Brothel takedown (W/ Akeya

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t29623-so-two-lovely-ladies-walk-into-a-brothel

Since joining, rejoining, or however one should describe joining a guild again in another timeline, again, Miku knew what to expect she can and can't do for now. However something that always seemed to excite her was jabbing at her own mother's name and messing with punks that went around acting like big bad criminals. Miku heard she wasn't alone on the job as she was heading out towards one of Fiore's northernmost cities, Rose Gardens. Sitting the back of a horse drawn carriage she recalled the ad, not being able to bring a copy left her with no choice but to memorize all information before she left. Apparently there was an independent player in the black market trades area, encroaching on territory of various dark guilds. From what was being said it was a typical case of student learning the basics from the master, then striking off blindly into trying to set up shop to surpass the master. Joshua Saul, Ace and son of a Dark Guild Master Jethro Saul, rumors said he was a hot headed arrogant piece of work that left his father's guild, Jade Chimera after his demotion for a failed usurping.

While he didn't do the immediately stupid thing of attempted patricide, he and several other young members defected and formed their own dark crew, operating a brothel as a front for their shady schemes as well as a backup source of profit. While arrogant, he did have a modicum of success, which has proved to be his downfall after he set up ship in Rose Garden which took business away from several dark guilds that operate out of Rose Gardens or use it for business, and when found out he proudly owned it like a badge of honor, which allowed for easy research to trace back to the Master of Jade Chimera, who in turn was contacted by a few dark guilds who in no uncertain words made it clear that current members, former members, blood relative, or not, Jade Chimera would pay for their loss of business.

Which lead to the dark job posting, considering Jade Chimera was a rather, old fashioned guild they didn't have much in the way of members that could easily sneak into a brothel and carry out the job so in order to save face, Jethro Saul put out a job for any female mages willing to get their hands dirty to clean up this mess, and if that meant he no longer had a son, so be it. Which lead Miku towards the north western area of town, in a rather run down area as she hopped out of the cart and walked towards a a rather, rustic coffee shop, inhabited by the elderly. She looked at the barista with a evil smirk. "The rat crosses the river on the forgotten raft." She said walking towards the bathroom and the elderly barista sighed. "Who built the raft?" She responded reaching for a button under the counter. "It is not the raft one should ask about, it is how the rat knew of it." She responded fulfilling the key phrase before walking into the small bathroom as the barista pressed the button, causing a section of a tiled wall to become loosened allowing Miku to turn it around revealing a magic circle turned portal that she was narrowly able to crawl through.

After crawling through the portal that quickly closed, Miku's casual attire seemed to burn away and get replaced with a a black dress, her own clock dress as she stood up and looked around the rather interesting space. It was a stone brick walled, underground speakeasy with doors leading to various places, and runes along various walls forming portal receptors. It was a common place for people who did not want to be seen meeting to join up. "What was that lady's name again? Ayeka? Ayake? Something aky, shame though, never really reacalled seing her in the guild when I'm from so it's  gonna be hard to remember someone like her. How can I see into the space time continuum but I can't picture one lousy average looking woman?" She grumbled to herself as she sat down at a table waiting, crossing her arms.

WC 708

Akeya wasn't entirely sure why the job asked specifically for two women to undertake it, given that the only objective was to infiltrate a brothel and get rid of some black market dealers who were causing trouble for dark guilds. Was the idea for them to pretend to be employees? That seemed like a rather risky and foolish approach, given that the only thing needed for that plan to go wrong was for someone to recognize them as not being on the roster. That or the inevitable fact that once disguised as employees someone would want to hire their services and then they'd have to deal with that. Overall it seemed like someone had thought this was a clever plan but either hadn't realized the drawbacks or didn't care. The latter wasn't unlikely: the client in question was the master of a dark guild, after all. Not exactly the type of person who'd lose a lot of sleep over the thought that some poor sod got violated while fulfilling the mission.

Not that the disguised dragoness was planning to let it get to that point. She strode through the streets of Rose Garden in her human form, golden eyes casually surveying her surroundings as she searched for a sign. Given that this job had strong ties to the underworld of Fiore rather than meeting up somewhere out in the open she'd meet her partner for the duration of the mission in one of the underground establishments made for just such an occasion. She didn't actually know much about who this partner would be other than that they would almost certainly be female. Or a very convincing crossdresser. Hopefully they'd have the brains to realize that pretending to be courtesans would be a bad idea. Or if they insisted on using that approach that they'd at least play the part.

Smoothly shifting her weight she stepped into an alleyway as she smelled what she was looking for. Rose Garden was a miraculous city filled to the brim with magic. It was probably one of the highest concentrations of magic, both in people and objects, in the entirety of Fiore. This gave it a beautiful appearance and Akeya found it one of the most pleasant places to spend her time if she was willing to endure the business of the mortals, but it also meant that those with criminal intent could easily hide themselves with magic. After all, if there was magic everywhere spotting another magic portal actually became rather tricky if you didn't know exactly what you were looking for. Fortunately this wasn't the first time Akeya had dealt with Rose Garden's underworld.

There was a crevice between two buildings which helped form the wall of the alley which Akeya reached into. Placing her hand on a magic circle which was cleverly hidden from the naked eye she used a small surge of mana to activate it: within a second the woman had disappeared from the alleyway without leaving a single trace of herself behind. While it might not appear to be very subtle the magic circle actually had a very potent effect: once activated it would cause the user's existence to become transient, causing anyone observing them to stop noticing them all together. This kind of highly advanced magic allowed criminals to remain undetected, even if the very use of this magic was considered forbidden by many authorities.

On the other side of the teleportation spell Akeya stepped into the lobby of the speakeasy where her partner should already be present. Fortunately there weren't a lot of people present so she wouldn't have to deal with too many prying eyes or investigative minds. Just because she was currently in her human form didn't mean she wanted to attract too much attention: Akemi wasn't supposed to be a well-known criminal after all. She subtly sniffed the air, ignoring the scent of alcohol as she instead focused on a fainter smell: the smell of those who carried the mark of Fairy Tail. Although perhaps calling it a scent was not entirely accurate: as a dragon Akeya's magic sensory often expressed itself through her other senses.

Homing in on the one who smelled like they belonged to Fairy Tail Akeya studied them briefly. Young, female, dark-haired, curvy: about what the twilight assassin would have expected. When a job asked for two female mages to take care of it there was a tendency of it attracting the kind of woman who was confident in their appearance.

"Are you here to hunt the spawn of the Green Beast?" She asked matter-of-factly. Saying the Jade Chimera's name out loud was asking for trouble but if this woman was her partner she should understand what Akeya meant. Once an affirmative answer was given she would sit down opposite of Miku, golden eyes observing her passively while her expression remained neutral. "I'm Akemi."

Akeya was only known by her human self, Akemi, in Fairy Tail. While Mura knew of her true self he was the only one so far, and she intended to keep it that way. If she learned that he'd been blabbing his mouth she might have to bury him which would lead to even more trouble.

Appearance:

WC: 871
PWC: 871/2,500
TWC: 1,579/5,000

@Miku Kensho

Miku could sense someone rather unusual coming her way, in a way that was similar to what she felt in many situations before, but she was missing a rather key trigger.  She kept her cool as she saw a rather, interesting individual who entered the speakeasy and had a piercing yellow stare. As she approached Miku, the chronomancer seemed to suffer a headache looking at the woman. It was almost as if time itself disowned the woman, but Miku knew starting a fight here would prove to be a very bad idea indeed. However as soon as the woman introduced her name after vaguely described their goal. "The arrogant spawn deserves their fate indeed. Stepping out from a parents shadow is bold, but boldness alone means nothing if it ends up making one step into the sight of predators." She would look at this Akemi with confusion as she couldn't place the woman and she seen many variations of Fairy Tail.

"On jobs like these, just call me Mythica." Miku said as she gestured for Akeya to sit down at the table with her. "I trust we both have a similar understanding of the nature of the request, this is essentially political killing. Though I cannot blame the father, in something that focuses on the darker sides, one cannot afford to put family above the guild." She said as she summed up her thoughts about the nature of the job as she analyzed the situation from a standpoint of an observer and a member of the criminal community. "Though not a perfect settlement mind you, as this won't instantly appease the big dog Dark Guilds of Rose Garden, knowing the operation encroaching on their territory was shut down hard should at the very least allow Jade Chimera to avoid an all out war on several fronts. At this point his success has gone to his head, while we could send him a message by taking a leg, arm, and kidney, it's not worth it." She outlined her brief thoughts on the matter as she would wonder just where this wild woman stands on the whole landscape.

Being from the future, Miku knew that Jaded Chimera never really mattered and at this point the guild was as good as dead as the turning point for it has long since passed. However Miku knew that a dark guild war, even under the best circumstances of being kept hidden would have consequences, especially one spanning a full country distance.

Miku looked into the eyes of the woman before her and she could tell a lot from the eyes alone. "Those eyes alone speak volumes, she's killed before, remorseless, clean, precise, yet her appearance is rugged, rough, strong, yet gorgeous. She's a predator for sure." Miku knew at the same time she was going to be observed by the woman. She was calm but she was concerned. She knew she could fool her father, but the more she was around unknown variables, the more she risks someone discovering her secret lineage. However given Fairy Tail was a common place for slayers and similar atypical folk she had no clue if this woman could use smell or other senses to draw connections or find similarities between her and Mura Kensho. On the one hand she has a lot of temporal related family issues to work out with the guild, on the other, she didn't want to deal with anyone thinking she thought she was high and mighty for being child of the guild master. Especially since at this moment, Mura was still relatively new into his role as the master of the guild.

For the moment she focused on trying to get through this job and not on any mind games that may or may not exist although she learned from her mother to always suspect mind games but that would be taking the advice of a psychopath albeit the validity of the wisdom. "If I wasn't forced to remain sane, I'd say I need a shrink or I'm losing my mind..."

WC 677
PWC 1385
TWC 2256

"The spawn should definitely have been more cautious." Akeya agreed as she studied the younger woman. Going by appearances alone she was human, but Akeya knew better than most how little appearances could mean for someone's true nature. Her smell was... strange, to say the least. There was something foul in there that suggested a demonic taint. An actual demon, or merely a mortal who had come into contact with demons? Beyond that... Akeya wasn't going to be so foolish as to show it on her face, but she did have to resist the urge to blink when she noted that this woman's smell was reminiscent of their guild master's. It was the kind of similarity which indicated kinship, and pretty close as well. Cousin? Daughter, even? Well, it wasn't too relevant, unless of course it turned out that Mura practised nepotism and had sent a woefully inadequate mage for this job. Which, going by what power she felt from this woman (who had by this point introduced herself as Mythica), was unlikely.

Her magic also had something strange about it. Anomalous, distorting... It was hard to place. A magic which could be used to directly influence a fundamental aspect of reality. Space or time? Akeya was pretty good at distinguishing between different magic types but some were harder to read than others. The ones which messed with fundamental concepts tended to be trickier because, well, they messed with the parts of reality you would use to read them. For now Akeya would just have to remain observant and see what Mythica could do.

"The fact that these groups need outsiders to take care of such work says a lot, but yes we're essentially here to get rid of a troublesome situation for multiple parties." She rested her bandage-wrapped hand on the table as she leaned backwards a little, keeping her golden eyes on Mythical but otherwise showing a relatively relaxed pose. "How our work will affect the politics between the involved parties is of little concern to us: we've got no connections to them beyond the contract for this job." Of course Mythica was correct that merely removing this little upstart backdoor dealer wouldn't just return order to the dark guilds. The damage had already been done, and the Jade Chimaera would have to do a lot more damage control if they wished to actually preserve the peace.

However for the two of them the only concern was to complete the appointed objectives as efficiently and flawlessly as possible. "As long as this operation is brought to a halt we'll have done what was asked for us. The contract also doesn't specify that we need to eliminate the leader... I suggest we first incapacitate him. Given that our client is the target's father he might be willing to pay more if we return his wayward child alive." From what Akeya understood the mission details had made it clear that the man in question didn't really care at this point whether his son got killed in the process or not, but emotions were tricky things. Being told that he could get his son back if he just paid a little bit more might change his mind.

As she considered this she watched Mythica observe her in return. Whatever this girl's connection to Mura was, she was certainly a lot more attentive and ruthless than Fairy Tail's guild master. Of course she hadn't ever asked Mura about his family (it really didn't matter to her) but at the same time she figured that he would be quite happy to brag about successful family members the moment he got the opportunity. The fact that he hadn't... either he himself was unaware of their connection or he had some reason to keep that connection a secret.

"But first we need to settle on a plan of approach. Given that the contract specified that those undertaking this mission had to be female I presume that they expected us to go undercover." She frowned and tapped the table with her index finger. "Personally I think that's too reckless: we know little about the insides of the operation and if we get caught while undercover it would put is in a vulnerable spot. How good are you at remain undetected?" If she had a choice Akeya would use her skills as a predator and an assassin to scout the place and then infiltrate it unnoticed. But if Mythica had no way of hiding they'd have to do this another way.

WC: 754
PWC: 1,625/2,500
TWC: 3,010/5,000

Miku paid close attention to the other woman as she read into every word, phrasing, body language, tone, any physical cue that would help her gain insight to the matter. What intrigued her was her disregard for the politics, in Miku's understanding one should always be aware of their actions and the fallout that could happen, especially with darker jobs that could easily make one a dozen enemies or affect standing with one party. However it did afford Miku a chance to gain a small insight into this, 'Akemi' figure before her. She was starting to get a picture in her head. "So, she appears discontent with societal concerns but she is not one to go on a rampage on a whim. Clean and precise. Assassin." Miku thought to herself as she listened to the stranger, and had to agree with her thoughts about the need for female mages. "I agree, going undercover is stupid, even a dimwit knows to invest in sealing any magic for those working at your brothel. Though could be another less obvious reason but I doubt it, as the only clear argument is Jade Chimera's old fashioned values are truly old fashioned and they think a female dark mage would avoid suspicion they did anything but who knows. Perhaps it's just irony we're not meant to understand.

Stealth was always a tricky area for Miku as she was taught a less then subtle magic, in fact the primary function of the techniques Miku was taught go against the very word. That wasn't to say she couldn't be stealthy at all though. "Stealth wise...  Aside from physical skills, none. Any stealth related skill my magic has, also has a drawback in the opposite direction that I use for misdirection. For example I can teleport, but it leaves behind a dummy, or I can turn invisible at the cost of leaving behind an after image of what I was doing a delay behind." While this was dark work, Miku knew this woman was both, a necessary partner for the job, and a member of Fairy Tail so for the moment she felt like she could trust her with basic knowledge about her skillset. Especially when the job itself required them to go against a situation where they are outnumbered even if not necessarily outgunned.

"However that doesn't mean it would be entirely useless for stealth. I could alter the flow of time in instances, such turning a crack in a wall into crumbling into a hole, if we find a window I could rot the wood of the window sill and we could sneak in that way, provided of course we take account of the glass window, Glass doesn't break down easily, shit lasts for centuries naturally so if used on a glass window, well, it might cause a shattering sound." She explained as she recalled the details about the leader. "Then again who's to say it would draw attention, the brothel was already a neglected and slightly rundown building when they broke in the building. Used to be an inn or something."

Miku began to think long and hard about their options, it was always annoying going in relatively blind as she tried to think about the experiences that would be relevant to this situation. However an idea started to pluck into her mind as she formulated a plan that she was convinced this Akemi would prefer the stealthy and precise route. Miku had no qualms with that, especially if it gets the job done without bringing unnecessary chaos and bloodshed of innocent lives. "I say we at least find out how they're set up is, see if we can get a feel for their numbers, outside security precautions. I feel as though if they ignored the dangerous political aspect, they might have ignored several key security risks." She proposed to the woman as she was lacking information immediately. She knew that if they could get their hands on some better information, any information that they would be able to come to a better decision.

WC 659
PWC 2044
TWC 3669

At least the two of them were in agreement that going undercover would be a terrible idea. As Miku said, their target only needed to have invested in the minimal security of sealing the magical abilities of those employees who hadn't proven their trustworthiness and it would just leave them open to a lot of trouble if they got caught. Of course it was entirely possible that any attempt at sealing Akeya's magic would backfire horribly but there was no reason to put that to the test, especially since the price of being wrong was too steep for the assassin to be happy with it. Instead they'd have to work the stealth angle.

Akeya listened carefully as the other raven-haired woman explained the basics of what kind of stealth-like abilities she possessed. As she'd imagined there was a time element involved, making this girl a time mage. That, combined with the fact that she smelled of demons, was enough reason for Akeya to be very careful. It wasn't entirely unheard of for hellspawn to have time-related abilities, but those were immediately some of the most dangerous types. Time magic came close to controlling destiny, after all, and if there was one thing you absolutely didn't want a demon to do it was to directly assume control over your fate.

"I see. Those abilities could be useful, but if stealth simply isn't your forte it might be better if I take care of that aspect." Akeya raised one finger. "Although it would be good to know how far you can stretch the delay of your invisibility. If you could delay it by half a day that should already be enough, even if it does put a hard limit on how much time we have before they realize something is up." Akeya hadn't yet made an estimate of how long it would take to dismantle this operation, but with some elbow grease it should be taken care off before the end of the day. The main challenge was doing it in a way which minimized potential backlash towards themselves and Fairy Tail. Which meant hiding their identities and, preferably, their presence.

"Accelerated decay could definitely help with breaking in, although it'd be better to look for pre-existing entrances which aren't guarded. Every bit of magic we use could end up being a trail towards us, after all, and while the political climate between the groups here doesn't matter we want to minimize knowledge about our involvement." She frowned as Miku pointed out that the building was the rundown remnant of an inn before this upstart took over and turned it into a brothel with backdoor dealings. "Given that our task is limited to putting a halt to the black market dealings and teaching the leader a lesson we don't actually have to destroy anything. Incapacitating the leader and his cohorts and delivering them to the father would already be sufficient. If the building is in poor condition it might be easier to introduce a sleeping agent into the compound." There were many options, of course. If absolutely needed Akeya could just kill everyone inside and call the job done, but she preferred to be a bit more subtle. Especially since such a brutal approach would catch the attention not only from the dark guilds but from the law enforcement as well, something Akeya wanted to avoid.

While Miku considered their options Akeya remained quiet. She was curious to see what Miku would think of. If Akeya had been alone in this she'd already have settled on a manner of approach and set out, but now that she was working together with a potentially interesting individual who she didn't know much about yet she wanted to use the opportunity to gather intel even as they accomplished their objectives.

There was also the thought that there was maybe a way for Miku to use her time magic to be stealthier, but she wasn't sure if she should point it out. Miku hadn't suggested it yet so either she didn't know about it, couldn't do it, or didn't want Akeya to know she could do it. Either way, it might be better to not give ideas to someone who had some unknown connection to demons.

"More intel sounds like a good plan. I suggest we split up to speed things up, however." Akeya waited briefly to see if Miku had any strong objections before continuing. "Given that I'm more suited for stealth I'll scout the place directly. Given that you managed to make your way here you should be knowledgeable enough about dealing with the underground that you should be able to gather intel through social means. Find some people who've visited the brothel and see if they know anything useful." Akeya gave Miku a more studious glance. "Hmmm... Maybe that's why they wanted two women to handle this. Even criminals are more likely to talk to a pretty girl like you."

WC: 827
PWC: 2,452/2,500
TWC: 4,516/5,000

Miku knew that she was going to need to find answers on her own from the start but that feeling was only affirmed when her mysterious compatriot suggested it herself. Only flaw with the plan was Miku was on a dark job disguised under her mother's name and using their similar appearance. Such a thing was a benefit and a drawback. "Assuming none of them heard the rumor that if you value your life and want to see an afterlife, stay away from Mythica, sure who wouldn't." She thought to herself as she didn't want to outright disagree with Akemi or make Akemi suspicious of her.  Refusing to come off as hesitant she agreed to go along with the proposed plan as she knew she simply had to tread cautiously. "Alright, not a problem. Meet at the dumpster two blocks before the dead end." She lied without a tell as she would stand up slowly, the colors of her dress altering as it became a Crimson with black accents instead of black with white accents as she would ignite a single one of her eyes to be clock form walking towards the bar. She would ignore the woman she just met as she walked across the bar, figuring that in case there were prying eyes and ears it would be best to keep dialogue as brief as possible.

Looking around the speakeasy she didn't believe she was going to find someone close by. "Odds are there are at least a half dozen of the local dark guilds present, no one here is going to want to confess out in the open. Who would be willing to go to a shady brothel freshly opened in the shady part of town- Probably a two faced community figure, someone caught once before- the deputy mayor." She thought as she would walk towards the bar as she pulled out a pen from behind the bar, wrote something on a napkin and folded a pile of Jewels into it before handing it to the bartender. The Bartender unfolded the napkin and counted the jewels, before smiling and put the jewels away in his pocket and the note burned in her hand. He looked around the room before leaning over the bar and whispered something into Miku's ear briefly before returning to business as usual. Immediately after the brief exchange, Miku walked over to one of the symbols on the wall and a portal to one of the entrances in Rose Garden's opened and she walked through, coming out in the basement of an antique shop before leaving.

Miku would then make her way through the dark streets as she would walk a rather indirect route, walking around as she found her way towards a diner, a rather old diner that the deputy mayor and his wife went to every week. Just her luck, she watched as her target was heading out to the bathroom window, noting it was rather small but just enough room for her to sneak in with some effort. Grabbing one of her holstered gunblades and altering it into blade form, she would slash parts of the window frame before using the katana to catch the frame and put it down gently before she climbed in while the deputy mayor was locking the door. Miku grasped the window sill as her eyes took on their clock form glowing, causing the damage she did to the window sill to be reversed as the structure was repaired by the time the man turned around, it was just the crimson clad woman in a bathroom with his wife outside in the restaurant.

Miku returned one eye to a default red while leaving the other still in clock form as she closed the gap immediately. Miku closed the man's mouth and kept it shut with one hand as she spoke in a hush tone. "Keep quiet, call for help and I'll say I'm a call girl you refused to pay. A man with your, history of infidelity and with your wife that you worked so hard to appear to have a good marriage with will have a front row seat this time in a place oh so sacred to both of you. I know that with reelection season starting in a few weeks you'll need as much good publicity as possible and a broken marriage by infidelity, well that'll be hard for the mayor to keep you and promote family values." She said keeping a calm tone while looking into the fearful eyes of the man before her. She was no stranger to threatening people, she had countless years of practice with intimidating and reading people, though she did so by a strict code. She never used more darkness then what one already had, never being excessive, if it was a simple politician, she would use her presence and a few cunning threats, nothing more. Time and time again she proved right. "You understand me?" He began nodding profusely and Miku slowly removed her hand and backed up for a moment as the man began to breathe heavily.

"Look I can't tell you where the statue of Archana Last is! It is above my paygrade and it was the decision made from high up in Crocus!" He said defensively hoping to clear through the encounter easily. Miku looked slightly confused for a moment but then theorized she might have stepped into something a bit more, interesting. "Nope, not here for that, I'm here to ask about the new brothel but let's circle back to that statue business after." She said as she was curious as to what was going on with the statue. However for now she was intent on getting intel on the new brothel. She watched as the man was stammering and nervous as not only did she corner in in a tense spot, but it was due to a different reason then the secondary one he just handed her. "I, um, don't know what you mean, I never cheated on my wife-"

Miku leaned against the back wall and rolled her crimson eyes. "Yeah, no, people and animals are creatures of habit. Everything has a specific nature, a dog is a dog, and a sex addict is still an addict. The idea of a new place in a new area where you haven't been caught yet is irresistible." She said as she wanted to cut to the chase and avoid pretending for an instant the man was a saint. Soon the man would crack and comply. "Alright, fine! Just don't tell my wife I was there I swear, alright? Look, I heard from a friend of my dealer that a new brothel opened up, and while it was hard to sneak off to there, it was doable. Punks charged an outrageous price but hey, the girls were not entirely too expensive for it either... Mostly true Seven and Desiertian gals, truly exotic and-"

Miku would look at the man with a stair as she lightly moved her katana as to make the man know it's there. "I want info about their security..." She said bluntly, while she was a patient woman, she didn't have all day to waste. "Oh yeah, they um, have guys there... buff guys..." He said as he seemed equally distracted in thought about them. Miku sighed as she believed she made a mistake. "I mean like how many, styles, powers, etc." She said annoyed as the man started to get incredibly terrified. "Look, I was distracted of course, I don't think I need to explain why!"

"You talking about that new brothel?" Came a voice from the window and instinctively Miku reached for and drew her second gunblade and pointed it at the voice and saw a rather small but lithe figure with unnaturally flexible limbs halfway through crawling through the opened window. "Let me guess, you're the guy sent here to shake him down for something? Don't worry I'm just here for info about the brothel then I'm out." She said casually as the man continued to crawl through the window. "All good, I've been to that place. From what I glanced, dealing with about a dozen members from some southern guild, plus ten hired mooks. You're dealing with a minimum four on the outside, typically one mook and one wizard by the door, one wizard above, and maybe an extra mook up ahead depending on the day. Internally the mooks guard the lower tier of ladies overseen by an ace and another wizard, but the higher end purely by another ace and remaining wizards, then the top floor is just the other aces and their boss. The boss is usually overconfident on the top floor, or selling some black market stuff in the basement." He said as Miku was internally writing notes as she was going to prepare herself for the task ahead as she would shuffle around to the window as she would cut off the window sill again and climbed out the window. "Thanks!" She said before using her reverse flow technique to restore the window much to the chagrin of the deputy mayor. "wait no don't leave me with him." He begged before Miku popped her head back in. "You gonna kill him?" She asked as she was wondering what was the plan. "Just fear manipulation and guilt based intimidation. Maybe a snapped wrist or two." He said before Miku shrugged and quickly left the area.

Miku would make her way cautiously over towards the rendesvous point as she would discretely approach the alleyway where they agreed to meet from the next street over, looking around to see when Akemi would show up as she leaned against a wall.


WC 1625
PWC 3669
TWC 6141

There was maybe a slight pause before Mythica responded, but Akeya figured that it was just that the girl wasn't that happy about the idea of using her charms to obtain the information they needed. Which wouldn't be terribly surprising, given that she'd most likely have to cozy up to people who actually made use of the brothel. Not that Akeya was opposed to the existence of brothels: it was a company like any other. However this particular brothel was a face for illegal operations, which meant that those who frequented the place either were also of the unsavoury type or they were incredibly naive. And since what they really needed here was information... they couldn't use the naive ones.

She gave a quick nod as the other mage told her where she wanted to meet up. Akeya didn't have any preferences herself, so she'd go along with Mythica's idea. Of course the fact that the other woman failed to state a time meant that Akeya would just have to take care of her side of things and hope that her partner for the job wouldn't take too long.

The transformation that occurred in Mythica's appearance did give her pause, the disguised dragoness raising both eyebrows as, along with a different dress, it now looked like one of Mythica's eyes looked like a clock. A part of her time magic? Or was she just showing off? Exhaling slowly Akeya shook her head and stood up as well. No time to waste with wondering about that. She hadn't detected Mythica using any magic on her, so it wasn't an immediate concern. If she had reason to become more concerned about it she'd question Mythica directly. For now, though, she had some work to do.

While the time mage would be trying to get the information they wanted out of people Akeya would be going directly to their target and investigate herself. While Mythica used the speakeasy's methods for entering and leaving Akeya would simply step backwards into a shadow and disappear. She didn't mind the owners of the establishment being aware of her arrival and where she arrived from, but she wouldn't make it so easy for them to track down where she went. Other people might think that such an establishment would be reliable because of the consequences of betrayal, but Akeya knew better: once you were dealing with the underground you couldn't expect anyone to be completely trustworthy, even if it would be detrimental to themselves if they weren't.

Akeya's exist was on top of a roof, in the shadow of a chimney. A quick glance around told her that there was nobody else this high up: she hadn't picked just any building, but one of the many posh halls that could be found throughout Rose Garden. In many ways it was amazing just how prosperous this city was, using its abundance of magic to turn itself into a manmade miracle. However that wasn't what the dragoness was here for: she had a job to do.

Finding the brothel was very easy. Shifting from rooftop to rooftop Akeya moved to one of the shadier parts of town, as she got closer to the target her appearance fading away until she was little more than a shadow slipping in and out of sight. She was currently portraying herself as Akemi, the human mage with the claws of dark, so she couldn't use her light or twilight magic without blowing her cover. She'd have to rely on her dark magic alone. Fortunately dark magic was on its own already very well suited for infiltration, subterfuge and recon.

That said she shouldn't be so careless as to think she could just waltz in without anybody noticing her. Upstarts or not, organizations with magic users usually had some ways to detect intruders which were hard to bypass. Akeya did her best to become impossible to catch, but she was still limited by the same boundaries of magic that her opposition could use to catch her. Which was why, rather than getting too close, Akeya sought a high building from which to study their mark, perching on the roof while she glared at the slightly shabby building. She could see two people guarding the door, one of them having the aura of a magic user. Another magic user was on the roof, clearly on the lookout for troublemakers like Akeya herself. It was a good thing she had her draconic eyes which allowed her to study the place from far enough away that he didn't detect her.

Another good thing was that their adversaries couldn't be too overt with their defences, given that they were supposed to just be a brothel. If this was a dark guild Akeya would have had to deal with at least a dozen lookouts. As it was she just needed to remain out of the detection range of the guy standing on the roof. Taking several steps backwards on her own roof Akeya placed her hands together and briefly closed her eyes as she focused. Normally she'd use both light and dark for this spell, but she could probably get an acceptable effect with just dark.

Spreading her hands slowly tendrils of dark formed and were weaved together, quickly forming a three-dimensional, if intangible, model of the building. The model was based on the shadows and light differentials existing around and inside the brothel, which among other things meant that it would also account for inhabitants and their movements. Slowly spinning the miniature model between her hands Akeya first studied all the mobile defenders. Aside from the external guards there were a bunch of people on every floor, with only the top floor holding a single person. From the looks of it that was the boss, so maybe they could just break in from above and capture him. Although that would put them into direct conflict with the guard on top... What kind of abilities did he have?

Peering at him from such a distance didn't give Akeya a lot of details. Clearly he was expected to be good at scanning his surroundings, but there was a wide variety of magics that could do that. Narrowing her eyes Akeya thought she could distinguish some details in the man's magic aura. Around him the air seemed... sharper. More defined, although that was the wrong word for invisible air. It was very subtle and Akeya was pretty sure the only reason she noticed it was because of her combination of sharp vision and the ability to see magic.

She'd have to see if Mythica was interested in breaking in from above. Assuming they could easily take care of the guard, what points of entrance were there? Given that it used to be an inn... Akeya located the chimney before clacking her tongue. Too narrow for someone to fit. She could turn into a shade and pass through, buy Mythica's abilities didn't seem to allow for her to pass through obstacles like this one. Maybe a two-pronged attack where she came in through the chimney while Mythica entered through a window. Thankfully the upper floor did have plenty of windows. Most likely all the best rooms had been up there back when it was an inn.

It was an idea, at least. Although even if they swiftly captured the leader they'd also have to free the prostitutes... At least, those that wanted to be saved. But if they had the leader subdued some of the other members of the operation might just surrender. Increasing the size of the model Akeya studied the other floors. Several guards on both ground and first floor, along with some figures who definitely were busy with the oldest profession in the world. No time to be a voyeur though. What was in the basement?

Akeya frowned as she looked at the basement. Her model... didn't seem to work properly there. Some kind of scrying jammer? She poured some more magic into it but the basement remained blurry and indistinct. Clacking her tongue Akeya felt the strong urge to slap the roof with her non-existent tail. It looked like these guys weren't completely stupid: if they'd put up barriers against scrying around the entire building it would have drawn unwanted attention. But that also meant that their most important dealings happened in the basement. So first she and Mythica would have to take down the boss on top and then work their way down to the basement? Annoying. Was there an easier way into the basement?

Unfortunately despite her best attempts Akeya couldn't make out enough details. It didn't look like the basement had any secret passages leading out of the building. If people came from outside it was through non-physical means. There were some hallways on the ground floor which looked like they might lead to staircases leading down below. They'd have to look around a bit.

After having concluded that she probably had learned everything she could on such short notice Akeya dispelled the model and shifted back towards where she was supposed to meet up with Mythica. About a block away from the agreed location she stepped out of a shadow, walking the rest of the way to avoid suspicion. Not that her partner should be surprised by Akeya's ability to move through the shadows, but even so... didn't want to get too casual about showing off her ability to infiltrate almost anywhere.

It didn't take long before she sensed Mythica's magic aura. It looked like the other mage had been quicker about her business. That either meant she'd quickly managed to gather enough information, or she hadn't been able to get any leads. Either good news or bad news. Akeya would slowly home in on Mythica's location, finding the woman leaning against a wall. "Did you learn anything useful?" Straight to the point, no time for chitchat.

WC: 1,653
PWC: 4,105/5,000
TWC: 7,794/10,000

Miku took note as the other woman had suddenly materialized herself from somewhere, she felt there would be no purpose asking where she came from, as she couldn't be sure if Akemi would even give an honest answer. However, much to her expectation Akemi was moreso focused on the business end of the matters as she wanted to know if the chronomancer had found any useful information. "Yeah, found a guy who essentially gave me a layout of how they organize their operation personnel wise. Essentially boils down to three groups, the first is the basic grunts that were recently hired on and are just your run of the mill average guards with nothing more then just above average combat potential. Then there are the wizard defectors from Jade Chimera, and lastly the five top dogs of the Aces and the bosses. Ten grunts, twelve wizards, four aces, one boss."

Miku explained as she tried to recall the exact details she was given by the dark wizard regarding the distribution. "One or two grunts are outside, and two wizards outside. So two men by the door, one lookout, and one optional scout, the first floor is always guarded by the rest of the grunts, another wizard, and an Ace. Second floor has the remaining wizards and one Ace guarding the higher tier ladies, then there are usually two Aces and the Boss on the top floor, or in the basement when they are selling high end black market stuff." She informed the disguised dragoness regarding the layout of the personnel. "If he's up top, we could have a chance at knocking him out and catching him by surprise... I didn't wanna have to say this, but I do, have another form that might be agile enough to reach the top of the building." She pretended to say bitterly with a convincing attitude as she knew just how much her mother hated the wolf curse, but Miku relished taking advantage of it every now and then. "I have a canine form that might be able to scale get up on top and down the chimney, or an open window if you found one." Miku said as she took stock of the assets available to her and Akemi.

"What about you? Find any weakpoints or entry ways to get this clean and concisely, or will we need to go through every punk?" She asked hoping there was something they missed.

WC 408
PWC 4077
TWC 8202

It looked like Mythica had managed to find a good mark. Akemi already had a good idea of what the layout of the building looked like, so if she combined that knowledge with Mythica's information about the kind of personnel they'd have to face they should have all the preparation they needed. Well, almost all of it: it sounded like neither of them had been able to learn anything about what kind of traps the place might contain. Folding her arms the raven-haired mage listened carefully as the other, equally raven-haired woman explained what she knew. "That doesn't sound too bad. If this was a full-fledged guild four Aces would be a serious issue, but with this being mostly a rebellious group we should be able to manage if we're careful around them."

She tapped a finger against her arm as Mythica told her about a form that could be used to break into the top floor, although it looked like the other woman wasn't too happy talking about it. One of those forms which was powerful but didn't look very good, Akemi guessed. It wasn't uncommon for mages who could change shape to have a form they weren't quite as happy with. "If it's the only way for you to reach the top level we might have to use that. What I saw was that there is one thug and one magic-user guarding the entrance, and another magic-user on the rooftop. However I think that the one on the rooftop has magic which is good for detecting intruders, so we might have to disable them from a distance before we can close in. I only spotted the boss on the highest floor, so either the two Aces you mentioned are hiding or they're in the basement." Akemi's brow furrowed at that point. "Unfortunately I couldn't find out anything about the basement. They're using some kind of spell to keep it hidden. Which aligns with your intel that that's where the black market deals happen."

"I think the best course of action is to approach from the rooftops and take out the scout on top of the brothel. The top floor has large windows so we should easily be able to break in. It was probably a suite of some sort. If the boss is still there when we arrive we can disable him, after which at least some of his cronies should be willing to surrender. The rest we have to take out quickly before they can escape and cause trouble." She brought her hand to her mouth, thinking. "You said before that you can create a delay between your location and your perceived location. Could you also have the perceived location appear ahead of you? I couldn't detect any traps, but a decoy would probably be a good idea. Underground organizations like to use those." They didn't care about honour, at the very least.

"Either way we should move quickly. If the boss really is alone at the moment that's the best chance to deal with him. If he heads into the basement we'll have to fight through the entire guild to get to him, and the prostitutes might end up being taken hostage." She paused, considering that option, and shrugged. "The contract doesn't specify that we have to save them, but the more flawless our completion of the job is the better a reputation that gives us." Honour and justice might not stay a would-be assassin's hand, but the knowledge that the target can take down an entire dark guild while saving hostages at the same time definitely could.

"So we'll enter from the roof and make our way down to the basement. Any suggestions?" Given what data they had Akemi thought it was a pretty decent plan, but maybe Mythica had a better idea. Akemi didn't know her companion very well, but one had to at least consider the possibility.

Current Appearance:

WC: 654
PWC: 4,759/5,000
TWC: 8,856/10,000

@Miku Kensho