"What… what does this mean?" Midoriya asked, the weight of unsteadiness straining his voice.

No one had an answer for him.

Along with Midoriya sat Iida, Todoroki, Tsuyu, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu, all gathered in a circle in the center of Yaoyorozu's dormitory. The boys were there against the rules, notably, but not even Iida had the mind to speak out against it as he stared at the picture lying at the center of the group.

Uraraka and Yaoyorozu had urgently called the others for a meeting right after they made it back from the police station, their eyes frantic as they knocked on each door and quickly ushered them away. Once they had all gathered, Yaoyorozu laid out her phone, pulling up the photo she had taken.

The picture in question showed the first page of a document. It was a criminal profile report: not much of note in itself, yet the contents were what baffled them.

Full Name: n/a
Alias: Unknown, Ito Naoko (prospective)
Affiliation: Sacrosanct

In the top left corner, stapled to the page, was a photo of a very familiar raven-haired girl staring blankly back at them. She stood in front of a marked chart indicating her height.

…much like the kind used to photograph criminals after an arrest; the kind they saw in movies where the person would hold up a little board stating their name before having their picture taken.

And thus arose the first question: why did this photo exist? The presence of the picture, and the rest of the document for that matter, seemed to suggest Unknown had already been captured, yet the document was dated to nearly a year ago, months before they had even met her as Naoko.

So… why?

The first conclusion they reached was that she must have escaped after she was caught, but none of them recalled anything in the news about that. If it had happened, there was absolutely no way all of them could have missed it, right? Perhaps there was a cover-up, an effort to save face or to spare the public from mass panic, but the commotion that came with a break-out would have spawned a few rumors at the very least, yet there was nothing. Not a single trace of news or gossip anywhere on the all-knowing internet about this at all. They had even broadened their search to include anything about an escaped criminal around the recorded date, but still found nothing.

The document only brought confusion, question after question, all the while answering none of the ones they already grappled with. It did, however, offer one useful piece of information.

Quirk: Hydraulic Press
This allows direct manipulation of the pressure exerted by any object or substance. This quirk may be activated on targets within the user's field of vision, but does not require eye contact to be sustained. The strength of this effect increases as the distance between the user and the affected material decreases. This reaches an upper limit when the user comes into physical contact with a material, under which conditions eye contact is not required, and maximum pressures which exceed our current measurement capabilities can be produced.
Note: Due to the large variety of applications of the subject's ability, there has previously been significant difficulty in identifying this quirk. See document A-3.

Without the noted document, they could only guess at the exact meaning of the report's rather vague statement, however they weren't much concerned about that at this point. They now knew for certain what her quirk was, and their new insight was sure to prove useful should they ever encounter her again. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

They had little time to enjoy the satisfaction of their latest revelation, however, as another question quickly presented itself: a question they didn't quite know what to do with.

Underneath the page was a second document, one that appeared to be a written statement of sorts. It was positioned such that only the last few sentences were visible, the rest obscured by the page above it, but just those few sentences were enough to throw their minds into another bout of turmoil.

"-been others before. The leader of Sacrosanct, called the Manager, whose real identity is yet to be confirmed, possesses a quirk that causes him to release a mind-altering pheromone which, when breathed in, heightens the suggestibility of any surrounding individuals. This allows him an enhanced degree of influence over others around him, particularly those who remain in close proximity for long periods of time, which has been found to be significant-"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Six pairs of eyes stared uneasily at the hand-written words.

"... that… does that mean... they're…" Midoriya frowned, a doubtful hesitance in his meek whisper.

"Brainwashed?" Tsuyu tilted her head.

"A quirk like that one student from general studies?"

"Well, it says suggestibility, not mind control," Iida reminded in an uncharacteristically quiet tone.

"But that still means they're not doing these things out of free will! Nao- oh, I mean, Unknown and those other three are being influenced by that man's quirk! He's the one making them do all this: it's not them!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed, clenching the material of her pants between balled fists.

"Does that mean… she isn't in control of her own actions?" Iida knit his brows in concentration.

"It's possible!" Uraraka quickly agreed, a hopeful glint behind her eyes, "I think we can save her if we get her away from the Manager! He's the one influencing all of their actions, so if they can escape the range of his quirk, he won't be able to affect them anymore, right? This is huge!"

"But how are we going to get to her? We don't know anything about where she is," Todoroki reminded plainly.

"But we know someone who might!"

"Mr. Aizawa was speaking with the man who had these documents: they were talking about the League's next target- where they're going to attack next. There's a chance Unknown or one of the other three might be there!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed, determination bright in her gleaming eyes.

"Even if that's the case, what then? They're not just going to believe us, especially if the Manager really has so much control over them," Iida argued with a conflicted frown.

"We'll figure it out! We can talk to Mr. Aizawa; maybe he knows something that can help us!"

"Absolutely not."

The two girls glanced at each other worriedly, exchanging faint nods before turning back to their teacher, staunch conviction etched into their nervous features.

"Sir, we think they're being controlled by the leader's quirk! They're not acting out of free will!" Uraraka argued, uncharacteristically bold. "If we can get to them, I think we can help save them!"

"I thought I made it clear none of you are allowed to pursue any of the League of Villains, especially Unknown. If you have a lead, you should report it to the authorities," Aizawa stated, flatly denying their plea for information.

"We won't pursue them! We just want to talk! I think we can get them to listen to us if you just give us a chance!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed.

Aizawa sighed tiredly, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. "Even if you had a foolproof plan, which you don't, I still couldn't allow you to go after them. This isn't a game; you can't risk your lives on a hunch."

"It's not a hunch! We saw the-!" Uraraka quickly stopped herself, hands instantly flying over her mouth. Eyes widening with caution, her gaze snapped up to meet Yaoyorozu's, as if to confirm she hadn't revealed any sensitive information that might land them in hot water. "I-I mean… we heard something we thought might be really important! We really think it might be our best chance at stopping them!"

Aizawa didn't miss the girls' unusual behavior, a displeased frown forming on his lips as he looked between them.

"You're not going after Sacrosanct. This is too personal for both of you."

"It's because it's too personal that we think it'll work! We can convince-!"

"You will not get involved any further," he stated firmly, sending the two a hard look that swiftly quieted them. "You will not look for Sacrosanct, you will not go after the League of Villains, and you will not get close to any of them under any circumstance. That's final."

The pair stood in silence for a moment, eyes lowering solemnly. Cold, sharp disappointment seeped into their skin, and harshly discouraged, they could only answer with a faint nod.

Unknown arrived at the Shie Hassaikai base not long after the sun peeked over the horizon.

She entered through the partially-hidden side door before starting down the surface-level hallway, passing a few vaguely familiar petty criminals as she made her way towards the back of the building. Fortunately, they knew well enough to leave her alone.

Soon, she arrived at a large, ornate vase resting in a divet in the wall, next to which stood a familiar man in a white cloak, waiting.

"Chrono," she greeted plainly, turning on her heel to face away from him.

"Unknown," he responded in kind, keeping his eyes on her as he pressed the appropriate combination to unlock the hidden door.

She turned around once she heard the mechanical whine of the passageway opening, moving to enter as she offered the man a slight nod. The section of wall shifted quietly back into place once she passed through.

Muscle memory served her well, and considering the comically large amount of time she had spent wandering these lower levels over the past weeks, she was certain she could find her way around with her eyes closed. Beyond the upper floor, there were considerably fewer people meandering in these concealed halls, leaving it as quiet and barren as ever.

Her feet led her through the maze of pallid white walkways, around corners and down stairwells, eventually arriving at a familiar door that looked much the same as all the rest. She twisted the metal doorknob and pushed it open.

"Unknown!" Toga turned around as she entered the room, a toothy grin spreading across her lips. She waved cheerfully from where she sat atop a plush gray couch.

The room was a small common area of sorts, a number of chairs and tables scattered around to form two loose clusters, filling most of the modest space. They discovered this room early on in their time here, having stumbled upon it during their first few days of boredom-fueled exploration. It was the favored meeting place for the three League members to pass the time, and most days they could all be found here, not doing much of anything. They would lay on the couches or across the chairs, staring off into space while chatting idly about things that didn't really matter. Thanks to their ample free time in the base and her companions' inability to remain quiet, Unknown had learned considerably more than she anticipated about the other two villains: their histories, where they came from, how they came to join the League. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about their newfound camaraderie, but she considered it harmless enough, if only a way to pass the time. Most frequently, she opted to simply listen to whatever they had to say, generally contributing very little to any given conversation, though they occasionally pestered her enough to get her to talk with them about some topic or another. Toga was particularly interested in Midoriya, having apparently become infatuated with the boy after their first encounter back at the training camp, and was often asking Unknown about how well she knew him, what he was like, if she thought he liked her back. She might have considered it rather touching were it not for how frequently the girl mentioned her desire to stab him.

The other two villains had quickly learned of their friend's unwillingness to discuss anything regarding Sacrosanct. She deflected any and all questions about the other members, about the Manager, about how they came together, often flatly refusing to answer even their harmless inquiries. Twice didn't seem to mind her reserved nature, instead opting to speak enough for the both of them, but Toga, on the other hand, wasn't so easily deterred.

...

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" the blonde tilted her head as she grinned at Unknown. She sat on the same gray couch with her legs crossed, arms hanging off the edge as she leaned forward expectantly.

Unknown sat across from her on a large plush chair, her ever-passive gaze rising to meet a set of sharp yellow eyes shining with mischief. "What do you mean?"

"It's not nice to keep secrets, you know. You never want to talk about your other friends no matter how much we ask!" she whined.

"And? What about it?"

"I know you're hiding something."

"Is that so?"

"Mhm! And we're going to find out what it is!"

"Wait! Don't drag me into this!" Twice objected, waving his arms frantically from a few seats away.

"You're welcome to try if you'd like, Toga" Unknown shrugged, leaning her head back against the seat.

"I will! And I'll dig up all your secrets before you know it!"

...

Unknown took a seat across from the grinning blonde, her back languidly meeting the soft fabric. Twice was yet to arrive.

"So have you found my secret yet?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice, turning her careless gaze to the other girl whose sly grin only widened at the question.

"I've made some progress," she giggled.

"Oh? What kind of progress?"

"I know you're the oldest of the four! And that your names are all based on your quirks!"

Unknown raised an eyebrow, the corner of her lip curling upwards. "And what quirks might those be?"

"Well, Traceback has a voice-copying quirk, Horus has a weather and temperature quirk," Toga counted each name on her fingers, "and Amnestica has a memory-wiping quirk! I'm pretty good, right?" she grinned.

"And what about me? What does my name mean?" she challenged amusedly.

"I know that too! You're called Unknown because no one could figure out your quirk at first! Pressure quirks are pretty rare, and they can look like a lot of other things, so people started calling you Unknown. Your name is also the only one that came from popular rumors!"

The raven-haired girl hummed, nodding faintly. "Not bad," she concluded, "I assume you saw the storm Horus made during your escape from the stadium a while ago, though I'm curious as to how you figured out the other two."

The girl giggled behind her hands, eyes curving into an ever-mischievous grin. "That's a secret!" she winked.

Unknown raised an eyebrow, tilting her head questioningly. She seemed to consider something for a moment before simply leaning back in her seat, humming in acknowledgment.

"But it was super hard to figure out! I would have just asked them, but they're never around when Tomura calls us all together!" she whined, flopping backward to lie flat on the couch.

It was true. Whenever Unknown received word from Shigaraki about where to meet, it was often directed only at her, leaving out the other three Sacrosanct children. She supposed it was because he had less of a need for their quirks, though it was still rather unusual.

"By the way, do you know where Twi-?"

"Hi, guys!" The door swung open jarringly to reveal a cheerful Twice. "Oh, I'm the last one here again!" he laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"We were just wondering when you'd get here!" Toga greeted, waving both arms gleefully.

"Oh, Unknown! Chrono said he needs you for something: he wants you in the lab downstairs!"

"There's a lab downstairs?" Toga blinked.

"Unfortunately," she sighed, standing up and making her way towards the door. "Thanks," she nodded to Twice as she passed by him, "see you both later."

Stepping out of the room and starting down the plain halls at a decidedly unhurried pace, Unknown descended a familiar set of stairs. She slowly rounded corners and passed by a flurry of doors before eventually reaching the aforementioned laboratory.

Briefly, she paused at the edge of the hallway, sighing and stretching her legs languidly.

As she entered the room, Chrono glanced back from where he stood by the far workstation, raising a hand and motioning for her to come. Her eyes quickly drew to the unfamiliar device behind him. She had never seen it before: a small, clear tank attached to a shiny metal stand. It stood only about four feet tall with the tank itself barely larger than a shoebox. It looked like something that belonged in a miniature industrial plant, with nozzles and ridges scattered around the steel frame, a few exposed bolts visible near the top. A small pressure gauge rested on one side of the frame, and the tank was the only non-metallic element of the device. At the center was a thin steel rod supporting an empty spherical shell, seemingly composed of a thick, transparent plastic similar to the walls of the tank. There was also a dial next to the chamber displaying temperature increments, indicating some sort of heating capability.

"This arrived late last night. It meets all your specifications: you should have no problems with this one," Chrono stated as she circled the device, examining it with well-hidden curiosity.

Unknown raised a finger, lightly tapping the clear walls. Slowly, she ignited small bursts of pressure inside the chamber, as if to test its resilience. She was surprised to feel the tank redistribute the pressure to act evenly towards the center of the contained sphere, casting the weight to surround a single point.

How unusual.

"Where did you get this thing from?" she raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"That doesn't matter, just know it took me ages to find," Chrono breathed a shallow sigh. He turned around and removed a strange-looking object from a metal box. It was roughly palm-sized and looked almost like a large pill capsule, the outside made of a semi-flexible material, slightly reminiscent of stiff silicone, and bearing an opaque red color.

Moving back towards the device behind him, he unsealed the top of the pressure chamber and placed the cylindrical object inside the central sphere. He replaced the top, flipping a few latches to seal it, and turned the heating dial halfway before taking a step back.

"You know what to do," he nodded towards her, leaning back against the workspace counter.

Unknown turned her eyes to the air within the clear chamber. Activating her quirk, the needle in the pressure gauge quickly began rising. She could instantly feel the unusual redistribution from the chamber. She had never come across anything like this before; not only was the material able to withstand pressures quite a bit beyond what most plastics- if it was a plastic- could handle, but it could also somehow re-manipulate her pressure manipulation. She made a mental note to find out more about the material later.

"Looks like it works," she mused, "I was almost expecting it to shatter like the others."

"Like I said, it wasn't easy finding this thing," Chrono answered plainly.

Ever since the lab incident on her first day with Shie Hassaikai, where she had broken their pressure chamber after they asked her to use her quirk, they had been searching for a material able to withstand high enough pressures to create a testing chamber for refining their "samples", as they called them. This wouldn't have been too difficult a task were it not for the fact that she was their only way to produce the pressures they needed, and she could only work with transparent materials. Her quirk required her to see a target clearly in order to activate it, thus disqualifying a majority of the most common chamber materials, mostly metals. They might have been able to figure out a way around this limitation were it not compounded by the fact that the samples needed to be continuously monitored while under pressure and heat. She didn't know exactly why this was the case, but then again, they didn't tell her much beyond what she strictly needed to know.

In any case, they had brought her a number of different prototype chambers since then in hopes of finding one able to withstand the pressures they needed. Containers made of tempered glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, polystyrene, and a dozen other materials whose names she couldn't recall had all shattered well before the desired pressure could be reached, all proving inadequate for processing their samples. This newest container, whatever it was made of, was the first to successfully meet their standards.

The gauge now steadied near its upper limit, drawing a nod from Chrono, pleased with the reading and confirming the effectiveness of the chamber. After months of stagnant progress, they had finally found a workable device. Unknown was almost entirely sure that wasn't a good thing.

Glancing at the capsule resting inside the cylinder, she couldn't see any noticeable progress.

"How long is this going to take?" she asked, quickly feeling the boredom seep in.

"Half an hour, theoretically, though we'll have to see. How long can you keep this up?"

"I don't know. I've never had to maintain these kinds of pressure for more than a few seconds before."

He nodded slightly, a dull silence falling between them. It wasn't unusual, considering neither of them were particularly talkative people. Their interactions were limited to only the necessary, sharing a mutual disinterest in each other for anything beyond their respective roles within Shie Hassaikai.

The silence remained, only punctuated occasionally by the subtle mechanical noises of the chamber between them.

As the minutes ticked by, the capsule began shrinking bit by bit, almost imperceptibly at first. Soon, it had reduced to about three-quarters of its original size and still continued to shrink. Chrono made no comment about this, and Unknown made no effort to ask.

The hand resting on her leg had gradually balled into a fist, her knuckles a ghostly white as they wrinkled the dark, thick material of her pants. A thin sheen of sweat gleamed on her neck as her practiced, apathetic stare remained focused on the air inside the chamber, marred only by the slightest pinching of her brows.

Time must have slowed down to a terrible, wrenching crawl.

An indistinct noise sounded from somewhere above them. It was distant yet loud enough to draw both of their attentions, prompting them to glance up to the ceiling. They exchanged questioning glances just as the door swung open and a figure half-stepped inside.

It was a scrawny man with long, unkempt blonde hair. Unknown recognized him as one of the so-called Eight Bullets, having seen him on occasion around the base. He looked to Chrono and quickly beckoned him over.

The taller man complied wordlessly, quietly stepping away from the workspace. As he did, the blonde's singular visible eye, which was always a bit too wide for her liking, flickered to Unknown for a moment before stepping out of the room, Chrono following suit.

As soon as the door shut behind the pair, Unknown's hands instantly flew up, wringing a vice grip around her head as her expression contorted in pain. She squeezed her eyes shut and swore under her breath. Her head pounded furiously, tumultuous, agonizing heat wrapping tightly around her brain as her teeth dug harshly into her bottom lip.

Damn it.

This always happened when she used her quirk for too long. The more she used and the longer she used it, the worse the headaches would become.

It had been a long time since it was this bad. The throbbing pain in her head had escalated into a blinding scorch now, like a pressure inside her skull threatening to shatter it in a gruesome, hideous burst. She violently grit her teeth, jaw flexing painfully as she swallowed any sound that threatened to spill from her tightly-sealed lips. The odd commotion from above continued to sound, though it didn't quite reach her ears as she sat hunched over, fingertips turning white as she gripped her head, trying desperately to remain grounded as the pain tore through her again and again.

She did, however, notice the faint creaking of the door as it opened.

In an instant, she raised her head, hands coming back to her sides as her expression flattened into its usual passive state.

"There's a… situation upstairs," Chrono stated, briskly reentering the room. He quickly returned to the workspace and gathered the box of samples, swiftly closing the lid and latching the box. "We'll handle it. Continue working on that one," he gestured to the capsule inside the pressure chamber.

It was fortunate he seemed to be in a rush, not noticing the sweat on her brow or the too-tight grip of her balled fists. In fact, he barely spared her a glance as she could only manage a nod, quickly turning on his heels and stepping out of the lab once again. The door closed behind him with a loud click.

Her expression once more soured in pain as her head dropped back down, her hands pressing harshly against her forehead in an effort to contain herself. Stars exploded behind her tightly squeezed eyelids, her brain felt like it was throbbing furiously in white-hot pulses, and she swore her head was moments away from splitting clean in two. She remained hunched over, head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees, her body as stiff as a board for what felt like an eternity.

Eventually, after what might have been a minute or might have been an hour, the pain finally began to recede, incrementally becoming duller as she gradually became aware of her surroundings once again.

As the pain contracted into an uncomfortable but bearable headache, she let out a shallow, weary sigh and slowly lifted her head.

Black spots dotted her vision as her eyes readjusted to the brightness of the fluorescent lights above. She slowly rose to her feet, leaning slightly on the counter next to her. She faintly shook her head to clear away the disorientation, breathing another quiet sigh as she stepped towards the door.

She slipped out of the laboratory, seeing no one as she glanced up and down the empty hallway. She could still hear a distant commotion from somewhere overhead. Perhaps it was only her imagination, or maybe because she wasn't exactly paying attention earlier, but the noises seemed a bit louder now.

Unknown made her way back up the stairs she had taken earlier, only to find the hall as empty as the one below. The room where she had last seen Twice and Toga was also empty.

Slowly, she followed the direction the noises seemed to emanate from. She made her way through the familiar maze of corridors and winding paths, still not a person in sight. It was as barren as usual, but even apart from her subsiding headache, something felt off.

"Unknown."

She paused, stopping in her tracks and glancing behind her.

"Oh, it's you,' she mused, eyeing the masked man whom she distinctly recalled possessed the truth-inducing quirk she was once subjected to. "What's happening? I've been hearing some commotion for a while now."

The man nodded almost imperceptibly. "Someone was sent to find you not long ago. You must not have seen them yet," he sighed.

"Find me? Do they need me for something?" she questioned, raising a half-interested eyebrow.

"Yes, in fact. Heroes have broken into our base; we need you to help deal with them."