Entry 136: Red Tiger

She froze the holoscreen and stared at it, still wearing a look of disbelief that had plagued her face for the past half hour.

Tigerfish Torpedo, a former Sani Sabik and right hand man of the notorious Revan Nefarious, stood frozen in the holovid she'd just paused.

She studied the lines of his face, the glint of his eyes, the twisted curl of his mouth. A sadistic, eerie grin of pleasure.

His gloved hands were soaked with the blood of his crew members, men he'd just murdered for the sake of forcing someone else's will to his own. They were nothing more than pawns in some macabre game he was forcing Tiberious Thessalonia to play. Submit to his will, else more would die.

She pressed play again and heard him say, "If you don't help her, I'll go back and purge the rest of them. Their blood with be on your hands."

Again, she pressed pause and stared at him, her thoughts racing.

"You're a cold blood murderer...and you enjoy it," she whispered into the darkness.

With trembling hands, she poured a shot of whiskey and lit a cigarette, needing to calm her nerves.

It was one thing to hear rumors of such deeds, it was easy to dismiss them as idle gossip, half truths twisted to reflect a person in the worst possible light.

It was entirely different to have actual proof, to see the blood dripping from their hands, to see the look of pleasure gained from such gruesome acts.

She downed the shot then took a long draw off of her cigarette, placing it in the ashtray before she started to pace the dimly lit room. Behind her, Tiger's holographic form flickered.

An eerie feeling slid down her spine. "Why?" she asked as she turned to face the frozen image of him. "Why?"

"Because he is a bad, bad man," the holographic form of a little red headed girl responded.

Shalee jerked, darting her head as she searched for the girl. "Go away."

Red spoke rapidly, "You know he is bad but he reminds you of Hadrien. You feel guilty for not saving him. You killed him cause he was bad, you didn't even try to save him did you? You didn't try to help him."

"Stop it!" Her vision started to blur as her head pounded, throbbing with pain just behind her eyes.

"You want to help Tiger because you feel guilty! But you can't fix him. You just can't. Evil is evil and you know that. It doesn't go away...." the little girl laughed an eerie little sound, "...does it?" Her tone was accusing.

"Stop." Shalee lifted her hand and curled it in her hair, fingers tight in her long raven strands. "Stop, you're hurting me."

"You're hurting yourself." she said as she blinked into view finally, standing in front of Shalee. "Hurry up and pass out, I have to go tell Aldrith or Eran. I have to make them understand what you're doing!"

"Go to hell," she said as the blood dripped from her nose, staining her lips. She brushed the back of her hand across her mouth and chin, wiping away the blood, "I'm not going to let you do this. I am going to help him, he needs a friend. He needs me."

"You can't stop me," the girl challenged as she waited, watching Shalee's face as her eyes rolled back seconds before she collapsed to the floor. "Told you so."