Yoho! And a Bottle of Free Stuff!

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua the Shark felt a twinge of fear as his blaster bolts were absorbed by the man. I didn't know Force-Users could do that, the Herglic thought, firing the shots until this so-called god blinked out of existence. Bones' jaws had slid off of the man's wrist, revealing armor. The fact that the guy took a few bolts to the chest also revealed that this guy was geared. Thankfully, Ghorua had prepared for such a fight.

Recent genetic modifications had granted Ghorua certain advantages, including tough skin, extreme strength, pointed teeth, and the reflexes of a nexu. Using these genetic improvements, the Herglic aptly... fled into the mine. He wasn't about to one-on-one a powerful Force-Sensitive, and he didn't have much faith in the girl that flies around on a droid. Seeing her master duck into the cave, Bones followed, hot on the trail of the Bounty Hunter. Over his shoulder, Ghorua heard the man call out. With a bit of a smirk, the Herglic bit his tongue, knowing that any response he would give would anger the guy further.

Despite his immense bulk, Ghorua was extremely fast. His enhanced muscles and reflexes, coupled with his mass, hurtled the Herglic forward. He was making a lot of noise, so the god would probably know of his flight, but at this point, Ghorua didn't care about stealth. He would eventually fight the man, but he would fight this battle on his terms.

- [member="Razor Shot"] - [member="Jynx"] - [member="Matreya"] - [member="Onasius Gruwel"] -

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden listened in for a moment, then grinned as the massive body began to obviously retreat. The speed didn't signal all out fleeing, rather that the being wanted distance between them, possibly to assess the situation. Stepping back into the arch of the mine, Zaiden continued growing in his oppressive power until the furthest reaches of the mine, even those off world, would sense it.

Next, he slowly let his hand rise, with the hand dangling limp. His mouth moved quickly, and yet no sound could be heard, even within a few feet, as an intensely deafening roar began to vibrate around him. As it entered the mine, it would only get harsher and louder, yet it didn't seem to face Zaiden.

Then, his hand snapped into place, palm open, fingers outstretched before him. With this signal, massive manifestations of the darkside launched at incredible speeds through the mine. It wasn't a simple thing Waves of Darkness; it could stretch for miles, drawing on the power of the caster until there was nothing left, while causing utter dread, terror, and severe anguish in the psyche of any caught inside it. But that was just the mind, alongside that was the physical aspect. A constant pain would be found lancing into the body in numerous locations, as soon as contact was allowed.

The darkness looked like a deep smoke, carried by the wind as it lurched through the caverns, gaining on anyone found inside.

It was not a killing blow, as a matter of fact, unless constant exposure was kept, it didn't even allow permanent damage to the mind. It was however a spell that Zaiden had used at least a hundred times, last against the old Grandmaster of the Jedi. It felt... right, using the spell. It was... home.

Stepping into the cave, he shot a mental taunt ahead, that would brush against the Herglics mind, not forcing itself in, so only able to be heard if it was let, "Whether you feel it yet, the Darkness will be upon you soon enough. When it is, you will be captured, taken into prison, and potentially executed. Unless. Unless you assist in the capture of your allies."

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua kept running, and running, and running. He needed to get out of here, that much he knew. He barreled along, passing dead security along the way. It seemed as if his team had breezed past them. He heard fighting up ahead, and stopped. Then he heard a roaring behind him. The sound was deafening. With a quick motion, Ghorua pressed a button on his suit, pressurizing himself, and removing most of the noise. His suit could sustain him in the vacuum of space, and protected him from stunning effects, such as loud noises.

He saw fighting up ahead, but all of the combatants he saw held their ears and cried out. This was his chance to do something. Moving quicker than he possibly ever has before, the Herglic ran in, and saw raw phrik all around him, in buckets, mining carts, and a large machine in the middle. At this point, Ghorua had all but abandoned his comrades. He knew when situations got desperate, and he needed to get out now. He saw a mining cart, filled to the brim with the phrik ore, and formulated a desperate plan.

Ghorua felt a presence touch his mind, not a new feeling. The Darkness. Ghorua threw the message aside, to concentrated on what he was doing. With one hand, he piled phrik ore into a pack on his back. With his other hand, he steered the cart around toward where the God was. He was about to run forward when he saw the smoke. "Well, that must be this Darkness..." The Herglic said to himself, walking forward into the mirk.

He didn't feel any pain, his suit didn't let the smoke make contact, but his mind immediatey screamed out. The Herglic gasped, his legs buckling out from under him. He sank to the ground, on his knees, overcome with fear and dread. His inner insecurities began to slink their way to the forefront of his mind. What if I die here? What if I'm not strong enough? What if...

Looking beside him, he noticed Bones. The Massiff was writhing on the ground, whimpering like a puppy. With on arm, the Herglic held her close, looking more for his own comfort than for hers.

He sat there like that. One second. Two. Then the Herglic stood up, Bones on one arm, a deep smile plastered on his face. Ghorua was overcome with terror. The fear had seized his body, but probably in a way that Razor Shot hadn't anticipated. Most of Ghorua's day-to-day actions thrive on his own fear. His fighting style was fueled by this fear of death. The genetic monster's adrenaline levels soared, his muscles tightening all along his body. Ghorua's smile was just that; a smile, a muscle memory for when feels scared. Under his helmet, sweat ran down his beaming face, his plastered smile almost grotesque. With more strength than he had ever mustered, Ghorua began to walk forward, the cart, filled to the brim with phrik, pushed ahead of him. As he went, he began to move faster and faster, until him and the cart shot down the mine, their momentum catastrophic.

Ghorua's absolutely terrified mind processed a form in from of him, blocking the desperate monstrosity from his escape. He ran closer, and closer. The charge may look absolutely suicidal to the man, and perhaps it was. Chest heaving, arms straining, Ghorua picked up the minecart, using all of his strength, and threw it at the humanoid. The phrik flew from the minecart like foot-long buckshot, the cart itself a lethal weapon after adding Ghorua's brute strength, and the velocity of their charge. After that distraction, Ghorua tried to shove himself past the man, channeling his terror and adrenaline into pushing past this guy. He was literally a lethal projectile himself now. One thought blasted in his mind.

Get out, get out, GET OUT!

- [member="Razor Shot"] -

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden continued his slow approach, the pitch darkness surrounding him in a loving embrace. The reason Zaiden so loved this technique, besides being an Assassins best friend, was its uses for Stealth. Like his Umbrakinetics, which removed light entirely thus making the darkest spots this side of black holes, Waves of Darkness needed more then simple sight to see through. With the fluctuating atmosphere within, electronic sensors would have a deeply troubling time seeing, the only to successfully be used being thermal imaging: which in the end showed everything as damn near freezing, save bodies that gave off heat.

As it was, Zaiden utilized his inherent skill found in his first body: Force Sight. Through his Miralukan genetics, it had become a damn near true set of eyes for him, as the ones found on his face were hazy beyond a few yards.

Because of this, he was surprised to see a mine cart land a few yards ahead of himself, flinging Phrik like bullets! The beast had likely seen a manifestation of the Darkness and sought to defend himself... Dropping to a crouch, he kept his arms blocking as much of his form as he could. The result was painful, but not deadly, or truly damaging... until he felt the rumbling of the massive being charging his way. With a flick of the hand, and a few more words, he pushed the connection to the spell against the rear of his mind.

What had he said? A command to send the spell to the area where he senses the other thiefs likely were. Basically freeing himself up to face the Herglic.

Rising to his feet, with a single goal in mind, Zaiden now attempted to trip up the brute before he got within range to damage him. Holding out both hands before him, he channeled a large chunk of energy into creating a Ball of Light. It was a literal representative of the ideal, not like a star which let of energy as a byproduct, nor like that of a light bulb... yet like both in a way. With enough energy poured into such a thing, the intensity could dwarf any light source in existence.

Where was the Ball? Aimed to be mere feet ahead of the Herglics eyes. Roughly a foot wide, it would hopefully be exactly where he was looking, so as to cause him to falter.

(Gotta say. Loved that post. Good stuff man. Good stuff.)
[member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Jynx"] [member="Onasius Gruwel"]

 

[Jynx]

The fight was rapidly moving away from her. She heard that. And the droid rapidly increased it's velocity to command. Any second now, she would be where the fight was.. Why don't I just abandon him. Just grab the Phrik for myself an- Oh, the Herglic's where the Phrik is. Guess it's unavoidable then... But it wasn't just dead security ahead, something else was coming.. She heard it. At first it was the rush of the wind.. following it was a cloud of black smoke. Without it even touching her Jynx could feel the energy radiating from it. She tried to turn tail and run - too late. The pain was almost instantaneous; she wanted to scream but her lungs let out no air; she wanted to writhe in pain but her body laid still. She was like a prisoner within her own body. Just get used to the pain. Get used to It. She didn't, every time that it seemed she had built some tolerance to the pain it only increased. And the pain continued building up, her internal thoughts became screaming - no longer coherent.
Then it stopped. She could hear her own breathing again and the air flowing past as the droid continued flying. She almost wanted to stay down longer, mentally disconnecting to the current situation. But fate was not so kind; she was jolted back into reality as a bright light flashed from the direction where she was headed. She grabbed her sword, one hand on the sheathe and another on the handle of the blade. Showtime!

[member="Razor Shot"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua the Scaredy-Shark had been rushing along, and was only a few yards away from his target when the feeling of fear gripping him receded into his normal state of caution. That alone caused his charge to slow a bit. The next thing to make him pause was the blinding flash of light ahead of him. Well, it would have been blinding, if not for Ghorua's helmet. The lens was polarized, so what would have made him usually blink the spots out of his eyes only caused a minor inconvenience to his eyesight. However, the light coming from seemingly nowhere, coupled with his newly-recovered strategic mind, made him quite suspicious. He'd seen this guy disappear, absorb bolts, and release a terror-gas like some sort of super-villain. The Herglic wouldn't be suprised if this orb exploded on contact.

The Herglic immediately halted his advance, the wind he was trailing behind him blasting ahead, ruffling the faces of both Zaiden and Jynx. The Herglic stood there, the light affixed a foot away from his face. Looking past it, at the man only a few more feet away, Ghorua let his smile melt down to a neutral face under his helmet.

Looking down at his arm, he saw Bones, who had been reduced to a squirming mass of pain only seconds before. She sat on his forearm benevolently, eyeing Razor Shot with a murderous look. Ghorua did quite the same as his pet leaped down to the ground. As he did this, Ghorua took the vibroknife from his boot, and held it in his hand, not intimidatingly, nor weakly. "Hey," he said casually, his deep voice slightly distorted by the helmet. A calm rage began to form in his words. "You hurt my dog."

Ghorua's hidden eyes traced behind the man, when he saw droid-girl walk in. With a bit of a smile, Ghorua held up his knife. "Let's tango, Forcie." Ghorua kept his knife up, but made no move to attack. Bones padded around his large feet, snarling and snapping. Ghorua thought out various scenarios in his head, and prepared for the man's next trick.

- [member="Jynx"] - [member="Razor Shot"] -

 

[Bolt]

Spotting the female aboard the droid draw a blade, he was not surprised when he heard a similar sound directly ahead. Bringing his eyes back to the fore, he called out, "I did not hurt your dog. Your poor decisions did." Reigniting the lightsaber in his hand, he raised it high, double gripped, ahead of his right shoulder. His feet slowly squared at about shoulder width, and were slightly turned.

He was in his ataru stance. Poodoo was about to get real.

However, to pretend the occurrences so far had done nothing, was ridiculous. A mental pinch released the plates against his chest, dropping his torso completely free. The metal would need a master metallurgist to fix it. His body was already being drained quickly, though not to an extreme just yet. Had he not spent time drawing in energy, he would likely need to halt to do so. But for now, sensing more men arriving beyond the space they took up, he knew the other thiefs would have more to deal with.

So he released his hold on the Spell as well.

"You want to battle while more men arrive? Do you realize where you are? This planet is second in populace only to Coruscant." He called, "And is policed by the population itself! That means in just a few minutes there will be thousands of men, women, and all other variatians arriving. The majority will be adept in the Force, with the rest advanced militants!

"Last warning. Side with me. Take down your allies with me." He finished. Then, cocking an eye over his shoulder briefly he grinned. Someone had called Snarl. The Maalraas was utilizing its own best stealth during its approach, but Zaiden was used to his pet, and never was caught off guard by him.

"Its been a while buddy." He murmured softly, likely to soft for the Herglic to hear, but he could never be sure, "Sorry I haven't came to see the litter. After I came back from the Netherworld I have had a lot on my plate."

Whether he was seen prior or not, it would now be obvious that the beast was there, as it whined a low grumbling response to its longtime friend and partner.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Jynx"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua kept his knife up, careful of tricks. He knew that Force-Users were tricky. Any advantage they had, they would get. He decided to try something dumb. He attacked.

Well, not really. He did feign a few jabs, his long reach and fast reflexes perfect for this situation. He attempted to strike at the right side of the guy, careful to avoid letting the metal collide with his opponents lightsaber. His plan was to make the man shift to the left side, either to avoid his jabs, or to provoke a seemingly unforseen attack from his less defended side. The eventual plan was to breeze past this guy.

As he jabbed, he talked in a calm voice. "Or you could let me get out of here. I only got... a little phrik, which I can pay for, if you really want recompense. My partners are trapped. I don't... HUH!... I don't see how I would help when you've got an army. But I know when I'm outmatched, Mr. God."

Ghorua knew he didn't have long, but he doubted a whole army could amass in the time this fight would last. His original strategy remained. He wanted out. Bones started growling, her spines raising at something behind the god-man. Reinforcements so soon?

- [member="Razor Shot"] - [member="Jynx"] -

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden grinned as the man spoke, lunging forward, straight at the side which held his lightsaber. Either it was stupid, or was a ploy. Letting the attack come forward, he lurched at the last second, swinging the lightsaber down in an arc inside to the out. Effectively he may have taken the blade to the side, but it was just as likely the blow had kept him from harm. But this to could sever his opponents appendage, or maybe do nothing if the armor was good enough.

"My men will be waiting outside. I am the insider. I wish for you to help me take them without need of others." Zaiden paused the briefest of moments, "How about this: aid me, you walk away Scott free, and I throw in 15 kilograms of Phrik. Plus whatever you have managed to keep on your person."

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Zaiden Dean]

Notching yet another arrow, Matreya let it fly. The Sith who had followed him in had vanished after the arrival of... whatever that smoke had been. The instant it touched he had been thrown into the worst emotional pain he ever endured, which he had almost wanted to end bad enough to bring premature death upon himself! However it passed, which he guessed meant that Zaiden had bumped into his Herglic pal. With the massive man keeping him distracted, he had to either continue draining himself while not being able to get into the deepest caverns, or release his hold.

So he had done the latter it would appear.

Instantly recovering, per the training drilled into his mind since childhood, he had taken up a position of cover and was pelting the enemy reinforcements with arrows. But it was quickly showing that he was running out of ammunition, and as it was he wasnt even sure where the Sith went! Sighing at this thought, he then cast another, which was received by his Quiver. Quickly an oddly lumped arrow was cast free, caught then notched before being released. The reason for such an interestingly shaped arrow was the head, which was a small grenade attachment.

When it struck the top most point of the arch ahead, it destabilized the surrounding surface, cracking it heavily. One more arrow was shot, imbedding itself deep... then with a thunderous crack, the doorway was taken down. Crumbling like destroyed mortar, it collapsed on the men beneath it, and keeping any others from immediately taking that path.

Taking stock of the arrows he had left, 16, he sighed but rose to his feet. Marching to the nearest repulsorlift, he began stacking as much Phrik as he could manage onto it.

 

[Jynx]

Jynx saw their enemy being attacked by the Herglic. She now took a low crouching stance on the droid as it sped along just above the ground. Faster... just a bit more... Around a few metres before she would potentially crash into the man, she used the momentum of the droid to leap forwards, throwing a preparatory flash grenade and upon landing transferred the energy into an uppercut strike drawing from the sheathe. If this was done right, the amount of power from the momentum of the droid transferred into the blade was more than enough to dismember appendages or if not at least cause some internal damage. But she didn't know that kind of opponent she was facing, hence the preparatory flashbang. This opponent who had been powerful enough to cause the black smoke from earlier was likely not to die from such a strike even if she had hoped so. Hope's basically glorified wishful thinking anyways...

[member="Matreya"]
[member="Razor Shot"]
[member="Ghorua the Shark"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua had only been feigning swipes with his knife, so he was expecting a swift defense. Tendons snapping, the Herglic's genetically modified reflexes kicked in, and his arm soared back. No doubt, however, that this was the strongest opponent the Shark had ever faced. So, when you can't beat 'em... rig the game.

"Hmm... 15 kilos? That's quite a lot. Alright, you got yourself a deal, Forcie." Ghorua fidgeted his fingers against his chest thoughtfully, a debating expression on his face. He had to admit, this was a pretty good plan. Finally, the massive mercenary nodded over his combatant's head to Jynx. "We can start with this one."

As he nodded, Ghorua deftly put out his hand a few feet in front of the man, as if to shake. The girl would dash up, throw the grenade, and go for the swing. The perfect distraction. In the giant Herglic's giant palm... a stun grenade. If the god saw it, it would most likely be to late to do anything about it before the droid girl came up to attack. If he missed that subtle detail, he'd get a strong stun to the back, on top of whatever else the woman had up her sleeves. Ghorua felt confident in this move, something he didn't often feel.

- [member="Jynx"] - [member="Matreya"] - [member="Razor Shot"] -

 

[Bolt]

Zaiden, being the overpowered character that he is, had forseen the attack by the woman - not the Herglics trickery however. Thus when the woman threw the flash bang, he conjured miniscule waves of tk going outward from his ears. He ignored the pain caused against his eyes, as he saw through the Force anyway, and simply closed them. With the pressure advancing away from his ears, the explosive sound did little to enter them. It sounded like a distant boom more than anything.

When she lurched for her attack, he did a swift step backwards, narrowly avoiding the blow despite having what he believed was a precise description of where this would take place. Instantly upon noticing this, he cringed inwardly. No more warnings to come from this. It was a separate future as of that moment that he had not looked into.

Then came the second flash bang. Which did indeed hit, causing him to stagger back, and squint his eyes against the pain. However, his helm deflected a greater portion of the sound. It didn't fully blow him back. But he was against the wall briefly, shaking his head to clear the stars. It was easily enough time for the Herglic to begin his escape once more...

As he righted himself, he looked towards the woman, whom technically had been closer to the Herglic without armor to protect her. If she was unconscious he would likely leave her be for the moment, otherwise his saber would be more than ready.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"]
(So, I looked up Stun Grenade, as I am not sure what you meant. The description given was that its a different name for FlashBangs. If not, lemme know and I'll edit.)

[member="Jynx"]
(You, I perceived as attacking from the side, so I reacted. If you imagined a different angle lemme know and this too will be edited.)

 

[Zaiden Dean]

Chunk after chunk, rock after rock, slowly the lift began to have a decent amount. When he finally felt it enough, Matreya took control and guided it through the tunnel... directly into a scene of combat. Watching a flash bang be thrown, Matreya covered his ears with eyes closed. Quickly after seeing Zaiden react to the trick by his ally, the Kensûrai Archer shoved the speed to the Max, rocketing past the God King. For a good measure, he projected a bubble of Force energy that sought to diminish all sounds emanating from the craft.

Just as he passed the Herglic he threw a thumbs up, gesturing to what would likely amount to at least a hundred Kilos of Phrik. More than enough for three people to make way with. After the sign of 'retreat while you can', Matreya continued on until he passed through the archway and into open air. Of course, the bluff by Zaiden hadn't been heard by the man, but he was still surprised to find the Master Force User had not called for a single ally.

Raising higher off the ground, Matreya jettisoned back towards the park, and the place they would meet up. It was not inside the park, the others would find the Gardner there would relay the message to meet near it to the south, in a large warehouse now empty.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

With a satisfied grunt, Ghorua surged forward as his stun grenade went off. "Deal's off," he growled quickly, shoving himself past Razor Shot and Jynx. The large armored Herglic was once again an unstoppable force, the inertia of that much weight moving forward tearing through the stale air, until he burst out of the mine. Ghorua didn't stop his forward momentum, instead going to his comms to the rest of the team. "Don't meet at the designated spot, boys! We've got a powerful Forcie that can and will track us. Get off planet, we'll contact each other once we fly the nest. Matreya, I'm trusting you not to take the goods and run. I'll send coordinates for a drop-off later, but right now, we have to get the kark off this planet!"

With that thought, Ghorua dashed inbetween the buildings, and was lost in a concerned crowd, Bones flying behind him. At the moment, he needed to get to his ship, and get out of here. That encounter was too close, and the Bounty Hunter wasn't entirely sure it was over yet.

- [member="Matreya"] - [member="Razor Shot"] - [member="Jynx"] -

 

[Jynx]

Her strike missed, the momentum forcing her to swiftly disconnect the tendons around her arm and hip to bend back further than humanly possible; a rare moment where she would use her shapeshifting abilities in combat. She quickly then resumed a normal position, hoping that the enemy had not seen her 'trick' whilst effected by the grenades. Right past came Matreya, on the lift, going full speed through the tunnel with the Herglic charging along. And she heard his warning through the comms too.

So the Phrik was secured. That's great! They've got a rendezvous. Even better! The only problem now was that Jynx was left alone with the overpowering enemy. Her only means of escape was Spud the droid but it was still a few hundred metres off. Clearly she wouldn't be able to delay this opponent by swinging her blade around only to have the blade itself be cut by a karking laser sword! So she then sheathed her blade, lay it down and raised her fists. Well, here goes nothing.. She had remotely commanded the droid to make it's way towards her and so hopefully the person standing before her would be arrogant enough to "man up"; which, would buy her just enough time to make her getaway. Hopefully..

[member="Razor Shot"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] @Matreya

 

[Bolt]

Watching the woman raise her fists, while sensing the departure of all involved, Zaiden grinned, "Just stop." He said, deactivating his saber, "Go. Bring your Droid. I only wanted to see what kind of allies Matreya holds. Let him know I am aware it was him, and that he owes me for the Phrik. Oh and don't worry, let your friends know I'm heading home. You won't be bothered."

With a wink, the air around Zaiden seemed to still a moment, than after he vanished the air all sucked inward with a powerful snap sound, as it refilled the void.

[member="Jynx"]

 

[Jynx]

Huh. That was.. unexpected. Seems like this enemy and Matreya have some history... Well, that's none of my business.. She picked up her blade, hopped on Spud and sped out at full speed. If this was a trap hopefully she'd be out of this planet fast enough that the others would've been the ones in the line of fire.
"The enemy's gone, send the co-ordinates to the drop off location."
[member="Razor Shot"]
[member="Ghorua the Shark"]
@Matreya