Private The Door

[Arianna Belasko]

At the Museum of Khemost...


The blast that rocked the section of the Grand Museum of Khemost, located in what had once been Darth Mammon's Central palace, rocked the entire building.

A virtual army of Galactic Alliance Troops stormed into the citadel, blasting away with heavy stun blasters at the organic troops on guard, it was such an overwhelming number that initially, everyone thought that it was a massive invasion. Communication was seemingly jammed, and everyone in the palace saw endless numbers of Alliance warships over the Sky, firing on the outside...

... except none of that was actually happening.

...see what was actually happening was that the Sorceress of Dantooine was striding amongst the organic s, all clutching their heads in abject terror as she waltzed past their security, her hissing of spells imprisoning non organic warriors of House Io in Walls of Light that would last for up to ten minutes with most of them unable to break through.

Tonight was a special night.

Arianna was doing something she felt would benefit the soul of Draco Miles .

That something involved stealing something that Laertia Io, her adopted daughter now turned into the sadistic Parliament after her conversion to Brain Demon Cultist, Arianna was trying to do this as bloodlessly as possible.

Because she didn't want House Io destroyed. She wanted to save it from the Cult. And save Draco from them...

So Arianna had contacted her apprentice for this special night. This night, Draco was to help her steal something from Tython. Something she had tried very hard to conceal it's nature from her daughter...

It was something that could open a doorway.

Arianna, using the guise of the Sorceress of Dantooine, had cast a cast, non lethal spell, this persona very interested in turning Draco to the Light, because Arianna had finally decided that what House Io had become was something not even she could support.

There was no fires, or explosions, no one was actually suffering, and the spell would wear off and they would have no memory. But the various models of Nuetralizer that happened to be present were a different problem. She would need Draco to deal with those aggressively. Non-lethal.

She could only hope Draco would decide to trust her.she hoped she had been a good enough Master to make Draco at least consider helping her. She was one of the few she truly trusted with all her heart..

One of the few besides Laertia, and Percival Io and Alessandra Io that she genuinely loved.

Would dear Draco show, however?

 

[Draco Miles]

Like a dog to its owner, Draco heeded the call of her master with haste. Rushing to be at her Side even if it meant betraying the entirety of House IO. She was loyal to Arianna Belasko first and foremost anyways, and wouldn’t even dream of betraying the woman who had saved her from the Sandy horror that was Jakku.

At the time of receiving the summons, she was meditating in her humble abode, grimacing as she focused on ways to control and manipulate the flow of a coursing river, with all the strength of a great typhoon. The order was to incapacitate the droids and keep them from spotting both her and her master, and she would do it post haste. Getting in her corvette and jumping to Tython as fast as possible to assist

 

[Arianna Belasko]

The Sorceress of Dantooine came under fire from various House Io soldiers, all soon imprisoned in various light side spells that froze them in place, flesh shuddering from the exertion as she swatted aside bolts with Vivian's yellow lightsaber, deflecting them back. She could feel Draco Miles on the way and vowed to make the area safe for her.

The Doves of which Percival Io claimed membership had been informed weeks in advance about what she would do. Arianna had been very thorough since Nathan's wedding, which about only two weeks prior, setting up all her ducks in a row for this. She had reserves of Dove members screened, and then smuggled to the ship Darth Themis was currently exiled to. Their destination was to be Ankhanos.

As she fought her way deeper into the museum, taking heavy injuries from various weapons , to the point glowing green blood had started to leak and spill from her wounds, she decided to step it up a notch.

Her yellow blade dashing through limbs, She flung orbs of Force Light everywhere from her hand that slammed into various opponents, either knocking them out cold if organic or by detonating on impact and mildly stunning them if Droid...

Another wall exploded inward. This was led by none other than Agatha Io and Alicia Io , leading a full team of Model 3 Units , Model 2 Units, a Black Knight, David, among the first Model 1's, and two or Three Mourners, all armed with disabling weapons rather than killing implements. Arianna had loved her Grandson so much she was going out of her way to avoid fatalities on fellow House Members...

This was not the only way she was commiting High Treason.

She had decided to cut one hell of a deal for the coordinates to Khemost with Nathan...

Bursting into the National Treasure section, with a light spell that corroded the outer doors to rust, The Sorceress of Dantooine stepped in through the smoke. Multiple fake alarms had been broadcast. They had even chosen to strike on the day the Parliament was away.

Multiple Light Side Spells and rituals were set off in buildings known to be inhabited by Brain Demon Cultists. It would not kill them, but the experience during exposure was designed to be pure torment.

But that was still not all she had prepared today. Arianna was up to something absolutely devastating. It was so messed up, yet so beneficial that Nathan had had to actually confer with his entire family and roster of assets before coming back with a yes...

Security in this section was quickly seized, and every Force Field leading to the Museum section was locked down. Alicia, tied into communications on a wireless basis reported that all of Khemost was in chaos from the simulated, fake attacks they had set up with this Form's powerful illusion magic.

The Sorceress of Dantooine started to lose the energy to stay in control, her flesh shuddering as her mind and body bubbled and warped into Arianna's, aged from the exertion of summoning the Sorceress.

"Sit rep..." Arianna called out in her typical posh, aristocrat manner to her artificial granddaughter, Alicia.

"Our entire Military is responding to the illusion attacks..." Alicia said grimly.

"Good...how long until you think The Battalion herself shows to stop us?"

"It'll take her at least an hour to breach the wards around the Palace you set up."

Arianna smirked. "Good. By the time she realizes what's really going on...it'll be much, much too late for her to reverse course."

"Are you sure you can defeat The Battalion?" Alicia asked, very deeply concerned. It was positively shocking what Arianna was doing. It was so easy to forget Arianna was one of the deadliest Sorceresses the Cult of The Brain Demon had ever produced.

"Of course I am. Even with her absorbing Phyre's knowledge..." Arianna replied confidently. "Now, how long until my apprentice arrives?"

"She just arrived. We gave her a ride when she arrived..."

"Well I can't have her see me like this..." Arianna said, gesturing down to her leopard print catsuit. "Excuse me..."

A Nuetralizer handed Arianna a new set of clothes, and Arianna ducked behind a pillar to change, coming back out dressed fashionably, as always . Just in time for Draco Miles to show up, delivered via Impeding Assault Tank erupting from one section of the floor, well within the security parameter they had established.

Arianna walked towards her apprentice, smiling warmly.

"Draco...I knew I could count on you..." Arianna said, brushing Draco's face with a gloved hand in an affectionate manner. "You've never let me down once..."

She placed her hand on her apprentice's shoulder.

"I am rebelling against the Brain Demon Cult. Against my own Daughter, who has fallen irrevocably to total insanity. The road ahead will not be easy, but I intend to be a spark of total rebellion. I even have a planet for us all to flee, where I shall continue your training."

Arianna gestured around her. "But we must steal something. Something I absolutely cannot afford to let the Cult keep. But we shall all be vulnerable while the theft is in progress. I shall need your help against the warrior they will dispatch...no less than my Daughter's lover, The Battalion ...can you handle it?" Arianna asked gently...

 

[Draco Miles]

War torn streets that were completely fine, craters which one simply walked, or drove, right over. So many panicked, yet nothing was really happening. Draco sat passenger in the APC as it moved to her Master’s position, but she wanted to make sure they were traveling swiftly, and not too late. She reached out to her master through the force, feeling the later stages of her combat and the strain of energy to maintain both combat effectiveness and such a massive illusion. Truly a marvelous feat that she could only dream of recreating. What truly perplexed her though was this… light, this feeling she had associated with prey, the energy of the light side. Her master could use it? Coupled with the dark side of the force, it only cemented her pride to be an apprentice of Arianna Belasko and to stand by her side.

Upon arriving, Draco immediately assessed her Master’s current condition, noting how much energy was lost already and prepared to be Arianna’s everything, her eyes, shield, sword, legs. Anything that was asked and commanded, she’d follow like a dog. Armed with both her dual bladed lightsaber and the special blade her master had gifted and she had become proficient in, she was ready. Combat power armor making her an even more lethal killing machine.

Draco smiled under her helmet as a gloved hand gently touched where her cheek would be, were it not for metal being in place of it. Delighted to receive her praise.

“Thank you, Master, I would not dream of ignoring your call. I am surprised we are not purging the cult this day though…”

She listened to the plan and how they needed to fight the Battalion, someone Draco had only heard about, but was confident she could overcome with her abilities. The warrior of House IO would not stand against this loyal apprentice from the Planet of Missing Limbs, Mustafar.

“Incapacitate or kill, Master?”

With that simply question, Draco assured Arianna she would fight to the death against the warrior, and prevail over the entirety of Khemost.

 

[Milena the Piece]

Location: Museum of Khemost - Khemost
Tag: Draco Miles Arianna Belasko

Her mistress had sensed it. The events transpiring within the museum were not just an attack, but a robbery and perhaps even a rebellion. Thus, as one of the Battalion's most capable Fragments, Milena had been sent to the museum ahead of everyone else to investigate the scene and attempt to find a way inside, past the wards and the force fields.

Now, Milena found herself studying in a ward which shielded one of the hidden side doors leading into the museum. Placing her hand against it, the Fragment felt a sudden and painful shock in her arm. However, instead of a grimace, a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, even as she glanced at the small patch of branching redness struck across her hand.

Without hesitation, Milena raised her arm and swiftly drained much of the electrical energy out from the ward, until it was compromised just enough for her to move through it without risking too much further injury. She didn’t want to disable the ward entirely, as that would likely attract attention from whoever had casted it. Instead, the Fragment clenched her jaw as she jumped through the barrier, the electricity briefly seizing her form as her momentum carried her through it, allowing her to land in a graceful roll on the opposite side. Then, using the electrical energy she had absorbed, Milena tapped into the reservoir to heal her injuries before continuing on her way.

Eventually, Milena came up to her next obstacle—rows upon rows of force fields protecting the hallway leading into the museum section of the Palace. With a shake of her head, Milena activated the field disruptor from the device on her belt before traversing through the energized fields, each one slightly tingling at her skin in the process.

Just as Milena walked through the last, the ground suddenly shook beneath her feet. And yet, the Fragment remained upright and in balance, the dark side keeping her equilibrium in sync with the vibrations of her surroundings as the low rumbles culminated in a crashing boom and a series of bestial, synthetic roars.

Immediately, Milena knew that her mistress had been correct. This was more than just a simple raid. It was an uprising from within.

Narrowing her gaze in disgust, Milena silently resolved to find out who was the traitor behind it.

Spoiler: Loadout

• White Catsuit - Armorweave Construction
  
  • Gauntlets
    
    • FAE/M-02 Energized Gauntlet Vibroblade - R
  • Force Artifacts
    
    • Spirit Anchor
    • Amulet of Many
  • Utility
    
    • Supernal Infusion
    • FAE/C-05 Infiltration Suite
• Krath War Blade - Katana Style

 

[Arianna Belasko]

The Battalion looked over the reports streaming in in cold fury as her starfighter sped to Midas from one of the long abandoned and uninhibited cities to the south. Wards around the Palace, fake attacks in the streets. No one dead so far...but that could change very quickly.

The Government had known about the Doves, but had decided to take a light hand. That was obviously not going to be possible now.

Arianna... The Battalion thought. It has to be.

As she flew over midas she saw the chaos. Saw the panic. She landed at a pad closest to the towering golden palace, and jumped out of it, letting her face and mind become that of Darth Phyre, flesh warping from her own to Phyre's exotic features.

An aura of purple flames enveloped her and she rocketed off towards the Palace with Force Flight...


Meanwhile...

Incapacitate for now, my dear..." Arianna said warmly to Draco Miles , knowing she was ready to die for her.

"The Cult's day will come, Draco. But today is about sending messages. About striking psychological blows more than physical ones..."

Arianna led her deeper into the museum.

"Today, Draco, we are going to truly steal something my daughter loves away from her and never give it back. She's only been mellow when things are going her way. When they don't? She'll flip out."

Arianna then escorted Draco deeper into the Museum, thinking about the deal she had made with Nathan...



Three hours after the wedding...


"You two do make such a lovely couple..." Arianna said as she sat across from them, in the same dress she would wear when sacking the Palace Museum weeks later.

"I suppose I should be surprised to see you here...yet somehow I'm not..." Nathan said as he sat in the fancy folding patio chair next to his wife, Vera Mina .

Arianna sipped her tea, sparing a glance at the ocean.

"I'm told you want to make a deal..." Nathan said. "You know...part of me is inclined to kill you for your role in her corruption..."

Arianna stared at him a moment.

"I warned her. Every step of the way what they were like. I begged her to cast them off. But she loved Amy. In the end all I could do was try and keep her from devouring the very people who flocked to her." she said quietly.

"What an awfully convenient way of remembering things..." Vera muttered.

"And you failed at that as well." Nathan pointed out.

"Yes. I did. But I am at least trying to do something constructive with my failure. Besides, once you hear my offer, I'm sure you're going to be at least TEMPTED to forget all of that."

Nathan folded his arms...

"This had better be one hell of an offer..."

Arianna smiled and leaned forward.

"I offer to deliver into your hands not only the Battalion, but also the means to enter The Brain Demon's realm and slay her. I also offer you joint ruling command of every defecting House Io member willing to swear by me, along with their ships, their weapons, space stations, economic reserves, businesses, and Droids. I offer all defecting House Io forces to merge with yours. You think that clone army is powerful now? Wait until it's joined by up to half of House Io's military."

Nathan and Vera went wide eyed. Arianna smiled, leaned back, sipped more tea.

"And in exchange, what do you want?" Nathan asked slowly...

Arianna smirked.

"My demands are small..." Arianna said. "A pittance, really."

"Speak." he said.

"I want all of Laertia's direct Daughters to be adopted by you. All her direct sons as well, including Percival Io ..." Arianna said. "I love him and want the best for him. But I cannot provide that for him at Khemost."

"That can't possibly be all you want..." Nathan realized.

Arianna blinked.

"There is one more thing I want..." she trailed. "I will be no outlier in your House. To give the merger legitimacy, I must have a central role. But in order to do that...I must merge...with your wife..."

Arianna leaned forward for the last word.

"Permanently...Right here, right now, on the spot..."

She smiled that friendly, Aristocrat smile as she leaned back.

"I promise not to be intrusive...most times, you won't even remember I'm in her cells..."


Arianna sensed the presence of Milena the Piece , dark and rotten, and she flagged down a Black Knight to intercept her. They could afford no annoyances.

As they got closer and closer to their prize, Arianna's flesh shuddered as she sensed the unnaturalness, that which she hid during the invasion of Tython, where Draco had played a pivotal role in the Destruction of the Maw Superweapon...

It was a weapon taken from a parallel reality, taken from a dying version of Laertia that was already The Parliament.

It was behind a case, sealed with a hundred curses for security.

A strange, crossguard lightsaber , whose properties she had gone to great pains to fully hide...

 

[Percival Io]

The mysterious Green Knight emerged from the smoke. Over seven feet tall and bristling with muscle, he appeared to wield a massive, razor-sharp sword which he used to cut down any forces that tried to halt his progress through the Museum.

Except it was all a lie. An armored Percival strode through the chaos created by the Sorceress’ spells, watching the faces of the people around him contort in pain and horror. The things they were seeing weren’t real, only illusions, and yet some part of him felt sickened. Misguided though they were, they were still his people. He was still Ioan.

A few members of the Doves accompanied him, wearing masks to hide their faces. Those that were Neutralizers blocked their siblings from identifying them within the wireless network that bound all their kind together. No doubt there would be repercussions against the Doves—but if the authorities didn’t know who was a Dove, it hardly mattered.

Percival observed from a distance as Arianna spoke to her apprentice. He knew that she had planned this attack down to the most minute details. Mother was away, unable to intervene. Thanks to a bit of spellwork, eye witnesses would believe a lie, spreading word of an Alliance invasion that never actually happened. All for the sake of seizing… something. She had remained tight-lipped about it, refusing to tell them what it was they were after.

He didn’t trust her. There was no trusting someone who was essentially multiple schizoid personas in a trenchcoat, anyway. But in this, he definitely wouldn’t count his eggs before they hatched.

He had failsafes of his own, ready to deploy at the first sign of treachery from Arianna or her allies. Though he had not actually killed anyone, his sword was in his hand, grip tight. Once the Cultists started arriving, he wouldn’t hold back. They would die for real.

Arianna Belasko Draco Miles Milena the Piece​

 

[Draco Miles]

Draco’s faceless blue visor stared down at her master with understanding, she would try her best not to kill anyone, but nothing was ever guaranteed. Especially in war. Having met the battalion only once, during the Life Day feast, it was hard to detect her through the force and discern them from everyone else, but at the same time it’d be easy to focus on her instead of Arianna Belasko since Draco made no attempt at concealing herself in the force, wanting to stand out as a challenger and inexperienced in the force. She had no gripes being labeled as a criminal to House IO, she even thought herself to be a likely suspect if this were to happen, since she was so new. She expected many to not trust her in the slightest, due to her overly expressive devotion to her master.

The coming battle had her giddy, her mind racing with the different tactics she’d get to employ over a creature similar in composition to her master. She was working up a strategy on how exactly to counteract and combat against a being who was made entirely of morphable liquid, a liquid she could probably very much control or tamper with if she combined water and blood manipulation.

“A decisive strike at the heart of our matriarch, Master? That is rather devious, and hopefully her fury will cause her to act irrationally and ensure us an easy victory.”

Draco said, knowing full well how anger can cloud a leader’s judgement and allow a rug to be pulled out from under them.

 

[Arianna Belasko]

"Trust me, my dear Draco..." Arianna trailed as she circled the mysterious lightsaber.

"What we are about to do will render her a whole lot more than just irrational..."


Nathan and his wife stared at the smiling Arianna.

"Why now?" Nathan asked. "You've had YEARS to turn your back on her."

"I wasn't about to rebel unless I had a better alternative in place. You are that better alternative..." Arianna stated.

Arianna folded her arms.

"Without me you can expect to spend the next decade, maybe the next two decades on nothing but skirmishes, with House Io refusing to commit larger resources to fight when they can simply hide and strike at the right moment. You're playing whack-a-mole, Nathan. Would you rather do that...or would you rather strike a crippling blow NOW, from which the Brain Demon loyalists will never recover, and spend maybe the next two or three years on vicious mop up operations, or go about it the way you have currently been?" Arianna asked.

She leaned back in her seat.

"You're free to refuse, of course. But if you walk away, this offer will never be open to you again. I'll lead the defectors on my own. And you can figure out how to get your revenge on your lonesome."

She smiled again as she watched the gears turn, felt the lust that had never quite gone away for him bubbling in her.

Sure, she was the fake of the REAL Arianna who had originally been murdered by Laertia years and years ago and whose soul was currently burning in Hell, and he KNEW she was a fake, but at this point, what was the use in arguing semantics?

"I'll need ten minutes to discuss it with Nathan." Vera said, her husband still silent at the Devil's Bargain Arianna dangled in front of him.

"Take fifteen." Arianna said patiently.

The Newlyweds left the table retreated back into Vera's office, and Nathan sat very quietly on a leather seat nearby.

Vera folded her arms.

"She's right, you know. I can tough it out, but with all our current responsibilities...we could very well be after House Io another three decades. Who knows if either of us would be alive at the end of it?"

"I know...but I can't do it..." Nathan said. "I would give Arianna nearly anything else she had asked...but I will not give her you..."

Vera's heart fluttered as she read Nathan's face and tone. He meant every word.

"A noble sentiment, husband..." Vera replied.

She stepped towards him, hands on her hips.

"Tactically impractical, however..."

Nathan rose up, grasping her.

"There is nothing impractical about wanting to keep my Wife."

"No. No there isn't. But the Kytrand army was never meant to help you just destroy the Cult. It's too large. You're too large now to get caught in this feud for years. Give it three decades. You'll be left hollow, wondering if you even want to win, wondering if you even deserve to."

Nathan was silent at this. Vera reached out and touched his face.

"Opportunities like what she is offering come but once a lifetime. How many on their side and ours will die if we go it the slow route? You can't afford that. Your enemy must be crippled now. Discredited."

"At the cost of losing the woman I just married. What makes you so willing to do this? To lose yourself?"

"I'm not losing myself. I'm securing our family's prosperity and sanity, preventing it from spiraling into any more of a psychotic blood feud than it already is. I am saving lives. You talk to me about what it is to sacrifice. To be moral. Let me be moral. Genuinely moral, for once. Let me make this sacrifice." Vera insisted.

She wrapped her arms around him.

"I will not have you die an angry sailor chasing the sea beast who robbed him of a limb, Husband. If Arianna played a part in your Daughter's downfall, than so did I. As you happily reminded me when we first met..." Vera said in a sincerely gentle voice.

"Let me save more lives than I have ever taken." she requested. "Let me act like a person you could be proud to be married to. Think of the fights we could win with the Defectors on our side. Think of the power our House will have in the shadows."

"But what if I lose you?" Nathan asked. "I would give all this, the army, the company, my fortunes, my powers, my skills to keep you intact."

"You won't lose me. I love you too much to let her take me over completely..." Vera insisted as her databases registered a truthful response in his statement. "But thank you for saying that."

Nathan still looked extremely hesitant, but his tactical mind kept shouting at him. The Force kept shouting at him. The Force was in support of her argument. He hated that it supported her argument.

"Is this what you really want?" he asked. "There is no coming back from the Alterations. Ever."

"I've done nothing but mutate all these decades. Besides, I am a Princess of Clan Li-Ves. I have too much pride to be assimilated fully." she said with a smirk.

Nathan stared hard at her and then kissed her. He hated that she was right. That this was what the Force wanted. That this might be the only way to avoid a total massacre that would go on slowly for years between House Io and House Bloodscrawl. Like two Mafia families killing each other in perpetuity.

"Alright." he said. "We'll go along with it."

"You won't lose me." Vera repeated.

The Newlyweds walked out of her office back outside to the patio where Arianna awaited.

"We have come to a decision about your offer..." Vera trailed.

"I'm all ears..." Arianna promised.

"We accept..." Nathan said. "I have conditions to my acceptance however. I want your blood oath that my wife will always be the one ultimately in control."

"Done." Arianna said without hesitation, opening her palm with a ritual knife and spilling glowing white blood from the cut onto the ground, rapidly turning a glowing green as her signature formed from the spilt blood and then burned it's way into the stone. Nathan's eyes subtly widened at the severity of the oath she had just sworn.

Vera raised an eyebrow. "That was quick."

"Holy chit, you're actually serious..." Nathan said in a genuinely shocked whisper.

"I don't have time to banter and negotiate if I want to save everyone and everything in my family that is worth saving. There is no room for pride this time. Only action." The Countess replied. "Like I said, You won't even know I'm there most days.

"Doubtful. Don't write checks you can't cash." Nathan replied. "Be warned. If this is treachery, Arianna--"

"I've already given you my Blood Oath as a Force Spawn. What more do you want?" Arianna asked.

Nathan folded his arms. "I suppose it will have to do."

The Force Spawn Blood Oath was the one ritual no Force Spawn could defy. Syd had been telling him about it. It was extremely rare for a Force Spawn to use it, because defying the Oath once it was sworn meant their demise. Rarer still for one to give it so willingly. Arianna was serious, for better or worse.

"Whenever you're ready..." Arianna said to Vera, who stepped forward. Arianna stood from her seat, and clasped Vera's face.

Globules of Arianna's tissue began pulling away from her face and burrowing deeply into Vera's. Skin, muscle, bone blood, all gradually sliding away from Arianna's still hovering gown and into Vera's body, making it swell and warp disgustingly as Vera's body bulged with the faces of various women everywhere, Arianna's now empty gown dropping to the floor. Nathan backed up away at the terrible power filling his Wife's body, creeping into every cell, until the tissue reset on Vera's bones, steam escaping through erupting fissures on her skin, her mouth, eyes, nostrils and ears as her bubbling form gradually retook the appearance of his Wife, having been reset to her Public Guise, stumbling backward. He caught her, highly disturbed as her face shifted between hers and Arianna's for the next few seconds before setting back on Vera's.

"Vera!" Nathan exclaimed, his face twisted in genuine terror, his Bloodscrawl discipline shattering entirely in that moment, more human than he had been in years...

"Vera talk to me!" he said desperately, unable to bear the idea he might have lost his wife a second time.

Vera's eyes fluttered open, flesh rippling on her face like water for a few seconds before resetting.

She stared up at Nathan, fascinated by the look of terror she had never seen on his face before. Terror at the thought of losing her.

His terror was forever hers. She filed away the memory in her database, because it was Terror over her fate. It was proof of how he felt about her. She never wanted to see that again. Yet she loved him all the more for it. He had cast away his emotional armor completely for her. Just for her. The memory was treasure, despite the circumstances.

"I am sorry I frightened you." she said sincerely.

"Are...are you still you?" Nathan asked, ever so slightly trembling from the adrenaline.

Vera reached over and kissed him. It was the best kiss of her life.

"You tell me..." Vera replied.

Nathan saw it in her eyes. Saw his wife was still genuinely there. Admittedly, the kiss also helped.

Nathan grasped her tightly in relief. His armor gradually started coming back up, being shakily latched back together...


Arianna placed her hand against the display, sheer will tearing away the protective enchantments. The display shattered, and Arianna wrapped the Lightsaber in fabric. It was too dangerous to hold for long.

"Countess, your grandson has arrived. We're showing him through the Security Cordon we've set up now." one of the Rebelling Nuetralizer Model 1's said.

Let him through, as there is much that must be revealed to him before we move against The Battalion...now we enact phase two..."

Outside, from where Percival could see, Doves in Green Knight Armor inspired by Percival came out of the woodwork in the Midas neighborhoods and streets, marching on Brain Demon worship centers.

High strength Radiation Beams lanced out from a chest cannon, the bright green blasts fires from two to three different angles, exploding entrances, killing the Cultists caught completely off guard by Arianna's treachery as the beams cut through duracrete and exploded Cultists in showers of irradiated White Blood and yellow gore. They were of course hit with powerful lightning blasts but that was the only point in which an armored dove started to retreat. The attack was so sudden, and conducted with such breakneck speed and precision, that the Cult was actually reeling from the ferocity of the Dove's assault.

It was at this point the true scale of what Arianna was doing became apparent. This was no mere show of Force. This wasn't some elaborate robbery.

This was a line in the sand. Arianna was leading a total rebellion against the Cult. And by the looks of it it was not a small one. All Nuetralizer models, both mechanical and Organic could be seen fighting Cultists in the streets, deliberately avoiding targeting anyone else, still too caught in the illusions of the Countess.

But that wasn't all...

Maple Harte , aka Darth Strelok, marched through the streets sniping any Brain Demon Cultists an Individual Dove was having trouble with. Doves were dying. The Cultists, even off guard, were still vicious.

When Percival Io arrived, Arianna turned to him.

"Percival...I have news. Obviously..." she joked in a wry tone.

"I am leading a massive rebellion and merging the Defectors with House Bloodscrawl. I couldn't wait for your approval, but I got Thel off of Khemost. He's aboard a defector Star Destroyer, far out of the system. Rebecca let me take him. Here's the coordinates to the moon the ship is in orbit around..." She said, handing him a piece of flimsi with the information. "You'll be able to pick him up once we've concluded our business here."

She then showed him the Lightsaber wrapped in a bundle. The same one the Alternate Laertia had given him.

"You'll never know just how many I killed to keep the secret of this blade...it's true power from reaching The Parliament's ears..."

"Percival...this blade...can kill Force Entities..." she said. "I...tested it...at one point...so I know what I am talking about."

Her expression became tired. This was the moment it would be apparent in the toll it was taking on her..

"Nathan has agreed to adopt all of Laertia's primary sons and daughters as his own. That includes you, should you have an interest." she added quietly. "All defecting Nuetralizers will join his military. All defecting Citizens too. As we speak, The Colossus of Shadows itself is being stolen by the Defectors."

There was a massive quake in the palace.

"ARIANNA!" Came the Roar of The Battalion from seemingly everywhere.

Arianna sighed. "Look on the bright side, Percival. You'll always have the satisfaction of saying you awoke to everything that was wrong with us before I did. I'm sorry for taking so long to come around to that truth. But there is nothing I can do about the past now. All I can do is save who and what needs saving. You in?"

Meanwhile, the smoke generated by a Black Knight began to creep up on Milena the Piece ... followed by a storm of Shuriken aimed at her back...

Draco Miles

 

[Percival Io]

Cultists arrived in droves to defend the museum. At last, the order was given to attack for real. Percival dropped the charade, swinging his sword and decapitating the nearest follower of the Demon. A guttural roar escaped him, muffled through his helm, as he achieved catharsis after years of suffering and torment at the hands of the Cult.

He ripped them apart.

"Percival..."

At the sound of his name Percival whirled toward Arianna, disemboweling a Cultist as he turned. The metallic green of his armor shone beneath the gore which covered him. He faced the Countess, and thought something looked different about her, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"I have news. Obviously..."

He listened as she told him the truth about the scale and ambition of her plans. Percival had suspected the rebellion was coming, though to realize that now was the moment was quite another matter. He surveyed the battle around him, scattered with shattered hopes and dreams. House Io was tearing itself apart. Every fiber of his being wanted to scream in horror at the sight. He had been built to serve his House, after all, and it was dying before him. Only the remains of Galahad and Lancelot, both of whom had thrown off the oath of loyalty, kept him from falling into a loop of broken logic.

"I couldn't wait for your approval, but I got Thel off of Khemost. He's aboard a defector Star Destroyer, far out of the system. Rebecca let me take him. Here's the coordinates to the moon the ship is in orbit around..." She said, handing him a piece of flimsi with the information. "You'll be able to pick him up once we've concluded our business here."

"He's not safe until Rebecca is..." Percival couldn't bring himself to say it. "Until the Deluge and the Cult are no longer part of his life. Leave her to me, Grandmother." If anyone was going to destroy the Deluge and Rebecca along with it, it would have to be him. Because he loved her, and because he had to be sure it was done right.

Arianna showed him a lightsaber. He recognized it as a version of the one an alternate Laertia had once given him. The power she ascribed to it was immense. Percival was no fool. He had kept the blade on his person at all times ever since, just in case.

She asked him if he would agree to be adopted by Nathan. Percival's expression couldn't be seen underneath his helmet, but he closed his eyes in resignation. "Tell Nathan to adopt Thel in my place," he replied. "The boy will need a father figure, and a mother too." If everything went according to plan, he was likely about to lose the only parents he had ever known.

"Look on the bright side, Percival. You'll always have the satisfaction of saying you awoke to everything that was wrong with us before I did. I'm sorry for taking so long to come around to that truth. But there is nothing I can do about the past now. All I can do is save who and what needs saving. You in?"

Raising his blade, Percival nodded his head. "To the end," he declared, before twirling around to bisect another Cultist. He took off, charging through crowds of foes, carving a path of destruction on his way to meet his destiny...

Arianna Belasko Milena the Piece Draco Miles​

 

[Milena the Piece]

Location: Museum of Khemost - Khemost
Tag: Draco Miles Arianna Belasko Percival Io

Milena could feel it. She was getting closer to the nexus of the uprising. Wards, force fields, illusions, and other means of misdirection or obstruction that had been placed in her path and were either bypassed outright or resisted. In doing so, she had blazed a path which she hoped that others from the Cult might be able to utilize, if they could put their pride aside for long enough to follow after a Fragment.

Regardless, Milena pressed on, making her way into the museum proper. However, before she could get any further, a haze-like fog suddenly swallowed her form, forcing the Fragment to tap into her Sense as she attempted to draw a bead on the individual responsible for generating it.

And whoever it was, Milena knew almost by instinct that it could only have been a Black Knight.

“Are you sure that you want to do this? Do you really want to disappoint Mother?” Milena growled, as she drew her katana from its sheath and swept her gaze across the immediate area. “It’s not too late. We can still work this out. Together, like family.” The Fragment continued, her voice falling into a low purr as electricity danced across her manicured fingertips. “Why don’t you come out an—”

A sudden whistling noise, followed by a searing explosion of pain as the shuriken cut through her catsuit and bit into soft flesh, spilling white blood in the process. What came next was a wailing, pig-like squeal as Milena staggered down onto a knee, before gritting her teeth and reaching down to the side of her back to pull the shuriken out from her slivered flesh.

“Argh! You’ll pay for that Demon-sworn!” Milena hissed as she tossed the bloody shuriken aside, her tone turning venomous when the curse left her lips. Nevertheless, the Fragment drew deep from the pain, harnessing it as a font of energy to power her Sense as she searched for the traitor Black Knight. Unfortunately, her senses turned up empty, but the electromancer was not prepared to give up so soon.

“I’ll have to burn you out instead!” Milena howled, just as she unleashed a veritable Tempest of dark side-powered galvanic energy from all of her limbs, discharging electricity in whirling, omnidirectional fashion so that she might strike the hidden traitor wherever they might be. All the while, the superheated air around the electrical channels brought explosive waves of concussive overpressure that carried enough kinetic force to shatter armor, smash bones, and blow open organs. In that fashion, her electricity delivered not just pure galvanic energy, but also kinetic energy that would likely send any who it struck flying back in a manner akin to a telekinetic push.

Spoiler: Loadout

• White Catsuit - Armorweave Construction
  
  • Gauntlets
    
    • FAE/M-02 Energized Gauntlet Vibroblade - R
  • Force Artifacts
    
    • Spirit Anchor
    • Amulet of Many
  • Utility
    
    • Supernal Infusion
    • FAE/C-05 Infiltration Suite
• Krath War Blade - Katana Style

 

[Draco Miles]

"How wonderful, Master. Now all that is left to be done is to make our escape with haste"

It was then that the Battalion roared out for Arianna and her head, a request that Draco simply could not, and would not, oblige. She started with utilizing her first blade, the double bladed saber that she had been forced to craft via her first master. It was what most were used to, and what she had used to bait others into an easy fight for herself. Stepping out of the vault and out onto the battlefield, Draco truly witnessed just how devastating Arianna's defection was to House IO, it looked almost like a 50/50 split as Doves battled cultists in the street, as the ground glowed with gold and white ichor, sparkled with green and red.

Such a target rich environment~... but Draco had her orders, and they were to neutralize The Battalion once and for all. She moved with ferocity for where the voice emanated looking to leap upon the Force Spawn in her augmented beskar armor and overwhelm her with pure, unwavering, and unyielding strength. The immovable force which concealed herself in the force, disguising her presence as merely another dove before activating her saber at the last moment and looking to clash with her opponent, to divert The Battalions attention all towards Draco and her fiery anger, an inferno of malice which burned hotter than Mustafar itself, and brighter than the star it orbited around. Words did not need to be exchanged, their swords speaking only what was necessary. One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall

 

[Arianna Belasko]

The Battalion, currently the third Darth Phyre, found that the defectors were not eager to engage her as she moved through the Palace to her destination of intercepting Arianna for her treason. She could feel her beloved Parliament's distress, her screaming heartbreak and incomprehension at being betrayed by those she loved. The growing, blistering, homicidal rage at Arianna in particular.

The Battalion in Phyre decided Arianna wouldn't be reabsorbed back into the Cult.

She would be disintegrated on a spiritual level, like Lysandra Crownwraithe had been.

She grew frustrated when she encountered none ready to oppose her. Arianna, she had to admit, wasn't stupid. She knew she would just be throwing valuable personnel away if sent to delay Phyre's approach. She came across Citizen soldiers, still utterly crippled by illusions, writhing on the floor. In spite of herself, and in spite of her nature, Phyre took the time out of her schedule to delicately remove a teenager from a dangerously close sparking cable. She would not have it said, even on this day of unprecedented humiliation, that the Cult did not take its Social Contract with House Io seriously.

The Parliament's heartbreak grew as she saw the destruction through her lover's eyes. All she had built, being torn down not by some outsider force, but from within. By a loved one. Her rage and that of The Parliament were one and the same at the moment.

Spare no traitor, and make sure you keep Arianna alive so we can RIP HER APART OURSELVES. The Parliament demanded telepathically.

When Phyre arrived in The Battalion's catsuit, the defectors stayed back and let Draco take the fight to her. She spotted Arianna, looking at Phyre with that collected, smug smile. To think the Battalion had once tried to keep her safe from the Phyre inhabiting Amy.

"Really, Countess?" Phyre sneered, approaching, not feeling Draco in the Force yet.

"Years. A decade or more with us. And you turn now?!" she said with incredulity. "You think you won't be looking at a noose going over to the other side? You'll be an abomination to them."

"Better the noose than to have to watch another Cultist Holiday on Khemost!" Arianna sneered back. "Whatever House Io wanted to be originally, its become an evil, perverse thing controlled by evil, perverse people. If...if the evil cannot be purged...then what's left that is not yet corrupted must be separated for its own good. And the evil destroyed."

"Bold talk coming from a former Matriarch of this Cult!" Phyre snapped.

And then she was fending off a decloaking Draco who savagely attacked her from every angle with an expert ferocity that genuinely caught Phyre off guard before she began matching Draco blow for blow (and yet, not quite able to actually penetrate Draco's defense).

"This apprentice of yours shall not long hold me!" Phyre roared as she began to try and attack Draco's mins, only to run against the wall of Draco's fiery Malice and be utterly repelled.

Arianna's flesh, in the meantime, started to bubble, and her mouth widened unnaturally as a great portal formed in front of it composed of crackling blue energy...

and out of that Portal stepped Nathan Bloodscrawl , armed with his Wife's lightsaber lance.

Phyre's eyes widened and she parried away Draco's strike and backed off. This was bad. Worse than bad.

Phyre began to understand just how bad her situation was when Syd Celsius stepped through also.

It was a trap. For me, Phyre realized, even as the powerful attacks of Draco began to tax her defense and energy. Draco was starting to be exhausting to defend against. Arianna had trained her well.

Arianna's flesh ceased bubbling and her figure reset itself.

"Oh, fear not, Phyre, I'm not that much of a cheater. Nathan is the only one helping Draco. We're just going to dampen your powers, me and Miss Celsius."

Phyre snapped in a psychotic fury, her whole form lighting up and surrounded by flames as parts of the museum section caught fire.

"I AM NOT SO EASILY BUTCHERED!" Phyre shrieked, hurling massive blasts of disintegrating red flames from her mouth that demolished and exploded whatever they hit on impact. Only Syd's protective Barriers against the flames prevented any deaths from occurring. Nathan Teleported Close to help Draco in the Assault, while the combined might of Syd and Arianna suppressed Phyre's ability to call on her darkest magics.

Phyre was forced on the defensive again, this time on the verge of being terrified. She lunged at Draco after parry a strike from Nathan's yellow blade, trying to find a gap in her armor with a well placed stab...

Meanwhile...

"Gah!" The Black Knight attacking Milena the Piece yelled as he was blasted backwards, his heavy, samurai like armor barely taking the blast. His arm was broken.

"I have seen too much evil from the Cult. Laertia Io was my family. Heck, even Darth Xiphos sorta was. The Parliament? That thing doesn't comprehend what a family truly is." The Black Knight said to her.

He pulled off his most impressive trick yet. He created a bunch of ninjas from smoke, with ninja swords made of smoke, and sicced them on Milena from all sides, while he went back into the shadows,a storm of Zenji Needles, poison tipped with Nullification Resin were hurled at her.

The ninja swords may have been smoke, but somehow they would have an edge if they connected. A legacy of Laertia's training as a Master Magician.

Meanwhile...


The Deluge rampaged across Khemost, looking for Percival Io ...

But who she rampaged against wasn't the Doves. It was the Cultists. Citizens under the thrall of illusions were ignored by her and the Doves she aided. The Doves were surprised, hesitant about whether they should attack her or not. But they needed all the help they could get.

The Deluge butchered ruthlessly into Cultists under fire, each Sorceress she fell condemning her for her treason. But Rebecca hated the Cult that much, and loved Percival and Thel that much, that she had infected every personality inside her somehow with her treason.

A team of Doves in the powered suits marched behind her as she generated portals to flood Cultist compounds from all sides with Dove Assault Teams.

So when she saw Percival killing Cultists in her green Armor, she all too happily butchered Cultists in the savage fighting in the streets to try and reach him.

"Percy! You've decided to go full friggin' open traitor too?! GLORIOUS!" The Deluge shouted, beheading a Cultist. They had had bouts of this before, but never so public in opposing the Cult.

"I let Thel get taken by Arianna..." she said to him. "I protected him. They can't say we didn't protect him..." she added in a whisper.

She looked at the chaos. She was covered in white blood and debris dust, yet it wasn't quite Rebecca talking, but her and everyone the Amalgam had fused her with. Her face shifting between her standard one and others yet unfamiliar to Percival. The Deluge has always taken care to suppress manifestations of her other selves normally. Rebecca had possessed unusual control even then.

This suggested everyone inside was acting in accord.

"The Parliament is racing back as we speak. What's your plan?" The Deluge asked, only wanting to help her Lover, having picked her side.

 

[Percival Io]

Percival saw her first, separated from him by the crowded street. “Rebecca!” he called out. “Rebecca!”

"Percy! You've decided to go full friggin' open traitor too?! GLORIOUS!"

He fought his way toward her, cutting across the battlefield, leaving a trail of blood and gore in his wake. When she was within arm’s reach he started to hold out his hand, only to hesitate. He couldn’t quite believe this was happening. How could she be on his side, betraying the Cult?

"I let Thel get taken by Arianna..." she said to him. "I protected him. They can't say we didn't protect him..."

Thel. This was all ultimately for Thel. With what was left of Laertia’s experimental society falling under the sway of the Cult, the boy had no future as a Citizen of House Io. Percival nodded slowly, understanding at last.

"The Parliament is racing back as we speak. What's your plan?"

Before he could reply, his sensors registered movement behind him. He whirled around just in time to block the overhead slash of an enchanted katana, coming face to face with an old enemy.

“I killed you once already, Chorus,” he stated, his tone devoid of emotion. “I will kill you again.”

The blonde witch uttered a cry of rage and launched another vicious attack at him. Forced on the defensive, Percival skillfully weathered her assault. He looked for an opening in which he could fight back and seized it, battering her in the face with the butt of his sword. She stumbled back, pale blood spurting from her nose.

Another Witch had arrived; she was soon joined by a third, a fourth, a fifth, until more than a dozen surrounded him and Rebecca. He recognized their faces—they were all fragments of Witches he had killed in the guise of the Green Knight. These decimated Covens had been shattered, the split pieces mere shells of their former selves, but together they were still a force to be reckoned with.

As they converged upon him all at once, snarling and tearing at his armor, Percival was quickly overwhelmed. One of the Witches managed to remove his helmet. He slew her, but the Chorus, seeing an opportunity, slashed at his exposed throat.

Warning signs exploded across his vision. He staggered back, only to be forced to his knees by the Chorus. “Who's killing who now?” she asked with an icy laugh. Behind her, the other fragments converged upon the Deluge, determined to keep her occupied. The fighting crowd closed off the space between them once more. Percival was alone.

Right before the attack began, he had deleted all traces of himself from House Io’s systems. This included erasing backups of his personality and memories, as well as those of his brothers Galahad and Lancelot, to ensure no further copies of them could be made. He planned to upload his current self to the Bloodscrawl systems once his betrayal was complete. No sooner.

Perhaps some part of him had wanted to achieve true death, ceasing to exist after a decade or more of suffering and loss. That was before he knew Thel had been spirited away by Arianna; before he knew that the Deluge had betrayed the Cult. Before he knew just how strong Rebecca was, no mere victim of Phyre and the Demon. Before he knew how much she truly loved him.

A choking sound escaped him, metallic blood gushing from the deep wound in his neck. The Chorus swung again, and this time she hacked his head clean off his shoulders. Percival’s last sight was the Deluge fighting desperately through the crowd, still trying to reach him. His final thoughts were of Thel, wondering if he was truly safe with Nathan. He had to be. He had to be…

With a roar of triumph, the Chorus seized Percival’s head by the hair and held it up like a trophy. Vacant-eyed and eerily still, it was like the head of a doll cut off by a vindictive child. She chucked it away as if it were trash. Setting her sights on his traitorous lover next, she grinned and dove for Rebecca. Not to attack, but to try and force an absorption—to join and dominate the many personas that made up the Deluge.

[My Salvation is to Die a Knight of the Round Table: 12 XP!]
The Deluge​

 

[Arianna Belasko]

The Deluge was free. For one blessed moment, it looked like she and Percival would be unstoppable.

Her red saber staff murdered Cultists by the dozen at his side. She wanted to find a new destiny. One with him... somehow...

And then, the one person who had kept the person known as Rebecca Hahn trapped deep in the Deluge from fully giving in, watched as he was torn away from her by The Chorus and the others while she was separated from him in the Chaos.

A very human pain entered what was still human in her. Despair.

Rage...

The kind of rage that had turned Westenra Mina into The Demon of Jedha...

...or even Laertia Io herself into Darth Xiphos...

The Deluge went fething berserk.

Savage hatred like she had never known, for what she had been turned into, for what it had turned her family into in turn, flooded her as she buzz sawed into the Cultists, using her power to open black portals that swallowed them up. some closing before fully sucking a victim in and cutting them in half.

But it was when she saw The Chorus holding Percival's head, then tossing it out, that everything went black for her.

When she regained awareness, every last Cultist around her was dead. Ripped apart. Sometimes with lightsaber attacks. Other times, the Force.

But most? Including the Chorus? The Deluge had killed in the old fashioned way...

(John Wick: My hands)

She looked down. Her hands, and the rest of her soaked in white blood and yellow gore...

The Doves that had witnessed what she had done were traumatized, including the ones wearing power armor. They were also terrified of her as she emptily stood up, looking for Percival's head and finding it. Blank. Empty eyes. Locked on her before his head was severed from his neck.

Rebecca Hahn broke down sobbing, clutching the Head of Percival Io, every persona sobbing inside also.

He had had a cruel, unhappy life from the moment he was activated, she reflected. His purpose betrayed by his own designer, who grew slowly more enslaved to her own feelings as time went on. He had never truly recovered from learning The Amalgam was his Mother. Something had broken in him receiving her last will and testament, and it had never fully been fixed. And his relationship with the rest of his family had never recovered either. Especially with his Mother. His First Activation by a Cultist, his Final Deactivation by a Cultist. It was perverse. Unfair. She hated Laertia Io like none she had ever hated before. She hated Laertia even more than she hated The Amalgam. Her selfishness, her inability to let go of her feud with the Order had ruined the lives of everything and everyone around her.

Percival would not be resurrected by the House. Not after what he had done. No matter how much The Parliament might still genuinely love him (Or even The Battalion) they could not forgive his treason. Not this time.

In death, he was proof his Mother's experiment was a disastrous, unabashed, truly horrific failure. In a twisted sense, it was perhaps a mercy he died here, now. So he would not have to see the real end of his Mother and her fruits.

For what would he have been afterwards? Just another HRD in the Galaxy. A Chaplain no longer. Not in the House Io sense, anyway...He would never again enjoy even a quarter of the acceptance he had gotten as an Android in House Io territory. Outside, there were few places that promoted Droid Rights openly the way Laertia had. The ones who would stay would be psychologically devastated by the civil war. It was a blow the riches of Khemost could not mend...

She knew his physiology...for just a second, she was tempted to take this surviving part and expose it to Gamma Radiation...a new Percival would pop out from the remains a few hours later.

But she knew. She knew Percival would want to stay dead...

She placed the head on the ground, before she noticed the saber Arianna had given him...the one she had raided the museum for...

Knowing it was important, she took it, and his weapons. This time, Percival would get the rest he wanted.

She reunited head with body and, with the heat of her own heartbreak at having to make sure he stayed dead if she truly wanted to give him a sliver of anything even approaching peace, she set the corpse on fire with the Force, her white tears of blood flowing down her face.

And that was when she had the perfect idea for revenge.

She was going to reveal Khemost's location to the entire Galaxy...

Percival Io

Milena the Piece

Draco Miles

 

[Draco Miles]

A fight tailored for her victory felt rather cheap, but was one she needed. The fact that The Battalion was being forced back so easily with only one hand on her double bladed saber spoke to the power she must hold on the force, and how she had forsaken the armaments their kind had used for millennia, if not tens of thousands of years. When she got parried, she went to grab something on her right hip, something that must've been another saber, but the hilt of it so strangely designed as if it were brass knuckles, and she hadn't even turned it on. With Nathan Bloodscrawl stepping into the fight, she paused and stepped back while Phyre had her mental breakdown, allowing Syd to work her magic. She knew it'd be an easy victory as long as he focused on backstabbing The Battalion, her force powers being suppressed only furthered their chances as she roared out... Then came what she was waiting for: a counter attack. As the battalion was thrusting her blade forward, Draco activated the hilt in her right hand, punching down on her blade as the lava saber Arianna had gifted her activated and pierced through the lightsaber blade, severing it before it could touch Draco and allowing her to thrust forward with her double bladed saber, piercing the witch through the chest just as she had intended to with the draconic warrior, that cold blue visor of hers not showing a single emotion as she dealt a fatal wound... but wasn't all she wanted. She wanted more, and would twist her other sword to keep Phyre's blade away as she forced her hand into Phyre's body and sook to control her ichor, to control the water or blood in another's body and force it to flood the brain, causing an aneurysm in a normal person, looking to brutally end the fight and ensure that her opponent wouldn't regenerate

 

[Arianna Belasko]

Darth Phyre shrieked in helpless rage at how it was all coming apart in an instant.

For the first time...

A version of Darth Phyre felt fear...

She felt in the way that this apprentice, who had never really been on her radar, began to crush her at the blade. Draco Miles was a natural and with a pissed off Nathan Bloodscrawl assisting the brutal assault, in addition to her powers being suppressed--

For the first time in her life, in ANY version of a Darth Phyre's life, she was on the back foot. Surrounded by people ready, willing. Able to kill her.

Nathan, practically smashing away her strikes, using his greater drive, height, and strength to its full advantage, Draco, her style and weapon confounding the more traditional training of Phyre, who snarled as the first blade pierced her stomach badly, spilling, and she was only barely able to fend off her little Blood Stunt (To which even Nathan couldn't help but be visibly impressed that it had come so close to success at all, given how Phyre's body violently shuddered from the assault. She staggered back, barely able to think...Draco had struck a severe blow with that blood trick and had basically done to her what far, far too many had failed to do in combat.

Nathan hadn't wanted some closure bringing duel, personal, just between the two of them, the third Phyre finally realized as she barely fended off their combined attempts to skewer her.

No. Nathan had never intended to give her the fight of her life.

Nathan, to put it simply, had much bigger, more ambitious goals now, she thought.

He was trying to do to her what Elaine Tear had done to him as a boy:

Nathan and his friends were going to tear her world, the one built by her lover, down to the ground, poor gas on it, and set it ablaze. She could feel the chaos, her wife's shock as the Rebellion by the Doves, by Arianna, aided now by the full, crushing might of a megacorp, began to do what The Alliance, The Sith, and The Bryn'adul had all failed at.

House Io rent itself in two, the part that was still sane and had not given in to the Cult's message tearing itself away from who had. Friends, husbands and wives, lovers across societal classes, all rent at each other.

She felt Nathan's ships descending through the chaos. Evacuation vessels for those done with her Wife's vindictiveness towards the galaxy and her insanity and her vicious cruelty to various fringe colonies.

War Knights slaughtered cultists where they stood, Stealth Knights stole priceless data and artifacts. The mechanical and organic Nuetralizers having been put in the position where most of them were more moral and sane than their own creator on her best day had been...not that there wasn't die hard loyalists...


Meanwhile...

Maple Harte , AKA Darth Strelok, was in tears as she watched it come apart, even as she ruthlessly gunned down Cultists or crushed them telekinetically. She could feel what was left of Laertia pleading for her to stop. But The Parliament didn't understand. She was too insane too.

House Io as it was...it was simply too evil to continue. Strelok used the Darkness, but even The Darkness told her the depravity she had witnessed here must end. The Cult was too sadistic and evil to let it keep such a massive power base. She had seen things here on this world that would have given your average Heathen Priest of The Maw the tingly feelings.

She thought of all her battles alongside them. All the victories. The losses. She knew the loss of Khemost would be the ruin of the one who had taken her in as a Sister to her. She wept as their once high minded ideals degenerated into savagery and hating men like Coren Starchaser for its own sake. (Laertia was STILL spamming any email he and his family had with hate letters and pictures of roadkill, and, for strange reasons that made sense only to Laertia, the copies of various fast food menus)

Strelok wept as she watched Khemost burn, as she reluctantly, finally, betrayed Laertia like Nine Lives had begged her to do years prior. But she hadn't listened.

Darth Phyre had been absolutely right about Uri. She had wanted purpose. She was disillusioned and she had wanted purpose.

And too many innocent people had paid the price.

Strelok had stayed to see it die. To see the Cult at last get punished for completely corrupting Laertia...and her...

Strelok watched House Io vets, with tears in their eyes gunning down loyalists. Cultists splattered on walls and pavement. Decades of madness coming to a head.

And Strelok continued to gun down cultists and loyalists.

Laertia's family was rejecting her.

House Io had traded the extremists of the Galaxy for their own, and it was as doomed as any of the Major Factions were. Even if they survived, they would be a shadow of their former self.

Strelok's disruptor fell on a fallen Model 1 loyalist, heavily damaged, laying in the street.

"Why?" he asked as she raised the pistol, hand trembling.

"I'm sorry..." Strelok said.

The Model 1 was turned into ash...

Strelok dropped the pistol, overcome with sorrow at what she was doing, even as she understood it HAD to be done.

House Io was too evil to continue as it was. Too evil for her to continue being part of it.

Strelok, on her knees, blinded by her own tears, watched as the city of Midas burned...

Meanwhile...

Nathan Bloodscrawl had known that Elaine would anticipate a more personal showdown, counting on Nathan's desire for personal closure.

But she didn't understand...

Nathan was willing to play unfairly and a hundred percent without honor where the Cult was concerned. He had forced his pride to the side. What he had built, what he was continuing to build, was much too important to risk on some overly personal Luke-Versus-Vader type duel.

He had a family to go home to.

Screw a memorable duel.

This was about winning at this point.

He was using his money for its intended original purpose though:

To visit upon an enemy that has made it so personal he is completely psychologically unbound by the usual rules of conduct he would force himself to obey with any other variant of Sith the Father of all reckonings.

And he could think of no better way to shape such a reckoning except but to model it after the fall of Castle Bloodscrawl.

Elaine Tear wearing the face of his enemy meant nothing. Nothing he did here could bring Lysandra back. He didn't want Lysandra back. He loved her, and always would, but he couldn't stand the idea of her learning what happened after she died.

How Julia had changed. How he had changed.

He secretly wondered if he would eventually go insane as Julia had, if the power would go to his head. His mind was cold, walled off from Syd as he battered away at the defenses of an increasingly rattled Darth Phyre, her powers being actively suppressed.

Several blaster shots hit Darth Phyre from behind, and she staggered back, held up by hate and rage.

The Man in White , father of Starlin Rand , here to stack an already high deck against Phyre even higher, stepped forward. He had been present for the original Phyre's death.

"Cowards...the lot of you..." Phyre choked out, face shifting back into that of The Battalion , wincing as she felt her stepson cut down in the street.

"And so this is your answer. Serve those fools who keep bungling their stewardship..." she coughed, backing away, blade on guard. She felt her The Parliament screaming in terror for her, begging her to flee.

"You think The Jedi will be grateful to you? Forgive you? You are another anomaly, like your daughter...and once they realize what you have been doing...how much power you have accrued...they will stop at nothing to tear you and your family from power. Slap you in irons. Burn your synthetic wife and daughter. Those clones you've unleashed..."

Nathan approached sticking close to Draco Miles and The Man in White. There would be no mistakes. No risks would be taken.

No mercy would be shown. Time and again, Cultists simply proved themselves too dangerous. Force Spawn in general simply proved themselves too dangerous to take chances when fighting one.

"When it happens, the only one paying for it is me..." Nathan said to her as he approached.

"Unlike last time...my family will be spared..."

"They will not see a hero. Only a bargain bin Sidious..." The Battalion hissed. "They care for their "principles" first than the actual morality behind following them. It's more important that the rule be obeyed. Even if it results in madness and death--"

"Oh. So like House Io, then..." The Man in White said coldly, leveling a repeating pistol at her.

The Battalion opened her mouth to retort...and stopped... perplexed...then a horrid realization dawning on her.

Her words failed her at his reply because he was absolutely right..

Zabka emptied the clip into her chest and she staggered back, coughing white blood.

"We gave you an army...an ARMY of grandchildren..." she hissed.

"I know. And that's why I have to save as many of them as I can from you..." Nathan replied, eye twitching.

Syd's hand rammed through The Battalion's chest, Nathan having teleported Syd behind The Battalion.

The Battalion shrieked in a metallic tone as her flesh bubbled horribly everywhere, her body fusing with a grim faced Syd's arm, whose face began to look like The Battalion's as more of Batty's body was broken down cell by cell, being forced out through the very fabric of her own suit and pulled into Syd's body through her pores.

"JUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLIIIIAAAAAAA...." The Battalion screamed as she was pulled into Syd's bulging, misshapen, steam filled body rapidly, until she vanished from her own catsuit, bones and all into Syd, whose body bulged, inflated, steam shooting out of super deformed, bubbly eyes and mouth and ears and nose.

Zabka forced himself to look. Nathan had to look as Syd absorbed and digested The Battalion, taking her information into herself, including what had been stolen from her by The Battalion at Korriban.

Syd's flesh rapidly reset to its normal state on her body, face shuddering between her pretty new face, The Battalion's, and finally retaking the old, red headed face Starlin Rand had known so well...

A fully restored--and more powerful than ever--Syd Celsius opened her eyes to Nathan's cold gaze.

There was silence. The Cult was not dead. This was just one blow to strike.

"It's done. She's dead..." Syd whispered.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The cry had come from Arianna, who was sobbing uncontrollably after a Model 1 came in and told her Percival was dead, handing her back the cursed blade she had entrusted to him.

"He...he's dead. They killed him. They cut his head off..." she wept, catching herself as she stumbled back, in genuine emotional pain like none she had felt since Laertia had fully embraced the Cult.

Nathan, knowing the consequences of his deal, knew he could not brush off her turmoil so casually and teleported to her, drawing someone forced long ago into the visage of a deadly enemy and then merged with his newlywed in a political alliance into his arms, trying to remember Arianna was an aspect of his Wife now, and that her pain was real, even if she only existed part of the time now.

Everything had gone right so far except this.

"We need to speed up the evac. We've done enough damage, Nathan. The blitz is a success..." Zabka said. "Lingering any longer gives Laertia a chance to regroup. And she will hit back HARD if that happens..."

Nathan nodded.

"Speed up the evac, all of you. All defector vessels should be prepared to jump to hyperspace..." Nathan ordered, turning to Draco.

"It's time to go, Miles. You're Arianna's apprentice, so you're welcome to hang with us."

"Yes, we must all hang together...or surely we shall hang separately..." Syd mused, flying off.

"I'm going to go and shoot more cultists in the face before I wrap this up here..." Zabka said, trying to distract them in his own well meaning but dysfunctional way "Wanna join me? Get your payback while it's hot off the grill."

"Sounds nice but...but..." Arianna's voice broke. "I think I've had enough death for one day..."

"Shoot forty and I'll give you a cookie..." Nathan muttered sarcastically but with a strange level of patience towards Zabka. "Go on ahead..."

Zabka sighed, nodded, and headed out of the apartment complex, immediately duel wielding on House Loyalists fighting defectors just outside the entrance.

"I prepared for every contingency except that..." Arianna hissed bitterly, looking up at her husband with wet blue eyes.

"We've lost him...and people like us...it's our fault to begin with..."

"Yes..." Nathan admitted. "It is..."

He looked around, looked at The Battalion's empty catsuit.

"I caused this. I caused all of it. And it's mine...our...just punishment...to put an end to it..." he said to her quietly. "You were right. You were right about me..."

Nathan cupped her wet face, knowing Vera Mina was listening as well behind Arianna's visage.

"Whatever hand others played in her corruption...it was still my choice to send her to this era to start with. It was my choice to betray Elaine Tear. It was my choice to listen to my Master and her prophecy of my death...and it was my choice to accept your help to visit this outcome on this planet. We killed him. We killed Percival. Like we killed all the others. But we must not let his death be in vain. We must try to make sure good comes out of all this..."

Arianna nodded.

"Draco, the rest of you...we must flee..." she said to the gathered House Defectors.

She and her husband began slowly walking out of the Khemost complex, the Defectors who had witnessed everything horrified beyond words...


Mellifluous Magenta