Anakin was tired. He hadn't slept much since learning about Dogma and the way he viewed the Jedi. He hadn't slept at all since going to Kamino to try to get to the bottom of things.
Obi-Wan would probably scold him for getting reckless in taking care of himself, and Ahsoka would laugh at him for doing something that he had scolded her for countless times. How was he supposed to sleep though? He thought he had gotten away from slave culture. Like it was just a bad dream, or something he could pretend didn't exist.
He wasn't ashamed of where he came from and who his people were, but it was a painful thing to think about. What right did he have to fly wherever he wanted in the galaxy when many slaves never left the city they were born in, let alone the planet? Whenever he thought about slavery he would reel an overwhelming responsibility on his shoulders. He felt like he needed to demolish all of it, and the fact was that he couldn't.
He tried to help people when he had the opportunity, but the chances didn't come up a lot. He'd only recently been knighted, and he didn't have the freedom he'd been promised, and he understood why. They were at war. Sacrifices needed to be made. Anakin was more than happy to sacrifice his time and safety.
But he knew that it wasn't fair that any slaves he might have tried to free would have to wait even longer for him to do so. Why should they have to suffer just because the galaxy was at war?
Anakin had never suspected that slavery was going on right under his nose, and he was disgusted at himself for being so blind to it.
He didn't know how they would fix things. He tried, but everything he did just revealed more problems. He had thought that Dogma's mindset was a result of a flaw in the training system. It was, but there was also so much more than that. This was a systematic issue that went all the way from the top to the bottom, and Anakin was still trying to figure out just what it all meant.
He wanted to tear the Kaminoans apart, but what would that solve? They were the ones who had done this to the clones, but Anakin wasn't sure if it had been their idea. The Kaminoans were creatures of business. They were far from innocent, and Anakin would personally see to it that they faced justice eventually, but there had to be somebody else out there who was responsible for all of this.
The Kaminoans refused to tell him about who had commissioned the clones, besides just repeating the same lies they'd been telling from the start. He wasn't going to let that stop him though. He was going to find out who had done this, and he was going to make sure they never did it again.
Anakin had planned on getting right on that as soon as getting back from Kamino, but he allowed himself a small break first. He was exhausted, and furious, and he could feel his anger just under the surface, begging for a reason to come out. Obi-Wan was always warning him about control, and Anakin tried his best, but at times like this it felt impossible.
Seeing Padmé always helped him to calm down. She just had something about her that brought peace to his soul. The way she carried herself made him feel safe, because he knew that she knew what she was doing. Her soft-spoken but stern and confident way of speaking was reassuring when he felt like he was spiraling. She validated his emotions, but always tried to bring logic and reasoning in. He wasn't always in a good mindset to listen, but he tried to be.
Maybe she would know what he was supposed to do with everything that he'd found. At the very least he was sure that she would appreciate knowing about the chips and all the different ways they'd been programmed to manipulate the clones.
Anakin made his way to the senate building, only to be disappointed to find that Padmé was too busy to see him. It was frustrating, but he didn't hold it against her. He knew she was busy with her job and he couldn't expect her to drop everything any time he wanted to see her. In an ideal world he and his wife could see each other as often as they wanted, but that wasn't the way things were, and he had to deal with it.
Since he was already at the senate building he decided to visit the Chancellor. He was desperate to talk about this whole thing. The Chancellor was always available when Anakin needed to get things off his chest. Sometimes he was confused about the convenience of Palpatine being free every time Anakin needed a listening ear. Mostly though he just appreciated the help, and he didn't question it too much. Maybe it was just the will of the Force or something.
Anakin was always able to stop by the Chancellor's office unannounced, so he didn't even consider calling ahead to let him know he was coming. He just made his way down the familiar halls to the office. He didn't even consider that there was something wrong until he saw the doorway.
There were two red guards unconscious on the floor and the door was open. Anakin couldn't see what was going on inside, but he could hear signs of a struggle. He put up his guard and reached for his lightsaber as he ran towards the office. The first thing he saw was two clones on the ground. He didn't know if they were hurt or not. Before he could process that he saw a more immediate concern.
The Chancellor was being attacked. Anakin reacted immediately. In one fluid movement he put his lightsaber away and used the Force to separate the Chancellor from his attacker.
"What is going on in here?" Anakin asked sternly. He was about to release the Chancellor from his hold, because he was the victim here and shouldn't be restrained. But then he saw who the attacker had been.
Fox growled and snarled, fighting against Anakin's hold. He could feel the animosity from him, which was really impressive. The entire room was full of a suffocating pressure that made Anakin feel like he was drowning. It took every bit of his effort to remain focused. This room felt far too much like the aura on Mortis. It was like raw, unfiltered power of the Force. It was so overwhelming that it was nearly painful.
Anakin focused on Fox' anger. It was dark, as all anger was, but there was something bright in there too. Something pure. This was a righteous anger. Whatever had driven him to lash out, he felt justified in his actions.
"Anakin." Palpatine's voice shook. He sounded scared. "The clones have lost their minds. They've had their inhibitor chips removed, and now they've become violent."
Anakin frowned. Fox was certainly acting like what the Kaminoans had described when they'd tried to excuse the inhibitor chips. Anakin did a quick glance at his surface thoughts, and they were raw and feral. He was acting on instinct. But this was still a righteous anger. He wasn't just acting out because he couldn't control himself. Something had set him off.
Still keeping a firm grip on both Fox and the Chancellor, Anakin looked at the clones on the ground. He recognized Jesse, who seemed unharmed. He was holding the other protectively. Jesse looked up at him, fire in his eyes.
"This isn't the chips." Jesse growled. "Between us, Dogma's the only one who was influenced by the chips."
Dogma. Anakin felt his chest tighten and he subconsciously tightened his hold on Fox and the Chancellor. He looked at Dogma, who was definitely unconscious. There was a blaster wound on his leg.
Anakin didn't ask what happened. He didn't need to. There were only two blasters in the room. One was in Jesse's hand, and it was aimed towards the Chancellor. The other was on the ground near him and Dogma. Jesse wouldn't have shot Dogma, and if he had he would be acting much more differently.
Anakin didn't want to think that Dogma would have shot himself, except he had looked over those codes and programming used for the chips. He remembered all of the different horrible things that the clones might have been forced to do.
The Jedi had been worried about the order that would force the clones to kill the Jedi, but that was far from the only concerning command. The ones that Anakin was most concerned about right now were the orders that could make a clone harm themselves.
Dogma shouldn't have a chip still, but one look at his hair confirmed it was still there. He didn't have the same surgery scar that Jesse and Fives did. Dogma was still vulnerable to the chip's commands.
And the Chancellor had been aware of the chip's existence.
Anakin looked at the Chancellor. "You knew about the chips."
He felt something odd from the Chancellor but the emotion was shielded away before he could get a good read on it. It would be so easy to convince himself that he had just imagined whatever he had felt, but he didn't want to ignore it. He'd been ignoring far too many issues lately.
"The inhibitor chips are an unfortunate necessity." Palpatine said in his slow, appeasing way of speaking. Anakin's mouth thinned. He wasn't in the senate, and he wasn't part of a panicked public. He didn't need the Chancellor to play the part of a politician in front of him.
"Just look at what they're reduced to without them." The Chancellor gave Fox a disgusted look that got under Anakin's skin. He knew that look. It was how he looked at Hutts, and Tuskens. It was how many people looked at slaves.
It was a look that easily communicated that someone didn't see you as a sentient creature.
Fox bared his teeth and glared at the chancellor with a very familiar hatred in his eyes. "Give me the chance and I'll show him just what I've been reduced to." There was a desperation in his eyes. This wasn't just a threat, it was something he truly wanted.
Anakin was getting a headache. There were too many intense emotions swarming in this room, and his own anger wanted to both feed off of it and add to it. It was draining to hold himself back.
He wanted to ask about what was going on. He wanted to follow Obi-Wan's example and deescalate the situation, but he wasn't good at that kind of thing. He would probably just make things worse.
And it wasn't possible to find a compromise in this situation. Fox saw himself as a slave to the Chancellor. The power imbalance, whether it was real or just in Fox' head, was far too great. The closest thing to a compromise that they would get would be to pretend this never happened. Fox wouldn't harm the Chancellor, and he wouldn't be punished for attacking him either.
But even if both of them were willing to go for it, and Anakin doubted they were, it wouldn't fix anything. The imbalance would still be there, and something like this couldn't just be forgotten about. Fox was going to face consequences one way or another.
Taking a second look at Fox, Anakin wondered if he had already been punished. His body was incredibly tense, and he didn't think it was because of his grip. He wasn't wearing his armor, or even their blacks. His chest was bare and full of burns and scars.
Lightning scars.
Anakin didn't dare look at the Chancellor. He thought he would lose his nerve if he did.
"Where did you get those marks?" Anakin asked. Fox blinked. He looked confused for a long moment, like he had completely forgotten about the new burn marks that were probably causing him agony.
Fox didn't answer at all. He looked at Anakin, and then towards the Chancellor darkly. He then lowered his gaze and wouldn't look at either of this. He didn't look shy or anxious. He was defeated.
Fox was carrying a truth in his heart, and he wasn't going to bother sharing it because he didn't think he'd be believed.
Anakin straightened. "Why did you attack the Chancellor?"
Fox still didn't look at him, but his mouth twisted into a sneer. "Does it matter?"
"I think it matters a lot." Anakin said. He knew a lot of people wouldn't think so. The Chancellor was one of those people that was untouchable, and any attack against him was unforgivable, no matter who was responsible or why.
Anakin had believed that just a few weeks ago, and now he wasn't sure. He wanted answers, and he would make his decision from there.
Fox looked towards Dogma. "He hurt one of my men."
"I didn't touch the clone." The Chancellor said.
"You don't need to touch someone to hurt them." Anakin said. He still wasn't looking at the other man. He couldn't do anything to block out the slight scoff he heard in his voice.
"You can't believe the word of a mere clone." Palpatine said. "Take my word for it, this particular clone has always been unstable."
Anakin hadn't known Fox well before all this. He'd only met him a few times, and heard second-hand stories about him from the 501st. He'd known the Chancellor for his entire adult life. This man had mentored him and provided a listening ear whenever he needed it.
A part of him wanted to believe the Chancellor. That was the simple thing to do. To walk away and pretend that he didn't feel Fox' righteous fury. That he didn't see his scars. That he didn't care.
But he did.
"I know better than to take the word of a master above that of a slave." Anakin said. He released his grip on Fox. He could feel the Chancellor's fury.
"What are you doing?" Palpatine sounded angry. Anakin didn't think he had ever heard him sound anything but peaceful. It was odd, but only now that he was hearing it did he realize how real it felt.
Fox prowled towards The Chancellor. Anakin finally turned towards him. It was probably a trick of the light, but the man's eyes looked yellow. Anakin met his gaze head-on.
The Chancellor wasn't paying any attention to Fox. He was probably doing it on purpose, to send the message that a 'mere clone', and 'unstable' one at that, wasn't worth his time.
Anakin had seen what happened to slavers when they turned their back on the people they abused and underestimated them. He knew what was coming. Part of him wanted to stop it, because he really had considered the Chancellor to be his friend. He had been there for Anakin when he felt like nobody else was.
But the stronger part of him, the part of him that would always be little Ani from Tatooine, watched as Fox, without a moment of hesitation, came up behind the Chancellor and snapped his neck.
There was no resistance. There was just a brief moment of fear, or recognition, or possibly anger from the Chancellor, but he didn't fight it. He couldn't. Because Anakin still had a Force grip on him, restraining him.
Anakin could feel it the moment the Chancellor died. The entire room felt lighter. Fox gasped and almost collapsed to the ground. Anakin wondered if he felt the same thing.
"It's over." Fox let out a shaky laugh of disbelief. "It's finally over."
Anakin didn't agree, but he didn't say so. He knew the issues had just started. The second that the Jedi and the senators found out what happened things were going to fall apart. Anakin's work was just starting. But he intended on keeping the clones out of it. Especially Fox and Dogma. They had been through enough.
If Anakin had his way, it was over for them, and he was planning on doing everything in his power to make that happen. As far as he was concerned, the only responsibilities the clones should have right now was to take care of each other.
"Let's get Dogma back to Kix." Anakin said. "That leg needs to get taken care of, and that chip needs to come out." He didn't understand what it was still doing there.
Jesse stood up, lifting Dogma and carrying him with an effortless ease. Fox looked like he wanted to help, but he wasn't in a great place right now, either physically or mentally. He needed to trust Dogma with somebody else and just worry about himself.
"Come on." Anakin held a hand out to Fox. The commander looked at him as though he was nuts. "Let's get you guys home." Fox' gaze didn't soften, but he took Anakin's hand and allowed him to support some of his weight. It was a sign of trust that he didn't feel like he deserved, but he appreciated it.
Anakin still didn't know most of what had happened, and that was okay. It was clear they'd had a long day, and that was all Anakin needed to know. He could always get answers later.