Missing Jewels

[Gillian Rel]

Tasha would wake up sometime later, groggy from the sedatives she had been hit with. They ended up having to give her more than the others due to her half waking up when they were fleeing with her. She found her hands bound to a chain on the wall, she would also find herself not alone. These were familiar faces that she had seen often at work. Diamond, Jade, Emerald, and Crystal all looked in pretty rough shape, black eyes, some still unconscious. They had not been at the Lusty Lekku when it had been attacked, but they had been captured as well.

************

Periodic screaming could be heard from the back room behind the bar followed by long silences. Gil's crew winced at the noises coming from the room until Gil finally emerged. Blood stained his shirt and arms where he had rolled up his sleeves. He had to give it to the guy, he had held out like a champ. In the end, Gil had found out what he wanted, well most of it.

He had a pretty good idea where the five missing girls had been taken. The whole plan was to take out Gil and capture enough of the dancers to scare off the rest. Their hopes were to strangle the Lusty Lekku out of business.

He still had an issue. His men were still far too spread out. A good majority of them were off world on Kessel or tied up elsewhere. He had enough to hold the bar, but really nothing else to spare. That left him. It would be easier to sneak inside anyway than risk some all-out battle. His crew was pretty competent, but they weren't soldiers.

He gave final instructions before heading off to the location he had been given, an old abandoned compound several districts over. It had belonged to a Hutt at one point, maybe hundreds of years ago before falling into disrepair.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha groaned as she came to, finding herself gagged and bound. Normally when she was like this, it was part of some kink of a rich man that paid extra. Something told her she wouldn’t be paid for this gig, and her yellow eyes gazed over at the terrified women around her. She recognized them at once, all girls that had disappeared for one reason or another over time. Strippers and dancers quit all the time, so management had thought nothing of it at first. However, that was when Diamond and Emerald were nabbed, and they were headliners. In fact, Tasha had taken up Diamond’s slots.

Well this was awkward.

The girls squirmed and made noises through their gags, as if seeing another addition to join them was something to celebrate. Tasha rolled her eyes and trained her gaze ahead. She could easily use the Force to break out of her binds, but the toxins in her system made it difficult to focus. There was also the issue that if she used it in front of the girls, she would have to kill them all. Then again, if they hadn’t been missed yet, perhaps it wouldn’t make a difference.

***
Meanwhile, the compound was teeming with gang members. They were armed with illegal and powerful weapons, and they walked along the roof and the external perimeters. Inside there were at least six men to get past, outside over ten. They had been expecting Gil to show up with his full squad, and they set up accordingly.

One of the men peered through a set of macrobinoculars, not spotting any movement just yet.

“Give it time,” The man next to him said. He was currently urinating on a wall, bored beyond belief and hating that he was assigned this task at all. He zipped up his pants and turned to his buddy with the binocs, “The blue bitch seemed important. He’ll definitely come for her. We can wipe his entire operation in one go when he does.”

The other man grinned evilly, going back to looking out for any movement. Any minute now there would be speeders coming. Gang wars were usually loud and obnoxious, so these men didn’t expect anything less from Gil.

 

[Gillian Rel]

"We could just kill them, they have already served the role as bait, probably, those idiots probably haven't even figured out where they were yet." the man said as the passed by on patrol. The other guard looked hungrily at the woman, he obviously had other plans. "I'll be by later, girls." he said, smiling, most of his teeth missing.

All five of the women had lived hard lives, as did everyone on Nar Shaddaa, but the other four weren't ready for this. They squirmed, struggling against their restraints frantically.

***

It took Gil about two seconds to realize he wasn't going in through the front. They were ready for him, and apparently the army he didn't have. It had taken him too long to extract the information he needed. He would need a different plan. He picked a hat that someone had discarded on the ground and slipped it on. It would cover his clearly distinguishable ears and let him move closer easier.

He moved with the occasional crowd, around the side of the complex. It was clear why this place had been abandoned or at least had stayed abandoned. The smell was terrible, even for Gil. The smell of sewage brought him back to the time he was escaping Corellia, they had to use the sewage system to evade capture.

"That's it!" he thought to himself. It obviously wasn't a great plan, but it was better than fighting off a whole gang himself. He pulled a dirty cloak from a gutter and threw it around him. He hunched over, taking the appearance of an old homeless hermit, which was an all too common sight on this world.

Slowly he made his forward, passing by the thug with the binocs until he found the open in the sewage line he had smelled earlier, it looked like it ran right into under the compound he was sure it had some access in the building.

He was out of sight but except for one guard who was patrolling along the street. Gil waited, rocking back and forth by the exposed hole that would drop him in the sewer line. "Spare some change.." he said weakly as he reached out to grab the man. "Hutts ballsacks...you smell.." he said reaching in to push him away. Gil moved forward with his knife, plunging into the man's throat. He dragged him back into the shadows, next to some trash and lay him down, covering him with his homeless blanket. Anyone passing by would think the corpse was a bum sleeping.

He quickly jumped down in the sewer. The smell was overwhelming. Gil silently gagged for a moment before slowly, step by step moving down the sewer pipe towards the compound.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

The girls began to squirm and fidget, tears streaming down their face as the second guard practically violated them with his eyes. Tasha remained still, staring ahead without moving a muscle. She turned to look at the other girls, watching how terrified and pathetic they were being. Two of them started to bawl as loud as they could with gags in their mouths.

“Oh for crying out loud,” The guard that was almost out of the room turned to the other, “I can’t think through this ruckus. Go shut them up,” He grumbled as he kept walking. The second man - the one that had made the lewd implications - lit up and happily obliged.

As he came back, the other girls began to whimper and cry hysterically. He opened the cell door and closed it behind him, laughing and inching towards Diamond. The woman was squirming and shaking her head no, trying to move away from him. Tasha took this opportunity to rise up against the wall, and try to catch his attention. He looked over, distracted by Tasha opening her slender legs and doing other teasing maneuvers that were far too enticing for him to resist.

He snickered and made his way over to her. As soon as he came closer, Tasha abruptly whirled around with one of her long legs and slammed him into an adjacent wall. He hit his head against the wall and turned back towards her to fight it. Tasha, using her skills as a dancer, spun the chain around her wrists and sprang up, her legs fastening around the man’s head.

She slammed him down to the ground, landing heavily atop him while he was being suffocated between her thighs. Tasha looked up to see the other women staring in wonder - watching her utilize tricks they all knew on the dance floor. The man continued to squirm and fight, but she knew he would pass out soon. After that, the next test would be to fish out some keys from him. Tasha wasn't entirely sure if the other idiots would help.

***

The sewer popped up into a basement level compartment in the compound. It served as a minor spice growing area, and tonight it only had one man on the job. He had been stuck with the boring duty of ensuring that no one came to steal the spice. He had drawn the short straw after hearing all the excitement about Gil and his gang. He wanted to be up above, but he was stuck here instead.

To kill his time, he decided to dabble into his favorite fantasy - hiring two wermal strippers. No one had to know about his secret desires, and he watched them in action while leaned back in his seat and ‘participating’. The wermal giggled and toyed with one another, keeping the man entirely distracted. It was just the three of them here, and the man knew that wouldn’t change. Anyone here could get away with murder. It was entirely too isolated to garner any attention.

 

[Gillian Rel]

He slowly emerged from what he thought was his worst nightmare, to his actual worst nightmare. He would be haunted by the sight for a good while. He loved spice, and this would probably ruin that for a while as well. There was so much...flesh. He silently gagged again, crawling away slowly.

Even though he couldn't see them, he felt like they would be right behind him if he turned around, so he didn't. He inched his way around the room, keeping to the shadows. The guard obviously was enjoying himself, judging by the sounds. His stomach quivered.

He crawled forward, more reaching the door. He slid it open, praying it wouldn't creak. Any noise it did make was covered by the sound of ..."Oh god" he thought...Wermal moaning.

There wasn't enough whiskey in the Galaxy to help what he had just experienced.

The rest of the basement seemed to be used for storage and was empty. He was about to hit the stairs to go up the next level when he saw the approaching shadow. He ducked back, hiding behind a crate. All the entrances were covered, he was patrolling alone. As he came into the basement, he had a bored expression on his face, clearly not expecting any company.

Gil crept up behind him and would have killed him without issue, but his smell gave him away. The man turned around just in time to dodge the knife and swing. He punched Gil in the stomach but as the man reached for his comm device, Gil slapped it away and plunged the knife into his eye. The blade entered the man's brain and he collapsed toward Gil who caught him and situated him behind some boxes.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

The man was taking entirely too long to be knocked out. However, he was stuck between her thighs, so that was a good place as any to apply the Force and have it be believable. Tasha did just that, coiling it around his neck to choke him out. The man sputtered and wheezed, but then he went limp. The other girls stared on, eyes wide and looking at Tasha as if she were the second coming of Andraste.

Tasha ignored them, untangling herself from the man who was purple in the face. She had to awkwardly shift around, attempting to reach for a set of keys on his person. Tasha managed to nab them at last, trying each one till she heard a click. The lock on her chains came undone, and she eased her wrists free. Tasha reached up and took the gag out, the other girls squirming and moving about excitedly.

For a moment, she simply stared at them, pondering on what to do. She didn’t believe in ‘rescues’. No one was going to be coming for these useless shits. Furthermore, if she released them, it meant they’d come with her and she wouldn’t be able to use the Force yet again. No, it was better to leave them here. Tasha reached down and used her free hands to snap the unconscious man’s neck to ensure he wasn’t going to get up again. The girls looked frightened, but Tasha shrugged and rose to her feet.

They all looked to her, expecting her to free them. Tasha looked over at them, “I’ll draw less attention if it’s just me. I’ll come back for you all with a team,” She blurted, trying to sound as empathetic as she could. The girls began to shake their heads no and crying, but Tasha simply stepped out over the dead body and walked out of the cell.

They could all rot in there. She had to get herself out.

***

Meanwhile, the man with the binocs grumbled to himself, “This is taking too long,” He lowered the binocs and looked to the other man, “I’m bored.”

“Yeah me too,” The other man nodded, “Let’s go inside and pay those girls a visit,” He grinned, the two of them leaving their posts to go inside the compound.

Gil’s path was a long, narrow corridor that was empty. Up ahead was an intersection where two men were talking and passing by along the adjacent hallway. They both had keycards on them that would allow access to the upper levels of the facility, the repulsorlift operated by ids only. They also wore armor with full face helmets.

 

[Gillian Rel]

He moved along to long corridor. Gil froze as the men passed by in front of him if they had turned in his direction he would have been caught out in the open, but they seem preoccupied with getting elsewhere.

He continued forward quickly, wanting to get out of the open. He heard the men talking as the moved away from them. "I heard they got the Pantoran bitch as well. I saw here once when we were scouting the place out..." he said before making a whistling sound. "...She is something else.."

Well, that was confirmation that the missing girls were here, or at least some of them. He ducked through the corridor behind them, following close enough to keep up but keeping his distance.

***

The two men rounded the corner. One man walking with a particular spring in his step. They would likely get yelled out for leaving their post, but this was going to be worth it.

He looked up, seeing the tall blue-skinned woman entering the hallway from the cell. Who had let her out of restraints? "And where do you think you're going?" the man said nudging his friend, obviously not worried or considering the woman a threat in the least.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha was happy to be out of range of hearing the stupid girls and their constant mewling. She could finally be the confident Sith she truly was, no longer having to play as a helpless victim. Tasha made her way through the first corridor, not coming across anyone there. She glanced up to see if there were any cameras, happy to find none.

She came around a corner and saw two men approaching her from the opposite side. Tasha blinked at them for a moment before coiling the Force around the first man and slamming him into the man next to him. They began to yell, reaching for their weapons. Tasha didn’t back off, sending both of them flying in opposite directions and slamming their heads harshly against the walls. They slumped to the ground and Tasha continued to tighten the grip she had on them, the Force compressing them. She poured her anger into it, the sound of bones snapping and viscera being torn apart resounding. Within moments, both men were crushed and dead.

Tasha walked over and picked up a blade from each man, along with a gun. She hated guns, but it would prove useful now. She would only use it emergency, the goal still to keep quiet. Tasha didn’t cast a second glance at the bodies, stepping over them and making her way deeper into the corridor. She had to get to the lower levels to make her way out.

***

The two men down below made it to the repulsorlift, hitting the button and waiting for it. One turned to the other, “It’s weird Gil and his crew never showed,” He mused, “I thought for sure Sapphire would lure them after even Diamond didn’t work.”

“He’s only paid to protect the bar,” The second man grumbled, “They killed some of our boys, saved the day, blah blah. I can see why they won’t bother with chasing these bitches down. No one cares about dead strippers.”

“True,” The first man grinned, “All the more for us to do whatever we want with ‘em.”

 

[Gillian Rel]

The two men were turned away from him as they entered the lift. He had to catch them now. He could easily have to take them with a blaster but wasn't confident the lift would conceal the noise. So while sprinting he flipped his knife around and threw it when he was about 10 feet away.

He had been throwing knives as a kid, using it to hunt and kill food on the streets of Corellia. The blade sunk into the man’s neck just below his helmet. Keeping his momentum, he threw his shoulder into the second man. The lift rocked slightly as the man collided with the wall. The man grunted and thrashed as Gil pinned the man’s blaster hand.

The lift door closed behind them. Gil reached with his other hand around the man's neck trying to get under his helmet. The man recovered a bit from the shock and pushed backward, slamming Gil against the lift door. The blow knocked the wind out of Gil but he held on.

The armored man slammed him back again which knocked Gil lose, he fell on top of the dead man. The armored thug stomped down on Gil's stomach, knocking what little air he had left out of his body. The thug reached for his blaster. Gil, gasping for air pulled the knife out of the dead man's neck and plunged into the inner thigh of a man causing him the yell as he fell to the ground.

Gil was one of him in an instant. He pressed down on the man's throat as hard as possible. The man thrashed for a moment but then went still. Gil gasped for air. The door opened, and Gil scrambled to protect himself grabbing a blaster, but there stood Sapphire.

Was she apart of this thing? He held it semi pointed in her direction “What are doing?” He asked. The men hand made it sound like she was in on the whole thing but he couldn't be too careful.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha was seldom angry, but this was the closest she got to it usually. She had already lost out on credits for tonight and the next few days, and now she had to figure out a way out of this random warehouse that gave no clue to its location. She was very intent on taking her frustations out on anyone that came in her path.

One more man turned a corner on her, and he began to yell in alarm. However, Tasha simply coiled the Force around him and made him slide all the way towards her. As he drew close, she closed the distance and slashed down with the two blades she had on her, resulting in a quick and gruesome death. She had the benefit of looking like nothing more than a pretty face, especially in her current state of attire. She gave others pause instead of invoking instant shooting.

She walked past the gore she left behind, making her way quickly down the corridor. She knew she would find a repulsorlift soon, and it would take her where she needed to go. Tasha opened the door at the end of the corridor, glancing up right at that insufferable pointy eared asshat. She didn’t see the body on the ground then, just him scrambling and pointing a gun at her. Rage boiled within her.

“You’re with them!” She hissed, flinging one of the blades at him with the aid of the Force. She aimed directly at his chest, but she was abruptly tackled from behind by another man that began to tail her after she had killed the first. The blade would instead slash slightly into his shoulder, possibly even wedging into it superficially.

Tasha fell to the ground, rolling around with the a man that tried to subdue her.

 

[Gillian Rel]

She answered his question with a dagger. He went to move out of the way, but he was too slow. He would have been a dead man if hadn't been for her getting sideswiped an instant before she released. The dagger hit him hard, piercing his shoulder and pinning him against the wall behind him.

He grunted with the impact, pain swimming in his vision. He felt warm blood spilling out on to his chest. He would love, but it hurt like hell. He tried to move forward and pain surged through his body again. He was stuck to the wall. If he stayed here he was dead for sure. Dropping the blaster he reached up and gritted his teeth as he wrapped his hand around the hilt of the blade.

He pulled as hard as he could, careful to try and pull straight out. It was probably not the best choice medically speaking, but he really didn't have other options.

He looked at the two still scrapping on the ground. If she was with them, why were they fighting, what had she tried to kill him. What the hell. Nothing made sense.

The man was on top of her, and Gil slammed the dagger in the side of his ear and kicked him to the side. He held his own knife to her throat. “Why did you kriffing stab me,” he asked, the pain obvious in his voice.

“Ugh. It doesn't matter. Tell me where the others are.” He said in a hushed yell. He didn't have time to play games with her. More could come any second.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha paid no heed to Gil as he was pinned to the wall. She was scuffling around on the floor, the man trying to aim and fire a gun into her at point blank range. Tasha managed to wrestle the gun out of his hand and toss it aside, bringing her arms up to snap his neck. Before she could, there was a blade jammed into him from behind and he was kicked aside.

Before she could react, there was a knife at her throat. With a glare, Tasha grabbed a hold of Gil’s arm on his injured side, yanking him to the ground. She rolled over to slam him to the floor, coming up to straddle his hips and pin him to the ground. The dead man’s blaster was nabbed and pointed at him, moments before she realized what he was trying to say.

Her expression softened and she grumbled to herself, rising to her feet. Tasha scowled at him, “Why the kriff does it matter? They were forgotten this whole time. They’re as good as dead,” She muttered, looking back down the other way. Tasha could sense a high amount of life forms, and she knew they would be overwhelmed soon. All of the men positioned outside were flooding into the building.

Tasha turned to look at Gil, pausing for a moment, “...Why are you here?” She asked, genuinely curious. She was curious enough to where she actually paused instead of making a break for it like her first thought.

 

[Gillian Rel]

He really didn't see the motion, only felt the flash of pain as he arm was twisted. He blinked and he was on his back, Sapphire on top of him. He was sure almost all of the girls at the Lusty Lekku were highly athletic but damn she was fast.

He met her eyes, a hard look on his face. They held that stare for a moment until Sapphire stood up, freezing him.

Of course, it mattered where they were. This woman infuriated him. She brought in an insane amount of money for the club, which in turn supported the organization as a whole, but he was running out of patience with her. “What the proof do you think I’m here for. You” he stated “and the others. Now, do you know where they are or not.”

He heard the radio chatter from the dead man's comms. They didn't have long. He picked up the comms. Breathing heavily to imitate him chasing someone “They have escaped! They just ran out the west entrance! Looks like they have armed men with them as well!” He said cutting off. It would buy them time, not a lot of time, but some.

“i have been through too much shit today to not leave without every single one of you. Now, Where. Are. They.” He stood, staring into her intense yellow gaze.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

For her? What the hell? Was he being some exorbitant amount of credits for this? If so, how could she get into this line of work? She could certainly go on ‘rescue missions’ if it meant raking in a crazy amount of cash. She couldn’t think of any other motive a person could have to go out of their way to extract someone from a less than ideal situation.

Tasha shrugged at his words, pointing her thumb back behind her, “Down that way, first door to your right and then down the first corridor on the left. You’ll hear them crying from a mile away,” She said in an almost bored tone, “Best of luck,” Tasha muttered sarcastically as she walked the opposite direction. She had no intention of wasting time with the other idiotic women that proved to be utterly useless. It wasn’t even like the Lusty Lekku hadn’t recuperated the costs of losing them. Tasha pulled in enough credits to make up for several of them, and with time, their losses wouldn’t even matter.

She didn’t even give him a second glance as she strode towards the end of the hallway opposite of him. Tasha could hear him patch a fake call through, and she figured he would follow up by making his way towards the other girls. She was done playing the damsel routine, but that didn’t mean she would reveal her Sith nature just yet.

They were parted for mere moments before she remembered something.

Within a flash, Tasha was back towards the cell. The other girls squirmed and cheered upon seeing her, convinced she had stayed true to her word and had brought help. Tasha ignored this entirely, her focus back on Gil, “Hey, did you happen to see my purse?” She asked, entirely serious.

That was when alarms began to blare. A voice came over the intercom somewhere, “This building is now under lockdown,” It said, “There have been reports of a breach. I repeat, this building is now under lockdown. All doorways are sealed and all entrances and exits are locked.”

Tasha’s jaw tightened. She slowly tilted her head to look over at Gil murderously, her fingers curling into fists with audible cracks.

 

[Gillian Rel]

She pointed the way, and he pushed past her. He was done dealing with her. If she didn't want help, that was her choice. He hurried down the hallway, ducking between doorways, He found the cell right where she had told him. He entered the cell quickly, locating the keys that Sapphire had discarded earlier.

"Alright. We are getting out of here, but I need everyone to move quickly and don't kriffing ask questions." he said. He started to unlock their chains moving one by one. Sapphire appeared in the doorway asking about her goddamed purse. He laughed, some of the stress of the day finally spilling out. "I couldn't care fuc..." he said when the alarms cut him off. He muttered a string of curses.

"Okay. We can still go out through the basement if we can get down the lift. None of the doors were electronic down there." he said more to himself than anyone else. He quickly flipped through the keys as he freed the last woman.

"Alright, follow me." he said reaching down and grabbing the blaster. He would push past the Pantoran woman. She was free to come along, but he didn't have time for her bullshit.

He would grab the weapons from the two out in the hallway. He approached the lift again. If they thought a locked door would slow him down much, they were about to be disappointed. "Anyone fire a blaster before?" he asked, not even bothering with Sapphire, besides she already had a blaster. A couple raised their hands and he handed out the guns. "Alright, if you see something....just try and hit something." he said. "Oh, and I need a hairpin" he said as he held out a hand. They would be moving the cover the upper entrances, it would take them time and divert manpower. They had a minute or two before they were first discovered and a few more before they were overwhelmed.

He turned to the control box and pried off the cover panel. He went to work shorting out the panel. Hopefully, it would reset and the lift would forget the lockdown. This building was old, it wouldn't have top of the line security or anything.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha sighed and walked with the group, feeling as if they were being herded around like cattle. Then again, that wasn’t too different from how these girls were usually handled. Most of them had the sob story of being put into this life against their will and then being lured by credits, blah blah. Tasha simply enjoyed the job, and she hated the stigma that this was something to turn to out of desperation. The girls were still sobbing and crying, nodding and responding to Gil’s queries obediently.

As he got to work on the panel, the girls began to nervously chat amongst themselves. One of them was practically hyperventilating. The other two girls went to comfort her, and she burst into tears, wailing loud enough to be heard down the hall. Tasha lost her patience by then, and she stormed up to her slapped her across the face, “Get it together!” She said through gritted teeth. The girl stopped crying at once, her hand weakly pressed against the skin on her face that was now rapidly growing red, “You’ll get the entire base on our asses with your screeching.”

Another girl – Emerald – tapped Gil on the shoulder urgently while the repulsorlift came up. Once he looked, she had a serious look on her face, “Excuse me,” She began, “We were locked in there for a very long time. The guards didn’t treat us very well. I really need to have a potty break,” She looked over a the other girls, all of them nodding in agreement, “It’s an emergency.”

Tasha was speechless, and she didn’t bother slapping anyone this time. She simply looked up at Gil with an ‘I told you so’ expression. These girls were far too much of a pain in the ass, and she had a suspicion that the ones that mentioned they could use a blaster had lied.

As soon as the repulsorlift opened, Tasha corralled them into it, ignoring their outbursts of complaints. One of them was now whining about her lost shoes. Emerald was still on Gil, “Why didn’t you bring more people? Why is it just you? Why didn’t Cait come for us? Diamond alone is worth that much!”

Meanwhile, the halls and corridors were being thoroughly searched by the thugs that put the building under lockdown. Several of them carried illegally obtained quickdraw pistols, and that didn’t bode well for the group if they ran into them. Tasha kept to herself, realizing that at the end of the day, Gil and the idiots could serve as meat shields. There were no alternative paths for her to take by herself, so she would stick with them for now.

Diamoned reached a hand out and placed it on Gil’s injured shoulder with a gasp, “What happened? You’re bleeding so much! Are you about to die on us?” All of the girls burst into panic again.

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

He could feel the headache coming on. If they made it out of this alive he would need half a bottle of painkillers and a two-day nap to recover from this. He dug into the panel, moving wires aside, looking for the connector he needed.

He was vaguely aware of the crying behind him before the loud SMACK caught his attention and he turned around to annoyed, icy glare from Sapphire. He let out a chuckle to himself before getting back to work. Seconds later, he was interrupted with a tap on the shoulder. "Now really isn't a good time..." he said dismissing her. If he didn't get this door, she wouldn't have to worry about it much longer anyways.

They went back to talking amongst themselves and then move to question why he had done the things the way he had. It was a nightmare, a hysterical nightmare. "Listen, ladies. I need a just a minute of silence" he said. It would be nice if they weren't alerting the whole base where they were at, plus it made working extremely difficult.

"Found it!" he quietly muttered to himself as he reached in with the hairpin. A sharp pain shot up his arm as the woman touch around his wound. It caused his muscle to spasm. This caused him to accidentally touch the connector in the wrong way, which in turn sent a shock through his arm. The shock apparently had also hurt the woman touching his arm at the time. She jumped back and screamed. Well, the jig was up now, there would be no hiding after this.

He paused waiting to see if the door would open. One second. Two seconds. Nothing. Gil's heart started to sink until on the fourth second, the door slowly started to open.

Just then, two of men that had been searching for them found them. "Alright, go!" he said throwing the first women at the elevator. The men weren't too far from them as the first man fired, two shots striking the wall behind them. He wasn't sure how he had missed all of them at this close range.

He returned fire, striking the one that had fired in the stomach and causing the other one to dive for cover.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

The girl that was zapped screamed and complained loudly. She blamed Gil for the sudden zap and reacted by slapping him in the face. He wouldn’t even have a chance to react before the two men rounded the corner and began to shoot. Tasha was quick on the case, using the Force to coil around the man’s arm to throw his aim off. His shots went wide even at a close range, and he marveled at the strange unnatural push to his aim. His speculation cost him as Gil fired shots into his stomach and made him drop.

Tasha focused on the other man that took cover, the blaster she stole ready and aimed. The man that was shot in the belly was still alive and crawling on the ground, and he weakly aimed his gun to fire. Unfortunately, this was right as the girls scrambled to fit into the small opening of the elevator as it took its time to do so. Jade screamed as a bolt caught her directly in the leg, and she toppled over and made the entire group fall in a jumbled mess. They were all wedged and stuck there in between the half opened elevator doors.

Thankfully, Tasha was spared seeing this disaster, her gaze still on the two men. She leveled and fired at the head of the man on the ground, taking him out. She coiled the Force around the second man’s neck, causing him to abruptly reach for his neck, coughing and sputtering. Unless Gil had seen a Sith use this power before, he wouldn’t understand what was happening. The man continued to wheeze, giving Gil a chance to shoot him to finish him off.

By now, the elevator doors opened and the entire group was inside. Jade immediately flung her arms around Gil, completely ignoring his now open and electrocuted shoulder wound, “I’M HURT! I’VE FALLEN! THEY GOT ME!” She squealed and cried at the top of her lungs to put Holodrama actors to shame, the other girls once again crying in a cacophonous orchestra. Tasha slid in after giving a nice kick to Diamond’s big tush to shove her inside the elevator fully. She ignored the girls, rapidly punching the buttons to descend while Gil was now stuck in a corner probably with his face between someone’s sweaty boobs as they clung to him for dear life.

The alarms kept blaring, but they were finally making their way down. Tasha had no idea what new horrors would be waiting for them as soon as the doors opened, but she couldn’t imagine it to be any worse than what was going on in the elevator.

 

[Gillian Rel]

Gil wasn't in great shape, his face stung, his arm hurt, he had a nasty burn on his hand from earlier and with each new blare of the alarm, his headache grew worse and worse.

He didn't see the man get injured but he twitched on the ground like he was having some sort of attack. Gil was way past asking questions, especially when it was them catching a break. He took aim and fired, his twitching ended as the bolt connected. His blaster's power pack was empty. He sprinted forward, covering the distance quickly. He picked up a quick fire blaster from one of the fallen. He spotted more men running towards them from around the corner. He sprinted back to the elevator pushing the women in.

Sapphire came in last. She was calm and collected, and seemingly annoyed as she had been from the start of the day. The doors closed painfully slow as the first of the men rounded the corner. They fired, several shots hitting the doors as the closed.

He let out a breath and the lift started moving down to the basement level. With any luck, they could take out the one guard he had left, and escape the way he had come in.

Gil grunted as Jade grabbed ahold of him, hysterical and dramatic as ever. "Let me take a look." he said leaning down. In the cramped elevator, his face had to slide past an incredibly sweaty pair of boobs, not that he complained in the slightest. The wound wasn't life-threatening, but it wasn't great either. He tore his sleeve, as the women didn't have any extra fabric to spare in their outfits. "This is gonna sting just a bit." he said tieing it around the wound. It wouldn't do much, but if it convinced her that it did, that was enough. "Good as new." he said standing up straight, again taking a face full of boob and again not complaining. "Lean on her when we starting moving." he said pointing to anyone who wasn't Sapphire. He was pretty sure the Pantoran would drop the woman the first chance she got.

"Let me get to the door." he said squirming through the crowded lift as it reached the bottom. "There was only one down here earlier and it should take those upstairs a few minutes to follow." he said as the doors opened. "Thank god you guys are here.." the man said, not expecting Gil's group. He reached for his blaster, but there wasn't anything there. Apparently, the two Wemal strippers had robbed him of his blaster when the alarms sounded. "N..." his cry was cut short as Gil shot him in the chest.

They quickly made their way back to the basement door, Gil had his pistol drawn as they moved. They didn't have much time, and this group was far too loud to sneak. They entered the basement spice refinery and Gil pointed to the hatch. "We are going down there. If you complain or slow us up. I. Will. Kill. You." he said sounding very serious. He hoped it was enough to keep them moving into the sewer. He didn't notice the smell, just happy to see it.

He noticed the large vats of chemicals in the room. He had spent much of the last year setting up various Spice operations for The Exchange so he was familiar with them, and there explosive nature. "Any of you have a lighter?" he asked quickly coming up with a plan.

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha glanced over when she heard Gil’s reassuring voice, watching as he actually leaned down to help the idiot woman. There was a look of disgust on her face – why was he so damn insufferable? These girls had been nothing but a nuisance so far, and here he was trying to help them. She shook her head and looked away, Jade watching and sniffling quietly as he worked to patch her up. After he came up, she smiled widely and gave him another tight hug, most likely causing new jolts of pain, “Thank you! You’re so amazing!” She gave him a big smooch on the cheek, his actions actually working to calm the other girls down. They happily allowed Jade to lean on them.

Tasha was mildly fascinated by the chain of events, that one act of stupid kindness infectious enough to make them all stop crying. These girls weren’t used to anyone ‘taking care’ of them, and Gil had done just that. The Pantoran said nothing, filing the strange incident away within her mind. Tasha was used to being selfish her entire life, and seeing Gil do one selfless act after another was jarring. She kept shooting him sideways glances, a frustrated look on her face. When she was confused about something, she externally appeared grumpy, and it was no different now.

As the doors opened, Tasha was prepared to fire, but Gil beat her to the punch. The man dropped dead, the girls in the elevator shrieking at the suddenness of it. They all scrambled out of the elevator, making their way through the spice refinery. The girls all looked around, one of them recognizing the smell, “Oooooh! We should take some of the spice from here! I bet it’ll make us so much money!” The others nodded, Gil’s warnings immediately forgotten as two of them wandered off to pocket some of the spice.

Every now and then, there was a flash of pink at the corner of their eyes as a small figure darted to and fro. This was accompanied with the sound of small, bare feet wetly slapping against the floor and a haunting, high pitched giggle. The wermals were still here and happily had taken over the basement. Tasha felt uneasy, looking around every now and then for another sign of the creatures so she could shoot.

Emerald and Jade hadn’t wandered off, and they looked at Gil as he asked for a lighter.

“I have one in my purse!” Emerald piped up helpfully, “Oh but..” She then asked what Gil was thrilled to hear once more – “Have you seen my purse? I think the guards stashed it away somewhere.”

“Oh yes, mine too,” Jade nodded, "We definitely need to get those back. I sometimes have asthma attacks and my inhaler is in there.”

“I’m so proud you haven’t had one already.”

“Oh girl I know-“

“SHUT UP!” Tasha growled at the girls, both of them looking at her with shocked expressions as if she had just barreled through a picnic, “We are in the middle of a crisis, not at a spa,” She hissed, “I don’t know why this pointy eared idiot is helping you, but the least you can do is get it together so we can get out of here,” Tasha called out for the other two girls, and they both wandered back over loaded with bags of spice.

“Hey! He’s not an idiot and I like his ears!” Jade huffed, placing her hands on her hips. Tasha sighed.

Diamond came back and had a loopy smile on her face, and Tasha was sure the moron snorted some of the powder herself.

The Pantoran shoved past Gil and opened the hatch, grimacing at the burst of smell. Emerald stepped forth to see where they were going, smelled the sewer and immediately turned to vomit. The girls all burst into protests at once, all yelling at Gil about finding another way out. There was no way they were going through a sewer. This was all going on with Emerald constantly emptying the contents of her stomach on the floor, some of it splashing onto all of their shoes.