Captured Again:

Anakin was still mentally grumbling to himself about being verbally outwitted by Obi-Wan for what had to be the thousandth time by now as he slowed to a jog to allow the two older members of their little rescue mission to catch up to him. It was only thanks to his sense of duty that he hadn't yet dashed away at a more Force-enhanced speed. Aside from wishing with all his being to escape Obi-Wan's (grudgingly deserved) glee, Anakin honestly couldn't wait to get off this stars-forsaking ship and the endless grey corridors that all looked the same and somehow felt like grim death in the Force. But rushing ahead was something he'd (more or less) outgrown. And... Was there a tingle of immediate warning in the Force? Or was that just an itch on his nape from the drying cold sweat that had sprung up thanks to that elevator fiasco?

Kark, it's so hard to tell what the Force is trying to say anymore. Especially when this entire mission is just one giant clusterfrag and we're this close to Coruscant where it's always a mire of overlapping and ugly warnings all the time anyway thanks to so many corrupt people living on it.

Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan when he all but skipped into place beside him, clearly ignoring his injuries (as usual) and radiating poorly disguised satisfaction down their bond. Anakin gave his former Master the annoyed eye roll all that deserved and then let those matters drop in favour of more pressing issues.

And no, he wasn't thinking about opening the theoretical shipping container full of pissed off baby krayt dragons that confessing to killing Dooku would unleash just yet. (As entertaining as watching Obi-Wan keep hold of his control and sanity by the barest of threads would be, that drama could wait until the man in question brought it up on his own, thank you very much.) (Especially with Palpatine watching their every move and seeming very judgemental of his brave, kind-hearted, cinnamon roll of a Master.)

No, Anakin was more concerned about that definite tingle on his nape that was getting stronger by the step. "Master, do you feel that?"

Obi-Wan glanced at him. "Feel whaaaa..."

The projected thought trailed off as a brilliant deflector field of raw power suddenly surrounded the three of them and they all skidded to a stop to avoid running into the painful electricity.

"Ray Shields," Anakin muttered, mentally shaking his head. "I knew it had to be something!"

"Don't you just hate it when that happens?" Obi-Wan huffed back as they both glared at opposite sides of the shield like it had personally stolen their last ration bar with no new supplies coming for days. Then he spun around and levelled a truly comedic look of puzzlement at Anakin, choosing to speak aloud for who knows what reason. (Like Palpatine actually needed to hear them admit to failing at something. Seriously.) "Wait a minute. How did this happen? We're smarter than this!"

Anakin quirked an eyebrow at the overly dramatic (and frankly awful) acting. "What the kark are you playing at now?"

"Just go with it." Obi-Wan's twinkling blue eyes were saying even more then his mental voice was, so Anakin decided that he might as well play along with whatever (probably insane) scheme his usually clever (but possibly suffering from a concussion and thus likely deranged) Master was currently cooking up this time. Palpatine's fascinated gaze as he watched them both like a championship level sporting event probably had something to do with it.

"As you wish, Oh-Wise-Wan." He stifled the urge to sigh at the same time that Obi-Wan sent him a mental snort and then grumbled out loud, "Apparently Not," as if there hadn't been the briefest of pauses between Obi-Wan's declaration of their (questionable) intelligence. "Now what?"

Obi-Wan's eyes turned an even brighter shade of brilliant blue as they twinkled even more. "Now you propose a plan."

"Me."

"Yes."

"Why me?" Anakin whined. "You hate my plans."

"I do not... Okay. Yes I do. Generally," Obi-Wan admitted, the tiniest of smirks hiding under his moustache. "So now's your chance to change my mind."

Anakin almost grinned despite the seriousness of the situation. Because in an instant, he'd come up with the best way to troll his Master back for once. He stared directly into Obi-Wan's eyes and held the most serious expression he could manage, and then came out with the most used word his Master had ever said to him. (There wasn't even a doubt about this. It might as well be legally added to the beginning of his name for all the times it had been attached to it.) "I say patience."

Mentally, Obi-Wan cracked up, laughing down their bond with a mental eye roll and a, "Force, Anakin!" Outwardly, though, he kept up his sabacc face and managed to even look unimpressed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Patience." The doubt dripped from the word like a melting ice cream cone all over a distracted youngling's hand. "Stars, that's going to make me laugh for a week!"

Anakin mentally smirked back while maintaining his serious expression for Palpatine's sake. (Snarking at Obi-Wan was always a highlight of his day, but this took the cake.) "Glad to be of service, Master. You need to laugh more."

"Ha. Ha. Happy now?"

"Delighted," Anakin drolled back before responding to their other conversation out loud again. "Yes. Artoo will be along in a few moments and then... he'll release the ray shields." "He's good like that."

Obi-Wan raised a brow and shook his head minutely. "You put way too much faith in a droid, Anakin. Perhaps you should come up with a better plan that will be more impressive to our esteemed audience."

Anakin glanced at Palpatine for a fleeting moment, finding the old man's gaze on him and looking ever so slightly disappointed. Hunh. Perhaps I should. "Is that what this whole charade is about? Making me look good for Palpatine?"

"You do seem to be the Hero of the Hour. I figured it couldn't hurt to continue that trend."

Anakin narrowed his eyes slightly at Obi-Wan. "How many times do I have to tell you to take some credit for yourself, Master? I don't want to be the only one in the spotlight all the time."

"But you're so good at it." Obi-Wan felt like he was enjoying this immensely, the bastard.

"Grrrrrr. And this is why I want to throw you off a cliff every second day or so!"

Somehow, Obi-Wan's eyes managed to twinkle more even as he kept his expression locked in dramatic disbelief. "It's a good thing I have the Force, then, isn't it."

If Anakin didn't love Obi-Wan more than he technically should, he really would shove him right into that ray shield right now, just because. Fortunately he did, and also fortunately for Anakin's (current. only current) lack of a better plan, a door opened in the hallway beside them and Artoo came tearing through it with a high-pitched squeal of overworked wheels and droid alarm. "Ha! See! I told you he'd show up!"

"So you did."

Anakin turned to watch Artoo as he careened all the way into the opposite wall, wincing in sympathy as the astromech bounced off the wall hard and beeped out a binary, "Frag!" as he recaught his balance.

"That's gonna leave a dent."

"In the wall or in Artoo?" Obi-Wan asked with his usual dry amusement.

"I don't care about the wall," Anakin grumped, concerned for his droid. "See. No problem," he said aloud, just in time for the kark-up that was his life to prove him wrong once again.

Two droidekas rolled in only seconds after Artoo (apparently what he'd been bolting from so quickly) and only another moment before the sound of heavy marching feet started ringing through the corridor en masse. As the rollies uncurled and shielded themselves, Anakin exchanged grim glances with Obi-Wan, all sense of playful fun abandoning them in an instant. "Well, this just went from frying pan to fire in a hot hypersecond."

Obi-Wan huummphed under his breath as they glanced behind them to confirm that there were just as many super battle droids coming up on them as it sounded like. There were. (At least a squadron's worth.) "That might be an understatement."

Meanwhile, from the adjacent hallway and from one of the many doorways in the corridor, more droids surrounded Artoo, one super battle droid telling Artoo, "Don't move!"

This only earned the large, metallic grey droid a shock from his brave little astromech. As usual, Anakin felt a sense of pride in his dedicated friend that quickly turned to alarm as the battle droid kicked Artoo over in retaliation. "That one's dead."

"You'll have to get us out of here first," Obi-Wan teased with his usual sense of dry snark. And then he added out loud, "Do you have a plan B?"

Anakin rolled his eyes hard enough to hurt. "Of course I do. It's even one of your favourites." (Thank kriff they had a decade or more of misadventures to draw on.)

"Oh?" Obi-Wan asked, cocking an eyebrow in question. "And which one would that be?" He rubbed said eyebrow. "Surely not this again."

Anakin grinned as they were entirely surrounded on all sides by thickly built battle droids with dozens of blasters trained on them. "As fun as that was, no. I think this time we'll spring the trap."

Now both of Obi-Wan's eyebrows all but disappeared under his fringe of copper hair. "Do you think that's wise? Considering..." He glanced over his shoulder towards Palpatine, who was looking both alarmed and curious at the same time.

Anakin shrugged as the ray shield dropped and they were told to, "Turn around and present your hands for binding." They all did so without a word of protest, all making similar grimaces as the durasteel manacles bit into flesh cruelly. "He's crafty enough to stay out of the way. And I think it's long past time for me to have a nice 'talk' with Grievous, don't you?"

Obi-Wan chuckled silently as they were led (pushed roughly) back towards the bank of elevators. "I suppose it is. You've certainly managed to miss having a 'talk' with our slippery arthropod friend for a ridiculous number of years already."

"I know, right! It's been driving me nuts! He's like a cross between a spider and a fragging ghost!"

"I doubt that ghosts care much about procreation, Anakin," Obi-Wan said in a chiding tone accompanied by yet another mental smirk.

They were shoved into a lift and then crowded together by as many droids as could squash in with them. There was hardly room to breathe. And Artoo's strut was digging into his leg. But that just meant that he could glare at Obi-Wan up close and personal. "I swear, Obi-Wan, one day..."

"Yes?"

"I'll push you out an airlock or something." It was more a pathetic grumble of defeat than anything and they both knew it.

"You know you'll only end up jumping out after me to rescue me," Obi-Wan thought back with a fond smile.

He was right, of course.

That didn't mean Anakin would skip the mandatory eye roll, though.

At least Anakin had the upcoming confrontation with one of his arch enemies to look forward to.

Surely he could win a verbal sparring match with a being more droid than not!

And... He was definitely looking forward to their long overdue meeting.

Grievous was going to regret everything he'd ever done to his Master and Ahsoka and the clones by the time Anakin was through with him.

It was a vow he'd made to himself a long time ago and Force help him if he didn't get to keep it.