Hotsprings, massages, & hostage situations!

[Kella]

Grizzelda chuckled at Strae's quip about the Kolto tank, taking it to be a rhetorical question. "Let's finish this!" Strae yelled, diving once more from cover, and Grizzelda was soon behind. The second-to-last merc was down, plasma in his chest, and Strae was quick to distract the last. He soon recieved aquaintence with the prime of Vulpine technology, courtesy of Grizzelda. A slow smile slid across her face. It wasn't that she liked killing. It was just that she liked beating the odds. And today they had not beat the odds -- they had obliterated them.

She watched the Gunslinger... tend, to the fallen merc. She recognized his armor; he'd been the one to instigate all this trouble. What a pleasant surprise, and even more so, too, as she recognized the bloody wound of his jaw. That was no blaster mark. Bless the Verpine.

First things first. Grizzelda began to rifle through the bodies, nudging them with her feet to check for viable weaponry. The gunslinger began to talk at the merc, hissing her words with a nice little degree of malevolence. Quite theatrical. Grizzelda listened with only half-interest, while two flash grenades, a concussion, and an incendiary found their way to her hip, nestled in the fabric sash. She was about to grab another power back for her heavy blaster, when something caught her eye. Oh-hoh, there gleaming to her right in charcoal black durasteel, no standard model. Grizzelda did so love illegal modifications. That blaster was hers in a heartbeat, tossing one heavy blaster while tucking its mate in her sash, and stowing the shattergun safely in her holster. As she stood, Grizzelda found a moment to comment on the Gunslinger's 'interrogation'.

"A monologue?" she queried, "I always fancied those as quite foolish. If they live, they've information, can be used against you. And if they die, breath's been spent on a dead man, can be used for other things. Oh, but pay no attention to me, I wouldn't want to ruin your fun. Though, I'd be quite surprised if he answered... his jaw's in an awful mess. Sorry 'bout that." Grizzelda's smug smile revealed her apology to be less than sincere. "Enjoy yourself. I'm going to go find this security terminal before they've a chance to send more reinforcements." She took a side-step down the hall, around a body, throwing the Gunslinger a mock-salute. "Cheers." Quick feet simply climbed over the fallen bodies rather than flitting around them. "You following, Strae?" she asked, not even turning to look at the woman, "Or shall I go get myself killed alone?" Open hallway ahead, Grizzelda took off at a brisk pace.

She had no idea what direction Strae had originally planned on going, nor where the Spy intended to take the contact. However, there was a gnawing in the pit of her stomach, a restlessness that commanded her now, told her not to stay still for long. She knew she was being watched like she knew her own name, and the sooner she could get to the bottom of this, the better.

Besides, she'd never been a team player. A quick consult to her memory, and Grizzelda looked ahead to hook a left, which would be followed by a right, then another left...

She spied a piece of architecture that looked as if it could perfectly house a camera... Better safe than sorry. Time to give that new blaster a bit of a test-drive. It looked like one of the Exchange's TK pistols...
Zhing!
Shot like one too. Her suspicions toward cameras were confirmed by acrid black electrical smoke, and Grizzelda made a mental note to look out for such features in the future. Her eyes scanned for places to take cover, ears listened for machinery and footsteps. Two of her weapons were holstered, while the TK nestled comfortably in her hand. She couldn't have been more than fifteen yards from the site of the skirmish, now, but that distance was increasing quickly.

Wonder how much this TK would fetch on the black market...

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

Strae watched the last man get gunned down, and rose with confidence, one hand finding a nice pocket for her blaster, and the other covering her wound, a wicked scowl across her face. She looked down, and looked around at the mercenary weaponry. Most of it didn't catch her attention, until she saw a carbine rifle with a strap on it. She began walking toward Dorman, scooping the rifle onto her back as she threw the strap on and slung it across her back.

Dorman was busy glaring at Zarene through a bloody scowl, his jaw nothing but a mess, but his defiance even messier. He was still trying to figure out how to form the words 'pretentious schuta' when the butt end of a carbine rifle hit him in his already wounded jaw so hard it sent him down on the ground and squirming in pain once more. He gave a pained moan, being unable to scream. As he was down, Strae gave him a few more sharp kicks, and played out one last flash of anger by shooting him in the foot.

Staring at the scorch in his boot and the hole in his foot, running through the bone, and the pain he was in, screaming and squirming, Strae was satisfied. "Mhm." She said, "Have a wonderful day. I havfe a wound to heal." She said, turning and getting ready to leave. She stopped, suddenly, and got an idea. She put her own carbine down and grabbed his weapon, the slugger that he'd used to shoot her with. He reached out and grabbed her arm, snarling, but she wasted little time in breaking the bone with one swift motion of her hands. He retracted and squealed again. It obviously infuriated him to think of his brilliant weapon in the spies' hands. She smugly held it in one hand, hanging down adn the end of the barrel pointing to the ground, and left in a hurry to the elevator.

She hit a button, and called one up. The silver doors slid open and revealed their contact, relieved to see that they were still alive, if only so that he could improve his own chances. "You know I've been getting shot at a lot more than I'm use to around you two..."

"Seems to be a common thing around us." Strae quipped, waving him over. As he passed by she suddenly hoisted her newest weapon and put it against his skull.

She could hear is terrified gulp from where she was standing. "Is that what I think it is?" She asked, looking down at a pin on his shirt.

"Is what what you think it is?" He asked, shuffling nervously.

Strae grinned and reached over, removing the pin from him and lifting it up to her eye. "Interesting? So who gave it to you?"

"A mercenary found me. He threw that at me and told me to wear it...I don't know why he let me go."

Strae mused for a second, then thought, a grin appearing widely, "So...What did he look like?"

"He was tall, white, and wore some thin clothes. Not like most of the others, two vibroblades along his side, and with long dark hair that reached his shoulders.

"Interesting." She said throwing the pin on the ground, which had a small tracking device attatched to it, evident by the design on the end, which had a small glossy sphere to cover the tracking chip. She didn't bother destroying it. "Keep moving. You stay with the cyborg, she's good with weapons, just don't piss her off. And pick a gun, any gun." With that, she went off to go and find Grizzelda.

She figured Zarene would catch up when she needed to, and after making sure that no blood was dripping from her wound to show her tracks, she wiped the blood off the soles of her shoes and continued on.

She found Grizzelda not too far off, next to a smoking structure that Strae hazarded a guess as a camera. "You know there's something silly about this whole thing, don't you?" She asked, and after turning to make sure that the others were still down the hall, she said, "They're targeting us, specifically. Me. There's something deeper running through this, and someone wants Upezzo Keeza in the dirt. Or at least, someone wants to send a message, and I've got a pretty good idea whom."

~*~

Artemis Entreri stared at the doors, one level beneath the others. He had just given the man the chip, and though he didn't expect the man to get away with it, and half expected him to take it off anyway, despite the hefty sum he'd offered to the man, his designs had been fulfilled. A healthy interogation and the man would be spillin' his guts, and Strae would know Artemis would have been here. The message would get across, certainly. Artemis didn't appreciate anyone tracking him. Especially not some tw-bit spy organization. He scoffed, and started headed the otherway. His job was done, and it was time for him to get out of this dreary building. He started heading directly for the massive in-door lake. There was an island at the center with a shuttle that he'd be taking out of here.

[sparrow]

"I don't monologue. I'm just making a point." You had to, for lack of better word, set the mood first.

Bang!

"Great. Now you put him in shock and he's passing out." She gave an irritated frown, and picked up her blaster. Oh well. He wasn't in condition to say much anyways. And time is precious. She was slowly calming down now, and her mind getting itself back on track towards her original goals. If there were any more mercenaries thinking about attacking, they would find a collection of bloody, mutilated corpses. That should give them some pause. She aimed the blaster towards his forehead. Just about to press the trigger, she paused. Why waste ammo?

The tendrils of Force energy that had held his arms and legs in place released themselves, gathering around his neck. Just a bit of concentration.

Snap.

[Kella]

"You know there's something silly about this whole thing, don't you? They're targeting us, specifically. Me. There's something deeper running through this, and someone wants Upezzo Keeza in the dirt. Or at least, someone wants to send a message, and I've got a pretty good idea whom," finished Strae.


Grizzelda considered this a moment, her walk still brisk and purposeful. "I don't suppose there's an extra commission bonus for dashingly suspenseful plot-twists?" Her expression mocked hopefullness, as she paused, allowing the question to be answered, before she continued, "Takes more 'an a few mercs to knock me in the dirt. Do note that many of these were Green; you can tell by the way they fire a blaster." It was an art Grizzelda knew intimately, and she'd always had a critical eye. "Take that to mean what you will, but it probably indicates they were after cheap muscle. Quantity over quality, numerical intimidation. Not the way to go if you're really trying to take over an establishment like this."

Another camera fell to the sharp bite of Grizzelda's blaster.

"So who's your friend? Must be quite fond of you, to roll out such a warm welcome."

Now halfway to the Security headquarters, Grizzelda quickened her long-legged pace, silently edging the shorter woman to keep up. Three more corridors, then up a service elevator, and they'd be at the most viable point of entry...

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

Strae chuckled, "I think the loot should more than cover the battery charge you used on shooting those guys up..." She replied, listening carefully and following along in the same manner. She was stressing caution now that she was wounded, and she certainly didn't want to add another wound to her body. She nodded at Grizzelda's saying that the whole of the group was green, and the implications behind it. "He didn't expect to kill me with these people, or he would have done it himself or sent a hundred Dorman's running around. That is why they are green, but they obviously have some help if they could break into the security system so easily."

She watched as Grizzelda executed yet another camera, a smile of amusement crossing her fair features. "Oh yes, he's a dear friend of mine." She joked, "We're tracking him, an assassin named Artemis Entreri. one of the best, and that's not hype; he's obviously aware that we're trying to find him, and he probably already knows why..." She mused, as if putting herself in his mindset. It was a special skill of hers, to understand what others wanted, and she knew that Artemis Entreri just wanted to be left alone. He didn't want to take Upezzo Keeza on, despite whether or not he thought he could.

She chuckled, "So, how many cameras do you think we'll be putting out before we actually arrive at the security station?"

~*~

Ven Alstra raced across the room in a panic, watching the increasing number of blank screens, she gulped, gathering her gear. The group would be on her location in minutes. She went straight for the door, but reeled back in confusion: There was no longer any terminal on the way, it lay on the floor, shredded. Wires were ripped out, and there was no way to cross the circuits in time to open this door. She shivered, terrified. Bastard Entreri locked her in here. She might as well set-up for a battle, perhaps if she shaped the field for herself, she'd be able to stop them. Immediately she pulled something out of a pouch, and set three mines next to the door. If they managed to break that thing open...

[sparrow]

Reloading her blaster would have been extremely difficult and awkward with only one arm, but thanks to the Force she was able to easily eject the spent blaster pack and pick a new one off the ground. Her balance would be a bit off with one arm essentially dead. Jumps would be more difficult, acrobatics nearly impossible. Then again, the narrow hallways weren't going to allow for very much of those anyways.

Like the others, Zarene wondered just what exactly was going on. If the mooks hadn't been expected to kill them, like this woman said, but to show them down... Yet on the other hand had they not shown up in the first place Zarene would still be quietly hanging out in her room. There was obviously much more to those other two then that met the eye. But what was it?

It didn't matter. Those two could keep their secrets. Zarene just needed out right now. She headed towards the lift to the security room. "Doesn't matter. When we get to security all the records there will be destroyed, and anybody foolish enough to stay in there will be dead."

[Kella]

Grizzelda fired her blaster once more, only dirt spilling out of the obliterated pot. Well, you couldn't win everything.

"Oh," she pondered Strae's question, "I'd say five more--" a suspicious-looking water feature erupted in a pillar of steam and acrid black smoke. "Make that four. This is good sport, they ought to make an official competition out of this," she mused. "But I'd always win, so it'd hardly be a competition. Drat, that would have been such fun."

Finally having reached the end of the corridor, Grizzelda waited for the lift to reel to the proper level, listening as the machinery hummed within. For a moment, she pondered this information of Strae's... Artemis Entreri... The name sounded vaguely familiar, and familiarities were only vague when she'd come across the information researching something else... so this Artemis was connected to something she knew, in some way... That did not surprise her, however, for these days, nearly all less-than-honorable names struck her ears with that same vague familiarity.

"Even if we don't find any information, the security point will provide a valuable control center. Defense systems, the functioning cameras, emergency protocols, automated process... life of the building at our fingertips. The heart is so confident in its defenses, that once the pathogen gets past the skin--"

The lift chimed its arrival and the doors slid slickly open,

"--smooth sailin'."

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

"On the contrary my cyborg friend..." Strae said with a bit of the smirk, "I plan on taking a few of those files for my own gain, if their not already destroyed. Anything regarding you I'll be happy to destroy, but only after I do a quick but thorough search through everything." She didn't wait for an answer she just got ready to slip out of the elevator.

The doors didn't open, instead the entire elevator, the entire resorts power supplies shut out. The lights went off, the turret power systems went out, scanners were gone, cameras, everything. Strae looked around, readying her gun. The lights turned on just a moment later, but the elevator doors didn't open. Strae heaved a great sigh, then looked at the doors. There was no way she could open it without blowing it with her gun or an explosive. The latter was dangerous and the prior was excessive.

She turned to the force user, and bowed, stepping out of the way with an overly presentation of the door, swinging her arms to point at it and saying, "Think you could take a crack at it, midear?"

~*~

Ven Alstra peeked down to the bottom of a computer, where a service panel was obvious. She had a quick thought, and reached down to pry it open, but it was shut tight. With a sigh she went and found her bag, opening it tightly and getting out a plasma torch. Metal exploded in sparks as she removed it, and then looked at the wiring within. After a few moments she realized that this single computer held an emergency power source for all of the security systems. She raced across the room, an idea coming to her.

She found the main computer, and quickly shut down all critical systems, re-routing them to emergency back-ups. All of the systems in the entire facility jammed, then, elevators, lights, cameras, the works. A moment later, they came back up; mostly. It was not routine for this to happen, and so it had never been tested, a few systems got fried immediately; one of which being the elevators.

[sparrow]

"Just use a gun," she muttered. Zarene didn't have nearly enough strength to rip the door out of its supports, not with the door securely bolted in place, anyways, unlike... certain other people. She placed a hand on the door, palm pressed against the metal surface, feeling...

Yes, there were the locking mechanisms, several of them, keeping the door in place.

"Stay back a bit," she said, pulling out her blaster. Two shots towards the edge of the door, two of the mechanisms burned through. That was enough. The door creaked, and with a grating sound metal on metal, slid open. "After you."

[Kella]

Surveying the melted metal of the door, Grizzelda thoughtfully remarked, "I could have done that."

Never one to disobey an order, she did indeed step past the gunslinger and into the hall. Her eyes skimmed the area, but no cameras became blatantly evident. The less of a ruckus they caused at this point, the better. Two yards to the right, a turn to the left, and Grizzelda found herself face-to-face with the long-awaited door to security. On it was pasted a single black and white sign.

"'Personal Only'. How quaint."

The next thing that caught Grizzelda's attention was a gouge in the smooth metal of the wall. Wires of every color and size trailed from the wound, sparking sporadically in longing for the rest of the mechanism, which lay in a crumpled heap on the immaculately polished floor. Grizzelda swore non-nonchalantly.

"Well that puts a damper in our fun, doesn't it." She examined the door more closely. "It doesn't appear as if the actual mechanism is damaged... so the door can be opened electronically, just not via this portal. With the proper tools, I'd have it open in two minutes. Without... It'll take me five, maybe six." She turned to look at the gunslinger. "You think you can get it open faster? And you have to be absolutely sure, because if that door ends up bend out of shape, brute force becomes our only option."

Grizzelda figured Strae would present her opinion, invited or not, and so it made little sense to waste breath doing so. Time was of the essence, now, especially when there was no indication as to just what lay around the bend...


ooc// *stabs post with a pointy stick*
Bleck. >.< //

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

The sound of a high power slug rifle resounded down and throughout the hallway many, many different times. Dorman Jerzycks weapon certainly came in handy, for it was the only gun that could punch through the security door. And punch through it did, leaving a gaping hole in the center of the doorway, a hole big enough for them each to squeeze through. She put the weapon down, having spent all of its rounds, and shook her arms with a grimace, "Awful jarring on the arm, that thing." She said, pulling out one of her pistols and determining to come back for the gun later.

She peered through the broken security door, squinting to see better, and after determining that there was indeed nothing on the other-side, she took a few steps back and readied herself.

With a running start she tucked her body in and leapt through the air, tucking her body in and soaring through the hole, coming out on the other end. She hit the ground and rolled forward, her positioning perfectly absorbing the land. She came up and aimed her weapon, looking around, then decided that the hall was safe on the other-side. "Come on in." She said.

[sparrow]

An inch shy of six feet, Zarene would have been considered short for an Epicanthix, who as a people were on average closer to six and a half feet. For a human female though, she was considered quite tall. This was quite a contrast compared with Strae, who was probably one of the shortest humans Zarene had ever seen. Because of this, and the fact that it was difficult to roll with one arm, she declined to take the dramatic running start and dive-through-the-hole approach, instead simply stepping in with one leg, bending her body through, and following with the other leg.

As she waited for Grizzelda to follow, she wondered briefly whether she would have to kill these two after they made it to the security room. Their current alliance was one of convenience, and once things became inconvenient, there was no telling what these two would do. In addition, the reason that Zarene was even going to the security room in the first place was to destroy whatever evidence of this incident and her involvement in it that might have been caught on record. Sometimes it was good to leave no witnesses.

Yet on the other hand, they had worked well together, and neither of the two had made any disparaging remarks or treated her any differently just because her body wasn’t a hundred percent organic. Given how rare that was, it meant something. She didn’t like letting emotion getting in the way of pragmatism, but she knew that if killed these two by attacking first it would leave a bitter taste in her mouth. Killing wasn't an easy thing, unless you hated the person you killed. Fortunately for Zarene, she tended to hate most people. Not these two right now though.

So if it came time to part ways and they betrayed her, then she would retaliate with deadly force, but not before.

[Kella]

ooc// Borrowing descriptions and stuff from one of Deceit's old posts.
<3 remembering continuity. X) //

The particular method of infiltration Strae employed incited no less than a coy comment from Grizzelda. "Very subtle, Strae. You're a true queen of subterfuge."

Grizzelda tended to amuse herself by being a non-conformist, and to find that there was a situation in which there was really only one way of doing things quite depressed her. Then again, few obstacles could stand up long against human ingenuity.

After Strae and the Gunslinger were through, Grizzelda approached the door, hooking her fingers over the top of the door-frame. Grip as secure as was possible, she pulled her knees up to her chest, and with her feet now at the level of the hole, she extended her legs and swung them through. The momentum carried her forwards as she bent her spine backwards, curving at such an angle that she would avoid touching the jagged edge of the hole as she fell diagonally. Her feet hit the ground while her torso was still almost horizontal, and she swayed forward just a bit to clear the opening before she stood up, her core muscles and abs whining a quiet protest to the sudden demand. They could bear the challenge, however, and Grizzelda was soon standing upright, surveying the length of the hall.


The door opened into a small room, no doubt some sort of transitional area. At the other end, it narrowed into a hall, which no doubt led to the security room. This particular area lacked all of the extravagant decoration of the rest of the hotel. Here, the walls were a brushed metallic gray, intersecting with floors a bare utilitarian concrete. Grizzelda noticed that this was very different from the plaster that coated most of the other walls. Such plaster, and the puffy insulation it contained, did well to block sound, but little else. But this room -- this room they had taken special precautions to protect, and Grizzelda suspected that the rest of the security center would be the same.

Why a hotel would go to such lengths miffed her for only a moment, before Grizzelda concluded that the main computer of such an establishment would no doubt include the payment information for all current residents, and many previous ones as well. Obviously, they didn't want such things getting out -- identities stolen, false charges -- all sorts of mess. Despite the fact that it was only a hypothesis, it satiated Grizzelda's curiosity, and so she continued in her surveying of the room.

She looked once more at the hall, taking a few steps to the side and changing her angle so she could peer down it. Something caught her eye, laying across the floor at the end of the short hall. Its dark color contrasted the light metal of the walls, and Grizzelda immediately pegged it as a boot, perhaps even attached to a leg by the looks of the fabric at its root. And if that leg were attached to a person...

Heeding no conversation, Grizzelda stepped into the narrow hall, where seven swift paces brought her to not only one boot -- but to four, along with two heads, two torsos, and four arms. Such numbers indicated no alien, but rather, two dead bodies.

"It seems they're leaving breadcrumbs for us," Grizzelda commented, tossing Strae a momentary glance. Turning back to the bodies, she nudged them with her foot, observing that the both of them were fully dead. Their uniforms revealed them as security personnel. Both were facedown, and one had four through-and-through blaster shots. The other had an odd hitch in his back, and Grizzelda could only assume that meant it was broken.

"I'm no coroner, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Chip and Dale here didn't just forget to arm their safety's properly."

Grizzelda turned her gaze back to the other two, "There's no small doubt in my mind that whatever's on the other side of that," She gestured with her blaster at the door, "Does not want witnesses. Coincidentally, we are witnesses." Her eyes shifted toward the forbidding door, as if projecting her thoughts in its direction would somehow make it melt away. "I think I shall hack it. Anyone who did this job," the barrel of her blaster swung to gesture at the guards, "Is not going to trust a simple lock. In fact, whoever they are is probably watching us right now. And the fact that those doors have yet to swing open, and we have yet to be gunned as we stand, indicates that whoever it is doesn't have the necessary firepower to make such a move wise." She looked at Strae Cheekily, "Do doubt they saw our antics in the hall. We do make a formidable trio, don't we? Three women, taking down a full team of trained, hardened mercenaries. Not something you come across every day."

She surveyed the door once more, licking her lips in thought. After a moment, she reached her judgment. "Mines. Turrets, or mines. That's what you plant if you don't have much firepower, and there's no way our coming wasn't expected. Of course, there's always the possibility that a time charge has been placed, and we are mere moments from our deaths."

Grizzelda crossed her arms, leaning back against the wall behind her. Another moment's pause, and she was off the wall again. "Yeah, Ima hack it."

Seconds later, her hands were on the control panel, searching for a way to pry the cover off. Her endeavor could be easily stalled by comment from either of her counterparts, but as for the immediate moment, her mind was set.

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

"I'll guard this door." Strae voiced, agreeing fully with Grizzelda's conclusions. "They may have called for back-up." She lied. In truth, she wasn't worried at all about back-up. She just didn't want to be on the opposite side of the hall whenever whatever -might- explode...Does explode. She turned and moved back toward the door with the large hole in it, leaning against it and sighing heavily. She was getting blood on the wall, but at this point, she really didn't care too much. Her foot tapped impatiently, her heels making loud clicking noises with every rise and fall, due to the nature of their design. She could very well silence them, but felt no need or care.

The pain from her earlier wound continued to sting, and with the adrenaline gone once again, it stifled her breathing patterns. She worked hard to remain calm and focused, but her mind kept slipping to thoughts of getting to a medical bay. She silently berrated herself. Usually she had her back-up on standy-by, the Shadow Ark in orbit, a ship for air-strike/extraction. SOMETHING! But today all she could do was rely on herself, her two guns, Grizzelda, and Zarene. So, basically, she had to rely on herself.

She sighed. This whole thing was terribly unfortunate.

~*~

Ven listened silently. She heard nothing, but she knew they were there. A gut feeling, if you will. In her past, Ven had always been lucky, but today that luck had run out. Artemis was gone. Three experienced, and very upset, vigilantes were coming in and they were not happy. One of them was good with computers. It was the farthest thing from lucky she could have. She glanced over at the door, grinning. She had seen that coming, and rigged a mine to the door. They had been worried some sort of counter-attack might be launched on this area, thats what the Dark Jedi was for. Fortunately for Ven Alstra, she hadn't trusted the Dark Jed, and came prepared for a defense of her own. Unfortunately, that meant that blast radius would be here as well.

She grumbled, searching the room for ample cover. After a small bit of searching, she found the service panel she had dislodged earlier. A final, desperate idea came to her. Screw the mercenaries, and screw dying to defend this place. She looked in and saw that there was space enough for a grown humanoid to crawl under and work on fixing things. She quickly scoot herself in, lifting the service panel up and replacing it as perfectly as she could to hide the fact that it was ever opened, holding it in place herself a bit. Hopefully, she could hide here until they came in, did whatever, and left. Hopefully. If not, she'd probably just plea for her life. And die.

~*~

Strae cocked her head as she heard the slightest movement outside. She instantly turned the hell clicks off and leaned against the door, peering out as much as she could without exposing herself. And there he was, Artemis Entreri in the flesh, standing in the hallway. He gave her a salute, and turned on his heel, simply walking away. Strae narrowed her eyes, only one thought coming to mind. Dead man. But not right now. He had let her live. He could probably have gotten her any time he wanted this day. With a short, "Hmph." She turned back to the others, who could not have seen Artemis from their angles, and let her heels click again.

[sparrow]

Zarene remained expressionless as the tall woman spoke. That woman sure liked to talk, but her reasoning was sound, and she nodded slightly as she finished her analysis and started to pry at the door panel.

The shorter woman moved towards the door. With one of the others at each door, front and back, that left Zarene without much to do. She looked at the bodies, poked one in the side with her foot. This whole thing bothered her. Whoever was in there, whoever had hired the mercs and sent the whole hotel into chaos, what were they up to? What was there objective? A good assassin needed to be able to read their opponents, figure out what they were doing. She was supposed to be good. No, she was good. So not being able to figure this out bothered her.

There was one thing that she could figure out though. The other woman was likely correct in saying that their opponents most likely would not trust a simple lock. But that didn't change the fact that it was a simple lock. And if there really were turrets and mines on the other side... If I were outnumbered and outgunned, with only a relatively low-security door and few mines separating me from my enemies, what would I do?

"That door's probably rigged."

[Kella]

ooc// Something in the cosmos did not want me to post here. -_- I typed up the whole thing on my iPod, was ready to post it, but then my iPod DAED. It died dead. And then it got eated again, and then the thread UNBOOKMARKED ITSELF. But here is POST and I hope it's amusing, because you definitely waited long enough for it... Coincidentally, I also haven't proof-read this, so take it as you will... Also open to edits, if you two are after some plot-ness henceforth not satisfied. X) //

Strae announced her brief departure, but it was meant with barely a distracted nod from the woman who gazed absently at the control panel, thinking.

"That door's probably rigged," announced the gunslinger.

"I quite disagree," quipped Grizzelda, her tone serious, "I believe that when we open the doors, balloons and glitter will rain on our head, and they will toss confetti and cute stuffed animals at us while presenting us with a small pony."

If not for the obviously rediculous nature of the situation, it hardly would have been suspected as sarcasm. Unperturbed, Grizzelda turned away from the door in favor for rifling through the pockets of one of the dead bodies --

Still vaguely warm, must have been a fairly recent kill...

-- until her fingers touched what she was looking for, fastened to a string and button near his lapel. It was an ID badge, but Grizzelda barely even glanced at the name. She was more interested in the magnetic strip on the opposite side that made it a pass-key.

Grizzelda pocketed the device, then returned to the panel, beginning to take it apart anyway. The tip of her knife worked well enough to remove the small screws that held it in place, and the metal soon fell away. Having the pass-key wasn't going to be enough -- not with the door rigged. If the person were suicidal, they would have already killed themselves, and taken the evidence with them... this meant that the charges on the door wouldn't be enough to kill someone well-prepared on the other end, which meant that as long as Grizzelda was a sufficient distance away when the door opened, it would be survivable. The trick was rigging the delay. Before she cut any of the wires, Grizzelda had to be sure that what she needed was contained within the wiring...

And there it was. A small capacitor, the size of her thumb. These doors were pretty simple if you knew what to look for, and that little chip was charged with the simple task of looping a short delay to dull the sensors. That's why the automatic doors didn't start trying to close on you right away, before any person had stepped through the threshold. Since the door was no doubt rigged... well, suffice to say the door closing again was not going to be one of their problems.

Grizzelda quickly set to cutting various wires, splicing them back together by stripping the insulation and tying them with bits of cloth from her shirt. It was menial work, but worth it, as she had soon replaced the capacitor into a different part of the circuit. She thanked the Force that repair men were getting dumber and dumber, and contracting companies had taken to labeling clearly the ports for their circuit-boards... of course, the fact that the capacitor wasn't connected to the motherboard (supposedly, it made replacing either one faster) was a blessing from the forces that be. Or something.

As the adrenaline faded, Grizzelda felt the pain creep back into her shoulder, and it was damp again -- her antics had probably shifted the bandage, allowing the fragile scab to crack... But her hand still worked just fine, and that was all that mattered. True or not, she told herself she'd survived worse, and that was the end of that.

The wiring sufficiently patched, (it wasn't going to stand up to any sort of wear and tear, but it was about to explode too, so did that really matter?) Grizzelda stepped back to admire your handiwork. The pass-key slipped into her fingers, and she examined the connections once more, just in case...

"You should probably take cover now," she said, as if the action was just as natural as taking an umbrella on a rainy day. She aligned the pass-key with the upper edge of the reader's channel. "Oh, and hold your breath, just in case there's a gas mine."

Just a flick of the wrist, and the dice were rolled onto the table, the roulette wheel set into motion. The card reader beeped in recognition, and Grizzelda immediately began moving away.

Three...

Her long legs carried her down the small hall as she pocketed the pass-key,

Two...

Only steps away from the wider room...

One...

She ducked around the corner, sinking down low to the ground. There was only one difference between this and the Roulette table. This time, Grizzelda knew exactly where the ball was going to land. "Always bet on double-zero," she whispered to herself.


Blast-off.

The booming yell of the explosion was accompanied by a surprisingly gentle puff of hot air from the narrow hall, bringing a slight film of dust to cover the three woman. Grizzelda smirked, quite satisfied with herself, standing once more and brushing the dust off her shirt, though it was rather pointless, considering the garment was already blood-soaked, burnt and mutilated.

She extended a hospitable hand towards the hall, looking back at Strae. "After you."

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

Strae chuckled silently as Grizzelda's comments and sarcasm, but otherwise ignored it. She was more focused on the searing pain that was egding its way back into her conscious. She hated it. Not exactly the pain itself, but these damn wounds kept her from doing her job. She couldn't sneak as well, run as well, couldn't even shoot as well. It even affected her thinking. Normally, she was a hundred thoughts a minute; coming up with plans and possibilities faster than others would think possibly.

At this particular moment, she'd be in mid-thought, stop and think 'owe!' then proceed, which hindered her. Or her mind drifted off to, 'If I die I'm going to be really pissed.'

And then Grizzelda finished what she was doing, which Strae wasn't exactly sure why it took so long. She was growing irritable because of the wound as well. Grizzelda came running over for, and Strae curled up into a little ball and covered her head. She heard an odd, whispered comment, and then FWOOMPH! ( muffled explosion ) then a much louder, BANG as the door exploded and clouds of smoke and explosion came lightly into the air. A surprisingly dull explosive. “After you.”

Strae looked at her for a moment, her self-preserving side wanting to sneer and throw the others into the room first as cannon fodder. However, the rest of her simply sneered and limped across the hallway, leaning up against the wall right next to the doorway.

She slowly peeked around the corner, a death grip on her weapons, she hated infiltrating anything without surprise on her side. Her heart raced, she took a quick scan of the room, taking in possible hiding places, but observing that nobody was there. She slowly viewed the various cover places, looking for any signs that someone would be hiding behind them. Nothing. There were...A few dead guards in the room; all of them assassinated before they could do anything. Whoever was here had been proficient, and didn't was to be caught here.

It wasn't Artemis. Maybe he'd helped, but it was too sloppy. No, there was another stealthy hacker somewhere here. But where? Then her eyes focused on something; screws, laying down on the ground. Barely perceptible. What did it mean. She looked up to a service panel where the screws should have been, but she stopped looking a moment later, pretending as though she'd never seen anything. Giving a last, once over casual scan, she turned around the corner again.

There was someone in there; hiding in the service panel. Strae debated for a moment whether or not to tell anyone. If she hinted that she knew, the fool would come out blasting. If she gave the all clear and walked casually into the room, then perhaps Strae could take this person alive. She made a quick judgment call.

“All clear. Must have rigged the room and left. Proceed with caution, though. Don't know what sort of natty traps there might be.” With that she walked into the room, turning around and checking the cover positions. She had been right, there was nobody else in the room. Once she was in, she got to a position near the service panel, moving absolutely silently and out of view, she pointed to the service hatch, and held up one finger, then put it to her lips and motioned for them to ignore her...

~*~

Ven Alstra was crammed into the little place, not happy at all. The explosion had riled her, and she was practically in the fetal position, he head craned to see out the small cracks of the vent. A lady popped her head through the door, her blonde hair showing brightly as she examined the room. For a moment, she looked right at Ven, and her heart stopped completely. Then she looked away, not breaking pattern, obviously she hadn't seen Ven. She would have released her breath in a deep sigh but knew that would just give her away.

The women came into the room with the all clear, and began inspecting. A wise decision, there could well have been more traps. If Ven had indeed had the time, the whole hallway outside would have been trapped. She cursed her ill-preparedness. Never on her life did she think these two would reach her! And then they had teamed up with that stupid bucket of bolts and she knew for sure they'd make it, by then it was too late.

Suddenly light spilled over her, and she yelped as she realized the service panel had been yanked off. She was fumbling with her gun when Strae's hands reached forward, grabbing her wrists and pulling her out, Ven was laying face first on the floor, with a blaster to the back of her skull. She immediately began to chant in Twi'lek language, “God, I know I've done a lot of bad things with my life, but I really don't want to die, not here, not today! Come on, oh merciful one!”

Strae replied in Twi'lek as well, leaning forward, “Well, if you really want to address me as God, that's fine by me. But really, mercy seems a little unfitting for you.”

Ven tried struggling, but only got her face slammed into the floor, “Cut that out.” She shot at her in Basic, “Get up, and get on that computer.”

Ven did as she was told, standing, unarmed, and heading toward one of the computers, “What do you want me to do?”

“Start be locking the front doors where the mercenaries are; if they want to come and get us, it'll take a while. Then I want you to unlock emergency exits, so we can get to the ground floor and take one of the side routes out of here.”

“What? No valiant rescue of the patrons of this hotel?”

“Quiet.” Strae said, “Don't speak unless you have something useful to say. Else I'll just cut off your tongue.” She turned to Grizzelda, “You two can get to work on deleting all evidence of our stay.”


( Due to circumstance, RP will not be completed. DX Instead, we are closing the RP; Strae, Zarene, Grizz, the Salesman, all escaped the building, Strae with Ven Alstra in tow. They contacted local authorities, which dealt with the hostage situation in. All parties free'd up their ships and went their separate ways, Strae dropping off Grizzelda to her next adventure, Strae captured Ven Alstra and offered and ultimatem, in the end, Ven Alstra decided to Join Strae's crew..... )