Velo

hot take but this is a great rp and people should join it

Neri huffed, trying to catch her breath after diving away from the exploding hangar bay. Hands on her knees, she finally managed to speak up.

“Well. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but…” she finally stood up straight. “No more droids, right?”

“No more droids?  You know, you could --”  Endo paused for a moment, blinked, and held his hand up.  “You really blew my knees up with that thing, help me up,” he asked quietly, groaning a bit.  “I have several, very large radius anti-droid grenades that we probably could have used without committing a droid war crime.  But, heck it, I can save them for later.”

Neri laughed as she helped Endo to his feet. “Sorry. Can’t say I’m familiar with the arsenal of bounty hunters.” Her laugh was quickly stifled. She almost forgot the position she was in. “Alright, Mr. Hunter. I suppose I shouldn’t make your job too hard. You’ve got a ride to get off this bucket, right?” she folded her arms and waited.

“My last name isn’t Hunter, it’s … significantly more morbid than that,” he said, shaking his head.  “Yeah, I do, but -- alright, let’s get back up to the command area and…”  Endo trailed off again and needed to catch another breath.  “Slavers?  Really?  I can’t hecking do this, come on, we’re breaking you out of here, Bossk can kiss my tentacles.”

He took his utility zipline and he shot it out towards the railing they originally ran in from.

Neri raised an eyebrow, taking hold of Endaryn’s waist as he zipped them upward onto the now mildly scorched scaffolding where they originally planned to jump ship from. “... Hecking? You’re a strange one,” she said as they landed.

The blast doors were open again and the path back to Grawbacca and Halfsies was clear. Following behind Endo, Neri stopped to retrieve a blaster pistol from one of the deceased escapees. She slipped it into her waist belt and jogged forward. “And another thing. What would a prestigious guild like Bossk’s want with me? It doesn’t make sense, in my opinion.”

Around a corner, the sound of bolt caster fire made Neri pause. “I’m not running toward that,” she said quickly.

“First of all, forget I said Bossk’s name.  Don’t embarrass me in front of the other guys, they might snitch.  Second of all - “ The bolt caster fire made him pause again.  “Why not?  That’s just the Wookiee presumably slaughtering a legion of droids.  Second of all, I’ve read your file and I gotta say I can think of a dozen reasons why a debt-ridden, Force-sensitive Rebel raised by witches is a high-value target.”  Endo put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

“I’m not a betting man,” the man banned from sports for gambling charges said, “but I’d bet you know exactly why you’re wanted.  And considering the absolute state of chaos our lives are in right now, spilling the beans on who you owed debt to and whose slaves you freed might help me out with my decision to betray one of the most feared bounty hunter guilds in the galaxy.”

Rodrigo saw the nail hit the ground and upper-cut his partner; he saw another flick towards his own personal demon.  Almost at the same time, he saw the wall immediately to their right turn the glass; his partner's demon must have some sort of transforming ability, he thought in an instant.  He hadn't seen the intercepting missile but relying on reflexes he quickly turned to his right and, with his stand, launched a haymaker punch at the glass wall.

Maybe he should have thought about the fact that a massive wall of glass was going to fall down on him, but it wasn't something that he really cared about.  In the space of a punch, while the wall shattered under the effect of the earthquake, Rodrigo dived forward into the space that was now occupied by shattered glass, and recalled『THA CARTER』so that it wouldn't get hurt by that nail.  He could only hope that the transformation ability his partner had would somehow keep him from being torn to shreds.

Rodrigo would have stopped a minute to process everything that had happened, but the adrenaline was keeping that from happening.  His feet ran without thought; his demon attacked without warning.  The predatory instinct that kept him alive in the ring was keeping him alive right now, as the flames and the gunshots and the chaos around him all faded back as his vision tunneled onto the strange monster he was chasing.  It wasn't until after he found himself blocked into an alleyway with someone else that he came to his senses.  It wasn't until then that he took his second breath.

There was the abomination before them, red and shiny and metallic - on wheels - like his own?  Some sort of future-beast come true?  And to his side, a strange, skinny man with bright white hair and a bottle of whiskey in his hands, pointed to Rodrigo.  And above them, some new demon: sleek, purple, blue, teal, red, grey.  Claws, a whipped tail, an inverted mouth!

"Cheers to my first whacky fight!"  

Rodrigo took another, deeper breath, then firmly grasped the bottle of whiskey and took a large gulp befitting a large man.  Spitting what was left in his mouth to the floor, like blood in a fight, he tossed the bottle back and dramatically raised his fists in a boxing stance.

"I punch, you shoot.  Cover me."

His 'one of these guys' apparated before them, his own fists raised and ready to fight.  Ostensibly a human without the flesh, a quick inspection by his new partner in the alley would reveal nothing but what seemed to be metal alloy covering its entire body.  The dim light in the alley covered the brilliant, fiery-orange markings along his chest and arms, but the bright white scales along his back reflected some of the ambient light and raised the light level in the entire alley.

"『THA CARTER』 !!"

Both stand and user sprinted forward, the stand significantly faster, mimicing Rodrigo's movements but on an accelerated, exaggerated scale.  While Rodrigo took a step, 『THA CARTER』 flew ten feet; while Rodrigo threw one punch, 『THA CARTER』threw five.  Needing to only take a couple of steps before his metal demon would reach the opponent that had just been shot at, he would start punching at wherever it attempted to go.

"Hey, Neri!"

The chasing bounty hunter ripped the mag-locked end of his grappling hook from his belt and started to swing it like a lasso.  Hoping that the use of her name would make her hesitate for just a moment, Endo leapt over the side that plunged down to the hanger then yeeted it at the falling target.  “That escape pod isn’t going to make it past the frigate outside!” 

Neri turned as she fell and realized she was about to be toppled. “Who are you!?” she screamed as she fell. Whoever he was, he was right. A small army of droids had entered the hangar and the escape pod option was suddenly not viable. Before she could hatch any more brilliant ideas, Neri’s waist and arms were wrapped up by a grappling hook. She was caught much sooner than she had hoped. She was now flailing toward the ground like a fish out of water. She landed hard on her side and curled up behind the escape pod.

“Free your arms!”  Endo shouted as he landed on the ground, superhero-pose style.  He had to wait for his leg armor to dissipate the force of a 100-foot jump, and then he immediately jumped behind the escape pod as well.

“My name is Endaryn, and I am a bounty hunter.  I’m not here to kill you, and I certainly don’t want to take someone like you to whatever it is I’ve been told to take you.  Slaves..”  He trailed off for a minute before blinking and looking back down at her.  Blaster fire started whizzing over their heads as the droids slowly started to advance.  “I’ve loosened the slack on the hook, you can free your arms.  I’m not letting you go because if you get away, I die.  At this point our lives are bound - either both of us make it out, or neither.  I have a cloaked ship and two partners who are going to do their best to get us out of here.  We can figure out what to do once we escape.  Deal?”

As he waited for her to accept or deny, he removed one of his ion grenades and lobbed it at the droids across the hangar; anything caught in its radius would have its chips fried.

Neri freed her arms and stood to her feet. She was sore, but she would live. She heard the satisfying sound of droids clattering to the ground as Endo’s ion grenade exploded, before she made a decision. “I don’t really have a choice now, do I?” Neri said as she dusted herself off. “I don’t normally just throw my life in the hands of the first guy I meet, let alone Bounty Hunters. But seeing as you haven’t pointed a blaster at my head yet, I’ll go along with you for now.” She took a laser glaive boomerang from her belt and peeked over the escape pod. With a flick of her wrist, she let the boomerang loose and handily decapitated eight B1 battle droids. As it returned to her hand, she folded the boomerang and slipped it back onto her belt. It was hard to tell it was there.

“Well, Endaryn. We’re not getting out that way. What do you propose?” Neri asked as she began to scan the hangar for their next route.

“I need one of those,” Endo said enviously.  “Alright, the escape pod can still be useful, but … okay, look, before I go further, I don’t have a plan.  Not yet.”  Before she could say anything else, Endo held his wrist up to his mouth and activated the communicator.

“This is En - did we decide on codenames?  Forget it, I’ve got target.  We’re trapped in the hangar bay, there’s blastproof doors between us and you, and a frigate that’s very quickly going to try and blow us to shreds.  The only way out that I can see is either in this very vulnerable escape pod or somehow you two getting those doors open.”

"Put your hands where I can see them!  Any sudden movements, and I'll make mince meat out of you!  Do I make myself clear?  Especially you."

He had no idea what the hell was going on, or why so many people had these demons, or who was doing what, but the woman taking her stand immediately marked her as a Good Guy in this situation.  The ghastly apparition attempting to escape seemed shady, and he couldn't tell if the red demon was an ally, an enemy, or just a poorly timed third party.

"Everyone get down or get the hell out of here!"

The sight of at least a dozen guns triggered something instinctive in Rodrigo; the presence of the demon before him compelled him to do something.  Without a moment's hesitation, the pseudo-human metal man 『THA CARTER』 manifested itself a few feet in front of him and darted forward with inhuman speed at the ghastly stand that had slipped past him earlier, cocking back a fist in an attempt to attack 『FOX ON THE RUN』, if it was even possible to catch up.

Narrowing down his target, to the apparition - Possible to catch up?  Rodrigo thought -- quickly -- go, demon --

"『THA CARTER』 !!"

Attempting something he'd never done before, his stand's fist slammed into the ground instead of trying to reach for his target, in an attempt to cause the earthquake-like shaking that he could inflict on people but on the ground instead.  It worked on people, would it work on the ground?  Slowing down that deadly stand was paramount, and it would certainly knock that red demon off balance too.  Not sure if it would work or not, and hoping the red demon would be distracted by the courageous woman, he took a literal leap forward, hoping to avoid any sort of shaking sensation as his stand struck the ground.

Jab, jab, hook-cross.  Jab, jab, hook-cross.  For all the impressive strength behind his punches, Rodrigo's opponent had a habit of falling into, well, a habit.  Jab, jab, hook-cross.  Stutter step - a feint, able to drop back or press forward after the cross.  Jab, jab, hook-cross, stutter step.  Let him punch; Americans always had that bit of arrogance that made them weak to counters.  After jab twenty four, immediately upon his opponent launching his hook, Rodrigo pounced.  He'd baited the combo punch and he knew that his opponent would launch both on instinct.  As the hook smacked into Rodrigo's right hand, he surged forward on his opponent's rear side as the cross was being launched and threw a very weighty bolo right into the weak chin of the American in front of him.  

Every punch that Rodrigo had thrown during the match felt like it turned his opponent's legs to jelly.  Almost like there were two punches in one, like each hit was its own miniature little tremor.

He didn't have to wait for the count to know the truth: El Cid claimed his victory.

---------

His next fight would be in three weeks, and the stakes could only be just a bit higher - a chance to fight for two championships in one go.  His American career was brief, but ten knockouts and an impressive Cuban career meant that even if he was a bit of a late bloomer, Rodrigo was being given a chance to make a lot of money and a lot of prestige.

A championship boxer.

The thought of winning overwhelmed Rodrigo.  The thought of reaching the top was ... anxiety.  It was a mess.  And that anxious mess of a man, capable of ending a career in a single blow but not capable of finishing his date halfway through without pretending like there was a promotional event he'd forgotten about to bail, ended up walking past a crowded museum.

"Sterling?  Is that you, my boy?"

Rodrigo's head perked up a bit to see through the crowd at mention of his last name, and there he was: Frank Ruiz, the promoter.  "Frank?  What's all this about?"  He asked quickly.

"They're unveiling the body of a saint.  They say it was found during the Steel Ball Run - I told you all about that, didn't I?  Ah, well, no worries, come with me!  I can introduce you to a few people."

Rodrigo shook his head no, but that wasn't enough.

"Then I'll let you in so you can clear your head.  I know how it works, you're nervous.  Maybe some guidance from the Lord will help, eh?"

No wasn't going to be an answer, apparently, so he headed inside and found the not-quite-unveiled body of the corpse a bit too crowded.  One reporter broke away from the crowd and started hassling someone who looked vaguely familiar.  An answer, a reply from someone else - very quickly, his worries melted away from his mind, his curiosity got the better of him, and Rodrigo found himself slowly walking towards the group of people.  He almost didn't even know he was taking any steps.

Endo decided that his best bet would be to let the two more aggressive members of the party do their thing.  He kept his head down and watched the blaster bolts fly by in every direction, and after a few seconds he realized that it would have been pretty simple to just use an explosive; as that thought crossed his head, Endo watched the wookiee toss a time bomb down the way to the remaining droids.  Endo hesitated for the briefest moment and then watched as the droids paused their fire briefly to concentrate on the bomb.  With the brief lull in the action, he quickly drew one of his twin pistols and took down running towards the direction the Zabrak was moving.

As he turned the round corner away from the group, he took a stutter step to aim and fire a single shot at the time bomb in the air, causing it to explode near the end of its arc and committing maximum damage to the group of droids.  Not missing his beat, his one shot successful, he broke into a mad sprint.

Endo tapped the wookiee's hand briefly with his own and stepped back to allow the beast to pass.  A wookiee was one of the few things that stood taller than him, and he was going to enjoy not being the biggest target in the room for once.  "Godspeed," he replied.

He turned to Halfsies as the wookiee took charge.  "I had a dream during my nap.  It involved a commercial for Bosskman and Bossk's Men.  I blame you."  He said it dryly, but the smile on his face showed otherwise.

"You really think it would be that easy?  To just ... walk away, like nothing ever happened, into the sunset like the end of a movie?"

Autumn thunder rumbled around the group of four: one on his hands and knees, one standing man looking down on him, and two flanking the Standing Man.  The very dirt beneath their feet became sludge as the Standing Man spoke, pounded by the sixteenth hour of rain.  The Standing Man's face lit up as he inhaled through the waterproof cigarette between his lips, exposing the barest glimpse of a hardened, scarred jaw.

The kneeling man could hardly hear for the rain and wind and thunder; he could hardly see for the darkness of the earliest morning night.  Every pump of blood reverberated through his body like a herd of galloping racehorses, and he couldn't tell at this point if the vibrations he felt were his veins about to pop, his throbbing wounds, the thunder, the pounding rain, or just something else to worry about.

"I let you out.  I gave you life - a life you didn't deserve, scumbag.  I fixed a lot of problems for you, boy.  I beat the system for you, and here you are begging for your life because you couldn't do one stupid favor."

It was only a pause in the thunder, a lull in the rain, but it was enough for the kneeling man to pick up the Standing Man's words.

"I don't beg," he spat back, the ground specked with just a momentary bit of crimson, visible only for the length of lightning.

"You do now."

--------------------

Endo was peacefully asleep, ignorant of the warnings from the computer around him, until a shake and a hum announced that they had docked and were sitting idle.  His belt vibrated, reminding him that the estimated time to arrival had completed, shaking him awake.

His mind swept over the details of the mission: capture and escort target, Zabrak Neri, alive.  Prison ship, which meant they would need to be as quick as galactically possible.  It was only a three-man mission, something Endo wasn't used to.  It was almost always solo jobs or large-scale strike teams, almost never a triumvirate.  First time for everything, though.  It was also the first time Endo was in close contact with a wookiee and a clone.  A 'clone'.  So much work had been done on that thing that he honestly doubted its humanity somewhat.

"That's our cue," he said unhelpfully, starting his walk over to the metal tube.  "I can pop down first, unless either of you two gentlemen want to volunteer."

I'm very interested; I'm still pretty new to the forum and I'm not really sure of proper etiquette or templates or anything of the sort.  Is there a template I can use to fill out an application, or would it be best to ask this on the discord?  Sorry.

I'm down.