Description: Three young women. The dead of night. A simple mission. Operation Boston Tea Party goes into full swing, but before Arika and the gang are able to complete it, 'R' crashes it, causing the three fighters to abort their mission.
A clear night.
A cloudless sky.
And wouldn't you know it, the moon is shining brightly.
Plans have already been set in motion, and it's too late to back down now and wait for more cover, or the darkness of a new moon. With the Suiryuu out in the middle of the ocean, this is a 'now or never' thing.
Mission Objective: To remove as many of the anti-tank weapons they can find on board. Toss them into the ocean. Sink them. Feel a little better about things before finding out the purpose of the energy build up.
A tight black leather jumpsuit clings to the body of the punk princess as she carries three large military bags with her. Plastic weapons have hopefully all been put in place, the real ones hidden within the 'laundry' that she carries. Careful, silent as possible, she makes her way across the main deck. Once she reaches the railing near the aft-deck, Arika presses a small button near her ear. "Come in..." Snap. She never thought to give the other two codenames! Adjusting the black skullcap on her head, she glances around. "Operation Boston Tea Party starts now." So what if she made that up on the spur of the moment? They'll know what she's talking about...
... hopefully.
"...... I would say Ishmael, but that is a male name. And this outfit is not practical. At all." Audibly showing a rare side of disapproval to Arika's choice in clothing for them, Eva frowns as she slings two duffel bags over each shoulder, speaking into her microphone. Shouldn't they be more worried about getting things done rather than how 'good' they look? And really, Arika may be able to pull this look off... but Eva *can't*. In her view, these pants are making her muscular legs look monstrous, and her hips... Eva will gladly change into anything after this as long as it's cotton and at least one size too big. ".... I will be glad when this is over."
"Clever name, by the way." No sarcasm there. Then again, Eva hasn't been one to express sarcasm liberally, so that isn't much of a surprise. "Shall we begin?"
A simple enough mission, isn't it? At least that is the thought from the mind of Hurricane Hime, the costumed fighter whom is also sporting.. Well.. Another costume.
Clad in the black bodysuit as well (though wears a -pink- scarf to compensate), with her usual stripped skullcap is our little heroine who's been lagging a bit behind. A lot of these weapons were pretty much -her- size, making it difficult to carry the larger weapons, and leaves her giving her dufflebag a piggyback ride.
Her communicator beeps, causing her to blink in suprise, and she sets her bag down. "This is 'The Paper'!" she pipes way too happily. "And it's not so bad, 'Ishmael'. It just makes your legs look a little big; but according to recent polls, lots of guys are into that!" ... "I'll be up in a second, just.. Have to drag this thing up the stairs, sorry for taking so long."
They've named themselves.
They've named themselves, and Arika has to try not to laugh.
"Okay, Paper. Be careful on the top step. Do not..." Pausing, she does a quick survey of the deck, ensuring that it's empty. "I repeat, DO NOT, drop the laundry down the stairs. It's imperative we give it a good cleaning here tonight." Oi-vey. The punk princess is never going to make it as a leader. This is where the team captain would come in handy, but since he's unavailable, she'll make do.
"Ishmael? Right. Would've found something a little different for you, but time was of the essence. We pull this off in the next ten minutes, we'll have plenty of time for you to find yourself more suitable clothing and relax before we start phase two."
Something her cohorts might notice, is that the usual Cockney accent Arika addresses the world with seems to be gone. Perhaps she's taking the stealth of this mission a little -too- seriously?
"... I didn't mean...." There's an audible sigh from Eva over the voice link. "Alright." And her legs looking a little big? "..... I think those types generally prefer legs that aren't so muscular, just curvy..." And she wasn't worrying about how men would see her! With luck, no one will see them, and Eva can just give the outfit back and be done with it. "... Don't worry. If it comes between doing this correctly and doing this quickly, I will chose the former rather than the latter."
Going up to her position, Eva sighs. Phase Two? Wait, what was phase two again? Wasn't it just throwing the weapons overboard and being done with it?
Good leader? Bad leader? Hime simply just doesn't know the difference. But when your teacher is DAN HIBIKI, it doesn't really put one in the frame of mind of who's bad at what. Sure, Arika doesn't have sensei's energy, but it doesn't make her a bad pick!
"o/~ Okiie." Though now that Hime thought about it. Isn't laundry a term used by mobsters in non-laundromat issues? Perhaps she was thinking too hard about it. Naturally she notices the accent is gone. Of course she thinks it's part of the espionage mission.
Now long after, though, she's up on deck, extra-careful not to drop her bag, and then she hoists it up onto her back once more as she tries to catch up with her partners. She had no problems about a Phase Two, despite having completely forgotten if it was discussed previously. Still, it's probably better to get refreshed on it, ".. Phase Two... ... 'Profit'?" This was actually more fun than she had expected. And it's for a good cause!
"I know you didn't," Arika says quietly into the mic to 'Ishmael'. "Phase two," she says for the benefit of the others, "is our research into what's down below, though I think we may have trouble with that since the tournament is likely coming to a head." Problem is, she -really- wants to know what's behind that odd door Sylvester was guarding the other evening.
"Paper, once you're in place, give the go ahead and we start washing these clothes. Up and over. No fuss, no muss. We need this done and over with before anyone clues in to what we're about to do..."
And with that, the diva is lifting the first of those large military bags up over the railing.
"Try to synchronize the drops if you can. It'll make less noise..."
"... Alright." Eva nods in agreement, despite the others being unable to see it. "You seem to be in the tournament proper...." Err... what would Arika be called? "Leader." Eva's just not feeling creative tonight. "I will see what I can find out on my end. It may be to our benefit that I am not considered for the finals."
Setting herself again the railing and lifting her cargo, Eva furrows her brow. "Let's do this." .... One.... Two....
Hime is on the case! While she's hearing Arika's instructions, she's actually quick enough now that there aren't dim lights, stairs, and awkward halls to bumble through. She skirts along the deck until she reaches the rail and pauses there a second to catch her breath. Wooh! Still, one thing was kind of bothering her.
"Was that rabbit -really- guarding that door? That's so weird.." the heroine mumbles to herself, but through the live feed. The bag is hoisted to her shoulder, then onto the railing. "Ready."
One.. Two...
"Three!" Hime stands on her tip-toes, and the largest weapon proceeds to slide from her bag.
But it's then that there's an odd sound. Something almost like a hum? It's definatly not the engine of the boat, and it most certainly isn't the distinct sound of water crashing into the ship. It almost sounds like, or more 'feels' like there's something approaching behind the three girls. It's enough to make Hime blink is a bit of suprise, "... Hey, does anyone else feel that?"
"Who knows," the punk rocker says into the mic, "it was Sylvester." As if that's the answer to -everything-. Who knows what tactics these ninja cultists are employing now! Bunnies guarding doors that won't open? Insane, perhaps, but she wouldn't put it past them!
With the call of ready, she waits two beats. As the 'three' comes through the headset, she drops the first bag into the ocean below. KERSPLOOSH.
"Likely just a passenger plane up overhead. Nothing to worry about." Sure about that, Arika? She sounds sure, at any rate. "Come on, get ready to wash more clothes. We've barely gotten this Tea Party started..."
*SPLASH*
Eva syncronizes her drop as best as she can manage, then unslings the second bag. "I have a second one. Leader, Paper, if at least one of you has a second one, I am ready and willing to sync with yours," she replies, sounding nearly as stoic as her current namesake.
That is, until the thrumming of planes is heard. "... I hope you're right, A-er-Leader." Aboard the Seiryuu, Eva's just about ready for anything to happen. "I think we should focus on the task at hand until we find out otherwise."
That is the problem with crazy ninjas. You can never really tell what's going 'according to plan' and what is 'unexpected'. She's a smidge embarassed though, because she wasn't able to carry along a second bag and still be able to keep up with the other two. "I.. Um.. Didn't.." She admits as the last of the contents are dumped into the sea. But she quickly changes the subject, rolling her shoulders and starts heading back. "Hey, do you think they're ninja jets? Or.. You would probably call them ninjet- Er wait, if they're passenger carriers, we're gonna get busted for sure!" And Sylvester? Well. Maybe if she's lucky, Hime will be able to go ahead and ask Naerose herself what's the deal with that rabbit, then uphold JUSTICE if need be.
It's difficult to make out in the dark, though, but it appears there's more than one aircraft occupying the sky, and looking to be making a gradual decent! 'Luckily' there's plenty of room for those crafts to -make- their landing.
Everything is going according to plan. Passenger jet notwithstanding, Arika responds, "I have a second, Ishmael. So on the count of three..." Bending down, she hefts up the second military bag and hoists it over the edge. Dangling it there, she calls, "One. Two."
Waiting a moment, she tries to listen for Eva to see if she's ready to drop the second bag. "Thr--"
"Umm... guys?"
Uncoordinated though it is, the second bag is dropped into the ocean with a loud sploosh.
"Think we have company...."
Quickly grabbing the third bag she brought with her, she calls into the headset, "ABORT!" They can 'clean' the rest of the laundry once they figure out why there are crafts heading directly for the ship. If Hime is right and they're 'ninjets' or whatever, then they're busted. If she's wrong, it means something else is up and as acting Leader she's got to watch out for her 'team'.
"It's okay, Paper. I myself was struggling with two, so... " Eva drifts off as she looks back towards the planes, dazed a minute as she contemplates. What if they were really after them? Or attacking the ship? Or...?
The countdown forces the girl to shift away from her thoughts as she shoves the second of the bags into the water at the first syllable of 'three'. ....? ".... Leader. Is something wrong?" Worry stains her voice as Eva speaks. "What do-"
Abort. "Right!" Since she's now without that weight that was bogging her down earlier, Eva's able to switch gears on a dime, darting hurriedly away to some sort of safety.
Hurricane Hime scritches her head lightly, curiosity starting to get the better of her. That'd certainly be an awful lot of passengers coming on, likely to be the start of some sort of gargantuant free-for-all finish! One hand on her hip she grins up at one silouette as Arika speaks up. "Haha, 'Abort'? I think the situation would change once they realize who they're dealing with, so allow me to tell them my name! I am SHE whom does not all-"
The deck suddenly shakes a bit. This is because the crafts, now more recognizable as helicopters are dropping- Or perhaps more accuratly successfully SHOOTING what turns out to be large clamps at the ships front. Multiple drop cords are.. Dropped from above as they fly in closer. It's becoming a bit more evident, at least, that they're not the Suiryuu's friends.
".. Uh, ok maybe not!" Himeko cries. Really, the only reasonable methods of escape are to either dive overboard, or dash below deck. She's going to follow Arika, however!
"Paper!" Arika is about to chastise the youngest ally she's got with her this evening, but then the deck starts to shake. Nimble though she tends to be, even something like this is enough to unbalance the punk princess. Tossed to the side, she keeps a steady grip on the single black military bag she still possesses. Carrying three of the things up here was a pain, but it was a necessary one. Trouble is, she can't get close enough to the edge to toss it over now.
"ABORT," she repeats as she steadies her feet and continues to run along the deck. "Cabins. The library... the dojo. Anywhere but -here-."
Himeko's confidence would be encouraged, but here, Eva realizes that this situation could mean trouble. "... Please!" Eva bites her tongue before she says the girl's name, then continues, "We don't know what's going to happen. This could be like when the truck hi-"
Or even worse. "... Ah!" Eva collides with the side railing, holding onto it to steady her footing as opposed to pitching overboard. Gritting her teeth, she guides herself alongside the rail, aiming to get to her cabin, or Arika's- whichever will be closer for her on her end.
"Sorry, Leader, Ishmael!" Hime squeaks, with her dufflebag still in hand despite nearly falling on her face. She'll admit she may have messed up there. T_T "Aborting, aborting! I think I'll head to the library first!" Haha. Suprise suprise. The heroine picks up the pace to actually zoom right past Arika and make a sharp turn in the opposite direction.
As the girls make a scurry, the action isn't halting above deck at all. Perhaps just before running downstairs the group of three will realize that those are nets connected to those clamps; so likely moments after those choppers release their 'cargo', everybody is going to be trapped inside for the time being. That is clearly not a good thing.
And then after that, a very deep-sounding explosion follows. There's no way to tell if it was from a bomb, or an explosion due to excessive firepower or what, but the moment it goes off, echoing in the sky, all the lights flicker and blow out.
Complete darkness for a moment.
And then perhaps the emergency lighting, much dimmer of course, kicks in. It would be around this time that a bit of staticy feedback bounces off the walls, then a voice speaks over the intercom: "Attention all agents of Junchuu," a calm, controlled voice. "The ship is currently being invaded by a hostile military force. As a direct result, we are going to have to accelerate our timetable. Please settle your affairs with all due haste and gather at your designated locations. Round Four matches will begin immediately and without delay.."
"Be careful, both of you." The last order is issued before Arika reaches up, about to turn the headset off. "Keep these on as long as you can. We're going to be separated but..."
Cue explosion.
The loud noise and echoing cause whatever was being said to cut off, either by the diva's choice or because things just became a little more serious.
Cue darkness.
Carefully picking her way toward the stairs leading to the promenade, she takes hold of the railing. Eyes adjust to the darkness and she catches sight of the nets. Cursing quietly, she's about to issue more orders about finding the rest of the weapons, but they're given other orders -- Jinchuu orders. What is Murphy's Law again? Oh, right. Whatever -can- go wrong, -will- go wrong. "Ladies," she says into the mic, "If you can still hear me, head to your designated fighting area and attempt to ensure your opponents are safe. Find out who the assailants attacking the ship are. At all costs, try to keep -yourselves- safe though." Since she's already heading for the promenade, she starts up the stairs. "Good luck, ladies..." No big 'goodbye' or 'god speed'. Just 'good luck'. Arika is quite certain they'll all make it through this.
They have to.
Log created on 21:18:24 10/02/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 20:50:46 10/05/2007.