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"Crap," he muttered, frustration with this mission mounting.
"You got that right," came a voice from behind him.
Sighing, Anakin slowly turned around.
Chapter 3: Confrontation
Anakin turned to the sight of a blaster pointed at him. To add insult to injury, the man holding the blaster was the very same rebel Anakin had left to find.
This just keeps getting better and better.
If he wasn't in a state of emergency with the ship, he would have found the situation kind of funny. He would have said something cliche like, "Oh, you just saved me the trouble of finding you."
But what he actually said was, "What do you want?" in a belligerent tone, not really asking. He wasn't in any mood to patiently wait for answers, and he didn't care enough at the moment.
"I'm pointing a weapon at you, Jedi," said the rebel, shaking his blaster, "talk to me with respect."
Anakin suppressed the urge to throw in an insult at that just for laughs, anything to reduce this stressful situation. It wouldn't go in his favour.
"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so by now. The fact I'm still breathing means you want something from me," said Anakin, non-perturbed. Not that I'd actually give you the chance to kill me, he silently added.
The rebel, still sporting the same sullied clothes from the fight earlier, looked like a dramatic contrast to Anakin who had long since cleaned and changed, giving him the appearance that all was well in his life. The rebel looked like a downright savage, holding the gun with dirt lined hands (circumstance to the bomb, but anybody who didn't know that, would come to the same conclusion-that he was a savage). He had ugly purple bruise forming just above his eyebrow.
The rebel said nothing. Instead he jerked the blaster towards the door—the universal gesture for: follow my directions. I've got a big gun and I'm not afraid to use it.
Anakin rolled his eyes.
Raising his hands in mock surrender, he made his way towards the door, sighing loudly.
Just before he cleared the room, he sprung off the floor in a backwards aerial somersault and knocked the gun from the rebel's hand.
The rebel swung his other arm out—to what Anakin guessed was—to hit him. Anakin blocked him and kicked him.
The rebel's back hit the back wall.
Too easy, thought Anakin, and I didn't even need to use my lightsaber.
Anakin bent to collect the gun. Straightening up, he turned to see a particularly surly expression on the rebel's face, one that reminded him of that one time he tricked Obi-wan into eating live bugs. Though the rebel's lip curled in disgust in the same way, Obi-wan had managed to look dignified while doing it.
"Jedi scum," he spat.
"Try something I haven't heard before. Shouldn't be too hard," taunted Anakin. "You all read from the same script the size of scrap paper."
The rebel raised one sleeve cuff to his face, and flicked his other arm to the floor.
Anakin realised too late what this action meant.
A thick cloud of white dust exploded into existence in the middle of the room. Anakin's eyes burned and his nose stung.
He raised his hands to his face, as if to somehow shield it from the agony, but it made no difference. Focusing on the Force, Anakin used it as his eyes to find the exit.
Feeling the walls, he made his way down the corridor.
"Gaah!" Something solid collided with his cheek.
Still blind, he put his hand out to feel in front of him.
Those blasted cable wires! He should have remembered they were hanging from the ceiling. He was a Jedi knight, not a commoner; a Jedi was always aware of their surroundings.
Slowly, his eyesight returned, painting his vision in a watery mirage.
Calm down, he told himself, and concentrate.
Slowing his breathing, he felt the rebel's life force from the airlock bay. Cursing his own rashness, he headed to stop the rebel from abandoning ship.
Reaching the door, that the rebel had damaged much earlier, Anakin pressed the button to open the door. Impatience made his shoulders tense. Anger at himself and the rebel fueled his energy. It became a real effort not to bounce on the balls of his feet.
It was easier to ignore the grinding metal of the door when he had an enemy almost within his grasp to concentrate on.
When the door finally opened, he swore.
Loudly.
And for a couple minutes.
One of the two gliders was gone.
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Next Chapter: Welcome to Earth, Anakin Skywalker
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Author's note: I would love any constructive criticism, so that I can improve my writing. (For example, were there any areas where the story dragged (a.k.a. pacing)? See my bio for a more comprehensive list. Your comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)