#Penguin Writes: Lepidoptera

[kiwikipedia]

Lepidoptera

Chapter 1: Papilio polyxenes

Fandom(s): Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Rating: T (Language, violence, death, possible inuendo)

Summary: 

There exists a creature that spans across many planets in the galaxy, with an unthreatening appearance and reputation. Their bodies are simplified to the utmost limit.

Simplicity is therefore flexibility. Simplicity is therefore tenacious. That is the Caterpillar. A simple insect dropped into the Box.

Cad Bane had thought she was retired, known she was. Because, after all, Sylv Rex was a well-known Bartender on Coruscant now. And hasn’t donned her moniker in ages.

Extra Notes: Cad Bane/OC/Embo Established Relationship, Deception Arc AU

AO3

[First Chapter] || Next >

So yeah the Guard fic was sorta a fail and is on hiatus until I get motivation/people get interested I guess? lol, but I’ve been thinking about these three for a while now and eh why not right? I really am enjoying doing more with Sylv as of late so what the hell? 

Oh yeah, just a general TW for anyone who has Entomophobia— There will be bug talk throughout the fic. Sylv’s entire fighting style and abilities are based off of caterpillars because i totally did not get inspired to give her more flavor aside from being a sniper while i was reading the Aarachnid Manga, nope.

But yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of bug/caterpillar talk.

To begin with, Cad Bane had expected to get paid when he touched down after delivering Eval to Count Dooku. He hadn't expected to be roped into whatever the hell this was— some sort of competition that the Count had made, for what reason he didn't care. Probably his own amusement.

Bane was a man who planned things out, so he had to be careful with the unexpected details and plan for those while knowing nothing about them. But were a number of things that Bane had expected from this little competition of Dooku’s— the one that he had been told about upon arrival with Rako Hardeen.

He would later look back and find that he was annoyed with how much he had actually predicted— wasn't the Count supposed to be crafty? 

The first on his list was Dooku, was as predicted— annoying as ever. And he had yet to pay him at all.

Bane only liked working for him because he payed well— and using the word like was a far stretch. But other than that, the Count could shove his noble attitude and haughty behavior up his ass. If he knew he'd come out alive, he'd have riddled the old man with blaster bolts for pissing him off a while ago— but he didn't gamble with lethal chances, not on that scale at least. He'd be stupid if he didn't take note of the sheer authority that Dooku held and the red-bladed lightsaber on his hip.

If he wanted to kill Dooku, he'd have to plan that at a later date.

Moralo Eval was also annoying, too, and overly confident to boot. Well, at last that hadn't changed just beacuse they were with Dooku now. He really was someone that Bane would be glad to just kill on a whim, if possible, but apparently he was needed and he had spent too much time getting him out of prison to just kill him off so soon.

And Hardeen was weirdly clingy. Annoying fucker felt off to him still, but who was he to judge? Regarding almost everyone with suspicion kept you alive and thats how he would like to stay.

On top of those three annoyances, waiting for nightfall had been a bore. Bane couldn’t even catch a few hours of sleep, or even a godsdamned wank if he wanted to— not with Dooku lumping Hardeen in the same room as him while they waited. He didn't trust the bastard not to murder him in his sleep— and would've been weirded out if the sniper didn't. It was the lack of privacy that pissed him off more though.

But when night did finally fall and all the Hunters were called down to the court yard. Well, once again, there were both unexpected, and expected, factors down there.

There were too many bounty hunters for it to be a simple ‘everyone survives but we’re testing you anyways’ sort of gimmick— and even those ended in death because fuckers didn’t know when not to be trigger happy. Not like he could complain— if it annoyed him, it was dead, simple as that.

It didn’t take Bane long to put together that everything was an elimination game as he glanced around subtly.

Good.

The so-called upper ring of Bounty Hunters was getting far too congested.

Best this, best that, second to this, second to that— for fucks sake, the Guildmaster's Proxies and clients might as well start handing out participation trophies at this point.

Still, there were some familiar faces, much to his annoyance as he walked with Hardeen down to the others. An expected factor, because Bane knew almost every Hunter— kept tabs on most of them too, best to make sure none of his rivals got too close to him in kill count.

Onca and Bulduga, never separated and always together, of course were there, and Bulduga had a nice hat that Bane knew he could use as an excuse to kill the damned Ithorian. Maybe he’d get a shot off at Onca too. Derrown was there too, in all of his multi-legged glory, Sixtat and Twazzi as well and Mantu and Kiera Swan— all annoyances in his books. Good killers, sure, but anonying.

Still, as he walked past Derrown and Sixtat he was pleased to notice that there was a more than familiar face there. 

Looks like the giant bastard was here too, though Embo had left his damned Anooba at home it seemed. It was probably for the best.

And Hardeen was still fucking talking to him— asking him about whatever the Count was planning.

Like he knew what the old man wanted from them.

Bane resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he tipped his hat to Embo, giving the annoying Sniper some sort of answer he didn't and wouldn't rememebr— the Kyuzo did the same in return, though there was some amusement in those compound eyes of his. The damned bastard could probably pick up on his ire.

He saw him nudge the fourth in the group of Hunters that he was standing in and Bane felt a headache coming on as the person turned around.

A hood over the figure's head concealed any of the noticeable features on first glance, with fur on the edge making it hard to see even a fucking face. It made sense that he didn’t recognize the figure at first, though. They had been standing in the shadows that Embo and Derrown cast, and had their back to him as he and Hardeen walked past. But the sniper case slung on their back whould have been a give away— he saw the damned every other month at least, sitting in a storage closet.

There were no words exchanged as the figure turned around fully, a half finished cigarette between her teeth.

Dooku had somehow gotten the famed Sylvraius Rex, the famed Caterpillar Sniper, out of retirement.

The thing about every caterpillar that Bane’s had the pleasure of seeing is that they looked relatively harmless, and they usually prefered not to start fights— though it was split thirty-seventy on that matter, he’d noticed and had read. 

So it was more like seventy percent of the caterpillars were docile on a galactic sense.

Sylv was much like a caterpillar, that was what she had been made to be like anyways. An Adaptive Mutant— A Human experiment.

She rarely would start a fight but sure as hell could end one. Docile until provoked, and a lot more violent than one would expect.

Simple, yet dangerous.

If she was here, and out of retirement, things just got a whole lot more interesting— not just now, but as a whole.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he drew near Onca and Bulduga.

The two had gotten in his way more than once when he was chasing down a big target and it pissed him off to see them there.

A big issue with the Guild was that half of the proxy-masters didn’t know how to do shit, even though the Guildmaster did. Half the orders didn’t get filtered down, and really, it was Cradossk’s fault. The old Trandoshan got what had been coming for him, though. Last he heard, he was at the lowest rung of the Hunters ever since the new Guildmaster took over.

The Guildmaster who was standing over there with a cocky smirk on her face, as if she hadn't spent over ten years off of the field.

But that was besides the point.

The point was that the two brothers had taken bounties form him one too many times— and doing it once in and of itself was a serious offense in his book. Repeated offenses? Well, they might as well have signed their own death warrants already.

Bulduga was the bigger issue over Onca, he pissed him off, for one, and he knew he was the smarter of the two— but he could easily use the hat as an excuse to kill the older one off.

Petty, but on brand, he supposed. If anyone gave him shit for it, they'd be next too. And by anyone, he meant Hardeen, who kept protesting everything he was doing.

The two Ithorians turned to him and Hardeen as they approached, and he knew that there was recognition in those eyes of theirs. Who wouldn't recognize him, after all? But, it was more than just that, they knew what they had done. Knew what was coming for them— they wouldn't have been the first to have gotten a face full of blasterbolts for taking his Bounties, after all. 

“Nice hat,” Bane drawled, pushing hand Hardeen’s hands away from grabbing him. Bulduga’s own hand moved towards his blaster at that, the Ithorian trumpeting lowly in warning.

Bane didn’t bother, simply continuing to advance on the two, stopping only about a meter or two away from them. Probably less.

“Where’d you get it?”

There was a split second of silence before Bulduga, quicker than a lot of others could say they could, drew his blaster and made an attempt to get off a shot— but Bane was faster.

There were few that could claim to be faster than Bane in a Quick-Draw, and Bulduga was not one of them as he shot the Ithorian square in the chest. The Ithorian went down with a low groan and the hat that he donned drifted up as he fell— and then right into Bane’s own hands on the way down.

Onca stared at his brother’s corpse, still smoking from the shot, before back at Bane as he tossed his old hat onto the corpse with a click of his tongue.

“What’re ya lookin’ at,” he grunted as he turned, feeling not just Onca but also Hardeen and everyone else’s eyes on him. “’t’s a nice hat.”

Hardeen looked ready to say something but held his tongue.

From the corner of his eye he saw Embo shake his head and Sylv chuckle a bit as she let out a puff of smoke, flicking the ash from her cigarette. He should ask her to bum him one later, he didn't have any on him— that damned supplier barely had anything in the first place, cigarettes, let alone deathsticks.

His attention was drawn away at Dooku’s arrival, all of them turning and seemingly moving at one towards the Count. Moralo Eval was next to him, and a few droid-guards flanking them as they stepped down into the courtyard. And with the rest of the hunters, they had all created a loose sort of semicircle.

“Welcome to Serenno,” the Count said, gesturing to them all.

Bane glanced to his right, catching Sylv’s eye as she looked past him at Hardeen. There was something in her gaze that made him bristle a bit. Curiosity, interest.

He didn’t like it.

Bane was, to an extent, a possessive man.

While he wouldn’t call whatever he had with the woman and Embo love, it was certainly something and it was something that was his. And he didn’t like sharing— Embo was the exception. He liked the giant bastard, and Sylv did too. He did not and would not allow Hardeen in.

(Logically, he knew the Hunter-Turned-Bartender wasn’t his to own, to possess, to keep. She would rather gut him than listen to him say anything like that, and then gut him again if he tried to cage her. But it still pissed him off.)

Embo was glancing down at them both from the other side of Sylv, brow ridge raised a bit and Bane scowled before looking back at the Count, making a silent vow to kill the other sniper if anymore interest was taken.

“You have been invited here because you are the best bounty hunters in the galaxy,” the Count continued, gazing to each of them individually. “Kiera Swan, two-time winner of the Obsidian Sphere.”

The Weequay woman looked smug at that, smirking to herself as Dooku moved on to the next one of them.

“Derrown, known simply as the exterminator.”

The Parwan just blinked, bobbling up and down a bit.

“Sixtat, the Outlands Butcher.”

The Sakiyan nodded as he was addressed, seeming just as smug as Swan. Dooku moved on, gazing at Embo, who gazed back with ease.

“Embo, your bounty tallies were second only to one last season.”

The Kyuzo hummed lowly, glancing back down at Bane. He simply adjusted his hat as he was addressed next— hiding a smirk in the shadow it cast. Embo was the only one who could dare get close enough now days, not that any of the others really had the skill to.

“Cad Bane, who needs no introduction.”

Damn right he didn’t need one. He had garnered enough of a reputation in general to bypass any flowery titles— hell, his name was one. Bane. It hadn't been his original name, but that had been lost to time anyways. He was Cad Bane who needed no introduction, and that's all that mattered.

“Rako Hardeen, the marksman of Concord Dawn.”

Hardeen looked up when addressed and again, and again, Bane felt as if something was off. He didn’t know the sniper well enough to gauge it for certain, but very few bounty hunters didn’t take pride in the names and accomplishments they garnered.

Embo was one of the few that that he could think of off the top of his head— and it was mostly because of his temperament. Embo had pride, but wasn’t prideful. He wasn’t chatty, and prefered quiet company save for certain occasions. Embo didn't have, and didn't need, a title or introduction, so he had no need to become smug or prideful when introduced.

But for someone as chatty as Hardeen, though? It was a strange reaction to not react when his moniker was given.

Bane’s thoughts snapped back to Dooku as the Count continued listing names off.

“—Sinrich, inventor of the holographic disguise matrix, Mantu, your people were once a peaceful race. How far they have fallen...”

The Count’s gaze turned to Sylv who was partially hidden in Embo’s shadow, and partially hidden by her hood still.

“And finally, Sylvraius Rex, the famed Caterpillar Sniper. It is good to see you out of retirement.”

Sylv smirked, teeth flashing in the shadows as she exhaled smoke again, and there was a bit of confusion among the hunters present.

Those who didn’t know the title were likely wondering what the hell was with the caterpillar part of the old moniker. Which was understandable, he would never admit it out loud, but he had been confused as well.

Caterpillars were known as being simple creatures, ones often ignored because of how harmless they seemed. Emphisis on the seemed part, because with simplicity there was flexibility. Simplicity was thus tenaciousness. Bane knew better.

The ones who did know were confused on why she was there. She had retired without a word ages ago, and many knew that she was simply a bartender— their bartender now— usually.

But again… Hardeen had little reaction.

Embo and him made sense, they knew Sylv well, very well, actually. A ‘live-together-but-not-really’ kind of well, a ‘fucked-more-than-once-and-have-a-weird-domestic-life-Bane-wouldn’t-ever-admit-to’ kind of well. 

Their lack of reactions were normal. They knew her now and they had known her from before she had retired and vanished off of the grid.

Hardeen though?

He had to wonder. It wasn’t normal. And Bane knew that Rako Hardeen had to have heard of the Caterpillar Sniper— every sniper he had met had known about her.

“In a few moments,” And Dooku was talking again. “All twelve of you will enter what we call The Box.”

The man gestured to the large structure that was behind them, and he wasn’t alone when he turned to look at it. It was true to its name, at least, a giant, cube structure that towered above them.

“Some of you will not make it out alive. For those who do, we are looking for up to the six most skilled among you. Any additional survivors will be eliminated,” the Count continued, gazing at them all as they turned back around. “To preserve the integrity of the job that awaits you, place your weapons here.”

With a flick of his hand, two of his droids marched forwards with a cart of sorts and the Hunters began to slowly place their weapons on it— the visible ones at least.

“For those we choose, you will, of course, be paid most handsomely. But more than that, you will be a part of an operation remembered as a turning point in the Clone Wars.”

Bane drew both his blasters, flipping them over as Hardeen set his rifle on the cart. Though he put the twin blasters down as well, Embo dropping his bowcaster down without a word, and Sylv setting her own sniper rifle case down next to his— but he knew damn well that the three of them had hidden weapons on their bodies.

Bane still had his boots and gadgets on, and the number of knives hidden on him was enough to convict him of any crime if he got caught. Embo still his hat as well, and just as many blades most likely, and by the hells, Sylv’s entire body might as well be a weapon.

Dooku really should known better— that or he did and he was hoping that some of them would just out right murder one another anyways. Either outcome was fine in Bane’s book.

“And when we succeed, we will bring the Republic to its pitiful knees.”

At least he was finally done talking.

Eval stepped forwards then, one hand clasped behind his back and the other being used to gesture at them.

“Listen up,” the Phindian ordered. “The Box was designed by me, Moralo Eval, to simulate certain situations that might happen on the job. Go now.” 

And Bane couldn’t help but scowl as he turned towards The Box, he really hated Eval’s tone of voice.

“Enter The Box… If you have the courage…”

He caught Sylv rolling her eyes as she snuffed her cigarette out on the heel of her boot before she stepped forwards, hands in her coat's pockets.

Bane adjusted his hat, and fell in step with her and the others as they approached the Box.

Certainly, things were about to get interesting.

I'm gonna have Sylv's character sheet out on my tumblr soon enough, I just gotta figure out how I want her coat to be styled, but there's a few things already in the OC tag for her here.

Papilio polyxenes or the Eastern black swallowtail is one of the more common butterflies in the United States. I think every chapter title will be a latin name for a caterpillar/butterfly.

Also yes, I do subscribe to the bounty hunter hat duo bang idea, how did you know?

[kiwikipedia]

Lepidoptera

Chapter 2: Danaus plexippus

Fandom(s): Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Rating: T (Language, violence, death, possible inuendo)

Summary:

There exists a creature that spans across many planets in the galaxy, with an unthreatening appearance and reputation. Their bodies are simplified to the utmost limit.

Simplicity is therefore flexibility. Simplicity is therefore tenacious. That is the Caterpillar. A simple insect dropped into the Box.

Cad Bane had thought she was retired, known she was. Because, after all, Sylv Rex was a well-known Bartender on Coruscant now. And hasn’t donned her moniker in ages.

Extra Notes: Cad Bane/OC/Embo Established Relationship, Deception Arc AU

AO3

First Chapter || < Prev || Next >

Mmm I wanted to bounce back and forth between POVs per chapter, but I might just write the rest or a bulk of the rest in Sylv's POV lol

Also yes, I do use "Yan" as Dooku's given name. Yes I know its not canon. But I like it, so its fine.

Sylvraius Rex hadn’t planned on staying on Serenno after picking up the order of liquor that she had put in with the merchants there several months ago. For a number of reasons, really— but it wasn't because she was technically breaking Galactic Republic Law every time she entered Separatist Space, let alone Serenno. No, she could care less about that part, really. Many merchants and explorers shared her sentiment on that matter, the War was inconvenient to them all, and at the beginning, they had all ignored the law. It had caused a number of problems, really, to the point where certain documents and permits had been created to allow for all of them to travel freely.

War didn’t stop money from flowing, in fact, it happened to only increase the money flow— for better or for worse. Putting sanctions on travel for merchants and explorers would only mean that they'd figure a way around it. And it was better to control who could go where legally than trying to do so when people were moving about the Galaxy illegally.

It had been a pain in the ass, but Sylv, as she preferred to be called, had gotten a permit that allowed her to travel freely, not that she really did. She liked staying on Coruscant, for a number of reasons. She was the head Bartender of the White Clover Tavern, after all, meaning her work was on Coruscant usually. Besides, you could vanish into the one-trillion faces on Coruscant and become anonymous if you needed to.

So, no, Sylv didn't use her Permit to parade around the Galaxy, and she certainly didn't use it as a pass to stay in Separatist Territory longer than she needed to.

(She didn't have much stock in the war, but since she lived on a Republic Planet and found herself friendly with the Republic Soldiers, the Clones, she was a bit more biased than at the start of the war.)

And yet, Count Yan Dooku of Serenno was crafty.

Though perhaps crafty wasn't the right word. He knew where to poke and prod and how to get his way— as annoying as it was to admit that she had been manipulated in such a manner.

She had known something was up when she saw him at the drop-station, where most of the on-planet merchants came to help load their products onto the ships of those who were coming from off-planet. He had stood idly by with a few of those Magna-guards of his by his side and she had tried hard to ignore him as she loaded the creates up into the Swallowtail. Only, when it looked as if she was almost done was when he started to talk. 

By then, she had told the merchant to head on out because she could handle the rest, but that didn't mean she hadn't been annoyed when Dooku started talking to her about matters that weren't about bartender or mercantile things. He started by talking about her, something that had sort of unnerved her— she knew she had once had a reputation, but it wasn't like she enjoyed people reminding her and poking into her business and past as a Bounty Hunter.

Then he began to talk about a competition, a challenge, he was holding back at his... palace? Palace. All the while he was also using her old Hunter Moniker as if she hadn't retired from Bounty Hunter fieldwork ages ago. And as if that would make her more inclined to show up and participate. He had told her that there were going to be a number of other bounty hunters taking part in this competition he was holding were going to be there— and shouldn’t the Guildmaster meet some of her best workers?— before getting specific.

He brought up the top two Bounty Hunters, Cad Bane and Embo.

That had made her wary— or rather, warier than before.

It wasn’t… exactly a secret, but it wasn’t open knowledge about the relationship between the two top hunters and herself. The others in the highest rungs of the Hunters knew, and anyone who visited the Clover knew, but it was a general rule of respect to not spread rumors of any relationships a fellow Hunter went into— let alone the top two, or the Guildmaster for that matter, no matter if she had been the Master for decades or just a few years. It just wasn't done.

Count's words had made her pause and think for a moment. The fact that he knew was the stranger issue to her, not the fact that he was clearly and openly manipulating her— she was used to that one, after all.

And Sylv, by principle, did not trust politicians who played their parts— Separatist or Republic or otherwise. They were manipulative and often double-crossed those weaker than them, they spoke for only a fraction of their people, despite claiming that they spoke for all of them. In fact, the only politicians she did trust were the ones with both feet on the ground, slagging through a day-to-day life like the rest of them, knee-deep in rumors and crass language and greasy foods and the smell of grime and smoke. The ones who watched street brawls and talked to the citizens on the lower rung and understood them.

And Dooku, and both Senates, were not these types of politicians. It would be hard stretched to find one like that nowadays, anyways.

So no, she didn't trust the Count one bit. And whatever the man wanted her to participate in, he was going to have Bane and Embo take part in as well.

Logically, of course, she knew that the two could take care of themselves. They didn’t need a retired Bounty Hunter looking after them… but still... She didn't like Dooku's tone, the insinuation that if she didn't stay and play his game, something would happen to them. And he knew that despite everything, she would never want them dead.

Sylv had ended up staying.

Ended up slipping into her old Bounty Hunter role again.

And now she was here, in this structure called ‘The Box’ created by Moralo Eval.

The light that hit them when they had entered had been harsh and bright, and she knew she wasn’t the only one who squinted when they were brought in by way of an elevator. It was a bit jarring considering how they had been standing around in the dark for the better half of a standard hour in the Count's courtyard. And because she had taken her hood off, which probably would have helped with blocking some of the light out, but nonetheless.

Her eyes took some time to adjust, but by then many others were moving around slowly, taking in every part of the confined room they were in. She didn't wander too far in comparison to some of the others, looking around carefully. She wasn't quite sure what the structure was made of, but she guessed that it was a combination of metal and duraplast— and from the humming vibrations she could feel when she put her hand down on the surface of the floor the entire thing was mechanical.

If what Eval said was true about how this was supposed to... simulate certain situations, that meant that there were traps and other fun things were within the walls of the Box.

Another low thrum echoed, followed with the same vibrations of machinery changing gears and then suddenly the panels on the four surrounding walls lit up like screens and Eval's face appeared.

“Before we begin our first challenge, let me say there is only one rule inside The Box,” He started, voice echoing in the enclosed space and eyes seemingly alight with glee. “There are no rules.”

Well, that wasn’t shady at all.

“No rules? What is the point of a competition then?” She heard Embo mutter in Kyuzo— there was no need for him to use basic here, most of them spoke or knew various languages anyways— glancing around as she stood up.

Eval seemed to want to roll his eyes before he spoke. “The point, my friend, is to escape—“ 

“And do it quickly, yeah, yeah, because only the survivors get to proceed,” Sylv cut him off, putting both hands into the pockets of her coat. The Phindian looked annoyed but she stared right up at him, a brow raised. Embo shifted on his feet as the silence drew longer between the two of them, his hand twitching a bit and Eval appeared to be considering something but relented. Instead, the screens folded back into the panels and Eval vanished— for now.

The Kyuzo glanced to her as she shook her head, the other Bounty Hunters already moving about the Box.

“You knew?” He asked and she shrugged, keeping Bane in her line of sight as the Duros glanced around the 

“It’s obvious, the Count said he was only looking for the best," She said, glancing up at him. "He only needs the best. The rest will be killed off, either through this or he'll do it himself. Remember, he stated that any additional survivors will be eliminated. This is set up to kill."

Embo paused to consider her words but nodded after a moment before a hissing noise sounded. They both turned around, watching as a part of the floor had been lowered and the others were moving to peer down into it. She didn't make a move towards it though, and she saw Bane remain still as well, despite Hardeen going right up to peer down into the hole.

"There's something down there," she muttered to Embo, who was also still and watching. The Kyuzo nodded slightly and true to her word, another hissing noise sounded and a green-colored gas poured out from the hole.

Hardeen stepped back, a hand over his helmet as if that would protect him instead of the filters that his helmet had.

“Dioxis!” the other sniper shouted, “Breathe it and you’re dead!”

“Sounds festive,” she muttered as the rest of them started to back up from the hole. Embo gave her a look at that, though it was hard to tell if he was just exasperated or confused on her choice of reaction— it could have been both, really.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sixtat trip backward on part of the floor that had begun to rise up, creating a pillar. The other Hunter quickly gathered his wits and leaped up onto it, crouching a bit.

“Every man for himself!” he barked as if that wasn’t obvious. Embo moved quickly, though, leaping up and over Sylv before roundhouse kicking the Sakiyan off of the pillar— almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

She stood there for a moment, watching the other Hunters scramble to the other tiles— Bane kicked Mantu right in the face to secure his spot, Twazzi almost literally throwing Jakoli from his to take the Rodian’s spot. It was rather amusing to watch it all happen in her opinion.

Embo glanced down at her as the gas started to get thicker but she just tilted her head in response. He didn’t need to bother with worrying about her, and he knew this.

A long ago, Sylv had stopped being fully human— well, sort of. She wasn’t sure what she was anymore in regards to being human, but They had called her an Adaptive Mutant. They had created them to be like that, after all. A being that was both human and not.

And the part that wasn't had been modeled after the Caterpillar— that was how she got her moniker. The Caterpillar Sniper. A being experimented on and trained to fight and have the physical characteristics of the possibly millions of caterpillar species across the galaxy. That was what Insecta created her to be like, the Final Survival Form. They had been successful in doing so, and because of it, she had immunity to toxins— all of them. 

Because Insecta didn’t skimp on the job.

In order to test levels of toxicity in venomous creatures, Insecta's researchers injected insects if all kinds with various types of toxins. The Dorin Mantis, the Christophsis Iris-Winged Butterfly, Tattooine Sun Beetles… all of them resulted in death. Except for one set of insects.

That was the Caterpillar. The Caterpillars were completely immune to the toxins. 

And so, she was created to be the same.

Dioxis wasn’t as potent as some of the poison gasses she had been faced with before. Yes, it was deadly, but small doses were fine for the average sentient. It was also lighter than oxygen, to a point. One could get below the gas-line eventually— if you could get down that low.

Still, she understood Embo’s concern. There was no telling what was going to be going on below once the room filled up.

“Go,” she said simply, “Every man for themselves, after all.”

He rolled his eyes but took off, jumping from pillar to pillar— using Onca as a springboard to get to the center pillar, much to the other's displeasure. Bane was settled where he was, so he didn’t need any help from her— though he rarely did. 

Sylv took off then, following Embo up to the highest point, though she didn’t bother climbing up next to him— there wouldn’t be enough room anyways, not to stand stably. Instead, she hung off the edge, activating the bolts in her boots to anchor her into the pillar.

She liked her boots, a spare pair from the time before her legs had been blown off and replaced with Cybernetics. The anchor-bolts helped her keep her balance in unsteady terrain— and allowed her to bend her body in any way possible. Her legs had the bolts now too.

She glanced around as she hung there. It seemed like no one had died yet, and Hardeen had been oddly helpful.

He bothered her, really. It wasn’t like him at all— and she knew the marksman of Concord Dawn. He had stopped into the White Clover once or twice, she knew and remembered everyone that came through to the Tavern and to her Bar.

While she couldn’t see his face because of his helmet, the voice was definitely Hardeen’s, and at first glance, his actions were the same as well, but, well. Sylv was blind to faces. She couldn’t recognize them at all, another loss from when she had gotten caught up in that explosion that nearly ended her life. So, faces weren’t anything she used to recognize people. 

Instead, she used other things— clothing, for one, but it was the little tells and twitches people made. On top of that, she was a bartender, she knew how to read people. Years of assassination and Bounty Hunter work on top of being a bartender had trained her to pay attention to those subtle movements, those unconscious actions.

And Hardeen was acting rather strange in general, unconscious ticks notwithstanding.

She shook off the feeling, glancing over to Bane and he tilted his hat a bit, brow-ridge raising from under it. A questioning look. 

‘How are you holding up?’

Or that’s how she liked to interpret it. It was more likely something a bit crasser, but the sentiment was there. Unlike Embo, Bane hadn’t had time to question or admonish her for being there. She knew she was rusty from lack of time on the field, and she knew that they knew too.

But she could handle herself fine. They knew this as well.

So instead, she tilted her head towards Hardeen. Bane’s eyes flickered to the other sniper, his scowl deepening for a moment. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one suspicious of him, then. Good. She’d have to beat his ass if he hadn’t been a bit suspicious of him.

She broke her gaze with Bane, glancing around again. The others were tensed up still, also gazing about from where they were perched or hanging. Sixtat was wiping his face, probably a bit sore from where Embo had slammed his heel into the other’s jaw— if not broken.

“That wasn’t so hard,” the Sakiyan muttered.

“Don’t jinx us,” she warned him, and he looked over scowling for a split second before he jolted— the platform he was standing on started to rise again. His wasn’t the only one, it seemed, as Sylv felt her and Embo’s jerk a bit, beginning to rise. She dropped her hand from the edge the same moment Embo kicked Onca down from his perch, claiming it as his own. She remained where she was, though, grabbing the sides instead to avoid getting her fingers crushed.

Several others had relocated as well, and there was a general feeling of confusion among them. Certain pillars were still raising, much slower than the ones that had already hit the ceiling. This… wasn’t a great situation.

The gas, likely, would keep rising up to them, and while several of them had biological defenses to keep them alive for a bit not all of them did. If she thought about it, though, it almost made sense. There wasn't a way out by way of going up, not one that she could figure out at least— and that made sense. Even though Hardeen knew about Dioxis, he only really knew that it was deadly, none of the other details. Eval was banking on the fact that no one seemed to realize that it was lighter than oxygen and would keep rising up slowly. He had pushed them to the top.

That meant the way out wasn't above, but below. Hardeen seemed to realize that as well, starting to say something before she cut her off.

“If there’s no way out from above, then it has to be down,” she said, though angled down so it looked like she was speaking to Embo. The Kyuzo nodded with a soft rumble before she glanced to Hardeen. She supposed she shouldn't reveal all her cards just yet, she had to play the others— they didn't need to know the extent of her knowledge around these sorts of things, after all.

“Hardeen, you said this was Dioxis?” she asked him. 

The other Sniper shifted but nodded. “Yeah. It is. I’d recognize the look and smell anywhere.”

“Weird bragging point, but alright,” she muttered before she twisted a bit, looking down at the others. “Dioxis is lighter than oxygen but doesn’t move as fast. You're all in danger being all the way up here, it’s going to continue to rise and you’ll be dead."

“The filters in my helmet can protect me for a short time,” Hardeen offered, “If what you’re saying is right, I can scout a way out below.”

He looked ready to jump and she narrowed her eyes again.

The Hardeen she knew was not someone who offered to help. Let alone offer his help to a woman. That was just how Hardeen was. And with the way that he was acting right now? He was becoming more suspicious every second.

“No need,” she said simply instead, stopping the man from jumping. “If there’s not a way out down there your filters will fail and you’ll die. Granted, if you still want to go down there, no skin off of my teeth— but I would’ve thought you’d be against it, Hardeen, usually you would be."

She saw the man tense out of the corner of her eye. Bane shifted, adjusting his hat, bearing his teeth just a bit.

“Then what’re ya suggesting, woman?” he asked.

Embo rumbled a bit and to anyone else, it would’ve looked like two hunters picking a fight with one another, with Embo coming to the defense of Sylv. But that was only to an outsider who wasn’t privy to the fact that Bane and Embo usually got along. And Embo wasn’t coming to her defense, she knew. It was a noise akin to a hum, just a simple vocalization. She didn't need it and he knew that she didn't.

“If you forgot, you dumbass, toxins have no effect on me,” Sylv said with a roll of her eyes. Bane growled lowly and she raised a brow before she continued. “Poisons, Venoms, gasses, none of them will kill me. I’ll go down and see if there’s anything. If there’s nothing I’ll come back up and we can figure something else out.”

She didn’t wait for a response.

Instead, she shifted, releasing the pressure she was putting down on the mechanic for the anchor-bolts in her boots, and, without fail, the bolts snapped back into place. She let go of the edge of the pillar she was holding onto, giving Embo a slight nod before she dropped down into the Dioxis and onto the floor below.

Fun fact, Danaus plexippus or the Monarch butterfly caterpillar is immune to toxins. Actually, it seems that most caterpillars are.

I had to read so much for this fic, you have no idea lmaooo. Basically, uhh, I read through a ton of John Henri Fabre's texts, specifically the toxin immunity. This comes from the Life of the Scorpion where Fabre dropped some other insects into a scorpion's enclosure. Every other insect would die upon being struck, but the caterpillars— provided that they didn't die because of the impact of the sting or because they were stung too much and the external damage was too great— were fine and continued on their way. The Toxins had no effect.

And since this is star wars and also I can exaggerate facts and canon, I just expanded this from scorpion toxins to all toxins. Of course, that means medicines and anesthesia are also rendered useless because what is medicine but just another form of poison?

Also I did consider working on official bits of the Kyuzo language, since Filoni used french for the language, along with heavy Japanese, Indonesean, and other South East Asisan Nation influence for the Kyuzo people. But then decided against it because uhh I was lazy? I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I want to write Embo's speech patterns as well, since the Kyuzo apparently seak in short phrases and sentences, but it varies sometimes per series it seems.

Anywho, thank you for reading!

[kiwikipedia]

Lepidoptera

Chapter 3: Danaus plexippus

Fandom(s): Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Rating: T (Language, violence, death, possible inuendo)

Summary:

There exists a creature that spans across many planets in the galaxy, with an unthreatening appearance and reputation. Their bodies are simplified to the utmost limit.

Simplicity is therefore flexibility. Simplicity is therefore tenacious. That is the Caterpillar. A simple insect dropped into the Box.

Cad Bane had thought she was retired, known she was. Because, after all, Sylv Rex was a well-known Bartender on Coruscant now. And hasn’t donned her moniker in ages.

Extra Notes: Cad Bane/OC/Embo Established Relationship, Deception Arc AU

AO3

First Chapter || < Prev || Next >

I wish i had something witty to say here but nope. Enjoy the chapter and thank you for reading

Dioxis had a strange smell. It was sharp and pungent to anyone who had better senses than the average human.

The effects of the poison gas would likely just make her drowsy if she stayed in the thick of it for too long. That was something that Sylv would give it credit for, but she had gone through worse. At least it wasn't a paralytic type of nerve gas. The only real issue that she would face because of the gas would be the pain of having to get the smell out of her clothing at the end of his little challenge of Dooku's.

Sylv sighed as she held a hand over her nose even though the action didn’t do much to stop the gas. She slowly scanned the floor, eyes narrowed a bit as she adjusted from the bright light of the box to the dim light within the fog of Dioxis.

It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for— The hole the gas had come out of. 

She moved towards it, kneeling down and peering down into the hole. It was far deeper than it had initially appeared to be but dropping down into it would get them under the gas line.

However, there was a small issue because even though it was rather deep down into the floor of the Box, the hole itself would probably only hold one person. And there was no guarantee of her survival if she did drop down too. 

There was always a chance that Dooku was just trying to kill them all off at once. She wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that.

She sighed again, weighing her options. There weren’t many in truth, it was either risk it or wait until everyone else in the chamber dropped dead. She wasn’t a fan of either idea, really.

She dropped down despite the risk.

Nothing happened to her once she landed, so she began inspecting the walls around her. There wasn’t anything that stuck out immediately, but it didn’t seem as if she had to find whichever mechanic allowed for their escape— if this was the right choice. Instead, with the whirring of mechanical parts, a bottom panel fell away.

She crouched, watching as more and more of the wall fell away and created a tunnel out. It would be a cramped fit for some of them, but it would do.

“Get your asses down here!” She called back up, “The hole where the gas came from leads to a tunnel! It’ll get you below the gas line and we can move on.”

There was some grumbling from above but ignored it as she rolled her eyes before crawling into the tunnel.

If they wanted to die up there it wasn’t her problem. Just because she wasn’t fond of leaving them to die didn’t mean she was going to go another extra mile for them. She had found and then given them a way out, but if they chose to follow it or not was their choice.

The sound of boots hitting the ground followed not soon after she had started crawling and a presence behind her told her Bane had arrived. Embo followed quickly after, but after him, she couldn’t hear who else did as she crawled through the tunnel.

“Stop looking at my ass, Bane,” she hummed, feeling eyes on her as she crawled, but she only got a snort back.

“Tha hell d’ya want me ta look then, bitch?” he growled.

Grumpy as usual it seemed.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and raised a brow for a moment before she looked back at the path ahead of them.

“What are your thoughts on Hardeen?” she asked instead and she sensed him tense up a bit at the question. A low growl escaped his throat and she rolled her eyes again. She knew about the other Hunter’s sense of possession, it wasn’t a secret to her no matter how much he tried to play it off.

Bane was possessive. That was just a fact. It was almost sweet in its own weird way.

“Not like that, Bane. I mean in general. I never have and don't want to start any sort of relationship that isn't Guildmaster and Employee with that one,” she scoffed before frowning a bit. “But you’ve noticed it too, right? The weird oddities he’s been displaying?”

Bane grunted, and that was all she needed for her to know how he felt on the matter.

Truly, the only people worth trusting here were herself and her two boys.

Not that Embo or Bane would like that being said, she was sure.

(Embo, maybe. He was a bit softer than Bane.)

It didn’t matter though, their brief conversation had to end as they neared the end of the tunnel. The end brought them out to the bottom of a hole much like the last one, leading into a darkened room.

She scaled to the top easily, climbing out before digging into her pockets. Bane climbed up after her as she found what she was looking for— a half-empty container of cigarettes.

In the past, the contents of the container had been Deathsticks, but that had been years ago. Stopping her smoking habit had been neigh impossible, so she had opted for the more legal of the two upon retiring from the bounty hunter life— mostly, at least.

She nudged Bane after she took one out, holding it between her teeth. The duros glanced over, still looking irate (when didn’t he though?) but she just offered the container to him.

“Keep an eye on Hardeen,” she said quietly as he took the offered cigarette. “Whatever is going on, I don’t think it's the same guy from the past.”

“Tch, ya know ‘im?” he asked as Embo flipped up from the hole. Unnecessary, but very on-brand for the other Hunter. She didn’t offer him one, he wouldn’t have accepted anyway— not here, at least. Maybe when they were done, sitting in the back of the Guillotine, or the Justifier, or the Swallowtail.

She shrugged, digging into her pockets for her lighter.

“He’s dropped by the Clover before. Saccha doesn’t like him, neither does Ajina. I don’t think Charlotte does either, but that’s beside the point,” she hummed, pulling the silver lighter out from her coat pocket. “The point is he’s acting differently than he usually would. Keep an eye out.”

Bane just adjusted his hat as the others started to climb out as well. Twazzi first, then Derrown, then Hardeen. 

She handed the lighter over to Bane after she had lit the end of her cigarette. He took it, lighting his own, and passing it back as the rest slowly climbed up and out of the hole.

“Moralo Eval is impressed,” Eval’s voice came from over the loudspeakers, and the screens lit up along the walls again. “No casualties on the first challenge.”

Eval chuckled and Sylv lurched a bit as the platform they were on lowered.

“I guarantee that will not be the case for the next.”

The platform sunk into the floor, allowing them all to spread out again, but the room remained dark as Eval’s face vanished and the screens disappeared from the walls.

She remained near Embo, glancing around before a mechanical whirring caught her attention. She glanced back, watching as a section of the wall opened up. A plasma blade was attached to the section, and the others dove out of the way as it shot forwards. Onca ducked under it and Sylv dropped to the ground as well, boots anchoring her into the ground as she bent back at the knee.

She had gotten low enough to avoid the blade, but it seemed as if her cigarette wasn’t lucky enough to afford that liberty. She frowned as the section withdrew, allowing her to stand back up. Embo glanced over at her and she tossed the cigarette to the side as other parts of the wall also opened up.

“Acrobatics, probably,” she mused before looking up at her Kyuzo partner. “Have you ever run into traps like these while working?”

Embo snorted. “No. Never.”

“Betcha Eval gets off to watching shit like this then!” she hummed as she moved out of the way of another deadly spike. 

He snorted again, but this time it was more akin to a snort of laughter.

It wasn’t long before those on the edge of the group began to feel a bit more overwhelmed than those who didn’t wander off did. A fatal mistake in the end, she supposed, as she saw Onca get cornered before impaled.

Well at least he was with his brother now she mused internally as she backed up towards the center. As of now, none of the sections could reach the dead center— which was where Bane and Hardeen had taken up the defense as well.

The sound of machinery made her tense as the room started to shift and the walls closed in on them.

At the same time, a walkway extended out from the wall above them, stopping at a hole in the ceiling and Sylv narrowed her eyes as she gazed up at it, sidestepping a plasma spike as it extended past her face.

So they had to get up there, then?

She glanced around, watching the various sections of the wall as they moved.

“I know how to get out!” She heard Hadeen say, likely directed to Bane, though she glanced at Embo, who shrugged a bit. If Hardeen was trying to be subtle, he wasn’t succeeding— but if he was trying to help them all out, then he was succeeding wonderfully. And succeeding in being the most suspicious of them here.

Sylv was naturally friendly in an aggressive way, those who knew her like Embo, Bane, and Twazzi knew that, so helping them out last round wasn’t out of the ordinary for her. But again, she knew Hardeen, and knew that a few of the others here likely did as well— Sixtat, for one, probably did, as she knew he was a sniper as well and snipers often ran in the same circles— then they would also find the way that Hardeen was helping others out suspicious.

“Show me,” Bane demanded with a slight grunt.

“There’s a pattern to the blades,” Hardeen explained, pointing to a section along the wall. “That one’s next, see?”

She glanced over, following where he was pointing, and, true to his word, the section of the wall extended out. 

“If I can time it right, I can climb up to that exit shaft,” He continued. “Just follow me and time your jump.”

Bane nodded. “Go.”

And like that, Hardeen was off. 

Bane watched him carefully, and at this point, she was certain they all were as he climbed up the sections of the wall.

“Get moving!” Hardeen barked and she had to bite back a chuckle as Bane readjusted his hat— he looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but held himself back from doing so.

He glanced over to her and she just gave him a shrug before a section of the wall blocked him from her sight— just as Kira Swan got impaled.

She turned back to Embo, rolling her shoulder a bit before nodding. 

“Let’s get out of here, Embabe,” she hummed, making him chuckle a bit. “What? I don’t want to end up like Onca and Kiara, the boss wives wouldn’t like that very much and I have things to do back at my place!”

“Whatever you say,” he mused. “And ‘Embabe’? Really?”

“You want baby instead?”

He just shook his head, a semi-rare instance of playful banter between them, before he took off towards the far wall. It was easy to see why, as he flipped up to a section of the wall that just shot out. She followed after him, using the different sections of the wall to push off in a form of free running instead. She did find this rather fun, in truth. Sylv was a proficient climber and enjoyed free running. And she did have the muscle ability to make some of the jumps that the Kyuzo could— just not the several meters up kind of jumps like he preferred to do.

Twazzi followed right after them, running along the walls instead of jumping from platform to platform.

She liked Twazzi, actually. She was a decent person in terms of Bounty Hunters, easy to work with, and an honorable sort when it came down to it.

Sylv gave Embo a slight salute before following after the Frenk woman with a small grin, they Kuyzo letting out a slight rumble, before following right after the two of them to the top.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to get to where Bane and Hardeen were waiting for the next section of the wall to extend. When it did, Hardeen took off before Bane, sliding under another section of the wall and leaping up towards the walkway. The other sniper paused for a moment, looking up into the exit before he leaped up. Bane was quick to follow with Derrown after him.

Embo seemed to be watching those who were still alive as they clambered up to them, but Sylv nudged him slightly.

“Don’t wait too long, ‘Bo,” she said before she turned, following the path that Hardeen had charted out for them and climbing up through the exit in the ceiling.

Hardeen reached down to help her, and she narrowed her eyes just a bit before she allowed him to haul her up. She didn’t miss the narrowed gaze that Bane was giving the other Hunter behind his back.

“You’re feeling rather helpful today, Hardeen,” she said as she pulled her arm from his grasp, with a bit more force than she normally would have with anyone else, but Hardeen didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he tilted his head a bit.

“What do you mean?” he asked, leaning down to help Jakoli up. She stretched her back out a bit before she answered.

“You’re just acting weird is all,” she hummed, brushing a bit of dust off of her coat. “Hey, Embo. Welcome to the party.”

The Kyuzo just grunted in response as he climbed up next to her the same time Hardeen made a slight noise in the back of his throat.

“Maybe I’m in a good mood,” The sniper tried to defend himself and she saw Twazzi raise a brow ridge at that.

“What’s good about this shit?” Bane growled.

“Eval is kind of an insane fucker, maybe that’s why Hardeen is in a good mood, Bane,” Twazzi piped up as she stretched. “Sadistic people who get off on this shit flock together.”

Embo and Sixtat both snorted out chuckles at that as Hardeen sputtered. Sylv chuckled a bit and shaking her head before she caught the Frenk’s eye. She gave the slightest of nods to her when she did.

It seemed as if she also found the way that Hardeen was acting to be strange.

They didn’t get a chance to poke at Hardeen again, though, as Eval’s giant face made an appearance again on the screens that decorated one of the walls for the time being.

“To reach your final challenge, you must pass through my Ray-Shield,” he told them before a mechanical whirring noise filled the room before the said shields buzzed to life— red in color, and if the way that Eval had been throwing life and death situations at them was anything to go by, it was likely also deadly.

Yeah, Twazzi was definitely right.

Eval was probably getting off at the amount of danger he was putting them all in.

Malacosoma americanum or the eastern tent caterpillar are the ones you see in the USA with those massive nests in the trees that look like cobwebs. Fantastic climbers. Also rip Sylv's cigarette, you tried so hard.