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Snippy:
Darth Vader looked at the two teenagers cornered against the Mortis mural with cold disdain. "Did you really think you could sneak into this camp and get away with whatever it is you're doing?"
The boy, just as brave but stupid as he'd proven himself to be in the past, shrugged slightly as he watched a stormtrooper pick up his lightsabre from where Vader had flung it. "To be honest, I didn't know you were here. Probably would have waited for you to leave first."
The girl, Mandalorian and a genius engineer if he remembered correctly from reports he'd only glanced over, shot her companion a look. "Probably? Try definitely."
Vader was almost amused by her sass. Almost. He ignored her, though, in favour of belittling Bridger, which was ever so much fun. "Your skills are in dire need of improvement, boy, if you couldn't sense me when you first arrived in the area. I knew you and your friends were here within moments. Hiding my signature and setting a trap for you was pathetically easy."
The boy at least had the sense to look ashamed. "Yeah. I probably missed the ball on that one. But I was kind of distracted at the time."
By the way Bridger's cheeks flushed and the guilty look he shot at the girl, Vader had a pretty good idea that she was the distraction the boy was talking about. Teenagers… Useless, horny beasts. As I know very well. "That is no excuse," he couldn't resist schooling the boy. Funnily enough, Vader felt like in another universe or reality, he would have enjoyed turning Bridger into an Apprentice to be proud of. "Sensing what's around you and the the safety of your people should always be your first priority."
"It was!" Bridger retorted hotly. "We'd just been…" he cut himself off abruptly at the same time that the girl stepped on his foot. They exchanged looks that had Vader's non-existent eyebrows rising as he sensed a juicy secret was trying to be kept.
"You just what?" Vader said, advancing a few steps forward menacingly, using a trick of the Force to make his cape flutter in a non-existent wind.
"Now you've done it," Wren muttered. Amusingly, the two teenagers were both subtly trying to edge in front of the other in an attempt to protect the other.
"Nothing!" Bridger said, shaking his head adamantly. "It's nothing."
Vader could sense the lie like a curl of fire in the Force. He pulled Bridger over to him with a sudden burst of power and gripped his chestplate in a fist, igniting his lightsabre and pressing it against his neck at the same time until the smell of burning armorweave could be detected. "I don't think so. How did you get here and what is your purpose for doing so?"
The girl had jerked forward as well in an aborted protest, but she wisely stayed silent, only clenching her fists as dozens of blasters now focused on her alone. And in that useless plastoid armour, she knew she'd never survive.
Bridger's eyes craned sideways to watch the sizzling red laser warily for a moment before he met Vader's visor with enough bravery for a dozen men, reminding him of another Padawan with a similar unbreakable spirit. Admirable, but still stupid. "I won't tell you."
Vader read the truth in boy's vivid blue eyes. And a quick brush of his mind found it well shielded. Not quite so poorly trained after all. Vader could force his own will past Bridger's shields, but the effort would take too long when other, much faster, methods were still available. "Fine." He threw Bridger back against the painted mural so that the boy hit the rock wall hard enough to slide down to the ground and gasp in pain.
His goal hadn't been to break the boy yet, though, so Bridger was able to stand back up just in time to see Vader grab his girlfriend with the Force and press his lightsabre to her neck instead as she hovered beside him. Aside from a growl of protest, the girl wisely stayed perfectly still in his Force hold.
"Sabine!" Bridger cried, surging forward and then freezing as Vader moved his lightsabre a fraction closer to cutting off Wren's head. "Let her go!" Bridger demanded.
"Tell me what I want to know," Vader countered with, promising nothing. Wren was a thorn in the Empire's backside, after all.
Bridger looked torn as he stared at the girl with his heart in his eyes. It was a look Vader knew well from his past. Poor sap loves her. What an idiot. Attachments only bring pain, as he'll find out soon enough.
"If you let her…" Wren shook her head minutely and Bridger snapped his mouth closed. He looked at her for another few seconds as resolution settled on his face. "Sorry, Sabine. I have to. I won't lose you."
"Di'kut," the girl growled under her breath. But Vader could feel her love for the boy at his declaration, and it physically hurt to experience it even vicariously.
Bridger then turned his focus on Vader as he gestured behind himself. "Lothwolves like those brought us here. They don't like what you're doing to the Temple and they want me to stop you."
If Vader hadn't seen some of the things he had, he'd think the boy was crazy. But the Force rang with the truth of Bridger's words and Vader had no choice but to believe. "And how do you plan to do that?" he scoffed. "You can't even hold onto your lightsabre against me."
Bridger nodded once as a slight flush of shame coloured his cheekbones. "True. But I have an idea that this mural is the key to everything."
Vader only glanced at the mural that brought back painful memories. Memories of his precious Snips turning dark. Of himself turning even darker and joining the Son. Of the Father burying in his mind the visions that came true and that Vader mourned and raged over for the second time when he remembered them after first waking up in his hated cyborg suit. When his new Master told him that he'd killed his own beloved wife just like he'd seen in that vision. "Highly unlikely."
"No, the boy is right," Minister Hydan said as he stepped forward. "What I was trying to tell you, My Lord, before you suddenly had us hide, is that this mural is like a star map or something of equal importance. I believe, from what I've been able to decipher so far, is that the mural can be used as a gateway to other times and places. Whoever controls this portal will control the universe."
What?! Vader's head snapped around as he looked at the scholar in shock, nearly dropping the girl in the process and slicing a section of her helmet off before he remembered himself. Holy kark. This could… I could… No. Maybe… No. My Master is going to love this. "Are you sure?"
Bridger was staring wide-eyed at his equally wide-eyed girlfriend at the near miss while Hydan nodded with some conviction. "Fairly sure. And from what I overheard these two interlopers say, they have more answers than I do."
Vader pinned Bridger in his hard gaze again, letting the boy feel his willpower. "Do you know how to open the portal?"
Bridger visibly shivered as his mouth opened for a moment and he looked at Wren helplessly. "I… Maybe?"
"Do it!" Vader growled. "Or the girl dies!"
Bridger gulped, eyes still pinned to his girl as she tried to shake her head but thought better of it as another piece of her helmet sizzled off. "Okay." He turned, slowly, and faced the mural. Vader's enhanced hearing thanks to his helmet picked up his quiet whisper of, "I can do this," as he rubbed his hands against his thighs in a clear sign of nervous doubt.
Vader doubted Bridger would make anything happen just as much as the boy himself did. Oh well. One less Mando and Jedi in the galaxy to annoy the Empire.
Everyone shuffled forward out of curiosity as Bridger climbed back up the ladder and touched his hand to the Daughter's circled one.
Nothing happened for a full minute, and then Bridger muttered, "Listen… Listen to what? Listen to the Temple?" The boy's tense shoulders settled down as something in his stance changed and Vader knew the boy was communing with the Force. Hydan was just starting to shift with impatience when Bridger suddenly breathed, "Oh!" And then he turned his hand a little more to match the Daughter's.
Vader felt a burst of power in the Force as Bridger pushed an impressive amount of energy into the painting, and suddenly the circle around her hand lit up with a gold light. And then the lines on the mural shifted to line up perfectly, the whole mural flashed gold almost blindingly, the Daughter's head turned and bowed, the Father's hand moved, and nearly everyone watching gasped.
"He did it," Hydan breathed reverently. "The boy actually did it."
Vader was thinking the exact same thing.
"That's my Jedi," Wren whispered proudly in Mando'a.
Bridger all but stumbled off the ladder as he watched the painting change. Vader inhaled sharply as the wolves in the painting suddenly looked straight at the boy. And only the boy. Then they actually left the mural and trotted away in the direction the Father was now pointing.
Mesmerized, they all followed. Vader even turned off his lightsabre so he didn't prematurely behead the girl, but he left her floating in his Force hold as collateral.
The gold outlined wolves went further than anyone was expecting, but they did eventually converge on a spot on the Temple wall nearly out of sight of the original mural. And there, they formed a circle and started a slow lope that eventually spun into a fast gallop.
Bridger touched the wall within the circle and his hand disappeared. He pulled it back quickly with a gasped, "It works!" as he looked over his shoulder at Wren with wide eyes.
Karking hell. It actually does. Vader could barely fathom the implications.
"Ezra, go!" Wren yelled.
Bridger tensed, turned, and was literally in the act of springing forward when Vader said, "Stop, or your girlfriend dies right now." The deep tone his helmet projected was one of the only things Vader liked about his suit; it commanded so much more respect than his own voice did.
Bridger stopped. He nearly brained himself on the rock wall to do it, but he stopped. Righting himself, he turned and glared at Vader. "You'll regret it if you do," he said with his usual ill-thought out bravery.
Vader only scoffed. There was nothing the boy could possibly do to actually hurt him. While inherently powerful with the Force, Bridger simply didn't have enough training to even be considered a pesky mosquito compared to Vader. "I think not." Vader tossed the girl towards the captain of the stormtroopers, thinking at the back of his mind that this site would need better protection than simple troopers, and only watched long enough to make sure the cursing girl was caught by the captain and restrained by him and the two on either side.
Then Vader walked up to the wolf portal and touched the wall. His hand did not disappear. It only felt like solid rock to him.
Bridger smirked. "They don't like you."
Highly possible, but there is a more logical explanation. "I doubt the wolves care who I am. It is more likely they only let pass the one who activated the portal. Touch it again," Vader commanded.
Mumbling under his breath about, 'pushy, kriffing Sith Lords', Bridger reluctantly pressed his hand against the rock. It sank in. Still unbelievable. Vader grabbed Bridger's shoulder and then touched the portal with his other hand. His sank in to the vaguely electric feeling and now liquidy rock as well. "As I suspected, you can bring me with you."
"Karabast," Bridger cursed in a language Vader didn't know (a rare thing, indeed) just before Vader shoved the boy through the portal and stepped through behind him.
It was his duty to give a complete and very thorough report to his Master, after all.
He was not prepared for what he'd find on the other side, though.
Pushing past the feeling of nausea and dizziness the brief journey had inspired, Vader didn't know what to gawk at first; the vast empty space that his helmet said he was standing in, but his Force Sight said was filled with energy pathways and thousands of portals, or the glowing gold of the Force signature of a familiar female Togruta standing right in front of him with two white lightsabres held at the ready and a second Jedi at her side, also armed and ready. His lightsabre shone blue in Vader's Force sight.
Vader chose to focus on the immediate concern.
He tossed Bridger off into empty space, uncaring where he ended up, only assuming he'd be able to find the boy again later if he actually needed him to get back out, since Bridger would want to get back to his girl no matter what. (The predictable weakness of attachments again.) Then he Force pushed the extra Jedi, Caleb Dume/Kanan Jarrus, off their current pathway as well. The boy went down screaming, "Kaaannnaaaaaannn!" Dume was silent.
With all the distractions out of the way for the moment, Vader opened his eyes as he palmed his lightsabre and focused on his wayward Apprentice who had disappeared so annoyingly a year and a half ago. Into this strange place, I assume. I wonder how long she's been in here? "I knew we'd meet again one day, Snips."
Ahsoka inhaled, and her eyes widened. "Anakin?"
Vader laughed coldly. "Still no. That person is dead."
She bowed her head for a moment, sorrow radiating from her and pressing against the frayed remains of their old bond that had never quite broken. When she looked up, resolution had replaced the sadness. "Then so shall you be. If I can't save you, then you can't be allowed to live, even if I have to go down with you."
"How noble," he mocked. "And If I can't convince you to join me, than you're still going to die."
They stared at each for a few seconds as emotions flittered across her face and down their bond. He could tell that she didn't want to join him. But she also didn't really want to kill him. Her attachment to his old persona was still strong, even after all these years. Fortunately for him, he'd finally killed his driving need to feel loved years ago, along with whatever was left of Anakin Skywalker.
"Last chance, Snips," he said, stepping forward on the pathway of Force energy. Now that he knew what it felt like, he didn't need his Force sight to sense where the paths were, which was good, because he'd much rather watch Ahsoka in colour and detail.
He didn't acknowledge why that was.
She growled, baring her adorable little canines at him like she used to when she was half the size and snippy as hell. "Don't call me that! You don't get to call me that! Only my Master has that privilege and you are not him! You will never be him!"
Still snippy as hell. Force, I missed…
Nothing. I missed nothing.
Vader was almost hurt by her declaration, but he let it slide off of him and into the vast realm of things he didn't care about anymore. "Very well. I assume by your response that you still don't want to join me?" he asked in his most reasonable tone, since Ahsoka would be a great asset to the Empire if she were on their side.
"Never!" she spat. "I will not join you!"
"Then it is time for you to die."
And just like their last battle on Malachor, Ahsoka wasn't going to go down without a fight. Their lightsabres clashed as they danced up and down the pathway. His superior strength would wear her down eventually, but in the meantime, her sheer agility was keeping him on his toes and using every ounce of his concentration to stay half a step ahead of her.
Which was why he didn't feel the other one coming until he suddenly landed between them and used his blue lightsabre to block Vader's from touching Ahsoka's.
If Vader didn't have machines breathing for him, he would have stopped doing so from shock as he stared into the face that snarled back at him.
His face. At least, what his face used to look like.
"Skyguy?" Ahsoka breathed in awe from behind the young man.
Anakin Skywalker tossed a cheeky grin over his shoulder at the Togrutan who was only a fraction shorter than him now thanks to a serious growth spurt and her taller montrals. "Hi, Snips. Looking good by the way. Very regal and grown up. You looked like you could use some help with this hulking sleemo. Am I wrong?"
Vader growled as his past self both ignored him and kept him at bay with an easy power that rivaled his own.
This is not what I had in mind when I came in here.