Hey all! I know I'm very, very late to the party but... happy Easter! haha, ahem. I did tell you I would manage an update eventually, whelp, here she is! Smoking hot out of the oven! Enjoy!


The force rumbles and groans like a sleeping giant in the distance. Its subtle touch coerces him forward until he has reaches the 86th level, then the once clear trail set out before him becomes akin to little more than a thick, murky fog that's impossible to see through. The rumbling still sounds though; echoing some danger he has yet to encounter.

"Anakin?"

His eyes snap open as reality floods his senses. He has stopped in front of the opening to the 86th level, his fingers gripping the ledge of the door. Her arms cling to his neck and shoulders, she could kill him right now. Even though his death would inevitably lead to her own demise, the thought still sets his blood pumping. Dooku said to never allow anyone the opportunity to end your life, be they friend or foe.

"Have we arrived?" She asks.

She's nervous, he can feel it radiating from her through the force. Perhaps she thinks he will drop her, or perhaps she fears his blade. It doesn't matter, she's only a senator, she doesn't deserve so much space in his mind. He shouldn't have to keep reminding himself that.

"Yes," he replies curtly as he pushes his legs off from their position in the elevator shaft and hauls the two of them up and into the corridor of the 86th level with his arms. Padme practically collapses to the floor once they're grounded. Though her brief moment of weakness, he observes, is short lived, as she stands up and assumes a dignified royal posture with astounding speed. She looks at him, her face stone cold, and a twinkle in her eyes daring him to say anything. Its an effort not to sigh.

Withholding the urge to ask her why she feels the need to act so posh all the time, Vader instead chooses to figure out where they are. The corridor, Vader admits, has most certainly seen better days. The walls have been shredded, revealing the interior wiring, and even at some small points give way to small view holes into the adjacent rooms. Only about a third of the lights on the ceiling are working, and even those are flickering on and off at erratic intervals.

The floor is covered in debris, as if someone had run down the corridor, scattering small pieces of metal and cloth along the ground. It smells too. The intense aroma of tin and sulphur permeates through the heavy, hot air; the air conditioning must be broken.

"At least some of the lights are working," Padme sighs with tired, strained optimism as she starts walking in a fool hardy manor down the hall.

Vader absently watches the way her waist moves sensuously with every step. Her dress flows around her hips in such a... wait, what the hell is he thinking?! He squeezes his eyes shut and rids his mind of the image, then sulkily marches past her.

"It is dangerous here, don't be so forthcoming," he growls at her as he takes the lead.

"I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, you know," Padme bites back as she brandishes a small blaster.

If he weren't in such a fowl mood he would have laughed. Senators are pathetic. Choosing not to get into another pointless argument with the stubborn senator, Vader simply chooses to keep marching forward in the hopes that maybe he can find Kenobi and kill him before the senator can catch up with him and nag in his ear the whole time while he does it.

The hallway seems to slowly degrade more and more as he travels through it, and the pungent odour only gets stronger. Parts of the ceiling droop to the floor, scratch marks mar the walls and the occasional mark left behind from a lightsaber dots almost every surface. He keeps his guard up as he continues down it.

"It looks like some sort of battle took place here," Padme observes as she follows him.

No kidding, he thinks. He can feel the force is screaming warnings at him, yet he can't pinpoint any danger. He has to focus on keeping his muscles relaxed and his mind focused as he continues forward.

He turns a corner to find a dead assassin droid, the head removed with the clean cut of a lightsaber. Blood is splattered across its chest. Vader steps over it, listening intently for any movement. He can hear a rhythmic banging ahead.

The door at the far end of the corridor has been forced open, it keeps jamming itself against the floor, trying again and again to close yet never succeeding. Vader approaches it and raises his hand into the air, forming a fist. The door creaks under his power, but eventually gives in and slides up fully. Revealing a large empty room on the other side.

Padme walks past him and into the room.

"Hey, wait!" Vader hisses at her as he quickly follows "I sense danger."

He jogs to the centre of the large room and looks around. There is a single working light working on the ceiling, and the only thing it has to light up is the dust particles on the dark floor. The smell is at its strongest here, despite the room being completely empty.

"I can't see anyone," Padme says, squinting and trying to see better.

"Then lets leave," Vader insists, he really doesn't like this room.

He quickly marches to the opposite door, the eerie silence disturbing him more than it should. The door opens and he steps through. This entire building feels like one giant maze, the entire thing is far too big. Only a small percentage of the building is used; it's stupid.

"Are you coming?" Vader growls impatiently. No reply, is she seriously this immature? He rolls his eyes and turns around to face her.

Padme looks at him wide-eyed. A knife at her neck. A metal hand on her mouth.

The figure jumps into the darkness above, taking Padme with it.

"Hey!" Vader roars. He sprints into the room, and jumps after it. The darkness surrounds him, but he can feel Padme's presence in the force and he follows it. The droid jumps to the top of the room and its feet stick to the ceiling. Padme flails in its arms, her muffled screams barely audible.

Vader ignites his lightsaber and grabs unto the droids leg just before he starts to fall back to the ground. It makes a series of beeps then fires a blast at him. He deflects it and swings back. Padme screeches and kicks him in the chin as his lightsaber passes inches by her face. A sharp pain smacks his jaw like a thousand tiny needles hitting him all at once.

Her kick comes as a surprise and makes him lose his balance. The droid punches him in the hand and he loses his grip, falling to the floor.

"Padme!" Vader roars in frustration.

He manages to land in a roll, and is quickly able to get to his feet. But not before the droid drops to the ground and sprints out the door he had just opened.

"E chu ta!" Vader hisses under his breadth as he bolts after the droid.

"Anakin!" Padme yells back at him as she is taken away. She fires her blaster at the droid but misses and drops it.

"Let me go!" Padme screams as she punches and kicks the droid.

The droid jumps into one of the holes in the ceiling. Vader makes a running jump after it. He pulls himself into the ceiling, which is pitch black. He is forced to crouch as the space is so small. His lightsaber keeps the space around him illuminates as he hurries after the banging sounds ahead.

The banging suddenly stops, leaving a sick feeling in Vader's throat. He charges ahead until he finds another break in the ceiling and jumps down. The first thing he sees is a sparking electrical cable dancing around a broken power generator. Then he sees and injured Rodian.

That's not Padme. The Sith grunts in anxious frustration, sprinting past the Rodian as he follows Padme's weak force signature in the distance.

"Padme?" calls a voice that he is very much certain is not his.

Vader picks up the pace down the decrepit hallway. He catches a glimpse of a white dress being pulled around the corner of a T-section. Vader charges up to it. He doesn't notice the other figure charging in the same direction from the other hall.

The two collide and he is knocked unto his butt. Vader roars in anger and flips back up.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" He bellows.

He tries to run again but accidentally trips on the person still on the floor beneath him. Vader crashes belly first unto the ground, causing a spike of pain to run through his already bruised chin.

Vader huffs out a pained breadth and rolls around to kick the stupid sentient. He stops mid kick as his eyes land on the perpetrator. Kenobi, the blasted Jedi, is lying on the ground at his feet. His perfect hair out of place and dirt covering his otherwise polished features.

"Oh, hello there. Fancy meeting you here," the weak voice at his heels greets politely.

Vader stares at the man they had spent the best part of the day looking for in shock. Obi-Wan's steel eyes look Vader over.

"I have to save Padme," Vader huffs insistently as he scrambles back to his feet again and begins running down the hall.

He can hear the Jedi's footsteps running behind him, but he pays him little notice. Vader leaps into the elevator shaft at the far end of the corridor and jumps several stories after the droids presence.

"Wait. Wait damn it!" Kenobi yells urgently after him. "Senator! Hold on!"

Vader bursts through the elevator doors to the top level and barrel rolls unto the floor. A small army of blasters having their safety clicked off rings in his ears. He looks up to see a large group of assassin droids staring at him, their guns all pointed his way.

The end of the hallway opens out into a large balcony. He can clearly see a ship docked there, and Padme's unconscious body is being loaded unto it.

The Sith Lord growls and stands to his full height. The droids heads follow him, as do their guns. His eyes sting with fowl yellow fury. His breathing slows as his chest expands menacingly, his hands clenching the blood red blade now in a guard position.

"Fire!" A droid orders, and at once he is assaulted with a shower of blaster shots. The Sith's saber spins at a speed defying human capabilities. Its deep, threatening buzzing the only thing now humming in his ears.

The bullets bounce back against the droids, and Vader smashes through them. Killing several and downing the rest. Without relenting he sprints towards the ship as it begins to take off.

"Senator, senator!" Kenobi calls breathlessly from behind.

Vader runs to the edge of the balcony and jumps into the open air, with nothing beneath him but thousands of feet of empty air.

He uses the force to give himself a burst of extra energy. His fingers just manage to grasp unto the railing at the bottom of the ship as it blasts into the air. Something heavy takes hold of his feet and he nearly loses his grip in surprise.

Vader grunts and looks down to see that damn Jedi holding unto his boot for dear life, the man's ginger hair becoming even more messy in the wind. The Jedi smiles cautiously up at him.

"Mind if I tag along?" he calls rather calmly over the howling wind surging past them, as if they aren't one slip away from falling to their deaths.

Vader grunts at him in response, losing interest and looking back at the ship. He has to find a way inside and get to Padme. He reaches out to try to grasp the railing beneath the door, but almost loses his grip again and is forced to hold the railing closest to him with both hands in order to support Kenobi's weight.

"Allow me," the Jedi states. Vader looked down, what is that blasted Jedi babbling about?

"Hey, stop! What are you doing?!" Vader roars in surprise and anger as the Jedi starts to climb up his leg.

"Don't!" Vader protests as the man grabs unto his hips.

Kenobi doesn't seem to care about how uncomfortable this entire situation is, and continues to climb up Vader until the two are chest to chest. It is suddenly very warm and awkward for Vader, as the man's eyes look into his, inches from his face. Vader pulls his head as far away from the Kenobi as possible.

Kenobi continues to climb until he is able to reach the railing by the door, then he grabs unto it and swings off Vader. He pulls himself up and tries the door.

"It's locked," Kenobi sighs, allowing himself to simply hang on the railing.

"Blast it open," Vader hisses angrily at him.

"And cause all the occupants inside, including Padme, to be sucked out into the air?" Kenobi lectures calmly.

"I'll catch her,"

"You'll fall,"

"You don't know my power!"

"Senator Skywalker, you have already demonstrated quite clearly that you must hold unto that railing with both hands or else you'll fall," Kenobi continued to lecture level-headedly.

Vader huffs and gives him the most menacing death look he can come up with.

"This ship will more than likely lead us to whoever planned this entire attack. Have patience, senator,"

"Porko wermo schutta" Vader mutters underneath his breadth. Kenobi was talking sense, but he still didn't like what he was hearing; he wanted to save Padme now. He looked towards where the ship was flying, and saw that they were being brought to the outskirts of the city.

He sighed and looked towards Kenobi.

"You better be right about this, Jedi."