[Hutt Bounty] Jurassic Mark

[Fine Frenzy]

Leaning on the stolen swoop bike, Jodoc waited for his partner. He was getting cold outside the garage, one of countless that littered Nar Shaddaa. These garages were all examples as to why Nar Shaddaa got the nickname the Smuggler's Moon: every last one of them bent, broken, and dirty; a smuggler's dream. (The swoop just as bent, broken, and dirty, Jodoc wasn't quite sure what gotten into him. He had other means of transportation, and the swoop was such an ugly thing.) As he got cold, he got annoyed. Just sitting had that effect on him. It was as if not standing, not doing something of substance, somehow slowed his blood down, chilling him.

The once Mandalorian was ready for war. He had to be for the opponent he was getting ready to fight. A beast from the Ssi-ruuk, her name Turuk'mak'tahu. Jodoc had gotten to referring to her as Mak when he wasn't just addressing her as the 'ugly bitch.' Not that Jodoc had any personal encounters with her yet, but he had spoken about her enough to have developed these mannerisms.

Around his waist, of course, he had his trusted blaster. Hanging him from shoulders was a Firestorm repeater, a relic from his days with the Mandalorians. Another Mandalorian relic, an Outcry scattergun was strapped to his lower back. Of course, he had his beskar combat knight strapped to his boot.

Dressed in his usual loose shirt, rough leather pants, and rough leather boots, he also wore a vest that was fitted with durasteel plates under the fabric. Not that he intended to get into a fistfight with Mak, but it would protect his torso should she get close enough to claw at him. Everywhere else was pretty vulnerable, admittedly, but that was the price to pay for being able to maneuver in whatever flying contraption his partner managed to show up in.

Jodoc continued to wait, going over how he was going to kill the 'ugly bitch,' leaning on the bent, broken, and dirty swoop bike. He was getting cold. The driver better show up soon.

 

[Chairdor]

Nar Shaddaa, a planet once compared to Coruscant. Re'gi had never been to that world and he'd never get the chance unless he was really fond of getting struck by lightning so he'd have to take others word on it that once there had been a city larger and more impressive than this. As he shifted and turned though the streets he saw the bright lights and the soaring skyscrapers and felt this world probably looked quite impressive from the sky, a sea of light and far reaching goals. The racer was on the ground however and he only saw how far the dirt reach up the buildings, how it was clawing into the stone and steel, staining it. As Re'gi rode he noted some people looking over his ride with lustful eyes. He was on the Ninja Yuri had given him as he liked the feel of it and it was one of the best swoops on the market. As he rode he noted that the swoop came with an additional feature as some fellow swoop riders lingered with him, got closer, eyes peered from alleys with extended hands. They saw the swoop as a meal ticket, a trophy, maybe the saw the rider the same way.

Peeling down a back street Re'gi shifted into gear and swiftly lost the crowd, the lights around him swerving into a technicolor mess of translucence. He was growing closer to his partners location, he had read up on this Jodoc but didn't find a great deal beyond a physical description and a feel for some combat experience. He hoped that experience was beyond the racer's limited martial knowledge, he doubted a Ssi-ruuk would waver even slightly from a slap from his stun baton but he felt he had a particular set of skills that could prove useful in this dangerous game nonetheless.

This would be Re'gi's toughest bounty and while the idea of a dinosaur ripping them to shreds might make others consider strong armor and a good position he still wore his normal outfit, a red jacket, blue bandana, white shirt underneath, and pants. Instead of strength he'd rely on speed, both of his reflexes and of his swoop after all, nothing could hurt you if it didn't hit you.

As he pulled up to the garage he spotted the man outside, he seemed equipped for the venture and so kicking his hoverstand he hopped off for a moment and approached his new partner. As he walked he flicked a toothpick from his pocket and was shifting it in his mouth when he finally got close to the large proud looking man. It was at this moment without the warmth of the swiftly running swoop that he realized it was cold. A cold that reminded him of the Bowels of Daedalus, a cold unrequited with any warmth to at least give the fire of hope to a young boy who desperately wanted to see a sun or a sky. Cracking his neck at that thought he looked up at the man and said,

"It's cold,"

He slowly turned away and headed back to his swoop. He knew who the man was and he imagined Jodoc would know who he was so introductions weren't really necessary. This wasn't some formal meet and greet, this was a hunt and today Re'gi felt all business. Getting on the still warm swoop he kicked it into gear ready to peel out as he said,

"Let's get going,"

With that he rushed into a gap in the traffic being sure to slow just slightly to allow Jodoc to follow his lead, it wasn't far to where he wanted to check out. Turning down a few streets and alleys, the sound of his swoop engine assuredly allowing the Mandolorian enough information on his route, Re'gi eventually came to the building with fallen barricades and discarded tape. Clicking his hoverbrake again he got off and waited for the man before entering the murder scene where their quarry had recently killed for men including a high up bounty officer. Looking at the building he remembered it less than fondly, it was where he took Tila Niki in hopes of arranging a way to gain her freedom. That didn't happen. Re'gi hoped the Hutt who denied him was one of the victims, but at the same time he didn't. He preferred his revenge personal.

As he heard his partners swoop arrive he began to walk towards the battered down door, claw marks covering the entrance. Moving towards the threshold he looked back and gave a nob before entering the darkened building.

 

[Fine Frenzy]

True to his name, the driver rolled up to the garage not prepared for a fight. He wore a leather jacket, which Jodoc liked enough, but that was all he had to protect himself. When it came down to a Ssi-ruu versus a leather jacket, the Ssi-ruu won. Re'gi had no weapon that Jodoc could see. No scattergun, no assault rifle, not even a kriffing blaster. The once Mandalorian supposed Re'gi could have a knife hidden somewhere, but something made him doubt that sentiment the moment it rooted in his head.

The realization that the driver was likely to die hit him in the face. Jodoc wasn't one to watch over children who play at war. Still, in the very least Re'gi could serve as bait for the ugly bitch. Jodoc could let him bring Mak to them, then throw the driver to the wolf, and pelt Mak with bullet after bullet as she ate the poor bastard.

Well...not poor, not with that swoop. It was beautiful, Jodoc had to admit. He was surprised the kid could afford the price, but not surprised in his selection. It was a swoop bike a kid would buy. Flashy, fast, and pretty, but utterly without substance. You wouldn't be riding that swoop in a war very long. Someone would kill you, claim the swoop as theirs, and be smart enough to hide it in a garage somewhere.

"It's cold," the driver said to Jodoc. No shit, was his unvoiced reply.

"Let's get going."

You've got to be kidding me.

The gall of this kid. They had no plan, no idea of what their respective strengths and weaknesses were. (To be fair, Jodoc could answer that. Their strength: Jodoc; their weakness: Re'gi. Kriff me, this kid might get both of us killed.) Still, the once Mandalorian jumped on his stolen swoop, black smoke coughing out, polluting the Smuggler's Moon, and followed the driver as he led the way.

Soon enough they were there. It looked bad on the outside, and he was sure it was worse on the inside. Re'gi entered the building with a nod. Jodoc lingered for another minute, taking in his surroundings. There was no traffic here, no swoop bike, no airspeeder, no one on foot. Looking up, light reflected from a scope. A sharpshooter; the beast was in that building. Jodoc gave the sharpshooter a meek salute. The sharpshooter offered no reply.

Entering the building himself, Jodoc jogged to catch up with Re'gi. Once caught up, the once Mandalorian kept a few paces ahead, checking this room and that room. All the while checking his weapons. He would be ready. Eventually, the pair came across Mak.

"Hey, girl," Jodoc called to her, arms up.

"Want to talk a little?"

 

[Chairdor]

Moving into the abandoned building Re'gi smelled the decay in the air, it was fresh. It had been a recent development but the Hutt agent had found himself by more and more dead bodies. Oddly enough no matter what species or method of death the part time assassin performed on his victims they all seemed to hold the same lingering morbid smell. It filled the nostrils but it deprived them of the sweet nothing of oxygen. Coughing lightly the waft of death made the racer long for a ciggara, at least that was a smell of death he had grown accustomed to.

Moving further in he saw the scattering of dust, blood stains, and rubble. Scratch marks littered the walls, triple claw marks deeply gashing into the woods stone and even steel of the building. It seemed the men hadn't properly cleaned the place out, which made sense to the racer. Hutts prioritized an aura of fear over an image of control and normality. Re'gi felt that anyone who came to power in the bowels of Daedalus felt similarly as the place grew more and more dirty and frightening with every 'regime' change after every bloody gang war.

As he moved he heard Jodoc enter behind him a little bit later, perhaps the steel plate he wore was weighing his partner down more than Re'gi thought. if push came to shove the racer knew that it wouldn't be the best armored one who made it our alive, but the quicker one who had the sense to not get caught by the massive reptile first. Thinking on that possible fate his mind turned to horrible fantasies of being ripped, bit, torn, and shredded like so much wheat in a thresher. These thoughts amplified his shock when he came upon the subject of his waking nightmare.

Jodoc offered to talk to the Ssi-Ruu as if she was willing to be diplomatic as the blood continued to dry on her claws. Her head turned side to side as her eyes singularly focused on the newcomers. She had been feeding on what was available to her after her 'disagreement' with the management in this bounty office, the raptor-like bounty hunter knew she would eventually be hunted for what she did like so many of the marks she took down tooth and claw and like all of those targets, she knew the fate the Hutts planned for her most likely did not involve her breathing.

Looking to the two men she began to pace back and forth. This place wasn't good for the hunt, the floors were too slick the walls to narrow. She didn't know what guns they had. Laughing in a clicking rasping tone the female Ssi-Ruu made a move to look like she was going to attack the pair and then turned around swiftly her massive muscular tail smacking a piece of rubble towards the two as she began to rush towards the back of the building.

Re'gi barely side stepped the rubble, his heart pounding at the closeness of death that had just approached him. Clutching his heart he looked to see the monstrous female disappear into the black of the light less building and felt little desire to pursue, at least not on foot. Rushing back to the entrance to get his swoop he yelled,

"I'll cover the back,"

Mak continued to rush through the building her strong legs ramping her forwards as she headed towards the city streets. She had spotted the red lights of snipers move across the outermost windows of the building so she knew using those usual exits was not an option to her. However she had come to realize that much of this building was made of a type of wood that seemed more for show than function, so lowering her skull she charged at a particularly thin looking wall and smashed to the other side, the structure splintering into a thousand pieces as she roared into the night.

Re'gi heard the blood curdling roar as he leaped onto his swoop and ignited the engine. Moving down the alley he saw the wafting of debris and wondered how to pursue. That was answered rather quickly as the Ssi-Ruu rounded the corner and headed straight toward him teeth and claws bloody and reaching for his heart.

 

[Fine Frenzy]

Mak really is an ugly bitch. It was good to finally get a look at her. He could tell almost immediately what a fruitless effort it had been to try talking to her. When the Ssi-ruu began to pace, Jodoc wasn't scared in the least, prepared for the fight that was soon to start... but when the Ssi-ruu began to laugh, Jodoc was almost afraid.

As she moved towards the pair, the bounty hunter readied his assault rifle, but instead of attack them, she used her tail to fling rubble at them. Jodoc jumped to the right, landing on his belly, avoiding the rubble. He hoped Re'gi was smart enough to move out the way. Shooting at Mak as she turned away from them, running into the bowls of the building, proved to be just as fruitless as trying to talk to her, his bullets hitting the wall behind her.

"I'll cover the back," Re'gi said to Jodoc as he rushed to his feet.

"KRIFFING WIMP," the once Mandalorians screamed in response.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Jodoc runs after Mak. That stupid kriffing kid. The driver really was living up to his name. ARGHHH! The bounty hunter wanted to scream out in anger, he wanted to grab Re'gi and shake him like a distraught parent might shake their children. Re'gi was in the wrong line of business.

Doing his best to keep up with the Ssi-ruu, the once Mandalorian snapped back to the Smuggler's Moon and the task at hand as Mak let out a blood curdling roar. Jodoc was almost afraid. In awe as she barreled her way outside of the building, stepping outside, he saw Re'gi, and he saw Mak running straight at him. The driver sat atop his swoop, but in that second, it seemed like he was stuck there, doomed to die at the claws of Mak.

A part of Jodoc was okay with that. Hell, the kid would certainly learn his lesson. But... no, not today. The kid wouldn't die on Jodoc's watch. Lifting his Firestorm repeater to his shoulder, the once Mandalorian shot at the beasts feet and legs, intending to get her attention, piss her off, and maybe even slow her down a little.

Jodoc hoped one of those sharpshooters would hear the noise and come to their rescue.

 

[Chairdor]

Evolution wasn't on Re'gi's side in that moment nor any moment when he took on this hunt. This Ssi-Ruu was a weapon of death forged in the fires of biological warfare. For millions of generations it's people fought one another, killed, consumed, and grew strong. Disease wracked their people and those too weak to go on died leaving the generations upon generations that led to Mak and to Re'gi's inevitable demise. Breathing heavily with fear in his eyes he almost forgot his own evolutionary talent. While many beasts were made to fight, flight provided the same benefit with half the danger. While some would call it cowardly, others would call it foolish, and more still would say he was weak the racer would much rather be alive to hear the insults then not be alive at all.

Shifting into gear Re'gi barely managed to shift away from the initial strike of the beast. He was allowed some breathing room as Jodoc began to fire on the Ssi-Ruu who roared and shrieked in response as one of the blasts caught her in the leg. Getting low the predator turned prey leaped with incredible power to the roof of the building then continued to follow Re'gi. Rushing across the rooftop her claws biting into the steel and stone surface. Taking a moment to stop before leaping again she let out a hideous battle shriek as her cold blood boiled in the night.

Down below Re'gi turned and shifted down the alley pressing the gas with scared short breaths. He was out of his league, what was he thinking? He had done two light bounties and a couple mediums where he never had to fight his foe, he had always been so lucky getting the drop on people and now. The racer looked up as he felt a shadow upon him. Turning just in time he felt a smash of pavement where he would have been just a second before. A claw swiped out and tore the wind where Re'gi's neck had been. His heart beating in sync with the rapidly working engine he tore towards the front of the building.

Atop a building opposite the marksman Bojack Nat a Bothan with a chip on his shoulder was smoking a ciggara. He had thought to bring spice on this venture, but opted against it as he might shoot a small child hallucinating that it was his target, it would not have been the first time that happened. As his mind was quite unclouded he saw his mark chasing a scared looking man on a nice swoop bike, he took a moment to laugh at the poor sucker before lining up a shot. C'mere sweetness he said as he pulled the trigger.

Mak was focused, roaring, desiring blood. She lusted for the taste of man flesh. The Gammorean was tough and tasteless, the Hutt uneaten, she needed something pink, soft, and untrained. Her mouth open and her animal instincts fully taking over the Ssi-Ruu didn't notice the bolt of the marksman's rifle until it was exiting out of her arm. Crying out as blood seeped from the wound she rushed away from the racer and the source of the shot rushing to smash into a nearby window to take refuge in another darkened building.

Re'gi turned as he heard the shriek and saw the fleeing bleeding form of his hunter and sighed his heart still pounding. He just wasn't cut out for this.

 

[Fine Frenzy]

The bullets didn't phase Mak, the few that hit her; the bitch continued to barrel towards the driver. Finally, just as Jodoc decided that Re'gi was going to die, the driver actually drove. Her claws barely missing him, Mak bounded after the driver with incredible speed. The once Mandalorian lowered his assault rifle in defeat, something he had done before. His hands on his hips, sighing, Jodoc jogged to his own, much less pretty swoop.

There, the last of his foot steps ringing throughout the alley, he was confronted with the sharpshooter from the opposite building. At least, Jodoc assumed it was the same sharpshooter. Rifle in his arms, a cigarette resting on his lips, resting on Jodoc's swoop, the sharpshooter gazed at the once Mandalorian from under his cap. The two stood there like that, looking at each other.

"You look tough," the sharpshooter broke the silence. "You kill the beast?"

"No, not yet."

"Shame. I saw your partner head around back, he chasing her?"

"Something like that."

"You best go help him."

"Yeah," Jodoc agreed.

The sharpshooter took his time getting off the swoop, pissing Jodoc the kriff off. Gritting his teeth, the once Mandalorian straddled his stolen stinky swoop. Moving ahead a bit, he stopped, turning back to the sharpshooter.

"While you're here, why don't you check the building for anyone that might still be breathing."

The sharpshooter hmphed.

"If you don't make yourself useful, Yuri Sharp will hear about it," Jodoc finished with a wink.

Speeding away, Jodoc left the sharpshooter to ponder his words. He would be unsure if the bounty hunter, the unknown once Mandalorian, was telling the truth. But if he wasn't stupid, he wouldn't take the risk of not believing Jodoc. He would go through the mauled dead bodies, no breath left in any of them. Jodoc had seen them with his own two eyes. He really kriffing hated it when a brother was a dick.

It wasn't hard to trace Mak's steps, and soon enough he sped up to her and Re'gi, albeit still tagging behind them. Finally, a smart, swell sharpshooter took a shot at Mak, hitting her, causing her to shriek once more. The ugly bitch turned from the driver, making a mad dash to a new darkened building. Jodoc wasn't going to allow that.

Going as fast as he could, he aimed his swoop right where Mak would be. Years of warfare had sure he was prepared for this. Right before the swoop and the beast made impact, like he was sure they would, Jodoc rolled off the swoop hitting the ground hard. He wasn't so sure what would happen from here.

 

[Chairdor]

Jodoc was insane. Re'gi thought for a time that he was insane. He heard the voices of past bounties he collected, calling out for fathers he killed and singing songs that quieted his thoughts and worries. These were passive things however, things he could only deal with with a steady flow of alcohol, drugs, and thrill seeking. What Jodoc was doing was extremely active madness as he road head long towards the massive wounded Ssi-Ruu. At any moment the beast might have turned upon him and fired with one of her weapons or even simply slashed at him with her bone crushing tail or rip into his flesh with her razor sharp teeth. However, she was distracted, enraged, and in unending pain from the shots she had suffered and so keen as her instincts were she turned to face the threat at her back only too late.

Her legs kicked up from under her as she rolled with the speeder that had smashed her balance as it raced beneath her. Airborne Mak cried out in panic, terror, and pain as she looked all around for the source of this. At first she believed herself subject to Sith or Jedi tricks. She had once fought such a warrior with a sword aglow with great power and a mind focused simply on how to utilize it, she had barely made it out of that scrape alive and so the threat of that filled the massive beast with stress and panic. When she realized the mundane means that she had been sent upward with the panic turned to rage as she rolled over the vehicle and caught her footing turning to the two with a vengeful hiss.

Re'gi all the while merely watched this in awe. Then something clicked for him. Perhaps it was a desire to compete, as the maneuver Jodoc performed was on a swoop and he was the best swoop racer in the universe. Maybe it was more to show that he was cut out for this. Perhaps it was to prove that he was crazy...or maybe that he wasn't. Whatever the cause Re'gi gunned the engine on his swoop and cut a path straight for the angry Ssi-Ruu. This time however the near-suicidal maneuver would be far closer to a suicidal maneuver as the beast was ready for an attack like this now. Still Re'gi pressed on, even as the beast roared at him, he increased speed even as it leaped towards him. Then in the final moments when eight hundred pounds of crushing killing force was about to crush him soul and body the racer shifted the swoop horizontally skirting just underneath the leaping reptilian beast.

As Mak landed, dust flying up all around her she sniffed and turned to see the racer speeding off and set to pursue when she realized what she had done. Plain and pure she found herself in the open, exposed on all sides. Turning she saw Jodoc the one who had knocked her up and cause her great harms. Snarling at him she lowered her body realizing escape would only bring more pain or death. Knowing there was no recourse but to remain the predator she rushed her pursuer to show him how quickly the hunter might become the hunted. Teeth dripping with the old blood of those she had eviscerated Mak roared a final roar of strength before leaping at him with claws extended, each razor nail itching to tear through his armor and reach his heart.