"Oh, I have a really bad feeling about this. He isn't answering on the comlink, he left hours ago and I can't sense him in the Force. That's bad. Anakin is rather hard to miss in the Force, unless he's hiding. I wish I thought he was..." Obi-Wan frowned, scanning the street as he stepped out of the office into a downpour. Traffic whizzed by wildly. Music from the office faded behind him as the doors shut. 'And now he's got me talking to the droid.' He thought.
Artoo bleeped heading off down the sleek, damp, walkway.
Obi-Wan swung around. "Where are you going?" He hurried after. 'Not,' he thought to himself, 'that I've any better ideas.' "Wait, you want to be worked on NOW?"
Artoo rolled into the droid repair shop. He tweedled with interest, pausing to look around.
"What did Anakin misalign on you this time?" Obi-Wan followed, struck immediately by the smells of grease and ozone.
Artoo let out a scathing sound. Obi-Wan knew a come back without a translator.
A young blond woman with blue twists in her hair and wearing tech gear appeared, climbing down from a stack of boxes. "Hey you? You belong to that blond...Oh, never mind."
Obi-Wan felt an instant nudge from the Force. This was no coincidence. "Blond? He wouldn't be so tall..." he motioned above him, musing that it made him feel old. Could Anakin, now the six foot tall jedi knight truly be the small boy he'd practically raised?
"Oh, yeah, young guy, handsome, said he might bring his droid in. It was specifically said an R2 unit and there aren't too many around..more R5s and such in this place."
Artoo started rocking excitedly.
"As a matter of fact, this is his droid. We were trying to catch up with him. Do you know which way he went?"
"No. There was a minor crisis...she blushed, worried.
"Yes?"
"I swear, those crates are secure. This facility is safe. Ask any employee or customer...something must've knocked them over. Maybe a walinbea."
Obi-Wan did not inquire what a walinbea was. Anakin had made something fall. Which meant he'd seen something and wanted an unobserved closer look.
Artoo whirred thoughtfully. Obi-Wan noticed the droid heading to the back hallway.
"So, what's wrong with the dro...hey! You can't go back there! Employees only."
"Well that's one thing! My apologies. He does tend to wander off. I'll get him and we'll go."
"We might be able to fix him, but if it's software..."
"I fear it's an eccentricity picked up from his owner." Kenobi mused that if Anakin had a droid for a blood brother, it would be Artoo. "It would just resurface. Thank you for your help." Obi-Wan hustled to the door, noticing with alarm the trandoshan with ion disruptor in the upper window. "No, please, I'll get him!" He fairly leaped between droid and weapon. That's all he needed, to lose the droid too. "Is it really THAT big a crime for a droid to wander in?"
The woman hurried after him. "No, sorry. Gulugg works as a guard in the next door vehicle repair. He gets overzealous. Can't really blame him. Half the war is fought by droids, and they aren't the brightest bunch out there. They don't just hit Republic troops, even if they mean too. They'd do better with R2 Unit brains.
Obi-Wan shuddered at the thought and gave the droid a swift nudge. "Come along Artoo. Nothing here for us."
Artoo chirped reluctantly, clearly giving in more due to the ion blaster pointed at him than Kenobi's encouragement.
"Say, do you want a restraining bolt? I can give you a used one, cheap. Take the price out of any repair we do later."
"No thank you. I don't think his owner would go for that." As soon as they were outside, Kenobi sighed. "Not that it's an entirely bad idea."
Artoo rocked and let out an electronic snort. If he'd had eyebrows, he'd be glaring at him. Obi-Wan mused. Anyone trying to put a restraining bolt on this droid would be in for a wrestling match.
"Let's check out the vehicle repair bay."
They walked around the corner and Obi-Wan pulled his hood up. They peered the medium sized lot, full of speeders. Many of the were of the same make and model and bore the Stenbay logo. An idea hit, but before he could voice it Artoo wailed excitedly. "What?" The general spun around, but saw nothing. Artoo chirped wildly, snatched the datapad off his belt with his grabber, and plugged in. A tracking signal appeared, coming from the vehicle bay.
"He was tracking one of them?" Kenobi's eyes narrowed. He strode toward the bay like he owned it. "Watch out for that ion blaster," he said aside to the droid. "You check it out, I'll distract." The guard at this end was a dark skinned human male with heavy rifle. "Excuse me, sir, my speeder broke down a block from here. Perhaps you'd sell me a new shifter?"
Artoo again was in motion, zeroing in on the vehicle. He hovered over it with his jets, lowered awkwardly onto the seat and plugged into the vehicles computer.
"You'd have to talk to Garlin. And he's out to lunch." The guard glanced around, leaned close and whispered. "You may as well let 'em fix it though. He won't charge less for just the part than for the whole shebang. Don't get me wrong, he pays good, but...well..."
"I understand. Better working for him than needing his services. Or is he just busy with a company? There seem to be rather a lot of company vehicles. I thought this was a private repair." Obi-Wan felt a jolt raise the hair on his arms. Was that a clone trooper? Without the gear?
"It is, but he'll hire out."
"Thank you. I'll check around. If I can't find the part cheaper, I'll try somewhere else." Obi-Wan moved out, watching Artoo Detoo's approach out of his peripheral vision. When had he started to worry so much about a droid? Maybe when he realized Anakin would risk his life and the lives of others to save it. He didn't relax until they were well clear of the bay, with it's mysterious clone and the trandoshan with ion blaster.
"Well?"
Artoo plugged into the pad, rocking agitatedly. The on board data suggested where the vehicle had been and the route it took to get there.
"All right. Let's see what turns up."
It seemed a long while before Obi-Wan pulled over, and it was getting dark. It rained sporadically. But his vision was acute enough to recognize the speeder the younglings had said Anakin was driving. He hopped out, checked the engines. Artoo hummed nervously. The droid knew as well that the engines were cold. Cautiously, Obi-Wan circled the building, reaching out with the force.
He finally went in. Artoo grumbled beside him. Kenobi had the sudden suspicion the droid was saying, 'I have a bad feeling about this."
"Oh dear." Blaster marks and shattered droids were everywhere. They moved from room to room until they found a terminal Artoo could plug into. Artoo's whistling became hysterical. The security feeds came alive with holos from hours ago. Anakin in battle, fleeing...and in a room collapsing. A man came in afterward, followed by droids. They cuffed him and hauled him out.
"What happened? Replay it...I didn't see him get hit."
"Artoo squealed and replayed, poked with his grasper him to get his attention. He glanced at the message screen. "Sealed gas chamber for storage."
"Wonderful. Now we have two people to rescue as well as jedi clones and their creator to find." A sick feeling welled in his stomach as he remembered his banter with Anakin when they'd first discovered the jedi cloning experiments. Shocking to discover his own and Qui-Gon as clones. What if they planned on cloning Anakin? Dread filled him. The jedi clones thus far had all been insane. All of Anakin's power combined with insanity was a terrifying thought. And what would they do to him and Ahsoka once they had the samples.
Artoo moaned.
Obi-Wan glanced at the droid, acknowledged that of all the mysteries of the Force the mystery of Anakin's relationship with Artoo was a huge one. "We will find them, Artoo."
Anakin woke up with a hangover like he'd drunk way to much corellian whiskey. A weird buzzing feeling made him shift position. Or rather, he tried to. "Oh, not good." He blinked fully awake, realized the world was revolving around him and a force field was skittering over him.
"Master?"
"Ahsoka?" He blinked hard, finally his vision cleared and after a moment his padawan revolved into, and then out of, view again. Oh. This was making him sick. Good thing he'd not eaten lately.
"I'm so sorry..." she started.
"I'm not in a position to blame you, Snips. You okay?"
"Yes, master, just..."
"Ah. You're awake and how touching a reunion. Have no fear. We simply wish to do a few...experiments." The distorted voice echoed off the walls and the spinning field eerily.
"Who is we?" Anakin demanded.
"And who do you work for?" Ahsoka added, voice tinged with anger.
"Now don't worry. We already took samples when you were asleep. If we can think of a way to make you, more, ah, comfortable, we will. Until then..."
"If it's me you are after, let her go."
"Oh no, she is useful, although we are mainly looking at humans... that does give me an idea though."
Ahsoka screamed suddenly and Anakin jerked, furiously struggling. All he got was a worse jolt from the force field. The girl slumped and droids took her down, removing her from the room. Anakin strained ferociously in spite of the pain, until a jolt nearly knocked him unconscious again.
"Now here is how this will work. We are going to keep you apart, and if you cooperate, well, nothing will happen to her. We will need more samples you see."
Anakin's fury rose. "If you hurt her..." he checked his less than jedi impulse to threaten vengeance. "The whole jedi order will be on your trail."
"I do believe they are busy right now. War and all. But this is easier for you too, if you think about it. We won't need to give you a shock every time we need a sample. I'm sure you know with such a high midichlorian count you make an impressive prize. Just think what we could do if we cloned you! Why, never mind Dooku and the Confederacy. A few of you under our control...well, it's an amazing idea. Thank you so much for coming."
Anakin's insides heaved. The confinement prevented anything much from going anywhere, and he hadn't eaten. But the idea of an army of clones of him...all slaves, filled him with a sudden rare terror. This was a horror forged from his deepest nightmares. A deep seated fear of helplessness rose in him, one he had thought he'd conquered long ago. His fists clenched. Fury rose at the people doing this to him, and that frightened him as much as his situation. Suddenly, he wished he'd stayed unconscious.
