"In Need of Wings"
Chapter the Ninth
Cad Bane had never felt all that comfortable with his new job. Jedi never hired him to do work. Not even undercover work to deliver secret information. Maybe it happened in a rare while to other bounty hunters, but to Bane it was unheard of. Not that that surprised him, given his history with the Jedi.
Especially a Jedi like Skywalker.
To Skywalker, and the Jedi, Bane was a terrorist. A poison. The last sort of scum they would want to be associated with, much less hiring.
As young Tano lay curled up in the chair, knees tucked against her chest and cheeks stained with dried tears, Bane kept an eye on the news by watching holovision. The earliest reports of the Jedi Temple burning had arrived just earlier that night—within minutes that Tano realized something was wrong.
Of course, the news could never be relied on, Bane knew that. But it might lead to some clue as to what the hell happened at the Temple. So far there was nothing besides the leaked footage.
The holovision had only been on for several minutes when Bane's comm went off. It was Skywalker. Bane answered it immediately, surprised that Skywalker would call him now of all times. But Bane also felt relief that his employer, who had yet to pay the rest of what he owed Bane for the job, was still alive. Bane really hated it when people who owed him money got killed off.
"Bane, follow the coordinates I'm about to send to you. I will meet you there in one hour with the rest of your payment," Skywalker said.
"Understood." Bane frowned slightly. Something was…not right about Skywalker's voice. He didn't sound like himself. More detached, isolated, apathetic. Where was the Jedi whose tone always indicated that he was one step short of breaking Bane's neck with his bare hands? But given the circumstances and all, Bane understood, if only a little. "And I'm assuming we won't be meeting at the Temple?"
There was a slight pause on the other end.
"Don't be late," he said curtly before the signal was cut.
Bane returned to look in on Tano in the other room. She was still shaking and had begun muttering quietly to herself. He couldn't blame her. The place she had grown up in her whole life was being destroyed, with no explanation given. Poor kid.
"I have a small errand to run," Bane said. "Should be back in a couple hours."
"What if I'd rather not be alone?"
"Huh?" He frowned. That was a weird thing for Tano to say…oh, fuck it. Everyone was acting weird today.
"Can the errand wait a bit?" Tano snapped. She rubbed her arms, digging her fingernails against her skin.
"'Fraid not. Look, my butler droid is shut down in the back room. He'll keep you company." He pulled on his leather coat. "Oh, and don't go anywhere."
She glared at him.
"I'm serious. If you go anywhere before I get back, I'll—"
"I get it," Tano said coldly.
Without another word, Bane left her alone. He put in the coordinates and made his way to the meeting point, all the while wondering what Skywalker was up to. Why Skywalker sounded that way, and in light of what happened at the Temple.
Maybe Skywalker didn't even know what was going on yet. It would explain how he brushed aside Bane's comment on it. Or maybe he really did know, and needed the distraction of giving Bane his full payment to temporarily escape the disaster.
Bane remembered how that face-to-face conversation had gone. It had taken place months ago now.
"There is someone I need you to find for me," Anakin Skywalker said.
Bane eyed him carefully. Skywalker had tracked him down to a shipping yard on Nal Hutta, where Bane had just finished a job for the Hutts. Of course, Bane didn't buy Skywalker's story until he filled in the bits and pieces.
"My former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano…she left the Order. I have no idea where she is or what she's doing."
"Say no more. I'll have her hauled back to the Temple in no time." Bane crossed his arms.
"What? No, no, that's not what I want!" Skywalker cried. "I want you to find where she is and make sure she's doing all right."
"You're asking me to just check up on her?"
Skywalker stepped back slightly. His hair had grown longer since Bane last saw him; he looked slightly paler, and thinner. There was pain in his eyes. The war had not treated Skywalker well.
"Not just that. I know Ahsoka will have a very hard time surviving on her own. Let's just say the Jedi Order doesn't teach many necessary life skills."
The word 'Jedi' had sounded like it carried more than a slight resentment. Interesting; at least they had one thing in common now.
"Oh, don't tell me." Bane sighed.
"Teach her anything she needs to know so she'll be all right on her own. I'll trust you to know what she needs to learn and how. Keep me in touch with how she does."
"What's all this for, anyway?"
"I just…" Skywalker looked away. "I just need to know she's safe. That I didn't send her to her…" He stopped. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand that."
"No. Not really."
A strange job, very strange actually. But it was a job Bane couldn't refuse because the pay was high. So he found where young Tano lived and began his work.
As soon as that happened, something in Skywalker began to change. Bane noticed it when he met Skywalker face-to-face again, at the Jedi's request.
Unlike before, Skywalker had been full of questions about Tano. Wanting to know what sort of job she had, activities she did in her free time, the sort of people she hung out with, and on and on. And on top of that, Skywalker was not just interested in what she did all the time. He also wanted Bane to keep track of any questions or statements she made about the Order, Anakin, the war, and anything relating to them. He wanted to know if Tano expressed any regrets about leaving, or any desire to come back.
It made Bane begin to wonder, how much more was to this job than just Ahsoka Tano's safety? How much had he really been paid to do?
Skywalker's health did not improve over the months, as Bane continued Tano's training and discovered that his own patience with teenagers was being trained as well. Skywalker looked more and more weary. He wasn't getting enough sleep or enough to eat. And it was getting more obvious every time the Jedi and the bounty hunter met for an update on the job. And Bane could have sworn he saw scars on Skywalker's left wrist when his sleeve was lowered just enough to reveal it.
He was caught in the middle of something terrible between these two. The Master and the former Apprentice. And it was dangerous, not to mention extremely awkward and unpredictable.
On the bright side, it made good money.
Then came the day Skywalker asked Bane to give Tano his comm number.
"She needs to hear me talk to her. She needs to come see me. If I can talk to her and explain everything…then she would come back, wouldn't she?"
"Where did you pick up an idea like that?" Bane asked.
He thought he heard Skywalker mutter something about a 'dream' and 'the Chancellor,' but he couldn't be sure. "She kept the Padawan braid I sent as proof that I had hired you. That means something. And she told you that she misses me…that means something too!" Skywalker had not made any eye contact with Bane during the entire conversation. He kept rubbing the glove covering his mechno arm, pacing around, like he was uncomfortable in his own skin.
Everyone seems to be going insane these days, Bane thought.
"I get it," Bane muttered, "you just want her back so you'll stop feeling like a failure."
That statement seemed to dig a lot deeper than Bane intended.
"You don't know anything!" Skywalker snapped. "She will come back! She will want to come back. And I'll make sure of it…I'll do whatever it takes so she can understand why she needs to come back…"
"Yeah, right. Gotcha."
As soon as he left, Bane changed the comm number Skywalker gave him. Whatever was currently pushing Skywalker right now, Tano had no business dealing with it. It would mess her up to hear Skywalker talking like that. And Bane did not want to deal with Tano being messed up again.
And now this. The attack on the Temple. Skywalker's odd tone of voice. The vague explanation for their meeting. Bane understood the necessity of all the secrecy. But the timing was all off. It didn't make sense. He would have thought Skywalker would be begging to know that Tano was safe from the attack, but there had not even been the slightest mention of her.
Whatever it was, Bane knew it wasn't going to be good. When this was over, he hoped to leave Coruscant finally. The Master would have to confront the Apprentice on his own terms.
It was nightfall by then. Bane arrived at his destination as indicated by the coordinates, chilled by the night air as his olfactory senses picked up black smoke nearby. He stared down in disbelief.
This can't be right. He checked again, then re-checked. This is exactly where Skywalker had asked to meet him.
The Jedi Temple. Specifically, the Processional Way, connecting the Precinct to the Temple.
A slight chill crawled up Bane's spine. The Temple was still aflame in several large areas. He could see corpses on the ground around the exterior…some of them were younglings. And were those clone troopers? What the hell was going on?
At the Processional Way, Bane could see around two dozen clone troopers standing in formation at the top of the long boulevard, directly in front of the entrance to the Temple. In front of them stood a figure with a black cloak covering his head, blue lightsaber drawn. Bane could only assume it was Anakin Skywalker.
Bane could usually figure confusing scenarios out fairly quickly, make sense of the information in front of him and arrive to a logical conclusion. It was one of his best skills as a hunter. It was just what he did.
But this. Made no sense at all.
He couldn't tell if the clone troopers were protecting Skywalker—and if so, from whom? Clones who decided to rebel against the Jedi?—or if they were holding him at gunpoint. Either way, it was already too late for Bane to turn back. He landed the speeder, feeling more chills through his body as the smell of smoke increased.
It seemed extremely inappropriate, seeing how the backdrop was a burning Temple, but Bane couldn't help himself. He walked up to the hooded figure and announced, "I'm here to collect my payment."
He pulled back his hood. Skywalker looked the same, save for his eyes. They were discolored to an orangish-yellow hue. "Not yet."
"What do you mean, not yet? You said—"
"I know what I said. And you will receive the rest of your payment…soon." His voice was cold, void of emotion, but seemed tainted with a rage that could break free at any given moment.
Bane would never admit how much that scared him.
"Oh don't tell me. You're here to explain how you can't get the money because of…this burning issue?" Bane gestured to the Temple behind Skywalker. It cast a fiery glow around Skywalker's shape, reflected off the helmets and rifles of the clones.
"Don't put words in my mouth, Bane." Skywalker flexed his right hand for a moment, then stopped.
"Then state your business. Come on, I don't have all night."
"Before I give you the rest of your payment, there is one more thing I need your help with. And I will pay you extra for it."
"It's unprofessional for you to add more to the job on last minute notice, you know. This is the last time I'll take a job from you, Jedi," Bane growled, trying to hide how he was growing more scared of Skywalker every second.
To his surprise, Skywalker began laughing. He grinned wildly, curls hanging over his eyes. "Oh, Bane…'Jedi.' It sounds so silly now…hearing you call me that."
So he's not a Jedi…then what is he? Did he join the rebel clone troopers? Did Skywalker…betray the Jedi Order? Or am I missing something here?
"Sorry, I seem to be behind on the current headlines. So what are you, then?"
"You're a smart man. Haven't you figured it out?"
"Figured out what? That you're ripping me off?" But Skywalker's words had chilled him to the bone.
What is he saying…?
"Ripping you off? Of course not. For this last job, I'll give you one-and-a-half million credits."
That should have gotten Bane's attention. But he was a lot more interested in the Temple. The Jedi. The dead younglings and dead clones and the clones guarding Skywalker. And it all painted a dark, ugly, menacing picture that was only beginning to fall into place. Many of the pieces were missing…
And Bane was starting to get the feeling that he was one of those pieces…
"What do you want me to do?"
"Simple, really." Skywalker's smile faded immediately, and he clenched his right hand. "I want you to bring my former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, back to the Temple. Bring her to me. Alive."