Skyside 5

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Kirk laughs. "If he's got an issue, just point him to me. I'm sure I can talk him down." At least he hopes so. What's the point of being in this position of authority if he can't make some calls like this anyway?

Now, they've reached their destination and there's a bit of a snag... Thinking quickly, Kirk brings the card to a screeching halt in the entrance to the lot outside the elevator, blocking it with the car. "She wants this car back that badly, eh? Sounds like perfect cover." He grabs his gun and steps out of the vehicle. At which point he takes up position behind it and waits for their pursuers to catch up. It seems likely that'll happen before the elevator arrives.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

"Persistent, aren't they?" Electra comments, as she steps out of the car. This time, she's not going to try anything stealthy; she stands so that her head and shoulders are above the car, and she has a clear view of the highway, so that she can see their pursuers approach. She has another little surprise in store for them when they get close...

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

The cars stop a good distance away from them and their occupants get out. Its difficult to see what they're doing back there but it appears like they're opening the trunk of one of the cars.
Nothing much happens, but it seems like they want to try to stay out of range of Electra's weapons for now.

Meanwhile, the twi'lek guard at the tool station in front of the elevator gives them a tired look before taking cover in his little booth. He appears used to these sort of things.
The elevator now reaches the top and the first car in line starts getting in. It seems only one car can get in at the time though, and considering the line, it will take a while before they can get into the elevator.

Anika returns to her humanoid form once Electra gets out of the car and looks around. "We should cut in line, or this will take forever."

[Recaiden]

"But I haven't awoken an object's spirit yet." Which is her other ability. Grandmother covers her mouth and moves next to Rahilda, whispering into her ear. "I can't leave. Not like this." I don't believe she's been given any new clothing, meaning she's still clad in furs and a bikini. "I... Think I'd like to stay. I feel safe here. I don't think I would somewhere else." She's a bit cautious, though. Not entirely reassured by the 'definitely not an execution'.

"We'd prefer you didn't leave awaken any permanent fixtures of the place, though you aren't forbidden from using your power."
Nai waves a hand dismissively. "Not like...what, girl? You can stay; with your abilities, it won't be hard to find work for you to do. But let's get that collar off, right?"

[Earl of Purple]

Noble Estate

"Um, not wearing so little clothing." Though the harpies don't mind. She smiles wide when told it's time for the collar to come off, and moves into a position where Nai can take it off easily. Grandmother is also looking forward to seeing Rahilda's collar come off. She's glad her granddaughter isn't staying a slave, though that would probably make acquiring great-grandchildren easier.

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Kirk looks back at the line, and then at Kabal. "Yeah, you're right. Here. Just point and squeeze the trigger if they get any closer. Help Electra keep them back. There's no recoil, so it should be pretty easy." Kirk holds up the gun as if he were to shoot, as a demonstration, and then offers the gun to Anika.

If she takes it, he starts walking toward the line of vehicles. "Get ready to jump in and drive to me." He says, looking Electra. Then he starts moving down the line of vehicles until he can find the furthest up point that the car will be able to reach driving next to the line. He'll rap his knuckles on the window of the vehicle in line at that spot.

[Recaiden]

Nai steps over to Rahilda and the collar clicks open at her touch. She seems casual, but is watching very carefully for the freed girl or her grandmother to try anything.
"Right. Follow me to the Olive Tower, we'll get you a uniform."
It's true. The jumpsuit covers much more than a slave-girl bikini outfit.

"I think after you get settled in, we'll want you to look for all the ghosts hanging around."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

Electra watches the group and nods quietly at Kirk, not taking her eyes off of the pursuers, using her optics' zoom function to get a better view of what they're setting up. She doesn't like the look of it, but they haven't started doing anything overtly hostile yet, and firing on them is likely to panic the civilians at the station, which could be either good or bad for her little group, depending on how things play out. Observation seems to be the name of the game, at least, for the moment.

[Earl of Purple]

Noble Estate

Neither Rahilda nor her grandmother try anything the instant Rahilda's collar is removed, and follow along behind Nai obediently.

Rahilda looks around, to try and see the ghosts Nai thinks are present. "I haven't seen any here. But there's a few I'm planning on summoning, to teach myself some skills for the future. I'll banish them when I'm not training, so they won't bother anyone." Although she might bind one or two to her quarters, to discourage intruders- or at least warn her if anybody's been looking around.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

Anika accepts the gun hesitantly, pretty sure she could just blast the goons with some moonfires instead if they became a problem. "...right."
She holds the gun in one hand and her staff in the other as she looks at the KABAL cars. Just what was Electra seeing? She sure couldn't see much from here besides that the people there appeared to be working on something. "Seeing anything?"

Electra can see things in more detail thanks to her zoom though. It seems like they're priming some sort of large drone. A flying one to be specific, equipped with several weapons.

Kirk, meanwhile, finds himself face to face with a large insectoid akin to a praying mantis staring back at him. Next to it sits a woman with yellow skin and black dots all over her body. She is holding what appears to be a laser baster aimed right at him. "Yes?" She asks calmly, as if the blaster she was holding wasn't even there. "Be quick about it."

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Kirk eyes the gun and then smiles pleasantly at the man. "First of all, you're gonna put that gun away or I'm going to cut that hand right off." He says, like they're just having a pleasant chat. "Then you're going to stop your car for a sec while my friends and I pull in front of you." Perfectly reasonable.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

A small smile plays at the corners of Electra's mouth.

"They're priming a drone," Electra says quietly, in a tone of voice one might use if they were watching a kitten attacking a ball of yarn. Clearly, she finds it amusing rather than threatening, almost quaint. "That's not going to go well for them."

[Recaiden]

"Good. We would be disappointed if you didn't practice."
The Olive Tower, on the lower levels, is more of a dormitory than a prison. There are windows looking out on the courtyard, things lock from the inside if they lock at all, everything is cozy. It's old, built many decades ago and refurbished but never renovated: the flag stones are worn and the well-smoothed paneling creaks. It's also significantly more haunted. Several people are accompanied by the ghosts of their ancestors as Rahilda is, there's an elven spirit who looks very regal despite missing his face, a spectral displacer beast prowls the halls.
Nai has switched off her ghost-observing goggles, though, and pays them no attention.
In her new room Rahilda will find eight sets of clothing, one pair of shoes, and a bag of toiletries and other miscellaneous items.

Nai is rattling off a list of mundane facts about living here: mealtimes are then, paid weekly, don't go in the central tower, listen to the guards...

[Earl of Purple]

Noble Estate

Rahilda will greet any ghosts that look at her, and doesn't flinch at any of them- even the faceless elf-lord. The displacer beast is the only one that attracts a second glance; she's not worked much with animal spirits, and isn't familiar with the creatures. One of the first ghosts Rahilda was taught to summon was violently murdered, selected both because they are relatively harmless and also to teach Rahilda not to flinch at a ghost that could be sensitive to its postmortem appearance. Grandmother totters along behind, looking and watching all the others. Grandma will hold a hand out for the displacer beast to sniff, expecting it to behave like an overgrown cat.

Rahilda listens intently, memorising everything she hears. When she arrives at her new room, she's quick to get changed, and doesn't display much modesty; she'll favour a dress if one is provided.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

"What's a 'drone'?" Anika asks with a raised eyebrow. "And why's that?"

The KABAL goons continue their preparations and soon Electra will see the drone taking off, shooting straight up into the air.

---

"****, a chase?" She appears to consider for a moment. She is pulling back her blaster, but still aims it at him. The insectoid besides her chitters something to her and she nods. "Fair. One hundred bucks and the place is yours."

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Not quite the reaction Kirk was expecting, he must admit. "You know what? Okay." Kirk pulls out his wallet and offers a pile of twenties. More people should ask for straightforward bribes.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

As soon as the drone begins making noise, even before it takes off, Electra's doing her best to entangle with the UAV's flight controller. Her irises glow slightly as she does her best to take over the drone's controls. She has other ways of dealing with it, if she can't take control of it, but this is probably the easiest, and the cleanest. They won't know anything other than that they're having technical difficulties, or possibly, bad luck. The need for focus, however, means she won't answer Anika's questions, at least, not right away.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

The insectoid takes the cash handed to them and the woman nods. "Pleasure doing business with 'ya, we'll be out of your hair in a moment." The insectoid pulls up the car window again, and soon the car starts moving, giving them space to move in.

---

Meanwhile, Electra can start hacking the drone remotely. It seems to work flawlessly, but once once she can start making it do things, the controller is suddenly boosting the signal to regain control.
She still gain a few seconds of control however. The drone is quite advanced with force shields and the ability to shoot laser beams and even rockets. She won't be able to fire off the rockets though, but she could try to shoot a few laser beams.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

Electra allows the drone to get perhaps 10-20 feet off the ground, before sending it a simple pair of commands: a violent roll intended to flip the craft upside down, followed by a command to go full throttle. The entire maneuver should only take a few short seconds with a high-performance drone, long enough for the window she's got. She's hoping that will be enough to send the craft hurtling back into the pursuers or one of their vehicles. If she's really lucky, perhaps one of its rockets will explode from the impact, though she's more aiming to disable the craft than to kill anyone.

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Perfect. Kirk puts his fingers between his lips and whistles sharply. "Let's move!" Before people get rowdy about the line not moving.

[Recaiden]

Noble Estate

Rahilda will greet any ghosts that look at her, and doesn't flinch at any of them- even the faceless elf-lord. The displacer beast is the only one that attracts a second glance; she's not worked much with animal spirits, and isn't familiar with the creatures. One of the first ghosts Rahilda was taught to summon was violently murdered, selected both because they are relatively harmless and also to teach Rahilda not to flinch at a ghost that could be sensitive to its postmortem appearance. Grandmother totters along behind, looking and watching all the others. Grandma will hold a hand out for the displacer beast to sniff, expecting it to behave like an overgrown cat.

Rahilda listens intently, memorising everything she hears. When she arrives at her new room, she's quick to get changed, and doesn't display much modesty; she'll favour a dress if one is provided.

The faceless lord is insulted that she'd dare to speak to him.
But the ancestor ghosts respond politely and whisper to their charges about her.
The displacer snarls and tries to swat Grandmother's hand away with its tentacles. It is not a tame cat.

The current gossip is about how that new slave Moontalon was killed, and the spread of the new drug Echo through the city.

Nai leaves the room to give Rahilda some privacy, but sadly no dresses are provided. Separate lower garments with sewn divisions for each leg.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

The drone turns upside down and then drops down like a stone.

"Damn it! Catch it!" She can hear someone shout and Electra will get a glance at some droids moving out the catch the falling drone.

Anika had no clue what Electra was on about but it sure seemed to work, looks like they needed her help after all. "I'll meet you below the base then, just go!" She then turns into a falcon and flies away.

Now they will be free to board the elevator.

[Earl of Purple]

Noble Estate

Of course he is; nobles are touchy. Especially elven ones.

Moontalon's dead? And they're a new slave? Sounds like it could be one of the harpies. That one is dead already is a little worrying, so Rahilda decides she'll try to summon Moontalon tonight, see what information she can glean. Drugs and Echo are all a little baffling to Rahilda; she's never tried any, and hasn't got much inclination to try. It's filed away, but as low-priority stuff.

The lack of dresses are unfortunate, but it's still much nicer clothing- and more covering- than what she was given to wear as a slave in GIRLS, so it doesn't matter too much. Trousers will have to do.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

Electra chuckles to herself as she nods at Anika and ducks into the car's driver's seat. A moment later, she's moving up the line, pausing to pick up Kirk, before getting the vehicle on the elevator.

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

Kirk hops into the car and gives Electra a grin. "This is going well, eh? What's the chance they try something on the elevator?" Could be messy, but after that they'll be off scott free. He looks out the back window to see if he can spot what they might be doing already.

[Lord Magtok]

Space Oddity

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day

The life support systems were failing. Circuits were dead, something was wrong. Alarm klaxons were screaming shrilly in his ear, loudly proclaiming their critical status, as if accusing him of some misstep or personal failing that led to this disaster. It hardly mattered now, though. His last-ditch effort had failed, he couldn't get a pulse, couldn't stem the flow of blood in time. She was gone, and with her, everything that had ever mattered. If this steel coffin was to be his final resting place, if fate had decided this escape pod was the end of their god-awful small affair, that was fine. At least he wouldn't be alone anymore. Ashes to ashes.

And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that

He tried, honest, he did. These were not ideal conditions, he was not in an ideal mental state. There was enough pressure here to split a building in two, it's not his fault he failed! Don't you dare think he let this happen on purpose! Every couple has its quarrels, every pair has their differences. Most of them aren't forced to operate on the other to treat a mortal injury while falling apart emotionally. He's not the one who shot her, was trying to save her. If he'd known things would come to this, do you really think he would've had even one drink? Now wasn't the time to contemplate what-ifs, ask what he could've done differently, how he could've prevented all of this. That's not the reality we're living in, is it?

Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes, forever and ever
What'd you say?

The escape pod was less than a minute away from impact. As much as he wished it would, stroking her cheek, running his fingers through her hair would do nothing to change the reality of the situation. She was gone. Funerary rites could be conducted after the landing, so long as the crash didn't splatter them both. He had to get back into his seat and strap in. If not for his own sake, then for the people of this world. They didn't deserve to be put through the pain and suffering he was feeling now. He couldn't make the same mistakes again.

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, forever and ever
Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day

A rock falls from the heavens, cutting a jagged, lightning bolt trail across the night sky.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

A man falls from heaven. Is this an old friend's homecoming? Is it someone new? None can say. Not yet. Whatever it is, at least it has the courtesy to land in the street, and only do unspeakable harm to this stretch of road, rather than hit any of the nearby residences or people that could've been in its path. Though that's little consolation to anyone who uses this road, I suppose. The locals may not be so welcoming.

[Morty]

[Space Oddity]

Aside from whatever response the locals are mustering, no doubt indignant about the whole situation, the fallen escape pod has drawn someone as random as he's curious. A lanky half-elf in a worn brown coat will try to make his way to the pod and seek a way to open it. It's tech, not magic, and thus not really his expertise. But he's always been a quick learner, sometimes while the thing he was studying tried to kill him.

[Shadowcaller]

[Fighting KABAL]

Electra chuckles to herself as she nods at Anika and ducks into the car's driver's seat. A moment later, she's moving up the line, pausing to pick up Kirk, before getting the vehicle on the elevator.

[Fighting KABAL]

Kirk hops into the car and gives Electra a grin. "This is going well, eh? What's the chance they try something on the elevator?" Could be messy, but after that they'll be off scott free. He looks out the back window to see if he can spot what they might be doing already.

[Fighting KABAL]

They board the elevator and eventually it starts moving. Though Kirk can see that the droids, and some goblins, are busy with the attack drone. Could they really get it back moving after such short time, and would it really be of much use after Electra made such quick work of it?

Either way, as the elevator nears the ground level, they can suddenly see the drone flying towards them. This could become very dangerous unless they do something.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Fighting KABAL]

"Pretty good, I'd say," Electra replies. "That drone was armed with a laser and rockets. I'm surprised it didn't explode when I put it into the street, but I guess they got lucky."

She reflects on that as the elevator descends, and makes an annoyed noise in her throat when she spots the thing coming after them when they're near the ground.

"Idiots don't know when to give up, apparently. Would you like to handle this, or shall I?"

[Gullara]

[Fighting KABAL]

"Joy. I'm not going to assume they'll avoid damaging the car again." Kirk pushes the door open and lines up his gun on the drone. He immediately squeezes the trigger, sending a barrage of lasers at the drone. At least it'll have to take some evasive action. He'll move away from the car as he shoots, moving among some other cars.