Intuition - Book 1 - Captain Rex

[Chapter 34 - Makeover]

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"How are you feeling? Anything coming back to you?" Lenora checked in on Fives.

It had been a week or so since his waking, and he'd been recovering, very, very slowly. 

"Well my head's stopped spinning." 

"That's good. And the delirium and paranoia have mostly cleared up now?" Lenora prepped a needle to take a blood sample.

"Yeah, my hands are still shaky though." Fives observed.

"That could be down to nerve damage, you did get shot in the chest after all." 

Fives nodded wearily. Lenora could tell that everything that had happened to him had left him exhausted. He gave a slight hiss of pain as she drew the blood sample.

"Well, it looks as though you're pretty much clear of the toxin. Now I know you hate this part, but are you sure there's nothing new you remember?" 

"Nothing new... sorry."

"That's okay. Do you want me to list off what you've got so far, and maybe that'll jog your memory?" 

"That'd be good, yeah."

"So you remember what happened with Tup, you remember that there was something wrong in his brain, and you remember that there's some sort of plot. We remember from what little you were able to tell us that the plot has something to do with organic chips implanted in the brains of the clones, and that the Jedi are the targets of the plot. But we've been told by Nala Se that the chips are necessary for the clones, and that they inhibit violent tendencies, that and you were drugged at the time of informing us, so some of your information may have been hazy." Lenora rubbed her temples in an attempt to string all of the information together.

Fives looked at the floor in defeat- "I'm sorry about all this. If I'd just been less callous and-"

"No, Fives. You did just fine. If you hadn't done what you did, we might just be going on with our lives as if nothing was wrong."

"So what are we gonna do?" 

"For starters, you need a new look." 

"How do you expect to manage that? You're no stylist." 

"I know a guy." 

---

Stellia, Hunter, and Echo gathered with Lenora and Fives in the small room. Fives looked between Stellia and Lenora.

"This is never gonna sit right with me..." 

"Fives... you knew I was a clone already." Lenora raised an eyebrow at him.

"Doesn't make it any less weird seeing some dark, broody, tatted up version of you standing right next to you." 

"Hey! I'm not the dark and broody one, have you even seen Mr skull maniac over here?" Stellia jabbed a thumb at Hunter, who simply rolled his eyes and smiled slightly, having heard it all before.

Fives raised his hands in mock surrender- "What are this lot doing here anyway? 

"The 'tatted up version of me' is gonna give you a makeover. Which means unfortunately that tattoo of yours is gonna have to go." 

Fives looked sad, but knew that it had to be done. 

"Don't worry kid, I can always give you a new one when this blows over." Stellia comforted. 

Echo took a seat beside his brother while Stellia took out the gear that Lenora had managed to conjure up. 

"This is gonna sting a bit, but it won't take long because it's a small job." Stellia informed.