Bounty Hunter Anon II

by Sunny Solaire

Easy as Pie

"Pinkie Pie... Cute."

She giggles. "Psh! Look who's talking, stud!"

You smile a little at that and walk over to the other side of the table. "Nice to meet you, Pinkie. My name is Anonymous, but I go by Anon."

"Anon! I like it!" She never stops smiling at you as you sit down in the chair opposite of her.

It's pretty dark in here, but she's sitting right under the light above the table, so you can see her pretty well. She's wearing a black leather jacket with a left shoulder pad over a white shirt and dark grey leather pants. She's pretty attractive in person, you have to admit.

"So! Wanna play a game?" She takes her deck of cards and expertly shuffles them between her hands in midair. She doesn't take her eyes off of you the entire time. It's incredible, and so very tempting...

You need to loosen her lips a bit. Get her talking about Discord. This might be the way to do it.

"I do." You reply. "I haven't played in years though, so I'm a little rusty."

She smiles widely. "Tell you what, how about we play a couple of practice matches? I can give you a few pointers!"

You shrug. "Alright, sounds good."

"Yay!" She smiles wide and you take a deep breath as she shuffles the cards some more. "You remember how this game works then, right?"

"Of course." You nod.

Whoever wins three sets wins the match. There are two decks of cards that are used in the game. The cards from the main deck count up each time you lay one down. You have to get a score of, or as close to 20 without going higher than that, otherwise you immediately lose.

Pinkie takes the cards from the second deck and spreads them out in her hands face-down. These cards are going to be in your hand. They are used to manipulate and change your score for that set. That way, if your score does land on a number higher than 20, you can lower it for a chance to win.

You take four random cards from her and look to see their value. A -1, -3, and two +1s. All relatively lower numbers. Which means you're going to have to be risky if you want to win.

Pinkie takes her four cards and lays the main deck down in front of you, while putting the remaining cards from the second deck off to the side. "Alright! Let's play!"

She takes a card from the main deck and lays it down on her side, face-up. It's a 1. She ends her turn and you take a card and lay it down on your side. It's a 5. She draws a 5 for her turn, and you draw yet another 5.

On her next turn, she draws a 9. She's up to 15 points. You draw a 6. You're now at 16.

Here's where things get risky.

You could play it safe and lay down a +1, then hold. That would get you up to 17 points. That's a pretty terrible score to end the set on though. Alternatively, you could risk drawing another card. Anything under 4 would be good. You and Pinkie have both been drawing high numbers, so there's bound to be a small number coming up soon.

Well, seeing as how this is just a practice game, you see no harm in taking the risk. You end your turn and Pinkie draws a 4, giving her 19 points.

You draw a card and lay it down.

"Ah, damn." It's a 10. You're at 26 points. You lose.

Pinkie smiles. "You done?"

You chuckle. "Yeah, you got me."

She giggles again and clears the used cards from the table. "Alright, one point for me!"

You grin at her as she sets the cards off to the side.

She lays down a 6 on her side and ends her turn. "So Anon, what brings you to town?"

You pause for a bit and lay a 4 down on your side before answering. "I'm looking for someone. A big deal in the galaxy's underworld. A Devaronian named Discord."

Pinkie's movements halt as she reaches for a card and looks up at you, her smile immediately fading. She clears her throat once. "How much of a big deal is he, exactly?"

She lays down a 3 and continues to glare at you. Now she's alert, and you can see her slowly start to tense up.

You take another card and lay it down. It's a 7. "He's a huge deal. Been causing lots of problems lately, and I need to know where he is, so I can find him and stop him."

You end your turn, but she doesn't move. She just keeps her eyes locked onto yours. "What makes you think I'd know where he is?"

You lean in closer to her, getting under the light so she sees you clearly. "Because I know who you are, Pinkie. Who you really are. I know that you used to be with his little gang. I know about your rep. And now, you're going to tell me how and where to find him."

She stays silent as you glare into each others eyes. Her eyes shift down just a bit and her nostrils flare slightly. Something just ticked her.

"That's some... pretty cool looking armor you've got on, Anon..." She says. "Cool picture on your shoulder too."

A Mythosaur skull, the Mandalorian emblem. You had installed a new armor plate on your robotic shoulder and had painted it on there. Your original was lost when your arm was cut off.

She continues. "Tell me Anon, what do you do for work?"

She squints her eyes at you a little and her jaw clenches. She already knows the answer.

You have to let her know that you're not after her. "Look, Pinkie..."

Something behind her distracts you and you shift your gaze to see Sunset looking at you. She must've just got there.

In that split-second that you were distracted, Pinkie slams her hands onto the table and pushes her side down hard. Your side of the table shoots up to your chin, making you bite your tongue and knock your head back as a result. You taste fresh blood in your mouth as you throw your cards into the air.

She growls and grabs the underside of the table before flinging it up and pushing it into your chest, making you fly backwards a few feet. You scream as you smack the back of your head against the wall.

You grit your teeth and open your eyes to see her jump through the air and land in front of you. Sunset is charging her from behind and reaching for her blaster.

Before you can react, Pinkie grabs you by the collar and hurls you into Sunset. She screams as you both go flying backwards. You both land on the ground with a loud thud. The patrons surrounding you gasp and spread out to make room.

She can't be that strong! How the hell did she do that?

You grunt as you struggle to push yourself up off your stomach. The throbbing pain on your tongue makes a small stream of blood drop from your mouth onto the floor. You look up to see Pinkie stomping toward you, a crazed, wicked smile on her face.

"Come on, bounty hunter!" She taunts through her teeth. "Give me a real fight!"

She jogs the last two steps and brings her leg back as she prepares to kick you. You growl a little and lift your robot arm up as she delivers the kick. Your arm clangs as it impacts her shin and she screams loudly.

As she hops back, you grab her other leg with your left arm and yank it out from under her. She falls onto her back and you slide her beneath you before your raise up your right arm and land a solid punch in her stomach.

She grunts hard and grabs her stomach with one arm as you lean back to prepare another blow. Before you're able to deliver it though, she thrusts both of her hands out in front of her and uses the Force to push you up off the ground.

You yell as you smack your head on the ceiling and come falling back down to the ground. Pinkie is on her back, and she brings both her legs up to kick you hard in the chest as you fall toward her. You go flying off to the side and land on your right arm, making you roll onto your stomach again.

"Anon!" Sunset shouts.

You groan loudly as you hold your stomach. She's tough.

You look back over to see her and Sunset duking it out. She's fighting hard, but Pinkie counters or blocks almost all of her attacks.

You grab your blaster and aim it at Pinkie. Let the record show that you tried to be peaceful with her, but it didn't work.

You fire, but astonishingly, she seamlessly dodges the shot while simultaneously fighting Sunset. Then, she knocks Sunset back with a headbutt and grits her teeth as she holds an arm out to you.

You're about to fire your blaster again, but it vibrates in your hand for a second before flying toward Pinkie and landing in hers. You know she's about to fire at you, so you roll out of the way just before a blaster shot hits the ground where you just were a second ago.

Sunset yells as she charges Pinkie again and punches her in the stomach once more. Pinkie grunts and Sunset grabs her shoulders before giving her a headbutt back. Pinkie hobbles backwards a few steps and Sunset lands a couple good punches to her cheeks.

Before she can land a third punch, she blocks Sunset's fist before pushing her back with the Force. Sunset grunts as she lands on a nearby table, making it break in half.

You stand up and charge at Pinkie. She swings her leg around in a circle as she gains momentum to kick you again. When she does, you grab her foot with your robot arm and stop her cold. You command the mechanisms in your arm to squeeze her foot tighter than your human hand ever could and Pinkie screams in response.

Utilizing your arm's strength, you swing her over your head and slam her onto the ground, releasing her so she goes sliding a few feet. She whimpers a little and starts to curl into a ball as you stomp over to her. For the first time, she looks up at you in fear as you reach down and grab her by the collar.

"Listen, sleemo, I'm not here for you!" You lift her up and pin her against the wall, staring daggers into her eyes. She pants hard as she stares back at you in terror. "I need information on Discord and the Draconequui, and I know that you have it! I'm not here to kill you!"

You sure as hell want to now though...

Pinkie breathes hard as she stares into your eyes. "Y-You're really not here for me?"

Sunset walks up next to you, also panting hard.

"No, I'm not." You growl.

To prove your point, you release her and take a step back. She looks at you and Sunset, still tense, ready for anything. You're ready for anything too, but you're not going to attack her again. Unless she attacks you, that is.

"We need your help, Pinkie." You breathe. "We need to find Discord."

She stays silent for a moment until she lowers her fists a little and takes a deep breath. "I, uh... I don't know where he is. Not anymore." You growl and take a couple steps toward her again, but she raises her hands and backs against the wall. "Wait! I'll help! I want him gone too!"

You stop right in front of her and glare into her eyes. "Keep talking."

"W-We used to just mess with people for fun, or steal smaller stuff!" She frantically explains. "We never did anything really, really bad, but something happened one day and Discord changed. It wasn't about fun anymore, it-it felt almost evil. I didn't like it, so I left." She gulps before continuing. "I thought you were here because you thought I was still with them. I'm not. I never want to go back to the Draconequui ever again."

You say nothing as you just stare at her. If she wasn't vital to you getting rich, then you'd just kill her right there. You are mad as hell right now.

Actually, you would've killed her about three minutes ago.

"Give me a location." You command.

"I don't have a sure location, just an idea." She says. "But even if you did find him, you'll never get aboard his ship without my help. There are fail-safes and traps everywhere."

You growl a little under your breath. She's going to have to come along with you.

She shifts her eyes left and right at the room behind you. "I'd decide quickly if I were you. The Exchange will be here soon."

You risk a look behind you and look at the trashed Pazaak Den. Stuff is broken, tables are overturned, and whoever isn't laying injured on the ground is gone or cowering in the corner and staring at you.

Sunset looks also. "They won't take too kindly to all this damage to the Pazaak Den, Anon."

They'll probably shoot you all on sight if you run away.

You turn back to Pinkie, who gives you a small, nervous smile. "Looks like you don't have much of a choice, Anon."

You don't have many choices, but you do have choices. You think to yourself for a moment. How are you going to get out of this one?

You point at her. "You try anything when we get to my ship, and I'll blast your brains all over the place."

"I won't! I promise!" She starts doing some motions with her hands. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cup-"

You punch her squarely in the forehead and she yelps before sliding to the ground in an unconscious heap, exhaling softly.

You holster your blaster and pick her up, lugging her over your shoulder before pulling out 500 credits and giving them to Sunset as you nod toward the bartender in the corner by the door.

She heads over and throws him the credits, which he catches. "Sorry about the mess."

She returns to your side as you carry Pinkie out the door.

Nar Shaddaa is owned by the Hutts. Bounty hunters, thugs, and mercenaries are everywhere here. If you're met with their guys or anyone working for the Exchange, the infamous crime syndicate, you'll blame the mess on her. Technically, you'll be telling the truth.

You take a right when you get outside and enter into the open courtyard. You're in the Refugee Sector of Nar Shaddaa. When The Mandalorian Wars first ended, this is where the survivors went if they had nowhere else to go. The war has been over for centuries, but this is still the place for other people in the galaxy that want to disappear.

You quickly, yet casually walk back to the landing pad where your ship is located. A couple thugs move through the small crowd of people toward the Den on the opposite side of the courtyard, but you don't stop walking. That must be security.

No incidents pass as you finally reach your ship and carry Pinkie on board.

Author's Note:

A general game of Pazaak.

Pinkie Pie, ready to kill.

Nar Shaddaa refugee sector courtyard.