MHA: Horizon

Chapter 3: (The Matani's Last Supper)

Chapter 3: (The Matani's Last Supper)

Read auxiliary chapter World Info before starting the story.

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

---7 Years Old...

In the same operating room where Law first used Hand Of God, lies an unconscious woman, her body missing the top half of her head as the oxygen mask placed over her mouth keeps her unconscious, but very much alive. The same invisible barrier of space rests at the point of separation from her body.

At the other end of the room at a metal desk sits Law with the top of her head still very much alive in front of him.

With his father looking over his shoulder, "Amputate," Law commands while he carefully cuts her head down the middle, splitting her skull and brainstem in one swift motion. Once again harmlessly dividing her body.

"There it is," Corazon says as he points to the blinking little bead attached to her brainstem.

Focusing on the bead law raises his hand in a grasping motion, placing a little vial of water beside the head he focuses on both the water and the bead.

"Shambles," he commands. A single drop of water swaps places with the bead, dropping the blinking bead into her vial and placing a harmless drop of water on her brainstem.

Releasing a tired sigh Law wipes the sweat from his brow. This was the final surgery of a very long day, the seventh bomb he's removed from a person's head in a row.

Looking around he focuses and sees the bubble enveloping the room. A faint blue tinge hung in the air that was only visible to him.

"Room," he commands and the bubble seems to pop.

ROOM is the basis of his quirk, all his other techniques must be performed within this operating room, however, some effects will persist outside of this ROOM. The ROOM cannot exist without Law being inside.

The size of his ROOM as well as how long it persists is entirely determined by his stamina, there is no other limit. No material can block it, no quirk can resist it, and no other person can perceive it.

SHAMBLES is a technique that allows him to freely substitute the positions of any items within his ROOM. Effectively allowing him to warp around anywhere he wants as long as there is something to swap with.

Working together both men reassemble the woman, quickly undoing the effects of his first technique.

AMPUTATE, is a technique that ignores all physical resistances and divides space itself to cut matter. This technique does no harm to living things however and can be extended as far as his room reaches, although he requires a bladed tool to use this.

After putting the woman back together his father scans her. While less effective than Law's SCAN technique which can pinpoint anything within his ROOM depending on his awareness, or allows him to target a particular organ within a person if he's making contact while scanning them.

Corazon took the lead in the final check-up as Law was already tired from constantly making ROOMs today.

"She's perfectly fine," his father said. "You know your quirk really is a miracle. Of all the people in this world, I do believe you're the one that can become a god, all these new techniques always showing up. I couldn't be happier, and you're learning medicine so quickly too, now that really makes me proud."

"I still have a long way to go, I can only operate on certain organs without you supervising me, brain surgery would have been impossible without you," Law says.

"You're still young, you've got time," his father removes his gloves and ruffles Law's hair. "Why don't you go see what your mom made for dinner while I deal with this," he gestures to the unconscious woman. "Remember we don't want people seeing your face."

"Right, don't take too long," Law says as he removes his gloves and leaves to get cleaned up.

Watching his son leave Corazon looks at the little vial on the desk still containing the explosive bead. Something that would have been impossible to remove without the phasing quirk that placed it there, "yeah, you're gonna be on top of the world son..."

---9 Years Old...

CLANG!

On a highrise rooftop in Hosu city Law and his mother, Kiku, clash blades.

The professional Adventurer, as she prefers to call herself, educates her son in the art of combat while his father handles more academic pursuits.

"Faster!" she demands as she parries another of his sword strikes. "Your quirk gives you an absurd boost to spatial awareness, use it and increase your reaction time. You can get it close to zero with enough training."

While Law was covered in sweat and panting heavily, she was as calm as ever without a worry on her face. He holds his sword out -a perfectly straight short saber reminiscent of a scalpel- and accepts her challenge while she simply has her right hand in the form of a greatsword and gives him a bored look.

Spinning on his heel Law turns his back to her and slashes forward, slashing at empty space.

'Shambles,' he mentally commands, no longer needing the crutch of saying his intent out loud to activate his quirk.

He and Kiku instantly swap places. For the briefest instant, her eyes widen before she spins on her heel and easily parries his strike.

"Not bad," she complements while locking blades with him. "But this isn't a sword duel," she says before punching him in the face, knocking him onto his back.

"Ow," he groans while rubbing his face.

Kiku sighs and helps him up, dusting him off slightly. "Law, in this world the only thing that matters is power. Most of society isn't allowed to use quirks because the people in charge know this is true. They can't control everyone, so I need you to focus more on the combat applications of your quirk for when you need it, alright?"

"Alright..."

"The sooner you learn this the better. In this world there is no good or evil, there are no heroes and villains. The strong decide those things, they decide the labels and rules. The weak don't even get to choose how they die, you have to be the strong," she says in a serious tone.

As they take a break Law walks over to their backpack and takes out two burgers, handing one to his mother.

Sitting with their legs hanging off the top of the building they look out over the peaceful mid-day city.

"What do you think I need to work on more?" Law asks his mom as they're having lunch.

"Hmm," she thinks about it for a moment. "Well, you're already past the first hurdle. See most people either don't or can't legally encourage their kids to use their quirk as much as possible, especially not as much as we do because, well, laws. That's usually the first roadblock and you're comfortable enough to instinctively use your quirk anywhere and any time. Now you need to work on combat sense and the size of your ROOM. Covering a few buildings won't be enough if shit hits the fan after all."

"Mhm, so just keep pushing my limits, I can do that," Law says.

"Yeah but have fun too, maybe get a girlfriend? Not that I don't like you being more mature than a lot of people but what's the point of all the fighting if you end up alone," she leans over and pulls him into a hug. "That's why I have you and your dad."

"Mm, I rather just stay in the clinic," Law decides.

"Tch, you're gonna be one lonely god huh," Kiku says as her phone beeps. "That's our signal."

Raising a hand to her face she covers both her eyes. Activating her quirk her hand seems to flatten before two holes appear, one in her palm and the other in her fingers to form high-powered scopes.

Looking at the city below she sees her target.

A tall and bald man in a three-piece suit with bodyguards surrounding him. Walking at his side is his trophy wife with their five-year-old daughter between them holding both their hands.

"Gotcha," she says. "Pass me a round."

Without looking Law reaches into their day pack and passes her a four-inch-long, .50 caliber bullet.

"Thanks," she says as she holds it in her hands. Making a squeezing motion both her arms shift and twist into a massive rifle with a high-powered scope. "Contract calls for this to be messy, oh well," she says as she aims.

"Can I get the next one?" Law asks.

"Mmm," she considers it for a moment, "what the hell, you're already nine, gotta get your feet wet at some point..."

"Yesss!" he cheers, finally feeling like he'd be able to really contribute to her work.

"Just in case, and I'll be choosing all your targets alright, can't afford any slip-ups," she takes a deep breath. "1500 meters on a crowded street in broad daylight, you know what most people call that?" asks says as she exhales.

"Impossible," Law says, "but for us, it's just another Monday," he laughs.

"Damn right..."

Focusing her mind she gently squeezes the trigger, firing between her heartbeats to silence her targets'.

With no issue the bullet tears through the air and one of his guards before hollowing out the man's chest in front of his family, painting them all red.

Watching through his binoculars Law doesn't even flinch, over the years of being a surgeon and her spotter he's quite used to the sight of blood.

As the round is released the bullet shell pops out of her rifle as her hands shift back, slight red spot on her forearms from the heat of the shell.

"Takt," Law catches the casing before it falls to the streets below them and stores it in their backpack.

TAKT is his equivalent to telekinesis or gravity control, although it operates more vaguely as simply manipulating space, allowing him to even move liquids or simply command it in an area to raise a pile of sand instead of focusing on every grain. However larger objects need more specific focus and consume more energy. He also cannot directly move himself with this technique.

Placing a hand on her shoulder arm where the injury is he focuses on her, "Booster Shot."

She feels a small adrenaline surge as he removes his hand, and the sore sport completely heals as if it were never there.

Booster Shot was a more recent development, allowing him to convert his own stamina into healing for others, or to use it on himself to heal. If he uses it on a person or himself without needing any healing, it instead gives a physical boost proportional to the stamina consumed.

Getting ready to leave the roof as sirens start blaring and heroes rush to the scene, the duo casually enters the elevator and descends to the lobby.

Kiku still rubs where her arm was stinging from the recoil and heat, thankful for her son's healing technique. Unlike Lady Nagant, while Kiku can make any weapon her flesh is only reinforced to a certain extent, she also can't separate body parts, therefore, making and firing ammunition is impossible with only her quirk, which leads to her preferring close-range fights overall.

"So your birthday is coming up, anything you want?" Kiku asks as they walk down the street, ignoring the fleet of emergency vehicles passing by.

"Obsidian scalpels, maybe a new sword?" Law answers immediately.

Kiku sighs, "sure, but how about you also pick something outside of medicine or training. I know those are your first loves but it's ok to branch off a bit and have fun."

"Hmmm," Law ponders it for a minute as they round the corner to their car. "What about a skateboard?"

"Obsidian scalpels, a new sword, and a skateboard, that's easy enough," Kiku muses as they make their way home.

---15 Years Old...

Law had grown up quite a bit in the last few years, they suspect the mutations in his body -extra mitochondria in each cell- are what caused his height to shoot past both his parents. While they both stood at 177cm -5ft10 inches-, Law was already at 183cm, just a hair over six feet tall.

His body was well defined, muscular but mean, clearly he was someone who enjoyed weight lifting but could also go for a long run whenever he felt like it. His skin was slightly tanned, an extremely light brown hue, partly his natural complexion, and partly from how he spends his free time.

But likely the most startling feature is the bluish-white eyes that seem to look past everything in front of him.

Sitting around the dinner table Law gladly digs into his Katsudon, a deep-fried pork cutlet on a bed of fried eggs atop a spread of white rice.

Beside his plate is a small glass of whisky.

Both Kiku and Corazon have the exact same meal, a birthday and holiday tradition in their little family. Which is why they were eating it tonight, April 3rd, Law's 15th birthday.

This is what they ate the night they made Law and started their family, so they decided it should become a tradition.

"So who is she?" Kiku asks.

Law chokes on his rice for a moment, reaching for his glass to wash it down. "What?"

"The girl you snuck out of here this morning, she forgot her jacket," Kiku says with a bored look.

"Just some girl I met a few days ago, it's nothing serious," Law says.

"Another useless pretty face huh, why can't you just find a nice girl that you'll actually keep around for a change?" Kiku berates him.

"Ugh, why would I ever do that, I'm fourteen and I've got money and power, that means the world is just full of options for me," Law boasts.

"You sound just like your father, but he changed his tune when he met the right woman," Kiku says with a prideful smile.

"Mhm," Corazon nods. "Then I started a family and it was honestly the best thing to ever happen to me."

"Have you at least considered taking the actual medical license exam?" Kiku asks. "You know we have connections to get you in there, you'd easily pass and then we'd actually have a trusted license in the house, maybe even make the clinic legit."

"I don't know, I don't think I want to get involved in government stuff. What we're doing now works so why change it anyway."

"I'm just suggesting options, you've got your whole life ahead of you still no need to choose now," Kiku says.

"Well..." Law trails off nervously, "there actually is a job I was looking at."

Both his parents give him a strange look before his father speaks, "what job?"

"A simple hit."

"Law," Kiku narrows her eyes at him. "We've been over this."

"I've been watching you for a decade, studying constantly and practicing, just let me do one for once," he argues.

Narrowing her eyes at him Kiku silently considers all their options.

"If I say no will you do it anyway?"

"Yeah."

"Sigh, did you properly check the sources?"

"Of course."

"Where is it?"

"Only one district over."

"Target?"

"Some lawyer, works for an oil company."

"Pay?"

"Two million dollars," Law says.

Kiku frowns and looks over at her husband.

Corazon shakes his head, "if he's going anyway then I'd feel better with both of you there..."

"Damn it, fine, when?"

"He has a case tomorrow afternoon..."

END CHAPTER---

pat.reon (5 Chapters ahead): Keanu_Eugene

still open to suggestions and ideas for this story since only the 1st volume is completed :)