Hibana, the Fire Flower (A My Hero Academia AU Fanfic)

Prologue

21:46 hours...

A woman was walking alone in an alleyway. It had been the height of night in its fullest. Activity was everywhere. People walked along in strides as the usual things followed. Night life as the youngsters said was a particular thing that she noticed, from bars to clubs everything seemed to be in place. Energetic, lively and sometimes chaotic. Some shops and stalls have closed by now. Some stay as the working man or woman kept at it to have their daily income sustainable. Cars roamed free in the city. News had been at the very usual of things. Rummaging from simple tales of economy, crime, or even some good news if lucky. Rich people being in their own plane of existence was also appreciated.

All in all, it seemed to be a quiet but lively night. Much to her amusement, it was perfect for her situation. No one would bat an eye if something happened. Sure, there are some cases in which some people would care to see their surroundings, but for now, it had been relegated to a simple thought that it was everyone's own business to attend to. The likelihood of someone noticing was low. It would be null and void in the morning, but doing things this way made it far more satisfying... and exciting too.

Which is why she enjoyed nights like these. Working on them was nothing short but exemplary.

She was prepared for tonight. She was sure of it. The job was simple, take something from someone's hands and return in it to the client. That was it.

And the reward associated with it was very appealing. The number of zeroes plastered on the price tag of the job was something even she would not ignore, and she even proclaimed herself to be the picky one when it came to jobs like these.

Well, in this case for now. Her usual soiree was "wet-work". She enjoyed taking out jobs like that, and it gave her menial to less eyes peeking into her work. She was proud of it, having been known to be very discreet and leaving no trace in her name for others to follow.

Others would consider flashier jobs, bank robberies and organized strikes to accept with. A displeased thought came into her mind when she thought about those fools who took the bait. Sure, the money on those types of works are really high in number, not to mention the skill and expertise needed to successfully pull off such things were commendable. Alas, they had one flaw, and it was exposure. Lots of eyes were drawn to big things, and with that comes danger. People tend to flock more to flashier things than smaller occurrences in the night.

With that saying of course, it did not mean that she was not exposed one or a few other times in her whole career. She had gone through six iterations of covers throughout her lifespan and never stayed in one spot. When she was in the spotlight, it had been for the results of her jobs. Attracting small to big-shot names of people in the system of justice that pursued her.

But...

None of those that did in fact pursue her survived nor were seen again. She took pride in that sense that she was a self-proclaimed master of stealth and tact that also came with the appropriate title of strength. None in this current time would dare to follow her footsteps to bring her to justice, some still do, but those were either in the decent or strong side of the spectrum. It did not matter.

She enjoyed a good fight from time to time.

For now, she would do this job. She had to admit, the first time she heard of this job surprised her. Not only for the large sum of money involved, but also the mere fact that the client in itself was anonymous. She did not like that. Usually speaking, she was known for having every detail of the job printed into her brain to accept it. She would even take days to research said job to its fullest. Learning the client, the schematics, the sum of the reward, and the approach to it. She had two of those removed from her normal check, namely information about the client and the approach to the objective.