Adele Valreyes vs. Anselm Valreyes

The air is crisp on this cool Corellian night outside Club Fallen. A wave of sound washes over everything, pounding into the heads of everyone even from outside the venue. Members of a dozen different species loiter around outside enjoying themselves as they wait—many in vain—to gain entry into the club. From high above, floodlights aim down illuminating the darkness in large patches, though there are still plenty of shadows where people hide more... illicit types of fun. Bouncers stand on either side of the main entrance and security walks around at scheduled intervals. Behind the club, there's a back entrance used for loading and offloading equipment.

The first floor is dominated by a large, rectangular dance hall. The sound inside is overwhelming, as are the myriad lights of vibrant hues that flash quickly and sporadically with the beat. An undulating mass of lifeforms crash and gyrate against one another, screaming on the floor in some semblance of the word "dance". On either side of the mashing bodies are raised platforms, with a slightly calmer atmosphere. The people there are a little more subdued, but not by much. At the far end of the hall is a massive, raised stage with room for a full band, though currently occupied by a lone DJ and his gear. More bouncers line the hall—hired local muscle—ready to deal with any troublemakers.

Stairs in the back lead to the second floor. Above the dancing masses are a series of crisscrossing walkways stretching from one end of the venue to the other: maintenance access for the various lights and speakers that dangle haphazardly above the crowd. Directly above the stage is a mezzanine with a large, soundproof booth, inside of which is the beating heart of the club. All the electronics flow through this booth, controlling every aspect of the sound, lights, and security equipment...

Between the crush of bodies and all the noise, you may find yourself almost overwhelmed. All you know is that your enemy is here, somewhere, in Fallen mixed into the crowd. Are they alone? Are they lying in wait? It's unclear. What is, though, is that the club is full of sentients. Potential enemies? Possibly. Potential witnesses? Definitely. What are you prepared to do to eliminate your target? Can you slay them without raising the alarm? Or will you instigate a massacre to ensure no one is left standing?

The decision is yours... if your enemy doesn't make that choice for you.

The sun had already set, leaving in its wake a crisp, cool evening. It was perfect for a night spent clubbing. Or for a strenuous workout. Or a fight.

The latter was exactly what they found.

Adele appeared behind one of their assailants, lashing out with her foot to the back of his knee. It broke with a loud SNAP. As he started to fall, she grabbed him by the back of the neck to slam him headfirst into the wall of the narrow alleyway.

A second thug, a Togrutan, had been trying to take aim at her brother, but quickly realized there was a threat that was significantly closer. She started to turn her blaster, her finger already on the trigger.

Adele grabbed her wrist and dragged her arm downward. The blaster fired three times, red bolts searing into the filthy pavement. Drawing on the Force to add to her strength, she struck the Togrutan’s jaw with the heel of her palm.

Despite her pain and a now broken jaw, the Togruta maintained her discipline. She shifted her weight, trying to pull free from Adele's grip. But Adele was stronger, her abilities enhanced by the Force itself. She kept her grip on the woman's arm, dragging her forward to drive her knee into the woman’s solar plexus. The Togrutan doubled over, gasping for air.

Anselm, meanwhile, was having his own fun. He whirled in a roundhouse kick that slammed into a thug’s chest. The kick was accompanied by a ball of fire that seared his face. The thug stumbled backward, blinded and burning.

Movement out of the corner of his eye alerted him to an incoming attack. He made a sharp gesture, and the burning thug began to fall sideways, as if gravity itself had been altered for him. He slammed into another assailant who had his blaster raised to shoot. The red plasma missed Anselm by inches, leaving a scorchmark on the wall behind him.

The two assailants were now pinned to the wall, one stuck under another as if weighted by immense gravity. That slacked only for a second as Anselm held up his hand and made a fist. Their cries abruptly became silent as an invisible Force slammed in on them from all sides, accompanied by the breaking of bones. Anselm relaxed his hand, and the two men fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard in the alley were the distant thump of the bass coming from the nearby club and their own heavy breathing.

It was Adele that broke the silence. “I told you it was an ambush.”

“And I told you we could handle it,” Anselm replied, flashing her a grin.

Adele tsked under her breath and knelt by the now unconscious Togruta. She rolled up the woman’s sleeve to reveal a tattoo on her forearm. It was similar to the one that each of the twins had, though it was not nearly as intricate. It was the marking of their former syndicate, the Ember Flame. “I thought I recognized her.”

She’d been hoping that she was wrong, that maybe this was just a band of cutthroats looking for a couple of easy marks. But no. The markings indicated that they were part of the syndicate’s hit squad. Part of their father’s hit squad.

“It’s a moot point. I doubt she’ll be bothering us anymore tonight.” Anselm brushed off his clothes, checking to make sure he hadn’t got any blood on him. Satisfied that he hadn’t, he hiked his thumb in the direction of the alley entrance. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Adele tore her eyes away from the tattoo and whatever thoughts that threatened to drag down her mood. “Go where?”

“Into the club. That’s why we’re here, right?” Anselm tilted his head, listening to the throbbing bass. Even from here, he could hear the melody of the upbeat dance music playing inside. “You’re gonna love Club Fallen, Dele. I was just here a couple days ago with a few other Arconans. It’s really great.”

Adele frowned slightly. “You still want to go? Annie, that’s probably not a good idea. You know they’ll have a fallback team. We should track them down and deal with them. Or at the very least, we should get out of here. Who knows how many they brought?”

“Sure, there’s probably more of them. But I’m not gonna let that ruin our evening. Why bother hunting them down, when we both know they’ll come looking for us? We can deal with them then.” He crossed the alley to extend a hand to help her up. “Besides, we deserve a break after everything that’s happened.”

“I’m not sure how relaxing it’d be, knowing there’s a pack of people watching the doors, waiting to kill us.” Adele reached up, grasping her brother’s hand and letting him pull her to her feet.

“We’ll make it work.” Anselm offered her another grin. “He’s already ruined so much. I’m not going to let him ruin our evening too.”

There was no need to ask who Anselm was referring to. Adele already knew that he was talking about their father. She let the comment pass. “That’s short-sighted, Annie. Listen. We need to be strategic here. All it’d take is one minute of inattention for them to get the drop on us.”

Impatience flashed in his eyes. Adele recognized the look easily enough. He used to get it all the time whenever Father tried to teach him anything. He folded his arms over his chest. “I get it, Adele. But the way I see it, it’s always going to be dangerous. So, I refuse to let either him or fear rule me. He wants us to be frightened. Well, I’m not going to let him stop me from living my life.”

Adele gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing at his words. But she refused to lose her temper. She took a deep breath. When she spoke, she did her best to keep her voice even. “I’m not afraid, Annie. I’m just trying to protect you.”

“No, you’re letting him dictate our actions! We’re free of him, sis! We’re free to live our own lives. So, let’s live them! Let’s go and have fun and actually enjoy ourselves. We can handle whatever he throws at us.”

Adele pressed her lips together as she studied her brother through narrowed eyes. There was no arguing with him when he got this way, she knew that from experience. For her part, she was getting tired of listening to him talk about their father, talk about their old lives, as if it was some awful experience. Sure, it was hard, but it was not nearly as bad as he insisted it was. “Look,” she said, her voice heavy with anger. “I need some air. You want to run away and ignore the situation? Fine. Go on into the club. I’ll do a sweep of the area and join you once I’ve taken care of things.”

She could see the hurt and anger at her words, but was in no mood to placate his feelings. She started to turn away, but he grabbed her by the shoulder. “No. We’re not done here.”

Anselm could feel the cold rage building within him, and he hated it. That was one of his “father’s” lessons to his children. To embrace the rage. To build it up within and control it, then unleash it on their enemies with devastating results. For Anselm, that meant the increase of his raw Force power. Anselm had always been the twin with the overtly flashy, powerful powers, and the rage would consume him until he felt like a demon. Adele - being the more covert - channeled her rage into fierce and pinpoint strikes. They were two sides of the same coin, and even now, he felt that divide.

His eyes narrowed on his sister, the golden rings burning around his pupils. His hand held her shoulder (not overly hard as he had no desire to cause her pain), forceful enough to keep her from simply walking away. Her head slowly turned, first to stare at his hand, then to match his gaze. He could see the same fury burning in her eyes, the silver rings around her pupils like cold shimmering flames.

“Anselm, remove your hand from me now, or I will remove it myself.”

There had been so much tension between them since their joining of the Clan. Arcona accepted them as they sought asylum from the Ember Flame Crime Syndicate, which he gladly accepted, but Adele never wanted this. He knew that, but he couldn’t let her go back. He knew what their father would do to her now. She wouldn’t be safe from his fury. But now that tension had reached a boiling point. He would never admit it to her, but he needed her in his life, and he felt guilty for her current predicament.

“Adele, you can’t just keep walking away from this…from me. We’re together in this. We have to move on from that life.”

Adele’s gaze hardened at his words before she turned away. With reflexes like lightning, a loud crack sounded in the alleyway as her fist lashed out and connected with his jaw. He let her go as he stumbled backward, his bottom lip split from the strike. Adele’s breathing had quickened, and her eyes looked almost manic. She’d finally snapped.

“Together? We’re together in this? Is that what you just frakking said to me?” Anger rolled off her so intensely that he was almost blinded by it. “You made this choice, brother. You decided to abandon our father, to abandon me. You left and sold us out to this Clan of freaks and outcasts. I had no other choice. What was I going to do, Anselm, kill you? No. I couldn’t do that. So I did what I always do. I protected your worthless ass, and now our father - the man who made us what we are - wants me dead. Wants both of us dead!” Her voice continued to rise as Anselm could do nothing but watch all her repressed emotions finally break free. “I was his most trusted, most loved, most ardent supporter! I did whatever he asked me. I blackened my soul and made so many terrible choices for him! And for you. All to keep you safe. All so you could keep your god-forsaken honor!”

Anselm wiped the blood from his lip. He could see the lightning crackling at her fingertips. She was losing it, at the brink of madness. He needed to save her, to pull her back from the abyss. And he knew only one way.

“Fine, sister-mine. Blame me for all of your troubles. Blame me for all your mistakes. Hold me accountable for your sins. I can take it. Give me all your hatred.”

Adele’s eyes went wild at that. The line had been fully crossed.

“You sanctimonious son of a bitch!”

She lost it. All the anger, the turmoil, the resentment aimed at him. Adele’s mind was racing at top speed, and her overwhelming rage fueled her movements as she launched a series of quick, aggressive strikes at him. Anselm knew her style, having trained together for their entire lives, and he matched her movements blow for blow. Refusing to hurt her, he redirected her strikes and countered her attacks, staying on the defensive. Their stances remained balanced and disciplined, neither showing a hint of superiority over the other.

“Is that all you have, Del? I expected better from the Princess of Embers.”

“Frak you!”

Feigning a right hook, Adele took Anselm by surprise as she switched up her movements. Gone was her balanced aggression, and she grabbed his arm before throwing her full weight into flipping him over her shoulder. He hit the duracrete floor of the alleyway hard, feeling the skin of his cheek rub raw against the ground. It stung quite a bit. With a quick jerk of her body, she locked him into place before punching him several times on his right side.

Anselm groaned in pain as she hadn’t been pulling her punches, and he knew he’d be pissing blood the next day. He couldn’t help but be impressed by her, clearly having taught herself some new moves in secret. But great minds, it seems, think alike, as he’d done the same. Using his size to his advantage, he overpowered her lock and pushed himself off the ground, knocking her off him. If she wasn’t going to hold back, he’d stop doing so as well.

Bringing his hand up to the level of his face, Anselm wiped the blood off his scraped cheek, and he smiled a predatory smile. Down the alley, the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention; there was a crowd.

“Hey guys, there’s a fight out here!

“Oh, frak yeah!”

“Shit, son, let’s watch!”

Adele seemed not to notice, or if she had, she didn’t give a womprat's ass. Anslem didn’t love having an audience for their sibling spat, but she wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. Adele seemed almost excited by the hits she got in on him, so he returned the favor. When she launched herself at him, he deftly countered her blow, driving his elbow into her solar plexus. Her breath had been knocked out of her, and he followed up with well-aimed strikes to her joints and a destructive blow into her gut, making her double over. Even with his punches pulled, Anselm had always been stronger than her.

“I thought you were going to show me our father’s strength. If he taught us oh-so-much, shouldn’t you be winning right now? You were the best of us, right? Where’s your lightning, Del? You’ve never held back before, so why now?”

Adele regained her composure, wiping the sweat off her brow. Her eyes seemed to almost glow with righteous fury as she scowled at her twin. Catching her breath, she wore a near-animalistic smirk.

“You want to see lightning? I’ll show you lightning!”

Sparks began to glow from the tips of her fingers, and all her rage and fury were being channeled into her hands. Her face went almost manic as time seemed to slow between the two siblings. Her control was faltering, and Anselm realized just how far her emotional state had fallen up to that point. He’d been prepared for this, but like a screeching warning, the Force alerted him to the growing crowd behind him. If he dodged her lightning, the onlookers would be hit, and most likely someone would die. He couldn’t let that happen.

As her manicured hand darted forward, Anselm appeared in front of her, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Force lightning began to stream from her hand, but he grabbed it, drawing the electrical energy out of her and into himself. He was dissipating the power, but it was becoming too much for him, so he pointed his left hand up and let the building energy siphon through him, bursting forth into the skies above.

The crack of thunder bellowed down the alley, and the civilians began to run in fear. Adele's hands shook with a slight tremor, and Anselm had smoke drifting off of his body and clothes. Both siblings began to feel the mounting fatigue of overusing the Force and grew apart. Despite gasping for breath, Adele’s glare didn’t subside; she still aimed her anger at her brother. Anselm met her gaze, sighing that this wasn’t over yet.

“Haven’t we had enough of this, Adele?”

“You said you wanted my sins. And I have so many left to give back.” Her voice sounded so…broken to him.

“Then let’s finish it already.”

In near-perfect synchronicity, the two siblings grasped the hilts of their lightsabers, and twin amethyst blades hissed to life.