Rated: PG-13
Pairing: Han/Leia, Luke/Mara
Coruscant City, May 1977. On that balmy
night, one would look up into the sky and see neither a bird nor a
plane, but what appeared to be a random streak of light. Had they
looked close enough, they would have seen that the fire surrounded a
diminutive, very human, and extremely female figure. Three little
girls sitting on a fire escape by a tenement point upwards. The
children know. The girls especially know that, where evil lurks,
where injustice occurs, you will see that streak. You will know her
flame, and you will feel the wrath of Force Girl.
She sped away from the thick plume of
smoke at the Erso Shipyards as fast as her flame could carry her.
Thank goodness she'd managed to get out just before that crazy new
death ray of Vader's blew the entire area sky-high. She was the only
one. The rest of her Rebel League team had still been dealing with
Vader and The Director – whom she was pretty sure was really
snobbish lawyer Orson Krenshaw – when she took off.
“Hello?” The figure, clad in a
skin-tight, fireproof white suit with hood with red trim and a mask
in the shape of flame, checks her wrist watch. Like all of her
accessories, it was made from khyber, a powerful crystal that is only
found n the hills outside of Tatoonie County. “Force Girl? Are you
there? I can't get the Huntress or El Rio on my radar, and neither
can Fulcrum. We heard about the Death Ray and what happened to the
Erso Shipyards.”
“M...White Queen? I'm sort of busy
here. I just got the tapes from The Huntress. Vader's on my tail.”
“I know, Force Girl. Get them to The
Negotiator as soon as you possibly can. Fulcrum told me he owns a
comic book shop on Kirby Street in Tatoonie.” The voice of the
White Queen was known to every operative of the Rebel League. It was
she who gave them their commands, who ran the operation. Very few had
ever seen her; even fewer whispered her name. There was a bit of a
rueful grin in her voice as she went on. “Don't forget, your Uncle
Bail wants you back at Aldera Hills in time for supper. He gets
worried about you when you're on patrol, Leia.”
Force Girl – known to those outside
the League as Leia Ortega – chuckled. “I'll be fine, Your
Majesty. He's the one who trained me for this! I know what I'm
doing.”
“Watch out for Vader.” The White
Queen's soft voice grew more serious. “He's already cut down at
least six of our best agents. He's said to be invincible.”
Leia snorted. “I can deal with him.
Tell Uncle Bail I'll be home by 6.”
“All right.” She added gently, “be
careful. May the light be with you, my Leia.”
“And you. Over and out.” She tapped
the device and saw it blink off just in time. A long plume of
scorching red-gold fire nearly slammed right into her side. The glint
of shiny, fireproof armor nearly blinded her. More figures, these
wearing sleek white and black armor with silver jet packs and round
helmets that obscured their faces, sped past her. Every single one
had a light gun or a rifle. She dodged two particle light guns and
two that shot water.
“Stay on her!” Vader hissed through
the grill of his helmet. “Don't let her escape with those plans!”
Leia smirked under her own hood.
“You'll have to catch me first, Father of Death!”
She had no sooner arrived at the city
than the mountaintop less than four blocks away opened with a great
roar. A thin beam of green light shot out from the mountain, hitting
the scrapyard with such a tremendous impact, it broke her
concentration and nearly knocked her out of the sky. Another, only
slightly less powerful beam of jagged red fire nearly clipped her
shoulder. “We know you have the tape, Force Girl!”
“Try again, Fire Breath!” Leia
raised her hand and let loose with her own fire beam...one that was a
lot stronger than she'd planned. She actually burned the top of a
tree. “Damn it!” Controlling her powers was something she was
still working on. She was lucky she hadn't burnt down half the city
yet. She tried again, melting the jet packs of two Shadow Men and
sending them down in Yavin Park before ducking into the trees.
Yavin Park was the name of both the
wide-open community park alongside the Naboo River and the aging
apartment buildings and eclectic collection of bookstores, coffee
shops, and New Age collectives that bordered it. The area was mostly
made up of artists, musicians, and poets who found the area
conductive to their creativity and college students from near-by
Coruscant University who were there for the cheap rents and the local
dive bars and delis that sold mile-high sandwiches.
Leia landed the alley between the
oldest building on the block and the row behind it. It was the same
mellow old brick as the other buildings on the row, housing a tiny
coffee shop, a popular deli that sold the thickest sub sandwiches in
town, and a book store. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she
flung the back door open and darted up the creaky old stairs, down
the hall, and into the nearest bathroom. “Rudy! Rudy, I need you!”
Rudolph “Rudy” Detonski's short
body was, as usual, under the sink. “Rich Girl” by Daryl Hall and
John Oates blared on the transistor radio that sat on the top of the
toilet. “Did it get stopped up again, Rudy?” she asked, shaking
her head. “Oh, hi Charlie,” she added to Charles “Charlie”
Thompson, the thin young man with the pinched face and cloud of dark
brown hair who was handing a set of stubby fingers a wrench. “I
thought you'd be at the office today.”
“Councilwoman Mothma gave me the
afternoon off,” Charlie explained in his clipped British accent.
“She was supposed to be having a meeting with Mayor Palpatine,
Chief Vedder, and the rest of the city council, but it seems that the
Mayor and Vedder are stuck in traffic and will be running a little
late.” He frowned nervously, which was really his default
expression. “Pardon me for asking, but...what are you doing here?
And in costume, too! What if someone finds you?” He shuddered.
“What if...Vader...finds you?”
“I'll be gone before they get ideas.”
She dropped the white leather bag in Rudy's small and wet hands the
moment he emerged from under the sink. “I need you to take this to
The Negotiator. The White Queen says he runs a comics shop on Kirby
Street in Tatoonie. You and Charlie are pretty much the only members
of the League he's not on to.”
Rudy made a face. “That podunk town?
What would one of the greatest Golden Age superheroes be doing
running a comics shop in that place?” He was a study in contrasts
to his taller friend. Short well under the average, his sharp blue
eyes and silvery hair gave him the look of a dwarfish robot. His old
blue and white tie dyed t-shirt and jeans were covered in grease
stains.
“Probably hiding, I imagine,”
Charlie sniffed. “Where better for a legend to lay low than in a
'podunk town,' as you call it?”
Leia winced and hastily pulled her hood
back over the two buns on either side of her head. “I have to get
going. Vader's after me. It won't take him long to figure out where I
went.” There was a thunk and the hiss of jet fuel and Vader's raspy
breathing. “That's him. I'll draw his fire. You two get going!”
“Eh, I'm done with this, anyway.”
Rudy wrapped up the tape in the bag and shoved the bag into his tool
case. “I think it's about time we got moving, before Vader realizes
what this is and what really goes on here.”
“You mean...he's here?” Charlie's
face went from slightly yellowish to white as a ghost. “Vader? The
Father of Death? Who has burned every building in town that belonged
to an owner that wouldn't pay service to his master, has been known
to burn or throttle anyone he doesn't like? That Vader?”
Rudy grabbed his hand. “Aw, he not
that bad, Charlie. We can handle him.” He turned to Leia. “I
think we'd all better get out of here. If he finds the entrance to
the secret rooms on the second floor, we're all toast.”
“I'll be on the roof.” Leia gave
them both a quick hug. “May the Light be with you both!”
To Leia's relief, the only people on
the roof were Vader's boys. The Shadow Men were basically lackeys,
existing to do the heavy work of keeping the Empire's brand of
twisted order. They could be easily distracted. She closed her eyes
and focused hard on the fire burning in her hands. Her fire could be
molded, like melted plastic. When it was as close as she could get to
the shape of a human, she threw it in the direction of the men in the
white vinyl suits and heavy helmets.
The moment they shot at the light, she
blazed into action, melting the jet packs on two before making her
way to the edge of the roof. As she looked down, she could see Rudy
and Charlie running for their lives towards Rudy's ancient motor
scooter. It was pretty much the only vehicle that his short legs
could reach the pedals on. He tossed the bag in Charlie's arms,
climbed on, took the controls, and grabbed his friend beside him.
The moment they took off down Siegel
Avenue, Leia put out her arms and focused on lifting into the air.
Her ears were so filled with the familiar rush of heat, she forgot
one of the first things Uncle Bail had taught her – always be
alert. Don't turn your back on your enemy for a second.
Water suddenly came pouring down over
her body, dousing her flame before she could barely get started.
“What in the...” She didn't have a chance to find out who
attacked her. A puff of yellowish smoke hit her from behind,
surrounding her before she could flee. “Sleeping...fumes...” Her
eyes were lowering; legs that normally obeyed her were turning into
jelly. “Must...resist...” She tried to push out one more flame,
but all she got was a small spark before her legs went out from under
her and her world went dark.
A metal fist slamming across her head
brought her back to life. Her eyes stared into the plastic and metal
abyss of a black soul...if, in fact, Vader had a soul. Which Leia
suspected he didn't. “Darth Vader,” she snapped. “Father of
Death. Only you could be so bold. You're lucky the cops didn't arrest
you for using that insane killer ray of yours to destroy the Erso
Shipyards.”
“The Empire has no fear of the
police, Force Girl.” His voice rumbled like the detonation of an
atom bomb. “You, on the other hand, stole something from us. I want
it back. I know you're going to turn it over to that group of
traitors you belong to.”
“I don't know what you're talking
about.” Leia gave him her best nasty glare, the one that sent every
other intern at Councilwoman Mothma's office running for the hills.
“I work alone. The smoke from the Erso Shipyards was hard to miss.
I followed it and went to help the others there.”
“Don't lie to me, girl!” Vader
shook his thickly gloved finger in her face. “You are part of the
Rebel League and a traitor!” He turned to his men. “Take her to
the water cages at Mufasar. She'll be more willing to talk if she's
powerless.” His rumble became more than a little annoyed. “I know
that all too well.”
Leia kept her chin high as she
struggled. She wasn't going to tell Vader what he wanted to know.
That would put everyone in the entire city...and maybe the entire
world...in danger. The Negotiator was their only hope. He'd once been
one of the greatest super heroes in Coruscant, but people barely
spoke of him outside of comic books and rumors nowadays. As two of
the Shadow Soldiers bound her with khyber chains made to inhibit her
powers, she internally wished for Rudy and Charlie to get very, very
far away.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Even as the Soldiers carried her off
towards the former Mufasar Iron Works, Rudy and Charlie were two
blocks away. Rudy kicked angrily at his motorbike. Charlie sighed and
crossed his arms.
“I told you to fill it with gas this
morning!” The slender translator wailed. “Why do I ever listen to
you? This is worse than the time you dragged me into the middle of
that battle between the Jedi League and General Grevious' cyborg army
at the old Fawcett Arena! They even thought I was one of the cyborgs!
Do I look like a cyborg to you?”
His best friend rolled his eyes. “No.
I told you not to stand there when Jedi were falling all around you.
You can't shoot for beans.”
Charlie sniffed. “I did shoot the
gun, didn't I?”
“Yeah. I think you might have taken
out two footballs and popcorn vendor.” Rudy's blue eyes searched
furtively around the road. “There has to be some way we can get to
Tatoonie fast, before Vader or those idiots he calls his boys figure
out where the tapes went to.”
“How?” Charlie's high tenor got
whinier with every syllable. “Neither of us own a car, they
discontinued the trolley line years ago, the bus won't be here for
another half-hour, and we're nowhere near the train station or
airport!”
“Hello there.” Rudy smirked and
stuffed the tapes under his grease-smeared shirt. “I think we have
our ride.” He dragged Charlie to an ancient brown delivery van with
the words “Lars Furniture” scrawled across it in mustard-yellow.
“But...” Charlie didn't have the
chance to protest. Rudy leaped in the passenger side and yanked him
behind him.
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