Disclaimer: The only things I own are my meager, hapless OCs and this vague storyline. Everything else belongs to George Lucas/Disney (because Disney owns everything now).
WARNINGS: This chapter contains torture and violence. Not particularly graphic, IMO, but just so you all know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away….
Chapter II: "Do the magic hand thing!"
Rehn recognized him, naturally (his mask and black clothing were distinctive, after all), but he'd never seen the First Order's monster up close. Certainly not this close, barely inches away and near enough to see his own frightened and grief-filled reflection in the tall man's mask.
The teen stared. There wasn't much else he could do. His blaster, utility belt, and various knives and weapons lay in a useless pile at the feet of curious and angry Stormtroopers, eyeing Rehn and his weapons with caution.
The young padawan took down a number of the troopers before he was caught, quickly and quietly making his way to the surrounded Pasche, making use of his vibroblade and grappling line, silencing the unsuspecting Stormtroopers with precise strikes of his blade. The blood that gradually appeared on his hands didn't bother him as much as he thought it would.
In the end, by the time Rehn was able to get near his master, Kylo Ren's Upsilon-class command shuttle was making its final approach, a distant bird of prey dark against the discordantly beautiful sunset.
Rehn stepped out of cover, blaster already firing and downing the two Stormtroopers flanking Pasche. The squad of white soldiers reacted quickly, returning fire despite their collective confusion at the slight, hooded figure dropping them with lethal efficiency.
The fifteen year old hissed in pain, a well-aimed bolt flinging Rehn's blaster from now aching fingers. He tried to spot where it fell, but Pasche's cry of surprise drew Rehn's gaze. To the boy's horror, Kylo Ren's ship had already landed and the monster himself was on the ground, black-gloved hand raised.
Pale blue eyes wide, Rehn took an involuntary step back. The Force cloaked the black-robed figure, dark, thick, and suffocating in a way that reminded Rehn of his Force visions. Distantly, Rehn realized Pasche was choking, though no one touched him, and he was raised to the tips of his toes. Kylo Ren appeared to be speaking to the older Jedi.
Rehn knew he shouldn't be surprised by any of what he was seeing. Pasche told him that Kylo Ren was a Dark Force user, an overwhelmingly powerful one, descended from Vader himself, but he couldn't help but feel frozen, if only for a moment.
And that was when everything got worse. Rehn felt a brief, comforting touch through the Force, like a gentle whisper. Pasche's voice sounded in his ear.
"Run."
Before Rehn could process his master's voice, the distinctive hum and green light of Pasche's own lightsaber echoed, extending through the man's stomach. The sudden absence of Pasche's presence in the Force left Rehn breathless, mouth open in a silent cry. His master's body crumpling to the ground shocked Rehn into action.
His blade was in his hand before he'd thought it through, piercing the nearest Stormtrooper's throat as Rehn darted forward, desperate to reach his fallen master.
He didn't remember much after that, but he did recall, with alarming clarity, when his beskar blade met Kylo Ren's burning red lightsaber. The weight and heat of it was more than he could stand. Rehn pushed against the blade, for the first time easily accessing the physical ability of the Force.
Kylo Ren moved with the push, easily stepping back and reassessing the slight, hooded figure before him. He seemed surprised, head tilting curiously to the side as though finding something exceedingly interesting.
"No metal can withstand a lightsaber. None but beskar," Kylo Ren spoke softly, voice rasping through his helmet, "I've heard beskar is rarely forged into weapons. How did you get this?"
Rehn swallowed, remaining silent. His hands were damp with sweat around the grip of his sword, and his stance off-balance. Rehn bit the inside of his cheek, attempting to calm himself. If he continued to rush in impulsively, he would die.
"If Pasche and Din saw me lose my head like that during training, let alone a fight like this, they definitely would have had my head... Not that losing my head now isn't off the table," the teen thought wryly, sweat trickling down his temple as he eyed the red, pulsating lightsaber in Kylo Ren's grasp.
The padawan adjusted his position as the man came closer, pacing slowly towards him. Rehn bit his cheek hard enough to bleed, studiously avoiding glancing at his master's fallen body, so unnaturally still.
"Slow is steady, steady is smooth, smooth is fast," he thought, repeating it like a mantra as he gradually calmed himself, focusing on his enemy's movements.
When Kylo Ren moved forward with a heavy downward swing, Rehn was ready. His beskar met the lightsaber with a burning hum, the metal gradually turning scarlet.
The boy gritted his teeth from the weight of the blow, muscles straining as Kylo Ren locked their blades, taking full advantage of Rehn's shorter and lighter build. The teen, knowing a stalemate would not end well for him, stepped forward and to the side, twirling quickly as he disengaged his sword, the red lightsaber skidding violently along the length of the blade.
Using the momentum from his turn, Rehn slashed at Kylo's side, the tip of his sword slicing through the man's cape and opening a shallow gash in the man's side. Kylo Ren gave a hiss of anger and pain before he whirled around, arm outstretched. Rehn's eyes widened as he felt the Force fluctuate around him, lifting and flinging his body across the street, crashing him into a stone building.
Rehn's body collided harshly with the stone, his back taking the brunt of the hit before he collapsed, falling limply to the ground. He blacked out for a brief moment before pain and instinct made him open his eyes. The padawan groaned, struggling to push himself upright, his breath ragged as blood trickled from a gash on his forehead. The sound of approaching footsteps made him look up, hand clenching around his weapon.
Before Rehn could make a move, his body was whipped back, arms forced out to the side and his back grinding painfully into the crumbling wall behind him. The Force hummed around him, keeping him painfully still despite his struggles.
"Bring me his sword," spoke Kylo Ren, voice calm despite the blood that slowly soaked his side.
A Stormtrooper ran forward, slinging his blaster over his shoulder before coming to a stop in front of the immobilized Rehn. Gloved hands reached down, trying to wrest the beskar from the boy's white-knuckled grasp. Prior training and pure stubbornness kept the blade in Rehn's grip, even as his body flared with pain.
In the end, the Stormtrooper had to forcibly twist Rehn's wrist nearly to breaking before the sword dropped from his hand. The trooper quickly moved away, cautiously passing the blade into their leader's waiting hands.
Rehn watched, his teeth gritted in frustration as Kylo Ren took hold of the precious beskar, examining it closely.
"This is a fine blade, obviously forged by Mandalorians," spoke Kylo, noticing the crest at the base of the blade. He stepped closer to the immobilized teen, "I watched you. You do not fight like a Jedi. Why is that?" he questioned, coming to a stop only a few feet before the padawan, black mask tilted down to observe the slight figure before him.
Rehn remained silent, glaring up at the older male even as he strained with everything he had to free himself from the Force-induced restraint. But it did no good; he was hopelessly outmatched. Kylo Ren's strength and command of the Force outstripped him many times over. Rehn could feel it, the way the Force bent and moved, how it hummed around Kylo Ren, as deep and vast as space itself.
After waiting a few more moments for the boy to speak, Kylo Ren released an impatient sigh before crouching down to Rehn's height, leaning close to invade his prisoner's space, no longer in the mood to wait.
"You are stubborn," the man said softly, "But that makes no difference to me. You will give me the answers I seek without ever opening your mouth."
A black gloved hand reached out, hovering near Rehn's face. Pale blue eyes widened and his breath hitched, heart thudding in his chest as he tried once more to get away, to avoid the monstrously powerful hand that sought to invade his mind.
"When I was speaking with your master earlier," Kylo Ren continued conversationally, "I noticed he held certain information in his head. Unfortunately, he killed himself before I could access it fully. But I bet," paused Kylo, leaning closer, "That his padawan knows."
In the split second before Kylo Ren bore down on Rehn's mind with the Force, the teen drew every scrap of his power and will into his mind, throwing up wall after wall and shield after shield, slamming down any and all information Pasche may have given him in regards to the Jedi, burying it deep.
Surprised at the resistance, Kylo Ren pulled back for a moment before trying again, applying more pressure. He could see flashes of the boy's life, but anything personal or informative was tucked away, hidden behind locked doors and mazelike corridors.
The man eventually pulled away, realizing he would need more time than he currently had to interrogate the padawan.
"His Alter abilities are a bit weak, but his Control and Sense are incredibly high," thought Kylo, surprised, "Perhaps he can be turned. And trained to only obey me…"
His decision made, wanting the information and the boy, Kylo stood swiftly, his wince hidden by the mask. He pushed at the boy's mind again, but slid away as though the padawan shielded his mind with transparisteel. Impressed and slightly frustrated, the man smirked.
Rehn watched warily as Kylo stood, reading intent through the masked man's body language, though unaware what the monster had in mind.
The black-gloved hand rose again and Rehn found himself falling for a moment. He caught himself and quickly struggled to his feet, using the wall behind him for assistance, and noting that other Stormtroopers were closing in, blasters aimed at his chest.
The teen's gaze flicked around, looking for an opening, anything he could use to get out of the situation. He was ninety percent sure that he was about to get shot.
Until Kylo Ren's deceptively quiet voice spoke once more:
"Cuff him. Bring him to my ship."
"I'd rather be shot!" thought Rehn, now panicking in earnest.
Rehn kicked out at the nearest Stormtrooper, targeting their knee; he felt it snap as the trooper dropped with a scream. The next white helmet that came into view was grabbed and yanked down, Rehn's knee cracking into the visor before being flung away. Rehn was no longer thinking, running on instinct and falling back on the training he received as a foundling, his pulse pounding loudly in his ears.
A blaster came into the fight, set to stun, but it didn't matter. Stunned was captured, and captured meant torture and death. Rehn refused; he'd rather die fighting than die in a cell.
Rehn darted forward, rushing the trooper holding the blaster. Grabbing the burning hot barrel and twisting, he threw the soldier over his shoulder to land atop his unconscious comrade. Distantly, the teen felt the butt of a rifle slam into his forehead. Stunned but reacting quickly, Rehn's hand snaked out, grasping the wrist of the trooper holding the rifle, twisting the wrist until it snapped as he kicked the back of the rifleman's knees. The trooper dropped and Rehn grabbed the helmeted head, snapping it harshly to the right with a dull crack. The rifleman dropped like a stone, dead. Glancing up, Rehn grinned, blood in his mouth and in his eyes; there was now a gap. And it led into an alley with a path to the sewers. He could lose them there.
The padawan broke into a run, not bothering to look back. He was meters away when he felt the Force shift. He cried out as he was once again airborne, tossed away from the alley and escape.
Rehn hit the ground hard, his head slamming into the ferrocrete, and groaned. It hurt just as much as the first time, but at least he didn't hit a building again. Stumbling to his feet, Rehn winced. His vision tilted, his surroundings swimming in and out of focus; there was a high-pitched whine in his ear.
"Concussion?" he wondered distantly.
Quiet footsteps approaching had Rehn jerking his head upright (when did he look down?). Two Kylo Rens caused the Arkanian teen to stumble back, almost falling before he regained his wavering balance.
"Definitely a concussion," Rehn thought grimly, though the little voice in the back of his head was cackling. Rehn told it to shut up; one Kylo Ren was terrifying enough, two would be the stuff of nightmares.
Rehn tried to run. Instead, his body was snapped into stillness as Kylo Ren came to a stop before him, hand raised and held softly in the air. Rehn bit the inside of his cheek. The man's obvious lack of effort while using the Force to render him immobile was frustrating. But no matter how frustrated and determined Rehn was, he couldn't break out of the Force-induced hold.
He strained against Kylo's grip and promptly winced, struggling to keep his eyes open for a moment as his head throbbed and swam dizzyingly. A small trickle of blood slid down the side of his head. He flinched as Kylo Ren stepped closer, cloak swaying softly in the wind.
"Let me go," Rehn demanded hoarsely, heart thudding painfully in his chest from desperation, "You can't get anything from me, I don't know anything of use to you!"
Kylo Ren simply paced around him, coming to a stop behind the teen. Rehn shuddered, unease trickling down his spine. He strained for freedom again, reaching for the Force, but it was just as futile as before.
"Unfortunately for you, you have other uses than just the information in your head."
Brow furrowing in confusion, Rehn tried to glance over his shoulder, only catching a glimpse of Kylo Ren's mask. The last thing Rehn saw was his own reflection, Pasche's body distant and blurred in the background.
The teen collapsed limply, the force pulse knocking him out with little effort. Kylo Ren caught the small figure easily before lifting the padawan into his arms. He paused, staring in surprise. The hood had finally fallen away completely, revealing a strikingly young and beautiful face framed with silver-white hair.
"He looks no older than fourteen," the man thought, vaguely shocked, the wound in his side twinging with the memory of the boy's blade.
He smiled behind his mask.
Rehn woke abruptly, pain throbbing through his skull in time to his heartbeat. He tried to lift a hand to rub at his temple, but cold durasteel halted his movement. The sharp realization that he was tied down, strapped to some kind of device set at an angle with his feet towards the floor panicked the teen for a moment before he forced himself to calm down and observe his surroundings.
He rather wished he hadn't. Rehn had never dealt with torture, let alone been in a room designed for that purpose, but it was impossible to not realize where he was. The darkness of the room (designed to inspire fear, Rehn realized), the console set into the wall on his left, and the terrifyingly large device directly above him, surrounded by a dimly glowing red light.
Rehn could feel his terror rise like a wave as he saw the different "tools" likely to be used on him, his rather eclectic training and knowledge of tech giving him an all too clear understanding of what the different devices would do. He pulled against his restraints, hoping perhaps his skinny arms might be able to slip out. Unfortunately, the position of the restraints made it an impossible task.
He slumped back against the interrogation chair, once again trying to calm his racing heart and hopefully sooth the headache and nausea he was experiencing. He gave himself a minute, meditating and controlling his breathing. The teen turned his focus inwards, gently nudging thoughts of torture and interrogation away until it faded, floating away as he concentrated on the Force.
It hummed softly around him, strong but oddly distant. He directed it towards the restraints, trying to manipulate it to open the durasteel. Rehn grinned slightly; he could feel the restraints beginning to open. Sweat trickled down his forehead, a small annoyance he could ignore in favor of escape.
Blood abruptly dripping from his nose was more difficult to ignore, and also worrying. His headache was getting steadily worse, sharply painful as he strained.
"Please!" he thought, teeth clenched, the blood from his nose dripping over his lip and down his chin.
The restraints popped open.
Rehn fell forward, relief, elation, and the sudden release of his concentration causing his vision to darken for a moment. The abrupt collision with the cool floor snapped his vision into focus again. The fifteen year old struggled for a moment, pushing his trembling body upright and onto his feet. The world tilted alarmingly and Rehn stumbled, falling against the wall and trying not to throw up. Teeth gritted, he moved forward a step at a time, the world slowly righting itself as he moved towards the exit.
He was a meter from the door when it hissed open.
Kylo Ren stepped inside, two Stormtroopers stationing themselves outside the door, relieving the two already there. Everything was silent aside from the clatter of the Stormtroopers relieved of duty striding hurriedly away, no doubt in a hurry to rest and eat.
Rehn swore colorfully in muttered Mando'a, backing quickly away from Kylo Ren as he recalled the layout of the room, hoping to spot potential weapons in his frantic glance around. His attention darted back to Kylo when the man spoke.
"I admit, I didn't think you were capable of getting out of the restraints. That's a first," Kylo Ren spoke, his dark voice conversational as he stepped further into the room, the door shutting and locking behind him, "Though it looks like you strained yourself quite badly," he continued, eyeing the blood still trickling from the boy's nose.
Rehn frowned, reaching a hand up to wipe away the blood, pale eyes never leaving the black mask.
"You're strong. I can train you to be stronger," the man said softly, now standing still as he observed the teen backing warily away.
Rehn froze, shoulders stiffening. The memory of Pasche's death flooded his mind. His lungs ached, but he couldn't draw air. He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't obey. An old memory came, filtering softly through the panic.
"Why does this keep happening to me?" a young Rehn gasped, crouched on the ground as he clutched at his arms, eyes wide and streaming tears as he rocked slightly, a blaster lying a few feet away.
"It's called battle fatigue. It happens to a lot of us," explained Din softly, dropping into a crouch a couple meters away to give the child space, "When it happens, remember to breath. If you can't breathe, focus on finding one thing for each sense. What can you touch?"
"Beskar," responded Rehn automatically, his breath shuddering as his lungs hitched.
"What do you smell?" Din asked immediately.
"Oil and- And stale s-smoke."
"What can you see?"
"You," Rehn whispered, large pale eyes glancing up to land on Din before skittering away.
"What can you taste?" continued Din, his voice softer than before, his beskar helm tilting ever so slightly.
"Iron. From the blood on my lip…"
"And what can you hear?"
"Your voice. Engines… Swearing," the child added after a pause.
"Good. Now take a deep breath. Fill your lungs, ad'ika," Din's voice soft through his helmet, "Good. You're alright. Always remember this if you're having an attack. It may not always work, but it's a good place to start. Now, do it again….."
The memory faded and Rehn found he could breathe again. Kylo Ren still observed him, the tall man completely still, patiently waiting through the few long moments of Rehn's panic and subsequent flashback.
Recalling the man's offer, Rehn straightened his back, pale blue-white eyes gleaming in the dim light as he stared back at Kylo, the fear fading and revealing a deep, penetrating gaze. Kylo Ren didn't like that look, those disconcertingly wise eyes appearing to see right through him. It reminded him strongly of his mother.
"I don't need your kind of strength," Rehn finally said quietly, a firm set to his mouth.
"In that case, we'll be doing things the hard way," Kylo responded coolly, his arm rising quickly, too fast for Rehn to be able to react in time.
The boy yelped in pain and surprise, his body yanked forward before being flung back into the interrogation chair, the restraints snapping shut with finality. Rehn tugged at them and tried to force them open once more, but he couldn't muster the energy, or the concentration required to do so.
Kylo Ren strode forward, his cloak flaring behind him in a move that Rehn would have found amusingly dramatic if not for his current position, once more restrained in the interrogation chair and at the mercy of the First Order's most lethal and dangerous weapon.
"If you're going to torture me, you might as well hurry up. I don't think I can get much more terrified than I already am," commented Rehn shakily, pale eyes stark against the bruising and small amount of blood still smeared on his face, pointedly avoiding staring into the tall man's mask.
The First Order's monster drew closer, head tilting slightly as he observed the boy in the chair, thinking and calculating. Kylo stretched out his senses, reading the emotions emanating from the white-haired teen's mind.
"You say that you're afraid, but there have been older, stronger men than you in that chair, and their fear far exceeded your own. In fact, I would say the control you have of your emotions is exceptional, to the point I wonder how you were trained by such a pathetic Jedi," stated Kylo Ren, his voice through the mask deliberately cruel, his arrogance in his own power obvious to Rehn even as he flinched at the mention of Master Pasche.
Kylo noted the flinch and smirked, turning away from the boy and relaxing his body language, his movements placing himself near the console for the chair and torture apparatus above the boy's head. Sharp ears picked up on the boy's increasingly frightened breathing, the fear the boy controlled oh-so-well slowly rising as Kylo intended.
"What do you want with me? Don't you bastards normally kill any Force sensitives and Jedi you come across?" Rehn finally blurted out, jerking against his restraints, hoping to stall whatever the Leader of the Knights of Ren planned to do.
"I would like you to tell me the location your master intended to take you and any other Jedi you've come across. I want to know who trained you to kill my soldiers with such brutal efficiency and," Kylo Ren paused, moving to stand intimidatingly close to Rehn's face, "How you came to possess a Mandalorian blade forged with pure beskar," the man continued, leaning down to speak into the boy's ear, voice terrifyingly soft.
Rehn jerked away, hating how Kylo Ren kept slowly invading his space and knowing the man was doing it purposefully to intimidate him. He hated even more how effective the move was, a constant reminder that Rehn was powerless to stop Kylo from doing whatever he wanted. The teen clenched his jaw.
Kylo Ren moved away after a drawn out moment. When Rehn refused to speak, head deliberately turned away, the older male gave a short sigh.
"Time to begin," he thought, drawing on his anger and rage at being thwarted by a mere child, a child who had obviously received the care and love of the ones who trained him.
He turned on his heel and took the few steps to the console, flipping a blue switch and pressing a well-worn yellow button without the slightest hesitation. Kylo Ren watched impassively as the air crackled and purple-blue veins of lightning arced around the chair, vanishing into the boy who let out an aborted scream as the electricity lanced repeatedly through his body.
The Knight of Ren's black mask reflected the purple-blue light, oddly beautiful despite the screams echoing in the room. He didn't shut off the electricity until he noticed blood trickling from the boy's mouth. A wave of his hand at the console and it shut down.
Rehn's body twitched and spasmed within the restraints for a few moments more as the last of the electricity left his body. A small, broken sob escaped through the teen's lips as he tried to catch his breath, his body aching and pained in a way he'd never experienced before. He opened his mouth for a moment, about to speak, until he noticed his tongue was aching and blood had filled his mouth.
"I bit my tongue," realized Rehn with a vague sense of surprise, "At least I didn't bite it off," he thought tiredly.
The sound of shifting material and the tap of boots on tile startled Rehn out of his dazed musing, his head lifting in surprise. In the pain and shock of the abrupt torture session, he'd almost forgotten that Kylo Ren was in the room with him, swathed in black with the inhuman visage of the mask hiding the man's features from view. For a moment, Rehn felt his retreated curiosity assert itself, wondering just what was hidden beneath the mask.
The man's distorted voice caused Rehn's curiosity to once more retreat, his mind refocusing on the present, though wishing it didn't.
"What is your name?"
Rehn blinked in confusion, not expecting Kylo Ren to want his name of all things. He'd rather expected the man to get straight to the information about the Jedi. At the long, confused pause, Kylo raised his hand towards the console again. Not particularly wanting to get electrocuted again over something as small as his name, Rehn spoke.
"Rehn Kai Jinn," the words tumbled clumsily out of his mouth, a little hurried and obviously pained, his tongue welling with new blood at the movement; he swallowed it back in disgust.
Kylo Ren let out a huff of amused laughter.
"It seems we share a name," he commented quietly, "The will of the Force is a strange thing," he murmured to himself as he turned away and began pacing, though Rehn heard it anyway. Kylo turned his attention back to Rehn, "Your surname is Jinn. What was your father's name?"
Rehn stared at Kylo with wary confusion, "Qai-Soh Jinn… What's my father got to do with anything?"
"Nothing. But your father's father, he has to do with everything," spoke the man, his voice low and fervent, laced with fascination, "I had your blood tested. Your master concealed an interesting fact about you, though I wasn't certain of its veracity until now."
The Leader of the Knights of Ren stopped pacing, standing directly before Rehn. The Force hummed around them and Rehn shrank back, his head thudding against the interrogation chair.
"Would you like to know who your grandfather was, Rehn? How you, so… Young and new to the Force, are so adept at understanding it?"
"You're going to tell me whether I want to know or not," Rehn replied, careful of his damaged tongue and trying to quash the tendrils of worry that were growing more intense with each word Kylo spoke.
"Do you know the story of Darth Vader?"
The question seemingly from left field caused Rehn to flounder a moment before slowly shaking his head no, white-blue eyes cautious.
"Vader was originally a slave, living with his mother on Tatooine. A Jedi, dealing with troubles of his own, was helped by the then young child Vader. The Jedi noticed that the child was loved by the Force, with a midichlorian count so high it rivaled the masters of the Jedi Temple. And so, the Jedi freed the boy, saving the child from a lifetime of slavery and beginning the boy's path to becoming a Jedi Knight," Kylo Ren paused, his head tilted in such a way that Rehn got the feeling that the man was waiting for his response. When none came, he continued, "The Jedi's name was Qui-Gon Jinn. Your grandfather on your father's side, and a Master Jedi himself."
Rehn blinked. The words spoken by the masked figure felt heavy, the weight of them dropping onto his shoulder's like a thick, suffocating blanket, but with no comfort to be found from its weight. It didn't feel wrong, but Rehn instinctively understood why Master Pasche hadn't told him. Rehn looked up reluctantly, making what he assumed to be eye contact with the First Order's black knight.
"Why did you tell me all this?" the Arkanian asked, his battered face pale under the bruising and blood, the foreboding from before returning with a vengeance.
"Because I intend to train you. You will be my apprentice."
The Leader's words struck like a physical, inescapable blow and Rehn immediately shook his head, denying Kylo's words. The older male said it with such confidence and such certainty that Rehn almost wondered if he'd somehow agreed, or given Kylo the impression he might welcome the man's tutelage.
Rehn's eyes widened with abrupt realization. Kylo Ren capturing him suddenly made more sense, as though this was what Kylo had been aiming for all along. The information he wanted was just a pretext, a useful one and a goal to be sure, but that wasn't truly why Kylo had taken him. He'd wanted to confirm what he'd seen in Pasche's mind, the connection to Darth Vader's origins.
Kylo Ren saw the dawning realization in the Arkanian's face, pale eyes bright with intelligence and racing thoughts. The boy was astute, and disconcertingly intuitive.
"Just as well. I hate dull people," thought Kylo, his gloved hand rising to hover before Rehn's face.
Rehn jerked back, recognizing the move and that the man was starting in earnest. The electricity had been to test him and see what his body could withstand. The teen quickly reinforced his mind shields and steeled his resolve, simultaneously tucking everything of importance into the furthest corners of his mind.
"These better hold," he thought, desperately clenching his fists and trying to ignore the way the restraints had begun to chafe and bruise his skin.
End Chapter