Chapter 2 – Unmasking a Monster
Leia dazedly marched onward as four stormtroopers and an Imperial officer herded her and Chewbacca down the white halls of Cloud City toward Vader's shuttle. The Sith Lord had reneged on his promise that she and Chewbacca be allowed to stay on Bespin in perpetuity after he left and had instead demanded that Lando take them to his ship. Leia couldn't summon up much anger at Vader's duplicity, however; she was too shell-shocked to register any emotion but astonishment. The horrible incident kept replaying in her mind, Han's resolute expression burned in her retinas.
"I love you," she had told him as he was being lowered into the freezing chamber. She wasn't sure what had compelled her to say such a thing. Was it true? She wasn't sure.
"I know," he had said before being enveloped by a frigid cloud of gas. Just like that, Han Solo was gone, trapped in carbonite. She had wanted to scream, at Vader, at Fett, at anyone. She had restrained herself, however, forcing herself to be logical. Being uncooperative wouldn't do her any favors, she reasoned. Besides, she had to keep faith that Fett was going to make a move once he got away from Vader's prying eyes. Surely Fett wouldn't allow Vader to take her away to the Emperor. He still needed her, didn't he?
Leia suddenly looked up when she heard a squeak accompanied by the distinctive sound of blaster fire somewhere in the distance. Lando, who was at the head of the procession leading the Imperials through the labyrinthine halls of Cloud City, looked up as well, his brow furrowed with concern. They continued on, the stormtroopers raising their blasters and quickening their pace. Leia staggered a bit, her head on a swivel as she sought out the source of the noise. Was it Fett? Was he coming to rescue her?
A shadow along the corridor to her caught Leia's eye. Before she knew what was happening, the grey-uniformed Imperial officer grabbed her by the shoulders as a blaster bolt went whizzing by her head. Indignant at being treated in this way, Leia struggled against the officer's grip as she was dragged away toward an opening doorway up ahead. Squinting, Leia saw a familiar face pop out from around the corner.
"Luke!" she cried out shrilly as Chewbacca let out a roar from behind her. A stormtrooper opened fire down the hallway, and Luke's head dipped out of view as he avoided the bolt. "Luke don't, it's a trap!" she told him, the Imperial officer digging his fingernails into her shoulders as he attempted to pull her through the doorway. "No!" she yelled, momentarily escaping from the officer's grasp. "It's a trap!"
With that, Leia was yanked away roughly by the arm, pain flaring up in her shoulder as the officer pushed her away from the doorway which speedily sealed itself shut. Pulling his pistol, the man pressed it into her back and compelled her to continue marching. Leia knew better than to protest any further. Rotating her shoulder gingerly, she pursed her lips and continued on, all the while wondering whether Luke had received her message. Her warning had been particularly cogent, she could concede as much. But surely Luke wouldn't be stupid enough to continue on with whatever half-baked plan he had concocted. Would he turn around and leave? Had she just saved him from Vader?
She had little reason to be optimistic, however. Luke wasn't the sort to turn away in the face of danger. If anything, she had only heightened his resolve by telling him to run. He and Han were alike in that way; they were easily intoxicated by the prospect of heroism and rarely dissuaded by even the most blatant signs of trouble. Why did men have to be so foolhardy? The stubborn idiot! Luke was going to get himself killed, or worse.
Leia was startled out of her thoughts when she nearly walked into the stormtrooper in front of her. Bewildered, she looked up to see why everyone had stopped moving. They were entirely surrounded by velvet-uniformed guards who had seemingly materialized out of thin air. The stormtroopers all glanced at their commanding officer before collectively deciding to lower their blasters.
Lando pushed the startled Imperial officer aside and wrenching the blasters out of two of the stormtrooper's hands. "Well done," he said, passing off the blasters to his cyborg aid before taking the remaining two stormtrooper's weapons. "Hold them in the security tower," he instructed the cyborg. "And keep it quiet," he added in a whisper. "Move." The cyborg nodded and gestured for his men to follow him. The Imperials didn't offer a fight as they were whisked away and down the hallway. Lando watched until they were out of sight before thrusting the two blasters he was holding into her hands. They were quite heavy, and Leia's knees buckled a bit before she managed to wrangle them.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked incredulously as Lando turned to free Chewbacca from his binders.
"Getting out of here," he murmured.
"Do you think after what you did to Han we're going to trust you?" she asked. Freed from his restraints, Chewbacca let out a bellowing roar as he grabbed Lando by the throat with both hands.
"I had no choice!" Lando wheezed, eyes wide as he struggled against Chewbacca's grip.
"What are you doing?" Leia heard the dismembered yet nevertheless still annoyingly garrulous C-3P0 say from the netting fastened to the Wookiee's back. "Trust him! Trust him!"
Leia ignored the anxious droid, snarling at Lando whose face was rapidly turning purple. "Oh we understand just fine, don't we Chewie," she said snidely. "You had no choice."
"I'm just trying to help!" Lando managed to say as he fell to his knees.
Leia was about to offer another trenchant comment when the sound of a blaster pierced the air. Lando collapsed to the ground when Chewbacca released him with a roar of pain. "Chewie!" she exclaimed, seeing that the Wookiee had been shot in the shoulder. She covered her ears with her hands when another bolt went flying by over Chewbacca's head. Spinning around, she leapt into action when she saw who it was firing at them.
"No, stop!" she yelled, dropping one of her blasters and pointing the other one at Fett who was aiming at them from the bend in the hall. "Don't hurt him!"
Fett hesitated before lowering his weapon. Glancing behind him to see if anyone was around, he rushed forward. Leia kept her blaster pointed at him, not trusting the bounty hunter enough to lower the weapon. "You're coming with me," he said, returning his blaster to his holster. "Come on, let's go."
"What? Why?" she asked, sparing a glance toward Chewbacca who was leaning against the wall, right paw held up against the wound in his shoulder. "What's going on?"
"Skywalker is here," Fett said, impatiently beckoning her to follow him. "We've got to move."
"I saw him," Leia told the bounty hunter. "Just five minutes ago!"
"Where?" he asked urgently.
"I'll show you, but not until Chewie's safe."
"We don't have time for that!" Fett roared.
"Don't worry, Princess," she heard Lando say. Spinning around, Leia saw the shaken yet otherwise uninjured man struggling to his feet. "I'll get him out of here. You go save your friend."
Leia frowned at Lando's complete reversal in position. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, bitterness giving way to begrudging gratitude.
"It's the least I can do," Lando said as he helped Chewbacca up off the wall. "Come on, Chewbacca," he said through gritted teeth as the massive Wookiee leaned against him. "Let's get you out of here." Chewbacca growled a half-hearted objection but nevertheless accepted Lando's help.
"Can we go now?" Fett asked as Leia watched the pair plus Threepio retreat down the hallway. Leia nodded, tearing her eyes away from the odd sight and back toward the bounty hunter.
"Alright, let's go," she said, nodding. Kicking aside her discarded blaster, Leia took off running in the opposite direction as Lando and Chewie. Fett followed after her, his armor rattling loudly as they hurried down the hallway. Coming to a stop, Leia cursed under her breath when she was unable to open the door which the Imperial officer had pulled her through a few minutes ago. "It's locked!" she exclaimed, mashing her fist to the control panel to no effect.
"Get out of the way," Fett grumbled.
Leia complied, frowning when she saw the bounty hunter pull out his blaster. "No, they'll hear!" she objected, but Fett ignored her. Blasting the control panel, the door slid open. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"There's no time for stealth," Fett told her in a low voice. "Come on."
Leia grit her teeth, growing increasingly disenchanted with her companion. He was going to get them both caught, and when that happened, Vader wouldn't hesitate to have her executed. Leia was walking a narrow rope right now.
"There," she said, pointing down the hallway where she had seen Luke earlier. "He was there."
Fett took a couple of steps toward the hallway and raised a finger toward a blast mark on the wall. "Was he hurt?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Leia said, having not considered this question before. "I think they missed him."
Fett chortled humorlessly. "Typical," he said as he turned back toward her. "He didn't follow you, did he?" he asked.
"I don't think so, they shut the door behind us," Leia said, gesturing toward the door. "I don't know where he went."
"I have an idea," Fett said grimly before taking off down the main hall. Leia followed after the bounty hunter without asking him to elaborate. She had a strong suspicion of where Luke had gone, anyway: to the carbon freezing chamber.
To Vader.
"What are you going to do?" Leia asked Fett as they rounded a corner, the air suddenly turning chilly as they approached the chamber. "Vader's waiting for him there! What if he captured Luke already?"
"I'll figure something out," Fett said vaguely.
Leia gulped nervously, Fett's assurance doing little to attenuate her fears. If Vader had gotten his hands on Luke, she knew there was nothing Fett could do to rescue him. They could only hope that they would intercept Luke before Vader did.
They would have no such luck, however. Entering the chamber, Fett stopped abruptly and raised his blaster. Holding a finger up to silence her, Fett pressed his back against the wall. "Listen," he whispered.
Leia tried to do as Fett said, yet she struggled to hear over the sound of her own shivering. Pushing himself away from the wall, Fett inched forward toward the railing. They were standing atop an elevated bridge overlooking the circular platform where Han had been frozen earlier. Great clouds of vapor billowed upward, giving the chamber a distinctly eerie and mysterious ambiance.
A clanging sound caused Fett to halt and Leia to startle. Blaster held in both hands, Fett got down on one knee and pointed the weapon into the darkness. Squinting, Leia was able to make out a shadowy figure in the center of the platform. Taking a hesitant step forward, Leia recognized the silhouette at once.
"It's Luke!" she told Fett in a hushed whisper. "That's him!"
Leia was about to call out to Luke when the entire chamber was suddenly flooded with light. Panicking, Leia scampered away from the railing and back into the shadows. Fett remained where he was, however, his head swiveling toward the sound of a familiarly sonorous voice.
"The Force is with you, young Skywalker," Vader said, standing atop the opposite stairwell from Fett and herself. His features now visible to her, Leia saw Luke lower his blaster as he turned toward Vader's voice. "But you are not a Jedi yet," the Sith taunted.
"Fett! Fett!" Leia hissed. "We have to go!"
Fett waved her off, shuffling to the left so that he could redirect his blaster toward Vader. Leia held her breath as Luke walked up the stairs toward Vader. The two looked at each other silently for a moment before Luke produced his lightsaber and activated it. All was still as the blue blade hummed softly, Vader making no move to defend himself. Finally, he spoke.
"That belongs to me," he said.
Luke seemed to tense at this comment. "No it doesn't," he said, his voice difficult for Leia to hear since he was facing away from her. "It belongs to my father."
"Fett, we've got to go," Leia pleaded with the unresponsive bounty hunter. "He's going to see us!" Vader's gaze never deviated from Luke, however, his blood red eyes staring intently back at the defiant young man. "Fett!" she begged once again.
"I've got one shot," Fett whispered.
"Are you crazy?" Leia asked. Everyone knew that Vader couldn't be shot with a blaster. He seemed to be entirely impervious to such threats. Leia was about to tell Fett this when a motion caught her eye. Looking back up, Leia saw Vader reaching up to his helmet with both arms. She and Fett both froze, utterly transfixed as Vader's helmet came off with a deafening hiss.
Luke lowered his lightsaber and took a half-step back as Vader dropped his helmet to the ground. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Leia forgot her fear of being seen and took a step forward and kneeled down next to Fett. While his face was difficult to make out on account to the darkness, Leia could still see that he didn't look anything like she had expected. The man underneath the mask had a chiseled face and long, dirty blonde locks. Grizzly stubble and fearsome demeanor notwithstanding, Leia couldn't deny that Vader was a ruggedly handsome man. Was this really what a monster looked like? She knew appearances were superficial, yet even so, she couldn't reconcile the face with the name.
"Luke," Vader said, his voice no longer deepened by his mask. "I am your father."
Astounded, Leia's mouth fell open. Vader was Luke's father? That was absurd! Yet staring at the man's countenance, Leia couldn't help but notice the similarities in the two men's features. Leia wasn't able to contemplate this stunning revelation any further, however, when she felt Fett repositioning himself next to her.
"I have you now," he mumbled to himself, finger positioned over the trigger.
"Wait, no –" Leia found herself saying, yet Fett paid her no heed as he opened fire, aiming directly for Vader's exposed face.