Chapter 22 - Battle for Takodana - Fifth part (2/2)

- ”What the hell do you know?!”- Finn shouted while swinging the lightsaber with all he had and managed to pushed Nines back- ”how can you know?!”

Nines felt pressured since Finn had changed from a passive defense to an active and violent offense. Without realizing it, Finn's stance and footwork had improved instinctively by just letting his emotions flow.

- ”How can you... a mere slave, lecture me?”- Finn continued his furious attacks in Nine. Even though he was using simple and direct swings and stabs, they were extremely fast and decisive.

Finn managed to give a direct hit on the arm of Nines. The impact provoked sparks to fly and armor immediately melt down but Nines managed to parry the lightsaber before it did more damage. He immediately counteratacked and managed to destabilize Finn who had to take four steps back to retake his footing.

- ”I'm no slave!”- said Nines jumping against Finn with a stab that Finn managed to parry in the last second- ”I fight for what I believe... not like you who killed your own brothers due to cowardice and laziness! You ungrateful bastard! The First Order fed you and trained you to be an elite but you just dismissed everything for your own benefit! They had so many expectations on you but you were just a huge dissapointment!”

- ”I never asked for that and they trained me to be a murderer!”- Finn shouted back while also returning blow to blow with Nines- ”They trained us NOT out of their good will but to raise their own merciless ȧssassins! We are monsters!”

- ”We fight to bring peace and order to the galaxy!”- responded Nines while increasing the intensity of the blows. His armor was full of impacts and cuts and he could smell the scent to burned material- ”we are the defenders of justice!”

- ”No! We are just terrorists!”- rebuked Finn while evading a blow from Nines and countering with a powerful blow which made him stagger and Finn dashed for his next attack- ”we killed innocents! we masacred children and elderly for no reason! how can you be so blind?!”

Finn stabbed Nines but he managed to evade the blow by rolling on the floor and retake his stance to immediately throw himself with a wild roared that sounded like a furious beast.

- ”Sacrifices must be made to bring change, you damn fool!”- yelled Nines who seemed to have recover his strength- ”their lives will be the foundation of a new glorious era! how can YOU not understand that?!”

- ”Nobody has the right to make that decision!”- said Finn while blocking a blow from Nines and they started to push each other trying to overwhlem the opponent- ”you're just blind fools who would do anything if ordered! Well, to hell with that! I'll choose what to do myself!”

Finn managed to push Nines back and pinned him against some rubble while pressing the lightsaber with all his might. He was going to end this now.

- ”Look at you! You're just looking for an excuse to kill another of your former comrades”- said Nines and Finn doubted for a second- ”if what you said was true, you would have tried to tell the rest of us something!”

Finn's doubt was very brief but it was enough for Nines to escape from his position and hit Finn on his shoulder. The electric shock shook him completely and and immediately felt his arm go limp. Finn jumped back trying to get distance but Nines was not going to let him go. Finn used his left hand to fight but he knew that it would be useless. He only needed to hold on until his right arm returned.

- ”You were always like this, Eight-Seven!”- said Nines furiously- ”always believeing you were special and superior to the rest! You seriously believe you were the only one with doubts and regrets? Never ocurred to you that maybe some of those you killed that day and even today felt the same as you?”

Finn felt as if a lightning had fallen next to him. Of course he had thought about it, but he had pretended not to know. In that moment that horrible feeling in his guts intensified and he felt dirty and unworthy again.

- ”Of course you never did!”- said Nines increasing his offense feeling the doubt and indecision of Finn- ”you just escaped by yourself and killed your brothers without giving them the chance!”

Nines finally broke Finn's defense and landed a clean hit directly in the ċhėst. Finn felt the powerful impact but most importantly the huge electrical shock which gave him the illsusion that his heart had stopped for some seconds. He found himself flying back various meters before landing very violently on the ground. Finn managed to breathe again with painful gasps while feeling every muscle in his body aching and convulsing. He tried to stand but he knew that he would not be able to stand up for some minutes.

- ”You know...”- said Nines approaching Finn slowly knowing he had won- ”If at least you would have said that you do this for those people that were killed or for the galaxy, I would at least respect you... but I can see in your eyes the truth... You just escaped and murdered all those soldiers for yourself. Do you regret it now?”

Finn did not answer but his expression was enough to know what he was thinking. Of course he felt a deep regret, not for abandoning the First Order, since he knew that the organization was evil and cruel. What he regretted was killing his former comrades in his escape and even now, since he knew that they were only following orders and that they did what they did because they honestly believed it was the correct thing to do.

-”You, pathetic coward just want to escape from the battle and hide in a corner of the galaxy while others bleed and die for what they believe!”

Finn just looked at him with shame in his eyes. He had rto admit that it was true. Since the moment he had deserted from the First Order he had only wanted to flee and hide... like a coward and due to that now even Rey was in danger. He clenched his teeth and felt a huge remorse and shame for himself. Slip and Poe had died fighting for what they believed and even now Han, Chewee, Lando, Nines Phasma and the knight of Ren also were ready to bleed and sacrifice themselves for what it was correct. Even Rey who had just been involved showed more commitment than he had. In comparison with them... what was he doing?

- ”Such dissapointment... to think that you were someone I used to admire”- Nines pushed Finn to the floor with his foot and lifted the baton increasing the intensity of the soch to maximum. It was obvious that he was going for the kill- ”let me at least give you an honorable death!”

Finn's survival instinct tried to force him to act but the paralizying effect of the baton was just too strong and he could only see how the baton descended directly on his head. However, the blow never reached him since Nines received a direct impact by a blaster on his ċhėst and was sent flying on the air various meter before falling heavily on the ground without moving. Finn did not understand what had happened until he saw Han and Chewee appear behind him.

- ”Are you ok, Big Deal?”- asked Han helping him to stand.

- ”Thanks”- said Finn who was still shaking for the battle against Nines.

- ”We need to move...”- started Han but immediately there were explosions and they were thrown to the ground and when they recovered they noticed they had been surrounded by a squadron of stormtroopers.

- ”Don't move! Don't move”- said the one who seemed to be the squad leader- ”TK-338, we have targets in custody.”

They are seized and handcuffed. Only then they noticed that they were not the only ones that had been taken prisoners. The majority of skirmishes around had ended and many memebers of the Takodana Forces had surrendered and were being captured. After some minutes, a Knight of Ren who had a slightly different helmet from the previous one approached them.

- ”General Solo and Commander Chewbaca”- said he using a mocking tone- ”It was a very welcome surprise to find you were here!”

- ”I'm afraid I can't say the same, kid!”- replied Han using a tone that showed that he was relaxed and he showed a confident smile- ”your friend back there sent his greetings. He hoped that you could join him soon.”

Even though they could not see his face, Finn could feel the anger and the hatred the knight of Ren was exuding but he soon calmed down and tried to talk with a normal voice.

- ”It's impressive that you managed to defeat Black Three”- said the knight of Ren putting all his sarcasm in his words- ”You're extremely lucky.”

- ”It's called skill, sweetheart”- said Han grinning and showing no fear- ”you know how many of your kind I have dispatched? And I'm even short in comparison with Chewee... how many more do I need...?”

- ”Groooen!”- said Chewee with a mocking tone following the lead of Han

- ”Shut up!”- said Black Two who slapped Han in the face making him fall down to the ground. Chewee roared in anger while trying to help Han who was kneeling- ”if it were not for Lord Ren to want you alive, I would deal with you in this moment. I will enjoy seeing you suffer in the hands of Lord Ren.”

Finn also tried to help Han but he was was not permitted to move by his captors. He saw how some medics from the stormtroiopers started to treat Nines and for some reason he felt relieved to see this even though he knew that he would not doubt a second to kill him.

- ”And you must be the traitor, FN-2187”- said the knight of Ren and Finn felt the hostility behind the mask the knight of Ren was using- ”you don't seem much of deal. I hope you show me your capabilities after the training... if you survive that is... take them away!”

- ”Yes, Sir!”- said the leader of the squad and they forced Han and Chewee to stand up.

- ”Secure the perimeter!”- the knight of Ren ordered as if he had forgotten Han and company even existed- ”prepare to break into the castle.”

- ”We have incoming at 28.6.”

- ”What?”- the knight of Ren turned around and saw something coming in the horizon and soon he started to panic- ”Move! Move! Move! Scramble all squads, repeat, scramble all squads! Head to higher cover and wait for our position! It's the Resistance!”