Public At the Darkwire End of the Street

[Agatha Io]

Agatha walked on the streets with the Zabrak Boy, Felgrex. The other children had been left behind at the apartment complex.

"It must have killed you to turn to us..." she said quietly. "I bet for a second, drinking acid from a goblet would have been preferable."

"Maybe..." Felgrex said back grimly, staring straight ahead. "But I want my Sister to live more than I want that monster who built you to die."

"There's nothing I can say. I know that..."

"Why are you trying, then?" Felgrex asked.

"I'm not. It is terrible how you have suffered. But your parents death's can be attributed just as much to the stubbornness, incompetence, and cruelty of others as they can be to the direct choices of my Mother."

"My Father never hurt anybody. He was an honest man, which is all but unheard of in these corpos. He gave to charity. He helped build prosthetics for child War Refugees...." he replied coldly. "My Mother was a Guardian. She spent her life helping people. Protecting them. She tried to protect them from your Mother..." He retorted, fist clenching. "Your Mother cut my Mother's head off at the third battle of Ziost."

He faced her. "We're not friends. This isn't some happy go lucky adventure. After we get what we want, we part ways." he said calmly, though the fury in his eyes was like a glowing lamp.

Agatha nodded. "Fair enough." she said politely.

Felgrex nodded. The pair continued walking through dank streets in silence. Agatha winced at the people she saw walking around maimed and with blown off limbs. How many of those wounds had been caused by the GA? The SJC? The Empire? The Maw? The Bryn'adul?

How many had been caused by House Io?

Agatha found herself not wanting to think too hard on that.

As they rounded a corner, her bio audio sensors detected furtive movements.

They came out of the streets from three separate alleyways. Heavily augmented, red and green stripes up and down their face. The same gang that had ambushed her earlier.

One of them, a Nautolan who wore a garish purple top hat that just 'screamed' please rip my head off, mighty Player Character, stepped forward. Agatha discreetly gestured for Felgrex to remain still.

"Gotta admit, Lady. You're tougher than you look. I was starting to wonder what happened to the ones I sent to greet you. Found my right hand man with his back snapped like a twig."

"Do you have a Left Hand Man?" Agatha asked.

The Top Hat chuckled. His gang joined in the chuckling after a few moments.

"Funny too!"

"As funny as the screaming of your gang was to me?" she asked coldly. Inwardly, she'd been saddened and revolted at having to kill them. Not that they hadn't shot her to pieces in the process...

"If it were different circumstances, I'd have been happy to give you what you'd originally paid me for." Top Hat replied, shrugging.

"So what changed?" Agatha said crossly. "I paid you half in advance in good faith. I even threw in a free cloned heart and an espresso machine for you. An Espresso Machine!" Agatha exclaimed angrily. "It cost me a months fething salary for that chit!"

"It's a very good espresso machine. I'm a big fan of it." a gang member in the back spoke up.

"OHMYGODSILOVETHAT ESPRESSO MACHINE!" exclaimed another.

Top Hat nodded with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, we all agree it is a very good espresso machine, and that it was a very courteous good will gesture on Miss Agatha's part buuuuuut..."

"There's always a 'but'..." Felgrex muttered.

"I'm afraid the issue is not one of your ability or willingness to pay, Miss Agatha. To put it bluntly, the issue is whether or not we couldn't get more money for you..."

Agatha raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. It's difficult to tell at a distance, unless you're moving. And even up close it really 'is' difficult to tell..." Top Hat said more to himself than her as a peered closer. "They really did build you 'quite' beautiful. But it's the smoothness that gives it away in the end. Not just the movement. But the skin too. HRD like you? Oh, I wish I'd been present to watch you kill them. It must be like watching those little ancient chronos with their little gears and hands move.

"Keep it up and I'll be happy to give you a free show..." Agatha replied with a dryness that bordered on sand paper.

Top Hat chuckled again.

"Flattered, Luv..." he replied, tipping his hat. "'Fraid I'm gonna have to take a bit of a rain check. Not that I wouldn't enjoy the show, but I like my intestines on the inside 'stead of out, like you left poor Crankshaft."

"If Crankshaft had stopped running his damned mouth I wouldn't have had to shatter his jaw." Agatha said.

Top Hat nodded in acknowledgement. "Crankshaft never was too smart. Probably better he went that way, though, than go out awake on some Ripperdoc's table."

"Trust me. Crankshaft went out screaming." Agatha replied acidly.

Top Hat only laughed.

"I did say he never was too smart. Guess he wasn't all that lucky either." he replied jovially as Agatha and Felgrex felt the power up whine of their blaster rifles.

"So...what next?" Agatha replied.

"It's ironic--" Top Hat remarked, circling them both.

"If you hadn't been so advanced, you wouldn't be in this trouble. I probably actually would have given you the generators if you had just been an ordinary med Droid. More quality, more greedy eyes. You should be flattered, honestly--" He added, leaning into her ear with a hiss.

"Two hundred, three hundred years, those other Med Droids will look like mythosaur bones compared to you. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll get paid a lot bringing you in dead. Doesn't matter if you're in pieces. They'll have more than enough to get what they need. But I bring you in alive? I'll make a fortune that'll make ev'ry windfall I ever got down here look like gizka chow. No more used Disruptors." Top Hat explained.

"I do so hate used Disruptors. The Tibanna cartridge tends to stick a bit when you're trying to unload it." Agatha replied.

"Here's how this works. You come with us. Quiet and polite like. No use runnin'. I know every alley, sewer 'n' abandoned building from 'ere well into the next two sectors."

"And if I refuse? What if, for example, I decided I was gonna off you like I offed Crankshaft? What if I like my odds?" Agatha asked.

"Eh, I figured you'd say something like that. I wager even with our augs, you'd tear through us. Your muscles are surprisingly dense..." Top Hat trailed. "But even you aren't good enough to defeat us, protect yourself and the boy at the same time. So let's try looking at this logically..." he added, looking her dead in the eye in a way she was genuinely disconcerted by.

"Agatha!" Felgrex called out, a laser dot appearing on his forehead from far off.

Agatha's eyes darted to it.

"Now, I'm gonna politely ask you to surrender and come with me. Or first I will have my sniper blow his heart out onto the street to demonstrate my resolve. Then, if yours holds, I will have him systematically target anyone in the street. Even if you defeat me, and even if you somehow defeat my sniper, not only will the boy be dead, but potentially dozens more. Should you somehow escape the scene before Corp-Sec got here, there are over a dozen surviving witnesses you passed by who would make you a person of interest, not just to Corpo, but to them Darkwire feths." he explained patiently. "You'd be all over their custom desktops 'fore lunch. You wouldn't be able to walk into a public restroom without getting snapshotted and red flagged. Any Jedi here gets your scent too, and more of 'em show up on this planet than you think. You'll put up a fight, but you got no back up. Inevitably, you'll surrender, or end up in pieces, and my guys at the morgue or my guys at the cell get you anyway."

"What makes you think I care? I'm just using him." Agatha tried to bluff.

Top Hat shook his head.

"Nah Luv. You'd make a bad pazaak player. Saw how your lips quivered at the thought of the boy dying. Your maker made you too human."

Agatha kept running the combat scenarios in her head for a few seconds.

"Alright..." she admitted quietly. "I'll go with you. But let the boy go home."

"I'd like to, but if I let him go, there's nothing keeping you docile. 'Fraid he's along for the ride. Least 'till we get you nice and sold."

One Hour Later...


She had been escorted with blasters pointed at her from all sides and then loaded onto a restraining harness in the gangs hide out.

It was filled with old scanners and security turrets. Excellent coverage of the entire interior. They could gun her down in a hot second no matter what she tried, even if she had possessed the advanced combat programming of a Model 1.

The Top Hat knew how to keep her docile, all right. He claimed he still had the Sniper on a roof, waiting to get the order to start firing. She hadn't made a move, made a peep until she had been put in a bare, utilitarian cell, the boy taken off elsewhere...

Top Hat grinned at her from behind the Force field as she sat down.

"Thanks 'fer being such a understandin', cooperative sorts. Real conscientious of you, avoiding a bloodbath."

"You have me locked and secured. Call your Sniper off." Agatha requested.

Top Hat shook his head.

"I never sold me an HRD like you before. I think I'll keep my leverage. I heard all about you Nuetralizers. How you don't stay down sometimes. He's gonna call me ev'ry 'alf hour, Darlin'. If I'm not safe and sound, he starts blasting."

"Dishonorable cretin!" Agatha hissed hatefully.

Top Hat laughed. "Rich, coming from a woman whose faction leveled the Silver Rest and destroyed Rhand."

Agatha said nothing.

"Nothin' to say? You're so smart you even know when to shut up!" Top Hat chuckled smarmily. "Don't get too comfy. I have a... challenge I'd like to see you complete. Do as I ask, and maybe I consider setting the boy free."

Top Hat walked off and Agatha forced herself to stay calm. The game wasn't over. Not yet...

 

[Valery Noble]

Outfit | Weapon | Appearance

Location: Denon
Items: Necklace

It seemed that, to some extent, Valery had gotten through to him a little bit. He still didn't feel ready, but she had no intentions or desires to rush him in his life — she hardly knew him, but that wouldn't stop her from offering some life advice. "Of course, nobody knows what time is best, better than you do."

"When you're ready to focus on yourself again, don't let a sense of guilt linger," she said with a soft smile before the nurse stepped into the room. There was a brief conversation between the two women before the nurse left the room again. Valery hopped off the bed and stretched her arms and legs a bit.

"It seems I'm free to go; it was a pleasure meeting you," Valery said with a dip of her head, "I hope you'll be able to set aside all of this one day, no matter how long it takes."

Xeno ​

 

[Agatha Io]

Agatha was left to stew in that force fielded cell she had been stuck in for hours, her databases in a tailspin over the fate of the boy whose life her house, her Mother, had ruined.

She had never seen the other side of it before on such a concrete level. It made her Organic Brain heat up.

How could House Io claim to be better than anyone at this point!?

Eventually, a set of Magnaguards wielding Electrostaves came up to her cell. The blonde Biot looked at the two.

"Mmmmm...all that angled durasteel and no way to interface..." she remarked idly as she was escorted through the hide out into a small booth. There, a Twi'lek Slave girl in a dancer's outfit handed her a simple vibro-great sword, along with a black armorweave Leotard and Boots.

"For what it's worth, good luck..." she said.

Agatha went behind a screen and changed, revealing a somewhat muscular figure hefting the golden claymore as she got out into the large, arena like chamber where Top Hat (Wearing his garish Top Hat) stood as the MC to a mini stadium of gangmembers, red and green stripes on faces everywhere. Felgrex was right next to him.

"Does the boy really need to be present for whatever sick thing you have in mind, Gangster?" Agatha wondered.

"Ah, but you don't unduh'stan', Luv, this is good faith. You have unequivocal proof he is alive." Top Hat answered jovially.

"You do realize you get paid less if I'm dead, right?" Agatha bit back snidely.

"Totally. But like I said, if you weren't so advanced...you wouldn't be in this mess...found your burned blood everywhere at the first ambush site. Yet I meet you and there's not a mark. You're capable of self repair. Marvelous." Top Hat remarked out loud, before cackling and sloshing a goblet filled with wine everywhere.

"If I'm gonna sell you, Miss Agatha, I gotta know what I am selling. So I'm gonna put you through your paces."

"Guess you're getting that free show after all. So who's it gonna be?" Agatha said, walking around, pointing her Vibro Claymore like it was nothing at the watching, jeering crowd.

"Who's tired of living? Which one of you feths who just cannot seem to take the hint wants a go?"

Top Hat only laughed.

"You kidding? Me? Wasting good henchpeople against you? No. No..." Top Hat scoffed with a shake of his head.

"Nah, that's what knock off Phase 1 Dark Trooper droids are for."

The floor parted and the skeletal droids with their red photo-receptors rose on a platform, bearing their typical equipment of blast shields and forearm vibro-swords.

Her older Brothers liked these Droids, praising them as excellent sparring partners. Agatha had been pushed through her combat courses, the same as any Organic Nuetralizer. But while she was definitely capable of killing maybe a few squads if pushed, that was very different from facing down four dozen droids.

They surrounded her as she guarded. Four carefully approached, then another three.

The blades came furtive but it was difficult to keep track, so Agatha did the simplest thing she could, and began strategically spinning the great sword from one side to the other of her body as they attacked, shifting her weight and footing only when mechanically necessary as she constantly moved her great sword around her body to both attack and intercept attacks. The Dark Trooper Droids began to resort more to hit and run trying to find a way behind her so they could strike, timing their attacks as her blade moved away from them.

Her enhanced reflexes bought her leeway, but not much. Her golden blade whirled, biting clean through a Droid Skull as her her back received a large cut that left a large gash on her left back shoulder, spilling dark green blood, as a power attack swipe cleaved through three.

A stab to her side, though it didn't hurt, made her stagger back, barely parrying the swords of the ones behind her, rolling away from their strikes and forced to drop her sword.

Her Martial arts programming kicked in, and Agatha dodged and grabbed the arm of the nearest Droid, brutally swinging him into a small grouping and ducking under a slice as she grabbed a severed Droid blast shield to block, and parry a vicious, ghost like set of attacks from one Droid, parry his next slice and tearing his head off.

Three more attacked at once from three different angles, Agatha barely evading most of the attacks, though an unlucky hit got her in the knee as she staggered back, no longer able to move anywhere near as effectively. They had crippled her, but not before she had downed a dozen and a half.

"Ah, c'mon, that can't be your best! Give us a real show!" Top Hat bellowed with a laugh.

Agatha was forced to dodge a slice, diving for her sword, even as her leg moved stiff and awkwardly...

Felgrex discreetly reached down to his wrist, twisting something. Agatha in the meantime managed to cut down another Six.

"Well whaddya know, a little bit of vinegar in you after all!* Top Hat laughed, slapping his knee as he sat on his throne watching as Agatha parried another attack, only to suffer disaster as one managed to cut off her hand. She jumped back, landing awkwardly, still holding the blade easily with the good hand, but they were converging...

Felgrex's hand began to shift quietly, splitting open...

...and a double barreled Disruptor Pistol built into his cyber limb was soon stuck under Top Hat's chin, followed by dozens of laser sights on his body

"You have an illegally modified Tenloss Corporation pistol pointing at that skull, and you have pissed me off..." The Zabrak boy snarled coldly.

"Easy now lad. That's a man's gun you got in that there contraption 'o' yers..." Top Hat said quietly.

"Taken from someone who thought I didn't have it in me." Felgrex answered. "He was wrong. Call them off her."

"I still own all the leverage, Lad. That Sniper doesn't hear from me--"

"No. You don't." The boy said flatly, quietly enraged, expression deadpan. "If that Sniper doesn't hear from you, it won't matter if I can't stop him, because you will still be atomized."

Top Hat, sweating, blinked slowly.

A Discreet hand gesture made the Droids cease their attack. Agatha collapsed to the ground, heavily bleeding.

"I do confess...there is an undeniable finality to your cogitation and what not..." Top Hat admitted humbly.

"Good. Now cogitate lifting your ass out that seat. You and me and Agatha are going places."

"Lad, be reasonable..." Top Hat said in a sage like manner. "You cannot possibly expect to escape."

"Who said anything about escape?" Felgrex asked. "We're going to your office. AGATHA! GET! THE FETH! UP!"

Agatha stirred, trying to hold her unnatural intestines in. She dragged herself up, holding her stomach, the ankle on her same leg with the injured knee.

"Alright Lad. I can see now that maaaaaybe dragging you into the middle of this was a tad short sighted in retrospect. You've had a rough day. It was the implant business, wasn't it? That what made you turn to her? Here's an idea. Reach into my pocket. Wallet there with 2100 credits. More than enough to hire you a Doctor, and a decent one at that. All you got to do is just walk away, kid. None of my boys will try and make sly as you take flight. Ask around. Top Hat's word is Electrum in these parts."

"Just like it was Electrum when you ambushed a woman who had already paid you..." Felgrex replied. "Start moving your ass!"

Top Hat was up, walking slowly as the boy followed him down to the arena itself.

"Why you risking all this, kid? You don't even know her!" Top Hat protested vociferously.

"I could ask you something similar..." Felgrex answered, sparing a glance at the damaged Android.

"You good to move?" Felgrex asked.

Agatha nodded, still inwardly terrified but hiding it as the lasers followed him.

"Than move." Felgrex ordered.

They both began to head to the arena exit

"You little bastard!" Top Hat snarled venomously, jovial approachability that he displayed previously completely vanished as they reached the Mouth of the exit. "If you feth this up for me, I swear to the Maw's Avatars I'll burn you AND your neighborhood to the ground!"

Felgrex's eye twitched.

"The feth you say?" he asked.

"Boy. We need to leave!" Agatha hissed, trying to open the door and getting it open a few seconds later.

"You heard me, runt!" he barked. "I'll turn your damn neighborhood into ashes!"

"No. The bit before that." Felgrex said calmly, icily. "Say it again."

Top Hat's face contorted into a sneer.

"By the Maw's Avatar's, I'll skin everyone you love if you cause me to lose my payday!" he shrieked.

Felgrex's eye twitched again.

"Can't skin anybody if you're dead, motherfether." Felgrex replied bluntly, shooting Top Hat in the gut just as Agatha finally forced open the door. Top Hat had enough time to scream as he disintegrated completely.

Agatha belatedly grabbed him and they both dived through the exit, the door shutting behind them as a still bleeding Agatha helped Felgrex up.

"When were you planning on telling me you had a Class D Disruptor in your hand?" Agatha asked the boy as they heard blaster fire pelting the now sealed door.

"As soon as it became relevant..." he answered, standing up.

"That bought us maybe a few minutes..." Agatha said. "If we're going to find a way to stop that sniper, we have to do it now."

"The Office. We got ten minutes left..." Felgrex replied distantly, walking off almost in a daze after killing someone. Agatha followed, horrified by and pitying him...

 

[Xeno]

Denon
Tags: Valery Noble ​

"It seems I'm free to go; it was a pleasure meeting you," Valery said with a dip of her head, "I hope you'll be able to set aside all of this one day, no matter how long it takes."

As the Jedi left, Xeno simply gave her a nod. He thought about what she had said. How desperately he wanted to put everything aside clung at his chest, but the swordsman couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't ready. Not yet. He could still feel the blood of those slain by his hand; the despair in their eyes. It haunted him. The emotions had always been overwhelming. Shackled to the will of another, acting on survival instincts alone... the half-breed had been reduced to an animal. It was a time in his life he may never truly escape. Worst of all was his face. He didn't hide it to remain anonymous. Xeno hid his face because it didn't belong to him. It still belonged to his old master, even in death.

The swordsman sighed, clutching the mask on his face. Strangely, a warm feeling rose inside him. Was it hope? Admittedly, Xeno had little experience with hope. He was born a slave and raised by a Sith lord. Yet despite this, he couldn't help but feel that maybe his goal wasn't that suicidal. Perhaps there was even a conclusion to all of this, one that would see him lay down his blade. It just wasn't time.

Xeno let himself phase through the table and then the floor below, passing into the lower levels of Denon.

End​

 

[Samnai Rouber]

"That's our cue to scram. Until next time, this is Radio Free Sakedo, signing off."

“Ah, are those Kop and Grog?”

“No, those are Kyp and Griggs.”

“Same thing, same thing.” Zuly shrugged it off, manicured hands waving in the air, opposite of Samnai.

It was another day on Denon, and the sound of the denizens going about their day drifted into the apartment. Distantly, a couple could be heard screaming, before a door slammed and it ceased. Closer, an argument could be heard outside the window, slowly being joined by other voices. All in all, complete chaos.

None of this seemed to affect the occupant of the flat, however, who sipped her coffee as she eyed her childhood friend. To an outsider, she may have seemed completely disinterested in the chattering from the blonde, but Zuly knew that Samnai was invested in her ramble. “Seriously, I had given that man a tight slap for trying to scam me, but if I had more time I would've broken his legs too!”

“You would break your own legs trying. Commendable effort, though.”

The woman stuck her tongue out, to which Samnai just gave an unimpressed look. “Hey, not everyone can crush bones into dust like you, miss I-got-hand-of-steel. Besides, if I couldn’t do it you would just come over to do it for me.”

That she would, in a heartbeat. The assassin didn’t say it, but went over to the toaster for her bread, voice drifting over, “You could do it, if you followed that training schedule I gave you.”

Zuly freezed, blueberry pancake almost falling before she hastily said, “Hey hey, I have been totally following it, see my arms?”

Samnai came back with butter-slathered bread and looked at the flexing arm. “Uh-uh.” She clearly didn’t believe that.

Pouting, the other woman went back to her pancake. “Come on, you know it’s too hard for my poor, fragile bones to follow. My arms almost died when I tried.”

Samnai paused, then replied. “You are right, I will give you a lighter one then.”

“Yay!”

“I will watch over to make sure you actually follow it.”

“Boo.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, both finishing breakfast, before Zuly spoke again. “How is that group you joined?”

“It pays well.”

“And your friends?”

Blue eyes looked up to green ones. “It’s work. There are no friends here.”

“You risked your life for one of them, though. Got stabbed in the stomach for it.”

“It was just repaying a favour.”

“You don’t do that often.”

“...”

“You know, you worry me.” Samnai frowned. Zuly held up a hand, continuing, “I know you came to this place for the money, but you will be staying in this place for a long time. You can’t live here without some allies. And they are good people, I saw them helping the people here.”

“They are criminals, as am I. Just because we help out the citizens once in a while doesn’t mean we like each other in any capacity.”

“Ah, but you know the most that those “criminal” and “good” labels don’t matter much. Not in this world. At least try to know them, even if just for the sake of someone having your back.”

“...” Samnai stood up and reached for her jacket. “I will try.”

Zuly smiled, a blinding one that made even Samna’s lips quirk a bit. She clapped her hands, picking up the plates together. “Great! Now, show me around. I want to see that kid you picked up.”

“Fine. There’s not much to do around here, warning you.”

“We will just watch some holodramas then, Red Rose has a new episode out.”

“Oh? I need to see that then.”

“You really need to, Julan finally confesses to Rosiet…”

Just another day on Denon.

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Somewhere on a dark Denon Street…​

Above, below, and all around, the sights & sounds of the tireless metropolis poured forth like oil; drowning the senses in a sea of priceless sensation. Words echoed forth from so many speakers, declaring experiences, goods, and services to the faceless masses; tangled bodies, trudging to & fro, mingled amongst the neon lights in a danse-macabre…

It was a work of art, from a certain point of view. Much like Coruscant, and yet so very different. Life on Denon invariably led to a struggle for meaning amongst the clinically-sterilized tapestry that was a city that never slept. Denon’s common sentients found common ground in this unpredictable land - conducting their daily “biz” with the sentiment that at any moment, one might be struck down by a stray bullet… a passing speeder… an explosive charge, detonated by the city’s most recent terrorist looking to cause havoc and suffering.

But on a night such as this, surrounded by a gentle rain which steadily beat upon the pavement, Denon seemed as quiet & peaceful as it possibly could.

Unfortunately for one small group of Denon’s populace, however, this peace would soon be shattered by violence of another kind.

A figure, cloaked in black, moved as silently as a wraith down a grimy, poorly-lit alleyway off of one of District 7’s main thoroughfares. The sounds of steady traffic faded, dulling to a muted hum in the background. Small puddles of water had already formed, pooling in tiny depressions in the pockmarked permacrete; some taking on an oily sheen which reflected the multicolored lights which barely lit the confined & private alcoves spaced every few yards apart.

The figure never slowed, ignoring a series of marks stenciled in spray-paint in a dark corner; marking this territory as belonging to one of District 7’s many small neighborhood “crews” - groups of youths, unaffiliated with larger gangs, who’d chosen to band together for their own common goals. Such groups, while unpredictable, bore little true control outside of their own ability to intimidate & harass local shops & passersby - often choosing to simply look tough, congregating in dark corners to listen to music & discuss a future they’d never see.

Tonight, it seemed, they were nowhere to be found.

It was better this way. Prying eyes, no matter how dark, were bad for business. This was the way of Kosa Nostra.

Finally, the figure reached their destination; a nondescript corner beneath a flickering lamp which dully illuminated a T-Junction surrounded by buildings many stories tall. It was here that they would wait, until the opportune moment…

Until they were summoned for. Whatever that sign might be.

It didn’t take long for their patience to be rewarded. When the signal came, it did so not by the sound of a gunshot or a shouted word… but by the light overhead flickering, then dying completely. Suddenly, the alleyway plunged into darkness - leaving only the silent figure & the rain.

It was at that moment that the figure sprang into motion; approaching an alcove seemingly selected at random. A gloved hand reached for the cool metal handle, turning it - finding it unlocked - and stepping through the dark portal. The door, pulled shut behind them, made no sound as the latch clicked home.

Judgement, delivered swiftly. Revenge, a dish best served cold.

The occupants of this nameless residence were, by no means, innocent; and when the figure finally reappeared in the dark alleyway, they would leave the door open… the first of many messages to be found when the occupants eventually returned. Inside, they would find one of their fellows murdered - dead by a severed artery, and surrounded by a pool of brightly-colored blood. Clutched tightly in the dead man’s fist, they would find a message:

A single sweet-smelling black rose, its petals as soft as silk & glistening faintly in the cold white light of the undisturbed kitchenette.

Such a perfect thing could not have come from Denon.

Their face concealed from the eyes in the sky, the hooded figure faded into the light & sound of District 7, disappearing onto the main thoroughfare amidst the crush of bodies - just another wandering soul amidst the millions.

 

[Agatha Io]

Agatha ran with Felgrex as fast as she possibly could through the Gang hide out, both dodging the deadly blasters. Agatha had lost a hand, and her knee was barely a hair's breadth from dislocation.

The Zabrak Boy spotted an office with garish colors and immediately ran to it, shooting one of the turrets guarding the door open. The Blaster fire from behind managed to nail her in the shoulder and her entire arm went dead as she stumbled in behind Felgrex, who had impressively sliced through the keypad lock in seconds with some other device in his cybernetic hand.

They barely managed to get the door shut before the gang could charge down the passage.

Agatha could still here them pelting the shielded door.

"That won't keep them out forever..." Felgrex said, looking through Top Hat's personal terminal. "They'll slice it eventually."

"We have 007 minutes left to find a way to call off the sniper." Agatha noted dispassionately, summoning her doctorly distance to deal with the emotional stress.

"Yeah, I know. He has to have a contact number." Felgrex growled, trying not to panic as the pounding on the door got louder. He finally

"Here, let me, I know what to look for." Agatha said, staggering over to the terminal on the desk.

"I'll look for weapons--" Felgrex offered.

"Don't bother." Agatha snorted. "This room is a kill box. they'll toss a grenade before they let us get so much as one shot off."

"They ain't pounding on this door so hard for nothing." Felgrex muttered, sweat of fear all over his face.

"People like Top Hat have all sorts of little panic buttons. Gang Leadership has no assurances. There are always gonna be people gunning for you." Agatha explained, looking through his security codes. She finally found the one that connected to the image of a rifle with a scope.

"How do we even know he wasn't lying about the sniper outright?"

"He was willing to kill you in front of me to force my compliance. Never put anything past that sort." Agatha replied. "You willing to take that risk?"

"No." Felgrex answered. "But how can we stop him?"

"You should have thought of that before you sent him to Hell." Agatha replied, busily typing. "But sometimes the simplest solution is usually the best."

Agatha knew the sniper's location, watching a locator beacon display it on a map overlay of the sector. She auto dialed every authority on Denon withing the vicinity and smiled as she watched it began to move. These wired up types had a million warning systems installed in them to let them know when the authorities were on their way. But it was too late. The kind of danger he presented meant it wasnt just the cops after him, but all the gangs operatiing on the streets he was surveying. He'd have to disappear FAST if he wanted to breathe past tonight.

But that still left them with the massive problem of what awaited them outside, and how they would have no chance once the gang got the doors open.

"Felgrex..." Agatha said slowly. "I think there are only two ways we walk out of here."

"How?!" Felgrex asked, head whipping her direction.

"One, we have you point your disruptor at my head and use me as leverage. The idea they might still get paid might be enough to stay their hand." Agatha posited.

"Never gonna happen..." Felgrex said immediately. "This goes beyond money now. We humiliated them in their own base. This gets out? Their street cred evaporates overnight."

"At least we can die knowing they won't be taken seriously anymore." Agatha replied in crisp fashion.

The boy stared at her.

"What's the second way?" he asked.

Agatha sighed.

"I have located a kill switch that will flood the halls outside with cyanogen gas..." Agatha explained. "It's a doomsday scenario. Everyone outside will die. But we will live."

Felgrex was a little pale. But not as pale as she thought he would be.

"Why did you kill him? If you had taken him alive, we might have still been able to bargain. It was a slim chance, but it was better than nothing." Agatha questioned.

Felgrex said nothing.

In an instant Agatha understood.

"You wanted this." Agatha said in realization. "They were the ones supplying the implants, weren't they?"

Felgrex's silence confirmed more than a simple 'yes' would have.

"You used me as bait." Agatha added.

Felgrex nodded, glassy eyed.

Agatha was silent a moment, processing the depth of his ruthlessness. What she said next, in spite of the rapidly worsening situation beyond the door, genuinely shook him, given how the blood drained from his face.

"You profess all this hatred for my Mother...yet you have not acted in any way that she would not have."

Felgrex narrowed his eyes, in spite of the deep cascade of doubt, and his response was something that shook her badly.

"Are you comparing your mother's actions to those of a petulant, short sighted child?" he asked in a dangerous sounding whisper.

The pair stared at each other.

"Well, Felgrex? What's it gonna be?"

"You're the one at the controls." Felgrex asked. "What's so important about my input?"

"You executed the Gang Leader, greatly increasing our current hardships. If we had kept him alive we would be in a much better bargaining position. You don't get to wash your hands after subjecting someone to the most painful death imaginable in a fit of pique." Agatha replied flatly. "If you didn't want it to go this far, you should not have gone to these lengths."

Felgrex had a somber expression as he stared at her.

"Do it." he said.

Agatha typed in the string of commands and Felgrex flinched as he heard the desperate screaming from outside...