MHA: Horizon(Ope-Ope No Mi)

Chapter 224: (Empty Seat)

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CHAPTER START---

In a quiet spot at the Tokyo docks, under the noon sun Cellophane is fighting a woman, slender and tall but sporting thick grey scales on her skin.

Naturally armored thanks to her Quirk.

There were police nearby already aiming their guns at her, surrounding the fight but ultimately knowing none of them had to power to pierce her scales.

The bullets they fired earlier only ricocheted off and flew back at them, so once again they depend on a hero to deal with the villain.

"A little help here, how about it?" Cellophane mutters, not loud enough to be heard outside of his visor.

He narrowly doges a punch and her scaled forearm grazes his suit, scraping some of the fabric off his chest.

"I don't fight D-List trash, just knock her out quickly and hand her to the cops, bet they're impatient too plus your food is getting cold," Horizon responds, nowhere to be seen but speaking through Cellophane's visor.

"They're not very helpful," Cellophane dodges a kick and springboards off the woman's leg, intending to flip over her, only for her to suddenly grow a thin tail and whip him out of the air.

"I've still got tricks up my sleeve," the villain says.

Cellophane hits the floor and pivots into a roll before getting back on his feet, now sporting a cut across his back from her tail.

"Yeah well," Cellophane takes a deep breath as he looks at her. "I knew you weren't dumb, leading me to a place where my Quirk isn't that helpful," he glances at the lack of vertical structures in this area. "But the hero always wins..."

"HA!" she flexes her hands and they morph from fingers to claws as her boots are blown apart, the same transformation happening to her feet. "Your Quirk is no good against mine dumbass!"

She charges forward as her teeth become razor sharp and her muscles bulk up.

Leaping into the air she slams down, cracking the concrete as he shoots a line of tape to the side and pulls himself to safety.

"Heroes die all the time!" she yells while charging at him again.

He tries the same trick only for her to jump toward where the tape is and grab it, spinning to slam him around.

As she does, instead of letting himself be pulled in, he simply releases more tape and wraps her once before she notices.

"Not this hero," Cellophane says. "And learning to counter that trick is the first thing I did!"

As she's breaking out he first two lines of tape past her, leaving her in the middle and retracts himself as quickly as possible.

He slingshots himself forward.

She looks up just in time to see both his feet coming toward her, as he dropkicks her hard enough to send her tumbling across the floor with some teeth clattering about.

As Cellophane realizes how much this hurt her, he begins coming up with a plan for a finishing move.

"Argh!" She slams her hand into the ground and pushes herself up, still seeing a bit blurry after that hit. "When I'm done with you I'll kill everyone here, then nobody else will get in my way!"

"That must be the best thing your lizard brain can come up with huh," Cellophane jokes as he takes a running stance, "kill me to give Horizon a real reason to come after you."

He sees a look of realization dawn on her, causing a moment of hesitation, exactly as planned.

And in the same moment he bolts forward, shooting two lines out to slingshot himself at her.

She snaps to her senses and focuses once more, "just die!" she screams out while running forward, this time with her claws in the path he'd use to kick her.

'Same trick won't work twice, kill you then the witnesses, then leave before that freak show up...' she think, proud of herself for quickly adapting.

But she's not the only one.

Cellophane repeats the exact same movements, but this time as his feet are about to get pierced by her claws he flips, using her forearms as a platform to leap higher into the air.

She swings his tail at him again, and this too he predicts and uses as a stepping stone to get more height, now 15m -45ft- above her.

He fires two lines of tape past her at her sides, another slingshot, and retracts them as fast as possible, quickly pivoting to line himself up with her head as she's only now turning around.

Even among Pro Heroes, his reaction time in situations like these was impressive.

Which is why by the time she's about to turn around, his boots slam into the side of her face, pushing her all the way into the concrete and breaking her jaw.

The remainder of her teeth go scattering across the floor as she's instantly knocked out.

"Damn, forgot to name that," Cellophane sighs as he steps away from her. "Maybe, 'Cellophane Slingshot,' sounds ok..."

"Is she down?" one of the cops asks.

"Oh, yeah!" he waves to them. "You can take her away now."

"Thanks, never doubted you, mostly."

"Mostly?" Cellophane asks as the other officers drag the woman away, noticing her jaw hanging very limply.

"Well, we figured her Quirk makes her tough, and...I didn't know you had Enhanced Strength," the officer gestures to the cracked floor that was beneath her head.

"Oh, its not really that big of a deal," Cellophane shrugs.

He simply didn't want to go into the details of it. Of how the endoskeleton of his suit allows him to withstand more force than his body naturally can. So if he uses himself like a bullet or a wedge he can hit harder or take more pressure, but his punches are unaffected.

As they're talking Horizon swaps with one of the bits of concrete that broke loose, warping in front of them.

He appeared sitting on his hoverboard with a bag of takeout beside him, and a drink.

"Took you long enough," was the first thing he said, ignoring the wide eyes all the officers are giving him.

"Yeah well, I had to get creative. No tall walls or building around here to springboard off of," Cellophane says.

"Excuses excuses," Horizon jokes, then looks at the police officer. "If any of your guys need healing please let me know."

"Um, we're all fine sir, just, this---"

"Not what you expected?" Horizon gestures to himself, sitting casually on the hoverboard with food beside him, and Scalpel hovering nearby.

"Its just tha---"

Horizon raises his hand, cutting off the man. He touches the side of his visor to indicate he's on a call.

As he hovers a bit higher, Cellophane gets the hint that they need to wrap this up quickly and helps the officers secure the villain.

The moment the villain is secure and Cellophane is about to give his thanks to the officers.

SHAMBLES!

He suddenly finds himself standing on the back of the hoverboard, high above the city.

"Woooww, a little warning next time."

"Tape your self down, you can eat when we get there," Horizon says, completely serious.

He immediately uses the equipment built into his suit to sit down and secure himself to the board, via the tape sent through his boots and hands for him to stick to surfaces.

"Wooooo!" Cellophane yells out as they rapidly accelerate to 400mph -643kmph-, not quite at the speed of the hoverboard. "I've never seen you fly this fast, how they hell are you even standing?!"

"Its the boots," Horizon says as the wind rushes past them, but thankfully they could speak with their visors. "We need to get to the other side of Japan quickly."

"What happened, some big emergency, Tsunami?"

"You know Yoroi Musha?" Horizon asks.

"I've met him once, samuari dude, he's like a fossil. Not someone I'm excited to work with but he's #9, so lets do this," Cellophane cheers.

"He's dead," Horizon says. "He was old and obsolete so it should be a net positive that his spot is open for someone else, but the way he died and timing of it will fuck us..."

"So he didn't just have a heart attack like most ancient people?"

"He was decayed..."

"Shigaraki," Cellophane says. "But, why? I mean if you're planning to kill a top pro to make a statement, why go for the weakest one."

"This wasn't about making a statement, at least not in that way. They raided the military armory close to his city, and he got there before they left."

"Was there anything good inside?"

"Guns, guns, and lots of guns..."

"Hmm, I thought those locations were well hidden, think there's a leak?"

"There is, its the most logical thing," Horizon says. "But its in the commission or police force most likely, so sooner or later they'll get caught. But since they haven't found anyone yet, I'd bet the villains bugged the place or keep ripping the secrets out of someone's mind with a Quirk."

"So the mole doesn't even know they're a mole," Cellophane says.

"Easiest way I can think of to get around Pantu's Quirk," Horizon says.

They fly for an hour, by now Horizon is briefed on the situation and begins relaying the information to Cellophane.

"They want this quiet and contained until they can double security on the other sites," Horizon says. "I'll be spending the next two days escorting the other items to disposal sites to be destroyed."

"A top pro died, how long do they expect to keep this quiet for?"

"Long enough that nobody notices I'm not in Minato Tokyo. When we're done investigating I'll have to get back there first, so Team Horizon can keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

"Why are you even carrying me with you, shouldn't I get there now?" Cellophane asks.

"Because I need someone who's competent and I'm sure I can trust with me, if you see anything or anyone suspicious, let me know, got it?"

"Got it, but uh, one question?"

"Yeah?"

"Since the #9 spot is open now, who do you think is gonna replace him?"

END CHAPTER---