Chapter 18:
The elevator stops at the right floor and the doors open. I walk out behind them and I try to keep my necklace in. We literally just stand at the elevator's entrance, looking for the chancellor. I hear something move and I see a chair filled by an aged man. "Look," I whisper and nudge Annie. We walk over to the chair that Palpatine is in. He's bound to it. I smile politely and Obi-Wan bows.
"Chancellor," Obi-Wan says. Palpatine doesn't even look at us.
"Are you alright?" I ask.
"Count Dooku," Palpatine plainly says. I look back and see the devil next to two robotic demons. I hate this man with a burning passion, just as much as Anakin does. We hate him for the exact same reason. He took off Anakin's arm. I curl my lips and ball up my fists. I'm not risking my life again.
"This time, we go together," Obi-Wan says under his breath. I nod.
"I was thinking the same thing," Anakin says as he walks to the other side of me. Dooku flips off the landing and lands on the ground as he snaps out his lightsaber.
"Get help you're no match for him," Chancellor Palpatine mumbles behind us.
"We should be good, it's three against one," I mutter.
"He's a Sith Lord," Palpatine says.
"Chancellor, Sith Lords are our specialty," Obi-Wan clears up. Anakin and Obi-Wan take off their cloaks as I place my hand over my saber.
"Your swords please. We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the chancellor," Dooku walks to us.
"You won't get away this time," I growl. I twirl my saber in my hand and light up the green dash. Anakin and Obi-Wan let their blue dashes out. Dooku lights up his red one and I run to him. I get on the ground and slide over. I flip over his shoulder and try to stab him in the back. I fly back a bit and Anakin and Obi-Wan have their go at him. I toss hair from my face and I run at him again. Obi-Wan and Anakin fly back and Dooku holds his saber across my neck.
"You've grown, young Mara," he smiles cruelly at me.
"Yet my thirst for revenge stays," I back up. I duck and spin and try to disarm him somehow.
"You can never hide," he laughs.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I jump up onto the landing. "Now!" I call. I stab the super battle droids next to me. The three sabers clash together and I watch. The small pain in my stomach happens again, like a rib. It fades away.
"I've been looking forward to this," Dooku says.
"My powers have doubled since the last time we met," Anakin lifts up his chin.
"Oh good. Twice the pride, double the fall," Dooku shoots back. I clench my fists. The two Jedi attack the Sith Lord. They come at a three way clash. Obi-Wan gets up and comes over to where I am. Soon enough, we're all up here. We attack Dooku and he throws Anakin away. I run to Anakin and I try to help him up. Dooku throws Obi-Wan over to under a platform. I run over there and grip the bars tightly. I gasp as Dooku brings down the platform I'm standing on. I fall and hit my head a bit on a rail. I black out for a bit.
"No!" Anakin yells.
I wake up after a few minutes or so and I see Anakin with Dooku's saber and his at Dooku's neck. "Good, Anakin. Now kill him," the chancellor says. It's a bit odd how the chancellor is rooting on such violence. But I must agree, he should kill him. Dooku looks at Palpatine like he just told Anakin to kill his best friend. Anakin's hesitating.
"I shouldn't," Anakin says. I try to move my arms.
"Do it," Palpatine's voice starts to get weird. Annie hesitates again and then does what he's told. He completely decapitates Dooku. I make a small noise, showing I'm awake. They don't seem to notice. "You did well, Anakin," the chancellor says. "He was too dangerous to be kept alive." I try and make another noise.
"I know, but he was an unarmed prisoner. I shouldn't have done that. It isn't the Jedi way," Anakin says.
"Annie," I say lightly. I try and get up.
"Mara," he says as he jogs over to me. "What did you see?"
"It doesn't matter," I whisper. He helps me up.
"It was only natural. He cut off your arm, you wanted revenge. I'm pretty sure you weren't the only one," Palpatine says. "Remember what you told me of your mother and the sand people?" Anakin looks back at him and back at me. "Now, we must leave. Before more droids arrive." Palpatine starts to walk to the door and Anakin and I start trying to help get Obi-Wan. "Leave him. Or we'll never make it."
"We aren't leaving him," I growl. "I get the platform, you get him." He nods. I lift up the platform with all my strength as Annie slides out the man from under. "Alright, come on." We walk to the elevator and Annie carries Obi-Wan. "Oh, great. Elevator's not working. Get R2." Anakin pulls out the communicator and her talks into it.
"R2, activate elevator 3-2-2-4," Anakin orders. I feel a jolt in the whole ship and I have to steady myself. The whole command ship starts to tilt.
"Oh no," I try to not slide. I grab inside the elevator shaft and I hold with all my life. I crawl in and I try to help the rest. It's flat in here. "Come on," I start running. They follow me and I see the area start to tilt back to vertical. I slip and land flat on my butt. "Ow!" I yelp and start to scream our way down. I see something. We come to little cords in the wall and I grab hold of one. I feel so bad for Anakin, he has Obi-Wan on his shoulders and Palpatine hanging on his leg. "We should be safe right?" I hear Obi-Wan finally wake up. He grabs hold of Anakin. "Welcome back," I smirk.
"Easy up. We're in a bit of a situation here," Anakin says.
"Did I miss something?" Obi-Wan asks.
"Pft. Did you miss something?" I mock. I hear a screech. I look up. "Well there's that elevator you called for."
"Oh. Oops. R2, shut down the elevator," Anakin says to the communicator.
"Tell him to hurry," I panic.
"Too late, jump," Obi-Wan directs. Anakin and I jump just a bit after the rest and he grab each other's hands. We slide down and Anakin pulls out a grapple hook of some kind. Obi-Wan has one too. "Latch." I don't let go of Anakin's hand, and I hold onto him tightly. We swing onto a landing of a hallway. I land next to Anakin and I am just hysterical. I start laughing. The chancellor looks at me weirdly. I stand up and dust off my butt.
"R2, get down here," Annie orders. "R2, do you hear me?"
"Come on," I say. I lead and start running down the hall. A bright light goes and a ray shield comes around us. "Well isn't that just fantastic?" I sarcastically.
"Ray shields," Anakin says.
"Wait just a minute. How did this happen? We're smarter than this!" Obi-Wan says.
"Apparently not," Anakin says.
"Enough said," I huff.
"I say patience," Anakin adds. I give him a weird look. "Yes, soon enough, R2 will be down here and get rid of the ray shields." Just then, a speeding R2 rolls in and hits a wall. "See?" Then destroyers roll out. I sigh. Droids surround R2 and R2 gets kicked down because it shocked a droid.
"Do you have a plan B?" Obi-Wan asks.
"That was plan B. I was plan A," I reply.
