─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
fade: chapter fourteen
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
THE SCAVENGER HAS made her way to the Supremacy. Florence fears for her. Ben is quick to go meet her — but she cannot follow him, as much as she would like to. She has other duties, because apparently, there are other uninvited people aboard the ship that she gets the honor of dealing with instead.
She watches Phasma lead them inside. FN-2187 and a girl she has never seen before, caught in the act during a mission. Florence holds her breath as stands next to Hux, watching them being forced down on their knees in front of them. Hux takes a step forward and slaps the traitor, smirking. "Well done, Phasma," he says, pleased. Finn locks eyes with Florence then. She quickly looks away, thoughts spinning around in her head. How can she solve this?
"Your ship and payment as we agreed," Phasma says then, turning around slightly. Florence also looks. A man that she has never before seen steps out, prompting a rather heavy reaction from the girl Finn brought on this suicide mission.
"You lying snake!" She spits, moving around to the point where the trooper has to hold her back. Finn, meanwhile, just stares at the man with a look of utter betrayal.
"We got caught, I cut a deal," he stutters, shrugging simply.
Finn frowns. "Wait... cut a deal with what?"
As if on cue, a man walks up to Hux. "Sir, we checked on the information from the thief. We ran a decloaking scan, and sure enough, 30 resistance transports have just launched from the cruiser." He supplies.
Florence quietly inhales a shaky breath. This is bad, terrible, even. Hux glances at her with that smug smile she hates so much. "He told us the truth. Will wonders never cease?" He asks, amused.
"No!" The girl protests, tearful eyes.
"Our weapons are ready?" Hux asks the officer.
"Ready and aimed, sir," he confirms with a nod.
"Fire at will," Hux says, and the officer walks off with a few stormtroopers.
"Wait, no no no you can't." Finn shouts.
"No!" The girl begs in a shriek that is truly and honestly heartbreaking. Florence starts thinking of an escape plan. There must be a way out of this, there must be a way for her to stop this. The resistance is being killed and she just stands there.
"You murdering bastard!" Finn shouts at the man they came with. He's busy examining his payment. Weapons, most likely, Florence figures.
"Take it easy, big F. They blow you up today, you blow them up tomorrow. It's just business," he closes the box and gestures for some stormtroopers to take it away.
"You're wrong."
The man shrugs. "Maybe." He doesn't seem particularly bothered. He just walks off, knowing he's won.
"Execution by blaster is too good for them. Let's make this hurt." Phasma announces and two executioner troopers steps forward, armed with laser axes. "On my command."
They all stand by as the troopers press their weapons against their heads. Panic rises in Florence. She closes her eyes, thinking that if she has to, she'll kill the stormtroopers. But maybe that won't get her anywhere. There are too many around her, they'll kill her, Finn and rose in an instant. She could ask them to hold on, she could defend them, but that would mark her a traitor as well. Perhaps all she can do is hope for a miracle.
"Execute." She commands, Florence closes her eyes to spare herself of the sight, she could always use the force to stop them, that might be a plan-
It happens in an instant. A resistance ship jumping to light speed right through the Supremacy, splitting it in half. It knocks the entire ship over and chaos ensues. The ship goes up in flames. A miracle. Florence is knocked out for a minute or so, but as she comes to, she sees the girl trying to pull Finn away. He wakes up as well.
"Finn! There's a shuttle back that way! We gotta go!" She shouts.
Finn stands up, eyes landing on Florence. The girl also notices her presence, fear in her eyes. "I'll help you out," Florence says. "But we have to hurry. Run!"
They don't waste any seconds, immediately, they run towards the shuttles, jumping over debris and fallen stormtroopers, things exploding all around them. The place is truly a wreck. They come to a full stop as she spots Phasma in the smoke. "Behind me," Florence says as the captain steps out of the smoke. She will protect them with her life. Phasma does not scare her.
"Traitor!" She readies her gun. Florence doesn't have a weapon but she has the force. Before anyone can do anything, a nearby AT-ST starts firing at the troopers. They all look up in shock. It's the small droid, the orange and white BB unit is controlling it. It's quite impressive, actually.
Florence can't waste any more time. She picks up a riot control baton, dropped by a knocked out stormtrooper. But before she can do anything, they're being shot at from above by a trooper with a turret. Florence is quick to force push the guy off of the ledge he's standing on. Meanwhile, Finn and the girl are taking cover behind a crate. Panicked, she looks around for more danger.
"Hey!" The girl shouts to warn her. Florence turns around, finding that Phasma is staring at her. Angrily, she powers up the baton and knocks out a stormtrooper that's approaching her. She walks up to Phasma with determined steps. She leaps forward, swinging the baton in front of her. Phasma is quick to dodge her blow.
"I never liked you," phasma says, their weapons pressed against one another, faces only inches apart.
"Cool, I feel the same way about you." Florence chuckles before she pulls back, ducking as Phasma goes for her head. She continuously walks backwards as Phasma attacks her, expertly dodging her blows, their weapons clashing loudly. Her training has prepared her for fights just like this one.
Phasmas attacks are angry and rough, but hardly a challenge. Florence predicts her every move, easily blocking every single attack. Their surrounding is the challenging part, debris all over the place, bodies. She steps over them, but coming onto a ledge, she looks at Phasma, unsure of what to do. She holds her baton up in front of her, shielding herself form a rough blow. Almost toppling over, she pushes forward with so much force that she knocks Phasma off balance.
The ground is unsafe, shaking. Florence falls over, and the captain doesn't waste this opportunity. She goes for an overhead blow, but Florence extends her hands outwards and pushes her away with the force. Then, she pulls her down on the floor, harshly so. Phasma collides with the floor loudly. "I never once trusted you," she mutters.
"Good instincts," Florence replies with a smirk as the floor collapses. She jumps onto a nearby platform, breath heavy, watching as Phasma falls to her death.
"Hey! Need a lift?" The girl shouts at her, Florence looks up to find that her and Finn are on top of the AT-ST that the droid stole. A smile stretches across her lips then, and she climbs on board to get away from the collapsing flooring.
They speed through the wreckage, reaching the shuttle in no-time. They climb off, and she watches as they get inside the shuttle.
"Come! Or we'll all die!" Finn shouts at her, extending a hand to help her inside. For a moment, she considers taking it. But she can't. Florence politely shakes her head. She would like to, but she can't. She can't leave this all behind.
"I died the moment I signed up to this order. You survived, Finn. You didn't let whatever horrible things we do stop you from doing the right thing, even risking your own life to perform a jailbreak," she chuckles weakly. "I admire you and I wish I had your strength, but I wasn't quite so lucky."
Finn looks at her, expression softening as he shakes his head. "Strength isn't about standing up against the face of evil. Strength is doing the right thing when you get the chance to. In your position, I understand it's hard but you have a shot right now. Take it," he urges, reaching his hand out further. She looks at it, hesitation welling up inside of her at the thought of leaving the first order behind.
"I can't," she pulls back, allowing her hand to fall along her side. "My place is here. My chance of redemption is long gone. Go. Save your friends from desolation and I'll do whatever I can from the inside."
"Come on Finn, we gotta go." The girl urges. The bb-droid lets out a string of beeps that further press the matter. Finn nods, half a sad smile reaching his lips.
"Alright," he glances at her before turning to Florence. "You take care."
"You too." She smiles, watching as they fly out of there. A feeling of contentment settles in her, knowing that they're safe, knowing that she did the right things.
"You let them go." Kez says from behind her. Florence whips around, meeting his eyes with a soft expression.
"I did." She replies, voice smooth with no ounce of regret. She looks out into space once more, spotting the ship flying off towards Crait.
"I won't tell." He promises.
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EXPERTLY, FLORENCE LIES, explaining that she went head to head with the traitor but he gained the high ground and she was pushed off of a ledge, leading to her not being able to stop them from leaving. Her acting is truly impeccable, and Kez supports her story, adding to the credibility. Hux believes them. He looks displeased, sure, but he doesn't bat an eye.
"Where's Ren?" She asks him, just now remembering that Rey was here. She was so caught up in the mess that she completely forgot about that. She gets the feeling that things didn't go down very well. She just hopes they're both okay.
Snokes throne room is aflame. The red curtains have burned down, the supreme leader is cut in half, the scavenger is long gone and Ben is lying on the floor, pretending to be knocked out. Florence easily spots that he's faking. She would know. She knows how he looks when he's asleep, this isn't it. Whatever happened, he's going to lie. He's going to make it seem like Rey did this, but she suspects that it was him.
Hux looks at the place with great distaste, eyes trained on Ren as he comes to with a start. "What happened?" Hux demands.
"The girl murdered Snoke," Ben supplies, standing up on unsteady legs. He walks over to the window. "What happened?" He looks at Florence, then Hux.
"She took Snoke's escape craft." He informs.
"We know where she's going. Get all our forces down to that resistance base. Let's finish this"
Hux scoffs. "Finish this? Who do you think you're talking to? You presume to command my army? Our supreme leader is dead! We have no ruler!" Hux shouts.
Ben turns around, choking him. "The supreme leader is dead!" He spits. Florence watches with wide eyes. Who is this man standing front of her?
"Long live the supreme leader." Hux manages weakly, hands wrapped around his throat. Ben lets go, and Hux falls forward, grasping for air.
Florence meets with his eyes then. Kylo Ren. Not Ben. "Long live the supreme leader," she whisper in a tone that is mocking in a way that makes him grit his teeth. She arches a brow as if challenging him. He narrows her eyes at her, trying to search her mind but she shuts him out.
"Lying is a part of the job," she says, brushing past him. "Are we going to that planet or no?" She turns around and looks at them.
Soon enough they're packed into a shuttle headed towards Crait. Florence stares straight out the window as they near the planet. She can feel Ben's eyes on her, but she won't look at him. She's too angry, confused. Ben killed the supreme leader and she gets the feeling that the one reason he did so was so he could take over. She knows he's always talked about ruling but it never felt like it would actually happen. But it did, and now she doesn't recognize him. Supreme leader Kylo Ren, the name makes her cringe.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
[ words 2100 ]
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