Private S N A T C H

[Shego Striga]

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Calyx Sundrift​

The rain came down in cold needles, streaking across the neon blur of Coruscant's skyline. From her perch on the skyscraper's ledge, Shego's emerald eyes gleamed behind rain-slicked lenses as her respirator hissed in rhythm with her breath. The city below churned in chaos, a living organism of lights, alarms, and panic.

The comm in her coat buzzed again. She snatched it up, thumbed the button, and pressed it to her ear.

"We're in position. Hit's a go. You set?" one of the merc voices asked, rough and jittery.

Shego gave a low laugh, dry as ash. "More or less. Just remember, scare them. Make it hurt, make it messy, but don't be heroes. I need them rattled, not buried." She adjusted the valves on her mask with a hiss. "And when this is over...we're done. No reunions, no postmortems. You've got the number code, use it at the designated time. Until then, silence."

A pause. Then the voice muttered, "Copy that. Godspeed, Basilisk."

Click. She crushed the device in her fist, sparks snapping against her glove before the broken pieces vanished into the black gorge of the streets below.

The city trembled a heartbeat later. A thunderous BOOM tore through the district, black smoke curling upward into the storm. Gunfire crackled in answer, and a chorus of alarms wailed like sirens of the damned. Shego leaned forward just enough to watch the convoy scramble below, lips curling behind her mask.

"That's my boys~," she whispered, watching the corporate enforcers swarm in neat formation, exactly as she'd predicted. "Ten minutes flat. Like clockwork. Predictable, polished, pathetic."

Her watch beeped again. She clicked it, starting a new timer, then stepped forward into the abyss, one boot dangling over nothingness.

"And here. We. Go~"

Her body tipped, falling like a stone into the rain-lashed dark. Wind howled, neon blurred, and then SNAP! Her emerald glider locked onto her legs, flaring with sudden jets of light. The machine roared alive, propelling her back into the night sky with lethal grace.

Shego's coat whipped behind her as she threaded through towers, engines screaming as the glider dipped and weaved between colossal billboards. Her comm crackled again, this time, it was the strike team, still alive.

"We've stirred the nest, Basilisk! Enforcers are moving the package to secondary! You'll only get one shot before they bury it in their vaults!"

"I only ever need one," Shego purred, lips curling around a rasp of static as she adjusted her mask. She cut a sharp turn between two spires, eyes locked on the fleeing transport's thrusters blazing ahead of her. "You boys had your fun. My turn."

Another merc chimed in, breathless with panic. "They've called in drones! Heavies! You're not gonna-"

"Oh, hush," Shego interrupted, her tone velvet over steel. "Let mama work."

Emerald light flared brighter as she accelerated, rain streaking into glowing lines across her visor. The transport loomed ahead, heavy with its stolen data, flanked by armed escorts. And Shego, laughing devilishly beneath her mask, angled herself like a blade in the storm.

"Initiate Phase Two!" she whispered to a second communication device where special hired help Calyx Sundrift awaited in position to intercept. "Their being corralled to you! Be ready! On my Mark~"

 

[Calyx Sundrift]

“Initiate phase two!”

That was him, wasn’t it? He glanced up through the transparasteel cover of the airspeeder. Rain softly ticked against it. But it’s raining...

“They’re being corralled to you. On my mark~”

Calyx let out a sigh. No choice huh? He engaged the transmitter of the built-in commlink. “Standing by.” To think he’d gotten sweet-talked into this. Well- sweet talk... It’d been mostly ice, distance, and cold-hard business with this woman. Nevertheless he’d found her alluring enough to be persuaded.

That, and she had the makings of a very, very capable ally.
His airspeeder fell in line. The scanners had trouble overcoming the weather - he’d botched the job on those. Ten minutes wasn’t nearly enough to introduce the hardware on the stolen and largely incompatible vehicle. Let alone the software.

Somehow, magically, it still seemed to convert the right signals.

Calyx flicked the switch of the comms channel. “Triclo, do you copy?” Just blank noise on the other side. “Triclo?” He swivelled his airspeeder away from the slower traffic lines. This all banked on timing.

“Yes boss?” Came the heavy grunting voice of the Gran.

He glimpsed at the scanner’s display. The escort was just as she had predicted. “Second on the north side. Before the tunnel. Got it?” Calyx had come prepared. Shego had wanted professionals. The guys who’d done the Corellia and Troithe jobs. So, he’d brought the full team. Out of them, though? Everything hinged on Triclo. The three-eyed sniper.

Without him, taking the escort out was going to be trouble. The main transport? That hinged on Shego and him alone. That was more doable, in his humble opinion.

”Copy. I’m in position boss.” Calyx smirked. This would be another near-death experience to remember. At least he still got a thrill out of it.

Shego Striga