CHAPTER 302(While Horizon Is Away Pt.II)

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CHAPTER START---

"What's up?" Sero asks as he answers his cell phone, placing it on speaker on the desk.

He was in an opulent office, sitting behind the desk and typing away on the computer.

His visor was off, resting on the desk beside his phone as he worked.

"Any news on your search?" Edgeshot asks. "It's almost midnight, and we need the intel before 7, otherwise things get messy."

"I'm working on it right now," Sero says. "How are things with recruiting more Pro Heroes for the other locations?"

"Enedavor was busy working on bringing down a potential Nomu manufacturing facility, but we got a lot of B and C list Pro Heroes."

"Well, we left you Tsukuyomi and Mudman, so you'll be good," Sero says as he continues working. "Is Mt. Lady still mad at him?"

"For embarrassing her in front of everyone?" Edgeshot's words were drenched in sarcasm. "Who doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of their peers during their first time leading a big operation like this?"

"That bad huh?"

"Worse thank you think, luckily your team is more useful than most entire Pro Hero agencies in Japan so she can't retaliate."

"Awe, you'll make me blush," Sero chuckles. "Has Mudman been helping to plan things?"

"Yeah, he's better than you said, didn't think that was possible," Edgeshot says. "What kind of training does he do with Horizon?"

"No idea, that big brain stuff isn't really what I do on the team," Sero says. "I'm a versatile hitter and utility player, Mudman and Horizon do all the tactics stuff for big projects."

"Hmm, can I head back to UA with you when you're going back?" Edgeshot asks. "I'd like to talk to Horizon about some plans I have."

"Uh..." Sero tenses for a moment. "That, won't be possible, Horizon doesn't want to be bothered during training."

"Oh, I see."

"Yeah, but I can tell him to give you a call when we get back."

"Yeah, thanks, I really appreciate it," Edgeshot says. "He hasn't been on the Hero Network in weeks, he's taking this mandatory vacation thing seriously."

"Yeah, he really wants perfect control of his Quirk, he's been training non-stop every day at UA," Sero lied.

"I figured as much, what about your bird friend?"

"What about him?"

"I heard he used to work with Hawks, but now he doesn't anymore."

"They had a difference of opinion," Sero says as he starts downloading the files he wants. "Tsukuyomi joined Team Horizon, Hawks doesn't like Horizon."

"Lots of people don't, but he's necessary, unfortunately," Edgeshot says. "Well I was just curious, think your friend would want to join us at my Hero Agency? Granted you four are stuck in Minato Tokyo until Horizon gets back in the fight, but he seems like he'd be good for stealth and investigations."

"Hmm, I assumed he would have signed up with Gang Orca after this, but I'd rather have him with us," Sero says as the download finishes and he begins wiping the security footage. "Yeah, you should ask him after the raid."

"I'll just go ask him now," Edgeshot says.

"Really? Don't you want to see him versus real villains first?"

Edgeshot scoffs, "Don't you guys always say 'Team Horizon has no weak members'?"

Sero smiles, "That's right, we don't. Anyway, I need to go collect more intel, I'll call when we're done."

"Gotcha," Edgeshot hangs up.

After double-checking the security system Sero sees tonight's records are completely wiped and the system is still off.

Taking his visor he holds it under his arm and begins walking out of the office.

He enters the hallway and is greeted by a wall of glass, showing the outside of this penthouse suite overlooking Kyoto.

Walking down the hallway he makes it to the balcony above the living room, and while walking down the stairs of this luxury penthouse looks over the railing to see Shinso sitting on this couch.

He had his feet up and mask off, idly scrolling on his phone.

To his right, there was a middle-aged woman tied to a chair using the curtains, her mouth was also gagged, but her eyes were wide and staring directly at Shinso, terrified and enraged.

Tears continuously flowed down her cheeks, ruining her makeup.

She was completely unharmed, just like her husband, the man in an identical situation beside her, but instead of crying, he was red-faced with anger.

"Did you get everything?" Shinso asks, not even looking back at Sero.

"Almost, two of the big names at the top of the organization were missing," Sero says as he sits on the couch beside Shinso. "Who do you think will talk first, Bonnie or Clyde?" 

Shinso glances over at the couple, "They're not much of the Bonnie and Clyde type, unless Bonnie was an accountant and Clyde was a lawyer, for criminals that is."

The restrained man shakes in his restraints, clearly pissed off by that comment.

"Yeah yeah," Sero rolls his eyes. "Not criminals but 'respectable businessmen' or whatever you lawyers tell yourself."

"I must admit, I can't tell if it's smart that the criminal organization's main lawyer and accountant are a couple."

"We should ask," Sero says as he walks over and removes the gags.

"You fucking brats!" the man looks up at Sero. "I'm a lawyer! I know my rights! You broke into our home and tied us up, do you realize how fucked you---" 

Sero shoved the gag back into the man's mouth, then looked over to see the woman still silently crying.

He gestures to her, and Shinso nods.

"Accountant," Shinso's words get her attention. "Tell me the two names missing from your files."

The woman looks between Shino and her husband, then back at Shinso, "no, I won't."

"Won't, or can't?" Shinso asks. "If they're forcing you to work for them, we can help you, you know who we are, right?"

"I know, you're team Horizon," she says. "And I also know that no evidence you collect from us in here, in this state, will be usable against us in court. You can't do anything to us since you broke in here and threatened us, all you can do is use whatever scraps you have to arrest our clients."

"Criminals you were laundering money for," Sero says.

"You can't prove that in court," she glares at him finding her courage after crying all night.

Shinso sighs, "She's right. But you see, I'm willing to bet their files will make the connection for us, and give us all the reasons we need to arrest both of you. It's a 'Chicken or the egg' situation, doesn't matter which comes first because they're both connected."

"We'll never tell you," she growls out. "You break into our home, tie us up, and now what'll you do, huh hero, you're out of options. So how about you just walk away, and maybe we'll only sue you and your family into the dirt for a few generations."

Shinso sighs and nods toward the man.

Sero quickly removes his gag, and before the man starts yelling at them Shinso cuts him off.

"Do you love your wife?"

That catches the man off guard, and he takes a moment to respond. He scoffed, "What, you expect me to believe you're going to torture her if I don't talk? You're a Pro Hero boy, you don't play by those rules."

"We're Team Horizon," Sero says as he takes out a collapsable serrated knife from his utility belt. "We can do whatever we want."

"But we won't be hurting her," Shinso says. "You will..."

PARTIAL BRAINWASHING COMPLETE: Body Puppet.

The man's body, everything below his neck, goes entirely numb to him.

Shinso nods to Sero, and he immediately begins removing the man's restraints.

"What are you pla---" the man swallows his words as he tries to get up, but his body below the neck refuses to move. "What the---What did you do!"

"I don't know what you mean," Shinso says as Sero holds out the knife. "Take the knife from my friend."

The man obeys, only now, while following Shinso's command, can he feel his body. Only when following the commands of his master were his senses connected to his body, allowing him to feel the hard rubber handle in his grip.

"What are you doing!?"

"Nothing at all," Shinso says as Sero sits beside him, taking in the show. "Now, slowly, use the knife and gouge out one of her eyes," he commands.

"What?!" the woman looks up just in time as her husband holds her face and begins moving the knife toward her right eye. "Wait! Stop! Please don't do this!" her tears began flowing all over again.

"I can't! He's controlling my body!" the man had tears building in his eyes. "I'm so sorry! He won't let me stop!"

"Stop," Shinso commands, and the man stops just an inch from her eyeball. "Now are you willing to talk?"

"Wait," the man gets a bright idea, "you're bluffing, you can't actually make me hurt someone!"

"Hmm, let's see," Shinso thinks for a moment. "Illegal arms dealing, extortion, rape, kidnapping."

"Organ theft," Sero says.

"Blackmail."

"Illegal drug smuggling and dealing."

"Selling kids for their Quirks."

"Embezzlement."

"Assault and battery, and of course, murder."

"And bribing government officials," Sero says. "That's at least thirteen crimes."

"You forgot the Money Laundering," Shinso says.

"Fourteen."

"I'll round it up to fifteen," Shinso says. "Now, slowly carve fifteen tally marks into her forehead, deep enough to dig into the bone, begin," he commands.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH---!!!" 

The woman's screaming drowned out their thoughts, drowned out her husband's begging for forgiveness.

He begged Shinso to let him stop hurting his wife.

But the command had been given, and Shinso didn't make it a habit of showing mercy to monsters, that's not how Team Horizon does things.

She screamed, and cried, and bled. And her husband cried with her, forced to get a front-row seat as his own body held her head in place as he carved her up.

He could feel her warm blood running down to his hand.

Feel the serrated blade of the knife cause the handle to bump ever so slightly as it grinds through the bone of her skull.

And after the first three cuts, the woman is begging for it to end, for them to just knock her out.

She begs and pleads, telling them that she doesn't know anything, that only her husband ever meets the clients.

Yet Shinso and Sero give her unbothered stares.

And eventually, at the 7th cut, her vocal cords ruptured, taking her voice with it.

The pain became so much that her body went into shock, temporarily causing her to black out.

With her screams now gone they could finally hear the man's words.

"I'll talk, just please let me stop!"

"You should have said that before I gave the command..."

After the command was done the man was forced to stand there, looking at his work, the love of his life with her face drenched in blood. Leaking from all the carvings he made into her forehead.

"Now, this is the part where you give me the names, or I'll make you start removing fingers, and toes, then who knows where we'll go from there," Shinso says.

"Yes, please!" the man rejoices. "Just please don't make me hurt her again."

"We won't, unless you lie, then it'll get much worse..."

After collecting the intel they needed, Shinso waits for Sero to send it over to Edgeshot while he's guarding their new friends.

The man doesn't take his eyes off Shinso the entire time, burning every feature of the boy's face into his mind, already plotting the most horrific revenge possible.

'I don't care if Horizon is protecting them, they can't be with that monster all the time, they'll pay for what he made me do!' he thought, glancing over to his still-unconscious wife.

"Alright, all done," Sero says as he enters the room. "Let's get out of here."

"Finally," Shinso walks over to the woman and takes out a small pen-sized tazer, just powerful enough to wake someone up, which is exactly what he did to her.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"Ngh, stnghany!" she yells with ruptured vocal cords, trying and failing to back away as she is still tied to the chair.

Then suddenly her body goes limp and her eyes glaze over.

Shinso glances at her husband, "is there anything else you want to tell us?"

"No, I've already given you everything," the man immediately falls under Shinso's control as well.

He and Sero untie them and step back, double-checking everything around before putting on their masks.

"Stand in the middle of the room facing the wall," Simon commands, and both people obey. "When I snap my fingers you'll forget everything that happened within the last 12 hours, forever, and fall asleep."

He raises a hand, then...

SNAP!

Two bodies crumple to the floor, with his Quirk literally forcing their minds to erase those memories.

Granted they weren't perfectly erased, but in all of Japan, only he could bring them back to the surface.

"Alright, so what did you settle on?" Simon asks Cellophane as they head to the roof.

Cellophane shrugs "I couldn't decide between pizza or burgers, so pasta..."

END CHAPTER---