Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any part of the franchise; all rights and ownership belong to Disney.
Chapter 8
"Yup. That eye is shuk'yc—useless." Coric said as he peeked under the bacta patch.
"You haven't even peeled the patch off yet," Wolffe complained.
Coric gave a flat smile before obliging the Commander and removing the bandage. The medic turned to a metal tray that sat on top of a cart. Quickly, he swiped up a small mirror and held it in front of Wolffe. "If it wasn't for the meds, I think I'd be out of my boots by now," Wolffe blanched.
Coric nodded, "Told you."
"Good news is, you're not dead," Coric said positively.
"Yeah, I guess," Wolffe mumbled.
"The bad news is, we're going to have to remove the remainder of the tissue. Then clean it with bacta," the medic said as he placed the mirror back into the tray.
"No, the bad news is your bedside manner is atrocious! Just like your uniform." Wolffe yelled dramatically.
"Like I haven't heard that before," Coric chuckled.
"Go easy on him, Coric. The man's just been told he lost his eye," Rex said, holding back a laugh. The 501st Captain stood near the bed, leaning his shoulder against the wall. As he raked a hand over his head, Rex caught Wolffe's offended look.
"This is not funny. Neither of you have lost a limb or an eye," the Commander choked as he swiped the mirror off the cart.
Coric snatched the object back, before pushing Wolffe back onto the bed. "The last thing you need is to continue looking at your eye socket. If you do that, you won't be able to eat for a month," he chided. The Wolf Pack leader looked as if he was about to choke the medic, as he shot straight up off the bed. Rex walked over and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Easy now," he coaxed.
Wolffe gave Coric a dirty look as he laid back down. Rex would have said something to distract him if it hadn't been for Gregor who started cackling in a corner. "He's lost his eye and I've lost my head," he giggled, "two clones in a pod." The three sane clones exchanged similar looks of unease, as Gregor started to babble unintelligibly.
"I'll—uh—be back, Sirs." Coric said, eying the cracked Commando in the corner suspiciously. Rex and Wolffe nodded. "Gotta see a droid about some cauterizing tools and fresh bacta."
As Coric walked out of the room, Wolffe sighed sullenly. Both Commander and Captain, regarded Gregor with similar looks of unease. When Coric came back to the room with supplies and a droid, Rex and Gregor were ordered to stay outside the room until the procedures were taken care of. Two hours passed when Coric finally unlocked the door to the room. Rex guided a silent Gregor into the room and to his previous seat in the corner.
"How'd it go?" Rex asked.
"Good," Coric reported, walking back to his supply cart.
"It was fine until he poured the bacta into my skull. It was like getting my brain scratched by a Rancor," Wolffe complained.
The Commander eased himself up, hunching forward, with his legs dangling over the side of the bed. "Hold still," Coric said as he stretched out a new bandage. Wolffe gripped the foam near his legs, his knuckles going white. "There, that should do it for now." Coric stepped away and handed his patient a mirror.
"I look…ridiculous," Wolffe sighed, putting the mirror in his lap.
"Eh! It's just temporary, Commander," Coric assured, "It'll take some time to get a cybernetic implant synthesized specifically for your right eye socket. Until then, this patch will have to do."
Wolffe sighed and raked a hand over the left side of his face. "Great! Can we get ol' Gregor checked out now?"
Coric nodded before turning to the Commando. "Gregor," he started with an even voice, "we need to check your head." As he said this, the medic tapped on his head with two fingers. The cracked Commando said nothing, as Coric helped him up and over to the doorway.
"Captain, can you go with them? Coric might need an extra hand," Wolffe winced.
"Um, yes, Sir," Rex said as he walked out.
"Hold still," Coric stated as he attached some electrical nodes to the sides of Gregor's head.
The Commando had other plans as he tried to right himself from the bed he had been made to lay on. A medical droid stood just to the right, making small reactionary movements as Gregor continued to fidget.
"I said 'hold still'," Coric complained. With a firm grip on Gregor's shoulders, Coric pressed the clone back down with a huff. "Wayii!" Coric exclaimed. Good grief. "I don't know how I'm going get an accurate scan with him doing this," Coric mumbled to himself.
"The nightmares are real. Right in my head," Gregor laughed as he raked a shaky hand through his hair.
"Don't do that," Coric chastised, "you'll swipe the nodes off your head."
Rex patiently watched off to the side as Coric and Gregor fought against each other's wills. Gregor would sit up and attempt to escape the bed. Coric would shove Gregor back down. The two would struggle as they pushed against each other. Gregor would go to picking at the devises stuck to his head with medical goop. Coric would fume, rant, and then paste them back on. Though there seemed to be no intentional malice behind the Commando's actions, he was rather preoccupied. It was like he had somewhere to go.
"Something is calling," Gregor began again.
"Yeah, you've got that right. It's time you got your head examined," Coric replied cheekily. "This time however, I'm going to strap you down. Sorry, mate!"
Gregor didn't complain as he watched the restraining straps being firmly wrapped around his wrists, waist, and ankles.
"Don't you hear it?" Gregor asked incredulously.
"The only thing I hear is the machinery. Hold still will ya?" Coric went to grab his patient's head, the last part to be strapped down, when Gregor suddenly jerked. The Commando began to strain against the bindings, gnashing his teeth as he did.
"It's in my head and it doesn't stop. Let me go! It's calling me. I can't ignore it anymore," Gregor cried as he thrashed around.
Coric stood there, stunned for a moment, before grabbing at his patient's head again. The medic struggled for a moment as he tried to push Gregor's head back down. "Sir, would you...mind?" Coric asked with a strained voice. Rex quickly came over and shared in the struggle as he fought to get the strap cinched.
"Gregor!" Rex yelled. "Gregor—come on—mate. Work with us here."
The Commando quieted and stared at the Captain as a dazed expression appeared on his face.
"You've heard it too, haven't you?" Gregor questioned expressionless.
"Heard what?" Rex asked as he got the strap in place.
"It's in your dreams at night," Gregor started, "almost like a nightmare. Telling you to do it."
"Do what?" Rex asked before exchanging a worried look with Coric.
The two clones regarded their brother attentively, waiting for a reply. Gregor quieted as a thoughtful expression appeared across his face. Coric motioned for the medical droid to come over when the Commando looked to the Captain again. Gregor searched his brother's brown eyes for some time as if looking for something. Rex tried his best to remain calm, but a sneaking suspicion began to creep into his mind. As the last conversation Rex had with Fives surfaced to his forethought, Gregor finally said: "Good soldiers follow orders".
Rex's stomach did a sick flop, as if it had suddenly plummeted to the floor. Unease began to course through him, bile threatening the back of his throat.
"What—what did you say?" Rex asked, shaking Gregor by the shoulders.
Before Gregor could answer, Coric pulled the Captain back. "Sir, don't shake my patient. He can do that part just fine on his own."
"But he—"
"Sir, why don't you ask him more questions—after—the bio scan is complete?" Coric suggested.
The Captain took a couple steps back, trying to do his best to stay calm. As the medical droid went about its business, Rex paced the room while ruminating on the conversation before. "Don't take his rambling serious, Sir. I wouldn't," the medic trooper tried to console. "I've seen plenty of able-bodied people—Clones even—go insane and rattle off nonsense. I know it can be—uh—concerning...but, there's really nothing we can do if he's cracked."
"Nonsense?! The man is a Commando. Highly trained and well-bred not to crack under pressure," Rex quipped.
Coric briefly turned to the Captain, "Even we Clones are not invincible. The brain is a delicate thing. No amount of bio-engineering can change that."
The room remained silent even after the medical droid finished its scans. Coric watched as a report popped up on one of the monitors near the bed. He skimmed through the data, his eyes racing left to right. With a click of the tongue, Coric sucked in a quick breath. "This isn't looking good, Sir." Rex raced over to the monitor, eyeing a dark spot the medic pointed to on the bio scan. "What you're looking at appears to be a tumor. However, whatever this is, it's giving a special kind of feedback. I can't tell you if it's a tumor or not without opening him up first."
"What side of the skull is this thing located at?" Rex questioned as sudden nausea wracked his stomach.
"Frontal lobe, right side," Coric said as he pointed to the spot. Rex remained silent as he thought back to what Fives had told him and General Skywalker on the night of his death. The Captain remembered the absolute look of terror the Arc Trooper held on his face. It took courage—guts—to tell them what he did.
"The evidence—the evidence—is in here. It's—it's in all of us. Every clone!" Fives shouted fearfully.
"What is it?" Rex questioned anxiously.
"Organic chips, built into our genetic code," Fives said, dropping to his knees. The clone leaned against a crate, holding an arm over his head in distress. "To make us do whatever someone wants. Even kill the Jedi," he said as his lip quivered. "It's...all in here," Fives pointed again to the front, right side of his head.
General Skywalker held his arms crossed in front of his chest. A look of concern and unbelief rested on his face as he was torn between duty and friendship. He wanted to help, but he couldn't do it trapped in an abandoned warehouse. "Let's just get you some help first," Skywalker stated after glancing to Rex. "Then, we can review everything," the General suggested. Captain Rex went to nervously scratching at the back of his head. Something was horrendously amiss here and there was nothing he could do. Fives appeared to be losing his mind and yet, what he was saying made Rex shiver at the possibility of it all.
"You'll be okay, Fives. We'll sort this out," the Jedi Knight coaxed calmly.
"Ahhh—you don't believe me!" Fives cried out in despair.
Fives's hopeless lament echoed through Rex causing him to shiver. It was almost the same situation all over again. Rex cringed, even Fives had looked insane. Just like Gregor does now. He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. "What will happen if we extract it?" Rex asked seriously. Coric's mouth dropped open before he unceremoniously snapped it shut.
"Extract? I'm a medic, not a surgeon! There's all kinds of things that could happen," the medic answered flabbergasted.
"Like what?" the Captain questioned.
"Well, the frontal lobe is the control panel of the brain. Any number of things could happen. Mood swings. Memory loss. Poor motor function. Impaired judgment. Language problems like speech or the lack thereof," Coric listed off. "Should I continue?"
Rex thought through all the side effects Coric had snappily listed off. There was no way he could leave Gregor this way. Not like this. "We can't leave him like this," the Captain shook his head solemnly. "Do it," Rex insisted.
"What?!" Coric screeched in unbelief. The Captain must not have heard him, or at the very least, ignored him. "Sir, I...at the very least we should schedule an—"
"Do it," Rex asserted, "that's an order."
"Sir, yes, sir," Coric nodded.
As the two exchanged a serious moment, charged with frustration, Gregor began to sing to himself. "Kote! Kandosii sa kar'ta, Vode An," the Commando sang with pride. Glory! One indomitable heart, Brothers all. Rex and Coric turned to regard the Commando with confusion. Gregor suddenly filled with exuberant pride continued, "Coruscanta a'den mhi, Vode An!" We the wrath of Coruscant, Brothers all. "Bal kote, darasuum kote." And glory, eternal glory. "Jorso'ran kando a tome." We shall bear its weight together.
Gregor went silent, and the song of his kinsman was like an answer: "let's do this".
A/N: I had such a fun time writing this chapter for many reasons, one of them being Gregor. He's such a unique character as he's serious in TCW and then eccentric in Rebels. I'm having fun with the idea that perhaps he's slightly tweaked because of a chip malfunction. That would also explain a little more as to why he's so silly/strange in Rebels. Alas, these are some theories/thoughts I'm exploring for the purpose of this story. Enjoy!
~ProphetessMinty