I do not own Star Wars in any capacity.

Enjoy Chapter 13!

Ezra found it shockingly easy to stay composed as they walked through the busy crowds. Most ignored them, the few who glanced their way were more focused on Sabine than Ezra or Kanan. Her colorful armor wasn't exactly discreet.

But even though all of his Imperial effects have been stripped away, his training was still deeply embedded. He walked with confidence and a neutral expression, just like he would when walking through the Imperial complex. The persona of an Inquisitorial candidate slipped over him like a second skin. If need be, he was relatively confident that he could even scowl at any stranger who might give him snark. Of course, his attempts at intimidation were always aided when his Asset… daiima … was snapping her sharp teeth at them.

In maintaining this sort of composure, Ezra had let his arms fall to his sides, his shoulders pulled back and his gaze pointed firmly on Sabine's back. His Ass… daiima was clinging to him, her body flattened against his skin. He wasn't sure exactly what had changed, but he was starting to feel a bit like a person again. After days of having his psyche ripped apart, leaving him teetering on the edge of falling into madness, he felt like bits of himself were starting to draw back together. He still didn't know what exactly he was, but now he felt he had a chance to stitch together some sort of coherent identity.

Every so often, particularly when the alleyways got particularly crowded, Kanan would clasp a hand on Ezra's shoulder and pull him close. It was a strange gesture, one that should have sent shivers down his spine. His master putting her hands on him was never a good thing. It was a sign coming discipline or reward. And Ezra didn't know which was worse.

But Kanan wasn't like her. His hands and touch and presence was warm, calming. It could quell Ezra's panic, wrap around him and keep him from completely unraveling.

Of course, it has only been a few days. Who knew how things could change? What group or new master he'd be pushed off onto…

Ezra swallowed, feeling his throat press against the collar. He wanted it off. He really did. But it had still meant so much when he got it. It had been one of the happiest moments of his life. He could never have anticipated that it would have led him to all of this. Right now, it was impossible to imagine what the galaxy had in store for him once it was removed.

His daiima shifted slightly against his skin, and Ezra felt the corner of his mouth twitch. At least he still had her.

"We're here," Sabine said, ducking into a small opening between the densely laid out stalls. Ezra was close behind her, Kanan bringing up the rear.

He blinked a couple times, getting his eyes to adjust. It was a small space, with thousands of electronics and tools scattered around in buckets and on the walls. Durasteel shelving separated the establishment into sections. Ezra followed Sabine as she walked along one of these shelves before rounding the end of it.

A feminine looking alien whose species Ezra didn't recognize was sitting at a workbench, a bright light shining down at whatever she was working on. Upon hearing them enter, she looked up and pulled her goggles up onto her forehead just below her horns. Her eyes immediately landed on Ezra and she gave a small frown. "He's a kid," she stated.

"And?" Kanan said sharply. "Is that a problem?"

"No problem," the alien - Nova Kaadak, Ezra remembered - said easily. "But like I said before. Bound to pique anyone's curiosity." Kaadak put down her tool and stood from the bench. "You have my money?"

Movement caught the corner of Ezra's eye, and he turned to see Kanan pull out a credit chip before tossing it to her. "Three thousand, as promised."

Ezra's eyes bulged at that. Three thousand Imperial credits? How did dissidents like this lot have so much money just laying around?

And… they were spending it on him?

Kaadak put the chip into a scanner, looking it over with a hum. Then her eyes flickered up at Ezra. Or more specifically, Ezra's neck. "Let's take a closer look at what we have here." She cleared off her work bench before patting the top of it. "Hop up here, kid."

Ezra couldn't help but bristle, not appreciating the order or the moniker. His fists were clenched at his sides, but he resisted the urge to take a step back. She was not his master. She did not hold any authority over him. If he really wanted to, he could reach out wrap the Force around her neck, and -

The hand was back on his shoulder, accompanied by the warm calming buzz in the back of his head.

"Hey," Kanan murmured. "She just needs to get a closer look at the collar to get it off you." His voice was low and even. "She won't hurt you," he said, a bit louder. Ezra glanced up and saw that Kanan was giving the woman a slight glare.

Kaadak put her hands up innocently. "No tricks or funny business. But if you want that collar off, you know my hands are going to be at your neck, right?"

The tone made Ezra grind his teeth together. He did not like this person.

[But she can get that collar off…]

Ezra gave a small huff, raising a hand to place it over her small body and press gently. She was right. Ezra was just being willful. Defiant. Disobedient. So he swallowed down his indignation and marched over to the bench, jumping up onto it and clenching his hands to his thighs.

Kaadak rolled her eyes and grabbed another tool, similar to the one Sabine used during her attempt to deactivate his collar. His jaw was clenched as he tilted his head back like he had for Sabine. Kanan stood beside them, his eyes narrowed as he kept a close eye on Kaadak. Sabine meanwhile was standing behind the alien, watching as she worked.

Ezra bit the inside of his lip. It was taking extreme effort to keep his breathing even. He hated this. He was cornered. Surrounded and observed like a merely fascinating test subject.

But Kanan's hand was still on his shoulder, squeezing it reflexively. As insane as it was, it felt like a lifeline. A way out. If Kaadak or Sabine wanted to lash out at him… Kanan would pull him away, out of this trap, out of harm's way. Of course he had no way of actually knowing that, and it was frankly absurd that he felt it was true.

The collar vibrated slightly, making Ezra tense, but he almost immediately realized that this was a different sensation. Kaadak was pulling out the bioscanner, just like Sabine had. Letting out a small sigh, Kaadak put her tool down and grabbed a different one. This one had a long thin tube that she slowly slipped inside. There were a couple beeps, and a hologram sprang up in the space beside his head.

"Whoa…" Sabine said. The holo was slowly building up, like a slowly rendering map. "You're taking a scan from the inside."

"Can't very well do it from the outside…" Kaadak said, her voice strained as she concentrated. "Not with that magnetic shielding, and wow…" she breathed, her eyes flickering rapidly over the holo. Then she raised her head to look Ezra in the eye. "You must be quite the hellion."

"Hey," Kanan said curtly. "No questions."

"It wasn't a question," she pointed out, her attention returning to the holo. "But the Empire isn't putting this kind of gear on its upright citizens. Hell…" She reached over and slowly rotated the holo to look at the different components. "It's not putting this on average criminals either," she murmured.

"Just focus on the collar," Kanan scowled. "Once it's deactivated and off the kid, you can marvel over it all you want."

"Yeah, yeah…" A couple more beeps, and Kaadak pulled out the probe and placed it on the table to take a closer look at the holo. "You can relax, kid," she said.

"Don't call me kid," Ezra snapped.

Kaadak raised an eyebrow. "Oh look, he speaks…"

Ezra looked away, shifting slightly so he was closer to Kanan, his body heat keeping Ezra grounded. Another shoulder squeeze kept him calm. If not for Kanan, he was sure he would have shoved this woman away from him by now.

Maybe. Except this person was the only one who could get this collar off of him and prevent the Inquisitors - his master - from finding him.

Behind Kaadak, Sabine took her helmet off and leaned in, her mouth slightly open and her brow knitted together slightly. "What is that?"

"It's a special type of dual sleeve," Kaadak said. "Two wires are threaded in together and separated by an insulating mesh. That way when compressed…"

"... the two wires make contact." Sabine stepped away with an angry scowl. "No wonder the haran'la collar discharged! They had the receiver and the power line in that sleeve!"

Ezra didn't know what they were talking about, but Sabine's anger was prickling against his mind and putting him even more on edge. His stomach tied itself into a painful knot as he sat there frozen, his mind racing for a way to placate her.

[I-I don't think she's mad at us.]

That didn't matter. Angry people lashed out, whether it be at the source of their rage or whatever happened to be closest. And more often than not, that happened to be one of them.

"Could you take it outside, Mando?" the horned alien said, her calm voice cutting through the haze. "I'm trying to concentrate."

Sabine shut up at that. Although her anger was still simmering, she simply crossed her arms and fixed her gaze back at the holo. Ezra let out a shaky sigh, suddenly aware that he had been holding his breath.

A minute later, Kaadak leaned back in her seat with a hum. "While deactivating this collar is simple in principle, it's going to require an extremely delicate hand to do it without harming the boy."

Kanan's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying you can't do it?"

"Oh no, I can do it. But there's always a degree of risk in these things, so I'm telling you in the most non-threatening way possible that accidents happen."

Sabine scowled. "What, do you want another thousand credits?"

"Creds aren't going to make my hands perfectly steady," Kaadak said matter of factly. "No, I don't need more credits. Like I said, this is actually relatively simple. But I don't want you to come at me blasters blazing if something does happen. Besides…" She took another look at the holo. "There's not enough power in this thing to do any real long term harm."

"That's not acceptable," Kanan growled. "We hired you because we heard you were the best…"

"The best you could find," Kaadak corrected.

"It's fine," Ezra cut in.

Kaadak raised an eyebrow at him while Sabine looked at him incredulously. "Are you crazy? Do you hear what this ge'hutuun is saying?"

Ezra half-expected Kanan to protest as well, but he remained silent. The grip on his shoulder was starting to get painful, but Ezra wasn't about to shrug him off. "I'll know to expect it," Ezra said. "That's more than I usually get." If he was bracing for the pain, he knew he could take it. If this was what it took to get this collar off, then he would take it. He could sense his daiima's hesitance, but he ignored it. It wasn't her decision to make.

After a beat of silence, Kanan smacked the side of his thigh twice in quick succession before giving a curt nod. "Very well."

Sabine's jaw dropped. "Wha… Kanan!"

"We don't really have much of a choice here," Kanan said. "The kid says he's fine with the risk. Let's just get this over with."

Ezra's lips twitched as the knot in his stomach unwound itself a bit. He had no idea what he would have done if Kanan had insisted on fighting him.

With that, Kaadak got up and walked over to a cabinet. The drawer made a loud clattering sound as she pulled it open, the clattering continuing as she dug through it. Pulling out a thin implement, she closed the drawer with a clang before repeating the process again with a lower drawer.

Once she found the tools she needed, she walked back to the work bench, this time not sitting down. "Lean your head back and stay as still as possible or you're in for a nasty shock. Understood?"

Ezra nodded before doing as he was told. He had more than enough self-discipline for that.

Kaadak leaned in, and Ezra felt a slight pressure and movement on the collar as she began to work. He took slow and shallow breaths, willing his muscles to relax knowing that tensing them would just make them tremble.

Beneath his shirt, his daiima was digging her feelers into his skin, her nervous worry niggling into his mind through their bond.

[Cut it out!] he hissed at her. [You're not making this easier...]

He could still feel her quivering, but she stopped clawing on him and her worry seemed to retreat and fade from his mind. Satisfied, Ezra focused on keeping his body relaxed and calm.

Then there was suddenly a surge in the Force. It was a powerful emotion - horrorfeardisbeliefrage - and it bowled over Ezra, making him gasp for breath.

"What... is that?"

Kanan's voice was a whisper, but with his emotions still projecting loudly, the words sounded like a threat.

Kaadak pulled back slightly. "I'm sorry?"

Ezra was violently yanked off the bench. He only barely managed to gain his footing when Kanan's grip vanished. By the time Ezra had steadied himself, Kanan had Kaadak pinned to the workbench, one hand at her throat and another on her right arm.

"What is this?!" he demanded with a menacing hiss.

"Kanan!" Sabine exclaimed. "What are you doing?! I thought we were letting her do this?!"

Kaadak's eyes flickered to the arm Kanan had pinned, drawing Ezra's attention. The greasy sleeve of her shirt had ridden up to reveal a small circular brand on the inside of her wrist. Split into two, the bottom half was two concentric semi circles while the top half was a single arc that would have fit in the gap of the bottom half. He had never seen such a symbol before, but it obviously meant something to Kanan. Something bad.

"I can explain..." Kaadak said calmly, only a slight tremor in her voice betraying her fear.

"That's the mark of Crimson Dawn," Kanan snarled. "One of the most vile criminal syndicates in the galaxy."

Both Ezra and Sabine took an instinctive step back at the venom with which Kanan spoke. Ezra's very bones seemed to quake as the Jedi's emotions continued to scream in the Force.

Sabine recovered at least somewhat, taking a step back towards them. "Wait, what's a crony for Crimson Dawn doing in Hutt Space?"

"I don't work for Crimson Dawn anymore," Kaadak said quickly. "I left."

"Crimson Dawn doesn't just let their people go," Kanan growled, his hand on her neck tightening ever so slightly.

"Why do you think I buried myself so deep into Hutt territory?" she spat, her voice raspy from her semi-constricted airway.

"Why did you leave?" Kanan asked, his voice dangerously even.

Kaadak took in a wheezed breath. "Because I saw what they were willing to do... and wanted no part of it." She looked Kanan straight in the eye, seemingly searching. "Are they after you, too?"

Kanan's grip tightened, his teeth bared as he glowered down at her...

Then he seemed to freeze. Ezra could hear a tiny whisper in the Force, indistinct despite the desperate tone. A moment later, the feral snarl melted from Kanan's face, and he slowly let her go.

Kaadak coughed and cleared her throat, rubbing her neck as she slowly stood. She kept a wary eye on Kanan as she yanked her sleeve down over the mark. "I don't want to attract Crimson Dawn's attention anymore than you do," she said, keeping her voice low and slow. "So how about you let me finish my work, and we can go our separate ways."

Kanan's expression was pinched. While his emotions weren't as loud in the Force now, Ezra could feel them just as keenly, rumbling anxiously in his head. Ezra could also see that Kanan's irises were twitching frenetically, like he was making a thousand calculations a second.

"Just… get it done…" Kanan finally ground out.

Kaadak positioned herself so that Kanan and Ezra were both in front of her, but she patted the bench and Ezra climbed back on after a cautious glance to Kanan. Kanan wanted this to happen, despite his obvious reservations. Kanan took up the same position he had before, next to Ezra with a possessive hand on his shoulder.

Ezra tried not to squirm under the bruising grip as he tilted his head back again. Kaadak picked up her tools, taking several deep breaths before getting back to work. Ezra could feel the slight tremors of her hand against his collar, and he braced himself for pain.

The minutes that followed were silent save for the bustling of the streets outside and tinkling of Kaadak's tools. The tension in the small room was so thick that Ezra would bet even Sabine could feel it. It didn't help that Kanan's frenzied emotions were still grating against Ezra's mind, no matter how much he tried to block them out. Whatever this Crimson Dawn symbol meant, it had obviously set Kanan off, and now the Jedi couldn't get control of himself.

"Almost got it…" Kaadak murmured, twisting her arm at the elbow as she manipulated her tools.

As if things weren't overwhelming enough, the Force suddenly swelled in warning. Ezra stiffened, his fists clenching. Beside him, he felt Kanan twitch and stiffen as well. Then a low growl emitted from Kanan's throat. "Get this kriffing thing off of him, already!"

"I'm working, I'm working…!" She insisted, her hands moving just a bit faster. "I just… need to thread this properly…" She shifted slightly, letting out a small exhale before Ezra heard a small snip.

Suddenly, the skin and muscles around Ezra's neck relaxed, almost unnaturally so. His hands went up to rub the skin, trying to find the source of the absence. It was then he realized that the collar had been giving off a low intensity vibration that Ezra had simply grown accustomed to. Now that the power was off, it was obvious that his neck had been under tension this entire time.

And now he just ached.

Kaadak blew out a sigh of relief. "Alright, all I have to do now is pry this baby open, and your boy here is free."

Ezra trembled as his stomach squirmed. It was really happening. The collar was deactivated. The beacon was gone. It couldn't hurt him anymore.

So why was he even more terrified than before?

Inserting another tool, Kaadak gave a small jerk of her arm, and the collar popped and loosened. "There you go…" She yanked it open before taking it off completely.

Ezra swallowed as he rubbed his neck, feeling oddly exposed. His fingers rubbed against the indentation in his skin that had been left behind. He wondered what it even looked like after so many concentrated shocks.

There was a small hum of reassurance, and it took a moment for Ezra to recognize that it was coming from his daiima. She was rubbing her head against the skin of his belly.

"And that's that," Kaadak said, stepping away quickly from the three of them. She gave Kanan a pointed glare. "Now get out."

Kanan didn't need to be told twice as he pulled Ezra off the workbench with growl and pushed him towards the exit. When they got outside, Ezra had to blink several times for his eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting, but Kanan kept pulling him forward through the crowds.

"Kanan?" Sabine trotted up beside them, her colorful helmet back on her head. "You wanna tell me what in Tarre's name that was about?"

"Not now, Sabine," Kanan scowled.

"Then when? You don't seriously expect me to just forget what happened back there? You owe us an explanation!"

"Not in the middle of the streets of Nar Shaddaa!" Kanan hissed.

Ezra flinched as the vehement anger and annoyance stabbed into the back of his head. Even if it wasn't specifically directed at him, that didn't mean he was safe. Sabine was, after all, a part of Kanan's crew. Ezra was just an empty nobody who would no doubt be the target of his master's repressed rage the moment they were alone again.

[No, he's not like that, Nara wouldn't let him…!]

Ezra just shook his head, shoving her thoughts aside. She had no way of knowing that, and that anger had to go somewhere…

The Force suddenly pulled at him urgently, drawing his attention up ahead where there seemed to be some sort of commotion going on. Loud voices, shoving bodies, the beginning of a brawl.

Kanan scowled. "We need to go around."

"Uh, yeah that's easier said than done," Sabine sniped.

Then there was a loud bang, dust and ruined scraps of fabric going flying. An eerie silence fell over the crowd, everyone's heads snapping towards the source. Ezra couldn't see anything, but he recognized what was about to happen. The panic just hadn't quite set in yet.

The Force was screaming at Ezra to turn around and run.

He was silently grateful that Kanan was already pulling on his arm painfully, moving away from the scene. He had evidently sensed the same warning. But before they could push through more than a couple of bodies…

"INQUISITOR!"

Ezra nearly jumped out of his skin. The word had been bellowed with a deep growl, accompanied by red hot rage that swirled in the Force. All of a sudden, his feet were rooted in place.

"Oh that's not good…" Sabine muttered under her breath.

"Come out here you, COWARD!"

There was another bang, and this time Ezra could hear the crackle of static discharge. The blood drained from his face. He knew that sound.

This time, the blast triggered the crowd to move, throngs of people scrambling to get away from the epicenter. But even the din of shouting and crashing stands wasn't enough to block out that horrid electric hum. Kanan's grip got tighter on Ezra's arm, sharp pain shooting through it as he was yanked and dragged along with the panicked crowd.

But this time, instead of eliciting obedience, the pain struck the center of Ezra's chest and fueled his Inquisitor shell. Clenching his teeth together, Ezra ripped himself from Kanan's grasp.

"Ezra…!"

Any further protest was lost as Kanan was pulled along in the flow of the crowd. With his short stature and firm stance, Ezra kept his ground. His Asset fell from his shirt and landed between his feet as a lothcat with a low growl. The crowd thinned, and he turned around to face the source of this chaos.

Smoke and dust had filled the air, but in a small area that had been cleared out, an elderly man clad in black armor stood. He was bald with a thick white beard, panting heavily as he lifted his weapon from the ground. "I know you're around here!" he shouted out. "I saw the beacon!"

The man spun around, and Thirteen could see the mark: a thick red line that stretched from his beard to just over his right eye that hooked to the right, a red square dotted over the stem. This man was a purge trooper. Much older and haggard than any Purge Trooper Thirteen had seen, but undeniable between the mark and the large electrohammer he was wielding.

The trooper's eyes widened when they landed on his Asset. Rage distorted his expression as he lifted his hammer, its electric hum charging up. "You abandoned us!"

The electrohammer was swung into the ground, but Thirteen knew what to expect. He rolled to the side to avoid the powerful discharge as his Asset quickly shifted into a nexu and charged the enemy. But the trooper raised his hammer just in time for the handle to be lodged into her mouth as she snapped at him. With a scowl, the trooper twisted his weapon and threw her off. Thirteen thrust a hand forward to push him back, but the trooper thrust the hammer into the ground to keep his footing.

A couple of blaster bolts flew through the air, but the trooper avoided them deftly. Thirteen's eyes flickered to the source, where he saw the Mandalorian and the half-blind human.

"Ezra, get over here now!"

A distant part of Thirteen's head recognized the order, acknowledged that it was coming from his master, and that he should absolutely obey. But there was also this all too familiar threat right in front of him, and he knew what the consequences would be if he and his Asset were bested.

His Asset bounded towards the trooper again, but this time as she leapt, she quickly shifted into a monkey-lizard to avoid the large hammer and clung to the trooper before using her claws and beak to tear at his armor. While the trooper struggled to detach her, Thirteen reached out and wrapped the Force around the trooper's neck before squeezing.

"Ezra! Ezra, no!"

Thirteen lifted the trooper in the air. He couldn't help but smile as the body squirmed and kicked, the helpless little life struggling to survive. He just had to keep squeezing for just a little longer, a little harder…

Then the trooper brought his arm down hard, elbowing his Asset square in the back, crushing her. Pain exploded in Thirteens' chest, knocking the air out of him. He couldn't even gasp as he crumpled to the ground, his vision blackening and dancing with stars.

The Force was screaming at him, and he knew he was in mortal danger. Thirteen scrambled to draw a proper breath, but could only manage panicked gasps. He had no idea where his Asset was, he had no access to a weapon…

By the time his vision cleared, the trooper was standing over him, his electrohammer high in the air, ready to strike. Despair filled Thirteen as he realized that he had failed. Echoes of his past punishment bombarded his mind, and all he could do was raise his arms in a pitiful attempt to protect himself from the coming blow.

The Purge Trooper swung the hammer down.

There was a familiar hiss as a shadow suddenly appeared between Thirteen and the trooper. A harsh crackling filled Thirteen's ears as the hammer struck the lightsaber. Kanan let out a strained grunt as he held the weapon at bay.

Ezra's stomach dropped, and his blood went cold as he stared in horror at Kanan's lightsaber.

His red lightsaber.

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