A Quest For Good Or Evil

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion peered forwards, a keen eye sweeping the room whilst thinking about what could lie within. There was something not quite right...but, just because it was quiet, didn't always mean they were in danger. Sometimes things actually did work in your favour if you put as much effort in as Maria and he had.

He shook his head gently. "No. Not yet. I don't like this. You go. I'm sticking to the shadows, I'll watch your back moving in, but I don't want us both to be distracted."

He looked down upon her.

"Besides, you want what it's here more than me. I just want to skim come cream from the top when you're done."

Thinking about what he meant from that, it could have sounded worse than he intended. He looked away quickly, slipping through the door and sticking his back to the wall.

"Knock yourself out."


[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Asterion"]

Maria nodded and then stepped even deeper into the room. With every step, her heart startd racing faster and faster, the pressure in her chest area coming from nervousness pushed deeper and deeper on her body. She shivered as she moved along the halls while watching every step carefully. Her eyes gazed into the dark walls of the room and studied every little centimetre of the wallpapers, trying to find any sign of danger from the plain white papers which covered the box.

But she couldn't find too much. Had Turow really changed so radically? Maybe he didn't even live there anymore?

But she had done research, she knew it was not an option. Turows rarely ever moved. They were the traditionalist type of family, something some call "Old Money". Turows were the ones who stayed in one place for eternity. Or, well, until they died off.

As soon as Maria reached the part of the room which held artefacts of the Force, her heart started pumping more and more blood to her veins and she could tell her body temperature raised a lot. She could find a lot there. And she wouldn't have to leave anything for anybody else. But she decided to be fair and leave some for Asterion, too.

"Asterion, I think we're safe to get the items," she shout-whispered to behind her.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion mirrored her movements from the shadows, passing by ornate display cabinets filled with what looked like old junk and papers. Probably worth a fortune, but it mattered not to him. Past a creepy looking statue, he stopped when Maria stopped, and thankful to because she spoke just as he was about to alert her.

"I may be safe, but you're not. Two things. One, the pressure pads in front of your feet. One ounce of pressure on them and you're toast. Or mince-meat. Or worse, I don't know. If you can read them with the Force, be my guest. If not, listen and I'll guide you."

Maybe he should let her take the wrong move? He wasn't tied to her, and maybe he could take the relic for himself? But, what good would that do? He was acting alone with nothing or no-one; at least Maria was...a friend?

"Second. If you've got something to trade with the pressure pad of these relics, go ahead. If you so much as lift it slightly, I imagine all hell will break loose. Now, there's two windows to our sides. Either grab it and leave by one of them with me, or we find something to switch it for. Depends how quick you feel you can move and how much time you want here."

He let out a small breath. Typical woman - all about the end goal, not thinking how to get there.


[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Asterion"]

"I may be safe, but you're not. Two things. One, the pressure pads in front of your feet. One ounce of pressure on them and you're toast. Or mince-meat. Or worse, I don't know. If you can read them with the Force, be my guest. If not, listen and I'll guide you."

Oh... Maria though when she looked in front of her. Indeed, there was some kind of a plate and it felt terrible to think of what it could do. She should have been more careful. When she was taking a step back to move away from the pressure plate, she looked behind her to see if there is another one, but there didn't seem to be one, so she took the step she had been planning. Then she looked at Asterion again.

"Second. If you've got something to trade with the pressure pad of these relics, go ahead. If you so much as lift it slightly, I imagine all hell will break loose. Now, there's two windows to our sides. Either grab it and leave by one of them with me, or we find something to switch it for. Depends how quick you feel you can move and how much time you want here."

"I... think we should find something to switch the relics with. Because I really don't feel like just picking one thing and leaving all the rest of it just laying here when we could use them for something far greater," Maria finally spoke. "With my leg, I doubt I could move really quickly, so jumping out of the window or something like that is not quite an option."

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion moved forward alongside the girl as she walked carefully forward, guiding her when she needed it. Her small frame moved swiftly and fluidly, even with her leg injury. She didn't falter and at times she seemed to be possessed by a drive to reach the relic that was impressive to the Acolyte.

"Alright, stop."

He held out his hand. He sized up the relic; size, shape, density, weight.

"Take it. Slowly, and then come back the way you came. Don't drop it. Please."

His head lowered slightly, eyes focusing on the dais it rested on to maintain the perception of the item on the pressure pad.

Hopefully she would take the relic and he would impose the relic itself with Force telekinesis to hold the dais exactly where it was. Not an inch too low, or a drop in pressure other wise - well, he didn't want to know.

"If this works, you can take all you can carry and I will help you, but I'm not slowing myself down for no reason. If this DOESN'T work...run."

Asterion focused his mind and eradicated Maria from it to concentrate on the dais and the relic she was approaching. He could hear his heart beating inside his own head.

THUMP THUMP THUMP



[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Asterion"]

Maria nodded, sighed, and started. She took the relic and slowly, carefully walked back to where they had started. Her heart beat furiously and she imagined Asterion's might have done the same. It was a risky thing to do, but they had to try to get what they had come for. The man could get an artefact or a few and Maria could get her revenge.

The woman put the relic she had been holding down and exhaled. Then she came back to get the other ones. While walking, she looked at Asterion and nearly lost her balance, making her drop a bit towards a pressure plate right next to her. She managed to regain her balance, but it was barely.

She had to be more careful.

Taking a moment to breathe, Maria eyed the rest of the relics and thought about the next one she's going to take. It was a golden one, looked kind of awesome. She didn't know what it could be, but it seemed really interesting.

"Are you sure you can hold onto that?" she asked before starting to move, though.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion nodded.

”I’m fine – are you? If you can’t focus then you’re going to get us both killed.”

Stepping back with her, Asterion kept his eye on the dais and didn’t move, letting her do what she needed to do.

”Pick up the pace. The second I lose focus – “ Asterion didn’t have time to finish the sentence as he felt his concentration slip, flicking his eyes to watch the girl move, and the dais moved inches lower.

A flood of crimson lights illuminated the room and a klaxon sounded inside the roof, a deafening wail that would surely not be fixed to the corrupt law enforcement agents on the payroll and any guards in the area.

Brilliant. Let a girl distract you.

”Hell! Maria – MOVE IT.”


[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Asterion"]

Maria, frightened by the alarm, started to lose control over herself. She panicked, she wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, not even caring about elementary safety. Her leg hurt when she tried to run faster and faster, but the adrenaline which had started working inside her made it impossible for her to stop.

Running all around the room, trying to find a safe exit, she looked like a headless chicken.

"What do we do now?" she nearly screamed.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Refraining from using his blade, Asterion ran over to Maria and grabbed her arm, effectively half-dragging and half-carrying her through the artefact room with the disorientating red lights, alarms and sirens around them.

Glancing down at the artefact she held to her chest, he looked back up and moved back the way they came straight to the elevator along the painting-adorned hallway.

”25 floors up. That means 25 down and into who knows what. You ready?”

Hitting the call button, he pushed Maria back against the left wall, and he hugged the right, waiting for an elevator full or guards. The sirens continued to sound behind them in the artefact room, but right now his senses were attuned to the elevator shaft. The metal box was rising – higher, higher –

PING

Asterion brought his right hand up…and the doors slid open to reveal nothing but an empty ride down. He craned his head forward and looked around.

”Get in, and get down.”

He slid inside and hugged the wall, watching the girl hobble in. He looked over and hit the G button that would take them to the ground floor and into the jaws of who knew what had come to wait for them.

Asterion drew his eyes from the LED display of green numbers slowly counting down over to Maria holding her prize.

”You ok?”

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

When the elevator came up, Maria tried to act as fast as possible to get into the metal box as quickly as she could. And despite her leg injury, she managed to do that with fairly high speed. Thank Force there was nobody waiting for the two or otherwise they might have never made it past that moment. It was funny how a person's fate depended on little moment and coincidences. Sometimes one mistake could ruin everything or a little sentence could make a person rise into a god-like state.

"Yeah, I am OK."

He took a deep breath and then looked at the man.

"But are you OK?"

[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

As the doors opened, Asterion kept his senses alert as he took Maria by the arm and moved her forward quickly. Yes, she was slightly incapacitated but he wasn’t going to risk his life any more than needed with her holding back with a little pain – rather a little leg pain that severe torture pain when they get captured.

”Don’t worry about me – I’m a wrecking ball.”

It didn’t take long for them to reach the door they came in on, red lights flashing around them. Moving fast, Asterion slipped out into the night and into the evident signs of law enforcement speeders up in the distance.

”Well, you have a choice. Stay here and talk you way out, or get the hell out of here and we part ways. Either way, I’m not taking on corrupt police for you and your sticky fingers.”

Flashlights snapped on ahead, getting closer to the museum and large tower with two figures stood in the doorway.

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"So I'm now responsible for everything that happened..." Maria muttered. "Huh..." She took a look at the artefact in her hands and thought for a moment. She had no intentions of returning it or having to wiggle through the police's strong hands. So her choice was, with no doubt, that they would leave the place.

"We're going to leave. But first, let's find a safe spot and see what we got." She didn't want to leave the man without the treasure they had come for. And if there was only one thing in the chest, she would give it to him. All she needed was to make the former owner of it feel the pain of losing something dear and important. That's what she had felt and that's what she thought would be an amazing revenge.

Or at least a just revenge.

[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

”Fine – but we’re going to have to blend in with nature as it’s too hot to get a ride down to the city. Come on.”

Asterion doubled back around the side of the large building and heading in the opposite direction to where they came, heading down behind the building to the dangerous and dark grounds that started to become thick with foliage and woodland.

A wire security fence wasn’t a problem for Asterion to buckle with the manipulation of his hands, leaving a hole for Maria, following behind and showing signs of discomfort, to move through. Looking over his shoulder, the speeders, two of them, were landing. Hopefully they would focus on the scene of the crime if Asterion could cloud their presence with the Force for them to disappear.

”Just make sure you’ve got what you came for,” he said, lowering the fence back as they both were under.

No doubt more alerts would be raised with the disturbance of the security wire fence, but that would do nothing more to the security that wasn’t already happening.

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Maria climbed through the hole the man had left for her and then stood up once again. Her leg was hurting, but she knew it was better to continue moving than to face the wrath of the police, and even worse, Turow himself. Even the thoughts of that happening gave her shivers and she started moving automatically, just hoping Asterion would follow her.

"I think I have what I came here for."

She smiled a malevolent smile while looking at the treasure she had found. It looked amazing and she knew the inside would be even better. Well, unless it was actually just an urn holding the man's grandmother's ashes. That would have been hilarious.

Well, not so much. Asterion would have probably become really angry with her.

"How long do you think we have to walk to get to a safe place?"

[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Catching up to her, Asterion nodded forward though the thick undergrowth leading downwards.

”We just keep going down until we come out the other end – should be in the city, or the outskirts of it. There it’s time to blend in and change your face because if this guy has any brains, our imagery will be out in minutes so, thanks, but when you’re done here then I’m off. I didn’t expect to be a fugitive. Not that it bothers me.”

It had been a rather exciting turn of events meeting this Maria. After all, an Acolyte was always willing to learn and meet new allies and enemies out there.

Keeping his senses alert, the Force was present around them thanks to the surrounding nature, and he scanned around now and then to make sure they weren’t being followed or hunted.

”How’s the leg? Want me to try fix it again?”

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"Oh, no-no-no..." Maria spoke with sudden ease and playfulness, just like she used to talk. Then she turned to face the Sith and changed her decision. "Well, if you insist... Perhaps there is a way to make it a little bit better. I wouldn't want to suffer from a trauma like that for the rest of my life."

She was glad the adventure was about to end. Not because she hadn't enjoyed it or that it wouldn't have been fun. But more because she was scared of what would happen were they not going to get out of there as fast as possible. The consequences of their actions would have been crazy and that's what made the woman worry a little bit.

Maybe a conversation between the two could take her thoughts away from that.

And so the lady looked back at the building and ensured they wouldn't be seen. "I can manage to walk about a kilometre with this injury, but I doubt I could go on for longer. I am assuming by so far, we'll be in a safe location, too."

[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Pointing forward, the lights of the city down in the distance were evident and the gradual noise coming to their ears; music, transports and the general low-life chaos away from the grand property they had infiltrated.

”Not far, look. When we get there I’ll have a look at the leg and try to soothe it – but I’m no doctor.”

He batted a branch out of the way and sighed.

”You going to open that thing or just cuddle it? What do you actually want in there anyway?”

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"I'll open it once we're out of Turow's reach. I wouldn't want to lose it," Maria replied to the Sith's question. "And I am not sure what's inside. I didn't came for anything in particular, truth to be told. I just wanted the owner of this artefact to feel pain." She shrugged. "I guess he will be hurt. He wouldn't keep a useless thing protected with such a system."

While they continued walking, Maria shivered a little bit. It was getting slightly colder as they kept going, but she didn't let that stop her. Stopping was not something she liked to do.

"But I hope there is more than one item inside. Because I'd like to get something for myself as well," she spoke jokingly, hinting to the fact that the man would receive something, no matter how many things were inside.

[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

With a roll of his eyes, Asterion continued talking as he pulled off his black cowl and placed it around Maria’s shoulders. She was nothing but an attractive damsel in distress.

”Look, I don’t want whatever is in there. This is been…different, to say the least and I only came here to this planet to observe and study and watch. I’ve done plenty of that in the last hour so I can leave a happy man.”

He looked down at her.

”Plus I think I have a good ally for the future. You’re not so bad company, I’ll admit.”

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Asterion's words surprised the lady. She had never heard of people not wanting something. Especially not from a Darksider. They were known for being greedy and wanting what was not theirs. Why did this one decide not to take what was about to be given to him? The woman needed to think about it for a while. So the chest wouldn't get opened for a while. Unless she would come up with the decision. Or at least have a theory about why the man didn't need the artefact.

"And you're not as bad as I first thought, either." She laughed, showing no signs of pain from the injury of hatred for the man she had had when the two first met. Their relationship seemed to turn into mutual understanding of each other, if not even friendship. Or as the man himself called it, an alliance.

"It was a crazy adventure. But we all need a little bit of crazy sometimes."

[member="Asterion"]