*I only own the OC in this story and the plot of it. My Hero Academia and all canon characters in this world are property of Kōhei Horikoshi. Also comment to let me know what you think! Enjoy!*
Binding the Galaxy Together
Chapter 5 – Bad News
Usually whenever a villain was stopped in broad daylight, the hero responsible for stopping them would be held up for quite some time either being questioned by cops for details, or reporters for a story. Either way it was something that some heroes, like Mirko, never looked forward to. So she was thankful that there was actually a legit reason this time to turn away from that. Even more so that one of the top cops was with them doing the same thing.
The alley that Camilla had led them all into had another exist down the way. It came out into another sidewalk that wasn't so busy yet with people on it. From there, Mirko figured it should only be a short walk to the warehouse where the cloaked teenager's ship was being kept. Nejire poked her head out and looked left and right, making sure the scene from earlier was out of sight.
"Alright. We're clear."
The others took that as their cue to exit with her. First Ryukyu walked out behind her, then Mirko, Camilla, and finally Detective Tsukauchi. As they walked down the street, civilians turned from all directions to look at them and comments could be heard.
"Look there! That's the number nine hero, Ryukyu! And the rising star Mirko!"
"You think they're working a case together?"
"Check out the sidekicks."
"The one with the spiral horns is cute!"
"I think she's a U.A. student! I saw her on TV during the sports festival!"
"Well yeah but what about that cloaked person?"
Ryukyu, Mirko, and Nejire gave the people a few smiles and some waves to their fans. Even Nejire did so, happy to be given some recognition as a student of U.A. High School. Camilla on the other hand was nervous about people noticing her. She pulled her hood up a little closer to further on her head to mask a bit more of her face.
"The people here," She started to speak again. "They talk about you as if you are celebrities. I can sense their calm and ease as they look at us."
Ryukyu turned back, noticing more of the girl's face was unseen under that hood. She and the others took note about the whole sensing emotions thing but decided to pin that until they got to the warehouse.
"Yes. That is how our society works on this planet." The dragoon hero stated. "We will teach you in due time."
"I welcome your help." Camilla replied back. "I'm sorry I ran from you all at the hospital. I wasn't sure what to think."
Now it was Mirko who looked back at her.
"Not gonna lie to you, kid. I was pissed when you did that. And I wanted to clobber you." She was blunt and she didn't care. "But you sure showed some wits and power out there today. So as far as I'm concerned, you're good in my book."
"But one of the things you need to learn right away is this." Tsukauchi talked now. "On this planet, vigilantes are not welcome here. You can't just jump into a crime scene and fight villains without the proper certification."
Again this subject came up. Camilla was at a loss as her thoughts ran a mile a second. What was up with the licenses and certifications on this world?
"You need certification to help someone in this world? You can't just do it because it's the right thing to do and that's all the reason you need?"
Ryukyu sighed and Mirko looked rather annoyed that this teenager was questioning the society she's protected and abided by for years. Well…her definition of "abided".
"I can assure you we will explain our reasons for this, Camilla." The dragoon hero promised. "For now I think that will have to wait."
"Why's that?"
"Because we're here."
Mirko had been the one to respond to her that time. Camilla could hear the beeping on her holo-disk speed up to nearly a full flat tone. She reached a couple fingers into the pouch and double tapped the button, silencing the device.
"Shall we go in?"
The four with the young girl agreed and one by one they huddled into the lobby of the warehouse. There was a desk in the corner with a short gentleman wearing a dress shirt and black pants. His head was that of a coral snake.
"Yessssss. How can I-AH! Ryukyu! Mirko! Detective Tssssssssssssssukauchi!"
The snake headed man bowed repeatedly to the two pros and the cop there with them. Then a couple more bows went in Nejire's and Camilla's directions.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of thissssss visit?!"
Mirko bent down to get her head closer to the snake man.
"Tell your boss I'm here to see what he picked up last night."
"R-right away, ma'am!"
The entire time he talked up to the moment he left, Camilla was left in a ton of confusion. The person's words sounded one way but the emotions she was sensing was throwing her off.
"Why did he sound so afraid of you, yet felt so excited?"
Mirko let out a smug chuckle.
"That's what being a prominent hero in Japan will get ya, alien chick. People admire you everywhere you go and they hold us up on pedestals of greatness."
You didn't have to be able to sense emotions to feel the cockiness of the rabbit hero's words. Ryukyu felt like she had a duty to add onto that in order to save Camilla's growing opinion on Earth's people.
"As crude and self serving as she sounded, that doesn't make it any less truthful. There a lot of professional heroes on this planet and the civilians we protect look up to us. Maybe some of them do so a little too much but they still need us to protect them from the villains who mean them harm, like the one you took down just earlier."
Camilla hummed; still unsure of which way to lean with these people, but set those thoughts aside as the snake headed man came back and smiled to his new guests. His boss, Haru stepped out into the room and smiled as well.
"Ah hello Miss Mirko! And Miss Ryukyu and Detective Tsukauchi! Welcome! Now I assume you are here to see the big kahuna?"
All five people in front of him just looked confused by the name.
"I'm sorry. The what?" Camilla asked.
Haru looked down at the hooded girl and kept his smile despite it dropping a bit at the spotting of not one, but two kids here.
"Y-yes. The big kahuna. That's just what we call something we brought in last night. A very big wreck. Yes. Very big very bad. I don't think you should be near it."
"I beg to differ." Camilla corrected. "I was its pilot."
Haru opened his mouth to speak again but froze when he registered what the girl had said. Suddenly his gaze just couldn't tear away from her.
"She's telling the truth, Mr. Haru." Ryukyu now had his attention. "Mirko and I recovered her from the cockpit last night and brought her to the hospital. Now she's come to survey the damage."
Finding his senses again, Haru nodded his head in excited compliance with Ryukyu's request. He shuffled all of them through the door and then looked to the snake headed man. He nudged him over to the door and the reptilian man immediately locked the doors of the establishment before he closed all the blinds.
Through the door, Ryukyu and Mirko were getting a good look at what they saw last night, now in clear light. Nejire and Tsukauchi were both seeing it for the first time. The two older pros sure meant what they said. This thing looked absolutely nothing like they had ever seen before. And it was so small. The cockpit alone could only seat one person so they could only wondered how a small thing like this could travel through space. And those things on the front definitely looked like odd sort of cannons.
Flipping her hood off, Camilla reached out her senses again and concentrated on the room she was in. Through the limited vision her power granted her, she was able to locate just where her ship was and walked over to it. When she was close enough, she placed the palm of her left hand to the surface of the metal hull. This was her ship alright. She'd know that feel anywhere. She ran her hand forward on the surface as she walked but stopped when she felt something else. The metal felt broken jagged. A burnt smell still lingered from it. She ran her hand further and she figured it out. A giant section of the left wing had a missive crack in it. She couldn't see it, but the wires and circuitry exposed were still sparking in some areas.
"Oh no…." Suddenly Camilla started to sound afraid.
The three heroes and Tsukauchi who had approached behind her this whole time took immediate notice of the crack. They too looked a bit worried. Not so much about the ship, but rather the facial expression coming from its pilot. As she finally noticed just how bad some of the damage to her ship was, she turned around and leaned her body back against the surface of the tilted craft. She leaned back farther and farther until her back was laid flat against the wing of her ship.
"It's bad isn't it?" She asked that to anyone.
Mirko winced, not sure of how to tell her but knowing there was one way she could.
"Weeeeeeeellll….nnnnooooo…..kiiiindaaaa….yeah. Yeah it's bad, kid."
The sound of two hands smacking into Camilla's face rang out in the room and echoed off the walls. An exasperated sigh seeped through her fingers as the reality of the situation was dawning on her. If this was only part of the damage to one side, then the rest of it couldn't have been any better.
"I'm stuck here."
She whimpered that out knowing it was the only conclusion to come to. She was stranded on an uncharted world with no functional way off it.
All four figures near her couldn't help but feel sorry for her again. Not because of her blindness this time. Now they were sympathetic because this teenager crash landed on a new world and is immediately homeless in it. Nejire walked over and sat on the wing of the ship with the poor alien, trying to rub a soothing hand on her shoulder. The blue haired teen kept trying to open her mouth to say something but she couldn't think of anything to say that would be comforting.
Then something moved.
Resting to the right side of the two girls, a dome shaped piece of metal began to turn to "look" at the two girls. Yellow squares seemed to line all around this dome and a big metal lens was in the center like an eye. Below that was another small circle lighting up red.
A small series of chirps and beeps began to emanate from that domelike thing. Nejire whipped her head to look at it, as did Ryukyu, Mirko, and Tsukauchi. Haru was the only one in the room with them and he too heard the dome sound off. When Camilla did, she shot right up, sitting back upright and turned in the direction the noise came from.
"R3?"
Her voice came back again but this time it was full of hope. The dome beeped loudly again almost as if it was excited to see her. A smile came spreading across Camilla's face as she began to crawl across the wing of her ship and over to it.
"Haha! R3, you're alright!"
Now on her knees, Camilla ran her hands over the dome of the machine now known as R3. The robot began to move its head back and forth while it kept on chirping and beeping like mad in some sort of communication attempt. Ryukyu, Nejire, Mirko, nor Tsukauchi could make heads or tails of it, but someone there could.
"I know. Yeah it was rough, pal…..h-hey! The ship was on fire and plummeting! I did the best I could!"
The dome shaped piece of metal let out a quick series of chirps that sounded very similar to snickering. Rather than keep being annoyed, Camilla just let a small smile creep onto her face as she rested her forehead against the metal of her droid, happy that at least she wasn't fully alone.
"Oh my friend. I'm so happy you're ok."
"So are you going to explain here, kid? Or are we just supposed to connect the dots ourselves?"
Mirko's voice snapped the young alien blind girl out of her distracted thoughts and looked back in the rabbit hero's direction as when she spoke. The head of the droid turned again when it noticed there were other people around besides just Camilla. It beeped again and turned back to Camilla as if wanting an explanation.
"Right. Uuuuhhhh…Miss Mirko, Miss Ryukyu, Miss Nejire, Detective Tsukauchi….Haru….allow me to introduce to you my astromech droid, R3-F14. But you can just call him R3."
A couple short beeping noises rang out of R3's dome shaped head.
"He says hello."
Haru the cleanup guy was no longer standing behind the crowd. He stepped in closer wanting to take a look at this himself. Everyone did. While the ship was in tatters it appears at least some bigger technology survived the fall with Camilla.
"A….a droid? Like a robot?" Nejire spoke softly.
Before the ruby haired girl could answer, R3 rotated his head back to Camilla and began to "speak" again.
"Hm?...oh! Right! Yeah I'll get you out. Hold on."
The cloaked teen pushed herself away from her droid and placed both her hands flat against the surface of her tattered craft. The five others there looked on as she seemed to run her hands over the metal as if she was looking for something specific. Almost as if she were-
Oh yeah.
At this point, the two pro heroes, the one in training, and the detective have seen quite an impressive show of her knowing where things and people are despite her eyes not working. Now here her disability was clearly showing, indicating that were indeed limitations to what she could make out with her power. As Camilla went around the left wing of her ship trying to find something, she grew a bit more annoyed when she didn't find whatever it was she was looking for.
"Should we…." Mirko whispered to Ryukyu.
The number nine hero nodded and took a step forward.
"Camilla, do you need help?"
"No! I got it just fine!"
She was way too fast to answer that and maybe a little snappy too. It was something all three present authority figures had heard before. The tone of someone who clearly DID need help but didn't want to admit it. Apparently they weren't the only ones to know it because R3 began to let loose another barrage of chirps, beeps, and moans of communication to his master. No one else had any idea what he said to the girl, but it was enough to make Camilla sigh and turn her head back reluctantly.
"…..yes…..help…please."
She sounded defeated as her head slumped down. Nejire stood back up on her feet while Mirko, Ryukyu, and Tsukauchi stepped forward to get closer to the ship.
"So what are you looking for?" Tsukauchi asked.
"The emergency release lever to get R3 free from his spot should be nearby in case the auto-release malfunctioned."
After that brief explanation, the four of them began to scan their eyes around the area looking for something that fit that description. While they did, Ryukyu kept glancing back at the girl who now adjusted herself to sitting down and wrapping her arms around her bent legs.
"You know it's perfectly OK to ask for help given your condition, Camilla." Ryukyu assured her.
Camilla didn't seem convinced in the slightest by that.
"Yeah. That's all I need. More people thinking I need to be careful every time I move my feet to take a step because my eyes don't work."
"Hey none of us ever said that, alright?" Mirko defended them all as she kept looking. "I admit I was thinking it but you proved me wrong with that little show earlier."
It did little to ease the alien's mind but she shrugged, at least acknowledging Mirko's words. Ryukyu sighed again, used to hearing things like this from quite a few of the people she's had to save.
"I don't think you're made of glass, Camilla." She said to the girl as gently as possible. "In fact after today I'm pretty sure you could handle most the villains that come your way looking for a fight."
"Not that you should." Tsukauchi added on. "There are still rules and regulations about this world we need to get you acquainted with. And while we're on that subject-"
"Hey I found it!"
Nejire's voice broke Tsukauchi's train of thought as the blue haired student was seen with her hand on a nearby lever on the wing of the ship. Immediately she pulled it without hesitation and the moment she did-
*SPROING!*
A loud robotic sounding scream is what filled the room next. The tension had apparently built up a tad more than what Camilla had originally thought of. The moment R3 was released from the ship's grip on his body he was launched several feet into the air and made an arc that reached almost to the other side of the room. Luckily for him however, Camilla snapped back into attention and reached out her left hand. Right before the dome shaped head of the droid crashed into the ground, R3 was caught in the invisible grip of his master's power.
The blind teen breathed a sigh of relief as she turned her hand to adjust R3's position in midair. When he was back up right, she set him down to the ground. Now everyone else in the room could get a good look at the robot's full body. Other than the dome shaped head decorated with various yellow squares and rectangles. His body was as wide as his head and in the shape of a wide cylinder. All across the front of his body were several other yellow painted panels overtop a white paint for the rest. He stood now on two legs with wheels on the bottom of his feet.
Then his body tilted forward and a third leg popped out from underneath his body. A small motor could be heard as the diminutive droid began roll over to the ship once more before he suddenly felt gazed upon by the five present Earth residents. All of them were scanning up and down his body entranced by the look and design of him.
"Wow….it's so….small." Mirko's comment was the first one.
R3 didn't seem to like that one as he chirped in annoyance.
"It looks very intricately designed." Tsukauchi said next.
The yellow and white droid didn't seem to react much to that.
"Aw he's kinda cute." Nejire closed the gap between herself and the droid.
She crouched down to get a better look at R3 and smiled. Interesting he was but also in her eyes, kind of a cute designed little robot. Standing at only three feet and six inches in max height had to be a contributing factor in Nejire's opinion.
"And he belongs to you?" Ryukyu was asking Camilla.
"More like he was assigned to me and he just became mine over time." The girl responded. "When I was really young I was still learning how to use the Force to see so I needed constant help getting around until I could master it. R3 here was given to me by my masters at the temple I lived in to assist me wherever I went."
Now they all understood. R3, other than being what he was designed for, was given the role of a disabled assistant. But that wasn't the part of the brief explanation that caught most of the older humans' attention. She said she was being taught to use something. The Force? Was that what she called her power?
"So he's like a seeing eye dog?"
That little comment from Mirko halted that train of thought and stirred a reaction from the droid. Another flurry of noises came chirping and beeping out of him quite loudly this time while shaking his head back and forth but landing his "gaze" at the rabbit ranked hero. Even though she couldn't understand what the little robot was saying, Nejire had a guess.
"I don't think he liked that." She surmised.
Camilla nodded knowing she was right. However she hesitated to say the next part but she didn't stop herself from translating.
"He said to not relate him to an animal. Then uh….well I'm just quoting him here. Then he said he's more advanced than a woman with bigger ears than a brain could hope to understand."
All around the room, different reactions were painted on the faces of the five native Earth humans. Haru the cleanup guy had a look of horror plastered on his face that an insult such as that was thrown towards a pro hero, let alone one such as Mirko who was making a name for herself quite quickly. Tsukauchi was impressed that the droid had the ability to even have such thoughts or even speak in such a way. Nejire stood frozen looking between the rabbit hero and R3 wondering what was about to happen. One of Ryukyu's hands went up to her face to cover her mouth as her lips curled inwards to stave off the small laughter that was on the verge of slipping through. For Mirko however, a switched was flipped in her head and she began to mincingly approach the droid.
"Oh yeah?! Well how about a rolling trash can with legs! Is that any better?!"
Seeing as how her friend was looking ready to crush this thing with her powerful feet, Ryukyu pushed down her giggles and stood in front of her defending the droid.
"Rumi, please! Calm down! You started it!"
While the two bickered for a bit, Tsukauchi turned back to see Camilla was just now sliding off her ship and standing back up fully on her legs. He took a few steps to approach her and then stood only a couple feet away.
"Alright, Miss Sharro. We've done our part as promised." The detective took his hat off of his head. "Now it's your turn."
A nod was his immediate response from the alien. She couldn't deny them any longer. Not after this. She gave them her word so long as they kept theirs and they did. Now was the time to give them what they wanted. She just had to do one more quick thing before all of that started.
"I agree, detective. But just give me one minute. There's something I must do. R3."
The droid was called over and he rolled around the two pro heroes to reach Camilla. When he did, his body tilted forward and his third leg retracted back up into his body.
"Take a quick scan over the ship. I need to see if the communications array is still functioning. If it is, we need to try to make contact with Master Morlev. He'll be able to tell us what's going on."
"I'm sorry. Master who?" Tsukauchi was listening now to this new info.
As were the other four present.
"Larek Morlev. He's my master sworn to teach me. If anyone knows anything about why I was run out of my galaxy, it's him. R3, get to scanning."
The droid didn't comply with his master's request. His only response was a long slow beep that sounded almost like….sadness. Camilla, along with everyone else, didn't like the sound of that. Slowly the blind girl started to grow worried again.
"R3, what's wrong?"
His dame shaped head slowly turned in Camilla's direction as a soft slew of bloops, beeps, and chirps rang out from him again.
"What message?"
He fidgeted. A droid fidgeted. It was like he was nervous. That alone was enough to make the Earth natives surprised. Just how intelligent was this little robot? That question though was forced to be put aside when he began to turn his head again. Out of the little nozzle underneath R3's optic sensor, light began to flood out of it producing a life sized hologram in front of them all.
"Droid! Droid are you recording?!"
"Master?"
Immediately everyone's attention was on the image forming in front of them. In a blue light, there kneeled a human man dressed in the same style of clothes and a cloak like the ones Camilla was wearing. They could see on his belt that he too had on a metal tube like the girl's. Come to think of it, it was exactly identical to the one she had clipped to her belt on her left side right now.
The man kneeling down looked horrified as if something terrible was happening all around him. He had long hair of an undetermined color thanks to the light of the hologram image. From the reaction the present alien gave, this man had to be Master Larek Morlev.
"Good! Very good. I don't have much time so we have to make this quick. Padawan, if you receive this message and I pray to the Force you do, then listen to me very closely. The clones have turned on us. I don't know why but all the troops under our command have suddenly turned their guns on us. I'm barricaded for now but that won't last long. But I do have enough time to say this."
All of them wanted to ask who "Padawan" was. Not to mention who the "clones" were. They all held their tongues however and let the message play on. The one being spoken to here had started to grow very nervous as she listened to her master's voice play through.
"Run. Camilla you have to run and be strong on your own now. The war has turned horribly out of our favor the demise of the Jedi is upon us. You will find in your ship a holocron with all of your other ones that will give you the grave message I received. Heed it."
"…..what?"
Camilla had gone from nervous to afraid and everyone could tell. But Master Morlev wasn't done.
"If you find safe harbor, then it is imperative now that you remain there as long as you can. Stay out of sight and don't do anything that will draw attention to yourself. The spies of the dark side could be anywhere now. And most of all, my apprentice,…..I am so proud of all you accomplished under my tutelage."
A sniffle was heard as the ruby haired teen began to let tears loose from her eyes and roll down her cheeks.
"…..please no."
"I always knew you would be a wonderful Jedi regardless of your sight. And I never regretted taking you on as my Padawan for even a second. Just know that wherever you are, I will always be with you."
The sounds of something crashing could be heard as Master Morlev looked back. Then he took his piece of metal off his belt and looked like he was putting it inside of R3's head.
"Be sure she get's that. Understand? Good. Be strong, Camilla. And may the Force be with you."
"No. No! Master, don't!"
Master Morlev stood back up and seemed to dash away from the droid right before the message cut out. Camilla now stood where her master once kneeled as if trying to actually pull him out of a recorded message to save him. Alas she was too late…and also on a whole other planet. All five the present Earthlings looked upon the girl with fresh worry written on their faces. Just what the hell was that message? What were Jedi? The Force? Padawan? What did any of these words mean?! And what did this mean for Camilla? That message was clearly for her and telling her to not come back to wherever it is she's from but it didn't go into very much detail as to why.
More beeping rang from R3 as he explained a couple things Camilla didn't see in the message. A few sharp breaths could be heard from her as she shakily turned back to her droid while a hand rested over the metal of the weapon on the left side of her hip.
"That's why you had his saber?"
The droid didn't respond much. Only a low bloop like the last one.
"Camilla…." Nejire couldn't think of what to say. "What was all of that?"
"I don't know." She answered as she looked to her droid. "He said there was a holocron. Where?"
Another chirp was his response which made the girl turn immediately back to the ship. She walked back to it and climbed up the wing where her hand made contact with the glass of the canopy. With a wave of her hand, it swing forward opening up and Camilla looked back to her new acquaintances.
"One of you, help me. Please."
Her frantic tone was enough to make any of them move. Tsukauchi was the nearest one so he went up to her, climbing up the wing and crouching next to her looking inside the cockpit. It was small, definitely big enough for only one person but it didn't look like there was anything else in here.
"What am I looking for?"
"Behind the seat."
Tilting his head forward, the detective saw what he assumed Camilla was talking about. He got closer, reached in behind the head of the pilot's seat, and pulled out a medium sized duffel bag. Moving it around he could feel and hear some unknown objects clinking around inside. They sounded metal and the eight of the bag confirmed that theory. However it wasn't his to look inside. Usually in a scene like this, any objects found within a crashed aircraft would be taken and looked over but since the owner of it was here, there was no need. Tsukauchi handed the bag to Camilla and she immediately unlatched it at the front and flipped the lid open. The others all gathered around her wanting to see what else the young girl had with her.
Peeking inside, they all could see even more objects that they couldn't make heads or tails of. There were a few more vials of that blue stuff Mirko saw her use earlier to heal that injured man, about twenty five or thirty. They were kept in a protective case that had a clear see through lid on top. However aside from the box there was what the bag was mostly filled with. Lying around the interior of the duffel bag was an assortment of blue luminescent cubes. There appeared to be seven of them and they all looked identical to each other.
Reaching a hand in, Camilla held her palm over them and let her eyes shut. She held a hand out over each of the cubes seemingly feeling them out with an unseen power until she hovered over the third one. She grabbed it and pulled it out before letting the bag drop to her feet.
"This one wasn't with me before." She said aloud.
"I'm sorry but what is that?" Ryukyu asked while staring at the cube with interest.
"It's called a holocron. It's a device that stores information but only people with the Force can unlock it."
There was that word again. The Force. Before any of them could press her for answers on it they watched her close her eyes again and hold the cube out in front of her in her flat palm. A soft breath could be heard escaping through her lips as she concentrated on the object in front of her. A moment later, one of the corners of the holocron twisted out of place followed by the other seven at once. Then those corners detached from the cube and levitated about a foot away from it as the cube hovered a couple of inches off Camilla's still outstretched hand. The holocron was glowing now with yet another hologram appearing on top of the cube shaped object. It was another man with the same style as Camilla and her master. Only this one seemed to have short hair and quite the impressive beard. Hopefully this one would clear a few things up and bring about some good news.
This was not the case.
"This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic, have fallen with a dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the temple…that time has passed. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always."
When the message ended, the image of the man vanished and the corners of the holocron returned to their place on the device and twisted back giving the object its perfect cube shaped form again. When it dropped back into Camilla's hand, her fingers didn't clasp around it. The holocron tipped over and clinked to the floor in front of Mirko's foot. The rabbit hero knelt down and picked the device up, looking over it closer and thinking about the message that came inside it.
"Alright kid you gotta give us-whoa!"
The moment Mirko looked back to the girl she saw the tears from before returned with a fury this time running down her cheeks like a couple of dams had just busted. Her breathing had also become sharp and very irregular.
"This…..no….this….this can't be happening…."
"Camilla? Camilla!" Ryukyu rushed in and took a grip on her arm.
Tsukauchi was right there on her other side and he recognized this. Camilla was having a panic attack.
"You! Haru! Get some water over here!"
Not needing to be told twice, Haru ran to the door to fetch some water while Mirko and Nejire rushed over to see how they could help.
"Hey hey! Camilla, calm down! Just calm down, alright? It's gonna be OK!"
Mirko was never one to use names with people she didn't know but she knew that silly rule had to be tossed out here. An alien was having a panic attack and she had an idea about why.
"Just breathe. In and out. In and out." Nejire tried to set an example for her to follow.
But it wasn't helping. Inside the young teenager's head, her emotions were brewing together into a dangerous concoction. All the training and lessons she had been instilled with had completely evaporated from her brain as she began to break down. The messages from not one but two of her masters had sent her entire world crashing down. The Jedi were gone and the republic with it. Everything and everyone she had ever known were either dead or unreachable. And she didn't know who all that extended to. Her master? Her friends? Her brother? The thought of that last one only made the pressure in her chest tighten.
The door into the warehouse opened up again and from the lobby Haru came running back with an unopened bottle of water. When he was close enough, he tossed it to Tsukauchi and he caught it. Quickly he twisted the cap off and held it up for Camilla to take.
"Here, Miss Sharro. Take a drink. It will help."
"No…..no it won't….."
Camilla didn't even acknowledge there was anything in front of her. Her head tilted downwards until her eyes looked directly to her boots. Her breathing had eased just a bit but not entirely. Slowly, she moved to stand up. Ryukyu and Tsukauchi both moved with her, unsure if she should even be trying to do so.
"Not only am I stuck here….but even if I could leave….I have nowhere to go."
All around the room, the three heroes and the detective looked back and forth between each other trying to think of something they could do for this poor girl. Mirko placed the holocron in her hand back in the bag with the others and closed it before she stood back up with it in her hands and looked to her fellow pro.
"Hey doesn't your agency's building have guest rooms in it for your interns?"
Ryukyu nodded knowing where she was going with this. Nejire had spent many nights in a room of her own at her agency and there were plenty of empty ones not being used. It wasn't a permanent thing by any means but it was at least a way to get her somewhere comfortable and away from this dreary warehouse with her tattered spaceship.
"Come on, Camilla. I think it's time we left." Ryukyu said to the panicking teen.
"You too, R3." Nejire beckoned to the droid.
Immediately he complied not needing to be told twice. His third leg extended out again and he began to roll behind the heroes as they led Camilla out. Before they left, Mirko turned back, still carrying the duffel bag full of holocrons and that healing goop, and looked to Haru.
"Remember what I said earlier. Tell no one of this. If you do, things will happen. None of them good."
She hadn't meant to sound threatening but fortunately for her, Haru understood where this was coming from. Not to mention the warning from the phone call earlier that morning was still ringing in his head. As Mirko turned to rejoin the rest of them, Haru went the other direction to find a tarp to cover the ship for the time being.
As she walked out the door with her escorts next to her, Camilla could feel the unknown sun of this world hitting her in the face with its heat. A heat she was unfamiliar with on a world she didn't understand in the slightest. Their rules, this Force energy, all of it just made her feel so dizzy it was a miracle she was still walking. As Ryukyu and the others began to lead her towards her agency, she stepped along with them knowing these steps were the first ones on her own.
She had never been more afraid.