Liberosis (Joy and Kole)

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time

---

It hadn't been an easy job, but it had been bloodless for the most part. Hijacking a shipment of Locke and Key arms had been the price of the information he sought, but it had gotten him what he needed, more than what he'd ever expected to be quite honest. In addition to nabbing four LK-40 Flechette guns, some prototype chit that turned out to be quite the weapon, he'd also gotten a location. An abandoned tenement in J-27's deepest slums, where supposedly the wounded Beast had been spotted limping into a week ago.

They'd never seen him come out either. So perhaps this would be easy.

More han once a little voice had whispered to reach out to Joy and see if she had anything to share, but nothing would top this. Not that he knew of anyway. So he sent the call, and made his way down to 1320. In the message he'd sent to Joy he'd given her a simple address, another dingy safehouse he'd acquired to replace his last one. One he'd replace soon enough.

Standing there on the corner, lit stimstick hanging from his lips, Cadmon shoved his hands deep in his coat's pockets. The long coat hid a host of things, an LK-40, his own piece, and a most notably military grade body armor. Reports indicated the beast preferred ballistics, so he'd come prepared.

Now all he had to do was wait.

------

Inside the decrepit old apartment lay seemingly nothing. From the looks of it the building was empty, spare the automated turrets waiting patiently on either side of the building, deep inside it's shambles was a recently emptied bacta tank, one that the Beast of J-27 himself now stood outside of, rage burning in his sharp blue eyes.

He'd let himself get played. Having been out for nearly a week, he was surprised he wasn't dead, Thrandis knew someone must've spotted him as he dragged himself in, battered and bruised. The Beast was going to kill that bastard, even if it meant mobilizing all his assets. The Triad would crumble. He'd see to that himself.

For now, he had to focus on ensuring he hadn't been compromised. Nothing burned if he got shot the moment he walked out the door.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

"You don't look so hot."

The detective had elected to park a ways off, approach from a different angle. Whilst she couldn't blend in with the crowd as much -- Her rather low-tech appearance didn't mesh well with the rest of the underworld, but she didn't stick out like a sore thumb. Her badge was practically burning a hole in the inside pocket she had stuffed it into, but if someone even caught a whiff of it down here...

But still, she couldn't leave it at home. Mickey might eat it, after all.

Stepping up to the familiar smoking figure, Joy felt a brief wave of relief hit her again. Communication had been so sparse since that night of confrontation, sparse to the point she had suspected more than once that they were finished. That Geller had elected to take the information and run with it, that Kole and her own voices were correct, and that trusting someone like him, one of theirs, was a bad idea. That I've been played like an Alderaanian flute.

Proving people (and even her own doubts) wrong felt good, though. The surprising thrill of, well, joy she felt upon receiving true communication had made her smile. Despite the implications, it did. And she'd been far too eager to make the trekk back down here. Siding up next to him, she glanced up at his smoking figure, and proceeded to condescendingly pluck the nearly-finished stimstick from his mouth and toss it into the street, if she could, "Smoking that chit's bad for you, y'know."

"And if Harper shows up, don't shoot him. Please."

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Nightcall

---

---

Distrust and doubt lingered within Kole, he couldn't shake it. Internal Affairs offered their man on the inside an abundance of freedom and supplies to get his job done with minimal effort, but maximum deniability. Kole was trusted, really; he'd see to the job getting done. The use of trackers, tappers, so on and so forth on Valeria wasn't necessarily a waste of resources. As far as anyone knew she was a person of interest, and so it was justifiable in it's own ambiguous way. Calls, like the one she recently received, always alerted Harper. It was something he had to see.

In mere moments the investigator soared through Coruscant's intense traffic as neon lights washed over his personal vehicle, reflections made upon the glass that may prove distracting if not for the current situation. Kole was focused. Joy's vehicle was located amongst the traffic, and followed with pure discretion. Seemed as if it was a repeat of the previous encounter. In time, he parked some ways away from Valeria, and ultimately lost her through the crowds.

Damn.

Her signal was honed in on, and to no surprise she was within another dingy building. Surely it was Cadmon she was meeting, there was nobody else, unless there was? No, she wouldn't. It was somewhere off the beaten path that Harper stood, the lower half of his head covered as the building's exit remained barely within his sight. Kole had to know for sure if Joy was telling the truth, and so whenever they left that apartment complex, someone was going to be following from afar.

---

---

[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time

---

"Thanks Joy." He responded gruffly, a small smirk tracing his lips as she plucked the stimstick from his lips without warning. Cadmon didn't bother with a response to the quip about the sticks effect on his health, instead simply shrugging with a smile. "Yeah, I'll try my best." He muttered, temper flaring at the thought of the other detective momentarily.

Every time they met their was suspicion, but with each passing meeting he became more concerned that she'd show up at all than if she'd show up with a fully loaded SWAT team in tow. Maybe he was getting sentimental or something, he didn't quite know, but he was almost happy to see her. The officer had proven herself more than capable that night on 1316, but he worried that he was dragging her, and possibly even himself in over his head.

Anyone who was singlehandedly wiping out crime syndicates was bound to be tough, and he'd begun to wonder if Karsan had left the city-world or if he'd been killed so this animal could take his place. But now wasn't the time to think about that. "I found something, something big."

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

Possibilities flew through her head at what he could have found that would be considered 'big'. Maybe information on supply lines. A name. An organization. A location? Eyes remaining on him, eventually she nudges his side with her elbow, trying to prompt the response physically, "Go on. What'd you find? I'm dying to know."

Nightlife passed by. Joy had to tip her head quite a ways back to maintain eye-contact with Geller, a smirk mirroring his plastered across her face, one she couldn't hide in the cool night. These times, Coruscant was alive, and it reflected on her mood. Even though most of her adopted planet was corrupt right to the core, almost serene nights like this reminded her of what she loved. Loved about the planet, that is. Clandestine meetings, criminal hit squads and all, sometimes it felt just right.

She wasn't sure why it felt like that in the moment, but it did.

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time

---

For a moment he paused, leaving her in suspense for the hell of it if nothing else. For all the legal ambiguity of what they were doing, it was nigh impossible to shake the feeling that what they were doing was indeed right, not just morally, but in the sense it was how things were meant to be. This is what they were meant to be doing. The last time he'd felt like this it was the result of a lifetime of indoctrination, so having it come about organically was quite exhilarating to say the least.

"Three blocks town there's an abandoned apartment complex, sources say they saw someone who could be our beast shamble in there, and never come out." Cadmon stated as he looked down into the eyes of the detective, a certain excitement hiding behind his own gaze. "Anyone who's gone in to have a look hasn't come back either." He added, the quick little bit of information being all that he had to indicate their quarry wasn't a slowly rotting corpse in the old building.

They had him so it seemed, like a rat in a trap they had the Beast cornered in his own cage. Geller wouldn't kill him, not right away, he needed answers about Calnov first, then he supposed Joy could bring the bastard in, or put him down. Either way it would put her in good standing with her department he assumed, get IA off her back. In the flurry of speculation he even forgot about his burning vendetta against Harper, all he could think of was the good it would do for the two of them.

For her.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

"You found our beast's' lair."

Her grin dimmed a little. It was, of course, good news -- But he made it sound like they were gonna do something with that information. If it was up to her she'd call in enough SWAT teams to fill a cruiser, but that wouldn't happen. Couldn't. They'd started this, so they'd end it the very same. Joy finally dropped her gaze from him to look down the street, at the shifting crowds around them, "You wouldn't have called me down here just to show and tell. We're not going in there, are we?"

It was a question with an obvious answer. Of course, they would be. Expecting otherwise would be ridiculous. Their odds didn't exactly seem... Good, but they could be worse. Geller was a stellar combat specimen, and the Detective wasn't half bad herself. Compared to their terrorist friend, though? Could they measure up?

Swallowing the last bit of her confidence dryly, she anticipated his response with eager ears. For some insane reason, she found herself trusting Cadmon, probably far more than she should. But if they had to walk into the belly of the beast, it was clear to her now that he was someone she would trust to watch her back through it all. He wasn't her partner, but that feeling lingered.

If they died, things were going to get very messy.

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time

---

"We do this, and the bloodshed ends tonight." Cadmon said confidently, attempting to be reassuring as best he could. Stepping away, he motioned with her to follow after him, hopefully she'd stay close. He'd blend with the crowd and move through the sea of people with practiced proficiency, at first glance one could hardly tell Cadmon was even carrying weapons, much less two and wearing body armor, but blending in had become a key asset in his survival in recent years, and as such he'd nearly perfected it.

Down packed streets and through several back alleys, the two would come through one final alleyway where Cadmon came to a halt at the end, and peeked around the corner. Standing alone with a disturbing amount of space between it and any other buildings, the apartment building loomed ominously before them. He saw the turrets in seconds. To any typical would be intruders/squatters they might've been easily missed, but to a trained eye they stuck out like a sore thumb.

Cadmon would turn to his partner in what may or may not be crime and let out a sight. "Two blaster turrets facing our approach, and likely every other one if he's smart." The Beast was smart, they both knew that. "We want to get close, they have to go, but the second we blow them the element of surprise is gone." The words escaped him in a tense voice, any chance at catching the vigilante off guard were going to be gone in an instant, as was the possibility of this being easy.

They could handle it though, he was sure of it.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

While he might have disappeared to most, to her, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was almost amusing how easy it was for her to pick him out in particular among the faceless faces. It was the nuances in gait and of course his appearance that gave Joy an undeniable edge in following him. Even if, momentarily, something separated them -- She could spot him a few feet away and catch up without issue.

How strange.

And once they stopped she listened with anticipation, nodding along to his points. Yes, the turrets were an issue. Yes, disabling those was going to be hard. Yes, they couldn't just Geller it without losing the element of surprise. He was the soldier. She was the cop. They'd gone over scenarios like this in the academy, of course, they'd had, but Joy wasn't SWAT. There were things just out of her sphere of knowledge, and entering a terrorist's playpen whilst avoiding getting launched into the sun? Well, that was something they didn't cover.

"I hope you have a plan, because right now? Not exactly liking the odds of team Good Guy."

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Nightcall

---

---

On the move.

​Kole pushed off of the wall he found himself leaning against, brushing both palms down the coat to remove the dirt and grime the managed to find it's way onto him. Turns out the slums truly were a disgusting place, not just in terms of crime and attitude but in a literal sense too. With any luck, he wouldn't have to return here any time soon. Although, if this nonsense persisted Harper was surely going too, and that was something he knew despite resenting.

The individual waded through the crowd with the lower half of his face covered by the coat he wore, indistinguishable from the common criminal that walked through. The crowds were thick, and if not for the technology Harper possessed it was far more than likely that the two were too go missing from Kole's radar. Yet there they were, clear as day. Whatever they were up to wasn't going to be necessarily good, and that was something Harper knew all too well already. In truth, he prepared himself for anything.

---

---

[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time

---

As much as he despised his memories, they did have merit. A hundred different rebel hideouts had fallen to the brutal assault of Geller and his brethren, this was no different, just another terrorist. That said, in those days he'd had a full team of heavily armed commandos beside him, and to be fair he'd rarely been the one orchestrating the strike, Cadmon had been the one to kick down the doors after all.

Short of calling for backup, which was essentially impossible this deep, Cadmon's plan was far less advanced than he would've liked. It relied on assumptions that aside from what could be described as a hunch, had no real merit to them. Their target wasn't some crusading vigilante, he was a practiced killer, well trained and well armed, but the man had been on the offensive for months possibly with no real backlash, it almost felt safe to assume the beast had grown a bit cocky. After all, why upgrade your security if it's already more than enough? Fear was almost protection enough.

"We have to clip the turrets and go in, not ideal but it's all we got in terms of options." He sighed, fumbling for the pack of stimsticks in his pockets on reflex, but slowly withdrawing his hand. It wasn't the time to ensure his own nerves were calm, he had to be sure his partner was ready. She was a detective, and probably one of the toughest on the force, but she hadn't been a soldier, she hadn't done this more times than she would ever care to count, and it was his job to bridge the gap.

If they lived she was totally buying drinks again

He sighed. "I'll take the left gun, you take the right, then we gotta move fast. I've already checked the stretch between us and the door for explosives, so unless he's got next level chit the best sweepers money can buy don't pick up, we shouldn't need to worry about blowing up." For a statement that did leave open the possibility they'd explode, he delivered it fairly calmly. "From there we gotta take it slow, room by room, he won't cut and run so we just gotta play smart." Cadmon said, laying out his plan for her whilst mentally reassuring himself they could take a man who'd faced down entire Hutt death squads alone.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

"Whatever you say, Geller."

What a ridiculous plan. But perhaps, just crazy enough to work. Producing her service blaster, Joy checked it over briefly before giving him a nod. Truthfully, fear was twisting in her gut like some venomous snake, poisoning her judgement and taunting her fears. She raised her weapon, prepared to follow-- No, walk side by side with him --right into the throat of the devil. Hopefully, to put her boot down that throat, till this Beast begged for mercy. How many lives had he destroyed and dismantled? Too many for her liking. Once she got a clear shot, the detective would brazenly fire first, a well-placed shot hopefully enough to disable the turret on her side. Joy didn't wait for Geller to take out the left one before moving, trusting in the fact he would before the thing's targeting system got a lock on them.

She lowered her weapon, but only by a hair or two, and glanced at Geller for a heartbeat before continuing. Wait, did he say explosives?

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Nightcall

---

---

Kole did exactly as he planned, really. The man simply follow them with the utmost discretion, invisible to them or so he had hoped. Whilst he wanted to trust Joy, and by extension Cadmon, the detective had to be absolutely certain that they were entirely truthful in their explanation. There was no room for doubt, and it was exactly that in which Kole wished to rid himself of today.

Their plan, unbeknownst to him, was set in motion. Kole's keen eye took note of the defences in play, and avoided them - leaving the two to take them out. His presence here was to be deniable, and what better way was there when you're thought to be at home?

---

---

[member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"] | [member="Cadmon Geller"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time | Upside Down Cops

---

The second she squeezed the trigger, so did he, a magnetically accelerated slug being spat down range from his custom sidearm and into the turret he'd sighted up, the small emplacement exploding in a shower of sparks just as its twin did milliseconds before. He bounded forward, his steely gaze meeting her own for the briefest instant before continuing his brazen rush of the Beast's den.

He'd make a beeline for one side of the door, expecting Joy to stack up on the opposite side likely just how she'd trained. It didn't matter whose army or police force you worked under, clearing a building was usually done the same way if the option of completely leveling it wasn't available. Sadly detonating that many explosives in this area had far too high a chance for collateral (he'd checked, five times), which left him and his compatriot to do things the hard way.

Slamming into the building to the left of the entrance, a thousand scenarios raced through his mind about what could be on the other side. Out of all the terrorist hold outs he'd cleared, this one left him with the most anxiety. Maybe it was because he wasn't covered head to toe with body armor alongside an entire squad of others, maybe it was just nerves, or maybe it was because their target had become synonymous with death itself down here.

_____________________________


Thrandis' eyes shot towards the sounds of gunfire, and then to the display screen altering him that the turrets he'd admittedly been over-reliant on were down. Whoever was coming now could shoot, and as good as he felt, he held out hope that it wasn't the same damned Triad enforcer that had left him in need of the bacta in the first place. The chithead had caught him off guard, and Thrandis had paid for it, he wouldn't let it happen again.

With the press of a button he activated his internal security in the form a two IG-100's as he began to don a set of armor and gather his weapons. These distractions from his mission were getting to be aggravating, and he was done dealing with it. Whoever was bold enough to charge straight into his den, would never crawl back out, he'd make damn sure of that.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

Joy knew at once what he was doing. Setting up on the other side of the entrance, she waited and then moved to the control panel. It opened with ease-- The Beast, it seemed, didn't expect many to get past his turrets --And with a blaster raised, Joy took a step in, knowing Geller was there to cover her. The lobby of the apartment complex wasn't necessarily... Clean... But it was abandoned, so what did one expect? Trash covered the rusting floor, the walls looked to be leaning slightly, and parts of the ceiling were missing. All in all, not the greatest place for all of this to go down, but that was probably why their prey had chosen it at all. Hardened eyes swept the immediate area and, with a glance back to Geller, she nodded. All clear, for now.

"You know him; Where would he hide?"

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time | Upside Down Cops

---

He entered in after her, eyes sweeping the area. It wasn't some sort of hiding-in-plain-sight high-tech headquarters like he'd hoped it would be, it genuinely was a dingy, worn out tenement building, and that scared him. People didn't rig their high end lairs with traps, but they sure as hell did with emptied out apartments. Weapon raised he cautiously moved through the first room, weapon at the ready.

At first it was silent, and his eyes flicked back and forth between Joy and the surroundings, but then he heard them. Above them, footsteps, how far up he wasn't sure, but it was surely more than one something moving up there. Maybe they'd been wrong, maybe it had been a group. But if it had been, surely the attacks wouldn't have just stopped how they had. Geller was confused, but more than anything he was worried.

From the stairwell, metal footsteps echoed, coming closer.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​

 

[Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento]

Coruscant, Level 1320, J-27 Slums, Undetermined Time | Watch Your Back

---

Her voice died in her throat upon that sound and she flashed Geller a warning glance, her body moving to the side at once to stay out of the direct line of dight. Metal creaked both underfoot and above, and her eyes lit up as she spots it ahead. She spots a dingy, old turbolift looking to be barely alive from its spot at the end of the too-long hall. One with a light illuminated next to the caller to indicate it was currently in service. Someone was coming, and the footsteps above had stopped.

Well, that's not good.

Training kicked in, or perhaps it was adrenaline-- Probably a cocktail of both, honestly --and Joy automatically moved into a position of cover. This was it. Her blaster raised by a hair, barrel squared at the door. For a second her mind lagged behind with the action, what if it was an innocent? No. There weren't any innocents here. How far the mighty have fallen to resort to this.

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member="Cadmon Geller"] [member="Kole Harper"]

 

[Cadmon Geller]

Coruscant, Level 1320, Slum District J-27, Undetermined Time | Upside Down Cops

---

Behind them, a gaping hole was punched in the ceiling, and through it dropped a singular metallic figure, who's red photoreceptors gleamed angrily through the cloud of dust it had kicked up, and from the stairs, came another. "Chit." He grumbled as he turned the face the one to their rear, weapon raised. In an instant it became clear he'd been far too slow, with the strength of a machine an electrostaff collided with his weapon's barrel, knocking it clear across the room seconds before the other end zipped toward's Geller's head.

Muscle memory took over, he'd fought these types before, he was sure of it, Cadmon just had to remember how to win. His head dipped under the strike, and his body twisted away from another, all the while his other hand shot towards the LK-40 on his thigh. Cadmon's foot kicked back the droid, the unstable footing provided by the crumbling building causing it to stumble backwards and create some modicum of distance.

That gave him a fighting chance.

He could only hope Joy was faring as well as he was with the droid charging her.

---

[member="Kole Harper"] | [member="Joy Erantes-do-Nascimento"]​