He'd been told to keep it on.

In no uncertain terms had he been told to keep the brace on and keep his hand healing, that he wasn't ready to remove it after having every bone basically pulverized inside his hand, every nerve flatted and had his veins burst from a well aimed stomp.

And Ezra had listened, he'd been good. After all, he didn't want to disappoint his family. Especially not Hera or Kanan.

But...

Well his family should know better then getting caught! By pirates no less!

Ezra looked up at the vent grate over him and then down at the brace. There would be no way to quietly move through the vents wearing the thing. He'd already removed his leg guard for the same reason.

"...They are so going to kick my ass once they see its gone." Ezra sighed and then started undoing the straps of the brace Sabine had carefully colored. "So kick my ass."

()()()()

A small burst of Force made Kanan look up before he looked back down to avoid detection, smiling ever so slightly as he caught Hera's eyes. He gave a glance up with his eyes alone then nodded as the Twi'lek's lekku's twitched in surprise before she too gave a small smile in return in the cell she and Zeb were in.

They had been separated by cells, Hera and Zeb in one, Sabine and Chopper in one and Kanan in one for himself, hog tied since he was a Jedi and they did not trust him. He imagined Ezra was going to get a kick out of seeing that not only was he the only one to escape capture but Kanan was tied up like a plump roast.

He could see Zeb and Hera since they had the cell right in front of him but he could not see Chopper and Sabine since they had the one beside him. At least he could feel them, so that made him feel a bit better about the whole situation, and even better when he had realized that Ezra had not gotten caught with them, still roaming free and most likely plotting their escape.

He knew the moment Zeb had caught on, his ears twitching harshly before he cocked his head and glanced towards the vents over them in what Kanan could only explain as surprise. Then he sat down, grunting and went back to looking annoyed lest their captors noticed something amiss. But Kanan, who knew his friend well could see the anticipation rolling over his shoulders, the Lasat ready to act the moment those doors opened.

The Jedi allowed himself to reach out to the Force being moving slowly over him, almost chuckling as he felt Ezra's surprise before frowning as shields snapped up into place, Ezra not letting Kanan feel how he was. 'Ezra? Are you injured?'

'I'm fine, fine, its just really dusty and I need to concentrate. Please Kanan.' The response was light, almost airy.

And made Kanan suspicious.

He frowned a bit both inside himself and outside.

'Ezra...'

'We can talk about it later! I need to slice through this grate over here and then I can get the doors open!' Ezra continued over the cells and towards the main control room where Kanan knew their weapons were. 'The grate is locked in the vent?'

'Alarmed actually but I've sliced through worse things. Its flimsy, they don't seem to think anyone would be coming this way really but still set up a defense. Just hold on Kanan, I'll have you all out soon.'

And then Ezra firmly shut down the connection so he could focus on his work.

"Kanan?" He looked up at Hera and sighed a bit. "It will be alright." He smiled slightly, ignoring the chuckling of their pirate guards as they seemed quite confidant in both capturing their missing crew mate and keeping the whole Ghost crew under control once they had Ezra too in a cell. 'Force help them if they hurt Ezra...' His smile turned a bit grimmer as he glanced to the guards. Attachments were dangerous but Kanan was not about to let anyone hurt Ezra if he could help it.

His padawan had made the escape and had yet to be captured and now he was about to get them out.

He analyzed his own memories of the fight with the pirates, trying to remember if Ezra had been hit, had landed wrong, had in any shape been hurt.

There had been a moment where Ezra had landed wrong footed but he had been in movement moments after, no limp or lingering hesitation in him. Perhaps the teen had just shaken it of?

He'd know soon enough.

()()()()()

Ezra focused on the panel in front of him, not the throbbing in his hand and wrist. He'd already found the rest of the crews weapon, Zeb's heavy bo-rifle strapped to his back, Kanan's lightsaber on his belt along with Sabine and Hera's blasters. Now he just had to slice through the codes on the panel to get the doors to open.

He was pretty certain Zeb could easily handle the two guards even without his bo-rifle until Ezra could come through the door with it. His lips quivered at the sight of his master so tightly bound, fighting against his amusement.

'He looks like a roast.' His lips quivered harder and Ezra recognized on some level he was amused and close to hysterics. 'No, its alright, they are fine, none of them are overly hurt. We can get out of here easily once I get to them, they can't ambush us again.' He rationalized. It was a good thing Hondo had decided to help him, else he was pretty sure the pirates would have caught him too.

Hondo of course was a victim to his own greed many times but this one instant...well it wasn't as if the pirates were going to pay Hondo and it would be amusing for him to see what happened to them once the Ghost crew escaped. And young Ezra was a friend!

So he helped.

Ezra took a deep breath through his nose and re-focused, grinning a sharp smile when Zeb did as predicted, moving out of the cell with a sharp speed only to be followed by Sabine moments later, both getting to their guards while Hera rushed to Kanan's side to get him out of his bindings. He actually laughed when Chopper zoomed out with his zapper out, warbling loudly enough that Ezra could hear him through the door before he got it opened and moved out to see Kanan and Hera come out of the cell the Jedi had been in.

"Thank the Force I got through the vents, those were narrow." He grinned at them, hurrying to hand over blasters and saber to his friends before kneeling down and patting Chopper on the head. "I saw you on the cam, you were great." He GRINNED.

Even as he spoke and moved though, he was favoring his left hand at the increasing throbbing of his right hand and wrist.

Chopper however seemed to preen under Ezra's praise before Kanan took charge, having them on the move as they needed to return to the Ghost as fast as they could. The later the pirates became aware they had escaped, the better their chances of getting away actually was.

Of course, this was the Ghost crew, they were magnets for trouble.

They got caught in the hanger bay, so close to the Ghost, pinned down behind a few crates as they exchanged fire with the pirates. "Kriffing...laserbrained...gah!" Ezra barely dodged a blaster bolt and panted as he looked at Kanan, clinging to his lightsaber with both hands to avoid showing his shaking right hand. "What now?" He groaned as Zeb had to retreat behind a crate a bit further from them.

Kanan cursed then looked sharply at Ezra. "Ezra I'm going to throw you."

"What?!"

"Throw you, with the Force, over their head and I need you to push them all down. Do you get me?"

"...Your plans get worse and worse!" Ezra snapped but he readied himself still even as Hera furiously whispered protests to Kanan about their plan.

"Alright..." The Jedi gathered the Force around him, drawing on it as he focused on Ezra. He could feel Ezra, his whole body tense and ready for the spring but a small throbbing making him focus on Ezra's right arm. He couldn't stop right now though and instead gathered Ezra tightly and threw him, up and forward, getting curses and swears from all ends.

Ezra ignored it though as Zeb and Sabine started to pepper the pirates with blaster fire so Ezra could land safely on the other side, hitting the ground hard on all four with a spike of pain screaming through him. But he didn't let it out, he had a crew to focus on as he adeptly gathered the Force inside of him and PUSHED the pirates over.

It was the distraction the crew needed.

Ezra swayed, both at the use of Force and from pain as Kanan rushed to him, his lightsaber deflecting a blast as one of the pirates furthest away from Ezra got on their feet to get back to the fight.

"Come on!" The Jedi practically growled, pulling his padawan up the ramp of the Ghost after the others. He pushed the teen to Zeb, trusting him to keep Ezra safe as he and Sabine kept the pirates of the ramp and away from the Ghost.

Ezra just flopped his head against Zeb's chest, listening to the heartbeat as he breathed heavily. "Easy kid." Zeb rumbled worriedly, itching to take his bo-rifle and join the fight but knowing that Kanan was trusting him with something the man found precious. He was going to honor that and keep Ezra from falling over. So instead he ran his nails and fingers carefully through the others hair, wrapping his arm around him and turning him away from the fight so Ezra would be in no danger of being hit if a blaster managed to find its way past their friends.

"Tired? Bit of running get to you?" He tried to tease instead.

"Yes." Ezra rasped out. Having to use so much of the Force to get all the pirates to falter...and the throbbing just getting worse in his arm...now that had pulled on all his muscles.

Zeb's grin faltered a bit and he grunted and pulled him closer, tucking Ezra against him. "Didn't think you'd admit that."

"Tired..." The teen rasped out. "Very tired...they were HEAVY." He waved his left hand in demonstration, wanting Zeb to know and the Lasat hummed in understanding. "Oh." He cupped the back of the Ezra's head with his hand, sliding his other arm around the waist and gave support quietly, feeling the other melt a bit and cling to it, his little show of power having stripped him to the bone after everything else that had happened.

The ramp of the Ghost closed and they were off.

Ezra spared a few moments of relief for that before he felt Kanan come over and carefully take him from Zeb. "Alright, give me your hand Ezra." There was something resigned in the tone and Ezra gave Kanan his left hand.

"The other one Ezra." Kanan's disapproving teal eyes bore into him and Ezra, exhausted slowly gave him the hand, letting Kanan tug the glove of while pulling the sleeve up. It was red and swollen even to sight.

"You took of the brace." He sighed.

"I couldn't...climb the vents with it on, it would be to noisy and I needed full flexibility to move." Ezra justified.

"It may become worse Ezra. We'll have to check it." He carefully moved Ezra's fingers, watching him hiss and grunt in pain. "Not to mention just how much Force you threw out in there."

"They were heavy..."

"I know, I'm not blaming you Ezra, I'm just worried. Especially with the condition of your hand right now." Kanan looked to Zeb. "Go get a painkiller would you? And the hypospray to prevent a fever along with a gel pack for the swelling."

"Where is the brace Ezra?" Sabine scowled at him, unhappy that he had taken it of despite his good reasoning.

"My backpack along with my leg guard. I took them both of for the same reason." Ezra gives her a sheepish smile before looking up at Kanan, swaying a bit on his feet. "I don't have to put them on now do I?" He was a bit doubtful he could right now with the swelling his hand was experiencing.

"No, it would do more harm then good but so help me Ezra...if you take that thing of next time, I will personally strap you to a medical bed and make sure it heals." Kanan snorted as Zeb returned with the needed medical supplies.

He made Ezra sit down on a crate and knelt down, carefully touching the swelling as he let Zeb give Ezra the hypospray and painkiller, focusing on getting the gel pack where it was needed. The teen gave a slight hiss then relaxed slowly as he felt Kanan reach out with his Force, doing nothing but soothing Ezra's frazzled self.

"You're going to be sleeping for a while once those painkillers kick in. You used a good bulk of Force in one go."

"I've used the Force that much before." Ezra sulked.

"True but not that much in one go. Smaller doses over hours with time to recover in between Ezra. This took a drain and you know it." Kanan hummed as Hera joined them, getting the story from Sabine.

"Well...for what its worth...I did enjoy seeing you hog tied like a roast." Ezra gave a wicked grin and Kanan snorted.

"Brat."

Author note: Yup, I'm alive. Sorry people I, well I had some troubles. And yes its related to my surgery but don't worry, I got painkillers and all, anyhow, enjoy