This post encompasses an A-rank mission containing the following storyboard elements:
- Meet with a major faction representative (4)
The big dogs of Takemikazuchi’s Anvil turned out to be difficult to find. The Brothers made their way farther down the central shaft in silence, stopping often to secure storeroom after storeroom, tunnel after tunnel. The pit was a solid structure, but circling around its belly felt like a slow merry-go-round of déjà vu. In the end it took them more than an hour to reach the very depths of the Anvil. It felt like much more however, to the point where finding the odd, terrified workman became a welcome break from the monotony. Despite this, Hawke could not help but marvel at the scale of the tunnel network. An hour afoot without reaching the bottom and the Brothers had barely left the beaten path.
“Whole nation could hide down here,” Ratgut had remarked and it had barely felt like an exaggeration.
This far down the pit it was too dark to see so the Brotherhood moved by torchlight. Hawke took them on the most direct path down they could find. Something was drawing him down there; a feeling he recognized. He knew instinctually that the Brothers had to stay behind for what was coming, so he ordered them to take stock of the place and prepare for what came next.
After all, Hawke thought to himself with a wry chuckle, working alone meant working stressed. Whoever was awaiting him at the bottom, their killing intent was too finely honed to be on a level where men like his Brothers were anything but in the way. They protested – some more than others – but none of them had any illusions about the gap between those who could wield chakra and those who could not.
Their dear leader hopped snappily between the floors for the rest of the way down and made the trip in less than a minute. It was reality’s way of hammering in that difference.
Without a light source of his own Hawke found himself reminiscing about the old Zatoichi masters he recalled from days of yore, but the hairs rising on the back of his neck snapped him out of his daydream.
“Who do you work for, brute?” The voice was gravelly, commanding. It belonged to someone used to getting their way.
“No one, unless you’re hiring,” was his offhand, though truthful response. For that he found himself with the tip of a traditional katana pointed at his chest, pricking him hard enough to be felt behind his breastplate.
“You should take this seriously,” the deep, but distinctly feminine voice advised from behind the unreadable face of her metal mempo, visible only as wobbly blob in the dark.
“’Course I am,” Hawke found the suggestion affronting. “But let’s cut the cliché crap, yeah?”
The Samurai drew back an inch and stabbed at him, but Hawke twisted his upper body so the blade only grazed him. The stab turned into a swift slash and again Hawke acted in time, catching the weapon in his own metal gauntlet, which held fast until felt his opponent infused her steel with chakra. He barely had time to roll away with a kick of his leg before the now blue katana buried itself half a foot deep in the thick metal floor.
“Little lady,” Garrett breathed, holding up a conciliatory hand to stop the onslaught. “I’m in a talking mood, see? I’m just a businessman coming to your door with an offer.”
“We don’t want it.”
“C’mon now, do you know who I-“
“We know who you are, Garrett Hawke.”
“Then you know my reput-“
“That sketch on your poster must be the worst one I’ve ever seen.”
The air went out of Hawke’s benevolent act at that, so he decided to switch gears.
“Well, you see the bounty-“
“Is a typo,” Samurai-Girl finished his sentence with such smugness that it out-thickened the tar-black darkness around them. “We asked the Association. It’s a point, not a comma.”
“Will you stop inter-“
“-rupting you?” the woman mocked.
“Look!” Hawke barked with finality and held up both his shovel-hands in a gesture that was equal parts mollifying and terrifying. “You obviously don’t care about the mismatch here, but I’ve been through this here song and dance before, alright? So if it’s all the same to you I’d like to just say my piece and get on with it.”
The woman held her tongue this time and Hawke breathed a quiet sigh of relief for that. The witty exchange of banter, or whatever everyone liked to call it, was just exhausting. Why even some respected warriors found it appealing was a complete mystery to him.
“Thank you,” he rumbled appreciatively for the silence. “You already know of me and you’re not impressed. That’s fine, but the fact that I’m here now means that the life you knew is over.”
Hawke allowed that to set in, but mask or no the woman seemed unaffected.
“Former enemies of yours might’ve said something like this before,” he continued. “But you’ll just have to take my word that this time it’s different. I’ve got plans with this here mine and you Samurai can either join the venture or-“
This time he was prepared for the deadly blue crescent the Samurai’s quick slash sent buzzing towards him. Another blur of motion and Hawke twirled around it, covering the distance between the two combatants in a flash as he appeared in front of his foe, right arm already cocked back for the punch. He only hit air however as the woman cleared ten feet in the blink of an eye, landing low on her feet and looking balefully over her shoulder at Hawke.
“You think the Samurai will simply bow-“
“That’s exactly what I think.” Hawke’s growling silenced her. “You can fight and you can die, or you can take me to whoever makes the decisions around here.”
“Why?” The question was bitingly cold. “You’re a mindless killer, the worst kind of garbage. Do you think we don’t know every detail of the psychotic temper tantrum you’ve been on? Treating with the likes of you would be the highest form of dishonor.” Her words had real venom behind them, as far as Hawke could tell. Not that it mattered. That was what was so difficult to convince the uninitiated of.
“I’m not gonna waste my time trying to impress you.” Hawke met her evenly, sounding more than a little resigned. “Set up a trap, isolate me, whatever. I’ll meet this General one way or another. The only question is how much of this place I sink into the Bay getting to him.” The grizzled veteran shrugged. “Do what you have to do, but I guarantee you’ll regret the way you die if you jerk me around in this fuckin’ hole.”
A silent moment turned into a minute before the woman cocked her head and nodded slowly. Wordlessly, she turned on her heels and waved for Garrett to follow.
“Oh thank the Gods that finally worked,” the giant man mumbled to himself before following along.