The Jaws of Hakkon

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Nighthaunter"]​

He'd never told her what his name was.​

And it didn't matter.​

Scherezade balanced herself into a crouch atop of the building in Senate District of Coruscant, watching the multi-level streets below her with interest. He wasn't there yet; but if her spider senses were tingling right, he ought to be passing through soon enough. And for once, the Blood Hound had the patience for it.

It had been a bit of a while since the two had met; she'd initially recruited him into the Ministry of Secrets when she had been a part of the Confederacy. But she had not remained. Instead, she, her sister, and a few of her friends, had decided to take their leave, all vanishing from Confederate space together, leaving what they believed to be not a trace. She knew the anonymity and silence would not last though. While they were the Firsts of Discordia, they were not ghosts, and as she specifically had no intention of remaining hidden in the Unknown Regions, she knew it was only a matter of time before things changed.

And her she was now. Not for herself, but for a vison that her sister had – a vision of a blade, very specific in its shape, a vision of four steps, and of a man. They'd all been silent when Madalena described him, but to Scherezade, it had sounded familiar. Too familiar. So she asked for a memory trade, and saw her sister's vision with her own yes, instantly recognizing him. Discordia had laughed and clapped her hands, and ordered Scherezade to go and fetch him, wherever he was.

But she'd had absolutely zero intention of venturing into Confederate space to find him. It didn't matter though. Even without the equipment she'd had with the Ministry, she still had something that no tech she'd encountered before could measure against; her Blood Hound abilities. It was during one of their first missions, that a drop of blood that belonged to Nighthaunter had ended up in Scherezade's mouth, and his imprint through the Force was now forever sketched into her mind. It wasn't enough to play Galactic GPS, but just enough so that when she'd landed earlier that day on Coruscant for a whole different reason, she knew well enough by every feeling that coursed through her body that she was meant to stay. At least for a little.

Glowing green eyes continued to look as her presence became known then; she peacocked it through the Force, announcing her presence to any Force User that might've been around, even if not completely on a conscious level.

Soon…

 

[Nighthaunter]

Tags: [member="Scherezade deWinter"]
Location: Coruscant Senate District
Equipment: black CS-21 catsuit, grappling hook, shuriken throwing stars, katana, two daggers, collapsible sniper rifle, blaster pistol, EMP.

The Nighthaunter was on the hunt, his target was the usual fat senate bureaucrat that had been using his position to conduct illegal activities and prey on the weak. He sat on the edge of a Coruscant skyscraper feeling the wind blow across his face, it blowing back his hood as he looked down at the senator's apartment through the scope of his sniper. He spotted two armed guards outside the senator's apartment door, and one inside, most likely the senator's head of security. He knew the windows would be blaster and bullet proof so his sniper would be useless and he wouldn't be able to take out the senator from range. He looked through his scope again looking for a point of access that wasn't the front door, he spotted what looked to be an abandoned room on the floor above. Removing his eye from the scope and he stood up and put on his mask and put up his hood. He then leaped off the top of the skyscraper diving downwards multiple levels before removing his grappling hook from his belt and shooting it onto the wall beside the abandoned room. He felt his gut lurch to the other side of his body as the hook pulled him across and up towards the window, just as he was about to hit the window he put his hands over his head and crashed through it breaking the glass.

He looked around the room it was indeed abandoned, he then looked out into the hallway using his mask's HUD. He checked for any heat signatures before he stepped out into the hallway and hopped into the elevator, he pressed the button going down one floor. As the elevator doors opened he took out his EMP and activated it, causing the entire skyscraper to go dark. Every hallway, every room, was now pitch black, just how he liked it. He exited the elevator and turned right down the hallway just towards the senator's room, the guards in front of his door were on a heightened sense of alert as the lights had just gone out. The two guards had begun looking in the hallway for any signs of an intruder. He stuck to the shadows and got to within 20 feet of them, he then pulled out his throwing stars from his belt. As one of the guards approached his position he threw one of the stars it shining in the light as it slit his neck open, slicing his jugular, causing him to bleed and choke on his own blood. Within seconds the guard had died and dropped to the floor. The other guard ran over to his colleague now on heightened alert as he reached for his comms to alert his commanding officer of a breach, his throat was sliced from behind by the Nighthaunter, his katana dripping with the poor man's blood.

As he approached the door to the senator's apartment he pulled out his blaster, he pressed his ear to the door to listen for any kind of movement. Not hearing anything he slowly opened the door, and slipped into the main room. The apartment was your typical rich bureaucrat's senate apartment, filled with many lavish couches, books, holo TV's and a large desk for where the senator would work. The apartment seemed empty, maybe he had miscalculated and this was the wrong apartment, just as he was beginning to doubt himself all of those doubts were put to the side when a man leaped from the shadows tackling the Nighthaunter, his pistol tumbling out of his hand. Nighthaunter quickly rolled out of the tackle and recovered looking at the big burly man in front of him that stood at easily 6'4, the man pulled out a blaster and aimed it at Nighthaunter. Nighthaunter quickly rolled to the side behind a couch as the man pulled the trigger. Blaster fire hit the couch Nighthaunter was crouched behind, knowing this cover wouldn't last for long he jumped out from behind the couch and threw a throwing star into the gun's muzzle jamming it. The commander quickly threw away the gun and charged Nighthaunter engaging him hand to hand. Nighthaunter could have easily pulled out his katana and chopped him in half but instead he decided to enjoy himself. He easily side stepped the wild punches and countered with a quick right handed jab to the jaw and a head kick. The man looked groggy after this quick fire combo struggling to remain conscious, Nighthaunter then punched him in the face with a left handed upper cut and right a overhand punch that knocked him clean out.

Once this business was dealt with Nighthaunter kicked open the door to the senator's bedroom, there he saw the senator cowering in the corner of the room probably from hearing the commotion outside. The only light in the room coming from the window that let in the Coruscant artificial light. Nighthaunter calmly walked over to him remaining completely silent, the senator seeing the Nighthaunter quickly realized why he was here.

"Please... I will give you anything you want, I will pay you double the people that hired you." He pleaded desperately, tears in his eyes.

This assertion that he could bought angered the Nighthaunter and in response he looked down at the pathetic individual before him, he crouched down so he was eye level with the fat bureaucrat and thrust his dagger into the man's open hand. His screams echoed around the room as Nighthaunter then pulled his dagger out as blood poured out of the man's hand. He then picked the man up with both hands, smashing the window and held him out of the window hundreds of stories above the ground. He then simply let go dropping the man screaming out of the window, as he looked down menacingly.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Nighthaunter"]​

Her spidy sense ever tingling, Scherezade's gaze snapped into attention as she caught it. This time, it was not a general feeling, something so amorphic that none outside her head could get a good grasp on it. No. Far from it. This time, she had all her senses locked on him. The moment the blood had come close enough, with her searching intentionally for it, it was impossible to miss. She could feel it beneath her skin, with all of her non-physical senses, calling to her, almost singing to her.

Scherezade smiled.

Within moments she removed herself from the top of the building and slithered down, the palms of her hands running along the smooth skyscraper surfaces until she wanted to come to a stop – at an adjacent building to the one [member="Nighthaunter"] was in. Blood had been spilled, and it did not belong to him. Another smile from the Blood Hound. It seemed her little recruit knew his business well. After all, assassinations were part of their job description back when they had worked together.

It was odd, thinking about it 'back when'. It had only been a few weeks, yet in Scherezade's personal world, it felt like several lifetimes. Questions such as would he even remember who I am sprung to mind, along with what if they'd stamped me as a turncloak?. While she hadn't actually made any specific moves against the former government she'd served, she had abandoned post, without a single word. Someone else would take over as the busiest person amongst them. And whoever it was, she hoped that person would be better treated than she had been.

Shaking her head to rid herself of all the thoughts, Scherezade made the final leap, landing near the only window into the senator's room, just in time to see the senator come flying out of there.

Elegantly, she moved towards the inside, pausing on the window ledge, a predator's smile on her face as she looked at Nighthaunter. "Nice," she commented, "but messy. All those screams might attract the wrong kind of folk." Motioning for Nighthaunter to move so that she could jump into the room without jumping on him, the Sithling moved. "What was this assassination's purpose?"

 

[Nighthaunter]

​

Tags: [member="Scherezade deWinter"]
Location: Coruscant Senate District
Equipment: black CS-21 catsuit, grappling hook, shuriken throwing stars, katana, two daggers, collapsible sniper rifle, blaster pistol, EMP.

Nighthaunter had turned his back after throwing the fat Senator out the window and had started to walk towards the door of the dark bedroom when he heard a familiar female voice behind him. He turned around slowly completely relaxed, and looked upon the new comer directly. Yes, it was exactly who he thought it was. Had she come to kill him? For all he knew she could be completely hostile, as after she went AWOL for the Confederacy no one had heard a peep out of her.

"This? This was personal." He said, looking at the sithling crouched on the window ledge in front of him. For the brief time they were together at the Confederacy they had had a good relationship. And although he wouldn't admit it to even himself he had grown slightly fond of her, she had always been the one that the rest of the birds looked up to. She was the anchor for the group without her they were a rather dysfunctional group that didn't trust each other, she was the glue that held everyone to together.

"Wrong kind of folk? What like you? You are absent without leave from the Confederacy what's to stop me from killing you here and now?" He asked menacingly, the calmness in his voice though ever present. Many found this aspect of him, what's the word, creepy. No matter how gory or destructive the situation he always remained calm, almost like he had seen worse. He wasn't sure if he would actually be able to take the Sithling one on one, he had dealt with many force users before, all of them now dead, but [member="Scherezade deWinter"] was a different sort of challenge. However one thing was clear if did come to a fight only one of them was going to live, he was not known for surrendering, he had accepted the idea of dying long ago.

He dropped his hand to his blaster pistol waiting for her next move, whether it was for her to leap and attack him with her lightsabers or to simply talk. He was not going to let his guard down...

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Nighthaunter"]​

"I'm not absent from the Confederacy," the Sithling said with a grin, "I've left it. Deserted. Abdicated. Betrayed. Terminated myself from office. Vacated. Abandoned." She'd looked at a Thesaurus at one point to find as many words as she could for it. There were still another dozen optional ones, but she thought the ones she'd already given Nighthaunter had been enough to convey her meaning. The Blood Hound of the Confederacy was no more. In many ways, had never truly been.

His calmness did not scare her. Scherezade, despite existing far away from her family in too damn many ways, was still a deWinter. When a deWinter screamed at you, yelled at you, you knew to not need fear. They were little but barking dogs. But when deWinters became silent, when it was time for the quiet rage to take over… That was when things got dangerous.

"You're considering whether or not you can undo me now," she said with another sweet smile, and shrugged. "I'm sure my head separated from my body will get you a single nod from one of the dumb higher ups," she added. "But is that all you want in this life? A nod from a higher up, after you do the job they're too posh to do themselves?"

Leaning against the wall now, she eyed his hand, but made no other motion towards it. He could try to shoot her if he wanted to. He would find his brain overflowing with blood before his finger pulled the trigger though. She really hoped he would not make such an attempt. For better or worse, Nighthaunter was good at what he did, and such people were a rare commodity.

"I never took you for a stupid person," Scherezade said, gazing directly into his eyes then, "So tell me, what do you make of your Confederacy? Of your place in it?"

 

[Nighthaunter]

Tags: [member="Scherezade deWinter"]
Location: Coruscant Senate District
Equipment: black CS-21 catsuit, grappling hook, shuriken throwing stars, katana, two daggers, collapsible sniper rifle, blaster pistol, EMP.

Nighthaunter relaxed slightly it was clear Scherezade wasn't a threat to him... yet. He relaxed his finger on the trigger of his gun and instead listened to her reasoning. What did he think of the Confederacy? The only reason he had joined the Confederacy in the first place, was that Scherezade had recruited him, and here she was again. She always did everything for a reason and clearly she had a reason for coming to find him. The Confederacy since then had been sending him on missions but he didn't really feel a higher purpose he must admit, he felt like an outcast and looked down upon. He also felt that the Confederacy had gone soft not being able to do what was necessary, they had become to nice and soft in their place of power.

He shook his head, "That is beside the point, why come for me? Why hunt me down? When I am clearly busy and enjoying myself." He asked, as he knew the sithling never did something without a very good reason to do so.

"You always have a reason for everything you do Scherezade, you didn't come and find me just to reminisce about the past." He said calmly, not breaking eye contact with her. He hated being followed, it was a slight pet peeve of his if he was honest. He had always preferred to be the hunter than the hunted, yet somehow Scherezade had always been able to get the drop on him. It was as impressive as it was annoying.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Nighthaunter"]​

"I might've recruited you into the Confederacy, but our past is nothing worth reminiscing over," she said coldly with a shrug. Looking at his fingers moving from his weapon, some of the warmth returned to her face. She was pretty confident of her ability to kill him if they had to truly duel it out, but she knew Nighthaunter would give her a challenge. Shedidn't recruit weaklings.

"And you're not having fun," she corrected him, "You're filling the void. You're bored with the Confederacy, feeling unchallenged. You serve a master that claims to be against empires while being an empire within itself. But there's another way. A better way. A way that takes you away from it."[/color]

She paused, letting the words fill the air. There were many words and things she had to toss about how the Confederacy conducted itself, and how for so long, for what was practically her entire short life, she had served it, bringing its message forward, fighting for it when time after time its double faced hypocrisy stared at her right back from the abyss, coupled with how she was treated like trash at every single turn.

"Would you like to come and reset the Galaxy with me, Nighthaunter?" came the offer at last, a delicious smiled painted on the Sithling's face.