Ha! First double digits chapter ever! So this is going to be good and long in celebration! Ok so this chapter starts out fairly normal but it gets really dark as it progresses on so I'm going to warn you know. Its kind of creepy gave myself the shivers righting it… anyway please read!
Echo dove out of the way just in time to avoid the thermal detonator which, if not for his 'early warning', would have easily taken his head off. The trooper scrambled over to a pile of debris were Chopper was taking cover.
"CANT YOU DO SOMTHING!" He shouted to the scarred trooper. They both ducked as another bomb went off overhead and then went back to firing on the droids.
"I'M SHOOTIN' AS FAST AS I CAN!" Chopper replied. Reloading his gun faster than Echo thought possible.
"YOU KNOW THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Echo screamed.
Another bomb went off several feet away.
"DROIDS DON'T HAVE BRAINS, DI'KUT!" Chopper shouted to be heard over the noise of battle. "AND EVEN IF THEY DID I'D NEED EYE CONTACT!" another explosion went off near bye. The two clones exchanged blaster fire with the enemy but for every droid they cut down another took is place.
"WELL PHWOAR THE FORCE! AND WEAR IS OUR BACKUP!" Echo asked angrily. They'd been separated from the others almost a half hour earlier and despite multiple calls for help no one had answered. Chopper looked around.
"I HAVE A PLAN!" he shouted taking off for the cliff side next to the battlefield. Looking around Echo realized they were not just the only clones still alive they were the only clone's period.
"WHAT THE DAR'YAIM ARE YOU DOING!" Echo screamed as Chopper attached his gun cable to the side of the cliff.
"BA'SLAN SHEY'LA!" He replied shouting over an explosion that went off near by.
"WERE RUNING AWAY!" Echo asked in shock.
"THINK OF IT AS A STRATIGIC DISAPPEARANCE!" Chopper shouted back. Echo caught a fleeting image in his mind and instinctively tackled Chopper over the edge of the canyon. A defining explosion went off directly were they had been standing.
Osik!
Choppers cable became taught just in time to save them from certain death, but that didn't mean the landing was pretty.
Echo carefully untangled his limbs from his unconscious brothers body. Chopper being the unfortunate one who landed on the bottom.
"Chopper Come on wake up!" Echo urged. The scarred trooper didn't move.
"Where did they go?" He heard a high-pitched metallic voice ask from above. Echo slumped over Choppers body. Playing dead.
"There they are!" one of the droid shouted in excitement. "Should we blast them?" Echo held his breath.
Please say no! Please say no! Please say no!
"Save your ammunition. No clone could have survived that fall." the lead battle droid ordered the others. Echo let out a sigh of relief.
"Guess they didn't see Choppers cable." He mumbled thankfully. Echo remained still for a good 15 minutes until he was sure the droids were gone. He then carefully picked himself up off the ground.
"Come on Chop we have to move." Echo urged his still unconscious brother. He received a grunt in reply. Echo sighed. "Well at least your breathing." He mumbled. "Goanna be pretty mad when you wake up though aren't ya?" another grunt told him yes. Echo carefully hauled the scarred trooper up onto his shoulders. "Man Chop lay off the ration bars would ya?" Echo complained stumbling slightly under his brother's wait. Chopper moaned.
"Shut up Echo..." the scarred trooper mumbled absently.
Chopper suddenly seemed to remember were he was because a long stream of Mandalorian and Basic curse words could be heard coming from the scarred troopers mouth.
"Well you certainly can swear." Echo commented. "Can you walk?" the younger trooper was not exactly enthusiastic about firemen-carrying his equivalent in body wait, plus blaster, armor and god knows what elts Chopper had on him, across the desert landscape.
"Put me down you Chakaar!" Chopper ordered. Echo did as he was told. Purposefully dropping his fellow trooper so he landed on his head.
"OW!" Chopper complained. Rubbing his head before letting loose another long stream of profanity. Echo rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the surrounding landscape.
"What do we do now?" he asked interrupting Choppers rant. The scarred trooper looked to the west and held up his hand for a ruff measurement of time.
"We only got about an hours till sun down." Chopper reported picking himself up off the ground. "Not enough time to get back to base…"
"If we could even find base." Echo added.
"Its settled then." Chopper said flatly. "We camp out for the night." A wild animalistic screech could be heard sounding like an alarm in the distance.
"Then I guess we better find shelter." Echo commented shivering slightly at the noise. Chopper nodded in agreement. Turning his attention to the nearby cliff side. Most likely searching for a cave. Echo noticed his brother's body tense.
"No…" Chopper whispered hoarsely. If Echo hadn't been listening carefully he probably wouldn't have heard it.
"Chopper what's-?" the scarred trooper ignored him instead taking off in a full out run. Heading deeper into the canyon. "Chopper wait!" Echo shouted after him running as fast as he could to keep up with his brother. Chopper squeezed through a small crevice in the rocks, entering a tunnel just large enough to stand in and just wide enough for two men to walk side by side.
Chopper didn't even slow down. He ignored Echo's calls for him to stop and charged on.
No, no, no, no… that one word was all the thought Chopper could manage. He was panicked he was scared… two things he hadn't been in a long time. Choppers mind barley registered the fact that as he ran the tunnel he was in opened up into a hallway.
Chopper ran faster still. The lights that lined the ceiling had blown out long ago and a thick layer of dust covered the walls and floor. He slowed down only slightly when he came to an intersection of halls. Chopper barreled down the left corridor leaving skid marks on the dusty floor. Chopper could see the doors now. They were open.
Chopper Charged through the doorway coming out into a medium sized room. The counters were still covered by broken beakers and test tubs and the horrid smell of chemicals still hung in the air. The remains of and operating table lay in the middle of the room next to a tray of razor sharp surgical tools. The metal instruments were still covered in small amounts of dried blood… his blood.
Chopper fell to his knee's the horrible memories coursing through his mind simply too much to bear.
The cold operating table beneath him, the feeling of metallic fingers scraping across his flesh, an indescribably sharp instrument piercing his scull...
Choppers helmet suddenly felt as though it were squeezing the life out of him. He couldn't breath. The scarred trooper tore it off his head throwing it against a wall, so hard the visor cracked. He didn't care. The strain on his mind was too much. He was going crazy all over again. Old memories flashed before his eyes memories long forgotten, or more likely suppressed.
A metallic hand brushed against his skin before a scalpel was slashed across his flesh, a scream of pain, then something worse. A sharp metal syringe was sinking into his arm. Fire coursed through his veins attacking every nerve in his body. It felt as though his very being was attempting to tear itself apart. And then… nothing…
Chopper grabbed for his blaster. He needed it to end he would put a stop to it himself. Anything was better than this torture!
But before Chopper even had a chance to pull the trigger the gun was ripped from his hands.
The scarred trooper looked up desperately at the person who had denied him death… it was Echo.
"Chopper." Echo said softly. The scarred trooper wouldn't look him in the eye. "What is this place?" Chopper looked up at the room he was in and immediately regretted it. He returned his gaze to Echo the only thing that reminded him that it wasn't still happening. "Chopper." Echo repeated he seemed to be putting two-and-two together about where they were. "I read your file Chopper."
"You shouldn't have." The scarred trooper growled. "That's none of your business."
"Chopper." Echo was doing that on purpose, saying his name, trying to keep him sane. "Talk to me." Chopper stood shakily brushing off Echo's attempt to help.
"Lets just get out of here." Chopper mumbled. "There's a cave a few clicks away were we can sleep." Echo nodded not asking how Chopper knew about the cave. Chopper stumbled over to where his helmet had landed. He examined the broken visor with a frown but after a moment simply jammed it on his head and pretended the cracks weren't there.
The two men left the base in silence. Echo didn't ask the questions he so desperately wanted to ask. He didn't even try and find out through his 'other means' he knew it wouldn't be any use. This was all in the past. Set in stone, beyond his limited abilities. They came to the end of the hall and reentered the tunnel, which had led them here. Still Echo asked nothing.
They stepped out into the cool night air. Exiting through the large crack in the wall, which Chopper had dashed through so madly not a half an hour before.
The sun was almost set casting the world into a soft amber light. Something in deep biter contrast to the savage emotions that still coursed through Choppers veins.
They walked through the canyon for about 3 clicks before Chopper stopped. The sun was completely set now and only the moon and stars above provided light by which the troopers could see.
Without a word Chopper climbed up the face of the cliff. Pulling himself into a small cave about 3 meters of the ground. Echo followed him silently.
The cave was wide enough for a trooper to lye down without touching ether wall but not quit tall enough for them to stand up strait. Chopper walked slowly to the caves left wall and let his body slide down into a sitting position there. He kept his helmet on, staring intensely at his hands. Echo sighed heavily and went to the center of the small cave. The trooper pulled a handful of burn cubs out of his belt pocket and, with a single shot from his blaster, had a small flame going.
Echo sighed deeply and took a seat next to Chopper pulling off his helmet so he could relax a little.
They sat there for what felt like an eternity before Chopper finally spoke. His voice was amazingly steady considering the circumstances.
"It was in the first battle of Geanosis." Chopper began. Echo watched his brother intently. "I was deployed after the battle had ended. We were all a little disappointed that we hadn't gotten to be in the fight. Pretty stupid now that I think about it." Chopper shook his head and slowly pulled off his helmet. "My squad was sent to scout the area. This area." Choppers mismatched eyes stared at the fire intently. Watching the orange and red flames dance through the air. "We were ambushed by clankers. My whole squad was killed except me. I though they were going to kill me but they didn't." Choppers eyes clouded over. "I wish they had. Would have saved me a lot of trouble." He returned to telling his story his voice holding an ominous air.
"They… brought me to the facility we saw down there." He swallowed hard. "It was a separatist research plant. They were doing e-experiments on various kinds of life forms." Choppers features darkened. "I was there only clone specimen. So I got to take part in all kinds of 'fun scientific breakthroughs'." Echo could tell by his tone of voice that he was quoting someone. "The- the first thing they did was try and brake my conditioning." Choppers voice began to shack slightly. "Now that I think about it that wasn't so bad. It felt good to let go of it all. The orders, the programming, I was my on man for the first time in my life. I could think for myself make decisions without orders… but nothing lasts forever." Chopper swallowed hard his face a mask of emotions.
"They started experimenting a few days after breaking my conditioning." Echo's eyes widened. "Its hard to be sure exactly what they did to me. I was so drugged up the whole time I couldn't even tell what day it was. But…" he placed his hand on the side of his head gingerly. "They were up here a lot."
Echo's eyes traced the fine white lines of Choppers scars. At first glanced they appeared random. But upon closer inspection you could tell that there was a pattern to them almost as if… Echo shut down that train of thought immediately. The last thing he needed was more nightmares.
"There was one scientist… I don't know his name. Never even got a good look at his face I was so drugged. He had a synthetic hand. That's how I always new it was him." Echo nodded slowly. Choppers fixation on droid finger suddenly seemed to make sense. "He was the worst. He would talk while he worked on me. He would tell me what he was doing. How 'amazing' it was..." Chopper swallowed. "One day I snapped. It was… to much..."
"Chopper." Echo said slowly speaking as though he were addressing a dangerous animal. "Did you… you know?" Chopper laughed. It was cold dry and completely humorless. The sound sent shivers down Echo's spine.
"Ya." Chopper finally answered coldly. "I tore his mind apart. Didn't even realize what was happening until after the fact. By the time I was done I don't think there was even one conscious thought left in his head." Echo felt his blood run cold. "I ran then. No one could stop me after that. The droids were to cowardly to try." Chopper gestured around him. "Hid here until some scouts found me. I got court marshaled for not reporting back to base as soon as I escaped." The cave was filled with an unnerving silence, broken only by the soft crackling of the fire.
"Chopper…" Echo said slowly. "Did you ever tell anyone about this." The scarred trooper was silent for a moment.
"They knew I was captured by the separatists." Chopper scowled. "As for what exactly happened. They didn't ask… and I didn't say." Echo knew he was lying. The CO's would have at least asked if he was tortured so they would know if he was still fit for combat or not. More likely Chopper had… persuaded them to discard it as unimportant.
Not a word was said after that. Nothing needed to be said. Outside the cold night air blew over the geanosian landscape. Whistling like ghosts throughout the canyon…
Ok so this chapter was a lot longer than the others and pretty dark towards the end. I hope it was good though! Today I had a snow day! Ya you know your jealous. So that's why I got this up today. O and 'Anastasia' is the one who gave me the idea of Chopper being tortured and experimented on so you can all thank her for this inspiration!
Please review! Please, please I want to know if I did this ok!