Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.
The room was cold and quiet. Only the faint screaming of other clones could be heard as Cody and Rex sat on the steel bed mounted to the wall. As the minutes ticked by, Rex sat silently, awaiting to hear Cody's plan.
Finally, Cody pulled Rex close and whispered, "You know how we get dragged around to different rooms all the time?"
Rex nodded.
"Well, have you noticed that it's always two lousy Magnaguards escorting us?"
"Yeah. Cody, could you get to the point?" Rex said, getting irritated.
Cody smirked. "Fine. Do you think you could take one on while wearing cuffs?"
"Easy," Rex answered, confidently. He sat up a bit, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Good. After we get free, we need to locate our equipment," Cody said, straightening himself.
"I bet, they would be held in the Security room," Rex pointed out.
Cody sat back and went through his memories of the many halls and rooms he had been dragged past. "Good, I know where that is. The last step is freeing the rest of our brothers. Prison controls are probably in the Command Center."
Rex gave him a look of concern. "Isn't that where Grievous is?"
Cody smiled slyly, "Yes it is, Rex ol'boy. Ready for some good old fashion revenge?"
Rex grinned in return, "You know I am."
Just then, the ray shield deactivated and two Magnaguards stepped in. They stood about six inches taller than the clones and carried electrostaffs. "Come with us," they demanded, sternly.
Rex and Cody got up and obediently walked over to the guards. They were escorted out of the cell and began to stumble through the cold, gray halls. Cody subtly checked for any other droids. When it was clear, he gave a quick nod to Rex. Without hesitation, Rex turned around and grabbed the middle of the rear guard's electrostaff, forcing the droid against the wall.
Cody followed by jumping in front of the leading droid and kicking it in the gut, staggering it. Taking advantage of the situation, Cody stole the guard's electrostaff. Handling the weapon quickly, he jammed the staff right in the middle of the guard's chest.
Rex, whose cuffs had been broken by the electrostaff during the scuffle, was knocked backwards. After regaining his balance, he charged the remaining droid, tackling it to the ground. He struggled with it, but managed to place a strong punch to the droid's face, severing its head from its body. Then, he took the droid's staff and smashed its chest for good measure.
Cody walked up behind him with a surprised look. "Did ya have some trouble there, Rex?"
"Shut up. Come on, we have to move before the other clankers find out what happened," Rex said, breaking off Cody's cuffs.
Cody nodded in agreement and followed Rex down the hall toward the security room. They stayed low as they swiftly moved through the halls. The cell area came to an end with a hallway that went both right and left. Rex crept up on the right side of the hall and peered down both ways. After confirming it was clear, they turned right and continued on. Eventually they came upon a door on the left side of the hall. Adjacent to it was a large window. Cody slowly peeked into the room.
"What do ya' see?" Rex whispered.
"Three battle droids, but they all seem to be preoccupied right now. One's checking our armor and weapons, the other two are working the control panels," he answered.
"Alright, let's do this."
Rex ripped out some wires from the lock controls and began hot-wiring the door's lock. There was a spark and the door slid open. Cody dived in and grabbed a hold of the nearest droid's head, smashing it against the controls. Rex quickly followed with a swift strike to the droid checking their equipment, and a strong kick hitting the last droid against the wall.
"Don't touch my stuff!" Rex taunted, picking up his armor and dual pistols.
Cody pulled his equipment off the table as well. The two clones got dressed in their armor and loaded their weapons with some scavenged ammo. Cody then checked any unbroken controls and examined the information they held.
"Rex, come and look at this," Cody said.
Rex walked over to see that Cody had found a hologram of the building's schematics. A large room on the top floor was highlighted in red.
"What's that?" Rex asked, pointing with curiosity.
"The schematics say it's the Command Center. It's directly above us, actually," Cody said, pointing up.
"Is Grievous inside?" Rex asked.
Cody checked some dials and scanners on the control panel. "Can't tell, but we're gonna go find out."
The Commander grabbed his rifle and moved cautiously to the stairs at the end of the hall, with Rex close behind. Guns raised, they slowly climbed up the stairs. As they reached the top of the staircase, a battle droid walked in from the upper doorway. Cody rushed forward and grabbed the droid by the arm, throwing it down the stairs towards Rex. Stopping the droid's fall with his arm, Rex pushed it back against the steps and stomped on its head. They continued through the doorway and down the hall to the Command Center's double iron doors. The clones stacked up on opposite sides of the doors, Cody on the left door and Rex on the right. Cody gave Rex a nod, who then smashed the door's controls. They both rushed in, blasters ready.
The room was mostly metallic. A single chair sat in the middle of a few rows of control panels arranged in a half circle around it. The dials and buttons blinked in different colors. The chair was empty, but the controls were being manned by a few unarmed battle droids. The droid's heads moved back and forth as they concentrated on their work.
"Too easy," Rex mumbled, getting up from his crouch and calmly entering the room.
The droids were no more than target practice for the experienced clone soldiers. With the last of them taken care of, Cody scanned the rows of panels, searching for the cell controls. He checked every nob, dial, and button, but nothing seemed right. "We need to find the cell controls before Grievous-"
"Before I what, clone?" Grievous scratched out, his claw-like feet tapping against the metal as he entered the room.
Rex quickly made his way to Cody's side. "Face it Grievous, we're getting out of here."
Grievous laughed as he took his stolen lightsabers out from the pockets in his cloak. "I wouldn't be so sure."
Rex chuckled to himself, "We can take him."
Grievous threw his cloak aside and stood up straight, which made him appear a good two feet taller as his two arms separated into four. He activated his lightsabers and slowly crept forward, laughing deviously, his green, ominous eyes staring straight at the two clone leaders.
Cody readied his gun, "Still think we can take him?"
Grievous started spinning his lower hands, the lightsabers acting as a chopping machine and screeching as they sliced against the floor.
"I guess we'll find out," Rex answered.
The clones dove in different directions, flanking the general. They began to fire, and although most shots were deflected by the lightsabers, some did manage to make it through to Grievous' armor plates. The general leaped toward Cody, who sidestepped and began to duck and dodge as Grievous sliced at him. Rex vaulted over a control panel and jumped onto Grievous' back, wrapping his arms around the general's neck. Grievous growled as he attempted to throw the stubborn captain off his back. While the general was distracted, Cody went for his lower right arm, grabbing it and twisted it back. With one final tug, he ripped it clean off.
Grievous let out a rusty scream and kicked the clone back. He then grabbed a hold of Rex's shoulder and threw him into Cody. Both of them grunted and winced in pain, but quickly got back up to their feet. The general, now with only three arms, charged them. Rex pulled out a pistol from his hip holster and got an accurate shot at Grievous' kneecap, forcing him to stumble into a kneeling position. Cody then dashed forward and introduced his foot to the general's face. Grievous fell back with a loud clank. But before the clones could follow up, he somersaulted back into a standing position.
"You'll pay for that, clone!" Grievous yelled, jumping forward and seizing Cody's neck.
Rex tried to help by pulling the general's arm back, but was picked up and thrown by Grievous' foot. Cody struggled in the droid leader's grasp, gasping for air.
"Prepare to join your clone friend," Grievous said, his voice lowered to a merciless growl.
"Not today," Cody choked out. He grabbed the general's chest plates and ripped them open; a quick punch to his innards and the general released his grip. Meanwhile, Rex got back to his feet and shot at the back of Grievous' right leg, disabling it.
Cody, on all fours, breathing hard as he picked up his rifle. Rex, trying to keep Grievous pinned to the ground, shot the general's lower left hand. As Grievous began to break free, Cody jumped in to help Rex out.
"This is for Bookworm," Cody yelled as he smashed the droid's other leg with his elbow.
"And this is for Hotshot," Rex said, ripping off Grievous' right hand.
The clones tied up what was left of the droid general with wire and went back to searching for the controls to the cells. Rex had a limp and Cody was having trouble breathing, but they eventually found the controls on the arm of the center seat.
General Grievous snarled at the clones. "You'll never beat us all. Why do you work so hard for a worthless cause?"
Cody grabbed a hold of the cell release lever. "Because, Grievous. We fight for the Republic and each other. We're not just clones."
"We're brothers," Rex finished.
Cody pulled the lever and cries of joy and excitement rang throughout the building as clones began fighting the remaining droid forces. With no general commanding them, the droids were confused and unprepared for a fight. The clones easily took the prison area, and the rest of the complex soon followed. The clone forces stood victorious.
The clone headquarters were very quiet without its captain and commander. Generals Skywalker and Kenobi kept up operations as usual, but the absence of their clone advisors made running things awkward. Ahsoka had managed to keep her emotions under control, but a lingering feeling of loss still clawed at the back of her mind.
The silence made it easy to hear the lookout call to the camp. "Commander and Captain in sight!"
The Jedi generals turned from their plans and Ahsoka's expression changed from one of depression to one of pure joy. All the clones stepped out of their tents, curious about the call. In the distance, they could see Cody and Rex approaching with what appeared to be several hundred other clones. Rex seemed to be dragging something behind him, although it was unclear to the clones in the camp exactly what it was.
Kenobi walked up to Commander Cody, who saluted him. "Reporting back, sir."
The Jedi general smiled at the formality. "It's good to see you back, Cody," he said, laying a friendly hand on his shoulder.
Rex approached Skywalker and Ahsoka. "Just can't seem to get rid of me, sir," Rex said, happily.
"Good to see you back, Rex. What happened over there?" Skywalker asked, curiously.
"We we're ambushed and captured. Lost both Bookworm and Hotshot, but we managed to free a lot more brothers," he said, motioning his helmet toward the mass of previously imprisoned clones.
"What about Grievous?" Ahsoka interjected.
Rex chuckled. "You mean this?"
He threw a mostly broken, but still living, Grievous in front of Skywalker.
"Well, I'm impressed. Looks like you and Cody make a good team. I'll see to it that Grievous gets what's coming to him." Skywalker took Grievous from Rex and dragged him away.
"Yes, sir," Rex responded.
Everyone began congratulating and thanking the two clones for their actions. Rex got a long awaited kiss from Ahsoka. The two brothers eventually found each other at the Command Tent.
"Nice job out there, Rex," Cody said. "Couldn't ask for a better brother."
"You were good out there too, Cody."
"So, how long do you think this damn war is going to go on?" Cody sighed.
"I don't know. But what I do know is that we're gonna come out on top," Rex said, confidently.
Cody laughed, "I hope your right."
