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“Just remind me, this guy contacted you out of the blue?” Lando questioned, as he shuffled uncomfortably, wondering why exactly the message Han had received was so convincing. Now that he was here, he regretted the fact he hadn’t asked more questions - who was this mysterious person? Why did they want Han and Lando to do this job? And why the kriff did he want to pay so much? It seemed very odd and Lando didn’t like the situation at all.
“Yeah, so? He must have heard about that job we did last month.”
“This place is creepy.” Lando murmured, as he crossed his arms. He studied the room that he and Han had been asked to wait in - a gloomy, dusty waiting area, with dents in the walls and dark stains on the floor. It looked abandoned, and not at all like a place where someone lived. “And ugly.”
“So this guy isn’t an interior decorator.” Han shrugged. “For what he’s willing to pay us for this smuggling job, I don’t care where he wants to meet us.” He peered at Lando. “What? Are you having second thoughts?”
“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about this.”
“50,000 credits, Lando. 50,000! For one job.”
“Exactly. 50,000.” Lando gestured towards the battered doorway. “He can afford to pay us 50,000 credits but he lives in a place like this.”
Han frowned, “Well-” He faltered. “You’re just being…paranoid. We’ll be fine. And rich.”
“Or dead and poor.” Lando grumbled, displeased that Han wasn’t taking him seriously. “How do we know this isn’t a scam where he lures unsuspecting smugglers to his lair so he can kill them. Kill us.”
“His lair? It’s his lair now?” Han rolled his eyes, but…he couldn’t help the tiny prickle of unease that appeared at Lando’s words. Maybe he was wrong, and Lando was right? He did have good instincts, and, not that he would ever admit such a thing in their increasingly competitive friendship, those instincts had saved them quite a few times. Still, he couldn’t get the idea of 50,000 credits out of his head. The things he could do with that…..
Han’s thoughts were interrupted by several, loud, booming thuds from somewhere above and then what sounded like a muffled shout.
Lando raised one eyebrow, and pointed upwards, “Ah, that’s not suspicious at all.”
“Ok, ok, so maybe I’m getting the bad feeling now.”
“Probably his previous victim trying to escape.”
“Shut up.”
“We should go.”
Han was about to argue, but before he could, a trembling voice cried for help. They both looked upwards, towards where the cry had come from.
“Kriff.” Lando grumbled, knowing that they were going to have to investigate.
They looked at each other and then silently headed for he stairs. As they made their way up, Lando noted it was getting even more gloomy and difficult to see as they ascended. He didn’t like this at all.
The landing was dusty and cobwebs covered the ceiling, the hallway ahead was long and, despite some small windows, it was impossible to see where it ended because it was so dark. The trembling “help” sounded again and Han began to move forward, but as he did, Lando noticed a brief shift in the shadows, revealing a fleeting glimpse of a grinning mouth, illuminated by the moonlight. Lando’s blood ran cold, he recognised that grin - it was the same one he’d seen the year before in that strange, gnarled forest.
He grabbed Han without thinking, “Don’t move. There’s no-one there.”
“But-” Han started to protest, but he was stopped by a nervous giggle from somewhere in the darkness ahead, the giggle dissolved into high-pitched laughter. That same laughter that had haunted Lando for a whole year, the same laughter that appeared in his nightmares. The voice began to call for help again but it was mocking and cruel. “What the-”
Lando didn’t let Han finish his sentence, he fired two blaster shots into the dark, towards the voice. In any other situation, Lando would have felt fairly confident he would have hit his target, but the blaster shots seemed to disappear into the shadows, swallowed up by whatever was lurking at the end of the corridor. He didn’t know what kind of thing could avoid a blaster like that, and he really didn’t want to find out.
“To hell with this.” Lando took Han by his hand and dragged him towards the stairs.
“What was that?!” Han exclaimed, as he stumbled after Lando. “That voice-”
“It sounded-”
“Evil.”
“You’d think I’d get bored of being right.” Lando muttered.
“Yeah, yeah. Next time you call somewhere creepy, we leave immediately.”
They practically fell through the door, breathing heavily, as they rushed outside.
“Want to go somewhere crowded and well-lit?” Han asked, a pleading note to his voice.
“Yes. Please.” Lando agreed readily.
They walked into the town, staying close together, unaware that something was watching them, something that was getting closer and closer every year.