Private Vindictive Justice

[Soloman Priest]

Soloman watched as the fire escape ripped from its foundation, but his eyes were still drawn to the fact his vambrace was giving him a series of warning about the condition of his ship. He groaned, already doing the repair costs in his head - but he’d have to deal with that later. Planting his feet against the wall, he leaped from where he crawled to the wall next to Wrenarias; motioning her up to where he was.​

​

“Don’t fall behind, girly.”, he said as he drew the handgun from its holster, and shot through a window. It dissolved in a short moment, and with seemingly little effort the Bounty Hunter managed to pull himself through. A hand reached back outside to offer her help up - should she take it.​

​

When they were both inside, and he had a moment to silence the constant alarm going off on his wrist, he glanced about. They were in the abandoned apartment of some local resident - and judging by the dust and distant, used up death sticks stacks, they hadn’t been there in a while. Momentary sanctuary it seemed…​

​

“Fancy trick you got there.”, Soloman exclaimed motioning to the now missing cuffs.​

​

“You’re paying me for those cuffs…”​

​

Soloman simply shook his head before walking off, looking around the room and at his vambrace, hoping to find some sort of localized map - notably looking for any beacons for bounty hunters.​

​

Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

She begrudgingly took the offered hand to climb into the abandoned apartment. Shaking her head, she glanced around and realized that she'd lost the discharger. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips, knowing that she would have to make another at some point. Dusting off her hands, she turned her attention back to Solomon.

"So. You gonna tell me who hired you or not? Because this is absurd." She muttered, moving over to a powered down computer station. Kneeling down, she yanked out the bottom panel, starting to rewire the console so that she could access the apartment's security protocols.

"You'd be better off just calling it off with this job. Looks like you're more likely to get killed trying to take me in that anything." She called over to him, biting her bottom lip as she focused on the task at hand.

"And I think I'd rather you just kill me instead of going back to the men who hired you... if they are who I think they are."

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

“I’m a bounty hunter, kid.”, said as he peeked past the curtains that hid where they were.​

​

Outside, people ran to cover - likely from the fight his gunship had gotten itself into with another bounty hunter’s ship. He watched carefully to see where they were running - and when he realized that ran down the street, it was only a moment before he’d see another bounty hunter - armed and dangerous - walking down the street. Soloman quickly let the curtain fall, hoping the man didn’t see him.​

​

“I don’t know who hired me - some contractor in a bar. Its how it goes.”​

​

Soloman lifted his gun quick, and released the gas cylinder - only to replace it with a new one. He hadn’t wasted many shots, but if that missile was anything to go by - he needed every round of ammunition he could afford right now. Six verpine rounds, 20 disruptor - all a kill if he aimed right.​

​

“Job’s not off until I say its off regardless. You’re still my mark, and I’m going to make sure you’re protected until I get paid.”, the man said with a quick motion of the gun barrel towards her.​

​

Yet, it didn’t last. He found himself a seat and sighed excessively loud -​

​

“What’d you do, anyway?”​

​

Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

"How chivalrous of you." Wren remarked dryly as she pulled the computer spike from the same hidden compartment on her prosthetic and clipped it into place. A moment later the computer screen flashed on and she scooted out from underneath the console. Evesrete, the slicer from Wren's little hit squad, knew her craft and she was a surprisingly good teacher.

Her eyes flicked over to Solomon as he paced through the small room, arching an eyebrow in his direction. "No questions asked kind of guy, I take it?"

Not that she could say very much. There'd been a time in her life where she followed her mentor's every order and decision. If she told Wren to kill someone, or fight in some war, she did. It wasn't so different from collecting bounties on people you didn't know. A sigh escaped her and she shook her head.

"I mean... I get it. You get a job, maybe don't look too close at what that job is." She sighed and pulled up the building schematics, instinctively looking for the same information as Solomon without having to discuss it.

"Heh... what did I do? I uh... I've been killing off wealthy slavers in the Core." She answered bluntly, not taking her eyes away from the screen while she was reading over the layout of thee building. "So, I assume one of them is getting anxious and put a bounty out on me."

Her index finger tapped against the screen. "A room two floors up and on the other side of the building is close enough to the next apartment complex that we can jump over onto the roof. Should be a roof access on the far side from there." She said in a low murmur.

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

“Just asked one, didn’t I?”, Soloman said with a glance up from his seated position.​

​

In truth, he knew better - asking questions got you hurt. One too many, and you’d lose a job, but a few too many and someone would have a bounty on your head next - didn’t matter who or what you were hoping to accomplish. This Wrenarias was just another mark, he’d done a thousand before - what did it matter to him to risk his livelihood to figure out the morality of her situation?​

​

Yet, he whistled when she explained her crime - though it wasn’t mocking, or appreciative, but more a confirmation of what he heard.​

​

“Big crimes for a little girly.”, he said with a short guffaw.​

​

“You sure killing slavers was a smart choice, kid?”​

​

Regardless of her answer though, he slowly stood to his feet with a few groans for good measure. He brushed himself off, rested the gun back on his holster, and moved towards the door as he spoke in a far lower tone - glancing out the port view to see if anyone was outside -​

​

“Gotta be careful… Spies in every apartment out there, I’d wager. It pays to talk on Nar Shaddaa.”​

​

He sighed as he motioned her forward -​

​

“You ready, kid? I’m thinking we might have to make a run for it.”​

​

Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

She rolled her eyes when he called her a little girly. Either he was trying to piss her off, or he really didn't know anything about her. Did he even know her name? Before she stepped away from the console, she quickly downloaded the last of the schematics that she thought they might need and then bent down to pull the computer spike free from the computer.

"You know, I'm pretty sure we're about the same age." She said, chuckling lowly. As she walked closer to him, her eyes intently looked him over before she added, "kid."

If he wanted to keep calling her girly or kid, then two could play at that game.

"It's not about the smart choice, it's about the right one. Those fuckers needed to die and no one else was doing anything to stop them." The twi'lek responded as she moved past him to open the door.

She glanced over her shoulder at Solomon before she stepped through the doorway, quickly moving towards the stairway. "Never thought this was gonna be easy."

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

“Are we?”, he said with a cock of his brow back to her.​

​

“In my line of work, I’m old. Of course - a few months running as a ‘Slaver Hunter’ tends to see you dead quick, so maybe we are.”​

​

Soloman followed quickly, both of their steps pounding through the hallway as they moved to find their stairway. The doors nearby tended to stay shut, but every few moments one would peek in and glance at them - only to shut once again. It seemed eyes were on them, but Soloman just hoped they’d have time to get to the ship.​

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“Best choice is always the one that keeps you alive, kid. First lesson in the school of hard knocks.”​

​

He offered her as they began to trail the stairs - but deep beneath, the sound of someone following could be heard. Steps on steps, raising upwards to see where they ended up - and a blaster following them every moment of their escape.​

​

Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren only offered a quiet grunt in response to Solomon's unsolicited advice. "Why do you care?" She countered with a raised brow, shouldering open a door that opened to the floor they needed to be on.

She hurried down the corridor, shooting a quick glare at a woman who'd opened her door to peer out. The woman quick shut the door once more and disappeared from view. No other words were said to the hunter, leading him to the empty apartment that would lead to the roof they needed access to. Her mind was racing, trying to think of a way to lose Solomon.

No matter the advice he offered or the questions he asked, his intention was not to help her. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The door didn't open.

Cursing under her breath, Wren took a step back and then slammed her heel into the door just below the latch. It seemed that wasn't the first door she'd kicked open in her life. The door violently swung open, slamming against the inside wall from the force of the kick.

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

“I don’t.”, he lied, though he considered it himself.​

​

Why did he care?​

​

Without knowing it, he respected her choice - to kill Slavers for their transgression on mortal rights. It wasn’t a good profession, but what difference did it make to Soloman; he hunted everyone - paid his debts in blood demanded by the Hutts. He was as much a slaver as the next man that worked for those cruel slugs - but he hated it more than the others. Despised their cruelty.​

​

“Just a matter of reason, kid.”, he finally said as she kicked the door open.​

​

Soloman moved into the room first, glancing about with a hand ready - but noone was there. They didn’t realize where they were hoping to go in the grand scheme of the apartment complex, which was good - but they had to move fast. It was only a matter of time before someone realized that they were trying to get to another building -​

​

And that wouldn’t bode well.​

​

Soloman ripped open the window that led to the fire escape, motioning Wrenarias to follow as he took a step outside and glanced around. He could hear the cry of ion engines and ships firing in the distance - likely a small retinue of security forces brought in to keep the peace. Common as they were, Soloman didn’t much care to meet a bunch of highly armed, muscle bound freaks looking to smack his head in for shooting someone today.​

​

“My ship will be back soon. We need to hurry.”, he said as he looked about, and ran up the escape.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren clambered through the window after Solomon, but as soon as her boots hit the grating of the fire escape she knew that something was wrong -- she felt it in her bones. Her brow furrowed slightly as she stepped up beside the bounty hunter, quickly taking in their surroundings. She caught a glimpse of the glittering beam of red light for the briefest of moments, before she realized that there was a small dot steadily pointed at the hunter's chest.

There wasn't time to say anything, to warn him. All she could do was act on pure instinct.

She lunged forward and shoved Solomon as hard as she could, hoping to push him out of the way. He would likely think she was trying to force him over the edge in some half-assed escaped attempt.

The sniper was far enough away that she didn't even hear the crack of the rifle -- but she certainly felt the metal slug as it tore through the back of her shoulder, and kept going until it slammed into the wall behind of the building. A pained, wet gasp escaped her lips as she staggered, falling to the grated floor. A blaster bolt would have partially cauterized the wound; a slug, on the other hand, left behind a mess of a wound.

Already, she could feel her blood flowing from both the entrance and exit wound. The shot had barely missed her lung, she realized, since she was still able to draw breath -- though she couldn't move her arm.

"Mngh..." She grunted weakly, gritting her teeth.

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

Soloman almost swore as he was pushed forward - and for a brief second, whirled around with full intent to slap the resistance back out of the Twi’lek; now of all times to try and escape, he had thought, but his thoughts were temporary. The blood that sprayed his face was far more tangible, and it drove any would be anger from his eyes as he had to consider just who’s blood was on him.​

​

It tended to be his own, but against his hope - it wasn’t his. Wrenarias, selfless as she was, had a round rip through her shoulder; much to both of their dismay. He gritted his teeth as he swore;​

​

“Fuck, Kid!”, he yelled as he glanced in the direction of the bullet. Only a few seconds before they’d hit the same mark.​

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“I can take a bullet, you can’t.”, the bounty hunter repeated, obviously not choosing to explain the fact he regenerated at an extremely fast rate while the Twi’lek… Well, she didn’t.​

​

With a surprising ease and skillful technique, Soloman lifted the far smaller girl onto his shoulders and lept up the stairs two at a time; narrowing missing a bullet that shattered the durasteel next to him. He swore again, and again as the bullets got closer - but he knew how to dodge, upset their aim. Sporadic movement, he’d done it time and time again in the field of battle -​

​

But this wasn’t a field of battle. It was chaos, made manifest as a punishment to him for his hubris. Priest gritted his teeth as he pressed a button on his vambrace with his nose, forcing his ship to come closer. A few seconds more - that’s all he needed as it came into view, and moved to land.​

​

A few seconds to late as he rushed towards it. Ripping through flesh, he could feel a bullet tear directly next to his spine; lodging itself against the bone. He could feel his legs weaken, knew that his balance was losing itself -​

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He knew he’d been shot somewhere a bit worse than usual. As the Landing Pad came down, he practically fell to his knees with Wrenarias on his shoulder. The man gave out a rabid cry of pain, of absolute effort as he forced the two bleeding masses that they were into the ship - and another bullet ripped through his leg; but at least now it was when he was on the pad.​

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With that final breach of his flesh, he let Wrenarias go - only to have them both dragged by a battle droid on the ship. He groaned with her, as the medical efforts were put in place and the ship began to take off - but he knew it wasn’t his place to get healed first. Out of kindness, or for the sake of the cred - he demanded she be healed first.​

​

“Nah, get the kid.”, he said with a groan as he struggled to remove his own shirt with a knife. The bullet hadn’t made it through his skin, and he wasn’t going to heal until it was out. He just had to wait - it seemed, and hope he didn’t die before then.​

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“Hang in there.”, he offered Wren as she was put on a hover gerny and hauled to the med bay.​

​

Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

This wasn't the first time Wrenarias had been shot. Pain was a constant in her life, in some form or another. In truth, she'd been surprised that she'd made it as long as she had without sustaining a serious injury -- this one was severe enough to make up for lost time. Even though she wanted to protest as Solomon gathered her in his arm, to warn him not to touch her, that she could manage... she didn't have the strength to argue the matter.

She was losing a lot of blood. And fast.

Disoriented and struggling just to maintain consciousness, there was nothing she could do to stop the bridge from firmly establishing itself between them as he carried her. He'd feel her pain, the concern that lanced through her when he was shot, confusion. There was so much blood. Why was there so much blood?

Her eyes closed. She felt his pain, the sheer determination to reach his ship, the emotions and sensations all blending together with her own in her delirious state. It became impossible for her to differentiate between what was hers, and what originated from him.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a room she didn't recognize. It seemed to be some sort of medical bay. There were droids fussing over her and a mask was placed over her face. Her breathing escalated and she panicked, trying to get free. A moment later, a sedative was fed into the mask and she slowly collapsed back into the metal table beneath her, unconscious.

Hours later, her eyes fluttered open a second time. Once again, she found herself in a place she wasn't familiar with. Everything that happened from before felt like a hazy dream. Her mind was foggy with pain medication and she felt dizzy.

A low groan escaped her throat when she tried to sit up and she quickly slumped back down into the bed. The entire right side of her torso was numb, along with the arm.

Unable to move properly, she licked her lips and tried to piece together everything that had happened and just where she was.

Soloman Priest

 

[Soloman Priest]

“She’s awake.”, the droid had told him.​

​

Soloman groaned as he lifted himself, and struggled to put on the shirt. Eventually, the droid assisted - much to Soloman’s own dismay. The fact that the robots had to help him felt demeaning - but he supposed he didn’t have much time to yell at them for their help. Instead, he just sighed and moved on to the guest room with Wrenarias.​

​

The door slid open as the lights turned on, low as they were to not hurt her eyes. He offered her a gentle smile, offered a small wave, and moved to sit on a chair nearby;​

​

“How do you feel, kid?”, he said as he himself groaned, resting a hand on the bandages under his shirt.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

"Wren." She said softly, letting her eyes drift shut for a few moments to adjust to the lights.

It hadn't been a dream then. Or at least, not all of it. The hunter was very real, and now he was going to drag her to the Goddess knew where to trade her in for a handful of credits. Morbidly, she wondered if her bounty would cover the costs he'd just incurred trying to get her off world.

She wasn't sure why he smiled at her. Was he gloating? While she was touching on the topic,
she wondered why he was even talking to her? Why wasn't she locked in a cell or bound?

A trick of some sort? But what was the angle?

The confusion and uncertainty was evident on her face, as was the skepticism she felt towards the situation.

She gave a quiet sigh and shook her head. "I suspect I'll live. Not the first time I've been shot, after all... Are you alright?" She asked the question with a hint of genuine concern in her tone.

 

[Soloman Priest]

“Always am.”, he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.​

​

In truth, he was - he had a knack for not getting shot in the head or the heart; and his genetic makeup made him heal many times faster than the average person. Wolf like, his people were known to be, and Soloman was no different - though he certainly didn’t seem the type now. He groaned as he readjusted his hand under his shirt.​

​

“So uh…”, he began slow, averting his gaze to his knees - his free hand mindlessly picking at it like there was something to be cleaned - though there wasn’t much he could see.​

​

“Lost the bounty chip.”, he said with a raise of his brows - like he hadn’t meant to do it. He vividly remembered tossing it out the window - but he wasn’t going to say that.​

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“Until I figure out where to turn you in, you’re stuck with me kid.”, he said, gracefully avoiding the topic of her name.​

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“Sorry to wake you up to bad news.”​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Someone as experienced as Solomon certainly didn't just "lose" a bounty chip. His excuse was not something she'd expected to hear from him. He seemed the seasoned veteran, gruff and unyielding... but perhaps there was more to him than first impressions. When he carried her off the fire escape, she didn't remember sensing any malice from him. Though, her empath abilities tended to work more as a conduit of her own emotional projection. It was entirely possible that she hadn't seen anything at all of his true intentions.

She briefly passed her tongue over her parched lips, exhaling a soft breath.

He wasn't immediately turning her in... that was something. It would have to be enough.

She smirked back at him, forcing herself up into a seated position though she was careful not to press her back to firmly against the pillow behind her. "That... sounds fair. Better you lost the bounty chip and not the bounty herself? Right, hun?"

Using kid to address Solomon would be unoriginal. Boy would have been offensive and come off far more flippant than what she was trying to convey. A pet name would have to do for now.

Soloman Priest

 

[Sam Rodarch]

“Not claimin' to be a genius or nothin' but...”

Came a particularly surly voice from the doorway to the guest room where a very irritated Sam Rodarch stood, arms folded across her chest and her usual scowl equipped, frown lines seeming to be etched a little deeper than usual.

“...have you tried goin' out and not getting shot?”

As far as introductions went it was rather rude, but in the Mandalorian's mind, it was completely justified. Cut back to a few hours ago, there she was, minding her own business on the ship, just laying on the couch. Feeling a bit under the weather, some nausea here, a few jitters there, just the standard withdrawal procedure that happens when you've gone cold turkey from the spice you were accidentally shooting into yourself.

When all of a sudden the ship just took off like that. No prior warning. No nothing. This had resulted in two things, the first is that she fell off the couch. Which was unpleasant in its own right. The second thing was panic. Was this a hijacking? Did the ship have AI that had gone rogue? It wasn't until Sam ran through and came across the droids in the cockpit that she realised that Soloman was hailing the ship with his bloody stupid button.

This had resulted in the irritation of an already irritated soul. You would think as a guest upon his ship Rodarch might have held a more grateful demeanour, and she had, initially.

Then the sewers of Geonosis happened.

Still mad.

Her withering gaze moved from the seated bounty hunter and over to the recovering twi'lek, who hadn't actually done a single thing to offend Sam but just happened to be in the radius of her ill-temper. Don't worry about it, she'll soften. Eventually.

“Or goin' out and not getting other people shot?”

Soloman Priest Wrenarias

 

[Soloman Priest]

Soloman didn’t break eye contact with Wrenarias as he was lambasted by the Mandalorian druggy he had taken aboard. His face, however, twisted into an amalgamation of pain and annoyance - as the shrill tones of a Rodarch made mad seemed to burrow into his ears. When she was finished, he glanced to her with that scowl -​

​

“Have you thought about paying rent, kid?”, he said with a cock of his brow.​

​

“Or better, minding your own fucking business?”​

​

Slowly, he stood up and seemed to growl deep in his throat before glancing to Wren -​

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“Don’t call me hun.”​

​

Wrenarias │ Sam Rodarch​

 

[Wrenarias]

It seemed that Wren had chosen correctly with her choice of pet names for the bounty hunter. A sardonic grin settled over her features and her head tilted ever so slightly to the side. She would have to keep that in mind... but she couldn't resist the urge to dig a little deeper to drive home the point.

"Well... you keep calling me kid. Would you rather me call you Daddy?" The twi'lek quipped back at Solomon.

Her gaze shifted to Sam and a brow rose slightly. If she was on Solomon's crew, why hadn't she been involved with kidnapping her? There was an intriguing dynamic between the two, their banter reminded Wren of her time with Kelina.

Soloman Priest | Sam Rodarch

 

[Sam Rodarch]

Sam pretended that nothing was said about rent, because if it wasn't acknowledged then did it even exist? No, it didn't. That's how real life works, right?

Her scowl continued, only amplifying the irritated atmosphere in the room as barbed and sassy comments flew around the room. The Mandalorian felt well within her rights to have concerns about being shot, given that hanging around Soloman seemed to increase the likelihood of such an event by a worrying margin.

Hadn't happened yet though.

Wait, the twi'lek. Daddy? Brow furrowed, an expression of confusion. If one listened closely they might have heard the rusty punch-drunk cogs of Sam's brain attempted to grind together to generate coherent thought. The woman looked between the two, several times in fact and almost in slow motion her mouth began to open, earnest and stupid words pouring out like challenged gravy.

“I didn't know ya had a daughter, Soloman.”

Sam, no.

Soloman Priest Wrenarias