This only inflamed Hux more.
“I am not your father and I will never be,” he spat, thick blue vein in his neck throbbing. His fingers dug into his gloved palms.
And suddenly, like the eye of a storm, he fell quiet. A heavy, eerie silence.
Then, softly, mesmerizing, “Toss yourself over, Adeline.”
Techie’s eye nearly popped out of his head. “Shit, no!” he gasped, and Hux heard him. Leveled a serene, wan smile in Techie’s direction.
They walk for a long time in silence, Techie trailing behind, careful not to alert Hux. He feels the thrum of Kylo Ren’s energy in the air; it fills him with a bravery he didn’t think himself capable of. Not even his hands shake.
Finally, Hux stops abruptly on a narrow metal bridge over the Finalizer’s engines, which hum down deep below. Techie, meanwhile, ducks behind a column and watches.
She remained silent throughout their walk. When they stopped on a narrow bridge she aderveted his gaze
Hux’s voice echoed in the spacious room: “You, Adeline, are unworthy of the Hux name. My clones should have all been perfect copies of me. And yet, what do I get instead? An… ANOMALY. Less than perfection! This will not stand, do you hear me? There will never be a Hux that is useless, or weak, or defective. I won’t allow it. My attempts to temper you into something passably acceptable were for naught.”
As he speaks, his eyes grow more and more ice cold, a piercing blue, and he starts to tremble with passion as he spits out angry, terrible word after angry, terrible word. Hux doesn’t pause for breath, or even to consider what he will say. This is a speech he has memorized and taken to heart.
But it is not his own.
They walk for a long time in silence, Techie trailing behind, careful not to alert Hux. He feels the thrum of Kylo Ren’s energy in the air; it fills him with a bravery he didn’t think himself capable of. Not even his hands shake.
Finally, Hux stops abruptly on a narrow metal bridge over the Finalizer’s engines, which hum down deep below. Techie, meanwhile, ducks behind a column and watches.
“Walk with me, Adeline,” Hux commanded, and took a few measured steps towards the hallway, fully expecting her to follow.
Techie watched silently, solemnly, and wondered if her legs would even be able to walk after being in disuse for so long.
“I’ve come for the girl.” Hux distentangled himself from Techie and stood close to Kylo Ren, nose to nose, a silent dare.
“I simply want to speak with her.”
Techie looked on, wide-eyed and shaking.
While they’d been speaking inside, Techie had caught sight of Hux and quickly masked his alarmed expression into an affectionate smile. “Armitage,” he said, and to his delight Hux only flinched a tiny bit instead of those horrible full-body shudders he did upon hearing his first name.
“Techie,” Hux said as he brushed past him towards the door. He still hadn’t warmed up enough to even TRY calling him his real name. Techie didn’t know what it was so there wasn’t much he could do.
Flinging his arms out to wrap around his brother’s bicep, Techie pulled Hux in for a sudden hug, desperate to keep him away from the door and from Adeline.
That’s how Ren found them when he opened the door: caught in an awkward embrace.
Techie closed his eyes and tried to think. He couldn’t leave Adeline… Could he? Maybe if he left her with Kylo Ren she’d have a better life than with him.
A quick glance at the steady rise and fall of her chest had him crossing that idea out. Adeline trusted him. He wouldn’t be abandoning her for anything!
While he thought, General Hux slipped into the room. “G-general,” was Techie’s careful greeting. One wrong move and Hux could kill him. His cheek gave a dull pang of pain, remembering.
“So you really ARE of Hux blood,” his brother said, slowly, looking a little nauseous. Or constipated. Maybe both.
“I knew from the p-posters around Mega City One. We h-have the same face, though I guess mi-mine looks shittier now, h-hah.” He didn’t mention how some nights the thought of his brother had kept him from strangling himself with an electrical cable.
Standing stiffer than usual, Hux says, “You were mistreated,” and carefully avoids Techie’s bionic eyes, rusted around the rims and severely irritated.
Silence.
“I am not a caring man,” Hux admits, more to himself. “Family does not mean much to me. Not anymore. Brendol, OUR father,” he grimaces, “is dead. I sent the order for him to be removed. He interfered with my duties and was a conceited fool with outdated ideas.”
“He p-pulled me away from y-you,“ Techie recalls, “And you w-were crying.”
Meanwhile Adeline was in a comatose. She could hear what they where saying buy couldn’t talk nor move. She wished she could say something anything but couldn’t.
An angry red burns bright on Hux’s cheeks. “We were children then. It is of no consequence now!”
“Had w-we been to-together all this time, we could have been h-happy,” he muses, voice soft. Perhaps Hux looked better than Techie on the outside, but his life certainly had not been pleasant. Something had made him a cruel, hard man.
Suddenly, Techie attempts to sit up despite his restraints, desperate to reach his brother. “Armitage,” he says, reverent, like hallelujah. His brother’s first name. The missing piece he’d struggled to recall for years on end. Kylo Ren must have unearthed it!
Hux’s face visibly crumples and he backs away as if burned. Any dream-like feeling to the moment was gone. They were brothers and this was a fact Hux had to accept, willingly or not.
“You will return to your duties as a technician straight away,” he says, fists tight. “If I contact you respond discretely. Tell no one of what has occurred.” With that, Hux makes a hasty retreat.
Techie closed his eyes and tried to think. He couldn’t leave Adeline… Could he? Maybe if he left her with Kylo Ren she’d have a better life than with him.
A quick glance at the steady rise and fall of her chest had him crossing that idea out. Adeline trusted him. He wouldn’t be abandoning her for anything!
While he thought, General Hux slipped into the room. “G-general,” was Techie’s careful greeting. One wrong move and Hux could kill him. His cheek gave a dull pang of pain, remembering.
“So you really ARE of Hux blood,” his brother said, slowly, looking a little nauseous. Or constipated. Maybe both.
“I knew from the p-posters around Mega City One. We h-have the same face, though I guess mi-mine looks shittier now, h-hah.” He didn’t mention how some nights the thought of his brother had kept him from strangling himself with an electrical cable.
Standing stiffer than usual, Hux says, “You were mistreated,” and carefully avoids Techie’s bionic eyes, rusted around the rims and severely irritated.
Silence.
“I am not a caring man,” Hux admits, more to himself. “Family does not mean much to me. Not anymore. Brendol, OUR father,” he grimaces, “is dead. I sent the order for him to be removed. He interfered with my duties and was a conceited fool with outdated ideas.”
“He p-pulled me away from y-you,“ Techie recalls, "And you w-were crying.”
In an instant, Hux’s nails dug into the tender skin of Techie’s cheek and he shrieked, reeling backwards, clutching his face and eyes whirring helplessly. Adeline was toppled over by his sudden jerk, and Hux stood up from his desk, watching them intently.
“You, little tech, are nothing more than a skinny, greasy, ugly FREAK. You’re no brother of mine,” he spat, then whirled around to face Adeline.
“And don’t think I didn’t see your “daughter” cowering behind you like the defective unit she is!“ There was something in Hux’s hand, but Techie was dry-heaving on the ground so hard his implants rattled and was much to petrified to notice.
She backed away in fear of her father “ father please I’m sorry I’ll try to be like my brothers I promise” she pleaded
“How cute,” he replied, not at all moved by her pleas. “The two rejects have found each other!” Hux’s neck was flushed a dark red, from WHAT Techie didn’t know.
The cuts in his cheek bled over his fingers and all he could think was I’ll be good MaMa, I swear I swear I swear I’ll be so GOOD just don’t hurt me please please please-
His eyes sockets ached and he scrambled to hold on to the first moment of kindness he could recall: that Judge that had looked at him so sadly, and then set him free.
And now Adeline was- the thought made him freeze. Now she was scared, and it was all Techie’s fault. He’d brought her here. A stupid, naive thing to do. Hux wasn’t a good man.
He might not even really be his family, for who could be so cruel to their own flesh and blood?
Techie staggered over to her and covered her with his own body as protectively as he could. Better him beat than Adeline.
She clenched his uniform shirt in fear
Techie leaned down and pressed a shaky kiss to her head as a silent apology. Something flickered in Hux’s eyes, and he clutched the datapad in his hands harder. Lightning quick he typed an order and two troopers burst into the room, blasters pointed at the two hopeless, petrified souls huddled on the ground.
One pulled Techie up by his hair and he gave a visible shuddering sob, trying to reach out to Adeline.
She backed up even further trembling in fear, even s tormtroopers scared her especially Captain Phasma and the FN division without FN2187 there to protect her she was defenseless. She saw them take Techie away “ uncle Techie” she screamed tried her best to run after him
“Knock the child out if you must, but leave the other awake. I’ll have Ren dig around in his mind to see what his intentions were,” is what Hux says by way of dismissal to the Troopers.
The second trooper scoops Adeline up easily and crushes her head against his armour. She slumps and goes dangerously still. Techie screams himself hoarse until he’s picked up and swung over the taller trooper’s shoulder as if he were feather-light.
“Shut up,” she snaps, and stuns Techie with a special blaster shot to the side of his head. He goes limp with eyes wide; awake but frozen by some strange beam he’d only seen Judges use before.
Hux adjusts his slightly askew hat and slips his gloves back on. “Take them both to the interrogation room.” A pause in which he watches Techie with a curious look. “Ren will be along shortly.”
Techie’s eyes fixate on Hux until he’s carried away.
A medic in the prison deck came out of the interrogation room he took off his cover turning seeing the small fragile child on the interrogation table head restraint. She had gone into comatose when they hit her on the head “ General Hux sir I have news on the girl ” he said with a pained look in his eyes “ the child is in comatose when she was hit there is not much I can do to save her life expect placing her on the needed life support systems to keep her alive” he said placing his cover back on his head and walking to his quarters
“Do so for now. The girl may serve as a bargaining chip against this so called ‘Gen Technical’,” Hux sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. “Has Lord Ren been alerted to what his current objective is? He was supposed to be here to interrogate the captive.”
Hux gestures to Techie through the one-way window, bound and gagged on a table beside Adeline. “That captive, to be precise.”
The officer nodded his head “ yes sir he has been alerted just a few -” he was interrupted as Kylo Ren entered the prison deck “General ” he said his attention caught notice of Adeline in a fragile state he clenched his fist “ what did you do to her ?” He asked in anger.
Hux stood his ground, meeting Ren’s furious gaze. “Only what was necessary. The prisoner seems to care for her, so her well-being is the key to get him to crack.” His lips curl up into a smirk. “Ren, keep your personal interests separate from your duties. Regardless of what you may feel for my- my DEFECTIVE CLONE, she and her bug-eyed friend are under investigation for plotting against a General of the First Order. Stick to the plan, Ren,” he hissed, and went to stand next to the window, waiting for the interrogation to begin.
TechieHux 