Private Nephilim's Edge

[Nine Lives]

Orbiting Naboo in: Castle Morpheus

Wearing: Progenitor's Robes

Armed with: Hundred Handed Giant

Current objective: Begin Karlie's warrior training

The day had come at last. Nine had mentally recovered enough from The Amalgam's torture to begin taking a more active role in her House's affairs.

Her daughters Vera and Westenra astonished her now. Vera was a financial and legal powerhouse, and Westenra's fingers had slowly but surely extended into the GA, giving House Li-Ves waaaaayyyy more reach than could be seen publicly.

Nine was in quite an excellent mood as she headed to the training dojo. Karlie was coming over to learn stuff. Nine had been itching to show Karlie some of what she knew ever since Vera had first relayed Karlie's request and West had practically insisted upon it.

It was times like this Nine regretted just programming everything into her daughters. It was one thing when you wake up a nearly unstoppable killing machine. It was another when you had to learn to be a nearly unstoppable killing machine.

Nine's sword, the Katana known as the Hundred Handed Giant rested in the meditating Vampire's lap, silvery and gleaming. Her hood was down, revealing her soft but gorgeous young features. She looked barely in her thirties with an olive tan and onyx hair tied in a Gary Oldman style Dracula Bun.

She sensed Karlie Lynn Destat in the vicinity, having been flown here by West, likely giddy with excitement the whole way. Nine had ordered strong tea prepared to clear her mind for the training ahead.

When she arrived Nine looked at her, her eyes obsidian orbs of black with glowing dots of purple light at the center in place of pupils. Besides the bird like twitching of her head, this was the only indicator she was not fully human. She smiled.

"Karlie! So good of you to drop in! I am looking forward to showing you how to have a fancy looking sword duel in a rice paddy with 007-ty (Seventy) combatants. I owe you a great deal for helping to rescue me from that witch. I just feel terrible about the truth poor Uri and Laertia learned about her. I do NOT want to be them right now. Laertia was in bad shock after it was over. I found out she's my last living blood descendant. Kinda processing that still. But how are you? How does your planets people fair? I wish I could have done more to prevent loss of life on Castagne but I was blindsided."

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

"We were all blindsided, Lady Li-Ves." She replied, taking one more step toward the matriarch.

Nine Lives had been their greatest supporter...Castagnes, as well as Karlie's. The Great Lady of House Li-Ves could not have done more, in Karlie's eyes. For Nine's house to stand by her when the majority of the Confederacy had been duped into believing she had been responsible for Milida/Dan's viral outbreak and the death of the Vicelord's son Metus...it took great conviction and resolve to stand by her side and that of Castagne.

Karlie's eyes once more came upon Nine's. The lady before her were about her own mother's age...give or take a few Millenniums. Yet, both reflected a woman peaking in their mid thirties. Only that the Lady she respectfully bowed before her, were a mother Karlie should have deserved. But that is another matter for a later time.

Karlie were here upon her desire to intern under the great lady. Nine were one of the most advanced bio-mechanical/geneticist the young scientist had ever come across. It took her some time to realize that as Karlie had been in a kind of fog...or to the point enamored over one of Nine's creations. Poor girl still was. Only she weren't looking through rose colored glasses anymore. She knew and understood for some time now, whom Nine's daughters were. Karlie had faced personal struggles in coming to terms with such AI being an extension of Berkana's Will concerning creations through the hands of her chosen children and that of man and his kind (which covers a broad spectrum of intelligent life).
Karlie had no idea she were in for structured discipline in the arts of war first, before Nine would divulge her most intimate secrets in creating intelligent life.



But lets back up a few minutes to the frame when Karlie steps off the shuttle with Westenra Mina ...

"You don't know how much I waited for this..." Yes, Karlie were excited as in her first day at a University. Incidentally, the blonde never attended a university...not a public, nor a prestigious one at that. She were both home and private schooled by the top scientists and mathematicians, until she were ready for the Castan Marine Academy...a prerequisite to being indoctrinated into the IBI.

"I mean, ever since.... sigh...." There she went again...that feeling, that lump in her throat at the mere thought of Vera.
Karlie had to swallow hard and clear her thoughts again. ".... ever since I were introduced to mother's (Karlie always seemed to refer to Nine when talking with her daughters as 'mother') garden and toured her labs, I knew she were beyond the scope of my own knowledge of life." Karlie were somehow quickening the pace. Her excitement in getting her opportunity to study, to learn, to expand her knowledge under Lady Li-Ves was at the same level and drive as she had once with her own mother...when she were very young of course.
"I mean... I mean she knows all about the God Particle for Berkana's sake...yeek..." Karlie motioned with her index and forefinger a kiss to her heart, then offering it up to the heavens. It were quick and pretty much an involuntary action. After all, she were speaking of Berkana and forsaking Her. It were her way of asking Berkana to forgive her in the manner of speaking.

Yup, the blond had it in her head that she'd be right alongside Nine, helping her with whatever research she were doing and learning..LEARNING from one of the greatest scientific minds...of the Millennium. Of course, Karlie knew of Nine's timelessness. Hell, she didn't think much of it as her own lineage, her own wicked, wicked mother was as timeless as Nine...maybe. Actually, Karlie didn't know how long or how many centuries if not Milleniums both women had seen past them.
That was a minor detail she didn't wish to revisit, as one would understand.

Excited...
Very excited in starting her internship under lady Li-Ves, that Karlie took from fast pacing to outright scurrying. It was the best she could do in her school shoes. A very nice professional pair that were Chrisyakova designed. Hey why not? It were like the first day of school again for the excited blonde. Why she even had packed her very stylish eye-wear..safety glasses and designer smock. This girl were ready for some serious studies...

"Haha...come on you slow-poke..." Karlie teased Westenra as she ran ahead of the biot through the corridors of the castle.


Fast forward back to the top again where we have Karlie before Nine Lives...

Karlie were genuinely saddened by the events and hardship everyone had suffered, including the individuals Lady Li-Ves were referring to.
Which brings us to the part where she replies.... "We were all blindsided, Lady Li-Ves."

Karlie couldn't help and wonder as to the metal blade which rested on Nine's lap. Of course it were in the scabbard. But being it were, it meant it were one of metal and not of plasma..or light saber..or laser sword as many refer to the energy blades.
The markings she recognized, but had no clue to their meaning. It were of an ancient language she thought. Karlie had seen similar markings on the Morpheus before. heck, they were just about anywhere there were artifacts..statues of old.
Hmm..the blade then must be old too. In that fraction of a moment a lot of thoughts were bouncing about the blonde's head. First off, her own father had surrendered her an old blade that he had displayed in his office. It were said to have belonged to her mother's lineage. although it were never seen used, but discovered among her mother's belongings.

"One could not ask for more than they themselves are willing to put on the line. You and your house had put it all on the line for us...for me, lady Li-Ves." Her words were as pure and sincere as her demeanor before the great lady.

"You don't know how much this means to me, this opportunity to study the sciences under your wing. I will not disappoint you Lady Li-ves" Karlie took to take a knee and lower her head. It were a notion of obedience of a student given the opportunity to learn uncharted sciences.

The blonde had no clue as to what Nine had in store for her before she would even peek at one of her ancient scrolls. Discipline of the mind, the body and soul came first...

Oh yes, and of the blonde taking a knee and lowering her head before the great Lady Li-Ves....yes we're getting to that.
Sigh...the poor girl were thinking maybe that Nine were going to do some ordaining...draw her blade and tap her on the shoulder... as a way of accepting her as an understudy in the said sciences.

 

[Nine Lives]

Westenra was incredibly happy to have Karlie Lynn Destat back aboard the Morpheus. Nine taking her on like this was effectively tantamount to making her a high ranking member of the house. She meant a lot to Nine and all her daughter. Westenra, in her Gladiator configuration, (See her Bio) was clad in an obsidian metallic catsuit that glittered as she walked with Karlie. Westenra was relieved it was finally happening herself...she deeply cared for Karlie's wellbeing and the horrors of fighting The Amalgam at her stronghold, seeing the absolutely savage and cruel sadism that thing engaged in...nearly breaking Nine mentally...it made her fear for Karlie's very soul. Westenra didn't know if she herself had one. She hoped she did. She'd hate to think all her emotions were just the musings of an ultimately empty shell.

Karlie needed to be protected, and as excellent as the Marine training was, how one well trained Marine was a match for any 007 ordinary soldiers...Karlie was gonna have to learn to fight 007-hundred

(Batman Begins theme plays for a few seconds)

As she watched Karlie, gleeful and with wide eyed curiosity, Westenra suddenly hated not having been born human. She yearned to understand mortal pain and suffering, so that she could be more like them. So she could learn to enjoy the same things she did. Westenra's secret fantasy was to be an ordinary woman with a quite life somewhere undeveloped. Maybe with children. She wasn't sure. But she knew Karlie and the Galaxy had to be protected.

As Karlie giggled for her to hurry up Westenra declined apologetically.

"Sorry, Karlie...I have other duties to attend. What happens next must take place between you and Mother." Westenra said. "Welcome to The House of The Blood Tiger."

Westenra then departed for her own quarters, which had a black interior design in contrast to Vera's white suite. Nine taking Karlie as her first true apprentice in Millennia needed to be, by necessity, a personal and extremely private matter. She wished she could be there, but Nine had insisted.

As she entered the suite she triggered the transformation into the form Ian Sade had encountered on Azterri, then slipped out of the catsuit and into a yellow metallic chrome cocktail dress and golden Stilettos, wearing a necklace with a single, crimson ruby.

She had a direct holographic line to Ian. After everything they had experienced at Kar Shian, Westenra knew life was too short not to go for who she wanted.

Who she wanted was Ian.

Westenra turned on the projectors, sent out the transmission. After a few minutes it went through.

The Biot's pink eyes glittered in anticipation.

"Hi Ian. I'll be heading to Castagne in a little while. I don't suppose you have any free time. All work and no play makes you a dull boy you know..." she said with a smile, the cut of her dress as revealing of her bronze skin as it could while still being tasteful.

"It'd be so boring, visiting your world without you having me watched at all times. Might as well watch me personally. Cocktail dresses were made to be stared at after all."

Meanwhile...

As Karlie professed her delight, Nine listened.

"Karlie, I feel I should elaborate a bit. Yes, You shall be my apprentice in Science. But you are also to be my apprentice in War. You have made dangerous enemies with the strength of a dozen men. If you are to survive to learn all that science I know, you must be ready to rip, and to tear. Until it is done."

 

[Vera Mina]

Thracior...

Wearing: Spy Gear

Armed With Darkstick

War Fan

Grenade Knives (007)

Duelist Vibrorapier

Disruption Gloves



Current Configuration: Infiltration Form (See Bio)

Ren Feeld, a disheveled inhabitant of Thracior with a stubbly gray beard and wire frame glasses, in a fancy metallic bronze business suit led his master in the dead of night, the Android Vampire Vera Mina who had saved him from an execution squad when The CIS had invaded Thracior to a well concealed military compound near the ruins of an ancient palace close to a large lake they were walking towards in the process.

Castagne IBI had been sent into Thracior to stem the tide of deposed Slavers that had been caught attempting to flee to Castagne under false identity, as well as figure out who was supplying them with false identification. Vera, in the hopes that what she was doing might somehow reach Karlie Lynn Destat , had volunteered to retrieve the undercover operative once he had gone missing.

She had developed a reputation on Thracior. This form she used, a thin but athletic woman with pale skin and bright orange hair in a bobcut had, in the weeks since siezing Thracior, started to stalk the criminal element when she visited, feeding on them and leaving them for their comrades to find in new and bloody ways in various states of dismemberment. The corrupt were made examples of. "Alice" was feared by the guilty and the innocent alike...The innocent because though she looked beautiful, every eyewitness described her as something inhuman, both in how she moved and acted. The guilty feared her because she bathed in and drank their blood. Either way her "Alice" guise was becoming known on this world as The Bandaged Demon Who Drinks The Wicked.

She had altered her feeding habits because of Karlie. Once she had been nearly indiscriminate in hunting, feeding on easy, weak adult prey from all walks of life. Though it could hardly be said to be an improvement at all, considering she was still incredibly vicious during the actual killings, her targets as of late had been mainly sticking to criminals for feed-kills, still innately enjoying the rush that came from butchering but a civilian was never targeted now. Besides, there was no end to criminal scum. But though she enjoyed the butchery she knew realistically a less costly method of feeding herself must be found if she was to realistically entertain the idea of getting back on good terms with Karlie. She began to consider modifying her body to be able to derive nourishment from multiple sources but it would have to be carefully done so as to not blow out her metabolic system.

Just thinking of the blond scientist made her salivate immensely. The kiss memory from Azterri scrambling her combat algorithms a bit as she followed her servant.

"Servant..." she spoke quietly, curtly. "These ruins...what stood here?"

"The Palace of Alycia, The Witch of Thracior, Master." Ren answered, adjusting his glasses. "She protected Thracior during the Gulag Plague from a wicked and sadistic cult that used Lunar Motifs."

The Android knew instantly of who he spoke of. The Cult of The Brain Demon.

"Did she succeed?"

"Yes. They say she sacrificed her life placing a Curse of The Ashla upon the whole of the planet, forever preventing the Cult from landing on the planet, or any who served them, willingly or not, lest they be painfully killed by the very energies of the world. Her palace fell into ruin afterward, and has become a haven for disreputable elements. We should not linger, Master. They say it is haunted--"

"If you wanna be afraid of someone, be afraid of me..." Vera cut him off in her blunt manner of speaking, about to go to the ruins proper. This woman had found a way to keep people like The Amalgam off a planet. If there was some trace, ANY trace of how she had done it, she 'had' to look for it. The Double Agent could wait--

Vera stopped suddenly. For the first time, she had noticed her own short sightedness and selfishness. She had promised to get the informant back to IBI alive. The longer she delayed, the lesser her chances were of success.

The secrets of Thracior had to wait. Her mission, her need to find some way, ANY way, of gaining back Karlie's heart was making Vera seriously consider a complete overhaul to her personality system and design. But she was afraid, still part animal, still enjoying the rush of carnage. Part of her wanted only Karlie. Part of her wanted the Carnage. Part of her wanted both. She was very confused.

"Wait!" She said. "You are right. Let's continue to the compound."

Ren nodded, and began to resume their journey.

"It will please you to know, Servant, that I have taken great pleasure in drinking the Anti-CIS holdouts in recent weeks. I have it on good authority this nest we are going to may be the largest group of remaining Death Squad members yet.."

"You have made great strides in purging Thracior, Master! The Wicked fear you greatly."

"Only because I am more wicked than they."

"Well if it brings about a new age for Thracior, Master, keep drinking the bastards."

"I prepare Thracior for the Glory of House Li-Ves." The Android replied.

"Prepare it as you please. I serve only you..." the mad inhabitant spoke with reverence.

"Stay out of sight..." she instructed the Tom Waits expy with a growl.

The compound comprised on large, rectangular armored structure with a landing pad on the roof. There were guards making regular walks around it. It had been camouflaged from above by a specialized holographic screen tech.

"Alice" activated the stealth field on her revealing spy gear, and crept towards it. She made almost no sound as she moved through branch and grass and bush, drawing her wickedly curved Dark Stick as she slipped past the first set of guards, slipping a key card off one as she did and waited for the front entrance to open, which it did during shift change, and the invisible Android leapt with great alacrity over the head of an exiting guard, landing silently behind him and slipping into the interior without anyone the wiser...

 

[Ian Sade]

"...apparently we were manipulated...." Ian were hunched over the data. "...all through most of our histor.y"
They had apparently been missing one major key factor in Rigor's profile.
Spawning grounds.
"Castagne, the bureaus.... all were set on following, maintaining a set flow of directives when it came to following her trail...past and present."
So the conversation via hologram between Ian and Tarssin went.

What had been learned...discovered when Castagne and House Li-Ves, started sharing pertinent data on their common enemy, was that Rigor through the Millenniums, had covered her tracks by corrupting the archives..the very history of her existence on Castagne. The changes were subtle enough at first not to raise suspicion in the second generation following... then more subtle changes repeated over the course of hundreds of generations and you wind up with an entity who has covered up her trail from the beginning of recorded history. Why? Because that life form can rewrite history throughout history, because she were immortal.
If left unchecked, even today's recorded events 50 years from now would be rewritten enough not to be noticed. Then given another 50 years change enough facts that the outcome of the past event a century earlier would reflect something else entirely.
Not all history needed to be corrupted, just the pertinent facts on that immortal individual. One whom could abide it's time till all who could remember to challenge written history, were no more.

"Rigor used the same history wipe scenarios Castagne did in masking it's dark history." Ian concurred with the Cabinet Head.
A history that were thought justifiable to change for the greater good. Only in doing so, it were repeated over many times.
Rigor. This had always been Rigor's home, her spawning ground. And she saw fit to changing it, manipulating it as she had pleased. The generation gaps where she were reclusive only helped with the forgotten history.... making rise to just urban legends.
Only this generation, someone had put the brakes on it: Tarssin...now Karlie.
Rigor in Karlie's mother/sister's mortal body was running out of time. Her only sister/daughter Karlie held the only key to her immortality. Rigor could not spawn another. It was Karlie or die forever after...

"Yes sir... Most of the gaps, missing history has been cross referenced with that of the Morpheus archives.
We've been able to recover/reconstruct much of Castagne's missing history concerning Darth Rigor. With this kind of un-corrupt data, we have a much more accurate profile of the entity sir." Ian continued.
So it went, with the bureaus reconstructing Rigor's life history and her dependent on Castagne for immortality.

Beep..beep... beep....
A transmission link then came in as Ian was concluding with Tarssin. It were coming in from the Morpheus on a private channel to the colonel.
Tarssin nodded, motioning for Ian to take it as he cut off the current link between them.

He could see it were from the unit West. It had come to pick up Tarssin's daughter not two hours ago.
"Colonel Sade speaking..." He opened up the channel, receiving the live hologram link and at the same time transmitting his...
".... just want to illiterate: no take backs." he of course were referring to Karlie...and of hopefully joking.
Yes, he were joking.
Still, what did the West unit have to report he wondered as everything had been on schedule as planned?
Ian were seen looking over to his wrist crono as West's image took full form. By the colonel's calculation the West unit and Karlie should have already arrived aboard-
Hello.

"Lieutenant?....."His eyes gave way his pleasant surprise.
"...Westenra, rather..." he corrected his self.
The biot had apparently guessed by now that the human male had an eye for her current form on display. And she displayed well.
"You... changed your hair." Of course she did. She had changed bodies from when she had come to give Karlie a lift.

The outright forward exchange in her current form could be said to have made the colonel blush. It were all in that minute smile which he couldn't quite keep suppressed, which gave it away.
Still...
"Ahh...is that what it is?... " he teased back.
Yes, she had given him an opportunity to take her all in, wrapped in her cocktail dress.

"Well... I couldn't let you waltz down and around distracting my finest security detail.... again." Yes, he had certainly noticed how heads turned when West came down...in any form.
Of course he weren't much bothered...not when she came down in any other form but the present one. This one, he- ...liked.
And of course, security details caught ogling at this version were disciplined. He could pick up such bad behavior in other virile males in a heart beat.

Ian nevertheless looked over to his crono again...
The man were calculating. Lets see, she and Karlie (yes, he were thinking West as a she in this form instead of an it) took two hours to reach the castle... he had a meeting with the ICI director in 20...had an inspection following that...
"I could be free as a kite by the time you make landfall, Lieutenant." Of course everyone knows that kites still have strings attached to them. But whatever else could come up, he'd certainly clear.

One couldn't really say he were smitten. Ian had fought many a fight along side her, and in her many forms.
Only that he were human. Perhaps were he born in another era, at another time and place...a romantic by nature? One could only speculate..dream the impossible.
But Ian were born at a time of conflict and war. His very father had molded him for leadership..even to one day take his place. Ian were raised and ultimately trained to be the right hand of the Cabinet through the ICI bureau. He was their go to man...the man who executed their primary objectives.
But aside from all that, for some odd reason... he had caught the thunderbolt for a particular vision of the perfect woman... so be it she were not a real living thing.
Would it have mattered if he had been smitten with a once living being, that were now a blood sucking vampire?
What matters is compatibility...two honed killers (by their own right and design) not going at each others throats with implements but with something else entirely...

"I'll see you on the tarmac..."

 

[Westenra Mina]

Westenra smiled wider as Ian Sade agreed to meet with her.

"I'm delighted with your answer..." she said, subtle lust creeping into her voice, winking at him. "I see you've increased your muscle mass by twelve percent...impressive."

Westenra cut the comms and went to her small collection of jewelry. She needed precisely 'two' pieces of jewelry to complete the look.

She selected a platinum gold ring with Mustafar Fire Diamond, cut into a square shape and put it on her left middle finger and a gold microchain bracelet with a single silver-black Night Pearl on her right wrist.

Now she was ready to stun Ian.

Westenra then headed for the hangar of the Morpheus, close to salivating at the thought of getting to spend time with Ian.

The curvy biot slinked into the hangar, her black, J-Type Star Skiff, polished like obsidian glass with ruby tinted windows, inspired by the color scheme of Maple Harte's J-Type 327 Nubian The Silent Erika. Hers was called The Shadow Blood.

She went aboard, the design interior mimicking the exterior, with obsidian colored wall and ceiling panels, the controls of the cockpit lit by simple, easy to understand red LED controls and a back up analogue control panel.

She lifted off, and punched in the coordinates...

Two hours later...

The Shadow Blood touched down on the Tarmac. Westenra soon slinked down the exit ramp. Her pink eyes with a faint purple glint at the center focused on Ian and began a swaying yet quick slink towards him, her pheremones put on lockdown for the moment. Her curvy but athletic figure finally stopped a bit.

"Looking handsome as ever, Sade. So, where can we go where the music is excellent and we can...relax?" she asked with a slight purr to her words, hiding how she salivated at the thought of dancing with him, at the thought of how their bodies might touch during the dance.

Her brain began to warm slightly, heart pound faster. She liked him. She liked him alot.

"Castagne is lovely at this time of day..."

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Pay attention girl...

Her lower jaw nearly unhinged. Nearly, as the blonde caught hold of it before looking up at the great lady.
So she weren't kidding?...Nine wished for her to take on like 7 times 7 times 7 opponents?..Like, like one of her daughters?
Nope, that didn't calculate right. That only came out to half as many as Nine were meaning.
That... why that was asking for her to do the IMPOSSIBLE!

Karlie needed not speak her disbelief. It clearly were read by Nine in her eyes.
But Karlie had agreed. Yes, yes, she had agreed to all the terms...trice already, even before West had come to get her. But Karlie really didn't think that she'd-
Frak... she hadn't been thinking. That was her problem of late. Her mind were pre-occupied with Vera, Vera..Vera. Vera was on her mind all the freaking time... all day, all night... mid day, in the shower-
STOP!...she weren't going there at this time.

"I understand, Lady Li-Ves." Karlie nodded, standing up on her two feet again.
Yes, she understood. HAD understood, but had chalked it up to just...talk? No. Lady Li-Ves was not just talk. She spoke only truth and every word with conviction. She had risked all, herself, her daughters and her House on account of her and Castagne. Karlie understood what the great lady were wanting of her, and it were way overdue.

"I can't expect others to fight for me if I can't fight for myself...and for others." Yes, she learned the latter the hard way...witnessing thousands dying for the sake of saving others. Lady Li-Ves and her daughters had done that many times for her and her countrymen....for Castagne.

"I..." She took a deep breath.
"I am ready, Lady Li-Ves."

No.
No she wasn't.


Lesson 1; Always be prepared...

"What...
...is...
...the...
...point...
...of...
...of...stairs...pant...pant.." She were cresting the top of the granite stairs.

"...when... there are turbo lifts?... Gah...pant...pant..."
Yes, Karlie's training happened right then and there. Had she been prepared and ready? Karlie had said she was. Nine took her up on it, school shoes and all.

She were now her second lap that pretty much had Karlie run from one part of the castle through twisting corridors, passages and..and pretty much seemingly a labyrinth going from the lower decks through the service corridors or alleyways...tunnels and chambers and if not paying attention; dead ends. Well, it were a mix of everything one would expect in a castle such as the Morpheus. Nine's instructions were simple and not repeated. It were up to Karlie to keep her attention and focus on what was said the first time.
And yes, the blonde whom should have taken a good hour to complete a lap through, including up and down the said course as explained by her Sensei.
She hit a few dead ends... the same dead ends trice!
"WTF!!" A red faced, overheated, look of a lost deer caught in the headlight gasped!

Part of the lesson as explained once was for her to complete 4 entire laps in 4 hours.
2 hours in and she managed to be at the start of her second lap.
"Wha?... no freakin way.... no freakin way I can do this..." She panted nearly keeled over in muscle cramps, one hand on the stone wall holding herself up.

But she couldn't fail. She really didn't know how to quit really. Karlie never had quit in her life. Complained, bitched whined a lot...but never quit.

"Pant..pant...frak me..." and thus she pushed herself off the wall and continued on. Mind you, she weren't jogging but was in fact running. Not sprinting like Nine's daughters no. This blonde was after all human and although she had more endurance in her than she herself believed, she was in good physical shape.

With some occasional head dunking in one of the many Gothic fountain spewing what was or tasted like water from gargoyle's mouths into stone scones or basins (water breaks) she dredged on, occasionally having to catch herself from loosing it on one of the long ascensions of stairs.
But you know what? She didn't get lost . Not too much anyway. The girl stumbled upon the two dead ends she had previously run into before finishing the second lap around in a little over an hour and a half.

She did bump into a few folk..Morpheus knights, servants, what-nots. They knew enough to step off to the side hearing her coming through though.

The third lap the girl took to making it in two hours. Only because she had begun to crawl up the stair..the many stairs that twisted this way and that besides going up and down. Down; she held on to the marble balusters and let her body lead the fall...controlled fall as she were holding on from tumbling down. And no, no more dead ends by now. She knew enough not to wander off..her mind that is. She kept it sharp as it were the only thing still fully functioning.
Needless to say the blonde were finally picked up by the two knights whom were sent to retrieve her.
Karlie had passed out, dropping right there face first on the wonderful cool marble floor, as she finished the fourth lap.
She were completely spent, drenched and fast asleep. But she had done it..she had finished her first easy course in less than 9 hours. So Ok, she should have done it in four.
But come on!...she did learn her first lesson. And that was to be better prepared next time, and all the time. The sores on her feet for running in dress shoes was part of that reminder. One that she had to experience to never forget.

6 hours later....
SPLASH!... Cold, near freezing water by the bucket load jarred her from sleep.

She screamed...screamed because the water was cold. Screamed because it was freezing cold...screamed because whomever did that was going to freakin DIE!-

Her teeth chattering, and looking not much better than a wet cat, she held her tongue and instinct to lay what bastard it was that drenched her awake, down.

It was....

 

[Ian Sade]

But they had danced... to the tempo of gunfire no less.

Finding themselves dropped in the midst of the hornet's nest during the final push into the Almagam's lair, the two opened up, all guns blazing. It could be said that it were a waltz, one complimenting the other, back to back, twirling and spinning changing positions as the bolts fired away from what could be conceived as a tornado of death.
There was a moment...oh a sweet loving moment in their hailstorm of gunfire by which both found themselves in an embrace. Only their arms were not wrapped around each other, but firing away outward as the chamber walls spun around them and bodies fell.
There was that moment...that split second of recluse from Ian to touch lips. But alas, the waltz called for them to unlock and spin around back to back again till all whom had come to stop them were stopped themselves.

Smoke and their glowing barrels were all which stood above the carcasses besides themselves. And the gods saw fit to give them another moment. A moment for the human with laden breath to look over to his dance partner's eyes. It were another snapshot of her that his soul could never forget...nor his beating heart. Funny how coming to be in a dance of death could excite a human. It were so surreal, it had to have been orchestrated by the gods.

But the gods could be just as cruel as they are kind. The moment was followed by a percussion when one of the walls exploded within. Ok, so it were by Castan Marines that had breached the chamber, finally making it to the gunfight.
Yea... that were good timing, comrades.


The now...

"Heh, that'd be a first..." he replied, tracing out her smile.
He of course were meaning his self, the part of relaxing around her... music or gunfire. It were all the same when he were around West.
Ian had danced with her (and more than a few rounds) already...to the symphony of destruction.
...but never whilst she were in a cocktail dress.

"Music, huh?.." he took a step to the side, opening up his right arm.
It were an invite for the biot to step herself into. This were a first, as it had never been a invite, but a shove, a pull or a push before. Then again it had always been in the hail of falling gunfire...un-invited, but detrimental to each other's welfare. It had somehow turned into the described dance number.

"Come on then..." Odd though if one would replay those recorded firefights. They'd discover that he, an instrument of death by his own right, seemed vigil (intent) in keeping the biot from getting hit by gunfire. Odd behavior in such a man indeed as it didn't play out as such with anyone else... aside from the blonde.
You know, the blonde? Shoot...what was her name again?

"...lets see if you dig some metal..." His arm awaited her.

 

[Nine Lives]

"Ready eh?" Nine said to Karlie Lynn Destat

Nine chuckled. Karlie clearly was not prepared given her dress.

"Ready? Suuurrre..." the Vampire said. "But you are unprepared. That shall be your first lesson..."

As Karlie had been made to run through the halls, Nine had begun monitoring her from afar. Got twisted around and lost a bit but made up for it with sheer determination. Apparently the Marines had done their job at least making Karlie physically capable. Nine had taken notes the AI and her daughter Magnus had been comparing Karlie's performance to her databanks.

"You're gonna push this one past her absolute limit? Stack the deck?" Magnus inquired, her pale skinned, red headed guise dressed in a flowing red gown as they watched Karlie from the security feeds in Nine's suite.

"Oh my, yes. I have to. Its the only way to unlock her full potential. She is essentially a clone of Rigor. Rigor is incredibly physically capable. Karlie can do anything Rigor can in terms of pure athletics."

"What about killer instinct?"

"If Rigor is ruthless than Karlie has that capability also. It takes a special kind of ruthless to go into a place like Melida. It just needs a proper focus. Honing.

Nine had then played chess with Magnus while Karlie ran. Then cards. Then dice in her suite. Nine lost 007-hundred credits to Magnus in this manner, but Dice was a weakness of hers. A big one. She was terrible at it.

When Karlie finally collapsed Nine had sent two knights to fetch her. Then poured a bucket of cold water and went to meet Karlie, the Morpheus Knights that had brought her were with her also.

She splashed her awake.

"Upsie-Daisy Ridley, Destat!" Nine trolled, her mental instability having increased just enough due to torture at The Amalgam's hands to enable her to make an OOC reference with great effort. "In the field you shall be pushed far harder than what amounts to 009 hours of power jogging. The type of enemies you made are capable of ripping through even the most well trained ordinary soldier. Or sneaking past them entirely, just like any of my daughters can..."

This allowed Nine to segway into a discussion of Vera. She paced around Karlie while she gathered her wits from being splashed

"Admittedly, when Vera was first created, she was designed as a pure assassin by me. It was not until she encountered you that her thinking evolved...and continues to evolve at an exponential rate. But, for the moment, she is still very much what I designed her to be, and someone like Vera is the level of lethality you should often expect...the kinds of creatures you must learn to survive against. I will train you to ignore pain. Ignore the weather. To eat things that would make a billy goat puke!"

(Cutaway of Rambo firing a machine gun into the air while yelling in an insane manner)

"Now that you have a taste, I will increase your labors. You shall spar. With heavy weights on your arms and legs. You shall always spar and fight with the heaviest weights possible. You shall meditate for one hour to clear your mind afterward then you shall eat. A very light meal. Just enought to keep your body healthy. But nothing beyond that. It will not taste good. Course grains. Thick vegetables. Spinach."

The Morpheus Knights gave a Toecutter-worthy hiss in unison at the very mention of Spinach.

Nine looked up at her 'sons'.

"Oh hush! Spinach purifies the body! Even though it is admittedly disgusting..."

"All in all, you will not like me for the next few weeks. But it is essential."

Nine clapped her hands and Meier walked in holding a weighted set of red training robes.

"Besides...think of all the sheer ass you will be able to kick getting a classical warrior education. I'll be sure to keep your mind sharp by studying my scientific notes and preparing experiments for you on the days you aren't on the verge of collapse. But you 'will' be a legit badass when I am done. Also a smart one. I promise you."

 

[Westenra Mina]

Westenra smiled as Ian Sade offered his arm. She wrapped hers around it.

"I 'adore' metal..." she almost purred, her databanks recalling their first fight together. His ruthlessness had shocked her. It had made the attraction all the deeper.

As they began to walk, Westenra talked about an interesting discovery she had made.

"Speaking of music, your world continues to surprise me...just the other day I was visiting an antiques shop and you will never guess what they had. An old school molecular furnace from the days of the Galactic Empire. I've been using it to make these special harmonic crystals for constructing a giant musical instrument...it'll look amazing when its done. Big as a building. But enough about that. Its air guitar time..."

A half hour later...

Westenra slinked into the Club, Ian still around her arm, her ears bedazzled by some of the sickest licks she had ever heard on a string playing instrument. It wasn't just metal. It was heavy metal. She recorded the sounds, enchanted by the wonderful notes.

"What is the name of that song?" Westenra whispered to the off duty Colonel. "Its magnificent. It makes me want to air guitar and violently shake my head like a lunatic repeatedly...

She saw the dance floor, populated by well dressed enthusiasts of heavy metal dancing like crazy.

"Wanna dance? Listen to that beat!" She exclaimed while the music roared. Not here even three minutes and she was already having more fun than she had in weeks previous combined...

 

[Ian Sade]

... I'm like a laser, six-string razor
I got a mouth like an alligator
I want it louder, more power
I'm gonna rock ya 'til it strikes the hour...

It were loud, pumping and it was driving...leading Ian to secure a spot within the stomping maniacs...
"% @# $ &% $#..." were pretty much all he could possibly hear from West. Lucky for her he were a lip reader. It were part of his trait, or rather part of his ICI training. Then again, he had spied enough times on her to know her every lip detail....

"~ # % @ ~ & ^ @ !" Ian replied. Which of course was just as drowned out by the amplifiers as she were. But what his lips were mouthing, was..."Hahaha...Hell if I know..." Of course it was his reply as to the song that was up. Did it matter or make a difference if he knew or not?
Hell no.
The biot didn't need to be coaxed to start dancing. She were immediately immersed into it and already in sync with the music.
Ian enjoyed music, including such metal, but he didn't set on following any particular style. But this one seemed just the perfect head banging tune that got one's blood pumping.

...I'm a finder and I'm a keeper
I'm not a loser and I ain't no weeper...
The song were pumping as he led the way, drawing West closer to his person, positioning his hand on her lower back while he shouldered through the crowd.

...Well bang your head
Wake the dead
We're all metal mad
It's all you have....
It were a no brainer to have the music launch you into it's tempo..the lyrics, the base, drums all were taking the place of one's motor functions.

...So bang your head
Raise the dead
Metal health
It drives you mad, mad, mad... they were the music, the song, the tempo.

....Bang your head!
Metal health will drive you mad
Bang your head!... It were like they were back banging out heads, only this time round, no bodies were dropping around them.

The music kept pumping and the two kept banging along. The kaleidoscope of lights above and below were in fusion with people and music.. Even the fog machines made the entire floor and experience for many seem so surreal. Admittedly, Ian had only been to such a club only a handful of times, on a personal basis. Mostly during his teens and early twenties. Although he had the need to visit a few during assignments and investigations. It were what kept him in touch with the music and pace he had enjoyed before joining the Castan Navy..which of course eventually lead him to the ICI....

It were fun. Especially with West getting into it and keeping pace for a while. A while, yes. Hell, the woman-...er, the biot rather, she could have danced till the floor of the club itself wore out. Unfortunately, the human couldn't. Not without replenishing his lost electrolytes....
"~_ ^ # ~ * !" He finally shouted, trying to sound off against the pumping megawatt amps. His vocal cords could not overtake their power outputs. Not of the resonance magnetic boosters that they were. But his lips nevertheless mouthed 'Need a drink!' before motioning for her to follow him.


They moved to another part of the club for the drinks.
Of course, drink consisted of a few tall orders of alcohol laden seltzers, which indeed quenched his thirst...the human had perspired profusely compared to the pristine West who's only evidence of banging away on the heavy metal floor was a few strands of her raven jet black hair out of place...just like his memory recalled from their more professional outings.
He could have kissed her right there and then...just like before. And like before, it were a spontaneous feeling....something deep within his primal instinct that were driving him to initiate a precopulatory move.
The frenzy dancing were like the dance of death and destruction. By comparison, they were very similar in initiating a mating ritual in a way.

A moment precariously ebbed past as his eyes took to detailing her features. She were hypnotic, so perfect..so beautiful..her smile were his weakness, his vulnerability. He had unknowingly made it so, as he had dreamed of that smile for some time..in his sleep, in his waking thoughts...
But his heart suddenly got hit with reality. She were not really alive, was she?
Or could she be? Ian's features momentarily gave way his sadness. he wanted her to be real...wanted her to at least be a living thing...not an android... not just created as a lethal weapon.

Flash back to Azrteri in the abandoned ruins of a factory warehouse when he first encountered Westenra. She had been releasing pheromones. Pheromones to confuse her enemies...and had confused Ian also before he realized what it were at the time that had made him want to mate with her. But he had not been the target..although he had felt the effects.
In humans, it were an involuntary natural shared excretion..a comparably chemical fusion at the height of sexual attraction-

Berkana, he so wished for her to be real at that moment. But the biot were not excreting any. The entire sexual attraction and tension were solely on Ian again, and not artificially induced by the biot.
He knew that.
Again, it were a momentary hiccup, nothing more than a blink of his eyes that his thoughts encountered, as his instincts urged him to kiss those very lips, his dreams suffered him so...
He stayed...stood down.

Ian motioned for them to talk...elsewhere....out of the noise.

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

She were growing the bio-crystal cell structure...with difficulties.

It had collapsed in her previous two attempts already and she still had yet to grasp it's crystaline structure in order to stabilize it during the 2nd stage gestation period. Her mind were elsewhere.
What had she gotten herself into?
It had been her choice..actually her determination and relentless hints and outright asking to be working under Nine..her now sensei so to speak.

She hurt. Karlie were sore all over. She were hurting in places she didn't realize could hurt...rarely stress and exercised muscles. She had never realized how little many humans, if not the majority of them used those muscles in that manner. But she had and now they were killing her.
maybe perhaps it were why she were in class right now under Nine's observance and directives.

Karlie had wanted to learn how Nine were able to grow and bind organic molecules to crystal and elements to form a new breed of living regenerative tissues.
This exercise was of course one of the basic ones...more like first grade work..in Nine's curriculum.

Karlie were understanding the principals and had been suggested she go over it before bed. Only she didn't, she were so exhausted and beat to a pulp by Magnus. Freakin Magnus!
Berkana, she hated the biot. Really, really hated it..er, her...whatever!

"FRAK!" Karlie screamed.
No, not because she were thinking of the biot, but her crystaline cell structure before her collapsed again.
She weren't focused. her eyes slowly turned to her right. Nine had been watching her all along.
Karlie were instructed to clean up the mess and grow the structure. The word again or try had not been in Nine's vocabulary.
"Yes, Lady Li-Ves." She replied, initiating the flash burn to disintegrate the volatile cell structure. Then she'd have to dispose of all the ask on a microscopic level. that meant clean up her bench, to sterile condition and start over. There could not be any trace, not one molecule of the failed cell otherwise it were like cancer...it would ultimately influence the new growth to fail.

Two hours later and 7 hours into her first class room lab work under Nine...

"Please...please...please...please... ARRRG!!" The crystaline structure almost made it the last of it's third phase before it died.
"Oh come on! ....Goddamn you..." She hit the dura-glass enclosure. Not hard mind you as her hand had never hurt her as so gripping that staff, getting whacked by that Magnus..that horrid Magnus with her stupid grin and laughter... actually her chuckle every time Karlie came at her and failed miserably.

in fact, Karlie wanted to wipe that little red head's grin off her face several times. Dream on and lick your wounds Karlie.

"Why can't I get this?!" she had to be the one to ask. She knew why. Karlie knew she weren't focused on her work at the moment but counting the hours to her next session with that horrid biot.
Why couldn't it be West that were training her...why that Magnus.

"Yes Lady Li-Ves..." Yep, flash, clean and sanitize...again. Class would not be over till she got it.

Karlie hit her bunk with 3 hours to sleep before her next training bout with that miserable Magnus... Well, she had no time to hate the biot as it would take up and waste some precious sleep she needed so b-
Out like a light.

"Ahhhk, I'm up!... I"M UP!!" Karlie literally jumped off her bunk almost tripping over herself..or feet rather.
The freakin biot had flicked a few drops of water on the dead asleep and...and snoring blonde. Seriously?
Anyway, yes the sprinkle of water.
Karlie had been doused twice already with ice cold water on the Morpheus..not to mention a few sessions of boarding under the black ops of the CIS nearly a year earlier.
As it may, and as exhausted as she were, a few drops of water on her by Magnus, that is after first not waking to her alarm, followed by Magnus coming to her quarters and verbally giving the blonde a heads up, the conditioning by which Nine had already set in motion, the few drops of water jarred the blonde up to her feet.

"Alright..alright..." Karlie put her hand between herself and Magnus. She didn't need the water today. Of course she didn't dare touch the fiend... she knew better.
"I just need 5...3 minutes to shower." Karlie had collapsed on her bunk not more than 3 hours ago, as her first class in Nine's class had run a little later than she had expected...aherm.
But alas...no.

"No?" Karlie's eyes bugged. The queen wasn't going to allow her a freakin 3 minute shower?! WTF?!!

Karlie tightened her white belt, on her white karategi back inside the dojo like training chambers. A clean one at that as it is and will always be forbidden to start any class with an unwashed and clean karategi. House rules.

Was she prepared, the evil biot asked.
No she weren't. it was obvious she didn't get enough sleep, rest nor shower the damn snickering biot should know.
"Yea.. I'm ready." She poised to fight.
"Bring it!" Nope she weren't letting this bully sibling of West and Vera think she could -

"Ack!'... down she went on her sore gluteus maximus.

And so it went. A flustered Karlie with a bona fide bad, really bad hair day trying her hardest to wipe that stupid smirk on Magnus' face.
She and the biot were at it for a while hand to hand with Karlie falling...er, actually being slammed down on the hardwood floor like really hard. But not hard enough to disable her. Magnus knew the human's limit.
The bow staff came next. Karlie knew it at her discipline stick. Shiet, she had gotten beaten at every turn the the last time she tried using it against this fiend.
But were she going to beg the biot to stop as she had done a few days prior. Not on her life!
Still, like last time; knuckle after knuckle getting tagged till she could not take it anymore and-

Swat!
The bow swung up but not around with a faked uppercut that returned back to full swing after she switched hands and laid the tip at full force (momentum built by using her full body weight behind the strike) across Magnus' face.

"Gasp!...
Oh my God...oh my God...
I....I'm so sorry!" Karlie was besides herself, horrified at the result of her anger.

 

[Nine Lives]

On the first day, Karlie Lynn Destat had been a plaything to Magnus.

Oh, the Marines had put her through her paces certainly, but she had clearly never trained to fight a superhuman combatant.

"Combat and the Way of The Warrior, is more than training..." Magnus had told her, machine reflexes allowing her to dodge or parry all of Karlie's attempts to hit her.

"It is passion. It is instinct. It is your soul. The Weapon, the true Weapon, is you." She had explained. The human was soundly and easily defeated.

After she had landed on her butt a 007-th time, Magnus had continued her lecture.

"I can only teach movements. Sequences. Technique. But the will and imagination in combat cannot be taught. It must be learned..."

A few days later...

"She's persistent..." Nine remarked to Meier as they reviewed Karlie's progress, watching her daughter Magnus defeat Karlie again and again over the holo projector.

"She still lags in understanding how to stabilize the genetic structure..." Meier noted on the results of Karlie's experiments.

"I learned slower than she will. I had to teach myself about Genetic Manipulation, both for badassery and...well, just badassery, mainly. Karlie has the advantage of an entire career in this field. She'll pick up in a few weeks by my estimate..." Nine replied in the observation room next to the chamber Karlie was in. Karlie than tagged Magnus, the staff swiping off a piece of Magnus's masquer-formed face, revealing the black carbon frame skull with a red ocular sensor underneath the tattered remains of an organic eye.

"Well done, Karlie! You finally made the mental journey to truly wanting to win, if only for an instant. You must learn to hone that. That balance between tactic and gut. Between Rage and Serenity." (Of the Atom: 90 XP)

"But a warning. Never allow your temper to become choleric. Your enemies will inevitably spot your pattern and exploit it. It has been the downfall of many."

(Cutaway of Sonny Corleone being gunned down.)

(Cutaway of Surtur destroying Asgard and himself)

"Take the rest of the day off for this breakthrough. Your vegetable stew and rice is being prepared, and I need to get repaired and run diagnostics. My design is not as robust as my other Sisters." The red headed, pale skinned Magnus explained.

Nine decided to come out of the observation chamber.

"Tomorrow, you shall alternate between dueling me and Magnus. I also have something that might interest you..."

Nine snapped her fingers, and a pair of Morpheus Knights in their bronze powered light battle armor walked in with a box. A long one.

Nine opened it and pulled out a dark crimson Force Staff with black tips, as well as a crimson staff with a brilliant red crystal at one end knowns as a Lightning Rod.

"Pick which one to fight us with..." Nine instructed. "Choose wisely...then shower. Five minutes. Ice cold. The cold will purify your mind..."

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

It were obvious her hesitation.
Choose a weapon.

Karlie knew it were no mere choice Lady Nine had presented her with. Each obviously were of different mass and functionality.
The Force Staff, by her calculation, would have KE equaling 1/2mv squared... if she knew of it's mass and density. Looked heavy for sure...
'...what does the freakin thing weigh?...like, 12-15k?' She were thinking... calculating not only it's effectiveness, but her ability to efficiently use it.

It weren't that she wanted something easy or more powerful. It were what Karlie figured she could handle. As thus, her mind were busy jogging around physics... '...Ok, that puts the Force Staff's possible Jouls at my hands at say 150-200?... That is, if it's in the 12-15 kilogram weight...' She had observed as to how Nine withdrew it from the chest. The other, well the Lighting staff kinda didn't need so much a hand hold...not pulling it out of the box at least.
'Hmm... Ok, let me think....I had to have hit Magnus at 100+ or so Jouls with the lighter wood staff before... ' Karlie then blinked, thinking of how she hurt Magnus.
Oh she didn't mean to do that one bit. But the damn biot was pounding her to the ground for days on end for Berkana's sake. How much could a girl take before lashing back out?

Although she still felt the biot (Magnus) didn't think much of her, Karlie had no reason to try and really hurt Magnus throughout their mock engagements. The biot after all had been giving her pointers all throughout their sessions, despite Karlie still winding up on her already sore butt each and every time...not to mention her new multicolor skin tones. Karlie had bruises pretty much all over her body.
Magnus had not gone easy on her. Well, except when Karlie took some of Magnus' face off... 'Oh Berkana..that was so horrid of me...' Yes, she were feeling terrible inside still, in letting her anger actually hurt the biot like that. It could have been Rom's face... Vera's...or, or West's for that matter! Shiet...she didn't want to hurt any of them, including Magnus and that Meir.
Now Nine was going to test her? How was this going to be possible?

"Sigh... " She had no choice.
Choose!
"Aherm... I 'll take the Lighting Rod." She then chose the much lighter of the two. Hey, swinging a 12-15k Force Staff was a bit still out of her muscle tone, she figured. Besides, Nine had called it a Lighting Staff. Karlie figured she could keep her distance and zap away. Yea, yea...she could do that..... 'Pft... sure, piece of cake. ' she thought as she let a small smile escape her.... entirely exposing her wrong frame of thinking.

'Wait...' a moment of uncertainty wiped that silly smirk hiding behind her features. '...Berkana, what if it's lethal? No, no..it can't be....I don't think-' She looked over the two Morpheus Knights as she stepped up to take the Lightening Rod, the lighter of the two from Nine.
Her hand started reaching for it....
reaching......
reaching.......
She almost came to wrap her hand around it, before pulling back.

Her eyes ascended to Nine's. Were she really going to have to spar against Nine? But again how could she really? It would be like sparring with her dad...she loved him and could not come to terms in trying to strike at him. She had the same feeling with Nine, unfortunately.

Ok sure, Karlie were more than willing to land a few good kicks and thrusts to Bo (Boriskno Fel), her then Marine instructor and Ian too, the jerk! Well maybe he wasn't a jerk, but nevertheless she liked to think of him as such.
Anyway, them two deserved it... both with their male chauvinistic attitudes and taunting smirk.... girl can't do this, girl can't do that. Oh she got them both good several times. Knocked them off their soap box when they least expected. Shiet, Bo and Ian had given her plenty reason to shut them down and wipe their silly smirks off their-

But she were not facing the boys, she were looking at Nine...Lady Nine. Karlie had no reason, no reason whatsoever that would want her to strike at Nine. Nine had been- ''...gulp..."
Nine had been more a mother to her than... than Karla.
Still, what could she possibly say to Nine...'that I don't wish to hurt you?'
That, THAT would be the greatest insult she could say to the great Lady. That she could hurt her?..

"I'll have a go at it with the Force Staff." She finally said, swallowing hard, lowering her eyes from the lady Karlie could do nothing, but admire.
Karlie then reached for the Force Staff, almost snatching it from Nine's hand, for she were doing it against (fighting) her core will, then stepped back. Inadvertently Karlie wasn't realizing her own mother's conditioning were slowly being broken down in these exercises....

'Shoot...18kilograms...' she felt it's weight. It much heftier than she had calculated. Still, it wouldn't matter, in her mind, she knew she were going to get creamed anyway with it.
Karlie were ready to have her butt handed to her. Although she couldn't figure out how to fake trying her best against Nine. She had to make it look like she were intent on striking at Nine. She had too, for she couldn't do it...couldn't strike at Nine like she were expected to.

She'd figure it out....she had to.
Damn it though... Another ice cold shower? Frak...she'd rather put up with a little BO than-
Noooo, hell that. She weren't no stinker.
"Sigh...." ice cold it was going to be then.... and vegetables. Berkana, why the greens all the time? Karlie was dying for some real protein...porcine, her belly were tugging at her.
What she wouldn't do for some bacon, egg and steak...maybe some home fries on the side...

"Brrrr.... Oh...Frrrrrrk m...me, me..." She never took such a fast and complete shower like she did here on the Morphous of late. 3 minute shower? Hell that!
She took the Ice cold shower in a Coruscanti minute!.

Then of course followed by a good 15 minutes in the warm air drying chamber, warming up. "Ahh yesssss....Berkana, this is what Othala (Heaven) must feel like..."
Although coming out of the dryer... her hair. Her hair was a mess...all frizzed out.
Still, as sore and tired as she were, Karlie took the time to tame it before slipping into her berth, almost immediately...Zzzzzz.....

~ well done Karlie... balance between rage and serenity... your enemies will...~
Nine's words....Magnus coming at her, her going after Magnus... Karlie slamming down on to the floor.... getting jabbed with Magnu's staff, elbow...fist...
Then swish, contact, Magnu's flesh ripping open~

"Gagh!" Karlie gasped as she sat up started out of her sleep. She were breathing heavily, sweating again. It took a moment to recall that dream. "Frak!" Only that it had been no dream. Karlie laid back down, covering her eyes with her forearm, trying to shut everything out... feelings....anxiety...


Next morning...

Karlie for the first time ever was the one waiting in the sparring chamber.
She had gotten there before the alarm or Magnus, coming to wake up sleepy head.
She were there holding the Force Staff... when Magnus first walked in.
No words were exchanged other than the two eyeing one another up...well at least Karlie were which may have prompted the biot to wonder what was up with the blonde.

"Not much an improvement on your mug..." yep, her first time taunting at an opponent. "...a good scar would have at least given you some character..."

"Ready for another, lesson?" Karlie asked, as she readied her melee weapon... the force staff's tip energized.

 

[Westenra Mina]

Earlier...

Westenra seemed to have worn Ian Sade out with her perfectly rythmic dancing. She went to the table, and Westenra sipped at her drink lightly, letting her body process the poisons. Ian was fascinating when he let his hair down. Her eyes traced the muscles on his face, particular near his mouth, that betrayed a subconscious desire to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him, her brain so unused to processing her own desires that she bit her lower lip unconsciously.

She could smell him, her brain cataloguing the unique chemical patterns of what his body released into the air. They had been fighting in synch against The Amalgam's forces on Kar Shian, each warrior covering the others deficits. They had ripped into Sith ground forces almost single handedly.

He was no nonsense. Competent. Intelligent. He danced crazy. He had shot her and had come within seconds of killing her. It had been her own fault, really, but still...

Ian then requested they go somewhere quiet. Westenra nodded and they headed to a private, but large soundproof chamber.

Westenra sat on the large, luxury red leather sofa, crossing her legs, arms resting comfortably on her lap. She patted the space next to her with her hand, not even hiding how much she wanted him with the way she stared.

"Y'know Ian, if I had known you were this fun, I'd have worked up the nerve to do this days ago..." she purred. "Dancing isn't nearly as fun when there is no one you like to dance with...and this is the first real fun I've had in weeks...and as always I have the most fun with you..."

(Cutaway of Ian and Westenra's various acts of badassery on Kar Shian)

"You don't like being led by the nose, so I'll just come right out and say it...I've had a thing for you for a while now..."

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

PLAN A... 'Mess with Magnus (taunts and insults) and get her red line up '
It didn't work out as expected. First off, the girl had no clue as to what took the biot over the edge. On the contrary, the biot seemed thrilled to follow through with her own monologue before engaging the blonde. For the first few rounds it were more battle of words than actual contact.
In other words; PLAN A failed as our blonde were running out of witty insults that should have irked her opponent to kick her ass short and sweet.

PLAN B... 'Really, really mess with Magnus, like really really try to hurt it'
Meh... it were difficult for Karlie to gage if it made any more difference than the day before. Sure, the frustrated human got the biot to step back a few times defensively, but in turn it weren't the aggressiveness that Karlie had hoped for.
She were tiring a lot faster, but not flat out spent on her back.

PLAN C... '...er...'
There was no PLAN C.
Karlie had set her mind on definitely not engaging Nine. Her plan was to get Magnus to beat her down to a point that it would be moot for Nine to engage her as the blonde would be spent if not beat to a pulp...unconscious.
But the DAMN Freakin BIOT was always just one level or notch over her own abilities no matter how hard or how intent Karlie was of wiping that silly smirk Magnus sported off. Karlie were pushing herself like never before, giving Magnus all she could. But no matter how intent she were at having her blows contact the biot, or the string of insulting monologue Karlie could come up with (barring real trash talk) nothing pressed the biot to pound her lights out.

"Pant...pant... AARRrrg..come on you kitchen utensil...pant...pant...can't take me out, can you?...pant...pant... Arrrg!" That was our blonde giving Magnus the combo Plan A and B in an attempt for the biot to take her out of commission before Nine decided it were her turn to fight Karlie.
Funny thing though, our blond was so intent on pissing off and engaging Magnus that she never noticed Nine had been present there for pretty much the entire time...give or take 15 minutes after Magnus entered the chambers founding Karlie waiting for her.

In the blonde's attempt at getting herself beat to utter exhaustion so she would not have to fight Nine Lives, she were actually pushing herself exactly at the levels the matriarch had expected days before. It were obvious that Karlie was fighting to exhaustion, knowing quite well that Nine had informed her that she would be fighting her too. But at the rate Karlie were going...it weren't going to happen. Karlie were human. They really had no limits, but they HAD current limits.

The blonde's hair was drenched, as were her exposed features. Her skin were red and her breathing labored more by the bouts.
Her one attempt in using the Force Staff as a pole vault to kick magnus with her full body weigh...flopped. The girl's grip gave out and she went down the Staff shoulder down to the floor.

"Pant......pant....." She slipped as she tried to scramble up on her feet again.
"Shh...shut the frak up!...pant..pant... " She managed to get back up...half delirious for she were overheating despite the sparing leotard's built in cooling abilities.

"...I don't need you to tell me what I should be doing or not doing...pant....pant.. you...you blueberry tart-popsicle...showgirl...pant...pant...." And so it went with Magnus sparring the blonde, always keeping at a level or two above Karlie's current abilities. But Karlie were weening down...too far down for even a school boy to get his nose running red because he pulled her hair.

It were at the moment of utter collapse, nearly on her knees, holding with what she could to the Force Staff to keep her off the floor was when she took her eyes off magnus and Nine came to focus.
It were a long 3 second glance over to 'mother'. Karlie's mind only asked herself 'are you exhausted enough for 'mother to call it a day?
Berkana, an ice cold shower in some forsaken polar ice cap was so..so welcoming at the moment.
Karlie's own question were answered as she slid down the Force Staff and onto her knees.
She couldn't get up.

Well well....looked like she actually had a PLAN C after all, and didn't even know it. It could have been called 'Fight the biot till all reserves are spent. "...pant..............pant..............pant......... ' Karlie was beyond immediate recovery.

She managed to raise her hand up in defeat... "...y...you queen..." dropping the staff and herself on the floor. Of course that was her final insult to magnus and not 'mother'.


....pant..............pant.......


....pant.....



....pant....

 

[Vera Mina]

Earlier...

'Alice' stalked the halls of the compound, camouflaged into the wall textures, occasionally just cloaking completely as a patrol passed by. Her Darkstick was out, and she was making her way to the security office. She felt the thirst build in this form.

Silenced footsteps tracked across rough carpeting. There were 007 guards in a large room full of terminals with racks full of shotguns, ion grenades, and assault blasters. She disengaged the cloak, turning on her suit's powerful jamming system, activating the light absorbing cells in her knife and reducing the light to near pitch black levels, and switching to thermal vision to help her snap the neck of the first guard to walk out, cartwheeling into the room and using her feet to snap the neck of the second one immediately behind the first, then transitioning to twirling through the air to snap the neck of the third with her bare hands, she blocked blind haymakers, parrying kicks, all were replied to with neck breaking chops.

She got down and sank her fangs into one while his blood was still alive, drinking greedily, flesh shuddering and rippling in the darkness as she drank him to the point of mummification just to take the edge off, than happily went to work feasting on the others. She felt something change in her, her processors analyzing the elements of human blood cells impassively, noting improvements that could be made to help her own cells mimic them better. As it also had Westenra's cellular schematics on hand, it took design traits as well when making the genetic adjustments.

Vera triggered the programs to tell her marrow to start manufacturing blood with the new schematics, slowly cycling the old model blood out over the course of three minutes, flesh rippling everywhere. It finally stopped, and, curious as to what the resultant effect on her blood had been, The Android cut open her palm.

Instead of the stark white it had been before, it was a strange solid gray color.

The Biot made note of the systemic changes...

(Plasmid Acquisition Theme Plays)

(Vera received new upgrades!)

Upgrade: METABOLIZE FOOD

Spoiler

Vera can now metabolize normal food in limited amounts for a massive but temporary boost to damage durability or limited emergency nourishment that lasts forty eight hours.

Upgrade: MASQUER WEAPON FORMATION.

Spoiler

In addition to genetic adaptations to the blood, Vera has in the process with the help of Westenra's schematics learned to harden her tissue into weapons like her sister does

Upgrade: COGITATIVE UPGRADE

Spoiler

Provides a net one percent increase to Vera's learning speed and ability to process love and empathy

Upgrade: IMPROVED STORAGE

Spoiler

Improving the cellular structure has enabled Vera to double the amount of days she can go without feeding.

Vera watched her flesh heal, and looked down at the dead and drained, feeling a strange twinge of regret that she hadn't even bothered to spare at least one. It wasn't as if killing them all had been necessary...

Vera shook this momentary twinge of regret and refocused on her mission, silently disabling the security and locating the prisoner she wanted.

Vera cloaked herself and made her way to the prison section...


Days later...

Nine had smiled as Karlie battled Magnus with her heavy Force Staff. Magnus kept her on her toes, withstanding every barb Karlie Lynn Destat threw at her (Many of which were quite impressive!).

Karlie did not realize it, but it was slowly getting harder and harder for Magnus to outright defeat her...Karlie lasted a few seconds longer each time.

She was starting to break her limits.

Nine observed Karlie strain her thoughts and muscles trying to react to a superhuman opponent.

"In a fight against a superhuman opponent you must know what your enemy will do before they know. Rote mastery will 'never' be enough. You must study your opponent. What are their weaknesses? You exposed one in Magnus the other day. What is her attack pattern. How does she defeat you the quickest. Exploiting a superhuman combatants weaknesses, or using the environment against them, are all perfectly valid and acceptable strategies..." Nine lectured mildly when Karlie finally really was too weak to stand.

"Don't think you will escape fighting me forever...because I know you, Karlie. I know when you are stalling. It is no disrespect to try and clobber me. That's the whole point. Do you think your enemies shall be so considerate? Sure, a surprisingly high number of enemies might not have anything against you and if it was up to them, probably wouldn't want to hurt you at all. But that doesn't mean they won't. Attempts to show mercy to clearly dangerous enemies intent on your ruin is counterproductive, just like whatever fear you may have of hurting me. I was afraid to attack my father the first time he started training me...I got over it after the first few kendo sticks to the shins...besides, if you can't fight me, and we are clearly a superhero duet in the making, how are you going to fight Rigor?"

Nine decided to let Karlie think on those words while she recovered.

Magnus walked over.

"After you have showered, Karlie, please join Mother in the lab. She has a few pieces she wants to show you. You did better, for what its worth."

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Droplets of sweat dripped down onto the floor from the rim of her nose and soaked hair. She were spent... and she had been found out.

Karlie had wanted to explain. But there was nothing to explain as her sensei already knew. Karlie could only slump her head in an ill effort to nod her comprehension. Nine knew exactly her feelings on the matter. Nine knew. Nine had also shared that she had been in the same predicament as Karlie, only with her father once.

"Wai..wha?..??....her...her father?...??" She said to herself.
That revelation reverberated through her brain, despite she could even barely even get up on to her knees. Why had it never dawned on her that this great lady had a father? Everyone had a father, a maker. But no, she didn't have the privilege to right out and ask Nine more about it. What Nine revealed was not to take lightly and she had done so in an attempt for Karlie to understand. To understand it were not wrong to fight a parent. Not when the parent's motive were for a lesson.
Karlie managed to get up on her knees and looked up at Nine. It were all the strength that were returning at the moment. The matriarch's eyes and demeanor were not one of disappointment. Karlie nodded. She understood her sensei... understood Nine better now.

Unbeknownst to Karlie, these few weeks of arduous physical training, pitting herself against Magnus had elevated her endurance, abilities and recoup time.
Karlie had never been is such top physical form and prowess than now and could only get better under Nine's training.
Only she didn't think she were improving much, because she had yet to reach Magnus' comparable level to even establish a draw. Karlie had no clue as to Magnus' full capabilities in a mano-a-mano match, or how close she were to achieve a said draw. But Nine knew, and it were perhaps the reason she had allowed the blonde to believe her little tactic in avoiding to engage her, to go on. Karlie were pushing herself to exhaustion in the matches against her daughter Magnus and the results could not be argued.
But it were time now.
Time for 'mother's personal touch to these lessons. Karlie's muscle s were toned sufficiently enough now, to take her to the next level. Real combat strikes. But she couldn't allow it to fall on her daughter Magnus's hands without the chance of getting Karlie accidently killed or maimed. The two were close approaching to that level. Only that Nine knew her daughter Magnus could regenerate and Karlie could not.
It were time for Nine to have Karlie engage her...to bring the blonde to full death strikes.
"Yes... I understand much clearer now, sensei..." Good, she were recouperating and at a faster rate.
The blonde regained her breath, and much of her posture by the time Nine exited the training arena.

And here we are left with a condescending biot (it were as Karlie were seeing Magnus) and a blonde who had been drilled way too often by the bully.

Karlie took a deep breath before getting herself off the floor.
"You've been enjoying this haven't you?" She said rising to her feet again. She weren't asking in a nice way...the blonde were still hyped on the remaining adrenaline she were continuing to produce. It were as why she were able to get back on her two legs.
All these weeks, and from the first time she had met Magnus, Karlie had believed the biot had it in for her. It had been easy to set her mind on disliking Magnus because of it too. Well, say for that one mishap when she took a good chunk of the biot's face off. Berkana she didn't mean too. So Ok, it were just a good laceration. But nevertheless, Karlie had not meant for it to happen...she had just lost her temper s'all.

"Yea...
Yea, keep playing like you don't think I know..." Karlie were taunting again, this time... with a bit more personal note behind it.

Hell, for as much as she convinced herself to dislike the biot, she didn't 'hate' Magnus, no.
But she had to dislike the biot in order to engage her like she did. It were necessary for her to do so. Same with Boriskno Fel He had pissed her off so much that she wanted to put his ass down on the ground and hard. That went well enough to take her to a Castan Marine level. But that was nothing compared to what she were coming up on. Again, Karlie weren't aware of her progress really since magnus was still levels above her. But if one could manage to pit Boriskno and her now. Just maybe...maybe Bo would find his self or his ass being slammed down on the ground...

"But I know... you diving out cold showers like you are 'mother'.... pounding on me like you do...
I bet you expect me to quit altogether, huh?" Karlie had stepped up closer to the biot, now eye to eye.
Karlie's adrenaline production was still engaged. It had not shutdown. Now that the blonde's body had a few minutes to recuperate, she were fast approaching and regaining her wind.
The weeks of onslaught fighting, day after day (less lab work) had both a positive and an adverse affect on the blonde.
One, she were never so toned and honed as she were on the Morpheous.
Two, she had never been so focused on kicking someone's ass as she did with Magnus.
Three, she never dislike anyone (say for the goons that had nabbed her for the Melida/Dan incident) than for Magnus.

"Well it'll be a cold day on Hoth-...in Hell before I let a condescending spoiled sister like you to keep me from Vera." Yep, it had to be why Magnus disliked her. Magnus didn't think Karlie were good enough for her sister. (bear with the blonde, she's high on adrenaline)

Adversely, the fact that Karlie were taken beyond her known limits both mentally and physically, and not really letting it sink in as to the reasons why (although Nine and Magnus had repeatedly pointed out the fact that she were being pushed to survive supervillains) she were still hell bent on kicking the biot's ass. It had after all been her premier in her effort to avoid engaging Nine all along. But THAT now was exposed. She'd most likely have to fight Nine now and would not get a chance to put this evil sister of Vera on her own ass down on the floor.
Well Ok, the blonde felt she had been bullied (and beaten) for far too long now by Magnus and she pretty much had it up to her neck on the matter.
This could be her only chance to get the biot back for all she had put her through these past few hurtin weeks...

"Oh yea...and for what it's worth?
Let me tell you for what it's worth...." Yes she were eyes to eyes...nose to nose, like...1mm apart from Magnus.
Ok, so Karlie had to stretch on her tippy toes to match Magnu's stare in the eyes thingy. But baring looking at their feet, one would say it was going to go down.
"No.
In fact, let me show you, for what it's worth-"


Two hours later...
All showered, spritzed and dressed, Karlie was unusually late entering her lab session. And she did so, walking a bit slower than usual. There was no skip, no hop, no rush as she always had seemed to do, even after a good flogging received from the training exercises with Magnus. In fact, the blonde were doing her best in covering up a limp as she headed over to a stool.
And you know what else? ...Karlie's hair were obscuring part of her features... avoiding direct eye contact with Nine... just going over to a desk and sitting down, awaiting her lesson. Only thing was, she never had a desk assigned. Oh sure, there was a desk. But that were more a bench where the holo microscope was stationed. Karlie never sat there on the stool till after. she were to examine the cell structures created by the end end of the lesson...

As best as she tried to hide it, there was no denying she came in the lab worst than when Nine had left her with Magnus.
The girl had been in a fight since, and was now trying to hide it. Given Karlie had showered, had rightly dressed and made it to class; who could be the logical candidate to the second half of the equation?
Karlie had been in a fight.

Well, whatever took place, the girl wasn't missing an eye, an ear or any appendages for that matter. If it were as serious as aforementioned, Nine would have been called to one of the medical bays.

"I.....sigh...." Karlie finally spoke on her own, not yet turning to Nine...wherever she were, for at that moment Karlie couldn't tell. The woman moved like a shadow...one second not there, the next towering over you.
"....I had anger, pride... the past, get the better of me." She said, finally turning toward Nine.

"I lost my head and started a fight with Magnus." No shiet. Karlie looked like she had quite an old fashion brawl...fat lip, black eye, not mentioning the limp and what ever else was currently black and blue under her clothes.

 

[Ian Sade]

A thing...

Seriously? Didn't the android recall the time he shot her at point blank?
Ok, she had been able to regenerate, sure. Of course he didn't know that when he sent a plasma bolt at her. with the intent to kill her. But for some time shortly after, especially now, it seemed impossible for him to visualize terminating West. That is; shooting her in the same manner, despite her ability to regenerate. Weird.
Weird as in his current demeanor toward the biot was that he were seeing her as an entity...a reasoning and viable woman.
But that in itself had evoked the sleeper to awaken...an otherwise empathy lacking individual to revisit his moral past.

West was growing on the colonel. She were getting more and more into his mind, and he were allowing it. Actually, to his yet full understanding, Ian enjoyed her company. This were both in the battlefront and...and here in one the private sex chamber's of the club.
Sure, such private chambers could be said they were multipurpose rooms. private meetings, drug deals...but the mainstay was that couples or groups, more than not came into these chambers to copulate in whatever form they were desired.

And of Ian and West?
In truth, Ian didn't need the invite to slide his person up next to her. West just beat him at the punch. With a sly smile he sat down, stretching an arm on over, resting it on the couch near her neck.
The club's music and heavy metal strings were drowned out somewhat in the semi-soundproof room. They were nothing more than faint background soundtrack to their previous interlude.

"A thing?..." Ian teased, reserved in making contact with her neck. Her skin were so real. It had felt so, the many times he had come into contact with her. ...could even swear now it had felt warm to the touch. Then again in the heat of a firefight-
There had been no time for such matters then. Maybe no time for it now, either. West for the most part was a cold hearted assassin android. He were no clear conscious either.
Yet...

No.
As much as he desired to, he couldn't touch, feel her in this manner. He had too much respect for her. It would be but a selfish move on his part, as he just wanted to bang the shiet out of it....her, rather. It would change their dynamics...at least on his part.

"Hmm...don't wish to throw a wrench into this thing..." Oh how he would like to feel her skin, the nape of her neck. Her hair were real...that much he knew from analysis. It looked...smelled soft, like she did overall. Oh the demons had taken a toll...a heavy price. one which he still owed. One whby which he knew there would be no atonement for.

"Kind of like to entertain the presumption on your behalf of what this 'thing' entails..."
Ian you see, had never had the need to personally engage with a comfort-bot, but had nevertheless experience in the use of them.
Could it be that Ian was in all essence a creep? The answer is yes... and no.
Let's look at the 'no' aspect of what stains his persona first.
Not so much a creep as being the one who engaged or ever had engaged personally with a fem-like comfort bot. He never took the pleasure of experimenting or trying one on a whim, no. But Ian had supplied around three such sex bots in an off-world sting to flush out corrupt Castan officials.
One then would have to say 'no' that would not make him a creep, no.

Now now, hold on a second. Lets go over the details; the unorthodox methods Ian uses that all too often freak out even an AI, or whomever is behind the written program of these AI creations.

"I've orchestrated some questionable things..." No, it weren't a confession, nor were it leading to that. Ian still had that integrity anchoring him down. Besides, he knew West's design and concept. He had been right besides her on a few occasions already. There was no denying they had a kind of synchronicity...like an orchestrated dance number that brought bodies down artistically. If that in itself weren't an erotic ecstasy at the time-

Actually, he didn't know as to why he were putting the brakes on an otherwise sure thing at the moment.
Maybe not enough bodies or any bodies had been dropped of late.
Then again he did carry on his person a thermal detonator besides his concealed blaster these days....
Naw... they were on home ground, Castagne. The Cabinetry would certainly frown on that.
Ian just knew that following through with his desire to take West would tamper/change the dynamics which currently existed between them two. One that on a professional level, worked.

"Things that otherwise weren't given any moral compass at the time..."

Ian had never thought twice before on the subject matter of using the said manufactured bots in exposing those corrupt officials for what they were... and the great lengths these officials would go in satisfying their twisted sick sense of sexual desires. The bots in question you see, had been specially commissioned by the ICI (Ian's idea, unfortunately) from a third party robotics company of an undisclosed core world manufacturer (manufacturing source is still classified).
So one should be aware; no such sex-bots of any size, gender or form for personal pleasure use were even allowed to be manufactured on Castagne... except for military droids of course, who oddly enough were of the male gender stereotype.

Anyway, as this sick story unfolds, no expenses were spared in Ian's said realistic androids. They had to be manufactured to fool these corrupt officials. Of course that included some weird sophisticated programing. These bots had been replicated to act and feel lifelike.... to follow a certain script and scenario in playing out the said sting.
In Ian's mind at the time, they had been but tools he had commissioned to accomplish an important mission... nothing more.

Now?
Now he were staring at West, knowing quite well what HE desired of her. Yes, she were a biot. But he no longer could mask the fact that West had made him question his own humanity...integrity.
Ian were drawn to West because of her persona.. the entire package...or at least the version of her that he were waking up at nights for... it were West's current form and interactions. They were synonymous with his feelings... his desires for such a perfect woman.
Aherm...Considering both were ruthless killers, ladi-da-da-da...what else could one expect?

What should have questioned his own morals and integrity at the time, were now staring into West's orbs. Why had he not questioned his ethics at the time? It were what was waking him up from his dreams of her.
Hindsight; surely there had to have been other means in exposing this heinous ring of pedophiles. Why had he not given it a second thought in commissioning those adolescent automatons? Because creepy enough, he had only thought of them to be tools, the means to the end for those pedophiles (corrupt Castan officials) at the time.

"I erred in many aspects that should make this 'thing' be more of a loathe than anything else, West."
Now?
Now in the recess of buried conscience, he realized his err. With close to near AI as they had been able to achieve, something should have ran through his mind at the time that should have made him feel that two wrongs couldn't possibly be used to accomplish a right.

Ian had gotten from Nine that Westenra was one of her most recent creations. In other words; her youngest daughter. She had been in the mind works of Nine for some time, but had not come into consciousness till after the Melida/Dan debacle.
And that was where the current fault lay. Westenra was but an adolescent in terms of where this evening, this outing were or had been set to go to. Sure, she had the knowledge or could possibly download centuries of carnal knowledge. But she were still unspoiled...untouched in all sense of the word.

Shiet!..when did Ian develop empathy?
Empathy were a dangerous commodity for an agent such as him.

"I may not be making any sense, but this 'thing' (infatuation/crush) has also been going on this side of the fence." Oh crap...this was sounding like a novel break-up. The classical I like you, but-
.
Ian's hand suddenly clasped West's neck and pulled her head forward.
At that very moment when he slammed her to the floor, the couch started to shred apart as blaster bolts peppered the Dewback leather. The shots were coming through the wall from the other side...possibly even from outside the club.

As the bolts zipped through the wall in rapid succession (from some kind of mini-gun), more and more of the screams and panic from adjacent rock club were filtering in. Whomever it were, had targeted either one or both for termination and were shooting up the place disregarding anyone and body that were in the way.

The fill from the sofa was flying everywhere, both smoldering and on fire. Dust and debris from the crumbling walls, ceilings and everything else, obscured visibility..
"Shiet... " Ian were heard as he kept his self low to the ground.
"I knew I should have tipped a little better....
Hahaha... " He seemed to be enjoying his self again.

"You know the drill, Lieutenant!"

Game was on.

 

[Westenra Mina]

Ian said so much with just his first sentence. Terrible evils tainted his spirit. She could see it in his eyes, the horrors of his work. What had he done.

Yet there was something else...fear and terrible guilt. Her face winced in empathy but she did not reach out...he wasn't the sort. She also knew that was likely the closest he could come to articulating his conflicts.

"Your pain must be awful. Whatever it is...I can see it in your eyes...I understand if you would rather just be friends..." Westenra spoke softly, trying to let him know she wasn't insulted.

"I have a confession to make...sometimes I hate the way I was made. I don't hate Nine, mind you...I love her...I would die for her...but there are nights when I look up into the black of the night and I wonder what sort of mother creates offspring such as me. Sometimes I 'wish' I were human. Or at least..."

She was pulled down by Ian Sade

Blaster fire started to erupt. How had he known?! Even she had not heard them coming.

Ian had distracted her that much. She saw 007 combatants in her X-Ray mode. They were close by. They had come for them. They had fired directly into this chamber. Another thirty were waiting outside armed with heavy weapons.

"Stay down, Colonel...I'll bring you a souvenir" she advised, her mass breaking down into dark, molasses like tissue that slid out of his arms and squeezed under the crack in the chamber door, flowing out, leaving her dress and heals behind, along with her jewelry. The men in black armor didn't see the mass of swirling tissue flowing towards them from the floor until it was too late. Black spikes shot out of the mass, impaling them in the shins or hands or arms, even as they peppered the mass with blaster bolts, getting glowing red blood everywhere as it relentlessly sliced into them.

She killed all but one, retaking her human form, flesh looking like she wore a skintight yellow and black leotard with yellow boots. Her perfectly sculpted figure was not left to the imagination as she dragged the remaining merc in. Everyone else had fled the club in the chaos.

She was covered in their blood. She dropped him wordlessly in front of Ian for him to interrogate, along with a silenced, slugthrower assault rifle with armor piercing rounds and a repeating Blaster Pistol that had been modified for heavy damage, with two clips extra for both. She caught sight of herself in a reflection. A bloody, beautiful monstrosity that only resembled a beautiful woman.

It had been going so well. She was finally starting to feel normal, close to human with how wonderful their dancing had been.

Then it had been ruined, and she had been forced to remind him, once more, that she wasn't normal, wasn't human.

She had been made to kill. Made to knock down every obstacle in front of her. But she couldn't have what normal people enjoyed. The small kernal of bitterness in her grew slightly but she hid it, as it would have been counter-productive to their mutual survival.

Still, this was a good pattern for them. They worked well as a team. Westenra began to ponder if her social algorithms needed adjustment.

"There are thirty more outside. I don't think they care if the authorities arrive. This looks like a one way ticket sort of thing to me--"

A terrible thought hit her suddenly.

She was the one who invited Ian out to dance. She knew he was attracted, knew he had a pretty good chance of saying yes. But a man like Ian, as a high ranking as he was, must have plenty of enemies even he didn't know about.

Them being so out in the open like this...it must have presented an irresistible target.

She had put Ian in danger. All to satisfy her desire to experience something human.

She felt like garbage suddenly.

How could she have been so selfish and stupid? Putting Ian in danger, and for what? Because of her inability to accept the fact she wasn't normal, wasn't made to be normal, and could never hope to truly BE normal.

If Ian was shot here because of her stupidity she would never forgive herself.

When he had learned what he had wanted to know, Westenra waited for him to prepare.

"One benefit of being a purpose made warrior is you never really lose your cool when an ambush happens. Is it the same for you?" She asked idly, taking point to soak up stray shots on his behalf. She might have put him in danger by partying with him. The least she can do was make sure he got out of it. Castagne needed him. Karlie needed him though she would be loathed to admit it perhaps. He couldn't change the evils of the past anymore than she could alter her own horrific nature. But they could make sure Castagne's people were protected.