Rise and Shine

[Derriphan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzf7d0eCkRo

Nar Shaddaa, Somewhere

The weak flickering synthetic light pained Derriphan's half opened eyes as he awoke from his involuntary slumber. He could feel the cold floor below him, and he could also feel the burning sensation of an untreated blaster hit on the lower half of his left leg. While the pain numbed him a bit, the memories were slowly coming back, albeit hazy at best. From the start he knew that the job was a mistake, but credits were credits and he couldn't be picky if he intended not to starve on some dirty street. Despite his bad feeling he had agreed to be a hired gun from some cartel to assist in a hit on another, both of which he had not cared enough to remember their names. Then everything went south, and as the paid merc he had been the one left behind by his supposed allies. He managed to put a few slugs in two or three of his opponents, but then everything went black.

Cut to now, him laying on the dirty floor of some forsaken hole. Slowly he pushed himself up in his cell, his green eyes quickly catching the rusty bars that kept him locked in the room. At least he wasn't dead, or locked into a cell that belonged to someone that had ever heard of the great technological advancements the galaxy had made. His right reached for his face, as he noticed the lack of the soft fabric of his mask touching his skin. The bastards hadn't left him anything but his most basic clothes, a pair of slightly burned black pants and a grey, bloodstained shirt.

He still hadn't managed to fully sit up and open his eyes. While his leg was the most painful part, the rest of his body still felt the effects of getting a good beating. Normally pain would motivate him when the adrenalin rushed through his veins, but right now it simply kept him from fully focusing on his surroundings. Making another attempt at sitting up by crankily pushing himself up with his arms, he finally managed to open his eyes and noticed that the cell was to dark to really see except for the small source of light dangling directly above him. With his raspy, and still somewhat sluggish voice he inquired into the dark.

"Anyone there?"

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Faint words. Incomprehensible words. These were the things that made Abigail slowly regain her senses.

Then it hit her. A wave of soreness washed over her body, making her groan in pain. After gritting her teeth, she slowly opened her eyes, only to immediatly close them again because of her excruciating headache. Despite the pain she felt, she still tried to remember what happened, and more importantly, where she was. She tried her best, but to her annoyance, she found that she couldn't remember anything regarding the last few days. Even though she was certain her mind would clear up after some time, it still left her with a feeling of dread.

After having taking a deep and slow breath, she reopened her eyes again. This time she fought back against her headache and managed to keep her eyes open. Unfortunatly, what she saw didn't erase her dread at all like she had hoped. Instead, it only fueled it, for she couldn't see anything except what she figured to be... bars? Was she in some kind of prison? What had happened?

She slowly rolled over from her back so that she was lying on her stomach. It hurt turning around, but it would make it easier to get her herself up from the dirty cold floor. After taking a few seconds to muster the strength, she slowly pushed herself up, even though her muscles were screaming not to. But she did, and eventually, she now sat on the floor, giving her a bit of a better view of the darkness around her. She could now see the bars better as well, confirming her fears that she indeed was now in a prison of sorts.
But how? It still didn't make any sense in her mind, and the fact that she couldn't remember anything wasn't helping either.

Not seeing anything at first, she didn't really hesitate to speak. "Hello?", she spoke softly and with a weakened voice.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

In all honesty Derriphan didn't really hadn't expected anyone to be with him in the cell when he spoke to the darkness. Whoever was in charge of this place obviously didn't had much clue as how to run it properly. His initially surprise only stayed with him for a split second, then it occurred to him that cells were generally used to harbor dangerous individuals, the kind you would rather not share a space with, especially if there was no way to escape.

"Who are you?"

The young merc still hadn't caught sight of the other, only guessing by her voice that it was a woman. Mustering up all his strength and resilience he forced himself to stand up, and therefore ready to defend himself in case that she intended to harm him in any way. Not that he would be able to put up much of a fight right now, but he would prefer to die standing instead of having his skull bashed in while crawling on the floor.

His right still ready to throw a meager punch, his left rose to the light source above him, the small lamp carelessly hanging down on its exposed wires. Making sure not the get a shock that would send him back to the ground again he aimed the light towards the direction the voice had come from, his green eyes trying to get a look at his fellow inmate

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Abigail's soft words were answered, and much to her own fear the words sounded much closer than she had hoped. It appeared she wasn't alone in this cell.

The voice appeared to be male, something which oddly reminded Abigail of the fact that most people in prison weren't exactly the most kind ones. As her eyes slowly started to adjust to the darkness, she could make out his figure as she saw him standing up in the lights. Slowly she could see a bit more, most of his body by now... and a raised fist.

Abigail quickly tried to get up herself, but failed in doing so. She was probably going to have to get out of this one with words.

"Oh yeah, you're real tough aren't you? Threatening a woman who just woke up in this... place", she mumbled in response. Abigail thought she could see some hesitation in the man's body language, so she continued.

"I'll tell you what. You do me no harm, and I won't do you any.... Deal?", she asked.

Before the man could answer, Abigail streched her arm for a handshake. As she did, however, she wondered whether that might be a little too much. Perhaps the man would use this opportunity to attack her, or perhaps that's what he expected from her.
"I have no intention of hurting you if you stay out of my way", she said again while she still tried to figure out the man's behaviour.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

"Not a threat, just a safety measure."

His right remained locked in a fist, but the clone at least lowered it to make it clear that he also wasn't a threat if there was no reason to be one. Her handshake on the other hand was something he had to refuse. She might didn't looked like much, but by now he had more then one painful lesson that taught him that looks could be deceiving, and he was still to wary of the strange to open himself up to an attack like that.

The light in his other was released, dancing back and forth, switching between illuminating the woman and merc with every swing. In the cold, dim light she would be able to catch a few glimpses of his pale, scarred skin that would probably do little to underline that he meant what he said. He missed his mask, the feeling of being able to isolate himself from the rest of the galaxy by the thin black fabric and the ability to dehumanize himself in the presence of strangers.

"You got any clue where we are?"

Derriphan's body remained in his fighting stance, adrenalin still constantly asking his brain if it would be fight or flight in a room with no way out. His face on the other hand had lost some of initial confusion and paranoia, and even his unpleasant voice had softened up a little as he spoke to her again.

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

"A safety measure…of course", she mumbled in response as she tried her best to get a better glimpse of the man standing in front of her.
At least he wasn't here to hurt her, that was a start and it also meant that Abigail didn't have to get up yet, something she was grateful for as her muscles were still burning with pain.

The asking indicating the man didn't know where they were either made a saddened expression appear on Abigail's face. She had hoped he knew this place, or at least where they were or why they were there. But it appeared that the man didn't, so it was likely he was in the same situation Abigail was in. How strange.

"Not the slightest", she sighed. "You didn't just wake up here without knowing how you got here by any chance?", she asked, almost already sure the answer would be that he did in fact just wake up here, lost.

Abigail tried to look around, but she found herself incapable of looking much further than the bars holding them in this cell. It was ironic, the small light, the only reason she could see something here, also prevented her eyes from adjusting to the darkness thus preventing her from seeing much else besides the faint figure of the man. This was a truly depressing place to be, and Abigail dreaded the idea that she might be here for a while.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

"Got shoot, woke up here. Beyond that no idea."

Slowly his hand had released the tension, once Derriphan noticed that the woman didn't even had gathered the strength to stand by now. Feeling at least safe enough, the merc looked down at his left leg that had continued to hurt even more as he forced himself to stay on his feet. With a single move he ripped off the left sleeve of his shirt and proceeded to wrap it around the open wound while his eyes jumped between the woman and his injury.

"All I know is that I'm not going to wait until someone decides what to do with us."

As an enforcer for whatever cartel or gang paid enough Derriphan had stood on the side of the bars, and because of it he knew that it was far from pleasant. Despite his will to get out of the cell as quickly as possible, there was one question unanswered: How to do it when all they had were their clothes and a half broken light source.

"Did they take all your things too? It's hard planning a breakout with literally nothing."

The clone slowly stepped forward, keeping his hands in the air to make sure that he didn't meant to threaten here. Coming to a stop an arm's length away from here, he lowered his right and offered it to her, hopefully so that she could stand up as well.

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

"You know... I could probably take a look at that... Help you with it", she started as the man seemed to be wrapping a cloth around her leg. "I could probably...", she continued but let her voice trail off as the man didn't seem to stop wrapping the cloth.
"Right, maybe later"

Then a thought shot into Abigail's mind. Whatever place they were in, she was sure it wasn't an ordinary prison.. obviously.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I am not one that would be locked in a prison for any crimes. I don't do...", she paused as she looked at the man, "illegal stuff. Sort of anyway. Which means this isn't a normal prison where we have... you know.. rights."

Abigail sighed as she ran a hand trough her hair. "Normally I could just wait, and get released by asking a few people to talk for me, but here...", she stopped and shook her head. Everything was still rather foggy in her head, and she still had no idea where she was or what had happened. As far as she was concerned, she was in hostile territory right now, and the man standing before her was her only ally.

Abigail gave his hand a questioning look for a few seconds as she debated whether or not to take it. But she eventually did though, and with his help she managed to get up to her feet, although it did strain her muscles, making her moan in pain softly.

Once she stood however, she turned her face towards the man. She still couldn't see much of his face, but she was now standing in the dim light, so she hoped that he could see her thankful smile.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

Her words lead to a raised eyebrow in Derriphan's face. His memory was foggy, but hers seemed to have taken a far worse hit.

"We're on Nar Shaddaa, you know that right? Words like legal or illegal mean nothing around here."

The words came out a little more mockingly then he had intended, but if you had lived your whole, albeit short, life in the dirt of the smuggler moon you never learned to care about the idea of law and order. It was survival of the fittest, no matter if you were a rich gangster living in the highest towers or a filth dwelling lowlife crawling around just above the parts closer to the surface then the sky.

Giving her some time to fully catch her footing on her own, the merc made his ways the the shadow shrouded bars that kept them locked inside. It was hard to make out, but upon a closer look he noticed the lock, an old mechanism as rundown and rusty as the cell itself. That was good, at least in theory, because it meant that it could be picked. That was if the woman knew how to do that, because Derriphan didn't had a clue.

"You know how to pick a lock? If not we could maybe just bash it in with something."

It wasn't a very elegant solution, or maybe not even a solution at all, but it was all he got so far. He looked around the dark room a bit more, trying to spot anything that could be used as a tool for such a task. After not finding anything on his own he turned back to her, coming to a rather displeasing conclusion

"We could use the lamp to do it, but that leaves us in the dark and makes an awful lot of noise. You can fight right?"

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

'Nar Shaddaa'.

Those words alone pained Abigail's head as she slowly remembered just that little bit more about where is was.

"Right. Nar Shaddaa. That isn't very good", she mumbled.

Right, so the man seemed to be very actively trying to get out. It appeared he really didn't want to stay her for a moment longer. Obviously Abigail felt the same way, but she was less rash about things, and tended to take a little more time to think about the situation.

The first things she did when the man spoke about whether she could fight or not was just look at him. That was all she did before she did eventually speak.

"You're serious? Of course I can fight, but I hope you're not under the illusion that either of us is going to win a fight in this... state that we're in", she replied as she pointed at herself before pointing at the man's leg. "Either we do this quietly, or not at all", she whispered sharply.

Breaking the lock would certainly attract someone's attention, and whether Abigail participated in the escape attempt or not, she would be punished -and probably killed- anyway, so she wasn't going to let the man do that.

"As far as the lock goes.. I could pick the lock, but I don't have anything to do it with...", she mumbled. She let her hands run down her own body, only to confirm her thoughts, she had nothing anymore. Everything had been taken.

"So we're basically fuc-", she stated, but stopped halfway.

"Actually. I might be able to pick it without tools", she said as she clumsily walked towards it.

"Help me, would you?", she asked as she kneeled down in front of the lock, seeing if she could perhaps unlock it by manipulating the Force.

"I am still... weakened", she whispered shyly. "And this will take quite a bit of concentration in my state... so maybe you could... hold me... so that I don't fall while I'm busy... you know"

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

Again a raised eyebrow, this time in distaste. It was hard to miss that Derriphan took a little offense in her words about his combat capability. He was under no illusion about his state and his skills, but taking out some low level thugs with the aid of the darkness and the moment of surprise didn't sounded like much of a challenge to him if they were to work together.

Still he refrained from going through with his plan, and made some room for her to take a look herself. To him there was little doubt that they would have to fight eventually, no matter how they opened the door. This place was probably guarded, as not even some gang could be stupid enough to just leave it empty. Also he needed to retrieve his gear, both to get his trusty shotgun and his credits which meant that he had to scout out the makeshift prison complex anyway.

"Just hurry up. Can't hold you if I get shoot or beaten."

As she issued her request, the clone offered her a weird look before rather awkwardly holding her so she wouldn't fall to the ground again. It wasn't disgust, but he didn't felt comfortable touching another being, at least when there was no blood and broken bones involved. Likely a quirk he carried due to his upbringing inside a cloning tank, but he tried to hide his feelings under a mask of an unmoving face. Despite that she would probably notice that his hands trembled a little, and obviously were only a second away from being pulled away.

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Abigail noticed the man's hurt pride, but chose not to comment on it, although she never had been very fond of people wanting to show off their strength.

While Abigail appreciated the man's help, she couldn't help but notice his shaking hands- and the fact that he was barely holding her. Well, she'd say something about that, after all of this was done. There was no use in telling him now and then having him drop her.

She closed her eyes as she placed her hands on the lock, trying to get a feel for it and it's insides. She knew what she was looking for and she knew what she had to do, she just needed the Force to help her do it. Luckily, it hadn't been the first time she needed its help doing this and so it took not that long before a satisfying 'click' could be heard, indicating the door had indeed been opened. While Abigail was grateful the man had held her, all of this went easier than she expected- but she probably would've fallen without his help nonetheless.

She quickly stood up with the help of the bars, because she was afraid he'd drop her now, as the man eagerly let her go again.
"You know," she softly said as she briefly turned towards him," I don't bite."

As she awaited his response, if he was going to respond, she stepped aside, motioning to the door, now unlocked.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

In response the merc offered her a forced grimace that almost resembled a smile. Then he turned his focus to the now opened door, trying his best to avoid any further discussion about the topic, as they didn't had the time he would need to explain his behavior in the slightest. That and the fact that he really didn't wanted to talk about it with some stranger he had just meet inside a cell.

"We should search for our weapons and gear. If they catch us I'd rather not face them empty handed."

Derrriphan leaned against the bars, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on in the corridor behind them. The darkness made his efforts fruitless, which meant that at some point they would have to take a risk no matter what. His hand reached for the now opened door, slightly pushing it to see and hear if it would make any noise. To their luck it the rusty metal didn't made much noise, at least no to a degree that would be noticeable within the creaking rundown complex.

"Good job by the way."

Again he forced a something that was barely reminiscent of a grin, mostly to reassure himself that they had a chance of making it out. His hands reached for the door, slowly pushing it open completely, his green eyes looking into the darkness. Turning his head back to her on last time, he spoke and then stepped into the corridor.

"Here goes nothing I guess."

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Abigail nodded. "That's a good point. I hope we can sneak our way through the bigger part of it, but I doubt we'd just be able to sneak all the way through a prison without any preparation.

A warm smile appeared on Abigail's face as she looked at the man for a few seconds. "Thank you", she genuinely replied to the man's compliment.

By now, even in the faint light, Abigail had noticed the man's odd, half-smiles. He certainly did not know how to smile, that much was sure.

"Be careful", she whispered as she took a brief hold of his arm. "Take it slow"

The man was the first to enter the corridor, and Abigail soon followed. It was dark, obviously, as they had seen the darkness before, but only now did it strike Abigail as odd.

"Hey", she whispered as she realised she didn't know his name yet. "I don't think they're patrolling this hallway right now. It wouldn't make any sense. Patrolling these dark hallways would be both useless and dangerous, because they could barely see anything. My guess would be that they turn on some kind of light when they make their-"

And just as she told him what she expected, it already happened. Suddenly the hallway became illuminated by light. Well, it still weren't very bright lights, but compared to the darkness, the hallway was now practically made out of light. Hearing a man whistle around a corner, Abigail quickly grabbed Derriphan before he could reacted and shoved him back into their cell. She quickly yet relatively quietly closed their cell door behind them, hoping it would still appear to be locked.

Afraid that Derriphan would react, she quickly pushed him against the wall. Her bodies were now basically pushed against each other as she held her finger in front of her lips. Her actions might have been a bit drastic, but through means Deriphan wouldn't understand Abigail had seen it. The man carried a gun.

So it was justified that her face was hinting at her fear and that her actions were a bit uncontrolled..
Then she let herself move down towards the floor until she was lying down again. Hoping Derriphan would do the same.

There had been no chance of catching him off guard in the long hallway.. Perhaps he would wander past their cell, if not, she -no, they- would have to think of something else.

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

When the lights kicked in, so did Derriphan's programming. His body and mind had already gotten ready to release havoc upon the nearest hostile, when his cellmate pushed him back into their prison. Pungent yellow flashed through his eyes as his built up rage was about to take control of his actions, but it cold down as she pushed herself even closer and a finger against her lips. It was only seeing the hint of fear in her eyes that kept his boiling blood from coming through, from pushing her aside and facing the guards head-on.

For a second or two, the merc looked perplexed at the woman that was going back to laying on the floor. Then his mind processed the sudden action, and as quickly while still being silent, the clone followed suit. Keeping his eyes closed his thoughts began to race, as the sound of footprints moved towards them. Blind on in a compromised position with an enemy coming closer and closer he felt far from comfortable. It went against everything tactic and combat doctrine hammered into his head.

"Looks like they're still knocked out. Repeat that please."

Derriphan heard the guard talking into his communication device, but the other end was silent for the guests of the cell. Then his eyes suddenly opened, as a jarring noise banged from the bars of their cell. What they caught was the guard, a man only slightly older then himself, hitting the barrel of his blaster between the metal rods.

"Rise and Shine."

[member="Abigail Meredydd"]

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Even though Abigail had obviously been awake already, the banging still made her head hurt. To keep up the act, she rose slowly, acting as if she still had the massive headache, as if she just woke up. As she sat, she kept some of her hair in front of her face on purpose, to make her face that bit harder to see as she glanced over at the man beside her.

She stood up before her cellmate did, and while she did she took her time to take a look at the men at the cell door. One of them was carrying a blaster, actually, chit, scratch that, they were both carrying blasters. That certainly complicated things.

As multiple thoughts shot through her head, she had trouble to formulate a fool proof plan at the spot. She could use the suprise of the open door. Or she could use Derriphan as a distraction, or perhaps she should just play along for now.

She decided that she couldn't decide yet, so she went on to buy some time- and to sound more believable.

"Who are you? Where am I?", she asked before she stepped forward. "You have no right to hold me here. I demand to be released!"

While she spoke she still couldn't decide on the perfect plan, so she hoped Derriphan could make the choice for her.

She really hoped he wasn't going to just fight them. She doubted she could hold her own in a fight. Maybe with the element of surprise..

[member="Derriphan"]

 

[Derriphan]

"Can you believe that?"

The guard had a disgusting smile on his face as he poked his colleague with his elbow while still holding the weapon inside the cell. His coworker went beyond the smile and let out an equally disgusting short laugh. Derriphan followed the short exchange while forcing himself to stand up again, which was rather painful due to the injury on his leg. Standing besides the woman, he turned his head lightly to glance at her while trying to make the impression that he was still a little dazed from being knocked out.

"Alright you two come with us now. One sudden move and you're dead. Got it?"

The second guard made his way to the door. Derriphan knew that there was only one way they would get out from here, and that was to fight. It was a split second decision. Before the guard was able to open the door he pushed his left forward, yellow once more dancing through his eyes. With a well placed push, the guard began to tremble and fall desperately trying to stay on his feet by reaching for the door which gave in under his weight. Without any balance left, he stumbled inside and fell towards the ground.

"What the ..."

Guard number one took too long to realize what was going on, and his only fired shoot went aimlessly into the wall behind them. The Derriphan had reached him, standing just besides the barrel and grabbing it with both hands. Using all physical strength he could gather, the merc pushed the grip of the weapon into the guard's chest. He stumbled back as well, while the weapon remained in the clones hands. Now it was up to [member="Abigail Meredydd"] to deal with the other, while Derriphan turned the weapon around it and aimed it at the first guard.

 

[Abigail Meredydd]

Abigail rolled her eyes beneath strands of her own hair.

"I'm doubtful whatever we get if we don't make any sudden movements is better than if we do", she replied.

Expecting no response, Abigail glanced at Derriphan again, only to hear one of the guards say; "You'll find out whether it is or not soon, doll."

Abigail wanted to immediately retort that if the man called her 'doll' once more she'd break his arm, but before she could, [member="Derriphan"] already went on to...fight. As Expected, she supposed. It took her a little bit of time to process what exactly was happening. Her weakened state definitely had something to do with that.

The shot brought Abigail back to the there and then, and once her cellmate had the other under control, Abigail's eyes fell on the second guard, who had just gotten up again.
Great timing.

"I'm sorry," she said as she stepped towards him," it's better if you stay down."

While she stepped forward, the second guard, still in the process of standing up, swung one of his fists at her. Abigail clumsily blocked it with her arm, but it still almost tipped her off balance. Not waiting for him to strike again, Abigail punched him in his face, after which he fell down on the ground again.
Not wasting anymore time, she sat on top of the man and held his arms behind his back, as he was now lying face first on the cold floor.

"Try something funny and I'll snap your neck, understood?", she hissed.
Normally she wasn't necessarily so violent when threatening others, but she was under no illusion that if the man actually tried to escape, in her weakened state, he would probably succeed.