And That's What it's All About

Title: And That's What it's All About

Chapter: I Am What I Am

Summary: A desperate ploy to capture a villain forces Buffy to face her own choices.

Disclaimer: I own neither genre. Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. George Lucas owns the Star Wars franchise. I'm just a poor post-college graduate.

Spoilers: There are minor spoilers from both stories, especially Star Wars.

Notes: Hopefully this will get posted on a more regular schedule now… I have a direction to go in. I don't yet know how long this will be, but I do have somewhat of a plan. I still have the final chapter and am quite satisfied with it… so, onwards with the story. And yeah, it's a more serious chapter. Sort of. See for yourselves!

x-o-x

I Am What I Am

Of all the cruel jokes the fates could have played on him… why did it have to be this one? Why, when everything had gotten so dark, did karma decide to kick in now? He felt like he had been kicked hard, letting out a slow, deep breath as he faced the glittering droid in front of him. The droid had given him back his lightsaber, which was now clutched out of the droid's reach in his hand. While he had half a mind to kill the droid now, the other half of his mind longed to embrace it. And countless replicas of this single droid had tried to kill him.

So why did Buffy Summers of all people have to show up in what was reasonably one of their more embarrassing situations?

Not only that, but why did she have to appear as a droid?

"You're alive."

Obi-Wan was always so obvious, Anakin thought wryly as he gazed at his former Master, the deep thoughts melting away. The droid hadn't moved since she all but revealed herself. Obviously she was taking great pleasure in rescuing them from what he deemed a 'bad' situation.

"Technically, not," the droid replied in its mechanical tone. "I'm still dead girl, but I can do things like this now!" With that, she opened fire on the floor in front of them, causing both Jedi to exchange a worried look.

"What I think Master Obi-Wan meant to say is that… you're here, right now, in this very moment."

The droid lowered the weapon slightly and faced him. "Did you really think I'd abandon you to this?" The droid lifted its mechanized arm to the sounds of shouting and shooting going on behind the white door. "I think not."

"Are you always in the habit of rescuing people?" Anakin pressed.

"Normally, yes… but in this case, I thought I'd make an exception. You're still my prisoners, after all."

Had that droid just sounded completely… happy… about saying the word 'prisoners'?

"You forget," Obi-Wan said mildly, "that you armed us again."

"And don't you forget," the droid replied, lifting its chin slightly, "that I can possess either one of you at any given time. Just thought I'd get in a practice run with this tin can here." The droid appeared to shake, as though shuddering. "Although I hardly consider it practice – it didn't even put up a fight!"

"It's a droid. They're controlled by machines, not by brains."

The droid turned back to face Anakin. "Did you just insult me?"

"Careful, Anakin," Obi-Wan breathed. "Even as a droid, she's still extraordinarily—"

"If you say the word dangerous, I'll shoot you." The droid was talking in its standard monotone, but the intonation sounded almost wounded. "You put yourself into this mess. I'm just doing what I can to get you out of it."

"Why?"

"Because you have a job to do… or because I'm bored, pick one. And if I can do something like this…"

"Anakin," Obi-Wan said, turning to him. "She may be of use to us."

But Anakin didn't want her to be of use. He just wanted her to disappear. Since he found out she existed, she had been doing nothing but torturing the both of them. The thought of her dangling from the back of a cruiser was almost entertaining now, despite the fact he'd been in a life-and-death struggle. But he couldn't fault her, really. She was already dead.

"Do you have any use of the Force?" Anakin asked the droid politely.

"Yes. It is how I kept you from escaping in the first place."

He lost all pretenses there. "That was you?" he asked, recalling the feeling of something powerful lurking around them. For a split second, he had thought it was Dooku. But what if it really was this small, bony girl? Even Obi-Wan's eyes were filled with a slow awe as he realized the implication of what Buffy was saying.

"Yes." The droid sounded impatient now. "So instead of laughing off my threats, you could at least acknowledge that I do have some talent."

"We'd be dead right now if you hadn't acted," Obi-Wan murmured.

"Okay, so you have some use of the Force—"

"The Living Force, Anakin," the droid replied calmly.

"Right, that," Anakin nodded. "If you can possess the droid itself, can you travel through its communications network and possess the command console controlling the entire droid army in this city?"

There was a pause. And then the droid replied, "Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm just thinking logically."

"She has a point, Anakin," Obi-Wan replied under his breath.

"She is a droid, Master."

"Nevertheless, she may be our way to escape."

"Or we could shut down the entirety of their defenses which would allow us to capture the Viceroy and escape before the Separatists know what hit them."

"Your plan does make sense."

"Of course it makes sense. I'm intelligent."

"No more dumb droid jokes, okay? I get enough of them as a blonde."

"He won't insult you anymore." Obi-Wan turned to look at Anakin. "Will you stop implying that she is of less intelligence than us? After all, we were captured and she was not."

"It's nearly impossible to capture a ghost," Anakin said dryly. And then his face grew more serious. "Can you do it?"

"We need to get out of here before the radiation becomes deadly for you."

"It may just rust your—"

"Hey! I said no more droid jokes! Now, hide those lightsabers, because we may not get another shot at this."

Turning to face the door, Obi-Wan used the Force to lift it, only to face two Clone troopers on the other side. They took one look inside the narrow enclave, spotted the droid and shot it down after two quick blasts.

x-o-x

"Oh, crap," I muttered as I felt the sharp metal tear through me as the droid fell away. I barely managed to stay upright but fell to the left through the cold metallic corridor, disappearing completely from sight. Through the fog of the metal separating me and them, I saw Obi-Wan and Anakin exchange a look and then glance down in unison to the smoldering wreckage of what had once been their droid friend.

"That takes care of that," Anakin murmured.

"We've come to rescue you," the muffled voice of a clone trooper said, gesturing the two Jedi out with his sidearm. "The Viceroy has been made aware of your escape. You should hasten if you wish to capture him before he flees from the city."

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, snapping out of his reverie and urging Anakin forward with a nod. They both sauntered out and the broken door fell down with a crash on impact before caving in. I just watched it quietly, slightly miffed that those stupid clones were going to get the credit of rescuing those two helpless Jedi and, once again, I was getting nothing. Not even a lick of respect for the dead girl, no. I went through all the hassle to make sure those two Jedi were alive when I cornered them and they still managed to escape without a scratch. Heck, even a few little ones would have made them look more distinguished.

Nope, I was hanging out in a wall. Again.

"I'm supposed to be stuck with you," I grumbled as I scampered out of the wall, wincing at the droid body. "Where you go, I go. What's with the cryptic now?"

No one answered. They were probably too busy capturing the villain to pay much attention.

"And that's the thanks I get for rescuing you? See if I ever save you two again."

With a heavy sigh, I stormed through the door and found myself in a massacre. There were blackened spots and blast debris on the walls, the floor, the ceilings… part of the walls had collapsed out from the number of droids and clones. There were equal numbers of bodies scattered on the paneled flooring, including destructor droids and the super battle droids. The guys in the white, our so-called allies, were draped almost dramatically. Had it not been a clash of the mechanical and a case of tasteless fashion, it would have looked like a battlefield out of some history textbook.

Speaking of battlefields, my Slayer-enhanced hearing was still picking up the distant sounds of shooting. I had to move or else I would be forced to possess something with a little more firepower than that puny droid. Stupid clones… why did they have to kill my droid? Why?

Because anything I touch dies.

Now where did that thought come from? I tried to put my hands on my body, but felt my own ghostly hands go through my own ghostly body. I was still dead. Maybe Yoda hadn't exactly been all clear with me. But even as that thought faded, another thought came to me that I pitied a droid, something that didn't even have a brain. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I going to get sentimental over every death? Sure, death affected me heavily. I lost enough people in my life to know that death affected me more than it would affect normal people. But, for crying out loud, a droid?

I shook my head, moving onwards. There was a large thudding coming from right above my head. The least I could do was get out of here before the battle returned to this spot. That and I could figure out how to zap a droid command console with my special powers in order to retroactively save two Jedi from walking into another trap.

x-o-x

Anakin and Obi-Wan moved with the rest of the clones' detachment as they moved up one level and entered a grand corridor. Though it was empty, there were traces of battles with charred walls and dead droid parts scattered across the ornate, marble walkway. It was quite the depressing sight, but neither Jedi had much time to take in the sights. Their gaze was focused on the end of the corridor with large double doors leading to a small enclosed bridge that connected their building with the suspected building where the Viceroy and his staff were located.

Removing the lightsaber from his belt, Obi-Wan led the way to the doors, using the Force to open them. What he found on the other side was a trap awaiting them.

"Open fire!" the super battle droid obviously in charge commanded, lifting its arm and firing. The blast caught one of the clone troopers and Obi-Wan quickly fought his way through the regular battle droids to the super battle droid before he could fall for reinforcements. Anakin charged in, his blue saber pinging with pure energy as he took out the entire contingent hell bent on destroying them. It was only after the droids were all down did they notice a red light flashing on the wall; obviously the super battle droid had alerted all of the other droids within this complex that the Jedi were now between buildings.

"We must hurry," Obi-Wan said, signaling to Anakin to come forward. Leaping over the remains of the droids, the two Jedi made their way into the next building. The clones followed a few steps until more droids attacked from behind. The two Jedi were quite alone when they reached the opposite end. They quickly activated their weapons and fought off the last of the droids that had made it through the clones protecting them.

"For all we know, Master, there's an ambush waiting for us on the other side," Anakin murmured under his breath. "And we've seemed to run out of backup."

"Let me see what I can do," Obi-Wan said, moving over to a wall panel. A few moments later, his hand fell back. "It's no use… communications are restricted to higher-level droids; we cannot contact Cody for help."

"If only your ghostly shadow was here to insult us."

"I really wish you would stop insulting her," Obi-Wan replied testily, moving back to the doors and pressing his ear up against it. "You accomplish nothing by arguing with her."

"It is more or less pointless," Anakin agreed.

"It's more than just pointless," Obi-Wan said. "She has an established bond with the Living Force that could come in quite useful right now."

"Did you expect us to shoot the clones before they killed that droid?"

"The point is, we have no idea where she is. We have no idea what she may be up to. And we have no idea if she'll disappear again. If she does and we're trapped in a room with a well-planned trap awaiting us, we could be in trouble. It was her quick thinking that saved us last time."

"But, Master, we're armed now."

"It wouldn't take much effort to disarm us again. And if she is using the Force against our use of the Force, it could be problematic."

"You make it sound like you want to give her a chance," Anakin said, giving his former mentor a sidelong glance.

"I do," Obi-Wan said quietly. "I understand something about feeling out of place. It is how I felt about my first mission. As she is recently deceased and has no anchor to this world aside from, well, myself…"

"Do you think that if she were given the chance…"

"Being forced to do something against her will is no good to her, to us or to our Order," Obi-Wan replied. "She may feel a bit distraught at losing sight of us again. She knows we have a mission to do and yet she helps us without knowing what she's leaping into."

"Perhaps once all of this is over, we should sit down with her and tell her," Anakin suggested.

"A wise idea," Obi-Wan agreed. "But for now, we should get out of this corridor. I can feel the danger approaching."

With that, he tapped the control on the door and watched as they parted. Both Jedi slid through the entrance, the doors slipping shut behind them

x-o-x

Why was I such a dunce when it came to technology? I'm standing in the middle of a hallway in all my transparent glory staring at a computer monitor showing me a bunch of blinking lights, a bunch of controls written in some language I don't understand and trying to figure out what I'm doing there in the first place. The thought of jumping into a potentially dangerous monitor was, well, unintelligent. I had to do something though. And the blatant letters of 'intruder alert' followed by the blaring alarm flashing on the console. Obviously those Jedi had done something stupid. Well, I wasn't in the mood to pull off another excellent rescue.

But still, it wouldn't hurt my reputation to try something new and flashy.

Deciding against my instinct, I plunged my hand into the computer monitor. Feeling the bits and wires passing through my hand was empowering. But I knew that I was looking for something and when I found it, I knew I'd know when I got there.

I used my mind to guide my hand until I caught what I was looking for. There was a map on the monitor now and it showed a series of moving dots. The red represented the clones and the blue represented the droids. There were also green and yellow dots moving around. But the signature I was looking for was the main energy one in the center of the large complex. I find it with a blinking white light in the center of a large octagonal structure poised above the main structure.

There was one thing I could do in the meantime, though. I used the Force once again to find my way through to the communications outlet and then sent a surge through the wires. A moment later, the loud, intruder alarm flickered and died off. Two dots that had been approaching one of the central buildings suddenly flickered. I smiled… it's exactly where I would be if I was a Jedi.

Luckily for them, though… I'm a Slayer.

x-o-x

"I don't understand."

Obi-Wan and Anakin were standing in a narrow corridor within another building. It was completely empty. There was no scarring on the walls. There were no bullet holes in the floor. The walls and floors were unscathed.

"I thought for sure this would be a trap," Anakin said, glancing around and deactivating his lightsaber.

"The alarm has stopped," Obi-Wan said, gazing at another monitor just inside the doorway. "If they were on to us, this is a new tactic."

"It's one that doesn't make sense," Anakin agreed, staring over his former Master's shoulder. "Can you get a location on the Viceroy?"

"I'm trying."

Anakin turned and kept his gaze to the open doorway, his lightsaber held at the ready. He felt the Force flowing through him. He was aware of the danger surrounding them, but knew that it wasn't so close. He would know if it was. He also felt their support growing around them; Commander Cody must finally be landing his ground troops. But he sensed something else moving about. It was powerful and nearly tangible. And yet it was comforting him, as though it were standing next to him. As if she were there standing next to him.

"I can feel her, Master."

"I can sense her, too," Obi-Wan replied, glancing back at him. "We should go this way."

The two walked towards a doorway at the end of the hall, while Obi-Wan kept describing where they needed to go to find the Viceroy.

x-o-x

"This was a really bad idea," I muttered as the top of my head bumped yet another sharp metal grate. Though I had freedom to walk through things, it felt somewhat real to be crawling my way through these old conduits. Heating ducts. Whatever they were. What did these stupid amphibians need heat for anyway? Didn't toads like the cold?

I finally found the end of the conduit and pushed my way out. I was now standing right below the control room one level above me. All I really had to do was go through the wiring and…

I suddenly gasped as one of the hideous toad things walked through me. And yet I found my grasp searching and finally nailing it. Unlike the droid which had no mind, this one was somewhat of a challenge. I felt the being resist my advances, but I wanted it just that bad enough. I sacrificed enough for this stupid mission – it might as well include my sanity. Using my grasp of the Force, I felt my mind break through its pitiful defenses and soon I saw my gloved hand lifting up and waving in front of my face.

"This is… intriguing."

I winced at the sound of my voice. It was so masculine it was pathetic. Deciding I would not speak again unless spoken to, I searched the small amount of knowledge stored in its memory banks. I then found what I was looking for.

Ten minutes later, I was dismissing a group of super battle droids with the flick of my hand as I breezed into an armory room. Peering inside, I pulled out what looked like a stick. Pressing the buttons in, both ends activated with some type of raw blue energy. Cool, I thought to myself with a little smile. I decided to keep it with me, attaching it to my belt. I then acquired a gun like the one I'd had before and, before I closed the safe door, I saw a group of small oval shaped bits with pins sticking out of them. Grenades… they actually had grenades.

On the shelf below, I spotted something else. Some sort of clay-like substance with a detonator attached to a wire coming from the substance. I took two of each item and then closed the door. Once I was armed, I stepped out. Two droids were waiting at the door. I just passed through them when…

"Where have you been? The launch is ready. We will leave as soon as the Viceroy is aboard."

I just nodded and watched as the other toad-like creature moved out the door. Once the creature was gone, I closed the hatch. I was now alone in the control center. Well, me and a few super battle droids. And one single figure sitting in a chair watching the two Jedi on the monitor.

"We are tracking the Jedi's every move. Once they reach the chamber, they will learn the true meaning of pain and torture."

"Very well," I said, once again wincing at the sound of my voice. Moving behind the chair, I took one directly next to the control console. Pressing a block of the clay underneath the panel, I removed the detonator and slipped the wire chip inside the tiny crevice on top. I then returned the detonator to my belt. As I did, I saw a power relay. If I could shut down the power, it could potentially delay a response from the droids tracking the Jedi and ultimately buy them the time they needed to get the Viceroy. I tapped the control with one finger and saw that the power relay station was one level down in the room I had just been to. Setting the detonator on twenty minutes, I decided to move quickly.

But before I could leave the room, a holographic image of a man appeared. He was old and dashing in appearance, but his eyes were manic and his smile was just too… evil. I hovered near the doorway as the man spoke. Though the toad couldn't hear, my enhanced Slayer hearing could.

"The plan will go ahead now that the two Jedi are in your chambers."

"They will not leave here alive," the toad said.

"Very well. We will proceed with the attack on Coruscant."

Instantly, I felt as though I had turned to ice. I backed out of the room, fully intent on dropping the power. I had to find the Jedi. They needed to know what was going on while their minds were occupied with capturing the Viceroy. That evil man was planning on attacking Coruscant, the one decent world I had seen.

I couldn't let it happen.

But now I was in a crunch. Obi-Wan and Anakin had to know about the evil guy's plans. They'd probably know who it was if I described him well enough. But they also had a huge trap awaiting them, one that I could take out if I had the chance.

Well, I wasn't going to do anything until I got my butt moving a little faster and, for once, I really missed my thighs. These so-called thighs felt like I was wobbling underwater with iron anvils strapped to my hips. "Next time, I'm getting another droid," I muttered under my breath.

x-o-x

Now running at a brisk pace through a wide corridor with sweeping arches and a marble floor, both Jedi noted that the chamber corridors were clear of any debris. There was nothing there. No droids were guarding the Viceroy's chambers just up the steps and a few paces beyond that. The white doors were already gleaming.

"Does something feel out of place to you?" Obi-Wan asked.

"It's felt out of place ever since we left that enclave," Anakin replied as they paused at the last stretch of hallway. There were no droids or Nemoidians on either side. It was deserted. It was all deserted.

Something was terribly wrong here…

x-o-x

"Commander Cody… Commander Cody, do you read? Commander Cody…"

The stupid Nemoidian was lying unconscious on the ground behind me. Aside from learning I could possess people, I knew also I could cause actual physical harm. The sensation had terrified the hell out of me, but it was necessary. I couldn't very well face Commander Cody looking like a toad now, could I?

After a moment, I heard the unmistakable sound of static and something crackling. "This is Cody."

Thank goodness…

"Cody, I have a fix on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. They need backup and they need it now," I continued, using the feed from the command console in the room to transfer the information to the Clone Commander. Before I severed the connection, I added, "Cody, I have set explosives around the main relay in the central command complex. It is set to explode in fifteen minutes. They need to get the Viceroy and get out."

"Understood."

The link severed after that. I let my hands fall off the console as I walked over the moaning figure on the ground. I glanced at the explosives I'd rigged around something shaped like a satellite dish. They were all set to explode in sixteen minutes and seven seconds.

Which means I had to somehow get to where Obi-Wan and Anakin were or, better yet, get to where their ships were docked. I was still scared about what my two Jedi were about to face, but at least they had help coming… hopefully. Or else neither one of them was going to leave that chamber alive.

Now I had fifteen minutes and thirty seconds left.

It was time to pull off my brilliant plan. I had my brains, my wits and something of my old confidence back. Or maybe I felt the need to best those stupid Clones who kept outshining my ghostly self. Besides, I'm a Slayer. It's what I am. It doesn't know how to give up.

Nor do I...

And I know I couldn't fail them now.

x-o-x

tobe continued

x-o-x

I have to say… I'm shocked at the response from the previous chapter… no, seriously, I am. I know this crossover is what some might call "unique" or just plain weird, but I am so, so eternally grateful that you've given it a chance. For a story that really had no purpose or plot, I find myself oddly attracted to it again.