T5 - Errands of a Storm Demon

[Ash]

Ash heard the swooshing of several floors being passed in different increments. She could see and feel her voluminous yet light hair floating due to the high-speed movements of the small space but resisted the urge to play with it in front of her company or else be arrested for having too much fun.

They both were graveyard silent as the tier’s rushed by, and she noted that her body was a bit tensed up while Ash was completely relaxed. Other than that, Jazza didn’t seem to be ready for her own interrogation or probing questions that would get on Ash’s nerves at most.

Unfortunately for her she now had to think of a way to talk to Harlan Higgs without her escort raining down on her parade. And if she did, they had to at least talk about that guy who knows how to do a good tattoo at some point. She could manage that no problem, but she wasn’t really interested in any new ink despite the tribal skull she received as a result of her last visit down here. If anything, she was missing a piercing she’d like to get redone since the resurrection process did more than just heal the damage done by Dark Jak. It completely undid 9 years.

Ash quickly put that on her to-do list.




By the time they reached the point of the elevator coming to a gentle stop at tier five, the storm demon was beginning to think this companionship wouldn’t end horribly like the other ones did. Mostly because it was very clear neither female wanted the other one involved in their business. So she decided to at least approach this with that mutual respect as her boots tapped the metal on her exit.

Out on the street she turned to Jazza. “Am I allowed to summon something to get us to the casino faster?”

There was a bit of silence. “Affirmative. However, I might suggest hailing a cab instead. Might be faster than your promised abilities.”

The demoness wasn’t sure if the female soldier was trying to be a smartass or clever. After all, she could summon anything, anything destructive enough to wipe her out. “Good idea.” Ash acknowledged before reaching out a hand and trying to flag down some kind of transportation.

Something straight out of the 1950’s swerved around the corner almost instantly, a bright yellow car, curved and bulky as fuck compared to anything Ash has ever sat in. It honked its horn twice before it pulled to a less than safe stop in front of the girls. A thin grey skinned guy hung his head and arm out of the window, blowing the drag from his cigarette out to the side before flashing them a smile. “Where are you headed, ladies?” He had a bit of a Bronx accent.

Ash’s attention was instantly drawn to him as possibly a gang member of the Gentlemen of Jacks. Which was only solidified when the man finally recognized her. He was about to drop his smoke with his jaw when she put her finger against her lips. “Just a couple of gambling girls here, know where we can have some fun?”

“Of course I do.” He said, promptly, if a bit stiffly. “Hope in the back, I’ll run ya there faster than anyone else can.”

“I doubt that.” Jazza said dryly, climbing in after Ash. “If all members of the taxi community continue to follow all the driving laws then you would not be able to-”

“Harlan makes the rules here.” The driver said, before ramming the vehicle into gear and hitting the gas.

This silenced Jazza as it pushed them against the back seat, Ash giggled a bit. After they were able to move again she moved closer to the cage between her and the driver. “Harlan? That prime that was in Dante’s Abyss last year?”

“The one and only.” The driver claimed. His name plate said Benny Baltimore.

“Do you think he will be there? I’d love to get his autograph!” Ash let a moan slip from her as she spoke.

“He should be. I’ve been on the road for some time though, haven’t checked in in a while though. Can’t say for sure. I do know he has been looking for a couple of dames though. Something about a friend in trouble lately and he needs to address that. Then the thing with the Ultramarine happened. This is all coming down from the good ole grapevine, but damn you look a lot like the girl they said they banished.”

“Do I?” Ash said, acting stupid.

“Yeah, but we don’t get a lot of demons down here. Or anyone new really.” He made a point to look at the stormtrooper, too. “Not many of you guys either.”

“I imagine a lot more after that incident,” Jazza responded, cold, dry.

“A few,” Benny replied shortly.

“About that girl?” The Storm Demon tried to get more information, try to figure out if she needs to approach Harlan or not.

“Hm? Oh yeah. She comes in, right? No one sees her enter. And then suddenly some giant fucker- Excuse me. Some man in power armor drops in while armies of the troopers surround the casino. No one can tell me exactly what went down and how… Mostly because of the Isoverse. BUT the aftermath! Man I would have loved to see that fight. They took the guy out in a gunny and she was nowhere to be found. Just some blood stains on the floor. Boss was a bit miffed about the stains in his brand new carpet, he had to be, cause now he wants to find that girl.”

“Oh… Is he mad?” Ash shrank back, but it was only for Jazza’s sake.

“I don’t know, not for sure. I just hear what comes to me in the break rooms.” Benny said, his voice notably changing to reflect how he didn’t want to scare her off.

Ash could feel Jazza’s eyes on her before she spoke. “Not that excited about his autograph now. Ash?” She sounded only slightly smug, the rest of her voice was authoritative and dry.

The morality mirrored humanoid noted how fast she was to use her real name. It meant that Jazza believed her act of second-guessing her actions. “N-No.” She said, before sitting back and letting the cab speedily take them to the destination.

-

The female stormtrooper got out first this time while Ash paid for the fair with her omnilium manipulation to make cash for the guy. “Thanks for the ride, Benny.”

Benny grabbed her hand and held a bit, lowering his voice. “Yer her, ain't ya?” He waited for Ash to smirk and nod. “He ain’t mad.” He whispered, before letting go of her hand and counting away at the cash. Or at least looking like he was, he couldn’t concentrate because now he had a story to tell the boys.

Jazza stood there and waited for the sex demon to follow. Her second entrance was less grand than her first. Already there were plenty of people playing the games, lights and sounds filled the rooms. Between laughter and tears however, it was hard to put one mood to it all. Excitement ran high, higher than the gambling high.

They walked down the main aisle and were nearly hit by an old woman who was pulling on the arms of three machines. When she saw them getting too close, she glared at them both with no fear of pissing off the stormtrooper at all. “Get yer own machines.” She strained to be heard over the voice, but then pulled out a short shiv. They avoided her area.

Ash looked around again, noting a lot of card games going on towards the back. She saw crabs and roulette happening in the distance at other tables. Small crowds of people managed to push themselves around the games and several groups cheered each time they won the games of luck.

Jazza herself actually observed a few games with an intensity of a guard of the Emperor. She had noticed a few notable figures in the crowd and debated heavily if she should go up and say something. She eventually decided against it and instead reported it to her superior through some communication system in her helmet. If the figures were ever questioned about what they did with their personal time, she would feel confident that she managed to help in that investigation.

Ash on the other hand was looking at the guards. The muscle all around. There were plenty of bouncers watching to make sure no one caused more trouble than she had already did. There were obviously the people tending to the games, some already being replaced to keep the games fresh. Yet, Ash wasn’t looking for dumb muscle. She needed someone more important looking. She prefer Harlan but he was nowhere to be seen.

She gave Jazza a nudge and pointed upwards into the second floor before heading that way. She was being polite, but Jazza decided she’d follow regardless. Ash took to the stairs in a lazy calm pace, Jazza was stiff but followed her assignment despite becoming impatient right away at her pace. At the top, they were able to give the place a once over and found no one of interest.

“Who are you looking for?” Jazza asked. It was much quieter up here.

“My friend.” Ash lied, looking harder for someone who could do the best job.

They were interrupted by a group of women, laughing at something apparently hysterical. She turned to face the group which turned at the sound of a door. A young red-haired girl with a thin neck and a small frame expressed her boredom perfectly with a single word. “Finally.”

Out of a board room poured a few important people, none of them Ash truly knew, but Charlie stood out specifically because of his scars. Unfortunately Harlan had set up a schmoozing party with some people and he hadn’t had time to properly reschedule with them. Thankfully he was able to bullshit his way through the meeting long enough for the rich or famous to get bored and excuse themselves. After all their conversations were for Harlan, not Higgs’ men.

One of the kids they hired as valley drivers who’d been waiting for him to exit slid right up to Charlie as he was telling his company good luck on the games. The kid whispers about two words to him before stopping and looking in a different direction. Charlie felt the urge to cuff him for not explaining himself but his eyes were drawn in that same direction as well.

Harlan’s right hand man’s eyes landed on the girl he’s been trying to track down for three months and coming up blank. He would know, he’s been obsessively staring at her image in the surveillance videos trying to figure out who she was and why she’d come to their place of business with an Ultramarine on her tail. Her gorgeous black hair bounced in the wind as she took as few as steps as possible towards him. He remembered being plenty confused about the grin that she wore but quickly thinking it looked like she had found exactly who she was looking for.

The next few moments were blissfully confusing as Ash wrapped her arms around Charlie’s thick neck and went straight into a kiss. Out of pure instinct and reaction his hands took her by the waist and twisted a little. He didn’t pull away immediately, but he didn’t kiss back either. He just stared at her in confusion, later he’d kick himself for not at least enjoying it.

She slide right out of the kiss as natural as could be and smiled brightly up at him. “There you are baby, I was thinking I was going to miss you again.” She said loudly, sounding every bit as excited to see an old friend as she looked whens he wrapped her arms around him in a hug, twisting her weight back so he’d be facing the stormtrooper. “Play along, hun.” She whispered.

Fortunately for the woman in his arms, the stars have already aligned perfectly so that he had ever bit of a reason to go along. If he hadn’t… Well they were called the Gentlemen for a reason, in theory he’d do it all the same. Charlie could only come up with one reason why he shouldn’t, she had yet another law enforcer on her tail and Harlan wouldn’t be happy about all that. Luckily this was a legitimate business and they had nothing to hide.

“Sweetie.” He purred, wrapping his arms along her body and giving her a squeeze. “Where have you been?” He pulled away and brushed her hair out of her face. Everything about her face matched the one on the video.

“Oh. Just… Around.” She said, smiling and acting shy about where she’s been. “Is Harlan around, stud? I was hoping to catch him this time. He’s always busy when I try to visit.”

Charlie couldn't help but seek out all the hidden little messages she may or may not be sending him. He dissected every word and motion she made from that moment on. His mind worked as fast as he could force it to. “No. Actually. Harlan’s been missing for a while now.” He looked up at the trooper, then back at the demoness. “Sorry I haven’t been answering your calls. Been really busy trying to find some leads.” He cracked a smile. “Say doll, promise you won’t be mad?”

She pouted her lips, but then straightened out of the hug. “Sure.”

“I.. Lost yer number. It got tossed about with some other papers and I can’t find it.” Charlie tried to look ashamed of himself, as one would towards a long-term girlfriend. If he managed it he had no idea.

“Baby…” She groaned, pulling away and crossing her arms sternly.

He fell right into the role as he worried that she was going to slip right out of his fingers. “Don’t be like that dollface. I promise this time I’ll pin it to the board.”

His pleas were met with as much silence as you could achieve in a bustling casino.

“How about this. Give me your number again, and I’ll make sure as soon as I see Harlan again, I’ll arrange for ya and him to meet. We’ll go get coffee with him after I take you out to lunch.” Charlie found himself trying to put in his own messages.

Ash looked like she was caving into his sweet talk, her shoulders tension softening and the arms slowly unfolding so she could put them together in front of her. She pouted over her shoulder. “Promise?”

“Promise.” He said with a smile that said he believed he already won her over again.

Ash grinned back at him and threw herself into his arms again. This time he hugged her back tightly. She was about to go in for another kiss but apparently, Jazza had her fill with this.

“If you two wouldn’t mind. I’d like to get on with our errands.” Jazza said dryly.

Charlie looked over back at the demoness. “Who’s this?”

“As knew girlfriend. Were going to go get matching tattoos.” Ash replied, looking miffed but not really feeling it.

“Is that-”

“Negative. I am Officer Jazza. I have been charged with escorting a known fugitive to her desired destinations before escorting her out of Coruscant to ensure she behaves.”

Ash pouted. Then snatched a cocktail napkin off of a girl’s trey. “She’s no fun, as you can imagine. I was looking into the idea of another tattoo, maybe a piercing. Didn’t you say you knew a guy?” She said as she rummaged through his breast pockets for a pen. As she did she noticed the concealed weapons but kept them a secret from Jazza. She found an ink pen finally before using his chest as a writing desk.

“I know plenty of guys.” Charlie replied, trying to stay calm as she rummages through his clothing, trying to remember this is supposed to be his sweetheart. She began jotting some information down. “But I don’t know no one who can help you with either of those, Sweetheart.” He then began to wonder if he’d like a girl that was full of metal or covered in ink. It wasn’t very pretty in theory, was it?

“I’ll find someone.” She said, them smiled up at him. “Don’t forget your promise now, hun.” She said, folding up the paper and putting it and the pen into his inner breast pocket, folding it over neatly and sealing her con with another kiss. This time on the cheek. “See ya.”

“See ya Dollface.” He said with as much charm as he could with a scarred up face. As soon as she was headed down the stairs he ripped the paper out of his pocket and began to read it. There was a number, a series of numbers and a note promising that he just has to input it in a phone and it will reach her. Along with a thank you for playing along and that she expects him to contact her some time later. Promises to explain what's going on, and finally her name in short broad strokes. “Ash.”

That settles one mystery… Now to find Harlan Higgs.