Round Two: They askin' "What's new?"

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak had just about finished the meal when Lucien came back up the steps. "Alright. Let me clean up a bit, and I'll be ready to go in five."

As he left, he caught, from out of the corner of his eye, just the barest hint of a burn mark on Lucien's finger. He grinned inwardly. He had definitely shook the older* man.

Five minutes later Jak was in his normal garb - leather pilot's vest and casual work pants. "Right. So. Where are we going?"

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien came into the dining room, he was still confused. He sat down and eat some food then stood up again just as Jak reappeared. He turned to face Jak "We are going to Prison Mr. sandrow" He said.

He led Jak outside to his yacht. Once they were inside Lucien sat down, after a few moments he spoke "How did you complete the task this morning with no adverse effects?" He needed an answer or it would bother him all day.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Whooo!" Jak said in faux excitement. Of course he was glad he was testing his skills; he was just joking about 'going to prison'.

Following Lucien, Jak sat down across from him. After being asked the obvious question, Jak nodded, then took off his right boot. "I'm a plant; you know this," he said, pulling off his footwear. "What you didn't know is that, over the years, I trained myself to be tolerant to fire. Of course, it'll burn me - badly - if I can't get protection on fast enough, but if I can - " here he raised his foot to show Lucien the slightly blackened, very dark green callous on his foot. " - then I can sustain myself in the middle of a blazing inferno," he said, dropping his foot. "Here, this is what I put on my feet," he said, growing a patch on his arm and tearing it off.

It was tough, hard, yet somewhat flexible. Quite smooth, it also had a slightly oily feel to it. It was much darker than the rest of Jak's skin.

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien nodded "Ah" He said feeling the patch between his fingers "And this stuff is heat resistant?" He asked. In his head an Idea emerged all he needed was more plant people and a prison compound and he would be able to mass produce this stuff. The yacht took off and made its descent down the mountain. Lucien put the patch down on the table "The prison we are visiting is a labour camp and a particularly unpleasant one don't leave my side" He spoke seriously however he intended to "Lose" jak Later then he could test his skills in an emergency situation.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak nodded. "Be right behind you, Master," he said, leaving the patch alone.
---

When they had landed, he got up with Lucien. "So. Um... you lead the way."

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien nodded "remember stay close" He walked out of the yacht. The guards on the gate saluted and slowly the front gate eased open. It led into an empty courtyard ringing with sniper towers. The first gate closed and a gaurd ushered them through the second gate. All around were wiry prisoners weighed down by chains. Guards flanked Jak and Lucien at either side as Lucien walked Jak to the torture chamber.

They descended a flight of metal stairs coated in congealed blood. The torture chamber was dark. Its three occupants were quickly drove to their knees. Lucien coughed and a chair was brought down. Lucien looked over to Jak "Pick one and make them do something" Lucien said lazily.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak followed Lucien from a close distance, glancing with mild distaste at the blatant lack of upkeep. Especially the blood.

Following Lucien into the darkened room, he selected a prisoner at random.

"You still need them alive, or what?" he asked, beginning his mental assault.

Since his last mistake on the mountain, he had made a point of keeping aware of both his mental assault and his physical presence. All he needed was enough experience to synchronize what he saw with his mind to what he saw with his eyes. But that aside...

He concentrated on the prisoner in the middle. Peering into his completely unshielded mind, he kept his presence undetectable - an easy feat, considering - and looked for the motor control commands.

The prisoner jerked to his feet silently - Jak's doing - and sat down hard in the chair. His eyes were wide with panic, until they rolled back into his head.

Jak, concentrating a little more, linked his mind to the prisoners. He could now see both what he, Jak, could see, and what the prisoner could see. It was... slightly disorienting. He could feel the prisoner's conscious being pushed farther away from control, as Jak's presence squashed the little resistance there was.

In a voice that had become rough from screaming, the prisoner spoke. "Hchhh.... how did I do, Master Cordel?"

To Jak, it had seemed like seconds. In reality - it was more like minutes. Several minutes.

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien lent back and one of the prisoners walked over robotically and began rubbing his neck. He watched as the prisoner Jak had selected began to respond. He watched Jak was doing well slightly rough but still good. As Jaks Prisoner began to talk then the Prisoner next to him Lifted his head slowly "Yes Mr. Sandrow you did well, a Little slow Perhaps and rough but both of those will be ironed out with practise." Then the prisoners head sank back down.

Lucien shrugged the prisoner off "Wait here Jak I will be back soon" He said standing up "Meditate or Practise I won't be long" He said as he wandered back up stairs.

Once he reached the top he stopped "Im done with those prisoners Guard ... Oh and by the way what's the young one doing out of uniform" He said his back to the gaurd he was addressing. Lucien sensed confusion "But M'lord He is your student?" The gaurd quivered. Lucien shook his head "He isn't ... He must have lied, I brought him as a prisoner someone was supposed to collect him for processing" Lucien said coldly then walked off to take tea with the camp commandant.

The gaurd looked bewildered for a moment, he quickly realized that following orders was Probably the best Method so he accompanied to other guards to sort out the prisoners. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and roared "All Prisoners against the wall!" He pulled a shock baton from his belt it buzzed ominously as he stood waiting. He noticed Jak was yet to move "That means you too Fashion queen!" The gaurd was many things witty was not one of them.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

(Sorry, other things on my mind)

Jak gave a smirk as another prisoner responded to his question.

Waiting for Lucien to return, he decided to release the prisoner from his invisible grip.

As the guard stomped down the steps, Jak stood up from the wall he had been leaning on. He was about to ask a question, when the guard began to bellow.

He couldn't believe what he heard next. "Excuse me?? Uh, I'm sorry, but I'm no prisoner."

Just in case, Force energy began to condense around his (hidden) right hand, while his left index finger began to form a thin dagger.

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

"Oh is that so, well my most humble apologies" He said notably sarcastically "Then who are you then My Lord" He said his voice dripped sarcasm. He drummed his foot against the ground whilst he waited for a reply. Prisoners often claimed to be free people.The talkative gaurd was joined by two others.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

He looked at the guard, a little confused. Was this another one of Lucien's mind tricks? Was he using the guard?

Stalling for time, he began to explain, "No, I'm no 'Lord', but I am Lucien's apprentice..." while he began to look for any telltale signs of mind-control. There were none.

Odd... "...so if you'd just let me be on my way, that'd be great," he said, spreading his hands from his body, his whole frame tensed to spring if necessary.

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

The gaurd stepped aside "Of course sir apologies for the misunderstanding" He bowed his head and let Jak pass whilst discreetly increasing the voltage level of his shock baton it was now powerful enough to knock a man out.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Something still felt off... He heightened his senses, and then something new happened - new for him, anyway. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion, yet he had his full reflexes. In an instant, he somehow saw the man's thumb reach to push it to a higher voltage, while the other two guards discreetly tense.

Uh oh... Still limited by his forward movement, he spun a hand around, throwing a Force push at the baton hand, while firing two daggers that landed in another guard's body with two sickening squelches.

The baton hit, and the electric shock began to make the man drop. Jak was now halfway into his turn - still moving slowly - and began to access his mind.

Which was in normal motion! He used this 'speed' ability to delve deep into the guard's mind, and decided to try something new. He began to force-feed the guard's brain misinformation, hopefully to the point of overwhelming. The barrage of sensory detail pounded at the man's cortex, and Jak hoped it would be enough to drop the man.

About 3/4 into the turn, he decided to be safe than sorry, and unleashed a simple kinetic blast at the prisoners' knees, shattering the kneebones of each leg, paralyzing them.

All of this had taken half a second.

Jak swayed, momentarily disoriented, and found he was in realtime again.

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

The guards lay wounded, the prisoners were screaming and the old blood mixed with the new. Jak had incapacitated ever member of the room and he had been seen. The commendat was furious he stormed about his office, he wanted to kill Jak. Lucien rolled his eyes "sit down" He stated calmly "I will handle this, go and cool off" Lucien put his tea down and walked back to the chamber. all the while talking mentally to Jak "Im disappointed, we saw your little fiasco I did not teach you the basics of mind control so you could stab two guards, now I am going to fix this so you don't end up dead ... do not resist me it will be painful for you if you do"

Luciens steps could be heard thundering into the chamber "After each thing I do act hurt and mold your body to simulate the effect" He emerged into the chamber and tossed Jak at a wall with the force.Jak wouldn't hit the wall though a millisecond before impact Lucien pulled him onto the floor. it would appear as if he had hit the wall. "Kneel and give me your hands" Lucien roared out loud, whilst bringing a pair of stun cuffs to him with the force.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak didn't realize his mistake, till he got a stern enough reprimand from Lucien. Ohhh... whoops. Sorry, Master. They acted, and I reacted. And believe me, I have no intention of resisting you, he thought.

As Lucien stormed into the room, Jak couldn't help but wonder whether there wasn't some genuine anger in Lucien's approach...

As he "slammed into the wall," he gave a grunt, and 'cracked a few ribs'. Holding an noticeably flatter side, he strained to get up.

He held out his hands, and mentally asked, Do I get a second chance?

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien replied mentally "You would be dead now if you didn't" He said 'locking' The stun cuffs around Jak's wrists. "Don't move" He said aloud. The he turned and looked over the guards. He went back up the stairs and emerged later with a medical team "Look after the guards don't touch the prisoner" He said Pointing at Jak.
Once the Medics had gone taking the guards with them Lucien walked over to Jak and crouched in front of him, He placed his hand Loosely around Jaks throat trusting that Jak would react accordingly. He lifted Jaks head up speaking first mentally "The commandant wants your head so we need to put on a show, there is a torture chamber down this corridor Its off the books no cameras, we go in there stay for an hour then we leave with you looking ragged,shackled and looking half dead. Then he spoke out loud "You have let me down and as such you will suffer" He lifted Jak to his feet then pulled him down the corridor.

The chamber was dark and most importantly camera less. Lucien shut the door and locked it. Then he went to the cabinet at the back of the room and pulled out a set of prison rags, and a few nasty looking restraints. "You have a choice put these on or tear up what you're wearing" He said holding up the uniform.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

No kidding...

He let himself assume a position of deference, and waited for his master's return. When he did, Jak decided to bunch up the plant matter around his cheek to make it seem like Lucien had a good grip on him. As Lucien spoke at him, he faked spitting in Lucien's eye, but subtly nodded. Will do.

As they entered the room, once the door was closed, Jak straightened. "I'll put those on."

"Listen, Master, I'm sorry. I panicked, and I had no idea I was supposed to use mental powers on them. I've just never had any sort of training with multiple people before."

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

"Its fine, I should have warned you" Lucien said before turning his back so Jak could change with some semblance of privacy "Can you make it look like I tortured you?" Lucien asked still facing away. "We will go to a mountain village that might be safer, you did well by the way very quick"

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Nah, I should have figured it out. I'm just used to using my fists, not my mind, when it comes to fighting. Not gonna make that mistake again."

He quickly changed out of his old clothes into the rags. "No problem. All I have to do is hurt myself - superficially."

Within a minute or so, he was quite bruised and beaten up, and a right eye was swelling nicely. "Jutht takth a bit of tweaking with the DNA of my fath."

@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

"I can't understand you" Lucien said with a smile. He walked over to the cabinet again selecting a small knife he picked his finger and smeared some blood over Jaks new clothing The he put the restraints on Jak just tight enough to make it look real. "Remember I have just tortured you so don't walk like you're fine" He said "we can make a move now, stay behind me" Lucien said.

Lucien walked over and unlocked the door "Move" He shouted for the benefit of any guards near by. Then he set off on the walk back to the ship. He walked slowly so Jak could keep pace.