Description: Duke sends Nagase to deal with a secretive shipment by Kain that the Syndicate has discovered, but some unexpected occurances throw a wrench in her plans; or several. Boat chases, explosions, and action abounds, will the young kunoichi stop the shipment from being a success...? Or will she fail, and pay a heavy toll in the doing...?
Duke and his minions are officially a thorn in Kain's side. Taking out some of his subordinates isn't such a big deal, as many of them are fairly easily replaced, but the violence is cutting into the smooth operation of various enterprises. Interference with shipping, in particular, is becoming a problem. While Kain has just about all he needs personally, his men need to be supplied, especially with a war to fight. And between the gang violence at the harbor, some 'accidents' at sea, and being cut off from some sources, things are getting problematic.
Kain does still have sources that are willing to provide him what he needs, though, and a ship carrying those supplies is coming into Southtown Harbor today. In fact, it managed to stay so far under the radar that it actually made it most of the way to the harbor before word got to Duke's forces about it, leaving them with a bit of a scramble on their hands. Meanwhile, a lone speedboat sets out from the harbor, with a tall, grizzled looking Russian man on it. Actually unloading the cargo Kain needs at the harbor will give too much of an opportunity for Duke's forces to take hold of it, so instead the plan is to offload it into the smaller boat, and get it the hell out of there.
Earlier: Time was not Duke's side. But from the beginning, it hasn't been. Between the money he owes to various parties supporting his war (especially R, whose embargo has made this secretive shipment necessary) and the fact that - as all attacks on Southtown eventually result - more 'heroes' were being drawn the longer the siege goes on... time was like a noose around his neck. And, if he didn't manage to start pulling the support structure from beneath Kain's feet... Kain would eventually be his executioner.
Hence why it was necessary for Duke to call upon a little girl. A very /useful/ little girl...
...But for the kunoichi with the fox-tailed hair, this was a damnable situation to be in. Squatting atop a stack of steel crates, nestled in the shadows of an old warehouse, sat a bespectacled girl with dyed wine red hair with white and black streaks. Her wide, almond-shaped, sanguine eyes stared quietly into the lenses of her rose pink spectacles - at the displays inside of her lenses which only her eyes were meant to see. She was watching the time, anticipating when she was supposed to depart by the second.
She shifted, slightly... her dark clothing almost invisible except for that barest hints of wine reds from her sleeves. When the clock finally changed over to a new hour, she leapt from her squatted position... landing upon the concrete below with a light *thud* before darting toward a motorboat moored in the distance. It was time to ride...
Now: ...And now, she stood steady behinnd the open console of said motorboat... speeding across the ocean waters toward her intended destination with a roaring of motorboat engines making plain her movements. Sometime in the interrim between then and now, she's changed into something a bit more befitting of a kunoichi - obscuring white cotton garbs that covered the majority of her body except for her eyes and few select bits of skin. ... She didn't like this, not at all... the possiiblity of being caught. Not after that dealing with Seishirou. But what could she do...?
Not everybody in the crew of the cargo ship is aware of what's going on, but enough of them are to keep things moving smoothly. As Kain's man pulls up alongside the ship, the cargo has already been moved into place to be lowered to him. Not a very large shipment, but then Kain doesn't need large quantities of things like guns. They have their uses, but most of the men working somewhere under Kain have learned in their careers, often by having it beaten into them, that guns are not the ultimate word when it comes to violence.
The Russian man in the speedboat signals to the crew, and they begin carefully lowering the cargo. Then he frowns, hearing an approaching engine. He turns and glances in the direction of Nagase's approach... and his frown deepens. He makes another signal to the crew, then curtly repeats it when they signal for confirmation. The cargo suddenly begins descending at a much greater pace, hitting the speedboat with enough force to set it rocking wildly in the water for a few moments, before it settles down noticeably lower in the water than it was before. The Russian ramps up the engine, swinging the speedboat around. The original plan was to take the cargo to a dropoff point outside the harbor, but if that incoming boat is following him they'd easily be able to track him there. He's going to have to lose them... and the only place to do that is amongst all the ships and machinery of the cargo. The speedboat swings back around in that direction, going wide of Nagase's boat to force her to change course if she intends to intercept.
Nagase curses under her breath as she sees the boat in the distance already being loaded by the cargo ship. They had been misinformed, and she was too late to capture the cargo ship and burn it before Kain could hope to use it. Now her only hope was to capture that other boat and kill the man with the cargo before he could make it ashore.
The other speedboat passes her, going wide, but as he does so the white-garbed assassin is already swinging her own boat around with an intent to follow. Once she manages to get back on track, she grasps the throttle of the boat and shoves it forward... kicking the boat's engine's into high gear and signaling her intent to follow. Or rather, her intent to capture and kill him. Being who she is... she really only needs to get a decent distance on him before she can start hurling very sharp objects his way even with this level of wind resistance...
...So he'd best have a means of losing her or getting her first...
The Russian grunts at the sounds from Nagase's boat, but doesn't actually bother to look back, just pushing his engine a bit harder. If they just sent out a single person, it's probably someone pretty competent... and they might be willing to just sink his boat if they can't get their hands on the cargo. He's not going to beat them on speed, but there's still a chance. He glances down at his side to confirm that his gun is still there, in case it's needed later on. But for now...
He spots another cargo ship, this one leaving the harbor, and veers his course in that direction as he gets closer to the harbor proper. He moves in dangerously close, swinging right around the bow of the ship and riding out its wake as he shoots by on the other side. This brings him directly into the path of a smaller ship heading in the same direction, however, resulting in another near miss as he shoots past it and draws into the main area of the harbor.
The female kunoichi was riding the bumpy waves of the sea in near-complete silence, the sounds of the engine propellers falling deep into the background of her focus. So much so, that she doesn't really even seem to register it anymore. Her sanguine eyes, now exposed from her spectacles being removed, follow the moving target in the distance with near the precision of a machine. Every little adjustment made by the opposing boat, she attempts to account for as she plots just how to try and catch it. She knows following directly will only get her so far, he's noticed her... and since he has he will doubtlessly be attempting to lose her...
...It's for this reason that she does not follow him directly toward the first boat, instead attempting to maneuver her own speedboat in an outward arc that swings her out of range of both boats and lines up on an anticipated trajectory with the enemy boat. It also swings her within bumping distance of a third boat, the spray generated by her boat's momentum in the water hitting its hull. This guesswork move costs her some distance, allowing the other boat some needed breathing room, and forces her to have to adjust for the difference between the anticipated and actual trajectory. But she's still following him, for now.
The Russian risks a glance backwards and sees that Nagase is still on his tail. This may take some more drastic measures. Looking around, he spots something promising. Reaching down to pick up his gun, he swings his boat in closer to the edge of the harbor. Parked by the water is a large truck, the back of which is stacked with with thick metal pipes, tied up so that they'll stay balanced atop one another. As he draws closer the Russian points his submachine gun toward the truck, letting out several quick bursts as he speeds past.
There's several loud metallic sounds from the impact, and one of the chains holding the pipes in place snaps. The entire load shifts ominously, and then the other chain gives way, leading to a cascade of pipes bouncing out into the harbor. Being metal they sink pretty quickly, but there's enough of them to keep the wave going on for a fair bit, and they bounce wildly off of another another as well, before finally hitting the water and sinking.
By the time he was starting to pass that truck parked at the harbor's edge, Nagase had begun to gain once more. But she was still a fair distance back, fair enough that when the shots rang out into the air - she was forced to react by attempting to dodge. Without her lenses on, she could not rely on her artificially intelligent analysis systems to tell her where exactly he was firing after all. This costs her, as her dodging maneuver brings her in closer to the harbor. The load, metallic, ringing of bullets off of the truck's interior draws her eyes instictively... and the snapping of chains accompanied by falling of metal pipes makes her eyes go wide.
...Fortunately, only one of the pipes near her... sailing over her head and plopping into the water... before she makes a quick adjustment that brings her abreast of the localized chaos that befalls the harbor sea. The impacts are such that it creates enormous turbulence, tossing her boat about in ways she can hardly control. The impacts spray the kunoichi with the disgusting smelling wetness of sea water, soaking her white garb and forcing her to curse finally,
"Shitshitshi-...!"
And the final cresting wave that hits her boat, just as she escapes the water trap, tosses her and her boat airborne momentarily! "SHIT!"
*SPLASH!
...Before coming down onto a relatively less turbulent stretch of sea again where she continues to pursue the enemy boat dauntlessly... punching the throttle forward again now that she's not dealing with waves anymore.
Kain's man has his engine at full throttle, but with the cargo weighing him down he still can't outrun Nagase. Slowing her down allowed him to regain a little distance, but she's going to start making that up again soon. He fires a few quick bursts behind him, but aiming is almost impossible, under the circumstances. There's always the chance it might convince her to back off, though. More likely, though, that more extreme measures will be called for. The Russian takes his eyes off his course for a moment, opening a box next to him and starting to rummage in it. The blare of a ship's horn brings him, though, as another speed (traveling at a more sedate speed, but still fast) approaches on an intercepting angle with him.
Cursing, the man steers hard again, while the man in the other boat does likewise in the opposite direction, and they come close enough to scrape off paint. The newcomer is cursing loudly, having cut his motor and started to drift to a stop, but the Russian hasn't dropped his engine at all. He casts another glance behind him, then swerves over to bring him close alongside a moored sailboat. He then reaches into the box next to him, fiddles with something in it, then a moment later Nagase may see a small object flying up out of his boat and landing in the cockpit of the sailboat. The timing is very difficult to work with like this, so the grenade probably won't go off /right/ at the worst possible time for Nagase, but it's likely to cause some excitement.
Almost every time a shot is fired, Nagase is adjusting her position. Except where it's clear from the flash emitted by the gun's chamber that it won't hit her. Several shots do, despite her best efforts, land inside the ship... either ricocheting off of the interior with a metallic ringing or bursting through the glass of the windshield not far ahead of the kunoichi!
"Fuck. my. life.", she says, closing her eyes momentarily as the spray of glass largely bypasses her. Some of the shards manage to lacerate the cloth of her garb, adding a few new sections of exposed skin beneath which sanguine matching her eyes can be seen.
But she's largely ignoring it. Her pulse has quickened by now, breathing patterns struggling against trained instincts to become more energetic. But she's not allowing herself to be driven back.
Due to her distance, she manages to mostly miss the ship he nearly runs into... skirting it before continuing heedless of the increasing danger of the chase. ... And she's now gaining on him again... pulling up within - for her - striking distance. This is why, she stuffs a hand into a bag of her own resting on the counter nearest the console. It's open now, likely the same duffel bag her suit came from, and the garbed hand that reaches in quickly produces several small and sharp throwing stars. She rears back with her hand, eyeing the boat momentarily and calculating her necessary throwing trajectories; this while she speeds right past that sailboat just in time to see -something- fly through her periphera vision...
...And then, an explosion ROARS out of the moored sailboat - tossing fire and boat pieces skyward with harbor being flung outward like shrapnel.
%...She does, indeed, throw several of the razor sharp stars toward his boat despite this. But the shock of the surprise explosion, and the ringing in her ears, just may have been the difference between hitting targets and pelting useless things! "...THE HELL?!"
The Russian feels something whirl past his head and ducks instinctively, but he's not able to make out what it was. Another throwing star lodges itself into one of the cargo crates, but with all the noise it's easily missed. When nothing else seems to be flying overhead for the moment he risks a glance back and sees that Nagase is still tailing him, and that the explosion apparently wasn't enough to actually damage her boat. This is unfortunate, because he's getting a bit penned in now by all of the ships around.
The boat keeps going straight, providing an opportunity for Nagase to get closer and closer... and then it becomes apparent that he's run out of room to manuever. Right up ahead is a refueling pier, with no room to swerve around it without crashing into another ship. But what is there is a ramp, used for lowering things into the water. The Russian furrows his brow, then ramps the engine up even harder, causing it to make distressing noises. He then reaches into the box next to him again.
He holds his breath as the speedboat hits the ramp... and then goes airborne, sailing over the refueling station. And as he does so, he tosses another grenade behind him, letting it land amidst the fuel pumps. A split second later his boat is back in the water, hitting so hard that it's actually below the water line for a moment, displacing the water in massive waves. The Russian is soaked as he comes back up, and there's a significant amount of water in the cockpit. It's draining out, but even so it's slowing him down further. And then the pier behind him erupts in a pillar of fire.
Even after having several near-misses with flying woodwork and concrete from the harbor, Nagase has mostly stayed her course. As she closed in, accomplishing a relatively steady trajectory behind the russian, her right hand departed from the steering wheel to snatch yet more of those razor sharp, exceedingly thin, little throwing stars. She clutched them such that her right index finger looped through the center, fingers clutching them mostly by the flat of their sides so as to avoid cutting herself.
But she did not throw any more, immediately, fortunately for the russian. The reason? The confusing sight of him barreling almost suicidally toward that fueling pier. It was a dangerous maneuver for anyone, even her, to make that jump... and if he failed he might just accomplish her job for her.
It signaled desperation to her, and she holds back precisely for not wanting to rupture any fuel tanks - intent to follow him up the ramp and to the other side. Or... to his impending death. Whichever came first...
...her boat hits the ramp, literally just seconds after his own, the crashing of boat against ramp resulting in worrisome scraping sounds and sparks flying briefly as the metal propeller nicks the metal siding of it.
And then she's airborne again, flying high for a few moments what seemed like an eternity. The sight of the grenade being thrown -this time- does not miss her eyes. And her eyes go WIDE...
"Fuuuuu-"
And the rest of her expletive is drowned out by YET ANOTHER roaring explosion of fire and chunks of harbor that flies all around from behind. Though she escapes the blast itself, the shockwaves influences the rear of her boat such that it looks as the she might actually hit the water nose down and turn a flip. A collision that would likely send her to a watery grave...
But, fortunately, she does not. The boat manages to settle enough that she instead hits the water awkwardly enough to pitch her forward against the steering wheel, slamming it into her breast, and nearly slamming her head into the dashboard. Momentarily, her boat skids sideways out of its relatively precise trajectory, giving the russian a bit of distance again as she is forced to maneuver the boat back onto its intended path.
Sometime during this chaotic occurance, however, she did fling those little stars in his direction again so he may still get a reminder of the threat she poses. ... Both of them might soon be in hot water, however, if something doesn't change. The police are bound to come investigate this eventually...
The throwing stars fly in, and this time one of them does manage to nick the Russian, who curses as a thin line is opened up in his sleeve. But more importantly, one of them manages to hit the engine, lodging into it. It was already making distressing noises from the push it's been given, and now those noises have taken on a new pitch. The Russian curses again, then narrows his eyes. He has specific orders about what to do if it looks like the cargo is going to fall into someone else's hands. He glances ahead and sees that the path is more or less clear, then steps away from the controls and back toward the cargo.
Working swiftly, he grabs a crowbar and cracks open the top of one of the crates, after a quick scan of the markings on them. He rummages in the crate and pulls out several smaller cases, strapping them to hooks on his clothing. He then pulls out a few even smaller bags, strapping them to his belt. In between rummages, he fires off random bursts with his submachine gun, trying to keep Nagase from interrupting him, but he also stays low just in case. He then moves on to another crate, cracking it open and fiddling around inside for a few moments, but doesn't take anything out. He then rummages in a pouch on his shirt, pulling out a rebreather, and leaps from the side of the speedboat just as the engine finally sputters and dies. With all the stuff strapped to him he instantly sinks beneath the surface. On the other hand, he can't have taken nearly all of the cargo that was onboard the boat which is now rapidly slowing, starting to drift sideways from its original course.
"Errrr...", the girl's muffled voice comes from beneath her garbs again as she swivels the boat around in an attempt to get it back on course. The throttle's position is changed a few times, over the course of this, before finally being forced forward again. After that blast, her own engine was beginning to make worrisome noises... but that was hardly all...
Looking down, momentarily, upon feel a touch of wetness... Nagase sees water at her feet... and it's not splashed water from the crash. She appears to be taking on water slowly, detracting from her speed and threatening to sink her... eventually. She probably has ten minutes or so before the boat goes under, she estimates, at the rate it is filling.
"Damn it!", she curses... slamming a clenched fist into the the dashboard near the steerwheel so hard it cracks. "Oh fuck...! Just bend me over and--...!"
...And it's now that contemplates staying her course and hoping for another chance to pelt him, or just abandon ship. The clearance he has ahead gives significant weight to 'abandon ship'. But the activity onboard the speedboat ahead, however, puts a stop to that.
Those bursts of gunfire are distracting, forcing her to continue to swerve and reduce her velocity further - which did not help her situation at all being that she was taking on weight. It wasn't weight enough to slow her to a velocity beneath his own, but it was enough to keep the distance between them relatively constant. She flinches, several times, as the ringing of bullets against the boat's metal strikes near her proximity in several insstances. There is a long duration of time where she fails to assail him at all, due to everything. And this gives him ample time to get some of the cargo attached to his clothing and make it off the boat safely. The sight of him leaping from the craft gives her pause, as she speeds toward his vicinity... the girl attempting to decide whether to attempt to assail him oor stay her course and search his craft.
This time is precious, and she fails to make use of it... failing also to notice... his craft had now become an obstruction. And it is because of this that she PLOWS straight on into it... slamming into the boat so hard that she's thrown through the remnants of her windshield.
...And into the drink, where upon both craft EXPLODE violently and light up the night air of the harbor once more. ... And somewhere in the distance, comes the screaming sound of sirens cutting through the air. Has she failed, or has she succeeded? ... Perhaps she'll figure that out AFTER she gets the water out of her lungs!
Log created on 18:56:50 07/07/2013 by Nagase, and last modified on 02:46:26 07/08/2013.