"You've been avoiding me."

Soph and Rex both froze in the hallway. They exchanged a glance and turned to face Anakin, who looked confused. "I have not."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I've barely seen you in three days and you haven't spoken to me once. Feels a little bit like I'm being avoided."

Soph gave a miniscule wince. It was hard being around him, and she worried for how she would handle it. Clearly, taking the time to figure it out had not been the right move. She could feel Rex tense at her side and wished she could try to calm him.

Rex's loss of faith in Anakin had been surprising to her, but she supposed it made sense. It left her regretting telling him about what had happened, but she knew he'd never have left her alone about the scar otherwise. She definitely knew she needed to convince Rex to trust Anakin and quickly - he wouldn't be able to be a competent Captain if he didn't trust his General.

"Anakin," she sighed. "I don't nag at you when you take time to brood."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you're brooding, then. Over what?"

She watched as he looked her over closely, trying to make sure she was okay. Her scar was covered by the black cloak wrapped over her chest and shoulders. Beneath it she wore her usual black crop top and corset. Her knee high boots were layered on top of the leggings she wore, both of which were black as well. She had the silver crescent moon pendant that she always wore on over the cloak, and had various rings on her fingers.

Anakin's eyes slid over the cloak. He'd never seen it before, and she'd been wearing the same outfit since she was fifteen - for eight years. All that had changed was the cloak, and it left him suspicious. "That's new."

"I can do new things," she said dryly.

"You're really not going to tell me, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

He looked to Rex. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

Soph winced at the glare Rex sent him. "It's not her that there's something wrong with."

"Rex," she reprimanded quietly.

Anakin frowned and stepped a little closer. She put her hand over Rex's when he went to move - she wasn't sure what he planned to do, but she knew she wouldn't approve. "Soph, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry. I hope you know I'd never purposely hurt you."

Pain flashed across her face. He was right - Anakin would never hurt her. She knew that. She knew the man she saw that day wasn't the man standing before her. Despite that, she couldn't get his eyes as he killed her out of her head. They haunted her, and it took a concentrated effort to not react to the sight of him - it was why she'd avoided him. But as she looked at him wearily, she knew they couldn't continue as they had been. She also knew she had to get Rex to trust him again.

"I know," she said finally. And she did. "I'm sorry, Ani. I'm just dealing with… something."

"Does this have anything to do with how you just appeared on Rishi the other day?" he wondered. She shrugged.

"A little bit."

"And why you sent some inexperienced men straight to ARC?"

Her lips twitched upward slightly. "You heard about that, huh?"

"I did."

"You have your squad, they're going to be mine," she reasoned. "Besides, I sent some men to training, but you lost the droid with the locations of our bases and strategies."

"That has nothing to do with this! How did you know about that, anyway, if you're avoiding me?"

She rolled her eyes, feeling some of the anxiety fall away at the familiar banter. "Obi Wan called to complain while you were off getting R2."

"I'd been hoping you'd come with to help," Anakin told Rex. "Where were you?"

"I was there," Rex told him. Anakin looked surprised. "I was helping the Commander."

"Oh," he frowned.

"Well, since I haven't been paying attention, tell me what's been going on," Soph requested. "Where's Ahsoka?"

"With Master Luminara," he replied. "Padme captured Viceroy Gunray."

"She did?" Soph asked, surprised. "That's amazing."

"Well," he put up a hand. "He escaped."

She blinked. "Oh."

"Ahsoka's leaving to come home soon," he told her. Anakin took a second before sighing. "Are we good?"

She considered the question. Was she good? Could she be around him without the pain of remembering? She supposed that wasn't the question. The question was, could she continue to work with and be friends with him? She knew she could, just as much as she knew that it would take time to stop reacting to him.

Rex was a different story. She'd never seen him be so protective and angry before, but she also supposed she'd never died before. She knew he was scared for her, but she needed him to be himself again.

"Yeah, I think we're good," she confirmed.

"Good," he nodded once. "Rex?"

"Sir."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "How many times have I told you to call me Anakin?"

"About ten times, sir."

Soph's lips twitched in amusement. Rex had seemed to calm slightly from her words enough to smile at Anakin as he spoke, his words joking.

"You call her Kat," Anakin pointed out. "How is this any different?"

"She's also sir," Rex reasoned.

"When you're not alone," he shot back. "And it's just us, just friends, so call me Anakin."

"Yes, sir."

Anakin rolled his eyes, laughing. "Well, I came to find you because Obi Wan will be here soon."

"Oh," she blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because you disappeared from the Resolute and appeared on Rishi without taking any ships," he looked at her like she was stupid. "How'd you do that, anyway?"

"Long story that I'm not getting into," she muttered. "He's wasting a trip."

Anakin's comm went off. He pressed it, rolling his eyes at her. "Skywalker."

"General Kenobi is here with Commander Cody," the comm officer told him. "They're waiting in the office off the main deck. He also requested that you find General Sizre and bring her along."

"The General is with me now," Anakin replied. "We'll be there soon."

The walk to the office was somewhat quiet. It didn't take long, and they got there in time to see Obi Wan and Cody drinking tea. Obi Wan smiled when they got there. "Soph, I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Thanks, Master," she smiled at him. "I'm afraid this may have been a wasted trip. There's not much to tell about what happened."

"What did happen?" he wondered, waving for the trio to sit. They did, and she shot a look between Rex and Cody that asked for help. The clones exchanged a glance that said they didn't know how to help.

"Truthfully, Master, there's not much I can say about it other than the Force did it," she shrugged. "I ended up on Rishi. That's all there is to say."

"What does that mean, the Force did it?" Anakin wondered.

She had no answers she could give them. She was stuck, and she wracked her brain for a way to distract them. She looked at Rex and Cody and frowned. "I'd like to tell them."

Cody's eyebrows shot up. "Sir, did you not say that would be a bad idea?"

"You know what this is about?" Obi Wan asked his friend, surprised.

"I do."

"If you think it's a good idea now," Rex said slowly. He was struggling to separate his friend and the man that had killed Soph, but he did his best. The more he interacted with Anakin, the more he felt the tension ease. And despite the actions his future self carried out, the man next to him at that moment was one he trusted and respected. He held onto that as they spoke.

Soph took in a slow breath. "Ani, I need you to work on keeping calm. Your anger will only make the situation worse."

"Okay," Anakin said slowly. "What's going on?"

She steeled herself for his lack of control. She knew this news was going to hit him hard, and she was grateful that he was surrounded by the people closest to him. "With the help of a man close to the situation, I've discovered chips that were implanted in every clone's brain. It enforces loyalty and obedience, and ensures that they will carry out specific orders. The one that I know of for sure is called Order 66. It forces them to kill Jedi. All… all of us."

There was a tense silence at the table as her friends took in the situation. It didn't take long before she felt the stifling feeling of darkness and fury throughout the Force. It radiated from Anakin, and it left her breathless. It was the same feeling she'd gotten before it happened.

"Christ," Anakin whispered. "Who the hell did this? They're slaves!"

"I know, Ani," she said gently. "It matters less who did it and more that we can fix it."

"Who gave you this information?" Obi Wan asked softly. He looked as devastated as she and Anakin both felt.

"How could we fix this?" Anakin questioned. "If they're in every single… damn it. Loyalty? That's… they have no choice. They can't- I'm sorry, Rex, Cody."

He was clearly devastated, and the clones saw it.

"Just help us get these out," Rex requested. "We can have them removed, right?"

"Fives removed his in surgery," Soph muttered to herself, considering the question. She didn't notice her slip up, but everyone else did. Luckily, Anakin and Obi Wan didn't yet know who Fives was, so they let it go. "But that may not be the best way to deal with all of them. There's… millions of clones. How do we free all of your brothers?"

"The first step would be removing one to study it," Cody suggested. "If we figure out how they work, we may be able to find a better way to destroy them than doing surgery on millions of clones."

"We start with the ARCs," Obi Wan told them. "And high command."

"They're the most dangerous," Soph realized. "Fine, but we have to work fast. I don't want any single clone to be a slave."

"Kamino," Anakin frowned down at the table. "What about Kamino? We can destroy as many chips as we want, but they'll still throw more at us. We have to figure out how to handle the cadets."

"De-chip them as they graduate," Obi Wan suggested. "But Cody's right - our first step is to study them. You said there was a successful removal surgery?"

Soph finally realized her slip and frowned. "He doesn't have it anymore."

"I'd volunteer for the surgery," Rex offered.

"I would as well," Cody agreed. "I want this thing out of my brain."

"I'll get Kix and Coric to study the chips," Soph told them. "They're talented medics."

"We'll get you both into surgery today," Anakin told the clones.

"Thank you, sir," Rex let out a ragged breath. He hadn't expected Anakin to be so furious, but Soph knew that Rex didn't know of Anakin's past, either.

They decided to bring Kix and Coric to them. Since the medical bay was so close to the bridge, it didn't take them long to abandon their current projects and get to the three generals, commander, and captain.

Both of them stopped in the door when they saw the group gathered. Coric blinked and Kix frowned.

"Sirs… are we in trouble?"

"Nothing like that, no," Anakin promised.

"We need your help," Soph told them plainly. "I have some news that I want you to keep to yourselves for the moment. It… it may be difficult, considering the topic, but I swear to you that we're working to remedy the situation. Which is where you two come in."

"Please, sit," Obi Wan waved for them to join the table. They sat across from one another, next to Rex and Cody.

"What's the situation, sir?" Coric asked hesitantly. He could tell that whatever they had to say, it was bad.

"There's inhibitor chips in every clone's brain," Soph told them. "Ensuring loyalty and obedience. There's orders that it can force you to carry out, including an order to make you kill Jedi."

Coric's eyes widened and Kix's jaw set tightly. Neither of them said a word. She quickly realized that they knew what every clone knew - the Jedi were the ones to commission the creation of the clones. It had been Master Sifo-Dyas working without the approval of the Council, but no one knew that except the Council. For all they knew, the Jedi had been aware of the chip.

"As soon as I found out about the chip-," she paused as she realized that what she'd been going to say - that she'd started working on the problem as soon as she knew about it - wasn't true. She hadn't listened to Fives, at least not really. She'd tried to look into it without Anakin finding out- he was far too close to the Chancellor and had taken Fives' accusation poorly, but the war had consumed her time and she'd been distracted. She was ashamed of the fact that she'd failed her men. "We're getting this taken care of. We didn't know of the chips, but we're fixing this."

The medics seemed to relax a little. Coric looked overwhelmed, and she couldn't blame him. "How can we help?"

"It takes a phase five atomic level scan to find the chips," she said, remembering what Fives had hurriedly told them that awful day. She could still imagine Fives's blood on Rex's hands, which she'd had to wash gently as he'd stood there in shock. The memory made her feel sick. "It is possible to remove them. Rex and Cody volunteered to have theirs taken out to study them. The goal is to figure out if there's a way to disable these chips without having every clone in the GAR undergo brain surgery."

"We'll get them in for surgery in an hour," Kix told them firmly. "Coric?"

"I'm good," the man said. At the questioning look she sent him, Coric sighed. "I was injured recently. I've only performed a couple of surgeries since, but I'm fine now."

"One at a time," Obi Wan cut in. "Work together. I'd be much more comfortable knowing there's someone there if something goes wrong."

"Well," Kix sighed, getting to his feet. "We'd better prep for surgery. I need you both to head to the med bay for your scans. They… hurt, but if that's what's necessary…"

"I can handle a little pain," Rex assured him.

"As long as we get this damn thing out of my head, I don't care how much it hurts," Cody agreed.

"Let's go, then, if that's all," Kix said, looking between the Generals.

"Go ahead," Anakin waved them off. "We need to work quickly."

"I'll escort them to the med bay," Soph offered. She looked to Obi Wan. "I'm sorry I can't give you more answers, Master. It's just not time."

"Come to me when it is time is all I ask," he answered. "Go ahead and take them to the med bay."

She waved at Obi Wan and Anakin as she walked out of the room with the two clones, Coric and Kix already having hurried toward the med bay.

"They're suspicious," Rex told her as they walked.

"Obi Wan felt it," she replied. "He could feel that he can't know yet. Anakin… he's too stubborn for his own good, and I hurt his feelings. He's going to push."

"You need a better response than what just happened," Cody said. He had no issue being casual with his superiors. They were the closest thing to family that he had, aside from his brothers. "The cloak was a good idea."

"He questioned it, too. He's relentless," she sighed. Her gaze drifted to Rex, who had fallen quiet. "How are you doing with him?"

Rex frowned. "How can you know that he won't kill you again?"

"Because…" she took a deep breath, pushing down the guilt. "Because I saw what he was becoming. I saw the path he was headed down, but I was so distracted by the war that I did nothing about it. I failed him and I failed you guys. I should've listened to Fives. I should've challenged Anakin, and I should've-,"

"Kat, stop," Rex said. He stopped walking to stare at her. Cody glanced around, relieved when he realized there was no one around. "You didn't do anything."

"Yes. That's the problem."

"He means it isn't your fault," Cody cut in.

"The General is responsible for his own actions," Rex agreed. "Maybe you should have listened to Fives, but all you can do now is fix it. And you are."

"Anakin won't become that man," she promised. "He's himself right now. I need to find proof of the Chancellor's identity as Sidious. Which… probably means going to Dooku," she grimaced.

"For now," Rex touched her arm. Cody stood in front of them as someone passed in the hall, blocking off the gentle touch from sight. "We focus on these chips. Once we do the scans and surgery, we'll work on Dooku."

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay. We can do that."

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