Chapter 8
The Other Side
Garfield found himself back within Commander Dayton's office, the Titan was fully loaded and the repairs complete, and Garfield wanted nothing more than to get going. Especially as the little girl had been safely contained into a cryopod, he hated the idea of working for Lex, especially under the conditions of trying to pass one over the paranoid man, but he had little choice. The sooner he could get this over with, the better.
The door behind him opened and Commander Dayton walked in with Rita at his heels, the two walked around the desk in the middle of the room and Steve took a seat while Rita stood behind him. Commander Dayton scanned through a few data pads before turning to Garfield, clasping his hands together under his chin.
"Garfield, there is a secondary mission I need you to complete while you are on Nar Shaddaa, one that cannot be privy to the ears of those accompanying you." Commander Dayton calmly stated, he seemed somewhat unnerved asking this of Garfield, but he pushed his emotions aside to relay the mission details. "One of our agents has suddenly gone dark, now normally we wait at least a week before sending someone to investigate, but their last transmission is concerning."
"It seems that they stumbled upon a Jedi Knight that might defect to the Sith, though from the context of the transmission, the agent is unsure of if this is the case, that the Jedi is playing the Sith." Rita spoke pensively, she didn't know how to react to a Jedi gone rogue. On the one hand, she herself is a rogue Jedi, but never would she ever join the Sith, that was something she couldn't even comprehend. "The agents last transmission was of them going dark over concerns of a Sith discovering their identity, however the meeting between the Jedi and the Sith will take place roughly around the time you'll arrive at Nar Shaddaa."
"So, you want me to step in as the agent overseeing the meeting encase things go south?" Garfield didn't think this needed all the cloak and daggers, but with the Doom Patrol, things aren't ever simple.
"Not exactly, the Jedi in question is one with close ties to a certain ally in the Republic." Commander Dayton paused for a moment to let Garfield get the message, the Doom Patrol had an ally in the Republic that has a high standing, one that allows them to influence the Republic greatly. Though, Garfield has never actually met this ally, nor their name. "You mission is to uncover whether this Jedi is undercover or defecting, if it is the latter… then execute the Jedi. We can't allow our ally to be exposed to the enemy."
"Understood." Garfield barked, though he rarely ever gets kill missions from the Doom Patrol, he knew the importance of secrecy for both them and their ally. The Doom Patrol wasn't in the habit of having being killed, rather they observe from a distance and assess their potential threat, if they pose a risk to either the Republic, Alderaan, or House Doom, then they will act to neutralise that threat without resulting to murder. "What's my code phrase?"
"Darkness begets light, light begets darkness, neither can exist without the other." Commander Dayton spoke carefully, making sure that Garfield heard every word. "As for the reply, Light ends darkness, darkness ends light, both shall be the end with the other."
"Understood." Garfield hated when they got philosophical with the code phrases, it became a pain to remember them, and he felt like an idiot speaking them aloud. He liked it better when it simple was a phrase one could easily incorporate into a normal sentence. "Anything else I should know?"
"The area the meeting is going down is heavily populated and close to an Empire outpost." Rita explained, pulling up a map of an area on Nar Shaddaa where the meeting was. "Your best bet is to intercept the target before they reach the meeting, however there are many ways into this area, and we don't exactly know where the Jedi will be travelling from."
"Failure Conditions?" Garfield reluctantly asked, with a mission like this, there would be a backup plan in place encase he failed to intercept the Jedi in route.
"None, that's why I am reluctantly asking you." Commander Dayton confessed, neither him nor Rita sought Garfield for missions like these, their agents are more than capable of completing these missions. However, this mission left no room for error that they couldn't rely on an agent. "The mission requires someone to know the terrain and can improvise in a moment's notice, unfortunately our agents aren't as versatile as you with this little amount of time to prepare, and against potential Sith opponents, though the chances are low."
"Intercept the target, confirm identity and purpose of mission, eliminate target if defecting." Garfield listed off his duties both to clarify the mission details and to ensure he understood his role, Commander Dayton nodding along with each task. "If target is unreachable, eliminate regardless?"
"Negative, if the target's purpose cannot be confirmed, derail the meeting." Commander Dayton shook his head, though they couldn't risk allowing someone with knowledge of their ally in the Republic, they couldn't interfere with their active operations directly. "We've tried contacting our ally to no avail, they aren't responding. You are to carry out this mission unless sent a standard dismissal call from us, however, you are not to kill without confirming the target is defecting. Understood?"
"Understood." Garfield reluctantly agreed, he didn't want to get involved in the drama of those outside of the Doom Patrol, but if this was a request by Commander Dayton to protect them then he will go along with it for now. He was fairly certain that this was Steve being precautious, but any threat to their ally could have repercussions on the Doom Patrol as well.
"Good Luck, and may the force be with you." Rita happily chirruped the Jedi's famous line, smiling warmly at Garfield as he left the office. Once he left the room, she turned to Steve, worry etching her features. "Why couldn't we have asked one of the many agents around Nar Shaddaa to oversee this? I know Garfield is capable, but asking him to kill after… after the Scarlet Reapers."
"Although I agree with you, our agents aren't capable of handling both Jedi and Sith simultaneously, they would be at serious risk of getting themselves killed if they tried to undertake this mission." Commander Dayton explained rather reluctantly, if he had time then he could set up several agents as well as calling in the few Jedi under his command to back up those on the mission, yet he was left with no choice other than to employ Garfield in order to reduce the cost of life. "Knowing our ally, its more than reasonable to conclude that this Jedi is under their command, and they had gotten caught up in Republic matters."
"I still don't like this, Garfield shouldn't ever be asked to kill again, that part of his life is behind him." Rita sullenly stated, she looked forlornly at the spot that Garfield had been for second before looking back at Steve. "What they did to him… no child should ever have to endure."
"Rita, if I had any other choice, I would take it, but Garfield is the only one capable of undertaking this mission without imposing a serious cost of life." Commander Dayton had already made a mental note to give his ally hell for just asking Garfield to be prepared to carry out the mission, but if Garfield really had to kill the target for their ally, Commander Dayton swore their relationship would be severely strained after this. "I want constant communication messages sent to our ally, if they don't respond before Garfield reaches Nar Shadda, then send them notice that our relationship will no longer continue."
"Understood." Rita acknowledged the command and left to carry it out, silently making death threats against their ally for this matter. Leaving Commander Dayton to finish his reports before he settled matters with his intelligence agents.
Garfield strode into the hanger bay somewhat unsettled, on the one hand he had issues with being given commands to kill, on the other he knew the danger this Jedi posed to the Doom Patrol and their ally. He wasn't conflicted about taking a life to protect his friends, rather he found himself worried of what Rachel would think of him if she found out about his mission.
It was a confusing concept to him, he never had issue with what people thought of him before, other than his reputation in the smuggling world. The Scarlet Reapers had less morals than a hungry Rancor, they didn't care who or what he killed, so long as he followed their orders. Yet, he was constantly brought back to the idea of scaring away Rachel with his… other side. He didn't know if he should be terrified by this new concept, or if he should be more worried about her staying.
Entering the Titan's cargo bay, he found Richard waiting beside the stairs to the catwalk. The moment he walked into the cargo bay, Richard pushed off from his leaning position against a cargo create and stood before him.
"Garfield, I was wondering if it was possible to establish a secure comm link to a private Republic terminal?" Richard asked rather reluctantly, the amount of security the Doom Patrol employed was more than enough indictor that they took their comm channels seriously, especially after the first time he witnessed them communicating before they arrived at the station. "I need to speak with someone back on Coruscant, but I don't want to risk exposing them to the Republic for helping me."
"Secure comms are especially difficult when it comes to Republic channels, it will require some serious effort and time I don't have." Garfield shrugged off Richard, he had enough to deal with without having to waste hours setting up a secure channel to the one place that had an insanely confusing array of methods to transmit communications. "If you needed to talk with someone, you should have asked Commander Dayton."
"I had debated that option, but I didn't want to take a chance that the Doom Patrol might be listening in." Richard didn't distrust the Doom Patrol, rather he didn't want them to know of the role that Bruce had played in his escape. Richard followed Garfield up the stairs and across the catwalk towards the bridge after closing the ramp behind Garfield. "And like I said, I don't want to expose them to the Republic."
"Doom Patrol works for House Doom, and although House Doom may have ties with the Republic, they are only in the form of trade agreements and a conditional alliance encase either side requires aid." Garfield grumpily stated, somewhat annoyed that the former Republic captain was being picky about the people he could trust, especially since they didn't arrest him on the spot. "Look, if I am bored enough during the flight to Nar Shaddaa, then maybe I might set up a secure comm link, but only if I am not constantly annoyed."
Garfield pointedly glared at Richard before opening the bridge door, finding Rachel sat at in the co-pilot seat setting up Titan for take-off. Though she had learned enough from the piloting program to confidently fly the behemoth, she had yelled at Garfield when he teasingly asked her to fly them out through the asteroid field.
Victor and Kori sat in the side seats, both waiting for Garfield to return from his impromptu meeting with Commander Dayton, though they didn't want to witness the mayhem from when they arrived, they were somewhat curious as to how Garfield had managed to fly effortlessly through it. Leaping into his seat, he checked over the system before activating the comm unit.
"This is Captain Garfield Logan of the Starship Titan, requesting clearance to depart from the Doom Patrol station." Garfield called through the comm, he waited patiently for the hanger crew to give him the go ahead to leave the station.
"Starship Titan, you have clearance to depart, please hold until the station aligns with the gravity vortex." The operator on the other end of the call replied, leaving Garfield to try to ignore the strange stare he was receiving from Rachel.
"Gravity vortex?" Rachel asked accusingly, she glared a hole into the side of Garfield's head as she waited for his answer. The others instantly diverted their attention away from pensively waiting for the view screen's bulkhead to retract.
"There… may be a path through the asteroid field that… prevents any of the asteroids from getting close to it." Garfield sheepishly grinned as Rachel's glare levelled out into sheer annoyance, the others suddenly catching on and equally glaring at Garfield. "If one were to fly a ship through the eye, then they wouldn't be hit by the asteroids."
"And when were you going to tell us this?" Richard asked from the captain's chair, after their brief interaction in the hallway leading to the bridge, he was somewhat irked by Garfield's attitude, though he didn't want to confront the captain of this ship after he managed to get a place onboard.
"Oh, come on! I pass through it so many times and no one who comes here doesn't know about it." Garfield cried out loud, grinning and scratching his neck as the four around him glared indignantly. "You can't blame me for having a bit of fun."
"Starship Titan, the station exit has been aligned, you are clear to depart." The comm blared to life saving Garfield from the irate four sat around glaring harshly at him. The Titan suddenly juddered before being lifted up by the mechanical crane that had brought it in, Garfield set the engines to start once the crane disconnected from the ship's hull.
Garfield lifted the view screen's bulkheads just as the massive gates to the station's hanger opened, revealing the mass of rock colliding and smashing into one another. Activating the engines, he pushed the Titan forward slowly out of the vortex, aligning the ship with the eye of the vortex.
"How does the station remain perfectly intact in the midst of this nightmare?" Victor asked curiously, wondering how none of the rocks impacted at least once with the station while trying not to flinch uncontrollably at the scene before him.
"Classified." Garfield curtly quipped, he was focusing intently on piloting the ship through the vortex as they left the station. One wrong move could throw the ship out of the vortex and into the path of the asteroids, though the Titan wasn't as large as most of the ships that travel to the station, it's clunky nature and slightly off kilter flight path makes traversing through the vortex deadly.
"I'm surprised the Doom Patrol is this secretive after allowing us to not only see inside the station and letting us leave soon after." Richard remarked, he was far less startled by the asteroid field now that he knew there was a plausible explanation for how Garfield flew through it without being hit by a single rock. Richard knew all too well how protective these types of organisations are about anyone knowing of their existence, but to allow people into their home base was usually a sign of bringing them into the know of their organisation.
"The station doesn't stay in one place, this is only one of hundreds of locations that the Doom Patrol moors at." Garfield chuckled, the Doom Patrol never liked using the same location twice, but this asteroid field was perfect for extended periods of time as unless anyone knew of the vortex, they weren't getting in. "They only use this asteroid field when they need to be aggressive in their operations, but once matters are settled, they'll disappear."
"Where will the station leave to?" Kori asked, wondering where such a large asteroid would go to that it would be invisible. "I mean, an asteroid like that can't go far without someone noticing it."
"Adaptive Camouflage… I thought it was only a theory…" Victor voiced aloud, marvelling at the thought that the Doom Patrol had technology no one knew could be created, it made his desire to work for them grow even further. The other three looked at him curiously, silently asking what he was on about. "Adaptive Camouflage creates a visual field around an object and alters it to fit its surroundings, allowing it to effectively disappear… though I never thought it could extend around an entire station."
"So, the station can disappear, and no one will know what it looks like unless they have contact with the Doom Patrol." Richard stated, he seemed somewhat impressed by the Doom Patrol's ability to disappear, they could allow someone to know of their existence and if they ever turn on them then the station just disappears without a trace.
"Pretty much, though I wouldn't want to mess with the station when it's in full attack mode, I doubt even a fleet of ships from either the Republic or the Empire could stand a chance against it." Garfield stated, the station's armaments consisted of thousands of canons as well as reflective shielding, without some serious firepower, there was no way anyone could fight against it. "Anyway, I need to focus, this vortex isn't easy to pilot through."
It took several minutes before they managed to break free of the asteroid field, some of the larger rocks got too close to the vortex and nearly freaked out Garfield, the Doom Patrol knew the vortex was somewhat unstable and could fail at any moment, but they monitored it carefully to ensure that no ship got taken out. With the Titan free of the asteroid field, Garfield powered up the hyperdrive and plotted in a choice course towards Nar Shaddaa.
Although they were not more than a week away from the planet, Garfield had to plot in an indirect route away from the station encase anyone tracked his path, this route added in another week to the journey. This choice of course had been included in Commander Dayton's assessment of the timeframe for his classified mission, and it meant the moment he arrived at the planet he had to find the target as soon as they landed.
During the flight there, they each kept much to themselves as they waited pensively to arrive at Nar Shaddaa. They were worried about the mission that Lex would have them undertake, though Kori was more concerned for the Twi'lek girl, spending every moment she could tending to her after Victor showed her how to.
Richard eventually managed to convince Garfield to set up a secure comm channel to his ally after the irate captain got infuriated by Victor's incessant need to cook as much meat as possible after the Doom Patrol restocked the vacuum chamber full of every variant of food. Garfield needed a distraction and stormed onto the bridge and set about creating the secure comms, once he was finished, he tied it into a personal channel directly into Richard's chambers.
Before Richard had the opportunity to speak with Bruce, Garfield explained that he could only send recorded messages and wait for a reply, and the comm line was monitored by the ship's systems, if anyone tried to back trace it then the comm line will destroy itself. Garfield also reminded him that he now owed him one for this as it took the better part of a day to set this up so that he could constantly use it without having to come to him every time.
Garfield lied about the channel being completely secure, he didn't fully trust Richard nor his friend and had tied the secure comm line into a separate channel that he could monitor if he needed to, however that proved futile as Richard encoded every one of his messages, and Garfield wasn't going to spend ages decrypting it.
Victor spent every second he could in the hanger bay, playing and tinkering with every piece of equipment he could to find a use for them. He wanted to start as soon as possible on fixing the fighter, but he needed to identify what he had been given to use on the fighter, and what was needed for the Titan. Garfield joined him occasionally to help sort through the items, though he was mainly interested in what the repair captain had added to drastically increase the cost.
The only one acting differently from before was Rachel, she spent every moment she could on the bridge, scanning through navigation charts. She was still conflicted by what Garfield had told her, wondering where she would travel from Nar Shadda if she choose to leave. The only option available to her was to keep to the outer rim planets and away from both Republic and Empire, it wasn't an ideal solution given her desire to make a name for herself, but both sides wanted her dead.
Rachel thought about staying on the Titan, Garfield was an oddity that she hadn't seen before, and he was willing to allow her to stay onboard if she desired to. The life of a smuggler should have been hanging around bars or dens waiting for a client to contact them with a mission, and after that, spending months travelling between planets delivering cargo. She wasn't expecting secret missions or an agency like the Doom Patrol, though from what Garfield mentioned, she doubted it was always like this.
Garfield seemed to only work for the Doom Patrol when he wanted to, or when he is needed to, beyond that he keeps to himself and works his own smuggling missions. Rachel thought about being a smuggler, going to clients and negotiating a price, collecting the cargo and travelling to the destination to deliver it, and occasionally getting into a fight with other smugglers or factions. It wasn't the life she imagined for herself, though considering the alternatives, this was the best option available to her.
Rachel didn't like the idea of being trapped to one option because it was the best available given her current situation, she had been trapped by the fear of the Sith retaliating against her if she abandoned their ways, and she doubted her family would have let her go if she asked. Yet, Garfield was willing to take the heat if she decided to leave, promising to run interference so she had nothing to fear from the Doom Patrol.
The only reasons she had to not to stay aboard the Titan was her mistrust of Garfield, and her fear of being trapped, while her reasons for staying ranged from free accommodation to a chance to make herself a decent sum of credits. All of which had her hesitating to leave the ship.
Yet, she wanted to be prepared encase she decided to leave on Nar Shaddaa, Garfield's navigation charts held not only merchant routes, but a vast network of smuggler routes including ones that were generally kept secret from the public. Rachel plotted multiple paths off of the planet, as well as memorising certain smuggler routes across several planets if she found herself on one of them.
The journey to Nar Shaddaa was relatively tame, they each only interacted when eating food or when they passed one another in the halls. Garfield still struggled with having people onboard, having another run in with Rachel after leaving his shower in only his towel, the awkward moment was cut short when Victor suddenly appeared and jokingly defused the situation by asking if he really was a Mirialan or if his skin was green from all the vegetables he ate.
Arriving at the bustling mega city planet of Nar Shaddaa, Garfield directed the ship to the main spaceport. He didn't have much of a choice of where he could land his hulking behemoth, though if he had a workable fighter then he could land at any of the private spaceports his many clients and retainers owned, but for now he had to make do with his only option.
Garfield hailed the landing authorities and they directed him to docking bay no. 33, he had a tricky time landing the behemoth as whoever had used the docking bay before had left a multitude of crates laying all over the place. Silently wishing he had a camera installed underneath the Titan, he manoeuvred the Titan as best as he could and managed to land without crushing any of the crates.
"I swear whoever is in command of docking is going to get an ear full…" Garfield grumbled as he shut down the engines, though it was normal for those who own the docks to leave cargo in the bays, they didn't leave it all over the place like this. He left the bridge grumpy and headed to the cargo bay, finding the other four waiting for him much to his surprise.
"So, where's this meeting place?" Richard asked, he was kitted out in the Red X armour and was fitting the weapons to his sides. Other than sending reports to Bruce who didn't respond to his messages yet, he spent his time familiarising the armour and dossier as best as he could, getting into the role of the former bounty hunter.
"The meeting isn't for another few hours, I need to run some errands first." Garfield grunted, he wasn't expecting them all to wait for him in the cargo bay, especially after he had to stress multiple times that it was only him and Richard going to the meeting. "Rachel, you are coming?"
"Wait, we have to stay while you two go out?" Victor asked somewhat baffled by Garfield, he didn't want to sound selfish but after spending most of his life on Nal Hutta, he had always wanted to travel to Nar Shaddaa. After watching it orbit his home world, he always wanted to scour the various stores and shops for items to tinker with.
"Rachel doesn't have anything other than the clothes she wore the first time she arrived, so while I'm off running my errands, she is going shopping." Garfield nonchalantly stated as he worked at the data pad attached to his arm, activating the cargo bay ramp remotely. The door slowly lowered to the ground revealing a stout man in a crisp clean beige uniform, he stood with a data pad in one hand and a scowl on his face. "Are you the dock attendant? Wanna explain the mess?"
"Not really, we are still trying to clean it up." The stout man grumbled reluctantly as he waited for Garfield to stalk down the ramp, he held out the data pad once Garfield was within arm's length of him. "Registration and docking fee."
Garfield took the data pad and read over the information, pressing a few buttons before pressing a few buttons on his arm pad. Handing the data pad back to the attendant, he pressed a few more buttons on his arm pad while he waited for the attendant to look over the information.
"Everything checks out, how long are you planning on staying?" The attendant asked as he put the data pad under his arm, staring intently at Garfield. The man seemed almost irate at something other than Garfield, as if he had just been fired from his job and then told to work without pay.
"Better part of a day, I plan to leave once I've acquired my contract from my client, so at least six to seven hours." Garfield thought over his current mission list, his errand wouldn't take more than an hour or two, and the meeting with Lex wouldn't be long either, but he had to leave an allotted extra time encase Lex decided to pull some trick or scheme. "Not to pry, but you look as if you want to kill someone, has a Hutt slithered by?"
"Ha, very funny. You wouldn't be in a mocking mood if you just had to deal with a ship full of Sith. Evil monsters!" The attendant grumbled viciously, spitting at the mention of the Sith. Rachel flinched somewhat at how violently the attendant spoke his words, she hadn't really interacted with those below the captain rank in the Empire, but from the look of anger in the man's eyes she realised the damage the Sith cause even when they weren't killing. "They waltz around like the own the place, and when I'm trying to do my job, they launch me across the room as if I am a ragdoll."
"I can sympathise, once people have power, they tend to forgot those who work the mundane jobs, lording over them without ever knowing how worthless they would be without those people." Garfield chuckled, patting the attendant on the shoulder. This type of information was invaluable to a smuggler like him, Sith arrive and acting all stuck up either means a mission went bad and they want to take it out on someone, or the mission was a success, and they are celebrating, it's hard to tell the difference with them.
"Ha! Don't I know it! Anyway, I overheard them talking about some meeting with someone by the Empire's sector, so steer clear of it if you don't want to find what the ground feels like against your face." The attendant nodded to Garfield before departing, leaving Garfield standing there debating between slamming his hand into his face or screaming. It was one thing dealing with a Jedi and maybe an odd Sith, but a full contingency of the red blades were going to be a headache.
"Alright, you guys stay here, I shouldn't be more than two hours, then me and Richard will head to the meeting." Garfield sighed before turning to the group standing behind him, Richard was looking at him funnily, but he didn't have the will power to ask why. "Also, when the meetings over, be sure to stay clear of the cargo bay, there will be grunts coming to pick up the girl."
Garfield spun on his heel and left with Rachel following not far behind, she didn't utter a word after listening to the conversation he had with the attendant, but from the way he flinched when the man told him about the Sith heading to the Empire sector, she was sure whatever his errand was, it was in the Empire sector.
Leaving the spaceport, they quietly took a shuttle service to the main promenade. Garfield took a couple steps away from the shuttle service landing and stopped, turning to Rachel who was but a step behind him. Pulling out a silver bar like device from his pocket and holding it out to Rachel.
"Here, this holds around two hundred thousand credits, buy whatever you want." Garfield had originally set the number at about fifty thousand credits, but if she wanted to run then she would need a surplus of credits. Rachel went wide eyed at the device in his hands, she wasn't expecting him to be this generous though she wasn't about to turn down the offer. With this sum of credits, she wouldn't have to worry about starving or dying of dehydration like last time for a while. "Just so you know, I thought over what you said about being paid as a crew member…"
"It's alright, I didn't really expect you to pay me." Rachel interrupted him, waving off his offer of paying her. She had thought over the matter and found she would be content with just having a place she could stay without having to keep one eye open all the time, or being forced to flee it. The sleep she was getting onboard the Titan had been the best she had since she left the Sith Order, though even then she still had to keep one eye open encase any of the acolytes got bright ideas."
"Rachel, the Titan's costs are expensive, but not overly so, around half of what I make goes into repairs and maintenance." Garfield partially glared at her for interrupting him when he was trying to convince her to stay, he wasn't used to this sort of situation, and he wanted to get it over with as quickly as he could. "And a further quarter goes towards a separate fund that I need to use on clients, smugglers, and to bribe officials. Leaving the last quarter with no purpose, so for this mission with Lex, I was thinking of splitting the last quarter five ways."
"Five percent, that seems reasonable." Rachel didn't mean for it to seem sarcastic, but after hearing him basically break down the costs of Titan and the bribes he had to issue, she felt that they weren't getting much in return for their work.
"My standard fare with Lex is roughly five percent of the overall mission's total reward…" Garfield hated how Lex always brow beats him into taking a lower percentage than normal, but if his plan goes his way then he could come away with double that, though he wasn't sure if he could succeed yet. "Which is roughly five million credits, though that varies occasionally. Anyway, it means a quarter of a million credits per each of us."
"What..." Rachel just stared at him, she didn't know what stunned her more, the fact she could earn a quarter of a million credits for a single job, or that it requires less than four million credits just to maintain the Titan as well as deal with clients.
"Although that is only for this job, my normal work goes for around one to two million per… Anyway, just think about it." Garfield waved her goodbye as he took a shuttle to a bandit sector before waiting a few moments and then taking another to the Empire sector. He didn't want anyone tracking his path nor did he want to give the impression that he was trying to be subtle about his movements.
The Empire sector didn't have much in the way scenery, it was bleak grey metal walls and guards patrolling every few minutes. The few partial parts of green were little gardens in uniformly placed throughout, and the shop signs weren't even illuminated like the vast majority of Nar Shaddaa. Garfield hated this area, the guards always stopped those that weren't dressed in standard Empire uniforms, and especially those that carried weapons like he did.
The area he was looking for was a massive open area in the middle of the sector, this area created a break before the Empire's outpost. This area had a few shops bordering on it, but they stopped several hundred metres from the outpost, allowing the Empire soldiers to create a kill zone if they were under siege. It was a well thought out design, though it had the flaw that with the amount of people constantly walking through it, the soldiers wouldn't be able to react in time to an ambush.
Garfield leant against one of the six paths leading into the area, he had an image of the target, a human male around middle age with short black hair and deep green eyes, he had a large build and a scar crossing down his chin to his collar bone. He was fairly recognisable by the scar alone, it was an angry red colour with some seriously jagged edges, a wound like that would have been done by either a broken blade or a beast claw.
Scanning the mass of people darting about the main square, he doubted he could get a decent eye on the target until it was too late. He thought about constantly shifting between the six pathways though it would create an opening for the target to slip by if he wasn't monitoring the right path. That, and the guards would try to arrest him once they catch him casing the place, and even if he wasn't specifically targeting the outpost, they would claim he was just to avoid the paperwork.
"Darkness begets light, light begets darkness, neither can exist without the other." A voice quietly called not far to his side, turning his gaze he found a simple woman in the plain grey Empire uniform pretending to be talking to him as she stood beside him. She shifted her light blond hair out of her face and flashed her deep blue eyes in a manner of flirting with Garfield despite her words being anything but.
"Light ends darkness, darkness ends light, both shall end with the other." Garfield gave the reply, though he was somewhat baffled as that line should have been uttered by him, not the other way around. The woman got close and pretended to be flirting with him quietly.
"Our ally has finally responded, they have confirmed that the target is a defector." The woman stated, carrying on her pretend actions for those that happened to pass their gaze at them. "Follow mission details, eliminate the target before they arrive at the meeting point. Your target should be approaching from Empire's own docking port, that path over there."
The woman carefully pointed to the furthest path from him on the far side of the square, it was the path he was going to rule out since the Empire docks are heavily regulated and all ships would have been thoroughly searched. Though, it seems his assumption would have him missing the target. He nodded to the woman who immediately scowled at him before slapping him hard in the face and storming off, holding his cheek he wondered if she was given orders to act like that, or if she had some issue with him.
Shaking his head, he took off slowly towards the indicated pathway, taking his time to scan through the crowds passing through that area encase his target arrived sooner than expected. As he walked, he felt a pair of eyes watching him from a distance, though there was no killing intent behind them, Garfield wondered if the person was an enemy or not. Ignoring it, he focused on his mission.
Garfield ran through the various methods to kill the target, he had a simple knife that he could use to stab a vital area, but getting close would be a problem. If the attendant was right, then a host of Sith would be milling about the area, and they aren't as oblivious as a Jedi thinking about defecting to the enemy.
Just as he was wondering about finding a higher elevation to snipe the target from afar, he spied the target walking out from the pathway before him. The man walked confidently and with a small smirk on his face, his demeanour was that of someone being prideful of their actions, and not a Jedi that was concerned with the morality of their actions.
Garfield was about to alter his plans to deal with the new threat, when he spied something peculiar not far behind the target. A tall woman with black hair and angry blue eyes followed not far behind, her eyes were glued to the target as she blatantly followed him. Whoever this person was, she wasn't doing a good job tailing the target as Garfield spied several guards quietly approaching her position.
Quickly flying into action, Garfield picked up his pace, aiming directly towards the target. He had to make sure he eliminated the target before he saved the woman from being arrested, though as he got closer, he noticed she wore a shining silver object on her waist, much like the one the man was wearing.
Carefully shifting through the crowd, he deliberately bumped into the target, slipping an object into his pocket before apologising and quickly darting away. Garfield intentionally bumped into a few more people before reaching the woman, he quickly swiped the lightsaber from her belt before disappearing into the crowd.
He waited for the guards to approach her and seize her, she tried to go for her lightsaber only to find it wasn't there. The guards started to question her though she could only stand there baffled by what had happened until Garfield suddenly returned and with a scowl on his face.
"What are you doing?" Garfield grumpily stated as he stood before the guards about to arrest the woman, they paused to look at him as if they were offended but his words when they noticed he was angrily glaring at the woman instead of them. "Why didn't you follow me? That was your que."
"Umm… what?" The woman asked somewhat confused, the guards looked between them until Garfield sighed and slammed his hand into his face, shaking his head.
"Just drop the act, we shouldn't even be keeping this from your husband." Garfield angrily gripped, his words causing the woman to blush slightly while the guards quietly chuckled. Turning to the guards, Garfield pretended to look ashamed. "Look, sorry about this, we've been trying to keep this a secret from her husband, but she's not very good at the sneaking around part."
"Ha, wanting the exciting life of a smuggler in the sheets?" The guard rhetorically cheered, the others laughed at his joke before they let the woman go, enjoying the look of shame on the woman's face. "We'll let this go, for now, but don't do it again."
"Thank you, and here, for your troubles." Garfield pulled out a handful of credits from his pocket, he always kept some spare for emergency purposes. The guard greedily snatched them from his hand, looking them over before nodding to Garfield and left to spend their gain. Garfield put an arm around the woman and lead her out of the main square. "Next time you want to play secret agent, try not to be as blatant as a bantha in Coruscant's Senate building."
"I didn't need your help." The woman snapped, angrily glaring at him and shrugging off his arm, though she continued to follow him. She lost the element of surprise, and the guards were watching her, she couldn't continue without taking on the entire battalion in the outpost.
"Sure, and the group of Sith waiting to receive your friend wouldn't be much of an issue to you, now would they?" Garfield rhetorically quipped, ignoring the shocked look she gave him before frowning. Had she tried to continue onwards she would have been killed by the Sith, especially since she didn't know they were there.
"We can't let that man get to the outpost, he has vital intel that could prove fatal to the Republic." The woman turned to Garfield, she didn't know why she was asking for his help, but the smuggler was well versed in improvisation, and she could use the help. "Please, my friend is powerful and wealthy, he would be more than willing to pay any price you ask."
"Oh, he definitely will. I don't do kill missions anymore." Garfield grumbled as he stopped before the path leading out of the square, he turned and looked for the target, finding him standing out in the open with several guards and a few Sith around him. The woman looked at him weirdly until he pulled out a detonator. "I hate making things messy."
With that, Garfield pressed the button. A massive explosive rocked the square, the man and several of the guards and Sith around him were instantly incinerated as the plasma grenade went off in his pocket, the one that Garfield had slipped in earlier. Panic and fear caused the civilians to dart about the place frantically, Garfield turned and led the baffled woman out of the square.
"Who are you?" The woman asked, she walked with her head lowered as she cautiously scanned for anyone following them, though the mass of panicking people made it difficult to discern soldier from civilian.
"Your friend's ally." Garfield quipped, he felt a cold hunger bloom inside him, one that he hadn't felt in while. His bloodlust was rearing its ugly head. He had managed to quell it with Rita and Steve's help, but he knew if he fell off the path he might fall back into his old ways, and bring his… other side… to light. "I was sent under orders to eliminate the target if they were a true defector."
"I… appreciate the assistance." The woman reluctantly thanked Garfield, she wanted to capture the target and bring them back to the temple, but at least this way the threat this man posed was gone. "My lightsaber?"
"Not yet." Garfield stopped mid step, he turned around and waited in the middle of the path. The woman stood beside him somewhat confused by his actions, until she noticed why he had stopped. A group of Sith were approaching them, led by a bald man with a crimson metal plate covering the seriously burned half of his face.
"Sith Lord Adonis, fancy meeting you here." Garfield dryly grunted, he glared angrily at the Sith standing before him. Adonis had an equally dark expression on his face, glowering at Garfield as if he was a monster.
"If I recall, you are going by Garfield Logan now?" Adonis stood frigidly in front of Garfield, cautious of his actions despite having three Sith with their lightsabers in their hands behind him. "That explosion has your fingerprints all over it."
"So what if it does, what are you going to do about it?" Garfield snarled, causing Adonis to flinch and take a step back. The two had an encounter during his time with the Scarlet Reapers, the end result didn't end favourably for Adonis. "I can always burn the other half of your face, give you a matching set?"
Adonis flinched again at his words, failing to hide his hand instantly reaching for his metal covered face. The other Sith looked among themselves before powering up their lightsabers, ready to attack despite their leader's hesitation. Their actions spurred Adonis with confidence as he started to laugh.
"Ha ha, I have numbers this time, and a full contingency of soldiers arriving soon. You don't stand a chance this time!" Adonis cheered, he withdrew his double sided red lightsaber and settled himself into a battle stance, though before he could continue his snide remarks, it was Garfield's turn to erupt into laughter.
"Do you honestly think I came alone?" Garfield laughed, waving a hand in the air as a motioning signal to someone they could not see. Moments later, Red X appeared from the shadows, holding two sleek black pistols that he pointed at Adonis. With his sudden arrival, Adonis took another step back, fearing the bounty hunter's mere presence let alone the pistols aimed at him.
"So, the rumours are true, you're working for a smuggler?" Adonis sneered, standing up from his battle stance and turning off his lightsaber, he angrily glared at Red X. Then a thought came to his mind, his scowl disappearing as a smile took its place. "If you are looking for credits, the Empire will offer you a hefty sum for bringing in that Mirialan scum."
"I have my principles." Red X gruffly stated, keeping his words short and to the point. Though Adonis's lightsaber wasn't powered, Red X refused to lower his pistols, keeping them aimed at the Sith. Adonis's scowl returned as he glowered at Red X, clearly upset at losing a chance to kill Garfield for what he did to his face.
"You launched an attack against the Empire, you will not get away with this." Adonis reluctantly stated, though he didn't want to face Garfield and Red X together, he had to uphold the Sith and the Empire's rules.
"Not really, the Sith just got in my way, that Jedi deserved what he got." Garfield snarled, letting the cold hunger consume him slightly to allow his darker side out, his words caused Adonis to recoil as Garfield threateningly took a step forward. "He shouldn't have crossed me, that is a mistake no one should ever do!"
The two glared at one another, neither backing down despite one of them still debating to ignite his lightsaber, and the other slowly moving his hands to his blasters. Just as Garfield was about to draw his blasters, he paused and stood there for a moment in thought.
"Adonis, we both know this fight won't end well for you, and it would inconvenience me more than I would like." Garfield grumpily stated, as much as he hated Adonis, he couldn't kill again, not with his bloodlust flaring up. Instead, he decided to go for the peaceful route. "And I don't want to keep Lex Luthor waiting, so I am willing to pay a large sum of credits for this problem to go away."
Adonis looked as if he wanted to retort against Garfield's coldness regarding the Sith lives he killed, but the mention of Lex immediately shut him up, even the Sith behind him looked worriedly among themselves. Garfield never wanted to resort to using Lex's name, but in order to get out of this situation without killing, he had little other choice.
"Fine, five hundred thousand should cover the cost of training up new Sith recruits to replace the ones you killed." Adonis reluctantly stated, he was over embellishing the sum of credits, but Garfield wasn't in a mood to haggle down the price. He pulled out a credit device and transferred the amount into it before tossing it to Adonis, Garfield waited for the Sith to check the device before the two nodded to one another. "Let's go."
Adonis led the group of Sith away, leaving Garfield and the other two standing in the middle of the path with no one willing to pass by them. Turning on his heel, Garfield stormed off down path away from the outpost, the woman and Richard close on his tail. They walked quietly back to the shuttle service, taking that straight back to the main spaceport on Nar Shaddaa.
They made it back to the Titan without ever once uttering a word, Garfield stormed onto the bridge and sat down in his favourite chair. The woman and Richard stood behind him after he had motioned for them to follow him when the hesitated in the cargo bay. Setting up a secure comm line to the Doom Patrol, he contacted Commander Dayton.
"Mission complete, target eliminated, a few unexpected surprises, and the Sith know I am soon to be working for Lex." Garfield curtly stated, the channel had its usual blankness with a simple flat line. Commander Dayton paused for a moment, scanning over the two standing behind Garfield before answering.
"Diana Prince, I was assured there would be no interference in the mission?" Commander Dayton had his friend's word that all their operatives had been cleared out to allow Garfield to work. As much as Steve didn't want Garfield killing again, neither him nor his ally had anyone capable of tackling the situation in the immediate vicinity, especially after hacking into the cameras covering that area and finding several Sith at the meeting point.
Commander Dayton nearly ordered his agents to aid Garfield when the Sith confronted him, though as the conversation progressed, he realised that there was a history between Adonis and Garfield, one that the smuggler had never mentioned before. After Red X arrived on the scene, a sight that had Commander Dayton regretting not preventing Richard from joining the team, he called off the agents.
Richard flinched when he heard Commander Dayton use Diana's name, he knew she looked familiar, but with his sights set on the Sith and constantly being vigilant for anyone following them, he hadn't notice that the person standing beside him is a friend of Bruce. He debated taking the helmet off and introducing himself, but he didn't know if Diana was a friend or foe.
"I apologise, they were a friend of mine, when I learned they were defecting to the Sith…" Diana didn't finish that sentence as she glared off into the distance, hatred filling her eyes as she thought of her former friend. "I disobeyed orders and went rogue, I wanted to deal with my friend myself."
"And caused a major scene in which Garfield was forced to improvise." Commander Dayton grumpily sighed, he was glad he had ordered Garfield to take over the mission as any other agent wouldn't have thought to save Diana from the Sith, nor plant a grenade in the pocket of the target at the same time. The explosion was rather harrowing to watch, but at least they confirmed the death of the target, though Commander Dayton was true to his word and gave his ally an earful.
"Yes but… wait, how did you know that the Sith would be there in bulk?" Diana turned the conversation to Garfield, hopeful that she could turn it away from her mistake to brazenly dive headfirst into the fire.
"You'd be surprised what you can learn by having a conversation with some of the workers around the place, they offer useful nuggets of information that come in handy later in the heat of the moment." Garfield always made it a habit to speak with the workers, or even those drinking away their troubles in a bar, as they always had something useful to say despite not knowing it at the time. "Why do you think smugglers always hang around bars and taverns, and speaking to whoever they can? A good smuggler knows the market, a great smuggler knows the people."
"Huh, and here I thought they just wanted to get drunk." Diana quipped sarcastically, she folded her arms in defeat. Garfield's laughter filled the room, he seemed quite humoured by her words rather than insulted.
"You're not far off the mark, smugglers love having a good time, it beats the endless nothingness of space." Garfield found himself enjoying the moment despite the cold hunger gnawing at his insides, he needed to be alone soon otherwise he didn't know what he might do. "You won't find one smuggler that hasn't gone crazy during one of their trips, the alcohol and comradery help stave off the boredom."
"Returning to the matter at hand, I've already arranged transportation for you to return to Coruscant." Commander Dayton had already spoken with his ally, informing them that Diana would be returning to the Titan to be debriefed by him before she could leave with whatever method they had employed to extract her from Nar Shaddaa. "You may leave, I need to have a private word with Garfield. You as well Richard."
Diana was about to leave when she heard Richard's name, spinning around the room, she eventually landed on Red X. Richard reluctantly removed the helmet, greeting Diana with a somewhat soured expression, he didn't know what kind of reaction he was expecting, but it wasn't her snatching him into a bear hug and dragging him out of the bridge. The two had a lot to talk about.
"Garfield, how are you doing?" The sound distortion suddenly cut away and Rita voice was clearly heard on the line, she had been standing beside Commander Dayton as he spoke to Garfield.
"More or less fine, I wish I can spend a few hours alone to collect myself, but Lex won't wait. He knows I'm here, and now he knows I am looking for work from him." Garfield reluctantly stated, he never liked speaking of his emotions, but he knew Rita wouldn't accept anything but the truth from him. That, and it paid to keep Commander Dayton apprised of his mental state when dealing with someone like Lex, or any major threat for that matter. "He also wouldn't accept me sending Red X alone, that will kill any chance of completing the mission."
"You should take Rachel with you." Rita reluctantly advised Garfield, she didn't want to be mentioning the Darkling Star, but she seemed to have some strange calming effect on him. Not that she wanted to tell Garfield that, Rita doubted Garfield fully understood the effect she had on him, and mentioning it to him might cause more problems than solve them.
"Can't, Lex will dredge through any and all records to find dirt on those that meets with him." Garfield gripped, leaning back in his chair and trying to relax despite his skin crawling. "The moment he sees her face, he'll sell the information to the Sith in the heartbeat. It would be easier to post her location across the entire holonet."
Garfield didn't want to reveal that he had actually left Rachel alone with the option to leave, so even if he wanted to bring her along, he doubted he could now. Sitting up straight, he stretched and stood up, tapping a few buttons into the command console.
"I better get this over and done with, I'll call back once I'm far from Nar Shaddaa." Garfield ended the call before either of them could retort, he didn't want to carry on this conversation anymore, rather he wanted this day to be over with as soon as possible.
Returning to the cargo bay, he found Richard and Diana still speaking to one another. Deciding to let them finish their conversation, he picked up an extra plasma grenade and stowed it in his jacket, he had only picked it up on a whim when he left the ship earlier, now he wanted to keep one on hand all the time for emergency measures.
"Come on, Soldier Boy. Time to meet the incarnation of greed." Garfield thumped Richard on the shoulder as he passed them, storming down the ramp and off into the docking bay with Richard stumbling to catch up after putting his helmet on.
"Where is the meeting?" Richard asked once he caught up, he was elated to know that those close to Bruce didn't believe the charges placed against him, Diana even tried to fight against the Republic. Though, if it wasn't for Bruce, she would have joined Richard in exile.
"Club Vertica." Garfield grumbled, he hated the place with a passion. Before, the club was only open to the rich and famous, those that belonged on an exclusive list of elites, but when it changed hands, that ruling got dismissed though it still only caters to the elite. Garfield may be rich, but in their eyes, he is still a gutter rat trying to act big. "And we won't be meeting Lex directly, he never turns up to these meetings."
"Then who are we meeting?" Richard asked somewhat confused, from the way Garfield spoke of Lex it sounded as if they spoke personally and not through a second party.
"Lex, he has a personalised holo device set up in Club Vertica for conducting off the book meetings." Garfield hated the impersonal meetings the most as he couldn't always tell what the other side was thinking, though that mainly consisted of body language and facial expressions, it was enough for him to get a read on their current state of mind. However, a holo conversation removed a lot of that, which he suspected Lex used to his advantage.
On route to the club, Garfield brought Richard up to speed on Lex's tactics, especially the methods he used to through him off his game. Richard's job was to act menacing and be vigilant encase Lex tries to pull one over Garfield, he also had the task of memorising every word. Lex always sneaks something in, that way when the mission ends, and they hadn't complied to the additional condition then he could drop the reward by half.
Lex would stop at nothing to keep every single credit he could, for a man that had billions, if not trillions, it was surprising and infuriating. Garfield always hated this aspect of Lex, though a smuggler loves to haggle over credits, Lex took that enjoyment and turned it into pure torture.
Arriving at the club, they took a secret pathway around the side after nodding to two guards who seemed to be expecting them. They were escorted inside and up through a series of hidden passageways to a large luxurious room, it had bright red walls and comfortable couches lining the edges, and at the centre sat a large gilded holo device.
Garfield took a seat on the couch with Red X standing beside him, Richard kept his hands on his blasters despite no one else being in the room. It was a trait of Red X that the Doom Patrol recorded, when he felt confident and in charge of the situation, he always rested his hands on his blasters. The trait was only known by a few, but those that did, feared it.
"Captain Garfield Logan, I had a feeling I would be seeing you soon." A voice suddenly sprang to life out of the holo device in the centre of the room, a bright blue light shined before revealing an on oversized image of a well-dressed bald man sat on a gilded throne. Richard quickly realised why the room was decorated as such, as well as why no one liked the man, his ego was so large that he had to be seen as a god. "And I see you brought a… friend…"
"What can I say, thought it was time to get my own lackey for a change." Garfield grinned somewhat manically, his cold hunger demanding he become the alpha of the room after the grand display of Lex's arrival. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt oddly cool despite his normal angry reaction upon meeting Lex, he wondered if allowing his dark side to rear its ugly head occasionally might not be a bad idea. "Now, Lexy, I'm here for a job. Specifically, one that doesn't require me bolting from the Republic because of my new friend."
Lex coldly regarded Garfield, his new nickname not sitting well with the rich man. Even Richard was trying not to cast a strange glance towards Garfield, he was supposed to be on minder duty, but Garfield seemed to be handling himself well. Though, he suddenly had a strange feeling of standing really close to a vicious predator, one that his instincts demanded he be wary of.
"You should be careful, someone with your temperament might say something they shouldn't." Lex snapped, he seemed taken aback by Garfield's new attitude, though that didn't faze him too much as he reclined in his chair. "However, seeing as you brought my property back, I'm willing to let it slide."
"Ah! So, that Twi'lek girl is yours, she wrecked my demented kolto tank." Garfield shook his head, he hated that infernal thing, and even though he had the credits to replace it, the device somehow fused itself into the wall. The only way to remove it was to completely take out the entire bulkhead and replace it, though that would not only cost over twenty times greater than replacing the kolto tank itself, but it will compromise the structural integrity of the Titan, something he wasn't willing to do, even if partially. "Had to put her in a cryopod until I figured out what I can of the augments she had."
"That would explain why her implants malfunctioned." Lex muttered aloud, he knew of Garfield's demented kolto tank after he tried to have him deliver a critically wounded patient to a special hospital that would have required travelling through bandit territory, something only the Titan was capable of doing in the time require.
That kolto tank had registered the patient clinically dead, then tried to resuscitate them before giving up and declaring the patient a pregnant bantha. Lex's team of scientist were so stunned that the kolto tank couldn't detect vital signs, couldn't bring a person back from the dead without trying to electrocute them, and then decided the person was a completely different species and pregnant, they immediately left the ship and found a plant to stare at for the better part of the day. They later explained that the plant seemed far more intelligent than the kolto tank, and if they spent a minute longer near that accursed thing, they would lose their sanity.
"I'll have a team sent to pick her up from your ship." Lex shuddered at the credits he had to dole out for psychiatric treatment for the scientists, they were experts he couldn't do without and after barely managing to save the patient, the mission was carried out successfully after a separate kolto tank was temporarily installed in the cargo bay. "Now, shall we discuss the mission?"
"You know my rules, so what am I transporting?" Garfield coldly stated, uncaringly looking off into the distance as if the conversation didn't matter. He felt his bloodlust rising, he wanted to leave this room and find some bandit group he could slaughter, though his rational side reminded him that he needed the job.
"Straight to the point. In a rush to be somewhere?" Lex icily retorted, he wasn't taking to this new confident and callous smuggler, he was half tempted to pay for the girl's return and chuck him to the side lines. Yet, the mission he urgently needed completed required Garfield's expertise, and with the added benefit of Red X meant he wouldn't have to worry about his shipment being stolen at the meeting point.
"Nah, just looking forward to the fight that I'll soon be in, that is the mission, isn't it?" Garfield leant forward with a hungry glint in his eye, his breathing deepened somewhat as he thought about the firefight and the countless lives he would take by destroying a single ship.
"Something like that…" Lex leant back in his chair, somewhat put off by Garfield's new demeanour. He knew the smuggler to be reserved and quiet, not callous and homicidal. Lex could see Red X subtly casting a glance towards his employer, he too had no idea where this new side of the smuggler came from. "I have a shipment of cargo that needs to be delivered to a specific set of coordinates, and it needs to be delivered in one month."
Lex tapped a few buttons and one of his goons entered the room holding a data pad, gingerly handing it to Garfield before bolting after Red X glanced their way. Garfield read over the details, pausing as he got to the recipient of the shipment. The coordinates required him to go through a rather nasty section of bandit territory in order to make it to the rendezvous point in time, though that fact didn't seem to bother him much. The person he was meeting, did.
"Are you serious?!" Garfield exclaimed, startling Red X slightly as he turned away from Lex to gaze confusedly at Garfield, wondering what startled the smuggler. "When have you ever done business with the Sith?"
"I'm a businessman, I do not turn down deals… even if it is with those hot-headed morons." Lex griped, he never liked dealing with the Sith for the quite simple reason that the Sith never keep their word. They had a habit of killing the smugglers he sent and taking the shipment without paying, Lex tries to swear off dealing with them, but the Empire does pick up the tab when they find out. "Anyway, you'll be meeting with an Empire battleship that is commanded by the Sith in question, dock with them and deliver the cargo, they should have a device with intel on it. You are to transmit that data securely back to me and you shall receive your payment."
"Seems simple enough, wouldn't mind duelling a Sith Lord, think he will put much of a fight?" Garfield chucklingly asked Red X, a creepy smile etching onto his face as he spoke. Red X resisted shuddering before turning slightly to Garfield, trying his best to stay in character.
"As much as I would love seeing you and Sith Lord fight, wouldn't that lose us our credits?" Red X gruffly asked, the bounty hunter cared for very little other than credits, but he wouldn't pass up a chance to see powerful people fighting one another, yet since Garfield was his employer, he had to pretend to keep on his good side while subtly trying to get at the credits.
"You're right, can't waste all of my effort only to not get paid." Garfield barked, leaning forward in his chair to stare down Lex. "20%, that's my cut."
"Are you joking?!" Lex roared, he instantly flipped out and nearly leapt from his chair when Garfield stated his price. Garfield laughed at Lex's question, apparently loving the reaction rather than being afraid.
"Lexy, Lexy, Lexy." Garfield chided, smirking as Lex's eye twitched relentlessly. He was loving the power he held over the businessman, wondering why he ever quelled this side of himself. "We both know how important my role is in this mission, I doubt any smuggler would ever risk incurring Helga's wrath, or facing off against a Sith and a fully armed cruiser for anything less."
"Fine, 6%. That is my final offer." Lex reluctantly admitted, he was slowly losing his temper with the smuggler, raising the fee by even 1% insulted him, but Garfield wasn't his normal self.
"Well, it seems that you aren't interested in doing business, good luck finding anyone else that has my qualifications to get the job done." Garfield got to his feet and headed towards the door, pausing for a second to look over his shoulder at the fuming Lex. "Oh, and I think I'll flog that girl to whoever will pay me enough, that should make up for wasting my time."
"YOU DARE TO INSULT ME!" Lex slammed his fist into the arm of his chair, his eyes wild with fire as he glared death upon Garfield. Instead of retreating and apologising like anyone else in his presence would have done, Garfield erupted into laughter, throwing him off his game.
"Lexy, you honestly think you are fooling anyone with this holo meeting?" Garfield coldly stated, tuning to smirk evilly at him. His other side finally showing itself as his eyes held a deep sense of bloodlust, his chilling smile sent shivers down both men's spines. "I know you are nearby, and I am in the mood to slaughter. So, how about you don't insult me, otherwise I might turn this club… bloody."
The room chilled instantly with Garfield's threat, Red X could see his eyes glow with a hunger he only thought could come from a predator. Red X wondered what kind of person Garfield was, who he was before the Doom Patrol, and what kind of threat he posed as Lex suddenly, and noticeably, flinched.
"Lex, my original price would have been 30%, and you would have haggled for at most 10%, so I cut the resulting argument and split it midway." Garfield shrugged nonchalantly, turning once again towards the door, his smirk never leaving his face. "But, if you are too stingy to fork out for a decent smuggler to deliver the shipment under your conditions, then I'll be going."
"Wait…" Lex unwillingly stated, hating the fact that he lost the argument without even having a chance to fight. He made a mental note to never deal with Garfield again after this, but if he managed to get the data, then 20% wasn't much considering the millions he would make off this deal, not that he would tell Garfield that. "20%, but the shipment is delivered in one month, and the data is transferred securely and unseen by you as soon as the shipment is delivered."
"Deal." Garfield grinned, nodding to Lex before striding out of the room with Red X on his tail, leaving Lex to ponder what just happened. He scanned through the reports he had received, ones that he had put aside to get himself into his best mood to brow beat Garfield, and he found the culprit.
The smuggler was reported to have killed a Jedi because he was a husband of some woman he was seeing, but Lex knew Garfield didn't have the emotional capacity to have a lover, let alone allow someone close enough to him to know about his past. Garfield had always made it a point to avoid encounters, making deals with pirates or running from problems, it made him seem weak unless they meet him in person.
It wasn't until now that Lex realised where that attitude came from, putting down the data pad, he thought about what kind of person he was before he came a smuggler. What little information he was able to drag up about Garfield told him he ran with a pretty nasty pirate group, he had originally thought he was the son of the captain and left to make his own life, but seeing this dark bloodthirsty side of him had him revaluating his opinion on him.
Putting the matter aside, Lex turned to the matter of the death of the Jedi, wondering what could possibly motivate a person to kill after abstaining from it for ages. Though, he didn't let it plague him as he focused on the outcome of the mission as well as the return of his property, glad something was going his way after the Sith made the ridiculous demands of him in such a short notice.
Meanwhile
Rachel stood outside a dark alley shop that had caught her eye as she passed it, the store sold antique books in leather bindings and other literacy type items. She had been debating leaving as the credit device in her pocket meant she could go far and be free of restrictions for a while, but said credit device is what made her stop at the store front.
She never could own books such as these as they went for exorbitant prices back on Korriban, that and the ones she could get close to were coveted by selfish Sith. Now she had the credits to buy her own, though from the prices listed on the window, she could only buy one or two without spending more than half of what she had.
Rachel knew Garfield's offer was attractive, but she couldn't stay, not with Steve holding the threat of sicking the Sith on her. Not that she wasn't capable of fending them off, but the Sith would never stop until they either killed her or she returned to them willingly the moment they knew she was alive. That kind of option wasn't what she wanted for herself, and she couldn't risk it if the Doom Patrol had a change of heart.
Garfield had said that he would run interference, enough so that the Doom Patrol would lose interest in her, though she wasn't sure she could trust him. Either way, leaving was her best option, this way she could disappear and stay off the grid long enough that even if the Doom Patrol was looking for her, they wouldn't be able to find her, and the credits she had would mean she could keep it up for a while.
Entering the shop, Rachel greedily gazed at the books lining the shelves, she knew she was tempting fate by wasting her credits on such an item, but the temptation was far too much for her. The store was built from old wood and had rows of shelves lining the walls and stands in the middle of the room filled with old leather-bound books, some had differing colours or designs to them, but they largely resembled the same. The walls were a dark purple which meshed with the dark brown wood.
Walking to the back of the store, she found an elderly woman in a flowery dress quietly sipping tea from an antique cup as she read from one of the books in her store. Looking up, the elderly woman suddenly recognised Rachel and immediately put down her cup.
"Young miss, I have someone who wants to speak with you." The old lady stated before getting up from her seat behind a counter that she lifted up a segment to let her pass, Rachel was hesitant to move as she wasn't expecting the woman to recognise her, let alone tell her someone wanted to meet with her.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed the old lady behind a purple silk cloth hanging over a doorway into the back room, there she found an instant change from the old style shop out front as the room looked like some futuristic command centre. The consoles and screens had an eerily similar grey theme to them, one that she had seen before and one that she realised belonged to the person she wanted to get away from.
"Just this way." The old lady pointed to a heavy-duty metal door, inside was a small room with a single console and a chair, though Rachel couldn't take her eyes off of how dense the metal door was. If Commander Dayton wanted to trap her, then he was doing a bad job of it. "Please, the person really wishes to speak with you."
Rachel was somewhat disarmed by how genuine and friendly the old lady's smile was, enough so that she walked automatically towards the small room and took a seat. Once the door the closed beside her, the screen blared to life revealing the standard sound line the Doom Patrol used.
"Commander Dayton, to what do I owe this unexpected call?" Rachel decided to play innocent rather than yelling at him after she had unwittingly walked into one of his outposts, though she did admit that it was a clever place to put one.
"Cut the innocent act, we both know you are running." Commander Dayton's voice could be clearly heard over the call rather than the standard voice modified version, Rachel was temporarily stunned by this though she wasn't sure if it was the unprofessionalism or the fact, he knew of her plan.
"So, you're calling to remind me of our deal, huh?" Rachel rhetorically snapped, she felt angry that she had been trapped, that she couldn't even make it off world before the Doom Patrol found her. She had an image of a bird stuck inside a cage blaring in her mind as her rage rosed.
"No, I know Garfield, and I know he would provide you an out." Commander Dayton curtly stated, ignoring Rachel's fuming tone. Rachel's rage instantly died as she heard this, he knew from the start that Garfield would help her escape and still let her leave the station, now she was thoroughly confused. Sensing her confusion, Commander Dayton explained. "Garfield was once enslaved by a rather vicious group of pirates, ever since he escaped them, he has always gone out of his way to prevent someone else ending up like him."
"And you still let me leave the station knowing this?" Rachel dared to ask, she knew it was treading dangerously close to outright asking him if he believed she was a monster or not, but she had to know.
"Yes, the truth is that I have conflicting reports regarding the Darkling Star, enough so to give me doubt that you and that monster are one and the same." Commander Dayton admitted, he wasn't entirely sure until he actually met Rachel that the Darkling Star and her weren't the same person, though that didn't mean he was going to trust her outright. "My job is to prevent disasters from happening, and the Darkling Star is a living monster that needed to be stopped. Though I had my doubts, I couldn't allow them to interfere with my work, and I had to assume that you are the threat."
"Why are you contacting me now?" Rachel asked, she found she couldn't exactly blame Commander Dayton as if their roles were reversed then she would have done the exact same thing. Without absolute clarity that she and the Darkling Star are two different people, then imprisoning her would have been the next best option beside killing her, he had no idea if she was dangerous or not and he had to protect his crew and the general public.
"It's Garfield, I fear that his… other side… is reappearing." Commander Dayton reluctantly stated, he didn't want to entrust this mission to her despite having his doubts of her really being the Darkling Star, but there was no way that Rita could make it to Nar Shaddaa before Garfield left. "Like I said, he was enslaved by cruel pirates who tortured him and forced him to kill… and unfortunately he grew a taste for it."
"I'm not following?" Rachel had guessed his past was bad, yet she wasn't exactly prepared to hear it in words. Garfield had a violent nature, one that flared up occasionally, but he managed it well, so why was this a concern for her.
"Despite restraining himself, Garfield accidently developed a thirst for killing, one that turns him it a remorseless killing machine. In this state, he has no hesitation and will actively seek out people to kill." Commander Dayton was downplaying how serious his other side was, but he didn't want to scare off Rachel. "So long as he doesn't kill then he can manage the effects and reframe from becoming a peerless monster, however it doesn't mean he can't kill. Just that if he does then he needs to spend time alone to quell his other side before it breaks free."
"So, the anger issues, and that weird state he entered back in the cafeteria, all stem from this… other side?" Rachel asked inquisitively, she was finally getting a picture of the smuggler's true nature, though it seemed her initial assessment was right, that he is insanely sporadic with several triggers that can set him off.
"More or less, Garfield gained the anger issues from his captivity, but his predator mode does stem from his other side." Commander Dayton replied after a few seconds of silence, he debated answering, though if he wanted her help then he had to tell the truth. "When Garfield's bloodlust is in full swing, he becomes insanely dangerous, able to kill in a heartbeat and without hesitation. Though he is feared by many for his skills, those that know this side of him are absolutely terrified of when his other side appears."
"You said he escaped… If his bloodlust is that bad, why didn't he stay with the pirates?" Rachel continued to question Steve, from his words it sounded like Garfield broke free of his own will rather than the Doom Patrol saving him, though with what Commander Dayton had just told her, he couldn't control himself when he enters this state.
"His other side only raises its head when he kills, but it dissipates after it has had his fill of death. It was during one of these moments that he escaped from the pirates." Commander Dayton never managed to get Garfield to explain how he escaped after learning of his other side, but learning of the bloodlust and how he can leave this state once he kills enough answered his question. "From the reports… I would estimate that he needs to kill many strong opponents, the stronger the better, before he returns to normal, or at least to the point he can control himself."
"Not to sound heartless, but why does this concern me?" Rachel asked, she felt pity towards Garfield, that he had these demons plaguing him and he is willing to help her. Yet, she still didn't know why Commander Dayton was telling any of this to her.
"Because not long ago I had Garfield carry out a kill mission for an ally of mine, a mission I deeply regret but one I had little other choice. No one could carry out the mission other than him, and if it wasn't dealt with then many lives would have been lost." Commander Dayton sighed, though he had shouted at his ally for nearly an hour straight, he felt it wasn't enough for what he had to put Garfield through. "Normally, Garfield would spend hours afterwards quelling his other side, but he had to use Lex's name to defuse a situation which forced to go straight to the meeting without taking the time to rid himself of his other sides re-emergence."
"And now that side of him is flaring up and you are worried that if he isn't stopped soon then he might kill mercilessly." Rachel sighed as she summed up what Commander Dayon was saying, that if he isn't isolated, and soon, then it will cause major issues around Nar Shaddaa and put the Doom Patrol in a bind as they would have to clean this mess up. Rachel didn't see this as a problem for her to fix, yet she wanted to repay Garfield's kindness and help him.
"Not exactly, Garfield's other side is like an addiction to him, one that he has little restraint against. If he starts up again… I fear he may never be able to stop." Commander Dayton had spent months isolating Garfield from the rest of the world, forcing him to quell the other side or go insane. It was the only method that would work as Garfield couldn't help himself, whatever the pirates did to him had left him feeling euphoric every time he killed… like that of a predator killing a prey. "You have some strange ability to calm him, how or why I don't know, but if Garfield isn't stopped… then he may never return from the madness."
Rachel sat there in thought, it was true that when she touched him, he instantly calmed down, though she never thought much about it. Now that it was at the forefront of her mind, she realised that Garfield had a similar effect on her, yet she couldn't explain it. Part of her wondered if it was because of the force, while another chalked it up to kindred spirits, though she couldn't really call herself similar to him as he spent his life in agony while she turned her nose up at being called a monster.
"I want to help him… he did so much for me… but I won't be chained." Rachel forced herself to speak, she really did want to help Garfield, but if she had to do it under the threat of being exposed to the Sith then she would take her chances with angering the Doom Patrol commander.
"Name your price." Commander Dayton reluctantly asked, it was his fault Garfield was in this situation, if he had to pay a hefty price then so be it. Rachel stared at the screen for a moment, wondering if he genuinely meant it or if he was asking her how much to buy her compliance. If she stayed with Garfield then she would earn a large sum of credits, something she was sure Commander Dayton would have been aware of, so if she is correct then she might get everything she wants, and more.
"I'll agree to help Garfield under the condition that you never ever threaten or actually use my past against me, you cannot expose me to the Sith, and you must actively prevent anyone else from doing so." Rachel stated after a few moments, if she could get an organisation like the Doom Patrol to back her then she never would have to fear being ousted again. "Also, I want a full identity made labelling me as a crew member of Garfield's ship with the name, Raven."
"I doubt Rita will like this… but… fine." Commander Dayton reluctantly agreed, he knew he would have to bring Rita up to speed on this deal sooner or later, and he was fairly certain that she would lose the plot with him. "However, the Doom Patrol will not interfere if you deliberately reveal your identity to anyone who may later expose it."
"That's fine." Rachel figured he would try to pull the deal around to his favour, though this condition of his wasn't too much of an issue for her. The only people who know she is still alive are those on the Titan and the Doom Patrol, and she was fairly certain they wouldn't out her so long as she didn't give them a reason to do so. As she was thinking about who knew her, she remembered the old lady and the store she ran. "Oh, and since this store is owned by you then I want a full selection of books sent to my room on the Titan."
"Fine…" Commander Dayton grumbled, he had figured she was interested in the old-style books after he caught her spying the few that Rita owned, it was his reason for contacting his agent in that store, but the cost of those books would be extensive, though the Doom Patrol did get a large influx of credits thanks to the repair captain's tricks. "Now, with that out of the way, Garfield should be finishing his meeting with Lex. Rendezvous with him before he arrives back at the Titan, I don't want the others knowing about his other side… if you tell them then this deal is voided."
Rachel nodded before departing from the room and the store, standing outside in the alley in thought. She was no longer chained like she feared, and she got a new identity, yet she felt somewhat dirty. She had just exploited Commander Dayton's guilt at making Garfield kill for her own gain, it made her as bad as him, using Garfield like a tool to get what they wanted.
Rachel didn't know how she should feel, on the one hand she gets everything she wanted, but on the other she hadn't earned it. If she wanted to create a name for herself, did she want it off the back of a shady deal like this? As she stood there, she wondered why her morals were attacking her now and not back when she first learned of Garfield's enslavement, though back then she didn't know how bad it really was.
Sighing to herself, Rachel set off to intercept Garfield, for now she put her conflicting emotions aside and focused on helping the smuggler. Opting to delve further into her new emotions once they were safely off world and she could spend time alone in her room with her new books.
Author's Note: Hope this chapter played out well and the characters aren't too out there, but I wanted to show a darker side to Garfield and a lighter side to Rachel. As for Lex, he knows enough of Garfield's past to know that he is dangerous and highly capable, but he doesn't know the exact name of the pirate group he ran with otherwise he would have sold him to the highest bidder as soon as he could.
As for Diana, I don't know why I wrote her in, but I felt like I needed to hint more at who the ally of the Doom Patrol was. And no, its not just Bruce.
