Challenge Distrust

Year 765 Hippocampus Rush

Her hope for Connor tethers, her primal instincts making more sense than whatever charade he's playing. She wants more than nothing to destroy everything in proximity. Connor's arms squeeze her waist. She didn't know why, but she finds solace in it. To her, this is a silent promise for him to keep. It is completely insane!?

"Is that really the Krax? Show me her face." Kang commands without even bothering to introduce himself, which Connor points out with plenty of spite.

"You…must be the leader...Kang of the Death Twisters...I'll show her face to you." His free hand pushes her head back and she had almost no time to shut her eyes to keep up the charade. I will remember this, sea thief. Though strange how his hand is so rough in appearance felt gentle to her. "Satisfied?"

There is no doubt that the reason her skin crawls is because of all their eyes. Too many to ever feel comfortable, just like when she was a slave being put on stage for a bid.

"Hmm. What do ya want.... pirate capt'?"

"Information first. Then I'll let you have the Krax."

"Info that is worth more than this Krax in chains?"

Connor didn't answer the gang leader right away, though she can guess he is staring the male down with that same unwavering confidence. He releases her head gently, shocking Rhea a little inside. Eventually, the silence didn't bear any fruit. And Connor must have no choice but to elaborate. "The Blue dust..."

"Ya very mad!? Madder to even accuse me of harboring blue dust. One grain is worth three of that bitch" The gang leader spits the ground. The whole crowd of them force their cackling,

"But...boss...if ya give him the info-" A smaller voice that is clearly Ranko chimes in.

"Shud up, brat! Another comment more and yar'll regret ever speakin'. Yar Vicar only has one tongue..."

That bastard... Rhea shakes again, fighting down her rage to keep playing dead.

"I'm startin' to think that yar's bounty and that bitch will cover for all that was taken from me..." Kang finally threaten failing to consider that a man who believes themselves as a God is more than likely going to not see the earth about to swallow him. That is proven today. Rhea isn’t fast enough to see the gunshot from where they stood. There is a split second of panic wiring her muscles to move, wiggling her body for freedom from Connor's vice hold with no success. Her lane of vision bounces from the shock on all the faces until it lands on Connor's stoic one. She notices the smoking pistol in his free hand which prompts her to find Kang. She finds Kang’s tattooed face which is paler than the last time she saw him, blood spill from his mouth while both his hands press against a gush of blood flowing out his neck. No matter how hard he tries, he can not stop the open hollow wound on his neck. He fell forward, either from the blood loss or shock, it did not matter. The man only had a few bloodied breaths; such a wound is not something anyone can walk away from without powers. Kang's body lands stiff, still trying to live, and pressing onto that wound. Everyone watches in horror, even Ranko, who must hate the man the most, watch clasping his hands over his own gaping mouth.

The only one that didn't show fear is Connor, his death glare bore down on Kang's dying form with a scowl as equally murderous. "I am the Captain of Nightmare Maiden. Most fear the name of my ship because of one thing that is true. I leave no survivors who dare challenge me... This time, I will provide each and every one of you fools with two options. Leave the orphanage alone, the town, and never come back. Or you can test my tolerance and die trying. Figure it out."

Rhea should have more fear in her but really, she is more intrigued than anything. Her first battle to get out of his grasp is lost in the awestruck. He carries himself in this aura of pure unquestionable confidence with a voice powerful and chilling the air with it. His proclamation stirs a warmth in her chest, making her skin pimples as if she is the one to receive the promise. That confidence in his skills mixes with the coppery, unblinking glare intimidates a few to back away.

Is this...what makes you a captain?

"Choose now..." Connor cocks his pistol; it is a silver weapon with eight chambers and one pistol. Different from any other pistol she had ever seen because the barrels are bigger and it had a glossiness to it that begs the question if it ever had surface damage. This is where he releases Rhea, shoving the bow at her to force her out of the stupor. She nearly drops her bow, made of the same woods of the Junxe trees and marked with many endearing notes from her father. It is too precious to drop, created on her thirteenth moon as a gift from her parents. It works to wake her to action, pulling out one makeshift arrow out of her quiver to aim at each of her opponents' heads.

"Fergit dis!?" A man in the crowd turn to run. A few follows the first coward. She counts nine very brave souls besides Ranko and the now dead Kang before them.

"Cowards! It's just the two of dem!" One foolish grunt holler to the rest, as he cocks his rifle at the pirate captain. Connor brandishes the sword, advancing towards the one with the rifle. Rhea questions if he can even block a bullet. Not willing to find out, she takes aim at the rifleman and release her first arrow. The arrow perfectly whizzes past Connor then lodges right dead center on the rifleman's chest. The rifleman wails, falling, dropping his weapon while he strains to rip out the arrow. It is a horrible reaction, one that will only rip out more of his skin and meat. Connor's only acknowledgment of her assistance is a twist of his head about to look at her, but he refrains himself for one reason or another. One of those reasons is probably because three of the grunts charges him. She moves to help, but the other five decide to do the same with her as their main target.

"Get the lass!?"

"Surround her!? She's just fast, not strong."

"Not...strong?" Rhea spits on the ground, showing her offense, putting away her bow and lowering her body for battle. As intended, they did surround her and if she is unskilled, she might have been more fearful. The reckless grin on her face begs to differ, "Come and test me, vishkas ."

"Gladly Krax bitch." One brute, twice her size, swung down on her with a sword. She dances around that, keeping herself close to the brute and in the twist of her movement pull out an arrow. In seconds, she plunges the tip right into his shoulder. He bellows just like her first victim and uses his good arm to swing at her this time to keep her away. It works enough for her to back away. That is when she felt someone grab her bow from her back and pull her in.

Soon after, his arms rope around her neck as well as her waist. The idiot guffaws as if he is victorious. She only grins wider and use his ignorance. Her mouth opens wide, and she bit down hard on his wrist. The taste of putrid blood didn't deter her. She bit harder when he didn't let go. All she can hear is his pain induced screaming and his three other friends close in to help.

One move even closer from the ruffian and she brought her legs up to kick him hard in the chest, sending both her captor and his friend on their backs. She fell too, but this time freed from the hold, there is no pause for her. She snatches the pistol from her ex-captor and whacks him across his face with the handle end. Now that he is unconscious, she jumps on the balls of her heels and back away from the other three, they are very conscious and capable of taking her down. The weight of the pistol felt strange in her hand, but she is going to try using it anyway. Her aim is perfect with a bow and arrow, so this shouldn't be different .... right? She points the rusty gun at all of them. They certainly watch her while their smug attitudes from earlier dissipates.

"Shoot!" Nothing happens; she shakes the pistol and then said it again. Nothing . Her enemies' fearful expressions evolve to pure disbelief. "Damn...why is this not working?"

"Stick with your bow..."

A voice reaches her ears behind her, causing her to wince. It takes her another second to recognize that it belongs to Connor, and he sidles up next to her. Her side glance is full of the visage of the pirate captain in his red coat, his attention on the opponents she faces.

"You do not have the time to judge. Where are all your-" She turns her head behind her to see the three corpses that he caused. A beheading here, one is missing arms, and the last is breathing his last breath. A promise is then created within herself, never piss of this pirate captain. "Well...I got this handled."

"Hmph…” That is all she heard from him, though his sound shows how not convinced by her statement he is. Every one of his one sound queues has a certain emotion; she is starting to hear the difference.

Brat...

"Enuf of this!? We will take ya both down-" One brute spouts, brandishing a pistol of his own. The brute is cut off by Rhea's quick ingenuity; she threw the worthless pistol at him square to his jawline. The attack works enough to stun him; his other two friends charges forward to assist. Connor uses the time spared for both and bounds towards three buffoons. One of the lackeys reacts to his advancement and drew a sword out. The blades connect. Connor is not keeling by the lackey's quick thinking. If anything, he presses more weight into the swing and there is an obvious difference in strength. She can tell by the way the lackey is red faced and sweating.

Rhea is petty enough to find Connor's help as a form of competition. Especially when he didn’t regard her in a serious light since the beginning. She will never allow a stranger like this man to ridicule her. Her pride is at stake. The fire within her fuels the muscles in her legs and she sprints towards the next individual.

Using both speed and her weight, she hops onto the second unsuspecting lackey and threw off his balance. He fell on his side; she pulls out her dagger and dug it into his throat and relishes the sight of the blood. Since it is a terribly crudely made blade, the handle broke off. Her heart thuds against her ribcage, sensing the looming presence of another individual. The aura of this individual promises' death, the hair on the back of her neck stood at all ends as if Anukrin blew his icy chilly breath on her. Anukrin only ever promises death to her kind.

"RHEA!? Behind ya!" Ranko bellows from the distance, it is too late. She had turn to see the one lackey that she threw the gun at now pointing his pistol right at her head.

I cannot dodge this.

There is no need to dodge.

The voice in her head again, it goads her to use her powers. The very one that she lost control of and kill the slavers and slaves unbiasedly. Each heartbeat is like a flint-stone lighting sparks in her veins, the heat warms every vessel and burns her muscle. She can literally feel the smoke fill up her lungs, threatening to escape her chest. The fire can come out many ways, either by her breath or by touch. This man is doomed by either method, but what about the people she is trying to protect? The Vicar? Ranko? Even Connor doesn't deserve to be caught in the flames.

These thoughts aren’t considered any further. A blade rips through this man's chest, the blood spraying everywhere. The sight of his death even chills her fire, and she stands up to back away from the events unfolding. Her visage fills with the culprit, the very same captain with a heavy scowl on his face and a coat as deep red as the blood that flows out of his next victim.

He saved me?

The pirate captain pulls out the blade from the corpse's chest, standing clean from blood-unlike her-and inspecting her from bloodied head to toe. Then he grumbles, his first words after a pause of silence always form some sort of criticism. "You are very reckless."

She huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "You are one to talk... walking headfirst earlier."

"Hmph." He's doing that one sound answer again, swiping the sword to flick off the blood from his blade, then sheathing it. Then he approaches Ranko who is standing near a set of stairs. Doing so meant passing her with the cold shoulder.

"Anyways...thank you." She ignores his treatment, still grateful to have him as an ally than not. Now she felt incredibly indebted even though she would have been fine in the end. He is silent, the only show of acknowledgement is when he halts his stride. This captain certainly does not know what appreciation looks like…

"Connor...Rhea...Fat- I mean the Vicar is being kept upstairs in the boss's room by guards...ya can't go up that way... They will kill him if they see yas" Ranko interrupts any chance for Connor to react to her show of gratitude. There is no time for it anyway, and what Ranko said brought on dread in her. Apparently, Connor isn’t going to take no for an answer. The captain moves up to Ranko while glaring up the sets of steps. "We could try to catch them unaware."

"Ya'll already caused enough ruckus to be heard around town. There's no catching them off guard." Ranko tries to block Connor, the worry etching in every corner of his young, tattooed face. This boy loves the Vicar enough to even face off a bona fide killer like Connor.

There is one way. Rhea's attention scans from the stairs then towards the closest window, her brain cooking up another reckless plan. None that Captain Connor likes based on how he criticizes her every move, every chance that he gets.

"I am going to climb." Rhea reaches to the window, and Connor is already right behind her to stop her.

"Stay put. You'll only-"

"Nope." She twirls to face him, glowing with the same determination and a grin that reaches from one ear to the next. "I did to steal this place clean ; I still remember the layout. The room is just about three floors up this window…So, they will not suspect me."

"Then how will you fight with one less dagger?" Connor challenges her plan, and it is a sound judgement since all he saw her do is fight with a bow and a dagger.

"My dagger was only ever meant to skin carcasses. I fight without it plenty of times. I will catch them off guard and you two can come up after a hundred breaths" And I have something within me. Rhea ignores the piercing gaze, sliding right up to the window and straddling between the outside and inside of the building.

He really didn't like her insubordination, there is that strange look on his face that sort of appears to be outraged. Yet he is so quick to snuff it down, replacing it with a neutral mask so she won’t be able to discern it. He's probably setting this argument aside for now for the Vicar's sake. "Only sixty breaths. Your only goal is to make sure the Vicar isn't in the range of harm. Do you understand?"

Damn. So, demanding.

"Yes, Mister Connor." With a heavy eye roll, she pumps her fist over her heart in the signature Kraxxian salute, then she slid right out the window to scale the building side, not waiting for this man to change his mind.