Dead Man Walking

[Lev Orlova]

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While the private soldier had gone into hiding a few years ago, it didn't take a lot of deductive skills to find out where he was. Where do cold, xenophobic, and stand-offish species tend to congregate? Towards each other. And seeing as there are no significant off world populations, the best place to start was his homeworld. Lev was very careful, but there was one part of his routine that would bring him into the "public," though this was not your average law abiding crowd.

Whether through bribery, extortion, or other means, it had come to pass that the hunter had learned of this one part of his routine: once a month, he would go into the criminal underworld of Pyligorod and bet on the blood sport arena. The air in this place was especially toxic, taking on a lot of the air pollution from the local factories, even to a somewhat disagreeable degree to the carbonmonoxide breathing Czelosmertians.

The old man, by Czelosmertian standards atleast, pulled up the long lapels of his dark peacoat and stuffed his hands into his pockets. It was an especially cold night. Keeping his eyes in front of him, he walked by two men pummeling each other without a care in the world. Refuse lay in piles along each side of the street, and a noxious wind blew 'tumbleweeds' of rubbish here and there. The occasional burst of flames from the smoke stacks far above would cast a crimson orange light down on the denizens of this terrible place.

Moving through the crowded alleyways, past groups of drunk men huddled around barrel fires for warmth, crowded, loud, and rowdy bars, Lev came to a T-junction at the end of the alley. There was a double door entrance at the end of the street, with a pair of armed brutes standing guard, they were patting down everyone that came by, taking any weapons and sliding them into a locker. A holo-sign shone above them in Yaziksmert,"RATCHEV'S RING" with a bloodied fist wielding a club as its logo.

Lev approached one of the guards, slipping him about 500 credits. The guard took the credits and lazily patted Lev down, his hand brushing over the blaster inside his jacket carelessly. He waved Lev on in. Descending the stairs, the din of a large crowd of men echoed from below. Stepping over an unconscious body, the mercenary entered a large warehouse-turned-arena.

In the center was a large arena that was once completely white or grey, but was stained black and red in various places from the constant explosions and spilling of blood. There were several pieces of cover inbetween the two corners. A cheap ray shield separated the rambunctious crowd from the participants. While the arena was bathed in light, the patron area was dimly lit, smoky, and full to the brim with untrustworthy characters. Cursing, laughter, and yelling were all that could be heard. He approached a holoterminal to briefly inspect who was fighting tonight. Making a quick judgement of who was the better fighter, he entered his lot. Placing 1000 credits on the man, he took his validation ticket and waded into the crowd.

As he made his way to an open part of the balcony on the second floor, the speaker system buzzed and crackled. A brassy voice declared in Yaziksmert,"Welcome, bratya! Tonight's fighters are not going to leave you dissapointed!" Lev tuned the speaker out, he had heard the same drivel a thousand times before. Finding an empty spot of the second floor balcony to lean on and observe the duel, he checked his watch briefly. Should be home in a few hours, he thought, he had an easy protection job tomorrow and he shouldn't be too hung over for it.

[member="Koda Fett"]

 

[Lemon]

A fearsome reputation is all that anyone needed when traversing the depths of the Galactic Underworld. It was harsh and despicable place, but there weren't many that made trouble for the best bounty hunter in the galaxy; Fett had more bounties collected than anyone, and had the most potential employers barking up his figurative tree. The Mandalorian had earned that much. Extracting the information he required wasn't difficult because of this, fear was the greatest of all motivators.

Although, he only had a place and a rough time. There was nothing quite exact about it, and so he watched, and he waited, and he waited, and he waited. Until finally, Lev had arrived - the Bounty Hunter's facial recognition software kicking in to identify the man, but he already knew the face.

From a rooftop the Mandalorian observed Lev, watching him slip a few credits to receive a lazy pat-down. Most likely armed, or so he thought. Though it wasn't as if the same trick would work for himself, Fett was open-carry. Always. Before moving in to make his pursuit the infamous hunter, most likely recognisable by Lev, marked the individual with his HUD. Can't afford to lose someone in a crowd. A case rest on the rooftop beside him, and in it were placed his blaster carbine and pistols. Couldn't afford to lose them.

With his weapons concealed entirely within his gauntlet, Koda made his approach. Slipping by the Guards and into the chaos of the blood sport arena. He caught a few eyes from cautious individuals, not many Mandalorians in their armour visited this locale. However, he was eventually ignored in favour of the sport itself. From the crowd he glanced upwards, finding Lev on a balcony overlooking the fight. Discreetly, he angled his right arm upwards, launching a dart from his red-gauntlet. If it were to hit a toxin was to flood over, it was painful and relatively fast.

It was insurance. A typical move from Fett. Inject a lethal toxin, offer the antidote as long as they come along. He always would give it, though. Capture by design and kill by necessity after all.

[member="Lev Orlova"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

The Mandalorian waded through the crowd, several Czelosmertians glaring at him, his armor catching their eye. Muttered curses and vague gestures were made towards him, but no one made a move. While the general crowd was focused on the group, every man the foreigner passed would regard the bounty hunter with some level of xenophobic cautiousness. The announcer called out the start of the match, and the crowd roared as the blaster weapons of the two duelists went off. Lev snatched a glass of Czelosmertian vodka from a floating drink droid, flicking a credit chit it's way. He held the glass in his hand, letting it dangle over the balcony banister as he watched on with a blank expression. He at once took a swig of the hard drink, and immediately felt a burning sensation in his right hand.

Dropping the shot glass, he clenched his fist and brought it to his face, pulling out the dart. He held it up in the dim light, before looking down to his right side, into the crowd below. A spotlight flashed over the crowd briefly, revealing [member="Koda Fett"] sticking out like a sore thumb. Lev looked directly into the T-shaped helmet visor, scowling immediately and dropping the dart. He quickly turned away from the balcony into the crowd and forced his way into it, attempting to appear as if he was fleeing, receiving some angry curses as he did. Once he was out of view of Fett, he mingled his way to be close to the stair well. It was an open spiral, one story stairwell. Easy to see who was coming up if you were looking out from the crowd and not easy to spot Lev if one were looking in.

Lev winced, the burning sensation seeping up his entire right arm slowly. It began to shake in pain, as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Smacking his open palm onto his thigh a couple of times in an attempt to numb the pain, he then reached into his peacoat and slowly pulled out his blaster. He performed a quick functions check inside of his peacoat, then flicked the safety off, switching the blaster to his left hand. He held the blaster low, below the waist and close to his leg. Orienting himself towards the fight to appear as just another patron, he glanced to his right to look to the stairwell, then to his left just to be sure.

He pulled out his holocommunicator dialing his wife. He turned the hologram display off and with his quaking, pain ridden hand, he brought it up to his face. Immediately his wife picked up, Lev spoke clearly and loudly, just below the din of the crowd so only his wife could hear. "I'm going away for a while." He grimaced and grunted in pain, his wife cutting him off,"Going away, what do you mean going away?--Are you drunk? Where are you?" Lev only continued,"Call Eugin, tell him I'm going on a job for the Galactic Alliance." His wife began to protest,"Lev, Lev, what is this, Galactic Alliance?! That is so far! The children are--" Lev hung up and dropped the communicator, bringing his heel down onto it.

And now he waited to see if Fett would take the bait.

 

[Lemon]

It was risk that paid off, if not it was likely things would turn south and do so quickly. Finding himself in a crowded room filled to the brim with xenophobes that found a Mandalorian an interesting thing to do nothing but kill. Fett had spent a lifetime perfecting the art of combat, it was what he was born to partake in. Though regardless of the all the training it was often that the bounty hunter was incredibly lucky, despite the bad karma he may or may not have accrued over the years - whether or not such a thing existed was unknown to the man, but it wasn't as if he cared either way.

He would be lying if the sight of Lev grimacing once the dart impacted didn't bring him joy, it was a sadistic fulfillment he couldn't quite explain. The man behind the T-Shaped Visor never lost track of where Orlova was, he was marked on the HUD and so Fett stalked the man as he utilized it with each step he took. Approaching the stairwell, his gaze shifted upwards. His helmet cycling through various vision modes in an attempt to grab an outline of the figure, finding him leaning over the railing like any ordinary patron. Clearly a trap of some kind.

Fett never made it all the way up the stairs, but from where he was standing he could speak to Lev. His voice was forced to roar, of course, and with the aid of his helmet's amplifiers it was certainly loud enough. "Drop your weapon. I have that antidote, and if you don't comply I'll watch you die instead."

His right arm was brought upwards to a certain degree, not entirely trusting Lev to make things easy; not only for himself, but for Koda too.

[member="Lev Bolera"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

Lev waited, a cold sweat coming on as he stared on at the arena below. The two amateur fighters just became part of the background as he blinked rapidly. The toxin was starting to affect him greatly now. He counted on his secondary filtration organs, his synthetic kidney and liver, to help him last a little longer, but that clearly wasn't going to help him here. He clenched his right fist as the shaking from earlier became something of an uncontrollable convulsion. He took a deep breathe through his nose, and out through his mouth.

Relax. Relax. Here he comes.

A few incredulous Czelosmertians declared loudly in Yaziksmert as Fett began to make his way up the stairwell,"Who is this guy?!"/"Kto ohn?!" "Look, bounty hunter! Daaaamn!" "Smotri, okhotonik golovni! Blyaaad!" Another spitting on the floor,"Kriffing foreigners!"/"Pizdets kholki!"

Lev's left hand tightened his grip on the blaster pistol. He watched [member="Koda Fett"] appear in his right peripherals, not sure if he could see Lev. Lev's eyes glazed over as he was trying to watch him solely in his peripheral vision, his brows furrowing slightly as he attempted to appear as a man watching the arena. Fett raised his voice to yell in basic, and Lev, without waiting to hear what he had to say, turned and immediately raised his blaster, shooting through a gap inbetween the crowd for Koda's center mass. He let off two blasts, as the whole crowd around him dropped their heads, flinched, or began to run away down the stairs. Patrons smacked into the either side of Lev and Koda as they escaped. Lev shoved a heavily tattooed man to the ground as he began moving quickly, attempting to strafe around Koda's left as the panicked mob began to clear the upper balcony, shooting when he had the shot.

While this section of the upstairs balcony was fleeing, other parts of the arena took notice and watched on with cynical curiosity, believing there was a mob hit of some sort in their favorite place of violence. The announced called out in Yaziksmert,"Whoa! We've got some disagreeable patrons upstairs! Security!"

 

[Lemon]

The shots from a jumpy Lev rang out, and instinctively Fett fired back with a volley of his own blaster bolts. Both of Lev's bolts, however, had impacted with Koda's heavy set Mandalorian Armour. Forcibly made to stagger backwards and drop to a knee as his footing almost fell out from underneath him. The impact of such a thing caused him to grit his teeth with a grimace, it was always painful to get shot; to some degree or another. Fortunately enough beskar was famously strong and impenetrable, a factor that held up today.

Fear took over the crowd as they began fleeing, a considerable portion of such flooding over the Bounty Hunter as he attempted to pursue his quarry. Those that found their way in front of him were shoved aside, yet the overwhelming numbers of such a crowd slowed his movement. Fett's sight of Orlova was lost to the crowd, yet the marker on his HUD persisted. Whether or not Lev believed he had escaped did not matter, for that toxin was far more dangerous than the man who pursued him.

[member="Lev Orlova"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

As Lev strafed around Fett, he was struck twice by his return fire. A shot in the gut made him keel over and hold his stomach as he stumbled, already falling. A second blast hit his left shoulder, his arm flying up and casting the blaster away. The private soldier slammed into a small circular standing table, bringing it down with him. As the crowd cleared, Lev lay against the leg of the toppled table. He gritted his teeth, clenching his right hand into a tight fist as he held it close to his stomach. He coughed twice and growled in pain, letting out a groan as he stared up at the dark ceiling in a dazed state.

Some loud yelling was heard from down the stairs,"Move, move, idiot! Get out of the kriffing way!"/"Dvigat'sya, debil! Iz chertova puti!" Three armed thugs, security, were hurrying up the stairs. Wearing casual clothes with anti-blaster vest armor and carrying blaster carbines, they didn't seem too happy that there were a couple of trouble makers interrupting the show.

 

[Lemon]

The Bounty Hunter's head pivoted over his shoulder, facing the stairs as his body soon joined it. The encroaching foreign voices that sounded all too threatening caught his ire as a crouched stance was taken. His wrists were raised, both of them; the red gauntlets unsheathing the weapons that were hidden beneath what was seemingly armour a few moments ago. Tracking each movement until they came into view. A head is all he needed to see, letting a wrist rocket fly and impact with the man's chest for once he reached the top of the stairs, the rocket met it's mark. Whether he was disintegrated, dismembered or simply sent flailing it was likely the two others suffered from an effect or two from the blast.

Fett's attention shifted back onto Lev, the tracking target on his HUD never fading. Not for a moment. It was with haste that he moved, and with haste that he snatched at Orlova's bicep. Attempting to drag him in the direction of the closest exit. Whether it be a large enough window, exterior balcony or a door.

[member="Lev Orlova"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

The first man up the stairs looked up at [member="Koda Fett"], his eyes widening as he saw the decked out Mandalorian. He raised his weapon, screaming to alert his friends when the rocket went straight into him and obliterated him. The man directly behind him fell down, while the third was slowed, ducking his head and cursing loudly. He pushed his dazed comrade aside and began to make his way up the stairs as the crowd around the arena roared, more focused on the fire fight on the second floor than the one in the arena itself.

Lev stumbled along as Koda snatched him up, the poison and the blasts he received weakening him greatly, he was in a total state of dissarray. They both moved towards a second story window in front of them, the grimy tinted glass distorting the light from the streetlamp from outside. The third bodyguard came up the stairs, squinting through the smoke, pointing at the Mandalorian and screaming in a shrill voice. Another group of armed guards came up the other side of the second floor, seeing their colleague pointing, they began opening fire on the pair.

 

[Lemon]

A situation such as this was always unfavourable, and in retrospect a lying in wait tactic was far more sound than whatever this chaotic mess was. Though Fett was confident, he always was. No matter the enemies, he was sure to take them down himself at any given moment. Though sometimes they were too large in number, so much so not even he could kill them all, let alone get out alive. This was one of these moments, surely. Bolts flew, curses were spat and a Mandalorian flew with a quarry in his vice-like grip.

​Koda's eyes shifted aggressively from beneath his helmet, in what looked like nothing more than chaos. Although, they were precise in their movements for it's intent was purposeful. His jetpack spat flames, thrusting him forwards and through the second story window. Glass shattered over him, covering both Koda and Lev who was simply along for the ride. A heavy landing is what followed, back on the building where he stashed his heavier set of weapons. They would come in use, especially if they decided to pursue the man.

For now he waited until his vessel could arrive, sweep in and steal the two before the quarry or his life could be lost. A most unfortunate end to a hunt, assure you of that he can.

[member="Lev Orlova"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

Blaster bolts flew over [member="Koda Fett"] 's shoulder as he burst out the window. The pursuing guards continued to shoot at him as he flew out, and for a moment more when he was out of view they still fired into nothing. The crowded streets looked up at the Mandalorian carrying his catch, just another day in the slums of this city. The guards rushed to the window and peered into the street below, up and around the buildings surrounding, but they could not see Fett. Their job was done, the disturbance in their crime boss's arena was gone, they had no intent to track down the bounty hunter and his unknown target.

 

[Lemon]

Nothing out of the ordinary.

The Mandalorian released his grip upon Lev, allowing him to slump down onto the roof of the building in which he Fett took his moment of reprieve, and calm before the eventual departure of the planet as a whole. One of the red gauntlets that rest upon his wrist found itself being the focal point of the Bounty Hunter's attention, cycling through various things that Orlova definitely couldn't decipher in his current state. It was the antidote he sought, though. A live quarry was always preferable, both to the reputation and employer. Yet the two often came hand-in-hand.

Koda had found what he was after and injected it rather crudely, firing it from his wrist mounted device into the neck of the individual in question. That, within itself, would cause pain despite being preferable to whatever it was that the quarry felt now. The effects began to subside, though the weakness and pain Lev felt was to linger, of course. It would be a while until he felt himself back at full strength. At least he wouldn't die.

In his own silence Fett grabbed at his things, placing them back on his person and taking one last look down at Lev before summoning the Spear II, the vessel that came after the Concord Spear's untimely demise. At least it was the same model, and upgrades were always required. When it's eventual arrival came, the two were to board - even if one was unwilling.

[member="Lev Orlova"]

 

[Lev Orlova]

Lev propped himself up with one elbow, breathing haggardly as he slowly looked up to Fett with a scowl. He flinched and winced as the dart sunk into his neck, gritting his teeth as he reached up to yank it out and toss it aside. He returned the silent, long stare that Fett gave him. He waited for the man to turn towards packing up his things before he said simply in basic,"Your care to keep me alive won't pan out if you don't have carbon monoxide tanks for me." He gritted his teeth in pain, continuing to stare down Fett in silence.

[member="Koda Fett"]

 

[Lemon]

The Spear II​ swooped in, it's engines roaring as it's thrusters blared with a lowered ramp that hovered just above the building itself. The Hunter fired a quick glance in the direction of his starship, a design he's all too familiar with; adopted from the successful usage many great hunters had in the past. Now it was Fett's time to remind the galaxy why it was an all too famous design, something that only the best in the galaxy could truly do. Reputations came and went as bounty hunters were always so fickle, but Koda's always remained. Be it the others had lives to live outside the lucrative industry or something else that kept them otherwise indisposed, Fett simply did not.

"A good hunter is always prepared. Consider this your lucky day." Lev surely couldn't. Being snatched by a Bounty Hunter never left anything 'good' within you, only contempt for the man and the system he follows, be it his own or someone else's. The T-Shaped Visor of the Mandalorian found itself resting upon the weary eyes of his quarry, reaching down with a right hand to find a firm grip upon his collar. The dragging commenced as Lev soon found himself aboard. Though it didn't stop there as Fett attempted to place him inside a small cage, much like that of a dog's. There was hardly any room at all, and in fact would prove small for a dog itself. At least the transparent ballistic glass on each side allowed Orlova to view his environment.