Forests and Friendships and Cultists, Oh My!

[Darth Miseria]

For a split second blind panic washed over Dianah's face. The weird mouse man had been inside their heads and he clearly knew that Madalena was really Scherezade. At least that definitely confirmed the suspicions she'd had at the start of the mission, which felt like a million years ago now. Dianah shifted nervously in her spot. Madalena clearly didn't know she was Scherezade for a reason and she didn't want to find out what would happen if she realized.

But she didn't have to worry long, the man had turned his attention onto her.

'And you... Little shi'ido. Do you really expect you'll amount to anything other than Metus' daughter? You're not even that. You're the weakest of your siblings. You'll never leave their shadow. The thought is almost laughable as is that thing you call a lover.'

If his intention was to anger them it was working. Dianah couldn't see how he didn't realize that wasn't the best thing to do. It was one thing to upset someone but it was another thing entirely to upset two Sith women. Especially they had both demonstrated an incredible affinity for telekinesis. They didn't even need to see what they were doing to be able to squash the life out of someone in seconds.

'Listen up, mouse man. Your head is too big for your teeny tiny body. If it weren't for that shield we'd have crushed you like a bug, that's why you're hiding behind there isn't it? You're scared of us. Toe to toe without any of your silly facades, we'd destroy you.'

His head snapped in her direction and a deep, thunderous laugh left his throat. Was it mocking or nervous? She could't tell but Dianah wasn't one to let someone get away with insulting her. At least not without an insult or two being chucked back. The pup was squirming in her arms, reacting to all the tension that was building slowly in the little control room. Dianah tried to hush it as best she could, using her free hand to scratch behind it's ears.

'Tell us what we want to know and we'll leave you in peace, no harm no foul. If you set all of this up, why? Why the dragon? Why the puppies? Why us?'

'Because of who you both are. You see, our little experiments require...' He paused for a moment, pushing the tips of his fingers together to create a triangle as he thought. 'A specific kind of person. And you both fit the bill perfectly. Both from powerful families, both a little broken, both eccentric and aggressive...'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena’s anger turned to slight confusion as the Mouse (that was definitely his name. Forever and ever. If someone other than she or Dia got to kill him, she was going to find his grave ad spray MOUSE all over his gravestone) turned his attention to Dia. When he’d spoken to Maddy, it felt more like a poke in the dark, like he was guessing for ways to get a rise out of her, but since his words had been rooted in bullchittery, it hadn’t really angered her beyond the idea of having someone in her head. But his words to Dia…

It looked like she and Dia were going to have a very long conversation after this mess was sorted out. Dia was tough and she probably wouldn’t let it bleed her, but words like that coming out of a man who’d been inside her head tended to leave unknown internal bleedings that could come back to smack her later in life. And Madalena was not going to leave Dia to such a fate.

And more words. Because of who they were? Madalena blinked. She didn’t fit the bill in any sort of a way except for the aggressive part. Okay, maybe the eccentric part too, she wasn’t going to argue about that, but powerful families? Broken? She was neither of those things.

“My mother was a zookeeper and my father was a police force officer,” she said with a careless shrug.

“That spell of yours did wonders to your mind and memories, little girl,” Mouse said as he fixed his attention on her again, “I wonder how you managed to pull it off. It was certainly far greater than any power you were supposed to be able to hold after only eight months, the last of which spent in drunken stupor. Of course… If you would willingly go back to my lab, I could find out for you.”

Madalena frowned. Was he mad? Was she insane? Was everything going oompah loompah? She didn’t know, and frankly, she didn’t want to know. The spells she could cast were all minor, and even with that Blood Tome that she’d found, she hadn’t really ever done anything big. The man was obviously off his rocks. She also had no clue what he was referring to with his eight months comment.

“A force barrier can only swallow a certain amount of damage before it shatters,” she said, her voice rising back up to normal volume. All these surveillance things sure looked heavy. “Dia?” Madalena asked, “do you feel like turning into a tree again?”

And without waiting, Madalena rose her arms, yanking the left wall of the room and all that was attached to it, and smashed it against his barrier. The barrier gave a little ripple as the items smacked against it before falling to the floor, but it held.

“Or we can tear the place wall by wall and hit him with it until the barrier drops. That works too.”

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah watched Madalena carefully as Mouse spoke. The confusion etched on her face was as clear as day and the reasoning for it didn't fly over her head. How utterly weird it must be to have someone tell you of your life and not realize it was yours. Dianah was pleased about one thing though, the sharp words he used weren't affecting her in a negative way save for building up the anger they'd both use to crush the life out of him.

'Urgh, Rangos, we get it. You're a big bad boy. Your mother must be so proud.'

It seemed the moment he spoke Madalena had the same idea as Dianah. Enough of this bull now his monologue was boring, she was getting tired of listening to his monotonous voice. Nobody ever really cared what the dastardly plan of a villain was. Especially when they started to explain it all. Madalena brought a wall crumbling down, forcing it to fly over to the shimmering blue shield. Dianah watched as it failed for just a split second, leaving him vulnerable to whatever they'd throw next.

'SILLY GIRLS. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'

A laugh sounded out from Dianah, high and sweet and bubbly. It appears the mouse under the mask could be scared.

'I think that's a great idea. I can try one better though...'

This was something she'd done a few times already. The crack of her form as it shifted and changed its hue to something a little duller than her caramel complexion. The full shift would have taken too much time so instead only the outer layer of her skin slowly turning into solid rock. It weighed down her human muscles incredibly and, as she had often done before when shifting into this form, she couldn't really move much herself. She'd need Madalena's help.

'Throw me, throw me!'

Her excited voice cut through the room and if it were possible she would have been jumping up and down on the spot. At least that way they wouldn't have to bring the room down on top of them. Though they'd likely survive regardless Dianah couldn't shake the feeling that there was something useful in this room. If there wasn't at least they could use the monitors to find the missing people, if there were any left alive.

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

There were things Madalena didn’t have to be told twice. Carefully, she set down the puppy on the ground, and then turned to Dia, grabbing her rock form with both arms. It was a shame that she needed to use the Force to increase her physical strength, but there was no way she would have been able to pick up that big of a lump of rock without it.

Matching grin for grin, Madalena grabbed Dia and threw her at the Mouse’s shield. The shield rippled again, but still held. Judging though by the Mouse’s expression, she guessed he was feeling really seriously right about now how it would not hold for good. Not waiting, she used the Force now to pick Dia up again, mumble a quick “Sorry!” and then used telekinesis to pull Dia back only to launch her forward again with greater strength.

It was just like smacking her as a tree, but this time it was back and forth with Dia being a rock, and the shield kept rippling. There were no other doors to the room, which Madalena would have found strange if she’d taken a moment to consider it, but she kept on pounding with everything she had while the Mouse screamed words that never ended up being registered in her mind.

And at last, the shield shattered. It was almost disappointing that there was no sound of breaking glass. There was nothing. But Mouse fell to the ground, heavily panting.

“When a barrier breaks, it saps the power and energies of the one who made it,” she explained as she carefully this time set Dia down, and walked to mister Mouse.

“Dia, would you like to suck out information out of his brain and leave him as a vegetable?” she offered, her hand resting on top of Mouse’s head. She felt like Dia was the one who deserved it. His words to her had been harsher, had more potential of hitting the truth. Taking him down should be something relished, something fun. A certain closing of a circle. “Hey Mouse, how would you like to be fried from the inside out by someone who’ll never amount to being anything but Metus’ daughter?” Her voice dipped low again, almost sultry-like. The purr could almost be heard in it.

Without letting him speak, Madalena moved her hand to make his head nod.

“All yours, gorgeous,” she said as she turned around to smile at her friend, "doesn't ave to be frying though."

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

It was a strange sensation, not being able to move your body. It wasn't through lack of trying though. Dianah often tried to lift her heavy arms when in forms like this, but as she hadn't shifted her muscles into the same material there wasn't a chance in hell she'd be able too. Oh well, Maddy would do the job just fine. She felt the force wrap around her and, like an eager child, she urged Maddy on with a series of whoops and hollers.

The Mouse and his defenses came up suddenly. She couldn't feel the pain as she smacked into the solid force barrier, though she'd likely feel it a little later in her normal form. Madalena drew her back again and, with much more umph then the last, threw her at their captor. Each time Maddy brought her back for another assault the words of the Mouse grew quieter... and then louder again as her heavy weight crashed into him. She was pleased she couldn't actually hear what he was saying, no doubt it was another torrent of half-shebbed insults.

Eventually their efforts were fruitful and the shield collapsed around him. He crumpled to the floor like a sack of old potatoes, which was a rather satisfying sound that Dianah was pleased she hadn't missed. When Madanlena's force released her, Dianah began the shift back to her old self again. Except for one foot which she half dragged half carried over to the slumped frame of the Mouse.

'I'd love too. I hope you have some interesting things for me to discover in that squishy head of yours little Mouse.'

With one well placed burst of energy her rock foot slammed down on top of the man's shoulder. There was a horrifying crunch as his bones turned to dust under the weight of it, followed by an equally horrifying scream. Though it was by far more satisfying than horrifying to Dianah. It took her less than a minute to dive into his mind with her power and forcefully rip any useful information from it. She could feel each memory he had being drawn away, every piece of knowledge he had linked together slowly fading away and being absorbed into her mind.

'Hooooly kriff. They have a serious grudge against the Confederacy.' A few moments of silence as she riffled through the rest of the information she'd drawn out. 'They're... controlling dreams? Or at least trying.'

A cracked laugh escaped the Mouse's throat, it was full of pain but there was still amusement in it.

'You'll never stop us. We have many facilities. I am not the first and I won't be t-.'

Dianah's foot came down heavily onto his skull, crushing it almost as easily as if it were stale bread. It wasn't nearly the death he deserved but she couldn't concentrate on sorting all this new information while he was trying to explain himself. She knew there was more than one facility out there already, he was just trying to buy time. It hadn't worked.

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

“What do they get out of controlling dreams?” Madalena asked with a frown. Controlling minds, sure, she could go with that, but dreams? What did that give anyone? “And what’s their deal with the Confederacy?” she added, “and how did they do this whole bleeding Darkside bleeding thing?” the questions just kept piling up, "do they even have a name?"

With a sigh, she sat herself down in the chair that the Mouse had sat on, noting that she hadn’t destroyed it when she tore the wall out. It was a nice, comfortable chair. Executive-like and all of that. She peeked at the machinery behind the desk, wondering where the main drive was. There were copies, probably. Endless. But she just needed one.

Madalena used her bare fist to punch through the metal covers, ignoring her bleeding skin. The inside looked like what she’d expected, more or less. She yanked the hard drive out (or what she hoped was the hard drive, anyway), and all the screens that were still around them went dark.

“This bit will go back to the KO,” she said, and turned to look at Dia, noticing… “well that’s stupid,” she said. Behind Dia was a basket with what looked like all their stuff in it. It was almost too easy. Why hadn’t they noticed that before?

“Remind me to pour missiles down on this place once we’re safely away,” she said quietly as she got up, and both of the Loth puppies came running to the women.

[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah slumped down onto the floor, resting her back against one of the three walls that had remained intact during her assault on the Mouse. Maddy reeled off her questions and Dianah broke into a wide grin. Her new found friend was almost as curious as she was. Though she could feel exhaustion creeping up on her bones and waiting to take hold of her heavy eyelids Dianah was more than happy to answer them. Her own sweet silver pup bounded over to curl up into a ball on her lap. The warmth it created felt comforting and Dianah lifted her hand to stroke it gently.

'I don't think he knew what he was doing it for. He was just a lackey, a small cog in a massive machine. He was right when he said he wasn't the first. They've been doing this for years...' Dianah rubbed her eyebrows slowly and hummed as she searched her mind for the next answer. 'Not sure what their deal is with the Confederacy either. All he knew was to target us specifically. They call themselves the Aeshma.'

She watched as Madalena pulled the hard drive from the console rather unceremoniously. Blood trickled down her pale arm from the force of her swing, but she didn't seem to care at all. At heart she was still the same woman she was before and the information Dianah had taken from the Mouse had not been just about the cult and their plans. The Mouse had been inside Madalena's head and, as Dianah had just been inside his head she now knew a lot more about the woman who thought she was Mandalena Antares. Dianah drew herself away from her own mind as Maddy spoke again.

'Oh yeah... Damn. Those could have come in handy.'

The pup was scooped up as she lifted herself off the floor. She was remiss to put the heavy beskar armor on again but caution ruled out over comfort. Madalena's comment made her laugh loudly, throwing back her head in the process.

'Yeah, remind me to help you out with that.'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Aeshma. Why were the crappy people always the ones to claim the best names? Madalena groaned in displeasement. Mouse had no idea about what he was doing. Stupid little cog. She wished he’d been somehow linked in his mind to a bigger boss that they could drain dry of information and save them time. What was clear though, was that this was not the last time they’d had to deal with this Aeshma group. It was also likely that it was not the first time, though it was the first time they knew about it. Ugh. Madalena hated stupid cults. They were going to have to burn them down to cinder.

Getting up from the comfortable chair, Madalena made her way to where their things were. Shamelessly, she removed the hospital gown from her body and sighed, trying to get some of the blood off the parts of her skin that had been exposed before she started getting into her own clothes. Her pants felt snug, her armor felt like home. But when she had all of her weapons on her again, only then did she feel entirely like herself. She had a huge wardrobe on her ship, she felt comfortable naked too, but in situations like these, even if they were done (or even if they thought they were done), nothing beat the feel of armor and weapons.

Picking her own puppy up, the Sithling gazed at him. He’d need a name. But they had to get out of here first.

“Hey do you frequent Geonosis?” she asked as she turned to Dia, “I think we deserve a huge meal after what we’ve just done. My treat after we blow this place up.”

But there was something they had to take care of first. Bouncing outside, Madalena made her way to the previous room they had been in, and pocketed a few of the vials. Whatever the information was that they’d get off the hard drives, she was sure having actual samples would make matters easier for the Archivists to look into.

“Let’s get the krak out of here.”


[member="Dianah Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Darth Miseria]

Dianah couldn't agree more with Madalena's displeased groan as the two began to strip themselves of the awful powder blue hospital gowns. Why on earth they always had to use such a boring blue was at the forefront of Dianah's mind as she lazily clipped the armor to her frame. Just before she clipped her chest plate on she lifted the silver white puppy to her face and placed a soft kiss on its nose. Every time she'd picked it up to cradle it it had fallen to sleep, even when they were slicing and dicing the scientists on their way to the control room.

'Kark yes, where have you been all my life? I could eat a whole bantha right now.'

There was nothing Dianah enjoyed more than a meal after a mission. It could have been a ten minute mission or a ten month mission, it was a tradition now, at least for Dianah. Madalena bounced off as Dianah did a last sweep of the control room. The events of the past few hours ran through her mind like a holofilm, it certainly did play like one when she really considered it. The mission had been incredibly fun, full of strange twists and turns. While it would make an interesting story Dianah could say one thing for certain. She had made a permanent friend. Nothing remained in the partly destroyed control room that held any worth, so Dianah walked out to follow Madalena.

'When we get to Geonosis I want to call my Father immediately. He'd be interested to know about all of this. Something to consider. From the information I have I can't be sure where the other bases are but if they're in CIS space it'll be a problem.'

Dianah took a few of her own vials, better safe than sorry and they'd be safer with two lots. The puppy stirred in her hands as she turned to leave the tiled room behind for what would hopefully be the last time. It was almost like it knew it was escaping. Dianah beamed up at Madalena at her words and nodded enthusiastically.

'After you!'

[member=Scherezade deWinter]