She couldn't stop laughing hearing Winston say the words over and over several times. Were they trying to make her pass out from lack of Oxygen? Maybe so. "Ahhaha, hahhh" Jax wiped tears from her eyes and giggled a little bit, trying to shake off the laughing fit. Unfortunately, due to her loud, obnoxious laughter, she hadn't heard most of what the others had said, except when the captain said something about Aubrey. Her gazed turned to Aubrey who crossed his arms and pouted a little. She felt bad for him always being made fun of for his size and wanted to speak up but knew better to speak against the captain, that was treachery.

"Anymore questions?" The captain asked. Jax turned her head to look at the captain. "Cap'n what do you mean by diversion? I thought I heard Winny say something about entering after the stealth team... or did you want us to create a diversion after they entered? Or before" Jax scratched her head in confusion, trying to make sense of the few things that she had heard and the things the captain had said. "I don't get it..."

[PRINCE & KAI]

Prince sighed as he saw the plans layed out around the table. He wasn't really one for plans but he had to listen to the captain. He listened intently, nudging Kai beside him who was in his own world.

'Stealth team?' He thought, silently chuckling to himself. 'Right.' He was surprised they put him in stealth, considering the amount of trouble he causes on a daily basis.

"Large machines, high security and possibly getting killed?" Prince asked. "Sounds like my kind of place," he grinned. Kai huffed, rolling his eyes.

"You better not get yourself killed," he said, crossing his arms. Kai grinned, wrapping an arm around Kai.

"Of course I won't," Prince grinned.

Winter

Winter's attention was drawn to Winston as he started fleshing out a plan to get in and get out with as few complications as possible. It seemed plausible… but a childish part of her begged for an alternative where she could more actively avoid Taran. (She also wanted to raise an eyebrow at the implication there was anything discreet about Prince or Taran, but she supposed everything was relative when it came to this crew.) Winter quashed that part immediately, frustration growing. This was ridiculous. All he'd done was give her a stolen necklace. She shouldn't have been avoiding him or getting so worked up about a silly trinket when it probably didn't even mean anything. Besides, it was Taran. Taran who was never serious about anything and was likely trying to bribe her so she wouldn't poison his next meal.

Against her better judgement, she risked a glance over at the crew mate in question. It was the way he'd looked at her when he'd done it though. How his hand had lingered on hers for just a moment too long…

Winter was absolutely not blushing. She didn't blush.

She snapped her eyes over to Jax when the girl spoke. Thankful for something else to think about, Winter contemplated what she said.

"Diversions tend to work best when done before the criminal act," she said. She was relieved to find her voice steady when she talked. "The four of us will go in, and the rest will stay out, doing what they do best." The corner of Winter's mouth quirked up as she looked at Jax. The young mechanic (and a good portion of the crew) would certainly enjoy the chance to wreak some havoc. "If I'm understanding correctly?" She directed this at the captain, silently asking for clarification.

Taran felt his cheeks flush red. Alone...in a small boat...with Winter? The very person he had spent all day and night trying to avoid? Granted Prince and Winston would be there as well, but still. He was debating asking what level of injured would excused one from the mission. Was a broken leg enough? Or would one still be expected to perform?

He heard Winter speak and he half expected Winter to disagree with the two of them being on the same team, but it never came. Perhaps he was getting too worked up, maybe she just thought of the neckless as a gift from a friend...which they were...right? Or maybe she didn't mind him...maybe she wanted them to be...in the boat...together...with Prince and Winston. Despite the flaw in his logic, the thought did make him perk up slightly.

"Alright, fine, drop me into certain death guys, what is it? Tuesday already?" Said Taran, finally having processed enough of the conversation to have something to say about it. "But, in all serouseness Cap'in, you can count on me and Prince to save the day, amIright? Up top!" He held out his hand to the captain, expecting a high five with a grin on his face. When all he got was a glare, he kept the grin going "Well, that is alright, self five it is," He brought his hands together in front of his face creating a loud clapping sound. Taran then brought his hands down to his lap, looking very pleased with himself.

Dexter sighed. For whatever reason, explaining this whole ordeal to them seemed to be way too much work. “The diversion team will move in at the same time as the stealth group. Although it would be nice if we could send the stealth team in to... disable the security, I highly doubt that would be successful. If we draw the attention to one side of the building we're after, say here-” his finger tapped a spot on the map, '-then the guards will be forced to gather there, making it easier for the smaller team to get inside.”

“Once you're in, you will need to be quick. Find wherever they keep all the equipment. If you can't take it with you, break it. There are going to be several scientists and mechanics there, and some of them may be actively working. A large majority of these people are working for the government against their own free will. As much as I would like to get all of them out of there, it's simply too much of an added risk. However, try to avoid getting them killed, if you can.”

Taran seemed excited about something, and held up his hand for a high-five. Dexter simply looked at him, then the boy clapped his hands together and sat back down, looking accomplished. “Okay, then. If there are no more questions, you're free to go.” He checked the watch on his wrist. “You have about two and a half hours.”

[h2]Rin/Sakuya[h2]
The twins, although a little late, had managed to catch most of the debriefing. Why? Because they ahve been standing behind the closed door the whole time, needing to listen to the next plans, but also afraid of what Winter would do to them if they were to show up in her line of sight.

"Looks like we're causing some mayhem, and with permission too!" Sakuya gleefully whispered to her sister, who nodded back, a small smile on her face as well. "Although I'd really love to find out what that 'bookshelf sized weapon' looks like." Rin muttered softly to herself, with Sakuya only paling at the thought of entering the room at this moment.

Winter

Winter nodded to the captain when he dismissed them. Casting one last glance around the room, (she was most definitely not looking at Taran… it was just a general sweep of everyone – no one in particular) she turned away and headed to the door. She opened it to find two twins pressed up against it, clearly eavesdropping. Ah. This was why they weren't at the briefing. The corner of Winter's mouth quirked up into a smirk as she looked at them. It seemed they were still paranoid about seeing the consequences of their little scene in Ballard.

Good, she thought as she floated past them. Let them worry a little more.

Winter began walking down the hall towards her room. Two and a half hours was more than enough time to change and get everything ready for the mission, but she figured she may as well start now. If she holed herself up in her room for the entirety of that time, she wouldn't have to face… anyone else. The shakiness of her own reasoning made her uncomfortable, but she couldn't really bring herself to care at the moment.

She began listing supplies off in her head as she walked, thinking of what she'd need. Her mind drifted to her weapons cabinet, holding all sorts of daggers and knives, wires, poisons… and her two sickle blades. It had been a very long time since she'd brought those out. And she still had no intention to. Winter knew she had a good thing going here, with this odd little crew. And the captain knew about her… situation. He wouldn't throw her into a situation where she'd have to get too violent. Winter scrunched her eyebrows together as she thought back to what she'd done in Ballard. Fighting that guard has been easy. Familiar. Satisfying. When she'd pointed that gun at his head, all she'd wanted to do was pull the trigger and blow him away. It would've been cleaner than leaving him alive. She'd felt hints of long-buried anger creeping to the surface and for a split second, all she'd wanted to do was make him hurt. But then it was gone and she was back.

No. That was done and passed. She'd go to her room, get herself ready, they'd go in and either take or break this super-weapon, get out, and then all she'd have to worry about would be… Taran.

Oh god. Winter still had to deal with Taran.

After Jax had asked her questions and Winter had answered, the younger of the two girls smiled at Winter in a sort of 'thank-you'. With that the captain began to speak once more, explaining the plan and giving her even more clarity. When he mentioned trying not to get killed she thought of Prince and Taran and how they always had a knack for getting themselves into trouble. Even if it was Jax who was primarily responsible for the officer's brother and the chase in Ballard, it wasn't all her fault, it was the man's fault for attacking Aubrey.

Taran spoke and she couldn't help but laugh a little more at how he high-fived himself. He certainly was something else, if him and Winter ever stopped giving each other weird glances maybe they could be a good couple. Who was she to talk, she was awkward around Aubrey all the damn time.

There were no more questions and the crew was dismissed. People began to leave, Jax looked toward Aubrey and decided to ask him to help her prepare. After all she still had to decide who would carry her spectacular hand cannon, maybe Aubrey could help her decide. "Hey Aubrey" She nudged him with her elbow. "Want to come prep with me, er I mean" Yea that didn't sound dirty or anything. Shrugging it off she tried again, "do you want to come help me prepare for battle? I need to grab my gun and Hand Cannon from my spot in the sleeping quarters. I also need to grab a some food since I missed breakfast, wanna come?" Her eyes were shining as she asked him, she was really hoping he would say yes.

After the captain dismissed them, Aubrey leaned back in his chair with a sigh. For some reason, he had a gnawing feeling in his stomach, like something bad was going to happen. He played with the string on his hat, twisting it between his fingers thoughtfully until Jax broke his trance. She nudged him with her elbow and leaned over to speak to him. His mind took a moment to creep back into the real world again. He was glad she repeated herself, because her first attempt had fallen on deaf ears.

“Sorry, I was distracted. Gun, cannon, food... Yeah, I'll come.” He stood up and stretched his arms over his head, trying to push away his rising sense of unease. He waited for Jax to stand up, then walked with her to the sleeping quarters. He knew the way well enough that he could walk without giving direction much thought. Despite all of his unfortunate... quirks, he did have a very good memory when it came to things like that. He wasn't sure what this feeling was, but he needed to get his mind off of it. “Oh, did you decide who you wanna give the cannon to?” He asked.

Out of everyone, Taran probably had the least to do to get ready for the raid. Or the smash and destroy. He usually didn't carry many, if any weapons. lately he had taken to carrying a small knife, if only for the false sense of security that it gave him. He wasn't trained with a sword, so bringing one would be equivalent to giving him a club to swing around. A gun, or really, any instrument that shot would be useless. People would be wise to be more afraid if they were the thing standing next to his target, rather the the thing he was aiming for. It was also highly likely that anyone with a any sort of fighting talent would be able to disarm any weapon he did have and use it against him and who ever he was with. So, in reality, it was better for everyone that he simply walk into danger completely unarmed.

"I should...probably get...more serious about fighting," he said quietly to himself leaving the meeting. He saw a couple of his shipmates split off. He felt a smile stretch across his face as he saw Jax leading Aubrey off, mentioning something about a cannon. Then he saw Winter. Or rather, Winter's back. Without real rhyme or reason, he followed her, slightly behind and occasionally jumping behind things whenever it seemed like she was going to turn around. It was stranger, yesterday he really couldn't have cared less about her, but today he was finding that he never got tired of looking at her.

Once she entered her own room, he finally started heading off to his own.

There wasn't much for him to grab, however, he take time to grab his lock picking set. Not that he was particularly good at it yet, but he found the process...soothing? He'd been practicing and could unlock most of the doors on the ship by this point. Granted, it could take up to an hour, but as long as no one caught him in the act, every door was his oyster.

Sooner than he would have liked, he was done and ready to go, but the drop was still an hour off. There wasn't really any place he felt like being.

So he took a nap.

Angelo left the room after the captain said they had an hour or two to get ready for the plan. Honestly it was better that Angelo was going to be in the distraction team rather then the stealth team since he would probably do more good killing people on the front lines. Once Angelo left he washed his hands and then he went to his nest and checked on his gauntlets and he started to polish them and apply a clear coat so that the blood doesn't end up rusting the claws. This would take him a while since Angelo needed to apply 2 coats of the stuff for an effective seal against blood rust knowing he wont be needing his rifle for this but he will take it anyway in case their is a high value target that needs to be killed...

Time: 1400 hours
Location: West of Nowhere and Two Clicks south of Despair
Weather: Choppy waves in deeper waters. Winds coming in from the South. Storm coming in around 2200. Take off after 2130 is not advised.


"You know," said Taran, looking down the twenty or so feet between the ship and the water. "Of all the skills that I thought I'd need to be a pirate 'swimming' and 'ability to not get sea sick' were never very high on the list until right about now," His feet hung over the side of the hall and where dangling in the open air. "Is that just a me feeling or is that a general consensus?"

All of Team Stealth (Code Name: Winter and the Boys) and a few member of Team Distraction (Code Name: Tyrannosaurus Rex Wizard With a Lazer Eye) were situated around the paddle boats that were key in to drop as soon as the ship dropped down another ten feet. The boats were an older model. More keyed into water than air travel. However, they were created to be escape pods, so they did have a rudimentary gliding mechanism that would do in a pinch.

Aubrey had agreed to go with her and once again she was tempted to take his hand and lead the way, but she fought the urge. "I think I might give it to Angelo, but then again he might have a hard time wielding it with his gauntlets" Jax led the way to her small space in the sleeping quarters. She didn't mind that it was such a small area, in fact she was glad she had somewhere to stay at all, it had been her space since she had joined the crew two years ago and she loved it. Once they were to her little living corner she knelt down to pick up her flintlock and holster it at her thigh.

"Oo I just decided to add a strap to this thing so it will be easier to carry" She was speaking about the Hand Cannon that she was so proud of. It took her only a moment and a thick strip of leather to attach to both ends of the weapon. That way she could carry it over her shoulder with not as much difficulty. With a bit of a struggle she placed the strap over one shoulder and grinned. "Alright, that's too things taken care of. Thanks for joining me, Brey" After she spoke she nodded to herself and continued on to the kitchen to snag some food.

"Or..." She thought out loud, still on the subject of the large weapon. "I guess I could try to use it, but even now it's a bit difficult for me to carry it, it's heavier than my wrench which is a surprise. Hey Brey, you sure there's nothing you want to go grab? No weapons or anything? I can try to fix up an old gun and make it like new so you can have it... maybe?" It was exciting, this big, important mission they were going on, she just wished Brey would fight better so she wouldn't have to worry so much.

Jax didn't wait for him to answer, he could speak while he was following her to the kitchen, she was starving. The young mechanic peered into the galley to see if Winter was there, fortunately she wasn't in sight and Jax scurried in heading straight toward the snack cabinet. There were some crackers in there and fresh cheese from Ballard and it was all Jax's, and Aubrey's too if he wanted some. "Sweet! The treasure is mine" She truly was a pirate at heart. The crackers and cheese went well together, Jax hadn't even sat down to eat she was too excited about her findings. "Want some Brey?"

Winston had been preparing his gear for the mission. He always packed light. He didn't care so much for armour. He didn't need it. All he brought with him was his old axe, his regular clothing, and a small vial of black powder. He kept it in one of the pockets in his pants. He looked around his room; it was still barren. Barren wouldn't really be the best word, though. It seemed like the room was waiting for something, or someone to come. It had been so long that it was safe to say that nobody was coming to fill what the room was missing.

Winston had left his room, looking back to the two smoldering joss sticks. They were almost burnt out. Winston had a rather forlorn look in his eyes. He closed them, clenching his fists. He closed and locked his room, walking out to the deck. When he got out there, most of the crew were waiting for them to get close enough to the island so they could push off and go to the main island on their boats. Winston leaned against a nearby wall. He didn't speak. It was unlike him to not speak to others, but Winston was feeling alone.

Winter

Winter, along with some of her crew mates, was waiting at the paddle boats, ready for the mission to start. She took a quick headcount, finding a few missing. Where were Jax and Aubrey? She had a niggling feeling they were off doing something they knew would get them in trouble, but she just let them be. Those two were always late, and they'd get there when they got there. She raised an eyebrow at Taran as he prattled on, and resisted rolling her eyes. She couldn't stop the fond smirk tugging at the corners of her lips though.

Teach Levi to dispose of a body, and Taran to swim, she listed off in her mind. Really, was her work ever done? In the hours since being forced to see Taran again, it'd been easier to ignore the… thing he'd done. Winter still felt too aware of him, too careful to gauge the distance between them so she wasn't ever too close, but she'd managed to fall back into the routine she'd worked out since coming aboard the Leviathan.

Winston made his way over to the group, and Winter gave him a glance before looking back out to the water. He seemed pensive today. Curiosity pricked at her, but if he had something he needed to say, he'd say it. Winter and Winston had something of an understanding… they both knew the value of privacy.

So, Winter just continued to lean against the railing by the small boats, watching the waves and waiting.

“I can try to fix up an old gun and make it like new so you can have it... maybe?"

A wide, stupid grin stretched across the boy's face. “What, you don't trust these guns?” He teased, holding up his scrawny arms in a mock pose. “Yeah, naw, I wouldn't either. But seriously, I'm not worth a crap with a gun anyway. Thanks, though.”

Aubrey followed her to the galley. He kept his thoughts in check, not letting him think about the butterflies in his stomach. He convinced himself it was just nerves. After all, he had only been a pirate a few months. Though he had already participated in quite a few raids, this one seemed bigger then the others. Looking at those sketches the captain had shared made him weary. They were dealing with weapons and technology they had never encountered before, and that made him nervous.

He took a piece of the offered snack and thanked her, munching on it thoughtfully. He considered asking her if she still got nervous before stuff like raids, but he didn't want to seem like any more of a wimp.

Before he knew it, they had eaten the whole stash of cheese and crackers. “I guess we were pretty hungry. Winter's gonna kill us when she finds out.” Regardless, he popped the last little slice of cheese in his mouth. They were gonna get killed anyway, he might as well eat it. His heart did a little flip when he realized they had probably lost track of time. Aubrey checked his watch and almost choked on his cheese.

“Shit! We're supposed to go soon! Now she's gonna kill us twice. C'mon, we gotta go get to the boats.”

Angelo sighed as he worked on getting their boats across the water to get to the island, Angelo hated using these damned little boats. Despite his being on the crows nest he didn't like being in the small boat knowing that a misstep meant he would plummet to his death. At least on the ship he would be able to land on the deck and live with only a bruise. Angelo waited on the others to join him before he would start making the little ship move and he had a rule about being in one of these that if anyone tried to act like an idiot by rocking the boat and pretending to fall overboard Angelo would either slap them and really throw them overboard (or at least threaten them that he would).

"What, you don't trust these guns?"

Aubrey flexed his biceps jokingly. He mentioned not being able to use a gun well and Jax sighed and shook her head. "It's alright, I have your back so you won't need to use a gun"

While they were busy chowing down on Winter's snacks from the galley, Aubrey seemed to be a bit anxious, Jax could just tell by the energy he was giving off, it was normal to be nervous before a raid, especially considering this was such a big one. She wasn't nervous however, Jax had faith in her abilities and in her comrades, nothing bad would happen. "Nah, Winter won't find out it was us" Jax said nonchalantly.

When he looked at his watch and freaked out Jax jumped up, her mouth full of her last bit of cheese and crackers. "What? Late, oh geez, wouldn't want to disappoint captain would we?" Her tone was sincere, she hated upsetting the captain who had housed her for two years and made sure her and the others were generally okay. He was their boss and she liked it that way. "Come on let's go!" This time Jax didn't think twice before grabbing Aubrey's hand and pulling him out of the galley and to the main deck where the fresh air rushed around them.

Once they were up top she released his hand, now seeing what she had done she looked away blushing, trying to play it off. "So um, You're on my team with my right? Not on the distraction team? I don't remember much of what the captain was saying before"