RP: Bastardpiece Theater [Bastardpiece Theater] Bastard Operations: Ghosts in the Snow

"Yeah, go have fun," Dick replied to the medic with a sigh before fixing his head a little to keep a better eye out. It was probably best he was away from what he figured was part of the problem, watching for the other part that he felt he understood better. Interesting or lacklustre, this mission was pissing him off some.

The pharmacist unconsciously rubbed the thumb and finger of his right hand together while playing with a magazine with the other when he realized the feeling had come back. He didn't expect his one drink to mess him up too much; but it hadn't been long and his senses were speaking "sober". That was when he wished he had picked up some water before leaving the building for his watch.

Kira found a good window from which she could look outside. The Kuznietski stood in the building though, looking outside to not be visible well. It was not a good idea to give enemy a silhoutte in the window. Those were too easy to notice and shoot. Of course if they would be found and enemy had thermal-sights it would be pointless anyway. She held her arm to her side, making sure no to aggravate her wound. Still every few minutes, Kira moved her arm a little so it would not stiffen. There might be need for her to shoot later and stiff arm would not help with that.

"Slowly" was something subjective, it seemed. Almost too dramatically, she threw herself up from the inside of the box, with her arms hanging lazily over the edge. Breathing heavily she regarded the two closest people in the room for a moment. She settled on the elderly woman who she assumed had been the one asking for them to open the box first. She offered a weak wave with one hand and then looked to Fian, who was much closer to her now.

"Tha -" Then she saw the shotgun aimed at her. "Oh fuck!"

With a might swing of her upper body, she threw her weight against the opposite side of the crate. She still remembered hearing it referred to as bulletproof and she was willing to bet even at this range that the shotgun would have a hard time punching through it. The whole plan was that she would end up on her back, still partially tucked in to the crate, and using both that and her own gun to keep her newly discovered shotgun-wielding nemesis at bay. Instead what happened, with a sharp snapping-sound from the likely authentic hardwood floor, was that her head met the ground rather unexpectedly, and much harder than she would have liked. She knew of this pain for all of a few moments before her world went black. She ended up splayed out across the floor as she seemed to spill from the box.

Sawaka was out cold.

Like a ghostly image her skin seemed to shift before the eyes of those watching. Once a pale white, it began to shift in to a deep black color, while her hair seemed to darken to match it. Unseen with her eyes closed the blue color shifted to an attention-grabbing orange.

Watching from inside the door frame he leaned on, Dex took a long drag of his cigarette while he watched the events unfold. He didn't react to any of what the VIP did since she had a shotgun trained on her and as far as he was concerned, the two others in the room aside from his teammates were just individuals he had yet to be properly introduced to. Almost in the time it took for the marine to take the drag from his cigarette and exhale it, the action was over and the VIP lay on the floor unconscious. Glancing over at Kurt, he raised an eyebrow before stepping over to the unconscious Neko. Kneeling over her, he did a quick check of her pulse, then pulled open one of her eyes and quickly shined his flashlight over it to dilate the pupil. "No concussion that I can see." reported the medic before lifting her shirt to check the wound she had when they first got her out of the gang hideout.

"Looks like the nanomachines are already doing what they're supposed to." came the second report as the wound looked clean and healing to both him and his cybernetics. Standing up, he walked over to Kurt while he lit another cigarette. "Good thing she's a cat else she would have bled out. Since Hoss here was supposed to have her stabilized." commented Dex dryly through a cloud of smoke while jabbing his thumb toward Lucky.

Kurt stood there, watching the whole series of events unfold with a sense of amusement and utter bewilderment unfold on his face as their VIP managed to knock herself out on the floor as a result of having a shotgun pointed at her.

Rubbing his forehead in a bit of a facepalm, Kurt simply said, "New guy, check her for weapons...everyone else, get down there and secure the building further. Pick your leader while I'm up here trying to get this cat to wake up..."

Lucky paced forward and kicked the pistol onto the other side of the room. Then, he backed off, shotgun still trained.

"Draw down and cover me, and I'll search her, buddy. I'm not going to try to mess with a Nekovalkyrja unless someone's got a gun trained on her."

Lightyears away, a fat, tubby little lizard-alien sighed as he moved away from his busily working young charge.

As Nacon's stumpy stature half walked, half waddled, his mind's eye kept watch over what a certain young man saw, watching from his own point of view; hands deftly moved across a figure sprawled across the floor, clad in thick but disheveled, torn and now bloody clothing. Cautiously patting this person down, the examiner was soon undressing the unconscious figure, pulling the cloth over her face to reveal a strikingly pretty and young woman. She had delicate features with black hair and pale, creamy skin - which was slowly turning into a dark, exotic black. Pulling the shirt up to look at the gut wound, it was very well stable, and even healing at a snail's pace. The final mark however, was revealed as Nacon watched from this young man's eyes the hat being removed.

The ears of a cat.

Nacon walked over to one of the seats of Leona's tea table and sat down, his reptilian face unusually expressionless - even for him - before absentmindedly taking one of the muffins and popping the whole thing into his mouth and chewing. It was only after he methodically finished the sweet treat that his voice was in their ears again. "So. Knocked out by a box. I guess it really is true - they don't make them like they used to," Nacon observed, the usually happy-go-lucky voice sounding depressed for once. "Give her a bandage and put her to bed. She shouldn't mind having the bullet still inside her too much or be a threat since we're supposed to be helping her anyways," Nacon pointed out flatly.

He didn't seem to care she was a Neko.

Dick walked around the yard, half looking like he was fixing things or cleaning up in order to not seem like a guard. Soon he was beginning to feel the time and noticed that his attention slipped a little. The pharmacist shook his head and made an effort to look around, before continuing.

All the while the academic's mouth felt drier and drier; he licked his lips and sighed. He could really use a drink.

"Done and done," Lucky sent back over the comms, and he lifted the woman up and put her to bed just as directed.

Afterwards, he dusted his hands off and looked around the room. Eventually, he glanced to the window, and wished for a fleeting moment he'd thought to bring some of his technological gadgets. He might have been able to bug the window, and stare out of it from afar. Too late now.

Hooking a nearby chair with his boot, he pulled it over and sat down, keeping all his gear on to maintain his disguise.

He, of all people, shouldn't be identified by a Nekovalkyrja.

The damn things were walking terminals.

Not too long afterwards, Mattie finished up treating Sawaka, Fian, then Kira.

"There we are!" the little old lady crowed. "You'll be able to take the stitches off in a few hours - the steroids and other things I gave you to the spot will do the bulk of the work dearie," she explained. "But don't think I've already forgotten about you!" Mattie turned back to Fian. "You'll be able to walk, but it's going to hurt just as bad as the clap! Just be glad it isn't hurting at the same place though." Reaching into the plastic box the crass old lady had with her, a few small, pinky finger sized vials with injector tops fell into his hand. "These'll make sure that doesn't happen - just pop the good stuff when things get serious, and you'll move like everything's fine."

It was about then that Nacon's voice was buzzing in their ears again. "Good news everyone! I unencrypted the data drive Lucky pulled off of snoozing beauty over there! Bad news is that it's not useful to us at all," he added. "That means we're all stuck where we were at before - sitting and waiting until the Enforcers' can't lock down the star ports any longer," the Delsaurian explained. "Safe, but boring. I'm thinking we could actually hit one of their small hubs since they're all away and searching. Provided we prep and make sure there's a good, clean escape of course."

"Naturally, we have a lot of leeway here," his voice practically grinned with mischief. "Any ideas on your side?"

Lucky lit another one of his smooth-smoking, cafe' cigars. The winter clothing, finally too much, went away - he let his ears air, draping his heavy overcoat across a chair back and kicking back with his shotgun. There were plenty of species who claimed Nepleslian citizenship, so what was another Helashio if the neko was out cold?

He found purchase for his boot on the end of the bed where the Nekovalkyrja was being kept.

"They can't close the ports forever. That backs up a lot of traffic, and some of it's bound to be military. The government isn't going to let that go on for long once they find out."

"I thank you Granny," Kira said to the old muffin lady. She tried moving her arm and it was a lot better, still she kept it stable for now. It might have get some extra aid now, but gunwound was a gunwound. Better not aggravate the wound. Then Nacon joined them vocaly again, so Kira listened as she moved back to her window. Guard-duty was also important. The kuznietski woman was not sure what to expect from Enforcers and she was not sure, why exactly was her group needed here. Well apart from a kidnapped neko. A part of enforcers was up to no good quite clearly. A way too corrupt policemen could not be tolerated.

"Da, hitting smaller hub sounds good." Kira responded to Nacon. "But we could use some more info. With a lot of Enforcer being out on street we should have easy way in, but then with lot of Enforcers out in the street they also react faster, yes? We need to be quiet and fast. Be all sneaky like, yes?"

"Of course," Nacon replied to Lucky.

"Time's on our side and all that. But that's only thinking that we want to get the girl out of here - really, she's just a sideshow. To be honest, what really want is to know the rest of what our little kitten couldn't grab before she was caught," he finally began to elaborate with them. So far, he hadn't said much - just go here, do that, go there. This time, it might just be a bit different. "It's too little for me to make a report see, and just these tidbits have me thinking they have some real nice goodies. What I want, is for all of you to go in and take inventory of how they've been doing for me," he began with his ever happy tune - the Delsaurian might as well have been wiggling his toes on the other side as he said this. For all they knew, he was. "Next, we'll smash up the operation they have a bit, just to make our little kitty's mommy shut up and stop bitching about how we're not doing anything about it."

His unnaturally jolly tune came floating into their ears over sharp words. "Before we do that, you guys take stock of what equipment you got, and figure out what else you'll need together. Mattie will try and cover you all, but don't think her pockets are endless." By now however, any shock over how Nacon was should have well worn off - this was the norm for him it seemed. "Of course, I'll have to figure out something to keep the Enforcers off of us - with luck, we won't even need to be sneaky."

"And I was saving it for a rainy day - snowball's chance in hell of having rain here though," the old woman pretended to sourly remark.

"Think of it as investing! You'll get it back, with interest!" Nacon assured her like a little salesman peddling wares. "Now, all of you, turn out your pockets and figure out what you need - I'll have a few locations we can hit in a moment."

Consciousness was something that came slowly to her as she lay there in the bed. Those in the room likely wouldn't have been keyed in to what was going on in her head, with an outward appearance no different than before as she murmured something unintelligible, and shifted about on the bed. She used the time to take in her surroundings.

The voices, where they were, and if she could remember or put a face to all of them. The jerk with the shotgun from earlier was close-by, likely thinking she would spring up and try to kill them all at any moment - not that she could fault his sense of security. She learned that the nice old lady who'd been so insistent that they actually let her out was named Mattie.

Finally Sawaka rolled over onto her side and bright orange eyes took in the most pertinent possible threats to her. Or threat, really. Her eyes were locked on Lucky nearby on his chair as she moved to sit up with a groan. Her head still throbbed but it was nothing compared to the admittedly fading pain in her stomach from getting shot earlier.

"M'fine." She grumbled to Nacon, rubbing her head, "M'fine really. Outside of the gunshot and the warm hospitality from my 'rescuers', I should be fine."

She scooted towards the end of the bed and let her legs dangle over. She no longer bothered with disguising herself any longer as she gave Mattie her best winning smile, "Thank you, ma'am. Might I have a glass of water? And maybe a gun or two?" She looked to Lucky, though she was primarily addressing Nacon, "After all. All this hostility and I might think some people don't trust me. Besides that, you all aren't the only ones who need to discover what's going on that I didn't get a chance to discover."

Finally she moved to stand, though her vision spun for a few moments when she did, and she needed to lean against the bed-frame for support at first. She looked to Mattie.

"You wouldn't happen to have any sake instead, would you ma'am?" She asked hopefully.

Having moved downstairs, Dex leaned inside the door of the loading bay with a bored expression on his face and a cigarette hanging between his lips as he watched the yard. Dick seemed to be attempting to keep himself from sticking out to the possibly watching eyes. Listening to Nacon over the radio, he waited until the Delsaurian had finished speaking. "I would suggest body armor. Maybe that Styrling Everyday model. I could also use some more medical supplies." spoke Dex as he wandered out of the door and dropped off the dock. "Hey Dick. Go on break. Grab a cup of coffee to warm up." called Dex as he kept up the facade of worker for the building they were staying in.

Lucky gave her a sour, withering look, and felt his own ears curl back warily as the rest of him tensed for combat.

Externally? He put his foot down off the bed, letting it drop under gravity's own power with a muted 'thump'.

In truth, Nekovalkyrja were not altogether unknown to him. They were sly, careful creatures, but they also had their dumb ones just like every other species in the 'verse. Lucky smelled one or the other at work in this specimen. He hadn't expected her. Plans didn't go to plan very often. He wasn't about to extend any amount of trust to anyone but his present crew, but his crew seemed to have a blasé attitude about her.

Trust was earned. And she was hinting at 'someone else' needing the information, which meant she wanted to talk. He used his level-voice, the voice with a slight upturn, apparently without concern. The smug ones just needed a bit of a nudge to go chatty.

"Nope. But, we've got enough time here, so let's talk. Who else is interested? Some... private entity?"

Kira sat at he window thinking. Watching the surroundings from the shade. It seemed clear, but that is how it should be. If she wanted to hit them she would want not to be known for as long as possible. Waiting for the right moment. It was easier for the team as it was bloody cold outside, so watching them from street was hard. Anyone who would be in streets for long in that kind of weather would stand out. While looking outside, Kira checked her things.

"I got my .45 and several mags for it. Plus close combat weapons in my pack and Styrling everyday." She reported to Nacon when he wanted to do check on equipment. "And Kurt, could you stop by me for little chat?" She asked the team leader.

"Oh. Good. She's awake," Nacon noticed without enthusiasm. "Good to know you're ok." As the Neko got up, the elderly woman with them began to pour out a glass of water from the bedside table for her.

"You're in Nepleslia dearie," Mattie replied to the question of Sake. "If anything though, you could use some soup," she helpfully suggested, opening a drawer. "The soup of the day is whiskey by the way." Pulling out a half empty bottle, Sawaka was offered a tumbler of the hard liquor. The faint sound of hard, dry scales being scratched filtered across the comms as Dick, then Lucky spoke.

"Body armor is easy, same with the medical supplies - we can get you some, but you'll need the firepower more for what's coming," the distant Delsaurian pointed out. "Armor piercing for that big gun is a must - was it you or Dex that had it by the way?" When the Helashio prodded the Neko however, none of the Hellions could see Nacon's big grin as his attention shifted. "Ah, that's right - we're rescuing you, but who are you even working for? Hmmm?" he playfully asked her too. Again, his attention hopped away. "Oh, Mattie, you writing down a shopping list? Any chance you could get Kira something nicer?"

"Like I need a shopping list - I'm not that old!" she grumbled. "My grandson gave me a newfangled, expensive shotgun for my birthday not too long ago, so that'd help with the budget. It was a "Room Cleaner" I think. Had some sort of fancy doohickey that could make it switch to 4 Gauge shells to rip people in half in a wink," Mattie recalled, seemingly annoyed at the weapon's complexity. "That sound good to you?" she kindly asked Kira.

Sawaka took the tumbler of whiskey and was polite enough not to complain. But she refrained from drinking it since it seemed that nobody else seemed to have a glass with them. Instead she held it loosely in one hand while she sat on the bed.

"Who I work for isn't important." She nodded to Lucky, "With Shotgun McSmokesticks over here playing 'Detective' none of you have given me any real reason to trust you with my age. I swear he looks like he's missing the thick cigar and the porno 'stache. Oh, and the beer belly. Besides just like all of you, I'm not keen on just announcing who signs my checks to the world it seems. Just know that the people I work for are very powerful and they won't sit idly to my having gone dark for too long."

Sawaka stood up again with her glass still in hand as she looked around the room.

"Just know that I was sent here to investigate some black market smuggling that my employers have taken interest in. Its a big ring from what I've gathered so far. All sorts of seedy corruption, backroom deals, and backstabbings. Just like every Nepleslian city anywhere."

She turned to regard Mattie, a genuine and sincere smile on her face, and a happy tone to her voice, "Excuse me ma'am, but could you see about my getting some armor and maybe a gun or two? If all these folks are going in, they'll need my help. I've been watching all these goons longer than most of these people have been on this planet right now." She gave a bow, one of respect to elders, "If you could be so kind, Mattie-sama."

"No. She shall not."

Lucky scratched at one of his side-burns, and looked up to the metaphorical heavens. He was addressing the Overwatch.

"Bringing a Nekovalkyrja, especially one with this sort of attitude, on any op..." He trailed off ominously, implying much more than he said; death, destruction, the chaos of a super-being loose in the middle of a respectable subterfuge. "If she doesn't talk to us, we should hogtie her and drop her at the nearest police station - or even give it back directly or use it as a bargaining chip. They're going a long way out of their way for someone whom we deem apparently useless. If she's not carrying the information somehow, why would they want her?"

Lucky didn't care that Sakawa could hear him; he'd been around Nekovalkyrja before, or at least the ones that had appeared in the Yugumo cluster. If push came to shove, he knew there was a more than reasonable chance he could wrestle her down, pound for pound, even if he hadn't been armed.