Ever Have That Feeling That Someone is Watching You .... (HK-36)

[Cora Passek]

It had been the longest day for Cora. Tired, worn and utterly exhausted she was returning to her apartment, granted it had been rented under a different ID, one that had not been associated with her as of yet. The entire place was a veritable armory, hell a closet alone contained enough explosive material to level a good city block. Weapons lay scattered about the place and she stepped over one of her traps, undoing the mechanism for it and finally was beginning to feel sort of safe.

Safe was a relative term these days. She'd just slipped past a bounty hunting duo and had come back to try and relax for a few hours. Dark circles beneath her eyes gave a clue of how little sleep she'd gotten in the last few weeks. But something was off in the place, she could feel it. She just have that feeling.

Walking to her kitchen counter, she furrowed her brow. "Not where I left you." She said softly noting a glass that wasn't there before. "Maybe my mind is just getting to me. I need sleep .. badly. Karking bounty hunters." Still the blonde was left on edge, it could hardly be helped. The slightest of things were like glaring beacons to her. That glass being out, was a glaring clue that someone had been here. Moving carefully she withdrew her blasters and started to move through her apartment to clear it before she settled for the evening. Healthy paranoia .. er .. Eccentricity was there for a reason.

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
It was dark
As dark as it gets
Night has fallen and with night came the rain and thunder, lightning splitting through the sky from time to time, flashing the landscape with waves of light.
It was time and atmosphere to hunt.

A homeless man was sitting by one of the walkways, face hidden in the shadows, a dirty jacket hugging his body.
A woman passed by, weak voice rose in a queary
"Spare some change?"
Dirty rasp stopped hopefully but the woman kept on walking, busy, she had her own things to do.

The homeless slightly tilted his head, looking towards the way she went. She disappeared around the corner, he rose up, pushing himself off of the wet pavement.
There was a dark alley nearby where he was sitting, he went into its embrace of shadows and darkness, gaze still resting in the direction where the woman went.
His being disappeared, cloaked entirely by the valley of shadows between two buildings, he emerged on the otherside, overcoat wrapped around his body, pale mask with abstract symmetrical black shapes over his face. He adjusted his hat and hid his hands in his pockets.

He waited enough, he knew where to go, he knew what to do.
Following the trail the woman left, it seems she did not notice the puddle he was sitting in front of was peculiarly darker, a mix of tracking dust added to rain water, he was soon at the street where her new apartment was.

Engaging his sound dampeners he moved in quickly, picking the lock on her door he slipped in. She was moving around the house, he checked his shoes. Thankfully, the dumpster he hid them in kept his spares dry, and the walk to her place was not too long, water will not trail him.
He closed the door behind him silently, doing a quick scan of the apartment. Woman was moving on with her duties. He followed the system of electrical wires in the wall to their source, slipping in the kitchen he picked up a glass, examining it, he set it down in a different spot.
Pinpointing the location of electrical source he avoided the woman's gaze once more, silently slipping out of the apartment he head towards the electrical box that kept the house sustained with power. He opened it, wires and cables with plugs inside. He looked around, a garbage can. He picked up the metal lid, lifting it out of his shelter he let the water accumulate.
He splashed the gathered water onto the cables and box, sparks shot out as the building was cut from power just as the woman was conducting her routine to clear out her apartment.
For a good measure the being took out his knife, jamming it into the box, he cut through the cables and hardware, damaging it.

Now, it was his time to play, he slipped back into the apartment.
The air inside was thick and heavy in silence of the dark apartment, he made sure to lock the doors, silently damaging the lock, he moved in the darkness.

Darkness was natural to him like the woods were natural to a Wookiee, it was in darkness he felt the safest and surest, he took out a round object from his pocket.

In one of the thunderflashes, Cora could see out of the corner of her eye a shape at the end of the corridor next to her.

It was dark
As dark as it gets

 

[Cora Passek]

Something wasn't right. She knew it, she could just feel it in her bones. Something here was very very wrong. The power went out in the storm as she had just cleared the bedroom. Startled by that alone, she took a moment to get her breath and adjust to the darkness within. The lightning occasionally illuminating things as she started back out of the bedroom.


Her heart was pounding within her chest, the sickening feeling growing in her stomach as she came into the hall and then in that moment, she knew she was not alone. She hadn't even seen him just yet, but she could feel another presence with her. She shrieked seeing the outline of a figure at the end of the corridor. This was not how things were supposed to be. Bringing up her blaster fast, she took aim and fired off a series of shots.


At that she bolted, he blocked the way to the bedroom but it still left her windows to go through and push came to shove she'd go through it in a heart beat to avoid that bounty. She figured it had to be another hunter. Someone else out to get her for the money. It was always about that these days. Reaching down as she passed an open door she reached out and grabbed a grenade belt off the door knob and slung it over her shoulders and kept moving. Just to the window, have to make it that far!

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
The door would be at the end of another prolonged room, however, when she got to the room, finally, she could see another shape staring back at her, shadow illuminated by the pale weak glow the window onto the streets provided. The shape was thin and tall, almost sickly so, staring back at her.

Something clanged to the side of the room as into the pale moonlight stripes that stretched across the room a can of red paintbrush tumbled before her.

Suddenly, the apartment was pierced with a noise, one that could be described as something coming close to a pained Nexu shrieking out as at the same moment there were few another tumbling noises heard, more cans or spherical objects presumably, as the doorway and walls behind her burst into flames. Red and orange tongues flickering and dancing on the frames, the floors and the walls, slithering and shivering as they filled the prolonged room with the window in red, hellish light.

The wall from which the can tumbled out was finally visible, the red sprayed words jumping out at Cora
I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE
She was seemingly trapped in the room, hellfire behind her, the tall thin shape in front of her, staring, judging.

 

[Cora Passek]

None of this was making much sense in her mind. Nothing really flowing together. Her mind a jumbled mess of fears, and panic. Hearing the shriek of a nexu hit too close to home. Fluffy wasn't here. He was on her ship, where she always left him. But still the noise frightened her half to death, fearing her life partner of choice had been harmed in some unspeakable fashion.

She skidded to a halt before the being ... "This isn't real." Her words soft whispered, disbelieving of what was happening. With the fire behind her and options ran so thin, and still the blonde was not even sure what the hell was happening. She glanced to the fire, screamed with more noise in the apartment. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" She shouted.

Taking a step back, she gave herself a tiny amount of space. It wasn't much but it felt like a light year of distance from it. "What do you want?!" Her voice panicked, terrified even as she tried to piece together what she was seeing with reality. Somehow in her paranoid mind, it just wasn't working for her.

@[member="Inkblot"]

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
The special gloves he was wearing crackled up as blue veins of electricity started to dance on his palms.
The real Ink finally revealed himself, pouncing at Cora from behind her, attacking at her back as he charged through the flames that hid him before.
One of the electric palms went for her right leg, the second went for her neck.

His goal was to disable her quickly, as he got close to her, hopefully in a surprise attack as she took a step towards the fire, jittery and scared from the situation, he whispered into her ear with that gruel, dirty rasp
"I want you to know what real terror it, and I want you to see which face it wears."

Hopefully, Cora would end up stun, electrocuted into submission, and slammed against a nearby wall, disarmed from the grenades she was holding.

 

[Cora Passek]

@[member="Inkblot"]

Her eyes widened hearing the familiar crackle of electricity. There wasn't space. And the being before her, didn't rush her. Movement came from behind her. Even all her eyes of training, she'd never been attacked in such a manner, illusions used to fool her, trick her into moving into a bad position. One that gave her no time to react and even less space to do it in.

She gave a pained scream feeling the glove connect with her neck. That alone was bad and her body no matter what she tried was not responding to her. Not at all. As he caught hold of her right leg, the damn prosthetic, she howled in agony. Something about the pain through the bionic limb, was far worse than the pain at her neck. The knee gave way beneath her as the limb's circuits were fried.

Hardly able to move there was not much she could do as she was slammed into the wall. Coming out of the pain, she fumbled, seeking a weapon of any kind. Her body just not quite working the same. Her thoughts jumbled, mangled and confused. She couldn't help but think how quickly this had ended. Without her leg alone, she was a sitting duck. It was a useless pile of metal and wiring after such an attack. Her grenades, gone from her hands, as planned.


Now it was just down to the remaining weapons on her body if she could get to them. Hands moved desperately reaching for her hip, her slugthower still there. After that, it was down to the vibroblade in her boot, the hold out in the left and what appeared to be an ornate hairpin that held her hair up in a loose bun, reality was that hairpin was a razor sharp needle like blade. Cora was panting heavily still trying to get her body to work the way she desired. Fingers finally wrapped around the slugthrower, drawing it and fired a single shot. Anything to try and get him away from her.

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
The bullet connected with the armorweave of his overcoat, he clutched to Cora as he was jolted back, sound of ricochet as the slug glazed off of him and hit the wall diagonally behind them, he channeled the momentum. Not a sound escaped from him as he channeled the jolt and kinetic power, trying to slam Cora down into the floor, he did not feel pain like a normal being did.
"You can not kill your guilt."
The voice rasped out once more

Cora could soon feel that her arms would be forced to be bound behind her back together, tied with a metal wire that stung and cut into her wrists.

 

[Cora Passek]

Weakened still from the shock, she watched in horror as the being before her didn't even flinch. Nothing was coming together right in her mind, she just couldn't figure it out at that point. She screamed again, forcefully slammed into the floor. Her prosthetic nothing but limp and useless for her. Her legs hurt, what was left of her right one, and the left knee hit the ground so hard.


"What do you want?!" She cried out, tears started to well up in her eyes. "If this is about the bounty ... Surely there is an agreement we can come to ... I've got money, ships ... a damn island! Name it! It's yours!" It had to be about that. It was the only logically conclusion she could draw. She struggled hard as he forced her arms behind her back, wincing heavily as the wire cut into her delicate flesh. "Please ..." She pleaded, panting still. "We don't have to do this." Whispered words as she was quick to reach her fingers up, trying to feel of the bindings that held her.

@[member="Inkblot"]

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
Next, her legs would be bound together, just to make sure she would not be reaching for her weapons any time soon.
He turned her over, she would finally come face to face with him, the shapes seemingly moving through the shadows.
"Do you remember their names and faces? Do you see them in your dreams and sleep?"
He slammed his fist into the floor, right next to her head, staring into her eyes, she could stare back, but all she would see are the tints of shadows, the ghostly paleness of the material, and black abyss of the markings on it.
"Did you ever tried to repay for what you have done or right the wrong? Have you even faced their graves, knowing, that it was you who put them there?"

 

[Cora Passek]

@[member="Inkblot"]

She cried out again, both in pain and frustration of the situation. On her back face to have with the being that frightened her more than any Sith did. Tears came readily at his words. She couldn't help it. "Yes." She answered simply. "I don't know the names. But they are there when I close my eyes." Even with the nature of what she did, she regretted the loss of innocent life but did not regret the actions she took. Sometimes lives had to be lost, even the innocent to get at the monsters.

Another scream came as he slammed his fist into the floor beside her. Cringing she tried to shift away, the wire painfully biting into her. "Right the wrong?! Those people took my family from me! Took everything I had! I was a teenager. Left with nothing and no one! The only Passek alive today because of those monsters!" She was furious. "Hell if I knew what to do, but I knew what I'd been trained for!" She scoffed, even in the grave situation.

Looking up at him, she found herself unable to look away, barely contained rage burning within her eyes. What he was, she had no idea none at all. Never seen a creature like him. "Was I really supposed to sit back my whole life and be okay with that?! REALLY?!"

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
"What you have done was take away from innocent people what was taken away from you. In order to ease the pain through revenge, you have passed this pain onto others, others who had nothing to do with the situation."
He took Cora by her shoulders, easily lifting her up off of the ground into the air, holding her up, his face alighting red as the angle changed and the flames illuminated him
"If you are the last one of your family, make sure the name will be associated with something better than a cause that is equal to that of a Sith. You will come back there, and you will face those graves, you will face those families you have taken from, if they need money, you will give it to them, if they need help, you will help them. If you want to stop the Sith, then do so, but do not spread their filth onto others through it."
He then threw Cora back towards the window, her body would skitter along the floor and tumble, she would land at the feed of the shadowy figure, the tall slender shape towering above her.
He stepped closer to her, lifting her up once more from the shadow's feet
"And if you harm innocent again, if you so much as steal a purse or mug someone, I will find you, and I will end you. Do you understand?"

 

[Cora Passek]

@[member="Inkblot"]

"It was the Sith Capital, how many innocent lives could there have possibly been?" She growled, but the growl soon turned to pain as she was lifted up and held for a moment. Her entire body trembling noticeably in his grip. Upon hitting the floor, a painful crunch as to what could have only been described as bones breaking was heard. She gasped for air quickly knowing full well he likely just broke a handful of ribs on her from the pain alone as she fought for air.

"Why? Why bother? My family denounced as traitors to the sith in the first place? There is nothing better." Her voice raspy, weaker still. She shook her head, trapped, hurting, afraid and no visible way out. "I go back there? They'll kill me. My life will end in the dungeons of the Sith! You can't ask this of me!"


A sharp gasp of pain as he lifted her up from the floor, her ribs killing her in addition to her wrists and ankles. But his last words annoyed her, "I don't steal." She growled as best she could manage. That was one thing she never did. Ever. "Fine, I get it .. you'll kill me. Can we just move on now?"

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
"You should bother, because a Sith is already a traitor. There are no traitors among the Sith, for they will betray each other soon or later. You should strive to redeem your name and your family, not into the status of a Sith, or something more, something you are meant to be. A freedom fighter, true freedom fighter. Not a mocking parody you are now, not a discarded Sith reject, you can be something much more."
He stared into her eyes, his gaze penetrating her
Odorless, colorless gas began creeping from beneath the being's slave into Cora's air passageways, she could feel soon that her eyes started to grow heavy, and she, most likely, started to feel tired and drowsy.
"Close your eyes now, and do not forget this dream."
The voice rasped out, echoing in Cora's mind due to the gases
"Do not forget what terror is."

 

[Cora Passek]

@[member="Inkblot"]
"You don't get it!" She shouted, jerked hard against her bindings wanting so badly to kill whatever this thing was before her. At that point, Cora was starting to feel it. "Not a parody.. Not a failure. I'm not." Her voice whispered, soft, part of her hated herself for the things she'd done. But it was something she never let show, never told a soul. Blinking rapidly she tired to stay awake, her body trembling knowing full well it was likely a sleeping gas... Flashes of a past time came to her, illiciting a scream. PTSD was a pain sometimes. Images of waking to a dead man, a hole through his head came, followed by intense pain watching as an armor piercing slugthrower was pressed to her shin, and the trigger pulled. The smell of iron wafted into her nose, the warm sensations running down what little remained of her leg.

It took her a moment, but she snapped out of it, shaking horribly. Her past, a troubled one for certain. All the pain washing through her, even now she still remembered that night defending Kass, protecting her. She'd nearly lost her life, and this time as she felt her eyes grow heavy, harder and harder to keep them open. She prayed that this time, she would not die, would not be so badly harmed. His words, seemed to burn into her mind, unlikely to ever forget this event.

Soon enough, her head fell to the side, limply for Cora could no longer hold it up. Her eyes, slowly fell closed and finally the tremors, the shaking, the panting it all seemed to melt away as her body relaxed into sleep. At least in the gas induced sleep, there she was safe from the horror of reality. Dreamless sleep was always so wonderful for her, no matter how she got it. Though, one would images she wasn't going to feel that way when she woke up from all of this.

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
She fell limply and he set her down softly onto the floor.
Reaching for a datapad hidden in his inner pockets, he shut off the holograms. The shadow at the end of the hall, the flames and fire inside the apartment, they all disappeared with a simple click. He looked at the sprayed words and then back at her, scanning her. He kneel down by Cora, softly feeling her side. He broke her ribs, sloppy.

Turning her over onto her side, he took out one of his vibrodaggers and cut the binds that kept her together. Setting the cables aside, he took out his kit of bacta capsules and injectors, setting up patches of the healing salve on the cuts the cables made into her flesh.

He lifted the littlest terrorist in his arms, moving through the apartment he head towards her bedroom. Inside, he would look for any sleepware Cora used, if she used any, maybe she just slept in underwear, Inkblot would know it from his surveillance over her, however, the writer did not inquire about details like that. Either way, Ink would undress her and change her into appropriate clothing if necessary, setting her down on her bed and placing covers over her, making sure she is nice and tucked in. He was set on covering his presence, installing a doubt in her mind whether or not this meeting ever happened or not.

Except for one thing. He reached to his pocket, taking out one of his spare pale, ink-ridden masks, he slipped it on Cora's head, adjusting it to make sure she would be able to breath comfortably through the night and see in the morning.

He uncovered her side slightly, enough to reveal the area where her ribs were broken. Thankfully, she was knocked out deep, he scanned the area, readjusting her ribs with a good push to make sure they were set back in right position. He took the bacta injector, delivering a few shots, and joined it with couple more patches of bacta, placing them over the area, letting it work for a bit more.

In the mean time, he looked back towards rest of the apartment, scanning the floors and walls.
Now there came the boring task of cleaning the place up from the mess he made, thankfully, the pain he used was removable with water.

 

[Cora Passek]

@[member="Inkblot"]

Cora didn't even make a sound as he checked of her injuries and finally freed her hands and legs from there bindings. Even bringing her to the bedroom, slipping her from her clothing, leaving her in her underwear alone not a sound came from the young blonde, blissfully unaware of what was happening around her. Even the mending of her ribs, didn't effect the girl. Not a thing could seem to wake her after the gas.


Some hours passed by, for how many, Cora could not be certain. These days sleep was usually only minutes at a time, maybe an hour at most before she woke, horribly disturbed by a nightmare and somehow she'd struggle with all she had to fall back asleep as her life was a lonely one. The people she loved, gone, dead, or had betrayed her. She was, inevitably completely alone. No one to love her, no one to care.


With mid-afternoon coming, the rays of sunlight peaking into the window on the far side of her room. She finally stirred. A groan came as she brought her hands up to her chin, shifting onto her right side. With a bit of a stretch she finally shifted, yawning, and then suddenly sat up fast realizing she'd been asleep for so long. Throwing back the covers, she looked to her body, trying to find any mark of what had happened. She remembered the dream? Was it a dream?

Panting, she searched for the cuts on her wrist, but they weren't there. A flex of her prosthetic foot, showed her leg was working fine when it had failed her the night before. The blonde now on the verge of tears, panicked. Hands came to her ribs, pressing at them to seek what was broken. Remembering that horrid sound, she knew they had been but nothing was there. Nothing was making sense to her. "It was real .. it had to be!" But there was no sign of it.

Racing out of her room, still in her skivvies alone, she sought the damage that would have been left behind but alas, nothing. Tears pouring down her cheeks she came into the bathroom, just trying to breathe. A glance to the mirror and she screamed ripping the mask from her head, she threw it into the floor, and backed away. Trembling, shaking it was proof that something happened but to what she wasn't sure. Curling up in between the bathtub and the toilet, she pressed her back against the wall and started to sob. Cora could not make sense of what had happened or hadn't. All she knew was she was confused, frightened and almost certain she was losing it. Slowly she started to rock herself back and forth against the wall trying to find some comfort.

"What is wrong with me?" She sobbed. You really don't know do you? A voice came from within. And she could only shake her head in reply.

 

[Inkblot]

@[member="Cora Passek"]
While Cora was waking up and breaking down, Inkblot was already a safe distance away.
Turning his collar to the cold and dump, he made his way down a dark alley of the city.

He took out his datapad from his inner pocket, turning it on he modified a text of, noting something next to a name on it, he rasped out to himself
"One down."

Putting the tablet away, he moved on, whistling to himself before his form disappeared beneath the shadow and rain.

-FIN-