Star Wars - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Odd Bounty ❯ Bounty Claimed ( Chapter 10 )

Heryns wanted out...the credits weren't worth it, not anymore. Not when there were two Mandalorians involved. He wanted to live long enough to spend his money and if he stayed...he was going to die.

He's stayed alive this long by being a slippery snake and he'll continue to live.

The lights above him flickered and he caught movement out of the corner of his eye making him jump.

But nothing was there and he let out the breath he had been holding.

Then there was a tap on his shoulder and he froze, turning slowly to come face to face with Fett.

"Going somewhere?"

Heryns hand flew to the knife at his belt but Fett was faster and brought the gaffi stick across his face, sending him spinning into the wall beside him. He hit hard, bouncing off and crumpling to the floor.

He tried scrambling back from him until he turned onto all fours and pushed himself to his feet. He had to get away.

His run was cut short as a tether wrapped around his calves as he fell to the floor again, quickly turning his head at the last second to prevent himself from slamming his nose into the metal below him.

"Oh you're not going anywhere...time for a little talk, Heryns. You see I spent the last five years learning all the ways to kill a man with a gaffi stick. Lets see how many I remember."

And he yanked on the cord hard, ripping a scream from the man's throat, his hands violently trying to find purchase on the flat floor until his nails tore and bleed. Then a fist connects with his face as he turns around and he blacks out.

/  -  /  -  /  -  /  

Alarms were blaring around them, echoing throughout the metal halls loudly. They had to leave...quickly before more troopers showed up. But there was something he had to do.

He glared at 'Commandant' Brendol Hux...if he were to kill him here and now...it would just paint a bigger target on their backs. They didn't need that...she didn't need that as his gaze dipped down to the top of Telana's head, she was still pressing herself into his side, not looking at anything. He gently extracted himself from her and when she struggled in complaint he gripped her face and pressed his helmet to her forehead gently.

"Its okay, Telana. Nothing bad is going to happen...not anymore."

She nodded slowly. "Where is Boba?"

Din chuckled, "Tying off a loose end. And speaking of loose ends..."

He turned to face the man and squared his shoulders, pulling the spear from his back.

/ -  /  -  /  -  /

He came to, and pain returned to his body. He looked around and found himself hanging upside down. His hands were surprisingly free and he brought them up to his face, wincing at the tender bruising he only lightly touched. One eye was completely closed as he couldn't see out of it. His bottom lip was nearly torn in two and he was drooling a mix of blood and spit down onto the floor below.

A green and red helmet stepped into view and he recoiled viciously, throwing his hands up to cover his face.

"No! Please...I'll...I'll leave..." He gurgled then coughed, spitting blood onto himself.

He chuckled darkly, "Now why would I do that?"

Heryns cried out as the gaffi stick struck him in the side, feeling ribs break from the impact.

"You shouldn't have shot off the girl's arm."

Another strike and this time its his arm and it snaps, ripping a scream from his throat and the force of air through his torn lip sends blood spraying everywhere.

He looked at his arm...at the now unnatural shape as it hung loosely from him and he whimpers in pain. 

A hand wrapped around it and squeezed.

He yells out in agony.

"Stop! Stop it!"

"Why?" The question makes his blood run cold and his pain gives in to anger and he spits at Boba, blood splattering over his armor.

"You son of a bitch! You're demented! Let me go you sick fuck!"

The hand that was wrapped around his arm is suddenly in his hair and yanking his head back, exposing his throat.

"I'm sick? A man that rips a girl from her father...beats on said girl all while wearing a smile on his face? You kidnap her, shooting off her arm in the process. You made her cry. You pissed off my brother and I'm the sick one?"

"She's not even human! What's the problem. She's nothing but a droid."

Boba takes off his helmet and leans close, lowering his voice to a whisper and Heryns whimpers.

"It doesn't matter. She was our bounty and you stole her from us. And no one steals from me."

"And just who the hell are you?"

He grins and whispers two words that finally rattle him to the core.

"Boba Fett."

The stench of urine fills the air as the man wets himself, one eye wide open in absolute terror. 

"B-Boba Fett? You're dead..."

His hands wrap around Heryns throat and squeezes tighter and tighter until his face starts to turn purple.

"Too many have tried to kill me and they all died at my hands. Hell, even a fucking sarlacc couldn't kill me...what makes you think you ever stood a chance to do what so many have failed at?"

Heryns gasps, his undamaged hand clutching at the vice-like grip around his throat, trying to lessen the pressure.

Fett grips even tighter until his neck finally gives...an audible snap filling the air and the man sags immediately, hanging lifelessly as his neck had snapped too easily under his hands. He tears his hands back, sliding his helmet back on before walking away. The body left hanging...swinging gently back and forth.

No one steals from him....and they especially don't steal from his brother.

/  -  /  -  /  -  /

He points the spear at him. "You! You put the bounty on her!"

Hux laughed nervously, eyes trained on the spear. "And?"

Din surge forward, spinning the spear, swinging at him and he stopped at the last second, pressing the sharp tip of his spear into the man's neck. 

Hux stopped smiling, his hands in the air in surrender. "Now, now no need to get physical, Mandalorian. You see, the girl is very special. My...employer would like to study her."

Din snorted, "You mean take her apart, find what makes her tick and use it to create a new army, right?"

The commandant fell silent as the spear dug a little harder into his neck, feeling a warm trickle of something down his throat. It had cut him. He was bleeding.

Color drained from his face and he swallowed tentatively before speaking again.

"You're a bounty hunter, aren't you? I can pay you...100,000 credits."

Din moved forward, pushing him back against the wall behind him and he began babbling.

"Two hundred thousand?...five?! She is..." He gasped when Mando wrapped his hand around his throat.

"I don't want your credits. She's leaving with me."

He brought his helmet close to Hux, "Nothing you say or offer is going to change that."

"She is..." He floundered for a second before squaring his shoulders and speaking confidently. "She is mine. My clan. My... Do you know what happens when a member of a Mandalorian clan is harmed? To harm her would bring my entire covert on your head. And I was raised by Deathwatch."

Hux's face drained further of all color until he was so pale he looked corpse-like. He stuttered, "Death...Deathwatch?"

He chuckled darkly, "So you've heard of us...heard of what we have done, what we can do to someone like you? "

Hux nodded his head violently.

"Good. I want you to do something for me."

Din moved barely an inch and Hux's face flinched violently, eyes closing shut as the spear moved...away from his throat.

The commandant looked down and then back up at Mando in surprise.

"You're not going to kill me?"

"You will live...for now but you have to tell the Empire that their 'asset' has been destroyed and if you ever...EVER decide to come after her and her father again and believe I will know. I will find you and show you a far worse off fate than death...Show you forms of torture that would have you begging for your death in under an hour. And it won't only be you that suffers that fate, commandant..." He spit that last word out like a bitter liquid.

"I'll make sure your entire family suffers with you. Do you understand me?" His voice had dropped to a quiet growl.

He didn't speak.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" The sudden yell had Hux jumping, his hands flying up again in apology.

"Yes! Yes, I understand." He did after all have a son to think of.

"Good. Now tell your men to stand down."

He turned to Telana, wrapping his arm around her waist and lifting her up into him. "Let's go. We're getting out of here."

"Where?"

He snorted, "Right out the front door."

The door slide open and troopers flooded the door, surrounding them with their blasters raised. Din looked back at Hux and he shuddered, giving a tiny nod. He motioned to the soldiers.

"Stand down!"

'But sir-"

"I said stand down! They are free to leave."

"Sir the asset?"

"Mr. Heryns made a mistake. He brought us the wrong droid."

Din lifted his helmet. "She's not a droid."

Hux waved them off, "Get out of my outpost before I change my mind."

Telana did a double take, eyes snapping up to his visor and he nodded.

She smiled brightly and dug herself into his side snugly as they walked slowly through the throng of troopers and out the room, the doors sliding shut behind them.

When they emerged outside, the sun was bright, illuminating the wreckage they had caused and there in front of them...waiting at the twisted remains of the gate was Fett.

His armor was splattered with blood but still Telana smiled at him. He nodded back.

"About time. It seems like your crazy idea worked after all." Boba clutched his shoulder and shook it lightly.

"Heryns?"

"Dead."

"Good. Lets get out of here."

"Best idea yet."