Alone in The Countryside

[Nine Lives]

Arrived to Naboo in: Castle Morpheus

Wearing: Maoshan (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129265-maoshan/)

Million Handed Collosus (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129269-million-handed-collosus/)

With: Vera Mina (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129765-saotome-biot-vera-mina/)

Objective: Investigate possible lethal Psy-Pire attack


The Lovely Nine had ordered her Lawyer/Daughter/Murderous Killing Machine Vera to arrange passage to Naboo as soon as she had learned of the attack.

She'd kept it quiet from the others. Ever since the rest of her children had been released from Cryo, she had commanded them to draw as little attention to themselves as possible. Some had turned their backs on her, but many were still loyal.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Vera, had brought her a report on a lethal attack on Naboo, from what looked to be a vampire that had drained no blood.

She'd given Vera three hours to reshape herself into her Criminal Form and then set off immediately for Naboo in her ship. She sat, lonely on her throne of white stone, carved by her own hand, in a vast throne room with red banners.

She had had dressed formally. The murder had occured on the grounds of some out-of-touch nobleman's house on a lonely, isolated grassland on Naboo. Vera's contacts on Naboo had warned her Jedi would soon be sent to investigate, meaning they had to resolve this quick and see if one of their own really had done it. If not, they leave quietly, but not before killing whatever had done it to avoid the misunderstanding in the future.

If it was one of their own...they'd leave quietly, but not before killing whoever had done it, to avoid this hazard in the future. The Lovely Nine and The Boring Nine were in agreement on this: Psy-Pires were not to kill their prey. Not only was it unnecessary, but for sheer pragmatic purposes it was just plain mean.

There was only one exception a Psy-Pire who honored tradition allowed--if they killed during a hunt it was in self defense, or because whoever they fed on had been discovered during the attempted sifting of their memories to be so reprehensible, so utterly malicious and morally abhorent, killing them was for the good of society.

If you did it just because, it was bad for business.

Luckily, Vera had been doing business with said nobleman, and had managed to arrange transportation, persuading him to secretly allow them to visit. This had happened during the eve before a party was to take place on this very day. Someone else had called the Jedi. There was nothing he could do about that.

There was a reason she had had Vera use her Criminal Form today, and why they had not gone together.

It was in case this was a Psy-Pire who had done this, she could have Vera used as a convenient scapegoat with a failed attack...it would draw suspicion away for a little while longer at least...

As they were ferried in her Saotome Envoy, Left Hand, descending to Naboo's surface, Nine felt a bit of nostalgia. She'd trained on ancient Naboo, once leaving Atrisia. She was pleased to see it was still so beautiful from orbit.

"I'll be on standby..." Vera said in her criminal form, a red headed, pale skinned woman in a hooded red combat suit, equipped with a simple vibrodagger.

"I'll heaaaaaad toooo the paarrrtyyy..." the Lovely Nine hissed. "Remember, when I give the order, strike only then. This was not the first attack."

Vera pulled out an ornate single bladed shaving razor from a pocket

"Do I get to have fun?" The sociopathic biot asked with a wicked smirk. "I haven't killed anyone with a razor in weeks..."

"If its just some ssssssloppy energy vampire go wild. If it IS one of ours...make it quick if he or she has no mitigating circumstancessssssss."

Vera shrugged. "Quick...wild...a chance to cut is a chance to cut as far as I'm concerned."

Nine was relieved she had never let her organic assassin droid truly off the leash. That was because she had not yet found a situation truly so dire that required this murderous creature to be used to her fullest potential.

"No unnecesssssssary violence..." Nine hissed as the ship landed in the plains beyond the Castle. They were expecting her as Lady No, leader of Clan Li-Ves. She stepped off the vessel, seven feet in height, her armored robes and Wintrium Katana strapped to her waist. The castle looked like it had come out of a fairytale.

A really, really, really dark fairytale.

It was black against the overcast sky, isolated and lonely on rocky grasslands. Count Dragi liked his privacy. Castle Dragi had been rebuilt after having suffered devastating damage in a battle between a fugitive intelligence operative and a heavily armored attack shuttle. Its black walls still had a few of the original bricks from the devastating fight put into the new walls, as a way to remember. It's towers were arranged in the Coruscant Temple ziggurat pattern, the largest in the center. It was twenty stories high.

Every tower had carvings of gargoyles, and the gods that ancient men and women had shunned worship of. Its windows were tinted red.

"Ohhhhh, I ssssseeee how bad this is going to get..." Nine muttered as she approached, hair in an elaborate black weave, obsidian eyes broken up by the one dot of glowing purple light at their center.

[member="Karna Ramesha"]

 

[Karna Ramesha]

"Another one, huh?" He sighed in response to an old contact calling in a favor, which was earned long ago. This happened more often than one would suspect. Of course most people couldn't tell what his true age was so that was understandable. Karna looked to be in his early thirties, despite being alive almost during a whopping thousand years. With that said, people would have a better chance of guessing how many favors he owed. None of it really mattered to the old man these days. The favors, that is. It was just another job and sometimes he'd receive payment for his services. He was simply living and cleaning up after himself. A lot of stuff went down in those nine hundred years of life after all. The one regret he'd have in death is not making things right due to past mistakes. Some couldn't be fixed however, but he mainly focused on his debts.

Interestingly, the job would take place on the planet where he currently dwelled and ran his business. That was ironic to say in the least. Also ironic, the job involved investigating a murder. This wouldn't be his first time doing detective work by any means but he recalled having assistance with that kind of work. A student perhaps, or someone from an actual law agency. He was curious if he'd be of any use. The contact must've had great trust in Karna to throw him back into the scene again. Like previously stated, things like this happened pretty often but each person was boring and strictly doing business. Something intrigued the person who'd be putting him to work soon. That made Karna wonder what was up.

The person who called the favor was always anonymous, he never knew their face or true voice. It kinda surprised him when they showed up to his shop. A long time had passed since their last chat, adding on to the shock. Karna did everything he'd usually do for a customer. He didn't sense any ill thoughts coming from the individual anyways. There was no reason to be on edge yet. When given the bill though... this person threw a throwing knife at the back of his head, just as Karna got back to the counter. Such an action angered the old man because now there was a disruption in his coffee shop. Lucky for him there were no other customers. The hostile chose a specific time to act. Karna impulsively shielded his head with a now bloody hand and turned around like a giant would when provoked by smaller being.

"I don't sell death penalties in my shop so I'll ask you to pay for your meal and leave." He moved his hand around and examined the blade stuck inside of it. The blade was familiar to him. He didn't pay any attention to it until now but the hostile appeared to be a female in a hood. Karna had a good idea of who it was. "I take it you're the one that sent the message? I can guess you came in person since I didn't answer too?" The cloaked figure nodded and let out some words, "Sharp as ever, Master Jedi." Karna sighed as he pulled out the blade and cleaned up his hand. "I am no Jedi nowadays, dear. If you're here though I assume the situation is urgent?" The hooded female nodded once again, "Correct. I want you to go quickly, Jedi or not. Wild beasts should be tamed like y- I must leave now. Your transport is waiting outside." The anonymous female left without a trace.

Karna felt like he knew why she was so intrigued with the whole murder now. He had a feeling she'd be watching from somewhere too. Somehow she was able to make him look official and everything. Even snatching perfect fit jedi robes, which creeped him out more than he was already. He used the provided transport after grabbing his other gear and headed towards the location. The ride there was the least exciting part as one could guess. However the castle where the murder took place... he was in awe. Karna had seen quite a lot of crazy palaces in his time but this was the most befitting location for today's job. His Zorren eyes locked onto a ship that seemed to have landed recently. That was unfortunate for the nobleman at this estate. Perhaps the murderer had come back for more? He walked towards the entrance cautiously just in case they were in fact the killer. Today was going to be lively for the apparent Jedi.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine approached the immediate castle grounds making very little sound as her sandals stepped on grass, the ominous nature of Castle Dragi drawing her attention almost so much so she almost didn't notice [member="Karna Ramesha"] approaching in Jedi gear.

Crap, they're here. Nine thought, keeping cool as she stepped on the tiled path leading two thhe doors, lined with gargoyle statues, holding red lamps. The protocol droid waiting at the front entrance was built like an ancient, armored knight with a visor covering it went up to both of them, standing in front of an entrance that was like a vault door, covered in murals that depicted hell.

"Are you two expected? Castle Dragi is closed to the Uninvited."

"I am Lady No, of House Li-Ves..." Nine answered in her deep, nigh demonic contralto. "I am expected by Count Dragi."

She turned to the Jedi, offered a smile, while inwardly she scrambled for a plan.

"Are you too, expected, Master Jedi?"

 

[Karna Ramesha]

Karna looked away from the castle as he walked for a moment to check his mail on a datapad. He knew something would be sent with very detailed instructions enclosed. Not to his surprise, here it was.

"Mr Ramesha,
You will find and capture the killer. I want it alive. If it dies, you'll owe me more than you could ever afford. Do not fail."​

The use of the word 'it' was a red flag for the old man. Not that he feared whatever it was... he just took her words as a warning that something inhuman was lurking within the castle, or maybe it was gone by now. Either way he was even more interested in solving the mystery. By the looks of things he wouldn't be alone like he thought. The passengers from the ship that arrived before him appeared to be entering the castles entrance up ahead. Karna unintentionally ignored all the creepy stuff decorated all over the castle, focusing more on the suspicious individual ahead. She was a tall woman, that's the first thing that came to his mind. Her reason for being here he was unsure of, but she was one tall lady.

She was conversing with the old protocol droid when he finally made it to the front doors. He grinned and laughed quietly at the art so lovely displayed on the entrance. Karna went through hell and back, it was funny to see the place still wanted his damned soul. That in itself was a joke. This castle didn't have the pits of hell inside, probably. He turned to views the very tall woman who greeted him with a smile. Karna respectfully nodded at her with a half-smile. In response to her question he lost the smile. "Someone from the within the castle feared for the Count's life because of the recent murder and contacted the order. I've come here to carry out an investigation and provide the needed security, as instructed. I hope we get along." His smile returned after the last comment.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

"Oh my...how terrible! A murder, on such lovely grounds!" Nine gasped, making a good show of it, though inwardly she was already knowing how complicated he was going to make this. [member="Karna Ramesha"] had that look of a troublemaker, and an experienced one. But Nine had likely been making trouble before he was born but she refused to discount the sense of power she got from him.

"I'm here to party..." Nine blatantly lied.

"Since you are both expected, please allow me to escort you inside..." the knightly protocol droid announced, bidding them to follow Nine followed making almost no sound, fingers and head twitching, fingers going crooked as her body detected prey.

The celebration was nothing to laugh at, the floors covered in tiles that lit up on contact. It wasn't the kind of celebration she expected from noblemen. This was the type you had for a bachelor party. Wine and Beer flowed freely, and scantily clad dancers writhed on metal poles under neon lights while electronic music pumped through the speakers, all head by stone gargoles at various positions close to the ceiling, which displayed various murals depicting horrendous torture. There were demon themed barbecue pits built into the floor with roaring fires like the pits of hell.

"Welcome! Welcome!"

Nine turned and spied an old withered man in a red satin bathrobe with pale skin and gray, thinning hair and eyes on a gold repulsorlift chair that had an oxygen tank attached. He floated towards her silently, though the leering grin on his face made Nine go still a little

"Count Decimus Dragi, at your service! Hell of a party we're throwing tonight! Can I get you a drink?" He asked in a rough but friendly manner, coughing a bit. "Wine, perhaps?"

"I 'never' drink wine, I'm afraid...but swinging party!" Nine complimented. "You got private dances going on?"

"Of course! The entire castle is open tonight!"

"The entire castle, eh? Heh. A nice spot on the upper balcony with a view of the countryside would be great..."

"Have fun!" Count Dragi said, playing along thanks to prior coaching from Vera. Nine nodded and selected a lethan twi'lek in a black sling bikini dancing on a poll as she walked by

"You..." she called out, then passed by a red skinned twi'lek wearing even less in a blue string bikini and beckoning with a finger.

"...and you..." Nine trailed heading into the back sections with two snacks...

 

[Karna Ramesha]

The theme was hell for this castle apparently. What made it ironic was someone actually experienced just that in their last breaths. Karna thought it was cute, if anything when the host himself popped up out of nowhere on a flying chair with a oxygen tank attached. Somehow he was envious of the man's state which might've been weird for any normal human. A man so close to death that he's hanging to life by a thread, and still enjoying it. That's why he was perhaps jealous of the man, not because of his wealth or large estate. It was his frail body that he longed for. Karna always loved his specie's lifespan until several decades ago. Something sad happened and he'd never stopped disliking that about himself since.

On the way moving throughout the castle he remembered what the lady had said earlier, a particularly interesting comment about the murder. He simply laughed at the time but he thought about why she spoke the way she did. Either she was a terribly good actor or she really was shocked. He'd bet on the first one. Karna wasn't suggesting she was the murderer even though he thought she was faking the reaction. Mostly because he hated assuming people were this and that... judging potentially innocent people got on his nerves. He saw it as a waste of time even. With all that put to the side, Karna was hired to do detective work so he'd have to judge people even if he didn't want to. The lady he'd just met seemed okay for now.

She went off by herself and he did the same after greeting the count. Karna planned on investigating the entire castle thoroughly but first... he wanted to get some food. A lot of energy was sure to be wasted tonight so he had to make the appropriate preparations, going for whatever meat they offered. Being sure to hydrate himself too, he then decided to search the many private Chambers. Well, the ones that were empty. Karna hadn't exactly been told where the murder took place so he was exploring. A good indicator would probably be the blocked off room at the end of the hall(made up the location, hope that's cool). He slowly approached it without seeming too suspicious, hands behind his back clasped together. The glowing golden eyes of his scanned the monstrous walls with wonderful art depicting more hell. He could only laugh as he passed by. Karna started to slow down in walking speed, a curious thought filling his mind. Could this be a house for murdering Jedi?

He laughed at his own fantasy. It'd be an interesting night if he was set up. Of course his anonymous contact wouldn't be to blame. Anyone would want their hands on such a dangerous killing machine, which he was attempting to catch. Who else to send but the retired old Jedi? He placed his hand on the knob without turning it. Karna was trying to listen for any vital sign of a living creature behind it.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Vera traveled the plains of Naboo utterly indifferent to the wonderful sounds and sights of the vast wilderness.

All in all she was delighted with the results of her little suggestion Nine cut loose. The change from the dour, constantly mopy Nine had been such a bore, and too cautious to be effective. This new one took risks...but was also too paranoid for her own good. Then again, when desiring to fight the first order who shouldn't be?

Her contact had wanted to meet somewhere isolated on the moor while Nine investigated the mansion. Vera was uncertain why they were going but assumed it was because he could ensure absolute privacy. The meet point was some ancient ruins that had been used by an ancient Naboo based cult obsessed with a fountain of some kind. It had taken her over an hour to get here through the rain and it was getting chilly. She took a swig of nutrient from her canteen to maintain her condition as she moved but always made sure to note how much she had left. Running out would be a bad idea.

The ruins were a simple circle of stone blocks surrounding a cracked, silent fountain. Vera's hand slipped to her pistol as she approached. Her contact on Naboo was a slippery one.

Vera, well aware her programming did not allow her to kill anyone except the target set the blaster to stun. It surprised her just how much corruption and shady characters could be found on Naboo. It may have been a beautiful, Idyllic world, but the Gulag Plague and four hundred years of on and off and on warfare across the galaxy had produced a rough character at the nitty gritty for even this planet.

Of course, corruption was something the murderous biot was very much programmed for. She was in her element as far as she was concerned.

That contact had better have something valuable or she would start to get as close as she got to mad. They were on a time schedule. For all she knew, the Jedi could be at the mansion already.

"Rothman?" Vera called out in a deeper tone than her normally crisp accent. "Rothman are you there?"

Rothman, a dark skinned human with a large beard, stepped out from behind one of the giant stone blocks. It was very quiet suddenly. He was wearing dark, elegant civilian wear, all embroidered at the cuffs and collar with gold.

"Beckinsale?" He called out, using her current form's alias.

"I trust there's a good reason we are meeting so privately--" Vera called out, swinging some of her current form's red locks away from her face.

"I had to be sure." Rothman called back, walking towards her, clearly nervous. "I thought I was being followed..."

"By who?" Vera asked raising a brown pacing around in the leathery combat suit she had been provided.

"That's just the thing...its so strange...I...I don't remember..."

Vera's expression immediately became one of alarm.

"Your neck...show it to me..." the biot commanded coldly. Rothman knew better than to defy her. She had gotten him out of a legal jam a few months back. He'd still be in crippling debt if she had not intervened. As a nobleman, he had his ear to the ground in terms of local info, and had been at Castle Dragi when the murder occured. He'd even seen the body...

She should have known that would make him a target. Should have had him picked up by the Morpheus Knights, but that was before how serious this all was had really started to become apparent.

As soon as she saw the marks the sociopathic biot's eyes started to dart around. It was a psy-pire...but where?"

"Are you sure you were not followed?" Vera asked, wishing she could carve up the useless bag of flesh for dragging her out here only to have nothing to show for it.

"What was I out here to tell you?" He asked himself, pausing to scratch his head. "It was something about...something..."

Vera grabbed him by the arm. "Later!" She hissed. "We must flee!"

"But...why...we weren't--"

His words were cut off by a smoking hole in his chest. Vera ducked the next few blaster bolts, hiding behind a toppled stone slab in the grass. A flicker in the air was caught by eyes made for enhanced vision. She blinked and the world turned thermal, at last picking up heat signatures in stealth fields. Out came the blaster, her targeting protocols hitting eight people in the head a good distance away. Nine, her "mother", had put nothing but the best targeting programs in her, slaved to hueristic processors attached to her artificial brain. She had to think quickly while she ran and changed position.

It would be safe to assume that whoever was attacking her was working with who she was to kill, but half measures would not do against this sort. If she was destroyed, she would not be able to fulfill her programming. If she ran, she would merely be pursued. And since she was to kill who they were protecting...

...then she may as well kill them.

Out came the assault blaster. Vera popped from cover and fired where she detected heat signatures on top of a hill above her. She dropped some of them, but more advanced on her, these with gungan energy shields, riot shields of energy protecting an electronic framework.

Vera sniped one through a slot in the frame he was pointing a blaster through as he advanced. Two however at last got within melee range and Vera avoided three of their knife attacks due to the combat programming. Thugs. Not military. Not even mercenary, by the looks of it, she thought, seizing one when his knife attack went to far past her and snapping his neck, breaking the wrist of the second when he too tried to throw a punch.

More blaster fire forced the biot to duck behind cover, leaving the man she had been about to kill writhing in pain on the ground as she reloaded.

"Hey schutta..." the agonized man in the grass, clad in street clothes hissed as she ducked another bolt, returning fire. She didn't hear him in the chaos. Nor did she see him pull out the cryoban pistol until it was too late.

Searing, burning cold ran through the biot as she collapsed in shock from the cryo bolt hitting her side. She started jerking, vomiting up milky white lubrication fluid as her skin started to visibly shudder.

The man fired at her shoulder and she vomited more white fluid, unnatural, static filled sounds eminating from her open mouth as her eyes rolled into her head.

He fired again, and this bolt hit her other shoulder. The ooglith masquer that served as her skin started to become translucent and slough off her face, programming deaperately trying to get the disruptions to its system back under control.

The man with the broken wrist crawled to his dead comrade, angling the cryo wrist launcher on a lifeless arm. He had done a number, but the biot was still thrashing, still active.

He fired the spray and this ear splitting, static field shriek erupted from the biot as it violently shifted through all its preprogrammed forms at high speed before the masquer failed completely, a hideous, melted looking mass of translucent ooze over a once active biot, which was still underneath all that mess.

The thug wearily got out the com link, rolling over in the grass, glad to be alive. They had lost almost all of them disabling the freaky creature that looked like a woman. "Bring the shovel...we were told we need to get this thing to room temperature if we are gonna preserve the programming..."


Later on...


"What the hell is this thing..."

"Never seen anything like it..."

"I have. Used to work at Saotome...I think its one of the biots under there, under that pink mess..."

The thugs stared at the pink mass on the operating table, encasing the artificial creature. They could see tiny little electrical discharges along its surface. They had been told to move the biot to an old, abandoned Jedi Chapterhouse on the plains, where an operating table would be waiting in the basement. Multiple kinds of computer programming equipment was present. All weapons were trained on the Biot, space heaters at a distance warming the air around it. The instructions had been very specific. Immediate placement in a warm area within forty minutes of disabling through cold weaponry. Damage if necessary due to deadliness.

It had been two hours now, and the thing on the table was still rebooting, strange, electrical impulses that were visible on the quivering, overstressed Masquer. Every one of the thugs looked nervous, frightened. Men and women kept their fingers closer to the trigger than others. More than one had suggested just screwing the paycheck and destroying it outright, but the boss had nixed that.

"I hate this job, boss. Shame they didn't pay us to just set it on fire, ya' know. She killed some of our best--" one of them grumbled. "We weren't even sure if we could kill the damned thing. If Adion and Hex hadn't thought about bringing cryo weapons it would have turned into a slaughter."

"Biot's Vong tech. Momma always told me 'Son, I don't care what you do, never get mixed up with Vong tech. It never ends well.' I still say screw the check and just ice this thing." another said, trembling as he watched the translucent mass of tissue twitch and shift around, bright lights above revealing the muscle-covered skeleton of the biot, the organs on the inside shaped like a human's organs.

"We did that, and we got this crap. But we got it now. Maybe we get lucky and destroy it after we don't need it any longer..." the boss, a Zygerrian man snapped, his fur and nostrils prickling at the unnatural scent of the shivering mass.

"So when does it turn on?" One of them in the back asked.

"Unknown. The one who gave us the info isn't certain what its exact limits are." The Zygerrian answered, having everyone armed with cryban rifles once the weakness had been discovered. "Parthik, you think you can reprogram this thing?"

Parthik, a fat, squat human man wearing spectacles, black street clothes with a thinning crop of black hair stared at the readouts he was getting on the screen on the Biot's hueristic processors.

He folded his hands, as he sat, sighing. "I dunno Greck. A lot of the programming is from imperial and confederate stuff, that's easy enough to understand, but the hard coding is in the biot's organic brain. Even with all the stuff we've gotten, most I've broken through is a high grade Confederate Droid Intelligence from about ten years back. I'll give it a shot, but no promises."

"We don't get paid if we can't reprogram it..." The Zygerrian growled, pointing a rifle at him. "You better give more than a shot, unless you want to get your hands a makeover as two lumps of ice."

Parthik nodded, sweating and gulping nervously. "S-sure thing, Greck..."

The computer beeped. And then, it continued to beep. "Brain activity spiking!" Parthik exclaimed. "It's almost done!"

Everyone tensed.

"Nobody lose their cool!" The Zygerrian ordered. "No one shoots until I say!"

The large, shifting mass had a mass shiver, a ripple that passed through all of it and then it began to shrink, coalescing into a humanoid form that quickly developed a feminine curve, twitching as its programmin brought the masquer back to normal purportions, developing an olive tone and the features of a middle aged though still quite beautiful woman with very dark hair and voluptuous physique. She opened her eyes and a cold smirk spread across the biot's face.

"Okay first one who talks is the one I spare. The rest I'm going to kill." Vera explained crisply. "Who is the Psy-Pire you work for?"

"Now now, little monster it will all become very clear to you soon..." the Zygerrian sneered.

Vera twitched, naked on the operating table. Her face became transclucent and her eyes rolled up into her head for a few seconds before it all returned to normal.

"You are attempting to reprogram me..." Vera noted clinically, her emotion reading software analyzing their physiological reactions. "I'm shocked you jokers knew enough to disable me. AND keep my programming intact. Wherever did you get the skinny on me?"

"We're not stupid, freak."

"Says the man who dragged me into an incredibly dank basement with second rate programming equipment and now expects his clearly past his prime slicer to get past my brains organic programming..." Vera said before twitching, her face violently deforming, eyes rolling independently of each other before restoring themselves.

"Oh? What do you call that twitching of yours?"

"Your idiot programmer mucking with things he does not understand..." Vera answered mockingly. "Where is my gear?"

"You'll get it back once you're under control..." Greck answered.

"It will be very bad for you if I don't get to my nutrients..." Vera warned coldly, masquer across her naked body twitching and becoming translucent for a split second.

"Parthik? How's the reprogramming going?" Greck asked.

"Biot's programming is really complicated, Greck. Whoever made this thing is a genius..."

Vera glitched again, face going translucent. She huffed in annoyance.

"Tell that idiot he's interfering with my hueristic processor output to my brain..." Vera grumbled.

"Say, you know about yourself, right? Why don't you help Parthik?" Greck asked, grinning.

"Do you idiots even know who you work for? Do you comprehend at all how utterly expendable you are to them?" Vera asked, watching their reactions and exploiting them.

Greck had heard enough. He stuck his cryoban rifle against Vera's head.

"Help him."

Vera of course, could not help him crack her programming, as she was made to defend and serve Nine at all costs. But she was nearly helpless in her current form. The processing required to alter her shape and combat parameters on its own required her to kneel in place while the Masquer took hours to recompile.

"You. Fat One." Vera called out, face deforming for a second, not taking her gaze off Greck's barrel. "What equipment are you using?"

Parthik looked at his model. "Centurion Six Vong-Tech Manipulator.

Top of the line equipment. They had been supplied well, the Biot thought before it glitched again, the flesh on the biot completely wrinkling on one side for a few seconds, one eye, rolling into her head before it stopped. It had an idea, but it would be risky. Nine had built her processors well, but Vera was an experimental prototype that was essentially the first of her kind...her processors had never been under so much stress before today, and this might very well put her processors under yet greater stress. But it was almost certainly the biot's only way out, and if she could not escape she could not allow herself to be taken alive.

"Tell the Fat One to type 'Access Processor 4 Subroutine'. Enter Password '3100005'. Once you are accessing the program. Tell it to run 'Morpheus-dot-executable'. You'll have full access to my system." Vera lied.

Parthik looked nervous as he typed it in.

The Morpheus Program controlled the Biot's shapeshifting systems. Normally on their own it took a long time to work. However there was a small chance that if it booted while already hooked to another computer...

Vera twitched, her skin shifting and turning blue, her hair red, jawline and cheekbones narrowing as her eyes went glowing blood red. She was moving before anyone could register what had happened, her forehead yanking out of the programming needle's range and Greck's gun as her knee crashed into his temple and then savagely kicked him into his men, having grabbed his rifle and shooting the ones closest to her before smashing a bare blue foot into a thug's rifle, catching it and spraying three more thugs that panicked fired their cryoban rifles at her, forcing her to roll off the operating table, leap back up and smash her rifle into another set of thugs, opening on fire on the others to her left and freezing their insides. Gritting its teeth, the biot blocked two savage blows with its arms, smashing its fists into a thug's nose and breaking another's jaw with her foot, smashing her fists and knees into ribcages and groins, flipping over people and snapping their necks as she landed.

One thug pulled out a cannister from his jacket and opened it, tossing its contents onto the naked biot.

She stiffened, giving an unnatural, static filled shriek.

It was baffer pollen.

The biot's "flesh" glitched, shivering as it started to necrotize, the muscle tissue rupturing underneath even as it savage continued its attacks, never ceasing movement, always keeping an eye on who had line of fire as it finished destroying its opposition.

The Biot glitched, flesh going completely translucent again, though one part was starting to gray. A signal in her head signalled a threat of processor overheat. The glitching was so bad that the next time her flesh deformed, it rebooted completely back to its now-decaying Lawyer appearance.

The glitching biot knew how serious the glitching was. It needed to repair the damage to its systems and obtain its nutrient paste soon or things would get bad for it.

Vera spotted a frightened thug cowering in the corner. She knealt down and smiled at the middle aged, gruff looking man, the baffer pollen causing the masquer to be on the verge of rotting.

"If I don't get my nutrients soon I'll go feral..." Vera warned him. "And if I go feral, you die painfully..."

She picked up a blaster, pressing it to his throat.

"Where. Is. My. Gear?"

Later on...

The nutrients had come first, then a shower to get the pollen off, then feasting on the blood of one of the thugs. The chapterhouse still had working facilities, probably its own personal water source.

After finding her white leather dress and shoes, Vera had put them, stepping over the dead bodies on the secondary floor of the chapterhouse, long dusty and abandoned, and lacking in furniture. She had been programmed to consume only animal blood, but the current situation had disabled what restrictions she normally considered when it came to what, specifically, was the blood of an animal. That had been legal coding in order to get the biots Vong designers to enable her vampiric features. Right after getting her grown and transported to the castle, Nine had altered her so that the blood of all organics was considered that of an animal.

She knew that she had been lucky. But still, the set up had been so strange...not how she would have done it at all...

Unable to shake the feeling she was missing something, the Biot retrieved its comlink, only to realize the thugs had broken it.

She grew more suspicious. They think enough to come in great numbers and even keep all weapons pointed at her (Not that it had helped) and had even busted her comlink, but have the reprogramming done by clear morons? What gives?

Vera had not found much about who these men were or who they worked for...they were suspiciously clean of clues in that regard. But there was one or two...many of them had been to Castle Dragi in the past few days, given the datapads she had found on them. But Count Dragi hadn't mentioned them, and none of them seemed the type she thought he would let onto his estate.

They were all dead by this point. She would have taken one for interrogation but she had a feeling whoever had given them the equipment would be along soon...

...or would they...?

Vera suddenly heard the sounds of commotion outside and saw a number of men and women with torches marching along grass plains.

"Hurry! He said the vampire was hiding here!" one of the men yelled.

The biot at last understood.

Frame-up.

Vera knew she had to leave, and quickly. She was only as effective as her ability to maintain her civilian cover, and all these corpses would be difficult to explain away, even with her legal defense database. The only way to avoid a fight she could not win in her current state was to improvise...

Vera decided to take another risk. She decided to go out and talk to them.

Doing her best to look indignant, Vera went down to the front door and opened it.

"Excuse me, is there something I can help you with?" Vera asked, doing her best to look confused.


[member="Karna Ramesha"]


OOC: Wanted to switch things up and show what was going on with Nine's biot and how it tied into Castle Dragi. I'll get back to Nine, just do your thing to advance the story, Karna.

 

[Karna Ramesha]

Karna slowly turned the knob, the door squeaking and cracking as he moved it forward to open. An immediate rush of cold air forced it's way through the opening, surprising the old man. He had an idea of why it was so cold and he believed it was no accident. One of two things had to be the case; either the host decided to keep it cold so the body would be preserved or someone who desired such a temperature was inside. Karna was willing to bet on the latter. Blood, life energy sucking creatures is what he would be dealing with afterall. He, of course did not know the information yet. The reasoning behind his thinking on the temperature was simple - he doubted the old host kept one single room cold just to keep evidence from getting messed with. Karna wasn't even sure if the owner of this strange place was the one that called the order. The tone he used with him didn't convince so at least, a very uninviting one. Whatever the case, he was sent on a mission to capture a creature and had to try his best. Well, at least look like it. That little 'friend' of his could be dealt with if everything went to hell.

He chuckled, it was sad that he even joked about screwing over one of his female contacts. Every man had a code and among the various things he'd sworn not to do, killing females brought big shame and had a big no on it. Back to his current, 'serious' situation... Karna pushed the door open more and more until he was able to walk in casually. He entered the room with a quick scan almost like he was in special forces, in a defensive stance. The temperature was definitely noticeable but not too bad for the old man. He had no problem finding the corpse which gave off a not-so-pleasant smell. The unfortunate soul was definitely human and it seemed as if they were sitting for a couple days. Karna had a feeling it was an act of deception however. The body usually gave off this type of smell after three days, meaning that much time should've passed. His contact made it sound really important to take a look though. If he used common sense, that indicated the death happened very recently. After a deep breath he went over everything he could visually see.

Everything in the room was either made of wood or bones. That wasn't too abnormal or significant really but he made a note of it. Karna moved on to the area surrounding the body. The victim was a female humanoid, and she laid in eternal rest on the bed. He came to the conclusion that the murderer was seducing her, be it a male or female killer to eventually produce the end result that they ended up with. Karna walked around to the other side and analyzed her body there. A bite mark of sorts appeared to be gracefully placed on her neck. The beast was believed to be something along the line of a vampire at this point. He was sure a dog-like species could do the same thing, like himself. Everything thus far was interesting. He felt as if he knew what had went down so far. Karna couldn't be 100% sure though... not yet. The killer would have to tell him directly to confirm his suspicions. He walked over to the one window in the room and looked out, losing focus on the mission.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine Lives giggled as she watched the two delightful Twi'lek's dance for her, even as she knew she had to get a look at that corpse. The room they were in was a gothic, gargoyle filled master suite, a faceted globe of red light and electronic music playing, the floor multicolored square panels in a random pattern.

But these women! Such delightful skill and figure! She almost wanted to continue watching their pleasant...enticing dance, but knew she had to get going.

"Ladies...that will be all for now. But tell me...you two freelance?"

"Of course, mistress. We are under contract, however for the night to Count Dragi." The red skinned one answered as she ceased her dance with the blue skinned one.

"Excellent. Listen, I gotta do some snooping on our dear Count's behalf. But here's my sales pitch: You work for me. I pay well. Plus...I'll give 'ya a life extension."

The two dancers were both intrigued. "Life extension?" They asked in unison.

Nine smiled, rising off the luxury sofa. "Yessssss..." Nine hissed, walking over to them, fingers flexing uncontrollably, head twitching like a bird, the two glowing dots at the center of glass back eyes fixed on both of them. "With my help, your shelf life will extend...by at least two thousand years. Its a good solid amount."

"What's the catch?" The blue skinned one asked, her exotic features contorting with suspicion.

The twitching Nine grinned, revealing black fangs. The two dancers instantly took a step back.

"Are you the one who killed Sara?" The red dancer asked fearfully.

Nine frowned. "No." she answered. "I'm here trying to find who did, though. Who did you last see Sara with?"

"Sara was the best dancer in our group. She had a lot of admirers. People wanted to get her autograph." The blue woman answered cautiously, staring at Nine as she loomed over the pair.

"Did she get any admirers from Atrisia? Your troupe stop there at all?" Nine questioned.

The red skinned dancer paused.

"Yes...we did..." she answered.

"When?" Nine asked.

"Three weeks prior."

Nine paused.

"Sara's body...why was it put here?"

"Count Dragi has been planning this party all year. I dunno if you noticed, but the old man is kinda on his way out..."

"Can't be that simple. The authorities don't care if you're throwing a party...a corpse to investigate is a corpse to investigate."

"We don't think Count Dragi even called them...we would have protested, but...we had bills to pay..." the blue Twi'lek answered shamefully, scratching her head.

Nine silently walked over, tilting her head up with two fingers to face her.

"Perfectly understandable. But where is the body being kept?"

"Not far...a floor up, I'd say."

"Who did you last see her with?"

"Oh she was always with a lot of guys. She did mention she was seeing someone a few days ago." The blue dancer added..."You need to get her datapad though...it had all the addresses for booked dances."

"Where is it?" The vampire asked.

"It should be a floor above the one she's on." The red Twi'lek answered helpfully. "Are you gonna kill whoever did it? Sara was a nice girl...she didn't deserve it."

"Oh, if its not my murderous assassin that's gonna do it, it'll be me..." Nine assured with a fanged grin.

The Psy-Pire glided around them.

"Now, about your own rewards...I need a little more help from you...that Jedi who showed up...I need you to distract him...but distract him by telling him the truth about Sara. He'll no doubt know if you're trying to mislead him, but I'm betting he won't anticipate you actually telling him the truth. Just tell him those small details you told me...except leave out the part where you mention Atrisia. Focus more on her various admirers. Any bit of junk info you can give might muddy his waters a little..." Nine advised, before slapping her forehead. "And silly me! I haven't even gotten your names!"

The red one pointed to herself, slightly more muscular than the blue one.

"I'm Moira." The crimson beauty answered.

"Belia." The blue skinned one spoke.

Nine stretched out her senses, already feeling the Jedi above her. Feth.

Nine went to the balcony window. "Good luck girls! Don't let me down!" Nine said as she went outside.

"Her guest room is Fifty Three! Remember, two floors up!" Moira added rushing over as Nine used her adhesive telekinesis to cling to the outside of the castle, crawling up effortlessly. Belia looked astonished...

"Wait! Who are you?!" Belia asked as Nine crawled.

Nine paused in her crawl up the castle wall.

"Uh...would it be cool if my answer was that of a licensed superhero with a notorious violent streak?"

"No. I know which joke you were thinking of, and trust me, it has been done to death..." Belia assured her with an amused look.

Nine developed an expression of mock pouting...

"Spoilsport..." Nine said under her breath as she climbed.

Meanwhile...

"Ladies, Gentlemen, really...you people have some rather fanciful ideas of what's going on here. This chapterhouse was legitimately purchased by my associates days ago. The idea that something so untoward as a vampire being on this premesis is frankly..." Vera trailed before developing an small, insolent smirk.

"...Rediculous..."

"Then what attacked my daughter on the plains six weeks ago?" one man in the mob asked.

"All the attacks have been in this area!" The leader of the mob, an old man with a thick gray beard wearing fine civilian robes and armed with a crossbow and silver stakes asked the curvy biot in her white dress as they talked in front of the chapter house, Vera's hands behind her back, holding her blaster pistol, set to stun. The mob had been questioning her for the past fifteen minutes and so far had gotten nowhere, due to Vera using her emotion reading software to give her an edge in deciding what to say. She did her best to look both as confidant and as non-threatening as possible, despite looking rather out of place, what with her elegant look far too inadequate for this particularly rainy part of the countryside.

"Honestly, who told you such a silly thing that the Vampire was here? You're free to search the premesis. I assure you, there is nothing here but a house in need of a good renovation..." Vera assured confidantly and charmingly. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about...I'm simply here to inspect the property."

The biot walked to the front of the house and swung it open.

"Its dust and cobwebs. Come in if you like. Its getting rather chilly..."

She kept a straight face as she calculated the doubt on their expression. It was working.

"But...the...who was it who told us to come out here?" the Leader asked, suddenly confused.

"Where's your means of transport?" One in the crowd asked.

"I was dropped off..." Vera answered.

"No way! There hasn't been a ship here in hours! You're lying!" one in the crowd shouted.

Vera remained calm, about to deliver a carefully reasoned explanation. But the trouble was, her systems were put under massive processing stress recently...

...and there were still malfunctions.

Vera's face glitched, becoming translucent as a static filled sound escaped her mouth as one of her eyes rolled into her head before going back to normal.

The crowd jumped back. Vera sighed.

"Dammit..." she snapped, her pistol coming up faster than some of theirs could, shooting them rapidly, her targeting programs prioritizing center mass and the center of the crowd itself to make them scatter, blue stun bolts smacking into chess, knocking out all twelve in a matter of ten seconds. Mobs. Always predictable. Act tough, and then freak when you actually come across a real threat...

The biot looked down distastefully at the unconscious people. It was times like this she hated not being fully autonomous. No chance to torture any of them with a razor unless getting permission from Nine first. Sure, she granted it often enough, with First Order captives, but she longed to have nothing but a civilian under her scrutiny, if only to see if they screamed any different.

Vera knealt down and grabbed a comlink off them, tuning it to the frequency of Castle Morpheus in orbit over Naboo.

"Bobbi, get down here. Mother's first daughter needs your assistance..."

Later on...

The Castle Morpheus Knights had come down in the Saotome freighter, piloted by the second of Nine's artificial daughter's, the red headed, pale skinned Magnus, followed by Bobbi, first among Nine's personal security force aboard her ship, flanked by other knights from the ship, clad in their distinct light powered armor, based off yovshin designs.

Bobbi forward flipped to Vera, as the rest of the knights did. They were especially fond of back and forward flips. Vera didn't get it, personally. (Though she privately conceded it DID look cool.)

"Evil robot lady! How might we assist you?" Bobbi asked with all sincerity, his Atrisian accent still thick after all this time.

"Evil Biot Lady, my dear Bobbi. Evil biot..." Vera corrected striding up the ship and going immediately to the machines she had asked them to bring from the Morpheus labs. "I have bodies in the basement of that chapterhouse and live ones whose memories of the last half hour need to be consumed. Get to it, please..." she answered, taking a seat in the main hold while other knights, having brought the instruction manuals for Vera's maintenance, inserted a programming wire into the back of her neck.

Magnus at this point chose to come out of the cockpit to annoy her "sister". Her appearance was slimmer than that of Vera's default, with pale skin and red hair and this playful grin that was earnest and happy. Vera hated that smile. For though hers were seductive, she could never replicate that kind of honesty that was in her counterpart.

"Looks like somebody got their warranty voided..." the human looking commando droid joked.

Vera simply flipped her off while the armored knights worked on trying to find and fix the damage by looking at the computer readouts.

"Its not looking good, Vera..." one of the female knights who was doing the brain examination through the programming wire asserted..."You've got severe glitching from an improper booting to your other form and half assed attempts to reprogram you. Some of your processors are overheated. You'll need to shut down completely in the next twelve and stay shut off while we go through your systems or you could cause one of your processors or all of them to melt or even explode. Your masquer sheath isn't doing too much better either."

"And if I stay active?" Vera asked.

The knight shrugged. "Dunno. Your system has never taken such stress before."

"Someone tried to feth me and Nine over. They were waiting for me and it is definitely a Psy-Pire. All the ones who attacked me outside, as well as my own informant, had their memories consumed, and then brainwashed to do their bidding." Vera explained. All the knights paused. A Psy-Pire was working against their own.

"None of my men have even been to Naboo..." Bobbi grumbled as he hauled one of the unconscious aboard for later consumption.

"But the knights and other Psy-Pires have been on Atrisia...and its not like mother said you could not make sires. I want you to call every one of the psy-pires still stationed on Atrisia, and ask if they have made any non Atrisians one of us..." Vera ordered.

"What are you going to do?" Bobbi ask.

Get into Castle Dragi..." Vera answered. "Can I still shapeshift?"

"That will halve your operational span in your damaged state..." the knight examining her warned, barely understanding any of it without the manuals to help her work the complicated computers.

"We have no choice. Get my gear from the chapter house..." Vera ordered, taking the wire out of her head.

Magnus folded her arms. "You need help?"

Vera looked at her with a deadpan expression. "When I need a moron you'll be on speed dial, Magnus. No. I'll do it myself." She sneered.

Magnus flipped her off but still grinned and headed back to the cockpit.

Vera felt the warnings in her own head...knew she would be cutting it close. But any more assistance than now would make it complicated.

Vera walked out of the hold and back to the captains quarters. "If I don't get back to you in six hours, assume the worst..." she ordered Bobbi as he saluted her. "And don't disturb me..."

Vera headed back inside, pulled off her clothes, got on one knee and triggered the reconfiguration process, the ooglith that served as her skin becoming translucent and gelatinous. Her processors began working over time. She would be fully reconfigured into her infiltration form in a few hours.

[member="Karna Ramesha"].

 

[Karna Ramesha]

Karna sneezed as a breeze zoomed in through the window. "Like a fan blowing air into a freezer..." He shook his head and went to close the window but something made him stop. A simple thought even a child could've had. The window was in fact open before he entered the room. A very cold room that didn't need anymore lower temperatures, let alone a breeze to freeze any living person. That led him to a conclusion... here was the murderer's exit. Again, any child could solve that part but it was interesting. Considering he was on one of the higher floors and jumping down from here would mean death for most humans, this killer had the aid of superhuman abilities. The beast-like creature image filled his head all of a sudden. If his thinking about how the beast lured the poor girl into her room alone was right, then it wasn't a repulsive looking person. Either that or he was really strapped on cash. Karna closed the window after taking deep breath.

"Hey, it's your favorite co conspirator." He laughed after saying something so silly as that. "I hope you've got something good. We're not the only ones after this bastard, ya know. Time is money." She was very serious with her reply. "You really are watching then? Bring me something to eat." He heard a sigh on her end. "What do you have?" Karna turned around and leaned against the window, looking the body. "The victim's laying on the bed. She resembles a poisoned princess right about now. If I had to guess age... I'd say fairly matured but still young. Twenties sound right. There's one wound and a few bruises on her neck from intimacy, I'm sure. I have something to help us out though. The wound is a bite mark most likely from a beast, perhaps a canine like me or a v-" His contact interrupted him to confirm one thing. "Psy-Pire." Karna sighed himself this time. "You knew the whole time?" Her voice sounded as if she was amused. "Its more fun watching you solve the case ground up. Also, I had to make sure you were indeed capable of this task." He turned back around to peer out the window. "I gotta go, notify me if you get a description of the killer." "Copy."

He rubbed his chin, thinking about what he'd do next. Going through all of her stuff could speed up the process a lot but he had his own code. Nothing as pure as the righteous Jedi... but snooping in dead man's belongings seemed bad for his character. Karna shook his head to remind himself everytime he thought of doing it. After a small silence he walked over to the corpse and said a little prayer. He wasn't religious but it only felt right. "Life is fragile and quick to cease. I've experienced many losses in my lifetime. Nothing like your case has come up however, so I'm saddened by your meaningless death. Someone will grant them the same, if not worse end as given to you which was cruel and unfair. I believe in karma. The beast and I, a title it and I share, will battle and hopefully my contact does unfairly and cruelly dealt things to it too once its captured. May you rest in peace once we're done here." Karna left the room and started down the stairs, leaving everything untouched.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine crawled the exterior wall of the dark, hell themed castle, the winds billowing her reinforced Kimono, she got a strange sense that she was being watched as she climbed into the the window [member="Karna Ramesha"] had been not moments before. She hopped in, stared at the corpse and sighed.

The old guilt from her boring self poked through. Had she not created the psy-pires to begin with, this woman would not be dead.

What was left of the Jedi Consular within her felt a deep sense of shame. The Lovely Nine was furious. This Psy-Pire brought shame to the game, killing prey like that.

She quickly looked for something, anything that might give her a further clue, her purple glow-dot eyes scanning every facet of the corpse. Psy-Pires were not angels but they normally had no need to kill prey. When it all went right, the worst the victim got was partial amnesia and two or three memories gone, possibly forever...unless of course someone was a prisoner in her Castle Dungeon.

The Arch Psy-Pire was so distracted by her sadness however, that she almost didn't see the kunai thrown through the window. She was force jumping out just a second before it exploded, twisting in the air, drawing her katana, the blood-poison infused Million-Handed Collosus, and drove the nearly indestructible blade deep into the stone of the castle, though she had to use all her strength to do so, as her sword was lighter than others, dragging down the wall a bit as the window abover her erupted in fire, the sound hitting and hurting her ears due to being so close. She pulled out her sword and used her skill at Force jump to lessen the impact on her legs as she dropped to the same balcony she had crawled down on, scrambling inside just as the security shutters came down on every window and entrance to and from the castle.

"Ladies?" Nine called out nervously. But they were gone. In their place were men and women in Atrisian Oni masks, in tight fitting black robes, brandishing swords.

Nine stared at them. They stared back.

One struck first and her sword struck it aside and cleaved through her attackers shoulder, Nine dodging the next attacker, fending off six swipes before beheading him, sending geysers of blood across the room, spraying her Kimono with it.

The remaining attackers charged and Nine was fending off attacks from all sides, dodging and counter-striking with her sword, the blood poison worked into the blade leaving searing agony over the wounds she left. Surely anyone close by would hear the screams of her attackers...

 

[Karna Ramesha]

Leaving was what he intended to do but something made him turn back. Before he could take two steps though, two women of a familiar species approached the old man. It appeared they wished to speak with him. Karna was suspicious of their possible reasoning for being on this level, especially this area. He could tell that they were workers of this domain, however no one should've been permitted to enter this area. Ironically, he was the trepasser here despite only trying to help find the bastard that killed the poor lady. The two started off speaking quite fast and asked if he wanted a private dance. Slowly, they approached him even further and stopped once there was little distance in between both of them. Karna tried to decline their offer but the two were very persistent with the offer. He figured they weren't paid enough so he tried to go about it a different way than how they wanted it. "Here." He held out ten 5,000 credit coins. "These coins were going on supplies but I'd rather let you two take em. I don't know how much you usually get paid but I hope this helps. No services required." The two women looked at each other, then back to the old man. Sadness filled their eyes.

Karna didn't understand why they felt sad over monetary gain. He grabbed the blue one's hand and placed all ten in it. "Take care, please stay away from this level." Then, something strange happened. In a flash they stopped crying and shocked him. They somehow knew he was the jedi investigating as well as where to look for him. More information came his way too. At this point, he didn't care that he was found out. Not that he was undercover in the first place. Karna clicked a button on his comm to relay this information to his contact. By the end of their conversation he didn't learn much but they confirmed his suspicion of intimacy. "Ladies, I thank you for all the help. I must warn you though, there are dangerous people all around this property thanks to my appearance. Please don't come to this level anymore." His contact spoke all of a sudden in his earpiece, sounding in a panic. "There's someone climbing into the room. Get in there, quick!"

The old man moved quickly to the door and went to reach for the knob. A grip strong enough to hold his arm back was felt. It was a bodyguard, called by the two dancers he spoke with most likely. He knew they didn't mean any harm but it felt like there was something they kept from him. Karna stopped moving so the man would let go. That never happened though. "Sir, you're causing distress for my clients. Please leave this area." The old man became frustrated already. "I am here to investigate as a jedi sent by the council." He coldly stared into the bodyguard's eyes. The man increased strength in his grip and moved his jacket to show a pistol on a belt. "Let's not makes things get messy in front of them," the man said that while pointing at the two ladies.

He listened soon enough and began walking but his instincts kicked in, striking the man in the stomach with a punch. Karna continued, picking up the man and moving to the railing. He threw the man off once he got close. The bodyguard was certainly alive, good, but that was only one problem solved. A person was seen climbing into the window so he had to hurry to make up for lost time. As soon as he placed his hand on the knob his instincts acted again. Karna used the door as footing to jump back before it was too late. Running wouldn't make it in time. He noticed the ladies were on the ground probably fearing him by now after throwing a dude off the side of stairs. There was no time to think or explain anything that was happening, so he stood in front of them. Hands out facing the door. The door busted open with flames intruding into the corridor. Karna couldn't create a barrier in time, or it wouldn't have enough strength to hold anyway. He was going to fight back against the fire with a force push. The damage was already done to that crime scene and there was nothing else to do with two innocent people at risk. "You won't be taking these two lives unfortunately." Karna released the little energy he was able to gather sent it against the fire.

[member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine backed away from a sword slash sent her way by one of the masked assassins, this one a towering brute she didn't try to match for strength instead only evading the heavy attacks of his own katana, until she parried a stab attempt with all her might, spinning and ducking, the tip of her near indestructible wintrium katana spitting open his belly, though it took far more effort to cut through his body armor due to the Wintrium being lighter than regular metals.

His blood and entrails geysered onto her robes, splashing the stiff armor built into it as well as her own face. She moved forward with inhuman speed, sword tearing through cloth. Its sharp edge biting through ordinary skull easily. Nine slashed and slashed away at her attackers, sending blood everywhere as she used Force Speed to become a blur, what few left alive by her screaming in agony from the devaronian blood poison gem worked into the Wintrium itself. Nine was very careful not to accidentally touch it herself...as the Arch of her species, she was extremely vulnerable to poison attacks.

Million Handed Collosus had been a custom job from Sasori. Nine ordinarily did not prefer to use swords not made by her personally, the two other exceptions being the mysterious Katana Hundred Handed Giant, and her double edged Progenitor's sword, but this blade had grown her the more she used it, almost handling like one of those nice Echani Foils she had tried a long time ago but without the hated vibro-weakness. Of course, this limited its damage potential against harder armors but it was doing just fine here.

Nine cut another man and woman in half, the room soaked with blood and viscera a look of utter wrath on her face, her normally emotionless purple dot eyes seething with hunger as she flicked the blood off her sword, the red and black armored kimono stiffened with blood as she approached the lone survivor, trembling in place, sword held in a weak, sloppy guard in place.

She pointed her sword at his head and stepped forward slowly, trying to increase his terror as much as possible.

"I give one chance. No more. WHO SENT YOU?!!" she roared, contralto becoming outright demonic.

"A...A..."

"WHO?!" Nine roared.

"A Vampire. Claimed he's some new species. Claimed the same of you. Paid us to kill you and seize that freak you created. Claims one of yours made him." the Assassin answered. "I...I can give you a description--"

Nine had bounded towards, him, battered the blade out of with an aggressive slash, and had clutched the screaming assassin by the throat, closing his windpipe just to the point before it would start to crush.

"Why listen to your lies when the path to the truth is so much sweeter?!" she snarled, black, metallic like fangs slinking into place and biting him on the neck...

She sifted through his memories as quickly as possible, eating his memories looking for any alliences with Mimes, which reminded her to double up on the tinfoil. She saw this other Psy-Pires face, a handsome man, non-Atrisian, with very dark hair and dark skin, covered in swirling black tattoos that went up to his neck. He seemed to prefer dark clothes, and sunglasses. Nine instantly knew he was hardcore just by that "I'm a badass" look he pulled off effortlessly. It really was quite impressive...looking badass was not easy. She'd needed five centuries to figure out how to pull it off.

Didn't mean she wasn't going to kill him though. She just needed to find him first. And if he was aligned with the mimes, or preferred peppermint candies in any way, he would be interrogated. Tortured..

Slipping past the insane musings caused by her own Fugue State, caused by consistant overeating, which led at times to intense paranoia. Constant, really. Her sword fighting was unaffected though.

Nine finished drinking all the relevant information, as well as all his training as an assassin, which was fairly sub standard...a mandalorian child could have beaten this man. Then she bent him over and spanked him with the flat of her sword.

"This! Is what! You get! For FETHING AROUND WITH ASSASSINS! GO HOME TO YOUR MOTHER!" Nine shouted, smacking him one more time for good measure. The beaten, broken man fled the guest suite and Nine had most of what she needed. It was time to figure out how to end the security lockdown evade that Jedi unless there was no other choice, collect Vera and leave...

But what had locked down the Castle?

Nine headed down the halls, sword sheathed, though still splattered in gore, especially her beautiful face, making it nightmarish.

She sensed the Jedi above her fighting the flames. Poor guy. She'd let him handle the fires.

Nine headed downstairs, saw various people starting to panic at the security shutters over every possible exit. Count Dragi was nowhere in sight, having disappeared. Nine decided to look for him...

[member="Karna Ramesha"]