Reunion Part II
Woodsworth Hotel, Penthouse Suite
October 28, 12:48
Mace Windu stood out on the balcony of their room, holding cell phone to his ear. "Hello, Obi-Wan?"
"Ah, Mace. You're back. That's timely," Obi-Wan replied. "I'm kinda out of town, and might not be back for a little while, just so you know."
Mace sighed. "Well, I found something while on duty," he said, glancing up as Anakin came into the room, and threw his suitcase onto the table. "You're going to have to see it with your own eyes."
"Listen, Mace, I'm going to have to call you back. I'm in the middle of something important." Several sharp cracks echoed in the background, followed by some shouting.
"Uh...was that gunfire?"
"Maybe a little."
"Where are you?"
"On an ONI Space Station, trying to liberate two other Jedi. It's not going so well."
Before any more could be said, the connection was cut. Mace shook his head, assuming that ONI had activated jammers to prevent communication with the intruders. He turned to Anakin. "Where the hell have you been? You're like five hours late."
"Well," Anakin said, plopping down on the couch, "Del Rio held me on board for a special briefing. Apparently, he wants me assigned onto Fireteam Crimson, since they're a member short now."
"Crimson?" Mace asked, mainly out of disbelief. "That's a Spartan Fireteam."
"Exactly," Anakin noted. "He wanted me to get augmented as soon as possible so I could use my powers for his will. I simply wormed my way out of it by saying the augmentations would destroy my powers."
Mace shrugged, and flipped the TV on. "It would, really. Some of the newer chemicals they use now would literally eat you midi-chlorians. That's the only reason I'm not a Spartan now." He purused through several channels, before settling for news.
"Do you think it was a good idea to tell Del Rio everything?" Anakin asked, slight worry in his voice. "Since I'm a Jedi again, I don't want to screw this up. I have to stick as close to the Jedi Code as possible."
"As long as you leave me out of it," Mace said, "you can screw your life up as much as you want. Dig your grave as deep as you want."
That's when the news story came on.
"In other news, Fleet Admiral Tyrannus has been granted permission to assemble a fleet to assault a Covenant fleet guarding a supposed superweapon underconstruction just in the orbit of the remains of human colony Paris IV," the blonde reporter said.
She read from the teleprompter mentally, and then shot a confused look over at her anchor mate. "Is this for real?" she asked. Then she realized that she was still on air."Well...this is surprising," she said, preparing for the next story. "He beat the Flood twice, almost single-handedly ended the war, and blew up two Halos and the Ark, and then disappeared. But now, some UNSC personnel are reporting that they saw the famous Spartan 117 on the UNSC Infinity as it crashed landed during its mission, which is still highly classified. Fleet Admiral Tyrannus is live with a few words."
The scene switched from the news room to a room with a mob of people, obivously reporters, and some UNSC personnel. Spartans stood at guard, BR85's ready to fire. Then, Tyrannus stepped forward.
"You have got to be shitting me!" Anakin blurted out as Dooku appeared on the screen. "How did he become the Fleet Admiral?"
"Hell if I know," Mace replied, switching the channel to boxing. There was an awkward silence as the two of them sat there. "But I don't care."
Anakin felt something. A familiar presence far away, and a strangely even more familiar one just next to it. "Do you feel that?"
"No."
"Oh. I'm going to step out for a bit," Anakin said, opening the door to the balcony. Night life was evident by the night music of honking car horns, police sierns, and the distant gunfire. Tall skyscrapers scraped the sky, and a gentle sprinkle of rain fell.
He reached out with the force, and jumped.
He made it farther than any human, and Spartan could've. It was a fifteen yard jump to the roof of the nearest skyscraper. Landing softly, Anakin began moving to the presence he felt.
Breaking into a run, he soon found himself crossing the city via parkour. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he found himself getting ever so close to the presence.
However, when he landed on the roof of a hospital, the plot began to thicken.
"Anakin..." a voice called out. He instantly recognized the voice.
"Padme?" he asked, looking around. Nothing but shadows of the air units. "Where are you?" Still no response. Only the gentle patter of rain on the metal roof was heard.
Several seconds passed before a figure cloaked in shadows walked right out of pure darkness.
Anakin gasped when he saw who it was. Anakin was face to face with himself.
Padme's Apartment
October 28, 12:03 (45 minutes earlier)
Anakin stirred, and woke with his eyes closed. He didn't want to move. All he wanted to do was stay in bed, with her warm body pressed against his.
A slight rain pattered against the window, slowly forcing Anakin to fully wake up. Groaning, he curled up under the covers and tried to fall back asleep, but it was no use. He got out of bed, careful not to wake up Padme, and slowly went into the kitchen to get some coffee.
It was calm and peaceful, with the stars shining into the dark apartment. He liked the night, and all the shadows, and all the dark. It suited him perfectly.
Anakin dug his hand through the basket next to the coffee maker, searching for the perfect flavor. Finally, he pulled out one called Midnight Chocolate. Smiling, he put it into the machine, and pressed the button.
In seconds, the warm aroma of coffee wafted from the machine. Anakin looked around the cabinets for a mug, and selected one that was an obsidian black. He filled it full of the drink, and took a large sip.
The liquid was scalding hot, but he felt no pain from it. He smiled as he found the flavor to be absolutely perfect. He chugged down the rest in three seconds.
Then, he felt the presence of someone. Someone he was dying to meet. Mysterious smile plastered to his face, his body disspiated into a shadow and vanished...
ONI Research Station 51
October 28, 12:50
"You didn't even think of a plan, did you?"
"Not really."
"Great," Obi-Wan muttered from behind his crate. He and Galen had landed in the hanger of the ONI station, and had been completely over-whelmed from the start.
UNSC Marines had them pinned down with constant fire. A heavy machine gun was set up just across the hanger from them. A sniper was up in the rafters, waiting for either of them to pop out of cover.
"This was absolutely brillant," Obi-Wan continuously complained from behind his cover. "Seriously, there should be more strategy to this than running in blind."
"It worked out so much better in my head," Galen said, lifting up a propane tank with the Force, and launching it over into the rafters in a blind attempt to nail the sniper. A second later, there was a explosion. Then a crack of an SRS. "Ugh, missed again."
Obi-Wan sighed. "My suggestion is to get a move on," he said. "Any minute now, something will go horribly wrong."
"Nothing will...oh great, they've got a Mantis."
"Told you."
"Don't worry," Galen said. "I've got this. I'm going to rush straight at it, and when I do you're also going to run out the opposite way to draw fire. Got it?"
"I got it," Obi-Wan replied. "I don't want to do it, but I got it."
"Keep in mind that you're far faster than any of those Marines," Galen assured him. "On three."
"On three? Or three and then go?"
"On three. One. Two. Three!"
Obi-Wan dashed out of cover, feeling the familiar sense of excitement. Not the 'oh yay, fighting!' excitement. It was the 'what are the odds I'll live' excitement. He ducked down as several bullets were fired in his direction.
Every single one missed, impacting the thick metal walls. Then several cracks from the SRS echoed out, blast giant holes in the crates near Obi-Wan. It wouldn't be long before the sniper got smart and started aiming slightly in front of the speeding Jedi.
He cast a quick look over at Galen, and saw the other Jedi heading full speed straight at the Mantis. The walker's machine gun was unleashing several rounds of bullets at the Jedi, but they all fell behind Galen's location.
Galen threw his lightsaber in front of him and jumped up at the same time, sending the blade through the middle part of the Mantis and sending him over the Mantis. He caught the hilt as he hit the ground and rolled, and the Mantis' top fell to the floor. The legs remained upright, with smoke rising from the slice mark.
Galen gripped the top-half in one hand with the Force, and the legs in the other also with the Force. With a yell of rage, he flung them at the Marines blocking their path into the station. Despite their tries, all Marines in the way of either piece of the Mantis had their bones crushed on impact, and were instantly killed.
Dodging a grenade thrown at him, Galen grapped that and sent it flying up towards the sniper. His lightsaber flew out and the blue blade pierced the lone Marine that had thrown the frag, the last survivor in the room.
There was a muffled scream, and then the frag detonated. Crimson blood rained down onto Galen, and a shrapnel-embedded Sniper Rifle fell to the ground, covered in blood.
"Well, that was rather brutal," Obi-Wan commented, coming out from his cover. "I didn't think that Jedi were capable of such violence."
Galen huffed. "Well, get used to it. That's how I roll."
There was a silence in the room for the first time since the firefight had started. The only sound was the hum of Galen's lightsaber. "Come on," Galen said, heading for the door that led into the depths of the station, "we've got Jedi to rescue."
New York State Hospital Roof
October 28, 1:01
"I've been waiting for you," Vader said, as his body formed from shadows. "It's truely an honor to meet you, Skywalker." He took a sip from the obsidian mug still in his hand.
Anakin took several steps back, hand jumping for his pocket where his lightsaber was kept. He pulled the hilt out, ready to defend himself. "Who are you? You wouldn't happen to be Vader, my dark side, would you?" Anakin asked. He already knew the answer though. Who wouldn't?
Vader raised his eyebrows as he thought about it. "Hm. Well...I guess I am your dark side, amongst other things," he replied, taking another sip of his coffee. "Do you know why you're here? Trapped in this other universe?"
Anakin didn't have an answer. "The light side wants me to restore balance..." he said, going off of the theories that he and Mace had prouduced. "To defeat you and restore peace to the galaxy."
"I see." Vader took a third sip of his coffee. "You succeeded the first time, Skywalker," Vader snarled. "You will fail this time. You have one week until the dark side consumes the universe. Beat me, and I'll release your prize to you."
"Prize?"
"I have your dear wife, Skywalker. If you are to beat me, then I shall release her to you. Consider it a wager." Vader backed into the shadows and vanished.
Anakin felt the two presences fade and disappeared. With a growl of rage, he hurled the hilt of his lightsaber to the ground. He had been so close to finding Padme. So close. And now, he had to take out his dark side to get her back.
"I've done it once," he muttered to himself. "I can do it again."
Next Time, on From Dark to Light;
During the confusion of the Didact's sudden attack, Obi-Wan and Galen continued their jailbreak, while Anakin and Mace covertly join Dooku's fleet planned to head out to the super weapon.
Chapter Recap;
Anakin learns that Vader has Padme, and that he has a week to defeat Vader before the Dark Side consumes the galaxy. Obi-Wan and Galen begin their liberation of the Jedi in the ONI Station.
Response to Reviews;
gh0st3: Well I'm glad you liked it, and I do enjoy playing in my own universe a lot. Things can get confusing though.
Guest: Heh heh, not anymore. Everything's about the way it was before.
I might have been somewhat off when I said that we were 1/3 of the way though. In reality, we have at least 3-5 or maybe a few more than that left before the end of the story. So, yeah. we might be wrapping up soon.
