Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. I just created my own little AU corner to play in.
AN: Here's chapter 7! Thanks for all the great reviews. Reminder, 3 years have now passed since the events in chapter 6. Anakin is now sixteen.
Force Jumper
Chapter 7: Evolving Identities
Anakin crouched behind the railing on the upper level of the brothel he had been casing for weeks. This time it was on Cloud City and being that many dangerous bounty hunters frequented the place, he had painstakingly taken the time to make sure he had the ability to keep everything under control. He watched carefully, as two more sleamos waltzed into the establishment, dragging several children along by neck manacles. His blood boiled at the sight, as the two boys and three girls, all human, couldn't be any older than twelve.
"Your crop is a little young this time," a gruff man sneered, as he approached. The Dug owner, Sevula, who reminded Anakin of Sebulba, which made him detest him even more, scanned the children with his greedy eyes.
"Pretty ones, but I only need a couple this young. Most of my customers want a little older than this," Sevula negotiated.
"That's fine, I'll get a pretty price off what you don't buy on Tatooine. There's a place there that takes 'em real young," the slaver sneered at the whimpering children. Sevula smirked.
"Yeah and the ones that go in there usually don't live to see their next life day," Sevula sneered at him, frightening them even more.
"Not that you'll fare much better here. I got some rough customers," he hissed. That was it. Anakin couldn't take it anymore and he was going to be damned if he let these pieces of pond scum traumatize these children even more. He glared daggers at each offender in the room. There were about nine more in addition to the two making the deal at the moment. He would have to go with the element of surprise on this one and do this in the dark. He looked up at the light fixture on the ceiling and followed the hook up, until he found the fuse box on the far wall. Reaching deeply into the Force, he opened the small hatch and pulled the correct wires. It sparked violently and plunged the dingy place into pitch blackness. Cries of confusion filled the air, as the only light became his blazing sapphire blade. He jumped to the first floor and absorbed the stray blaster bolts that some fool started firing off.
"Stop shooting, you frackin' moron, you'll kill us all!" Sevula shouted, as his eyes searched the darkness.
"Your mind tricks don't work on me, Jedi, so don't even think I'll fall for anything," he called, trying to intimidate his adversary, though the shaking in his voice gave his true fear away. Anakin smirked.
"Good thing I'm not a Jedi," he hissed with satisfaction, as a loud commotion filled the place. Sevula's eyes darted around in the darkness, as the whirling light saber spun about with lightning speed. The children had scampered underneath a table, though unbeknownst to them, they weren't in any danger. Finally when the lights came up, thanks to Anakin again, Sevula found that his customers were tied up together, in pairs, with the very chains they forced their slaves to wear. They were also simply asleep, surprising Sevula, as he assumed they would all be dead.
"If I was like you, they would be dead…but I'm not," the light saber wielder spat. Sevula finally got a good look at him and sneered evilly. He was just a child too! No different than the ones he forced into the back rooms to please customers.
"Well, well, I wonder how much I can get for a strapping lad like yourself," Sevula hissed.
"I wonder if you'll be punished for your evil when you leave this life for the afterlife. I hope you suffer a thousands times more than the poor, defenseless children you've destroyed in this life," Anakin spat, his voice seething with vehement. Sevula chuckled.
"Your new Master will have his work cut out for him in breaking you. Maybe I should help the process along," Sevula slithered, as he snapped his electro whip. The children began to cry out at the sight of it, having been touched one too many times by the weapon. On the good chance that Sevula might pull them into the crossfire, Anakin stretched his arms around them and disappeared. Sevula's and the slaver's eyes darted around the room wildly.
"Where did that frackin' whelp get to?" the slaver snarled. As he said that, he suddenly felt himself fall forward, landing flat on his face.
"You should watch your step," Anakin told him, as he stepped over him and focused on the Dug.
"Where are my slaves?" Sevula hissed.
"They're safe where you can never hurt them again," Anakin spat back. Sevula drew his arm back and cracked the whip at the young man, intending to make him pay. But again, the young man disappeared right before his eyes.
"You'll need to be a little faster with that thing to catch me," Anakin goaded, as he stood on top of one of the tables behind him now. The Dug sloppily swung again, missing for the second time, as the teenager appeared again in front of the slaver. As expected, Sevula swung again and Anakin jumped out of the way, causing the whip to strike the slaver. He screamed in pain, before the Dug managed to pull back, leaving the man writhing on the dirty floor in pain.
"How does it feel?" Anakin hissed. The large man roared in anger, as he got to his feet and lunged at the teen, but he was expecting it. Kneeling down, he tossed the man who was twice his size over his shoulder and threw him into his Dug partner. They both landed in a painful heap on the floor.
"What…are you?" Sevula rasped, as he started to get to his feet.
"The end of you and your evil ways," Anakin answered.
"Stand and fight me like a man…fight me without using your freakish powers," the slaver growled. Anakin's gaze steeled on the man.
"Fine," Anakin snapped back, as he stood ready, as the brute launched at him with fists ready. Anakin blocked the one meant for his face and thrust his elbow into the man's nose, breaking it on contact. He held his face in pain, as blood gushed down it. He screamed in pained agony, getting a psychotic look in his eye, as he wrapped his large hand around Anakin's neck, trying to choke him. This left Anakin no choice, as he broke the man's hold using the Force and twisted around, reversing their positions. Anakin put him in headlock and nearly hesitated with what he was about to do.
"Even though you're evil, I truly am sorry, but you've left me no choice," Anakin told him, as he swiftly twisted the man's neck, snapping it instantly. The large man was dead before he hit the floor. The Dug looked at the young man in horror and ran for the exit. But the door slammed shut and he found himself unable to escape.
"Stay away from me!" Sevula screamed.
"I'm not going to kill you, unless you give me no other choice. I'm not like you. I don't prey on those who can't defend themselves," Anakin spat, as he disappeared and reappeared in the Dug's face. He jumped in surprise, but had no where to go. Before he could blink, Anakin grabbed him by his collar and jumped.
Anakin arrived on Malastare with the flailing screaming Dug in his grasp.
"I'm so dizzy…what did you do to me, you little freak?" he screamed, as his vision started to clear. Suddenly, he noticed the familiar landscape of his home world beneath his feet.
"What the…what kind of Jedi trick is this?" he cried.
"I told you I'm not a Jedi. I don't work for anyone other than those who cannot defend themselves. And it's no trick. We're really on Malastare now," Anakin replied stoically, as he shoved the Dug forward toward the nearest establishment. And Sevula recognized it immediately as the headquarters and main business outlet of the largest crime family on Malastare. They controlled the slavery, drug, and all other illegal crime rings on the planet. He worked for them, not by choice of course, and he was in debt.
"What…are we doing here?" Sevula asked, as dread filled him and he struggled to break free of the young man's surprising iron clad grip.
"I told you I wasn't going to kill you. There are plenty of other sleamos within your own kind and business that want to do that. I do my research and I know you owe money to them. They're some of the worst scum and not well known for mercy. Don't worry though, they're on my list too and they'll eventually get what's coming to them. All those who think it's okay to own a person's flesh like it's property will," Anakin said, as he secured him in a pair of stun cuffs around a post.
"You…you can't leave me here, you Sith spawn brat!" Sevula panicked. The teen simply knocked on the door and disappeared.
"NOOO!" Sevula screamed. Anakin watched from a short distance away and saw the door open. The bodyguard that answered obviously recognized the Dug as wanted by his employer for not paying his debt. The Dug screamed and flailed, as two bodyguards undid the stun cuffs and roughly dragged him inside. Anakin was positive that he would never come out. He took a good look at the fortress that belonged to belonged to the Davian family, who ran most of the crime in this quadrant. Someday, he would see that it burned to the ground and that their criminal legacy was snuffed out. There were many families and many organized rings like them on many systems. And Anakin wanted to take them all down. However, these operations were far larger than what he had been taking down thus far. When it came to slave operations, ones like Sevula's were small time. The bigger operations he wanted to take down would not only require help, but extensive planning and a disguise. In fact, a disguise was something that he had started working on in the last year at the suggestion of Jango Fett himself. He remembered the day that Fett had suggested it…
Flashback…approximately eighteen months earlier…
Anakin ducked a hook punch meant for his face and Jango blocked his jab. They locked arms, as Boba played nearby, and Jango ruffled the teen's hair playfully, before pulling back.
"You're getting good, kid," he complimented, as he grabbed his towel and tossed one to Anakin.
"Thanks," Anakin replied.
"Planning some big takedown?" Jango inquired. Anakin shrugged.
"Mostly still small time stuff. I don't think I'm quite ready for the bigger operations, no matter how much I wish I was," he replied, frustrated.
"I…I just feel like I'm not making much of a difference. It's like I'm fighting a Sarlaac and cutting off all the tentacles, but what I really need to do is go for the head itself," Anakin added.
"Well, don't take offense at this, but if you go after the Hutts right now or any of the other heads of any operation, they'll eat you for breakfast as you are now. Even with your powers," Jango said bluntly.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Anakin replied sarcastically.
"Do you want to know the one thing you need before you even think about either taking down bigger operations or getting anywhere near a core planet?" Jango asked.
"Of course," Anakin replied.
"A disguise. You've got that baby face they ain't gonna forget. When they see you, they see you making a lot of credits for them. And if you get near a core planet and take down any kind of operation, the Holonet will have you splashed all over the news in a flash. That happens and you don't disguise that face, you'll never get anywhere near a civilized system again without being hounded, chased, killed or all of the above," Jango told him seriously.
"So you mean I should wear a helmet like you?" Anakin asked.
"Try it on," Jango said, as he tossed it to him. Anakin looked at it uncertainly and awkwardly slipped it on.
"Man…how do you see anything wearing this thing?" Anakin asked.
"You get used to it. Try jumping," Jango suggested. Anakin picked a spot on the other side of the room and disappeared. However, the helmet was messing with his senses too much and he misjudged the distance. He hit the wall and fell unceremoniously to the floor. Jango burst out laughing, as the teen pulled the helmet off. Boba giggled too and Anakin made a goofy face at him.
"You think that's funny, huh?" he asked the small boy.
"You go boom," Boba giggled, as Anakin picked himself up off the floor.
"Well, that's not going to work, but you at least need something over your eyes," Jango said, as Anakin handed him the helmet.
"Like an eye mask?" Anakin asked. Jango shrugged.
"It should be enough. I'm not talking something flimsy, but I've seen your work on my ship. You'll come up with something," Jango said, as he gulped down some water.
"Come on Boba, let's go get some grub," Jango said, as he picked his son up.
"You comin' Ani?" the boy asked. Anakin smiled.
"Sure, I could eat," Anakin replied. Jango rolled his eyes.
"That's nothing new," he teased, as they left the house to hit a local diner down the street.
The reverie of the memory was broken, as he remembered the frightened children that he sough to liberate. He quickly jumped back to the safe house he had acquired on Bespin and the frightened children cowered away from him.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Anakin promised, as he took out his device and knelt down.
"This little thing I have in my hand is going to find the chip in all of you and deactivate it. And then if you can tell me where you come from, I'm going to take you home," Anakin said.
"Why should we trust you? People lie to us all the time," the oldest boy spat. Anakin smiled, as the twelve-year-old reminded him much of himself.
"Because I was once just like you," he responded.
"You were a slave?" one of the girls asked. He nodded.
"Until I was nine and was freed by a very good man. We shouldn't stay here too long though, so let's get this over with so we can leave," Anakin said, as he scanned the oldest boy.
"Will it hurt?" he asked, as the device beeped. Anakin smiled and shook his head.
"You'll feel a slight twitch in the back of your neck. It seems that the slavers that had all of you chose to place your chips near the tip of your brain stem, but this device I built will fry the chip," Anakin explained, as he initiated the sequence and deactivated all the chips.
"There, you're not slaves anymore," Anakin said, as he smiled at the young ones who could be no older than eight. Anakin could tell they were brother and sister, likely fraternal twins. Their brown eyes glistened, as they hugged his legs. He chuckled and knelt down beside them, accepting their hugs.
"Do you know where you come from?" he asked. They looked at each other and shook their heads sadly.
"We've always been this way with our mama until two years ago," the boy spoke. Anakin nodded. They were born into slavery.
"I was born a slave too, but we'll find you a new home with good people," Anakin promised.
"We remember where we're from. We have different parents, but we're from the same mountain village on Alderaan. We'll take them in. The people of our village and our parents will welcome them," the oldest boy said, referring to himself and the oldest girl. Anakin nodded. Alderaan was close to the core. He would have to be very quick. Jango's words about a disguise rang in his mind and he realized that he needed to finish what he was working on before he took on more liberations.
"Okay, everyone hold hands and close your eyes. We'll be on Alderaan in a flash," he told them. They did as he asked and they all disappeared.
His trip to Alderaan had been short and it was fulfilling to see how the parents of the children he had rescued cried tears of joy, but also to see the small mountain village welcome the orphans as well. It reminded him exactly why he did what he did. Upon his return to Yavin IV, he arrived in the secluded jungle temple that housed his and Quinlan's jump sites. In his jump site room, in which the wall was covered in holos, he pulled out a durasteel case and set it on the table. He pressed his thumb print to the scan pad and it unlocked, allowing him to open it. Inside lay a silvery black colored eye mask and Anakin gently picked it up. He had fashioned it by hand himself from a very malleable, yet very strong substance. He had worked tirelessly on it for months, melting the material under fire, shaping it to his design and then quickly cooling it to strengthen it. Once he was finished, he had worked on the inside of the mask, ensuring that it would mold tightly to his face and was comfortable. But the mask was not the end to his disguise.
While those that trained in the Force, namely Jedi, did not believe in wearing armor like the Mandalore, Jango had made several very good points in favor of wearing protective armor. And since Anakin wasn't a Jedi, he wasn't bound by their restrictions or rules. In fact, the idea of wearing armor actually made Master Quin and Master Sifo feel better about him taking on bigger adversaries. They understood his conviction to see this through, but he had too many enemies out there not to take the extra precautions. He unlocked a wardrobe that sat in the corner of the room and examined the body armor that he had constructed by hand. It was far different looking from Mandalorian armor, but would perform the same function. It was black as night in color and would serve as camouflage when needed and made of a durable, moldable substance called Miridium. It was not a common known mineral in the Republic, but used and found in abundance on planets in wild space. It was very durable and his mask was made of the same. But what was most remarkable about the armor was that it could be constructed into a one size fits all sort of garment. As he continued to grow taller and fill out through his teen years, the armor would expand or contract where needed, according to his body shape. It was resistant to blaster fire, light saber heat and when he was done coating it with another substance he had discovered, it would help against electrical attacks. This would be crucial in his fight against the Xal'Kaar. While nothing could completely protect him from the wild power of electricity, the substance he had found, which could be melted into a liquid, was resistant to electricity. Once he was ready, he would coat the liquid over his armor and then allow it to harden. It wouldn't keep the electricity from hurting him, but it would lessen its effects and possibly allow him to escape if it became necessary. It wasn't ready yet, but when it was, then he would really be ready to take on larger slave operations and truly start to put an end to slavery in the galaxy. He closed the case and the wardrobe, locking them both, before he jumped home to the main temple where he lived with his mentors.
Cox surveyed the crime scene inside the scummy cantina with furious green eyes. A dead slaver and the customers alive, but all chained up. No slaves to be found anywhere and a missing, wanted Dug, who had been the ring leader of one of the many slave rings on Bespin. He had been chasing scenes like this for the last three years, trying to catch the most powerful Force Jumper they had ever encountered. Three years ago, before that brat had left him stranded on a mountain top, he had been on his way to being one of Windu's top operatives. But his embarrassing failure had caused him to fall out of favor with his leader and now he sought to regain what he had lost. He lived and breathed nothing else but hunting Force Jumpers now. But that brat, Anakin Skywalker, was number one on his list. He and his new partner had ascended through the ranks in the last three years, earning more and more respect each time they spilled Force Jumper blood. He knew what most would think about them. If anyone knew about them, they would see them as a cult of prejudice murderers. But it wasn't as black and white as that. Force Jumpers were an anomaly in the great scheme of the Force that simply had to be repaired. And the only way to repair that impurity in the Force was with their deaths. Their blood purified the damage. This was their belief and though the Jumpers they killed pleaded for their lives to be spared, he knew they were actually doing them a favor in the end. No one should live with such a damnable curse. They were cleansing them of their impurity and allowing them to be one with the Force. Only through their deaths would a true balance of the Force be brought forth. Mace Windu and the elders had explained this to him all his life. He and other followers believed the Xal'Kaar doctrine was the law of the Force. They were the people chosen to carry out the true will of the Force, as unpopular as their ways would prove to be, if anyone knew about them. The Jedi were the perfect cover for them and allowed them to do their sacred work in secrecy. If only the Jedi would join them in their beliefs. But alas, they had allowed themselves to become the mercenaries of the Republic. Master Windu had said so himself. But one day, when the Senate had dwindled their numbers to nothing through sheer corruption, their notorious leader would rise to make the needed changes. When Mace Windu was no longer hindered by Master Yoda, they would no longer be forced to live in secrecy. Their case would be made to the galaxy and Force Jumpers would be exposed as the abominations that they were. And Cox would be there to see it all.
But Mace Windu had been clear. Anakin Skywalker, a Force Jumper with abilities of likes which they had never seen, threatened the entire future of the galaxy. He was their number one enemy and Cox had a personal axe to grind with the boy that had humiliated him. He knew this latest exploit was the teen's doing. He didn't care that he had supposedly freed more slaves. Windu had made it painfully clear that the boy's seemingly good deeds were simply a ploy to deceive them into thinking that he was good. But Force Jumpers weren't good, nor were they necessarily evil either. They were simply an impurity that had to be expunged for the greater good. Usually it wasn't personal for him or for any of them for that matter. But he wanted this one's blood to spill particularly slowly. Cox was from a very prestigious Koran family, a long line of skilled, accomplished Jumper hunters and this child had made him a laughing stock among his own kin. This one was personal and the brat's head would be his trophy. It would also make him a legend.
"No sign of him. This kid is good. How does he keep erasing his jump scars so well?" Zana Walsh, his new female partner of two years, asked. She had long, sleek jet black hair, dark eyes, and a petite build. But she was not to be underestimated by her size or obvious beauty, for she was as formidable in hand to hand combat as any partner he had ever had.
"His age keeps leaving us underestimating him. He's not only powerful, but extremely clever as well. Master Windu has also suggested that he is possibly skilled with technology. He has built devices to keep us from tracking him and he is obviously using something to deactivate the slave chips in those he is supposedly freeing," Cox explained, as he remained somewhat deep in thought.
"So we're still no where. Master Windu is not happy. This kid is making us all look like a bunch of fools," Zana spat. But Cox smirked.
"You're right. What we're doing isn't working, so it's time to change tactic," Cox replied. Zana's interest perked, as she looked at her partner, who towered over her at nearly six feet three inches. Cox was very well built with short, cropped brown hair and a tanned complexion, evidence of his life spent in the field.
"What do you have in mind?" she asked.
"We're going to set a trap, one he can't resist, and when the time is right, we'll ambush him. It will take careful planning, but if we do this right, he won't be able to escape," Cox said, as they got into the speeder.
"Where are we going?" she asked curiously.
"Downtown," he replied, referring to a particularly seedy part of Cloud City. Zana was quiet after that. Her partner had a plan, but she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't divulging anything yet. She was on a need to know basis. Not that it mattered. If it meant Skywalker's eventual head on a platter for their leaders, then she would do whatever it took to see the plan through to success…