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[Completed]High Altitude, High Return; Bug & Silv
Topic Started: Jan 6 2018, 05:29 PM (695 Views)
Bug in a Bag
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The barely audible rumble that escaped from Sable's stomach brought an amused smile to Spike's face, finding it infinitely humorous that his partner's digestive system was more honest than her words. "If you say so." he replied with a shrug, before folding the candy bar's open side of the wrapper closed. Simultaneously the hunter lowered his mask back over his mouth and slipped his leftover chocolate into a jacket pocket for safekeeping. He had a feeling if he asked Sable later if she wanted a bite she might not turn him down this time around.

After a brief peek to make sure the hallways was still clear, and a quick hand signal to his partner of his intent, Spike reentered the main corridor moving fast and low. The structure itself groaned lightly to a degree, just an understandable result of aged metal infrastructure and the storms above, but the pair's trek towards their target was utterly silent. Distant voices could be heard nearly echoing down the vacant corridors that intersected their corridor, yet investigation before crossing them yielded no targets.

The hunter was similarly cautious as he brought them to the stairs the guard had mentioned, only leading them down when no commotion could be heard resounding upward to them. Once they reached the bottom after descending a few flights, he checked his watch to see how they were doing on time; noting they were actually ahead of schedule, even with the necessary torture tacked on. The corridor beyond the stairwell was much darker than that above due to dimmer and fewer bulbs. The air also notably more frigid, thick frost actually having built up along the lower wall at point.

Thankfully, they wouldn't have to explore how far back this bleak expanse went, seeing as their destination was a few meters away on the left. Spike stacked up on one side of the door and listened carefully for activity within while Sable took the other, only slowly turning the doorknob when silent greeted them from within. The steel door opened slowly without a sound at first, then giving off a soft crunch when the ice around the hinges got crushed. The lighting inside was actually worse than even out in the hallways; however, it didn't take much clarity to see the silhouettes of crates stretch off into the distance.

Spike went into a pocket and withdrew two small flashlights, offering one to Sable and gesturing with his free hand to get his suggestion across; he'd go right, she'd go left. Only break radio silence if she found the package or trouble appeared, and vice versa.
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S1lverScorp1on5
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If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.

Sable followed Spike down the corridor, checking their backs every so often. Her footsteps made very little sound as they scurried down the hallway like mice evading a predator, which wasn't too far from the truth. She winced at the slight noise the hinges of the heavy door made, but it didn't appear any guards had been drawn to them by it. She accepted the proffered flashlight, and nodded her understanding, heading left down the long rows of crates.

It was quite a warehouse. Doubtless there was some good loot hidden in here as well, but that wasn't the job. They were only here for one package. 278456. The beam of light moved languorously over the many storage containers, but none of them matched their target. Slowing to a halt, Sable pondered over the crossroads in front of her. The high stacks of boxes split in two directions, left and right. There were three more rows to choose from in front of her, and it seemed none of them connected to Spike's side of the room. When in doubt...stay on the left. Turning, Sable continued down the leftmost path. There was a chance the rightmost would be available to Spike at some point, and the center would only confuse her sense of direction.

Just as she was going to proceed however, she heard the sound of many pairs of footsteps echoing into the warehouse-like room. "Alpha, we have company. Not sure how many." Sable whispered as quietly as she could before shutting off her flashlight. Spike probably knew, but if not he needed to be aware of the situation. The room had plunged into near total darkness, with only a dim bit of light streaming in from the entrance, over 100 meters away. A sense of calm and confidence pervaded her body as the footsteps echoed closer. This was her domain.

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Under his mask Spike had to smirk a bit as he and Sable parted ways to begin the search. He'd never forget that she was an assassin, and ultimately untrustworthy in the long run, but she was starting to grow on him. As backup went, she was certainly one of the best he'd worked with over the years. Her level of professionalism easily put her in the top five in his mind. The assassin thing was basically the only hangup that plagued this otherwise fruitful partnership. Pushing these thoughts aside, the hunter busied himself quickly scanning the ID labels on the innumerable containers around him.

Spike's hopes shot up when his flashlight's beam crossed over '2784-', only to bottom out when the next numbers in sequences turned out to be '72'. At the very least he seemed to be getting warmer, given several other containers in the area had the same three starting digits, but that seemed almost circumstantial judging by the significant number of objects that just looked squirreled away anywhere that had room to spare. Right next to a '278934' was a '540348' and such, to an almost worrying degree. Without a trend or a comprehensible filing system this search would take much longer than they could really afford.

As if on cue, Sable's familiar voice cut in right when he noticed new footsteps resounding in the cavernous storage space. "Acknowledged. Don't have a visual yet, but I will in a moment. Hold position, and stay out of sight. Do not engage unless seen." Spike whispered into his ear piece, then speedily scaled a tall stack of boxes that formed a catwalk of sorts running nearly the entire room Just from what he could hear, it was obvious these guys weren't making a routine patrol or dropping off a package. Their footfalls were fast, but also rather reserved in their overall movement, just like someone who wanted to catch an intruder and not die in the process from an ambush.

The hunter silently crept along the tops of these boxes, only dashing to avoid being caught under the direct rays of the low hanging lights on the ceiling. Getting a good visual confirmed his suspicions: these men were looking for someone, like him and Sable. "Alright, we have four guards sweeping the area, using classic two by two formations. I believe they discovered the bodies in the lounge. They're packing assault rifles." Spike rambled off, trying to provide just the right amount of info for this inevitable clash. At the very least, the base's red alert hadn't sounded.

"Provide some noise, see if you can draw two of them away. I'll handle the other pair. If all four seem bent on finding you, I'll make some counter noises to throw them off."
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S1lverScorp1on5
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If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.

"Roger that." Sable quickly and quietly swarmed up a stack of large crates leaning against the wall. At the top, there were a few very large crates tied down by rope. Sable considered what would happen if they found her, but her Zetsu didn't waver. Unsheathing her blade, Sable slashed through the rope holding the heavy crate to the top. Ever so slowly, it tipped over the edge of the stack, before crashing into the middle of the path Sable had been on with an extremely loud sound of impact and splintering wood. Sable was already in the air, having jumped to a lower stack of crates before sliding down to hide behind them from any eyes that had been drawn in her direction. She could just barely make out the outlines of the path with the dim light that was available.

Putting an ear to a crack between boxes, Sable listened to the footsteps. They'd split up into two pairs, with one heading towards the broken crate, and the other heading the opposite direction, presumably around Spike's area. Sable nodded in satisfaction. Slowly, she climbed up the crates, careful to check the directions of the footsteps so that no one would see her silhouetted atop the stacked boxes. She dropped into an adjacent path in the maze of boxes. There was a long, straight path to her left, and to her right, a split with a path leading back towards the doorway, but also deeper into the warehouse. Directly in front of her was another path that had a sort of zigzag pattern. She quickly slid into the shadows of the wall in the zigzag path as the footsteps neared. Breathing deeply, Sable slowed her heartbeat, until it was beating once every two seconds. Her body got very cold, and sweat broke out on her forehead.

The footsteps echoed from the path leading back towards the door, tense with worry. and fear of what might be lurking in the dark. They walked past Sable, inches away, without noticing her. Just as planned. Sable let her heartbeat resume its normal functions, feeling her body warm up again as oxygen was pumped through her veins. Taking careful steps, Sable ghosted behind the two men, who were glancing around frightfully. Taking a breath, Sable unsheathed her blade, the *snick* drawing the attention of the two men. The frontmost man turned around to see his companion with a blade protruding from his throat. Sweeping his rifle up, he aimed the flashlight to see what was going on, his breath catching with fear, only to have the gun wrenched from his hands. He staggered away, raising his fists, before realizing he felt something wet on his shirt. Looking down, he saw a fountain of blood pouring from a clean slash across his throat. The man fell to the ground, dead. Sable's boots made muffled noises on the concrete as she walked over to the man and wiped the blood and gore from her blade on his clothes. Withdrawing it into its sheath, she walked away from the pools of blood. Anyone would've thought she'd just picked up her take-out order. 278456, 278456... She perused the shelves as one would at a department store while the deep red liquid slowly spread further behind her.

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When Spike called for some distracting racket from his partner, he'd been thinking her response would've something small but noticeable. Scraping against wood, a coin bouncing down one of the paths, something subtle like that. Still, what he got instead wasn't exactly unwelcome, just a little rough on his nerves going from near silence to thunderous freight accident. Before his sudden spike in heart rate subsided, the hunter quickened his pace prowling from above in the shadows. Thankfully, the guards seemed more than enthused to hasten their own demise, splitting off just like he'd thought they would.

Spike made his way over to his prey with the grace of any skilled hunter, looming over them in silence as they searched in vain. The guards made a point to cover one another as they glanced around corners looking for targets or just moving from row to row, but he saw a decent opportunity to drop both near simultaneously whenever the first looked away from his partner to proceed. The gap would only be a few seconds, yet that seemed like ample time to dispatch them. Killing the pair wasn't an issue, so much as doing it without something as loud as a gunshot ringing throughout the facility if he flubbed the execution.

After waiting for the pair to turn a new corner, Spike let himself down from the crates where they'd been previously, not allowing his thickly treaded snow boots to give his position away so soon. Within a few silent strides he rounded the corner into the new squared off area, closing in on the second guard from behind. When the first man rounded a new corridor in the drawn out search, his backup was suddenly seized by a pair of strong hands around the neck, ironically not even noticing the muted crunch of fracturing vertebrae in his attempt at paying attention. The overzealous guard would still not bring himself to wonder about the fate of the man who'd been searching alongside him, even in the fleeting moment between the rifle butt caving in the back half of his skull and the swift journey from standing to being face-down.

"Got my two. Hit the broadcast button twice if you still need to dispose of yours and can't talk." the hunter whispered into his mic, cradling the borrowed rifle in his arms and waiting to see if another blow would prove necessary to ease this last poor bastard's suffering. Spike was rather relieved to see the guard's twitching come to an end as the blood pooling under his head reached the size of a dinner plate and continued to grow. Maybe as an excuse to give Sable more time, he idly picked away a few strands of matted hair cemented to the stock with gore, also making a point to engage the safety before setting it aside.

In a streak of uncharacteristically opportune luck, doing a double take on the pallet of smaller boxes he leaned the rifle against revealed more serial #'s beginning with 2784; including the coveted 278456. "I found it." the hunter stated across the airwaves, almost in disbelief, leaving his finger on the broadcast button perhaps a moment too long. "Rendezvous at the entrance. We got what we came for." Spike added, in a smoother cadence this time, moving closer in an attempt to slide the package from between two of its brethren.
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S1lverScorp1on5
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If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.

Spike's voice shattered the silence, confirming two more dead bodies in the warehouse. Perfect. Sable hadn't expected him to need her help, and she was glad to be proven right. She hadn't confirmed her kills earlier to him in order to let him concentrate, but it seemed the danger had passed. "I've taken care of my two over here." Sable continued on the hunt for the elusive package, but none of them seemed to fit. She was starting to feel quite annoyed at the slow, but necessary trawl through the warehouse when Spike's voice broke the silence again. "I found it. Rendezvous at the entrance. We got what we came for."

"Roger that." Though unspoken, Sable thanked Spike mentally for breaking the monotonous search. She hated wasting her time. Turning back towards the entrance, Sable strolled through the rows of boxes, her breath misting in front of her. There was little to no insulation in this huge warehouse, and the walls were basically made of ice. Only the heavy clothes protected her from the chill, though her face wasn't so fortunate. The biting cold stung, but it was hardly something she was unaccustomed to. The dim light of the hallway was starting to penetrate the darkness, so Sable clicked off her flashlight in case there were more adversaries waiting at the entrance.

Emerging from the initial split, Sable took a careful look around, confirming the lack of any hostile presences. She leaned against the wall next to the doorway and folded her arms, waiting patiently for Spike to arrive as well, and reflecting on the mission so far. It had been a simpler job than expected, but that was largely in part due to Spike's knowledge and skills. Had she been paired up with someone else, Sable suspected it wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly. So, at the end of the day, a true professional. Perhaps when the mission was over, she should figure out some way to contact him in the future. His assistance had the potential to be a valuable asset, and he didn't seem to mind working with her.

Spike's quiet footsteps registered, and Sable waited for him to emerge from around the corner. She was content to continue to follow his lead, as all that was left was their escape plan. Personally, she believed their best bet was the airship that had landed earlier. They couldn't go back to the temporary camp, as most of their heavy climbing equipment was buried there underneath the snows. Thus, an alternative mode of escape was needed, and the airship fit the bill.
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Unlike the wooden freight boxes that dominated the room, the package and the rest in the stack were black polymer cases with a metal clasp on each side, minus the hinge for the lid. A label cautioning that the contents was extremely cold really stuck out as he freed it, as well as how strangely light the container was for undoubtedly being insulated and carrying material to keep the temperature frigid inside. Spike unslung his bag in one smooth motion, the zipper rustling as he opened it wide to accommodate their new cargo until they got it back to Bright.

The hunter leaped up to land on top of a tall stack of frighten once more upon securing the package, then broke into a sprint across the paths at this elevation, clearing chasms and dodging ceiling lights on the way towards the entrance. He'd allowed himself the luxury of sacrificing near silent for speed, letting his footsteps lightly resound as he ran, but stuck a muffled landing as he jumped down to meet Sable again at the doorway. Spike only paused to flash a quick thumbs up before easing back into the hallway, ducking low to check one direction then the other before completely crossing the threshold.

Halfway between the room they'd just vacated and the stairs, he paused to check his watch, then added a little more speed to his stealthy gait. Having to kill those guards shaved off minutes they really hadn't had to spare. The longer they were there then the more likely someone would notice a patrol failing to check in, or those other guys taking a really long time on their break.

Thankfully, the trek up the stairs was uneventful, although from the top one could hear chatter in the distance down the hallway towards the lounge, followed by loud footsteps. It wasn't hard to hear two distinct people heading their way, one running in front and the other trailing behind maybe a few steps at a slower pace. Spike glance back at Sable and nodded, just to make sure she knew they were in for another hopefully simple skirmish. "After these two, run for the hangar." he whispered into the radio as he saddled up along the corner separating the stairs from the corridor, his words nearly drowned out by the pair barreling down on them just out of sight.

"...I'm telling you, they've been too quiet. We should've heard something by n- AH, SHIT." the lead guard said to his partner at a dead run, trying to explain his so-called "rash" actions, only to find an outstretched foot in his path as he rounded the corner, the trip sending him headfirst down the stairs towards a raven maned woman. "Ugh, Jaz, we're gonna get fired ov- JAZ, JA-* ACK!" the slower of the pair stated, pointing out the overarching reason for not breaking protocol, instantly shifting his plead to shock and concern, at the harrowing sound of his friend taking a header down the stairs.

Sadly, the cries directed at his partner would be silenced by a crushed windpipe, after he turned the corner himself and was struck in the throat. Spike held the man in a headlock to prevent much thrashing as asphyxiation ran its course, soon leaving him with just a fresh corpse in his arms.
Edited by Bug in a Bag, May 25 2018, 01:13 AM.
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S1lverScorp1on5
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If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.

Spike's entrance from the top of the crates was a bit surprising, and fast. Sable nodded as a response to his thumbs up, freeing herself from her position leaning against the wall, and hurrying after Spike. As they retraced their steps through the facility, Sable's gaze drifted to Spike's bag. She'd never gotten to see the package, and though she shouldn't care, she was curious about it. Perhaps she'd ask Spike when this was over if she could see it. She suppressed a gasp of pain as her left arm started burning up. She grabbed it with her right hand, gritting her teeth. I guess luck couldn't hold this whole time.

Sable's gait slowed a little bit, but she still kept up with Spike. At the sound of footsteps from above, Sable halted with Spike, the pain in her arm reducing to a dull throb. She let go, giving out a little sigh of relief. She nodded at Spike's statement, and waited at the bottom of the stairs while he headed further up. She could guess at his plan, and that it would involve sending one of the guards tumbling down. Sure enough, Spike's foot did just that, as the unfortunate soul banged and bruised himself on his headfirst journey down the steps.

His final roll ended with him on his back, groaning. These bruises hurt like hell. I'm gonna get the fucker who did this... His thoughts were cut short as Sable's foot came down onto his throat with enough force to break his neck. The snap echoed through the hallway, signaling another life taken. Stepping away, Sable looked further up the stairs at Spike, who had also taken out his target. Leaving the body where it was - there was no point in hiding it - Sable walked up the stairs toward Spike. "Nice kill." She let the quiet words awkwardly escape her mouth. She wasn't used to giving compliments, but she felt it was warranted here.
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"Thanks." Spike whispered in reply with his back turned, gently lowering the corpse down with care not to make a sound above a negligible rustle of fabric. Sable had already grown on him a considerable amount already, but that compliment of hers was very telling. Behind the typical horrid assassin persona, she at least had the capacity for healthy interactions with others; or at the very least an appreciation for quality wetwork, the hunter was fine with either likelihood. Potential admiration didn't equal not willing to stab him in the back for a paycheck, so their business relationship would stay far from elevating to even acquaintances for the time being.

True to his instructions, Spike didn't return to stealthy making their way out of the facility; instead bolting down the corridor at full speed, loud footfalls be damned. However, by the end of the hallway a loud droning wail drowned out even that, indicating the airship had fired up its rotors to full power. The sight of the vessel beginning to slowly lurk forward towards the open doors when they burst out the bay once more was a disturbing one; in fact, being a cruel indicator that the hunter's timing was at least a little off for the third act of this mission.

Spike rocketed down the catwalk parallel to the rapidly accelerating airship, losing his advantage by the second. His original intention was to sneak them aboard the loading ramp that'd been deployed earlier, yet that was obviously impossible at this point, so he'd settle for what he could get. He and Sable's exit seemed to go unnoticed overall by the hanger crew and other staff, except for a single guard on another catwalk that branched off perpendicularly to their current one, but he was sent tumbling to his death a few seconds later with a shove by Spike in passing. This new pathway connected the two that ran along the length of the hanger, and most importantly was directly in the airship's wake.

There really wasn't much time to think about how to approach this, both because the vessel's undercarriage was passing directly over head and the guard's messy landing had finally alerted people to their presence. Spike squatted down for a moment, while gathering one hundred percent of his aura down to his legs, then launched himself up vertically like earlier with the bay doors. His disguised visage appeared as a glossy reflection in a window when he reached optimum altitude, making for an amusing sight as his fist shot forward to shatter it. Unfortunately, getting a grip also meant getting a palm full of jagged glass shards as he latched onto the windowsill.

Between battling the pain of having his flesh slowly lacerated and cautiously pulling himself up to peer into the room beyond, Spike didn't look down to see how Sable was faring, but held out his free hand low if she needed another grab point besides his legs or a window of her own.
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S1lverScorp1on5
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If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.

Sable gave a brusque nod in response to his thanks, and followed Spike as their steps echoed through the hallway. Her own feet added to the racket caused by his, resulting in a considerable uproar as they sacrificed stealth for speed. The sound of propellers was what she caught first, though just barely over their footsteps. Emerging into the hangar, Sable quickly realized that theirs would not be a stealthy getaway. The airship was already leaving, and they had little time to act. Sable kept neck and neck with Spike, not slowing as he sent the guard falling to his death. Glancing around, she took note of the guards who had noticed their presence at last. That was problematic.

The catwalk shook as Spike leaped into the air, and shattered glass rained down as he secured his position. Sable imitated his earlier gesture, crouching as she focused all of her aura into her legs. She pushed off, flying up towards the airship, but knowing she would come up short. She quickly moved her aura using Ryuu into her right hand, reaching out as far as she could, and just managing to grasp Spike's ankle, the aura focused in her hand giving her extra grip. Dangling, Sable redistributed her aura back into Ten, and swung around to check the position of the guards who had spotted them. A flurry of flashes and loud bangs resulted in a hail of bullets flying around them, one brushing her hair. Sucking in her breath, Sable flared her aura out into a defensive Ken. Reaching up, she wrapped a hand around Spike's waist, trusting that he could take her weight.

From there, Sable jumped to a window next to Spike's, unsheathing her blade while she was in the air. The steel smashed through the window, and Sable with it, ending with a roll into the interior. A single guard had turned at Spike's initial glass-breaking, and had pulled his gun out by now, and was pointing it directly at her. Swiftly, Sable broke into a sprint right at him, but saw his finger creak on the trigger. As if in slow motion, Sable looked at where he was pointing the gun, straight at her chest. In the moments before the man pulled the trigger, Sable focused all of her remaining aura into a small patch of Ko on her chest, keeping the aura dense.

The bullet rocketed out, smashing into the defense Sable had prepared for it, and cracking two of her ribs. But she was alive. Stumbling, the second bullet passed over her head, and the guard never got the chance to fire a third as her blade sliced his hands clean off, the gun dropping to the ground with them. The man screamed, falling backwards, but Sable grabbed his arm, not letting him fall. She promptly shoved her blade through his head, twisting it so as to not get it stuck. His eyes instantly rolled back, and Sable coughed, blood trickling from her mouth as she withdrew her blade. Those ribs would need medical attention, but it could wait. Securing their exit was more important. "All...clear...in here." The words came in pained gasps as Sable spoke, assuming Spike had made his way into the airship by then.
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