Different Tastes in Music

Preparation
"Well looky look. Seems as though Valkyrie was right about today, we arrived just in time for all the passengers cargo to be loaded onto the ship..." Gai smirked, hands tucked deep into the side pockets of his suit as the red sash that hung around his neck swayed in the coastal breeze, sweeping through the docks. "Now if you don't mind me, I'll get ready with this evening's fireworks while they're still bringing luggage on board."

Armon stood beside him, only being able to have his right hand in his pocket due to his heavy armoured left arm being too big to do so. "Alright then, have your fun. I'll keep an eye out for anyone passing by and even see if Nuxia actually turns up. After everything we've been through, I'd hate to spend anymore time on this mission looking for her in the wrong place." He sighed, reaching into his coat with his armoured arm and pulling out a relatively large pistol, holding as if it was weightless.

Turning his back on the working Gai, Armon watched out from their own little private space on the docks behind a couple of crates. The docks weren't as busy as they usually are, as these parts of the docks had been reserved for the incoming cruise ship that were taking in clients for its maiden voyage. Their mission here was simple: Find Nuxia, and kill her, preferably just her. But when you've got Gai in the mix, you can be sure that it won't just be your target that'll be breathing their last tonight. It was more of Armon's mission than the both of theirs, but what Nuxia had done to Gai after departing had fuelled something of a restless grudge that he thought may be cleared once she was dead. Sure Armon had his own problems with Nuxia, but this was a mission that he had been assigned to by the big boss, and so it had to remain strictly professional from here on out until the assignment was complete, though the same couldn't be said for Gai.

Gai nodded his head and pulled out a somewhat medium-large case that was hanging by his side, concealed from a glance by the red sash, placing the case on the ground and unclipping its locks to allow the top to swing open. Looking over its contents, Gai clicked his fingers and began pulling out different parts from the case, pouring vials and bottles of liquids, powders and various other ingredients before producing a full set of items in a short amount of time despite how many he had made. Though they were plain in view, there was something in Gai's eyes that made Armon feel a little nervous with what his accomplice had produced, only ever seeing it when Gai had made over the top weapons that he was excited to try out. What laid out before them was sets of metal spheres, tightly locked with not even fuses sticking out to be lighted, but small buttons that sat nicely at the top, blending in with the rest of the ball and becoming reasonably difficult to see.

"That was pretty quick Hitokiri, you reckon it'll be big enough for a ship that big?" Armon asked as he leaned back on one leg, crossing his arms, still holding the large firearm.

Rolling his eyes and sighed, Gai packed away the case and slung it back over his shoulder, handing half of the bunch to Armon who instantly moved his arms open to hold the spheres, cradling them close to his chest with a confused look not before tucking his gun away back into the coat. "Yeah... Anymore and everything the boat included would be engulfed in one massive explosion. I'm not quite ready to be taken out by my own making so it'll give us enough time to jump off after the deed and escape scot free. Granted, that does give other people the opportunity to escape themselves..."

"I should hope so. We're only here for Nuxia and that's it. Once we're done, we're done. The bombs are a last minute precaution, something we'll fall back onto if we can't do it." Armon butted in with an annoyed tone, "We're not killing any innocents as a plan A. Understand?"

Gai mimicked Armon's speaking with his hand, puppeteering it to speak every syllable that Armon did without failure, "Yeah I know that. But first off, we'll need access to the boats before we can even get close to Nuxia on the ship. Don't think they'll let anyone that easily onto the ship, and we won't be able to sneak on board from the waters because theres going to be security watching everything out on the waters for pirates..." Gai said in an equally annoyed tone, more so irritated that the pirates seem to have many of the marines on edge as of late.

Armon shook it off and smiled, "Don't worry, lets get this thing sorted before we worry about not being able to get onto the ship. If we're not able to get on, than this may our best chance at killing off Nuxia today. No matter how much I may dislike this plan of yours."

Gai had a noticeably childish smile on his face, one that was extremely excited to the idea that he may be able to get to use his plan earlier than expected. "Alright then lets go, we'll need to hide these bombs into the luggage that has just been delivered to the loading bay then."

"Gotcha." Armon nodded his head before following after Gai as the two made their way to where everyone was gaining entry to the boat.

Entering through a backdoor in a building where the guests were told to sit and wait as the cruise ship was getting prepared, Armon and Gai began sneaking in the metal spheres into different pieces of luggage that hadn't been transferred just quite yet. It was long and tedious, and the both of them had to avoid being spotted by the cruise staff who were walking around and patrolling the grounds, making sure that there were no visitors getting lost int he reception. The room that they were storing the luggage for a second batch of transport was like an entire warehouse, granted there would have to be so many people in order for a ship of the size outside to be used in the first place. Picking special cases that stood out to them, Armon and Gai took their time shoving the spheres with no regard to the contents inside, making sure that they were well enough in to be not be seen at a first glance for quick inspections.

Gai was quick to dispose of his bunch if explosives, returning outside to fix his suit and look presentable when boarding the ship, while Armon remained inside for a little bit more time as he was choosing the bags that he placed the spheres in carefully for another reason. Gai moved to the edge of the docks and sat down, swinging his legs back and forth over the edge whilst looking down and into the water, seeing the reflection of himself against the image of a school of small fish swimming below. It was in the water where he found peace, his life above the ocean could only be remembered as misery living under his grandfather, but when he was, well "free" to live out the rest of his life, the oceans seemed to harbour something of a purpose for Gai.

Pulling out one last metal sphere, similar to the ones that he had made prior, Gai tossed it up and down his hand as he looked upon his creation. Whatever was inside these things was assumed to be powerful enough for a bunch of them to take down a cruise ship of that caliber. Gai looked back onto the cruise and wondered at its structure, its massive body may have been enough to store an entire town, with a size that outmatched that of the pirate ships that he had seen. Even if they wanted to try and board, pillage and rob the cruise, they would have a hard enough time trying to get on to do so. And with a boat that size, who knows how many more marines may be stationed there to watch over the guests. Take into account the staff working the different parts of the ship and it all equals to massive amounts of collateral damage if Gai was able to go forward with his back up plan. He stopped caring for normal human lives once he was first beaten by his grandfather, but knew that most of the people that he has harmed along the way never really deserved it, but what's been done has been done and Gai has had little time to worry about having any mercy for his victims, as long as he had his fun, it was all that mattered.

"Hitokiri! We ready to board?" Armon called out, approaching Gai from behind as he just exited the warehouse.

Turning back in a pure moment of fear, Gai pulled one finger to his mouth to signal for Armon to keep his voice down, causing the light grey haired man to nod and refrain from talking until he got close to his accomplice. "You done with the explosives then I'll assume?" Gai asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Nodding his head, Armon pulled out a couple of tickets from inside his coat and waved them beside his head, "Yeah. And I've got the way in. Lets just say you owe me one since I could have just gotten one for myself." He said with a smirk.

Gai pulled himself up from his seat and turned to face Armon, snatching one of the tickets from his hand whilst he was waving it. Stretching it out to get a good look of the legitimacy of the ticket, Gai had his eye up close to the printing and material of his entry. "Look legit I guess, so what're we going to do? Go in? I don't really have any identification on me, and I also doubt that I'll have any real information on me anyway as of late, think poor grandad of mine reported me to being dead after I escaped..."

"Well it should be lucky that these tickets are reserved for more of the higher class." Armon said as he pointed to a gold star in the top right corner of the ticket. "Usually they don't ask questions as these are extremely difficult to get your hands on, price and limited copies taken into account. Though, they'll only accept you if you look the part, which I figure is already us at this point as with our suits. As long as we don't look like the common rabble, we should be alright passing off as a couple of noble brothers or something with these. But I think we've gotta get names for ourselves so that we don't give away our order codenames or our actual names?"

Gai nodded his head and began marching to the reception where staff were checking tickets, "Alrighty then. Lets go!" he said in a low volume with an excited tone.

Without warning, Armon was immediately surprised by Gai going straight in even though they did not finish preparing their fake identities to board on with. Rolling his eyes, Armon ran up to follow just behind Gai with ticket in hand, patting his coat to make sure that his gun was ready to go just incase he needed it. While he may had wanted to only use it on Nuxia, there would be no hesitation to use it against anyone who got in his way, be it by accident or on purpose.

There was a crowd waiting outside the docks in a fenced area, made of gold posts and red velvet rope, fitting for those who had managed to turn up to board. Staff members dressed in bright blue suits walked around doing their tasks as the ship prepared for their guests to come on, while marines were seen armed with muskets and swords watching those who came in and out of the waiting bay. Armon and Gai looked to eachother with a nervous look on their faces but continued on their way, going under the red velvet rope fence and joining the crowd rather than go through the main entrance, where guards were seen checking incoming patrons, patting down their bodies to make sure that they were not hiding any sort of weapons to sneak on board. Luckily for Armon and Gai, they came in unnoticed, perhaps to maybe some sort of trouble brewing up front where the common were passing by and looking on as to catch a glimpse of the mighty ship. From beyond the crowd, the both of them could hear the yelling of lowly citizens scream foul language at the nobles, who in turn talked amongst themselves while talking cheaply about the citizens.

"I hate this already..." Gai thought out loud as he looked at his ticket and then to the crowd, "Reminds me of home. Granted it's not as bad here."

"You'll have your fun sooner or later alright? C'mon, there's a special queue for us up ahead..." Armon said as he held onto Gai's shoulder and led him to a relatively short line just beside the normal queues.

There had been several queues lined up side by side, starting from right to left with the highest kind of respect and service ending up at the far left, the one that Armon and Gai had tickets for. The line was significantly shorter than the others, where as the others had queues that went past the rope barrier that made the line up, Armon and Gai's line was only really made of a few people, dressed even more elegantly than the rest. And by their surprise a familiar face had made themselves known to the two as Gai began smiling quite sadistically once he noticed. Armon noticed this and patted Gai on the back, causing his accomplice to face him confused.

"Not yet... Let's try to do it my way, alright? We're not taking everyone here out just yet." Armon ordered taking his hand off Gai's shoulder and making his way to the back of the queue.

Armon looked forward and to his surprise was Nuxia, the pale skinned woman dressed in vibrant and elegant, foreign garments that made her look like royalty. It was strange for him not being able to see her in her usual garments, her work outfit of a suit strapped up with places for her swords and blades, but why would she when she would look exactly like the crowd. They still didn't know why she chose to come here, but Armon knew that it was his job to make it Nuxia's last night. Perhaps he would even get the chance to make it worthwhile and give her a night that at least Armon could remember. The feelings he had for this girl was still strong, and accepting the assignment was surely a shock, but after what she had done to the order it was expected that she was going to be taken down sooner or later by him. With his loyalty, he would gladly kill his own kin if it meant that the order would continue to be safe.

Gai rolled his eyes and followed behind, holding the ticket firmly by his side as the queue began moving forward. With the nature of the line, it didn't take too long for Gai and Armon to get to the ticket booth, with Nuxia already disappearing into the ship as soon as they had arrived to get validated. Both presented their tickets at the same time, and looked forward to the ship, trying to avoid presenting much face to the ticket collector in case they may get seen as suspicious for being in such a line.

"Am I able to get your names gentlemen?" The ticket collector said from within his booth.

Gai looked from the corner of his eye to see what the staff member looked like: skinny, pale, with long rich brown hair tied into a ponytail with a very twirly moustache. "Diocletian... Yes, just Diocletian." Gai said, nearly tripping over his own words, which may had set off alarm bells within the staff member's head if he had continued to talk.

"Apollyon. Where we come from, nobles do not usually carry surnames, that's usually for the common-folk to make themselves feel better." Armon immediately continued right after Gai, refusing the chance for the ticket collector to ask any more questions pertaining to their names. "If you could hurry the process up it would grand, we have just had a long trip and we would like to rest for the day."

Gai was surprised with how Armon took care of the situation, capturing the arrogant and snobby tone of the nobles in his tone of voice as he told the staff member to hurry. He knew it would work, as it triggered several nerves in Gai's body, reminding his time as a World Noble. If he didn't know Armon as a friend, he would probably have killed him as soon as they were allowed passage onto the boat, repeating in his head that Armon wasn't really a noble. The ticket collector went through the motion and printed a couple of sheets detailing where their rooms was, the schedule for the cruise, and other information that they may find useful, if they were really spending an actual vacation on board. The pair made their way up to the ship and continued with the crowd that were let through, watching as marines stared them down with every guest passing by. Keeping their faces down, Armon and Gai relied on the group that they were travelling with to take them into the ship, soon stepping on a solid wood floor that was covered in regal designed carpets, with ship crew walking around tending to guests to show them their rooms or other parts of the ship. Gai and Armon finally looked up to be greeted by a single man in light blue uniform, ready to submit to their order.

"Hello gentlemen, welcome to the Emerald Siren, one of the top ships at Siren Cruises. May I get what room number you good men are allocated?" The staff member asked in a posh but friendly tone.

"We're in rooms A24 and A26." Armon responded, pulling the papers that the ticket collector gave them out to show to the staff member.

"Ah, excellent! If you would like to follow me I can show you to your rooms." He smiled, waiting for a response from the both of them.

Gai patted Armon on the back as he began to slowly make his way out of the conversation, "Actually, I've got to meet someone on the other end of the ship. Since my room is right next to yours you can show me later when we meet for dinner?" Gai said as he inched further.

Suspicious of Gai's motives, Armon gave Gai a subtle death glare but nonetheless allowed him to run off and do whatever he was going to do, having some trust that he wasn't going to detonate the bombs and send this ship sinking at dock. "Alright then, we'll meet at the main hall at nine thirty? Don't be late." He smiled as the both of them waved to each other.

Turning back to the staff member, Armon beckoned for the staff member to lead the way. The both of them moved through the crowds of nobles wandering the ships halls, climbing flights of stairs before eventually making it to the top levels of the ship, overlooking the whole vessel and bearing a strangely different design compared to the rest of the boat. For class such as them, they were presented the best of the best, and so were treated especially higher than the normal paying nobles. Armon thanked the staff member and made his way into his room, locking the door behind him as he began to take off his gear and relax for the moment, taking in the air of the room through his nostrils and back out his mouth. A sort of pepperminty flavour to the air, which Armon thought he may get sick of pretty quickly if this is how they were being treated. Luckily, his bedroom had a window wall that overlooked the deck, where he could see guests making themselves comfortable to the bars, live entertainment and on deck restaurants that were opening up the ship's welcome party.

Scanning his eyes over the crowd, Armon couldn't see where Nuxia had ran off too despite only being a few places before him in line in the queue. She was always good at hiding and showing up when she wanted to, so he knew from the start that this assignment was never going to be easy in the first place. All he could hope for was that she didn't know that he and Gai had arrived on the ship, as she could possibly try to take them down one by one. Nonetheless, being on a large ship allowed Armon to keep his target in a single spot rather than wait for her to arrive at a different island where he can take her out. Different ways of carrying out the mission filled his head, every little plan with every way it could turn out different. But from them all, this seemed to be the best, albeit he had to make some unfortunate allies such as Gai and Hulda.