---

---

"Good, all the better to pop a cap in your ass and don't encourage him," Risa quipped over her shoulder as Lucas called out.

She kept storming off, turning towards the direction she needed to go to get to Lucas's quarters and retrieve her side arm; her hands balled up into fists till her knuckles went white. Passing Greta and Oliver she forced a smile but it was obvious she was a little more than furious at this point.

"Greta, Oliver," she said with a court nod as her bare feet padded against the cold marble flooring.

She usually would stop and exchange pleasantries but right now she was on a mission; a personal one. She nearly spat, asking Oliver to teach her boyfriend of a street rat some manners for the Gala but bit her tongue; she didn't want to give Lucas anymore ammo right then.

"They think I am wearing another one of these after this mission, they have another thing coming," she huffed under her breath.

Yes, it was a Gala but there was no reason she couldn't wear some couture style that included pants; they really needed to up the dress code. Their gadgets and weapons were state of the art; why not the clothing.

Suits were timeless but half the time she was surprised she didn't have to cinch up into a corset for events such as these. She had worn feminized suits to Galas before but no, had to be a dress. If she could even call it that. More like spare fabric. Think they could at least make it bullet proof, but like that would matter if she took one to the chest, there was nothing covering from her neck to navel.

Finally, Lucas began to shut up, there weren't many times when he would, but Lucas figured that when Risa was chasing a gun might not have been the best time to anger her any further. Following along a few steps behind her, he was much more relaxed in his walk, right hand gripping her heels as his left remained in his pocket. As he passed Oliver and Greta, he gave the latter a nod.

"Greta, Dip-fuck." The latter greeting was unsurprisingly intended for Oliver as he continued along, his dress shoes making a much louder clack on the marble floor than Risa's bare feet.

The fact that Risa continued on without any more than a greeting was more than a clue enough that Risa was out of the gaming mood, continuing after her, he picked up the pace slightly, forcing himself not to say anything in reply at her last quip, making his way with her into the barracks and toward his quarters. Opening the door for her, he moved in after her and shut the door, removing his jacket to hang it up on the hook by his door, half-expecting to turn around to a gun pointed at his face.

Surprisingly enough, it wouldn't be the first time, but similarly to her threats of waxing and his own of disloyalty, they never came to fruition, and he still was without a hole in his face. Deciding that finally he had to say something, snide or otherwise, Lucas cleared his throat and reached up, undoing his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt.

"I suppose it still wouldn't mean anything if I said you looked stunning?" Shifting to face her, he set down the heels by the door for her and smiled apologetically.

---

---

Risa kept walking towards Lucas's quarters without another word; the look on her face spoke volumes at this point. As Lucas moved past her and held the door for her she nearly sprinted by him, she wasn't about to let him get to his bed before he did.

Sliding on her bare feet, she reached under the pillow; feeling the cold metal against her fingers she smirked. Pulling it out she spun around and did indeed point it at him; it wasn't the first time she had, she doubted it would be the last.

"No it wouldn't. You think I look good in anything," she snapped as she kept the cocked weapon pointed at him. "Or especially nothing," she quipped with a smirk playing on her lips as she lowered the weapon.

Uncocking it and groaning as she slumped down on the edge of Lucas's bed. Setting the gun down on the nightstand she flopped back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling as she rested her arm on her forehead.

"I don't know what is worse.. the dress it self, no place for my gun or the fact it is so skimpy if I did tear it off there would be nothing left covering me to storm off to Ye Ol' Bosses office," she said letting out a huff.

Rolling onto her side, she propped up on her elbow as she looked over to him. "Maybe that would get his attention," she chuckled, the thought of her storming around bare-assed might finally get her assignments that didn't require to dress like a high priced escort.

"Or would you prefer me not to," she asked, raising a brow slightly. With him she figured it could go either way. Either a my eyes only or you'd give the man a heart attack moment indeed.

Smirking as she countered his compliment, Lucas stared past the gun in his face toward her, shrugging with a face that consigned agreement to her assessment, he did indeed think she looked good in anything. Leaving his bow tie undone around his neck, Lucas moved over to the bed and sat beside her, resting a hand on the mattress as he watched her, shaking his head at her idea.

"There's an old Bond film called 'For your eyes only' - I think it applies to this situation." Lucas commented with a grin as he watched her, reaching up with his free hand to adjust the straps of the holster he was wearing, leaving it on for the time being as his eyes remained locked on the woman laying before him, smirk disappearing for a few moments as he finally processed what she had said prior.

"Wait, you're not wearing anything under that?" Perhaps not the time to ask, but the words were sort of just blurted out before Lucas had any chance to stop them. Smirking, he leaned down somewhat, hovering his face near hers as he cleared his throat.

"And think of it this way, the faster we work, the faster we can leave - and you can get out of the dress," He assured her with a soft kiss, moving to sit up once more, he wasn't desperately pleased about the idea of entirely missing out on the evening's frivolities, but he figured in the long run it would be far better to keep Risa happy, than to enjoy the evening surrounded by snobs and rich pricks. "No need to worry about the gun either, if we get into trouble it'll be much easier for you to feign innocence while I get stuck in a gunfight."

Continuing his attempts to calm the raging beast which was his girlfriend in a dress, Lucas kept his smile as he looked down at her, pleased that their preparation had taken little more than a discussion and an appointment with Jason, the Tailor - so the two could at least have some relaxation before their flight to New York.

Eli slapped the shoe down ad it came towards him. He couldn't help but smile. He was gonna pay for that later and he was okay with it. However for right now, it was worth it. ” Baby, all I'll need is a touch! Everett shouted as Risa walked away.

He turned back to the shocked faces of those around him and bowed. ”Thank you, thank you. I'll be here till Thursday. Please don't forget to tip your waitress.” Eli had his fun it was now time to work. Though there really wasn't much for him to do. Dorian was gonna plan for most eventualities and Eli had enough respect and trust for the man not to question him. Taste and tactics might be different but Dorian would get the job done.

Still Eli had to do something. ”I'm sorry Hermes. I got it out of my system what where you saying? Eli said as he started looking over the data pad. Something about the intelligence rubbed Eli the wrong way. Though he couldn't figure it out.

The stayed hidden and comes out for the package, that much makes sense. It was the location that gave Eli pause. So many people, so many thieves and pickpockets. Doing this in the old part of town would them stay hidden more than The Gaul. This seemed almost too easy. The pad was also a bit lacking on the subjects Intel. There just wasn't that much on The Gaul. That bothered Eli the most.

---

---

Risa chuckled as she looked over to Lucas, watching him walk over and sit down next to her. His words causing a satisfied smirk to crawl across her lips. "I see, I think I missed that Bond flick, but I get the gist," she teased, reaching up and flicking at his untied bowtie.

"Oh come on, like it isn't obvious," she snickered as she lay there. "I'd find a place to stash my gun before anything else, you know that," she laughed. Returning his kiss, her lips pulsing against his, she relaxed somewhat.

"Oh like you won't be happy to... how do you put it? Not look like a wanker?" she mocked as she looked up at him. Stretching out for a moment before she sat up and leaned against him.

"So, going to let me steal a t-shirt and boxers? Or do I have to trudge all the way back to my room to change?" she taunted.

She didn't have to wear the dress anymore now that the fitting was done and it was either change there or leave to get out of it. Right then, she didn't care, but she'd rather wander through headquarters in his clothing than what she had on, it itched.

Watching her closely, a pleased grin crept onto his lips as Lucas seemed to believe he had calmed her down at least to a degree. Chuckling at her mocking comment, he shifted his arm so it rested behind and around her somewhat, shrugging. "Maybe you're right, but I would be missing out on the free booze," he looked down at her, right side of his lips tugged upward in a wry smirk.

"By all means, what's mine is yours." He chuckled in a deliberately over-exaggerated manner, waving a hand in the direction of his wardrobe as he shifted back on the bed, laying down to rest his head on the pillow once she'd got up to stand, seeming comfortably enough in his dress shirt and trousers, mostly having an issue with the jacket which remain hung up by the door, and the bow tie which rested undone about his neck.

"Try and return this one though, hm?" Lucas taunted, many a time she had 'borrowed' some clothes from his quarters only for them to magically disappear sometime after the minute-long walk back to her quarters, by this point he generally assumed she did it deliberately.

Briefly, he wondered how the other trainee's preparations were coming along, no doubt Dorian and Elijah had been a tad distracted after Eli's burst into song. Greta and Oliver seemed hard at work when the two had passed them, not that Lucas had stuck around to ask them - he hadn't seen Yuuna or Yongrui, but assumed the two were hard at work as usual - much as he despised Yuuna, he couldn't fault her work ethic. He hadn't seen Rucks or Abel either, but once more assumed the two were hard at work - same as Len and Roland. As for he and Risa, well, his hard work had been convincing her not to shoot him over the dress.

---

Greta was at the armoury, get ready for the mission ahead by requisitioning the equipment needed for the mission ahead. To prevent mix-up or calculation errors, the pair had decided to prepare their gear on their own, so that there would no chance of a "I thought you had prepared that." She would be needing some assault weaponry, with their suppressors, for stealth was the highest priority due to their outnumbered ratio. Intelligence had suggested that they would at least be taking on a strength of fifteen men, and since she doubt anyone of them would surrender, the pair of them would have to kill all of them. These were well-trained men, and her limits would no doubt be put to the test. Despite how Oliver might come across as, he was actually quite the skilled agent.

Walking up to the quartermaster, Greta said, "Hey there. I'll be need some heavier weaponry this time around. I'll have the FN SCAR Assault rifle with the suppressor, and about eight or so magazines to go along with it. Six magazines for the Thunderbolt would be great as well." She wouldn't just stop there however, she would also requisition a couple of fragmentation grenades and flashbangs, although those would only be used when the shit hits the fan. The final two things she would need would be the body armour, a kevlar bullet-proof vest and the night vision snow goggles. Walking away with the equipment she needed in a duffel bag, she started to head back into her room to prepare.

She would start with stripping the weapons, (both the rifle and the pistol) then cleaning them thoroughly, before assembling them back together once more in record time and loading them up. When the weaponry was sorted and all accounted for, she proceeded onto the next item on the agenda, clothing and body armour, or more specifically, winter clothing. They were after all, heading to the Alps.

Since they had no intention of staying there for a long, Greta simply prepared an additional set of thermal attire as well as a wind-resistant jacket, along with the rest of her winter gear. Packing all the necessities and everything else in a camping backpack not an unusual sight one would see on a traveller would be a good way to avoid any attention while still retaining a good level of functionality. When she was all packed and ready, Greta headed back into the lounge to relax. To calm ones nerves, if they had them.

The German lass, however, was totally chill as one could possibly be.

Roland cursed to himself in French. Lens was right. They could not kick in the door or use the sniper rifle or Maria as Roland called it. "Damn it. You are right. Maria is going to have to stay here. I mean we should sneak in and just stab her or poison. " Roland said mostly to himself. He figured that Lens would come up with a scheme or a plan to get them into the camp and kill the lady. Roland was usually the thief who would sneak in and deal with the target. "Well I am off the the Armory to mope and try to see if I can get stealth suits for us since wearing a nice coat and pants would stick out in the middle of the jungle." Roland said as he waved to Lens and left the area. He wanted to be alone for now.

Roland wandered in as Eli's song and dance number began. Roland pulled out his phone and managed to get a video that caught most of the song. When it was finally over Roland sauntered over. "I never know you were a fan of the Divinyls, Eli!" Roland said with mock excitement. "It's not like I have a video of it." He said as he walked by to the area with all the gear. He grabbed a bag as he started to put things that they would need for the mission. He had no idea what Lens wanted but he figured that the guy would eventually get his gear. Roland grabbed basic stuff life a few daggers and a silencer. Roland started humming to himself as threw a close fitting black suit that was invisible to pretty much anything except for the really expensive stuff.

Roland seemed uncomfortable with the idea of a team. He was better as a lone wolf and killing some woman rubbed him the wrong way. Roland stared lovingly at a FR F2 sniper rifle or Maria as he called it. Roland kept walking around grabbing stuff in his own little world.

---

---

Risa chuckled as she stood up and walked over to his things; rummaging through his drawers until she found what she was looking for, choosing a simple pair of boxers and a t-shirt.

"You weren't listening lover. I said steal, not borrow. I have no intentions of returning them," she said with a smirk playing on her lips as she stood with her back to him, shaking out the clothing she was appropriating.

"Anyways, you know you like the way your clothing looks on me," she teased. She wouldn't return the items, she never did. She figured if he wanted them back, he could always come claim them. She'd hand them over, for a price.

Clenching the items between her teeth she undid the single hook at the back of her neck and shimmied out of the dress; letting it fall around her ankles and not really caring there was nothing underneath it. It wasn't like Lucas had not seen her in this state of undress before and he was more than aware of the scare on her back; compliments of their first op and a dagger that had gotten a little to close for comfort.

Slipping into Lucas's clothing and stepping out of the dress, she picked up the golden pile of clothing and tossed it right over to Lucas as she turned around to face him.

"And what is mine is yours darling," she snickered.

Smirking as he listened to her, Lucas chuckled at her insistence she wouldn't return the clothes, as well as her next comment, shifting up onto his elbow to face her, not reacting a great deal as she shimmied out of the dress, doing little more than let his eyes wander a bit.

"I do how like it looks on you, that's true - but like you said - I think you look good in anything." He teased with a wink, watching her as she redressed herself. Scoffing at her last comment.

His right arm shifted up to catch the dress, unless it was on the woman, it certainly looked more like a piece of discarded but high-quality fabric. Tossing it down to the foot of the bed as he watched her, happy smile plastered onto his face as he remained silent for a few moments. The barracks was always lively, but the rooms themselves seemed deathly silent at almost all times, the walls were thick enough that you couldn't hear a great deal of what was going on outside, made for some privacy, but without someone else there, Lucas might've felt awfully isolated in there.

"If what's yours is mine, dear - can't I just steal back my clothes?" He finally asked with a grin, shifting on his elbow slightly as he kept his upper body facing her.

---

---

Risa shook her head towards Lucas, holding up her finger and making a tsk tsk sound with her tongue before she stepped back over to him. Kneeling down by the bed she gave him a bit of a smirk and just stared at him for a minute before she said anything.

"Now what fun would that be if I just handed them back over?" she teased lightly with a smile playing on her lips. To her it was all about the game. If he wanted them back, he'd have to acquire them in his own way.

"Maybe you should be the one sneaking around in the middle of the night to get into my quarters for once," she laughed before she stuck her tongue out at him.

Shrugging she stood back up and went to reach for her dress; grabbing it and groaning. She knew she would have to be back in it soon enough and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"Maybe I should just wear this to the Gala? It's sure to cause a stir," she said motioning to her newly acquired outfit. Turning she stepped over and grabbed her heals by the door before glancing over her shoulder at Lucas.

"Tell you what, steal a kiss and I'll return one set, that is if you're up to it," she joked before opening the door and skipping out of the room.

Ares pushes open the side door to the armory and wheels out a small trolley containing an assortment of weapons alongside affiliated odds and ends. An Accuracy International AWM dominates the majority of the cart by size along, hanging off the back at its nearly 50-inch length. Otherwise standing out in the trolley is a HK-416 and a bit more to the wayside is a pair of 'Thunderbolt' pistols and miscellaneous items such as magazines, accessories and ammunition. Yuuna nods her thanks to the armorer before moving to take the AWM from the cart, most likely to his vague visible disdain. The motions with the weapon are the same checks as always: check safe, remove magazine, operate the action of the weapon to the open position, visually inspect the weapon to confirm there's no obstructions or anything else of concern, complete the operation of the action, toggle safe, pull the trigger (click), toggle safe. She runs through these motions for the four weapons in the cart, ensuring each and every one is clear and without issue.

Yuuna's earpiece came to life, a familiar voice coming into her ear.
"Artemis. We have our flight." Shan informed Yuuna. As Yuuna gets behind the cart and starts to push it out of the armory and towards the q-store, she lifts one hand to her ear to key the PTT.
"Copy. I've retrieved our equipment from the armory and am on my way to the q-store now. Anything you want to do before we leave or should we meet in the hangar?" Yuuna asks as she leaves the armory and proceeds through the halls.

Oxford dress shoes collided against concrete. Ultimately, creating a somewhat obnoxious clacking sound that could at least be heard from down the hall. From a third person perspective, Shan would appear to be very inconspicuous. To elaborate, It doesn't look like Shan pays too much attention to his surroundings, as per eye contact with them. But, through a layer of authentic sophistication, he seems to use a mechanism of logic to determine his surroundings using scent and sound. It's likely a feature that made him a contender for his job in the first place.

Retaining the Cosmo of the physical realm, an intrusion had occurred upon his earpiece. A familiar voice filling his head, ""I've retrieved our equipment from the armory and am on my way to the q-store now. Anything you want to do before we leave or should we meet in the hangar?" Replied his coworker, Yuuna. Whom of which he had informed of his preparedness before the beginning of this tirade. Shan raised voice to speak in a formal tone,"No, I do not. In our application, I gathered values for the forcasted weather. Expect minor wind resistance with a bearing of more or less than two-seven-oh'." Shan informed Yuuna. " However, I'm sure you rented a scope capable of combating minor wind speeds. I will rendezvous with you in the hangar, near the VTOL. Yongrui, out" said Shan decisively.

With that parting note, Shan Yongrui made his way to the hanger whilst, the clacking of his dress shoes made his entry into the facility all, but subtle. As Shan entered the hangar room, his brown eyes met with the cold, black-tinted visors of the helmeted VTOL pilot, who was ahead of schedule. As Shan approached, the pilot offered him a nod, before Shan once again raised voice above a croak, "My coworker will be here shortly, and we will waste no time getting his operation underweight. Prep' for take off, Lieutenant." said Shan sharply, as this resulted in the flight officer rapidly plunging into his cockpit to make the necessary preparations. Shan Yongrui then pivoted on the heel of his heightened sole, and proceeded to wait for his colleague

---

---

“Mm. Keen observation.” Abel hummed, offering up a bland agreement, as if he took Rucks’ words at face value. While it might’ve been hard to believe, Abel did have a sense of humour, though it only seemed to surface in the strangest situations. Besides, Rucks’ teasing was something he’d long since gotten used to… not like he’d had much choice in the matter. “In Russia, love is a liability - weakness. And the weak don’t survive the winter.”

Abel expected the mission to go smoothly, but even then, he was prepared to be met with violence. The mark was sure to have his own, private force of bodyguards, and he highly doubted that they’d just let him make off with the package and information on their hideout. Still, like Rucks said; it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Getting things done in as straightforward a way as possible was his specialty. Talking things out, on the other hand, was the part he had trouble with, and he thought it wise to make the next, jibing comment before they got within earshot of their Parisian compatriot.

“They’re French. How hard could it be?” He punctuated the sentence with a derisory snort, without looking up from the task of gathering his belongings. They would need to head to the Armory in a moment or two to prepare for the mission, but before that, he needed a shower. The briefing had been rather impromptu, taking place just after a combat training session, and Abel was - to put it gently - underdressed. Wife-beaters and track pants weren’t exactly the Argus image, after all.

With a vague flap of the hand, he waved Rucks off, heading down the hallway in the opposite direction. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you in a bit.”

---

About fifteen minutes later, Abel stepped into the Armory, dressed in the crisp, slate grey Argus suit. Rucks was already there, waiting, and so were a few others. He recognised all of them, of course, but there were a few who were more familiar to him.

Elijah was being his usual, obnoxious self, Roland was busy taking a video of the whole thing, and Abel couldn’t help but chuckle. It was almost surreal, how juvenile some of Argus’ best agents could be. That was the risk Argus took with picking random people up off the streets, he supposed, diverging from the norm of choosing from military personnel. Doubtlessly, Abel could see how a wider range of talents would prove useful, though whether this course of action would pay off in the long run was a different story altogether.

“Expecting some rain?” Abel joked, raising an eyebrow at the Aegis clutched in Rucks’ hand, before signing for his own. It was a little ridiculous, how the gadget looked like an umbrella. Surely, they could’ve picked something a little less inconspicuous. If the scientists at Argus could pack sleeping darts, a lock-pick, and a garrote into a wristwatch, what was stopping them from compacting the components of the Aegis even further? Of course, such things weren’t part of his domain, though he couldn’t help but feel that walking around with an umbrella all day made you look like a pretentious douchebag.

Soon enough, Abel had everything he needed, and don’t worry, he made sure to double-check. It was time they got on with the mission. But out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Roland. The guy seemed a little skittish, nervous, almost; wandering about the Armory with a tune on his tongue. As he passed Roland, however, he only gave him a reassuring pat on the back, and a quick, near-imperceptible nod.

---

---

Lucas had only been to the United States a few times, once as a tourist during his years at University, only spending his time in Los Angeles, and once more for work, infiltrating the Irish mob in Boston. Both times he'd only spent his stay within the city, so this was his first time experiencing the countryside - and he had to admit, it had a great beauty to it, but perhaps that had to do with the stunning, decadent and massive mansion he and Risa had just arrived at.

Risa leaned back in her seat, her arm laced through Lucas's as she looked out the window. She had spent much more time in New York than he had, having to attend multiple events over the years with the U.N. She preferred D.C. but she had to admit the scenery was beautiful. Looking at the mansion as they arrived she sat up and adjusted her dress some, she hated the thing and could not wait to change; having several sets of clothing stashed in various places so she could get out of the dress as quickly as possible.

"Y'think they'll let me keep the car?" Lucas asked idly, running his hands over the steering wheel one last time before he opened the door to step out.

"Only if we dent it, then maybe," she chuckled as she looked over towards him. Argus had generously provided them with a BMW i8 for the drive out to Braun's mansion, one with a few agent-worthy modifications of course, and gorgeous enough to allow Lucas and Risa to fit into the shoes they were supposed to be filling, a couple of millionaire party-goers. Closing the door behind him, he moved over to her side of the car, gently opening the door as he held a hand out toward her, a half-smile gracing his face as he watched her, waiting to help her out of the car. Rise smiled gently towards him as she rested her hand in his and stepped out of the car, her dress cascading down her body as her thick braid rested on her shoulder.

"Don't know why you kick up such a fuss about the dress, I think you look stunning." Lucas commented idly with a smirk, closing the door behind her once she was out and locking it as he moved toward the entrance, following a few other couples in.

"I still say you should be wearing this, would provide for a greater diversion," she whispered against his ear.

It wasn't hard to pick out the killers, thieves and drug lords from the other guests, they all had the same knowing looks, and each seemed far less pleased to be there than the millionaires and movie stars. The latter was a mold which Lucas fit in to surprisingly well, considering his past, a smile on his face as a waiter approached the pair, asking for any specific drinks the two desired.

"I'll have a glass of the best whisky on offer, on the rocks." Lucas established simply, he wasn't usually one for fancy drinks, and wasn't going to conform to the stereotype by getting something as silly as a Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred. Shifting his gaze over to Risa momentarily, he allowed her to make her order while he shifted his gaze over the gala, it didn't take long for him to spot Mr. Braun, the man was greeting a few of the individuals who'd come in just before them, no doubt he'd approach the two in a similar manner.

"Yes, Cognac: Martin, Louis Xiii," she said with a curt nod before turning her attention back towards the Gala, her eyes falling on Braun.

Hearing as the waiter gave a 'very good' to their orders and moved off, Lucas smiled as he held out his arm to Risa, letting her take it before he moved down the stairs to the main event, the sound of chatter only barely overpowering the sound of the band toward the back of the room.

"You went to these kind of things often? I could get used to parties like these." Lucas commented as he glanced around, forgetting for a moment or two that he was there to work, not play. He'd spotted the security, larger men in the same black suits, no visible weapons but on a few, Lucas could spot the telltale lump of a concealed weapon, from the shape, he figured an MP7, or something similar, he doubted he'd end up in a gunfight that night, but the heavy armament was something to note, nonetheless.

"Yes, all too often for my tastes," she said with a smirk as she stood there with her arm laced through his. "And trust me my dear, you'll be hating it quickly I imagine, especially once you have to mingle," she snickered. She knew how much Lucas hated the uppity types and this place was spilling over with them.

Lucas went to make on of his usual vomiting noises, but forced himself not to at the risk of drawing some unwanted attention from the other party-goers. A momentary smirk gracing his face, he decided to repay the sort of teasing she had been giving him, leaning over to hover his lips by her ear.

"I'm sure it won't be all bad - some good looking women, after all." Lucas smirked, shifting his gaze over to the Waiter as he returned, taking his drink with his free hand and taking a long drink, a slight and momentary sneer on his face as he felt the sharp sting of the high-class, top shelf whiskey running down his throat.

"Yes there are, and some very handsome men. I wonder if there is a couple that would like to play tonight," Risa said without missing a beat as she took her glass off the waiters tray and swirled it slowly as it warmed against the palm of her hand. "I am sure there are some who wouldn't mind me not wearing this getup," she said as she glanced over towards Lucas, teasing him before she took a slow sip. As much as she taunted the man, it was always in jest towards him. Neither of them seemed to take the others threats seriously. Neither was the jealous type and Risa was more than secure; self confidence was something neither of them lacked.

Braun was still eagerly chatting with a few of the other guests, not that Lucas was displeased, he had no real desire to speak to the man at all if he could avoid it, or any other guest for that matter. Just as Risa had said, his enjoyment would rapidly dissipate once he was chatting to the other snobs who were present.

"Y'know, everyone here looks like a near carbon-copy of Oliver," Lucas groaned quietly, forcing himself to hide the sneer which threatened to reveal itself. "Hell, even I look like the bastard." He continued in a hushed tone, glancing down to his own attire. He'd been provided with a rather fanciful velvet smoking jacket, which while visually appealing, was still a bit high-end for Lucas' taste, the black bow tie around his neck was tight enough to be giving his neck a light squeeze, but just loose enough to be comfortable. Either way, he figured he had the better end of the deal not being in her dress.

"Hardly," she whispered as she leaned against him, taking another sip. "I'll go deal with our host, you just wait for my signal," she said before brushing her lips against his cheek and sauntering off. Her hips swaying as she made her way over towards their host with a graceful smile playing on her lips.

* We've skipped foward to ops now, as I said in the OOC it's purely up to you and your partner how you go about your op, when you've secured your package, pm me for details on what it contains

---

---

Risa glanced over her shoulder towards Lucas and smirked inwardly; as much as he hated the snobs he did at least look the part. Turning her attention back towards her target, she swirled her sniffer of cognac as she slipped over to him. The man's attention quickly drawn to her, his eyes roaming for a moment before he finally looked at her eyes and took her free hand as she offered it to him; kissing the back of it softly.

"Good evening Mr. Braun, it is a pleasure to meet you," Risa said kindly as she gave him a soft smile.

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. And who am I speaking to," he asked, still holding her hand.

"Oh a lady never reveals such a private matter on the first meeting," she said coyly; bringing the sniffer to her lips and taking a slow sip as she watched him over the brim of the crystal.

"Ahh, but shouldn't your host be privied to such details?" he countered quickly as he tried to return her coyness with a charming smile.

"That sir will earn you a dance, if you feel so inclined," she offered. Reaching over Braun took the sniffer from her fingers and handed it over to one of his associates; lacing Risa's arm through his as he escorted her over to the dance floor.

"Very inclined indeed, perhaps I should call you Cinderella," he said as he made a motion to the conductor and a slow classical song began to play. Spinning Risa around before he pulled her into his arms and began waltzing her across the floor.

"Afraid that I will vanish at midnight?" Risa asked softly as she rested her free hand on his shoulder, letting him lead; for now.

"That would put a damper on my evening, a mysterious beauty showing up only to leave with my heart," he said; thinking he was exuding charm but Risa found herself having to force her smile to remain instead of pulling a Lucas and gagging.

"Is your heart available for the taking," she asked as she spun around out of his arm before twirling back and letting her finger graze the side of his neck as they approached the edge of the dance floor.

"And if I say it isn't?" he asked smuggly as he pulled her closer. Risa leaned close to him as they danced and whispered against his ear.

"Then perhaps I should just be a thief in the night and steal it," she taunted. Braun leaned back, clearing his throat slightly as he lost himself for a moment; trying to cover it up he spun with Risa, running his back into a member of the wait staff and sending the poor woman spilling out over the floor. Her tray of glasses shattering against the tiles as all eyes turned to see what had just happened.

Roland was a bundle of nerves right now. Lens had not talked for hours now as they flew towards their mission location. It seemed that the other man did not want to do anything right now. So that meant it was up to Roland to figure out the entire mission on his own. The other man did not have the desire to this. So Roland was figuring out a plan. He figured that he would sneak into the village by himself and kill the target. He had his watch, a silenced pistol, and his ring. He had left Maria at the base since he needed to get the package as well as kill the woman. He had no idea how he was going to do this solo. His reverie was ruined by a blaring light showing that they were near the landing zone. The ramp in the plane went down and Roland walked up to grab his parachute and quickly put it on. With a nod to Lens, Roland jumped from the plane towards the ground.

The wind whipped by as he fell towards the ground. At the correct time, he pulled his chute and fell to the ground at the perfect speed. He pulled his chute in and hid the evidence that he had ever been here. He looked up as Lens seemed to float way off course and landed about half a mile from him. Roland sighed and ran after the other man. However he was not the only one giving chase. It seemed that he was not the only one to see Lens land. A jeep filled with figures rushed towards Lens. Roland stayed back in the trees as the jeep pulled up next to Lens and dragged him into the jeep. Roland watched as the jeep sped of towards the village with the Amazons.

Roland cursed in French as he chased after the jeep. He knew that Lens was as good as dead Roland did not get to him. He had no idea if he was going to make it in time but he also needed to do the mission. Now he had two objectives to do. It was just his luck. Roland kept moving in the trees as he slowly saw the village ahead of him. He had to get there soon.

Albeit the slightest hum of the rotor was heard inside the VTOL transportation helicopter. No doubt, there were preliminaries made for this helicopter to be an actual ghost in the air. The auditory magnitude of the rotors were incredibly silent to the naked human ear, or possibly any long-range audio detection devices. Power usage within the helicopter was also quite low, as per' it's other rotary brethern. But, it would likely be up for grounds of dismissal from an aerial intelligence team perspective.

Whilst there was no confirmation of these specs, though they were still practically rabid thoughts inside Yongrui's head. Before they'd left Argus HQ, Yongrui and Yuuna both made haste to change into their multi-camouflage fatigues, lite Plate Carriers, and Tactical Webbing. Shortly after their wardrobe change, they wasted no time getting airborne inside the VTOL. However, they'd been in the air for a good amount of time, and at this point, they were likely closing in on their landing zone; Suddenly, Yongrui raises his voice to speak…

"So, lets talk about our code-words." said Shan Yongrui, "We have Ordered Steps, in the event of our compromise. Thinking about it, I've come up with two off the top of my head. We will refer to our pilot over radio comms by Blind Meteor, and we'll call for extraction by radioing in, "Silver Gardens" before giving them our Latitude and Longitude. This won't matter if we don't have to hike back up the mountain. However, I like to be prepared." said Shan, at the end of his tirade.

"We'll leave them at that, since it doesn't really matter. But, do you have input left to give?” questioned Shan, now waiting for a response from his coworker.

Yuuna, somewhat occupied with pulling back her hair with an array of bobby pins between her teeth and a nondescript hair tie over her wrist, yaws her head over to face Shan. After a brief moment of contemplation she returns her head to as it was, as she secures her hair in a ponytail and pulls the hair tie over it and begins the process of halving the tie and pulling it over again until firm.

“Other than what we have, the only other codewords I think we’ll need are codewords for initiation of operation stages.” she begins as she wraps the length of the ponytail around the hair tie to pull it behind and out the created center. She begins to repeat this a number of times, reducing the length of the ponytail and increasing the volume of the bun. “I’m certain command would be interested in gathering statistics on our progress for all sorts of reasons.” After securing her formed bun in place with one hand, she pulls a second hair tie down from her wrist to fix it in place. After a slight push and tug to confirm the bun is set she moves her hands to her fringe to pull it back over her scalp where she then begins to take bobby pins to fix it into place.

After fixing a bun net into place over the bun, Yuuna reaches to her left-thigh trouser pocket to produce a multicam cover, complete with filled pouches for pens and markers on one side and opens it to reveal a larger-than-average hard cover notepad and a series of plastic pockets designed to fit pages about that size. She flips through the plastic pockets until she comes across a cut out page from a newspaper containing horse racer names. “Dusty Cheyenne for initiation of stage 1, Palace Malice for the initiation of stage 2 and Value Point for stage 3?” she asks, simply reading off random names from the list to act as code-words. Admittedly she already had Palace Malice in mind for stage 2 but the others are randomized.

Shan would’ve been occupied with the fixation of his glasses whilst Yuuna began to talk. To his own knowledge, Shan had worn glasses since he was a child, as bad vision was a commonality in his family. Despite Shan’s best guesses, he couldn’t accurately decipher why he was chosen as an agent for Argus, with his bad eyes. The most likely case would be because it’s an insurance policy if anyone wonders why he wears glasses. He could give them his authentic vision, and they could trace it his lineage, if need be. It was solid. Not to mention the fact that High Command wouldn’t have to expedite resources to ensure Shan’s authenticity. Possibly, this could be apart of a larger plan at scale, or perhaps Yongrui was simply a tool in the tool shed.

As such thoughts were rampant, inside Yongrui’s head. Yongrui then withdrew a shockproof glasses case from the legging of his fatigues. Inside the case, he dabbed two fingers in the contact lenses pool, and proceeded to place the lenses in his eyes. After he had put them in, he began to blink several times, before retaining his normal posture. Yongrui then rose his head to meet the eyes of Yuuna, nodding in agreement to her proposal. “I’m assuming you’ve already notified Command of these, correct?” questioned Yongrui, “I’d hate to tell them of these code-words, over communications, as we’re nearing the Area of Operations.”, He commented further, “Though, hopefully the saddle will provide us with a cloak, as we proceed onward.” he continued, staring blankly at Yuuna with his slightly beady eyes from prolonged use of eyewear.

Yuuna nods once in response as she closes the collection of administrative tools and returns it all to her left trouser pocket.

“Of course.” she replies to the question as she reaches out for her multicam baseball cap beside her and pulls it onto her head now that her bun is sorted out. She briefly looks over her personal kit and attire, her calculating mind refusing to rest unless it’s absolutely certain everything is there: which of course it is, just the same as her many previous checks. Her uniform pockets and her plate carrier carries everything she needs and her personal concealment is in order with the camouflage paint on the back of her hands, the shemagh around her neck and the scrim net resting on her shoulders ready to act as a hood.

Shan would've thrown Yuuna a nod of his own, in response. “Good.” he mutters, as he begins to scavenge through his equipment, in an effort of his own assurance. Leaning over, he pans his sight to a case perpendicular to him. Flipping open the hatches on the case, he withdraws a well-modified HK 416 from inside the case. Aboard the railing rests a Red Dot Sight, likely intended for mid-long range engagements judging from its length. From a spectator’s perspective, it would appear Shan had done this, since a mountain’s saddle will be plentiful for long-distance engagements. Whilst a foregrip was attached, Shan leant over once more to pick up one more attachment. His silencer. Hastefully, he spun it onto the edge of his barrel, until it was tight, and the miniature sights of the silencer were aligned with his.

Shan would've been wearing a pair of night vision goggles, as the strap had braced the goggles to be just above the forehead. The goggles’ eyes were very dimly lit, with a hint of green so bare. Tucking his chin inward, he brings up a multi-cam shemagh wrapped around his neck like a necklace, and pulls it upward to cover his face, like a bandana.

Yuuna gathers her thoughts to speak further before she’s interrupted with a more averse flying maneuver and the lights in the cabin cutting to be replaced by red. She stands from her seat and grasps the sling of her AWM to pull it over the shoulder of the same side before pacing towards the ramp exit of the VTOL to grasp an overhead handle. At the will of the pilot the ramp opens in front of her, revealing the pilot navigating to present the ramp to the reentrant. With her spare hand she produces her agency-developed sidearm, bearing a silencer fitted to the muzzle.

As the VTOL comes steady, the light turns green.

Yuuna releases the overhead handle and jogs towards the end of the ramp before jumping off and to the ground below. After recovering from her impact she brings her pistol to bear, scanning over the area intently.

Shan would've been on the opposite side, grasping his own handle overhead, as he mentally braces himself for the doors of the VTOL to open. He releases the handle in near unison with Yuuna, and jumps down below. Upon regaining his vertical frame, he covers the opposite side of Yuuna, and rapidly swings his NVGs to be plane-like with his eye sockets. The muzzle of his HK 416 scanning the surrounding perimeter for hostiles and civilians alike. “Dusty Cheyenne is a go.” he mutters into his earpiece of a radio.