"Ah! That hit the spot!" Leone stated as she took a large gulp of beer with a smile on her face. Today was a supplies run day, and she had been tasked by Najenda to gather supplies for the base of Night Raid. As one of the few members of the group who was not in the wanted list, Leone was the perfect person for the job.
What Najenda didn't know was that every time she gave Leone some money, Leone would also take some for herself to enjoy in the capital. Drinking beer or gambling some money away was her vice.
Most of the time, she would spend half the money, resulting in her stealing most of the supplies they needed. With her animalistic instincts, she had yet to be caught. Sometimes she would use her sex appeal to get some stuff for free. It can be simple when you make your breasts bounce, Leone thought with a huge grin on her face.
"I win!"
"No! You cheated!"
"Money! Money! Money!"
"Ha ha ha ha!" Leone gave a boisterous laugh as she looked at the table beside her. Two men, already drunk, were arguing over a small amount of coins.
"Hey, Leone! Go out with me!" a man shouted as he approached her.
With amusement on her face, Leone replied, "Only if you buy me enough drinks to get drunk!"
"Hah! I'll probably have to sell my house just to provide one night of alcohol for you," the man replied sarcastically.
Most likely, Leone thought as she scanned the room. She recognized most of the patrons. She had known many of them even before she joined the revolutionary army. They were all good people who deserved a better life in the new empire, once the revolutionary army succeeds in taking out the Prime Minister.
She took another sip of her beer, until she caught sight of a woman in the corner of her eye. Leone paid her tab, said goodbye to the others at the bar, and followed the woman into an alley.
"Any new hits?" she asked the woman. "I'm getting bored doing nothing lately."
"A few, honestly. I'll let you and your team decide which one you like, or if you want to take them all. As far as I can tell, all those people in the list deserve to be taken care of," the woman, Annie, replied as she handed Leone a stack of papers.
"Thanks, Annie", Leone answered. The woman in front of her was a revolutionary spy within the capital, named Annie. There are most likely dozens if not hundreds of spies within the capital. All of which have various duties.
Oftentimes the job of Annie was to act as a middle man for Night Raid. It was a very dangerous job that required at most discretion, secrecy, and quick thinking. Any misstep could lead to her capture and the exposure of Night Raid's operations, putting the entire revolution at risk. Annie knew the stakes and took her duties seriously, always careful to cover her tracks and maintain her cover identity. Her service to the cause was invaluable, and Leone couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration and gratitude toward her fellow revolutionary.
Leone scanned the list of targets that Annie had given her, knowing that each one of them had done terrible things to innocent people. They were the embodiment of the corrupt and rotten system that the revolutionary forces were fighting against.
Night Raid are assassins after all, which means they could be hired, under the right circumstances at least. As long as the target is a scum of society, then they would be eliminated, no questions asked. This is how Night Raid officially gets their funding. While the main revolutionary forces have allied themselves with the various kingdoms and tribes outside of the Empire, Night Raid gets a chunk of their income by eliminating individuals that the ordinary people had enough of.
"I'll tell Najenda about this. It's been a while since the gang had some action"
"Yeah, we're still finalizing some targets that the Revolutionary army wants taken care of. For now, you guys can take out some commission jobs"
"Thanks again, Annie. See you —"
Before Leone could finish talking a man came running towards them, both Leone and the woman recognized him as Ben. A fellow revolutionary spy.
"What are you doing here out in the open?!", Annie stated in frustration.
"Something extremely important came up!", the man stated with heavy breathing. Ben was in-charge of communication between spies inside the Capital. He was from a clan that tames danger beasts. His speciality was taming rodent type danger beasts. The rebel forces used these rodents to deliver messages between each other. It is an incredibly handy skill to have. It allowed the revolutionary spies to communicate discreetly with one another.
"Our contacts in the palace said that the Child Emperor has collapsed! They say it could be an assassination attempt. General Budo is taking full command of the Capital as we speak, his said to be enacting martial law"
"What?!" Annie replied in shock. She glanced at Leone to try and see her reaction.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I have no idea about this", Leone replied defensively.
As far as Leone knew, they didn't have any targets for the day, let alone the week. Besides assassinating the emperor was suicide. He was undoubtedly the most well protected child in the world. The palace is rigged with traps and it was where Grand General Budo was staying. Attacking that place is a one way trip you don't come back from.
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
Just then, roars filled the air as danger beasts, giant creatures controlled by the Empire, approached the capital. The most common ones in the pact were Wyvern-type Danger beast. All of them were several stories tall and they were all ready to kill anyone that comes near them.
Leone's heart raced as she watched the beasts draw closer. "Shit, Budo means business," she muttered, feeling the sweat drip down her forehead.
"The Aerial Danger Beast of the Empire. All of them usually hover way above the clouds and are only called upon when needed. This is getting dangerous", Ben stated.
"Leone, you need to leave quickly. No doubt Budo will make sure to close the capital and begin his investigation. Budo thinks that someone has assassinated the emperor. He will be out for blood. You need to tell this to Najenda, and you might need to lay low for a while. Continuing with the commission jobs would be a foolish idea for now", Annie stated to Leone.
"Yeah I know", Leone sighed. "Oh well, at least Najenda would like to hear this information anyway", Leone stated as he slapped Ben's back and said, "Thanks for telling me the intel Ben. I don't want to stay here when Budo goes wild".
"How about you guys, what are you going to do for the time being?", Leone continued.
"You don't have to worry about that. Before I went to find you, I sent out all my rodents giving a message to every single revolutionary spy to remain hidden for a while", Ben replied.
"Well, it looks like we won't be finding any action anytime soon," Leone stated as she activated her Teigu, which gave her animalistic features. She started jumping from roof to roof, making her way towards the capital gates as quickly as she could.