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

Sawaka finally snapped, "I'm sorry Detective McSmokesticks, I don't recall addressing you. And as it stands, the way I see it, you need my help, and my information. And if you try to say you don't then your either an idiot or a liar to explain why you've been trying to wring me awful hard for information. Which, I might add, you are terrible at doing to anybody except young Nepleslian schoolgirls judging by your technique!"

Her tirade over for now it seem, glass still in hand, she schooled her expression as she regarded the old woman once more with a smile.

"Please, Mattie-sama."

Then she finally reached out to their apparent contact. If she was concerned with what Lucky had said then she wasn't showing it.

"You know, you all are being awfully stupid. Most people I know who get offered a free shooter against the kind of odds you're facing would accept. All I'm asking is a copy of everything that you find while we're out there." But now her one sign of worry came onto her face, worryingly biting at her lower lip, "Maybe when you see what they're dealing in you'll understand why I am my employers have as important - arguably more important - stake in this than all of you."

"Dick's got the MG. If we get out pick I could use something with a bit more reach than my Silver has. Maybe one of those Styrling Tactical Rifles." replied Dex as he walked back inside the loading bay doors while pulling another cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. "Can I get a sit-rep, everyone?" asked the medic as he pulled his gloves tighter on his hands before sitting in a chair to keep watch while he listened to the comm chatter between the team.

Finally he heard the VIP speak up over the comms to Nacon. Leaning back in the chair he sat in, he continued to keep watch.

"Hehe!" a childish little giggle entered their ears.

"Ahahaha....HAHAHAHA-OH-HOHOHOHO-HEHEHE!" Nacon began to cackle over the comms - the mirthful laughter went end on end, the tone bouncing up and down from high to low like a musical instrument. Or, until a distinct thump could be heard on the Delsaurian's side. "....I fell off my stool," he sourly remarked. "Ahh! Don't laugh at meeee!" the voice childishly went on, seemingly pleading to someone else entirely. A moment and a sigh, however, and he was speaking to them again. "I'd prefer that she comes with you - even if she's one of the younger models, we can never tell, they're still useful. As tempted as I am to order her drugged and kept in a box, I'd rather play keep-away instead of hide-and-seek," he began to explain. "Of course, I'll leave discretion up to you all. Even with the ports locked, the Enforcers don't have quite enough authority to get something like Martial Law going on - business is still going on as usual, minus all the thugs and drones floating around."

Mattie rolled her eyes, a wry smile on her weathered face, before turning to leave. "Even more body armor, another gun or two, and specifically a long rifle too hm? I'll see what I can get," she mused - the elderly old woman needed to start getting them gear after all.

"I need two things from you all," he started to outline. "First, to kill some of their officers so that more of our own guys can take their place. Second, more intel. She was sent here to get the same thing we now want, but was caught. We were sent here to get the intel and her, in no particular order - if she dies or is going to fall behind, we simply burn her body. That's it. She and her employers know the nature of this business." He let the the cruel words hang in the air, sinking into their lungs as it was inhaled like secondhand smoke. "Other than that, we just need to cover our tails and don't get caught as we move around! I got that covered now. But, that brings us to what we hit, doesn't it?" Nacon asked them. "Naturally, you all need to take things one at a time - we'll get to that when we get to that."

"New guy." Kurt had begun to light a cigarette, but took a look at their newest charge and put his smoke sticks away. "Stand down. I want her guarded but you do not say a fuckin' thing to her. Do not fuckin' harm a hair on her body unless she's about to blow the fucking building up or something."

At that, Kurt walked over to the bottle of whiskey and filled a glass himself. Swirling it around absent-mindedly, the Nepleslian walked over to Sawaka and took a sip from it. "Ma'am, as the ground leader for this particular operation, I would like to apologize for the way you were brought here. I know it was pretty uncomfortable, but consider it a casualty of speed. We needed to lose any tail as quickly as possible."

Kurt pulled up two stools for them and sat down on one, motioning to the other for Sawaka. "I'm not here to sweet talk you, ma'am. It doesn't take much to know who your particular employers -might- be; a NH in deep-cover on foreign soil investigating matters of public order. To be honest, I could care less who might be employing you. Just know it's in our interest to see you off safely. Hopefully, we can cooperate regarding whatever intel may be gleamed off this job."

Kurt paused as Kira paged him over comms. "Well, for now I'll leave you to the charms of this gentleman here." Kurt stood up to face Lucky. "Don't antagonize her anymore, for fucks sake" was what he almost sighed out, before leaving the room and locating Kira.

Now carefully lighting a cigarette away from the window she was at, Kurt took a drag of it and exhaled it through his nostrils. "You needed to speak to me?"

"An smg would be nice Mattie, if find one, yes?" Kira said to the old lady as she waited for Kurt. When the man arrived she nodded and grabbed him by a hand, dragging him into the bathroom. There she started a shower and looke at him again, as she closed the doors behind them. "Cats hear well." She simply explained in whisper.

"Or so I hear." She added and leaned against the sink. She talked in whisper, letting the shower white-noise the sounds of her speech. "I like not the cat yes? I think we should just shoot her and be done with it. She might rat us out, get us in big trouble and make off with the information, yes? Taking her with us too big risk."

Dex continued his silent vigil from the docking bay as he started to think. "Overwatch. How many Navy ships are in orbit? Maybe we can arrange for the sailors to get some shore leave. Then we can slip onto a transport out while there are swarms of sailors moving in. We would need some uniforms though so we look like Navy personnel returning to their ship." spoke the medic as he flicked the cigarette off the loading dock. Standing from the chair, he checked that the watch of the yard was set and took off up the stairs to report to Kurt. Walking into the room where he had last been seen, Dex noticed it was only the driver and the Neko. "Where's Kurt?" asked the medic in a voice that seemed to portray the feeling he would smack one of them around if they didn't answer immediately.

"First off, Kira." Kurt finished his cigarette and unceremoniously threw it down the sink. "If you're going to try and pass on information you don't want heard, this..." Kurt rotated his hand to point at the entire room "...is a little obvious. Either we're now fucking in the middle of a mission, or you have something to hide. Never give people a reason to think you have something to hide."

Kurt pulled out another cigarette and lit it, filling the room with choking smoke. "...And also," Kurt tapped his earpiece to indicate the possibility that their conversation might be heard over comms. "Finally, we are doing no such thing. Establishing contact with her is the entire reason why we are here. And besides, you guys might not officially be on any payroll, but I am. If I turn up dead, there's not a single outcome which will be favorable for her. We're the only ones interested in getting her off a practically hostile planet, and if I end up not reporting to our leader for an unexplained length of time, she'll have more than the Enforcers to deal with. Your job is to protect her and the group, understand?"

Kurt leaned to the side when he heard Dex inquire about him over comms. Opening the door to the bathroom, Kurt finished his cigarette. "I just got out of the shitter, Dex. What do you need?"

Far away, Nacon rubbed his temples. "Like a herd of cats. I really don't know how Yamatai does it," he remarked.

"Once when you get as old as me, you stop giving a damn," Mattie replied to the ear in their voices, smiling. "At that point, everything gets better." The old woman passed by Kurt as he came back in, giving him, and a few moments later Kira, a warm nod before continuing on. She had some shopping to do after all.

"Everyone, let's focus, ok? We really need to get her off planet safely, but that's on hold," Nacon began to explain to them. "Even though the Star Military has a few ships around, only one's in orbit, and it's going off to rejoin the rest in patrols - the next group coming in is a few days off, and when they do show up, they'll go, 'WTF'. We got until then, plus whatever time the Enforcer's friends are willing to try and get buy," he pointed out. "So, in the meantime, objective 2. Get some dirt, and make some holes so we can fill them up with our own stuff. We have three different locations we can hit. One's a mall - they used the large size of it to conceal some HQ work inside. Lots of internal room for us to work with and lost of bodies to cover us. Only problem is that it's also the one closest to us. It's bad to shit where you eat and all that, even though we'll have some others run distraction. Puts our own HQ at risk, you know?

Second spot we can hit, is a temporary holding area or processing hub - a postal office. That's further away, so its safer for our little home here, but the problem is that the place is small and cramped. Dangerous tight quarters and all that. Finally, we got a redlight district. It's the farthest away out of the three, meaning any activity that we end up rousing will also be the furthest away from our sweet little home. Main problem is that it's naturally closet to the spaceport - less time on hand to act. Anyways," he finished. "Who's up for what?"

No matter what, it wasn't going to be ideal.

Hearing Kurt reply to him over the comms, Dex stepped out of the room leaving the Neko and Lucky again. "Security is in place, boss. We should know if someone comes knocking now. If they can find the HQ." reported Dex as he rummaged through his pocket for his pack of cigarettes and found he only had three left. "You got an extra pack of smokes, Kurt?" asked the medic as he wandered into the room that Kurt was standing in. A brief look of confusion overtook the marine as he tried to figure out how he hadn't known about this room of the HQ. "Anyway. Security is in place and it all looks quiet." spoke Dex while he listened to Nacon give them the three targets they could hit.

"Overwatch. I can lead a team on the hub. After we get the body armor and weapons. Though if we want to avoid as much suspicion or the bad guys reorganizing their defenses, we should hit them all at once. Only problem with that plan is manpower."

"I can't use military transport." Sawaka shook her head, "I hate to say it but my employers are going to be disappointed enough that I'm in this situation. I can't imagine needing to jimmy the lock to get me out of the brig would make them any happier. So whatever we do, I'm getting off this station by civilian means. As inconvenient as that might make it." Of course, a good agent could work with that without any problem.

With that, she began pacing the room, and spoke hoping that her supposed benefactor would allow everybody else on the network to hear her, "Also, I wouldn't suggest hitting the HQ. Civilian bodies are there and right now they aren't going to seriously consider just looking out their back door for you. They think there's no way you'd take that chance and so they're probably looking for you everywhere but here right now. I'd suggest you keep that going as long as you can and hit the places further away from home."

While she now paced the room, or at least a portion of it, Sawaka was careful to keep back from the window. One hand rubbed at her chin and she took to leaning against the wall across the room from her apparent new bodyguard.

"A temporary operation wouldn't do you any good to hit. It means you're gambling. Either what they're dealing with isn't important enough to have a standing operation, or its so rare and high-value that they don't always have the system in place for it. So really that's just depending on whether or not you want to take the risk. Might be high risk and no reward. So - the red light district? We have less time to react but if we know what they're doing there, then maybe we wouldn't need time. Though if you're willing to split manpower, then maybe we could hit multiple sites at once. Stagger the attacks so that while their primary response is heading for the further site, we hit the red light district." She shrugged despite how useless the gesture was, "That's just my opinion."

"Well, it's as I mentioned earlier - we need cover for us to move around, and I took care of that," the Delsaurian replied.

"Sharpen your teeth on this idea; who do you think killed all those people for each of you to impersonate?" he asked. "Whoever they are, they're naturally around here somewhere, and most likely at my or another's disposal. Right? Answering all that guesswork for you though, they'll be running distraction." As he spoke, a transparent map popped up in their vision. "Look here. See where we're at? No matter what, they'll do something - anything - to draw attention and even manpower away from the site we'll hit. But, here's the problem. They won't know where we're at. That means that if the location we hit is further away, they could either draw enemies away from home even more, or make things worse and draw them in. But if we pick a place close to home, it's guaranteed the thugs will be drawn away. Just not as much."

With the complex conundrum on the table, the Delsaurian was being surprisingly patient with them, waiting to see what they'd all choose.

"Naturally, we could all just say F*k it and pick whatever we like the most," he pointed out.

The legs of the chair tapped onto the ground, and Lucky stood up and ruffled the blond mess of hair a little further and giving everyone - the room in general - a weary look. Sure he wasn't happy about it, neither the nekovalkyrja or the correction by Kurt, but apparently he wasn't going to mention it any longer.

Instead, he paced to the door, and then stood there looking at the open portal for a while, his ears expressively narrowing forward.*

"Figure we should get started." He was addressing the room in general, as well as the folks who had passed out of the room into the hallway and eventually the bathroom. "We going to be using the van, or should I jack another truck?"


*Helashio ears are like Nekovalkyrja ears, just higher on the head, and some would argue they're rounder.

"Hm. Yes. Let's just get started. It's easier that way. We'll be using two vehicles like last time, even if they don't fall for it again, so get them ready if you can." Nacon then thought for a moment, musing over what feedback he did manage to get from his crew. "It's likely best we take a smaller step though. We'll be doing something different before this 'raid' of ours and instead set up for it," he started to explain. "Now, here's what we're going to do..."

*****

Some time later

A pair of heavily dressed figures emerged from the high-end bar and walked down the snowy streets. Even in their current state - thick and covering to guard against the bitter, biting cold - discerning eyes could tell it was a man and a woman. Most probably just walking back home after a night at the bar. Cars went by without sparing them a single glance however, while the drones that had been floating by so frequently were now lazing about. That meant a lot for those two of course. Not that many others would know why. Soon, they took a turn and left the streets, going onwards into a back alleyway. There was a group of young gangsters just hanging around in front of them, mostly made out of kids from well to do families trying to find some fun however. Fian and Kira had to go by them though - the job was important, and if they didn't pull it off, the rest of it wasn't going to work out.

"Kira, Fian. You two need to disconnect the remote alert to the security system from the condo complex our target lives in, and jack my little thumb-system in. Just take this instruction manual I've sent your way and follow that. I'll chime in if you need me though. You two are on this one since your wounds are still a liiiitle bit tender," the Delsaurian had said to them. "Look for a box on the back of the complex and stay out of trouble. It should be a cakewalk."

A van pulled up to the front of the Condo-Complex amidst the light snowstorm. In its back was what looked like a trio of plumbers, though it was hard to tell with the warm coats they wore, and they hadn't stepped out yet either - it wasn't time yet. One was to carry a box of 'tools', while another held onto a wheeled motorized drain-pipe cleaner with a large, round canister to hold its spooled length. Kurt was the Master Plumber, and while Dick and Dex were the newbies on the job, holding those respective pieces of equipment. The front door had a single guard, and they needed to be buzzed in. They just had to wait for the clear first.

"Kurt, Dick, Dex. You three will be the ones going in. I'll be the one to ring you in, but from there, you all need to get to the third floor. Room 301. Avoid fighting, avoid killing, avoid drawing attention. Find and snag the target. You'll need to exfil out too, but assuming you take the stairs, nobody will see you," he explained.

At the front of the van, sat a man and a woman. It didn't seem like they liked each other though, but that was how it went between people, right? It looked like they were impatiently waiting, perhaps bored out of their minds. Lucky was the driver, and with him was Sawaka. Fortunately, their clothing - and her skin shifting ability - was keeping them from standing out too much. There didn't seem to be much going on though, except for a drunkard that had stumbled out of one of the nearby bars. He didn't seem to be any real threat for the time being though.

"And you two. Lucky? Sawaka? Again, getaway driver. Now, Lucky, I'm having you with her because of your experience. Sawaka, I'm having you with him because of your value. However you drop off and pick up the others, I'll leave to your discretion. Like before, get to a spot nearby the Muffin Man Truck, ditch the Plumbing Van, and get home after picking everyone up."

All the pieces were in place. Now, it was time to see if the play would run without a hitch.

Lucky waited.

Waiting, as a skill, had proved useful in the past. It proved useful here. Although the ash was already tinging every breath he drew, and although he had, by now, gone halfway through his cigar case, Lucky drew a café cigar out of the silvery metal and tapped it down, watching the entrance to their small byway and squinting the distance off into the weather.

They were a little off to the side, parked inconspicuously. Lucky lit up, and rolled down the window of the van. The heater ran, quietly, in front of him – an electric hum so soft it approached silence, but warm enough that his tail, at least, caught some residual heat from the floorboards.

At least part of him was warm.

He paid careful lack of attention to Sawaka. She could figure out the waiting game for herself, whatever her ‘real’ job. So long as they were ready to go when the group decided the time was right to run like fiends, it didn't matter much.

Sawaka may not have liked it, especially under these circumstances, but waiting was a game she certainly knew how to play. Sitting in the front passenger seat of the van had meant she had a clear view of their approach. She'd kept the shotgun tucked beside the seat between it and the center console to keep it from the view of outsiders. Underneath her coat she'd kept the Styrling .45 in a shoulder holster. And now to prevent her from being recognized by any thugs that might have reason to look into the van, she had gone with dark green eyes, a lightly tanned complexion, and dark red hair that was tied back by a scrunchie into a ponytail save for a few more rebellious strands that had slipped free. She had her arms crossed and was scanning their surroundings subtlety. Nothing seemed too out of place or disorganized for a Nepleslian city. So she just filed away things she saw and kept her eyes open for anything that seemed to be out of the ordinary.

As she heard the window crack, she glanced to Lucky. Of all the partners she'd ever had, Lucky was one she would have never picked. He seemed arrogant, racist, and acted like a total prick. Plus the Helashio and the neko weren't known as species that got along very well. Not only that but - she scrunched her nose as whisps of smoke not carried away by the cold air coming through from outside reached her. With a gloved hand she waved the vapors away from her nose and let out a long and weary sigh.

"Those are bad for you, you know." She began, "They are bad for your heart, they can cause cancer, you might need to get your lungs surgically replaced, and the average smoker can buy a new car with the money they spend on cigarettes or cigars in a given year." She pointed to it lazily with one finger, "Oh, to top it off that smells terrible and the cherry can draw the eye of somebody watching."

Lucky closed his eyes, and savored a mouthful.

These were Nepleslian, but not some off-brand. They were Macenedo, a local brand he had taken a liking to, grown locally instead of mass-manufactured. The smoke was smooth, but a little bitter. As far as cigars went, especially in Nepleslia, these were good enough most people hardly complained. Leave it to a neko to complain, though. She grated on his nerves, and he'd already wasted too many of the credits he'd planned to save for happier time, later, after this mission was over and he could actually relax. These were not cheap.

He took his sweet time answering her.

Outside the window, the drunk staggered about. Lucky found himself watching, patiently, suspiciously. Not every random passerby was an enemy. No sense in worrying too hard over it.

Eventually, he gave Sawaka a Look, ashing his smoke out the window. He tucked it back in his mouth, careful not to burn his scarf, and considered just what to say. Should I say anything at all.

"Is that all?"

Huddled under her coat, feeling the weight of Styrling Silver Special in holster under her arm and feeling a bit more secure thanks to Everyday vest under her shirt, Kira walked with the pretty boy. Fian seemed okay to her, he did not talk too much when it was not needed which was fine by her. It meant she could do the talking. Which she did. She talked when they walked to the bar, when they were in the bar and when they were on their way from bar. About everything. Well everything apart from things that could blow their covers.

When the duo walked by the gangers, she stiffened a bit, her hand wrapped around telescopic staff safely hidden in big pocket of her coat. Last thing they needed was a fight luckily, Fian and Kira just walked by them without anything happen. Yet. Kira then listened to their boss. It seemed simple. Get there, do the technical doo-hickey and get out.

"This does not seem too hard, yes?" Kira said to Fian. "Better not take it lightly. We go and do job. Cover each other. You want to technical thing or do watch. I can do either."

The four gangbangers were busily muttering amongst themselves, and as Kira and Fian neared, they could overhear their conversation.

"I dunno. Something's definitely going on, since they want us to get ready to jump at their order. Plus, all those drones have been flying around lately," one of them spoke, half hushed. They weren't the most discreet, or perhaps smart either, and it showed with how easy the two agents could listen in on these teenagers by just walking by.

"Hey, so long as something happens, that means we get to do something and make a fat load of cash, right?" A second chimed in. A third snorted, rolling his eyes.

"You're just going to blow your fat load in some expensive girl," he sneered at the other boy. Looking past him however, he noticed the two walking by. The fourth noticed this and followed his gaze, quickly putting his fingers to his lips to let out a single sharp cat-call whistling through the alley. "Hey doll, why are you hanging out with a guy like that, huh?" the third teenager jeered, the rest bursting into laughter.

*****

Lucky was right that not everyone was a potential threat, but, that didn't mean they wouldn't be an inconvenience or an annoyance either.

The drunk walking down the curb ambled past Sawaka's side of the van and out of view from the passenger window. Out of sight, out of mind. Or at least until the faint sound of a zipper being undone could be heard. It was, naturally, followed by the sound of tinkling against the thin metal of the car, the droplets freezing instantly against its surface into a yellow icicle. "Awesooooome," the drunk man chortled to himself as he kept on going. The others inside the car, Dick, Dex and Kurt, could hear all this for themselves very clearly through the body of the van.

Very, very clearly.

"No, that isn't all. It also makes your clothes smell terrible to everybody else around you." She eyed the slowly approaching drunk, "I don't see how smokers always talk about flavors and scents. It all smells like burning leaves and tar to me. I can't imagine that it tastes any better, either."

Sawaka had her arms crossed and it meant she couldn't very well go to settle a hand on her shotgun as the man approached, leaving the quickest thing to grab being the pistol. But she restrained herself from even slipping her hand under the coat. He wasn't an ID-SOL and so she was pretty certain that now she'd been given some time to rest and recuperate that she'd be able to take this sort of fool in a fight even if he was only pretending to be drunk. She didn't think he was, though.

Even though his lingering by the van could have been security hoping that if it was a plant, they'd be able to - was - was he? She winced and if she hadn't been expressly hiding them by keeping them transparent (as well as her jacket having a hood if all else failed), everybody would have been able to see the twitching ears. She heard it just as clearly as those in the back of the van, if not even better. And she didn't even need to sit back there in order to see it.

She groaned and looked to Lucky, "Do you want to chase him off, or me? He's taking a piss on the van. Isn't it the Nepleslian thing to solve those kinds of problems with violence?" She asked, raising a brow.

Fian had managed to acquire a powered-brace for his injured leg, the same kind that people wear when they get full limb replacement surgery and aren't too used to the new parts of their selves yet, which was exactly what he felt about his painkiller and steroid hopped leg. It made a light whrring noise as he trudged through the snow. He made a point to adopt a slightly more menacing posture as him and Kira walked past the louts, they were only looking for an easy prey.

"We gotta find it first." He grumbled. "Target aquisition, what a pain. Its probably attached to wall of the building it is connected to." He moved a dumpster a few inches aside to see if the box was behind it. "Have to deal with systems and wires all the time if you were in the PA corps. Unless you think you can do this better, keep an eye on my back while I look."