Fox hunt part 3

Chuchi spots Anakin and Padme. She gives Padme a hug, "Padme, it's good to see you."

"You too, Chuchi. How are you?" she asks gently pulling away.

Anakin pipes up, "I heard that Fox attempted to assassinate the Chancellor, is this true?"

"Yes..." Chuchi says lowering her voice, "Bu...

Anakin snarls, interrupting her, "First he arrests Ahsoka, then kills Fives, then tries killing Palpatine. Honestly, I think he's lost his mind. If he tries anything stupid, he'll lose his head."

Padme puts a hand on his arm, "Calm down, Ani. What he needs is help, not a beheading."

Palpatine walks over, "I agree, Senator Amedala. I just wish it never came to this. The stress of his job, along with the guilt of shooting Fives, may have drove him to insanity. He needs help."

"Good morning, Chancellor." Chuchi says growing quiet.

He looks at her, "Good Morning, Senator Chuchi. You were saying?"

Chuchi shakes her head, "It... it was nothing."

"Oh, come now. It must be hard being friends with poor Fox." he said with false pity.

"You're friends with him?" Anakin asks rudely, "What did you have to do? Sleep with him?"

"Chuchi would never do that." Padme stated, then asks, "How did you and Fox meet?"

Chuchi smiles slightly, "In a nutshell. He saved me from an assassination attempt. Apparently, something I said impressed him and he gave me investigation tips. It kinda grew from there."

"Fascinating." Palpatine comments with a smile. Chuchi goes silent. She spots Thire and Thorn walking over with Rex.

Anakin turns to Palpatine, "Is there anything I can do, Chancellor?"

"Seeing as how he killed your clone trooper, I do not believe it wise to send you after him." Palpatine sighs, "You may accidentally cut his head off."

"Palpatine is right, Ani." Padme says blinking softly at him, "Let the clones catch their own."

Anakin lowers his shoulders, "You're both right."

Palpatine smiles, "You may guard me in case he tries again."

Padme taps her lip, "Did Fox attack anyone else?"

"Yes. He took down a drug dealer and his thugs yesterday. Beat them pretty badly." Thire states as he stopped mere inches from Chuchi, "I need your assistance, Senator Chuchi."

Chuchi asks politely, "With what?"

Thorn pipes up, "We believe Fox may contact you. If we are to help him, you will allow us to trace the calls. Sir."

Chuchi clears her throat, "I must be going. Good day, Chancellor. Padme. Anakin."

she turns to leave with the clones, but stops when Palpatine asks, "I hear that your term in office is up in a few days. Does Fox know about this?"

She takes one last look at him, "I... I haven't told him yet."

"Probably for the best, my dear." he smiled coldly. She hides the shiver as she walks away. Thire pats her shoulder.

"We'll talk later, Chuchi." Padme promised. She turns to Palpatine, "So, I wanted your opinion on something."

Fox wakes up and cricks his neck until it clicked. He gently takes the girl off and puts her to the side so as to stand up and stretch. He groans and rubs his legs, "Ow."

the girl wakes up and crawls over to him, "Daddy?" he looks down at her and she looks away disappointed. Fox's lips curl downward, sad. The girl crawls back to her spot and curls up. He thinks for a minute, then asks, "What's your daddy's name?"

she looks at him, "Tam... Tammal Bose."

Fox thinks for a bit, then remembers where he knew it from, "Human male, five foot ten, widowed. Stabbed in the chest with glass shard, slow death. Name, Tammal Bose." he looks at her, then he looks away and sighs, "Come here kid."

she looks at him, "You're not daddy."

"Neither of your parents are coming back." he said sadly, she slowly crawls over and he pulls something from his belt. He puts it in her hand, "This is your second chance at life. Show this to the police, they'll know what to do." she nods and he lets her cry on him, "Just five more minutes."

Thire's arm starts beeping while Rex and Thorn argued about how to work the tracer. He lifts it to his face and taps his com, "Thire here."

a regular man's voice pops out, "This is Officer Lowli. Your rogue clone was spotted leaving the slums on level 342. His ponytail was a dead giveaway. Looks like he ditched the cloak. We're updating his description now."

Thire pulls out his tiny holo projector and Fox's image changes from a armor clad clone, to a dirty clone wearing a jacket and hat over his body glove. Thire nods and sends out the bolo.

Thorn stops arguing and walks over, "What is it?"

"Fox was seen heading out of the slums on level 342."

Thorn raises an eyebrow, "Why would he go there?"

Thire looks at him, "Good a place as any to sleep." he taps his com, "All units to these coordinates."

Thorn crosses his arms, "Think it's as good a place as any to trap him?"

"Not likely." Thire thinks aloud, "If I was Fox, where would I go?"

"Somewhere to eat? I don't think Fox would travel far on an empty stomach." Thorn states as Rex finishes working.

Rex looks at Thorn, "The guy skipped breakfast to sneak into Commando class."

"He told me about that." Chuchi chimed in, "He said that if he could outdo his brothers..."

Rex smiles and finishes it, "Heh, "I can out fight anything". It worked."

Chuchi blinks at him, "He must have told us very different stories. In mine, he was trying to impress Shak Ti."

Rex gives a light chuckle, "That makes a lot more sense."

Thorn nods, then smirked, "I tried that too. She's hard to please."

Thire crosses his arms, having listened this whole time, "Any females that impressed him, he posed for."

Chuchi smiles, "It would explain why he jumped through my window, shot a bug like it was an assassin, then posed while telling me it was safe. Padme thought he was crushing on me. I thought he was bored."

Thire snorts, "That was way past crush."

"It was cute." her smile fades, "But, now, I just wish he'd stay still long enough to hear that I'm going back to Pantora. And I'm not coming back."

Thorn nods, "You can let him know after we catch him."

"Thank you."

Fox looks around and spots a Tooka giving him the stink eye. He rolls his eyes and spots a small building. It flashed, "Food. Drink. Entertainment." his stomach growls at him. He thinks for a minute, then heads in. Inside, there were dancing girls, alcohol, and plates of fancy meals. He looks at the prices and frowned. He leaves the building, stating to his stomach, "No way am I wasting 90% of my credits on you." he hears something and goes to the back of the building. A kid, about nineteen, was dumping leftovers into a silver dumpster. Fox waits for him to leave before heading over. He looks in it and finds perfectly good scraps. He thinks for a moment, then shrugs, "When on Naboo." as he eats, two Tookas came over and jumped in the can. He growls at them, then tosses a overcooked fish on the ground. The Tookas go after it and leave him to eat in peace. That peace lasted until the boy came back out and blinked at him. "Hey!" he shouts, "Get out of the garbage!" Fox runs off and the boy shuts the lid, "Crazy clone. No way is my boss going to believe me." he heads back inside. Fox comes back and snags some more food. Once satisfied with the amount, he leaves to find a holo-terminal. He polishes it off just as he finds one a few alleys down. He taps in Chuchi's number. After a minute her image appears. He smiles and orders, "Meet me at the end of your route at 1500 hours."

"What?" she asks.

"Your route, 1500 hours." he repeats.

She pinches the bridge of her nose, "What ever happened to hello?"

"Sorry, ma'am. I have the evidence." he holds up the tiny camera to her view, "I'll give it to you then." then pockets it, "Fox out." he shuts off the com.

Thire looks up from his computer, "I narrowed it down, but it may not be necessary." he gets up, "What route?"

Chuchi turns to him, "The route I take when I want to clear my head." Thire walks off to contact the Nala Se.

Thorn looks at the clock, then looks at Chuchi, "That's in forty minutes. Lead the way."

Chuchi looks up at him and nods, "Of course." she leads the way out of the building.