Disclaimer: My name's certainly not affiliated with Star Wars in ANY matter, much less with Rebels.
Story: A slightly older, female Ezra is much more deeply entrenched in criminal matters, while honing her natural ability for Force healing. Can the crew of Ghost ever get her to join them, and if they do, how will changes affect the course of things?
Set as a genderbent AU.
Spoilers: Yeeess. Beware.
Warnings: Perverts, raunchy humor, weird humor, craziness, etc…Criminal activity, probably some violence, sexual situations, etc.
Pairings: Valen Rudor/Ezra, Agent Kallus/Ezra, one-sided Others/Ezra, and Kanan/Hera. Now an OT3 of Valen/Ezra/Kallus, so I can LOL at the faces of pairing haters –so no, I ain't killing off Imperials just because you hate them and the pairings.

The Chronicles of E. Bridger: Girl at War
Chapter Ten: Nowhere We Can Hide

When she woke up, she was aware of the pain in her legs, particularly on her right, and of the pain to her side and of which felt suspiciously wet. It took her a few moments to be fully awake, blinking lethargically and breathing raggedly. Her head felt heavy and it took a lot of effort for her to lift it up and see her surroundings.

If she could guess the events, her earlier bomb had tipped them off, so Scairt had rapidly concocted a contingency plan –plant his own bombs underneath his base (at least underneath his personal office) as quickly as possible, no matter how haphazardly or just thrown there as they were. It was lazy, quick, and messy. Therefore the end result was very messy.

But fragging achieved results nonetheless.

The office (the whole base?) had collapsed downwards, so she'd fallen in and was underground. Debris was everywhere and there was no way she could climb out, with the piles of concrete, rocks, and various other things that were barring her way from getting out of the makeshift cavern she found herself in. That was if she could manage to move her legs in the first place.

Looking down, she finally acknowledged there was no way she could move herself out of there. Her legs were thankfully not completely crushed, but they were definitely broken and a large slab of the former ceiling was laying on top of them heavily. When she looked to her side and touched it, she pulled her fingers away to see dark red and knew she was bleeding and the wetness was from her blood. There were various other cuts and bruises on herself, but those were her two main concerns at the moment, with the wound on her side being more life threatening.

She could heal it, like she healed Sabine's similar wound…but she'd still be trapped and unable to move because of her legs. She could heal her legs and get out of there first (be quick about it so she could get help for her side wound so she didn't end up bleeding out), but she'd have to first move that concrete slab and she didn't have the energy or strength to do that. She wasn't even that far along in learning the Force, so she couldn't use it to help her move the slab either.

Ezra wasn't even sure she had enough energy to heal herself in the first place.

"Well, hell…I think I'm just about screwed here," she grumbled to herself.

This was going to take a while…

Alton hadn't left after he finished his report. Larek was still knocked out, and after the black-suited man had taken out the gangsters outside of the base, he'd gone in. Alton had waited, wondering what was happening, but too scared to follow after and find out himself. Just because he was a reporter, didn't mean he didn't value his own life thank you very much.

But then there was another explosion and he hurriedly ducked for cover. After some time, he looked back out from the niche he was in, and saw that the base was no longer fully standing or whole. Thinking about the black-suited man, Alton hesitated at his spot. Bracing himself, he ran out of his niche and towards the ruins and found a pile of rubble near to where he last saw the man, and began to move the debris aside until there was a good enough hole.

He hesitated again before wincing and moving to squirm his way in through the hole. He dropped through it and screamed slightly at the drop to the floor, where he landed roughly on his shoulder. He yelped at the pain, but he consoled himself with the fact that it wasn't dislocated. Hopefully.

Alton pushed himself onto his feet, seeing that the blast had made a new cavern in the ground and was spacious enough for him to stand up in. He walked a bit, until around a corner of where a small mountain of debris was, he saw the shadow of a person lying down and propped up against a rugged wall. Cautious and not sure if it was him, Alton walked slowly until he was close enough to make out the person.

He blinked.

It was a girl. She had dark hair that kind of looked like it had tints of blue, but it was dark so he couldn't be sure. Her olive skin was marred by various cuts and smudges of dirt, while her current clothing was roughed up and was ripped in many places. She didn't look conscious.

"Hey," he whispered. "You conscious? Hello? I'm Alton Kastle. You might know me from the HoloNet news?"

Treading closer, he knelt by her side and tried to gently shake her awake. Looking over her and seeing her injuries, he winced and decided that maybe he had to get back out and find someone to help. But then he caught sight of the belt around her waist, and it looked like a holobelt. Curious, he hesitantly reached out and touched it, activating it. It flickered, showing it was damaged, but he saw the disguise just fine.

His black-suited man was actually a girl.

Alarmed, he hurriedly reached out to turn the disguise off again, when her hand snapped out and snatched his wrist. He embarrassed himself by letting out a high-pitched scream, but she just slowly lifted her head and looked up at him with hooded eyes, the disguise flickering again.

"What are you doing here?" her voice came out strangely, distorted for a moment but coming out clearly the next. Obviously, she'd used a voice decoder and it was probably damaged now as well.

"I was looking for you," he said honestly, looking at her with wide eyes and feeling uncertain.

"Why?" she asked harshly, tightening her fingers around his wrist painfully.

He swallowed nervously. "I saw you come in here and then there was that blast and I wanted…I wanted…"

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he noted the bright blue irises were shadowed and darkened in the dim light of the cavern. It was made all the more eerier when her holographic disguise flickered off and on, and then flickered to only disguise half of her body, half of the helmet's image hiding her face and her other half revealed and looking at him darkly.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he fidgeted in her grip.

She looked at him for a few moments, studying him, before she let go. She snorted derisively.

"You fragging idiot," she insulted tiredly. "You should've ran. You should have left when you had the chance. What the hell are you doing chasing after me?" but by the end, she'd lost her insulting tone and sounded just irritable.

He didn't say anything, merely going to the slab and attempting to heave it off. But he had always been horrible at physical stuff, so just even a few seconds of attempting had him huffing and puffing, sweat already slipping from his forehead.

"Stop that," she muttered, watching him. "You're obviously not the type to haul around things. You need to stop or you'll end up passing out, especially since you have asthma."

"How did you know I have asthma?" he looked at her in surprise.

"Your inhaler from earlier," she said before she gave a groan and shifted slightly. "I took a guess."

Alton, a little put off, glared at the slab of concrete. There had to be some way to get this thing off of her.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked suddenly, but at least her tone wasn't biting anymore. She sounded simply curious.

He gave her an uncomfortable look. He wanted to say he didn't know. It would be easier to. But Alton had honestly wanted to help her out. She'd saved him, and she'd looked like such a cool superhero like the ones Alton had obsessed over when he was younger (and still did a bit).

He'd never been a physically abled person, not even as a child and especially once he'd been diagnosed with asthma. He'd been considered weak and useless, so Alton had meticulously groomed himself and took care of his looks, all the while maintaining his charisma and charm to compensate for being physically unfit.

And then here he was, finding someone who was so perfectly fit and graceful (the complete opposite of himself), and who had actually cared to look out for and even save a weak, useless person like himself. He'd been all too use to being mocked for his weakness and being left to fend for himself, but instead she came to his aid.

She was like his own personal hero.

"You saved me," he told her firmly. "I want to help you."

She looked at him blankly, before shaking her head and muttering to herself.

Furious didn't even cover what Kallus was feeling right then. He was in a rage and didn't care who could see that. And when they finally made it to the brothel, he was the first to jump out of the speeder before it had even parked properly. The other two were quick to follow, but he had no time to focus on them. Instead, he burst through the doors of the brothel, noting how crowded it was and filled with injured gang members. The building was packed and pained moans echoed through the air repeatedly.

"It looks like a war zone," Rudor muttered, eyes darting around.

"Probably because they'd just gone through one," Kanan muttered back.

Kallus ignored them and zeroed in on the harassed-looking crime boss that was yelling at a handful of poor souls. He marched over without any preamble, hoping that Ezra wasn't one of the injured crowding around the place.

"Vizago!" he barked out, and the crime boss practically jumped out of his skin before facing him.

"A-Agent Kallus," he twitched, smiling in a tense manner. "Great to see you! Unfortunately, we're not in business at the moment, so if you could come at another time –"

Kallus snatched the man's collar. "I'm not here to do business with you, Vizago," he hissed out. "Where is Ezra?"

Vizago winced, before glancing over his shoulder and spotting Kanan and Rudor, and winced again.

"Not here," he muttered and pulled himself out of Kallus' grasp, turning and hurrying away.

They followed after him, and were led into a room to the side. Vizago faced them then.

"Alright, I sent Ezra with two others to do a specific job for me," he admitted. "She and the other two were supposed to wipe out the bases of the other gangs, and then capture the bosses themselves. I don't know how long it would take for them. Knowing Rex and Asajj, those druks are probably messing around and tearing up the people and base for their own sadistic amusement. Ezra, on the other hand, is more responsible and would have effectively dealt with things, so I don't know what's holding her up. I don't even know how they split up, or even if they did."

Kallus angrily grabbed Vizago and slammed him against the wall.

"You had better hope she's fine, or I'll make sure you have a very memorable session with an Interrogator droid," he growled.

Before he could go any further, Rudor and Kanan pulled him off of the crime boss and the door opened to reveal a dark-headed young woman.

"Boss, turn on the HoloNet," she said seriously, and Vizago moved gingerly away from the trio to do so. He swore when he did so though, wanting to turn off the TV.

Alton Kastle was on the news, reporting about one of the gang bases and showing off a clip of Ezra in her disguise, fighting and winning against a mob of Scairt's gang.

"Well, at least she's winning," Vizago grumbled, before flinching as the three men in the room with him, turned angrily towards him. He cleared his throat and tried to smile harmlessly. "Anyway, what's that timestamp? What the…that was an hour ago! This is just a repeat. Where the hell is Ezra then?"

That made him worry on behalf of his girl and for the fact he was stuck in a room with three men that was even more worried about her, and looked ready to tear him into pieces.

"I got reports from the others that there was a second blast over in that direction," the dark-headed girl said stoically. "This is just a guess, but she might have been caught up in that blast."

Vizago cursed in every language he knew, again in his head as he saw the murderous looks being thrown his way.

"If I may, even though I'm new, I would like to head over and extricate Ezra from the location. She might be injured," though he wished she'd not mentioned that, especially in front of these three, Vizago gave a nod.

"Alright, gather up a few who aren't that injured, and head that way," he gave the okay.

"She can take us," Kanan cut in, and the man gave a cutting look Vizago's way.

"Fine, take them," Vizago grumbled, and the girl took a step back and let them leave the room, and then followed them out of the brothel.

"My name is Ailyn Vel," she gave them a quick glance. "Ezra is like a mentor. What connection do you all have with her?" she asked bluntly.

"I'm –" Kanan started, only to be interrupted by Valen. "He's a Jedi and Ezra's his Padawan."

Kanan glowered at the pilot, who shrugged. "That's supposed to be kept secret," he groused.

Valen at least had the grace to look somewhat sheepish.

Kallus pursed his lips and glared forward, glad to have found that they had neared the speeder. But once they got in, Ailyn didn't let it go and looked at him.

"And you?"

Kallus' hands clenched and unclenched. What was he to her?

"I'm…an informant," he bit out reluctantly, not sure what else to say.

She glanced at him, and looked like she knew that wasn't exactly what he was to Ezra, but kept silent. Instead, she turned to the driver of the speeder, catching Rudor's attention.

"What about you, Baron Valen Rudor? How does a famous pilot like you get tangled up in this mess?" she tilted her head shrewdly.

"Ezra is…" Valen could feel the stares boring into him from all three, though Kallus' was more angrily while Kanan's was intensely curious. She was curious as well, but not to the extent of Kanan, who knew a bit more of the circumstances and so was more interested about what he had to say.

"She's my mechanic," he stared straight ahead. "And well…I guess I'm her flight instructor too, since I teach her how to fly my TIE fighter."

That was news to the other two men in the speeder, while Ailyn's eyes lit up and she leaned forward eagerly.

"Really? Lucky! I'd always wanted to fly a TIE fighter too. She and I talked about that before. I guess all that time together must mean you two are close?"

Valen smiled slightly to himself. "I guess you can say we're…friends."

Kallus didn't miss the slight tinge of red that spread across the pilot's cheeks, and his hands clenched again.

The HoloNet journalist was kind of…weird. Well, Ezra didn't really know how to describe the guy, but weird was pretty much fitting. Still, she was glad he was there. It wasn't so lonely and depressing, and he filled the quiet with his rambling chatter.

She could tell she made him nervous –it was a known fact that Alton Kastle was usually very smooth with his words and the delivery of his lines. This rambling man was unsure around her.

But he was also hilarious as hell, especially when he realized that he could not get back out through the hole he'd climbed into the place through. Watching him jump fruitlessly several times, in order to reach the hole above him from some distance from her spot, and then fail each time was rather amusing.

"Are you kidding me?! I came in here through that hole! Now I can't even reach it!" he yelled in frustration at it.

She laughed slightly, then winced as the action hurt her wounded side. It caught his attention and he abandoned his attempts, going over to her.

"So much for me getting out and finding you help," he muttered, taking off his Imperial uniform jacket and balling it up. He held it to her bleeding side.

"Hey, I think I'd rather you stay and keep me company," she gave him a weak smile. "I don't want to be trapped here by myself, and stuck having nothing but silence around. It'd be dismal dying here like that…"

He tossed her an aggravated look. "It doesn't look…that bad."

She snorted, though she gained a thoughtful look.

"I could heal myself," she hedged, looking at him closely.

Alton looked relieved. "Then hurry up! What are you waiting for?"

Ezra gave him a grim smile. "I don't have enough energy to do it completely. I can slow down the bleeding at least. However, I'll probably be out of it, and most likely unconscious. In that time, who knows what can happen? I'm worried that a stray gangster is going to pop up, or something equally threatening."

Alton looked worried, but then determined. "I can keep a lookout in the meanwhile. You have to do something about the bleeding or else."

She rolled her eyes and fumbled for her blaster pistol, although she grabbed her rifle too. She pushed the pistol into Alton's hands.

"Shoot first," she mumbled, trying to keep conscious. "They'll shoot you first if you don't."

And if they were friendly, she had a feeling Alton was a terrible shot. But it would be enough for her to wake up and get ready to shoot before the enemy recovered, if they were enemies instead.

"Keep an eye on things," she reiterated, and then placed her hand against her side and started to heal it a bit.

She had to find a way to get out of there, because now she had an extra person to worry about. She had a feeling, despite being unharmed and mostly healthy, that Alton was in no position to get out of there on his own.

Valen was glad to be at the site of the demolished base. It simultaneously made him worry more, while relieving him. Relieved to finally be there, but worried at the destruction and how Ezra was at that moment. He was sure the others felt the same, even that Ailyn girl that accompanied them.

He was still feeling confused and not sure what to make of everything. He just knew that Ezra was probably in trouble and needed help, and there wasn't any possible way he could deny her that. Fragging heck, he was working alongside a Jedi to get to her!

"I found a hole!" Kanan shouted, and they rushed over to him from where the spots they'd previously been searching over.

The four of them worked to make the hole large enough to drop through. Then first Ailyn, then Kanan, and then Valen jumped through. They each shuffled out of the way quickly so the next person could jump through safely, so by the time Valen was down, he moved out of the way to avoid Kallus' heavy bulk from landing on him.

"This way," Ailyn pointed, seeing footprints.

They followed them and ended stopping abruptly as they avoided blasterfire.

"Hold your fire or else!" Kallus was the one who barked out.

There was whispering, but there were no more shots. Valen bit his lip and wondered what was going on and if Ezra was nearby. But then there were footsteps and everyone got ready to fight, before being taken aback by the appearance of a pale-faced Alton Kastle.

"What are you doing here?" Valen blurted out.

The reporter held up his hands. "Please help. She's really hurt and I don't know what to do, and she said she recognized one of your voices, so please don't be gangsters!"

Valen couldn't help feeling cold and focusing on 'she's really hurt.'

Please don't be talking about Ezra.

But as they hurried after Alton, he could feel his stomach drop as he saw the injured and nearly passed out figure, who was breathing heavily as she aimed a blaster rifle in their direction, but was obviously trapped from moving.

Ezra saw them and dropped the blaster rife. She waved in tired cheer.

"Well, hey guys."

They stared and her sheepish grin twitched and faltered.

"Galaxies, I'm going to get a lecture from all of you, aren't I?" she muttered to herself, sighing as she hung her head.

Alton burst through the gloomy atmosphere, excitedly rushing to her side.

"Hey, hey! Look! I finally managed to get help!"

Ezra laughed weakly.

Started 3/31/15 – Completed 4/2/15

A/n: Ohh boy, it's been awhile. But not too long, haha! Hope you guys are still here and enjoying. I'd be extremely happy if you all dropped a review to show you're happy I'm alive XD

Quick Points:

1. Ailyn Vel: Is an EU character; the daughter of Boba Fett and will probably be Sabine's foil/rival.

2. Imperial deaths: Well…I said I wouldn't kill them off just because people hated them and the pairing, but not that they wouldn't die at all (didn't I? I'm sure I did). Kolkolkolkol…

3. Alton Kastle: I hadn't thought he'd keep coming and get so big in here, but…he's grown on me, hahaha. Oh well.

4. Ahsoka and Rex: Crud I was going to pair Rex tentatively with Sabine, but then Ahsoka showed in the finale and I'm such a Rexsoka fan…

5. Pokémon Collaboration account: Please check it out and the stories I'm writing there (I'm personally in charge of "The Book of Eve" and "Kitty Claws"). It would really mean a lot to me and make super happy! Go here: fanfictiondotnet slash u slash 6604088 slash TheRegionsLegends

6. SWR CHALLENGE fanfiction: If someone would write a story where Ezra is the reincarnation of Padmé –you know, since she died on the same day Ezra was born, it's like a switch off! You can genderbend Ezra, but it could be equally interesting if Ezra was still a boy. Mostly, I want to see how one of you will write Ezra's interactions with Vader and Vader's reaction to this little nugget of information :D It doesn't have to be romance, but if you want to, go right ahead. And the romance doesn't even have to be with Vader either.

Anon reviews:

1. Follower: You can bet Ezra's gonna have it tough! But hey, at least she's got back up :) But you're right! She's got to deal with three very upset men, lol. I try to respond to my PMs, but I do get so much of them (usually asking for updates which spam and crowd my inbox), so it gets hard to answer. Weekends are a better time for me to respond though.

2. Riot: Oh, I'm sorry! I'm really not in the habit of accepting OCs, or using too much of them in a story, even if I create them. Or at least I try not to. But you should write a story yourself with her, and post it! This place needs more Imperial stories. As for the Ahsoka bit, it's an interesting idea, but I'm not too sure it'll fit in with what I have in mind. Sorry again!

3. READER: Yes, boom! Explosions galore, eh? As for it being too easy, for Ezra (well for a while it was) and definitely Rex and Asajj it was. Everyone else pulled short straws XD They're miserable and injured. But there's still some gangsters still lingering about, I'm sure, and Scairt's not gone (he got away!). Maw, the other boss, will be an important fixture as well, and will have a side plot for the gang to mess with considering the backstory I have planned on that guy…(shhh, he's an ex-prince).

4. Guest: That is a freaking awesome thought. I'm sure the Inquisitor didn't initially follow after Darth Desolous (though he probably did join the Empire for power, after he was found to be Force-sensitive and was recruited), since I doubt Sith knowledge was spread around, but once he started getting trained on the Dark Side and eventually found out about him, he would probably have wanted to follow in his footsteps.

5. Utena: Well, I stuck my foot in my mouth XD As for deaths, you never know…I just won't kill them off because a reviewer says they hate them at least, lol.

6. Quest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you really like this story so far and am happy you're so eager for it to be updated. I love "Fire Across the Galaxy" too and may or may not have Ezra get those two scars, depending on how I write that episode. I'll have to stay mum about the Inquisitor though, kesesese. Can't reveal spoilers!

7. Dan the Jerk: Just for that name, you are awesome. I love that show. But thanks a lot! I'm glad you're really enjoying the story and think that well of it, and don't mind the pairings! And just for you, that Loth-Cat kitten is going to appear. Plus, it's an adorable idea and I'm a sucker for those.