Ask Take Two

[Darth Raze]

Utapau
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The path was long and filled with infected, but the prize was worth it. He had uncovered the coordinates to the location of where the artifact rested. He knew it was a lab of sorts, and likely protected by the very kinds of creatures it could help create. The wraith had influenced a young Force user to join him on the journey. It was someone that showed promise with all the pain and suffering she had endured. Of course, he considered the girl weak in her current form - one couldn’t conjure lightning with cybernetics after all. But she had plenty of chances to prove herself useful in other regards.

The Anzat could see a horde of infected rushing towards them, and he calmly gazed ahead, “I trust you are capable of clearing the path,” He stated curtly.

@KaraLi

 

[Eleven]

No human contact​

And if you interact

Your life is on contract​

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The child followed the man. She had been doing a lot of that lately. Following and following and following all with the promise of power. With the promise of enough power to ensure she would be free forever.

So she acquiesced. Accepted following now so one day she would never need to again.

Yet it was always the same with these men. Always a test.

Barely glancing at the Sith, she stepped forward and drew the hilts from her waist and held them out before her. As the horde charged, she gave a shrug. The experiment had no intention of ending her journey here after all she had been through.

"Trust," came the word from her lips, more a snarl than anything, and the ignition of her orange-red blades followed in concert. Holding them before her like a pair of claws, she sprang, weapons striking out at any that got near her as instinct drove Eleven onwards.

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Your best bet is to stay away​

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

He wasn’t concerned with her becoming some sort of apprentice - he would never take on a child. No, he simply needed her to be an effective tool and the bar for that was surprisingly low. The Anzat watched with mild interest as the horde appeared.

Even as she began to engage the group, the ground abruptly gave away beneath her. Utapau was infamous for its sinkholes and unsteady ground. She would abruptly get thrown down and caught off guard, suddenly finding herself surrounded by hungry infected with jaws gnashing and rotting nails and teeth clawing.

Raze kept his distance for now, studying the terrain to look for ways to collapse it and swallow up the group. It had the risk of taking the girl down as well, but he needed her alive for now.

@KaraLi

 

[Eleven]

No human contact​

And if you interact

Your life is on contract​

​

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Growling as the planet itself fought against her, the girl didn't cease her attack. If anything, the sudden disadvantage seemed only to drive her on as she connected the hilts of her blades together and used her now freehand to push at the enemies, packing the gesture with every ounce of defiance she possessed.

Defiance and the Force, of course.

The numbers were against her as the infected fell on her and for several moments as more and more joined and she seemed lost beneath them...

Then at once came the tide, blasting the pitiable creatures away and leaving her on her knees in the middle of the group, injured but with a glare in her eyes that suggested she was just starting.

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Your best bet is to stay away​

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

He observed as defiance ignited a flame within her. She didn’t let her own inhibitions get in the way- gear shifting appropriately to the Force when she needed to. The creatures were blasted back out of sheer will. Within moments, there was nothing but silence. Raze did not aid her - he didn’t need to. Once she climbed out of the sinking ground, he briefly regarded her.

“Are you proud of what you are?” He asked without any further context. The wraith began to walk again, leading towards an incline in the path that would give them a vantage point to chart out the rest of the journey.

@KaraLi

 

[Eleven]

No human contact​

And if you interact

Your life is on contract​

​

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​

The victor stood and pulled on her weapon, separating it even as she deactivated the blades. A quick, cursory look over herself seemed to satisfy and she jumped out of the hole, landing before the other.

In a smooth motion, she placed the hilts back where she had drawn them from and gave him a shake of her head.

Pride? The people who had made her were proud of their work. Proud of what they had created until it destroyed them. Their creation had no use for pride.

Nor was she ashamed, however, of what she was. Hating herself served no purpose when there was plenty out in the galaxy to hate instead. Whether the Sith was among that number was yet to be seen, but so far...

Well, they had a use.

Letting just the motion of her head answer, she fell in line behind the man and followed, cybernetic limbs flexing as she tested them for damage on the way.

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Your best bet is to stay away​

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

The ridge provided a better view of the path to his destination. On top of that, he could feel the dark pulse from the artifact even from here. Even an acolyte like the girl would sense that something dark was alive, and it almost shined like a beacon in the distance. Along the way, there were plenty of sinkholes and the stench of infected permeated everywhere.

The Anzat leapt down from the mound, clearing a wide distance before he landed. He didn’t look back - the acolyte could jump or catch up on her own time. As they inched closer, that pulse in the Force grew stronger. It felt tangible, as if beckoning them forward. Raze could resist it due to his strength in the Force, but an acolyte would be lured a bit easier. They were words and promises that she always longed to hear, and it would be unique only to her. Raze could not conjure it for it was pulling on things deep within her psyche.

The Anzat continued walking, his mind a fortress that found the call to be nothing more than an audible compass.

@KaraLi

 

[Eleven]

No human contact​

And if you interact

Your life is on contract​

​

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​

Mechanical fingers squeezed on the opposite arm as she gave a sharp tug. It was almost imperceptible, but a connection locked in place and she flexed the joints of that arm with a satisfied nod. She would need some time to properly fix her equipment after the infected had managed to do some damage, but it would hold together just fine.

When it came to following Raze, she had no trouble until he made his leap and she frowned. Still new in enhancing herself, she did her best to follow. In truth, her cybernetic legs aided more than the Force in this endeavor and, though she had to make several jumps to his one, she did manage to not lose the man.

Perhaps luckily, though, she did wind up a distance behind him.

Far enough that even as the lure that beckoned in her head, she was in no danger of immediately overcoming him. Fits and starts she walked, struggling with the desire to rush forward. Struggled to hold back the urge to charge forward once more, this time to claim that which promised her everything.

And the closer they got, the more it promise, and the more she quickened her pace.

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Your best bet is to stay away​

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

He didn’t miss her quickening pace, and he wasn't surprised. Even her betters would have been lured by such a finely crafted object. His own pace didn’t change, even as she began to catch up and pass him. The wraith could practically smell the stench of abominations in the distance. They were unnatural in both the physical and the metaphysical realm of the Force, a wound in nature. To him, it spelled opportunity.

As if on cue, figures began to arrive on top of a hill. Raze knew the facility lay just beyond that ridge, but it was protected by the very things the artifact helped create. Manufactured beasts growled and clawed at the ground, smelling flesh in the air.

This was not a fight Raze expected the acolyte to complete on her own. Abominations were no easy feat for a Champion, and someone of her skill would get torn to shreds within moments. He first coiled the Force and collapsed the ridge, sending the entire row of beasts tumbling down and crushing several of them under the weight. It wouldn’t be enough to keep them down, but it could temporarily hold them. Abominations felt no pain, so there was little to lose.

The beasts were drawn to Raze like moths to a flame because of the vast reserves of Dark Side power he commanded. Curiously, this just so happened to give the girl many openings to attack the creatures without them turning towards her immediately.

@KaraLi

 

[Eleven]

No human contact​

And if you interact

Your life is on contract​

​

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​

It was in her mind now, clawing past the girl's resistances and mocking her with what it held for her just out of reach. She told herself it wasn't real, wasn't true, and yet if it was...

Her inorganic feet didn't stop once the creatures appeared. They were in her way and she had no intention of letting them stop her.

Digging into the ground with each step, Eleven sped up her pace as her hands once more found the hilts of her blades. If these were ordinary people she wouldn't rely on the weapons, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew the fangs were needed and she bared their orange, hissing glow for the beasts to see. To see and to fear as she dove in on them, hacking and slashing at their exposed hides with ferocity.

Ferocity only egged on by the promises of what awaited her once these were dispatched.

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Your best bet is to stay away​

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Raze]

The wraith worked quickly to engage the abominations. The girl would notice something curious - he wasn’t prioritizing simply killing them en masse. She could try and take some of them down, but he had different ideas for several of them. He became a blur of movements, impossible to catch and practically skating across the barren terrain. He was just out of reach of their snapping jaws, attempting to engage the beasts through the realm of the Force. It was something that took great concentration and skill, and it was especially difficult under pressure of being eaten.

It took a while, but one of them abominations abruptly stopped its attack. If the girl came to attack it, Raze would send her flying back with a simple wave of his wrist. He wouldn’t let anything interject right then. The beast growled and eyed Raze warily, but it didn’t bite. The Anzat quietly strode towards, meeting its gaze with his unnatural crimson eyes.

Time seemed to stop as the two beasts locked gazes. After a moment, the abomination animal slowly lowered the top of its torso into what was an unmistakable bow. Raze gazed out over the others, two others having done the same. Within seconds, those beasts turned on the others that weren’t under his control, clawing and tearing one another apart.

Raze was not the type to get his hands dirty unless it was absolutely necessary. While the beasts fought against one another, he strode ahead and effortlessly jumped up to the ridge, the facility directly in his sights. The call of the promises was so deafening here that even he would find it cumbersome to fight it.

@KaraLi

 

[Darth Raze]

With the abominations under his control, they tore one another to shreds in no time. The wraith had no need for further assistance. He soon made his way up to the research facility, which appeared abandoned. This wasn’t entirely surprising - anyone that made it this far would easily tear through a facility.

Glass shattered, doors came off their hinges, all without Raze ever lifting a finger. He strode through the halls, feeling that pulse of the artifact till he could almost taste it. He could feel Renfry in it, old memories tugging and clawing at him. But he had no attachment there - it was similar to the phantom pain of losing a limb. Imprints of the attachment Emryc had. Foolish, trivial thoughts that were useless, but ultimately beneficial since it lowered Renfry’s defenses. If he had done it all on purpose, he would have been a terrific Sith.

Raze ignored it, disgusted at even the grains of Emryc’s caustic psyche left behind. The Anzat collapsed the final chamber, his crimson gaze landing on his prize. It was the first time a genuine smile graced his lips since he obtained his own body. The artifact was powerful, but it could not deny someone like him.

His fingers closed around the orb, and he plucked it from its delicate hold. The galaxy would know soon enough what this meant.

/end

@Phoenix