Private Doppelgangers

[Lucretia Lister]

Wearing: Liar's Flesh

Armed with: Herself


NEW COV

Lucretia Lister walked the streets of New Cov turning heads, her wizened features attached to a muscular, hourglass body covered in an ultra thin layer of enchanted, mirror like armorweave, on her way to visit an auction being conducted. She was hear for something very special...

Lucretia found it easy to flash celebrity grade smiles at those she passed by, the skintight catsuit looking practically painted on. The ignorant amongst them often stared in open lust.

But every so often ...you got someone from the outer rim. Someone who remembered the old tales, who remembered what the ultra thin, ultra reflective catsuit signified and the lethal danger anyone who wore it represented. Those people would cross the street just to avoid walking past her. The dome of the great city loomed above, adding to the sudden claustrophobia those who knew what she was experienced at the sight of her.

The auction house was a large dome structure lined in silver and gold. Next to it was a side road with loading bays that led right into it.

Lucretia smirked, walking casually on the street across it to a Repulsor lift truck waiting in the long line to drop its cargo off into the auction house loading bays. Making sure no one was near and that no cameras could spot her, she shifted her entire mass into a flat, almost silly putty like substance that crammed its tissue through the cracks of the underside at an alarmingly rapid rate, finding it's way between interior seams into the truck electricals without its driver being any the wiser.

The truck eventually moved through the line and into the loading bay, where it's cargo was eventually removed. Her body poured from its cracks like molten rubber, retaking her preferred shape as she headed to the auction house's interior vault, where all the most high value items were kept. It was a long series of twisting passages, and she had taken no weapons with her to minimize the risk of tripping scans.

All she would need was her wits, and ability to squeeze through impossibly tight spaces.

The Vault soon came into view, and past the rows of crates, it loomed over much of the area with its golden, cog-shaped door. A number of battle droids guarded it.

Lucretia deformed, crawling low to the ground as a silver mass with thousands of tiny arms as it maneuvered between the crates to the front door, slinking silently behind the small army of droids by hugging the walls and then seeping through the cracks of the vault door, reforming on the other side.

Lucretia's intrigued smile crept up her face at the rows and rows of priceless good on golden shelves behind sensor fitted phrik alloy cages.

Stealing any one of the items could set a person up for life. But Lucretia already had money aplenty and was here for something much more valuable.

She began looking for guards...and frowned as she found a few knocked out. As she grew more cautious, silently exploring, she found a hole in the floor, recently cut. Tunneling for weeks by the looks of it.

Lucretia got behind cover, spotting a gang of thugs using a special fusion cutter to get open the cage.

If it had been any other day, and had they been after any other prize, Lucretia might have been tempted to just let the thieves grab what they came for and not interfere.

But it was not any other day. And it was not any other prize. It was HER prize.

The glittering ruby mask, in the shape of a woman's face, rested tantalizingly in its transparisteel case.

Lucretia stepped out, looking at her nails.

"Ok, I'm going to try being nice to you, because I do so hate engaging in violence, but I am... afraid I simply cannot let you have that mask."

The thugs all pointed assault rifles and shotguns at her.

"Yeah? Well, there's five of us armed to the teeth and one of you." One of the thugs spat.

"Gentlemen, can we not be reasonable. There are items in here many times what the mask could be worth to you on a monetary value. Can I not persuade you to try taking something else?" she requested.

The thug that had spoken shook his head.

"Even if we wanted to... we're under contract. And the only reason we haven't blown your head off is--"

A blast of ionized energy was thrown from her hands and slammed into him, rendering him unconscious.

"Ah, well, I tried..." she said with a shrug as she was already moving forward, exploiting their momentary shock at her attack.

Silver clad fists and legs smashed into bones and weapons as she waded into them at high speed, the shocked faces of thugs reflected on her body as she went relatively easy on them, even making sure not to accidentally fracture or dislocate anything.

The mistake came when Lister accidentally kicked a live grenade thrown by one of the fleeing thugs into the tunnel they and come in through.

They had been a very foolish and greedy lot, it had turned out. In their haste to create a tunnel under the vault, they had passed through ancient, unstable passages across New Cov. Passages that were close to natural fault lines.

The blast jostled these passages....and a cascade effect took place.

The entire floor of the auction house collapsed, part of the foundation as well as the immediate area outside it, hairline cracks erupting across multiple streets, causing cave ins to the long buried history beneath for any unfortunate who happened to be on top of these new holes when they formed, for they would fall quite a distance.

Lucretia herself was sent screaming with the injured thugs into the ancient ruins beneath New Cov, built atop each other over the centuries.

Lucretia awoke in pitch black several hours later. There were no thugs next to her, only fresh wreckage.

Lucretia coughed, dusting herself off as she went to look for an exit.

"Well...that went pear shaped. But at least my perfectly muscled body is intact..." she quipped to herself.

"Now if only I could figure out where I am..."

The silver clad, platinum blonde woman wandered buried streets, hearing the faint sounds of sirens from very high above, but couldn't make out the light of the streets from whence she tumbled.

She suddenly heard a scuffling sound, and turned just in time to find herself wearing a copy of her catsuit, charging dead on at her from the darkness of the ruins, launching a spin kick.

Lucretia found herself on in the defense from the other version of her, wondering what the hell was going on...

Liin "Tera" Terallo

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

Ow....

I'm hurt. My left arm is stuck and my backside feels bruised. The ground is hard and it's nearly pitch black. My ears are ringing too. I can smell dust in the air and something else that I can't quite pin down.

What happened?

I think back on what I last remember. I was touring some of the recent reconstruction of an art gallery. It seemed to be going well.

Until it wasn't.

Someone cried out following a loud bang. There was a screeching of metal on metal and then everything shook as something fell through the ceiling. Everything became black before I slipped and fell.

And now I'm here. I don't know how long it's been. Or even how far I fell.

I don't hear anyone else either. The possibility of being alone in the dark frightened me. Most especially as I was stuck.

Wincing, I grit my teeth while I pull my arm out from under some debris. I can feel it cutting and feel it start to bleed. But I can't see how badly.

I grip onto it with a part of my dress. There is a bit of light up ahead. Maybe it's some help? A search party? Ever so carefully I make my way towards it. And what I saw at the other end of it was not what I expected.

Twins?

Tag: Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

The Lucretia that had tried to take the ruby mask immediately knew she was at a disadvantage in hand to hand combat. This Lucretia fighting her had a taste for melee, even more than most did. It was all the Thief-Lucretia could do to keep up.

Continuously, Thief-Lucretia was driven back by Melee-Lucretia in the fight, to the point Thief-Lucretia was mostly focused on blocking strikes to her head.

Desperate to gain some distance, she backflipped away from her attacking twin, confused as to why this was happening. What was Melee-Lucretia's beef with her?

A solid kick to her abdomen sent Thief-Lucretia flying backwards down some ruins, Melee-Lucretia jumping down after her.

The two Lucretias fought even as they sensed Liin "Tera" Terallo approaching.

Thief-Lucretia had finally managed to gain some distance from her twin when they other woman arrived, her figure reflected on silver catsuits so skintight they looked painted on.

The two Lucretia's looked at one another, than at her. Thief-Lucretia genuinely didn't know what was about to happen.

Melee-Lucretia took a bow.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance..." Melee Lucretia said to Liin. "I'm Lucretia. This is my sister," she said plainly.

"Lister..." Melee-Lucretia said of her counterpart. "We were engaged in a bit of misunderstanding. It's so dark here I mistook her for an attacker. Forgive us if you got the wrong impression. You look injured...do you remember what happened?" Melee Lucretia asked.

Thief Lucretia grew nervous, but hid it...the twin had taken control of the situation entirely too quickly for her liking...

What was her angle?

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

I watch what can be more easily described as some form of sibling rivalry. I would not know of who was who. One could imagine how they could trick people into betting on either one of them and rigging the fight by just pretending to be the other.

What a strange thought to have come up with. I must have hit my head harder than I had thought.

No sooner did they notice me that the fighting had stopped and they formerly introduce themselves. I lean against a boulder of sorts, nearly sitting on it. Yet still I keep my posture as poised and graceful as I can muster.

"Nice to meet you too, given this unfortunate circumstance. I am injured, yes. My arm got trapped under a big rock or a statue after I had fallen and I have cut it when I pulled it out. I am not a Force wizard like most, so I cannot heal myself. And I do not believe that the art gallery that I was in carried med kits that would have fallen with me. Do either of you ladies have any?"

One can only hope that they do. Or perhaps an even better option for us all is if we could get back to the surface. But one thing at a time, however. One task at a time. I need to get my bearings first and sort myself out.

At least we are not in the jungles.

Tag: Lucretia Lister

 

[Lucretia Lister]

"I have one..." Melee-Lucretia said helpfully, going over to a stashed away tool belt to retrieve a med-kit and hand it to her

"I was here on business when the quake struck..." Melee-Lucretia said to Liin "Tera" Terallo . "I do charity work on New Cov."

"Exploration..." Thief-Lucretia said Liin.

(Cutaway of J. Jonah. Jameson laughing uncontrollably)

The ruins of the collapsed streets above were amidst far more ancient ones. Even in the faint light, it was clear they were amongst some extremely ancient architecture...

Some of the ancient architecture of the long buried cities below this one were distinctly, unsettlingly Gothic in their aesthetic. The more they walked, the more the ancient, run together but long forgotten versions of the city above began to seem like a giant tomb with no torches. Evidence of old cracked streets and collapsed skyscrapers dotted the place.

"If we keep going, we're bound to run into one of the older sewer networks..." Thief-Lucretia said. "That will almost certainly provide us a way up and --"

There was an absolutely horrifying scream of a man that tore through the darkness. Even as clearly far away as it was, it was so loud and filled with agony it was bloodcurdling to listen to. Quick, sharp, gone as suddenly as it had arrived...

"Get behind me" both Lucretias said to Liin, each having the exact same level of sincere sounding concern...

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

I take the med kit in and with an appreciative nod in thanks and open it. Now that I am in a bit of light, I can properly see the scrapes and cuts on my arm. I remove the bacta gel and slather it onto the cuts. Gauze and bandages are also removed and I fit them over the cuts. One would not surmise that I had the skill, but when working in laboratories; one needs to know how to tend the very basic of wounds.

My dress was a mess and utterly destroyed. Although some pieces of it might be salvageable, I can clearly write it as a total loss. How very unfortunate!

And as I was about to hand over the medkit, a blood curdling scream is heard. Even though it is short, the sound of it still echoes in the chamber. My body stiffens and my heart leaps into my throat. It takes me a few moments to muster the control back enough so that I could indeed move behind the pair as instructed.

"What was that? Maybe someone had lost their grip and fallen? I do not believe that the fauna can survive down here. Nothing should be here. We should be safe down here!" The words spilled out of me quickly as my mind went back to the history lessons in school. Was there a terrible reason that the Covie decided to find a different way to survive against the jungles rather than just living underground? I would hate to find out!

Tag: Lucretia Lister