The moon looked beautiful tonight, or so I thought as I puked into its reflection, ruining it with the oddly colored chunks of tonight's dinner. I always keep telling myself to stay the hell away from trains but let's face it; cars are way too expensive. They'll eat up your money on the long run. Bikes? Deathtraps. Unless you like soaring through skies and skidding on asphalt at a whopping 90 kilometres per second, don't bother.

I'm a delicate young lady, I don't do vehicles. Just don't mind the puking... or the drinking... or the — You know what, nevermind all that that.

It didn't take long before I've managed to empty the contents of my stomach into the waters, the fishes looked like they'll be eating a lot tonight. Dinner's on me, I guess. And I'll need another one when I get back home.

I made my way towards the vending machine by the side of the street, and bought myself a bottle of water. I rinsed my mouth as I watched the docks, trying to formulate a plan of entry that doesn't involve kicking my way in and shouting hi at the top of my lungs. As fun as that was, the aftermath typically wasn't.

There were three warehouses standing side by side, and an odd building at the end, all lined up behind the gate, leading southwards into the sea. It was filled with guards, who made sloppy rotations as they patrolled all over the place. Well, it was more like they didn't have enough people to be thorough. It was, by all measures of the word, unflattering

Then again, I didn't really hand them a letter saying I'll be dropping by.

I spat the water out of my mouth before quickly drinking the rest of the bottle's contents in one gulp. I wasn't particularly thirsty but I had to get this over with quick but I didn't want to waste it. As soon as I was finished, I tossed the empty bottle down the bin before moving in, grabbing trusty ol'Chiri by the hilt while I was at it.

I took a quick look around the perimeter as I closed in. The whole place was enclosed with tall brick walls. It wasn't unscalable but it was barbed, so I'll cross that out of the list. There was only one entrance, though I could just swim around and get in from the other side, but I didn't bring a change of clothes. That'll be off the list too.

The place was fairly secure, I'll give' em that. No holes in the walls, no ditches, and no whatever I could use as an alternative point of entry. Really, if this was a stealth game, then the map design was a bit lacking. Well, I guess I'll just have to put in more effort.

The gate had two guards. By the looks of things, there's two patrols that would take turns check in on their position every 10 minutes, so if it'd probably best if I could get through them without being spotted.

Looking at it now, the patrol routes are fairly elaborate. They'll probably notice if I take out a few at a time, and then they'll probably call in a search. That's annoying. Ah, screw it, it's not like I'll take long. It should just take me a good 10 minutes to check every building. With that in mind, I walked towards the walls.

The guards were both armed with shotguns and and were fully decked in body armor, just without the helmet. They looked like mercs, rather than thugs. Still, they should at least be hesitant to shoot immediately.

It's not like I'm wearing spandex or some weird costume so at the very least, they wouldn't shoot on sight. Chiri might be hard to get away with, though. I'll just say it's cosplay and mess with them if it ever comes to that.

I avoided the light and made special care to come in just outside their line of sight, which would've sounded cool if I didn't just walked towards them from the side of the wall. Behold, the might of sneakers! For some reason, they didn't bother looking at their sides. Heck, they were just making small talk. Something about smokes, cigars and what happened last night.

...Sounds like a good title for gay porn. You know, the ones with gritty macho men and weird batman impressions. That sort of gay. Or something noir. Maybe both. That might be interesting.

Quit procrastinating and start making plans, right. I could kick one of them towards the other, and kill them while they're both down but that seems unlikely. Either they won't budge, or the other guy takes a step back.

Well, here's an idea. A grabbed a small piece of cement lying around and throw at behind me as I tucked myself in this small corner by the side of the wall, just deep enough that they probably won't notice me at a glance, especially in the dark. This was probably a stupid idea, but eh, I'll work it out somehow.

They both perked at the sound of a piece of rock tumbling through the asphalt. That sounded more convincing than I thought it would, to be honest. More like a pair of boots than a rock but this works too. They both froze for a while, and then... played rock paper scissors.

Excuse me?

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...After 3 rounds, one of them concedes. He takes a deep breath as he tightened his grip on his shotgun. Admirable, really. Your sacrifice won't be forgotten.

Still, I was counting on them coming here together. I'll have to make do. So, I braced myself as the man passes me, Chiri already drawn slightly from her sheath as I waited. As soon as he takes about 3 steps past me, I swiftly dashed in on his partner and, with slashed his neck.

The guard flinches, and raises his gun, but I slipped in behind the gate before he could take aim. I stood there and waited as the man collapsed into the ground, confusion plainly written on his face, as blood poured from his neck. He reached for his neck as his knees gave out, his other hand still tightly wrapped around his gun. Soon, he falls over with a loud thud.

"Shit!" I heard the guard hissed as he rushed towards his friend.

He kneeled beside him, one hand on a bleeding throat while the other reached for the radio by his chest. I stepped in, stabbing him through the neck with Chiri while I used the scabbard to swat his arm off the radio before any of this got through. At least I hope none of this did.

Well, regardless, I still have to hurry. I pulled Chiri back, it didn't take much effort. Blood was slick and slippery and I just sharpened her before making my here, so I'm confident that a little meat and bone wouldn't be much trouble. Armor was a different story though.

I brandished her towards the ground with a dramatic swish, letting the blood fly off. I tap the base of my wrist with my other hand, just to clean off the rest before giving Chiri a quick twirl before and sliding her right back into the sheath, taking great satisfaction in the clicking sound it always made at the end.

Smooth, I huffed. I almost couldn't tell if I was making fun of myself. Ah, the joys of vanity.

Now, how much time do I have till the next patrol comes over?

128 seconds from the east, further inside the gate, less than 3 minutes from the south...

Well, crap. That took longer than I thought. In my defense, I didn't want a bullet in me. Anyway, is there even a point in hiding the bodies? Well, maybe they'd be a little less likely to shoot me for the next five minutes but... Ah, whatever. I take a look around for a good way to get around unspotted but the whole area seems pretty open. There's a shit ton of crates that I can hide behind but it doesn't seem feasible once they start searching in teams.

103 seconds, 3 guards, just right around the corner to my right.

I look at the pile of crates to my left, and spotted an open window up on the second floor of a warehouse, reacheable with a bit of maneuvering. There's a single guard making rounds up there, currently looking away from the window. Large open area on the first floor, but there's a good amount of guards. There's someone... shouting? I didn't waste anymore as I settled Chiri on my back and climbed the stack of crates, careful so that it won't fall over.

90 seconds. Why is this thing so wobbly? As soon as I reached the top, I hopped towards the windows. My hands latched unto the frame, and I take another look at the guard inside. He's looking down the guard rails, watching someone talk. He probably won't see me.

I pry the window open with my left hand and grabbed Chiri while I was at it. Chances of me making minimal noise while squeezing through with a katana on my back is pretty bloody unlikely, if I do say so myself.

With a bit of effort and a lot of twisting, I make my way inside. To my surprise, I didn't slam face first into the floor.

Ah, my back hurts. Why do I keep doing this to myself?

73 seconds.

I stay low as I snuck towards the only guard in the second floor while scanning the rest of the room. There's a bunch of thugs in the first floor, along with a few of these armored folks guarding the exits and that one guy standing on a makeshift podium.

I pause, giving him another look. He's looks like the sort of person who has a big ass stick shoved up his ass, judging by how he's shouting various variations of the colloquial phrase "I Pay Money, You My Bitch Now!". Nothing even remotely important, I assure you.

55 seconds.

I shook my head before continuing, making a note to at least put in effort to listen, in case something important comes up. Should I get rid of the guard? They'll probably notice a minute later if I do. But then again, he'll probably see me by then too. The guy on the podium looks like the leader. I'd genuinely be surprised if he wasn't. Is this some sort of initiation?

Wait, I recognize a few faces on those thugs. There's Fred, one of the bigger guys. Muscle for hire, that one. And there's Ken, that little delinquent. What the hell is he doing here? Is he stupid or something? There's Sean, Nemo... Well, let's just say most of them were thugs looking to make more money. There really wasn't that big of a selection pool in the city when it came to hiring criminals, so I guess this much was normal. There are a few people I don't recognize though.

Wait, there's this weird looking guy. He had a brown jacket paired with cargo pants and tacky "F**k you!" shirt with pink prints. And sandals, for some reason. Gosh, that's just... Anyway, black hair, plain face. A little unassuming but I'm definitely sure I've seen him somewhere... I took a closer look and noticed what he had under his clothes.

A folding baton -No, it was more like a folding bat if anything. A shit ton of knives, and one of those creepy doctor masks the Crows loved to wear around. Wait, I think I know this one. It had a crude, yellow eye carved on its forehead.

Holy shit, is that Corvus?

48 seconds.

I stopped. Shit, he hasn't seen me, right? I scan the room again, taking the time to identify the faces I just glossed over. There's Amy, weasring a thick jacket to hide the Crow tattoo on her shoulder. Lee, wearing make up to hide the one on his face. Jacob, with his usual suit replaced by tank tops and jeans. I barely hold back myself from laughing at that one. God, that looks weird on him.

I look around, noticing more. 6, 12, 18... At this point, I might as well just assume everyone else are freakin' Crows at this point.

Whoever let this people in, screwed up your background checks really bad with this one. Corvus moves, reaching for his pocket and I tense up. Fuck, this won't end well...

36 seconds.

He pulls out a phone, much to my relief. He swipes it open while being discreet enough that the guards won't notice. No password, disposable. Typical. He opens a notepad app and slowly types a message.

"June." He doesn't even look at me. "You just had to ruin this, didn't you?"

30 seconds.