Coruscant Run (Matsu Xiangu)

[Darth Ferus]

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Within one of the many apartments on Coruscant there was a small family of three. A mother, a father, and a daughter. They lived in a rather humble home, decorated to be vastly different from the rest of the planets style. But that was how the three were. Different from the rest. Now, the mother was out in town on business with the Sith who owned the world. Of course though, the family themselves were Sith. The Mother, a knight, had training to accomplish, leaving the father with his young child.

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The child, no more than three in age, was a combination of her two parents in a way familiar to most. Dathomirian. With her unusually pale skin, blue hair, and pink eyes she was far from the average child. And yet, she was so calm for her parents. Never once in her three years did she keep them up all night, never once had she thrown a fit. She was a curious child however, and on the day she could she had asked her father how he gained his mechanical limb. 'A gift from your mother' was the answer she had gotten and it was enough to satisfy that curiosity, but she would always want to learn more.

It was on this day that she had another question for her father. As he came into the room to tuck her in, she leaped up onto her bed and pointed one of her little fingers accusingly at the red man, a pout on her lips. She had been promised a bed time story over an hour ago, but he was late. Her voice would squeak out, high pitched as any small girls voice would be. "You're late papa! You said you would tell me a story!" A single hand would rest on her hips as she tried to make herself look larger than she was. The girl was trying so hard to impress her father that he himself would end up laughing.

The Zabrak would move to the bed rather quickly, sitting down to drag her small form onto his lap. In his joyful voice he would call out, rubbing her nose gently with a single finger. "So I did little one. I apologize for the wait, momma needed to talk for a little bit." At the mention of mom the child's eyes seemed to light up, but she wouldn't be able to get out a word as her father answered the question she hadn't asked yet. "And yes, she will be here in the morning when you wake." A wide smile formed on the red mans face as the girl would let out a cheer, and his flesh hand would go out to rest upon her head. "But, you have to sleep for that. Now, for a story.."

"Tell me the one about the building next door!" Blue eyes would look at her form with surprise. A grin would form on the child's face as she leapt onto the bed, bouncing up and down. "Mama told me! She said that's why you joined the Sith! So tell me!"

"Ah.. So it was your mom who told you. Very well. Get comfortable and I'll be sure to tell you the tale. But you have to get under those covers first." Darth Ferus grinned wide as he tucked in his only child. His love for her surpassed anything, and it was not common knowledge. Something he made sure of to keep the girl safe. But she was ever growing, curious too. As she settled down into her bed he would move from the bed to a chair beside it, sitting down rather slowly.

"Let's see.. It was maybe a year or two before you were born. Within this very city I had to find someone. Someone worth a lot of money.."

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A top one of the many spires of the buildings of Coruscant stood a man dressed in a black coat. After months of tracking his target, he had finally narrowed down [member="Matsu Xiangu"] to a loft on the city planet. Keeping to the sky and the shadows, he had been watching her for hours now, his presence shrunk to nothing. His informant assured Ferus that she would be here, and warned him of the guards she had posted throughout. While the later wasn't set in stone, it was enough for him to be wary. The red man was watching for an opening, or a way to make one.

In truth, Ferus knew little about Matsu save for the bounty on her head, her location, and the fact she was a powerful force user. But the rest of the details mattered not. This was going to be a large payday if he succeeded. He was armed with just his lightsabers and his mechanical limbs, as the rest of his gear would be too cumbersome for the stealth aspect of this mission. The Darth needed to get in and out quick and quiet before the rest of the guards caught onto him after all.

Finally, after hours of waiting, Ferus could see one of the guards protecting the entrance he had picked. Without giving another second he would descend from his perch, soaring down right for the female herself. His fall, while not quiet, was not something anyone would expect, and the sound of it would be drowned out by the speeders soaring through the air all around. Coruscant was a busy place after all. Landing atop the guards form, he would basically crush her under his weight. A dull thud would be all that was heard before the man would rush into the building itself.

He had no idea where she was exactly, but the red man would find her, and end her life. That's what he was hired to do after all. Grim determination would take over his features as his right hand thumbed silently at the inactive blue saber on his hip. He truly hoped for a quick and easy task.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Moving to Coruscant had been an easy decision. Strange – a woman that preferred being solitary save a select few wanting to live in the heart of the Galaxy, a place simultaneously beautiful and ugly. But there was something about the silence of her apartments, a post-modern palace soaring far, far above the rest of the planet’s infrastructure, that made her feel just as alive as sitting on a place like Endor or Korriban. She was at home within the heart of a city and the most lonely place in the galaxy. But she loved watching the lights at night, the bright neons of this place as traffic raced through its streets and by-way’s in the dark.

Since the One Sith had taken control of it, it had only grown more beautiful. In their wish to see their victory hurt the Jedi even more than the actual taking of their homeworld of thousands of years, the Sith had poured millions of credits in to restoring it to a glory unheard of. It shown with a deadly brilliance that promised something fatal as much as vital.

Alas, business called her from her home often. She’d gotten herself deeply involved within the One Sith’s machinations, fighting their battles with passion instead of the lust for experience she’d been motivated by before. She believed in their cause even if she found their Dark Lord akin to some fairy tale you’d tell your children to keep them in line. But tonight it was Reverance that took her from her apartments, plans within plans, the stealing of phrik for armor she had planned. She could have just procured some from Sith holdings but taking it felt more accomplished. She was just preparing to leave when…

She didn’t hear the thud of her guard's spine snapping as the assassin took her out. She didn’t even sense the intruder until she’d breezed out in to the hallway and stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing him almost at her bedroom door. That he’d managed to elude her ability to sense a foreign mind was unprecedented. Were she not so very curious as to why he was in her home, she might have complimented him. As it were, she would rather kill him. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt of her lightsaber at her hip, her eyes narrowing as she assessed him. “I believe you’ve got the wrong apartments…”

[member="Darth Ferus"]​

 

[Darth Ferus]

Luck, as it were, was not on the Zabrak's side this night. He had planned it to have [member="Matsu Xiangu"] in her bed, asleep. An easy target. And yet, as his blue eyes shifted from the door his hand was resting on, there she was. Awake. Dressed. Armed. A wave of annoyance would wash over his features like a passing rain storm. What was to be a trivial mission now took a turn for the absolute worst. His face was covered in a mask, leaving only his blue eyes and the red flesh around them to give any hint on who he was. But red skinned people with blue eyes seemed to be common enough for him to assume he was still unknown to the female.

Rather than answer her question though, he was quick to act. His mark still had yet to pull free her saber, and he was not going to let the chance pass. The Force would build up in his left hand, something that he could not hide despite his ability to manipulate his force signature, and with it being the closest to the female he would bring his arm upwards. This was a quick action, meant to hopefully keep surprise still on Ferus's side. A blast similar to a push would fly out, aiming to either slide her back or push her off balance as he charged forth right behind the blast itself. For now he seemed to keep to his hands, as if he did not have a lightsaber.

But as he got close that thought, if she had it, would quickly be changed. His left hand would once more shoot out for another small push to keep her off balance, but it was quickly followed by a snap hiss, and his left hand coming around. The hidden emitter within the limb sprung forth, and the short blue blade would carve through the air with one goal. Her chest. His movements were unnaturally speedy, and those trained in Saber Forms would recognize the fundamentals of Vaapad. While his body wasn't an unseen blur, the Force itself fueled his body. If raw killing intent had a flavor, both would have to spend a week washing their mouths clean to get rid of the taste.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

He wasn’t a talker. She could respect that – she rather hated oration herself, preferring to let her actions speak. She could see nothing of his features beyond the color of his skin and the piercing blue of his eyes, the streak of annoyance that flushed across his features invisible to her beneath the mask, though she felt it clearly in his mind as she tried to read who he was and why he’d come here. He gave her little time to truly work though, the Force whirling around him just before a blast of the Force caught her in the ribcage, sending her flying back in to the wall behind her and knocking the wind from her lungs. The curses of being incredibly tiny! Her outline pressed in to the wall with the impact, the first in what she was sure would be a long series of damages done to her home – she would add it to the reasons she would kill him.

Amber crawled in to her irises as she let anger take over.

She was prepared for a hard swing of a left hook, anticipating hand-to-hand where she excelled despite the size of her opponent. The loud hiss of a lightsaber igniting however, was surprising. She was no expert with a lightsaber and couldn’t recognize the hallmark of his style, but she didn’t need to know its name to realize its strength. She reacted without thought as the blue blade dove for her chest, lifting her right arm to block the blade with her forearm – her cybernetics were threaded with phrik, resistant to the burning brand of his weapon in brief contacts.

In turn, phrik claws sprang from her left hand, long and deadly and able to pierce through most armors unless he wore phrik or something equally as strong. She swung at him with all the enhanced force of her cybernetic replacement, aiming claws at his side – she imagined tearing through ribs and muscle down to organ, his own bile burning his skin as his insides spilled, fueling herself with visions of gore.

If all went to plan, even if she didn’t manage to catch him with her claws she could find an opening to duck out from her position pressed against the wall as he avoided them. With a dash of speed, she cut to the left, away from the menace of his lightsaber pressed against her right arm. This placed her in the hallway heading towards a pit living room of sorts, the furniture sunk in to a lower space.

She began ripping art off the wall and shelves, paintings and statues she crushed with the Force and hurled with the same towards her nameless and faceless opponent, attempting to impale him on one of her white, white walls as she backed in to a less confined space.

[member="Darth Ferus"]​

 

[Darth Ferus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6eSksEp27U​

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It was upon the collision of his hidden saber with [member="Matsu Xiangu"] 's arm that the red mans eyes widen in surprise. There was no information about the Phrik laced limbs, and the Red Assassin silently cursed himself under his breath at the lack of looking into his target. Now finding himself in the unknown as his saber was being pushed aside, all of his weight shifted to his back leg, and as her claws came out he lept, the force aiding in his speedy retreat.

But the unknown always had a way of catching up. Her cybernetic claws would tear through the front of his robe, biting into the flesh that was his stomach. If not for his paranoid retreat, the Zabrak would of been disemboweled. Grim realization took over as the shallow wounds began to bleed. They weren't enough to take him out of the fight, but they showed that his own carelessness almost cost him his life.

During his leap back the red man had shut off the hidden emitter within his palm. The blade wasn't good at a distance, and it was really only effective when surprise was on his side. The fight was not over however, and as the female ran down the hallway he called forth his actual saber, letting the pale blue flat blade spring to life. Now it was his turn to go to the defensive as she began to throw her house at him. Rather than think too much on why she was destroying priceless art (The answer was obvious to begin with after all) he changed tactics.

Matsu would find a small force bond attached to her. A bond latched onto her anger. As a fundamental of Vapaad, Ferus used it only when he was fighting against other Sith, or those who used anger. And she, by her eyes, was as well. His own eyes would take on a bright golden color as his body began to be fueled not only by her anger, but his own. This was suppose to be an easy mission.

As the objects flew at him he did something unnatural. Rather than use the form for offence as it was meant to be, he used it for defense, tearing his saber through the objects meant to impale him. Using just his right hand he would batter away the pieces that would of ended him, yet he would only move his body to dodge the non fatal objects. His cloak would be torn to ribbons, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was the advance. As he cut through the objects, he would slide himself forward, step by step getting closer to his mark. At a closer distance he would burst forward, using all of the power she and him had been creating within his legs to suddenly close the distance. Battering away one of the crushed statues with the blue blade on his path over, he would bring the blade eye level and send a powerful, quick thrust for her chest.

Most of his form was revealed, showing red skin with light scratches across his flesh. His golden eyes were narrowed in concentration, and what part of his lips that could be seen in the billowing cloak was flat with grim determination. Ferus would kill his mark.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Some of the art was irreplaceable, true. But in true Sith fashion, she would rather destroy it than her own life. She was the most important of all the priceless treasures within her residence.

Besides, all the really important things were kept elsewhere.

He followed with a speed and skill she would not have assumed of his size, cutting through her projectiles and coming closer with each slash. She could feel him feeding off her, a sensitivity born of her tendency to rise to even greater heights of rage when her privacy was breached. She allowed no one in, not within her head and certainly not in to the web of power she’d carefully constructed. That this creature come to hunt her in her own lair had the gall to try and use her own prowess against her was at first instinct a call to anger, she knew giving in would only make him more powerful. She would rather they both go down because she refused to give in than allow him his trespass.

He cut through the last of the obstacles, eyes burning as effective a path as the blade in his hand as he stared her down through her projectiles. She imagined they’d make quite the pair in another situation, fire and ice in their anger, in a world where she wasn’t going to rip him at the seams and spill his guts all over her living room.

His next move was similar to his first though with the added maneuverability of saber not mounted to a cybernetic, more rotation provided by wider flexion of the wrist. He came straight for her chest again and this time she moved her right hand to intercept, springing her claws and catching the saber in her cybernetic hand. The phrik was, of course, not lightsaber-proof, but merely resistant. Anything more than a few seconds contact would burn right through her hand. But seconds was all she needed. Raising her free left hand, she let loose with a force-push strong enough to send the furniture behind him flying.

Whether it was effective or not mattered little – she only wanted to buy herself enough time to stop his blade and recite an incantation she’d said so many times it came in seconds, a wide, powerful spear wrought from the pure intensity of the dark side forming in her palms before she flung it at him. She hoped it might spear him to the wall behind him. She would be in need of new art.

[member="Darth Ferus"]​

 

[Darth Ferus]

With his blade pressed against her hand, he would let a smile form over his lips. The annoyance from before suddenly changed as he learned that this had turned from a simple assassination to a real fight. A fight that he was actually beginning to enjoy. It wasn't often he met someone able to keep up with him, and even less so when he essentially had the surprise.

His own left hand would come up as hers did, but it wasn't there to deflect her push. Rather, he let her push hit him, and as he slid back he began forming his own force ability. It wasn't an attack, but he did need to gain the aspect of surprise back. As [member="Matsu Xiangu"] began her chant though, his smile quickly faded. He knew the incantation rather well. After it had been used to assist in the death of his first body he had taken the time to learn ways of at least knowing it was going to happen.

Still sliding back, there was little he could do to move, so rather than dodge he opted for something else. With the spear coming at him he leapt back with it, and his free left hand would form himself a barrier. Deflecting the pure darkside energy slightly to the left, it would drill into his cloak and right across his left shoulder. A push would emanate from his form, having him slam into the wall behind him as if the spear had actually hit dead on. His bond with her would fade instantly, just as his signature did. Handing off the wall with a bend at the midsection, he would hold himself up with the Force, aiming to give her even a moment of false success.

It was then that the hallway between the two suddenly became a wall of purple flame. A pure distraction, there wouldn't even be that much heat from it. But as the wall was there, he moved himself down from the wall. Leaving his tattered dark cloak behind the red man was fully visible in his odd choice of armor. As was the grin, at least when the wall of fire would go down.

Or when he charged right through it. Low to the ground a massive burst of speed would send him from the far wall back to the female, and both hands kept down by his right side, as if they were gripping the blue saber. When he got close to her however, it was only his left hand that swung out, aiming to go low with the active blade. His right hand kept low until the blue saber was close to her legs, and he would follow the initial attack with another.

A snap hiss signature to any lightsaber would fill the air, and his second golden blade would spring forward, he aiming to thrust the blade right into her stomach area. The first strike was a feint, meant to catch her attention as the second true strike was launched in a different area. Once more the grin returned, and his burning golden eyes the same color as his second saber would lock upon hers.

This was no longer a matter of killing her. No, he wanted to enjoy this duel.

And he would.