Violent Delights

[Joza Perl]

(Continuation of this)

She’d closed the VIP room for the night.

What more could she do but stare at the man—no, the corpse—on the ground? What else could she do but follow the trail of blood stains from the chair to the carpet, to his face and on her clothes? A few minutes had ticked past since she’d strangled the life out of the man she once sought to be everything for. Joza had pictured them overcoming the boundary of Jedi and Sith, stealing away on a quiet world together to raise a family in a simple life. A safe life. A life that she’d realized years ago was wrought by teenage fantasy and an idealistic need to be loved.

Everything she’d ever wanted then was now a luke-warm body on the floor of her night club.

She made her way to the bathroom, hands bracing the sink on either side as she stared into her reflection. Perfectly coiffed hair was out of place, speckles of blood dotted one side of her face. His blood. Emerald eyes had dulled to olive, bits of sulfur snaking around dark pupils and she grimaced. Splashing cool water onto her face helped remove the traces of blood, but did nothing to smother the haunt in her eyes.

Dazed was a good word for it. In the coming day she’d absorb what had happened and the ramifications of it, but for now she had to quell the wild thoughts in her mind. There was something that needed to be done before she tried to drown herself in liquor faster enough before her thoughts tried to catch up with her.

[member="Elliot Locke"] would receive an encrypted message out of the blue. Typically Joza only contacted him for one thing, but enough had been shared between them for her to consider trusting him with…whatever this was.

“I need your help.” Her voice was controlled, smooth as sea glass. “There’s a dead body in my club.”

Not her best opener.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

He repeated the message again.

This was number six on the repeat cycle and Locke grunted as her smooth voice rocked through the audio system. Smooth, controlled, but Elliot knew the edge of that tone better than anyone else. It was the edge of hysteria creeping up on you, threatening to sweep you away, but you kept it inside for now. Bottled up with nowhere to go besides internally inwards. You told yourself you would feel the other day, the next one, next week or month or year and then you woke up one day with an empty bottle of whiskey, its cold surface sticking against part of your face and your stomach churning from the alcohol still burning through your system.

You realized that subconsciously you found a different way of dealing with the problem... even if it wasn't the most healthy one.

Number seven and Elly finally sighed, shaking his head, before tapping on the screen and launching the communication app. It linked back straight to Joza's account, but his path in was encrypted.

The last thing you wanted was some crappy slicer freak getting too curious by half.

"Clean yourself up. Body and clothes. Don't close the club, until I get there - that will arise suspicion." His tone was professional, clinical, the tone of a man who was entirely undisturbed and seemed to have done this many times before.

"I will be there in thirty minutes."

The connection cut off as the hyperdrive finished its warming-up procedures and the ship slipped into starlight hues.

 

[Joza Perl]

“Come straight to the VIP room.”

No ‘thank you’, no unnecessary words. All business. Joza wasn’t sure what would happen, but at some point they’d get to talking. Already she was itching for a drink, but she smothered the urge to inebriate herself given that she had to stay alert for a long as possible.

After a few minutes of playing on her datapad, she secured Locke’s arrival with the bouncers. It wasn’t entirely too uncommon for her to host private meetings in the VIP room, though this was a little short notice. Luckily it was a week night.

She had a good thirty minutes to herself, enough time to pick out a decent outfit, fix her hair and makeup. While one would guess it took her forever to get ready—and it sometimes did—waitressing for years had taught her quick and easy ways to keep up appearances and hide mistakes.

By the time [member="Elliot Locke"] arrived, Joza would be clad in business casual attire, hair pinned up and makeup fixed. The Zeltron was perched on the edge of a comfortable seat, datapad in hand as she tried her bet to ignore the cold body on the floor behind her.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

About twenty-five minutes later Locke was already in the nightclub.

Took him four favors, cutting through numerous administrative red tape, burning out his hyperdrive and a few well-placed bribes, but in his experience timing was of utmost importance in situations like these. At some point the corpse was going to start smelling, the liquids flowing out and making it all immensely more complicated to clean the scene up without leaving accidental marks. Locke took a few moments to get a good idea of the nightclub - the camera angles, the positions of the security personnel, the check points and the mood of the crowd.

Seemed pleasant enough, but that was Zeltros for you.

The pheromones were heavy in the atmosphere, but since he started seeing Jozie he had made sure his resistance against it was even better than it used to be.

SIS training had a couple of perks.

Twenty-nine minutes and the bouncer showed him the door to the VIP. Behind it sat Joza, now in a clean attire and trying to project an aura of calm. But Elliot had seen those subtle twitches around the eyes and mouth, the propulsion of your body trying to keep you rigid as adrenaline burned through your veins.

Difficult thing to manage.

"I can help you." Locke said, while closing the door shut behind him. "But you will need to do exactly what I say, when I say it without hesitation."

Eyes locked.

"Can you do this?"

 

[Joza Perl]

[member="Elliot Locke"] had shown up with a minute to spare.

Her head tilted upward suddenly when he entered the room, eyes meeting as he spoke. Can you do this? Could she do this? Joza didn’t have much of a choice. “I can.” She affirmed. She had to.

Rising quickly, she gestured vaguely for Elliot to follow her behind the couch where everything had taken place only a few feet away. Despite the circumstances, it was somewhat of a comfort to have him here. Locke was collected, and from the way he spoke she figured this was not his first go ‘round with making a dead body disappear. That was something she’d think deeply on later. Right now she needed his help.

“It’s been about forty five minutes.” There was no need to elaborate on what as she stared at Haytham’s body, utterly still and silent in a way only the dead could manage. His face was mashed, a clear blow to the side of his head and bruising on his cheek from where she’d struck him. The blood he’d coughed and spat only made things look worse. Dark purple marks adorned the skin around his neck like a collar, making it obvious what he’d died from.

Joza swallowed lightly, finally tearing her gaze from the floor and over to Elliot. He’s going to think I’m a psycho.

Still, he’d come here knowing that she was the one who did this, hence the clean clothes.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

For a brief moment Locke didn't reply to her statement of time, instead he simply observed the body with the clinical glance of a professional.

Someone who had made a lot of dead bodies in the past and would be making a whole lot more before his own life would end. The assumption that she was the murderer in this situation had come relatively easy. You didn't call an operative who you karked on the regular for help, letting him know there was a dead body in your club, if she was the victim. Joza would have simply called the authorities, told the tale and then go through the motions.

"How long, until the club officially closes?" If it ever did. This was Zeltros after all, it wouldn't surprise him at all if these insane people figured they could party the whole night through and then just drop down where they were and sleep it off.

By this point he was already crouching down next to the corpse.

"Four... maybe five hours? I'd have to check." Elly grunted, but didn't respond right away.

Dispassionate observation made mental notes of the body.

Mid-twenties, Six foot... four? No, three, the boots were tailored to make him seem taller than he was. Black hair, white almost pale skin with the veins showing through. Heavy weight all things considered, by the looks of the frame and the bruises around the neck suggested he was choked to death.

Hmm. Not a surprise, considering the prosthetic Jozie had, probably hadn't even been all that difficult for her.

"Too long, every moment he's here and they are there, chance gets bigger someone sees what we are doing." Locke finally responded, before his eyes studied the blood around the body.

Clean for the most part, but the heat in the club was gonna make the corpse stink like nobody's business.

"Come up with an excuse to close early. We will take it from there."

 

[Joza Perl]

Close the club? Joza was about to reflexively respond how much money she’d lose on tonight but stopped herself before the words could reach her tongue. He’d made it clear that time was key, and she’d just have to do with the monetary losses for one night. “Alright,” She responded briskly, taking a few steps to the side to retrieve her data pad where she’d left it laying on the couch.

The slight tremble of her fingers came as a surprise while typing away, given that her anxiety was kept at bay with years of restraint. But that’s the way it went—your body still reacted to the subtle cues from your mind without you even fully realizing it. No choice but to use that adrenaline to focus and power through. Joza would be a burden in this situation if she couldn’t.

A minute or so of furious typing passed, olive gaze flickering across the screen as she went.

“Water leak on the third level.” She responded at last. “They’re clearing everyone out now and staff has been ordered to stay off of this floor while things are being checked. Should be up to half an hour before this place cleans out.” She glanced at the time at the corner of her datapad with unease.

Her stomach churned but she fought it down. Joza had a habit of getting nauseous in nerve-wracking situations, hence vomiting in her first few fights against Sith.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

By the time she was done a cigarette was already between his teeth and the smoke curled from its tip.

An offer was made for her to take one, either way they would disappear again in short order. She probably could use one to steady her emotions in the moment. It would probably cause her to crash rather heavily in about six hours, but that was the price to pay to be steady and focused right now.

Nothing more to be done now.

So Elly settled down on the couch and tapped on the place next to him for her to do the same.

"Next question," Oh, yeah, if she thought her was giving her a break to catch her breath? Well, there would be enough time to breathe once they were dead and buried themselves. "You got anyone here who you trust to keep their mouth shut and do what needs to be done?"

It would probably be helpful to have another set of hands... looking at the little shake in her fingers?

Her hands probably wouldn't be very helpful right now.

 

[Joza Perl]

The offered cigarette was taken without missing a beat, lit with the tip of her finger. Definitely something she needed right now.

She settled on the couch next to him, on the edge of the cushion as her ankles crossed and she took in a deep drag of the cigarette. Her lungs swelled, nicotine delivering a much needed wave of steadiness over her. The nerves were still beneath that, surfacing as a twitch at her eye or the unnatural rigidity of her movement.

At his question, she took a few moments to think, cigarette idling in the air between her fingers. Did she have anyone on hand who she could trust with something like this? The short answer was no, not without turning one murder into two. Maybe Ivan, but he was off planet. Anyone else trusted was either gone from her life or on the other side of the galaxy.

“Well.”

She took another drag, holding the smoke inside before letting it curl from her lips. From the moment she’d contacted him, the Zeltron steeled herself in doing whatever she had to do to smooth this over.

“You’re looking at her.”

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

He let those words settle in between the two of them, before sighing.

This was going to be more difficult than he had expected it to be. How much did Locke trust this one to do what needed to be done, without snapping half in the middle of it all? Difficult to gauge, especially because Elly had not expected to be called up by Jozie to get rid of a body she had murdered.

There might be context he was missing.

Always was some kind of context and maybe Joza had a good reason to choke this one to death and then some. But this wasn't the moment to ask for motivations, situations, reasons or dredging up some kind of past he had never been part of. Now was simply the time to smoke, think and let the time handle what needed to be handled.

"Gonna need a large barrel." Could be done in a smaller one as well, but then they would have to cut apart the body into smaller pieces to make it easier to fit.

Something told him that whatever Perl was saying... she wouldn't be able to handle that.

"Some chemicals- got most of them on my ship, but a couple will need to be delivered here. Got at least a runner who can handle that?"

Nothing illegal. The beauty of chemistry was that if you knew what you were doing? You could do anything from blowing up a building to dissolving a body with crap you could just buy at a local chemist.

 

[Joza Perl]

A barrel. Immediately her mind started working, going over her mental map of the building to figure out if there’d be anything like that on site. The kitchen, maybe. Or the basement—where they stored waste containers. There was bound to be some empty ones down there, hopefully they’d be big enough for their purpose.

“I’m sure we can find something around here.” She nodded slowly, voice lowered and mumbling in thought. The cigarette began to steady her hands, steady her heart.

Joza didn’t know the logistics of it, but she’d seen enough crime flicks to understand what was going on. It almost made her shudder with implication and she tried not to glance back at the body.

“Yeah, I’ve got a guy.” Her attention went back to the datapad, tapping and icon before swiping across the screen with several deft strokes of her finger. Her hand paused, hovering above the screen as she silently prompted for Elly to tell her what he needed.

“…You sure this sort of thing is going to work?” Her voice was tentative, though it wasn't as if she doubted him.

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

For a moment he was silent while trying to recall the exact chemicals they would need for this.

Basic stuff, cheap too, it was the combination that made this a dangerous thing to do. The barrel would need to be strong enough to withstand the acidic content, but if it was reinforced durasteel? Would probably be good enough for their purposes. Locke recalled this one time where they only had some plastoid... and it hadn't gone well, it ended up with the entire box crapping out and the half-decomposed body spilling out.

They had to clean-up for days.

Only good thing had been that they were in the private residence and had all the time in the world. Otherwise it probably would have gone a different way.

At any rate, he told her the need for it to be a reinforced durasteel framing and the exact chemicals that were needed for this thing.

Another drag from his smoke blew through his system, it felt good, but not like he needed it to steady his nerves. If Jozie was paying attention, she would notice that Elliot did not seem to be worried at all.

"Yeah." Locke responded simply after she asked him the things. "I am gonna go and grab the supplies from the ship. You gonna be fine here for a couple of minutes?"

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza’s focus remained entirely on the screen, not even glancing over to Elliot as he spoke. Her fingers worked quickly, typing with acquired precision as he listed off what they would need for this endeavor. The runner she had was another Zeltron, a bit of a sleazy womanizer but did good work. He’d get what she needed.

After sending off the message, the data pad found its way to her lap and she looked up at him. The cigarette hung from the edge of her mouth, dulling the expansion of her pupils and tidying up her nerves for the time being.

She’d just killed Haytham Kaze. A man who once loved her was now laying on the ground a few feet away, dead by her hand. And she was discussing how to liquefy his body with a continual booty-call.

Not how she pictured spending her Thursday night, but she pushed those thoughts down as Locke announced that he was going to retrieve what he had of the chemical concoction from his ship. He seemed too calm about this. Like it was just another day and for all Joza knew, it was.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright.” She took the cigarette out from her mouth and flicked it. Normally she’d be fussy about ash on the floor. “You want me to head to the basement and check out those barrels?”

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

For a moment his glance focused on her.

Not her as Joza, but her as a person. Trying to gauge how shaken she really was and if she could really handle being alone even for a little while - it changed according to the person, some could handle it, others crumbled immediately once there wasn't anyone around to fake it for anymore. But Jozie seemed a stronger person, even if the kill got her good.

The shakes were suppressed now, but they were still there.

It did tell Elly that she probably didn't murder him. Self-defense? Or maybe it was in the heat of the moment... difficult, very difficult to find out without actually having been there.

"No." He finally responded to her last question. "Until this is done, there has to be someone we trust here."

The last thing they wanted was for someone to walk in here accidentally, see what had happened and taking off again.

That would complicate matters.

After saying his goodbye and nodding to her, Locke left the room behind. It wasn't a long trip all things considered, just a quick down the stairs, back to his ships where his supplies were already ready. Took them and went straight back without any detours - this wasn't the moment for detours. They had to finish it and finish it all quickly, before time ran out.

He would be back within the next ten minutes and stepped through the door next.

"You alright in here?"

 

[Joza Perl]

Up until that point, Joza was doing relatively fine all things considered.

Then the door shut and her chest went cold. She was alone again, alone with the body and the sinister thoughts that warred inside her mind. Guilt crossed swords with assurance, and Joza wasn’t sure that either would ever win completely. She steadied herself though and simply sat there for a few minutes, not daring to look behind her.

Finally, she rose slowly and turned cautiously. Some paranoid part of her expected to see him standing there, tall and broad-shouldered. But there he was, in the same position on the floor, albeit a bit more pale than before. Maybe she’d just imagined that last bit.

Careful strides brought her closer to him, eyes roaming over his body as she took everything in. In some small way, she imagined that he wasn’t dead. It was odd, and didn’t feel quite real. Nothing felt real right now, the rage she’d felt an hour ago had all but dissolved out of necessity and seemed like a fever dream.

This isn’t the time to break. Can’t break until the job is done.

There was some amount of discipline in the Zeltron. With that thought, she knelt down and gingerly placed two fingers over the jugular at his neck. While she didn’t imagine there’d be a pulse, her skin crawled at the coldness of his own. Haytham had never been physically cold. He was always warm, flesh and blood. The thought triggered a flood of good memories, rose-tinted given the situation and her own penchant for sentiment.

Her hand trembled as she brought it upwards to run through his dark lockes. He’d always had nice hair, and she loved to run her hands through it. Had loved, anyhow.

It was at that point that the door creaked open and [member="Elliot Locke"] entered the room.

Startled, she quickly rose upwards, letting her hand comb the rest of the way through his hair as she stood. She didn’t say anything in response, only nodded in affirmation.

A ping on her datapad served as a nice segue.

Smoothing out her skirt, she strode back over to the couch and picked it up.

“Looks like our delivery is here.”

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

He caught that last movement.

Bit weird all things considered, but it gave him a few more hints. Lady had cared about her kill, maybe not in the moment, maybe not even now (other than sentiment and nostalgia and sadness), but once upon a time. You don't do tender gestures like that for nothing, there was always a history behind it. Might be a short one, might be a long one, but either way?

It wasn't Elliot's business.

Maybe at some point she would tell him, maybe not. That was for her to decide and not for him to ask about.

"Alright, we will switch - get a good reinforced steel barrel for me, large enough. Supplies as well." Locke retorted without mentioning her previous gesture. "I will start the preparations in the meantime."

Once she was gone he walked over to the corpse.

It was a good thing they would be taking out the entire body, so they wouldn't need to worry about fingerprints and other crap. He eyed the clothes, some of it looked armored and that probably wouldn't jive well with the acid. So, Locke started to undress the corpse. Even there was a subtle methodical approach that suggested he had done this so many times before that it was automated by this point.

With the chemicals he also brought some blankets and plastic wraps. The body was wrapped into the thin sheets and then Locke started to tightly wind the plastic around the corpse.

He managed to avoid getting any blood on him though, perk of being experienced in this crap.

 

[Joza Perl]

Wasn’t much to be said, given that he’d just seen her stroking the hair of the dead man on the floor. She was just glad that Elliot wasn’t questioning her right now about what had happened, but she hadn’t really expected him to. That would only make things worse and cut into the slim margin of time they had to do this thoroughly.

She took the elevator down to the basement, meandering her way over toward where she remembered the waste area to be. There were plenty of durasteel drums there, full sealed ones stacked on one side and empty ones on another. She sorted through them before deciding on one, fingers drumming the edge as she looked down into it after determining that it would fit Haytham.

A wave of nausea seized her suddenly and she nearly buckled, fighting it down as quickly as it came on. It’s just a reaction. Letting out a shuddering breath, she grabbed a proper lid before dragging the barrel over to the lift. She stopped at the first floor, heading towards the back entrance to sign for her delivery. Back in the lift, the bottles were placed inside the barrel for ease of transport.

She just wanted this done with.

The barrel wasn’t too heavy, just cumbersome and awkward to carry given its size. Still, she managed to make it down the hall of the third floor without having it scrape against the ground and leave any marks. Carefully, she nudged it into the VIP room and paused in the entrance as her eyes landed on what looked like a plastoid mummy.

It was like something out of a crime flick.

“I’ve got the stuff.” She mumbled, lifting the barrel and bringing it in closer before unloading the chemicals.

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

In truth they could have just dropped him into the barrel naked.

But something told him that Joza wouldn't have been all that pleased or okay with that. A heap of plastoid-wrapped ambiguity was far more easy to manage in the grand scheme of things, it gave her enough distance that she could help him without freaking out - part of him was annoyed he didn't have one of his regular partners for this particular thing. It would have made everything easier if another SIS agent was next to him, but beggars couldn't be choosers in this instance. Locke nodded simply, before adding another layer and sealing it shut.

Not much else to do in that moment.

"Put the chemicals on the table with the rest of them." Elly gestured to the other capsules he had brought with him. They would have to be careful about this crap, of course, the acidic solutions were strong enough they would burn through flesh and bone and fabric within no amount of time. He had a single vial of strong base liquid, which could counter-act the acid... but he'd rather not have to.

Locke walked over to the barrel and tried it out.

Hands firmly brushing past the metal, testing the strength and reinforcement and structure. It seemed to be alright, also large enough to fit Haytham, though he still thought it would have been better if they cut him into pieces first.

Would make the entire experience far more easy.

"We are gonna put it in the barrel, close it up. Then clean away any traces of blood on the floor, then carry the thing to a more clinical place. You got anything like that on this floor?"

 

[Joza Perl]

Reaching down into the barrel, Joza began to retrieve the bottle she’d stored there. The barrel was deep, and even bending over she had to stand on her tip-toes just to reach what she’d wanted. Grumbling something incomprehensible, she steadied herself as she nearly lost her balance and fell face first. Not that the comic relief wasn’t needed, just that it would be ill-timed.

She stacked the chemicals next to the ones Elly had bought, eyes wandering over the different bottles. Some were clear, others made of darkened glass to keep the light sensitive contents from deactivating prematurely. The labels on them were far too scientific for her to make sense of, but she recognized most of the common names. Benefit of managing a pharmaceutical company.

“Clinical?” She repeated the word with an arch of the brow. This was a nightclub, not a hospital. “The best you’ll get is the bathroom. We can put some tarps up or something if you’re worried about spillage.” Her gaze drifted back to the reagents cluttering her table. “The basement is pretty open. Less clinical, more grungy.”

Luckily she was good at getting blood out of things. Clothes. Specifically her clothes. Upholstery? She could work with it.

Oh, and vomit. Helped when you've spent two years cleaning up after a child.

[member="Elliot Locke"]

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Joza Perl"]

That made him think for a moment.

The bathroom would probably be the best choice they got, but it wasn't isolated enough for his taste. At least not with the crap they were going to do with this barrel and the corpse, there would be a stench and that would drench into the surroundings. That wasn't a thing Jozie would be happy about, he imagined, especially not in the VIP room and presumably also not in the bathroom. No, they would have to use the basement for this one.

"Basement it is." Locke responded after the moment of thought passed him by. "Give me a hand with this."

His head gestured to the mummified corpse.

He went for the head and left Joza with the legs, would probably make it a little bit more easy for her in terms of psychological thoughts and the sort.

Together they would have an easy time dragging the corpse into the barrel.