[center][h2][color=662d91]DREAM[/color][color=9e0b0f]BOAT[/color][/h2] [@Write] [@HereComesTheSnow] [@FlitterFaux][/center] [color=9e0b0f]"We'll kick plenty of ass. If you really want to impress me, you just irritate that goth girl every step of the way." [/color] Jericho's murmured command to his chosen lieutenant was almost lost under John Coltrane's crescendo, but the way his cold amber eyes were staring mischievous daggers into the surly Vivianne Laurent would have served as Bianca's marching orders just as well. The threat of a trolling smile was plain on his face. The stupid grape-headed girl was clinging onto her arm and smiling without a single other care in her world, but she was observant; she caught the look on Jer's face and swiveled to meet him anyway. The Gold Stripe lifted an arm to about chest level and waved, curling his fingers one after the other in a small wave. [color=9e0b0f]"What's your name?"[/color] he asked the eggplant. [color=ec008c]"Evan!"[/color] she said brightly. [color=9e0b0f]"I'm Jericho. Hi, Evan,"[/color] Jericho said, lifting a leg up and reclining the arm he'd waved with on his knee. "[color=9e0b0f]Let's be friends."[/color] Evan positively beamed. Viv, beside her, turned to scowl at the two Jumpercables. It was going to be too easy. [color=ec008c]"I really like your gun bag. With all the guns. There were some shapes I recognized but I didn't wanna be rude and open it. Do you have a [i]real[/i] flamethrower in there?"[/color] Evangeline asked her new friend, leaning forward to be heard over the sound of the airship and Jericho's music. Jericho leaned forward and cupped a hand around his mouth - before grinning wolfishly, one of his first smiles in the week that he'd relocated to Vale. [color=9e0b0f]"I have the stuff to [i]make[/i] one,"[/color] he whispered conspiratorially. The girl's ruby eyes went [i]wide.[/i] [hr] Meanwhile, the nerd of Team Vivacious was enjoying flexing her knowledge on the scruffy fool she'd been saddled with. [color=ed1c24]"Tch."[/color] Veronique's knees were drawn up to her head, cushioned by the baggy, stretched out hoodie she had drawn over her lower half to cushion her chin. [color=ed1c24]"I mean, Sea Breeze is better than Old Snake, you're right about that much. But it's [i]definitely[/i] not a Nujabes song. If you knew anything about the period jazz that inspired Sergei Mantis you'd know--"[/color] [b]"No, yeah, it's just Hibino under a pen name, right? Nujabes just used it in a mix a couple years before he died."[/b] ... [color=ed1c24]"Yeah, he did."[/color] A second went by. [color=ed1c24]"I actually really like Nujabes. He's good for--"[/color] [b]"Good for good vibes, right?"[/b] ... [color=ed1c24]"Yeah. He is."[/color] She smiled faintly. [hr] The two team captains and their hangers-on were leaned forward, engaged in discussion on their plan of attack. Vivianne Laurent had a gameplan in mind; she had rehearsed it in her head and with her team, over and over, and seemed certain of its success. This was, after all, a Dust production facility. There was nothing particularly resembling a heist about this job, no real finesse that would be required; smash the means of production and then bolt. It was a strategy Viv had borrowed from the callous, ruthless scum that held Atlas with an iron grip. She thought that Jericho Piper would appreciate the resemblance. The callous, ruthless scum seemed to want to laugh in her face, which only made her angrier. The plan, as she had laid it out, detailed three methods of infiltration. Traditionally, the front door was where most of the dumbest, heaviest muscle was located on places; if you were a criminal overlord, you wanted the stereotypical goons that would scare away unwanted visitors or questions, and you wanted people ready to kick ass if those goons were overpowered. As such, the loudest, heaviest assault would need to be made on the front door - both to draw attention and to wear down their firepower. Her Evangeline was the closest thing there could be to a human brick, so that was no question. Jericho Piper, on the other hand, would have seemed laughable at first glance. He looked like he put more work into skin and hair care than Pressman or Evan, and from everything she had heard about the Gold Stripes program back in Atlas he was practically on loan from a boy band, not a special ops team. It was only the bag of heavy weaponry that made her think twice about underestimating him. That, as well as the way he looked at her. Viv was standoffish, but at heart she was fierce. Her passions guided her principles and reinforced her leadership. Viv's heart pumped red hot blood. Jericho was cold. Even the way he looked at the smitten girl beside him was emotionless. It made Viv wonder what he kept whispering to her that drove her into giggles. [i]Fucking fascist. Bootlicking pig.[/i] She would be glad to be dropping with the majority of the strikeforce. Jer's girl Friday would be tagging along with her, and Pressman would be accompanying them with the unimpressive otaku, using her Semblance and notebook full of emo lyrical scribbles to carry him along. Together the two pairs would land on the roof of the warehouse and infiltrate from a skylight. Viv had toured one of the emptier warehouses during an off night earlier in the week and found that most of the upper floors had catwalks leading to and from major offices, break rooms, or other locations of that nature. If there was anyone of importance in the production facility that night who could lead them to other distributors, or even Roman Torchwick himself, the quartet would run into him. Iris and the quiet girl on Piper's team, meanwhile, would be tasked with smashing the production facilities up beyond any repair. It was a solid plan; Viv had thought hard on the specialties of everyone involved in the operation and given them tasks they would both enjoy and excel at. It was a textbook display of leadership. And yet still Piper looked smug. [color=9e0b0f]"I don't like your infiltration plan,"[/color] he said, shrugging innocently. [color=39b54a]"You don't have to [i]like it,[/i]"[/color] Vivianne replied, keeping her husky voice at level with as little of a snarl as she could muster. [color=39b54a]"You just have to [i]walk through the front door."[/i][/color] [color=9e0b0f]"No, I like that part. Evan, how did she say we were going to reach the front door?"[/color] [color=ec008c]"She said we'd have to land above the shipping crates and platform down, Jer."[/color] [color=9e0b0f]"Thanks, Evan. I said I don't like that. I'm a Gold Stripe, and last time I checked I had transferred to Vale, not Wario Land. I'm not going to platform."[/color] [color=39b54a]"We can't park at the front door and let you out like a fucking Uber."[/color] [color=9e0b0f]"Nope. We also can't land above three different places so we can all jump out safely. We'll look suspicious and anything outside is gonna shoot us down long before you can hit the roof and neutralize it. I used to knock over a doughnut parl--shop that had more security than these portside shitholes. I don't need to jump safely."[/color] [color=39b54a]"So jump now. And kill yourself on the landing, see if I care." [/color] He was on his feet and moving towards the giant door to the cargo hold before the last syllable even left her lips. Jericho turned with the upper half of his body, tip of one boot pressed into the ground as though he had been paused mid-step. He was looking expectantly over his shoulder at Evangeline, posed unnaturally like that. It was a model's pose - a modern-day Kawaguchi, just as fucking full of shallow charisma and Atlesian haughtiness. [color=9e0b0f]"Evan, you think you can catch the bag?"[/color] [color=39b54a]"[i]No.[/i]"[/color] Evangeline looked thoughtful, though - it was the same looked she always got when someone asked her why planes didn't have to flap their wings like birds even though they were heavier. [color=ec008c]"In the air?"[/color] [color=9e0b0f]"If you catch it, you can hold it until we're all the way inside."[/color] The Mistralian's expression changed entirely. [color=ec008c]"I believe I can."[/color] Jericho seemed pleased by that and took a knee beside the bag, wrapping his hand a couple times around the strap and tilting his head down. He almost seemed to be praying. Viv thought it was nothing more than just putting on a show, but when she looked out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bianca Nuit looking slightly confused, too. Piper almost looked like he was praying. [color=9e0b0f][center][sub]"We were born for such a time as this."[/sub][/center][/color] Then he stood and pulled the door open. The pre-dawn air entered the cargo hold, first with a hiss and then with a roar, as the truth of their altitude and speed began to smack every student present in the face. A jump from this height would have been suicide for anyone with no Aura, but Piper seemed confident. Confident enough to stake not just his life, but Evan's, too. It made Viv want to throw his corpse from the airship instead, to save the ground the trouble of murdering him. He met her eyes and grinned, hurling his left arm backwards and tossing his bag of weapons into the jetstream. With his other hand he gestured for Evan to stand beside him. [color=9e0b0f]"Hey Viv. Good luck."[/color] She didn't respond. [color=ec008c]"Hey, Viv!"[/color] ... [color=9e0b0f]"Good luck, Piper. Stay safe, Evan."[/color] [color=ec008c]"Mhm!"[/color] Jericho grinned and pointed an imaginary gun at her chest, pulling the hammer back for effect that both knew was unnecessary. He was just doing it to be a dick. Evan seemed to get a kick out of it. [color=9e0b0f]"For God and the Kingdom, baby."[/color] Before she could even muster the energy to call him a [i]FUCKER,[/i] he had dipped backwards through the open door of the cargo hold, grabbing onto Evan's hand to pull her with him. There was a loud, almost shrill [i]whoop[/i] of adrenal thrill and excitement, without a hint of fear; it rang in the ears of the others for only a second before the roar smothered it entirely. It was impossible to tell which of the two had made it. Viv walked over and grabbed the door, pulling it shut - [i]hard[/i] - until she heard the hydraulic [i]hissss[/i] that meant Piper's buffoonery had been undone and the airship was once again sealed. Somehow, it seemed the door hadn't even been fully closed before Bianca Nuit was leaning against it. She was grinning at Viv the same way her captain had, as if the three of them shared some naughty secret. [color=#9d36ff]"He's a knight, y'know,"[/color] said the white-haired girl with a hint of playfulness. It was sickening. She wanted to break the girl into shards with a fist. [color=#9d36ff]"Like a [i]real[/i] knight. They knighted him in Atlas."[/color] [color=39b54a]"He mentioned that,"[/color] Viv replied, swallowing her fury. [color=39b54a]"Yeah."[/color] [color=#9d36ff]"[i]A knight.[/i]"[/color] She was doing it on purpose. She had to be. No one could be this fucking awful on accident. She and Piper were meant for each other.