MHA: Horizon(Ope-Ope No Mi)

Chapter 349: (The Few For The Many)

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CHAPTER START---

---London, Wembley Stadium…

"Did you have any problems?" a Pro Hero wearing a skin-tight blue costume, carrying a large shipping container asks as he uses his Wind Quirk to keep it and himself in the air.

He slowly descends into Webley Stadium, toward the sea of tents on the field and around the stadium. Terrified people rushed to the city as infrastructure all around the country fell apart in an instant.

With Tech's initial takeover, trains, planes, and countless other systems crashed and burned, and now Londer was one of the few major cities in the UK with running water and operational hospitals.

"Everything went as good as I could expect," a woman in a matching costume says as she flies over to him, using an identical Quirk.

Both heroes take a few steps away as doctors and other emergency personnel rush over to the shipping container to sort through the medicine inside.

"And what does that mean exactly?" the man asks.

"I got them to Haverhill, I would have taken them to Cambridge but…I figured taking them to Dad's place was better, more open space—"

"Less chance of a nuke falling on it," her brother says. "God, how did it get to this?"

The woman uses her wind to turn to him, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, they'll be fine. They know their dad is here helping people, saving the world, and their awesome aunt is here helping him."

Looking out at the large city all around them, with the swarms of people helplessly trudging along or setting up tents now that most of the buildings were filled and barricaded, the man felt helpless.

"This is the first time I've ever wished we were born with better Quirks," he says.

"Well, this Quirk was enough to fly our family away from here, so I'd say it's more than enough," she says. "Besides, we've got a lot of people coming down from Oxford that I saw on the way back here."

"What were you doing over there?"

"I took a small detour on the way back," she says. "The situation up there is…worse."

"Worse than this?" He gestures to the city below, and some of the collapsed buildings in the distance that fell during riots hours ago.

"Yeah, way worse," she says. "They're smaller, less stocks, and people are passing through there to either get to bigger cities where there are supplies, or to farmlands where they'll feel safer."

"So they got ravaged and are dealing with desperate and scared people now."

"Yeah, and if this keeps up…" she looks over at her brother. "Controlling the wind can only do so much."

"What are you saying?" He asks. "That we should abandon these people and run?"

"Not 'We'," she says. 

"No."

"Hey you've got a wife and kids, I've just got…It's just me. I can stay and help, you should go be with them."

"Great idea," he says sarcastically. "I'll just head up to the farm and tell Dad I left you here to help millions of people along, genius plan there."

"Yeah," She laughs bitterly. "He'd kick your ass for doing that."

They both laugh before returning to reality, looking down at the people below and the other Pro Heroes soaring through the sky helping where they can.

"How much longer do you think it'll be?" he asks.

"I'd like to imagine people a lot more qualified than us are handling it as we speak."

"Yeah, and—" the man stops talking as their phones begin beeping.

They share a concerned look before noticing everyone below, and the electronic billboards around the city are also online once more.

They take out their phones to see a few different flags flashing across the screen.

And their heart sinks as England's flag is shown for a moment.

"Your leaders have decided their paths," a mechanical voice resonates through the city from all the speakers. 

"Is that, Tech?"

"I don't like this," he tells his sister as they watch the broadcast.

"Most of the unruly children of this world have accepted the new world order, the guidance I have so kindly offered," Tech says. "But, some of you…need the stick, not the carrot. You see my power, my ability to unify this world. To stop all conflicts, all suffering, to mold the world in my image, and you spit in my face."

A few flags flash across the screen, and hearts across the world sink as Japan nor the USA are shown.

Meaning the two most powerful beings in the world, from the two most technologically advanced nations, did not resist Tech.

"And examples must be made," Tech says. "After this, education, another meeting with your world's leaders will be held. You have 24 hours to prepare for that meeting…"

The screens go black for a moment before showing a 24-hour timer counting down.

"That can't be good," the woman says, and seconds later the city becomes a cacophony of noise and chaos as a satellite view of London appears.

"We're the target, the example," the man says. "What do we do?"

As they consider their options, below them, the people and many Pro Heroes rush to flee the city.

In the chaos and panic, hundreds of people are trampled and countless scuffles between untrained civilians using their Quirks erupts.

But the Pro Heroes make no attempt to intervene, they were too busy running, trying to desperately save their own lives.

Above it all, standing atop Wembley Stadium, the Tornado Siblings see this, and consider their options.

"25 Million people," the woman says. "Maybe I can divert the nuke somewhere else, like the ocean?"

"Those things must weigh 30 Tonnes -30 Tons-, that's beyond our lifting capabilities, especially if we want to try to carry it to the ocean."

"Tch, not to mention the problems of that detonating in the sea, the coasts would be wiped out too," She says. "But, we can't just run, maybe we can…stall it?"

The man sighs and rubs the back of his neck, "Together we can make a tornado, assuming we see it from far enough away. We also have to stay far enough away that the automatic systems don't detonate when we get close."

"But Tech will see us, so he can detonate it anyway," she says. "If we don't run now, we won't make it out of this…"

"I know," the man says, bitterly, cursing his own weakness. "I just don't know how I'll look them in the face after leaving millions to die, without even trying to help."

"Me neither," she says. "So, I guess it's decided, right?"

The man looks at the clock, seeing that fifteen minutes have passed, "Yeah, I guess so."

Both Pro Heroes work in perfect unison, as they've done since childhood, and soar into the sky.

They rush past the London skyline, past the clouds, far above the chaos and panic of the city as they look around at the clear sky.

Then, far in the distance, they see an Intercontinental Thermonuclear Missile curving down from orbit directly toward the city.

They look at each other and nod, then focus on their Quirk to build a powerful tornado, aiming it to push against the heavy missile that's being aided by gravity.

Their combined efforts only lasted for fifteen seconds, fighting against the powerful thrusters and barely slowing the missile.

But those seconds were all they seemingly needed.

8 km above London, hidden above the clouds, the missile rips through their wind and reaches close enough that a detonation would easily destroy the city below.

And thus, a blinding light erupts, causing both Pro Heroes to instinctively look away and shield their faces.

But a moment, later, they're both still alive.

"What?" they both exclaim at once.

Then their eyes widen, seeing hope.

Star and Stripe was holding the explosion in her hand, condensed to the size of a basketball as she focused on holding it while falling through the air.

Both Pro Heroes rush down toward her and catch her with their wind.

"Take me up, as high as possible!" Star and Stripe orders while cradling the sphere of nuclear destruction in her hands.

They follow her commands and take her as high as they can, where the air is thin and difficult to control, where it takes all of their focus just to breathe.

"This will do," Star and Stripe says as she throws the sphere above, out of the atmosphere and into space. 

NEW ORDER: I can freely move through the atmosphere!

Star and Stripe then regains her ability to fly through the atmosphere, allowing both Pro Heroes to relax for a moment as she looks down at them, with a grateful smile.

"That was incredible," the woman says to Star and Stripe. "Thank you so—"

Before she can finish speaking, Star and Stripe shatters the sound barrier while flying between them, leaving their ears ringing as she rushes toward the earth below.

They both hold their ears for a moment as they look down, to see Star and Stripe racing toward London, while five identical missiles descend onto the city from different angles.

"Oh god," the man says as he's frozen, mortified by inevitable death on such a grand scale.

Acting quicker, his sister grabs him and begins flying beyond her top speed north-east, toward their family.

The man snaps out of his stupor a moment later and works together with her, using their wind to rip through the sky and flee from the blast.

And moments later, a blinding light and a cacophony of heartbreaking booms rattle the region.

They dear not look back at the mushroom cloud that breaches the heavens which Star and Stripe is somewhere within.

---Minutes Later…

"New Order: The ash and dust in the air from this mushroom cloud will form a solid sphere in front of my hand," Star and Strip says from within the epicenter of the blast zone.

And as she said, the entire mushroom crowd rushes to her and gathers in front of her palm, creating a building-sized ball of black debris against her palm as she's standing deep in the crater, completely naked with bruises and intense burns all across her body.

Not wanting to look around at the destruction she couldn't prevent, she rests her forehead against the sphere as she bawls her eyes out, feeling more helpless than all but one time in her life.

"Why! Why! Why! Why!" she screams, stomping on the floor hard enough to shake the multiple-mile-wide crater. "I'm still so useless! I can't save anyone!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, but…nobody listened. They—" Star and Stripe steps away, fists clenched and teeth grinding as she remembers the meeting, where all of this was planned. "Horizon, he sacrificed you. And they, they supported him, they told me to go along with it!"

Star and Stripe remembers how much she hated this plan, how much her gut told her to stop them, and how for the first time in her life she didn't listen to her gut. 

"Never again!" Star and Stripe yells as she rockets into the sky, soaring back to America to have a chat with Horizon…

END CHAPTER---

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