Chasing Your Shadow (a sequel to Ezra Lost)

Chapter 10

10

IT MAY have been too dark for Kanan to see, and he may have been feeling pretty terrible after his little friend-making session with that incredibly sucky Seventh Sister lady, but those things were inconsequential as long as he still had the Force.

Kanan closed his eyes and reached out to it with his throbbing, moth-eaten mind. There it was, instantly jumping to his aid. He allowed it to flush through him, gently muffling all the aches his new friend had left him with. It felt like a douse in a tank of bacta, almost. Kanan sighed faintly as the Force filled him with a little extra strength.

Then he slowly lifted the fingers of his right hand. It was about as much movement as he was allowed, since all his limbs were barred down, but it was enough.

Kanan focused, extending the Force towards the counters he knew encircled the room. He sensed it at once as a little syringe left on the counter responded with a twitch.

"Cooome onnn..." Kanan grunted under his breath, concentrating even harder. It was all the way across the room and he was still weak, despite how the Force had boosted him. Even the Force couldn't really cause Kanan to pass up a good forty winks sometimes, especially after an inquisitor had been trying to probe around inside his brain all afternoon. But he didn't have time to sleep. Even now, he swore he could hear footsteps coming down the hall outside -

Kanan dropped his efforts instantly as the door sprang open, flooding the pitch-black room with cold artificial light. He looked up wearily, squinting and groggy, taking on the guise of someone who was barely awake and certainly hadn't been doing anything fishy or naughty at all.

He felt a little ping of surprise when he saw it was only a stormtrooper - attended by a delightful pair of fun size probe droids. Kanan's heart sunk like a meteor striking the oceans of Mon Cala at the sight of them, but he quickly swallowed his alarm before it showed on his face. Dang, he hated those things.

"Uhrm.. hi... there," Kanan managed, doing his best to sound delirious, exhausted, and slurred, like the sedatives hadn't quite worn off. All he really had to do was look back on his drinker days. It was surprisingly hard; he suddenly realized that he had really come a huge way since then.

"Keep your trap shut, prisoner," snapped the stormtrooper, marching in with the droids floating after him. "I don't wanna have to shut it for you."

Kanan got the feeling that the stormtrooper would also like to dance through a sunny flower meadow with him.

"Right, sorry.." he mumbled vaguely. "Sorry, sorry..."

The stormtrooper shook his head in a way that suggested he'd rolled his eyes, then stopped in front of Kanan, reaching towards his bonds. The two probe droids looked down, warbling as they analyzed every movement.

Kanan watched while trying not to seem like he was really watching. The droids made him want to shiver - no doubt about it, they were two of the Seventh Sister's wretched little babies, and she was almost certainly smirking at him through their creepy photoreceptors. He'd have to act fast, and that wasn't going to be easy.

The stormtrooper shoved a bracing hand against one of Kanan's shoulders as he deactivated the band that was pinned across the Jedi's chest. It was really hard for Kanan not to wince. Still pressing on him, the stormtrooper reached across to remove the straps on Kanan's farthest arm, then the nearest.

"Stand there," the stormtrooper ordered, regarding Kanan warily. It was always a nice feeling when a stormtrooper bought your ploy.

"Mmf.. yeah..." Kanan murmured past the heavy slur in his voice. Hopefully it didn't sound too heavy. He didn't think it did.. but hey, he was a Jedi, not an actor. And honestly, it wasn't that difficult for him to pretend to be out for the count. Aforementioned reasons aside, he'd had lots of practice.

The stormtrooper stared at him for an extra moment to make sure Kanan was going to stay somewhat stable (Kanan tried to act a little wobbily for extra validity), then removed his hand from the prisoner's shoulder and bent over to free Kanan's legs from the table. He had yet to notice the needle on the counter that was slowly rising into the air.

Kanan waited a second for the stormtrooper to finish, then, very loudly, said, "Huh."

The stormtrooper straightened and looked at him irritably. "What?"

"It's funny... you never really see that kind of behavior in needles."

The stormtrooper stared at him a little harder, just stunned. "Wha?"

He followed Kanan's thoughtfully bemused gaze, too late. The syringe zinged through the air to stab into the side of stormtrooper's neck.

The probe droids whirled around, following the motion they detected as the stormtrooper let out the most bloodcurdling, high-pitched scream Kanan had ever heard out of a man. Kanan barked out a startled laugh before shoving the droids into the stormtrooper's way. The Imperial silently fell forward like a chopped tree, crushing them beneath him scarcely before they were able to utter an alarmed chitter.

Kanan stepped forward onto the floor, biting back a groan. The predominant urge was to topple over and join the unfortunate trooper for a snooze, but he was in too much of a hurry. Drawing on the Force once more, Kanan sprang for the door, then out into the hall, calling behind him with another laugh: "Have a good sleep!"

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