Battle of the Heroes, Part I
"Master. I have come for you."
"Lord Vader." Palpatine half turns to Anakin, who stands by the exit defiantly. "I knew you would come. They are no match for us, they are weak, my apprentice. Quickly, we must destroy them!"
"Something terrible has happened." Anakin spoke. At first, he was angry. But upon looking at his new Master, he had conflict, he had sorrow. It was times like these that Anakin would come to Palpatine for advice and would stay for the comfort of a trusted friend.
Palpatine, still focused on the fight that lies ahead, volunteers a piece of information that resolves Anakin's conflict. Even Palpatine couldn't spin this, his deception was now clear as day. He had to speak to him now as a Sith, not as a little boy to be coddled and protected.
"Padme could not be saved. You had foreseen this. But, help me now, do not hesitate!...And we shall become more powerful than any before us!"
"You promised me." Anakin growled. His temper began to flare up as his suspicions turned to proof. He was betrayed, from the very beginning.
"She was Skywalker's final weakness. Pain has made you strong. I could feel your hatred across the Galaxy. I held your best interests, as always." Palpatine snarled, like a father administering 'tough-love' to his son.
"It was part of your destiny…Lord Vader." Palpatine spat.
"So is this."
As strong as Darth Vader, as fast as Yoda and as vicious as Palpatine, Anakin exploded ahead with the energy of a supernova. Like Palpatine moments ago, he moved as a blur. But it was different this time. There was an angry orange glow around him to match his fiery eyes. He hit the Dark Lord with a ferocity previously unseen by all present. Before Anakin's lightsaber could even connect with Palpatine's, the bubble of force energy surrounding him blew Palpatine away into the air. It had created a cascading pressure wave faster than sound itself. He had moved so far so fast that the air between them instantly combusted, a trail of fire marked the spot where Anakin had started and finished. The glow disappeared, and Palpatine found himself buried somewhere under ruins far across the room.
Yoda stood to guard, hairs on end, poised to fight. Anakin had ignored Yoda and Obi-Wan entirely. He simply walked between the two Jedi Masters towards the rubble Palpatine was under. When he made it there, he stood still, saber swinging back and fourth impatiently. After a few moments of waiting, even without a sound to be heard, he knew he was still there, alive. Yoda and Obi-Wan joined him.
"Come out and face me, Master." Anakin taunted, predatory eyes scanning the mountain of rubble ahead of him.
Yoda started pulling the ceiling down upon the rubble that imprisoned Palpatine, attempting to bury him. "What are you doing?" Anakin said, accusingly.
"Ending this, Skywalker."
"You think that will stop him?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. But time to regroup, it will give us."
"It's not enough. We have to find him and press the attack."
"Defeated, the Chancellor is. Wounded we are. Leave with our lives, we must."
Anakin shot Obi-Wan a look, and stared back at Yoda in disbelief.
Obi-Wan finally intervened. "Master Yoda has a point. We're in no shape to continue the fight." He made a point of looking Anakin directly in the eye. "We need time to heal our wounds, all of our wounds, and return once we have our full strength, a plan, and allies. This is the wisest path to victory, you of all should know, Anakin."
"You Jedi are all the same. I can sense the fear in both of you." Anakin started pacing, losing control. "It's sickening."
"Even if we could kill him now, even if we came out unscathed, we are not assassins. We would just be confirming what the public already believes about the Jedi. We have made a statement to Palpatine - together we are stronger than him. When the time is right, when the Galaxy learns of all this, we will be ready to reveal ourselves and challenge him on our terms."
Yoda continued. "An elected official, the Chancellor still is. A mistake, confronting him was. Hmmm. Recover, we will. Recover, the Galaxy must."
Obi-Wan nodded in agreement, gesturing to Yoda. "Bring the senate down on him, meanwhile, I'll contact Bail-"
"That's enough! I'm ending this now. You can play your political games later. You can run and hide…Find what Jedi there are left…Just don't get in my way."
Yoda concentrated on bringing down more boulders of concrete and metal down upon Palpatine's rubble pit.
"What are you doing?! Stop!" Anakin shouted.
Yoda ignored him, bringing another hulk of mass down upon Palpatine. He went to grab another chunk.
"I said stop!" Anakin threw Yoda to the side with the Force. Anakin didn't mean to throw him that hard, but he didn't dare show weakness now. Yoda fell against a pillar, and took a second to shake off the impact.
Anakin began moving the mountain of rubble off of Palpatine, whose presence was felt but still not seen.
"He's still alive, I can sense it. He's here! He's-"
Anakin is tackled by Obi-Wan, who attempts to control Anakin on the ground. Both scuffle hand to hand. But Anakin is far more active, and after a brief exchange of blows and wrestling,
Anakin kicks Obi-Wan off from his back, catapulting him away.
"Always holding me back…" Anakin mutters, spitting blood to the floor. He continues removing the rubble. Obi-Wan and Yoda recover, regrouping on Anakin. Yoda ignites his saber, followed by a hesitant Obi-Wan. Anakin hears the ignition, pauses and turns. They turned on him, again.
"This is your last warning." Anakin's eyes burned yellow once more.
"If only you had offered such mercy to all the Jedi you have slain, Darth." Yoda said, even his composure was slipping.
Both parties strode towards each other, ready to come to blows. Anakin was hungry, confident. The moment he and Obi-Wan shared quickly became irrelevant. Padme was dead. The Jedi were in his way once again. They would never leave him alone. He was a warrior, not a philosophising peacekeeper. He needed to show them the true nature of the Force. But before he could do this, the whole senate building shook. There was a thundering crash that halted the trio. A monsterous moan echoed throughout the massive hall. Anakin looked behind him in awe, saber down. The rubble was gone, the mountain of debris that laid upon Palpatine was encircled about him as if he had detonated a bomb from within. There, he kneeled. Palpatine picked up his saber and got to his feet, staring the trio down. It looked as if he wanted to smile, but he was unable to do so anymore. Once upon a time, he would be impressed, perhaps even proud to see Anakin finally challenge his old Masters in such bold fashion. But he could no longer afford such feelings. Unfortunately, they were all his enemies.
"Come. Darth Vader. Strike your Master down, as is the destiny of all Sith."