Private Neon Streets

[Sophelia Ardemark]

The air whipped around them, feeling cool on whatever exposed skin she had - which was little. Just her neck and tips of her fingerless gloves. A surprised glance as Prince zoomed over. She tensed. Hand dipping into her pocket and ready-to...

Did he just...

Golden brow arched as he zoomed away.

"Really?!" A call after him that was swallowed by the wind. Oh did he want to play?

Blue eyes zeroed in on those three up front. How were they going so fast? Up ahead she saw a female zabrak with a bright purple helmet zoom up behind them. Swerving right as she went for a pass. The straight-a-way was about to end. Swamps and marshes were coming up next. Soph could see the tall trees looming out of the mists. Like perfect little death traps.

Her eyes were on the upcoming course for one second when...

BOOOOOOOOOOOM

A fiery explosion dragged her eyes back to the seraphs and what was left of the Zabrak's bike. And the Zabrak herself. She swallowed and frowned.

"What just happened?" A quiet murmur. They'd still been in the straight-away. A worried glance to Prince to see if he'd noticed something. Just as the course switched to swamps and trees.

 

[Isar du Vain]

"Fierfek."

Pieces of bike and body tumbled past Isar as he whipped by, eyes wide.

He'd felt the flicker of danger in the Force only moments before, but there was no time to wonder because the next leg was ahead.

The Pillars of the Sky.

Petrified trees, missing foliage or limbs, rose in the air like hundreds of skeletal fingers. And the bikers went straight through them. Isar had to concentrate, feeling his way in the Force as he slalomed in and out of the trees at over four hundred kilometers per hour. He heard another explosion of some biker wrecking. No time to figure out if the Seraphs had pulled something or the racer had just smashed into a tree.

Pushing his senses to the limits, Isar managed to catch up to the Seraph in third place. He was right on the Seraph's tail as they wove in and out of the trees, when a flicker of danger passed down Isar's spine in the Force. He jerked his head down, clinging low to the bike.

A blaster bolt sizzled through the air where his head had been an eyeblink before.

"Oi. That's cheating," he muttered.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

Soph saw it all with Prince. She grimaced and leaned left, narrowly avoiding one of the dead swamp trees that rose up like wampa jaws. No wonder why this race had a high death toll. A bunch of dirty cheaters. She had to wonder who all was in on it?

It was clear it was centered around the Seraphs.

Dodging another tree, the force guiding her, she crouched low and shot past Prince and the third Seraph. Something hot skimmed over her left shoulder. Teeth ground through the grazing burn but she kept going. One of the two lead Seraph's looked back, surprised. And that's when she heard it and felt the tingle of warning through the force.

A loud crack as two logs came out of the mist from either side with every intention of crushing her in the middle. A trap triggered just for her. Or, she imagined anyone with balls enough to challenge one of the Seraphs.

A yelp left her lips as she threw her hand out. An invisible protective bubble in the force snapped up cocooning her and her bike just in time as the wood collided, splintering and exploding around her. The force bubble trembled and cracked, letting splinters of wood nick into her leathers. But it saved her from the main impact. She swallowed. Fingers trembled over her handles even as she ground her teeth in determination. There was no going back. She had to go forward and finish this thing.

Ahead was the start of the Razor Blade section.

Maybe she should just be focusing on arriving alive.

 

[Isar du Vain]

He felt it.

Even amid everything, all the collisions and explosions and thrum of engines.

He felt her in the Force, blazing for a moment like a beacon of energy, incandescent with power.

"Well," he thought, then reached out with his mind across the distance between their roaring bikes and all the chaos of the circuit and brushed across her thoughts directly.

"Aren't you full of surprises."

Then they were free of the trees and into the third leg: the Razor Blades.

A literal term as Isar quickly discovered. Ahead of him, the third Seraph wove, keeping him at bay. All around them blades of crystalline grass rose as high as four meters and looked wickedly sharp. Isar felt sweat trickle down his face inside the helmet, but he was gaining on this Seraph. So was another racer beside him - a confident Togrutan. Right up until the crystal blades to their right suddenly cracked and collapsed in on themselves the moment the last seraph passed.

Isar barely wove out of the way. The Togrutan wasn't so lucky. The alien separated from his speeder and went flying onto the razor blades. Isar looked away as the Togrutan disappeared into pieces and pink mist.

"Ick."

Tired of playing games with the third place Seraph, Isar reached out in the Force and jammed a mental spike of pure panic into the racer's mind. It wasn't much, just a moment of blind terror out of nowhere. But it was enough The bike swerved wildly, then went careening off and bike and Seraph slammed headlong into a four meter tall blade.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

Isar du Vain

The voice slipped through her mind like velveteen drawn over bare skin, soft and impossible to ignore. Languid threads. It even carried an impression of scent, that cloying purple lavender, almost like smoke that dipped dangerously into intoxicating. It didn't feel like someone speaking to her. It felt like the voice had always been there, drifting through the deepest corners of her mind, waiting for her to notice.

She bristled.

'Get out of my head.' She followed that mental connection, that entwining thread through the force. Teeth ground. Even as there was a sudden explosion at her back. She didn't need to turn around to know Isar was coming up to her side again. She swerved left, narrowly avoiding the 'grass' that would cut through machinery, bone, and flesh like a knife cutting through warmed spread.

The two seraphs in front split off in an opening V-formation.

Soph glanced to her side as if she could make Isar feel her blue-eyed glare beneath the shade of her helmet. A warning. Dipping into the force, she trusted it and swerved to follow the rider that veered right. She was nearly to him when there was a sudden flare of bright light and for a moment, she was blinded. Heart thudded in her chest nearly dropping to her toes as she veered through warning ripples in the force.

RIGHT!

LEFT!

LEFT!

STRAIGHT!

She continued to blink rapidly, vision slowly returning as walls of a canyon began to grow around them.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Somehow, they managed to make it out of the razor blades and into the fourth leg. Isar's eyes widened.

Don't remember this part.

Their bikes leaped into a narrow crevasse, impossibly steep and tall walls rising to either side around them. So narrow in fact that there was only space for one bike between the canyon walls.

Isar's swoop roared up behind another rider and he chuckled to himself as he saw the words on the back of her helmet staring back at him.

Stardust.

"Still in it? Good for you," he sent to her.

Ahead, the two remaining black seraphs rode single file. Isar hunched forward on his bike. If they could just go faster, then...

Suddenly, the ground gave out just in front of Stardust, collapsing down entirely and taking their bikes with it. Isar didn't have time to think, only to act. Before he knew what he was doing he had leaped off his bike, tackling Stardust, attempting to clear them both from their bikes.

Isar's own bike slammed headlong into the side of the pit and detonated in an explosion, spraying shrapnel.

If he managed to tackle Stardust clear then they would both be falling, falling...

Down.

Into the pit.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

As his thoughts brushed her mind, he'd get the equivalent of an annoyed huff in his own. She was so close to gaining on the second seraph...the ground. As a warm body slammed into her, arms going around her. Her bike flew forward, hitting off the lip of the pit and then spinning out somewhere above them.

Isar's bike exploded ahead of them.

She yelped, a force barrier going up just in time even as she could feel that searing heat from the explosion beneath her leathers. Stomach plummeted as they dropped. Disorientation as she tumbled with him. A tangle of limbs and rushing air. The force swelled as she tried to slow their descent.

It worked.

Mostly.

There was a few inches of water at the bottom of the pit and they hit with a slopping squelch. Soph landed on top of Isar, their helmets cracking together. "Ouch," she breathed, one hand planting firmly on his chest, her knee dangerously close to his groin area. "What is your problem?!"

 

[Isar du Vain]

“Problem? I just saved your life.”

Isar's voice came out muffled pant from inside his helmet. His back ached from where he'd impacted the ground and he let out a small groan trying to get his breath fully back. He felt the weight of her pressing down on his chest from her hand. It didn't help.

Clawing at his helmet, he ripped it off and tossed it aside so he could gulp down a huge breath of air. It reeked of engine fuel and sweat. And lavender.

He ran a gloved hand over his tangled mess of deep purple hair, streaked through with red highlights, pushing it back from his face as he lay there.

“How about a thank you.”

Annoyed, his lilac colored eyes peered around at the pit they'd fallen into. The sunlight seemed very high above them. Out of reach. He tried to sit up, but that only made the pain flare up worse. Slumping back in defeat, Isar let out a groan as he realized what must have happened. The Seraphs.

Cheaters.

Now the two of them were trapped down here. He should have just let her fall and tried to make the jump over the pit trap.

Could have made it.

"Should've known you'd knock us both out after that stunt you pulled last time," he muttered from where he lay. He slid a boot along the ground, moving his leg. His knee brushed the inside of her thigh.

"Nice going Stardust."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

She flipped up the visor of her helmet, glaring down at the zeltron. "Saved me? Please. I would've been able to handle it." As he ran his hand through his hair, catching that streak of red in a shaft of sunlight. She swallowed and glanced above them. She didn't think she'd be able to get out even with the force. A frown tugged on her lips. Then she realized her body still pressed against Isar's and she rolled off, pushing herself to a stand in the mud. Hands wiped across her leathers, trying to get some of it off.

Had he saved them?

Lips pressed into a thin line. She didn't think Prince had a caring bone in his body besides himself. She knew guys like him. There had been plenty back on Tapani.

"Okay Prince," she turned back to him, arms crossing stiffly beneath her chest. A small wince rippled across her face from the blaster shot graze she'd gotten on leg one of the race as it stretched over her shoulder at the movement. Helmeted-head tilted as she looked down her nose at him. "If you're so smart and so on top of things, what's your brilliant plan to get us out of here?"

 

[Isar du Vain]

"I'm not the one who was on top of anything, love," Isar coughed, pounding his chest and finally managing to suck in more air.

Looking up again, he tried to calculate the distance. Way too far to climb.

"It's too high. They must have built it somehow from below. The trap. Maybe there's a tunnel..."

Once, Isar had done a skyrise free solo of a tower on Nar Shaddaa, but he had months to prepare before he did it. This was different.

Plus... He glanced back down to Stardust... he had baggage this time.

"Turn around again. Oh don't look at me like that," he snorted and struggled up to his feet, pushing himself off a nearby rock and then stumbling toward her. "Did those bastards shoot you?"

A note of anger flickered through his voice and his pale lilac eyes seemed suddenly dangerous.

"Show me."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

Face scrunched up at his quip. That flash of ire glinted in her azure eyes. Only grew more pronounced as he told her to turn around. And not to look at him like that!

"Don't tell me what to do," she breathed. It was hot and muggy and she really wanted to take her helmet off but here she was. Stranded in this pithole with Prince. She did not turn around. Even as he came closer. She held her ground. Stubborn bones unyielding even as the promise of violence in his gaze confused her.

"It's fine. Just a graze." Even as he closed the distance between them she refused to give an inch. Head tilted, looking up into those lilac eyes. Their gazes like fire and ice. "You, on the other hand, don't look too good." A cool, prim assessment as her finger lifted and poked into his chest. And then a mild twinge of guilt at her own tone.

 

[Isar du Vain]

The Dark Jedi's gaze panned down to where she prodded his chest, the poke firm against his leather and the hard, unyielding muscle beneath.

"Right. Explains why you can't keep your hands off me."

Stranded at the bottom of a pit with some gangsters probably waiting to loot their corpses afterward and stuck with a racer with an attitude about two sizes to big for her. This was what he got for thinking he could help, for thinking he could be the hero.

He should have known better.

"Bottom feeder, eh? No judgment." he lifted his hands defensively, palms up.

"Suit yourself though. That looked like a little more than a graze."

Isar heard a distant rumble of engines and checked his chrono.

"Guess we don't need to worry about a rescue."

Five shapes in black armor began descending down the pit shaft toward them on jetpacks. All of them armed.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"Bottom feeder, eh? No judgment."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" She sputtered and poked him again for good measure and then her attention was mercifully averted to the thugs descending in jetpacks. Her hands went up even as her eyes darted between them and their weapons. And that Black Seraph patch just below their shoulder on their right arms. Their repulser packs roared in the pit, heating up the air as they descended.

"Look what we got here. Got some good little fishies in our trap." One of them with a buzz-cut sneered at them. "Back up against that wall. Xander, go check 'em."

Soph did as she was told for once.

Xander came over. A green twi'lek. Rough hands would reach out and pat both of them down. Taking anything they had from their pockets. Soph bit back a cry as his hands went over her burn. Then he looked at Soph, a crooked grin twisting at his lips. Red eyes going to her helmet.

"Take it off."

The order came low and flat. He tilted his head, looking her over. "Been watchin' you run around in that thing since Theed. Starting to wonder what you're hidin' under there. So you got two choices, sweetheart. You take the helmet off yourself..."

He stepped closer, one hand lifting toward the helmet.

"...or I take it off for you."

His fingers paused just short of the visor.

"An' trust me, you don't want me doin' it."

Soph glared at him even as fear rippled beneath her ire. Lowering one hand, she loosened the chin strip and peeled it off her head. Long blonde hair tumbled free like ribbons, spilling over her shoulders in loose, golden waves. Strands that had been trapped beneath the helmet fell across her face and neck, catching the light as they settled against her back.

"Let's just get this over with and kill them," A masked third one called, sounding bored.

 

[Isar du Vain]

The gangsters forced her to take the helmet off and Isar's brows rose. What was he supposed to do? Not stare?

Locks of hair like spun gold threads, a face models would kill for, and eyes as blue as summer skies.

Isar looked away and stroked his mustache.

"Hideous."

Not attractive at all.

Besides, they had bigger fish to fry than what sort of shampoo Miss Stardust used to keep her hair like that. These Seraphs were bad news. None of them felt Force Sensitive though.

Isar grimaced. No way these guys would let them out of here alive after everything. They were just toying with them. Isar took in a deep breath, then exhaled.

How long had it been since he'd really let loose? Six months? A year?

He didn't want to... but they had no other option.

The smell of lavender in the air grew absolutely stifling, carrying with it a sense of lethargy. As if this whole task of robbing these two racers was really exhausting, all the effort to get down here and the nights spent prepping for this race. Lots of sleepless days. The Seraph closest to Isar blinked slowly, looking tired.

"Duck."

Isar reached for the lethargic Seraph's holster and snagged his blaster pistol. It came up and Isar was firing, except there was no longer just one Isar. He'd multiplied, each shape shimmering like a mirage, stretching out and leaving after images. There were two Isars. Three Isars. All of them shooting.

Blasterfire engulfed the small pit. Two Seraphs went down immediately, ventilated by plasma bolts.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

Did he really just say that?

Eyes flickered to Prince. She felt that rise of indignant huff in her chest, distracting her from all the guns pointed at them. From Xander's leering gaze. From the building tension in the pit.

What a nerfcake.

The warning in the force was like a caress this time and she ducked. For once, she listened to what the zeltron said. Bolts hissed and sizzled into the water inches from her crouching form. Two of the seraphs still standing took to the air, firing down on her and Prince. The multiple ones. For a moment, she stared like an idiot. Didn't teach that in the midafternoon class at the temple.

She threw out her hand and sent a force wave so they crashed into each other before dropping back down. Something hot made a glancing sear across her thigh. Grimacing, she flicked her hand through the muddy ground and the force sent a wave of earth, mud, and water at the one who'd just shot her.

Gritting her teeth, she rolled to her side, eyes traveling down to the flaring hot wound mid-thigh.

Stars, that burned.

Definitely wouldn't be telling her brother she got shot TWICE today.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Isar's attention snapped over to Stardust as he heard the high whine of the blaster, then felt the wash of pain coming from her. Smelled the sizzling of burnt flesh.

They shot her.

Again.

The air in the pit darkened and seemed to coalesce around Isar, a raw and stygian strength simmering through him as he stalked forward. The two identical versions of himself bled out on either side of him like a kaleidoscope. One of the Seraphs was knocked out by Stardust's Force Wave, the other sat up and shot at him. The bolt passed harmlessly through the illusion to Isar's right.

"Wrong one," he spat.

Then he yanked the blaster out of the gangster's hand with the Force. It went clattering off against the opposite wall.

Isar pistol whipped him across the face. Blood sprayed. The Seraph stumbled and fell back, scooting backward until he bumped up against the nearest rock.

Anger roiled inside Isar and he could not control it. Tossing aside the blaster, he gripped the Seraph by the lapels and hauled him up against the rock, then he struck him across the face. Knuckles crunched against skin and bone. Pain blossomed up Isar's fist. The Seraph let out a gurgle of pain. Isar straightened him, then slugged him again. And again. And again.

He kept punching him until his knuckles were raw and his hands were smeared with blood and the man's face was a sniveling pulp.

"Please," begged the Seraph, scarlet dribbling from between his broken lips.

He found no mercy in Isar's eyes.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

It was the boiling rage that hit Soph first. Easily cutting through her own pain. Rage that was not her own. Head whipped to Prince as he stalked the last Seraph who was conscious. She winced.

"Prince," she called.

The sick sound of wet didn't stop as the racer's fist kept pummeling into the Seraph. Even as he begged.

Using the wall to help her stand, she limped over to the raging zeltron. She felt a lot of things at once. Pain. Confusion. A tinge of wariness. And a whole lot of concern. She had a feeling trying to hold Prince back or even stop him would be like a single candle trying to hold back the darkness.

It was a good thing she was a spark.

Approaching from the side, she stumbled, her hand curling around Prince's swinging arm. Her other arm looping around the back of his shoulders to keep herself from face-planting in the mud. "Enough. Prince." Her grip tightened on his swinging fist as she breathed, "it's done." Tried to slide between him and the Seraph to catch his gaze and block him from what was left of the Seraph's mangled face.

"Stop," she repeated.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Isar paused with his fist raised in the air, knuckles torn and bleeding. Her fingers curled around his arm. Tight. Warm. He could feel her other arm holding onto his back. He looked at the broken Seraph, then craned his neck to look down at Stardust.

"Fine."

Letting go of the lapel, he dropped the Seraph, who slumped down onto the ground and wheezed before probably passing out.

Isar was breathing heavily. Punching somebody took a lot of work, which was why he usually relied on his mental abilities in a fight. He guessed the truth was that he'd wanted to feel the man's body break under his fists. There was something raw and visceral about it that Isar could not explain.

Eyeing the unveiled mystery racer, he looped an arm around her waist to steady her while looking down at her injured leg, then back up to her face. His lilac eyes searched hers. This close, face to face, their noses almost brushed.

Then before any other wise ideas could enter his mind he flatly remarked, "You've got mud in your hair."

Turning away quickly, he bent down and picked up a jetpack. "Put this on. I'll grab the other. Need to get you to a medcenter."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"What was that?"

A question breathed between the short space between them as she stared up into his eyes. A frown tugging at her lips as his arm tightened around her waist. The only thing keeping her standing. Her other arm still around his shoulders. The one hand that had been on his punching arm dropped the moment he let the guy go.

She took the offered jetpack and slung it around her shoulders, balance on one leg again as Isar pulled away. She almost buckled. "I can...heal it myself." Med-centers meant cameras and she didn't need those right now. Eyes drifted to the pieces that were left of her helmet, sinking in the mud. "Just...we do need to get out of here. I need somewhere quiet and safe."

Away from cameras.

Away from the Seraphs.

Away from prying eyes.

Doubt crept into her gaze as she looked at Prince. Could she...trust him? For whatever reason, he'd worked with her to get out of this. And he might've saved her when the ground collapsed. Maybe.

Tightening the jetpack straps, she hit the ignition as the jets flared behind her.

 

[Isar du Vain]

They rocketed out of the pit, streaking through the sky.

Not exactly low-vis, but they did not have a lot of options right. Isar just tried to focus on not slamming into the side of the crevasse as they rose between the walls and crested the canyon lip.

Isar led them toward away from the Dragonbane Circuit. Unfortunately, the Agrilat region did not have much in the way of population even though it was on Corellia. But Isar knew of a place that they could get away to, free from the Black Seraphs. Probably. Since it was controlled by someone else.

"There's an old rebel base that's been converted into a black market hub nearby. Can try to lay low there."

The thought went out to her telepathically, which she would probably hate.

Too bad.

Some time later, they touched down outside the ramshackle structures of what looked more like a shantytown than an old military base. Two guard stood out front, one of them approached Isar as he landed.

Isar didn't say anything, he just pulled up his sleeve to expose to the tattoo there: a black sun.

The guard nodded in return and waved them through. Isar tried to hurry them both through the small market inside, ignoring the vendors at the stalls and making straight for an alcove and a side door.

He opened the door, tugged Stardust through, looked around for a moment, then shut the door behind them.

Inside was an old maintenance shop that looked like it had seen far better days. Random parts lay scattered everywhere. A half-disassembled landspeeder peeked out from underneath a tarp. The whole place smelled of oil and hydraulic fluid. Reminded him of days in the Wardens. That was a long time ago.

Unslinging his jetpack, he set it down, then turned to Stardust. "Alright, Blue Eyes, your healing powers working or..." He pulled out two bacta pads from the cargo pocket of his black tactical pants and waggled them at her. "You need these?"

Sophelia Ardemark