**One Hour Later**
The atmosphere on the vessel had shifted from tense professionalism to satisfied relief, They'd divided into the vessel's two main areas: the above-deck section where Cranes wings was meeting in celebration counting diamonds and looking over the missile launcher prototype, and the cryogenic below-deck section where Victor, Rhea, and Ryan maintained their necessary cold environment.
Suguro stood on the deck watching the sun rise over the North Atlantic, the diamond containers secured nearby, the missile launcher system carefully packed, the chemical compounds delivered to Victor below deck with his genuine gratitude. The ocean was calm, their vessel was making good speed toward the rendezvous point where they'd switch to a different ship, and everything had gone according to plan.
Ivy made her way from the group to where Crane was standing next to him leaning forward.
"I'm glad I joined you."
Suguru glanced over at the redhaired woman and for first time in a long time smiled for the second time in one day
"I'm glad you joined as well."
Below deck, in the cryogenic section, Victor Fries stood examining the chemical compounds they'd stolen with the intensity of a man who'd been given hope after years of despair. The cryo-protective agents, the hypothermia treatments, the experimental preservation compounds, any one of them might be the key to curing Nora, to restoring the life that had been stolen when her illness first manifested.
Rhea watched her uncle work, understanding his desperate hope because she shared it. Nora was her aunt, the woman who'd shown her kindness when her own mutation Quirk had made others frightened or disgusted. Saving Nora mattered to Rhea almost as much as it mattered to Victor.
But she couldn't help occasionally glancing at the ceiling, knowing Suguro was somewhere above deck.
"You're thinking about him again," Victor said without looking up from his analysis equipment.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Rhea said, but her blue-tinged skin showed slightly darker coloration that was her equivalent of blushing.
"You've been interested in Suguro since you were teenagers he is remarkable—brilliant, capable, and driven, you two would be well-matched."
Ryan Eckston AKA Captain Cold, listened to their conversation from his position near the door where he'd been checking equipment, but said nothing. He'd learned long ago that family dynamics were complicated, especially for people whose Quirks isolated them from normal society.
He'd followed Victor for years because the man had saved his life, and protecting Victor and Rhea was his job, and he took it seriously.
"We should arrive at the rendezvous point in four hours," Ryan said, changing the subject to something more immediately relevant. "From there, we transfer to separate transportation."
"Good," Victor said, returning to his analysis. "These compounds are too valuable, I want them in proper laboratory conditions as quickly as possible."
Rhea moved to help Ryan with the equipment check, but her thoughts remained divided drifting upward to where Suguru stood on the deck above them, and how she wanted to be up there with him before that plant girl could get closer.
(shorter I know but I felt it should be on its own not the last chapter or next)