Here's a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it!
I don't own Star Wars or RWBY. Star Wars belongs to Disney and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 9: Night Fire
It had been quite a day for both of the Schnee sisters. Winter had to deal with an unwanted interview to talk about those mysterious soldiers, while Weiss had a concert that could've ended with an assassination. Weiss could handle herself, but she was unarmed during her performance, and hand-to-hand was definitely not her forté.
Winter sighed as she approached her younger sister, letting out her frustrations at not finding anything about Tray or his companions. She put those thoughts out of her mind as she and her sister stood in front of each other. "Hello, Weiss." Winter said in a much warmer tone than most would think.
"Hey, sis." Weiss replied with a smile.
"You did really well tonight. You have a really good singing voice." Winter praised, starting to walk, with Weiss walking alongside her.
"Thank you…What was the deal with those assassins?" Weiss asked.
"Just some White Fang members thinking they could harm you. Obviously, thanks to Mister Saffron, that didn't happen."
"First, he saves you, then saves me." Weiss commented.
"Yes. He is really good at saving people."
Weiss felt a small skip in her step, but quickly calmed down when she became aware of it. "Enough about me. How have you been? It's been what; three months since we last saw each other?"
"Four, actually," Winter replied. "Things have been going very well until today."
Weiss looked at her sister in concern and said, "What happened? Did the White Fang go after you too?" Winter felt a small touch of sadness on hearing the subtle anger in her younger sister's voice.
"No. It has nothing to do with the White Fang. Have you seen the news at all today?" Winter answered.
"No. I've been busy preparing for the concert."
"This morning, one of Atlas' bases was infiltrated, and a prison break ensued."
"How many prisoners escaped?" Weiss asked, hoping that it wasn't too bad.
"Not very many, thankfully, but Roman Torchwick managed to escape again. The strangest thing is, we don't have any information on the people who did this."
"None at all?" Weiss asked incredulously. "Birth certificates? Medical records? Facial recognition?" she asked, with Winter shaking her head at each suggestion.
"The only info we have about the people who did it is only down to the name and face of one of them; with the others having their names known, but not their faces." Winter explained.
"How does this affect you? Some people are born outside of the kingdoms with no records." Weiss said dismissively.
"That's the thing. Those people always have at least something to show databases that they exist. Scroll usage, Dust purchases, and things like that. These infiltrators…have no previous records. It's almost like they just…appeared."
"Hmm…Is Atlas investigating this?"
"Yes, and General Ironwood has put me in charge."
Weiss thought over what she had heard and said, "When I return to Atlas, I will let our father know about this. Maybe he can help."
"I'm not so sure about that, Weiss. You know he's extremely busy."
"…It's worth a try isn't it?"
"I suppose." Winter replied.
While the bulk of the ex-Imperials wandered throughout Vale, trying to find various sources of income, the rest of them were waiting around in the shuttle. As the night grew darker, Tray settled down in one of the cots. After Trio started to accuse Shejas of cheating in pazaak, Tray wisely decided to end the game, and put them on separate ends of the shuttle. Shejas sat in the cockpit, his modified blaster at arms length at all times, while Trio sulked in the medical bay. Tray set down a few blankets and pillows for them, as well as more for himself and the non-combatants. As he lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling, he found the time to do something he hadn't focused much on.
Thinking.
Oh, the love-hate relationship he had with his mind when it grew idle. He didn't mind thinking when it had to do with something he was doing. It was when he allowed his mind to wander, did he grow to dislike himself. After wrestling with his thoughts, he finally found the blissful paradise that is sleep.
But this would be a most restless night for Tray.
He had no idea where he was when he opened his eyes, but it didn't bother him. He somehow knew where he was, yet had no name to his surroundings. After looking around, he noticed the planet of Mandalore…Well, 'on' was probably not the correct word. The word 'above' was more appropriate. All he knew was that he was onboard some sort of vessel.
As he wandered around the surprisingly small vessel, he found that it was devoid of life except for him. As he neared the bridge of the ship, he saw a burnt corpse that was slowly rotting, indicating that whoever's body it was had died some time ago. Slightly perturbed, he walked past the corpse and entered the ship's bridge, seating himself at the controls. He pushed a few buttons on the dashboard, and a small display appeared, showing letters that were noticeably not Galactic Basic. Unable to translate the foreign language, he stood up and turned around to see a pod that he hadn't noticed before.
Tray walked up to the pod and tried to peer past the layer of ice over the glass. He wasn't able to get any clear images, but there was something in there. He looked to the right of the pod and saw a lever. Figuring that it had to be a release, he grabbed the lever and pulled on it.
"Manual override activated. Please step back." an automated, but distinctly female voice said, surprisingly in Basic.
Why have non-Basic letters, but have the system speak Basic? Tray thought.
The ice covering the pod slowly began to thaw—too slowly for Tray's tastes. Most cryopods would've thawed out by now.
When the ice thawed enough for Tray to see inside the pod, he peered inside it once more to see a child. He may not know much about it, but he knew that putting children in a cryopod was not safe by any stretch of the imagination.
Part of the pod slid open and the child stumbled out and fell to the ground before Tray could catch him. Even though there was a huge age difference, Tray somehow knew that the child he was holding…was a younger Tray, likely not older than ten years.
"Are you alright?" Tray asked in a voice that was not his own.
Wait…That's my dad's voice! Tray thought in realization.
The child-Tray looked up at him in fear, shivering from just exiting a cryopod.
"Where…Where am I?" child-Tray asked.
"You mean you don't know?" Tray asked, once again speaking with his father's voice.
This is so weird! What's going on?! he thought, wondering why he was seeing this.
"I want my dad!" child-Tray sobbed.
"Shh. Shh…Calm down," Tray's father said, trying to comfort the boy. "What were you doing in that pod?"
"Dad…Daddy told me to get in and wait for him to come back. It got really cold, but then I…I woke up. Where's my dad?"
Tray's father's eyes softened. That rotting corpse he found earlier in the ship must've been the boy's father. He hugged Tray tightly and said, "He's in a better place."
Child-Tray's shivering grew more intense, clearly knowing the meaning behind the older man's words.
Tray woke up with a start, banging his head on the make-shift pazaak table. He clutched at his throbbing forehead, trying to figure out what he had seen. As he grasped at the remainders of his memory of the dream, Shejas poked his head into the room. "What happened?"
"…Nothing."
Shejas walked into the room and grabbed one of the chairs from the former pazaak table, reversing it and sitting down with his arms resting on the back of the chair. "When ever you say it's nothing, it's something; so what's the nothing?" he snarked.
Tray paused, wondering how to describe what he could remember. "I found myself on a ship that I've never been on, yet I…found myself there."
Shejas blinked and rubbed a hand over his head. "You'll have to be more specific than that," He cracked a grin and added, "You're starting to sound like you're taking to that Jedi's philosophy."
"No, I literally found myself on that ship. I was looking through who I think was my dad's eyes, finding me as a kid."
"Wait what?! You were adopted?! Why didn't you tell me that?"
"I didn't know I was adopted either…Am I?" Tray replied.
"Well…I guess it was just a dream. Don't let it bother you so much. If it helps, I had a dream where a gundark jumped from underground and bit off my left hand, but I just casually put it in a bag and showed it to my dad." Shejas dismissed.
Tray blankly stared at Shejas' description of one of his dreams and said, "…I guess you're right. It was just a dream."
Shejas tapped on the back of the chair and stood up. "Welp, I'm going back to the cockpit." He turned around to leave, but Tray stopped him.
"Why were you awake? It's way past midnight." Tray pointed out.
Shejas tilted his head to the medical bay. "You saw how mad Trio was at me over pazaak, right? I don't know how to sleep with one eye open, so I'm just gonna stay up, playing pazaak. Alone…and armed." he said, showing Tray that he had his personal blaster hidden in his jacket.
"Well…don't die." Tray joked, with Shejas blowing a raspberry-sound at his human friend.
Shejas left the main room of the shuttle, leaving Tray alone. Tray lay back in his make-shift bed and stared at the ceiling for a bit before closing his eyes. Try as he might, he couldn't go back to sleep.
Taddrei couldn't believe it. This whole thing about dragging him to a concert "I hate you, old man." Taddrei said once again, with the Jedi's amused smirk only growing each time he said it.
"Is it so bad that I didn't want to sit through that concert by myself?" Ral said innocently.
Taddrei glared at the Jedi and said, "I do not like being lied to. I thought your kind was honest."
Ral slightly looked away in shame, knowing exactly what Taddrei meant by 'your kind.' Sensing the anger and frustration in Taddrei, Ral waited for a bit before saying something else. "I apologize for lying to you…Where is the rest of your group?" he asked after waiting for the stormtrooper to calm down.
"…Uh…"
Elsewhere, the group was looking for Taddrei. "This is getting ridiculous! Where are they!?" Katlin yelled, growling near the end in frustration.
"Calm down, Ka—Viola," Manrica said calmly. "Jonquil and Koa will be here," He looked around until his eyes settled on what looked like a bank. Jackpot! he mentally sang. "Guys, I think our problems are over." he proudly announced.
"Really?" Brenver asked.
"Look." Manrica said, pointing toward the bank, only for a silent groan to wave over the squad.
"We're not going to steal." Katlin stated.
"Ah come on! It wouldn't be that bad, right guys?" Manrica asked, only to get a resounding, "NO!" from the others.
"Guys! Over here!" Taddrei yelled from across the street, waving them over.
The squad saw their current leader, along with Ral. While not all of the squad were sure about the Jedi's motives, the rest either didn't care or were glad that he was helping instead of fighting them.
"We need to find a place for the night. Even though we're a large group, it's not always safe for Humans to travel the streets at night." Ral said as he and Taddrei approached.
"Why? What now?" Renbra asked.
"A group called White Fang. For now, just know that they hate Humans." Ral said.
"How much do they hate humans?" Katlin asked.
"You don't want to run into a group of them by yourself. Highly probable that you wouldn't walk away." Ral said, with the ex-Imperials nervously looking around.
"Their more extreme members shouldn't be out and about quite yet, but it never hurts to find a hotel sooner rather than later," Ral said. "I know a decent one that won't cost too much." he continued.
The Imperials looked at each other as Ral walked away and shrugged, following the Jedi. They soon reached a building, quickly seeing it as a hotel. When they entered, some of them were half-expecting some sort of cantina inside, but were greeted by…silence.
"It's pretty quiet in here." Taddrei whispered to Ral.
"This is a very different life from what you're used to." Ral replied.
The Jedi walked up to a desk with a man sitting behind it. "How may I help you?" he asked.
Ral did a quick headcount of the group and said, "Three rooms. One night."
The man smiled and handed Ral three small packets with some cards in them. Ral paid the man and stepped away from the desk and walked over to the Imperials. "Here are your keys." he said, handing Taddrei the three packets.
"These are cards." Taddrei pointed out.
"Key cards," Ral added. "You get two per room, and four people can stay in each room."
Taddrei counted the group's numbers and raised an eyebrow. "We have enough for just two rooms. Why three?"
Ral smiled and said, "I'm not sharing a room with you."
"Wha—ugh…"
"I'm the one paying, am I not?" Ral replied, his smile turning into a cheeky smirk.
"I hate you, old man." Taddrei said for the third time that night.
"I'm not that old…" Ral muttered.
"Uh…What happened between you two?" Brenver asked.
"Ra—Jonquil here wasn't really going to help us set up some contacts. He knew that someone would try to assassinate the heiress of SDC, so he went there to stop it. He brought me along since he didn't want to sit through the concert by himself." Taddrei explained.
Manrica snorted in amusement and was clearly holding back his laughter.
"Shut it." Taddrei said, walking away.
"Our rooms are that way." Ral said, pointing in the opposite direction that the youngest stormtrooper went.
"I knew that." Taddrei said as he walked back, and brushed past them.
He doesn't seem like the kind of person to easily get angry. Did something else happen when he was away? Katlin thought.
When they reached the doors to their rooms, Taddrei had the group gather around and he quietly split them up using their real names. "Alright, here's how we're splitting our rooms. Brenver and Katlin, we'll be sharing a room. Renbra, Soltrev, and Manrica will share the other one. Ral will apparently have his own room."
"Hey, how come you two get the girl?" Manrica complained, with Katlin narrowing her eyes at the thief.
"Even if the galaxy depended on it, I would never share a room with you." Katlin growled.
Manrica surprisingly looked taken aback and said, "Geez. What'd I ever do to you, doc?"
"It's not what you've done to me. You're a thief, and thieves are nothing but low-life scum who should rot in prison." Katlin said, glaring at Manrica.
Taddrei stood between the two and said, "Enough! You two are staying in different rooms, so there's no need to act like you are sharing the same room."
Katlin glared at Manrica one last time before taking one of the key cards from Taddrei and walked up to the hotel door. She looked at the doorknob and saw something that looked to be where the card was inserted. She saw a small diagram and lined it up with the card. She put the card into the small slot, and a red light switched to green, and the lock noticeably clicked.
Katlin pushed the door inward and stepped a foot into the room. Brenver and Taddrei exchanged looks before stepping forward to enter the room before Katlin stopped them. "Let me take a shower first."
"We're not going to peek. Promise." Brenver said.
Katlin paused before stepping aside and letting the two in, closing and locking the door behind them. Now that the three could take a better look at the hotel room, it actually seemed pretty comfortable. Two beds sat next to each other, separated by a decent gap with a night desk crammed between them. The first thing they noticed about the bed was the nearly absurd amount of pillows.
"Katlin, you can have one bed to yourself. Brenver and I will take the other one." Taddrei said.
Katlin's eyes softened and she quietly sighed. "I'll be taking that shower now." she said, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door. Taddrei and Brenver stood around in awkward silence until Brenver spoke up "Manrica, huh? We're going to have to keep an eye on him. Who knew that he was such a thief?"
Katlin apparently overheard this and opened the door, poking just her head out of the door. "He's not just a thief. He showed signs of kleptomania." she stated.
"Uh…In Basic please?"
"He can't help but steal. I think personally it's just an excuse for theft, but no one's really been able to disprove that ever since it became a thing millennia ago. He sees something, and if he get's the urge to steal it, he has a very hard time resisting. Sometimes, I feel sorry him…until he talks." Katlin said, her head disappearing back into the bathroom when she finished.
"So…a kleptomaniac. I hope he doesn't cause us any problems." Brenver said.
"Yeah."
Brenver crossed his arms and said, "So what really happened between you and the Jedi?"
"Like I said, he lied about what he was really doing so he wouldn't be by himself."
"But…?" Brenver said, waiting for the younger man to continue.
"He did…something to the guards."
Brenver cocked an eyebrow. "Go on."
"He would wave his hand in front of him and say something like, 'You don't need to see our tickets.' and the guard would say, 'I don't need to see your tickets.' It was almost like he just took over their minds." Taddrei explained.
"Ah. A Jedi mind-trick. Haven't heard of those in a while."
Taddrei looked at Brenver in confusion "You've met a Jedi before?"
"Heh. Met one? I've fought them."
"Fought? I know we were stormtroopers, but at this point, finding a Jedi is very rare." Taddrei pointed out.
"You could say that I've aged pretty well. I was around during the Clone Wars."
"You fought in the Clone Wars?" Taddrei asked, rather excitedly.
"Not really. I was born ten years before the war."
"Then…how did you fight the Jedi? I doubt the Jedi used child-soldiers in the war. I don't know a whole lot about the Jedi, but I do know that using children for soldiers was not in their character. Jedi were peaceful until the war, but even then, they didn't change very much from their ways." Taddrei said, with Brenver's eyes growing dull on hearing how Taddrei summed up what the clone soldiers were at heart.
"Child-soldiers? Don't tell me you actually believe the bullcrap that the Academy taught you about the Clone Wars. The clones weren't children. They grew faster, sure, but they were fully grown men by the time they were deployed in the war." Brenver explained.
"You sure know a lot about the clones." Taddrei mused.
"Of course I do. I am a clone."
Taddrei shook his head and snorted. "Very funny. You don't look anything like the clone troopers. Besides, shouldn't you look, I don't know, old by now?"
Brenver shrugged and held up a hand, counting out a list as he spoke. "Facial reconstruction, cybernetics, and I was a mistake."
Taddrei nodded in understanding, but said, "Wait, you were a mistake? I thought clones didn't have parents."
"Heh. No, not that kind of mistake," Brenver said. "A mistake in my genetic programming made me not get the same kinds of modifications as the rest of my brothers. There were no negative effects, but I aged at a normal rate, instead of growing twice as fast as ordinary people. With the face change, I'm a clone trooper in name alone now…"
"Wow. Just…wow. You're a clone trooper. Who would've thought?"
"Just between you and me, I'd prefer it if you kept quiet about this," Brenver said, patting Taddrei's shoulder. "It'll be our little secret. For now."
"Secret. Yeah. Sounds good." Taddrei said, still shocked about this news.
Katlin walked out of the bathroom looking much cleaner than she had since they had first arrived on Remnant. "Bathroom's open." she said.
Brenver and Taddrei looked at each other, with Taddrei gesturing to the clone to go first.
Brenver walked into the bathroom and Katlin sat on her bed across from Taddrei. "What were you two talking about?" she asked.
"Mostly about how Manrica had better not cause us any problems."
"Ugh. I can't stand him. Between you and me, I think Trio should've come along instead of him."
"Nah, he would've tried to beat the mess out of the first few people we met here."
Katlin smiled and said, "Would he really?"
"Maybe, maybe not. You never know with him. Some days, he's more like a typical Mandalorian. Other days, he's more like the way he used to be."
"Used to?"
Taddrei sat down on his and Brenver's bed and leaned forward. "He wasn't always obsessed with the Mandalorians. He used to be…kind of nice actually."
Katlin nodded, letting the stormtrooper continue.
"I just wish he could stop acting like something he'll never be, and act like who he truly is, you know?"
Katlin nodded and said, "Do you think there is a reason why he grew obsessed with Mandalorians?"
"For his childhood obsession, I don't really know. Sure, he got in a lot of fights at school, and even the Imperial Academy on Onderon, but I don't really know how it first happened. He did get saved once by a Mandalorian a few months ago though. It happened before we found the Equinox, actually. Trio got drunk and I tried to get him out of the bar, but he decided to pick a fight with a Trandoshan. I got knocked to the side at the start, but when I back up, the Trandoshan had both of his hands around Trio's neck and—"
"Stop talking." Katlin said sternly.
"Wha…"
"You're clearly not ready to talk about this yet. We hardly even know each other. This is not the time, nor the place to be talking about this kind of thing." Katlin explained.
"I guess you're right."
"You and…Karat didn't say anything…compromising, did you?"
"We just talked about Ro's…love of stealing. That's all."
"Good. We don't know if there are cameras of some sort here or not."
"You don't have to be so paranoid, Katlin. This isn't the Empire."
"Shh!"
"What's your problem with this place? Not even the Empire monitored hotel rooms. If Ral brought us here for the night, he must have some measure of trust in this place." Taddrei reasoned.
Katlin thought over this and sighed, her shoulders slumping for the first time since Taddrei had ever seen her. She must be more tired than she's letting on.
Before Taddrei could ask if she was okay, Brenver walked out of the bathroom, shirtless.
"Uh…where's your jumpsuit?" Taddrei asked, while Katlin looked away.
"Oh, I left it in there. I don't think it'd be a good idea to wash it out of the rooms, so I'm letting it soak in the sink with some soapy, warm water." The clone replied, with Taddrei only now noticing that the man had a very similar voice to the infamous clone troopers. People could say what they want about the controversy surrounding Order 66 and the clone army, but Taddrei still held a load of respect for the clones for their loyalty to a Republic they owed nothing to.
"That's a good idea. When you're done, I think I'll do that." Taddrei said, stepping into the bathroom.
Brenver sat down on the bed where Taddrei once was and kicked his feet onto the bed, leaning back into the pillows on his side of the bed. "Hooph…This feels pretty good." he said.
"I probably won't need this many pillows." Katlin replied.
"I'll take them."
Katlin picked out all but two of the pillows and handed them to Brenver. "What do you think of Taddrei's leadership?" she asked.
"Dunno. We haven't really needed him to do anything. Sure, he's split us up, but I wouldn't really compare shopping and sleeping buddies to be tactical decisions." Brenver said.
"Perhaps, but notice how he had Manrica come with him and Renbra?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"We all know by now that Manrica is a thief, and a good one at that. Renbra grew up in Kessel's spice-mines, though, so he would know what to look out for. He also sent me to look for medical supplies, while you and Soltrev looked at any weapons stores if there were any in that mall."
"So?"
"In a way, he split us up according to what we knew. My medical knowledge would help me to find where these people were, medically speaking, while your and Soltrev's knowledge around weapons would help you know where Remnant stood. Renbra's skills with machines would've helped him to make an estimate on what would work with our technology. I know that my role as a medic was obvious, while Renbra told Taddrei about his background, but how did he know about your and Soltrev's skills with weaponry?" Katlin rambled.
"I…don't know," Brenver admitted. "Tray might see something in him that we don't. I can't really think of any other reason why he'd pick the youngest and most inexperienced of us to lead in his stead."
"Speaking of Tray, what do you think about him?" Katlin asked.
"I don't know what to think about him. He hasn't been in charge long enough for me to make up my mind what I think of him." Brenver answered.
Taddrei walked out of the bathroom, also not wearing his jumpsuit, but put his shirt and pants back on. "Ah…That shower felt pretty good. Guess this planet won't be so bad after all."
"You're making that decision after one shower?" Katlin droned.
"Lighten up, Katlin. You don't have to be so cold all the time." Brenver politely chided.
Katlin lightly nodded her head before leaning back in her bed. "I'm sorry if you two want to talk, but I'd prefer to go to bed sooner rather than later. Today's been pretty stressful."
"Yeah. Nearly getting shot down by a bird, getting captured and broken out of prison, and now we have to blend in. Has it really been only one day?" Taddrei said.
"Hard to believe it, but it has." Brenver said, kicking his feet off the floor and sliding to the other side of his bed.
Taddrei crawled into bed, but noticed a chair in the corner. A big, comfy-looking chair. "You know what? I think I'll sleep on the chair."
Brenver and Katlin exchanged looks between each other and Taddrei, with Brenver saying, "Why sleep in a chair when you have a bed? Sure, it's not all to yourself, but this bed is pretty nice."
"I've always preferred chairs for some reason." Taddrei said, taking two pillows and getting out of bed. He set the smaller pillow under his neck, and put the larger one between him and the armrest, kicking his feet on top of a stool with the same fabric pattern as the chair. Once he settled in, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
While things were rather calm for those three, Soltrev and Renbra would not have it so easy.
"It's party time!" Manrica loudly announced once the door to their room shut.
"Manrica, no. It's been a long day, so we should all get some sleep." Soltrev mumbled, picking out a bed and throwing his shirt onto a small chair in the room.
"Pfft. Sleep's for the weak." Manrica said dismissively, checking out the room.
"If you take anything, we're taking you back to the shuttle," Renbra growled, slapping Manrica's hand as he tried to pocket some lien that was clearly left behind. "I swear, we'd be less conspicuous with Shejas."
"Aw…It's there, and not in the owner's hand, so why shouldn't we take it? Finder's keepers, I always say." Manrica protested.
"Nothing that was in this room will be going out. Got it?" Renbra said sternly.
"Fine. Be that way, but you realize we don't leave this planet without acquiring some…things." Manrica pouted.
"Soltrev, I'm going to take a shower if this bathroom has one. Keep an eye on Manrica would ya?" Renbra said, entering the bathroom as he finished speaking.
Soltrev sighed and lightly hopped onto his bed, planting his feet on the floor and leaning down to rest his face in his hands. After a few seconds, he looked up at the night table between the two beds. "Hmm? What's this?" he muttered, looking at something with various objects printed onto it. He picked it up and saw what looked like letters of some kind. That's odd. These people speak Basic, but this language…It's nothing like Basic. he thought.
"What's that?" Manrica asked, looking over Soltrev's shoulder, startling him.
"Gah! Don't do that!" Soltrev scolded, dropping the colored object. He picked it back up and handed it to Manrica.
"This looks like a book of some sort. Not sure why it's mostly images and why it's not printed in Basic, but eh—this planet's weird." Manrica concluded.
"Book? That's a book?" Soltrev asked.
"Yup. Genuine paper too…" Manrica replied.
"You're thinking of stealing it, aren't you?" Soltrev said flatly.
"What? No! Well…kinda. I mean, paper books are pretty rare. We could make a lot of money off of some classic snob somewhere once we regroup with the Equinox." Manrica answered.
"Regroup…It's hard to think that we've only officially started the mission for one day. It feels like we've been here for a while." Soltrev said.
"Yeah, no kidding. I'm thinking about just skipping my shower for tonight and taking it in the morning." Manrica said.
Soltrev looked at Manrica with a raised eyebrow, and said, "You? Sleep?"
"Hey, I did a lot of sleeping before we arrived here," Manrica replied, leaning back in his bed. "Welp. Goodnight." he said, closing his eyes.
Renbra walked out of the bathroom, throwing the clothes Ral gave him onto a chair. He walked over to Soltrev and said, "You taking a shower tonight or tomorrow?"
"Tonight."
"Alright."
Soltrev stood up and walked to the bathroom, while Renbra crawled into the other side of the bed that Soltrev just left. He made sure to keep his eyes on Manrica until Soltrev finished his business and walked back out of the bathroom.
When Soltrev and Renbra fell asleep, Manrica's eye shot wide open. He silently crawled out of his bed and swiped the keycard from the desk on his way out.
The others may want honest contacts, but I just don't see it that way. Even the most honest people have a skeleton or two in their closet. he thought as he quietly shut the door and walked away.
Manrica wandered the halls until he found a stair case. It'll probably be faster than that dumb elevator. he thought when he saw a family of four walk into the dreadfully slow device. He opened the door and quickly ran down the stairs, walking out from the stairwell and mentally sticking his tongue at the elevator as he left the hotel.
He looked up and frowned a bit on seeing the fragmented moon of Remnant. "A sad sight, isn't it?" a familiar voice said, startling Manrica.
After the spike of adrenaline passed, Manrica saw that Ral was the one that spoke to him. "Don't do that!" the stormtrooper gasped, dramatically clutching at his heart.
Ral smirked and said, "I'm surprised you didn't see me. You were walking straight toward me after all.
"In my defense, I was looking at the moon."
"I can't say I blame you. I have spent many nights wondering how such a thing happened."
"You've been here for…what; ten years? Why haven't you asked someone?"
Ral slowly shook his head. "Whatever happened was either so long ago, no records remain, or perhaps it was such a catastrophic event, that any information regarding it was destroyed."
"So no one knows or remembers?" Manrica asked.
"No."
Manrica nodded in understanding and tried to think of something to say to the Jedi. Thinking of something, he opened his mouth. "So…know any good places to spend a late night other than a hotel?"
Ral thought for a second before a small smile came to his lips. "Well there is one place I can think of."
An hour later, Manrica's hopes grew when they approached a building. He couldn't read the signs, but the images were quite hopeful. Once they got closer, Manrica could feel the music playing inside.
"No way…I didn't think you even knew what a club was." Manrica said, clearly impressed.
"It's not my kind of place, but this is the place to be in Vale at night." Ral replied nonchalantly.
"Well this is my kind of place. People to meet, music to flail around like an idiot to, drinks galore, and most importantly, all kind of bits and baubles that people, er…drop." Manrica said walking toward the door which slid open to his slight surprise. It wasn't quite as fast as the doors he was used to, but he didn't care. When the blast of music hit him, Manrica felt alive. Ral rolled his eyes and walked away as a motorcycle with a blond-haired driver rode up next to the club.
Ral looked at the blonde girl for a second before hiding a smile. Looks like everyone in that club will be in for a surprise. he thought, ignoring what he knew was about to happen.
Oh yeah, baby! Manrica thought when he reached the dance floor. A brief flash of thought passed through his mind that he didn't have to pay to go in, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. He was here to have fun; not think of little details like that! He blended into the crowd, moving between groups, interjecting comments here and there with the occasional insult to someone who was too drunk off the night life to know that the stormtrooper was speaking to them. As he moved through the crowd.
A kleptomaniac thief in a crowded night club? It would be pretty safe to say that some folks left the club that night with a lot less money than they thought they had. Did Manrica feel bad that he was leeching off of others? Perhaps, but the impulse to steal was too hard for him, so he grew to not think of such things.
As he made his rounds through the club, Manrica's eyes settled on a girl dressed very differently from most of the other people. Sure, there were two other girls dressed a little oddly, but a regular told him that they were part of the club staff. This girl didn't seem to follow the fancy dress-code that the other workers seemed to have. His eyes lit up in recognition when he recognized the blonde-haired girl as the one that was with the one that ran into Taddrei earlier today. Shrugging, he quickly forgot the girl and continued enjoying himself.
That is, until he heard a pained groan that silently resonated with all men. He and many others looked in the direction of the disturbance to see that blond girl…manhandling someone. Manrica shuffled a little on seeing how callous the girl seemed to be to this man's plight; but the irony of such a big guy being held in the worst place imaginable by a girl at least a full head and shoulders shorter than he was not lost on the stormtrooper.
The blond girl used her free hand to hold up one of those Scroll things, but Manrica couldn't see what she was showing the man. Probably a picture of him kissing another girl or something. he thought.
The man groaned in pain and said, "I've never seen her before! I swear!"
The girl glared at the man and hardened her grip on the man. "Excuse me!?" she growled.
The man's voice hit an octave higher than it probably should and he squeaked out a meager, "I swear…Sir!"
As the large man's family jewels were being crushed, a large number of the fancily-dressed workers ran up to try diffusing the situation, axes in hand.
The blonde girl, apparently nicknamed 'Sir' briefly glanced at the armed guards before looking at the man. "Looks like we have an audience. This must be kind of embarrassing for you, huh? Awkward."
Seemingly encouraged by the guards, the man glared at the girl and said, "Listen, blondie—Sir—if you want to make it out of this club alive, you'll let me go!"
The girl smirked and did as asked, the man slumping over in relief, but clearly still in pain.
He's gonna feel that for days. Manrica thought, slightly pitying the man's plight.
The man sighed and hobbled away, reaching for the pair of ugly red sunglasses that the rest of the workers wore. "You'll pay for that." he growled, with the blond girl innocently following him.
"Oh, Junior, I was just playing around. You don't have to be so sensitive," she said. The man named Junior looked at the girl with an unbelieving look until the girl continued. "Come on, let's kiss and make up, okay?"
Junior gave the girl another look of disbelief, but saw the honest look on the girl's face and shrugged.
"Uh…Okay."
It's a trap! Manrica wanted to yell as the taller man leaned down, puckering his lips, but the girl's fist flew up in a flash, sending Junior flying unbelievably far, shattering a few lights and a speaker. Manrica's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Holy spit! I'd hate to be the poor sap who cheats on her! I don't think those two have ever met before, but boy does she look pissed! he thought as he and many others slowly backed away.
On seeing exactly what happened, a few people decided to quickly leave the club, but it was only until Manrica saw the strange bracelet-like things on the blonde girl's wrists. If anything, they seemed to be wrist-mounted shotguns of some kind.
Shaking off the shock of what was happening, Manrica wisely decided to leave the club. As he reached the exit, he stopped. Wait a second…who was that guy in the white suit talking to Junior? he thought. He looked into the crowd, looking for a white suit and that funny hat that looked like a bowl, until he found his newest target. There you are. he thought. On taking a closer look at the man, Manrica's grin slowly grew. He sure fits the description. he thought as he slinked away from the crowd and stealthily tailed the one known as Roman Torchwick.
Roman casually walked away from the panicked crowd, with Manrica subtly following him. As Roman walked down the street, his instincts told him that someone was following him, but every thing he tried to see if he had a stalker was fruitless. He finally then stopped and suddenly turned around, looking in all the places that he would hide if he were tailing someone. On seeing nothing but a quiet empty street, he frowned and turned around. Must be getting paranoid. he thought as he continued on his way.
When Torchwick turned down an alleyway, Manrica slowly crept from underneath a car. As he dusted himself off, he grinned. Bet you never had someone hid under one of those things eh? he confidently thought as he crept to the corner of the alley that Torchwick entered.
After seeing the keen eye that the criminal seemed to have, Manrica knew that just peeking around the corner would more than likely show Torchwick holding some sort of weapon toward him. After seeing that sword that Winter used, along with those…gauntlets that the blonde girl at the club had, he didn't feel up to seeing what a renowned criminal would use as a weapon.
After waiting for a good few seconds, Manrica saw that one of those vehicles parked along the road had a mirror on it. Shrugging, he pulled a knife that he 'borrowed' from a fellow clubber and was able to chip off a small part of it. It was a sloppy enough job that it would look more like wear and tear, or that something hit it. For good measure, he even hit the mirror with the handle of the knife to leave a small crack near where he chipped off the piece. He slowly walked back to the alley corner and carefully held the mirror out, using it to peer into the alley.
Despite the small size of the mirror chip, he was able to see Torchwick walking down the alley like it was normal for him. He was about to continue following the man, but someone else was approaching the criminal. He quickly pulled the mirror out, and crept to a dumpster that was just around the corner. Am I close enough to hear what's going on? he thought.
"Torchwick…you're early" a voice said. On listening more closely, Manrica could hear a distinct clacking sound. High heels? Well, that voice does sound like a woman's he thought.
"Yeah, some crazy blonde girl wrecked Junior's club, so I had to leave earlier than I planned. Don't worry, I still got the help we need for our next move."
"Good. Now, when your…hired help arrives, you know what to do." the woman said.
"Of course…Why are we even bothering with the small Dust shops? Wouldn't it be easier to do what the White Fang did a few months ago and just rob a Schnee Dust shipment?" Torchwick asked.
"It's all according to the plan. The White Fang is going after the SDC for a reason. We're going to show the smaller businesses that even they aren't safe," the woman said, her voice sounding more and more sadistic.
"You've always been the charming one." Torchwick droned.
Manrica could almost hear the woman smirk. "You know what to do. Run along now."
Torchwick made a sound of annoyance at the woman's tone, and turned around before the woman spoke up again. "Oh, and before you go, do make sure you are not followed again."
Manrica's heart skipped a beat and he slowly crept out of the alley, making a dash for the nearest hiding spot on the street. Seeing another alleyway, he dove into it, just as he saw a flash of Torchwick's white coat.
"Alright, I know you're out there." Roman called out.
Bull. You had to be told that I was following you. Manrica wanted to say, but wisely decided against it.
Roman carefully examined the streets, once more looking in all possible hiding places. His eyes then settled on the alleyway Manrica took cover in and smirked. He held up the cane he was carrying, and Manrica peeked around the corner to see what was going on. His heart dropped when a small reticule popped up, showing that the cane could apparently fire something. He quickly stood up and sprinted to the other end of the alley as Roman fired his cane, a small firework-like projectile flying out to the alley. Manrica leapt forward as the explosive shot hit his original position and the force of the little explosive was enough to send him flying. He hit the ground and rolled for a bit before quickly getting to his feet and running for all he was worth. He left the alley and turned with Roman in pursuit.
"You know, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume you were passing by, but with how fast you're running away, you're clearly guilty of eavesdropping." Torchwick yelled.
Without missing a beat, Manrica turned around and held up one lone finger. "And only a fool would stay and fight a guy with a firework-cane." he yelled back, continuing to run.
Roman clenched his teeth and fired at Manrica again, only for the thief to whip around a car, letting the vehicle take the brunt of the shot.
"Come on man! I've run away from things much more dangerous than you!" Manrica taunted, flashing a cocky grin before ducking under another explosive shot.
"Try me." Torchwick muttered, running straight for the stormtrooper with speed that he was not expecting.
Manrica quickly held up an arm to block Torchwick's cane, but the force jarred his shoulder.
"Ow!" he yelled, ramming his knee into Roman's gut and using a sweeping kick to knock the man on his back. He quickly turned and ran off, knocking over a trash bin full of of various bottles and cans to hopefully slow down the criminal's pursuit. When Manrica reached the other end of yet another alleyway, his heart dropped into his stomach when he found that he had hit a dead end. "Blast…" he mumbled as he hunkered down behind a dumpster.
Torchwick stalked down the alley, smirking when he saw the dead end. "How typical. The spy gets caught because of a dead end." he cockily announced.
Not likely. Manrica wanted to say, but kept quiet. He knew that Torchwick had him cornered, but all that was left was for Roman to find exactly which corner to look for.
As Torchwick approached Manrica's hiding place, he grabbed a small pebble and tossed it to the other side of the alley, shortly occupying the man's attention.
"Come out, come out whoever you are." Torchwick borderline sang.
Manrica grabbed a small can, wiped off what looked like beans from the inside and put the can to his lips "Don't shoot me, and maybe I will." he said, the can hiding most of he source of his voice and honestly sounding ridiculous in hindsight.
"You can't hide forever, you know." Torchwick called.
I'm pretty good at hiding. Manrica thought, throwing another pebbled somewhere behind Torchwick.
"You really think I'm going to fall for that twice?" Roman droned, a small smile coming to his face when he saw a third pebble flying out from Manrica's hiding place. He raised his cane and fired another explosive shot, flushing the stormtrooper out from his hiding spot.
Manrica would've been nearly engulfed by the explosion had he not been quietly setting up a few meager boxes and rocks. He didn't know how it worked, but they apparently soaked up the fragments of concrete that flew at him. Before the dust settled, Manrica dashed through the dust toward Roman, baring his shoulder for a full-impact tackle.
Roman was not prepared for such a sudden move and was knocked over for the second time. He quickly stood up and began to swing his cane at Manrica, who did his best to either dodge or deflect the brunt of the attacks. He pulled out his knife, but it just wasn't long enough to be effective against Roman's much longer cane. Manrica's eyes locked onto a piece of pipe and he snatched it up from the ground. Now with something better than a pocket knife to fight with, Manrica advanced on Torchwick, using the weight of the pipe to add to the power behind his blows.
Torchwick shook his head and said, "You know, you're probably one of the more unpredictable spies I've ever had the pleasure of tracking down. I'm sorry to say this, but you're going to die tonight."
"No thanks. I like living." Manrica said, he shoved away from Roman and reached into one of the dumpsters, pulling out…something. He didn't know what it was, but it was slimy and smelled terrible. He flung it at Torchwick, who tried to jump out of the way, but Manrica quickly advanced, forcing the criminal to get hit by the trash.
The orange-haired criminal growled and fired at Manrica, forcing him to retreat. He looked down at his ruined suit and said, "Ah, come on! This won't be coming out for weeks!"
Manrica put a hand over his mouth in mock shock. "Oh, did I do that?" he asked innocently. "I'm sorry."
"You're gonna pay for that, one way or the other!" Roman yelled, holding up his cane and firing once more, hitting Manrica almost head on. The stormtrooper was sent flying out of the alley with severe burn and some rather gruesome cuts.
Roman raised an eyebrow on seeing the state of Manrica. "You don't have your Aura unlocked? You must be crazier than I thought." he mumbled.
Manrica shakily got to his feet before the criminal reached him and glared at the man.
"Any last words?" Torchwick asked, raising his cane at the wounded stormtrooper.
Manrica looked at Torchwick in defiance before his eyes slowly widened before he grinned. "Yeah, I do. Behind you."
Roman grunted in surprise when he was sent flying past Manrica, rolling a good few feet before being stopped by a building on the other end of the street. Fortunately for him, his Aura was able to absorb most of the force behind…whatever hit him, but he's still going to feel that for a while.
"Roman Torchwick," a voice said. "You're under arrest." The voice was soon followed by a snap-hiss sound, a yellow glow surrounding the source of the voice.
Jonquil?! Uh-uh! I'm outta here! Torchwick thought on seeing the Jedi walking toward him. He fired his cane a few feet in front of him, causing a smoke screen, and sending debris flying toward Ral. He quickly ran off, firing behind him to keep his distance from Ral.
"I'm not going back to prison! Not so soon!" he yelled as he ran.
Ral shook his head. With how quickly the man was running, combined with how often he was firing his weapon behind him, the Jedi knew that Roman would likely hurt someone if he were to pursue. He deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He quickly walked over to Manrica who was limping toward him.
"You've been following me!" Manrica yelled.
"Not exactly. I heard the sound of Torchwick's weapon and simply followed the small craters and found you."
"Well, why aren't you going after him?"
"Too much risk of collateral damage. It's late, but a lot of people are still on the streets. Besides, you're hurt. Bad." Ral explained.
At this, Manrica keeled over, grabbing at his stomach, coughing up some blood. He put a hand to his mouth to keep it from spilling onto the street, but there was more blood than he was expecting.
Ral quickly knelt over Manrica and wrapped one of his arms over his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safer. You never know if any of Roman's goons are somewhere around."
Manrica would've answered, but he was in too much pain to really respond. He managed to make a grunting sound, but he quickly began another fit of pained coughing.
Ral led Manrica off of the street and gently set him down. He reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a Scroll. He tapped on the display a few times and then held it to his ear. "Yes, we have a medical emergency…Of course. We're on Swan Avenue, across from the From Dust Till Dawn shop…Yeah. He's a burn victim that got hit in a fight with Roman Torchwick, I believe. No, he ran off I'm afraid. Yes…Thank you. That's all I ask." Ral said, putting the Scroll back in its pouch.
"Help's on the way, Manrica. Remember, if they ask for your name, it's Ro." Ral said, kneeling over the burned man.
"Agh…Thank you, Jedi." Manrica managed to say.
"Hold still. I'm not very good at Jedi healing, but I can at least dull the pain for you." Ral said, gently putting a hand over Manrica's chest. A small glow enveloped the Jedi's hand, and a low pulsing sound was heard. Manrica had no idea what Ral was doing, but he soon felt the pain going away. He was not feeling better, but at least he couldn't feel his pain anymore. Come to think of it, he couldn't feel much of anything.
A few minutes later, a whirring siren sound was quickly approaching the two, with the siren being accompanied by bright red and white lights flashing rapidly.
A large white and red vehicle was soon in sight, with Manrica somehow knowing that this was the medical help that Ral called. As the vehicle got closer, Manrica felt the bliss of unconsciousness taking him under.
The vehicle stopped close by and the back of it opened up, showing two men coming out of it, a stretcher being carried between them.
Ral stood up and backed away, letting the paramedics do their thing. After checking to make sure that it was safe to transport Manrica, the two lifted him up and put him on the stretcher, carrying him into the ambulance.
As the men brought Manrica into the ambulance, Ral spoke with a third man about what happened. Once their business was concluded, the paramedic thanked Ral for his time and for helping Manrica, aka, Ro.
As Ral walked away, he suddenly froze. Hopefully, they'll be able to find medical records to see if they need to do anything special with that man. Wait a second…Oh, blast. They don't have records!
I guess that's a wrap. See ya'll later.
