How these mindless senators can manage to hold a conversation about force knows what for this length of time has and will continue to baffle him until the day he dies. How long have they been trapped in this blasted 'hall of freedom' for anyway? An hour? Surely there is only so much on can say about a 'rampaging assassin' who you have literally know knowledge about, and never seen before.
Frustrated and anxious, Vader roughly pushes through the crowd to the bar. He has already checked the balcony and the other side of the room for the missing Jedi, so if he isn't by the bar – and force help whoever happens to be standing next to him is that's true- then he mustn't be in the hall at all.
Finally, the crowd of crowing senators breaks to reveal the deep blue mineral surface of the bar. The bartender, a somewhat overweight Rodian, is occupied by a very angry couple at the other end of the counter, so Vader finds himself unattended and free to sift through the faces around him in search of the Jedi.
Using his height to his advantage, he looks past those imminently in front of him to search the faces a little further away. At the end of the room, he spots Nute and his lapdogs being chaperoned out by a squad of battle droids, probably for questioning. He grimaces; no Jedi, and no senator either. He quickly looks through the crowd again, only to yet again find no faces of value, causing his guts to twist into painful knots. If the Jedi figures out it was he who destroyed those droids, he will surely fail his mission. What if Padmé has already told him? Blast it why isn't he here?!
"Ah, senator Skywalker, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever reappear at all," A posh core voice says.
His eyes dart to his side to find a pair of grey ones scrutinising his every move. It's the Jedi, how did he miss him?! He quickly adjusts himself in an attempt to hide the shock that is no doubt hovering over his features.
"Jedi," Vader replies with a condemning tone.
Kenobi's eyes linger on his for a few moments, before any pretence of distrust melts from the Jedi's face to reveal a generous smile.
"Care for a drink?" he asks kindly, as he signals to the bartender.
He cant figure out why the Jedi is being so nice; if the senator told him what she probably knows, then he would have every right to condemn him to the authorities. Unless, he doesn't know. But that would mean that Padmé didn't slip his secret, which is a highly unlikely turn of events. Kenobi seems to notice the gears grinding in Vader's head, because his eyes narrow curiously at the Sith.
Finally, the bartender manages to break free from the angry couple. He stomps away, waving them off with a sharp thrust of his arm. Then he stops at Kenobi, and leans his hands on the table.
"I'll have a glass of water please, and my friend here will have a..." Kenobi looks to Vader, as if to gesture to him to finish the sentence. What a pathetic show of false comradely, one he wont partake in. Vader crosses his arms over his chest and glares at the Jedi, remaining silent.
"...ah, he'll have your finest Alderaani wine," Kenobi finishes awkwardly. The sight of the Jedi's seeming embarrassment is enough to make Vader smile, on the inside of course. The bartenders eyes shift between Kenobi and Vader's curiously as he pours them their drinks.
Vader discretely looks around for Padmé, but he can't seem to find the senator anywhere. Is she hiding just as the Jedi had been? No, she couldn't be, Kenobi must have been using the force to hide is presence, the forceless senator could do no such thing.
The bartender places both the Jedi's water and his fancy looking wine unto the counter. Kenobi quickly retrieves his drink, then looks to Vader once again. Those thoughtful eyes are telling; the Jedi must at the very least suspect his involvement.
"Have you heard of this, rampaging assassin everyone is talking about? He's been causing quite a bit of commotion, if I do say so myself," The words slide off Kenobi's tongue like butter, but Vader isn't impressed. Kenobi is obviously probing for information. The Jedi can babble all he wants, he will receive no reward in return.
"Yes, I have heard of him,"
A short silence simmers between the two, as Kenobi analysis him again. Whatever the Jedi is planning, it wont help him. Vader's eyes narrow in silent retort to the Jedi's nosey attitude, causing Kenobi to plaster another false smile over is face.
"I do hope you didn't run into him while you were away," Kenobi says simply, though Vader can see the hidden threat behind the words.
"I could say the same for you," Vader hisses back.
Kenobi frowns at Vader's remark, and soon the two men are shooting daggers at one another in the crowded hall. If only they were alone, if only he could-
"Obi-Wan, there you are," Padmé interrupts suddenly.
Surprised, Vader blinks quizzically at her presence. He was so caught up with the Jedi that he mustn't have felt her approach. Padmé smiles at him, before her eyes drift back to Kenobi, who is still scrutinising his every move. Padmé places a hand on his arm, and in doing so draws his attention away from Vader.
"I thought I'd never find you in this crowd, have you seen the view from the balcony? Let me tell you, its amazing," Padmé waffles in a cheery, innocent tone as she leads the puzzled Jedi away. Vader watches them leave, equally as confused as Kenobi. He finds himself torn as to whether he should pursue them or not. After a few moments however, his question is answered for him as he watches Padmé's graceful form disappear into the crowd.
Shimmering golden rays seep through the elaborate windows of the hall. The last few breaths of the dyeing sun will soon diminish, yet the senators have received no news from the authorities about the progress –or lack thereof- of the investigation. People are growing restless.
Inside the room designated as the disabled toilet, a certain Sith apprentice works furiously on a rather outdated communications device. He curses himself for not updating the thing since he built it. After placing the tattered red wire into its misshapen port once more, Vader again presses the red activator occupying the front of the device, to no avail.
He grunts in frustration and bangs the communicator against the rim of the sink. Force forsake him for never updating his equipment! Having lost all hope, he stabs the activator over and over again in quick succession with his finger.
The words -no service- light up on the display panel, and Vader shakes his head in disgust. He is in the most important building on Raxus, how can there be no service? Finally seeing the futility of his ways, Vader stuffs the comm unit into his robes and marches out of the toilet. A group of ancient looking human senators give him dirty looks as he slams the door to the disabled toilet shut.
He ignores them, and parks himself at the wall beside the toilets. He has been imprisoned in this blasted hall all day! And what information has he found? None! Nothing! He literally never saw Padmé or her Jedi friend after they went to look at the view, whatever that means, ans that's obviously not what they were doing because he went to the balcony and checked! He growls as an overwhelming feeling of self-loathing threatens to overpower him. Maul has probably already secured himself the title of 'best apprentice' by now. With his scary voice, and threatening glare, and pointy teeth, and- wait is that Padmé?
A very tired looking senator of the same shape and build as Padmé meanders through the crowd and towards the ladies toilets. Vader's eyes light up as he catches a glimpse of her face; that is Padmé! Her sweeping white dress disappears into the toilets, and Vader does a quick check with the force to check if she's alone in there, she is! Suddenly feeling full of energy, he edges towards the bathroom. The eyes of the old senators stick to his back as he does so, he can feel their distaste radiating towards him.
Perhaps now he will finally get his questions answered. He steps through the door, and locks it with the force behind him; it wouldn't do to have a nosey traitor walk in on them. The ladies bathroom is much the same as the disabled one; fancy salmon tiles, unnecessarily expensive shimmering sinks, and decorated with vases of white flowers. He spots the senator the minute he enters, she's standing by the sink at the far end of the room, staring longingly into the mirror. Her arms leaning against the counter. He takes a step forward, and she jumps, her head snapping around to stare at him with wide eyes.
"Senator?" Padmé voices warily, she takes several cautious steps further into the room. Vader can feel a strong sense of unease emminating from her. It instantly puts him on edge, does she have something to hide?
"What did you tell Kenobi?" He growls, taking a strong step forward. Her eyes quickly change in expression, morphing into something akin to relief, if he were to guess.
"I didn't tell him anything." She says, hints of confusion still peppering her voice.
He can tell she isn't lying through the force, yet she still feels anxious. He cant fathom as to why. The confusion makes him angry, her presence makes his muscles tingle. Does she feel the same way, is that why she is afraid of him?
"Then why are you afraid?" he threatens.
"Well, men don't usually barge into the ladies toilets and threaten the occupants," she replies, still standing awkwardly in the corner, as far away from him as she can get.
"Who have you told?" He continues, not allowing her to trick him by diverting the conversation. Master Sidious says he should always be careful of that when around senators.
Padmé frowns at him, seemingly having regained her confidence. She moves forward, until she's right beside him. It makes him uneasy. Her delicate face stares up at his.
"You shouldn't be in here," she says harshly. Vader suppresses a scoff, who is this mere senator to tell a Sith where he can and cant go?
"Why not?"
She gives him an exasperated look, and shakes her head.
"Because its the ladies toilets,"
"So? Just because it's the ladies toilets doesn't mean men are banned from going inside," he replies condescendingly.
"Yes it does!" She says with a bemused, and slightly surprised tone.
"But that so impractical!"
Padmé shakes her head at him, as if she cant believe what she's hearing.
"Please tell me you have been to a public restroom before,"
"No, and what does that have to do with anything?" He barks in frustration.
She waves her hands in the air and moves around him, towards the door.
"Hey! Wait, you didn't answer my question!" he shouts after her.
Padmé looks back at him one more time, her eyes clouded with bemusement. Vader crosses his arms over his chest and frowns at her, she wont be leaving until he gets his answers.
"I haven't said anything, to anyone," she replies in a serious tone.
He doesn't believe her, but the force tells him that she's speaking the truth. Though he can't understand how, because there's no reason not to tell anyone. Seeing his confusion, Padmé's features lose some of their gusto, and she sighs. Slowly, she walks back to him, her heals clicking softly on the ground as she moves. This time, when her eyes meet his, they're thoughtful.
"But I know you're more than just a senator,"
The words cause his eyes to widen, even though he had suspected as much. Hearing the conformation out loud still disturbed him.
"Is that why you're afraid of me?" he asks quietly, not really sure if he wants to hear the answer.
Padmé looks at him with a grave expression marred across her features, through the force, he can feel that she is torn. Whatever reason she has for protecting him wont keep him safe forever, because he can feel the uncertainty in her decision laced though every breath she takes.
She opens her mouth to answer, when a loud bang and muffled screams cut her off. A heavy rumbling sound breaks through the walls, a spike of fear and confusion stabs through the force.
"What the-?"
"Get down!" Padmé screams, pulling him to the floor as another explosion blasts from the hall outside. The walls shake dangerously and bits of rubble fall to the floor. While calling on his training to keep him calm, Vader closes his eyes and focuses on using the force to expand his senses throughout the building. The overwhelming sensation of panic floods the force with such intensity that he can't get find who or what is causing this mayhem.
His eyes snap open to see the senator crouching beside him, her hands clenching his shoulders. They're close, very close. He can feel her breathing against his neck. The thought distracts him for a split second, before he remembers what's happening.
"Come on!" He yells as another blast in the distance bounds into the bathroom.
Grabbing her hand, Vader jumps to his feet, and jogs to the door, pulling a disoriented Padmé along with him. The door snaps open to reveal the epicentre of the explosion. The sight is so grave, that even the Sith apprentice blanches and looks away. There's blood, and it's everywhere. Body-parts litter the floor. The blue carpet is covered in derbies. Vader cant help but stare in shock at the sight before him. Nobody survived.
"We have to leave, now!" Padmé screams. She suddenly starts to pull Vader along with her. Her sharp tugging pulls him to his senses, and he realises her panic wasn't because of the gore.
At the opposite end of the room, by the door, a raging fire cackles menacingly at them. Its spreading quickly, some of the curtains have already caught fire.
"There's no other way out," Padmé exclaims between pants. She lets go of his hand and looks desperately around the room.
Its starting to become difficult to breath. His chest suddenly starts to burn as the thick smoke poisons his nose, the sensation makes him start to cough, and soon he cant stop coughing. In a meek attempt to protect himself, he wraps an arm around his mouth. Smoke billows along the ceiling. The blue walls turn red as the fire burns brightly.
"The balcony!" Padmé cries with relief.
She grabs him again and yanks him towards the balcony. They burst through the doors, and into the fresh air outside. Sirens wail in the distance, and the smoke from the building has already climbed high into the air. His eyes dart back towards the doors, where inside he can see the fire quickly gobbling up the room. They wont be safe here much longer.
"We have to get out of here," Padmé says at his side as her eyes search for a means of escape.
"No kidding," Vader grumbles back as he looks towards the walls of the senate building.
There! He spots a pipe a few feet across from the balcony. If he could get over there, they could scale the wall down to a lower level. He looks back at Padmé, who is looking over the railing.
"Senator! What are you doing?!" Padmé yells in his ear as he picks her up, hauls her over his shoulder and jumps unto the railing. He groans internally at her screeching. Dooku was right, women do nothing but complain.
He gathers the dark side around him, and uses it to propel him forward with heightened speed and agility. He crashes against the pipe, and gabs at it desperately with his free hand.
"Yaaaah!" she screams.
"Be quiet,"
He wraps his legs around the pipe and starts to shimmy down it. If he were lucky, this pipe would lead them down a good few floors before it stopped. Another explosion sounds in the distance, followed by a wave of panic in the force. Padmé's fingers dig into his back as she clings unto him for dear life.
With steady determination, he inches down the pole until a nearby window becomes close enough to vault into. He looks down the rest of the pipe to see if there's anywhere better to go below, but there doesn't appear to be.
"M'lady," He grunts as he pulls her closer to the window and slings her through. She lands with a thump inside, her force signature screams in anger and humiliation. It makes him smirk, but on the inside of course.
With a graceful leap, he follows after her. He lands unto the polished floor inside, to find himself in an expensive looking corridor. Pictures of important people he doesn't care to remember line the opposite wall. And just like in the rooms above, every door is wooden, and hangs on hinges.
"I could have climbed down that pole myself," Padmé grumbles at him as she fixes her dress.
"Come on, we have to keep moving," he replies, ignoring her comment and heading down the corridor.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Padmé calls after him.
Truthfully, he has no idea where he 's going, but is he going to tell her that? Of course not.
"Come on," He growls.
The clicks of her shoes trotting after him confirm her compliance. Having finished with Padmé, Vader again uses the force to scan the area for any life forms. He senses nothing but the stench of fear radiating throughout the building. He breaths it in, enjoying it for what its worth. At least he has their fear, it will give him more strength to defend himself. Perhaps that will make up for his lack of agility in these force awful senator robes.
"We have to go back," Padmé pines as they walk.
Vader rolls his eyes, feeling her determined ones burrowing into the back of his skull.
"No, we don't," he hisses. He has to get out of this building before it collapses and contact his master. Though it wouldn't really do any harm to make sure the senator made it out in one piece too.
"My friends are still up there, we can't just leave them!" Padmé exclaims.
A spike of anger stabs at his chest. He spins around to face her, and she stops abruptly.
"You mean your Jedi friends?" He growls, spitting out the word Jedi as if it were burning him.
Padmé's angry glare turns into one of bemusement.
"You may not like the Republic, but that doesn't mean you have to hate the Jedi. They are impartial peacekeepers. They would help anyone who needed it, including a planet aligned with the CIS," she explains.
Vader nearly burst out laughing at her little speech. Impartial peacekeepers? What galaxy is she living in?
"Don't play the fool senator," Vader scoffs, before turning and marching on again.
Her heels don't click after him.
"Obi-Wan isn't the only person still up there, some people may still be alive and in need of our help," Padmé states with determination.
In his head, he groans loudly. A feeling of deep frustration resonates throughout his body. Why cant they just leave and let the authorities handle it? Yet despite his grievances, he stops and turn to look back at her. A thoroughly sullen expression on his face. Some part of him doesn't want to leave her here on her own, because she will surely die without his help.
"When we find a control room, you can try to contact your friends there," he finally grumbles, before turning and marching off again.
After a few moments, the heels begin to click behind him again, and somewhere deep down, a feeling of relief washes over him.
