Operation Black Heart, Pt. 2 (B-Rank Anbu)

[Omoi Tetsu]

What began as a brief attempt brush a little bit of sleep out of his eyes, turned into a scratching, which would devolve into a full minute or two of Ryugo trying to push his eyes back into his skull. The missions you weren't in the field for might be slightly less nerve wracking, but sleep was a rare commodity to be found, regardless of how long they went on, and the man had a feeling that his troubles with waning consciousness were only just beginning. "And so," He continued, "You're still at risk. Don't get it into your head that you've infiltrated the Margin, you haven't, it looks like you're merely being given a shot to try again." The mission wasn't so dangerous, it was true, at least by the description here, but the group was not one you could ever let your guard down with, and, if Sonen was being entirely honest with himself, he felt that it was a bad sign that Mishiku's first infiltration attempt went so roughly, and that things were only going to escalate from there.

"Two hours to be in and out of the train," He came back to the point at hand, ruffling through his dossier of notes, records, and pictures gathered for his portion of the mission's oversight, while lifting his mug of coffee to warm his throat a little, "We basically know the operation they've planned, and they're overdoing it with manpower, so you shouldn't really come across anything that will test you. It should be okay..." He trailed off, contemplating his own preparation more than the other Anbu's preparedness for the mission at hand, but regained his composure after reminding himself that he was only there to brief the young man, and to stay on task.

"This is a funding operation, but we have every reason to believe that they're using it to test you. They'll want to know if you're another Anbu by putting you to your limits. Try not to kill anyone... Innocent, do your very best." The man paused, his brow furrowing as he contemplated the nature of the words that were about to pour out of his mouth, "But," He said, lowering his tone of voice, his demeanour changing to something much more grave, "You are an Anbu, and this mission is about preventing the greatest loss of life possible, which means infiltration is the highest priority." The man looked out toward the docks in front of the seaside restaurant, the masts idly bobbing up and down and seeming to cross occasionally with one another, as if some absent-minded fencing match was taking place between the boats. It was easy to get lost in the tranquility of a place like this, to forget the tremendous price such things were paid for with. "Most of all though, remember. This is an improvisational mission, and when it comes right down to it, your mission is to get close to the people you need to; don't expect that to happen by accident, you've got to make your own opportunities. Consider the involvement of the corps on this absolutely at a minimum."

There wasn't much left to say after that. This was the nature of mission briefing; you always spoke for too long, saying a lot of unnecessary noise that your field operative already knew, and you never said enough of what might have saved them, if only you remembered to say it. Sonen would silently wait for any comments or questions the man had, enjoying the brief respite of gulping down about half of what remained of his coffee, but otherwise, he expected Mishiku to basically head over from there back to the rendezvous point that the terrorists had set with him.

 

[Mishiku]

The day was absolutely a beautiful one, the sun was shining, a continuous nice cool breeze made it to where the day wouldn't get too hot regardless if you were out in the sun all day. Mishiku's gaze was fixated on the port that was just before him, daydreaming of sailing on one of the boats he saw drifting peacefully out in the sea. Ryugo voice rose just a hair to grab Mishiku's attention once again, he had nearly forgotten that the reason why he was relaxing in a cafe off the docks was that he needed the next stage of his infiltration of Margin. In fact, he barely made it out without his cover being blown from one of the overzealous members that wanted to have him killed. Something within him foreshadowed that this mission would drastically change him forever, however, he quickly swept the feeling away, believing that it only was his apprehension of going deeper into the belly of the beast, especially since his handler seemed like he would be one to leave Mishiku in the beast but he couldn't assume that of Ryugo, not yet at least, he could tell that the young ANBU was eager to prove himself worthy of the ANBU title but perhaps this mission wasn't the best set up for Ryugo to succeed, if anything it was as if his superior had intentionally set him up to far.

"We basically know the operation they've planned, and they're overdoing it with manpower, so you shouldn't really come across anything that will test you. It should be okay..." Ryugo said, casually sipping coffee and letting the information sink into Mishiku. If Mishiku hadn't been wearing his sunglasses then perhaps Ryugo could peer into what Mishiku was thinking but the only thing Ryugo would see would be from his own reflection. "Should be okay...... that's comforting.." Mishiku thought to himself as he internally winced from Ryugo's poor choice of words. Mishiku listened to the rest of what Ryugo had to say before preparing himself to get to the rendezvous spot that he was told. There was no need to talk too much to Ryugo, however, his subtle attempt at telling Mishiku to kill innocent civilians left a bad taste in his mouth. Mishiku had known that the life of a shinobi was a life of conflict and not for the faint of heart but regardless of the missions, he took he never killed anyone innocent, maybe knocked some people out unconsciousness to keep him from being caught in infiltration missions but never did he have to kill.

"Most of all though, remember. This is an improvisational mission, and when it comes right down to it, your mission is to get close to the people you need to; don't expect that to happen by accident, you've got to make your own opportunities. Consider the involvement of the corps on this absolutely at a minimum.” Ryugo explained. The whole mission handler persona really took to Ryugo, it was as if the man was born for the role. Mishiku slowly rose from his chair taking his drink along with him,

“Great, then if that’s the case I expect to have minimum contact with you unless I say otherwise or an emergency happens in where I have to know.” Mishiku paused to take a sip of his cold beverage and enjoying the nice cool breeze before he had to slip back into character for his mission. “Come back to this cafe each day at 12 PM to have lunch until we meet again. We’ll see in the near future if you’ve prepped me well enough to successfully infiltrate and survive all this.” Mishiku said as he turned around to make his towards the rendezvous point. He arrived to see a couple of the young guys he met briefly a few days ago talking amongst themselves. Mishiku found a nearby tree stump to sit down on as he sipped the last bit of his beverage in peace before the test began.

WC: 672
[MFT]

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

</I>

- - - - The train for Amagakure will depart in three minutes... - - - -​

<i></i>
.

.

~*~*The Boarding Party*~*~
.
.​

Ichigo loved train stations for the odd intersection they presented in human life between chaos and order. It was where man met machine, but also, where the organization of machine and beauracracy met the slovenliness of most people. They would look at their watches multiple times over, half concerned over the time, but not so worried that the time would actually register, and at this hour, more often than not, a person looking at the time once would have another peek in a few moments, and you could generally tell when this was due to impatience, and when it was due to an absence of mind. Ichigo wondered if those in the latter category even remembered looking the first time.

It was a place for people to do nothing, begrudgingly, without the pretense that doing nothing was something they actually enjoyed, as might be the case at, say, the hot springs, or on a hike. Here, they would privately resent their machine overlords for what they would perceive as an imposition on their uncurated personages. The machine never got tired, never got bored, but it, too, was inconvenienced by the whim of the conductor, and would take out it's rage in a much more productive fashion, depriving them of sleep, and then, sooner or later, engulfing them in flames and twisted metal that resulted from their strictly non-machine-like needs. People never liked being in the presence of strangers; they didn't like being locked in a metal box with them, and giving others a schedule and map of where they might be on any given day, at any given time, but, in the inspector's opinion, they perhaps didn't dislike it quite enough, and perhaps not consciously enough, since there they all were in the name of convenience.

The man sat on his seat and looked down at his watch before cracking open a newspaper. He was, as usual, the earliest there of his team, but not so early as to rouse any suspicion for the train they were to board. At a distance, he was never suspicious, it had been his job and passion for too long to manifest himself as the scenery, although at shorter distances, the feedback he gained from those around him often told a different story.

What did they call it? <I>The calm before the storm? It was the only sort of waiting that Genma could ever wholly find himself comfortable enduring. The anticipation was like that of air so thickly charged that a lightning rod placed down at the center of them woulda changed the very taste of it when you opened your mouth to get a full lungful of it. Maybe it was the sense that only a few of those present were privy to this excitement, that only the chosen few, say, could taste it, that added that extra touch of flavour that the man tended to crave. The sort of voyeuristic anticipation of the looks on their faces when they all realized that they were all about to be torn from the mundanities of life that they all privately wished for an escape from, and maybe torn asunder from that shock, depending on how the day's events followed. The question of who was about to rise to the occasion and remind the man that he, too, had gotten himself into habits for which he might be considered predictable, and put him in his place.

"No, if you're eating large fish every day," The man guarded the flame from his lighter as he was about to light his cigarette, and then remembered where he was, begrudgingly putting it away while the unlit cigarette hung off his lips, "You're basically putting poison into yourself, not to mention the worms, but it's all about the dosage."
"So you think it's, like, okay to have a little bit of poison, just not a lot."
"I'm saying it's unavoidable, what do you want, you really worried about what you eat here? You remember what's on the docket for the day?" He smiled as he patted Kimi on the back. "Where's the new guy?"

As he waved his head to see over the crowd, his eyes locked on the young Anbu, waving the man to come over before wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "You ready to have a blast, kid?" All smiles and sunshine; someone who hadn't been there the other day might have guessed the two were old friends, judging by the familiarity with which he was being handled. "Just follow our leads, you'll be fine." And with that final thought, the train would signal it's entrance on the scene with that old, familiar whistling torrent of steam.

Yumiko slowly turned the page of her ornately bound book as the train pulled up, standing up while continuing to read, only to find herself stumbling forward, her shoes being carelessly strewn about. She had pushed the heals of them down as one of her idle little mannerisms waiting for the mission to start. "Ho-hold on for me!" She said meekly before running back to slip her shoes on, then hopping to catch up with the group. She was trying to find a place to shove the book in her bag, but couldn't seem to make a spot for it among the dozen or so novels that were poking out with jagged edges, and so, seeing the nature of her dilemma, pulled the strap over her shoulder to rest it on the seat next to hers and started rummaging for her notepad and pen when she felt she had enough room to do so, before trying to forcibly cram the rest of her books inside once more. The zipper closed, but it didn't appear to be too happy about this, and loudly protested in metal squeaks as she tried to shut it.

Finally, she looked up with her focused journalistic expression in tact, ready to get to work. "So tell me about the future of Lightning Country, Ruya. What are your hopes?" Yumiko bit her pen pensively as she gazed attentively into the girl's eyes that sat across from her.
"Umm, maybe later." Ruya said as she rested her chin on her palm and stared lazily out of the window.
"Right." An answer like that tended to be code for 'don't ask things like this out in public.' And so, Yumiko would have to come up with a different approach if she wanted to find material for her weekly newsletter and accompanying flyers.
"Umm. Did you want some peaches? I brought them for a snack, but I ate earlier." Building rapport was also important.
"Oh, sure! Thanks!"
"Oh..." Yumiko lamented as she reached into the side pocket of her bag. "It seems as though I've crushed them. Sorry." The girl scratched her head and smiled bashfully, with Ruya matching her expression as she tried to make the girl feel at ease with her predicament.

"Thanks." The girl responded after gently taking the cup of hot cocoa that was brought to her. It was true that she wasn't likely going to be able to enjoy the whole thing, but just having a sip of it was a nice way to start what was otherwise going to be a very chaotic day. She couldn't help but feel her knees start to shake before big events like this; what she was capable of surprised her, but more than that, looking at all the unsuspecting faces of the people on the train... She wondered where they were all going, if things would really be alright. Ruya took a deep sip of the hot liquid, letting it warm her chest, before stepping up to speak with Kanoda.

"Are you ready?"
"Yeah." The man responded gruffly, but calmly. It was reassuring listening to him respond to questions like this, because he always sounded like he didn't want to do what he had to, not that he wouldn't be able to.
"I'll get everyone ready, you just need to worry about getting in and clearing the room, okay? Car three, next two stops."

The girl pulled down some of her hair and started chewing it as she looked out the window, toward the horizon, trying to find anything at all that might be seen as unusual. "Ichigo?" The man didn't look up at her, but gestured four fingers forward beside him in the seat, then two, as he responded "Some people have itchy shirts." Second seat, four rows down. She gestured her head forward in a nod while looking at Geese, who promptly stood up and made his way to sit down next to the man in the seat in question. The man looked over crossly at Geese, in obvious response to the fact that there were plenty of free seats that could be taken before a stranger needed to sit next to him.

One more station to go.

For a moment, she let her mind wander, wishing and hoping for the time when she could be back at home- Well, what was now her new home. Everything had changed so quickly, and Ruya felt like a sort of plant, wanting to dig it's roots in deeper into some plot of land; the upheaval was jarring, but she felt like she was also resilient enough to handle it, even though she didn't believe it at first. Maybe it was just that circumstance had forced her to be a little tougher.

"Stay with Geese." She said absentmindedly to Maskuro.

Kanoda walked up to Maskuro, looking at him blankly as he, too, would take his turn lighting a cigarette. It was late enough into things that he could get away with it, and it seemed like Geese was a bad influence on trudging up old habits after all. He took a deep drag on it while silently looking into Maskuro's eyes, and as a few annoyed glances searched the train car while letting out suppressed little coughs. He was about to say something to the kid, but ultimately decided against it, merely trying to read what was behind the kid's eyes; what sort of person he'd end up being.

Moving to the end of the car, he'd look behind him as Kimi suddenly sprung into action, speed walking up to the man to kneel down in front of him, her face practically touching the door that led to the outside. In an instant or two, a gust of cold air would blow through the car as Kanoda's coat flapped wildly against it, disappearing into the light of the late morning.

It would've been nice to have some of her help along the way in the next car too; Kanoda tended not to be great with things that required a great deal of finesse, like locks, but, thankfully, room security rarely ever extended to door and lock strength, and the man was able to give it two hard kicks to knock it in. What followed from there was a hail of bullets, which the man could avoid easily by swinging to the side when the thing had collapsed inward toward the cabin. Bullets were scary, alright, but the people firing them tended to be a little predictable. They'd slowly approach the door, and one of them even fired two holes to the side of the door where the man had concealed himself on the other side of the wall, but they didn't quite pass through.

The two men leading the charge looked at each other pensively and briefly, but that look communicated everything; "Why don't you go check first, and I'll back you up?" Still, their fingers were about a hair's breadth away from letting loose another storm of led and smoke toward the opening if anything appeared from the light. Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from behind them as the man entered through the door on the other side, putting a bullet in the head of the man leading the charge, and two more into the shoulder of the man behind him, before disappearing again.

It wasn't, like, totally out of the question for Kimi to be asked to pick a lock, but it was kind of exciting, if she was being totally honest with herself. She knew that she was really, like, ON a heist right now, but you know when you don't expect some old-ass random subject to come in handy, and then suddenly some cool guy in a full trenchcoat asks you for your help and you're like, 'Oh yeah! I can do that. Don't even worry about it.' Sure, there's that moment where you're like dripping sweat when it isn't working, wondering, like, 'Wait, do I really remember how to do it though? How come the pins aren't going up? Is this a different kind of lock that I actually know absolutely nothing about?!' But then you hear that click and it's like, okay, no need to panic, you were just about as amazing as you thought you were.

As soon as the shots started firing in the other train car, Geese punched the guy he was sitting next to in the face, and reached into his pocket to pull out a gun. Kimi jumped at the sudden violence, she couldn't hide it, and it was so... What's the word? Wildly entertaining? To watch Geese just rail on someone, because you never really saw it coming, and mmm, mm, mmm, he really put his back into it. Like, not to say that Kimi thought of Geese in that sort of way. But there's something about a man just giving his all and torquing those back muscles, you know what I mean? Turned out the guy did have a gun, so. Good on him, she guessed. God, it was a good thing that none of them depended on her for figuring out who the plants in a room were going to be; she'd be absolutely hopeless, just trying to wildly guess who looked more like a cop then anyone else, but if she was being totally honest again, then she'd just start imagining the guys in the room in uniforms to see if the picture fit, and then Raiden knows where her mind would wander off to. Not that there were too many chiseled jaws in the car around her, maybe with some present company excluded. She was seeing lots of rolls of skin, but no judgment, no judgment.

Kanoda came out of the other train car coughing up a lung with blood running down his legs as Kimi sort of made an awkward expression and looked around the room trying to remember who or if they designated anyone at all to the medic role. So much for planning ahead. Actually though, Ruya came running to his aid when she saw him, it was a very noble look for her too. The girl totally forgot that Ruya had any medical experience at all. Wait, did she? Well, Kimi guessed that that was a matter between her and Kanoda now.

"Ow!" The girl said as she was thrown forward by the train, knocking her head against one of the chair's legs, her own flailing wildly into the air above her. "Isn't that dumbass conductor supposed to be in our pockets or what? Are you really just gonna let him do whatever he wants and send us flying into all this shit because he gets skittish about a few gunshots?! Go stop him!" She looked over at Maskuro, trying to push the bump back into her head. "You heard me! Don't just stand there like a dead fish!" And no she didn't know what that meant, and no she didn't care either!

 

[Mishiku]

"Go time." Mishiku thought to himself as he walked over to Genma's signal to sit with him and Kimi, his red and purple hilted sword sheathed behind his waist. Mishiku still had his sunglasses on as he took a seat next to his fellow terrorist. "You ready to have a blast, kid?" Genma chided as he put his arm around Mishiku. All smiles and sunshine; if someone who hadn't been there the other day they might have guessed the two were old friends, judging by the familiarity with which he was being handled, hell even Mishiku wondered it himself for a brief moment. Maybe the guy was just an asshole, yeah that was probably it. "Just follow our leads, you'll be fine." And with that final say, the train would signal it's entrance on the scene with that old, familiar whistling torrent of steam. Mishiku already took note of all the players that were on the board: Genma, Ichigo, Yumiko, Kimi, Kanoda, and Ruya. The last he fixated his eyes on her athletic build and beautiful features, Ruya, the woman who he was supposed to manipulate in order to fall in love with him. Mishiku scoffed at the idea that that was even part of the mission, was it even necessary? Hadn't his ANBU superiors knew that Mishiku could never fall in love? He enjoyed the freedom of having any woman he wanted and not being tied down. Besides, it was well known that he had picked up his mother's gift or curse, depending on the point of view of being more......receptive to his emotions. There were plenty of occasions in his youth in where his anger or sorrow had heightened his chakra level to unfathomable heights, to the point in where his mother had to calm him his emotions with some sort of technique. After that incident, his mother taught him how to control his anger. Mishiku snapped out of his reminiscent of his childhood as the train began to churn forward. He wondered in what way the group would challenge him to officially join their organization but he quickly waved it from his mind, there was no point in wondering about that right now, the heist was about to begin and he had to stay ready. Kanoda casually walked up beside Mishiku as he paused to light a cigarette and silently look into Mishiku's eyes. Mishiku tilted his head up to make eye contact with Kanoda, it felt as if the man could see right through Mishiku's black sunglasses and into his very soul, they both seemed to share a moment for a time. Mishiku returned Kamuro's gaze with his own, he couldn't say for sure but he could see there was much more to Kanoda then what met the eye. If Mishiku was just another ANBU tool then he would have labeled the man as a one-dimensional terrorist that needed to be eliminated but for the briefest of moments, Mishiku could see a flicker of something more to the man. Kamuro looked as if he was about to say something to Mishiku but ultimately decided against it and made his way into the next car.

After a few short minutes, Mishiku could hear the sound of gunfire from the next car that Kanoda had entered, as if that was the cue for the show to start, Geese smashed his fist against the man next to him and pulled out a gun and aimed it mere inches from the man's face. The civilians in the train car gasped in surprise and fear as they quickly realized that they were the unlucky bunch to take a train that was under a heist. Kanoda came out of the other train car coughing up a lung with blood running down his legs, Ruya came running to his aid when she saw him, it was a very noble look for her too. Mishiku remembered that not only was Ruya second in command but she had an extensive amount of medical experience before her second life in the Margin. Suddenly every occupant of the train was taken aback and thrown forward from the force of the train coming to an abrupt stop as if it was trying to stop itself from crashing into something. Mishiku instinctively slammed the hilt of his weapon against the chair in front of him to suppress powerful momentum of the train sending him flying forward like Kimi. The infuriated woman cursed aloud as she looked over to Mishiku and told him to check out what the issue was.

Mishiku rose to his feet and made his way from one train car to the next before coming face to face with three armed guards. The minute they noticed Mishiku they immediately pulled their pistols, Mishiku sped his advance with his chakra to close the distance and threw the sheath of his blade towards the closest guard, colliding with the guard's nose and hearing the crunching sound of bone and cartilage. Mishiku dived through the opening of the man's legs and slammed his hilt into the guard's testicles, causing the man to drop to the ground, not knowing whether to cover his bloodied and leaking nose or groin. Without losing momentum Mishiku disarmed the second guard's weapon with a nancy martial arts move before side kicking her into the third guard to prevent the guard from having a clean shot on him, he could feel the cracking of ribs as his kick made impact with the woman's torso. Mishiku quickly grabbed his sheath from the ground as the final guard scrambled to get out from under his immobilized comrade but by the time he got free Mishiku wielded his sword's sheath like a baseball bat and collided it with the man's face, sending him to dreamland. Mishiku breathed out a sigh of relief before sheathing his naked blade and keeping ahold of the weapon in his left hand in case there was a quick need for it again. He made it his intention not to take any innocent lives but he couldn't promise that those who got in his way would make it out pain-free. Mishiku finally arrived at the conductor's car, he slid the door open and closed it behind him to make sure no unwanted visitors would surprise him.

"Hey, what the hell are you stopping the train for? I would suggest you make sure that you keep this train moving if you want to make it out of here alive, I don't think your new employers are too keen on those messing up their operations." Mishiku warned.

WC: 1104

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

The conductor, Yojiro, couldn't seem to grasp the concept that he wasn't going to be able to stop the train by force. His knuckles and fingers were white and purple from trying to press the brake forward with as much urgency as he could muster, the squeal of iron wheels against the iron track deafening enough to muffle the sound of the young Anbu coming up behind the man, although he could just barely register the words as the kid spoke.

His eyes were fixated ahead though, and if you could draw a line to where they were locked on, it would lead to an old carriage toppled over on the tracks, with one of the horses still struggling to break free of it's harness, while the box that usually held people, and still might, was lying dead on the track, apparently after having fallen from a dirt path that wound up the mountainside, and in this case followed only slightly beside the train. They were about three seconds away from impact, even if the man kept breaking, but it looked like the train might possibly just stop in time to give the carriage a little nudge.

He could hear Mishiku's words, but he wasn't really listening. All the man's priorities were set at stopping the hulking mass of steam and metal before it cut a line through wood and flesh, and all the conductor could muster out while he continued to try and force the break down was "Can't... The carriage..."

Were there people inside, or not? Yojiro knew that it would hardly be his fault at this point if his train killed them. He was already trying to make excuses for himself in the eventuality that he couldn't stop inside, but he didn't want to see anything like that. He didn't want their blood on his hands, and all he could do was hope and pray to Raiden that the box had been abandoned, or, barring that, that those poor souls left in it were at least dead by the initial accident.

 

[Mishiku]

Mishiku's eyes widened once he got a better understanding of what was going on, the conductor wasn't incompetent or scheming to betray the Margin as one may have thought but he was struggling to stop the train because of a carriage blocking the railroad. He couldn't tell whether or not civilians were still inside the carriage but there wasn't even enough time for critical thinking. Mishiku instinctively made a few one-handed seals before reaching his hand out and clasping the carriage and the horse with an invisible hold before lifting them up and outside of the rail road's tracks, (Inertial Control Mastered). It took all of Mishiku's concentration to control the massive carriage with his jutsu in such a quick fashion. The carriage had been swiped by the train while in mid-flight from Mishiku's control over causing it to spin off slightly and lightly crash on the ground. If there was anyone inside the carriage they would have been startled by the sudden hit of the train and the crashing of the carriage falling to the ground, but they would still be alive to complain about it and that's what Mishiku was concerned about. Mishiku breathed a sigh of relief as he placed a reassuring hand on the conductor's shoulder, "now you can continue with the plan without any unnecessary hindrances." Mishiku exclaimed with a hint of relief and wonderment on what the conductor was thinking after the spectacle he had just witnessed with his own eyes. However, deep down Mishiku wanted to exhale a tired but satisfied breath. He wasn't always one to play hero but if he could save a life without having to jeopardize his mission or get involved in a greater problem then he was willing to be of assistance. Just then a thought zipped past Mishiku's mind as he walked over the right side that had a large window to examine the cart even further.

"Pretty convenient moment that there would be a roadblock to stop the train from reaching our destination." Mishiku thought to himself, "Almost too convenient." Mishiku turned away from the window to shot a glance over towards the conductor, "Accelerate the train back to where it was. If there are any more....complications that you see then inform the team immediately with the telecom system." Mishiku said before leaving the conductor's control room and back through the many cars he had passed to finally arrive in the car where the Margin players had been waiting for his status report. He looked over to Ruya and answered, "There was a blockade on the tracks that forced the conductor to stop his breaks or else the train would have been stopped indefinitely. I was able to clear the wreckage before any real damage had taken place and we should still be able to reach our destination on time with minimal delays." The last sentence he transitioned his gaze over to Kimi.