Wandering the Sewers (open)

[Tessek]

A man strode out of a bar into the flow of traffic moving under the ever-present glow of the signs and the shadow of the imposing skyscrapers. This was Coruscant. The world-city. Capital of the New Republic.
He walked past and through the crowds, hardly noticing the people as they passed him, every face just blurring into the others, as he headed towards the elevators to the lower levels.
He looked over the schedule and headed towards the elevator going down to the lowest level he could find. It was a long ride, lasting several minutes, but finally the elevator slowed and stopped with a slight bump.
He looked around at his new surroundings, the dim lights, seedy establishments, no sky. He headed down the street, trying to find his way to a staircase to the underbelly of the city.
He reached the staircases and, glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he strode down them and into the darkness.

[Tessek]

He descended through darkness for what seemed an eternity before he finally came to a door. He studied it. There seemed to be no obvious way to open it, and he wondered if there was a warning sign. Finally, seeing no other way, he pulled out his blaster, and fired at the center of the door. There was a bang, and then a hiss of superheated metal. He saw by the brief light of the red hot metal that he was in a small room, and then there was a space in the door.
He stepped through into the sewers.

[Tessek]

The air stank. It was like a wall, slamming into him. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and then he continued onward.
He was in a tunnel, a long tunnel. Off in the distance he could see a curve, and as he walked he saw more tunnels branching off from his. He finally came to a stop in front of one tunnel. Looking down it, listening carefully, he slowly started to walk down it.
Suddenly there was a sound that that staretd off very quiet and then built in intensity. He realized it was feet, running feet.
Slowly it faded into the opposite direction.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna was simmering full of raw, heated anger from the argument she had just had with her brother. Why didn't he ever understand that she had needs and wants too?

'We never have the money,' he always said.

She knew better though. That was just an excuse so he could hoard it like a greedy punk that he was. He was always leaving her going on his 'expeditions' to uncover history.

If it was hidden history then it had obviously been hidden for a reason. Sometimes history shouldn't be uncovered, she knew that much.

She climbed down a ladder and as she stepped down onto the sewer floor, she immediately found herself standing in a couple centimeters in some green looking sludge. Nearby, she could hear the faint drip of the water off the cieling of the sewer tunnels.

It was strange she knew to be down here in the sewers alone. Yet the silence it usually provided was strangely comforting to her...

She was wearing a red t-shirt and some khaki cargo pants. Not her best ones, but ones that looked alright on her. She knew she shouldn't get them dirty, but they could always get washed.

She gently put a hand on the circular wall of the sewer to balance herself. Incase she fell, she would have at least some form of support.

She heard her boots splash quietly beneath her as she walked along the sewer, heading to a quiet place she had found during another time she had been down here.

[Tessek]

As the steps faded, he slid around a corner in the wall and looked cautiously down the tunnel. Nothing. He was sure he'd heard something, but whatever it was, it was gone now.
He continued down the tunnel, knowing that what, or perhaps who, he was seeking was down here.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna continued on, the light splashing of the water echoing down the tunnel as she walked lightly.

She suddenly stopped, hearing something in the distance, growing louder. It sounded like faint footsteps...

Her hand immediately went to her side where she felt a small vibroblade shethed. "W-who's there?" She asked cautiously, gazing around anxiously as her voice echoed outwards.

[Tessek]

The silence was only broken by the occasionaly drip-drip of water falling to the tunnel floor and the faint sound of his boots hitting the floor when he suddenly heard a voice call out, echoing and doubling. He pulled himself up against the wall, his dark clothing blending into the wall. That was not the voice of the person he'd come to find. Did someone follow him? He had been so sure he had been unseen
The voice came from up ahead, but his quarry was also in that direction.
He continued on, throwing knife in hand.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna felt her heart pound loudly in her ribcage. So loud she thought that it might echo off the tunnel walls.

She went a little further to where the tunnels forked off in two different directions. She stopped again, ignoring the occasional dripping of the water that fell to pitter quietly on the tunnel floor. She heard footsteps. She could confirm that, dispite the pounding of her blood that she also felt and heard in her ears.

She reached for her vibroblade, quietly drawing it out. Since there was no light down here, it didn't gleam or shine, so it would be hidden easily, that was sure. She rounded the corner, her vibroblade infront of her as she saw the outline of a figure walking towards her.

"W-who're you?" She asked, in a voice that sounded a lot more sure than she felt.

[Tessek]

He'd been seen. This was not what he'd planned. He froze, quickly going through his options. Kill her, it would be easy to hide body. But that might bring up unwanted questions, what if someone was waiting for her? Came looking for her? It was too risky. He realized the safest thing to do would be to flee in the other direction, but he needed to get by her. Using the darkness as cover, he slid the black mask he had carried with him into place, disguising both his features and his voice, and replied.
"I am myself. A better question would be, who are you? And how did you come to be here?"

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna bit her lip, thinking of a reply. "I am myself as well." She answered back. "I just come here for peace and quiet and to be alone sometimes. Now why are you here?"

[Tessek]

He furtively glanced around her, and was rewarded by the sight of empty space. It seemed she was alone. He would have to get by her somehow, so he decided to continue telling the truth.
"I am tracking something. I need to get to it. Either step out of my way, or I shall be forced to do something un-gentlemanly."

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna put her hands up and stepped to the side of the tunnel. "Be my guest. I didn't come down here for confrontations anyway."

[Tessek]

He looked at her carefully before deciding that she was telling the truth, and walked swiftly past her. He din't look back, but he was almost sure they would encounter one another before again before he was done.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna felt him brush past her slightly and without turning around to gaze at him again, she continued on. She found one exit and climbed up a ladder that extended downwards.

She sat on a nearby block of hardened duracrete and closing her eyes she sank deeper into her thoughts and how she was going to get passage out of the lower levels and make it big with the Upper population of Coruscant as a singer.

[Tessek]

OOC: I'm sorry it took me so long, I've been busy lately
IC: He strode deeper into the dark tunnels under the city, already beginning to forget the encounter with the girl, when he heard something far ahead. A manhole, leading out of the sewer. Or in.

[Bronson]

Someone had left the manhole lid open and in a twisted way Bronson deemed it his responsibility to find out why. Something was going on down there and he was going to find out. He crept silently to the hole and slid himself gently through landing lightly on the duracrete floor.

Too loud. He thought to himself while staying still for a moment to make no more follow up noises. Quietly he crept along the wall keepign his eyes peeled for anything. He came to a corner and he as slowed his approach he heard a footstep eleswhere. Silently but quickly he withdrew his vibroblade. Whatever it was, it was going to be dead in a only a few seconds.

[Tessek]

Black cloak and mask hiding him in the shadows he slipped forward, deciding that the slight flap and slosh of his boots wading through the muck of the sewer would not be nough to give him away. He knew that sound was not his imagination, he'd spent too much time tracking things to be fooled by the lack of noise afterwards. Only...only, whatever, or more likely whoever, it was must be at least as skilled as he, if not more so. He decided it would be wise to retrace his steps. Backing up, he walked as quickly as possible back to where he encountered the girl, searching for a alternate route. Finding one, he dropped the pretense of quiet and ran down it, knowing the echoes would distort the sound and possibly, hopefully, distract or mislead whoever it was in the tunnels with him.
He continued on down the muck.

[Bronson]

Bronson rounded the corner and gave it a look around with his eyes. He couldn't see anything and the echoing sloshes weren't easy to follow. He paused for a moment to allow for his functions to switch from his organic to those provided with the mask. Things were becoming much more clear now. He continued to run down the sewers, making plenty of noise. The mask was identifying the sound waves and where they were coming from. It couldn't tell him where they originated, but he could figure that out on his own. The whole way he followed where the waves seemed strongest. Then something new came up. The mask was picking up a scent, not from his current prey (who had little scent at all) but rather a more feminine scent.

[Tessek]

He heard whatever it was coming behind him and he realized that the echo trick hadn't worked. His estimation of the tracker's skills rose another notch and he slowed down, flattening himself against the wall. Waiting. Suddenly the sounds of his pursuer stopped.

EDIT- OOC I don't think Arianna is subscribed to this thread anymore, so we may have to just keep going without her.

[Bronson]

As he neared closer to the source of the feminine scent he realized it was just perfume lingering in the air; regardless some woman was down here at some point. Finally the noise stopped, all he could pick up was the rushing water from pipes to the muck below. The target had stopped moving or left the sewers. Bronson stopped himself and stood for a moment deciding the best course of action. He decided to walk towards where he thought he had last traced the origin of the sounds to be, nothing was there. Perhaps he made a mistake, he continued walking without a hint of where his prey had gone to. At the intersection where his chances of finding the target dropped to 25% he stood looking carefully down each hallway and listening for the slightest breath.

[Tessek]

He knew that his follower was only a little bit behind him now, and he frantically wracked his brain for some way out of this. He had a mission, and he was going to accomplish it. An idea suddenly came to him. He searched quickly through his jacket, and, finding what he needed, he pushed in a button and ran.
The shockwave produced by the little device pushed him off his feet for a minute, but he knew it wasn't fatal. Just a distraction.
Ignoring the ringing in his ears caused by the device, he ran as fast as could down the sewers again. He knew he only had a hand full of minutes to do whatever he was going to do.

[Bronson]

Bronson had been tracking primarily the sound waves when he was ambushed by a flood of very loud ones. His sensors were now overloaded and it took him a minute to adjust. Though it was only a minute, it still cost him. He had no clear signal from where his prey had gone to. He crept quietly using his infrared sensors now to pick up any heat, but he wasn't coming across any bodies.

He rounded a corner now as he reached the source of the sound waves. The overwhelming pulse of the waves was distorting his view through any of his sensors. He was very vulnerable now and it showed as he looked confusedly around with his natural eyes to find the source of the disturbing signal.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

((I'm still here.))

Arianna heard some splashing and hurried footsteps which could only mean one thing. She wasn't alone anymore. She had thought that the man had left, but perhaps he hadn't? Maybe he had hurried back?

The footsteps somehow sounded different though... as if the person making them was a different weight.

She stiffened, knowing she had to get out of here... She clammered down the ladder, being careful of the slimy ladder rungs on the way down.

She landed and as quietly as she could, began hurrying in the direction she remembered to have come from. She crossed a few forks in the sewers, ranking her memory banks for the ones she had taken and going with the ones she was pretty sure she had taken to get here, as she continued to hurry where she thought the exit closest to home was.

[Tessek]

Dodging down random branchings and turns, he finally found himself at a door. Panting, he suddenly realized this what he had been searching for. He tried the latch and made a soft clucking sound with his tongue. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
He pulled out his lock pick, and hoped he had enough time to avoid the one following him.

[Bronson]

Bronson came to a halt as he reached a fork in his path. The ladder nearby had obviously been used recently, within the past few minutes. However, following downt he hallway was where the first target had seemily gone. If he could have both, he would take them. But who was saying he couldn't have them both?

As he staired at the footprints on the slimy ladder he easily recognized them to belong to a feminine shoe, so far he was under the impression that his first target was a male. The secondary target was a female of significantly less skill that the first, easier to capture.

He dropped down into the next tunnel and began running at a quickened pace. No need for stealth anymore, the girl wouldn't be able to run away from him or hide; surprise wouldn't help him here. There was also a secondary purpose of making noise as he persued the girl, the first target would realize Bronson had stopped tracking him and possibly follow Bronson as he chased the girl. This would be ideal.

As he stormed down the sewer he began to see with his natural eyes the girl running as quickly as possible. Tranquilizer would do well enough for this target. He loaded his gun and shot at her aiming for her leg, not enough to knock her out, but rather keep her from running anymore.

[Arianna Starstreaker]

Arianna heard footsteps, hurrying behind her and streaks of fear ran throughout her, creating shivers down her spine. She began breathing hard as she ran, not used to the stuffy environment of the sewers. She could run alright but not for very long... The man or creature or whatever it was pursuing her was catching up.

A sudden pain shot through her ankle. Crying out she tried to hurry a few more steps before feeling a sudden numbness in her leg.

She fell forward sliding along the wet, grimy ground for a few feet and then coming to a halt.

Her leg felt all tingly and numb as if she had rested it in the wrong position or suddenly dipped it into a frozen pond.

She tried to stand, but found it wouldn't hold her up, so she sat up and looked at the man hurrying towards him. In the figures hand sat a gun. A gun that she couldn't quite distinguish, but knew that whatever stunning mechanism had numbed her leg, had come from that gun.

She looked up at him, trying not to shake with the fear that she felt. He was covered in body armour and despite the low quality of light, his helmet seemed to shine and gleam while firearms and other weapons glittered on his belt.

"W-who're you?" She tried to sound demanding, but she managed to mumble it out, not managing to hide a lot of her fear.

[Tessek]

He heard the pursuer change direction mere seconds after the door finally swung open. He debated within himself for a minute as to why the pursuer had stopped. But he had a target to take care of as well. He started to walk through the door when he heard a loud yell. A feminine yell. Followed by a splash.
It must be the girl. He had been sure she would get out of the sewers, but whatever this person following him was after, he was sure that the girl would be hurt as collateral.
He heaved a sigh and turned back the way he had come, knowing that was likely what the pursuer wanted him to do.


NOTE- I'm going to be away for 16 days as of tomorrow (Wednesday, August 11) and I won't be able to post. I encourage you guys to keep going with the RP, if you like, while I'm away.