A Bloodbath of Roses (Job/Diana)

-Lavantiir Port City-

The Midsummer Event in Sakuramori had been a pleasant change from the usual routine of sneaking into a city, then sneaking through the shadows to get into the right position to kill the target. Stiletto had attended the event with The Black Cat and Jericho and had won a challenging but entertaining ring toss game; her reward was an interesting mask that concealed her face and eyes and permitted her to defeat two fire mages and their young son without them seeing her real face. The trio had caught The Black Cat away from the event and were menacing her guildmate, but Stiletto had come to the rescue and knocked them all out without alerting the authorities to what was going on. While she and her guildmates had gotten away without incident and the newspapers had reported no criminal activity, the blonde would still avoid Sakuramori for a month or so to let the heat die down in case someone had made a report to Sakuramori police.

Dressed in her Support branch guild armor, Stiletto was back on the job and sneaking her way through Lavantiir Port City to meet up with some guildmates, but they were not ordinary guildmates. They were a pair of twins and their alias was "Indigo", but that was all Stiletto knew about them. The blonde was curious to see how Indigo went about this assignment.

Stiletto had not visited Lavantiir Port City since she had captured the mole on behalf of Richmond LTD, a client who suspected a mole in their ranks had been feeding sensitive company secrets to a rival company named J&G. What little heat there was had long since died down, so it was safe for her to return to the town for another job. Stiletto had opted to go ahead of Indigo to get into place early and to avoid police and mid-afternoon civilian foot traffic. In her considerable experience it was usually easier for guild operatives to sneak in individually instead of trying to slip in as a group.

Sneaking through the abundant shadows cast by rooftops and the close proximity of buildings, Stiletto slipped through the back alleys of Lavantiir without anyone noticing and searched for a place to call a temporary shelter. She would hole up in the shelter and wait for Indigo to arrive before doing anything else. Stiletto selected a dilapidated wooden hut in a back alley a short distance away from the port district and checked for occupants. To her relief it was empty, so the operative quietly shut the door and claimed it for herself, leaving no prints to trace her by.

-Inside the wooden hut-

Stiletto quickly noticed that the hut was unfit for human habitation. The wooden roof was full of dime-sized holes that let in what little sunlight reached the back alleys. The "furniture" consisting of a crudely made wooden table and equally crude wooden chair was almost eaten away by termites and beer bottles littered the grimy floor in the right corner of the small hut. There were no toilet facilities to speak of... Stiletto could only imagine how the occupants relieved themselves when nature called.

It was a place that only the most desperate of people would willingly call home, so it should avoid scrutiny. Stiletto would only be here until Indigo arrived and they went over the mission details. Once their meeting had been conducted the pair would move out and proceed with the mission, leaving the hut empty once again. Stiletto remained quiet and listened for any signs of Indigo.

[Post Word Count: 600]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 600/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 1,080/7,000]

Concealed inside the hut, Stiletto sat in silence to better hear her surroundings in case she was not quite as stealthy as she thought and had been discovered by either the Rune Knights, the local police, or a curious local who had tailed her with the hope of getting a reward for turning her in. As much as Stiletto wanted to avoid killing anyone who was not the target, she would kill to maintain secrecy and stealth. She thought she had heard the sound of footsteps and prepared in case she needed to silence someone permanently. Stiletto held her breath as the rickety wooden door opened... and in stepped two people in plain HB uniforms.

Stiletto had just met Indigo, the set of twins who were HB agents.

"Welcome, Indigo." Stiletto said calmly, her altered voice bearing no trace of emotion as she gave the greeting. She could tell that they were fairly new to the mage trade because of their weak magic signatures, but they had a little experience because their signature was not as weak as a novice's. Stiletto would do her best to make certain that they got through this job alive and that the job was completed. This would be Stiletto's first experience with any leadership position, official or unofficial.

"I have some knowledge of what we are here to do. As I understand it, we are here to resolve a hostage situation for our client." Stiletto explained her understanding of their task to Indigo.

"Some minor-league terror group has kidnapped the client's wife and is holding them for ransom. Our primary objective is to rescue the woman and ensure that they get to safety. We are to eliminate all the hostage takers. ALL of them. We are to leave none of them alive." Stiletto said to Indigo. It was a waste of time since they had likely been briefed as well, but just because she had a longer tenure did not make her infallible. Maybe they knew something she did not.

"If the woman dies, this mission is a failure. Our best option for getting to her before she is killed is to move with stealth and speed." Stiletto impressed upon them. They did not need reminding of what was at stake. They were members of the same organization she was and knew what they were doing. Stiletto had to find a way to dispense with empty words and form a plan.

"Before we make any moves, we need to scope out the area where the job will take place. I have not been there yet, so it will be new ground for me too." Stiletto admitted to the pair. She would have normally been on the scene scoping out the area before making her move, but on this occasion she was not working by herself. She had guildmates who were counting on her to provide solid leadership for the mission. Stiletto would have to lead them in the right direction and guide them so that the mission was a success.

"I would like for us to conduct reconnaissance before making the rescue. How should we go about this?" Stiletto asked Indigo. It was not like Stiletto absolutely needed Indigo to accomplish this mission since the former was experienced in infiltration, but working with guildmates made life a lot easier. The experienced mage would give working with newer members a shot before making a decision on taking any more jobs with partners.

[Post Word Count: 583]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 1,663/3,500]

Stiletto gave a small, unseen smile under her mask that was destined to never be seen by the twin agents. It seemed that Indigo favored an approach similar to her own, choosing stealth and speed over raw power. Stiletto chose to believe that the alignment of approaches was due to a genuine belief in the subtle approach's effectiveness instead of an attempt to curry favor with the stronger mage and listened to the pair speak about their intentions to infiltrate and gain knowledge that way. Stiletto was somewhat impressed with how far ahead they planned and the clarity of their intentions. Perhaps Indigo was a better infiltrator than Stiletto... the stronger mage tended to work alone and keep her distance from the target, preferring to eliminate them from afar instead of insinuating herself into their entourage and making the hit up close and personal.

Stiletto let them speak and was interested to hear that their intent was to kill a member of the hostage-taking group and take their place, then pose as said member to simply get a lay of the land before the trio re-united and made the big push to free the hostage. That was a rather good idea for conducting reconnaissance of the area. The veteran mage did not know the procedures of the group they would take down, but they had to have at least rudimentary security procedures in place to keep their hostage in and would-be rescuers out. Since Indigo professed themselves to be adept at infiltration and impersonation, she would give them a chance to prove their aptitude. But first she would speak to the pair when they asked about the purpose of their infiltration.

"You are correct, Indigo. We are simply going to get a lay of the land before we effect the liberation of the hostage." Stiletto confirmed what they had asked of her. It would be prudent to know where all the entrances, all the exits, and other crucial parts of the building were before the rescue because trying to learn them once the lead started flying was a terrible idea. They would need to get the hostage out alive and get her out quickly to avoid mission failure. The trio would have to come up with an exit plan, but first it was time to let the twins know of her intention to let them conduct the reconnaissance of the building.

"I will leave the reconnaissance to you, Indigo. You may use any means you deem necessary to accomplish your goal and I will support you if needed, but I suggest that you be mindful of our mission. We cannot afford to alert the captors before we are ready to make our move." Stiletto informed Indigo of the carte blanche they had just been given to gather information. Since her infiltration skills were only basic, she would let the more experienced agents take the lead and support them as necessary. Maybe the veteran mage was being too hands-off with her "subordinates", but what good would meddling in a field she had only a basic knowledge of do? It would be best to let them have enough leeway to make their own decisions.

"Once you two have gathered the information we need, I suggest that our next step is to come up with an exit plan for the hostage. The hostage must be rescued and taken to safety or this mission will fail." Stiletto suggested to them. They had likely already started formulating the rudiments of a plan, but she still suggested the formation of an exit plan if one had not been forming already. So far Stiletto had a favorable impression of Indigo's approach towards missions. It would be on the twins to prove that their approach was a good one and that the freedom they had been given was not a mistake on Stiletto's part.

[Post Word Count: 664]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 2,327/3,500]