Fast and Furious~

Artemis had reviewed the job thoroughly before assigning which agents he wanted working with him. It was another task involving 'Lacri-Cars', after sabotaging the Engine Showing. It seemed that they had gone ahead and developed a new engine, even better and more efficient than the C59x Torpedo. This engine was The C60 Stormbreaker and rumours were that it had the potential to break the speed record for all Lacrima Vehicles. Their client did not want this to happen, at least not without knowing what it was that made this vehicle so promising in the first place. So after going through their dummy factions, set up bay Hidden Blades. The guild had been recruited to steal the engine, following which Blanche would have it delivered to the client anonymously.

It seemed simple enough, but there was more to it than that. Because for one this job needed a team of individuals, he could have done it on his own. But the risk would be greater and it would definitely lower the likelihood of success. But who to choose, he could do the job with Troubadour and the Shark again. But then again that hadn't gone so well, Troubadour had a way of getting under your skin and although Artemis was growing a little accustomed to him. He doubted The Shark would be keen to work with him again so soon, there had definitely been a little tension there. He could take Deleronark, but it also occurred to the Guild Master that he really should attempt to get to know some of the guildmembers he was less familiar with. So after going through the list, he had managed to settle on two.

The first being, Stiletto, one of the newer members who came along to the mass recruiting. Although Artemis hadn't interacted with her much, from the reports he was getting back. The feats of work the woman was completing for the company was tremendous. She was efficient and hardworking. He was keen to see her work in person, to figure out what drove her. The second was a more myserious individual, the woman, Esper, who had quite confidently exposed her read to her guildmaster for a stamping. He wanted to see what she was capable of to. It was in a way a test for himself. For one he was going to be working with two attractive women, so he would have to restrain his urge to flirt. This had to be strictly professional...for the most part.

He waited in the alleyway he'd ordered Blanche to tell them. It wasn't fair from the Lacri-cards headquarters, which would mean they could get straight into it, once the party was together. He was wearing his full armour at currently, a version of the Unclassified armour, only painted red and black. Allowing him to blend into the shadows slightly in case anyone passed by the allyeway peeked in. He also had the ring of concealment on just in case, ready in case he would need a disguise for the job ahead. Afterall, they most definately could not get caught.

Art's WC: 507  | Thread WC: 507 / 7,000

Artemis heard the steps towards the opening of the Alleyway and glanced over to the first agent to join him. He heard her spoke, her voice disguiser altering her tone. She seemed rather displeased by the way it made her sound, causing him to smirk under her mask. This had to be Esper. She would continued on to mention her feelings about the uniform, saying that it was sexy but alas an inconvenience. He resisted the urge to chuckle at her remark, he had to be serious afterall. Even though it was a relief to be working with someone a little more easy-going in nature. "A tragedy indeed." He replied, unable to hide the hint of amusement in his tone. She would make an offhanded comment about being fond of eyes, although he decided not to comment on that one. He cleared his throat, before replying to her question. "Stiletto will be joining us shortly."

It wasn't long after that that she arrived, also donned in the armour assigned by the guild. She would apologize for arriving late. "It's quite alright," He commented, she wasn't really late. He pushed himself off the wall, turning towards the two women as he addressed them both. "Blanche should have given you a break down of the job, but the sake of the mission I'll reiterate. Lacri-cars are in possession of an engine titled the C60 Stormbreaker, our client wants it. We're going to need to break into the headquarters, locate the engine room and nab the engine." He reached for his belt, pulling out the burner iLac, he pressed a few buttons on the screen. Turning it towards the woman, the screen would display a snapshot of the engine, so they would know what they were looking for. "Stealth is going to be our friend here, and we may need disguises if we run into any personnel." He turned the screen back to himself, swiping once more, he turned it again only this time it displayed two images of Lacri-Cars personnel. Women who worked at the company who just so happened to be off tonight, one of which listed under the name Elena Ridgewell, a data administrator in the company and the other a Lisa Garus, one of the technology engineering specialist. Elena was a young blonde, with freckles who wore her hair in a high ponytail. Lisa was a redhead cut in a sharp bob and bright green eyes.

"You may choose which woman you wish to impersonate. Do you have your 'Rings of concealment'?"He would ask them both, although he had spared on his person if they didn't. His silver band sat on his middle finger, ready to be used if needed. A nifty little gadget, even if it was redundant for certain members. Troubadour certainly didn't need it. But not everyone was gifted in that skillset of being able to create illusions over their armour. In fact, it had been the quirky little fellow that had been the inspiration for its creation. Not that Artemis would give him the credit, the boy didn't need his ego inflated any more than it already had.

WC: 524 | Art's Total: 1031  | Thread WC: 1963 / 7,000

As he showed the girls the engine, Esper made another remark, referencing the engine and its size. Despite the playfulness in which she said it, she made a point; it would be heavy. Although, he could probably manage it, especially if he let Morte take over a little. "I have the means, but the likelihood is we'll need to get to a vehicle as quickly as we can. If need be Blanche can send a car over at our request, but we'll have to play it by ear. It really depends on if we can manage this without getting noticed. I should imagine the engine is going to be well guarded."

As the two girls transformed, Artemis would nod, satisfied. Once again Esper would make a playful comment, asking her boss how she looked. Normally, he might have offered her a more playful answer, but they were about to start the mission and he knew he had to show them it was time to be serious. "Convincing enough," Artemis would activate his own rings ability, over his uniform an illusion forming. He was slightly taller than he normally appeared, a man in his late twenties, with dark brown hair that was about an inch in length, styled with gel. He had blue eyes and wore a tailored grey suit. "From now on you'll know me as Trent Clarkson, one of the Lacri-cars executives in charge of overseeing the engine's debut. Now, remember, try not to behave in such a way that might draw to much attention to ourselves. We may look like these employees, but it'll be difficult to mimic their personalities. However, we can speculate that if Lisa and Elena were charged with escorted an executive, that they would behave with strict professionalism." The last part was aimed at Esper, eyeing the unbuttoned blouse in a pointed manner. He pulled out several entry cards, created by the Support division. With the information gathered from the Intelligence department, they had managed to gain access passes into the building, with class A level access. Which from the intel the Intelligence division had gathered, would be enough to give full access to all of the buildings departments.

He would check his burner lac once more, before putting it away. "Right, time to move." With that he would stride past the ladies, expecting them to follow after him. Moving out of the alleyway, they would begin to walk towards the Lacri-Cars office building. Moving at a steady pace so as to not draw attention, after a short while, they reached the building. It was a large building, several stories in height, the kind of high-end office building you expected to find in the city. With glass windows, looking in on office workers. It was fairly late in the evening, meaning that the majority of the employees would have gone home, save of a few late workers and security. It was ideal this way, they were less likely to run into any interference this way.

The front entrance was made up of a revolving glass door, Artemis stepped up to it, waiting for the other girls to move into the same sector of the doors, before continuing forward into the main entrance. It was as suave and stylish as he'd expected. With its black marble flooring and cream walls, decorating with pictures and paintings of Lacri-cars and their history. He approached the desk, striding past it with the air of confidence that would be carried by an executive, he would reach the metal barriers in place to the left side of the reception. Swiping his entry card across the scanner. There would be a pause, a pause that dragged on a little longer than the Chairman would have liked. Then there was a beep and a light on the barrier went green, opening up for him. He strode on through to the other side. Taking a few steps, before stopping to wait for the girls.

WC: 662 | Art's Total: 1,693 | Thread WC: 3,842 / 7,000

Artemis made the decision not to respond to Esper little comment about his appearance, instead, he would set about on leading them to their destination. Trying his best to look as though he was familiar with the place, as though he was meant to be there. He had already taken a look at the floorplan of the building and had a good idea where he was going. Although he did have a copy saved to the Burner iLac if need be. The girls followed along dutifully, doing their part to appear as though they were accompanying him through the building, towards whatever arrange meeting had been organised. Everything seemed to be going well, they move further into the facility without interruption, from the gist of it. People seemed to be a little intimidated by Trent's position. Having one of the companies executives wandering past seemed to arrange, the look down and avoid eye contact kind of reaction. Something that worked in Arty's favour as he held the mans head high, trying to mimic the air of importance that he's own father seem to wear when he strode through Dagger Corp.

However their undisturbed stroll through the Lacri-Cars office building would obviously reach it's peak. As Lisa, the engineering specialist Esper was impersonating, would be approached by a man. Apologising to Artemis, whose expression turned quickly sour as he stared down the young man. His demonically enhanced nose could practically smell the mans intentions, the scent of arousal and pheromones that exuded from his pores. Artemis would glanced at 'Lisa' who made the decision to handle the fellow herself. She excused herself from the group, wandering off the man. Artemis gritted his teeth, his fist slightly clenched. This was not part of the plan, he could only hope that Esper know what she was doing, the two would continue on. Although Artemis would move a little more slowly, so as to give Esper some time should she need to catch up. Further along, he would stop, "We'll wait here a few minutes." He said, pulling out his phone, he would be pretending to look through as though Trent was looking for something to show Elena.

A short time passed, and Esper returned, her expression quite smug as she declared she'd done her job. The smell of sex lingering on her body, not to mention her clothes was still very dishevelled. "Give me strength~" He mumbled under his breath, reaching up to rub his temples. She'd only gone and seduced him, and all the while it was a good means of distraction. What would happen when the real Lisa returned to work and that man mentioned it to her. Well, maybe it wouldn't matter, after all if it was a secretive rendezvous with no witnesses. At the very least they're cover was blown, but it was still a risky move. It also told him that Esper would literally do anything to ensure the success of the mission, either that or she just really wanted to sleep with him, perhaps both. "Let's move on quickly, fix yourself up on the way. He instructed, turning to continue through the building. He would stride with a little more purpose, giving off a vibe that the next person that tried to interrupt the group would earn themselves a serious bollocking. It seemed to work because finally, they arrived at the engine lab. Artemis swiped the pass, which would allow him to enter, he noticed a guard standing at the door. He would show his pass. The guard nodded, to allow him through but would go to stop the girls. "They're with me." He ordered sharply, the guard looked at him, an uncertain look on his face as he considered the ramifications of doing his job or pissing off his superior. With Trent's face, Art would narrow his gaze dangerously at the man, which seemed to do the trick as he nodded and let them through. As the doors shut behind them, Artemis would look around. As intelligence had learned, this was the point the laboratory remained undisturbed. So as luck would have it, the Laboratory was empty.

"One of you keep guard, one of you locate the emergency exit, see if you can find a trolley of sorts, something to wheel the thing along with." He instructed moving throughout the laboratory. His eyes fell on the engine Artemis didn't know a great deal about engines, but he could tell this one was exquisite. The intricate design and the mechanical structure, it was clear that a lot of work had gone into perfecting it. It was currently locked away in a glass box, he eyed the keyhole to the side of one of the panels. Fortunately, it was a security panel of sorts but something a little more old fashioned and easier to work with. Perhaps they didn't think anyone would actually have the audacity to attempt stealing it. "Either of you good at lock-picking?" He would ask, figuring that would be the best option.

WC: 840 | Art's Total: 2,533  | Thread WC: 5,882 / 7,000

As Artemis looked over the lock, Esper would remark that she wasn't able to help with that in particular. Instead, she seemed to follow his other instruction and was searching for an exit for them to use. It seemed that instead Stiletto would attempt to handle the lock, which was ideal. The only other way Artemis could see himself getting to the engine would have been to smash the glass, and that would have definitely set off the alarms. Artemis moved away, watching the entrance to the lab carefully as the blonde got to work. Focusing on his senses to determine whether anyone was approaching, there would be those who walked past the laboratory. But no one actually moved to enter it. He would nod as the woman behind him informed him that the alarms were disabled. This was good, he glanced over as Esper returned with a cart, listening as she explained what she'd found. An ever so slight smirk crept onto his lips for a moment, he would reach for his burner and send a quick coded message to Blanche.

Once Stilletto confirmed the lock was dealt with, Artemis moved in, opening the door of the glass container holding the engine. He would eye it for a moment, it didn't appear to be fastened down. "Be prepared to move, once this is on the trolley, we make for the exit." He instructed before reaching down. Wrapping his arms around the hunk of metal, his hands would find a point to grip before slowly lifting the engine off of the metal counter. He gritted his teeth slightly if it hadn't been for Morte's fusion with his body giving him extra strength, there would have been no way he would have been able to lift the thing on his own. He would stiffly carry the thing over to the cart that Esper had brought over, before lowering the engine down gently. Once it was on, he would quickly lead them towards the emergency exit. Once there we out of the building,  the arrived a the loading docks where a black van with tinted windows pulled up. The back of the truck open and an operative in unclassified armour opened the door. The engine was quickly hoisted into the van and the members of Hidden Blades would disappear into the night, along with the C60 Stormbreaker.

END OF THREAD

WC: 395 | Art's Total: 2,928  | Thread WC: 7,319 / 7,000