Chapter Two: An Offer

"Are you ever going to let me out of here?" I called from where I sat in the interrogation room, my wrists starting to ache from the binders. Clones in red-painted armor stood outside the ray shield, never even turning their heads. "At least take the binders off," I muttered, staring at the bland gray wall. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

I heard footsteps, sensing a few men approaching. Clones. Three entered, all clad in armor that was decorated with worn blue paint. I recognized one immediately, the symbol of the Republic emblazoned on his helmet as it had been on his skull.

I smirked. "How's your nose?"

The clone didn't respond, a third coming forward that had a medic's mark on his arm. I lifted my eyebrow at him as he paused, removing his helmet. I recognized him as another from 79's, but I finally had a chance to look at him. His hair was cropped close and sculpted, showing off a tattoo on the left side of his head.

He saw me eyeing it, making him give me a cocky grin. "Like it?" I lifted my eyebrow, reading the Aurebesh. A good droid is a dead one.

"I think you're making a grand assumption."

The clone with the Republic symbol on his helmet laughed, but I could feel tension rolling off of his other masked companion. I cast them both curious looks, but let it go.

"I need you to remove your armor," the medic said.

"Oh, do you?"

"I'm a medic," he said, gesturing to his shoulder guard with the red cross on it.

"I know what the symbol means," I said sarcastically, giving a scowl. "But I don't need your help."

"We were ordered to patch your shoulder," the last clone finally said. "So you'll remove your armor."

"And you are?" I asked, already knowing he was a man of high rank, considering he wore both a kama and a pauldron. Even more telling were the Jaig eyes on his helmet. Had he met Jango himself? As I asked, feeling the men around me tense, I felt another presence. There were two this time, both feeling proud and powerful. One of the two, however, rippled with untamed power, the force fluxing around him in waves.

My eyes went to the door before they even appeared, prodding the clones to look too. No one was there yet, the leader looking back at me with curiosity.

"What are you-"

"I see our kind approach didn't go very well," a man said as he stepped up to the ray shield. It dropped away to allow he and his companion enter the holding cell. Jedi.

"Oh, is that what it was?" I asked, not allowing his rippling force presence to hinder my usual snark. Both of the jedi lifted their eyebrows in surprise as I leaned back in my chair, wary of my injured shoulder. "Since when do jedi deal with petty crime?"

"Is that what you were committing?" the bearded jedi spoke, his voice accented and strangely nice to hear.

I smirked. "That's what I'm here for, according to Fox."

"You know his name," the younger jedi spoke. He wasn't asking, but I explained anyways.

"Most people of Coruscant do. If they're from the lower levels."

"And is that where you're from?" the accented one asked now.

My eyebrow arched as I smirked. "I live there, yes." They didn't respond, watching me. "But that's not what you asked," I sighed, but smiled. "What does my birthplace have to do with punching your clone over there?" I gestured to the clone with the Republic sigil on his head.

The jedi ignored my snark, the clones receding to stand behind them as their generals sat. "You have quite a reputation, Kida."

"Do I?" I asked, holding back a flinch at them knowing my name.

"They call you the Oracle, don't they?" the accented one asked. "You always seem to be one step ahead of your targets. Clean work."

I shrugged, wincing slightly at my shoulder. "I'm a planner. Remind me what this has to do with my charges? I'm not wanted by the Republic for my work."

"No, you're not," the younger one said with a smirk.

I shook my head as they watched me. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"How rude of us," the accented one exclaimed. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is Anakin Skywalker."

Both of the names struck me, since both held reputations on the warfront. I smirked, leaning back and regarding them, especially the younger. "And you said that I have a reputation," I chuckled. Interestingly, Skywalker seemed to like my praise. Not very jedi-like.

"Let's just jump to the point then," Kenobi spoke eloquently. He was known as a negotiator. Oh boy.

"Let's," I agreed, shifting uncomfortably in the binders.

"The Republic is willing to drop the charges." My eyebrow lifted in doubt, waiting for Kenobi to continue. "If you assist in the war effort."

My heart jumped to my throat, flashing to Jango.

"There are things you don't understand, ad'ika," he'd said.

"You hate the jedi. I don't understand why you would help make them an army."

Jango had just shook his head. "You'll understand one day."

"No," I said immediately.

"You'd rather serve prison time?"

I licked my lips, shifting uncomfortably. "I had a friend who got involved with the war. It got him killed."

"You're afraid, then," Skywalker said, crossing his arms.

I glared at him. "No. I'm not stupid."

"Your friend," Kenobi said after a moment, looking over my figure. "Was it Jango Fett?"

My heart seized, feeling the tension from the clones. My eyes lifted to them, looking at their visors. I was glad I couldn't see their faces. It would make it harder. I didn't respond, merely looking at the jedi.

Kenobi continued. "The symbol on your shoulder guard. It's a kyr'bes isn't it? A Mandalorian symbol. And you wear Mandalorian steel. That's not something that's just given away to outsiders."

"What does it matter if I knew Jango?"

"He trained you," Skywalker chimed in. "Or so people say."

I leaned forward, giving a tight smile. "So let's say he did," I allowed. "Why the kriff would you want me to help you? Jango had no love for the Republic. And especially no love for the jedi."

"Yet he helped make us an army," Kenobi countered.

"He did it for the money. Not for you." Of course, my response openly admitted that I'd known Jango, but I didn't care.

"So his distaste for us, one that originated from his Mandalorian background, is something you share?"

I scowled. "I don't have opinions because someone else demands me to have them. My own experiences with the jedi have shaped how I see you."

"And how is that?"

I looked them over, glancing up at the clones briefly. "Hypocrites."

"Oh?" Kenobi said, his eyebrows lifting.

"You call yourselves defenders of peace, but you lead armies. Wage war. Kill people."

"You mean kill Jango," Skywalker spoke. "He was trying to murder the Senator of Naboo." His emotions rippled through the force, making my eyebrows lift. Kenobi didn't seem to react. Maybe he was used to it. Or maybe Skywalker hadn't thought to close himself off from me as he was clearly doing to his friend.

"I never said that Jango was doing the right thing," I allowed. "Or even the smart thing. I'd told him it was stupid to get involved. Especially with both sides."

"This is pointless," Skywalker said, his anger sending a dark feeling my way. It put me on edge, my muscles clenching. He stood, gesturing to Kenobi. "Why does the council even think this is a good idea?"

Kenobi waved dismissively at his former padawan. "So you'd prefer captivity to freedom?"

I laughed. "You think that being dragged into your war is freedom? As if you or your soldiers are free?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not a slave," Skywalker spit. I could feel the tension rolling off of him. He'd been one before. I could feel it.

"I thought that when I first got out of slavery too," I admitted, shocking myself by admitting I'd been a slave. Skywalker seemed shocked, but I waved my hand between us. "One can always recognize another, jedi." I paused, looking around at the men in the room. "We all become slaves to something if we serve some cause. There's always someone in charge above us."

"If that's true, what's the difference between what you're doing and what we're offering you?"

"I don't serve anyone. Not anymore."

Kenobi regarded me, smiling gently, but Skywalker only scowled, rippling with frustration. "Bounty hunters," he scoffed. "They're all the same. Scum."

I rolled my eyes. I'd gotten used to people looking down at me and my profession. But when something needed to be done? Someone rescued. A debt repaid. A criminal found. They came to me, in the end.

"Don't listen to them ad'ika," Jango used to say. "In the end, we are the gears that enable the rest to turn."

"Come now, Anakin," Kenobi said with a smile, standing slowly. He walked to me, waving his hand and releasing my bindings. "If you truly serve no one, then so be it. Serve yourself." I lifted my eyebrow. "You're free to go."

"What?" I asked, shocked. It seemed the rest of the room was, too.

Kenobi stepped sideways, showing me the open doorway. "You're free to go. Just know that the offer is still on the table. And know that if you join, you'll be paid handsomely by the Republic."

I stood immediately, casting my eyes around the room. I didn't respond, stepping past them and out the door. I was led through the halls by the clones in blue, the one with Jaig eyes seeming to be rather irritated in his silence.

My confiscated gear was slid out to me in a box, Fox standing behind it, seeming equally as irritated. I cast him a dazzling smile and put my weapons and comms unit back on. "Thanks," I called, walking out the door.

The jedi emerged from the detention center with the three clones, all of them watching as I walked away.

"Hello again, miss," Apex spoke in my ear as my comms came back to life. "How did you manage to escape?"

"It's good to hear your voice," I admitted, casting a glance back at the group standing in the doorway. "And I didn't escape. They let me go."

"That seems foolish." I chuckled at his sarcasm. "Your speeder is arriving now." I watched as my black speeder ascended from the edge of the platform, coming to rest in front of me. I grinned, hopping in immediately. As the cockpit closed around me, I couldn't help but look back at the clones. The one with the Jaig eyes was staring at me, and even though I couldn't see his face behind his visor, I could feel his intense gaze. His frustration. Maybe even anger.

But beneath that, was a curiosity. It peaked my own interest. I'd never interacted with the clones. Outside of Boba, that is. Something told me that while they looked like Jango, they weren't like him. Each of them felt different when I was in the room with them...forced to interact unlike how I avoided them at my club.

I pulled on the joystick, lifting my speeder into the air in order to head back to my club. My home. As I turned away, I couldn't help but look back again. The one with the Jaig eyes was still staring, even as I sped away.