AN: Alright kids, you have NO idea how much trouble this chapter gave me, but here it is. The beast is done. And SO LONG! Jeeze...

I am officially on summer schedule, which means I don't have much time to write. Now, I have an awesome idea for the next chapter, so I'll start on that tomorrow, but I really need to update Blood of Mandalore for my peeps over there. So, expect a new chapter...eh? Sometime soonish? Hopefully by Thursday or something.

Alright! Lots in this one, my lovelies! Like, LOTS. Enjoy it!

Chapter 34: The Siege of Lothal

"You know what's worse than walking into a trap?" Zeb said lazily, his face pressed against the side viewport of the shuttle to Lothal from nearby Garel, their destination rapidly growing larger as they drew near. "Walking into a trap that guarded by, oh, I don't know...eight Star Destroyers!"

"I confess that security has increased..." Obi-Wan said quietly, leaning against the central console from which the RX-Series pilot droid helmed the ship, Kenobi's HK standing behind it with its interface arm plugged into the RX's central processor, the assassin overriding the pilot's programming to take command of the ship.

"Oh, is that what we call this?" Kanan asked as he adjusted the orange shoulder pauldron of his stormtrooper armor, an indication of the rank that the dazed, broken man in the corner held. "I think this goes far beyond an increase in security."

"Increased security does not mean increased competence..." Obi-Wan muttered, his hand lightly stroking the beard that he had only just grown back and refused to shave again, the Sith Lord insisting on foregoing armor and uniforms in favor of his fine black robes, a calculated decision to sacrifice defense for speed and mobility, given what he was certain to be facing. "What we need to worry about is the trap itself. I've never walked into one set by Vader before."

"And you know it was set by him?" Kanan asked, tucking the helmet under his arm and walking to stand beside the Sith at the front of the ship. Obi-Wan nodded, and Kanan sighed, his hands tightening on the edge of the console. "I don't like this, Obi-Wan..." the Jedi whispered, looking over his shoulder at Sabine, Zeb and Ezra, the three Spectres, the kids in the family that he and Hera had painstakingly created together, all of them feigning a carefree ease that fell short of hiding how uneasy they were. At least Hera was on standby with Phoenix Squadron, awaiting a signal to retreat or to reinforce them if needed. She wasn't in any less danger, but Kanan still felt safer with Hera in the air, the area of her expertise and mastery, her domain where she reigned supreme, where she outmatched everyone but a very select few.

"Nobody likes this, Kanan, least of all me," Obi-Wan said quiet enough for only the Jedi beside him to hear. "I don't like going into a situation where I am forced to play by someone else's rules and Tarkin and Vader..." He stopped, biting down on his lip as he considered exactly how much to tell the Jedi. "They've always been a very dangerous team. That's why we're sticking together. I don't want to have my eyes off you, I don't want a repeat of last time."

"I don't get it..." Kanan said, looking carefully over the Sith Lord. "You are unbelievably powerful, I've seen you do things that nobody can do. That nobody should be able to do. Can't you just kill this other Sith Lord?"

"Just kill that other Sith Lord..." Obi-Wan spat in contempt. "There is no just killing a Sith. You clearly do not understand what it means to be a Sith Lord."

"Obviously not..." Kanan scoffed. "I'm a Jedi, my Sith education was a bit lacking."

"Your Jedi education was a bit lacking, Padawan..." Obi-Wan teased, and Kanan grumbled a few curses at him under his breath as he rolled his eyes. "There were thousands of Jedi in the twilight of the Republic. Thousands of Jedi Masters throughout the years after the fall of the Old Sith, but of my kind...there were perhaps only thirty. Our numbers are few because a true Sith is rare, powerful beyond measure and possessing a quality that very few can ever come to hope to possess. A Sith apprentice, a true one, should be a match for a Jedi Master. It is not something to be taken lightly by anyone." He chuckled softly, his eyes closed as he reached into the Force and found it running cold, colder and colder the closer they drew to Lothal. "Even a Sith Master must beware their apprentice, because one day, they will succeed in killing them. That is the way of the Sith."

"Maybe it's not such a good idea to be here..." Kanan said cautiously, and Obi-Wan shook his head.

"No, this is important..." Kenobi drawled, his hand running lazily over the console as he looked out the viewport at the Star Destroyers, so many it could technically be considered a siege of the planet. "Not just for the Minister and her information, but I need to size Vader up, and this is the first chance I've gotten to do that."

"Why?" Kanan asked. "Been too busy?"

"Among other things, and that's the problem..." Obi-Wan whispered. "Sixteen years, I have been running to avoid detection, causing problems while I could, helping to establish a viable rebellion, searching countless systems for potential bases and allies..."

"Raising two children?" Kanan cautiously offered, and slowly, the Sith's eyes drifted over to stare at the Jedi, glowing fiercely, more dangerously than he had ever seen them before, and he watched as gold gave way to searing, bleeding red, staining his irises in jagged spikes that made him look feral, predatory and terribly dangerous. The Force, cold before and deadly calm, suddenly turned razor sharp and painful, like the waters had snapped frozen and shattered into long, sharp knives of ice, all cutting into him, all piercing through him, all poised and ready to strike above his vitals, and Kanan dare not move, lest the cold trap slam shut. That was where Obi-Wan Kenobi drew the line, the point where friendships and comradery meant nothing at all. Slowly, the Sith averted his gaze, the blades of ice melting in an instant, and Kanan could breathe freely again, though he could see the jagged red ring still present in Obi-Wan's eyes.

"Raising two apprentices," Obi-Wan quietly corrected, the tenderness in his voice clearly suggesting otherwise, and Kanan felt that somehow, he had been admitted past the line, if only at the edge. "A difficult thing requiring a great deal of secrecy, especially with the likes of Thrawn after me. He can never know."

"Does he?"

"...I'm uncertain," Obi-Wan said uneasily. "I don't see how he could, but he's surprised me before." He growled and shook his head. "No, no, the point now is Vader. The point is that I have been busy, very busy, and Vader has had over fifteen years of hard, intensive training under Darth Sidious. Fifteen years of everything he does being for the Dark Side, fifteen years under a Master that not only wants me back in his grasp, but knows my strengths, my weaknesses, how I fight, the way I use the Force, the effect I have upon it, how I move it, how it moves around me. Vader should, by all rights, be an expert in me, and I know next to nothing about him."

"And you want go meet a creature like that?" Kanan asked, his jaw slack in disbelief. "Like, this is the plan?"

"How else will I learn about my enemy?" Obi-Wan asked. "Vader was in Ezra's vision. I need to know him if I am to have a chance to avoid that fate..." Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, this opportunity is too good to pass up."

"...but you can kill him, right?" Kanan prodded, and Kenobi rolled his eyes.

"Yes, if that will please you. Yes, it is very likely that I can kill him. I defeated him before, and I left him crippled when I did. I don't know if it is possible to recover from what I did to him." Obi-Wan ran his hand through his hair, ruffling the immaculately styled locks and holding his breath as the RX droid transmitted the clearance codes necessary to pass by the blockade. "But it may be...perhaps Sidious found a way around it. Perhaps Vader worked and overcame his deficiencies." He sighed and looked at the Jedi when the clearance codes came through, and the shuttle sped past the Star Destroyers and toward Lothal. "The other problem I find myself facing is that Sidious is watching me in a very real, very literal sense. I can...feel him..."

Obi-Wan said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Not always, but when I reach too deeply into the Force, I feel him watching, I see his eyes upon me."

"You're worried about drawing the Emperor right to you..." Kanan whispered, and Obi-Wan nodded. "You're hidden now, but if you use your full strength-"

"I may very well cause the vision Ezra saw to become a reality," Obi-Wan finished. "He finds me somehow, and until I know how he does it, it's dangerous to reach too deep." He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "More then that, killing Vader will absolutely set Sidious after me. There will be no stopping him if I rob him of his pet. For now, I need Vader alive, at least until this vision has...resolved itself..."

"I think we really need this consult..." Kanan said, his voice tight with worry, and Obi-Wan slowly nodded.

"We do, but this opportunity is too good to pass up. We don't have a choice."

"I think Vader might be here until he gets what he wants..." the Jedi said, and Obi-Wan looked at him out of the corner of his eye, a hand on his lightsaber.

"Maketh won't be..." the Sith whispered. "Though I did not seduce her, I still used her, and she has been invaluable to us, though she never knew it. I owe her a debt. I know you all expect this to be a trap, and it almost certainly is, but she has no part in this. Maketh is a simple woman in way over her head, and she knows it. She just wants to live."

"You know..." Kanan drawled lazily, leaning back and crossing his arms. "You're pretty honorable for a Sith Lord."

"You're pretty slutty for a Jedi," Kenobi countered, and Kanan just shrugged.

"Can't argue with that..." Kanan said in a low, husky voice, winking seductively at Obi-Wan. "And it's just for you, babe..."

"Oh, Jedi, you better bend over the console so I can-"

"Shadow King?" Sabine asked in a tight, excited voice, and Kenobi turned his attention away from the flirtatious Jedi and to the Mandalorian as she approached them. "We're going to be there soon. Can we go over the plan once again?"

"Gladly," the Sith said with a gentle smile, a hand on her shoulder as he passed her to walk toward the waiting Spectres. Besides the two Jedi, Kanan dressed as a stormtrooper commander and Ezra as a cadet, nobody had disguised themselves. It was pointless for Zeb, who would have stood out even more had he tried to impersonate anything other than what he was, and Mandalorians were considered the staunchest of Imperial allies and were rarely questioned, in part because they were renowned for their ferocity and appropriately feared.

"Can't we disarm this trap before we walk into it?" Zeb growled, nervously handling his bo-rifle. "I don't like this, especially since it's to help an Imperial we clearly can't trust."

"We can trust her..." Obi-Wan muttered. "It's the Imperials around her that we can't trust, and they are the ones setting this trap with her as bait. They absolutely know that someone is coming for her, since Vader's involved, and setting the trap off is an inevitability, I'm afraid."

"But we can make that work," Kanan said, his voice strong and commanding as he came to stand beside the Sith Lord. "Knowing that we are stepping into a trap gives us an advantage."

"Precisely," Obi-Wan agreed. "Often, allowing a trap to be sprung will teach you more about the person that set it than the person that set it off. Knowing what we know, we may have the opportunity to choose how and when this trap is tripped, and believe me, there is very little in this world more infuriating than being a hunter that discovers their hard-laid trap is tripped, empty and baitless."

"...and you want t make this Vader mad?" Ezra asked cautiously, and Obi-Wan looked at the teen and grinned wolfishly.

"I really, really do. Angry is good. Anger has a way of showing a person's true colors, and I have need of learning the manner of beast we are dealing with."

"Getting in should be easy," Kanan said softly, nudging the Sith Lord when he felt the man getting lost in malice and sinister delight with the hungry stirring of the Dark Side. "Kenobi will lead us to the Minister's home, and we'll regroup there if it's safe. The problem will be in getting out. Increased security means the Imperials will be tightly managing any ship entering and leaving Lothal, and we're going to need to steal a ship. Which, fortunately for us, happens to be Kenobi's specialty."

"Zeb and Sabine," Obi-Wan said, pointing the hilt of his lightsaber at the Lasat and the Mandalorian. "You two will remain out of sight above the streets while Kanan, Ezra and I are in retrieving the Minister. I'll be leaving HK with you in case something happens. If anything seems suspicious to you, anything at all, I want you to call Kanan's com. He and I should be able to feel the Dark Side move if there's something else swimming around us, but I want you to stay vigilant. You may not have the Force, but trust your instincts and you will not be led astray."

"Will do, Shadow King," Sabine said, smiling excitedly and gripping her helmet tightly in her hands. "And after that?"

"We play it by ear," Obi-Wan mumbled. "I don't suspect plans beyond that will go at all the way we want them to. We'll have to improvise, but tentatively...we go to ground and plan our next move. Ultimately, we steal a ship and get out of here. Keep in mind that in a pinch, we can utilize Phoenix Squadron to help, but I'd like it not to come to that."

"Well!" Kanan said proudly, his chest inflating. "That's why we have Hera! She-"

"She's very good, it's true..." Obi-Wan muttered, and Kanan fell silent when he felt the Sith Lord's apprehension. "But Vader is...let's just say that he is raw talent coupled with an unnaturally strong connection with the Force, and all of it focused into flying."

"He's a pilot?!" Kanan asked, his jaw slack and eyes wide as he stared at the slowly nodding Sith. "...well, that would have been a great thing to know before we did this!"

"He's perhaps one of the greatest pilots in the galaxy, if not the best," the Sith Lord growled bitterly. "Always him, always better than me, Qui-Gon..." For just a moment, Kanan could feel the smallest trickle of warmth, a gentle current in the icy waters that felt like comfort and quiet affection and home, and he could see the Sith shiver against it.

"That good, huh?" Kanan asked, laughing nervously and his heart jumping as the spaceport below came into sight. "You make him almost sound like a legend. Like a Saesee Tiin or an Anakin Skywalker."

"Yes, well, he's something like that..." Obi-Wan muttered, flipping his lightsaber in his hand and clipping it on to his belt.

"...Kenobi, we can't have Hera face off against something like that..." Kanan muttered gravely. "If this Vader is that good-"

"Have some faith in your lover, Jarrus," Obi-Wan said, looking out the viewport as the RX under HK's control brought the ship not toward the main Imperial port, but to a smaller commercial port at the edge of Capital City. "Even without the Force, she is brilliant. I believe Vader will remain focused on me, but if not, Hera will make him work to bring her down."

"Well, it isn't going to come to that," Sabine said confidently. "You're going to kill him, right?" For a beat, there was silence, the Sith Lord still as he gazed out the viewport, the Jedi looking down toward the ground, and it was enough to make Sabine very nervous. "...right?!"

"Vader will be assessed, analyzed and disabled, yes," Kenobi said swiftly, the Mandalorian's frantic tone jolting him back to the present, briefly smiling reassuringly at Sabine before he turned his attention to the Jedi beside him. "Kanan, are you versed in Jedi mental manipulation?"

"The mind trick?" He drew up slightly, considering how to answer the question that would have been simple had anyone other than the kriffing Negotiator asked it. "Y-yeah, I can do it. Not like you, but...yeah. I'm not bad."

"Would you care for a lesson on the subject?" Obi-Wan asked, a cocky smirk on his face as the transport touched down. "As it so happens, I'm something of an expert on the subject."

"I-I want a lesson!" Ezra said, sliding his helmet on as Kanan did so as well, and the Sith chuckled softly as he stood beside the door, the cabin depressurizing as the airlock began to unseal.

"Most people, apprentice, are weak willed. They want to be told what to do. Understand this, speak with the conviction that the Force has given you the right to by birth, and the fools of this galaxy will do anything you say..." The door hissed open, allowing two armed stormtroopers serving as port guards to step on to the ship, and Kenobi put his hands in the air, a smirk on his lips as they quickly saluted to Kanan and Ezra. No sooner had they finished greeting their fellow stormtroopers, they raised their weapons, catching sight of the unconscious man slumped in the corner.

"All of you, on your knees!" one of the troopers commanded, and slowly, the group raised their hands in the air, Ezra and Kanan watching the Sith Lord carefully as his fingers slowly wiggled.

"Nothing to be alarmed about," Obi-Wan said in an even, emotionless voice. "Our friend back there works in the mines, and he had a very long night." He leaned in slightly, a smirk on his face when he watched both troopers waver where they stood, their weapon's dropping to their side, Ezra behind him softly gasping his excitement to Kanan. "Now, he's still very drunk, and he's going to need some help getting to work. His supervisor's pretty lenient on this sort of thing. Alright?"

"There's nothing here to be alarmed about," the commander said, pointing to the man in the back. "We need to help him."

"Statement: we should kill them, Master," HK said as it pulled away from the RX unit, the deactivated pilot droid falling on to the console without the support of the assassin.

"And have the Imperials on high alert when they find out a patrol is missing?" Obi-Wan said as he watched the stormtroopers pick up the unconscious man and begin to walk him out. "No thank you."

"Aren't the Imperials already on high alert? Zeb asked.

"They are..." Obi-Wan smoothly said. "So just think of how scary it will be when they're on high alert and paranoid."

"Report: Master, a development you should be aware of. On our approach, the shuttle was scanned."

"Of course it was scanned, you mechanical idiot..." Obi-Wan said as he rolled his eyes.

"Correction: Master, the scan was abnormal. The Star Destroyers were not scanning for the usual pickup, they were altered to scan for magnetic signature."

"That's how Tarkin is doing it..." Obi-Wan hissed. "Oh, that clever asshole, I knew he had something up his sleeve. Keep a record of the scan, I'm going to have K2 reverse engineer it and apply a countermeasure to the Umbra."

"Excitement: Master, you are a genius! We should celebrate your good fortune with murder!"

"One thing at a time, my psychopathic automata. Business before pleasure." When the stormtroopers had left, Obi-Wan indicated with his hand for the others to follow. "Come. Time to be heroes to a frightened young woman and villains to many, many Imperials."

As predicted, getting to the Minister's apartment was an easy task, one made even easier by Kanan's liberal use of misdirection on the few patrols that looked their way. It was still early, the miners in droves in the streets as they headed to the mines, the factory workers and assemblymen all heading to the production lines, the merchants opening shop for the morning, and the crowed made it very easy to disappear. By the time they stood outside the Minister's door, it was still before the government officials met at a more reasonable hour, but if Maketh was inside, she wasn't answering the call button or their knocking.

However, doors never held Obi-Wan from anything, and with a wave of his hand, the door shuttered against the forceful intrusion before it hissed open, the locks and mechanisms releasing as the hydraulic systems failed. The room inside was dark, all the lights shut off and the curtains drawn, the small space devoid of anything more than minimal possessions. It was a sparse existence, and just from peeking inside, Kanan and Ezra both felt a twinge of pity for this woman who had been their enemy.

"Ezra," Kanan said, a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You keep watch out here, alright? We don't want to scare her away."

"If she's even here..." the teen muttered, looking at the Sith Lord when he breathed deeply, his eyes closed in focus.

"She's here..." Obi-Wan whispered, venturing into the room without another word, and with a shrug, Kanan followed, waving his hand in the air to close the door behind him. It only took a moment to find Minister Tua, her soft, muffled sobs echoing from the bathroom where she had closed herself in, and Kanan removed the stormtrooper helmet, smoothing his hair back as he watched Obi-Wan lay his hand on the door.

"Maketh..." he whispered, his voice smooth and even, the accent crisp and inviting, a tone that reminded Kanan of himself when he would charm his way into a new girl's bed every night he wasn't drunk on a tavern floor, back before Hera when he was young and selfish and fake. "Maketh, I know you're in there. You're safe now, I won't let anything harm you."

Save for the occasional sob, muffled for silence but failed to truly repress, a stillness fell over the room, Kanan hardly daring to breathe lest he shatter the pieces of the Minister's broken trust. Slowly, the door creaked open, just enough to see the woman's eye, puffy and red from crying and wide with fear for a long moment, they were still, the Sith Lord waiting as the woman eyed him, taking in the image of the man she knew intimately and not at all. With a quick sniffle, the woman broke, relief and fear and hope and desperation rolling off her like waves, and she threw the door open and flung herself at Obi-Wan, her shaking arms wrapping tightly around his body and crying freely when she felt him envelop her.

"Ben..." the Minister whimpered, her hand on his chest and pushing back, allowing herself the space to lean back and look into the face of the Sith. "S-shadow King..."

"Yes."

Maketh laughed nervously as she collapsed against the man once again. "I-I think we need to take a break..." she muttered, her hands balling into the folds of his robe. "Our relationship is a bit of a mess, and I don't even know who you are. Or what you actually do. Or your name..."

"All things we will worry about the moment you are safe, Minister," Kenobi said firmly, allowing the woman to slip out of his arms. "Though your demand for a break is...quite reasonable." He gently nudged her toward Kanan, the woman stiffening the moment she saw the white armor he wore. "Minister, this is Kanan Jarrus, rebel Jedi. He's going to help me get you out of here."

"Y-you brought the rebels?" she gasped, her eyes wide as she looked at the Jedi, the source of all her troubles. "You work with the rebels?"

"I do, and they've all come to help you, so we need to move quickly..." Obi-Wan said as he pulled back the curtains, squinting against the morning sun that poured into the room, and quickly answering his comlink when it pinged.

"We've got a problem..." Sabine hissed on the other end. "Agent Kallus is on the way, he's backed up by a compliment of stormtroopers. It looks like they're headed right toward you."

"Oh, that's exactly what we needed..." Obi-Wan growled. "I was hoping for more time to plan the next move. Damn it, by now, the port is going to be swarmed, there's no way we're getting out the way we came. Ezra!" The door hissed open and the summoned boy rushed in, quickly removing his helmet when the Minister shrank away, the shaking woman melting against the Sith Lord as if trying to disappear in the black of his robes.

"Don't worry, Minister," Ezra said soothingly. "We're going to get you out of this.

"In a moment, this city is going to be crawling with Imperials, we need a place to lay low while we regroup and come up with a plan, if we can-"

"Right, that's not the problem," Sabine interrupted. Zeb has a shot at Kallus and he's taking it." With a groan, Obi-Wan smacked his forehead with his open palm.

"Well stop him, Sabine, you are Mandalorian, take command of the-"

"He riled up the HK unit, Kenobi, they're like...murder buddies. They just jumped off the roof."

"I need a drink, this job was obviously not meant for sober people..." Obi-Wan growled, pushing the Minister against Kanan. "This is exactly what I didn't want to have happen, Sabine, I didn't want to split up and now we have to..." He began pacing, his hands sliding into his hair as he thought, his eyes fixed on Kanan and Ezra. "Then again, this may work to our advantage. Sabine, keep on them, support them from your position, I'll be there shortly. Kanan." He pocketed the com as he stopped, looking over the Jedi and his charge as he thought. "Protect the Minister at all costs. Looks like Kallus was on the way to fetch her, so having her in your possession may not attract that much attention. Ezra, you know the city. Lead them to safety. I'll contact you when we're in the clear so you can give us your location."

"You got it, boss!" the teen said as he saluted, gesturing quickly for them to follow her, and when Kanan nudged the Minister, she didn't move, her feet firmly planted as she reached out to grab Obi-Wan's arm.

"Ben..." she said softly, stopping herself and shaking her head before she looked back at him again. "Shadow King, whoever you actually are..."

"Obi-Wan," he whispered, carefully taking her hand in his, a small smile on his lips as the woman's eyes widened with recognition. "But that's neither here nor there."

"Obi-Wan?" she squeaked. "As in, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Separatist leader, the Negotiator?!" He nodded solemnly, and Maketh covered her mouth with her hands to hide her expression, but her presence in the Force pulsed with excitement. "I-I studied your negotiation tactics at the Academy, your speech to the Senate denouncing the Jedi was brilliant!"

"W-wait, the Empire studies me?!" She ignored him, stepping closer to the man and peering up into his eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead, they said you were dead. I watched the execution on the holonet news..." She gently touched his cheek, her fingers delicately running across his neatly trimmed beard. "How are you so young..."

"A healthy diet and lots and lots of sex," Obi-Wan said as he gently pushed the girl back to Kanan. "It doesn't hurt that I'm extremely difficult to kill." He quickly leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Go now, sweet thing. We can discuss this when you're safe."

"Come on, Minister," Kanan said, a hand on her lower back, and this time, she allowed herself to be guided out of the room, the Jedi giving the Sith a thumbs up before he put his helmet back on and followed her out. With a deep breath, Obi-Wan calmed himself, felt the pull and tug of the Force, and jumped out the window, the wind rushing in his ears as he fell, and he landed easily in the streets below, quickly darting out from the back ally and into the streets, now almost vacant save for a few straggling Ithorians who lumbered by as quickly as they were able. Following the sounds of blaster fire and screaming, Obi-Wan ran down the vacant streets, cutting corners close and bounding over dead stormtroopers that littered the ground.

It didn't take long to find his renegade rebels, Sabine and HK-45 shooting down stormtroopers as they ran to reenforce the ISB agent who was locked in combat with the furious Lasat, both of them wielding the bo-rifles belonging to Zeb's extinct people, and Obi-Wan didn't need to know the history of the unique weapon to know that Agent Kallus had no business holding one in his hands. The Mandalorian and the droid were not interfering, which meant this fight was a highly personal one, and Obi-Wan kept a respectful distance, eyeing the two as Kallus deftly evaded the bigger, stronger creature. For all Zeb's strength and skill, the match was an even one, Kallus clearly familiar with the unusual weapon, the agent in possession of the advantage since he was calm and controlled while his opponent was wild and furious. Zeb would need help. But not yet. First, Obi-Wan needed to take back his possessions.

Slowing to an easy walk, he approached his maniacally laughing droid from behind, the HK shooting down both sides of the boulevard at the stormtroopers and Imperials as they turned the corner to reenforce Kallus. Rapping his knuckles on the back of the droid's head, the HK quickly spun around, the blaster in its hands primed and ready to shoot, and Kenobi tore it out of the iron grasp with the Force, his hand on its shoulder quickly spinning the mechanical around and quickly kicking its legs out. The droid fell against the Sith Lord's chest, a strong hand on the metal chest to hold it in place.

"Surprise: Master! Have you come to help us slaughter these meatbags? The Lasat is currently winning. He is a skilled murderer, Master, but I am not far behind! I'll catch up, you'll see!"

"Oh, HK-45, there's a good reason I like K2 better than you, and it's not just because he's the Umbra's boyfriend..." Obi-Wan drawled, his fingers scraping along the top of the droid's head. "What were my explicit instructions, HK?"

"Answer: Master, you said-"

"Don't kill the Imperials," Obi-Wan said sharply, punctuating each word with a swift tap to the droid's head. "We don't want them excited, and what are they, HK!"

"...response: excited, Master."

"Excited!" The Sith cried, throwing up his hands and stepping away from HK, and with its support removed, the droid dropped to the ground with a metallic thud. "You know how hard it's going to be to get out of here now!"

"Soothing: now, now, Master..." the droid cooed, standing up and laying its hands on the Sith's shoulders. "We can just murder them all!" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and paced away from the droid, a frustrated growl deep in his chest, and reeled on the mechanical to lecture the stubborn thing when a missile shot down the alleyway and struck the droid, exploding on impact. The searing shockwave threw Obi-Wan backwards and burned his forearms through his sleeves when he crossed his arms out in front of him to defend against the blast. With a groan, Obi-Wan got up from where he fell, his lightsaber in hand as he heard the Mandalorian on the roof shooting at their assailants, and with a swift shout, Sabine jumped off the roof and sprinted toward him just as the air was filled with high pitched shriek of a TIE fighter.

Obi-Wan sprinted toward where the droid fell in a crumpled heap among the rubble of a building it struck, the blood red armored body covered in dust and scratches and dents, the yellow light of its visual receptor flickering and blinking as its circuits shorted, its left arm torn off completely and laying on the other side of the street, the torn joint sparking and leaking oil and hydraulic fluid. Reaching out, Obi-Wan called the arm to him and used the Force to throw back the rubble laying atop his droid, lifting his hand to rise the HK in the air and lay it on the ground before where he knelt, his hands running over the armor and assessing the damage. He hardly heard Sabine run up through the furious roar of the Dark Side, and with his hand on the droid's head as it struggled in jerking, twitching motions to rise, he looked over his shoulder at the TIE fighter screeching toward them.

"Rest, HK..." Obi-Wan whispered to the droid. "I can repair you. I will repair you when this is over, I swear it."

"Kenobi!" Sabine shouted, rushing up to stand beside him, her pistols in hand and aiming down the empty streets. "We have to get out of here!"

"Agreed..." Obi-Wan snarled as he stood, his balled fists by his sided crackling with blue electricity. "Right after I murder this TIE fighter. Contact Kanan, get his location. Secure our route, Sabine, go." She quickly looked over at Zeb and Kallus, the sparking yellow electricity at the ends of the ISB agent's bo-rifle sparking as he jammed the point into Zeb's side, a savage, pained, furious roar shaking the air as the Lasat reeled on his opponent, striking up, down, hard and fast, and Kallus avoiding it all.

"We need to help him!" Sabine shouted, and furious gold eyes fell on her, making her stop in her tracks.

"I will help him as soon as I bring that TIE down! Secure our route!" Nodding quickly, Sabine ran down the street, and Obi-Wan stood with his fists clenched, staring down the TIE as it swooped down low, its green plasma bolts firing and hitting the street with explosive force, sending dirt and cobblestone showering into the air. The moment it was close enough, as soon as the rapid fire drew close enough for sand to fall upon his robes, the Sith Lord extended his hand and threw the full force of his rage at the TIE fighter, the lightning dancing around his hand flying from his fingertips like a torrent, the spreading arch striking the fighter and the high whine became a low moan as the engines fried. The ship spiraled out of control as it fell, shooting toward a building and colliding with it, the entire structure coming down in a blazing explosion.

Another sharp roar of pain drew Obi-Wan's attention back to Zeb and Kallus, the Lasat dropping his bo-rifle and falling to his knees before the victorious agent, his weapon poised above his head to deal the killing strike. The Sith reached out and grabbed the weapon with the Force and tore it out of the agent's hands, the bo-rifle flying to his grasp, and with a push, Kallus was thrown backwards against the nearby building. Grasping the weapon tightly as the streak of more incoming TIEs approached, the Sith sprinted to the fallen Lasat, his hand on his chest as he violently shook the groaning man, his teeth grit as the Dark Side coiled and hissed in warning against the sudden cold snap in the air.

"Get up, Zeb, I need help..." Obi-Wan muttered, his eyes darting up to the sky, down to his fallen droid, and back to the Lasat. "Zeb, please! I've made a mistake, I'm being watched right now. Vader's coming and I can't...I can't lose any of you, I can't..." With a deep groan, the Lasat reached out and grabbed hold of his weapon, his sharp teeth grit and bared as Kenobi slowly helped him to his feet.

"I'm up, I'm up..." he growled, rubbing his head and wincing as he took unsteady steps with Kenobi's help. "Where's Kanan and the kid?"

"With the Minister, Sabine went to contact him for their location," Obi-Wan said, his voice straining under the weight of the much bigger man. "What were you thinking?" he hissed at the limping Lasat. "Stay hidden, report in, not...fly off the handle and attack the kriffing ISB agent that's been tailing you!"

"Is he dead..." Zeb growled dangerously, hissing as he was thrown to the ground, the Sith igniting his sabers and standing over him as two TIE fighters swooped in with forward cannons blazing, the barrage of green fire flying toward the pair and striking before them and behind them, the sabers swinging to knock back the bolts that came too close. When they flew past, racing upwards to flip around for another attack run, Obi-Wan picked up the Lasat and rushed him toward the ruined building where HK-45 lay.

"I don't think he's dead, no, and I'm willing to bet that you want to finish the job, so, you know..." He let go of Zeb when they reached the droid, and Obi-Wan picked up the torn arm and pointed it at the Lasat. "You're welcome. But we aren't going to get that chance if we don't leave now." He turned back around, his sabers tearing through the air as he struck back the barrage of green energy fired by the TIEs on their second pass, and the Mandalorian ran up to them as soon as they had flown by.

"Kanan and Ezra are safe with the Minister, and I found a route to their location that should take us out of the way of..." She indicated toward the TIEs in the sky and the bodies and smoking rubble on the ground with her pistol. "Out of the way of this whole mess."

"Well done..." Kenobi muttered, his eyes closed as he felt the Force, a raging storm roaring around him, and through the wind and the rain and the crashing of the waves, he could hear the chilling cackle of Sidious. Vader was near, and the Master was watching his apprentice and his wayward student, and Obi-Wan nearly retched. He felt like an experiment, part of the sick game the Sith Master was playing, a pawn in his plans, as he had always been. He felt...trapped, saw the vision in his mind, his consciousness wrecked while his body served Sidious. He could almost feel his grip upon his heart, the Emperor's cold fingers slowly closing upon him.

"Zeb," Obi-Wan said swiftly, shaking his head to clear the vision in his mind and the sinister laughter in his ears. "Can you carry HK? I...can't leave him."

"What's this?" the Lasat asked as he hoisted the battered body up. "What happened to it, Kenobi, is the droid a him now? Is the infamous Separatist commander caring for his droid?"

"This Separatist commander is about to care a whole lot less about you, you big stupid cat..." Kenobi muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Not only is that droid expensive, he's basically an antique! Of course I care, he's a relic!" A smug smirk from the Lasat made the Sith avert his eyes and curse at him under his breath. "Just keep moving, fool...where are we going, Sabine"

"Oh, you're really going to like this..." Sabine drawled, jogging ahead with the two men on her heels, the girl ducking into a narrow alleyway and disappearing from view, the TIEs overhead passing through the air as they searched for the rebels, but saw nothing in the narrow, winding streets.

"You're right..." Obi-Wan said as he looked around the large, dark room, the massive painting on the far wall of the Senate building a testament to Lothal's progress. "I do like this."

"It's an important landmark to the people," Minister Tua quietly explained, the woman nervously wringing her hands as she watched the rebels go about their business. Ezra was with Zeb, tending to his injuries the best he could, Sabine sat with HK-45 on a table before her, her deft hands working to repair the droid so it could at least walk on its own. Kanan was pacing before a holoprojection of the city, his hand stroking the hair on his chin as he studied the maps, which left Obi-Wan free to admire the artwork.

"Do you suppose Thrawn has seen this?" the Sith Lord asked, drawing closer to the massive painting examining it closely. "New Freedom...I wonder what he'd have to say about this, what he could glean from it. I heard from a..." He thought for a moment, tilting his head from side to side before he smiled at the Minister. "From a very reliable source that he is something of an art nut. That he sees things in artwork that nobody else can see. Is that true?"

"I-I wouldn't know..." Maketh whispered. "I'm not sure he's been to Lothal, and if he had, I haven't heard about it."

"Really..." the Sith drawled, casting his gaze on the woman, and she shivered at the intensity made worse by the bright glow. "I would have thought he'd be here at least once. Was he not assigned to deal with me and the rebels?"

"I don't know about you, but Admiral Konstantine and Agent Kallus were assigned to the rebels." She shifted her weight from foot to foot and nervously glanced up at him when he growled softly and returned his gaze to the painting. "I-if you are Obi-Wan Kenobi," she ventured timidly, "then you use the Force, you used to be a Jedi. Maybe the Inquisitors are assigned to you, or Lord Vader."

"Very perceptive, my dear," Obi-Wan said quietly, raising his hands to peer through the square he made with his fingers at the image of two people on the upper left side of the painting, a father holding a bundle of wheat over his shoulder, his hand on the shoulder of his child, the boy pointing forward to the future. "I do not believe they would send an Inquisitor after me, but you have the right of it with Vader."

"...so what are you going to do?" she asked, and the Sith tore himself away from his examinations and began a slow walk toward Kanan.

"We're going to lay low, let them look for us, see if the security level comes down a bit."

"And what if they search here?" Maketh squeaked, and Obi-Wan waved his hand in front of her face, her eyes wide and nervous and her breath catching in her throat.

"They will not come looking for us."

"They will not come looking for us..." the Minister mindlessly repeated, staring blankly at the Sith Lord for a moment before she shook her head, released from the light brush upon her mind, the man smirking when the light came back to her eyes, looking at him with confusion before she gasped, her fingers coming to her temples as she stared at him in awe.

"I can convince almost anyone of anything. Between Kanan and I, we can easily turn away a search party." He shrugged and continued walking toward the Jedi. "Unless, of course, Vader is in the search party, in which case we're in for a shit storm. Kanan! How's progress?"

"Not bad, actually," Kanan said with a cocky smirk, his finger running over the hologram and highlighting a winding path between two points. "This here," he said, pointing to a point on the map, "is our current location. That point over there is the Imperial Headquarters, which includes their spaceport, and this," he said, dragging his finger over the twisting line, "is the sewer network beneath the city, which, as it so happens, connects this building with the complex. We have a way in."

"Oh, Kanan, you're an absolute dream..." Kenobi drawled, running his hand down the white armor on the Jedi's chest. "It's a real turn on, you keep this up and I'm not going to be able to contain myself..."

"Save it for later, lover, the kids are around..." Kanan whispered, a sly smirk on his face. "We could leave at any time, when do you want to go?"

"Let's give the kids a little time to regroup, they aren't doing great," Obi-Wan said, looking out across the room at the others. "It's quite a lot of trouble we're going through for you, Minister, this information you have better be good." He looked back at the woman, her eyes cast at the ground. "Did you know you were bait? The Empire certainly knew you would try to defect, but did you know they did?" The shock on the woman's face said it all, and Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head. "Never mind...it doesn't matter anyway, we've come too far to change our course, and I'm a bit too proud to lose my bait now that I have it."

"Hey, ease up a little, Kenobi..." Kanan said, laying his hand on the woman's shaking shoulder. "She's had a rough go of it."

"I suppose..." He waved in the air for them to follow as he turned and walked back toward the painting. "I think we can improve this work of art and send a message at the same time. Would you care to help me?"

"...you're going to deface a painting?" Kanan said in a flat tone, but he followed anyway, the Minister clinging to his arm. "It's sort of a famous thing, Kenobi, the people of Lothal treasure it for some reason."

"All the more reason to improve it!" the Sith Lord cried. "I see such potential!" Obi-Wan paced before the painting, examining it once again. "...well then? Go on, Kanan, see if you can find some paints."

"I am not your errand boy, Kenobi..." Kanan growled as he left to do as he was told, the Minister watching the Jedi leave before she looked back at the imposing man as he studied the painting.

"Did you..." Maketh ventured quietly when the silence became too much for her. "Did you...m-make him do that?"

"W-what?" Obi-Wan said, looking back at her quickly, his eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment before he understood and returned his attention to the painting. "Oh, the mind control thing, no. It's not something I always use. Often it's not something I have to use."

"Did you use it on me?" Obi-Wan turned to face her this time, the woman standing with her arms grasped tightly around her and her eyes cast at the ground. He didn't need the Force to know what she was thinking, but he looked anyway, a gentle brush of the Force within her mind causing the woman to shudder as she opened herself up to him, eager and willing in her fear and desperation. She was grasping for answers, for reasons why she had so easily fallen into bed with this man, how she could fail to recognize that he was a rebel, a murderer, the Shadow King that the entire galaxy feared. And how she could still so willingly follow him.

"I targeted you," he quietly explained, his hands running down her arms, "because we needed eyes within the Imperial command here on Lothal, and anything less than top security clearance wouldn't do. Now, at the higher levels like we needed, the military is terribly difficult to infiltrate, but you, sweet thing, aren't military." He gently ran the back of his hand down the Minister's cheek, the woman closing her eyes and whimpering softly. "It made you ideal for our purposes, and when I finally managed to run into you, well..." He shrugged, his fingers tracing her jaw and lifting her chin, forcing her to look at him. "You were so willing, so lonely, so desperate for kindness and affection, I didn't have to push at all to get you to pull me into your bed."

"You didn't do anything..." she said, swallowing hard, and Obi-Wan slowly shook his head.

"Not a thing, my dear." Taking a deep, shuddering breath, the woman nodded and very slowly wrapped her arms around the Sith Lord, clinging tightly to him and slowly relaxing as he dragged his fingers down her spine.

"Should I come back later?" Kanan asked as he approached the pair, holding up buckets of paint clutched in his hands when Kenobi looked at him. "Can't say I'm not jealous, though," he said with a smirk as he put the paint on the ground. "After all, just last night, you swore your eternal love to me. And I thought I was special," the Jedi drawled, mocking offense as he laid his hand on his chest. "I bet you just say that to all the girls. You've got too many lovers, Kenobi."

"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Jarrus," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes as he let go of the Minister and knelt beside the paint cans. "And you don't see me complaining about playing second fiddle to your pilot. Besides, you know full well that I don't keep lovers anymore." He tapped the top of the paint cans, softly humming to himself as he eyed the painting. "Red, yellow, blue, black...enough for my purposes."

"Right, how are you going to paint that?" Kanan drawled, looking au at the massive painting. "That thing is huge. What are you going to do, paint the bottom?" In response, Obi-Wan shot Kanan a bored, mildly irritated look, and with a flick of his hand, the paintbrush floated into the air, dunked itself into the blue paint, and floated up to the top left where the man and child were painted.

"The Force, Kanan Jarrus," Kenobi drawled, "can do anything."

They were quiet as they watched the Sith Lord work, the brushed moving swiftly over not just the man and child, but over the entire thing, the care of each stroke clear in the Sith's focus and the slow, even movements of his hand. The changes were slow and careful, and they weren't sure how much time had passed when Zeb came shuffling up, a slight limp to his gait and a bo-rifle clutched in his hands. He stood beside Kanan, watching as the Sith carefully painted helmets over the heads of the farmers on the right side of the painting, some the distinctive Mandalorian, some the white of the Imperial stormtroopers.

"I liked it better without the kriffing Imperials," Zeb growled, his grip on the bo-rifle tightening as he stepped toward the Sith, a deep growl in his chest as the weapon extended, the ends of the staff sparking to life with yellow electricity, the sudden disturbance jolting Obi-Wan out of his focus and he held his hand out, the brush gently floating to his fingers. "Kenobi..." the Lasat said quietly, his eyes on the weapon in his hands. "Listen, this..." He held the bo-rifle out to the Sith, his grip on it tightening as he swiftly drew it back to his chest. "This weapon," he whispered, "may only be used by the Honor Guard of Lasan. Kallus was there when Lasan fell, he...stole it from a warrior he killed." He held it out once again to the Sith Lord. "You don't know what it means to have it out of that murderer's hands. Y-you should have it."

Obi-Wan crossed the short distance between them and closed Zeb's clawed hand around the weapon, lightly patting his arm when he gently pushed the weapon back to him. "I'm not in the Honor Guard, Zeb," Obi-Wan whispered. "You keep it."

"But you recovered it."

"Maybe so..." the Sith said, dunking the brush in the paint again and returning to his work. "But like Kallus, I am responsible for the genocide of a race. Not Ord Mantell," he said quickly, holding up a hand when it looked like the Lasat would speak. "Thought I did burn the planet. Dathomir. The Nightsisters and the Nightbrothers, a race of Force sensitive Zabraks. I invaded their planet with my army and we killed them all. There's only one child of Dathomir left in the galaxy." A slight smile touched his lips when he looked at Zeb. "If Kallus' hands are too dirty to hold such a weapon, mine certainly are as well."

With a heavy sigh, Zeb nodded, the crackling yellow electricity shut off as the bo folded up. "I'll hold on to it until you're ready for it," the Lasat firmly said, sliding the weapon next to his own on his back. "You saved my life. I don't take that lightly."

"We're teammates, you big stupid cat, we've all saved each other countless times, it's what we're supposed to do..." the Sith said evenly as he moved the brush to paint the eye of the child in red.

"Maybe so," Zeb said with a shrug. "Doesn't make it mean less."

"Hey, Shadow King," Sabine said as she walked up with Ezra, and with a sigh, Kenobi clenched his jaw, his focus strained on his work.

"Honestly, do none of you uncultured peasants have a respect for art?" Sabine stopped, looked at her painted armor, and shot a disbelieving look at the Sith Lord.

"...what, are you serious right now?"

"Sabine's been trying to fix HK, Kenobi," Ezra said quickly. We got the arm reattached...sort of, but it's not good." Obi-Wan was silent for a moment, his brush stilling as his hand wavered.

"...is the damage reparable?" he whispered, and Sabine nodded.

"Yeah, should be. I just...don't have what I need here. I'm sorry..."

"It's alright, Sabine," Zeb said, laying a hand on her slender shoulder. "I'll carry him to the ship. We ready to go, Kenobi?"

"In a minute..." the Sith Lord said, his brush flicking across the painting at greater speeds as he put the finishing touches on the piece. "Get everyone ready and be prepared to run. Kanan, contact Hera, tell her we'll be out of here within the hour and we're going to need her help." The Jedi nodded and turned to go and was stopped when Obi-Wan reached out and grabbed his arm. "Can you feel it?" Kenobi whispered. "The chill in the Force."

"...yeah," Kanan said, hardly daring to breathe as his eyes drifted around the large room. "Is that him? Is that Vader?"

"It is..." he whispered, flicking his wrist to put the finishing touches on the altered painting. "Keep close and do as I say, Spectres. May the Force be with us."

Even with the frightened, stumbling Maketh Tua and the weight of the wrecked droid in Zeb's strong arms, it only took fifteen minutes for them to run through the sewer network under the streets of Lothal, the group led by Kanan, the Jedi effortlessly guiding them through the twisting, winding tunnels with his finely honed instincts. They stood beneath their exit, looking up at their exit, and with a deep breath, Kenobi mounted the ladder, pushed aside the cover, and climbed up right into the middle of the Imperial compound. Quickly checking to ensure there was nobody around, Obi-Wan motioned for the rest of them to climb up, and as soon as they were all out, the group ran down the hallways toward the starport.

It didn't take them long, the massive hangar not far from where they had emerged from the sewers, the hallways mostly empty, crossing only a handful of troopers and officers which the Jedi very calmly convinced that there was a pressing matter in the mess hall that needed their immediate attention. Just as Kanan and Ezra began cutting through one of the blast doors on the way to the hangar, the snapping hiss of a lightsaber igniting sounded through the air and the group turned to face the source of the red glow. A tall creature, thick shouldered and dressed in black and gray, a helmet on his head and a shielded visor pulled down over his eyes, and behind them, Maketh Tua began to quietly cry.

"You're not Darth Vader..." Obi-Wan said, sauntering forward and raking his eyes over the creature, the dark figure laughing deeply and spinning his blade, the other end of the hilt igniting to become a double sided weapon.

"You aren't worth Lord Vader's time, Jedi," the creature growled, and Obi-Wan's eyes widened, called his lightsaber to his hand and ignited the blade, the snapping hiss of glowing plasma filling the corridor with blue light. With a harsh laugh, the creature lifted the shielded visor, the man underneath a pale, sickly yellow with gray eyes that glowed. "My Master is looking for something stronger than you. A predator, not pray. I'm more than enough for you."

"An Inquisitor..." Obi-Wan said quietly. "I didn't expect an Inquisitor, I couldn't sense this insignificant pissant through the feel of his Master." The Inquisitor bared sharp teeth in a vicious, angry snarl, and with a light, easy laugh, Obi-Wan tossed his saber in the air and caught the blade in his off-hand. "You better leave this guy to me, Kanan. Get the kids to a ship, the hangar's not far. I'll be right behind you."

"Don't take too long, Kenobi" the Jedi cautioned, his hand extended to push the cut steel away from the hole in the door, and he quickly waved the others through, looking over his shoulder just in time to see the Inquisitor's eyes widen with fear, his pale eyes fixed on the man he was only just realizing was a Lord of the Sith, Kenobi's red blade flying to his hand and igniting. Without waiting another moment, Kanan ran through, quickly catching up to the group as the sound of clashing lightsabers chased them down the hall.

They only had to cut through one more blast door before they were running through the hangar toward an Imperial shuttle, a craft big enough for all of them with a modest hyperdrive, enough to allow them to jump out of the system. They had nearly made it when the silence of the hanger was broken by the hiss of an igniting lightsaber, and immediately the darkened bay was cast in a sinister red glow, Kanan and Ezra sliding to a halt and shivering at the sudden snapping chill in the Force. The looked in horror as they watched a tall, menacing figure walk slowly toward them with heavy, purposeful steps, the even, ominous sound of breathing through a regulator echoing through the air, his lightsaber in hand and his entire being oozing of the Dark Side. Swallowing hard, Kanan and Ezra stepped forward, their lightsabers held out before them.

"Sabine, get to the ship, we'll cover you," Kanan commanded, and the Mandalorian didn't need to be told twice. Pushing the Minister forward, she and Zeb ran for the shuttle, spurred on faster when the pounding of armored feet stomped into the hangar, a company of stormtroopers come to support Vader. Sabine quickly turned on them, her blasters drawn and firing rapidly, taking out several before they could make it to cover, and the moment Zeb got the broken HK and the Minister into the shuttle, he lent his support to the Mandalorian as she backed up toward the ship.

Gripping his saber tighter, Kanan and the Sith slowly circled each other, Ezra keeping close behind his Master as the Jedi assessed the man in black, the cape billowing behind him, the helmet with the skull-like faceplate that emitted that horrible, pendulous breathing from the grill of the respirator. This Sith Lord was so unlike the one they had grown used to, somehow more frightening than the calm, measured beast they had come to call friend and family. No, this was a monster, his very presence exuding cold and power and hatred and murderous intent in a way Kenobi rarely did. This was a beast without a chain, without limits or restrictions, one that lived purely for the power of the rage in his heart.

There was nothing else to be done, the people in that ship the top priority, and with a deep breath to center himself, Kanan rushed at the Sith, his blade swinging to strike at the man, and the red blade hardly seemed to move, effortlessly blocking the strike. Undaunted, Kanan struck again, his weapon held in two hands for more power behind his swing, only to have the blade knocked effortlessly to the side by the one handed red blade. Vader wasn't fast, but he didn't need to be. Each move was purposeful, each action deliberate, as if he knew exactly what Kanan would do next. Low, high, slash or stab, Vader predicted it all, his each movement effortless as he defended himself, and when the blades locked, with the towering figure pressing down against Kanan with a strength no man should have, Kanan realized that this Sith was toying with him, not simply a predator, but a killer that lived for the hunt, not the kill.

With a slow, effortless wave of his black gloved hand, Kanan was torn off his feet, the Jedi flying up through the air and slamming against the high ceiling, a loud, snapping thud echoing through the hangar as the metal snapped and buckled underneath him, and a moment later, Kanan fell, the Jedi striking stacks of crates and ships on his way down and slamming unconscious to the ground. Ezra looked on in horror as his Master fell, and looking between the Sith and the Jedi, the teenager grabbed hold of his fear and turned it to hatred for the beast that did this to Kanan, his eyes lightening in color as they began to glow with power, just as Kenobi taught him. With a feral yell, the teen charged Vader, only to be caught with the Force and held in the air by the throat, his lightsaber batting the air in a futile attempt to cut the invisible bonds. A strong pressure on his wrist found his arm stopped, his entire body shaking against the grip as his hand moved on its own to hold the blade of his lightsaber at his own neck.

"Interesting..." Vader said, his voice with a mechanical twinge as it echoed through the air and chilled it. "You reach for the Dark Side. Did your Jedi Master teach you such a thing?" Ezra couldn't answer if he wanted to, his eyes drifting to Kanan as the Jedi stirred, slowly coming to and trying to climb to his feet. He was vaguely aware of shouting in the hangar, but he could hear nothing but Vader's breathing. "It matters not," the Sith continued. "You have been deceived into believing you will become more than what you are." He took a heavy step forward, his hand tightening, and Ezra's throat constricted harder, the blade closer to his exposed neck. "A thief and a traitor, and very soon, a dead one..."

"Skywalker!"

The air fell cold and still, the name echoing over and over again in the deafening silence, and slowly, Vader turned, his fist tightly clenching his lightsaber and his rage seething as his focus turned to center on the man in the arching hangar door, standing tall and unafraid, a red lightsaber in his hand and the hulking Inquisitor kneeling at his side, his expression vacant as he absently drooled. Ezra dropped to the ground, forgotten by the intimidating man, and he quickly scrambled to Kanan, hoisting the Jedi to his feet as the man stared at the two Sith, his head shaking in disbelief.

"Kanan, we need to go now," Ezra said, pulling the Jedi, but Kanan would not budge.

"It...it can't be. Kenobi said he burned, h-he said..." He swallowed hard, his hand clutching his chest to feel for his heart, certain that it had stopped beating. "Skywalker...Anakin Skywalker..." The swift, sharp tug on his arm snapped Kanan out of it, and with a last look at Obi-Wan, the man slowly walking with even, measured steps toward the other Sith Lord, the Jedi nodded and turned toward the ship. There was nothing he could do here, and this Vader, whoever or whatever he was, would not be defeated by him. All he could do was obey the urging in the Force to leave, and with Ezra in tow, he ran for the shuttle, leaving the two predators to circle each other as they sized the other up.

"Kenobi..." Vader snarled, his lightsaber held before him and growling in irritation as Lumis lifted the Inquisitor with the Force and threw him at his feet.

"I'm insulted..." Lumis spat, his eyes glowing with a fierce blaze as he looked at the man that unwittingly took everything from him so very long ago. "You send these toys to keep me occupied while you prowl for weaker prey. What sort of a thing is that to do to a fellow Sith, brother of mine?"

"You are not my brother!" Vader snapped, stepping over the groaning Inquisitor. "You are an outcast. Garbage my Master threw away when something better came to him."

"And what a thing you have become!" Kenobi chirped, gesturing to the stalking Vader a smirk on his lips as the shuttle carrying the SPectres flew out of the hangar. "Just look at you! You are a thing of beauty, a vision! Genius how Sidious crafted you. I would have does something flashier, but, well, his taste has always been more austere than mine."

"An opulent, wasteful fool..." Vader growled. "A vain, pointless waste of potential. You funnel your powers into keeping yourself superficially young, old man."

"Sounds like jealousy to me," Lumis said, spinning the blade in his hand. "Tell me, is it painful in that suit? From what I understand, burning alive is quite unpleasant, I can only imagine that the suit must be excruciating." A deep, savage growl reverberated in the air, and Obi-Wan spun his lightsaber again, feeling the Force rage and pull, deadlocked between the two vergences. "I wonder how Sidious has upgraded you..."

Vader said nothing, only howled in fury and pushed back with the Force in a storm of power, the Inquisitor thrown back against the far wall and Obi-Wan sliding back, crouching down for balance and pressing off as soon as he had stopped, rushing toward Vader with all the speed he was able and grateful he had opted to forego the armor to keep his agility up. He met Vader's red blade in a shower of sparks, the two sabers moving so fast they left bleeding lines in the air. Vader's strikes were powerful, stronger than any Obi-Wan had ever felt, the wide, sweeping strikes savage and deadly, each slash meant to bisect the body or sever the head, each stab meant to be fatal. There was no elegance, no grace, no wasted movements, only brutal efficiency meant to kill quickly, only powerful hits made to send his opponent off-balance with each blocked strike. It was a vast difference from Vader's swift, agile style he possessed as Anakin Skywalker, the heavy cybernetics of his badly damaged body unable to support such fluid movement.

And yet, his powers with the Force were strong, his mental walls high and impenetrable, even through the avenues that the Dark Side so often left open for Obi-Wan. Sidious had trained him to resist mind probes and mental control, the exact brand that Kenobi had used to his advantage. In this sense, Vader was well trained, a bastian against him, a dangerous weapon made to counter Sidious' renegade apprentice. And yet, through it all, something seemed...off. Wrong in a way that Obi-Wan couldn't place, his sharp eyes watching Vader's movements as he used his superior speed and agility to dart around the other Sith and attack at every angle, the stiff, mechanical movements of his opponent easily keeping Kenobi away despite the limitations of his heavy, cybernetic limbs.

Obi-Wan brought his blade swiftly down, only to have Vader swing up, the savage, heavy strike sending Obi-Wan off balance, and instead of fighting to keep it, he allowed himself to jump into the upward motion, flipping above Vader's blade and deflecting the swift stab as the red blade rushed toward him. Kenobi growled when he hit the ground, shutting off his saber and clipping it back on to his belt. It was a distraction, one that was likely to get him killed. In this situation, against this enemy, the blade was a hindrance, each deflection of each powerful strike knocking him off his balance. The only thing to do was immerse himself in the Force and evade, the temptation to block and deflect gone with his blade, replaced with the knowledge that one wrong move would end in his death.

Obi-Wan ducked and dodged, his focus perfect as he deftly avoided the other Sith's blade, and with nothing to hit, the heavy, powerful strikes served only to put Vader off his balance with each miss, his weight thrown for nothing but shifting the Sith off his center. Vader snarled in his fury as his unarmed opponent evaded his blade, his strikes becoming harder and faster and only serving to throw him more off-balance as he tried to keep up with his much faster opponent. When he howled in rage and brought his blade down toward Kenobi, the slippery man slid between Vader's legs, the heavy strike making him step forward to catch himself. The moment his foot hit the ground, his weight shifting forward, his heel rising, Obi-Wan kicked out his planted foot from under him, the uneven balance of weight causing Vader to fall hard to his knees upon the ground, a furious, wrathful cry torn from his chest.

When Vader rose, he was faced with the calm, impassive face of a Sith Master, the man slowly circling the other Sith Lord, and for the first time since his fateful duel on Mustafar, Darth Vader felt like pray.

"I don't understand..." Obi-Wan said quietly, his eyes roving over the man as he brought his lightsaber up once again. "You are strong in the Force, I can feel it, you cause the very air around you to freeze. So why. Why do I feel this...this..." Obi-Wan growled in frustration, his hands sliding into his hair. "You are slow, and you are broken, Anakin, so why didn't Sidious fix you?!" With a cry of fury, Vader clutched his saber in both hands and rushed Lumis with as much speed as he was able, but this time, the Master rose his hand, shooting a barrage of Force lightning at the other Sith that made Vader stop in his tracks as his blade absorbed the energy.

Slowly, Vader began to step toward Lumis, and with a short, sharp scoff of disgust, Obi-Wan reached out his other hand, grasped for Vader's leg, and compelled the Force to crush it, the cybernetic limb quickly and easily giving way, groaning as the metal bended and twisted, and Vader howled in fury as he fell into a pool of his damaged limb's spilt hydraulic fluid. The loss of focus allowed the lightning to strike the Sith full in the chest, and the howls of outrage became howls of pain, the man convulsing on the ground as the lightning surged through what was left of his body and coursing through his life support systems, the metal of his arms and legs conducting and amplifying the surge. When Obi-Wan realized how severely crippled such a thing left Vader, he quickly pulled back, cutting off the lightning and slowly circling the man, observing the smoke as it rose from his body.

It was...unthinkable. All this power, all this hatred and rage, all this talent in the Force wasted in a moment, undone with a single stroke of Force lightning, the Dark Side skill that Sidious himself excelled in more than any other Sith ever had. And it could have easily been avoided, the suit could have been insulated, built to withstand such, and yet here he was, the mighty Darth Vader, brought to his knees by Force lightning. Only one thing made any of this make sense. Sidious had done this on purpose, had built his new apprentice with an easily exploitable flaw, one that would allow him to assume control of the man with little difficulty, to give him a quick and easy way of bringing a rebellious or a murderous apprentice to heel. He had learned his lesson from Lumis, and it was Vader that had reaped the consequences.

"Oh, Anakin, look what your Master has done to you..." Obi-Wan drawled, extending his hand and calling the other Sith's lightsaber to his grasp, turning it over and examining it, keeping an eye on Vader as his regulated breathing turned labored and heavy, the panel on his chest blinking wildly with warning lights.

"You did this!" Vader snapped, his anger and rage flaring and summoning the Dark Side to him for strength, only to have it fail when his breathing hitched and he began wheezing and coughing.

"Perhaps I did," Obi-Wan said impassively. "I caused the injuries that led you to be trapped within your own body, and I am certainly responsible for your defeat today." Vader snarled in pain and rage and reached up toward the Sith Master, and with a disdainful sneer, Lumis swiftly closed his fist, the mechanical arm crushed in the Dark Side's hands, the intricate mechanics sparking as they were torn, and another outraged howl was torn from the Sith.

"Please..." Lumis drawled, rolling his eyes, his hand extended out before him. "Don't give me a reason to destroy your other limbs as well. Your repairs are becoming more and more expensive, I can't imagine your benevolent Master will be happy about it. A loss is one thing, but an expensive loss..." Kenobi shook his head. "He never looked kindly on waste, don't be stupid."

"Why won't you kill me?!" Vader howled, his chest rising and falling erratically, and Darth Lumis shook his head and laughed.

"Kill you? And miss out on watching you suffer? Oh, Anakin, darling, death is a mercy! And mercy is not the way of the Sith." He kneeled beside the weakened man, the cyborg trying to squirm away from him, but between the excruciating pain that movement inflicted and the failing life support and cybernetics, he quickly stopped, snarling savagely as he begrudgingly yielded to the victorious Sith Master. Obi-Wan placed his hand on the mask Vader wore, his fingers tightening around the grooves of the eyes, and pulled, the mask hissing and straining as the locks disengaged, and Lumis lifted the mask from his face.

Vader glared at him through bloodshot yellow eyes, red-rimmed and sunken and positively furious, his presence in the Force snapping and howling against this violation, a cornered beast lashing out at the predator that calmly approached, aggressive only because of how fearful he was. He winced, shying away from the Sith Lord once again as Lumis reached out and laid a hand on his pale forehead, and his touch burned, corrosive like acid and worse than the fires of Mustafar.

"Sidious has wronged you," Lumis calmly explained. "You are powerful, Skywalker. Not like you once were, but you are still strong. And Sidious has wasted you, has kept you weak by forcing you to exist in that armor."

"I need this armor!" Vader snarled weakly, the vocal modulator removed and allowing him to speak with his own voice, a wheezing imitation of what it was before his vocal cords were ravaged by flames. "Because of you, because you put me in it!" The Force ripped around them, a violent storm summoned by the weakened Vader, and Obi-Wan calmly put his hand on Vader's throat and squeezed, the sudden pressure making the man freeze and the Force yield.

"He has taught you the bare minimum," Obi-Wan continued. "You are strong, but you should be stronger. The armor is a prison, but it doesn't have to be, he fears having another apprentice like me, so he has made it so you can never rise against him." Obi-Wan drew up, taking his hand away from the gasping man. "You aren't an apprentice, Anakin, you are a slave, just as you have always been..."

"I am not a slave!" Anakin howled, his hand shooting out and grabbing hold of Obi-Wan's throat, and before he could move again, the hiss of a lightsaber filled the air as the arm was neatly severed.

"I warned you..." Lumis growled dangerously, standing up and taking a few steps away from the man, the stumps of his cybernetic arms clawing at the ground. "How many times have I severed your right arm, hmm? This would be the...fourth time?" An anguished, angry scream was torn from Vader's raw and damaged throat, and Kenobi pointed down at the man. "You armor, Skywalker, is your leash. Sidious has limited your training and he keeps you like some dog to heed the call of its Master! The way of the Sith paves the way for the apprentice to kill the Master, but he is denying you this by making you crippled by Force lightning! And you know as well as I there is none with more talent than him in this matter."

"I hate you!" he shouted as loud as he was able in his weak, rasping voice, and Obi-Wan merely shrugged as he stepped away.

"As you should, apprentice. As is expected of you, I expect no less." He tapped Vader's lightsaber against his palm, a hollow smirk on his face. "I confess, this whole thing leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. So this is what's going to happen. To make me feel better about having to deal with that," he said, pointing at the unconscious Inquisitor, "I'm taking your starship. You do have a ship here, don't you?" The renewed squirming confirmed it, and Obi-Wan held out his hand. "No, please, don't get up, I'll find it myself. And to apologize for..." He gestured with the lightsaber in his hand at Vader's battered body and the severed and broken mechanical limbs. "That, I'm giving you this back." He dropped the lightsaber on to Vader's chest, the wounded man hissing in rage when it hit. "You'll need that for when we fight again. And we will fight again."

"I know..." Vader wheezed, his yellow eyes locked on the other Sith. "I have seen it. You've seen it too. I've seen your end, Obi-Wan, and it is coming." A soft, rasping laugh came from Vader's throat when Lumis' eyes narrowed in rage. "End me now or not, it does not matter. My Master will have you before long. You have always belonged to him."

"We shall see seen enough," Lumis snapped, planting his foot on Vader's chest and leaning his weight forward, the man choking with pain as his burned chest was crushed. "You are fortunate that we're in an Imperial compound and will no doubt survive, though I don't envy you the punishment you will receive from Sidious for your failure here today." With a final tightening of his fist, Vader's last limb was crushed, the man howling in pain as the leg twisted and turned and pulled from his body, and without another look back, Lumis strode through the hangar in search of Vader's ship, leaving the other Sith alone to think about if what Lumis had said was true.