A/N: I'm back. Just in time for Christmas. Hey, do you want to know what the best presents I could ask for would be? A review, they make me very happy. Happy DemonChild equals quick updating DemonChild. I'm not complaining, though. You guys are really great with the whole reviewing thing. The other thing I need is a Beta Reader. As you may be able to tell from the rapidly deteriorating state of my writing, this is quite desperate.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any recognizable characters.
The Hellrunner was allowed to land at Jabba the Hutt's Palace after a ridiculous amount of negotiating.
Lucifer and Pyro walked in to make the deal with Jabba.
Pyro ended up having to set the place on fire after an embarrassing incident caused by Jabba's realization of the fact that Lucifer was using "Jedi Mind Tricks" to get a better deal.
Eventually, the two walked out, arguably unhurt and with twenty thousand credits more than they went in with. When they got back to the ship, Pyro walked to the cockpit to fly to Nar Shaddaa for fuel and supplies.
'I'll be awake when we get there,' said Lucifer.
Pyro threw a fireball at him.
Quartz had never been a good pilot. In fact, he had never flown a ship in his entire sixteen years of existence. Lachlan had exactly the same problem.
So, the two were faced with a rather unfortunate situation.
Even more unfortunate was a certain shadow that had followed them.
This shadow, which went by Mara Jade, had been sent along to supervise Lord Vader. It was not the first time. However, it was the first occasion on which Jade was seriously considering disobedience. She knew exactly who these two were.
Lachlan Selinare was a thirteen year old sociopath. Even when he wasn't killing people for the heck of it, he was as annoying as Hell.
Alan "Quartz" Myoki, on the other hand, could probably count the number of people he had murdered in the last month or so on two hands, possibly just one. His daily crimes were of far less magnitude.
Jade had killed only two people during the last three months. They had both been relatively minor criminals, traders of illegal drugs with no skills in any form of fighting.
She was seriously out of practice.
Lachlan heard the sound of the blaster being pulled from its holster. Quartz would have too, if he hadn't been so intent on finding a way through their current dilemma.
Lachlan was fast on his feet, but he had never fought the Emperor's hand. Mara Jade had the Force to aid her. She would not fail.
She managed two shots, but only one reached its intended target. Then, Mara Jade felt a rush of cold air. She did realize what hit her before she died; there weren't all that many possibilities.
Lord Vader was not a patient man. One whole standard week had elapsed since Jabba the Hutt had contacted the Empire, claiming to have knowledge on two very important issues. He evidently did not realize just how close Vader was to attacking Jabba's pathetic fortress and torturing the location of the Rebel Base out of him.
Worse still for Jabba, it would be perfectly legal.
Another day passed before a deal was negotiated. Jabba agreed to throw in the names and faces of a pair of experiments who had apparently been the ones to organize the breakout on Canthion five years ago and two others whom often traveled with them. Vader recognized one of them as the little backstabber that had betrayed fifty of his fellow escapees, resulting in the recapture of almost forty of them.
That one was already in captivity, and he could only assume that the ship that had fled the scene when the boy was retrieved had contained the other three; Lucifer, Pyro and Emerald.
Of the three left at large, the only one who had actually gained something useful from the experiments was Pyro.
Lucifer claimed to have telekinesis, but Vader had sensed his Force abilities during the few seconds before the bounty hunter's ship had entered Hyperspace.
Lucifer's only actual mutation was the pair of wings on his back, which he was incapable of using to fly due to the fact that the rest of his body was still human and the wings were simply too small in proportion to the rest of his body. However, he could still use them for other purposes, an example of this being Lucifer's habit of using them to knock opponents off their feet or, on several occasions, off the roofs of high-rise buildings.
Emerald's power was completely useless, unless she wanted people staring at her everywhere she went. Although the experiments conducted on her had not been failures in the truest sense of the word, the Amazing Power of Green Hair was not every child's dream come true.
Worse still, the hair was resistant to all forms of dye and attempts to have it replanted brown had failed. It would remain green forever and Emerald could do nothing about it.
Pyro, however, was an interesting case. He could both manipulate and create fire, at a very high level. He called himself a Pyromancer, which was probably true.
Vader found himself wondering if Pyro's powers extended to healing wounds caused by fire; such as Vader's own horrible burns. The possibility that this young man might hold the key to healing the damage done on Mustafar hit Vader like a ton of bricks.
Changing direction rapidly, Vader headed for the Com room. Calls would have to be made and the Dead or Alive status on Pyro's arrest warrant would have to be changed, and probably Lucifer's and Emerald's as well, to avoid Palpatine's suspicions.
Lucifer woke up to the sound of Pyro yelling at him that something very important was on the news.
He got up and turned on the Holovid unit to see his own face staring back at him. It was quickly replaced by Pyro's, Emerald's and Quartz's faces. Lucifer swore in five languages.
Pyro finally managed to break into the room to see Lucifer watching the news.
'Oh. Here I was thinking you were asleep,' Pyro said. 'Switch to Channel 871.52, because that story they're running affects us,' he continued.
'Pyro, I really don't think it's more important than our faces being on the news. So shut up and let me listen,' Lucifer snapped back at him.
'Wait, what? Our faces are on the News? What channel is that?' Pyro asked.
'1145.8, now shut up and listen,' Lucifer told him.
Pyro tried to sit down on the bed, but settled for the floor after being shoved off.
As the story continued, Pyro grew steadily more anxious. The price on their heads had increased by almost ten thousand standard Imperial credits. Worse, they were wanted alive only.
'Lucifer, what are we going to do?' he asked, when he finished his panic attack.
'Pyro, no one actually knows the ship's name. All we have to do is disguise ourselves every time we leave the ship, which we do anyway half the time. In your case, and Emerald's, that probably just means dying your hair, or a wig for Emerald, and wearing coloured lenses. People will look for those distinctive features, and not pay much attention to the rest of our faces.
I might have to grow a beard and get a false tattoo as well, because my hair and eyes don't stand out so much. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my scar, though,' Lucifer said.
'Okay,' Pyro nodded.
In one ear and out the other, Lucifer thought.
'Now, what was that other story that you mentioned before?' Lucifer asked.
'It isn't important, the Rebel Alliance just got destroyed by the Empire, that's all,' Pyro said.
Lucifer stared at Pyro.
'You have a very strange idea of how important things are,' he commented.
Before Pyro could reply, Emerald ran into the room.
'Lucifer, Pyro, there you are! The Rebel Alliance was just destroyed because of the information that we gave Jabba!' she said loudly.
Lucifer just looked at her.
Pyro stared at Emerald in shock.
'Because of the info we gave them?' he said, shocked.
The other two stared at Pyro.
'What did you think they would do with it?' Lucifer asked after a short pause.
Pyro thought about the question. Lucifer turned to address Emerald.
'Were there survivors?' he asked.
'Of course there were. A substantial reward is being offered,' Emerald said.
'Run a search over the Holonet or something. Just find a lead for us to use,' Lucifer said.
He walked out the door.
'Oh, now I get it,' Pyro said.
Emerald shook her head and followed Lucifer out the door.
A/N: Yeah, I killed off Quartz and Mara Jade. I didn't like Quartz anyway, and he was going out right from the beginning. And I just couldn't have Mara appear in the story and then just disapear for no reason, but she had nothing else to do. So, I killed her. I'm sorry. Really. She's actually my second favourite character.
If anyone really cares about why Luke's wings don't work, go to wikipedia and search Bird Wing Anatomy. It should give you about ten pages. Find a useful one and read that. I suppose you could Google it, but I used Wikipedia.
Remember what I said about a Beta Reader. Volunteers? Hello?...
I have to get up in an hour, so I'll shut up and go to sleep now.
