Valeska could feel the hard iron of her shackles cutting into her wrists, and a grim smile played across her lips. The pain indicated that the sedative was wearing off. The dull grey fog that had clouded her thoughts was clearing, leaving her mind sharp and focused.
Once again she could feel the power of the dark side. It was strong in this place; the misery and suffering of centuries hung in the air here. Valeska could almost hear the screams of all the countless victims still echoing off the walls.
The memories of the last hour were hazy and confused, but she knew enough. Her capture had been orchestrated by her late brother's daughter and the fully cloaked female assassin who had stood at her side during the interrogation. And she owed her release to their other companion.
She didn't know why the blonde haired woman had injected her after the others had left. Despite her drugged state at the time, she was certain it wasn't an accident or mistake. She had known what she was doing. Who she was and why she had done it, however, were beyond her.
Not that her identity or her reasons mattered in the immediate future. She had given Valeska all the help she needed, and soon she would be ready to make her move.
The pain had spread beyond her wrists. Her shoulders felt like they were being ripped from her sockets from bearing the brunt of her weight. The deep gashes on her cheek burnt, and she could feel the small rivulets of blood creeping along her face and down along the line of her jaw before dripping to the floor.
She lifted her head to make sure the door to her cell was still closed; she wanted to catch her captors by surprise. Then she began to gather the power of the Force. An instant later the cuffs on her wrists and ankles shattered, exploding into a million pieces at a mere thought from Valeska.
She fell to the floor, her weary muscles unprepared to support her weight. It took her a moment to gather herself, and then a rush of adrenaline surged through her body and she was back on her feet.
Valeska felt naked without her lightsaber, but she wasn't exactly helpless without it. There were plenty of other ways to dispatch her enemies.
Three quick strides brought her to the durasteel door of her cell. She reached out and placed her left palm flat against the surface, then used the Force to blow it outward. It flew across the room, striking and killing one of the guards sitting at a table playing cards.
The remaining five guards scrambled to their feet, grabbing for their weapons. Valeska lashed out with the Force. The fury of her attack was muted by the last lingering effects of the drugs in her system, but it was still strong enough to knock them all to the floor and send the table flying into the wall, where it cracked in half.
Valeska fell on the guards like an enraged animal, moving so quickly she was nothing but a blur. She brought her boot down on the throat of her nearest opponent, crushing her windpipe. She wrapped her forearm around the next man's neck from behind in a choke hold, braced her other palm against his chin, and wrenched his head to the side, breaking his neck.
The last three opponents were back on their feet, blasters drawn. Valeska yanked a short vibroblade from the belt of the man with the broken neck and plunged it into the belly of a woman before she could bring her pistol to bear. She doubled over from the fatal blow, releasing her grip on her weapon.
Valeska dropped to the floor and caught it before it hit the ground, ducking under the bolts fired from the remaining two enemies as she rolled onto her back and fired a pair of perfectly placed shots. The guards both toppled over backward, their faces erased by the impact of a blaster bolt at point-blank range.
Another locked durasteel door blocked the only exit. Valeska tossed the blaster aside and tore the door off its hinges. Up above, someone triggered the alarm, and a deafening klaxon began to blare.
Beyond the door was a narrow staircase, similarly barricaded at the top. The Sith warrioress charged up the steps and threw herself shoulder first into the door at the top. It burst open from the impact, sending her tumbling into the room beyond.
The four guards up here had been alerted by the blaster shots being fired down below; unlike the first wave they weren't caught off guard by her violent entrance. Weapons already drawn, they opened fire.
But Valeska's visceral, primal assault on the squad in the room below had fuelled the cycle of rising emotion and mounting dark side power. She met their assault with an explosion of crackling energy that rippled out in a violet wave from her body at the centre.
The incoming bolts were absorbed harmlessly into the ionic storm, the blasters themselves melted in the hands of their owners. The stench of burnt flesh mingled with their screams of agony and the relentless, hammering song of the alarms, further feeding Valeska's power.
Crouched on one knee, she clenched both fists then threw her arms out to either side, fingers splayed wide. The resulting Force wave pummelled the guards, sending them hurtling backward so they bounced off the walls hard enough to leave cracks in the stone.
Valeska rose to her feet in the centre of the carnage. Half a dozen bodies lay strewn about her, bones shattered, internal organs crushed into pulp. One choked out a pink, frothing spray with his final breath; all the others were still.
To her dismay, she saw neither her niece nor the cloaked assassin among the dead. She had sensed a few guards fleeing the room as she had charged up the staircase, but she hadn't felt either of those two women among them. She also didn't recognise any of the corpses as the blonde haired woman who had saved her, though she was— for the moment— less interested in her.
Finding or leading Kay to her would not be difficult. They were blood relatives who as children had grown up together. They shared many memories with each other, and like her, her niece had power that could be sensed through the Force.
Calling up a random long buried memory, Valeska reached out with her mind, concentrating on picking out her unmistakable presence.
Tears of anger, shame, and frustration were streaming down Kay's face. She had held them in check as she had passed the guards, but with nobody around to see her she had finally let them go.
Her plan to avenge her father's death, plus that of the rest of her family, and free herself from the traumatic memories of her childhood had so far failed miserably. She had wanted Valeska to admit she was wrong.
She had wanted her to apologise and ask forgiveness for all those deaths. She had wanted her to beg her for mercy despite her never being intent on showing her any. She had convinced herself that if this happened it would help her deal with the senseless death of not just her father, but also her mother and everyone else who was in their palace when it had been struck and obliterated from orbit. She had thought it would help restore some type of meaning to a cruel and random universe. She had hoped it would bring her peace.
But nothing had gone the way she had planned. Valeska was completely unrepentant. She had twisted everything she had done and said into some perverse justification for what she believed in. She almost made it seem that her father's death was right.
As much as the words of Valeska disturbed her, the actions of Korra had upset her even more.
Korra had been the one who had introduced Raven so she could hire her to help capture Valeska and therefore avenge the death of her father and family. But now she seemed determined to oppose her quest to avenge them.
It made no sense to the Jedi. She had expected Korra to stand by her during the confrontation, to support her as she faced the demon of her past. To shore up her strength so she could conquer her fears and triumph over her aunt's evil. Instead she was somewhat reluctant to support her, and seemed more like she had wanted to defended the latter.
Kay had fled the interrogation cell to escape the madness, not even paying attention to where she was going. Moving with long, quick strides, she had rushed heedlessly down the maze of halls without any purpose or direction.
She didn't know where she was going or what she was trying to do. She just needed to think. To try to make sense of it all. To be alone.
Only she wasn't alone.
The physical exertion had helped bring her swirling emotions back under control, and after several minutes she began to regain some semblance of composure. The tears stopped and her pace slowed. It was only then she heard the footsteps of someone following a few metres behind her.
She stopped short, bringing up a hand to wipe at her eyes before turning around. She was hoping to see Korra. Instead, she found herself face to face with Raven.
"Why are you sneaking along behind me?" she demanded.
"You may well be a Jedi, but if I was sneaking, you wouldn't have heard me," Raven replied with her implacable calm. "I was following you, but I made no effort to mask my presence."
"Then why were you following me?"
"I wanted to see what you would do. I'm curious to learn how you will react to your failure."
Kay's lip twitched, but she managed to keep the rest of her face expressionless, mirroring the other woman's emotionless demeanour.
There was no point in denying what had happened; Raven had witnessed the entire exchange. But Kay wasn't willing to admit defeat.
"I will pick myself up from failure and try again," she declared. "Next time I speak with her I'll be ready for her tricks. And once I'm satisfied, I will kill her."
"There won't be a next time," Raven replied. "You had her in your power. Her very life was in your hands. But instead of killing her straightaway, you chose to torture and interrogate her, and now it is too late. Her fate and her future have slipped through your grasp."
The words were spoken without spite or malice, which made them sting all the more.
"I don't want you here anymore," Kay told her, her voice firm. "Your job is done and you've already been paid. So go."
"I only stayed here because I was interested to see what happens when the prisoner breaks free," Raven admitted.
"She will never break free!" Kay snapped. "I won't let that happen!"
"You can't stop it. It's already too late," Raven replied. "Korra has betrayed you. I saw it in her eyes when you left. She wants you dead. Saving the prisoner is the only chance she has to destroy you."
Kay shook her head, but though she wanted to deny it she couldn't speak the words.
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" she asked, perplexed. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"As you said, I have already been paid. My job was to deliver Valeska to you. Nothing more."
"So why are you telling me now?"
Raven didn't answer, but the first hint of emotion played across her face, and while Kay couldn't see Raven's face as that was concealed behind her mask, she could still see her mouth, and the corners of her lips curling up into the hint of a cruel smile. She fed on the misery of others.
Kay started to say, Korra would never betray me, but her words were cut off by the sudden clanging of the Antar Dungeon's alarms.
In that instant she knew everything Raven had told her was true. Valeska had broken free, and Korra had helped her.
"No!" Kay shouted, clasping her head in her hands. "No!"
Behind her facial mask, Raven was grinning now.
"No!" Kay shouted again, her voice rising up over the alarms. "She can't escape— won't escape. Not now. Not after everything that's happened. Surely she must be looking for me, so I will go to her. And as for Korra," she then stepped away from Raven and spoke into a small communication device embedded in her wristband. Her eyes took on a faraway stare as she spoke into the small device. "Alara, Valeska has escaped. Korra has betrayed us. Korra is probably headed for the shuttles. If you see her, stop her at all costs. I will deal with Valeska, alone." Without waiting for a reply of any kind, Kay cut the connection. When she looked back toward where Raven had been standing only moments earlier, the cloaked assassin had already turned and fled down one of the nearby corridors.
Valeska's awareness had spread through the halls of the dungeon, whispering over the minds of all who walked the halls. She had sensed Kay, along with several other powerful individuals.
Kay was searching for her; she could feel her reaching out, drawing ever closer. Valeska knew one thing for certain: Soon she would be facing the Jedi on equal footing. That was providing she could retrieve her lightsaber, of course. Kay had hidden it, but a lightsaber's crystal made such a weapon unique to the bladesmith who had crafted it: subtle manipulations of the Force could lead her to it.
If she was quick, cunning and careful, she would be ready to defeat Kay and get out of the prison alive.