Castle Crasher (Kubi)

Whenever Bliss visited Hokkaido during the winter she always wished it would warm up. Then she heard about the volcanoes and decided to be careful with what she wished for. Being back in Japan reminded her of the last few poor decisions she made within the national boundaries. After signing a deal to save her fiance from a terrible person, she found her management of Tyuki Gold's band Girl Alive! leveraged her ownership against an 8 billion dollar company. It was a terrible deal, but a bomb threat got Bliss to sign it.

All Girl Alive! had to do was not accrue 8 billion dollars in damages. The task would be daunting, even for Tyuki's band to screw up so badly it sank Bliss' entire fortune and industry. "Sank is a bad word to bring up." Bliss zipped up one of her boots. Before Tyuki went AWOL or was blown up, or whatever happened to Tyuki (Bliss would look into that one day), her band hosted the world's biggest floating concert on five small, man made islands created just for the concert. Unfortunately, even though words like 'cool' and 'amazeballs' were thrown around to describe the event, words like 'buoyancy' and 'weight distribution' never came up. The islands sank, leaving thousand stranded in Girl Alive! flotation devices. Thousands of people with thousands of lawsuits ready to go when they were rescued in their desecrated Girl Alive! rafts. "I would have charged a rental fee on those rafts if I knew everyone was going to sue." Then, the tidal force from the sinking damaged the cruise ships nearby, causing five of the colossal ocean behemoths to sink. More lawsuits- and these were corporate. Surprisingly, none of that would cause enough damage to ruin Bliss. However, one of the sinking ships hit an oil line, causing a massive oil spill and damaging the local environment and resulting in a massive scandal. "People love oil. I found it. It was already in a pipe, but still."

That still did not quite exceed 8 billion. but, Tyuki got mad and punched a car so hard it caused a massive pile up of traffic resulting in property damage. That straw broke the camel's back and Bliss lost everything to Clement Corp.

The same Clement Corp currently hosting a tech reveal of their new assets- Bliss' security systems and data compression libraries. So, Bliss wanted to get some of her tools back before going back into the shadows of wherever it was Bliss could hide. Wires ran through Bliss' forearms into a central system allowing Bliss to channel her telekinesis into her physical capabilities, allowing her to heighten herself to above average capacities. "I'm going in. Finding where they have the hard drive with my compression library. Then, I will find-"

"This sounds shady." A taller Japanese woman wearing a black and red kimono slipped a taser into her obi.

"It's not shady. They took from me; I'm getting it back. I made it, Suzy!" Bliss pointed a finger towards her taller half sister. The black body suit held close to her form with a teal skirt matching the gloves and boots attached to her outfit.

Tsukimi never approved of many of the ideas Bliss came up with, but the ones with subterfuge typically rubbed her the wrong way. "Then do things right and go to court."

"Maybe you don't remember because I handcuffed you to myself and called you a tall freak-"

"You didn't call me a tall freak." Tsukimi took a moment to rethink the situation. "I would have punched you."

"Well, I thought it, and punching family is dishonorable, you tall freak." Bliss recoiled as Tsukimi landed a punch in her shoulder. "I'm going to let that slide, because I need you to go into the ballroom and make sure Abby isn't doing anything stupid, so I won't fight back and hurt you." Bliss grabbed her shoulder after another punch from Tsukimi landed. "Stop! I bruise easy, you amazon."

In order to cut down on collateral damage, Bliss made her way towards the back fence of the castle being used to host the Clement Corp extravaganza. Once her two plants could give her a layout of where the inner traffic was placing their attention, Bliss would know where to go and where to avoid. With a little jolt of telekinesis, Bliss jumped to place her hand on the side of the ten foot wall, pulling herself over into the cover of the lightly forested area. Active telekinesis shut off any cameras Bliss could spot on her approach to the back side of the castle. "I am in position. Tell me when to go."

Inside of the castle, Clement Corp set up displays around the antechamber leading to a massive ballroom with standing tables for the meet and greet type to get to their business mingling. The red headed Abby wore a black sleeveless dress with a raise in the bottom up to just below her knee. Once the voice from Bliss came into her ear, Abby surrendered the shrimp in her hand back to the tiny plate. "They're still meeting all over. The exhibit got pushed back for technical issues- oh, it's Suzy. Hi Suzy." Abby waved over towards Tsukimi. After starring back for three seconds with no means of warmth, Tsukimi turned and walked towards the buffet table. "Suzy, isn't very chatty right-"

"Shut up." Bliss peaked from behind a tree to see if the security routes had let up. "You are doing a terrible job. Do a good job and tell me when the event starts." A small reprieve rested in the channel. "And, of course it isn't working. I made that tech and those reverse engineering monkeys will never figure it out."

Tsukimi turned her communicator off a few minutes ago. When she needed to tell Bliss to get ready, she would turn it back on. Until then, the less she heard, the more she could muster up to help. A voice came through the display monitors around the room, broadcasting the tight face of Jules, the chief officer for Clement Corp. "Welcome to the future. A future full of development and opportunity. A future full of advancement and access not just for those of privilege, but a platform to extend opportunity to all. A future, that is today. I welcome you to Clement Corp's presentation of a tomorrow without limit."

In Hokkaido, one group rules.

It's not the government, like most people assume; the police and military aren't enough to handle the gang that has had an iron-tight grip on Northern Japan for two decades, nor do they have any desire to. Northern Japan is safer and more prosperous underneath the military-like organization. It's not the Mafia, nor the Yakuza, though both would gladly trade the lives of half their organization to be half as organized or powerful as the shadowy organization every person in their territory is loyal to. And why wouldn't they be? They rule not through fear or force or necessity but out of love and hope. They've provided homes for the homeless, jobs for the jobless, and protection for those too weak to provide. Men and women alike were granted new lives, children were provided futures, and a region that was poorer than the rest soon rose in wealth and popularity, all thanks to the organisation known as Akaio Mizu, translated roughly to Red Water.

But it's not it's name, its policies, or it's tactics that consistently outwit the so-called professionals that is really controversial. To the leader of Akaio Mizu, a monster of a man rarely seen and known only as ‘Titan', metahumans wouldn't be judged by the strengths of their powers nor what they can do, but the rather the strength of their heart. Titan doesn't care what you can do, so long as you care about helping. Many have found it weird that a gang would be equally famous for its humane treatment of the lower castes as well as the violence committed against the state. Many others have pointed out the truth; violence was never initiated, only retaliated. Even then, despite how easy it was to do so, they try to avoid taking lives. Regardless of one's feelings to this controversial organization, no one can attest that all of Northern Japan owes it a debt.

And it was for that reason that Kubi Tsuru - world-famous boxer, globetrotter, playboy, and land baron - was dressed in a black suit, glass of wine perched delicately in his hand and mingling with some of Japan's finest. He had never made clear his affiliations with Akaio Mizu, only that he was intimate with the highest levels of the organization, and it was for that reason he was invited in their stead. All members of the notoriously mysterious organization were picky about the press and authority figures in general (not surprising, considering the situations most grew up in) but not Kubi. He was constantly swarmed by press, police, and even military officials, all wanting a word, but he always laughed them off. But over time, it did become annoying, and it was one of the reasons that contributed to him leaving Japan (a close third to his struggles with alcohol and his wife dying). But he was back now, at least temporarily, because of the rumours surrounding this unveil, rumours of stolen technology and a spurned CEO. Well, he was here to investigate.

Because not even the most paranoid conspiracy theorist would never match the monster that was Titan to the relatively well mannered boxer.

His uniform was hidden underneath his suit, the mask associated with it tucked into an inner pocket. And he laughed and drank and flirted, but his eyes were always moving, absorbing information. And he learned a lot of things. Like how the Prime Minister's wife was cheating on him with his assistant, or the head of security was going through a divorce. Hell, most of the security seemed to be suffering from some sort of personal crisis, judging from the total lack of discipline in the common soldier. That was, of course, comparing it to his troops, which really wasn't fair. It was just as he was about to move to the shrimp that he noticed something … well, off; a very pretty, well-dressed lady putting shrimp back onto the plate she had taken it from. His first thought was, of course, that it was rude (not to mention unhygienic) to put back food you've already touched! His second thought, however, was more important.

”Now why the hell would anyone put down free quality shrimp? Unless their stomachs are nervous. Hmmmm …”

He followed her, subtly bouncing from one inane topic to another, keeping her in sight. At the same time, his mind raced, thinking of all the ways he might assault a castle by himself. He would, of course, need one, maybe two plants on the inside, to provide layout and an opening if one doesn't present itself. As for where he would enter, considering the party is isolated mostly to the front half of the house, so a back infiltration is a must. But the group holding the party would be thinking along those lines as well. So how to hide? An image of the edge of greenery came to mind, and he was off then, moving through the crowd to a back room.

It was dark here, no security to speak of. It was storage space, of some kind, desks and wardrobes gathering dust, illuminated only by the light of the solitary window, facing the small, isolated wood that spreads across the back of the wall. With a grin, he worked his hands in the crack of the window and yanked it open. Now one of three things could happen; first, absolutely nothing. There's no-one there and reading too much into things. Second, he catches a criminal and gets closer to the ones in charge. Third, and the most exciting if least likely, he helps an agent of a certain ex-CEO to reclaim her rightful property.

Regardless, at least he'd be entertained for a little bit.

Entering through the first floor would only give Bliss more people she would need to sneak past. Having people take notice of her at a tech launch, especially with her tech, would typically play into Bliss' appeal for a good night, but tonight, she needed to go unseen. The first floor would need to wait. The second level did not bestow any droppings of ladders or openings for stairs, but Bliss knew of a special way of going unseen. Bliss cracked her fingers and looked up to the branches.

At no point did Bliss ever gain control over weather or any elements in general, but she did know of a way to make these trees a little more lively. Her telekinesis began to sway the trees toward the house, just like any gust of wind would rustle them up. The trunks would reset and recoil, only to push back again towards the castle balcony. Looked good enough for Bliss to push this to the next stage of planning. It only took a minute for Bliss to latch onto the lowest branch and pull herself up to a more favorable branch.

Each trunk from the eight trees Bliss selected swayed back and forth, gaining momentum until Bliss finally rolled out of the tree and onto the balcony. Finding a door would be tricky. Finding a window would be dangerous. Finding a good informant would be too much to ask. "Wouldn't it be?"

Abby adjusted her earring to pick up on the sound tickling her eardrum on the first floor. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Inner monologue. I was talking about you, not to you." Now Bliss needed an entrance- but not a fashionable one. A subtle one. The synthetic material from her glove moved over the locking mechanism, sending a small pull of telekinesis to push the door to a more friendly position to Bliss. "Okay, I'm in."

"Cool." Abby recovered her two shrimps and she made her way past the businessmen and women. "Bliss can do that and I can do-"

"You need to sneak into the basement." The ever sever eyes of Tsukimi stopped Abby in her pace, causing the source of balance in Abby's hand to drop one of the shrimp to the ground.

"I am never going to eat-"

"There's something fishy back there." Tsukimi looked over to a pair of doors roped off with a velvet line. "Fishy like suspi-"

"Yeah, I got it." The saucer flew out of Abby's hand with a spin, landing it gracefully on the buffet table. Tsukimi furled her brow. "What? I'm good at stuff. I keep telling people that." Abby excused herself past Tsukimi, making her way towards a quiet corner of the banquet hall. Once she could feel the eyes taken off of her, Abby would phase into invisibility.