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Episode 5 - And the Lightning Strikes Part 3
I am not a man unaccustomed to many words. Ever since I was a child there has been a retort or dry humor on my lips. Living with Nihilus only made it worse, as the only defense I had in my heart was a rebellious nature born of insanity. The only way to fight the darkness and call-consuming silence is insanity on the same level. I've never exactly been the silent type.
But standing before Starkiller, I find myself short of words.
What is there to say to a man who knows me as well as himself?
I promised Ahsoka I would take on her rage. I would be her weapon, her vengeance, her avenger, so that she can continue being who she is. The soldier exists so others do not have to get themselves dirty. The politician, just as much, despite my distaste for their ways. But now I wonder if I can.
All my life I have fought powerful people, but they all have had two traits in common. They have underestimated me and have been slow. Starkiller is neither. He knows me. I know him, and because I know him, I know him to be as fast as myself. His fighting style is a mirror-image of my own, his speed in the same dimension as my own, and the destructive scope of it all just as much.
If anything, I stand in the weaker position because I know Starkiller is an unrestrained beast. He cares little for those around us who will die if he uses too much power, and I don't have the luxury. My power will have to be great, but restrained and focused. I have to use it like spear, driven to a single point, rather than unrelenting and massive.
And he knows it. His smirk tells me so. The glint in his eye is playful and full of mirth because he knows his victory to be assured. To him, this is all merely a game, theatrics, a way to alleviate the boredom while accomplishing the ultimate goal of making the most noise possible to draw his prey out of hiding like a fire to a fox. Skywalker didn't come when his Jedi were slaughtered, and he wasn't in the city when Ahsoka came after me, and he wasn't near when she screamed in pain.
Starkiller could run now. He could go off in search of his prey, because it is quite clear that Skywalker is not here, but no. Starkiller chooses to stay.
And that tells me what his real intentions are here. This battle here, between him and me, is precisely that: him and me. Starkiller and Varus Wynn. The Sith and the one who is trying to walk away from it. The sin versus the redemption. It's all very theatrical and pointless, but then, very little fun isn't theatrical in some way.
Looking at the nature of his power and thoughts, I know him to be a clone. No other way could be this perfect a replica. In that way I know it is more than even all of that.
This is about whether the clone is greater than the original.
It's sad, it really is, because even as selfish as that desire is for him, I can't help mimicking it in my soul. Ever since I remembered Starkiller, I have been haunted with the side of me I have been trying to escape. I cannot deny this battle will be just as eluminating for me as it is for him. I want him dead.
With that in mind I shoot my lightning down my lightsaber, jump through the air at Starkiller, and swing down at him. The Force inside me collides with his own as our weapons collide and the ground shatters around us.
Lightning flows around us like blades, cutting and slicing building walls, and for a brief moment, I win. Starkiller is thrown back through the glass door of a jewelry shop and I follow him in. Starkiller rolls across the ground on his landing and stabs his claws into the ground. The carpet rips. Starkiller leaps to his feet, claws of lightning in his fingers, and glee in his eyes. I step in, blades of lightning forming on my sabers, and I cannot deny the thrill.
The glass shakes violently under our feet and cracks shoot up the walls into the ceiling. We barely register a squeal as a pair of civilians are hiding behind a counter of rings and necklaces. They run out as soon as we begin to circle as each other. Starkiller and I don't give them the slightest glance as they run right by us. Our focus is entirely on each other, studying each other's posture and movements.
My sabers are up in a defensive manner covering my chest and stomach, yet just as ccapable of taking his arms off. His stomach and chest are wide open while his claws extend outward away. It's an obvious trap. If I go in, he'll go in from the outside. However, I still can take his hands off when he swipes in. At the same time, the fact that he is using his hands, and his flickering eyes on my wrists, tells me he is ready to grab my hands and cut my wrists with his fingertips.
We spiral around each other, one step at a time. The glass hovers into the air around us and shimmers violently.
The counters shoot away into the walls. They were in the way... The ceiling crumbles above us, the glass shatters, and we lunge at each other.
Koj kept the two in his sights, but they moved too chaotically for him to pinpoint a good shot. They've already moved around other and thrown so muchdust and power into the air that he can't even figure out which one to shoot at. Could he afford to fire and miss to scare the enemy, but only distract the wrong one?
A hand suddenly appears in his scope and Koj raises his head to the Jedi Master.
"Don't." Jedi Master Kota says.
"Do not order me around, Jedi."
"Be that as it may, this battle is theirs. Despite the gesturee I made, Varus chose to take the battle elsewhere. The best way we can help is allow him to fight unrestrained, without the risk of getting us involved."
"I refuse to be useless." Koj replied.
"That doesn't mean we are useless, means we have a different responsbility."
"..." Koj glared at the human, but the shifting air and power being thrown all around them forced his decision. A huge burst knocked out a full corner of the building, and Koj saw out of the corner of his eyes that one of the Varus's created a whip, grabbed the other one, and whipped him around before throwing him into the third floor of another building. The same Varus grabbed a car, split it into hundreds of parts, and shot them all at him like a machine gun before following him in. Seconds later, another three successive bursts of wind exploded out of the building taking walls and junk with it. Lightning and darkness collided and the world shook as though two titans were boxing.
Ahsoka Tano stood in the middle of the street watching the exchange with concealed emotion. She was attentive and observant, but otherwise unmoving. Koj recognized it as a warrior. A proper duel of true meaning requires witnessing. This wasn't some random spat, even Koj recognized how much this meant, to everyone.
"What do you need?" Koj asked.
"Free my apprentice." Kota started. He walked to a soldier and inspected him while Koj released Falon Grey's binds. Falon had been snapping his head back and forth at every sound like a scared weasle that was blind. As soon as the bonds released, Koj felt the Good Spirit lay her hands on the lad, and he relaxed.
"What's your name?" Kota pointed to the Ghorfa.
"I am a Ghorfa. You may not know my name." Koj answered sourly.
"Fair enough. Help me get these people up, Ghorfa. FALON!" Kota suddenly barked and turned angrily on his apprentice only to hug him suddenly tightly, and remove him just as quickly. "We have a lot to talk about, but for now, we need your insight. There are two Varuses and one of them is the one we are after. We have been fooled. Its a clone."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, now... Help the Ghorfa get all of these people awake and out of here! We need to evacuate! The people are hiding in the buildings, despite what we already told them to do." Falon nodded and snapped to it. To the Ghorfa's chargin, the teenager had a much better success and getting people awake. Once or twice he yelled random stuff in their ear like names or 'breakfast'. Kota jumped onto a tank and pulled out a receiver. He said, "I'm going to get in touch with local security, Admiral Onasi, and Izthark. We need this situation locked down." Immediately Kota started calling who he could.
"You're having an easier time with them than me. I'll go find people." Koj told Falon. He also didn't want to have to deal with all of thse soldiers trying to fight back because they aren't caught up with the situation.
"There are seven inside that building." Falon pointed. "Second floor."
"How-?" How could he possibly know that?
"Just go! Get back to me, I am keeping tabs on EVERYTHING!"
"No!" Kota yelled. "I repeat, do not send reinforcements to us! All sectors immediately around my coordinates are a battlezone now! Evacuate everyone to the lower levels!"
Koj sprinted across the street, but suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist. "Wait!" Falon yelled. A desk flew out of the building Varus and Starkiller were fighting in and broke into splitters on the ground just in front of Koj.
If he had kept going... he would have been hurt. No, his back would have been broken easily. "Thanks." Koj says, his eyes behind the mask not leaving the pieces of the wooden desk.
Koj entered the facility. Inside were an assortment of desks and hangers lined with clothing. In the corner were the escalators, or moving stairs. Koj ran up them two steps at a time and entered the second clothing store. No one was in his immediate sight. He withdrew his blade and made a racket by tapping the racks as he walked by, but there was no movement. There was a sudden shudder from another room instead.
Not feeling it time to waste on pleasantries, Koj kicked the door down. Now, the immediate sight for all those concerned, was that a large skinny man, with a massive rifle on his back, waving a five foot machette around, wearing camouflage and a skull mask, kicking a door down, with chaos and explosions occurring all around them: was terror. They included five adults and two children.
Koj wasn't as socially inclined as Varus or perhaps Ashley, but after barking out orders for them to run, it seemed it wasn't working. They seemed scared of something.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked back to see the Jedi Ahsoka Tano. As unacceptable as it was for him to be physically touched by her, it wasn't the time to be getting into how outsiders fail to understand simple things.
"They're not going to come out with you looking like Leatherface, Koj." She says patiently.
"What?" He asks. He learned much of Basic in his years since Tantooine, but the reference failed to tell him anything.
"Never mind, just hang on." She enters in and stoops down in front of the children who are held back by the adults with a warm smile. "It's okay. He's a little scary, but he's really nice when you get to know him. Just don't get between him and hot chocolate, you know? Why don't you come out. Come on." One of the kids took her hand and walked near Koj. Koj glared at Ahsoka, but otherwise made no moves.
Seeing that he wasn't going to butcher them, the residents fled as the Jedi directed them where to go.
In the distance, the building the two Marek's were fighting in collapsed the three bottom floors, but otherwise still remained standing. From Koj's raised elevation he could see light sabers and lightning and darkness colliding between them faster than he could keep up with. For a moment he thought he saw the one with clawed-lightning grab hold of a light sword by the plasma end and toss it aside.
The two of them looked perfectly even at first, but Koj came to realize that Varus was visibly slower and already wounded heavily. He was barely keeping up.
Koj directed his eyes down to Ahsoka as she finished getting everyone out. "You refer to me as 'Ghorfa' or 'Far Seer'. Not as name." He growled. He was not on good terms with her, or any other Force user. He was being cooperative, but that didn't mean they had to treat him with… familiarity.
"Okay, chill." She put her hands up defensively. "Let's get more. Falon said there are two five buildings down." Why he couldn't just talk to them himself while doing his multi-timeline-insight-trick was beyond her. Perhaps he could only physically move through one of them… Just thinking about it made her head hurt. It would truly take a prodigy to use it and not be driven mad!
The two of them ran down the stairs, out the door, and down the street.
I bring down another attack, but Starkiller puts his hands up unexpectedly and grabs hold of my lightsaber with his bare hands. Or, at least, almost his bare hands. He creates a Force barrier around his skin.
Of course, he knows Nihilus's little trick… Such a simple barrier skill used in an extremely advanced way. Why am I not surprised?
He wraps his fingers around my lightsaber and tosses it aside. I still have a grip on it, but with my side exposed, I spin around just as his other claw comes in. He grabs some skin on my side, but I return the favor with an elbow to his face. He grabs my elbow with his hand and squeezes while bringing in his fingers, breaking and stabbing my elbow from multiple directions. I scream in pain, but otherwise grit my teeth and Force push him away. The blast sends him skidding back, but he knocks the rest of it to the side and the blast continues on to create a hole in walls all the way out of the building.
I take a moment to flex my arm. He broke my elbow. A small plant, hardly two feet tall, is near me. I extend my good hand, and consume it with darkness, and direct the cells into my arm to heal it. The plant turns to dust and a cold feeling expands in my belly.
Starkiller and I allow ourselves a few seconds to collect our thoughts and breathe. We've fought for a long time now. I've already had to use the Void twice, and I've thrown more lightning and Force power than I've ever had to use. No Jedi has ever pushed me this hard, or taken this much flesh off. This is even worse than the times I've fought Nihilus, because Nihilus simply won, he never dragged it out. Starkiller and I are so close that neither of us have achieved victory nor defeat. At times I've come close to losing, at times close to winning.
I've healed my shoulder, my elbow, and stopped my stomach bleeding with the Void and self-rejuvenation, but I am running out of fuel. I'm breathing so heavy I'm gasping, my body is shaking, and my eyes are blurring. I'm sweating so hard I'm actually dehydrated. I'm past the point of adrenaline. The only thing keeping me going is the Force refueling me with energy, but even then, that's somewhat fake. My body is wearing down, and no amount of energy can fix true rest and recovering. I'm running on empty, fumes, steam, nothing.
Starkiller doesn't seem all that different, but I can tell from the fire in his eyes that he has a lot to go. He's used the Void to either protect himself from a lethal blow or heal more times than I've kept count, at least ten, and the lightning has been a constant thing with him even more than me. Yet while he is getting exhausted, he is still able to keep going for a long time.
In our silent waiting exchange cold reality comes to me. The last five years of slavery and prison has weakened me while he has only been growing stronger since the day he was created. He has not rested while I allowed myself to become aloof and into a drone-mindset. His mind is sharper than a razor while mine is playing catch-up. His power is more practiced, more controlled, and he has expanded on his techniques of how to use his power while I have become a one-trick pony.
With a sudden snap he extends forth his hands and knocks me clear off my feet with a Force blast of his own. I go flying out of the building and land on a bus roof. I see him jumping into the air above me, and I roll to the side just as his claws come down where my head was.
I drop down and land on my feet between this bus and another. Starkiller stands above me and grins. He brings his hands together. The cars suddenly collide into each other with me between them, but I'm already in the air just above them. Seeing his opportunity, being mere feet away from him, he hits me with another blast and I go flying across the street.
I land against a set of stairs by a raised garden. I hear bones crack on impact and a new level of pain hits me. I don't know how much of my body is still usable much less unusable. My right arm is bent unnaturally for one.
Starkiller drops down from the bus and walks calmly towards me. Like a great beast, a mountain, a titan, he walks calmly, utterly, and inevitably towards my death. I can't help the terror inside.
Is this how my enemies have felt all these years? Looking at something that cannot be stopped, cannot be slowed? This isn't like Nihilus. Nihilus doesn't fill me with terror, he fills me with dread while he sucks all emotion out. This is red hot terror, this is emotion, not the lack of.
Starkiller stops and growls angrily as two people stand before me. A hand lands on me and I look up at Koj. He looks down at me, and what I see in the reflection of his eyes startles me. I look like a scared bunny, shaking and terrorized. I close my eyes and will it away. I'm stronger than this.
"How long do you need?" Kota asks me. I open my eyes. Koj and Kota. Both strong in their own ways. Ahsoka and Falcon are running towards us. I glance behind me to the garden.
If I use the Void, I can heal up from consuming it. But it will still leave me exhausted past the point of being able to move. It will take me days to get back to where I need to be. My eyes keeping fading in and out and my body is not doing what I tell it to do. I'll be lucky to crawl into the garden with my last remaining limb I CAN move.
Starkiller blows hair out of his face in aggravation. I know his thoughts. He's getting annoyed at the constant people getting in his way.
"Five minutes." I answer.
Anakin Skywalker stepped down from his hoverbike. Obi-Wan followed him three seconds later, and Anakin couldn't help a cheesy grin. "You never can keep up, can you?" Obi rolled his eyes. His datapad dinged. Obi checked it to find it is Onasi, but he not only turned it off, he shattered his datapad on the wall. Anakin whistled. "I take it you REALLY don't want to be taking any calls right now?"
"Not right now, not from him." Obi answered darkly, and Anakin raised an eyebrow with clear question.
Rather than answer, Obi entered the Dantooine Temple ruins and Anakin followed. In the distance he heared explosions, and he turned his ear to it. Something dark was out there. "You feel that?"
Obi stoped and turned his attention to where Anakin was looking. "Yes… feels dangerous. Should we do this another day?"
Anakin shook his head. "Nah, it'll be fine. I sense Kota is near as well. Between him and Ahsoka, and the Jedi we brought, I doubt there is little they can't handle. Ahsoka can keep up with Sith Lords now, like you and I used to back in the day."
"Not bad at all. Of course, that was back in the day. Now you could probably do it on your own without me."
"Oh? Inflating my ego?" Anakin laughed. "Aren't you supposed to be deflating it?"
"Right now, we have something bigger to discuss than your self-perception issues. Now, where is this working terminal you found?" Obi returned to entering the ruined temple. Anakin walked in beside him to guide him and they entered the darkness of the lower levels. Out of the darkness came a voice, one heard only by Anakin.
Oh, this feels homey.
Note: Well, Starkiller just doesn't know how to be put down does he? HK, a lot of Jedi, then Varus and Kota, then Varus again, and now Kota and a bunch of other Jedi. He just can't get a break can he?
Will five minutes be enough for Varus to enter the fight again? Will Starkiller be stopped?
One thing is for certain, someone's going to die eventually. I promise you that.
HK is down to 3% power.
Varus is on his last limb.
Kota is hurt, but standing.
Ahsoka and Falon are simply weaker than Starkiller in every way.
Cawjinawl is on her way, and so are Ahsoka's 2 padawans.
Who is going to die?
What is that voice Anakin hears?
