[HFE] Misfits Solving Mysteries (IO)

Spoiler:

It hadn’t been long since she went on a few solo missions in the town of Takigakure when the snowy haired kunoichi was summoned by a midnight hawk to go on more for the Pumpkin King, although this time she was to be on a team to complete them instead of her preferred method of soloing them. She didn’t have any right to complain when the missions sounded rather easy, it was basically free money and she couldn’t turn that down. Plus it gave her an opportunity to network with the others on the missions, since perhaps knowing them may come in handy down the road.

Thus the petite woman went to the meeting place for the first of three missions, her wolven companion following suit beside her. It was a rather boring place to meet at the entrance of the village, but it was the easiest location for all of them and their requestor had asked for it, so she couldn’t change it no matter how much she wanted to. Once they met up and got familiar with the faces of those accompanying them they would create their game plan on how to kidnap Santa Claus without getting caught by his henchmen, the elves. Luckily she could locate him using her Byakugan without giving away their location, a gift during times like these where stealth was key.

So she waited for her partners and passed the time by leaning against a tree and looking around with her Byakugan activated, to ensure that no one would try to pull a fast one on them even though their scent would give them away to Kuro. It was a nice morning for a mission, a gentle breeze keeping the temperature at bay and the soft songs of the birds serenading them peacefully.

(WC: 300)

Eliwood had not expected to be called back again to do work for Jack Skellington. The monk had gotten rather intoxicated at the last party and ended up making quite a fool of himself. Perhaps Jack hart not noticed, or simply did not care. Either way, Eliwood needed the money and he knew the man was good for it.

The monk walked through the woods strumming his guitar lightly. He would be working in a group again, which he always thought of as a bonus. He wondered if he would be meeting anyone new or if it would be the two fiery shinobi from the last time. He did not have to think about it for long, as he was walking up to the rendezvous point he could see a stranger and what appeared to be a large dog or maybe even a wolf. She looked more friendly than Calin, but looks could be deceiving.

He decided to approach the woman while still playing so that he would be heard from a distance. "Hello! I am going to assume you are here for the same reason as me. If not I would advise leaving before someone more unsavory than me should arrive." He'd laugh at his own advice feeling that he was surely the one who should run if anyone.

(WC 220)

Proof that Eli and I are on these missions.
Proof that Hikari is too

It would appear Jack Skellington had decided that Calin had performed more than satisfactorily on the last missions. As he had hired him again, this time however it was to kidnap someone named ‘Santa Claus’ which he found odd. Although it wouldn’t stop him from doing the job regardless. He was a professional, he did what he was hired to do. The tall, broad shouldered man would move toward the gates of the ruins, intent on meeting his partners for this mission, and any others that Jack might have for them. He wondered if they would be the same individuals from last time. The scarred girl who used fire, and Eliwood. He’d have to get the scarred girls name this time if she was on the mission. It would be odd to call her anything other than that after all.

He dressed in his usual attire, his red leather coat, open at the chest, leather belt, black pants, and boots. His coal black eyes and dark, wavy hair that hung down to his shoulders were evident features as well. He would arrive at the gates to find Eliwood, and not the scarred girl who used fire, but a girl he’d met a day or two before, Hikari. Kuro was in evidence as well of course as the two seemed to be inseparable. “Well well, I see you two have met, and we’re working together on this mission now. I want to give you both a fair warning now. If any fighting breaks out, and you two want to live, get away from me. It’s not safe to stand anywhere close to me when I’m fighting. I could accidentally kill either of you, and that includes you too Kuro.” He would say, his tone calm. It wouldn’t be his fault if they decided not to listen and got themselves killed.

“So we’re to kidnap someone named Santa Claus and ensure we don’t get caught while doing it. I would assume we need to get back into that door from before to do it. Any thoughts?” He would ask, his chakra already suppressed to ensure no one could sense him.

WC: 358

It didn’t take long for the first of her teammates to appear within her vision, and earshot as he strummed a guitar. He wore black and white robes similar to those a monk would wear, with a striped scarf to keep him warm during the transitioning seasons. Vibrant green eyes and hair to match struck her as unique about him more so than the clothes and guitar due to the uncommon colors, although knowing someone with pink hair might disprove that claim.

The snowy haired woman couldn’t place a name to the tune he was strumming along to, but didn’t try too hard for that kind of information wasn’t on her list of priorities. However, it was nice to listen to as he approached, gave her something to focus on while searching the area with her doujutsu. Soon enough he was in short range of her and decided to greet her first, a small laugh accompanying his warning. She wasn’t too sure who this person could be that he spoke of, not having met anyone fitting the description of unsavory in the village or its festivities. Although she guessed there was always a chance she hadn’t run into the aforementioned person before today, for that was always a possibility.

“If you are working a specific mission request then yes, we are both meant to be here.” Her voice was cool as she spoke, her Byakugan still activated even as she focused on the man in front of her to get the formalities out of the way while they waited for their third party member. “I’m Hikari and this is Kuro. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear...not long after the arrival of the musical man was a familiar face. Calin. The man she had met under a waterfall a couple days prior had made his way to them, signaling that he was to be their last teammate. What an interesting turn of events, she thought as he made his arrival known to the small group, clad in the attire he had worn the day she met him. Fortunately, she was not in the same outfit as he had first seen her in, although she wasn’t embarrassed by how she looked in it, it was by no means clothing one could wear to fight properly in. Instead she wore a white strapless high-low dress with a v neckline. Over the dress was a light purple corset-esque article of clothing that was the same varying length as the dress. She also adorned a dark blue cardigan over her shoulders that clasped in the middle with long, dark purple gloves covering her fingers all the way to her mid-bicep. Lastly her silencing boots were morphed into the shape of light blue high heeled boots with a little bit of frilly material in the front that extended to her knees.

Hik's Outfit:

The coal eyed man confirmed that they were all on a mission together, solidifying the fact that he was the last to join, which also meant the man she hardly knew thought Calin was unsavory. Hikari wondered what the raven haired man had done to elicit such a description from the rather cheerful looking fellow, but asking such a thing at the moment was a terrible idea. Besides, the older member of the group had just informed them to stay away from him if a fight breaks out due to the potential for them to be killed if they didn’t heed his warning. It was a rather ominous thing to say, and didn’t give the other two much leeway to join in on a battle if they were anything but long ranged fighters, the risk of dying far too great. Although secretly she hoped they did get into a fight for she wanted to see Calin in action, test whether he had been all bark and no bite or if he was the real deal in terms of his strength. It would be a perfect opportunity to observe how strong the missing-nin life truly makes someone.

“Thank you for the heads up.” Her voice was not mocking or sarcastic as she sincerely meant it, glad he had warned them ahead of time to stay away rather than amidst the chaos of battle. Kuro nodded silently as his own way of acknowledging the warning he had given them.

Next came the game plan discussion, with Calin starting it right off the bat with his assumption they needed to find the Christmastown door. It seemed like a rather easy task if they had all seen the door, unless of course it moved frequently and never in the same place twice, then that would make their job ten times harder. “That guess sounds right to me, so long as the door is still in the same location. I saw it on the western side of the forest a few days ago, what about you two?” Of course, figuring out how to remain undetected was the biggest aspect of this mission, finding where they were to do said stealth maneuvers was also quite important and thus why she started off with the door rather than suggest anything regarding what would happen during the mission while inside Christmastown.

(WC: 1,182)
(Ap: 1000 - 2 for Byakugan = 998 left)

The girl and the wolf seemed friendly enough. They at least did not take his jest as a threat. He could work with it. She was dressed very stylishly and Eliwood felt his attire was a bit drab in comparison. Not long after his own arrival did Calin make his entrance looking just the same as the last time they had met. He appeared to know both Eliwood and Hikari which made getting started easier. Calin quickly gave a warning to the two of them, well three counting Kuro, to stay out of his way should any fighting break out.

"Ah great to see you a reliable face again. Thank you for the warning. I shall heed it for sure." He'd say with a sincere grin on his face.

Eliwood did not really like to get his hands dirty so to say anyways so he would gladly take a back seat when it came to a battle. Long distance was more his forté. He most certainly was interested in seeing more of what Calin was capable of. The last time they had worked together it was only scaring off children and yet he put in a fantastic display. Eliwood was sad to see that the fiery girl from before would not be joining them. She had a passion for fire like he did, that much he could tell.

After the simple formalities, the group set right to task and the first thing on their list was finding their way back into Christmastown. "I believe that is where we also found the door. Thankfully it seems the door does not move, or at least not very often. If we hurry we could be there in no time." He would say turning towards the direction of the door, not wanting to dawdle.

(WC 300)
(TWC 520)

The tall man would nod at their acknowledgements of his warning. Then would consider where they were in relation to the doors Eliwood and he had found before. The boy was correct, it did in fact seem like the door was in the same location for now. So it would be a simple matter of finding their entrance and exit again. However, getting into the door without being seen, as well as finding the man, kidnapping him, and getting out again, would be quite a different story. They would need some luck, or some really good scouting, to know when it would be safe to enter the door. When there weren’t eyes upon it on the other side. Could his Mind’s Eye help him with that? He didn’t know, but it seemed like he would find out. Then, they would need to find the man, another point which required solid scouting capabilities, sneak around to him without being discovered by anyone, and then take him for the client.

Why Jack wanted the man, Calin didn’t truly know, but he was paid to kidnap. So kidnap is what he would do. Without missing a beat Calin would begin to move toward the door “Let’s go, the sooner we get this done, the better. We’ll need to scout the door and that’ll take some time, and some doing. We need to find a way to see beyond it so we can know when it’s safe to enter it. Otherwise we could be seen before the mission even truly began.” He would say, moving quickly to reach the door. This was a mission where his skillset was woefully unprepared for. He could fight people, could handle being outnumbered too. He could destroy as easily as anyone, as well as heal people too. He could keep those he needed alive just as easily, but a stealth mission? Every ninja could do it to some degree, they were all trained in some form to be quiet, sneaky, and such. However he was trained as a mercenary, not a shinobi. It left him fairly unprepared for such a mission. “I won’t lie, I’m not well suited to a stealth mission like this. It might be better for one of us to guard our route of escape, let me cause a distraction after we find our target, and then the third stealthily take him down. I should be able to cause a distraction without being seen. If Eliwood wants to guard the door, then Hikari should be able to slip in and out. If she needs help, she can flare her chakra and I’ll move to help her. If I need help, I’ll flare mine and Eliwood help me, and if Eliwood needs help he can flare his and I’ll move to assist him too. That’ll allow Hikari to focus on getting the target out while I keep people busy, and Eliwood keeps the door clear. If she needs help carrying him, Kuro would be there with her to help or she can flare her chakra and I can carry him. How does that sound?” He would ask, laying out a basic plan for them that should hopefully allow them to get the job done.

Hikari was the obvious choice to go after the man, he didn’t know her capabilities but she was the smallest and had inherent back up from Kuro. That would allow her to hide easily, and any shinobi was trained to strike hard and fast. It isn’t like she was going for a kill, just to knock him out. He didn’t know anything about Eliwood, so he couldn’t reasonably assume the boy could serve as a distraction, and he didn’t have inherent backup in the form of a wolf going with him, and someone needed to watch the door. Calin himself could easily serve as the distraction, he could set fire to any location with fifty meters of himself so long as he could see it. He wouldn’t even be near the distraction in the first place, and any guards or patrols would be busy fighting the fire that couldn’t be put out, and would never end unless he willed it to. A good distraction in this case, indeed.

WC: 706
TWC: 1064

Their green haired teammate remained rather quiet until Calin arrived, disregarding her greeting entirely. It irked her a little to be ignored but the feeling passed soon enough, she had no time for such feelings or for people who treated her without respect. Even Calin, a man she had met only once, was more of a gentleman as he at least acknowledged her presence. However that was neither here nor there and thus she rid her mind of useless thoughts, wanting to focus all of her attention on the task at hand: finding the door, locating Santa Claus, kidnapping him, and bringing him back to Jack.

Luckily the unnamed man verified that the location of the door had remained the same from when she had found it, making their job a hell of a lot easier now that they didn’t have to try and track it down again as well. Right after that fact was discovered, Calin began leading the way to the mysterious door, not wanting to waste any more time standing around talking. Hikari couldn’t blame him, they were sitting ducks out in the open and were losing precious daylight for their mission. Getting the job done efficiently and quickly was a goal for her so she wanted to stay on track as she could with a team. The raven haired man seemed to agree with her unspoken words, stating that the sooner they got it done the better, then went on to start discussing a strategy for their infiltration.

“I have the capability to see up to a mile through all objects, so seeing past the door and checking if we are clear to go through it won’t be a problem.” Her voice was confident as she piped up, wanting to let them know in advance that she could easily take care of that issue while also not giving away how she could do it. The last thing she needed was for them to try and take her eyes, especially when she would be woefully outnumbered to the two since they were familiar with one another.

She would answer any inquiries they had regarding her capabilities, to a reasonable extent, and would then listen intently as Calin spoke up again with a more detailed plan. While she listened to him speaking, and before they got too close to the door, she decided it was best to suppress her chakra as a way to prevent them from being detected before their mission truly began.

“Sounds good to me. Plus with my vision ability and Kuro’s enhanced sense of smell, we would most likely be able to spot our target faster while remaining hidden.” Hikari didn’t intend to come off as cocky or put down their own capabilities when she agreed that Kuro and her would be best suited for this assignment, but as the evidence she gave suggested, tracking was one of their specialities. Sure her white hair and light colored clothes wouldn’t mask her well in the dark, it would in the snow and she didn’t mind getting a little cold in order to complete this mission, and she could always use fire jutsu to warm herself up later on if need be. It seemed Calin had the same thoughts, although without the information, and she was curious as to how he would distract the citizens without drawing the attention of the man they were to take.

(WC: 1,752)
(Ap: 998 - 1 for Byakugan = 997 left & Chakra Suppression is currently in use)

Both Calin and Hikari appeared to be capable shinobi, much more so than Eliwood. He was used to being the screw up of a group, so it was nothing new for him. No matter how intimidated he was, it was no excuse for being rude. As they headed for their destination he would move alongside Hikari and say, "Forgive me for my rudeness, I never properly introduced myself. My name is Eliwood. It is a pleasure to work with you." He had learned his lesson from Calin and decided this time not to extend a hand to shake.

The plan was to capitalize on the group's strengths and split up. Calin would cause a distraction while Hikari snuck in and located their target. Eliwood would be left to guard their escape route, something he could certainly do without messing up. It fit his skill set decently well, he specialized in staying out of sight and long distance techniques. Should someone come to get in their way he would be forced to show no mercy and simply shoot on sight. He did not want to get on either of his current partners' bad sides.

If one of them was to end up in trouble Calin suggested a pretty good way of communicating their need for help. The plan was solid, they just needed to execute it. He was impressed by how quickly the plan formulated and wondered how Calin would cause a distraction, but if he had to take a guess he would assume his plan involved fire which the monk would heavily approve of.

The walk to the door would not be a long one, but it would be fairly quiet. Eliwood would take the time to pray to The Flame for success and safety for the group.

(WC 300)
(TWC 820)