Zeres
Eonin, 0-0
There were stairs. Luckily. However, it was an endless, spiraling labyrinth in the dark. The staircase wasn't well lit and Cody had to cling to Motormouth in his still dazed state to hold himself up. Ahsoka kept in front of them, the force as her weapon. Motormouth held onto the electro staff but left it deactivated. The sound and light would attract attention.
"This is making me nervous." Motormouth admitted. "How come nobody's sent droids or whatever to recapture us?"
"I don't know." Ahsoka squinted at a sign in the dark. It read 0-0. They learned that was the freezer. "I think we should just focus on regrouping and getting the hell out of here."
"Sounds like a plan." Cody muttered.
"But it doesn't feel right. I've been captured before and escaped before. By now there would be tons of battle droids scoping the place out for us."
"Which is what makes this place even creepier and more sinister than Separatists." Ahsoka said in a dark voice. "Maybe they don't need them to look for us. Or maybe this is still part of how they operate. We go paranoid looking for an escape or let down our guard."
"Damn Commander Tano, you really know how to creep a brother out." Cody said. He was walking on his own now as they followed the corridor that led back to the freezer.
"Sorry. It wasn't my intention but…eh." She came across the door to section 0-0. It was wide open, dim inside and very, very cold. "You two stay out here in case there's a trap."
"Are you sure?" Motormouth moved to go with her.
"I'm going in for a quick look. It'll be fine, but I don't want us to get separated if the power comes back on and closes the door."
"Good point."
Ahsoka passed through and immediately noticed every clone that had previously occupied this room was absent. Even the one that could not walk. I guess everyone is still desperate for a taste of freedom. At the end of the room, she noticed also that the eerie thick door was slightly ajar. Her skin prickled, not from the cold and warily she proceeded forward. Something drew her to that door. Distantly, she recalled her dream, and the horrors she uncovered inside.
Slowly, reluctantly, and carefully she pried the door open and stared inside. The smell, though stagnated by the cold, was revolting. Years and years of corpses festering in this room with no ventilation-
Ahsoka nearly vomited, but she had nothing to give up. Piles of bodies completely covered the floor and on some of the walls looked like claw marks. A hard shudder left her skin in goosebumps. Her eyes watered and then she caught sight of a familiar symbol. A dark blue handprint amidst the armor of an ARC trooper. Realization struck her hard in the chest.
Echo.
It was Echo, lifeless and trapped forever among all these deceased brothers. Beside him, she saw a clone trooper with his left leg slaughtered to the knee. Eventually, she recognized the second clone as Jesse. Ahsoka staggered backwards with terror in her eyes. Her mind spun, blurring the edges of the room and the Togruta braced herself against the nearest wall to keep herself from fainting. Found them.
….
"What happened? Ahsoka? What did you see?" Motormouth leapt to her side when she emerged with a stone cold expression. She passed him without any acknowledgement. Cody looked worried and bent forward slightly to catch her eye.
"Commander?"
"I found them." She said in a dead voice. "Jesse and Echo." Without stopping, she continued down the dark corridor. "They're gone."
"Ahsoka- what?" Motormouth lurched forward to take her shoulder. Ahsoka stopped when he did.
"They were in that room at the end of the hall. They're dead."
Cody muttered a dark curse and he fell back against the wall in anguish. Ahsoka clenched her fists and turned around.
"There's something I should mention." Both clones stared, not ready to accept any more grief. "When I accessed the control room. I saw something called, 'chips'. In a log, I read that we were documented. It said 10 arrivals. 2 are Jedi and no chips. The rest were clones, chips installed traditionally. 1 Togruta. Chip not installed traditionally. These chips are inside all of us. I believe they are meant to track our movements. If we escape, they know our exact location. That's why, I assume, no one is hunting us. They know where we are already."
"Krif." Cody pounded the wall behind him with a fist.
"We need outside help." Motormouth said somberly.
"I know. We need to regroup, find a safe place to hide, and then send one of us back to the control room to contact the Jedi Order for help. This is way beyond us."
….
There was a sound of someone cursing in the darkness. Immediately, all three tensed and readied to attack. Slowly, Ahsoka peered around the corner. In the gloom, she could identify the clone trooper Cole trying to access a ventilation tunnel. It appeared to be nailed shut.
"It's just Cole." She whispered right next to Motormouth's ear. He had one hand on her shoulder and the other holding the electro staff. Cody was pressed up against him watching the path they had just taken in case someone was following them.
"He's probably unarmed." Motormouth whispered at her head. "We should interrogate him. He knows way more than we do."
"If we go after him now, he'll run."
"One way to find out."
Ahsoka nodded then crept away from the wall. Cole was facing away from the company and didn't see her coming.
"So you made it out too?" She said softly. It didn't matter, he flinched violently and wheeled around before crashing onto the floor, his droid leg unstable.
"Krif you kriffing Togruta!" He cursed. Motormouth gritted his teeth and shoved the point of the electro staff under his chin.
"Watch it, or this goes through your head."
"Oh, is this how you treat valuable resources around here?" He snarled, clearly not threatened anymore. "That's right. I know you guys need me to get out of here."
"Actually we just finished a self-guided tour." Cody said. "We know enough."
Cole smirked.
"Enough won't get you out of here. In fact, even if we do escape, we die."
"The chips?" Ahsoka whispered. Cole slowly looked back in her direction.
"So you found out about those?"
"You knew? And you didn't tell us?" Motormouth growled.
"I never thought you'd get out of the freezer. When you were called for surgery I knew you'd be back though. At the end of the line, in the last door in freezer." Cole snarled. He was still sitting on the ground. There were blood stains all over his hands and arms.
"I saw that too." Ahsoka said softly. "All the dead clones end up there."
"I figured that out when they started dragging human shaped bags into that room and came out empty-handed." Cole moved to stand.
"We're wasting time." Cody suddenly exclaimed. "Do you know where a hangar is in here? The power can come back on any moment."
"I've never seen a hangar. I've never been off this level. They will lull you into a false sense of safety, then they come for you."
"Who?" Ahsoka asked.
"Well, Regis's assistant for one. Being caught by her is…" for the first time, he trailed off and his voice had gotten soft, afraid almost. Ahsoka suddenly gave a small gasp and looked up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"What is it?" Motormouth and Cody said simultaneously.
"M-my masters!" She mouthed. "I can sense them! I can feel they're close by." She whipped around to the direction they had just come from. For the first time since they'd crashed here, she felt hope well inside her chest.
"We need to backtrack. I can feel their presence stronger this way." Ahsoka didn't wait for them to follow as she lightly jogged down the dim corridor. Motormouth sprang into action and fell into step beside her as Cody held up the rear. Cole staggered on his leg before moving to follow them. If he could keep close enough, perhaps they'd be his salvation.
Zeres
Eonin, Mogens's Lair
Before the power failure
Rex had more goosebumps on his skin now than he ever had. All those close calls with blaster fire, almost behind beheaded by General Grievous, being force choked by Asajj Ventress, nothing quite compared to this.
Mogens's attention span was short and he was quick to bore or anger. Whenever Rex had been slow to respond to a demand, the vines gave him tiny cuts along his legs. Though tiny, they hurt, and he didn't want to take chances with toxins.
Nefara, the hound of hell, always sat on Mogens's left. Rex could feel the hound hated its master just as much or probably more than Rex did. The second Mogens turned his head, the hound would slink away into the darkness. I wish I could mind control the hound to kill this filthy bastard. Rex shuddered. Even though the heat and humidity was unbearable and he had constant sweat dripping down his spine, he felt cold and alone. He felt as if he was the only one this far out of the way, the only one who was completely alone here. His slave attire also made him feel like a piece of property. He never felt more uncomfortable or out of touch with his inner soldier in his entire life.
"Blasting, bleeding idiot!" Mogens suddenly screeched, making Rex flinch. Fortunately, he had a small monitor on the arm of his chair displaying some bizarre entertainment that kept him mostly distracted. Reacting to Rex's flinch, a vine curled tighter around his thigh and ventured too close for comfort. The captain learned the vines originated from Mogens's back. His spine was exposed and innumerable vines in varying sizes and length dominated his habitat.
"I must admit," it took Rex a moment to realize Mogens was speaking to him, "I am very impressed you have not tried to escape yet." He snaked a thin vine around Rex's throat and angled his head to gaze at Mogens. The vine curled around his ear and Rex forced himself not to flinch.
"It'd be a little difficult," he kept his voice calm, "in my position. I am a little tied up at the moment."
"Well dearie me," Mogens said in a sickeningly sweet voice that chilled Rex's spine, "I do declare that I just cannot keep them off you. Though I must admit you are boring me." With that, each vine retracted and a large one shoved Rex off the platform. "We'll play a little game. Go on, humor me! Just try to escape!"
Rex turned on him with a suspicious glare.
"Go on! Let's see how smart you are. I know you're just dying to leave. The door is only a couple feet away." Mogens's pig like eyes stared at him through a veil of desire and eagerness.
"What's the point?" You have vines everywhere that will stop me where I stand."
"Because I cannot bother myself with getting up." Because you're fat? Rex thought. "It's only fair that I snag you with them. Hell! I won't even call Nefara on you."
"You can't keep your word. You said it yourself anyway, the door to your lair won't open unless you operate it from your console. So what's the point in me running to the door?"
"To provide me with entertainment. If you cannot do that," Rex flinched as Mogens's vines trailed up his legs and branched out to pin his arms to his sides, "I guess I'll have to find another way to entertain myself…"
"All right! All right! I'll do it!" Rex shouted, struggling against the vines. Mogens released him with a dark chuckle. The second he did, Rex shimmied out of the way, and then the entire habitat went pitch black.
"NO! This can't be a power failure! My heat will turn off!" Mogens roared. Rex turned his head to look at a dim glow emanating from behind him. His heart fluttered in disbelief at his luck. The door, the door that led out of this inferno, was open. Without a second to waste, afraid that it was just a momentary lapse in power, he sprinted to the door with all the fire and strength of his former self.
"NOOO!" Mogens screamed and Rex could hear dozens of vines lunging for him. Evading capture, he passed the doorway and sprinted faster than he ever had. Behind him, he heard the horrifying part scream part road of Mogens losing his prize and losing the game.
Rex didn't stop running until his beating heart was deafening him and sweat dripped into his eyes, blinding him. He couldn't hear Mogens anymore. He couldn't anything anymore. Power failures always had that eerie complete absence of sound.
"Blast." He mouthed. Even that sounded loud to him. I have no idea where I am. I have no idea where the others are. To make this even worse, I'm still wearing this. He glanced briefly down to the slit skirt and plated gold necklace he wore. I hope Ahsoka's okay. And General Kenobi and Skywalker. Maybe they've already escaped and are working on a way out. I know them both very well, and I have confidence they can get us out of here. I just need to find them.