I ain't got anything better to do (Fable)

[Arage Bao]

Etti IV​

AEL Quarters​

[member="Fable Merrill"]​

​

I wrapped the Force around me and dropped myself from the nearby ledge into the courtyard of the office building, which closely resembled a fortress… it seemed that Merrill didn’t appreciate the art of being subtle about your security, while evading the security detail I mused on about the why-question.

Said why-question was mostly why the hell I was skulking around in the night on property that didn’t belong to me, when I was a multi-millionaire playboy, I really should find better things to do in my freetime. Then again… Rave had asked me for a solid, so I was giving her one.

Better be a pretty tasty cake.

With a click the front door opened and I slipped through it. Hopefully she was around her somewhere.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared"] Omvar

Meditate.

Meditate.

No, your butt isn't falling asleep. Focus... on concentration. Meditation. Stop drumming your fingers. Stupid. Can't you even sit quietly without screwing up? B-A: #37 never had issues with sitting quietly, maybe you should have had that catastrophic embolism, not her. She'd be much better at this body guard nonsense-

Wait. Shut up. What was that?


Laying on the floor in the dark of her sparsely-decorated room, Fable's eyes shot open as her fledgling senses picked up... a thing. A new thing? Something. The Neophyte sat bolt-upright, then slid her legs underneath herself and remained a crouch. She struggled to hold on to the feeling, hoping to trace it back to the source.

But she wasn't that good.

In a couple quick, fumbling motions, Fable got dressed in her white apprentice clothes and hooked her saber to the belt. Shoeless feet were quiet on hard floors, and she made her way up in the general direction of that feeling.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

<< Halt, this is a restricted area, what are you doing here? >>
<< What do you mean what am I doing here?>>

The man looked just a tad confused at my words, usually when he asked someone to state his his business… they complied, unless they were meant to be here. Then he was usually ignored, so at the moment the guard wasn’t exactly sure anymore who this fellow was supposed to be.

<< This is a restricted area. >> he repeated himself, this made him feel a little reassured - repetition meant exercising control and that meant he was doing his job well. << So… I would like to know what your business here is? >> This time he phrased the command into a question, the last thing he wanted to do was insult a possible high-rank of AEL; that would probably bring problems and Bob didn’t like problems.

<< But Bob, there is no one here. >>

The guard blinked at that response, he was clearly looking at this guy, yet his wonders seemed… calming to some degree. Almost soothing in such a way that Bob knew that he could trust him, the weird, non-existing man seemed vaguely familiar though. As if he had been here before, his words came as a shallow echo, dragged out of its existence and slightly confused in its role in the world. << Are you sure? Because I think I am looking at you right now. >>

<< Oh. >>
<< Yeah. >>
<< Well in that case. >>

Truth to be told I hadn’t been terribly trying to hide my presence or appearance, the mission wasn’t about that… yet I was confused that this guy was able to see me even after I suggested him that there wasn’t anyone else. I wondered if Merrill was hiring members of the Epicanthix species to guard some of her buildings… would have been so like her to ruin my fun.

Would explain why he was being such a drag and not responding to my pulling as much as the regular Joe, the guy was still trusting me to some degree though… so I had to think fast to salvage this situation.

...I hit him.

Let’s be honest here, nobody was surprised at this turn in events, he got him straight in the kisser and was knocked out cold for the remainder of time. I’d have to sent him a fruit basket though, this hadn’t been very nice of me. I waved my hand over his body and it disappeared out of sight, the illusion would hold for a few minutes - just enough for me to accomplish my mission.

I stepped over Bob and continued to hug the wall, trying to figure out where she was. Couldn’t be very far, my Force Scattering tactic wasn’t all that intensive at this point, a low-level apprentice would be able to pick up the glimpses of my power… or at least I hope she would; otherwise this would end pretty awkwardly.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Yes. Somebody was here.

If what I'd felt before was like the sound of distant, unnatural wind, then every step was bringing me closer and closer to the center of a typhoon. Clearly, this wasn't a problem I'd be able to solve myself - if somebody with THIS kind of a footprint was breaking into Miss Merrill's things, I'd likely be little more than a speedbump for them. And that? That was terrifying. Less than a year of life, and this person would be able to snuff it out like a bothersome candle?

But... unfortunately, it wasn't my place to decide either way. As much as I wanted to go back to my room and hide under the bed, my feet kept going. My heart kept racing. I was Miss Merrill's protector and assistant, and she'd be more than ashamed if I just sat and hid while somebody pillaged her things. Clearly, what I had to do was raise the alarm. Get word out that there was a powerful Force user somewhere on the premises. Help might not arrive in time, but it might arrive on time. Then I'd have to do what I could to slow him down. And help would arrive in time. It had to arrive on time.

Please let help arrive on time.

The problem with drawing near to a hurricane of power was precision. I couldn't feel exactly where the intruder was - heck, I only felt him when I really tried to. So he might have lurked around any corner... in any direction... waiting for me to slip up so he could

Crack-FSZZZZZ

Sound! Ack! The shriek escaped my lips before I knew it was coming, and I nearly dropped my saber on the floor. Stupid, stupid girl! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Now everyone knows where you are, thanks to that stupid, stupid lance of purple plasma. Shutting my saber off and swallowing the lump of bile that'd somehow crept up the back of my throat, I resumed trying to skulk around the intruder and make my way to Miss Merrill's personal lab.

Forced intrusion there would let her know there was an issue. And help would be sent.

...hopefully.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

The sound of a lightsaber igniting ain’t a trivial matter, most of the times it means that you just stepped onto some hot, steaming pile of poodoo - most of the times. This wasn’t one of them, I knew exactly who this was and what she was doing here, so I wasn’t exactly worried at the moment; what I was worried about was the fact that she was heading to the laboratory.

I wasn’t sure what kind of things Merrill was keeping there and neither was I eager to find out, last thing I wanted was for her to find some kind of acid that burned straight to my face.

Instead, I started to walk faster to catch up with her, while mimicking the voice of Merrill with a quick illusion.

<< Fable? >>

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Heels together, back straight, about face!

I turned, arms at my side, on reflex to greet the voice... and realized about halfway there that Miss Merrill wasn't even around tonight, had specifically pointed out to me that she wasn't going to be around tonight. And the person walking towards me? He was very obviously NOT Rave Merrill in any way, shape or form. He was the intruder. Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh calm down Fable calm down you need to calm down.

I brought my saber up into the form I'd been taught, then adjusted my footing. Djem So was supposed to be a defensive form, and I'd need every bit of defense I could muster! "Stay back! This is a restricted area!" I barked, trying to sound intimidating. Yeah, great job, Fable. This walking storm of Force energy is totally going to be scared off by your squeaky, developing voice and bad saber form. "L-Leave now, or I'll be forced to restrain you!"

At which point did a bluff become so audacious that it was simply an insult? I was likely at that point. Oh, gosh. Stupid, stupid Fable. You're going to die a stupid, stupid death, and nobody will miss you.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

I blinked.

She was a tough kid, I could hand her that - yet being simply tough wasn’t enough in this difficult, cold world. I ain’t a big fan of scaring children, that wasn’t my lingo, but hey. She asked me a favor and a favor she would get.

‘ Are you sure? ’

The moment I said that my form changed into that of Rave Merrill, figure, facial expression, tone of words… everything. Perfect copy.

Oh Lord, I really don’t want to be in the shoes of that kid, she’s gonna have trust issues for the rest of her life.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]


Fable took a half-step backwards before realizing that the illusion was just that - an illusion, however thorough. It only solidified her resolve that this person was up to no good; if they could mimic Miss Merrill's clothing and posture so completely, they either had studied her, or were a master illusionist! OR BOTH! Neither was good. In fact, this whole conversation might be going on in her head while she - while HE snuck up behind her and slit my throat or something.

Also, dummy. No wonder he didn't take your order seriously. You're holding an unlit saber like you're about to fight with it.

Swallowing hard, Fable set her feet and did her best to look imperious and confident. "Miss Merrill is off-world, and will be until Oh-seven thirty tomorrow." She insisted in a wavering voice. "You are not her. T-This is your last warning..." Fable paused and swallowed the lump in her throat - or swallowed the big fat lie trying to creep out. Didn't work. "...if you don't leave or surrender now, I'll b-be forced to stop you, myself."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

For a moment I simply considered the girl, the serious expression on her face and the subtle shaking in her shoulders - signifying that she wasn’t entirely holding up as well as she claimed to. Which was understandable, she wasn’t that old yet, had virtually no experience; nothing applicable at least and was now being threatened by a relatively strong Force Master.

I shrugged.

‘ Okay, I surrender. ‘

Which was followed by me dropping the illusion, slowly unclipping my lightsaber and putting it on the ground. She didn’t have to know that I never even used that thing, my powers were more.. esoteric than that.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Wait, what?

Really!?

REALLY?!

Fable gaped for a moment, then cautiously approached the apparently surrendered Sith Lord with every muscle tensing in her lean body. This had to be a trick. It HAD to be. But there was really only one way to be sure - she had to take action regardless, and her only options were to run, or to walk right into a potential trap. And she certainly couldn't run on the grounds she'd been expected to protect.

Keeping her wide, paranoid eyes focused up on the Sith Lord, Fable carefully knelt... then scooped the saber up and backed up in one panicked motion, expecting a knee to the face or something of the sort.

When it didn't come, she slipped the pilfered weapon into her trouser pocket and kept her own, unlit saber pointed at the intruder. "Y-you'll come with me, now. Until Miss Merrill returns, you're my... my prisoner! Understand?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

In my mind there was a tiny Jared Ovmar shaking his head in disapproval, but instead of showing that I just flashed her one of my lazy grins and nodded quickly.

‘ Perfectly understandable, ma’am. Lead the way. ’

I wondered if she even realized that a Sith Lord might have more than one lightsaber on him, then I wondered if I had ever been so naive and the memories that came up made me cringe so hard I blocked them from my sight for now.

Some things aren’t meant to be re-watched.

‘ Where will you take me, my Lady? ’

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"Thuh-this way!" Fable ordered 'firmly', pointing down the hall with her free hand while the other kept her unlit saber leveled at the intruder. What was he playing at?! There was no way she'd just disabled a Sith Lord like that. Did he have another saber? Some kind of nasty force trick? 'Both' was the most likely answer, but there was only so much she could do about that right now.

She did have the home turf advantage, though. Miss Merrill would be disappointed if she didn't make use of it.

Provided the Intruder followed her directions, Fable led him to a relatively nice section of the office building/lab - a long, hospital-like hall with doors on each side. A press of her hand to one of the control panels opened the door with an unimportant 'swish', revealing a small room with a bed, chair, and a small table upon which rested a couple books. This was the sort of room that she'd been more or less reared in as a Clone - in fact, her own room had been just down the hall to the left - but as Series-C Beta #65 was long dead of a massive anyurism, Fable didn't imagine her 'sister' would begrudge the use of her old haunt.

"In you go." Fable instructed cautiously, tightening her grip on her saber. "J-Just sit down on the bed until I figure out what to do with you."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

It was a smart move, trying to put me into a locked room and wait until Merrill would come back to deal with me, but it all hinged upon the Sith Lord actually cooperating until he ended up in the room. I was pretty stupid some of the times, but I ain’t this stupid.

Moment the door opened with its characteristic ‘swish’ effect, my body speeded up with the aid of the Force, I moved around her and ended up at her back.

Granted, if she would actually ignite the lightsaber the moment I started moving… I would probably be in some pain right now - but there was a but in this story. It was very reminiscent of the first time you pull the trigger, in practice? Not a problem, but when you turn it against a living human being?

Whole other story, same with a lightsaber. I doubted she had the ruthlessness to immediately consider igniting the thing, I hoped.

With a push of the hand and a nudge from the Force she would find herself in the room, the door closing itself right behind her.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

As a matter of fact, Fable did have some measure of ruthlessness in her frail body. The moment her body detected motion, her system flooded with adrenaline - as per normal for anybody in a high-tension situation. The difference was, Fable had very little to no control over the sudden anger that overwhelmed her. If only her reflexes were quick enough to ignite the saber before she was unceremoniously thrown into C-B65's room, she might have done some damage.

But no. The saber ignited too late, and Fable was tossed to the floor - her tenuous connection to the Force severed by a tiny lizard in a nutrient tube in the ceiling. All Force-Sensitive Clones were raised in such an environment, and Fable was well aware why - which was the reason she'd been trying to get Jared in there. Her saber clattered out of her hands, and a startled "Auck!" escaped the young woman as she landed in a gangly, clumsy pile of confusion.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

I could feel my eyebrow twitch just a tinsy, tiny bit, girl’s got spunk and that meant a lot in the world Merrill and me moved around in. She had actually been able to ignite the saber, which put her above most kids of her ages, not that I knew a lot of them - but I still remembered my own situation in the Underworld. She even managed to score a hit, even if it was only a marginal one, part of my robe was scorched, few more centimeter and I would have had to replace skin because of her.

Liked the girl already.

‘ What is the lesson you have learned from this? ‘

Carefully I leaned against the door and could feel my palm just touching the Yslamari field on the other side, well… I had just saved myself a lot of awkwardness.

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Ohno.

Ohnoohnoohnoohno.

Oh gosh oh on oh no.

She was trapped. Trapped! Trapped in... trapped in the room.

With dawning horror, Fable gaped at the room around her - identical in every way to the one she'd spent her entire life in up until a couple weeks ago. Identical to the many other cells just like this where countless numbers of her had died for the crime of being bad copies. She couldn't be in here! She'd lived! SHE WAS ALIVE AND COULD NOT BE IN THIS ROOM. This was C-B65's room, this wasn't her room, but who WAS C-B65, really? She'd looked just like her, she'd talked just liked her, and thought just like her and what if she was actually C-B65 and this room was all she'd ever know because she was just a stupid, unwanted girl with a stupid, broken brain and any minute now that stupid brain would form a clot and send her tumbling to the floor in a heap and her eyes would roll back and she'd twitch and drool and everyone would see as she died, see as her body failed and emptied herself, a final indignation for the universe to look down and laugh and say 'Here lies a stupid girl, nobody noticed'. And then they'd take her to the room with the red door and her body would be gone, a stupid pile of ash that nobody cares about, the literal embodiment of garbage or dust to be brushed away as an afterthought.

SHE. COULD NOT. BE HERE.

Heart racing palms sweating eyes bugging out of her head. Her blood was pounding in her ears pounding in her chest pounding pounding pounding and any minute there would be a little pinch and that was the failure surprise C-A5 you weren't the working clone after all isn't that a LARK? Please turn in that fancy name and your fancy room and report for recycling your sisters are all waiting to show them how stupid you were for thinking yourself viable what a joke hahah we're all laughing why aren't you laughing the universe doesn't want you ms Merrill doesn't want you please get out get out getoutgetout get out get out get out get out GET OUT!


With a primal, gutteral shriek more befitting a wounded animal than a wisp of a girl, Fable threw herself at the metal door with enough force to fracture one of her wrists and break her nose upon impact. She hardly noticed - and for that matter, neither did the door. It remained impassive, albeit bloodstained. It was, after all, designed to keep her in. That's why it was there.

out out out OUT OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT! GET! OUT!

Somewhere in the back of the girl's feral mind remained enough intelligence to recognize a tool - not much more than that, mind you, but enough for that much. Much like her gene 'donor', C-A5 had an anger issue. Unlike her donor - who had refined her temper into an almighty, tactical nuke in her arsenal allowing her to blow open starships and demolish ancient beasts with her bare hands - Fable's was unfocused. Primal and primordial. That she knew a lightsaber was amazing enough, that she could pick it up without hurting herself was simply going above and beyond.

Fable scooped up her still-burning saber and stabbed it through the door, exerting every ounce of desperate strength her muscles and frame could muster. That didn't do much to free her, though, so she withdrew it and began relentlessly slashing and hacking at the metal obstruction with wild abandon, splattering sparks and bits of detritus metal across the room (and herself) as she attacked the door in the fashion a rancor attacks it's prey.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

I wasn’t sure if she was hearing me at first, then… she started screaming, which wasn’t entirely unreasonable. It was pretty annoying when your plan failed and you got locked inside of your own cage - so the frustration was totally understandable. But then she ran into the door and by the sound of it broke at least a damn nose, which made me take a step back… that was the only thing preventing me from being stabbed through the gut with her lightsaber.

As it stood it just grazed the skin and scorched it pitch black, which still wasn’t too fun; amber reached my eyes, but I ignored the painful feeling. Instead I focused on the girl going on a rampage behind the door, there were many ways to deal with this situation.

The old Jared Ovmar would have blinked and then noped right out of the facility leaving the girl to her own devices. With that amount of crazy it was the only reasonable thing to do. But I wasn’t the old Ovmar anymore, I was even crazier now and so I did the only thing that seemed OK to myself…

With a wave I made the door go open, the moment she left the the field I would attempt to pull her to the ground with the Force, while preparing my body to absorb the plasma she could perhaps throw at me.

‘ Woman, will you calm down, it’s almost as if you have never been played before. ’

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Door was gone.

Intruder was there. Making noises. He was the reason. He'd tried to put her back in the box.

getoutgetoutgetout

Her tool had done a good job of getting her free. She had another. Fable managed to retrieve her second tool from her pocket and held it limply at her side, glaring balefully at the Intruder who'd thought he could lock her away to die. With a crack, Fable lit Jared's saber and held it low - being infuriated and berserk didn't change the fact that her wrist was broken, after all. Her face covered in blood and burnt pieces of metal, C-A5 stepped over the threshold through the broken door which, indeed, had been savaged enough by her assault that it could no longer close properly. Blood streamed from her broken nose and pooled between her feet, staining her white shirt.

The Intruder might try to lock her up again, or hurt her. She'd show him hurt hurt hurt HURT HURT HURT HURT HURT HURT HIM HURT HIM KILL HIM HURT HIM NEVER LET HIM HURT YOU AGAIN HURT AND KILL AND KILL.

C-A5 lept forward, fully intending to swing wildly with her sabers until the Intruder was gone and dead - but never got that far. Thrown to the ground by a mighy, invisible force, Fable found herself splayed out on the tile like a splattered frog-dog, the sabers clattering impotently from her grip and shutting off the moment they did so. With an indignant, infuriated howl, the miniature berserker struggled against her restraints... but got nowhere. She'd been caught.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fable Merrill"]

I ignored her attempts to escape the clutches of the mighty Force and instead simply expected her face… made me cringe just a little, tad bit. Merrill would probably kill me, the plan had been to educate the girl; not break her face and cause her to break down mentally.

Didn’t even need to influence her mind… guess there is a first for everything, so… what to do with the crazy, screaming girl who was bleeding from multiple locations. First thought was to kill her, make her body disappear and then run into the night.

Merrill probably wouldn’t find me… who am I kidding here, I ain’t killing a kid. That was Shorn’s monopoly and I ain’t infringing on that.

Instead I simply waited to see if she would calm down on her own, while holding her down with the Force.

'You done, lass?'

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

She was on fire, every cell in her brain cell in her body screamed for blood. Screamed screaming screaming screaming...

The relentless pounding in her skull and chest gradually faded away with the adrenaline, once C-A5 realized she wasn't going anywhere. The Temper had succeeded only in harming her more than anyone else. As the invincible bloodlust receded, leaving Fable with a head full of fog and dull pain. She could taste blood - that wasn't anything new, though. Neither was the pain. The Human body had all sorts of failsafes in place to stop some idiot from nearly blowing herself up with her own muscles, and Fable's wrath tended to ignore a lot of those limitations.

Noises, again. Blinking blearily, Fable angled her head up to warily regard the man looming over her with a mixture of worry and resignation. Did he want an answer? Right. Stupid girl. Of course he did. Closing her eyes, Fable gave a dull "Hnn." In reply, the tone implying that, yes, she was done.