Chapter 138 - Sith Assassin

When Dageer woke up again, he found himself floating in the middle of a room. His legs, and his left arm were tied by anti-gravity locks. His right arm wasn't tied, but considering it was broken in at least two places, it might as well have been.

Groaning, he tried to move his body to look around the room, and found out that if he leaned to one side, the locks would move with him, and his whole body turned.

Next to him, seven other clones were chained just like him. Narza, Hilix, Dab, Metal, Brain, Tech and Berro. Thinking of what the woman said before he passed out, Dageer found it weird that Cell wasn't there. The first thing that came to his mind was that he had been killed. Cell had always been impulsive, and without Dageer to command him, he might have tried to fight back against the powerful woman.

"You are awake, sir."

Tech saw Dageer moving, and turned slightly to talk to him. Dageer was about to ask what happened to Cell when he saw a warning on Tech's eyes, and swallowed his words. It was only when Tech turned back that Dageer saw the mysterious woman leaning against a wall.

Tech had used his body to cover the woman's view, and to stop Dageer from talking. Presumably, Tech knew that he would ask about Cell. It was a long shot, but Dageer thought that maybe, Cell was still alive, and had somehow escaped from the hunt for Hell Squad.

"Ohhh... you are awake! Had some good dreams, I hope?"

Smiling, the woman approached, walking slowly, almost hypnotically. She caressed Dageer's belly, chest, arms, neck, and finally his face. Although she was always smiling, Dageer felt a sense of danger bigger than any he had ever had.

Suddenly, her soft hand became hard, and she grabbed his cheeks. He struggled, but her hand remained unmoving.

"Now, what should I do with you?"

"Who are you? A jedi?"

Her hand moved so fast that none of the clones saw it. With a loud sound, a red handprint appeared on Dageer's face. His whole body shook from the impact, and he felt blood inside his mouth. Still, he kept his eyes locked onto hers.

"Don't... ever... compare me to those filthy animals. Or I will kill you."

Blood started dripping from his mouth, but Dageer suddenly smiled. He liked the angry woman more than the cold and smiling one. At least he could read her better.

"Sorry... I shouldn't compare you with the jedis. They are honorable, and much better than you can ever be. So who are you? I never saw a Force wielding seppie."

This time he really succeed in pissing off the woman. She turned around as if she was leaving, then punched not him, but Tech. His brother instantly passed out, but white foam trickled in the corners of his mouth.

"Tech!"

"Tech!"

Brain and Metal tried to free themselves, to no avail. When the woman turned to Dageer again, she had a smile on her face.

"My name is Asajj Ventress, clone. Make no mistake, if I could you would be dead already, just for talking back to me. Unfortunately for you, you might have some useful information. If you don't give it to me willing, I will have to take it my way. You will ask for me to kill you, sc.u.m."

Giving Dageer a last stare, Ventress left the room. With a tacit understanding, the clones waited a few minutes, to make sure she wouldn't come back, or that anyone listening to them wasn't paying that much attention.

"How is Tech?"

"He will be okay. How is your arm, sir?"

Everyone could see that his arm wasn't doing well. It wasn't just hanging by his side, but also swollen. Dageer wasn't one that enjoyed being taken pity upon, and injuries like that were too common for the clones, so he just ignored it.

"Cell?"

"The clanckers came for us, they knew that Hell Squad had seven members, but not who we were. We stayed quiet at first, but..."

"They killed Trap. Then that Ventress said she would kill us all one by one unless Hell Squad showed themselves. It took some time to convince her that Three-four wasn't here."

"Get straight to the point. What happened to Cell?"

"He was about to turn himself in when Berro here decided he wanted to die, and said he was Cell."

Dageer looked at Berro. The clone was serious, but he didn't seem to be ashamed. He had no reason to, because all he had done was protect a brother. And Dageer had to agree that Cell was more useful outside than he would be hanging from the ceiling like Dageer and the others.

...

Dageer didn't know how much time elapsed, but he was starving. If the droids waited for too long, the clones wouldn't be able to give them information even if they wanted to. Of course, Dageer preferred to be dead than to betray the Republic.

As if reading his mind, the door opened, and a cleaning droid modified to carry plates appeared. It was clumsy, but somehow, it managed to feed the clones. It was very insulting to be feed by a droid, but it was better than dying, and the clones couldn't eat by themselves, since all their limbs were tied.

Many hours later, the door opened again. Dageer was sleeping even in such an uncomfortable position, but as a soldier, he woke up when he heard something.

Ventress walked into the room, complacent as always. She stretched her had and touched Dageer's face intimately. He was disgusted.

"Dageer, right? I need you to tell me everything you know about the Republic operations on Mygeeto."

"No"

Dageer sneered. There was no chance he was going to tell her about his own squad, whatsoever about their operations on Mygeeto. Still, it should have been pretty obvious, what the Republic wanted.

"Tell me... what do you want on Mygeeto..."

Ventress showed her palm, and waved it in front of Dageer. Suddenly, he felt dizzy. Ventress, the room, the other clones, everything, became blurred, and covered by darkness.

"Tell me... Tell me... Tell me..."

He heard Ventress' voice over and over again. At first, he denied her request, but after time, her voice became softer, and it also didn't look so bad as before. What could happen if he told her this little information? In fact, he wasn't even sure why he thought Ventress was bad.

"Mygeeto... is an important location. We came here to take it from the Separatist."