Quick rant/Author's note, feel free to ignore if you're just here for the mindless angst (and I can't blame you, because that's what I wrote it for!). So, first of all, I will acknowledge that many of the characters in this will be extremely OOC, due in part to exigent circumstances, and in part due to my own writing style/ability. There are several facts (names, people, places, timelines, etc) that may have been altered slightly or butchered entirely. I have done my best to keep everything as canon as possible so as to avoid making so many glaring errors that it detracts from the story, but the main focus of this story is based on an entirely AU scenario with canon characters. That said, if you find you dislike this work, I'd appreciate any feedback you feel up to leaving, but basic courtesy is expected and appreciated. If you enjoyed it, happy day! I'd love to hear about that as well! Any constructive criticism or other feedback is always a wonderful encouragement. I may add more to this fairly soon, but my schedule is a bit crazy right now (part of why my other stories have been so neglected recently), so it might need to wait until things settle a little bit before I update more. Enjoy!
Obi-Wan Kenobi found himself wondering just when, exactly, he had changed lives with his former padawan. After all, if one had asked him only a few days prior, he would have sworn by the Living Force that only Anakin would be foolhardy enough to attempt to pull off a stunt like this, and yet here he was. Anakin and Ahsoka were safely aboard the Venerator-class flagship following the most recent battle with the would-be Sith Ventress, while Obi-Wan himself had obeyed the insistent call of the Force and followed the fleeing Dathomirian assassin.
Now struggling to remain completely silent as he crawled around in the ventilation shafts above the personal quarters of Ventress herself, the Jedi Master wondered why the Force had been so insistent that he follow the assassin now, when other opportunities had been presented before. There was certainly no less risk now than there would have been in times past. Still, if General Kenobi had learned anything over his many years as a Jedi Padawan, Knight, and finally, Master, it was that listening and obeying the call of the Force was, without exception, the best course of action in any situation.
Smuggling himself aboard Ventress' ship had required careful effort, a combination of cloaking himself with the Force and careful stealth enough to board without detection. He had left a tiny ship attached to the bottom of the assassin's own, ready to depart the instant he had accomplished whatever mission the Force seemed to believe was essential. While comfortably confident in his abilities, Obi-Wan knew that it was beyond reason to believe that he could not only single-handedly defeat Ventress, but also take down an entire ship full of droids at her command.
CC-2224 breathed shallowly, forcing his trembling legs to stand strong beneath him, every moment a struggle for breath., Chained to one of the walls, covered in blood and filth, dressed in ragged cast-off clothing, and hanging limply by the wrists, the clone was nearly at the end of his strength. Still, he knew he could withstand far greater torments than this, with his brothers' lives on the line, and so he continued to fight for breath, his feet only just touching the ground to grant enough support to prevent fatal suffocation.
Entirely unaware of the astonished Jedi Master who had only just caught sight of him from above, CC-2224's attention is drawn instead to the main door of the chambers when it slides open ominously slowly. His mistress enters, and CC-2224 tenses minutely, his gaze instantly finding his feet and remaining there.
The would-be Sith stalked past the clone without even looking at him, but CC-2224 knew better than to hope that she was too distracted to take note of him. The frustrated rage nearly pouring off of his mistress was tangible even to the broken slave, and he knew then that her mission to eradicate three more of the dreaded Jedi had not been successful. Else, her demeanor would have been much more contented, if no less terrifying, and dangerous.
As it was, Ventress moved into an adjacent room, her bedchamber, before moving back into the room with CC-2224 chained, and without warning aimed a casual if deadly kick to his midsection without a thought. CC-2224 wheezed, doubling over as much as the chains allow, but did not otherwise allow himself to react, knowing that however angered she was now, it would only get worse if he attempted to resist or beg before she permitted it.
When Ventress did not elicit the response she had clearly desired, the Dathomirian whirled around and caught the clone by the throat, lifting him up and pinning him to the wall, snarling, "Is that any way to greet your mistress?" She held him there for an endless moment, then let him drop, eyes gleaming in pleasure at the muffled grunt of agony the clone attempted to restrain as his weight fell heavily against the chains still binding his wrists above his head.
"N-No, Mistress. This slave begs punishment, for its disrespect." he whispered shakily, eyes moving to the floor once again. Ventress smirked coldly, no trace of the amusement reaching her icy eyes, and then proceeded to strike him across the face, drawing blood at the corner of his mouth, before striking at his torso again.
Several minutes passed in silence punctuated only by the collision of steel and leather on defenseless flesh, the rattle of the chains still holding the clone to the wall, and the occasional grunt or whimper that CC-2224 couldn't manage to repress.
It was the almost physical presence of the Force itself that stopped Obi-Wan from interfering immediately the moment Ventress kicked the helpless clone. As her attacks became more brutal and focused, the Jedi found himself drawing on every reserve of patience and meditation he possessed to maintain his calm as he watched the assassin take her anger out on her prisoner.
Finally, when he feels he can take no more, and is about to reveal himself regardless of the almost vicious *wait* command from the Force, when Ventress suddenly stops, sighing heavily before moving to pace back and forth before her captive. Obi-Wan listened closely as she spoke, "You must realize, CC-2224, that you have begun to become rather… predictable. Almost, boring, one might say. As much as it amused me, at first, that you were so willing to do anything to keep your precious 'brothers' from greater harm, now the game has begun to bore me. Perhaps I should spice things up a bit, and bring another of your brothers to join us in these little games, hm?"
CC-2224 looked up sharply then, eyes wide with horror, and dares to cry out in a broken, hoarse voice, "No!" Immediately, Ventress's smile widened and she leaned dangerously closer, quietly purring, "No? Then tell me, slave, should I finally get rid of the lot of you? Should I gift you, in turn, to the Jedi?" At this, the clone slumped down in defeat, face pale and a visible trembling beginning in his limbs, and even at a distance, Obi-Wan was nearly overwhelmed by the sudden terror clear in the slave beyond any he had witnessed thus far.
"M-Mistress, p-p-please, n-n-no, n-no I b-b-beg you-" Ventress raised an eyebrow mercilessly, but backed off slightly after another devastating strike to his face, watching without bothering to conceal her glee at how effectively broken he is. "No? Oh, but a Jedi would have such fun with you! You know how powerful they can be, and how utterly ruthless in victory. Surely, you would make a fine toy for a Jedi, until your useless body finally gave in and you expired, of course."
She smiled once again, pleased beyond all measure as her slave collapsed in his chains, hanging limply from them as he begged desperately for mercy, for punishment, for torture, anything-so long as she did not turn his men over to the Jedi. From the day they had been 'reassigned', pain and torment had been all they had known, but Ventress had made short work of planting in their minds that the Jedi were the real enemy. For to the three captive clones, power was synonymous with pain, and those powerful in the force were to be feared, and obeyed. There was little that Ventress enjoyed more than terrorizing her slaves with tales of just how powerful some of the Jedi could be, though of course, they were still inferior to the mightier Sith.
To amuse herself, in the time the captive clones had been under her hand, she had managed to convince them that she had actually done them a mercy by taking them on, that clones were killed on a daily basis while under Jedi command, even that often one of their 'brothers' would be selected at random to serve as entertainment to bored Jedi Masters on long missions. Those selected were slowly tortured to death in full view of all, all for the pleasure of the Jedi in command. After all, they were only clones-if one died, it could be replaced. In this manner, not only did the three captured clones hold no hope for 'rescue' from the Jedi, they feared it above all else. Ventress had done her work well.
Obi-Wan knew none of this, but he could not in good conscience have allowed such blatant cruelty to continue, even if Ventress had not been intimately involved. Clearly, the man being tormented was a Kaminoan clone, and if what he had heard was correct, there were others under her Wisely, he realized that his original plan to kill Ventress as stealthily as possible before sneaking back off of the ship would be much more difficult with a clone (or three) in tow.
So, he waited, watching the now-motionless clone slump against the wall, clearly only barely holding onto consciousness, until the assassin was asleep in her bedchamber seemingly adjacent to the room in which he was chained. Obi-Wan waited until Ventress' Force Presence had quieted in true sleep before he eased off one of the vent covers in the ceiling in the middle of the room, dropping silently to the floor.
CC-2224 looked up in surprise at the displacement of the air, and then a horrified, astonished fear struck him when he recognized the man's face. Ventress complained frequently of those she was sent to fight, knowing that while Count Dooku might have sworn her to silence, her slaves would never leave her alive, and so she did not have to so carefully guard her tongue in their presence. Most often, the would-be Sith snarled of General Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Anakin Skywalker the most, whenever she raged about the Jedi. On some occasions, she had even brought files and databases of information on the legendary duo back to her chambers to study, and CC-2224 had learned to match faces to the names of two of the most powerful and deadly Jedi alive.
Now, the Dread General Kenobi himself stood before him, and the clone could only stare in dread and despair as the personification of his greatest fear watched him with an unreadable expression. Against his will, the helpless clone began to tremble violently, realizing he had just been staring straight into the Jedi's eyes, an action that would be taken as a challenge and met with severe pain had he done it with Ventress or any other on her ship. Instantly, CC-2224 dropped his gaze, shaking hard enough that the chains at his wrists began to clink, and then the Jedi began to move closer.
"M-Master-" he barely managed to whisper, before the Jedi waved a hand, causing CC-2224 to gasp in cold fear as he felt himself silenced. Force-silenced now, the clone trembled harder, silently mouthing desperate pleas for mercy, that his death might be swift. Obi-Wan cast a wary glance toward the doorway behind which Ventress still slept, and then activated his lightsaber.
In the blue glow of his weapon, he could see the whites of the bound clone's eyes, though he noted that the prisoner never once raised his gaze from the floor. A cold sweat of fear had broken out upon his wounded flesh, and he clearly made an effort to tip his head to the side, gratefully offering his vulnerable throat for the Jedi's blade. His shocked gratitude for the seemingly merciful death changed back to that blood-freezing terror, however, when the lightsaber found its target not in his throat, but at his bound wrists, easily cutting the thick steel and causing the cuffs to fall to pieces.