Evelyn and Anakin take a nosedive, just behind Obi-Wan, flying in their starfighters - blue, yellow, and red respectively.
Anakin flips multiple switches in his ship, trying to adjust the flaps on his wings as he and R2 fight off relentless vulture droids, "Master, have you located The Chancellor yet?" Anakin asks through the comm device.
Evelyn is also very worried about Palpatine, as he was the one who helped her through the loss of her sort of mentor outside of the order, Hego Damask, about thirteen years ago now. She visits with him from time to time, but she hasn't had any time to do so because she's been on the front lines.
"Not yet I'm afraid."
Anakin grumbles in frustration, focusing on the ships in front of him, twirling, spinning, firing on anything he sees, making his definitive case for the greatest star pilot in the galaxy, right before it hits him, "He's on the Invisible Hand."
Evelyn swallows a giant lump in her throat, nervous about the fact that she's already roped into invading the most renowned CIS command ship in the galaxy.
Yet again, she is the commander for the most renowned general in the entire war.
Speaking of that said general, Anakin and Obi-Wan move forward on her left, making their approach as she bobs and weaves in between cruisers, trying to pick off any stragglers that somehow made it past Anakin and Obi-Wan's near-impenetrable defenses.
If there's one thing that Evelyn's learned from flying with the duo, it's that Anakin loves flying. It's his pride and joy, what keeps him at bay when he's stressed. And he's a damn good one at that. Master Kenobi on the other hand?
He fucking hates it.
"Master," Evelyn hears her own say, snapping her out of her thoughts, "General Grievous' ship is directly ahead - the one crawling with vulture droids," Anakin says, a hit of venom in his voice, excited to kill the being that's caused the Jedi so much loss throughout the war
Obi-Wan narrows his eyes, "Oh I see it, how easy this will be," the eldest says, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Odd Ball, do you copy?" Obi-Wan asks the clone
"Copy Red Leader."
"Mark my position and form your squad up behind me," Obi-Wan says, activating general mode while Evelyn and Anakin flank on his left and right as they charge toward the vulture droids.
Anakin smiles to himself, "This is where the fun begins," he says happily, gunning down vulture droids left and right, just before they fire missiles. Anakin's eyes go wide, "Missiles, pull up!" Anakin commands, just before realizing that they went straight past him.
"They overshot us," Obi-Wan says, reluctantly spinning to avoid the missiles.
Anakin smiles, getting all four missiles to lock onto his ship before spinning around and around, causing them to all collide with each other.
Anakin laughs to himself, "He seems to be having fun," Evelyn says to herself, still stressed about having to fly, not doing this very often.
Obi-Wan flies through what seems to be space rocks before realizing his mistake, buzz droids landing on his ship, "I'm hit!" Obi-Wan exclaims, frantically pressing buttons to get them off, but it was too late for R4, who met a tragic end, "They're shutting down all the controls," he panics before Anakin works his magic.
"Move to the right so I can get a clear shot at them," Anakin says, aiming his blasters at the droids.
Kenobi curses, "The mission, Anakin get to the Chan-" he can't finish his sentence before Anakin starts shooting at the droids, inadvertently shooting his master's ship, taking off a wing in the process, "Anakin stop! You are not helping!"
Anakin winces, "I agree, bad idea," he says, trying to find another way to help Obi-Wan. He flies next to him, using the wings of his ship to get the buzz droids off, and it works.
"Masters, the command ship is dead ahead," Evelyn says in anticipation.
"Anakin, get the shields down!" Obi-Wan yells as Anakin spins into action, shooting the exterior sides of the landing bay, and destroying the shields.
Anakin's eyes go wide when he sees the blast doors closing, fast, "Oh I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan says, shaking his head as the three Jedi somehow make their way into the command ship.
Obi-Wan and Evelyn instantly shoot out of their cockpits, destroying droids left and right, while Anakin takes his sweet time getting out of his ship before shooting out, cutting through droids. Evelyn, Obi-Wan, and Anakin go back to back, finishing off the last of the droids.
"Artoo, locate the Chancellor," Obi-Wan orders, cutting through the final droid as Evelyn brushes off her tan robes.
Anakin and Obi-Wan look around to see any remaining droids before joining Evelyn and Artoo.
"I sense Count Dooku," Anakin says begrudgingly, clenching his right fist in anger.
"I sense a trap," Evelyn says, peering at every corner of the ship, making sure that there's no ambush coming.
Anakin turns to his old friend, "What's the next move?"
Obi-Wan smiles at his two friends, "Spring the trap," he says, chuckling while walking away.
Anakin turns back to Artoo, "Stay with the ship, wait for orders," he tells his droid.
Obi-Wan takes a communicator off his belt and throws it to Artoo, who catches it with ease, "Stay safe."
The three break into a run towards the elevator shaft, having Anakin and Obi-Wan take point as they always do, Evelyn was trailing behind, ever so slightly.
Unfortunately, a blast door closed right in between them, separating Anakin and Evelyn, "Ev!" Anakin yells out, banging on the door in anger.
"Hey, I'll catch up to you guys," she says through her comm, "Go save the Chancellor."
Anakin ignites his lightsaber, ready to cut through the door before three destroyer droids attack Anakin and Obi-Wan, forcing them to move into an elevator.
Back on the other side of the blast door, Evelyn is handling herself, fighting two magna guards, easily disposing of them thanks to Anakin's helpful tips.
She turns to go to the elevator shaft before laying eyes on General Grievous, "Oh no," she says to herself as she tries to find a way to escape as Grevious cockroach crawls towards her, and the two lock blades for the first time.
She force pushes the General through a couple of walls, and she realizes that her only viable option for escape is what Anakin has insisted that rubbing his fucking eyebrow is the signal.
She smiles before spinning in a circle, cutting the floor from underneath her, falling to the floor below her before running to the elevators.
"We should've gone back for her," Anakin tells his master, his concern for Evelyn evident in his tone.
"Anakin, you've been guiding her for the past few months exceptionally," Obi-Wan says, comforting his old friend, "She'll do just fine since she's always good at getting out of these tough situations."
Anakin nods, happy that those words of knowledge helped, "I can't wait to put an end to this," he thinks out loud, "There has been so much - what he's done - not just to us, but the whole galaxy."
"Anakin," Obi-Wan began warningly.
"Don't worry, I'm not angry or vengeful," Anakin says, trying to believe those words himself, "I'm just looking forward to capturing him," Anakin says, leaning on the wall, realizing the gravity of the situation.
"Anticipation-"
Anakin recovers, "Is distraction, I know," Anakin says, used to this lesson, "And I know everything else you're dying to tell me right now," he says with a teasing grin.
Obi-Wan's slight bow was very affectionate towards Anakin, "I can't help trying to keep teaching you," he defends, "Force of habit."
Anakin chuckles before looking at the door waiting for it to open, allowing the force to reach into him, "I'm ready, Master."
Obi-Wan smiles, very extremely proud of the man standing before him, "I think it's about time you start calling me Obi-Wan."
Anakin smiles and slightly bows towards his old master, standing alone.
They're Kenobi and Skywalker. Two halves of one unstoppable force. These two men have been through hell and back, relying on each other as they made their way through this hellish war.
They were brothers until the end, and they wouldn't have wanted to end this war with anyone else.
The elevator doors open as they run through them, seeing the Chancellor bound to a chair overlooking the battle.
"Chancellor," Obi-Wan says, bowing to the leader of the Republic.
"Are you alright?" Anakin asks his friend.
"Count Dooku," Palpatine says darkly, pointing to the fallen Jedi walking towards them on the floor they were just on moments ago.
Anakin walks behind Obi-Wan, "This time, we do it together," Obi-Wan says, bracing himself for combat.
"I was about to say that," Anakin whispers back, eager to finally end Dooku's reign of terror.
"Get help!" Palpatine pleads, playing his role perfectly, "You are no match for a Sith Lord!"
Anakin turns to Palpatine disapprovingly, "Chancellor Palpatine," Obi-Wan chimes in, "Sith Lords are our speciality," he says with a cheeky grin as the two Jedi throw off their cloaks, Dooku approaching them.
"Your swords, please," Dooku taunts, "We don't want to make a mess in front of the Chancellor."
Obi-Wan steps into an Ataru stance, and Anakin takes a Shien stance, "You won't get away this time, Dooku," Kenobi promises, as the three duelists ignite their weapons, lunging at each other.
Dooku has one goal in mind. Isolate Anakin, and kill Kenobi. He knows the General has already handled Skywalker's lousy apprentice, so he'll be able to draw Anakin closer and closer to the darkness.
Skywalker and Kenobi however, have a different goal. Keep up their ruse, and then capitalize on the inevitable shock Dooku has.
"I've been looking forward to this," Dooku grins, still fixated on his plan.
Anakin paces, "My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count," he taunts, ready to obliterate the Sith Apprentice.
Dooku, still wearing a grin on his face, responds, "Good, twice the pride, double the fall."
Obi-Wan strikes high, while Anakin goes low before the three find themselves at a hold, all three sabers deadlocked before Anakin breaks the stalemate, allowing Dooku to swipe at Obi-Wan.
Given that Dooku was the one who trained Qui Gon, he knows exactly how he's going to kill Kenobi, but first, dispose of Skywalker for the time being.
Dooku hops on top of the table in the middle of the room, expecting Skywalker - who he thought was going to use his acrobatics to meet him on top, slices the table in half at his feet, causing the Sith to topple to the ground.
What?
Then, Dooku realizes his grave mistake. He had completely misread Skywalker. He's not a Shien duelist, but he's fighting with Djem-So.
And a damn good fighter at that.
But then again, Dooku shifted his tactic, sweeping Anakin's legs from underneath him, leaping over to Kenobi to kill, knowing every move he was going to take, but to his shock, Kenobi blocked every single swipe and jab that Dooku threw at him.
Without even moving his feet.
Dooku's had enough of these fucking ruses, so he force pushes Obi-Wan to the ground as Anakin is there to meet him, the two fly up the stairs at a very quick pace, Dooku careful to not lose his footing.
Obi-Wan makes his way up the opposite flight, destroying the droids in his way, and before he can strike at Dooku, the Sith Lord kicks Anakin down before grabbing a hold of Obi-Wan, flinging him towards the wall, bringing the walkway down on top of him.
Anakin's body trembled with rage before lunging at Dooku with a roar, kicking the Sith Lord in the face, and sending Dooku flying off of the second floor, but Anakin instantly calmed, sensing Evelyn rapidly approaching.
Anakin flips down after him, ready to take full control of this duel as he tests Dooku's strength, each of his blows aging the old man by a decade.
Anakin and Dooku reach directly in front of the Chancellor. Spinning around each other, as Anakin's strikes become heavier and heavier on the Count's joints.
Anakin jabs towards Dooku's chest, and Dooku brings his saber down onto Anakin's hands, falling directly into his trap.
The last mistake he'd ever make in Anakin's eyes.
And for Dooku, he realized his mistake once he saw the twitch of Anakin's lips into a smirk.
Anakin releases his lightsaber, sneaking his arm out and above Dooku's collapsing saber. Dooku tries to recover, but it's too late. Anakin goes up, down, and around Dooku's saber, removing both of Dooku's hands, taking hold of the curved hilt, and holding both swords at Dooku's neck.
"Good, Anakin, good," Palpatine chuckles, "Kill him," he demands, Dooku looking at his master in shock, "Kill him now," Palpatine demands again.
Anakin furrows his eyebrows, "I shouldn't!"
"DO IT!" Palpatine roared.
Anakin was about to decapitate an unarmed man before someone cries out, "NO," Dooku is immediately flung away, out of Anakin's blade lock, hitting the window and knocking out.
Anakin drops the hilt, looking at his hand in horror at what he was about to do before whipping his head around to see Evelyn.
Palpatine internally growls at the fact that she's still alive, "Anakin, what the hell were you thinking?!" Evelyn demands, darkness lacing her voice.
Anakin looks down in shame, embarrassed of the example he was about to set for her, "Skywalker, we don't listen to politicians when it comes to MURDERING UNARMED PRISONERS."
"I'm sorry," Anakin whispers to her, "I felt a wave of darkness flow over me, and I couldn't control it," he continues, his words barely a whisper.
Evelyn shoots a glare over at Palpatine, narrowing her eyes in suspicion before releasing his restraints, "Chancellor, I say this in the nicest way possible," Evelyn begins, "Don't say a fucking word."
Palpatine internally smiles, seeing the potential in Evelyn becoming his apprentice if Anakin doesn't work out. It's always good to have a plan B after all.
Anakin runs over to Obi-Wan, "Evelyn, grab the Count!" He calls out, "We're taking him as a prisoner of war," Evelyn nods, running over to Dooku before somehow managing to throw him over her shoulder.
She turns to see Anakin hoist Obi-Wan over his shoulders, seemingly pissed off, before the two run out of the room.
The three arrive at the elevators, but something's wrong, "The elevator's not working," Evelyn points out, out of breath.
Anakin picks up his comm device, "Artoo, activate elevator 3224," he says, trusting his droid will get the job done.
Though, before they can get into the elevator, the ship starts to plummet downwards, causing them to hit the floor fast. Anakin gets his foot locked in, turning around to help Evelyn up, but before Evelyn can get up, something causes Dooku to slip out of her hands.
Evelyn tries to use the force to catch him, but it doesn't work for some inexplicable reason, "Ev, come on!" Anakin calls, trying to pull her up before the three run down the elevator shaft.
Unfortunately, the ship starts to level out again, and the three start to slide down the elevator shaft.
Anakin manages to grab a hold of some loose wire while Evelyn finds a pipe to grip onto while the Chancellor holds on to his leg of all things.
"Anakin, I'm slipping!" The Chancellor calls out, clinging on to the leather for 'dear life' as Anakin tries to find escape, "Give me your hand!"
Anakin ignores him, not even risking the chance of dropping Obi-Wan.
Speaking of Obi-Wan, he's starting to stir, "Nice of you to join us; we're in a bit of a situation," Anakin says, out of breath.
Obi-Wan's eyes shoot open and he too, clings onto Anakin, "Uh oh," Evelyn says, causing Anakin to look up, seeing an elevator heading straight for their heads, "Jump!"
Anakin lets go of the wire while Obi-Wan lets go of Anakin as the three Jedi take out their grappling hooks, throwing them around an iron beam and shooting out the open elevator shaft.
"Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable," Obi-Wan says, taking point as the other three get up.
"Artoo, get down here," Anakin says into his comm.
"Come on, we must hurry," Obi-Wan says as the four break into a jog.
Evelyn runs alongside Anakin, "So, what'd I miss?" She asks, trying to figure out why Obi-Wan was knocked out.
Before Anakin can answer, ray shields activate them, effectively permitting them from escape, "Ray shields!" Anakin curses.
"Now hold on, we're smarter than this," Obi-Wan states, frustrated with himself, "How did we let this happen?"
"Apparently not," Evelyn mumbles, crossing her arms across her chest.
Anakin chuckles at her antics before he takes a breath, "I say patience," Anakin says.
"Patience?" Obi-Wan repeats, crossing his arms and not fully believing what his former apprentice is saying, quite proud.
"Yes," Anakin assures, "Artoo will be along in a few moments, and then he'll release the ray shields," and not even two seconds later, Artoo comes flying in, causing Anakin to puff out his chest in pride, "See? No problem."
Obi-Wan and Evelyn roll their eyes just as droids surround the Jedi, "Do you have a plan B?" Obi-Wan quips.
Evelyn's eyes light up, "I have something!"
Anakin nods, ready to hear another one of Evelyn's ingenious escape plans.
The four are escorted to the command bridge, where they're met with General Grievous, "Ah yes," the droid general chuckles, "General Kenobi," the three Jedi make their way directly in front of Grievous, "We've been waiting for you. That wasn't much of a rescue," he finishes, snatching the two sabers from his droid.
Grievous shifted his attention to the taller Jedi among them, "And Anakin Skywalker," he remarked, his multiple arms whirring as he walked toward Anakin, who stood firm and unperturbed by the cyborg, "I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little... older," the General taunted, earning a smirk from Evelyn.
"Seems like someone has a grandpa kink," Evelyn mutters before catching a light elbow from Anakin, who speaks next.
Anakin looks up at the General, disgusted, "General Grievous, you're shorter than I expected," Anakin taunts back, amusement lacing his one. Evelyn bites back another smile, still working on her restraints with a hidden pin.
Grievous coughed dismissively, "Jedi scum," he muttered before turning away.
"We have a job to do, Anakin, try not to upset him," Obi-Wan mutters, voice laced with sarcasm.
"Your lightsabers will be a fine addition to my collection," Grievous says, placing them in his cloak.
Anakin nods at Evelyn as she drops her cuffs to the ground, using the force to push down everything around them, and effectively crushing a couple of droids before pulling her saber out of her boot with the force, igniting it.
"Artoo!" Anakin yells as the droid releases all of his gimmicks while Obi-Wan and Anakin grab their sabers from Grievous, cutting through their restraints.
The three Jedi are each targeted by magna guards, before dispersing. Evelyn manages to cut through hers with ease, using her flexible body to maneuver around the droid, slicing all of its extremities off.
Anakin battles his droid to the back of the room, where two battle droids are dragging the Chancellor out. No matter how... opinionated the chancellor can be, he's still Anakin's close friend and mentor. Which is why he just cut down three droids to get to him.
Obi-Wan had the most trouble, which is saying something considering it took him about fifteen seconds to totally and completely dismantle a beheaded magna guard before Obi-Wan catches Grievous, using the cyborg's shoulder to balance himself on his leap, placing something in the cape as Anakin comes around from the other side.
"You lose, General Kenobi," Grievous taunted before hurling the staff at the window, causing the four inside to cling to the ship as the blast doors sealed the windows once more.
Evelyn and Anakin swiftly crossed the command deck, dispatching the remaining droids. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan consoled the Chancellor, ensuring his safety.
Anakin hears a beeping on the console, looking at it, "All the escape pods have been launched!"
Obi-Wan curses, "Grievous," before turning back to Anakin, "Can you fly a cruiser like this?"
"You mean, do I know how to land what's left of this thing?" Anakin corrects as the four sit down and strap in.
"Well?"
Anakin flips some switches, "Well, under the circumstances, I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant," Anakin declares, "Strap yourselves in."
"Already have," Evelyn brags, fully expecting a response.
"Well, congratulations Evelyn, aren't you prepared?" Obi-Wan asks his grand student, a sassy response as always.
Anakin focuses on the ship, letting the Force flow through him, "Open all hatches, extend flaps and drag fins," Anakin orders, causing Obi-Wan and Evelyn to get to work on the task at hand.
The resistance caused by the flaps causes the cruiser to explode down the middle, splitting into two parts.
Artoo beeps as Anakin turns around, eyes wide, "We lost something," before going back to landing this thing.
Obi-Wan looks around, "Not to worry, we are still flying half a ship," he points out, ever so professional.
"Eight plus sixty," Obi-Wan reads out, "We're in the atmosphere."
Anakin points at a trigger on Obi-Wan's panel, "Grab that, keep us level," Anakin orders, trying to land as safely as possible.
The four Jedi descended toward the city of Coruscant as five ships sprayed the flaming vessel with water, "We're coming in too hot!" Anakin exclaimed as the ship slammed onto the landing deck, coming to a harsh and abrupt stop.
The four let out sighs of relief, not realizing they had been holding their breath, "Another happy landing," Obi-Wan quipped, running a hand through his hair.
"You call that happy?" Evelyn muttered, rubbing her head.
The shuttle's engines hummed softly as it made its way back to the Jedi Temple. Anakin, Evelyn, and Obi-Wan sat in the dimly lit cabin, the quiet hum of the engines providing a soothing backdrop to their conversation.
Obi-Wan leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, "So, I will brief the Council while you two take Rex and his fleet to Mandalore," he stated, "I will meet you two there when I've concluded."
Anakin and Evelyn exchanged nods, their faces displaying a mixture of determination and anticipation.
Evelyn couldn't resist a teasing smile as she turned to Obi-Wan, "Try not to get too bored, Master," she playfully quipped, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Obi-Wan grinned back at her, "Oh, trust me," he began with a twinkle in his eye, "After what you two put me through, I'm quite excited for a little bit of boring."
Anakin rolled his eyes at their banter, his affection for both of them evident. The shuttle's landing gear extended, signaling their arrival at the Jedi Temple.
As they disembarked, Obi-Wan looked at Anakin with a mixture of pride and concern, "Be safe, Anakin," he said, his voice carrying the weight of their long history together.
Anakin nodded solemnly, his Jedi robes billowing as he made a respectful bow. "May the Force be with you, old friend."
Obi-Wan smiles at his brother, "And with you."
As the two walk off, shoulder to shoulder, Anakin wraps his arm around Evelyn's waist, "Last one there has to buy the caf refill," he says, swiftly unhooking her lightsaber, dropping it to the ground as he sprints towards the fleet in a fit of laughter.