SAM: Socially Acceptable Monsters

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface: Five Hundred Republica: Winton Residence

Skyler McNeal doesn't know today is his lucky day.

Karen is in the kitchen grinning and planning while trying, unsuccessfully, to open bottles of ale with a lighter. She has thought about this a lot and they have come awful close. There has been some show and tell and touch but they were cool about it and never rushed into anything. They were being responsible. At the party, swaying slowly, out of sync with a techno song, she looked at him and knew she had to have him in that way. A part of her came alive and she began to kiss him more forcefully. There was a spark, a hunger, between them.

He is sitting on the couch when she returns to the sunken living room.

"I want you to make love to me."

There is a dreadful pause as it settles in then his blue eyes go wide,  a faint smile pulling at the corner of his lips. But the boy is well bred and this prevails in the end.

"You, what? That's...really? Wow, uh, yeah, wow."

His rambling is rendered adorable in the moment so she rounds the couch to stand in front of him.

"This hasn't crossed your mind?"

"No, no it has," he says, repositioning himself. "It's just that I thought it would happen naturally when we were like, ready..."

Karen moves closer, bare leg brushing against the fabric of his pants.

"You aren't ready?"

"Well, yes. No. Maybe. Are you?

She anticipates the redirect and takes control.

"So ready."

"But...I've never..."

"Me either. What are you afraid of?"

"Afraid? I..."

"Do you want me, Sky?"

"So...so badly..."

"Then take me."

This is whispered like a challenge. She is acting bolder than she feels but she loves him and he loves her and there is a need she cannot explain. He bolts to his feet quickly, activated in some way, shoulders up, freaked the hell out of his mind as she moves into his arms. When she kisses him, she feels his body relax into her.

The door chime sounds, echoing throughout the silent residence.

"Mother fuck-"

"Karen."

So proper.

"Sorry, sorry, language. I know."

The door chime sounds again.

He looks mildly panicked. She pulls him tightly against her and he gasps.

"Hold that thought while I get rid of whoever it is."

Skyler exhales loudly as she walks away, filled with an intense combination of excitement, fear and relief. This is actually happening, that moment in a boy's life that changes them forever...

Except not so much.

Karen stalks back into the living room moments later with Agent Venko trailing behind. He glances at Skyler, the look on his flushed face, clothes wrinkled and pulled at and manages to conceal a double-take of surprise before training his gaze on Karen.

"I am sorry to interrupt but there are a few things we need to go over-"

"Can it wait?"

"It can but it's not going to, if that clarifies anything."

She scoffs dramatically, "You are worse than St Claire."

"Somehow I doubt that. Mister McNeal, would you excuse us please?"

Skyler jerks when spoken to, nodding numbly as he shuffles out of the room.

"Well, what's so important?"

"I'm afraid there have been no leads in the Price case. All the stories check out. Everyone is accounted for throughout the duration of the party. Nothing, it seems, was out of the ordinary. Then I began thinking of similarities between Carli Cole and Tenley Price-"

She is instantly bored and cuts him off.

"That's pretty easy, Venko. They were best friends. Carli was an actress, Tenley was a cheerleader, and both had wealthy self-involved, seldom seen parents."

"Exactly."

Karen gestures wildly, annoyed.

"What's that supposed to mean? Exactly? Is there some obvious factor I'm missing here?"

Isn't there always?

"You are a model with wealthy, self-involved, seldom seen parents."

This shuts her down. She stands there, completely stunned.

"They also have one other thing in common."

"And what's that?"

"You."

"Circumstantial, counselor," Karen says flippantly. "Everyone who goes to NCH knows who we are."

"As do most of the known worlds by now but Carli and Tenley were your friends. Not in the way you and miss Masterton, Patten and Gellar are but still, friendly. They were in your 'scene' as you call it. Closer than the average student."

Karen does not like where this is going.

"So?"

Venko knows this isn't what she wants to hear but does not care. He needs to draw her attention to certain things, certain irregularities. Just enough for her to maintain some sense of awareness. He speaks slowly and annunciates.

"So, someone might be using them to hurt you."

Skyler curiously wanders back in during this exchange. He becomes alarmed and protective.   

"Why would anyone want to hurt Karen?"

Karen glances quickly at Venko, wondering just how much he was told.

Venko does not miss a beat, "Celebrity has a way of bringing out the worst in people."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"You are quite welcome, actually."

Skyler seems to accept this and again reverts to thoughtful nodding and sideways glances. She smiles broadly and he seems to weaken beneath her gaze.

This disturbs Venko greatly.

Karen suddenly becomes something more than an entitled royal. If all he has read is true then there is a dire need to protect her in the name of the Empire. She is in more danger than she realizes, if she realizes anything at all. Force-ability is not looked upon fondly in this day and age. It is something that is tightly controlled. There is always a context, a bottom line. The Emperor would slay her and Melanie both if they fell from his favor or were no longer deemed useful. The Director assured him that would not be a problem. The Director told him it was handled.

Things do not seem handled, Venko thinks grimly.

There is a dead girl and a missing girl who is presumed dead, a fact that has not been made public. Venko isn't so sure. Cole was "returned," albeit deceased, four days after she disappeared. No one has seen or heard anything from Price in ten days. Without a body, there is no way to compare victims. Cole was stabbed with a large sharp object prior to death (confirming what Karen saw) then drained of blood and preserved via refrigeration until the killer laid her on the steps of the Senate building in the same dress she wore to the premiere. Interesting fact: the dress had been cleaned. It was pristine. The meticulous nature of the crime is mildly ritualistic and not something any Imperial department had seen in the capital. Murder is murder and happens all the time but it was seldom so elaborate or so public. Given the spectacle, he is more convinced there is a deeper significance to the victims.

"Think about what I said. If you have anything to add, do not hesitate to let me know."

"I will," she says.

Agent Venko nods to McNeal and leaves the residence.

Karen is chewing on her lower lip, mind spinning in all sorts of directions. Skyler closes the distance between them and pulls her against his slender frame. Her head finds his shoulder and she stares through the windows at the vast expanse of the city.

"No one is going to hurt you."

"How do you know?"

"I won't let them."

Smiling, she closes her eyes and believes him.

*

Surface: Glitannai Esplanade

Melanie wanders around  in a daze. The pills keep it all quiet and she is able to find mild enjoyment in wanting things displayed in store windows. If she is rationalizing the symbolism correctly, the prophecy is asking something of her.

Something more than she might be ready for.

How do you save people you can't warn?

How many pretty faces have to disappear before it becomes your own?

How did you know it would always end up this way?

Shouting from across the Esplanade brings her back to the present. A crowd has formed. She drifts toward it as if being called. As she nears, Melanie hears the tone of the shouting change, people are angry and calling for action. There are two boys on a makeshift stage and podium, one speaking while the other holds up a sign which she now can read.

Imperial Lies!

Melanie is just outside the crowd, maybe seventy, eighty people, staring up at the boy who is speaking. He is her age, maybe a little older with blond hair, a steely gaze and terrible posture. He is listing off recent mistruths released on the Holo and by Imperial reports but all she can hear is the crowd. Some are cheering with him, others want him to be arrested. There is a pungent mix of outrage and fear. She shutters, shifting her attention back to the boy. As he finishes, he finally notices her. One of these things does not look like the others. Most of the people are well-dressed, given where they are but she is striking.

Melanie blinks, blond hair piled up with "whimsical" tendrils, wide, vacant ocean blue eyes, pouty lips and pale, shapely legs. She wears a white Raga'Ana wrap, white trench coat, bulky silver necklace, and white shiny knee-high heeled boots.

He smiles a crooked smile.

That's when the shooting starts.

Blaster fire erupts from across the Esplanade, Stormtroopers rushing the scene, people screaming as they push and shove their way to safety. The boy with the sign is hit in the throat, flesh charring black, cutting off his cry. Two angry lawyers are gunned down in the back, expensive suits full of blaster holes. A child crushed and trampled in the panic. The hysterical shrieks of a mother. The Stormtroopers have almost made it to the rally area on the Esplanade and Melanie is standing completely still, relaxed, as people scramble and brush by. A hand lands on her arm and pulls her forward. She is running away, down an ally and people are shouting, blaster fire echoing against the shops around them. The pills make her movements sluggish and she suddenly realizes she is standing with a small group of people peering around corners. None of them are from Venko's security team which should have never let her near the crowd. She briefly wonders where they are when the boy speaks to her.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I don't think so..."

"Good then let's go. We can't stay here."

People start moving away. She frowns.

"Where...are we going?"

He points down.   

"Back to the underworld."

She stares at him, uncomprehending.

"What were you doing at the rally? No offense but you don't seem like the politically motivated type."

"I heard you...from the shops across the Esplanade. I was...looking for something and heard you talking and I....wanted to hear what you had to say...."

His confidence soars, bordering on cocky.

"Oh, yeah? What did you think?"

"They do lie. It's all lies."

He extends a hand.

"I'm Castin Donn."

"Melanie," she says softly. "Melanie Masterton."


-TBC

[Syren]

"so can I get a window seat
don't want nobody next to me
I just want a ticket outta town
a look around
and a safe touch down
can I get a window seat
don't want nobody next to me
I just want a chance to fly
a chance to cry
and a long bye bye."

- Erykah Badu

Hesperidium

Surface: Imperial Beach

In the shadow of the Bolerathon Tower

Kimber gallops across the frigid sand squealing.

Valerie grabs her breasts, spinning, before beckoning seductively.

Karen poses as a wave breaks at her feet.

Melanie flips her hair and winks. Her smile does not falter throughout the duration of the Raga'Ana photage shoot. It is nearing the end of December and everyone is freezing to death. A new year approaches; so long 2ABY, hello uncertain future. She is not sure what scares her more: the knowledge of what is coming or the fact that she can pretend like it's not? The stolen medication she is now regularly ingesting makes it easier to cope, easier to quiet the voices and the images, easier to keep those lips from parting and telling them all.

It takes enormous effort not to scream out: "RUN!!"

Instead, she chokes back another sob and goes with the flow.

*

Castin takes her down into the Coruscanti underworld. It is a place she has been told never to go. But she goes. There is instantly tension amongst his friends when she says, admits, that she has never been below the surface before. They glare, scoff and snarl until Castin reminds her that where she lives is most certainly not the surface of Coruscant. She is embarrassed, made a fool by her naivete, and reverts to silent spacing. Castin glances at her sideways, curious and attracted. She is a strange girl and he wants to know more.

The trek through the underworld is intense and new and they pass almost six advertisements featuring Melanie and her friends. Several people they encounter along the way stop, stare, point and grin. Castin's group becomes more paranoid every time she is recognized. They quicken their pace, angling through musty tunnels, sketchy ally's, questionable characters, and finally, a dirt floor littered with rubble. Something that was once organic. She glances up, startled to discover they have arrived at a dilapidated squat inside what looks like blaster-riddled ruins.

This must be the hideout.

She follows them deeper into the ruins, trying to get over the fact that her white boots are now completely destroyed and remember she is here for a very specific purpose. Before she can get to that, someone finally speaks up, a triad mostly directed at Castin. They say she can't be here, that she's a name, a face, that would draw unwanted attention. She tries to be offended but realizes she got herself into the model mess. She lamely offers some sympathy toward the Alliance which causes even more backlash, more glaring and scoffing. She has wrongly assumed again. Castin does not immediately come to her rescue but does clarify that they are an independent separatist faction outside of the Rebel Alliance. They hold some of the same ideals but use a much different approach from much closer. They despise the oppressive tactics and seek to release the truth using the Imperial network against them. Castin, as it turns out, is renowned slicer and the other all cop to possessing similarly devious talents in an attempt to undermine the blatant cover-up's and misinformation purposefully leaked to the public. Above all things, they seek to inform. Only with knowledge would they be able to rise up and break of the shackles placed upon them by the Galactic Empire.

After they get done sharing, the group turns on her.

Why is she here? What was she really doing at the rally? What is her purpose? How long has she been opposed? Is she a spy? What kind of company does she keep?

Melanie tells them, virtually deadpan, that she and several others are part of a vast conspiracy linked to a prophecy that has potential to destroy millions when an even darker, more twisted Empire replaces the current one. If she does not find the Jedi and deliver means to counter this threat those millions will probably die.

This is met with stunned silence followed by nervous laughter.

Melanie does not laugh.

They stop laughing.

Castin's heart begins to beat faster.

*

Surface: West Iobatese Beach: Bistro Bibliotheca

The A-Table. Posed with mineral waters. Someone, a shadow, takes photage. They debate over salad options, complaining about how something can be too balsamic, giggling about boys, trading lewd commentary, harshly judging other guests twice their age. When conversation dies down, it's time to check the latest. Everyone spaces out into their com-links or datapads. Messages attached to obligations clog their inboxes.

"Holy fuck," Valerie announces. "We just blew the shit out of a Rebel base on Hoth."

Karen laughs, "Hoth? Could they get any further away?"

"One can only hope."

"Brrr," Kimber says distantly, frowning.

This exchange confirms something for Melanie. It jars her out of one thing and into another. She glances over her friends and considers losing them. Waves of fear crash against a life rendered beige and bland. She wants these precious petty moments to last forever but knows there will come a time when she must leave them behind.

Melanie stares at her reflection in the bottle of mineral water and wants to ask it why.


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface: Galactic City

3ABY

Post-holiday depression is hitting hard so the students of NCH rally behind their winning Chin-Bret team and pack the Magnus Arena on Friday night to root those Crusaders to victory. They are in the playoffs so expectations are understandably high. The tremendous excitement this generates is enough to distract everyone from the brutal, still-unsolved incidents from last year. They try to shake it off but something foul lingers.

Shock becomes idle gossip becomes unnerving fear.

They do not know it will only get worse.

Melanie maintains a public presence but often retires early, ducking out of sight. The Underworld is the only outlet, the only way to balance her public persona with the prophecy. They will help her find the way. In the throngs of students, it is easier than it should be to ditch Venko's men and meet Castin beneath the stadium. He is waiting in a black speeder with a thick white racing stripe. She does not look back as they dip away from the school, spiraling down.

Back in the Magnus Arena-

Lucas expresses concern about Melanie completely losing interest in him, wondering what he did, what he can do to change it. Kimber is shrugging, Valerie shamelessly sucking face with Reef while Karen and Skyler attempt to be supportive. There isn't much to say, really, as Melanie had always held Lucas at a distance. They know she was fond of him but never completely trustful but that's not something you tell a friend and it's certainly not what Skyler and Karen tell Lucas.

After the game, after they won, at a party somewhere, everyone is bored and drinking and whispering about their latest conquests, another trend, the Dark Queen of Hapes.

The crew remains highly visible away from the crowds. Vex is no longer in the mood to be the star off the field as well and sticks close to Billy and D'Arcy even though they are only sophomore's. This is allowed by The Four due to status as well as circumstance. He still plays a good game, the only thing he's able to actually focus on, but cannot deal with his friends. Tenley is an ever-present blade of mystery that repeatedly stabs those who knew her. Her parents still think he is guilty of something and those who don't treat him differently. There are mere months until graduation and a prime spot secured at the Academy. He's in the door and on the team but with the one person he truly cares for gone, all Vex Sienna has left is the game. Billy and D'Arcy, those he and Tenley were with last at the premiere, seem to help. They don't accuse, don't pity him, don't try to rationalize something no one, not even the Imperial authorities, can explain. Mostly, he likes this crew because their power and proximity keep a vast majority of the student body at bay.

There are rumors.

If Carli was still alive, they would know this too.

*

Valerie goes home with Reef.

It's a small but posh apartment near the Esplanade. He pads off into the kitchen to get them an ale. She always wondered how his parents could swing such a prime location as she thought them to be Mandalorian farmers or something. Farmer or warriors. Whatever. It hardly matters since they are millions of light years away. She finds herself in the typical sixteen year old male room. Unmade bed, clothes strewn about, vaguely musty smell. There are only three pictures in his room. One of his parents, holding their distinctive armored helmets. One of his older brother, a smoldering hunk named Rydan. And one of Valerie glancing over her shoulder suggestively. This touches something in her, knowing he does have emotional connections he cherishes internally. On the outside, he was pure jock. Conversation revolves around speeder parts, the latest model cruiser, Chin-Bret practice and sex. It's all highly attractive and she is lost in the thought of having him inside her again, glancing through open drawers full of half-folded shirts until her eyes wander across a glint of metal.

She pulls the drawer open further, reaching between articles of clothing to find a silver colored datacard holder with the letters A and W etched on the polished surface. Beneath that, two concussion grenades and a small blaster. She considers these items and turns to connect with Reef's fist. She staggers, slamming into the dresser, dropping the case as she grips the wall to steady herself. Reef is standing beside her flushed red with fury, two bottles of ale clenched in one hand.

Valerie touches her throbbing jaw, tasting blood, and glares at him.

He starts to explain, eyes wide, panicked but she raises a hand as she brushes past him. He turns to follow but she is already down the hall, purse in hand, heading for the door. Reef calls after her, shouting, virtually hysterical now. He rushes out of the room, down the hall, grabbing her arm roughly, spinning her around. She struggles but only a little. They grapple with each other, stumbling back against the far wall panting, crying out, a tangle of limbs, thrashing, clawing, falling to the ground.

*

At the Hyperion building, in the Galatea Suite, Kimber writes Nikoli Venko's name in pink highlighter. He's such a stud and so much cooler than any high school boy. She was only kind of hurt when Billy glazed over her the moment D'Arcy appeared because that's how it goes and boys aren't everything. But she's a serial crusher, has been her whole life, and those slightly unattainable guys always fit the bill nicely. There is something different about Venko though. He's not the typical glacial blank slate most Imperial officers tend to be. His dark eyes are filled with ambition and concern.

Someone whispers her name, like a breath forming the word.

Kimber.

She stiffens, turning.

The residence is eerily quiet and she glances toward the door, to the agents she knows are stationed just outside. A tense moment passes as she considers alerting them. She finally relaxes, giggling nervously to herself.

Then it is whispered again, louder.

Kimber.

She stands quickly, taking a few steps back from the barstool she was sitting on.

"Who's there?"

Nothing. More silence.

The air suddenly feels heavier and the light in the foyer winks out. Kimber is planted firmly in terror, clutching the pink highlighter for dear life. The holoprojector in the living room whirs to life, static blaring out of the speakers. She clamps her hands over her ears. Finally, the static is replaced with a solid channel, a local station out of Corellia, and the tan face of a male reporter illuminates the room.

".. CorSec officials declined to comment on the extent of their dealings with the Trade Federation or the increasing droid presence in the capital city of Coronet..."

The projector snaps off, plunging the room into darkness and silence. The foyer light blinks on. The heaviness is gone. The reporters voice, his words, stir something but fear pulls her back into the moment.

Kimber exhales loudly, remembering to breathe.

*

It is almost two in the morning when Karen summons Agent Venko to the Winton Residence. When he arrives, he finds her standing in the middle of the living room in what can only be described as a medium sized men's undershirt and ridiculously high platform fuzzy slippers. He pretends she is not holding what appears to be a bottle of expensive champagne.

"You....called?"

"I've been thinking about what you said."

"And?"

"I think, maybe, that this whole thing might have something to do with someone...else."

Venko is tired and not amused.

"Go on."

"Answer me something first."

A longish pause.

"Why do you care? About me, about us?"

"It's my job."

"No, your job is to protect. I think your interest goes deeper than that."

Venko smiles tightly, gauging both her level of intoxication and sincerity.

"I suppose I'm curious. The Director told me the four of you are special."

"To whom?"

"The Empire."

She sighs like she has heard it a million times.

"The Director - this is your boss?"

"Aye."

"I thought my father was your boss."

He carefully considers phrasing.

"RepulsorCorp, the company your father represents, is an important client of the Empire and it is because of this that he is consulted and kept in the loop. However, since he is not employed by either Imperial Security or Imperial Intelligence, he does not get final say."

"In what?"

"The measures we take to protect you."

"There are measures? What measures? I'm not so sure I am comfortable with measures."

"I think you may need to get used to them."

"Why are you telling me this? St. Claire never told us anything. Ever! That man wouldn't know dialog if it bit him in that beautiful ass."

Venko clears his throat.

"Maybe I think you could stand to be a little more aware of your surroundings. It's a big bad world out there."

"And you think I can't handle it, that I can't hang? Is that it? Is that what's going on here?"

"No, I just don't think you realize how big and bad it actually is."

Karen is too tipsy to be offended and giggles inappropriately.

"You were all up in my business the other day trying to sniff out some hidden connection and I think I found one for you but try not to have a fit. I don't want to freak anyone out if I don't absolutely have to, okay?"

"I'm still listening."

"You mentioned something about common factors and I think there may be someone more common than me. Carli and Tenley are both juniors, a year above the rest of us. The same class as my sister."

Venko frowns sharply.

"What about her?"

Karen attempts to arrange everything that's been running through her mind these last few months into a coherent statement. She takes several deep breathes, pacing in front of him.

"Ironically, Carli is the one who told me about it first. She heard something, a rumor, about my sister getting fresh with a faculty member last year then all of a sudden I'm being told Alexia got expelled which our parents blamed on unruly behavior and social dysfunction. Like, literally five microseconds later, Alexia is sent away and not heard from for a year and a half before showing up on Hesperidium last summer saying things like "you don't get it" and that we're "safer if we stay together." Whatever, the point is I think something is going on there, with her, and telling my friends is, like, so not a good idea right now-"

"Wait, you had contact with Alexia Winton?"

Karen blinks, "Well,  yeah. Why?"

His demeanor changes.

"When did this occur?"

"August, maybe. Could have been July. Those summer months just, you know-"

"Karen, please pay attention. What did Alexia say to you? Think carefully."

She shrugs, throwing her arms up.

"Crazy shit! I told you. Nonsense. She implied that she like made this huge sacrifice being trained on Carida so Melanie and I wouldn't have to. I mean, she actually thinks she's destined for Sith-hood."

"I'm glad you brought this to my attention."

"So, will you look into it?"

"Not sure yet."

"Uh, why?"

"Alexia is considered unstable."

"That's....not good? And not what I asked."

"No, it's not. We are supposed to report unauthorized interactions-"

"Don't! At least not yet."

"That would be breaking protocol, your Highness."

"Ew, stop. Please, Venko. If this shit really does have something to do with me or mine then I'm not the only one at risk here. It makes everyone a target; you, our classmates, your team, the girls, Kimber."

His jaw visibly tightens.

"I don't know how this happened to my sister and you know something else is going on. I can see it on your face. If you leverage your position and clearance wisely you can save the day, be the hero. Help me out. It would ease my mind and I know Melanie is really, like, worried about the whole thing."

His obligation as an Imperial agent swear him to duty but the man beneath the uniform thinks something might seriously be wrong here. From what he's seen, these kids really haven't done anything wrong. Almost no laws, he muses while eyeing the champagne bottle she still holds, have been broken. And there is considerable mystery surrounding the other Winton. The girl is not only considered unstable but dangerous as well. There is no information to clarify the decree, just whispers from the team. The Director tells him nothing of Alexia, his mission only to protect Karen but he does not specify from what.

So many games the Empire plays. If it's a test for her, it's a test for you.

"I'll consider it an unsubstantiated lead that requires further investigation."

Venko begins to walk away.

"Start with the school."

He pauses.

Karen takes a swig from the bottle.

"North Coruscant is your connection."


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface: North Coruscant High

A frigid wind whips across the posh campus as Agent Venko stands in the shadow of the Legacy Tower.

He had asked that Karen stay as far away from the investigation as possible despite the fact that this new development was her idea. In truth, his department has nothing. They are at a dead end. Cole’s killer is still at large and there is no sign of Price. Karen speaking of her sister brings a chill deeper than the wind lapping at his skin. The mere mention of Alexia Winton makes him uneasy. He knows better than to ask the Director for information he did not willingly volunteer but Karen’s lead finally turned up something as he spent many sleepless nights scouring the Imperial network.

There is one reference, however slight, to an incident at the Legacy Tower with a date stamp coinciding with the timeframe Karen alledged. When he attempts to search any related information, the original file vanished from the network. As he backtracked through the links he had been following, he discovered that they had been disabled before disappearing from the network completely.

A sickening sense of dread washes over him. He tries to reassure himself, knowing that his assignment and access more than cover the inquiries which are all pertinent both to this case and those he is sworn to protect. It deepens his personal curiosity and solidifies Karen’s concern into fear.

Venko squares his shoulders and walks toward the doors of the Legacy Tower.

*

Across the plaza, a boy watches closely before raising a com-link to his mouth.



-TBC

[Syren]

Previously, on Socially Acceptable Monsters...

Queen Monica Greyson-Winton gave the stolen Persephonea prophecy to Melanie who is forbidden from warning those it involves. She turns to a curious slicer and Imperial insurgent for help.

Valerie snooped in Reef's room - got punched, got down.

Coruscant

Surface: Underworld

"My heart is broken."

Melanie's eyes are closed as she tells Castin her whole truth.

The others did not question Melanie after her opening statement. They knew she was on their side but there was still the issue of her high profile, a problem for those looking to operate beneath the watchful eye of the Empire. Castin argued that such a thing could be used to their advantage. That is, if Melanie didn't mind helping them achieve their goals in exchange for them helping her do the same. No words, only feelings, establish a trust between them and she agrees.

Castin becomes more infatuated with her as the days pass. She carries out small assignments, mostly delivering information, high above the groups lair in Galactic City. He is burdened by the fact that cannot be linked to her publicly, no romantic gestures, no surprise visits to Five Hundred Republica, nothing. Their interactions are always shrouded in secrecy. One particularly courageous afternoon, he asks her to take a walk so that he might attempt to discover how deep she goes. She accepts, finding safety in his defiant arrogance, like that of a scrappy schoolboy, and finally feels she has found someone she can be completely honest with. She tells Castin about her life, how she came to be on Coruscant, the prophecy and, hesitantly, the horrifying letter written and signed by Queen Greyson-Winton.

Melanie has not been able to bring herself to seriously confront the details until now.

It admits, in so many words, that Monica, Celeste and Henrick have been lied to and manipulated about what the prophecy is and how it would be used. The Queen and Celeste are confined to the Greyson Villa on Naboo while her father, Henrick is relegated to a lab on Bakura. Then the Queen names Alexander Winton as the one responsible. Her best friend's father. Parents who conspire against their children.

This information forces her into a series of seemingly insurmountable dilemmas.

There is no apology for any of it, the tone matter-of-fact, casual. Melanie is torn between flashes of anger and a profound sadness which both find ways of leaking out from beneath her increasing medication haze. The shadow of everything she now knows threatens to consume her soul. She needs to let it out, to hear it spoken out loud so that maybe, just maybe, she can believe it was actually happening. The walls are crumbling down. When she finishes the sordid tale, she finds her hands intertwined with Castin's.

"They knew. That's the most difficult part. Maybe not the whole story, maybe not the truth but they knew..."

Her voice becomes a whisper, face collapsing with emotion.

"...they knew."

As her legs buckle at the knee, Castin eases her down. He holds her close as she sobs into his chest. For several minutes he says nothing. He allows her the time to get it out before facing what she must do. With his head buried in blond curls, near her ear, he makes a promise.

"We will find a way."

*

Galactic City: Maxwell Residence

The door chime echoes through the house around ten-thirty, rousing Lucas from a drunken slumber. He is hurt and angry and confused. After the game, after they won, after the party, he went to see Melanie. She was not at Five Hundred Republica. To blow off some steam, he wandered the Esplanade reeling from rejection and the poor attempt his friends made at consoling him about it. Just when he thought he couldn't feel any lousier, he catches a glimpse of her beyond the reach of the main lights. Melanie gracefully exits what looks like a black racing speeder, the driver some punk commoner. She glances around guiltily before strolling away like it's perfectly normal to be shopping in the middle of the night. What could she see in a commoner, in someone that wasn't one of them? Lucas has everything and more and even held out much longer than Reef and Billy bet him he could. And for what? Nothing. She just walked even further away. Skyler was right. The chimes derail his thoughts and he struggles to get off the couch and cross the room.

Valerie is leaning precariously against the carved frame on the other side of the door.

"Can I come in?"

He is startled but not entirely unhappy to see her.

The Four generally travel in pairs, like a buddy system, if they are not all together. Billy thinks it's creepy, mostly because D'Arcy is excluded, but Lucas, Skyler and Reef insist it's hot and speculate on the things they do when they are alone. He has alcohol-fueled visuals streaming through his consciousness.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, come in."

Valerie strides by wearing a strapless black dress, even though its practically freezing outside. Her industrial-looking black heels are polished to the point of hurting his eyes. He glances away, angling back into the living room.

"Parents home?"

He laughs.

It's an answer.

She shrugs and takes notice of the slew of ale bottles lining the coffee and end tables. He offers her one, she takes it. He staggers, rights himself. It is then she realizes how sad/easy this is going to be. Something that will surely sting worse than a blow to the face. Doesn't really matter who you hurt in the process as long as you win.

That's Valerie's motto.

"You okay?"

"Not really," he mumbles, falling back onto the couch.

"I know why you are upset."

"That's great."

"I can even understand to some degree why you'd be pissed."

"Even better."

"She's just not that into you."

"Thank you, again. I know."

"One question though - Why do you want her?"

Lucas' eyes lose focus for a moment, glazed over with the memory of his and Melanie's first date - the perfect meal, the favorite and rare flower he got her, the way she shouted out his name before someone smashed into his speeder. It would have killed them both but she stopped it. She knew things which makes him wonder if she knew what truly lies in his heart. He's just a spoiled playboy like the rest of them and feared what she could do with her Force powers.

"She's special."

Valerie takes this in, her face a beautiful blank slate.

"You aren't good enough."

He rises too quickly, wobbling.

"That's bullshit. I am kilometers above that other guy!"

Juicy.

"What other guy?"

Lucas attempts a laugh, fails and settles for grimacing.

"Some fucking racer trash. Not our kind, if you know what I mean."

"Alien?" Valerie gasps, beyond horrified. Had Melanie sunk so low?

He scoffs, "Hell no! Human, punk, I think, it was dark. Definitely human though. Well, mostly."

"Don't even joke like that."

He slugs his ale, swaying closer to her.

"I don't joke."

She arches a premeditated brow and puts him on the defensive again.

"Maybe that's your problem. You did play it kind of safe with her."

"What are you talking about?"

Valerie sways casually closer.

"I saw how you whipped yourself into the kind of guy you think she wants. Rich, charming, well-mannered, impossibly idealistic, compassionate, cold as ice but you aren't exactly the white knight our fair Melanie is looking for, are you? I mean, you are some of those things. But not all. Not enough."

Lucas' shocked sneer becomes a sharp frown, brow creasing as it settles in.

"And I think you know it. That's why you're so angry. Not because you lost her but because, in the end, she made the right choice. You don't want to hurt her, hell no one does. Too much, anyway. It's not like any of the boys aside from Reef are getting any-"

"Skyler too."

Juicier.

Valerie pauses, cocking her head. The guy knows some serious gossip and its almost as easy to get it out of him as it is to get out of Kimber.

"I dare say I am impressed."

He laughs, "Tell me about, we all thought Skyler was gay."

"From you."

Lucas stops talking, swigs his beer.

Valerie smiles.

He closes the space between them, staring down into her serene face, everything clouding over.

"Why did you come here, Val? To tear me down? Tell me what I did wrong with Melanie? Throw the past in my face?"

"Maybe."

"Then get it over with so we can get back to the good times."

"Oh just shut the fuck up and relax." Valerie breathes, pushing him down onto the couch roughly. "I am the good time."

Juiciest.


-TBC

[Syren]

Previously, on Socially Acceptable Monsters...

Alexia returns to Hesperdium after spending a year and a half at the Academy on Carida to tell her sister to stay put and stick close to The Four.

A mysterious stranger watches Karen from afar.

Korriban

Surface

They arrive in a lone Imperial shuttle that lands at the mouth of the Valley of the Dark Lords. They would walk the remainder of the way. The sands are whipped up by a fierce wind that stings the skin but Dementat feels nothing but peace as he strides down the ramp and beholds the swirling crimson and gray skies. He can hear her screaming and cursing inside the shuttle. With a simple gesture, his left hand opening from a fist, the shackles fall from her wrists and ankles. Moments later, Alexia Winton collapses at the top of the ramp.

Dementat does not turn away from the ashen sky.

"Show me."

Hours later, as they trek past massive statues deteriorating under the elements and ruins of what were once great temples, Alexia leads him to a cave. It does not look unique from the thousands of other caves scoring Korriban's surface but it is a sacred place.

This is where, in a trance-like state,  Alexia led a team of Imperial agents to uncover a set of scrolls buried by the ancient Sith Order who once ruled this planet. She was only a child then and did not know what it said but she knew it was important. Her father told her it means great things for her, that she must be mindful of the Emperor's wisdom, that it is her destiny.

They tell her she can find purpose and spare her family if only she serves the Empire.

As a Core-dwelling boy, Dementat had always shown a vast knowledge and control of the Force. One day he is summoned to the Imperial Palace and shown two pictures. Then they ask him to choose. When he chose, they seemed gratified and relieved and pointed to the other and said he was to train her.

They tell him it is written.

First he finds the one he chose and gazes upon her with a strange familiarity.

The day he first lays eyes upon Alexia Winton, she rapidly shifts between lucid and cooperative to unstable and incredibly violent. The stint at the Academy had toughened and taught her how to survive but the power within her continued to boil over. He is told the "blackouts" began after she suffered a trauma almost two years prior. There are no medications that seem to subdue these outbursts although there is much talk of extensive research being conducted on Bakura. He is told she has done some terrible things and he is now charged with evacuating the raging Winton royal off world before she can be linked to anything criminal. The Empire has been using her increasingly unpredictable outbursts for measures unknown but certain parties have become concerned with her terrifying lack of control.

Dementat must hone her madness and departs from Coruscant as instructed.

Alexia is restrained for the duration of the journey with a Imperial Intelligence prototype cerebral dampener to keep her brainwave activity pure. If she were to slip into a "blackout" state, he is told the results could be catastrophic. She remains calm most of the way but as they near a world ripe with dark energy, Alexia becomes agitated and fights the affects of the dampener. By the time they land, she is shrieking in a language he does not understand.

At the cave, Dementat stares into the darkness.

"Go now, your journey begins here."

Alexia nods and vanishes inside.


-TBC

[Syren]

Previously, on Socially Acceptable Monsters...

Agent Venko investigates Karen's claim that Alexia may have something to do with the recent murder-kidnappings.

The Four represent Raga'Ana, the premiere Imperial fashion house.

Coruscant

Surface: Galactic City

Agent Venko waits with anticipation.

The Legacy Tower at North Coruscant had been initially fruitless. He was shut down at every turn. No one knows anything aside from what everyone already knows. There was "an incident" supposedly involving "a lab" that "exploded." The tapes had been allegedly "destroyed" during the "incident." Despite his credentials, no school official would provide details. He prepared to leave with nothing which is about all he had on the case to begin with. He prepared to dismiss Karen as a bored and spoiled socialite with too much time on her hands. He prepared to report the case had gone cold. He prepared for the possibility of being terminated but stopped just short of further, less favorable context.

Venko walks to the mag-lev which would take him back to the main platform. As he boards, so does one of the Administrative assistants from the Legacy Tower. She stares at him silently for the duration of the ride. It isn't until they are out in front of the school that she finally speaks quickly and clearly.

Lux Lynus is an alumni of North Coruscant who has worked here for three years with a double-bachelor in teaching and business administration from CU and is nearly done with a masters in Imperial Curriculums. The Legacy Tower got its name from the fact that it is owned and operated by several prestigious alumni after having gone on and done great things they want everyone to know about and remember. The "Legacy" part is a running joke with the student body past and present. Most of them will later go on to scholarships and post-grad opportunities as a result of the various funding these prestigious alumni offer. Lux is one of those former students. Working with the Administration of North Coruscant could score her positions at any number of renowned Academy's scattered throughout the Empire.

"And the incident?"

She glances back worriedly toward the Tower.

"I was there the day it happened."

She could feel the rumble from her desk and quickly scanned the security vids of surrounding floors. Part of her job was to anticipate any administrative need and relay information as quickly as possible. There was only one channel caught in static. Lux rewound the photage and what she saw she could not comprehend. She ripped a copy to a datacard and the area automatically locked down - security vids, access, everything. But she had the card. Security was dispatched and they were told to remain at their workstations. The Legacy Tower design allowed for each floor to work with others or as a self-contained unit. Evacuations could occur without complication or worry. Hours passed until they were told there was an incident in a faculty science lab. An experiment gone wrong. She assumed local authorities would be notified but no one came. No one took statements or asked questions which was made stranger by the fact that what she saw did not match the Dean's public statement. Although there are labs on that floor, what she saw did not occur in one.

The Administration called closed-door meetings with the entire Legacy staff.

She admitted nothing.

Tensions were running high all around the office. No one would say why. One night before she left, the building empty, she found a board member, someone she has known and respected for years, drinking alone in his office, staring through the darkened windows down into the Magnus Arena. He told her North Coruscant isn't what it used to be, that there used to be a sense of pride about what they do, how it's become such a scandal. She was about to leave when he mentioned the incident, called it bullshit, said that the girl is dangerous. So dangerous that they had to expel her but he doesn't think that will stop her. He said nothing would stop her.

Lux shutters as she finishes and mentions something about maybe talking to her reporter friend, this hotshot Corellian named Carlson. She just wants to do the right thing here.

"No press." Venko says lowly.

She nods.

"Where is the datacard now?"

There is a significant pause.

"You do want to help, don't you?"

Lux crosses her arms and nods again. She gives him an address and a time. He agrees to meet her.

Twisted webs.

As the drama unfolds, there is also a business aspect that must be handled elsewhere in Galactic City.

Maxi Marx calls The Four to the Raga'Ana corporate office on the Esplanade to discuss a recent lucrative request made by a celebrity fan and client.

It's a music video for Imperial pop superstar, Miz Vovo.

She is a galactic success as well as a music and style game changer who often defies Imperial society with her provocative image and wildly explicit bisexual escapades. In an interview where she is wearing parts of an actual forest moon, Miz Vovo nibbles on an organic salad and confesses to having an obsession with Raga'Ana couture. They are always featured in her videos along with many other labels who are more than happy to provide accessories in exchange for free advertising. This would take things to an all new level of marketing.

Miz Vovo; twenty-two, vegetarian, steadfastly single with an aversion to wearing pants. She scored her first hit right out of high school and has since built a unique brand and after asking a personal favor of Maxi Marx, she secures The Four to star in the new video for which they are paid a phenomenal amount of credits. The video does what it supposed to do: pair up the It-people and make the public want a life they can't have. With the Four involved, it is rumored the single will break industry sales records and triple Raga'Ana's quarterly profits. Everybody wins!

The single is aptly titled "Pretty Mess"

The video is shot in an abandoned munitions factory which the set designers transform into an industrial multi-platform club. Candles are lit, glass is broken and thrown everywhere, scantily clad Imperial youth are strategically placed on uneven durasteel platforms. Shirtless hunks wearing Stormtrooper helmets and black hot pants dance together near where Miz Vovo dry humps a decaying throne chair wearing a risqué twist on the Moff uniform. Below, the mass of revelers thrash around and against each other, so much skin, sweat and oil. Somewhere in the crowd is The Four, separated from each other, lost. The objective is to first find each other then find Miz Vovo. To do so they have to wade through hoards of impossibly attractive people and join her beside the throne chair. A grueling days work, for sure.

A voice fades in, whispering, music building behind it.

"I'm a princess. I'm a pretty mess."

"Everything you see you want
I will be your confidante
Everything I am I bought
Dress me up, a debutant.
I'm a royal diplomat
I can be your back doormat
Treat  me as your concubine
Everything you have is mine."

The song is blaring as the singers voice, strained and seductive, makes proclamations.

"I'm a princess"

(Karen slowly turning with a look of smug distain)

"I'm a temptress"

(Valerie grinding, hands sliding down her body)

"I'm a pretty mess."

(Melanie spinning in slow-motion, blond curls spilling through the air)

"I'm a mistress."

(Kimber bringing a finger over her lips. giggling)

"I'm a - mess. Mess. Mess. Mess. Mess."

The Four perform an intense synchronized routine as they maneuver through the crowds, reaching the stairs together. They begin to climb, groping and fondling the railings as the music builds, the voice becoming more synth.

"Mess. Mess. Mess. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Mess. Mess. Mess."

When they reach Miz Vovo, she is sitting with her legs crossed singing in the throne chair, arms thrown out as if to protect them. They writhe around before striking the perfect pose, framing the throne and Miz Vovo as the cameras pull back, widening the shot, crowd raging below, solidifying status, creating effect, sending a message - 


-TBC

*actual song and lyrics by Erika Jayne (Dave Aude Club) - it just fit my purpose.

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface

Kimber catches Agent Venko by the lifts in Five Hundred Republica. If it were any of the others, he would have simply waved and continued on his way. Not the case with Miss Patten. She is coy, sweet and extremely beautiful which stops him in his tracks.

"Headed out?"

"I've got to meet someone."

"A female someone?" she teases playfully.

"Maybe."

"Oh."

He smiles.

She bites her lower lip.

"It's work-related. Possible lead."

"Work, work, work." she laughs. "Don't you do anything else?"

"Sometimes. I take it you are here on a social call?"

"Melanie and I are working on a project for school."
 
"So its business then?"

"Mostly."

They stare at each other for a while before Venko clears his throat.

"I should be off."

"Or you could stay."

"I could but..."

"But what?"

"That might be wrong."

"Might be or is?"

Venko chuckles nervously, glancing back toward the lifts then to her.

"That's quite the loaded question."

"Don't let the press fool you. I'm not that retarded."

"I think you don't give yourself enough credit."

"Thanks but you'd be surprised by how little personality factors in."

His face softens as he frowns.

"There are girls twice your age without as much personality or poise...."

She steps slightly closer, enough for his fingers to go numb.

"You don't have to say what we both know. I'm just a girl and you are an agent."

"An agent who is supposed to protect the girl."

"And who is too old for the girl."

"Well, I'm not that old."

"That's best part."
 
"What part is that?"

She giggles, looking up at him with wide violet eyes.
 
"The girl doesn't care."

"Unfortunately, the agent has to."

"She knows he does. The girl just wants him to know other things too."
 
He is trying not to grin madly.

"Consider it noted."

As he turns to leave, she touches his arm.

"I could go with you."

"That's probably not the best idea."

"I can be useful. I've got all sorts of skills."

"It could be dangerous."

"I hear that makes life more interesting."

Venko is about to refuse when something dawns on him. Lux Lynus had seemed so hesitant to help, not wanting to betray her superiors who hold make-or-break recommendations. Perhaps if she saw someone who could be harmed if she didn't do something about it. He does not want to use Kimber in this way but it might just be the one thing that gets Lux to hand over the datacard.

"Alright but I need you to follow my instructions."
 
She bounds past him into the lifts, "To the letter."

"What about the project for school?"

"It can wait."

*

With a clash of thunder, it begins to rain.

Outside the glitz and show of Galactic City, the towers grow darker in color. Venko eases the speeder into one of the faster light traffic lanes and heads forty-five kilometers across town. As they near the Coruscant University Graduate Campus, he slows the speeder and pulls out of the traffic lane and between several identical towers to land on the fourth in the series.

The building is dingy, unassuming and in need of repairs. It's about what Venko imagined for a graduate student. Kimber hops out of the covered speeder and dashes under the awning. She does not want to ruin the gold fitted trench coat protecting a simple black dress or the strappy black and gold heels. Venko strides slowly toward her, not caring if the black security uniform gets wet.

At the exterior door, he glances her over.

"That's awfully trendy for a school project."

She shrugs, "Part of the contract."

"What? That you have to be uncomfortable and overdressed for everything?"

"No, we're supposed to personify the essence of the brand or something like that. I don't remember but who said anything about being uncomfortable? If you can run in these you can run in anything."

Venko laughs and enters his ISB code to override the building controls. The door hisses open and they step inside. The halls could use a coat of paint and the lighting leaves large pockets of shadows. She stays close. He approaches the apartment door to find it partly open. The control panel is fried and hanging from the wall. Kimber's mouth falls open and she steps back. Venko draws his blaster and grips the door.

"Miss Lynus?"

Nothing.

He pulls open the door and steps inside. Kimber does not want to wait out in that hall and slips in after him. The apartment is drafty and completely trashed. Drawers smashed to bits, clothes torn and strewn across the living room. One couch has a giant slash through it, stuffing spilled out and tossed around. It litters the broken coffee table. The room lights flicker as he steps through the mess. There are large deep scratch marks along the walls in uneven patterns. He traces the grooves with his finger. It was done by a blade and a big one at that. Applied with a lot of force. In one hand he has the blaster and is surprised to find Kimber's hand in the other. He thinks he hears a speeder nearby, noticing the smashed window and origin of the draft. Glass on the miniscule patio is on the outside, thin drapes billowing out into the night.

"Miss Lynus?" he calls again.

So silent, so still, the breeze barely a whisper in the room.

Her voice trembles lightly.

"What...do you think....happened to her?"

"I don't know."

"Well, whatever she knew....it was important."

"Why do you say that?"

"No one makes this much of a mess unless they are looking for something specific. Try losing your favorite lipstick and you'll see what I'm talking about."

"Specific."

That's what he was afraid of. Someone must have seen them talking.

"Yeah, um, Venko? There's, like, blood on this glass."

He moves to the patio and kneels down, careful not to disturb anything. Deep crimson blood clings to several larger shards of glass and with the present state of coagulation it had not been there very long. If someone had seen Venko and Lux exchange words then that same someone might be watching them now. He stands quickly, startling her.

"We've got go. Now."

"Nik, wait, I think we should-"

He is already pulling her away from the patio and through the living room when the Imperial police burst into the apartment, blasters out, lights trained on the two people trying to shield their eyes.

Someone had called it in.

Now an Imperial Security Agent stands at a possible crime scene with an underage model.

Venko shakes his head.

Fuck.


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface

Lux Lynus knew she had revealed too much.

From the moment she departs North Coruscant, she begins receiving menacing com-calls, whispers of interference and consequences. One sobering thought stays with her: the Imperial authorities can't help her. The Legacy Tower Alumni have connections that span the entire length of the network. In a panic, she calls Kent Carlson on Corellia. He does not answer. She does not leave a message. Instead, she calls the one person she knew could help her. An old friend of her brother's who dealt in the information business. He meets her without question and she gives him the datacard containing the Legacy Tower security photage and tells him that it must find its way to Agent Nikoli Venko of Imperial Security. He asks her to repeat the name as if he is uncertain he heard correctly. When she does, he agrees. She returns home to find a familiar face waiting there.

*

Days later, far below the glitz and glamour of Galactic City, Castin Donn approaches Melanie Masterton.

"I have a question."

Her serene face is full of light.

"Ask away."

"Who protects you? I mean, up there."

She smiles, "A team of highly trained but unfortunately slow Imperial agents."

"Lead by whom?"

"I told you already, Agent Venko. He's Imperial Security and fairly harmless. He's not like the others. Not like St. Claire. I think he may even be questioning his role in all this. Why do you ask?"

Castin steps forward and hands her a datacard.

"I have not watched it but I think you should."

"Where did you get it?"

He pauses, swallowing hard.

"Castin? It's okay, you can tell me."

He does not want to frighten, upset or burden her more than she has been already but at this point it seems almost unavoidable. Melanie is the one who must handle the information.

"You should watch it because the girl who gave it to me is dead and said it needed to get to an Imperial Security Agent named Nikoli Venko. The same agent who watches over you and your friends."

Melanie's lips part in confusion and curiosity.

"We shall watch it together."

Castin takes her hand and leads her into a room where a salvaged projector sits atop a deeply scratched table. She hands him the datacard which he slips into the consol. He taps several controls, the projector stalling. He bangs his fist against it and the device whirs to life. They focus intently on what appears but Melanie is not prepared for the things she sees.

An unidentified man attempts to sexually assault Alexia Winton in a lavishly decorated office. He has her pinned down to a large desk, skirt hiked up high. As he moves his hands down her body, she reaches around, sliding an arm around his neck, seemingly staring into the camera, eyes going dark, blacked out, smiling. Then she seems to snap out of it, looking around wildly, confused. She pushes him away. He pushes her back onto the desk. She attempts to move around him, heading for the door. He grabs her arm, hauling her back. She crashes into the desk. At first it looks like some sort of game but her movements become more desperate and it becomes clear that she is trying to escape. He blocks the door and reaches for her. Her face relaxes again, transforms into something else. Alexia fights him in some kind of rage, light and energy sparking throughout the room, growing brighter until it fills the screen, blinding before the feed turns to static.

Melanie is gripping Castin's hand, breathing heavily, almost panting.

"Where....is this photage from?"

"What?"

"The location of the photage? Where is it shot?"

"I think she said....the Legacy Tower."

Melanie winces.

"You know what that is, what that means?"

"The Legacy Tower is on the North Coruscant Campus."

"And the girl?"

"Is my best friends sister."

"The crazy chick who got shipped off to Carida?"

"Yes."

"Guess we know why she's crazy."

Last year, Karen told Melanie that Carli Cole told her she heard a rumor. A rumor about Alexia and a faculty member. Not just a professor or teacher's aide but a member of the Administrative staff. They had dismissed it as rubbish. Now Melanie isn't so sure. Could this be proof of that allegation?

"Why would this girl want Venko to have the datacard or this information? Who is this girl?"

Castin had gone back to check up on Lux but found her apartment swarming with agents and disappeared into the night. When he returned to the twilight place, the HoloNet confirmed it. He decided to give the datacard to Melanie.

"A friend of mine has a little sister he told me to look out for while he's off fighting the good fight. She called and asked me for a favor."

Melane ignores the com-link incessantly vibrating in her purse.

"But who is she? What does she do? I need more information to go on."

"Her name is Lux Lynus and she's super smart and got some kind of office job at that fancy school you go to. Mel, I barely see her! I swear. This was all out of the blue."

"Office job?"

"Yeah, an assistant."

"What kind?"

Castin shrugs, "Administrative, I think."

Was Venko looking for something? Maybe he could help them.

Melanie powers down the projector and ejects the card.

"Even if you give it to him, he can't know it was you. An ISB Agent, regardless of how sympathetic, is still an ISB Agent."

"You don't think I should?"

He sighs, pulling her close.

"I don't want to help the Empire by any means but Lux is dead and it sounds like your friends might be in trouble. I only worry your direct involvement with him could bring them down on all of us."

"Don't worry," Melanie says. "I'll be a ghost."


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface: Galactic City

Karen taps a heel nervously against the polished tiles, gripping the limited-edition com-link as it rings endlessly.

“Dammit, Mel.”

It kicks to voicemail and she scoffs, snapping the device closed. She turns around to find a white transport idling on the nearby platform. It had been called the moment she had been awoken in the middle of the night and told Kimber was down at the precinct and would not be released until her identity was verified. It is the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard, considering a billboard with Kimber’s name and face a hundred stories high is located not even three blocks from the station. Valerie is her in-case-of-emergency contact but no one can rouse her from the Hyperion Building. Furious, Karen is taken over where she pounds on the door for twenty minutes until Valerie finally emerges. Lucas is standing right behind her wearing only boxer shorts and a sleepy expression. Karen gasps but does not have time to get into it. She demands Valerie get dressed and meet her over at the Five Hundred Republica executive platform in a half an hour. When Karen returns, calling Melanie for the hundreth, she finds the white transport.

She motions to a platform attendant, snapping her fingers.

“Um, excuse me? What the fuck is that? My contract says black hoverlimo only!”

The attendant blinks, stunned.

She is not in the mood.

“What? We’re deaf and mute now? Wonderful. How can I put this in a way you will understand? We’re not riding in that.”

“Your Highness-“

“No, no, no excuses! Just pick up that com and make it happen.”

He nods, defeated, and returns to his reception desk. The white transport disappears and is replaced by a black hoverlimo as Valerie strolls onto the platform.

“So, like, what’s the haps?”

“Oh, knock it off, Val. Your nonchalance is unconvincing tonight. Kimber’s at the Galactic City precinct.”

“What? Why?”

“Apparently, she was picked up with Venko at a crime scene near CU.”

“Coruscant University is like, an hour away from here!”

“It’s nice to know you have a firm grasp on geography but that’s not exactly the most relevant part of what I said.”

“Um, bitch much?”

Karen sneers, “You really want to play the name game?”

Valerie purses her lips and smiles.

“Where’s Melanie?”

“I don’t know but it’s a good thing she wasn’t there when you answered your door.”

Karen storms across the platform to the hoverlimo with Valerie trailing behind.

*

Surface: Galactic City Precinct

Kimber has been crying for hours. It’s her fault, after all. She did tag along despite Venko's warnings and now they might all be in serious trouble. Not only had they wandered into Lux Lynus’ trashed apartment but her mangled body was found by the authorities several stories below hanging from one of the patios. When they wheeled her body past them, there was so much blood that nearly the entire sheet was soaked crimson. Kimber did not bother to ask what happened mostly because she was terrified to know.

After what seems like forever, Karen and Valerie appear in the corridor. She leaps out of the chair and throws herself toward them. They embrace in the hall. Karen trades barbs with a detective and verifies it is, indeed, Kimber Patten. She is released shortly after and instructed not to leave Coruscant until they finish the investigation.

“Where’s Venko?”

Kimber looks around worriedly.

“I dunno, they won’t let me see him. I tried to explain but they wouldn’t listen. They said he should never have brought me there in the first place.”

Valerie nods, looping an arm around Kimber’s waist.

“Well, they are right, sweetie. A crime scene isn’t a place for people like us.”

Karen shoots her a look.

Kimber sighs, “That’s just the thing. He never would have taken me there if he knew that was going to be the case. I don’t think it was supposed to be like that. I don’t think she was supposed to be dead.”

“Dead?”

“Serious dead. Like, splatter-movie dead.”

“How awful.”

Kimber nods sadly, near tears again.

“Come on,” Valerie says. “Let’s get you the hell out of here. Venko can take care of himself.”

-TBC

[Syren]

Previously, on Socially Acceptable Monsters...

Venko and Kimber are discovered at a murder scene.

Alexander tightens his web of deception.

Coruscant

Surface: Galactic City Precinct

Agent Venko sits at a table in a dimly lit interview room. The projector in front of him hums to life and displays the shadowed face of The Director. No distinct features can be made out and to the best of Venko's knowledge, no one has ever actually seen him in person. All instruction, order and missives are usually given through messages. They say it is to protect Imperial interests but it instills fear deep into the hearts of all branches.

The Director's voice is low and distorted.

"You disappoint me, Agent Venko."

"I'm sorry, sir. There seems to be a misunderstanding-"

"Is it? Then explain it to me. Explain how one of the assets you are ordered to protect ended up in a potentially dangerous and life-threatening situation."

Venko clears his throat.

"I was following a lead in the Cole-Price case and believe miss Patten could have helped in obtaining relevant information. The contact needed a...less official face to feel comfortable. At the time, there was no clear and present danger. There was no reason to believe this contact was a target or that the situation could have escalated to the point of criminal activity. I see now this was a mistake and I apologize. It will never happen again."

The Director's imagine glowers, briefly caught in static before correcting.

A tense and excruciatingly long pause ensues.

"I would hope not, for your sake. It would be a shame to waste such a promising agent. Remember your place, Venko. You are Imperial Security not some cheap noir detective.  Your primary objective is to protect The Four. Further deviation from this task will not be tolerated. Do I make myself clear?"

Venko nods, "Perfectly, sir."

"Then go."

"That's...all, sir?

"You wish for more?"

"No, no, I just-"

"Tread carefully, Venko and remember I am watching you. Always."

The Director's image disappears and the projector powers down.

Stunned with disbelief, Venko rises quickly from the chair. As he walks through the door he is struck by doubt. Agents guilty of less have been immediately terminated on the spot. Tolerance has forever been in short supply. So why spare him? If he's just a glorified bodyguard then why not replace him? Only one reason he can think of.

They need him for something.


*


Byss

Surface: Emerald Splendor Estates

Alexander Winton pushes the chair back and away from the consol.

Under the auspices of a RepulsorCorp emergency he returns to his personal hideaway. The place he can escape the superficial corporate life he must maintain for the sake of destiny. He had purchased the exclusive residence a few months after the Winton and Masterton family moved to the Core. The girls were still children and their wives still unsuspecting of anything foul. Things are much different now. Measures must be taken to ensure everyone stays in line. There can be minimal interference outside what is absolutely unavoidable and this has taken a significant toll on Monica and Celeste. Henrick is easier to control as he believes he is searching for a cure to Alexia's madness. Wives are always trickier. Women so often fancy themselves clever it sickens him. It makes his life considerably more difficult so he must escape to the glorious darkness of Byss in order to oversee certain activities.

Another summer approaches and the kids of North Coruscant High are busy little things.

The boy-spy has sullied his sway in the group with personal drama. This upsets him greatly but one cannot reasonably expect better from irrational and emotional teenagers. Alexander orders he repair it immediately before all trust is lost.

His beautiful daughter, tenacious and perceptive in all the wrong ways, nearly cost Agent Venko his life. Had he stumbled upon the events at Legacy Tower he would know just how much power his children possess. It may cause conflicts of interest he would just as soon avoid. Venko must continue to view them as assets and nothing more. And he does with all but one.

Patten may be a problem.

Gellar is on the war path. Thankfully, it's in the wrong direction.  She finds herself no closer to the truth. May "Jerico Gellar" rest in peace.

"Heh!" Alexander laughs out loud.

Masterton is holding up surprisingly well. She has taken considerable risk following Monica's instruction but has yet to produce a viable link to the both the Jedi and that wretched Alliance. He had taken it upon himself to ease up her personal security detail therefore allowing her the delusion that she's getting away with it all. The traitor. She may be able to see into the future but cannot control or understand it which is why she will never see it coming.

Then there is Alexia. Sweet, sadistic Alexia. He knew it would get ugly but heavens help the Maker. Monica had tried to spoil the fun but it just wasn't time yet. A part of Alexia still believes she is doing this for the right reasons. The once and future Dementat will fail and only through that failure can he succeed with Karen. Even though he knows Alexia is slated to lose, his one and true hope is that she bucks prediction and takes it all.

Alexander walks from the darkened office and down a long black corridor lit only by spiked sconces. The red blast door at the end of the hall slides apart as he approaches. Beyond lies what he likes to call the 'evidence locker,' a room filled with artifacts and priceless wonders including the centerpiece of his life's work. He stops in front of a vaulted transparasteel case which contains the original scrolls recovered from Korriban. He runs his finger along the smooth, clear surface. Such a wonderful, useful and extremely profitable prize.

The Persephonea Prophecy and it's complete translation.

It is not the copy his wife stole from him.

It is not the copy she gave to Masterton.

It is not the copy that will eventually fall into the hands of the Jedi.

It is not the copy they will expect and prepare for.

Alexander smiles at his own reflection.

It is so much worse.


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface: Galactic City: North Coruscant High

The days grow as long as they do hot.

As the weeks pass, a fraction of normalcy is restored by the fervor of upcoming finals. There is talk of summer plans and goals for the following year. Excitement ramps up across the campus in everyone but Lucas Maxwell. His affair with Valerie has spiraled out of control. He was hurt that Melanie found someone else and the girlfriend of his best friend was the most self-destructive route available. Reef has been scarce anyway and Valerie mentioned something about him being an asshole. He wasn't really paying attention. There wasn't time. Valerie did all the talking and for a while it was almost nice to have someone take the lead instead of always stepping further away. Then he makes the mistake of sleeping over the night Kimber is arrested and Karen shows up in the middle of the night to blow it all to hell. Lucas has been expecting the wrath for too long because on the surface the group seems fine. They are the dazzling spectacle of youth and it's driving him crazy. Crazy enough to suck it up.

He finds Melanie after school one hazy afternoon by her locker in HOME2.

"Hey Mel."

Her smile puts a serious dent in his bravado.

"Oh, hi Lucas. How's it going?"

He sighs wearily.

"You don't have to pretend anymore."

She taps the locker closed and turns to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"You know."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Karen didn't tell you?"

"Karen didn't tell me what?"

Lucas swallows hard. She is staring at him with an expression of curiosity that is quickly becoming concern. He has already lost her but feels she deserves to hear it from him. The nature of secondhand information would surely distort the facts. Not that there is any way to soften them.

"I slept with Valerie."

"You did....what?"

"It just happened....I let it happen....I can't say anything other than....I'm sorry."

"I see."

"You don't seem surprised."

She exhales with a clenched jaw.

"With her, I'm not. With you it's a different story. I thought you were better than that. What about Reef?"

"I don't know..."

"He's your best friend."

Lucas glances down, away from her. He wants to call her out, to scream that he saw he with someone else but can't bring himself to point fingers after what he's done.

Melanie crosses her arms.

"He is the one who really deserves your apology. Not me."

"But I am sorry...."

"Then prove it."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Tell Reef the truth."

Lucas finally looks up into her blue eyes.

"What about Valerie?"

Melanie's smile falls.

"Let me worry about Valerie."

*

Hyperion Building: Galatea Suite

The door chime echoes at eight.

Kimber is in her room blasting music and obsessing about why Venko is being distant so Valerie pads through the living room to answer it. She finds Melanie planted on the other side.

Valerie smirks.

"I was wondering when you'd turn up. Come on in."

Melanie takes two steps past her, turns, and slaps her hard. Valerie's head jerks to the right and holds before righting itself. She feels blood but does not touch the side of her lip. The door hisses closed in the seconds of silence that follow.

"Now that's what I've been waiting for. The ever-polite Melanie Masterton with the gloves off."

She scoffs, disgusted.

"For the life of me I can't figure out why you do half the things you do. I try not to judge but you hit below the belt so often it makes it seem like you are intentionally trying to make enemies out of everyone."

"You try not the judge? That's a laugh."

"Don't be so flip."

"All you do is judge! You are judging me right now. You frown down upon those who love to live it up. People make mistakes, Melanie. They mess things up, test the limits before figuring shit out. That's what we're supposed to do. Not everyone can be as perfect as you. At least that's what I used to think before I found out about your secret lover. Guess I'm not the only one with a flair for scandal."

Melanie recoils, "What are you talking about?"

"The commoner Lucas saw you with before he ended up inside me."

Somehow it's always worse when Valerie paraphrases it.

The statement lingers in the air, stifling everything. Her mind is whirling to all the times she had met Castin. They had been so careful to avoid being seen together. There could be no link between her and the underworld.

"I spoke with Lucas earlier and he never mentioned it. As usual, you have no idea what you are talking about."

Valerie is not convinced.

"Don't I? He seemed pretty sure."

Melanie quickly diverts the conversation.

"Why would you do this to Reef? I thought you were together."

"People think a lot of things."

"So cryptic, so deep. I don't even know why I even bother asking."

"You want something, you take it."

"No, Valerie, you don't. Especially when that something isn't yours to take."

"So you've staked some sort of claim on Lucas? Could have fooled me. You've been stringing him along for over a year. How much is a guy supposed to take? You could have just let him down easy. You could have been predictably sweet and honest. You could have broken it off when you found your little sordid side-dish but did you? No. You want him spun like you want us all spun. You want us to believe you are above it all but you aren't, are you?"

"No one is."

"Then stop acting like you're so fucking righteous."

"I suppose that would be like asking you to stop acting like a whore."

Valerie's olive colored eyes flare.

"I am not a whore!"

Melanie smiles tightly.

"Oh I'm sorry, Valerie. A slut then. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a virtue. If you are so envious of my alleged image than maybe you should start by closing your legs."

"Touché but if you had bothered opening yours, Lucas would never have fallen for it in the first place."

"You make sex sound like a weapon."

"It can be if you would only allow yourself to use it as one. That's your problem."

"I don't have a problem."

"Yeah you do. All that sneaking around isn't exactly your style. So it makes me wonder what you have to hide."

Melanie glares at her defiantly.

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

"I guess lying to everyone is easier."

"You would know."

Valerie smiles slyly, stepping past her to open the door.

"Then I guess it's a good thing we have this little defining moment. Consider yourself warned."

Melanie shakes her head, unable to fathom the layers and complexity of Valerie's motives and storms out into the hall.

*

Five Hundred Republica: Masterton Residence

Furious and upset, Melanie returns to find Karen sitting in the living room waiting for her.

The tension causes a spark in the air so loud it crackles and hums.

"Why didn't you tell me about Lucas and Valerie?"

Karen's mouth falls open, "Ohhhhh shit. I totally spaced that."

"How could you forget something like that? That's.....huge! Gigantic even! I mean, really, Karen, surely you would have thought this was worth mentioning even in passing."

"Okay don't hate my face but there has been a lot going on...."

"What? You and Skyler not win couple of the year?"

"Whoa, slow down crazy and stop projecting! I'm trying to apologize here."

Melanie winces, fighting back another wave of tears.

"It seems everyone wants to apologize today. Everyone, that is, except Valerie."

"She certainly has a way with people. Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I didn't know what to think. Kimber was at the station, you were unreachable, and so I finally tracked down Valerie. There he was looking crushed and caught. I thought maybe he would say something since Lucas strikes me as the type to own up to his blunders."

"He did."

"Does that make it any better?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. Are you going to be alright?"

"I won't be speaking to Valerie anytime soon but I'll live. What has you so distracted you failed to share vital information with your best friend?"

Karen's face tightens. She didn't come here tonight to tell Melanie about Lucas' wandering penis. There is something much more important weighing down her thoughts. Venko's investigation turned up nothing. He told her to stop creating drama and focus on the present moment. She tried but an ugly feeling lingers.

"You told me once before that maybe we should be afraid of Alexia. More than just socially, I mean. I think you might be right."

Melanie shivers, fragments of the vision attached to a prophecy hidden far below Galactic City spinning back through her mind.

"How so?"

"There is something I didn't tell you about last summer. It's not that I didn't want to but I had to wrap my own mind around it. Plus I didn't want to freak you out anymore than you already were."

She takes a breath.

"Alexia came to Bolerathon Tower. She said things that may or may not have been a warning. It's not exactly in her nature to be forthcoming but the more I think about it the more I'm sure something terrible is happening."

Melanie's heart is pounding.

"Terrible like how? What did she say?"

Karen frowns sharply.

"Alexia said the reason she was sent to Carida is because someone had to be. We are different than everyone else in a world where connection to the Force is regulated by the Empire. She made it sound like her service, willing or unwilling, allowed for you and I to have this life. I mean think about it. People with similar powers were slaughtered in the past. Hundreds if not thousands of them. And yet here we are, strutting our shit all over the place right in front of the fully aware Emperor without so much as a raised brow? I'm not so sure I want the other shoe to drop. The thing that really gets me, what really makes me wonder is - What if she's right?"

Melanie wants to tell her but manages to cling to the greater good.

Lying to everyone is easier.

Consider yourself warned.

So she lies.


-TBC

[Syren]

Coruscant

Surface

In the twilight place, Melanie finds Castin at the hideout and throws her arms around him. He holds her tightly without asking questions. Her burden is epic but he has seen her capacity for good which is why it must be her. Finally, she pulls back and stares into his face.

"It's done."

"Can it be traced?"

"No. I made sure."

"Just because you can't tell them doesn't mean you can't show them the way. You are helping them help themselves. If they can escape what is written then we all might stand a chance."

"I know."

"Then why you do look so sad?"

"They know."

"Know what?"

"About you. Lucas saw us together and told Valerie."

"Shit."

Castin knows the risk of association. She is wonderful but her friends are notoriously unpredictable. Their exploits are splashed across the Holo in bold colored print. They are what those of the underworld call untouchables - gorgeous creatures who prance along the thin line between drama and scandal all while blinded by the lights of the media. It's a feat not many can attempt let alone succeed in which is why it is that much more alluring. The public loves a worthy distraction. He finds it all a bit self-obsessive but in these uncertain times it doesn't hurt to have a convincing front. If you can convince everyone you are a certain thing then suspicion will slide down the slick surface. Strangely he is not angry with her. He is not angry with himself. He is in the business of erasing and rewriting information and there is a small part of him that enjoys the fact that her friends now know she has found someone.

"I'm so sorry, Castin. I never meant for this to happen."

"Don't be sorry. It's not your fault. Besides, I've got good news."

"You do?"

He kisses her softly and whispers.

"I may have found what you are looking for."

*

High above, within a giant empty apartment in Five Hundred Republica, Karen turns over in bed. Skyler smiles, eyes closed, exposed pale shoulder, tousled curls, one leg draped lazily over the side of the bed. She laughs. Their hands find each other beneath the wrinkled sheets. She leans closer, crimson hair stunning against the white pillows. Skyler opens his eyes and they are blue and endless and seem to understand something and love that something regardless.

"Beautiful boy."

"Beautiful girl."

"Would you say it's fated?"

"Oh, destiny for sure."

"Without the tragic ending."

"Yes, nix the tragedy. Throw in a bunch of cheeky banter. Heavy on the snogging. Maybe some nude painting, a little classical music, the prerequisite passing of time montage..."

"Boo! No one gets away with a montage anymore."

"Some shaky cutaways then? We could go indie here at any moment."

"We certainly have the back story baggage and issues to boot."

"Somehow I think our first world problems won't seem so dire to the smugglers and traders scraping to get by."

She yawns.

"Well, it would certainly be more interesting."

He pulls her hand from beneath the covers and kisses it before sitting up and kissing her neck. She grins and falls back against the sheets. They kiss briefly before she pauses, zoning out, losing focus. Skyler breaks away and proves how well he really knows her.

"It's Alexia, isn't it?"

"Can't stop thinking about her."

"Why do you do this to yourself?"

"She's my sister."

"Who's taken a completely different path than you. It may not seem logical but it's not up to you to decide what's right for her. You can only really worry about yourself. And me, of course."

Karen laughs, sliding a finger gently across his face.

"That's what Melanie said. I thought Alexia was somehow the key to all this weirdness because she was always the key. Anything kooky or crazy usually had something to do with her. But Venko said nothing is up. She's just being trained by the Empire to do Maker only knows what..."

"You sound like you want her to be evil."

Karen glances down.

"If she is then maybe that means I'm the good one."

"You are."

Their eyes meet.

"Says who? I'm part of her, she's part of me. I can't bring myself to believe she volunteered for this out of some sense of loyalty to me or our family which means they chose her for a reason. The Empire knows she's capable of something awful."

Skyler holds her. She is trembling.

"Shh, shh, you are working yourself into a state. I  understand why you would search for answers. Carli and Tenley. I know. It's been a strange year for everyone but that doesn't make it Alexia's fault. You are only trying to make sense of senseless tragedy. We all are."

Karen wipes a tear from her cheek.

"And you think that's all it is?"

Skyler smiles his most reassuring smile and squeezes her hand.

"That's all it is."

*

In the Hyperion Building, Reef taps the door chime for the Galatea Suite. Valerie answers in a red bra, black boy shorts and platforms. She glances him over, rolls her eyes and moves away from the door. Reef follows and stops her by speaking up.

"I just had a very interesting conversation with Lucas."

She turns slowly, smile laced with the triumph of calculated audacity.

"Oh yeah? How's he doin?"

Reef laughs hollowly, "Not so good. Your claws are a lot sharper than I gave you credit for. Did a real number on him."

"Hurt is a game two people can play. Looks like you hurt more. I win. Bummer."

"You've got balls."

"Thanks and you certainly have some brass too coming over here thinking you now have some sort of moral high ground. Not even the mighty Melanie has that anymore so you, my friend, haven't got a leg to stand on."

"Look, I fucked up alright? How many more times can I say it?"

Valerie considers this.

"As many as it takes for me to believe you. Get comfortable. It might be a while."

He snorts, squaring his shoulders.

"Don't act like I'm not worth it, bitch. Even you are smarter than that."

"You say that like you care, like you are without blame."

"Blame? Trust me, this isn't my fault and for the record no one knows that you hit me. I didn't even mention it."

"You...didn't?"

"Nope. Your precious rep is still intact. Hell, people may even feel sorry for you now and you will thank me for the sympathy vote later. Want to know why?"

"Actually I do."

Valerie crosses her arms.

"You might be worth it too. I figured if I blabbed it all over school it would turn into this nightmarish social issue that would consume far too much time and energy and probably wind up making me look like some sort of women's rights hero. Then I thought, hey, Reef deserves worse and Melanie could stand to come down a few notches so why not just use Lucas to do both?"

"That's some fucked up shit, Val."

"You think? And while I'm serving up warnings consider this yours. Put your hands on me again in a way that doesn't involve pleasure and so help me I will fucking kill your ass dead. Literally, kill you fucking. You might enjoy it but your never coming back from it. Am I making myself clear?"

Reef adjusts himself and nods.

"Good, now get back down there and make it up to me."

*

The following day, Agent Venko wanders the Esplanade on his lunch break. He had done as instructed and shut Karen down hard. Her wild speculation is hedging into uncomfortable ISB territory. The Director's insistence only makes him more curious. It means she's on to something but she can't know that. Not if she doesn't want to move from asset to target. Then there is Kimber. He can't stay away, no matter how hard he tries. She calls and he finds himself floating forward, unable to stop. Kimber appears out of the crowds, falling into step beside him. She takes his hand and leads him away. In the shadows of an ally, she turns.

"You came."

"I couldn't resist."

"Good to know," she says, giggling. "I quite like you, Nikoli. I do. Even though you tell me I shouldn't, I can't help myself."

"That makes two of us. I like you too. A lot. I just don't want to put you in any more danger..."

"It's a dangerous world but I feel much safer with you in it."

Venko smiles as he grasps both of her hands, "We have to be careful."

"It'll be our little secret."

Kimber leans up on her heels, head tilting to the right as their lips connect. The kiss is intense and passionate. It fills his head with colors that overwhelm his senses. As she pulls away, tugging on his lower lip, she giggles again.

"Don't you have a case to solve?"

"If only there were any viable leads."

"You'll catch a break soon. Promise."

Back at his office, there is a song in his heart. He moves with a purpose that had escaped him before. There is a stack of mail on his desk that he sorts through casually, lost in thought about Kimber's face, her laugh, how her lips taste. Then he comes across an unmarked package among repeated reports from a rather eager Agent Ames citing considerable and alarming lapses in Masterton's timeframe. He pushes them aside, focusing only on the package. It is small, rectangular and contains no markings on either side. He rips off the top and turns the package over.

A datacard drops out.


-TBC


Next, on the series 2 finale of Socially Acceptable Monsters....

Who among them answers to Alexander Winton? What will Alexia face in the cave on Korriban?

[Syren]

Now: The Series 2 Finale of Socially Acceptable Monsters.

Korriban

Surface: The Cave

In a darkness so pure it humbles, Alexia Winton kneels before a stone alter in an excavated alcove and weeps. It is where the prophecy scrolls were found when she led an Imperial team to this exact spot. She has flashes, faces of people she knows, when her fingers brush the cool stone. Gasping, she sits back. A ghostly glow is cast over her. An apparition appears faintly, a woman in flowing robes, distinctly Hapan, gazing down at her silently until she whispers with sheer malice...

"You will never be her."

Alexia's face contorts in confusion.

"Who are you?"

"A friend."

"So you know who I am?"

The woman barely smiles.

"I know who you are not."

"Who....aren't I?"

"How long have you been here?"

"I don't know..."

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

Alexia's mind reels, falling against walls without windows. She can see only portions at a time. There are buildings, a skyline that never ends.

"I was on...the capital. On Coruscant."

"What were you doing there?"

Shadows spread until it blots out the sun. Fear grips her tightly by the throat.

"Something..."

"That's not entirely untrue."

"I can't remember."

"You don't want to remember."

"Why...wouldn't I?"

The woman's image flickers, disappears, then materializes again. This time, she is much closer to Alexia.

"You tell me."

Her words become mechanical which become static as the apparition bears down on Alexia. Screams are swallowed up in the light pouring through her mind. The darkness is pulled back as swiftly as a blanket.

"What do you remember

Remember

Remember

Remember

Remember?

The dream inside a dream.

There is a framed scene of her on Carida surrounded by rubble. It once was a field on which they played a game she won. The last one standing. She wants them to take her seriously.

Instructions are given by faceless men in freshly pressed uniforms.

She says nothing, only nods.

- On Coruscant Alexia is standing in the back of a speeder as it sails past the Old Orsic Theater just after midnight. The wind whips crimson hair across a face with eyes blacker than the night sky. She raises the weapon and fires. The rope spins wildly in circles but she extends a hand to steady its course, guiding it down onto an expansive balcony and straight through the chest of Carli Cole. It douses Karen in blood. She can feel it. The warmth, the comfort and it fills her with joy. Alexia wraps the rope around a gloved arm, speeder angling down, dark and out of sight, and pulls the actress from the balcony. She rides off with Karen's scream still hanging in the air as Carli bleeds to death in the back of the speeder. At the warehouse, she strips the actress down. She bleeds her and washes the dress. She puts her gently into a freezer. She takes her time. Days later, she lays Carli  on the steps of the once great Senate Hall for the world to see. She wants them to know it can happen to anyone -

- Cut to a birthday party. Sweet Sixteen. The Four shine like a beacon to which all attention is drawn. Alexia watches a table closely as Tenley Price excuses herself and heads toward the bathroom. Tenley is smiling, lost in happy thoughts. She moves gracefully away from the revelers, past the security guards of Venko's misinformed team, and steps out of the dim glow of the white lights twinkling above them. That is when Alexia advances, seeping out of a shadow to snatch her mid-step. There isn't even time to scream. Tenley wakes up bound in the back of a shuttle. Her party dress is ruined and this angers her. She grows more angry when Alexia appears. The realization of what just happened is clearly marked across Tenley's beautifully smudged face. Alexia has gagged her as well to cut down on the useless questions and pleading. She simply flies them out of the Core to the rendezvous point. When they arrive, she meets two mysterious agents who call themselves Max and Xam and hands Tenley over. There is talk of a "project" but Alexia is already in the shuttle, flying away. She wants them to be afraid -

- Then there is shabby apartment near the CU grad school campus. Lux Lynus returns home from a meeting with the insurgent known as Castin Donn. There is no time to get comfortable. Alexia crashes into the foyer after destroying the cheap door controls, wielding two vibro-blades that she slashes along the walls. Lux is terrified and runs in several directions all leading nowhere. Alexia swings the blades, knocking over pictures, a mirror and several vases before slashing up the couch. Lux tries to fight but Alexia tears through her and the apartment with renewed vigor. She hurls Lux through the patio window where she lies wounded and bleeding. Thunder announces the arrival of a storm. It begins to pour. Lux writhes on the ground, backing herself up against the flimsy railing. She coughs, blinking rain and blood out of her eyes, and says she doesn't have it but Alexia can't hear her over the roar of the storm. She slams both blades deep into Lux and lifts her high where she dangles helplessly until Alexia dumps her over the side. There is no sound, only the rain.  She can't help herself -

Dementat finds her weeping on the floor of the trashed living room. She is shaking violently, on the verge of convulsions. There are voices out in the hall. Moving quickly, he wraps Alexia in his tunic and carries her out onto the patio and leaps down into his waiting transport. Moments later, Agent Venko and Kimber Patten arrive. Pulling away, rain pouring down, Dementat makes a call.

Then they are on Korriban where Dementat leads her back to the cave.

Alexia gasps, reeling back against the alter. Images and feelings become choppy, splitting apart, falling away as the darkness returns. The apparition vanishes, laughter echoing throughout all corners of the cave.

"Anger and hate," the voice whispers.

Alexia turns and runs.

The voice calls after her.

"It's all you have. It's all you are."

*

Bakura

Surface: Salis D'aar

Alexander Winton lounges in his RepulsorCorp office, lighting one of the finest cigars in the galaxy. His world is at peace if only for the moment. The recent Imperial victory has the Alliance on the run and the Empire singularly consumed. They do not know who Dementat really is or how The Four will shape the future. It is a plot that unfolds seamlessly in the background.

Incoming message.

The boy spy's rectangular face and chiseled shoulders appear.

"I take it all is handled then?"

"Yes," Reef Stratford says. "Everyone is just as distracted as you want them to be."

"You cease to amazing me. Those kids will believe anything."

He glances down, away.

"Yeah, well, there is a lot going on."

Alexander can barely contain his amusement.

"Oh, I know there is. Good work, mister Stratford. Looks like our credits have been well spent. Let me know if there is any change."

He taps off, the boy's image fading.

The names of The Four were not the only names Monica Greyson-Winton whispered in her sleep on those terrifying nights following the vision. Remnants played out in her dreams and as he listened closely, she gives him five other names.

Three are already in the capital. Two must be summoned.

First, Alexander paid a visit to Mandalore. He went to a field and watched the boy play Chin-Bret with more skill than some of the professionals he'd watched on Holo. The boy moved with an aggressive purpose. His parents were humble people and took much pride in the accomplishments of their children. They could not afford the kind of education and environment worthy of such an athlete so Alexander stepped in offering a RepulsorCorp sponsored scholarship. They gratefully accepted and Reef is sent to the Core the summer after middle school to attend the prestigious North Coruscant High. In his first week there, he is summoned to the Imperial Palace to meet with his new benefactor. He does not introduce himself and explains the conditions of the arrangement. Reef would want for nothing as long as he accomplished a very specific task - bringing certain individuals together. He is given a list of names and a revised schedule that would put him in contact with all but one of them. If this was done without question or invested emotional interest, he would have his choice of Academy or Imperial service. Alexander would open all the doors to his wildest dreams. To a boy who comes from nothing, the prospect of wealth and power overwhelmed him. Reef does not plan on caring about anyone but himself.

The following summer, Alexander sends an academic recruiter to Ty Saunders who convinced him that North Coruscant could use a well-rounded and bright student like his daughter. Impressed, Saunders contacts his traveling philanthropist wife and asks that she bring D'Arcy back to Hesperidium so that she could start the following semester. Alexander ensured Reef would be at the spaceport when she arrived. He protests that Skyler McNeal and Billy St. James would be accompanying him but he is ordered to improvise. Later, when asked how it went, Reef tells Alexander he pushed an absent-minded Skyler into D'Arcy and through conversation discover they are all headed to Bolerathon Tower. She is then introduced to the rest of the group.

Never underestimate the young, the cadre of beautiful and blind individuals who can be convinced they belong together. They live in a vicious world so it is only natural to fall into vicious cycles. Round and round they go. Time is running low. They can have the summer, the unabashed decadence, but by year's end they will know terror's true name.

They shall be tempted by The Beast.

Alexander leans back in his chair, kicking his feet up onto the desk. He takes two pulls off the cigar, stares through the window at the bustling city beyond, and smiles.


-TBC

[Syren]

[a woman's voice sings softly, almost a whisper, a lullaby]

"Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel. Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel. Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon. Like a carousel that's turning, running rings around the moon. Like a clock who's hands are sweeping past the minutes of its fate and the world is like an apple whirling silently in space like the circles that you find...

...in the windmills of your mind."



[fade from black]

In a white room at an undisclosed location, a striking young girl sits at one end of smooth rectangular table. A man is bound to a chair at the other. A finely polished blaster sits between them. The Agent known as Xam enters the room and only addresses the girl.   

"Can you hear me, Ms Price?"

The girl glances briefly at him and nods.

"Good. The man sitting across from you is part of a Rebel faction operating out of the Imperial capital. He has told us all we need to know about his associates, one of which you happen to know. The man is a traitor to the Empire, Ms. Price and therefore must be eliminated. Do you understand?"

Tenley Price blinks slowly, her face neutral and serene as she nods again.

"I need you to kill this man, Ms. Price."

Her eyes fall to the blaster.

Xam can see the beginnings of where her natural reaction to this directive would normally become problematic. It would conflict with a certain set of morals they have been steadily working to erase. Now she barely flinches and lifts a trembling hand over the table. The man, realizing the direction this particular afternoon is heading, begins to writhe in the chair. He shouts out for help that will never come.   

"Kill him," Xam urges in a slightly deeper yet even tone.

Tenley reaches out and grips the blaster, training it across the table at the man now screaming at a level which is nearly intolerable. Obscenities are snarled, a divinity evoked but Tenley's face is a lesson in untarnished tranquility as she tightens her grip and fires two shots into the man's face to silence him forever.

[cut to black]


Socially Acceptable Monsters
Series 3: The Blind and the Beautiful

Summer 3ABY

Hesperidium

D'Arcy emerges from the stark blue waters and walks onto a deserted patch of Imperial Beach. Bolerathon Tower looms above and beyond the glittering white sand. She pads up to a large crimson umbrella under which Karen is draped across a padded chaise lounge wearing sunglasses that consume nearly half her face.

"You know, that kind of defeats the purpose of tanning."

Karen doesn't move.

"Pale is the new tan. It's too hot. Is it hotter than normal?"

D'Arcy towels off.

"It's summer. That's one of the finer points."

"Seldom wrong and right again, D'Arc. This is just what we needed. I am, however, sorry about earlier. That wasn't....part of the plan."

It had been crowded when they arrived. Socialites and officials alike had fled Coruscant early this year. Hesperidium usually stays relatively dead until August when everyone realizes the season is ending and they must get in their summer shares. Karen said her goodbyes to Kimber and Valerie who left a few days after finals. Melanie had been understandably distant since the whole Lucas thing and the boys are seemingly unmotivated to do anything. D'Arcy opined that they must get away and to the beach immediately so Karen arranged for transport off the capital.

Unfortunately, the media caught wind of this and were waiting on the resort moon.

Over the course of the last year, attention had been curiously drawn to the rest of the group. The press now wanted to know about those who knew The Four. Even on their own, reporters would materialize in public - a restaurant, the Esplanade, a holoplex - ready to bombard them with questions about direct proximity to celebrity. What made them special? What was it like? How does it feel? Everyone had been startled and flattered and surprisingly tight-lipped.

It only made them want it more.   

The lights were blinding as Karen faced the crowds in the Hesperidium spaceport, clutching D'Arcy's hand as they shouted both of their names. They shouted things about Alexander and RepulsorCorp. They wanted to know about the future of Ty Saunders' investment show. Venko's security detail pushed their way through, allowing the girls to move through the spaceport within a circle of armed men all while photage is taken of the entire event. The ridiculousness of it all amused Karen but she felt kind of bad for subjecting D'Arcy and the others to it. They didn't exactly ask for that kind of scrutiny or attention.

D'Arcy grins and waves a hand through the air.

"Don't worry about it. They will find something else to talk about eventually."

Karen finally sits up, reaching for a glass of iced tea on the white table beside her.

"What if they don't?"

"Don't what?"

"Find something else. What if they talk about us forever?"

D'Arcy rolls her eyes up and sighs as she falls onto the other chaise.

"Then I guess we're screwed."

*

Coruscant

Lucas does not bother pulling on a shirt as he shuffles toward the door. Sunlight streams brightly between the slats of the black window shades that cast a bar pattern across the room. Reef is slouched across the bed, a thin sweat-soaked sheet barely draped across his chiseled waist. He lights a joint from the nightstand and inhales sharply, deeply, before pushing it out to form a swirling white cloud in the center of the room. It hangs there, twisting around itself, expanding. Lucas pauses at the door, turning. There is a distinct smirk on his face.   

"Be sure and mention this to Valerie."

"Oh, man." Reef laughs, falling back against a pillow. "Don't worry, I will."

*

Corellia

Major Kyri Patten is not waiting expectantly in the spaceport.

Kimber's eyes scan the crowd wildly, hoping there has been some kind of mistake. Perhaps he got the time wrong? Maybe he is running late? What if there had been some kind of emergency, a situation only CorSec could handle? She runs through all the optimistic possibilities until it slowly dawns on her that he's not coming. The sudden disappointment stings more than it should.

Valerie stops beside her and lights a cigarette Kimber didn't even know she had.

"Looks like we're on our own."

Kimber frowns, face falling.

"You don't have to say it like that. I'm sure there has been a mistake."

"Sure, it's your delusion."

There is not a sea of reporters here and Venko's agents are not permitted to provide security. CorSec is promptly notified when either of them returns to Coronet City and keeps the spaceport and local areas clear of unwanted elements. The Major says that while Coruscant may be all business, Corellia is home.

"I am not delusional, Val. My parents are usually very attentive. You know that."

Kimber whips the com-link out of her purse and calls the Patten Ranch. No one answers. Lilandra Patten's com-link is active but switched off. The Major's has been disconnected. A deep panic courses through Kimber's chest as she considers the possibility that something happened. Something not good and not pretty and not covered in sparkles.

"You were saying?"

"Oh shut up, just shut up...."

"As you wish," Valerie mutters, flicking the smoldering cigarette away from them.

Kimber quickly stamps it out with a heel.

"Can you try not to litter while you are slowly killing yourself? You know, you are really turning into a negative Nelly lately. I'm freaking out and I need you to focus, okay? Just get over yourself for a microsecond and help me figure out what to do."

Her lip is trembling, on the verge of tears.

Valerie softens slightly. Her bitterness is tempered by Kimber's distress.

"What to do? That's easy. We go to my place, hang out and then try your parents again later. Worst case, you spend the night and we go to straight over to the CorSec offices in the morning."

Kimber brightens, "Really?"

"Really."

The Gellar residence has been meticulously cleaned but feels cavernous and empty - like a place filled with expensive furniture, ghosts and loaded questions. Kimber didn't frequent the place due to Valerie's sentimental attachment to it. It brings up memories of her father and takes them to places Kimber does not know how to find her way out of. Valerie moves through the darkened space with a casualty that would be impressive if Kimber did not know her so well.

"Drink?"

"Yes but something light, please. I just need to unwind a little."

Valerie returns minutes later with some kind of rum punch and two pills.

"Done and done. You should probably make any calls before the meds kick in. We don't want you slurring like some kind of lush."

Kimber nods deftly and tosses back both with a slug of the drink while Valerie opens all the windows and flips on the fans. A cool breeze brings with it the sounds of the city.

Kimber tries her mother again.

Nothing.

She clutches the com-link and watches as the last golden rays of the sun slip below the staggered towers, staining the sky purple and blue. The drugs work quickly, rendering Kimber's tight and worried expression into nothing more than a serene stare. Valerie guides her into the guest bedroom, out of the pink frilly dress, the heels, and between the cool, crisp sheets. Kimber sighs happily and settles into the pillow. Valerie waits until she has fallen into a deep slumber before making a call, changing into a mini dress and stiletto's and slipping out into the wild Corellian night.


-TBC