Jonnie ⚜ Merritt (angryjonnie) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-07-03 14:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !locale: undisclosed, dee, kylo ren |
where have you been all night?
Who: Kylo & Dee
What: Kylo finally captures his portalwalker, and seeks more information on her true allegiance.
When: After this.
Where: a First Order prison settlement
Rating: R for graphic violence and language.
The room was dark, sparse, and small. Not that the prisoner was awake to view these things; her unconscious form was held still in an interrogation chair, arms and legs locked into place with an extra bar over her throat for good measure. A single light descended from the ceiling, illuminating only the immediate area around her black-clothed form. The darkness hid the four bare walls that surrounded her, including the doorway that suddenly appeared and admitted a second figure.
Kylo Ren moved into the room at his own pace, his attention solely on the woman he had worked so long and so hard to apprehend. Arms folded softly behind his back, his mask covered whatever emotion he might have displayed at finally capturing his prize. She was mostly whole but for a large bruise covering one side of her forehead; Kylo hoped that she wasn't damaged goods from that battering, and he knew exactly who would suffer if she was. But there was only one way to find out.
Moving closer to the chair, he walked around to the side with a keypad and tapped in a specific code. One slender, mechanical arm moved, bringing a wire to the woman's flesh. It applied one carefully measured dose of electrical shock, meant to bring a patient -- or a victim -- back to consciousness.
Dee woke with a start and a sharp gasp for breath. Her eyes snapped wide, then squinted against the bright light above. Through slitted eyes she peered out and around the room, seeking any sign of where she might be. She could guess well enough to whom the silhouette before her belonged. Color flooded her cheeks as her anger and fear warred for dominance.
She chewed her tongue. She had no more quips within her, no more bold bluffs to try to worm her way out. Silently she chanted a prayer, a desperate attempt to open a portal somewhere close enough to be of use.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." Kylo remained in his position to the side of the chair, but made no movement to exact further punishment. Eyes inside the mask flicked to the tiny portal at her fingertips. "I'd assume you're full of questions about where you are, why you're here, etc. Anything you'd like to say for yourself?"
Her prayers failed her. The portal flickered -- a small purple-white star at the tip of her fingers -- then snapped out of existence, a band pulled too far, too quick. She sighed.
"What do you want?"
Kylo nodded to the movement just beyond her grasp, the inclination of his head barely noticeable. "That. Is it something you learned, or an inherent ability?"
"Both," she said. There was no point in lying, she thought; not when this was no gift worth hiding from him, no talent he could fully develop without the bloodline of her people. Perhaps this kernel of truth would buy her time, or discourage his probing into her mind. It was an unlikely prospect, but a small hope she had to allow herself. "Only my kin can become priests of this being."
An inquisitive press into the shallows of her mind revealed that she at least believed she was telling the truth. "Did you create the rift above Naboo?"
Dee shook her head, wincing even as she met the shining black visor over his eyes. "I came through it, that's all. I can't even get back through it. Or believe me, I would be home right now."
"Creating something does not necessitate control over it." The words seemed to harbor a bitter tinge, but Kylo didn't linger overly long on the sentiment. "Were you involved in the creation of the rift?" He tapped a button on the keypad, and the arm holding the electric prod produced a blue bolt just in front of her face.
"No," she snapped. She forced herself to keep from flinching, to stop trying to back deeper into the contraption that held her. But she wasn't sure of her answer; she had opened rifts before, both to save Palisade and for other, far less pressing reasons. How could she truly know her work on her side of the rift had not damaged another? If the worlds were linked, it was not such a distant possibility. She chewed her tongue, a flash of uncertainty showing on her face.
He felt the anxiety his question produced, amplified by her fear of the machine she was strapped into. He tapped out another command that tightened the straps around her wrists and ankles, then pressed the arm half an inch closer to her face. "In case you haven't already figured it out, lying won't help you much in this situation." He pressed harder into her mind, attempting at first to ease open the passageway that might hold the answers he sought. "Was the rift intentional? Why bring in so many from other places?"
She grit her teeth at the intrusion, so hard she heard their scraping in her head. "I'm not lying. I just… don't know. So no, if my spellwork created it, it wasn't intentional." She pushed back against his influence in her mind, drawing up walls around even the shallowest memories. She shifted in her bonds but altogether failed at loosening them. "Bogins. Do you not have conversations where you come from? Or is this some kind of kink?"
He cracked the walls without much effort, but continued his slow intrusion. "You should count yourself lucky; I saved you for myself. Usually the first round of interrogation involves troopers who apply far more physical means of persuasion." Dee wrinkled her nose, her mind quick to conjure up the worst possible scenarios. Stepping away from the control panel, he moved casually to in front of the chair. "Who's been training you in the Force? Your abilities have grown since we last met."
"I'm a quick learner," she said. She clung to images of holovids and datapads, lonely training sessions in the stillness of blank rooms. "And you've got a lot of information on offer here. The holonet is an incredible thing." She pictured the library at Mage-U, full of fat scrolls and monstrously thick tones. "It would've taken me years to learn all this in so little time."
"True, but practice takes a discerning hand. You didn't reach this level on your own." He brushed aside the camouflage she tried to hide the truth under. He could sense a feminine touch, one that had appealed to her in a way other than the Jedi or the Sith. That didn't mean the lessons she'd been taught were new -- no, this was an old style, something from a different place altogether. "Nightsisters? That sounds familiar, but I can't place it. Help me jog my memory."
He pushed harder, this time bringing the full weight of his ability to bear. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. Her nails dug into her palms hard enough to draw blood. She fell back on familiar prayers, flooding her thoughts with visions of the tentacled god she worked so hard to kill.
That alone would hardly be enough. She reached for her broken walls again, shoring them up. But he tore them down faster than she could rebuild, and she felt her memories already slipping through the cracks. "I found a book of shadows," she said. She had to force out every word, hissing through clenched teeth. "In a marketplace. That's all." She looked to him, hate burning in her eyes. "The Empire killed the Nightsisters. You ought to know that."
"It's difficult to kill a roach infestation. One can never be sure they've fully exterminated the whole nest; even if one or two escape, that's enough to start the problem all over again." He latched onto the memory of the book, seeing the tethers that tied it to deeper thoughts that she attempted to withhold from him.
"No, you had help; more than a holovid or a book. Hand printed on paper; what a joke." He dug deeper, seeking more. "A woman. No, three. I want their names. The faster you give them up, the less pain you'll feel, Delilah. Maybe I'll even let you out of the chair. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
She cried out; her wrists twisted in their restraints. She bit her tongue to bleeding, but still a small whimper broke free. She forced a smile to her lips, something feral and cold. "All I've ever really known is women," she said. Every word was hard to find, but she found them anyway. She scraped for speech with every scrap of conscious thought. "So many more than just three. Men are such perennial disappointments. Weak-willed. Always looking for something to believe in. Whatever might give them power. You think you're different?"
Kylo shook his visor, just short of clicking his tongue in dismay. "Belittling my sex won't get you out of that chair. And as for believing in something, this N'Rygoth sounds as though he might have something to argue against that. Or is it Abeloth? So many names. Sia. Esaaj." He pushed further, one unattached name coming to the forefront that he recognized instantly.
"Issan." The anger he'd been able to keep tamped down suddenly flared up. All along he'd suspected her of something more -- he suspected all his knights of something more, he knew he'd be a fool not to -- but the fact that he'd so adamantly fought against her admission into the Knights of Ren spoke to his distrust. "You're one of the refugees she took from Naboo. Why?" One gloved hand rose, bringing the electrical prod to life through his Force abilities. It moved down, closer to her chest, a bright blue glow cast over her dark robes.
She fixed her eyes on that terrible point, staring at its blue-white shine until her vision blurred. It was over, of that she was certain. Only spite kept her going, kept her determined to make him claw for every tattered piece of information he took from her. And if she could not make him work for it, she could at least show some spirit while she died.
"I'm a fair hand with sword and board," she said, "and I'm a damn fine healer. So I don't know, Kylo Ren. Maybe she thought she'd need a good combat medic close by."
He let the wire touch her chest where the cloth did not cover. His anger was palpable in the air.
"Drag this out as long as you like, Delilah. I have all the time in the world. In the meantime, I'll have my knights track down Issan and anyone else she was teaching. How do you think she'll feel when she knows it was you who betrayed her?"
It was that, more than the electric pulse that hummed through her, that truly hurt her to her core. She clenched her jaw and dug her nails into the crescents already marked into her palms. These things did not stop the tears that came, but they silenced her cries, at least. She drew a rattling breath.
"What a coward," she breathed. Whether she was speaking to herself or to him seemed irrelevant now; even Dee herself barely knew. She trembled.
The arm pulled away as Kylo lowered his hand. He took a step toward his prisoner, his head canted to one side as he changed tack. "I can be lenient, Delilah. I've been known to show mercy. You only need be concerned with yourself at this point - tell me what she was doing with you, and save yourself some pain. If you don't, I'll simply take it."
"Fuck you." Her voice trembled, but there was a hard foundation beneath that tremor. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back to rest against hard metal. She thought of Betty, of Hannah, of Vi and Kiah. She wondered if they missed her, if they had noticed her absence; she wondered what Hannah would do when she learned of Dee's death, and almost smiled to think on the elf's righteous fury.
"Fuck. You."
Kylo's fists tightened at his sides; beneath the mask, he nearly snarled, but somehow maintained his composure. He said nothing further, knowing that further words would gain him nothing. Instead, he extended a hand and rushed forward, striking her mind so hard that it was a wonder that it wasn't instantly shattered.
It hurt more, so much more than she had planned for. She fought to keep her eyes closed, but overwhelming pain forced them open. She stared blankly toward the ceiling, seeing only brilliant white light. Her spine was a steel rod shot through with flame. There was no knowing what he found in her mind, no concept of what memories drained away and what remained. There was only agony and loss and an overwhelming, all consuming loneliness.
I'm so sorry, she thought, one final word sent out to any who might hear.
Kylo pulled back, his hand dropping to his side as he rummaged through all the information he'd torn from her mind. Much of it was useless -- memories and insight into the world that she'd left behind, things he'd push aside for now until he had more time to sift through its many grains -- but deep within he found the answers to his questions. A coven of Nightsisters, with the intention of helping to overthrow him so that an usurper could take his place. Kylo's fingers bunched into fists, the leather of his gloves straining audibly against the movement. It was more than enough for the moment; Kylo knew he needed to act now if any true prevention was to be applied.
"I suppose I should thank you for making this difficult; I needed to work off some frustration. This has been very insightful." He turned away, then glanced back one final time before his departure. "Oh, and if you need anything, there are stormtroopers right outside. They'll hear you if you scream."
With that final and somewhat desperate quip to maintain the false sense of calm that he attempted to exude, Kylo removed himself from the prison cell, intent on making good use of what he had gathered.
There was little left for Dee but to lie there and try to breathe. At points she wished even that would simply stop. She felt made of broken glass, pieced together for a moment only to fall apart again. Time stretched out into nothing. Her world was a black room with a single stark light; her thoughts were a single syllable, repeated.
Help.