(no subject)
The walls are white.
It's fitting, Han thinks, for a place called Cloud City. But perhaps not, when you think about what goes on in the underbelly of the city, the steel workings and machines, the grease and the steam, sweat and blood of the processing plants for the gas mine. Sure, they may have beautiful malls and well decorated plazas, but what is a paradise unless you actually want to be there?
Lando.
That little...
There are no swears to describe just how angry Han is. Leia is gone. Chewie is gone. Threepio is still in a bundle of pieces, wires, bits and chunks saved from the scrap heap. But Lando. Turning them over to Vader. Vader! He can't...
Good for nothing...
The doors to the room he's sitting in slide open, and he jumps to his feet, only to be met with a wall of white Stormies, blasters pointed in his direction.
No tin-can, though. Not yet, anyway.
They march him downstairs, down a lift, into a corridor, where Lando is standing at the far end with Vader and Boba Fett at his side. If he wasn't being guarded by a squadron of troopers (and probably elite ones, if they were assigned to Vader himself) he'd take the risk of slugging Lando in the face as he walks by, but he doesn't, just glares at him before he steps through the doorway and finds himself staring at a scan grid.
But this isn't just any ordinary scan grid.
The blood in his body sinks to his toes as one of the stormtroopers drags him over to the table and slaps restraints on his wrists, and straps him into what would normally hold metal and things needing to be scanned for content. Only this isn't a block of metal or a product.
Leather presses against his chest and they tilt him forward until he's staring into a faceful of vibroscalpels and electrical probes, sparks snapping off with a crack. He feels (and hears) Vader standing over his shoulder.
He won't tell them anything, no matter what they --
it starts with the shocks and he struggles against the straps holding him into the table, he's dealt with worse, been in enough fights, been chased by Hutts and bounty hunters, blaster shots and time spent in bacta, he's dealt with worse, he should be able to deal with this he should be able
deal with it
deal with it
for her
vader doesn't move, why isn't he moving, why isn't he talking, why isn't anyone talking at all, they're just watching him struggle, kriff that burns against his stomach and his chest, snapping along his arms, jolts running through his bones why aren't they talking why
-- ask.
If anyone was outside the room, they'd be able to hear his screams echoing down the corridor. Lando hears them, for certain, and he glances at the bounty hunter. With that mask on, Fett shows no emotion, just stands still. Waiting, for his prize.
Han screams again, this time louder, and Lando turns back to the door.
they're still not talking, but he struggles against the straps as they send the pulses again, his mind is getting tired, so tired, they'll lose him soon if they don't stop
stop
stop
stop
a pause as he hangs in the straps and then there's pain in his chest, needle sliding deep, a stimulant and his mind falls out of the fuzzy blockers keeping the pain away, then they hit him again
why aren't they asking
why no questions
no questions
why
and again and again, more pain than a man should be able to bear, thanks to the chemicals he stays awake the whole time, ripples moving with his screams, no questions, no sounds, no movements from any of them
like shadows on the wall (in his head) on the floor (in his heart) above the sky (dagobah) waves and ripples and (help me make it stop make it stop) and sparks (can't breathe can't see) shadows
Ripples and waves and then a crash against the sea of life, everything has the Force inside, even those who aren't sensitive can hear the loudest of beats of the heart, the highest of screams of the lungs, the pulse of life.
Tiny pebble.
Giant pond.
Ripples.
Shallow.
Spread farther and farther.
Faster.
Louder.
Dagobah.
this is worse than he's ever had before and they keep with the chemicals to keep him awake and lucid, his mind feels like slush and his heart feels like fire so help them if they try and hurt leia why isn't anyone asking any kriffin' questions how long is this gonna last how long is this
Vader steps from the room and the stormtroopers know they've completed their mission, they pull him back from the scanner and unstrap him from the leather, cold armor against flushed skin as he slumps to the floor.
His boots scuff against the tile as they drag him down dark passageways and through chambers, deeper into the city, deeper into the darkness, everything's so dark he can barely see. No energy to open his eyes, to fight, to struggle, to do anything but be dragged down.
Farther.
And farther.
And farther.
Down.
It's fitting, Han thinks, for a place called Cloud City. But perhaps not, when you think about what goes on in the underbelly of the city, the steel workings and machines, the grease and the steam, sweat and blood of the processing plants for the gas mine. Sure, they may have beautiful malls and well decorated plazas, but what is a paradise unless you actually want to be there?
Lando.
That little...
There are no swears to describe just how angry Han is. Leia is gone. Chewie is gone. Threepio is still in a bundle of pieces, wires, bits and chunks saved from the scrap heap. But Lando. Turning them over to Vader. Vader! He can't...
Good for nothing...
The doors to the room he's sitting in slide open, and he jumps to his feet, only to be met with a wall of white Stormies, blasters pointed in his direction.
No tin-can, though. Not yet, anyway.
They march him downstairs, down a lift, into a corridor, where Lando is standing at the far end with Vader and Boba Fett at his side. If he wasn't being guarded by a squadron of troopers (and probably elite ones, if they were assigned to Vader himself) he'd take the risk of slugging Lando in the face as he walks by, but he doesn't, just glares at him before he steps through the doorway and finds himself staring at a scan grid.
But this isn't just any ordinary scan grid.
The blood in his body sinks to his toes as one of the stormtroopers drags him over to the table and slaps restraints on his wrists, and straps him into what would normally hold metal and things needing to be scanned for content. Only this isn't a block of metal or a product.
Leather presses against his chest and they tilt him forward until he's staring into a faceful of vibroscalpels and electrical probes, sparks snapping off with a crack. He feels (and hears) Vader standing over his shoulder.
He won't tell them anything, no matter what they --
it starts with the shocks and he struggles against the straps holding him into the table, he's dealt with worse, been in enough fights, been chased by Hutts and bounty hunters, blaster shots and time spent in bacta, he's dealt with worse, he should be able to deal with this he should be able
deal with it
deal with it
for her
vader doesn't move, why isn't he moving, why isn't he talking, why isn't anyone talking at all, they're just watching him struggle, kriff that burns against his stomach and his chest, snapping along his arms, jolts running through his bones why aren't they talking why
-- ask.
If anyone was outside the room, they'd be able to hear his screams echoing down the corridor. Lando hears them, for certain, and he glances at the bounty hunter. With that mask on, Fett shows no emotion, just stands still. Waiting, for his prize.
Han screams again, this time louder, and Lando turns back to the door.
they're still not talking, but he struggles against the straps as they send the pulses again, his mind is getting tired, so tired, they'll lose him soon if they don't stop
stop
stop
stop
a pause as he hangs in the straps and then there's pain in his chest, needle sliding deep, a stimulant and his mind falls out of the fuzzy blockers keeping the pain away, then they hit him again
why aren't they asking
why no questions
no questions
why
and again and again, more pain than a man should be able to bear, thanks to the chemicals he stays awake the whole time, ripples moving with his screams, no questions, no sounds, no movements from any of them
like shadows on the wall (in his head) on the floor (in his heart) above the sky (dagobah) waves and ripples and (help me make it stop make it stop) and sparks (can't breathe can't see) shadows
Ripples and waves and then a crash against the sea of life, everything has the Force inside, even those who aren't sensitive can hear the loudest of beats of the heart, the highest of screams of the lungs, the pulse of life.
Tiny pebble.
Giant pond.
Ripples.
Shallow.
Spread farther and farther.
Faster.
Louder.
Dagobah.
this is worse than he's ever had before and they keep with the chemicals to keep him awake and lucid, his mind feels like slush and his heart feels like fire so help them if they try and hurt leia why isn't anyone asking any kriffin' questions how long is this gonna last how long is this
Vader steps from the room and the stormtroopers know they've completed their mission, they pull him back from the scanner and unstrap him from the leather, cold armor against flushed skin as he slumps to the floor.
His boots scuff against the tile as they drag him down dark passageways and through chambers, deeper into the city, deeper into the darkness, everything's so dark he can barely see. No energy to open his eyes, to fight, to struggle, to do anything but be dragged down.
Farther.
And farther.
And farther.
Down.