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RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 4-Q] - In Desire

Aoi Hana-bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen
"Well you sometimes have to do grunt work even when you're at the top, hun," Ella replied to Mr. Bourtoulenne and Bluerick. "Now quit your bitching, and get on with it." She turned around, stormed off and yelled at someone else because of a dirty fork amongst the clean forks. Amateurs, the lot of them so far tonight!

Red meanwhile got to cooking the fish, cooking them on a barbecue grill with heat rocks and gas burning beneath it. The oil on the muipo sent plumes of flame into the air as it sweated off of the fillets of dust trout. The kitchen facilities themselves were top notch, they had an entire floor of the hotel dedicated to cooking the meals of the wealthy. Perhaps old Bluerick was too used to having it so good, like on the Crimson Kestrel.

At least cooking this, he didn't have to worry about that chalk-skinned freak of nature eating the plates and the cutlery afterwards. He served his barbecued cutlets to Enzo, who plated them up in the bowl with cooked vegetables from other stations together. It was almost like a fish steak soup. Smelled really good though - really good - like a spicy lemon fish curry or something.

Out of the corner of Enzo's eye as he was dishing up, he noticed that Ella was on a phone to someone, but they couldn't hear what they were saying over the noise, or read their lips as their back was to the conman. Perhaps suspicions were raised because of the snippiness.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Five, Hallways
The 'gravy boat' stopped off at all floors, the interior of which was fairly spartan. It wasn't made for looks or comfort, but it could get staff and equipment anywhere in the hotel. There was room for two trolleys of equipment - whether it was food deliveries, cleaning service, or cargo. The gravy boat stopped at twenty seven cups, and around a corner, the hallway for the room was seen.

Shayla heard something in her ear. "Hello, security? This is Ella, up in, uh," she seemed to be remembering something, "the couch, and I think I've got two folks with a dash of oil in my kitchen." She seemed slightly peeved with the way things were going this evening, given the guests they had. "They arrived late, they were spaced out, and they're answering back, the ungrateful pricks. They're temps filling in for our main chef tonight. Temps don't get the right to answer back until they've run a kitchen and know what its like to work under pressure."

Some of this sounded just plain strange to Shayla. She was put under pressure worse than a kitchen plenty of times. "Just give 'em a look over when you get to my floor, I'll point them out." The line then cut out. Floor - er, cup twenty five meanwhile seemed to be all calm. The carpets were red and plush, a woman not matching Yotsuyuki Kuu's description left her room and went to the elevator.

When she was walking through cup twenty six, she got a message from Nostrovia in her other earpiece - the one given to her for this mission. "How goes patrol? I think Melissa saw you in the window at the end of the hallway on the twenty fifth or twenty fourth floor. She thinks ground floor is the first and then it counts one two three and so on."

"Ah shaddap." Melissa snipped back over radio. "Point is, I got ya covered. All seems calm. Security outside seems normal. Anythin' interestin' to report?" It seemed safe to answer questions so long as she disabled the security headset's microphone for a moment.


Aoi Hana-bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Soruk's Room
There was a lady in the Hotel's VIP service staff uniform standing in front of Room Six, knocking on the door gently with a clipboard in her hands. "Excuse me Sir, you may now head upstairs to the restaurant to be seated." Soruk heard gently from the other side of the door, after he'd spent some time looking good for his dinner date. He was confident that he'd make a good impression. Looking out the window for a moment, he saw shooting stars in the night sky.

He got a message from Nostrovia. "Shayla's gotten in, she's on patrol as a security officer around your area. You might bump into her - pretend you don't know each other. Saw Enzo and Red walk in too, so presumably they're cooking."

Meanwhile, Nostrovia's current position was unknown to the rest of the team. If they didn't know, it was likely nobody else did either, not even the hotel staff.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Six, Hallways

Shayla took a moment to respond to the security call, working out what to say in her head. "If it's mostly uh, cold water right now, then I'll check in in about 30. But if you start filling water or there's any uh, sprinkles, I'll burn water and be right there." She had to cut the mic off to snicker at how she sounded using all of these code phrases. Keeping it off to make sure the hotel couldn't hear her, next she responded to Nostrovia.

"Bad news, some cook named Ella is gettin' pretty suspicious. She called me up there. Better tell those two to either fall in line and under the radar or figure out some way their prick act doesn't end with me havin' to haul 'em off." Thankfully the hallways were empty enough that she wasn't too worried about being overheard, but she still kept the reply as short as she could. With her knowledge of the hotel security's camera placement she was also able to ensure she wasn't caught talking to the air.

The giantess was nice enough to hold the elevator open for another employee as she moved onto the 27th floor, nodding politely to the VIP handler before walking off to begin her patrol of this floor. Shayla tried to keep her expression blank as she prepared for any accidental Mupio interactions. She had orders from both sides not to upset him, after all.
 
'Well, well, lookit' 'is.' Enzo's inner-voice called to him, his eyes darting between his work and his mark. 'Can't handle a little criticism? Dishin' it out, but can't take it back, eh? And now what? Tellin' on us t' mommy. Well, yer a dumb kunt.'

This voice was seething with bile, self-assured hatred and just a pinch of righteous indignation. Enzo had murdered people, stolen endless sums of money and valuables, eaten other people's food, cheated on lovers, and done his fair share of telling untruths. But this? This was just disrespectful. He was pretty sure (that is, he was remembering things how he wanted to) that he'd never talked to somebody like that. What kind of shitty boss-- Enzo stopped himself and stood back from his work for a moment. He hadn't been paying attention, but for some reason it was there, and it was done. And it was beautiful. Redrick had done his job in converting the fillets into a beautiful, perfectly browned array of shingles and Enzo had cathartically taken them to dish. Each fillet carefully laid across the veggies and given that perfect magazine-picture zig-zag of sauce. An angry chef might make bad food, but an angry attendant made masterpiece-level plating decisions. Making a few appreciative sounds, Enzo crossed his arms and nodded before turning to find a wheelie cart. Typically, Enzo would plan to steal something valuable or murder somebody to teach them a lesson; but this was a new opportunity for the con man.

He'd done a fantastic job. So, he decided that this would teach that awful woman a lesson. He loaded up the service cart, laid down a platter sized chaffing dome, and wheeled it up to Ella with an endearing smile.

"Madame?" He asked, lifting the dome just enough so she could see the masterful work lying beneath, "Do you now believe that we are more qualified than we seem? The fish is ready to serve, no? Quite beautiful, if I say so."
 
Some time passed as the patrol progressed through Cup 26, and food started being cooked and plated up... (It is 8:15 PM)

Aoi Hana-bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen

"Eh?" Ella didn't quite hear her being addressed after she was checking on some mixed vegetable chowder bubbling away in an earthenware pot. "What's that you said, hun?" The first thing she looked at, instead of Enzo's face, was his output. "Well I'll be." She said, walking over and inspecting his handiwork. The consistency, the presentation, the warmth of it. Perhaps Enzo had gotten so good at faking professions in costume that he actually knew what he was doing.

"Plate aesthetics and item placement follow feng shui principles, very nice..." she mumbled as she evaluated Enzo's rows of plates, fingers drumming against her chin as her eyes were wide. "Steam index and palatability is smack in the middle of acceptable paramaters! Perhaps I doubted you, I'm sure the senators will love this." A little slip of the tongue. Valuable to Enzo as gold from cold finger's ring. They were sitting down - together, by the sounds of it.

That narrowed things down, and he just had to tell the rest that they were currently on Floor Twenty Nine. Maybe Shayla would have to spit and polish rather than breaking out the pine-scented spritzy bottle as procedure demanded.

"Alright. Keep that trolley there with the main. We served entrées to them about half an hour back," she snapped into an organisation mode. "I'll start on the finishing touches for the dessert, you guys send this out in fifteen, got that?" Red knew that some of the mupio had to infuse with the food around it after serving, and he could see that Ella was under pressure (perhaps from a weighty paycheck and a reputation on the line) to get this right.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Hallways
Large feet in smart, black shoes trod across the immaculate red carpets, feet taking her to the end of the hallway, a window taller than she was with a view into the sunset. Rays poured in and gave every speck a sharp shadow against the black and white of her security uniform. Maybe there was room in that brain for a photo or two of this unforgettable vista as the pink skies concealed the globe disappearing under the ocean.

Nostrovia's voice trickled into her ear as she considered Shayla's findings. "Hrm. Doesn't sound like a massive alert. Just give Enzo and Red a slap on the wrist, the once over ... or perhaps reprimand them and take them upstairs. So long as it looks like they're being pulled aside ..." her voice trailed off a little as she considered the possibilities.

"Oi, did ya mean Ella Harriet?" Melissa interjected over radio. "I wotch 'er cookin' show and I swear its the biggest lie ever - can't get ingredients 'at clear in Sargasso!"

"Melissa, radio discipline." Nostrovia cautioned.

Only the clouds closest to Shayla seemed white when viewed from underneath, while the ones closest were a bright orange, turning purple and pink as the sun filtered through their moisture. A memory worth preserving perhaps, the view here rivalled the one in Sargasso. Moving on with the rest of Cup twenty seven, the polish was uneventful otherwise, just some husband and wife returning from the beach - or was it husband and mistress?

Red heels with enough stiletto to be picked up at an airport scanner weren't wifely fashions last time the large Nekovalkyrja checked. Time to put away cup 27 and begin polishing cup 28, maybe picking up the two along the way. She wasn't sure if they had another plan just yet...

Though, on her second pass through the halls back towards the service lift, she noticed the same woman waiting outside of Soruk's door patiently, dressed in the garb of the hotel's VIP escorts, with a deep necklined black blazer with gold trim, and an immaculately tailored appearance, right down to the pencil skirt and stockings. She looked like she'd been waiting a while with a bored expression, perhaps striking up conversation wouldn't hurt.

A short transmission came in from Nostrovia. "I wonder how long she's been waiting? The boys are on your next floor. Remember, pretend you don't know each other."

"Fuck's sake, the sun's gettin' in me scope." Melissa grumbled over the channel afterwards. "Dun' have time fer these aesthetics..."

"For the love of- Melissa!"


Aoi Hana-bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Soruk's Room
There was still a knocking at the door. "Sir? Are you present?" the woman's voice on the other side continued to inquire, tone of voice firmer now, "we need you to be seated, please." It was rude to keep someone waiting, no matter whether you were the Blademaster or the guy who plays five finger fillet with a spoon.

On the other side of the door, Shayla could see them fiddling with their fingers, perhaps restless or interacting with some unseen data structure. Could've been anything from official documentation to liveblogging about rude rich people.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Hallways

Shayla paused to admire the view, just for a moment, thinking about how she'd wound up in this situation. Just a few years ago she would never have considered standing in a plush hotel, wearing a suit and admiring the seaside view. While she was happy she'd gotten off that rock and back to mostly civilized space, she wasn't really sure which way of life was more complicated. Or dangerous. Shaking her head to clear it, she turned and headed back towards the elevator, practicing how she'd respond to the two suspicious chefs she was supposed to handle. The couple didn't really catch her eye, although she highlighted a digital image of the pair just in case. She was more concerned that the woman from the elevator was still waiting outside that door. It had to be Soruk's room.

"Got a problem here, ma'am?" She tried not to be too loud, but spoke up enough that Soruk could hopefully hear her. Give him just a bit of warning, if he was actually listening to the conversation outside his door. "Is...our guest well?" Shayla pushed her sunglasses down just a bit so the woman could see her eyes, making a motion towards the door to ask if they needed to go inside. She didn't want to be delayed here, but it would look weird if she just passed the other employee without checking in.
 
Soruk was roused from a nap by the sounds of knocking on his door and voices outside. He didn't remember falling asleep, the last thing he did remember was sitting down to meditate while he waited for the dinner to start. The blademaster had brushed himself up a bit, making sure his face was cleaned up and his cloak was in pristine condition. After all that, he had sat down to meditate, though it appeared he had fallen asleep in the process.

Soruk rose to his feet, smoothing the front of his cloak before calling out, "Please forgive me madam, I seemed to have fallen asleep during my meditation. I mustn't have slept long enough on the flight here." After a quick glance in the mirror, the blademaster rushed to the door, opening it with a winning smile, "Please accept my apologies, I did not intend to make you wait." Soruk clasped his hands together and bowed his head for a moment, not paying too much attention to the security guard, who he knew to be Shayla just by her size alone.

He gestured down the hall with a smile, "Please, lead on."
 
(It is 8:20 PM. About five minutes until serving time on Floor Twenty Nine...)

Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Hallways

The hostess looked over to Shayla, initially surprised that one of the security staff would ask them how they felt about things. They were usually so standoffish and aloof, being tasked with the resort's security. "Dunno, it's just these rich and famous guests. They're so ... rude, I guess." She was referring to the person behind the door, who she hadn't met before, or even heard of. Though, one of her friends got a dehumidifier set up in the room's air conditioning.

"You think they live on a different planet sometimes," she sighed as she reached between her breasts and produced a mobile device, posture easing and one of the bangs as she scrolled through something her friend wanted to show her. It was a picture of a cat doing something entertaining. "I have enough trouble keeping rent down in a holiday location like this, even with subsidies from the hotel to keep me here." Maybe it'd been a long day for her.

♫ Duke Nukem 3D - Calypso Factor ♫

The door opened and there the blademaster was there with a winning smile on his face, catching the hostess off guard with her mobile device near Shayla. The hostess' back went as straight as a rail before she slid the device between her breasts and looked at Soruk, hands clasped together by her hips. "Ah, Sheshren Aisaras Soruk. You've been invited, on behalf of the Aoi Hana-Bi Hotel, to dinner at our prestigious restaurant this evening." She held out a hand, motioning calmly and politely - amazing how quick the attitude could change when customer satisfaction was on the line - towards the elevator.

Soruk didn't remember placing himself an invitation. Perhaps it was part of Nostrovia's getup and gig for him in this game of chess. "You'll be pleased to know that you are being served tonight by Ella Harriet, premier dessert chef." She would even take his hand if he offered it as they walked to the elevator together. "She doesn't have many gartagen clients, so tonight is a special night for her."

Shayla could continue with her patrol, the next floor being the kitchen. She knew she'd find two familiar faces up there...


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen
With things getting closer to serving time, other dishes were starting to occupy the trolleys. The one Enzo had himself assigned to was full, and a list of who to give it to was on in front of him. However, he didn't see the names of either Kuu or Winsbury on his list and assigned route.

Looking over to another trolley boy who, damp hands squeezing the metal bar in nervousness, Enzo could see his list. He saw two names he recognised. Another name he recognised was 'YANNICK', the guy who helpfully explained how things went at the kitchen when he and Redrick showed up together. Maybe it was time to make him even more helpful.

"Alright, we'll do this nice and slow." Ella directed as she saw her six trolleymen teed up to go, including that incorrigible cat amongst the pigeons Enzo. "Serve the food, get smiles, flutter about your assigned tables, ask if they want wine or refreshments, and ask to collect empty plates. Simple." Ahead of the six trolleys seemed to be some manner of gravity lift, making people go up and down quickly between the Kitchen floor and the Restaurant floor with minimal fuss, and minimal disturbance to the food. Yamataian technology for comfort at its finest, probably appropriated from military innovation.

Out the corner of Redrick's eye, he could see the black-suited figure of Shayla emerge from the lift to 'clean cup twenty eight'. It seemed like things were beginning to converge as the plan came together too.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
The carpets were red, still vibrantly so despite every day, hundreds of pairs of extravagant feet walking over them, and the feet of the people serving everyone here. Soruk was lead to a table, but he noticed he could smell some of what the kitchen was making from ... below. Usually a kitchen was on the same floor as the restaurant, and people closer to the kitchen had an opportunity to speculate with the smells that came from it. With a kitchen beneath his feet and its smells drifting upwards through strategically placed holes in the floor, he and nobody else in this fine restaurant had to go without knowing.

What an odd thing to do. Maybe it could've been taken a step further by allowing people to view down into the restaurant, but that perhaps was nixed since it would be possible to harass the kitchen staff with thrown items, fishing rods, and jeers. By the same token, it'd be possible to hear some of the foul language from the staff, upsetting the oh-so-exquisite dining experience that'd been carefully put together by interior designers and restaurant managers alike - the sorts who never got their hands dirty in a kitchen unless it was to rip someone a new arsehole for serving the allergic guy peanuts or shrimp.

After admiring how tasteful the napkin folding was on his table and how machine-precise the cutlery was placed, Soruk could see a bald head with a green tie, and a woman with cat's ears and dark hair only a couple of tables away from where he was sitting. This fit the description of the targets he was assigned to go after; Senator A. Winsbury, and Senator Yotsuyuki Kuu.

Glancing out a window into the night sky without a cloud in it, Soruk, and indeed a few other patrons could see shooting stars over in the distance. Some of them took photographs, pleased by the galactic scenery of this quiet and tidy place, so high up from all the troubles of the world, with such a view too.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Hallways

"I hear ya." That was about as much as Shayla risked saying, not wanting to get pulled into much of a conversation. Although it did sound sincere, at least. She stepped back, pushing her shades back into place and nodding at the employee and guest. Nothing special to see here, situation handled, back to work and all that. The giantess hung back for a moment to let the two head for the regular elevator, turning to move towards the one for employees only for herself. It was time to check in on those troublemakers.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen

She spotted Redrick first, then the man Enzo had become, as she stepped out of the lift and into the cooking area. Her eyes swept the room, taking everything in, and making sure everyone saw her seeing them. Shayla moved smoothly through the crowd to approach the employee whose badge identified her as the woman that had contacted her over the radio. She moved out of the way of the main activity to lean towards the lady in charge, keeping things simple. "Your water cold enough?" She glanced from Ella to the trolleys of food, giving the other employees another once over. "I'll follow you up and make sure it stays that way. Just in case, eh?"
 
=== Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Seven, Hallways ===

Soruk nodded to the hostess, following her lead with a smile, "I'd be honored to attend. I must apologize once more for your wait." He listened to her words as he followed her to the elevator. He wondered why he had been invited to a dinner, but at least it gave him the chance to search for his targets. As they entered the elevator, he nodded and smiled, "I'm sure your chef will do just fine."

=== Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant ===

Assassins Creed Brotherhood - Master Assassin (Soruk's Theme)

Soruk strode into the restaurant with confidence in every step and a smile on his face. Appearance was everything in this game of cloak and dagger. While he was led to his table, he scanned over the crowd gathered in the room, looking for any hint of his targets. They had to be around here somewhere. He hadn't been able to locate them by the time he had been escorted to his table. Perhaps he'd be lucky enough to spot them later in the night. He thanked the hostess for her assistance and company before getting back to his task.

Soruk noted the familiar smells coming from below, Gartagen spices to be sure. He wasn't much of a cook and his clan wasn't known for cooking either, but he knew he was in for a treat. While many of the patrons spent their time gazing out the window at shooting stars streaking across the night sky, the blademaster scanned the crowd once more. It wouldn't take a minute for him to spot two individuals matching the description of his targets. He didn't linger on them however, he didn't want to seem suspicious. Eventually he cast a glance out the window, "Hmm, how pretty." He mused aloud.
 
Unlike the rest of them, he didn't have nearly as much leeway to wander the hotel, especially not with the raging dragon the head chef turned out to be. A flunkey escaping from the kitchen before his shift was over? Please. He'd be booted out in seconds. The old man eyed some nearby fire alarms, and a service phone to security, though, and the beginnings of mischief formed in his head.

Well, stationary didn't necessarily mean helpless. If they got into trouble, he could divert a great deal of hotel security with a fire alarm, or god help them, a bomb threat.

Redrick looked around to make sure no one was watching. He thumbed the throat mic, keying and transmitting secretly to the other members of the group.

"Enzo, I'm stuck here doing prep work. I can't join you. If you raise a stink, I'll do something crazy to draw attention back down to this floor to give you all an easier time." He paused, taking a deep breath.

"Good luck buddy. And good luck to the rest of you. Nab this asshole."

That being done, he turned back to his work, occasionally looking around himself. He couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching, had it ever since this whole affair got started. Just where were these heebie-jeebies coming from? It was a few more minutes before out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted another souz-chef peeking at him before quickly turning away, busying herself with something else.

The mannerisms - she looked different, but was that...?

No, it couldn't be. Could it?
 
Enzo said nothing when he heard Redrick's voice wash into his ears. Internally, he nodded and adjusted his figures for thievery. So many pieces of genuinely silver silverware could fit into two carts, but now there was only one and-- K'thunk. A plate collided with the table and a perfectly portioned glass of wine found its way in front of a waiting dinner guest. Enzo had to switch routes with Yannick, and quick. The poor, dumb brat was headed right for an important looking section of the room where the tables were a little farther apart. Pocketing a wedding ring that'd been foolishly set aside, Enzo whirled his cart around and snapped at Yannick in his perfect Bortoulenne affect, "Mon dieu, monsieur Yannique!"

It was that kind of snappy whispery that was just loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to disturb a meal. The kind of thing that made stuck-up diners feel like their meal was the most important thing to the staff-- and some stupid poor person who had the audacity to screw with their food was getting the dressing down he deserved.

When Enzo finally got close to the brat, it was a completely different story. Enzo's right hand said he was chewing the kid out in hushed tones. The left hand calmly and assuringly gripping the poor bastard's shoulder said he was doing the poor kid a favor.

"Listen, garcon," Enzo said sweetly, "Covered in the nerves like this, you will never see your pourboire-- your... eh, you would say 'gratoo-i-tee', no? Let me take zese big shots from you, garcon. Here, I'll give you a cut bigger than what you'd get with your sad face."

A KS card slid into Yannick's breast pocket as Enzo's reassuring whisper lulled the kid into something Enzo imagined was a reverie. "It's better this way, non? These gustomers, they're a little more facile et propre, oui? I will take your shitty route, mon ami-- everybody wins. Bon ami, that's you and me, mon ami."
 
(It is 8:25 PM. The dishes are being served...)

Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
Waiters and waitresses started their rounds, moving forward as one by one, they appeared to rise from a hollow in the floor and begin walking through the restaurant with their trolleys of food, wearing smiles and preparing questions for the guests. Would you like more wine? Would you like anything else, Sir? May I help you with anything?

In the midst of this, there was an exchange as two carts bumped into each other on a similar route in the . The clink of plates audible, drawing attention for all but the briefest of moments by dinner guests. The ones who had something in front of them shrugged and continued while the ones who didn't returned to polite conversation to feign surprise when their meal arrived. Yannick patted his breast pocket down incredulously, not noticing initially what Enzo had done since he was busy evaluating the conman's motives.

But Ella had been breaking his balls, and this guy seemed competent, so he nodded and swapped places with the conman and looked down at his rounds sheet to continue following the route. Before he started moving though, he whispered something into Enzo's ear. "Who are you, anyway?" the assistant chef asked, "you're definitely not a temp, are you?"

He didn't seem to want to pursue him, more the tone of his voice was admiration. "You need wheelbarrows for your balls, y'know..."

When Enzo continued on Yannick's route, he stopped next to the only gartagen in the restaurant, and he had to serve him the meal for tonight. They just had to pretend not to know each other, or not glance at the senators on the table just across. Within earshot, the two could hear a conversation over the sound of people eating and conversing. In their earpieces, they heard Melissa's voice. "Enzo, Soruk. I see you two. See 'em? Close th' deal 'fore anyone knows what's up."

"Yes. The chef downstairs seems cluey, but Ms McBelle can run interference on her, being an authority figure." Nostrovia added.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen
Ella was keeping an eye on Redrick, and with the welcome sight of the new security guard, the chef seemed relieved. "Water's fine, but he's still oily. Clean here twice and-"

The chef broke off conversation for a moment, looking around her kitchen, scanning it left and right as she breathed in and out. "Hm, thought I saw something... yeah, do rounds here, will you?" The pastry chef said as she looked back at Redrick. "I have a dessert to cook." She returned to her work station and started cutting lengths of pastry dough and measuring dairy.

Things seemed relatively peaceful. With Red here, and no view to the outside. Things could remain peaceful in this kitchen with Shayla around. Right?


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
♫ M|O|O|N - Release ♫

"I don't like it one bit, Kuu," Winsbury had a glass of wine in his hands, shaking his head before putting the half empty glass down, "I can't continue with this. We're going to make someone very angry sooner or later."

"What are you saying? We have bodyguards who don't understand a word we're saying, and don't know the local politics." She didn't indicate to anyone. "They can't rat us out."

Winsbury looked aside nervously, past Enzo and Soruk and out the window. "Its not the bodyguards I'm worried about. Its the consequences. I didn't think the situation would blow up so violently in our -" he stopped himself and looked at Yotsuyuki square in the eyes "-your face."

"Are you worried about the ISC Phoenix?" Yotsuyuki scoffed, throwing her hair back and smiling at Winsbury. "If you're so afraid of them, where are they?" Meanwhile, a gentle green glow, perhaps a little on the sickly side could be seen on the edges of Enzo and Soruk's vision. The other guests tried to ignore it. Sometimes phenomena like this happened on Albini.

"Wozzat?" Melissa asked over radio. Nostrovia didn't seem to chide her for breaking radio protocol. "Nozzie what the fuck's goin' on out there?"

Winsbury noticed it too, but tried to stay on topic. "Given that I'm legislating to keep their ilk out of Yamatai permanently and Luca's been putting up a very good case as to why not," he drummed his fingers on the table, looking down at his napkin and toying with the top of it, "I've got a very good reason to be afraid of them even without what you've done going on. He's a man of action - lies don't become him."

"You're playing the wrong game then, Senator. You want what's best for Albini, don't you?" Yotsuyuki sighed, looking into her handbag and grabbing her communicator with some irritation. She clicked her tongue, then looked at Yotsuyuki. She frowned after reading the message, tilting her head and blinking at the device before pocketing it. "Ah ... truth be told, I think there's no going back now. Check your phone." The bald senator reluctantly reached into his pocket and looked at his phone.

When he looked up, wide eyed, he saw something out of the ordinary behind Kuu. "What the hell's going on outside?" A pallid green light was dominating the sky as what appeared to be a star, a comet, or some sort of meteor even, was coming for the hotel. It appeared to split into smaller vehicles, becoming a large series of fragments and ... slowing down? Guests got up and started taking notice now, causing a quiet, but dignified stink as some took photos and others started to leave. "Yotsu, what is this?"

The Nekovalkyrja senator seemed to be at a loss for words herself. The waiters had stopped serving meals, and one bowl could be heard falling to the floor and shattering. "W-Winsbury, I don't know. I think, I think this could just be a freak accident - that's all! Happens all the time here, right?!" She sounded desperate. "Right?"


"Wh..." Nostrovia breathed into the microphone, the sound of shuffling papers over the radios. "This can't be retaliation against us. I haven't seen anything like this before."

"Does it rain asteroids 'ere on Albini?" Melissa asked, trying to inject some ill placed levity into the events. "Faaark, I've been missin' out on some good photography!"

It didn't. "Melissa." Nostrovia grumbled over radio, trying to keep her cool. "Not the time. Get your rifle - something's not right. Hands on guns, people." The sound of a heavy bolt falling into place and chambering a very large bullet could be heard coming from Melissa's radio, followed by a distinctly unladylike cackle.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen

Shayla nodded as she listened to Ella, noting the odd pause. This one here noticed too much for her own good. Shayla really didn't want to have to beat up some poor cook just doing her job, but she was really getting nosy. The giantess turned to follow that look over to Redrick, nodding again, making it clear she knew where to concentrate most of her attention. On the security guard side of things, of course.

On the kidnapper side, things were a bit more hectic. She began to do a careful circle of the kitchen as Melissa and Nostrovia chattered over the radio, making her frown. What in the world was going on up there? She couldn't see anything cooped up in here. After a bit of deliberation, on her second trip around the cramped area, she ended up near Redrick. Looming over him, doing her best to block him from Ella's view for a few moments.

She wasn't sure what the backup plan was in case of freak meteor disaster, but she had a feeling they'd be moving soon. Ezno was the only one upstairs with the targets, unfortunately, and Shayla couldn't even begin to guess how that man would react to this sudden change in plans. It would be messier than some spilled food, she figured.
 
Redrick smiled amicably and waved at the head chef when her eyes fell to him. Inside, his heart was going about a million miles a minute. Guns? Already? He was hilariously underarmed, a SiZi-75 in his pocket and a spare mag kicking around next to it. It was the measure of life allowed to him, and he wasn't thrilled about the prospect of using it, even about a false flag.

Goddammit, he was a cook, not a space marine.

Seeing Shayla was a relief though. He returned her nod, silently relieved. Proximity to friendly neko is usually a good sign for your life expectancy. Think. Thiiiiink. He kneaded his temples. All he could see in his head was puff pastry recipes, soups, desserts - his inadequacy in tactical operations was becoming more and more apparent.

An emergency, would they hunker down or attempt to evacuate? Was it a natural disaster or an armed intervention? He just didn't know. There was one thing he could do though. He wiped his hands off on a nearby towel, taking a deep breath, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. He looked towards the chef that had caught his eyes before, and - yep.

The way she was cutting those vegetables, it was mechanical, precise, machine-like - he'd seen it a million times before, in his own kitchen. Piat. The chef looked nothing like her, apart from being about the same height, but the two of them had been living in such close proximity for such a long time her mannerisms were impossible to miss to the detail-centric, sharp-eyed Redrick.

And with that, the act began. He threw the dishrag down, the way a head chef might do so when he spotted an underling doing something stupid, and staggered over to the disguised Piat, his body language suggesting someone was about to get a talking to. He approached, grabbed her by the arm - another giveaway. Piat was synthskin over an armored android endoskeleton - to the touch, she felt nothing like a human, slightly cold and metal-hard, like a baseball bat covered in leather.

To an outside observer, it looked like a reprimand conducted quietly enough not to embarrass the recipient.

"I told you to stay on the Crimson Kestrel." He hissed, fingers tightening around the captive limb.

"I-I, what do you mean, I don't know what you're..." She whispered back, and then sighed, as if continuing this act was silly. "...This is kinda dumb, isn't it...? Look, I just..."

"Just what? Wanted to risk getting killed?"

"I just wanted to do what I was built for, Redrick!" Piat's eyes briefly flicked from brown back to her default yellow, her whisper fierce and biting, like a steam pipe leak. "How would you feel if instead of cooking everyday you had to dig ditches or something?"

"I..." Now he was on the back foot. "I... look, Piat, we can yell at each other later. I know you've been shadowing me, and you can probably hear the throat mic right?"

"Yea. Things are getting crazy, right?"

"They are." He sighed. "I never wanted to have to make you risk your life, but it's about to get nuts. I want you to pursue the, you know who we're after, right?"

She nodded.

"When it goes crazy, and it will - forget about me. Go after them." He squeezed her arm, reassuringly. "I'll figure out something, but if the IPG are after these people, then getting them is a bigger deal than babysitting me."

He didn't let her respond, letting go of her arm and ambling back to his work spot. He could see Piat excusing herself, and quickly shuffling off to the stairs, a perfect imitation of someone about to puke or have a 'bathroom accident'. Another cursory glance to make sure no one was looking, and he keyed his throat mic again.

"Just what the hell is happening?" Redrick said, quietly. "Is it an asteroid strike or are the goddamned NMX invading or something?"
 
"Eh, who even fuckin' cares, Red?" Enzo completely dropped the character he'd been working so hard on and drew his pistol right there on the floor in the VIP lounge. They didn't deserve to finish their meals in peace anyway, but if somebody else was going to come along and ruin it he'd at least have his fun. "Load up everythin' of value on a cart and get outta here. Kitchen's fuckin' closed."

With that, the conman kicked over his food cart with a childish and jubilant cheer before skipping over to the senators with the biggest cheshire grin and casually whipping the tablecloth from their table. The intended effect had been to throw aside all the silverware and make a really big point, but years of practicing for a sleigh-of-hand had paid off at exactly the wrong time and now everything was sitting neatly in its place on the bare table. Enzo didn't miss a beat.

"Well, now that I've given yous guys d' show, lemme introduce m'self. Vincienzo th' Magnificent, here to get yous guys outta here." He waved his pistol at the two of them and planted his other hand on the table, explaining, "Now, I don't want yous guys dead, an' I figure those new guys out there do. I also figures security can't handle' 'em. So how about yous an me's and us's goes on out the door, see? And hey," Enzo spared a wink for the Neko senator, "I don't mind being rewarded with a kiss f' bein' such a fair knight an' whatnots."
 
Soruk had waved off his server when his food was delivered, giving a wide smile and a nod, thanking them for their efforts. While his plate of food sat in front of him, the aroma rising from the food was divine, the blademaster kept his attention on his targets. He spared a moment to sample the food before noticing the strange occurrence outside. He took another quick bite, briefly savoring the spices before wiping his mouth on the expertly folded napkin, "Ah well, at least the food was good."

The Blademaster stood when a waiter, who he easily identified as none other than Enzo, brandished a weapon. Soruk flicked his cloak's sleeves to the side, flexing his wrists experimentally, his hidden blades ready to go. He had opted to leave his more obvious weapons on the ship, when his undercover role was established. He kicked his chair away and sprinted over, hopping over a few tables and carts in the process, reaching Enzo in a matter of seconds. The gartagen brandished his hidden blades, giving the senators a winning smile, "I suggest you take his offer." Soruk kept an eye on the activity around them while Enzo did what he did best, talk.
 
(It is 8:30 PM. Time gentlemen, please!!)

Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
The senators were flabbergasted! First there were comets invading their lovely meal, then there were people trying to ... kidnap them? Rescue them? "Who the fuck are you?" Yotsuyuki asked, looking between Soruk and Enzo, very un-Yamataian like words from someone meant to represent the country politically.

The bald Nepleslian narrowed his eyes, piecing together the facial features, particularly the scar and droopy eyes. It could've been only one person. "E-Enzo Bortelli, you're part of the ISC Phoenix." Winsbury pointed out. His eyes flicked over to the Gartagen and he didn't recognise him. He was unable to be outraged at them, but if they were working with Enzo, they must've been a member of the Phoenix, too. "What do you want from us?"

"Is the asteroid your doing?" The Nekovalkyrja seemed upset that her dinner was interrupted. "I'll see to it that SAINT finally arrests your entire group for terrorism in Yamataian sp-"

Suddenly, a shape swung from the window, humanoid in appearance, but the silhouette was too jagged, and all of its edges caught the light in angular, wrong shapes. It swung from a ledge and smashed through the glass.

♫ Sonic Adventure - Strain (Event #2) ♫

The creature seemed to be composed of space rocks and materials, provided by the asteroid they were delivered on - and peppered now with the glass, now melting into slag on its body. With its arrival, the people who were now leaving in an orderly fashion were panicking and running, pushing through each other and trying to get out. Some of the Yamataian guests even leapt out the windows and relied on anti-grav to slow their fall, then ran away screaming on the beach.

Every step the monster took made a grinding noise as rocks ground against each other, while a grumbling vibration akin to a growl could be heard coming from it.It was moving towards the two senators, singlemindedly.

"HOLY FUCK WHAT IS THAT?!" The Nepleslian senator called out, whipping out a .45 and unloading the whole magazine into its chest. The bullets appeared to bounce or squash against the rock, and the Senator was still pulling the trigger although the slide was locked back. The creature only looked annoyed, if anything.

After seeing what the Senator's .45 was doing to it, Soruk and Enzo had a gut feeling that their weaponry wouldn't do much to its stony form. The Nekovalkyrja took Winsbury by the shoulder and tried to run away. "We'll make our own way out, thank you for your offer though." She said calmly, looking between the two Phoenix crewmen, and the abomination shambling towards them.

However, with a sea of people blocking the restaurant's exits, and the Phoenix Crew blocking the windows and the Abomination too, she seemed to err, looking for a way out - she wasn't able to smash through the floor like she could in her army days. From another window, another of the creatures smashed through, and this one appeared to be composed mostly of silicon, glassy and shimmering in appearance, and perhaps more fragile.


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen
Things seemed to be heating up downstairs, with the sounds of screaming and noise coming from upstairs, almost difficult to hear over all the sounds of rushing feet and smashing glass. The Kitchen didn't have any windows. The kitchen staff were getting understandably nervous, and some of them, like Piat, started slipping away from their workstations and leaving the food there to burn and boil over. Ella, however, was taking all of this as a form of insubordination, clearly aggrieved.

It took her a moment to realise Redrick and Shayla hadn't budged, and she realised that something was up. "Security!" She called out. "Security, I've got two intruders-" she was forgetting to use the protocol because of how confusing the situation had become, "-here in the Kitchen!"

Over Shayla's radio, she could hear the following: "We've got bigger problems! There's something horrible rampaging down on the beach, and there's a couple more of them in town! We're calling the police! Fuck it, we're calling the Army! They'll be here in five!"

"What? No! Doesn't matter, there's two intruders in my-" the line went dead. "Fucking hell! Can't anything go right this evening? You two - you two." She pointed at them, misappropriating blame, very far off the mark. "You two are responsible for all this!" She brandished a kitchen knife, trying to wave it at them. It was clear that she wasn't remembering her technique from the army days, and it looked easy to disarm and CQC them. There was no need to kill the pastry chef, but they couldn't exactly leave them here to the things assaulting the building.


A Motel, Melissa and Nostrovia's Room
A plan of attack had to unfold quick. "Team, grab the senators and knock them out - and for god's sake don't let whatever the fuck those are get them." Nostrovia took what control she could of the situation and spelled out a plan over radio. "Yotsuyuki Kuu is only a Yamataian despite the ears. I'll scramble John to the floor of your choosing. John, you on standby?"

"Yeah." John replied over radio, the sound of levers and beeps audible in the background. "Lady of the Night powering up now. Give me a floor, I'll be there ASAP."

"Can I take potshots at th' rampagey stone guys with me gun?" Melissa asked, now aiming down at the beach, at a creature made of metal.

"Arms free. The police will need all the help they can get, and amidst the confusion, its unlikely they'll know where the shots came from."

KAPOW!
 
Assassin's Creed III - Main Theme (Combat)

Soruk didn't pay much mind to the sputtering senators. They could talk all they liked, but one way or another, they were coming with Enzo and him. When the glass shattered, the blademaster shielded his face with an arm, shards of glass cutting his cloth cloak, but unable to scratch the armor plates beneath. After the glass had stopped raining, he moved his arm away to get a good look at what he was up against. The creature appeared to be made of solid rock, however unlikely that was. With the Nepleslian senator draining an entire clip with little effect, Soruk was relatively sure that he could do little damage, even with his arm cannon.

He glanced back at Enzo, then the two senators. Soruk didn't waste much time in delivering a deft strike to each of the senators chin with his palm, aiming to render them unconscious. The gartagen had studied far more non-lethal methods than most of his clan mates and this seemed like a quick solution to their problem. With that out of the way, he glanced at Enzo, "I don't suppose you could move them? I'll keep the things attention."

He turned to face the rocky monstrosities, noting the second one's silicon composition. He had worked with enough rocks and metal to know that silicon wasn't the strongest thing to be made out of. He raised his right arm, flexing his wrist to expose the arm cannon. As always, it was loaded with a large slug. He lined up a shot on the glassy abomination and let his cannon loose with a loud *BANG*. Afterwards, the gartagen assassin prepared to dodge the much sturdier of the two 'things'.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
"Move us?" The Nepleslian senator retorted, terrified of both possibilities, "what're you-" He was cut off by a blue hand striking him in the chin and sending his already slightly drunk head tipping over the edge. However, the Yamataian woman moved out of the way ... or they would have if they weren't carrying the now staggering Nepleslian, copping a smack in the chin and too. Both senators were a lot more ... movable, and fortunately neither of them were particularly rotund. Enzo knew the fatter ones were so much harder to kidnap.

Flicking his wrist and pointing his arm at the crystalline abomination, Soruk fired - a white flash appearing to leap from his wrist with a loud bang. Before the projectile collided with the silica abomination, its entire body was able to hear the vibrations of the sound of Soruk's wrist cannon, making it pause in place - before the lead ball smashed into their right bicep and smashed the right arm off, falling to the ground and shattering into pieces. The crystalline being raised its remaining arm and started sprinting towards Soruk, utterly berserk! Anticipating a counterattack, Soruk sidestepped an overhead swipe and the claws clipped his cloak.

The stone monster had ignored him though, now closer to the senators and ignoring Soruk entirely. It raised its arms, as though to bludgeon the senators apart - and their business suits might've deflected ridicule (they hoped) in the senate, but they wouldn't deflect rock hard fists.
 
Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Eight, Kitchen

Oblivious to the supposed employee's true identify, Shayla waited until Redrick had finished his chat with the other cook before she finally stood near him. "Sounds like asteroids and an invasion. Squids would be too easy, ya know, gotta be somethin' special with these guys." She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to use the mic as she complained about the situation. The kitchen had emptied out by this point, so there wasn't any reason to be subtle at the moment. The only one left behind was doing a good job of blowing their cover for them anyway.

She sighed as Ella advanced on them, brandishing that knife. "Aw, c'mon...seriously? Ain't nobody got time for this." The amazon's hand swallowed up the cook's wrist as she twisted it hard enough to send that improvised weapon flying, another huge mitt on the back of her head bouncing her face off the nearest countertop. The poor chef collapsed at Red's feet, dangling by the arm Shayla was still holding. "Here, hold this. Drag her into the lift and head upstairs with the others. I'll meet ya there in a sec." She yanked the woman up a bit more to try to hand over the grip on that arm to Redrick, activating her mic to relay some news to the rest of the team. "Army's gonna be here in five...uh, four minutes. Looks like we're all meetin' up on the 29th. I'll make us an exit."


Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant

As the monster raised those jagged, rocky arms to batter at those valuable hostages they wanted to kidnap/VIPs they needed to rescue, the floor underneath it suddenly burst open, some sort of large, metal object crashing through it. Enzo and Soruk had just enough time to recognize it as a stove from the kitchen below, windowed door opening as it tumbled to dispense a rather fancy looking dinner all over the debris-strewn floor near them. The square projectile spun through the air and smashed through the wall...right next to one of the windows that had already been crashed through. A moment later, Shayla's head popped up through the hole in the floor, taking a quick count of the four bodies she'd been worried about hitting with her makeshift projectile, which was now sailing towards the parking lot of the hotel.

"I missed?" She looked between the broken windows and the broken wall, noticing something funny about the number of exits one stove had created, needing a moment to take in the situation. Unaware that there had been anything in the path of her toss, she finally noticed the creature Soruk was dealing with, tossing away her now dusty sunglasses to look to Enzo for some sort of explanation.
 
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