Private The Fool

[Arlo Renard]

Perched on the ledge of a Coruscanti apartment building, Kai was trying to work up the courage to look inside the window. It had to be this one—he had triple-checked the room number.

The boy wore a black mask which concealed his identity, though the lightsaber hanging visibly at his belt gave away his profession. Wind ruffled his hair, reminding him of just how high up he was.

How high the stakes were, too.

Finally, he slipped his fingers underneath the window and slowly, carefully slid it open before disappearing inside.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"You know Valery doesn't like vigilantism."

Iris slipped into the window herself, just a couple seconds after Kai had. The black mask, she hadn't expected to see that kind of thing again. Not since she left Denon. And, well. Valery had already made it clear he was on thin ice.

"I don't know what you're doing, but it's going to get you in trouble if you go about it this way."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

"You know Valery doesn't like vigilantism."

Kai froze, his back to Iris.

<Yeah,> he muttered, slowly turning to face her. His expression was unreadable. <That’s what I’m doing here. Vigilantism.>

Well. As long as Iris was here, he couldn’t follow through with his plans. Part of him was tempted to just leave and try again later. But he didn’t think he could muster up the guts to do all this again.

<I appreciate your concern. But you really shouldn’t—>

His train of thought was derailed by the sound of an infant crying in the next room. As soon as he heard it, Kai became petrified, his eyes widening in stunned surprise.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

<Okay, I at least know when you're lying. What are you doing here if it's not some vigilante thing?>

Alright now things were weird. She eyed him suspiciously, even switched to mental speak. Were they breaking and entering a random home? No, she doubted it was random. But what did that mean? Then a baby cried.

And Iris was just more confused.

<What are we doing here, Kai?>

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai did his best to ignore Iris’ persistent questioning, raising a finger to his lips (more as a preventative measure—she was using telepathy, after all) and cautiously peeking into the room where the crying was coming from.

A knife was at his throat in the next instant, held by a mechanical arm.

“Who are you?” a woman’s voice demanded from around the corner. “What are you doing here?”

Kai took an instinctive step back. “Kai Bamarri,” he replied, his voice a rasp.

“I remember you.” The rest of the droid’s body stepped into the light. A female facsimile, her metallic face was static and incapable of showing emotion. This was Andromache, the Machine Mother.

“You wanted to kill the child I carried,” she said, her voice a low electronic hiss. “Is that what you came here to do?”

To be honest, he didn’t quite know what he intended to do here. He’d awoken in a cold sweat many nights, nightmarish images lingering in his mind of hungry infants feasting on flesh, born already addicted. Born tainted.

“Came to check on you,” Kai whispered. “To make sure you were safe.” It was a good enough explanation. "Doing fine, right? Kid's okay?"

"No thanks to the likes of you." Spying Iris out of the corner of one blue photoreceptor, Andromache demanded, “Who is she?”

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

What the.. What?

Iris was too stunned to even react to the knife being pulled. The stranger in the room. Well, they were technically the strangers in the room. And the colors were all.. Weird. She wasn't sure what to read on Kai, and the other was.. The other was a droid? The fact Kai introduced himself and actually talked to the droid said a lot about what this might be, but.. No. No, she had no idea.

"Okay no what the hell is going on?"

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

“Iris, this is Andromache. She’s a Machine Mother—a droid that… makes babies,” Kai introduced them.

Within the privacy of telepathy, he spoke to Iris: <The baby is a Sithspawn, the same species I was. They’re very dangerous, especially when they’re young—they have a hard time controlling their urges. I came here to make sure it isn’t causing problems or hurting people.>

“Andromache, this is Iris. She’s a Jedi, like me. We’re here to help.”

Andromache’s gaze flicked between the two. Finally, she took a step back, lowering the knife from Kai’s throat. “How do you intend to help?” she asked.

Kai shuffled his feet awkwardly. “What do you need?”

“Supplies,” the droid replied. “Although a simple donation of credits would suffice.”

“Okay.” Kai rubbed the back of his neck, trying to peer past her. Though she was no longer in a threatening stance, she was still standing protectively by the door, blocking the way inside. “Can we see the—”

“No,” Andromache answered before he could finish his sentence.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Oh. A baby. Sithspawn. That could eat people. And not resist it's urges. Here. On Coruscant. Iris's eyes narrowed just a tad. This was an appartment building. "You can't stay here. If they really can't resist their urges, you can't stay where you're endangering other people."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Andromache turned toward Iris. “What are you talking about? The child has done nothing. It cannot feed itself. It cannot even sit up. It is not dangerous.”

“Then can we see it?” Kai pressed.

The droid paused, perhaps calculating her options. “Only if you remove all of your weapons,” she said.

Glancing at Iris, Kai removed his lightsaber from his belt, along with the rest of his gear.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"How old were you when you attacked Dagon, Kai?" Iris was unmoving on this. She kept her eyes on the droid, though did at lwast unclip her lightsaber. "It's not the danger to others I'm just worried about. If you can say you'd honestly trust yourself as a child in that body to grow up with people around you like they have now, that you wouldn't hurt anyone, I'll trust you."

Her gaze shifted, now just watching Kai. Obviously on edge about.. All of this. Valery wouldn't approve.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

“I was a newborn,” Kai replied softly. “But I wasn’t so small and helpless that I couldn’t sit up on my own. Or feed…”

Those early years of his life as a Sithspawn were a haze of constant hunger, fear and paranoia. He had feasted on wild animals and livestock, terrified of sentients with their guns and blades and traps. His fear was so intense he didn’t even dare to imbibe their thoughts and memories half the time—and when he did, he always took too much, trying to satisfy the longing that gnawed at him constantly.

"I was alone. A feral child. Nobody took care of me." Kai shrugged in answer to her question. "I dunno. I'll have to see it for myself."

“Follow me,” Andromache said, satisfied that they were now unarmed. Perhaps she realized that it didn’t matter, so long as they had the Force—but that couldn’t be helped.

She led them into the room, a makeshift nursery. The crying had stopped by then. Kai tentatively reached out with the Force, and was instantly met with a familiar corruption. The Dark Side was present here… in a cradle.

Kai walked over until he could see what was inside. The Sith Doppelganger was the size of a month-old human baby, appearing even smaller due to being curled up in a ball. It was hairless, with elfin pointed ears and eyes sealed shut in sleep. There was no mouth visible in its largely shapeless face.

While Kai watched, colors drifted over its skin, shifting in its sleep. It’s dreaming, he realized, feeling rather funny as he stared down at the child he had considered unworthy of life.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

I don't know wasn't the answer she was looking forward to hearing. She frowned all the more, just following along as she looked through the room. The familiar darkness, the one that Kai had hidden away from the time she first met him. It was unsettling, now that she knew. She closed her eyes for just a second before watching the sleeping child just rest.

".. They can't stay."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

“Then where do you suggest we go?” Andromache asked.

Kai couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of the child in the cradle. “The Jedi could…” He trailed off, his face falling.

The Jedi never were able to truly help him. Those who bothered to try, at least—quite a few had tried to kill him on sight during his first years at the Temple. He had barely survived their attacks in his adult-sized body, while this was a defenseless infant… He shivered at the thought of what Ishida Ashina or Creuat might do if they got their hands on a baby Sithspawn.

“Somewhere remote?” he suggested lamely, not sure what to do.

“I will still need supplies,” Andromache said. “Do not maroon us on an uncivilized planet and expect us to live off the land. I am not capable of such functions.”

“Then—then I would deliver supplies to you regularly,” Kai offered, though it still seemed like an ill-suited solution to a problem that would only get more complicated as time went on. Doppelgangers matured rapidly, and they were naturally curious. This one would want to get out and explore the galaxy one day, no doubt. And what then?...

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"What happened to the group you used to be with? Do you still have contact with them? Can you ask for their help?" Iris glanced between the two before looking towards the child. Helpless, but the darkness there, how the colors bled, died. It was an infant, but already so corrupted.

It was easier when she didn't know what these could do.

"Kai, you can't. Unless you talk to Valery, you can't."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

"They're gone," Kai said sadly, his gaze drifting down to the floor. "Remember, Iris? That's why I… didn't want to hang around anymore."

His gaze flicked back to her when she shot down his offer. "We can't tell Master Noble about this. We can't tell anyone. It has to stay a secret, understand?"

He reached for her hand, clasping it between his for emphasis. There was fear in his gaze, fear borne of personal experience. They couldn't afford to take any risks.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I- I know. But I-" There it was, the one thing she didn't want him to ask of her. She didn't want to keep secrets anymore. Not from Valery. Especially not Valery. Her eyes narrowed just for a moment as she shook her head.

"Valery's not like the others. She won't just turn against them or anything. She'll help."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

“It doesn’t matter whether Master Noble will help. The more people who know about this, the riskier it gets. All it takes is one person too many, someone who can’t keep a secret…”

Kai shook his head vigorously. “No. We won’t let anything like that happen. No one is going to hurt this kid. I’m going to make sure of it.”

Turning to Andromache, he said, “Let me think about it. I’ll figure something out. In the meantime, just… take care of yourselves.”

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I'm not saying just tell anyone. I'm saying to tell Master Noble. Our Master. You can trust her, at least. Can't you?" Maybe it wasn't that easy for him, but she had no intention of keeping this a secret from her Master. Not when something like this could end with people dying, or loosing their minds. She glanced to the droid, her eyes narrowed in more obvious confusion.

She didn't like this, not where this was going.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

“You don’t understand…” And she probably wouldn’t. Kai’s expression remained strained even as he glanced again toward the sleeping Doppelganger.

He felt… empathy for it. A strong, overpowering empathy, and with it an urge to protect like nothing he had ever felt before.

“We’re leaving now.” It was a command, not a suggestion. He let go of Iris’ hand and headed for the exit, expecting her to follow.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Her gaze again shifted to the droid. Watching it closely. Even as Kai left.

".. You can't stay here. But that doesn't mean I want you to be helpless. Kai and I will get you help." Then she left to follow Kai. Her mind racing a mile a minute.

Arlo Renard