A Beginning Shrouded

[Jacobi Wylcott]

Sinking his knife into the panel behind Kita, it cut through skin like butter and nailed the cloth of her tunic to the wall, his body moved in proximity and he came very close to the girl - apparently too close without properly affixing his stance of foot - to be frank he’d never been set in this position with anyone so willing to strike the groin and she taught him a swift lesson here as the pole arm she wielded racked him hard. It would be fortunate he was standing so close as it would rob the actual power of such a concentrated strike - never-the-less even the adrenaline coursing through his body could overcome such a debilitating maneuver.

His knees buckled as pain ravaged him and nearly caused him to vomit, though such an occurrence would have been quiet messy for both of them and somehow he managed to choke it all down. His face plummeted and landed hard upon her left shoulder in reaction though not in attack but in recoil. If there had ever been a moment in time that Tormentous had the desire to murder someone - it was now. Though he failed to give voice to his furious rage as he choked down the words with budding tears in his eyes.

Needless to say - no one would ever know of this moment, it was one of those tales that would ever remain unsaid.

Fighting off the urge to collapse into the fetal position and really allow her the moment within which she could actually do harm due from the many weapons arrayed on the wall armory, gritted his teeth with widened eyes and trembling hands. However - he still seemed to retain some mental faculty since he thought far enough to release the knife hilt before he yanked it from the wall and started stabbing her in the stomach until she had no more blood in her and she long since stopped moving.

Obviously, he fixed his stance, kicking aside the end of the weapon haft that Kita could not repeat her dishonorable tactic. Following this, his right hand balled into a fist and his left side moved in to smash her up against the wall with his own body - since by all means he was quickly losing motor functions but for the fact that he grossly outweighed her, his own 225 lbs frame would be more than enough to squish the blonde into immobility without forcing him to actually exert much - of which he likely could not do for the moment. The right side of his body was away from hers at this point which permitted him the perfect positioning to target her left side - which was of course the pinned portion from the knife.

Like a piston his muscled arm flexed and he rammed a hammer blow towards her stomach with the intent to evict her of oxygen and render her more pliable to his will - which of course would be a swift and unceremonious deposit back into her floating cell before he passed out from the pain his body was beginning to register as the seconds dragged onwards.

[Slade Xandir]

Her back was to the doorway, body pressed silent and breaths held still as the man who had just threatened her in more ways than one just...gave the prisoner insight? He sounded different...calmer, and he felt...smooth. Raw, but polished in a natural way, like the snow from Hoth that she once played in as a smaller self. Like the staff her father had used to walk and train her with...the wood so forbidden but so open and telling and kind. It was full of memories that weren't her's, and she would hold the staff as a teddybear to her at night, praying when she awoke, a memory would come to her...

She hadn't known she had slid down the wall onto a ball, knees curled up to her chest and barely holding the labor from her breath as a tear threatened to trickle down her own lightly tanned cheek. But those memories...those precious memories...they never left her. They were far, but unforgotten. She had wanted to forget them after every night, they would replay, her father being blown to pieces with their home, over and over again. How many times she cradled the pieces of her home as she wailed, bits of flesh and robe alight on that frozen and heartbreaking planet. How whomever the robed bastard that had done that to her, done this to her, was still on her kill-list, and how merciless she would be once she got her claws into them.

Her reverie was shattered as a clink and a whoosh of air was what did it for her. Trying to keep up her incognito, she tip toed back up the steps as she wasted precious seconds trying to be sneaky, and then she barreled back down them, mimicking her simply hearing this commotion happening, now. Throwing herself in the doorway, the bright light showed the heavy man gripping the small teen by the whatever, a silhouette of clearly who was winning this small scuffle. But to her surprise, Kita threw another blow at Jacobi, and in some terrible gasp, she mentally cheered at the girl's chutz.

'You go, gurl-' was the flash of thought of encouragement the Phoenix shot the lithe teen who flopped a VERY gnarly whack back at the Mandalorian beast, before she harshly whispered out to him "What are you doing?? He's not gonna take her if she's messed up!" as he smooshed her up against the wall for tomorrow's flapjack breakfast. Er, well, if she had been him, she'd be extremely embarrassed. Mercy was ridiculously confused by whatever power of restraint he had in him not to just murder the girl. Atleast he wasn't a impulsive man.

[Kita_Ikari]

Kita smiled mischievously as pain crossed Jacobi's face. Even though she kicked him out of self defense, it did give Kita a sense of relief to get "some" payback for everything he had done so far to her since leaving Tibrin. She became stunned however as he face planted into her shoulder. When he did so, she started noticing the stinging pain from the cut he gave her just moments before. Her tunic slowly became soaked in what seemed to be not just blood from her cut, but...tears? Is he crying? This confused her, as she had never seen a guy cry before.

It didn't take long for Jacobi to come around however from her attack. Or so it seemed in her mind. With jaw clenched and eye wide with fury, Kita thought for sure he'd kill her right there. But instead he let go of the knife in hand, stood tall towering over her, and left her still pinned to the wall by the blade as he kicked the rod away from him. Panicking, Kita became slightly claustrophobic as Jacobi used his own bodyweight to keep her still. He was easily 100 pounds heavier and stronger than she was. However she tried attempting to push him off despite the fact Kita knew that, that was more than unlikely to happen.

"GET OFF OF ME!" She yelled furiously. If her eyes could shoot fire at him, they would have scorched whatever was left of his face right off.

In that moment Kita fell quiet as Jacobi's fist met her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and losing her grip upon the rod. If Jacobi hadn't had her pinned to the wall, she would have crumbled straight to the floor. Inhaling to catch her breath, Kita's lungs and stomach vibrated with a hollow pain causing her to have a coughing fit. Damn that hurt! She thought. If she had any strength at all in that moment, Kita would have tried to continue fighting him off...

[Jacobi Wylcott]

Her body went slack and the staff hit the deck with a loud clatter shortly afterwards. Her gagging and coughing was proof enough for his ears that Kita had been removed of the oxygen in her lungs and therefore the fight - however brief - was concluded. Tormentous wasted no time in gripping her wrist in one hand and the nape of her neck in the other, lacking tremendous strength due to his current disabilities he was still of an implacable might and he easily toted her bodily, whether she be kicking and opposing him or not, and he unceremoniously tossed her right back into the containment cell, activating it before she was able to make her escape.

Only when Kita was suspended in mid-air did Tormentous crumble down to one knee and grope his wounded pride with a snarl on his lips as he heard Mercy call to him and remind him that she was worth more alive and well then broken and crippled. She was right of course and so it had led him to incarcerate the girl rather than use her as a workout dummy in a sparring ring which would have surely left her exactly that - broken and shattered.

He remained coiled like a snake on one knee until the harsh pain subsided and once it did he lifted himself off the deck supporting himself on a nearby console. He glared into the rotating containment field for another long moment and continued to fight the urge to space her in revenge - which Mercy reminded him with a look that it was petty and would undo his ultimate gains in the long run. Instead he ground his teeth in frustration and turned away from the girl - it seemed that in all this he had finally made his decision towards her. Tormentous moved to stand beside Mercy, facing away from Kita. “I’m going to drop us out of hyperspace. When that happens I want you to prioritize an encrypted message back to Moraband, attention of the Dark Lord’s eyes only. Establish it as a mission update.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder at the containment cell, there would be no going back after this. Only a moment later did he continue, his voice level and without doubt.

“Let the message report: [/i]‘Galactic Alliance patrols have increased and delayed our route back to the Gordian Reach. Rerouting. Delay no more than thirty six hours.’[/i]. That should buy us all the time we need to get things into motion.” He stepped away from Mercy and began climbing the ladder up to the cockpit deck. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and a small window.”

Just as he had told her, the Firespray-31 Assault Craft, ‘Jai-Galaar’ broke out of hyperspace which had been directed towards Moraband and the Gordian Reach and went into a drift, their location was somewhere still deep within Alliance space and easily within what was considered deadspace - a location outside of a star system and well away from any feature. It was nothing, truly, deadspace. He gave Mercy only enough time to set the digital message and transmit it before he began to orient the Firespray once more and set a new course - Hutt Space.

It only took twelve or so minutes for the navicomputer to calculate the new jump path and once it did he eased the Firespray to the jump mark and off they went once more into hyperspace. Tormentous’ plans were now in motion. Darth Blood’s reign - as far as Tormentous was concerned - was numbered. This leg of the trip would take six hours. Which meant out of their original forty eight hour journey from Tibrin to Moraband, with the eighteen already accrued hours in addition to the thirty six hour delay, they had sixty six hours before they would be expected on Blood’s doorstep. Tormentous had no intention of being late, for in order to continue the ruse of his employment as a Mandalorian Mercenary then he needed to keep his reputation in concert not only that but keeping Blood happy would mean keeping Blood unaware of what was truthfully right under his own nose. With him being a paranoid person already, it meant that Tormentous didn’t have wiggle room to screw around with. He had to keep things air tight.

That said, he sealed off the cockpit from Mercy and all other sources, and took a nap to ease his most recent wound and regain his strength. He wasn’t about to go back down there without being better off. Kita had taken him by surprise once - once was enough.

OOC: ---Continuation in Hard Knocks for Training---

IC:

With the passage of time ticking away to the sixth hour plus forty five minutes, the ‘Jai-Galaar’ came out of hyperspace over the dreaded discolored world of Nal Hutta. The Firespray drifted forward on its sublight drives set low for a time, the ship board AI engaged to set the Firespray down on a predestined pad somewhere on the outskirts of one of the major scrap cities of which the actual location wasn’t even on the map. It was a shady place, or shadier dealings.

Jacobi himself got some equipment readied. A gun belt with twin holsters dropped to the left and right thighs, a large buckle in the middle and a sheath in the rear for his combat knife. Several grenades, linked to his own thumb print’s activation were on the belt as well though none were anti-personnel fragmentation - there were two EMP grenades and two flashbangs - alongside the grenades was a hexagonal disk on the rear of the belt which was a deployable vibroshield should things get too heated in close quarters. He equipped his gauntlets too this time - custom made fittings that enclosed his Mandalorian Crushgaunts which themselves were capable of crushing steel. The left had a holographic tactical unit along with a twin barreled low caliber blaster that was once an RLW-77 Wrist Laser. The right had a flame unit. All this - and he considered himself lightly armed.

He didn’t equip his armor, it drew too much attention and this was a mission in which they needed to rely on some careful preparation. With himself prepared he opened the cockpit and descended into the cargo hold - by this time the Firespray had entered the dirty atmosphere of Nal Hutta and had set down on its surface. Jacobi moved to the containment field and disengaged it - releasing Kita. This time he didn’t help her down even though he’d more or less buried the hatchet over their earlier fight. He had more pressing things to deal with right now.

Moving to the wall armory he opened a section and tossed a black body glove out and onto the floor. This wasn’t all, he took out a short vibroblade, weighed it in his hand and put it back - too heavy he had decided. A long dagger without a vibrocell was next. It had a small brass hilt and a double edged stainless blade that was a mirror sheen. This felt better and he set it aside, also accompanying it with a holdout blaster with no more than five shots. These things he set into a small belt and then tossed it to the deck alongside the body glove.

Finished, he looked to Kita. “Those rags won’t do you. Get suited up. There is a pair of boots in there,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to the armory, “probably too big but we’ll worry about something more tailor fit later.” Without another word he stomped down the exit ramp and left his ship where he’d await Mercy and Kita.

[Slade Xandir]

If the man had power over pyro right now, he probably would have set Kita on fire just by staring at her, Mercy thought with her heart threatening to pound it’s way into her throat. She took a step forward, worried he might even reconsider his relent and throw himself through the barrier somehow, ending the incapacitated girl faster than a snapped neck. But no; he rose after unraveling himself, walking with heavy thuds to where she stood. Though it didn’t exactly make her feel comfortable, she rather him not kill the girl and risk all their necks. But little did she know, that was precisely his plan, anyway.

He instructed her to send in the relay to Blood, and from the sounds of it, it felt wrong. Her brow furrowed as she added up some numbers and considered how close they were to Sith-town right now. It wouldn’t take over a day to reach Morraband-....what was he doing? An inkling settled in the back of her neck, trickling just underneath the barbed chain she had that held the hidden indigo sapphiric kyber crystal that was once her father’s in one of its cinched prongs of blazed white gold. It was a simple sense of danger, and it built upon itself moment after moment, step after step as he dismissed her and as she went to send in this awful lie.

“because that’s what it is, isn’t it?” she asked herself, sitting at this communication terminal, half gloved digit hovering shakily over the transmission pickup for her mic.

A lie. To the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Tormentous was coming back-

And she was being forced to blow the horn in this war.


Later, hanging upside down in her room, she pulled up again, crunching her body with a pair of arms held behind her shoulders, hands cupping her hair braid and preventing it from smacking her in the eye or stuffing itself in her mouth, somehow. Another curl down, her abs burning under the heat of the gain. It also stung, sweat gliding into the papercut-like wound made but Tormentous’ threat earlier. Irritation flexed her flat until with a scrunched up pair of trimmed brows and a riled growl of vexation, another curl was committed to. She had lost count, but the best workouts were the ones you weren’t immersed in. They faded through you but stuck to you.

Releasing her hair, she gripped the sides of the bunk frame and flipped herself down, landing on sweatless feet but burning thighs. A deep exhale and quick wash up punctuated her workout before she dressed into another fit of tank and cargos- this time shorts- before braiding her hair and walking out of the room. She didn’t know whether it was morning or night, but she couldn’t sleep. She wandered. Then, the ship stopped, settled, and-...
Landed?!

“!!! Shatfrakkingoddamn-“ she turned on a damp heel and booked it back to the cubbyhole room and threw something not only more presentable, but more ‘just in case he gets pissy and wants to box’ on. She grabbed a bundle of weapons, her jacket, a pair of flak jackets and some holsters of various sizes, a thermal and some extra plasma cartridges for her swampstunners. Shoving all of this in a bag, she zipped and caught up with the group, the only tell-tale of her absent mind being her hair remaining braided and tucked behind her tightly.

[Kita_Ikari]

As Jacobi grabbed hold of her tightly around the wrist and neck, Kita was pissed off she hadn't been able to continue on with her assault. But she wasn't able to recover quick enough from the blow she took to attempt another punch at him. And the fact he was still standing took her by surprise. She was quite sure of herself that should of made him fall to the floor in an instant with her tactic. But it seemed to Kita that her captor was just as determined and stubborn as she was to fight back and gain control of the situation. 

Once her coughing fit past as Jacobi pulled her along, painfully she reached up trying to get him to lose his grip on her neck by grabbing hold of his wrist. But as expected, his strength was well over hers. The true downfall of being female. But she wasn't a quitter. Still she tried fighting her way to freedom. But to no avail. He tossed her back in the containment cell and had it activated within seconds. It was then Jacobi finally broke down onto the floor of the ship. For some reason his holding out for as long as he did before collapsing impressed her, but it also made her determined to see how far she could push him.

Ignoring his piercing gaze as Jacobi got back up, Kita looked away and decided to pretend she didn't see him. Her interest peaked however as she intently listened in to Mercy's and Jacobi's conversation. Things into motion? What things is he talking about? Anything further on the conversation couldn't be heard anymore once they left the cargo hold.

~Later~

Kita had been asleep but quickly woke to the sound of Jacobi's footsteps coming through the cargo hold door. Normally groggy, she found herself on high alert as he entered the room and deactivated the containment unit. Landing on her feet, Kita's blue gaze watched curiously as Jacobi opened up the armory throwing down a black bodysuit and examining a few blades before choosing one and putting it in a belt sheath along with a gun before tossing it down in front of her. Doesn't he know I could attack him right now if I wanted too? She thought eyeing the blade and pistol. Kita didn't understand why he was taking a chance like that in the first place. Then again, she noticed he was geared up too with weaponry.

Those rags won't do you. Get suited up. There is a pair of boots over there. Her gaze looked up from the pile of equipment to the boots along the armory wall. As he left the cargo hold, she stared dumbfounded. "What just happened?" She mumbled confused. Shaking her head, Kita quickly changed into the black bodysuit thankful at least to get out of her dirty attire. But she was frustrated as the legs and sleeves were a bit to long. Bending down, kita rolled up the bottoms inwards and her sleeves before grabbing the boots. "Why does it have to be black? I hate this color on me." She said to herself irritably. Picking up the belt, she securely attached it around her waist and opened the door peering out briefly before leaving the cargo hold. Kita wasn't sure what was going on, or why she was willingly listening to her captor, but she was determined to find out why he had released her...

[Jacobi Wylcott]

Surprisingly patient, Jacobi waited on the two girls at length and finally Mercy showed first and she looked worse for wear having come directly from working out with not so much as a wipe down. He stared at her almost amusingly as the thick humidity went hand in hand with her already increased body temperatures and she burst into a sweating mess. Not so devoid of his sense of humor any more he could have snapped a snide comment though he cared not to do so - he’d taken her against her will and now he was forcing her to trudge through the muck of Nal Hutta - yea - he was going to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t need her wanting to kill him more than she already did right now.

It didn’t take much longer before Kita joined them on the ramp. He also eyed her and gave her a strong nod of acceptance - she’d done as told and skipped the rags for something more practical and more importantly more maneuverable. She’d hopefully not need the gear he’d given her but without full range of his powers he wasn’t about to risk the girl he was putting so much effort into keeping around. He definitely considered the threat of her shooting him in the back - but he was weighing that against her need to remain safe in this terrible place.

Even Mercy, as dangerous as she was, she was definitely a target here for slavers but with the sight of Jacobi - as mean and nasty as he looked - but moreso as a savage - they were as safe as anything here. Even before the coming of Tormentous, Jacobi Wylcott was not sadistic but he was cold blooded when it came to places like these - infamous for his brutality.

“Let’s get this over with. I want to be back on the ship before nightfall.” He declared coldly and stomped off the ramp and right into the mud of the world. His boots sank to his ankles and once the surface of the filth was penetrated the stinking rot came up, bubbling from eons of decaying pollution.

The wildlife - if it could be called such - skittered away. Swamp rats and other minor organisms of pithy existence all fled from them as they slogged through the slop. They marched through the rotting woods, over fallen logs that were crumbling as they even approached with alien worms crawling through the once wooden remains. It was very representative of the nature of Nal Hutta, a world nearly destroyed by the native inhabitants - the Hutts. A festering wound upon the galaxy. A rotten heart of the worst crime lords history had ever known.

Two and a half miles. That was how far they would need to go before arriving at their destination. Typically such distance would only take about twenty or so minutes to traverse at a brisk walking pace. But through this sort of terrain it would cost the group a full hour and a half.

By the end of the first forty five minutes even Tormentous’ muscle bound legs were screaming as his feet felt like they weighed an extra fifty pounds each with all the caked mud stuck to them. With a malicious look he glanced over to Mercy who had already her fill of a work out earlier and he chuckled silently to himself at her circumstance. He also glanced over to Kita, a girl who’d ever know the sandy beaches of Tibrin. This rude awakening that there could even be such an awful place was also a point of Tormentous’ entertainment. Jacobi on the other hand looked upon Kita with another look in his eye, one of determination - he looked at her strength of will and her endurance. Yanked from her home and cast into this hellacious situation and still she was fighting - had had respect for that. What a Warrior of Mandalore she would become if the chance ever took her.

Something inside of Jacobi wanted to stop this when his eye fell on Kita. He wanted to give her the code-lock for his ship AI and tell her to get away from here as fast as his ship could take her and to get as far away from Tormentous as she possibly could. As the dark shadow fell over his heart at the realization of what was going on right now and what they were going to do - he slowed and stopped in his muddy tracks. Jacobi Wylcott was fighting against Tormentous’ plans by placing so much doubt in his own mind that he was beginning to second guess this entire plan.

‘Kita,’ His mind called out to her, ‘Run while you can!...’

He felt his left hand drop to the grip of his pistol as thoughts of drawing it and shooting Mercy and then himself came across his mind.

Never before had Jacobi been able to stop Tormentous from the foul deeds he bore upon the galaxy. All the people murdered and families destroyed, the worlds burnt and populations enslaved. What atrocities were committed in his name - the worst pandemics and plagues of history enjoyed his company. But when Jacobi looked at Kita he didn’t want this anymore. He wanted to fight it. But who was he kidding? If he let her go then Tormentous would just hunt her down again and do something worse yet. Doubt continued to cloud Tormentous’ mind through Jacobi’s will as Mandalorian fought Sith Lord. He came back to the thought he’d had long ago - he needed to destroy Tormentous. That thought alone brought the rage of the Dark One back to the forefront of his mind and the Sith Lord began to harden his heart against Jacobi and in turn Kita.

That was when Tormentous started to ponder and think that Kita was going to be too much trouble for what she was really worth. Maybe it’d be better to shove her into the mud and drown the girl right now. His blind white eye seemed to look upon her a moment, promising just that exact thing. Pure unadulterated hatred. He could feel his knee on her back and his hands digging through her hair to her scalp well beneath the mud as her lungs filled with pollution and her body slowly spasm into nothingness. It would be delicious. Her death an echo in the Dark Side and her fate sealed for eternity. Without Kita’s presence then Jacobi would fall back into that beaten depressed state he’d been when his sister was murdered - Tormentous grinned to himself - murdered by his own hand. The glories of that moment when the Sword of Damnation cleaved head from shoulders, splitting that perfect platinum hair, and finally found the release it so desired to claim the blood of the Nightmare’s Child - Tormentous’ soul surged and Jacobi had been cast away into the depths thought never to return.

Tormentous could see the one sided bond forming on Jacobi for this girl of strong will and determination. He felt for her even if it was just the beginnings of it - a genuine interest. Ahhhhh…. There is was! Vile thoughts filled the Dark One - he would wait for such feelings to manifest and then make Jacobi watch as he ripped her heart out and ate it. It could be the moment where Jacobi finally broke down. ‘For now, Kita, I’ll not kill you. Especially if it’ll destroy him in the end.’ He thought to himself again.

His hand came away from his pistol and he looked at her, in a rough voice that did not hold the assured focus it once had he spoke, “Going to make it? We’re just about half way there.” As he stood there in the mud he glared to Mercy - she could likely feel a great amount of conflict in him right now. And it covered him like thick fog.

[Kita_Ikari]

Kita was brushing her hair with her fingers removing knots as she approached Jacobi and Mercy. The body suit given to her proved to be comfortable, but it also made her realize she didn't really wear form fit clothing often. Pants and a loose flowy top or tunic were more her personal taste in clothing. Her blue gaze looked up catching Jacobi's nod of acknowledgment. She wasn't quite sure how to react, so she nodded back in turn. Her gaze quickly rested on Mercy as she noticed the sweat glistening off her. "By the look of it, you must of been busy." She said casually to maybe strike conversation. 

As Jacobi spoke and started leading them out, Kita stared at the muck that appeared to cover most of the planets terrain. The smell swiftly passed her by as the mandalorian stepped into it. "I don't mind walking through this...but the smell is definitely not pleasant." She stated while trying not to breath in the stench. With that said, she jumped in and began her trek in step next to Mercy. 

Unsure what creatures were dangerous or not as they passed by, she was thankful that the wildlife here were avoiding them. Climbing over rotting logs proved to be harder than it seemed. One of her feet broke through the rotting wood at one point. It had certainly taken her by surprise but fortunately she wasn't hurt and pulled her foot out without any assistance. Once they got halfway to their destination, Kita was starting to grow tired. And she wondered what exactly Jacobi had planned on this venture...

"DANG IT!" She yelled irritably. Her foot had left her boot as she was treading through the thick mud. Kita kept her foot off the ground as she grabbed hold and gave her boot a strong tug. With a loud popping sound, the air released underneath its sole and the boot was free. Carefully balancing herself, she began putting her boot back on. As she did so, Kita swore she heard Jacobi call her name...but didn't hear anything else within his message. Once ready to continue on, she looked up in his general direction. "What is it?" She asked in confusion.

Unaware of exactly what was going on in Jacobi's mind, Kita had her mind more focused the whole time till now on other things. She wasn't as focused on both Mercy and Jacobi as much as she had been trying to not fall flat on her face in the muck. Kita was secretly hoping to reach a more firm surface to travel upon soon. This planet was harder to walk through then sand on Tibrin in her opinion. 

[Slade Xandir]

She turned almost breathless from her haste to not look like she was caught with her pants down at this swift arrival. Everything was second by second with this man, the only opportunities to get this mess of a mission done being literally this moment. She wasn’t used to this, as every mission she had been doing with Dastan was planned ahead of time. They never were in a position where they needed to rush through things. While on the mission, sure, they had certain second-deadlines that needed to be hit to get certain effects, so everything went according to plan, but this?? This was a whole different regimen. And it was going to show on her. Her level of whatever calm demeanor Dastan had worked hard to instill in the typically impatient and easily riled girl was going to slowly wear away on this barely contained Apprentice, and she’d begin to revert back to the fireball that she had been, should this unbelievable time schedule continue. And a face that would have soured milk was thrown at Jacobi as he stared at her while she furiously tried to push back the ends of her moist bangs and fix her sports bra. Yanking it with a very unladylike side twist, she showed how little of his opinion she cared about. She wondered if it made him uncomfortable, but with a high level of doubt, she turned to Kita who’d come out with a fuss, herself. Jacobi went down with a demand, as now usual, and made his heavy way down the metallic ramp in practiced march. Mercy hadn’t even gone halfway down with Kita before the smell hit her from Jacobi’s steps. A gag snatched her with a raised forearm to her nose as she forced herself to stop the reflex.
What the hell.

Looking across, the Vyler was growing more horrified with the fact that this whole lands was this putrid muck. She regretted wearing shorts, she regretted her ignorance of this place, and most of all she regretted her lack of preparedness for this mission.
A sigh of defeat consumed her and she made peace with how pissed off she was going to be for the rest of the day. Yea...they had better be finished before nightfall.

As they walked, Kita stayed beside her, and she didn’t blame the girl. Who wanted to walk next to a monster? “I just thought I’d-“ she started as their first pair of steps landed in the muck. While Kita only yelled out a bit of disturb, Mercy held back more retching. It was gonna be either that, or another spazz our lines with curses. So maybe it was good her tongue was held next to the kinder girl. Recovering, she didn’t want to say anything, as it was her entire power to hold down the nothing that she ate that morning. And she’d be damned if she vomited in front of the man who just got his balls kicked in. While he passed through her mind, Kita passed through his, as Mercy felt him stare passive lasers into the kid. She trudged on, but slowed down a bit as she felt his stare increase on the girl, and immediately she tried to figure out what the play was. The guy was a ticking time bomb. Semi-gloved hand slid down to her right holster, slowly and not on the side where Kita would have noticed her. The swampstunner remained just under her- but it was only a forethought until Mercy peered harder at the mind of Jacobi...
Or what she thought was Jacobi. She was clearly puzzled as she peered harder into what was the front of his mind, the image, the what she could only see on the outside. She could only feel the rawer aspects of what he couldn’t contain, and it was... jagged. It stung, and anytime she tried to get closer, it would swap over to the other creatin’s edge. But that was it- there was an other in him. She couldn’t get much further than that in the disturbed man before she felt a heated and highly pressurized glare gravitate to her direction. She pulled back with haste before finally deciding to put her hand on the pistol. With this strange occurrence, it was better to be safe than sorry.

What the hell was going on with him?... and what was that IN him? It was like an argument, but...with a body. “Yea no, we’re good,” she forced out through careful response, pitting much more emphasis on ‘good’ to seem just peachy in this pisspoor place with this garbage situation they were in. It was a lot more stressful being here than what she thought, and what scared her the most was that she got used to the smell. Above that? Being led by a frakking psychopath who she just couldn’t figure out the mindset direction of. Something was going on with this man, and she didn’t know what to do.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

With their affirmation that they were right there with him for lack of wanting to be or not - Tormentous turned away and continued to stomp his way through the slop. An old broken tree was in his way and he kicked it but the rot was so bad his foot found no opposition and it went through the log. The old tree snapped on its base and stuck to his shin - he nearly tripped but kept his footing barely. In a rage he gripped the rotten wood and ripped it away, setting it above his head like a club to come down on the mire before him in a punishing overhand blow that never came, the end of the log rotted off and fell behind him which caused the portion he swung to fling into the muck and splatter half way up his body with nasty filth.

He was THIS close to throwing a massive tantrum and going after what he perceived to be the kin of the log when he stopped and reminded himself that this wasn’t getting them any closer to their - his - goal. Instead he angrily tossed the chunks of rotten bark away and grumbled to himself, actually talking to Jacobi, as he marched forward in a huff. Tormentous was getting very annoyed at the constant conflict the Mandalorian was putting him through. He had to give it to Wylcott, the guy just didn’t quit even after he was beaten. With his condescending words muttered into nothing, he just kept on going - this time around the next set of stumps.

Within the allotted time and as sure as he’d guesstimated - a shanty town of scrap tin and old pallet wood for decking began to loom through the distant mist. A single shabby looking tower lorded over the swamp and no sooner had they noticed it along their approach did the lookouts notice them too. “Hold here.” Tormentous commanded his muddy pair of misfits.

Sure enough - engines roared in the mist and the sound of repulsors igniting echoed across the marsh. The animals that had been singing or crying out fell to silence as three speeders could be seen taking off from the scrap tin shanty town. They flew up high and made a lazy loop to come around in the direction of the incoming foot sloggers. Jacobi clenched his left hand into a fist and put his hand on the grip of his right pistol, without saying so he hoped his girl’s would do the same - for their own protection as much as his too.

The speeders were a mottled mess of scrap themselves but slightly resembled two one seater swoop bikes with some random assortment of weaponry strapped onto them and one larger speeder that was occupied by a pair of thugs, it had a flat bed that was equipped with a wire mesh cage that was very rusted.

Coming in, the swoops circled them twice before sliding sideways to a halt and aiming their light repeaters at the trio. The flatbed came in on the first run and settled behind the swoops. The bikes were piloted by Weequay, ugly looking aliens with bad tempers and a very ill reputation. The flatbed was piloted by, to Jacobi’s surprise, a Jawa! The second rider of the flatbed was a huge Ithorian with a bandanna and an awkwardly positioned eye patch. Literally in any other scenario Jacobi Wylcott would have laughed at this gnarly bunch of hired guns and picked a fight just to do it. Tormentous on the other hand stayed his tongue for the moment and kept business on the mind - knowing that a certain Jedi Grandmaster was on their trail and getting into a fight when it didn’t suit him would be counterproductive to his gains.

But! It didn’t take long for the Ithorian to gutter out some deep accented words in Huttese. Jacobi nodded, “We’re here to see K’cuf.” Jacobi reached into his cargo pocket on the side of his pants, letting the tattoo on his right shoulder be seen clearly - as soon as these pirates saw the marking they visibly made cautious looks at one another, there was fear in those looks. Jacobi produced a pouch, “Split it amongst yourselves. I just want to see the Doctor.” He tossed it to the Ithorian who caught it in one hand, when he revealed the contents the pirates went silent as a single stone fell into the Ithorian’s open palm - a kyber crystal.

Without any further pandering the Ithorian pocketed the gemstone and barked at them but Jacobi didn’t relent, pointing angrily at the big alien. “I don’t think so. You aren’t going to stick us in that cage, friend. I want the bikes.”

In outrage the Weequay shouted defiance in Huttese as well, one of them charged his weapons, the other drew out a cleaver and waved it about menacingly. Tormentous said nothing, wondering if he ought to let Jacobi handle this - without a doubt the Mandalorian Warlord would have shot them already. No, they needed to stay in K’cuf’s good graces and killing his people was not a good start. “That gem is worth more than that entire frakking town you live in and ten others besides, give over the bikes or I take the kyber back - preferably pried from your cold dead fingers.” The last bit was particularly malicious in tone. Once again the flicker of eyes went to Jacobi’s arm and back to one another, finally they gave in and the Weequay dismounted and skittered over to the flatbad with glee. It was all too obvious that these four would inevitably kill each other over the riches bestowed upon them, maybe that was Tormentous’ plan for them all along to sow discord until they killed their own friends? None could truly say.

Again the Ithorian barked and Tormentous nodded, “We’ll be right behind you. Take us straight to the Doc.” Happily, the Ithorian croaked something in return and Tormentous looked to the weathered pair behind him. “Guess we’ve got ourselves an audience with the Doctor.”

He approached the first bike and pushed it on its repulsor towards Mercy. “Don’t land right off. Take a good few circles of the town before you come in. We’ll most likely be shooting our way out.” The second bike he mounted and fired up the engine, Tormentous grinned once more beneath the mask as he was about to take off and leave Kita to slog through the mud the rest of the way, but he growled at himself as the words escaped him in a calm tone, “Let’s go Kita.” His teeth ground together as Jacobi actually acknowledged her by name instead of detached as in ‘girl’. Quickly the aggressive nature of the Dark One flared again as he added, “Unless you want to stay in that slop!”