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[color=#736AFF][b][h1]Ranbu no Izayoi[/h1][/b][/color]
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[b][i]BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT.[/i][/b]

For what it was worth, the goon manning the gatling gun was remarkably quick to shift his aim. The corpse thrown by Rudolf and accelerated by Eve was a blur of movement in the thug's eyes, and he immediately filled it with dozens on dozens of rounds before he realized he'd been had.

"Tricky little fucks!" He bellowed down the stairs, preparing to resume his suppressive fire before he heard the sound of footsteps almost immediately upon him. "Eh?" 

[i]Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap.[/i]

Izayoi had dashed forward in the brief window of time she'd had, and was nearly upon the thug. He paled as he recognized that hateful glower, scrambling for his wakizashi. 

"Th' FUCK is Ranbu no Izayoi doing here?! She's dead-"

Miina's barely-visible outline was finally noticed by him, and distracted as he was, the gunner had no recourse as he was skewered upon her basket-hilted sword. The instant he fell, choking on his own blood, Izayoi vaulted over the gun emplacement, giving Miina a brief nod. 

[color=#736AFF][b]"A fine blow. Your versatility serves you well. Now, forward!"[/b][/color]

A floor above inside the office, the trio of former samurai hired by Mizutani to serve as her elite guard stared between each other. 

"Brothers, did you hear that?"
"Finally, a worthy foe!"
"I never liked her anyway."

They drew swords, prepared to set upon the first person to enter with a storm of steel.

___

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[h1]Meanwhile, in Skael...[/h1]
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Deputy Director Lambert sighed as she tackled the veritable mountain of paperwork on her desk. Leadership wasn't all it was cracked up to be, especially after decades of service in the field. Still, someone had to do it. A particular set of reports came off the stack next, and she cracked them open, working through the cipher they were written in. 

[b]"Ah, Mathiassen."[/b] She murmured to herself, working through the report. [b]"Linked up with...oh for the love of-"[/b] The blonde woman bit back a curse, rising to walk over towards the operations map pinned to the side of the wall in her office. 

[b]"Those little idiots."[/b] Kayliss ran a hand across her head, already feeling a migraine coming on. [b]"Why did he go to Osprey [i]first[/i]? We don't have the coverage abroad to double up like this."[/b]

Five minutes later, an older, eyepatched man sighed as Kayliss glared at him from across his desk, taking a puff from his cigar. 

"Lambert, you were chosen as my second for a reason. You can't just go tearing across half the continent because we're short on manpower."

[b]"Then consider me on leave, Director. I'm fairly certain I've built up enough of it over the years. Costa del Sol sounds nice this time of year."[/b] Kayliss riposted, leaving almost immediately after she said that. The aforementioned Director took a look at his cigar, sighed, and reached into his desk to pull out the vodka.

"Dhinas above, I hate Mondays."