This is becoming mildly irritating, Anakin thought, his lightsaber blocking yet another bullet from reaching his lightly armored chest, the metal slug disintegrating completely against his lightsaber. The projectile wouldn't have killed him or even hurt him all that much, but it still aggravated his mood.
Anakin did not miss his suit, but he could admit being able to ignore all but the most substantial blaster bolts had been convenient.
He was at the very edge of what the ABB considered their territory, a part of the docks where commercial buildings gave way to small residential apartments. The buildings were square, gray, and lacked anything that made them different, near identical edifices between six to eight floors, with several rows of evenly spread windows.
The streets were filled with used cars, most in dire need of washing, but there were still signs of people trying to make a home. Colorful curtains, house plants hanging by the windows, there were even some chalk drawings on the street where children usually played.
Right now, every window was closed, and the residents fearfully huddled in their homes as the Empire tried to ambush him.
More than a dozen gang members were hidden around the location, spread apart and behind cover so he couldn't take them out with a single attack. Fortunately, it seems they hadn't hurt any of the people living on the street —Anakin didn't feel the pain or despair of the residents, just a sense of fear and resignation.
He had miscalculated the city. It was part of a still-working government, with a strong military and the most powerful parahumans in the continent. As such, he had believed the criminal element would react like in most civilized planets, from the shadows, avoiding attention.
He had believed that his presence, coupled with the might he showed when killing Lung, would prevent them from attacking for far longer, at least in any effective manner, particularly because the government had just been dealt a huge reputational blow, they could not tolerate another gang acting as brazenly as the ABB.
Instead, the Empire acted as if the government was simply another gang, unable to truly deal with them in any decisive manner. Yes, the Empire had more parahumans than the local Protectorate, but the latter was a national entity with thousands of members.
Regardless, the Empire was brazen, unafraid of the repercussions that one might normally expect to come from organizing an ambush in broad daylight. It must have taken them at least an hour to get into position and no police or PRT had responded.
Sensing that the barrage of bullets shot his way would all miss for the next few seconds, he concentrated on his already extended hand, using a strong Force Push to scatter the dark cloud he had been holding back and hitting a black dressed cape hidden inside the fog, sending her flying through the air to hit a lamppost and fall face first on the sidewalk.
The now empty street wasn't damaged, but the trees and vegetation looked eroded, their foliage clear of leaves. With a loud 'crack' one of the largest branches snapped, and collapsed on top of an abandoned car, denting the roof. Of the small bush that crept between the asphalt, there was only dust.
A ray of sunlight reflected off the lenses on his mask as Anakin focused on the woman. Turning fully towards her, he ignored the stray bullets peppering his location and twisted his arm, closing his hand into a fist and grabbing her in a strong Force Grip, pulling her body through the air toward him with a jerking motion.
Before he could drag her more than a couple of meters, the Force screamed at him and he moved, using his regained agility to lean back, his cape flickering with the motion as a bullet passed right through where his head had been to pierce the ground, burying itself almost a meter into the asphalt.
Hmm, that had been far too well-aimed… and timed, the bullet was also more powerful, a sniper round. Someone had been waiting for him to lower his guard.
Unfortunately, despite his power, there was only so much he could focus on at the same time. That had always been one of the Jedi… and the Sith's greatest weakness in a fight, the fact that all but the most instinctive uses of the Force required deep concentration.
He could have gone for the kill, simply crushing the woman the moment he saw her, or killing off the Empire's goons shooting at him one at a time until they broke or there were none left to distract him, but he WAS trying to avoid doing that. Even if it was very tempting.
Doing so would also mean using the Dark Side, twisting the power of the Force and taking control of it for his convenience. It was the easy path, something he had already done far too much since arriving on the planet, sliding back to his time as a Sith again and again.
Killing all of Coil's mercenaries when he had first rescued the youngling had been a mistake, both because it was unneeded and because it hurt his interactions with local law enforcement. Ineffective as they were, he would prefer they were not antagonistic.
Anakin was not opposed to killing, even now he'd be perfectly content cutting through parahumans and gang members alike, but not simply because it was more convenient or he needed to vent.
Freed from his power, the woman fell back to the ground, sliding a couple of centimeters before she stopped. The impact seemed to have woken her up because she pushed herself to her feet and started limping away from him, a hand pressing at her side where he sensed her pain, probably a broken rib.
Around the area, the dark fog started gathering again, trying to condense into a threatening cloud once more. Considering the effects on the vegetation, Anakin had no wish to have it anywhere near him. Another distraction he'd have to defend against.
Waving his lightsaber, he evaporated another two slugs, stepping aside to dodge seven more, trying to sense where the sniper that almost hit him was among the dozen gang members.
Narrowing his eyes, he blocked another attempt at his mind, a near-constant since he started this fight and one of the reasons he couldn't use the full extent of his Force Powers.
The attack wasn't exactly like a Mind Trick or Mental Domination, those he could have ignored, his willpower more than enough for it. No, the attack attempted to affect his brain directly, almost as if trying to read or consume it.
Even for him, keeping his battle precognition, blocking the mental attack, and using external Force powers was strenuous —not impossible, far from it— but it required some effort to multitask so much and took away some of his finesse.
The entire fight had only been going for two minutes and it was quickly going from mildly to truly irritating.
Looking up, he saw an entire car flying toward him. His enemies were learning, employing several different vectors of attacks to try and overwhelm him… an old, well-understood tactic, but no less effective for it.
The ambush wasn't as well planned as what a Mandalorian could achieve, but it still was able to keep him from simply overwhelming the attackers with his power.
Gathering the Force around himself, he gave up on using the Force aggressively and focused on defense, forming a shield around his body, the Force Barrier gave him some room to stretch his senses without having to pay too much attention to his battle precognition. Immediately after, he felt two bullets bouncing off the shield.
Gripping his sword, he stepped forward and slashed up, cutting the incoming car in two. The halves hit his shield and were deflected, flying one to each side of him, the screech of metal nearly deafening as it deformed and bounced off the ground, glass and debris flying everywhere, showering his shield with small pebbles and shards of metal.
Almost at the same time, he felt a second sniper round aimed at his head, the projectile collapsing against his barrier and bouncing off. This time, he had been able to locate the source.
A little less than half a kilometer away, on top of a tall building, the sharpshooter reloaded his weapon, looking for a new opening to try and take him out. Now that he located him, Anakin could also feel the man was the source of his mental attack.
Sparing a glance to the side, he saw the fog had almost finished gathering itself, the black-dressed woman nearly gone from view inside the cloud of darkness that covered the street.
Ignoring her, he strode towards the sniper. From the air, a large piece of a building flew at him at considerable speed, a second car following after it. Not slowing down, he sighed. He really was unused to fighting outside his armor.
In his defense, he had spent 24 years inside the damn thing, almost twice as long as his time with the Jedi. He was unused to being agile again.
With another swing of his blade, he cut the flying masonry in two, the projectile hit his shield and was deflected again, the bricks exploding from the impact and showering the street behind him, dust spreading through the street.
Dropping his shield, he empowered his body and dashed ahead, moving so fast the sniper was unable to keep up. Behind him, the second car hit the street where he used to be, smashing straight into the ground and crumbling like a can.
With a wave of his lightsaber, he lazily blocked another stray bullet, one that would have missed him by a wide margin had he continued at the same pace, but would go through a window where he felt a few minds huddled in fear, then leaped up towards the building on the right.
Even empowered as he was, he couldn't quite reach the roof, but he kicked against the wall, propelling himself up to the seventh floor, extending his free hand, he grabbed the edge of the edifice and effortlessly pulled himself up.
Now off the street, the average Empire thug could no longer target him. Without the constant shower of bullets, Anakin felt himself relax, his Battle Precognition almost stilling without the constant danger.
Looking toward his own target, he blocked one last sniper round. The bullet was powerful enough that small droplets of molten metal survived the heat, hitting his chest, damaging his robes and stopping on his armor.
Narrowing his eyes, Anakin glared at the marksman a dozen buildings in front of him, the man didn't reload, simply swinging the rifle to his back by a shoulder strap and stepping closer to a small woman waiting beside him. A second later, they both rose into the air, a thin metal platform under their feet.
Deactivating his lightsaber he dashed, leaping between buildings as if walking on the ground, weaving between obstacles in a straight line towards them.
Behind him, the noxious cloud billowed up from between the buildings, something large and with too many limbs climbing the side of the wall inside it, but it couldn't keep up with his speed. Giving up, both the fog and the creature inside retreated, quickly rushing back toward Empire territory.
Seeing his approach, the marksman still felt calm and collected. With practiced ease, he grabbed a smaller weapon by his waist and aimed the automatic rifle at Anakin before pulling the trigger.
Unfortunately, the woman at his side wasn't as composed, wearing a black and red robe that reminded Anakin of a Night Sister. Her entire body shook with fear, and the platform under them wavered, trying to pick up speed at the cost of stability.
With a wave of her hand, there was a loud rumble before a large piece of the building they had been standing on rose into the air, exposed pipes and copper cables trailing after the boulder until they snapped and fell along the side of the building. Another wave and the projectile swiftly flew toward Anakin, blocking the marksman's aim.
Without the need to focus on anything else, Anakin was free to lift his hand, using the Force to stop the boulder with barely any effort.
There was some resistance, her telekinetic power trying to contest him, but Anakin ignored it. A second later, he closed his fist, crushing the entire boulder in the air, letting the resulting pebbles and dust fall harmlessly down like rain.
Then he pointed his hand at them.
The woman —no, the girl, he could see she was too young now— screamed, utter terror exhaling from her entire body as she stared at the tiny pebbles raining down, the man tried to take a shot at him.
Anakin used the Force to envelop their bodies with his power, pulling them from the metal sheet they were riding. The parahumans struggled but, against his hold, they could do nothing, their hands desperately grasping at their throats as if trying to pry his fingers from their necks.
Forcing both parahumans down in front of him, Anakin felt the attack on his mind nearly doubling in strength. Looking down at the marksman, he met the man's eyes and it increased again… interesting.
The temptation to end them, or at least the man, was strong. Instead, Anakin spoke. "You want to avoid me, the authorities will keep you away, protect you from me where the Empire cannot."
The girl furiously nodded, her eyes distant under her cowl, but the man didn't even seem affected, the Mind Trick sliding off his thoughts with no effect.
"I'm not that weak-minded," he snorted, voice filled with disdain despite his situation. "Let me go and maybe I'll order them to retreat, you can't stop the rest of us."
"That seems… unlikely," Anakin said, continuing to stare at the man.
"The second team is attacking your base right now. You can't reach them from here and, even if you could, you can't keep me here too."
Anakin stared at the man for a second but, in truth, the parahuman was beneath his concerns or need to answer, a minor criminal only interesting for the fact the power inside him seemed bent on getting through Anakin's mental shields with no apparent effort from the man.
"Your power will not work on me," he said, increasing the pressure on the man's neck. "It would be wise to stop."
"Fuck… you," the man gasped, his fingers fruitlessly trying to pry an inexistent hand from his neck.
Despite his answer, Anakin had felt the brief moment of confusion the man had. He did not even know his power was working… Another indication those powers were completely external, almost completely independent from their hosts.
Glancing aside, Anakin used the Force to cut the copper cables from the exposed building, the metal curling around the girl and tying her up before both ends of the cable dug back into the building, curling around a metal beam, forcing whoever came to her rescue to cut through the cables or dig into the building before freeing the couple.
A minor inconvenience, but one that would guarantee she would be unable to escape before the PRT arrived even with help from the non-parahuman followers still around.
Turning back to the defiant man, Anakin considered what to do with him. How long had it been since a rabble like him had acted so disrespectfully towards him? Some of the rebels had been able to laugh in the face of death, but Anakin could respect them… this criminal however?
Consequences. This entire parahuman society lacked consequences. From the Empire acting in broad daylight to the parahumans feeling emboldened enough to cause large property damage, they were arrogant… entitled.
Even now, despite the fact he had killed Lung and Oni-Lee, the man wasn't laughing in the face of death, he simply did not think death was even an option. His power emboldened him to act as if above the rest of the world, believing that his trauma somehow made him different, better than other men.
How… hypocritical. Coil, Lung, the Empire, from all he had read, they had no trouble breaking those rules when it suited them, using the weakest of justifications to avoid being blamed.
Lifting the man in front of him, Anakin ripped the red and black mask over his face, revealing a young, clean-shaved face. The man tried to protest, but he simply squeezed tighter, cutting off his breath. No more hiding behind their inane costumes.
With another gesture, he pushed the girl's cowl back, taking her mask off as well, revealing a blonde teenager, her eyes wide and body shaking.
Staring at his face, Anakin considered causing him mental pain like his power seemed to be attempting, but he was trying to avoid using the Force in such a cruel, if appropriate, way. A more… physical punishment would have to do. "One chance, I intended to give you all one chance so that you may change your life. Unfortunately, it seems you have changed my mind."
"Wh-What?!" The parahuman gasped, his toes barely reaching the ground as one hand tried to grasp Anakin's shoulder for support.
"You will not change," Anakin said, igniting his lightsaber, the red blade cracking with energy. "Your society has given you enough chances. Perhaps it is time you are taught accountability."
Anakin waved the lightsaber, the blade cutting through muscle and bone with no resistance. The man screamed, the pain nearly causing him to pass out as both his legs fell off the side of the building, their ends sizzling from the burns. The wound was not fatal, only extremely painful.
Tied up against the roof, the girl tried to scream, but one of the copper cables had wrapped around her mouth preventing her from making too much noise.
Swinging his captive around, Anakin dropped him on the roof, the stumps of his legs hitting the ground and making him scream even louder.
"I will not play your parahuman game," Anakin said, clasping his lightsaber back to his waist. "It is time you are reminded your power does not put you beyond the consequences of your actions."
Patting his black robes, Anakin dusted himself and looked towards the workshop. With all the time he had to work using Bakuda's resources, he had been able to create several simple defenses around the building.
According to Dinah, there was an 83% chance the second team would retreat once the ambush failed. Even from here, Anakin could feel she had been right, the Empire had not even reached the location.
With Dinah protected by the droid at the house, even if they destroyed the workshop, there was nothing there he was unwilling to lose, even its complete destruction would only set him back a few hours.
Channeling the Force through his body, Anakin left, using the rooftops to rush away from the location at a comfortable speed until the buildings started giving way to houses. Dropping to the ground, he did his best to conceal his presence with the Force —It was not his best skill, to say the least— and returned home, being careful to remain out of view.
Succeeding in his stealth, Anakin made it back to the workshop and past his defensive perimeter without further incident only to find Dinah examining the paperwork she had asked him for help putting up, a crazy wall she called it.
"So, did they really try to ambush you?" Dinah eagerly asked, turning away from the city's map spread over a wall. "I know there was a 78% chance but sometimes people are smart."
Looking up from his chair, Hal took in Anakin's clothes and shook his head in disappointment before turning to look at Dinah.
At 2.25 meters, his new humanoid body was much taller than Anakin, with reinforced armor capable of resisting all but the heaviest weapons on the planet, and the programming to use blasters, a lightsaber or electrostaff.
"Apologies, Mistress Dark Raven, but I beg to disagree," Hal said, looking up from his work table. "I feel the word 'sometimes' belittles just how infrequently meatbags make intelligent decisions."
Ever since Anakin had told the girl about where the inspiration for their mask had come from, namely, the Mandalorian helmet worn by Darth Revan, she had wanted a similar name, even if he vetoed the Sith title.
"They did," Anakin told her, unclasping his cape and hanging it by the door. "I believe Victor and Rune are being arrested at the moment, another two parahumans managed to escape."
"Crap, I wanted to watch the fight… was it cool?" she asked, sitting on the sofa.
"It was… destructive."
"So, cool, got it."
Approaching the map, Anakin looked at the new markings. Red circles surrounded the places where Coil was likely to be while blue ones marked his resources such as parahumans or mercenary teams.
"How many committed suicide by lightsaber?" Hal asked, leaning away from the half-finished droid control chip. "More than 10? 20?"
Anakin ignored the murderous droid and continued to analyze the map, Dinah was making good progress on cornering her enemy, having narrowed the location of his main lair to within four blocks.
"He didn't kill anyone," Dinah said, throwing a pillow at the droid. "He said he's not gonna do that anymore."
Anakin turned away from the wall and looked at Dinah, taking off his leather gloves and starting to walk toward the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"
"I ate cereal before training, but yeah," Dinah nodded, her stomach grumbling from the very thought. Turning back to the droid, she continued. "What're you building anyway?"
"Having access to my programming and design, I have decided to self-replicate," Hal said, his optic lenses flashing red. "Trying to exterminate the human race alone would be suboptimal."
"No, seriously, what're you building?"
"I assure you, both my statements are entirely accurate," the droid protested, pushing away from his unfinished work and turning fully toward the girl. "Still, I confess I have no intention or ability to act on any extermination plans I may or may not have… Even if it IS relaxing to run simulations in my spare time."
Seeing the two interacting, Anakin smiled, thinking of the time he spent with R2 in his youth and how the little droid had ended up with his Son and Daughter. Was that Obi-Wan's doing or the Force?
"You're building a new body? Like, are you gonna be able to be in two places at once?" Dinah leaned forward, her voice becoming animated.
"Unfortunately, I lack that particular ability too. No, even if I copy my entire memory, we will still be distinct, if remarkably similar droids." Hal shook his head. "I do hope the new droid develops a more… protective personality so I'm free to eliminate any enemies, even if not, we may at least take turns."
"Huh… so, what're you going to call him?"
"Following your example, should I call him Metal Droid? Or perhaps Machine Robot?"
"Shut up," Dinah pouted. "The Dark isn't about color, it's about the darkness I face! The evil inside people! It's not my fault you lack imagination."
"No, it would be Master Anakin's," the droid nodded. "Fortunately, I have a remarkably well-designed intelligence matrix and no creativity damper on my programming, so it is not among my complaints. A lack of explosive ordinance, yes. A lack of arms, perhaps, but not imagination."
Later, after going through a training session with the girl and seeing that the training programs he had installed on the droid were working correctly to teach her Form II, Anakin changed clothes and left the house again.
Wearing civilian clothes, he drove his newly acquired car downtown at a glacial pace —Driving below 50 km/h felt almost painful, he could run faster than that— and entered a small coffee shop on the bottom floor of a skyscraper.
Letting the scent of ground beans fill his mind, Anakin chose a quiet corner and sat down on the stuffed bench, the soft fabric feeling comfortable under him. With a wave of his hand, he ordered a cup of coffee while watching the traffic.
The shop was nearly empty, with only a few well-dressed men and women pausing to buy and go. Anakin saw a young mother pushing a stroller inside the shop and couldn't help staring at the baby… there were so many regrets in his life.
Taking a sip of the coffee, he shifted his focus away from the people around him, spreading his senses through the area almost like a blanket, his breath evening out as he concentrated on the Force.
He had made a mistake in assuming the Empire wouldn't attack ABB territory under his protection; it was a minor one with no real consequences, but still a mistake. He would not make another.
In only a few moments, he searched the buildings around him, not with his eyes but with the Force, trying to sense anything out of place or any mind he recognized, to locate his target. Dinah had narrowed the area enough that it shouldn't take too long.
Finally, he felt something. Deep under the ground, below the level of the nearby garages, several minds roamed about. They felt like violence, anger, professionalism… mercenaries.
Taking another sip, he felt the world around him fading away as he focused more on the location, his eyes almost seeing the underground bunker, walls reinforced with steel, and, deep inside, someone he recognized. Anakin had found the Travelers.
The teacup nearly cracked in his hand and he felt his heart speeding up in his chest. Slowly, he managed to lower the cup to the table and take a deep, even breath. Laying both hands on the table palm down, he gave himself enough time to get his power under control so as to not immediately kill the parahumans and continued.
Had he found Coil inside, Anakin was almost certain he would have killed them all. Leaning back against his seat, he sighed, letting his anger cool down. Oh, even calmer he found he'd still kill the man, it just wouldn't be in a bout of anger.
Star's end, he really hadn't been cut out to be a Jedi.
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