AN:Okay, this a few hours early, but I wanted to get it up becasue I have to work tomorrow so here's the next chapter.
Same deal as before, I have the next chapter written, if I get ten reviews, I upload it early, if not, I'll upload it this weekend.
Frankly I don't expect to hit that number, but I really like having a bit of a buffer zone to keep by chapter's ahead of schedule.
Well, onto the story.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is owned by Disney and LucasFilm
Chapter 6
Kallus had seen a number of horrific killings in his time, it came with the job, and he himself had committed his fair share of "extermination" jobs in his time. But this thing the media had dubbed "The Shape." was different.
The most recent killing had all the hallmarks of the previous killings. It was a messy affair, the man was a brute and undisciplined in his methods. From what Kallus could tell, without fail, every victim had been killed with a single decisive blow. The very best that could be said about these deaths were they were apparently quick.
That's what bothered him though. If these attacks were personal or for revenge, you wouldn't expect them to be so quick. This was methodical, like it was just killing at random, for the sake of killing. It wasn't that he hadn't ever seen it before, but he's never seen a case such as this where the perpetrator went so long without being either killed himself or getting caught.
Ever sense he had started to head the investigation he had the distinct feeling they were dealing with something more than a simple spree-killer. This was something more, exactly what Kallus didn't know.
Ezra awoke with a start. The dream had come again, Tyber and the Shape. This didn't make sense! Tyber wasn't even dead and he had told Kanan what had happened. Why was the damn dream still coming.
Rubbing his hands over his face to try and wake himself up, to try and think more clearly. He had confessed to Kanan, but his guilt didn't seem to abate. Granted Kanan had not taken the information well, not Ezra had expected him to, but he was handling it in a way that Ezra hadn't expected.
Kanan seemed colder than usual. more distant. He didn't outright ignore him, but it was like he had a hard time reconciling with himself what Ezra had done.
This was the worst he could remember feeling ever sense he joined the crew. He not only felt like he had let Kanan down, but that he had in a way betrayed his own ideals. He had never been that cold blooded in his life.
Yet he hadn't even managed to do that right. Zann was now back with Imperial backing, and that was one of the worst combinations he'd ever seen in his life. But, he supposed it made life less nuanced, now he was unequivocally the enemy, no more guess work there.
Ezra couldn't help but groan at the fact that this thought was the best that could be said about the current situation. He was hunting JV-FR13, so maybe it would finish him off.
Ezra never had considered his life easy when he was living on the streets, but it had never been this complicated.
Getting up, Ezra for the first time in a long time, found he did not have a clue what he was going to actually do.
The first thing Sabine became aware of was the pain in her back. It was the type of pain associated with being caught in an uncomfortable position for too long. It was stiff and hurt so back she, for a moment didn't think she'd be able to move.
The next thing she realized, as she opened her eye's was where she was. It took her a moment to remember she had agreed to watch Dral.
Standing up quickly, and stumbling into the wall do to the stiffness in her back, she realized she had fallen asleep. She didn't know how long it had been, but she was hungry so it must of been a decent amount of time later.
Looking over her shoulder, she noticed Dral's bunk was empty. The fact that he couldn't of bothered to lie her down, or at least wake her up irked her. She had done him a favor, and he couldn't repay her by simply helping her avoid a stiff back.
Well what had she expected, he was, well she didn't know what he was exactly. She wasn't sure how much of his attitude was an act to cover his problem and how much was genuine. She suspected it landed somewhere in the middle, that he exaggerated his personality to deflect people from his issues, but she was fairly certain that at least some of his actions were genuine.
Wondering where he had gotten off to, she left his bunk and searched the ship for him. His ship was smaller than the Ghost, but it still took a moment to find him. He was in what Sabine supposed would be the sitting room if the ship was in normal order. Right now it looked like a mix between storage room and scrap pile. Piece of different machines and droids were strewn about the room and several crate were stacked to the ceiling.
He was changing the patches on his injury. He already had the one in the front changed, but was having problems with the one on his back.
Catching sight of her, he called out "Mind givin' me a hand?"
Crossing her arms, Sabine scowled "Well, I could but seeing how you couldn't be bothered to wake me up, I think I should let you struggle."
"What?!" he said stating to laugh, and grin. "You looked so peaceful, like a little angel, didn't want to disturb you."
This was more like the man she had meet a few days ago, she supposed a good night's sleep could do wonders, although she had missed out on one herself.
"You know what, yeah I can help." she said with smirk starting to grace her face, taking the bacta patch out of his hand, and slapping it hard onto the still relatively fresh injury.
Dral yelled in pain, jumping up "What was that for?"
"Really, were not you not paying attention to what I just said?"
Dral scratched his scruffy chin, pretending to think.
"You know what, I'm gonna leave before you can say something clever." and with that she walked past him as briskly as she could with her back still aching.
"Hold on." Dral's tone seemed much quieter or more subdued than normal.
Despite her better judgment, she stopped and turned to face him, he wasn't smiling anymore, he wasn't even looking directly at her, his eyes were cast down, as if trying to avoid her gaze.
"Thanks for...well last night. I haven't been...sleeping." It seemed like thanking her was actually causing him physical pain. She thought about letting him struggle on for al little while longer, but decided against it.
"It's alright, let's just call it even for the information you gave me. Just forget about it."
Dral shuffled on his feet for a moment before nodding. She nodded back and turned to walk down the ramp to leave.
"So you want to go out with me yet!" he called back, traces of laughter in his voice.
"Don't push your luck!" she called over her shoulder, and despite herself, smiled a little.
Sitting down in the pilot's chair in his ship, Dral closed his eyes to concentrate on his implant to read his own healing progress. He frowned at what it told him, it would still be sometime before he would be completely healed, but on the brightside he'd be capable of taking on the job in a day or two. While he wouldn't be in top condition, he'd be well enough to stand up to the physical strain.
He grinned at the prospect of getting even with "The Shape" after it stabbed him. With a full night's sleep, a full night's good sleep, he was capable of thinking more clearly. He personally he regretted having the girl watch him sleep, it made him feel like he was five years old again. But it was the only way he knew how to cope with it without severe medication. What he took now wasn't working anymore but he didn't dare try and of the stronger medication available, not while he was on the job anyway. The potential side effects could be catastrophic in the field.
His mind wondered back to "The Shape". He hated admitting to fear, but that thing scared him. It looked like a man, but no man in the galaxy could survive two spikes to the brain, let alone the electric charge he unloaded into him.
Freezing him would work, he was sure of that. It had blood, and if it bleed, well then it was alive. Meaning it had water in it, and it would render it immobile. No the problems he was foreseeing were finding it. From all the information he's ever had on it, it lived completely off the grid, so he' either have to do detective work or find a spot to stake out to wait for him. He was particularly good at either, he didn't have the patients for them, he worked best in the heat of the moment.
The other problem was what they would do with it when they were done. They could keep him frozen indefinitely if they wanted to, but he didn't doubt that thing would garner a huge some from genetic researchers, something that ...unique would at the very least be hailed as a great curisoity, at most a living weapon.
Dral's immediate thoughts were to sell him. He's bring enough credits for him to live the rest of his life like a Hutt.
But he dismissed the idea, for no other reason he doubted he could sell the story of an indestructible man. He wasn't going to risk a live demonstration, he'd have to thaw him for that, and if even half the stories about it were true, then he probably wouldn't want to risk that.
The pay from the Moff's and the Rebels friends would be substantial enough, he told himself. And it would, but Dral made it his business try and get as much money out of a contract as he could.
Sighing, he opened his eyes. It took him a moment to adjust to the light levels. He needed to start to get ready, in a couple days, he'd be on the hunt.
"Captain Zann's efforts on the crime levels of Lothol have been astounding. Criminal activity has dropped to almost zero planet wide thanks to..."
Kanan could take it anymore. The lies and propaganda the Empire would spin out was amazing at times. Zann may in fact be reducing crime planet wide, but he seriously doubted it was due to a excellent criminal justice system. It hadn't even been a day and he was being hailed as hero by the Empire. But they had messed up and tried to make it appear like he was a resounding success to soon.
He understood why they did it, but they had jumped the gun. With JV-FR13 killing at random and the Empire unable to control or subdue him, they needed a new figure to make them look good, as the current administration was failing to stop it.
But the people of Lothol weren't as stupid as the Empire thought. They'd pick up on this attempt to save face quick. He also seriously doubted that Zann had served in any other system before Lothol, and as such didn't reduce crime anywhere.
But the whole situation bothered him. Zann was well documented as full on Empire hater. His hatred for the Empire was second to none, even the Rebel's didn't hate it in the personal way Zann did. He treated it like a personal grudge and did all he could to disrupt it and hurt it. There wasn't anything that Kanan could think of that would make him switch sides, anything short of blackmail.
But even that didn't make sense to him. What could they have on him to force him to work for them rather than against them. Zann didn't strike Kanan as someone who had loved ones that could be held hostage, at least one's he cared about enough to sacrifice his own criminal empire.
It was all too much to think about in addition to everything else they had going on right now.
Ezra had severally disappointed him, and it in fact out right scared him what he had done. He understood the feeling, but not the action. It was as near cold blooded murder as it could get without being directly involved. By not helping Tyber, in his mind Ezra had sentenced him to a horrible death.
But this brought up the question in Kanan's mind, was Tyber worth saving. As a Jedi he was taught all life was sacred, but he was also taught that sometimes, killing was unavoidable. Was leaving Tyber to die really different than if Ezra had killed him in a fight?
Yes, is what he told himself, although he couldn't quite explain why to himself. Any of the explanations he gave himself didn't seem to truly ease his mind. Was it that Tyber was helpless at the time that Kanan felt so betrayed by Ezra's action? Maybe that was part of it, but he could feel it in his gut that wasn't the whole reason.
What was really scaring him though, was he wasn't sure if Ezra had been wrong. He was supposed to be the master, he was supposed to have the answers Ezra needed, but here he was, just as conflicted as his apprentice.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be, this wasn't how he was supposed to be.
Ezra heard Dral's voice come from his ship.
""So you want to go out with me yet!"
Then he heard Sabine call back "Don't push your luck!" and he saw the smile on her face, and anger seethed in him.
"What were you doing with Dral!" Ezra said, his voice coming out much quicker and more aggressive than he intended it to.
Sabine jumped a little at the sudden voice, she had not noticed Ezra while she had excited Dral's ship.
"Oh, Ezra, I was just helping Dral change the dressing on his injury, he was having problems getting to his back."
There was more to it than that, he could feel it. Was she interested in the bounty hunter? How could she be? He was fowl, dirty and mean spirited.
"Really? That's all?" he said, his voice heavy with accusations.
Sabine looked confused as this, "Ezra? Is something wrong?"
He didn't want to deal with the possibility of Sabine dating one of the most disgusting men in he had ever had the misfortune to meet.
"I've gotta go." he said with a huff and stomped off.
"Ezra!" she called after him, but he was already some distance away by this time. He was half hoping she'd follow him, but also half hoping she'd leave him alone. Right now he wasn't sure what he wanted. He'd confessed to Kanan, but it hadn't relieved his conscience and now Kanan had become distant and cold.
He wanted to talk to someone who would understand, but didn't think there was anyone who really would understand his situation.
This sudden realization, made him feel crushingly lonely. This made him stop dead in his tracks. Looking around, he suddenly realized he'd made his way much further away from the Ghost than he had intended to. In his emotional state he'd lost track of time and now the Ghost wasn't even in site.
Well he wanted to be alone and now he had it. Walking over to a fairly large rock in the sea of grass, he climbed on top of it, sat down, pulled his knees to his chest, folded his arms over her knees, and put his head down between his arms.
Tyber scowled at the newsfeed. Whoever was in charge of propaganda was going to need to be replaced. They were far too eager to make him look like a perfect law enforcer. While he had made some quick headway in the area of law enforcement, it wasn't anywhere near the levels be praised in the news.
He needed to get this out of his head for the moment. He needed to get this meeting over with.
Pressing a button on the panel he said into the comm "Send in Agent Kallus."
The Imperial Agent came in with all the military decorium, brisk walk, firm salute, everything.
"Agent, tell me everything you know about 'The Shape'." he really didn't expect to learn much, his own information on the thing far outstripped Kallus, but it would be useful to know what it was up to.
"Sir, he doesn't seem to act on anything other basic instincts." Kallus said in a firm tone "None of his victims are connected , and he dispatches them in a quick but brutal manner."
Tyber wasn't impressed, he could of gussed as much, but it didn't hurt to know. "I want a full report by tomorrow, the victims names, manner of death, everything."
Kallus saluted and said "Yes, sir." and turned and left.
"The Shape's" killing spree was the least of his concerns at the moment, what he really wanted was the Rebels, more specifically the young Jedi, Ezra for what he'd done to him. No one crossed him and lived, no one.
He'd have his revenge, his agent was on his tail and soon he's kill the boy. If Ezra was lucky, it'd be quick, but if Tyber was lucky, it wouldn't be. The very thought, the very memory of what had happened on Kamino set his blood boiling. He always prized himself reading people, on knowing how to manipulate them, know how they would react. Ezra has surprised him and acted completely in the opposite of what he thought he would. That alone was enough to irritate him, but the fact the boy had left him to be murdered by that thing, that was going to far.
He would have his revenge on him, and maybe he'd kill the rest of the rebels to for good measure. This made his thought go to Sabine, the daughter of the woman he had once loved, back when he still could love. He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to kill her, but he didn't think he could let her live if he killed or harmed any of her friend. She may be under his influence still, but he hadn't yet tested that control against someone in a murderous rage.
It was all the boy's fault, he's brought about this conflict with his foolish actions. They boy would have to pay for this, and pay dearly.
AN: Okay, please leave a review, If I get enough, you'll get the next chapter early.
