Zal and Megan’s show had not gone unnoticed. After dropping the first five or six assailants from the Skull pack, Nero had noted with a slight puzzled frown at the lack of numbers coming at him and the ones dropping at an alarming rate. After fending off one last punk with a short but sufficient melee with the butt of his small<em>SMG</em>laser pistol, Nero watched the masked goon tumble to the floor awkwardly and glanced around, his eyes widening at the newly suited up Megan (technically Zal, though they had been yet to be introduced properly). Slowly he holstered his weapons and waltzed over to Crash’s position.<br/><br/>Graves was happily content holding one of the Skull goons by the scruff of his leather harness and punching him mercilessly in the face over and over. Nero tapped him on the shoulder during this repeated beating while still silently observing the recently transformed Megan. “Kinda busy right now…” Crash started to answer, but at a second tapping on his shoulder, spun his head to look over his shoulder over at the loud and flashing lightshow. Graves stood up straighter and dropped the unconscious thug to the floor with a loud thump. His right eyebrow arched and a befuddled expression crossed his features.<br/><br/>Razorwire, during the time prior, had taken the opportunity to sneak up on Captain Dirk Mansteele, who at the time, was huddled underneath the bar trying to load a standard plasma pistol. Needless to say, he wasn’t having any luck getting the glowing magazine into the grip. “C’mon…<em>c’mon</em>…” he pleaded, until frustration beginning to boil in his veins so much it made his moustache curl on the ends. Razorwire had his back and was sneaking one slow step at a time with a crude but long elongated<em> Razorblade </em>(patent pending). This was his custom weapon of choice for gutting his competition. It was the sort of weapon one would look at and examine, but not really give any use to in the long sight of things. After all, the handle was curved awkwardly and the blade was nearly rusted. But the edges were serrated enough to give off the right kind of ruthless bandit feel Razorwire desired.<br/><br/>Razor raised his blade and could feel his features within the helmet curving into a shark-like grin.<em> One quick slit of the throat and it would all be over.</em><em>He’d be the one that killed Captain Dirk Mansteele</em>. As he leaned back on his haunches and prepared to lunge, Dirk cursed and let his ire get the best of him over loading the pistol.<br/><br/>“<em>Bah! The hell with this infernal thing!</em>” The captain lashed out, tossing the gun over his shoulder. Now, it should be noted,<em>that even if the gun had struck Razorwire in the face</em>, his mask would have been more than enough to take the light force accompanied by a careless toss. But this did not happen. Razorwire moved his head in the nick of time with a small bit of surprise and watched he weapon pass by him. The pistol would have tumbled to the floor but instead became part of a<em>bizarre</em>yet<em>convenient</em>chain of events.<br/><br/><em>The pistol had first bounced off the wall just adjacent to the bar. From there, it was ricocheted off a random bullet from Nero’s gunfire. This is turn sent it hurtling through the air for the lavatory, where Crash had been in a scuffle with thug preparing a grenade. Fortunately, Crash had stopped the goon before he’d been able to throw it, catching the bandits wrist with his tight grip, </em>“Here, let me get that for you.”<em>Graves smiled, pulling the pin and promptly kicking the man in the gut, knocking him into the bathroom with his explosive before taking cover away from the impending explosion. The pistol, again very conveniently, had hurtled into the rest area with the bandit just as Crash closed the door and walked away. Now, while this was happening, Zal had moved to cover the men with her shield. After some needlessly rude showering of shots at her direction courtesy of some more bandits, the deflected rounds were sent hurtling away at which point the bathroom exploded and hurled the gun out again from the force. The weapon now bounced off one of these random bullets and spun high up into the air before coming back down in time to get caught up in the gale force of Zal’s miniature whirlwind tornadoes. The force promptly flung the gun back from whence it had come, ever so conveniently, and struck Razorwire in the back of the head where his crude helmet was not fortunate enough to cover. The impact alone was enough to shatter a piece of bone and dislodge it into his brain, crippling him on the spot. <br/></em><br/>The bandit leader groaned out in a mixture of shock and slight tingling sensation from the blow, toppling over to the right and into a drink cupboard. Captain<br/>Dirk Mansteele just happened to turn around at this time and take note of the alien behind him reaching out as if to strangle him with one hand. Or was he asking for help and unable to get the words out? Either way, Razorwire staggered again into the rack and fell back on the floor with a heavy slump. Dirk raised a brow with a silent expression and bent over, scooping up the very pistol he had tossed over his shoulder and looking it over curiously. The two males looked at each other in a moment of silence more before the silence was filled by the creaking and groaning of wood. Dirk and Razor both looked up in time to witness the drink cupboard tipping forward and downward.<br/><br/>“<em>Ohhhh nooo…</em>” groaned Razor, just before the entire thing came crashing down over his body. Dirk shielded his eyes with a single beefy arm and waved the cloud of dust away. Looking down, his eyes widened to their fullest with pure amazement. Or perhaps more shock at how convenient this had all worked out. Razorwire had been crushed by the large furniture, his limbs askew and all that was actually visible now from underneath the thing.<br/>Dirk extended a leg and gently prodded Razorwire’s limp hand with a foot, “Erm…hey…hey~…you…are you okay?”<br/><br/><em>Now fully caught up in the present, we rejoin our crew members of the Steel Condor. <br/></em><br/>"Okay, the incredibly mind blowing reflexes and powers aside," Crash Graves began, now that the fight was over and all three were facing each other, "<em>just what the fuck are you lady?!</em>" he demanded, pointing a finger at Zal. The flame haired pilot looked to Nero, "She's not an<em>Exile</em>right?! I mean, I've never seen more than<em>one</em>but I know they have a total armored badass powers thing going on,<em>so please tell me she's not an Exile!!</em>"<br/><br/>Nero, meanwhile, had been quietly studying the newly transformed Megan/Zal, staring in silence for a long minute while taking note of the design incorporated on her exterior. The way she handled herself, her pose, the body language involved. When he spoke, his voice was calm but altogether cautious, "It's alright Crash. She's not an<em>Exile</em>. Though I can't quite put my finger on<em>what</em>exactly she is. I've never encountered anything quite like it before."<br/><br/>"B-but she...she...well you saw! The claws! The shield! She made freakin' whirlwinds from her hands!<em>Her hands</em>!!" Crash insisted, flailing his limbs dramatically.<br/><br/>"It's not the first time we've encountered oddities like this." Nero calmly reassured his partner, "Just a<em>unique</em>one in a place we least expected to. I'm sure our companion will have a further explanation for us when the time is more suitable. For now, we can show our appreciation by splitting the reward for these punks and cash in on our efforts. Round up the survivors, we'll bind them up and take a head count."<br/><br/>At this time, the local law enforcement was showing up, escorted by a single member of the Legion acting as their lead official. The heavily armored soldier surveyed the scene with a digital hud inside its helmet, scanning the fallen bodies, pausing at the buried corpse beneath the cupboard.<br/><br/>“<em>Captain Dirk Mansteele, are you responsible for this</em>?” it inquired, a digital voice acting as translation for the humanoid.<br/><br/>“Well…erm…I mean yes and no..” Dirk began to explain, but the press was already showing up and taking photos with their scanners. “<em>He’s done it! Captain Dirk Mansteele has captured Razorwire! The BloodSkulls are no more!</em>” they were shouting out in the streets. The Legion soldier picked up one of the bandits and looked to Mansteele, “<em>You and your crew will be awarded 800 credits for the capture and services rendered in the apprehension of subject Razorwire and known associates.</em>”<br/><br/>“Well is it technically capture if it was more of an unpredictable<em>accident </em>though?” Dirk tried to explain again. The Legion soldier waved him off, “<em>It matters not. He is one with the Celestial Stream now. He has become one of the Legion. You have our gratitude. Good day.</em>” The soldier gave a salute in accordance to the Legion faction, a fist over the heart, and promptly marched away with the rest of his unit, throwing the bandits into the back of a transport vehicle for further processing at the nearest prison site.<br/>Crash Graves spit on the floor and watched the soldier take its leave, his voice mocking the armored creature, "<em>It doesn't matter, he's one of us now</em>. Friggin' religious trigger happy maniacs."<br/><br/>The crew of the Steel Condor huddled up in the center of the wrecked space cantina and exchanged looks while the local reporters and photographers were recording the fallout of the battle.<br/>"Captain, this is our new hire, Megan Jefferson." Nero introduced the two. Dirk extended a gloved hand with a pleasant smile to offer his greetings, while Nero continued the introduction, "And Megan, this is Captain Dirk Mansteele. Famed hero and leader of the Steel Condor."<br/><br/>"It's a pleasure to meet you Megan, I hope that our time together will be beneficial to you. If there's ever anything you need, feel free to ask." Dirk said, placing his hands against his hips.<br/><br/>"Yeah, yeah, yeah...hello, hi, how are you, great! Can we get the fuck out of here already?!" Crash grumbled, facing away from everyone and lighting up another smoke, slipping it into his lips for a long drag.<br/><br/>"I believe we can, my good man, we've seen that justice has been done here today and acquired our new enforcer. Let us be off to the ship!" Dirk proudly proclaimed, pointing straight ahead.<br/><br/>"The ship is parked on the West harbor, Captain Genius." remarked Crash as he walked past Dirk and out the exit.<br/><br/>"But of course, I was merely..." Dirk trailed off, his cheeks tinging a bit pink as he lowered his eyes but followed after Graves.<br/><br/>Nero looked to Megan/Zaldira, "Shall we be off then?"