Finn casts Rey a desperate look as a knock sounds on their door.
Stay hidden, she shouted to Leia, Han, and Chewie. Trust me. And take Beebee-Ate! Text Luke and call for help.
Okay, Rey, Finn decides as he unlocks the door. My life is in your hands.
A familiar face burst through the door, aiming a gun at Finn's head. Finn's hands fly up as man Finn assumes is Snoke, draped in a suit too wrinkled for a CEO, saunters inside and shuts the door.
Nines.
Beebee-Ate yowls from the bedroom. Finn's glad Nines can't see the dog that chewed his leg up.
"Take a seat," Snoke directs as Nines glowers at Finn.
He sits down on the couch, next to Rey, who gives him a small nod.
"Why are you here?" Rey asks. Her voice trembles but her eyes are focused, like lasers, on Snoke.
"I'm going to take those files," Snoke returns.
"Did security warn you?" Rey presses.
"Shut up," Snoke dictates.
That's a no, Finn realized. Then who did?
"Take their phones," Snoke orders. Nines snatches Finn's from his grasp, and Rey's.
"Passcodes?" Nines demands.
Rey recites hers, and Finn his. "No one texted, sir."
"Well done, Nines. It seems you're stepping up where this one failed," Snoke sighs, hand descending cold onto Finn's shoulder. Finn shudders, cold fingers sliding across his collar and leaving him feeling violated.
"Since when do you work directly with Snoke?" Finn asks Nines, his heart picking up pace. No. Not now. Not now, dammit.
"Since you left," Nines snarls, jabbing the barrel of his weapon at Rey's skull. She flinches. "I can't see why Kylo Ren would trade common sense for you, slut."
"Don't talk to her like that!" Finn yells, starting to shake. He wraps his arms around his chest, rocking forward.
"You can't call me anything I haven't heard before," Rey informs Nines. "None of it's true, so you're not going to shake me."
None of it's true.
The voices screaming and banging inside Finn's brain—that he's useless, a coward, a loser—none of it's true.
At least, it doesn't have to be.
Poe's phone lights up at the same time Luke's does. Texts from Leia.
At your place w Han and Chewie, hiding in Poe's rm. Snoke is here. Has a gun and another man. He wants the files. Holding Rey and Finn hostage. Rey has a plan, we think. Calling the police.
"Holy—" Luke starts.
"Oh, no," Poe gasps. Finn. And Rey. And what about Beebee-Ate?
"What?" Ben demands, swiveling to glance at Poe and no doubt taking in his horror-struck face. Because Poe really feels like he could be sick.
"Snoke… is at our place. He has Rey and Finn. Your parents and Chewie are hiding in my room."
"My parents are—what? Snoke?"
"I called your parents," Luke says. "I had no idea they would—or Snoke would—"
"Well, they did and Snoke did!" Ben shouts. Panic echoes from his cry. Poe reaches out and puts his hand on Ben's shoulder. Ben moves to shrug him off and then stops, as if he can't bring himself to do it. He stops for a red light and turns to Poe, gulping air as if trying not to cry.
"Neither of them are going to die," Poe insists. "None of them." I'm not losing Finn. Not like my parents. No, no, no.
"We can't give that up," Luke says. "The thumb-drive."
"I know." Poe swallows. "If we call the cops, Snoke will kill them all before they get in, won't he?"
The light turns green as Ben nods. "Call him," Ben croaks out. "Poe, use my phone. Call him."
"And say what, Ben?" Luke asks.
"You need to get him out of that apartment," Ben says. "Get him down, outside."
"Tell him we want an exchange?" Poe queries. "The thumb drive if he and whoever his henchman is bring Finn and Rey down?"
"Exactly. And Poe, call your FBI contact too, and let him know."
"Sounds good," Poe says. He cocks his own weapon as he dials Ben's phone. "Did security catch us after all?" he wonders.
"No." Ben shakes his head. "I'm an idiot."
"What?" Poe freezes as he prepares to press call.
"He told me he fired Mitaka… but Mitaka has my—he was Snoke's spy, he's the one who hit Rey with the car—he has access to my files, I know he does. He must still be working for Snoke—if Snoke lied—or maybe he didn't, but Snoke called him and asked him to keep an eye on my computer access after—after I called him," Ben reasons out loud.
"Can we assume this Mitaka is the man Leia described?" Luke asks as he texts his sister.
"Probably."
"Poe Dameron?" Snoke snarls into his phone. Rey reaches out and grabs Finn's hand. His palms are slick with sweat, but he squeezes her back.
I'm gonna need you, she thinks as she meets his eyes. She doesn't know precisely how yet.
She knows he can't literally read her mind, but he gives her a nod as if to say that he'll follow her lead.
Snoke continues to grouse into the phone and Beebee-Ate whines at the door.
"If he doesn't stop it I'll put a bullet in that miserable animal!" snaps Nines.
"Like hell you will," Finn says.
"Wanna test that?" Nines aims the gun at Finn's head.
"Nines!" Snoke barks. "In five minutes, we're going down."
"Huh?" Nines gapes. Rey digs her fingers into Finn's. Where are the cops?
Why did you race home? Do you seriously think you can take them, just the three of you? She'd counted on the cops arriving before Ben, Poe, and Luke.
"We'll be taking them down. For a trade." Snoke nods at Rey. "I'll take her. She'll be no trouble for me, will you, sweetheart?"
"I'm not your sweetheart," Rey retorts as her heart flutters. Why aren't the cops here yet? I want my tax dollars back.
He raises his eyebrows, face caving in a smile that reveals a string of broken teeth, all still pearly white, but cracked and chipped. "You take that traitor," he says, nodding at Finn.
"My pleasure, Mr. Snoke," Nines squeaks.
Rey pinches Finn and narrows her eyes at him. He nods.
They both know that they'll have one chance.
Snoke's phone lights up. Finn lets out a shuddering breath and almost a moan. Snoke reaches for Rey, dragging her up with his too-long fingers, his other withered arm cocking a gun at her temple. "Let's go."
Luke presses himself up against the wall as Ben and Poe wait by the car. Sure, enough, Snoke's flashy sports car rests in the parking lot, along with Mitaka's Prius. The car that almost killed Rey. Ben tightens his fists.
The door swings open and Rey steps out, Snoke with his hand gripping Rey's shoulder. Luke swings into action as Rey throws her heel back, into Snoke's crotch. Her head ducks below Snoke's gun as Luke lunges and twists the weapon out of Snoke's hand, sending it skittering across the pavement.
Finn wrestles with another man Ben's never seen before. A shot fires through the air, but Finn kicks the boy to the ground as Ben rushes forward, grabbing the weapon and aiming it. "Stay down!"
Finn looks at Ben with his jaw open. He's shaking, but his eyes are alert and alive.
Artoo leaps on Nines, growling.
"Good dog," Finn comments.
Poe shouts, and Ben turns to see a smaller figure, dressed in black, wrapping his arms around Poe's throat. Poe drops the gun he'd aimed at Snoke as Mitaka tries to choke Poe.
"Oi!" Rey leaps to her feet as Luke continues struggling with Snoke. Mitaka's elbow hits Poe in the neck, and Poe collapses. A black thumb drive spins through the air.
Ben leaves this man to Finn, racing towards them. Rey throws herself at the thumb drive, grasping it. Mitaka grabs her by the shoulders, throwing her against the pavement. One hand tries to wrench it from her grip as the other closes around Rey's throat.
"Rey!" Ben screams. "Let her go!" He points the gun. "Mitaka!"
Ben's old secretary glares at him, the streetlights casting his face in a hellish yellow glow. He won't.
Ben kicks Mitaka in the ribs, sending the man sprawling on the ground, head smacking. He hears Rey gagging behind him. Mitaka glares up at Ben, who cocks the weapon.
He could kill him. Ben can see the bullet flying out, hitting Mitaka in the skull and ending this man, the man he had mercy on only for this man to try and kill them all. Mitaka spits out bloody phlegm, a gash bleeding from his forehead.
He can't.
Ben drops his arm, and Mitaka drops his head. "Rey—"
"I still have it," she chokes out as Ben reaches for her. She hacks for air as Ben pulls her up, her fist clenched around the thumb drive.
"What happened?" Poe groans as he comes to. The door swings open, but Ben focuses on Rey. He brushes hair from her tear-streaked face. Sirens screech in the distance.
Something scrambles behind him. Ben whirls around, shoving Rey away on instinct, as he sees Mitaka pouncing on Snoke's fallen weapon as Luke shouts, restraining Snoke, and Finn screams, and out of the corner of Ben's eyes he sees someone rushing towards him even as Mitaka fires.
Black.
He closes his eyes, anticipating the pain of a bullet ripping through his muscle, his bones. But instead, a far worse pain tears through him: the sound of an old man groaning.
Ben's eyes fly open and he drops as the man drops in front of him, cradling his father. Blood seeps through his father's vest.
A flurry of feet. Chewie, and his mother—they kick Mitaka, they stop him, but Ben can't stop the blood streaming from his father's chest. He can't even speak. His fingers try to work, try to press, press, press against the wound, but blood runs through anyways, baptizing him in death, his father's death.
Chewie screams.
"Hold on, Han!" Rey cries, pressing her hands against the wound. A tissue against a torrent.
Please, please. Please. Ben doesn't care. Miracles can happen. He's never believed it before, but he believes it now. He needs to believe it.
Han's fingers, red streaked, reach up. His eyes search Ben's face, search his son's eyes, as Ben sobs. So much to say, and no words, only a look, only his face and nothing more. There would never be enough time in the world to apologize, to assure, to question, and now time itself is bleeding out and he has only seconds and his brain won't even eke out a plan.
The fingers land, sopping, against Ben's cheekbone, and Han strokes his face.
Because he doesn't know if his father can say the words, Ben has to: "I love you."
Han gurgles, bloody flecks appearing on his lips. "I know," he manages.
"Move, idiot!" Poe wrenches Ben away and literally kneels on top of Han's wound. "Stay with me, man!"
Snoke laughs and laughs, and Rey suddenly snaps. She leaps to her feet and flies at him, slamming her fist across his jaw. Something flies through the air—a tooth?
And then Rey wraps her arms around Ben as he shakes and shakes.