I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters.
Mustafar
Damian steered the shuttle toward the landing platform, barely thirty feet above the lava, but just as he landed, an alarm sounded.
"Yup, we're saving her," Damian said.
They left the shuttle, looking to the side to see the remains of the other, smoking and with electricity still sparking across it once in a while. They took off at a sprint toward the facility they had landed at, stopping just inside to find the clone that had been with Ahsoka lying on the ground, injured but alive, trying to crawl toward a door.
"You!" Damian shouted, skidding to a stop, Barriss beside him.
"You," the clone said seeing him before looking to Barriss. "Barriss Offee! You're...but..."
"She's with me," Damian said. "Can you make it back to the landing platform? We have a shuttle of our own there."
"It'll be destroyed," the clone said.
"Barriss, take him to the shuttle and get airborne. Get him to the medical droid in back, and keep him alive. If he's dead when I get back, so are you."
Barriss nodded and Damian stood, drawing his staff and sprinting through the next doorway. The clone had had a mixture of blade wounds and plasma burns. As soon as Damian stepped into the open courtyard three rooms later, he saw why. Ahsoka was dueling against a group of droids. Three were IG-100 MagnaGuards and four were BX series Droid Commandos armed with swords. Ahsoka was fighting them but rapidly losing ground.
"Hey gear heads!" Damian shouted.
Two of the MagnaGuards turned toward him, one charging as the other watched. The first swiped at him with its staff and Damian blocked it, electricity crackling as their staves pushed against each other's. Then, Damian spun, allowing the MagnaGuard to pass before driving the end of his staff backward into the droid's back, the droid lighting up with electricity before dropping to the ground, wires and circuits burnt out and smoking. The other MagnaGuard pulled its own staff out, spinning it before charging, swiping at Damian. Damian flipped over it, landing on his feet as the MagnaGuard scooped up the other staff, beginning to attack Damian with both. Damian blocked the strikes as best he could, back pedaling as he did. Then, he jumped over the MagnaGuard, smashing it in the back and making it stagger forward, smoking slightly but still functional. It turned toward him and he sighed, putting his staff away and drawing his lightsaber, extending one blade and readying himself.
"Where the hell did you get that?" Ahsoka shouted, sidestepping a sword and slashing the droid.
"Is this really the best time?" Damian asked, reaching out with the Force and hurling a Droid Commando into a wall head first, smashing its head and disabling it.
"Probably not!" Ahsoka agreed, flipping over the droids onto the wall then off of the wall to the opposite side of him.
As she did, the MagnaGuard Damian was facing charged, swiping at him rapidly, Damian blocking it with the one blade for several seconds before extending the other blade as well, easily deflecting the staves for a moment before removing both arms then splitting it up the middle. Then, he spun, both blades blocking a sword from a commando Droid before Ahsoka's blades stabbed their heads and retracted, allowing him to step backward up beside her, retracting one blade.
"Now spill," Ahsoka said as the remaining two droids began to circle them.
"Not the time Ahsoka," Damian growled as the MagnaGuard leapt at him.
He blocked the staff, hearing Ahsoka's blade connect with her droid, destroying it, then shoved the staff upward, launching the droid off of the platform and into the lava.
"There, we're finished," Ahsoka said. "Spill."
"First off, you're welcome," Damian said. "And secondly, it's a family heirloom. It's the thing I had to get on Coruscant, though it definitely didn't end up like I expected. Ended up going to jail, breaking out with an old friend of yours, got laid, got stuck on Thabeska looking for you and nearly got killed by the Fardi, again, and then came to this lovely shit hole."
"First off, I didn't need your help, or ask for it," Ahsoka said. "Secondly, I'm going to assume this friend that you so eloquently claim to have saved and then had sex with was a Jedi given that you've obviously been trained a bit, and third, I didn't need your help! You didn't have to come here! Why are you even looking for me?"
"I want you to train me," Damian said. "Along with your friend. Also, I know you want the Empire taken out. So I'd like to help."
"Right," Ahsoka snorted. "That's going to happen. I would train you, but I'm not a Jedi anymore. I'm a smuggler."
"Obviously not a good one," Damian said, indicating the droids. "Tell you what. I'll teach you to smuggle without battling droids, and you teach me to be a Jedi. And, if we happen to fuck with the Empire while doing it, so be it."
"Who was it that got shot down over Mandalore?" Ahsoka smirked.
"By Cad Bane," Damian said. "That guy's beaten more Jedi than I've done jobs. And that's quite the list."
"When did you start?" Ahsoka asked.
"Fourteen," Damian said as they walked back into the facility. "First job was to steal something back from that pirate, what was it, Handjob Ohnakara?"
"Hondo Ohnaka?" Ahsoka asked.
"Yeah that's the one," Damian said. "I failed, granted, but Cad Bane killed my contact anyway so it didn't matter. And Ohnaka was so impressed that I managed to get into orbit before being spotted and promptly shot down by his temporary partner Cad Bane that he sort of, took me under his wing for a couple of months. Taught me to be a smuggler. Among other things."
"Like what?" Ahsoka asked.
"Well, first was the effects of too much Rodian Spice Liquor. Then was how to kill and be good at it, even while drunk. Then came how to wield my family heirloom, which I more or less used to open and seal doors, and then the last thing before he tried to kill me for my lightsaber was how to have sex."
"You had sex with Hondo!?" Ahsoka gaped, before gagging, Damian doing the same.
"Oh fuck no!" Damian snorted, laughing. "Jesus, I'm not gay, or bi. And to my knowledge neither is he. Though I gotta say, Aura Sing really wasn't as good looking as Hondo thought I was drunk enough to believe. Fourteen or not."
"Wait, you did it...with Aura Sing?" Ahsoka asked. "Ew."
"Eh, I'm not proud of all of my decisions," Damian shrugged. "Some were pretty good ones though."
"Like what?" Ahsoka asked.
"The Fardi sisters," Damian said. "They were definitely worth the bounty."
They stepped out of the facility onto the landing pad and Damian looked up, seeing Barriss slowly circling in the shuttle, waiting for him. Just as he stepped forward to signal her to land, Ahsoka tackled him, a laser bolt flashing through the space he had been occupying, hitting the wall.
"Why Ahsoka, if you wanted a turn, you could have asked," Damian said.
"Ugh, not even in your dreams," Ahsoka spat, standing and drawing her lightsabers. "I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole. God only knows what Aura Sing gave you. Let alone the how many afterward?"
"Lost track somewhere around a hundred," Damian shrugged, drawing his own Lightsaber. "It's hard to keep track of pointless stuff like that when you're a smuggler. It's easier to lie or say a lot. If a slut asks, you say a high number and she gets wet. If a virgin asks, you say she's the first or second, and she thinks you're just naturally good, but isn't too nervous to go through with it."
"Are you even human?" Ahsoka asked, incredulously. "I've met droids who acted more like people than you."
"Hey, you can't blame me. I'm a dangerous smuggler who might hurt you. Girls flock to me."
"I suppose miracles can take any form."
"That hurts," Damian said.
Just then, Ahsoka blocked a second sniper shot aimed at him, glaring at him.
"Who wants your head this time?" Ahsoka asked.
"Empire, Fardi, any surviving prisoners, any surviving guards, Bane, Ghinvul's family-"
"Ghinvul?" Ahsoka gaped. "That's who had your lightsaber? Please tell me you didn't kill him."
"Nah, he's dead," Damian said.
"We're dead," Ahsoka groaned, just as three droids crashed down on the landing platform.
These ones were different. They had legs that bent like a dog's hind legs, feet with numerous clawed toes, two arms with a thumb on top and bottom, and skull-shaped heads with glowing red eyes and a fin-like object on either side. All three wore white capes to match their white bodies and all were holding a pair of lightsabers. One's were double-bladed, one's were single bladed, and one had one of each.
"Oh shit," Ahsoka breathed. "They actually finished the prototypes."
"What are these?" Damian asked.
"New prototype assassin droids," Ahsoka said. "Grievous Battle Droids."
"Grievous?" Damian asked. "Like the Separatist general?"
"Yeah, him," Ahsoka said. "So, which do you want?"
"Can't we just throw them in the lava?" Damian asked.
Ahsoka shoved her hands forward and the droids began to skid backward until their toes drove themselves into the ground. Their capes ripped free, fluttering away, but the droids were fine.
"I'll take that as a no," Ahsoka said. "So, I ask again, which do you want?"
"Shoot them!" Damian said into his comm link.
Barriss opened fire a massive round exploding in the middle of the three, destroying the one with one of each type of saber's legs but its arms split in two each and the new set began to walk it forward like legs.
"Alright," Damian said. "That's new. I'll take half-pint and the one with the double-bladed sabers."
"Be careful," Ahsoka said.
"Relax," Damian said. "I'll be fine. I'm Force Sensitive, remember?"
He shoved his hand out, the partially destroyed droid flying off the platform and into the lava before Damian extended both lightsaber blades, spinning it slowly as he and his droid walked away from Ahsoka. His droid charged, both arms splitting in two and allowing the droid to slash at him rapidly. He blocked each strike with his own lightsaber as he backpedaled. The droid was much, much better than the MagnaGuard had been, and with lightsabers he was much more dangerous. Finally, Damian's blade split one of the light sabers a ways, ruining it and making the droid hurl it away before it lifted its foot in the blink of an eye, grabbing him by the face with it and hurling him at the edge. He flipped, driving his lightsaber into the landing pad and slowing himself to a stop as the droid followed. He glanced at Ahsoka, seeing her struggling only slightly less with her own droid.
He swung his feet forward, then flipped backward back up onto the platform, pulling his lightsaber free and spinning it, grinning at the droid. It had only two hands again and was holding the lightsaber at the ready. Damian sprinted forward, grinning as he neared it. He slashed upward, splitting the lightsaber in half and slashing at the droid. It flipped backward, landing on its feet, wielding the two halves like individual sabers. Damian smirked, twisting the two halves of his own, separating it. Then, he charged, his lightsabers crashing into the droid's loudly. He ducked and dodged, slashed, stabbed, and blocked. Then, finally, after nearly ten minutes, the droid planted its foot in his side, breaking two ribs and launching him into Ahsoka, dislocating her shoulder and knocking both back to the edge of the platform.
"Well, I'll admit it," Damian said. "These things are annoying."
"They're dangerous," Ahsoka said. "Any ideas?"
"Well," Damian grunted, pulling his lightsabers to himself with the Force and reconnecting them. "The landing pad is pretty thin. Want to learn to fly?"
Ahsoka nodded, retrieving er own lightsabers one at a time before taking his and hurling it, guiding it with the Force to cut the pad itself then the supports. She caught and returned the lightsaber just as there was a metallic screeching. Then, Damian grabbed her, leaping off the platform as the metallic screech grew suddenly to deafening and the platform dropped, the other two droids landing in the lava and the landing pad crashing down on top of them. Damian landed heavily on a platform being flown over the lava by several droids. He set Ahsoka down, reaching up to his comm link.
"We need pickup, now!" Damian said, seeing the lava inching closer to the bottom of the platform, and a lava waterfall up ahead in the river, the now malfunctioning droids heading toward it.
"I'll catch you just over the edge," Barriss responded. "Don't miss. I don't want Ahsoka getting burned."
"Yeah yeah," Damian grumbled. "Very funny. Ahsoka, the shuttle's going to meet us just over the edge."
Ahsoka nodded and they turned to the edge. The shuttle floated just beyond it, the ramp extended and a heavily bandaged Rex was waiting at the bottom. Ahsoka jumped first, easily clearing the gap and looking back. Just as Damian took a step forward, however, a hand grabbed the platform, making it lurch, one of the droids hitting the lava and breaking free, the platform beginning to spin rapidly. Damian hung on for dear life as the droid whose legs had been blasted off crawled toward him, its half-melted body leaving a white trail.
"Help!" Damian shouted.
"Damian, jump!" Barriss shouted over his comm link. "Jump now!"
Damian hurled himself into the air just as the platform fell away, three of the droid's fingers brushing his left cheek, burning claw scars into him instantly. Then, Ahsoka caught him by the arm, pulling him up into the ship and setting him on a medical table, a holographic medical droid appearing beside him, beginning to scan him as Rex closed the door.
"Two broken ribs, improperly cauterized lacerations on the face, and a sprained ankle," the droid reported. "There should be some medicine in the cabinet to your left, Mr. Rex."
The clone pulled out a syringe and looked to the droid.
"It is a sensation reducing agent," the droid said. "A 'painkiller' as you put it."
Rex nodded, injecting it into Damian's thigh before tossing the syringe aside.
"You alright?" Ahsoka asked.
"No," Damian said sitting up. "I feel like I got my ass kicked by robots. Oh wait."
"Very funny," Ahsoka said. "So, who's your-"
Just then the door slid open and Barriss stepped through, giving Ahsoka an apologetic and nervous look.
"Uh, hi, Ahsoka. It's been a while."
Read and review.