Private Window Shopping

[Darth Empyrean]

Dorian cocked a brow to her as he looked at the twi’lek.​

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“Why not?”, he asked simply.​

​

Cybele simply hummed as the hologram lit to life, and a variety of dresses were shown in short order; though too fast to truly appreciate them. For a moment, she’d see skimpy more revealing dresses, and then slowly grew more covering and ornate - before the end looked like a Naboo Monarch looking to show off for a once in a millenia ball; with structural gold holding up a collar that was three times as tall as the head, and diamonds scattered across anything that fluttered in the wind.​

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Dorian crossed his legs and glanced to the hologram, but Cybele was the one that spoke -​

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“We’ve a selection of 2,952 available by tonight.”, she said simply.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

"Uh..." Wrenarias blinked at the display as the plethora of dressed whirled past. There was no way for her to process the vivid images and they all blurred into a mass of brilliant colors and frills. This was not something she was ever going to get used to.

Dorian's insistence on pampering her was sweet, but she wasn't sure what to make of it still. She didn't want to rely on him for everything.

"Okay, well, we can cut out anything above mid-thigh... and anything that looks like it should be adorning some sort of Queen or Empress, for sure." She said with a light chuckle, shaking her head as she stood up to look the display over. A quick glance was cast over her shoulder to Dorian, offering him a bright smile.

It took some time, but eventually Wren settled on a dark blue, floor-length gown with a slit that ran all the way to the thigh. A bit showy for her taste, bit it at least covered most of her midriff, unlike almost every other dress she looked at. The neck line also would plunge much lower than she was used to, far enough down to reveal a scar along the underside of her collar bone. That would be a dead give away that she didn't belong... but so was the bare cybernetic prosthetic that was attached to her head.

She had Cybele put in the order for the dress, then she turned to face Dorian with her arms folded over her chest.

"You never took the first dress out of my pay." She said, challenging him with a smirk.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Dorian became defensive, but obviously in a playful sense. He scoffed, glanced away and made his tone more theatrical than was serious -​

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“I was going to!”, he said in this playful nature.​

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“I just… got distracted. Cybele!”, he called out suddenly, and the robot hummed in response.​

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“Take that out of her paycheck.”, Dorian beamed.​

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Cybele repeated in the same joking tone he had, as smug as the AI was;​

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“Yessir, Mr. Dorian Sir!”​

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The banker grinned widely as he looked to Wrenarias, obviously proud of his acting. A hand moving to pinch at her thigh before he could back up from her, hoping to escape any possible reactions that would see himself harmed from the joke.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren couldn't help but laugh at Dorian and Cybele's antics, shaking her head as he quickly moved away from her. As he retreated, Wren waved a hand and used the Force to lightly fling a pillow off the couch at the Banker's back. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and wrinkled her freckled nose.

Something as simple as this, playfully flirting and goofing off, was a rare moment for the twi'lek. Or at least, it had been for much of her life. Things had changed after meeting Dorian, even if it'd only been for this brief span of time. Even while she was smiling and laughing, she couldn't help but wonder, when is something going to go wrong.

Something always did.

"Cybele, when will the dress be available for pick up? I'll probably grab it on my way back home so I can get ready."

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Maliphant felt the pillow fly through the air towards him, and it took more than he cared to admit to not react - to grab it with the force, with his hands, to twist himself to avoid it. He was, afterall, a trained killer - forged in the embers of the greatest Sith Lords to ever exist - and to hide it almost seemed… deemeening, but this was the life he chose for himself; and so the seemingly minor pillow toss became his acceptance, a subjugation to his own ambition and the lie he told Wren - told to everyone.​

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The pillow hit him and he laughed, pulling it to his chest as Cybele spoke -​

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“The tailor says it shall be done in approximately one hour. Would you like me to call a speeder for you, Miss Wrenarias?”, the AI asked.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

She glanced up briefly, an instinctive reaction whenever Cybele spoke. Then she held out her hand once more, pulling the pillow back onto the couch. Her training with Cedric was paying off. Before, she never would have used the Force for something so mundane as pillow tossing.

As she looked around the penthouse, something struck her -- it seemed far more lived in that it did the first time he brought her here. It was still pristine, but it wasn't sterile.

"Yes, if you would please, Cybele."

She turned her attention back to Dorian, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist with a warm smile. "When should I expect to meet you at the landing pad?" She asked, still chuckling quietly to herself.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“You know i’m not good at the detail part of things.”, he said musingly, swinging her by her grip of him back and forth with a soft sway.​

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“I just go where Cybele tells me to. I’ve learned-”​

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Dorian paused to rest his lips on her forehead, and pull her into a tighter hug -​

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“- its easier not to ask such questions. Tonight, I imagine, whenever she sees fit for us.”, he chuckled.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Leaving the comfort of Dorian's embrace and his lavish penthouse was always something of a struggle for Wren. In the short time that they'd known one another, he'd come to be a bastion of solace for the woman. As the elevator descended through the tower, she reminded herself that it was dangerous to let her guard down around someone so easily.

People were dangerous, especially wealthy men.

Nevertheless, Dorian had done nothing untoward with her. He didn't pressure her for more or make demands of her -- aside from letting him pay for everything.

Her fingers idly stroked the last few inches of her right lek as she considered this strange life she'd stumbled into, a glimpse at a world with which she was somewhat familiar... but from a vastly different perspective. By the time the lift came to a stop at the level she needed, there was a pleasant smile on her features.

She was happy, she realized.

During her time working for Jaegar, she'd grown accustomed to a certain level of security and safety while inside the massive tower. Dorian practically had a private army at his disposal, after all. And she was more than capable of protecting herself should the need arise. Wren was too distracted by her thoughts of the coming night to notice a man step out of a nearby shop and start to follow her while she made her way to the tailor.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Some time later…​

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---​

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“Where is she?”, Dorian demanded as he glanced at his watch.​

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They’d been at the landing pad for an hour, and she hadn’t so much as replied to the pings and messages that Cybele had sent her. The engines on the speeder seemed to drown out much else as Dorian finally pressed a few buttons that shut it down - forcing it to rest on the durasteel pad with a heavy clunk.​

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“I’m not sure. Do you think she’s okay?”, Cybele said with her synthetic worry heavy on her voice.​

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Maliphant almost snarled as he considered someone coming to harm her - likely as a result of his own importance. A matter of seeking ransom, striking at the IGBC or Jaeger, or even Inquisitors seeking to draw him out from his hiding place… A compartment on the side of the speeder opened and exposed the hilt of his lightsaber, which he drew from it with the force with a suprising speed - the metal slamming into his palm. He tucked it away into his coat and spoke low, more akin to the Sith Lord’s more predatory nature -​

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“She will be. One way, or another.”, he said as he began a slow walk to the apartment listed as hers in the databases.​

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For the sake of any would be kidnappers - she better have been alright.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Compared to Dorian's extravagant penthouse, Wren's small apartment complex was downright drab. The building was rather crowded, mostly with other aliens. Tenants busily hurried through the corridors, many of them glanced curiously to Dorian as it was clear that the man did not mesh with his surroundings. He stood out as much here as Wren did when she was in his world. With the new rise of nationalist humanism on Coruscant, it seemed that many of the nonhumans were naturally clustering together.

When he arrived at her apartment, he found the door unlocked -- which was uncharacteristically careless of Wren.

By Dorian's standards, the small living space which Wrenarias called home was better suited as a storage closet than an apartment. It was a single room that barely qualified as a studio. While it seemed she didn't have many belongings, the apartment was still rather cluttered and very much lived in. The lack of a maid was noticeable, but she managed to keep things tidy enough with what little time she did have.

In the corner, there was a small workbench with a partially assembled droid on top of it. It looked as though it was slowly being pieced together with various scrap parts that Wren found when she could afford them.

Laying across her disheveled bed was the dress that Cybele had ordered her earlier that day.

There was no sign of the twi'lek.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Dorian entered with a watchful gaze. The Force had turned its back on him for months, and the sickness in him grew by the minute - so he couldn’t simply search for her through the Force. Instead, he called upon the next best thing -​

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“Cybele. Can you tell me if there's any security footage of the area? Anything at all that might tell us where Wren ran off to…”, he said as he idled about the room, taking care to look for anything that seemed too out of place.​

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It was only then that he realized that he had never actually been to her apartment. They’d always spent time at his - which on some level made him feel a touch of guilt. How long had he been rich, separated from the woes of normal life like this? To think he wasn’t even considered apart of this world anymore…​

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He sighed as he pushed things around with his foot, hoping to uncover clues.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

As Dorian nudged the articles of discarded clothing around the room, there was be a soft clinging sound -- a tiny glass cartridge rolling across the ceramic tile floor. It skittered a few feet away and then rolled to a stop. Upon closer inspection, Dorian would realize that it was a small dart with an integrated injector cartridge.

A few moments later, Cybele's voice chimed in answer to Dorian's inquiry.

"I've accessed the security feed from the corridor. Scanning the recordings now..." She said briefly while her processors perused the video footage far faster than any organic would have been capable of doing.

"Oh... it seems she had a visitor. Forwarding you the footage now, sir."

When Dorian pulled up the file, he'd see footage of the exterior corridor. It was empty, save for one man who wore a heavy jacket that fell to his knees. He stopped at the door to Wren's apartment, lightly tapping his knuckles against the doorframe in a light knock. There was a moment of inactivity while he gestured at a camera next to the door, likely talking to the woman inside the apartment.

The door slid open and Wren's form came into view. There was a warm, but concerned expression on her features. With her standing in front of him, the difference in size between the man and the twi'lek was noticeable. Wren had to tilt her head back to look up at his face.

Before she even said anything, the man raised his right hand towards her. Something happened, but it was difficult to make out the details.

Wren staggered back a step, eyes wide and startled before she vanished from the camera's field of view. The man swiftly ducked inside, shutting the door behind him.

In the time that Dorian watched the short video, Cybele was talking once more.

"He was inside the apartment for fifteen minutes. When he left Wren was with him, but it looks like she was having a hard time walking."

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Dorian watched it, but Maliphant recognized what occurred. He almost snarled - some sort of Force manipulation, something to alter the way she was. There was only a momentary hope that he could have known for sure, to have felt the force through the hologram - but he couldn’t. He couldn’t have felt it even if such a thing were real…​

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Instead, he studied the man for a moment, trying to figure out just who he was. A Sith Inquisitor? If he was indeed using the force, it was a possibility. Someone to use Wren against him, to draw him out of hiding while he was still weak. A disgusting ploy, but what he couldn’t blame them for - it was something he would do.​

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Sighing, he began to walk outside the apartment and spoke to Cybele through the small communicator on his collar -​

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“Track them through the Coruscant Infrastructure system. A camera saw them somewhere, and I want to know where.”​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

The man in the video wasn't dressed like an inquisitor, or any sith for that matter. In fact, he looked like a run of the mill bruiser or enforcer.

"Hmm..." Cybele mused quietly in his ear while she processed millions of data packets in mere seconds. "It looks like he took her back to the landing pad. They took a public transit speeder to the Elysium district. He carried her to a private speeder from there, she wasn't walking. I can't tell from the footage if she was conscious or not. The speeder they took was registered to... oh. Well, that's odd. Duval Enterprise."

​

Wren's eyes fluttered open. Her head felt as if someone was trying to split it open from inside her skull and her stomach roiled from the simple movement of trying to sit up. It felt like the worst hangover of her life. The room was still spinning around her when she closed her eyes to ward off the nausea that rose in her throat.

She took a few deep breaths to ease her queasiness and then she properly pushed herself up into a seated position.

The room she was in was nearly pitch black, only a single beam of faint light filtered into the darkness through the bottom of the doorway. She could tell that she was situated on a bed, but it certainly wasn't hers or Dorian's for that matter.

Where the kriff am I?

She was indescribably disoriented, as if trying to fumble her way through a room without half of her senses and an arm tied behind her back. Then it hit her... she couldn't feel the Force. It was as if a part of her had been cleaved away, leaving a jagged emptiness in its wake. She lurched forward, intending to brace her hand against the mattress, but instead she found empty nothingness.

The discombobulated twi'lek tumbled to the ground, dragging half the blanket that'd been draped over her legs with her. She cracked her elbow against the hard floor as she fell, sending a sharp lance of pain through her entire arm.

She groaned in pain and rolled onto her back.

When she moved her head, she felt something tug on her neck, a hauntingly familiar sensation. With a shaking hand, she reached up to touch her throat and her fingers met a slender band of metal that thrummed from the contact. Her blood went cold and she found it impossible to take a breath.

A Force suppression collar.

"Great..." She muttered flatly.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Maliphant’s speeder was fast, when it so chose to be. Of luxury vehicles, it raced ahead of its competition, and in turn brought him to Elysium with a surprisingly good time - but the thought of it being Duval annoyed him more. Dorian had threatened him, Maliphant had ensured it stuck with domination - for the man to return despite all of this was…​

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Insulting.​

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He grit his teeth as the Speeder landed with a surprising thud, and as the door opened, Maliphant saw a stout and short alien come forward yelling about the speed at which he docked, and the lack of clearance he offered. Maliphant’s response was simple, a boot heel to the face that cracked the alien’s neck back, and forced him into a heavy slump. If it killed him, Maliphant didn’t notice, nor did he care as he continued towards Duval’s building.​

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There was a time he’d been here, but that was for loans and business; an equally spectacular game that Maliphant was far more matched in than he cared to admit - but what he wasn’t matched in was violence. He gripped a small mask from his side, let it seal to his features, and let the force mask he wore fade away into the silver locks that defined the Black Alchemist.​

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Golden eyes shined through the darkness of the mask, and as he entered the building he watched as security rushed towards the stranger in a mask carrying the hilt of a dangerous weapon.​

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“Stop right th-”, but before the man could finish his sentence, the invisible blade of the Ghostsaber had found its mark, striking the man in half as Maliphant moved with a demonic speed, ripping and tearing through the security with not a mark -​

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The receptionist began to panic, quickly trying to tap away at the holophone to call fore reinforcements, but before she could Maliphant had reached her, and with alabaster hair shrouding the mask, he whispered a dark thread -​

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“Wrenarias. Where is the Twi’lek?”, he demanded as he gripped her wrist tighter.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

The receptionist screamed in terror as the silver-haired assailant slaughtered the entire security team with ease. Before she even had a chance to react, the man was upon her, gripping her arm in a vice-like grasp. She stammered several times, shaking her head rapidly back and forth in confusion and fear. It took a moment for the demanded question to sink in, as the panic made it almost impossible for her to focus on what he said to her.

"Twi'lek? I don't... the new girl?" She whimpered, grimacing in pain as he tightened his hold on her wrist.

"Sh-she was taken up to... to in-processing! Seventy-eighth floor!" She finally stammered, shaking her head back and forth several times.

"Please don't kill me!" She begged of the sith, tears already streaming down her face.

Darth Empyrean

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[Darth Empyrean]

“Don’t kill me!”, she had begged, and a beg with tears nonetheless.​

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The mask hid his features, but he couldn’t help but smile - though he wished for more. He couldn’t forgo this, let her simply repeat that she had seen a Sith Lord murder her entire security team and save a Twi’lek - No, it’d bring down far too much heat on him. Instead, he would reassure her - make sure she wouldn’t repeat what she’d seen.​

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“Don’t worry, child.”, he said as the molten silver of his tone dripped thick with viscous honey.​

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“I won’t kill you…”, and Maliphant offered her a gentle hand - one that guided her from the chair despite her tears. Yet before she could speak, before she could question his authenticity - he let the invisible saber active into her stomach.​

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The girl’s face shifted from momentary betrayal, to pain, then acceptance and peace - all before Maliphant could drop her to the floor in a heavy, dead thud. His face grimaced as he looked at the body, only to shake his head and speak to Cybele as he began to move to the turbolifts.​

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“Cybele, delete all security footage. We can’t have them know someone with a lightsaber was here; especially not mine.”, he said with a quiet disdain for his lack of power.​

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As the lift began to move, his eyes focused on the counting of the numbers - and their slow trickle to his goal. More would die before the day was done, but he had to make sure Wrenarias wouldn’t know it was ‘Dorian’ who had saved her.​

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No… He had to make a facade, a faux robbery or something - and he had to do it quick.​

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Wrenarias​

 

[Wrenarias]

Floor 78 of Duval Enterprise Tower...

The door to the room where Wrenarias was being kept slid open. Brilliant white light flooded into the darkness, nearly blinding the already disoriented twi'lek. Her eyes squinted to a thin line and she raised up an arm to shield her face, trying to peer out into the light through her long lashes. There was a tall figure silhouetted in the doorway and as he stepped forward, his shadow fell over Wren's form, still laying on the floor and tangled in her blanket.

Slowly, her arm lowered back down to her lap and she blinked several times, trying to force her eyes to adjust to the stark lighting.

"Ah. Good. You're awake, little one." A terrifyingly familiar voice spoke, Sadavir Duval.

Wren felt her breath catch in her throat, entirely unable to draw air into her lungs. Instinctively, she scrambled backwards across the floor until her back bumped into the side of the bed. Her head shook rapidly from side to side, eyes now wide with fear. She couldn't see his face, as it was shrouded in shadow, but she could hear the smarmy smirk.

He sauntered forward and squatted down in front of Wrenarias with his elbows lightly resting on the top of his knees. As expected, he was wearing his obnoxiously pristine white pinstriped suit. It had been his go to 'special occasion' wear even when he'd owned her before. A hand reached out towards her, pulling her prosthetic lekku over her shoulder and trailing his fingers down the length of the appendage. "We will have to get some synth skin for this... unsightly thing." He tutted, clicking his tongue.

Wren responded by swiftly kicking Duval in the chest, knocking him over onto his back. She clambered over him and held him down by his throat while she snatched his ident-badge from around his neck. Her balled fist slammed into Duval's nose and she felt a satisfying crunch from the impact. The man howled in both shock and pain, too stunned for anger just yet.

There wasn't much time for her to act. She was knew all too well how fierce Duval's temper could be.

Lunging forward, Wren burst out of the room and quickly swiped the cardkey against the doorpad behind her, locking Duval in the room behind her. It wouldn't last for long, but it would buy her some time. Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest and she glanced desperately up and down the corridor. She didn't know where to go to find the stairs or a turbolift.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the windows as she raced down the hallway and realized she wasn't wearing her clothes. Instead, she was dressed in a uncomfortably revealing dancer's garb made from sort of black material. A searing fury burned in her veins. She wished there had been time to kill Duval.

The lifts were mere feet away.

Just as she reached them and her fingers were reaching to key the call button, she heard the distinct click of her suppression collar activating. There wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

A powerful surge of electricity pulsed through her form and she staggered against the wall, then collapsed to her knees.

She could hear angry shouts behind her, confusion thick in their voices. Why was security already activated? There should have been more time... what was happening? As she turned, trying to regain her footing, a second charge struck her and she toppled to the ground.

Darkness filled her vision and she blacked out.

Duval came around the corner with a security team, blood now staining his once immaculate suit. "Get her back to the holding room. And you, find out why the kriff there's an alarm at reception." He barked brusquely.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Duval’s words were the last thing echoe’d in that tomb of a room before the Turbolift’s doors opened with an ominious hiss. Before the men stood Maliphant, mask dawned and lightsaber in hand - though its blade held an ominous silence that only hinted at the danger it posed. One second passed, then two -​

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Almost instantly a guard raised his blaster and fired at Maliphant - but the shot was deflected just as quickly, landing squarely into the chest of the man next to him. Duval swore, commanding others to take their place as Maliphant took three dangerous steps from the elevator -​

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With each step, another man fell to his deflection, and when they were done - another three would be cut down by his speed. The blade seemed to shift in size, and while none could see it - it seemed Maliphant knew where the edge of his lightsaber was perfectly, from years of training with the invisible lightsaber. A grin beamed on his face beneath that mask as one after another died to his whims -​

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And then another door opened. Ten men ran through, and while Maliphant was clearly an expert with the blade, too many were there for a man without the Force. He clenched his jaw, raised the blade at their commands to drop it - and let loose the power that he had built into it once upon a time.​

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The air ran cold, a maelstrom of energy began to form around the singularity of the handle - and all life force but Wren was sucked in with a devastating pressure. A vacuum of the Force, of metaphysical dangers none could understand - yet every man could feel the breath leave them, sense the entity of their soul disappear from their mortal coil and become trapped in the handle of that accursed blade; and almost in time, every armored man fell into a slump, destined to a vegetative state for the rest of their miserable lives.​

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When all was said and done, nigh on twenty men lay dead around the room - but no Duval was to be had. Maliphant grimaced at his failure to kill the slaver, but it would simply have to be done later. His gaze shifted to the collapsed twi’lek near the lift, and with a quiet regard kneeled down to her to break the collar free.​

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He couldn’t speak, he knew that already, but he knew he had to make sure she could escape on her own merit - or at least get revenge. Maliphant considered before adjusting the settings on his microphone, letting it change his voice into a deep, bassy tone that seemed almost unnaturally low.​

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“Wake up, Twi’lek.”, he said in a quiet voice, his other hand moving to grip Wrenarias by her should.​

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“We’ve a building to burn.”​

 

[Wrenarias]

Slowly, the twi'lek opened her lavender eyes. With the collar removed, her connection to the Force snapped back into place. The suddenness onslaught of emotion and sensation that rushed back into her was overwhelming and she gasped for breath, like a drowning victim sucking in air after clearing the water from their lungs.

The death and lifeless malice hanging in the air was oppressive, making it difficult for the empath to focus as her senses came back to her. She felt as if the floor was tilting wildly beneath her, but a hand on her shoulder steadied her equilibrium.

Without her concentration or barriers, Maliphant would be bombarded by the maelstrom of emotion when he touched her. Fortunately for him, she was so consumed in trying to reorient herself that she didn't recognize his essence, nor the waking beast.

When her eyes refocused and landed on the unsettling mask in front of her, she quickly jerked back from the unfamiliar figure and scrambled across the floor until she found her feet. There could be no other explanation: this man was responsible for the dead that littered the corridor.

"Wh-what?" She stammered, her voice hoarse and sluggish, making it obvious that she'd been drugged with something.

Her gaze darted around the hall, noting the bodies and the distinct injuries that would be inflicted by a lightsaber... But there was no blade to be seen.

Grimacing, she knelt down and picked up one of the intact blaster rifles, slipping the sling over her shoulder. Then she realized whoever this man was, he'd saved her from being dragged back into a cell.

"Thank you." She murmured, shaking her head again, trying to clear the fog from her mind.