-Sinkhole C-328, Temple Precinct, Coruscant-

-Three hours after Order 66-


About time she showed up, Asajj thought, spotting the distant glow of a green lightsaber making it's way down the sewer pipe. For about the hundredth time that night she asked herself why she was going to all this effort on Tano's behalf, but to be honest with herself, it was only a token protest at this point. She hadn't even put that much effort into it, she'd only acquired a battered airspeeder from a pair of lowlifes who had made the mistake of underestimating her and flown it up here. Asajj glanced around, keeping an eye out for any military craft, but luckily so far there was only the usual air traffic, great lumbering cargo ships making the long descent to the slums or desperately climbing their way back up. She impatiently tapped a finger on the console and glanced down the sewer pipe again. Ahsoka was close enough now that she had shut off her lightsaber, no longer needing its light to guide her way. She could just make out the expression on her face - along with her companions.

Companions. Asajj did a double take, then muttered some choice Huttese curses under her breath. Her suspicion had been right, that stupid, idealistic little hornhead brat had gone and rescued some Jedi who had been stubborn enough not to die. Scowling, she pulled off her helmet and rose out of the worn pilot's chair, leaping over the small gap to the filthy edge of the waste port. She kept one hand on the lightsaber at her belt. Ahsoka came forward alone, an apologetic look on her face. It looked like there were three other's staying back in the shadows, two of which were very short.

"Hey Ventress, good to see you, it's been a crazy night," Ahsoka started, giving her best attempt at a grin.

Asajj cut her off before she could go into whatever little speech she'd prepared. "Save it, you lying hornhead sleemo. I take it that little detour you made through the Temple airspace wasn't an accident?"

Ahsoka raised her hands in mock defense. "Hey, I got shot down, It wasn't my fault!"

"Right, and I suppose the crowd of Jedi behind you isn't your fault either?" Asajj pushed past the girl before she could answer. "Alright, you Jedi scum, come out where I can see you. What has Snips here dragged in with her?" The nickname got the response the insults hadn't, she heard Tano inhale sharply. I guess Skywalker's the only one who gets to call her that. Asajj filed that away for the next time Tano annoyed her.

Asajj's lightsaber was out in a flash as the three Jedi came towards her, the golden blade making the tunnel look like it was bathed in daylight. One of the short ones, a Twi'lek kid, jumped into a defensive stance with his own inert lightsaber gripped in his hands. The miniature Wookiee - Asajj didn't know they made Wookiee Jedi - growled low, clutching the bundle in his arms closer. On a closer look Asajj realized the bundle was actually another Jedi kid, a Human girl who had passed out from her wounds. The Togruta woman in the center didn't even flinch.

"Is that really necessary, Ventress?" The woman gestured at Asajj's lightsaber. Despite her left arm being in a makeshift sling, and the soot, scratches and bruises that covered her ruddy skin from head to toe, the Jedi radiated a calm, commanding presence. She wasn't the least bit intimidated of the notorious Jedi killer in front of her.

There was only one Jedi this one could be.

"Unless you want to talk in the dark, Shaak Ti." She said the name like it was an insult, then fixed her gaze on the Twi'lek who had the sense to be suspicious. "You're not doing yourself any favors, tail-head. Put it up."

The kid didn't budge until Shaak Ti shot him a look, then he reluctantly hooked the saber to his belt.

Ahsoka tried to walk around Asajj, but before she got past Ventress had grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her up against the grimy wall, making sure to keep her blade well away so the Twi'lek didn't do something he'd regret.

"You know Tano," she began, getting up in her face, almost shouting to be heard over the Wookiee's angry wailing. "I can understand you rescuing the younglings, what with that hero complex you've got going on. But Shaak Ti?!" She pointed her lightsaber at where the Jedi Master stood, not taking her eyes off Tano. "Did you forget the time that schutta threw you into the sarlacc pit?!"

Ahsoka returned her glare at the same intensity. "No, I remember exactly how she threw me into the sarlacc pit. I'm not going to do the same thing to her now!"

There was that infuriating idealism again. Asajj let go of Tano with snort of disgust and backed away. "You know, I thought that between Jedi backstabbing you and then getting themselves massacred, that just maybe you'd grown a brain between those horns of yours," she shouted. "Turns out I was wrong!"

Ahsoka walked around her, still staring her down, stopping defensively in front of her Jedi friends. "You know, I thought that between the Sith stabbing you in the back and Grievous wiping out all your Nightsister friends that you might have grown a heart in there." She actually bared her teeth, resembling some angry predator. "Guess I was wrong too."

For just a second, Asajj seriously considered ramming her lightsaber between Tano's jaws. "Don't you go there," she hissed.

Now Tano actually looked enraged, not even trying to hide it. Her voice was acidic, bubbling over. "What, that slaughter is unspeakable when you're mocking the one that's happening right now? I don't think so Ventress!" Ahsoka dropped a hand to her own lightsaber hilt. "I'm getting these kids out of here whether you like it or not! I've kept them alive this long, and anyone who stands between their lives and me isn't going to be standing for long!" By the end of it she was shouting.

Asajj was so surprised she actually took a step back. A long silence fell over them, the only sound the mournful whispering of the wind. The implied threat hung in the air.

Then it was shattered by her laughter.

"Did you actually just threaten to kill me? In cold blood?" She laughed again before she went on. "Looks like I was wrong about you again Tano! You've always been a spitfire, but I never thought you had the stomach for murder!"

Ahsoka's anger was deflating, her lekku stripes darkening in shame. Asajj turned her head and sneered at Ti. "You hear that, Master Jedi? How's it feel knowing you drove her to such dark thoughts?"

If Ahsoka had surprised her, then Ti nearly made her die of shock. "Honestly, at this point I'm inclined to agree with her. I've spilled enough blood for the sake of these younglings tonight, but I won't let that stop me if it comes to that. Especially not you of all people."

Asajj took a good look at each of their faces. Ahsoka was shamed a bit by Asajj's immoral approval, but she definitely intended to follow through on her threat if she had to. The blasted council member was unreadable, but her hand hovered an inch away from her weapon. The Twi'lek kid was still trying to drill a hole through her with his eyes, and the Wookiee was, well, a Wookiee. Even at his short stature he didn't have to try to be intimidating. The wounded girl shifted in his arms, groaning weakly.

She could take them. It would be easy. And yet… Asajj took in the fierce look on Tano's face. She had to know that she didn't have a chance against Asajj, but Ahsoka just didn't care.

Asajj hadn't had a chance against the Separatist army on Dathomir, but that hadn't stopped her from trying to save her new family.

Ky Narec hadn't had a chance on his own against the warlords of Rattatak, but it hadn't stopped him from trying to save its people. From saving her.

She could take them. But…

She didn't want to.

Asajj shut off her lightsaber. "You know what Tano, fine. I'll humor you for that little outburst." She pointed at the speeder idling behind her, smiling tersely. "All of you get in before I change my mind." Without waiting for their responses she turned around and took a long jump forward, landing in the pilot seat. Tano climbed in next to her, while Ti and the two kids crammed themselves in the back, laying their limp companion across their laps. Once they were all strapped in Asajj gunned it, pulling a turn that would make most pilots spin out of control and flying nearly straight down the kilometers-deep shaft.

"Hey Ventress," Ahsoka shouted over the wind noise and the younglings' alarmed shouting. "Thanks for this."

"Shut your hole before you change my mind again," Asajj yelled back. I knew I was going to regret this.


-Coruscant Underworld, level 1311-

-Five hours after Order 66-


Asajj landed the speeder in the dingy alleyway that ran next to the abandoned apartment building she had made her hideout in. The craft sank on its ancient repulsorlifts as though in relief.

"Wake up and follow me." She scanned the dimly lit street for anyone else while she walked towards the building's entrance. "Come on, hurry up!" She thought she spotted a shadow moving at the alley's dead end, behind a heap of refuse. The dilapidated door got stuck halfway open, so Asajj moved it the rest of the way with the Force. She let the gang of strays go through the threshold ahead of her, keeping her eyes on the end of the alley. Asajj walked in, sealing the entry back behind her.

"Quickly now," she said, rushing ahead to climb the cracked duracrete stairs to the second floor. The few dim lights that worked were flickering in protest of their existance. The Jedi followed her silently, and Asajj grabbed Tano by the arm as she passed. "Third door on the right, it's locked but that shouldn't stop you. I'll be right back, I've got to take care of something."

Not waiting for her response, Ventress strode briskly over to the window at the end of the hall. She jumped through, the glass panes having long ago been shattered, landing on an air-recycler jutting out from the building across the street. Scanning the few beings that were passing through, she found her would-be spy. A Rodian, walking away at a brisk pace, trying so hard to be inconspicuous that he stuck out to her as though he were a bantha. Asajj jumped from platform to platform, a blur in the night. Before long the Rodian had turned down another deserted, dingy alleyway.

She grinned to herself. Last mistake you'll ever make.

She jumped to a catwalk running above it, then dropped down just as he passed beneath her, delivering a Force-enhanced kick between his shoulder-blades. The Rodian went sprawling with a yelp of surprise, while Asajj turned her momentum into a roll and came gracefully to her feet. The thug was scrambling to his feet, attempting to draw a blaster. Before he could Asajj had blown him back into the side of a dumpster and wrenched it out of his hand with the Force. She lifted him telekinetically into the air as the blaster went spiraling into the darkness, putting just enough pressure on his throat that he had to gasp for breath.

"Who sent you," she growled.

The Rodian yammered frantically in his native tongue.

Asajj scowled, tightening her grip slightly. "Basic. Speak it."

"Yes, yes, yes!" His arms flapped uselessly around his throat, trying to pry away the invisible hands around it. "Vodo Nash, I work for Vodo Nash! He told me to watch this sector!"

Asajj mulled it over. She recognized the name, that of a local information broker. She lifted him higher.

"And what information were you going to bring him?"

A dark stain was spreading on the front of the Rodian's pants. "You came back with people! I was going to tell him about them! That's all, let me go, please!"

Ventress snarled, constricting her hold enough to shut him up. Wrong thing to say. "You're just a petty thug working for another petty thug that thinks knowing a little about what people do in this festering stinkhole makes him important. They don't deserve to get caught by someone as pathetic as the likes of you."
The thug tried to speak, but it came out as a tortured gurgle.

"If anyone winds up collecting the bounty on those Jedi, it's going to be me. Go and tell your master that." She twisted her wrist sharply, and an audible crack reverberated through the alley as the man's neck snapped.

"Oh nevermind, I forgot you'd have to be alive for that."

She let the limp body fall into the dumpster, then turned and walked away.


When she got back to her place, she found the Jedi had settled right in. The injured kid was laid out on a moth-eaten couch while Shaak Ti knelt over her in deep concentration. Some kind of healing technique, Asajj decided. Ahsoka, the Wookiee and the Twi'lek had passed out on a tattered rug that gave little insulation against the cold, bare floor. They were probably too exhausted to care. Asajj locked the door behind her and walked over to the only Jedi still awake.

"She gonna be alright?" Asajj crossed her arms. The girl was in rough shape. Aside from the bandaging around what must be a blaster wound on her lower leg, she was covered in bruises and scratches. Her tunic was torn and filthy, burned from near misses, and it looked like dried blood was on it. Whether it belonged to the kid or someone else she couldn't say. If it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, she was so still that Asajj would have thought she was dead.

"I've put her in a healing trance," Ti said, not looking up. "Given a few days, she'll be back on her feet. I'm surprised you feel so concerned."

Asajj bristled at the statement, inhaling sharply. "Contrary to what you may have heard, I don't murder children for amusement. It's not her fault you abducted and brainwashed her."

Shaak Ti didn't react to the barb. "That's good to hear." She put a hand on the girls forehead and just looked at her for a moment before she stood up. "I think it's time we all got some rest. We can catch each other up in the morning."

Asajj thought rest sounded great, that's what she'd been trying to do before she got caught up in this mess. Though hearing the idea from a Jedi Master made it sound like the most idiotic thing in the galaxy. "Yeah, I think you've got some explaining to do. What in the Force did you lot do to bring the wrath of the Republic down on your thick heads?"

Ti fixed her with a steady gaze. "You have no idea. Like I said, in the morning." She bent over and laid down in front of the injured girl's couch, closing her eyes.

Asajj stayed where she was and watched her for a while. "I could just kill you all while you slept, you know," she said.

"You could," the Jedi said, not opening her eyes. "But you won't."

"I'll do what I want, Jedi. There's bound to be bounties on you all now anyway." Asajj glared at her.

"Indeed. They'll be massive," Ti said matter-of-factly, then fell silent. Asajj shook her head and walked over to where her sleeping pallet was, pushed into the far corner. She flopped onto the bed, then stripped off her boots and the bits of armor attached to her tunic.

"Her name is Katooni, by the way," Ti's voice carried across the room. She didn't have to clarify for Asajj to know she meant the wounded one.

"I didn't ask what her name was," Asajj snapped, then lay down and shut her eyes.

"But now you know it."

Asajj Ventress didn't answer, she was too busy drifting into a light sleep. Blasted Jedi.