Last Stand

At least for Apollo, the afternoon was morning.

He'd seen the glorious phallic artwork some people had sprayed on one of the warehouses, and for some reason the others seemed to be concerned about it. This group seemed to be leaving free food, and some light vandalism... weren't there greater concerns? Oh well.

Bundled up in the thermal cloak over his trenchcoat, Apollo walked through the town center, trying to get a feel of the gossip and bragging rights that might come from someone calling themselves Chaos Squad.

When times got tough, the tough hit the streets. But when you looked good, did you really need to be tough? Instead, you could gently caress the streets, and maybe they'd caress you back.

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(Charm or Streetwise at Hard, please!)

Apollo knew how to be hard when needed, to some degree, but he much more preferred to be smooth while looking good. You just needed to smile to the right people, add a touch here or there... you caught a lot more bees with hydro-honey than vinegar.

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D4. Charm/Presence vs Hard. Congenial to reduce to Average. +1 Advantage from Pheromones.

Net Successes: 1; Net Advantages: 1

Total: 1 Success, 2 Advantages, 1 Triumph. (1 strain taken from Congenial)

There was a lot more talk about the Mandalorians and the Hopers then there was about the Chaos squad. But Apollo knew how to loosen tongues.

"Did you hear? Chaos squad struck again!"

"Yeah, I hear it was their biggest one yet!"

"Their biggest score?"

"No, their biggest penis graffiti!"

"I wonder who they are..."

The center of the logging and tourist town Kandra's Run was hardly a hotbed of criminal activity. It seemed that Apollo would have to go elsewhere to get the really good info, until...

(triumph used)



Stepping out of a grocery store, shopping bag in hand, Spike nearly ran into Apollo. He growled, then blinked, then smiled as he recognized the Zeltron. His shopping bag, at a glance, seemed to be mostly redi-meals and bugspray.

"Oh, hey friend." Spike smirked, as usually. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh hey," Apollo of course smiled charmingly, and gave a casual glance to the groceries. "Fancy running into you here. On a bachelor-food run?" he remarked with a soft, almost sensual, chuckle.

"Hey, well, uh, yeah..." Spike shuffled the bags around a bit. "You know how it is. Gotta eat, right?" He chuckled.

Smiling, he leaned a little closer. "So, you coming back to the bar sometime? You've got some credit on hand, you know. Good for a few drinks, at least." He winked.

"Oh yeah. Right, yeah, been kind of caught up in being a big damn hero the last couple of days," he said with a confident laugh. Because of course he was a big damn hero.

"Speaking of though," Apollo stepped beside Spike and placed an arm on his shoulder, "I heard some interesting talk today, and I know you're one who knows, you know. There's this hmmm new crew in town? Artistictly lewd and altruistic squad?"

Spike looked at Apollo, then at the hand on his arm, then back at Apollo, blinking. Oh no, he's hot... "Big damn hero, yeah, I'll bet..." He said, brushing a hand across his forehead, carefully around his spikes.

"Lewd... oh, you're talking about the penises, right." Spike glanced around. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. They're actually pretty tough." He leaned a little closer. "I hear about a crew they ran out of their hideout, out in the forest. Swooped in, shot sticky stuff everywhere, yelled a lot, kicked their asses, sent 'em packing. Oh, and they said to tell everyone Chaos Squad sent them, or something."

He shrugged. "Like I said, weirdos."

"Weirdos, huh?" Apollo rubbed his own smooth chin in thought, wondering what exactly the hot sticky stuff was... he had some ideas. Or rather, one.

"Know where the hideout is? Or approximately?"

Spike smirked, spreading his hands. "Hey, who do you think I am? I'm Spike, the best info guy this side of the Frozen Sea. You wanna know where some weird hideout full of even weirder guys is, I can do that."

He waggled his eyebrows. "No charge... except if you get something good going, I want in. I can't just find stuff, I can move it, hide it, sell it, buy it, trade it, whatever you need. So... yeah?" He waggled his eyebrows some more, making his headspikes bob up and down.

"Hey, always good to have someone to work with, eh? Partners-in-crime, and all that." He quickly glanced around in case someone was eavesdropping. "Totally figuratively of course," Apollo added in, just in case someone thought they were doing crime.

Apollo wiggled his brow back. "It's a deal to me."

"Figuratively. Right. 'Crime'." Spike raised his free hand, doing air-quotes.

Air-quotes done, he pulled out his communicator. "Okay, I'll send you the location. Just be careful, eh? You might end up..." he frowned, "-sticky and covered with penises? Oh, and also beat up."

Apollo laughed a little, easily fishing out his own communicator. "Sounds like some very fun weekends I've had. Apart from the beat up-part, that is." Not too into stuff that would bruise his beautiful face or body.

"I'll keep in touch, Spike. Good talk." With a smile, he gave the Zabrak's shoulder a solid pat.

"Yeah, good talk." Spike agreed. After a moment, he leaned over, giving Apollo an awkward, very soft punch on the shoulder. "I'm just gonna go home and... definitely not examine my sexuality."

A moment passed, and he waved awkwardly. "Well. See ya."