Stranger in a Room

[Darth Prazutis]

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

It was some time since Braxus had actually been followed by someone for such a length of time, twenty years in fact. Braxus remembered the last time perfectly, it had been a Hitman, a man of his past with the Hutt Cartel that had some grievances with him, but could have been the mans worst mistake to dare to track such a dangerous Anzati. How could such a mediocre professional hunt the highest paid, highest in demand hitman the Hutt Cartel had? But this person was certainly not a hitman, they were something else.

Evade your target with subtlety and without them knowing your onto them, Braxus took the following woman through a crowd of people, a market and quickly lost her and ducked into an alleyway. This woman was trained, but she wasn't skilled enough to keep up with a highly trained veteran of this little cat and mouse game Braxus assumed they were playing. In a crowded area Braxus could easily track her, he could feel the force essence that dwelled in her body and it was strong, she stuck out to him like a wolf trying to hide amidst the sheep, the unwashed masses might have had some doting force sensitivity, but nothing like this fledgeling individual moving among the crowds.

He kept his distance from the woman but followed her progress as she tried to once more find the chase that had unwittingly turned tables, and only after they left the crowded area did he get eyes on the alluring woman that was trying to find him all this time. Braxus knew all too well of the specialist killers that were out there, often the Hutts sent specialty individuals after targets they couldn't kill with the usual repertoire of killers, but there was one problem here: Braxus was on good terms with his old contacts. Last he heard everything was business as usual, they knew he was out of the game and after some well planned killings, they met and cleared the air for good, so why was this woman following him? The woman had a full figure and she was still young, he would observe his prey before deciding how to approach, and what to do when he confronted her.

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

There! That one! Wait?

It was all so confusing. Moravian moved through the crowds seeing them but not just them. There was another, a man. Tall and strong with dark hair and deep green eyes. She had seen him but had yet to lay eyes on him. He was here! She knew it. She could feel his presence. But where was he? Oh it was all so confusing.

Still she pressed onwards, driven by glimpses of visions that she didn't fully understand. Whomever it was she saw was gone, slipping away from her in the crowd. She could sense his presence in the Force, and she did her best to track him but it was hopeless. Her own talents were unrefined in comparison to the man she sought.

The crowd had fallen behind her as she left the market district. Ahead, dark alleys and broken down buildings. The slums. The perfect place to lose her. No one would bother you here if you ran through buildings or charged down the sidewalks like a madman. Finally she came to a stop and pulled the hood of her jacket off, raven locks spilled down to her hips as she did. Come back. Who are you?

Her coal black eyes swept the streets ahead. It was no good. Her visions hadn't been clear enough to know the man's face, only that he was here. That he was close. Her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her black hoodie, fingers tightened on the hilts of her twin shoto sabers. Again she started forward, slowly at first, uncertain of what she was looking for.

[member="Braxus Zambrano"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Just a stranger in the alley.

He had turned the tables on the girl trying so hard to find him for a reason he didn't know, Braxus was hunting her. But still she pushed on even after completely losing visual, pulling on the tether of force presence he had been giving her but unable to narrow down exactly just how close he was. The girl was certainly young he could tell that much, young and beautiful and with eyes black as coals matching the shade of her hair color. Ever on his guard Braxus partly wanted to continue silently observing her, but that just wasn't going to happen. He saw enough of his lost prey and it was about time he found out exactly what she was doing here.

Braxus shrank his presence in the force until it disappeared completely, like a lone leaf on an autumn wind. He waited several moments as a small group passed an intersection a little ways ahead before he made his move and quickly, and silently closed in on her. Braxus's speed, strength, and reflexes were almost four times that of a normal humans without his use of the force thanks to his natural abilities, and this were traits carefully cultivated over time. In one swift motion Braxus wrapped his arm around her neck and forced her head downward, burying her mouth into the corner of his elbow while he pressed the hilt of his lightsaber hard against her back "Draw those blades in your pockets and you'll be dead before they see the light of day." Braxus whispered in her ear just mere inches away as he dragged the woman into a side alley.

He clipped the lightsaber on his belt as they slid into the alley and he attempted to push her hard against the flat surface of one of the walls, where he'd carefully collect her two shoto lightsabers if successful. Braxus at this distance would look her up and down several times before glaring into her eyes "Since when did the mino grow enough strength to try and follow the shark, and believe that I didn't spot you a mile away the second you were on my tail." Braxus said louder than before. But then he leaned in close to her ear "Now pray tell, why shouldn't I kill you right here and now, you're just a stranger to me."

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

No!

The presence she had been following was gone, a moment of panic washed through her. She had to find him again, quickly, before he vanished completely. She rushed across the street to the mouth of the nearest alley, her head craning left and right as she looked for any sign of someone fleeing the area. All that stuck out was the group of reprobates she had passed in the road. One was whistling at her and speaking in some slug tongue. She didn't understand what pateesa meant but his tone was enough reason for her to turn her back on them.

On the verge of despair she started to turn back to deal with the male that had been heckling her. It was then that the man she had been hunting collided with her, his arm closed over her mouth and face as he manhandled her into the alley. He made a threat that she didn't hear. Her body had gone limp, or near enough to it that the man hardly had to try in order to move her.

Her mind was bombarded by images and sounds. The dark haired man, his deep green eyes aglow with the burning image of his sabers. Brief glimpses of battle flowed through her mind's eye. Screams of his victims flooded her ears. Choas and carnage, burning sabers and gleaming armor. Behind it all loomed the shadow of a titan, the Dark Lord from which she had been made. Kaine.

Pain shattered her visions like stained glass. The man's arm had kept her face from hitting the wall but not her abdomen. Pain, like liquid fire, burned across her belly as her attacker pulled her Shotos from her pockets. The razor edged blades around the emitors were slick with fresh blood, having sliced into her during the impact with the wall. A small grunt escaped the girl, the only outward display of the pain she felt.

He spoke again. This time of strange things, sharks and minnows and why he should let her live. Slowly, as to not provide him a reason to run her through with her own sabers, she set her hands on the wall she was pressed against, the platinum claws that served as her fingernails scraped loudly across the Duracrete. She pushed backward enough that her wounds were no longer crushed against the wall.

There are many kinds of strength. Those who work out in gyms have solid definition to them. Gymnasts are lithe and powerful. Bodybuilders have bulk and rippling muscle. Then there were those like Moravian. Her strength came from constant manual labor and training. It left her with dull slabs of rock hard muscle hidden beneath the curves her mother had passed down to her. When she pressed back against her assailant he wouldn't have trouble feeling every muscle in her back and legs flex as she moved. Her head turned enough to free her mouth to speak to the man.

"Do all your assassins come after you in baggy pants and hoodie coats?" She cocked an eyebrow at him as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. Her voice was soft and held a unique musical quality. "If I were here to attack you, Hand Of Kaine, I would eat your eyes this very moment. I, however, have no desire to maim the servants of Darth Vornskr. My Rova'Kor on the other hand might." A vile tongue of malted brown sprang from her mouth so quickly it was all but impossible to track. The biot snapped and nashed a set of teeth in front of the man's eyes for a brief moment before retreating back into the girl's mouth. She smiled sweetly up at the man, plump lips curved in an innocent bow. "Let me go. Please."

[member="Braxus Zambrano"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Braxus put a hand around her throat and began to squeeze tighter and tighter as he looked into her eyes, he was taken back by the biot that snapped out of her mouth but his anger spiked more than anything else. How dare this upstart lash out like she was in a position of strength.

"Dare to perform a threatening display like that again, and I'll strangle you to death with your own Rova'kor." Braxus said as he let go of her throat and shoved her away from the wall. He took the woman's lightsabers in his hand and looked at them, not bothering to turn in her direction while he spoke again "What do you want with me girl? Better yet how did you find me on Coruscant in the first place?" Braxus added.

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Moravian stumbled back several steps before catching her balance once more. The man was powerfully built and more than outweighed her, tossing her about was a fairly simple task. She felt his anger swell as he had choked her briefly. She didn't understand why he was angry, all she had done was show that she was not yet defenceless. Why was he angry? "It wasn't a threat." She murmured, one hand rubbing her sore throat.

Her eyes widened as her turned her sabers this way and that in his hand. She stepped forward out of reflex, hand extended with her palm to the sky. "Those are mine. I built them to mirror my father's hilt. Give them back." She took another half step forward. "Give them back and I'll answer." Urgency tinged her voice causing her voice to raise several octaves.

[member="Braxus Zambrano"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Braxus couldnt help but shake the feeling that something was familiar about the sabers he was holding in his hand, like he had seen them before. He was trying to search his memory bank when her demands came through, like she had some valuable piece of information to negotiate with, he laughed in response. "Fine girl, but I need something first." Braxus said as he placed the shoto's in her hand, he grabbed her wrist with one of his hands to stop her from pulling away, and placed a palm on her forehead with the other one. Immediately he began assaulting her mind like he had so many times before to other victims, a unique talent of Anzati hypnosis to quiet and mesmerize his target, assault and break down her mental defenses, break the connection to the outside world unable to yell for help, he was stronger in the force than the untrained acolyte, and didn't expect it to be too hard to pry through.

Braxus used his mental force powers once he had pried open the gates to slip inside briefly and search through her mind, first who this father was and why these sabers looked so familiar. Braxus immediately stopped his attack shortly after discovering who in fact her father was: [member="Darth Vornskr"] his own master. Kaine wasn't one to feel a sense of kinship with his own family especially, that was something Braxus learned long ago. "Alright girl, how did you find me, and what do you want?"

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Someday this moment would shine through as a lesson in being too trusting of strangers. In the meantime Mora just wanted her sabers back. She stepped forward quickly to collect them only to have her wrist grabbed and her mind invaded. An Epicanthix mind was no simple thing to assault but her natural resilience alone was not enough to stand in the way of the Anzati. Her mind clouded over, for how long she didn't know but the moment he let her go she pulled away several steps. Anger filled her heart and mind in one brilliant, burning moment. Who was he to keep man handling her?! The Hand of Kaine perhaps but she had been made from the man, made to be a weapon that would change the future of the Sith. This servant had no right to touch her so!

Her eyes lost focus for a moment. In her mind's eye she saw the shadow of the titan Kaine cover the walls of the alleyway behind this Anzati. Kaine's servant, his Herald, his weapon. Her eyelids fluttered several times as her coal black gaze fixed on this man's deep green orbs. Her anger faded rapidly, "I had dreams of you." She answered softly. "Visions of you, your eyes mostly. Then the visions changed and I saw this city, so I followed you. I don't understand them, my visions, but I had to find you."

Slowly she straightened to her full height and slide her sabers back in her pockets, which were steadily growing dark with blood. She didn't seem to notice the wounds as she continued, "So there you go. I'm not an assassin. I'm just lost." She grew quiet for a moment, but only a moment. "Who are you?"

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Another one of Kaine's fledgling spawn roaming around in the galaxy except this one was different, this one was deliberately engineered for a specific purpose but for some reason it was let loose on its own. Braxus knew all too well that his master wasn't one to get earthly attached to the spawn that claimed him as their father, attachment on this level could be dangerous and Kaine gave favor to those who proved themselves not purely based on a biological connection. So this woman was having visions of Coruscant, and visions of...him? Why? The force indeed did work in mysterious ways but Braxus couldn't help but figure out why this girl was having visions of him?

"My name is Braxus and I know who your father is girl, I serve at his side, what is your name?" Braxus replied to her. "The force works in mysterious ways, perhaps you were unknowingly seeing visions of this encounter we were to have." Braxus added. He was an excellent judge of character and he always had a knack for spotting deceivers a mile away, and so far this girl wasn't lying. She legitimately was telling the truth about these confusing visions she was receiving subconsciously, and just decided to follow them. Interesting indeed.

[member="Moravian Zambrano"]

 

[Moravian Zambrano]

Glittering pools of liquid midnight swept over the large man's face, taking in every subtle change in his expression. The Anzati, not that Moravian knew what an Anzati was to tell the man was in fact one, studied the young woman for some time. She could practically see the gears turning in his mind as he tried to puzzle out exactly what she was and why the Force had brought her here. She understood, or at least had garnered an idea after Braxus had grabbed her. He was the Hand of Kaine, her father's champion. If she was ever going to prove worthy of her family's name, this was surely the path she was meant to travel.

"I'm Mora." She answered softly. "Well, Moravian actually but the doctors only called me that when they were upset about how many of the soldiers I injured." Those black eyes traveled up and down Braxus once before she looked around the alleyway. "I don't think the visions were of this meeting. There's to much light. I could see the green in your eyes too." She moved forward without fear or hesitation, clearly personal space meant nothing to her. She stood immediately in front of the large man, her chest almost touched his she was so close. "More like this. It's how I knew where to find you. I could feel your presence all around me the first time I saw your eyes."

[member="Darth Prazutis"]