The Clone Wars
Chapter 4: Capture Grievous
Anakin and Salo walked down the poorly lit corridor, their Jedi robes swaying behind them.
"Maybe it would it would have been a better idea not to cut that electric wire." Salo remarked.
"Yeah I agree...bad idea."
"I can barely see anything."
"Just be happy they had some backup power."
"Apparently the backup power isn't as strong since these lights are so dim."
"Alright stop complaining, we need to be quiet." They continued to walk through the dark. After a while the little light that they had to guide them flickered.
"That's not a good sign..."
"It seems even their backup power is running low." After a few more steps, they were momentarily blinded when all of the lights brightened up the whole corridor. Once they got used to the light, Anakin continued, "Or maybe they were just fixing it..."
"Obviously..." They started walking again, until they heard a sound, "What was that?"
"I don't know. But it sounds like..." Anakin's sentence trailed off for a minute as he tried to focus on the sound, and then continued, "destroyer droids." In the next second, their lightsabers were in their hands and ignited. The droideka had two ways to come from. Salo and Anakin each faced opposite sides to watch for where the droideka were coming from.
"What the-"
"What is it?" Anakin asked.
"It sounds like the noise is coming from..." Salo paused for a minute, and after a couple more seconds, what he suspected was right, "...above!" The droideka dropped down from a vent in the ceiling of the corridor.
"That's a new trick." Anakin remarked. The droideka deployed from ball mode and activated it's shield. Another one dropped down and did the same. They both opened fire, and the two Jedi Knights deflected all the shots directed at them, they waited for the chance. Once it arrived they acted quickly, force pushing both droideka through the air. As they collided into the ground, Salo and Anakin sensed a disturbance, they felt as the sniper rifle's bolt pierced through the air as they moved to the side to evade it.
"You deal with the droideka," Salo told Anakin, "I'll get the sniper." Without waiting for a reply, Salo felt the force guide him as he sped down the corridor down toward the sniper droid. When Salo got nearer he finished with a twist through the air to dodge another shot and plunge his blade into the droid's head as he came down. He noticed a few more battle droids around the corner and quickly dealt with them, his blade buzzing and whirring through the air as it severed multiple parts from the droids.
Once Salo was finished with them all, he quickly made his way back to Anakin, who was already finished with the droideka, "Alright we're done here." Salo started.
"Alright then let's go, before anymore show up." They continued on their way down the corridor with a faster pace then before.
After a while longer, they finally got to their destination, "Grievous should be beyond this door." Salo said, "I can get us through using this terminal." Salo walked toward the terminal near the door. But before he got any closer, Anakin's lightsaber was ignited and cutting through the door. Salo had a dumbfounded look on his face, "Or we could just do that... Although I do think that would alarm them that we're here."
"I'm more than sure they already knew before this." Anakin continued cutting. He finally cut a hole in through the door and kicked it down.
"Awesome way to enter, Anakin." Salo joked. Anakin grinned and chuckled as he walked through the hole he made, followed by Salo. They were surprised to see that there was no Grievous, it seems they just missed him. But there were two humanoid droids, much different from the regular battle droid, or any droid their used to seeing. These droids were new, they've never seen them before. The droids each had a single glowing red eye, a cape, and a staff instead of a blaster. These must have been some of Grievous' special guards, but it didn't seem they were much of a threat.
"What are these things?"
"I don't know." Salo answered, "But I think we're about to find out." The two droids caught eye of Anakin and Salo, and quickly switched to battle mode. Energy started coursing through their staffs as they made their way toward the Jedi.
"Interesting." Anakin remarked.
"What?" Salo asked.
"It looks as if those staffs are able to block our lightsabers."
"Seriously? How?"
"Watch." Anakin lunged toward one of the droids, it retaliated by raising one end of it's staff to block the oncoming lightsaber blade. Anakin and the droid were in a deadlock for a second, until the droid pushed Anakin back beside Salo, "See?"
"Yeah, I see. But they're still droids, and we won't be beat by droids."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Anakin and Salo picked out their separate droids and lunged for an attack.
Salo's blade whirred through the air and crackled as it clashed with one of the ends of the droid's staff. Salo quickly shifted his lightsaber over to block an incoming strike from the opposite end of the staff. He quickly spun around and aimed for the droid's legs, but the droid deflected the blade away and then attempted to strike Salo's head with the opposite end. But Salo easily side stepped away and violently swung his lightsaber at the droid's neck. He thought he had the droid, but the droid ducked under the blade, leaving Salo off balance. It seems these droids were a huge step up from the ordinary droid, not only did they have weapons to block lightsaber blades, but they also had amazing reflexes.
Anakin swung his blade all around through the air, getting in consistent strikes at the droid. He continued to drive the droid back with every strike, keeping the droid from attacking the whole time. When the droid did get a chance to strike, it aimed for Anakin's head, but Anakin was easily able to duck under it and attempt another strike to the droids arm. The droid was able to knock Anakin's blade away just in time. Anakin spun and attempted to strike the droid's waist as he came around, but the droid jumped up over the blade and soared over Anakin's head. Anakin glared at the droid as it landed. He got into his Shien ready stance with one hand holding the lightsaber pointing out and tilting down toward the ground, while his other hand rested in the air in front of him. The droid prepared for it's own attack, and in the next second, their weapons were clashing and spinning once again.
Salo started fighting harder now, he underestimated these droids at first, but now he was focused. He started to give the droid a lot of trouble, Salo's blade spun through the air at amazing speeds, it looked as if it was spinning around on it's own. Salo and the droid were in a deadlock, but Salo quickly ended it when he pushed the droid back off balance and let the force flow out of his hand and send the droid into a wall (Salo also used the Shien form, but he used it differently from Anakin, for he also used aspects of the Ataru form, since he sometimes used the force to help him in battle). The droid quickly recovered and got back to it's feet, and the fight continued as the weapons clashed once again.
Anakin continued to drive the droid back further until it was backed against a wall. The droid parried Anakin's blade and side stepped away from the wall, and attempted to hit Anakin in the back, but Anakin swung his lightsaber behind him to block. He took a brief pause, then he reared his lightsaber back behind him and then swung it hard and violently over his head and it gave off a loud crackle as it clashed with the droid's staff. The droid lost it's balance from the hard hit and stumbled backwards. Anakin used this chance and took another violent swing and cut the droid's staff in half. The staff malfunctioned and shorted out, and with a few final swings of his lightsaber, the droid was reduced to a pile of parts.
The droid blocked another hit of Salo's lightsaber blade. They continued the rapid display of swinging and clashing until Salo finally jumped over the droid as it thrust it's staff at Salo. Once Salo landed he swung his blade down low and back up at the droid, knocking it's staff away and leaving it's middle open as Salo came back around and stabbed his blade into the droid's chest. The buzz of the lightsaber blade was all that was heard for a second, until Salo withdrew his blade and the droid collapsed.
Both of the droids were finally destroyed, "So what now?" Salo asked.
"We still have a mission to complete. Grievous is no doubt trying to run away like the coward that he is." Anakin walked over to another door, opposite the one they came in, "He had to have gone through this door, but it's actually shielded, our lightsabers can't cut through it."
"No problem." Salo walked over to the terminal near the door, "I can easily get it open." Salo messed around with the terminal for a second to determine how to get access to the mainframe and open the door, and maybe find out more information. In just a matter of seconds, Salo already had access.
"That was fast." Anakin observed. Salo didn't reply, he just continued to work. It only took him a few more seconds to shut down the force field on the door, "Alright good, now let's go." Anakin hurried.
"Not yet. I have access to their mainframe, I can get information about them, Grievous can wait."
"We have a mission, we have to catch Grievous."
"And we will, no ships have left this place yet, he's still here."
"How do you know?"
"It says right here that no ships have left recently. And more importantly, it says right here that General Grievous is still here."
"Interesting..."
"Yeah. Now just calm down for a minute while I do this." Salo kept toiling with the terminal, until he found something of interest, "Hey check this out."
Anakin directed his attention to the terminal, "What?"
"Those droids that we just fought, they are some of Grievous' personal body guards. They're called MagnaGuards. And as we've already figured out, they have specialized weapons just for them that can block lightsaber blades."
"Wow...The separatist are really advancing aren't they?"
"Yeah, which is why we should go and try to catch Grievous now."
"Then let's go!"
"One more second."
"We have to hurry!"
"I know, just hold on a second." With some more pushing buttons consecutively, Salo finally accomplished what he was trying, "There, I reprogrammed the turrets throughout the city to fire on friendlies instead of enemies."
"Really? You can do that?"
"Of course, you just need the right amount of skill...and of course some computer spikes." Salo grinned, "But it won't take them long to figure this out and reprogram them back, so let's hurry." With that, they continued through the door. Unsurprisingly, there was a battalion of battle droids in the next room.
"Ugh, we don't have time for this." Anakin acknowledged. Salo looked at Anakin and smirked.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Anakin returned the smirk, and as the battle droids started advancing on them, they both took their positions, back to back. They threw their arms straight up into the air simultaneously, and a huge force wave surged out from all around them and sent every single droid crashing.
Now there were two doors in this room to choose from, "Which door do you think?" Anakin asked.
"That one." Salo pointed to the bigger door that was on the side wall.
"You think that one?"
"No, I know it's that one. I looked at a map on the terminal, and that's the door that Grievous would have gone through."
"Why is that?"
"He's heading for the hangar..."
"What! Then we have to go now!"
"Relax, he's not planning on leaving just yet, we still have time to catch up, but we have to hurry. He no doubt has tons of droids to slow us down." They started toward the door, but it opened just before they got to it, and the battle droids on the other side opened fire right away. The lightsabers were out in a flash deflecting all of the blaster bolts.
The two Jedi, using the force for assistance, sped into the room, slicing through dozens of droids as they made their way to the next door. They had no time to waste, they only killed the droids in their way, and left the ones out of their way alive.
Once they got through the next door, they jammed it to prevent any of the droids left alive from getting through. They were now in another corridor. They persisted to run down the corridor with their Jedi robes continuing to sway behind them. They only had a few battle droids interfere with them, which were effortlessly cut down.
They finally arrived at the hangar, just as Grievous' ship was taking off, "Damn it!" Salo cursed as he and Anakin ran after the ship as it flew off. The ship was clear of the hangar, but two MagnaGuards were left behind.
"Not these guys again." Anakin ignited his lightsaber.
"Forget the lightsaber." Salo whispered, "Look were they're standing." Anakin studied the MagnaGuards who were advancing toward them slowly. After a second, Anakin understood what Salo was talking about. He switched his lightsaber off with a smirk. Salo, with the same smirk on his face, and Anakin both focused and let the force flow. The two MagnaGuards were swept up off their feet, and out of the hangar, and they fell to their doom.
"Alright we need to hurry. We still have a chance to catch Grievous." They ran as fast as they could to the hangar where their Jedi Starfighters were. But once they got to them, they realized, after trying to activate them, that they were sabotaged.
"That's just great!" Salo cried.
"Hold on Salo." Anakin was already at work on his ship. He quickly figured out the problem and was able to fix it in a matter of minutes, "There, all fixed."
"Alright now can you fix mine?"
"Can't do it yourself?"
"I'm a technician, not a mechanic."
"I'm coming." Anakin made his way over to Salo's ship and examined it, "Well that's stupid."
"What?"
"They did the exact same thing to you as they did to me."
"Pfft, they need to be more original." Salo joked.
"Alright all done." Anakin said after a couple minutes, "That was much easier to fix since I already knew how."
"Then let's go!" Salo jumped in his Starfighter, and Anakin jumped into his. They activated and took off.
"Good thing I threw that tracking device onto Grievous' haul before he got away." Anakin stated.
"Yeah...wait, what?"
Anakin chuckled, "You didn't see me? I threw it onto his haul before he got away."
"Interesting...I guess I wasn't paying attention. Although I thought I did see you gesture with your arm, but I thought you were doing something else." They both let out a short laugh as they launched out of the hangar and started their chase.