CHAPTER 187(Cold Leads)

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CHAPTER START---

"So how do you feel?" Horizon asks.

He was currently sitting in a high end hotel room in Musutafu, looking at UA in the distance atop its hill while listening to some news reports on his phone.

"I still can't believe this is happening," a woman says as she takes the seat opposite him. An older woman approaching her sixties, hair already grey and face wrinkled, but dressed in a suit.

"That didn't answer the question."

"I'm feeling better than I have in years," she takes a deep breath. "I can finally breath freely again, and my back pains are gone...I can probably keep up with my grandkids now."

"Well, I'm good at what I do, I promised a full checkup and to fix whatever I found, and I delivered."

"Yes, but honestly when the big bad Horizon came knocking, I expected to be dragged off in cuffs, not negotiating a deal."

"Well, I can always do that later, but that doesn't get me what I want."

"Not like I could stop you, not like anyone could. The information you requested is in my car downstairs."

Horizon puts his phone down and looks toward the car, through the floor, "the papers?"

"Yeah."

SHAMBLES!

He warps away for a moment the reappears with a thick stack of papers.

'No wonder villains have their head in the sand, kids a monster,' she thinks but wisely doesn't say aloud.

"Handwritten, why?" he asks, already skimming them.

"You asked me for the manifests of all my clients hidden airfields across Japan, that's not something I'm willing to just download to give you a backdoor into my system. I have a business to run."

"Fair enough."

"How'd you find me by the way?" She asks. "I made sure the Pro Heroes and Police didn't even know I existed, but you just called my phone like it was nothing."

"Maybe you aren't as invisible as you thought..."

"Bullshit," she scoffs. "Someone talked, so who's the rat?"

"Everyone talks when I put hands on them, but all that matters is you're useful to me, so I'll keep you around."

"Was useful, I'm leaving Japan. I'm not foolish enough to stick around when UA's golden boy knows my address, that's not how I lasted this long."

"What you do is none of my business, just be gone by the end of the week, now back to my question about these being handwritten, not even printed, that's unusual, so..."

The woman sighs, "Tech."

"Tech?"

"That's a name that came up once or twice," she says. "My business was brining people in under the radar, big names and big players that had to get themselves across borders or move a lot of...higher tier items."

"I know, you dealt with guns and glory, no drugs and silly things like that, I've done my research obviously."

"Well you asked me to look into anyone by the codename Wolfram, got one hit from a landing strip up in the mountains to the west. Big guy, a foreigner, could control metal from the way he folded up the fence at the airstrip."

"That's the one."

"Yeah well his trail ran cold, and I figured if I helped you find him maybe you'd be honest and stick to your deal...at the time I still thought this was a setup, can't blame me for being paranoid."

"Understandable."

"Well everywhere this guy goes the cameras start glitching, telltale sign of someone else, a group called Tech, must be thousands of hackers working together. One of their men passed through Japan before about five years ago before heading back to America."

"For what?"

"To set up supply lines, linking Japan, America, Europe, Russia, Brazil, and China, plus some others, factories with vehicle and computer parts."

"Using their quirks to manufacture commercial goods, highly illegal without the proper licenses, which they probably don't have," Horizon says.

"But they pay, and since they're connected to seemingly everything, I didn't want to take the risk of exporting these files on Wolfram, hence me having to stay up and write it all out."

"I see," Horizon ponders this information for a moment. "Well you kept up your side of the agreement, we'll never mention this to anyone and you can get out of Japan as soon as possible."

"Thank you, and for the record, I much prefer when Pro Heroes ask for what they want instead of coming in swinging, even if your bedside manner needs a lot of work."

"I get that a lot, but does it really matter, you're a villain..."

"Criminal," she corrects him. "Villain means I used my Quirk to commit a crime, and since I'm not somehow committing crimes with my Acid Spit, I'm just a regular criminal."

"Technicalities, I've got work to do, have a good life."

SHAMBLES!

Now back in his room Horizon sits on his couch and puts his feet up, flipping through the stack of papers he just got.

Shrinking his Room to only encompass the dorms, he looks around for a moment.

He senses Sero playing video games with Kirishima and Ojiro in the common area. Shinso and Tokoyami finishing up some studying for tomorrow.

Deku and Bakugo are outside sparring, with Shoto and Uraraka watching them.

Then his focus jumps over to Momo's room where he senses her, Jiro, and a few other girls excitedly talking on her bed.

'I really hope that's not about me...' he thinks before cutting off his Quirk. 'It's probably about me.'

"Nezu's system is the most secure in the world, it'll be fine if I just scan these files," he mutters while taking out his phone.

---10 Minutes later...

Standing in front of a hologram being projected in his room, he sees a map of Japan with dozens of small dots across it.

"Too many places, Wolfram can use any of these as a cover if he cares about a place with a lot of metal that nobody would care about if it went missing."

He swipes his hand and the map refreshes, now completely blank.

"Ok, if I were him, then I'd assume that Horizon is protecting the Shields so I could just team up with the league, but the league hasn't shown up in weeks so that doesn't give me any new leads either."

He thinks for a moment, then opens the Hero Network on another hologram and gives a command, "map the most recent Nomu sightings."

Three dots appear on the opposite side of Japan, to the southwest shore, "been weeks since the last one...dead leads.

Well, atleast I know Wolfram is in Japan. No face or description, like hunting a ghost, but the only thing I can confirm is that my bait works. But he won't strike unless they leave UA or I'm not around. So best to just stay put and hope he gets impatient, then I'll kick his teeth in when he shows his face."

With an annoyed grumble he sits back and looks at the map.

"So much bullshit to deal with, all to play the perfect hero role...but I'll have this world groveling at my feet in no time.

Save the Shields- get David and Melissa Shield in my pocket, and instantly have All Might's most famous and outspoken supporter in my corner. Almost guaranteed hall of fame potential in that alone from the credit he'll bring me.

Maybe find a way to reverse the Nomu operation...unlikely, but atleast make an effort. Having Eraser Head on my side makes UA a lot more tolerable already, and hell a Nobel Prize could be fun to have.

Same with this," he raises his hand and activates his Quirk, allowing the energy mist to waft off his hand. "Figure out a way to cure things without being there and suddenly I'm at the top of the world...and I'm never coming down.

And they won't have a choice but to give me everything I want, and then some."

He then looks back up to the map, "if only I could make progress on this idiot first."

'Maybe if I just dip into Arsenal or Law Matani's resources,' he genuinely contemplates this. 'No, keep all three separate. Law is a businessman, Horizon is a perfect Hero, and Arsenal's connections are for criminals only...the only way I win is to have the world in my hand, then leave.

Give it all up and disappear to live a peaceful life somewhere. I almost can't wait for that day... But I will somewhat miss people tripping over themselves to reach me, this Pro Hero gig has its uses.'

With a wave of his hand, the map goes away as he neatly stacks up all his papers.

Then he taps his phone a few times, and another map of Japan shows up. This time with red lines covering some of the roads to blinking red nodes in major cities and some smaller towns. Even some places just off the shore were blinking.

"Orca and Edgeshot must have updated my map today, some of these routes are new," he can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it. "First-year UA student, leading his own independent takedown of major contraband distribution lines across the country, so successful that even Pro Heroes jump onboard to get a piece of the action, Rank 1 here I come..."

And just as he's about to review their updates, a knock on his door pulls his focus away.

He expands his Room enough to sense Momo anxiously waiting outside his door.

A folder in her hands, wearing a sweater dress, and nothing below it.

'Huh, guess Mina got into her head, I'll need to thank Pinky later...now to check one item off the to-do list...'

END CHAPTER---