Ask Coruscant I Fought the Law

[Sinder]

The Togorian grunted loudly. He was bound in the back of a tiny enclosed airspeeder, likely en route to the nearest Coruscant Police Department precinct; light coursing through tiny gaps in the barred windows. In between flashes of white, red and blue - almost certainly seeping through from the nightlife of the Coruscanti lower levels, the sounds of a living, breathing city could be heard outside, as could a cacophony of traffic. Looking to-and-fro, there wasn't an obvious way out of this one, at first, at least. The back doors were bolted shut, and it would take an extraordinary feat of strength to kick them through. His binds were tough, too. "Hmph.", he grunted again, as if looking for a way out of this fix. Through the grating to his left, one could faintly see the long handle of his Electroripper Staff, stowed away on the back seats.

Looking around, he wasn't alone, though that wasn't important right now - he had to find a way out of here. The rattling of the airspeeder indicated that this was an older model, and that perhaps it wasn't as sturdy as if it were one of the more fancy models, utilised on the higher up levels of Coruscant. As if to relax himself, he flexed his fingertips, razor-sharp claws peeked out, before sliding back into their sheathes. Grunting once more, he pulled on his binds fruitlessly, as if just for the sake of proving to himself that whatever way they were getting out of this mess, they were doing so violently, or at least loudly. With that, he stomped onto the ground, causing the airspeeder to sway somewhat left-and-right, his sheer weight and strength rattling the footplate on the floor of the speeder itself. "Hey!", a loud, vocoded voice shouted from the front of the cabin. "Do that again, and we're stunning, got it?". The Togorian only grunted again, before shrugging to his companion, sat on the other side of the airspeeder's interior holding section.

 

[U9-I3 'Happy']

Opposite of the Togorian sat a somewhat beat-up U9-XX series droid, likewise bound by its wrists. The droid was calmer than his organic counterpart, just staring at the feline with its white-glowing photo-receptor. The droid remained silent for most of the trip, occasionally scanning the interior of the airspeeder for any answer to their predicament - but to no avail. The footplate shook, causing instability in the droid's sitting posture as his feet were attached to it via magnets. Eventually, the automaton turned to the Cather, bluntly speaking up, "Additional change of ownership is not ideal. High risk of memory wipe.".

The droid detached its feet from the loose footplate, looking back over to the door, then back to Sinder. "They forgot the restraining bolt.", the droid spoke in a lower volume over to its owner, hinting at something as it motioned to the door. "Analysis indicates low structural integrity."

 

[Sinder]

As the Droid spoke, the Togorian seemed to almost purr happily, smirking and revealing a toothy maw. He nodded slowly, practically chuckling beneath his breath, as if realising exactly what Happy meant by his analysis. Getting there wasn't going to be pleasant, seeing as they were both rather large, especially Sinder. Being eight-and-a-half feet tall had its benefits, but those weren't all that helpful when crammed into the back of a speeder normally sized for humans. A Wookiee would have struggled to sit in here, let alone him, who had at least another foot on most Wookiees. Regardless, if they both laid on their backs and kicked the back doors at the same time, they'd probably be able to kick it through. His smile was short lived, however.

He looked back to the droid and grunted. "Hmph. We're going to need some way of getting our kriffin' things back.", he said below his breath. With that, he looked to the grating between them and their weapons. He smiled again. "Here's the plan.". He leant in closer, whispering with a purr into the Droid's audioreceptors. "We kick the back door down. You use your magnetic feet things to step around the side of the speeder, rip the door off or rip it open or something. Toss the driver out, grab our stuff, and come back to me. Then, once I'm geared up, we can use my grapple line to get out of here, got it?". With that, he purred a smile once more, emitting a foul, deep laugh.

 

[Yamizee]

The two convicts heard the noise of a woman clearing her voice. Annoyed. Upon further inspection it was revealed she was nor one of the arresting officers nor a figment of their imagination. She was in the back with them. Squashed inbetween the Togorian and the airspeeder itself. "If you don't mind.", she spoke in a vexed tone as she tried to free some space, "You've been flattening me for the last five minutes."

She cracked her neck from side to side and rolled her shoulders once she was no longer pancaked. The size difference between herself and the Togorian was comical. Over three foot taller and weighing over triple her weight; it'd be safe to say she was justified in her annoyance. Regardless, she eyed the Togorian, speaking "And where am I in this plan?"

 

[U9-I3 'Happy']

The airspeeder dipped for a second, shaking the entire crew momentarily, likely avoiding another reckless driver in the busy traffic of Coruscant. The engine howled, picking up lost speed again as the droid looked over to the woman, seizing her up and down for a good minute. "Adding unknown variable to plan. Calculating... Chance of success, estimated at 70%.", the droid spoke in its monotone voice, standing up. The speeder shook once more, but the droid was safely locked onto the metallic footplates this time.

"ETA: 6 minutes. Running escape protocol.", it continued, eyeing the blast door that stood between the band of misfits and freedom.
"Master Sinder, requesting breach. Additional request for advice regarding restraints." The droid had adjusted its volume as it spoke; making sure that it remained audible within the confines of the prisoner transport, yet drowned out for the driver by the sound of the multitude of vehicles whizzing past the police escort.

 

[Sinder]

As the Togorian finally began to take account of the other currently held prisoners in the back of the airspeeder, he rolled his eyes with a grunt. He too, sized up the Arkanian Offshoot, looking over her features and anything that she might've had on her person that would have been of use. "I don't see you bringing anything to the party, missy. Not unless you're strong enough to kick down these doors... Once we've broken out you're welcome to leave and shower us with praise...". Sinder, did look strong enough to kick down the doors, at least when assisted by Happy.

He looked back to Happy, whispering somewhat in his direction again. "We'll be fine. Once we've got our gear back, we can cut these kriffin' restraints off us using my Ripper after. Got it?". With that, he rolled off the seat, taking up much of the floor, but leaving just enough space for Happy to lay beside him. With that, he brought his knees up to his chest, and prepared to kick at the centremost part of the doors, where they'd be weakest. As soon as Happy laid down beside him, that would be it, he'd kick out forward, slamming his feet into the doors and presumably, kicking them open... Unless something happened beforehand...

@cabbo

 

[Yamizee]

Sat with both her arms and legs crossed, she listened along to the Togorian with nothing but a deadpan look on her face. She seemed unamused. With a roll of her eyes, she eventually spoke up, "Cover your ears, brute. 'Less you fancy deafness along with your stupidity."

With that, the Arkanian Offshoot leaned off of her seated position and angled her arm towards the door. Her face buried into her shoulder and eyes clenched shut, she triggered her wrist-mounted repulsor. Instantly, a powerful localised blast akin to that of a sonic boom went off within the airspeeder and the door itself flew off into the Coruscanti abyss. Yamizee herself had the wind knocked out of her as she was sent off her feet and into the opposite door of the air car. She grunted, waving a hand to the now-open gap where the door used to be, "All yours."

 

[Mateo Serrano]

Mateo gently peered up towards the speeder as it shook, he muttered "What the Bantha Crap?" as he pressed the pedal on his speeder down gently catching up to the Coruscant Police Speeder. He arrived towards the speeder until suddenly the door got blasted off he jerked to the right avoiding the door as he peered inside.

"Kriff is goin' on here boys?" He looked towards the woman, "And gals."

 

[The Storyteller]

With the woman's repulsor being set off, the doors exploded backwards, blowing backwards off the airspeeder and hurtling out towards the world below. The airspeeder slowed briefly, before speeding, sirens now on, barrelling towards the nearest Police Precinct as fast as possible. In the blink of an eye, the Coruscanti Police that were previously aggressive and seemed at least to have some kind of bravado, were now evidently frightened. One false move and they were going to collide with a building, another airspeeder, or the ground.

It didn't take long. The officers in the car readied their weapons for what was sure to come next, and distant sirens indicated that perhaps, additional support was on the way...

 

[U9-I3 'Happy']

The droid watched the entire scene unfold, surprisingly unfazed by the repulsor blast - or at very least its feet remained in place. It 'yelled' out in confirmation; "Chance of success, currently at 90%. Escape protocol initiated!" as it began moving to the edge of the exit with heavy steps, and then further.

From the inside, it seemed to have tumbled off the airspeeder, but anyone outside saw what was going on.

The droid, tightly secured to the craft with its magnetic feet, began to slowly walk along the belly of the beast, the wind howling past its metallic chassis as it ducked, avoiding an oncoming vehicle by a split second. It continued to make its way to the front of the police escort, eventually emerging at the cockpit of it. The footplate the Togorian had loosened earlier, seems to still be attached to the droid's right sole, just barely allowing the magnet to still lock onto the speeder.

 

[Sinder]

The Togorian smiled as the plan began to take shape, with Happy now walking along the underside of the police airspeeder. Chances are, he was going to struggle to disarm both officers, and furthermore, they still needed a way out of here once things escalated further. As such, he grunted, turning back towards the grating preventing the group from accessing their weaponry, aiming off his right hand towards it. Thankfully, his bracers had not been taken from him, and the binds on his wrists gave him just enough space to push the activator that he was looking for.

With a familiar whipping sound, his grapple line shot forth, sinking itself deeply into the headrest of the driver seat, before violently ripping his arm back. With a single motion, he pulled the headrest free, sending the headrest into the officer in the back seats, slamming it against his face and knocking him out. At least now, there was only one that Happy would have to deal with. After that, he recoiled the grapple line, pulling it back through the grating and shooting it into the roofing of the airspeeder, right into the portion just shy of where the doors opened up, leading onto the deathly fall below. With that, he looked to the Arkanian Offshoot. "We've got to slow this thing down, so I suggest you hold onto me.". He extended his huge arm outwards, and encouraged her to hold on; given that he was clearly about to leap out of the back of the airspeeder.

@cabbo

 

[Yamizee]

By the time Happy had found himself on the underside of the airspeeder, Yamizee had already returned to her allocated seat with her legs crossed. She was rubbing the back of her head, wincing as she caressed the newfound bruise on the back of her skull. The repulsor, despite having its many advantages, still possessed an amazing knack for causing more pain and discomfort to the user than the target.

Luckily she'd escaped with just a bruise this time.

Turning her head upwards, she found herself listening to the Togorian again, and like before, was unimpressed. Looking back and forth between the tree trunk of an arm and her immediate surroundings, it was clear she was tallying her options. She came to a conclusion.

"Fine.", she responded resentfully. She gripped onto the arm, uttering "You better not drop me."

 

[Mateo Serrano]

Serrano began to squint his eyes as he looked upon the situation loudly talking to himself with a hint of curiosity, "What the hell are they planning..?" he set his speeder to a sort of auto-pilot phase as he continued to look upon the situation.

Suddenly he seemed to have a metaphorical light bulb ding in his head "Oh crik, don't tell me you're planning to jump at that speed!" He yelled out beginning to raise his hand while trying to look both towards the Police speeder and traffic ahead incase the auto pilot decided to go crazy.


Finally with a deep breath and his hand fully raised the Speeder appeared to begin slowing down attempting to help where he could. This took a fair bit of concentration and would take a good chunk of time before the speeder came to a full stop due to its velocity and the man being an above average Force user at best.

"There ya' go, not much but it'll help!" He yelled out once more before looking ahead having to use his free hand to jerk the steering wheel of the speeder down avoiding slamming into oncoming traffic.

 

[U9-I3 'Happy']

The police speeder came to a slow halt as Happy had made its way in front of the cockpit, the gust of wind ceasing to blow past him. The droid eventually climbed upwards, beginning to tower over the driver as they looked on in utter confusion and desperation. The cityscape of Coruscant was no longer visible, and the droid was casting a big, intimidating shadow over the poor officer. However, before he could have reacted, the droid raised its foot, the footplate from the interior still attached to the underside, and smashed it into the glass with a loud crack.

The metal plate was now tightly embedded into the reinforced glass, blocking the driver's view entirely at this point. The droid detached the magnetic clamp, raising its foot again before sending it down once more. This time, with both its mechanical prowess and the assisted acceleration of the magnet at work.

The glass shattered. The footplate crashed right into the officer's face. The blow wasn't fatal in the slightest. The window had absorbed most of the blow. The driver was stunned at most. But murder wasn't part of the plan in the first place. Another kick made sure the person was put out of commission temporarily.

The droid's speaker let out a familiar DING DING DING that echoed through the vehicle, oddly similar to the sound of a boxing match coming to end.

"K.O."

 

[Sinder]

As the sound of glass shattering became audible, Sinder jumped. The Arkanian Offshoot had latched onto his huge arm, and for a few seconds that felt like minutes, they were in free-fall. Then, they began to tighten the grapple line. Due to the intense pressure being put on the very back of the airspeeder and the weight of the two combined, the lip of the speeder began to lift, with Happy still stood atop it. Despite the strain on his arm and the remarkably frightening situation, all Sinder could do was laugh. His slight grunting and chuckling was undoubtedly unsettling to Yamizee, who was now dangling alongside him, ten feet below the bottom of the airspeeder in direct traffic. Despite the fact that the airspeeder was travelling significantly slower, it was still hundreds of storeys up, and a fall would have been a death sentence.

”You better hold on.”. He grunted loudly, still gripping onto her, the grapple line wrapped around his forearms to accommodate for the fact he was still bound. They were now well and truly in the danger zone. Every so often Sinder would have to pull his legs up to avoid another airspeeder zooming towards him, and all he could do now was wait, praying that Happy could get his weapons to him, and that they could find an opportunity to leap off. Or maybe, Happy would be able to somehow commandeer the vehicle. Who knew?

 

[Yamizee]

A crippling fear of heights definitely wasn't the best thing to have in this situation. She was practically clawing the Togorian with how tight she was gripping. It'd take nothing short of a crowbar to pry those fingers off. How long she could hang before her arms gave out was a different question however. She counted the seconds in her head.

Opting to look down for a moment, she was filled with an all too familiar dread that came with such a drop. Instead of confronting it, she chose to close her eyes.

"Your droid better know what it's doing."

 

[The Storyteller]

As the Togorian and Arkanian Offshoot leapt from the back carriage of the airspeeder, essentially acting as a counterweight for the vehicle, the front of the vehicle did indeed leap upwards. Thankfully for the droid, his magnetic feet kept him attached to the airspeeder itself, ensuring he wasn't flung from the hood. It was slowed significantly, now. Almost to a total halt, due to the combined efforts of the Togorian and the Force Sensitive human acting in tandem - though pushing too far could result in the vehicle tipping over, and sending them all to their doom.

The sirens in the distance grew louder still. They didn't have much time. They needed to grab their gear, or abandon it, and fast. Their binds were still posing an issue, too. Only a skilled slicer, or the keycards on the belts of the officers would allow them to free themselves. Roughly at level 1600, the group were still far from anything to land on... Unless... A balcony nearby, roughly two levels above them. Could they find a way of getting up to it, then running? They'd still need a proper way of escaping after that, and their faces were almost certainly known for now. Thankfully, they hadn't actually committed any murders, and so any pursuing officers likely wouldn't open fire lethally.... For now.

 

[Mateo Serrano]

Mateo nearly slipped as his hold on the speeder with just the force weakened he said "Kriff it." as he let the autopilot fully take over reverting his head towards the Coruscant Police Speeder as he brought his right hand off the wheel as to lift it with both. Soon the speeder began to level out as he concentrated his speeder nearly getting torn apart by oncoming traffic his speeder just barely missed on multiple occasions. Until finally his speeder was grazed causing the Coruscant speeder to slightly tilt. Mateo just barely got his grip back jerking the wheel to the right counteracting the spinning.

"It'd be nice if you could hurry this up before I get turned into a pile of mush," he shouted out continuing to hold onto the speeder with the grip of the force keeping it in check.

 

[U9-I3 'Happy']

The speeder tilted upwards, raising Happy even further into the sky. With the driver being unconscious, and time running out, the droid began pushing past the shattered cockpit window, tearing down more glass as it worked itself towards the driver. It was awkward and tight in there, but eventually, the U9 droid managed to relocate the officer next to his fellow absent-minded colleague onto the backseat, taking over the cockpit, and with it, the airspeeder as a whole.

In the meanwhile, the vehicle continued to fly, slowly drifting towards oncoming traffic. It took the droid a while to get an overview of the controls, but with a little bit of guessing, and a whole bunch of luck, it managed to find the button that brought the entire vehicle to a sudden stop. It shook at the sudden change of momentum, stopping to an idle hover within a second.

With the second hurdle out of the way, the droid turned, beginning its search for the equipment.

It squeezed past the seat towards the backrow, struggling to navigate past the two live bodies. The droid gave them a good shove, squeezing them uncomfortably further into the corner of the backseat.

And there they were. The party's priced possessions. The automaton immediately reached for the Longblaster, slinging it over its shoulder and reattaching its vibroblade knife to a small clip next to the droid's hip. It then reached for the Electroripper staff, opening the backseat door.

"Target acquired.", Happy signaled to Sinder below, before tossing it, along with any other equipment that was still on the backseat, down towards the dangling couple.

 

[Sinder]

"No!", the Togorian yelled out in fury, as his personal effects hurtled towards him. For a second, he evidently forgot his priorities, half-dropping Yamizee as he clawed out, grasping for the Electroripper Staff, then wrapping the arm back around her and pulling her in close, to prevent her from falling. He gasped frantically, clearly not anticipating anything that was happening there and then. Regardless, he had her. Just. He didn't even speak, clearly feeling bad for almost letting the woman fall, and for a second or two, prioritising a weapon over her wellbeing. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. His repeating blaster falling past him, where it would surely be lost forever. He sighed deeply.

With a click, then a loud hum, the male Togorian flipped the Electroripper Staff to life, allowing the element to heat up and cut their binds free. Looking deeply into the female's eyes for a second, he grunted and spoke with a growl. "Trust me, don't flail.". With that, he released her, and lowered the Electroripper Staff, allowing her to freefall alongside him, given that he'd released the grapple line from above them both. After what would feel like a lifetime, though in reality was only a second or two, he grasped her again, before making contact with an airspeeder at his feet. As he did so, he slammed the base of the Electroripper Staff into the hood, causing a large shockwave, throwing them both upwards towards the balcony. All the while, the grapple line was quickly snaking its way back inside the bracer, until, just as he hit the apex of the leap, it clicked, signalling it was ready to be used again. With a quick flourish of his wrist and a tap of the bracer, the grapple line fired aloft once more, hooking them onto the aforementioned balcony, and saving them - for now...