"In Need of Wings"
Chapter the Nineteenth
Ahsoka's focus on Ventress, and all the strange feelings she felt around her, grew stronger as they made their way through the streets of Nar Shaddaa. Here, unlike the neighborhood on Coruscant where she lived for a few months, this planet left little to the imagination. The filth lingering in the air covered every person they passed. A sort of filth that went deeper than the physical sense…filth that stained the mind and soul.
She had to know what Ventress was like…how much she had changed. How much Ventress could be trusted. What made her tick. It was Ahsoka's responsibility to know for sure, as she could not allow either Bane or her to be hurt because they trusted someone. She learned that lesson the hard way with the Jedi Council, and did not have plans to learn it ever again.
Focusing on Ventress also proved to be a decent distraction from the agony that had become the faraway, but constant presence of the Sith once known as Anakin Skywalker. The only other ways to forget about what happened to 'Skyguy' involved alcohol, spices, or cigarettes, or a combination of any or all of the three. A habit Ahsoka had to be wary of.
Ventress still felt twisted as ever. Like a bad storm waiting to happen just around the bend. But she also felt less fragile…as if such a bad storm would arrive more by Ventress' choice, not the choice of another.
Ahsoka did not know if that should comfort her, or terrify her. Maybe both.
Ventress gave Ahsoka a cold glare as they walked alongside each other. Bane, completely unaware of what was going on between the two women, snapped another order at them to follow him down a path back in the direction of the docks. Ventress only glared at Ahsoka again, eyes darkening.
It had only been a matter of time before Ventress could sense how much Ahsoka was focusing on her, she knew. Even if Ahsoka had tried to read her without making her Force presence intimidating. When Ventress slowly reached down and tapped the hilt of her lightsaber, Ahsoka mentally backed off, worried she had scared Ventress.
Instead, the former assassin gave Ahsoka a dirty look that clearly read 'If you try to get to know me with a cheap trick like that one more time, I'll bite your montrals off."
A chill ran up Ahsoka's spine. She could already feel Ventress's sharp bite. Most of that feeling was very unpleasant. Suddenly, Ventress turned her attention back to Bane.
"Let's get something to eat while we're here. I'm starved," Ventress said.
"You sure you can't wait?" Bane had an edge to his tone whenever he spoke to her now.
"Yes. Both of us need our fuel before we leave the system. Don't know when we'll get a chance again."
Bane muttered something in Durese…luckily, Ahsoka had been searching Durese phrases on the HoloNet so she could understand what he said sometimes. This time, it translated to "I hate it when the bitch is right."
They found a small diner on a street corner that seemed relatively clean. Inside, Ventress insisted on sitting alone at the bar while Ahsoka and Bane shared a booth.
"When was the last time you were here? Just…curious." Ahsoka hoped to keep up a small conversation with Bane. She needed to tell him what she was sensing about Ventress.
"Some years ago." Bane looked down at the table. "I was young."
Anticipating that he would continue the story, Ahsoka waited. Fifteen seconds passed and Bane still did not say anything, as he studied the scratches on the table and picked at them with the edge of his fork. Ahsoka watched him.
"Sooo…what happened?"
Still, Bane did not look up.
"It's not important," he muttered.
"Why, think I'm going to get bored hearing one of your stories?" Ahsoka forced a smile. Funny how often she seemed to be doing that these days. "Come on. You're always letting me cry about all my fucking problems…I don't know where you're from. I don't even know where you got your stupid hat."
Normally Bane would fall for the bait of an insult to his hat. Not this time.
"Duro system. New Tayana, Descent ghetto district," he said flatly.
"Ghetto district?" She frowned.
"When I was a kid, I wanted to join the academy and be a pilot. Explore the stars, chart new courses." He made a small scratch in the table with his fork. "Life had other plans for me."
"I would guess so." She did not have to ask if those had been unfortunate plans.
"So, then, starting from when I was young…" he sighed, "to survive, I did dirty work for criminals in the ghetto. Passing along information, spying, stealing, that sort of thing. Got good enough at it that I could work on my own by the time I was…well, about your age. Too late to become a pilot by then. Lots of practice in the field, and lots of mistakes as I built my profession, and there you have it."
"I'm…sorry?" She could not think of anything else to say, that is, to a severely abbreviated life story that left out all the details Ahsoka really wanted to know.
"Were you expecting something else?"
"I don't know what I expected. Maybe you would have told me you're an asshole because your boots are too tight." She hesitated. "You never mentioned your family?"
Bane let out a small sigh.
"I didn't have siblings, and extended relatives are scattered, we don't keep in touch. My father died when I was young, and I lost my mother several years later."
As much as she could tell she had not been told the painful side to this story, Ahsoka still felt the old familiar ache in her chest…the ache that longed for a family of her own. Growing up in the Jedi Temple meant she never had real parents of her own. Never got to know what it was like to be one of those kids who goes to school every morning and comes home to eat at the dinner table and gets a hug from Mother and Father before bed. Never knew what it was like to plan what university you went to one day and what career you would have…a normal life.
Anakin had been more like a big brother to her than a father figure. Master Plo Koon had been that father figure, in some ways, but that was never meant to be the moment she walked away from the Order.
No chance of ever getting a piece of what could have been a normal life back, it seemed.
Then again, loss of a normal life was the absolute least of Ahsoka's worries now.
"I'm sorry about your parents," she said quietly to Bane as she picked at her food.
"No, not for my father. I was ecstatic when he died." He neglected to comment on his mother.
"Um, I won't ask why."
"Good for you."
Ahsoka noticed Bane ate little and did not even bother to bring his leftover food with when they left. She made a reminder to only ask about his past next time he was very drunk.
They had just left the diner to make their way back to the ship, when Ahsoka saw Ventress freeze. She stared up ahead with a piercing gaze, as if looking at someone far off.
"What is it?" By second nature, Ahsoka began to reach for her lightsaber.
"I knew it…" Ventress still did not move or avert her gaze.
"Know what?" Bane asked coldly. He was reaching for his blaster as well.
"We were being followed and have just been reported to the local authorities." Ventress glanced at both of them, seemingly amused by their shocked expressions. "You didn't really think I wanted to go to the diner just for a bite to eat, did you? We had to stop somewhere for a good twenty minutes, give or take…that way I'd know for sure if someone was spying on us. And now, they're about to turn us in."
"Why would you want to do that?" Ahsoka snapped. "We already know we're on the run from the Empire."
"But now we know the Empire's influence has spread even to these reaches of Nar Shaddaa. And besides, I have not committed any crimes against the Empire…yet. It's you two they want."
"So you're going to turn us in, then collect the bounty on our heads? I knew we should never have trusted you." Bane drew his blaster, baring his fangs.
Ventress spun around and pulled his blaster from his hand using the Force. Bane was about to tap a switch on his wrist gauntlet when she held up her other hand to stop him.
"Slow down there, sweetie. Who said anything about turning you in? I just needed to know if we could be tracked here, that's all. It's useful information to have on the Empire's power, even in Hutt Space…you can't disagree on that."
"See, this is why I hate you." Bane glared at her.
Ahsoka stood next to Bane and gestured for Ventress to give him his blaster back. She reluctantly did so, but not before a sour look passed between the two. The tension between them was almost worse than the impending threat from the authorities coming towards them in the same second.
"You got us in this mess, you're going to get us out. Stop them before they find us, and meet us back at the ship. Then we'll finish this conversation," Bane said.
"Finally, I thought I'd never get to have some fun around you two." She drew her lightsabers and stepped back. The red glow reflected off her skin making her seem even more deadly and terrifying. Although neither Cad Bane or Ahsoka Tano would ever admit they were frightened of her. In a flash, she had slipped away back down the alley. As soon as she was out of sight, Bane put his hand on Ahsoka's shoulder to pull her with him in the other direction.
"I knew this alliance with her would be a mistake," he muttered as they made their way back to Sleight of Hand.
Ahsoka, not in the mood to comment, focused on staying close to Bane. Danger was approaching, but her senses were thrown off, and not just by Ventress' presence always lingering nearby.
The Force tugged at her. Making her nerves tingle, like she had stepped too close to an open flame. A dark cloud strengthening her vision just around the bend, yet filling her with a mixture of dread and serenity, confusion and clarity. She glanced around them as lights from a speeder flashed against the walls of the alley, and turned everything red.
"We have company," she said, a split second before a figure wearing black armor and a helmet dropped from the roof above them, a blaster rifle at his side. The two turned around just in time to see him raise his weapon at them.
"Ahsoka Tano, Cad Bane, in the name of the Galactic Empire, you are both under arrest."
Bane smirked and hovered his hand over his wrist gauntlet. His focus zeroed in on the guard in front of them, with Ahsoka watching both carefully to see who would attack first.
The guard shot at her first. She used her lightsaber to deflect each shot, striking the walls on either side of them. Bane stepped out of the way as he drew his blaster, firing at the guard who slipped out of the way and continued to focus on taking down Ahsoka first. She could not even care if she got hit or not. Only that, should one of them escape Nar Shaddaa, it would be Bane. And that what happened to him on Coruscant would never, ever happen again while she was still alive.
"We should split up," Bane said to Ahsoka as he ducked behind a trash bin. She held her lightsaber in front of her and did not take her eyes off the guard.
"No. We need to stick together," she said firmly.
The Force did not alert her to the guard approaching them from behind until it was too late. Movement from the corner of her eye alerted her and she glanced back to see the second guard aim his blaster at Bane. Her cry of warning did not come fast enough.
"Cad!"
The guard pulled the trigger, striking the middle of Bane's back. He went down instantly.
A/N: Sorry this chapter is real late...again. Christmas break and personal junk kicked my writing muse down. But this story is still going!