Walking home, Nanami was on a bit of a high. Work had been boring recently and her prayers were answered in the way everyone who wants a bit of excitement expects—working with a yakuza boss on a series of human experiments. Makes sense to me~ she thought. She was kind of done with everything at this point, having little in the way of plans today unless they involved relaxing in her apartment and binging some old sitcoms. After the amount of crazy she'd dealt with this weekend, escapism seemed like the right thing to do.

Just as she was about to turn onto her street, that same car from yesterday pulled up to the sidewalk. Sighing inwardly, she hoped it was just a coincidence. Please don't talk to me… I barely made it through this morning. Haven't I been through enough today? Then the car window rolled down. Crap.

"If we're going to work together, you can't be so careless." He was annoyed.

Rolling her eyes, she began, "You know what…"

but as she was about to respond in a way she was sure to be unbefitting of most professional relationships, he handed her her purse from the day before. Nanami's face lit up, realizing she could trash the list she'd made of annoying errands and phone calls she'd have to make in order to replace everything. Forgetting the reason she had lost it in the first place, she beamed, holding it closely, genuinely just happy to have it back, "Thank you!"

A look of surprise flashed across Overhaul's face, then quickly reverted to his stick-in-the-mud composure as he faced forward. It wasn't the reaction he was expecting, but he found he didn't dislike seeing her smile. Considering many of the faces he encountered day to day only expressed either anger or apathy, it was nice to see something so different directed at him. He continued monotoned, "Don't let it happen again."

Driving off without another word, Nanami watched as the car disappeared into the distance, If nothing else, this'll be interesting.

Having gotten little to no rest over the weekend, Nanami dragged herself into work. Walking to her office, she continued texting her friends whose calls she'd missed over the weekend, assuring them nothing catastrophic had happened.

A.K.A. lying. She thought to herself.

Still mentally buried in her phone, she heard someone calling her name.

"Dr. Watanabe!" called the nurse.

"Oh, good morning, Mrs. Ito. What's the matter?" Mrs. Ito was a sweet older woman who'd been with the hospital for years. When Nanami first came to work, she was the first person to greet her with open arms, so seeing her was always a treat.

"Well, you have a visitor in your office. A handsome one," she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh really? Pray tell…" Nanami replied in an equally mischievous tone. As unprofessional as it was to ogle patients, seeing a pretty face was just the pick-me-up she needed after her hellish weekend.

"Ooh, well he's tall.." she began.

"Mmhm,"

"Well-dressed"

"Uh huh,"

"Cute, short brown hair"

"Oh my.."

"and these very intense golden eyes"

"Oh yea—Wait, come again?" She quickly snapped out of her daydream.

"Oh and he's also very courteous and conscientious. He even had a matching mask on."

"…I'm taking a sick day." Nanami said resolutely, turning on her heels.

"Wait why?" Mrs. Ito asked but Nanami was already halfway down the hallway.

I cannot deal with this today. My nerves hardly recovered from yesterday…

Mrs. Ito caught up with her, dragging her back by the scruff of her jacket towards Nanami's office.

"I know you young doctors can get nervous around patients sometimes, but this is a growing experience for you, Nanami. You're one of the most competent physicians I know, so don't be afraid—go get 'em, tiger!" Mrs. Ito herded her towards her office and watched for Nanami to open it and head inside.

Realizing she couldn't escape, she shakily put her had on the knob and turned. Mrs. Ito landed a final encouraging hand on her back, playfully pushing her inside. The door promptly closed behind her and she could see Overhaul sitting in one of the guest chairs across from her desk. She stood there for what felt like an eternity until he broke the silence.

"You're awfully quiet considering how excited you sounded in the hallway."

Yup. Time to find a rock to crawl under.

She slowly made her way to her desk and set down her bag, too embarrassed to make eye contact just yet. Sighing, she recomposed herself and replied not even attempting to acknowledge his jab,

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to finalize the details of our arrangement."

"Fine. Which details?"

"Firstly, you'll be using this to communicate with me," he explained, sliding her a phone terribly similar to her own. "This will be a secure line. Do not use anything else when we speak."

"Ok." Eyeing the phone she realized it would be hard to tell the difference, so she took an old pen and overhauled it into a cute keychain in the shape of a crow. Nanami grinned at how cute she thought it looked hanging from a phone meant for ~espionage~.

"Are you a child? Don't use my quirk so flippantly." He chastised.

"Oh please, I've seen the articles and autopsy reports. If you can blow people up, I can at least make cute keychains," she retorted. "Besides, it's my quirk too and I hardly ever get to… never mind." There was a pained look in Nanami's eyes but it went as quickly as it came.

He stared at her a beat, questioningly, until he continued, "We also need to establish our method and procedure for this experiment. There is an address in that phone. Be there tonight at 7pm."

"How do I know there won't be an ambush?"

"I need you alive and we've made an agreement. I will honor my word." He replied plainly as he got up and turned to leave.

"Ah yes, the word of an antisocial sociopath. My mind's completely at ease now."

He paused, "So that's how they describe me?" Nanami could've sworn she heard a ghost of a chuckle before he opened the door, "Don't be late."

The second the door closed she let out the breath she'd been holding… If anything went awry, that would be the end of her, and no one would know. The risks were becoming more and more apparent, but an agreement had been made and there were too many questions.

Deep breaths, Nanami. Take deeeeep breaths. She'd been repeating this mantra to herself the entire drive over, trying to calm her nerves but to no avail. In her anticipation and he'd come straight from work, not bothering to change. She was wearing her white coat with a simple, but professional outfit underneath. It was fitting considering she was just going form one workplace to another, just slightly-less-legal workplace.

The address in her new burner phone hadn't looked nearly as suspicious as she'd expected. It pointed to a traditional home in a quiet neighborhood that was picturesque and pleasant except for the fact that it was the heart of Shie Hassakai territory. She wondered how many of the "neighbors" were in on this elaborate setup. Nanami parked her car a couple blocks away from the destination and proceeded to walk the rest of the way just to be safe. Having to answer police on why her car was parked right out font of a suspected yakuza hideout was a possibility she'd like to avoid.

Even after taking a more careful look around on foot, most passerbys would see little out of the ordinary, but Nanami could tell she was in the right place. There were signs of a specific kind of disturbance in the areas surrounding the neighborhood. It was immaculate, careful work, but there was no mistaking what created it.

Most of this place has been "overhauled" in one way or another… What was he building around here?

After walking for what felt like an eternity, she cleared her throat, raising her fist to knock. Before her knuckles made contact with the tall wooden gates, they were opened. A man stood at the door in a long, hooded white coat with a plague mask covering his face.

They sure do have a flare for the dramatic here… Nanami noted, taking in the full 'fit.

"Hello, Dr. Watanabe. Please follow me." The man calmly replied to her quizzical look.

Walking in, the gates closed softly behind her and she was able to fully take in the front courtyard of the house. From movies she'd expected to see something akin to a fancy drug den, but this was serene. The pathways had been meticulously manicured, but were still lush with trees and tasteful moss. On the wrap-around porch cushions were placed perfect for a leisurely evening drink, and leading up to the entrance, soft lanterns illuminated the path and—

"Ahem. This way, please" The man politely chided, snapping Nanami out of her daydream.

She hurriedly followed him inside, hoping her gawking wasn't too obvious. Once inside, the house was warm and inviting, but before getting too far down the hallway, the man stopped in front of a vase.

Turning to her he said, "Your phone, doctor."

Nanami hesitated, weighing her options. Objecting now would just seem suspicious and I'm sure there are cell phone jammers. Might as well play it safe and play ball. Worse comes to worse I can make way to escape…hopefully. After some rustling in her bag and a heavy sigh, she forfeited her device.

"Thank you." The man said, taking the phone and turning again towards the vase. Pushing it forward, a passageway opened that looked much less inviting. "This way".

This is possibly the dumbest thing you've ever done, but here we go~ Nanami thought as she took the first shaky step down the stairs. It was deafeningly silent, the walls themselves feeling as though they had eyes This is definitely someone's quirk. Continuing further into the depths of the base, they took a series of dizzying turns until they arrived at the first door she'd seen, in what felt like miles of these underground corridors. He knocked solidly and a familiar, muffled voice responded, "You may enter".

The masked man opened the door, the light from the room shocking her eyes as they adjusted from the dark passageways. Overhaul was sitting in typical villain fashion on the couch of what she presumed to be his office, waiting.

"Welcome."

"Good evening." Nanami stiffly replied as he motioned for her to sit across from him. As it stood, she was outnumbered and still trying to remember the way back to the exit. A poker face and practiced caution were going to be her best tools to ensure she left tonight without incident.

The door closed behind them and the masked man who led her stood in the corner by the door. They sat in silence, Overhaul looking a bit too relaxed for her liking while he studied her. Usually Nanami would shift nervously, but she knew better than to be anything but firm, returning his stare. After a beat, he finally spoke, "I trust you had an amicable reunion with Kurono on your way here. He will be assisting with our research."

Her brow cocked in confusion and he gestured to the man who had led her, Kurono now removing his mask. As she turned to look at him, Nanami couldn't help the look of annoyance that took over her face. She saved his life and he sold her out.

"Don't they have a thing against snitches in your line of work?" she spoke without thinking, but honestly didn't regret it.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Overhaul put a hand up to his mouth, letting out a minuscule cough.

Did he just do his version of a chuckle?

"That only counts if it's against your comrades. I was simply reporting pertinent information."

"One, sounds like something a snitch would say. And two, thank you for confirming that we are in fact not comrades. I was beginning to get mixed signals, what with the random attack and cold stares."

Overhaul simply replied, "You can relax. If we meant you harm, you'd have known it by now."

"'Relax'," Nanami scoffed.

"Have I not kept my word? Since our negotiations, nothing untoward has happened to you, correct?" he asked pointedly. Nanami was still thoroughly annoyed but couldn't refute that he'd at least followed the bare minimum requirements of their deal. She just refused to give him the satisfaction or brownie points for it. The fact of the matter was she didn't trust him, but they had a job to do.

She forfeited their little staring contest, letting out an audible sigh before responding, "Let's just get started, we have quite the bit of work to do," she replied, exasperated.

"I couldn't agree more, follow me."

They exited the office, leaving Kurono behind to take care of some "business" as they called it, leaving Nanami and Overhaul to head for the lab alone, her following a safe distance behind him. She'd relaxed slightly after realizing it would be more logical for him to keep her alive and if she'd learned anything from the reports, as gruesome as they were, it's that his actions were always logical in some twisted-void-of-humanity sort of way.

The hallways were relatively dark but, in the distance, she saw a rather large set of doors. The lights became more intense and sterile as they drew closer and she noticed Overhaul visibly relax his shoulders. I guess everyone has their own version of a "happy place" …

Using his body to block her view, Overhaul entered a code into the keypad and the doors slowly creaked open. He began, "This is—"

"Beautiful." Nanami managed to get out as she stared in awe of the facility and equipment, she had only dreamed of using. Back in her research days she'd used mostly hand-me-downs, and the hospital she worked for now had some newer machines thanks to some generous funding, but nothing like this. It was immaculate without a blemish in sight. More impressively, she saw no signs of her quirk. Whatever had been damaged, he'd fixed it the old-fashioned way.

Just as he was about to arrogantly confirm her assessment, he turned and saw her face. There was a twinkle in her eye he'd only seen once before in the mirror. Most of the other members only saw it as a means to monetary ends, besides Kurono, but he knew it was mostly just to placate him. To them, it was just another room in the building, but to him it was a sanctuary. Seeing someone else recognize this caused an odd ache in his chest he hadn't felt before.

"… Thank you." It came out much more earnest than he intended and he turned away from her, clearing his throat. "Now, let's discuss procedures."

Realizing she had once again spoken without thinking, Nanami facepalmed inwardly before hurriedly responding, "Y-Yes, of course, I've brought some ideas and hypotheses we can work from." She stammered, patting her briefcase. As nervous as she was, she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been excitedly hypothesizing the second she got home from their meeting at the tea shop.

They continued to walk through the lab, all the while Nanami inwardly "oohed" and "aahed", fantasizing about how she'd get to use the equipment. It was a decent-sized laboratory with a rather open layout. There were two work benches in the middle like islands, each bookended by tables with subterfuges and water purifiers, and the walls were neatly lined with the larger machinery. Arriving at the end of the lab, she saw another set of workbenches facing a large whiteboard. Overhaul reached into his jacket, pulling out a file folder and laid it on the desk before removing his jacket and plague mask, revealing his smaller black one underneath. He then replaced his gloves and put on his own white coat motioning for her to sit at the work bench. Folding his hands he looked at her searchingly before initiating.

"Let's begin by exchanging notes," he said sliding the file towards her. She opened her briefcase, pulling out a file that was noticeably larger, sliding it towards him. He stared at it suspiciously for a beat before picking it up and taking his file back from her hand, holding them sideways so the difference in thickness could be easily observed. "This is part of the imbalance that needs to be rectified. If we're going to consider this a partnership, I expect for these to be of equal size by the end of the night." He said with an air of authority that had Nanami a bit miffed.

"So you want me to spill my guts?" her brow raised.

"Yes. If you're cooperative, it will only be in the metaphorical sense." He said matter-of-factly.

"I thought we were done with threats."

"And I thought with the beginning of this partnership we were done being so adversarial, yet here we are. Where's the sense in coming this far just to resist me?" He motioned to the situation.

Nanami knew she was being a roadblock to her own progress, but she had realized something in her preliminary research that gave her pause: they had the same quirk, but utilized it in completely different ways. He was already a danger using the quirk as he knew it now, and she was afraid of what might happen if he gained any further mastery of it. On the other hand, there was so much to be gained in researching the discovery of their shared quirk and what he could teach her about it. It was an impossible decision, but considering she was already in the belly of the beast, sharing notes with Overhaul himself, she realized she had already made it.

Rolling her eyes, she relented "Fine."

"I knew you'd see it my way," he almost purred, "Now, show me what you've got." He motioned over to a door in the corner next to a larger window. She raised a brow questioningly before he elaborated, "There is a chamber past that door where we can use our abilities without damaging the rest of the laboratory. You used my quirk in a way I haven't seen before, in order to begin this experiment, we need to both know our limits and abilities."

Taking a deep breath, Nanami marched towards the chamber with him, knowing whatever happened, it would at the very least be interesting.