CHAPTER 301(While Horizon Is Away)

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CHAPTER START---

---June 7th, 3 PM...

Within the Mt. Lady Agency, Tsukuyomi has his arms crossed and eyes closed.

The silence and stillness of the waiting room only feed his anxiety, which is not at all helped by how casual his friend is being.

Beside him sits Simon, who is busy typing something on his phone, passing the time as they wait for the others.

"Cellophane says they're almost here," Simon says.

"Good, it's almost time for the meeting," Tsukuyomi says. "Do you know how many people will be here?"

Simon shrugs as Tsukuyomi looks over at him. 

"How many of these have Team Horizon done before?"

"Just a few, but we haven't done any since Horizon's been on vacation. What, you nervous?"

Tsukuyomi looks down at the floor, "Hawks never took me on any of his Team-Ups, we only worked with those within his Hero Agency, I was familiar with those people."

"Mhm, well, welcome to the big leagues, I guess," Simon says. "Well, I guess technically it's a downgrade since Mt. Lady isn't in the top 10 while Hawks is number 2. How are you holding up after he dropped you?"

"He didn't drop me, we simply parted ways," Tsukuyomi says.

"Well whatever, you chose Team Horizon over Hawks, most people would think that's stupid, but it was a good move, you've already learned everything that only he could teach," Simon says. "Did you ever learn what his problem with Horizon was anyway?"

"The same thing many Pro Heroes don't like, he dropped a city on a civilian population and only got a slap on the wrist for it, but it did seem a bit more personal when Hawks spoke about it."

"Hmm, Horizon never really mentioned anything about Hawks before, maybe Cellophane will know."

"It doesn't matter, I've learned more about applying and growing my Quirk in the past 6 weeks with Team Horizon than I did with him," Tsukuyomi says. "I'll always be thankful for all he taught me, and he knows that much, but I do feel as though to grow I had to---"

"---Spread your wings and leave the nest?"

Tsukuyomi groans, "Leave the bad jokes for Cellophane."

"Yeah, I really should. But you don't have to be nervous about Team-Up events like this, really," Simon says. "We've done a few of them, and even without Horizon we're more useful than most Pro Heroes, that's why we're here even if half of them don't approve of us still being on Team Horizon."

"They aren't what I'm concerned about," Tsukuyomi says. "Horizon expects near perfection from us, and now I'll have the entire world watching, more than usual, it's intimidating."

"That part never goes away, it comes with the territory..."

They fall back into silence for a few minutes before the door opens, and both Cellophane and Mudman walk over to them.

"You're almost late," Simon says.

"Almost doesn't count," Cellophane counters. "There was a car chase on the way here so we got distracted."

"Villains have been making up for lost time with Horizon gone," Mudman says. "I forgot how obnoxiously populous they were."

"Are," Cellophane says. "They were just hiding, the number never really went down."

"Let's go," Mudman says as he turns around and begins leaving the room.

They all fall into step beside him, moving through the hallways of the Hero Agency, finally coming upon a large room with chairs and desks set up.

In the front of the room was a small stage and podium with a projector shining onto the far wall.

On the stage were Mt. Lady and Edgeshot, both speaking quietly, away from the mic.

They look up for a moment as Team Horizon enters the otherwise empty room, getting a wave from Cellophane, then return to their quiet conversation.

Mudman looks around, finds one of the long tables with their seats already reserved, and begins walking over to it.

"Did Gang Orca not come with you?" Tsukuyomi asks as they take their seats.

"They wanted Team Horizon, so he stayed back at his Agency," Mudman says. At a glance he notices Tsukuyomi's arms crossed, one finger tapping his arm. "Quit being so nervous, they called us here for a reason, don't forget that."

"Yup," Cellophane chuckles. "They called us halfway across Japan instead of just leaning on the local Pro Heroes, try to chill out and enjoy being important."

"I rather they lean on the Pro Heroes from this area," Simon says. "Securing Minato Tokyo is already more than a full-time job."

"You're just whiny because we're away from Horizon Tower," Mudman giggles. "Missing your girlfriend already?"

"Tch."

Cellophane sighs, "You're so lucky she works just one stop from Horizon Tower, I only get to see Yui in school, and we're barely even there anymore."

"I for one appreciate the practice," Tsukuyomi says. "Spending four days a week in Tokyo is good for my Quirk, but..."

"School is catching up to us," Mudman grumbles. "Yeah, you're not alone on that front."

"Just three more weeks and we're done, then we can do whatever we want," Cellophane says as more Pro Heroes pour into the room.

"If 'whatever we want' means spending all our summer vacation doing Hero Work in Minato Tokyo, then yeah, whatever we want," Mudman says quietly as the seats around them begin filling up.

"I think we could take a weekend and head to the beach, just us and the girls, or we could have a party," Cellophane says quietly.

"Just because Horizon left us a card for expenses doesn't mean we have to use it, you do realize that, right?"

"He's a billionaire, he won't notice," Cellophane says. "Besides, it's a, um, 'team building' exercise, yeah."

"Let's put a pin in that until summer starts," Mudman says as Mt. Lady walks to the podium. "Hey Cellophane, I thought The Lurkers broke up after the Gigantomachy?"

"They did," he says. "That's why Kamui Woods isn't here, and why they don't talk anymore, but I'm guessing she has to put up with Edgeshot since he's the most high-ranking contact she has."

"No wonder Horizon doesn't want girls on the team," Tsukuyomi says.

"Well he can have them now," Mudman says as Mt. Lady prepares to speak. "I'm the only single guy in the tower, and I'm the smart one, smart enough not to sleep with a teammate."

"I'm also single," Tsukuyomi reminds him.

"Oh, I thought I heard you talking to a girl the other day on your phone."

"That was Ms. Midnight, feedback on an early submission of our Hero History project."

"Wait, the what?" Cellophane looks at him, completely surprised.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," Mt. Lady draws all eyes onto her, with Edgeshot and Ryukyu standing nearby just off the stage.

Team Horizon falls silent along with the others as she begins her presentation.

"I know we normally prefer to have more time and information before organizing a raid of this magnitude, but unfortunately the criminals have gathered under a few major banners in these past few weeks.

Since Horizon disappeared from the public eye at the end of the UA Sports Festival, not only have the League Of Villains been making bold moves, but other criminal organizations that his presence had suppressed have banded together.

They've been very careful not to cause any large-scale disasters, it seems they're aware that if anything too extreme happens Japan can always end Horizon's suspension early, but that doesn't mean they haven't been busy.

They wish to make the most of their time until he's back on the field in September. Because of this getting intel has been much more difficult, even with the comparatively absurd amount of drugs, weapons, and ...other contraband they've been moving into and through Japan."

She gestures to the wall behind her and the the projector shows a large warehouse in a port.

"This building is located 14km -8.6 mi- west of here, not only is it storing a stockpile of illegal guns and Trigger, but in two days a boat will be docking nearby to take these items out of the country.

Due to the limited information, our main objective is to secure the area, apprehend all the villains, and confiscate the illegal items. Now, before we go over the layout of the building and what kind of resistance we can expect, are there any questions?"

Only one person raises a hand, Mudman.

While he does that Cellophane leans back, taking out his phone and subtly doing some searches, already knowing where this was about to go.

Simon, who sits between Cellophane and Mudman, just gives a tired sigh.

Tsukuyomi who sits to the right of Mudman doesn't react, not sure what's going on.

"Yes, Mudman, what's your question?" Mt. Lady asks.

"What happens to the other stockpiles they have around the country when we raid this one, won't they just move all of that contraband to multiple smaller places that make it harder to find?"

"That is a possibility, but unfortunately we can't focus on that at the moment."

"But that will just make our jobs in the future harder to do, and make things worse locally."

Mt. Lady and many others give him a slightly perplexed look at those words, "What do you mean?"

"Well, if the guns and stuff are leaving Japan, then we just let them go and it's not our problem for a while. All we have to do is find the person at the top and lock them up before they use the money. But if we attack this warehouse then all the other stockpiles scatter and circulate through Japan even longer."

"Are you saying we should leave those weapons to go abroad and hurt people, simply because it keeps our country slightly safer in the short term?" Mt. Lady asks.

"No, I'm saying if we're doing this we should hit all the stockpiles at once, while also finding the source and dealing with them too," Mudman says.

"It's not quite as simple as what we want," Mt. Lady says. "This is all the information we were able to collect before our source had to get out of there, this is all we have to work with, so we're working with it."

"By running into a group of villains that are ready, willing, and armed with a massive stockpile of guns," Mudman says. "And regardless of the outcome, it makes future raids near impossible, this is a bad plan."

Mt. Lady glares at him as the tension in the room rises, "If Horizon asked you to do this would you have been this determined to punch holes in it?"

"Yes, that's why I lead Team Horizon when he's not here, to think of all possibilities and outcomes, not that it matters," Mudman says. "Horizon would have known better than to ask..."

Mt. Lady's eyes go wide as the Pro Heroes in the room look between her and Mudman in disbelief, as does Tsukuyomi, yet Simon and Cellophane don't seem surprised.

Before Mt. Lady can speak Edgeshot steps forward, raising a hand to stop her.

"Can you get us the intel we need?" Edgeshot asks. "We discarded that path since the time is so limited, but if you can get it before tomorrow morning we may be able to alter our course."

Hearing that Mudman simply turns to his left, nodding toward Cellophane and Simon, "five hours."

"So much for an easy Team-Up," Simon says in a tired voice as he gets up.

"When we're done we should get some dinner," Cellophane says as he gets up. "Pizza?" he asks Simon as they move toward the door.

"You decide..."

All the Pro Heroes turn back and forth between the two Provisional Heroes and Mt. Lady, as if asking 'Seriously?', but she simply schools her annoyed features and continues on with the meeting...

END CHAPTER---