Bab 139: Mental Breakdown
"Only that?"
"Y-Yes."
Dageer frowned, thinking that something was wrong. He vaguely remembered that he could not say anything to anyone. But there was nothing wrong if he told Ventress, right? After all, the Republic's intention on Mygeeto were pretty obvious.
"What do you know about the sacred Temple of Asheress?"
"Sa-Sacred temple?"
Dageer shook his head. He knew nothing about this Asheress temple.
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
Something was bugging Dageer. There were several faint callings for him, but he couldn't understand them very well.
Dageer's eyes were rolling inside his eye sockets, but when his brothers started calling for him, they started to gain focus. Sensing her control over him get weaker, Ventress became upset.
"Shut up!"
Dageer couldn't see clearly what she did, but the clones stopped yelling, and her voice became louder, throwing him back in confusion.
"You will tell me about the Sacred Temple of Asheress."
"I-I am going to tell you about... the sacred temple... sacred temple..."
Dageer searched his memories, but he had never heard of this Sacred Temple of Asheress. Ventress started to get frustrated.
"Why are you a sub-commander if you know nothing?" Useless..."
Ventress was more and more upset. Suddenly, Dageer felt pain. Incredible pain. He felt as if his head would break in half, or as if someone was hammering it. He struggled, trying to free himself from the pain.
"The jedi... the one you work for. Tell me about the jedi."
Jedi. That was the only word that he understood. Maybe it was because his mind was almost breaking, but his nightmares came back to him. In his head, the word 'jedi' echoed over and over again, while an evil laugh sounded. Only that this time, it wasn't a male voice, but Ventress'.
"General... General Di... he... he is..."
"Sir, no!"
Somehow, Berro yelled. Before, nothing that Dageer said was critical, but any information about the jedis was extremely classified. Inside his head, Dageer knew he couldn't tell Ventress anything, and was struggling to free himself from her control. Berro's yell was all he needed.
The pain he was feeling, the words that Ventress was uttering. Being forced to think about General Di had brought all his nightmares forward, and it all melded into one, big ball of pain and darkness.
The mist clouding his eyes faded, but the pain only became stronger. Struggling for breath, he saw his men looking at him, and Ventress glaring ferociously. Fear rose from deep within his heart. That woman was able to torture someone like that without even touching them. She almost made him, a battle-hardened soldier, spill classified information. She was terrifying.
Seeing him wake up from his trance, Ventress decided to take a more violent approach. She was a few meters away from Dageer, but when she stretched her arm, he felt pressure on his throat.
Veins and sinews showed in her hand, as if she was exerting incredible strength. As her grip became stronger, so did the force on Dageer's neck. Soon, he wasn't able to breathe.
"Tell. Me. Everything!"
He started floating towards her, the only thing holding him being the chains with which he was tied. His vision started turning red, purple, and then black. Probably sensing that she was about to kill Dageer, Ventress released some pressure, just enough for him to barely breath and speak.
Once more struggling to breathe, Dageer locked his eyes with Ventress. Small veins had ruptured on his eyes, due to the lack of air.
"Don't test my patience, clone."
"Ufff... Cough... Cough... Ufff... Why should I tell you anything?"
"Hahaha... Because if you don't, I will kill this garbage you call brothers right in front of you."
Before he could answer, Berro had already done it for him. His eyes were resolute, and so were the others'.
"Kill us then. We are never going to tell anything to a traitorous jedi like you. Pffft."
There was no fear on Berro's face, only unwillingness. He didn't want to die. None of them did. But they were prepared to give up their lives for the Republic, and they preferred to die than to betray all they believed.
Dageer stayed quiet. The moment they had been captured, Dageer knew that they would die. And as much as he wanted to save his brothers, he wasn't able to, neither could. Even if Ventress killed Hell Squad, Captain Narza, Captain Hilix, Berro, and every clone prisoner, he still wouldn't utter a word. That was something ingrained in his genetic code.
Ventress glared at Berro angrily, then turned to Dageer again. She understood that only he could give her what she wanted, so she couldn't kill him. Yet.
This time she approached Dageer, grabbed his neck and squeezed hard. He felt an invisible force swirl around him, and clash against his head. But he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Besides, he had been fighting alongside with a jedi for a long time. He was never the one on which General Di used his power, but he knew some things about it.
He blocked his mind with imaginary walls, and did his best to keep Ventress out. At first her face was calm, but when she found out that she couldn't breakthrough Dageer's mental defense, she became increasingly angry.
"Tell me! Tell me now!"
Unconsciously, she gripped his throat stronger, and he started to choke.
"N-No... Urghh... Urghhh!!!"
Suddenly, she released him and stepped back. Dageer saw her reach her hand inside her robe, but didn't think much of it.
"If you really want to suffer, so be it. I will have my droids visit you on the next days."
Dageer had the feeling she wasn't talking about the normal B1 battle droids, but something worse. He had heard about the methods the Separatist used to get what they wanted, and he didn't like it. But if that was the cost of keeping his brothers safe, he was happy to pay it.
"But I only need you, not your friends. I will make sure they get a chance to workout. Most of them, at least. I don't like it when people mistake me for a jedi."
Dageer knew what was going to happen seconds before it actually did. The hand that Ventress had put inside her clothes came out holding a short metal stick, very similar to the ones that General Di and Ragout had.
There was a flash of red light, and then a dull 'thud' as something hit the ground. Ventress showed her red lightsaber to Dageer, as if to make sure he knew she wasn't a jedi. But his attention wasn't on her or her weapon.
"No!!!"
Brain broke the silence, and he and the other clones started cursing Ventress. But all Dageer could do was stare ceaselessly at the headless body of Berro.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone