Author's Note
Sorry I have not updated recently. I hate typing up stories that I have already written out on paper. So this story could take a while to get posted if only for that one reason. Sorry again.
Disclaimer
I do not own any of the Star Wars characters or creatures. Thank you and enjoy.
Body Pains
For a second time, Boba found himself struggling to regain consciousness. He heard a groan of pain and realized that it had come from him. He opened his eyes slowly and found himself looking at a medical droid.
"Oh," exclaimed the droid, " you are awake."
Boba tried to sit up, but found that he couldn't move. Looking down at himself he saw that he was being held in place by iron clasps that attached him to the table at his wrists, ankles, and stomach.
"Now, now." Said the droid admonishingly as Boba strained against his bonds, "Don't struggle, you'll only hurt yourself."
As if waiting for the droids words Boba's vision faded out and his body gave a small spasm as a wave of pain wracked his body. He made no noise as he waited till the pain passed a moment later and his vision returned.
"Careful." Warned the droid, "You're the first one awake and from everything your body's gone through you should be in an almost catatonic state right now."
Boba merely looked blankly at the droid and let his body go slack against the restraints.
"That's better." Said the droid, "Now, if you promise to go slowly and take it easy you can get up and get used to yourself. Alright?"
Boba nodded in response and kept his body relaxed.
The droid seemed happy with his response and, unbuckling him, said, "Go slowly and let your brain readjust for your body."
Normally Boba would have ignored the droid, but the pain he felt as he sat up convinced him to follow the droids orders. He carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed and placed them on the cold metallic floor. He eased himself off the bed so that he was standing. He held onto the bed tightly as another wave of pain rolled through him and robbed him of his sight again.
When his vision had finally returned he noticed that everything was brighter and more defined. He heard the medic droid let out a startled beep, but he ignored it and focused his attention on the strange tingling feeling in his limbs.
The sound of the door sliding open prompted him to turn around. Fours soldiers entered with their weapons snapping up to focus on Boba as soon as they had a clear line of fire. The woman who'd sealed Boba into his box and the young man who'd bragged about this whole thing being his idea followed behind the soldiers into the room.
It didn't take Boba much time to decide that he didn't really like either one of them.
"Oh, Boba," said the man and Boba had to repress a growl at the man's friendly tone, "you're up already." He looked at the medic droid with a slight glare as he asked, "Why is he up? His body must be relaxed to avoid any lasting bad effects."
The droid let out a few indignant beeps before saying, "He woke up much too soon and he refused to stop struggling against his restraints. Since I've released him, he's relaxed considerably and he has obeyed my orders and hasn't tried to push his body when it's not ready."
As the droid explained itself Boba observed the soldiers and the woman. He smiled to himself at the fear that was clearly written on their faces. Their guns shook slightly and they kept glancing at the woman as if for reassurance. The woman was completely ignoring them however. From the way she was pointedly glaring at the back of the young man's head Boba could tell that she was not happy with whatever was going on.
"But he's still unstable!" at the man's shout, Boba turned all of his attention to the young man standing a few feet in front of him. As if feeling himself under observation, the man glanced at Boba and froze.
The man's eyes widened in surprise and he whispered, "That's impossible."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you sir!" exclaimed the droid, "He's already stabilized. His body seems to have completely accepted what's happening to it and has even seemed to use the change to it's own advantage. His body's somehow eliminated most of it's irrelevant functions."
"What do you mean by irrelevant functions?" asked the man as he moved his eyes up and down Boba's body as if he was trying to solve a complex puzzle and the answer was somewhere inside Boba.
"Well," explained the droid as it handed the man a datapad, "he had an unusually high pain threshold before. His body has seemed to deem that a good thing and has apparently raised it even more, but with a certain twist."
"What twist?" asked the woman. Boba noted that she was now staring at him along with the man. "How high was his pain threshold before and how high will it probably be now?"
"I'll use an example to explain the twist. Before, if he got hit by a blaster in the leg, with his armor on he would suffer from 3rd degree burns but he would barely be able to tell that he'd gotten hurt. Instead of being almost completely incapacitated by the injury he would simply be slightly impeded by the pain and greatly annoyed at the fact that if he didn't get it treated he could lose the limb."
Boba had to fight to keep the smirk he was feeling from showing on his face as he watched the soldiers faces pale at the droids words. They all knew how painful blaster shots could be. Boba had experienced exactly what the droid was explaining more times then he cared to remember. He'd always known that his tolerance for pain was high and he used it to his advantage whenever he could.
"That explains why he was able to stay conscious through out the reversal process." Muttered the man before gesturing for the droid to continue.
"That was his tolerance before, now; however, it has been greatly increased. Instead of being slightly impeded by the injury he wouldn't even feel it." Explained the droid.
"Now that's not necessarily a good thing." Said the woman, "If he couldn't even feel it he might not notice it and could lose the limb because he didn't realize it was injured and didn't treat it."
"True." Said the droid. "But," it continued, "that's where the twist comes in. It seems that in order to avoid that scenario, his body has developed so that instead of the injured nerves sending messages of pain to his brain they simply send messages designed to attract his attention. Basically, if he is injured, instead of feeling hurt he will suddenly feel the urge to look at the injured body part. Once he acknowledges the injuries existence it seems his nerves will then send pain messages, but the instant his mind thinks of something else the messages will stop. I believe his body created this so that he can function unhindered with injuries and simply tend to them when he has time. However, " added the droid, "like every other human some pains will register, but for him, if something registers as painful it will probably knock him unconscious."
"This is an interesting development." Said the man. He had been reading through the datapad as the droid had spoken.
"Indeed." Said the droid. It continued to say something about how his hormone levels had also changed, but Boba found himself unable to focus as a wave of pain worse then the others wracked his body.
Boba managed to stay upright through sheer force of will and an iron grip on the table that he had been laying on earlier. The only outward sign that of his struggle was the way his fingers turned white from his grip on the table. And even that was hidden by the fact that he was holding onto the table behind his back. The pain continued to intensify and Boba saw that the edges of his vision were beginning to fade. He forced his eyes to stay open and focused them on the young man in front of him.
As he locked eyes with the man before him, Boba felt another surge of anger flare inside of him at this insignificant, puny, weakling of a creature that thought he could control him.
Boba saw the man's eyes widen in shock, but found that he was having trouble caring because of his anger and the pain. As quickly as it had come though, the pain left his body and he found his vision brightening. As the pain diminished Boba found his anger growing.
A sharp prick in his left shoulder told him that he'd been shot with yet another tranquilizer dart. As his arm began to grow numb he felt the sting of at least ten more bite into his chest and neck. To Boba's ever growing anger he found that he was quickly losing his hold on consciousness.
The drugs were fast acting and he had already lost all feeling in his arms and chest. And it was taking all of his remaining energy to keep his legs from collapsing. He found himself slipping into darkness once again and in the back of his mind he noticed that it was becoming common lately for his periods of sleep to be a result of either serious injury or toxins.
As his eyes finally slipped shut he felt his body tilt and fall, but he never felt his impact with the ground. As he slept, in the darkness deep in his mind, his anger froze, crystallized, and was added to the cold fire that drove him.
The young man watched as the Fett's body fell to the ground with a soft thud. He let out a tired sigh as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and tried to get the image of Fett's cold eyes out of his mind. He quickly composed himself and turned to face the woman and her soldiers. From the looks on their faces he could tell that the bounty hunter, even in his diminished state, scared them silly.
He gave them an annoyed look as he snapped at the, "Well, get him off the floor. He's done so take him to the holding cells."
The woman gave him an amused look as she motioned for the soldiers to pick up the fallen bounty hunter. "Which one do you want him in?" she asked, "or do you not care?"
The man thought for a moment before answering, "Put him in block one."
She smirked at him, "So you're going to give him a little extra privacy. Why?"
The man merely looked at her as if she was stupid as he said, "He is more likely to cooperate if he's more comfortable."
"Wouldn't you want to make Anakin more cooperative?" He's got the biggest anger problem out of all of them. I'd think you wouldn't want to get him mad. Who knows what he'd do to get back at you."
The woman jumped in surprise as the man chuckled and said, "Anakin is helpless now that he's been reduced to the state of a normal human. I'm much more worried about Fett's cooperation. Remember, he's lost none of his power, in fact he's probably gained even more physical power than he had before. And his anger is an even greater force to reckon with then Anakin's."
The woman snorted, "It sounds like you're afraid of him."
The man let out another little chuckle, "No, by the time I'm done with Fett he'll be obeying my every command. He'll be my most loyal servant. All it will take is time. Making him more cooperative will simply make the process faster."
The woman nodded to show she understood. "I'll be back after I drop him off to get the arrangements for the others." She motioned to the soldiers, and carrying the unconscious Boba Fett, they exited the medical room.
The man watched them go and then turned to the medical droid ordering, "Get me the files on the others. I want to watch their progress. And figure out why Fett woke up so early."
The droid hurried off to do as he'd ordered and the man couldn't help but think of the way the bounty hunter's eyes had appeared so cold and yet at the same time seemed to turn him into ice as he looked at them. He gave his head a slight shake to rid himself of the image. But as he followed after the droid he found that he couldn't get rid of the feeling that had accompanied those eyes.