Hey there, pretty mama, lemme whisper in your ear! [Liooon! 8D]

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Ah--god--dammit--what's--wrong--with--ow--fuck--why!"

Ari's head bounced off each stair, as did the rest of his body. So. Many. Fucking. Stairs. Were there that many stairs before? He was pretty sure they added a few extra ones earlier, just to screw with him now.

By the time they reached bottom, he was seeing stars, which was perhaps a small blessing as she took off at a jog and dragged him along after her.

[Lion]

"Hold that shuttle!" Gavrian said, pulling through the closing doors and running in just in time.  "Thanks!  Get in here you!"  She yanked hard on the cord and pulled Ari along.

"Ma'am.  You...you can't bring that...him on here like that!" said the Operator. 

"He's my luggage."

"He's....a person!  You can't just go around dragging people and expect people not to question it!"

Gavrian snatched the collar of the Operator's shirt and gave him  hard shake.  "He's a wanted criminal and I'm taking him in!  Now pilot this fucking shuttle or I'll arrest you too for obstruction!"  She snarled at the man and shoved him away.

He hesitated at first before going back up front, closing the shuttle doors.

Gavrian took a seat, sliding Ari out of the way of the middle aisle.  Just in case people needed to get through.  "Gods, is everyone on this station that hard-headed?" she huffed, burying her face in her gloved hands.  She ignored the dirty looks she got from a few of the other passengers on the shuttle.  Cancer, after all, was a den for thieves, pirates, and smugglers.

[Rhi-Rhi]

If Ari wasn't aching all over, he could have laughed.

Now he was luggage? Was she going to stuff him in the overhead compartment?

With a groan, he let his face thud against the floor. There wasn't a part on him that wasn't bruised. Man. What a gal. Shame she was a PILOT.

It was a rare moment when Ari felt genuine worry, much less fear, but he was beginning to now. She was a Pilot, and everything he knew about Pilots was bad news. Fucking tanks on legs, all of them, badass to the extreme--and mind-readers! With dragons. He wriggled a little, wincing as it made his bruises throb. The last thing he wanted was anyone poking around in his brain, and he knew if he got on her ship or whatever the hell she'd come here on, he wasn't going back. It'd be prison for him, at best. For life, no doubt. Probably with a dose of torture. And more than likely, a firing squad or some shit.

He glanced up at the Pilot, with her head in her hands, and grit his teeth as he wriggled a little more. On the bright side, it was nice of her to truss him up like this. She hadn't checked him very thoroughly for weapons, and he always kept a blade in his boot. This brought his hands really close to his boots, and with a little more maneuvering, he managed to touch the handle. Just to make sure it was still there.

Alright. Carefully, then. He paused, relaxing, and watched her a little more. Maybe she'd think he'd passed out again if he was quiet--and maybe she'd relax more, herself, for the ride. Either way, he needed to time this right.

[Lion]

No she hadn't seen him reach for that knife, but even if she did, she would have been glad to have the forethought to have cuffed his hands behind his back.  And there was always more duct tape.  She sighed and leand back in her seat, looking down at Ari and giving him a disappointed shake of her head.  God's what a day.

She looked up when a group from the rear of the shuttle moved toward the pair.  "You arrest this slimeball?" one of the men asked casually, cleaning out the crud from underneath his fingernails.

"He's a slimeball.  And yes, he's under arrest."  She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at them.  "You got a problem with that?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

...Uh.

A little twitch went through Ari at the sound of that voice, a voice which sounded disturbingly familiar. With a low breath to brace himself, he turned his head just a little to catch a look.

And twitched again.

Oh man.

It was Matt, scummy captain of another pirate crew. A captain he'd fucked. They got real drunk together, wound up in bed, and Matt had been stupid (and drunk) enough to just leave the keys to his ship just laying out there in the open. So, Ari had done as pirates do and taken them. The rest of his crew was out having fun, so Ari and his crew swept in and robbed them blind.

He supposed Matt wasn't too happy with him.

Ari quickly closed his eyes and faked unconsciousness. Maaan. Of all the fucking people to run into...

"There's only gonna be a problem if you make one," Matt said, and stepped in close to get all up in Gavrien's space. "That guy's mine. Thanks for wrapping him up for me. I'll take him off your hands now."

He looked to his other men and gave a nod, and they broke off, heading different directions. Two of them headed for the conductor, the rest headed further into the shuttle.

"Be a good girl now. Don't fuss," Matt said, and made a grab for the tether.

[Lion]

Oh nooooow, Ari wanted to stay put and pretend he was out of his misery!  Gavrian inwardly rolled her eyes, glancing back at the thug that had the nerve to come up here.

She said nothing of course.  She wasn't interested in diplomacy.

Combat instincts immediately kicked in.  And when Matt came forward to grab the cord, Gavrian closed the rest of the distance, fists and aimed the openings in his gut and throat.  A double punch that knocked Matt back and had him clutching his throat at the same time.  The motion would drag Ari along the dirty shuttle floor.

But it was just her luck when something came up and she'd be strapped to dead weight.  Gavrian slammed her foot hard against Matt and took out her stun baton, zapping it hard into his neck.  She really had no quarrel with these men, and maybe itwwould've been easier to just give Ari up.

She already said she was bringing him in, however.  She'd be dancing on hellfire for working on her vacation.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ari decided that once he got free, he was just going to soak himself in bleach. It was so satisfying watching Gavrian take out Matt, but as she slid him along the floor, she also slid him into a puddle of some sticky, dubious liquid of unknown origin and he gagged, only his mask saving him from a face full of the stuff. Soda? Piss? Alien blood? The world would never know!

Matt went down, and Ari grunted as the guy's dead weight landed atop him--and pinned his hands to his back so he couldn't make another go for his knife. He cursed under his breath and tried to rock himself, hoping to dislodge the guy. Fuuuck his timing, seriously! Right when the Pilot's distracted, he loses his window of opportunity!

And that was when the lights on the shuttle flickered, and then went dead.

The whole area went pitch black for a second, and then the emergency lights all along the floor lit up, casting the area in a faint red glow.

And then, voices.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! This is a hold up! Hands on your head and on the fucking floor!"

It was one of Matt's men, and from the clicking sound that followed--a sound echoed throughout the shuttle--this had been planned independently of this encounter.

And from the sounds of things, there were a lot more of Matt's people here than the few they'd seen enter.

[Lion]

Well, shit.

Just when she thought she was done dealing with one sorry meatbag, another had to come around and make everything worse.  This was why she didn't take vacations.

She lifted Matt up by the shirt and slammed him against the shuttle door, just as the emergency lights came on, and that one moment of surprise had her cursing up a storm.  Gavrian paused, and although Matt was too dazed to do much about it, still gagging on his bruised throat, the click of the gun behind her head, definitely made that pause much longer.

"Let him go, cunt!" came that growl.

She did, Matt slumped to the ground and the gun's butt, slammed in the back of her skull, knocking her unconscious.  The same might be said for Ari.

[Rhi-Rhi]

When Ari woke up, it was with one hell of a headache.

The fuckers had knocked him out, too, even though it was hardly necessary! He was tied up!

Of course, he realized as he squinted blearily and started to look around, the reason for that was probably because they didn't want him to see where they were going.

He had a feeling, though. A good gut feeling of where they were, because the floor beneath him was subtly vibrating, and there was a faint, constant hum in the air.

A vehicle of some sort.

Or a spaceship.

Considering there was no rocking motion, and no bumps like one would expect driving on a road, it was easy to deduce which it was.

Ffffffffffu...

Head pounding, Ari found that he was curled up on his side, biter mask still on--but, thankfully, he was no longer hog tied. Still handcuffed, and his legs were still duct-taped together at the ankles, and he was...covered in all sorts of shit. He really did not want to know the origins of the crap splotched all over his front, though one bright pink splotch was most definitely gum.

...Why the hell was he worrying about dirt right now?

Probably because he was still dazed.

Blinking and shaking his head, he pushed out with his elbow and legs until he rose up into a sitting position, swaying a little as the room spun. It was a dark, bare room--bare save for a toilet, a dirty cot, and the bars closing it in.

The brig.

Oh, and bare save for its other occupant.

Ari's eyebrows rose in surprise. Whoooa! This was news to him! So Pilots weren't unstoppable? He'd never met one before, only heard the stories, only knew they were psychic super soldiers with dragons and kill-you-with-their-mind powers, so THIS was important information to file away for later! For now, though, he shuffled along his bottom to get closer to her, and nudged her leg with his feet.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart."

[Lion]

Maybe he was still cuffed, but she was not.  Her belt was gone, as was her comlink, and her stun baton, and her other really cool stuff!  Gavrian groaned as she opened her eyes and blinked.  She didn't like this.  She didn't know where she was, but she didn't like this one bit!

She rose quickly into a sitting position, huffing and pushing back her disheveled hair.

"What!?  What the fuck!" she cried, growling in frustration. She glowered at Ari, but really there was no use in being angry.  Not with him right now.  Sure it was his fault still, somehow, but it seemed like they were in the same boat.

"What the fuck," she repeated, although more quietly.  "Do you happen to know where we are?" she added, rubbing her head with her hands and noting that he was still largely tied up.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Not a clue! If I had to make a guess, I'd say Matt's got us," Ari said with a nod and a smile, far more relaxed about this than she was. He wasn't getting hauled to Aedolis anymore, at least, so anything else just felt easier to deal with. Pirates? Aedolis was a scary, unknown variable, but he at least knew what to expect from other pirates. That, and he was still too dazed to be worried.

Besides, it was oddly satisfying seeing her freak out for once. Felt like fitting revenge, even though he was also getting punished by said revenge.

"Ya did piss him off real good. And I pissed him off real good months back. Oh, Matt's that guy ya zapped. Drug lord. Mean fucker, but not bad in bed. Ya wanna take this shit off me, darlin'?" he asked, wiggling his legs.

[Lion]

Gavrian couldn't believe this shit.  But really there was no use griping about it.  If he tried anything, she'd have his head split on the wall with no effort at all.  She just grunted at him and felt around.  She had the key in her foot.  At least they had the courtesy to not take her shoes.

Her hand slipped out something from the zipper and she motioned around to undo the cuffs, zipping them back in and putting them back in their pocket.  She moved to his legs, wary, and tore the duct tape with little effort.

"Mean fucker or not, He's gonna get his fucking head split open if he doesn't let me go," she grumbled, and looked up to the grated floor above them.  "This is his ship I take it?  Or just a hideout of his?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

She had the keys?!

They hadn't checked her shoes?!

A flash of hope flared up in Ari when she unlocked his cuffs, and his shoulders ached something fierce when he brought his arms back around to his front. He rolled them, working out the tension, and as soon as she got the duct tape off he reached for his boot and the blade he kept there--

Only to find it missing.

"Fucknuggets," he muttered. Maybe they hadn't taken her keys because they were small enough to overlook? A knife? Not so much.

Rising stiffly to his feet, Ari stretched, his joints popping like bubble wrap from being tied up--and bloody hogtied!--for so long. He twisted his torso and popped some more. Yeesh.

"His ship? Beats me," Ari said as he cracked his neck and rubbed the throbbing bump on his head. "A ship, though? Feels like it. And this's a brig if I ever seen one. So, probably! Imagine we're probably headed for his digs. Probably got a nice ditch dug for us already. Ya made a fool of 'im, darlin'. So did I. He don't suffer assholes to live, soooo..."

He followed her gaze up to the ceiling, then knelt and made a stirrup with his hands. "Alley-oop?"

[Lion]

A ship.  En route to their graves.  Wonderful.  If anything, this was more exciting than waiting around at a bar trying to enjoy a sandwich.  It wasn't even a half-decent rat burger for crying out loud.  She'd be damned if that was going to be her last meal.

Gavrian tried to listen in, closing her mind for a moment to all else but the people that walked above them.  They spoke of Matt's deal with a couple of Yracoshan scum-runners, smugglers of anything they could make a few creds off, from booze to bombs, it didn't matter.  Gavrian felt her gut drop.

Should she tell Ari?  She wondered if bringing him in at all would have been worth it.  He had a lot of enemies, and getting sold to some alien bastards wasn't in her daily plans.  She just wanted to get back to work.

She saw his hands and stepped up into it, vaulting up to the grated floor and waited until it was clear of people, before pressing her palm to the joints on the lock and disintegrating the metal.  She pulled herself up, allowing the door to swing down.  Once up, she held a hand down to pull Ari up.  And closed the grate behind them.

[Rhi-Rhi]

...That was fancy.

And here Ari had been expecting that they'd have to work to open that thing. Take shifts picking the locks but nope, she just handled that baby with her brain. Which was...actually pretty hot. As was the view as she crawled up ahead of him.

Man. To be a Pilot, though. Sex must be really fun. They could dirty talk from miles away, slap each others' asses from different rooms!

...Focus, Ari. Focus.

He grasped her hand when she offered it to him, half surprised she'd even offered it at all. She could have just left him there to rot, which he...hadn't actually considered when he'd vaulted her up, not until she was up there. He'd just swung right into auto-pilot, gauged the situation, deemed her the lighter of the two and figured she could do it easier. Apparently, regardless of what had happened before, he'd decided she was his ally here.

And apparently, she was on the same page.

He hauled himself up, and they found themselves in a common area. Not the best place to be, but now that they were there, Ari recognized it and grinned. Yup. This was Matt's ship, alright. He looked at Gavrian, peeked around the room, then signaled her to follow him before he bolted across the room, keeping low, and slid behind a counter in the galley.

There were probably knives here.

[Lion]

[Lol, Ari, Ari, Ari]

"All right Mr. Blackwell.  Maxwell.  Sorry," she said, shrugging.  "How big is this ship and how do we get off it?  Seems to be a heavy-class freighter.  There have got to be escape pods or something.  Feeling pulses..three bodies are coming down that corridor as we speak."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ari was busy carefully opening and closing drawers, looking for a knife or something, but only came back with a butter knife. He scowled down at it. Cheap assholes.

He took the knife anyway and snagged a fork while he was at it, then rounded on Gavrian even as she warned about their visitors. "Darlin', candy-britches, I love ya. Ya know that. But I had a thought, and I decided I ain't doin' shit 'til ya gimme your Piloty guarantee that if we get outta this, ya won't turn me in." He paused, grimacing. He could hear footsteps now, but they weren't hurried; they were casual, relaxed, and he could hear voices speaking, a man talking and a woman laughing.

"At least gimme a day's head start before ya go off chasin' me again. Deal or no deal? 'Cause no deal and, alas, love only goes so far," he said, and tapped her nose with the flat of the butter knife.

[Lion]

That tap was the only tap she'd allow him before she slapped him hard, closing the distance and squeezing his face with a singular hand.  "I just want to get out of here, chump.  And I'll do that either with or without you.  You're not worth the trouble of hoisting all the way back to Aedolis.  How's that for an answer?"

Gavrian took the fork from his hand and when the pair came around the corridor, she threw it and the prongs embedded themselves into the man's palm, digging into the wall beside him.

[Rhi-Rhi]

He guessed he struck a nerve.

"Good answer, ma'am!" Ari managed to say, words muffled since his cheeks were squished and his lips were all puckered out, his face still stinging. What a bang-up gal. "Works for--"

He cut off, because that was when the fork went flying like a throwing dagger.

The man it pierced screamed bloody murder, and the man and woman he was with both gave shouts of alarm--but they didn't pull guns.

Their prisoners, after all, were supposed to be locked away, and this was their downtime. Just coming to the kitchen to grab a snack, no doubt, expecting to be safe and sound on their own ship. Their eyes landed on Ari and Gavrian before they turned and bolted, and Ari shoved Gavrian's hand off him as he lurched to his feet.

"Grab 'em and I'll tell ya what I know!" he barked, and tackled the man, taking him down hard and slamming his face into the floor, cartilage crunching audibly.

[Lion]

He didn't need to tell her twice as Gavrian was already on the girl. Or sort of.  Telekinesis formed a vice around her neck and yanked her back.  Gavrian lunged forward and punched her hard in the gut to keep from screaming.  She lurched and held her body as Gavrian yanked her by the hair and slammed a fist in her face.

"Let's throw them in the brig.  I can bend that knife into shape as a makeshift lock," she suggested.