A/N: Yep. Second chapter. Thanks for the wait, kids. Thoughts are in italics and junk.
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Prisoner
Chapter II
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Han, still sprawled out on the cold metal floor, wondered what they could want from him. Maybe, Han thought, since he had been on quite a few smuggling missions it had something to do with that.
What could be of any importance? Han thought.
Well nothing came to mind but that didn't mean it still wasn't related to a smuggling mission. Obviously, these bounty hunters weren't after him for Jabba's bounty—why would they want them both?
Maybe they're just assholes.
Just then his ears picked up the sound of boots in the hall.
"Luke! You still there? They're coming," Han whispered.
Han leaned nonchalantly against the wall, trying, but failing, to seem at ease.
The door to their cell bounced open as if some one had kicked it in. The bounty hunter entered, Han and Luke had assumed that he was male but there was really no way to tell. He walked purposely in the room followed by a flowing black cape. As he turned Han could see that he defiantly was a male. He had discarded his helmet to allow them to see his face.
"You may address me as Lord Mandala," Mandala spoke as he entered the room.
"What do you want from us?" Han asked in a menacing tone.
Totally ignoring Han's question, Mandala just pointed at Luke and motioned to him to come with him.
When Luke made no move Mandala silently motioned for a guard to forcibly remove him.
This, apparently, was too much for Han, without a thought he was up and in front of Luke, protecting him. Mandala seemed ready for this and with one quick motion of his hand the guard raised a small gun and shot him with a dart.
Han, who instantly felt the affects of the drug in his system, fell to the floor.
The guard casually stepped over the prone figure and grabbed Luke and dragged him out of the cell.
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Some time later he awoke to the same throbbing feeling. He gazed around the room searching for any sign of Luke but he wasn't there.
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As he was marched out of his cell, Luke saw that they were on a very nasty planet. The scenery from his point of view was non-existent. Out of the one small window he passed, he could tell that they were on a planet with very little flora or fauna. He filed away his surroundings so that if when the time arose he would know where to go to escape.
Suddenly, he was brought to a halt. Turning he saw that he was being lead into another room very much like the one that he had just left. Although this one had an evil-looking upright table attached to the far wall.
Until then, Luke had kept a measure of calmness, but now, not knowing what these people wanted and facing the prospect of torture, his mind went into over load. He got a wild look in his eyes and started struggling. The guard had a hard time keeping Luke under control. Finally, he brought out an old fashioned baton and beat Luke until he stopped fighting.
They ushered, or, better off said, threw Luke into the room. He landed hard on his face, as he picked himself up he noticed blood on the floor beneath his nose. Not waiting for him to make it all the way to his feet the guard grabbed him and pinned him against the table. Two others strapped his wrists, ankles, and neck down with metal cuffs that attached to the wall.
Oh, Force, Luke thought distastefully.
The guards filed out of the room, certain that Luke would not longer be a problem.
Mandala stepped in front of him, so close that Luke could smell the stench of his breath.
"What do you want from us?" Luke questioned, trying to keep the waver out of his voice.
"I think you know what we want," the bounty hunter stated.
Suddenly, a gloved hand gripped his forehead violently, slamming his head against the wall. Luke's eyes darted from side to side, trying to see what Mandala held in his other hand. He felt something cold against the nape of his neck. His eyes widened and he tried desperately to reach out to the Force for comfort—but it wasn't there. He felt a needle stab into his neck and his eyes flung open.
The substance that was injected in him seemed to immediately run through his veins. It was cold, unbearably, utterly, and deathly cold.
Jedi don't scream.
But had he been a Corellian, he would've screamed so loud that he would have no voice left.
His fingers felt numb instantly. If he were to get interrogated—how would he be able to talk if he couldn't even move? Then a horrible thought came to his mind: maybe they don't want me to talk.
Luke felt the needle get ripped out of his skin—he hadn't even realized that the bounty hunter was still pumping the substance into him until he took it out. From not being able to move, he found that he was shivering. His eyes felt heavy and he struggled to keep them open, watching Mandala move across the dark room.
Mandala came back and hovered over Luke, staring down at him. Something was in his hand—a jar, maybe? Luke's eyes tried to gaze at whatever he was holding, but he felt his eyes roll back into his head and he felt completely numb.
It was either numbness, or he had no control over what his body did.
The prick in the nape of his neck began to sting, then stab, and then it seemed to tear. Luke then let out an ear-piercing scream. Whatever was tearing at his neck was now letting its small slimy body into him. The creature, which he now recognized, was a Mandelian lachmoin. The tail of the creature finally entered his skin. His breathing was raspy, quick and panicked. His eyes quickly shot open and they darted down towards his torso, trying to locate where the creature was crawling around...
"Tell me," the bounty hunter began, his voice deep, probing... "where was the glittersim shipment your friend was carrying dropped off at?"
"I—" Luke began, his voice raspy, "I don't know what—what you're talking about!"
But when Luke talked, he noticed his voice wasn't right.
"If you don't talk now, then I will let the parasite continue its path through your body…."
Luke could feel that thing crawling around in him. The thought of it made his stomach lurch.
"… eventually it will find its way to your brain. On some people it does nothing, but we have never done this procedure on a human before."
Luke felt himself getting unlocked from the table and getting jerked up to stand on his feet. The bounty hunter then shoved him somewhere—but everything was going far too fast for Luke to undertand where he was—and the Force wasn't there to guide him at the moment.
A few seconds later, he heard a voice as he was curled up against a wall, shivering—cold.
"Hey, Luke? Kid! Luke, answer me!"
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Han saw as Luke was thrown roughly into their cell. Crap, he thought, why did they have to do this to him?
Han crawled over to the prone figure of his friend.
"Hey, Luke? Kid? Luke, answer me!"
Luke moaned incoherently, "Glut-t-t-ersummm… Han…? Shipment… where… Mandala…" Luke crumbled against Han, mumbling on and on.
Glutttersummm? What? Ohh, glitterstim is that all that this is about?
"Luke, what did they do to you? Don't they know that you didn't do any of those shipments with me?" Han thought aloud.
"Why…" Luke mumbled.
"Why…?"
"Why… are they doing… this?"
"I think this has to do with the shipment I did a long time ago for Jabba!" Han exclaimed, sitting Luke up and pressing him against the wall, examining his state.
Luke's eyes seemed dazed, trailing off away from Han and he was murmmering about something crawling… in his skin.
"Mandalian lachmoin?! Luke, what'd they do to you?"
"Don't—know."
Luke shivered, bringing his knees to his chest for some kind of warmth. He could feel his fingers and arms, but they were cold. He knew the lachmoin, the leech-like creature was crawling somewhere inside him. He had to get it out before he accidently spilled any information out about the Rebels.
Han had never seen his friend like this before, in a helpless state, confused and hurt.
"Damn you people!!" Han shouted as his fist collided with the floor. " You pieces of Bantha fodder!!!"
"Shipment," Luke went on, teeth chattering, "What's the glitterstim shipment? The recievier… was it Jabba?"
"I'd better not tell you that now, kid. If I tell you than they will have something to get out of you, and they will continue doing things to you until you tell them. Maybe they will stop when they realize that you truly don't know"
At least I hope so, Han thought.
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Luke had somehow fallen asleep earlier that night (or was it morning?) He opened his eyes, but only to see darkness.
"Han?"
He was at least somewhat glad that he could talk. His fingers trailed up to his neck, and realized that the force-inhibiting collar was… gone?
"Han!"
Still, Han did not answer. Closing his eyes and leaning against the wall, he reached out into the Force to find the location of his friend.
Han was not present in their cell.
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Now what? Han wondered, as he was manhandled out of their cell. He got a look at his surroundings and noticed that the place they were being kept was apparently all metal.
Not very creative, these guys. Han thought sarcastically.
He arrived at a door and was shoved through into a square room with an upright table attached to the wall.
I don't like the looks of this
The guards deposited him in the room and then turned on their heels and left. Only two, that, were already in there when Han got there remained.
"Solo."
Han swung around to locate the owner of the voice.
"Your friend wasn't very helpful to us, so we thought that we could talk to you." Mandala said.
Talk Han thought so that's what they're gonna call it.
Out loud he said, "Talk about what?"
"The glitterstim shipments that you did a few months back. And the current location of the Rebels."
Is that that what all this about? Finally they get to the point.
"Why do you need to know that?" He replied.
"That is not for you to know."
"Screw you." Han shouted.
As soon as he uttered the words one of the guards came forward and without hesitation swung the butt of his rifle into his face.
The shot connected with his temple and threw him onto his side on the floor, seeing stars. Apparently this was not enough for the guard.
Han winced as the guards foot connected with his rib cage, over and over again.
The guard was merciless; Han knew that if he did not stop soon then he would be out of it.
What a bastard he thought.
What could possibly be so immmppoorrtannt… Was Han's last thought as he passed into oblivion.
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Luke stared dispassionately at the bland cell.
I suppose it's a good thing that that damn collar is off He thought, but what of it? Why would they suddenly take it off?
Just then he felt a shiver at another thought Maybe since they did what ever they did to me they no longer see me as a threat, that was not a good thought.
Luke's eyes suddenly opened wide as he felt through the force that Han was in terrible, excruciating pain.
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Han awoke in the same cell that he had passed out in. Strapped down to the table that had once been upright and was now parallel to the floor.
Great he thought just wonderful.
"Ah I see your awake, perfect timing." Mandala said. His voice coming from somewhere out of Han's sights.
Han felt a small draft, and in looking down realized that his shoes were off.
What the hell is going on here? Han wondered.
Just then Mandala came into view, holding something that looked like a rather nasty impersonation of a knife or a scalpel.
"I was hoping that when you came to you would be a little more helpful than when you fell asleep." Mandala said while examining the blade he held.
Fell asleep, huh, that's a nice way of putting it.
"I was thinking that we could maybe talk about a few things, namely the ware bouts of the glitterstim shipments you did a little while ago and the current location of the rebel base.
"If that's all you want to talk about then this is going to be a very quite room. Unless, of course, you want to talk about the latest swoop races, I've seen a few they're quite good. Or about some of the pod races on Tatooine, I'm not up to date on the subject, but I'm sure that we could find some common ground…"
Han was silenced as Mandala's hand, gloved in a thick material, greeted Han's face.
"I see that you will not be as willing as I had hoped, very well have it your way."
Mandala moved quickly and grabbed Han's foot in the blink of and eye.
Carefully holding it so it could not even so much as twitch, he brought his knife near.
It was then that Han began to sweat.
Examining the blade on last time, Mandala placed the tip of it to the soft, tender skin right below the tough skin of the ball of the foot. He pressed in slightly and it punctured the skin like butter. He grinned as he heard a small gasp for the prisoner. Increasing the pressure he drew the knife down the length of the foot ending at the tough skin of the heal.
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Han gasped as the knife was gouged into his skin. He realized that in cutting into that area of the foot, he would not be able to use it with out a considerable pain.
He winced as the knife cut tendon after tendon in his right foot, making his toes curl inwards. That was the last that his toes on that foot would move because all the muscles controlling it were severed.
The gloved hand came down upon his face, sending him into blinding darkness.
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Luke had been sitting there for about a half an hour after the chest pain had gone away, when there was an excruciating pain in his right foot. His eyes watered with the intensity of it.
Just what did they do to me? He wondered.
Luke flinched as the door to their cell was flung open. The light from outside was considerable compared to that of the cell, so all he could see was the silhouettes of men in the doorway.
One entered, carrying something in his arms. Dropping it in the corner farthest from Luke with a dull thump, the guard practically ran from the room.
Luke carefully crawled over to the object, and realized it to be the prone figure of his friend. He rolled him over, noticing the paleness of his normally tanned face.
In the dim lighting of the room, Luke inspected Han's injuries. It seemed to him that Han has at least two broken ribs and some very deep slashes on his right foot. His right foot.
Just then he remembered the chest pain that he had a while earlier, and more recently the horrible pain in his right foot.
Sith! He thought. I must be feeling Han's pain through the force. He must have been in terrible pain for me to feel it that strongly
Now he knew just why they had removed the force collar, they want me to feel everything that they do to him plus more, in hopes of breaking me. I'm surprised they even know of the Jedi. Obi-Wan had told me … that the Jedi were in hiding—almost extinct! How could they know? Unless… they have their connections… and only Vader … only Vader and the Empire know…
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A/N: Do you like it?? If you have any ideas about what would be cool to have happen next, we are open to suggestions!! Feed back is wonderful!