Log:Gearhead Grindup II
Continued from Log:Gearhead Grindup I: Hadrix and Sumi paint the Rancor Ultraviolence red. Lira'una prevents a mass-scale gang-war from breaking out in response to the explosion of the bar and ongoing hostilities. Yxuara keeps their target, Tamara Chrys, occupied during the mayhem and almost scams her out of the scrapping rights to her bar through sheer cunning. The contract is completed.
Gearhead Grindup II
OOC Date: October 5, 2023
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Lira'una, Yxuara, Sumi Kora, Hadrix Kora, Zypha (GM)
The "Rancor Ultraviolence" bar is in ruins. Smoke rises from the still-settling rubble of its outer facade as a fire rages. Confusion and disorder reign as the chaos in Gearhead comes to a head. Most of the patrons are either dead, dying, or wounded, their senses addled with spice and other maddening stims.
Eyes peer out of nearby tenements to look down at the scene in complete shock. There are no law enforcement agents to demand peace. No militias to manage the issue. Distant neon lights on towering structures cast their burning judgment down on these dirty streets, glistening from the remnants of polluted rain.
[ Zypha (Zyp) | 20:02:53 ]
Chaos. A mind trick that should've prevented catastrophe. A bright flash of light that enveloped the Rancor Ultraviolence's facade in spite of the Yazudai abandoning their goals, hands off the detonators. Sumi's quarry just a breath's away before it all came crashing down. The chiss willing to point the finger now a bloodied crumple beneath a reinforced beam.
Surrounded by panicked stimgangers, Sumi finds herself in a target-rich environment. Blasters already drawn. Twitchy fingers setting off shots, spice-fueled delusions reining supreme. Shouts of betrayal from within and out. She's bought time by her intimidating presence: thirty heartbeats, before those blasters find themselves aimed at her.
Terrified, bloodied, and almost-psychotic gangers with their Krayt skulls manage to stumble out from the bar itself. Dazed from adrenaline and trauma, most bearing burns, their wide eyes look for external threats. And it's when their eyes land on the swoopbikes and the two rival gang members at Lira'una and Hadrix's side, they might find someone to blame. All but frothing at the bit, too steered by adrenaline to make the snap judgment to open fire immediately.
The air thick with un-ventilated smoke, Yxuara stares down a Twi'lek who'd just slunk her form into the tight confines of the metal prison. Quick breaths draw from the green woman, shocked into hesitating before the Squib. A snag in her plan. That wild look in her eye unmistakable: animalistic. One hand on a makeshift detonator, the other too far from her blaster to try and end this 'complication' named Yxuara.
[ Sumi Kora (Sumi) | 20:11:33 ]
The explosion was enough to remove any hope of hearing. Even with the protection from her helm, Sumi's perception of the event was visual and physical alone. The explosion felt like a sudden gust of wind, and her head suddenly had a deeply rooted headache from the concussion from the blast. The kinetic energy was enough to send her forward several steps, her cape bending to her frame to blow ahead of her, briefly, then settle as fire, dust, and debris knocked everyone around her down.
In those moments after, the calm before the storm, shadows rose back up from the rubble, weapons in hand. Chaos was manifesting. Sumi's eyes half-mooned as she savored the sudden rush of adrenaline. Being a century old made her numb; numb to but a few things, and one of those /things/ was this.
Unable to hear herself, Sumi just screamed into her helm and over comms. <<"DREK JUST GOT REAL IN HERE! TARGET MAY BE FLEEING, I HAVE NO VISUAL. ENGAGING HOSTILES TO DISTRACT THEM. LOOK FOR THE ONES FLEEING!">>
Sumi cast back her cape and drew a revolver from her side, her thumb angling back the hammer of the single-action death cannon. The moment her HUD system identified her weapon signature clear of leather, it changed from blue to red, and began to identify everyone in the vicinity as a hostile target.
One objective appeared briefly before her gaze, and it read: 'Objective: Survive.'
Sumi took aim, and fired.
[+Prove] Sumi Kora shows the room her Quickdraw feat.
Sumi Kora quickly unholsters her Modified "Enforcer" 48 - Lioness's Roar, the ballistic pistol's safety being switched off in one smooth motion.
[»ATTACK« ( -2)] Sumi Kora's Roar .48 misses Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650).
[»ATTACK« ( -22)] Sumi Kora's Roar .48 misses Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). (110 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( -23)] Sumi Kora's Roar .48 misses Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). (120 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( +42)] *Hadrix Kora's Beskad hits Bloodthirsty Swoopthugs (External) (24868). <33 WP/33 SP>
[»ATTACK« (+104)] *Hadrix Kora's Beskad hits Bloodthirsty Swoopthugs (External) (24868). <45 WP/45 SP> (110 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( -19)] Hadrix Kora's UR-G8 Pistol misses Bloodthirsty Swoopthugs (External) (24868). (130 Difficulty)
[PASS ( +27)] Hadrix Kora's Strength @ (150) diff.
[FAIL ( -3)] Hadrix Kora's Strength @ (200) diff.
[PASS ( +27)] Hadrix Kora's Strength @ (250) diff.
[ Hadrix Kora (Had) | 20:35:50 ]
A child of war, trained in conditions that were meant to weed out the week, the explosion, the flames and rubble cause him to duck instinctively, left arm raised and curling to add further protection to his face and neck in addition to helm and gorget while he instinctively leans into the blastwave that rattles bones both his original and duranium replacements from bygone wounds.
'THREE-OH-ONE! STOP LAGGING!'
Voices from the past.
<<"Copy.">> said on reflex to Sumi's bellowing, knowing she likely can't hear him, stumbling some as a hunk of masonry bounces off his shoulder and one of the gangers tries to get in his way.
'SLOPPY! THREE-OH-ONE!'
Blade flashing diagonal cuts spill blood and guts that send the former owner falling to their knees before Hadrix's boot takes the dying body in the face and rides down the arc of its fall before spraying bone of viscera from beneath the hob nailed sole. Anger rising, the elation of being in the mix of it all... Eyes scanned his surroundings, his HUD, looking for the target Sumi said might be making its getaway.
[PASS ( +79)] Lira'una's Danger Sense @ (100) diff.
[PASS ( +47)] Lira'una's Diplomacy @ (100) diff.
[ Lira'una (Lira) | 20:48:14 ]
"Thank you," the little lavender Twi'lek says the 'Yazudai' gang leader when he tells his men with their detonators to stand down -- even if she didn't actually know that's what they were called. "Your people will thank-- GET DOWN!"
The words are out of her mouth a full second before the explosion, probably making absolutely no sense for that single heartbeat. Lira was already crouching to the ground, pulling her robe up to shield her face both from the explosion and from the inevitable debris, but it wasn't enough time to do anything for anyone else.
- BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Three explosions from the building just in front of them, all from the detonators that had /just/ been abandoned. Lira was blown over by the force of the blast, sprawling a bit on the duracrete. Smoke poured out of giant holes while chunks of building rained down around them.
But how?! She'd stopped it!! Life had been preserved! Life was /supposed/ to have been preserved!
But it hadn't been. She'd felt the lives suddenly snuffed through the Force like cold apparitions passing through her. Even as Lira rose again to face the carnage of the building, brushing off her robe, she saw the places where those gangers had stood only second before now smoldering as scorch marks, the new holes in the building being filled by the frenzied faces of blaster-wielding thugs looking for someone to blame.
This wasn't about to become a gang war -- this /was/ a gang war. While Sumi was fighting one faction inside, Hadrix was fighting another /outside/.
And boy was Hadrix cutting through them.
And it got worse.
It got so much worse.
As blaster fire erupted inside the building, causing flashes that looked like sparks of electricity on the crumbling building walls, and Hadrix slashed his way through the remnants of swoop gang (the ones that hadn't been instantly vaporized), Lira just... stood there, sort of in the middle of it all, her lekku curling at their tips.
It came to her as a little shudder... a tremor felt through an unseen Force that rippled around her like ripples on a pond, stones thrown here and there, the ripples meeting and interfering with each other, causing new patterns...
Backup. More swoop-gangers. Already riding their way. Close.
<< "Backup from the swoop gang that showed up is almost here. I'll try to head them off." >>
Her youthful soprano is calm. Calmer than even she expected it to be.
And with that, she strode in the direction that the reinforcements were to arrive from, already waving them down ahead of their arrival -- no weapon in her hand. Just a diminutive purple Twi'lek in a robe two-sizes too big.
"Don't go in there!" she yells to all of them when they arrive, her voice pleading. "Your friends didn't start this! They were leaving! Neither did the Kjaari! This was an accident!" At least, as far as Lira could tell, it was... no one had had a hand on the detonators. "This wasn't an act of war! You don't have to fight each other!"
[ Yxuara (yus) | 20:55:41 ]
Yxuara is bathed in heat and outlined in yellow light as he is tossed around in the air duct, falling to the floor as a cloud of hot dust shoots up from below. It is through three factors that he remains living though: 1) The fancy suit of armor he was so generously provided with. 2) The doors being open in the bar give another path for most of the blast to leave --and most importantly 3) The person who set the bomb intended this air duct to remain undamaged for use as an escape tunnel.
He grimaces a bit as the foul-tasting concoction permeates his fur, quickly looking up at the Twi'lek as she climbs up beside him. His eyes are watering slits and he raises his hands to wipe his fur down around his eyes. It only takes a split second to compose oneself and he presents her with his second-best smile. Bargain first, blame later. He turns the noises in his ear down to provide a bit of confidentiality.
"Tamara Chrys, I presume? Lets get that out of the way--it would be embarrassing to be dealing with someone without total authority." The Squib's piping voice is efficient as he makes way for her to advance along the ductway, "I'm Yxuara, authorized insurance agent. We'd like to purchase the exclusive salvage rights to your bar." A slow move and Yxuara's datapad is thrust out, the screen glowing brightly in the swirling dust with an ...already written contract just awaiting her thumbprint as he moves to swap the now useless detonator in her hand with the datapad. "I'll get your luggage ready while you read--your transportation is waiting."
[PASS ( +32)] Yxuara's Diplomacy @ (80) diff.
[ Zypha (Zyp) | 21:06:48 ]
Sumi's shots go wide. The cacophony and rise in screams, the tangle of bodies, both bystander and
tango, pure visual noise against the ruined backdrop. The shots spark against walls, an electrical
fire started when a terminal takes a direct hit to the databank. They've gone feral, scrambling for
escape, beating down patrons, getting in the way of themselves and escape. Eyes pull to her,
gleaming in the burning dimness of it all: those thirty heartbeats are up.
There's enough time for a few more squeezes of the trigger before they open fire. Knocking over tables and not even bothering to aim down sights at Sumi. They're wired, they're crazed, and it's that deathly confidence that instills them with the spark of retribution. It's shoot or be shot: whoever is left by the end of those precious seconds will return her volley with bolts of their own.
Devastation is left in Hadrix's way. His eyes catch the glimmer of shots being fired from within the bar, another fire starting. Gangers flipping tables over as makeshift cover. They were not expecting someone coming through that doorframe, not with the flames, not without a prolonged shootout.
It was uncanny, Lira'una's timing. The squeal of swoopbikes were upon the street, boots hitting the ground, and she was already faced with one of the lieutenants, bearing the Yazudai symbol branded onto the side of his face. The Shistavenan had a wild look to his eyes. Just looking at the carnage, he already looks *far* too tired for this.
The Shistavenan looks off to the side, to the dozen-or-so rag-wrapped goons that followed him. Pinching the bridge of his nose, "I don't know who you are." He states simply, "Someone has to answer for this." And though he says that... The looks on the goons behind him are almost priceless. Their eyes wide. Flesh sallow. The rivers of blood Hadrix left behind catch the light of the bar's inferno, "You obviously saw this. *Who*, if not the Kjaari, are responsible?"
Further damage control would need to be applied. The lieutenant's arms were already crossed.
"Good." Tamara's lips eased into a flat, neutral, expression, "The witnesses are being taken care of." The information is elected to Yxuara, reaching for the bug-out-bag and getting herself ready for 'extraction', "We need to leave. Now. Get me to a ship." Her hand moves to bat the datapad away. Believing the lie, but nothing more.
[»ATTACK« ( +74)] *Sumi Kora's Stun Baton hits Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). <60 WP/98 SP>
[»ATTACK« ( +97)] *Sumi Kora's Stun Baton hits Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). <70 WP/115 SP> (120 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( +5)] *Sumi Kora's Stun Baton hits Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). <35 WP/57 SP> (140 Difficulty)
[ Sumi Kora (Sumi) | 21:15:48 ]
Observing that her aim was influenced by the explosion, Sumi smartly holstered the handcannon before she did more damage than good with it. In its place, a sickly sharp, serrated mace coursing with electrical current was produced at the sound of a loud snap. The first indication of its presence on the battlefield is when an opponent is jettisoned back from Sumi after sustaining a single blow to the leg. The way they land afterward yields a death.
Another is struck in the chest, this time they're knocked /right/ /down/ to the ground with a sickening crack. Sumi felt their chest cave in when one of the serrated edges embedded at the sternum and split their ribcage. With it lodged in place, she props a boot on their carrion and wrenches it free, only to accidentally hit another passerby in their leg, flipping them sideways.
The electrical current left them convulsing on the ground, the sight enough to make Sumi stop what she was doing to laugh. -- Laugh hard. --
<"HHAAAAAAAAAAAAA hahahaha!">
[»ATTACK« ( -22)] Hadrix Kora's UR-G8 Pistol misses Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650).
[»ATTACK« ( +4)] Hadrix Kora's UR-G8 Pistol hits Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). <50 WP/23 SP> (110 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( +73)] *Hadrix Kora's Beskad hits Frenzied Stimgangers (Internal) (4650). <38 WP/38 SP> (120 Difficulty)
[ Hadrix Kora (Had) | 21:24:49 ]
Blaster bolts cutting through the smoke that wreathes him in the doorway cast his silhouette in crimson, sparks rise from the midnight purple plates pf his armor where iridescence crawls in the wake of the heat and light across their surfaces. A dark form with a single eye of Balor in the right branch of his t-visor.
Left hand raising, tracking to the first to come under his gaze, a shooting star is born from the pistol in his fist, the wookiee weapon's cylinder rotating another solid durasteel bolt into place before the first has finished crossing the distance, screaming past the shoulder of one of the Stimgangers to strike a far wall in a shower of plasma and sparks, with a crater left in its wake.
A liquid sound from the man's vocalizer rumbling out, distorted, a growl from the man as his hand drops and another magnetically propelled bolt sheathed in blue plasma is launched. Striking another target in the thigh, kicking their leg backwards and sending them toppling forward. Sumi is looked to, checking her status, even as he turns, blade point striking the floor, pinning the man falling in place, sliding down the blade that raced him to strike the ground.
A twitch of his shoulder and a tick of his head given when Alor'Kora's passive surveillance falls in his direction - indicating his intention to cover where her back faces.
[PASS ( +29)] Lira'una's Diplomacy @ (100) diff.
[ Lira'una (Lira) | 21:31:27 ]
There were no lies that Lira could tell to cover up the sounds of the blaster fire inside the ruined structure of the bar, the flicker of the flames starting to lick at the walls, or the screams. If any one of them had a picture of hell in their mind, that building might be something close to it, as viewed from the outside.
"It's all a misunderstanding! I was standing right there when it happened! Your people -- the ones with your sigil..." She motions slightly to them. "They were leaving peacefully, but the bombs went off anyway!" The slender Twi'lek pleads, her hands open in front of her. "After that its been absolute chaos. Can't you hear them inside?! They're dying! Everyone is turning on each other! Go back, please... I have to help the injured. Don't add to them. I beg you."
And though it's obvious that she wants to turn, to leave them, to run back to help the injured souls that are fleeing from the burning, chaotic structure, she waits... at least long enough to make sure her words have taken hold.
[ Yxuara (yus) | 21:46:50 ]
Yxuara's smile is not quite so easy as he accepts the datapad back. He's still living and that's a win in his book, but this is a rather uncouth customer. While he's in a dangerous position, the Squib knows how to wait for the right time.
While her back is turned to grab the go-bag, Yxuara slips Tamara's detonator next to the one already laying in his pack. He had planned on blowing the place up in the first place--why else would he have that document all prepared?
The blaster fire down below is continuous and that gives him an idea, at least. "I am certain that some of the people down below won't be riding their machines home this evening." There must be plenty of vehicles outside to choose from, he hurries out along the duct to the outside end, tapping out 'TC request extraction vehicle to side of bar.' To the rest of the team.
"How about--just a quick thumbprint here and I'll go stand outside the duct and distract any fire to my location?" he suggests.
[FAIL ( -2)] Yxuara's Bluff @ (80) diff.
[ Zypha (Zyp) | 21:57:55 ]
"Whatever is happening there," The Shistavanen looks to the absolute carnage, the screaming waning into a closer silence, "Is *not* worth whoever we lost." Raising his offhand, the lieutenant signals for the goons to step back. Most of them looked ready to break rank and run anyway, "Make yourself scarce. We're hunting the Kjaari after this. Don't matter how many you save."
What could have been an ever-increasing cycle of violence... Is simply broken by Lira'una's logic. There was no point in adding to the meat grinder. The surviving saboteurs, the guards, close ranks quickly and within moments... Lira'una is left to her task. No one else is coming to help. She's on her own, aside from her cadre.
Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Slumped over cover, covered in blaster-holes, completely and utterly destroyed. Beaten and blasted. By the time the bloodlust abates and sense comes forth... There are more dead, then there are dying. Those that are dying, unlikely to be saved.
Time was of the essence. Tamara put her thumb wherever the squib motioned before... Her eyes look at the squib. Really look at him. Her eyes slightly widen, "There's no frakkin' time you womprat!" Shoving him aside, the twi'lek begins to realize the sinking ship that's become her plan. She clambers forward into the vent, nails all but clawing against the metal.
She will try to exit where Yxuara entered, at the access port on the side of the building.
[ Sumi Kora (Sumi) | 22:07:53 ]
One of the gangmembers crawling out the entrance (exit?) thought they might escape the wrath of the two Mandalorians fighting back-to-back. He looks to be home free, his facial expression one of hope as the cool air from outside the busted building graces his flesh. However, the heralded arrival of jingle and jangling spurred boots. One toe eases the fellow over to their back so they're looking up at the feline-eared Mandalorian staring down at him.
A pleading "WAIT.. PLEASE.. WAIT!" Followed, hands up to shield whatever fate was bestowed. The last noise he heard was akin to thunder cracking, a single .48 slug splitting their dome down the center. Smoke billowed from the end of the handcannon as Sumi locked back the hammer again and raised the weapon back up. A satisfied sigh has her shoulders rising and falling, and she says over her ringing tinnitus. <"I NEEDED THIS.">
She steps off the decedent and casually holsters her pistol to look for any other targets.
[PASS ( +46)] Hadrix Kora's Listen @ (150) diff.
[PASS ( +44)] Hadrix Kora's Run @ (100) diff.
[PASS ( +14)] Hadrix Kora's Strength @ (150) diff.
[»ATTACK« ( -59)] *Hadrix Kora's Metal Knuckles misses Tamara Chrys (Vents) (24696). (150 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( +41)] *Hadrix Kora's Metal Knuckles hits Tamara Chrys (Vents) (24696). <37 WP/37 SP> (160 Difficulty)
[»ATTACK« ( -7)] *Hadrix Kora's Metal Knuckles misses Tamara Chrys (Vents) (24696). (170 Difficulty)
[ Hadrix Kora (Had) | 22:20:40 ]
Helmet turning suddenly, a sound very much an animal's snort distorting over Hadrix's vocalizer when he hears the shouting and then the scrabbling in the vents. Turning suddenly as something breaks, a link in a carefully tended chain. He was here on a job, wetwork. For gangers, criminals. People who cause this sort of chaos as a matter of their day to day.
'Savages...'
Turning and beginning to stride where his ears pick up, the big man breaks into a sprint, loping across the room in heavy strides that break glassware, crush a hunk of fallen furniture and crack the bone of a limb caught beneath his weight as he charges. Leaning into his run, movements beginning to exaggerate with a sound rising from the vocalizer speakers of his helmet, dopplering for any caught near his passage before an explosion of duraboard and plaster clouds around him.
Arm driven to the shoulder into the wall, cutting off Tamara's crawling escape, widening her eyes as her gaze follows the iron clad limb that strikes again, punching through weakened material to catch her in the temple, driving her head against the opposite side of the vent to crack against the metal.
Fingers open, grab hold of whatever he can and Hadrix hauls back, forcing the woman's head through the gap left by his arm before her shoulders catch and his grip rips free. Leaving her cranium dangling limply, blood leaking. Stepping back, looking to regain his balance, the Boar-Wolf of Ealor roars again, fist crashing against his breastplate.
Triumph is triumph.
A man who advertises that he is one of the best at what he does.
[ Lira'una (Lira) | 22:27:36 ]
There was really only one minor fib in anything that Lira had said to the gang -- the part about helping the injured. She wanted to. It wasn't that she didn't want to. She just... didn't know how. She couldn't even stabilize a wound, much less attempt to heal it. She was a trained acrobat and dancer, not a combat medic.
"I intend to. Thank you."
Of course, those words likely fall on deaf ears. It was just a simple gesture to wrangle the goons and get them all headed on their way to.. wherever else they needed to be in this exact moment that wasn't here.
Lira lets out a soft sigh.
<< "The rival faction is leaving. I'll find a speeder to.. borrow.. for evac purposes." >>
Most of them were bikes. Surely some were larger cars, big enough for all of them, even if they did have one unruly prisoner in cuffs for the ride back. Because surely, given that Yxuara was calling for an evac, it meant that the mission was almost complete and the target was still alive! If she'd made it this far, after all of the explosions and blaster fire, surely it wouldn't be that hard simply to keep her alive and find some proper authorities to turn her over to.
After all, the bounty had specified that they didn't even need evidence that she'd been killed! They'd be sufficiently pleased if she just wasn't around, anymore, and there were plenty of prisons that wanted notorious gang leaders.
Yes, if Tamara had made it this far, it would take a truly exceptional amount of brutish overkill to harm her, at this point.
So, Lira was confident that she'd need to find a speeder to 'borrow' with five seats for five living individuals... and hopefully one with the keys still in it, given that she didn't know how to hot- wire it.
[ Yxuara (yus) | 22:30:03 ]
"No need to be disrespectful," the Squib pipes as he falls back, his helmet clunking against the metalwork with a 'bong!' as he slides against the side of the duct, keeping the datapad safe. Getting back up on his feet, he watches with amazement as Tamara tries to claw her way up the ducts past him and out of the building. Her added height certainly makes movement in here difficult, doesn't it?
"Your share of the proceeds will be delivered by dead drop once you can establish your identity sufficiently," he says helpfully lingering on the dead portion of that statement only a fraction, "whenever you choose to do so." The duct wall tearing itself apart silences his voice, Yxuara retreating from whatever monster that was and going to hide under the sleeping bag!
[ Zypha (Zyp) | 22:39:50 ]
And with one fell action, the Tamara dream was over. A storied history of trafficking, drugs, and
murder, finally bookended with violence. The body, surprisingly fragile given the trouble that she'd
put the others through, was little more than a footnote on a lawless district.
Lira'una would be able to find a speeder that had been abandoned during the conflict. Something cobbled together, enough for a one-way trip somewhere more civilized. The Yazudai wouldn't find a need to hunt anything: her intervention deterring the group, the bloodshed leaving nothing behind.
The fire would eventually be contained, the bar itself a mere memory in the coming days.
Yxuara had enough evidence to make the contract resolve smoothly with the locals. Zypha not even needing to apply elbow-grease to ensure proper payout to the mercs. For a time, even though it was laced with the carnage of ultraviolence, this part of Gearhead could at least breathe a sigh of temporary relief.
