Private The Marvelous Mimic

[Inanna Harth]

THEN

Standing before the bedroom mirror, Inanna examined her reflection from every angle, making sure her new costume was just right down to the last detail. Holo comics littered the bed behind her (for research and inspiration) alongside an older version of Moonlighter’s costume and a curled-up Elfangor. The design process had proven more difficult than expected, but she was happy with the result. Well, as happy as a perfectionist could be.

Finally satisfied, she heaved a small sigh. “Alright, move over, you.” She lifted Elfangor’s serpentine body just enough to retrieve her datapad, then walked over to the window. Golden eyes scanned the glittering lights of Nar Shaddaa at night. Cato—or Moonlighter, rather—was out there somewhere on patrol.

Pressing the call button, she waited for him to pick up. Hopefully he wasn’t in the middle of anything important…

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

The first thing Inanna would hear over the call was a crashing noise, followed by a "Hello?"

The thug he had just thrown over the barter was already getting up, until a bottle fell off the shelf behind him and properly did him in. Several others surrounded the vigilante, locking his arms behind him, "You've reached Moonlighter." Another closed in and punched him in the gut.

"Who the hell are you talking' to?" A thug growled.

"Not you, certainly." Another punch in the gut. Cato retaliated by swinging his legs up and kicking the man in the chin, "Rude. What's up?" He asked Inanna.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Hey, it’s me.” Judging by all the background noise, he was definitely in the middle of something. Well, she was ready to help.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you think you could send me your coordinates?" she asked, opening the window and perching on the sill. The wind blew through her now long hair. "Or just tell me your location, if you can. I’ve got a little surprise for you…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"I figured," Cato grunted, "Not like anyone else really calls me," He leaned his head forward, then swung it back, striking one of the men who was holding him right on the nose. It gave him the chance to free one arm, and gain the leverage necessary to flip the other man over onto the table, breaking it in the process.

"Coordinates?" He asked confusedly. Her second request was a little easier to describe, "The Slag Pit. Bar in Hutta Town." The smack of fist walloping flesh could be heard, as he knocked out another approaching thug, "Not sure if now is really the time for surprsies. These guys are... Very upset with me." He grunted again, as he was full-on spear tackled through a door into the bathroom.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"I figured. Not like anyone else really calls me."

“Awwww,” Inanna said in sympathy. “Same.” After looking up directions to the Slag Pit, she leaped off the window sill and flew in the direction of Hutta Town. “Trust me, this is exactly the right time for this surprise!”

Within minutes she had tracked down the bar. It was a dump, but most businesses on Narsh were just like it. She could see the silhouettes of people fighting through the grimy windows. Moonlighter’s lanky form, clad in a skintight suit, was quite easy to pick out amongst the beefier thugs.

Rather than dramatically smash through the window (she still wasn’t totally sure how this vigilante gig worked, but she assumed it discouraged inflicting property damage) she simply swooped down and walked through the door. A thug was startled by her arrival, then just stood there gawking at her.

“Leave now,” she commanded. The thug just gave her a lecherous grin, only to have it wiped from his face by her fist.

Another thug caught wind of her arrival and spun around, blaster out and ready to fire. She yanked the weapon out of his hands with telekinesis, then shoved him back against the pool table. His cue-wielding companion managed to take a couple swings at her, which she dodged with uncanny reflexes before sending him to dreamland with a kick to the head.

“Hey Moonlighter!” she called, picking up the pool cue and using it to fend off the other thugs already coming her way. “Need any help?”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"If you say so!" Cato wasn't sure what to really think of it, but it gave him one more thing to worry about if she was coming here. Sure Inanna could handle herself well enough, she had proven as much in their first meeting, but it didn't mean he wouldn't worry. In the meantime, he would occupy himself by trying to thrash as many of these clowns as possibly. A few broken fresher stalls and shattered mirrors later, Moonlighter tackled one right back out the door, and into a table. Several in pursuit had dogpiled onto him, and when he threw them off with a little repulsing Force, he stood up to see Inanna. "Woah," He muttered, gawking at her not much better than the thug she knocked out.

“Hey Moonlighter!”

He snapped out of it, and grinned beneath his mask, "You bet!" Cato ducked under a pool cue swung behind him, grabbed it, and whipped it back around at the culprit. Fighting his way through the others, he eventually found her side, kicking another and knocking him onto a chair unconscious. "So, what should I call you?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

She grinned as the visors of Moonlighter’s mask widened. Clearly she had made an impression. Swinging the two pieces of pool cue, she cracked one against the head of a Rodian, bringing him down, before breaking the nose of a Human with the other.

While Moonlighter fought his way toward her, a group of thugs tried to swarm her. She responded by stretching out her arm to inhuman size and length and knocking them all down with a single backhand. This unexpected exhibition of her shapeshifting abilities caused quite the stir, with some of them fleeing in a panic.

"So, what should I call you?"

“I haven’t thought of a name yet,” she replied, using telekinesis to tear a blaster from the hand of a gun molly before she could shoot. “I figure you or the media will give me one eventually!

“What were all these people doing here, anyway?” she asked. They didn’t seem all that skilled or competent—just a bunch of punks with guns and bruised fists. She flicked the blaster to stun and fired off a few shots to thin the herd, which was by now rapidly diminishing.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato chuckled as Inanna showed off her innate powers, taking many of the remaining thugs by surprise. "Good call. The vox populi usually comes up with the best names. Usually." Moonlighter was quite content with his codename, but not all could quite catch that cool factor.

"Well," Cato started as he clocked another thug, "I'm trying to track down a spice ring. The goods they're selling are laced with… something. I'm looking for my next lead." One of the thugs caught him by surprise as he was mid conversation, striking him in the face. Cato recovered quickly, and sweeped the thug's leg, causing him to unpleasantly hit the edge of a table. "These guys didn't take kindly to me asking questions. So I figure I'm on the right track."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“‘Something’?” Inanna echoed. Another criminal came at her with a broken bottle. She bashed him in the head with the butt of the blaster she had taken from his friend. He fell heavily. “Usually it’s the other way around, with other drugs that are laced with spice.”

They were down to a handful of thugs. One decided to just book it out the door, then another. Thinking fast, Inanna grabbed one before he could follow the others, effectively stringing him up with her malleable arms.

“Hi,” she said. “We were wondering if you could answer a few questions.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"That's Nar Shaddaa for you. Here, spice is the benchmark." Cato said, tossing one thug into another, "Whatever's in the laced drugs is a hell of a psychoactive. The people who use it end up going full on berserk." Hence the need to get it off the street.

Finally, they had taken down most of the thugs, and those remaining decided to cut their losses. Inanna caught one before he could escape, holding him in place for interrogation. "Thanks," Moonlighter said, joining her in front of the thug, he squinted, "The Blood Spice epidemic. I'm looking for the source. The last bar I trashed told me there was a spice den around here that knowingly received shipments of it. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

On cue, a door swung open, revealing a man with a wild look in his eyes, and a bloody trail down his nose; a trademark sign of someone who had used the laced spice. Cato raised his hands passively and approached, but the man swung, forcing him to duck. Only the man swung again, this time hitting Cato much harder than his physique would suggest. "O-ow?" Cato said, touching his lip, which was no doubt bleeding under the mask now. "Alright buddy, you might need to sleep this one off," Cato punched him back, and the man hardly reacted at all. He pounced on Cato, pinning him on the ground as he struck with a frenzied flurry of blows.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Oh, so it’s a new variant of spice. Like redbore or paprika.” Inanna did have an above-average knowledge of illicit substances, thanks to her past. Hell, she’d even done a few drugs when she was younger. Not that it mattered anymore, now that she couldn’t get drunk or high…

While attempting to interrogate their suspect, Moonlighter mentioned the new drug’s name: Blood Spice. It didn’t take long for Inanna to figure out where the name came from, as a small and slim man stormed into the bar with a bloody nose. Despite his scrawny physique, he hit hard, punching Moonlighter in the face and then pouncing on him.

Inanna looked from her boyfriend to the man she had pinned to the wall. “I was just here for a drink! I don’t know nothing, I promise!” the man pleaded, hoping to be let go.

Grimacing, Inanna knocked him out with a blow to the head before seizing the beanpole berserker with telekinesis and lifting him high in the air. He was so frenzied, however, that she soon lost her grip, causing him to fall to the floor next to Moonlighter. He was on his feet in seconds. Before he could lunge again, Inanna tackled him, coiling her arms and legs around his body like a constrictor.

“Chit, he’s biting me!” She bashed his head against the floor, but that just seemed to make him madder. If she slammed him against the tile any harder, she was afraid she'd turn his brains into slurry.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"I guess. I'm pretty sure people taking this usually don't realize they're taking it," A not insignificant number of users had overdosed, the drugs overclocking their heart into cardiac arrest.

So for all they knew, the man now attacking them was just an unlucky partier, not a willing thug. Cato scrambled away as soon as Inanna unlatched the man, readjusting his goggles which had moved lopsided on his face. It didn't take long for him to break free again, then be captured again by Inanna. Only this time, with her in range, he literally tried to bite her to break out, "Hey! Teeth off my lady," Cato joined into the entanglement, "Gimme his neck! Keep his limbs still!" Once it was exposed, Cato would put him into a headlock, trying to knock the man out. A few gnashing teeth scraped his skin, but eventually, the lack of air was enough to put the druggie to sleep.

"See what I mean? This stuff is no joke." Cato glanced over to the door the man came from. Beyond was a descent of stairs, to a lower level. The den, no doubt.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

After considerable struggle, Moonlighter was able to choke the drug-addled fiend into unconsciousness. Inanna released him, giving herself a little shake to loosen up strained muscles. The bite on her arm had hurt, but failed to break the skin. Her “suit” was tougher than that.

"See what I mean? This stuff is no joke."

“No kidding,” she said, smiling at him despite the seriousness of the situation. “I’m sure either one of us would’ve found a way to handle it on our own, but thanks for the help anyway.”

She bit her lip, masked eyes sliding up and down his black-clad form, before she realized he wasn’t looking at her. Turning, she finally noticed the stairwell. “Oh, how convenient.” She rested her fists on her ample hips. “I bet these mudha have all their secret drug manufacturing operations down there, rather than being smart about it and spreading them out across town.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"That's what a duo is for," Cato smirked beneath the veil of Moonlighter, finding great enthusiasm at the thought of having a crime-fighting partner. Especially one in a black skintight bodysuit. Ironically though, he wasn't the one ogling right now, instead turning his attention to the downstairs floor. Inanna's comment made him snort.

"That would be convenient," He said checking his gadgets as he walked towards the steps, "But it's probably just the spice den I mentioned earlier. With any luck, they'll lead us to the plant, though." With that, he headed down into the darkened space.

The den was dim with haze, various users were all lounging about, barely cognizant of their surroundings, or the two costumed figures now walking past. Near the steps, one of the hookahs was knocked over and broken, likely the one being used by the now unconscious attacker from upstairs. So they weren't all laced. What was the goal with Blood Spice then? There were too many unknown variables. All the more reason to ask some questions. A closed door towards the back beckoned Cato and Inanna, "No idea what to expect, so, be ready." Moonlighter nodded, then kicked open the door. Inside, a toydarian nearly fell out of his nice chair, catching himself with his own stubby wings.

"Karkin' kriff!" He sputtered, reaching under his desk and pulling out a scatter gun, "Ya think ya can just barge into my place a business?! Think again!" He pumped the weapon as a threat display, and Cato remained hidden behind the wall to avoid a reckless shot.

"Why don't we talk this out like grown-ups then?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"Oh." The spice den. They were looking for the spice den. Right. She totally hadn't misunderstood what he'd said, so wrapped up in the sheer romance of it all that important information went in one ear and out the other. Alluring as their new partnership was, they were still mainly here to fight crime and save people, even if it meant saving addicts from themselves…

She followed him down the stairs into a smoke-filled spice den. "I hope your mask has a built-in filter," she remarked, waving some of the smoke out of her face. It couldn't get her high anymore, but it was strong enough that the smell alone was overpowering.

Moonlighter kicked down a door in the back, startling a Toydarian sitting behind a desk. The little alien stopped counting credits and pumped a scatter gun at them threateningly. Moonlighter hid behind the wall to avoid being shot; Inanna, on the other hand, remained in the doorway. "We just want to talk, mister," she said, putting her arms on either side of the frame. "You're the one who runs this place, right?"

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Moonlighter watched in wide-eyed worry as Inanna chose to remain in the doorway, "What are you doing?!" He whispered harshly.

The Toydarian kept the shotgun in hand, but he froze there, unsure of how to act. He glanced around to either side of him, "Eh? Yeah, this is my den!" He hosited his shotgun back up to reaffirm his threat, but still didn't shoot for whatever reason, "I ain't got nothing to talk about!" He was clearly distressed. Twitchy. But also conflicted, and perhaps not fully committed to his own threat. Cato tried to find a telekinetic grip on the weapon, but didn't try to yank at it yet, lest a stray shot manage to hit Inanna.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna was apparently fearless, continuing to stand in the doorway unbothered. “My friend and I are looking for something special,” she said. “Aren’t you the person to talk to about that?”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Special?" He repeated incredulously. It was hard to tell if he was feigning ignorance, or genuinely unable to pick up what she was referring to. He seemed quite distracted, "I-I just run a business here, alright? Ain't nothin' special here." He seemed curious, too, "…Why you askin'?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Special substances that you provide,” Inanna said, a smile crossing her face as she took a step into the room. “We want to buy them from you. A whole crate, if you have it.” Another step. “But before we lay down the cash, we need proof that it’s the real deal. Not that we doubt you’re an honest fellow, it’s just the rules of the business, as I'm sure you know.”

She was laying on the charm and persuasiveness, modulating her voice to put him at ease. They needed him to think they were trustworthy. Only then would he give them the info they needed.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

By now Cato figured it best for him to stay where he was, lest his presence put the Toydarian back on guard or surprise him. The dealer was beginning to gradually loosen up, still obviously shaken by the strangers attempting to barge into his office after all the commotion going on upstairs, but he wasn't one to deny good business. Nar Shaddaa was always cutthroat, as well as he knew, this was simply a change in management. And if you played your cards right, keep your nose where it belongs, here a change in management was typically unobtrusive at worst, lucrative at best.

It also helped that this latest prospective buyer was a very attractive woman in a catsuit, "You'll uh… have to be more specific," the Toydarian replied, remembering his business acumen, perhaps overplaying his confidence to a degree. But discretion was key, even if you got this far, it demanded he play safely. "O'course, o'course. I'm sure we can work somethin' out." He lowered his gun, and began to float away from his desk, "What kind of proof you need? My wares ain't exactly reusable."

Inanna Harth​