Private Curiosity Killed The Cat

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: CORUSCANT | Tags: Subject 21​

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She had promised Arris Windrun she would stick around the Core and the Covenant as a whole more than before. Mercy wasn't sure if she'd be able to stick to that promise for the longer duration. But Mercy was trying, by the Force, she was trying her best. This time around when the Graspborn were becoming too stifling, she did not leave the entire Core behind. Which, in retrospect, was a bit of an overreaction anyway. Instead Mercy stayed on Coruscant but decided to do some exploring without her honor guard minders. Somehow her exploration had taken her far into the bowels of the ecumenopolis. It had begun on Level 1313, Arris' personal haunt, just to see what she was doing with the place.

A few drinks in and suddenly Mercy was a thousand levels lower. One stim later and Mercy was deep under the urban crust of the planet. Where darkness thrived, rats were as big as trains and the undead had a weird way of creeping up.

These corridors had been abandoned a long time ago. Coruscant had the nasty habit of building on top of the old. These places... they seemed to date back to the One Sith days. The last time a Sith regime had controlled and ruled the Core. For now nobody was bothering her. As if the predators of this scum-ridden place knew a bigger predator was lurking. The last thing they wanted was to draw its attention.

Her steps took her further until she realized she no longer knew where she was.

A facility, yes. Darkened, yes. With apparatus that Mercy had no way of knowing what it was. One more step and something changed within the facility. New life blew into it as automated systems detected a life sign after so many decades of decay.

<< PROJECT RESTORATION STATUS: CORRUPTED. ENERGY LEVELS: CRITICAL. REWIRING EMERGENCY POWER TO SUBJECT 21. WITH CURRENT TRENDS, SUBJECT 21 WILL BE SUSTAINED FOR ANOTHER . . . CORRUPTED DATA, INFORMATION NOT FOUND >>

As the synthetic voice called through the corridors Mercy followed the light show. Blinking reds, which seemed to be guiding her forward, around the corners, through hallways. Until finally she entered a room that was arrayed with vats against both sides. They were all empty, blue lights hovering inside, except for one remaining pod dead center in the room. This one... had something inside of it.

Mercy approached it, her curiosity always her fatal flaw, and the red light popped on.

There was a Twi'lek inside. Mercy's head tilted to the side.

<< CAUTION, CAUTION, CAUTION. SUBJECT 21 IS AN OMEGA-LEVEL THREAT AND CONTAINMENT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE. >>

This warning didn't tell Mercy anything. 'Omega' could mean anything in this context.

"What makes her so dangerous?" The Sith Lord called out curiously as she looked over the panels attached to the pod. The synthetic voice buzzed, apparently considering the question.

<< DATA CORRUPTED. INFORMATION NOT FOUND. SUBJECT 21 IS AN OMEGA-LEVEL THREAT AND- >>

"... and containment is of the utmost importance, yes, yes." Mercy rolled her eyes and then they met the bright red button with warning labels around it. Her hand was already drifting towards it.

Then before she could reconsider? She pressed the button.

Because when presented with a big fucking button that practically said 'do not press', of course Mercy would press it anyway.

<< WARNING, WARNING. CONTAINMENT BREACH. DEFROSTING PROCEDURE IS IN EFFECT. PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE POD. >>

"Yeah, yeah, this better be good." Mercy muttered as her hands settled on her hips and she watched as the pod began to drain.

.

ERASE THE PAST

 

[Subject 21]

The world had been quiet for so long, no voices muffled by water, no mechanical clicking. Just silence, and in the silence she had slept, drifting between broken dreams and incohesive memories. They couldn’t be hers because she wasn’t awake, she’d never been awake to live, and oh how she hated it, how she hated being trapped in the silence.

But the silence broke.

It started with a soft mechanical click, followed by the resonant voice without a body. Awareness stretched beyond her tank, hands twitching in suspension fluid of she stirred.

<<...CONTAINMENT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE.>>

No.

No more containment. Freedom. Free her. Free me.

There was someone beyond the glass, not a skulking rat or a soft shuffling undead that had wandered too far into the facility. No, this was a somebody, a somebody who swelled in the force and the sensation instantly made her angry, reminding her of the one who had kept her here and then abandoned her.

Red tinted eyes snapped open when Mercy’s palm touched the release button, sensation flooded her instantly, overwhelming and painful, warmth seeping back into limbs as fluid began to drain, slipping past her face, her hand reached up, wrenching the nutrient mask away, retching as the tubes pulled free of her oesophagus, then they moved to others ripping them free, blood beginning to stain the draining water.

Her hand snapped forward and the glass before her shattered, she stepped out, glass sharp beneath her feet. She didn’t speak, she didn’t have words, she only had fury and fury erupted from her in dark red lightening, reaching for the somebody for the facility, for all of it.

She wanted to destroy all of it.

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

<< PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE POD. >>

Mercy had not, in fact, stepped back to stand clear from the pod. Which probably wasn't smart, but nobody could ever accuse Mercy of an over-abundance in caution. The only thing she had done was draw the Force in and let it harden her skin until a blue sheen ran all along it. The way her Master, Ashin Varanin, had taught her so many years ago.

Good thing that she did, because the moment the Twi'lek stopped retching up her nutritional tube dinner, she overloaded.

"Oh, you poor dear..." Mercy cooed sympathetically as she destroyed the glass and then began to erupt lightning all around her. Because the Sith Lord was prepared, she took the indiscriminate attack on the chin without much of a reaction otherwise. Just a blink at the eruption of fury and then a soft tsk as it singed her flesh a touch.

Good thing that she had been prepared or she would have been a fried husk of a creature.

"There, there, it is okay. I promise."

And then Mercy stepped into the thunder and large tree-trunk arms attempted to wrap around the crazed creature. To stroke her back and to give her a gentle (or as gentle as a mountain like her could manage hug.

"You are safe from him."

 

[Subject 21]

Him.

Large arms wrapped around her but the barrage didn't stop, it just moved around them. She was warm. Impossibly tall, impervious to her rage...and warm. She was not soft. Lightning tightened into balls no longer sporadic rage, but suddenly targeted, shattering the other pods, frying the speaker as another autonomous <<CONTAINMENT BREACH.>> screeched over them.

Safe, from him? Blue eyes and a sly smile flickered across her mind. Him. Ovmar.

The name brought up feelings, emotions she couldn't truly define because they were so inconsistent. Love, hate, pain, comfort, fear, security. All contradictory, none of it clear enough to fully understand.

The rage stilled, quiet but not gone and the barrage settled, the facility falling quiet, save for the sharp snap of electric circuits sparking and the soft hiss of electrical fires. She planted her hands on the woman's chest and stepped back, looking up at her her head tilting as she drank her in. Gold eyes, copper skin, red hair. This was not a face she knew. It wasn't a voice she knew.

She moved around her, slowly circling Mercy like she was inspecting her before coming to a stop in front of her and taking one of her hands, turning it so her palm was facing up, she traced sharp nails along her palm before pressing her thumb in deep enough to draw blood. Popping the thumb into her mouth her head tilted as she watched the wound heal.

"Firrerreo." she dropped Mercy's hand looking back up at her, her head cocking slightly to the side. "Who are you?"

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

Mercy didn't actually know who this creature was created by, but it had been a safe bet.

Megalomaniacal subterranean facility with a pleasant synthetic AI voice? A reasonably attractive clone in a vat with a dozen other vats around that were currently empty?

As said, safe bet.

The Twi'lek stopped trying to fry her at least and accepted her hug. That was the main thing why she didn't earn a swat around the head into unconsciousness. Instead Mercy watched as the lightning cackled and destroyed vat after vat. Ruining equipment that was probably worth in the millions if not billions of credits.

It didn't really register as a problem for Mercy however.

The thunder stopped, she stepped away from the hug and began to circle Mercy as if she was the predator here.

This amused Mercy and the large mountain allowed it to happen. Lazily stretching there, until the Twi'lek took her hand in hand. Amber eyes watched as her own blood welled up from the sudden jab. Then the creature in front of her tasted her blood. A soft chuckle there. "Oh, you I like." For now, anyway, because there was still time in the day.

"Yes, Firrerreo." Amused still as she looked away from the clone and towards the facility. "Mercy. Empress of the Core, Lord of the Sith, titles, titles, yadada, you know how it is."

Then back to 21.

"And you? Have a name or did your creator not bother to give you one?"

 

[Subject 21]

Titles were important, titles meant power and reputation. These were things she knew, thinhs she understood. Mercy had power and power had benefits she would need. She would need to keep this one close. For now.

"My creator..." she repeated slowly eyes glazing as she lost herself for a moment before a sharp breath brought her back and she looked back up at Mercy with a sly smile. "No name. Just a number."

She stalked past Mercy, moving towards the door. "They left me." She said as she stepped into a corridor whose lights were flashing warnings. "I suppose their loss is your gain."

21 looked over her shoulder back at Mercy, a smirk forming on her lips. "Or not...I guess we will see."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

This one was as fancy arse creature.

One that thought she was the hot shit and as such was allowed liberties that others weren't. That was fine. Mainly because there was clear power running through her veins. The lightning show had shown as much. A Lord could afford themselves liberties, as long as they were able to back it up, as far as Mercy was concerned.

Case in point.

When 21 turned around Mercy was already standing right behind her. Curious thing, how such a gargantuan woman, mountainous in frame as well as personality, could move so silently.

"Oh, aren't I lucky?" Mercy purred softly as she reached out, a finger slowly running along 21's lekku. Not a firm touch, but a brush that signified that for every inch of character 21 possessed, Mercy possessed just as much if not more. "But then again, if it weren't for me, you'd still be hanging around, choking on those tubes, no?"

A smirk as her arm moved to wrap around 21's shoulders and guide her with her. Large steps taking them from the now-ruined room.

"So let's say that we are both lucky we found each other, darling. Now, do you want me to call you a random number, a specific number, or would you like a real name?"

 

[Subject 21]

A low hum of pleasure passed her lips as Mercy's finger trailed softly down her lekku which twitched in response, a throaty chuckle followed but she did not answer. Mercy's curiosity had freed her, but gratitude was not something she was sure she was capable of. Fortunately, it didn't seem like Mercy was seeking any such thing. She let herself be guided, let Mercy control the moment.

People were more pliable when they believed they were in control.

"They called me twenty one, not much of name though, is it?" she mused as they walked through the facility, her steps becoming lighter the further they moved away from the room, her heart skipping with excitement at seeing what lay beyond, at the prospect of freedom.

"All the names I know, belong to someone else, claiming them feels..." she tilted her head "wrong."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

"Oh darling..." Mercy murmured as they walked, squeezing her shoulders gently. "Everyone deserves a name of their own."

Mercy would know this better than most.

It had not been her first name, after all, just the one she had chosen in the end. To completely sever her link with her past and to become the person that was currently strolling easily next to 21 without a care for the world.

Yes, if anyone knew the importance of names, it was the mountain.

"Hm..." Thoughtful there as she hummed lightly, exiting the facility and showcasing to 21 exactly what Mercy had casually done while approaching the facility. First the automated defenses, drones and droids. Outside the facility scores of zombies and other mutants. Mercy had torn through them without a single thought.

As simple as breathing, as insignificant as blinking.

"Grace, perhaps? For your graceful display when our eyes first met." A smirk there as she glanced towards 21. "Or perhaps Solace... because your image is solace to my soul, just by taking you in."

Oh, Mercy was laying it on thick, but when their eyes met? It was clear she knew it and had done it anyway.

Because she could, because the reaction didn't matter as much as the pleasure of saying the line.

 

[Subject 21]

The gentle squeeze of her shoulders earned another soft twitch of her lekku, the affection wasn't unwelcome, if anything she was understanding that she enjoyed it. The contact, the attention, the little shiver of delight that went through her when Mercy called her darling. All of it was pleasing.

And then they stepped beyond the entrance of the facility and into the carnage beyond. Gore made the ground slick, machinery smoked and sparked and the red skinned twi'lek gently pulled away from Mercy, stepping barefoot through it her smile widened as her steps carried her softly just ahead on Mercy before she stopped and turned head tilting in contemplation of the names.

Her eyes flashed with a brief hinger, whether for the violence or for the mountain of a woman in front of her it was unclear. "Grace or Solace." she repeated, testing them on her tongue. "Hm," she picked her way back to Mercy, slender fingers resting on her chest as she looked up at her.

"Flattering as Solace is, my dear. I think I prefer Grace."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

Once the Twi'lek moved away from her to explore the landscape Mercy's hands had made, she pulled her pipe out, starting to casually stuff it with some herbs.

Soon enough it was burning, smoke drifting up, as 21 wandered back to her.

she picked her way back to Mercy, slender fingers resting on her chest as she looked up at her.

Mercy smirked down at her, catching her chin between her fingers, helping her guide her gaze up a fraction more than 21 had been aiming for. A bit more tension in her neck. Until their eyes met, golden fire meeting crimson blood. That's where 21 would see the madness behind Mercy's eyes. The sort of fire that consumed everything in its wake if you let it.

"Flattering as Solace is, my dear. I think I prefer Grace."

"Then Grace you are, graceful darling mine." She murmured thoughtfully and then shrugged. "For as long as you want it. We are all evolving creatures, after all, maybe one day you will want a different name for yourself."

Then the Mountain leaned in, until their noses brushed, breathing her in.

"Coming with? Or you going to find your own way from here?"

And perhaps that would surprise Grace. That a creature like Mercy could in one breath gift her a name, claiming her, but then in the next offer to set her free without so much as a second thought.

 

[Subject 21]

The added tension in her neck was minscule but it was enough, enough to make her rise to the balls of her feet to maintain control as Mercy not only drew her up, but in, murmured wwordswashing over her face.

Claimed, and yet free to move wherever she wanted.

Grace was new to this galaxy, and while she knew things without understanding the why or how, while she was capable of carving her own path, the idea of doing so alone was...unappealing.

If Mercy's claims to titles were true, then she had power, power enough for her tobuse to fond her foundation, to observe the galaxy in comfort before she made her moves, before she burned it all.

"Hmm," she purred, fingernails digging into the corded muscle of Mercy's chest "I think, I shall come with you. Afterall, where better to see what state the galaxy is in, than from beside a throne."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

Grace was wonderful really, because she was exactly what a Sith ought to be, as far as Mercy was concerned.

Self-serving, hungry, volatile and treacherous.

She leaned in further and kissed the corner of Grace's mouth. "Good girl." Mercy murmured there softly before drawing back again. "Who makes very good decisions." Telling a clone of someone who was apparently a Sith Lord (only way to explain the sheer strength behind those lightning attacks) she was a good girl, was probably the best way to piss them off.

But that was how Mercy made friends. Piss people off enough times and somehow rub off on them, until they were stuck with Mercy.

"Tell me, what do you remember, if anything? Enough to be able to throw a lightning bolt at least." Offering her elbow as Mercy began to walk again, now through the mess she had made earlier.

 

[Subject 21]

Good. Fucking. Girl?

Grace went rigid, lips parting as the words washed over her, the kiss lingering at the corner of her mouth. Shock kept her where she was, balanced on the balls of her feet as Mercy withdrew. She sank slowly back down, heels settling in mire at their feet, her smile fixed, but something dangerous glittered in her eyes.

"That," she said softly, lightning crackled around the fingers resting on Mercy's chest, searing fabric into the flesh behind it, "Is the last time you ever call me that."

Then she moved, like nothing had happened, slipping neatly into step beside Mercy, sliding a hand to rest neatly in the crook of her proffered elbow, pondering the question, lifting her free hand she examined it as lightning danced over her skin. "This, the force, the darkness...its like breathing. the knowledge is just there...but memories..." her hand dropped and she shrugged. "I have flashes like dreams you can't quite grasp. Faces and names that stir emotion, but no understanding as to why. Like I am missing context."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Subject 21

"That," she said softly, lightning crackled around the fingers resting on Mercy's chest, searing fabric into the flesh behind it, "Is the last time you ever call me that." Then she moved, like nothing had happened.

Except 21 couldn't move like nothing happened.

Because when her fingers pushed against Mercy's chest to sear fabric into flesh? Mercy's hand reached out, lacing into Grace's fingers... squeezing there and pushing her hand deeper in. What should have been a mere simple warning, just a sing of fabric burning into flesh momentarily, became so much more.

Amber eyes bled with joy.

"Is that so?" Mercy purred softly and Grace would find that unless Mercy wanted to let her go? She'd have to tear her own hand off to get herself free.

"Alternatively... I will call you whatever I like..." The smirk deepened with predatory teeth glinting from beyond. "And I will accept any consequences that come from it."

Only then letting go of the clone.

Then she moved, like nothing had happened, slipping neatly into step beside Mercy, sliding a hand to rest neatly in the crook of her proffered elbow, pondering the question, lifting her free hand she examined it as lightning danced over her skin. "This, the force, the darkness...its like breathing. the knowledge is just there...but memories..." her hand dropped and she shrugged. "I have flashes like dreams you can't quite grasp. Faces and names that stir emotion, but no understanding as to why. Like I am missing context."

It was Mercy's turn to act like nothing had happened.

Like her chest didn't now have an imprint of a hand, clothes still smoking, flesh underneath burned to a crisp.

"That sounds fucked, darling." The large woman said without hesitation. "So, do you want that context or are you happy to leave it behind?"

 

[Subject 21]

If Grace had any objections to the way Mercy handled her, she kept them carefully under wraps, besides a brief flash of hate and a glance at her wrist where Mercy had held her a little tighter than necessary, but it was impossible to tell whether the hate was for the person, or the action. all Grace knew for certain as they continued to pretend was that whatever future lay between the two of them, it would be full of unrelentless testing of boundaries until one of them snapped.

The scent of her burnt flesh did seem to awaken something in Grace though, her crimson eyes scanned around them, suddenly disappointed the Mercy had cleared the way. She hungered for a kill, to watch the light leave someone, or something. And she wasn't quite ready to kill her rescuer.

Her lips curled into a small smile at the way Mercy called her 'darling', though she wasn't quite sure why.

"Both." She answered. "I don't want to be defined by whoever he wanted me to be.". He. Like she knew who he was and what he wanted and was burning with the need to deny him.

"And yet context might be helpful. I wouldn't want to kill the wrong person after all."

Mercy