping out of the truck.

"Would be a waste to let him die like this, that Quick sure was useful," Dabi looks around at all the bodies.

"His body wasn't functional with his Quirk," Mr. Compress says. "The more he used it the more it destroyed him, at best he could be a Nomu now."

"Engineering that would take too much of our resources, assuming it's even possible," Shigaraki says. "Our mysterious benefactor says its not worth the hassle, so we'll be leaving him to die here, the news like to report on dead kids after all..."

Hearing this the man nervously glances between the villains, "and what about me?"

"You did well, so we'll be sending you to a remote lab where bodies are prepared to become Nomu," Shigaraki says with a sigh. "Honestly we're a bit understaffed when it comes to competent minds in that department, and out mysterious benefactor doesn't want to reveal himself so Twice can just make doubles of him to work more efficiently."

"A competent geneticist like yourself with a desire to study and create Nomu is invaluable," Mr. Compress says.

As they're speaking Dabi checks his phone, "the cops notice this convoy's GPS stopped, they're on the way here."

"Oh well," Shigaraki sighs. "We'll finish this talk back at base, let's get out of here."

As he says that a large Warp Gate manifests behind them, allowing the villains to enter, escaping with no issue.

But before the doctor enters Shigaraki stops him, "the phone you used to signal us..."

"Oh, right," the man takes the phone out of his pocket and hands it to Shigaraki, who immediately disintegrates it.

"Now we can---" Shigaraki stops, looking past the man at Dabi, who was inspecting one of the bodies. "What are you doing?"

Dabi takes the badge and gun before getting up and walking over to them, "what? You never wanted one?"

Shigaraki just shakes his head, "whatever, let's get out of here before miracle boy shows up..." 

And with that they all enter the Warp Gate, disappearing once again.

---1 Hour Later...

As the other police officers set up a perimeter to keep the press away while recording and cleaning the crime scene, nearby stands Tsukauchi and Horizon at the back of the detective's car.

His police laptop was open on the trunk for both of them to look at the footage recovered from the scene.

As the videos download from the camera's Horizon looks over the car out at the press, seeing many cameras aimed at him, then looks back down at Tsukauchi.

"So much for this being a quiet hunt for the League of Villains huh."

"Yeah, now that the word is out all their spies will be on even higher alert, making our job a lot harder," Tsukauchi says.

"Why were you even nearby? Didn't expect you to be here so soon..."

"I was waiting at the holding facility to question our newest mad scientist, but he had other plans," he nods toward the crime scene. "Why didn't you escort them yourself? The press will definitely want to know that..."

"I couldn't leave the base, there was too much data that the league couldn't afford to give me there. A lot more than we expected, honestly, if I leave they could destroy it all, I couldn't even come here till I copied everything."

"And the other Pro Heroes that were with you?"

"Only three, and there were so many Nomu that they had to go with that convoy, some of those things were the High End Nomu, the kind that Endeavor fought last year."

"Damn," Tsukauchi sighs. "Yeah good call then, compared to those things these prisoners were worthless, and still Shigaraki only sent people to attack this convoy, and didn't even bother to save the kid."

"Likely to make a statement to the public, reminding people that he's out there lurking like the creep he is," Horizon shrugs. "But honestly all this shows is that he's scared of me, didn't even risk coming to demolish the data at the base while I was there."

"True, but people still died, including a kid."

"A villain."

"True, but something tells me the news will focus on him being a kid more, what was wrong with him anyway?"

"His Quirk acted like a degenerate disease, the more he used it the more it destroyed his body and mind. He was blind and his brain was torn apart, which wasn't like that when I saw him at the lab."

"Must be one hell of a Quirk if it caused all of this."

"Yeah, but a Quirk that degenerates the user at a DNA level, not useful to them since---"

"They can't clone it into a Nomu without a lot of resources."

"Assuming they can clone it at all."

"What did it do anyway?"

"Something telepathic, and with his eyes, but he also had Trigger in his system, a very powerful variant, so this wasn't natural."

"That explains how he was able to kill himself with it," as Tsukauchi says that the videos begin to appear on screen. "Now let's find out exactly what it does..."

A few minutes later they piece together enough footage from all the videos to figure out exactly what happened.

"So he made them into some kind of sleeper agents via eye contact," Tsukauchi says. "That's messed up on so many levels."

"And it explains all the mental strain," Horizon says while typing away on a projected keyboard via the wristband Mei made him. 

"Anything from your search?" 

"Just one, looks like one of the components of that new Trigger formula comes from Otheon, a flower that only grows there."

"Otheon? That far away?" Tsukauchi rubs his chin. "Guess I'll send this up the chain of command, get them informed of what's going on, but it's likely just someone exporting it or growing it somewhere else anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Ryukyu and I questioned a chemist last year about Trigger, he said there was some kind of contest held by someone, they paid a lot, and the goal was to create the strongest variation of Trigger possible. A lab in Europe won."

"A lab in Otheon maybe...then I definitely need to get this up the chain of command, I'll make a few calls tonight."

"Good, now I need to get back to the tower, I'd rather not be seen outside of Minato Tokyo for too long."

"Working on sorting all the Nomu data tonight?"

"Yeah, what better way to spend Friday night, right?" 

"The work never ends," Tsukauchi sighs. "Well I'll be done as soon as I close off this crime scene, good luck."

"Yeah, you too..." Horizon says as he warps away, swapped with a leaf.

---Horizon Tower, 11 PM...

Sitting on the couches, Horizon, Sero, Juzo, and Shinso are watching the late night news.

To the surprise of no one the story of Shigaraki's latest movements have already made headlines.

"So his Quirk just made them kill themselves?" Shinso asks. "That's messed up."

"Says the guy with Brainwashing," Sero says.

"Yeah but I can't make people do anything that they know would get them hurt, can't even make them walk off a roof much less shoot themselves in the head."

"Not yet," Horizon says. "But with enough training you'll get there eventually, hopefully. But his Quick was more like he'd give a hypnotic command that can be activated later, making people into sleeper agents. The Trigger just amped it a lot, but that Quirk also killed him so you know...more power, more drawbacks."

"Unless you're you," Juzo says. "All the power, no drawbacks, right?"

"That's one way to look at it, but with me the power is the drawback."

"I thought the fishbowl on your head was the drawback?" Sero asks, and both the other boys start laughing as Horizon just sighs.

"I need a snack," Horizon gets up and walks over to the kitchen, still in view of everyone on the couches. 

"Can you get me some chips! Thanks!" Juzo says.

As the news finishes Sero checks his phone, and a wide grin appears on his face. "Good news, Yui is in Tokyo tomorrow...well, in Chiba."

"Why the hell is she in Chiba?" Shinso asks.

"Something about a villain they're looking for being part of a group in Chiba, honestly I wasn't really listening."

"What a great boyfriend you are," Juzo says.

"What does she even sound like?" Horizon asks as he returns with a back of peanuts, and hands Juzo a bag of potato chips.

"Like a gentle maiden, what else would she sound like?"

"Huh, figured her voice would be annoying and squeaky," Horizon says.

"I assumed the same thing," Juzo adds.

"I thought she was a mute," Shinso confesses.

"She can talk, she's just really shy, that's all."

"It's a bit weird," Horizon says, earning nods from the other two boys.

"Whatever," Sero grumbles.

"So what, you gonna see her in Chiba tomorrow?" Shinso asks.

"Actually, this group they're going after sounds pretty tough, so I figured we could go over and lend them some muscle."

Shinso, Juzo, and Horizon look at each other for a moment, then speak in unison.

"Pass."

"C'mon guys, if it's just me the Pros running it will probably turn me down, but if Team Horizon shows up to help..."

"I have a lot of work to do," Horizon says.

"I'm resting after dealing with that giant robot," Juzo says.

"I um... I'll be busy thinking of an excuse," Shinso says.

"C'mon!" Sero pleas, "it won't even take long with all of us there, then we'll have a day in Tokyo with the girls."

This gets their attention, "what girls?" Juzo asks.

"Well you'll be happy to know that Majestic is part of this little team up, which means Setsuna will be there," Sero looks at Horizon. "And Momo, perfect timing too since Ryuko is visiting her team this weekend..."

"I have enough time with her at UA," Horizon says.

"Yeah and I just think Setsuna's hot, it's not that serious to have a day in Tokyo with her."

"All the Hero Course girls are attractive," Shinso shrugs. "It's not that special."

"And it doesn't mean we need to get dragged into a team up with some annoying Pro Heroes just because you want to show off for your girlfriend," Horizon says.

"C'mon guys, their mentors already promised that when the raid is over they'd get some time in Tokyo, this is a golden opportunity, please help me out here!"

They all look at each other for a moment, then Horizon speaks.

"Sigh, fine, but I'm gonna complain the entire time, and I'm obviously not running around Tokyo shopping with you people."

"YES!" Sero cheers. "Thanks, you guys are the best."

"Hey quick question," Shiso says. "Since I'm the only one here without a desire to be around these girls...can I just sleep in tomorrow while you guys---"

"No, it's a team exercise," Horizon says. "And if I have to suffer through this, so do you.."

END CHAPTER---

259 chapters deep, really struggling with these titles...