Public When the Cards All Fold (Kaeshana/Invite)

[Verz Horak]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Coryth Elaris"] [member="Arla Balor"] [member="Ordo"]
Verz smirked under his helmet. It had been a while since he had been called Sole Leader. To be called that by his old friend and battle brother brought him some happiness. However, he pushed those thoughts asde for now. It was time to focus. At the mention of the group that was going to stay needing Forcebreakers, he unclipped one of the few he had kept from his military gear and handed it to [member="Hevana Martin"] .

"Here. Use this one. Just be careful of the toxin when you use it. It will not kill you, but it can be very unpleasant."

Verz then turned back to HK, watching as the normally cheerful and eccentric droid went from his normal personality to war mode. He followed the droid and former Exarch, ready with his deadly beskad and shatter pistol, with the explosive bolter strapped to his back. He shot at another small beast with razor sharp claws, the hypersonic pellet strinking the beast's skull in the blink of an eye.

"Let's show this Sith just what happens when a Mandalorian, assasin droid, and war crazy Force User can do when we get angry."

 

[Coryth Elaris]

[member="Ordo"] [member="Hevana Martin"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Arla Balor"]
Coryth cried out at the immediate feelings of death and agony that reached so deep into her being. For the moment still hung in the air by Kerrigan, there wasn't escape or even a distraction from it all. Every part of her felt as if she'd been the one dying as the gore littered the hallway. "Stop! Stop, please..." She whimpered as the agony started to fade a little. Tears now flowing with ease down her cheeks. "No more killing, please ...." Cory only wanting a moment's reprieve from feeling more creatures and beings dying around her.

As Hevana approached, Coryth was trembling terribly, "No..." She whispered, "I don't know you." The panic stricken woman, tensing as the scout got closer. "Don't ... hurt... me..." She repeated between heavy breaths, panting now in a struggle to get enough air in to sustain her frail body.

Ready to drop, Coryth couldn't keep on struggling. Even the slightest movements in the invisible grip that kept her from the ground were only wearing her down further. Her sobs grew softer, until the mercenary rounded the corner. Another agonizing scream left her lips, but soon was silenced as the little redhead's body seemed to slump, relaxing into Siobhan's grasp. For a fraction of a second Cory's vision grew dim, nearly passing out. It was a long moment before she opened her eyes again, and when she tear tears soon fell slowly down her face. But this time, she didn't move to struggle or resist in any way.

With Hevana's actions, the headbutt in itself nearly forced her back into unconsciousness, hanging on the very edge of passing out completely. Her eyes fluttered open to look up to the scout, for a moment there was a flicker of recognition. For now, she knew who she was seeing. "Make it stop.... stop the voices, stop them, get them out of my head! I can't fight them both!" Talking clearly about more than one presence affecting her mind. "Please, please make him, them... Go away." It seemed that Coryth had gained some form of control back. As to what extent and for how long? Those were the real questions. The near blackouts had an unexpected effect on the Sith controlling her. It forced him to withdraw from her mind to avoid succumbing to unconsciousness himself.

Hearing the exchange above, her eyes widened. Nothing was making sense in her fragile state, at least not yet. Her eyes moved between Siobhan to watch as the weapon changed hands to Hevana, and then to Verz. Forcebreakers, that part she caught, her mind finally catching up to the most recent events. In no part did she want it to come to that. "Don't.... please, don't use it." She begged, desperate to keep what little power she had.

There was only one thing she could recall, that had hurt her more than this particular moment in time. Coryth hadn't even reached her her eleventh birthday, and found herself trapped on a disease ridden world, in the throws of death. Ordinarily it would have been no issue, if she had been trained and not cut herself off from the force in a foolish attempt to spare her the agony of untold thousands across the small planet. With the grave error on her part, without the force, completely defenseless, she'd only made matters worse. Not waking until several days later.

That simple memory reminded her how much she needed control of the force, for both her empathy, and to guard against outside threats. "Hevana, please...." It seemed her focus was stuck on the particular objects that had been loaned to Hevana to use against the little Jedi should things go to hell in a hand-basket, again. Barely even blinking, she just simply watched, too worn to do anything of substance beyond that. Feeling the beasts' death in the hallway, Coryth cried out, as she pulled her legs into her chest, to attempt to hide herself from the agony of their final moments. Though, without the force to backup said action, it wasn't going to do any good for the little Jedi.

Slowly moving her hands up, ever so careful not to appear a threat, she reached to clutch at her stomach as more dark lines were advancing slowly across her body. Shifting only a hair, she watched as Siobhan, Verz, and HK were starting off down the long corridor. The sharp death pangs of the creatures in the hallway struck through the Jedi much like lightning would have. Crying out loudly, she drew her legs in with a soft whimper and soon the pain started to fade. It seemed just about any death nearby was bound to cause her pain in one form or another.

As the trio grew more distant, nearly out of site, only then did Coryth look back to Hevana. For the moment, it seemed to be just an incredibly frightened and weakened woman curled up before the scout. All her mannerisms seemed to be back to normal, truly seeming to be nothing but herself. Once more she spoke in hushed tones, "Please, its me." The fears seemed to be seeping back in as she took in the gravity of the situation. "Don't take the Force away... I have no other protection, none. Not for empathy, not for his attacks on my mind, I beg of you, don't. Please, please, you have trust in me, in us. Please, love just wait for a minute or two." All she could do was hope her words would keep any such action from happening in the moments to come. But there was one little problem. Even Coryth had no idea how long she'd been in possession of her own body, and powers. The Sith slipped far too easily into her mind, and back out as he pleased. With him came the same, small, familiar, voice from the strange box that had haunted her dreams from the very beginning.

 

[Hevana Martin]

Hevana took the tranq and Force breaker, but had no intention of using either. Well... okay maybe the tranq gun if it would prevent Coryth from getting herself hurt. The Force breaker was a definite no though. She knew how much Coryth relied on the Force to suppress her abilities. Already Hevana had seen the Jedi's reaction to the deaths, she did not need to have the Force completely stripped from her.

"Its okay hun," Hevana said pulling Coryth into her arms after stuffing the grenade into her belt pouch. "I'm not going to use it on you."

Holding the red head Hevana kissed her on the forehead, trusting the others to take care of the enemy while Hevana comforted Coryth. This entire mission was for this woman after all. The entire time the scout held her love, she continued to murmur soft assurances to Coryth. "I'm here love, I won't let anyone hurt you. You're safe, just stay with me, don't let them take control."

[member="Ordo"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Coryth Elaris"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Verz Horak"], [member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Hevana Martin"]

"Abregado!"
Came the droid's warcry,

Somewhere two Sith guards looked at each other,
"What the hell is that?"
"Oh, Abregado is a this bit backward trading hub world in O-"
Thunk

The Sith didn't even finish explaining it to the other as, propelled by his repulsorlifts and spring of his step, HK flew across the corridor, landing with his claws piercing through the Sith's armor, shattering with the mighty kick, and downing the trooper as the droid landed on him,
Zooom,
A swing of his white-blade lightsaber followed as the other Sith guard was smacked upside the head, sent to impact the nearby wall and fall down unconcious, feet movements were heard down the corridor as another patrol neared the corner.

HK extended his left arm out in their direction, his twin barrel popping out from between forearm plates,
Pe-pe-pe-pe-pe-pew
He sent out a stream of blaster bolts from the wrist-repeater, mowing down the patrols as they entered the scene, the energy projectiles leaving scorch marks over their arms and legs, disabling them but keeping alive at the same time.

Something shifted in an opening to their left, more of those cursed automatized defenses lowering down from the ceiling,
"Turrets!"
HK warned Verz and Siobhan as he tumbled on the floor to cover, escaping their range, he had to leave some things for them to fight as well, didn't he?
Anyway, he would look back to them as they took care of the turrets and anything else that came from that direction,
"According to the designs I captured we are close, there is this large hall just a-"
The droid spoke to them as he neared a corner.

With a mechanic growl it was then that a Confederate M.U.T.T. droid jumped at him, apparently their submission was lost in the cards of time but they were basically canine/tiger/cheetah droid things designed for close combat. Anyway, the metal beast pinned down HK, the spike-like teeth trying to climb on his face and large claws swinging as he was able to catch the beast with his feet. HK pushed back, getting M.U.T.T. out of the range as to not get cut by the claws, HK's hands caught the droid's metal head and kept him from clamping down on HK's faceplate.
It was then that HK's gauntlets started to spark up, blue arcs dancing around them as his electro-gauntlets built up a charge,
"Night."
The droid muttered out as M.U.T.T. red photoreceptors widened and then with a sizzle HK's gauntlets shot their charge, burning the beast-droid's components and disabling him, at least temporarily. A droid using electric attacks against other droids.

HK pushed the limp metal body off of himself, rolling to stand up he quickly unholstered his shatterpistol, with a quick aim he pulled the trigger, with few whooshes and the sound of cracking metal body HK finished the job, making sure M.U.T.T. would stay disabled.

"Anyway, as I was saying."
HK motioned for Verz and Sio to follow, rounding the corner,
"The door to the biggest hall in here should be just over-"
They passed few doors until they finally got to the one.
"Here!"
And with that, HK has launched himself with his repulsorlifts once more, pouncing at the door with a powerful kick he ripped the metal cover clean from the wall, barging their way into the chamber, the hilt of his lightsaber in one hand, his shatterpistol in the other, the droid made sure that their entrance wasn't sub-par.

But what they would find inside was all for Cory's writer to decide.

 

[Ordo]

[member="Verz Horak"] [member="Coryth Elaris"] [member="Hevana Martin"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Ordo who had been sadly silent was not with the group. Why you ask? Because dearest reader Ordo had slipped in some lubricant from a battle droid and fallen. As he lay on the deck he noticed a sliver of light beneath what should have been a wall and decided to see what it was. Was it a room full of stuffed ropos and happy things you ask. No although happy was desperately needed by all present it was.....wait for it........an escape passage. Who by chance would need to escape? Well a Sith Lord of course. So what happened to Ordo? Lets look in and see shall we.

Ordo trudged along the dark passage he had found bathed in darkness as the others protected and helped Coryth. The poor woman deserved to see this rotten excuse for a sith ended and while the rest helped her Ordo would do his level best to kill the thing for her. His heavy boots made surprisingly little sound as he walked in a near straight line for wherever the passage let out. His grey-green eyes were bathed in a gentle green light of the night vision mode of his HUD. Beskar clad hands held his beskad and ripper as he made his way along. This path was seldom used and Ordo didn't doubt the Sith was confident it would not be needed today.....how right he was, because a dead man needs no escape route.

The tunnel turned once to the left and ended at a set of stairs that went up uppity up for several meters before ending at a door. Ordo could hear movement on the other side and the sound of someone speaking as if to Coryth. It didn't seem right...unless it was the sith trying to get to her mind.

'That's not nice boy'oh' Ordo thought as he considered what to do next.

The hatch was sealed and had no visible latch, which meant it either needed the force or was remote activated. Ordo sheathed his beskad and holstered his ripper. The hatch was thin enough to hear through, muffled though it was, and if sound could go through there was a good chance the Force enhanced body of ol'Ordo could too.

Ordo drew on the force to the extent he thpight he should and backed up ten paces. With a final deep breath he made a run for the sandstone hatch. The dust and debris burst outward as he put his shoulder down and slammed through into the Sith's room.

Ordo pulled his lightsaber and ignited it as the Sith stared with a look of vehemence at Ordo.

"Picked on the wrong girl chakkar." Ordo said as he took the saber in both hands and moved toward the Sith.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

[member="Ordo"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] @HK-36

( Ooc: Sith post! Cory post comes later.)

Within the chamber was a grand throne, born of out of a darker need, seeming to be made from the bones of those who had perished before the dark lord of this palace. His head, propped upon an arm, resting on the edge of the chair, looking horribly bored as the first of the Intruder entered into his realm. There did not appear to be much else in the room, but then again they had not moved far in the building without running into traps before. It'd no undoubtedly be the same here.

He scoffed slowly, glancing to Ordo. "Wrong girl? No," A faint smirk appeared on his lips, at least now there was something to entertain him. "I've only chosen what has already been claimed as my own. And believe me, before the night falls that little redhead will be in my hands once more. Though you should have saved me the trouble of retrieving her. I suppose, if I want something done right, I must do it myself."

Slowly he stood, a faint shimmer rippled through the air as he did so, indicating that there was some sort of shielding surrounding the immediate area around the throne. "However, that can wait." He gave a momentary pause as the door was kicked in by HK-36 "And to think I'd just remodeled this room, what a shame." A sigh followed, "Now that we are all here.... Coryth isn't going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, without an antidote to the very gas she breathed, she's unlikely to survive this little adventure in sands."

Straightening out his robes, he shook his head slowly, "I suppose, since you all seem so eager for death first, then I'll have to entertain the notion."

Raising his hand, the room came alive. Large balls descended from the ceiling as powerful bolts of electricity struck randomly across the entire room. Pitfalls soon opened across the floor, their deadly contents unique and twisted as ever. With a smile on his lips, one more motion opened a hole in the ceiling, which soon dozens of large, alchemy alter spiders leapt free and scattered about the room seeking any target they could find. Lastly an odd fog drifted through, obscuring the various creatures within the room. Still there was something odd about the whole situation laid before them. In time it was certain to be revealed.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Ordo"], [member="Verz Horak"]


And so, Galaxy, we are back with another episode on the Cory Express: Short Stack of Fire Edition. After a prolonged break during which the dear viewer had to endure redundant commercials and old episodes of Mass Age, our favourite series is back with a bang. Oh, and some other things happened, such as Ordo revealing he is the Dark Lord of the Sith, Siobhan sleeping with more women, getting blown up and spaced, and HK-36 hunting down the cult of the Bropos, his archenemies!


But, well, none of this has happened in this timeline yet so it's not relevant. Except the part about Bropos. Fluid timelines for the win!


Anyhow, our valiant band of heroes had penetrated the fortress of the dark lord - the one who is a sadistic jackarse and not the cool Mandalorian, beaten up plenty of mooks, caused untold amounts of property damage and poor Coryth had been infected with foul gas made of the vilest Sith magicks, and was left behind. Hopefully she would hold out. Should the quest go ill than our heroes would have to face the wrath of a threat even greater than that of a vile dark lord: An onslaught of enraged fangirls!


Time seemed to flow for Siobhan as all around her chaos broke out. The throne room of the 'I am so evil and powerful, bend to me, primitives' dark lord reminded her of that of the Bando Gora Primarch. They certainly had the same taste in interior decoration, what with skulls, bones and human flesh. Well, what had happened to that fellow again? Right, she had killed him...and lost half her limbs, but that was just a small detail! The floodgates of her rage had already opened and now at last she had found the target to focus it on. Rage and furry had called to her like a siren and she answered.


The heinous Dark Lord, like every good villain, naturally wanted to give them a good speech. Unfortunately, Siobhan intensely disliked speechifying. Truth be told, this was rather hypocritical of her, since she really liked the sound of her own voice. As a matter of fact she also liked it a lot when people worshipped her and all that. However, he had made her tremendously furious due to the treatment he had meted out to Coryth, so this unfortunate state of events had a rather detrimental effect on her level of tolerance. Not to mention the fact that she was not the polite sort anyway.


So as he speechified, Siobhan found the idea of wrapping her considerable telekinetic willpower around his throat rather appealing. Thus the wish became reality and a gigantic telekinetic fist manifested, born out of her rage and natural, some might say senseless brutality. Invisible chains would attempt to wrap around the vile Sith, binds that would be strengthened with every moment and attempt to compress around him as if very real and physical walls were closing in and trying to press him into, well, paste. With this ridiculously brutal gigantic telekinetic fist wrapped around him, tightening around his throat and...his groin, Siobhan would attempt to lift the dark lord off his throne and into the air with tremendous speed and smash him back into the ground.



Repeatedly.


With the force of a meteorite collision.


Yes, it was fair to say that she was furious. Her rage such that it was a physical presence that swept across the room, perhaps rivalling his darkness. Doubtless as an old and powerful Sith Lord he had a potent Force Aura. This would prevent the invisible telekinetic bind from say squishing his innards. Or ripping an arm off. It would not prevent blunt trauma. Very considerable blunt trauma.


As she poured her will into an attempt to beat the dark lord to paste chaos reigned. Powerful bolts of electricity shot across the chamber, casting it in an eerie light. Needless to say she could not concentrate on beating the hell out of him and blocking lightning. She had also vulnerable cybernetic parts, albeit shielded by armour. Her made polite conversation with lightning. Said conversation did not go well for her and electricity struck her she cried out in pain, shaking strongly as her already damaged and dented armour was fried.


As large spider pounced upon her as she reeled under the lightning onslaught and forced her down to the ground, its manifold and massive legs wrapping her and seized her throat, pulling hard..very hard. More beasts closed in on her, pounding at the woman, their legs being like bludgeons and forcing her down.


Then she let it out. She let it all out. In form of a telekinetic shockwave that was an outburst of her rage, aiming to tear through the very fabric of the chamber as it blossomed into a force explosion to shake its very foundations. The walls and the ceiling began to shake...very strongly, beasts were caught in the maelstorm and thrust through the air at tremendous velocity. Of course, there were still plenty there. Who knew what vile trickery borne out of Sith sorcery awaited them here.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ordo"], [member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],


"You mean like this antidote?"

The droid would raise a vial from one of his pouches, sloshing the contents inside,

"You forget, Sith, there are beings far older than you in this world, and with greater knowledge of the dark arts. Beings who can detect toxins in blood and gas, who can multitask while hunting down your servants. Coryth will survive. You will not."

HK said as he put the vial back, deactivating his lightsaber to unsheeth his twin Sith alchemic swords. He knew what was coming- lightning, because with Sith there was always lightning.

As to the antidote, he was bluffing, but of course the Sith did not needed to know that, and if he would think that the antidote was already formed, well then maybe he would slip up and reveal the position of the real antidote, or at least become demoralized during this fight.


And speaking of the fight, sure enough traps would open and lightning would shoot across the dark room towards the heroes,

"Ordo, keep the monsters at bay!"

The droid would call out to their Mandalorian ally as he begun to slash quickly, cutting down a spider here, killing a monster there, disabling a trap with a precise cut. Blue lightning danced across the room and the droid would dance with it, in precise fluid motions of a bladedancer he would intercept arcs with his blades, capturing them in the alchemical steel to imbue his own swords with the Sith's power, use them as a tool against him and his servants. He noticed that Siobhan was being knocked down and held by spiders, he would tumble near to begin cutting them apart, their flesh becoming fried through electrocution as each of his slash carried the power of Sith lightning.


But then,

BOOM​

Siobhan launched her shockwave and the droid was pushed back along with spiders and other monsters, his vision switching to thermal as he filtered through the tumbling thick cover of gas dancing on the wind and tempest the Siobhan conjured. He tumbled in the air, adjusting his position with repulsorlifts as he slammed against the wall, feet-first of course, he would compress like a spring, aiming towards the Sith Lord, two alchemical swords at his side, lightning dancing across their blades.

And then, he would call to his ally,

"Kerrigan, throw me!"

Just as his legs shot straight, pushed by repulsorlifts he jumped at high speed towards the Sith Lord on his throne, hopefully Kerrigan would grip him in telekinesis as he requested, adding more speed and direction to his pounce to make it all the more accurate, the high-speed rotors in his hands would fire off, beginning to rotate his wrists round and round, turning the swords into two buzzsaws of electric blade, ready to meet any armor, flesh, or shield they could slice through or overload.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

[member="Ordo"] [member="Hevana Martin"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"]

Coryth only blinked, barely able to move at all anymore. With shaking hands, she reached up and pushed back the mask upon her face, not feeling like she could get enough air into her lungs. It was then that she could just make out the sound of booted feet in the hallways near them, steadily getting closer. Her eyes widened making out a familiar presence in the force.

"We.. aren't... alone." She managed to whisper through labored breaths.

It was starting to become clear to her, whatever, where ever the rest had gone, it was a distraction. A trap possibly. Either way, it had lured the majority of her rescuers away from her, leaving just the two of them. Well, one and a half of them, Cory didn't count for much right then, save for a limp body.

A large group of elite guards arrived and soon after a familiar voice echoed through the space in the hall. "So nice to see you Coryth. Such a shame you couldn't bring our child with you. I'd love to meet the little one." The smug look, upon his face was enough in a single instant to enrage the little redhead. There had never been anyone quite like him, that could take her from annoyed to nuclear in less than 3.2.

Her upper lip twitched as rage boiled over, "YOU!" She screamed, certainly loud enough for half of Tatoonie to hear her perfectly. "YOU FRAKKING BASTARD!!" Soon she regretted the yelling, now panting for her efforts. "I'll... !! Kill!! You!!" If she had an ounce of strength left, and wasn't in complete force exhaustion, she would have reached out then and there and strangled the monster, and been done with it. Fortunately for him, he'd helped to drain her of nearly everything she had. Between him and the voices in her head, she stood little chance of fighting back.

"Kill me?" A scoff, "That I believe requires you to be breathing, and right now, you seem well on your way to not. Additionally ... I think you may be interested in what I have to say."

While Cory and he were conversing oh so politely, the Sith, or what appeared to be the Sith changed shapes rapidly as Siobhan grasped it, and proceeded to slam it into the floor. No longer protected by it's master, it was crushed against the floor. The shimmering around it was gone, and upon closer inspection of what was left of the body, it would be found that it wasn't even in fact human at all. It was just merely a meaty brainless puppet of the Dark Lord present in the hallway now.

With the massive force explosion, the creatures in the room were sent scattering, many crushed against the walls, but there were still a fair few more that remained active and alive. At that moment, the tiles in the floor began to fall away, revealing more pits, and more monstrosities, what few had managed to survive, and all seemed rather hungry. A large alchemy altered nexu lept from one of the pits, launching itself towards where Siobhan was laying on the floor.

Back in the hallway, away from the fighting, Coryth glanced between him and Hevana as he took another step closer to them both. "Not. One. More. Step." She snarled, though for all her effort, it was a half-hearted snarl that she simply could not put any energy behind.

"Now Coryth, is that any way to treat someone that could help you?" His eyes moved to Hevana, wondering what her move would be. He had no doubts that the soldier would surely try something, but what could the woman do? It wasn't like she could protect Coryth from the entire group of them, or so he hoped.

"Huh? That's interesting... I didn't know... there was ocean front... property for sale... on Tatoonie" She panted still, just trying to catch her breath between words now. "Honestly, you thought ... I'd ... buy that line? .... Really?"

"No. But I figured you'd be desperate enough for the antidote, for what is in your lungs, that you might not care if I was speaking the truth or not."

Coryth only lofted a brow in response.

"What? Did you really, not expect me to have some form of an insurance policy?"

If looks could have killed in that singular moment, he and half the galaxy would have died.

"I. Hate. You." Barely managing a whisper at that point. Her lungs were starting to burn as it grew harder to breathe.

"Tsk, so cute when you're angry. I told you there was a Sith inside you dying to get out." He smiled brightly, "You know it. I know it."

"Don't push... your luck..." Her eyes went back to Hevana wondering where they hell they could go with this. Because right now, she was feeling a bit outnumbered and really knew damn well she was worthless to the scout, and anyone else for that matter. Panic was starting to rise in her, noticing just how much harder it was getting to breathe.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Hevana Martin"], [member="HK-36"]


Well, that sucked. A lot.


She picked up upon the shimmering around the body of the 'Dark Lord'. There was no time for her to inspect it, but she saw enough to put two and two together. This sucked a lot! Then chaos broke out and beasts started appearing everywhere. One blast of blue-white force lightning shrieked from her hand towards the giant alchemised nexu, but such was the ferocity of the beast that it powered through the volley of cackling electricity and crashed into her. Suffice to say Siobhan went flying...through the wall. White hot pain shot through her as she crashed into the ground, coming to a painful halt. As for the nexu, it was not far behind, leaping towards her with renewed aggression, as if driven by the vile will of its master...and presumably a desire to fill its belly with a meal. Sith lords were not known to be nice to their pets so it was quite plausible that it was not being fed enough meat.


Just recovering from her fall, she found herself pinned down by the beast. Its massive claws gnawed and tore at her armour, finding a weak spot in her upper arm and tearing into it, drawing blood. Her helmet was torn off and she cried out in pain as enormous teeth tore into her neck. She tried to throw the beast off with a force-enhanced punch, but to no avail. Then suddenly her lightsabre surged to to life in a flash and surged through the beast's skull, running it through as she poured her force into it. The enormous beast slumped down on top of her, which hurt as well.

She breathed in, trying to regain her equilibrium. Dimly she sensed that more beasts were appearing, pits having been opened everywhere. Likewise she felt rage from being played...and her danger senses flared as she picked up the signs coming from Coryth.


Rage found an outlet. The throne room and indeed a good chunk of the corridor she was in ceased to exist as her mind tore the roof asunder and pulled it down. Likewise the floor she was lying on, as hordes of alchemised monstrositiies came racing towards her, gave way and torn to shreds, dropping. The hall was filled with frightened and enraged screams of beasts as they were buried under piles of rubble or sent falling down into the next floor, to be buried there again as they were engulfed by the whirlwind of destruction.


Chaos. Pandaemonium. Destruction. Siobhan likewise fell, not able to gather sufficient energy to fly out in time, and crashed down hard upon the ground. A big chunk of rubble fell with her and made polite conversation with her legs. Fortunately one of them was bionic, though it would probably need repairs. A small piece crashed into her organic eye, temporarily blinding her. For a few moments she just lay there, every attempt at movement just making new sparks of pain shoot through her. Then the massive brick keeping her legs immobilised was violently grabbed and thrown against the wrecked wall with such force it splintered into pieces upon pieces. The shard embedded in her eye was grabbed by her cyborg hand and pulled out.


With blood dripping down her face and with her vision still hazy, Siobhan got back up. She was shaky on her legs but new energy filled her muscles. Perhaps not the energies a Jedi would want, for the darkside permeated them, but that was irrelevant to her. Without a further word she suddenly shot through the ruins and flew back up. A wall collapsed behind her. "It was a decoy...he must be with Coryth." even as she spoke these words she was quickly heading back, bolter in hand.

Yeah, she was pissed off.

 

[Hevana Martin]

While she was glad that Coryth seemed at least a bit back to her senses, the evil douchesickle voice and countless footsteps coming from nearby she could have done without. Turning toward them, her helmet was placed back on her head in a single practiced motion. Behind the black eyes of her ancient scout trooper armor she surveyed the enemy party. The grunt by themselves were no threat, and the douchesickle by himself would have probably been a challenge but not impossible given her training. Together... well things had become interesting. Hevana had no idea what everyone else was dealing with, but she had no time to worry about them. Either they survived, or they did not. Her only focus was keeping herself and the woman she loved alive.

As Mr. Douche continued his endlessly long ego boosting of asshatness, Hevana memorized every detail of her targets. Every pouch, every spare ammo clip, every holster and sheath. Their distance from each other and the walls, how quickly each one had walked as they approached. Even the minute details were locked away in her painfully perfect memory with every other detail of her long and blood filled life. The most obvious thing was that every one of his guards were waiting for her to move. She was the anomaly. The factor they could not predict. If they were smart, then they would be nervous to given how efficiently she had thinned the ranks of mercenaries along the way.

"Oh he pushed his luck the moment he got in my range love," Hevana said. Then her arm came up in a blur firing off a stream of slug shots at the sith and his closest guards. Half way through the volley her other arm arched and threw an anti-force user grenade at the sith's feet. It would explode at any change in momentum, whether he attempted to Force push it or it slammed into the ground. Her initial attack over in seconds Hevana grabbed Coryth dropping her slug thrower and jumped hard to the side. Mid jump she pulled the rocket launcher on her back over her shoulder, firing directly where she remembered where the sith's face had been. The rocket carried the same fuse and the grenade, but had much more power and speed behind it.

Hardly giving the missile time to explode, she was charging whatever was left of the group her vibroknife in one hand and shoto blade in the other. Running through the remnants of fire and smoke, she stabbed at where one of the guards most likely to have survived in the back would be.

[member="Coryth Elaris"]

 

[Coryth Elaris]

"Don't .... kill... him... Hevana.... Need ... him... for ... cure." Coryth gasped, clearly having an even more difficult time breathing.

As Hevana raised the slugthrower, the Sith lord merely grabbed one of the men beside him and pulled the poor sap in front of him, to use as a human shield. Must have sucked to work for him, after all everyone was disposable. To the Anti-force user grenade, another man was sacrificed, as he was thrown forward to cover the grenade and at least lessen the blow of the chemical being spread about the hallway, as he leaped off down a side corridor.

Coryth whimpered weakly as Hevana grabbed her and pulled her off to the side. Glancing down, her eyes widened taking note of the blueish color her fingertips were turning. The faint tingle in her lips, told the little Jedi, that even those were likely turning blue as well from a lack of oxygen. " .... Hevana..." Coryth whispered at great effort, trying to catch the scout's attention to her degrading condition. Time it seemed was fast running out if they didn't manage to find the antidote for the little redhead.

The missile crashed into the wall behind where the Sith had been, no doubt taking out a fair amount of the men who had been unfortunate enough to be left standing in the hall. As Hevena began to work through the surviving troopers, Coryth's favorite Sith was running out of ideas. Right now, he needed Coryth and Coryth needed him, for survival. Such was the nature of his little insurance plan.

"Her time's running out soldier!" He shouted over the chaos. Though it was much more likely that it was his time that was running out.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Ordo"] [member="Hevana Martin"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Hevana Martin"]


And at the turn of the tide our slightly mentally unstable heroine arrived! Hooray!


Siobhan was pissed off, hurting in several places, her armour had seen better days and she was bleeding. She was also very pissed off. As a matter of fact she was limping and her organic eye had not taken kindly to a splinter making polite conversation with it. Her rage was so strong that it almost felt like a physical presence. The darkness radiating from her aura might be strong enough to match that of a Sith. With blood dripping down her face and obscuring her features, she looked like a fury.


Making a berserker...rage even more was very problematic. Yet she maintained enough control over it so as not to lose herself. She was the eye in the hurricane. Or at least that was what she told herself. As it happened she arrived around the corner just after Hevana had unleashed chaos upon the Sith Lord's minion. This Sith, she was certain, was the real deal. There would be no escape this time.


She heard the last words Coryth had spoken, about needing the Sith alive...for now. Well, she could do that. Once he was no longer needed, he would perish. His minions had been decimated and in any case they were irrelevant. So rather than focusing on them she went straight for him. Her gloved organic hand, now suddenly no longer shaking, was raised. Sparks of electricity cackled across her open palm. Countess Kerrigan willed that there be lightning and, a moment later, there was lightning. Lightning everywhere!


Well, obviously not where Hevana and Coryth were because that would be awkward. But a torrent of lightning shrieked from her fingertips and surged towards the Sith Lord. It was not a simple, straightforward stream of lightning that could with practice be blocked with a lightsabre or dodged easily enough. Rather it split and came upon him from multiple angles like claws, aiming to engulf and fry him. Electrical bolts of pure venom and hatred meant to burn and boil him. A storm was brewing and she was at the heart of it, willing it to produce pain...lots of pain. She would make him burn!

 

[Hevana Martin]

With a flick of her shoto the last of the guards fell to the ground in pieces. The sith's taunt was noted, but ignored. She was well aware of how little time Coryth had, but the best way to cure Coryth was to capture the sith and make him give up the cure. After all regardless of what he might say, giving Coryth to him would only do more harm than good. Thus was the nature of bad guys, even when they were telling the truth they were lying. Easier to just chop them up.

Which was exactly what Hevana intended to do. "Don't stop!" she called to the berserk Siobhan.

Using Siobhan's light show as a distraction, she charged the sith from behind. Even if a few stay lightning bolts hit her her armor would help diffuse some of the force. It would not stop her from reaching her target regardless of what damage she took. Her vibroblade was now clenched in both hands, and as she ran forward it's blade was aimed directly to the sith's spine, just above his waist.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Coryth Elaris"]

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth was left panting desperately on the floor, bordering on passing out. Gasping every few moments for air she needed most urgently, but just wasn't able to force enough into her lungs. The mass amounts of death and pain in the hallways surrounding the little redhead was pushing her closer and closer to physically passing out.Every body on the the floor, was one more death that Coryth felt as if it was her very soul being ripped from her chest. Yet, still she knew she couldn't cry, couldn't give into the pain she felt, for if she did, it would steal even more air from her frail body.

The lightning lashing out about everyone, Mister Sith included, only worsened matters for her. Clutching at her head, Coryth curled into a fetal position, doing all she could to just hang on a minute or two longer. Just a little longer ... a little longer... She told herself. After a moment or two, the little Jedi seemed to stop registering anything happening around her, eyes glazing a bit as her breaths grew shorter and more feeble by the second. Try as she might, holding on for a few moments more, might be too much to ask.

The Sith had been briefly distracted by Hevana's actions and truly, was not expecting Siobhan to come up behind him. The lightning storm that erupted in the hall, took him by surprise as burning hot fingers of electricity lashed as his skin. The smell of charred flesh wafted out in all directions, the smell unmistakable for what it was. As flesh was charred and burned away, he turned back to Siobhan, unleashing telekinetic fury back at the woman who clearly looked like she'd seen better days. Even he, wasn't so happy with the outcome thus far. This forcer was supposed to be dead in the pits. Not frying him like an egg in a hot skillet! But alas, things he could not change.

As he took a step forward, the scout trooper had snuck up on him, though he'd stepped just enough that the blade missed it's mark, but not entirely. A harsh scream rang through the hallway as the shoto pierced just to the side of his spine, keeping him on his feet for the moment. But that was bound to not last between both Siobhan and Hevana present. Pulling away, he drew his own saber, to try and square off with the trooper. "Wasting her time..." He hissed.

While those two were busy, a few of the alchemy enhanced beasts came to join the fray. Though it seemed one Nexu had different ideas from the rest, as it grabbed at Coryth's cloak and started to drag the tiny woman away from the battle. Whether this was a mercy, or something a bit more sinister, only time would tell. Right now, the redhead could have cared less where it was dragging her off to, it was away from the fighting and the agony that it was causing her. It seemed the Nexu had a good idea where it was heading too, though it paused just long enough, to lower it's head to the little woman, nudging at her, trying to help get her on it's back. This Coryth wasn't going to argue with, she couldn't walk even if she'd wanted to.

Entangling her hands in it's tufts of fur, she let it help nudge her across it's shoulders. It was then that the beast carefully padded off, several doors down to a largely empty lab. Well, empty except for numerous vials of various chemicals strew about, as well as what appeared to be three large bacta chambers, in it three identical clones of the very same Sith who the other two women were busy entertaining in the hallway. As she lifted her head, Coryth knew this was the place they'd been looking for all along. With a bit of a leap, the Nexu landed upon a large hospital bed in the room's center and deposited her upon it. It then hopped back to the floor, and took up residence at the foot of the bed, standing guard it would seem.

[member="Hevana Martin"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Hevana Martin"], [member="HK-36"]


((Posting this, hits and all, with permission from Coryth's writer))


Siobhan was officially done with mucking around and playing nice. Well, when one thought about it, she had not played nice at all from the start, but nonetheless. Alchemical beasts had suddenly shown up and Coryth had vanished, seemingly carried away by a nexu. The telekinetic blast of the Sith Lord was countered with a massive wave of her own, though it forced her to stop the lightning assault. The air twisted into strange, bizarre shapes, alchemical beasts were thrown through the air as the two blasts crashed and exploded with deafening force.



Shaken by the impact of the blast Siobhan was knocked back and fell against a wall. Her energy reserves had depleted strongly as well, so she had not been fully able to counter the blast without anything of her own shockwave hitting her. Some of her ribs did not like the feeling and decided to inform her of this state of events by making it more difficult to breathe and hurting a lot. Apparently the Sith Lord wanted to play games with his lightsabre now. Well, Siobhan was so not down for that. Time was running out, in that he was correct. She could not get a good read on him, but her guess was that he was more of an alchemist and an illusionist, delighting in tormenting those helpless to resist, but not someone who flourished in a head-on confrontation with juggernauts. Essentially a super-empowered, more devious version of Kaelin. Time was running out for him as well. With fury reflected in her eyes she wrapped her telekinetic willpower around the Sith's sword arm and seized it in a crushing grip. Bones would break...it would hurt. A lot. Presumably crunching sounds would be heard. Then she lifted him up from his feet into the air and threw him into a nearby door.



Well, as a matter of fact, she would throw him through it. That would hurt a lot as well and cause property damage, but then his lair could use some renovation anyway. She paid the beast no mind as she quickly raced after him. Hevana could handle them just fine. "Deal with the beasts, go find Coryth," she called out to her, not waiting for a response as she stalked through the wrecked door. A very nasty, vicious looking chainsword was retrieved from her back and came into the grasp of her bionic hand. A chainsword so similar to the one the Bando Gora War God's Champion had used to cleave off half her leg so many years ago. The gears turned as the blade was activated, seemingly calling for blood.


"Time's running out," she said icily as she walked towards him. There was no humanity, no mercy to be found in these eyes. Nor did Siobhan waste even a moment with musings of the 'if you do this, you'll be just like him' variety. As she approached she stretched out with her mind and focused her telekinetic willpower on...one his teeth. Then she pulled...very brutally. Another large tooth would follow. He did not need them after all. "You got two choices: You tell me the cure for Coryth, you die quickly. You refuse and Coryth dies," at that she swung the chainsword and then suddenly brought it down upon him with the force of a hurricane...on his left foot to chop it off. It would not survive the experience. "Then I have no reason not to spend the rest of the day and beyond gutting you. Cutting out all the bits that stick out, breaking everything inside."


Not a threat or even a promise. Just a cold statement of fact. Threats could be called and in any case still implied there was leeway, room for negotiation. But here there was no room for escape. The cure for Coryth was not a bargaining chip for him to weasle his way out of his punishment and go scots free. If he did not give it up and Coryth died, there would be no incentive for Siobhan not to tear him to pieces. Deep down, in her heart of hearts, the Butcher knew that she would enjoy gutting him bit by bit. Her heavy combat boot dug into his right knee, pushing against it very hard. Telekinetic willpower wrapped around the place she was putting pressure on, then the grip tightened...bones would snap viciously.

 

[Hevana Martin]

Jumping back she prepared to go blade to blade with the sith. She honestly doubted he would last long against a veteran melee combatant like herself, but Hevana never got the opportunity to find out. Her prey was quite literally ripped away from her. More than a little disappointment filled her at being deprived the chance to take care of Coryth's enemy herself. However out of the corner of her eye she saw the redhead leaving the scene on the back of, of all things, what looked like a nexu.

A short nod was all Hevana gave to acknowledge Siobhan's order before she jogged after the alchemical beast. Entering the lab, Hevana paused at the door. She noted the clones, knowing that was how the supposedly dead sith had survived Coryth so many years ago. "Siobhan, whatever you do, do not actually kill him," she radioed back hoping her friend's comm had survived the fighting. Then she looked at the Nexu gaurding the bed. Slowly she took her helmet off and looked at her love. "What now Coryth?"

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Coryth Elaris"]

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth lay on the gurney gasping for air, most desperately. Anything she could do just to get vital life giving oxygen into her lungs, but that's exactly where the problem was. Whatever gaseous substance he'd given her, seemed to be almost completely blocking that mechanism now. Her skin took on a more blue hue, fingers and toes in fact turning purple.

So many things raced through her mind in those moments, from the torture that brought her here, to the possession in her mind that brought her back a second time, the birth of her child, the adoption, her life flashing before her eyes. All the mistakes, the regrets, the hopes, the joys, the miseries were all there. Never before had she sat upon the cusp of death, never this close.

Back the hallway, the Sith howled out in agony as his arm was crushed in a most spectacular manner. His saber fell from his limp arm with a clatter to the durasteel below. She'd been oh, so right about him. An illusion and alchemist he was, but head to head confrontation, was not his specialty.

Thrown through the nearby door, the impact alone crushed and shattered more bones than he wanted to think about. The impact into a table behind the door, left a fantastic gasp upon his head, blood flowing into his eyes. Xerexes looked up in time to see the chainsword, eyes widening wondering where the hell a weapon like that came from to begin with. Probably not what he should have been thinking....

Wiping the blood with his uninjured arm, he seemed to finally understand the reality of the situation. One way or another this body would die today, that was an undeniable fact. And at the end of the day, he didn't want Coryth to die. He wanted his child, and there was only one way to get to the kid, and that was through the little redhead. More screams came as teeth were ripped from his mouth. Then the chainsword came crashing down with immense force upon his left foot, severing it in a spray of blood, as if there wasn't enough of his blood spilled already.

"Wait! Wait!" Nothing it seemed would save him, from what the fates had deemed would be his rightful end. Siobhan's boot crushed into his rather sensitive knee, as he vainly attempted to pull away and curl into a most pathetic fetal position. "STOP YOU WHORE!" Not the wisest thing he could have said as the bones were crushed by the woman's relentless Telekinetic power. Whimpering followed as he tried desperately to calm the horrific pain within, just to speak. "Can't .... talk ... with you ... cutting things off queen!"

And back with the little short stack of fire, Coryth couldn't speak at that point, pained gasps were even a stretch. But she lifted a shaking hand to point to an oxygen tank and mask in one corner. Right now, maybe just maybe the extra oxygen provided by the tank and mask might keep her alive for a little while longer. As for the Nexu guarding her, he seemed to whimper, and whine, as he sensed the stresses and pain of little Coryth. The thing didn't seem to be there to attack, but only to protect.

[member="Hevana Martin"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Hevana Martin"]


The Sith Lord's words were indeed probably not the wisest thing to say considering he was getting his taste of his own medicine from a woman who could probably considered rather nuts and a high-functioning psychopath. Siobhan knew torture well by now. She had, one might say, 'learned' it from Kaelin Isandros. She had also lots of rage inside and was running out of time.


"Then...talk," she said icily, her voice like the sharp crack of a whip and as icy as a snowstorm on Hoth. There was no mercy, no compassion to be found in those eyes. She saw the Sith trying to pull away and dug her boot in further into his rather sensitive knee while she used her telekinesis to grip his body and spread him wide on the ground so that she might tower over him. There would be no escape for Coryth's malefactor, he would be forces to see his killer in the eye and he would give up the antidote.


One way or another it was the day of judgement for him. Siobhan's comm had been badly damaged back when the corridor sort of collapsed upon her in the throne room, but something made her pause. Perhaps it was a case of her being genre-savvy, Mirien's influence coursing through her mind due to the flood of memories she had received after Alderaan or her own experiences with body-hopping Sith Lords like Darth Shadow, who had possessed Adril and then her once.


Whatever the factors influencing her thinking process were, for a moment she withdrew slightly and put her chainsword away Doubtless if the Sith tried something her response would be painful for him. Her hand moved into her backpack and retrieved a...shiny, metal collar. Just the sort of thing you would expect someone like Siobhan to carry around. "Slippery little bastard. There won't be any last minute, space magic getaway ticket for you," she hissed as she unceremoniously grabbed the Sith's throat with her bionic hand and slapped the collar around it. Siobhan was...very good at restraining people and with a click the collar slammed shut, presumably feeling tight around his neck.


Now, what did this collar do, one might ask. To put it plainly it was the classic force nullifier regimes had used time and again to cut off access to the Force, since it was always troublesome when force-sensitive prisoners easily bypassed your top-notch security in prisons or dungeon ships via space magic. No access to the Force, no space magic rescues. Presumably the experience of being so abruptly cut off from the Force would be painful. After all, that was how it was for force-users if they suddenly came within the force-nullifying bubble zone generated by a ysalamiri. At least it felt that way for Siobhan when the collar was used on her.


"Again. Tell me the cure," Siobhan said then retrieved her chainsword. She held it with both hands, for even with force-enhanced strength the weapon was bloody heavy and she did not have the energy at this point. She gripped the weapon tight and then mercilessly came crashing down...upon his right foot. Presumably with plenty of blood and gore that this writer shall not describe because that's so not the sort of thing kiddies should read about. Suffice to say it would bloody hurt a lot.

 

[Hevana Martin]

Hevana's eyes went to the oxygen mask and Coryth's request clicked immediately. Rushing past the nexu, with a wide safety margin naturally, Hevana ran to the mask. Grabbing it, she carefully placed it over the Jedi's mouth and nose. The soldier had some field medic training, but she was far from a doctor. The healer here was unfortunately the one that needed healing. Life tended to suck like that. "Breathe love, its almost over."

Looking at the alchemical beast, Hevana decided to do something dumb. Reaching out she began to place her hand on the nexu's head. "Easy boy..."

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Coryth Elaris"]