Chapter 21 With this Heart of Mine
LUKE POV
He was falling.
That much was discerned as truth in his muddled little mind.
His eyes blinked and his ears were ringing.
It scraped harshly against the metal as it fell, torturous to his ears.
The elevator's once bright lights flickered madly as it plummeted down the elevator shaft.
Rubbing his aching head from where it had smacked against the floor he frantically groped around for his lightsaber. Snatching it up in his firm grasp he lurched upward from where he had been sprawled upon the ground and jabbed at the buttons. Neither the emergency stop nor any controls seemed to be doing anything to stop the fall. The fall that was caused by some jerk throwing an explosive at the elevator! I mean who does that type of stuff! Are they trying to kill me?!
He staggered back as the elevator bushed against the shaft walls.
Metal scraping against metal.
Cold sweat clung to his skin.
The crimson blade sprung to life.
Tumbling forward to the middle of the elevator floor he shakily carved out a sizable hole in the ceiling with the tip of red blade, just enough to cut through the material.
Shoving the lightsaber back away in his cloak he launched himself up, hitting hard against the loose panel he created with the saber and tearing it right off. Against the harsh impact of his body it was flung away. He sailed out of the elevator and lunged forward to one of the many ledges built into the framework of the shaft that was dotted with white lights.
Just as he jumped the panel came flying back down and hit his lower leg, making him groan out. Instead of stepping onto the ledge as he calculated he would, he fell, just barely grabbing hold to the edge as his body was jerked down by the impact. He dangled there. The elevator plummeted down to the depths with the panel whistling after it. Loose wires trailed behind whipping wildly, knicking his foot before disappearing. The only thing he could see in the inky blackness below were the bright hot sparks illuminating the way before they too vanished.
Pushing himself up he crawled onto the narrow ledge, leg throbbing in irritation.
An explosion sounded off far below, rattling the walls and spurting fire and smoke up, causing his grip to tighten. Glancing down all his eyes could see was flame in the very distance down below.
Luckily not close enough to cause him any harm.
He stood there for a couple minutes, mostly catching his breath. He had exerted himself just a little too much back up there. But he was fine now. His leg ached and his back stung a bit from all the maneuvers but overall he was good. All Good. He took in a deep breath, and then released it. He just needed to take a small pause and rest for a moment…
Feeling much better he looked around.
There were hundreds of doors lining the elevator shaft both up and down and he had no damn clue as to which one would lead him to the force anomaly.
It's obviously somewhere down there. He looked down into the abyss where just barely seen was the fire that was once an elevator sat at the bottom of it all. Huh, somewhere down there. Somewhere where his eyes couldn't possibly see now.
It's not like i can see through walls or anything.
So instead he searched.
Searched with something other than his eyes.
He stood there precariously on the ledge and searched out for that odd presence he had felt earlier. The one that had originated from down down below. The one that had been made up of these… these feelings that he could neither describe nor explain.
But no matter how hard he looked he couldn't feel its location. Eyes shut tightly closed in concentration he extended his reach through the force as much as he dared, fully aware that Dooku was lurking somewhere about. He knew he couldn't find it, the force anomaly. Not like this at least. His blue eyes snapped open once more. Panting he licked his dry lips. He was about to just guess as where to go next when it came to him, making him gasp at what he felt and almost loose his grip on the ledge.
It faded instantly, as quickly as it had come.
He felt the beginning of a simmering anger deep within himself.
Not anger at the creature.
But at what he had felt from the creature.
The presence had faded oh so quickly because it had been weakening.
It was in pain.
A different sort of pain.
As this pain came from deep inside. It was pain that wasn't his. It was a pain such as that of a gnawing vice like ache in his chest that refused to go away.
It was being hurt.
And that angered him.
It angered him for many reasons.
One, because all this is Sidious's fault to begin with and he is the one behind all this in the first place, and two, because an innocent creature is being harmed and exploited and used and abused!
That bothered him.
A lot more than he could express in words.
Memory now refreshed with the location, he knew where to go.
Resolve enkindled and reignited he catapulted himself from ledge to ledge down the elevator shaft, trying to land as gently as he could due to his injuries, but still pushing his body to go faster and faster in the wake of this urgency that the force screamed at him. He eventually came to the right door. He could just feel it. Igniting the blood red blade in one swift motion he burned a hole in the door. Climbing through it he entered into a hallway. This hall had grey walls unlike the ones higher up in the structure which were a multitude of colorful brown shades that varied from light to dark. This hallway was grey, with white tiled floors. As plain as can be. At the end of the hall was a set of iron double grey doors. Guarding those doors were some droids. Racing at them in the blink of an eye he quickly dispatched the trio with a quick flick of his wrist. They fell soundlessly to the floor. Bodies in two. Scorched through the middle.
It seemed that to open the gray double doors one needed a password.
But everyone knows no one's got time for that.
The red lightsaber crackled in anticipation of what was to come.
He carved through the door. Melting the material, letting the hot molten metal drip around the edges of the circle his lightsaber carved. He burnt through the door, cutting a hole in it and shoving his way past and to the next room which turned out to be another hallway.
A hall that opened up in a large arching way into another room.
A large and tall square shaped room with grey walls and white tiled floors that shone reflecting the white lights that adorned both the hallway he stood in and the room before him. These rooms were tall. Much more tall and larger than the others he went through. He stepped closer, lightsaber hung limply at his side as he took in everything. A huge set of arched doors sealed shut were on the left side of the room. And he knew immediately what was hidden behind it far from sight. There, that's it! He was sure the anomaly was behind those doors. Absolutely sure of it! On the right side of the room was a dark grey balcony like platform suspended in the air with a big motion censored black sliding door opening onto it. Sprouting out of the front of the balcony platform were two stairways rimmed with white lights positioned almost side by side one another but set a good ways apart. Between these two flights of stairs was a gray metal railing that sat on the balcony near the edge and just a ways in front of the large black sliding door. The platform then extended to rim most of the outer room with various other doors leading out and in on it. Attached to the grey walls below were all sorts of heavy duty machines much too complicated for even a person like him to understand right away. Liquids and chemicals sat in clear cooling containers. Boxes stacked high into the air. Pipes and wires looped around the room and a few hung overhead.
Cameras on the walls followed him with their blank, black gazes.
But the first thing he actually noticed in the split second before anyone panicked were those in the room.
Aside from the usual droids here and there consisting of a group of super battle droids that stood along the edge of the room looking as bored as a droid could be, there was also another droid that looked similar to c3po but silver, and med droids with beady red eyes and rustic shells of blue plating that coated their round heads and humanoid bodies. Those med droids seriously gave him the creeps. With those beady red eyes. But what really surprised him and made him pause for a moment was that there were a bunch of weirdoes in white lab coats that were packing stuff up. These guys weren't droids at all. They were alive and the first creatures of flesh and blood that he had seen in the LiMerge building in all the whole time he had been here, which wasn't much but still. Some wore masks that covered the bottom half of their faces while others didn't. They were all armed in some form or fashion.
He stepped more fully into the large square room and almost all eyes snapped to him.
Eyes.
Such eyes.
If it is true that all eyes are windows to the soul, then he was disgusted with these beings.
He just knew right away that these were the guys who caused the force anomaly so much pain, besides Sidious of course.
They were scientist, engineers, physicists, technicians, and so much more. But they all had one thing in common: they all were mad!
Not mad as in angry, but mad as in complete loony.
It made his blood boil.
Mad scientists indeed.
With their cold, heartless, indifferent, unfeeling, and apathetic eyes.
But now in those light eyes that looked so deep and dark he only saw fear projected when they had finally gazed upon him and the wicked red blade humming by his side.
For they probably knew that this would be their last minutes alive and rightfully so since he was feeling particularly pissed off.
He didn't give any of them a chance to beg.
He didn't give any of them a chance to say last words.
He didn't give any of them a chance to scream because he was upon them now.
He could faintly feel the force anomaly in the next room, still in its weakened state.
A blatant reminder of what he should do.
Of what they had done to that creature.
It made him angry.
A force surrounded him and he unknowingly but willingly accepted it.
He unmercilessly hacked down the droids he came across as the mad scientists scurried like beetles trying to save their own skin. To buy some useless precious time for themselves, hah, but it was for naught! They all fell the same way! He wreaked havoc in the large square room. That now seemed so small as all were confined and confronted with their demise behind these gray walls. Subjugated to the same fate. He cut down all who stood in his way of the injured force anomaly.
I'll save it.
A droid was sliced in half, just barely reaching for its weapon.
Someone in need.
One of the scientists tried rushing to the door. He crushed the leg with the force.
Someone who needs help.
He whirled sending out a shockwave of force power out to those stupid enough to think of attacking from behind.
I will fight for them.
Raising his hands to the heavens he brought parts of the ceiling to come crashing down.
Those who can't fight for themselves in such a world!
Showing what his true wrath could do.
No one else will be hurt by Sidious's hand!
He felt strong.
Droid mechanical dismembered limbs splayed out across the floor.
He got carried away.
The red blade crackled and gleamed gleefully, slicing through flesh and bone easily, and finally digging deep into heart.
It was finished.
Scorch marks and holes littered the walls, unevenly distributed and dotting the once fine gray plating. Black wires dangled out of the ceiling and from holes violently ripped in the wall, sparking up a storm. Water sprayed out of burst pipes and began accumulating in shallow pools along the floor before slipping down a too small drain that couldn't accommodate all the liquids. Bright white ceiling lights flickered with uncertainty. Others, clearly busted, sent out showers of yellow sparks.
Why did he feel so hollow all of the sudden.
Water sprayed him. Soaking through his cloak slightly and to his slumped shoulders. In response he wrapped it tighter around himself, feeling suddenly very cold. He gingerly steps over a prone body lying on the floor. The water around the corpse was tainted a light pink. Blood leaked out of the lightsaber wounds. It was not uncommon at times for the red blade of a Sith to occasionally draw blood from its unwilling victims. He stood there, pausing in space and time, and then walked forward to the huge arched doors on the left side of the room that he saw from earlier.
The cameras on the walls didn't follow him this time. They hung uselessly.
The door was closed and locked tightly. The metal was thick. It would take a while to cut through it.
He swallowed through the thick lump that had formed in his throat.
There is another way.
He extinguished the red blade that seemed to laugh at him in victory and gently slipped it in his pocket. He needed both hands to do this.
He called upon the light of the force to surround him. He furrowed his brow. Something felt different. Something felt missing, but the light was comfort in the wake of what he had done.
Standing right in front of the big gray doors he lifted up his hands.
He crushed the metal to bend to his will, making it furl outwards. The bottom of the door scraped against the ground as it was forcibly tore and opened. The force gave him strength. He worked to be one with it. But the real thing that gave him the strength to channel the force was his thoughts and his mind. He wouldn't let anything stand in his way to his goals. Any of his goals. I have to save my mother, save my father, save the force anomaly, and find a way to save the republic! No one. Absolutely no one would inhibit him! Not those scientists, not the droids, not the bounty hunters, not the scavengers, not Dooku, and certainly not Sidious! He would persevere through in the end. He couldn't afford not to!
The physical was changed to his whim.
The metal door screeched and peeled open before him.
The white pure lights flickered as if in joy and happiness. For the one trapped inside may soon be set free.
It opened before him, and down this twisted doorway was another hallway, this one bigger than the last. He seemed small compared to its sheer size. The hall had grey walls and white floors with white lights. Down this hall was another arching doorway, with high arch ways that led into another room. From what he could see this room had white sterile walls and white flooring all around.
Crossing the threshold he walked slowly down the hallway of grey and white, but not out of cautiousness.
His heart beat frantically in his chest like a caged bird but despite that his movements were still graceful as the power he had drawn on from the light side of the force still pulsed through his veins and numbed any aches and pains.
It was just around the corner.
He could feel it.
He was slightly relieved that he had made it, but a niggling thought in the back of his mind just screamed at him that it had just been too easy!
And that was worrisome.
But he couldn't think about that now though.
He stumbled forward into the new room of sterile white. Coming around the corner he sees it, and stops. His azure blue eyes stare, widening fractionally.
Then he rushes to help the creature.