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Ninjas, so much better than pirates.
Jul. 1st, 2008 12:57 pmThe dark path let out on a reinforced rampart of some sort. Solid stone and canons...not her style in the least, but it was very useful as a reconnoiter point. She had to wonder at the placement of the stone edifice, so obviously perched to loom over the small town and the surrounding sea cliffs. Ostentatious was the term. Target was another. It certainly lacked subtlety, but then, it wasn't a subtle world.
Pity. Subtle worlds were complicated, which meant entertaining.
The bulwark at least had enough room for her and the girls, unlike the town she was to search. Not nearly enough room for everyone to play in.
"Well..." she chuckled, the sound softened to a near whisper on the breeze "...there is always the over-achiever option. A whole world here, why not check to make sure it's homogeneously infested? We're looking for interesting and out of the ordinary, girls." there was a moment of absolute stillness on the ramparts, then most of her companions melted away into the night.
The three remaining glided to either side as she jumped down to the bridge, the docks quiet and deserted at this hour. Silent, deserted, and dark. Almost like a flock of birds, the girls wheeled, shifting their target from the town to the anchored ships. It never hurt to check after all! Plus...ships were far more interesting to crawl through than streets.
The two men on guard outside The Interceptor never noticed the shadows alighting in the rigging, and the group took a moment to debate whether to kill them on general principles. It hadn't been in the orders, so with a shrug, the quartet flashed rock, paper, scissors at each other until one ninja slipped off to 'immobilize' the guards. "Now, let's see what we can find here." Larxene shooed the other two, slipping down to the deck.
She didn't actually find much. Her section seemed to hold deserted sleeping quarters for the crew. Hammocks swayed gently with the boat, and it was dark and cramped. A perfect spawning ground for heartless...but there was none. Just a rat or twelve and few forgotten mementos. She snarled silently at the boring room, casually slitting beds as she went. It wasn't much, as statements went, but it gave her something to do with her hands as she traveled back to the deck.
On deck, her trio were standing with a small find apiece; examples of what they'd seen. The first with a tricorner hat from one of the guards. The second held out a delicately carved jade ball that was interesting enough to slip in her pocket. The third...the third held a handful of coins nestled between her fingers. Gold coins. "Oh my..." Larxene chuckled softly "Lead on."
The coins were part of a much, much larger collection. Several chests worth of varied treasure, from statues and beads to coins and silks. It seemed the ship had been raiding. Or getting ready to deliver.
She honestly didn't care.
"Clean it out." she ordered "To the general treasury I think." nothing really looked interesting enough to keep...
...though she eyed one of the chests and whistled cheerfully as she carved Thanks for a good time - - - XII - - - on the lid. "This one to Three's room. Have fun girls!" she knew the hold would be empty within hours, a great mystery to the natives. She might even stick around to see the crew's reaction come morning, provided she had nothing better to do.
Ah, but duty called. With a cheerful wave, she was up in the night air once more, and darting towards the town.
The quiet, sleeping, unsuspecting town that had probably not realized they'd been connected yet. The Heartless obviously hadn't started swarming yet, and any losses were probably those that the society wouldn't trouble themselves over. Well...that made her job more difficult. Searching every nook and cranny wouldn't be...efficient. Or amusing. Obviously she needed...bait.
Strong emotions drew Heartless. Strong negative emotions were even better for a quick response. Aaaaand...she already had a couple of good worms for her hook back at the boat.
It wasn't long before one of the guards had been revived with a touch of lightning. Then she wrapped a hand in his collar, not touching him, but tightening the fabric to the point where it was almost as good as a garrote. That and a knife pricking just above his kidneys were very good incentives to march to town. She released him in a dimly lit, crate filled square, sliding back into the shadows to play with her new toy from a distance.
Amazing how much fear a Somebody could give off when he couldn't see the knives coming, or pinpoint where the laughter was coming from. Yes, fear, and frustrated, hopeless anger that could kick over into rage with enough blood loss. Had she a heart, she might have pitied the man. Or given him mercy as her targets finally clawed out of the dark pockets they'd been in. As it was, she let him see the nightmares that crawled and shimmied toward him. Nothing special there; just Shadows and Soldiers. Then she heard it, over the clanking armor and the whimpering screams the man's damaged throat could produce. Creaking.
Creaking?
Like wheels that needed oil.
Even better when a red, lighted symbol appeared and tracked the human. She'd never seen a heartless do that. Something new! Something new with canon balls apparently. Her bait never stood a chance as the iron ball flew in. It caught him square in the gut. He was in his last moments when her knife found him again. Better not to let another heartless into the world. And he had done his job. Only right he be rewarded for that!
The small group of heartless weren't pleased to see their targeted heart flicker out. Even less so to see the square light up with her signature element, taking care of the riffraff so she could focus on specimen retrieval. The new heartless was an inelegant, chunky thing. A canon, of course. She danced around as she observed it; it's limitless supply of ammunition never managing to pin her down, her barrier keeping it from getting away.
Still, the firing thing would make transport a problem.
Every heartless had it's weakness though, and in a canon, well, it had very few points to be vulnerable at. In the end, it was a simple task of yanking the perpetually lit fuse out entirely and bagging that little coil for Vexen. After all, pity if the scientist missed out on the new specimen's full potential.
Then there was just the little problem of the man's body to deal with. It was only common sense to stuff the cooling, bleeding corpse into the canon, then she could just tow it along back to the ship without having to juggle pieces! Though...the corpse did provide an excellent example of the canon ball damage...Vexen could get the whole package!
She handed the twitching, vainly struggling canon to one of her girls, then eyed the other unconscious guard. It felt unfinished, leaving one of a pair unharmed. The poor man might be labeled a traitor. Such an unkind fate, it'd be unconscionable! She'd have to make it interesting though. Creative.
Or at least disturbing.
At least the man never woke up as she removed his tongue, thumbs, and middle fingers. He'd be found in the empty hold in the morning, wounded hands bound with strips cut from the ship flag. She was about to label the mission done when one of her ninjas returned from her scouting. There was something interesting down the coast. Not heartless...but not human either.
* * * * *
Tortuga was a much livelier place than Port Royal had been. Noisy and filthy, so many flickering torches out to fight the night, yet it only made the shadows deeper. This was a town that knew to fear the dark...but also knew that darkness was useful. A dichotomy of ideals that should have made Tortuga the main anchor for the heartless incursions. Should have.
Port Royal was unfortunate, if the heartless passed up a tasty morsel like Tortuga, it meant that something significant was going to happen in the little, safe town. Probably something significantly unpleasant.
Not her concern.
She'd taken rooftops when she could, but now she was in the crowd, weaving among it and yet not part of it as the throng of Somebodies surged and pounded along the street. It wasn't a comfortable place to be, but she managed not to be pinched, prodded, hooked, or fondled with a few well placed knives. Surprising how a way opened to the nearest tavern after that.
According to the ninjas, the not-man had been followed to three taverns; the target was looking for something. Asking questions of the locals. It was another round of dodging before she could stand near him, watching. She didn't particularly care when he noticed her interest, though his reaction was a little out of the ordinary. He grinned, a smile full of gold capped teeth as he eyed her in return "Good to see a doxie who isn't flakin' paint!" he complimented "Takes weeks to get the taste of that out of a mans mouth, makes the price of wick dipping a little too steep."
On the Xigbar scale, the man didn't even come close to scoring, but it made the locals laugh and leer. It also made some men decide to take their chances. The first man hit the bar hard enough to cave in the front of his face; she wasn't happy with anyone who attempted to grab her. The second and third lost kneecaps...and after that it was a free for all. The room exploded with activity, everyone struggling to kill, or at least bash, everyone else.
And her target left.
Odd that.
She traced him to another tavern, then another...after that she just started fights first thing in the door by tossing patrons around until her target left in disgust. After the last tavern, she just had to wait, obviously standing by a dark alleyway. He came to her, snarling something along the lines of "Inter'ferrin bitch"
The knife to his ribs made him laugh. The one to his shoulder he ignored...and she grinned. Obviously not a man indeed. It was time to get dirty, which meant close up fighting, boots and fists mainly. The girls began to gather, perching on fences and crates, waiting for the order to tear him limb from limb...but it was fun to beat on someone who didn't go down in one hit.
Or twenty.
The man, the pirate, laughed at her, taking a deliberate step into the slanting moonlight. She'd seen far worse than flesh melting into dessication, so instead of the gasp of horror he wanted, she smiled and fried him. Skeleton or no...it'd probably stun him a bit.
It worked surprisingly well, his oaths and swears becoming garbled and bitten off as her lightning coursed through him. Only then did she gesture the girls in "Loop his arms through his ribs and tie them."
It was utterly hilarious when the not-man was shoved back into the shadows, his flesh solidifying around his bound arms. Hilarious indeed. With a last laugh, Larxene nodded to the girls and the dark paths opened, the muck of Tortuga left far, far behind.
Pity. Subtle worlds were complicated, which meant entertaining.
The bulwark at least had enough room for her and the girls, unlike the town she was to search. Not nearly enough room for everyone to play in.
"Well..." she chuckled, the sound softened to a near whisper on the breeze "...there is always the over-achiever option. A whole world here, why not check to make sure it's homogeneously infested? We're looking for interesting and out of the ordinary, girls." there was a moment of absolute stillness on the ramparts, then most of her companions melted away into the night.
The three remaining glided to either side as she jumped down to the bridge, the docks quiet and deserted at this hour. Silent, deserted, and dark. Almost like a flock of birds, the girls wheeled, shifting their target from the town to the anchored ships. It never hurt to check after all! Plus...ships were far more interesting to crawl through than streets.
The two men on guard outside The Interceptor never noticed the shadows alighting in the rigging, and the group took a moment to debate whether to kill them on general principles. It hadn't been in the orders, so with a shrug, the quartet flashed rock, paper, scissors at each other until one ninja slipped off to 'immobilize' the guards. "Now, let's see what we can find here." Larxene shooed the other two, slipping down to the deck.
She didn't actually find much. Her section seemed to hold deserted sleeping quarters for the crew. Hammocks swayed gently with the boat, and it was dark and cramped. A perfect spawning ground for heartless...but there was none. Just a rat or twelve and few forgotten mementos. She snarled silently at the boring room, casually slitting beds as she went. It wasn't much, as statements went, but it gave her something to do with her hands as she traveled back to the deck.
On deck, her trio were standing with a small find apiece; examples of what they'd seen. The first with a tricorner hat from one of the guards. The second held out a delicately carved jade ball that was interesting enough to slip in her pocket. The third...the third held a handful of coins nestled between her fingers. Gold coins. "Oh my..." Larxene chuckled softly "Lead on."
The coins were part of a much, much larger collection. Several chests worth of varied treasure, from statues and beads to coins and silks. It seemed the ship had been raiding. Or getting ready to deliver.
She honestly didn't care.
"Clean it out." she ordered "To the general treasury I think." nothing really looked interesting enough to keep...
...though she eyed one of the chests and whistled cheerfully as she carved Thanks for a good time - - - XII - - - on the lid. "This one to Three's room. Have fun girls!" she knew the hold would be empty within hours, a great mystery to the natives. She might even stick around to see the crew's reaction come morning, provided she had nothing better to do.
Ah, but duty called. With a cheerful wave, she was up in the night air once more, and darting towards the town.
The quiet, sleeping, unsuspecting town that had probably not realized they'd been connected yet. The Heartless obviously hadn't started swarming yet, and any losses were probably those that the society wouldn't trouble themselves over. Well...that made her job more difficult. Searching every nook and cranny wouldn't be...efficient. Or amusing. Obviously she needed...bait.
Strong emotions drew Heartless. Strong negative emotions were even better for a quick response. Aaaaand...she already had a couple of good worms for her hook back at the boat.
It wasn't long before one of the guards had been revived with a touch of lightning. Then she wrapped a hand in his collar, not touching him, but tightening the fabric to the point where it was almost as good as a garrote. That and a knife pricking just above his kidneys were very good incentives to march to town. She released him in a dimly lit, crate filled square, sliding back into the shadows to play with her new toy from a distance.
Amazing how much fear a Somebody could give off when he couldn't see the knives coming, or pinpoint where the laughter was coming from. Yes, fear, and frustrated, hopeless anger that could kick over into rage with enough blood loss. Had she a heart, she might have pitied the man. Or given him mercy as her targets finally clawed out of the dark pockets they'd been in. As it was, she let him see the nightmares that crawled and shimmied toward him. Nothing special there; just Shadows and Soldiers. Then she heard it, over the clanking armor and the whimpering screams the man's damaged throat could produce. Creaking.
Creaking?
Like wheels that needed oil.
Even better when a red, lighted symbol appeared and tracked the human. She'd never seen a heartless do that. Something new! Something new with canon balls apparently. Her bait never stood a chance as the iron ball flew in. It caught him square in the gut. He was in his last moments when her knife found him again. Better not to let another heartless into the world. And he had done his job. Only right he be rewarded for that!
The small group of heartless weren't pleased to see their targeted heart flicker out. Even less so to see the square light up with her signature element, taking care of the riffraff so she could focus on specimen retrieval. The new heartless was an inelegant, chunky thing. A canon, of course. She danced around as she observed it; it's limitless supply of ammunition never managing to pin her down, her barrier keeping it from getting away.
Still, the firing thing would make transport a problem.
Every heartless had it's weakness though, and in a canon, well, it had very few points to be vulnerable at. In the end, it was a simple task of yanking the perpetually lit fuse out entirely and bagging that little coil for Vexen. After all, pity if the scientist missed out on the new specimen's full potential.
Then there was just the little problem of the man's body to deal with. It was only common sense to stuff the cooling, bleeding corpse into the canon, then she could just tow it along back to the ship without having to juggle pieces! Though...the corpse did provide an excellent example of the canon ball damage...Vexen could get the whole package!
She handed the twitching, vainly struggling canon to one of her girls, then eyed the other unconscious guard. It felt unfinished, leaving one of a pair unharmed. The poor man might be labeled a traitor. Such an unkind fate, it'd be unconscionable! She'd have to make it interesting though. Creative.
Or at least disturbing.
At least the man never woke up as she removed his tongue, thumbs, and middle fingers. He'd be found in the empty hold in the morning, wounded hands bound with strips cut from the ship flag. She was about to label the mission done when one of her ninjas returned from her scouting. There was something interesting down the coast. Not heartless...but not human either.
* * * * *
Tortuga was a much livelier place than Port Royal had been. Noisy and filthy, so many flickering torches out to fight the night, yet it only made the shadows deeper. This was a town that knew to fear the dark...but also knew that darkness was useful. A dichotomy of ideals that should have made Tortuga the main anchor for the heartless incursions. Should have.
Port Royal was unfortunate, if the heartless passed up a tasty morsel like Tortuga, it meant that something significant was going to happen in the little, safe town. Probably something significantly unpleasant.
Not her concern.
She'd taken rooftops when she could, but now she was in the crowd, weaving among it and yet not part of it as the throng of Somebodies surged and pounded along the street. It wasn't a comfortable place to be, but she managed not to be pinched, prodded, hooked, or fondled with a few well placed knives. Surprising how a way opened to the nearest tavern after that.
According to the ninjas, the not-man had been followed to three taverns; the target was looking for something. Asking questions of the locals. It was another round of dodging before she could stand near him, watching. She didn't particularly care when he noticed her interest, though his reaction was a little out of the ordinary. He grinned, a smile full of gold capped teeth as he eyed her in return "Good to see a doxie who isn't flakin' paint!" he complimented "Takes weeks to get the taste of that out of a mans mouth, makes the price of wick dipping a little too steep."
On the Xigbar scale, the man didn't even come close to scoring, but it made the locals laugh and leer. It also made some men decide to take their chances. The first man hit the bar hard enough to cave in the front of his face; she wasn't happy with anyone who attempted to grab her. The second and third lost kneecaps...and after that it was a free for all. The room exploded with activity, everyone struggling to kill, or at least bash, everyone else.
And her target left.
Odd that.
She traced him to another tavern, then another...after that she just started fights first thing in the door by tossing patrons around until her target left in disgust. After the last tavern, she just had to wait, obviously standing by a dark alleyway. He came to her, snarling something along the lines of "Inter'ferrin bitch"
The knife to his ribs made him laugh. The one to his shoulder he ignored...and she grinned. Obviously not a man indeed. It was time to get dirty, which meant close up fighting, boots and fists mainly. The girls began to gather, perching on fences and crates, waiting for the order to tear him limb from limb...but it was fun to beat on someone who didn't go down in one hit.
Or twenty.
The man, the pirate, laughed at her, taking a deliberate step into the slanting moonlight. She'd seen far worse than flesh melting into dessication, so instead of the gasp of horror he wanted, she smiled and fried him. Skeleton or no...it'd probably stun him a bit.
It worked surprisingly well, his oaths and swears becoming garbled and bitten off as her lightning coursed through him. Only then did she gesture the girls in "Loop his arms through his ribs and tie them."
It was utterly hilarious when the not-man was shoved back into the shadows, his flesh solidifying around his bound arms. Hilarious indeed. With a last laugh, Larxene nodded to the girls and the dark paths opened, the muck of Tortuga left far, far behind.
