ʙᴀʀᴛᴇɴᴅᴇʀ [ʏᴀɴᴅᴇʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏxɪᴇs x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ]

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏᴜʀ

Furious was an understatement. He left them alone on one mission and they make friends with a witness? He sighed to himself with pure exhaustion as he had begin to plan how to tackle the situation that he couldn't prevent beforehand. So far, he could not think of a single idea that would buy his comrades more time against the anger and punishment of their boss. The scenario was already playing out quite clearly in his head:

He would stand next to Masky, just a bit further than Toby, as Slenderman would 'look' upon them with grave disappointment. "Hoodie, you should know better than to try and fix of which doesn't concern you. I'm keen on the fact that you'll remember this when I send you on these missions alone". Then he would pierce a tendril through him and--

Maybe he was overexaggerating, but if he didn't fix it soon, he would be overwhelmed with unreasonable missions solely for the faceless man's pure pleasure. Speaking of the issue, the infamous duo had made their entrance into the mansion, and he was ready to let out some wrath of his own.

As they made their way over, he had stared directly forward at the both of them, shaking his head as he was unable to keep in his disappointment.

"Playing friendly now are we? When are you going to introduce me to this little someone, huh?" He remarked, anger evident in his tone. Usually, he wasn't bothered with their business, but this concerned him and his wellbeing.

"Why didn't you introduce yourself then? With all the noise you were making, I could practically see you. Even with these damn goggles." he shot back with a snicker. Hoodie released a sigh, waiting for his other, more preferred companion, to further explain his choice of actions.

"It was your stupid idea anyways Hoodie. Go jack off about it or something" he said barely over a mutter, not even sparing a glance at Hoodie's direction. It was always a problem with Masky; getting under his skin was as easy as it sounded.

Speaking of easy, a certain overworked woman sat at a clearly mistreated couch, her back hunched towards the table as she glanced over several papers, scattered around carelessly. Those not worthy of the table, were to be found disregarded on the floor. She had no idea what had gotten into her; promising to hide crucial information from the police about first-hand murder and arson? At this rate, that wasn't even the problem. It was the fact that she was merely days away from collecting her pay. No job, no pay. Now, she was desperate for a gig, just lasting long enough to get her back on the right tracks.

Unlike the movies, nothing had caught her eye, and her keeping her eyelids open was just as difficult as trying to find work in this busy town. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the knock on her door. She dismissed it as the stress getting to her, but a second one came; more aggressively. With that, she had slid aside the papers she was looking at and got up to answer the door.

Before so, she grabbed the dagger from her pocket and prepared it just incase. She didn't live in the safest place of the city and she wasn't in the mood for meeting death early. With that, she creaked the door slightly, and peaked out, only to find a small box. Not identifying any signs of the sender, she simply shut her door once more and returned to what she was doing.

"I'm not a white woman in the horror movies; I'm not going to fall for that" she said out loud, humoring herself a bit before she mused over the scattered pieces of paper on her desk. She was so absorbed that she didn't even notice the newly presence that had entered her home.

"Maybe you're not a white woman, but you sure are as stupid" the dark voice replied to her earlier made snarky comment. Snapping her head around, she sees a man-ish figure swing a bat at her. She leaped across the table, getting her foot caught midway, causing her to tumble onto the floor.

She swiftly turned looking at the man who had stopped his attack, staring at her, as if awaiting her next move. Taking advantage of this, she ran to a vase and launched it into his direction. He had barely missed, as if he got caught up in his thoughts. With that, he maneuvered around the table and was practically right in her shadow.

Suddenly, she bent down and kicked at the bottom of his legs, deciding that if she couldn't out run him, she could out maneuver him. A grunt could be heard as he tumbled to the ground, and the tip of his head hit the table, sending a couple of papers flying.

"Hey, you know how long it took me to get those in order?" she said with a sigh of defeat. She could have sworn she heard a chuckle before he lunged at her in a matter of seconds. It was like he wasn't even human.

She struggled to keep his hands off her neck, trying to think of a way to switch the roles. "You should have died in that fire" he muttered bitterly, showing no sign of exhaustion. Y/N on the other hand was practically crumbling. With the last of her power, she tried to maneuver her legs underneath him to push him off. With a struggle, she barely managed to create some distance between them again.

"You'd miss me too much" she said with a tired smirk. Maybe she could talk her way out of it. She had a way with words. As he made his way over, she tried to punch him, only for him to grab her arm. "I don't even know you" he said plainly. She quickly jabbed her arm into his elbow, breaking it. "Hi, I'm Y/N, the girl who just broke your elbow. Happy?" she smugly questioned.

He grimaced in pain as he began looking around. His head seemed to stop at a certain picture. With that, he returned to his usual stance to 'look' her dead in the eyes. With no warning, he dropped the bat to the ground, did a swift 180, and practically marched out of there.

In her confusion, she couldn't help but laugh slightly. She had no idea what to do; call the police? Keep it a secret? Chase him? Let's start off simple. She knelt down to pick up the papers and went to her storage room to get a broom to clean up the remains of her fight. "Didn't even help me clean up" she remarked jokingly, trying to brighten up the atmosphere.

With that, she decided to call it a night, deciding to deal with whatever needed dealing with in the morning. It didn't seem like he was coming back anyways. As she was about to turn to go to her room, she remembered; the package. She turned back to get it, somewhat desperate with trying to find out why what happened did. Swifly grabbing it, she shut her door, tossed it on a table, and went straight to bed, not bothering to change.

As for the man behind the act, he broke into a sprint, heading into whatever alleyway he found. He panted slightly, mad at himself for acting the way he did. Why did he freeze up like that? Why didn't he finish the job? The truth hit him harder than he thought it would.

It was because he knew her.