The Bloody Shade

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam had been watching Laertia prepare the trick when [member="Matsu Ike"] appeared from behind her in the booth. Those white current techniques were nothing to sneeze at.

The Shi'ido didn't look at her, instead dropping her hold on the Queytek Meditation, letting the natural, intense corruption she exuded, a corruption powerful enough to disrupt the abilities of light adepts, flood out of her like a miasma of evil filth. She smiled as she watched Laertia subtly shudder, and the skin on Moya's face wriggle and deform for a second.

"The so called Jedi Generalist. Head of Saotome. Daughter of Emberlene. Former Jedi Shadow. Mother of seven...always a nice number, I support that number, by the way. (007 Daughters: 700 XP to Matsu). Me? I preferred two. Nice, round number. Balanced. Balance in all things...Oh, I was going to shoot but its been ages since I've gone to a proper show, and Laertia is curiously adorable, don't you think? I mean, it would be such a shame, wouldn't it? If fighting started now? All those people running and screaming, Laertia probably having to refund them all and pay legal damages...it would ruin her, I think..." she finished with a grin, turning to Matsu with a particularly trollish and chit-eating version of said grin. "And if you start the fight now, why...you'll be partly responsible for ruining her. I mean, sure, you could help her with the expenses, but the damage to her reputation would be something no amount of money could fix. So, I think you'll just stay right there while we watch Laertia finish up her act and so all these poor innocent souls don't get traumatized when Force Users start bringing down the house around 'em, eh?" The Amalgam asked snidely, each word delivered with sneering contempt and venom for the Jedi Master and what she and [member="Tanaski Yumi"] stood for.

"So how's Uri?" The Amalgam asked quietly, continuing to watch Moya through the scope. "Oh, sorry--I meant to say Maple Harte, see, I haven't killed any of her loved ones lately and I was hoping to catch up...she's such a doll, that one. Can't stand that Gods-awful alias though. I mean c'mon, Maple Harte?! Seriously?! Sounds like something she came up with nursing a cup of java at some chitty diner. I know my moniker--I'm The Amalgam by the way, nice to meet you! I know my moniker sounds a little arthousy for some people, but between you and me, it was the best I could come up with and at least I was bloody trying. But with her, it's just so obviously a rush-job of an alias, it's actually irritating., know what I mean. Anyway, next time you see her, that is, if you survive what's coming--next time you see her you give her my very warmest regards. Does she like brownies? I can't remember whether it was brownies or cookies she likes. I love bon-bons personally, but I never met a cookie or a brownie I didn't like. Anyway, I ask, because I got this video of me torturing one of her old comrades and then mutating her into a consumer, and that's the sort of viewing experience that deserves a good snack with it. Maybe a drink. What does Uri drink? Ursula never let her drink. I drink Malastarian Martinis--shaken, not stirred..."

There was actually a point to her rambling. In the process of going full motormouth, she was giving Dyson the opportunity to flee...and put a wall of bodyguards between him and Matsu.

"Did you know Maple is sleeping with your vampiric ancestor, Darth Shojo? AKA Sawa Ike, one of the survivors of the assault on the ancient capital ship The Sacred Ancestor? She's still a practicing Sith. Oh, and while I was at it I murdered a local billionaire and used his identity to buy stuff from you a while back...y'know, just to rub it in..."

The Amalgam continued to watch the performance, confidant Matsu was not willing to do anything just yet.

Meanwhile...

As the boxes spun slowly, the doors would open and shut of their own accord.

Each time a box door opened and shut Laertia and Moya seemed to exchange places, each appearing in the others box and then back again.

Finally, a burst of flowered confetti and fireworks showed and the Amalgam gave a more unsettlingly enthusiastic series of claps than the rest of the audience when it was revealed Moya and Laertia had completely exchanged places in the boxes, apparently without any way of going between them, the boxes were on raised wheels, meaning the floor space was clearly visible under the box, so they had not tunneled. Laertia might have managed teleporting between two boxes but two people could not fit into one box and that did not explain how Moya could be in the second box.

Whatever else, one thing was clear. Laertia was a magnificent magician. As much to praise her as to troll her, the Amalgam threw down a bouquet of roses as the rest of the audience erupted into cheers.

 

[Matsu Ike]

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

Matsu listened to her as she spoke and raised an eyebrow. her face remaining focused and neutral while she listened to it all. Eyes focused but still her senses reached out and she didn't need to attack.. if anything she looked more like a statue of carved marble... her pale skin was there and black pools of her eyes. She was listening to it all but her mind was also processing what was happening around them and she finally spoke after it seemed the woman was finished. "Interesting." She didn't need to say much more... she didn't even need to say that. This being seemed to know somewhat public knowledge about her which could be useful but she was also dangerous... the jedi master wasn't going to let her guard down but she also had rarely found one who made her worried about being a threat. "You talk to distract, not the most original... kind of a rush job and while you might be right about harming Io's reputation... you might have failed to factor in one small thing." The jedi master said it and finally moved her hand for a moment as it made small gestures and she had learned skills from theLoth wolves and Aing-Tii.... moving and bending without breaking the rules of the galaxy with the force allowed her to make from molecules constructs that were every bit as physical and some could with illusions. She flicked her hand and a snap happened as a small hyperspce window opened by her hand. "I could just as easily pull you to a safer location."

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

It seemed his initial thoughts of the trick were wrong, Laetria didn't indeed to flee from the show with this present threat. Was Matsu taking care of things? He had felt that the dark presence over the stage was not somewhat diverted, like it was dealing with more then one person at a time. Though the lack of any fighting probably meant the Matsu was conversing with whoever the perpetrator was. Either way the situation was tense, there was still nothing stopping the Sith or dark sider user from simple going at it or using the crowd as a massive hostage.

From what he knew from experience if a dark side user wasn't going all murder rampage they were conniving worms, using word play and a dark from of diplomacy to get their way. There was quite the likly chance this newcomer was such a person, though not without the ability to be a rampaging threat if they felt like it, best of both worlds to some extent, quite the formidable opponent. Still, Tana had to keep playing his part, the boys head returning back to the show at hand, letting out a small gasp and clapping his hands together as both women swapped places.

"My my, that is quite the interesting trick".

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

 

[Laertia Io]

They liked it. They loved it.

Laertia should have been ecstatic at the applause she was receiving, the flowers being tossed on stage. But all she could see was the enemy and [member="Matsu Ike"] and [member="Tanaski Yumi"]

She saw the Amalgam cheering, whistling, even throwing flowers with the rest of the crowd. What disturbed Laertia the most was how much the Amalgam actually seemed to be selling how much she enjoyed the act.

Had she actually enjoyed it?

Laertia didn't know what she was all about, didn't know what her game was. All she knew was that The Amalgam would die for killing Ursula. And Kadmus. And Hadrian. And Lura. The only question was how to kill such a dangerous, unpredictable foe, and figuring out specifically what she was after in this instance.

But first things was first...getting rid of the hired help.

Laertia had a bonus trick up her sleeve. One designed for this scenario.

Laertia held out small throwing darts. She signalled to Moya, who smirked, getting a torch from a nearby prop cart. She lit it, took a swig of fuel, and blew into the lit torch.

Laertia began throwing darts and teleporting them as they passed through Moya's blown fire. They were tipped with a paralytic drug. Laertia had spent precious seconds spotting every thug in the place. Years of living as one allowed her to spot them on sight.

With each dart she threw one dart teleported about five meters from a thug, impacting into their necks seconds later. The drug was powerful enough. They instantly stopped moving in the crowd, stock still.

Laertia teleported off the stage after leaving a pillar of smoke in her place, causing the crowd to cheer harder.

She teleported discretely close to every paralyzed thug, a hypo of tranquilizer going into their necks, and then seating them. The crowd, thick and still throwing flowers, didn't notice her seating now unconscious thugs.

The Amalgam didn't even seem to care about the Blink-worthy portal Matsu had opened. She was mesmerized, watching Laertia work so quietly, in contrast to the usual wave of destruction that came with her wanderings.

"Amazing, isn't it? Watching her work? I never appreciated that about her in the days of yore." The Shi'ido remarked, head resting on her arm.

"Now you see that? That right there? That is the mark of a truly deadly killer. You know it because not only are they not dead, she hasn't really hurt them. You don't develop that kind of control overnight. You develop it by killing so many you can't help but learn how 'not' to kill., and efficiently. I suppose Ursula wasn't 'completely' worthless." The Amalgam remarked. "Then again, Ursula kept me away from her so feth her."

As the Amalgam watched the cheering crowds, she saw Moya take a quick bow before silently gesturing Tanaski to leave the stage and find a discrete way to the backstage.

"And there's the bad part..." the Amalgam grinned mischievously. "Efficient...but...predictable."

As the biot left the stage, Laertia teleported right behind the Amalgam aiming a silenced, pump action shotgun at her head.

"We walx reel quietz, seez? We don'tz mayke noyze, we don'tz pull sabuhz. We walx outta heerz reel eezee..."

The Amalgam turned, stared and then promptly leveled her own pistol at Laertia.

She creeped Laertia out by smiling a friendly smile, dead purple eyes fixed on her gray ones.

"Loved the show."

It was a simple statement. One that scared Laertia, because she genuinely could not tell if she was lying.

"Goez tuh Hell..."

"Really, Laertia, you practically telegraphed your strategy."

"Darkmite's thuggz arr nuutralyzed."

"Cannon Fodder." The shapeshifter smirked.

"Wut arr yoo doinz wyth duh United's lytesabuh?" Laertia hissed amidst the cheering below them.

"Laertia, really, I'm not going to reveal my evil plan to you here. In a theater. Its just horribly lacking in supervillain etiquette, dear."

The cortosis sword slid out of the housing of her cybernetic arm. (Snikt!: 80 XP)

The Amalgam only smiled a little more as the point of the double edged sword barely touched her throat.

"Whoo duh evuh lovin' feth arr yooz?!" Laertia quietly raged, the Amalgam's smile becoming an audacious grin.

"A product of Society, dear, much like yourself. But really all this bluster is pointless. Okay, you took out some thugs. Good for you. But you need to think on multiple levels...Julia."

Laertia, went even paler than she normally was. "Where didz yoo heer dhat nayme?"

The Amalgam's eyes went sulphur as she continued smiling.

"Ursula told me."

As she felt the tip of the sword began to push in she spoke a little more.

"I've done bad things to this place..." The Amalgam whispered, not losing her grin as she snapped her fingers.

Magical runes became visible, covering all walls, the floor, and the ceiling. The crowd didn't see it, but Force Users did.

"I visited this theater a while back..." The shapeshifter explained. "I had to make my own contribution of course to your magic act. All Dyson has to do is speak a few words, and the Unholy Spirit will manifest through every surface, hungry for slaughter."

Laertia looked at the runes, horrified as she felt the dark beast struggling to get through etherial locks.

"You, like your master..." The Amalgam smirked. "Are now mine.."

 

[Matsu Ike]

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

The jedi master listened and moved quickly as Laertia came up near them. Allowing the force to warn her and looking around, strange the current hadn't revealed them but either way it could be dangerous when she was listening with a raised eyebrow. This would have been terrible if it got boring after all and she might not know everything that was happening but she had some ideas of what to do once a few questions in her mind were answered. She brought her hands out and looked at Laertia and Tanaski. "Your choice, I doubt she can face down three of us but the people still left here could be in danger." But the jedimaster knew the danger... it was a risk, it was a problem but it was also a thing to weigh.. if the stopped her it could protect more people in the longer run.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

He needed to learn that skill, or at the least something similar, the ability to teleport or move through solid objects was an ability that any assassin would wish to have. As the crowd cheered on her acts so did Tana, though his applause was directed to her skill in silent take downs and ability to blend with the crowd so well. He sort of wondered if the thugs brought in by this Sith where of any use if not just so she could see [member="Laertia Io"] in action, a little private show for herself in addition to the regular act.

Speaking of which his time on stage had come to an end, the duo no longer requiring his help. Though nothing compared to the two stage going women Tana was not rookie when it came to a quick and silent escape from view. A sudden puff of smoke coming from his feet as the young man vanished from sight, his disappearing act being very similar to some certain people in some old moves from his home planet. Taking refuge back stage the Jedi waited a bit until the Biot joined him, his gaze falling upon Moya as she entered. "Would I be able to get a small run down of what's going on out there? I have a feeling we have stumbled across quite the enemy".

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Laertia Io]

Laertia could not believe this. She had the fiend, the smirking fiend, at literal swordpoint.

She still had the upper hand.

"Wut doo yooz wantz, wych?" Laertia growled.

The Amalgam went full yandere with her response.

"I should be the only guiding figure in your life. I want Moya. Give me Moya." The Amalgam sneered.

Laertia's first instinct was to immediately refuse. But she caught herself. It would be an unforgivable atrocity that would break Moya's programming even if she got away with it.

"You depend on her. She makes you too weak for my liking. Give her up or everyone in receives my patron's blessing."

"I'mm gonna kyllz yooz fer dhis..." Laertia barked, her damaged brain not making her fully in control of her emotions.

"Looking forward to it! Now. Moya. Quit stalling." The Amalgam ordered.

Laertia's solutions to problems were often brute force.

That being said..sometimes...

...there is a certain elegance to brute force...

Laertia punched the Amalgam hard in the face, and the pliable nature of the Shi'ido's bodily tissues caused it to cave inward, leaking white blood everywhere. She fell forward, outcold, face horribly bruised and deformed.

"We gotz maybeez fyve mynutez tuh findz Darkmyte!" Laertia said in a panicked voice to Matsu Ike .

She hadn't outright killed The Amalgam, as Darkmyte would have felt such a huge disruption, but he might get confused if he sensed only bodily distress.

Plus, it had felt so good knocking her out.

Laertia's began to open herself to the Force to try and feel Darkmyte's presence. She contacted Tanaski Yumi in the meantime.

"Yumi! Moya! We gotta fyndz Darkmyte faast! Duh wych kursed duh wholle jointz! Sheez tweateningz to unleesh deemunz tru duh wallz iffz wee don'tz handz ovuh Moya!" Laertia said to him. "He'z gotta beez close buyz! He jusst haz tuh bee!"

Meanwhile...

Moya was still in her green armorweave Leotard and boots when she joined Tanaski.

"We know very little. But Laertia's old acquaintance, a bounty hunter named Maple, filled us in. She's some kind of remnant of this ancient cult from The Gulag Plague that the people who designed me fought. She's apparently obsessed with Maple, wants to turn her, and now, it seems, that obsession is creeping over to poor Laertia. Her motives are a mystery to both of us." Moya answered, just as the transmission came in. Her head went up in alarm.

"This is woman is homicidal..." Moya breathed. "Tanaski, we need to find him..."

The presence of multiple thugs of Dyson backstage, each armed with Force Pikes or Electrostaves obliterated that next course of action.

"You're going with us, Robot." The head thug told her and Tanaski. "Dyson's orders."

Moya pointed to them firmly. "Dyson's orders can get swallowed in a fething Sarlacc, fool. Aling with Dyson. Surrender him. Now."

The thugs advanced and Moya dispassionately sprinted forward, far faster and stronger than an ordinary human in this state, her combat protocols in hand to hand fully active as she smashed into the crowd with legs and feet, flinging them and breaking bones in one swipe, dodging swipes at point blank ranges that should have been impossible, and retaliating just as effortlessly with a punch or a kick. The thugs smashed into walls and the floor, but were knocked out rather than killed. The sheer strength of the biot snapped many of the weapons in half.

Only one man was left barely conscious by the time the biot had finished her near silent rampage. She was about to approach when she twitched, then shook violently.

Other than her primary configuration, this green skinned one had the lowest chance of over heat. But any chance is still a chance.

Moya shook, steam rising off her, puking bright green blood as she fell over, at completely the wrong time for this to happen also, as another large mass of thugs poured in as Moya completely overheated, beat red. She shut down temporarily, deforming into a simple, gray skinned, faceless humanoid with slightly translucent skin, the insides glowing red through the surface as they began an arduous cooling process...

 

[Matsu Ike]

The jedi master was looking and listening to it... if the one was escaping it wouldn't be good but whoever this was... this woman who was obsessed with Laertia Io then she wasn't certain if she would be able to leave her alone... Tana and Moya might be able to fight and defend though... she could divide her attention and go after him.... oh her mind was racing and she could feel the blood rushing through her body like a steady thump thump. "Are you certain?" The objective needed to come first... but she wasn't going to be soulless and ignore the danger that could be posed to the girl or Tana and Moya... if they were not careful they could end up losing both situations which wouldn't benefit and would likely harm all four of them.

The jedi master was moving through and she focused leaving a white current doppleganger... a physical illusion that could do a few things but wasn't perfect to those who had worked with the white current. The pale skin and dark eyes, her hair and small neutral expression as she grasped the silver blades. Matsu was going after the target and preparing for herself a small stun strike... elecrtic judgement lin a compressed ball that could navigate around and strike the ones who were there defending him as well as the man before she lobbed one of the balls and had a second ready to go. She pushed the force into her legs to increase her speed and movement.