01-15-2016, 04:03 PM
Getting to the droid was significantly harder with a portion of her leg ripped open. Brooke didn't let this slow her down too much, however, and still continued to cross the rock islands as fast as was reasonably possible. Still, each time she had to jump over lava she gave it the time and consideration such a dangerous feat deserved. One wrong step and she would be joining Davin and his Pokemon. With each landing she winced further in pain, and was relieved to finally make it to the mangled droid.
Baldur landed on the same platform as her with far more grace, and stabbed the dead Onix's horn into the ground. Brooke looked over to him briefly, then dropped to a kneel beside the ruined machine. Before she did anything with the droid, though, she pulled one of her bandannas from her coat pocket and wrapped it tightly around the wound she had received from the Raticate. This stopped the bleeding enough. She'd have to give it some real medical attention later, but for now it was more important to get what she was here for and get the hell out of this place.
"Didn't expect to be fighting someone for this droid," Baldur said from behind her, gently reminding the mysterious woman that he wanted to know what had just happened.
Brooke took her hands off the bandanna as she finished tying the knot. She let them hover above the gash for a second while she waited to see if she needed to do anything extra at this moment. It still hurt and she could feel it throbbing, but it was manageable.
Baldur wasn't happy being ignored, so he continued to press this one. "Who was that man?"
"Davin was after the droid, too," Brooke explained as she began to sort through the destroyed pieces of this machine.
"Why?" Baldur was quick and blunt with his follow up question.
"It was personal to him, too," Brooke quietly said.
Baldur frowned in confusion. This didn't make any sense. He watched as Brooke pulled a small tablet from one of her leather jacket's pockets, and connected a small wire on it to what remained of of the droid's chassis. He didn't know much about technology, but he knew that she was taking information and data from it. The Goron also knew that whatever was on that was the key to understanding this situation. Brooke pushed a few buttons, and then waited while it began downloading.
"You knew him well?" Baldur asked after some silence, wanting to know more about their attacker. "There was obviously some bad blood between the two of you."
"We go...we went back," Brooke corrected herself, moving to past tense when discussing Davin, now. That would take some getting used to. "We both did a lot of things we weren't proud of. Didn't expect it to end in a lava cavern in the middle of the Ashen Steppes."
Baldur paused, not having considered what she might be going through. Surely, the poor woman had experienced a very unusual past twenty-four hours and was likely a bit overwhelmed by it all.
"I'm sorry," Baldur meekly apologized. He felt bad for pushing her so much. The adrenaline was wearing off a bit, and he was thinking a little more clearly. The details would be nice to know, but ultimately were irrelevant to him. After all, the man had tried to kill them both.
Brooke simply waved a dismissive hand, without actually turning to face the Goron. It was enough of an acceptance of the apology for him. After she did that, Brooke pulled the wire from the droid, and the screen on her device lit up.
"Echo. Alpha. Sierra," the tablet said in a neutral, robotic voice, causing Baldur to tilt his head in confusion. "One. Nine. Indigo. Uniform..."
Baldur listened as the machine continued to dully ramble on in an unimpressive tone. He was utterly bewildered at this point. Brooke, however, was much less upset. In fact, she appeared quite satisfied with what she heard. The girl groaned as she got back on her feet, experiencing a little trouble in standing due to her leg.
"Alright," Brooke calmly said. "I think we're done here."
"What the hell is that?" Baldur finally blurted out. His adrenaline was climbing once more. What in the world had he helped this woman do?
Brooke turned to look at the Goron, and actually looked confused. "What?"
"What that droid is saying?" Baldur clarified in a stern tone. "It's just a bunch of numbers and words."
"It's Imperial Probe Droid recon data," Brooke calmly explained, turning the device off and pocketing it. "It's encrypted, but that's obviously no issue once the data is returned to Coruscant."
"What?!" Baldur demanded, his voice now raised significantly. "I thought you said it was personal to you?"
"It is!" Brooke snapped right back at her oversized companion. "I'm getting paid a lot to bring it in, and that's pretty damn important to me."
Baldur put his hands on his head, fuming with anger and frustration. "And that man? It was 'personal' to him, too?"
"As a matter of fact, it was," Brooke retorted. "He wanted to get paid, too. So thank you, because ever since he got that team of Pokemon clicking, it's been hell on the rest of us bounty hunters."
"He was...you're..." Baldur snapped his arms down to his side in a violent, angry motion. This revelation was one of the last things he'd expected to hear, and he was not taking it well. "Bounty hunters!? I just helped an Imperial bounty hunter?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Brooke said back, somewhat soothingly. Baldur seemed to calm down for just a moment, but then Brooke continued to explain. "I don't have an affiliation. It's just that the Empire is paying, this time."
Baldur let out an angry shout. He couldn't believe he'd been duped like that. So much for the innocent girl who desperately needed help finding her poor lost droid that contained some sentimental trinket or recording. Was he just so eager to help that he'd missed the warning signs?
"You lied to me," Baldur took his own doubts and turned them into an accusation.
"You wanted to help me," Brooke replied, gently touching her wound to make sure it wasn't bleeding again. "I just made you feel good about doing so."
Baldur gritted his teeth in anger at how callous this woman was turning out to be. "I wanted to help someone that actually needed the help. Not some self serving criminal!"
"Oh, grow up, Baldur!" Brooke rolled her eyes in annoyance, raising her own voice, now. "There's no good guys or bad guys in this world. There's only winners and losers! And somehow, despite all your best efforts, today you were a winner."
The Goron clenched his fists and snarled. He couldn't stay still because of how angry he had become. Then he realized the true gravity of the situation. The droid was sent by the Empire, and was very close to the Goron village. That could only mean one thing.
"That thing was spying on us, wasn't it!?" Baldur demanded, ignoring Brooke's response. "What does the Empire want with the Gorons?"
"I don't know, Baldur," Brooke admitted, sounding utterly exhausted by this conversation. "I don't even know if your people are what they were studying. I'm just here to pick this thing up."
"If that data will endanger my people, then I can't let you have it!" Baldur roared in a righteous fury, clenching his fists and sliding into a battle stance.
Brooke, meanwhile, didn't budge. Back at the village, she was terrified that this Goron would smash her into tiny pieces for no good reason. Yet now, here she was, with him threatening to do so, and it didn't phase her. That was her true strength, though. She knew people better than they knew themselves, sometimes. So she knew what Baldur was going to do, here, and that's why she didn't so much as flinch.
"You're not going to hurt me, Baldur," Brooke calmly told him.
"I will pry that device from your hands to save my people!" Baldur shouted back, though he was truly hoping that she would be intimidated enough by his size and proven abilities. He wasn't a very skilled bluffer, so he was hoping the girl wouldn't want to push her luck, given the differences in their statures. This didn't seem to be the case.
"We don't know that this droid is even the slightest danger to you and your kind," Brooke scoffed. "But you're so honorable that you wanted to come out here and help a poor, helpless girl, and now you're going to pummel that same, wounded girl into the ground on a hunch?"
"I'm serious," Baldur weakly responded, but he had already shifted out of his battle stance. She had called his bluff. The girl looked like she wouldn't even be able to get out of the cavern on her own, and he really wanted to force himself to attack her? He couldn't help himself, he just wouldn't do it. There really was no black and white in this situation, which meant he just couldn't bring himself to act. He'd always thought of that as one of his strengths, and never imagined it being used against him.
"Thanks for your help," Brooke flatly said, ignoring the Goron's final threat and beginning to walk away with a limp.
Baldur watched her jump over the first gap of lava and cross over to the next platform. He might not have been able to bring himself to attack her, but he certainly wasn't going to help her get out of here. At least, he didn't think he would. Still, he couldn't resist seizing the opportunity for the last words.
"A lot of people say humans shouldn't be trusted!" the Goron called out, causing Brooke to stop in her tracks. "That they lie, cheat, deceive, murder. I never believed it. I wanted to believe that people, wherever they came from, were better than that."
Brooke didn't say anything, nor did she turn to face Baldur. She didn't have a catchy one liner in store for an accusation like that. So, she just decided to do what she had always done best. Leave.
"I guess I was wrong," Baldur finished once he didn't get a response.
Brooke gave him nothing more. She simply continued to make her way out of the cave silently, leaving Baldur behind. The Goron watched her leave momentarily, then simply reclaimed the broken Onix horn and departed in his own direction.
Baldur landed on the same platform as her with far more grace, and stabbed the dead Onix's horn into the ground. Brooke looked over to him briefly, then dropped to a kneel beside the ruined machine. Before she did anything with the droid, though, she pulled one of her bandannas from her coat pocket and wrapped it tightly around the wound she had received from the Raticate. This stopped the bleeding enough. She'd have to give it some real medical attention later, but for now it was more important to get what she was here for and get the hell out of this place.
"Didn't expect to be fighting someone for this droid," Baldur said from behind her, gently reminding the mysterious woman that he wanted to know what had just happened.
Brooke took her hands off the bandanna as she finished tying the knot. She let them hover above the gash for a second while she waited to see if she needed to do anything extra at this moment. It still hurt and she could feel it throbbing, but it was manageable.
Baldur wasn't happy being ignored, so he continued to press this one. "Who was that man?"
"Davin was after the droid, too," Brooke explained as she began to sort through the destroyed pieces of this machine.
"Why?" Baldur was quick and blunt with his follow up question.
"It was personal to him, too," Brooke quietly said.
Baldur frowned in confusion. This didn't make any sense. He watched as Brooke pulled a small tablet from one of her leather jacket's pockets, and connected a small wire on it to what remained of of the droid's chassis. He didn't know much about technology, but he knew that she was taking information and data from it. The Goron also knew that whatever was on that was the key to understanding this situation. Brooke pushed a few buttons, and then waited while it began downloading.
"You knew him well?" Baldur asked after some silence, wanting to know more about their attacker. "There was obviously some bad blood between the two of you."
"We go...we went back," Brooke corrected herself, moving to past tense when discussing Davin, now. That would take some getting used to. "We both did a lot of things we weren't proud of. Didn't expect it to end in a lava cavern in the middle of the Ashen Steppes."
Baldur paused, not having considered what she might be going through. Surely, the poor woman had experienced a very unusual past twenty-four hours and was likely a bit overwhelmed by it all.
"I'm sorry," Baldur meekly apologized. He felt bad for pushing her so much. The adrenaline was wearing off a bit, and he was thinking a little more clearly. The details would be nice to know, but ultimately were irrelevant to him. After all, the man had tried to kill them both.
Brooke simply waved a dismissive hand, without actually turning to face the Goron. It was enough of an acceptance of the apology for him. After she did that, Brooke pulled the wire from the droid, and the screen on her device lit up.
"Echo. Alpha. Sierra," the tablet said in a neutral, robotic voice, causing Baldur to tilt his head in confusion. "One. Nine. Indigo. Uniform..."
Baldur listened as the machine continued to dully ramble on in an unimpressive tone. He was utterly bewildered at this point. Brooke, however, was much less upset. In fact, she appeared quite satisfied with what she heard. The girl groaned as she got back on her feet, experiencing a little trouble in standing due to her leg.
"Alright," Brooke calmly said. "I think we're done here."
"What the hell is that?" Baldur finally blurted out. His adrenaline was climbing once more. What in the world had he helped this woman do?
Brooke turned to look at the Goron, and actually looked confused. "What?"
"What that droid is saying?" Baldur clarified in a stern tone. "It's just a bunch of numbers and words."
"It's Imperial Probe Droid recon data," Brooke calmly explained, turning the device off and pocketing it. "It's encrypted, but that's obviously no issue once the data is returned to Coruscant."
"What?!" Baldur demanded, his voice now raised significantly. "I thought you said it was personal to you?"
"It is!" Brooke snapped right back at her oversized companion. "I'm getting paid a lot to bring it in, and that's pretty damn important to me."
Baldur put his hands on his head, fuming with anger and frustration. "And that man? It was 'personal' to him, too?"
"As a matter of fact, it was," Brooke retorted. "He wanted to get paid, too. So thank you, because ever since he got that team of Pokemon clicking, it's been hell on the rest of us bounty hunters."
"He was...you're..." Baldur snapped his arms down to his side in a violent, angry motion. This revelation was one of the last things he'd expected to hear, and he was not taking it well. "Bounty hunters!? I just helped an Imperial bounty hunter?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Brooke said back, somewhat soothingly. Baldur seemed to calm down for just a moment, but then Brooke continued to explain. "I don't have an affiliation. It's just that the Empire is paying, this time."
Baldur let out an angry shout. He couldn't believe he'd been duped like that. So much for the innocent girl who desperately needed help finding her poor lost droid that contained some sentimental trinket or recording. Was he just so eager to help that he'd missed the warning signs?
"You lied to me," Baldur took his own doubts and turned them into an accusation.
"You wanted to help me," Brooke replied, gently touching her wound to make sure it wasn't bleeding again. "I just made you feel good about doing so."
Baldur gritted his teeth in anger at how callous this woman was turning out to be. "I wanted to help someone that actually needed the help. Not some self serving criminal!"
"Oh, grow up, Baldur!" Brooke rolled her eyes in annoyance, raising her own voice, now. "There's no good guys or bad guys in this world. There's only winners and losers! And somehow, despite all your best efforts, today you were a winner."
The Goron clenched his fists and snarled. He couldn't stay still because of how angry he had become. Then he realized the true gravity of the situation. The droid was sent by the Empire, and was very close to the Goron village. That could only mean one thing.
"That thing was spying on us, wasn't it!?" Baldur demanded, ignoring Brooke's response. "What does the Empire want with the Gorons?"
"I don't know, Baldur," Brooke admitted, sounding utterly exhausted by this conversation. "I don't even know if your people are what they were studying. I'm just here to pick this thing up."
"If that data will endanger my people, then I can't let you have it!" Baldur roared in a righteous fury, clenching his fists and sliding into a battle stance.
Brooke, meanwhile, didn't budge. Back at the village, she was terrified that this Goron would smash her into tiny pieces for no good reason. Yet now, here she was, with him threatening to do so, and it didn't phase her. That was her true strength, though. She knew people better than they knew themselves, sometimes. So she knew what Baldur was going to do, here, and that's why she didn't so much as flinch.
"You're not going to hurt me, Baldur," Brooke calmly told him.
"I will pry that device from your hands to save my people!" Baldur shouted back, though he was truly hoping that she would be intimidated enough by his size and proven abilities. He wasn't a very skilled bluffer, so he was hoping the girl wouldn't want to push her luck, given the differences in their statures. This didn't seem to be the case.
"We don't know that this droid is even the slightest danger to you and your kind," Brooke scoffed. "But you're so honorable that you wanted to come out here and help a poor, helpless girl, and now you're going to pummel that same, wounded girl into the ground on a hunch?"
"I'm serious," Baldur weakly responded, but he had already shifted out of his battle stance. She had called his bluff. The girl looked like she wouldn't even be able to get out of the cavern on her own, and he really wanted to force himself to attack her? He couldn't help himself, he just wouldn't do it. There really was no black and white in this situation, which meant he just couldn't bring himself to act. He'd always thought of that as one of his strengths, and never imagined it being used against him.
"Thanks for your help," Brooke flatly said, ignoring the Goron's final threat and beginning to walk away with a limp.
Baldur watched her jump over the first gap of lava and cross over to the next platform. He might not have been able to bring himself to attack her, but he certainly wasn't going to help her get out of here. At least, he didn't think he would. Still, he couldn't resist seizing the opportunity for the last words.
"A lot of people say humans shouldn't be trusted!" the Goron called out, causing Brooke to stop in her tracks. "That they lie, cheat, deceive, murder. I never believed it. I wanted to believe that people, wherever they came from, were better than that."
Brooke didn't say anything, nor did she turn to face Baldur. She didn't have a catchy one liner in store for an accusation like that. So, she just decided to do what she had always done best. Leave.
"I guess I was wrong," Baldur finished once he didn't get a response.
Brooke gave him nothing more. She simply continued to make her way out of the cave silently, leaving Baldur behind. The Goron watched her leave momentarily, then simply reclaimed the broken Onix horn and departed in his own direction.