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Inhaling sharply through his nose, Cal yanks at the chain attached to the cuffs around his wrists. But when it comes down to pure strength, the two bounty hunters, one of which is a large droid, outmatch Cal, and when they tug him forwards, he's forced to stumble after them.
This should be easy, embarrassingly so really. The cuffs aren't blocking his connection to the force and the smaller bounty hunter has Cal's lightsaber casually strapped to his hip. If Cal could draw his weapon into his hand, he'd be out in seconds, even with his head pounding from the wound that lead him to this situation in the first place.
The only thing keeping Cal where he is is the contraption strapped to his face, some sort of muzzle. It's old and designed to fit on a humanoid face, made of heavy metal with sharp edges. Cal can't even open his mouth, the thing forcing his jaw shut as it bites into his skin.
A muzzle alone would do very little to inhibit Cal's ability to fight back, if it weren't for the dark memory clinging to the object. It's taking all of Cal's focus just to shield his mind from the dark cloud threatening to overwhelm him if he lets his guard down. Cal knows the memory is bad, just how bad isn't clear.
If he's lucky, he'll end up with a headache. If he isn't, Cal could pass out or have a seizure. He's still weighing the odds in his head, deciding if the risk is worth the potential consequences.
At least BD-1 got away. That's certainly an improvement on the last time Cal got caught by the Haxion Brood.
"Told you it would work," the humanoid bounty hunter, a Pantoran by the looks of it, says to the droid with a grin, glancing back at Cal. He yanks the chain around Cal's arms hard enough to make him stumble. Cal's tried letting the chain go slack, to approach the bounty hunters and attempt escape without using the force. But the Pantoran has some sort of cattle prod that he shoved into Cal's ribs the last two times, not giving Cal a lot of options to fight back with his hands tied.
"Well 'scuse me for not believing you when you said the Jedi's affected by bad vibes. Sounds a bit stupid, even you got admit that." The droid has female programming by the sounds of it.
It seems like they don't know what his psychometry is precisely, but the fact that bounty hunter's know of it at all is worrying.
Psychometry is a gift, Cal's been reminded of this countless times by countless different people throughout his life. He sees it as one, the ability has helped him and others over and over, first during the war, than on the mission Cal's on now. But psychometry can also be used against him, just as these bounty hunters have. Cal would rather not hand his enemies the perfect way to put him out of commission. He hopes the knowledge hasn't spread too far.
"Doesn't matter if it sounds stupid if it works," the Pantoran answers. "Doesn't it, little Jedi?"
Cal wouldn't respond to that comment even if he wasn't muzzled.
Instead, he tries to use his captors distraction to throw them off balance. Cal ends up being the one stumbling, knee hitting the ground as he losses his footing. Still, he won't go without a fight and he aims to make this as difficult as possible for the apir of bounty hunters.
The weak effort of resistance, however, seems to have set something in motion, a flash of white descending from the raised rocks they're passing, landing on the Pantoran's shoulder with a flash of electricity as he's turned to his prisoner. Cal recognizes BD in an instant.
With a yelp, the Pantoran flails, just managing to grab BD-1's leg, leaving the droid shrieking and cursing. Cal wants to call out to his friend, muzzle preventing him from getting anything of substance past his lips.
Kriff the consequences, Cal thinks to himself, reaching out in the force both to propel himself forward and pull his lightsaber into his grip. He's activated it close enough to embed the blade in the Pantorans chest before he can even worry about the echo hitting him.
That's the last lucid action Cal gets to execute.
The memory is a swirling mass of violence, pain and fear, flashes of the torture previous wearers were exposed to, at the hands of these bounty hunters and at the hands of others. It's nothing new or surprising, nothing Cal hasn't seen before, but that hardly makes it pleasant. The sound of long past tears and screams muffled by the muzzle fill Cal's head as he desperately tries to cling to reality, to the threats in the present.
A metal fist collides with his ribs, and Cal can only just register that this pain isn't one the memory's exposing him to. He pushes further in the force, trying to blindly feel for the bounty droid that's attacking him. Cal hopes that BD knows to keep out of the way.
A bad feeling in Cal's chest makes him swing the blade of his lightsaber to his right, making contact with something, severing it. Cal's hair is grabbed and he can't tell the memory apparat from reality in that moment, echo showing him fragments of a large figure looming over him, hissing vile threats into his ear as a small, terrified voice whimpers in fear.
Cal struggles, kicking his legs until they make contact with a hard surface, like the main body of a bounty hunter droid. He swings in that direction, being dropped before his blade can land
Cal fails to catch himself, arms still bound and barely conscious enough able to make out what's happening, landing on his shoulder hard. A shock-wave of pain runs through him, muzzle tight around his face as his body tries to let out a vocal response. He feels dizzy, nauseous, the fight against the force echos clinging to the muzzle near impossible. The bounty droid could be anywhere, and Cal has no idea if he actually hit the Pantoran enough to kill him in the first place.
Then, like being dropped in cold water out of nowhere, reality returns to Cal, bright and sharp, leaving him gasping as the muzzle falls off his face. It's pure instinct that makes him dodge the bounty droid's vicious downwards swing, rolling to the side just in time. She makes an almost surprised noise at Cal's sudden lucidity, the last noise she ever makes as Cal severs her body in two.
Breathing like he just ran up a hill, Cal falls to his knees. The Pantoran lays dead a good two meters away and BD-1's soft chirps let him know his friend is safely on Cal's back.
Cal sighs, pushing the lingering nauseating feeling from the echo away as he watches blood drip from his face onto his bound hands. His face stings, cuts from the device that was strapped to his face marring the lower half of his face.
"Thanks," Cal mutters. If BD-1 hadn't acted as he did and unlocked the muzzle, Cal would have likely found himself paying Sorc Tormo another visit.
BD-1 argues that it was nothing, using his boosters to hop off Cal's back and deal with his cuffed wrists. Blood keeps falling off Cal's face in droplets, splattering the top of BD's casing. If the little droid minds, he doesn't say anything. Cal plans to give him a good once-over back on the Mantis anyway, he can already see scratches that bounty hunter put on his friend.
With a soft click, Cal's wrists are free. He rubs at them once he's offered his arm for BD to climb up, pushing himself up out of the dirt with a groan. His head had been hurting already, but now a migraine is steadily settling in.
Glancing at the two bounty hunters, Cal huffs. He hopes the knowledge of his abilities die with them. Just to be sure, he takes a moment to find the droids memory disk and destroy it, apologizing to BD for making him watch the gruesome act. Cal reckons it must be like watching someone's skull be cracked open so their brain can be cut up.
"Think we're going to have to cut our trip short here, buddy," Cal sighs. "I need to lie down."
BD-1 reacts like Cal just said he's dying, making the redhead laugh. Beeping in distress, BD offers Cal a stim. Thanking him quietly, Cal accepts the offered aid and sets of in the direction of the Mantis.