Total Defense: Sightless Strength (closed)

[Pierce Tondry]

It was like looking at ghosts of guns, Pierce decided.

Since his imprisonment and torture at the hands of Sorsha Kasajian and the Vampires of the Shrine, Pierce had developed an extra-sensory kind of sight. He wasn't fully aware of how it worked, except to know that it showed him things within a certain radius, including himself. Jedi were bright, burning figures of gentleness and radiance. Sith were smoky, nebulous clouds of negativity with eyes. Most people were some mixture of black swirls and white streaks.

Inanimate objects were something else altogether. The rifles being pointed at him by six heavy-combat war droids were all thin and vague, except when they were firing.

Firing, or about to fire. Another quirk of this kind of sight was that it seemed to have a few seconds of notice on what things around him were going to do, and furthermore, they seemed to highlight potential threats to his safety. Pierce called the whole thing "Combat Sense" even though it wasn't a square-on comparison against some of the descriptions in the Archives.

He was in a special training arena now to see if he could work on harnessing this ability. His body was tensed, but his mind relaxed- in short, perfectly ready to fight.

"Go," he said.

The rifles began burn bright white.

[Pierce Tondry]

Blinding white flashes began arcing towards Pierce, flickering into a blood red color the closer they got. Pierce headed right, performing a no-hand cartwheel that allowed him to maintain a defense. His legs landed in a firm plant and made a backfist block that knocked the gun of a nearby droid off its aim, but not by much.

With more white flickering into red, Pierce ducked beneath the free arm of the war droid he'd engaged and spun behind its bulk. The red flashes reverted back to white as they dissipated harmlessly against the war droid's armor.

The droid in his combat vision torso-twisted left, and so Pierce took a long step to the right. He drew his leg up and sidekicked the vulnerable leg joint, hearing something clunk and snap.

Grim satisfaction drew Pierce's lips into a smile. He'd deliberately made things tough, but even tough appeared not to be unbeatable.

A scream of red appeared behind him and Pierce toppled to the floor, rolling to take the impact. The red returned to white, but there was something more. One of the other war droids was becoming an outline of red- it must have gotten close enough to be a physical threat.

The first droid, was testing its leg joint. Finding it apparently unstable, it decided to stay put. Its rifle arm swung around and pointed at Pierce, who was still on the ground.

The weapon lit up red like burning iron.

[Pierce Tondry]

One foot came up and kicked the source of the danger away. The rifle faded to white, but that white almost immediately began giving way to red again as the droid re-aimed his weapon. Furthermore, the second droid's feet were beginning to illuminate.

Pierce rolled over onto his stomach, did a quick push-up to get to his hands and feet, and then tackled the second droid's legs out from under it. The metal came crashing down on his own body, but Pierce was ready for the impact and so able to take it.

Man and droid struggled against each other, then Pierce rolled away as more red bolts came flying his way. He was going to get up-

-but then a massive durasteel foot hammered into his abdomen. The first droid had apparently decided its feet were made for walking.

In an almost involuntary reaction, Pierce reached out and grabbed the droid's leg. He hauled downwards and the mechanical construct lost its balance and fell.

Metal clanged against metal as the falling droid hit the droid that was trying to get back up. Both units toppled downward, the one on top ending with its already damaged leg bent beyond usefulness and its rifle arm pinned beneath its' comrade. The other droid had a large dent to the sensor head and was jerking spasmodically.

And luckily, the outlines of both droids had faded to simple white ghosts.

Pierce rolled to one knee, his hand clutching his side. He knew he could take the remaining four droids.

He'd just have to avoid the storm of red flashes that were coming towards him first.

[Pierce Tondry]

A hasty dive put Pierce on the floor next to the two droids he'd already downed. The blasterfire spattered harmlessly into their armor, giving Pierce a few precious seconds to plan his next move.

Unfortunately, nothing came. He lay there, breathing away the pain in his abdomen and trying to work up a tactic of some kind, all the while listening to the droids march closer.

Pierce pushed up off the floor, bent his knees, and dove over the pile of nonfunctioning parts. He tucked his chin and somersaulted, coming to his feet in one swift roll, although he didn't stop there. He sprinted immediately towards the closest droid, seeking to engage it quickly before it could effectively bring its weapons to bear on him.

A small amount of good fortune later, he was inside the droid's range, unharmed. The metal warrior swung the rifle at him like a club, but Pierce caught the weapon in his hands, spun, and threw the droid off its feet. He leapt high into the air, flipped, and extended his leg to kick the sensor node right off the shoulders of his erstwhile enemy.

As the droid raised its blaster rifle and aimed at him, Pierce realized that midair was not the place to be. He would have to think of somewhere else to go, and how to get there, fast.

[Pierce Tondry]

With a midair twist, Pierce spun to the right, narrowly avoiding a blaster shot that would have ended the exercise. He landed in a crouch, drew back an arm, and delivered a palm open blow to the sensor node's optical units.

They crumbled under the pressure.

Grim satisfaction rose inside Pierce again. "Have fun being as blind as I am," he told the droid.

More blaster shots echoed in his sensory vision and Pierce was moving again. He placed one hand to his right and flipped to the side, into a standing position. He stared determinedly at the three droids encircling him, who were still firing with the same methodical precision they had been.

But something was different now.

As one metallic foot hit the floor, Pierce knew what it was- everything had slowed down. Somehow, his determination was the key to unlocking his latent power of Force Speed.

The shots were coloring over into red at half their normal rate. Pierce wanted to laugh, but he was too busy moving for the nearest droid. He wove and ducked, spun and stepped as randomly as possible.

Then he was within close range of the droid. He spun, extended an arm, and snatched the droid's rifle from its outstretched hand. The weapon's red tinge faded into nothing, but Pierce knew better than to leave a weapon for an opponent to recover. The spin completed, smashing the blaster rifle into the droid's metal torso.

This wasn't so bad.

[Pierce Tondry]

The useless weapon dropped from Pierce's fingers, but he was already responding to new threats. The two droids behind him were firing again, and the one in front of him was lurching forward with an attempted bear grab.

Pierce ducked beneath one of the massive metal arms to the droid's exposed back. He grabbed the droid around the waist and hauled it backwards off its feet, actually tossing it onto the floor behind him. Still, the droid was heavy and Pierce hit the floor hard himself in spite of his best efforts. He winced in pain as he rolled to the right.

Things had sped up after his fall to the floor, but his combat sense was still up and running. Pierce made a note to experiment with that later as he sat up.

More red bolts flashed into being. Determination flooded through Pierce again and he was on his feet with cat's grace. Weaving between and beside the blaster bolts with swift ease, he reached the two standing opponents. When he was within range, he ducked down, grasped hold of one droid's blaster rifle, and jerked it upward.

Instead of hitting Pierce, its' shot hit the other droid's blaster, blowing it apart. Then Pierce pulled it away from his adversary with a neat twist of his wrist and rolled backwards.

If only Pierce hadn't blasterproofed his opponents' armor, he might've had an edge.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce skipped backwards, narrowly avoiding several furious swings by newly disarmed droids. Taking the rifle by the barrel, he bent it so that the weapon would be useless, then he threw it at the nearest droid, forcing it to stop and bat away the incoming object.

Behind Pierce, the second pair of droids he'd gone after were getting back into the fight. Ready for another round, were they? He would show them what a determined Padawan could do.

With a spin, Pierce about-faced. He charged towards his new target- the first droid that he'd disarmed- and went into a flying kick.

The droid saw him coming and reacted, swinging a mighty metal fist at the incoming Jedi. In the haze that was Pierce's Force-augmented Speed, it didn't hit Pierce in time.

The kick landed on the droid's chest and denting the armor. The droid stumbed backwards, just managing to regain its footing short of falling over. Pierce drew back his fist and delivered a palm-open strike to the droid's midsection- again it was forced to catch its balance.

In the split-second that the droid needed to recover that second time, Pierce had begun the execution of a roundhouse kick. Foot met metal in a terrific crash.

The droid's head fell, bounced, and rolled to a stop a few feet away. It's body dropped to its knees, then it too crashed to the floor.

Abruptly aware of a bright, burning red behind him, Pierce expanded his focus. His senses detected the droid he'd blinded, reaching for him with two great metal hands.

[Pierce Tondry]

Pierce spun around, one hand knocking away one of the reaching metal arms, the other striking at the droid's torso. The droid jerked forward and stumbled backward simultaneously, dimming to a dusky red color.

Leaving that droid to crash about blindly, Pierce moved to attack one of the more functional droids. He neared the droid, feinted with a fist, then struck a knee joint with a low kick.

The droid dropped to one knee and Pierce continued battering it. His leg kicked up and knocked away a grasping metal arm, then kicked down and broke the arm at the shoulder joint. He stepped right, blocked his opponent's other arm with a hand and chopped at the droid's head. Its' sensor tower crumpled slightly, but did not break.

Pierce stepped over the droid, pulling its arm back behind it. With another palm strike, he took that arm off, then caught it in the leg with a vicious sidekick as the droid tried to stand. The droid fell prone on the floor, and Pierce stomped its' sensor tower into a flat pile of scrap.

[Pierce Tondry]

With only two droids out of the original six, and one of those nearly blind, Pierce knew he could win in spite of his injuries. As the two droids closed on him, Pierce went for the one who took the erratic path. The droid woke to the vibrations pounding through the floor towards it a hair too slow to stop Pierce from shoulder tackling the droid the floor. With a leap and a precise heel kick, the droid's head squirted off from the rest of its body, rendering it nonfunctional.

That left just one final opponent.

Turning on the final droid, Pierce once again closed with his enemy. The droid responded by kneeling- a move that its' predecessors had not had the time to think of. The entire fight this far had only lasted a few minutes, and it was not promising to last much longer with the enhanced speed Pierce was moving at.

Forced now to engage his opponent fist-to-armored gauntlet, Pierce went in defensively. The droid struck out at him, but also defensively, making use of its bulk and solid footing to absorb some of Pierce's return attacks. Each managed to mostly counter the attacks of the other.

Finally, Pierce was forced to block a palm-open strike from the droid with a counter-blow, and as the droid attacked with its free arm, Pierce gripped it, too. Now man and machine were locked tightly together, each vying against the other in a battle of pure physical strength.

Pierce was determined to win, but determination seemed best for unlocking his latent speed abilities and they would not help him now.

Deep inside his own psyche, Pierce searched out a point of hardness, of inflexibility. His body could not be allowed to bend or break. He could not give in, not to a machine. Not to something that wasn't even alive.

Crunch-szzt!

Abruptly, Pierce half-pushed, half-fell forward. The droid's fingers slumped from between his own and the droid itself toppled backwards. A thin plume of smoke rose from somewhere in its' neck.

Apparently, the droid had tried to match Pierce's strength and not only failed, but overloaded its own motivator unit in the process of doing so.

Flexing his aching, yet victorious hands, Pierce surveyed the carnage. Six fully functional, heavy-armor war droids had gone down thanks to his threat-assessing combat sense and some of his other latent abilities.

The blindfolded Jedi smiled. Sight might help achieve victory, but it wasn't always required.