Amidst the silence, there was comfort. The wind howling made the night at ease, the gracious glow of the moon continues to conceal everything with its light, the dark skies basking everything from below... Peace and the comforts of silence was everywhere. The night was so beautiful, so silent, so comforting... Then there's Kiyomi Himura in her home who has yet to rid another creepy crawlie by her window.

Himura has been used to it by now, with you barging through the window and yet she doesn't expect when were you going to slip yourself to her room through the window. No matter how much she locks it, somehow, someway, you always succeed in breaking and entering her room with minimal damage. Sometimes she regrets teaching you picking locks.

"Y/N! What did I told you about using the door instead of climbing to the window?!"

"It's not like I can walk out in the middle of the day in front of millions of people, I'm a fugitive! Silly goose," You spoke with an overly enthusiastic, as a matter of fact- voice.

"It's fuCKING THREE AM!" The woman was at the verge of pulling her hair out in frustration, her left eyelid twitching.

"IT IS TECHNICALLY DAY TIME!" you shoved her aside and squeezed yourself through her window and tumbled in the reporter and undercover villain's dimmed room.

Himura looks up at the ceiling, as if she'd find a sliver of patient to cling on in hopes she doesn't throw herself out of the window and land against the muddy gardens and crack her skull open. 'All I ask of the divines is a night full of rest. Is that too much to ask?' She just groans in exasperation, before slamming her body back to her bed, face against her pillows.

"My, aren't you a sight for a sore eye." You commented, shamelessly plopping yourself atop the girl, resting your head on her thigh. She looks up at you, make up— or what remains of it, was smeared all around her face.

"Shut upppppp—!"

"Say, how's your day?" You gleefully interrupted. "I heard you had a meeting with the master. What was it about?"

"It's... Well..." Himura paused with a sigh, burying her face further in her pillows stained with her runny make up she didn't bother to remove after arriving home after a long day from work. She wasn't at the correct state of thinking, nor taking action to even remove her make-up, further cementing the fact she had too much to deal with. You always commend her for being able to balance her two, distinctive lives. "Y/N, I'm tired. Can we just talk about it tomorrow?" Lethargy was heard in her small voice.

"Hey, at least remove your make up first!" You lectured, smacking her ass, in which she can only respond with a hum. Rolling your eyes, you took the effort to generate strings from your fingertips, before flipping her over as you tread to her vanity table to retrieve some cotton balls and make-up remover. You returned to seat yourself beside the exhausted girl, pouring a generous amount of the citrus scented fluid on a piece of cotton ball before gently wiping the remnants of cosmetics from her face. "Did you at least eat first, Mumu?"

"Mmmm, no. I'm on a diet." She mutters, closing her eyes in hopes to catch a micro nap.

"When you say diet, I hope you didn't read that from a pro-ana blog or something." You rolled your eyes, but stayed focus on the task at hand. "Kurogiri left me with the bar today. It was fun." Well, the barkeeping wasn't really that fun to say the least, but what happened during it... The memories from awhile ago started to play back in your mind, you couldn't help but to rub your thighs together to relive a bit of tension.

"Oh I know, I saw him in the meeting. It's not like your precious little boyfriend can run it on his own." Himura snide remarks would have been her fatal end if she weren't your best friend. It would be easy to twist her pretty little neck in an angle and dispose of her. But it was probably her sleep deprivation talking, she would usually keep her comments to herself regarding your boyfriend. She never liked him one bit and you never knew why.

"So what happened in the meeting? What did you guys talked about?"

"Mmmmmmm aren't you supposed to be spooning with your boyfriend? Didn't you whined about missing him so much? Perhaps amend with some make-up sex?" She was desperate to swerve the topic away. It's not like she could be coherent and consistent as she discussed about the meeting.

"Oh I'm two steps ahead of you." You flicked the the cotton ball smeared with her make-up in the trash bin, before pressing an affectionate, surely platonic kiss on the girl's forehead. "You can sleep now."

~•~

The night after your encounter with the woman known as Red Plague, you spent the whole day in preparation for what's to come. Frankly, you were clueless of what lies ahead, Master had the tendancy to be cryptic and as much as it pisses you off, you merely avoid to speak your thoughts. Out of fear of being scrutinized by your darling Tomura, when you just recently came back from a rough break up and abrupt make up.

The relationship between you is, admittedly, not good. At least, that's what Himura says (Brave of her, you must applaud. No one can speak ill of your relationship with him with their heads still intact with their neck) and quite frankly, you couldn't see why. It was normal for couples to have its occasional quarrel, don't they? Well you do have one of those, and you'd make up easily! That's what really matters, right? Besides, it wasn't you, nor your darling Tomura being a problem. Master do so love to pose a constant threat to break you apart and being stuck to him in a complicated relationship, you opted to chose to remain loyal to him just to appease your lovely boyfriend.

"Any updates?" You heavily huffed, stepping away from the metallic ledge out of boredon to venture around the small stationed lighthouse whilst Himura stayed in position, resting her elbows by the ledge with binoculars in hand, keeping a steadfast lookout for the oncoming... Whatever master was anticipating. "Hmmmm, I have a bad feeling about this. I hate it when master puts me through a vague mission."

"Oh yeah? What did he tell you?" For once she looks from her device for a moment, before returning to her task.

"Well what did he told you?" you side-eyed her.

"Oh I don't know sweetie, he was being cryptic to me too. I thought since you're one of his disciple you'd get more juicy details." She shrugs.

'A test awaits you amidst the night by the sea. You will instinctively know what to do, and it would be your choice how to handle it.' -- was what he said, and you assumed it had the same gist as what Himura was also told.

It was one of those test, you reckon, and you absolutely hated them. It was one of his ways to try and make your Tomura to think lowly of you for making a mistake, for failing to appease the master. Surely you'd have a stellar performance and effortlessly succeed and yet, there would always be small, innocuous actions they deem as a major flaw. And these days, the master has been attempting to pry and break your emotional state, you easily recognised his tactics, his manipulation and he's good at it. Just not good enough to pry you away from your darling.

"What do you think... What does the master want me to prove again? I am loyal to our legion, why does he need me to constantly prove myself?" Your complained drew out with a scoff to disguise your already apparent disappointment and confusion. "I've dedicated every single breath to worship this cost of ours despite not making much of an impact on society, what else should I do? Am I not enough? Tomura has been telling me that I'm being too soft... Oh gosh, I am not enough."

"Y/N, you and I are well-aware that this cost of ours is making a large impact on society, because of all your effort. You're one of the most crucial part of our little family, far more better than our so-called future leader Tomura--"

"Don't speak of him like that." Your interjection cuts sharp against her statement, and the woman instantly knows to back off, as she should. You didn't want to kill family, after all but of course that doesn't necessarily equate that you wouldn't. The woman has been learning to be more brave and speak ill of your darling, and it was stupid of her.

She simply sighs, lowering the binoculars for a moment out of solemnity. "Look, you get what I mean. You're not 'not enough'. You're practically the powerhouse of the league. Without you, they won't be taking us seriously." 

Himura couldn't fathom the fact you were a powerful being, equipped with a perfect quirk, trained well in every aspect of combat and intellect. You recognised the mind games the master has been subjecting you into and refused to play and yet still do... All for the one person you worshiped, who worships the Master All For One prompting you to do the same in an attempt to gain his approval and attention. You were a capable being who can overpower and overthrow All For One through the sheer determination and intense passion and yet of course, something had to weigh you down, serve as your ball and chain to keep you restrained, in the form of your obsession with Tomura. She's coming from a good place when she says-- or rather, wants to say-- that he doesn't deserve you. from his treatment alone, he just doesn't. She just doesn't get what you saw in him and be obsessed with him, and not to be vain, he looked as if he had been wearing the same hoodie for a week straight.

HImura shakes her head, before lifting the device back up. She figured this will not end well if ever she would bring the matter up, and she was mature enough not to risk losing this friendship over his disapproval towards her best friend, her sibling's unhealthy obsession-- ahem, their boyfriend. And quite frankly, she doesn't hate herself enough to get herself killed that way, she expected herself to go out in blazing brazen glory rather than a pathetic scuffle over your bad tastes.

She effortlessly breezes through vast space of the crashing waves and finally saw a figure emerge from afar, much to her relief. She was getting quite worried she'd miss another good night sleep. "There they are." She soul-lessly proclaimed, lowering the night vision binoculars before handing it to you.

"I see," you lifted up to your line of vision and saw what she was referring to.

Just as suspected, it was a yacht, your so-called test. Could it be it's cargo? The passenger and captain itself?

"Let's go." You handed her the binoculars, practically showing the device from the deep seated aggression. You've yet to simmer down from her previous comment about your beloved.

She caught it, finding your unnecessary aggression petty. Himura was glaring as you used your strings as a makeshift harness to lower yourself on the docks.

"Stairs it is, then." She sighs in exasperation.

You land on the docks with little to no effort, retrieving remnants of strings back to your body, the light of red fading from the faint refraction on the water. The yacht anchors itself by the dockside, as you saw two of the men working there. The captain follows after, someone you've never met before.

His skin were myriads of picturesque art filled with intricate ink work, running along his bulky arms. Tall, muscular. Lines on wrinkles on his face told an old tale. His skin was a reddish brown colour, excessive exposure to the sun perhaps? He appears to be left handed, he stinks of tobacco and cognac.

So many details observed from him, and yet you cannot recognise him from any of your master's acquaintances and allies. You keep a list of all the people master affiliated with, but you've never seen this guy. It was unusual, as you were typically made known of affiliated acquaintances in advance. Name, age, origin, quirk— name it all, the master would have given you a dossier of crucial intel about the guy.

"Evenin', you must be Stringwraith," The Captain's voice was unexpectedly warm. "I'm Captain Dragon. Nice to make your acquaintances, I've heard a lot of things about ye."

He holds out a hand, one that you stared at in a moment of reluctantance.

Who was he? Why do you not know him? Was the intel intentionally kept concealed from you? How was he related to the test your master provided?

The graying captain took the impression of you not wanting to shake his hand judging by the lack of reaction, when in reality you were internalising absentmindedly. The moment you broke out of it, Dragon was retrieving his hand, when you unexpectedly pulled his hand back in for a handshake. This restores a semblance of a casual interaction, by the way Dragon's smile returned after the inherent awkwardness of the first few seconds of the introduction.

"Pleasure," Though his welcome was warm, you were still in your bouts of doubts. You knew nothing about the guy, and he is most definitely using an alias.

'So that's how it is now? You're not even letting me know what I'm dealing with? Not an inkling?'

The Master was cryptic, but at least he would give you intel about people you were dealing with. Just— what was Captain Dragon's deal?

"I was told there would be two of you."

"We are."

The Captain turned to see a gleaming black, elongated beak connected to a black leather mask with red tinted lenses. The one's you'd see present in the period of the bubonic plague— the iconic plague doctor mask with a touch of leather and modernity and practicality. To see such a figure stalking amidst the beach made the captain jump at the slightest from the sight of the approaching beaked one. He was not superstitious, but he thought he saw death right then and there.

Unlike the Captain, you stood, unfazed and annoyed. Why can't she have taken a little longer climbing down from the lighthouse and not show her face around you after saying such things about your darling?

Himura, meanwhile, was particularly pissed at the fact you left her to deal with the stairs when you could have helped her down with your strings— lamenting at how petty could you be to remain hissy about her small comment about Tomura.

There was an air of tension between the pair of villains, their silence being interjected by the waves crashing on the shore.

Nevertheless, the Captain was just relieved.

"Red Plague. It's a pleasure to be working with you," Captain Dragon offers her a hand and she shook it with no awkward pauses. "Now that introductions are over, shall we begin?" He grins.

An uneasy stirring in your stomach made you nauseous. Somehow, some way, you felt that this— whatever this All For One wants you to do— is not going to be good.