It wasn't the first time Ahsoka had seen someone lose their head to a lightsaber wound. Hell, she had personally been responsible for the decapitation of several heavily armoured members of Death Watch back on Carlac over a year ago. Back then she had done what she had done to escape. Could she have done things differently? Sure. Merely slicing off their hands would have sufficed.
But instead she had chosen the heads, removing them as easily as breathing. It wasn't the first life she had taken, nor would it be the last. But even still, it should have unnerved her, shouldn't it?
She was… had been, a Jedi. The Jedi were peacekeepers. They showed their enemies mercy, even the most dangerous ones. They didn't kill indiscriminately.
And yet Ahsoka had done that, on more than one occasion. She had taken a life without blinking an eye and moved on, never stopping to think of what she had done. Had those Mandalorians had family? Husbands, wives, children? Had she just made someone an orphan?
… had she even been a good Jedi to begin with? Was this why the Jedi were so quick to turn on her? It made sense.
But still, once again she didn't have time to contemplate, and as selfish as it was, she was glad that this time it wasn't her taking someone's life. It was Anakin.
And as far as Ahsoka was concerned, the life he had just taken was one that deserved to end. Count Dooku might have once been a Jedi, but he was a monster.
Thus, the rush of concern that flooded over Ahsoka was not for Dooku's fate, but instead for Anakin.
Her former Master had obviously been conflicted over what to do. No doubt the Council would be mad at him for ending the Sith Lord's life. Dooku could have been a valuable source of information for the Republic, if he cooperated.
Something told Ahsoka that there was more chance of bantha flying than Count Dooku ever cooperating.
"You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive." Palpatine's voice broke the silence, voicing Ahsoka's own thoughts aloud, almost as if he could read her mind.
Anakin released a sigh as he extinguished both sabers, placing his own on his belt and dropping the Count's to the floor by his body.
"Yes, but he was an unarmed prisoner. I shouldn't have done that."
"Perhaps, but it is only natural to want revenge. After all, did Dooku not cut off your own hand?"
"He… he did. But revenge is not the Jedi way, Your Excellency."
"I understand your concern my boy, but remember that whilst you might be a Jedi, you are also still a person, and a good one at that. Don't let the dogmatic nature of the Jedi drain you of who you are."
"I'll try Chancellor."
"Good, that is all I ask. Now please, remove these ridiculous restraints if you would." Palpatine finished with a warm smile as he tugged his arms, trying to free himself.
Ahsoka moved in unison with Anakin towards Palpatine, both of them waving their hands with simple motions as they unlocked the restraints with the Force.
Palpatine hummed happily as he rose, stretching his legs and arms in a clear sign of relief.
"Excellent, now, what is our escape plan?" Palpatine questioned as he began to move across the room, heading towards the turbo lifts that Ahsoka and Anakin had used to enter. Wasting no time, Ahsoka picked up speed to follow. The Chancellor was a fast walker after all.
"We need to get back to the central hangar of the Dreadnought. I've got a pilot on standby to extract us." Anakin replied as he took the lead, opening the turbolift doors and proceeding inside.
"A solid plan my boy. You two never fail to impress, that is certain. Thank you for the timely rescue."
"It was our pleasure Chancellor." Ahsoka replied as she moved into the turbolift last, watching as Anakin began to speak on his commlink to the two droids in the hangar bay.
A few moments later the doors slid shut, and Ahsoka felt the turbolift begin to descend.
No doubt there would be Separatist reinforcements waiting for them, and with Palpatine in tow, things would no doubt be even harder than before.
Still, she was glad to have a few moments to breathe. The duel with Dooku had taken a lot out of her.
Speaking of Dooku, Ahsoka's eyes shifted down to the injector she still held in her hand. The blood sample had been successfully collected from the Count, and judging from the shift she had felt in the Force during the duel, the serum that had been injected had succeeded in neutralizing Dooku's Force sensitivity, just as it had Depa's back on Mygeeto.
That meant she now possessed in her hand all that was technically left of Count Dooku, and she already knew exactly what she was going to do with it… assuming they made it off the dreadnought first that was.
Placing the injector within the same pouch she had removed it from, Ahsoka turned her head to find Palpatine staring at her with analytical eyes.
For a brief moment she was worried, but all that evaporated the second the Chancellor gave her a warm smile.
"I knew I was right to trust you with that sample. You did well my friend."
"Thank you Sir."
The sudden shudder of the turbolift reaching its destination brought Ahsoka back into the situation at hand. Now all they had to do was retrace their footsteps back to the hangar. Easy enough, in theory.
The turbolift doors opened, presenting a hallway devoid of any active battledroids.
"No reinforcements?" Ahsoka questioned, a sense of dread setting in. Something wasn't right.
"Apparently not. That's odd." Anakin replied as he cautiously moved out of the turbolift, Palpatine following behind him as Ahsoka brought up the rear.
"Is this not good news?" Palpatine inquired, hesitation in his tone.
"No, if anything, this feels like a…"
Anakin's words were interrupted by the flash of white light around them.
"... a trap?" Ahsoka finished for Anakin, hoping the tone of humour in her voice would lighten the mood.
"Blast! How did this happen!" Anakin exclaimed as he bashed his saber hilt against the ray shields that now surrounded them.
"I guess the Seppies are stepping up their strategies or something. This was a smart move for someone like Grievous." Ahsoka replied. Truthfully, Ahsoka was not surprised to see such a trick pulled. Grievous had done the exact same thing back in the lab on Mygeeto, and they had fallen for it.
Now, he had tried the exact same tactic again, and once more she had walked right into his trap.
Ahsoka cursed at her stupidity under her breath. She really should have seen this one coming.
"So, now what?" Ahsoka continued, weighing the options in her head. They needed to escape before more droids came, but how?
"Well, I was thinking…" Anakin began before again he was interrupted, this time by the sound of a nearby door opening.
Ahsoka held her breath before releasing it when she saw two small astromechs roll through the threshold.
"Artoo! Ar-Seven! Thank the Force! Get us out of here!" Ahsoka exclaimed with happiness. If there were any droids she did want to see come towards them, it was these two.
However, seconds later, Ahsoka found her hopes and dreams shattered.
From behind the astromechs, a single droideka followed, blaster cannons pointed at the astromech's backs.
"Artoo!" Anakin's cry of alarm was nearly heartbreaking, but Ahsoka didn't have time to dwell on that fact, not by the sound of footsteps quickly approaching them.
Seconds later, the trio found themselves surrounded on all sides by a variety of droid types, and Ahsoka knew there was no escape.
One of the droids, a Commando Droid stepped up to the ray shield and spoke.
"General Grievous requests your presence on the bridge. You will comply or be terminated."
Ahsoka knew they had no choice but to follow.
Ahsoka hated being handcuffed with a passion, doubly so when it was with Force restraining handcuffs like the ones currently on her wrists. She felt powerless with them on, and they brought her back to by far the darkest period of her life thus far.
When the Jedi Council had abandoned and sold her out, all to maintain their own political image. When everything she had accomplished as a Padawan had been stripped away from her in the blink of an eye.
It might have been close to a year since that had happened, but it still hurt, more than any blaster wound or broken bone ever would.
Once again, Ahsoka couldn't have been more thankful to Palpatine for his generous offer. Without him, who knows where she might have ended up.
Hearing a groan from beside her, Ahsoka glanced up at the Chancellor's face, which morphed between discomfort and well concealed pain. He too was back in cuffs, his arms behind his back, a blaster pointed at his spine as a B1 pushed him forward, forcing him into the next room. Ahsoka too found herself shoved forward, with Anakin joining them seconds later, his arms and hands in a similar predicament.
"Move." The deeper voice of the Commando droid spoke, clearly not showing any remorse for his prisoners, not that battledroids of any variant ever showed remorse anyways.
"We are moving as fast as we can." Palpatine spat, earning him another shove forward as the trio were led into a large open room, one that Ahsoka recognized as the bridge of the Invisible Hand.
"Wonderful." Ahsoka muttered under her breath. She was half expecting to be taken to a holding cell to be interrogated by Grievous, not the bridge itself!
Still, at least here they could cause more chaos and escape more easily.
In theory.
"Move droid!" The sound of the Commando droid hit her montrals again as it kicked it's foot out, connecting with the shell of Artoo, who slowly rolled in behind them, Ar-Seven following. Both droids had restraining bolts attached atop their domed heads. If they could just remove them somehow…
"That wasn't much of a rescue now, was it?" The voice that had filled many nightmares of hers as a young Padawan echoed around the bridge, drawing her attention away from the two astromechs and towards the towering cyborg General, who seemed to be standing by the large windows surrounding the bridge, overlooking the front portion of his ship, as well as a blockade of Republic Venators.
Ahsoka didn't know how much the battle outside had changed since she and Anakin had boarded the dreadnought, but she was pleased to see that they were still above Coruscant, and that Grievous was still trapped in-system. He couldn't jump to hyperspace right now, not with a fleet of Republic ships blocking his path. If he did, he would destroy himself in the process, and not even General Grievous would do such a thing.
"I dunno, I thought it was a pretty successful one." Ahsoka quipped back at Grievous, once more falling back on her trademark snippiness. She knew it aggravated the General, and that's exactly why she did it.
This time however, Grievous merely chuckled before turning away from the window to face his prisoners.
As he approached, Ahsoka glanced at his eyes. They had always burnt a bright gold, but now there was a tinge of red around their edges, a telltale sign of what the Jedi referred to as 'dark side degradation'. The dark side was all consuming. It corrupted and twisted it's users, leaving them scared in many ways. Appearance was one such thing that could change. She had seen the same gold in Maul's eyes, inside the Sith Shrine. Oddly enough she hadn't seen it in Dooku's or Ventress', but here again it was, present in Grievous' eyes, a clear sign of his growing power and control over the dark side.
Once more Ahsoka cursed her failure to stop him on Mygeeto. If she hadn't been so reckless, Grievous' wouldn't have become as powerful as he likely was now.
"You do seem to have a nasty habit of getting captured, Tano. No wonder the Jedi removed you from their Order."
"Leave her alone." It was Anakin who spoke, addressing the cyborg with malice, despite the fact that even he was dwarfed in size by the Separatist leader.
Grievous' eyes shifted away from Ahsoka and instead focused on Anakin, anger building up inside of him.
"Anakin Skywalker, I expected someone of your reputation to be a little… older."
"General Grievous… you're shorter than I expected."
Ahsoka very nearly laughed at Anakin's response, but all sense of humour was taken away from her moments later when Anakin began to choke.
Grievous lifted a single clawed hand upwards, clearly manipulating the Force as he lifted Anakin up off the ground, suspending him with an invisible force around his neck.
Seconds later, Grievous swiped his hand behind him, sending the Jedi Knight flying over his shoulder and into the window. Ahsoka would have marvelled at the transparisteel not cracking if it wasn't for Anakin being hurt.
"Maste…" Ahsoka began before she promptly received a strong punch to the back of her knee from the Commando droid behind her.
Ahsoka cried out in pain as she collapsed to the floor, a metal boot being placed on her back in the process, pinning her down. A grunt from the Chancellor, followed by his face appearing on the ground next to hers confirmed that he too had suffered the same fate.
Both Artoo and Ar-Seven cried out in rage at the sight of their friends being harmed, but could do nothing to help, thanks to the restraining bolts attached to them. Once more Ahsoka cursed their luck. She really hated being captured, and without access to the Force, she couldn't escape.
Anakin's head hurt, but right now that wasn't important. What was important was Ahsoka and Palpatine.
Pushing himself back up, Anakin turned to face Grievous as the cyborg bounded towards him, a single clawed fist coming flying towards him. Despite being in cuffs and cut off from his connection to the Force, Anakin sidestepped with ease…
Only to be on the receiving end of what felt like a powerful Force push, courtesy of the General.
Anakin grunted as he felt his back crash against a nearby terminal, a lance of agony shooting up his spine. But even still, he pushed on. He couldn't give up. He wouldn't!
Vaulting to his feet once more, Anakin glanced up to see Grievous standing before him, a very familiar lightsaber hilt in his hands.
Anakin's own.
"That doesn't belong to you!" Anakin spat, removing some blood from his mouth in the process. That wasn't a good sign.
"Perhaps not, but it is mine now, unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Unless you can win it back!" Grievous replied, throwing another hilt towards him, the one that belonged to Ahsoka.
The lightsaber landed at his feet, earning a look of confusion from Anakin. Was Grievous…
"Remove his shackles!"
"But General, if we do that…"
"I said remove them!"
A nearby Neimoidian, clearly one of the bridge crew, cowed before Grievous' anger, and moved to do as he commanded.
Seconds later, Anakin felt the shackles drop off of his wrists, freeing his arms from behind his body. He also felt the rush of the Force return to him, and acted on it immediately.
Thrusting both of his hands forward, Anakin unleashed a Force push…
And Grievous merely skidded back a few inches, his clawed feet digging into the plating beneath him.
"You'll have to do better than that, Skywalker!" Grievous snarled as he ignited Anakin's own saber, along with a second hilt that produced a bright green blade.
Anakin barely had time to react before Grievous advanced on him. He was going to have to win this the old fashioned way.
Delving into the Force, Anakin summoned Ahsoka's lightsaber to his hands, igniting the golden blade and moving it to deflect a volley of strikes from Grievous.
The hilt felt very different in his hand, but then that was expected. It hadn't been designed for him to use. It was Ahsoka's, and he would take good care of it.
Anakin had never faced Grievous before, but he had heard the horror stories of just how dangerous he was to fight, many of which came from both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's own mouths.
Still, he was confident. If he could best Count Dooku, then he could send General Grievous to a clanker spare parts shop with ease.
And reclaim his lightsaber in the process. Obi-Wan would never let him live it down if he lost his saber to Grievous of all people!
Pivoting his blade to deflect another volley of strikes from Grievous, Anakin seized the initiative and moved onto the offensive, forcing Grievous back.
Gold crashed against blue and green as they entered a saber lock, both combatants pushing against one another with considerable strength.
A deep growl was emitted from behind Grievous' faceplate as Anakin suddenly felt metal impact with his stomach, forcing him out of the saber lock as his free hand moved to clutch his aching stomach.
Grievous chuckled as he placed his leg back on the ground and advanced once again, rotating the two sabers he had in vicious arcs, forcing Anakin further back and round a terminal.
"Running away Skywalker? What a shame! I expected better from Kenobi's apprentice, let alone Tano's master! At least they always give me a decent fight!" Grievous taunted as he moved to follow, lunging forward with both blades, aiming for Anakin's torso.
Anakin batted the strike away with Ahsoka's saber, before angling the golden blade in a counterattack, aiming for Grievous' own chest.
And then something happened, something he had only ever heard about in passing, but never seen in person. Honestly he hadn't believed it the first time Obi-Wan had told him about it, but here and now, seeing it in person, Anakin understood exactly why Grievous was so dangerous.
The cyborg General's arms split in two, his two arms becoming four. In the blink of an eye, Grievous's new arms reached down into his cloak, extracting two more saber hilts, and igniting them.
Anakin pushed down the momentary panic that flooded his system at the sight of four lightsaber blades swinging towards him. How the kriff was he supposed to defend against this? How had Obi-Wan, or Ahsoka for that matter, survived… THIS!?
Ducking under the first two blades, whilst using Ahsoka's saber to deflect a strike by the third and fourth blade, Anakin began to retreat, giving up more ground to Grievous. The dreadnought's bridge didn't offer much room for maneuverability, and he was slowly being backed into a corner.
He needed to come up with another plan, and he needed to do it fast. His, Ahsoka's and the Chancellor's lives depended on it.
Grievous advanced again, four blades twirling in surprisingly graceful arcs in front of Grievous's form, protecting him from harm. Anakin could feel a rush of the dark side of the Force flare up, a clear sign that Grievous was channelling whatever he had learnt thus far into his saber moves. No wonder they were so precise and dangerous.
Anakin needed to disarm him, or force him back. He knew that would work. That's what Obi-Wan would have done at least.
He also needed Ahsoka back on her feet, which meant he had to free her. Right now he was in no position to do that, not as he was forced to deflect yet another volley of saber strikes from the Separatist leader, this time twelve in quick succession.
Right now he couldn't free Ahsoka… but Artoo and Ar-Seven could.
He just needed a distraction for Grievous. If he tried anything now, the General would cut him in two.
Glancing around, Anakin tried to weigh out his options.
He could try and use the Force to push Grievous back again, but that hadn't worked so well last time. Plus, if he removed Grievous from the equation, he still had the other droids to deal with, including several Commando droids.
The Neimoidians on the bridge were of no real threat to him or his allies. He could ignore them easily.
Another option was to fracture or break the transparisteel windows of the bridge. That would cause some serious chaos, but he doubted that anyone aside from Grievous, the droids, and maybe Ahsoka for a brief time thanks to her armour, would survive the vacuum of space!
Angling his saber to block a strike from the blue blade that was his, Anakin tried to counter once again, bringing the golden blade he wielded forward in a series of aggressive strikes. All he needed was a tiny gap in Grievous' defences, and then he could…
"General Grievous! We have a problem! Our shields are…"
The Neimoidian working diligently at a nearby terminal did not get a chance to finish his sentence. Instead, the terminal he was working on erupted into flames, the entire ship shuddering suddenly in response to a direct impact from what Anakin assumed was turbolaser fire.
Grievous stumbled as the ship shook, and that was all Anakin needed.
Lunging forward, Anakin aimed Ahsoka's saber directly for the arm holding his, severing the hand from Grievous body, and sending his lightsaber hilt careening across the room.
Grievous snarled in rage as he regained his balance, only to be sent flying backwards himself when another explosion rocked the ship.
Stumbling slightly himself, Anakin delved deep into the Force and acted. Picturing the restraining bolts attached to Artoo and Ar-Seven's domes, Anakin crushed them with the Force, destroying them, and freeing the droids.
Artoo acted instantly and unleashed everything he had in every direction. Bolts of electricity, plumes of smoke and oil, all of it erupted from his shell, resulting in chaos. Ar-Seven acted too, shocking the Commando droid stood atop Ahsoka, stunning him momentarily in the process before darting over to free the Togruta from her handcuffs.
Fully trusting that Ahsoka and the astromechs had a handle on the situation, Anakin returned his attention to Grievous, just in time to block a strike from three separate blades working together.
"Jedi scum!" Grievous snarled from across the saber lock.
Ahsoka felt the Force rush back to her and sprung into action without delay.
Pushing herself up off of the ground, she reached into the Force, manipulating its river-like currents to her own advantage.
Grasping hold of a nearby battledroid, she sent it flying towards the Commando droid that had been standing atop Palpatine, freeing the Chancellor from his own predicament before moving onto a greater threat.
Two more droids raised their blasters to her, and she promptly removed the weapons from their hands.
Spinning both blasters around in the air to face the droids they had belonged to, Ahsoka used the Force to pull the triggers.
Both B1's dropped to the floor with fresh blaster marks in their heads.
Smirking beneath her helmet, Ahsoka released her hold on the two blasters, searching for what she needed. She had spotted the saber hilt fly across the room in the chaos. If she could acquire that...
Reaching into the Force once more, she felt for Anakin. His signature was strong, even as he dueled Grievous, but that wasn't what she was looking for.
It took several seconds, but eventually she found what she was searching for.
His lightsaber.
The crystal inside of it didn't call out to her like the one on her saber did, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel its presence, and vice versa it feel hers.
Raising a hand, she summoned the hilt to her palm and ignited the blue blade.
The discharge of several blasters hit her montrals, the Force screaming a warning to her simultaneously. Pivoting on her heel she deflected a barrage of blaster bolts from a trio of Commando droids, protecting both herself and the Chancellor, who was still laying on the floor in fear, trembling.
Advancing, Ahsoka deflected another series of bolts before she brought her blade across in a vicious arc, removing the head of one Commando droid, whilst destroying the blasters of other two in the process.
The dreadnought shuddered again, nearly knocking Ahsoka off her feet as numerous Neimoidians fled past her and the droids, escaping the ongoing chaos on the bridge. Ahsoka chose to let them go. They could do no harm to her, unlike the two Commando's before her.
Both droids had discarded their broken blasters, instead choosing to fall back to their secondary melee weapons.
Vibroswords.
They weren't as elegant as lightsabers, and a single strike from Anakin's blade would reduce the sword to molten slag, rendering it useless.
That said, they still posed a significant threat, and one that could cause serious damage to Ahsoka if she let her guard down.
Gritting her teeth, she shifted Anakin's saber into a reverse grip, hoping that the unorthodox fighting style would provide her with an advantage.
The droid on the left moved first, lunged forward with it's blade, aiming directly for Ahsoka's heart. She evaded to the side, vaulting over a bridge console in the process before spinning back round just in time to duck under a second strike.
Once the second strike missed, she launched her own counterattack, swinging Anakin's blue blade towards the droid's arm, trying to remove it.
The Commando droid reacted, evading backwards with a surprising leap whilst the second droid moved to join the fray. Ahsoka didn't let it. The second her first attack finished, she pivoted her body towards where the second Commando droid was heading, thrusting the lightsaber forward to prevent it advancing.
The duel had moved to the back of the bridge, which was more wide and open, giving Ahsoka much more room to maneuver. Distantly, she was aware of the constant clashing of lightsabers as Anakin fought Grievous without her. She needed to finish this fight as quickly as possible so she could move to assist her old Master.
Taking a step back to feign surrendering ground to the enemy, Ahsoka smirked as one of the Commando droids fell for the ruse and advanced.
Ahsoka reacted before the droid was able to process what was coming next. She swung the saber with an almighty furry, the plasma blade slicing clean through the vibrosword, as well as the droid's torso with minimal effort.
As what remained of the droid fell to the floor offline, Ahsoka turned her attention to the remaining Commando droid…
Just in time to see it's head erupt in flames as a blaster bolt penetrated the plating, destroying it.
As the droid toppled to the floor, Ahsoka spotted Palpatine standing behind it, blaster in hand, a shocked expression on his face at what he had just done.
"Nice shot, Your Excellency!" Ahsoka called once she got over her surprise, her eyes darting around the room to look for any more threats that weren't Grievous.
When she found none, she turned her attention to the two astromechs also present with them.
"Artoo, see if you can seal off the bridge. We don't want anymore reinforcements showing up. Ar-Seven, protect the Chancellor!"
Both astromechs beeped in confirmation as Ahsoka shifted her attention once again, vaulting over another set of terminals as she rushed to join Anakin.
It was time to save his skin yet again!
Anakin understood now exactly why everyone feared Grievous so much. Before, he had been sceptical. Just how dangerous could a droid with lightsabers truly be? Surely everyone was just overreacting! Yes, Grievous looked imposing, but that was it… wasn't it?
How wrong Anakin had been.
Even when not using the Force against him, Anakin could tell that Grievous was a master duelist. His form seemed to alternate between everything and anything. One moment he was defending himself with Soresu, the next he was going full on with Ataru, sabers coming from every direction at once with rapid speed.
Were it not for the training Anakin had received from Obi-Wan, he was sure that he would have been slaughtered by Grievous long ago. The General was unrelenting, even with one arm missing. And unlike Anakin he didn't appear to tire either.
So yes… Anakin took back everything he ever thought about General Grievous. The Separatist General was dangerous, far more than he had ever realized.
That said, he had been trained by Count Dooku… and Anakin had beaten Count Dooku not long ago. Yes, it had not been a standard victory over the Count, but it had been a victory nonetheless. Anakin knew how to fight Dooku. That alone gave him somewhat of an advantage.
At least he hoped it did.
That hope drained away seconds later when Grievous finally broke through his defences.
A series of fast successive strikes crashed into the blade of Ahsoka's saber, and were quickly followed up by a shove from the Force, sending Anakin stumbling backwards. In that moment Grievous seized the initiative and darted forward, all three remaining blades rotating at frightening speeds towards his head.
Anakin barely had time to gasp, let alone evade the attack.
Attempting to put some distance between himself and Grievous, Anakin vaulted over the console behind him, escaping a lethal strike from Grievous.
Ahsoka's saber hilt however was not so lucky. The tip of one of Grievous' blades caught the emitter of Ahsoka's lightsaber, and the gold blade shut down instantly.
'Oh no! Ahsoka is gonna kill me!' Anakin thought in desperation as Grievous chortled as he moved to follow.
"How pathetic! A youngling puts up a better fight than you do Skywalker!"
Anakin opened his mouth to retort when an armoured blur charged past him, blue blade moving to clash with Grievous'.
"Doesn't speak very highly of you if younglings give you trouble, does it Grievous?" Ahsoka's modulated voice spat as she pushed against Grievous' three blades, defending her former Master to the best of her ability. Even still, Anakin could tell she was struggling.
"Nor of the Jedi as a whole Tano! If your so-called 'Chosen One' can't even defeat me, what chance does he or the Republic truly have!"
"A better chance than you do!"
Ahsoka pulled back out of the saber lock, and Anakin felt her signature reach for him in the Force, issuing a command. It should have surprised Anakin that she was trying to tell him what to do, but honestly, it didn't.
That was why they worked so well as a team. They listened to each other, and followed each other without question. If Ahsoka thought she had a plan, then Anakin would listen.
Delving into the Force, Anakin thrust his hands forward at the same time as Ahsoka. The Force responded, crashing into Grievous and sending him flying backwards across the bridge, his back colliding with the window in the process. A large crack formed behind him, but the transparisteel held.
Anakin thanked the Force for that!
Grievous released a roar of rage as he vaulted back to his feet, twirling his remaining sabers slowly, but no less dangerously.
"Pitiful really!" Grievous snarled. "The only way you can defeat me is by working together, but it will not save you, not in the long run!"
"You'd be surprised what we can do together." Anakin replied, moving to stand beside Ahsoka, focusing on the Force. He didn't have a weapon, but he didn't need one. The Force would be his guide.
"Perhaps, but I wonder… can you breathe in a vacuum, or will you die together!"
At Grievous' words, the Force screamed danger, and Anakin knew exactly what was about to happen.
"GRAB HOLD OF SOMETHING!" Anakin yelled to his companions as he grasped hold of a nearby terminal hoping it was steady. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ahsoka do the same, and behind him he heard Palpatine yell out in terror.
In that moment, Grievous bought all three of his sabers backwards, slicing the cracked transparisteel several times, before kicking it with his foot.
It broke instantly.
The decompression of the bridge left Anakin feeling breathless, as he expected. There was no air to breathe, thanks to the General's actions. He wondered briefly if Ahsoka's helmet offered her any real advantage in this situation, but dismissed that thought when he felt her pain through the Force.
Anakin held on tight, even as he felt himself being pulled towards the void of space.
Right now however, that wasn't the scariest thing on his mind.
Grievous stood, rooted to his place on the floor, claws dug in, holding him tight. He too was fighting the decompression, but wasn't suffering nearly as badly as the organics in the room.
Anakin saw Grievous' body move in what he assumed was an airless chuckle before he lifted one foot up, before taking a single step towards them, his sabers poised to strike.
Grievous repeated this motion with his other foot, and then again with the first, coming ever closer, despite the situation they found themselves in.
Anakin reacted on instinct, pushing aside the pain he felt all across and inside of his body. He reached into the Force, and pushed.
Grievous wobbled briefly, but took another step.
Anakin pushed again, this time with more strength, or what felt like more strength.
Grievous stumbled once again, his arms moving to regain his balance, but still he advanced.
Anakin pushed again, this time finding himself aided by Ahsoka, who reached into the Force to assist, despite her own agony.
The hull beneath Grievous claws buckled slightly, but still the General remained.
Anakin felt a rush of anger build up! How hard could it be to make a simple droid fly out of a window!
Gritting his teeth, Anakin allowed his anger to fuel him, and pushed again, once more aided by Ahsoka.
This time the hull beneath Grievous' claws broke apart, and the General lost his gripping.
Anakin watched through hazy vision as the droid General flew through the hole he had created and into the void of space, blue and green sabers flailing wildly as he vanished from sight.
And then, thank the Force, the bridge window's blast shields came across, sealing the breach.
General Grievous tried not to panic as he was sent spiraling backwards and out of the Invisible Hand's bridge. He knew he could survive in space for a short amount of time, but that didn't mean he wanted to be here any longer than necessary.
Extinguishing his sabers and attaching them to his waist, he shifted his focus onto how he was going to escape, and came up with a solution.
An escape pod! He could take one from 'The Hand' and use it to regroup with what remained of his fleet.
If he could have smiled he would have. Despite the setbacks of today, despite the loss of Dooku, he could still succeed. All he had to do was retreat and regroup with the Confederacy's leadership. Then he would plan his next move, in honor of the late Count of Serenno.
Moving one hand to his other wrist, Grievous engaged his grappling hook and fired it towards the Invisible Hand.
Anakin felt oxygen slowly return to him even as Artoo sped up beside him, beeping profusely in concern.
"Heh…. ha… tha… thanks buddy. That was a close one!"
Artoo beeped in joy before moving on to check over Ahsoka, who was lying on her back, sans her helmet.
"One… one day a mission will go… right… for us!" Ahsoka spoke aloud, clearly out of breath.
"Where's the fun in that!"
"If this is what you two call… fun… then I'd hate… hate to see what you'd call a disaster!" Palpatine sounded just as out of breath as Anakin and Ahsoka did, despite his older age. Anakin was honestly surprised the older man was still conscious!
"Even I'll admit that was… too close!" Ahsoka commented once again as she slowly pushed herself up with help from Artoo.
"Yeah… agreed. So… I guess all we need to do now is…"
The dreadnought shuddered suddenly once again, and Anakin felt another rush of danger in the Force.
"Now what?!" Anakin exclaimed as he turned and looked around the bridge for answers.
It was Ar-Seven that responded with a series of alarmed beeps.
"What the kriff do you mean the dreadnought has split in two and the half we are on has been caught in Coruscant's gravitational pull?!"
Author's thoughts
And thus we come to the end of the Invisible Hand section of ROTS. Don't expect to see the whole crashing of the ship stuff. Muck like the hallway combat from before I found it kind of pointless to include it. It's just mindless action after all, and we all already know how good of a pilot Anakin is. Just assume the scene goes the same way as it does in canon, just with Ahsoka in Obi-Wan's place.
In regards to the rest of this chapter, I'm willing to bet 10 million credits that some of you will have issues with Grievous being able to fend off Anakin so easily. The way I see it is that you've got two offensive powerhouses clashing here, and thus their styles don't really give either of them a benefit over the other one. Anakin is without a doubt more powerful that Grievous, and greater in skill too, but Grievous is someone who he has never fought before, and thus he doesn't know what to expect fully, thus he gets overwhelmed. The longer the duel between them goes on, the more of an advantage Anakin would get as he could learn Grievous' style. However, early on, Grievous has the advantage.
That is all just my opinion anyways. Likely wrong. I just wanted Grievous to be a badass. Is that so much to ask?
Once again, thanks to my beta reader 'ArrinSnyders' for all his hard work.
Next time round, the team returns to Coruscant, and both Anakin and Ahsoka have interesting discussions with certain people.
As usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
1saaa: No worries. No need to rush reading it. I'm not writing it.
Glad you enjoyed the chapter though. Hope this one was just as good.
Triconda: Thanks. Please you liked it.
Moonpetal1: I mean... it's Anakin! He's known to make some pretty stupid decisions when Palpatine is involved.
Hope you enjoyed the Grievous scenes in this chapter. More from him later on.
SappySoulTaker: That's very true. At least he is a good guy through and through though, even if his attitude can be considered somewhat harsh.
kuriboh1233: That's certainly one possibility as to what might happen with the Nullify sample. We can only see if she has other ideas in mind later on, or if someone else convinces her first.
I was originally gonna actually have Ahsoka convince Anakin to kill Dooku, but I changed it so that it was Anakin's choice, not Ahsoka pressuring him. More in line with their character if you ask me.
Alfredo12StarLegionaire: That's quite the compliment, so thank you. I've tried to keep things as mysterious as they can be, but we all know how ROTS goes down in canon, so it's kind of a moot point really.
That said... this isn't canon compliant... not completely. There are still a few wildcards in the story where things could change, for the worse or for the better. Hope you enjoy.
the Mandalorian terminator: Glad you enjoyed the duel, and pleased that I was able to catch you off guard with the Nullify sample. I wanted to keep Dooku's final scene similar to canon, but different as well.
Now they just gotta deal with Grievous and all will be well in the galaxy. I'm sure there isn't another evil being hiding away nearby.
Thanks again for the kind words though. I'll try and keep updates regular, but no promises.
RyanSquad: Oops! My bad. Hope you were able to recover from passing out due to overworking. Never a nice feeling.
Yes, I'm sure all will be well soon. Just Grievous left to go now... right?
tf330129: Doing my best.