See What I've Become

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Talon Vosra"] [member="Darth Vornskr"]

"A foe without honor is a foe already beaten."​

​

When Talon moved forward, his momentum was suddenly arrested by a massive hand of grey pulling him back. "Pick your battles better." Where before Talon had been relatively alone, save for the Sith, now a mountain of metal stood by his side. Easily two and a half meters tall, its squat helmet turned towards him with a cold gaze of the purest ice. "We will do no good here. She need only buy time."

It went without saying that should she need help, she had whoever this was on her side. Its right gauntlet was wrapped around the haft of a phrik halberd, shining like a beacon of the Force. The corruption of those nearby created an instinctual response from the Light imbued therein, and they'd no doubt feel the burn of its presence before long.

The helmet shifted, watching the fight again as he released Talon and let the gauntlet fall to his side. Easily visible was a massive wrist mounted weapon with a side mounted magazine. Each of its two barrels was as big around as an arm, and the large magazine clearly held rounds far bigger than would ever be necessary.

Everything about him was simply oversized, even the calmness of his booming mechanical voice. "Miss Fen will be able to handle herself."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Anaya Fen"] | [member="Talon Vosra"] | [member="Darth Vornskr"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

Unlimited Power.

A long time ago, back when I was still in Shorn’s mind, we had decided to fight for the Crusade in their War against the Horde. It hadn’t been completely charitable of course, it never was when Sith Lords were involved, but our help had been appreciated nevertheless. Specially when Shorn ripped off the Bridge of a Star Destroyer with a bit of my help, the power of Two Sith Lords merged together… it ain’t a trivial matter.

Someone approached and started to push at my defenses, his touch was that of the Light and yet… it had something tainted about it. One of the Vahla, it seemed, what was this little boy doing here I asked myself and why was he pushing his power at us.

The answer came to me in a whisper.

‘ he wants freedom ‘

Like I had wanted, like the freedom I had taken for myself when I had made the decision never to be slave to anything.

I pulled him in, used his power.

Had Anaya been alone just now, without my guiding hand, she would have burned to a crisp because of all the power raging through her. But I was there, shifting the energy to where it needed to go, made sure it didn’t overblow her limits.

Harder, faster, stronger… not specifically any smarter though. Her movements would become even faster, her hits would hit harder, reaction time… increased so much to do.

And in the meanwhile I heard the conflict between her and… her, wanted to heal her. Wanted to fix her and-- I had to mentally restrain myself, this wasn’t the time nor the place to start thinking emotionally here.

I kept on feeding her the power of the Plant Guy and my own.

Today was the beginning of the End.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Anaya Fen"], if she looked up, would see a lone Rassilon-class starfighter drawing lazy circles in the sky, ready for pickup at a mental signal.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine swiped upwards towards Anaya's somersaulting body, but was deftly parried by the Lethan's own blade. His senses were working fully now, his mind enraptured by the battle they were having now. He rolled just as Anaya's lightsaber swiped at the air where he previously was. Kaine came to a stop after a single roll, and spun around on his heels before funneling the Force directly into his left hand, and sending his fist directly into the permacrete rooftop of the building they were fighting upon. As his fist punctured the permacrete, he unleashed the Force he had pooled out in a shockwave that send mighty rifts across the roof in all directions. Surely it would begin to collapse shortly after that happened, and Kaine was prepared to bring down the entire building so long as Anaya perished in the process.

However; he understood that it would never be that easy, and even as the roof began to collapse he made sure to track Anaya's movements with whatever she might do, and lunge forward towards her in an effort to keep her on the defensive while he remained unrelenting with his offense.

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Rave Merrill"] [member="Darth Carach"] [member="Anaya Fen"]n [member="Darth Vornskr"]

Talon stopped suddenly held back by the larger thing that looked for all the world like a droid but the force was there somewhere beneath the metal. He looked at the man and was nearly able to speak that he needed to talk to her. when he felt someone else begin draining his power, his strength, his life. He leaned forward and a hand went to his chest as the dark mark that tormented him began to burn. His green eyes closed against the sudden pain and he said nothing. He slowly sank to a knee and tried to breath as he was drained. If this didn't end soon or the drain didn't stop he'd be just another number on a morticians report.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

She could feel [member="Rave"] Merril above her waiting. Her escape was there, all she had to do was jump for it. But the power coursing through her was like a drug, drawing her deeper into the black, enticing her. Kaine had brought memories up that she haunted herself with daily, she'd chosen to do something for someone else, and it had backfired on her causing a schism in her mind. She did not want to be alone, but to not be alone, she had to give and all she got in return was pain.

A barrier shimmered around her as Kaine's shockwave ripped towards her, tearing up the roof tiles and trembling the foundations beneath, but not touching the lethan herself. Kaine lunged, and Anaya met his attack with a smirk on her face. "You will give a message to Ordo for me." she hissed at him, darkness spreading to her eyes turning them into glittering obsidian pools.

"You tell him this queen, is not to be tamed."

Dark tendrils, slid from her finger weaving a net as they moved, coiling about his wrists and along his arms, seeking to cover him. Each strand tightened as it moved, seeking to slice through flesh and bone. The more they covered him, the harder he would find it to reach the force.

[member="Talon Vosra"] [member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Darth Carach"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Talon Vosra"] [member="Darth Carach"]

"One warrior usually suffices."​

​

​

Sarge was fine letting Anaya and Vornskr duke it out. With that he was OK. Either way, Sith were being harmed. He was even semi-alright with a Jedi giving power to Anaya. If one was dead quicker, so much the better. What he wasn't OK with was the Jedi being harmed, and the Sith slipping further into darkness to the point of corrupting the area around them.

The pommel of his halberd resounded against the cracked permacrete as he lifted it only to slam it back onto the ground.

"ENOUGH."​

​

This was not anger. In fact, it was far from it. In response to the ever growing tides of Darkness, the halberd grew brighter, the Light struggling to banish a Darkness it never would. Lifting his left arm, he put two 40mm Bolter rounds downrange towards Vornskr, weapon tracking immediately towards Anaya.

"Leave." He adds finally, booming voice now a low snarl. "Do not succumb. I will not suffer a Sith to live."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine's mind was whirring to think of a solution to deal with the net of darkness that Anaya was now threatening to suffocate him with, when he heard the thwoom of a high-caliber weapon discharging in close proximity. Even as his head turned towards the source of the sound, he felt the excruciating pain of two 40mm rounds explode against his abdomen. Luckily, the rounds hit his side, rather than hitting him full on in the chest or stomach. Kaine somewhat regretting coming to this battle with minimal armor, and he was paying for it as the portions of the durasteel breastplate affected by the blast crumbled and was blown outward. The leather gear he had worn underneath that was shredded, and his flesh was split asunder and burnt. The force of the impact also carried Kaine off of his feet, and sent him tumbling over the edge of the building they were on, to suffer a devastating fall to the ground below.

Long story short; bad things happened.

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Darth Vornskr"] | [member="Anaya Fen"] | [member="Talon Vosra"]

‘ I think we can take the big guy, Fen. But he seems to be a fan of yours, so what do you say if we bug out instead? Think Zambrano has learned his lesson anyway. ‘

Truth to be told I really thought we could take the Inquisitor slash Burning Knight type of deal, but hey why risk it if we can instead just get our ass out of here alive. Guy hasn’t given us any poodoo yet, hasn’t tried to attack us, so that was good already.

Besides, he was far too intense for my liking, really had this Righteous Crusade going on, ain’t a real fan of that.

My voice reached out towards Talon.

‘ Fear not, little brother. The eye has marked you and so I shall do you no harm, careful with the iron man though. Seems a bit extreme, especially with that cape.’

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Things happened in rapid succession, so far as she was concerned there was no one else, just her bolstered by Ovmar and Kaine. A familiar voice rang out across the battlefield, warped by the helmet he wore. Her prey was snapped from her grasp by the impact of bolter rounds. Time seemed to slow as she watched the pain on her old lovers face before he toppled out of sight.

"KAINE!"​

Guilt rose up to engulf her. She wasn't going to kill him, she just wanted to send him limping back to Ordo. Tears welled in her eyes.

He deserves to die.​

"No you fool, I do."

Oh now who's suicidal.​

"SHUT UP!"​

She sank to her knees. Pools of darkness looked up to see the bolter pointed her way as Jared reached to her mind. "Sarge?" She blinked.

He got us into this mess.​

"No he didn't." she shook her head. "We got us into this mess."

We suffer, because of him.​

She remembered the pilot above, she remember her way out. "Rave!" she yelled out, reaching for the alchemist in the force she pushed herself to her feet. Settling her gaze once more on Sarge, on the bolter he was pointing at her, too often she was looking at him past the barrel of a gun.

"You've always suffered me, Sarge. And I suffer because of you."

She realized Jared was still connected to her. Thank you. Now leave me, I will find you soon to explain.

That's going to be a fun conversation.​

[member="Darth Carach"] [member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

"Ask not the Lord a question, for he will give you three answers, all true and terrifying to know."​

​

There was a pause as the man looked down to Talon with apparent disgust, in so much as a man of metal could convey. Lifting his head again, his weapon lowered; Anaya became the center of his attention. Gripping the haft of his weapon a little tighter, he gave her a nod.

"Everyone suffers, Anaya. The trick is to suffer well." To himself, within the helmet, his tone was sad. Somber. The voice of someone watching a friend leave on a wholly different path than he could ever approve of. Disappointment was an apt word.

Remorseful wasn't far off either. "But I have never suffered your company." He admits. "You are far stronger than you realize, and so often life pulls us back like the arrow on a bowstring. Just remember that as the arrow launches, so too do we."

There it was again. His annoying habit of speaking to her about problems he'd not been told existed. That uncanny ability to look beyond someone and into what truly bothered them. "Just make sure you're aiming yourself at a worthy target."

And with that, he turned and left.

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

She had been tracking him for awhile. Ever since that million-credit bounty was placed on his head. He was just too....unapproachable.

Until now.

Armed to the nines, she watched as her target got pummeled and fell like a sack of cha-ching credits. She wasn't interested in the others, as long as they stayed out of her business. She made it to the fallen and probably smooshed form of one Mister Darth Vornskr. Stun-cuffs triggered by use of the force were already in hand.

And she, well, went for it.

"Mister Darth Vornskr. Name's Kitt Solo. I'm taking you in for a bounty on your head. This ain't personal, just business," Southern Corellian drawl was laid on thick as she went to cuff what was left of him.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He blacked out for a moment or two after impact, but as the dust settled his eyes slowly opened, and for a second he attempted to rise to his feet, but instead he only managed to grunt in pain and puke up some blood. The left side of his abdomen was a bloodied mess, and he definitely had broken some things on the fall down. Then his senses, although somewhat dulled due to his injuries, picked up as someone began to approach him. At first he thought it was Anaya, coming to finish him off, but that voice was all wrong. That accent too thick...

Solo.

What a despicable name.

A certain Tahira Solo had dismembered his left arm on Metalorn, and ever since he had held that surname in disgust. The fact that one was now coming at him to take him in right after he had been beaten by another was certainly irking, but this Sith Lord was not out of the game just yet.

"Worthless worm, you made a grave error coming here."

With a gently press of his fingers to a small personal pad attached to his right forearm, Vornskr pressed a single button and received a positive chirping noise as a result. From up above in the heavens, a pair of spotlights beamed down to illuminate the two of them. It was Vornskr's ship that he had arrived on, the Sicarius-Class stealth yacht that had been silently monitoring the battle's progression from afar, awaiting for when Vornskr would give the signal to pick him up. Now it was above them, and silently it's two forward mounted laser cannons were trained on the alleyway, and the soldiers that he had brought along with him were preparing to engage the target if necessary.

"I'm going to be a-"

He cut himself off with another blood-filled hack.

"Hgrrmmm. I'm going to be a generous man today, considering my condition. If you leave right now, I'll spare your little life. Otherwise I'll send you to the seven hells before you can even understand what an error you made. Your choice."

[member="Kitt Solo"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

Right here. Grab on.

The Rassilon-class starfighter blew past at a substantial fraction of its top speed, suitable for a jump-and-grab if one knew it was coming. Should Anaya latch on without opposition, Rave would touch down a few klicks away so they could reexamine seating.

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Darth Carach"] [member="Rave Merrill"]

Talon could almost feel the disdain of the metalic man as he slowly stood. He knew how he seemed. He knew he was desperate and acting nothing like a Jedi. He was marked by the witch but it wasn't just that. He hadn't done it or allowed it on a whim. He didn't know why or to what purpose but he wouldn't let the man walk away without addressing him one last time.

"You know, I loved a woman once. Still do, and she was ripped away from me by a Sith torturer, torn away. I looked for her, and then the witch said she could help me find her." Talon shook his head, "she showed me exactly what the Sith were doing to her...ever cut...every stab...every pain. You may look down on me tin man and you may br right, I may be worthless now, buy I loved her and I love her still and you tell me one man that wouldn't walk through the nine corellian hells for the woman he loves. The twi'lek may have been able to help me find a link a trace something. So look down on me, but I'll do far worse to find her and dead or alive I'll bring her back."

Talon didn't know if the man had listened as he walked away or not but he knew he was wasting time now. He wrapped himself in the cloak of shadows like he had learned with the disciples of twilight and used the quey'tek meditation. He looked back for a moment at where the red woman had been and began walking back to his ship.

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

She clucked her tongue, "Now, that's just rude, darlin.' But I 'preciate the light.'" She made sure to kneel with the sith lord in front, as her own personal shield. Stun cuffs remained in one hand as she went to click one restraint over his left wrist. If the sudden arrival of his ship and men irked her, she didn't show it.

Her other hand pressed the barrel of a M2 bolter gingerly against Vornskr's temple. The master empath began tugging on the man's emotions that she already felt, trying to coax in some surrender and cooperation. It wasn't a mental trick, it was emotional.

"Now listen-up sugar, this is how it's gonna work. You're gonna call your men to stand down or I'll blow you brains out. Bounty was for dead or alive. I just try to be polite and go with alive first."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

At least she wasn't as worthless as other hunters who have tried to cash in on his bounty, she had some dignity.

But, her emotional manipulation was for naught. Vornskr had trained for decades as an Intelligence Agent to reign in his emotions and control, although Anaya had been one of the only people to have ever made him lose his composure and cool in such a barbaric fashion. Beyond that he's quite capable of countering empaths, but this woman could try if she really wanted to.

"You're funny, little girl. Killing me may bring you money, but in the end it will all be for naught. Even if I die, I won't stay gone for long. There are dark powers moving in the universe that your little mind cannot even properly comprehend, and I have been promised immortality for my service to them. My soldiers are about to fire and decimate this alleyway and everything around it, and unless you can carry an unwilling six foot nine Sith that weighs well over a hundred kilos out of the blast range within a few seconds, I might suggest reevaluating your life choices, and take up my offer."

Even as he spoke, Vornskr's Blackblades, the zealous murder-soldiers who have been known to follow their Lord's orders to the letter without hesitation or questioning targeted both of them, and the weapons were prepared to unleash their life-ending payloads at the drop of a hat.

[member="Kitt Solo"]

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

"Oh. I don't know about that sugar," voice like warm-molasses purred behind him as she finished securing his bindings. He wasn't gonna hit any fancy switches now. "I'm stronger than I look." It was clear his emotional state wasn't being persuaded. Instead of dumping more energy into his manipulation, she focused her resources on that of his men, soldiers, and pilot. She sent enough strength behind an invisible wave of emotion to calm and about-face a charging beast the size of a star destroyer.

She had practice with emotional manipulation on this scale a few times before, once with Rave Merrill and a bunch of misfits fighting a common enemy that ended in some free terantatek hides.

Index finger maintained pressure on the trigger. Other hand pressed a button on her comm. The rumble of a speeder-bike roared to life in the distance, its lights growing larger as it auto-piloted toward their location. "Looks like your men are having second thoughts. Maybe a cell will help you reevaluate your life choices, Mister Darth Vornskyr. Think you can stand or did you need me to carry your hundred-kilo hide outta here?"

 

[Darth Carnifex]

This woman didn't know about Blackblades very much.

During training, the Blackblades are not only naturally tested to disregard most emotions except extreme anger and brutality, but are also altered through science to be unable to experience emotion. This robbed them of what made them individuals, and instead made them a collective, zealous, and loyal mass that was willing to give their own life to their creator and follow his orders without hesitation. So while the pilot, a non-Blackblade, began to have second thoughts about what they might have to do, the Blackblade behind him executed him for hesitation and took his position at the controls. Vornskr, said nothing of course, only smiling at the woman as she continued to believe that she was in control of the situation.

Another mistake that she had made, was letting the barrel of her gun press against his bare skin. Vornskr had developed his skill in Mechu-Deru for several decades now, refining it and honing it till he reached the point that he could understand complex machinery and gadgets with a touch. Sure, it helped that he kept her occupied with his talking so that he could gain a very knowledgeable grip on what made her weapon go, even though his experience with weapons was masterful anyways, it didn't hurt to make sure. So, as the speeder rumbled up, he only used the barest movements in the Force to mess up the weapon in such a way, that when it fired it would most likely explode in her hand.

With that done, Vornskr lashed out with the Force in the form of a telekinetic shove directed right at Solo's chest, in an attempt to throw her out from his personal space. What happened next was quite astounding, because as the Blackblade opened fire with the ship's weapons, the white-hot energy filling the alleyway and causing destruction and ruin. Vornskr, however; only smiled as it began to envelop the alleyway, and smiled still as a shimmering bubble of energy formed around his body to defend himself from the devastation.

She should have listened.

[member="Kitt Solo"]

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

The mood shifted dramatically and she felt it all.

The moment the life escaped the pilot, her hand gripped down hard on the cuffs that bound her target. Instead of knocking her back, the force push knocked her up due to her grip on the man and the sheer mass of his body, he acted like an anchor. She fell back against his side, her arm smartin' and feeling as if it would need to be reattached to her shoulder. The bolter flew from her other hand and was quickly vaporized along with her speeder as the air around them was turned into hot, liquid-death.

Her own protection sphere bubbled to life and seemed to merge with half the one she was already enveloped with from the sith lord.

She grimaced but didn't hesitate as her gloved-hand balled into a fist and she aimed it for a close-quarters pummel to the side of his head followed by a knee into his side, where he was already injured. It was all she could do though, her protection bubble faltered and she had to freeze as she smelled singed strands of chestnut-hair.