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Let Chaos Reign Chapter 31: The Hand Behind The Throne
I watched in interest as the Hutts' bodies under the influence of the same Hatsu Pitou had used on Jabba squirmed and moved without their control. Their cries of pain when fingers and arms, along with all kinds of different muscles, twisted and moved far beyond what they were supposed to.
They felt all of it. Pitou made sure of that as her smile grew at her new toys making a chorus of wonderful noises to her ears. The Hutts had given the order for what was left of their forces in the tower to stand down while Pitou tortured them, and it showed just how scary her ability was.
As it mapped out their memories and every single habit from subtle gestures with their facial expressions to their hands and bodies, it also made it so the Hutts couldn’t even show any sign of discomfort in their voices when their arms had twisted all the way around at the shoulders, snapping the bones out of the socket.
The Hatsu was something that was different from her normal method of controlling corpses. Instead of just killing them and then just taking control, the Hatsu was more akin to a parasite. It wormed its way into their body through physical contact, mapping out neurons along with everything else in their body.
It’s why no one even knew Jabba had in some sense died. His body was still alive to some extent, but the original Jabba was more or less brain dead, the Hatsu controlling him using his habitual mannerisms and gestures, all the way to having access to his memories and extensive knowledge to ensure we retained his assets and resources.
The same happened to the Hutts' council. Except they got far worse treatments than Jabba had gotten. The things that Pitou had subjected them to through her control of their bodies made what had happened to Jabba seem merciful.
Enough that it even managed to make me feel just a microscopic level of bad for them. That was until I laughed and enjoyed their suffering before the two of us felt that the torture of forcing their arms to twist and bend well past what they could do before breaking and tearing apart from both their muscles and skin was enough to satiate our desire for vengeance.
In a sense, they were still alive, just their bodies were controlled by a nen equivalent to a parasite that was keeping up the facade of them being who they were before while keeping all of the information on their vast connections and resources. With the Hutt council under our control, damn near all of Hutt space just became mine. With it… I could do so much.
Doors that were cracked slightly open now found themselves slammed wide open with the welcome mat rolled out. Jabba’s assets were nothing to look down on, but with theirs added to the pile, it now made me one of the bigger powers in the galaxy.
It didn’t take long for orders going out across Nar Shaddaa that would lead to the planet being a free planet with no slaves. Unlike with Tatooine, it wouldn’t take long to begin getting the figurative noose around slavery on this moon before unceremoniously kicking the chair out from under it.
Orders have already been placed for food delivery, and of course TFC is established on Nar Shaddaa. With the bodies of the Hutts staring down at their guards who warily eyed the three of us, they followed their orders and did as told.
Leaning towards Pitou, I gave her my praise. “Good work, Pitou. Just like with Jabba, beyond Haki and my Byakugan, I can’t tell a difference between them now and how they were before.”
Pitou’s tail picked up in speed at the praise, raising her head and closing her eyes at the appreciation thrown her way.
The bodies were taken care of by Pitou quickly putting her original Hatsu to work reviving and fixing the damage done to them to then change how they looked to avoid anyone questioning how they were alive on the off chance they knew them even passingly.
All set up just like the clones to keep an eye and ear out for anyone plotting something. With everything set up, which didn’t take long with the Hutts giving out orders and publicly announcing they will be from now on following Jabba’s lead since his way has not only proven profitable with the sales of several crops from Tatooine already bringing in business but also how everyone is prospering, which leads to more profit.
Who knew?
Take over the Hutt council. One silver ticket. Use now? Y/N
[Drillmaker]
|Rare Ability|
Make, not break. Allows you to create Drills out of energy that you can control telekinetically to either launch as projectiles or wield like weapons. The strength and rotational power of drills scale with the amount of energy expended.
Take over Nar Shaddaa without using a fleet or an army. One gold ticket. Use now? Y/N
[Expert Shooting]
|Elite Skill|
You are an expert marksman, you handle all firearms and projectiles with great skill and finesse to the point where people might wonder if you have special power. You can even curve your shots and utilize ricochets. You can also better predict the trajectory of enemy projectiles.
Gain control of the majority of Hutt space. One platinum ticket. Use now? Y/N
[Modified Tvirus]
|Epic Item|
Resident Evil - A modified syringe of modified T-Virus that gives whoever is injected all of the benefits of the T-virus without any of the downsides, granting them superhuman physical abilities, regeneration, and telekinesis.
I could only look at my gains and just smile. The drill, while cool, was something I could probably combine with Susanoo and rip off Guren Lagann. The second had its uses. It wasn’t completely worthless and might even be far more than I thought it was, considering it was already showing me different trajectories to use with projectiles from confusing and disorienting angles.
But the real prize was the last one. Pitou just got a new priority project. Shaking my head and focusing back on my original train of thought.
When it came to Tatooine, it also helped that it was nice to look at now instead of looking like one giant Saharan desert that sucked donkey balls with how miserable it was before. With the assets of those Hutts added to our own, we had seized nearly the entire Hutt-controlled part of the galaxy.
Weeks went by with the Separatists pushing into Republic space, making attacks and seizing some planets but mostly just harassing the Republic when they made any attempt to breach into Separatist space.
To my disappointment, somehow, Pitou wasn’t capable of finding a way to generate more of the modified T-Virus. Her power should have been capable of doing so, and if not that, her incredible intelligence and learning speed should have figured something out. Nope.
No matter what she did, the virus or whatever she made wasn’t even remotely close to what was contained in the vial I held in storage deep within the castle on Tatooine. When she tried to do anything to what was in the vial, it resisted her efforts. The kicker is it wasn’t the virus itself, from Pitou's understanding. It was like outside forces beyond her understanding were interfering.
The only conclusion I could come to was that the modified T-Virus granted to me by the source of all of it wasn’t allowing us to replicate more of it. Not that it would fully stop us. Not when we had a big massive source of it that was making headway in developing his Hatsu. Some of Nemesis’s samples were collected and kept in storage for Pitou to mess with.
Some members of the Quiet Hand were sent out on a few missions, but nothing substantial like it was before. That didn’t stop me from giving my own missions to the others, like HK-47, letting him handle any troublemakers that I couldn’t just publicly get rid of alongside just not having the time or wanting to deal with it.
I had far more important things to do than to just handle any upjumped criminal thinking they could carve out their own kingdom in my growing territory. Far too much effort had been put into it to just have it all slide back into how it used to be.
It was also a means to keep HK from getting bored. I know that droid would get into some kind of trouble or situation if not given something fitting his talents. Not that he would go against my orders, it was more likely he would become enthusiastic trying to find something that would benefit me while also being something he would enjoy.
Namely terrorizing whoever had made some very bad life choices to end up staring down HK-47 in a dark room. Several of my Magnaguards had been placed in positions near some of the individuals I wanted to keep alive among the Separatists in case things go wrong in some way. A little insurance would help keep me at ease.
Right now I watched the Mandalorians from various clans training and teaching the Twi’leks that were with Cham Syndulla. A reclusive spot far from Cham’s home but also capable of being reached from it with no small amount of effort. It was hidden in a crevice that littered the planet's hot zone, where the majority of the heat was in the layers of dirt and rock far above us.
Down here, it was cool enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about the absurd heat above. Already thoughts of biodomes for growing crops came to mind, ensuring should anything happen to the food being traded amongst the outer rim from Tatooine and some other planets, they would be capable of lasting until aid can come.
Cham’s home had become a tropical forest since the last time we had been here, becoming the talk of Ryloth and the system itself. Something Cham had kept close to his chest even when the senator of their planet, Orn Free Taa, had tried not so subtly as he thought he was to figure out what was going on.
With that massive Republic fleet taken out and the losses sustained from it, it would be some time before the Senator could get anything Republic related to the planet, considering the table the order of the galaxy rested on had been unceremoniously tossed against a wall by yours truly.
I watched Mandalorians go through various drills, wrestling and showing the Twi’leks hand to hand, the makeshift lights above us illuminating the area, the light from the system's star not reaching this far down.
The Mandalorians surprisingly got along quite well with the Twi’leks. I had half expected to handle the warmongers and give them an attitude adjustment if they showed any disdain for the people I was helping build up.
“I must thank you again, Tobi. You doing what you did with the rock and dirt, creating other chambers and this underground network, has made things far easier for us all.” Cham said, walking closer the instant he spotted me and stopped by my side.
“It was to help you all, and it also made things easier for everyone.” I nodded towards him, my orange spiral mask in place, head concealed under a hood. Most of the elite in the galaxy would struggle to have enough to pay for the outfit I wore.
Yet I had no issues letting dirt and rock smudge it, nor getting sweat from the few Twi’leks I had sparred with. Some were keen to face me after reaching some thresholds in their usage of nen.
Those same Twi’leks quickly learned even when holding back I was far from them. On another level entirely. I stood at the top of a grand mountain, reaching high into the cosmos while they climbed the mountain hoping to get a glimpse of what I see from on high.
That’s what they believed about me. I didn’t dissuade them of that idea. A few of the women training would occasionally glance in my direction when they thought I wouldn’t notice giving me each the look. They were interested.
But I ignored it in favor of speaking with Cham. “And how has your training gone so far?”
Cham’s smile grew an inch. “It has gone quite well. We did have some issues at the beginning with the ones you sent to train my people.”
Our dark corner where we watched the others train grew mildly tense. “Oh? Point out which ones and they will be handled.”
Cham waved me off. “It won’t be needed. Those that fight beside me do not bow or take insults easily. They… Had an exchange with the trainers.”
Interesting…
“So they fought them and won?”
“No. The ones that had an issue didn’t have nen.” Cham said without any shame or hesitation. “But they fought hard and didn’t give up until they were knocked unconscious. They fought with a ferocity that would make a Nexu feel shame for how it lacked such strength of conviction. Even managed to give one of the Mandalorians a black eye.”
He supplied the last part with a wink getting a chuckle out of me. “Good. I take it after that little showing and your people showing they have spines they came to respect them?”
“You could say that.” Another voice entered the conversation as I turned to see a young redheaded woman stepping towards us. Like the other Mandalorians she wore the modern version of their armor with her helmet held in the crook of her arm.
She wore the blue of Vizla’s group, the Deathwatch. If it wasn’t for the armor and who she was serving, I wouldn’t mind taking her to a more private place and having her serve under me for a few hours.
“Your people are a lot tougher than we expected. Quick learners too. I half expected them to be fumbling with their blasters trying to figure out how to hit a stationary target by this point when we came to teach them.” She said nonchalantly uncaring of the strained smile Cham had on his face.
She turned towards me before idly looking at Cham knowing she was pissing him off. “Though I can admit… I and the others are interested in this… nen they are calling it.”
“Let it be known I appreciate the blunt honesty instead of trying to butter me or Cham up to spill our secrets.” I said dryly. “As for nen, the Mandalorians will be included in receiving it and training in it.”
Who I knew to be Bo-Katan Kryze sister of none other than the Duchess who has gone to the exact opposite end of extremes from the Deathwatch for the Mandalorian people. Her green eyes slid over towards the Twi’leks practicing using their nen fundamentals.
“When?”
“When I think you and your people are ready.” I said calmly. Her head snapped towards me far faster despite how she would try to play it off. I knew she and by extension, Pre Vizla, once they had learned of the power of nen and what the most basic usage of it could do, were interested in it. To an unhealthy degree.
“And when is that?” She sassed back as Cham was trying to not smile at me making her beg from the table like a dog. I wasn’t even trying to do that either, just making sure she knew who held the power here and that she and her people were under my employ.
I appeared in front of her, towering over her as she stared up defiantly from my shadow. “When I say so. When I know you and your people do not abuse the power being given to you. If you do… Well you know your history when it came to Mandalore the Ultimate. If you want a repeat of that particular history, go on ahead and abuse it and you’ll find out.”
My eye shifted to the sharingan for added effect, the singular eye with its crimson red stood out in contrast from the darkness surrounding my face. Combined with my towering form, every bit of body language meant to convey both raw power and the willingness to use it. The act was my attempt to copy a cobra puffing out its flaps to appear bigger.
If I need to kill these people I will. But if I can get some use out of them and maybe turn them away from the more aggressive war like mentality they have then all the better. If they continue down the path of senseless destruction and war… Then they have to die.
For the greater good.
We stood there, me staring down at her with everyone stopping what they were doing to watch. For a few seconds she remained their unmoving, before with a slow raise of my hand, green fire formed around it, at first nothing but a ball of cursed fire.
Then came pyrokinesis. The flame suddenly changed shape, going through a myriad of different shapes and sizes before it settled on the form of the very thing I was imitating -- a cobra.
The flaming serpent crackled and hissed shifting through the air and with wide eyes Bo-Katan tried to back away, eyes wide in fear and mouth wide open. Her hand went for her blaster pistol, but it was too late. She soon found herself wrapped in the flaming serpent, the head of it facing her with the flaps extended out growing in length, easily reaching twice her size with the green flame becoming the only form of light or even color in the training area besides the blackened shadows growing.
Before any of the Mandalorians had a chance to raise their blasters the serpent who looked poised to give Bo the final kiss and embrace with death the cursed flame that had not once touched her skin dispersed into uncountable emerald embers before fading entirely away.
She stared up, frozen in place, before her eyes settled on me standing above her with Cham's hand on my shoulder.
“Tobi, don’t.” Cham said calmly but there was steel in both his eyes and voice.
“Relax Cham. She was never in any danger, it was as much a means to remind her to keep her desires in check while also testing her to see if she was anything like the warriors of old… Truly you are a disgrace to your ancestors.” I said calmly and matter of factly turning on my heel and walking away with a swish to my cloak.
Bo-Katan with heavy shaky breaths and a myriad of emotions flitting across her face before she fully registered my words with each one sinking in with the weight of a judge laying down their verdict. When it dawned on her at what I just told her, with a growl she reached for her blaster pistol only to have two sets of arms wrap themselves around her.
“Let go.” She hissed in the Mandalorian language.
“Enough. We need him and you were foolish enough to draw the ire of a Force user. You may outrank us, but if you do something that jeopardizes this job we will defy orders. You risk far too much.” Another woman said, alongside a male Mandalorian helping to restrain and talk sense into her.
“Pre Vizla put me in charge of this job.” She said with a huff, glaring in the direction of my retreating form.
“That may be. But when you act in a manner that could cost us everything you have to control yourself.”
The three continued to speak as Byakugan helped me read their lips through their helmets and using my skill in various languages knew what was being said between them. The various Twi’leks after that display had moved towards other areas to continue training.
Cham himself walked beside me with Pitou waiting for me while leaning up against a wall. “Was that necessary?” Cham finally broke the silence. He wasn’t necessarily upset, but he also wasn’t happy.
“Mandalorians respect power. At least the more violent ones. In her case, think of it like handling a kid that is a bully. You show any weakness, and they will take everything they can from you.”
Cham slowly nodded. “I have seen a few Mandalorians do some bounty jobs on Ryloth. While most acted decent if standoffish, the others were like her. Just… Please don’t scare my people by doing that. They are already on edge knowing what we are doing will put us at odds with many criminal organizations.”
“Nothing was going to happen. There was never any intention of killing her let alone harming her. Just two people butting heads together until only one remained standing to prove a point.”
Cham just gave me an odd look while Pitou in lockstep just giggled, her pendulum for a tail playfully wagging away. “Tobi’s not lying. If he wanted to he could have her killed and nothing beyond a few pests would be upset about it. They would be handled quite easily.”
Cham fell silent looking between us while trying to play off what Pitou had said and how it had unsettled him. I didn’t blame him. Despite how physically Pitou actually kind of fit the weird theme of most of the more human like species in Star Wars, but mentally she was more alien than anyone or anything besides maybe a handful of things that existed in this place.
About as alien as the species I had seen across several planets would be on Earth. Pitou had changed since I had first summoned her. She had come to care for others, even if it wasn’t anywhere close to what she felt towards me. The Twi’lek people she had been training since our return to Ryloth showed her care for them.
“How are the others doing, Neferpitou?” Cham broke the silence out of a desire to move away from the fucked up thing Pitou had said.
“Nyaaa I told you just to call me Pitou.” She said tilting her head and smiling cutely. “As for how far they have come… Much better than I had expected, but they still have far to go to begin creating their Hatsu.”
Cham smiled at that nodding towards her. “Thank you. This means the world to me and my people. What both of you have done for us.”
I just hummed and nodded in respect towards him. I wasn’t going to do some cliche isekai protagonist bullshit and tell him his thanks wasn’t necessary and he didn’t need to say it. I was doing a lot for these people. To not even receive a thank you for bringing life to this planet and potentially introducing for once in the entire history of the Twi’lek race meaningful change they should have the decency to thank the person.
“What about you, Cham? You managed to make time to train your nen?” I shifted the conversation over to the man.
“It’s been difficult, since I have to organize my people while keeping any would-be spies from finding out what we are up to, setting up secure areas to train in, and things back in my home… But I’ve made time and I would like to think I have made better progress than the others.”
An appreciative whistle left my mouth. “A bold claim if I ever heard one… Pitou, want to test him? That’s of course if you are up for it?” I turned to Cham who pondered it before the decision was made.
It didn’t take long for us to find a chamber, one of many I had created for Cham and the Mandalorians in the massive underground expanse. Many Twi’leks cheered for their leader and a few for Pitou. It showed that Cham’s people had also grown to care for Pitou. The Mandalorians that watched remained silent, the various different colored armors on display with not all of them being from Death Watch.
Pitou stood across from Cham calmly, the two of them at the center of the chamber. Cham himself had a serious look. More serious than usual. The man was gauging Pitou for any weak points or openings he could take advantage of.
The man like the rest of the Twi’leks here had been trained and left with extensive notes on what to do to train nen by Pitou. That alone gave him plenty of reason to doubt the openings he saw were far from it. Pitou definitely had more cat-like traits than most would initially assume. One of those was a small amount of pride that not many things could harm her, even when she left herself open for attack.
If anything, I think she was doing it to either test Cham or give him a fighting chance if she let the attack go through. I stepped forward drawing everyone’s attention.
“This is a sparring match, no killing or maiming as per usual. Are you two ready?” The two nodded and my hand held in the air fell. “Begin!”
Cham quickly rushed towards Pitou, Ren slamming into her but weak enough that it hardly affected those at the outer edge of the room. Even then, they shivered, breaking out into a cold sweat and others were ready to pull their weapons out.
A hand wave from me put the Mandalorians, Bo-Katan included, at ease due to their natural inclination for following orders issued by a superior. Even if I was their employer, I was giving out orders and instructions while doing my best to act like a commanding officer. Not as difficult as one would think. Just adjust your posture, have a commanding voice and tone, but also be willing to bend instead of being rigid as steel. Inability to adapt and hear out your subordinates would not end well.
Cham kicked up dirt and even lightly cracked the dirt under his boots, fist flying right for Pitou’s face. She just had that ever present smile, eyes half lidded, lazily leaning out of the way of the punch that sent a powerful gust of wind ruffling the clothes of the Twi’leks at the edge of the makeshift arena.
Pivoting on her heel, she moved behind Cham and gently shoved his back making him gasp, spit flying from his mouth. Moving with the momentum he tucked into a roll before using his hand pressing it into the ground to pivot his legs, sweeping them out.
Pitou lightly jumped into a front flip that Cham managed to avoid that cratered the ground where he had been a moment ago. It wouldn’t have killed him with Ten up, but he would not enjoy the pain that came of it had he let it land.
Rocks and pebbles flew forward almost as fast bullets, peppering the shield that sprang to life. It was no different than the kind Droidekas had, shimmers of blue and green with the spectators flinching. Even the Mandalorians in their armor flinched, not expecting that level of power or speed… At least most of them.
Bo-Katan couldn’t hide the desire in her gaze when witnessed the absurd power behind Cham’s moves. He moved just slightly faster than a normal soldier, yet each strike or blow almost made the air crack, the ground became uneven and rough, numerous craters all around them from just casual steps.
Pitou in comparison had only used light taps or shoves against him and yet he was breathing heavily, bruises all across his body. They were minor ones, nothing serious but it showed the gap between the two of them. That even his Ten couldn’t protect him from her casual lighthearted attacks.
Pitou kicked up a loose piece of rock catching it between two fingers examining it while Cham rushed right towards her. He stopped right when his fist a mere foot away from her head before he abruptly pivoted instead aiming for her gut.
She didn’t even look at him before she caught his fist in the palm of her hand then lifted him up and over her to slam him back first into the ground. Whatever air he had in his lungs was shoved out and his eyes went wide.
“It’s done.” I called it there. Pitou padded over and loomed above Cham before offering him a hand.
The man smiled after a moment and took the offered limb. Pitou easily lifted him back to his feet offering some advice and praising him on where he had made great improvements.
“In due time, many of you will be capable of doing what Cham just displayed.” I said controlling my voice and speaking in an ear catching manner. “And remember this, what Cham just did could be considered what a novice if not just below a newcomer in nen could do. So there is far more to it than just that.”
Everyone ate it all up, even Bo-Katan stared in want and need. Whether it was for her or for Pre Vizla, it was anyone’s guess.
Chaos Gacha:
[Drillmaker]
|Rare Ability|
Make, not break. Allows you to create Drills out of energy that you can control telekinetically to either launch as projectiles or wield like weapons. The strength and rotational power of drills scale with the amount of energy expended.
[Expert Shooting]
|Elite Skill|
You are an expert marksman, you handle all firearms and projectiles with great skill and finesse to the point where people might wonder if you have special power. You can even curve your shots and utilize ricochets. You can also better predict the trajectory of enemy projectiles.
[Modified Tvirus]
|Epic Item|
Resident Evil - A modified syringe of modified T-Virus that gives whoever is injected all of the benefits of the T-virus without any of the downsides, granting them superhuman physical abilities, regeneration, and telekinesis.
