CHAPTER 311(State of America)

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"So, how fucked are we?" President Skyline asks as he steps into the secure conference room, leaving his security detail outside.

They'd usually insist on remaining with him, regardless of his personal power, especially now that Legion wasn't present.

But they understood that they were not necessary, nor would they be useful if anyone in the room tried to attack him.

Sitting at the head of the table was President Skyline, but at the sides were Star and Stripe, Horizon, and the Secretary of Defense.

They'd decided to keep this meeting as private as possible until a proper assessment of the national state could be made, only then, would information be slowly released to the public.

"Twenty-three thousand Pro Heroes turned on us," the Secretary of Defense says.

"Damn," Horizon says. "So much for a vacation."

"Yes that is a bit more than we anticipated," President Skyline says. "The borders?"

"Locked down tight, they won't be able to get through, at least most of them," the Secretary says. "Some of the traitors have Quirks that make capture, tracking, or containment, difficult. Those we'll need to assign teams for."

"Hound will be perfect for that," Star' says. "He's a friend, I can call him up after this meeting."

"I already contacted him," the Secretary says. "Luckily he wasn't one of the traitors so that makes this a bit easier."

"What about the trackers?" the President asks.

"All worked as expected, the trackers in every Pro Hero license tagged the people we needed them to, lots of people ditched their cards but we already know who the traitors are."

"Which means they can't hide forever," Star' says. "Just need a camera to spot them once and I can fly to wherever they are."

"Assuming they stay in the country, which they won't," Horizon says. "I appreciate you all letting me be part of this meeting, but, it will take more than two miracles to secure all the borders of this nation from that many former Pro Heroes."

"Agreed," The President says. "You and Star' will only be called upon for the higher-level fugitives, the Canadian and Mexican governments have already agreed to allow us some very limited operating room in their countries, so long as after we capture the traitors hiding there and bring them back here for punishment."

"Hmm," Star' raises a brow at that. "I figured they'd want to corner them themselves to cut a deal, what caused this?"

"There was a prison break during the failed uprising," The Secretary says, causing Horizon and Star' to look at each other, confused. 

"Why is this the first we're hearing of this?" Star' asks. "If such a thing happened and more seasoned villains were on the streets, you should have told us."

"Because this facility isn't one the public knows about," The President says. "They broke out Kelvin."

"Crap," Star' frowns bitterly. "That explains why Mexico and Canada are so willing for us to cause some collateral damage instead of dealing with the villains themselves."

"Yeah, containing him now that he's no longer sedated is all but impossible for their Pro Heroes," Horizon says, causing the three other people to give him strange looks. "What?"

"How do you know about Kelvin?" The President asks. "That's a very high-level secret."

"I read a lot," Horizon says. "Are there any other people they broke out that we should know about?"

"We're still compiling a full list," The Secretary says. "But it's obvious you two will have a lot of work to do, even if you are technically on a vacation of some sort."

"I won't go chasing every traitor that pops up, but if any of them are near New York, you can count on me to deal with them."

"That's for the best," The President says. "Star' can deal with any of them regardless, it's more important that you continue your research, and if you complete it before you return to Japan, we get a discount on the first contract."

"I remember the deal, but I'm still waiting for access to your National Quirk Medical Database."

"You'll get it soon," The President says. "We couldn't hand it over before you went public, otherwise people would have known you were working with us."

"If you can truly make what you promised, some sort of Panacea," Star' thinks for a moment. "Then you can leave hunting down every traitor to me and spend all your time in the lab."

"Sadly lab time and progress speed aren't 1:1 on this," Horizon says. "While the supercomputers are running the simulations I'll have days at a time to get some Pro Hero work in."

"New York is perfect for you," The Secretary says. "Your Quirk is good at playing the role of a security camera for dense places like that. We'll have to send Star' to the west coast to keep things balanced."

"Which means Crustacean should be in the middle, Texas, to prevent them from using the border there," The President says.

"That's a damn shame, I was hoping to meet him," Horizon says. "Oh and about my license..."

"Is there a problem with it?" Star' asks.

"No, but I took out the tracker," Horizon says. "I appreciate being one of a handful of people with a 50-State license so I can operate anywhere in the mainland United States, but I don't like being watched that closely."

"That's fine, any other concerns?" The President asks.

"Just one, that nuclear football they got, how the hell is that possible?"

"We haven't been able to figure that out either, the technology is beyond us, atleast until David Shield gets his hands on it," The President says. "Our mental interrogation shows that some mysterious person calling himself Tech contacted Sintenel when he learned of his plan and offered it to him."

"That person also tried to get his hands on some dangerous technology back in Japan, and on I-Island."

"Did he try to steal weaponry there too?" Star' asks.

"No, just some unique technology, but I was able to stop him so nothing happened."

"This is a very concerning trend," The Secretary says. "I'll make some more calls, spread the information around so other nations are ready. With any luck, it'll make this Tech person nervous, and nervous people make sloppy mistakes."

"Smart move," Horizon says.

After a few more hours discussing the finer points of their strategy and exactly what the larger local, regional, and global effect shall be, they get toward the end of this meeting.

"Alright, now the last thing is public perception," The President says. "Tomorrow you and Star' should make some public appearances, just show the people that you're working together on this."

"That will certainly lower the chances of any more protests happening," Star' says. "And legally someone has to explain how Pro Hero work is conducted here in America."

"And I couldn't imagine anyone better for that job than you," The President says.

"Where would you like to meet?" Star' asks. "I can arrive in New York in the morning, then how about I meet you at your assigned residence."

"Sounds great," Horizon says before turning to The President. "And I really do appreciate you getting a penthouse for me to use while I'm here."

"It's really nothing in the grand scheme of things," The President says. "Well now, we need to make a few public statements while you two Mystery Class Pro Heroes go show the people that we're stronger than ever."

"I'll go get started in New York," Horizon says. "But after today crime rates there should plummet just as fast as they're climbing in Japan right now."

"Luckily you're on vacation over here. Now, will that be all?" The President asks, and sees nobody moving to interrupt him.

"Then this meeting is over, you all know your roles, let's get to work..."

With that the President and Secretary of Defense get up and begin to leave the room, Star' gets out of her seat out of respect, but Horizon just stays seated and takes out his phone.

"So you're taking me to lunch tomorrow?" Horizon asks.

"Not much of a gentleman are you?" Star' asks.

"Only when it's convenient, besides, this is your house."

"All of America isn't my house."

"Maybe don't wear the American Flag as a cape next time you say that," Horizon says before warping away.

"Well, it's not like this Hero Costume was my choice," Star' mutters as she leaves the room...

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