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"Well then," an unknown voice hissed from the corner. "Allow me to show you who gave them their wonderful weapons."
"Cunae!" Shomari's voice was suddenly sharp as well as dangerously close to matching Taelin Cunae's tone.
"Ah," the short, yellow-skinned, fanged wicked creature grinned. "I'm surprised you remember me so well."
Shomari snorted derisively, "I doubt I'll ever forget, no matter how hard I try."
"Yes," he said in a low hiss. "A Jedi's mind is infinitely difficult to empty."
The group stood back a little ways, poised for action, watching Shomari's interaction with his old colleague.
"So tell me, how long have you and Lance been without your toy?" He asked advancing on the small, but imposing, figure, in a braver act than I would've dared at the moment.
"You're very well informed, if a little rocky on details," Taelin closed his eyes as if thinking.
"Tell me!" Shomari's ignited blade pointed towards Taelin's throat.
"Such rash anger may cost you the information you seek," he said again, as if he were holding extraordinarily important information.
Shomari's other blade rose to form his famous scissors around Taelin's throat, "you're not the only one who knows."
"So, why invade the dear Count's home? This definitely won't go well on your surprisingly clear record. Maybe this was Déshawn's fault too?" Cunae pressed.
"I know how many times you've faced with death. The two of you are distant relatives no?" Shomari let the blades close until they began to singe Taelin's throat. "But pain, that's a stranger that you cross the street to avoid isn't it?"
Taelin gasped in pain, his eyes watering from the heat of the light saber, trying to wriggle free, but Shomari held him firmly with his mind. Raena gasped and started to move forward until I grabbed her.
"You know I've known you to murder, but torture is a little beyond you." He managed to squeak out.
"ANSWER ME!" Shomari began to slide the blades into the thickest part of his neck, blood beginning to drip out.
"Recently," Taelin whimpered, this caused Shomari to pull back both blades with a snap. "About a day after you stole the Force Jar from us. Which by the way your precious Senator is now arguing for, and not getting very far at all; you may lose it soon."
"It's amazing," I said stepping forward, in an attempt to speed up the questioning process. "That you remain so firmly stuck on this idea that your schemes are beyond us."
"Ah, the more meditative of the Jackson brood. You know what's more amazing?" He tilted his head at me. "That after all these years, you've just now gotten a lead on your dearly departed mother."
I flung my hand out, a powerful wave of force slung him into the steel wall. I opened my hand again and yanked his light frame back towards me, grabbing him by the collar.
"What's the Count doing?" I asked.
"What every other man is…getting as much power as he can." Taelin said with a dry chuckle.
I dropped him back on the ground, "can he power The Serum without the Force Jar?" I said.
Cunae pushed his hands on both sides of his neck to slow the bleeding, "Not as well, most decently powerful Jedi would be able to shake it off. It most likely won't even affect you."
"Can he make another one?" I questioned, still worried.
"It would take decades, that one has been in existence since the machine itself was built. The fool probably doesn't even know how." Cunae laughed bitterly.
"Where's the Count now?" I asked in a tone of finality.
"I suggest you finish your little climb," Taelin said laughing as red liquid oozed from between his fingers.
As we continued our climb up the eternal stairs, my legs began to ache and I began to wonder about Cunae's state of health as his hands were tied in such a way that he couldn't prevent the blood from seeping out of his throat.
"You guys didn't tell me that you stole the Force Jar." Trance said laughing. "Man I wish I could've been there."
"It wasn't that spectacular," I mumbled still deep in thought.
"Tell me how that thing is operated exactly." Raena said in a small voice from behind me.
"Operated?" Trance sounded confused slightly.
"Yeah, if you were using it, how would you do it?" She said sounding like she was looking for something specific.
"Well, it draws on the power of the Jedi that's in control. It pulls your power out of your body and sort of 'processes' it, in a sense, into a corrupted form that is the 'Serum' itself. It's like turning a grape into a raisin and feeding it to an allergic to put it simply." Trance sounded worried as he even said it.
"Oh no…" Raena said quietly.
"What?" I pried.
"From the sound of it, the Serum corrupts the user, to be taken over just like the victims, after a while I'm not sure how powerful it is. So that the first person to make hypnotic like suggestions might be able to control anyone that over-uses The Serum." Raena explained.
"You're right!" Trance sounded shocked. "That Cunae scum probably is controlling the Count right now. That's why he gave him the Droids and The Serum itself."
"Let's hurry up," Shomari said. "Taelin might not know this, but if that thing draws on the user's power, he doesn't need the Jar at all. He can simply pour more of his power into it and not use the power the Jar provides. That thing could be working at full capability right now!"
Realizing what this meant in the end, I broke into a full tilt spring until I finally reached a door a few seconds later. I burst into the door to find the Count in the seat of a huge machine. It wasn't as complex as I thought it would be, but I could feel the horrible power of it. There were 2 rings, which crossed each other, sort of like 2 straps across one's shoulder would. The huge circles were made of steel that looked slightly oxidized. The seat had a helmet with opaque goggles attached to it that was currently flipped down over Popsomuo's face. The helmet was hooked into several wires, connected to the lid with suction cups, and plugged inconspicuously into the back of the chair. The Count was yelling in agony his body bruised, bloody, and covered with the sweat of exhaustion and pain. I looked around the room to find Lance Kicewd standing in front of the suffering Count with an evil smile on his face.
"More power! Put in more power!" Lance yelled at him, a spear charged with electric energy hanging loosely in his hand, the smoke indicating recent use.
I ignited my blade, acting quickly; I leapt at Lance slicing his electro spear in half. Then turning, I used a force-boosted jump to slice through the rings of The Serum. The helmet slowly lifted up, a heavy hissing sound indicated depressurization, and the Popsomuo rose slowly, a light saber gleaming in his hands. He advanced upon me slowly, as Lance turned to a console pressing several buttons, several bounty hunters walked into the room. In a seeming trance-like state Count Popsomuo advanced on me, while the bounty hunters all attacked Trance, Raena, and Shomari. Huge, thick metal slats began to snap into action sealing the room in a sort of impromptu dome. Lance somehow managed to disappear during all of these distractions but I was to accustomed to his methods to worry about him.
"You know," the Count's voice sounded like Lance, which indicated that Lance was in control of him. "After you two stole the Jar, you almost ruined our plans."
"Oh?" I ignited my own black blade raising it to a defensive position; meanwhile behind me the sounds of battle indicated that the bounty hunters were attacking already. I didn't risk a look behind me however.
"Fortunately, Taelin figured out how to power The Serum. Me. You see, if I poured all my energy into it, there wouldn't be any power lost. So we kept our hold on the Council, and surprisingly, the Count himself was more powerful than the measly powers we'd gotten from the dead Jedi trainees," the Count's evil smirk was similar to Lance's, and it sent shivers up my spine.
"Trainees? You killed children!" My eyes grew wide in horror.
"Well, you can't kill full grown Jedi first. You have to work your way up. If we had the Jar right now we could be getting real Jedi powers now." He laughed. "In a way its your fault that we have to still kill children."
"You…bastard." I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of slaughtering children yet. "I can't believe you killed children to power this twisted machine."
Popsomuo laughed again. "Those little yumlings were surprisingly powerful, what do you feed them?"
"I can't let you leave this room alive." I made the statement with such determination that I heard the sounds of shots bouncing off of light saber blades stop, slight humming still emanated from jetpacks.
"Really? I was just thinking about how your line ends here. You'll fall victim to The Serum the same way your mother did." Popsomuo turned around and walked over to the machine, and flipped a switch.
I watched in horror as the rings continued to spin, as if my slices to it had no effect on it in any way.
"The great thing about the Serum?" the Count stood in front of the ghastly machine. "It works in reverse."
Purple energy filled the room, the screams of hundreds of Jedi children shrieked violently in my ears as he sucked their lost souls into his body. The Count's power began to rise, and I could feel it suffocating me. As I heard distant cries for "mommy" or "daddy" or help in general, tears flowed down my face. I dropped to my knees screaming in anguish, as I pressed my hands to my ears to try and block out the cries of small children, my light saber clattered to my side causing the blade to retract. Then it all stopped suddenly, and I looked up at the Count. He'd grown pale and had become visibly larger. His light saber hummed sinisterly at his side as I summoned mine to my own hands. I felt weakened, drained, and stressed. I didn't feel like I had to power to win anymore. My determination sapped out of my body, much like the life of those dead children. The Count grinned, and waved his hand. I felt the room shudder suddenly, a crack developing in the middle of the room, as it separated down the middle. I looked back stunned at what the Count's new powers entailed as he split the room in half. Hearing Raena's screams I ran to the edge of the newly formed cliff as I saw her falling short in her jump to get on the same side as me. I reached out and caught her arm swinging her up onto the ledge with me. Several jetpacks fired as some of the bounty hunters flew up to try and reach Raena. Then, blaster shots rang out destroying the jetpacks causing them to drop out of the air.
"We'll hold them off! Handle the Count!" Trance yelled as I saw the other half of the uppermost tower pushed away towards the ground, and the inevitable death of my best friend and only brother.
"no…Deuce…Trance" my body cringed violently as I heard a loud crash and saw rubble and dust rise. "NO!"
Then turning back to the Count, I raised my blade to point directly at the cackling Popsomuo's throat, marking my final target. I heard Raena's light saber ignite next to me as she stepped up beside me.
"Well, that was a shame. I just didn't want more help leaping over." The Count shook his head in mock remorse.
"First all those children, now my best friend, and my only brother!" I was pushed to a point of angst and rage that I'd never felt before. "Don't worry about leaving this room alive-"
"More of a half of a room now really," the Count pointed out chuckling.
"You'll be lucky if your smoldering corpse is recognizable as human." I whispered in a fury, ignoring his quip.