Mission #33 - Burning Jacob's Ladder [Blab/Crem]

[Blaka]

"Orlov, was it?"

Captain Bannik tapped the ash off his cigarette. The whole room was filled with its smoke, a smell that reminded the young soldier in front of him how badly she wanted to rather be somewhere else instead of standing here. Her officer's office was generally not a place she liked to visit for longer than absolutely necessary, no matter which officer. Especially not this one though, given the décor. Sure, there was no objections to be had when it came to the expensive red carpet, the fancy chandelier or the massive black oak desk he was sitting at. It wasn't Bannik personally either, the man was a Marine just to her liking, as a Marine anyway. Ruthless towards his enemies, always a keen eye on the battlefield, authoritative towards the civilian population. His hobby was what irked her to no end: Hunting big fish, and hanging their taxidermied heads on his wall. As if there wasn't already her boss keeping eyes on her behaviour, dozens of dead pop eyes were doing it too every time she came in here.

"Yes sir! Seawoman Recruit Nadya Orlov, reporting for duty!"
The red haired recruit saluted and snapped to attention, as was expected from her. Her blue eyes didn't look straight at the other man's weatherbeaten face, but sort of straight through him with an empty gaze. Her heels made a cloud clacking sound as they snapped together. Etiquette was key when talking to a superior, this fact had been drilled into her since childhood.

However, as always, Bannik found her dedication most amusing.
"Right, right, I remember now..." he chuckled with his rough voice and scratched his half-bald head "You're the little angel swot from the 24th."
While she didn't exactly favor the term 'angel swot', Nadya would never speak up against the person in command, so she kept her mouth shut, since she hadn't been asked to respond. They seemed to be on the same page there, as the hulk of a Marine continued talking after a short pause.

"So, Orlov, I want to introduce you to somebody today. Cremuex Levier, ever heard of her?"
"No, sir!" the winged young woman snapped, louder than would have been necessary at this range.
"She's our new outside specialist for the smuggling problem down town. As you know we've had our fair share of problems with that...what was it again?"
"Ageranil, sir!"
"Yes, that one. She's a civilian," Nad's face ever twitched so slightly at these last three words. Firm was her belief that anyone outside the Navy should never be involved in their affairs. But, a trained to be a soldier as she was, she kept a mostly straight face. "one of many we interviewed. Miss Levier was most definetely the best at..." he took a drag from his smoke "...best at convincing me that she's the right one for the job."

Internally, the sniper girl wondered what sort of skills a civilian could have that would help them drive a whole gang of smugglers out. Or how the Captain had been testing these. Certainly it couldn't be brute strength, otherwise Bannik would do it himself instead of going through the disgrace of asking freelancers for help.

"I'm sure you are asking yourself" he continued "why I'm telling you this. Turns out I don't exactly trust her just yet."
Now that was just common sense., Miss Orlov thought to herself, still questioning what use she could ever be to such an awesome specialist.
"And turns out, you are the only soldier in the entire damn base with the body to assist her cover."

Now that last sentence confused her completely. Her body? Cover? Smirking, the CO took another drag.
"You'll see what I mean. She's right outside, stand at ease and ask her in, will ya?"
Reflexively, Nad let go of her pose, allowed her body to relax, turned around and got the door for the mysterious specialist. One glance was enough to realise what Bannik was on about. Wings.

[cremuex]

Everything was so fancy here. The white polished marble tiles that had been cleaned to the nth degree, the pale cream walls with framed certificates and master paintings of current and past high ranking military officials in their most daunting of attire, even the blue velvet rococo chair and high end carved furniture spoke of an excellence beyond what she was used to. This was a pretty swick place and she marveled at all the luxuries, not once questioning how the marines could afford such things and the thought of corruption never once crossing her mind.

She didn't look as terribly out of place as she felt though, her attire more formal and figure hugging than what she would normally wear in her day to day life. She did know how to walk in heels, but the tall black stiletto's were much less practical than she would have thought appropriate for a request of the Navy, and yet here she was, requested to wear fine clothes. Her cocktail dress was sheer white, and showed off her curves nicely, if not a bit restricting, but her movements had gotten used to the tight pencil skirt. The jewel neckline and short sleeves worked in keeping everything official looking, and the back had a window that allowed her wings to be exposed and even move a bit if she were to stretch. Black lace accenting around her chest, shoulders and waist with a black ribbon flowing from her hip. Her hair was kept in a neat and clean bun with her bangs framing her face with the way they naturally fell in a wave. She wasn't entirely sure about her wings being in full view, and she was well aware at the extra attention it had grabbed her from marines and civilians alike on her way there. She looked more like she was ready to go for a dinner date with an affluent suitor than to bust down some doors and handcuff some criminals.

At least she was able to keep her energy in check enough to simply rock back and forth from the tips of her toes and back to her heels as she waited to be called upon. Sure, there was a chair for her, and it was quite a comfortable one at that, but she couldn't keep herself seated with all her excitement at being useful for something other than serving food and making beds.

Time ticked on, and minutes began to feel like hours, though in reality she'd only been asked to wait possibly forty to forty five minutes. Silently the door opened and out came a marine to fetch her. She turned to face the girl, who seemed only a few years her junior, and from the lack of shiny badges adorning her uniform she could only guess that they were of a relatively low rank. Still, she gave a friendly smile and did her best to salute her, even if it wasn't as sharp and snappy as the ones the other girl was able to give. Her bright blue eyes began to widen as she noticed that the other girl also had wings. It was so exciting and she couldn't help but cover her mouth from the wide happy grin that had grown from her kindly smile.

The other girl however, didn't seem to care much for it, and kept her professional attitude, simply and somewhat coldly asking her to come inside and that Captain Bannik would see her now.

Cremuex gave a nod to show that she understood and a soft "Thank you." before picking up the black suitcase that was set beside the rococo chair that she ignored sitting on. The briefcase contained her dials, net and rope; cleverly hidden under a false compartment under a layer of berri that had been glued down to give the appearance that even more money was below it, actual berri wads left above it to further make it believable that they could be removed.

For a moment she was expecting to follow the girl in, but the other sky person just watched over her with trained eyes instead following her in when she picked up the cue that they were waiting on her. As she entered the magnificence of the room only doubled from what was outside and as Nadya closed the door behind them with a click, possibly locking it for all she knew it dawned on her that the Captain might be more important than she had originally guessed, feeling somewhat embarrassed at how casually she had acted in the interview days before. As she stood before the Captain and gave her best salute and a respectful nod the Captains smile grew wide, telling her that the officer did in fact remember her, and hadn't forgotten her friendly, casual and largely untrained manner. She was largely unphased by the man's smoking habit, having been raised in a pub her lungs had grown somewhat hardy to the odor and thickness that it gave the air, however, the smile the man gave seemed almost silly for all the heirs and graces and she couldn't help but divert her gaze with a bashful expression until the man spoke next.

[Blaka]

Nadya couldn't help but whisper a disgusted "Ew." as she closed the door behind the stranger. For one, it was the outfit that irked her. Upper class fellows weren't supposed to be in a soldier's environment, much less so people who only acted like upper class. Because clearly, she deduced, a person of value wouldn't go around and do dirty work for the Navy. Second, that unbecoming grin on her face. Surely due to the fact that the laughable Marines were seeking her help. Or, less likely, simply friendly to a person that she didn't know anything about, which was just about the most idiotic thing to do in Nad's mind. Third, and most importanly, her wings. Miss Orlov had chosen to see her own feathers as an ugly birth defect, something that very well should be looked at with loathing by her fellow human beings. Of course, she had come to terms with having them overtime since she had little choice, but seeing them on somebody else still made her look down on that somebody. People just weren't supposed to have these, it looked outwordly, abhorrent.

Needless to say none of these feelings would be shown while the Captain was around. As Nadya turned around, her blank face returned. Standing at attention near the door, she kept waiting for the commanding officer to explain further details.

"Relax, miss!" Bannik chuckled "You look just as lovely as last time today if I may say so myself." Directed at the redhead at the door, he grunted "Orlov, do you get the plan now?"
"Not quite yet, sir!" A bit of an understatement, that one. Sure, she got how the two sky women were supposed to seem like they belonged together, but context was missing. The specialist's apparel was very clearly the most unfitting for a hit and run mission, or even for sneaking into something, flashy as it was.

"Let me explain then." the Captain took another drag from the cigar before he continued "We lack the men for a frontal assault right now. So, we are sending Miss Levier here in as a" he was making airquotes with his fingers "'representative of a big buyer from overseas'. Ageranil is such a pain here in Athens, surely they'll want to ship it elsewhere at some point. You two will go in as official business partners and quietly place a few - hold on."

He put his smoke down, bend forward and grabbed something from under the table. As he got back up, he slammed a paper box on his desk, making printed forms fly off in every direction. Apparently not caring about his, Bunnik simply continued explaining.

"A few of these explosive charges at key points in their smart little tunnels. We aren't beating around the bush anymore, we'll just bury them and all their poisonous Ageranil in the mines."

As far as Nadya knew, there were supposed to be tens of workers down there, mainly Ageranil addicts forced to work for their own supply. Unsurprisingly, Bannik did not seem to mind at all, didn't even mention them, which was exactly what she looked for in a person of authority. Perhaps he hadn't even told Cremuex about it.

"You, Orlov, were chosen due to your obvious similarities. Of course you can't go in there with your uniform, does a swot like you even have regular clothes?"

"No, sir!"
A little embarassed, Nad shook her head. She did not. All her life was dedicated to military service, vacation wasn't a word she used very often.

"Then you'll need to get some before you go. Since you aren't much of a talker, I'd say cover as her bodyguard. Get something that screams underworld network to you, you know, the stuff you'd usually hate."

"Yes, sir!"
Eloquence was indeed not her thing whatsoever. Relieved that she wouldn't have to go out of her way and pretend much, she awaited the order to fall out.

"That's all for now. I guess you know your way around the clothing stores, huh dearest?" This was directed back at the civilian lady "Go get Orlov something to put on before you get in there, we'll add the cost to your pay in the end."

[cremuex]

It wasn't clear if she had picked up on the recruit's disgusted look or the ew muttered under her breath or she was simply being willfully ignorant and ignoring the response and continuing on in her usual friendly manner.

When she was told to relax she became even more personable in a casual way, almost as if the two were already on reasonably familiar terms and she let her shoulders rest down from the otherwise proper salute. It should have been clear that she respected authority and preferred the position of a follower instead of a leader or someone who made the orders> It could be deduced from the fact that the Captain mentioned seeing her lovely self earlier in the morning that their chummy terms were not exactly business related, though it wasn't clear whether she'd taken the man out for breakfast at a pleasant cafe or had cooked it for him herself, since her status as a cook was unknown to the other girl in the room.

She made a mental note that the other winged woman was called "Orlov" though she assumed this was her last name, instead of her first, though throughout the mission she was likely to have an alias anyway, so while it wasn't super important to the task at hand, she still made a mental note of it just for the sake of being welcoming.

When her purpose was being explained she wasn't sure if she should have introduced herself and instead opted for a soft smile; they had plenty of time to get to know each other later in the day, or hash out a cover story and she didn't want to interrupt the mans obviously important work.

Her natural inclination when the papers scattered through was to try and help clean them up, though her reaction to bend over and gather them for the marine was caught just as she went to lean over correcting herself awkwardly that she would need to behave somewhat more distant if she was to be considered more 'professional' for her role. She had only noticed her behavior because the captain seemed so unconcerned about the papers, which she could only assume to be important official documents for the clearance of such explosives.

The way she bit her bottom lip told that she was unsure though, and she had no idea how to use or place the discharges, though it was reasonable to assume that Ms Orlov had the relevant training and would be the one in charge.

She was unsure about how effective the bombing idea would be, since they could always rebuild the infrastructure, but maybe all the navy needed was time, and the delay of disrupting their assembly line could be just the edge they needed. She was unaware of the workers, or the fact their addiction was the crux of why they kept in such less than humane conditions. Something she would come to learn from seeing it herself and undoubtedly colour the way she saw the underworld and how they treated those below them.

Still, she trusted in the man's inherent strategical mind, and to have such an important decision made would have to have gone through several approvals to get to this point and her faith in such a system hadn't been called into question even once up to this point, so there was no reason in her mind to doubt it.

She seemed to really like the idea of taking the recruit clothes shopping, it wasn't hard to figure out that such a stereo-typically girly thing to do wasn't something she got to share with the rest of her crew since two of them were men and the other was a stoic sword master. Ms Orlov was markedly less impressed at the idea, possibly because of the mention that it was stuff she would usually hate, and she couldn't help but wonder what sort of relationship the two had and if the Captain was teasing her or possibly tormenting the poor recruit.

She wasn't sure about the Captain calling her such lovey dovey names in front of his crew, or if this public display of affection was appropriate, but such flattery couldn't help but gather a blush to her cheeks. A timid "Y-yes captain~" confirming the order with a slight girlish wiggle of her hips, in part from the idea of having a friend that she could do girly things with, the other part from being called such nice things.

She wasn't pressed for money and that wasn't why she had offered to help in the first place, it was more just to be useful. With a single command they were dismissed and as they left the room she brightly smiled at her new mission partner who was in charge of the explosives.

"It's nice to meet you Ms Orlov! Would you like to discuss the details of our cover story before we go shopping?" she queried pleasantly as she lead the woman toward the shopping district further inland. She did know a few places, though ones that screamed "underworld network" or "bodyguard" wasn't what she would normally look out for, though such clothes might have been available in a more depot store or a munitions store that sold weapons like the one she'd found her trident in back in Logue town.

[Blaka]

This specialist's entire behaviour was repulsive to Nadya. Of course, civilains weren't obligated to act as attentive in front of officers as recruits were. But something seemed very off about the way Bannik and her were acting. The names he was calling her as well as the awkward reactions on her part sparked the idea in Nadya's mind that the application procedure for this job hadn't exactly been fair. Bannik was notorious for giving out these unfair advantages, though usually Nadya dismissed rumors like that without a second thought. A man of his rank was not to be questioned, surely he saw something useful in every person he helped to climb up the promotion ladder. At least that was what she had believed until now. Witnessing the two others talking, a certain level of suspicion was definetely advisable.

Needless to say the recruit didn't utter a word about it while they were in the office. What good would bringing it up do anyway? Given that the Captain had told her that he didn't trust the outsider either, there would be time for questioning later, should things go south. Only a little bead of sweat running down her temple hinted at the effort it cost her to keep quiet. Barely, she was able to prevent herself from spewing out a condescending remar about the "professional"'s girlish reaction to the mention of a shopping tour.

Finally, they were let go. Miss Orlov took the heavy box of explosives with them. A bag would have been easier, she thought to herself, awkwardly carrying the cardboard crate in front of her stomach. After this, a quick trip to her quarters, where she gathered her weaponry. Soon enough, there was a revolver in her belt, next to a couple of grenades and her flame dial, and her rifle Baryschny on her back. they left the base and headed south into town, walking side by side, across the food market to the one the other market they needed.

The City of Chryse was a busy place. Especially its market district. For the uninitiated, the smell of spices and herbs could be overwhelming. Nad had been around long enough to barely notice it though. It was the smell of fish that still got her. The usually straight faces soldier was frowning all the way to the stores. How people could actually eat seafood was a mistery to her. The smell was bad, the texture was slimey, the taste had to be covered up with a strong sauce most of the time. Not to mention to people like herself, it was basically poison, sending her into allergic shock within minutes.

Appropriately snappish was her response to Miss Levier's question. The friendly remark at the beginning was dismissed entirely. As usual, "Spiking Nad" had problems when talking to people below or equal to herself. With officers, she knew the rules, that was easy to abide by. In regular social interactions, there were no rules that made sense to her. The other person's reactions were  often times unpredictable. Normally, at least the other person was a fellow Marine who she could trust to do the right thing. In those cases she could just nod and sheepishly agree. This case was a bit different though. It was best to make her mindset clear right away.

"Mhmpf." she grunted instead of replying with a nice gesture herself. "Seawoman Recruit Nadya Orlov. Since I'm supposed to be your bodyguard, it's just Nad to you. I'm just the gun here" she nudged in the direction of the huge sniper rifle that was strapped to her back in between her wings "You're supposed to be the specialist, you tell me the cover story. Also tell me, what are you doing here? Why is somebody like you doing this?"

The tone in her voice made her disposition towards her partner pretty clear, she did not even try to hide it. Nad didn't want to be here, she was ordered to. They had to get along and she would listen to her advice, but that didn't mean the winged hoochie here would get any sort of respect from her. Speaking of scanty clothing, she had zero interest in ending up in a similar outfit. As soon as they arrived at the general stores, the sniper started looking for a store where she could escape to before falling victim to Crem's fashion sense.

Thankfully, she did find something very quickly. After having listened to Miss Levier's proposal, she would quickly side step out of the busy crowd towards a weapon store she had cast an eye at multiple times already since her arrival on Athens. A relatively large house, painted completely black on the outside. In the shop windows, you could see all kinds of deadly items, from cutlasses to full on gatling guns. "The Pricking Prick" said the sign above the door.
"Listen I need to...stock up on ammunition." Trule a shame how obviously she was lying through her teeth, blushing, shuffleing her feet and not looking the other woman into the eyes at all. "Need something to put the charges in too. You go on ahead and get something to wear for me and we'll meet back here, alright? Get yourself a fancy watch too, we need to watch the time for the charges."

[cremuex]

She could tell that Seawoman Recruit Orlov wasn't pleased about her situation and she could sense a bit of resentment towards her already, though she didn't take it personally, only letting her lower lip give a slight pout that she had been blocked out already. Though, being allowed to call her "Nad" was a good thing in her eyes, it was something more familiar than a full title, and there was no reason she couldn't be as respectful without the laurels.

A cover story was much easier to explain than just how she'd gotten the job since she wasn't completely sure as to why she was picked herself.

"It should make things easier with short nicknames, that way they don't know who we are but we also won't get caught out in a lie by being too slow to respond to our own names." She agreed, giving an encouraging nod before putting on more professional airs, straightening up and trying to remove her gentle tone of voice for something more serious.

"I am Miss Kree, and this is my associate Red Nad; We're here on behalf of our employer, who chooses to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. We're here to inspect the quality of your goods and whether it would be in the Obsidian Dynasty's best interest to expand your operation. If you meet our standards I'm sure you'll find our business proposition quite lucrative, even generous." She gestured to herself, then to Nadya as if she were speaking to another person as they walked along. This didn't gather any attention as most were busy with one thing or another, and just from looking it seemed that her comments were aimed at the more dangerous of the two. However, the bombs would need a bit more explaining though she would opt not to talk about them. If it did come up though, she had a way of dancing around it.

"Ahh, yes, our bags, very astute of you to notice. You see, the Von takes special care of those under his command and wishes for our protection, we wouldn't want to cause offense to the Obsidian Dynasty- They can be quite vengeful, of course, you would also fall under his protective black wings. We are simply carrying a means by which to communicate back with them. You understand the extra measures of security I'm sure. Make no mistake, we are armed, but we know better than to harm those that would be of use to us."

Carrying around a cardboard box though would look strange, so something of a duffle bag would make a better substitute. Something that could match her new outfit.

"How was that?" she turned to her companion, her stern look melting into another cheery smile, as she watched the other for any expression of confirmation or silent praise that it was good enough. Of course, they seemed more like they were the type to poke holes in things, and it was better to find the flaws now than it would be if they were in the mine tunnels surrounded by actual underworld goons.

She tried to figure out a way to explain how she'd gotten herself into the situation, though she couldn't think of a way to day it without explaining the whole story.

"Well, you see-" She pondered for a bit looking for the right words. What was it that the Captain had seen in her that made them think "Yes, she seems like an underworld sort"?

"I'm not actually from Athens, I'm from the South blue. There was this cooking contest on the weekend, so I'm like 'sure, lets try it out,' and I enter, right? I didn't win it or anything, but then your captain comes up to me an asks if it was for the money that I entered the competition and if I wanted to do a little something to earn some extra cash. I don't really need the money or anything, I only joined the competition because I wanted to try and learn more from the other cooks and just have fun, you know?" The seawoman didn't seem to care at all about cooking, or her story, and breaking off where she did made her question if the marine even knew what fun was.

"So, Captain Bannik seems a bit shot down and I could tell that he was in need of a little bit of assistance so I offered to help in any way that I can. I'm of the impression that if someone needs help, you help them. If it's a marine you can generally trust them, so there's no reason to not help, right? He couldn't say much because of the situation. You don't really want to talk about that stuff out in the open with lots of people, so we had dinner together. We talked a bunch. He tells me to come to his office tomor- today- ... And yeah. Here I am!" She gushed, acutely aware that she was babbling and probably boring her body guard who seemed to be fidgeting about and doing their best not to look at her.

Cre went to follow her new friend into a weapon and ammunition store before she was stopped and told to go find the girl some clothes. She quickly asked the girl for her size measurements so that she could find something that would actually fit her before the door to the the black shop closed in front of her face. She let out a soft sigh, obviously saddened by the constant distance and walls put up between them.

It's fine... She told herself as she tried to shake off the feeling of hurt and rejection as she went on her way to the store. Normally she liked shopping, but this time she seemed gloomy and disheartened about being cheated out of a nice day with a lovely girl friend.

[Blaka]

While her partner was presenting her plan, Miss Orlov made mental notes about her points that she would bring up once the other one was done talking.

"Red Nad". She liked this name, certainly sounded like the nickname of a pirate. It took her a bit to get how Kree and Levier were supposed to be the same name, until she understood that it was just an abbreviation of her first name. The Obsidian Dynasty was nothing she had ever heard of, commendable to come up with a both ominous sounding and entirely made up name on the fly.

At her mentioning of bags however, Nadya slightly shook her head. Any security guard with a brain better than a donkey's would at least take a short look inside any bag. If they found stacks of explosives in one of them, the entire operation would be over before it even started. What they needed was something more subtle. The store she was looking for had exactly what she needed.

Before responding to Miss Levier's question, she listened to the rest of the story. Unlike most people likely would have, Nad didn't switch off and let the lady rant. Every little detail was payed great attention to, every word closely examined for flaws. Any slip up and she'd escort Bannik's oh so special professional back to the base in cuffs. Luckily for her partner, the attentive soldier didn't notice anything too suspicious, apart from the stuff she already knew about. The story just furthermore decreased her understanding of this person. Clearly, she wanted to help better the world, help people. So far so good. However, there was an institution with the sole purpose of helping people: The World Government's Marine force. Why any sensible person would refuse to join them was beyond her. But hey, at least she knew this wasn't a simple money hungry bounty hunter.

"How was that?"

Just as the other girl had expected, the Marine Recruit immediately started poking holes in her story. Obviously without mentioning any of the positives. Raising an eyebrow she looked at the specialist like you would at a child that just told a poor lie.
"Red Nad. Alright. Where's this Dynasty from that I've never heard of? And how are they so important when I've never heard of them? What's a Von? Black Wings? What the hell would be in that back that's so large when you can just use a snailphone? Maybe think that through again while you go shopping."

Rolling her eyes, she stepped into the Pricking Prick after having sent the blonde away and slammed the door shut in front of her sorry face.

As much as she liked to come here, the winged sniper had not dared to actually buy something here. The vibe the joint gave off was just too shady over all. It's walls and floor were painted in the same pitch black as the walls outside. There were no lights anywhere meant to light the place itself, but a small candle on the counter on the fare side of the large room. Instead, the shop was illuminated by the lighting that was set up to present the wares. Each weapon, apart from a few discount boxes full of junk goods, each put in their own glass showcases, had a tiny headlight hanging above it to make it especially appeasing. These showcases were set up close together to make little aisles for the customer to walk through past them towards the owner's counter. An unsafe looking winding staircase with no handrail led up to the second floor of the house, where equipment like ammunition and clothing was presented. The store's owner was likely the reason for its name. Mister Synal, as the tag on his shirt revealed him, was a long, scrawny, pale old fellow. Everything about him seemed to be pointy, from his sharp long nails and to his spiky gray hair and pointed goatee. He was the only it in the whole house that didn't scream war and death when you looked at it, wearing a neat yellow and brown pinstripe suit over a white button up shirt.

"Ah, it's us again!" He clapped his hands and greeted the recruit with a welcoming smile from his seat behind the counter. Like any good merchant's, his voice was cheery and heartily when talking to a customer "Have we decided on a new gift for ourselves today? The shotgun we were thinking about? Or maybe just a new scope for that old weapon of ours?"

Synal knew exactly what Nad was looking for by now, since she had spend most of her free time on Athens here since her arrival. When his eyes fell on the arms she was carrying already he blinked, a little surprised.

"I see we are already well equipped. What might we need from old Synal instead?"

"I need something you'd wear in the Hannai Fort. And something to put this stuff into."

It took quite a while to pick the right clothing to both still feel comfortable but also look the part for her assignment as a dangerous bodyguard. Miss Orlov's usual uniform was dismissed in favour of something much more brutal looking: A wine red low cut tank top, dark brown short pants that were cut off just above her knees and black leather boots with rather long silver spikes all over them replaced her regular clothes. In addition, she put a choker collar, also spiked, around her neck, and pitch black sunglasses on her eyes. Both hands were wrapped in bandages, as if she wanted to prevent her knuckles from getting bloody during habitual fist fights. On top of it all, she put on a large red fur coat with dozens of inside pockets where she could hide the explosives. Of course, there were holes in the back to give her wings freedom. Only her tidy ponytail survived the makeover. There was a reason for it after all, in a firefight hair was not allowed to obstruct her view even for a split second.

It was this almost unrecognisable Nadya that Miss Levier would get to look at when she got back from her own shoppings. Strangely, it wasn't even the new clothes that made the Marine so different from before. It was her face beaming with joy over all the cool toys this store had to offer, as was always the case when she came here. Without even so much as a hello or welcome back, not to mention an explanation, the excited gun geek rushed to her fellow undercover agent's side and started bending her ears:

"Miss, you gotta see this, isn't this awesome! A sawn-off double shotgun that can shoot fire bullets! Or this one," she was pointing at whatever she was talking about " a hundred shot automatic handgun with barely any spread! Or, or this! Do you know what that's for?! It's called a rocket launcher, it's like a canon on a ship but you can just carry it around!"

The urge to shake Cre in excitement until she would join in was ridiculously strong. This! This was her world! A world of things exploding and evil people dying in the wake of it. In the most spectacular way possible please.

[cremuex]

The small bell above the door chimed to let the host and his patrons know that someone had entered the establishment. Cremuex closed the door behind her; two large shopping bags in one hand, her briefcase in the other as she timidly looked down the aisles for her red haired friend. Her skin would probably blend in with the mediocre lighting and she felt a heaviness to her heart like she almost expected Ms Orlov to have skipped out and ditched her completely.

Every lit up display case with it's lethal merchandise only seemed more ominous in the blacked out store and she was almost ready to abandon hope were it not for her automatic reaction to freeze when she heard someone call out miss.

Her brain only had a few microseconds to catch up on the complete transformation that had taken place since her departure. The bright red hair was the only thing that remained constant; Her demeanor was different, her face was happier and even her voice sounded less irked, like she was actually a better Nadya to be around.

She wasn't completely sure what to say and she wasn't even able to get upset or grumpy that she'd been sent off for nothing since the young recruit had found her own outfit thàt she'd taken a liking too. The clothes that she'd found were more in line with the sixties or fifties greaser style. Red ascot, puffy shouldered leather jacket with red cherries embroidered on the breast pocket. Tight pants with silver zippers and red platform boots. The other bag contained a nice semi-formal casual dress that she hoped the girl might wear when she wanted a break from her uniform.

She couldn't help but give an awkward chuckle, Well, at least she's brightened up a bit... she mused, trying to look on the bright side of things as Nadya pointed out al the different weapons and explained what about them was so special. She honestly didn't know the specs for most weapons and she was obliviously the less informed of the two on that front but she still let her enjoy herself, following the darker skinned sky person around the shop.

"Fire bullets like they actually come out as bursts of fire or like, they catch on fire when they hit something?" She absently wondered if there was anything that she could get her own gun enthusiast, or possibly a stone for keeping Jade's sword sharp and polished up.

Weapon enthusiasts always tingled something in the back of her psyche and she couldn't help but be a little concerned about the type of people that enjoyed using their weapon for anything other than protecting themselves and others.

The sales person was quick to introduce themselves, possibly sensing how little she knew of weapons and what was required of their maintenance.

"Welcome, welcome! I haven't seen you here before, can I help with anything?" He was definitely friendly and she didn't expect such a brightly dressed man to own such a dark looking store.

"Oh, no I'm fine, I'm sure Nad'll find what she's looking for... and then some. " She shared a look with the owner that the other was acting like a kid in a candy store, though it was an improvement to the distant and grumpy version she'd met earlier. Cremuex wasn't completely new to the idea of having to be more mature but it seemed like the other girl need the break from salutes and niceties more than she did. She just hoped that Nad hadn't outright shown the explosives in case he had some connection to the underground himself.

She went to her companion's side as the other had done before, looking at the rocket launcher with obvious confusion- it wouldn't be practical to carry such a weapon around, it's projectiles would be too big and heavy and they'd probably only get to shoot off a few if it was one person carrying it and it's charges around.

"Remember what the captain said, I've got this, so you can treat yourself if there's something you really like, though, you'd probably get that supplied for you in your line of work, right?" She didn't specifically mention her being a marine, but the man had probably seen her in her uniform when she'd first come in. She was going to wait for the under cover marine to calm down slightly and for there to be no eaves droppers before going over the finer points of the cover story- like explaining that the Von was the head of the supposed crime ring, and that the point of a secret underground criminal society was meant to be secret, so her and anyone else- not hearing of it would work in their favor.

[Blaka]

Where Miss Levier was heavily creeped out at best, Nadya was in heaven. There was something both mighty and elegant about firearms. Neatly polished barrels, loud bangs when you fired them, the feeling of the kickback that was incomparable to anything else. The simple principle was genius already: Steel tubes that could propell small weights of iron of lead into the brain of bad guys and take them out in under a second. And humanity had not stopped there! The possibilities were endless, way too many options to decide! If only they weren't so expensive.

Only adding to her joy was the fact that Cre seemed genuinely interested as well, chuckling, smiling and asking appropriate questions. Granted, questions that revealed how incompetent she was in this field, but that didn't matter.

"You know, incendiary rounds!" Nad rolled her eyes at the other's question. With a voice like a child explaining something obvious like why their favourite game was fun to its parent, she replied: "There's like a mix of stuff in them that starts burning when you fire it and when it hits the target just" she made a motion with her hands to mimick the explosion and mouthed a little poof sound "goes up in flames! You win no matter where it hits! It even smells nice."

The look Cremuex and Synal exchanged went entirely unnoticed, as was whatever blondie was saying at first. The giant minigun was far too interesting to listen to the specialist.
"This thing can take out all of the Hannai scums in like ten seconds if you line them all up! Can you imagine?! No wonder its still there with us just having crappy flintlo- what did you say?"

Slowly, the redhead's brain registered what was being offered. Blue eyes widened at the thought.
"Another gun? For me? For free!?" Startled that her partner would pay for such a pricey gift, she actually blushed a little. Thankfully, in this light and under the layers of rouge that was barely noticeable. However, the slight jawdrop and the disbelief on her face sure was. It struck her as rather strange indeed, but if the lady wanted to, there was no reason not to take advantage of that. "I mean... we don't get supplied at all, not us recruits..."

It took some effort to rip herself away from the heavy arms. As awesome as they were, today it would just be impractical. On top of being too much even for today's prize money. Her gaze fell on a shotgun similar to the one earlier, albeit without the fire ammo. With a bit of luck, it could even fit in her coat's pocket.

"That one looks nice!"

Creepily quickly, the storeowner had the very same gun lying on his counter, as if he conjured it up from below the desk.
"We'll give you some rounds for it for free too. Share the happiness about your purchase with your friends in the force, alright?"

On their way out, Nad finally noticed the bags Crem was carrying.
"Oh sorry!" her apology was sincere this time, the gift she had recieved made her a lot more open to her fellow angel "I should have told you not to get more. That's...more than just my outfit isn't it? Did you get your watch? Or thought about the plan some more?"

[cremuex]

"I know incendiary rounds."[/color] She murmured as she folded her arms across her chest, her bottom lip in a pout and her eyes looking decidedly away from the other woman's so that their eyes wouldn't meet. She knew OF them at least. She'd never seen them in action, which she was particularly thankful for. She just wasn't sure if it was something along the lines of how dials worked.

The recruit was full of surprises, and she honestly wasn't expect such an adorable response- especially not from someone talking so excitedly about projectiles that could rend flesh from bone or the speed and precision that it could send pieces of metal flying towards someone to riddle them with shrapnel. Something about how bright and happy she was seemed oddly charming. Her jaw drop only added to how cute she looked.

'For free' were almost magic words, and she suspected that recruits didn't get paid very much at all, though she didn't think that they were completely un-supplied. Surely they were granted SOME weapons? How else would they be expected to patrol the streets and the seas?

When Nadya finally settled on an appropriate weapon the man seemed to have the same one (as far as she could tell, since she didn't really know much about guns) ready at the cash register. The blonde assumed that meant that she'd come in enough times and looked at that particular weapon before for him to have one behind the counter.

Cremuex happily paid the man, who seemed to only grow more eager once the notes of beri were in his hand, counting them quickly and inhaling the smell from the money with a deep satisfaction.

"That was nice of him to give you some ammo with it!" She said cheerily as the door chimed closed behind them. She knew it was just so that he'd get some publicity on the navy grape vine, but she didn't think that it was necessary since Nadya would probably talk about weapons to other marines anyway. At least that's what she thought based on how happy the topic made them.

When the weapons enthusiast apologised she looked down at the bags she was carrying. It was two outfits, but everything was the right size for Nadya.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." She said as she waved her hand up and down to loosely to brush Nad's concern away. Even if something happened to the clothes it would still be covered by the navy's reward. Though, carrying it around wasn't the most optimum of circumstances but going back to the barracks seemed even less of an option as they continued their stroll towards the mines. She wasn't going to make the recruit carry the bags either considering she needed to have her hands free to have full access to her guns. As bad as the cook was at directions, she did know roughly where the mines were thanks to her interest in rocks and minerals, and there would be enough time to iron out the plan before they got there.

"Yup, I got the watch, see?" Displaying the silver coloured fog watch which was clipped on her hip since her current outfit didn't offer any pockets. The face inside was reasonably plain if not for the mother-of-pearl faint pastel colouration, and the silver theme continued in the hands and numerical values.

"So, the Obisidian Dynasty is from a sky island, right? Most people don't believe in them so it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that's why they're not commonly known around these parts. Not to mention, if you're a secret criminal organisation staying unheard of would be rather a boon to keep attention away from your uhh... business?" While Cremuex had never been to a sky island before, she was more then willing to agree with whatever Red Nad would say on the matter, though hopefully it wouldn't come up.

"Von can simply be a name, like an alias so we can talk about 'the boss' without needing to give away additional details that we could get caught on later." She wasn't particularly good at lying, so she liked to keep things simple so she wouldn't have to worry about any loose ends. "Besides, black wings just sounds kinda cool and there's probably different variants in wings anyway... I've uhh... never seen anyone else with them to be honest." She blushed sheepishly. It was obvious that she was glad to know that she wasn't the only one out there with wings, something that she'd taken precautions to cover and hide up to this point.

In a way it was odd. She liked them being out because they didn't feel restricted and bound in a corset, but on the other hand they made her feel vulnerable, like she was more naked in showing them.

They kept walking, taking particular attention to any further holes that might need to be patched up only to tug on the sleeve of the fur jacket that the darker skinned angel was wearing. Pointing out a sign that warned trespassers that they were entering a dangerous area.

"You reckon this is it?" She joked awkwardly about the rusted and patchy barbed wire fence that separated the 'safe' area from the criminal domain.

Two warning shots echoed around them, the rocks and run down wooden make shift buildings confusing the sound and making it difficult to pin point the area the noise had come from. While her natural reaction was to move closer to her body guard she didn't do anything more than that. She didn't scream and held her breath in her chest as her eyes scanned around, her ears pricked from the sense of her own mortality.

A heavy snickering caught on the air and the sound of metal on skin thudded dully as a heavy built man swaggered forward. He seemed hunched forward and walked in an almost predatory manner. He was wearing a brown dusty full length oil skinned jacket, a brown suede cowboy hat to match and heavy boots.

"You lost girlies? This aint no place for the likes of you but you can stick around and keep ol' Manny comp'ny." He breathed roughly with a sickening smirk as he ran his tongue over his top teeth.

This Manny guy sent a shiver up her spine and she couldn't help but silently wish that Nad would put into practice her views on bullets and 'Hannai scum'. She had to still herself before she could turn to the scoundrel, her blood pumping loudly in her ears as she fought back the instinct to run.

"Oh- We don't mean to bother you, we're just looking for someone; someone specific. You wouldn't by chance know who could get us some Ageranil, would you?" She asked in a somewhat tempting manner. Looking innocent wasn't the first thing that same to mind when she thought of when she considered 'drug black market' and if this guy was a goonie they might know how to get in.

[Blaka]

Just to be sure, Miss Orlov checked her pockets again if she hadn't misplaced anything inside the Pricking Prick. All of the explosives had been distributed among her fur coat's many pockets. Much easier a method of transportation compared to the clunky box. Given each charge's size, about as big as a extra large chocolate bar, they fit easily. In the big pocket above her right hip, there was also her most recent acquirement, the shotgun gift from Crem. Her belt held grenades, flame dial and revolver. Baryschny the sniper rifle was still safely strapped to her back. This was how it was supposed to be, how she felt most comfortable: a walking fortress, armed to the teeth, death on two legs. In no other state would she have ever dared to enter the mines. Right now, she might have even enlisted for a mission to the inside of the Hannai Fort, that's how pumped she was! ....Maybe not, that was still a different caliber than what the two of them were up today. The mines just had the entrance to Hannai somewhere inside them, as far as she knew. But the mission today would certainly clear the path up there for Bannik and his men!

Much to her satisfaction, Cre had a reply for everything she had been asked. There was the watch, they'd have to keep a close eye on it.
"From a Sky Island. Makes sense, yeah. I know some pretty awful people come from there - they don't even stop the revolution if they use ships up there..." A slight shiver went through the redhead and her gaze seemed empty for a few seconds. Thinking back on that day when the airship - revolutionaries for sure, at least that was what everybody assumed - attacked the 24th Marine Base. Not a single stone had been left on top of one another, the whole island bombed to the ground. Only through the cover of the clouds would these people have had the opportunity to steer close to the base like that. And only if the people up there let them pass.

Her only complaint in the specialist's perfected coverstory was more of a snarky remark about nothing.
"Well, secret organisations with no reputation don't do so well in this world I don't think. You need to have a name behind it for people to be impressed. We don't need that though, you are the image of success, they'll let us in at least."

When the blonde mentioned the lack of wings in her set of acquaintances, Nad took note, but wasn't all that surprised. Neither did she know anyone really. All she knew was that there were more of their kind out there. Honestly though, she could do without them. Normal people didn't have wings, so there was no need for an unnatural group like them mucking up the regular folk's society. When she noticed the professional's blushing look, Nadya nodded in agreement. She too was often embarassed by her plummage, as they should. None of this was voiced however. Just simply taken as the obvious truth.

After a little while, they finally arrived at their destination. As was the case pretty much always, her partner's joke went straight over the Marine's head.
"Of course this is the place..." she whispered "Look at the sign!"
To think that criminals could have the nerve to put up tresspassing warnings! If anything, the Navy should just brick in the whole area themselves to keep the villains in!

Immediately as the warning shots sounded through the air, Baryschny seemed to jump into its owner's hands on its own. The gun was cocked and raised, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Ol' Manny"'s appearance did not have quite the same effect on the soldier as it did on Miss Levier. Although, to an outside viewer, it certainly was similar in some regards: Nadya was holding her breath, taking a step back and having blood pump loudly in her skull. But not out of fear, but utter disgust and anger. Manny seemed to notice, grinning and stroking his beard as he was towering above them.

A second longer and Recruit Orlov would have thrown threats at the big guy's head. Thankfully, the specialist beat her to it. Although not in the manner that might have been appropriate.

Manny's smile got wider and wider.
"Ageranil? You two?!" he laughed a thundering, bass imbued laugh "Who do we have here, huh? A bored rich kid looking for a kick? Or one for her doggie?"
Gnashing of teeth was all the Red Nad could do for now. Being taken that lightly didn't exactly do wonders for her mood. Let alone being called a dog. Slowly, she raised Baryschny's barrel up to the old man's face.
"Ohahaha! For you then, eh? Fine fine, you'll get your fix. Come along please."

[cremuex]

Miss Orlov introduced her to an idea that had never made itself known to her before- the idea that her people, Skypeople, weren't exactly the clean, pure, peaceful society that she had learned from her adoptive mother. While her philosophy stood that people were inherently good and learned bad habits based on the situation that they were raised, through their animal needs. As she looked at the marine and took in her reaction to the thought of other sky people she had to feel some doubt. Whatever she'd experienced was reflective of a traumatic experience and she would never question the validity of another persons emotions. She wanted to believe that they were good but she couldn't ignore the truth in the others feelings. It happened. They'd hurt others, no matter their reason.

She wasn't sure how to react when the other told her to look at the sign, almost as though they were indignant. Maybe humour wasn't the most appropriate thing for such a situation.

She huffed at the man laughing at her as if what she'd said was beyond funny, the punchline of the century, though she couldn't see it being repeated in bars and taverns quite to the same extent that Manny seemed to find things. She furrowed her eyebrows and her lip started to curl above one of her canine teeth like a sneer. She wanted to say something witty and forceful but she wasn't capable of coming up with anything better then "What's so funny?" and that... yeah, no.

She wanted to jump to Nad's defence when he called her a little doggie but nothing said 'watch your mouth' quite like having the business end of a gun pointed directly at your face, at least it seemed to work out for her as the man hooked two fingers around the barrel to push it to the side. It seemed like he wanted to just swat it away but it took a measure more effort than he would have originally considered necessary. Certainly Nad must've had some strong arms, or at least a well locked stance in her shoulders.

Manny turned around and beckoned the two girls to follow his with gesture of his head as he muttered to himself about things that were just incoherent enough to make zero sense but still understandable enough to know that he was cracking jokes about the two of them. From behind the man all she could do was to mouth "I'm so sorry" to her partner.

As the man guided them along, heckling them all the way, they came to one of the entrances of the abandoned mines. To her surprise, there were no gaurds visible, though it was definitely certain to have some people watching over it in some hidden location. She couldn't help but err a bit as they reached the point where they had to follow the entrance down. She wasn't so sure of the stability of the wooden support structures and planting an explosive in such an old mine made her feel like the timers might do well to be set a bit later, just so they had enough time to get out without being buried alive.

She seemed to have clicked as to why she might have been selected after all. She knew about rocks. She could tell which rocks would be least stable and easier to break down, where a shock point would do best or rather it's worst, and cause the most devastation possible.

Their foot steps echoed through the tunnels and a small flickering light indicated a side passage where they held small amounts for public purchase, this time covered by a team of four armed roughians and a broad shouldered squat woman with scruffy short hair and an undercut that seemed to handle all the money. The womans eyes raised from her book at the sound of someone entering.

"Manny."
"Yea?"
"Who are these that you've brought down with you? I don't recognise either of them and you've been told to call for someone and not to leave your post." The woman calmly stated like an authoritative parent would to get a child to admit that they're wrong before punishing them.
"They just needed a hit is all and they came lookin'... so I didn't want 'em wondering around the mines all on their lonesome. They might get lost, or worse."[/brown] He seemed to hold a note of pleasure in the word 'worse' like he enjoyed whatever happened to those that stumbled onto the mines without permission or guidance. A rough chuckle to himself.

The womans dark green eyes then feel upon the two girls, demanding an explanation with her stare and a raise of her eyebrow which indicated to Cremuex that it was time for her to do her job.

"My name is Miss Kree, this is my associate Red Nad. We're here on behalf of the Obsidian Dynasty to inspect the quality of your goods and to see if it might be mutually beneficial to expand your operation outside of the borders of Athens. Our employer has some interest in what is known as Ageranil." She said with a respectful bow of her head.

The woman's eyes turned downward and seemed to lock on to the briefcase in Crem's hand, which was enough to make the woman rise from her seat and walk around the metal crate that sat in front of her and approach them.

"I'll need confirmation from my boss before we can allow you to go any further; please, browse our wares while we get someone that can help you." She said in a cool and reasonably pleasant matter, before snapping at Manny to get Dan.

Manny looked confused. This wasn't what he was expecting at all, and wasn't sure if he was in trouble for bringing the girls in, or if he was going to make a pretty commission off them. He gritted his teeth and left the room with an attitude of 'whatever I don't even care, get off my back'. In comparison to Manny, Nad was being downright professional.

[Blaka]

The so called Red Nad must have did not even have to act for her part to work. Being silent and looking grim was all that was required of her. Well, grim was certainly one word for the look on her face. Constant silly jokes from Manny only added to how annoyed she was that thugs like him were able to flip of the Athens Navy for so long. The Marines had access to arms and technology beyond these cretins' comprehension. Manny was barely able to form sentences it seemed, and the state of the brittleing mine tunnels didn't exactly scream well enforced underground fortress.

At least they can read. she thought to herself when they arrived at their destination. The brutish woman sitting here was the first thing that made Nadya kind of weary. Unlike the mooks around her, this one seemed both capable battle and proper strategy at the same time. Silently, Miss Orlov observed her every move while Cre was doing her thing. In the end though, she came to the sound conclusion that getting into a fistfight with her was likely a bad idea - but a shot to the face would do the trick, as it always did.

As Miss Undercut here mentioned browsing wares, she lead her customers closer to the metal crate she had been sitting behind earlier. A short look inside proved that there wasn't much browsing to be had. Simple people as they were, somebody had filled the crate to the brim with little black pills. Triangular in shape, these were most certainly Ageranil pellets.
"The finest Ageranil you can get in all of Athens!" one of the guards grunted.
Despite knowing they shouldn't draw more attention than necessary, Nad couldn't hold back.
"Isn't it all the same? From the same source? On the whole island?" she grunted back, dripping with sarcasm.
"It is." confirmed the muscular lady in charge, throwing a withering look at the one who spoke first. "It's the finest in the whole world. I'd recommend you taste it yourself, but given that you have business to talk about... maybe you should come by afterwards."
Nadya just nodded. Things had to turn out worse than she liked to think about before she would ever take one of these...

Shortly afterwards, Manny came back. Behind him, the "boss" entered the room. Something told the redheaded recruit that he wasn't really the head of the entire organisation. First of all, they couldn't actually be dumb enough to call such an important person just because they smelled some profit. Secondly, Nad highly doubted that folks like Manny would follow a scrawny big head like him:

Dan was a good deal shorter than both of his supposed customers and just as thin. Wearing a fine black suit and white leather gloves that only looked slightly dusty revealed that he was more of an office person than any kind physically strong. The guy's main feature however was the head - way too big for a tiny body like this, almost like a balloon attached to his neck. Curiously, his top hair and chin beard had the same strange style, curled up like a snail. A ridiculously long nose only further added to Nad's mix of amusement and revulsion as she was looking at him.

"These are the ladies?" he asked with a high pitched nasal voice, eyeing them up with his big algae-green hues "Obsidian Dynasty you said?"
Before anyone could respong, he screwed up his nose at what looked like generally everyone in the room "I'll take you to Iacobus personally after we had a little chat in my office. Come along please."

Nadya was beginning to get nervous. Somewhere along the way they would have to lose observers so that they could move freely in the facility to plant the bombs. Wasting time like this was annoying. Worse yet, being taken right to the boss without an opportunity to follow through with their plan would make the whole operation fail.
"Who are you again?" she snapped.

Dan raised an eyebrow at her question.
"What do you mean who am I?" He screwed up his nose again, this time specifically at the girl with the rifle "You should know names like Sir Iordanes before coming here you know!"

Miss Orlov wasn't the least bit impressed.
"I was told your name is Dan. What do you do around here?"

"IORdanES! I'm the damn second hand of Iacobus you little shit!"
Typical. Just a few words got this type of person to clamour like a little kid.
"Without my approval who don't even get near him! Keep this up and he'll have you for breakfast!"

"The food taster then?"

"Gnnnnnnnrrrrr!" Directing his attention to Miss Levier, Iordanes almost squealed: "Call your dog back for god's sake! Call yourself lucky that I'm so generous! Follow me and I'll consider what you have to say, but next time you should bring somebody with manners!"

[cremuex]

Oh! Nice catch Nadya! She thought to herself. She would have thought there were different grades or strengths of the drug, similar to how one would water down a drink to make it last longer or give more at the expense of it's potency. She wasn't going to say anything though- it didn't need to be said. Based on that line of thinking it could be said that even the worst of something is the best at whatever it is if it's its own thing. 'This is the best swamp water in all of Athens' is still technically true if it's the only swamp water in Athens.

She tried not to look too amused at seeing someone markedly shorter than her, which was in itself a rare novelty. She didn't want to be rude and it wouldn't be the brightest of ideas to make light of someone's appearance if they were in charge, even if they weren't the tippy top of big bads. His attire told her that he was trying to make up for his appearance, because lets be honest here, there was no way to over compensate when you looked like a french political cartoon.

She politely followed the new comer and thanked everyone involved for their time. Being nice was just something that she did, even as a criminal that wouldn't change- right? She thought better than to ponder on her false life of crime.

Whatever pity she had for the man was quick to rub off when he started to treat Nadya poorly, and that was more offensive to her than if he'd just been mean to Crem herself. It smelt of elitism, like he thought himself better than the under-cover marine.

The conversation was quite short and being left alone with the two women in the maze of a mine was probably not the best of planning by Iordanes. If he was so important he should have had a bodyguard or two with him. What was with everyone in this group calling Nadya a dog? Was this a common insult in the area or were they just not clever enough to use the already animal bird wings to come up with something more poignant?

"I would Iordanes, but I didn't bring a dog with me. I suppose though that if your consideration hinges upon us following you, we probably don't require your approval after all." Her voice was missing the gentle warmth that it normally held, probably snuffed out by the manner in which they treated Nadya. She had no patience or tolerance for that kind of harassment and the two of them could likely take the little man down without much hassle.

Iordanes turned, not believing his ears that not only one of them had the gall to insult him but the both of them did. He was quite talented in the way he caught the briefcase with his face. It was meant to be a punch, but she wasn't going to admit that when such a solid hit had landed. It probably wouldn't have made much of a sound, nothing louder than the way he was already trying to make his voice sound big and important anyway.

She looked at her companion and blinked. Well, that was a development. Poor Nadya probably wanted to do the honors. His nose was bleeding and noticeably bent, possibly broken. She would have felt more sorry if he was a more likable person that didn't have a Napoleon complex.

"I'll uhhh... get the rope... in case he comes too." The briefcase thankfully hadn't dented anywhere and the clasp locks were still functioning fine. Hog tying such a short person was a lot faster than a bigger person. She didn't NEED to tie his left wrist to his right ankle and vice versa before using a section of the rope to effectively gag him, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth the extra effort to make sure he couldn't wiggle out of the rope himself. Part of her saw the appeal and humor in dangling him off the ceiling but the vast majority of her voted against it. They could just stuff him in an empty crate and put a full crate on top of it.

"Convenient how small he is, I guess we don't have to break his bones or dislocate anything to hide him in a crate." She didn't mean that in a 'what a pity, we could have had fun' way that her companion might have taken it, simply stating that it made their job easier. It was a morbid sort of statement for such an otherwise cheerful person, though it was a type of black humor that she seemed to understand in an almost profound way. There were a lot of unspoken truths that she'd just casually accepted.

She looked up to the darker skinned girl. She had the bombs, and they'd need to plant them eventually, the problem was finding a way out without needing to go back through the same way that they'd come in. There were rumors, or more, whispering of rumors that there were secrets passages, and they'd need to have more than one escape route. Well, they would if anyone cared about safety, which seemed a resounding 'nope' in their current situation. She could point out the places where the bombs would do the most damage, but getting out alive was also an important part of the plan, at least to her it was, she didn't know how willing her companion was to lay down their life in the name of a marine mission.

[Blaka]

The eyes under Nadya's sunglasses widened in surprise two times in a row. First, when Cremuex witnessed the skilled whack with the handbag. Such precision and strength to knock a (sort of) grown man out in one hit weren't features she had expected in her partner. That's why she needed a bodyguard, right? Not that Nady wasn't glad that there was some ability to defend herself in the pretty lady. Even if they couldn't rely on it.

A second time surprise took over her eyes when Miss Kree proceeded to tie Iordanes up and even made a comment about breaking his bones. Nothing before had hinted at any kind of brutality within her.

However, she didn't say a word about either of it at first. There were more important things to take care of.
"Good job. I would have gotten loud just now." was all she had to say, sort of confessing to the fact that she would have liked to shoot this man in the face proper.
Somebody's office - hopefully that of the small Sir in their posession - was right around the next tunnel corner. Luckily, the door of the small room was open a tad. Likely because Iordanes didn't think it necessary to actually lock it, with everything having so much respect for him and all. Well, grave mistake. Miss Orlov simply grabbed the little snob by his ties and dragged him over to his room. There, she'd stuff him safely under his own desk. All sorts of documents were lying around on said desk, about trades and payments all over the island.

"We should take some of this, put it in your bag." Nadya suggested "That way we get even the dealers that aren't blown up here today."

Alas, they could finally proceed with their actual job - preparing to blow the place to hell. News of their arrival must have gotten around quick. None of the thugs they met on their way reacted in any way suspiciously, as if they had gotten orders to leave the winged buyers on their way to the boss alone. Of course they still had to watch out when actually planting the charges, hide them behind crates and such. Cre could point out the weak spots and Nad would plant the explosives where necessary.

Eventually, the young Marine decided to ask some questions before it would be too late.

"So Miss...Kree. In case we run into trouble, is their any way you can defend yourself? There might be too many of them for me to protect you right away." With an amused look at the bag she added "I can't imagine we can knock out anyone else with that. Got anything else in there I should know about? You people run around with these Dials a lot right?"

With you people she obviously meant the winged folk from the Skylands. Sure, she was one herself, even used a dial, but she didn't use it because she was from there. Miniature flamethrowers in your pocket were just useful.

"Or are you one of those weirdos who don't use weapons at all?" By now weirdos wasn't really meant as an insult to the specialist specifically. Not as harsh as it might have sounded anyway. "Trust me those exist. I even met a dude once who wouldn't use any weapon he hadn't been hit with before. Basket was it..? Something like that..."