Crashing and Burning (Darlyn Excron; Cassius Droma)

[Alessia]

"YOU LITTLE SHUTTA!!"
The suited young man screamed at the top of his lungs. He nearly tripped over the pedestrians in front of him, toppling a few as he launched himself into a sprint. It was difficult thanks to the crowded walkway. How the hell was that girl moving so easily?? He stumbled past a tall and fairly angry-looking Cathar man. He stopped for a second to swiftly apologize. That was when he heard the familiar hum of his brand-new speeder. No way... NO KARKING WAY!! He just paid 20,000 credits for that thing!!!

Alessia saw the man struggling to make it to the side of the street. She revved the engines a bit. Wow! This thing sounded really cool! She'd never driven anything before, of course. The controls looked simple enough though. Simple steering mechanism, a few buttons that she assumed were for speed and breaks. Ooo~, was that a music player? The interior looked pretty expensive. Hm... Smelled new. The guy must've just bought this thing. Judging by how he'd been dressed, he must've had a lot of creds. Maybe she should've taken some off his hands? Nah. Speeders were better anyway. She couldn't joyride in a pile of credits, after all.
He was slowly getting closer. Right! Time to take this baby for a spin! No better time to learn how to drive. Alessia revved the engines again. She moved the half-wheel that must've been for steering forward, pressing one of the buttons. With a jolt, the speeder took off like a blaster bullet down the street. She screamed happily, smiling widely while her whipped out behind her.

The man watched his new prize shoot off. DAMMIT!! WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN TODAY??
"MOTHERKARKER!!!"

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Reason number thirty seven thousand five hundred and twenty two that Darlyn regretted his life decisions, he was stuck consistently tending to mundane matters of little excitement. And being on the job, preparing for his inevitable coming hunts for criminals of state importance, he was forced to do this job sober. So needless to say, he had quite the raging headache, as he stuck to sipping tea or water to fill time. He groaned in annoyance at yet another repetitive form to sign, and finally decided he had best go for a walk before he literally choked someone or something to death or sent enough voltage through its head to make it pop just to make the day slightly amusing.

So, adorned in his sith like robes, the only splotch of color being the blue wing like insignia of Commenor upon his breast, he began patrolling Chasin City's streets, finding at least some peace in being physically moving. It was no less mundane a task, but at least it was a mundane task he wasn't forced to sit still during for hours upon end. It would be out here that he would hear a disturbance, and turn to see...

He had to leap up into the air, propelled by the force, before a speeder could have the chance to turn the black adorned man into a red splotch of paint. Yet, Darlyn couldn't help but grin a bit, realizing that this meant at least a little excitement today. When he landed, he quickly commandeered a speeder himself from a patrolling officer, flicking on the lights as he gave chase. Today was certainly going to do a good job of breaking the monotony.

The speakers would flare to life as he got closer to [member="Alessia"], enough that she could easily hear him while they went. "Attention, pull the vehicle over, this is the Chasin City police. Pull the vehicle over, now." Did he care if she did? No, though he was unaware she was in fact a child driving. Otherwise maybe he'd put much more effort in stopping her quickly.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

The streets of Commenor were generally peaceful. Because of the faction’s neutrality and the capital’s generally clean appearance, Cassius Droma felt he could walk around and not be in danger of being robbed or attacked. While he wasn’t much for crowds, sometimes he liked to just sit and people watch, to study how other species interacted with each other. He also had a bit more of a low-key attire on today – simplistic pants, tunic-styled shirt, and a jacket. His lightsaber still hung on his belt, sure, but people usually didn’t give him a second glance unless he was wearing robes.

He had been reading something on his datapad when he heard a bit of a kerfuffle. Looking up, his brow furrowed as he saw an older man chasing after a younger girl with stark blonde hair. As soon as the blonde girl got into the speeder, Cassius stood. His intuition… or maybe it was the Force… something told him what was going on. She was stealing that speeder. And he needed to go after her.

Racing to the side of the street where his rented speeder bike was, he hopped on and gunned the engine, speeding off down the street, nearly hitting a few gaping pedestrians along the way. While he wasn’t really used to riding a speeder bike – his forte was starfighters – he let the Force guide him like he always did when piloting. Luckily, the girl ahead of him was clearing a bit of a path, so he was able to speed right up to the side of her since everyone was out of the way.

A local police speeder started to come up on the opposite side, and since Cassius figured the girl would be distracted by that, he swung his right leg over the side of the speeder bike and reached out, gripping the speeder. He planned on hefting himself over into the passenger seat, but wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be noticed, and that his balance would be right.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

Alessia's laughter shifted to giggling when she heard the policecraft approaching. She felt that there was someone else coming around to... Sure enough, with a glance to her other side, she saw someone attempting to get in the speeder with her.
Wow... Was he stupid? One wrong move and he'd be a squish blot on the ground!
He had balls. She'd give him that. But she knew that company might ruin the fun of the moment. She didn't want to kill the guy, naturally. Even she wasn't that hardcore.
Instead, Alessia moved the speeder over a bit. It nudged the man's bike. If he was smart he'd get back on it or at least move to where his leg wouldn't get crushed. She sped up.
"Hey! Do you have a deathwish or something??" She called over to him, glancing over her shoulder for a moment at the policecraft again.
"I mean, I'm not saying trying to jump into a moving vehicle isn't badass or anything. But you're really not in a position to do that without probably dying!"

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Rookie you know how to drive right? Take the wheel." Darlyn laughed loudly as he handed the controls over to the rookie he'd taken the vehicle from, who was only a 'bit' nervous to be doing so. Darlyn was known for being insane when it came to handling a situation. Effective but, insane. And one can imagine how pale his face came as Darlyn stood up in a moving speeder and moved into a position to be physically able to take a pot shot at the runaway speeder. He had to take action, as he saw [member="Cassius Droma"] attempting to board the craft himself.

He signaled the driver in the police craft to speed up and move ahead of [member="Alessia"], the wind whipping at his midnight black cloak and robes. What he wouldn't do to see what he looked like.. "Last chance to handle this nicely! Pull over and I won't have to take drastic action." More drastic than standing on a moving speeder anyways. His left hand crackled with the faintest hint of electricity, no doubt alerting Cassius exactly who was there. A darksider, and if he remembered much he might even realize it was Darlyn, one of the Ministers. Or maybe he didn't. It hardly mattered, if the girl wasn't smart he was going to stop that vehicle.

 

[Cassius Droma]

This had to end, soon. If anything, Cassius and the local police were escalating the situation by doing this, but at this point, they couldn’t give up now. The girl would be more focused on them than where she was going, and she was more liable to crash. She bumped his speeder bike a bit, and Cassius quickly swung his leg back over into a more normal position. He tried to match her speed, but fell slightly behind, still managing to his hand on the body of the speeder.

She tried to talk him out of trying to stop her, but instead Cassius remained determined. “Just stop, and no one will get hurt!” he tried the same tactic on her, to see if she’d listen to reason.

When the local police cruiser opened up and a red-haired man clambered out, Cassius was surprised to see that it was a somewhat familiar face: Darlyn, if he remembered the name correctly. He’d been at the Praxeum when the Incursion had struck and taken one of their own, and was also the Minister of… Justice, which made sense for him to be out here. Chasing down a joyriding teenager, though? Seemed like small potatoes for him. Still, when Cassius saw the electricity dance around the man’s hand, he knew what could come next.

“I think you should take his advice!” Cassius said, yelling at the top of his lungs just so his voice would reach the young girl over the noise of the engines and wind in their faces. “See his hand?” Cassius paused for a moment as he swerved around an old lady crossing the street and grabbing hold of the speeder once more. “That guy is gonna fry you and the speeder if you don’t stop!” Did he really think Darlyn would take lethal action? No. If he had been chosen by Lady Kay to be a Minister, then he wouldn’t so blatantly kill a girl for taking a stolen speeder out for a spin. There was a non-lethal way to do it, but Cassius needed the girl to feel as if she would be in immediate danger if she didn’t stop.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

Ooooooo~....
Alessia saw the sparkle of electricity out of the corner of her eyes. She wasn't sure exactly what the officer was holding. It would probably short out the engine if it was thrown at the speeder. Not good.
But the prospect of potentially dying from this little excursion was oddly... Exciting? The orphan grinned a bit. She caught sight of an alleyway on her left. It wasn't a dead end either. Went straight out into another street.
Awesome!
Alessia made a sudden, sharp turn. The speeder tilted to one side a bit as she did this. Luckily she didn't fall out. Instead, she shot into to the alleyway. It was a tight squeeze. Barely big enough to fit the craft through. But she managed it. She popped out on the other side unscathed and began speeding in the opposite direction from which she was earlier. Sort of like she was making a rectangle out of her movements. This street wasn't as crowded as the other.
She dodged anything that might get in her way and kept right on going.

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Good turn good turn! Darlyn laughed loudly as he grabbed hold of the speeder, relaying a quick set of instructions to the driver, who quickly moved to follow behind @Alessia. The criminal, who he was (mind you) still unaware of their age, was quite quick on her feet so to speak. It took the police speeder precious seconds to turn around and make pursuit. When they did come out the other end, the gaze of the few onlookers told him exactly where to go, and they began to speed off again. This time there were no more promises and no more attempts to do this politely, now he was going to have a little fun.

As they began to slowly approach, he stood up just enough to lift his right hand, leveling it at the back of the speeder. The officer in the police speeder began relaying information on the make and model, partly to speed things along processing wise later, and also to help Darlyn with the stunt he was going to pull. He gripped his wrist with his second arm, bracing it almost, as the electricity built up. He'd test the speeder first, a single little test. [member="Cassius Droma"] woudl certainly be more aware than Alessia, sensitivity or no, of what was to come. Darkness swelled around him for just the briefest of moments, before he released a single jolt of lightning from his black gloved fingertips, aiming right at the back of the stolen speeder. One of two things should happen, if it connected.

One, the speeder could begin slowly powering down, before restarting due to a lack of voltage or duration. This was not ideal, but if it occurred then it could be corrected for. The second, and ideal, outcome would be the vehicle slowly coming to a complete stop, as the driver's ability to accelerate was removed and the engine began shutting down without input. Other officers *should* be diverting traffic, after all, to allow him the freedom to do this.

 

[Cassius Droma]

The speeder was ripped from his grasp as the girl made the sharp turn, and he went past the alleyway a little bit, forcing him to stop and back up. His fingertips tingled and he waved his hand in the air to cool them off. Once he was properly aligned, he gunned the engine again, roaring out of the alleyway and onto the street the chase had continued on.

He managed to catch up soon after Darlyn did, and watched as he charged up a Force lightning strike. Now he made sure not to reach out and grab the speeder again – he didn’t want to be shocked and end up falling off of his speeder bike at this speed. Cassius wished he had enough prowess in the Force to be able to jump from his bike to her speeder, then he could wrangle the controls away from her and end this now.

However, he decided instead to come up on the driver’s side, focusing on using the Force to guide the speeder in order to free up his hands. He wanted to make sure that he could grab her and put her on the bike if anything went wrong with the speeder. While Cassius was sure that he wouldn’t be able to simply yank her out of the vehicle telekinetically, he could, at the very least, reach over and pull her physically. Wouldn’t be ideal, but Cassius was sure he could do it.

Maybe.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

Alessia jolted a bit. There was a surge that went through the speeder. For a moment, the engine switched off. Uh oh...
She was a little more upset now. If it didn't turn back on at the speed she was going she might actually hit the ground! As fancy as this thing was, if it couldn't handle one measly EMP she didn't want to think about how it would handle a crash.
She sighed a bit in relief when the engine came back on a few seconds later. Okay. Still running. Maybe now would be a good time to explain what she was doing. You know, before she was literally shot down by the police! She looked over to see the man on the speeder again. He was getting closer. He could probably relay the message for her.
"HEY!!" She called to him again.
"Could you tell whoever's trying to short me out that I'm returning the speeder?? That's why I'm looping back around!! And could you maybe do it before he kills me?? That would be great!!"
Alessia was smiling while she spoke.

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Incorrect voltage, ah well that could be corrected for. He began focusing as the speeders went, unable to hear what was being said by [member="Alessia"] or [member="Cassius Droma"] at all from where he was. Still, it was as though some divine force was granting them a few brief moments to relay whatever was going on, as he was taking his time condensing further power into his lightning infused hand. After all in his mind, how much was too much? He had to be careful to overload the speeder and yet not destroy it, or harm the person driving. Even if Cassius was there to catch her as she fell, it wasn't as though it would be pleasant to lose control. He also had to be aware that if he shut down the speeder it could veer off, which he could only account for so much without using telekenetic powers as well.

Ah well, they had a moment.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Darlyn shocked the speeder, and it appeared that it worked… for a short time. The speeder started right back up and the girl just kept driving it. She yelled over to him, with a stupid grin on her face, asking him to tell Darlyn that she was ‘returning the speeder’. Yeah, sure, Cassius believed that. The young Jedi would have rolled his eyes if it wasn’t for the fact that he needed to focus intently at that moment.

He could feel an anger and sense of impatience rising up in him, and knew that he needed to quash it. Patience, Master Jade told him, time and time again. Then again, they needed to end this situation before it got any worse. The same type of feelings he had on that ship near Deneba came up again, when he had stunned the Togruta woman unconscious without much of a second thought.

Using what Force energy he could to guide the speeder and send an almost sensor-like pulse out in front of him to warn him of any danger, he unholstered his A180 blaster pistol and pointed it straight at the girl’s head. It was set to stun, but she wouldn’t know that. All she would see would be his intense green eyes starting directly into her, letting her know that he wasn’t playing around anymore. He meant business.

“STOP. THE SPEEDER,” he yelled, as forcefully as he could. If she didn’t pull over, he’d just shoot her with a stun bolt. Then either he or Darlyn could stop the speeder with the Force. Either way, they’d already put too many people in harm’s way with this chase.

It had to end.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

What the actual HELL??
THIS GUY JUST PULLED A GUN OUT ON HER!! Alessia was taken by surprise. Did he not believe her?? Probably. Why else would he just randomly threaten to shoot her??? All this for a stupid speeder??
She wanted to have fun. But if someone was willing to kill her just to make her stop, then it really wasn't fun anymore. Dammit... Her smile fell. She found the controls for the brakes. A few minutes later, the speeder began slowing down. All that she'd had to do was make one more turn, and she could've parked the speeder where it had originally been. The speeder slowed to a halt. Alessia parked it. She then climbed out of it. She gave the man with the blaster a look. Was he still going to shoot her? Maybe...
She started walking away. Well... she'd be going back to the orphanage sooner or later. Might as well get a head start. Damn. This was her first free day in 3 weeks, too...

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn almost seemed disappointed as he jumped off the speeder and onto the ground, the chase was already over? It hardly had time to begin.... he sighed and shook his head, before starting off after @Alessia. He moved his hand to his pistol for a moment, moving after her swiftly before realizing she was pretty short. In fact, she was short enough to be a kid... He huffed and used the force to reach out ahead of her. There were several crates being moved ahead of the girl, which he promptly moved to form a temporary wall ahead of her, to force her to stop.

"Hey, hold it. You seem to be misunderstanding what's going on. You broke the law and now the consequences are here. Must be pretty young or pretty stupid if you think you can get away with it, and I've got my guess which. So if you'd be so kind would you turn around so I can get a good look at your face?" Short people did exist. Would be hard to tell if she was young or not without a look at her face.

Behind him no doubt was [member="Cassius Droma"], if he kept up.

 

[Cassius Droma]

It worked. It actually worked. Once the girl found out that this wasn’t just some game, she slowed down the speeder and parked it. Cassius pulled over his own speeder and turned off the engine, dismounting it. The blaster was still in his hand – a few passersby gave him weird looks. Others started chatting amongst themselves. Aware of this, Cassius holstered the weapon, not wanting to cause an even bigger disturbance.

He looked back to the girl who had just gotten out of the speeder. She shot him a look at made him feel as if he were some sort of parent that had just scolded their child, like he’d caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. The girl had just committed a crime, put innocent people in danger, and he was the bad guy? Yeah, sure. Cassius began to walk towards her at a brisk pace in order to catch up with her. Just as he was about to yell, Darlyn put up a barrier of crates to block her path.

At the very least, the girl would be detained and returned to her parents, or whatever guardians she had. Or maybe… maybe she lived on the streets. It was hard to believe, given how Commenor was so prosperous. Either way, maybe the girl just needed help.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

Okay, wait.
Did those crates just... Magically move in front of her? Alessia stopped, trying to take in what she just saw. There was only one thing she'd ever heard about that could do something like that. One of these guys could use the Force. Granted, she didn't know too much about it beyond the fact that some people could do things that broke the laws of logic and reality. It was pretty sweet, to be honest. But she'd never thought she'd actually meet anyone who could do it.
With her curiosity peaked, she slowly turned to look at the me behind her. Now they would be able to see her face properly. She was, to put it mildly, very pretty. Her right eye was a soft crystal blue, the other clear turquoise. Her hair was pale and long. Even in the daylight, it seemed as if she had a bit of a glow. A soothing sensation seemed to radiate from her. Not strong, but subtle. There was certainly something off about her.
Her eyes fell on the red-haired man.
"Maybe I'm a bit of both." Alessia smirked playfully. It was charming. "But before you decided to try and short out the engine of a brand-new and pretty expensive ride while your friend here decided to pull a gun, maybe you should've looked at where I was actually going."
She gestured to the corner that had been coming up ahead of them.
"One more turn, and I would've been able to park this baby right back where I got it. I know it's not mine. Obviously I'm not rich. But I don't steal things without giving them back later. It's more of a challenge to return something artfully than to just take something and keep it."
She crossed her arms a little. Even so, her demeanor was casual and almost... Friendly?
"Also, I wasn't trying to get away. If I was, I would've been running. Nope. You're a cop. I know what happens when a cop comes over to me, so I was walking back home. Just a little bit ahead of you to save you the trouble of dragging me to your speeder, shoving me in and then dumping me on the doorstep. Figured you'd wanna follow and explain things to Ms. Lerness once we got there. That's usually how things go down. Unless you'd rather haul me over to the station and lock me up for the night. I'll admit it might be less crowded there. Worst-case scenario you decide on Juvie. Though, considering I didn't hurt anybody or damage anyone's property, that might be a little overkill."
Alessia smiled. Seriously, she wasn't angry or even all that scared. Yeah, she could've gotten killed. But she felt like they weren't really aiming to do that. Just the same old people trying to stop a reckless youth and give them a lecture about life and stuff. It honestly never bothered her. She might be 'grounded' once she got back to the orphanage, but she technically already was whenever she left.

[member="Darlyn Excron"]
[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn hummed quietly, folding his arms over his chest as he listened. She stole private property, evaded police, resisted arrest, and judging on her appearance and speech she was a minor. He almost wanted to grit his teeth in frustration. Not to mention Cassius... His frustration was only evident if you knew where to look in his stance, as he turned to [member="Cassius Droma"] first, pointing at him. "Alright. You're coming with me, and we're filing a report on your little case of vigilantism. Much as I appreciate a sense of duty and justice, I cannot abide random vigilantism in solving the problem. And you little miss... well whatever your name is..."

He turned back to face her, staring her down almost gently. Almost. "You want me to cuff you first or will you be polite enough to come with me? You weren't exactly the best pilot I've seen, not sure I can trust your sense of guidance with your legs on the ground." Was he, poking fun at [member="Alessia"]?

 

[Cassius Droma]

He listened to what the girl had to say, hand on his hip, brow furrowed, mouth off to the side. While they were actually near the corner where they had started this crazy chase, there was no way to tell if she was telling the truth. To Cassius, this whole speech sounded like something that was rehearsed – something she told authorities quite often. The young Jedi was curious as to how often it actually worked.

His guess was not often.

There was one thing she said that stuck out to him: she referred to a ‘Ms. Lerness’ as if she were her guardian. Was she perhaps an orphan? Or a foster child? Cassius had only recently become aware of these concepts. There weren’t many orphans on Rinn, much less a foster system. If your parents died, or they couldn’t take care of you, they would send you off to the next of kin. Or, more often than not, someone would take them in, since many people were so tight-knit.

When Darlyn turned on him and basically said he was going to detain him, the best way to describe the expression that came across Cassius’s face was incredulous. His brow furrowed even further, his mouth opened, and his arms went wide in defense. “Hey, whoa, whoa, come on!” he said. “I work for Lady Kay. You know that!”

His ‘vigilantism’ was not the issue here. The issue was that a young girl felt the need to steal a speeder and then just shrug it off.

[member="Alessia"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Alessia]

Alessia raised her eyebrows. So, this guy had sass! Well at least it was a bit more fun than a crotchety old guy.
"Actually, I'd say I did a pretty damn good job considering it was my first time ever. No dents, no scratches, and no one died. Though the possibility of that happening did kind of ESCALATE when you tried to short out the engine."
She replied, still grinning.
"The only thing making me unsafe on the street was when you and trigger-finger here thought about getting weapons involved. After all, I may have been going fast, but I wasn't hitting anything or anyone. I made sure of that."
The orphan looked over at the squad speeder.
"And, I'd rather just walk to be honest. Squad speeders always make everything way more dramatic than they actually are. Besides, my place isn't far from here."

[member="Cassius Droma"]
[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn lifted a hand, electricity rolling around his fingertips like a lightning storm, as he gave the girl a smirk. "Weapons? Whatever do you mean, I'm sure the footage will show I never once drew a weapon on you. See what I was doing was following up on exactly what I said, you didn't pull over so I had to hope there was some sort of electrical outage on your speeder to stop you. Thank the force for that freak lightning bolt that hit, eh? Didn't have to try and shoot out the speeder."

He loved being literal, when it suited his fondness for jokes and poking fun at people. Speaking of which... "Correct good sir, I know you work for Kay. Which is exactly why I know that you're not an off duty officer doing your civil duty. Look I'm just making you do the paperwork instead of me, would you prefer I arrested you? I can do that if you'd like, though prison food isn't all that great. Not to mention the last kid your size who dropped the soap. Poor boy won't be able to walk again." He gave an exaggerated sigh, before motioning to [member="Alessia"] and [member="Cassius Droma"] to follow him.

"I said come with me not get in a speeder. Though I think getting in a speeder as a young girl, driving it around, and evading arrest is a pretty dramatic situation let's be honest with ourselves. Entertaining though."