A/N~ Extremely slow in the updates, I know… I've been coming up with new ideas that I want to push out in a steady pace, but they will be up sooner or later
However, I do see a very good rise of followers in the story, so thank you guys so much for your attention XD
Reviews:
TaitanoRules555
Thanks, man. Appreciate the feedback :)
CaptViper2100
Shhhh… Don't speculate too much. We all know how that got us with The Last Jedi ;) Anyways, I really appreciate the comments you've given me
Guest #1
There will be more, alright XD
Guest #2
More shall be revealed… in time, my young Padawan ;)
Guest #3
Thanks so much for sticking by for the ride, dude/dudette!
For follows, I would like to thank rosariorwbyfan, LtRainbowSlash, FoilyPaper, kotorfan, lucart58, Igneouspolecat, hellboy123099, ObituaryGoat, ARandomSpark, copland ciaran and Spartan1725 for joining in the bandwagon for the story :)
Chapter 17: Of Fools and Criminals
Sometimes, help is found in the most unlikely places and the most unpleasant of people…
Plans foiled!
The growing criminal force that is the Torchwick Syndicate has been dealt a powerful blow when Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie seized a large shipment of their weapons. Left to answer the questioning demands of his lost goods, Roman Torchwick himself had retreated to one of his bases in the Backwatt Sector to regroup and reassess his lost power.
All the while, that same base held a prisoner who had messed with the wrong crime boss.
Base #62
Backwatt Sector,
Corminus System,
Outer Rim Territories,
Seventy bases he had rightfully earned through his grand cash cache and absolute charm. Of all of them, Roman Torchwick had to choose this particular one in the Corminus System to head over to. An old, derelict outpost that once belonged to a Republic garrison over the system, now refurbished to suit his purposes. Unfortunately, after his last scheme at business failed him there, the old base was deemed a waste of space, unnecessary to his plans and worth nothing of strategic value.
But things have changed when another abrupt end to another plan forced him to relocate somewhere where the Hutts wouldn't come after him, closer to Republic territory before any effective negotiations between the two organizations would take place, as far as Torchwick had heard.
At least, if there was one place to vent out his frustrations, it was in that old outpost, trancing furiously about in the command bridge, livid because of a hole in his grand scheme. His angry walks had earned the people around him, save for Neo, much to worry about for their sakes.
"How could they have lost three nosy trespassers and the rest of my cargo?!" he shouted, voice charged with rage. "First, my ticket into gaining the favour of the Hutts, and now, my supply of goods to the black market is gone!" His arms flailed with rushing fury, his legs continued to skip across the room, huffing out a mixture of breaths and curses.
The recent failure to hold the Yellow Rancor and two more commoners and use them to form relations with the Hutts had himself back to square one. Not only that, but the apparent loot that he and his men had gathered from across the Outer Rim had been snatched away from him by that same blonde punk.
Neo sighed, rolling her eyes as she quickly pulled out a chair for her boss. With a firm hold on him and a pat on the back, she gently placed the man down on the chair while he still fumed. Secretly though, she wondered why this whole thing was making him throw a fit. After all, not all of the cargo was gone; there was still a good amount of it left in the courtyard. Sure, a lot of the goods stolen were weapons and other gear, there was still enough left to compensate for. And there was still a huge portion of the spices he had left, all there in his flagship, waiting at the Corporate Sector for him to deliver the spices and sell.
If it were up to her, she could have very well sold what they had left and still try and make a good deal out of it all. But there was one problem; Torchwick wanted everything. That meant a plan had to be followed through and yielded the best results. That was his game, and one little slip-up, especially when things were about to come to a great end, was sure to ruin his mood.
"Never mind. The plan proceeds as normal. We still have the spices, after all." groaned Torchwick, still mad about the minor setbacks. "Send a note to everyone present; the next time anyone fails me at some capacity, they're going to end up… at the other end of my cane!" he shouted with his cane up high, ready to clobber the next rat who dared give him more bad news to chew up on.
Now, he had to worry about being chased by the Hutts for leaving them to guess what sort of rubbish had he played the whole time. Since the relations between them were sour, Roman knew those slug-brains would send in their forces to get him to talk, and the last thing he needed was to have the full force of the Hutt Council on him. So, he developed a backup plan to throw them off his back; sell off the outpost he was in and leave it abandoned again.
While it was essential to maintain this old outpost to manage his schemes in the system, the way things were in Corminus, anyway, had Torchwick planning to get rid of it for a while now. He had a way to trap the Hutts into investigating the old station, so that the Republic could be fooled into thinking that Jabba was over-extending his limits into Republic territory. That could chase them off while he regrouped in a more comfortable base to recuperate his business plans.
Soon, the silence lingered as the crime boss cooled off. The order was already given to the whole base to pack up and prepare to leave, so all was left was for Neo to collect any confidential information from the computer logs and databanks before finally joining in the evacuation.
Before that, however, Torchwick needed to resolve something minor.
The doors opened up before them, bringing in a rather puckish, dirty man into the room. The clothes he wore, ragged and filthy, marred by tiny spots of sand that was picked up from his time in a previous location. Torchwick welcomed the man in apparently high spirits, despite his bad mood.
"Hey, boss." greeted the man, nervously.
"Rompon!" bellowed Roman. "My good ol' junk dealer. How's business in Espa?"
"G-good, sir." the man stuttered. He was among Torchwick's more obscure elements of his business missions, set on Tatooine to launch minor thefts and rough-ups, all to gain a footing against the Hutts, in case something happened between them. And now that there was a serious screw-up waiting to happen between the Council and the Syndicate, there was no more use running business on the planet.
"Don't toy around with me, Rompon. Business on Tatooine is never good for us. Ain't that right, Neo?" laughed Torchwick, snapping a finger at Neo, who nodded back. He then wrapped his arm around the back of Rompon, who shook in the presence of his deadly boss. "The Hutts have a way of making things difficult for me and my crew, so there's really no point sugar-coating their bantha crap, right?
But who cares about some desert Hutt-filthy planet? I need you to come with us, so we can get to work on other matters."
"Right, boss!" acknowledged the junk dealer. Just as he moved on, however, he turned back around, remembering something he had for Torchwick. "Oh! But I do have one little gift for you." Torchwick's attention was gained, intrigued to seeing what Rompon had managed to fish out from his fruitless venture in Mos Espa.
The man pulled out his datapad, allowing Torchwick a good look at the screen to see what was offered up for him. On the screen, he saw the top view of a small room that, from what he knew, was a prison cell. In that room, on a bench attached to the wall, sat a lone girl, head down and her arms down on her thighs, seemingly in depressed hopelessness. But what Torchwick found very interesting about her was something on her head that made her a more special case.
Two cat ears. And this was no Zygerrian, Roman thought. This girl was definitely human, so it could only mean one thing…
"Oh… A Faunus, eh?" said Roman, a thought cooking up already in his head. "You don't see those everyday, Neo." That thought soon evolved into something unexpected. He took interest in this sudden change of development, for a Faunus within his grasps had brought an old idea he had been saving for a while now. "That gives me a good chance to deal with the White Fang. I'm sure they'll love to accept a potential recruit into their ranks."
No doubt, the White Fang would prove a valuable asset towards a small part of the galaxy that Torchwick had targeted long before. Running things in Remnant would prove an extra bonus to his criminal empire, while he ran the main businesses in the Outer Rim. All he needed was an incentive for them to consider any relations, and that meant, as he heard, fresh recruits for their cause. Any effective move the White Fang made would allow him a large entrance into Anima and make contact with the black market there.
"Keep an eye on her. She'll be quite useful once we contact Sierra Khan and get things rolling." he ordered one of the men operating on a computer, before giving himself a reminder not to repeat a past mistake. "Oh, and let's not rush things until we are sure we can arrange something. We must load her into our ships and get to our other bases, or we'll risk losing another grand opportunity."
"And I get a raise?" Rompon interjected, slightly putting Roman off his edge. Honestly, was money really the greatest motivator in his reign?
"You will definitely have a raise." he said, sarcastically. "A raise of this…" He then pointed his cane at the dealer, frightening him in the process. One look down the cane's gun barrel was all that was needed to silence anyone who had ideas of overextending their hopes in the Syndicate.
"P-point taken, boss." Instantly, Rompon gave in. With the Faunus prisoner kept in the cell, it was time for Torchwick and his gang to start moving out and setting the station to detonate. Facing Neo one more time, the command was given to set things in motion.
"Make the preparations and pack up. The Hutts can have this joint, for all I care."
Trapped once again…
The greatest fear of the Faunus was to be chained up, locked away in some cage where people would hail themselves as masters to hold the leashes on the 'beasts' they were didn't deserve to be called.
In her own cell, Blake didn't have to feel tied down or be held in such a barbaric manner. Here she was, sitting on a prison bench, trapped inside a compressed cell, without any chains and wardens to mistreat her for the past hour. Yet, she still felt like a real animal, locked up and awaiting a horrid fate.
She had been in this sorry state for days now, having to be watched by wardens, who fed her nothing more than stale rations; a nearly spoilt piece of nuna leg and a few bad beans. Not very satisfactory, but she has survived off of worse…
Almost two days since she was captured on Tatooine by what appeared to be a cell of Roman Torchwick's criminal gang, she hadn't been able to resist their hold on her, too weak and too outnumbered to even glare at them. Unconscious when she found herself in her cell, the first faces she saw upon waking up were the disgusting, chuckling facades of men so broiled up in the lavish schemes of a crime boss who promised them all his greatest riches.
Such fools fighting for the benefits of only one man. Much like Adam…
From out of the laser field that prevented her from escaping, she could see two men, a Quarren and a Zutton, both holding carbines, were conversing with each other, apparently gotten word of a mix-up within their ranks. Blake did not look, so that the men could see her stricken face.
"Got word from the boss." she heard the Quarren speak. All she needed were her ears, which, to her disappointment, were freed from the bandana she wore. Judging that the bandana had already been removed by the time she woke up, there wasn't a need to hide. "We seemed to have lost one of our outposts at Teth."
"To the Hutts?" asked the other warden.
"One lone smuggler and two commoners." The two snickered, not even baffled by the fact that their own boss had lost territory to a few bad eggs amongst the underworld.
"So, we have to reroute to another location before he sells the place, huh?" Blake caught word of the plans to relocate, added with more questions over what was to happen to her during this move. "Fine, just as long as Torchwick compensates for the extra mileage."
Once they began to leave, the Zutton guard glared right into the cell, staring wickedly at Blake with his ugly grin.
"You stay here, pet." he taunted. "We'll be sure that our boss will give you your treatment." As he left her, laughing away, Blake ignored the humiliating attitude, choosing to ponder over her thoughts over what was to happen to her.
As she remained hopelessly locked up in her cell, she thought about the journey she had taken since leaving the White Fang.
When she left, she felt that she carried with her the true mission of the organization before everything went dark. Before Sienna Khan was brutally murdered by Adam and branded Blake a traitor, framing her for the downfall of Khan's reign. She was banished from the only place she called home away from home, left alone to find her way.
And now, she was here, locked up by a criminal wannabe to be left with whatever he so desired of Blake. She had to find a way out, to escape the machinations of Roman Torchwick, and get back to fighting corruption and suffering across the galaxy. But there was one problem that was holding her back.
Not that she couldn't escape at all. In fact, she could very well escape on her own and deal with any threat that came her way. But there was something that was missing from her attempts to flee capture that she often relied on to improve her odds.
Her teammates; the brothers of the White Fang who would go all the way to breaking her loose. The brothers who were now lost to the veil rule of Adam Taurus, the one man who she depended on the most. Without them to help her escape, she was far away from her comfort zone, left with little room to think independently.
The longer she lingered, the more time she was wasting before she would be put to good use by the powers that be. She had to wonder how things would have been different if she hadn't been so full of herself before she was captured.
The words from Sun echoed in Blake's mind, reminding her of how he straight up accused her of running away. Did those words run true? Was he right about her trying to leave behind the pain and suffering?
As she thought on, her anger built up, remembering the lives lost during the White Fang's campaign against hatred and discrimination. If she hadn't been so hurt by what she had witnessed back home when Adam slaughtered those Mandalorian soldiers, would things have been better for her? Surely, if she stayed, then no fool would dare touch her under the protection of her brethren and everything would go as planned. She'd stay to fight on and eliminate those who dared to deny her kind the right to…
No. There was no way she would stay behind to be part of the downfall of Faunus kind, no matter how tolerant she was of the heinous acts. The brotherhood she knew was gone when Adam slaughtered those defenceless prisoners. Who knew how many more innocent or helpless lives he brutally ended without mercy? Staying and devoting her life with a monster would be the biggest underdoing she had ever done onto herself.
So, now that she had escaped, she had to ask herself; what would she do now? She clearly wanted to make things right for the galaxy, and yet, she had gone no further than the Outer Rim. She hadn't anything but firstly realize how much was going on for only one community on Dantooine and not much else on Tatooine. In fact, the first instance she was ready to leave, that was all she ever thought about; leaving the planet.
Maybe Sun was right, after all… Maybe she was running away. Even when she vowed to help people, she barely did anything of the sort since she left Dantooine.
That trip through her life had now brought back an old flame in mind; her family. Nothing had ever changed since she ran away from them to join those she initially thought with well more worth following. And now that she is alone again, regret was running through her, along with the depressing thought that she could never return to her parents in Menagerie.
Blake dug into her shirt and grabbed the piece of the kalikori she was given earlier, wondering if she had done as she promised the Twi'lek family on Dantooine. Conversely, she felt like she had destroyed herself by running, finding nothing in her pursuit for a cause. What was she supposed to do now? Who could she possibly depend on to save her this time?
Was she going to be alone…?
In one of the four docking bays of the station, the men of Roman's crime syndicate were crowded around, removing as much of their goods as possible. They hauled large loads of cargo into two old freighters, like a colony of ants marching back and forth to deliver food for their queen. In this case, they may as well felt like ants, all work and no fun.
Torchwick specifically called for them to make no effort to slack off and remove everything that was needed, which in his mind, meant everything. An hour was spent on moving the cargo, and the men were slowly losing their strength in the task given.
Save for two men, who watched everything while protecting the doorway that led into the station's interior. Holstering their rifles up close, they may have been given guard duty, but in secret, they rather enjoyed not being part of the clean-up. They stood there, gleefully watching their buddies panting and gasping from the hard work, grateful that their own responsibilities. Yeah, it might have been boring to stand still all the time, but anything was better than breaking a sweat over such mundane assignments. Also, who's going to argue about getting paid more than the grunts of the hard labour?
So, they watched on while everyone else struggled to haul the loads into the ships for evacuation. Though, they had to wonder; where were they going from here? Their boss had many bases throughout the galaxy, even those as close as the Inner Rim. He always a particular task for each and every single outpost or headquarters he went. So, with that in mind, where could they go next, and what was the plan? Not that his personal ambitions mattered, because Torchwick would promise them riches beyond their wildest imaginations, and if anywhere is profitable than the other, they weren't going to back down on a higher pay check.
Suddenly, they stopped thinking about wild dreams of jewels and gold when someone approached them. There was a man, dressed in the usual leather jackets like some of the others. He had a hat on, which had two flaps on both sides, sticking upwards, which hid his rather messy blonde hair. From the looks of things, he may as well had been one of the boys who was supposed to be out there, loading the supplies.
Still, he came up to the two guards and cackled, somewhat mockingly, prompting the guards to walk up with caution.
"Hey there, guys!" the boy cheered.
"Who are you supposed to be?" the first Weequay guard inquired.
"Just came in, fresh from Reytha." the boy cheered.
"Reytha? Isn't that planet Republic territory?" the other human guard spoke in a posh but rough accent.
"Exactly. That's why I'm here. How else can a farm boy like me have an opportunity like this; to be in Roman Torchwick's grace? Republic credits won't do, right?" The two men looked at each other, somewhat tolerant over the boy's claim.
"And what do you want?" the Weequay guard inquisitively demanded. "Shouldn't you be over there throwing in the cargo?"
"I got orders. I have to watch some prisoners down in the detention level." the boy answered, shrugging his shoulders.
"No can do, pal. Torchwick has given you lads orders to get the cargo going. Now, get moving." the other guard warned by pointing his blaster straight at the boy. Despite his initial alarm, he didn't seem to flinch the next second. Instead, he gave them somewhat of a disappointed look, as if he wasn't amused by their display of power. Then, he shrugged his shoulders again, relaxed as he seemed to accept their threats.
"Okay." He then turned around, gladly ending the situation for the two guards. That is; until he decided to play with them again. "But I warn you. If the boss finds out I haven't been stationed down there, under his orders, he might as well know what happened to me." The warning seemed to have done the trick. The two guards flinched, panicked with what he said. To hammer on his nail of a threat, the boy continued on with a final blow; the only way men like those two would succumb to his demands. "Oh, I won't tell about you two. Unless of course, you want to keep your earnings…"
"Hey!" Suddenly, the first guard shouted out, alerting everyone in the bay. The boy in question turned around, still grinning. "You don't get to boss us around! Now get back in there and guard the prison bay!" That was easy, he thought. Just give them a reason to keep their credits earned and they can bend to your will, whatever your intentions were.
"That's more I like it." The boy gloated as he passed the two annoyed guards, entering into the corridor before the doors shut behind him.
"Wait a minute." Then, the first guard remembered something… off. "Prisoners? I thought there was only one." When he was about to delve into his suspicions, the other guard quickly dismissed it, waving his hand out.
"Forget it. He must have not paid attention. Newbies, am I right?"
Once the doors were shut, the boy walked on, looking around the hallways for more guards, just in case he needed more convincing. After a while, he decided that it was time to ditch the disguise. Taking off the very heavy jacket he was forced to wear throughout the trip, he then threw away the hat, revealing the spiky, golden hair. And finally, he pulled the back rim of his pants to release the incriminating furry tail that would have blown his cover. Piling up the clothes he wore over his simpler ones, he threw them all into the nearest garbage chute, where the evidence of his infiltration would be burned away.
He brushed his hair wildly, freeing it of the irritation that the hat caused. He then reached for his back and grabbed hold of his staff, ready to get to work on finding the one person he had to save.
"Man, these guys are so dumb…" Sun chuckled, relishing in the naivety of the common thug. Setting his sights forward, he raced on and search for the prison, where he could find Blake Belladonna.
For the entire time, Blake continued to think things through. Other than the threatening thoughts of fighting the galaxy on her own, she had to also snap back to reality and think of a way to escape. With her back against the shielded door, she pondered on about the many ways she could use to escape the station and, eventually, Torchwick himself.
She had to be careful. There were still two guards outside, waiting to open the doors and deliver her to Torchwick. She could most definitely defeat them on her own, but once she was free, she had to deal with the rest of the Syndicate inside the station. It wasn't impossible to escape; her odds were only greatly hindered by the numerical factor acting against her.
Still, if that was the way things were, she finally decided that it was the only way she could ever run free and find a place to be in. So, she waited, biding her tie before the guards expose themselves.
However, their attention was about to be directed to something else. Much to Blake's curiosity, she too was about to find out what was to happen next.
"Hey, you guys!" A cry for help, goading the guards to move their heads away, towards the call. "I need some help over here!" Not wanting to lose their hold over the prisoner, the guard on the left gave his comrade the word to move.
"Go check it out." As he did so, the other guard left his post and investigated the problem. He walked past the other empty cells before turning right where the call originated from. Disappearing from sight, he left his partner to wait by for what was happening.
And, a second later, it did…
Crashing sounds were heard from behind the cell, where the guard disappeared, followed by a few grunts that sounded like someone was being punched.
"Huh?!" Raising his rifle, the guard was about to run and accompany his friend to whatever trouble was going on. But before he could move, there he saw the other guard, being thrown across the corridor. Alerted, he unlocked his rifle's safety and prepared to engage. However, just as he moved an inch, the very scum responsible for the attack sprinted from out of the corner and leapt towards him.
"Surprise!" It was too late to see who it was, but all there was for the guard was a foot to the face with the force powerful enough to knock him out of action as he dropped to the floor.
The person who made the jump, landed right in front of the unsuspecting Blake, who jumped at the sight of the man she never thought she'd meet again.
Sun Wukong, fresh from his break-in, spun his staff before locking it back into place, folded behind his back. Turning his back around, he came face to face with the trapped Blake. Before he could release her, he gave her that signature smirk of his, not once amusing the prisoner.
"Damn. I thought you'd get out of tight situations like this." joked Sun.
"I thought I told you to…" uttered Blake, but was cut off by Sun when he finished it for her.
"Leave you alone? I got the picture, Blake." He made his way to the panel next to the doorway and pressed the release button to deactivate the shield, finally freeing Blake of her captive state. "Seriously, is being anti-social all you ever good at?"
Blake walked out, feeling the brief joy of freedom that had always captivated every time, before facing Sun with questions. Not that she appreciated the help, but the question stuck…
"Why are you willing to help me?" she asked, confusingly. "After all I've done to avoid you, and how I never even gave a damn about you?" She made it clear that she didn't want anyone to tail her, so Sun should have gotten the message by now. It was, after all, his display of recklessness that got her locked up in the first place. She still held him responsible for her predicament, and it showed, making her still annoyed of his presence.
Still, he persisted. Why? Was he that stubborn or did he have some other motive to follow her around?
"I dunno." Sun simply shrugged. "Maybe it's because I find you very exciting."
"How exactly?" Blake didn't feel any embarrassment or flattery, just the usual neutral curiosity, not to mention still hesitant to take anything seriously from Sun.
"Come on! You would give those thugs a real whacking. Plus, those guys were actually working for someone I really hate, so I thought I'd show 'em." Blake considered his response with caution. She didn't really know whether to take him seriously or not, unconvinced over the simplicity of his resolve to follow and saver her. If there wasn't anything he would gain as a whole, then he was wasting his time delving into her side when she had much more pressing matters at hand.
But then, she thought about what his help would do to assist in her escape of the station. If she kept him around, then perhaps she could make use of the extra hand. After all, he was able to fight off men on his own, as far as she could tell. Plus, he found his way into the station, then he could get her out of it, assuming he was willing to listen, that is…
"I suppose that's tolerable." she sighed. She then reached for the fallen guard below her and picked up Gambol Shroud, the weapons they confiscated from her, now back in her own hands.
"Look, I'm sorry I… blew your ship." he apologized. "I just wanna help, you know?" "There are things out there that no one person can handle. So whether you like it or not, you should need some backup." Sun's words added more of a good impression to Blake. Finally, the monkey boy poured out a well-mannered explanation of his intentions, putting aside his childish demeanour to contribute his efforts in helping her. Now, this was something she could accept.
"Fine. I guess I owe you some thanks for helping me." She finally gave in. Sun grinned, finally satisfied that he was allowed to tag along for the ride, at least just this once. The two were now officially allies in the quest to flee Torchwick, which would end once Blake found a place to settle on and continue from where she left off from.
"I have to find a new ship." said Blake. "My old one's pretty much scrap now, thanks to you." She glared begrudgingly at the boy, who chuckled sheepishly. Conversely, she then saw a brighter side to the incident. "But then again, I could thank you for blowing it up."
"Huh?"
"That kind of ship belonged to some very bad eggs anyway. Chances are they would try and find it." The clearance of a White Fang ship gave Blake a clear slate, denying them a direct clue to her whereabouts. She didn't want to relive the horrors of betrayal and degradation of a cause by being at the ends of their blades. Of course, to add more cover to her past, she had to be ambiguous about the 'bad eggs' she told Sun of. "Any other common ship would do fine."
"Simple." Sun clicked his finger. 'We just gotta work together to get one for you." Blake nodded, understanding what needed to be done to free her off this wretched scum that was Roman Torchwick. Before long, the two immediately left the prison bay and went off to find a ship to escape the station before Roman knew what had happened.
Unfortunately, their escape hadn't gone too unnoticed…
No one wanted to tell Torchwick any bad news. It would be a death sentence to bring bad news to the boss, especially when he was having his back against a wall.
One security operator at a surveillance computer at one corner of the central control room was sweating when he saw two strangers running out of the prison bay, recognizing one of them as the prisoner he was tasked to watching. Too late was he to capture the two in the middle of the breakout, only barely catching a glimpse of them leaving the room via a small security camera at one corner.
A dilemma seeped in; whether he was going to alert his boss or ignore it to avoid his wrath. No – now that he thought about it; it wasn't a dilemma anymore. Tell Torchwick, he'll smoke you for your incompetence. Not tell Torchwick, and he'll learn eventually and you'll still be smoked. Either way, he was at a loss. So, which was the lesser of the two evils?
Tell Torchwick…
"Boss!" The man called. Even if he was going to have it, the earlier Torchwick knew about the news, the faster the problem would be contained. "We got a problem." As he predicted, Roman was not enthusiastic over a little insight.
"Do you have any idea how royally screwed I am?" he yelled from behind the man, scaring him stiff. "I've got enough problems about escaped prisoners and angry Hutts, as it is."
It was at Torchwick's last sentence that he suddenly calmed down. So, the boss was told about the escape? Did someone else screw himself up by reporting to him, taking the blunt of his impatience on him? Was he safe?
He certainly felt so…
"Oh, then you… knew about the Faunus girl down in the detention level?"
He was so wrong…
"What did you say?!" Torchwick spun up and yelled, putting the man in a much worse state of fear than before. If you thought he wasn't angry enough, he was now absolutely bursting with rage, disapproving over a new break in his hold of his chances.
The camera operator shivered, mentally begging for his life. At any moment, Roman could very well send him to be thrown into one of many execution pits, where his pet creeps would devour him alive and into a gruesome fate. But alas, the man was spared as Torchwick retreated in a frenzy.
"Ergh! Neo!" Leaving the operator to shiver some more, Roman turned to the one underling who never failed him thus far. "Take the men with you and pursue! I don't want another scheme of mine thwarted by some dimwits who suck at their jobs." Neo saluted with playful cheer before walking off into the base and dealing with the escapee and her new cohort. Meanwhile, Torchwick had other things to worry about, mainly the threat of the Hutts coming to settle the misunderstandings between them and the Syndicate. That would mean undermining the many schemes that he had for the galaxy.
There was one secret he was hiding from everyone that he intended to use for an uncertain future…
"In the meantime, I will head over to check on my… secret weapon."
The two Faunus runaways, now loose in the corridors of the station, were quick on their feet, Sun leading the way back to the hangar bay where he was last time. They kept their eyes open, watching out for any guards who would get in their way and avoiding them to leave no trace of action.
They stopped within one of the corridors, with Blake peeking over to look out for a passing patrol. Two guards were spotted, walking along the junction on the other side of their position, disappearing without raising any alarms.
"You sure this is the fastest way to the hangar?" Blake whispered her thoughts aloud to Sun.
"I managed to hitch a ride in one of their transports, just as they dragged you into it." explained Sun, with the last bit of the explanation not settling in well with the girl next to him.
"Drag?" she growled, a hint of venom in her voice. Such cruel lack of respect for one's prisoners hadn't been a new thing for Blake; many times before, she was hauled into prisons in a similar manner. The sickening indecency of such high men and women, always towing Faunus kind to their cells before they were sent to work in hard labour. For her to be dragged into Torchwick's clutches by his men, it was only a mere insult compared to the sufferable treatment dealt onto so many unfortunate souls out there.
"They're Torchwick's boys. I wouldn't expect them to treat their prisoners better than the credits they get." Sun said just as much; they were only men whose loyalty was to the boss and their money, not the fight for freedom. Blake then shifted her concern over the amount of security she would have to fight against in the hangar bay, which would then allow her to choose between stealth and full force.
"Just how many men do we have to deal with if we're spotted?" she asked.
"I'd say dozens." answered Sun.
"A whole troop's full." If a whole conundrum of thugs was in the way, then it would have to be the quieter option. That would require one key rule to pull it all off, and it had to do with Sun. "When we get there, follow my lead."
"Whatever suits your ship, Blake." Sun accepted, making Blake feel a little gladder that he was not opposed to letting her take the lead. Though, it did not do enough to diminish that sinking feeling that he would screw up at any point. She would have to watch him constantly to make sure he wouldn't cost them the element of surprise.
Then, just when they were about to move out, walking out of the turn, they were instantly met with trouble as a large crowd of Torchwick's gang arrived at the worst time possible. The grunts moved along with their blasters already loaded up to engage, flanking the leading figure of the bunch; who appeared to be a woman with two shades of colour on her hair. She pranced forward with a cruel grin as she spotted Blake and Sun.
"Looks like we've been had." whispered Sun. As Neo pointed out her umbrella to signal the men to fire, Blake grabbed hold of Sun's arm and turned the other way.
"Run!" Pulling Sun with her, Blake ran as fast as she could, leaving Neo to order the men to pursue, beginning the hunt for two troublemakers. Men, who were armed, with their hands tightly gripped around the grips and the barrels of their weapons, itching for a little bit of a chase.
Blake and Sun ran with all their might, hurrying along the corridors in a desperate bid to find their way out. Right behind them, the thugs were already close enough to start firing their weapons. Bolts of plasma exploded all around, nearly blazing through them as the duo ran. They both pulled out their melee weapons and started blocking the bolts away, Sun spinning his staff and Blake swinging Gambol Shroud, both weapons deflected the bolts around as they ran. They made turn after turn, only to meet up with more guards, who joined in the party. Alarms began to ring out all around them, alerting the entire base and turning their quiet escape into a full-blown chase.
Unaware of each other's pasts, the two were well associated with chases like this, where their elements of surprise would be shattered, forcing them to open up and let themselves be free to act against the growing opposition. But those were the days spent separate from each other. Much to Blake's chagrin, she was forced to pair up with some lowlife, who was being too nosy for her own good. Also, she had to make sure he followed her throughout the booming station, keeping a constant eye on him the whole time; a far cry from the times she could rely on her teammates to take care of themselves without having to stall her.
Eventually, they came across a T-junction, with only a door at the very centre. The three paths of the junction were already about to be swarming with guards, coming in to catch the runaways. With the whole station on alert, the guards would be very much packing up all available space, which, in this small station, meant that there was practically nowhere else to run.
Trapped between three sides of mobs threatening to catch them, Blake and Sun were already starting to run out of options. Backed against the wall, they were only left with one way to escape the clutches of Neo and her forces. The monkey Faunus was especially so entrenched with running around and avoiding trouble, he had completely lost track of the way to the hangar. There was no time to tell Blake that, so he had to go through the only way out.
He slammed his fist onto the control panel next to the lone door behind them, opening it up. Before Blake could turn around and enter the room, she was immediately blasted back, her nose burning with a dreadful stench that made her skin vibrate with extreme intensity, hairs tingling madly like weeds in the wind.
"Quick! In here!" Sun rushed her to get in the room, making Blake lash out verbally, retorting against the absolute stupid route that he was possibly conceiving as a brilliant escape route.
"Are you crazy?!" she yelled, the same ferocity she had with him back at Mos Espa creeping back. "Are you even sure it's safe in there?!" Then, Blake was about to brush off any response and prepare to fight, when Sun suddenly shot back before she could start to ignore him, raising his voice to quickly halt her.
"Are you?" he exclaimed. "Do you really want to stand around and get pelted by a hundred plasma bolts? Trust me, Blake. With this little space, we have no chance." Blake winced, not because Sun was overextending his disobedience, but rather the aching feeling that she had to accept his words as truth. There was no cover around them, no room to fight back and worst of all, they were trapped between three corridors of unwanted guests coming their way.
Besides, it couldn't be worse than the other repulsive places she went to as a White Fang operative. One time, she was nearly swallowed up in a giant sarlacc pit back on Felucia, where the nauseous gasses of the beast were much worse than Blake remembered.
"I suppose it's better than nothing." she finally gave in and proceeded to join Sun. The two jumped right into the room before it shut down behind them. One of the hunting parties, led by Neo, came too late to stop them, stopping in front of the door where they disappeared into. Watching them jump in before they disappeared, Neo wasn't any bit disappointed by letting them go.
In fact, there was only a smile, beaming with cruel glee. The two rats had fallen right into a mousetrap, and she was about to make like a cat and feast on their misery…
After saving themselves from being hoarded, Blake and Sun managed to drop themselves into the room, where Blake could feel her legs being drenched in some sort of liquid. As she looked down, both her eyes and nose braced for the disgusting sight that laid before her and her unintentional ally.
She was knee deep within a mucky surface of what looked like watery sludge, clouded with thick streams of filth and bits of junk swimming around. Piles of larger trash dipped into the garbage-filled water, leaning against the dirt-smudged walls, turning the room into a miniature junkyard. The awful stench of the room was more than enough to bring Blake's nose to the brink of an inferno. The wretched smell began to send a shockwave throughout her skin.
She pinched her nose, eyes strained by the irritation of near-sulfuric levels (although that was probably putting it exaggeratedly).
"Great. Such an incredible rain bow of smell…" she urged. And yet, Sun was not so discreetly as repulsed as she was, still making that trademark smirk of his.
"When you live off the streets all your life, you'd get used to it." he boasted, hands to his hips while he looked around the trash heaps. "The guards won't even lift their noses to find us here. Ain't this a great idea or what?"
"Uh… Sun." Blake deadpanned, the stuffy atmosphere running her mood further. "This is garbage disposal. What makes you think this is a great idea?"
"Well, you did say it's better than nothing." Blake was seemingly disturbed by how dismissive Sun was about everything they'd been through thus far. She wasn't sure if she should feel amused or baffled towards his attitude, as he laughed away to his heart's content. "Besides, this place's so stinky; it can even kill Roman Torchwick!"
"You certainly are an optimist." Blake murmured, sarcasm seeping out while she rolled her eyes. Suddenly, she saw Sun's hand reach into his pocket, drawing out the blaster pistol from its holster and aiming at the ventilation shaft upwards, right towards the grate. That made her rush out in alarm. "No, wait!"
Too late. Sun pulled the trigger. A blast shot right out and hit the panel. But rather than blasting the grate open, the shot simply bounced right off and sped right towards the wall, before it again reflected right off to the other walls. It began to bounce and zap all around rapidly, searing right over Blake and Sun as they ducked in utter panic. The bolts ricocheted off the walls with such speeds, Blake couldn't tell where to jump and duck. All they could do was hope that the bolt didn't hit them.
Finally, the blast dissipated by hitting a carbon beam that absorbed the bolt, ending the tormenting period of panic. Blake's gazed coldly at the reckless Sun, wishing she had grown claws from her hands to eviscerate the fool for his lack of insight. However, she remained calm, instead huffing an insult.
"I take it back; you're a complete idiot." She sneered at him before standing back up to face the door, waiting for any sign of retaliation. She then turned over to the ceiling, at that grate Sun tried to shoot down, wondering where the shaft might lead them to.
Then, Sun threw in a simple statement to the case.
"Idiots can win wars, Blake." Blake scoffed, feeling his idiocy knowing no bounds.
"Tell that to General Lagune." she retorted, reaching for Gambol Shroud while pondering more on her plan to escape.
"Think wider. Remember Admiral Carcodon?" added Sun.
"The Faunus admiral who obliterated the Mistral Navy at the Battle of Rudan?" Blake answered, though with a tone of slight disbelief when Sun had to use the famed hero of the Faunus forces in the Revolutionary Wars as an example of his ridiculous quote. "I didn't think you'd heard of him."
"Me neither. I just stole a valuable model of his ship back on Anima from some rich guy." Blake shook her head, clearly growing discontent about his disrespectful view of a hero for the Faunus.
"What makes him an idiot, then?" she inquired.
"The guy was a hard-ass, as far as I've heard from tales. Treats his men like dirt."
"He was a hero, Sun. He and his men bravely sacrificed themselves to win Rudan." defended Blake.
"That's not what I heard from a few Faunus I've met." What Sun mentioned was met with suspicion from Blake. Just who were these few Faunus from denying the heroism of a man who preserved their future. "They told me that the Admiral was a blind ol' fool who wasted tons of lives, pulling off the things he did to win." The apparent tenacity of the explanation was already riling Blake up in the inside.
"And just who were these Faunus, really?"
"I dunno. Some masked figures from some equal rights movement." Just then, Blake's sceptical curiosity turned into a growing fear. Something about masked Faunus gave her a premonition of darkness that ate at her heart for a while, something she did not wish to feel ever since she left that dark corner of her life. Shaking inside, she knew who these individuals were, where they came from… "They tried to recruit me into their cause before they drew their swords and guns at me."
"The White Fang…" she mused with shuddering cold in her heart.
"Yeah! That's it." Sun, oblivious to her inner feelings, cheered. "You know 'em?" Blake's heart stopped when asked of any connection to her past. Her memories went back to the Twi'lek family back in Dantooine, when her cover was blown and her past revealed to them. She vowed to never expose more of her links to the White Fang ever again, not willing to risk being caught and sent back to her former brotherhood by anyone, even if it had to be a stalking fool like Sun.
"No." she lied.
"Huh? For a moment there, I thought you knew about them." Luckily, Sun didn't get the hint. "I guess I was wrong." But as they returned to finding their way out, Blake quietly breathed silently, feeling like choking up from the toxic smell of the room. Despite Sun's obliviousness to her true past, the memories of her time with the White Fang returned to traumatize her, making her heart ache with pain from the betrayal and the loss of the noble path the organization had taken to secure a better future for all of Faunus kind.
Reflecting on her conversation with Sun, she could only silence herself in thought at how things would be if he knew who she was. If he did know what was going on, there was no telling what he would do next; surrender her to the White Fang? Attempt to sell her off to someone interested or leave her with Torchwick to fend for himself? Or maybe even he would have been a spy the whole time?
Paranoia seeped into Blake over what could possibly go wrong with this arrangement…
You have no idea, Sun.
Neo didn't do anything, not going in to finish the job nor send the boys to do the literal dirty work. She didn't even bother to knock, just to see if they would tick under the pressure.
Instead, she had something more sinister in mind, something else to put pressure on them. The men around her watched impatiently, waiting for an order while they idly aimed their weapons towards the locked door.
On her hand, her communicator disc projected the image of her boss, his holographic figure showing him leaning his hands onto his cane while watching Neo with intrigue. After hearing of the whereabouts of his intruders, he had the same twisted idea that was plastered in Neo's head.
"So, they're trapped in one of the garbage rooms?" uttered Torchwick, earning a nod frm Neo as she smirked. The prisoners had trapped themselves in garbage disposal, so there was only one way this was going to end, once and for all.
"Neo, you know what we do to garbage."
Blake and Sun were about to plan their escape from the room via the ventilation system, when they heard an ominous sound that was followed by rough shaking around the room.
The walls began to screech, added with mechanical noises coming from behind them. The room rumbled like a mini earthquake, swinging Blake and Sun back and forth to near imbalance; the dirty water all around their legs vibrated with the rumbling. The two Faunus looked around them, wondering what had happened.
Being in a garbage-filled chamber, Blake immediately knew what was about to occur, and the thought wasn't pleasant. A second later, the dirtied walls began to move, closing right into the centre, pushing the trash heaps leaning against them.
"The walls are closing!" shouted Sun.
"You think?!" urged Blake. "We have to get out of here!" The walls moved closer and closer to them, almost poised to crush them to a polluted death, slowly inching to the centre to meet with each other.
The hatch above them was their only means of escape. Blake tried to run towards the wall and climb it up with what little agility she had, kicking up her feet to flip up them. However, she only reached so little, as the humidity of the room had caused the walls to be drenched with moist, causing her to slip down. Her frustration mounting, she tried again, only to fall again. Desperation was kicking in as the walls came closer to mashing her into a flat pancake.
Meanwhile, instead of helping her, Sun stayed still, not doing anything to save himself. Blake took notice of the still position of the boy, causing her to shout out in frustration.
"Aren't you going to do anything?!" For a second, Sun said nothing, turned his head towards her and finally spoke. His stance was firm, unlike the constant excited movement shown from his usual demeanour. From Blake's perspective, he seemed to be assessing something, which did little to ease her stress.
"I am." Sun urged. He watched the walls getting closer, eyeing the trash heaps that came with them. Then, once the walls were almost halfway to crushing them, he held out a hand, signalling to Blake that he had a plan. "Wait for it."
Blake was losing her patience, wanting to defy Sun's request to wait. She couldn't possibly think about what kept him so still, moments before they would be squashed like kreetle within the palms of a Krawkian thunder-clapper. She hated being caught like prey in figurative terms, so imagine her distress when feeling the same way physically.
Yet, Sun, for all of his blind bravado and unnecessary gusto, remained vigilant and calm, still waiting for the walls to come in. Just when Blake thought she could smack some sense into him, she was silenced when he suddenly made his move.
Without a moment's hesitation, Sun leapt into action, jumping towards the trash heap on the left. Right there, he then hung on and waited some more, hand held firmly on a steel pole that was lodged into the scrap and junk, strong enough to hold him up while the wall moved.
It was then that Blake realized what Sun was planning to do. Too late did she notice that he had indeed waited for the walls to get closer, for a good reason. He had bided his time, letting the walls close and allow the trash to couple up into a sort of balance that gave him a much sturdier support to make the jump towards the shaft. Surely enough, the boy was able to jump up again and latch his tail onto the grate. Taking out his staff, he spun it for some strength before he gave the edge of the grate one powerful whack, breaking it loose.
Upon entering into the vent and safe from the walls, he reached his hand out for Blake.
"Take my hand!" The girl didn't need to wait anymore. Sun did what he needed to do and Blake couldn't wait any longer to be mashed. She followed up Sun's movements and jumped up the shaft, catching Sun's hand and was lifted into the vent, just seconds before the walls finally closed in and crushed everything that was inside.
The tensions were finally lifted. Blake and Sun could finally breathe easy as the mashers finished their jobs. Free from a gruesome fate, they relaxed, sitting against the tight space of the ventilation shaft. The former looked to the monkey boy and sighed. Perhaps he did have some intellect and patience to leap out of situations like this, after all. It didn't, however, remove the bitter sense of clumsy action that he displayed prior to their unfortunate entry into the garbage mashers. Sun had a lot more work to do to convince her that he was a worthy ally.
"Well, that's one fine mess you got us into already." she huffed, her nose revolting from the awful smell on her body. "Never mind the literal meaning of my statement." she groaned as she flicked her fingers to remove the drops of moisty garbage water.
"Oh, stop sulking." Sun threw his own fingers at Blake, dismissing the whole debacle. "We can get you cleaned up once we find our ship out of here."
"If we ever make it out of this alive…" Blake was still conflicted over what to do with Sun at this point. Was he really a handicap, soon to be the cause of her death? Or was he something else? He was still an arrogant fool, jumping to conclusions at the very instant, but then, there was some hope that he actually did have a bit of care in his actions.
The clash of points soon left Blake to coin a term she would make to describe individuals who she could not tell whether they were worth being respected or ridiculed. It was something she really hated to think, only for stress to take its toll on her patience over deciding the worthiness of each of her accomplices.
Sun Wukong was an unwanted miracle… Yes, a figure of mischief that Blake could not accept, and yet, within that hard shell, laid some form of intelligence that could at least let him see reason. He was well adapted to life in the streets, that was for sure, so there was no doubt that it came in handy at the most inconvenient of times. Still, it didn't stop her from wondering why he didn't use his self-proclaimed skills in the first place.
"Trust me, Blake. When it comes to cronies like these guys, I'm the man you want to have around." Blake rolled her eyes at Sun's bold attempt to impress her, still not convinced he was worth keeping by her side.
"Like I need a bad luck charm…"
Though, she had to admit that he was still her only way out of the station and back on the road to helping the galaxy be healed of the corruption that was plaguing it. Whether she liked it or not, they had to work together to escape Roman Torchwick before he would make her do things that she would never like to do.
The trip into the ventilation shaft was enough to null Blake's senses. As if crawling through with a blanket of revolting garbage odour wasn't wreaking enough, the dust filled walls were dropping off bits of dust onto her nose, making her feel a little stuffy. The tight and narrow space of the shaft was also bringing in a sense of tense discomfort almost on par with claustrophobia. Again, it wasn't her first time going through such small spaces; it was the added obstacle of Sun Wukong that made it a little more unsettling, especially since he was right behind her.
They shimmied through the vents, edging very slowly towards the hangar bay without raising any more alarms. Over time, they would spot several guards walking about, on the prowl for them. Each time they were over the patrollers, they kept their movements at an all-time low to sneak past without raising a single sound. Once the line of sight had passed, they would then resume their trek.
Eventually, they came above another vent grate, where Sun believed was close to the hangar bay. One quick jump down and a mad run later would seal the deal, making it a one-way trip to freedom. Regardless, Blake had to put faith in herself that she would survive long enough to make it to a ship, even if she had to depend on some rookie street thief to lead the way.
She didn't like following this brash and arrogant boy to help her be free. She never had to suffer such insubordination or foolishness when she was accompanied by more obedient and focused members of the White Fang. Along with her, they were trained to never act on their curiosity and do what needed to be done on the grounds of their wild beliefs.
Now, it was clear that she was no longer accustomed to such silent devotion to the tasks at hand, forced to find solace in the company of a street rat, whose humour was his greater strength than his actual skills.
Opening up the grate below them, the two Faunus jumped down, finding themselves at the entrance of what looked like a generator area. A catwalk stretched between two ends of ledges, with a seemingly bottomless pit down below. The main reactor of the station was down below the catwalk they were on, operating right next to them.
Proceeding to move forward, Sun and Blake snuck onto the catwalk, hoping to find their way to the hangar bay. Watching the other end of the path, they also kept a close eye on the opposite catwalk for any patrolling guard at the reactor. They were halfway through without a single enemy in sight, moving smoothly towards the other end, feeling a little easier that they might be closer to their objective.
But then, Blake's ears wiggled, delivering the tingling sensation in her nerves. The sudden strike in her system caused her eyes to turn down to the reactor below them. Something was not right…
BWUIM!
A single shot fazed over them, nearly hitting Blake's head as she bended back to avoid the shot. Sun, alarmed a little later than her, jumped back just as the blast zoomed across the area, the force of the bolt echoing off into the distance.
The two turned their heads down to where the blast came from, spotting the scumbag who fired it. Looking down at the reactor, they saw the group of unwelcome people, staring at them from below to greet them in a cold embrace of death.
There they saw; the big boss himself, Roman Torchwick himself, accompanied by the same girl who chased them down earlier as she stood beside him. The smug face of the crime boss, Blake recognized all too well. It wasn't the first time she laid her eyes on the mogul wannabe, having tried to make peace with the White Fang a few times before. Though they never met face-to-face, it was easy to see why Adam was so hesitant to allowing a human to deal with them.
Then again, haunting memories aside, she would have guessed the brotherhood could have had similar problems breaking bread with other non-Faunus organizations before…
"Ah ah ah." Roman warned with the fiddle of his right index finger, cigarette shifting to the side of his lips to speak. "That's a bad kitty."
"Roman Torchwick." Blake mumbled with her eyes squinted with disgust, looking at this lowlife the same way she viewed criminals who sought opportunity through corrupted ways. "You're even bigger scum that you look." As she would expect from a criminal proud of his work, Roman bowed, his hat dancing down by his hand.
"Thank you." boasted Torchwick. "Now if you're done toying with me, and that I can promise you will, it's off to the prison hold with you."
"Sorry, but I don't answer to criminals. I've already had enough trouble following this particular lowlife." Blake shot back, gesturing her head to the riffraff next to her.
"Hey!" Insulted, Sun exclaimed with his hands to his hips, staring hurt at Blake.
When the Faunus made good on her threat, Roman shook his head, placing both of his hands on the back of his cane, tipping the other end onto the ground. A cocky grin widened on his face. Blake spotted the expression, feeling discomfort and ready for what was about to come out of his smart mouth. She felt that he was about say something that would put her off, which made her feel anxiety slowly shrouding within her heart.
"That's a bit rich coming from you." retorted Torchwick, strain in his voice. "I know what you did back on Tatooine, so don't think you can just slither your way out of this." Blake didn't understand what she did that aggravated the criminal mastermind. As far as she knew, she was just stopping by to rest in Mos Espa. She wasn't onto any elaborate schemes, not foiling anything that would affect the area. The thugs she faced earlier were only in her way, coming back to capture her just because she apparently roughed up a few of their cohorts. That act was in self-defence; they made their move first, she had the right to attack back. Unfortunately, the criminal underworld didn't seem to stick to rules so well.
"Your men attacked me." defended Blake. "I just did what I had to do and defend myself, unaware of any plans you must have had there."
"You should know that a criminal will never reveal his plans to everyone in the public. If my boys are on a planet, there's always a plan." Roman sneered at the woman who had indeed stabbed a spike into his schemes. His men on Tatooine were supposed to run a small profit run to secure a small bonus for his growing syndicate. More importantly though, the mogul in the making
"And right now, I happen to have a new one, right about now." "And, I'm afraid, my dear; it involves you."
"You see; with Faunus like you two in my grasp, I can obtain a much bigger prize than what the Hutts would ever give me, by forming a new partnership with another organization… hidden in the shadows." Blake's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Remembering a figment of her past, her anxiety intensified, feeling that the organization Torchwick was talking about was all too familiar. "That's right; the White Fang will fetch me an incredible price bringing a Faunus like you into their ranks."
Her blood began to boil, fear gripping her heart in a sudden rush of rage. The thought of being delivered back to her brethren by a scummy group of criminals already surged through her mind, filling her with anguish. If she was to ever return to the White Fang, she was sure to be executed right on the spot.
She could already envision the horrible sight of her former partner, walking towards her as she was forced down to her knees, his blade raised and then slashed down to severe her head, to join countless others lost to his extremist ways.
"What do you know about the White Fang?" she growled. Of course, Roman seemed to be unaware that one of the Faunus he was willing to trade with the White Fang happened to be not only one of them, but also a traitor in their ranks. Worse still, she had to play it safe as Sun Wukong stood by her. She couldn't afford to reveal anything until the thief had earned her trust. Fortunately, judging by how he dismissed the first time she mentioned them, she could take some comfort.
Now, however, there was a cocky waste of sentient life that was standing in her way of a free getaway.
"Oh, nothing much." laughed Torchwick. "Except, maybe, the fact that you will be a worthy bargaining chip to get me on their good side."
"Never." Blake's growl grew wilder, heavily suppressed hate held back to muster a warning and resisting the urge to pounce and kill. Her Gambol Shroud was quickly drawn out, accompanied by Sun's own weapon.
The monkey Faunus also found himself in a possible scenario where he would be captured and forced to become a slave to the losers who were simply too wild for his liking. Thus, he had every reason to join Blake in the fight.
Not getting the surrender he wanted, Torchwick shook his head, shrugging his shoulders as to concede the negotiations to a halt, resulting to brute force to accomplish his ambitions.
"Oh well. Then I can always knock the both of you out and send your unconscious bodies to them." With the point of his cane, the crime lord ordered the men and Neo to begin the attack. "Get them!"
The blasters were aimed at the two Faunus, while they in turn prepared to run, protected by their weapons. The triggers were pulled and the firing frenzy began, shots speeding upwards towards the intruders. Blake and Sun blocked them with their melee weapons, shifting their blade and staff to hit the bolts. Immediately, they ran to the other side, while Torchwick and his crew fired away.
The standoff quickly ended once Blake and Sun successfully reached the other side, running right into the corridor. They kept running through, shedding their low profiles off in place of a quicker pace of combat.
Along the way, they faced more of Torchwick's thugs, engaged in a firefight that went all the way towards their chance of escaping. They kept their vigilance while they ran, watching their corners before engaging the incoming patrols. It was a moving firefight as Blake and Sun used their weapons to open their way through the labyrinth of a space station.
The adrenaline rush continued on, as Sun did his best to lead Blake to one of the hangar bays. After shooting through enemies left and right, they found themselves within a hallway, with both sides of the corridor lined with doors. A suspicious setting within a space station on full alert.
"There they are!" Immediately as they went through the first set of doors, the other rooms at front had more of the enemy, hiding in the rooms to take cover and fire from there. Blake and Sun separated and each slid in both rooms respectively, letting the first few shots bounce off the doors and walls.
"Now the fun's really getting started!" yelled Sun, feeling the burn of blaster fire searing all around.
"Oh. I'm glad you're willing to have your skin attached for them!" shouted Blake, dumbfounded that Sun would find such tight crises like this so exciting. She took out her pistol, Sun using his semi-auto carbine, before they fired back at the superior numbers. By Blake's estimation, all of the four rooms were now occupied, with men shooting from all sides. They had to get through the hailing barrage of gunmen before they would be overwhelmed by more behind them. With the whole station on alert, their chances were slim.
Letting a few more rounds faze through, Blake prepared to make her move. When showered with plasma in tight spaces like this, there was only one way to catch the shooters by surprise. Her hand reached for the blade of Gambol Shroud, planning to jump forward without fear, charging on to finish off the enemy with speed. He agility would propel her through the blaze and strike the enemy when they least expect it.
After feeling the slowdown of energy projectiles, it was her time to pounce. At once, she leapt out of her spot and chased down the closest man she could reach, pinning him down, swiping his gun off his hand and kicked him down to a state of unconsciousness. The gunner on the other side was shaking in absolute terror when his partner was tackled down and finished like he was nothing to the hunter. When her glaring eyes pierced through his heart, he could do nothing but become the next victim, as Blake then struck him down the same way.
While Blake moved in, Sun followed behind her. When she struck the first two guards, he then jumped in front and spun his staff, striking every shot aimed at him. His weapon danced around his fingers, tossed between hands in a display of acrobatic defence. His instincts drove him on, combatting each blaster bolt against him that directed his arms to hit them all with incredible speed and precision.
Once he was close enough, he twisted his body around, so that his tail could eventually reach the gunman to the second door on the right. The flexible appendage whipped the man in the face, causing him to recoil and drop his weapon on the ground. Sun then came around and knocked him out with the whack of his staff.
The other gunmen at front continued to press fire at the both of them, but it did little to force the Faunus as they charged forward to take them on. They took them in their grasps and wrestled them down to the ground.
Blake managed to pin her foe down and knock him out with the hit to the head with her pistol grip. When she looked to see Sun fight his opponent, she caught a glimpse at him, facing the gunman with his bare fists. The street thief couldn't take out his staff on time when the crook attacking him launched a fist towards him. However, he managed to catch the fist, letting it slide across his arm before locking it in within his pit of his elbow. Trapping the man's arm within the elbow pit, he then slithered his own arm and knocked it off with the swipe of his hand before delivering a strong punch with the other. The man countered with another attempt at Sun, but he was then forced to be grabbed by the arm before the monkey Faunus then tossed him over him. Finally, he then drew his staff out and slammed it onto the face, completely obliterating the man out.
Blake found herself surprised by the display of smooth and slippery movement in Sun's fighting style, somewhat impressed by how skilled he was in slithering through his foe's attacks like how he would swing through the streets. She couldn't help but notice how unique the movements were when he snaked through his enemy's arms before throwing them off. Wondering how he came across such elegant fighting styles, her natural curiosity prompted her to ask.
But the two heard more cries coming from behind them, recognizing the rest of the guards chasing them all the way. Now that they took out the enemy in front of them, they proceeded on, running off to find their way out.
Close behind Blake and Sun, Torchwick and Neo were right behind them, joined by a squad of the former's men as they chased the trespassers deep into the station. By the time they reached the corridor where more of Torchwick's grunts attempted to hold them down and allow him to entrap them, they came to find that the plan had been foiled, marked by the fallen bodies, squirming in pain from the numerous blows sustained.
Torchwick growled underneath his breath. Once again, failure whipped him right in the heart, building up the aggravation inside. Disappointment in the shortcomings of his men made him wonder if they weren't that satisfied with their pay to perform better. Surely, a few more credits would have spurred them to do much more. That was unfortunately where he had drawn the line with how much he paid his security.
Good thing for Neo; she didn't need the money. She was a willing henchwoman to serve the one man who took her in and gave her a chance to make it out there in the unforgiving galaxy, let alone given a powerful position to enforce the Syndicate's security. Once the men down on the ground rise up, she would deal with them personally and give them reminders of what would happen should they fail to meet Torchwick's expectations.
Just when the crime boss was about to move on to ignore the fallen, one of the defeated guards rose up, limping forward while using his heavy blaster as a balance to lift his injured body upwards. When he laid his eyes on the man himself, the Weequay guard flinched, afraid of delivering the bad news to him.
"Sir, we got a problem." uttered the guard. Torchwick rolled his eyes with disgust. He turned to face the one person who would not fail him.
"How many times must I be told of bad news today, Neo?" sighed Roman while Neo just shook her head with a smug smile, meant to rub the humiliation deep in the grunt's wounds. "Speak anyway."
"The intruders are getting too close to…" Again, the grunt hesitated, gulping up one more to speak. "Your secret weapon…"
The grunt could see Torchwick's jaw harden with clear anger, eyes shooting like daggers. Suddenly faced with another brewing crisis at hand, he wasn't willing to lose more of his grand possessions to a bunch of nobodies. Just when he had everything running smoothly, it was all about to come crashing down, because of some unknown beings. No way was he going to lose this one to the likes of the riffraff.
"Neo, prepare to blow the station up." ordered Roman. If the trash was to be destroyed, then the sooner the better. Neo gave him a firm nod to approve of his command before turning back to the injured man. Pointing his finger at him, he pushed an order to stop the intruders from finding out his ultimate prize. "You. Order all who guard my prize until one of my droids arrives. Keep their eyes open. Anyone who fails…" Roman struck his cane down on the ground, grinning coldly at the indication of a cruel retribution for those who did not follow through with his threats, sending chills down on everyone's spines.
"Let's just say; we'll give them the honour of going down with the station."
The hunt for the Faunus continued.
Running through the station was already tiring enough, but now, after proving to Torchwick just how resilient they were, Blake and Sun were forced to deal with heightened security, in the form of guards turning up at every nook and cranny of the interior.
With the chase intensifying, Sun knew they needed to hide somewhere to catch their breath, to re-evaluate their path to escaping the station. They ran into an empty supply room, void of any cargo that would be stored within, presumably due to the evacuation of the base. Thankfully, that meant that it would lower the odds of being found by any wandering patrols.
Blake slid her back against the cold, metal wall as she sunk to the floor, exhausted from the fighting and the running. Breathing in and out, she tried to relax herself, resting her head back and feeling the sweat soak her clothes. Her lack of a proper meal, forced to settle on prison food, had already dealt a blow to her metabolism and strength, tiring her out almost effectively. After a quick rest, she hoped it would be enough to replenish her strength and resume her search for a way out.
Meanwhile, Sun kept the door at bay, leaning over it while listening out for trouble. In case anyone would try and look into the room, he would spring forward and knock the guys out or alert Blake if the numbers would be out of his favour. Now that the coast was clear for now, he chose to stay put while Blake rested to reassess their escape plan.
"No telling how long 'till they find us here." he commented, keeping his visage on the door. Blake, meanwhile, had to admit something about Sun that actually impressed her. Throughout their escape into the station, she saw how skilled he was with his staff, watching him perform acrobatic feats and slippery martial arts moves that she only saw through holo-videos.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" she asked him. Sun turned to face her, surprised that she actually asked a question with intrigue. The trademark smirk returned to his face.
"Hey. I study too, you know? Those holovids on Teras Kasi and Nar Kanji moves really give you the kick!" boasted Sun, flexing his muscles. "I'm a survivalist. I learn from everywhere I go." Then, the boy tried to one up the conversation by asking Blake a question of his own. "Ain't that how you learn to fight too?"
"In a way, yes." answered Blake. "The dojos in Anima offer a lot of useful skills."
"Of course." Sun commented. "The place of all that is corrupt and bleak."
"Corrupt is mildly putting it." Blake added. Strangely, though, the words that came out felt very… pleasing; like she was enjoying the conversation. The warmth was short-lived when she found herself snapping back, realizing that she was close to softening up to this street rat.
"Well, I'm glad we can agree on something." laughed Sun. However, the words he spoke next would give Blake something to speak up about; a sense of doubt growing within Sun that annoyed her. "Nothing much we can do, after all."
Blake's heart grew dark in an instant. Her frustration brewing from the hopeless words of Sun who dismissed the possibility of cleansing a world of its corruption. For years, she had grown to understand that darkness could be wiped out when people finally realize how much of their lives were tainted by hate and violence. For someone to not acknowledge the efforts of fixing the galaxy, it was hurtful for Blake.
"How can you be so sure?" she countered, standing up to face the startled boy. "Are you certain there's really nothing we can do to end the violence and suffering that is happening in this galaxy?"
"Shady folk like Torchwick and his Syndicate can be dealt with." explained Sun. "But the way I see it; corruption always finds its way. It's like a plague. Curable, but not destroyable. If we could end it, then we would have done so a long time ago, huh?"
"But what's stopping us now?" argued Blake. "Maybe we can do our part to save those in need. End the wars that threaten the galaxy now."
"How long do you think the peace will last?" All of a sudden, Sun continued to break it down to Blake, in a way that even surprised her. "The galaxy ain't perfect, Blake. There will always be people to come in and ruin things. It's the universal cycle of things.
And besides, there are governments out there who are better suited for the big battles than we'll ever be."
Blake's heart sunk deep. The very governments that Sun mentioned were exactly the people who were causing all the chaos in the first place. They were no better than the forces they were fighting against, blind to the suffering of nameless beings across the galaxy. Sun was not doing a good job of justifying that obliviousness by throwing out words.
Her lips twitched, itching to argue back, when Sun cut her off to say some more.
"Why do you care anyway?" he said. "You said so yourself you were just travelling the galaxy. So you should have the big picture. From what you've seen, ask yourself; is it really worth fighting for something so big?
So impossible…"
All at once, Blake was at a loss for words. There was so much she wanted to lash out for, but at the same time, there was just as much sense to Sun's words that shook her resolve. Her distaste for cruelty remained, but the words Sun had blurted out didn't sound too opposed to her resolve to end the suffering.
Deep down, she felt he was right about the things he said; there was truth in them. She wanted to believe the galaxy could be cleansed by doing what was right, but in the thick of things, when there was a war beginning, she had to realize that the dream was only as such…
A dream… A dream made by a young soul too attached to her hopes more than the reality of the galaxy.
While Blake sunk into her doubt, Sun could hear nothing from the other end of the door, marking that the coast clear, for now. Using what little advantage they had, he had to make a move, but not before checking in on Blake.
"You good to go?" he asked. His words, however, nearly fell on deaf ears. Fortunately, she stirred out of her thoughts and heard Sun. After a bit of clearing up in her head, she knew there was no time to stall. Whether he was right or not, one thing was certain. No matter where things would go from here, if she had to see things through, she needed to escape.
Maybe until then, she would find out what the right way was…
"Sir. I think it's best that we let them go and leave this place. It's getting very…" asked the underling, clearly hesitant to speak.
"Did I ask for your opinion?" growled Torchwick, patience running thin.
Tensions were already seeping in the station's crew. The order to scuttle the station and destroy any remains was reaching out and everyone was already packing up to leave. And yet, in the middle of evacuation, two Faunus rats had snuck aboard and began making a mess throughout the station.
Torchwick made it clear and harsh; the intruders needed to be captured, lest those who failed shall remain on the station to take the Faunus with them. Any objection would make an early death sentence possible.
"N-no, sir!" At once, the thug got the message.
Torchwick had no time to lose now. At any moment, either the Republic or the Hutts would arrive to put a stop to his plans, and he was not going to be present himself to be caught.
If the two trespassers ever escaped, they will expose everything he had worked so hard for. The Faunus runts had to be removed from the equation. The deal with the White Fang didn't really matter anymore. "Blow the station already." ordered the man again, pressed for time. "The explosion will draw the Republic's attention long enough before Jabba's pets get here. Those two rats will be caged by the time we leave!" The remaining men around him complied and moved to fulfil the command, running in a messy single file towards the other end of the corridor. Now that he was alone with Neo, he gave her one final command before he, too, made his move.
Neo's back arched behind, stepping back a little. Her heterochromia-filled eyes widened with panic. She didn't like when Torchwick's angry face would gaze at her, even if that anger was focused on someone else. All she could do was accept the power of her boss's temper loss before he gave out her own duties.
"And make sure my new toy leaves the station by the time we board the ships!"
Neo nodded without question. The next thing she had to do was contact one of the Syndicate's servant droids and give out the order to clear up the big treasure, with the simple press of a button, of course (how else was she supposed to call the droid without uttering a single word?).
Self-destruct sequence, initiated! All crew of the station must evacuate immediately!
The automated alert sounded off. By now, the entire crew should be rushing to save themselves and scatter off into the stars, away from the blowing station. All, including a pair of stowaways.
Already half an hour since Blake's breakout, she and Sun had not made any luck finding a proper ship to leave the already doomed station. By the time the alarms went on, they were already being tossed around here and there, avoiding patrol after patrol, combating anyone who got in their way. Now, sirens were whirring out a constant buzz of noise that irritated their ears.
"Man, he really wants no traces left behind!" commented Sun aloud.
Suddenly, as he turned to the right, a set of blast doors began to close in, a red scanning light flashing on and off as the two sets of doors closed in and slammed shut. Sun ran to the panel on the right, hoping to reopen them up. The press on the button and nothing happened, the doors remained firmly locked.
"The station is on lockdown." he told Blake.
"There's no way for us to get to the main hangar bay on time." added the cat Faunus. With time working against them, the two were on a knife's edge, with practically only minutes until the whole place explodes and takes them with it. They had to think fast before they would lose what little time they had.
"If Torchwick's gang has a large presence in this base, then there has to be a few more ships in another hangar bay." deduced Blake.
"Okay. I see your point. But even if we find a ship, what makes you think they'll let us through freely? Are we gonna just knock on the doors and ask please?" Sun pointed out.
Blake nodded, admitting that Sun did have a point. She turned around, finger to her chin as she pondered. Even if there were more ships around, there was always more men to stop them. Plus, the station was now about to self-destruct, putting many sections on lockdown. They were trapped, with no path in sight.
But as Blake had learned throughout her life, hope always finds a way to deliver unexpected miracles…
Just then, from an open corridor, stepping sounds were heard from the other end of the corridors, prompting Blake and Sun to hide down behind the corner and peer over to see who was walking by. From behind the corner, they spotted three individuals, walking along the hall. One of them was a rusty old protocol droid, teetering in between two other guards. They followed the droid, flanking it with their rifles held to their chests. From the pattern of movement around the droid, Blake could deduce that this must had been a droid of importance, if it was protected, and that meant a good chance that there was still a way out.
"That must be one of Torchwick's servant droids." she suggested quietly. "Let's follow it."
"And you think it'll lead us to the hangar bay?" asked Sun.
"That droid must have something useful if it's being guarded. We'll sneak up the vents again and tail it to wherever it's going."
"Great. More tight spaces." Sun deadpanned, not eager to crawl into such a limited amount of space to wherever else they would go. Silently, they waited for the droid and the guards to walk off before they would hop up the vents again and follow along.
After sneaking about for a good while, they followed the droid through the vents all the way to a door before disappearing. Seeing there was a dead end to the ventilation system, Blake and Sun soon dropped down and ended up behind the doors, wondering if there was a way out on the other side.
Slowly, they opened up the doors, finally revealing the area of their desire. They had reached a large open room, occupied by a single starship. Before they could sit around and find out what they were dealing with, they ran off in a hurry, racing towards cover behind a container to assess their escape plan again.
Once hidden, Blake took a good look over the container and scanned the room, picking out the many guards around the large ship. She then counted; three guards below, two more on the maintenance platforms on the right side of the ship and three others far at the platform on the wall, overlooking the whole room.
"Now that's a ship!" commented Sun with glee. Blake turned her attention towards the starship being guarded by the crew. It was a frankly large craft, slim and smooth in its hull, striking out with two front mandibles. Then, she looked at the wings, forked with two tips that were bent towards the ship. The cockpit was similar to that of a Corellian freighter, inserted in between the mandibles and right at the hull, where the bulk of the ship was made up of. Studying the design, Blake recognized the design style of the transport, deducing the ship as something out of Sienar Fleet Systems, with the company's traditional panelled wing aesthetics applied to it.
However, that was not the only thing Blake recalled from this ship.
"I've… seen that ship before." she said, remembering something from her past. "It looks like one of those prototype fighters built by Sienar Fleet Systems."
"How do you know that?" asked Sun.
"I…" Blake lied. In truth, she was all too familiar with the ship before her.
Prior to her current crisis, she actually participated in a mission for the White Fang that involved the ship. Her goal, back then, was to steal plans to another project by Sienar Fleet Systems, which was being built for the Republic. Unfortunately, the mission was a failure, but the information she managed to get did include some data on the prototype fighter, including its design, arsenal and the fate of the project afterwards. All she read was that the fighter was stolen in a raid by pirates near Kuat, resulting in the loss of the experimental craft. It would stand to reason that the very fighter Blake studied was, in fact, the same craft she was seeing right now.
For now, Blake had to lie to Sun again, using her fake guise to shield her identity.
"I used to chase a couple of bandits who stole some data from the manufacturers." explained Blake.
"So, what's one doing here?" wondered Sun.
"Torchwick must have been the crook who pulled off the heist." With the ship's presence here, it seemed to have connected the dots for Blake.
"So the ship's theirs now?"
"Not for long." cleared Blake, knowing what she must do next. If this vessel was to be their only way out, so be it. Caution would have to be taken once they took the ship. First of all, the ship was an experimental craft; it wasn't guaranteed if it will work properly. Although, if Torchwick knew the risks of flying a potentially faulty craft, then he wouldn't go the extra mile in getting it, would he? Then there was the possibility that Sienar would be keeping a close eye on it. Any encounter in the open would spark the signal for authorities to run right into the hunt.
Regardless of the risks, Blake had to rely on hope that she'd make it out. It was the only way. "We'll take it."
"But it's a top secret piece of tech. You don't think Sienar's got some boys to look for their lost equipment?" inquired Sun.
"I'm sure Sienar has more problems to deal with. What with the war going on in the Republic and all…" Blake assured. "We better make our move."
"Are we going loud?" asked Sun, reaching his hand for his staff to prepare for the chaos.
"There's no other choice. The sooner we leave; the better chance we have of leaving this place without being blown up."
"Alright." Sun voiced his support on the plan. "So, what's the plan?"
"You're going to stall them while I reach inside and hijack the ship." announced Blake, drawing her weapons out at the ready. "Think you can hold them off?"
"Should be a piece of cake." assured Sun. "You sure this is going to work?"
"It's not the first ship I attempted to steal." uttered Blake, remembering the many times she had to steal transportation to make quick getaways like this. Again, back in the day, she had comrades to assist her and break her out. Now, she had to rely the street thief to get her out. Right now, that was her only option.
"Now, you got my attention." quipped Sun, feeling the need to burst out and take on the bad guys.
"And don't screw this up." reminded Blake, eyes squinted with warning.
"Who do you think you're talkin' to?" laughed Sun, but it did nothing to soothe Blake's confidence.
"My point exactly." Before long, Blake prepared to move out, watching down at the guards before giving Sun the go-ahead to start the distraction. She would use his impulsive, obnoxious personality to get them riled up while she entered the ship without any difficulty.
The plan was simple; Sun would keep the men occupied on him, while she would sneak underneath the ship and take out the guards at the boarding ramp. Once there, she would need her accomplice to keep their eyes away at all times while she entered, hoping the snipers at the walls wouldn't bat an eye over the ship.
If Sun could follow the plan well, she would be given time, long enough for her to enter the ship and start the engines. All would have to be placed in his hands for the time being.
Sun kept his body close behind the half-wall at the edge of the platform, just a few feet over the ship. Crouched down, he peeked over the wall to see the three guards he will fight first. He also paid close attention to the overhead guards at the very end of the hangar with their very eyes scanning the area. He was dealing with an open area of firepower should he move out and make himself known. A blaze of plasma bolts would rain down on him like the blue milk runs at Kejim, hitting him from all sides.
Perfect, he thought. Time to make his grand entrance. His staff extended out, Sun moved forward and made his presence open for everyone to see and shoot at. Jumping off the ledge, he landed right in front of the three guards on the ground. The three men spurred from the thudding noise of Sun's landing, turning to find the punk smirking at them with his weapon out.
"Hey, cronies!" mocked Sun. "You guys looking for me?!"
"It's the trespasser!" alerted the middle guard, loud enough for all to hear. "Get 'em!" The rest of the guards pointed their weapons at the intruder, firing immediately after. A rain of bolts already dropped onto Sun, who spun his staff and deflected the shots, beginning his distraction.
Trapped in the entanglement of blaster fire, the staff, Ruyi Bang, spun around Sun's fingers to meet each shot fired, while his legs danced around to keep him moving. He twirled his staff to block out the majority of the barrage, only shifting his body when he couldn't keep up with the momentum. The gunmen were missing all their shots onto him as Sun jumped around, stalling them from their attention towards the ship.
Sun, for the most part, enjoyed the deadly game he was playing. The adrenaline surged within his body, fuelling him with excitement and thrill with every kick in him. His tail sprang back to forth to keep the blood flowing and his mind composed. Soon, he decided to move forward with the distraction plan and stepped back, goading the men to pursue him. To do so, he gathered enough energy from the blaster fire and let it all out in one swing, flinging the bolts towards the three men below the ship. They ducked just in time to avoid the counterattack, raising back up to face the grinning scum, agitated by his mockery.
Insulted, they moved to pursue the attacker, while the men up at the platform focused their fire all on Sun.
Perfect. Just keep them coming. Let Blake do the rest.
True to his word, his partner was already making way, sneaking underneath the Starfighter while the guards focused on him. Blake didn't anticipate they'd go so far as to chase after Sun, but she took what she got and proceeded to find her way in. With blaster fire searing close by, she kept her body down low and slowly crept up to the entrance way just behind the craft. Using the distraction was doing, she entered the ship in a dash, avoiding eye contact from the two guards on the platform in front.
Up from the boarding ramp, Blake threw herself into the ship's interior, right into a tubular corridor where she could see the main lounge on the right. She turned around and instantly found herself looking at the cockpit, where the protocol droid she followed earlier was seated at.
The black droid waved its arms around, pressing on the buttons on the control panel to start the ship. Unaware that someone had infiltrated the ship, it kept on managing the controls to leave with its master's new weapon. Blake slowly moved up to the droid, drawing her blade and got ready to pounce.
Ready, Blake threw her feet out and jumped right at the chair, snatching the back rest and swung her machete at the droid's neck, catching the timid pilot by surprise.
"Hey! You aren't authorized to be in here!" shouted the droid. Blake spared little remorse as she closed the edge of her blade to the neck.
"Grant me access to the ship, droid." she uttered. "I promise you won't have to be shredded into spare parts." Her fingers wrapped on the shoulder of the droid, Blake could feel the trembling of the cold metal, suggesting the fear had been sunk into it.
"R-right away, ma'am!" The protocol droid easily gave in, tapping on the board for the ship to be overridden for Blake to take over from. Satisfied, the Faunus let go of the droid as it continued to comply with her threat. After a minute, the droid unlocked all access of the ship's systems to full manual control, meaning that Blake could finally take control.
Back outside. Sun was still keeping the pressure on himself, hiding behind a box with his pistol, Jingu Bang, out and firing back. The rapid blasts kept him pinned down, leaving only brief glimpses upwards to fire blindly at his enemies. After the firepower was concentrated on one side of the cover, he moved to the right, hoping to get an angle at the two men on the elevated platform. Peeking out of cover, he aimed his pistol onto the men up there and pulled the trigger, shooting down one of them before retreating back. He waited for Blake to start the ship and prepare to let him in, hoping that his distraction had done the trick.
Surely enough, from behind the cover, he could hear the busy sounds of engines roaring through the hangar. With his back against the container, he wasn't sure if Blake had managed to take over the ship or not, but he felt something was working. As he looked up, he saw the ship rising up, with its wings knocking off the last man on the platform, while the force of the ship's hovering pushed away the three other men off their feet. From the boarding ramp, he saw who was standing by, waiting for him. He smiled, spotting Blake waving her hand over to him.
"Sun, get in here! Hurry!" she called over to him before pulling out her own weapon to fire on the men overhead at the other end. Sun then jumped over the box and proceeded to head over to Blake.
Suddenly, he stopped, seeing something sneak up behind Blake. While she was shooting, a lone figure approached her, with its arm up in the air, a vibroknife wrapped in its fingers. The figure soon revealed itself to be none other than Torchwick's droid, attempting to stab Blake.
"Look out!" Sun yelled to her, too late as the droid swung forward. But as it reached for her, it suddenly split in two, circuits fizzing out its wiring. Its two halves crashed onto the ground, right below Blake. The Faunus girl had her left arm stretching back, her machete pointing backwards after swinging it to cut the droid.
Sun sighed, relieved to see Blake unharmed. But it was too early to relax, when a blaster bolt woke him up to the danger of the gunmen above. Now that the ship was ready for blast off, he made his way towards the ship, off to join Blake to freedom.
"Sorry, boys, but looks like you're gonna have to find your own way out!"
As they kept firing, he ran as fast as he could, jumping up to the boarding ramp. Blake quickly raised her hand to catch Sun, pulling him up to the safety of the vessel. They both ran in, closing the ramp behind them before heading back to the cockpit.
Immediately, Blake jumped right onto the pilot's seat, Sun being seated at the other one beside her; as if she could trust him to fly such an elegant ship. Strapping themselves in, the former tapped into the last touches onto the controls before steering the ship towards the hangar bay doors.
Once she was straight, she laid her eyes on an alarming sight. She saw the hangar doors quickly close down, with a red light strobing on and off. The two sides were already thinning the gap, her one chance of leaving the place, once and for all, fading away with it.
No. Not this time. There was no more room for failure. If Blake remained trapped once more, that was it. The whole station would end her and her dreams of freeing people of strife would be gone with her. She had to take the chance, seize the moment to finally have her freedom again and reach for the stars to find her purpose. There was only one way out and she was going to risk everything for it. All was down to luck… No, she had to rely on hope to make the run.
With all her heart and strength, she pushed onto the control stick like a swordsman stabbing into his enemy on the ground, bringing the ship into full throttle. Sun yelled as the sudden thrust of speed threw him back, bracing for the full force of the acceleration.
In an instant, Blake's body felt the full pump of adrenaline coursing through her veins, her mind set on escaping the station. Every second spent felt like an hour, the world felt so eternally slow. She kept her mind on the door, never once minding the closing gap, or whether the ship was going to fit or not or, especially, Sun's constant shouting.
"We're not going to make it! We're going to crash!"
No. They will not crash. Blake had come too far to be blown up by a fool's errand. People needed her; that was her destiny. And destiny can never go unfulfilled.
Three seconds in…
Two…
One…
Just when the gap was finally about the shut, Blake made one hard pull of the stick, flipping the ship to its side and flying right through the closing exit. Blake had her eyes closed, preparing for the worst. At once, everything felt so quiet, just as the starfighter flew on, not knowing if she had made it out.
Upon opening up her eyes, however, she found herself looking towards the stars, in the vast emptiness of space. Was this where the galaxy's deceased would end up in after death, she thought. Did she not make it from the station? All was blank in her mind as she threw out all of her concentration onto the thrust.
No. Eventually, her senses came back to her. She was still holding onto the controls, the heat of the chase was still burning in her body and Sun's screaming was still ringing in her ear. Yes, she was still very much alive. With that in mind, she got back into the chase, realizing that she was already zooming off, and she wasn't going to stick around to find out just how long she had until the station blew up.
Pushing at full throttle, Blake sped her ship as far away as she could. Without looking back, she kept pushing forward. Getting further away, she counted down the distance to activate the jump to lightspeed, just enough to clear the station's safety field.
Three… Two… One…
Out of range, she pressed onto the coordinates and locked onto the vector of the hyperspace lane. In response, the ship began to pull back as the stars brightened into a screen of white before, finally, they were catapulted into the unknown, into the void of the unreachable and to somewhere, hopefully, safer.
Torchwick's lost prize soon zipped into hyperspace, leaving behind the man who was already evacuating the base. He was already out of the hangar doors and out to space when he saw, to his horror, his new toy was zapped to parts unknown.
His heart began to freeze cold, once again denied even the constellation prize of his already failing plot. Twice in a row, everything just came down crashing on him, one disaster after the other.
He was so angry, so enraged by the major disaster that befell upon his criminal empire… that he did nothing but stare. Stare at the stars and watch everything behind him crumble before his own transport warped into hyperspace, just seconds before the station would finally explode.
Now, travelling in hyperspace, he slumped down to his seat, weeping on the inside. His signature cane was caressed to his chest like a child's plaything as he sighed in sorrow. Yes, angry as he was, there was no point lashing out when you yourself had escaped. His favourite henchwoman, the one being who never failed him, stroking him on the head, his fedora in her other hand. His face still muddled with sadness, he looked over to Neo, the girl giving her father figure a warm smile.
"Neo. Answer me this." Torchwick sighed as he took his hat from her. "Am I losing my touch?"
The girl shook her head. No, there was no way she would give up on him. He may had lost so much, but at least, for now, they got away with the essentials to fall back on. Information, supplies, manpower and, most importantly, the big boss himself.
"Good girl." Torchwick put his hat back on. As soon as the ship was on smooth sailing, he got up and went to the holo-table behind him. The swirling disk-shaped projection of the galaxy slowly spun as he surveyed the next course to take.
So far, his major operations had failed. First, a great deal with the Corporate Sector was destroyed by a mere smuggler, a monk and… he didn't know who the other girl was supposed to be, but she was still a nuisance. And now, not only was he forced to destroy a base of operations and leave Jabba's men sprawling for answers, but he lost two Faunus brats and, worst of all, the secret ship he rightfully stole a while ago.
In all, Torchwick was livid. His efforts to garner great influence and power were all vaporized. The Corporate Sector would have lost interest in his deal by now, and the Hutts were sure to keep their slimy eyes on him. He was basically back at square one, forced to rethink more new plans for prominence.
After all, he still had a great amount of spice that he could always deliver to the Sector once he was done reorganizing things. And there were still more places to run and hide before he could reform his ground.
And yet, with all his backups, Torchwick still had resentment for the common fiends who ruptured his criminal force. With his fist clenched, smashed onto the side of the table, he vowed to get even. One of these days, if these fools ever showed in front of him again, he would be sure not to let them go again.
"One day, those beasts will pay." he growled. "They're not the only ones who can grow horns…"
Blake and Sun were safely out of harm's reach. In their bold attempt to escape, they had seized a mode of transportation out to travel through the galaxy.
But it wasn't just any transportation…
Travelling within the vortex of limitless speed, Blake finally set herself back, reclining her chair back to relax. Finally, she would have rest without a trouble in the world, for now anyways. While she rested, she scanned her eyes around at the room, assessing the clean, refurbished look of this mighty vessel.
She never thought she could be lucky enough to seize such a secretive ship, let alone something that would be of great use to anyone with ambition. The interior felt comfortable, void of anything that the old Mandalorian ships had before. Within this ship, Blake felt a more tranquil sense of absence of the aura she would feel when with her battle-hardened brethren. Here, she was definitely on her own, no odour or visual reminder of her past. Everything was free, no affiliation whatsoever.
Yes, it was still a missing ship from a powerful corporation. The only thing was, however, that corporation was too busy filling out demands for a war. They would be too occupied settling debts and resources for the war effort than worry about some missing craft.
In her mind, Blake wondered. If no one was going to look for this lost ship, could it be hers? Could she fill the empty role that the transport needed? She sat back to think; would it be worth it?
Blake got back up and monitored the systems from the computer. Accessing the ship's log, she searched through the schematics, viewing through all the tips and tricks of what it could do. She spent a minute going through the ship's features, and what she found immediately peaked her interests.
"Man. Those poor guys." Suddenly, Sun's voice came from behind her. He had taken the chance to view the lounge area behind the cockpit. "Didn't even have the chance to leave." His voice came off as a bit sorrowful, almost pitiful that they had to abandon a bunch of men.
Men, Blake knew, were already too corrupt…
"You know; we could have gone back and save those guys. It even hurts me to look at that place blow up with people in there." said Sun.
"They chose to serve that rotten scum, Torchwick." Muttered Blake, almost like it was a growl. "They deserved everything they got." Blake's hands gripped tightly, her heart growing cold with vivid memories of her past coming back again. In many ways, those men back there were like her. People who wanted the best in life, only to sell their souls to a greedy rat who delved into delusions of grandeur.
"That's the price you pay for joining a lost cause." I should know, Blake thought.
"Whoa. That's deep coming from someone who thinks about saving the galaxy." Sun murmured.
Blake got back to the controls, keeping herself informed of the unique features the ship bolstered beneath its sleek design.
"Cloaking device is still intact." She pressed on the button, revealing the detailed interface of the cloaking device installed within the ship. This, among others, was the feature that got Blake somewhat enamoured to the ship with. "To think that a ship this big could have a one…" Sun bent over to look at the details, noticing the materials used to power the generator.
"Stygium-powered too." Stygium, a rare element only found in restricted mining facilities, particularly Aeten II. Moreover, stygium trades had been very controlled. After all, the Republic wouldn't want sneaky crooks fitting their ships with these crystals to bypass their security. Sienar Fleet Systems was working on models that would be used for combatting troublesome groups in the galaxy, so it made sense that it was one of the major companies given access to a supply of these crystals. "Not bad. These crystals are one of the rarest in the galaxy! You'd make a fortune selling this thing."
"No." As tempting as it was to make a fortune out of the ship, let alone maybe return it to Sienar to maintain her incognito status, there was probably more to gain from making the ship her own than giving it away. Everything she needed to travel freely across the galaxy was all right here, inside a ship that could sneak her into parts unknown.
This was the ship meant for her. It wasn't as intimidating as the old fighters of Mandalore, but perhaps that was for the best. "I think I'm gonna keep this ship. It suits me."
"Okay…" Sun rubbed the back of his head. His idea of getting a good amount of the fortune might had been stretching it too far. Oh well, scratch that off the list.
What was certain, however, that, now that Blake had been freed, he knew he had to let her enjoy the moment as best she could. That meant giving her the space she desperately needed. "So, now that you have your new ship, I guess we should part ways after this." he said.
"It's for the best." Blake responded. "I've already gotten your help. Now, we can call it even by fulfilling my part of the bargain."
"Alright, alright. I'll get out of your hair." groaned Sun, still not getting used to Blake's 'emo' nature. Seriously; when will she ever be more social to people?
"Where do you want me to drop you off?" asked Blake.
"Maybe drop me off at the nearest spaceport." told Sun. "I heard Malastare is good at this time."
"Sure." Blake checked in on the navigation screen, entering the coordinates on her route finder to locate the best possible path to Malastare.
Once she finished up, she turned around to see Sun walking back to the lounge, probably to doze off again before he'd be sent down. At that moment, Blake had to remember what Sun said to her, during their run across the station. When he said the galaxy couldn't be saved.
She honestly thought about it the whole time. She vowed to end the corruption and bring peace to those suffering under horrid conditions. But when she thought about it, at her state, was she really capable of doing such a large mission?
The hatred and anger from her time in the White Fang had given her such hope to end that suffering, that even as she left worse than it was, she still harboured the same level of desire to end it all herself. Not once did she consider the odds of her stance to end the violence by herself. She had no one to help her, and if she thought she would ever perform the impossible on her own, she'd only die a hopeless wreck. The delusions of a dreamer.
And that was when Sun's words reached her. Finally, after some stubbornness rubbed into her, Blake now understood where he was going. In fact, she always accepted the fact that it was impossible to do things for the galaxy on her own. The hubris of her former White Fang persona had driven her to become a ravenous beast, and as she left, it remained to drive her into reckless efforts to do her part. In the end, however, that instant action had gotten her nowhere, but being caught by someone she viewed as lower than her. If that was how things were going to go down, then she had no chance.
If things were going to get any better, Blake herself must find her limits, control her actions and still do good for the galaxy. Heroism at a smaller scale was still heroism, and saving lives was still the right thing to do.
Now, Blake knew what to do, and she had one person to thank for clearing things up for her.
"Sun?" she called to him. Sun was in the middle of the corridor when he turned around to see Blake calling out to him. "About that talk we had… about saving the galaxy?" One look at him, her habitual reluctance towards meeting the bloke had kept her briefly still. But she overcame it, mustering up to thank this street rat for helping her find her way.
"I may not be able to save the entire galaxy and make people believe in peace. But I will find a way to keep us from destroying each other and save as many lives as possible. I don't know how or when, but I will do what I can to help, regardless of the coming war."
Sun's ears twitched, flattered that Blake had actually listened to him. His signature grin smudged by a flushed frown. The frown then turned back around into a smile, but still riddled with disbelief that he was being commended by this anti-social Faunus girl.
"Lowering down your standards, I see?" he laughed. "That's great, Blake! Now, you're thinking. Nothing to be ashamed about by realizing your limits and shrinking down your fight. You're only making it easier to focus on your goals." Once he finished talking, he turned back and headed into the lounge, leaving Blake to blow off a bit more pride and spin her chair back to the flight controls.
She hid a small smile. She couldn't believe it; but Sun Wukong certainly surprised her today… in more ways than one.
Pixelito,
Malastare,
The trip to Malastare lasted almost hours. A relatively undisturbed journey to the capital city, where Blake flew her new ship down on the marsh just a few miles away from the city. Cloaked within the fog, she then floated right above the swamp water where Sun told her to drop him off at.
The monkey boy leapt off the ramp and splashed his feet into the murky water. Yet, his face remained neutrally slick, not revolted by the thick, icky liquid. He then looked up to the floating ship above him, waving back to thank Blake for the ride.
The Faunus girl was watching him from the ramp, making sure that he wouldn't kill himself by being eaten by any wild beast or worse. She did offer him a quicker ride to the city, but Sun insisted he'd rather find himself in the old fashioned way, the only way street thieves like him knew how.
Smiling, Blake was finally freed from the constant irritation of Sun's clumsy demeanour. Seeing that he could take care of himself, she was about to get back to the controls and leave the planet. Then, Sun called her from afar, forcing her to stop and turn to face him.
"Hey, Blake!" he yelled, cupping his hand to his mouth. "Don't expect this to be the last time we meet!" And just like that, he ran off, free to do whatever he wished. Blake, on the other hand, felt her skin crawl. Not that he was completely a nuisance, but after what happened in the past few days, she certainly did not want anything to do with that man… ever.
"Great…"
Regardless of what kind of idiot he was, Sun Wukong definitely left an impression on her. He had given her something to think about, helped her lower the standards of how to pursue great darkness and gave her a few new starts in how to make it all possible.
From this moment on, no matter how big the problems were, Blake could only do as much as she could, and if her slow starts could convince the governments of the Republic to start acting, then maybe, one day, she will get that happy ending for everyone.
A/N~ Yep! I decided to make Blake's ship the same type as the Rogue Shadow from the Force Unleashed. With a sleek design and a cloaking device, it was just the right ship for Blake.