Chapter 23 – The Clones

Author's Note: I'll try to update in two weeks like usual, but I might have to delay it by an extra week. Sorry. :(

~ Amina Gila

Windu has been working tirelessly for months now and with the death of the Imperial officer on Alderaan, he has gotten a foothold into the Empire.

And they don't even know it.

Rumors run rampant in the Underworld, and when he heard whispers of an aspiring Imperial who covertly obtained codes that allow him to remotely access the Emperor's office, Windu knew what he had to do. In the whole scheme of things, Barokki meant nothing, but through him, Windu has gotten something which will serve him well.

With the codes he has obtained, he will be able to splice into the Imperial network and issue orders that will be followed without question. Those who receive them will think they are being given a command by the Emperor himself. He will need to use them wisely because he suspects it will not take long for the Imperials to realize it. But it has given him an advantage, nevertheless.

Perhaps if he gets ahold of a skilled droid, he can use the codes to tamper with the network itself so he has permanent backdoor access, but that is something he will need to consider later.

And now he's gotten ahold of another prize.

Rampart.

With the intel he undoubtedly possesses given what his rank was, Windu stands a chance of doing a lot more damage to the Empire, especially with what – who he just found.

He stands in the shadows, helmet under his arm as he watches the modified Omicron-class attack shuttle fly away. Maybe he was wrong about how all the clones are pro-Empire, but that does not change the fact that most of them are now traitors.

He waits for a heartbeat and then steps forward.

The two clones who are there, along with Senator Chuchi, startle, instinctively whipping out their blasters as they whirl toward them. They freeze, and then slowly lower their weapons, obviously recognizing him as a former Jedi.

"General?" Captain Rex asks incredulously.

"No," Windu replies, reaching up to push back his hood. He can feel their shock in the Force.

"General Windu," ARC trooper Echo blurts out, eyes widening. Windu remembers him well from Anaxes. It is… heartening to see that at least some of the clones are not blindly loyal to Sidious.

"What happened to you?" Rex asks, no doubt taking in the purple shard of kyber embedded in his face. Windu knows he's changed. They all have.

"Palpatine happened," he replies. "I have someone for you." He uses the Force to drag the unconscious Rampart forward, dropping his body at their feet. "I had a talk with him. When he awakens, I think you will find that he will be willing to tell you anything to get back at the Empire."

"I– General–" Rex begins, obviously overwhelmed and shocked, no matter how good he is at hiding it.

"Master Windu, thank you," Senator Chuchi says earnestly.

"No thanks are needed," Windu interrupts. "I will be in touch. There is something else I must do." He turns away, stepping into the shadows and sliding his helmet over his head, sealing out the rest of the world. He has Rex and his clones on his side. Possibly some Senators, too. Now, he needs to find some Jedi, and he knows exactly where to look.

The headquarters of the Inquisitorious.

They will undoubtedly have a list of all the Jedi suspected to have survived the Purge and armed with that knowledge, Windu will be able to find more Jedi who can join him.

Together, they will make the Empire burn.

He grabs the Force and rips, stepping through space into the fortress of those who have Fallen. He will show them that they are not safe from the Predator, not even in their own home.

**w**

Obi-Wan dives forward, but Sidious backflips to avoid him, and suddenly, there's a second lightsaber in the Sith's other hand. It gives Obi-Wan pause because dueling a Jar'Kai wielder is a little trickier than fighting someone with only one saber. But he trained with Jar'Kai, too, so he knows how to defend against it.

"You will never defeat me," Sidious gloats, and then, he lunges. He's a whirlwind of fury and Darkness, coming at Obi-Wan with his blood-red blades, but where Sidious is a storm, Obi-Wan is the eye of it. Obi-Wan is the cold, unbiased justice of the Light, while Sidious is the scorching, lying power of the Dark.

"We'll see," Obi-Wan answers coolly.

Their blades meet, and no matter where Sidious goes, Obi-Wan is there to meet him, his blade a deadly extension of him, as the Light guides and protects him. Maybe alone, maybe if Obi-Wan had enough time, he could destroy Sidious, defeat him where everyone else failed. Perhaps. But they are not alone, and the moment the Sith master falters, his minions will step in on his behalf.

It doesn't matter. Obi-Wan is not just fighting for himself. He is fighting in the name of all those innocents who have fallen to Sidious' machinations. They give him a strength that he might be lacking in himself. Most other Jedi would fall to him, but not Obi-Wan. This is what he was trained for. This is what he has been known for.

He was the first to defeat a Sith in a thousand years, and he earned that title over and over, training himself and pushing himself again and again to go further. To be better. He had to be the best, the master of Soresu so that he could protect Anakin if Anakin was unable to protect himself. He could never allow himself to stand by idly again and watch as someone he loves gets cuts down.

Obi-Wan is not known as the Master of Soresu for nothing, and it shows now, in the way Sidious drives him back, in the way the Sith tries to get through his defenses but never quite succeeds.

Obi-Wan rolls out of the way of Sidious' next strike, bracing himself as he slips into Ataru and attacks back. He knows it won't get him far because Sidious is wielding two blades, and it's easier to defend than attack, but this has gone on for long enough, and if he can throw Sidious off-balance long enough, he can run. He's not stupid. He knows that in a one-on-one duel, he might come out on top, but he has to keep in mind the reinforcements waiting to step in the moment their Emperor commands it.

Running is the best option he has.

If he runs, he'll live to fight another day.

Sidious falters a bit at the unexpected barrage of blows, and Obi-Wan can feel the growing Darkness around him. He hurls Obi-Wan back with the Force, and in the time Obi-Wan is getting back to his feet, the Sith master has lifted his hands to unleash lightning on him. He raises his lightsaber to block the attack. The lightning is intense and bright enough that he has to close his eyes against it, letting the Force guide him.

He can feel the approaching Force presences, the Imperials closing in on him, and he knows that he'll never be able to fend off both them and Sidious at once.

Obi-Wan takes a deep breath, trusts the Force to strengthen him… and extinguishes his lightsaber. The Force guides him, and he forms a shield, catching the lightning being hurled at him and deflecting it aside with the Force alone. It's a lot, almost overwhelming, but the Light is with him. In the end, Light will always triumph over Dark.

They're at a stalemate, and Obi-Wan knows that he has to play this carefully. He lets the energy crackling against his palms build and build until it's almost too much, and then, he lets it go. It explodes outward, throwing Sidious away from him and blasting the two of them apart. Obi-Wan allows it to carry him away, flipping over the edge of the walkway and falling deeper into the Underworld.

He catches himself with the Force when he hits the ground, rolling to his feet and hurrying away. It's easy to disappear down here, and he's careful to keep his hood up and head down as he walks through the streets. He doesn't know if Anakin is on Coruscant or not, but he's leaning towards the not, especially after this. It probably doesn't matter anyways. He needs to get off Coruscant and fast before the Empire – and Sidious – track him down again.

He's not sure he'll be able to escape successfully a second time, and right now, with how worn he is from the duel he just fought, he doubts he'd make it out.

Survive first.

Find Anakin second.

He would like to go back for Mill, but if the girl knows what's good for her, she'll have run too far for him to get her before the Empire catches up to him. She's survived all this time, and while choosing to leave her behind is one of the hardest things he has ever done, he cannot go back for her and risk them both. At least here, she's alive. If he goes back for her and the Empire catches up, if Sidious catches up, she'll die.

That is not something Obi-Wan can live with.

I'm sorry, Mill.

**w**

Sidious feels his rage build as Kenobi falls out of sight. This is not how the duel was supposed to go. He didn't expect Kenobi – the Predator – to run from him, not so easily, not with how powerful he has become. But no matter. He will pursue and destroy Kenobi once and for all.

He readies himself to leap after when his comm beeps.

It's the emergency code, one that only a few people know and one which they would only use in the most dire of circumstances. Unease snakes up his spine. Perhaps this was an elaborate ruse of some sort, a means to distract him from something else.

Sidious answers the comm, and he nearly startles at the hologram of his current apprentice lying under the delimbed and probably unconscious form of the Ninth Sister.

"Master, the Predator is here!" Inquiere blurts out in a rush. He sounds terrified. He feels terrified. "He broke into the command center."

Sidious curses internally. "Is he still there?" he demands sharply.

"He's– no–" Inquiere heaves off the body of the Ninth Sister, looking at something out of range. Sidious really, really should have chosen a stronger, better apprentice. He scowls impatiently, waiting, and he doesn't think he imagines the startled, fearful intake of breath. "He knows you're–!" The words are cut off abruptly, the connection fizzling out.

A chill creeps down Sidious' spine as he realizes what that could mean. The Predator may have finished off the rest of the Inquisitors. In their own base. Rage crawls to choke him, and he pushes it back with an effort. He needs to go back and assess the damage. Perhaps he was wrong about Kenobi. He and the Predator could still be in league, but he finds it unlikely that they can be the same person, not unless there is an ability to split oneself into two different places – which there isn't.

… He doesn't think.

The Force shifts, ripples, screams, and Sidious stiffens, looking around with the Force not his eyes. He can sense something changing, and before his eyes, the air in front of him tears. A crackling ring of purple electricity forms, growing bigger and bigger as a dark-robed figure steps through.

The Predator.

For a heartbeat, Sidious is frozen, not from fear of this Jedi, but from fear of what this could mean.

She is coming.

The Jedi are more foolish than he thought.

But he doesn't have time to dwell on it, not when the Predator's blue lightsaber ignites as he closes in on him. Sidious has felt fear many times in his life, but what he feels now is white-hot rage. "You are more foolish than I thought," he snarls, igniting his blood-red blades and swinging them to intercept the Predator's attack. "I was right to destroy you and your kind if this is what you mean to unleash upon the galaxy."

The Predator's presence feels familiar to him somehow, though he is unable to place it. It is… elusive, and as he takes in the Mask, he knows why. He is hiding himself, concealing himself in the shadows and Darkness the way only the Sith have done. This… Jedi has done what he thought no Jedi would ever do. Some powers are not ones even the Sith should dabble with, and now that it's begun, now that this final line has been crossed, She will come again.

And when She does, Sidious will only have himself to rely on. If the Jedi are willing to dabble with powers they should not touch, then there is no reason he cannot do likewise. He will need all the power he can get with Skywalker still out there, far from his reach. This – the Predator who is coming at him now, a whirlwind of blue fury, cannot possibly be Skywalker, no matter how similar the fighting style he is using is. Skywalker was a Chosen of the Force, not of… Her. He was not chosen to rip their reality apart, of that Sidious is certain.

He doesn't have Skywalker, so he will have to make do alone. Without him.

The Predator is strong, and perhaps Sidious could defeat him, but he cannot take the risk, not now. He needs to retreat, regroup, and prepare for the worst. He draws on the Force, flipping away from the Predator's merciless, brutal attack and hurling his opponent away. Sidious does not give him time to recover, unleashing lightning on him, powering it with everything he has, everything he feels.

The Force flickers around the Predator as he throws up his hands at the last second, catching the electricity in much the same way that Kenobi did, but his method is… different. Stronger. Sidious pushes harder, and the power builds before exploding. He's slammed against the wall of a nearby building, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. It takes him a moment to recover, a moment too long, and the Predator is on him before he can get back up.

Sidious tries to Force-choke him, and nearly succeeds, only for the attempt to be shoved away ruthlessly. So, he draws his lightsabers again, leaping at the Predator to take him off-guard. He survived Kenobi, and he survived Skywalker. He will survive this Jedi, too.

Their fight is wild and violent, far more so than the duel he had with Kenobi was. Then, they were evenly matched, but now… there are moments when Sidious feels as though he is truly fighting for his life. The Predator will not stop at anything. There are no lengths he will not go to, and that… is startling, because it is not something Sidious has ever seen in the Jedi. The Jedi will stop at a certain point.

But the Predator? He isn't stopping.

Sidious manages to throw him over the edge of the walkway, before he turns and bolts, making his way back toward the Imperial forces and safety. This isn't over, but this is not a fight he can afford to engage in right now.

He feels the Force ripple again, the disturbance growing near him, and another rift begins to form. He responds instinctively, hurling his own lightning at it, pouring himself into it. The edges waver, flicker, and finally, the rift closes. He has to pause to catch his breath and regather his strength. It's only a moment, but it's all the time the Predator needs.

Another rift forms – he can feel it though he can't see it. He's hit with the Force and thrown into a light post, and as he moves to get back up, he can see the shadowy figure of the Predator approaching. Sidious stands, letting lightning arc from his fingertips toward his opponent. And like what happened with Kenobi, the Predator blocks the attack with his own hands. The energy crackles against his palms, and Sidious can feel that something about it is… amiss. It grates against his senses in a way he has only felt once, and that realization sends a chill down his spine. He knows this power. He has felt it, and it doesn't mean anything good.

Perhaps the Predator has dabbled more than Sidious thought.

The electric storm is hurled back at him, and Sidious rolls to a crouch to avoid it – most of it, at any rate. Some of it sparks against his robes, and they catch fire, the flames glowing purple as they burn through the fabric.

The Predator's power is indeed far greater than Sidious anticipated, and he tosses off his burning robe, drawing the Force in on himself and disappearing. He was good at hiding his sensitivity – he had to be as the Chancellor – and he knows the shielding will work just as well on this Jedi as it did on the ones in the past. He flips onto a lower walkway, creeping through the shadows. He can feel the stormy rage of the Predator, but he doesn't react to it.

Sidious doesn't relax until he's back on the surface of Coruscant, securely in the Imperial palace. He waits there for the full report of the damage caused to the headquarters of the Inquisitorious, and while he waits, he plans.

It's time to make things serious.

**w**

Fourteen years earlier

He is facing the storm alone, just as he faced the storm alone when it was unleashed by Venamis. But this storm – this storm surpasses anything Sidious has ever before seen. The wind is howling, nearly blowing him over, and he has to lift his arm to shield his face from it. His master is unconscious on the ground a hundred yards away. He was thrown when the rift cracked open.

It's only him now. Him and the young Togruta child at his side. She's powerful but untrained. She won't be much help to him.

Already he can feel the creeping sensation as foreign energy pushes its way free, eroding the grassy, rocky ground of Brandok wherever it touches.

Sidious draws in the Dark, and for a moment, he can see it. He can see what She will cause when She emerges, and he cannot let that happen. There will be no galaxy for the Sith to rule should She destroy it.

It's just him and Her, and he has no option but to prevail.

"I don't like her," the child states emphatically. Sidious doesn't even look at her. She means nothing. She is his master's lab rat. An experiment. Her strength… could be an asset, but those are thoughts for the future. He can almost see the scowl on the girl's face. "She's creepy."

Sidious seconds it, but he doesn't take his focus off the rift. He can already see the first creeping tendrils of Chaos invading. He gathers the Force, hurling it against the invader. "Focus," he grits out. He doesn't know that the girl can help, but perhaps…

It can't hurt, at any rate.

His arms are trembling from the strength She exudes as She pushes back against him, but he does not stop. He cannot stop.

A soft snarl from next to him as the girl bares her fangs. She could be a terrifying Sith if only he could turn her. "I don't like you!" she yells at the creature. "Go away!"

How is she not more terrified than she is?

But he can feel her clumsily reaching into the Force, her too-Light presence brushing up against his as she adds her strength to his. The creature roars, and the wind howls with her, lightning crackling across the sky, hitting the ground only feet away.

Sidious pushes harder, and his whole body is shaking from the force he's using. Nothing matters but shutting the rift and keeping Her out. She will destroy everything.

Everything.

He feels the shift in the Force, feels the shadowy, clawed fingers settling on his shoulder, and he nearly falls to his knees from the force of the Dark that washes through him. It's like touching a live wire, and he doesn't know if he will even be able to survive the power that is now pouring into him. It's too much, overwhelming, but he uses it, draws on it, lets it fuel him.

Next to him, something Light materializes, and he glances at the child for a moment to see her almost glowing. The white and green convor on her shoulder is so Light that it hurts, but it powers her, too, and slowly, inch by inch, the purple rift closes.

"No!" She screams, a wild, furious cry, and a tentacle lashes out.

Sidious evades it, flicks it aside with the Force, but it catches the girl. She screams and struggles as she's dragged toward the rift. Her wide, terrified, blue eyes meet his, and Sidious is faced with the choice of trying to free her from the monster or closing Her out forever – and the child with her.

He will have no galaxy to rule if it has all been consumed by Her.

Sidious shoves harder, and the creature screams again, trying to get through, but the power of the Dark is a living thing inside of him, and She is not in this galaxy enough to push back.

The rift slams closed, and the storm dies down, fading away as through it was never there.

Sidious crumbles to his knees from the backlash and exhaustion, the Dark presence that had been fueling him suddenly departing. The child is… gone. He does not regret the choice, but he feels, for a moment, something like pity for her. He does not know what She will do to her. The child does not deserve that fate, but it was her or the galaxy, and of course, there was only one choice Sidious could make.

He hears movement and turns his head to see his master standing there. Plagueis' face is contemplative. Intrigued. "Fascinating," he whispers, and Sidious feels a jolt of dread.

Was this not proof enough that She cannot be weaponized?

He has one option left.

It is time for Darth Plagueis to die.

Tonight.

Hours later, when he gets back to Coruscant, he senses his chosen apprentice for the first time.

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