Private Nephilim's Edge

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Two hours ago...

In their previous spar, Karlie had kicked, swept, punched, elbowed and swung, parried with the Force Staff both as a weapon and anchor pole, but not once while she were getting her butt handed to her did she fire off a discharge. Magnus had pounded her to the ground over and over despite Karlie coming close to scoring what could be seen as a point by her sensei, Li'Ves.
That exercise went far better than expected despite the blonde winding up on her knees. The end result was that Karlie fought Magnus to her last ounce of strength.
But that was in the exercise.



The Ensuing Cat Fight....

Last we left our blonde, she were eyeballing like a badass, her nemesis the evil sister robot (Magnus) of Vera Mina

" ...let me show you for what it's worth-"

Yea, about that....

Hyped on surging adrenaline rush and dripping laden soaked hair, the corner of Karlie's upper lip twitched... verging on a snarl. The blonde held in her otherwise outburst grunt as she put her body weight forward, summoning her knee up as she took hold of the biots shoulders and planting it deep into it's lower abdomen-

Yea...

No.
As would have it, it didn't work out that way.
Damn freakin robots! Especially the evil ones. They always seem to be superhumanly fast, goddamn it!
Sigh... Ok, back to the scene.
A moment of reflection suddenly hit Karlie as Magnus not only blocked her knee but held it a second to see Karlie's eyes on cue revealed the dire hard look of 'Ooops'.
At that moment, something snapped in her brain "So that's what her sensei were trying to drill into me then...that there's more to it than engage a superhuman opponent, like this evil sister."

There had been no time to even yell out for pain, as she found herself being spun topsy-turvy bey her leg and ejected out of the sparring circle altogether. Poor Karlie along with her flying Force Staff (she lost her grip during take-off) slid nearly all the way to the adjacent wall.

"AHHHRRrrghh!..." She cried out in pain, realizing her knee had popped out of it's joint, when she tried to get her sorry ass up again. She drooped back on the floor fisting her hand in pain. But she were more mad than in pain really. The Force staff was somehow within reach and she grabbed it, pulling it over to her for what obviously was going to be a crutch of some sort. Well, the girl proved she didn't lay on the floor like a defeated slug before and it wasn't looking like she would now.
But no.
Despite their previous spar, whereas the blond never used the Force Staff in a manner other than a staff,
this round, she let it rip.

The staff let out a high force lightening discharge. Unbeknownst to Karlie who had never used it in that manner and had just done so out anger, frustration and pain had released the entire capacitance charge of the staff. Lucky it had been charged up with enough force-like lightening to not be at a lethal level but would have enough reserve to give just as good a jolt. Well guess what...it fully discharged the entire banks.
The staff got so overloaded that it got hot enough for the blonde to have to drop it.

"Gasp!" Karlie couldn't believe it, even seeing it with her own eyes.

"Come on...come on Karlie...DO IT... Don't be a wimp.." Her subconscious were fueling her.

"Arrrghhh.....PoP.... .
Crap.!. Oh mother frakin double shieting freaker fraker!..." Karlie had quickly gotten herself up enough to sit and with no time to debate over it, popped her knee back into place as she stretched her leg out. It HURT like a mother fraken firecracker going off.....no, no, it was more like an M-80 going off in her knee.
But she then managed to get up on her feet and make a dash to the biot, coming down on her chest with her elbow. It was what looked like a classical wrestler drop elbow...only it happened to look like that only because the blonde slipped just as she were about to pounce on Magnus.
Still, as it turned out, Karlie were able to straddle the biot as it were recovering from that discharge and commenced bruising up her (own) knuckles as she pounded Magnu's face with her right, then her left, her right again and-

-and didn't see Magnu's own right come up and around to smack it across her lip. Kapow!
Yea, blood was spilled...or rather spurted out of the blonde' s mouth. But it were no way as hard as it would have been if Magnus had meant it for a real opponent. It were sufficient enough for the blonde's neck to twist her head nearly around...metaphorically speaking of course. But Karlie were straddling the biot pretty good (the leg workouts were paying off) and wasn't knocked off till Magnus' second swing popped her in the eye.



I hour 45 minutes later; back in lab class with Nine...

"It's amazing how so many times I can get things wrong before somebody clocks me hard enough for my eyes to open..." Karlie were still talking. Not so much to Nine but to herself.

"Heh... all this time..." Karlie reached over to one of the clean lab wipes, pulling one out of the box and gently applied it to her swollen lip, wiping the bit of piddle that she had no control of dripping as she spoke.

"...I thought... I really thought she hated me...heh-eh..." dry attempt at a laugh. It was a bit difficult one might see, as the blonde looked like she got clocked pretty good.

"I don't know how I'm going to find the time, but... " She turned up to look at Nine, towering over her.

"...we are set on catching a holo-film together this weekend.
Damn, she's one tough cookie to swallow... but so sweet really...like West.
I guess... I guess you raised all your children right, Lady Li'Ves."

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine hid her amusement only a little as Karlie Lynn Destat came into the lab sporting a few new bruises courtesy of Magnus.

The droid had really let her have it within Karlie's limits. Nine of course, fussed over her a bit, providing her a healing stim and let her go slower but the problems of cellular division, genetic manipulation, and Vong organic science remained as demanding as ever. These were dark sciences Karlie was learning. The knowledge she had wielded before made her dangerous, but this would make her lethal at any distance.

She smiled a little as Karlie explained how she last understood the point of Magnus training her like this, when she thought she hated her.

"Magnus can be a bit abrasive. Rough. But I am proud of her smartass nature. She gets that from me..." Nine admitted, watching as Karlie solved another complex genetic conundrum. She was getting quicker recovering her faculties after a defeat, pushing past whatever pain she was in to solve problems. "It is good you two are bonding."

When Karlie commented on Nine having raised her daughters well, Nine scratched the back of her head awkwardly as she watched Karlie work.

"I...I 'wish' that were the case, Karlie..." Nine trailed, head hanging down a bit.

"But the truth is...I did not raise them. Not in the traditional sense. I programmed them. When I awoke in this era I was without allies. My Knights, ny Clans of Psy-Pires...all were still in stasis. In the era I came from, we never could have dreamed of even a quarter of the advances of this era. I needed powerful weapons and deadly, supremely capable warriors with unflinching loyalty. All their skills were ones I needed them to have. While I love them to pieces, and would die for them, one of the greatest regrets of my life is not being able to personally instruct them in the warrior's way, the way you are being instructed. But I needed allies, and I was completely out of my element. Rom will be the one to succeed me, should I fall but they all play vital roles. Magnus does like you though. I'm glad. A friendship is a thing to cherish. Especially in our situation against that beast The Amalgam.

After the revelation on Kar Shian that The Amalgam had been Maple and Laertia's mentor Ursula Sandraven all along, and that they were secret Sith apprentices, Nine had posted watch on both of them. Maple had gone into hiding, broken by the reveal. Laertia's mental state was according to West was also highly troubled...she no longer spoke of Ursula, and had taken down all her photos of them together (but curiously, had not destroyed them).

Poor creatures. She knew their pain, and so did Karlie. All of them fighting evil mothers, like some horrific cycle with an internal logic that made sense only within the vicious closed circle.

"By the way, Karlie, here is something for you to chew your brain on..."

Nine provided Karlie with schematics for proprietary tech. An implant designed to enhance psychic ability.

"Great warriors, truly effective ones, are always combat pragmatists. You might not want an implant going directly into your brain, but it might provide you with some small wisdom to derive from its design. It might even help you last a little longer against me in training...about 007 seconds longer anyway..." Nine joked as she rummaged around for old experiment files in the black and gold research lab surrounded by Oni statues while Karlie worked. Then she found something. A number of copies of data tapes in her private library (From which Karlie was getting all of her research at the moment from. Beginner's guides on everything Nine had learned about Vong Science and Stolen Sith Research. Her OWN research (of which even a small bit comprised an encyclopedia sized volume on Psychic Energy, its potential effects on living Tissue, and how to blend tissue and mechanics at the cellular level) took up the largest chunk of Karlie's current curriculum. Try saying the previous three words ten times fast for bonus XP!)

Nine stared at the files of Meier's schematics, as well as the taped process of her design and creation. She took a few key records to play.

"Karlie! I found a copy of Meier's schematics! You'll also enjoy this next bit while you work. I recorded the entire process of her design and manufacturing, as I did with all my daughters. Watch it while you work on that genetic sequence..."

Nine put the files in the full color, high definition holoprojector next to her and began to project the image on a large bare space in the vast lab full of prototype sensors, chemical sequencers, molecular furnaces and supercomputers stolen from the Sith and First Order.

Meier had started out life as human purportion skeleton of ebon titanium with red ocular sensors (which suspiciously made it look like a rule 63 version of the REV-9). Meier's brain, a set of processors in a droid brain of dark, metallic crystal lay resting on a repulsor stand, uninstalled.

Nine herself was in a red kimono uploading combat programs to the brain via a wire connected to it from her supercomputer.

"Preston Pistoleer Academy Programming will be its primary method of fighting, what laymen refer to as 'Gun Kata'. I admit, I probably should have learned to fire one of the damned things, but I'd never be any good with it. Too old school for my own good. Too much of a Li-Ves to be comfortable killing anybody with something other then a nasty but cool looking melee weapon or a bow. Probably gonna catch up to me at some point..." the Nine in the recording muttered as she began to note the run time differences between this model and her previous two in terms of intended persona.

"This one will be more cheerful than Vera or even Magnus...not sure if that's a good thing but I've gotten much closer to a human persona with this coding I'm installing than I did with Vera or even Magnus--"

"The lessons I learned from studying Meier enabled me to craft Westenra's personality. Just as the lessons I learned from Vera's mind enabled me to create Magnus's personality." Nine added to Karlie as she watched her recorded self mount the brain into the skull...

 

[Ian Sade]

Holy smokes, that was a new look for her.
And there was much smoke still.

Ian couldn't help but do a double take as West dropped the moaning goon down on his lap, metaphorically speaking.
"Modest I see..." Yes, still time for some humor. Did help take the edge off, it did.

"Yea...works well on you...." He said between breaths. West was splattered with blood and out of her evening wear. It lay there still on the floor where she last slipped out of it...if one were to call it that.
"Can't say I'm still not in game...
But THESE morons had to block me, didn't they?!"
She re-emerged in what appeared to be a skintight leotard. Only Ian knew it weren't, as it was more than that..it were a part of West's matrix...her skin. It still didn't leave much for the imagination.

"You know...
Not glad one bit you boys dropped in..." Grabbing the unlucky guy's arm who had been spared a merciful death, Ian mounted his knee on the man's neck and pulled up on his arm past his shoulder. The gurgling sound of his scream, said it all...pain pushed beyond what he may have been trained to withstand.

"...ruined my frakin evening..."
Ian were not asking anything, just taunting the poor goon as to why he were suffering. It were a ploy as to not connecting what he really wanted with what was perceived as the reason.
He was prying hard the man's shoulder as if he were actually trying to tear it off his shoulder. Almost, but but not completely out of it's socket... working on the connected ligaments to near tearing.

"... hard blocked me from * * * * ing this little number here." Of course that part were lish and was part of the set up.

"YOU SEE!!...You see?!"
The man's screaming effort in trying to relay he would spill the beans did nothing to ease Ian's fix on keeping the pain amplified, grinding the man's roto-cup this way and that, while keeping his bodyweight on him, restraining him like he were an animal suffering in the hands of a sadistic psychopath.

"Not interested...
Don't care who sent you..."
But in reality, Ian weren't in it for the pleasure of this goon suffering. It were his method. Induce pain, great pain and for a prolonged amount of time, beyond the mental discipline of the victim...then proceed with increasing said pain in amplification methods.

This of course took some time. More time than he could afford. But then again, perhaps and likely, the goon knew that also.
So Ian worked it out so as to amplify the man's horror for that individual to know and understand only one thing existed ;pain. pain in that magnitude transcended time and space. They just no longer existed, but the reality of excruciating pain...and barely able to breathe by the choke hold. it were overload.

"Whew!...
Halleluiah, I'm quite enjoying this....you?" He then spoke into the man's ear canal the minute he let up and let the man experience a brief moment of ---yep, no pain.

But that was just to let the man experience a breath of air (still laden with smoke and dust, by the way), free of pain. One breath, mind you before resuming the inevitable...
gah-ma-ga-plazzz...ga-me... Arrrg-Hhhh...aaAAhhhhHH... of course with everyone else in the club screaming in pain or panic made it all the better when Ian resumed to soften an otherwise broken down goon. But he had to let the goon know that he could do this all day (which of course he couldn't) and that there was that reality that pain could end...and only end with a correct answer. Only that the question had yet to be presented.

One must note that all this were taking place within that one minute window that they could ill afford (for at least him) to waste while the other goons from outside the club were closing in.

Ian once again let up on the man.
"Come again?...I didn't get the name..."

 

[Vera Mina]

'Alice' at last reached the cell blocks where they were keeping that deep cover operative she had been asked to get. It was deep underground, a basic stone dungeon. The detention cells were blocked off by basic Force Fields. Nothing she hadn't seen before. Nothing she couldn't get past.

She had been given a thorough description of the Informant. She ignored the ones she didn't want and instead looked for the one she did, using her high quality stealth field to sneak past a guard and lift the keycard off his belt, stopping when she found him. He looked badly beaten, hanging from a wall in chains. Alice went to free him immediately, but stopped when she noticed his tracking collar. Her X-Ray and Olfactory sensors detected a toxic chemical in an injector vial attached to the collar. He'd be dead before he hit the floor if it went off.

Alice snarled in frustration at how prepared they were. This clearly wasn't going to be easy. She left him for now, deciding to look for the security control center.

The Guards didn't notice the door to the nerve center of the dungeon open of its own accord. She couldn't kill them yet. Not until she found the means to deactivate the collar. What if they had fail safes also? She waited as she watched two guards chat about a sports game before one left for the restroom.

Her knife was at the back of the one monitoring the cameras.

"Security Systems..." she breathed menacingly...

The Guard, not wanting to die with blood in his lungs quickly disabled them, including the turrets.

Alice rewarded him by slamming his head into the console, knocking him out then jnifing the console. She then began to move quickly. She had minutes before they all realized something was wrong.

Racing back to his cell she immediately opened it and tore off the collar, before getting him in a fireman's carry, activating the stealth field around them as she began moving slowly past teams of shouting guards with flashlights. She wanted to kill them. To feast. But she wanted to please Karlie Lynn Destat with an act of true devotion by putting the goals of Castagne's government first before her bloodlust.

Though it was antithetical to her nature, she quietly left the compound without killing anyone else...she had to get the man to extraction...

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Time...
Time became irrelevant in Karlie's world.

One must remember that the idea of day and night only really existed on worlds...on the surface of planets. Karlie were not on any world or system, but on a vessel, the Castle Morpheus. There was no day, there were no nights in open space. There only existed training, recovery, and more training.

You see, Karlie were subjected to non-stop physical training that pushed her endurance, her will to the breaking point with each consecutive session and then pushed further the next.
Part of her recovery time, her healing time consisted not only of timed rest, but of extensive studies in the sciences of her master scholar/sensi Nine Lives

There was little room for personal time. And such time given had to be earned by our blonde. A movie night, per say, was one such reward. And it were not easily earned, nor given. But earned and appreciated nevertheless by Karlie despite on average it only consisted of 2 hours, then bed time. There was no negotiations or

Karlie's diet...
It were enriched and balanced in proteins for muscle recovery/healing, carbs for fuel, vitamins and minerals to supplement, enhance and fine tune her clockwork. And it is without say that it were all kept at optimum levels and efficiency through her wrist crono. The very same one upgraded from her own life line crono following her midi purge.

"Thanks... I try." Karlie replied to her father in one of her holo-transmissions.
Her father Tarssin could well gauge his daughter's physical progress through the transmission.

"...yes...it were difficult at first. It's been progressively more than what I went through in boot camp. ..Hehe...much, much more." She were explaining.
This call had not been earned but one which her sensei had surprised her with. Karlie hadn't thought of calling her father. Not with her being detached to time itself like she were during her arduous training under Lady Li'Ves. But it were soon time for her to go. She had a spar session in 5.
Tarssin by the way had been kept abreast as to his daughter's progress by Nine all along. He were aware of her progress. Just that these precious few minutes allotted his daughter were not spent on drilling her. That had been agreed to be Nine's job.

"You too, dad. Take care..." And with that, her father's holographic image dissipated. A second later, her crono vibrated. it was time for her sparring session.
Karlie took a deep breath, turned, and exited her room.

The training grounds...
These past dozen sessions the training were moved into what was in essence a holographic environment. A virtual suite which simulated many different environments and situations.
Each session, including the scenario, and environment was different from the previous ones... exponentially harder, more challenging.
Karlie immediately took in today's scenario as soon as she came through the opaque sliders.

She found herself in what appeared to some abandoned municipal building...scaffolding, debris... shadows. moving shadows. She picked up on them immediately. And she were atuned to their breathing, perspiration, their B.O.
Men. Ok, so they were Morpheus knights dressed as thugs. This didn't for one moment distract from the fact that they were authorized to kick the living shiet out of her ass. Not kill, nor mane her mind you, but give her some real cuts and bruises to nurse like they had readily done not a few dozen sessions before.

There were no 'you ready' nor any exchange of dialogue... just synchronous weapons clashing together upon the thugs engagements as they surrounded her, seeking her weakness, her vulnerability.
These thugs were a new set of Morpheus Knights. Karlie never fought the same one or group. At least not the one's she managed to defeat.
Sure, at first Karlie might as well have known her (mock) thugs on a first name basis, she were getting beaten on a routine basis by them. But as one might expect, our girl slowly but surely worked her way in receiving a less and lesser beating with each passing session, till she were able to defeat those individuals. Then next following session, she were awarded (being sarcastic here of course) with a new batch of knights that she would need to defeat in order to avoid crawling away again to go to lick her bruises and cuts.

And this is how we came to this pivotal moment now. This session followed the success of her last session where she utterly defeated the last group with barely a new bruise on her person.

The previous and current knights were never easy on her, and this new batch didn't even so much as take a moment to look her over; they attacked so fast and furious.
But Karlie had by this time come to expect no mercy, no quarter.

And she gave none in return.

Yes, our blonde had somehow picked up on the fact that she were ambidextrous.

The little Hell Cat didn't even know it, till her sensei had tied her favored hand to her back some time ago and Karlie had to learn to use her other. Which by the way she amazingly and quickly were able to coordinate as well as the one she had been favoring. It were learn or get the living shiet beat out of her. Karlie chose to figure out the former...and fast!

Now?
Now she could not only handle herself, but also not one, not two...nor even four well trained knights, but today it could well prove she could handle six.
Yea, her sensi tossed in an extra as a reward instead of the five which most likely the blonde had figured Nine would present her with.

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera, had kept her distance in the weeks since that fateful mission as Karlie Lynn Destat had been taken as her mother's apprentice, the first genuine one she had taken in centuries.

The remains of that Witch's estate on Thracior had been cordoned off, guarded by members of Clan Li-Ves. Vera had busied herself in the days since that mission by settling the odd Divorce dispute or lawsuit. But she was on The Morpheus for the most part (Though Karlie never saw her due to being under such heavy instruction and Vera's own personal duties).

But make no mistake, Vera had been keeping track of her beloved Karlie's progress. The Android had pined for her in the privacy of her all white quarters, staring at her training sessions, which were becoming more and more demanding and complicated by Nine. Nine, in addition to rotating who kicked Karlie's ass and how, Nine started adding in more and more demanding physical obstacles in her training courses, as well as having her start to study poetry.

Vera had been then called to watch the latest training session from the comfort of Nine's personal chambers. Vera was in her red headed chiss form, clad in a gray chromium catsuit.

Vera immediately noted how different Mother seemed to be. Training Karlie had brought out something lively in Mother she hadn't seen since that long spell when Mother had been in a Fugue State (Caused by Vera).

"Daughter! Welcome!" Nine proclaimed, clad in a Pink Kimono. She gestured to a bed that had a captured pirate on it, bound and gagged.

"I brought you breakfast. Don't mind me, I've already eaten..." Nine said, watching Karlie's crimefighter-worthy performance.

"You have her fighting multiple opponents...She's even holding her own somewhat against Magnus...but at best you've bought maybe a few minutes for her in an operational setting without enhancements..." Vera remarked, going over to the captive, felt the thirst build, thought of Karlie's innocent face, and fought the thirst. Really fought it.

"If she can't do it without enhancement than enhancement will not truly help..." Nine asserted. Mandalorians without enhancements go up against Force Adepts all the time. They win a great deal of such fights..."

"They have Beskar most of the time. My beloved Karlie will not." Vera said, summoning the strength to retract her fangs and reject her meal.

"Not hungry?" Nine asked watching Karlie fight in the two weapon style Nine favored.

"Ate before I got here..." Vera lied, looking on her Mother again.

"Still...she 'is' farther along than any of us expected..."

"Which leads me to the next part of her training...you..." Nine said with a classical Troll Face expression.

"I hate it when you get a Troll Face..." Vera remarked, blinking glowing red eyes at Nine.

"She needs to be able to control her emotions in a fight. Simple rote mastery will not be enough. She needs to be able to fight while dealing even with great sources of emotional turmoil. I want you to fight her."

"You're putting a rabbit against a wheat thresher." Vera spoke in protest.

"It appears the emotional turmoil is mutual..." Nine remarked. "C'mon, admit it...you know you want to. Besides, it will be the perfect opportunity to spend time together."

Vera was salivating at the thought already. Nine knew she didn't to say more.

After a few moments of Vera staring at Karlie fighting, Nine hit the intercom once Karlie had beaten her Knights, who had tried genuinely hard to fight Karlie.

"Well done, Karlie. But this is where it gets interesting. I've got another surprise. A 007th opponent. You will be fighting with your Katana. Suppressive fields will be active to prevent anything more than welts forming but otherwise it will be full contact."

Vera had already left Nine's chambers.

Five minutes later...

Vera entered the training room with her white, pearlescent, tsuba-less Katana. Her heart pounded at the thought of staring into Karlie's face. To be fought by her, blade to blade.

As she laid eyes on her at last, Rom-Jin struggled to keep the desire, the lust from entering her face. She did not fully succeed, but suppressed it for the most part.

"Hello Karlie...Let's see what Mother has taught you..." Rom trailed breathily at Karlie...

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

If one thing could be said of our blonde; it was that once she got her mind set on something, there was little one could do to suade her off course.
Naturally, this tribute was hereditary. This offspring of Darth Rigor were the closest ever to actually being Karla Deepgaze reincarnated... only as she were once; jedi heart.

As much as Karlie were pushed, she never really got pushed to anger. Sure, she took some beatings...many, many beatings and failures. But that's what Karla had also once been up against, in her unstained state, many many millenniums past.. As Karla had once herself learned from her mistakes and failures coming up as a jedi, her daughter Karlie were experiencing the same curve.

It were by mere chance and observation that Karlie's sensei @nine Li'Ves picked on on the blonde's ability to train fighting with both hands equally and in a concerto style that one complimented the other. In essence there seemed to be little that a sole individual could do to keep on his feet once the blond got going. And going she did, like an well orchestrated fight sequence in a superhero flick.

Of course, it were in a holo-deck, but her opponents were real. Real Morpheus knights. The blonde did real well against the knights. Too well, for the girl were actually enjoying her last few bouts as she had broken through her misgivings. Karlie's sensei Nine had unlearned her previous conception of hand to hand combat. The girl were a powerhouse against mortal men. And her use of melee weapons and batons became second nature to her...like they were an extension of her hand, her body and mind.
Karlie's confidence was at an all time high. She were Invincible.
...er, that is against mortal men.

Magnus and Nine occasionally had to step in to fine tune this little blonde instrument of death. Set her feet occasionally down to reality. Nine didn't take on Karlie so that she could fight her way through thugs and enemy troops. Hell, the blonde wasn't too bad using a blaster or two. Again, the girl could shoot with both hands simultaneously at opposite targets.
No.
Nine were honing this little Hell Cat to go up against her own mother, Darth Rigor.
And that required Magnus and Nine on occasion to step in and reset the blonde's skill level. Now more often than not. And there hadn't been a draw or a defeat on Karlie's end for quite a few sessions.
It was time to up the ante... time to break the blonde.
Break, as in nine had figure a while ago that Karlie could not intentionally strike at those she were attached too. Not strike in the manner of death blows. It still wasn't in the blonde. The many times magnus and Nine took the girl to that level, Karlie always failed...miserably. It just wasn't in the blonde to take life.
This was Karlie's only real weakness. This just had to be broken. The girl could not be expected to go up against her mother Rigor without the full intent of ending Rigor. If she so much as went without that full commitment, then Karlie might as well slit her own throat in the presence of Rigor, for she would have no chance in hell in taking down her mother otherwise.

"Whew...pant...pant... " Karlie were given the call to end the session.

"Say.... pant...pant.... you boys alright?" She asked all cocky and stuff, although panting like she just ran a marathon.
Yes, she looked overheated, but in the midst of the fight, she hadn't faltered. Somehow or other, Karlie were able to tap into that reserve her sensei had taught her to, like it were second nature. ..or second wind, depending on who one spoke to about it. And it was showing, as once the fighting stopped, it caught up to Karlie. the girl still had a ways to go, but little by little she were progressively getting there.
Just that her cockiness was a tad to bit ahead of her real game.

"Come on, you're big boys... pant... pant... shake it off..." oh the cockiness was almost humorous as the blonde had no idea as to how much farther that climb was. Karlie had just ascended the first few flights of stairs. She may have gotten to the third floor-...er, third level of her training for sure.
But the real climb were still tenfold towering over her. Nine's vision of what Karlie were ultimately be capable of. It could have been one reason as to take this little diamond in the rough and polish her

"Still watching me, huh?" Karlie's smirk had overconfidence written all over her ruby red cheeks. It had been some intense session kicking ass like she did.
"Not bad heh?
Did you see I sent one of them crawling away with a broken rib.... pant...pant. Yea, I did that." She were so proud of herself, one would think she beat Magnus. Karlie had come close a few times... close mind you, but no shave.

"Say wa-?... who?...who do you have in mind?...pant....pant..." Karlie asked, over the two way pick up mic. "I mean, are there more knights who want to get their arses handed to them? Hahaha...aherm..." Laughing and still out of breath.

" Did...did you say a katana?" It suddenly sunk in. Karlie had mastered the batons, wax bow, jodo... among many non-lethal weapons.
Yes, steel. Steel as in metal blades...alloy...sharp lethal weapons.
Ok, so the blonde knew all this training were not for girl scout tournaments, but training in the use of the real deal.
"Yea...sure, no sweat." And that was coming from a drenched blonde full of it...

"I... pant... pant... I was wondering as to when.... pant.... you know.... pant... yea, it's about time we stop playing with wood." No it weren't. It clearly showed in her eyes and the huge lump she just swallowed, following that statement.
But badass Karlie couldn't well show the beaten Morpheus knights that she had reservations in the use of meeting steel with steel. Hell, these boys most likely would have sliced and diced a couple of strands of her locks were they using steel.

"Yea...bring it." She then said, likely knowing she were going to eat those words soon. But she were taught never to show weakness. But then again what choice did she have? No sensei...I'm too tired and looking to shower rather than continue these lessons?
No.
Welts, her sensei pointed out. Welts...she knew all about welts. Had gotten quite a few from Magnus and that were from hand to hand and non-lethal weapons contacts.

"Aherm... scuse me a second, sensei." She swallowed again, turning to the knights leaving the chambers. It were her ploy in not letting her master see her sweat." new sweat, that is.
"Oh come on boys... go shower up....ya'll feel better....."

Ahh...speaking of showers, weren't she due for one also? She always got one after a hearty session. Karlie turned back to Nine's hologram. Maybe she could weasel herself...... out.....of.....it.
As patient as Nine was, Karlie could see Nine's demeanor...her sensei were seeing through her.

~gulp~ ...she lowered her eyes.
"Two katanas....
....allow me at least two katanas to start with." She said, weighing out the two batons in hand she had been fighting with.

Then her eyes met that of her sensei's hologram. " I may be able to ward off Magnus...West maybe? (was just guessing as to whom nine were sending in to test some steel with her) ... a bit longer and more fitting if I can fight with two-..." She humbly requested before the doors to the holo deck chamber opened, cutting her short.

Karlie's jaw suddenly and unknowingly gave way to gravity.
It weren't what she expected at all and it reflected in her breathing.
The blonde's eyes didn't once deter from those of her new opponent's...but her peripheral definitely picked up the katana in hand. It were Rom's fighting katana...guardless..efficient...no frills dicing blade.

~sigh~
"Shiet." Karlie muttered to self. If fighting her sensei @Nine Li'Ves weren't bad enough. She had to fight V... Rom now?
For once she wished it were Magnus again...or Nine herself. But Rom?
So her sensei had sent Rom to see what she had....

"Mother?...mother taught me many things..."
Karlie chucked her batons to the side. She would be using steel.
"...mother taught me to respect those superior to my fighting skills..."
Slowly she turned from Rom a moment to her sensei's hologram, nodding.

"...mother taught me to fight with every ounce of my strength... my will...my determination." Karlie spoke as she moved around her opponent in an arc...destination: the weapon's rack.
"...and mother's wisdom is without falter...."
She understood now what Nine were trying to break.
To fight Rom, would be no less than fighting her own mother, Darth Rigor. Nine knew the conflict within Karlie...the love/hate she had for Karla. it were the love that needed breaking. Pitting Rom against her was that one step closer to doing it...or at least finding the means in measuring Karlie's resolve.

Karlie finally reached the weapon's rack, pulling off two battle katanas.
Only these had hand guards. Incidentally, all of the ones in the training arena had guards. Only Rom came in with her killer elite one.
Yea, it psyched the blonde out, as flashes of Rom slicing and dicing with it replayed in her mind. She witnessed first hand what Rom could do with that blade, and it showed in Karlie's slight sneer when her eyes broke from her opponent's orbs and finally fell on it.
Yep, the blueberry never messed around with it. It were her most efficient dicer.
"Just one blade?" Karlie sarcastically asked, poising in a semi attack/defense stance. Two katanas in hand.
Ok, it looked like she were poised to attack Rom, but in reality, our blonde were standing her ground waiting for the inevitable attack.

"...then by right of combat, I must propose you stand down while you have the chance and rescind your intention." Oh yes, she had learned proper sarcastic monologue too. Mostly from sparring with Magnus. Despite getting her ass handed to her on a frequent daily basis when up against that blueberry, they had become good friends by now...like she were with Rom's other sister, Westenra.
Meier on the other hand... well, there was still much to work out with that one still.

But at the moment all her attention were on Rom.
"You know.... drop that silly letter opener and I'll let you walk out of here in one piece."

Hey, a long shot was a shot nevertheless...

 

[Vera Mina]

Rom's heart pounded as she watched Karlie Lynn Destat ready herself, giving the expected trash talk. But before that she spoke with a previously unseen confidence that made the Biot's lust for her kick into Thanos-With-The-Power-Stone levels. Her eyes fixated on Karlie's lips moving, her semi-disciplined facade cracking as she gazed with open fascination, the old fantasy of Karlie dissecting her playing out across her processors.

Somehow, Rom had fallen for Karlie so harder in that moment she had created some forbidden form of Reverse-Yandere.

As she mocked Vera's 'Letter Opener', Rom giggled.

"You'd be surprised what I can do with a letter opener..." Rom joked...kinda.

(Cutaway of Rom feasting on a Thracian Death Squad member after gutting him with a letter opener.)

"Rom, let's give Karlie a...Brain Teaser..." Karlie's Sensei chuckled over the Announcement System.

Rom smiled. "I have the perfect style to test her out."

She selected a sword style from her combat database and reversed her sword grip, beginning to slink towards Karlie with the inverted sword held out in front of her in a vertical fashion.

"I refuse to stand down..." Rom spoke silkenly, though the smile never left her face as she slowly approached her beloved.

"Oooo, Rom does not usually pick that one. I first encountered that sword style when I was nine years old and I was walking with my father on the road to Castle Li-Ves...my Father was considered a Sword Master...but this Shinobi that tried to kill us was well trained...that is called Great Ryujin Fang. It was the closest I had ever seen my Father personally come to dying..."

Karlie had the proper stance of a Yovshin Swordsman certainly, Rom thought. What Nine Lives had imparted had already clearly changed her. She was still her innocent blond scientist but now she had a new step to her. New muscles in new and interesting places for Rom. She lusted to test them.

Rom's breath audibly quickened.

"Suppression fields will be set to only ninety-five percent, Karlie. While you will not receive lethal injuries, expect painful scrapes. You have to have some grasp of the reality. Don't go easy on each other. Begin!" Nine said of the announcement system.

Rom moved in slight steps as a liquid ghost in metallic gray, not moving her sword from its inverted position in front of her...

"As she is my First Daughter, she was a mix of organic and technological. She's mostly organic. Strength is at the level of a human athlete in peak condition...and her speed and reflexes are twice that of such..." Nine explained idly over the system while fine tuning the schematics to a set of robes she was making...

"Let's see how long you last before Rom gets a blow..." Nine remarked as Rom swiped the inverted sword upward in a spin move at Karlie's wrist in a deceptively slow fashion.

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Stand your ground...stand your ground... she were telling herself.

Karlie were human...fully red blooded and and with primal instincts all built into that little package called homo sapient.
She had done well thus far...took her training like a pills (training and schooling) and swallowed it like a near perfect apprentice. A little complaining here and there, but that was to be expected from the likes of Rigor's daughter.

Karlie had faces Magnus, Nine and all the Morpheus knights sent to spar with her like a grain of salt. Sure, she were struck down, thrown down, kicked down...even punched down. But all with the intention of training her.
But why were she breaking sweat over her best friend/subconscious lover Vera?

Well, for starters, she never seen Magnus slice and dice anyone or anything. Same with West, Meier and her beloved sensei ...ever.
But she seen Rom in battle and despite the horror of seeing Rom get pelted with blaster-fire, cut into pieces and spew whatever that white blood had been all over the decks of the Heretic station the android could not be stopped. Not until it were trashed beyond recognition even.

Yea, those images, experiences was was was making her sweat. like seriously. She was supposed to try and beat this killing machine?...like even hope to come to a draw?

Human fear. human fear was bestowed on these meat puppets for one thing and one thing only. Preservation.

Steady...steady... Karlie shifted her stance, evidently more defensive than her previous attempt at keeping her badass persona going. In truth, she were psyched out by her previous experiences with Rom. Like HELL, the bot had effortlessly disassembled nearly an entire platoon of battle droids the first time Karlie had attempted to go up against Rom. If it weren't for Karlie's empathy toward her droids and begging Rom to stop, she would have had a transporter full of junk metal to pilot on down to Castagne's recycle facilities.
Karlie had a very good idea what her friend. were capable of. Oh Berkana, she is my friend, right?
...Er, Berkana?
Berkana, you there?

Yep...as much as she adored Rom and felt ever safe around her...Karlie's instinctive fear factor was heightened for she were now up against what she could not possibly beat.
Besides, Rom looked-
...hungry.

Karlie were picking up her friend's lips on the verge of salivating. Much like a hungry predator, who's gone without a kill for some time looking at a tenderloin of beef...veal even....
Oh shiet.... if Karlie's eyes didn't give it away what her closed lips wanted to say.
Of course the blonde were getting mixed signals, as it weren't a hunger to kill that Rom were projecting. But Karlie was in badass mode...or was, until she had to consciously keep herself from peeing in her leotards.

Shiet... shiet.. shiet- She were saying to herself, while trying to hold ground when Rom came forth.
Had Karlie paid attention to Rom's Great Ryujin Fang opening move.
As great a chess player this blonde were, she were in Cornered Deer Defense mode from the gecko.
Nevertheless, besides dripping sweat from her brow, she held her defensive stance.
Oh, she weren't looking forward to these minor cuts and bruises...Frak, she was just now recovering from those of Magnus.

"Huh?..." Rom's blade quickly flashed-

er, no.
Rom's blade was easy enough for her to easily track-

'Shiet!' Karlie realized that she had time to block it and did so. only she didn't parry back, but scrambled a few steps back. She blinked...unbelieving as to actually seeing Rom's blade and able to block it from bruising her wrist.

Oh my God... did I just block that? her heart were racing and the need to loose continence waning.
All along, not once deviating her attention to Rom's orbs. and blade hand. She had good peripheral, Karlie could do both. Actually she had inadvertently been trained to do both during her training. She just didn't know she were attuned to it.

Karlie were enough away from striking distance, as her defensive arc were keeping her to Rom's right, who incidentally were holding her katana in her right-

Godamn it.. yep, Rom switched blade hands.

Karlie were getting more mad now as she knew there was little she could do to ward off Rom.
Like, she knew she were going to get contacted any second-

"Arrrg...gah..he.." she spun her own two blades crisscrossing to parry another easily trackable counter attack by Rom-

WTF gives here? Karlie's brain picked it up this time.

"HEY!... " Karlie lowered her blades...but had first retreated a few steps back.
" Seriously?...
What?...you don't think I can beat you?" Shoot, what was she saying?
"So what...you toying with me now?"

Anger...
Anger at Rom for thinking she couldn't. Of course Rom was right. but that wasn't the point. Karlie now knew Rom was taking it easy on her.

For a split second, it looked like Karlie were about to throw her weapons on the floor, rescind from this exercise, she were so mad.
But anger were exactly what Nine had wanted to see from the blonde.

"Gah....damn it, Rom!..." She gripped both blades firmly again, raising them in readiness.... feet firmly planted apart, but not rooted to the floor.
She were a spring... that's right a spring. Not a reed that would bend in the wind, no. Hell, a simple nylon string could whack a weed in half.
No. She were a spring... a tempered spring, that in theory should be able to absorb Rom's kinetic energy exulted in her strike... so the blonde calculated.

"Whew..." she took a few good winds.

"Come on then..." She motioned with her blades.
"Bring it on for real this time Ro...
Blueberry!" Ok, her best attempt at verbally lashing out at her opponent, who so happened to be her bestest friend...who had just touched upon her nerve.
Karlie were angry that Rom were treating her like a weakling.
Ok, so she couldn't beat Rom, but Rom didn't have to play her down like that.

Grrr....she were so pissed off at the moment. She wanted a real engagement.

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera watched as Karlie Lynn Destat deflected her first few attacks. She had merely been testing just how far Karlie had been trained.

"Just testing your reflexes Karlie..." Vera replied with a seductive smirk and a wink.

She was getting there...Nine had really brought her to a new level past the Marine training. Vera was actually impressed. But Karlie was still human. Not superhuman.

The Chiss looking Android decided to respect Karlie's wishes and fought at full speed, her reverse gripped Katana slashing at Karlie's arms and legs, trying to utterly crush her defense in one fell swoop, aiming for light scratches that would cause enough pain to make her drop her weapons.

Vera never stayed in one place long enough to be properly attacked. She was always prepared to dodge, leap out of the way, her white blade aiming at Karlie's limbs the whole while. Never thd chest or face. Wouldn't want the cute blonde to think it was personal. Plus, Vera was forcing herself to exercise a degree of control she was not used to: to crush an opponent's defense without maiming them in the process.

Her red eyes recorded every movement of Karlie's muscles, the way they twisted to meet her attacks, or try to, the way she took in air, how quickly she released it, how she held her sword. Nine had taken Karlie and brought her to a very high level. Not yet truly as high as the Morpheus Knights, but starting to approach it...

She still had a ways to go. But once she was there, a specialized exosuit could take care of whatever the sheer training could not. Karlie could always take the risk of implants, though...exosuits were not always practical...

A look of open lust crossed onto the red headed Android's face as she fought Karlie, not even bothering to try concealing it, wanting to push Karlie...dominate her...

Then get dissected by the scientist afterward...

 

[Westenra Mina]

Westenra watched as Ian Sade went to town, shocked that any organic could be as brutal as her own sister. But brutal he was, and soon the man was an incoherent mess if pain.

Westenra wasn't disapproving...she troublingly found herself just as enraged as he was, and she was ashamed for that.

Her mother had made her personality one with extreme empathy, as a counterbalance to Vera's cruelty. If Vera was symbolic of the House's ancient code, Westenra was meant to embody the modern code of the House, one of compassion and charity and mercy...

So why was her rage drowning all of that out? Did she really want to be a normal human that bad?

As Ian interrogated, Westenra grew black claws between her knuckles from her super malleable flesh, and decided to engage the ones trying to kill Ian.

"You let me know when he spills his guts..." she muttered, heading out of the booth as more came in.

"One chance..." she growled.

The response was getting riddled with bullets to her chest. She staggered back as her chest exploded from the fifty calibur rounds fired, sending glowing red blood splattering everywhere.

Westenra lay on the floor, playing dead as the soldiers or mercs or whoever the hell they were began to walk over her to try and reach the booth.

Westenra leapt up, still mostly blasted apart swiss cheese and jammed her knuckle blades into the back of the last one to pass over her, viciously slashing into the others, frustrated that she was freak to normal people whose life she wanted, and even more frustrated that she was likely a freak in Ian's eyes.

As her arm was blasted off by a shotgun, Westenra almost did not notice as she decapitated the shooter, so lost in her momentary despair. Part of her craved to feel the agony, twisted as such a desire was. Craved to feel the Pain Ian could feel so she would not be quite such a freak to him. Craved to taste true food. Craved the day where she would not have to literally hunt for her food. Sometimes the person she fed on spotted her before she could take them quietly. Sometimes the fear made her want to flee from them in shame. She didn't want to hurt anyone, yet was often required to do so to survive.

Her fangs sank into the neck of another as her mutilated frame used the man as a human shield, before kicking him forward to the panicked shooters, her legs and remaining arms moving in a blur, slashing faces like she was mutant surrounded by Sentinels. Her legs swung around, snapping knees, arms, and necks, until every soldier that had been about to murder Ian was dead, and she was quickly regenerating. She was so badly maimed from the fight that she waited a bit before walking back to the booth, not wanting him to see her like that, feeling a deep sense of distress and shame as she stared at the arm growing back.

How could she ever be accepted by normal people who were not part of the family?

Westenra forced herself away from the domestic fantasies she had no name for as she went back inside to face Ian, the wounds gone at this point.

"I think I got all of them...what a chit night..." she muttered, sitting down.

"So, did he talk, do I know who to feth up for ruining dance night?" She asked, not able to play the seductive creature toying with Ian's heart due to her private distress. If only the whole Galaxy was not filled with monsters even worse than she was...

Westenra felt resentment towards her mother stirring again, and felt extreme shame and guilt over it as it spread. She refused to show her anguish, not wanting to distract Ian or make herself look weak..

 

[Ian Sade]

The man was as useless as a downed drone. Whomever had sent them had put enough buffer zones between them and his immediate command cell. Ian couldn't link the hit squad to anyone or any current aggressive enemy of the state. In many ways, it were as his own tactics went.
"Gah!" Ian were so angry, he snapped the man's neck right before him. He had wasted minutes...too many unfruitful minutes on what bared no fruit whatsoever.

"Crap.....you look like shiet..." he said as West came back in to see if her efforts in keeping the rest of the goons had bought Ian enough time and information.
Only Ian had sounded off just the 'Crap' ....and not the 'shiet' comment. Although it were undeniably not the worse he had seen her to date.
Still, lethal weapon or not, the biot looked like it had taken all of the brunt these boys had brought with them.

"No, damn it..." he answered, coming up short with his interrogation.
"he had zilch..." Ian continued as he was disarming the cadaver.

"Have to say though.... they are definitely after something and with extreme prejudice behind it too. With the amount of firepower they brought-..." Something wasn't adding up. Ian knew he were good...but not THAT good. What was here was an entire platoon.
He quickly took to exchanging the clip in the newly acquired weapon, pocketing a few extra clips.

" Got to admit... you do clean up pretty quick..." it were amazing Nine's tech. West were regenerating much faster than she had on Azteri....much much faster.
he recalled Karlie's initial report, when she evaluated the first few samples of Nine's lot. Advanced adaptive matrix.... it were what she had reported. Nine's tech were many generations ahead of Castagne's own. Even his best scientists had been stumped as to these biot's regenerating as they did. One could almost describe the multitude of the biot's bio-engineered matrix compositions to be somewhat mimicking living stem cells.
Way, way beyond the understanding of Castagne's top bio-engineers. Except for the blonde...
Then again, Karlie had been the only one to not see them as just tools, weapons...but individuals.
Hell, she were the only one to have a tiff with one/two of them like she would with any living female human kind. Karlie never saw them as machines.

Wait a minute...
Blood...that were West's blood. Red blood, not milky white as he remembered on Azteri...
Were he staring at West differently the moment of this revelation?
Yes, maybe for a bit too long.... as an enemy round suddenly hit the front stock of his weapon, sending it flying out of his hand. Ian's senses immediately returned as did the melee storm of rounds peppering what still remained around them.
These goons weren't turning tale anytime soon. What was apparently going down, which went against a typical high profile hit to begin with, was a second wave...or in short; a back up hit squad!

"Shiet!... how large a bounty they trying to collect?!" He said after rolling for cover and grabbing another weapon spewed on the floor.

"You....you holding up or what?" Ian asked, propping his back behind a solid pillar. One which seemed to be getting gnawed down under all the firepower they were receiving.
He were catching the insanely amount of blood West spewed out each time a round found their mark on her. The odds were against them equally, his reasoning deduced. Ian had at first chalked in West receiving hits due to her inability to use cover. But it were soon apparent that whomever they were, were were targeting her more than he. Hell, nothing for him to be complain about...no. But what he first thought were coincidental, now pointed to the fact that it were that they were more after... and from the very beginning!

"WEST!..." he shouted over the melee rain storm of blaster fire and smoke.
"Girl, time we leave this freakish party!..." Ian racked a grenade.
Floop.... he launched the grenade.

KABOOM!!..it hit the peppered wall behind them.

Floop... he launched another. And again it hit the same wall, KABOOM!!... opening up a rear escape route for them both.

"Together in two, babe!...
One piece preferably!...." He shouted as he made for the opening among the cover of dust and debri..
"Don't want your mother coming down on me if you're in TWO!
GO!" And with that, he dove out of the hole from the back of the disco tech.

The sound of hovering troop transport carriers and those making landfall outside hit him with despair. After all that he went through on the inside, he were going to get cut down like a womp rat out in the open?

Well, these new boots were either the worst trained troops or purposely firing over and behind him. Ian lay low, flattened out on the pavement with his head buried under his arms.
"Colonel...stay down!" he heard them shout.
One/two breaths and he then sighed, swallowing hard, realizing it were Castagne tactical response teams that had finally come to the scene.
This time, the odds suddenly changed back in his---er, their favor.

West!
Where the frak was Westenra?!
Had she made it out behind him?

Ian finally took to raise his head as Castan troops darted past him and into the downed wall he had escaped from.
It were difficult to see...difficult to make out if West had gotten herself out too.

"Colonel...stay put...we're getting the area cleared. one of the armored troop, a Lieutenant whom had stopped to help him up to his feet were urging him.

"A woman...a woman was with me... inside..." he said, before being stopped for his own good.
The tactical troops were heard blasting away, clearing the inside of the remaining hit teams.

Ian remained there being held back, looking at one big dust laden scene ...the wall by which he had come out from was barely visible from where he stood.
Ian were standing there looking like he had just crawled out of Hell.

"West..." he were heard with despair.

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Testing?...she were testing her reflexes?
"Arrrg..." Karlie gritted her teeth, at Rom teasing her like that.
Now that blueberry were making her mad....real mad. Karlie tightened her grip on her blade, eyes narrowing like that of a viper, ready to strike.

Rom had no idea as to the extent and level of training this little badass was up to now...no freakin clue...
"Yea..." Karlie circled, keeping enough distance to weigh out the blueberry a bit, like she had picked up from Nine a few sessions prior
" ...keep playing with me like that, Rom...."
"And wipe that silly grin off your face ... as you'll soon find out where that silly grin of yours is going to wind up." Karlie switched blade hands.

"Upside down, is where!" and so the blonde quickly engaged the killer elite biot.
.
.
...ahhk!..
.
.
.
...ugh!...
.
.
.
....ouw!..
.
.
.
...umph!..
...gasp...
.
.
...pant..
...pant...

~sigh~

Red faced and dripping like a wet cat after being drawn up from a well, she were immobilized catching her breath...and for her own good too.
Although pinned down on her back...Karlie still sneered, struggling against Rom's body weight on her. She weren't letting up despite being crucified on the floor. Rom could feel the blonde's strength giving out under her, till Karlie reached the point of exhaustion.
"pant...pant...pant.." The blonde could do nothing but stare into those dark orbs bearing down on her. The blue skinned biot whom had taught her an important lesson; Never underestimate the other opponent's will to dominate you.

"Frak...
..pant..
...pant...
Stop that." Karlie finally managed to utter between heaving breaths.
Rom had her pinned down spread eagle and were looking down on her, as she caught her breath and was giving her the frown.

"Ok...pant..pant.... stop rubbing it in..." Rom's smile had indeed turned upside down... to a frown.
A teasing frown, which mimicked Karlie's current defeat frown. But it were a teasing frown bearing down from Rom.
The blonde had fought Ron as intensely as she could, pushing past the pain of Rom's contact points on her legs, arms, torso. Berkana they still hurt!
But as intensely as she had engaged the biot and Karlie had demanded no quarter, she were outmatched in both speed and strength. The latter proved it as she were immobilized for her own good, the blond weren't going to stop till she dropped. Only Rom dropped her before total collapse. She had been no match for Rom. But then, who was?
Nevertheless, Rom did present her with the frown Karlie had wanted to put on her before the fight. And it was just that on Karlie's part...a fight. She had wanted to show Rom that she didn't need her to protect her as she had done. That she were stronger, more capable of defeating anyone and anything.
Wrong.
Hard lesson learned and branded in the blonde's cranium.

"Get off me." Karlie sneered as she tried to wiggle out of the crucifixion.

~sigh~

A moment passed.
"Get off me....please." She repeated in a calmer voice.
"I'm still hurtin' so you know..."
Yes, yes she were.
The pain from Rom's blade were setting through her spent adrenaline. If it had been a true fight, Karlie would have pretty much been a quadriplegic.
But Rom contacted her with enough force for Karlie to register pain, not loose a body part or function. Karlie had been so hyped up that pain hadn't slowed her down...not till she were near spent. And that's when Rom had decided to put the girl down on her ass and hold her till she accepted defeat. otherwise, Karlie would have either collapsed in exhaustion or sustained a few more injuries than Ron was willing to dish out on her little blonde hellcat with such undying spirit.
Karlie seemed to have acquired the Li'Ves fighting spirit it seemed. And why not?
Nine Lives was after all her sensei... her master.


Needles to say, by the time our blonde got her ass lifted off the floor, she were feeling it.
"Goddamn it, Rom... you didn't once let up on me..." Karlie of course weren't mad, just stating the fact. After all, she had demanded for the biot to not go easy on her. Which incidentally Rom did as far as not trying to kill her favorite play doll.

Of course what followed was her sensei calling it a day and to have Rom tend to Karlie's injuries.
As much as Karlie could have walked out of the training chambers on her own...staggering of course, she didn't mind one bit in leaning on Rom to escort her to her chambers.

Some time later...
Karlie hadn't gotten used to cold showers, but she had learned quite a few sessions earlier that it was what her body required to keep swelling and bruises to a minimum. Then followed up with bacta and Nine's own special ointments and oils that for some reason smelled like she were ready to be sacrificed as a virgin to some god, in some forsaken volcano...

"What, like everyone seen it?" Karlie sat up on her couch.
Magnus had commented on her performance against Rom. Now Karlie knew Magnus had left upon Rom entering the training room, only she didn't know that she had been recorded or telecast to everyone.

Well, it were not to everyone... for the most part, it were 'eyes only' to just the immediate sisters in the castle, her biot friend explained.
Still, Magnus was impressed Karlie had gone a few rounds against her sister Rom. Rom was, according to Magnus, the deadliest and most efficient among them. She herself wouldn't have gotten anymore headway against her. Then again, Magnus left out one important factor: intensity. Such a match would be 10X times more intense. Hell, they'd have to redecorate/rebuild the training chambers for the heighteenth's time.
But that would be comparing sweet cherries with grapefruits....tart grapefruits at that.

"Uhm... let's back up a minute.
What do you mean.. for the most part?" Karlie inquired.

"My father?!...Why-
....Arrg...
Why in Berkana's name was my fight with Rom sent on over to my father?!" She got up off the couch altogether.
" Of all the things-
I didn't want him to see me fight Rom...
I mean...My training is supposed to be...you know...private." She explained.

Well...Karlie's face took one hell of a dive. One could almost compare it and swear it was a harder face drop than anything caught on tape.
The entire training sessions, from the beginning had been transmitted to Tarssin.

"But...but WHY?!" she demanded.

Her father had authorized such training, as he had been in discussion over it for some time now...perhaps ever since Nine rescued Karlie.

"What?!!"
Magnus explained her mother (Nine) and Karlie's father had been discussing Karlie joining Li'Ves, being a kind of liaison between the two houses. magnus was very excited talking about it, as it were common knowledge.
only this was the first Karlie were hearing of it.

The blonde plopped her sore ass back on the couch... dumbfounded.
how had she missed this? How she not know?
Yet...it all made sense now.
Still...

"Damn frakin' VERA!" Karlie cussed out loud.
It was her fault. All of it. If Vera wasn't so...so distracting...so...so...Arrrg!...Karlie would have picked that up a long...long time ago.
Damn it...Vera was so deeply imbedded in her heart and mind that she had become blind to a lot of things around her.

"No...
No, Vera didn't do anything to hurt me, no. " Karlie had to explain as to why she were so mad at Magnus' sister. Ok, so she were recovering from Rom's bruises-...er, Vera's really-
"Arrrg..." Karlie had to get her mind back working properly again.
And yes, for the reader's information: the blonde's mind does occasionally function above normal...

"Why am I always the last to figure this shiet out?"

 

[Westenra Mina]

He learned nothing. All that pain and suffering and he had learned nothing of value. West felt sorry for Ian Sade . But she knew he would never accept her pity. She remained silent as he snapped that guy's neck (GLORY KILL!!!!!!).

"Thanks..." Westenra remarked as she followed him out...then she heard them. Another team.

She reached the same conclusion Ian had. They were not here for him. They were here for her.

Just trying to have a normal night with a normal human being had nearly gotten them both killed.

All she had wanted was too feel normal...

...for once...

Ian blasted a wall behind them. She followed, pretending she would go with him, but they had chain guns. They would follow him because they were following her...

She couldn't put Ian in danger. While he fled she charged them, bullets ripping through her body, shredding her flesh and leaving bright red glowing blood everywhere as her claws on her hands and feet ripped and tore into the squad, moving at superhuman speeds and striking with savage fury and frustration and guilt at nearly getting Ian killed over her desire to experience humanity. Her claws slashed with such ferocity that even as she was blasted apart, she ripped through their armor, cutting down two, then eight, then six more...sprayed with flame, cryo sprayers, but her shredded body never ceased moving, hitting with maximum force that broke even her own bones, but also broke the bones of her enemies...

Sixty seconds later...

The Tactical Response Team came upon a scene of horror. Bodies, slashed apart, broken, punctured, like all the gory scenes in the really actiony samurai films. Or Rib Night at a reputable Barbeque Establishment. They had immediately cleared the area and secured the exits, blasting desperate, wounded stragglers as they tried to crawl away after pointing blasters at the incoming team, bleeding out severely already, their armor torn off.

They found it surrounded by piles of the dead, half its head blasted off, its limbs smashed, flesh shredded off everywhere almost completely, revealing a strange, obsidian skeleton covered in blood and tissue.

Weapons were on it instantly. Every dead member of the hit squad surrounded it.

"What the feth is it? What the feth is going on?" one of the Squad asked, aghast at the slaughterhouse the night club had turned into...

"Is it human?" The Squad Leader asked as one member immediately ran a scanner over it.

"What the...its registering human...but the skeleton says a different story..." he muttered. "We'd need to get in a forensics lab to know more...this scanner just keeps telling me its human no matter what setting I run it on..."

The Squad leader glanced down on the not-quite-dead-just-inactive Biot, in a shutdown state after completely overtaxing itself while suffering catastrophic damage. It would regenerate, but not now. Not after unconsciously mimicking Vera's sacrifice for Karlie Lynn Destat on Heretic Station, where she had been shredded and dismembered.

"Get the Colonel in here...maybe he'll have some idea of what to do..." The Squad Leader ordered.

 

[Vera Mina]

Rom, to be clear, enjoyed every single second of pinning and holding Karlie down despite her protests. Such struggle! Such fury in the cute blond! Vera's heart pounded in enjoyment as she finally released Karlie after she asked nicely, helping her to her quarters.

"Well done, Karlie!" Nine said over the System as Rom escorted her out. "You lasted one minute and thirty seconds longer against Rom than I expected!"

Rom rolled her eyes at this. Nine could be a troll sometimes...

But still...she got to treat Karlie's wounds...

An hour later.

She had worn steel gray lingerie, the stocking and garter kind, while treating Karlie, still in her Chiss form, applying the Bacta to the most noticable wounds, and special oils to the bruises that would reduce the swelling further. Rom had been slow about it, delicate so as to not cause Karlie further pain (while relaxing Karlie further by having a Lingerie Clad Rom do the treatment).

Rom found herself genuinely relaxed, even watching Karlie wince in pain as she treated a bruise in her Castagne-Referencing quarters. She was delicate with every injury, no matter how small. Making her beloved scientist feel better occupied nearly the entirety of her processors as she treated the wounds.

"This is the first time I have ever truly used this form I am currently in for anything other than inflicting injury..." Rom mentioned idly. "I'm not sure how much Mother has told you of my design, but this other appearance isn't just a disguise...some of my programming is tied to specific forms. That's why...the 'other' me (She was still hesitant even now to say her civilian name, not wanting to sour Karlie's mood in any way, not when they were patching things, or trying to.) couldn't protect you adequately on Castagne...I simply didn't have the skills for it on the setting I was on." Rom said calmly, painstakingly treating each wound.

"My last thoughts on Heretic Station were of you before I woke up in the Morgue..." Rom admitted... "You've entered a very dangerous world. One that tests even my abilities. All of this pain, this hardship...it is sharpening you, heightening your senses. You will become quite deadly when Mother is finished training you. All of what you experience here is simply to guide you to that point. It is my pleasure to help...oh Karlie, I...I know I'm rambling but--" Rom stopped, applying another Bacta patch to her ribcage...

"--but you make me feel things...I see things differently...I know I'm a monster but...I'm trying hard not to be. Its not easy. Love is something I wasn't designed for, but feel anyway. It confuses me. Confuses my programming..."

Rom rose, still not able to hide her emotions to Karlie.

"Rest now. Magnus will check on you..." The Biot told her going into the room to get changed into something more...suitable.

Rom, being Rom, chose a lacy gray dress that showed a great deal of leg but concealed her arms, wrapping her crimson hair up with black hair pins. She kept the stockings. No reason Karlie should not be reminded of a pleasant experience.

"DAMN FRAKIN' VERA!"

Rom sighed, slipping on her black stilettos.

"Okay, what did I do this time?" Rom asked Karlie Lynn Destat as she exited the changing area, spotting Magnus in a black cocktail dress and heels.

"Where you headed?" Rom asked, curious.

"I have a date. Finally."

"With who?'

"That nice man who ferries West around."

"Cern?" Vera asked with a raised eyebrow. Of course she wasn't surprised it was someone in house. It was hard for Nine's daughters to date regular people. It would put them in too much danger, and that wasn't fair, though it made Magnus, Meier, and West especially--depending on the copy, that is...very, very sad, sometimes...

Vera in that moment understood how lucky she was to have an ordinary human care about her in spite of knowing what she was. It left her unsettled...

(Empathy raised by 0.07 percent)

She looked at Magnus. "You told her about Tarssin, didn't you?"

"I had originally come in to examine how well you had tended to her injuries...I'm overseeing her training too, y'know...and it just sorta came up..." Magnus confessed.

"Oh..." Rom said. In the past, Rom/Vera would have been furious and openly sneering at her Sister. Instead, Rom merely sighed.

"Karlie...there was simply no way Tarssin would have authorized his daughter being trained when he couldn't observe it. If we hadn't helped Castagne, he likely wouldn't have agreed to it in the first place. He's just being a Father and a shrewd leader. And Mother respects the Viceroy of Castagne, and understood his concerns, as she is a parent herself...a parent must trust their progeny, but that doesn't mean the parent isn't concerned about who their progeny associates with. Nine had to agree to it to take you in. We want you as a member. As part of us. Not just because you are a bridge of unity...but because...you show us...and remind Mother...what its like to be human."

"That every time we take a life, it is often the life of someone who is an ordinary person." Magnus added. "We 'need' people like you in our lives. We may have the abilities of Monsters...but we don't want the souls of monsters. I myself didn't fully appreciate all the hardship of being a flesh and blood person until I started helping train you. To keep someone like you around, both Mother and her daughters will say yes to many things...its not personal Karlie. We aren't trying to trick you. No one is. Certainly not Rom...but you don't fully understand how much of a hole you fill..."

 

[Ian Sade]

The amount of blaster fire could be heard, but not seen through all the dust and smoke billowing out of the hole in the wall.

"Let go of me!" Ian tried to go back inside, but was being held back by the trooper.

"Sir...you don't understand... " the officer replied. he knew what the protocol was for them to respond to such an attack. It were clearly a terrorist hit and the company detachment of special marine forces had already been deployed. They were taking no names, just dropping bodies.

"NO!" Ian deflected the man's hand off his person, giving him a hard shove to boot.
"YOU don't understand!" He jutted his index up in an obvious point not to feith with him.
By the time Ian's shoulder knocked the marine aside the deadly sound of silence stilled the air. So ok, an occasional complimentary round to the head of the enemy wounded echoed through the dense cloud of debris as Ian stepped back through the hole. The officer then took to trail just behind him, signaling for more boots to cover the colonel.

Ian was not new to this...the aftermath of a massacre. hell, he had lead more than one himself. Bodies...both civilian and not lay strewn everywhere. Much of their blood had been soaked up by the debris, but there was plenty of it to soak through what seemed to resemble a few cherry pies being thrown about in a food fight. But this had not been a food fight, nor what laid about were the spattered cherry pies....

"Colonel... straight ahead. Team commander requests your presence...sir." The officer accompanying him back in reported.
Ian would have run....if he could see more than arms length in front of him. But he could not. Not because of the poor visibility, but he were looking at all what he passed...looking...searching...barely holding his own...his cool. He had a sense of knowing as to why a team commander requested him.
Ian walked in the direction the man said. Flashlight beams from the marine rifles pretty much was what guided him to where most of them were congregated.
He heard their words before he even made out their forms...felt the dread within his self as to what lay ahead.

Ian briefly stopped a moment when he came upon the group. one by one the marines in front of him parted for him to pass.
Ian had readied his self to retain composure before he got to the body. It would have been unrecognizable if he didn't know whom it had been, the biot was so heavily compromised.

"Colonel-" the one whom had been the team leader started to say before Ian raised his hand to silence him.
He knew what the marine was going to ask..'What is blazes is this thing?'

"Send for a containment casket.."

"It's already on it's way, sir.."

Ian nodded as he looked over the hybrid corpse. he had known...but had not really known...or given it much thought as to what was beneath West. His eyes then looked over the shredded corpses of the terrorists ..the visibility was improving by the moment. The biot had neutralized them all...to varying degree. Not all were dead yet.
" It fought to it's very end...." he muttered following the trail of events that he could unfold in his mind.
barely any remnants of the dress was recognizable. Amazing it were still in any form intact. obviously weaved armor. It held up well under small arms...before the higher caliber repeaters.
It had been a gown...looked so good on her, he recalled. Her smile... her eyes focused on him... listening to every word he-..Ian had to stop his self from going further.
West had met her demise. Damn, it were one piece of machinery. Just...why didn't she follow him out?
His eyes trailed even further beyond where she had fallen...the smoke and dust settling revealed another wave.
"Damn you..." West had allowed him to escape.

"Sir?"... the officer whom had followed him in interrupted.

"Vacate."

"Sir?"

"I said; Vacate the facility. Pull your men out of the building and secure the block. Find out how they came planet side..."


A moment later...
With the marines outside, Ian knelt down by the broken skeletal remains of the hybrid biot. Flesh like tissue still adhered to much of the frame...here...there. It looked much like real carnage.
And of the blood...
It was red blood. He had seen her bleed before during the firefight. But it had been white fluid. Synthetic blood that he had seen gushing from her wounds on Azteria. hell, he put a good slug in the girl himself then.
How were it red now?
Ian reached over to touch her skeletal frame... then a rib. His fingertip brought up the red blood. It looked/felt real...not oily, nor watery. It looked like it could be human...only that West were a biot.
It even smelled like blood too. Ian had even felt the sting of it, as it coagulated on his face when West had been hit as if it had been from a real person. His face was now crusted with her dried blood and debris.

The approaching footsteps behind him alerted Ian of the containment team's presence . He sadly shook his head before he rose. What a shame...what a waste of lives, he thought. Somebody or some faction had interest in Nine Lives biot-technology. He could see it...could understand as to the 'why'.
But it meant that the other versions were in the same spotlight then...

"Berkana.." one of the first recovery team member was heard as he assessed the scene...mainly the skeletal remains of a mechanical hybrid of some kind.
"...how did we manage to stop it?..." he asked, not knowing it had been the biot that he had heard rumors about. Most referred to it as the sex-bot that every good boy should have on Oaken Dawn.

"We didn't." Ian corrected him, stepping aside as the team surrounded the remains of the biot. The casket they brought was being prepped nearby.
"It stopped the attackers before-...before it expired."

"Is this one of them androids?"

Ian didn't reply, he just turned to look at the man a moment. What could he say? It weren't like no one had noticed, nor hadn't hear of their ally's (House Li'Ves) biots that had helped stave off a major catastrophe on Castagne. And he knew of the locker room talks.

"Do be careful in how you transport her." he didn't have the need to hide her current gender form, even though it were indistinguishable, as all of the said biots many knew of, had been in female form.
"I want all of it's bio-products collected to the trace level. What can't be retrieved, FLASH." he ordered, stepping away for the team to do their job.

"Damn you West..." Ian repeated, before leaving the remains for collection.

The dust had for the most part settled out when he came back out through the open wall.
The marines had for the most part vacated the immediate premises. only the officer and two marine sentries remained. The rest had gone to secure the block.

"Lieutenant... once the retrieval team leaves. I want this entire building razed to the ground."

"And of the bodies and collateral damage sir?"

"Flash it all."


20 minutes later...
Ian had made it back to the ICI administration facilities...having gotten cleaned up, incinerating his attire, then medically examined and treated. One would be surprised as to the minor wounds not felt in the heat of battle.
"...yes...it definitely looked that way sir. They were after the model West." he were speaking to a hologram of Castagne's Viceroy, Tarssin Destat
"We've recovered what we could of the unit, then plasma burned the entire facility and bodies." Ian continued with what his department had been able to asses so far.

"System security indicate they had come in on two inbound freighters as migrant subcontractors." Apparently there was still much to rebuild on Castane following the Heretic Station attack and there was opportunity for many contracted skilled labor to move things along. Although system security were keeping track of all the traffic and people coming in and out of the system, they couldn't search everyone. Not those whom didn't raise red flags of suspicion. No doubt the ICI were now backtracking the subcontracting company and those associated with it to find who was responsible.

"Intelligence was able to intercept and neutralize a 4th cell following the immediate lockdown once the engagement started.
As it stands, no further incursions have been reported. ICI has notified all other branches. Currently, we're on full alert, sir."

Upon the emergency briefing, it were agreed that Tarssin would inform Lady Li'Ves of her daughter West's destruction. West's remains would be prepared for return to Castle Morpheus. Ian were to inform Karlie of the same and for her to be on high alert till further instructions.
"Very good sir...Ian out." And with that, Tarssin's hologram dissipated.

Ian had remained professional and kept to protocol as he spoke with his Viceroy, Tarssin. Upon transmission end, he looked down upon his hand, opening it to reveal a damaged ear ring. A portion of it had been melted, most likely from a blaster bolt.
This he would not return.

 

[Westenra Mina]

During the incident with Ian Sade , right before the training with Karlie Lynn Destat truly started...

Nine received the call and immediately started to hear condolences about the destruction of her daughter Westenra in protecting Ian from the lips of Tarssin Destat . This was followed by uploads of the damage done to West

All Nine had done was frown.

"Well, I have good news. Judging from the amount of brain matter left in her skull she's not dead. She just overtaxed her system getting shot to pieces completely while fighting. They got her pretty good but it was not enough, from what I can see. I'll have her driver run over a quick pick me up...don't prep the funerals just yet for her, Viceroy...His name is Cern, you'll know him by his maroon colored business-wear."

Nine then thanked Tarssin for informing her and promised swift vengeance on the people who had attacked Ian as well before ceasing transmission and calling Cern up on audio.

"Cern! Buddy! How's my favorite familiar?"

"Doing well, Lady No, you?"

"Great! Great! Listen, my darling West got shot up again, so, I'm gonna need you to run over to where they're keeping her. They'll know you are coming."

"Am I gonna need the Gamma Lamp? I need a big enough piece for that to work." Cern replied over audio.

"Oh, its not that serious, fortunately. There's still enough of her brain and body mass left...just tear out the batteries of any of our spare psychic katanas. Nine batteries should do it...it'll kickstart the process...I'm sending you coordinates..."

"You got it, Lady No."

Forty minutes later.

Cern, a young looking pilot with brown hair neatly combed in a maroon business suit, rushed the cherry red sport speeder he was in to the heavily guarded Morgue the ICI were keeping Westenra in. Doubtless Ian had been informed of what Nine had told Tarssin Destat and would be on his way soon, if he wasn't there already.

He flashed his ID to the skeptical ICI Guards and was allowed in with a small black bag full of Psychic Katana batteries passed the decontamination field and found the black bag that contained Westenra's remains. He unzipped it while the morgue techs cleared out, and began attaching the high capacity cylindrical batteries to her exposed, shot up skeleton via sticking sharp conducting needles the batteries were wired to at key points. Some of the guards still present watched, first with fascination, then with growing horror as the obsidian skeleton started to writhe, brain matter in the blasted open skull visibly growing back as bone started to mend, glowing red muscle tissue leaking out in fine strands and slowly covering the skull, then the rest of the skeleton as it rose up and tore itself out of the cadaver bag, standing up for a split second but fell to its knees as it wasn't strong enough yet to stand.

Nine's tech was a nightmare in terms of difficulty required to overcome.

Westenra's hair was the last thing to regrow, and she started gasping for air, not because she needed to breathe but because it was the only way she could express what she had just experienced psychologically: By mimicking what humans do because she had no more sophisticated way of expressing it. Her flesh was made to resemble a skintight yellow and black leotard with long boots and gloves, also yellow.

Westenra got her emotions under control after a moment, spotting Cern.

"Did Ian survive?" she whispered.

"He survived."

"What day is it?" she asked in a haggard voice. "What year?"

"Its been roughly two hours since your incapacitation..." Cern explained respectfully. There was enough for your body to repair itself..."

The guards had backed away in horror, not raising their weapons...they were too terrified to, so paralyzed with fear they were.

Westenra looked around, nervous and self aware of what a freak she was to them.

"Did he see me like...destroyed?"

"I don't know all the details. I was just dispatched to revive you, West."

West headed out of the Morgue, not wanting to have a panic attack if she stayed. She strode out, to the astonishment of the door guards.

"It...its alive!" one of them whispered.

"Thanks, Cern..." she remarked. "You head on back to the Castle. I gotta...I gotta talk to Colonel Sade..."

Cern nodded and headed back to the speeder, leaving Westenra outside the Morgue waiting for Ian to show...

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Meanwhile back on the Morpheus...

There it was again, that warm feeling of family that she hadn't felt in so long. That is, not until it resurfaced amid House Li-Ves.
In many ways, it were as to why Karlie felt at home in the castle.
But it had not come in a wave of rush, nor like a revelation. It had slowly crept up through the months and now seemed to encompass her very core.

Magnus' words before Rom returned evoked such emotions in her again, despite her aches and pains. Damn Vera, she had cussed out. But no no, it had been Rom. Rom had given her a good lesson to remember. Sure for a few rounds Karlie had come to almost hating her. But then again, at those pivotal moments she were getting her butt handed to her.

It were in fact the purposes of Nine pitting her against Rom; to stir rage within Karlie.
It was obvious the girl (Karlie ) had no dark matter within her psyche. Just that Karlie could not formulate the rage called hate for any amount of time. It was there, the possibility, a spark of rage within the blonde, sure. But it were not enough spark to sustain a burning rage that her own mother possessed. then again, Karlie were what Rigor had once been. Karlie were a true re-incarnation of Rigor. Just that Karlie were not yet stained with the same darkness pitch of her mother.
Nine had tasted it a while back... consumed a few pertinent string of memories. But the blonde was no less Rigor when in her youth. That much was certain. And the reason as to why Karlie's mom had desperately made a pact with the devil herself, the Amalgam.

"Rom, you don't know what that means to me...." She replied, eyes meeting those of her android friend.
An inspiration, Rom were implying. She (Karlie), a mere meat puppet, were an inspiration to one of the galaxy's most advanced AI?
Her friend weren't talking through glazed seductive eyes... Rom were meaning it for real....speaking to her as a friend.
Karlie were taken back a moment. It were all of which Rom, Magnus and her sensei had been relaying to her in one form or another all along. They were all coming to the same gist...er, meaning.

Monster?
No.
Karlie didn't see them as monsters.
Karlie had seen Rom... had seen first hand what most of her sensei's daughters were capable of in terms of dealing death cards. And of what she had seen, had been justified. Strangely, it didn't gross her out despite that Karlie herself just couldn't take life as such...any life. It were not in her nature. Not in her current midi-free state.

"You have to know, that it goes both ways..." Karlie finally said realizing a fact and her own motives.

"So you know, I do wish to give, as well as receive. I mean, the way you and Lady Li-Ves have taken me within your family." No. No, Karlie weren't going to disclose that she were feeling herself a part of Li-Ves' family.
That would sound too cliché and maybe Magnus would think it silly. Silly for Karlie knew she were just mortal...just human in their most basic and primal state. At least before humans had succumbed to the virus midiclorean like everything in this galaxy.

Funny...
All the hurt, the soreness...the exhaustion suddenly became distant, like a backdrop of a sunset. What were felt were a connection to Rom...to magnus...to west and everything within the bulkheads of the castle. Karlie had never felt out of place on the castle and certainly not among those whom she could call friends...
Eyes looked up momentarily into and beyond that of Rom's crystalline steel orbs... within, her love; Vera.

Karlie blinked, withdrawing from Rom's eyes... from Vera at this time. She knew both were one in the same and could be in more forms than she knew. But Karlie wanted both...all of Vera/Rom, but not both at the same time. Rom, was her most dearest friend. Vera; her heart's desire.
She looked away from those orbs for she saw/felt both behind those eyes.
Right now at this moment...she needed her friend Rom there besides her, more than Vera. Sometimes a friend were needed more, than one's lover.
Shiet yea, it's one complicated affair.

"You had said I entered a very dangerous world.
Sigh... I were born to it. Just never knew my past were a stain that darkened this galaxy." She began.
"I was thirteen when I found myself fighting the darkness pitch that was starting to swallow me whole. " She didn't have to mention the fact that she became a woman at the time.
"Something deep inside... some forgotten dream... a memory perhaps... I don't know really. But it suddenly enlightened me, with what changes I was going through. It were all like a revelation. I were suddenly wroth with the ability to absorb knowledge at the same time that I could create life." Her hand unconsciously rested on her abonnement.
" I mean... I were smart to begin with... always got high marks on grades and all. But what hit me, opened my eyes, my mind to- ...to everything! " Karlie exclaimed, eyes once more meeting Rom's.

"Knowledge became a needed substance for me. I needed it more than food, you see. Maybe I already had it, I don't know. But I were hunger to learn...learn all that could and at an accelerated way.
Anyway...short of it-" She broke her connection with Rom's orbs.

"It's also as to why I am here. Despite my father agreeing or not, I would have seeked what Lady LiVes has offered me, regardless.
This. This daily scuffle (physical training sessions) I endure...it's all for the opportunity to learn of the science that your mother offers me.
Hehe... but you know something? I have come to like fighting...
when I'm winning of course...hehe.." She chuckled, lightly giving her friend Rom a shove.

 

[Ian Sade]

Later, past midnight...

"Busy." he answered, rejecting another incoming call.

The COMM beeped again soon afterwards. It were from one of the field offices. Likely from one of the police administration supervisors seeking to get his story again. Although there had been many conflicting versions, mostly from citizens whom managed to survive. in their panic and confusion, a lot of details and time frame were all mixed up. Still, there was enough video surveillance to have each department involved piece it all together themselves. It were what Ian was thinking anyway.
"~Sigh~ ...no comment at this time.
Busy right now." he went through the motions before severing the connection.

Call coming in directly into his office were either of high priority or privi. He had to answer. Ian were not above the law...not when in his office. Especially in the ICI offices.
In the field, he could go ghost.

Besides, they weren't from the Viceroy, nor the Cabinet. He had already been debriefed not 20 minutes after the attack.
Yet Ian remained in his dim lit office upon receiving confirmation of Westerna's resurrection. His first reaction had been to book to the forensic lab. But half way there...half way there just one level away... Ian stopped the turbo-lift.
He remained there for an undisclosed amount of time (he weren't keeping track) ...thinking...replaying both the events and his feelings over and over... over and over...
Why had he found his self rushing over to West like he were, Ian questioned himself.
He knew why.
Just that he suddenly realized midway as to their differences.

Westenra was not human...
Not that he preferred humankind really. It were that West was not really a living creature of natural birth, nor of coincubation by proxy. West was a weapon. Perhaps one of the most deadliest weapons on his planet at the moment. West was immortal.
Ian had tightened his grip on the inside rail of the lift, as those thoughts suddenly surged.

He aborted the destination, choosing to go back up to his office...the only forsaken hole in the subterranean complex that afforded him some privacy.

Hours later with elbows elbows on desk, hands clasped before him... he were propping up his forehead, still tossing and turning his thoughts about West.
The calls by early morning had substantially subsided. Most had been from the lab and others from his staff and scientist. he had chosen not to confer in what they had to say or what they found.


'Incoming call from Dir Tul, requesting-.' his COMM again announced.

"Busy." he repeated, cutting the line short again.
Ian contemplated in just blasting the com-link altogether that very minute, he were so irate over the fact that West was for all intent and purposes... a god.

Yes, a god.
She were pummeled with blaster fire...torn apart by heavy rounds and yet...yet still seemingly came back to life... like a god resurrecting.

His feelings...
What of his feelings...his thoughts about her...her smile. West's smile in that particular form which had captivated Ian the moment he had come back into consciousness after West chocked the living daylights out of him on Asteri...in that abandoned factory... her pheromones laden heavy about in the air....

His thoughts at this point were bouncing around this and that about; should he fear her...worship her...or, or just love her?

Just love her?
The hour following her surmised destruction, he had professed to his self that he could have loved her... that he should have.
But this had come a little too late. Going back into the devastated club, let him bare witness to her death. No one, no thing that he understood could ever come back to life in the condition he bared witness too.

Ian had held on to that piece of jewelry...that broken earing that he picked up from West and held on to it. held on to it throughout his debriefing. Ian held it tightly in his hand, like he were holding on to faith. West had fought to her last and for him. He knew that. He was there...and he ran without looking back.
He should have made sure she were on his tail.
But no. West stayed behind to cover his sorry ass.

It were dawn...maybe past dawn by now and he were still in his office. Ian had opted to disregard the reminder to lighten the dura-glass of his office when the sun came up. By the time he broke away from that endless loop he had going in his head he finally looked over to his crono. It were early morning outside....it were next day altogether.
Well, he couldn't stay in his dark office with the glass drawn opaque for ever now, could he? Chances were, word would get to Tarssin soon enough of him rejecting COMM calls.
"Vista, auto tint." he said, enabling the dura-glass to go from gull opaque to tinted transparency to balance the office's ambient light. Yup, daylight.
Ian then logged on to his holo-tablet checking on the Morpheus's location. It were still orbiting Castagne, he saw. Had West gone back up to the castle, he wondered?

A simple call to central command, told him the android was still in the complex.

"Is she being held for observation?" Ian then asked, surprised to discover that Westenra were still in the ICI building. Incidentally; the minute those words left his lips the second he realized what a stupid question it were. Could anyone on Castagne really detain West?
The answer he received from was no. The Li-Ves unit, the West android, had been sitting outside the forensic lab after her complete recovery for 7 hours already.
"The staff, scientists and security had offered her assistance, but she... she indicated she would wait for you to come and escort her out, colonel.
Aherm...
Sir...we've been trying to call-"

"I get it!...."
~sigh~

"Alright....
I'm coming down."

 

[Vera Mina]

Rom smiled at Karlie Lynn Destat as she explained how she felt being amongst them. She didn't have to say she felt like one of them. Vera knew she felt at home, as she talked about experience a quantum leap in her problem solving intelligence. So Karlie could update her programming too?

Vera was suddenly confused as to how it was so easy to distinguish organics from machines...all of Nine's daughters blurred the line in some way, with Westenra's line the blurriest of all...

The Android's eyes locked with Karlie's. As always, Vera took various snapshots of Karlie's eyes and face, filing that and recordings of her voice away on a seperate section of her memories for Vera to playback later.

Vera was not used to this...to sentiment...but so much had changed since pretty much coming back from the dead on Castagne. Vera had gotten an inkling more appreciation for Life's value, when she had sincerely believed her death aboard Heretic Station would be the final one, and that her last sight before it all went black was Karlie's face.

Rom wanted to be Vera again, but knew Karlie was in such a delicate space right now. She was just getting used to being a warrior, and the fact her hot love interest was also an extremely dangerous organic Droid Assassin with shapeshifting capability, as well as the fact her Sensei was a Katana-Using Psychic Vampire A.I. Scientist (Yeah, try putting that chit on a business card.).

Vera had used to love being Rom. Now she was terrified of leaving this form because she wouldn't be as good at protecting Karlie otherwise...

"We appreciate the level of trust you have placed in us Karlie...and I look forward to our next fight..."

"You mean the next twenty minutes of you making puppy eyes while sparring..." Magnus teased.

"They're good puppy eyes..." Vera said back pleasantly...

Magnus rolled her eyes. "I gotta go. Take care you two."

Magnus headed out and Rom and Karlie were alone again.

Rom sat on a sofa across Karlie.

"I am glad to be your friend. I would still be...lesser...if you hadn't become part of my life."

She glanced at her blue skinned hand, slender but with telltale muscle like the rest of her being concealed by that dress.

"As of late, I have wondered what it would be like, if I were purely organic as you are. If I couldn't do all these things that make me deadly. We are on opposite paths in that sense. You are learning to be more dangerous, and I am learning to moderate how dangerous I am. I never thought I would need to. I have as of late wondered what it would be like for me to have the same empathy levels you display. Part of me fears it, to be honest, as I was built for war. Part of me is curious, really curious what it would be like to see the world as you do. But I don't quite know how, and I cannot help but confess a feeling of inadequacy on that part."

She looked up at Karlie. "How do you do it, if I might ask? Is feeling compassion like breathing to you? Just...automatic?"