Private Though Some Call It Magic

[Inanna Harth]

Sometimes Narsh could be almost beautiful. For a few moments at dawn, when the rays of the setting sun hit the starscrapers just right, it gleamed. Even the smog acquired an ethereal quality, the light forming a golden lining on dark smoky clouds.

Then you would hear a speeder alarm, the sounds of blaster fire, a distant scream, and the moment would be gone. You remembered where you were, and wondered if you were in danger, and how much it fething sucked to live on this spinning death ball the Hutts had the gall to call a “glorious jewel”.

As for Inanna, she just wanted to finish her sandwich in peace. She’d brought food for her and Cato—sorry, Moonlighter—while they were out on patrol. Beating up thugs could really work up an appetite. But right when the endless crime wave seemed to wind down for a bit, long enough that they might be able to stop by on a decently clean rooftop and eat, she heard more sirens, more gunfire, more screaming.

She cast a sad glance down at her sandwich. It wasn’t even half-eaten.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Nar Shaddaa
A Few Years Ago
Inanna Harth​

---

Cato himself found appreciation for moments like these, as fleeting as they often were. It was a reminder that underneath all the grime, there was something worth fighting for. A chance of something better, for those who could not reach it alone. Why, ultimately, he did all of this. This self-imposed duty (and childhood wish fulfillment, admittedly) as "Moonlighter". Not everyone on Nar Shaddaa was an unrepentant criminal.

But a lot of people were.

Up here, Cato was comfortable enough removing his mask for a bit of "fresh" air. His hair was unkempt from being stuffed inside the costume, and he either didn't notice or didn't care enough to fix it. There was only a matter of time before the mask went back on. Cato sat at the edge of the rooftop, dangling his feet, when he looked over at Inanna, "You order these in costume?" He asked, chuckling at the thought.

Eating the food, unfortunately, was becoming a challenge all its own. Sounds of chaos came from below, requesting the duo's return to action. Cato offered Inanna sympathetic smile, "How about after this one, we clock out for the night?" Even superpowered vigilantes needed to rest. A truth he had been trying to hold himself too more, since this woman came into his life. Cato stuffed another quick bite of his sandwich into his mouth, then lifted up his mask, "For now though… Duty calls?"

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I made them, actually. While you were sleeping.” Carrying them around with her all night was a bit of a hassle, but she managed to not squish them.

Which made not being able to enjoy the fruits of her labor all the more annoying. Now, she could dislocate her jaw like a snake and swallow the whole thing in one go, but she had yet to unlock the confidence to pull crazy stunts like that in front of her new boyfriend. It was also pretty uncomfortable, and the last thing she needed right now was indigestion.

Cato suggested they clock in for the night after dealing with this next problem. Chewing what would be her last bite of sandwich, she nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” Standing up, she adjusted his mask for him, making sure everything was smooth and neat, before diving off the roof.

The commotion down below turned out to be coming from a bank robbery in progress. Strangely, it seemed the criminal crew consisted almost entirely of droids who were now engaged in a firefight with police and armed citizens. Inanna handed the rest of her sandwich to a homeless person before leaping into the fray. With a crack of her lightwhip, she yanked a blaster rifle from the hands of a droid before knocking the bad robot backwards with a telekinetic push.

"What's the deal with these guys?" she asked. "What do they need money for, spare parts?"

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“Really?” Cato said as though impressed, giving the sandwich a closer study. He took a big bite, and nodded, “It’s delicious.” Unfortunately, they had business to attend to. And eating on the job was unprofessional. Cato pulled down his mask with a bit of help from Inanna, and the goggle lenses lit up green as they activated, “Next patrol, I’ll do the meal prep. I make a killer calzone,” He tapped his nose behind his mask, “Not everyone is so lucky to be graced by its presence.”

Then, he dove off the roof alongside her. He raised a hand, launching a grappling hook from his wrist mounted device, allowing him to swing onto the scene with a kick. The impact launched one of the droids into a wall. With that entrance, the spotlight was on them, “No kidding,” He commented, sweeping one of the droids to the ground, “What’s with the matching chassis, guys? Pretty sure they didn’t release a new line of bank robber droids recently.”

Each droid looked exactly the same, a masculine human shape, albeit one clad in metal. One of them put Cato into a lock from behind, along another to deliver a sudden punch into his gut, “Ugh-- C’mon man, I just ate!”

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Custom made?” Inanna suggested. Seizing a droid by the neck with her whip, she crushed his circuitry and popped his head off like a cork. “Somebody built these to rob a bank?”

Seemed like a lot of work for something like that, but then maybe he planned on reusing them to rob different banks. You could probably steal a lot of money that way and—

Wham! Inanna failed to sense a metal fist headed her way and ate a knuckle sandwich. She crushed the droid into a ball of metal with the Force, then tossed him into a group of his comrades. Like bowling pins, they scattered in all directions with a noise like a junk pile collapsing.

Cato was in trouble. Launching herself feet first at the droid punching him, she delivered a flying kick to its durasteel dome, knocking it over—only to be dogpiled by several more of the clanking tin men.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato clicked his tongue, "It's a lot of effort for a robbery. Not to mention a waste of some real engineering skill." Still, like Inanna thought, it could pay off with continued use. Or perhaps there was a larger organization behind the effort.

Further theory crafting was rudely interrupted by the attacking droids, who were now targeting the pair of vigilantes. Cato fought to be released, but he couldn't break the hold. Luckily, Inanna dispatched his assailant, giving him an opportunity to focus. Cato summoned one of his tonfa sabers to his hand, igniting it and severed a limb from the droid that grappled him. He spun around and finished it off, before drawing his second tonfa as well, "Let's wrap this up. The vigilante night shift has me ready for a nap."

Another droid swung at him, to which Cato even yawned, and lazily dodged the strike. He then destroyed it with a few quick cuts, before moving on to the next.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

With a blast of telekinetic power, Inanna flung off the droids which had surrounded her. She didn’t look even faintly disheveled—not a hair was out of place among her pale locks as she continued to whip and tear.

But like Cato, she was tired and hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. The fact that they didn’t know who was behind the bank robbery meant that an investigation was in order—but that could wait until tomorrow night, right?

Finally, they were down to just three droids. While Cato dealt a swift end to the other two with his tonfa blades, she defenestrated the last droid. It went sailing out the window and right into oncoming traffic. Inanna’s eyes widened as she realized the risk, but it was too late. The droid was smashed into metal slaw by a speeder even as the driver slammed on the brakes, causing it to be rear-ended by the bus behind it. Like falling dominos, the damage continued to pile up as more speeders, a truck, and a bike were thrown into the mix.

Inanna had covered her eyes with gloved hands, her mouth twisted in a mortified wince. Slowly she peeked through her fingers at the carnage. She could hear alarms shrieking and glass breaking. People were shouting and shaking their fists up at her. Luckily it looked like no one was injured, but there was a whole lot of property damage.

Pressing her hands to her burning cheeks, she squeaked out a single word: "Sorry."

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato spun around just in time to see the droid flying into a collision course with a car. He winced, the aperture of his goggle lenses squinting to convey the emotion underneath, "Hoo boy…" He muttered, pinching his brow once the damage was fully done. At least everyone was alive. He looked to Inanna pityingly, and placed a hand on her shoulder, "You know… Usually the police are uh, better about blocking the street," He tried to ease some of the blame from her conscience. But this was a hell of a mess.

"Stop!" A raspy voice called from behind them. It was one of the cops, a nikto man holding a blaster pistol down in front of him, "Shoulda figured you'd be here to muck everything up, Moonlighter. Who's the eye candy?" He said, gesturing to Inanna, only to immediately shake his head and raise his blaster, "Doesn't matter. You two are under arrest."

Cato pointed a finger at the cop, "Save the shtick, Zolk, I know who you really work for." Hell, everyone did. It was an open secret. The only government on Nar Shaddaa was the influence of powerful crime lords. Cops were just glorified enforcers, making sure things didn't get too out of hand, "Now clean up this mess for us, will ya?" Cato flicked his finger, causing Zola's pistol to sail upwards and out of his hands.

"You little-!" He scrambled to retrieve his weapon, but before he could get it, Moonlighter had already wrapped one arm around Inanna, and flew them both away on a grappling hook. In a matter of moments, they twisted around the corner of a building, and were out of sight of the crime scene.

"Well… that could have gone better," Cato admitted as they swung over orange-lit streets, "Don't worry. It's in the local boss's best interests to keep his territory content… R-relatively content. They'll get things sorted out." He awkwardly shifted his hand hanging by Inanna to open his palm, which held some sort of data card, "And lucky for us, I managed to fish this out of one of those droids."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna held her head in her hands. Forget the Narsh police, they never did their job right. She had the Force, damn it! But her skill with telekinesis far outmatched her reaction time and ability to sense danger. It had always been her biggest weakness…

"Shoulda figured you'd be here to muck everything up, Moonlighter. Who's the eye candy?"

Turning to face the cop, Inanna rested her hands on her hips. She had just enough dignity left to be mildly peeved at being referred to as mere eye candy—though to be fair, all that ample cleavage she was baring was supposed to be distracting. For the bad guys. Didn’t really work on droids, though. “I don’t have a vigilante name yet,” she mumbled.

(Not that the local news hadn’t tried. Changeling was the obvious one; Dupli-Kate and Every-Woman were some of her favorites. Fantasy Girl had earned a giggle.)

There was hardly time to say or do anything else, as the cop tried to arrest them only to be easily disarmed. Before Inanna knew it, she was being whisked away across the city by Moonlighter. “My hero!” she said, wrapping her arms and legs around him.

The data card should be a solid clue as to who had built the robber-droids, but she was too tired to even think about the investigation. The sensation of Cato’s muscles flexing just underneath that skintight suit of his was also occupying much of her attention. She bit her lip. “Any chance we might be followed? Should we go somewhere else other than your apartment tonight, just to be safe?”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“My hero!”

Cato grinned behind his mask. A bit of appreciation was always nice.

Inanna suggested avoiding the apartment for now, in case of pursuers. Their options were a bit limited, though, "I guess it's possible. Hard to say without knowing anything about those guys. Never seen 'em before." They swung up and over the lip of a roof, landing on top with a slight stumble. Cato released Inanna, and took a closer look at the data chip, "If nothing else I always try to unwind away from the apartment. Let the heat die down then sneak back if the coast is clear," His secret identity would almost certainly be blown by now if he hadn't taken such precautions. If someone saw Moonlighter coming in or out of the same apartment more than once, it would basically be game over.

"The only other real hideout I've got is the crusty old Jedi Enclave. Not the coziest place to stay the night," He shrugged, and leaned against the roof door, "Unless you'd rather take a nap up here, or in an alley," Cato chuckled dryly.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I was thinking we might have to worry about the police coming after us, or the crime lords or…” Some other threat. It felt like they had a lot of enemies with reason to chase them.

She set her feet on the roof, but stayed close to him, her hands roaming over his backside. “I’ve slept in worse places,” she muttered, then smiled at him. “I’ll be happy just about anywhere, as long as I’m with you.

“...That said. Crusty old Jedi Enclave actually sounds kind of cool, cozy or not.” She had always been sort of curious about that place ever since Cato mentioned it in passing. "Just as long as it isn't haunted. I don't want any ghosts watching us." Or living people, for that matter.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato shrugged again, evidently a bit more lackadaisical about the matter than her, "Police got their hands full. But if it makes you feel better we'll stay away from the apartment for now. Just in case," It was hardly the worst action they could take. Maybe a change of scenery would be nice. He looked at Inanna and smirked, pulling up his mask halfway so that it revealed his nose and mouth, "I can get behind that," He exaggeratedly reached a hand over, laying it on her shoulder like he were making a move, then pulled her closer.

"Yeah, it's cool. And practical. I've managed to mess around with its old systems, get a few things up and running. Hell it would warn us if an unwanted intruder followed us in," Technically better security than the apartment, "Plus we could run this chip's data through the main computer. Mine at home would work fine too, but that one at the Enclave will probably decrypt it faster."

"Just as long as it isn't haunted. I don't want any ghosts watching us."

Cato snorted, "No ghosts, last I checked. Unless there's some droid ghosts cropping up. In which case that might be a bad omen for our current mission," He stood up on the ledge, offering her a hand once more, "Shall we? Dupli-Kate?" His shit-eating grin widened. The name was too funny for him to not poke at any chance he got. Once she was ready, he would leap off once more, taking them down to the Enclave.

---

The undercity Enclave was nestled away from most would-be prying eyes. It took Cato himself quite some time to triangulate the building's location. They could lay-low here, "This place was taken over by a rogue AI after the Jedi abandoned it. Ran a whole ass criminal syndicate of droids," Cato said as they walked in, one of his lenses squinting in sudden suspicion, "Hope we're not dealing with another one of those situations again. AIs can be a real pain in the ass to get rid of." A smart one would upload itself across the holonet, creating endless emergency backups of its own code just in case something happened to the original. Sometimes he wondered if KV-N1 had secretly succeeded in just that. "This cyborg hacker lady helped me purge the system with a virus, taking down the whole operation. Maybe we can construct something similar with the data we get from the chip."

They soon came to the main computer hub of the Enclave. It was a circular room, that hung a few stories above the main chamber, accessible by a walkway on either side. It had a long window across one side, that overlooked said chamber, which was an impressively tall space, with turbolifts and ladders leading to differently level catwalks. This luxury box of sorts, however, seemed to be Cato's primary residence within the Enclave, "I've spruced it up a little bit. Tried to make it a little more homey, yanno?" There were small lights strung across the room, giving it a gentle warm glow. Along the back wall he even had an array of furniture set up, in the form of a futon, a bean bag, and a hammock.

Also, an old boxy vidscreen resting on a small folding table, and nano wave cooker in the corner, "Make yourself cozy."

He walked over to the window-side wall, where a console ran across the whole length underneath the glass, with monitors flanking either side. He stuck the chip into the data port, and the system was already booting up to read the data.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I just want us to be safe.” She kissed his now exposed cheek, then oohed and ahhed over his description of the Enclave’s systems.

"Shall we? Dupli-Kate?"

“We shall, Marvelous Moonlighter.” After they took off, she suddenly remembered her half-eaten sandwich and fished it out. “You want yours too?” she asked, holding up his sandwich. It was maybe a dumb question, since both his hands were busy, but he had left his mask halfway off, so his nose and mouth at least were free… She grinned. “I can feed you?”

---

The Enclave seemed like an ideal hiding place, given its location in the undercity. Even Cato seemed to have a hard time finding it again.

While Cato explained the background of the facility and how it came to be abandoned, Inanna unfurled the futon and curled up on the mattress, closing her eyes… Only to open them again when she heard the telltale sound of the computer booting up. “How long are you gonna be on there for?” she asked, yawning.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“I can feed you?”

Cato looked back, his raising eyebrow reflected by a widening lens, “For real?” He was pretty hungry, “Hell yeah.” The mysterious Nar Shaddaa vigilante leapt off with a bit of sandwich stuffed in his mouth.

---

Sated by the sandwich (which he had fully devoured over the course of their trip here), Cato pulled up and plopped into a chair as he began clacking away at the terminal. Lines of data ran across the screen, the meaning utterly nonsensical to an unfamiliar eye. He even slumped over slightly in his posture, falling into the rhythm of his work.

“How long are you gonna be on there for?”

Cato stopped for a moment and glanced back, realizing that he still had his mask half on. He pulled it up, “I dunno. Got a get a few diagnostics running, maybe monitor some of the initial processes, narrow the scan. Y’know, boring nerd stuff.” He spun back around in his seat and threw his mask on one of the unused consoles.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna listened to his typing, her expression growing doubtful when he answered her question. More than likely he was doing it again—getting so caught up in his detective work that he forsook basic needs. She wanted him to come to bed, of course, but she also wanted him to stop clacking away on that damned keyboard so she could get some sleep.

A plan began to form in her mind. She gave him some time to do his “nerd stuff” and to prepare. After about fifteen minutes of tossing and turning she got up. “Ugh,” she exclaimed, feigning distress quite convincingly. “I don’t feel so good. Cato, do I feel warm to you?”

Approaching his chair with a slightly unsteady gait, she pretended to stumble and sat on his knee to avoid falling over. Her skin was hot to the touch (well, hotter than usual for her, which was very hot indeed—he’d feel it through his suit), but Cato would have no way of knowing that she had been deliberately toasting herself while he was hunched over the computer. Temperature control was one of the more often overlooked but fun aspects of her Shi’ido physiology.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato was squinting intently at the glowing pixels, his eyes growing a bit sore from the strain. Inanna's voice of concern made him blink a few times, and spin around once more, "Is that the setup for a joke, or-?" Then, she plopped down on his lap, and he raised a hand to her forehead. Even just from her sitting down, he could tell there was an atypical change in her body heat, "Jeez. When did this start? One of those robots give you a virus?"

"As in like, a computer virus? Y'know?"

"Nevermind. Why don't you lay down. I'll find you some medicine, or, something." He looked around the room in search, despite knowing he didn't actually have anything for fevers in here, "Do you feel any other symptoms?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Back on the roof, I started to feel a little hot. But I didn’t think anything of it then. I just thought I was, y’know…” She absently trailed a finger down his chest. “Distracted by how good you looked in your suit…”

His computer virus joke fell flat, but she didn’t so much as glare at him, too caught up in pretending to be sick. She didn’t move when he advised her to lay down, instead shifting her body so that she was draped across his lap, arms wrapped around his shoulders. “I just feel this… need,” she said softly. “Like I’ve got to have you, or else.” Her eyes wandered his features like she couldn’t get enough of his face, biting her lip.

With some difficulty, she tore her eyes away from him, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me. They did say it could happen at the most inconvenient times…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"I do fill it out quite nicely," Cato deadpanned. He tensed up when Inanna got a bit more forward. His eyebrows raised, and he looked at her with cautious excitement, "O-oh?"

"Uh— What, exactly, could happen at the most inconvenient times?" He asked, a bit too curious.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“There’s this condition we Shi’ido can get, where we have this overwhelming urge to mate. If we don’t, we’ll overheat, and we can even die from it.” She managed to keep her tone and expression deadly serious as she spouted pure bullshit. “They think it’s an old leftover evolutionary trait, from the days when we were constantly at risk of falling prey to predators. It would ensure that we kept reproducing quickly, so that we wouldn’t go extinct.

“I thought it only happened to people who didn’t get laid very often. But I guess not.” She heaved a frustrated sigh. “Of course it happens now when you’re trying to investigate a new case…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato listened with great interest, even nodding along slowly while Inanna bemoaned the tragic condition she was now bewitched by. As if they needed more excuses for an active love life. He actually believed it at first, but the moment he started thinking with his head, something seemed to click. Cato could be dense. Comically so, sometimes. But he wasn't a total sucker.

Cato cocked his head, and smirked now that he could appreciate her acting, "Oh Inanna," He stood up, carrying her in his arms as he did so, "If you want a goodnight kiss, you can just ask. No need to lie to me," He brought her back to the bed and laid her down on her back, "You know by now I'm not exactly hard to convince," Cato's grin turned devilish as he then knelt down at the edge of the bed, and pulled her legs closer…

---

An unpleasant pinging noise eventually roused Cato from his pleasant slumber. The night before had left him with aches, the long hours had him tired, and the grand finale only added to that. He had no idea what time of day it was. But he looked over in the futon to see Inanna still next to him, and grinned. Still the pinging demanded his attention.

It was the computer terminal. It had finished processing the data on the chip they had retrieved. Carefully, Cato made an attempt to sneak out of bed.

Inanna Harth​