Ch. 11 To the Left

Aaron: My path lead to another set if stairs. I walked down not knowing what to expect. It wasn't very many. It was a long hallway with heavy duty doors that had compartments. Most likely for prisoners to get food.

Looks like they aren't messing around. This is one big hallway.

I walked into the hallway a couple of feet before I was stopped by a high pitched synthetic voice behind me.

"Halt!"

I stopped and turned around to see the source. It was a droid, but it was different than the one I dispatched on Tatooine.

"May I help you?"

He looks like some sort of bug.

"Do you have permission to be on this level? This floor is off limits to visitors."

"Uhhhh...kinda."

"Please clarify your response."

Ok, I need to be firm about this. Just use half truths.

Firmly, I said, "I have permission from Count Dooku that I was allowed to come down here."

"Very well, carry on."

Thank goodness.

"Roger, Roger."

With that I turned back and headed down the hall. I noticed a door different than the others. It had some sort of light around the front of it, but, my attention was taken away from the door.

I heard something.

Is that crying?

I stopped at the door to listen a moment. The crying belonged to that of a young girl or woman. I opened a slot on the door to look inside.

It was a dark open room with little lighting. Across the room, on the farthest side wall, was a simple cot. On it was a woman with white garments on and her back turned away from the door. She was crying in what looked like the fetal position. It was obvious she was upset. She was in a dungeon after all.

I asked anyway, "Are you alright?"

She sat up rather quickly and turned to me, startled. Her shock turned to a look of determination.

"I will tell you what I told the last interrogator: I will not break. The Republic and its people are worth more than my life. I would gladly give up my life for it."

I guess a political prisoner would assume I was an interrogator.

"Actually, I'm just a guest here. I'm not affiliated with them, except that my pilot has business here. After he is done, I will most likely be on my way."

Her expression changed back to shock, "You can't just be a guest. You must have some reason to be here with these murderous traitors."

"Traitors to who?"

"The Republic you're a part of."

"I'm not with the Republic."

"Are you from a planet in the Outer Rim?

I feel like I can trust her. A lot more than Count "Dracula" upstairs, anyway. It wouldn't hurt to tell her something…

I sighed before continuing.

"I'm not even from your galaxy."

Her eyes went wide, "You're not?"

"No, and I'm not even sure the same universe. If I am, my home is far away."

Far far away. That has a nice ring to it.

"Then how did you get here?"

"We have no Idea."

She was puzzled, "We?"

I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell her about Jo.

"My sister is here too, we had others with us. But, we don't know where they are. They could be back home for all we know. She is taking the whole 'Might not see my family again' thing harder than I am. She's really not cut out for action like me. Her day job is a glorified receptionist. Not really her field of expertise doing what she has had to do since being here."

She giggled at that. Crying didn't suit her. Her smile was gorgeous, and even in this cold dungeon, I felt warm.

"My sister is the same way, though, only about the action part," the woman said. "She would not be alright in my shoes right now."

"Ya, I'm the complete opposite to her. I could never live my life at a desk my whole life."

"Same here, I try to be a good person helping out whenever I can, a lot of the people I work with like to work at a desk all day. Sometimes that's what I have to do. But, if something requires immediate action, I get up to go out and help help."

This got me curious, "What exactly do you do?"

She smiled, "Right, you don't know. I'm a senator for the Republic. I represent the planet of Naboo in hopes to make a peaceful galaxy."

Her expression turned sad, "But now that I'm here, and those traitors upstairs are making an army to conquer it, I don't know what to do. I don't even know what has happened to my body guard."

I turned to look at the other doors.

I'm guessing he is in the one with the light coming from it.

"I can take a look if you want. I probably won't get in trouble for talking to him."

"You would?"

"Yeah, he's right down the hall."

I start walking towards the room when she stops me, "Don't get in trouble for my sake. It's not worth it."

"Nah, I said don't worry about it. I'll be back soon."

I walk to the door and see that the light was surrounding the entryway. It was then when I realized there was no door. It was a force field only.

Got to love technology…

I put the back of my hand to the field to see if it was hot.

It was warm, not hot.

Looking in side, I see a man in a cross leg position with a collar around his neck. His head was down and looked to be resting. I decided to knock.

"Hello, are you alright?"

If he heard me, he was doing a good job of ignoring me. I waited a moment before asking again.

"The woman few cells down wanted me to check up on you."

His eyes shot open and sparks flew from the collar. He growled in pain, but them smiled.

I gasped in shock that someone could recover so quickly

"Are you alright!?"

The guy in front of me took a few breaths before responding.

"Dooku has this collar placed around me to stop me from using the Force. I was worried something bad happened to Padmé, so I used the force for a moment to sense the area around me. I learned two things, one, you're not on Dooku's side- yet. Padmé is alright. That's good, I was worried for her."

He was smiling with his eyes closed.

He liked her.

It was written all over his face.

"Ya, your girlfriend was worried about you."

His face contorted to anger at the word girlfriend.

"She is NOT my girlfriend. I would be kicked out of the order if she was."

I didn't expect a response like this. I need to defuse the situation.

"Sorry, I kind of assumed she was, I really meant nothing by it."

He seemed to calm down at this.

I needed to be careful what I say and ask.

"What did you mean by using the force earlier, and what is this "Order" you speak of? It sounds hard if you can't have a girlfriend."

He stood up straight at that. "What do you mean you don't… well the Force is what keeps this galaxy together. It's a field that connects all life in the galaxy. The Order I was talking about is the Jedi Order. We specialize in using it to our advantage. I thought everyone knows about the Jedi."

"Well, I'm not really from your Galaxy…"

His eyes went wide, "What?"

"I can explain…

…

I told the man in front of me the situation my sister and I found ourselves in. I told him that we woke up on Tatooine in the middle of the desert. He interrupted a few times asking stuff like how we got out of the desert and how we got here. I didn't feel like telling the names of some people, as it would not be smart telling a stranger names of farmers and that we got a ride from some bounty hunters. I also left out the action as it was not important, and because it would take longer to explain. By time I finished, he could understand the situation: I was not here by choice.

I asked him how they ended up here, and the man said that he and his master were working on a case of an assassination attempt on Padmé's life. The assassin used extreme means to do so, ranging from blowing up a ship on a densely populated planet, to poisoning her in her sleep.

They caught the assailant setting up the attacks, but not the mastermind. He killed his partner before she could reveal his identity. They had to split up to solve this case, and he was stuck guarding Padmé. While he was guarding Padmé, they got a transmission showing his master in trouble and came to help, as they were the closest help available. I could guess that it didn't work.

"... and that's how we ended up in this dungeon."

"Wow. I can't say that I could do the things you could do in your story. But I guess that using this Force is what allowed you to make it as far as you did. If there is some way I can help you I would try to figure it out, but I wouldn't know where to begin."

"You shouldn't, it's not worth it. Save yourself from this situation. The best thing you can do is get far away from this planet, and try to get to your home galaxy."

"I have to wait for my ride to finish his business here… he said he would be done with his work here after tomorrow."

He looked down closing his eyes "Then you are doomed…"

The tone he used for that sent chills down my spine.

He thinks we will join Dooku.

"I know you think that my sister and I are like any other person in your galaxy, but you know what, you're right. I have desires, I have needs, I laugh, and I cry. I can be led from the path of doing good like anyone else. And I have fallen off of it time and time again. But, I get back up from it. But if you think that my sister and I can be bought from good with money or wealth, you're wrong."

The man looks up to me at this.

"We follow a belief that frowns upon actions like that. People being bought, letting evil reign. Our God would not like that. We do our best to serve Him in life. He gave us life so we can live by Him. Joining Dooku because he pays us a large sum of money while he destroys lives is not something God would want us to do. If we were to join him, it would not be for the promise of power or how much we could get. It would be because it was right. Can you tell me that what those men upstairs are doing is right? They claim that the Republic is corrupt, when they are owners of mega corporations. They aren't doing this for charity. If they wanted corruption gone, they would not need to do it this way. It would need to be done by the people, for the people. Not 'How much can I make from this?', and they know it. That's why they're doing it this way."

He seemed to think about what I just said but I continued anyway.

"Sorry for going off like that, but back home, we have a lot of politicians and corporations that would trade the lives of anyone. If it meant they could make a quick buck, or if there lives were in danger."

"I know what you mean, but what's a quick buck?"

"I guess in your case, it would be a quick cred."

He started laughing at this and stopped when the collar around him shocked him.

"I guess I broke my concentration. It's really hard not using the Force."

"Well, I guess I could never know that, I don't have the Force you speak of."

His face was confused at that last part.

I have been here long enough, people might be looking for me and my sister anytime now.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go, or someone might get suspicious."

"Right, well, I might ever see you again…"

"Hey, don't say that, you don't know what will happen. For all you know, your Repubic might send the cavalry to save you."

He shook his head.

"No, the Republic has no army anymore. The most they have is the Jedi Order, this would be to much for them to handle. It's suicide."

"Why doesn't the Republic have an army, that sounds pretty stupid if you as me."

"We have a draft in case an army is needed, but they wouldn't be able to amass a big enough force to take them down."

"Well, they don't need an army to rescue you. They would just need a small force to get in and get out."

He seemed to think about what I said before responding, "I guess so, but they wouldn't do that for two Jedi and a senator. To much of a risk."

"It would be too much of a risk not too."

"What?"

"Your Republic is pretty much the main power of the Galaxy, right?"

He shook his head yes.

"Well how would it look if the leading power in the Galaxy did nothing to help a senator from a well known world? It would be a big sign of weakness. And how would your Jedi look if they did nothing to save their own."

He seemed to finally get what I was telling him. "I never thought of it that way. But it's still suicide. A small force would not be able to get away. When we set the transmission, we were told to stay put. But we didn't listen. I knew there was going to be an army here, but not on this scale. I'm sorry we can do nothing to help you get home. But, if you can get to the Jedi temple on Coruscant, I'm sure they will help you. I know they will."

That's totally not ominous.

"Right, well if I do go there, I would need to know the name of the person who recommended it to me if they ask for it."

"OH, right, I'm Anakin, Anakin Skywalker. What's yours?"

"I don't know if I should say just yet. Dooku might try to see if I talked with you and try to interrogate you more."

He sighed.

"Fair enough, but what should I call you? I need something to call you."

I thought about before telling him, "Call me Spider-Man."

"Spider-Man?"

"Spider-Man."

"….. Alright, I guess that's good enough."

That was my cue to leave. I was halfway to Padmé's door when I thought I heard Anakin say something,

"The Force is with you…"

That's weird…

I stopped at the door and knocked, "I'm back."

I opened the slot st see her sitting on her bed.

She looked anxious, "You have been gone for a while. Is he alright, did you get in trouble?!"

"No, I'm alright, and so is Anakin. He was just as worried about you as you are of him."

"Oh Good! I was so worried for him! I have known Ani since he was a little boy. I wouldn't want to know that the cute little boy I once knew got hurt for my sake."

I smiled, "Cute, Huh."

She gasped and put her hands to her mouth faster than you could say love. Her head turned the other way in embarrassment. I laughed mentally at her turmoil, "Well, I'll leave you to your thoughts."

I was about to leave, but she stopped me, "Wait, I don't even know your name!"

"Don't you know?"

She was confused, so I continued.

….

"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

…. "What?"

"*sigh* Nothing, sorry for that. I'll try to see you later."

"Alright."

I closed the hatch and started walking back down the hall to the set of stairs I came from. The guard was still there.

"Are you done with the prisoners yet."

"Ya, I'm done with them. Thank you for letting me see them."

"Oh… uh… you're welcome?"

He's acting like he had never been thanked before.

I started the climb up the stairs and started thinking.

An assassin working for Dooku, and they never caught him. If his initial target is here…

All of a sudden, I didn't feel so good. I collapsed on the stairs in a trance like state. I started hearing conversations and other things the last couple of days as if it was happening now

"I'm a Bounty Hunter. I get my job done however I can, no matter the cost..."

Jango told me that when I when I first saw him when we took on the slavers!

"The assassin blew up a ship on a public landing pad. Killing all of the passengers on board..."

That was Anakin talking! What's going on!?

"No matter the cost…"

"He even tried to kill Padme in her sleep when the Bomb didn't work. He had a partner for all of this. And when we caught her, the assassin behind all of it just killed her in cold blood."

"My client is a Man named Dooku…"

Wait…

"Know I know that the assassin was hired by Dooku…"

Oh no… NO…. It can't be… but… it makes sense. I need to know, I need to hear it from him.

I finally came back to the real world, and I notice that I was on the stairs with my body held up by my arms. With a new mission, I got up from my spot with one thought.

I need to get Jo...

Chapter End

(A/N: Hope you liked the Chapter, everyone have a good week).