<@315438760428961793> <@1056685516441006091>
Having only narrowly evaded the mysterious force user, Lektra Kendis made a mad dash for home. The Firrerreo hadn’t encountered one since she fought Sebastian, and before that, it was… back then. Back before she ended up on Selen, a time she fought hard to forget. She shook the encroaching memories from her mind as she focused on landing upon the rickety fire escape attached to the side of her building. Before, she would never have done something so brazen, but her desire to protect her identity had begun to fade the moment she lost Sebastian.
The maneuver through the unlocked window had become a seamless habit that she had developed, sliding it open and slipping through to her previously shared space. The whole apartment was a mess, her clothes and belongings scattered about, with a sink full of dishes, and a trash full of take-out containers. If she had the time to cringe, she would’ve, but there wasn’t a second to spare. She hurriedly stripped out of her armor, stuffing it into a case that she hid in a secret drawer under her vacant wardrobe before searching through the discarded garments on the ground. Without time to spare, she picked up a baggy hoodie, one of Sebastian’s, and some simple pants before sliding into her boots. Lektra assumed she’d be safe in civilian garb, but decided to still bring a bag with her bow and quiver in case she was found. It was the last thing she did before leaving her apartment once again and beginning her journey to the only woman she thought could help her, all the way in Estle City.
—
Public transportation, the bane of Lektra’s existence. It always seemed as if the buses, trains, and shuttles she rode on were late to their destination, especially when time was of the essence. She spent hours waiting among groups of strangers, people who could be the force user out of their armor, people who could be threats. She much preferred the peace and solitude of her speeder bike, but it wouldn’t have been fast enough.
The hours of suffering finally came to an end as the vigilante was dropped off in front of a rather boring-looking building, lit only by streetlights and the moon. It was something she had never paid mind to before now. Suddenly, she understood. It was a perfect place to lay low.
Her first stop was her mother’s office. If anyone would know how to help, it would be her. She was the one who had told her to never exchange blows with a force user, after all.
The young woman made her way inside and entered a turbolift, heading up to what she remembered to be the correct floor. She had called Ellisyn on her way to Estle to tell her the bare minimum of what was going on, her tone having done most of the explaining. She exited the lift and calmly but swiftly walked to the lawyer’s office, where she keyed in the passcode to open the door leading to what seemed to be a dark, empty space. Frack. Her mother hadn’t arrived yet. Lektra pondered simply waiting on her own, but given the circumstances, she thought it might be better to have at least some company. So, the young Firrerreo made her way back to the lifts and found herself descending a few flights before exiting once again. A few quick strides had her standing in front of the suddenly intimidating door of one Jin Pricilla. Without time to spare, she knocked on the door and hoped the man might be up.
Perhaps against his better judgement, he had chosen to be at least a partner. ‘Boyfriend’ would be too regal for him. An earlier version of himself would have been disappointed with how things had turned out with him and Ellisyn. However, he couldn’t be happier. Of course, he was still his tempered and even self, seemingly mostly unbothered by the fact that his feelings for her had reached new heights. In recent developments, he met the adult version of Lektra who had been hurt by some street thug. He wasn’t the girl’s father nor would claim to be, but if he ever met the man that did that to her, he promised himself he would make sure the kid was hurt.
An urgent knock on the door pulled the studious Jin Priscilla away from his reading. There were still a few unsolved cases under his supervision that needed work so sleep would be a luxury he could catch up on later. Since he wasn’t expecting company, he thought it wise to put something on to cover his muscled physique. After acquiring an oversized hoodie, he went to the door and opened it. To his surprise, it was Lektra.
“Lektra?” He greeted, both brows lifted in surprise. After studying the behavior of sentients for so long, he knew she didn’t really ‘vibe’ with him. That was fine with him. He was old enough and wise enough to know he couldn’t befriend everyone. “Is everything okay?”
Lektra wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to approach Jin for safety in that moment but she took what she could get.
“Let’s go inside,” she said abruptly and sternly. There was no time for pleasantries it seemed.
Jin’s jaw clicked shut as he sensed something more was going on with the young woman and stepped out of the way to let her in. Once the door was locked and both were inside, he finally asked, “What’s going on, Lektra? Is Ellisyn okay?”
The detective soon began to search for signs of injury or other indicators of distress on Lektra, worry begining to creep its way onto his features.
Lektra made her way to the man’s desk and hopped atop it, her bag fitting snugly on her lap. From the outside she looked completely fine, but as they both knew, looks aren’t everything.
“She’s fine, I think. We were supposed to meet at her office but she isn’t there. I thought she might be here so I came looking.”
Distant chanting sounds.
Jin let out a sigh of relief, glad nothing happened to Elly and Lektra seemed to, at least, be safe from bodily harm.
“She’s not here, no. But what’s going on?” He repeated the question as he stepped behind his desk in search of his comm.
“too much to explain twice. Do you have any weapons? I don’t think I was followed but he found me once.”
Jin paused his initial search to start another one. One that was a lot faster. He retrieved his DT-12 blaster and turned off the safety.
Lektra wasn’t his kid and he wasn’t trying to take the place of a father in her life but he felt a sense of responsibility for her.
“I need more than that, Lektra. Who the kriff is ‘he’?” Jin was waiting for an excuse to air out the thug that hurt her.
The shorter woman took a deep breath, her hands finding their way into her bag to get a hold of one of the few things that comforted her.
“It was a normal night up until some guys from Mom’s old hunting grounds showed up. Everything with going perfectly, I was about to get a guy to talk, when a force user showed up. Her was heavily armored and stopped my arrow mid flight.”
Jin listened to her words and paused his movements. “Mid flight?” Paranoia successfully made its home in his inner being. He swiftly made sure both locks on the door were secure and drifted to his window to peek through the blinds. “How did you know he didn’t follow you here?”
“I don’t,” Lektra said, finally pulling her bow out of her bag and slinging her quiver over her shoulder. “It’s why I brought this. He can’t block blaster bolts and arrows. At least I hope he can’t. Mom and grandma… well, my other mom and grandma. They never let me fight force users.”
Jin had run into a few force users in his time and, to be frank, he wasn’t a fan.
“Huh. Well let’s hope he didn’t follow you,” he mumbled, his eyes scanning the street below. Elly would have his head if anything happened to her baby girl under his supervision.
Elsewhere
Bril watched in tense silence as the armor-clad woman became smaller and smaller in his visual field, speeding away using the powerful thrusters of her jetpack. Although he likely could have caught up with her by boosting his speed with the Force, he knew he needn’t exert himself when he had a much more effective means of pursuing her. Shifting his gaze to his right to the single arrow the masked vigilante had fired at him earlier.
“This’ll do nicely,” he said to himself while stepping over to it with heavy, armored footfalls.
Plucking the arrow from the ground and gripping the metal shaft tightly between his index finger and thumb, he closed his eyes to concentrate on it. Like a tidal wave, feelings of adrenaline, of righteous anger, and no small amount of hatred swelled from the arrow’s dormant mind and crashed into his own; moreover, it hummed in the Force with the same tone unique to the woman who’d fired it. And that’s what he’d used to find her. Like a deep space beacon lighting the way for wayward travelers, the woman’s unique Force signature lit the way for him.
—
A few minutes later, when Lektra and Jin were discussing the details of her recent encounter with the young Starosta, the sound of creaking metal interrupted them – the first sign that something was amiss. Before either of them could move to investigate it, though, that subtle creaking grew into the terrible clamor of the door being ripped from its hinges by the force of Bril’s telekinetic push. The door slammed on the ground, revealing the armor-clad shadesworn to step through the office’s broken doorway. He said nothing, at first, merely staring at the two of them through the eye slits of his mask.
<@315438760428961793> <@301514304845381632>
Before Lektra spoke another word, Jin’s demeanor shifted, lifting a finger to hush her. He thought he heard a creak outside but was met only with pure silence.
Heart now pounding in his ear he was reminded of his time in special forces, the unyielding churning in his gut to notify him that something was terribly off.
Jin slowly turned toward his door and lifted his blaster to aim. By the time his forearms made it past his waist, it was too late— his door was clamoring to the ground and a stranger was standing in its frame.
“Who the frak are you?!” Jin shouted, instinctively putting himself between the creep an and Lektra. He was angry and ready to put this motherfrakker six feet under. Of course, someone who just ripped through his door like it was paper wasn’t about to be taken down with a few blaster bolts. That didn’t mean he couldn’t try.
“ANSWER ME!” His shout was laced with a growl as he to made himself as intimidating as possible.
Jin’s sudden shift prompted the young Firrerreo to grip her bow just a bit tighter. Her seat at the desk gave her a clear view of the door that separated the pair from the rest of the building. As quick as she could, she slipped off the desk, positioning herself to draw and fire at the doorway as her not-stepdad was planning.
Lektra’s heart stuttered as the door suddenly ripped off its hinges with an inhuman force, revealing the man who had haunted her previously. She tried to sidestep past the man to get a view of the door, but he positioned himself directly in the way, blocking her from getting a clear shot.
Bril remained quiet for a long moment while he took in his surroundings. Only two other flames burned within the Force here: the pair standing before him. Try as he might to sound intimidating, the man’s words failed to elicit more than a sidelong glance from him. He took a step forward, utterly unperturbed by the blaster pointed at him. When he finally did speak, his voice came through the voice modulator built into his helmet in a deep, rumbling way.
“Normally, I wouldn’t barge in like this unannounced, but I count pursuing a fugitive as extenuating circumstances.”
His eyes shifted to the woman gripping her bow in a vice. “She was going to murder someone in cold blood had I not intervened. Then, she attacked me and fled. Three offenses,” he held up three fingers to emphasize his point, providing a glimpse of a ring worn on his third finger. “If you turn her over, I’ll be on my way. If not, well, then I guess you’ll be joining her in a containment cell.”