Assassination: Polition

Riana Maren

The Assassination

Riana had been given a simple task, as far as she was concerned; the manipulation of political machinations was very much in the realm of Errings Rising's modus operandi, and Riana was sufficiently pleased to assist with a mission that would be particularly stringently difficult with the execution of her particular set of skills that would inevitably allow her and her allies to perform the roles that they were given. To stop the impetus of the law, especially when the lawmaker in question was inherently corrupt and making decisions that were considered in poor taste and bad faith, was perfect for her mission. Yes, this would in fact do nicely. When finally unchained and allowed to give riise to her full power, Riana was a destructive force in her own right - but her skillset, assisted and honed by the professional warrior and assassin Killua, would be a beautiful execution. After all, Kil had been the perfect wielder of electricity in his own right, and had shown her many things that she had learned, and then taken to adapt into her own set of equipment when it came to the execution of humanity. She looked forward to deploying these changes and, as a result, she was eager to test them in live combat. Once she would have dreaded such a thing - but now the bloodlust was very much real. Fighting eldritch horrors did that to you, after all.

To that end, Riana had been instructed to meet her fellow guildmate in the library of Crocus, where further operational necessities could be discussed. She found herself at home here, and when her fellow guildmate found the red-headed and lithe scientist, she would be easily spotted; her outfit, with black knee-length twin-tailed cape, leather bustier and thigh-high boots, all gilt with gold, as well as silk and lace, was simultaneously both a whimsical decision and entirely a nod to her disdain for societal norms. In her hands, as her shining sapphire eyes studied what was before her, was a scientific journal, which detailed a number of Pergrandian advancements in the medical field, which she was electing to study for future use - likely, for some form of torture, knowing her.  

"Saint Olga, is it? Very well," commented the scientist quietly, with only a hint of disdain in her voice. Many in her guild styled themselve so oddly - saints and queens and goddesses all, so this was nothing out of the ordinary for her in the least. The White Queen herself, for one, and the master kidnapper Medeia - all of them wielded immeasurable power, and it inevitably had to be a result of the mental corruption that followed. This one likely followed suit. She refused to give most of it the time of day, yet here she was, doing so yet again. "My name is Riana Maren. Riana is sufficient. I bear titles but I care not for societal shackles."

There was a precise, clipped measure to all of her works - and only a very slight tinge of a Pergrandian accent behind it. She had trained hard to bury that particular part of the past.

"Sit," was the one-word command, given such that Saint Olga would be bade to take a seat on the opposite end of the golden oak table, varnished and shining under the light above the desk. Once she did so, Riana set down her book, and steepled her fingers in front of her. The cold ice in the stare that followed was hollow - like there was little there in the soul of the redhead, the trope be damned.

"Explain to me your particular skillset so that I may formulate a strategy. What do you bring to this operation?"

Riana Maren

The Assassination

"We share parts of a similar skillset, in that case," Riana commented. "I, too, am proficient in summoning magic - however, I would be unable to demonstrate precisely what it is that I am able to summon for you. You may see a taste of it before the end of the day, but on this particular task I would not be sure. I daresay my ability to summon would be very easy to detect and ruin any chance would have at surprise." An unfortunate truth, but when you have the capability of summoning multiple combat mechs, it was entirely true. They were loud and clunky and would draw too much attention. The drones would be the primary star of the show here, particularly her sensor drone; a constant, real-time map of the area would be an invaluable tool that Riana would make unlimited use of.

She listened and drank in all the words that were given to her, to which her eyes cast down to the tips of her fingers while they were clasped together. She had yet to move - in some ways, it seemed that she was yet to even breathe. Human exigence was, in many ways, lost to Riana by this point, and she would not deny the fact that she preferred this method and this mannerism. This was enough to unnerve most people, but the more experienced members of the guild were used to the way she was. In their own ways, they were all particularly peculiar and Riana was no exception to this. "To be utterly frank, I would be more than sufficient to handle this operation on my own. My skillset allows me to move almost completely undetected to human, magical and technological senses. Couple this ability with long-ranged silenced weaponry and I would be able to eliminate the target without detection. However, this is not my task and I am here to provide support, which is precisely what I shall do."

One finger raised from the lock that she had entered into and, in a moment, a small earpiece appeared on the desk in front of Saint Olga. This was a device that closely resembled the colour of her skin, and was simply designed to be pressed into the ear so that Riana could use a multitude of means to communicate with her companion. She and Killua routinely employed this method for their extended missions to great success, so replicating this feat was not an overly difficult ask at this point. The redhead gave a gentle nod to the device, indicating that the devilish mage should take it for her use.

"This communication device, should you have not used one in the past, rests inside the ear and will allow us to communicate at a distance. My role will, therefore, be to move independently of you into a strategic location and provide you with combat telemetry until such time as you complete the objective. I will scout the necessary area, locate the enemy, then guide you to the target. It is then your role to execute the target. Once the target is removed, I will then assist you in exfiltrating the area." A pause, so that the saint across from her could absorb all of the information piled in front of her, then form her own decision and opinions. The steely edge that had formed in the first sentence Riana had spoken had yet to leave her voice - it was as if she did not know how to turn it off, or perhaps simply did not care to. "Do you have any questions?"

Riana Maren

The Assassination

"Very well. Let us begin."

With that, Riana pushed herself up from the table and made her way out of the library that she had been waiting in. The task was now at hand and, with the scientist able to bring her full combat prowess to bear, she was ready to commence operations as per her standard operating procedure. Which meant that now that she was on her own she was able to delve into the bag of tricks to their fullest extent. As Olga began to wander the streets, Riana looked to the skyline; there were plenty of tall buildings here in Crocus, which meant that she had her pick of whichever one she fancies in order to deploy and prepare her tools for the task ahead. As her newfound partner disappeared around a corner, Riana reached a hand forward as if reaching into the air before she began to form star-steel around her body, breathing out as her ever-familiar metallic shell began to wrap around her and consume her entirely. System displays began to glow around her eyes as the helmet of the Ebon Fury sealed her into the battlesuit, entirely comfortable as if wearing her second skin.

With that, the woman sheathed herself first in a veil of colloid particles, cloaking herself from both visual and magical sight, before her thrusters powered her up five stories to reach thetop of a building where she could settle in and prepare herself for the mission to come. Riana knew that she could get comfortable and provide a long-range shot using her railgun, and theoretically at this distance solve the issue once and for all. However, when the civilians of this place simply could not find her, how difficult would it have been to just end the problem now, and claim the bounty for Errings Rising as the objective had stated? A win for the ages, and a victory for the anarchy they purported to spread. However, that was not the plan. No, the child had to take the credt.

-- Target is now currently in their residence. Optimal pathfinding to target not required. Window-side shot now open. -- The voice of the artificial intelligence purred inside Riana's mind, a sound that none other could possibly hear.

"You heard me, SOFI, I will not be taking the shot. Prepare to deploy MDR-001."

The order was stated, and thus given; in a shimmering field of red a metre-wide device formed of two flattened domes materialised into the air and began to hover over the city. This magitech drone would be able to spy any and all threats to the objective, as well as provide real-time updates for quite some distance such that Saint Olga would be never caught unawares. In fact, there she was herself on the map display. At the five hundred metre height that it was floating over the city, it would be difficult to spot - which was precisely how Riana liked it.

That said, it was time to provide a mission update. Riana switched over to the communications channel that was now open thanks to the earpiece she had created. Provided that the earpiece was in correctly, Riana's voice would crackle inside Saint Olga's ear.

"Your target is in the second floor of their home residence, which is externally guarded by two members of unknown origins, presumably a personal security guild. I am detecting at least three additional life signs within the structure itself. These may be civilians, or combat targets. Current distance to target is three hundred and fifty five metres, bearing three zero five from your current position. Take your next left, then take the second right hand turn."

Riana Maren

The Assassination

This was an interesting, if vexing, situation to find herself in.

On one hand, Saint Olga had lived up to the mission specifications; the task had to be completed publicly such that the guild could take credit for the eradication of the target. This meant that heat was drawn away from the sponsors of this mission, which was perfectly valid. Additionally, it was entirely within the purview of Errings Rising to claim the glory for a kill of a man who was a politician as it spoke directly to their modus operandi. The scientist had no issue with that, given that she would have gladly ermoved him herself with a single, well-placed shot. Chances were that shot would have caved in the house, given that it was a supersonic round - but that was neither here nor there. On the other, the entire city would likely be on guard in minutes given the public disturbance, and now Riana was going to need to act in order to extricate her ally from this precarious situation. There was a necessity that the technologically advanced combat weapons she employed would now need to be brought to bear, which was something she was rather hoping to avoid. This mission now dictated their use if she wanted to get her ally out safely. Her mind drifted momentarily to Killua, and what he would have expected of her - there was a need, now, to ensure that she was keeping up with what he believed, if only for the simple reason that she would need to answer to him if things went south. Such equivocation pleased her.

The interesting thing to observe from her vantage point was the conjuration of the undead. While this was not a surprise as she had been previously prepared, the sheer volume of these reanimated warriors insisted that while they were individually weak, they were equal to a single summon. Riana understood conceptually that this was a necessity for some summoners, that they might be able to employ such methods that they could use sheer numbers to compensate for an inability to summon a single monster - or, perhaps, that they were employing the method to simply overwhelm with sheer body count. She, however, was free of such burdens. And would continue to be so until such time as she developed even more powerful abilities - though she sincerely doubted that without additional revelations in the field of her technology, such would be impossible. This was a valid strategy on both counts, she mused, as the red-haired woman watched the ensuing chaos below from the visual feed of her magitech drone. This was the way of the world-- her world-- that she would continue to employ all things in the pursuit of abject victory.  

-- Mission parameters achieved. Prepare for extraction. --

"SOFI, prepare to deploy," commanded the magitek witch, and to her immediate rule a single mechanical being materialsed beside her. This metallic beast resembled her own Ebon Fury battlesuit, though with a number of glowing red extrusions to differentiate the two. This was, in fact, the primary method the subcutaneous artificial intelligence employed to achieve its ends - but when further firepower was needed, it could be brought to bear in a different form.

"Use the drone's targeting telemetry and extract the poor thing before she's overwhelmed," sighed Riana, knowing that her supersonic railgun would also be necessary. It would likely fire the lead shot as a column of guards began their approach towards the politician's manor, where Riana observed them reaching the end of the street where she could still observe them visually. This distance was approximately the maximum her weapon could shoot and still be effective at sucking a man's organs through his ribcage.

Unphased by the need to snuff out a human life, the second battlesuit began to drift down towards the surface, taking cover behind a building as it detached the glowing blades from its body. SOFI did not need line of sight to employ her remote weaponry - already linked in with the drone, she could engage comparatively blind by using the data it gathered. The AI waited for the moment that Riana would inevitably signal the beginning of the attack.

A glowing red targeting reticle appeared on the scientist's heads up display. It painted a target directly over the last man in the two abreast column of enemies, where she could easily remove him and sow panic and confusion amongst the ranks. The exhaled, steadying herself so that the shot from the long-barrel rifled weapon would ring true. Having to re-aim a shot, after all, was a total pain that she did not need to experience. Another breath out, and a metal-coated finger caressed the trigger - and the sound of rushing air echoed amidst the buildings in broad daylight. As the sonic round flew through the air, it impacted flesh, and the body of the man so struct decompressed violently and explosively as the railgun shell pierced his mortal form. Blood, sinew, bone and organs flew everywhere across the column of city guards - and two of them screamed as they realised they had been compromised.

That scream heralded the second round of engagement. Eight blade bits, long sword-like appendages, sent forth from SOFI's metal shell, drifted out and hovered over the street - and then, one by one, began to open fire with energy blasts designed to vaporise skin and atomize the bonds that held the human body together. These blasts would be sufficient to send the column scrambling in every direction, forcing the survivors to take cover from the attack coming from an unknown direction. It was utter chaos, and Riana reveled in its execution. However, while the next batch of guards were now being taken care of, she had aother matters to attend to - like the rescue of her ally. Being trapped on street level with no support would not have been a good situation for her, nor would it have been the best way for Riana to make an impression. That said, at this stage, Riana probably hadn't even made much of an impression, given that her abilities had barely been revealed at this stage.

"Your only instruction is to run. I will be right behind you. Go," she commanded in her compatriot's ear. True to her word, Riana forced the railgun to vanish into the aether where it came from originally, and began to rocket up and away from the rooftop where she had been hiding. Stealth protocols still active, she could easily use her maximum speed to catch up to Saint Olga, and escort her at a distance where she could employ the full power of the weapons she brought to bear. Such was the plan, anyway. Whether it held up until they made it to the outskirts of the city was another thing entirely.