It had been just under an hour since the assault on the island of Hokkaido had begun. The timing was superb as one of the frequent blizzards to hit the area was striking full-force at the very moment the attack commenced. Or perhaps timing had nothing to do with it. The portuary city of Otaru, thinned in size from the excessive snowfall that plagued the island, was essentially surrounded. Its coast is decorated with a wall of Huzuran ships and its borders severely limited by ice and the weather. The troops had already touched land and were invading at this very moment.
High up in the sky, over the merciless clouds, flew a jet with nothing but a pilot and two passengers. The plane itself seemed capable of evading notice at a certain altitude. It hadn’t yet entered Hokkaido’s airspace, but it had since crossed the threshold of the grand tempest that cursed the island, leaving nothing but a sight of grey to those in the passenger seats.
The jet was about as comfortable and luxurious as the average private jet. Mini-bars, snacks at one’s disposal, very nice seats. There was still a luggage compartment above said seats, as there was a need for economical space distribution if they were to have a bar table and a large screen TV in there too.
The inevitable turbulence did little to phase the ferocious spider that took temporary residence in it. Myriam kept herself by a window, eyes dedicated to the sights comprising a portion of the wing and endless greyness. Wireless headphones were playing some sort of tune loud enough to be heard in spite of the constant noises typical of a plane. She wore her usual, unassuming clothing: A black hoodie for the cold, grey sweatpants for practicality and slightly weathered sneakers. Coming in the aircraft, she had also brought a dingy backpack that was tucked away into the luggage compartment.
They were getting close to the drop-off point and the hunter seemed about as perturbed by the notion of entering a warzone as she was when brushing her teeth this very morning. It looked as though she was to succumb to a napping urge, actually.
That nap was not going to happen.
The second passenger, after having tested this jet’s quite luxurious bathroom she might have said, threw open the door and ignored her earlier seating and fell loudly right in the seat across from her casually dressed partner.
“
Hey, hey! My!” Yo chirped but she had recognized those earbuds and remembered when she put those in too. She probably wasn’t going to be heard. It was decided when washing up, that she was horribly bored and needed a distraction by any means. A tiny ringed finger reached out and jabbed the cheek of Myriam, which was a common way of greeting or disturbing depending upon the day.
The contrast between the two was obvious from first sight. Yo’s more erratic and energetic was one thing but the way she dressed was another. She wore a black tailored suit with intricate stitch work done bearing many different styles. With her line of work, she’d often get new suits and the designs were never the same. A hat, though often found its way to be a part of her work attire, was back on her chair leaving her rusted brown hair hanging in a mess of tangles.
“
Myyyyy! You trying to sleep?” Yo would ask louder, not removing her finger from that cheek quite yet, but she didn’t much care for an answer, just a reaction.
No jump or immediate acknowledgement came from the initial poke, although Myriam wasn’t entirely static either with her posture shifting just a tad when her bubble was invaded. Like a door slowly opening in some horror flick, her head turned to eventually get a glance at the invader. The dullest of stares reigned on the more inconspicuously dressed of the two. She raised her index for Yo to quiet down, and then brought that same finger to seize the earbud furthest from her energetic counterpart so she could offer it to Yo.
“
Mmm? What’s that?” she inquired right before directing her attention back to the window, her posture straighter than before and her head angled in a way that made it easy to shift her gaze between Yo and the endless greyness that was the sky. Should Yo accept the offering, an
oddly fitting theme was chosen. Fitting? Maybe a tad sinister, “
How are you feeling it, Yo?” Myriam followed up with a second question with barely any downtime between her first question. Her tone was as dull and monotone as her expression, though the mere posing of the question has her suck in her cheek as if some curious thoughts had just hit the inquisitor’s mind.
A low chuckle escaped Yo’s mouth as she reached her other hand out, fingers wiggling excitedly as she nabbed the earbud offered. She didn’t bother with reasking her question. The curiosity of what her most mundane partner was listening to was far more pressing as she placed it into her ear.
“
Oh!” she exclaimed, hopping in her seat, that finger still pressed into her partner’s cheek. “
I know this song!” She’d hurriedly inputted, taking advantage of the slightest of downtime between My’s lethargic by comparison time to ask her follow-up.
Yo had, in fact, not heard this song at all. She couldn't even name the band but had just felt like claiming she had as if she were trying to score points on a date for liking the same music.
When the other had finally gotten to her second question, Yo considered that she had enough of her partner’s attention to drop her finger from her cheek, letting it flick down and slide off her shoulder.
Her mind went to considering the question posed. How was she feeling it? The music did nothing for her and if the question was just about the music, it would have been too boring of an answer. Naturally, Yo ignored answering and shifted towards trying to turn the conversation to something more fun.
“
Is this your pump-up music? How you get in the zone before an operation?”
Myriam was certainly ‘slow’ if compared to the battery that was her associate. Still, despite the contrast, the more discreet of the two would seldom have her tranquillity perturbed, “
Does this sound like pump-up music, Yo?” she asked without a shred of sarcasm or distinguishable undertones, “
I thought-” she pursed her lips and narrowed her gaze to the empty skies before peering over at her colleague, “
Skyfall. We’re in the sky.” both eyebrows raised, lips still pursed and awkwardness was set in. It was potentially even purposeful just how strange she made that simple answer seem. It just lacked a forced smile.
“
How are you feeling the mission? That’s what I meant.” she then mellowed from this parenthesis and returned to her initial line of thought. A notebook was taken from the pouch in front of her seat and she’d toss it over to the other’s lap. There were barely a few pages left on it, and the only two with anything scribbled on it had notes regarding the researcher they were to essentially kidnap in the midst of the chaos, “
I don’t recall you going to many warzones. If you discount our last trip to Shibuya, anyway.” her eyes emitted something more than just dullness. They had widened, she was now invested in this little exchange, “
We want her alive, this time.”
Yo had been watching her partner, gaze never faltering, since she sat down. A smile plastered on her face as if were carved in but the answer she sought from her questions brought her mouth to hang open as she rolled her eyes around in an exaggerated expression resembling the brash pettiness of a popular high school girl.
“
Uh, duh!” Yo sounded at her partner’s answer. It wasn’t what she wanted, seeking more for something personal to slowly uncover the secret intricacies of who Myriam was as a person. At face value, she was awfully dull but that’s what made Yo’s efforts all the more sweeter to discover the minutiae of detail that made My her own unique person.
The sparkplug of a woman finally turned her gaze and sat back on her seat, resigning to a more relaxed position as the conversation shifted to their mission, a topic that was by all comparisons, less interesting.
Those crimson eyes lifted to the ceiling of the plane as those white flower pupils seemed to rotate like they were zooming in to focus as her partner spoke.
She let the other finish before lifting her shoulders in a shrug before moving her arms to cross at her waist. “
I wouldn’t say I haven’t experienced warzones before. Fighting budding gangs in Kanloon could be very messy and I’m used to those. As far as I’m concerned, this is the same. I just don’t know the streets I’m fighting on.”
Her head turned as her gaze was brought back to her partner with her smile creeping back to present itself. “Alive, right. What do you think he knows that they want? It has to be something good, you think?”
“
If you say so.” Myriam responded to Yo’s position on fighting in the middle of a war, leaving it there with a tinge of snark. One leg was raised to rest over the other and her back sagged against her seat, mimicking the more relaxed posture of her associate.
Again, she sucked in her cheek with her attention returning to the small window to her side, “
Akasha research. Which makes this far more sensitive than the usual deals. This whole raid to regain some iceberg mostly serves as a cover for us to exact our job.” she began to drum her fingers, betraying her cool demeanour, “
It also means she can’t fall into Shinobi hands.”
After that last statement, she conferred a focused, almost intense glance toward Yo, “Do you understand what I mean, Yo?” as solemn as this woman could be, and her reputation certainly helped in selling her serious nature, she kept that gaze until her associate provided a response she’d be satisfied with.
A water bottle was pulled out from under the seat and Myriam took a quick swig from it before offering the beverage to the renown cheat while settling for relaxation once more, “
Secondary objective is securing the surrender of the governor,” she claims nonchalantly, “
help the high-ups save face and avoid more public burnings. But we are not PR. So do as you see fit.”
A smile cracked on Yo’s face, picking up the slightest hint of snark behind her partner’s tone. My was so horribly boring all the time, it was a rare treat to hear that bit of sass. Even if Yo was the victim of that disbelief.
She let the comment go and allowed her partner to continue. The whole mission was vague but it didn’t help that most times she goofed off during the expository details of whatever their tasks were. Paper pushers typically put on those briefings like it was a college paper presentation. Exaggerated reasoning behind their motives, details that were obviously skimped, and all the other tricks to obscure the intention. As far as Yo was concerned, if they just said what they wanted, she’d see to it.
Her partner’s call to her snapped her back to attention. “
Right, right. No science for them. All science for us.” She waved her hand away, as if shooing away the seriousness of the conversation.
“
What else?” She interjected at the time My was taking a drink. The answer came and Yo signed loudly. “Not really a lot of glamour for us, My. I know you don’t care but what about me?”
She sat up, pointing at herself and levelling her gaze back at her partner. “
Nobody is going to care if an iceberg dictator gets iced.”
Myriam took this brief moment of Yo expressing her concerns and interest in the futile nature of their frosty endeavour to pass over to the next tune. One a bit more upbeat, although it didn’t seem to invoke any new behaviour ro demeanour from the stoic inquisitor. What did get a reaction would be none other than the worst joke of the day.
She turned her head, tilted it ever so slightly to the side and widened her eyes a little. Then came the faintest of snorts and a twitch at the edge of her lips, “
You can always take all his stuff. And then blame the other guys.” the twitching formed a brief smirk before she returned to face forward and her eyes frequently visited the window by her. Maybe she found something soothing in that boring horizon. Or it was just less overwhelming than Yo’s presence.
“
Ah.” she snapped her fingers with the hand closest to her associate, “
I forgot to mention.” she clicked her tongue, mouth slightly agape as she waited a moment to continue, her head idly nodding, “
Vampires. You know how to deal with those, right?”
Any inclination of outrage (and there wasn’t really any to begin with), faded away in Yo’s expression as her cheeks perked that iconic smile of hers. My’s reaction to the weakest of puns was infectious. She dropped her hands and resumed lounging in her chair, idly kicking the seat in front of her. They were the only two passengers but it was still a habit of Yo’s when on an aeroplane, which wasn’t very often.
“
Yea, maybe they might have something good.” Yo muttered in quiet admission, dropping her gaze to watch her feet kick as she replayed the briefing she half paid attention to, suddenly recalling an important detail. Her head perked up right before her partner said what she was thinking.
Vampires.
With a spin of her wrist, she drew a pocket-sized notebook out of thin air and swiftly flipped to the page of her notes of the mission briefing, though notes was a bit of a generous term.
“
Sunlight aaaaaaaand decapitation?” Yo’s eyes focused, the flowering pupils appearing to spin as she scryed her scribblings. “Wouldn’t decapitation kill most things, though. What do you think this is?”
Yo turned her notebook around revealing the page of her notes. A drawing of a sun with sunglasses, a chubby vampire with X’s in its eyes and where Yo was pointing at, a rounded object at the bottom that grew to a curved point on the top.
First came Myriam’s thumb to stick out of her fist when sunlight was mentioned, then her index finger for decapitation. The fact that she kept her hand up suggested there was something else, and she patiently kept that position while keeping her dark, adamant hues onto her partner’s visage.
That dead-eyed stare eventually veered toward the illustrations provided by Yo. Myriam pursed her lips, tilting her head the same way she had done just a moment ago, “
You should draw comics for children.” she remarked plainly after assessing what was shown and then returned her attention to Yo’s crimson gaze.
“
The heart.” the pointer finger she kept out went over to poke the cheat’s upper chest area, illustrating her point in her own way, “
Destroy it completely, not just some stab or gunshot wound.” with that said, her major finger came out, but she wasn’t quite done.
“
Silver. And don’t ask me why, it’s oddly arbitrary. It also doesn’t always work.” her eyes were no longer as fixated on the other as she began to trail off a little, “
Decapitation has also been known to be insufficient against certain stronger strains. Same with sunlight.” her ring finger was next, leaving the pinky for last.
A couple of blinks broke the otherwise eerily methodic way she was presenting herself, as if every movement, even blinks, were calculated, “
I’m … Surprised you haven’t brought this one up. Garlic.” the slight shift of her tone made it clear she was genuinely surprised, “
It doesn’t work. I think.” she shifts her head to the opposite side of its tilt, eyes narrowing toward nothing in particular, as if she was doubting herself.
Yo had, of course, remembered the briefing. She was there and had even written some of the specifics of vampirism discussed at that time. With fiction jumping around all over the place with what vampires were, it was nice to actually have an idea of what was true and what wasn’t with this particular batch. Relisting the methods of execution to ensure vampire removal was not as engaging as her mind wanted it to be, however.
When her partner hadn’t answered her question, though the compliment went appreciated with an agreeable nod, Yo turned the book back to face her and she studied her childlike drawing intensely. She didn’t phase out My listing the vampire weakness and internally counted along and answered each of the weaknesses.
When reaching the last one, those flowering irises seemed to expand as the word she was looking for was uttered. “
Garlic!” Yo shouted, way too loudly as if she were trying to startle My from the sudden loud noise.
“
That’s what I drew. It is a head of garlic, thanks My!”
Yo closed her drawing book and shoved it down her sleeve, the book seemingly vanishing from existence as she stretched her arms out.
“
Hey, when do we get there?” She asked, switching the topic suddenly not caring about debating the quality of anti-vamprie method effectiveness. She’d just blow up their heart or head in all likelihood. “
I’ve got things to do back in Kanloon when I get back and I’d rather not forget. If this takes too long, I will forget!” She giggled like it was a funny joke that only she’d ever understand.
Myriam just stayed frozen, staring at nothing in particular, like she had some sort of blockage. Was garlic really a myth? She could swear it worked once. Or maybe it was salt. It’d take a little bit of whining from Yo for the hunter’s dark eyes to blink a couple of times, followed by a rapid shake of her head, “Hmm? Oh.” she’d peer into her smartphone, the one connected to her headphones, “
Three minutes.” she answered casually.
A loud tap of her foot against the empty seat before her signalled her desire to stand, and she’d do so without forgetting her backpack, “
No parachutes, by the way.” she’d gesture for her colleague to move along, “
You’ve done a dive before, right?” she asked while verifying something with the nearby door, though she didn’t tinker with it just yet. Then her attention returned to Yo with her cheek sucked in, “
If not then …” lips pursed, she paused before turning the lock on the door and just opening the thing.
Inevitably, the air current was overwhelming with quite a few leftover bottles and snacks being sucked out. Myriam merely grasped a nearby handle while digging through her backpack with her free hand, “
Oh, and this!” she spoke up, given the noise was considerable to say the least. A gas mask was whipped out, and she extended it to her partner. The second was for My. There was nothing particularly fancy about them other than veiling their eyes quite well with tinted lenses. Adds a bit of a sinister look to it, “We should jump in about-” again, she checks her phone, completely unconcerned whether it’d fly off, “
Twenty two seconds.” she tilts her head, “
Ready?”
“
Three minutes? Time flies fast when you are having fun, right My?” Yo tilted her head quizzically but didn’t expect an answer. That pondering expression would watch her partner adjust and stand up, letting her pass by. She was looking expectedly for something but that face betrayed the reality where she really wasn’t looking for any sort of reaction.
It wasn’t until My started talking about diving that Yo jumped to her feet. A wide smile grew on her face as she realised what My stopping at the door meant. She turned and scurried away, picking up her hat and compressing it before stuffing it in her roller suitcase that she brought. She closed it, and zipped it up tight before cradling that thing in her arms.
The door was opened and the air roared in motion as Yo turned her head to the side. “
Oh no, My. I should have told someone I was afraid of heights!” Yo’s tone suddenly, stepping up to her partner. She made her knees shake, hunched over and looked like she was about to cry. “
Will you hold me?” She hollered over the current whipping around in the cabin.
It was almost a convincing act, save for the devilish grin that sneaked its way onto the Cheat’s face, growing by the second waiting for My’s answer.
Just as the twenty-two second mark had been met, Yo had posed her question. As such, My just … Stepped forward, without even conferring a glance, and took the plunge. Her posture was stiff and her baggy clothes didn’t seem to entirely agree with the resistance met by the air. It was of little inconvenience, as the gilded huntress had clearly done this more than once. Little adjustments were made to angle herself just right to make a proper ‘dive’ and hasten her arrival.
It wouldn’t take more than thirty seconds for Myriam to collide with the ground first. Well, it’d be more so a metre and a half of snow rather than soil, as they had planned to land at the outskirts of town, consumed by blankets of unnatural snow that could never stay soft with how glacial the air had remained when the skies were permanently clouded. The impact was controlled, landing with one knee colliding with the ground and the hand opposite to it meeting the concrete under the snow simultaneously. The shockwave was decently loud, but if there wasn’t anyone to hear it, had she really landed in the middle of nowhere? Yes. The answer is yes. That saying is stupid.
Her voice was muffled behind her gas mask, distorting her increasingly loud breathing as she recuperated from the dive, “
Tsk.” she peered up, right at the direction of Otaru, to notice the skies already set ablaze. The assault had commenced a while ago, and the troops were making rapid progress, “
Time flies.” she paused while uttering that line when she was sure Yo was around, “Heh.” Myriam rested her hand on her nape and forced a crack from it, “
I got that.”
If Yo was offended about her partner ignoring her and just jumping out, then she gave no sign of it. She slipped the gasmask on and followed, stepping out of the cabin. “
Whoopsie!” She hollered to nobody through the filter of the mask as she appeared to slip on her last step, letting her tumble wildly in the air.
Where her partner looked like a professional, Yo looked like she was actually falling. She had virtually no control as she spun and twisted in the air, the only constant being her cradling the suitcase in her arms and the drowned out sound of her muffled screaming like she was on a thrill ride all the way down.
When it came to landing, that was a different story. Her target was a large snow mound and just fifty metres above that, she managed to straighten herself and fall into the mound feet first. The careful observer with a special talent might have noticed the glow in her feet just before touching the icy snow. She sank through the ten foot snow drift disappearing from sight as the snow exploded around her impact. By the time the flurry cleared, there was no mound and Yo just standing like she hadn’t just fallen forty thousand feet from the sky.
She had landed a short distance away and hurried off to join her brutish companion, her gaze joining My’s on the burning city ahead. Her suitcase was still cradled in her hands. Nothing was said until My’s admission. The mask concealed a smile. “Jeez about time you got that.”
Beyond the echoes of war raging behind the recently built walls of the city that stood before the two, there was but the wheezing of the gusts that reigned in this dark, cold land as twilight set itself in Hokkaido. Myriam ensured her backpack was properly fastened over both her shoulders, making for a tight squeeze on her hoodie, before she approached the improvised structure that gated the isolated town.
“
There are two a few metres from the wall.” she kept her voice hushed, and with the mask’s distortion it made what she said a bit difficult to hear with the winds raging by them. The Gokai inhaled audibly, and then exhaled, “
Aim for the head, at worst it incapacitates them.” right down to business, the Gilded Inquisitor wasn’t going to waste any time. Flexing her knees and crouching for a brief second, she’d then propel herself to leap over the wall of ice and stone, and land where she sensed one of the presences.
Like an owl attacking its prey, she was silent, and her presence was all the harder to detect with her Gokai characteristic. It was likely that these peons had heard the very recent impact from the two, but dared not venture out of safety, and as such would just have enough time to yelp before the huntress had her way. All her weight was applied to the female patroller’s chest, immediately pinning her and kicking off the rifle she had been trying to aim at Myriam. Again, she had time to yell out a
He- before her executioner manifested her massive, sealed mass of metal and stone right over her head, and let it drop. More or less a decapitation.
The other was on high alert, and ripe for the picking by Yo. Still, Myriam’s idle hand had its fingers hooked, ready to react as they always did, should her associate fail. But she probably didn’t, it was Yo after all, “
There’s a miasma that grows thick close to the centre of town. Try not to get the mask damaged.”
Yo followed through soon after her colleagues, ending any hopes of a counter attack from the scouts by a quick and effective execution from mid-air. A simple card empowered by cursed energy was enough to sever the head of the remaining footsoldier to ensure no resurrection would occur.
The two agents had set foot on Otaru, with little stopping them from seeking out the researcher coveted by both sides of the conflict. Interlopers be wary of the duo that has felled countless of their kind.
Soon making contact with: @Blizz, @Eviledd1984 and @Archangel89
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