Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Am I?” Valek let out a chuckle as he braced himself for another shove. He had worked swiftly so that he could place the vigilante in a corner, but it looked like she had figured out his tactic and was quickly trying to escape the tighter space. “Last time I checked this was my mission. Why are you even here?” He hissed out the words, his own annoyance growing since he had spotted this woman at least twice now while roaming about Jatine. Did she simply find it fun to follow him into these dangerous situations? She wasn’t part of his organization so who was she?!

[Valek 1]

“I know you’re not, but you insisted on swinging your blades at me.” Quipped back Valek. “Keep this up and I may actually believe you’re part of the crew!” He winced as the kick connected and let out a swear whenever the action actually made him stumble backwards, the kick actually causing him to lose balance. When did I piss off On’os so that this woman would keep showing up!? She was making such a simple mission so much more complicated! It was one thing to fight the smugglers now, but another thing entirely to let them do their thing so that he could track it back to the source.

[Valek 2]

A sigh left Valek’s lips. This frustrating woman and her impatience made him nearly lose his own. “Because if I don’t they can’t be properly tracked to their partner. What are you planning to do? Just tie them up and hope someone comes along that can properly report it?” He replied with a slight roll of his gaze, the hybrid pushing away from the crate he had brushed up against while stumbling backwards. Despite the very sharp swords in her hands, Valek had put his back into their sheathes so that he could grab at her wrist. “Can’t you at least take a moment to listen?” What type of vigilante menace was this woman!?

[Valek 3]

“I slipped away once.” Replied Valek with another eyeroll, his grip loosening as Xylia brushed him off but stayed still. “The tavern was crowded and honestly you were really annoying me by trying to interfere with my surveillance of a target. The second time you set a fire and then left me to pick up the mess.” His voice was low, his gaze fierce as he spat the words as loudly as he dared considering their current situation. “If you turn them over now then we can’t gather enough evidence. It’s obvious they have dummy papers, I’ve dealt with this particular type before.” He explained. It was best to just catch the corrupted noble with his hand in the actual candy jar…so to speak. Valek had a plan, if only this woman would stop and listen! Which admittedly she was listening….as wary as the thought made him.

[Valek 4]

“Easy. I catch up to the ship and tag along while leaving breadcrumbs for the authorities.” Valek expressed with a smirk, noticing that the vigilante’s blades had lowered to her sides instead of being aimed directly at his throat like usual. “They have a hidden drop off location and finding it is crucial. The paperwork on board will probably be normal trades like spices and such, but the real cargo is hidden beneath that with more evidence and the sponsor waiting at the true dropoff.”

[Valek 5]

“Will you stop?” Valek let out a hiss of frustration as he took a step towards the vigilante. “Just come with me and we’ll get on the boat. I can hide us.” He admitted as he reached for her wrist again, acting reckless to try and make a point as he dragged her forward. Shadows seemingly pulled away from the ground to wrap around them and the air around them seemed different as if all sound was getting bounced away as well. Valek led Xylia past a stack of crates and a couple of last second smugglers who were rushing towards the ramp without even pausing as the pair of hybrids kept moving forward.

[Valek 6]

A knowing look crossed Valek’s features, the hybrid amused at the obvious reaction to his abilities. He did hate revealing that he could pull shadows, but it was necessary in this situation since the vigilante was refusing to listen to him and he had to bring her along. Slipping past the upper decks was easy enough and Valek already knew about a spot on the ship that the smugglers would ignore, the bottom storage room useless when they were actually just stowing some illegal materials across the port to some meet-up between Jatine and Matori. There was no true ocean voyage for this vessel, just the illusion of one. Eventually he found the door and after glancing around, the shadow user quickly picked the lock and ushered the vigilante inside with him where he promptly closed the door and made certain that they were safely hidden before pulling back his abilities. “And here we are.”

[Valek 7]