AN: I…have no explanations for this. Also, I realize Hux doesn't belong in Reylo drabbles, but here we are. And if I had the time, this would be the start of a longer fix it piece with Hux as the big bad.
Something niggles in that sinister ginger brain of his. Something isn't adding up. Given his past relationship with Kylo Ren - one that has been fraught, tense, and outright competitive - during the post-Crait fallout, Hux often finds himself wondering how exactly Supreme Leader Snoke perished.
With the change in leadership, there is a bit of chaos, which suits Hux completely. While sycophants do their best to gain favor with Kylo Ren (good luck to them), Hux decides to get to work. Yes, the Supremacy no longer exists. However, he believes cold facts may still be uncovered.
Even with the power of his position, Hux's first attempt is a dead end. Under threat of losing his job (and being reassigned to the Outer Rim), the technician swears that the content has been scrubbed, lost forever. But Hux hasn't made his way through the First Order without methods around protocols and the determined knowledge that nothing is ever entirely gone. As some of the First Order engineers study the so-called 'Holdo Maneuver,' Hux realizes there is some footage recovered from the incident. There is nothing from Snoke's throne room, but then, only the former Supreme Leader would know where those bodies were buried.
Still convinced there is something useful, exercising every bit of patience, Hux calls in most of his favors, depletes his accounts to pay people off, until he's sent a file marked 'Turbolift.' With bated breath, he watches the video. And the results surpass his wildest dreams.
This is blackmail of the highest order.
He can bring down the entire order.
But how, exactly?
What is the absolute cruelest way forward? It's not enough to bring down Kylo Ren, no, Hux wants to make the new Supreme Leader suffer.
Convinced he's dreaming, Hux watches the footage again, pale face in disbelief. There is Kylo Ren, unmasked and with naked emotion written across that filthy face of his.
And whatever pathetic desire he feels, the intimacy is returned in the scavenger's eyes. She is pleading and desperate, but she is not scared.
They move closer together.
There is no audio to accompany the images, so Hux does not know what they are discussing. But body language is everything, and Hux, a student in schooling his own emotions for so many years, realizes there is some unspoken thing between the two of them.
Maybe the scavenger did overpower Snoke, Ren, and the Praetorian Guard. Or, perhaps, something else happened.
Snoke never had cameras in his sanctuary, so there was no way of knowing. But this video...this video would sow the seeds.
Or, more importantly, Kylo Ren finally has a weakness to be exploited.
Yes, the whole galaxy is after the scavenger for her supposed crimes, but Hux has heard Kylo repeat time and time again - she's to be captured, unharmed and alive.
Hux looks to his cat, Millicent, and says, "Time to get to work."