Author's Note and Thanks: This time travels back, just a little bit, into what the heck happened between the time Yoda ended his call and the pain slammed into the Force. This is just the start of what happened. It gets worse in the next chapter. I would like to thank everyone for their patience with me and this story and say that I am moving it up a rating b/c it just might-just might-get nastier. A special thanks goes out to funyun and Sherlockian Slytherin. Thank you both so much for your support and comments, I couldn't do this without that invaluable aid to me.
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Anakin ended the call with Yoda and sat back, feeling unsure. Something in the Force had been irrevocably altered, changed somehow because of this one thing. It was subtle, only the smallest of changes-and yet, he could feel it. He knew that it promised imminent change, he just didn't know if it was for good.
Or ill.
Unconsciously mimicking his Master, he wrapped his arms about himself, trying to regain the warmth of their bond. Feeling torn between his mother and his Master, he shook himself out of his thoughts and stood up, walking back to the homestead. Obi-Wan would be here soon and together the two of them would figure out what happened-and how to fix it. That is just what they did.
Slightly beyond his line of sight, a pair waited and watched him walking back towards the homestead. "Now?" a voice quietly asked the woman beside him.
"In a moment. We must not allow the alarm to be raised if he does not return," she replied. "It is a shame that we will not be able to see him fight but orders are orders. I'll get paid either way."
Stealthily, preternaturally silent, the two snuck onto the farm grounds, taking care not to trip or destroy the border alarm. From there it was simply a matter of entering the house and moving to the darkened room in the back where their prey slept.
A tiny prick and he slept on, unaware of the hands that moved him. Of the arms that carried him away from his home and out into dark, towards the heart of the Jundland Wastes. As they entered the craft, they were met by a strangely robed female. The Bounty Hunter left her partner to deal with the Lady and walked in, heading straight to where she knew her payment waited.
"Such a beautiful specimen," she purred, a finger running down his face. He shrunk away from it and anger flared within her at his reaction. "Put him in the medical bay so they can begin the…alterations."
"Yes, Lady," he rumbled, shuffling into the room. A doctor waited, her fingers working anxiously. "The Lady says to begin the modifications."
Her lips curled up, blood red in an icy white frame. Her sharp incisors flashed hungrily in the light, picking up on the lingering scent of his emotions. Her crisp accent spoke sharply to her assistants as she ordered them about.
"Doctor, he's waking up." One of the assistants, a young mouse faced girl, warned. It was her job to keep an eye on the patients and give them updates.
"Impossible. That drug is strong enough to put a krayt dragon into a coma. There is no way…" she trailed off, eyes narrowing. Something had changed within the room. It was dangerously charged. Whirling about, she looked at the boy on the bed, sensing the changes came specifically from him.
Anakin's eyelids fluttered and he started to wake up, alarmed. With animalistic grace, he leaped off the table and kicked it at them. Using the Force, he flung the scalpels at them, hitting several of them. Panicked-but unnaturally calmed-he leapt over the table and took down the guards at the door. Using the Force as his guide, he made his way steadily towards the outside.
The Lady came down the hall at the sounds of alarm and saw him, mesmerized by his momentarily. "Get the favorite," she ordered, amazed by his agility. Even though he was weakened by the drug, he was far from lucid-and still, he controlled the entire situation. More importantly, his grip upon his own latent power was incredible-and intoxicating.
But his control of the situation wouldn't last.
It couldn't. The favorite-a woman they'd picked up on some raggedy, barbaric, back water planet-would subdue him. She always did. That was why she was the favorite.
Still, when the two faced off in the narrow hall, doubt came into her mind. The boy fended her off. For every move she made, he countered with two and pressed a definite advantage. So in tune was he with himself, he unconsciously extended it to include those around him-centering mostly upon his opponent. Her body hummed with anticipation, the feelings generated by the boy fed her and she felt the glow of it fill her.
"Has he been subdued yet?" an irritated voice asked over the comlink.
"No. He is perfection," she breathed, feeling full for the first time in ages.
"I thought not. The emotions he is generating has caused quite a feeding frenzy among my associates. It is not time for this. I chose him for his perfection. End the game, Lady, or you will find yourself in the arena as a solution to our problem. We do not have time to waste. That man is coming and I will not have him interfering with my plans for this boy again."
"As you wish, my liege." The Lady pulled out her blaster and fired at the boy. Not where he was but where she predicted he would be. The poison entered his body, tearing apart the control he exercised over his power and smashed it. Attacking not only him, but his connection to the Force-and tearing into his bond.
Anakin's world narrowed to one, blinding pinpoint of pain. Master! Help!
Obi-Wan gasped as searing pain ripped into his mind. Anakin? Hold on, Padawan mine. I am coming.
Blackness fogged his mind as it blanketed his vision, blinding him. Up reared an old, old wound, unhealed and forgotten over the years. The agony of his broken bond with Master Jinn flared brilliantly into life, smashing his shields in the wake of the ripples shattering through him as he felt-literally felt-Anakin being pulled from his mind.
"Anakin," he whispered, feeling the blood flow freely as their bond was shorn. Falling forward into the arms of the waiting darkness, a keening cry of grief escaped him, unleashing pure hell upon Force sensitives everywhere as the backlash of the bond escaped his iron control.
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Quinlan Vos followed after the Bounty Hunter on Geonosis, appalled by what he found. "It's an army," he breathed, almost shocked by the fact that the man whose genetic coding was used to create the clones-was working for those who were against the Republic.
Against his own numerous kin, though they had been created in a lab.
But he could not be truly shocked for such were the ways of a Bounty Hunter. They lived more for the payment than the hunt and had no sense of fair, honest play. Such single minded devotion to doing one's job would have been commendable if it were not so despicable.
Leaving the darkened catacomb like cave, he stepped out into the light and breathed a sigh of relief. The light bathed him in warmth and purity-it was sheer heaven. Shrugging off such thoughts to prevent himself from being caught off guard, he made his way to his ship and almost called Coruscant. Deciding to wait until he was in a safer location to make that call, he left Geonosis behind, still uncertain as to the identity of the one who had hired Jango Fett.
Yet he knew that the existence of this vast droid army took precedence over the attempts on the Senator's life. For all that she had a voice in the government, this was far more pressing for the danger was to the entire Republic, not just one woman.
The painful shockwave in the Force startled him and his hands rose, instinctively pressing against the sides of his head, trying to block it out. Taking a moment to stop his ship, though he knew it was unwise this close to enemy territory, he sunk deep inside his mind, allowing the pain to rush through him. It was the only way to absorb it and keep hold of his sanity.
Besides, there was something almost familiar about this pain.
It finally subsided and Quinlan woke, grateful to find that he was still alive-and undetected. Heading for the nearest planet, he was shocked to see a ship unlike any he'd ever seen before taking off. Before he could take its measure, they fired upon him and he went careening towards the rocky surface. The last thing he thought before impact with the planet was the swift hope that the news of the droid army would leak out before the Republic was caught off guard and fell head long into the dark.