-The Mission-
The ronin had a crooked smile, his right eye twitching as the surveillance equipment dropped from his hand. "
You've...got to be..." he spoke, seeing multiple lights hovering around a huge metal structure. "
Not....the ship..." Before him was his own unique item, a large ball of steel which could traverse the lands. It wasn't stealthy, but highly durable, able to withstand almost a whole day's worth of firepower from rogue bandit's neighboring ships. However, his recent escape from his exploring caused the vehicle to be in bad shape, the ronin leaving it far away from Konoha so that no one would find it. However, the lights floating around the ship lead the ronin to believe, "
The Zorata has been found...by a group of criminals..." He smiled wider, clenching his teeth as he gave an angry glare to the Zorata. "
Criminals...on my vessel..." He couldn't help but chuckle slowly, trembling as he did. "
Oh....they will pay for-"
A masked man landed near him, slowly raising his ANBU mask. "
Are you the one who's taken my mission?" Aethir nodded to the man's question. "
Great. Listen, I don't know where this structure came from," the man leaned closer to whisper to the ronin, "
but I think they may be heavily armed pirates on a heavily armed ship." Aethir tried to contain his laughter, slowly nodding. "
P-pirates huh...?" he smiled, looking off into the woods." The ANBU officer nodded, patting the man's shoulder. "
Yeah, I think so. The ship is unknown to Konoha's records. I think we'll mark this spot to excavate it with reinforcements." Aethir's face twitched as he said this. "
Dirty pirates! Having no honor... Just placing such a large object here in the middle of the forest like this without permission, just waltzing in on our lands!" Aethir took a deep breath, lowering his head. '
I've had just about enough of you...' Aethir turned as the ANBU began to inch forward, leaning forward. "
Let's split up on two parts of the ship. We have no clue what we're dealing with yet." He turned to the ronin, nodding. "
Once you've set up the cameras, we'll meet back up and explore together. If we find something, we'll shout to another." He turned back to the ship, smiling. "
The pirates won't be on board once we're done with them, and will probably be unconscious. We can be as loud as we want-"
The ANBU had fallen to his knees after a bright flash was given off, burns present on the back of his neck and hand. '
I'm fully aware of your ANBU armor's prowess. To save me the disappointment of a failed knockout, I decided to just cut to the chase.' He then grinned. '
I suppose I'm more pirate than I thought. And I also suppose you're right about one thing.' The ronin picked up the survellience items, walking over to the ship. '
We have no honor.' And just like that, he had appeared to have vanished, heading towards the large steel vessel.
***
"
Can't believe this was just here." spoke a standing man, playing with a dagger. "
Yeah, but it's too bad it's shot. It ain't movin'." The man with the dagger nodded to the man sitting on the ground. "
It's cool though, ain't it?" he laughed, looking up to the vessel. "
Yeah, I have to admit." answered the sitting man. "
Man, can you imagine how fast thing thing can go? I bet it-" the standing man went silent, the sitting man turning towards him...or where he was. Only his dagger rested where he was, the sitting man now standing. "
H-hey! Where-" the standing man yelped as he was snatched up, a crunching sound being heard shortly after. Dropped from the darkness was Aethir, looking around before setting up a security camera where they were sitting. "
Alright, a few cameras on the outside..." he nodded before turning off the lights where he was. He turned, seeing more lights present on the ground level, repeating this process. When the last light was extinguished, he sighed with a smile. "That's the outside handled..." he nodded, activating one more camera. "Now for the inside..." He began to climb the side of the steel ball, putting his hands on a carpet surface. He stared at a few people hanging about in the room, Aethir waiting for a free moment to enter.
"
Hey," a man came in, everyone turning to look to him, "
they've got food in here! Let's eat!" The men gave grunts of agreement, standing and moving out of the room. '
Alright, that's a lucky break...' the man smiled, climbing into the room. He glanced around, and then gasped as a man in the corner was nodding away. "
H-hey, who's-" the ronin brought his leg down upon the man's head, knocking him out. Before taking further action with the now unconscious man, he set up a camera within the room.
***
Now traveling down a hallway of the vessel, which connected with the room he was in earlier, the ronin kept an eye out for anyone. "
If I can get my mask, they won't know who I am... Then, I can-" Aethir gasped, leaping out of sight as he crouched behind a large crate in the hall. '
I got to clean this ship up one day... But luckily, I haven't yet.' He watched as guys with sandwiches walked by, '
Not yet... Not yet...' he eyed them as they walked back into the room he had just left. He then began to walk around the crate, crouching on the other side so they couldn't see him. Placing cameras around the hallway, he followed it as it began to curve. The hallway made a square, Aethir slowly coming back to the room full of criminals. Not wanting to get into conflict, he walked back down the hallway, making a huge circle back to the crate he was at. '
Now, the mess hall...' he nodded, moving over to one of the rooms with a symbol of a knife and a fork above the doorway. He peered inside from around the corner, seeing no one inside. "
No one's accounted for... So I'll just ease in a place a camera...here." he smiled, reaching above the mess hall's doorway to place a camera. He then sneaked over to the opposite side, placing a camera there as well. "Might as well put it four by one..." he sighed, adjusting the cameras. They were now in the corners of the room as he made his way into the mess hall's kitchen. Placed two cameras on both sides of the kitchen, the ronin left the mess hall. "
That's that down... Now, let's- ...And I'm talking to myself again..." he sighed, lowering his head.
***
Outside on the vessel's catwalk, three criminals were speaking to one another. "
Man, this ship might be big, but god damn is it tiring to patrol..." one of them sighed, looking over to a larger man next to him. "
I'll say. I'm tired from simply walking from here to the kitchen." the large man sighed. "
I wouldn't mind if the boss made this our new base of operations, just give us certain posts and patrol times or something." One of the men grunted from above, the two below looking up. "
Yeah, well, I think this whole ship sucks. I mean, it's unarmed. The hell...? I prefer the old base, back in the land of the birds." The man on the lower level of the catwalk chuckled. "
Well, if we're lucky, the boss'll leave this place. Then we'll-" Looking to his side, he noticed the man was gone. "
...Guess he got tired of waiting. You still up there?" asked the man to the one above him. He got no answer, which made him curious. "
Where'd everybody go-" Swiftly, a pair of hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing until he went limp. His body was then dragged away by the same hands, into the hallway of the ship. The man's body was tossed onto the others. Exiting the hallway was the ronin, looking to his left and then to his right. "
All my no, to you guys being on here. All my no." He then placed cameras on the corners of the catwalk's railings on all of it's levels, walking into the hallway located above he had just come out of, the second floor if you will.
***
Aethir continued down the second floor halls, his foot kicking a metal object on the ground. '
Hello... What's...? Ah!' He crouched down quickly, picking up a welding mask. "
Here we are..." he grinned, sliding in on. His voice sounded somewhat metallic from the echo of the mask, the ronin now standing with his welding mask on, taking several deep breaths before walking down the hall. More criminals chatted among one another, unaware of the slowly approaching welder. He raised a hand, pointing his fingers at the men, smiling from behind the mask. '
One shock bullet to knock them out, that's all.' he nodded, beginning to fire at each men's cerebral or cerebellum areas. As he figured, one bullet was enough to shock the brain to disable either physical movement or the ability to think straight, the criminals slowly slouching to the ground.
With the hallways and other rooms now cleaned of the disabled criminals, he smiled once more, setting up the cameras onto the rest of the ship. As he made his way to the main room, a steering wheel present in the room, he was surprised that...no one was here. "
I'll take it." he shrugged, walking over to the steering wheel. '
No criminals on board, triple checked... Cameras in every room... And the wiring is...' Near the steering wheel was a small button panel that had a monitor just above it, the ronin poking a few as the monitor flickered. The cameras Aethir had placed around the vessel appeared to be operation, the man smiling. '
Green... Good...' He sifted through all of the cameras, looking into the empty mess hall, the hallways, and even outside the vehicle. "
Then there's only one thing left to do." With a few more buttons pressed on the control panel, a loud hum was created along with a strong tremor. 'Pile of criminals just in front of the ship...?' he smiled, reaching for the steering wheel to pull a lever down, the mechanism slowly rolling forward. The ronin listened carefully as the sound of squishing and grinding could be heard past the gears and metals' cries. "
What bodies?" he snickered, a large red splotch now present on the rolling metal ball.
***
"
The cameras were defective...?" the missions clerk stared at Aethir in shock. He nodded with a smile. "
Yeah, but...on the bright side, I did take care of the criminals." the ronin lied.
"
Did you happen to hear anything? Or get anything out of them?"
"
Well..." Aethir thought for a moment before grinned. "
S-somewhere in the land of birds! That's where their true hideout is!" The clerk nodded, writing down the details. "
I'll send this in for the intelligence team." she smiled, about to walk away. "
A-actually, what about my pay?" the ronin pointed, the woman turning with a smile. "
Ah, yes, I'll hand you the payment when I return." she nodded, marching off. She then stopped, turning. "
Ah, where's the ANBU officer that assisted you?" Aethir laughed. "
Well, he said go on ahead...so... You know. One of the criminals shocked him, so he's resting up. Can't blame him if he's asleep. It's pretty late after all!" he nodded to her, the woman nodding back as she left.
And so the ronin awaited his payment, deviously getting away with the surveillance equipment on his vessel. '
No one knows. So there's no crime. Wonderful.' he hummed, lightly tapping his foot as he waited...
[WC: 2045]
[TC: 2864/2500]
[Exit Thread]