CHAPTER 348(Tech's Aftermath)

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CHAPTER START---

"This is bad. We're in more trouble than I expected," Shigaraki says as he looks at his television.

Sitting at the edge of his bed, he grit his teeth while watching the announcement, clenching and relaxing his fists with each word as his heartbeat quickens.

On the screen, President Skyline officially announced that the threat of Tech was resolved.

Earlier today footage was compiled from members of the operation, including footage directly from Star and Stripe's suit and Horizon's visor.

Showing everything, from the preparations to the journey, and the great sacrifices made.

They had officially expressed condolences to the people of England, noting the loss of London as a great tragedy that they wished they could have prevented by acting quicker.

But the world, surprisingly, isn't holding any grudge against them.

Instead admiring the heroes who saved them at great personal risk, blissfully unaware of how many people Horizon would have sacrificed to ensure victory.

And now with the entire world worshipping them, worshipping him, Shigaraki glares at the screen as President Skyline allows a fully healed Star and Stripe to answer a few questions. 

And as expected, the first question is "Where is Horizon?"

Star and Stripe smiles at the crowd, "After healing me Horizon then healed himself, and currently he should be taking this time to relax and recover. But, he is Horizon, so taking personal time is the one thing he seems incapable of."

Star and Stripe playfully shrugs, like an exhausted older sister.

And the audience laughs, but even in that, Shigaraki could hear them worshipping him.

With a few taps, Shigaraki calls Spinner, who immediately answers.

"Come back to base, now," Shigaraki says.

"What? No way, I still need to find Himiko," Spinner says through the phone.

"They haven't even filed where they're holding her, which means it's likely Horizon tower, she's gone. Come back to base."

"What do you mean 'She's gone'?" Spinner asks. "They can't hold her like that forever, they're heroes. They have to send her to prison eventually, and I've already gathered up a few Nomu to hit it and bust her out."

Shigaraki sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Tomura, I can't just abandon her. We don't abandon each other."

"Do you think this is easy for me?!"

"..."

"I don't want to abandon my friends, but I also don't want you to die while playing into his hand."

"His hand?"

"Horizon just coordinated a battle against someone who was holding the entire world hostage, and won. Do you think he doesn't expect you to attack whatever prison they put her in? If anything, they'll probably hold her someplace far from Horizon tower and Tartarus, so you think the coast is clear to break her out, then they'll get you too."

"Then I'll just make some distractions!"

Shigaraki groans, getting annoyed at his love-struck friend. "Spinner, Horizon will be gone in a year or two, then we can just break into Tartarus and get her and All For One out, she'll just have to wait a while."

The call is silent for a while as Shigaraki hopes his friend listens, and Spinner considers every plan.

"Tomura," Spinner says, his voice low, dangerous. "Be honest with me. Do you really think Horizon won't kill her when he's done with her?"

Shigaraki doesn't respond. Instead, the deafening silence between them grows.

Spinner had finally come to the same conclusion Shigaraki did when he first heard of her capture.

And without another word, the call disconnects.

Shigaraki wipes the tears from his eyes, then gets back to work, knowing his soon-to-be-dead friends wouldn't want him to stop moving forward because of them.

With a few more taps on his phone, he calls another of his generals.

"Tomura, what do you need?" Mr. Compress asks.

"Plans have changed. I need you to get into the Hero Public Safety Commission server room. I'll have the doctor make something that tracks Horizon's Hero ID Card."

"Hmm, that's risky."

"It was before, but they have a lot of resources dedicated to secretly keeping eyes on Horizon, so all we need to do is upload a file into their system. The rest will take care of itself."

"I see, and why now? Why not sooner?"

"I'm concerned about the report they released, that part about Horizon warping from America to Japan in 'One step'."

"His range can't be that big, otherwise he'd sense us," Mr. Compress says. "There must be some trick."

"All the more reason to keep tabs on him, and I'm also going to move around some of our bases. Be ready to help with that," Shigaraki says. "We need all of this done within two weeks. That's when summer will end and Horizon will come back to Japan."

"The bases? Why? Do we have a spy among us?"

"No, but Himiko and Spinner are about to be compromised, so let's assume Horizon knows everything they know."

"Spinner, when did he get captured?"

"He hasn't yet, but he's being hard-headed about this and going after Himiko."

"Which is likely what Horizon wants," Mr. Compress says. "I see, then I should go—"

"No!"

"Uh, sorry."

Shigaraki takes a deep breath, calming himself. "Sorry, I just…losing two friends is already hard enough. I don't want to lose you too."

"Right, I get it. I'll finish here and help move the bases immediately," he says. "Will we be sending Nomu to help him?"

"No, I'll call the doctor and revoke Spinner's ability to command them. I don't want to sink any more resources into that terrible mission."

"I see. I suppose this is the hard part about being the boss, huh, managing these many resources."

"Actually, no," Shigaraki says. "Managing resources is easy, but losing friends, that's always hard."

---Matani Tower, Manhattan…

Sitting on his couch, Law has his phone floating beside him as he watches the news recounting everything they did against Tech, combing over every second of the footage they shared with the world.

They acknowledged and credited everyone who helped, even in the smallest ways, and showed sympathy for those who they failed to save.

'Even after I sacrificed a few million, they didn't bother reporting that part of the plan,' Law thinks. 'But at this point, I don't think anyone would care. I saved the world, and all we lost was London…barely lost anything, really.'

SHAMBLES!

He warps a vial of the completed miracle elixir, which he appropriately calls Panacea, into his hand.

The glass vial was a cylinder four inches long and one inch wide. The glass was clear to show the glowing blue liquid inside.

"A single sip cures the common cold and boosts the immune system, and a single vial cures most diseases. Complete genetic modification and repair, and so easy to transport," Law chuckles. "I outdid myself with this."

He rotates the vial to see the top and bottom of it, both of which have Horizon's logo.

"Call Chitose," he commands, and his phone makes the call.

"Hello? Horizon?" Chitose asks as he puts the phone on speaker.

"Yeah, it's me. Want an interview?"

"Always," she says, voice barely containing her excitement.

"I'll be back in Japan in a few weeks, we can do a live interview then, I have something big to announce," Law says. "I won't be doing any interviews with anyone until then. I have important work to do, so I can't afford any more distractions."

"A juicy exclusive, alright, I'll start building anticipation for it," Chitose says. "Also, on behalf of everyone h—"

He hangs up before she can thank him for saving the world.

Law closes his eyes and continues listening to the news, until a few minutes later he feels a familiar presence enter his Room.

SHAMBLES!

He warps to Horizon's penthouse across Central Park, appearing in his full Hero Costume sitting at the edge of his bed.

He walks over to the kitchen and by the time he's reaching into the fridge to get a drink, Star and Stripe descends from the stairwell leading to the roof.

"So you just don't knock anymore?" Horizon asks, noticing her serious expression.

"Sentinel's remaining forces are all but gone now, massive portions of them surrendered after communications came back online," Star' says.

"Makes sense. After what we did to Tech, and what Tech was willing to do to the world, their silent sponsors probably pulled their funding, not wanting to be the idiots standing against the people who saved the world."

"Yeah," she says as he hands her a bottle of water and they walk to the living room. 

"But that's not what has you all serious, is it?"

"There are some things…that I need to tell you, to warn you about," she says, giving him a genuinely uncertain look.

This surprised him, as in all the time they'd spent together, she always seemed so sure of her path.

"If you're here to confess, as incredible as our babies would be—"

Star and Stripe gently punches him in the shoulder, which was still hard enough that a normal person would have been crippled for life.

"Not like that you moron!" she scoffs and looks away. "Look, can you just, come with me? I'll explain when we get there."

"Sure, where are we going?"

"Los Angeles, where everything started for me…"

END CHAPTER---