It was a beautiful night. A starless sky, but filled with moon and city lights. Mid-autumn trees stood bare, and the rain was heavy. Not a person in sight.

The last bit of rope went through my fingers, moving smoothly as I skimmed across it with swift, practiced motions. Most people don't like rain. Laughable, to think water falling from the sky is enough to make people change plans and stay in for the night. Let alone, most wouldn't get the pleasure of experiencing a 75% nylon, 25% spandex second-skin bodysuit getting drenched in the rain while you're 180 meters in the sky...

I like to pride myself on being successful without any supernatural abilities. But in scenarios like this, I start feeling a surge of jealousy.

My boot hits the side of the wall, keeping me stable as my left hand works on unlocking the window.

"Wait for it,"

The camera makes its round, moving back to the right. Grabbing my stealth gun, I shoot it right at the circuits. The red glowing light on it dims to gray, and that's my cue.

I swing my left leg through, landing on the polished floor. I almost feel bad running around somewhere this expensive with rain- and dirt-drenched boots.

But a girl's gotta pay rent.

Swiping the droplets off my suit, my head flips up, my eyes locked on the prize. Finally. What I've been waiting for months.

After all the favors I had to pull, months of tracking the amounts of knives held to fat, corrupt rich people's throats, all for this.

Click. Click.

My footsteps faintly echo through the room.

In front of me sits a glass case, a golden spotlight shining over it as if it ascended from Heaven itself.

I've taken things from jewels, specialized weapons, ancient china... To my amazement, I've never seen anything quite like this.

The most Ugly painting I've ever seen.

The late, most famous hero's painting before he died, of his Cat-Poodle?

Well... its species doesn't really matter when its net worth has to be at least over thirty million. I bet even if I painted this before I die, not even my future descendants in my will would hang up this monstrosity.

Swiftly, I replace the painting on the weight plate with a copy I drew myself. It looks so alike that I'm both impressed and disappointed in my newfound talent.

It weighs the exact same as the original, so there's no hitch when I take this poodle home in its new velvet case.

I knew I'd be successful. I have a reputation to uphold.

But the dopamine hit never gets old.

"Pitter-Patter."

"Pitter-Patter."

The rain picks up. The storm outside grows heavy. The scent of fresh dew catches my senses. A wild breeze comes through, far too harsh to be natural.

A shadow engulfs the window.

I keep the velvet bag close to me as my right hand pulls out a prototype gun with a preserved power core in it.

Dark, feathered wings make their entrance first.

I immediately know who it is.

"Oh my goddddd~" I groan in full-blown agony.

His full figure emerges, hair dripping wet. A tailored suit and tie cover him, but the tattoos on his hands and neck show his true nature, no matter how tame he's styled.

He must have been waiting down at the event...

"With how popular you are, I'm surprised you even got out of the crowd."

I point my gun straight at him, firing a bullet recklessly.

He casually blocks it with the long expanse of his wings.

He leans against a nearby pillar, crossing his legs and staring at me. Then, out of his jacket, he slips a small notepad. His fingers leisurely flip through it.

"All the planning you did for this event though?"

He throws the notepad across the marble floor. It slides to my feet.

It has my activity from the past four months written on it, including some of the fat, rich people I've been blackmailing to keep quiet.

He pushes off the pillar as he starts circling closer.

"I'm proud of you, you know~

His voice is sickly sweet, but taunting.

"With how much effort you put into this, I wouldn't miss it for the World~."

He hums as his lips turn up into a devilish grin.