Ask Crime pays

[Argyle Paltos]

Argyle swung his blade hard as he pulled from cover. He stood and began deflecting bolts, drawing in breath before with a swift motion shoved his hand forward. Like a flex of a muscle he channeled the Dark Side of the Force, sending a wave into the droids and in turn sent them flying towards the wall their backs were to. The disturbance in the force would have got his colleagues attention...Paltos was not the kind of man to give away just how powerful he was, but given that time was of the essence he had didn't have the time to play games.

"As I said dear fellow" came a calm voice over Hakim's comm, "Try to please be careful of booby traps" before the comms went quiet again. Argyle began to look around, this for booby traps first to ensure he would not be caught with the proverbial pants down again. He took his time this time, searching for various nooks and crannies for a hidden switch or any more pressure plates. He had found another and made a point to jam the foot plate and then after a while found a hidden switch under the desk. After disabling the buttons he found a third. Curiosity piqued, and sensing no danger from this switch he pushed it. A hidden compartment in the wall opened to reveal a safe locked heavily up before him. With a grin, Paltos ignited his saber once more and sliced the hinges and flicked a bit at the lock. With a mere wave of his hand, the door tore open with a shriek even Hakim would have heard from his position. Inside Paltos' eyes widened as a smirk became a rather fiendish smile as he extinguished his blade.

"My Dear Hakim!" came Argyle's voice as he began pulling book after book off the first shelf, restraining himself from taking some of the valuable jewels and cash in the upper levels, "Once you've finished your job of disabling the droids do please return to the main chamber..." he said looking to find the emergency shut off for any and all alarms on the base inside the safe. With a smirk he turned the switch and the alarms stopped and everything returned to quiet normality on the compound, "...I have such sites to show you!" he explained as he turned his way from the proverbial treasure vault and began reading some of the ledgers he had already absconded...

 

[Lyra Mantel]

It was not more than a few seconds later that the alarms were disabled, though Lyra was certain that they had not been falsely triggered. The shorter figure she had seen, wielded an unfamiliar weapon and whoever now approached the control room, suffocated her with their presence. It was a sickening feeling; one she couldn’t quite describe. It felt as though he was already on top of her, and though instinct told her to run, there was nowhere to go.

The control room somehow felt smaller and darker than it had before, the steps now just outside the door. Her heart thundered so hard in her chest, she swore it’d give her position away, knelt behind the control panel.

Her blaster was already aimed at the door, finger trembling on the trigger, when he struck it twice. It startled her; muscles tensed as she awaited their inevitable confrontation. What felt like minutes, but, had probably been seconds, passed before the door erupted into splinters. Lyra raised her arms to protect her face, wincing as one of the wooden bullets tore into her forearm, another wedging itself a few inches into her side.

“Take what you want but leave me alone.” She inhaled; her voice shaken though she tried to sound confident in her defense. Warm blood ran down her arm, but despite the pain, she held her blaster pointed at Rakim, finger still rested on the trigger.

@Kenico @Richie B.

 

[Rakim Hsin]

Walking into the room I found a woman bleeding, with a blaster to my face. Despite the affect my presence should have had on her she still remained in her right of mind. Clearly afraid but strong in will enough to keep her blaster trained at me, my cruel smile remained fixed the lightsaber lowered and with my left hand I held it up in a false sign of peace.

"I shall do no harm to you, just want to know where the droid control room is?" My curiosity grew as I felt Argyle use the Force a clear distinct feeling could be felt and I noticed that his constant presence in it was dark and foreboding.

But I could feel a somewhat similar presence in the woman now. Though no where near as heavy or dark I knew now what most have been what the others had saw in me when I was first introduce to the cruel reality o f the Force. If she truly had the gift then what was she doing in a place like this? Unless she was trying to con the owner of this place there would be little to gain here, that would suggest she didn't know of it. With that thought my mind went cruel, and dark and those sensitive with the Force would feel the room get colder and the lights dimmer.

"So tell me, who you are?" I gathered the power of the cruelty and evil in my heart to pull on the Force, gathering its energy to attempt to pull the blaster out of her hand.

If she was to have a chance to become what she was meant to be, I would need to teach her the power of mystery that was the Force. Was this really how I was thinking now? It was a curious thought what the dark side did to the minds, maybe I should try to do a bit more research on it. Or perhaps this was simply me wanting to take away something from the Jedi, a potential follower. Whatever my desires I knew thought that this woman needed to become aware of her power.

If she responded to me, or not after a few seconds I would grab the blaster with the Force and drag it up, before trying to pull it towards me. If she blasted at me I would pull my lightsaber up to try and deflect the bolt to the wall. The woman though was hurt by the door and probably didn't have the strength to keep the blaster. Yet if she had the Force maybe she could resist me, either way I was going to find out.

I could hear Argyle but I had to ignore him for now, though not the best idea, I needed time to somehow draw the interests of this woman. Perhaps offering her some of the spoils here would do that, or a offer of power, there was much for me to learn from this experience that it was too good to allow haste to ruin it.

@Kenico @MatureContentWarningx

 

[Argyle Paltos]

Argyle combed through the paperwork, grinning from ear to ear as he found various bank accounts from which to pilfer ill-gotten gains. He took his time, copying each bank account, each password to gain access, every detail on these papers as he archived every little scrap on a data scanner/storage device he found in the safe. He would put these accounts to good use for his own purposes. He grabbed a container, stuffing the papers in as he would be taking the hard copies as well as backup digital scans. He was taking no chances and he was keen to gaining capital for future ventures. Once the various paperwork was collected, he stuffed them into a briefcase along with a small contingent of gold, silver, jewelry and so forth. The rest, which was still in abundance, was meant for his partner. He sighed as he clicked on his comm once more.

"My Dear Friend" he said in a casual but increasingly annoyed voice, "I have completed my ransacking of the facility below and waiting for the droids above. How is your progress?"

 

[Lyra Mantel]

In that moment, the room felt as though it might collapse in on itself, a strange silence coming over them as he awaited her answer – it never came. She couldn’t explain the sensation, but she could feel his presence like a crushing weight, her blaster still trained on him in fear that he hadn’t be truthful in his promise not to harm her. He had already done so unintentionally.

Blood dripped down her arm and onto the ground in a steady rhythm, leaving a small crimson pool under her boots. On an empty stomach, the blood loss made her a bit disoriented, but she tried her best to keep her focus on him. His tall figure and cruel features gave her a sense of foreboding; he was the kind of man she would have run from on the streets, but he was blocking her escape.

The young woman tightened her grip on her blaster as she felt an unseen force grasp it, her feet sliding across the bloodied floor as she did her best to keep him from taking it. Her efforts were unproductive, her thin frame lifted from the ground momentarily as she was pulled towards him with her weapon, but she let go before she reached him.

Catching herself, though barely, Lyra rushed forwards in an attempt to force her way out of the room. If she were successful, she’d make a b-line for the staircase. If her attempt proved fruitless, her heart only raced harder.

@Kenico @Richie B.