Ohai (Darth Morgoth)

[Ashin Varanin]

A Mandalorian walked into a weapons shop. This was not, all things considered, unusual, not even on occupied Empress Teta/Koros Major; plenty of Mandalorians took no sides in the war or even contracted with the One Sith and their allies. That, and Mandalorians liked weapons shops. He took his time looking at the display case, getting a feel for the place and its products, then headed past the table to the counter. Couldn't catch a glimpse through the two doors, not yet anyway.

"I need to talk to your boss," he said to the droid at the register. "I'll wait."

He took a seat at the table, facing the two interior doors and the display case, with the exterior door off to his right, and did, in fact, wait.

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

OOC/ Nice floorplan, dude. Very helpful.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

Melkor walked out of his alchemy workshop, at the bethest of his droid. His eyes narrowed when he recconized the bounty hunter from the expo. He smiled as he realized he had homefield advantage. He had just returned from a battle and was still clad in full battle gear, including a Warden cloak, his traditional chainmail, his lightsaber and his dauntless alchemized blades hung from his back. He looked around and saw that his mini turrets still hung on the wall, and the sensor ring was on his finger. He smiled and said "It was a VERY bad idea to com here, you should know that"

[member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

Ember kept his seat. His eyes flicked past Morgoth, recognizing the alchemy workshop; the turrets caught his eye too, though so far they hadn't acquired him as a target. He would have to move very quickly indeed.

"You're worth a million credits," he said, as if that explained everything. It didn't, but he couldn't afford to get mad. "Why wouldn't I?"

He stayed sitting behind the table.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

[member="Ember Rekali"]
Melkor rolled his eyes at the cocky mandalorian.

"Because this is my weapons shop, you have every disadvantage here." He said with a chuckle.

"Observe, Activation code 395-427, all units reconize threats to owner and engage on my mark" He said, voicing the code that would activate all security systems.

Upon these words his four security droids walked out and acuired the mando as a threat, and his mini turrets turned and sighted him as a target.

Melkor closed his eyes submerging into The Dark Current allowing himself to see the ripple of the force as his eyes burst open a bright icy blue.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"] suffered from nascent supervillain syndrome, the primary symptom of which was talking. Talking took time, as did droids walking in, as did turrets acquiring a target, as did closing one's eyes to subsume oneself in the subtlest currents of the Force, followed by opening them. Fractions of a second added up.

Ember's primary specialty was physical enhancement -- every technique of strength and speed from Jedi, Witch and Keetael traditions. So while Morgoth talked and his forces got into place, Ember moved. Really, really fast.

The chair kicked out behind him as he stood; he caught the top of the chairback and slung it at something like bullet speed, and a bank of mini-turrets vanished in a cloud of sparks. He caught the edge of the big round table as he stepped around it to the right, then spun left. The table's edge cut air -- it had to weigh as much as a small person, a table this size -- as he threw it like a discus.

The Bulwark junk droids were big and they were slow, and the table hit the first one as it came through the door. Blaster-cannon fire, inaccurate and getting more so, punched its way through the debris, but a wave of the dodging Master's hand added a large display case to the pile. The droids weren't getting in anytime in the next few seconds, which was all he needed.

Everything was happening very, very quickly. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. He had the distinct feeling that Morgoth still had some pretty decent cards to play, though at a guess they'd be more personal than battle droids.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

[member="Ember Rekali"]
Melkor smiled as the Mando dealt with his droids and turrets. He just used them as a distraction as he focused on the force. He was slightly impressed at the speed of his foe, but he was not going to let that stop him. The mans movement were so fast that they appeared normal in his new vision, but that meant nothing. Melkor extended his hand felt the ripples of the force as he focused on blocking the current. It was a technique almost like stopping a hose, allowing the preasure to build until it was realeased. Except this was like a tidal wave condensed into a 2 foot wide ball. Melkor released the pressure targeting it at the man. He was testing the fighter, if he could dodge or counter that then he might be worth Melkor's time. and if not? Well Melkor wouldnt have to worry about him afterwards

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

As he came around from his spin, the top of the chair slotted into his bare, calloused hands. Some Mandalorians preferred crushgaunts, others gloves, but Ember's armor ended just beyond the wrist, for dexterity in knife-fighting and grappling. His whirling step brought him back around to face Morgoth as the Sith Knight reinvented the wheel with what was fundamentally either a charged-up Force push or a diffuse baby kinetite emanation.

Either way, it splatted and splatted hard when Ember hit it with the chair.

The furniture squalled, torquing in his hands as metal and plastic took the full force of Morgoth's telekinetic will. Splash damage washed over Ember's arms, impacted his gut, rocked his head back and arrested his spin. The wrecked chair glanced off his shoulder and helmet on its way past, and for a moment his sensors fuzzed.

He attempted to close the distance between them with three preternaturally quick zigzagged steps. A lightsabre hilt as long as his forearm and fist tore itself from his belt and settled into a one-handed grip. He held it with his right, down by the power pack. The weapon was expertly shock-damped, well-scarred, and forged of the same masterwork beskar as his armor -- forged by the Dark Lord of the One Sith. Ember's apprentice.

The lightsabre stayed unlit as it slammed down at Morgoth's skull. It was a mace, and his mace didn't much care about cortosis.

His left wrist's railgun went off with a thunderclap, drilling a slag-hole through the front Bulwark as it tried to get through the shelf. The droid died, forming an even better obstruction.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

Melkor saw the attack shrugged off and smiled, this would be a good fight. He saw his opponents actions and reacted with grace. He unsheathed his swords and in a lighting fast move he brought them up and caught his opponents blades quickly before he twisted them to the side with brute Pureblood Sith strength. He followed this up by bringing his fot swinging around in a round house kick aimed at his foe's temporal area. If it made contact then he would be knocked to the floor, as the kick as back by the strength of the force.

[member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

Stylistic differences, in Ember's opinion, fell into two categories: flair and oops. Some combat styles did things differently than others, and that was fine. Others incorporated bad, bad ideas, codified them, and passed them on through generations of refinement as received wisdom. They did not, however, lose their identity as bad ideas.

Such was the origination of the high kick.

Ember winced in sympathy as Morgoth's shin met Ember's beskar-clad forearm and stopped dead, with an impact that jarred his old spine down to the roots. His hand snaked around the upraised leg, aiming to trap Morgoth's ankle in Ember's left armpit. Without ceremony, flash-and-dazzle, hesitation or style, Ember brought his beskar mace straight in and down at the Pureblood's momentarily or permanently trapped knee.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

Melkor's shin hurt and bad but it was only a superficial wound and he recovered quickly. He saw the lightsaber headed towards his leg and knew that he only had a moment to handle it. He looked and saw his oppurtunity. He thrusted his alchemical blade at the neck of the Mandolorian, aiming for just to the right of the jugular. It was precise movement and was designed so that it would deflect his opponents blow and the backwards motion would knock the razor sharp tip into his enemies neck. Using the force of the thrust as lever with the fulcrum being his hip, he snapped his leg free.
[member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

Trying a swordpoint movement that precise was difficult enough when you didn't have a leg trapped under the other man's armpit. Not letting go, Ember dropped and turned his chin, warding away the long blade with the corner of his beskar mask. The impact jarred him all up and down his neck. Now, and only now, did he release the leg, as Morgoth tried to pull it free; as the leg came up, Ember went low, crouching under the retracting leg. His lightsabre flared to life in a point-blank chop for the front and outside of Morgoth's left knee, the one that was currently holding all the Sith Knight's weight. The long handle gave him the leverage to shove, to shear through, the sole anchor point for the dangerously off-balance Knight.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

[member="Ember Rekali"]
Melkor knew that he had only one chance, his heart was pounding and his blood boiling. As thoughts raced through his head his mind moved at light speed analyzing every point of weakness in his foe. He thought of every possible outcome and only saw one solution. His right hand swept around arcing into a u-turn. Slipping under his opponents mask with a substantial amount of blade behind it. His other blade quickly did the same on the other side of his neck. The blades formed an X as the hilts lead them towards the decapitation. His recently free leg anchored itself on the ground as he shifted to weight of his body to it. It was a gamble but it was one he was willing to take. He knew if the Mando literally wanted to save his own neck, that he would have to retreat. This is what it came down to, was was more important to the Mando, living or winning. Melkor braced himself as he felt the burning heat of the lightsaber come ever closer.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]

Third option: Be a Mando.

Twenty-five centimeters of beskar hookblade, spring-loaded, shot up from the underside of his left gauntlet and caught the X'ed blades in front of Ember's throat. Curling his hand back from the blade, Ember triggered its Thorn of Ryloth function.

And twenty-five thousand volts passed through the swords into their wielder, an occupational hazard of using the Dauntless combat blades. They were decent alchemy, but only quite good alchemy would resist electricity. Right now, Morgoth's thoughts would be fuzzing, his consciousness graying out, his muscles paralyzed.

Meanwhile, the sabre strike did its thing without interruption. Ember winced in sympathy as Morgoth chose to keep his leg where it was. He'd taken some of his weight off it, which reduced cutting power somewhat, but not all that much.

The market had tons of good prosthetics. Some people even wound up grateful they'd lost a leg at the knee.

 

[Darth Morgoth]

[member="Ember Rekali"]

Melkors reaction was quick and precise, channeling the electricity back through the blades with extreme strength would momentarily short out the powercell. This gave him the split second he needed to retreat. His weight already on his left foot he bent it slightly enhancing it with the force. At the same time he retracted his knee, wincing slightly in pain as the lightsaber grazed his flesh. His left leg snapped back into full extension, propelling him like a compressed spring to the side. In quick glance he saw his next move. Reaching out in the force he grabbed the table that had been thrown and threw it between himself and his enemy. It wouldnt take more than a fraction of a second for the mando to get through it but it was all he needed. Using the force to make him faster he rocketed out onto the street. This gave him more than enough room to manuver. Sheathing his blade he pulled out his saberstaff igniting both of the black blades with a sinister sound. He readied himself swinging around to face the door, with one of the dual blades pointed at it.

(OOC Sorry it took me so long I kinda took yesterday off from the site and chilled with friends.)

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Morgoth"]'s strategy relied on some fundamental assumptions. That he could get his leg all the way back down from the high kick, to plant it behind him and shift his weight to it, all faster than Ember could crouch and take a basic swing at him. That he could do all that while redirecting an electric charge faster than that charge could affect him, while taking a lightsabre strike go the knee. That he could successfully divert his focus toward the table and away from the Master who was at very very close range, without getting penalized for it. That he could move a large unwieldy air-resisted shelf-entangled object all the way across the room faster than Ember could move his hand by about half a meter. That he could get past Ember to the door. That, even if he got outside, he could turn his back on Ember for whole seconds at a time. That a Knight with broad powers could move faster than a Master whose core skill set rested on being faster and stronger than anyone or anything.

All of these assumptions turned out to be false.

For every bad assumption, Ember hit him, or his defenses. His lightclub -- propelled by the two-handed Djem So technique of a man who'd served on the Jedi Council and the main strength of a man who arm-wrestled rancors for fun -- hammered at his defenses inescapably. His blade kept crashing into Morgoth's with enough force to snap a lesser man's wrists, especially when that man only had one hand with which to use each weapon. Whatever pieces of the table Morgoth had managed to grab, they splintered off Ember like paintballs off a main battle tank. By the time Morgoth got to the street -- a movement which Ember allowed only because he wasn't here to inflict property damage -- he'd been the focus of a truly ridiculous amount of kinetic energy applied through Ember's blade.