Private Psychic Games

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | The Mongrel (Kallan)

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

It's been a few weeks since Tython. It is said that time will be good against the pain and it will hurt less. They are lying. It hurts the same, it misses the same, and the twins growing in me remind me day by day that their father won’t be able to hold them in his arms, he won’t see how they grow up, he won’t play with them, he won’t teach them. I often wondered what he was doing there, at the Netherworld. How time passes for him. He may have only gotten there a moment earlier. But hundreds of years may have passed for him and he has already forgotten me…

I still blamed myself. After the first few days of crying as I sobbed all the days in his arms, I started avoiding Kallan. I needed time and I wanted to be alone. Not just in my head, but in reality. I just wanted to cry and die. I wanted nothing more than to be with him. At every moment, I waited for him to show up, to hear him speak, to embrace me, to feel he hold me tight, to feel that he kissed me, and to whisper that he missed me. But it didn't happen.

I think I went back to the house I lived with Kallan for the first time towards the end of the second week, I mean Keilara. I still didn’t know who I was or how I should be referred to myself. It was too confusing. I was no longer a separated Mercy or Keilara. They were here in me, but not separately, only their features remained, the characters also merged and formed. Too complicated…

In the third week, I asked Kallan for the first time to let me sleep with him. Just sleeping, nothing else, to cuddle with him, to feel him, because I was so lonely and it hurt so much. It was a terrible feeling in part because I felt like I was betraying Asher’s memory with it, but on the other hand, they both knew I loved them both. Of course, no one could replace Asher, I never want to replace him, but I didn't want Kallan to feel bad either. To feel like I was just tolerating him in my head because it wasn’t true, I was very grateful to him. He was only partly my husband and I was only partly his wife. But when Keilara’s feelings were strongest in me, I wanted him to be there for me, on my side, and I wanted to be on his side too.

It was just painful because he reminded me of Asher. I allowed him to control my body if he wanted to; so he can feel the sun again, the taste and scent of the food and drinks, the touch of the objects. Not just in my mind. By now he could see how my body was, that my whole body was full of scars, he could have access to my memories; previously Asher knew what had happened to me in the past, now Kallan too, if he wanted to. Even the darkest parts. I was ashamed because I... Ziare was weak and let it, Ziare was weak…

But I also told him about the sixty years, the alternative reality that Asher and I had built in the last minutes. I told him that he and Keilara had spent exactly the same time together. After the Taskmaster found out I was alive, he tried to contact me several times. I always tried to avoid it. I wasn’t in a position to hide Kallan or my memories yet. Barran and the fact that I rescued Kallan caused too much injury. My left side was still a little weaker. Barely noticeable, doctors say I’ll be fine. But it was a miracle I survived the three strokes without any complication.

I didn’t want to see the Taskmaster, at most, kill him. I'll kill him for what he did to Asher and Kallan. I promised Asher I would do it, I would do it if he died. And that's what I'm going to do, Kallan can't talk about it either. Because of the wounds on my mind, my shields weren’t strong yet and the Taskmaster was a Force User and he's going to feel Asher’s children. At least I would have a reason to kill him. But I was hoping I already had enough strength, even though the mental palace, the most sheltered place, was damaged, there were gaps in the walls. Smaller than before, it healed constantly, but there was still a way inside or out.

I couldn't avoid him forever, because one day two guards appeared at my apartment, who took me to the Taskmaster's laboratory not very kindly.

~ Please try to hide. I don’t know how much I can hide you from him with such injury and vulnerability. I am afraid he can hurt you, and I’m worried that after many years, he'll realise that Asher and Mercy… me…. Mercy… what they hid from him. ~ I told him.

Eventually, quite rudely, they were almost pushed into the labs. I looked back at the guards and snarled at them angrily. If I had a weapon, they certainly wouldn’t have left this place alive. So I only had that much time, so far I’ve been able to avoid this situation. I was hoping to have a few more weeks until I was completely healed, but the Taskmaster was too impatient. Maybe something happened to him at Tython that made it so urgent? Other times, there was no problem at all, if we accidentally missed and skipped some lessons.

"Taskmaster! Did you want to see me?" I told him in my usual voice, as I used to talk to him, I can’t show weakness, it can’t indicate anything that’s going on inside me. I still have to protect Asher and Kallan.

 

[Tu'teggacha]

The cost of Tython had been high, and the Brotherhood reeled from it.

In the weeks since the massive battle in the Deep Core, the Taskmaster had found himself beyond busy. His role - beyond the breaking of slaves and the occasional commanding of fleets - was to keep up with the Brotherhood's logistical needs, ensuring that the war machine ran smoothly. But in the wake of so much death and destruction, all of it so, so far from Mawite space, that had become a near-impossible task. Even merely getting an accurate accounting of their losses was proving to be a colossal challenge. Ships retreated alone or in small groups. Tribal warriors fell back through the hypergate, putting them in a whole different galactic region.

It was hard to tell who was truly dead and who was merely missing, waiting to resurface.

But some reports were definitive. Grimmest of all was the news that the Dark Voice himself had perished at Tython, slain at the very moment of his triumph by a Jedi strike team. He had taken the Sword of the Jedi and the NIO Imperator down with him, but even those mighty kills were cold comfort in the face of a stark new reality: no one knew exactly who was in charge. The Dark Voice had forged a mighty but unstable coalition, bringing together his New Sith Order, the wild marauder tribes, and the Neo-Imperial soldiers of the Final Dawn. Left to their own devices, they would tear each other apart, and all the Brotherhood's gains would collapse.

The loss of the Dark Voice meant that Tu'teggacha had lost his patron, his protector.

And yet, oddly enough, that was not the loss he mourned most.

The Mongrel had been the Taskmaster's finest creation. He had taken a pathetic, mewling civilian from some backwater colony and moulded him into one of the most feared and reviled warriors in known space. Through mental manipulation and cybernetic modification, Tu'teggacha had forged the man into the iconic face of the Brotherhood, and it was a face that had struck terror into the hearts of people all across the galaxy. For nearly fifteen years The Mongrel had served the Maw, rising through the ranks, forging one of the greatest marauder tribes through sheer force of will. Now he was gone, and the Taskmaster felt... oddly hollow. Even sad.

It felt even worse than losing the Fatalis. It was like his favorite pet had died.

Worse still was the fact that The Mongrel had not died on the battlefield, but reportedly in some side-duel with an old rival on an isolated island. He hadn't even been present as his Scar Hounds fought to take the temple valley; perhaps if he had, they would have met with more success. And so, as the Taskmaster considered what lessons he might take from the slave-soldier's rise and fall, he had sought out more information about what exactly had happened to his prized creation. It had taken him some weeks to find out, for he had been busy and the Brotherhood had been chaotic, but apparently there was one witness.

One person had seen The Mongrel's death: his most prized agent, Mercy.

Tu'teggacha remembered Mercy well. He had helped to alter her, to release the sinister voice that lurked inside the captured NIO agent, turning her into a powerful servant of the Maw. He had paid little attention to her since then, wrapped up in other projects, trusting that The Mongrel would keep a watch on her. Indeed, the two of them had spent a great deal of time together since then, working together on virtually every mission and battle that followed. There was no one better to tell him what might have led to The Mongrel's defeat, to reveal the secret of his downfall so that it might be avoided in future creations... or so the Ebruchi thought.

As his masked guards delivered Mercy - somewhat roughly - into the dark confines of his laboratory, Tu'teggacha suddenly stiffened. He had begun to sense the woman some time ago, and had found that she was not alone. That was no surprise, though he did not remember sending such a large escort for her. But when the guards withdrew, leaving the two of them alone, other souls lingered in his senses. Though she was not yet showing, the truth was obvious: Mercy was pregnant. But by whom? Certainly it could not be The Mongrel, though they had evidently been close; he'd been more machine than man, and lacked the... requisite parts.

"Mercy," the Taskmaster purred, his voice like the sloshing of fetid, algae-infested water in a shallow dish. "Yes, I did." He hobbled over to her, his hunched body and knobby legs giving him a strange, eerie gait, and looked up at her. "I understand that you witnessed the death of The Mongrel." His black eyes glittered in the firelight; torches were less practical than artificial lights, but Tu'teggacha found they gave his combination torture chamber and laboratory a certain ominous ambience that no other lighting could match. "He was my finest creation so far. If I am to make another like him, I must know what happened."

"How did he die? Why did he fail?"

His tentacles splayed in an Ebruchi smile. "And do you have anything else to tell me?"

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

When he said what he wanted, why I am here, my whole body stiffened for a few moments. I would have been happier if he had called me about how my studies are progressing, as he has asked me about this at times in recent years. But not. I didn’t want to remember the day I lost the man I love most of all. He knew I was there. Did Thomas Barran , or the wretched Heathen Priest, tell him what happened on Asher's ship? Or what did Final Dawn doctors say?

"I was there with him." I told him.

It would have been unnecessary to lie in this, everyone knew it, as well as the condition in which I was found by them on his side. But they don't know how it happened. Barran knew who killed my husband. I have no idea if he told anyone or kept it a secret. As well as that we were married. Our biggest secret, and for it, if they would ever learn it, they would have killed us both; or they would have killed just me, and Tu'teggacha would have tried to condition him again. Yes, exactly for that, what he just said.

My hands involuntarily clenched into fists and I trembled. Especially when he said that he was his finest creation. I wanted to laugh in his face that he was stupid and arrogant. Asher and I were his biggest failures. Even the Marauders who died on the battlefield a few days after their conversion were more successful. Asher was my success… no, our common success. He and I had to work together to get Asher free. I felt pain in my palm and then my fingers slipped in it.

Drops of blood dripped to the ground, my fingers snow-white, I squeezed both my fists so much. And then he asked what had happened. I wanted to speak when I suddenly felt a very strong pain in my head. I groaned as I fell to the ground and pressed my hands to my temples. I gasped heavily due to the pain. Suddenly I saw that scene again, but not from my own perspective, from my husband's.

I was facing Barran when he launched that attack. What either succeeds or fails. It was a gamble. During the cut… I felt his feelings, his thoughts, I knew them. At that moment, he decided he wanted to live and come back to me. That he wants to live because of me, that he wants to fix the mistake he made. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die, he wanted to be with me. It hurt even more than before. To know that he did not accept fate, but wanted what I wanted. Now with his own eyes I saw the fatal strike came…

That's why he said he is so sorry, he didn't want to accept fate… but he changed his mind too late… My heart and throat sank.

The next moment I sensed and realised I'm kneeling on the ground in front of the Taskmaster, my nose was bleeding again and blood was flowing from my eyes again instead of tears. When we, our mind and soul became one… may I have received all his memories, all his feelings? Not just his dreams, but everything he felt and thought before during his life? I knew what I had to lie to protect him, him and Kallan. I looked up at the Taskmaster, the flames of hatred glowing in my eyes. I hated not only Barran, but him too.

"It was Barran, DECEASED Erskine Barran . I do not know what happened. I'm not sure. The wind was too strong, including the snow that the wind blew to my face. A red-and-black lightning flashed. Reality was broken around us because of the ritual. That was the only reason Barran won, I'm sure of it. The warlord was an invincible legend. Before this, I... Ziare, was the one who most seriously injured him." my voice was hoarse and painful.

For the next question, I looked at him, trying as confusedly as possible, as incomprehensibly as if I didn’t know what it was all about. I knew exactly. Tears of blood rolled down my face and then dripped from my chin to the ground. I was still gasping.

"I don't know what you mean, Taskmaster. I'm sorry I can't help you better." I lied to him.

I lied to him so often, I hid so much from him that to lie to him might be easier than telling the truth…

 

[Tu'teggacha]

I was there, she told him, and the Taskmaster waited with bated breath. What exactly had been the downfall of the mightiest slave-soldier he had ever created? He needed to know the results of his grand experiment, fifteen long years in the making, before he began the next. After all, first impressions couldn't tell him everything; The Mongrel hadn't looked like much when he'd first been broken, but had risen to great heights anyway. If Tu'teggacha could just find out what had gone wrong at the very end, his next creation would be even stronger, without whatever weakness had brought about the warlord's fall.

But Mercy reacted... oddly to the questioning. She was slow to speak, and clenched her hands so hard her fingernails dug into her palms, drawing blood. Then she all but collapsed at his feet, kneeling before him, blood running freely from her eyes and nose. Tu'teggacha could sense the source - psychic backlash from a deeply traumatic experience, one that she was reliving as a result of his questions. But why would The Mongrel's death affect her so severely? They had worked closely together since her capture so many years ago, but this was not the result of a mere bond between warriors... so what was it?

What exactly had been the nature of the relationship between them?

It was Barran, she told him, and the Ebruchi's heart sank. Erskine Barran, really?! The man was old and almost entirely organic; he should not have been able to keep up with the mechanical monstrosity that Tu'teggacha had created out of The Mongrel. Well, perhaps Mercy was right. Perhaps the storm of unreality, the deadly side effects of the Dark Voice's ritual, had interfered with the warlord's fighting prowess, making him lose a battle he ought to have won handily. If so, that was frustrating, because it taught Tu'teggacha nothing at all. It wasn't like he could plan his next champion around dealing with Force storms.

But the hatred and pain in Mercy's eyes made him... uncertain.

There was more going on here. Much more.

Had she learned to deceive him? The Taskmaster had not believed it possible. He had been inside her mind, seen the different personalities that lurked there, when he had unleashed Mercy from within Ziare. Surely she could not have hidden anything from him then. But what about in the time afterward? He had checked in on her development over the years that she served The Mongrel, but he had never again delved so deeply into her thoughts and memories as he had that first time. Had that been a mistake? Had she learned to hide the truth from him somewhere along the way, without him ever noticing?

One thing was certain: she wasn't answering his last question truthfully.

"Do not lie to me," Tu'teggacha snarled, flecks of thick spittle flying from his disgusting facial tentacles. "I can sense them, feel their souls. Twins." He looked right at her, and his beady black eyes glittered. "There is no need to conceal them. The Maw does not forbid children. They will be our next generation of warriors in the long campaign to remake the galaxy." Pregnancies were not entirely uncommon among the Brotherhood's ranks, for although no bonds of marriage were recognized among warriors, that didn't mean that there were no... couplings. But he had not expected this from Mercy, of all people.

"Tell me," the Ebruchi demanded, "who is the father?"

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

I knew exactly what was the reason for Asher’s rise and fall. It was me. Both. I knew he would have died a martyr's death long ago if I hadn’t given him back the reason for his existence. And I was his doom because he headed to that fate for me, because he wanted me to be free from him. It was too late to him when he realised that I was only free with him, that I could only be on his side, and I was only happy with him. It was too late to realise we could have got the life we wanted. Did anyone but me realise that he had never cared about what and how much injury he was suffering, but suddenly, when he received his last body, he remained almost intact in it for nearly ten years?

After Adrathorpe, when that Jedi almost beheaded the penultimate machine body. Afterwards, he got the new one for Dromund Kaas, which he then used until his death. Barran was able to compile and combine the information at the infirmary. But will the Taskmaster be able to do that too? Or did he have nowhere near that great insight and close enough information to do so? I hoped he didn't and won't. I killed a lot of people who might have found out about this. Except for Barran. I didn't know how much I could trust him.

He respected The Mongrel, but not Asher, he doesn't know Asher. No one, except me and Kallan. If Barran had known the truth about my husband, would he have stood by his memories so much? Would he have tried to protect me then? He said I'll be safe in Tri-Lunars. But for how long? All my life I only trusted Asher and Kallan, and that wasn’t immediate either. And only after we started falling in love with each other. I don't think I would have been able to trust my life to him before, not like a woman does with a man. Before that, I was just a useful asset, nothing more, and I knew this.

I could only hope he would believe that the reality break and the ritual caused it all. Even I tried to convince myself that this was the case. He wanted to live in the end! He didn't want to die! If he doesn't believe me, he will do anything to find out the truth. And with my injuries, I couldn’t defend myself against it. Not even with the necklace's powers. My mind was like a huge mutilated limb that was just starting to heal. The "half" was missing. The half, what... who was Asher.

When the strike came, our minds were intertwined. I still didn’t understand why I didn’t die from that injury. And those few weeks were not enough for me to be okay. it will probably take months for all the previous injuries to go away and heal and I will be able to heal all the injuries on my mind. To patch every scar on the shields to be strong again. If he attacks now, he will know everything. He will find Kallan, he will feel the previous personalities, he'll see the traces of Asher, my memories, our common memories, our feelings. Everything!

Then he will know that not only did I lie to him, but also Asher, that I taught him how to lie to him, how to hide our true memories and feelings. And we have done so for many years…

"I never lied to you!" another lie the way I looked up to him but my voice and words were definite now. "You are the reason why I am free, Taskmaster!", well that part was true.

I knew Maw didn’t ban kids, but in the Scar Hounds Tribe, that would have seemed a weakness. And he saw my memories, the memories of Ziare. He knew exactly that it couldn't really happen. Why I killed everyone who tried to... As he uttered the words, I wanted to remain silent, but rage flared in my eyes and…

"NEVER!" I said instinctively, angrily, the moment he hinted that they would be members of the next generation of warriors.

No! In the alternative reality Asher was a soldier for a short time, but he became an athlete and then an engineer, and Abigail was a very talented artist, musician. They will be no Maw soldiers, ever! I looked at him after his demand, I wanted to lie about who the father was. I wanted to say a completely random name about someone I knew died on Tython, or I don’t know what happened to him. Mucknose might have been perfect…

However, I was unable to speak. I couldn't lie about this. I was unable to say any random name. They were the fruits of our love. They were ours. The same pain flashed in my eyes as I thought of Asher, that he could never see them in this life, nor could the children see him.

I remained silent, silent as I looked into his black eyes with pain and anger…

And the moment I realised it, when he figured it out, they were Asher’s children… won’t kill me, he will take them when they are born. He would want them as his next masterpiece. The children of the greatest warlord of the Maw.

It was the first moment he could see fear in my eyes because I was never afraid of him or what he could do to me. It was Ziare, not me…

 

[Tu'teggacha]

Deep inside Mercy's mind, hidden from the Taskmaster's probing mental tentacles, Kallan stirred. He was a part of Mercy now, his thoughts and his soul entwined with hers, and he knew what was happening in the real galaxy. There wasn't much he could do without revealing his presence to Tu'teggacha, which would end badly for them both; the Taskmaster would want to rip him out of her mind, to study him like a dissection specimen for answers on how to make and improve upon a new Mongrel. So all he could do was offer support. In his mind's eye, he slipped his hand into Mercy's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

~ Stay strong, ~ that gesture seemed to say. ~ I'm here for you. ~

For his part, the Ebruchi was outraged. How dare one of his creations speak to him this way! He had made her, had release the voice inside the NIO agent that had turned her into a servant of the Maw, and now she thought to refuse him?! What had spawned this sudden defiance in her, all these years after he had believed her fully broken to the Brotherhood's will? He had half a mind to call in his guards, the brutally effective Pontifical Palatini, and have them seize her and strap her to his table. Then he could get to work on her, break her all over again, hollow out her mind and crush these embers of defiance that had flared in her.

He raised a knobby hand to call for them... and then he paused.

One by one the pieces clicked into place in his mind. A pregnancy Mercy wanted to hide. A father whose identity she wanted to protect. All the time she'd been spending with her warlord in battle after battle, a far closer relationship than the loose bond of superior and subordinate. A horrible grin began to spread across Tu'teggacha's face, his tentacles splaying outward to reveal the repulsive ring of teeth that served as his mouth. "They are The Mongrel's children, aren't they?" The Taskmaster giggled in psychotic glee, a sound like the squelching of wet socks on a hard floor. "Oh, what special children they will be!"

He wasn't at all sure how it was even possible; The Mongrel had lost his entire lower half during the raid on Coruscant, which was years in the past, and Mercy's children had only just begun to grow inside her. But somehow Tu'teggacha knew that he was right. Mercy would not have bonded with anyone else, not enough to result in this. And when he looked at her now, he saw fear in her eyes for the first time, a new addition to the anger and hate and pain. She feared for her children, for what he would do with them when they were born. She was right to be afraid. The first Mongrel had been made out of a nobody.

How much stronger would two Mongrels be, with such parents as these?

"Yes," he purred, "very special indeed. Gifts for the Maw."

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

I was glad that Kallan had done what I asked him for and tried to get as deep as possible in my mind so that the Taskmaster could not accidentally find it. I had already failed once, I couldn't save Asher, I really couldn't stand it if Kallan had suffered because of me. Even so, it was all my fault. But I was also happy to feel his touch as he held and squeezed my hand. I intertwined my fingers between his fingers and I also squeezed his hand gently. I wanted to stay strong, but the movement, the unspoken words...

They were the same things Asher said before everything went wrong:

~ Be strong, Mercy, ~ he begged her.

As unobtrusively as possible so that the Taskmaster could not perceive, I turned to face Kallan and cuddled to him while started to sob again. I buried my face in his chest and trembled. I tried to stay strong, but without Asher I felt lost. And his absence hurt, it hurt so much. The wound was still there in my soul, my astral body. Although not bleeding, but like a black hole. I was able to hide it, but it was still there. I didn’t want to be strong anymore; I didn’t want to fight. I just wanted to give up…

But I couldn't do it because of him and the kids. I'm sure Asher wants me to be strong, to stay strong. And I had to protect Kallan and the little ones. I was scared; not what Tu'teggacha can do to me, I don't care. Because of what he can do with the twins or Kallan. And Kallan might be more afraid of him than I was, because he was once broken by this monster. I will do my best not to let him hurt Kallan again.

~ I won't let him hurt you again, ever! ~ I promised him silently, it was enough for me to think about it, I know he heard and understood.

Meanwhile, in reality, I still watched Taskmaster with hatred and anger. Because of the previous psychic backlash, my head still hurt and I felt weak, my nose was still bleeding, but I was ready to fight his guards. If I have to, I'll kill him before they come in. At least they would make it easier for me because they would definitely kill me afterwards. I didn’t have to read his mind, I had enough to see his face, his eyes, to know when he found out the truth. My fierce reaction and a lot of other information were too talkative.

I didn’t answer the question, I was still looking into his eyes with anger, hatred, and pain. But I think my reaction and response was more eloquent than a simple yes:

"Don't you dare call him "The Mongrel" anymore!" my voice was frosty, commanding, and the ice-cold flame of hatred smouldered in it, I still defended him, him, and Kallan. "His original name was Kallan, whom you and the Heathen Priests tried to destroy… and after his rebirth he chose the name Asher." I snarled at him.

If he ever thought there was a lot of anger and hatred against the world in Mercy, he hadn’t experienced mine yet. Mercy's emotions were nothing compared to what I felt. It was all about childish insults then, the rampage. It was already personal, with deep injuries, an overwhelming storm. I didn’t answer the question, but I knew I should. This could be the only way to avoid him trying to search for information in my head properly. He already knew. His laughter and grin did not cause fear; however, the fact is what he can do with the children; yes, it terrified me. I was not afraid of myself; I was not afraid of him. I was worried about Kallan and the little ones. I snarled again.

"They will never be the Maw's! Just like we weren't! I would kill them and myself before you put your crooked and disgusting hands on them, Tu'teggacha!" I snarled.

He needed to know I could do it. Even Ziare tried to kill herself without a hitch on Lao-Mon when she realised she couldn't escape, but was trapped. One thought would be enough to put out the lives of the little ones. It hurt, even the thought and I would probably go crazy due to the effect, but they would be safe with their father afterwards. At that moment, I moved as if to attack, but in the end I didn’t hit him, did nothing with him, my face stopped only a few centimetres from his. I probably could have finished before he could react to my actions…

"Or what if I preferred to kill you, before you can call the guards? Or before they can reach us to save you?" I asked angrily, trembling; it was not the rage but the aftermath of the psychic backlash. I don’t know how long I can stay that way before I fall back to the ground.

One way or another, but always the wounded beast is the most dangerous…

 

[Tu'teggacha]

Deep inside their mingled minds, Kallan held her. He could not speak a word, could not do anything that might reveal his presence to the vile Ebruchi, or they would both be flayed open to satisfy the Taskmaster's curiosity. But in his gestures, in the way he hugged her close to his chest and comforted her as she wept, he showed that he was there for her, whether he could speak or not. Back on Tython, Kallan had promised that he would be the strong one, just once, at the end of his life. He had wanted to pay his love back for all the time she'd been strong for him, so he was strong for her as the world crumbled around them.

Strangely, unexpectedly, he had survived in her mind... and he'd kept being strong.

For her. To help her endure, just as she'd helped him.

And for the children that were half his.

Meanwhile, the Taskmaster smiled even wider as he got exactly what he wanted: the truth. Mercy's words, the names she chose to give her dead lover, revealed much about the relationship they had shared. He was beginning to see what had gone wrong, the flaw in the Mongrel he had created, the reason for his downfall. When Tu'teggacha had shredded The Mongrel's mind, he hadn't been thorough enough. There had been bits and pieces of this old personality, this Kallan, left behind in the body that had become a weapon for the Maw. It must have been the remnants of this old mind that had led to The Mongrel's downfall.

"Now I see," the Taskmaster said, his spittle-flecked words full of satisfied malice. "So it was your fault that he died. He was the perfect weapon... until you went into his mind and found all the little fragments of memory left behind from his creation. Your meddling destroyed his faith, the single-minded perfection I placed inside him. You made him weak, and he paid the price." Tu'teggacha sneered at her, his facial tendrils writhing back and forth like the branches of a tree in a storm. "All I must do to make a better Mongrel... is to make sure the next one is scoured clean of every last shred of his old self."

Mercy's closeness to The Mongrel made sense now; clearly it had been a far closer relationship than superior and subordinate, one that had ultimately fatally affected his performance. Only one positive had come out of it: these twins, the fruit of the Brotherhood's two most effective agents - one in the shadows and one on the battlefield. She intended to deny him the children, of course... and she would try. But Tu'teggacha would not be denied. In his view, he had created both Mongrel and Mercy, or at least unleashed their full potential. The two babies would be the final result, and the catalysts of his renewed experimentation.

But not if she killed them... or if she killed him.

For at that moment, Mercy was right in his face, only centimeters from his flesh. And of all the servants of the Maw, Tu'teggacha was the one most qualified to know the terrifying truth: she could kill him with ease, well before he could call for his guards. He'd been a fool to let them leave the room. But perhaps he did not need any physical weapon. He never had before. "You won't kill them," the Ebruchi replied levelly, his glassy black eyes staring back at Mercy. "They are the last piece of your 'Asher'. To destroy them, to ensure they are never born, would be to spit on his grave and rip out your own heart."

Though his cowardly heart raced at the closeness of death, the Taskmaster held his ground. He could not run; she would kill him before he could escape. He had to find another way to survive. "And you won't kill me, either," he continued. "We are on Exegol, Mercy, in the heart of the Red Honeycomb Zone. Even if you escape this laboratory, which is surrounded by my guards and defenses, you will never find your way out of this system. Departing from it is impossible without the special tools of Mawite navigators." Beads of sweat ran down his rubbery skin, but he did not flinch or flounder despite his fear.

"I am your only way out. Kill me, and you and your children will die here too."

Silently he gathered his mental energy, preparing to lash out if necessary.

Her mind was already unbalanced, in pain, suffering backlash.

If he had to, if she moved to cut his throat...

He would strike her with memories.

Memories of Asher's death.

Over and over.

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

It didn't take words; it could be understood without it. I felt as safe in his arms now as if he were Asher. It made the whole thing more intimate and even more painful at the same time. The two strongest personalities within me fought each other. Mercy felt the endless pain, the loss. But Keilara didn't, she felt relief in her husband's arms and longing for him. After all, since Asher's death, I haven't really allowed Kallan close to me. Just so much that I can cuddle and curl with him when I sleep so I don’t feel alone. But nothing more.

I wanted to talk to him, but now I couldn’t do it without protecting my shields. I’m still going to feel the Taskmaster trying to research around here. But there could have been no strong thought, "words" among us now, only deeds. When my cry subsided in his embrace. I looked up at him. I wanted to do it all at once and not… but Keilara was stronger in this situation, not Mercy, not my guilt. I tenderly smoothed Kallan's cheek as he got used to this from me. Now it was me, his wife was the stronger.

Finally, I gently slid my hand over his nape and gently pulled him down to myself. And if he let me, I kissed him tenderly and softly as I hugged him tighter. I... Keilara, have longed for this since I realised that I had not ceased to exist, we had only become one again. I "died" in his arms there and since then because of Mercy... I mean because of our common grief, Kallan couldn't be happy that he hadn't lost me and I'm here too. Until now.

I felt endless relief at once and hell-torturing guilt…

Luckily, these feelings were just in line with what was happening in reality while I was watching the Taskmaster; so I was hoping he wouldn’t figure out what’s going on in the deepest part of my mind. My hands clenched angrily into his fists. Yes, I still blamed myself for dying. He did it for me to be free because he never asked what I wanted. If he had, we would have been far away a long time ago. He and Kallan could have had a clone body and all four of us could live happily ever after. I wasn’t mad at him, I was unable, I could never get mad at him.

"Do you really think so? Don't you care so much about who you "make"? You can't kill humanity out of them. It's there, in all of them! From them you create a new personality, out of their fear, their dread. Those "weapons" are still the old people who felt dread. Old habits are preserved, hobbies about what they liked and what they didn’t. If you destroy even more… you are better off raising brainless clones. More rewarding and less energy!" I still snarled at him.

I would have preferred to spit on him and break his neck. I knew I should keep quiet, but I couldn't bear to talk about it that way. That he finds him weak.

"Destroy it in them and none of them will survive for more than a few months. Do you know why Asher was so successful? Ever since his brain was put in a "jar" he was only looking for death and martyrdom. He wanted to die… but then he realised he could feel touch again because I was able to give it to him. It began to give back his zest for life, his desire to live. Did it ever occur to you why he had not suffered any injuries after Adrathorpe? Almost no scratches fell on his last armour. He struggled, so he survived and defied death, procrastinating to reach a non-existent paradise to come back to me. He denied death over and over again because of me. Because of me, he continued to serve the Maw for nearly ten years. I saved him from losing his mind after brain damage. We have healed the injury together over the years. That made him legendary, what you want to destroy. His human feelings and the fact that he wanted to belong to someone, that he loved someone, and it was me! You will never be able to recreate him. You know why? You will not be able to create the bond that has developed between us over the years." I said angrily.

The next moment I was there a few centimetres to him. He tried to look strong, but I could feel his fear. It was a novelty, so strong and intense. So he believed I would have done it. Good! Because I really could have done it. I was still snarling at him. I looked into his eyes insensitively. He wasn't wrong, I really would have felt that way. Although I didn't really have a heart left.

"An optimistic assumption is that I still have my heart after what Barran did!" I told him. "No, if I know they're going to be there, in the Netherworld, where he's… yes, he's over there. I ripped him out of the ritual, I saved him! He died a free man, not a slave of the Maw! My husband's soul did not become part of the ritual, nor did the Avatars consumed him!"

And no, they weren't the last pieces, but he could never know it. I continued to look at him with anger, pain, and hatred. I could kill him, get out of here in a healthy state, and even get on a ship that would take me out of the system. But he was right, I couldn't get out because of the backlash. I was dizzy, my head aching more and more. I trembled again and fell back to the ground, right at his feet.

"Yes, you are the only way out. If I kill you and they kill me too. Anyway, only chains and slavery are waiting me on your side. Something that is worse than death. You won't let me go, no, especially not in the possession of the information you just learned." I was still snarling at him, though there was some bitterness in my voice right now.

 

[Tu'teggacha]

It was strange to Kallan, existing in Mercy's mind like this, and not just because he was a foreign presence in her thoughts. Not so long ago, her personalities had been more separate. Mercy had been Asher's lover, and he had been Keilara's. But now Asher was gone, and the lines between the different identities in Mercy's mind were blurred. Kallan had held his wife in his arms as she died, slowly and painfully, and in that moment he had wished to die too. But she wasn't completely gone. Sometimes she rose to the surface of Mercy's mind. He could feel here there, a thin layer of her presence.

It was strange for them both. He had been part of Asher, and Keilara had been part of Mercy, and there were bits of those lost people still inside them. But it was Mercy and Kallan who kissed in that moment, each of them longing for someone who was only half there, imagining and remembering. It wasn't like it used to be. It wasn't like those perfect days in the meadow of their shared minds, which each of them had been with their true love. It was like touching a shadow, or hearing an echo... but it was all they had left to hold onto. It hurt to remember what they had lost, but they couldn't stop.

Because it wasn't just pain. It was the remnant of joy, and of love.

Tu'teggacha misinterpreted this emotional pain, this turmoil. So far, at least, Mercy had hidden Kallan well enough that the Ebruchi had not found him... but the agent's other secrets were being revealed. The Taskmaster just smiled wider as Mercy argued with him, claiming that he couldn't rip out the humanity of his victims entirely - and that they would be useless if he did, so useless that he might as well just use clones. And then she told him something that clicked another piece of the puzzle into place: that The Mongrel had persisted, had stayed alive, because of his bond with her.

"I see," he murmured, turning the information over and over in his head. "Perhaps I was wrong, then. I must leave behind just enough of the old personality to form that bond, to make my new Mongrel fight to survive rather than seek to die for the Avatars." The gears in the Taskmaster's head were turning now. Perhaps love could be his next tool of torture and reshaping. Perhaps he could find a way to artificially create the bond that Mercy and The Mongrel had developed... and use it like a carrot on the end of a stick, forcing his brainwashed warriors to serve with all their heart and mind and soul.

"I could have controlled him better, made him more, by controlling you."

Of course, he would only be able to apply these lessons if he survived the next few heartbeats. Mercy was still on the edge of killing him, and if she truly believed that his chains were a fate worse than death - and honestly, they probably were - she would do it. He needed to think fast if he wanted to make it out of his own lab alive. "Yes, well done," he sneered, trying to buy himself time. "You saved his soul, and denied the Dark Voice. But I don't care about Solipsis or his ritual. The prophet is dead, and irrelevant to me now. All that matters to me is making myself useful, so that I can outlast this chaos."

And the secrets he had just learned would be very useful indeed.

"So I will make you a bargain, Mercy," the Taskmaster burbled, his voice wet and fleshy. "Neither of us wants to die, and you want to be in chains even less. So I will let you walk away. I will say nothing of what I now know to the rest of the Brotherhood. In exchange, you will spare my life." His glassy black eyes stared up at her, and there was malevolence buried deep inside them. "We can pretend you are still a faithful agent of the Maw, and no one will question it... so long as you stay in line." He would keep her secret... as long as she continued to serve the Brotherhood and its dark masters.

And he would watch from the shadows...

... waiting for her children to be born.

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

Again, everything was tangled up and I didn’t know who I was. There was pain, love and joy at the same time. The emptiness of not feeling Asher anymore is the void caused by his lack. But as Kallan kissed me back, I felt joy. The same thing, which happened not so long ago. In his arms, in his embrace, feeling his kisses, I wanted to be completely Keilara, again his wife. This desire, this feeling was getting stronger. But there was also the fact that I wanted to get Asher back because I was his too. And I missed my other husband. We knew it would be the end of us having to become one again someday, but I hadn't the strength to stop it.

However, the way I realised why we were there on Tython caused so much damage that without the merger, all personalities would have died. Freedom and Ziare were also here, but their traits, their personalities were similar to Keilara and Mercy, they disappeared, completely integrated into me (But who am I?). But Mercy and Keilara don't. They were too strong individually. I think it could be like when Asher and Kallan started to separate, or they realised it wasn’t going to work when they are sharing the same mind.

At that moment, I wanted to be so good to be able to tear myself apart so that we will both separate again. That the pain should be just the pain of losing the love of my life and not feel guilty because I am in the embrace of the very man who is also my true love. It's just for different personalities. I wanted to speak, I wanted to tell Kallan how I feel, I'm not just an echo, I’m still here. I wanted to scream to help me to surface, to help me keep there, at least while I was with him.

I only saw them suffer then, but now I better understand what they were going through after Noris. Since I still couldn’t speak, I tried to make him feel like I was, not just an echo that I’m really here, and not just Mercy. I hugged him, embraced him to myself, as I did at home, in our common home, when I comforted and encouraged him. Meanwhile, I tried to oppress the other half of my soul and mind, Mercy… or at least keep her quiet, to convince her to watch the outside and leave me with my husband.

It was very confusing… I interrupted the kiss for a few moments, then leaned over his neck and gently put a kiss on his neck as he loved it and then once as he had done on the last day, I spent with him happily. I finally looked at him again, there was worry in my eyes; I was worried about him, I couldn't ask how he felt… not at this moment.

~ Kallan! ~ I whispered without words as I leaned close to him again…

I could feel what was happening in my head and I felt everything start to fall apart. Guilt, grief, pain, and what I felt, like Keilara did. I don't know who I am! No, this seizure can't happen now, no! I don't know how long I'll be able to hide this from Tu'teggacha. Come on, Mercy! I have to keep my thoughts together, to hide what’s going on there. I have to try, I don't know how long it will work. Luckily, the words of the Taskmaster distracted me and I tried my best to focus on them.

"It won’t work, you can’t count with coincidences. There are too many unknown or random coefficients in the equation. There may be things out there that you can’t prepare for. Not to mention you're not able to control it!" I continued to snarl at him, our relationship also started by a random event.

I continued to snarl at him; I wanted to laugh mockingly at his words, to make fun of him. But I couldn’t do it because I didn’t know how Asher would have reacted.

"You could have never controlled me. And you could never have blackmailed or controlled him with me!" I snarled and knew it was an infinitely optimistic thought. "And what do you think, why we both hid this from you for more than seven years?!"

I know exactly how he reacted when I was in danger, how he acted with those who wanted to hurt me. They were all dead in a matter of moments, or just protecting me with his own bodies, like from the Mandalorian bombing, but I did not know this. He might would have killed the Taskmaster as soon as he tried, but it is possible he might would have done anything to not hurt me. I should have asked Kallan about that, but I couldn’t do that at the moment.

Just as I probably couldn’t have done it to kill the Taskmaster because I was on the ground again and my headache was getting stronger. I felt the pressure in my head again as the personalities fought to see who had to be stronger instead of 50-50%. It would have been easier if Keilara had stayed inside, Mercy outside. But if I separate them like that, who am I?! A bargain? I raised my eyebrows for a moment as I looked at him.

On my lips, a mocking smile appeared for a moment, the Taskmaster seemed to want to survive today’s encounter more than anything or anyone. I just wanted the children and Kallan to live…

"And where's the trap?" I asked him.

He needed to know I would run away the first time I had a chance. Unless he already knew about the oath that I would kill anyone who had anything to do with Asher's death. But he also needed to know that as soon as the pregnancy was coming to an end, I would definitely run away to keep the children safe.

"What is the clause you didn't say? What is the trick?" I asked him. "I know your kind… and we both know my agent skills. You’re not going to give up on twins, and I’m not going to give up on their safety. You will force me to stay in the Maw’s ranks and you will do your best to prevent me from deserting and leave it. These are still chains and blackmail. And we both know you have no power over me, especially when I regain my full strength. This is still a stalemate, Taskmaster." probably only Asher saw my agent reports, and he knew exactly what I was doing in the shadows, so probably only he knew I was good at shadow games and in manipulating others.

Maybe the Taskmaster still underestimates me… maybe…

 

[Tu'teggacha]

As Mercy tried her hardest to separate out the personalities that had become merged on Tython, fighting to give Kallan a moment alone with the woman he recognized as his wife, the emotional turmoil within her rang out as clear as a bell. Kallan kept quiet, kept still, knowing that they were perilously close to discovery... for the Taskmaster could not help but notice now that something else was happening inside Mercy's mind, something beyond just her fear for her children and grief for The Mongrel and rage at the Ebruchi. His powerful mental senses caught a word in that moment, a name. Kallan. Hadn't Mercy just mentioned it?

Yes, he remembered. She'd said that had been The Mongrel's original name.

Why did she call out that name in her mind? What did it mean to her?

The Taskmaster did not mention it aloud. Mercy was already perilously close to slitting his rubbery throat, and if he pushed her, she would do it. He also said nothing when she argued aloud that his scheme for a new Mongrel would not work, that he would not be able to exert enough control to craft a mind as perfectly as he would need to. But the Ebruchi was not so sure. His Force abilities were a scalpel, a perfect surgical instrument for the mind, and his talent had grown over the past fifteen years of torture and experimentation. He had learned much, honed his skills... and now he knew exactly what to aim for.

It might take him many tries to get it just right...

... but if he could make another Mongrel, a better Mongrel...

... surely he would be richly rewarded, and the Maw would thrive.

But there were still complications he would have to consider, for he was only now learning just how long his own creations had been hiding things from him. Seven years. That took his breath away. For seven long years, Mongrel and Mercy had concealed their relationship from a person who could read minds, who had directly reshaped their thoughts and memories. That told Tu'teggacha something, taught him a valuable lesson: there was no such thing as too paranoid. From now on, he would have to frequently and brutally invade the minds of all his slave-soldiers, searching out anything they kept secret.

Like a droid's memory wipe, he would have to reset their very thoughts.

But first he had to survive. "Yes," Tu'teggacha agreed, "still a stalemate. But it is a stalemate that allows us both to leave this room alive. It buys time for you to find a way to escape the Maw and bring your children to safety. And it buys time for me to find a way to take them from you without being killed at your hand." He shrugged, a strange gesture on his hunched little body. "In the end, it all depends on which of us has the greater skill - yours at secrecy and infiltration, or mine at plotting and manipulation. There will still be a clash between us someday, but it will be delayed for a while."

"If we have that clash now, we both die here on Exegol. Your children, too."

"So I recommend that you take my generous offer to walk away."

"Pretend this never happened... for now."

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

As I "uttered" his name, I realised it was a huge mistake, so I interrupted the movement and preferred to just slip back into the embrace wordlessly. I just shivered and hugged him, not even daring to think anything. I was afraid the Taskmaster might realise he was here too, and then who would know what he was going to do with him. What can he could do with him. I didn’t even dare to think what horrific things he would do if he could get him and the children at the same time. I did the only thing I was able to do, tried to disguise and cover him as best I could, from him, so as not to accidentally notice Kallan…

I could never forgive myself if something would happen to him because of me. Even so, it was quite consuming and painful that Asher died because of me. This could not have happened to Kallan…

Out there, I continued to snarl at the Taskmaster, though I was no longer in close proximity to him as I was kneeling on the ground, yet if I had to, I could still reach him at any moment in an instant to kill him. Or at least I was hoping to be able to take a quick blow to his throat to smash his trachea to drown. Or just break his neck. However, the fact that the guards still did not come in was a smart move. The moment the door would have opened, I would kill him.

I wouldn't be interested in the consequences. As Kallan said on Tython, very correctly, because out there, in the Netherworld, we'll have forever. To know this was the only thing that was good from that time, I was Omni's drone. That is why I was not afraid of death, and that is why Tu'teggacha underestimated what I would do and what I would not do. I know Kallan wanted to live because this worm stole fifteen years from his life, but…

Never mind. I saw and felt how he reacted to how long we had kept our relationship secret from him. The most beautiful years of my life, and nothing and no one can give it back in this life. And he was the main reason they ended up and couldn’t go on. That's why he had to die for what he did. Because of his tortures, Asher couldn't let go of what he should had been to let until the last minute. Only the moment it was too late. I would forgive the torment, the suffering, if we were together. But we weren't there because he died because of them, because of the Maw.

I would have liked to laugh mockingly at his reaction, but I was unable to, the pain and grief were far greater than the joy or pity. Instead, I still snarled at him with hatred.

"A lot of people will die in this war, Tu'teggacha." it was a fact and a statement, not an assumption or a promise.

Not only did he have the skills to intrigue, plot and manipulate, but so did I. However, even in this state, I knew when to remain silent. Asher died, openly I never had too much influence, but that didn’t mean it was true in the shadows. I was the reason that no one ever challenged him, he was not attacked by those who wanted to be the new warlord. There were my people in the shadows watching and reporting to me. I also worked with them in the field to provide intelligence to Asher and the clan. I have an information network that spanned the entire clan and I had my people everywhere, in the Scar Hounds. I knew the tribe, more than anyone else, except Asher.

In the seven years I have not been idle either; I did everything I could to keep him safe and protect him. Although these were not the methods of the Scar Hounds, I was an agent, not a marauder. He knew and accepted. I knew Tu'teggacha would be watching me from now on and his agents would tell him what I was doing. If I tried to leave, they would stop me by force. But my men will hunt for his own. A war in the shadows, behind the scenes. I wasn’t just Mongrel's Shadow because I was always there with him and followed him as a shadow. The name was just a name, only Asher and I knew the reality.

And that was exactly why Thomas Barran could not survive without me. Without me, the Scar Hounds Tribe will sink back to a time when the possible future warlords are killing each other and trying to kill the Warlord. If we, Asher and I had gone, the fate of the tribe would have been the same.

"And of the two of us, you have more to lose." it was an ice-cold threat.

He was more afraid, I was just afraid that he would get my children or Kallan and hurt them. But, if we’re in the Netherworld, he can’t hurt them. I could blackmail him for better conditions, but I was afraid he might discover him. That, after my previous words, he is trying to climb into my mind by force, which I would not be able to defend against at the moment.

"You're really so scared of death, aren't you?" I asked with a sharp sneer in my voice.

I felt the urge to blackmail him and ask what else he would give to make sure he survived… but no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t be too greedy.

 

[Tu'teggacha]

Whatever Mercy had been thinking when the name Kallan slipped so powerfully into her mind, almost like a message to some unseen presence, she seemed to realize her mistake. Tu'teggacha tried to probe her thoughts again, to hear more of what might be going on deep inside, but only silence greeted him. He supposed that was no surprise. For seven long years Mercy had hidden her greatest secret from him, while he in his arrogance had assumed that all her thoughts belonged to him. She had ample practice with concealing the truth from his prying mental tendrils, and he knew he would get nothing more from her.

Mercy knelt on the ground now, stunned by the psychic backlash of her memories and emotions, but Tu'teggacha knew better than to try to exploit the moment. Even with a little distance between them now, she would be able to kill him long before his guards could intervene. His only defense against her was quick thinking and clever words, and that had at least bought him a little time so far. Would it be enough to get him out of this situation, to survive the revelations she had just unwillingly granted him? He did not know, and the realization of that made his shriveled little heart beat at a frantic pace. He did not want to die.

"A lot of people will die in this war, Tu'teggacha."

"So what?" the Taskmaster replied, facial tendrils opened in a sneer. "A lot of people die every day. They starve, or drown, or grow sick, or are eaten by beasts. They are killed in back-alley muggings and honor duels and speeder accidents. Show me a month of galactic history where there wasn't a war somewhere in Known Space. If the Maw had never risen, there would still be battles and genocides and clashes of light against dark. The galaxy is cold and uncaring and cruel. The only choice we can make is whether to suffer, or to become the ones who makes others suffer instead."

It was a bleak view of life, but it was the one that made sense to him.

"Of the two of us," she told him, "you have more to lose. You're really so scared of death, aren't you?" "I wouldn't be so certain," the Ebruchi snapped back. "It is not that I fear death too much, it is that you fear death too little. You think that you'll be reunited with your lover when you die? That there's some Netherworld heaven waiting for you, where you'll be a family again?" Tu'teggacha shook his bulbous head. "The Sith have ways of enslaving spirits, Mercy. If you cross us, thinking that death will be your escape, I will see to it that you and your children suffer for a thousand years."

He stared at her hard. "We both have everything to lose in this moment."

"Take my generous offer, and we both walk away alive."

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

I knew I had to keep my thoughts together, I couldn’t make more mistakes. Other times it went so easily without any problems. I was able to cover up even Asher’s thoughts without the Taskmaster realising it all. But now I had to fight for it. Only a few weeks have passed since Tyton; the wounds inflicted by Barran were even too fresh. I would have wondered what the outcome of this clash today would have been if I was in full force. I didn’t know how many odds I would have against him, as I always kept my true strength a secret and defended Asher against his attacks without even noticing.

"You also know that I didn’t mean these, but the expensive assets!" I told him.

But be aware that he will not have an easy time in this story. If he thinks I can’t prepare for this, he’s very wrong. And if my own agents weren’t enough, I still had a trump card. Something that Thomas Barran promised me. Would Tu'teggacha be able to take up the fight against the entire Scar Hounds Tribe? I doubted it.

'But if your child is endangered at any point, by anyone we either know or don't, I am willing to make armistice between us.... To what end that protection leads, depends entirely on the danger. Friend and foe alike.'

I had a feeling Kallan wouldn't be happy with the developments, but I had to do that. I just couldn’t walk away and go home to Serenno. I couldn’t forgive them for what they did. Not even if Asher wanted that. He couldn't have done it either, so why would he expect me to be able to? I can't live without him the same way he couldn’t have been live without me. I could not reconcile this with my barely existing conscience. I cannot live the life he wanted for me… not when his killers and those who are responsible for this are still alive.

Since it was for the two of us, not only for me… What he wanted for me, it was impossible. Maybe Kallan and Keilara may still have had a chance to do it, but not Mercy.

Luckily for me, he dealt with quite a few people; Ziare may have been his favourite project once, but he didn’t remember me anymore. All he knew was what I let him do. He may have forgotten that I was the only one he could ever break. Overly smug and selfish; he thinks he is perfect. Although it is a fact that he never had full access to Ziare's memories, as she... I was locked in the depths of the mind palace. Now, unfortunately, that place was still in ruins, so Kallan had to hide. It doesn't seem that he remembers I’m knowing about Sith practices even though I wasn’t a Force user. Nor did he remember that I was an Omni drone once.

"Husband, not lover!" I corrected him.

And that's when I realised something. I've never seen him like this before, I haven't heard of it. Sure, I knew he was a coward and not a warrior, but he’s a great tactician. But this now, probably touched his ego very sensitively. He could still see the same in my eyes, but now there was some mockery in him, especially on my lips. Not only did he want to survive, it was already a personal issue.

"Never, no one defied you like me and Asher, did you? This is an unpleasant novelty for you, Tu'teggacha! Someone who is not afraid of you." an evil smile appeared on my lips, I enjoyed seeing him struggle, suffer. "It’s already personal, not just when you have to break someone and you know you will succeed. You’re scared because you know you may not be able to win this time."

I still looked at him with hatred and contempt.

"Just so you know! It will be a pleasure and a mirth to watch your long months of suffering, agony, slow fall. The way you lose everything pretty slowly, the way paranoia finally drives you crazy, the way everything slips out of your hands. Because of fear and dread, you will make more and more mistakes until eventually your own masters turn against you as well. I will be there, I will be there in every moment and I will watch your slow, tormented downfall from the shadows!" though my voice was full of hatred, I almost purred the promise to him.

 

[Tu'teggacha]

No one defied you like me and Asher, Mercy said, and the Taskmaster stiffened. This is an unpleasant novelty for you, Tu'teggacha! Someone who is not afraid of you. The Ebruchi's eyes took on a dangerous gleam, a look of anger that had not been there a moment before. He hated her words because they were true. Never before had his conditioning failed so completely. Never before had he so utterly lost control of one of his creations! Perhaps his mistake had been in the way he had worked on her, unleashing her Mercy personality from inside Ziare's mind rather than forming a new one. Yes, that must be it, for his work was perfect.

He could blame it all, The Mongrel's disobedience and destruction...

... on the woman who stood before him now.

He would punish her.

But not today. Today his goal was to survive, to scurry away and reach a position of advantage, where his renegade creation could not touch him. "You think you know how to fight this war, do you, Mercy?" Slowly he back away, making no sudden movements, inching toward his escape hole on the back wall. He was putting some distance between them, increasing the chances that his guards would be able to reach her if she discarded their deal and came for his head here and now. "The Mongrel put you in command of a few little Scar Hound strike forces, and now you think yourself a commander?"

He laughed, a vile, squelching sound like a wet rag being wrung out.

"For fifteen years I have been master of the Maw's logistical network, commander of its greatest fleets, creator of its most fearsome warriors. You are a newcomer to this game, and I am a master of it. You think your little tribe will be sufficient allies? I can call upon legions. You think I am afraid, but when you realize what you truly face, you will finally recognize what a fool you were to turn against me." The Taskmaster stared at her hard, his glassy black eyes assessing her. "When your fantasies of revenge fall apart, and it is you who ends up frightened and alone, remember this."

"You chose to betray me. Everything that happens now is your fault."

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

And then I saw something in his eyes that I didn’t really think I would ever do. At least as strong and penetrating anger I had never seen in his case, and maybe as strong as mine. I think this was the very first time in a long time that someone had really hurt their ego. Maybe that was the point when he realised he wasn’t omnipotent after all? And is there anyone within the Maw who dares to stand up to him? Openly; for in recent years we have done so in secret. Although Asher only reached the point in his last hours and minutes to really turn away from the Maw…

"Tell me, how does it feel?!" I asked, still snarling.

I did not expect an answer; I knew I would not get an answer to this question. He will never openly admit his defeat. No one would, especially not in a position like where he is. I just hoped I managed to shake his faith and ego so much that he would make a mistake later. More often.

I saw him back away, slowly, in small steps. I didn't stop him from doing so. I was still looking at him angrily, the flame of rage still burning in my eyes. However, his words gave assurances that he did not know what was happening in the Scar Hounds Tribe; or still underestimated me. He has no idea what I’ve built since we became lovers with Asher. Didn’t anyone really report that essentially no one tried to challenge Asher to try to kill him and take the warlord title?

I don’t think he cared or thought Asher's presence raised fear in them. The truth, there were tryers, challengers, not a few. We were perfect on the battlefield as well as in private life with Asher. Complementing each other, among others protecting and strengthening his rule and warlord status. Only Barran knows, because now my people are helping him. The advantage was with me, I knew Tu'teggacha had tremendous resources; the advantage of the surprise, however, was with me. He underestimated me and thought I only had a few people.

I built the Nite's network here nicely and got higher and higher in the main organisation. Many worked for me. However, after his next words, I laughed mockingly. He didn't remember what I told him. I was never his, I was never a slave; from the first moment I was loyal to Asher, not to Maw or the Taskmaster.

"The Mongrel mentioned a slave-soldier to Ziare. If I join, I will do it of my own free will, I will volunteer for Maw. Throughout my life, I was oppressed, held as a servant, that is, my body. I want to be free, I will no longer be a slave, Taskmaster!" I stated firmly.

"You do not remember! You really don't remember! I cannot betray the one to whom I have never been loyal, Tu'teggacha. According to this, you were already underestimating me in our first conversation when you released me." I told him; true, then rightly so; I had no experience about life, or anything, but I have grown up ever since.

He didn’t know about our other life, I started resisting him ten years ago, but I’ve always kept secrets before him, in front of my family, the Sith, only Asher knew me, only he really knew me, he was the only one, in front of whom I had no secrets.

The Taskmaster, he has been doing this for fifteen years. I have been hiding Asher, Kallan, Keilara, the children and grandchildren from everyone for sixty years in that life. He did it fifteen years ago, I lived an entire life, where I did the same. I wasn’t just desperate, full of hatred and anger; I was ready to fight.

"Go and run away before I change my mind and I'll really kill you!" I snarled at him. "We'll see, we'll see."

I was hoping that he would greatly underestimate what a woman in love can do who has lost everything and only lives to get revenge… And I was hoping I seemed confident enough.

It has already given me strength to see that he is suffering, hacks helplessly. He was terrified, and he had no idea what was waiting for him. As I watched him moving back and probably leaving, I sent a written message to Thomas Barran through the biochip. I had to think about the message, the rest was handled by MANIAC and forwarded as a non-voice text message to the new warlord's comlink.

[Thomas, the Taskmaster, he… he knows that they are Asher's children; he wants them for himself when they are born. It started.]

 

[Tu'teggacha]

She was right, of course. He had been arrogant when he had first released the Mercy personality from within Ziare's mind, arrogant to allow her to volunteer to serve the Maw. He should have done what he'd done with all the others, ripped apart every last shred of thought and memory, left nothing behind that could one day breed defiance. But she had already held out for so long, sustained so much pain and torment, that he had been willing to count Mercy's emergence and pledge to the Brotherhood as a victory. He had been soft in that moment, lazy, eager to claim victory before he had actually met with true success.

It was not a mistake he would ever make again.

After her, he would break them all down to nothing.

And then none would ever, ever disobey his will again.

The Taskmaster scuttled into the escape hatch hidden at the back of the room, where only a creature as hunched and rubbery as he was could possibly fit. He had installed many of them in his facilities all across Mawite territory after one too many close calls with Jedi and NIO agents, and once again they worked to his advantage. He was out of harm's way, squirming into the passage and down to one of his fortified panic rooms, where he would be almost untouchable; he had spared no expense on thick, lightsaber-proof walls and quadruple security doors, manually locked so that no slicer could open them.

As soon as he arrived, Tu'teggacha felt his rage and fear guiding him toward a dark compulsion. He half wanted to unleash his guards now... and not just them, but everyone. He could unmask Mercy as a traitor, a turncoat who had threatened one of the Brotherhood's most powerful figures, and she would never leave Exegol alive. Even one as skilled as she was couldn't fight through the legions stationed here alone, and there was no escape from this hidden planet without the aid and permission of the Sith. But if he did that, he would never have her children. Mercy would never let herself be taken alive.

No, it was time for patience.

The Ebruchi fought down his anger.

Now was the time to scheme, to keep watch, and to wait. The Taskmaster's agents and informants were everywhere among the ranks of the Maw, for he had created a great many of them personally, reshaping their personalities into his loyal servants. Wherever Mercy went, whatever she did, his glassy eyes would be on her. And when the moment came and her children were born, that would be his opportunity. He and his servants would swoop in and take those twins, and in time they would surely become his greatest weapons yet. Mercy's suffering along the way would just be a bonus.

In the empty panic room, he clenched his fists.

"We see you, Mercy," he snarled.

"We'll be waiting."

Keilara Kala'myr​

 

[Keilara Kala'myr]

Ziare Dyarron | Keilara Kala'myr | Mercy | Freedom | Anonymous
COMPNOR (ISB) Junior Agent | Nite agent | Marauder and Agent of the Maw, Mongrel's advisor and shadow​

Objective: Try to keep her secrets and protect Kallan
Location: Tu'teggacha's workshop, Exegol
Equipment: Promise of Freedom || OPBC-01m
Tags: Tu'teggacha | Kallan

[ Come back… ]
"Galactic Basic" | ~ Telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >>
​

I was still snarling as he left the room. I sent it off as if I were at home and not in hostile territory. In the end, when I was left alone, I sighed, trembling. I did not feel the adrenaline raging in my body until now; but by now the effect was beginning to fade and I was trembling. I was on half knee for now, but now I had to sit down for a while on the ground. I was terrible from the psychic backlash, I just wanted to sit down and sob again. But it couldn't do this, not here. I shouldn’t show any more weaknesses here.

Finally, it took me a few minutes to able to get up, the two guards were still waiting outside. I felt weak, barely able to stay on my feet; but at least the guards weren't that rude now. Now I didn't have to hurry, and I wasn't escorted home, just out of the base, and from there I could go alone. Home, or to Asher's former sanctum? Even in this condition, it wouldn’t have been hard to sneak in where I spent more time than in my own designated apartment. Because I spent every night with him in secret when we were here.

Only when I was far enough away did I have the courage to just address Kallan. As for my personalities, I’m starting to lose more and more control over who I am right now. I think I should have slept and let Kallan control my body.

~ I'm sorry, Kallan. I know you want a calm, peaceful life, but Mercy can't walk away. And now we can't even do it, unless Tu'teggacha dies or manages to kill his agents. I'm sorry I put you in danger, I didn't want to, but I wanted you to know I'm here, and I still love you! I will try my best to allow you to spend more time with Keilara. I know how much pain it caused you to think she was dead. That kiss, the beginning was wrong when I kissed you, but it completely woke Keilara. You're not Asher. And I love you too, but I belong to Asher. Keilara belongs to you. I already know how you and Asher felt. I will try to give her as much time as possible with you. I don't want you to suffer just because I'm suffering. ~

I closed my eyes for a few moments and wiped away the blood tears.

~ I wish at least the two of you were happy; if I can't be that, since this has already been taken from me. You both deserve it… and I'm sorry to cause so much trouble for you, Kallan! ~ I told him.