Hi, so I'm posting this chapter so then you're not left hanging too long on the last one. If you've seen my post on my profile, this will be the last post until the end of my final exams in June. I have to focus on these right now so it'll be a while until my next post, but please, bear with me, you have all been really great. Thanks, people.
Chapter 24. Advantage.
"So, Cody, Coates, everyone know the plan?" Obi-Wan asked, his eyes pleadingly penetrating the others stare as he looked at each of the six clones dead in the eye. "I go through the gardens, with the guidance from the Force, and then follow me there and inside inside the palace where we'll confront Vizsla quietly."
"Yes, Sir," the troopers said in unison.
Obi-Wan nodded mutely and turned his whole self towards the edge of the roof. "Follow me." And he suddenly stepped off of the roof, his body soaring through the air, slicing it like a knife as he fell through its thin sheen of air vertically, the only action looking disproportionate being that his arms were spread firmly out from his body like an eagle's.
"Working on it," Cody grumbled as he stepped right onto the edge. "Alright, men, grapple hooks on, now!" The remaining five obediently traced his steps until they were each standing on either side of him in one perfect symmetrical line. Planting the clawed hooks firmly into the walls surface and giving a firm tug to check that they were properly embedded, they each hooked themselves on by the waist and turned with their backs to the gardens. "Let's hope that they don't put a hole in our backs, eh boys?" Waxer commented wryly, Mahoney eyes sparkling with amusement.
The others chuckled as they threw themselves off the roof and swing forwards, kicking their booted feet off the wall each time as they sailed down it matching the speed of gravity, unbeknownst to the Death Watch sentries.
"Where's the general?" Coates asked, twisting his head around to try and catch a glimpse of the auburn haired Jedi.
"He'll be nearby, Coates," Cody responded, eyes locked onto the hook gripping him against the wall, suspending him high above the ground. The only thing that meant the difference between life and death – should the hook disband from the wall. "Just focus on your descent."
Soon enough the men steadily made it to the bottom and detached their cables, winding them around their coils and hooking them back to their belts.
"Let's move," Cody said, manoeuvring through the sea of six men and looking carefully at the wall, calculating where it was best to scale it. Finally, he steadied himself on the heels of his feet, bending his knees and, a second later, he was leaping up to catch the tip of the wall with his fingertips, hauling himself up to swing an arm over it with a soft grunt.
Crouching down, he spotted Obi-Wan awaiting him in the shadowed crevice and rose bushes, azure eyes sparkling intensely like stars through the shadows at him.
Cody, the other five afoot, scurried their way towards the awaiting Jedi General and morphed into the shadows with him.
"Stick to the shadows," Obi-Wan whispered gently. "Follow me, closely."
"As if we were all one life, Sir," Cody said.
Obi-Wan stared at him quizzically. 'Something really has stirred him. What is it?'
"Right, move out. Don't take any of them out, it will only take them a few moments to realise their patrol has been broken, and then we'd all be finished before this even got started." There was a glowing determination in his azure eyes almost like fire burning brightly. Determination.
The clones nodded their ascent simultaneously, and before long, they had weaved through the mazes and past the troops and had successfully made it towards the back entrance.
"If anyone's inside, take them out immediately," Obi-Wan ordered in an extremely low tone, despite there not being much need for it. He was taking this too carefully. So much more than usual. "but do so quietly."
Again the clones nodded in silence, and Cody nodded Jax and Sonny forwards who nodded in return and stood, sides pressed up against the wall and hands clenching repeatedly, reading for a quick and decisive take down.
They both nodded to each other once before nodding three times, on the third bursting in quickly grabbing a guard around the throat and clamping a hand tightly over their mouths as they forced their weight against their knees and brought them into unconsciousness.
The others followed suit and closed the door swiftly, quickly dismissing with the bodies afterwards and moving on.
The corridors were surprisingly empty, despite Vizsla's orders to have Thorn, the ever so delightful member who had decided to brutalize Obi-Wan further during his long captivity here, set up tight watches ever hour, on the hour, waking and sleeping.
"Check your corners," Sonny whispered, the crackling whistling through his helmet mouth piece. Each corner they approached they pressed themselves against the walls edge and popped their heads out, sliding along the wall and around if it was clear to Obi-Wan's directions.
"Left," he whispered softly, leading the clones down there, hand brushing across his lightsaber. He could feel the muscles in his hand contracting, twitching faster with every step, knowing he was approaching his target. With each step, bringing him closer to Vizsla, Obi-Wan could feel a fire burning inside his chest, welling into an inferno of hate and anger. He tried to push it down, but every strict tenant of the Jedi Code or calming method was licked up by the flames and incinerated.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they were standing outside the doors. Obi-Wan stretched out with the Force and felt Vizsla, alone. Perfect. Yet, as his hand touched the door, ready to push it open, he sensed that something was amiss.
He shook his head. It was just his conscious, worrying him as usual. 'You can't be distracted by such things.'
Shoving all doubts aside, he forcefully pushed the door open and stepped in, not bothering about the ominous boom the door made as it shattered violently against the wall, hinges groaning as if in pain when the door swung back a few centimetres.
The wolf-faced, blonde man called out his name, "Kenobi, so lovely of you to join us. And you brought a few friends. What a delight, because I have some right here who are ready to play." Just then, several Death Watch troopers stepped out from the doors parallel to the tyrant as well as Ventress herself.
'Just you wait until I get my hands on you, Ventress," Obi-Wan thought vehemently. 'Not for what you did to me… but for what you did to the one person I care about more than life or the Force itself.'
"Ten against six. Hardly a fair fight," Vizsla smirked triumphantly. "Looks like the odds are in my favour."
"Never tell me the odds," Obi-Wan snarled, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt and igniting the brilliant blue blade, flourishing it intricately.
"Destroy them," the tyrant ordered quietly and calmly as he stepped into the sea of his miniature army as they strode forwards, blasters raised with the lash of a whip and blasting the bolts in rapid succession.
The six dived out of the way into cover as the array of bolts exploded into the wall behind them.
Obi-Wan leapt back out a second later, lightsaber in a flurry of slashes and swirls as he deflected the bolts madly back towards the enemy in all directions. He dashed forwards, ducking and shifting away from the bolts and blocking them desperately, storming towards Vizsla as he leapt over the men's heads and landed before Vizsla, blade swung high to swing low and slash the man in half.
His blue blade was intercepted by two crimson blades, and he was pushed backwards, stumbling back and catching his footing. His eyes lit up like fire as he stared down Ventress, blue on blue.
"We didn't get to finish what we were up to last time," she purred.
"Oh, yes," Obi-Wan replied crudely, stroking his beard and rolling his eyes skyward. "You were beating me senseless. Well, Ventress, I'm all better now."
"Not when I'm done with you, Jedi."
"You won't be anywhere near done with me once my lightsaber is skewered through your stomach."
Ventress bared her teeth in a snarl and lashed out at him, one lightsaber aimed for his head, the other, his midsection. He easily brought his blade upwards and shifted backwards enough to stop her from lacerating his stomach open whilst keeping her other blade propped up against their heads before quickly bringing it down and trapped it around his, swirling it around sharply in a small circle and watched happily as it flew out of her hand and slid along the marble floor.
She looked at the discarded lightsaber in shock before turning angrily back at him and somersaulting over his head, trying to slash at his back to which he easily plunged the blade vertically along him, parrying her attack and making her lose her balance. He quickly spun on his feet and dived at her, arms encircling her waist as he brought her down onto the ground, prone and pinned underneath him, her other lightsaber barely inches away from her hand but unable to reach due to Obi-Wan's superior weight on top of her and his lightsaber dangerously close to her throat, warning her that one false movement would result in death.
She could feel the intense, burning heat singing against the miniscule hairs across her neck and blistering the tender skin of her throat.
"Move and you die," Obi-Wan warned venomously.
Ventress just stared heatedly at him, projecting her hateful feelings towards him like a tsunami wave.
"As much as I would love to kill you for what you did to me and the Duchess," he snarled, eyes burning ferociously that Ventress was sure through the anger and resentment she felt from him that his eyes flashed yellow, even for a millisecond. "I have a better plan for you."
"What?" she hissed defiantly, hissing sharply again as the lightsaber drew closer. "You'll torture me? Ha! You'll only stoop as low as us all!"
"It seems deserving of your actions," he retorted. His conscious was screaming at him, telling him this was not the real him. 'Oh it is me. Just the part of me I never let through, ever.'
"I wouldn't move any further if I were you, General."
Obi-Wan's eyes averted from Ventress' locked gaze to see Vizsla smirking at him, his men standing behind him, some turned to face him whilst others blasters were trained onto the clones who, in turn, also had theirs raised towards them, ready to fire any second as their hearts beat frantically inside their ribcage, pulsating the blood and adrenaline from this experience through their veins.
"And why is that?" Obi-Wan ground out tersely, stepping off and away from Ventress to approach Vizsla.
"Oh, this."
Then, Obi-Wan felt his eyes widen and heart rate increase dramatically, fear clawing away at him as the men stepped away to reveal the group of rebels and Satine, shoved forwards and trapped in Vizsla's vice like grip on her upper arm, blaster pressed tightly up against her lower back.
"Wouldn't want anything to happen to your lovely Duchess now, would we?"
So there we go! A cliffy! Now you will have to wait until after my exams where I have the holidays, and you'll find out what will happen. Please, stay with my, people. I know it'll be a while, but please stay with me. :)