The Bloody Shade

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Laertia Io"]

The jedi master was looking at the girl and thankfully her biot could calm her down more... it made it easier as she looked at Tana and spoke looking at him as she motioned to her field kit on her hip. "There are some medical supplies if you need it KNight Yumi." She wasn't too worried about him... if anything this confirmed a few thoughts in her mind about the boy.. and bis sister... or was he the she.... twins could be confusing when ti was two daughters... she felt a pang of sorrow for their mother fi they had always been able to do something like this to people since they were children. It was a question for the ages maybe bur she was looking at the wax and bone with a nod of her head. "Whatever it is... this si something we can fight and counter if need be. We'll need to proceed deeper or try to find some information."

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Tana gave a small smirk as Moya complimented him on healing fast, "all in a days work, a stabbed lung, though hurting like a queen, is no problem for me, my regeneration takes care of it fast". If he combined that with his art of small knowledge and finally got around to force healing the boy would be able to make himself almost invulnerable. He continued to stand with the group as the biot and the de-facto team leader talked about the current events, one thing that was for certain, this crime boss they were hunting had a sick was of taking care of things.

"Well he may be a sick person whom we need to take down, but at the very least he has routed out some of the other bosses making peoples lives miserable", once they themselves took down dark whats his face the streets around here would be a whole lot safer. Their operations going deeper into the strange subterranean complex, evenrtally the group coming to a set of rooms similar to the once in his vision, "this, is it, this is where the dirty work took place". Or it was a place identical, looking around he too noted that the room was not one of a kind, how many people had been killed with the strange energy sucking contraption?

As the Jedi master and other talked about their next line of business Tana continued to walk around a bit, smelling the air, a stagnant odor present, death hanging deeply in such a place. "do you think there is a clue around here to point us towards the man mans hide out"? He asked, still snooping around the 'energy extraction room', as he now called it.
[member="Laertia Io"] @Tanaski Yumi

 

[Laertia Io]

Laertia stuck close to Moya in case she had another episode as [member="Tanaski Yumi"] examined the extraction room. Moya was the first to spot it. Faint but inscribed to the very floor. An outline of a jagged crescent.

When Yumi asked if there might be any clue as to where he would be hiding, Laertia shook her head

"Nah. Dahrkmytez wuz alllllwayz a littel morr cayrefullz dhen dhatz..."

"How do you know him so well?" Moya asked.

Laertia frowned as she examined the extraction room with Tanaski.

"Uzed tuh do cryme jobz fer 'im wen I wuz littel...itt wuz buhfore I metz Ursy." Laertia answered. "Hee wuz a vewy naztee cuztuhmerr. But hee payd wellz. Wuz doin a job fer Dyson duh dayy I met Ursy..."

"Don't you find that odd, Laertia?" Moya asked. "You happen to be asked to go after the very person who put you in Ursula Sandraven's path to start with? What are the odds of that happening?"

Laertia stopped at this, not realizing how important that fact was until Moya pointed it out.

"Heyyy...yer rytez..." Laertia remarked, as she fixed on the almost hidden outline on the floor, getting a terrible feeling from it...



"Hadrian!" Ursula called out as she entered the training chamber with the young Laertia. The Twi'lek's white combat suit seemed to glow as it was exposed to the sunlight filtering in from nearby windows. Laertia beheld a muscled giant of a man sparring with a pair of full sized vibro-axes in his arms against a bulky training droid armed with a yellow bladed lightsaber. He had leathery, tanned skin and a bulky, square head with a flat top of iron gray hair and expressive brown eyes, teeth gritted as he beheaded the droid after slapping aside its slices. He was clad in a sleeveless shirt and black training pants and boots.

Hadrian turned to face his new guests

"Master Sandraven. I'm gladdened by your return. And is this your new prospect?" The giant asked as he put his axes back on the nearby rack, his tone deep but full of age and calm.

"Yes, Master Amox. Padawan, this is Hadrian Amox, heavy weapon specialist of The Marksmen. Amox, Laertia Io." Ursula introduced formally.

Laertia was not nearly so reserved. She happily walked up to him, holding up her hand.

"Pleezed tuh meetcha!" Laertia said enthusiastically with a deep, goofy grin on her face.

"A lot more animated than you are, Ursula." Hadrian remarked, amused as he took her hand and shook it.

"I'll take my mannerisms under advisement..." Ursula replied, tone bone dry and stern. "Laertia...would you show Master Amox your gift?"

Laertia nodded happily to Ursula, and focused. She teleported around the room three times before stopping. Hadrian's hands went to his hips, astonishment spreading across his face.

"Ta-Daz!" Laertia squeeked.

"I--I've never seen any adept teleport so often in such a short span..." Hadrian trailed, feeling her untapped potential with his senses. He turned to Ursula, walking towards her.

"Can I speak to you a moment he asked quietly while Laertia's attention was drawn to his vibro battle axes. She reached out and lifted it, testing its heft.

"Remyndz mee ov ann olld kleevuh on duh Deli on twunny-sixx annd Yonce...gud sanndwichh shopp..." Laertia said under her breath, swinging it around effortlessly with one hand.

While Laertia was distracted, Ursula responded to his request in just as low a voice: "Why so concerned, Hadrian?"

"I know we've taken recruits off the street before." Hadrian whispered as Laertia began to swing the axe more, face grimaced in concentration as faint little fantasies if being a knight in shining armor slaying dragons and evildoers began to start making themselves known.

(Opening chords of BFG Division plays)

While the seeds for many an act of ripping and tearing were slowly being sown in her padawan, Ursula was dismissive of Hadrian's concern.

"I know what I'm doing, Hadrian."

"She's killed already."

"Yes."

"Its hard enough training the really dangerous ones that were raised in the order. It'll be much harder to train someone not only habituated to violence, but also to emotional displays..." Hadrian argued. "How can we be certain her merits won't create a dangerous enemy for the Jedi?"

"Hadrian..." Ursula whispered. "Look."

Hadrian turned, saw Laertia manipulating his axe, pretending to cut down an evil dragon. She seemed to have found the balance of the heavy battle axe, for she was now twirling it like she had been practicing for weeks."

"How did--?" Hadrian broke off, transfixed at how she had figured out the balance so quickly.

"She's a natural weapons user. She's only toying with it, imagine what she could do if she actually learned to fight with it. You don't get a natural like that often. Not at all. We need her." Ursula insisted.

"What is it with you and hard cases?" Hadrian asked as Laertia put down the axe and started swinging a mace around, picking up a round, steel shield, blocking against an imaginary black knight, swatting his puny sword aside and caving in his fancy helm with one blow.

"She slips into the proper stance so easily...has she had prior training?"

Ursula frowned. "She seemed pretty cagey. But she admitted to knowing Atrisian Sword-Cane fighting..."

"Who trained her?"

"She claims to have taught herself but I'm still not sure I buy it." Ursula replied.

"I don't think this is a good idea. If she is as good as I think she could be, she could be a very severe threat if she reaches the height of her potential only to turn on us." Hadrian argued, worried.

"Ordinarily I would agree with you." Ursula replied as Laertia practiced. "But Laertia has something..."

"What?"

"The desire to fight evil."

"Padawan?" Ursula called out. "Would you like to test yourself?"

"Surez!" Laertia answered, grinning.

Ursula focused her weak telekinesis on a nearby console. A wall parted to reveal a hidden chamber with the same kind of bulky, lightsaber equipped droid that faced her.

"Its blade isn't set to lethal...it will leave a welt at best. It cannot cut either. Can you use what you have to defeat it?" Ursula asked sternly.

Laertia nodded, getting serious. She guarded with her shield.

The droid struck, and Laertia used her brute strength with the shield to bat it aside, swinging the spiked mace with such speed and force that the droid backed away rather than face the blow head on. Laertia charged, shield held out in front of her as she became a battering ram, smacking into the droid and knocking it off balance, swinging her mace only for it to parry, forcing her blade back with its own machine strength. Laertia swung her mace again and it blocked. She dropped her shield and, imitating the heroic stance she had seen in all those fairy tales about slaying dragons, started swinging and twirling the mace from all sides, just as the droid started to attack as well, their weapons constantly intercepting one another, until the strength behind Laertia's swings inevitably wore out the servos in its droid limbs, causing them to crack and shudder until they burst, Laertia driving her mace into it's skull., sending chunks of droid and sparks flying...

"Okay, we're training her..." Hadrian finally agreed.

"Dhat wuz SOOOOO COOOLLLZ!" Laertia exclaimed

(Snippets of Doom theme plays.)



"What about his office?" Moya asked. "Me and Tanaski already cleared it. Any clues should probably be in there as well."

Moya backed away into a wall, and accidentally hit something. A wall parted behind the bloody chair at the center of the blood scented room. It revealed a small, white room, about the size of a small garage. It was tiled in white marble from top to bottom. At the center rested a lightsaber.

Laertia froze as she stared at its golden features. She had seen it only once before. She backed away, hyperventilating at the flashback.

"Laertia?!" Moya called out, following her. "What's wrong?"

"The United..." Laertia breathed. That's The United's lightsaber..."

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Laertia Io"]

She was listening to them and stood in the back, the jedi master had some theories but this was not the place for it yet... they needed facts, colder harder facts about what was happening then what might be coming to her mind. She knew the force itself could work in mysterious ways. "We will adapt and try to find all of the information we can." She was moving with a look on her face though of interest where she could check it all out. She allowed the force to expand outwards and felt something from the girl... she was surprised for a moment and maybe even fearful as the jedi master turned to look at her an Tana was here.

"THe united? SHe had never heard the name before but she wasn't going to question it. If Laertia knew what the saber was and had a reaction like this to it... then it was time for her to become interested in finding out all that she could of this being.. or whatever it was. The jedi master looked at her and moved closer remainign there and bringing a hand up to try and send whatever calming energy she could for the girl. "IT will be alright, tell us all that you can so we are not walking into the situation blind and maybe we'll be able to help you that much more." She bowed her head looking at the Biot with a look on her face where she could go.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

The newly opened room by Moya instantly caught Tana's attention, a very familiar smell wafting out it's front doors and into the young Jedi's nose, the smell of blood. Even though to him such a smell was nice, even sweat there was something very wrong with it, not the stale state of the dried liquid, nor the way it was splashed around the room, no it was something different. The smell was dark, well that was the way he would described it, it spoke volumes on what went down in here, but most of all, showed him that such blood letting was done by no normal tool.

​"This place, fuck, it just keeps getting stranger and even more dangerous", Sith, killer droids, torture rooms, life stealing artifacts, Tana was feeling quite under experienced to be taking on such a job, even with a biot, Jedi master and another shadow. Speaking of which what was wrong with [member="Laertia Io"]? He knelt down beside the cyborg while they were in a panicked state, "you know about this area? what do you know"? This was not helping the boys already amassed confusions.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Laertia Io]

Moya furrowed her brow at the name Laertia mentioned, her eyes going hard. Like [member="Matsu Ike"] she instinctively went to comfort Laertia, whose prior confidence seemed to have vanished completely. She couldn't speak. Laertia had shut down on them.

"Shhh..." Moya whispered to the damaged killer. "We're all here..." She hugged the now wide eyed, trembling Laertia while addressing the others.

"The United...a...its not a...person...not exactly..." Moya tried to explain. "It was a gestalt conciousness. The combined minds of hundreds of Dark Side witches who had bought some wretched immortality by a magical ritual involving the sudden mass slaying of countless Jedi. This...entity had corrupted an ancient lake and inhabited it, deep in the remains of a Jedi temple. In order to become a knight, Laertia had to purify the lake of its presence. She succeeded but it was a horrible mental battle, and that...monster...got under her skin. Laertia still has nightmares about the entity. But I thought you banished it to chaos, sweetie. Sweetie?" Moya asked in that motherly voice, her hyperpheremones affecting the former Shadow. Laertia stirred, not wanting to see worry cross her caretaker's face.

"I...I diddz. Bannyshedd itt ryte tuh kaos...dhis lytesabuh...itt shudintz evunn exzizt." Laertia spoke, almost on the verge of babbling, still not stopping her shaking.

Moya looked at the faint symbol inscribed on the floor immediately before the lightsaber room had been revealed.

"The Cult of The Brain Demon. The same cult that took out the woman my appearance is based on..." Moya spoke quietly to [member="Tanaski Yumi"]. "Dyson Darkmite has become an acolyte to one of the most dangerous cults of The Four Hundred Year Darkness. And that lightsaber is the key..." she trailed, pointing to the golden, elegant lightsaber still resting on its pedestal.

Laertia found the strength to stop shaking in terror and walked to the pedestal, studying it, then the torture chamber.

"Dyrektlee audjaysint..." she whispered. "Dhey werr lettinz duh blayde soakk upz duh suffuhrinz ov duh peopull neerbye..."

"Barbaric!" Moya exclaimed in a low tone seething with pure disgust at Darkmite's atrocities. "He must be stopped. Whatever the cult's designs for Corellia are, only suffering and the death of the innocent can ever be the result."

Laertia did not dare touch the lightsaber. There could be a thousand different magical traps attached to it. Moya could not touch such a corrupt object either...it would burn her flesh and disable her ability to regenerate for a while among other things.

"Matsu, can you handle the saber?" Moya asked. "Neither one of us has encountered an object like that in a while, and frankly, I'm flat out incapable of handling one without hurting myself."

Laertia backed away, no longer wanting to even look at it. It should not even be real, yet it was. What was Dyson's game? Laertia was beginnng to believe (or perhaps understand) that whoever Dyson Darkmite was when she last saw him, that wasn't who he was any longer. That they had not yet run into him disturbed her. This wasn't like him. None of this was like him. She had known a vicious thug. But a sane one. This...was the farthest thing from sane possible.

Power makes everything worse.

Laertia turned to Moya. "Letz go tuh hiz offyce...c'monz Yoomee and Eekay! We havv tuh chekz outt dhat roomm upstayrez!"

Moya nodded in agreement, the pair walking through the muck of wax with visible disgust, heading back to Dysons office. As the pair walked ahead Moya put her hand on Laertia's shoulder.

"I haven't seen you that freaked in a long time sweetie. Are you sure you can handle that monster if she turns up?" The Biot asked, her hyperpheremones lowering Laertia's psychological armor, which was necessary. Laertia never talked unless Moya used her charm.

The hyperpheremones lulled Laertia's agitated state, causing her her to withdraw a little into the familiar safety of being doted on by her biot. Always she craved Moya's approval, even though she felt ashamed of this at times.

"I...I'll bee fyne. I kylledz dhat evul kreeep wunce, I can dooz itt againz."

"Remember the breathing exercise I taught you. Think of oceans. Think of rabbits..."

Laertia did so, breathing in and out. She didn't used to need this. She had once been quite throughly conditioned to facing evil in the streets of Nar Shaddaa. But she was past her prime and had been out of action until that recent bit with Uri on Tattooine...

In many ways, Moya was indispensable. But that still did not stop Laertia from constantly questioning herself on her initial decision regarding Moya's programming.

Had she never suffered her injuries, Laertia would never have met Moya. She had mixed feelings over that...



Laertia stretched awake on her bed in her pink with black polka dot captains quarters, blinking, looking for her medication, which she took and felt a painful burning in her stomach minutes later.

The knock on her door startled her and she teleported her trench knife to her hand with great effort. "Whooz dhere?" Laertia called out, suffering a lapse in memory due to her brain damage.

"Its me, Sweetie."

"Whoo?" Laertia asked, deeply confused.

"Moya? The Biot?"

Laertia's memory came back and she lowered the knife, quickly dressing in a simple blue civilian dress she had never worn outside, with long but loose fitting sleeves and a long but slightly wide skirt that went down to her ankles. A summer outfit for keeping cool. She wore it whenever she was nervous and wanted to feel normal, which was now.

Taking a deep breath she unlocked the door to her quarters and opened it.

Moya stood, curvy and beautiful, in that long black dress, carrying a tray of breakfast, with a smile that made Laertia smile back before it became a nervous stare as she slowly backed away as The Biot entered.

"I wasn't sure what you preferred, so I went with something light...eggs and toast. One scrambled, one sunny side up. And coffee, of course..." Moya explained setting the tray next to Laertia on the bed, who observed the biot and how easy she acted towards Laertia, as if she had known her for years. The trouble was, Laertia could actually almost picture Moya having always been there. She wanted to see the biot smile again, because it made her smile. She was deeply unsettled at the ease with which it asserted itself into her day to day affairs in the past week...it had balanced her checkbook effortlessly, actually landed her a paying gig she was due for, and it made her feel so safe. Shockingly safe. Laertia was not used to feeling safe. She was used to sleeping with one eye open and a knife under her pillow. Or a shotgun. The first week Moya had been here was also the first week she had been tempted to forgo the practice.

Laertia tried the coffee, sipping it. It was black, no creme or sugar. The bitter taste woke her up. Moya had a pretty good idea of what she liked in terms of food, if the eggs and toast were any indicator.

"Thankz!" Laertia chirped happily, watching as Moya examined her photos on the shelves.

"You've had an interesting existence, Laertia. I'd love to talk about it some time."

Laertia lowered her gray eyes. "Laterz...err...I havvz a rekwestt..."

Moya turned, smiled warmly. "I'd be happy to help."

Laertia, without a word went over to a dresser mirror and sat down in front of it, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a black brush.

"Wud yooz hanndulz myy hairr? I'mm allwayz akksuhdentallee hittin a knot orr twooz annd itt hurtz..."

Moya smiled, nodded, and took the brush, gently, carefully running it through Io's hair. Laertia felt a strange, emotional decompression as she relaxed, retreating a little more into this unfamiliar feeling of safety with Moya, whose fingers gently straightened Laertia's hair as the brush ran through it. Despite facing the mirror, watching Moya brush her hair, Laertia was not really there mentally speaking. She was in a sunny cottage. And it was not Moya brushing her hair.

A hideous disgust at herself warred with her desire to keep having her hair brushed and pretend it was her desired parental figure. The former won out. But Laertia played it cool.

"Thankz..." Laertia said softly, getting up from her seat.

"Anytime." Moya assured the former shadow with another smile

"Reeleez?" Laertia asked innocently, almost stammering, not quite able to hold the biot's gaze in spite of being an absolutely lethal creature who had once been a creature of dread to countless Sith.

"Really." Moya confirmed.

Laertia smiled, genuinely. Moya kept smiling back.

"I lyke yooz..." Laertia admitted. "Yooz iz nyce..."

The biot drew Laertia close, hugging her, hand gliding across a damaged scalp.

"Whatever your pain, is, whatever your suffering, I'm there for you, always." Moya promised. Laertia, having never been hugged by anyone of their own accord before Moya had entered her life, was all but paralyzed in Moya's grasp whenever she did this, still not fully used to the idea Moya was programmed to love Laertia like a daughter, and still not fully used to the idea she herself had requested such programming. Laertia returned the hug, losing herself to the situation, hugging her caretaker tightly and having never felt so amazingly safe and overwhelmingly pathetic in the same breath.

Laertia released the hug and headed to the garage, asking Moya to follow her as she needed help with moving some equipment. Due to not having had the time to read the user manual on Moya, she was in for a nasty surprise, to say the least.

"Heer! I needz tuh getz alotta dhis junkk orrguhnyzed..." Laertia explained as she started to get boxes of electronics up. Some of them contained old weapons, one of them being an old paddle beam gun she had forgotten to unload due to her condition. Moya seemed the very definition of poised, carefully but swiftly lifting up the boxes of electronics while Laertia arranged old crates full of weapons from attempts on her life. Moya frowned in sadness as she saw how many boxes of weapons Laertia had accumulated as a result. Some of the boxes were old and of rickety construction. Moya spotted technical schematics drawn by Laertia.

"I see now why you gave me the programming you did...this is very detailed work..." Moya admitted, looking over the readouts to Io's cybernetic implant design concepts. "You could go professional with what I see here, I mean that..."

"Reelleez?" Laertia asked, now stammering, not used to being complimented like that.

"Absolutely. Of course, I have a cybernetics database, so of course I know good work. You could use some pointers on nerve attenuation though...but other than that, it looks really good..."

"Thankz..." Laertia stammered, getting more nervous. The Biot read this and concern tightened her face as she went over to comfort Laertia. "What's the matter?" Moya asked gently, both hands clasping Laertia's shoulders. Laertia felt warm and safe. Which is why she blurted her next question.

"Moya, cannz I kall yoo momm whennz we'rr alonez?" Laertia asked quietly, fidgeting as she felt a weight in her stomach drop at the question.

Moya only smiled gently at the question. Laertia desperately craved her approval now. Craved it like a starving person craves food.

"Of course you can call me your mother, Laertia. I love you like one. What shall I call you in turn?" Moya assured her, delighted at the idea. Laertia wished to assimilate her completely into her life, it seemed. The Biot welcomed this, all too happy to fill that void. Laertia needed safety and love and Force willing, Moya would be happy to give both. The ex Jedi seemed to be starved of it.

Laertia thought a moment.

"Julia..." Laertia whispered, almost conspiratorial. "Dhatz myy reel nayme..."

"Julia is a lovely name for my daughter to have." Moya agreed, smiling. Laertia hung on her every word.

"C'mon Julia, lets finish all of this and go watch soap operas..."

"Okay...Momm..." Laertia replied, wide eyed and giddy at Moya's smile, lifting the crate with the loaded paddle beam gun, as she moved to a storage locker to properly secure it. It became quickly apparant to Moya as she cleaned just how unkempt Io's life had become due to her injuries. Stuff which should have been secured weeks back were instead gathering dust. That was all going to change. Moya intended to bring order to all of it.

As Laertia happily carried her box she failed to spot an errant hydrospanner on the ground and her foot rolled over its surface, causing her to stumble. She dropped the box and all the empty weapons came tumbling out, including the loaded paddle beamer, which fired by accident as it was jostled. Moya noticed too late and she was struck by the beam directly in the middle of her dress, flinging her backward into a wall.

"Mom!" Laertia called out in a panic scrambling towards her only to freak out when she saw Moya starting to shake violently, her skin turning red as a tomato as she thrashed about, glowing green blood flooding out of her mouth as inhuman, pig-like squeals erupted from Moya's throat as she thrashed about violently, steam rising off her, electrical sparks from within her body lighting up inhuman organs.

(Music from when Ash's head gets torn off in Alien plays)

Laertia was too freaked out and simply backed away as Moya's flesh started violently deforming, stretching and sloughing in multiple directions, the squeals growing louder in pitch before Moya shifted into what she had been when Laertia had first seen her: A featureless gray humanoid with no face, only this time clad in Moya's dress.

Laertia huddled in a corner, watching as its internal organs flared and lit up red under the surface of the skin occasionally. She had been so willing to jump. And then she had been reminded of the truth at precisely the wrong time.

Laertia watched the inert biot on the floor for the next ten minutes as it lay inert. And then something lit up green on the surface and the appearance twisted and warped back into Moya's figure. She rose up, confused.

"Ugh...where am I?" Moya asked. "Where'd the last hour of my life go?"

"Yooz wuz hittz bye a paddul beem..." Laertia explained quietly from the corner she was huddled in.

Moya's face twisted in sympathy. "I must have frightened you. I'm so sorry. One of my design vulnerabilities is paddle beams. One of many, I'm afraid."

"Itz allryte. Yooz iz wut yooz iz."

Moya smiled, then looked at the blood she had gotten all over herself, still glowing green.

"I should get this mess cleaned..."

"Itz allryte...I'll handulz itt..." Laertia spoke up quickly. "Yooz getz yersellff straytendz..."

Moya nodded, then she got a confused expression.

"The overheat seems to have wiped the last hour of my memory, dear. Was there any directives you gave me in the specific?"

Laertia shook her head, lying expertly. "Nah...nuthin'."

Moya raised an eyebrow but smiled warmly anyway. "I see. I'll be in the refresher..." The biot rose up and left the garage to go clean her dress. Only when she was out of sight did Laertia let herself start shivering and shaking from surprise and fright at what had just happened, not just to Moya, but at how totally she herself had been under her influence at the end. Under the influence (willingly at that) of a biot she had barely known a week. She was already willing to jump on a landmine for her.

Laertia was suddenly wondering if she had made the right decision. This...this creature had some sudden hold that she could not explain. No...that wasn't quite true...

She could read the manual, for instance.

Laertia got up after cleaning all the creepy glowing blood off the floor and dead tissue from the paddle beam that had been flung everywhere. To Laertia's intense discomfort, she examined the dead tissue and found it to be flaky and rubbery, strands of glowing green muscle fibers already breaking down as she tossed it all into the incinerator and washed her hands, then vomited her breakfast, washed her mouth out, and headed to her room and locked it, picking up the datapad. After going through the next ten minutes absorbing its contents, Laertia set the pad down. Hyperpheremones. Adapted from Zeltrons. Normal Zeltron Pheremones were difficult enough to resist. When you add the word 'Hyper' to it...

Well...

It HAD helped her get used to Moya's presence, which was going to be necessary. She had no friends. No allies. A beggar once more. Beggars cannot be choosers. She needed to feel safe. Feel loved. Feel protected. She could no longer fully protect herself. She had barely been able to find work or eat before Moya, but was too proud to resort to crime again.

Laertia sat on that bed for five minutes, debating whether to actively resist the Hyper-Pheremones. Moya was nice. Moya made her feel safe.

Laertia had no will to fight left. It had been bled out of her, at least for now. If she was going to spend her life as a civilian, suffering eternally from crippling migraines, she was sure as hell not spending it alone as well.

If Moya was going to be her only companion in all of this, there was no point in resisting what would make her the NEW most important person in Io's life. They distracted her. That was enough after all the pain. Even if the details messed with her regarding Moya's nature.

There was a knock at the door and Laertia chose not to resist. She messed up her hair a little and unlocked the door, which slid open, Moya smiled, her regular dress traded for a navy blue one without shoulder straps.

"Are you alright?" Moya asked gently, stepping in.

Laertia nodded. "Evuhreeting iz fyne, 'cept..."

"What? Tell me. I'm here to help." Moya assured her.

Laertia didn't hold her gaze.

"Wud yoo brushh myy hairr?" Laertia asked. "I gotz itt mezzed up movin stuffs..."

Moya smiled. "I'd be delighted."

Laertia sat back down on the chair and staired into her bedroom mirror as Moya calmly and gently brushed her hair...



The pair reached Darkmite's office ahead of the other two and when Laertia saw his computer she immediately went to it and ran her hand over it, her grandmastery of Ionize instantly opening up its files. It was curiously very lacking in information save a list of departure times from Correllia. Laertia's eye twitched at the number of times Mimban seemed to have been visited.

"Laertia? What's Darkmite up to?" Moya asked.

"Heez beenn makin trippz tuh Mimmbahn fer a munth orr morrz..." Laertia answered with a grimace. "Pwabuhblee werr all duh artyfacctz cayme frumm..."

Laertia accessed more information on the console, and for the first time got a sliver of her nemesis: He was torturing some Bothan.

"You'll be my first attempt with a Bothan. Usually I try to work with the smoothest surfaces possible..." came a harsh nasty accent from the same gutter she had crawled out of, but from behind the camera. He was in the same essence extraction chamber they had found.

"The suffering is 'quite' exquisite, I'm told...your soul...kept going in your own bodily fat, repurposed into wax for a glorious destiny...my ascension...these curios, relics..." Dyson's voice trailed as the Bothan started to scream as his fat was torn out of him, ripping through his fur, which molded and fell off the skin.

"I had no interest in them...at first..." Dyson admitted. "But once you learn how to do one thing...you can't help but wanna learn all the other stuff..."

The Bothan was quite dead at this point, skeleton stripped to the bone as the flesh burned off, the living fat, slick with streaks of blood being drawn up into a hidden nozzle at the top of the chamber.

"Duh syck fethh..." Laertia whispered, wanting to vomit.

Laertia then went to the hidden room Moya had uncovered in Darkmite's office. The woman Moya had knocked out was gone.

Laertia dared to venture into the super hidden room within that one, spotting a large amount of witchcraft scrolls, all of which were too dangerous for Moya to touch.

"Gotz summ morr stuff fer ya, Maatsuu..." Laertia stopped as she stared at the painting.

It was a woman of middle age, with curly blond hair though quite beautiful still, in a long, white dress, there was an arrogance to her features, yet the face could fake warmth when possible. Moldy yellow eyes stared back from the painting. The United was a face she never wanted to see again. But they had a massive info dump as it was.

Laertia left the chamber to find Moya.

"Moya, getz redeez fer ourr showw. We myte needz yuh tuh turrn upz duh charm fer wen Dahrkmyte's conntacct appeerz."

Moya nodded went to a clear area past the guard droids she and Tanaski had beaten, got on one knee, closed her eyes, and her flesh rippled, turning gray and losing features as green electrical arcs ran over her body, her internals lighting up and flickering green through the skin.

Laertia copied everything on the terminal to holodisk, handing it to Tanaski...

"We needz tuh skreen evuhree flyte too annd frumm Corellia thatz evun wennt neer Mimmbahn a littul, az well az freekwencee ov flytes..." Laertia suggested. "We myte bee abul tuh pruhdikkt hiz nexxt duhparrchurr."

In the meanwhile of this, Laertia tried not to freak out at how destiny seemed to have tossed her into the cult's way again for some reason. She was barely keeping it together as it was.

Finally the electrical arcs across Moya's now featureless body ceased and the biot stood up, flesh warping into the muscular, yet voluptuous figure of a Mirialan woman with long, dark green hair and bright green skin and dark green eyes. Moya often assisted in her shows in this guise, often to distract a crowd with her extreme beauty and hyperpheremones cranked up to max while Laertia pulled off the cheat that tricked the crowd into buying her illusions on stage. Few Force users could resist her in this state since the pheremone strength was increased to maximum along with her healing and other physical abilities. It might be useful in case Darkmite had any other Force Adepts in his cadre.

"Itt also goz witoutz sayinz dhat yoo bothh cann comez to duh showw while we wait fer Darkmite's flunkee..."

"You ever been in a magic act before? It's rather fun, pulling rabbits out of hats and stuff..." Moya asked Tanaski.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Laertia Io"]

She was listening to the pair of them about him and could feel something slithering across her skin. The jedi master checked at a few things though where she was seeing the saber. Then she moved bringing her hand into her pack. "Yeah I do have something that can work." She was checking out a few parts of it but withdrew nullification resin. The jedi archive material was helpful before she was checking it and setting it in a small container for specimens or artifacts. Her pack was designed with dimensional compression and shifting to well have more then enough space in a pocket dimension created with the force itself.

She sealed it away and focused for a moment while walking as the sensation of it and the feeling went away. The jedi master listened to more of it for the two of them. She was watching and reaching out with the force to sense what they could. Eyes flicking back and forth and the mention of Mimban was something not many others might be able to see or go to. With its underground cities, the surface was jungle and rocks and hidden temples. A smirk appearing on her face as she knew the locals and had a good amount on the planet itself. "If we have to head towards Mimban to find him, it might prove more difficult."

The jedi master checked out a few things though to make sure the resin and the pack she had were working to kep the influence away from the girl. Her mind was fragile and this could be a dangerous thing. "We'll be able to get there though. I have a few ideas if they are on Mimban about how to stop them. The locals attending the temple are friends who have contacts at the underground ports." Mimban with its cities and towns was unique but the surface was dangerous jungle... they would have to be careful when she was looking at the Biot and Moya was proving highly effective.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Talk about coincidences, that is what he felt upon learning more, the cult, the souls, it was unfortunately all starting to make sense in some regard. "You don't think this crime boss is attempting to recreate such a 'thing', using his power and influence to kidnap people, drain their sole and make this mind once more". The thought of it was quite horrifying, he'd rather not become the victim of such an entity, it only made defeating this guy even more important. Perhaps they could take him alive, give the man a taste of his own medicine, elder sister would probably be happy to 'practice' on them.

Leaving Matsu to deal with the strange saber Tana followed the other two women, back to the area where they had come, the office building and the trapped hallway. Closely following behind Moyra, watchful for any other traps that would surprise the party, even if being stabbed had not treated the boys life it was certainly an unpleasant feeling. What they found and saw though could be considered much much worse then any attack droid.

It was quite the gut wrenching thing to watch, Tana almost following suit with @Laertia in the throwing up department, it put many other 'thing' to shame. He almost felt hesitant when the copied data disk was handed over, still shocked by the method employed to kill the bothan, this man, he had to die. They did not deserve to live, each second their breathed was an insult to the force and eveything else living in the galaxy.

His slightly sickened state of mind being replaced by that of determination, mind clear and focused on the coming task, nothing would distract him... well perhaps not everything. The young's mind once more wandering as the biot women changed in to quite the well 'endowed' Mirialan women. It was quite the new and exotic look, Tana almost not hearing the women's following question, "Magic, spiritual arts, yes I am familiar, though I believe my own culture may differ a little, though why do you ask"?

[member="Matsu Ike"] [member="Laertia Io"]

 

[Laertia Io]

(WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE YOUR PROGRESS?)

(YES)

(PROGRESS SAVED)

Moya only chuckled a bit at [member="Tanaski Yumi"] and his response.

"Stage magic is a little different. Its all optical illusions, deception and sleight of hand..."

"We styll havv tyme tuh prepp..." Laertia spoke up..."Itz tyme tuh go too duh Ship..."

Later on...

The Black Crescent auditorium had been built in a massive, imposing brutalist style, built almost like an old cathedral as opposed to an entertainment hall, elaborate rib structures adorning the outside. It had survived the recent conflict due to the designer, having survived multiple planetary invasions, anticipating something like what had just happened to Corellia.

Laertia had spent the time before the show making herself look completely different, putting on a black, sparkling leotard and black stockings with boots, fixing a magicians coat to her back, a black top hat and black wig that extended her already very black hair down to her shoulders. The most difficult part was applying the makeup in order to hide the scars on her face, Moya helping apply it backstage. All their best tricks had been prepared for the evening, [member="Matsu Ike"] and Tanaski both having front row seats in a grand gilded auditorium with a dome depicting the Millennium Falcon flying away from the Death Star. Laertia was stunned when Moya told her how packed it was. How would they actually spot Darkmite's contact?

Laertia controlled her panic in the old backstage prep room, staring in the mirror, painting bright red circles on her cheeks to mimic the way a doll was made to blush. Moya was dressed in an all green, incredibly skimpy dancer's outfit, which showed a lot of green skin along with dark green knee high boots and a dark green top hat.

"You're going to do great out there. And you have two new friends! That's two more than you had a month ago..." Moya reassured her as Laertia stood up, her scars expertly hidden by the pale makeup.

"Wun cann onnlee hopez..." Laertia said nervously, picking up her black magician's wand and following Moya out of the dressing room to the space underneath a giant stone stage. Moya walked with that easy confidence, and an unnatural preciseness that denoted her non organic nature. The audience would not notice. They never noticed. Not when Moya currently looked like that.

Underneath the stage, on the great circular, golden repulsorlift platform, a great box, rectangular in shape and engraved with reliefs of fountains, waited for them.

As usual, Moya would do the talking. Laertia never spoke on stage due to intense public shame at having her speech impediment being heard by so many at once. It was one more reminder of how Moya was indispensable...

Laertia again toyed with the idea of telling Moya her real name, letting herself become the daughter of a fancier robot, but that would have been tantamount to admitting just how utterly messed up she was, and Laertia would never drop her armor enough again to admit it, which left Moya in this strange position of being both a mother yet not a mother.

As the stage rose, Laertia averted her gaze from Moya to the cheering audience. Moya, as she often did, opened up with a monologue, taking a bow as trumpets played in the grand auditorium. Laser strobes and smoke started to dance across the stage.

"EVERYONE! LETS GIVE IT UP FOR THE AMAZING MADAME IO!" Moya shouted to the audience as the latest pop music played. Laertia took a practiced bow, the bow of a magician.

"TONIGHT!" Moya exclaimed into a mic, "We offer feats of wonder and illusion! Tonight...we WILL make you ask 'HOW?!' And for our first trick..." Moya said pointing to Laertia, who actually blushed under the hot lights.

"We will begin with a trick near and dear to our hearts...THE CORELLIAN CARD SHARK! Would anyone from the audience like to come up? Hmmmm..." Moya trailed before her eyes settled on Tanaski.

"You there! Care to assist the great Madame Io?" Moya asked him in the front row. "Step right up! Don't be shy!"

OOC: Apologies for the wait, the both of you.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Laertia Io"]

The jedi master was curious as she listened to them. Handling and containing the weapon to protect the girl she had a few ideas about what they might be able to do. She needed to meditate and focus on it to see if they could destroy it or neutralize it. Whatever magics wih the force were being done it wasn't natural which gave it the distinctive taste of the darkside but in a way few sith used it. This was about using them and their energies to improve instead of being cruel. She was reminded of the hand artifact within the mountain and that worked on something closer ripping the soul from the body and binding it as a force ghost to another one. The jedi master remained though while the magic show was going on and her senses reached outwards to investigate and feel the others around them

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

"Interesting, I would not mind taking part in that some time, be interesting to see how things work", those words sealing his fate, now the young knight found himself in a crowd of people, watching a stage as the two women once again came into view. This time wearing stylish outfits for the upcoming show, Tana clapping along with the rest of the crowed as the duo was announced and greeted those watching, knowing full well once the show started he'd be selected the moment the two required a 'volunteer' from the crowd. Said suggestion came sooner then later, almost instantly the young boy being dragged up onto the stage in order to take part in the trick, giving a small wave to the new spectators. Hopefully they didn't plan on putting his regeneration powers to the test, being sawed in half wasn't exactly something he could recover from.

[member="Laertia Io"] [member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Laertia Io]

Moya pulled [member="Tanaski Yumi"] up to the stage easily. Her physical strength greatly increased in this form.

"Here's a brave audience member!" Moya called out, smiling, gesturing to him.

Laertia pretended to be about to sneeze, removing a colored handkerchief and blowing her nose comically...and a few blue birds magically flew out of the handkerchief, flying up and away. Moya sighed.

"Madame Io, I've heard of horrible little nuggets being pried from a nasal cavity but still..."

Laertia shrugged sheepishly...and then comically sneezed again, and caught a few eggs in her hands.

Moya now looked grossed out.

"I'm not even getting into the logistics..." Moya joked. The audience erupted in chuckles in the front rows. "But...lets get started.

Laertia took off her top hat and produced a deck of cards while a gigantic red plastic shark, fully inflated, with what looked to be multiple cards flying around inside, rolled out onto the grand stage.

Laertia shuffled the deck in her hands and and made a fan out of them, handing them to Tanaski and covering her eyes.

"Pick a card. Any card..." Moya encourgaged. "Don't show what you pick and place it in the deck..."

As they waited for Tanaski to pick and [member="Matsu Ike"] playing lookout to bear fruit, Laertia was drawn into memory...



Ursula looked at Laertia's ship, nestled deep in a long forgotten docking bay in the recesses of Nar Shaddaa.

It wasn't much of a ship, predictably. An old Dynamic Class reproduction. Bog standard.

"It's a nice ship." Ursula said to be polite. "How often did you fly it?"

Laertia, wearing a gray jacket and gray clothes, teleported ahead of her to the craft. "Errr...abowtt forr tymez. But I mayntayndz itt reel gud! All duh engynez arr tipz topz!"

Ursula took note of where Laertia had chosen her hiding spot: Something not on the maps, old but easily habitable and abandoned just as easily.

Small hangar, aged but cleared of debris. Ursula did a double take as she realized Laertia had installed some sort of self built blaster turret on the ceiling, cobbled from an old sonic rifle, a mechanized swivel and a droid brain and photo receptor. Laertia gave a strange whistle and the turret deactivated.

"You're pretty handy with machines." Ursula noted approvingly.

Laertia beamed and hit the switch on her small remote and the hatch opened.

"Holdz ah sec..." Laertia warned, going ahead of the purple skinned Twi'lek. The newly minted padawan went ahead and flicked some strange switches on one of the hatch pylons that Ursula realized were arming switches to sonic charges that she spotted once she walked aboard the quiet dark interior, placed carefully above and behind the hatch exit...along with two jury rigged spearguns. Laertia didn't feth around.

The garage seemed to be the general storage area...Laertia seemed to steal and hoard military rations. There was also a workbench. Ursula spotted posters of magic acts. She walked forward, her all white suit like a bright blot against rusty colored interiors.

"You enjoy stage magic?" The Jedi Shadow asked her new apprentice.

Laertia nodded, teleporting a nearby deck of cards to her. She pulled them out of their pack and began tossing cards into the air...which quickly turned into thin, multicolored ribbons.

Ursula raised an eyebrow. "How did you do that?"

"A maajishunn nevuh ruhveelz hurr sekretz." Laertia answered. "I...I sortuh wuz savinz upp tuh bee wun. But I don'tz havv anny rabbittz."

"I see. Are card tricks your specialty?"

Laertia held out her arms, wiggled her fingers, and thick gray smoke flowed out of her sleeve, making the shape of a swimming shark.

"I can already see the possibilities of combining this with your training." Ursula observed. "Laertia...have you...always had to teach yourself?"

Laertia blinked.

"I gotz reel funni memmoreez frumm wen I wuz reel yung...but...ittz...ittz all kynda fuzzy-fuzz..." she answered, confused. "I getz weerd dreemz..."

The teenager went extremely quiet and then gestured for Ursula to follow her to the engineering room. "We shudd dooz ann inspekshunn buhforr turnin duh shipp on..."

Ursula followed her and to the inactive hyperdrive.

It was here that Ursula saw signs of improvisation. The hyperdrive was fairly standard looking but like the blaster turret outside, seemed to be cobbled together from parts from different ships. But Laertia's work wasn't sloppy. Beginner quality. But not sloppy. The engines seemed to have been partly restored from scrap as well...Ursula spotted circuitry from Tie Fighter parts.

"Duh engynez wuz basikallly inntakt, jusst neededz a feww tingz..." Laertia said doing an inspection.

"How did you learn to rebuild engines?"

"Stoll frumm docckyarrds alotz wen I wuz littul..." Laertia answered, not looking at Ursula as she inspected the ion engine panels, doing systems checks. "Yuh evenchuallyy lern werr evuhryting goz..."

Ursula helped her, inspecting every workaround. A lot of this looked like it had been done a long time ago but improvements had steadily been made over time.

Eventually, everything checked out. Wishing to understand more, Ursula then strolled out and checked the cargo section. It was a cacophony of books, and posters, the books in particular having looked like they had been repaired over the years repeatedly.

Ursula gave a side glance to Laertia as she knealt to examine the texts. There was nothing about fantasy...no book actually seemed to be for entertainment...it was all topical. Outdated engineering and survival manuals from the republic military.

"Didz yoo startz in duh streetz, Mastuh Sandraven?"

The question caught Ursula off guard. "What gave you that idea?"

Laertia shrugged. "Its jusst...wayy yoo holldz yerself...huddledz inn duh alleywayz onn duh wayy heerz. Eyez dartinz arowndz. I seez tingz lyke dhat."

Ursula leaned against the hull. "I don't actually remember much...I was found by my Master, Hiram Loste...alone in an old military complex. I have no idea how I got there. Still don't..."

"So...so yoo wuz lyke...soopa weerd...lyke mee!" Laertia concluded excitedly. She would not understand the significance of this part of the conversation until later. Much later.

Ursula chuckled. "I suppose you could say I was super weird..."

Laertia laughed with her. This greatly disturbed the shadow. How is it this very same girl who attempted to genuinely kill her not four days ago be so suddenly friendly?

"I gotzta goe mayke fynall chekz onn duh systemmz uppfrunt!" Laertia exclaimed, rushing out before Ursula could utter a word. While Laertia powered the systems on, lighting the whole ship fully, and Ursula walked around, starting to feel faint traces of emotional pain in the very hull. Laertia's pain. It grew greater as Ursula went to one section of the ship, noticing more drawings. Some were sketches of technical parts, drawn with painstaking precision. Ursula hesitated as she neared its source while walking into the main hold, instead staring at the strange paintings, apparently old given the damage to the edges of their frames, each lain next to the other against bare spaces against the hull.

They all depicted strange sights. A young girl child with messy, tangled hair in dirty clothes, holding a large, spiky black jacket in a trash strewn alleyway, staring up at the sky, where a legion of men and women fully clad in dark green armor, riding dark green horses with six wings each, descended from a bright, sunlit sky. Another depicted a younger Laertia in a grand chamber standing before a feminine figure in a lake, seemingly composed of water. Another showed Laertia, again as a child in a jacket too large for her, standing before a large, round, sapphire blue shield with concentric golden circles at the center, held by an ancient--and giant-skeleton that towered over her, its eye sockets shimmering with golden fire, like something straight out of a comic book. (Obvious Ghost Rider Reference: 70 XP)

The last one seemed to be Laertia walking across a desert to a tower of light...

Where these dreams? Or memories? Did Laertia herself even know?

Ursula felt the ship rock as Laertia hesitantly but carefully piloted out of the hangar and into the sky, setting it into orbit once it had left Nar Shaddaa. She went to the cockpit. Laertia was staring at the stars.

"I nevuh saw no stahrz inn spayce buhforr..." Laertia trailed, looking at the planet she had grown up on for the first time.

"You've never taken this thing into space before?" Ursula asked, stomach sinking. She tried.

"I...uhhh...I wuz alwayz skayred. Buhsydez, I onlee flewz itt wunce!"

"I see. But you overcame that fear, on your own, without prompting. I'm impressed."

Laertia beamed.

Ursula sat next to her, taking control of the ship, as Laertia's piloting was incredibly crude and shaky, whatever her other merits. She plotted a course with a display composed of nixie tubes and crude circuits, with hastily written, hard to read warnings about the settings, growing more alarmed as it became obvious just how much of this ship had been restored by a youngling. A very smart youngling, but one working with very few and poor resources. The ship would have to be refurbished to be useful to Laertia. Ursula could already see the possibilities, having restored ships previously. Laertia would gawk at all the aftermarket parts out there. But her training would be first and foremost.

"As your training advances. Learning to let go of your fears and hatreds will be essential...you are now training to be a Jedi Shadow. You'll be going up against dangerous people who will kill you and enjoy it if you make a mistake against them. These are not the common vermin you have no doubt dealt with. We are talking extremely dangerous sadists with more resources, cunning, and skill than any mere crime lord at their disposal."

"I wont faylez yoo--"

"Its not about not failing me. It is about not failing yourself, Io."

"I nevuh fayledz muhsellf buhforr--"

"If I had been a Mandalorian or a Sith, you would have died in that chamber. Or been made a slave." Ursula explained in her typically blunt fashion. "You are skilled, no denying. They too would have been caught off guard by you, as I was. But they would have eventually gotten the better of you, as I did. You have much to learn. You will need all of it."

Laertia was silent as she processed Ursula's criticism, before nodding.

"Surez!" She said with great enthusiasm after a moment. "I'yll stuudeez soopa hahrdz, I promyse! Scoutz honuh!"

Ursula nodded in approval. "Great. Jedi training only gives you what you put into it. So while I pilot this f pieced together ship, paranoid it will fly apart and kill us both--"

"HEYYY!" Laertia protested, though she knew by the troll expression on Ursula that it was in jest and was giggling a few seconds afterward.

"--You will go and meditate..."

"Wutz medytayte?"

"It is where you clear your mind, empty it, while sitting quietly with your eyes closed and trying to connect with The Force. It is essential to restoring your strength in it after heavy use."

"Sowndz susspyshusslee lyke vydeeohgayme mekannikz but yooz duh boss Ursy." Laertia said respectfully, getting out of her seat and heading to where Ursula realized was the source of the pain on the vessel...and it was also Laertia's quarters.

As Ursula made a rocky jump to hyperspace, she grimly realized that however brave a face her padawan put on, how skilled she legitimately was...she had a lot of demons to work out.

Laertia walked into her room, painted pink with black polka dots, and closed the door, locking the hatch.

There were drawings everywhere. The earliest ones were crude pictures of a silhouette in a spiky black jacket, done with crayon. The figure was often shown next to trash cans, or alone in alleyways, or surrounded by silhouettes with knives.

But nowhere in all of that was the spiky silhouette shown with a friend. These crude, childlike drawings had served as Laertia's diary, in a sense. She had never known why she had bothered trying to keep a record. Or why she kept them on the wall once she made them. Maybe she had wanted to try and make sense of such a seemingly meaningless existence.

Regardless, she couldn't let Ursula see these, even if she could not bring herself to discard them. Laertia quietly took each drawing off the wall, stuffing them into a box and putting it into a footlocker built into her bed. The locker itself was filled with various types of knives, from the humble switch blade to serrated combat knives. There was nothing else save an old children's book she had first learned to read with, a simplistic story about a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. She had maintained it over the years, it often being the only therapy she had, reading it over and over.

She supposed she should let go of such things, being a super awesome psychic warrior now. But she was not sure how.

Laertia sat crosslegged, closing her eyes, trying to empty her mind, pulling out a deck of cards to relax...



Laertia pulled out of the intense memory that had lasted only a quarter second, waiting for Tanaski to pick.

As her eyes glanced at the crowd, her eyes fell on a a shadowed booth above her. Her breath froze in her body but she maintained her act.

He was older, dressed in a shiny white business suit and long white coat, that smug grin over a mouth of gold teeth, hair messy, long and black, face ashen and crooked. He leaned forward, made sure she could see him. Laertia turned her stare to Tanaski, not breaking her character. It was definitely different.

But it was him.

Dyson Darkmite was watching her magic act...

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Laertia Io"]

Matsu continued to watch and she allowed her senses to expand outwards... to let the force energies of the world become like a number of strings that any of them could pull and alert her... then she felt one. SOmeone had come to see them, had taken up a position andshecould feel the darkness as a cold feeling under her gut when she looked with the force but didn't turn her head. Detection skills within the force itself allowed her to feel the life force of the beings around her. The darkness aroud here brought her attention back to what she could see and watching Tana go up on stage brought a small snicker to her face.

'Hey now snowflake.' She heard the voice and had drifted away, memories could be a tricky thing but in the span of a heartbeat, in the span of her focus it allowed the force to come around and could stretch for an eternity as she had learned. There was something familiar about all of this in her mind and the woman sitting next to her with snow white hair her jade colored skin, so smooth normally though it looked like scales. The oils she excreted were a lovely thing as she could recall and smelled of vanilla mixed with flowers. The pheromones she would excrete.

'You aren't really here, it is just my mind playing with me.' She sadly wished... she longed for that delusion one could get into where they welcomed memories to take over. 'I am and you know it sweetie but your mind is trying to remember where a scenario like this happened once before... Don't you remember Nar Shadda when we were in the entertainment district undercover?' She was thinking about it and her mind was a maze of decades of things... missions, encounters, instances that many thought lost. She could remember it... 'When we were young' She said it with a smirk. 'Speak for yourself sweetie, I am in your head how you remember me, still with that nubile body.'

The jedi master was looking at her and she did the thing, her face scrunching up so her nose seemed smaller and lips stuck out as she blew a kiss. The memory of the sound where her lips smacked together for a moment was there clear as it was nearly forty years ago. 'We fought a hutt gang back then they were working with a darkside group and....' She trailed off when she thought about it and remained where she was as her eyes glowed with understanding and remembering. This being was many things but he wasn't the first gang leader with an artifact in history... he was just really really dangerous.

The jedi master doubted she would be able to stop him alone even with all of her skills she was still just a single jedi and a darkside object like he had. She didn't move completely instead focusing o the force itself... letting herself motion and alert Tana to it as a presence before she was finally moving quickly. Her body immersing and cloaking itself in the white current so she could move through the rows and left a small static illusion of herself in the front row. She slid across the room and towards the doors to get through and cover the door to the private booth.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

He would be lying if this little display wasn't fun, though said tricks were just that, tricks, he had to admit the way they were done was quite interesting. The use of piratical effects and techniques to trick the eye without the need of the force or technology gave it a very mystical sense. He had to guess is was the wonder and wow, followed with the 'how did they do that' sort of thinking that got people into the whole act, no wonder they crowd was so big. The boys hands clapped along with those watching before turning attention back to the trick at hand, quirking an eyebrow at the very simple 'pick a card' statement. Even someone with no knowledge of magic could guess were this was going... maybe.

With a small amount of hesitation he reached out, placing a finger against one of the cards in hand, "that one". His hands grasping the card, making sure to look at it before placing it back down, keeping his face and body as calm as possible, just to make sure no funny echani like body reading business was taking place. Now came the waiting game, to 'sit' back and see how this little trick would be performed, and what sort of outcome it would bring.

[member="Matsu Ike"] [member="Laertia Io"]

 

[The Amalgam]

Wearing: Resistance Epidermis (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/137623-resistance-epidermis/)

Armed with: First Degree Burn (http://starwarsrp.net/topic/142244-first-degree-burn/)

Skin Shears (Purple, Double Bladed Lightsaber)


(Fur Elise by Beethoven plays)


The witch watched, her presence concealed from a balcony reserved for high paying customers. It was not Laertia she were interested in. Not too much, anyway, but she was interested. She still didn't know how she fit in. She knew only that she was not going to kill her if she could help it. Not after that whole debacle with Sawa Ike on Canto Blight and Laertia's outburst.

But really, she did have other concerns. Sure, she was here to watch, but she was also here because of Laertia's companion, namely, her design.

Helping Darkmite achieve his own aims for Corellia was incidental. He was powerful...surprisingly good at learning magic...but she would not hesitate to kill him if he grew too ambitious. The fat stealing had become a hobby of his. She had taught him other things in her spare time but the feth seemed unusually fixated on his alchemized wax scheme. Oh well...do what came natural, supposed. Some people just wanna get their supervillain on. It wasn't an unpleasant concept to her. But it would cost him because while Dyson had talant...he was up against Three Shadows.

The Amalgam hated Jedi Shadows. (Except for Uri and maaaayyybe Laertia). They were always the ones that came the closest to killing her. Especially Ursula Sandraven. That one had come the closest.

Laertia looked nothing like the street punk that had killed her previous body. The Amalgam was almost amazed at the difference.

She watched as [member="Tanaski Yumi"] selected the card. She had never understood Laertia's affinity for magic. Her box seat was across from Dyson. She was clad in her favorite suit, recovered from the Canto Blight Security, as well as her lightsaber, repairing it painstakingly.

She watched as [member="Matsu Ike"] sat at the box seat, not realizing the power of the white current hiding her enemy as she moved ever closer to Darkmite. But that mattered little, since she was devoting her energy to cloaking herself in the Force. But all that would change soon.

Moya's design was revolutionary. Too revolutionary to leave in the hands of Ashla lovers. Much like the blood of Nine Lives, the Magic of the Flame Geist, The Madness of Uri, the Heart of Maranon...her own corrupt spirit...all had a part to play.

But what part did dear Laertia play. The Brain Demon had been silent on that, as well as silent on how that forceless android Nine had created fit. But Moya was the objective.

"I gotta admit, Amy...I wasn't too sure about ya...but you sure know how to bring a person a carrot..." Darkmite spoke to her over her comlink. "Not only do I get a piece of every ounce of relevant action on Corellia, but now you give me the chance to settle old scores..."

"Tell me, Dyson..." The shapeshifter trailed, her dead purple eyes fixated on the happy looking Laertia, feeling a stab of psychotic jealousy that Laertia had anything even close to stable despite being an even bigger mess than Uri that she wasn't sure how to acknowledge, so she took a stick of gum, chewed it, not answering Dyson, watching Laertia.

Laertia took the card Tanaski had selected, and, without looking at it tore up the card and threw the fragments at Moya, who gave a mock sigh, took off her top hat, (at which point a bird flew out and began attacking Laertia as it had been trained to, causing Laertia to run about flapping her arms in fake surprise before grabbing an oversized hankerchief from her own hat and sneezing loudly and in exaggeration, causing a whole mess of cards to come flying out...along with what appeared to be a number of baby robins that flew upward.

"Damn, woman, you have a sinus infection? " Moya asked Laertia as part of the act. Laertia picked up all of the cards she had sneezed and showed them to Tanaski. They were all different cards. Laertia went to the plastic shark full of cards bouncing around and dumped them all in. Moya produced a needle and popped the inflated shark. It burst with playing cards flying everywhere and turning to ribbons...though the ones that remained as they landed on the ground were all copies of the card Tanaski had selected.

"Is that your card?" Moya asked teasingly.

"Heh." The Amalgam chuckled from her seat, readying her pistol. She had modified it to fiery incendiary shots, and had brought a detachable gun stock, which she fixed as she took aim at Moya...

...and her eye slid back to Laertia...

The Amalgam decided to wait before ruining her magic show...she was curious...she wanted to see another trick...

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="The Amalgam"]

The jedi master felt a brush and her danger sense came as she was moving. Allowig the force to come to her and move forward as the jedi master moved keeping herself concealed, her mind in shadows and the stage behind her but that was where the danger was and finely tuned senses were an important thing for them to have. She moved quickly looking up and her eyes moved up towards the balcony and was letting magic go through her hands as she knew the dathomiri witch spells to move quickly gripping and concealing herself when she crawled up looking forward. The green mistsand power of magics the witches like Elayne had shown and taught her. "What is this?" She said it and could see something gleam, a scope and peering into the force wasn't as easy when you were focusing on several things at once so she dropped her attention. Letting the white current reveal herself and no need for grip spells when the jedi master rose up hands behind her back and face calm.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

He waited the outcome of the trick, still not sure how it fully worked, he was doubtful Laertia would reveal anything about her methods afterwards, she needed to keep that mystery up for later shows. though if it was the same trick done over and over again like other stage performers the details would probably be out on the holo net. In the end who really new, right now Tana was focusing more on the other Jedi's hand as they selected a card after a lengthy shuffle, eyes widening in a slight amazment as his card was produced from the deck, his hand clapping together, unable to resist congratulating the show of tricky. "Yes that is right, how'd you do that"? The boys voice carrying a showman like attitude to play along with the act, getting the crowd a little more into things, his gaze looking over those sitting and watching, feeling their emotions through the force. Wait, emotions, something felt a little off, but out of the crowd he could swear her felt a small sinister energy. Perhaps someone didn't like the trick? who knew, but considering the events that had happened today Tana decided to keep a small tab on that feeling. Working as an assassin for mob bosses in the past he was familiar with how they often worked, there type was not above using this crowd for a nefarious act to get at someone they had beef with.

[member="Matsu Ike"] [member="The Amalgam"]

 

[Laertia Io]

Laertia kept her wits about her as the crowd went wild, cheering the display. [member="Tanaski Yumi"] certainly seemed to be enjoying herself, asking how they had done it.

"A magician never reveals their secrets..." Moya reminded him with a smile. Moya seemed to enjoy herself, certainly.

But as for Laertia, she wasn't enjoying herself, though she made a good show of it. Dyson was here. Why he was here was the question. He had to know that they were coming. Had to know. The smart play would have been getting off Corellia once he knew all three were on his scent. But Dyson had changed. Just like Laertia had. He wasn't just a common murderer. He'd crossed that boundary when he had used the dark to tear out someone's fat. Laertia had crossed it the first time she had used a lightsaber to kill someone...

As she saw Dyson out the corner of her eye, Moya moved to the second part of the act, removing her top hat and producing her pet rabbit Wintrium , who immediately hopped out of Moya's hands into Laertia's, who petted it at first before removing her own top hat and wiggling her hands over it, producing a tall, unnaturally straight column of thick gray smoke, and when Laertia snapped her fingers, the rabbit hopped into the column of smoke...and out popped two rabbits from Moya's hat, followed by Wintrium. The rabbits circled around Moya, then Tanaski, then Laertia, before all three jumped into Moya's hat--and out of the smoke column Laertia had created. The crowd erupted in cheers, even as Laertia watched [member="Matsu Ike"] start moving away...she had spotted Dyson too and...someone else.

During the cheers of the crowd, Laertia went still as she spotted the Amalgam in an upper seating booth, winking mischievously at her and wiggled her fingers in a 'hello' gesture.

Everyone in this place was in danger. Laertia had indeed defeated her on Canto Blight but that had only been because Darth Shojo had worn her down. If the Amalgam had been at full juice, Laertia suspected the fight would have been a bit more even. Laertia was a pragmatist however and had seen the opening and taken it, having tracked the Amalgam by taking advantage of the fact she was obsessed with Uri. Though Laertia's distaste had flared when learning Uri had a Sith lover (An admittedly blazingly hot one) Moya had pointed out that such obsession might very well make The Amalgam attack who Uri cared about. Tracking Sawa Ike had been an imperative because of that. That was why The Amalgam had found Laertia waiting on Canto Blight.

But now it was different. The Amalgam was rested, recharged, and, worst of all, feeling playful...

Playfulness is never a good sign with people like The Amalgam. In the back of Laertia's head however, she wondered why the Amalgam had bothered to pay to watch at all. It didn't make sense. Was she that confident? Or was there some other reason?

It was quite telling that Laertia never once even considered the idea that perhaps the Amalgam had genuinely wanted to watch her magic act. If it had, Laertia would have gained a frightening insight into the hideous truth about such a creature...a creature that was slowly getting as obsessed with Laertia as it was with Uri. Not that Laertia knew that at the time. By the time she did, there would be cause for sorrow. But not yet. The Amalgam simply sat in her booth, smiling that silky, horrible smile.

Laertia did not let this phase her, she went on with the act, not just because pointing her out would provoke a panic in the crowd, but because The Amalgam might very well decide to spring whatever she had in mind early.

"And now, for our next trick, The daring Madame Io will perform a legendary feat..." Moya trailed, smiling a little as she watched the people in the crowd be enticed, distracted by Moya's green skinned form. Such was the art of misdirection.

Laertia looked at Moya, gave a discrete signal via blinking. Moya caught it thankfully and changed up the act to accommodate the new situation. No one could say Laertia did not prepare for scenarios like this.

"The legendary Coruscanti Switcharoo!" Moya proclaimed, having at last spotted Dyson and The Amalgam in the audience. But what were they planning. No doubt something horrific. Moya had watched those recordings the same as Tanaski. Dyson was an animal. He butchered people he likely didn't even know--

But how, a troubled, doubting part of her asked the question she hated asking of her own conscience: was that any different from what she had done? She had killed so many. She saw their faces when she slept sometimes, even though she had no remorse for killing them. Was Dyson the same? Or did none of the faces matter at all to him, so long as he kept getting to commit his gruesome, horrible crimes?

Laertia needed to believe that there was a difference between her an Darkmite, unable to bear the idea that they were too alike. No. She could not accept such travesty. Would not.

The stage was set when Moya began to roll out the giant boxes with multiple stars on them. Laertia, determined to keep her cool as long as the enemy kept theirs, felt a creeping sense of alarm as she began to notice a lot of burly people in crisp suits that had not been there before. Dyson was closing the net.

"Cayrefulll..." she warned Tanaski under her breath as she passed by him setting up the trick.

"Young man, would you be so kind as to spin the boxes after we enter them?" Moya asked, detecting viciously hostile expressions in some of the crowd, coming from men in burly suits. Dyson's people. And she too spotted the Amalgam.

Moya despised the creature instinctively, and bore a grudge against it ever since it witnessed her trying to corrupt her Pseudo-Daughter to The Dark Side. Laertia was a kind person, a good person deep down--but the kindest of beings turned into monsters when they gave themselves to the terrible power. Laertia was deeply confused, unsure whether she was a butcher or a warrior. She would not allow The Amalgam to convince her of the former.

Moya felt a deep sense of regret not being able to truly protect Laertia as she wanted. Laertia wanted to fight. It had been too easy to draw her into the conflict again. Moya would miss the days when it was just them roaming the stars looking for the next stage to perform at. But perhaps Laertia would remember her disenchantment--

Moya could always hope...

Finally, both Moya and Laertia were in their respective boxes, waiting for Tanaski to spin them.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Laertia Io"]

Matsu looked at it and she could sense the others while her mind was working on sensing and her muscles was tensed with speed. She could move faster then most with her small size and she knew techniques to really enhance it thanks to her work with creatures like the loth wolves. Now she was looking at the being who was watching the show and she didn't move forward quickly but stepped forward slowly with a confidence before she spoke. "They are both fairly skilled, your shot will be felt before it fires off thanks to their senses." She said it but was looking at her to watch it all when she slid her hands behind her back to appear every bit her height and unimposing with a raised eyebro to try and figure out or listen to what this person was going to say.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Tana could feel the uneasiness in the air as the show continued, his own time as an assassin helping him keep a straight face throughout the entire routine, the skill to act as if nothing was happening while still being wary of ones surroundings was a good skill to have. Still he was not totally aware of the threat they currently faced, neither of the people in the room sheading the killer intent registered anything familiar, most likely these trouble makers were after [member="Laertia Io"]. She was certainly the right type of person to have a trouble past full of enemies, powerful ones at that if his gut had anything to say about it, though right now the problem was getting away from the main stage, no doubt this group was using the crowd as apart of the plan. Thankfully in a magic show anything could happen, Laetria seemed like the person who could make up a strategy on the fly with ease, she was a shadow after all, Tana himself was starting to get the idea too. First the card trick had been set, then the rabbits, what else was next but the classic vanishing trick... that and the whole sawing in half, but that could be done later. It appeared his train of though was shared by the two performers, the boxes being wielded out on for show, Tana keeping up his part as the ignorant patron, not showing any outward signs of being in on the whole operation, casually nodding as the instructions were given. With a firm grip his palms pushed against both boxes with a decent amount or force before standing back, watching as the compartments rotated, through it all a small part of his brain still questioning how the two performed this sort of trick. 'Lets just hope things don't go down hill'.

[member="Matsu Ike"]