Who: Jacen Solo, the Scourge and open to the Hyperion? What: Scourge, meet the former Sith Lord. Former Sith Lord, this is the Scourge. When: 22nd August- nighttime Where: Jacen's patrol route Rating: High for violence and NPC death and general Sithly irritations. Status: Complete as a narrative, open if someone wants to tag.
Patrols had been tenser lately. Not just for the people of Angel Investigations, but among those they encountered as well. If Jacen saw one more door slam closed as he approached, he was going to start taking it personally. He supposed he understood the fear, on an intellectual level. These Scourge were a formidable force and perhaps it was the natural response to be scared, even if personally what he wanted to do was drive the bastards out of his city. Permanently.
He was staying out of the debate over what to do with the interrogation, even if that was potentially unfair to Faith. Because he did agree, with her, with Spike, with John Winchester. Sometimes unpleasant things needed to happen, even to good people. The greater good demanded it. But since it was that line of thinking that lead to him becoming Caedus and killing Mirta Gev's mother, it was probably inappropriate for him to comment. He would simply follow his orders as they were given.
Well, mostly. One of his orders, as was the rest of the team's, was to patrol in pairs. But Jacen was wanting to check out some extra areas so was out alone. He was carrying on him both his own and Alema Rar's old lightsaber, as well as keeping himself somewhat open in the Force to maintain contact with Tenel Ka. He was, as ever, exceptionally confident in his abilities to survive.
And then he heard it.
The sound of boots marching in perfect time, echoing through the dark alleyways around him. The former Sith Lord tensed, pulling out his lightsaber, even if he didn't activate it quite yet as he stretched out with his mind, trying to get a sense of how many he was about to face. A squadren. Thirty, no, forty men, and they were heading directly for him. Jacen Solo smiled grimly as he activated the glowing red blade, the low hum barely audible over the sound of the goosestepping.
The first of the men rounded the corner, stopping when they saw him standing there. The coldness Jacen sensed from them was almost disconcerting, as was the sound of ten guns being cocked, aimed and fired in perfect unison.
His lightsaber flashed as he moved, blocking each of the bullets before they reached his body. The Scourge, for it was undeniably them, barely hesitated as they moved in, in a practiced formation, one that had clearly served them well for years. Jacen held out his other hand and let loose a volley of Force Lighting, catching three of them in the chest and he watched with no small amount of satisfaction as they went down, the smell of their burning flesh filling the air. The others did not pause, did not flinch, as they stepped over the bodies of their fallen comrades, causing Jacen to raise an eyebrow in almost surprise.
"Okay, now that's just cold."
If the demon in front of him had had a lip, it would have been curled back in disgust. "We will rid this city, and this world, of your human taint."
"Has anyone ever told you, you're kind of a bigot," Jacen quipped in return as he slashed with his lightsaber. Unfortunately for him, the demon moved in time, so only his gun was damaged. As he did so, the others moved as well, driving in with fists and boots. Jacen dodged most of them, using the Force to anticipate the movements before they were made, but even so, several blows caught him, hard enough to leave bruises. If it hadn't been for his time in the Embrace, the Jedi might even have allowed the pain to slow him down. Instead he used it, made himself stronger because of it, and he fought back, using both his lightsaber and the Force to fight back, even killing a couple of his opponents. He was starting to feel a sense of triumph before there was a scream.
A half breed girl, one that didn't look too dissimilar to a Bothan actually but with some clearly human features, was standing a few feet away, her eyes wide with terror. It was hard to judge her age, but if Jacen had to guess he would have placed her at no more than thirteen. A child.
"Kriff," he swore under his breath as the Scourge's attention was moved from him to her. He moved quickly, Force leaping over the soldiers while Pushing her back, trying to get some distance between her and them.
Luke always did used to say that it was unwise to do too many things at once, that rushing without thinking was the quickest way to get hurt or killed.
As Jacen felt the thrown knife embed itself in the back of his shoulder, he thought to himself that he always hated it when his uncle was proven right.
"Kriff,' he swore again more loudly this time, as he picked the girl up before she could protest and he Jumped up, over the wall. She seemed to be in too much shock to do much more than hold onto him as he started running, pushing the pain from the knife wound to the back of his mind. He was bleeding but not too much, it would be fine, at least for now. For now it was getting the terrified teenager away from the Scourge.
Once he felt that he'd put enough distance between them and himself, he slowed down, gently easing the girl to the ground so she could stand on her own two feet. The shock still seemed to be affecting her and he watched her, waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention.
"Hey, you got a name?"
She blinked before she started shaking slightly. "Lyssa."
"Well, Lyssa," Jacen looked at her, suppressing a flinch. "I really think you should run straight home okay? And lock the door behind you."
"They'll find me," she half cried. "They might leave my mom alone, she's a pure demon, but my dad was human and I don't even know him, it's not my fault I'm different and oh god, they're gonna kill me, they are..." She only stopped when Jacen put his hand over her mouth.
"Lyssa, stay calm. Go home, get your mom and then leave town for a vacation for a while. But mostly, stay calm. Can you do that?"
There was a long pause before she finally nodded.
"Good girl. Now go."
She ran, a mad dash that took her out of sight within a moment. Jacen watched her leave before he turned as well in the other direction, walking back to the Hyperion, even with the knife still stuck in the back of his shoulder. Still, not letting the pain in, still using it as strength to get back home. It felt like a long walk, but eventually, the tired Jedi made it through the front door, wandering into the lobby towards where the first aid kit was located, without even glancing up to see who was at the front desk. It took a bit of twisting to see the injury, but eventually he got the knife free, looking at the wound. Fortunately it was neither too deep, nor was it near any major arteries. Nodding with satisfaction, Jacen opened the kit to get out cleaning supplies and a bandage of some kind. Then would come the explaining to Tenel Ka. He almost preferred the Scourge to that.