One Path Chapter 12--Night's End
Title: A Night's End
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "I must be going crazy," she muttered..."
Rating: PG for mild non graphic violence.
Length: Around 2300 words
Category: Angst/Drama
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 12. The night of the second assassination attempt, set during an alternate AtoC.
Night's End
Dorme quietly handed her a cup of caf, and Padme nodded her thanks to the decoy, slipping into a chair. The decoy stayed nearby, occasionally nodding or answering a question from Captain Typho, who was prowling like a caged beast and restructuring the entire security detail while alternately trying to trace the Jedi. Padme rolled the hot mug between her hands and tried to focus on what he was telling her--something about Anakin stealing a parked speeder to chase down his Master.
Her mind kept drifting inexplicably off, though. The scent of the caf triggered the irrational memory of her discussion with Obi Wan about the popular beverage while they were on Tatooine. He'd never liked it--in fact, continued not to like it--and when she commented that it was an acquired taste, he'd asked quite seriously,
"Well, what's the point of an acquired taste?"
She bit her cheek to keep from laughing and wondered what exactly was wrong with her. He'd just jumped out a window miles above the streets of Coruscant. She had no idea whether he was alive or dead. Of all the times for a fit of giggles, this was definitely not it. She knew that stress and worry could do strange things, but she had never been the type to buckle during a crisis.
What are you doing, Padme Amidala? she scolded herself.
What are you doing? his laughing question echoed through her mind. Before she kissed him. She swallowed convulsively and set down the mug, her whole body feeling suddenly flushed with the memory. She had met him at the door in a negligee. Her hands began to shake as she remembered again the touch of his fingers, the taste of his lips. She felt him buryhis face against her neck again, and she fought a shiver.
Don't worry, Padme. I am the Chosen One.
She jerked back in her chair, and both Dorme and Typho eyed her questioningly. She gave a dismissive shake of her head and picked up the mug again, hiding behind it as she mumbled, "I must be going crazy."
***
"I'm crazy, I'm crazy, I'm crazy," Obi Wan muttered to himself, staring straight ahead. The words were a mantra against the memory of the last several minutes. He had just been fired upon from point blank range, and a short while later forced to crawl out on the front end of the speeder to dislodge a flag from one of the air scoops. Then, Anakin had chased the assassin through a refinery and piloted them directly through the arc of a giant bolt of electricity when their quarry fired on a power coupling. Then, when the Padwan pursued the other speeder around a corner, they found their target blocking the next alley, rifle pointed directly at them. Diving under it, Anakin had nearly taken off their heads, then piloted them through a small gap in the building beyond, where he collided with several pipes and lost control. By the time he recovered, he barely had time to avoid a crane, clipped a pair of giant struts, and stalled the speeder when the damage sent up a giant ball of flaming gas that nearly killed them sent the speeder spinning, and they bounced off another wall before he could stop it again.
"I got us through that one all right…" Anakin attempted.
"No you didn't! We've stalled! And you almost got us killed!" Obi Wan cried, snapping out of his moment of shock at the Padawan's seeming nonchalance.
"I think we're still alive," Anakin grinned, looking himself over and wiggling his fingers in his best attempt to charm the elder Jedi. Obi Wan glared, unimpressed, and the boy busied himself trying to get the speeder started.
"It was stupid!" Obi Wan fired at him, determined, for once, to make the boy understand that his recklessness had consequences.
"I could have made it…" Anakin offered sheepishly.
"But you didn't!!! And now we've lost him for good--" the words were barely out of the Master's mouth when blaster fire began all around them, setting off a series of explosion. They looked up to see the assassin's speeder take off again, and Anakin suddenly pulled their speeder up, moving them in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?! He went down there, the other way," Obi Wan pointed out.
"Master, if we keep this chase going, that creep's gonna end up deep-fried. Personally, I'd very much like to find out who he is and who he's working for," explained Anakin. "This is a shortcut... I think."
"What do you mean, you think?" demanded Obi Wan as they began to move again. Anakin's only response was to swerve in and out of several alleys and passageways, until Obi Wan sighed. "Well, you lost him."
"I'm deeply sorry, Master," Anakin replied in a tone that clearly said he wasn't.
"Well, this is some kind of shortcut. He went completely the other way!" complained Obi Wan as the Padawan began to look around. "Once again, Anakin…"
"Excuse me for a moment," interrupted Anakin, suddenly vaulting out of the speeder.
Obi Wan peered over the side in time to see him land atop the assassin's speeder, about five stories below. "I hate it when he does that," he sighed.
***
"M'lady, the speeder's been located," Typho reported with a bland expression that immediately told Padme there was more she needed to know.
"Where?" she demanded, setting her second mug of caf down with a clack.
"Outside a club on the lower streets," he explained. "Apparently, young Anakin lost control during a high speed chase and almost collided with the assassin. Among other things."
"What other things?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. She felt suddenly cold, but told herself that Obi Wan must have been with him if Anakin was willing to chase the perpetrator down. He could be impulsive, but he wouldn't abandon Obi Wan or jeopardize his Master's safety in pursuit of a criminal.
She listened as the captain explained the details of the chase, holding back a sigh with each new stunt she heard Anakin had pulled. Then her eyes bulged when he went on to say that the Master Jedi had actually been seen climbing out on the front of the speeder to pull a banner out of one of the airscoops.
"I hope he doesn't get them both killed," Padme heard herself say as she pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Master Kenobi seems to have survived the past ten years, m'lady," Typho offered with a faint smirk.
Padme bit her lip, realizing how uncharitable the comment must have sounded. Whatever Ani had done, she knew the boy meant well. His initiation into the Jedi Order had been unorthodox, and she knew that Obi Wan often clashed with him, but the complaints he shared with her were the same as those he had raised about his own mentor. Ani was reckless, impulsive, rarely respected authority--but like Qui-Gon, Ani had a good heart.
"Of course he has, Captain," she smiled now. "Anakin wouldn't really let anything happen to his Master."
***
"Why do I think that you're going to be the death of me?" Obi Wan said tiredly as he and Anakin entered the club where they had finally cornered their quarry.
"Don't say that, Master," Anakin pleaded solemnly. "You're the closest thing I have to a father. I love you, and I don't want to cause you pain."
"Then why don't you listen to me?" Obi Wan snapped, instantly regretting it.
"I am trying," Anakin told him earnestly.
Please don't make a judgment before getting to know Ani. He has a good heart, Padme's words came back to him. Obi Wan let out a long sigh. "Anakin," he shook his head, giving the boy's arm a squeeze. "Come on. Do you see him?"
"I think he's a she."
"Then be extra careful," Obi Wan told him with a snort.
"And I think she's a changeling," went on Anakin.
"Go and find her," Obi Wan instructed, heading toward the bar.
"Where are you going, Master?" Anakin wanted to know.
"To get a drink," he replied flatly. He could feel the Padawan's surprise but offered no further explanation. Calmly sitting at the bar, he signaled the barkeeep and ordered a drink, then simply waited. If he was right, the convenient target of his exposed back would draw their quarry out again.
As the barkeep returned with his drink, a being with a wild shock of hair that seemed to be sprouting a pair of antennae sidled up to him. Obi Wan didn't bother turning to focus on the newcomer, already alert to the approach of danger.
"Wanna buy some death sticks?" the stranger asked. "Nobody's got better death sticks than Elan Sleazebaggano,"
"You don't want to sell me death sticks," Obi Wan replied with a slight motion of his fingers as he deftly imposed his will on the other's mind.
"I don't want to sell you death sticks," repeated the stranger.
"You want to go home and rethink your life," the Jedi Master told him calmly.
"I want to go home and rethink my life," Elan Sleazebaggano agreed, then turned and left.
Obi Wan picked up his drink and knocked it back, then signaled the barkeep for a refill. His sense of imminent danger was heightening and he stretched out with the Force, carefully pinpointing the origin. Locating the assassin, he felt a spike of anger at her ruthlessness. Had she stalked Padme this way? he wondered, but banished the distraction as quickly as it entered his mind.
The blaster pistol came to bear on his back and the Jedi Master spun. His lightsaber was in his hand and ignited by the time he finished the turn, creating a perfect blue arc that severed the bounty hunter's arm above the elbow. The room erupted, and Anakin was instantly at his side, raising his hands to calm the crowd.
"Easy!" he called, drawing on the Force to control the crowd. "Official business. Go back to your drinks."
Gradually, the club patrons did as he bid them, and Master and Padawan together took the assassin out to the street where they lowered her onto the ground. The last thing Obi Wan Kenobi wanted to do was treat the wound of the being who had so nearly murdered the woman he loved. He was a Jedi however, and so he forced himself to kneel beside the hunter, who was now staring in silent defiance up at his apprentice. Finally, she nodded.
"Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?" Obi Wan asked her, keeping his tone rigidly under control.
"The Senator from Naboo," was the callous response.
"Who hired you?" the Master demanded, now barely reigning in his outrage.
"It was just a job," the would be a assassin glared.
Obi Wan did not react. He kept himself entirely still and did not reach out the Force as his instincts demanded. As easily as he had manipulated the death stick dealer inside, he knew he could have reached into this woman's mind and take the information he needed--rip it out as it deserved to be. He put aside the desire, put aside his anger even as Anakin's palpable fury tore through him.
"Who hired you? Tell us!" Anakin he insisted, stepping forward in an effort to intimidate the woman.
"That Senator's gonna die soon anyway, and the next one won't make the same mistake I did," she fired at him smugly.
"This wound's going to need more treatment than I can give it here," Obi Wan forced himself to say in a quiet tone. He willed his posture to remain unchanged, willed the muscles of his jaw not to clench with suppressed anger. It occurred to him how easy it would be--Anakin certainly wouldn't object--but he kept himself motionless.
"Tell us... tell us now!" demanded Anakin.
The assassin continued to glare, but finally did start to speak. "It was a bounty hunter called…"
Her words were cut off by a sudden, soft but unmistakable noise. She twitched, eyes widening in surprise, and Obi Wan felt her life slip away as her human features twisted and morphed back into her natural Clawdite form. Both he and Anakin stared in disbelief, then tore their eyes away to peer upward. They spotted a man in an armored rocket-suit take off from a roof above them, but Obi Wan knew that they had no hope of pursuit.
He lowered his eyes to the woman on the ground again and reached to remove a projectile from her neck. "Toxic dart," he pronounced grimly.
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "I must be going crazy," she muttered..."
Rating: PG for mild non graphic violence.
Length: Around 2300 words
Category: Angst/Drama
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 12. The night of the second assassination attempt, set during an alternate AtoC.
Night's End
Dorme quietly handed her a cup of caf, and Padme nodded her thanks to the decoy, slipping into a chair. The decoy stayed nearby, occasionally nodding or answering a question from Captain Typho, who was prowling like a caged beast and restructuring the entire security detail while alternately trying to trace the Jedi. Padme rolled the hot mug between her hands and tried to focus on what he was telling her--something about Anakin stealing a parked speeder to chase down his Master.
Her mind kept drifting inexplicably off, though. The scent of the caf triggered the irrational memory of her discussion with Obi Wan about the popular beverage while they were on Tatooine. He'd never liked it--in fact, continued not to like it--and when she commented that it was an acquired taste, he'd asked quite seriously,
"Well, what's the point of an acquired taste?"
She bit her cheek to keep from laughing and wondered what exactly was wrong with her. He'd just jumped out a window miles above the streets of Coruscant. She had no idea whether he was alive or dead. Of all the times for a fit of giggles, this was definitely not it. She knew that stress and worry could do strange things, but she had never been the type to buckle during a crisis.
What are you doing, Padme Amidala? she scolded herself.
What are you doing? his laughing question echoed through her mind. Before she kissed him. She swallowed convulsively and set down the mug, her whole body feeling suddenly flushed with the memory. She had met him at the door in a negligee. Her hands began to shake as she remembered again the touch of his fingers, the taste of his lips. She felt him buryhis face against her neck again, and she fought a shiver.
Don't worry, Padme. I am the Chosen One.
She jerked back in her chair, and both Dorme and Typho eyed her questioningly. She gave a dismissive shake of her head and picked up the mug again, hiding behind it as she mumbled, "I must be going crazy."
***
"I'm crazy, I'm crazy, I'm crazy," Obi Wan muttered to himself, staring straight ahead. The words were a mantra against the memory of the last several minutes. He had just been fired upon from point blank range, and a short while later forced to crawl out on the front end of the speeder to dislodge a flag from one of the air scoops. Then, Anakin had chased the assassin through a refinery and piloted them directly through the arc of a giant bolt of electricity when their quarry fired on a power coupling. Then, when the Padwan pursued the other speeder around a corner, they found their target blocking the next alley, rifle pointed directly at them. Diving under it, Anakin had nearly taken off their heads, then piloted them through a small gap in the building beyond, where he collided with several pipes and lost control. By the time he recovered, he barely had time to avoid a crane, clipped a pair of giant struts, and stalled the speeder when the damage sent up a giant ball of flaming gas that nearly killed them sent the speeder spinning, and they bounced off another wall before he could stop it again.
"I got us through that one all right…" Anakin attempted.
"No you didn't! We've stalled! And you almost got us killed!" Obi Wan cried, snapping out of his moment of shock at the Padawan's seeming nonchalance.
"I think we're still alive," Anakin grinned, looking himself over and wiggling his fingers in his best attempt to charm the elder Jedi. Obi Wan glared, unimpressed, and the boy busied himself trying to get the speeder started.
"It was stupid!" Obi Wan fired at him, determined, for once, to make the boy understand that his recklessness had consequences.
"I could have made it…" Anakin offered sheepishly.
"But you didn't!!! And now we've lost him for good--" the words were barely out of the Master's mouth when blaster fire began all around them, setting off a series of explosion. They looked up to see the assassin's speeder take off again, and Anakin suddenly pulled their speeder up, moving them in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?! He went down there, the other way," Obi Wan pointed out.
"Master, if we keep this chase going, that creep's gonna end up deep-fried. Personally, I'd very much like to find out who he is and who he's working for," explained Anakin. "This is a shortcut... I think."
"What do you mean, you think?" demanded Obi Wan as they began to move again. Anakin's only response was to swerve in and out of several alleys and passageways, until Obi Wan sighed. "Well, you lost him."
"I'm deeply sorry, Master," Anakin replied in a tone that clearly said he wasn't.
"Well, this is some kind of shortcut. He went completely the other way!" complained Obi Wan as the Padawan began to look around. "Once again, Anakin…"
"Excuse me for a moment," interrupted Anakin, suddenly vaulting out of the speeder.
Obi Wan peered over the side in time to see him land atop the assassin's speeder, about five stories below. "I hate it when he does that," he sighed.
***
"M'lady, the speeder's been located," Typho reported with a bland expression that immediately told Padme there was more she needed to know.
"Where?" she demanded, setting her second mug of caf down with a clack.
"Outside a club on the lower streets," he explained. "Apparently, young Anakin lost control during a high speed chase and almost collided with the assassin. Among other things."
"What other things?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. She felt suddenly cold, but told herself that Obi Wan must have been with him if Anakin was willing to chase the perpetrator down. He could be impulsive, but he wouldn't abandon Obi Wan or jeopardize his Master's safety in pursuit of a criminal.
She listened as the captain explained the details of the chase, holding back a sigh with each new stunt she heard Anakin had pulled. Then her eyes bulged when he went on to say that the Master Jedi had actually been seen climbing out on the front of the speeder to pull a banner out of one of the airscoops.
"I hope he doesn't get them both killed," Padme heard herself say as she pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Master Kenobi seems to have survived the past ten years, m'lady," Typho offered with a faint smirk.
Padme bit her lip, realizing how uncharitable the comment must have sounded. Whatever Ani had done, she knew the boy meant well. His initiation into the Jedi Order had been unorthodox, and she knew that Obi Wan often clashed with him, but the complaints he shared with her were the same as those he had raised about his own mentor. Ani was reckless, impulsive, rarely respected authority--but like Qui-Gon, Ani had a good heart.
"Of course he has, Captain," she smiled now. "Anakin wouldn't really let anything happen to his Master."
***
"Why do I think that you're going to be the death of me?" Obi Wan said tiredly as he and Anakin entered the club where they had finally cornered their quarry.
"Don't say that, Master," Anakin pleaded solemnly. "You're the closest thing I have to a father. I love you, and I don't want to cause you pain."
"Then why don't you listen to me?" Obi Wan snapped, instantly regretting it.
"I am trying," Anakin told him earnestly.
Please don't make a judgment before getting to know Ani. He has a good heart, Padme's words came back to him. Obi Wan let out a long sigh. "Anakin," he shook his head, giving the boy's arm a squeeze. "Come on. Do you see him?"
"I think he's a she."
"Then be extra careful," Obi Wan told him with a snort.
"And I think she's a changeling," went on Anakin.
"Go and find her," Obi Wan instructed, heading toward the bar.
"Where are you going, Master?" Anakin wanted to know.
"To get a drink," he replied flatly. He could feel the Padawan's surprise but offered no further explanation. Calmly sitting at the bar, he signaled the barkeeep and ordered a drink, then simply waited. If he was right, the convenient target of his exposed back would draw their quarry out again.
As the barkeep returned with his drink, a being with a wild shock of hair that seemed to be sprouting a pair of antennae sidled up to him. Obi Wan didn't bother turning to focus on the newcomer, already alert to the approach of danger.
"Wanna buy some death sticks?" the stranger asked. "Nobody's got better death sticks than Elan Sleazebaggano,"
"You don't want to sell me death sticks," Obi Wan replied with a slight motion of his fingers as he deftly imposed his will on the other's mind.
"I don't want to sell you death sticks," repeated the stranger.
"You want to go home and rethink your life," the Jedi Master told him calmly.
"I want to go home and rethink my life," Elan Sleazebaggano agreed, then turned and left.
Obi Wan picked up his drink and knocked it back, then signaled the barkeep for a refill. His sense of imminent danger was heightening and he stretched out with the Force, carefully pinpointing the origin. Locating the assassin, he felt a spike of anger at her ruthlessness. Had she stalked Padme this way? he wondered, but banished the distraction as quickly as it entered his mind.
The blaster pistol came to bear on his back and the Jedi Master spun. His lightsaber was in his hand and ignited by the time he finished the turn, creating a perfect blue arc that severed the bounty hunter's arm above the elbow. The room erupted, and Anakin was instantly at his side, raising his hands to calm the crowd.
"Easy!" he called, drawing on the Force to control the crowd. "Official business. Go back to your drinks."
Gradually, the club patrons did as he bid them, and Master and Padawan together took the assassin out to the street where they lowered her onto the ground. The last thing Obi Wan Kenobi wanted to do was treat the wound of the being who had so nearly murdered the woman he loved. He was a Jedi however, and so he forced himself to kneel beside the hunter, who was now staring in silent defiance up at his apprentice. Finally, she nodded.
"Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?" Obi Wan asked her, keeping his tone rigidly under control.
"The Senator from Naboo," was the callous response.
"Who hired you?" the Master demanded, now barely reigning in his outrage.
"It was just a job," the would be a assassin glared.
Obi Wan did not react. He kept himself entirely still and did not reach out the Force as his instincts demanded. As easily as he had manipulated the death stick dealer inside, he knew he could have reached into this woman's mind and take the information he needed--rip it out as it deserved to be. He put aside the desire, put aside his anger even as Anakin's palpable fury tore through him.
"Who hired you? Tell us!" Anakin he insisted, stepping forward in an effort to intimidate the woman.
"That Senator's gonna die soon anyway, and the next one won't make the same mistake I did," she fired at him smugly.
"This wound's going to need more treatment than I can give it here," Obi Wan forced himself to say in a quiet tone. He willed his posture to remain unchanged, willed the muscles of his jaw not to clench with suppressed anger. It occurred to him how easy it would be--Anakin certainly wouldn't object--but he kept himself motionless.
"Tell us... tell us now!" demanded Anakin.
The assassin continued to glare, but finally did start to speak. "It was a bounty hunter called…"
Her words were cut off by a sudden, soft but unmistakable noise. She twitched, eyes widening in surprise, and Obi Wan felt her life slip away as her human features twisted and morphed back into her natural Clawdite form. Both he and Anakin stared in disbelief, then tore their eyes away to peer upward. They spotted a man in an armored rocket-suit take off from a roof above them, but Obi Wan knew that they had no hope of pursuit.
He lowered his eyes to the woman on the ground again and reached to remove a projectile from her neck. "Toxic dart," he pronounced grimly.