First Reply What Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong

[Ziso Kus]

The unforeseen, the unknown, was the greatest threat to an Assassin. Everything had to be categorized, sorted, and filed away to ensure that there would be no room for the unknown to crop up, but that was at best a deterrent than an actual barrier. This was one of those days that showed how useless of a deterrent preparation could be. Ziso ran, sprinting through back alleys as she kept the shadows as best as she could. She'd been found out, marked as an assassin during her hunt. How long had her target known? How did they know? Her skills had always been about being overlooked and going unseen. Had her abilities not worked, and she was lead along to believe they did? Was she betrayed?

Was her information wrong?

Too many things to sort out, but only when she wasn't currently being shot at. A robotic hiss echoed from her mask as a bolt burned past her, hitting the wall. Shouts echoed behind. She'd been found again. They were relentless in their pursuit, but she couldn't stop her mad dash. Any delay would mean more to follow. Metal ripped from a nearby staircase as she threw the mangled handrail behind, a deterrent to keep them from hounding her directly. Long enough for her to rip open a sewer grate and drop below. The maps of the sewer's she'd downloaded were going to help greatly.

All she needed to do was get to her primary fallback point without other issues, then devise a plan. Her target wasn't going to survive this.

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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Rounds of blaster bolts ricocheted past Juniper as she pushed herself forward, using the Force to enhance her speed and close the distance between herself and the would-be assassin. The sorceress had struck a deal with a Hutt, temporary, transactional, and already wearing thin. If she acted as an enforcer and stopped an assassination attempt, they would hand over the informant tied to a bounty she had been hunting for far too long. The reasoning behind the hit didn't matter to her. Plenty of beings wanted Hutts dead for plenty of reasons. That wasn't her concern, her job was to stop it.

The Hutts had known about the attempt for some time, waiting for the right moment to spring their trap and make an example out of whoever was bold enough to try. What they hadn't expected was competence. The intruder had gotten close- too close. Close enough to rattle the Hutt. Close enough that now this wasn't just about survival, it was about making a statement. As the assailant fled, Juniper caught glimpses of her between the chaos. Robes snapping through tight spaces, movement too precise, too efficient. There was something unnatural beneath the fabric. A cyborg, maybe? The blaster fire behind them had become little more than noise now, bolts missing their mark entirely as both hunter and prey moved too quickly to be pinned down.

Juniper kept pace for a time, the Force burning through her muscles as she forced herself to keep up, but the unfamiliarity of the planet worked against her. Every turn the assassin made seemed deliberate, every path chosen with knowledge Juniper didn't have. That slight disadvantage was all it took. When the cyborg tore loose a length of metal and hurled it back, Juniper reacted on instinct, pivoting and flipping cleanly over the debris. She didn't stick the landing. Her boots hit hard, momentum slipping as she rolled into a nearby pillar, the impact slowing her just enough for her target to vanish from sight.

She stood still for a moment, drawing in a slow breath as she centered herself. The chaos of the city pressed in around her, but she pushed it aside, reaching out with the Force and letting it stretch beyond her, searching for anything that didn't belong. For a second there was nothing, just noise and movement and life layered over life. Then she heard it, a hollow metallic sound in the distance. A sewer grate. It wasn't much, but it was all she had to go off of.

Juniper didn't hesitate. The Dark Jedi moved quickly, finding the nearest access point and tearing the heavy lid free with the Force before dropping down into the darkness below. She landed with a solid thud against the metal railing, boots catching just above the slow-moving sewage beneath. The smell hit almost immediately, and she grimaced, already deciding she would avoid stepping into that for as long as possible.

Pathbreaker snapped into her hand at her call, the weapon extending with a familiar weight as she held it ready, her stance tightening. She reached out again with the Force, more focused now, searching for the faint signature she had brushed against during the chase. It was still there, somewhere ahead of her, slipping through the tunnels. She could feel Ziso Kus on the run.

Juniper tilted her head slightly, a faint smirk pulling at her lips.

Nowhere left to run.

 

[Ziso Kus]

The primary retreat had worked well. The chaos of gunfire and the brief rip of metal had to be enough to let her slip away in the sewers. Even if one of the mercs of the Hutt thought she was in there, they wouldn't follow. The smell alone was a deterrent she didn't have to deal with. The boon of cybernetics at times. At least until she heard a splash only a few seconds behind her. Her own sprinting was much too loud in the tunnels. Above they wouldn't hear it, but within?

Her run slowed to a pitter patter of sludge. Ziso remained hunched under her cloak, leaving her size difficult to tell but she didn't turn just yet. Electrical currents and a presence. One that was reaching out towards her. Was that how the Hutt knew she was targeting him? Someone was able to feel her presence?

"Velo doesn't pay his mercenaries enough for you to jump into a sewer. You are why everything fell apart. An outsider." Her metallic voice rang out, echoing more by the tunnel around them.

"How much longer until reinforcements arrive?"

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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The clang of metal slamming against the sewer floor confirmed Juniper's suspicions, she was on the right track. Using the Force, the sorceress lifted into the air, guiding her landing so she didn't create a splash. Both for tactical reasons and sanitary ones; she just had to wear a leather jumpsuit for the drama of it, didn't she?

The clanging stopped, and shortly after came a voice, metallic and crass, calling out to taunt Juniper as she followed deeper and deeper into the sewer. She chose not to call back just yet, not wanting to give away her position. Instead, she let her prey talk, letting the sound guide her. Paired with the Force stretching outward, surveying the space, she worked to lock onto Ziso Kus 's position.

If the woman wanted to believe Juniper wouldn't follow her into the muck and mire, she would let her believe that. The assassin was correct about one thing, she was different, and she was the reason the plan had fallen apart. But she was wrong about the rest. So very wrong. As Ziso finished speaking, Juniper was closer than the other woman would have liked, still not quite able to visually track her in the darkness that clung to the tunnels.

"You are mistaken." Her voice echoed through the sewers, backed by the Force, carrying like a whisper and a scream all at once. "I am the reinforcements." The sound pushed past Ziso, bleeding deeper into the darkness beyond, distorting the sense of where she truly stood. Juniper could feel the cyborg's presence now- closer, just out of reach.

"I will find you. Darkness can't hide you forever." Juniper focused, tightening her grip on Pathbreaker, holding it ready. She steadied herself, prepared to knock back any strike that came her way, or to seize the moment and unleash her energy the second her target revealed herself.

 

[Ziso Kus]

Ziso shifted from the water. The sloshing changed, shifting to echoing clangs of metal. Her clawed feet were now having her walk along the walls, the ceiling. The sound was distorted though, echoing around unnaturally, yet getting louder with each step. This hunter was the reinforcements? By the echo of the voice, they weren't bluffing. The Force was filled with an unknown danger. Everything about this had been unknown and unexpected.

She dropped from above, metal claws releasing as quietly as they could to keep the drop silent. At least, that was the intention. Eyes narrowed as a loud splash erupted. Distortion. The mark she thought was there hadn't been, instead using the same trickery to keep Ziso from recognizing where she truly was. A metallic hiss echoed out as she kicked up the murky water all around, trying to hide where she was amidst the foul liquids.

"Find me if you must, but you will not stand in the way of my task."

Surprise was no longer on her side, but the burning hiss of a red saber sprang to life from within her cloak. She remained crouched, to keep her true size hidden below the cloak. Anything she could keep secret was going to be valuable.

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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Juniper stilled her mind and her body in the time Ziso had been moving, the echoes of her own voice still slamming off the walls. It made it harder for the sorceress to pinpoint the assassin's exact location, harder, but not impossible. She reached out through the Force, searching for any tendrils of the Dark Side that might be bleeding from whoever was responsible.

Then Juniper felt it ripple through the sewer. They exposed themselves, the sound of the drop was quiet to the ear, but to someone focused on the disturbances in the Force, it didn't go unnoticed. Juniper's eyes snapped open, and for a brief moment, even in the darkness, she could see. A flicker of Force sight. She wasn't practiced enough to hold it, but it was enough to make out the faint shape of her target.

She wasn't sure if Ziso Kus would still be there by the time she closed the distance, so she stalked forward carefully, doing her best to stay silent despite the filth beneath her boots. Pathbreaker extended in her hands, this time in response to the unmistakable hiss of a lightsaber igniting. It was hard to hide something like that in such tight quarters, but Juniper knew better than to assume that was all her opponent had. If the assassin had tricks, so did she.

Juniper reacted to the sudden stirring of the muck, an attempt to mask movement, or escape. Instinct took over, and she pushed outward with the Force, a sharp burst meant to disrupt and catch her prey off guard as the water churned around them, buying herself even the smallest advantage before the next clash.

"And you will not stop me from completing my bounty," Juniper replied between breaths. Her staff started glowing faintly in the darkness as pink lightning danced around its grip.

 

[Ziso Kus]

A screech of metal sounded, muffled mostly by water and sloshing, but unmistakable as the cyborg kept herself from being thrown away by her claws in the metal flooring of the pipe. No mistaking it now, they were a Force User. No wonder their subtle deceptions were found out. The red glow of her saber illuminated her cloaked form as the water fell still, and a pair of golden eyes shouded by shadows peered out through the darkness. They focused on the purple glow, the crackling energy.

"There you are."

Both clawed hands gripped her lightsaber as she leveled it, eyes narrowing in the unnatural shadows her cloak seemed to provide. Something born of the Force, by how it felt.

"What is the bounty, by chance?"

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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Juniper gritted her teeth at the sharp sound of metal scraping through the confined space. It was harsh on her ears, grating in a way she wouldn't forget. She pushed it aside, forcing her focus back into the moment as her grip tightened on the staff. She angled the lighter side upward, setting herself to drive the heavier end forward if she needed to strike without warning.

The Force danced around Juniper, at times snapping into arcs of lightning, at others breaking into faint sparks that drifted from her body. The truth sat somewhere in between. She hadn't mastered her Dathomiri magick yet, and when she reached for it, it bled out in unstable ways, flickers, surges, things she didn't always fully control. Her eyes narrowed on Ziso Kus , watching, measuring as her magick settled.

"The bounty is what I will collect after I make sure you're no longer a threat to Velo," she said, her voice steady despite the energy building around her. "Then he gives me my informant." She knew she'd said more than she should have, but it didn't matter. Not down here, not like this.

She rolled the staff through her hands, building momentum, grounding herself in the motion as the crackle of energy around her grew louder, bouncing off the walls the same way the metal screech had before.

"Are you going to keep asking questions…" she continued, her tone sharpening, "…or are we going to do this?"

 

[Ziso Kus]

Silence, at least for a precious few moments. Neither seemed willing to start, but for Ziso she was sizing up the other from under her cloak. The flickering magics were a threat, especially the crackling of lightning. The cyborg was well aware of her weakness to such powers, it was part of why she kept herself hidden by the cloak, to keep what she might be unknown until the last possible second.

It wasn't hesitation that had her size up the witch, though. It was cold calculations. There wasn't enough information to deter the hunter. Ziso didn't wait any longer. She rushed through the muck, bringing up the dirty water to cover her exact approach as she lunged out. Her huddled form had much more range than the size of the cloak suggested, another ruse as her blade cut through sewage sooner than it should have.

"Very well. Let us begin."

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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The few seconds leading up to the strike, and the ones immediately after, were quick, erratic, and rank. The slurry of muck whipped up by Ziso Kus 's lunge surged toward Juniper, splitting her attention between the incoming attack and her very real desire not to be covered in whatever that was. The assassin was hard to make out in the darkness, save for the red beam of the saber and the shifting outline of the cloak. Maybe she was worth her weight after all.

Juniper had a split second to react, her mind trying to calculate how to avoid both the blade and the spray of refuse. She let the Force take over, her body moved with it, leaning her weight back and turning her shoulder as the lightsaber carved through where she had just been. Pathbreaker snapped up to meet the strike, catching it in a sharp parry as the cyborg followed through. It was close, too close, she had no room for error. Juniper had saved her life, at the cost of her dignity, as the sewer water splashed across her body. At least none of it hit her eyes. A small mercy. She internally groaned, already dreading the aftermath.

Snapping back to the fight, Juniper moved on instinct. Ziso's momentum carried her forward, and Juniper intended to use it. She waited until the follow-through had fully extended past her before thrusting her free hand outward, sending a concentrated blast of Force energy through the muck, water and pressure surging forward together in an attempt to knock the Sith off balance and create space. Pathbreaker rested firm in her grip, its ends shortened to better suit the tight quarters of the sewer.

Immediately her hand twisted as she prepared to release two of the four Hexblades hidden on her person, in case Ziso chose to rush her again.

 

[Ziso Kus]

Metal screeched and wrenched as Ziso was pushed back by the unseen Force. Her claws had ripped into the metal of the pipe to keep herself from being thrown away, yet all she'd succeeded in doing was tearing open holes as she slid back. Muck coated her cloak, causing it to cling more around her shoulders. Dissolve the silhouette that hid much of her cybernetics. Her eyes narrowed as she tugged on the cloth, a pocket within that usually would've been hidden from sight.

Hidden weaponry. Vibroknives launched from under her cloak in a similar mindset of keeping Juniper from charging right in. They weren't anything fancy, just basic blades picked up on the side of the street. Purposefully chosen for the assassination, though that cat was well out of the bag now.

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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​

The literal shitstorm being stirred up by the fight was disorienting to Juniper. She didn't know how much of her opponent was organic, but the thought of even a microscopic drop of that sludge getting into her mouth or eyes made her stomach turn. When the Force slammed into the assassin, Juniper used the brief pause to take stock. It looked like her enemy could cut through the sewer itself. Good to know.

The huntress spat into the grime below, unable to shake the feeling that she'd already swallowed something. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible. But how? Tight quarters, an opponent in front of her, nowhere to disengage cleanly. She wasn't going to turn and run.

Juniper's thoughts dragged just long enough to cost her. The Force screamed at her to move, and her body obeyed a fraction of a second before her mind caught up. She twisted aside as one of the knives clipped her arm through the bodysuit, drawing blood. Great, an open wound, in a sewer. Perfect.

She didn't hesitate after that. The two Hexfangs she'd been holding slipped free, one from her boot, the other from a concealed compartment on her belt. The first, tipped with a Neutron Pixie derivative, drove straight toward Ziso. The second followed a fraction behind, its trajectory slightly off, as if she'd misjudged the throw. She didn't. The Phinda resin payload ignited a heartbeat later, the blast tearing into the structure above rather than her opponent, the real target revealed in the explosion.

Juniper's eyes narrowed as the detonation echoed through the tunnel. Cracks spread overhead, and thin rays of light cut down through the dark. There it was. If she could break past Ziso Kus and finish opening that breach, she could drag the fight to the surface, out of the sewer, and back into her kind of battlefield.

 

[Ziso Kus]

A flash of white came from under the cloak as one of the daggers came sailing towards Ziso. She turned to evade the other, unknowing of it's true intention. Metal clasped metal. Cybernetic limbs that couldn't feel the spice ladened blade. Her eyes had narrowed as she was prepared to throw the dagger back to it's sender, but the sudden rupture of an explosion behind her had her stumble forward. A stumble that turned into a rapid run away from the falling debris, away from Juniper as best she could in the chaos of rubble.

She stood on the other side, staring up at the ruptured hole. Her eyes narrowed further. That wasn't unnoticed. The other pursuers would be on them within the moment. Even if she got away from this pursuer, the others would know to look in the sewers now. "You cannot defeat me yourself, so you call the others?"

A baseless taunt, but one none the less. Ziso shifted, standing to her full towering height atop the rubble, lightsaber flashing back to life from beneath the muck covered cloak.

"More will die."

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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"Those idiots won't be anywhere near here," she spat, judging the distance to the exit. "If they thought they could kill you, they wouldn't have hired me." Her stance firmed, feet digging in as her grip tightened on the staff. Her heart hammered from the adrenaline while her eyes flicked over the environment, searching for any edge.

"Besides, once I have my information, I don't care what happens to these losers." Her free hand drifted out in a lazy, dismissive gesture. A single spark of lightning danced between her fingers as she continued, "You honestly could have just waited until I left and come back to finish the job. I wouldn't have stopped you." She gave a small shrug. "But now it's too late. Now I have to kick your ass on principle. You got shit on my face." Juniper's eyes narrowed as the lightning grew, arcing from her fingers toward the floor.

She decided that if there was ever a time to go all out, this was it. The sorceress threw herself into the air, the Force driving her jump higher. She thrust her hand forward, pink lightning lancing out, snapping and biting at everything in its path. She followed through, carrying her momentum forward and using the heavier end of Pathbreaker to drive her higher and faster.

Her body and Pathbreaker came crashing down toward where Ziso Kus had been standing. Juniper aimed to force the cyborg out with her, flooding the space with electricity through the sewage below and driving them both toward the rubble and the opening above.

 

[Ziso Kus]

"Pride, is it?" It was a wistful sounding question from the Cyborg. She hopped, landing more on the rubble and away from the waters as pink lightning danced across it. Her cybernetics were made to resist a jolt so what remained of her body didn't perish immediately, but the conduciveness of the water would prove too much.

As would the blast that was unleashed. Her eyes widened under the hood before she jumped, higher now as pink cascaded over metal and stone. A hissed like sound escaped as her saber came around to protect her from the following strike, sending her careening up towards the surface. Near abouts, anyway. She twisted, a clawed foot taking hold of a broken pipe to fully drag her back out on the street.

Panic had already settled in to the citizens abound. The explosion only after a few minutes of prior gunfire had them scattering and running. Ziso didn't pay them mind though. The witch was following, would follow her. Pride was something Ziso knew all too well. A loose bit of rubble was snatched by her foot, thrown right for the hole as she was certain Juniper would arrive to give chase.

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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The surge of lightning bit deep into the filth below, and Juniper felt the shift in the Force as her opponent was driven upward. Good, that was the point. She didn't hesitate, already moving, already committing to the exit as the sewer around her crackled and popped with residual energy.

The moment Ziso Kus cleared the opening, Juniper pushed off the unstable ground, the Force coiling through her legs as she launched herself upward in pursuit. She didn't go straight through the center. Instinct and experience pulled her slightly off-angle, Pathbreaker snapping up in front of her just as the chunk of rubble came crashing down.

The impact rang out through the staff as she deflected it aside, the force of it glancing off and slamming into the wall beside her. Bits of debris scattered past her shoulders as she broke through the opening, the sudden rush of cleaner air hitting her all at once. It was still city air, still heavy, but it was better than the sewer...infinitely better.

Juniper didn't stop moving, she hit the surface in a forward roll, coming up low and already turning, eyes locking onto Ziso's position through the chaos of fleeing civilians and settling dust. The crackle of energy around her hadn't faded, if anything it had sharpened now that she was back in open space, less constrained, less suffocated by the tight quarters below.

"You're not getting away that easy." she said, breath steadying as she reset her stance, Pathbreaker firm in her hands.

She wasn't done yet.

 

[Ziso Kus]

Ziso shuffled just a bit under her cloak. It was visible for a moment, especially with the excess weight of the dirty water holding it down, but the shift of weaponry. Weapons hidden within the cloth, tucked neatly away for ease of use. Blades for the most part, but one was clearly not like the other. A holdout blaster came free as the cyborg fired away. Three rapid shots, unsurprisingly precise for the mostly machine woman.

"I will get away none the less."

Her voice came out in that metallic tint, no longer echoed by the sewers they were in. Her lightsaber hovered by her side, relaxed in her grasp. "Information so important you would die for? Unheard of." She was calculating. Sorting out the next path to take, the next retreat option in her various escape plans. Time to think, delay a fight, it was all going to help her in the end if she could get the other woman talking.

The sharpness of the lightning suggested otherwise, though.

"Capture dead or alive?"

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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The cyborg was proving to be quite the escape artist. Juniper was still playing catch-up when the blaster bolts rang out. Quick reflexes brought Pathbreaker spinning up, catching the first two shots. The sudden movement left her shoulder exposed, though, and the third blast clipped the edge of it. The pain was immediate and sharp. She winced under it, then shoved it aside, forcing her focus back where it belonged- on winning.

"No, but I'd kill for it," Juniper said coldly as Ziso Kus kept moving.

The sorceress shifted her grip, favoring her uninjured arm as she thrust Pathbreaker forward. The grappling extension fired out toward her target, aimed low to catch her feet and cut off her escape.

"You're not going anywhere, hun." Pink magick flickered just behind her irises as she pressed forward, closing the distance.

 

[Ziso Kus]

Tenacity. Even shot now the other woman was still willing to fight, even with a cold expression. Ziso's eyes narrowed. If she remained in a fight with this woman, she'd more than loose her chance at her target. She just needed to break sight, get into one of the other paths she'd already scouted out.

She jumped when the Pathbreaker shot out. Instinct turned programming, which she already cursed under her breath at. Juniper had already caught her in the air once before.

"I will go where I must."

The blaster came back, firing to try to deter any capitalization on her midair maneuver, though it was little more than a grasp of fate.

Juniper Le Fey

 

[Juniper Le Fey]

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The jump, the angle, Juniper saw exactly what Ziso Kus was trying to do. She wanted to break line of sight and get a chance to regroup. No. Juniper wasn't going to allow that to happen. She deftly dodged the blaster bolts before locking in on Ziso and the surrounding area.

Her jaw tightened as the Force surged through her again, sharper this time, more deliberate. Pink lightning snapped from her outstretched hand, lancing forward toward the airborne cyborg, but it didn't stop there. The current split, crawling up and across the nearby structures, biting into a flickering sign hanging above the path Ziso was aiming for.

"No. We're not doing this again."

The metal screamed overhead as sparks burst from the sign. The supports gave way under the sudden surge of energy. Finally, with a quick, violent pull from the Force, Juniper tore it free and brought it crashing down into Ziso's path, exploding in a flare of sparks. The sorceress pressed her assault, not giving the would-be assassin any room. Her irises glowed pink with the power of the Force, and all around her, wild magic began to surge. She was close to losing control of it if the battle didn't end quickly.