FIRST LOVE, LAST SHOT: SEASON CONCLUSION
MOOD MUSICL Dragon Knight - Chrono Cross OST
A silver ship comes by while Callista and Markus are by the Viscaran Pyre. A man with blond hair and a gentleman demeanor comes out and, thought clearly violating air space, is clearly in a hurry. Marcus may recognize the man as Darian.
“Markus! I’m glad you’re here. I was hoping to find you and some others before it’s too late.”
The smuggler takes a deep drag of the cigarette between his fingers and puffs out a billowing cloud of smoke.
“Darien, guessing you’re in need of a no-name scumbag to take on some other no-name scumbags?”
Callista looks up with surprise, glancing to Markus a moment as the smuggler recognizes and addresses the man by name. Then, her gold-flecked eyes turn back to him with realization. “This is Darian? As in from the Mon Cala consulate?”
“Yes, Markus. This is it. Miss Mana has gone ahead, but we found out the boss knew of our arrival. We think the datapad that Qyilisc found for us two days ago was bugged. We messed up. She’s in there with a legend of death. And yes, Miss. I am Darian from the Mon Calamari Consulate, the second to Bernie, Intelligence agent and former War Hero. I need you and perhaps your friend to come with me now to get ahead on this. I would be…amiss to see harm come to Miss Mana.”
Markus swears and tosses his cigarette into the dirt and stomps it out
“Guess it was too much to think something wouldn’t go ploin-shaped.”
Drawn out of whatever thoughts she was lost in while taking in Darian and his appearance, Callista stands up quickly from the bench and throws on her cloak that was sitting loosely to one side. “If Sandra’s in trouble then you can count me in, I’ll help however I can! My name’s Callista.”
“Thank you, friends. Come, quick!”
They dart on to the silver ship to see Bernie and two Mon Cal Regulars in the ship. Bernie stands and nods to the pair on the ship and goes to give a SitRep
“Everyone, the situation is dire. Larran Deska, the leader of the WaveRunners was waiting for us. The matter is that we sent Sandra in deal with the situation and end this, but what we didn’t realize was that we made a fatal error. Sandra sent one last message quickly before cutting comms and going Black. We think she’s in waiting or hiding while things are plotted on our end. Either that or… No… best not to assume the worst yet. We’re going to drop you off on Mon Cal’s Manor a few clicks from the City’s main port hotel.”
Bernie runs a hand through his sleek hair and looks down
“I dont know what you can all expect, but it won’t be good. They are cornered and we’re riding everything on this Op. You can still say no. But if you’re coming, I hope you’ll give it your all and realize that death is the last option for anyone.”
He plays Sandra’s Message “Bernie… I apologize. I did not realize their datapad was bugged after the sweeps. Leave me here. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll leave the back open so you can check in later when they are gone… i’m sorry.”
Darian looks down and grips his knees
Markus runs a hand through his hair and lets out a breath
“Save the world” Sandra…eh?" He says shaking his head
“I’m in…if nothing else then to go chew her out for telling us to leave her behind.”
Callista’s jaw tightens as she listens to the message. She looks to the others and nods.
“I’m in too. We’re not leaving her alone in there, but we have to trust that she can hold out until we get to her. The manor; is that their base of operations? What do we know about it?”
“This is their last manor. It’s three floors of narcotics, slaves, and more. They are planning to move to another planet and they need to be stopped now or we’ll never find them again in this decade. The manor is old and almost archaic in a way. It’s practically falling apart so I cant say it’s sound in structure. There’s nothing unique about the Manor though.”
“What about entrances? Is there roof access, do we know which way Sandra went in?”
“We’ll drop you off a few meters from the ‘back’ that was mentioned. This was the operational way in for her. We’re all going and we’ll get this done together.”
“Any last questions?”
“We taking anyone in or is this weapons free? If so any chance we could just gas the place beforehand?”
“Take no prisoners. They will shoot first and ask no questions. And we don’t have enough gas to breach every inch of the house in the Mon Cal Morning Ocean Breeze.”
Markus nods and checks the pistol on his hip
“Understood.”
Glancing down to the lightsaber at her hip, and the rose-gold plated foil next to it, Callista takes a soft breath.
“So this isn’t an infiltration anymore, this is a raid and rescue. Right?”
“This is a ‘do everything we can to stop them’ raid. If they get away, they will cause a blight on the universe for the next decade. People will be taken from their homes, families displaced, races dispersed for use, and more. This ends today… or not at all.”
“Then we hold nothing back.” Callista nods, looking to Markus.
He eyes Callista, perhaps wondering about her code with regards to this mission before nodding
“The coming century will not suffer these old money ghouls if we can help it.”
Bernie nods and gives heavy hand to Markus’ shoulder and they take the next moment to sit and get to hyper space. A few moments later they come in orbit of Mon Cal. They quickly enter orbit and then move to the view of the Manor a few miles a way in their sights. As they move closer to about 5 miles, they see the manor…But there’s also an issue that they see… the left side of the manor’s extended section suddenly explodes into a massive fireball.
Darian stands and grabs a rail
“What?!”
“Guh! Well we know where Sandra is! Get us closer, quick!” Callista blurts, wobbling on her feet.
“Dammit! Dammit she’s in the thick of it already! Let’s move!”
Bernie slaps the shoulder of the pilot and the ship practically nose dives to the back part of the manor. They slide up and stop the ship. Darian gets out two blasters and Bernie pulls out… a sort of large rocket launcher looking thing with a glowing batter pack sticking out of both ends of the back. It humms with power as well as takes most of Bernie’s size to carry it.
“ALRIGHT! Get in there and lets put this witch in the ground! If you can, find Mana and secure her! We cant let them get away!”
Bernie slaps a button and the Beam Cannon charges slowly
Markus nods and moves towards the extended section where the explosion came from, blaster at the ready.
As the ramp of the ship lowers, Callista rushes out ahead of the others, igniting her lightsaber in one hand and foil in the other, two warm gold plasma blades shining and twirling in the air as she takes the front to block an deflect incoming blaster fire so that the others can advance more safely.
The crew move to the exposed section and look in. As Callista goes ahead, there is another hallway that they come in perpendicular meeting with. There are various bodies burned and dead. Maybe a dozen in their immediate sight as they proceed a few meters in already. 14 Guards come running down a hallway, but Bernie fires the Beam Cannon, melting the whole hallway for about 60 feet and the guards are practically sliced in half. “Go on, young-uns! The stairs to the second floor should be a few meters north! Mind the corners!”
Not about to argue with a man carrying that kind of firepower, Callista gestures to Markus and Darian and hurries onward, her senses probing constantly for threats… and for Sandra.
Markus rushes from cover to cover on his way to the stairs, his blaster set to full auto and his cautious eye turned to every corner.
They hurry up the stairs, but are met with a hallway of guards that have taken cover behind some loose furniture and are firing at them now. Markus and Darian hit the covers of some metal furniture. Darian calls out “Gah, they have us pinned down! What should we do now?”
Markus reaches into his coat and feels around for something explosive. Once he finds something around the right shape and weight he pulls out the pin and chucks it at the makeshift “barricade”
The explosion knocks down a few of the guards and upturns several of the furniture
“Good work! Miss Callista, would you lead us in? We’ll cover you!”
"Can do! Just stay behind me!"
Callista leaps over the table she’d been ducked behind and moves up, sabers swinging gracefully in tandem and batting aside blaster bolts and even returning a few, acting as a walking shield for the others.
Darian and Markus get off some shots at strays as Callista makes her way to the covered baddies. The guards keep shooting at Callista as if their bolt would suddenly make any more difference 10 seconds ago than it did now. Only they are met with the shots and finally a slash from Callista who rends the final foe, clinging to desperately piece her barrier of plasma.
“Wow, that was some excellent bladeswork, Miss Callista! I haven’t even seen Sandra use her Lightsaber more than once also. Brilliant!”(edited)
“No time for compliments now Darien, we have scumb to scrub out and redheads to rescue.”
There’s a smaller explosion and the sound of various screaming through the walls. Bernie runs up behind them and his Beam Cannon seems to be nearly charged. He nudges Darian with the cannon.
“Hey, quit gawking, Darian! Get moving! Do you want to get hit with a stray bolt or something? Don’t sit in one place! You heard Markus!”
Callista throws a look back at Darian that, in the moment, seems like an indecipherable mix of blank bemusement and searching suspicion, but after a moment she just gives a light smile and nods. “Thanks, but they’re right; we should keep moving.”
The crew runs on ahead through some ruined sections of the second floor and suddenly collapses and Bernie falls. Bernie grunts as suddenly blaster fire comes from below and the beam cannon goes off. “Go on! I’m right behind you!”(edited)
Markus sees the man go down and seems torn between going back for him and pressing on. But ultimately decides to press forward
Callista’s eyes widen, the look on her face like she’s remembering something terrible. Looking to the hole, she grits her teeth in a pained grimace but carries on as well. “Hang in there, Bernie! We’ve got to finish this!”
“Good luck!” He gets up and there’s the sound of more blaster fire and the heavy beam going off along with his laughter. They get to a series of stairs going upwards and a woman falls down screaming between the railing, hitting the side and lands hard on the first floor. There’s some blaster fire heard on the third floor then…nothing. As they rush up, there’s a hallway of dead with saber scorings on the walls. There’s a turn in the hallway and one final long slash that forebodingly leads around that corner…
Callista winces at the sight of the gruesome fall, but when they reach the saber-scarred hallway she presses on more quickly.
“Sandra must have been here, come on!”
Markus doesn’t even flinch at the woman being tossed from the upper floor, but he does nod to Callista’s comment and follow her picking the pace and holding his weapon at the ready
"Right behind you”
Callista can feel the heavy weight of the Dark Side as they get closer to the long black score of the wall. When they turn the corner, Sandra is standing there, facing a metal door, bloodied, burns on her outfit, saber in one hand, and blaster in another. Some blood drips down her blaster hand. Oddly, the Darkness isnt coming from Sandra, but from behind the door…
“Sandra!!! Y-You’re alive! Sandra…?” Darian looks nervously
Callista wastes no time in rushing up to Sandra’s side, stowing her off-hand foil away to her belt and then placing her hand gently on Sandra’s back, pouring some focus into healing for the moment. She keeps her gaze forward on the door, but the tender care of her touch can be felt.
“We’re here, Sandy. Bernie’s downstairs dealing with another group of them, but he sounded like he was handling himself alright… what are we looking at here?”
Markus looks at Sandra with relief and seems to be restraining himself from running in and hugging her, his eyes still darting around for any other foes or surprises
“Sandra…you had us worried.”
Sandra slowly looks to them, blood on half her face. She looks in a daze as blood loss weakens her. With Callista’s healing, she seems to recover some.
“…Are…you all real…? I… ah…dizzy…”
“Of course you’re dizzy! You’re bleeding all over! Come on, your gal pal is patching you up! Why did you stop at the door? It’s just a door.”
“…She’s in here. There’s something terrible inside. Someone terrible…”
There’s a series of huffing and Bernie comes up from behind and leans on the wall, catching his breath quietly while they talk.
“Someone give her a kolto stim, she’s in bad shape,” Callista looks back to the others, a slight twinge to her expression at the ‘gal pal’ remark. This shifts into a relieved smile as she sees Bernie catching up. She keeps up her healing for now, gently tugging Sandra backwards away from the door for the moment.(edited)
Markus reaches into his coat and pulls out some weather-beaten packs, pulling out a small shot of kolto and jabbing it into Sandra’s arm
Sandra practically collapses into Cally’s arms, but a hand reaches out to balance herself against the wall first, dropping her lightsaber for sake of herself first. The shot is a slight inching in pain, but does her well and she regains her sanity after a moment.
Darian goes to the door and puts up a sound scanner to it.
“I think there’s an elevator in this room?” “An elevator? Who puts a bloody elevator at the TOP of the manor? Give me a sonic on that thing!” “It goes…down. Far down. Why?” “Only one way to find out, Darian. We go IN the elevator. It’s likely where Larran Deska went.”
Callista puts her lightsaber away as well, putting her arms around Sandra in a mixture of a hug and a stabilizing gesture. She eases down with her for a moment, grabbing the dropped saber from the floor and just taking a moment to make sure the redhead is breathing steadily and recovering. “That must be where the real base is, or their escape route. But whoever’s in this next room won’t let us get to it easily. Sandra, you stay back for this one, alright?”
“You said something about “someone terrible” I take it you meant more than just in the usual way these people are awful wastes of human existence?” Markus asked, stepping to the door and stacking to the right side of it
Sandra nods “There’s something very dark on the other end of the elevator. I’ll stay back, but… i’m still going. I have to see this through. Must complete the mission…” “We really have to get in that elevator, fellows. We’re going to lose the person we all came here for.”
Bernie notes Sandra motions to the elevator
“…Go then… hurry. I can feel some of the lifeforms have already left.”
Callista nods, pulling back from Sandra and handing the lightsaber back to her.
“Alright, no time to waste. Everyone ready?”
Taking a deep breath and starts tinkering with his custom commissioned Hand-cannon, switching off its overheat safety precautions and enabling its overcharge fire mode and nods “This Devils ready to take his due.”
“Okay. Open it.”
Callista’s saber and foil each float into her hands and snap-hiss to life again.
=======================================
The opening of the elevator and ride down is… slow. It’s quiet. It’s foreboding. The elevator takes about 10 minutes to reach the Botton and then the once small door, now extends into a far wider one that opens to a sort of empty warehouse. There sits a lone woman on a chair by one of the white pillars. Several smaller ships leave behind the livestock of people and take off. Bernie shouts on his comms…
“Take out every one of those ships, Mon Cal security! We end this today…”
The Woman sighs and runs a hand through her long black hair. She stands and looks on them with piercing purple eyes. This Mirialan emits a severe Dark Energy about her. Even the non force sensitives feel uncomfortable looking on her. Bernie speaks
“You’re Larren? We always assumed you were a man.”
“……”
The woman is… dressed in a nice jacket and loose pants with shining black boots. The katana on her back is adjusted as she just…looks on them for now
“I’m going to assume you have no plans to surrender, and nothing worthwhile to say.” Markus says, his pistol in a white-knuckle grip “We don’t have a lot of time either so I’ll spare you the colorful threats I planned to spout and just ask you to kindly lay down and die.”
“We’re giving you the chance to surrender peacefully now, regardless of our expectations.” Callista states, stepping forward, her sabers low for the moment.
“Larran Deska, in the name of the Republic and the Jedi Order, you’re under arrest.”
He gives Callista a slightly exasperated look, but says nothing
She just looks back at him and shrugs as if to say ‘hey I gotta at least say it’.
Bernie aims his Beam Cannon on Cally’s right and Darian on her left. They aim and await the words of the woman that comes. In this grand auditorium of a building even her low, sweet voice, becomes slightly louder.
“…I never imagined a lifetime where my father’s business is ruined. 400 years of trafficking, slavery, terrorism, and more… all done in. I am ashamed…”
As she walks across the room, perpendicular to them, they see odd mechanisms tied to the back of her calfs. There is a smaller one on her back too. She looks on them again
“…You’re here…for me. If I surrender, what will you do to me?”
“By Law, you are to be executed for years, and now I guess, generations of slavery and more! For the thousands of lives you have uphaveled and ruined, we will stop you one way or another!”
Darian declares and Bernie charges the beam cannon
“You will be tried, proven guilty, and then taken to a facility to live and be interrogated before your eventual execution!" Bernie then declares
“Beats the alternative where I carve out your vertebrae, whittle them into rings and then make all your subordinates kiss them in fealty before wringing their filthy necks.” Markus says with a far too casual smile and a shrug of his shoulders
“Even calling your own work ‘terrorism’ out loud… you really are shameless, aren’t you?”
Callista shifts her stance into a more ready position.
“Also… ew, Markus. Just ew.”
Larran looks to them and shrugs
“…I gave up my morality when the universe game up…on me. It’s just…business. My apoligies…for what I will do now. Please… in another world, forgive me…”
The woman draws her katana, but the blade is missing on the front? No… this part ignites into a plasma blade, similar to that of a lightsaber. Callista may note she’s a Mirialan despite her pale color, the black notations on her hands give this away. This woman knows the ways of the Force, but to what degree…? The woman, looks up at them sadly for a moment and comes walking…right to them.
“She’s bat shite crazy, Bernie. There’s no way she can beat TWO Jedi, and three experts. She’s out of her mind.”
“…Shut up, boy. I’ve haven’t felt sick in my stomach like this since the Mandalorian Wars. Something’s not right.”
The woman’s confidence unnerves Markus, somewhat, the confidence of a woman who stacked the deck somehow, but he hides it as best he can pulling out a coin and idly flipping it between his fingers his blaster still in his other hand, ready to fire
“It all comes down to chance I suppose…the only true justice really.”
Silently he angles the coin in an attempt to reflect some light into the woman’s eyes from it and gives his compatriots an opening to attack
“Maybe if things had been different, we could’ve been friends… just know we offered you the chance to try and atone.”
Callista takes a slow, deep breath, lowering her stance closer to the ground and building her focus, concentrating enhancing Force energies into her limbs, preparing herself for an opening strike that Sandra had taught her – and funneling her fears and doubts into the Forge as she had learned from her master.
“…I could never be worth atonement. No matter…what I do…i’ll have to be killed. Thank you…for your kind words.”
With that Bernie fires the Beam Cannon, but the beam is split in half and the beam slices up the left and right side of the building. But… her blade turns off for 10 seconds then reignites
“That’s not good, fellas. Not good at all. I need some time to charge up again!” Bernie quips The woman is still too far away for the Dash N Slash, but she’s …studying them?
BOSS BATTLE MUSIC: Parasite Eve - U.B. 2nd phase
Callista’s eyes widen at the way the beam is split, but she takes note of the time it takes the blade to reactivate.
Tossing the coin aside, Markus reaches into his coat and grabs an ion grenade, “cooking” it for a few second before underhanded pitching it towards Larren’s legs
With such an extreme speed, she ‘skates’ rapidly away and up the side of the white pillar, throwing several sharp daggers at them. Sandra wince and Force Pushes one that heads her way. Bernie blocks it with his huge cannon. Darian gets slashed on his arm and grunts in pain.
In her stance, it isn’t too difficult to lean out of the way to one side, but it disrupts her concentration regardless and she rolls aside to come up into a higher-standing posture.
“She’s fast…!”
*Markus either too slow to react or just electing to bite the blaster bolt, aims his pistol towards the new location and squeezes off a volley high powered, very volatile shots as he’s struck his shots becoming slightly wide after the dagger catches him prompting a cry of pain from the smuggler as he’s struck.*m
The woman is moving at extreme speeds. They can estimate about 35+ MPH in this large room. She keeps skating past a few shots and then from the ceiling, dives right at Darian, rotating like a fan of death, deflecting the remaining bolts that Markus fires. Darian’s eyes widen as he see’s death coming, but Sandra force pulls him back and the woman lands between Callista and Bernie
“HOLY SON OF A MOTHER’S FREACKING…” Bernie shouts suddenly and swings the massive cannon at her, which she does a rapid side flip to evade.
Callista gawks at the sheer speed at which the woman moves, quickly lashing out with a few strikes aimed mostly at occupying and slowing her down rather than actually penetrating her defenses. She summons as much focus as she can again to extend her senses out and lend some of her insight and reflexes to her companions around her while simultaneously trying to hinder their foe’s.
Markus swears angrily and jabs himself with an agility stim and pulling out a canister of ship fuel as if he were pulling a grenade.
“I’ll blow us all to kingdom come if I have to…BITCH”
And with that he tosses the “grenade” to the group and puts some distance between him and the fight. Hoping that would trick the swordsman into backing off.
Larran blocks the attacks that occupy her, but then does some rapid skating to flip in the air and land a series of double kicks on Callista before facing Markus to evade the grenade again. Then hop back to lay flat on the ground to slide away and hop back up on her feet. She gives the katana blade a few twirls and sighs. They have space between them again.
“…Just let me go…”
Darian blinks at this feat and aims his two blasters
“We just have to shower her with bolts or something! She can’t dodge and block everything, right? Sandra, Markus, lets make it rain on this bitch!”
“I’m not about to yield to someone stupid enough to mistake a fuel canister for a grenade” Markus sneers as he reaches to his back for his “special project” something he’d been itching for a chance to use. “Oh I have something special I’ve been waiting to use.”
And with that Markus pulls from his jacket a compact slug-thrower pistol and squeezes off a burst of rounds at the swordswoman
Callista races around to one side as fast as she can, just over half the speed that the gang kingpin (queenpin?) is able to achieve, aiming to clear a sight line for her allies while keeping up her battle insight technique and hopefully presenting an extra threat for her to consider.
Watching them quite focused, she notices their blasters coming out and Callista driving for her. With her boosted speed from the little engines, she takes off skating against the wall, running away from Callista and the now raining blaster bolts and slugs coming at her.
She tops her 45 MPH as she glides and dances and spins around the room. Occasionally deflecting a bolt from a blaster that just happens to come her way.
“My eyes cant keep up with this woman! What do we do?”
Sandra speaks to them all and stands up, leaning against the wall in pain.
"…She’s too fast. You need to create hazards for her. Bernie… you should try to hit her with the beam and do sweeps. Callista… you should act as their defense. They don’t …have the physical and mental speed to evade her strikes. Markus… fire at her when her Saber is off…"
Callista nods and shifts around in front of the others again, maintaining her focus on group enhancement. She watches the skater’s every move, looking for any opening to try and tamper with or disrupt her skate engines.
“Bernie, how much longer before you’re charged up?”
“I’m all charged now! I’ll save it for a good moment that I’m sure I can hit her!”
Markus empties his entire clip from his slug-thrower to no avail. With a snarl he digs into his coat and pulls out both a spare clip and another Agility stim. With a grunt he jabs the stim into his torso, snarling and twitching slightly as the adrenaline extract adversely affects him, before loading up the second clip into his machine pistol and then holding both it and his hand cannon at the ready, waiting for an opportunity to pressure her
Darian speaks up
“Markus, got some more of those grenades? Throw out three of them. Sandra, do the Force thing. We’ll narrow her out. Ready?”
Bernie nods and grunts as he lifts the Beam cannon.
Holstering his blaster Markus grabs three of his makeshift ion grenades and readiest to toss them on the signal.
On the hand forward from Darian, Markus throws the Ions and Sandra fires them one on the left, right, and roof. She evades them, of course, and from the center of the room, does an insanely mad dash towards Bernie, straight away to keep away from the ion. Callista can feel this dark intent and can make a defensive move.
Callista narrows her eyes and ducks low, throwing her saber spinning just off the ground and parallel to the floor, hoping to force the woman into the air so that she can follow up to hold her in place with the Force while she has no traction to resist.
She jumps to evade the Saber, but is caught in the air. In that single second, Bernie fires the Beam Cannon at her. She blocks and the beam slices up sides of the room again. The sword is turned off and she’s clearly been pushed back several feet from beam’s push alone.
"Now!" Callista yells as she pulls her saber back to herself.
Callista hardly needs to shout as the drug-addled smuggler snaps to the figure and begins pouring machine-gun fire at the figure, emptying nearly the entire clip in the fusillade punctuated by the “tink” of bullet cases falling to the ground and the rippling sound of machine-gun fire.
The blaster bolts and flack fly at Larran and with her sword off, can’t deflect the attack. She takes several shots before thin knives are thrown at Callista. The knives have odd things attached to them and explode into a small powder to break the sight of her, and the force grab. There’s a loud piercing scream from the cloud and they all feel sick to their stomachs. There’s a heavy dark energy and then an insane laughter.
Callista manages to block and dodge most of the hurled knives, though one slices past her calf while another sticks into her arm, prompting a yelp of pain as she shuts her eyes and reels back to get out of the powdery cloud, stumbling as the nauseating sensation takes hold.
Markus tries reaching into his jacket to pull out a fresh clip but his fingers seem to fumble, still high on the drugs he’s having a harder time thanks to both the twitching and the onset sickness, looking to all the world like a maddened and dying animal.
It’s a long 15 seconds, but suddenly there’s a small poof from the cloud and Darian screams in pain before falling over. Callista can force see a dark burst of purple and red before it happens. A slash across his chest, and there she stands, looking directly at Callista… her glowing purple eyes and Dark Aura clearly visible to the spectral visioned Jedi. Sandra’s eyes widen and she screams softly, watching Darian fall over
Bernie’s eyes take two whole seconds to even make his eyes land on Larran to see her looming past Darian’s body and looking on Callista. For once in years… fear in his heart.
The sight is, if anything, even more terrifying for Callista herself, now faced with the maddened dark adept and gulping back a lump of fright forming in her throat. She settles into a ready Soresu stance at first, but as she stares ahead at Larran and calls on all the focus she can muster, her reflex-enhancing insight recedes from her allies and she slowly shifts into a less familiar form.
The sight chills the smuggler to the core, seeing the trained agent fall so suddenly. He’d shared room service and leered at women with this man who was probably far more qualified to fight monsters than he was…he drops the machine pistol and freezes for a moment in horror before he reaches for another stim and draws his hand-cannon, letting out a primal scream that turns guttural and sickly as his body is clearly taxed by the further drug use.
Her blade rapidly slams and sheers the air itself into Callista’s Soresu. Having to move faster than ever before to meet Larran’s seamless rage-filled movements. Sandra reaches out and pulls Darian from the combat, sliding him a bit closer as she’s exhausts and fails to pull him more than a few feet, but at least away. Her watery eyes, she asks softly.
“D-Darian…?”
“…San…ah… It’s… I can’t …see you…”
Sandra crawls towards him and looks on him with teary eyes in her weakened state, pushing her body past all it can to attempt healing the wound on his chest. Meanwhile, Bernie charges his Beam Cannon and shouts in a rage now, pushing from his fear as the Veteran he is. He waits for the shot…
"I’ll cook the woman on your say! Hang in there, Callistaaaa!!! Bernie shouts.
Markus palms one more grenade, a makeshift concussive grenade built with a payload of rubber pellets
“I’m giving you all the opening I can”
He shouts as he pitches the grenade past both combatants, However rather than letting it land as before Markus attempts to use his combat-stim enhanced speed to blast the explosive mid-air right next to the dark-side addled warrior and set off its explosive payload.
The rubber payload bursts out and slaps Larran from behind and she screams, force throwing Markus extremely hard into a wall about 10 feet away, but… is left open to Callista.
Callista takes the opening gladly, launching forward into a strike of unpredictable motion made all the more effective by Markus’s grenade tactic. In a burst of speed almost approaching that of the engine-propelled Larran, she zips ahead and whips one blade forward in a wide arc with incredible striking force as she twists the hilt of her saber into a half-circle spin in her palm.
The woman doesn’t even realize what happened yet as she screams and makes a stab, at nothing…but force throws Callista into a wall. It’s only then she realizes that her legs don’t move. She falls over and wonders why…only for a brief moment to be looking up at her own legs…
Colliding with the wall across from Larran, Callista hits with a heavy -wham- and drops to the floor afterwards, her sabers falling from her hands and sizzling as they turn off. The blonde jedi rests on the ground on her hands and knees, vision blurred and the room spinning around her while a searing pain scorches her side, suggesting that perhaps that stab didn’t miss as completely as it seemed.
After having been slammed into the wall Markus struggles for a moment but manages to lift himself back up with a cruel predatory snarl he lifts the barrel of his gun towards the bifurcated woman planning on denying her an open casket funeral in a moment of petty revenge, but perhaps in the drug-fueled haze or the concussive blow his vision blurs and for a moment he sees Sasri in this dark-side-addled mirialan girl. The thought stays his hand for just a moment, his arm trembling from the stims or conflict…but the moment of mercy passes and he very pointedly attempts to squeeze off a powerful charged shot at the woman’s skull.
The woman’s skull is nothing now but… nothing.
Meanwhile… Sandra has tears streaming down her face as she uses one of her weakest abilities, that of healing, to try and keep Darian from dying. When her own body gives out…she shakes him and cries out at him.
“You can’t die, okay? Y-You can’t die! Don’t leave me… Darian… Darian, you were the first one to tell me that being normal is special and make me believe it. You… Darian…”
“….San… dra… You’re so… beautiful. I can …die looking at you like this. That… would be okay…” Sandra squeaks sharply and shakes him
“Darian, stay awake! You have to stay awake!”
Bernie calls on comms for a Med team to come and to prep the ship in the background. He runs over to Callista to help her up .
“Callista! Are you alright? Markus! Are you alright there, lad?”
Markus doesn’t respond, instead pulling out the knife still lodged in his torso and stepping towards the corpse of the woman with some grizzly intent. It seems he hadn’t been kidding about collecting trophies, or perhaps the fact that this horror had momentarily defiled the memory of his long-lost friend had offended him.
“I-I think I… wha happened…?” Callista staggers to her feet, bleeding from her knife wounds and now from somewhere on her head. She stumbles, however, struggling to stay upright.
“D-Darian… get me to Darian. I can help, I… he needs…”
Darian whispers softly and looks up at the ceiling
“…You’re the… first woman I ever …l-loved. When I met you… those years ago…. Your hair was like the fire of… a red star. I’m… sorry. “
“S-Shut up! Just keep your breathing focused! The medics are coming, alright? You’ll get to be silly and flirty again later, idiot! Just be quiet!”
“…Little… red… head. I love you…” His eyes close as Bernie drags Callista over.
His life-force every so low. Callista drops to her hands and knees again by Darian, vision still blurring in and out as pain throbs from the back of her head. She has to help, though; she has to try. Wobbly and woozy, she reaches her hands forward over Darian’s chest and calls up what little concentration she can muster, trying her best to pour in some healing energies.
Bernie looks on his comms "
Callista, you have to hold out for 8 minutes! The med team is coming down the elevator! We can try to save him!"
Sandra looks on Darian and Callista, face wet with tears and tries to gather herself in this moment. She looks around as if realizing her situation and grabs at her own hair, struggling to regain concentration, though slowly getting there. Meanwhile, Bernie goes over to Larran and looks on the lost woman’s body. He picks up what ever he can from her and stuffs it in his shirt’s deep pocket.
Markus looks back to the group and then to his would-be victim…for now, he remembers himself and drops the knife. Stumbling back to the group.
“I can…try to give him something to stabilize him…” He reaches into his coat with shaken hands his eye-lids shifting between twitching and falling
“…Would be guesswork though, especially in…this state.”
Bernie picks up his cannon and sighs sadly.
“Best not to get in the lass’ way. Come here, son. The worst part of any job is the waiting. We have to hang on for 4 more minutes.”
He looks over to Bernie then over to Larran
“…So much pain caused by one person’s moral inequity.”
“No one likely know’s her story or how she came to be like this. There’s a whole lot that has to go wrong for ‘that’ to happen. It’s not too different you know… the line between good and evil. The only difference is one thought. The thought that what you’re doing is more right than anything else and forgetting about other’s realities.”
“She mentioned never being able to atone for what she’d done…” He mutters stepping towards the body “…In a way, I guess we’re similar. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel bad for her…I know she’s full of shit, just like I am.” As he speaks he walks up and spits on the corpse ruefully.
Bernie nudges Markus with the Cannon
“Have some respect for her and yourself, lad. The only time we’re equal is when we’re dead. Keeping up such gestures is one way to make way towards her mentality. She got what she deserved. Don’t wallow in that mind set.”
Callista squeezes her eyes shut, trying to push out the dizziness and fight her body’s urge to pass out while she carries on the healing.
“C’mon… I’m trying here…” she pleads blearily.
In the countdown… the elevator’s large doors open and a med team and security team of 3 come out. “He’s over here, by the Jedi!” The Med team rushes over to pick up where Callista is. They stick two tanks on the side and stick him in the neck and chest with their large needles. Another gets him on a stretcher and the tanks are placed under the stretcher’s lower base. They are all beckoned to get on the elevator.
The rest of the security team comes over to the body of Larran and…bag it.
Their expressions are severe and disgusted.
The 10 minutes on the elevator bring a quiet moment for them to stand quietly, the peace broken by the ding and then the med team rushing out. A hover-ship has cleared the roof of the manor in this section and links a lift to the med team, lifting them up. The rest of the heroes make their way to the Silver ship they came in.
It’s on the Silver Ship that Bernie speaks again.
"…I’m sorry you all had to go through that. You all did above and beyond anything I could have imagined any team doing.”
Markus, sprawled out on a chair in a post-combat-drug crash sighs “It’s all relative Bernie, I’m sure she won’t be the worst super-powered psycho we’ll have to tangle with…the universe wouldn’t be so kind.”
He glances to Callista and Sandra if they’re present
“Although I suppose I can’t speak, seeing as I didn’t get the worst of it.”
Sandra looks up at them, her eyes are filled with a blankness and sadness. She just nods a slight. Bernie comes over to her and tells her something with a hand on her shoulder.
“…Mission Complete, Agent.”
Whatever this means to someone like Sandra… these words make her look up at Bernie. Tears steam from her eyes again and she nods sagely. He nods at her and they exchange a sort of language only spies could do.
Callista sits off to one side, covered in bandages now including a wrap around her head from the nasty blow she took when thrown against the wall. Still dizzy and a bit out of it. The best she can really do at the moment is stay where she is, following the warnings against aggravating concussions, and look to the others with a mixed expression.
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From here… the heroes are taken back to Mon Cal’s hotel and they have two days to rest in leisure. Whatever they do…they are called again to a meeting room in the penthouse of the hotel at the very top. They can look out at the land from the top of the hotel. The meeting table with the couches and fine drinks on the table are presented to them.
“Thank you for coming to the debrief. I hope you all had a chance to recover some. I have some news for all of you. WaveRunners are officially done. The rest of the group was rounded up or blasted in space attempting to escape. There’s nothing left of their operations here. You’ve done a service that I cannot properly thank you for. You’ve saved thousands of lives without them realizing they have been saved yet.”
Sandra looks a bit… better as she sits on her side of the table, her legs crossed, nursing a glass of wine.
Callista looks somewhat relieved, having been stewing anxiously on the outcome of this mission while recovering. Still, when she glances over towards Sandra, she looks a bit worried.
“Happy to help, sir… but… how’s Darian…?”
“Darian is in a coma right now, but he’s alive, for what that is worth. If you weren’t there to heal him and stall him, he’d likely be dead, lass. You don’t need me to tell you that you’re a bloody hero. And that’s coming from an old war hero in return. I can’t way when he’ll wake up…if he ever does, but I like to have hope.”
Bernie sits on the couch and takes a sip of whiskey, looking on them rather seriously. “For you all, I have a bit of something to tell each of you. Will you listen to this old man, one more time?”
Markus looks notably relieved to hear Darian is alive at least, some of his tension deflating at the news. After which he pulls out a baggie full of buffet shrimps and nods to the man
“Fire away, Sir.”
“First, Markus, I looked into your bounty. Can’t say I’m surprised, but I have a proposal for you. If you’re seeking redemption, I can help with that. Come work for me here at the Consulate and we’ll squeeze some of that Due Diligence from you. Can’t say the life of an Agent is safe and pretty, but maybe some getting shot will let you feel like you’re making that redemption.”
“Second, Callista, I’m writing a practically glow in the dark review to the Council. They will know what you did. And, if you ever need a favor or some from an old agent, let me know. I’m all yours. I owe you as much.”
“Third, Sandra, I have this for you…” He hands her an old looking datapad
“This is my memoir. I taught you how to be an agent when you were younger in the Council when your master brought you to me. Now, I want to show you how to be a leader. You won’t be a field agent forever, nor will your body let you, HAHA! So study this and when you finish it… let’s talk about your future.”
Bernie looks to everyone now.
“In life, you need Autonomy. Realization of where you stand and where you sit. The universe won’t hold your hand or let you even try to reach for that hand, so you have to make your friends, cut your ties, or make bonds as needed. You’re all brilliant in your own way, but if you don’t know how to make it on your own first, you wont do much better with a group. Realize your potential and your joys of life, then you can go squander it on risk and danger, heh. Find what makes you happy, strong, and bold, and live with it and without it. You’ll discover that through all of that… you love yourself and life even more than you realize.”
Sandra looks on the datapad and her mind swirls with thoughts, but after a moment she calm and looks on everyone. Markus looks to the others scratching the side of his neck in a bit of bashfulness at the offers, as well as the eloquent words.
“You’ve no argument from me…you’ve put to words how…i’d like to live my life. As for your offer, I’d like time to consider it…I have “living arrangements” with someone I might need to discuss, but…I would like to make myself useful, to be sure.”
Bernie looks to Callista now for her final thoughts.
“…Thank you, sir, I appreciate it. I’m just happy we were able to get Sandra out of there… and Darian, too.” She gives a soft, bittersweet smile.
He nods at Callista’s words
“We both had to see our redhead and her knight in shining armor through this.”
Sandra giggles softly and shakes her head.
“Then, dear heroes, you are dismissed. Mon Calamari thanks you! Dismissed!”
Sandra stands and with a smile nods to everyone and then goes to leave the room… Bernie goes back to his office and lets the pair go as they please otherwise.
“Sandra?” Callista looks over to the redhead before she exits, her voice quiet and smooth. As she keeps walking, though, the Jedi just gives a soft sigh and a half-smile.
Sandra looks over and smiles sadly to Callista before taking off. To where she’s gone, she sits on the very top of the hotel, having gone up the hatch to look out at the city as the night lights come on. Her mind swirls with questions as always, but in her heart…there is some sadness and peace. The hardest missions always bring such a sense. It’s hard to describe it any more, but she looks on Bernie’s Datapad and chuckles softly and shakes her head.
“…Autonomy. How to govern myself, huh. He’s like Beryn… making me thing about such introspective things. I think I’m realizing what they all mean now. What I need to accept in my own reality as I come to the heart of the Spy game. I don’t need to feel like i’m expendable and meant to just die. I’ll show then that I can do what I do and still love myself and life. I’ll pass on my teachings to future agents like Bernie does. I’ll be happy…”
FINAL THEME: Persona 5 the Animation ED/Ending 2 - Autonomy (Full Version)
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First Love, Last Shot
Season End
