"Pyro, run," Luke yelled. "Tell the others to get ready, I'll catch up, but if I'm not there in ten minutes, go."
Pyro hesitated. Luke glared at him. A huge gust of wind picked the older boy up and put him down a few metres away. He took one last look back, and then ran.
Luke turned back to the man, who cracked his whip again, laughing maniacally.
Suddenly, the man lashed out with it, catching Luke across the face.
Luke cried out in pain. The blow had almost taken his eye out, and he could feel his own blood running down his face. He fell to his knees and pressed his dirt covered hands to his face, only succeeding in making the wound worse
The man cracked the whip again and Luke somehow found the strength to glance up. As the whip sped towards his face, Luke reached out instinctively with the force and he tore the whip from the man's hand.
It landed on the ground a few metres away. Luke punched the man's arm hard enough to make his shoulder joint pop out of place. The man bellowed in pain.
"I'm gonna hurt you for that, boy," he growled.
Luke jumped back as the man went for his throat with a knife that he had pulled from his belt. The man overbalanced and fell forward, dropping the knife, which Luke kicked away. Luke ran over and kicked the man in the stomach. The man grabbed Luke's leg and wrenched it.
Luke hissed as he felt the bone snap, then he fell over. The man got up and wiped Luke's blood off his arm. Luke's face and the front of his grimy shirt were stained red. Luke looked around, searching for something to defend himself with. He knew that the man was going to kill him if he couldn't win this fight.
The man got up to taunt him. Luke could barely hear the words, let alone comprehend their meaning.
"Go to Hell," Luke said, before spitting out some blood that had run into his mouth.
Behind the man, the knife began to move. The man laughed cruelly.
Luke stretched out his hand and the knife jumped into it. He plunged it into the man's throat. Blood poured out and the man made a nasty gurgling sound. Blood began to bubble out of his mouth and he fell.
Luke got up. He started limping down the hall, aware that he was in shock and was probably about to fall unconscious from blood loss. He tried to go a little faster and had to stifle a cry at the pain. He kept going at the increased pace for a few metres before the pain grew so intense that he really did cry out, before he collapsed.
Kaiden woke up, to see a man standing at the foot of his bed. He opened his mouth to scream.
'Don't bother, brat, your guards are dead,'
Lucifer looked away in momentary distraction; internally horrified by the announcement.
He said the Executor, Vader is here, no, no, no, please no.
Quartz pulled the trigger and walked out the door without looking back.
That was his last mistake.
Just as Quartz got to the escape pod, he was lifted up in the air by his throat.
"Lucifer, maybe you should let me go and go see if you can stop Pyro from committing suicide," Quartz stammered.
"Oh, don't worry, he won't," said a voice that did not belong to Lucifer.
Quartz's eyes widened and he started to panic.
"Let go, you're on my side!" he said.
The agreement was that we would hand over the other three, not that I would help you betray them and then be left for dead," the voice said. Quartz started to turn transparent, but the person standing behind him knocked him out and threw him in the escape pod.
Lucifer watched the pod jettison and pressed the button to send the ship into hyperspace.
Darth Vader watched from the bridge as the ship escapes. He sighed and clenched his fist.
Everyone looked away and winced at the sickening crack that came from the general direction of Admiral Ozzel's neck.
Captain Piett looked at his screen, which showed the escape pod floating around aimlessly.
As Vader started to walk away, Piett got up and somehow picked up the courage to actually go and speak with Lord Vader.
"Milord, the escape pod was jettisoned before the ship went back into hyperspace," Piett said, speaking noticeably faster than he would normally.
"Well, go and retrieve it then," Vader snapped.
"Uh, yes, milord," Piett stammered.
Quartz woke up in unfamiliar surroundings and was instantly on his guard.
He thought back to the last thing that had happened to him.
"That double crossing little freak," he muttered angrily to himself.
He stuck his head through the door and looked around for the guards. They were standing a few metres away, not looking at Quartz.
He smiled and crossed over to the next cell, getting closer to the guards.
Before he left, he saw one of the shortest kids that he had ever met in his life in the cell with him.
The kid looked up at Quartz, and it wasn't scared as Quartz had expected. That could only mean that it was another little brat from Canthion.
Quartz thought of killing the kid, but he decided against it for now. The brat might be of use to him.
"Get up," Quartz snarled at the kid.
The kid got up and started talking.
"Hi, I'm Lachlan, I'm from Canthion too, you can tell, can't you? I'm thirteen how old are you?" the kid said.
"What power do you have, the ability to talk your opponents to death?" Quartz asked him sarcastically.
"You're mean, if you must know, I can move really fast,' Lachlan said.
"Whatever," Quartz said in a bored tone.
He walked out of the cell and stuck his transparent hand through the guard's armor.
"Huh, what the-" the storm trooper had time to say before Quartz's hand became solid and his heart was torn out through his spine.
The other trooper took aim at Quartz and fired.
Quartz turned transparent and the shots went through him to hit the lock on Lachlan's cell door, causing it to open.
Suddenly, the trooper was on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
Quartz blinked in surprise and stared at Lachlan, who had mysteriously appeared in front of him.
"Told you that I'm fast," it said, smiling.
Quartz blinked and stared at it.
Now he was glad that he hadn't tried to kill Lachlan. Quartz would never have been able to lay a hand on it.
The two of them set out to find the hangar bay. Quartz wondered what he was going to do with Lachlan. He couldn't leave it here, as it would just follow him, he couldn't kill it, as the brat could easily overpower him.
Quartz decided that he would just let it tag along for now, as it might be a useful bargaining chip later.
Unknown to either of them, a shadow followed them quietly.
Lucifer limped into Quartz's old room to look for the medical supplies. His leg was beginning to grow sore where Quartz had shot it.
Pyro found him there, trying to stitch his own leg up.
Pyro wasn't really as stupid as he made out, in fact, he could have made billions as an actor. He knew that his friend needed help and if asked, Lucifer would just get up and walk away. Well, he would get up and limp away, anyway.
So Pyro didn't ask before he went to help and Lucifer didn't push him away.
After his leg was fixed, Lucifer looked up at Pyro and hesitated.
'Pyro?' he said uncertainly.
'Yeah, what is it, Lukie?' Pyro answered, smiling.
"Uh… um, thanks," Lucifer said.
It may have been the first time that Lucifer said that to anyone in over five years, but Pyro had just enough sense not to make a big deal out of it.
"Aw, don't worry Lukie, no big deal," Pyro laughed.
"Don't call me that, idiot, Emerald might be listening," Lucifer grumbled.