WARNING: This chapter contains some swearing and torture scenes. Nothing extremely graphic, but still...Just thought I'd warn you just in case.
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!
Mari was not fine. Even with her desperate thrashing and shouting, she was still too weak to stop Haggar and her minion from overpowering her. They stripped her of her helmet, tossing it into the corner like it was trash, and forced her onto the examination table in the center of the room. As soon as her back pressed against the metal, the entire bed hummed to life and glowing bands wrapped tightly around her wrists, ankles, and waist, firmly strapping her down. She pulled furiously at the restraints, but there was no give to them. She was immobile, stuck and at the mercy of Zarkon's henchwoman.
A dark chuckle sounded from behind her and Haggar came into view as she moved to stand next to her head. She leaned down to get a better look at Mari's face, grinning as her yellow eyes narrowed and raked over every inch of the human's pale skin.
"Take a picture. It'll last longer," Mari grunted out through gritted teeth. But Haggar seemed unfazed by her comment and straightened, that creepy smile never leaving her face.
"You act brave, but your emotions betray you," she noted calmly. "I can see the fear in your eyes, the way your quintessence signature is quivering…it's identical to his from when I took his arm."
She paused, watching carefully for the human's reaction. Mari's anger flared at the thought of Shiro's prosthetic, the heavy chunk of metal that now clung to his shoulder and doubled as a weapon. It had proven to be very useful to him and the rest of the team on their missions thus far, but she knew that deep down he'd much rather have his real flesh and blood arm back. And not only had this horrible woman standing over her taken that from her brother, but she'd also inflicted a whole year's worth of pain and torture upon him, forever scarring his body and his psyche. Sure Shiro had come out of his ordeal stronger and more patient, but he never would be quite the same man that he was before the Kerberos Mission.
Mari's scowl deepened, but she kept her lips seals as she glared back at Haggar.
"Just as fiery as him as well, if not more so," she mused, and Mari wondered exactly what Haggar was seeing that made her so easy to read. Was it her quintessence signature? Whatever that was.
"You look alike and you have the same energy," Haggar said. "Tell me, what is your relationship to him? To the Champion, Takashi Shirogane?"
Mari's heart suddenly skipped a beat and her eyes widened slightly as the witch drawled out the name, a reaction that didn't go unnoticed by Haggar.
"That is his true name, isn't it?" she sneered. "You and your fellow paladins call him Shiro though, I believe."
Mari's mind was reeling. Shiro rarely went by his first name nowadays. Even when when he introduced himself to people, he hardly ever gave away his full name. Only a few people still called him Takashi: herself, their parents, and Adam. Not even Keith felt comfortable enough to call him by his first name. So how had Haggar figured it out? Mari couldn't imagine Shiro casually giving such personal information about himself to the enemy. Names held power and control, after all.
Inhaling sharply, she blinked back her surprise and glowered at Haggar. "How do you know that?" she inquired through clenched teeth.
A knowing glint flashed across the witch's eyes and Mari swallowed nervously, tempted to avert her gaze. Then without warning, Haggar grabbed her mildly trembling chin, pressing the Earthling's head against the metal table and keeping it in place. "What are you to the Champion?" she hissed, her breath hot on Mari's skin. "Who are you?"
Mari winced as Haggar's sharp nails dug into the soft flesh of her cheeks and her frown deepened. She pressed her lips into a tight line and just glared at the High Priestess, unwilling to squeal. They stayed there in heavy silence for a few moments, Haggar's smile rapidly falling away with each passing tick that resulted in her receiving no answer. Finally, she released her grip on Mari's face with a soft huff before moving to stand at a panel near the end of the bed, her lackey quietly hovering behind her.
"The mind is a simple thing to access once the body is weakened," Haggar growled, pressing several buttons on the panel as she spoke. The examination table hummed and Mari stiffened as it gradually began to move into a vertical position. "If you refuse to cooperate and continue to answer my inquiries with silence, I promise you that I will make you suffer. And once you are broken, your memories will be mine to see and your struggle will have been a pointless one. Now tell me: Who are you and how are you connected to Champion?"
The paralyzing claws of fear grasped at Mari's heart and for a split second she contemplated answering Haggar's questions. If she gave her identity away to the Galra Empire, let them know she was the sister of the the Black Paladin, the leader of Voltron, she'd have a target over her head. Shiro would never let her go anywhere again. He'd lock her up in the Castle, or worse, send her back home to Earth, and that was the absolute last thing she wanted for herself.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself as best as she could, Mari looked Haggar dead in the eye and said lowly, "Take your best shot, bitch."
The way that Haggar's face scrunched up in anger made Mari want to laugh, but her joy was short lived as the witch reached for the controls. She slid her sharp fingers up on the panel screen and the metal table emitted a high whine as electrical currents were channeled directly into the human's body. Mari inhaled sharply as the energy jolted through her, her entire body tensing and every fiber of her being feeling like it was being squeezed and set on fire. It only lasted a few seconds, but the shock was enough to steal her breath away and she sagged forward in pain, gasping raggedly as she struggled to suck in more oxygen.
In front of her, Haggar still looked displeased. "I will ask you again. Refuse to answer, and you will receive the same treatment as before," she said and Mari weakly lifted her head to gnash her teeth at the witch. "Who are you and how are you connected to Champion?"
Taking a moment to lick her dry lips, Mari sneered at her and uttered gruffly, "Fuck. You."
The torture device was activated again and Mari screwed her eyes shut as another bolt coursed through her body. Her muscles contracted again and her breath was stolen away as more scorching stabs of pain racked her body. Her back arched off the metal slab and she felt like something inside of her would snap at any moment.
Finally, the currents were shut off again and she groaned and slumped forward again to catch her breath. Her skin was on fire and her muscles felt tingly and numb. Her tongue and throat were already so dry, and she winced as her head throbbed dully.
"There is no need for you to endure such pain." Haggar's minion had spoken this time, his voice deadpan. "Simply answer our questions and this torment will end."
"No…quiznaking…way," Mari spat out indignantly in between pants, and Haggar tsked as her fingers lighted on the control panel screens again.
A strangled sob ripped out of Mari as more electricity was sent through her, a stronger voltage that seemed to last for far longer than the previous two rounds. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. All she knew was that her whole body already ached so much and that her muscles were convulsing in an unnatural way. She drooped forward once it stopped, her chest heaving and her throat and stomach burning as if she were going to vomit.
A soft snicker hissed through Haggar's lips as her manic grin returned to twist her facial features. "Not so cheeky now, are you?" she mused triumphantly. When Mari didn't answer, she continued, "This is your last chance to answer willfully. Who are you and how are you connected to Champion?"
Mari could barely lift her head up to look at Haggar, but her anger fueled her to huff out with hostility dripping from in her voice, "I'm not…telling you…anything, dammit!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, an unyielding amount of electricity tore through her, shaking her to her very core. She couldn't hold back her screams as white hot stabs of pain fried every cell in her body, and her vision started to go black around the edges as the scent of burnt hair and flesh began to filter into the air.
Haggar delivered a lighting round of shocks for what seemed like forever. She didn't even ask questions when she silenced the machine to give Mari a few ticks to breathe and even throw up once. She just kept turning the voltage on and off, on, off, on, off, until Mari's voice gave out and she had gone completely limp. She was so quiet now, so pale and clammy, and just so, so still.
Shutting off the examination bed's electric feature, Haggar reverted it back to its original horizontal positioning and moved to the side of the table. She leaned over her victim with a sickening smile plastered to her face as she analyzed the human's condition: Mari was still breathing weakly and her quintessence levels had been diminished, but not enough to kill her. Most of her mental defenses had been lowered now that she was in an unconscious state, and Haggar grinned to herself in satisfaction.
"Now, who are you really?" she murmured as she placed her hands on Mari's head, her fingertips glowing as they rested against the temple on each side. Haggar shut her eyes in concentration as she delved into the human's mind, pushing back against the last remnants of mental resistance and searching for a smidge of a useful memory.
Very slowly, blurred and muted images began to surface, and Haggar frowned in dismay at their distorted state. She doubled her effort, willing the memories to come into full view for her to see. Finally, something came through, an older recollection featuring a much, much younger Champion in a primitive Earthling abode.
"Look, I made this for school a few years ago. It's our family tree," he was speaking to an even younger girl beside him—the girl she was interrogating, Haggar realized. He pointed to the photographs and names covering the large sheet of paper, explaining as he went, "These are our obaasan and ojiisan."
"Obaasan and ojjisan," the little girl repeated and nodded in understanding, and Champion smiled.
"Uh huh. There's mom and dad and then there's us, Takashi and Mariko."
Siblings. Champion, her greatest weapon and most successful experiment yet, had a sibling! His flesh and blood kin was in her lab right now, and she was all hers to play with.
Stifling her excitement, Haggar pulled out of the older memory and peered through the darkness for a new one. Maybe something involving the other paladins perhaps? Anything revealing their potential weaknesses would prove most useful to her and Emperor Zarkon. She pushed harder, trying to dig deeper into the Earthling's psyche, but it was like wading through molasses. And then suddenly, without any warning, all of Mari's mental defenses shot up again, blocking Haggar and keeping her from continuing any further.
Reopening her eyes, Haggar backed away from Mari as she startled awake, groaning and breathing heavily as her glazed eyes pried open. She scanned the room, slowly processing her surroundings. When her gaze landed on Haggar, her eyes widened in panic and the light returned to them as her lips began to tremble ever so slightly and tears pricked the corners of her eyes.
Even though she had blacked out, Mari had felt the sorceress probing her thoughts, knocking down her walls and forcefully starting to breach her memories. And she hadn't been able to do a damn thing to stop her from doing it other than forcing herself to start awake. Dread filled her as she took in the weirdly pleased smile now on Haggar's face, and she knew the witch had managed to find something of great interest.
"Mariko Shirogane," Haggar drawled in amusement, stepping closer to her again. "You're Champion's kin. His precious little sister."
Mari swallowed and parted her chapped lips to refute, but her throat was too dry, too raw from screaming for her to muster up a denial without whimpering in pain. Her entire body felt numb and ached badly, and the smell of singed hair and skin was making her empty stomach do flips.
"I should've known," Haggar laughed softly to herself, and Mari flinched as the woman dragged a gentle hand down her cheek. "I was able to see right into you…You resemble him greatly, the same sparklingly fierce eyes, the same quintessence, the same fighting spirit, even the same irritatingly stubborn and protective attitude. You, however, have a short temper that masks your insecurities, fear, and envy. You very much lack the qualities of a leader, unlike your beloved older brother."
I already quiznaking know that! Mari wanted to shout and strangle Haggar's wrinkled neck. But she kept quiet and stared furiously up at the ceiling, blinking back her tears and leaning away from Haggar's touch as much as she could.
"You are not a paladin and yet you stay with them and the princess on their ship. What are you other than a living target to their enemies? You are essentially useless to the Paladins of Voltron, a mere hindrance to them."
"I'm not," Mari whispered through gritted teeth. "I may not be a paladin or as strong or smart or capable as them, but that doesn't mean I'm useless."
"Say whatever you'd like, but that doesn't change what you really are to them," Haggar hummed. "You are dead weight. I will be doing them a favor by keeping you. You will be my lovely replacement for the original Champion. It wouldn't hurt for me to have another puppet stored for later. You will finally be useful, but unfortunately not to your cause."
"I'm not your damn plaything," Mari growled, her neck burning as she spoke. Her head was killing her and her skin was starting to feel itchy and hot under Haggar's gaze. She felt sick just looking at her and she wanted to hurl again, the stinging sensation of bile rising in the back of her throat.
Haggar sniggered and carded one hand through Mari's bangs, making her shiver in discomfort. "You are now, Champion's Kin," she crooned. "Your brother nor anyone else will ever find you. No one will rescue you. When all the Voltron Lions are in our possession, you will be mine."
Out of the corner of her eye, Mari watched as Haggar moved to one of the carts next to the metal table. Her fingers sifted through the multiple vials of liquid sitting on the top tray before she plucked up one that held a lava-orange substance. She nodded to her assistant still standing behind the control panel at the foot of the bed and he obediently flipped the switch to turn the table and Mari vertical once more. Meanwhile, Haggar placed the fire-colored liquid into a syringe and faced the Earthling again.
"But until then, let's see what other knowledge you have tucked away in that obstinate mind of yours," she said, beaming devilishly as she brought the needle up to Mari's neck. "Now that I know who you are, I am quite eager to learn more about you and the rest of the Paladins of Voltron."
In a chapter of one of my other stories, Takashi to Mariko, Shiro makes a family tree poster thingy for school and shows it to baby Mari. The scene Haggar found in Mari's memories is when she's older and Shiro is showing it to her again.
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