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Hazy Shade of Winter; Sora Mizuiro && DarkAngel013
Topic Started: Jun 28 2009, 11:27 PM (1,863 Views)
Sora Mizuiro
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"Fine," she said flatly before snatching the papers off her desk and glaring proverbial holes into them. She supposed it was a slightly better alternative to be staring him in that infuriating pretty-boy face of his anyway. It wasn't as if Lorelei was oblivious enough not to notice the stares that had been coming in their directions for quite some time now, and she doubted it was because of Richardson. These women got the chance to stare him in the face every single day whether they liked it or not (and oh, trust her, did they like it), for goodness' sake. They weren't about to start swooning over him now of all times.

The mission this time was simply information retrieval and escort. Security around the city's borders had tightened over the past several weeks to the point of near suffocation, and it had made slipping through all but impossible unless one had the right connections. An agent had been sent out about a month prior to request financial backing, supplies and--if possible--military aid from several European countries. Response had been lacking, but Republic of Austria (one of Reaste's longtime trade partners and a country who had been crippled by the recent trade cutoffs) was agreeing to send over several specialized troops to help. Further aid would be sent if the results proved promising, but there had been no concrete decisions as of yet. Her and Jin's role in this would be to safely get the troops into the city without the government taking notice.

Well, that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe. But at least they were being given three day's advanced notice to start preparing for this.

"Hey, I'm Jin, pleasure to meet you." He stuck out his hand towards the male. "But of course, I'm sure you already knew that."

Arrogant as it sounded to even Lorelei's ears, she had to give Richardson credit for going along with it, sans snarky comments. He'd always been known for being a patient person. Patient, but firm; it was what made him a fitting second-in-command for the information department. God only knows what she would have said in his position. But Kyle himself just listened and nodded to the introduction, tossing what was left of the coffee-soaked paper into the disposal bin and reaching out his one clean hand to meet Jin's in a friendly handshake.

"Likewise, of course. I'm Kyle. Good luck putting up with her," he said, jokingly nodding towards Lorelei at the last comment. The blonde, in response, playfully smacked the mission papers at his head. Only playfully though, because she didn't like the idea of having her paycheck threatened. It wasn't as if he really meant it, anyway.
she won't make a sound
(( alone in this fight with herself ))
& the fears w h i s p e r i n g
if she stands, she'll fall down
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DarkAngel013
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"Likewise, of course. I'm Kyle. Good luck putting up with her," he said

A slight twitch of something in Jin's facial features flickered before it settled on something close to what may appear as a smile. He didn't reply when he mentioned on putting up with her. In a way, he supposed it was like an older brother being mean about his younger sister. Then he watched mildly when Lorelei smacked him playfully, clearing holding back on her annoyance with Kyle. Jin could only guess that she didn't want her paycheck threatened. Well, at least she seems to care about something... somewhat.

"Shall we get together and prepare or would you like to prepare on your own?" Jin asked. He raised an eye-brow, wondering mildly which one she would pick. He seemed to have ignored their little exchange of somewhat-kind-of-insulting each other. It didn't matter to him; not in the least.

(( uh... I had no idea what else to write. o___o;; ))
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Sora Mizuiro
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"I think I'll managed just fine on my own." Lorelei responded, absently fingering the edges of the mission documents as Kyle took his leave. Her eyes watched his retreating figure distractedly as the male headed elsewhere. Probably his office. The blonde tore her eyes away as she felt the slight sting on the tip of her index finger. Blood was beginning to blossom from the newly developed papercut before she could even fully comprehend the reason for the pain.

"Oh shoot." She sighed almost impatiently before bringing the finger to her lips. Several moments passed in preoccupied silence before she shifted her attention towards Jin again. Her manner seemed more brisk and impersonal now, for whatever the reason. "At any rate, we still have to look this over more thoroughly before even considering what to bring. I'll get back to you on this later once I get off work. That fine with you?" That last question seemed almost redundant, but she asked for politeness' sake nonetheless.

Her. Being polite to Jin.

...Huh.

(( Me neither. 8D;; You can initiate a time skip after this if you want. ))
she won't make a sound
(( alone in this fight with herself ))
& the fears w h i s p e r i n g
if she stands, she'll fall down
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DarkAngel013
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"I think I'll managed just fine on my own."

At that, he only merely nodded before turning his attention to something that caught his eye for a moment as he watched Kyle leave. Towards his office, probably, but Jin wouldn't know. People are more often a surprise more than anything else as to what they were doing. But then, his eyes turned sharply back to Lorelei when he saw that she cut herself on the paper.

Forming a wonderful bleeding papercut.

She seemed different, somewhat when she looked up at him again. It was as if she was more brisk and impersonal more than anything else. Surprising.

"At any rate, we still have to look this over more thoroughly before even considering what to bring. I'll get back to you on this later once I get off work. That fine with you?"

Strange. She was being polite. That never happened before as she was always more or less ruffled by his words or his actions. But today... it seemed different.

He only shrugged, "Sure, whatever you wish, my Princess." Although, he added that last bit quietly under his breath. He only wondered if she had heard it or not through her currently distracted state.

----

The next few days went by as if nothing happened since their encounter. Mildly, he wondered if he should have mentioned to her about the bitingly freezing weather. Or the windchill. Or the fact that it was going to be raining later.

Hmmm...

Nope, it never crossed his mind to tell her. He was probably going to have to pay for it later though with her glares, scowls, and who knows what else she will throw his way. But he only merely shrugged it off, knowing that she had probably prepared for this kind of weather anyway. Cocking his gun, he readied himself to move.

Lorelei and himself had planned that they would escort the group by a smaller number of their group. For example, like a group of sixty would be split down to six groups of ten; it would make passing through the borders easier. Jin had already gotten the "paperwork" for the groups should they caught trying to get through the borders. And they had done it in certain number of hours as to avoid even more of detection. It wasn't flawless, but it was good enough. It had been on Lorelei herself to get the information needed to get through. Other than the fact that the security checks over the border was near suffocating? it was going to be impossible to get them through the border... not unless they decided to dig a tunnel, in which case, will take too long.

(( I pretty much BS'ed that. ))

"Ready?" he asked quietly, glancing Lorelei's way before casting his eyes on the border. There was the small required number of people behind them, ready to move on their orders. Whoever they followed was the one who could make the swiftest decisions. Although how they could figure that out, Jin didn't know either.

it was a wonderful plan.

Seriously.

Not.

As Jin breathed, a small cloud of smoke came from his mouth, as if to show how cold it was...
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Sora Mizuiro
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At least she had a coat on this time.

And not one of those bulky bomber jackets either, but a sleek, black trench coat made with the finest in heat-insulating material (or so the label had read). Admittedly, it was doing a fine job in keeping the worst of the winter chill out of her system, but Lorelei's exposed face and ears were still all but begging for mercy. There was no helping that, unfortunately, but that was not about to stop the blonde from griping anyway.

"I'll be damn lucky if I don't lose my ears to frostbite before this is all over with" she growled under her breath, a vindictive glare set on the nearby checkpoint where several soldiers were patrolling the grounds, all armed with the latest in laser technology. One wrong move, and someone's head could literally be sliced right off. Not a pleasant image, really. But thankfully for Jin and her both, their little group of escortees (numbering fifteen in total, with eleven men and four women) were all professionally-trained soldiers who could easily fend for themselves--not to mention that all of them seemed to have managed to smuggle some sort of weapon along with them. Soldiers were paranoid like that, she supposed.

One of them, a surprisingly Asian-looking female, shifted in her crouching position to peer at the post as well before turning her gaze on Lorelei. "We can KO them only? Or can kill?" she queried in broken English. Before Lorelei could so much as register the question, one of the male soldiers let out a short laugh. This earned him a quick jab in the rib from the female, which he more or less ignored.

"Sorry, Han-Ah can't really speak English. She's good with Korean, German and Hungarian, but all the English she gets is from internet slang," he explained to a slightly bewildered Lorelei. The latter nodded. "I, ah...We would prefer no killing, if possible," Lorelei responded slowly, raising an eyebrow at Jin in particular before watching the other female for signs of comprehension. Han-Ah seemed to take this as an acceptable answer, settling back into her former position with a quick nod of understanding.

"Ready?"

"Just abo--" The rest of Lorelei's sentence was drowned out by the sudden screech and crash of one of the military's armored delivery trucks as it barreled through the chain link fence surrounding the perimeter and kept on going. Around them, alarms promptly started blaring, and soldiers promptly gave chase to the runaway vehicle. If this wasn't some God-given opportunity, Lorelei didn't know what it was.

Shaking herself out of the initial shock, she motioned for the soldiers to follow her through the checkpoint while it was still momentarily deserted. At least seven of them, including Han-Ah and the other male promptly followed along silently. One amongst them even had the foresight to shoot down the security camera while they made their way into the outskirts of the city. Out of the corner of her eye, Lorelei could see that the vehicle had stopped--but only because it had run headlong into the concrete wall of a half-constructed storehouses.

What in the world had that been all about?

The blonde rounded the corner and ducked her way into an apartment building entrance. Preparations had been made in advance for two of the apartments to be made available for the soldiers to stay in temporarily while The Organization prepared their quarters closer to the heart of the city. It had also been decided earlier that this would be the rendezvous point after Jin and her's initial split in the operation. The seven soldiers that had followed her filed in shortly after, some later than others. She had heard several telltale gunshots from outside, but Lorelei wouldn't ask about that just yet. So long as they made it without too much of a fuss.

She strode down the empty hallway, fishing from her pocket a set of keys before pausing in front of apartment 16B. "This apartment and the one next door will be your temporary quarters for now. You may split them however you want to--both stocked with food and other necessary provisions. We will have keys ready for you all later, when the other group arrives." Lorelei inserted the key and proceeded to turn it, only to find that the lock gave away far too easily. Almost as if someone had forgotten to lock it behind them. Which shouldn't have been possible, since Lorelei herself had been the last one to shut these doors. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, slipping her gun from its holster as she kicked the door open and pointed the weapon straight ahead. The room's only occupant was an unarmed female, who seemed not the slightest bit flustered to see a gun being pointed at her head.

"You owe me one, Lorelei. Hijacking military vehicles takes work, you know." The brunette known as the Intelligence Department's Wren Anderson grinned up at them smugly from her seat on the couch.

[ Just assigning the soldiers personalities as we go along. :'D -totally out of it- ]
she won't make a sound
(( alone in this fight with herself ))
& the fears w h i s p e r i n g
if she stands, she'll fall down
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DarkAngel013
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Jin only watched the exchange with the swiftest of glances, keeping most of his attention on the guards nearby. It seems like the entire group consists with many different kinds of people and it made Jin mildly curious as to what their talents could be, but decided against in trying to gauge them on their stature and the way they held their ground crouching.

Before he could register that Lorelei had said something, a screech disrupted his thoughts, causing him to instantly begin to realize that the plan was in action. Procedding with the plan was important and Lorelei's group went first.

He paused a moment after they rounded the corner before signaling for the rest of them to move in. He made sure that all of them got through first before he went on after them, making sure that their tracks were well covered as he went over and began to cover up their tracks. However, he heard several gunshots nearby and he ducked behind some cover.

Shit.

His eyes darted to where his group was, relieved that they made it.

That meant that he was the only left.

It was dark, and it was stormy with weather conditions that made it perfect to sneak around. The air was bitingly freezing, making most guards reconsider what they would be doing when they can be inside, warming themselves up. But, Jin noted, why had they just fired at him? Was it even at him?

He peeked a little bit over his cover, suddenly aware of the many guards nearby.

Oh. Damn.

He was screwed. He needed another sort of diversion if he was going to make it to their rendezvous point. If Lorelei hadn't noticed his disappearance yet, then they were screwed for the next part of their plan.

Not giving up, he aimed his gun carefully at a far away area of a can of gasoline. He took out his sniper rifle, and blending in with the surroundings, he fired, the silencer silencing it as the bullet went through and shot his target.

For what seemed like five long minutes, it seemed like he had missed. Deciding that his plan was a failure, he watched for a pattern among the guards that he could sneak around. Strapping the sniper rifle to his back, he prepared to move under the darkness of the night. He moved into the shadows and took the long way to their rendezvous point. It took him another ten minutes to get there, but he did, eventually, but by then, it was raining heavily in the bitter cold.

He shut the door behind him and headed to the room that he knew Lorelei was in. Realizing that she must of taken care of his group when they came in, he knocked on the door several times in a specific pattern before entering. He found himself between two females.

One was Lorelei, of course, and a female he didn't recognize for a moment until it clicked. Ah, it was the chatterbox of Lorelei's department that she worked at before this mission. Huh, ironic. Jin thought that they didn't really like talking to each other, but she had been desperate enough to have the female be put up with him for this mission. But regardless, their higher-ups didn't care about their feelings and still stuck him and Lorelei together.... all based off their performance from their last mission together.

"I wasn't aware we had help on this mission," Jin remarked as he sat down on a nearby chair, pulling off his jacket to reveal a black thermo shirt and dark camo pants. He also pulled off his sniper rifle to place it against the wall as he swiveled the back of the seat around so that he could rest his arms on it as he sat down. "This wasn't in the plans... Lorelei? Did you know about this?"
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Sora Mizuiro
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Lorelei looked up from the dining room table as Jin entered the apartment, giving him a slight what-took-you-so-long kind of look as she set down the gun she'd picked up as a precautionary measure and shifted in her seat to face the group as they walked through the door, soaking wet and past the appointed meeting time. Well, it wasn't as if she couldn't guess what might have happened. These sorts of missions depended more on opportunity than they did precise timing, anyway. And if nothing else, at least they'd all made it in one piece.

"Take your shoes off by the door," reminded Wren as she stuck her head out from inside the kitchen before resumed doing whatever it was that the female had set out to accomplish. Making us some food, she'd said. That had been about twenty minutes ago, but judging from the raucous clanking noises that were emanating from the corner of the apartment, Wren hadn't got much headway on that. Just how hard, Lorelei wondered absently as she stood, could it be to mess up instant noodles anyway?

At Jin's inquiry, she shook her head. The motion sent droplets of melted snow dripping from her blonde curls and onto her shirt. Lorelei made a face, twisting the hair up into a bun to keep it out of her face as she proceeded answered the question at hand. "There weren't any mentions of The Organization sending backup, but it's not unusual for agents to be assigned at the last minute. Apparently, there was the thought that more soldiers would be sent than the two of us could handle alone." The last part had been quoted from Wren herself and the statement, in Lorelei's opinion, made it sound as if they were chaperoning a class of grade-schoolers.

How quaint.

“That aside, a certain someone told me that I’d been requested specifically to help this time. And who was I to refuse?” chimed in the ever-perky brunette as she walked over to the dining room table, setting down a bowl of what Lorelei assumed was noodles (they only resembled strands if she squinted a bit) onto the dining room table where two of the soldiers had their arms locked in a hand wrestling match. Well, at least they were trying to entertain themselves. Most of the other escortees had shifted to random corners of the apartment, either exploring the place, keeping to themselves, or—from the looks of one of them—contacting family members (“I told you not to worry. Yes, I packed. No, I don’t know when my stuff is being sent over. You put what in my suitcase? But mom—“)

When Lorelei finally set her attentions back to Jin and Wren, the brunette had just held out her hand expectantly towards him. “Wren Andersen. I’ve heard about you, Mr. ah…Smith.” The corner of her lips quirked upwards into a secretive smile, leaving Lorelei to wonder just exactly how much the other female knew. Wren had a bit of a knack for coaxing information out of people, and that there was not one piece of office gossip that the girl had not heard before. To top it off, she wasn’t exactly beyond using the information in her arsenal for blackmail either. It was mostly the reason why people were averse to pairing up with her—who wanted to risk have their biggest secrets being leaked out to the whole world anyway? But personality aside, Lorelei had to admit that the brunette really did make for some pretty close to perfect espionage.
Edited by Sora Mizuiro, Feb 26 2010, 05:30 PM.
she won't make a sound
(( alone in this fight with herself ))
& the fears w h i s p e r i n g
if she stands, she'll fall down
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DarkAngel013
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Jin raised an eye-brow but took off his boots and then went back to sitting. From the sounds she was making in the kitchen, it sounded like she was trying to cook... but what on earth was she trying to cook?

He ran his fingers through the now melted ice-turned-into-water in his hair and ended up looking like he had just styled his hair with gel. It just made him look like he was going to model for something that involved water. When he saw that at the shake of her head, water fell down to her shoulders, the corner of his mouth twitched a smirk but it remained passive.

"There weren't any mentions of The Organization sending backup, but it's not unusual for agents to be assigned at the last minute. Apparently, there was the thought that more soldiers would be sent than the two of us could handle alone."

Jin resisted the urge to laugh. Really? The two of them really needing a "babysitter" for this kind of job? The very idea was very hilarious. Sure, she and him had their differences, but he couldn't help but agree that when they were together, their missions become so much easier; their partnership made things so much easier to execute and follow through.

"Yeah, apparently." He was amused that the Organization thought they needed some more help; but, "the more the merrier" as most would often put it. But he was interested in what Wren's abilities were. One of them seems to be a very slippery thief that can even steal a military truck and turn it into a distraction... without no one really driving, by the looks of it.

“That aside, a certain someone told me that I’d been requested specifically to help this time. And who was I to refuse?"

"Sounds like a busy-body," he commented dully. He wasn't very curious to know about this person nor did he really care. It's just a mission that had other people's lives on the line.

He glanced down at the bowl and raised an eye-brow. It looked like strands of something to a very failed attempt at making noodles. Really? For reals? This was the best she could cook? Well, he did commend her for trying, but these were such an easy thing to make... it looked like she almost didn't screw it up completely. Much.

“Wren Andersen. I’ve heard about you, Mr. ah…Smith.”

Again, he rose an eye-brow in question as to how she said his name. No one knew anything about him... no one. Whatever secrets she had discovered about him was probably very much false, judging from the expression on her face. Not even the higher ups knew his history, let alone his real name. Only one other person knew his real first name, but no one knew his name or past or anything else for that matter about him. The only thing was for sure was the skills he had so far and his name: Jin Smith.

Plastering on a fake smile that could deceive even Wren, the chatterbox and gossip seeker, he said, "The pleasure is all mine." He shook her hand roughly, as he often did with many people who wanted a handshake. Before she could even gauge anything from the handshake, he withdrew his hand. Truthfully, he trusted Lorelei more than he did with Wren; he didn't like her type, period. But... he had to give it to her to the truck distraction so that they could get in.

"So we're continuing with our plan or what?" he asked, glancing between the two females. "Now that Wren's here anyway."
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Sora Mizuiro
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"Reminds me of how the two of us ended up working together, actually," the blonde commented in afterthought as she watched the brief exchange of greetings between the other two agents. God forbid that the Organization begin to make this some sort of habit... Well at least Wren, with all chatterbox tendencies aside, she could handle. Given enough time, the female could grow to be likable even. She just hoped that all of this reassigning business wouldn't have to happen again; Lorelei didn't want to get into the habit of expecting outside help, especially not since she was used to working solo.

"So we're continuing with our plan or what?" he asked, glancing between the two females. "Now that Wren's here anyway."

"I wouldn't recommend it," the brunette said firmly, tapping some keys on a nearby laptop to bring the machine out of sleep mode. The screen flickered once, slowly emerging in full color to reveal several open windows. All of them were broadcasting live feeds from surrounding street cameras, from the looks of things. The snow had rendered the images staticky, but not so much that they couldn't pick up the numbers of armed soldiers now patrolling the area. Clearly, they'd been smarter than to believe that what had happened earlier was the result of a simple car malfunction. But with all the bullet holes now riddling the compound, Lorelei hadn't really expected them to.

"There isn't much we can be doing anyway, now that we've done our job of escorting them into the city limits. It would be nice if we'd had the time to clean up after ourselves, but the snow should cover for us well enough." As she continued to speak, Wren rummaged through her bag and pulled out a ring of keys, nearly identical to the ones that Lorelei were toying with in her hands. She looked about ready to remove them all from the metal ring that held them altogether, but then seemed to think better of it. Abruptly, the blonde tossed her set over into Jin's direction before she proceeded to pick up her coat from the sofa.

"Why don't you two get the room assignments done first? I'll be going out to get us some food." After all, it wasn't as if that unidentifiable mass sitting on the dining room table was edible.
she won't make a sound
(( alone in this fight with herself ))
& the fears w h i s p e r i n g
if she stands, she'll fall down
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DarkAngel013
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"Reminds me of how the two of us ended up working together, actually."

"Just a tad," Jin said with a shrug of his shoulders as he glanced over at the speaking blonde. "But if we get anymore people like this, I'm gonna hunt down the idiot who did this; it's already difficult as it is." He and Lorelei knew that they both worked alone better than together, but they were a perfect match in skill and prowess. Just adding Wren to the pile made it seem more constricted than before, and Jin wasn't sure why.

"I wouldn't recommend it. There isn't much we can be doing anyway, now that we've done our job of escorting them into the city limits. It would be nice if we'd had the time to clean up after ourselves, but the snow should cover for us well enough."

As Jin's eyes darted to the computer screen, he observed their surroundings and realized that she was right; they couldn't follow through the plan now... not especially with the guards doubled up and with random bullet holes everywhere in places where he might have hidden himself in. He only darkened his gaze when he realized that his hiding place had been shot at repeatedly. But he realized, hiding in the proper and correct position of that hiding place, he wouldn't have been shot at all. Well, they were already inside the city limits... all they had to do was await command from the Organization for further instructions... which might take awhile.

His eyes shot to the sounds of keys being picked up by Wren and noticed that Lorelei picked up her set and then tossed it to him. He caught it with ease as his hand raised up just enough to catch it above his head.

"Why don't you two get the room assignments done first? I'll be going out to get us some food."

Jin glanced back at the attempted ramen in the middle of the table and sighed as he turned toward her, "Be careful." He felt like it was obvious, but he couldn't help but say it... it was something he was used to saying to those leaving the compound or whatever place he was currently at.

When she left, he turned toward Wren, "You handle the women and I'll handle the men for their room assignments. You get that half and I'll get this half... Have fun." He said as he flashed a smile before turning on his heel to begin talking to the male soldiers. Some of them only grunted in response while others were polite enough to say something. (( I'm gonna assume here. )) He opened a door after another when each member finally settled in, four to a room. It wasn't crowded but it wasn't exactly spacious either. It was the perfect balance of the two for rather bulky men.

He met up with Wren when he finished back in the room he had first entered, "Done your assigning without a problem?"
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