AHAHAHAHAHAHAH BACK FROM THE DEAD
Lots of words this time (almost 5000!), but don't expect this much next time. I'm just writing a lot in case I hit 200 parts before I'm done and then there will be problems...and if you're wondering by the way, the friendship -> romantic tension began to develop a few chappies ago and it is ON DA RISEEEEE
The cold stone walls pressed tightly around Ahsoka's body as she clung motionlessly to the rungs of the ladder. It was chilly and crisp, hundreds of meters below the surface, whilst the constant scent of sewage made her want to barf.
Echoes of the draughts blowing through rang up through the tight shaft. Below her, y/n's soft breathing could also be heard, almost stifled, as he remained silent and unmoving. A few seconds passed before he tapped her boot, signalling that it was safe to continue upwards.
She could just make out the outlines of the ladder rungs, but that was all that was visible in the suffocating darkness. In the stealth mission, they would have to make do with limited lighting and ease. Above her, many more metres of climbing. Around her, the stone walls pressed against her shoulders. Below her, y/n was facing the same discomfort.
Another wave of nausea overcame him as the reek of excrement filled his senses. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he lowered his head and kept climbing.
"I can't believe we're climbing up a sewage pipe," he grumbled.
"Oh, I thought you felt right at home," Ahsoka replied, smirking to herself.
"Speak for yourself," y/n rolled his eyes, almost retching.
After what felt like eternity, they finally reached the hatch. Both paused as he checked his wrist computer again for the time, a soft blue light throwing a glow over his face and scar.
"Twelve seconds," he whispered, turning off the screen and delving into silence.
The time passed and y/n tapped Ahsoka's boot again. Quickly, she spun the hatch open and the entrance popped up for them. The light that shone through was almost blinding after the continuous darkness.
The two clambered through into a hallway with polished metal walls. The sound of boots was quickly fading, meaning that the wrist computer's timing algorithm was right. Closing the hatch, the floor was reversed into its previous smooth black tiles, completely inconspicuous and not visible by anyone unless they knew such a place existed.
"Master Kobar Uten is in Cell R524, twenty floors down," Ahsoka said, leading the way as they crept through the hallways, avoiding the guard patrols. They were well aware, however, of the black lenses of the cameras following them.
The two Padawans were on a secret mission on Serenno, the heart of the Separatist movement itself. Within the rocky Aparian Wastes of the planet, a sprawling underground prison dwelt. The Spike was a vast network of jails, housing criminals or important war prisoners whom Dooku wanted to interrogate himself. The security seemed unbreachable until spies infiltrated the place through the prison's only weak spot: its sewage systems. With the data, they would be able to escape the eyes of the guards, unless they wanted to.
The plan was to create chaos and draw Serenno defences to the prison, leaving Anakin and Aayla able to infiltrate and steal the information they needed from Dooku's palace. Meanwhile, they would be able to rescue Kobar Uten, a Jedi who had been captured and had military intelligence of the Separatist movements across the galaxy, unbeknownst to the Count.
Moving through the facility, they kept their eyes peeled for any hidden traps, knowing full well that they could be injured or even killed. Ahsoka's experiences in the Citadel had taught her that, and y/n had spent enough time breaking himself out of prison cells to know that they could be fatal.
Twice they almost triggered a tripwire that would unleash who knows what on them. Other times the wrist computer didn't have enough information to warn them of hidden pits with electric razor sharp spikes that they barely avoided. Multiple other occasions had been encountered, including a huge spider like creature that she had to cut down with her lightsabers.
"Have you got the thermal detonators, n/n?" Ahsoka asked as they jogged, boots echoing slightly through the narrow passageways. In front of her, y/n kept looking down at his wrist computer in an effort to keep track of where the guard patrols would be, as well as trying to navigate them through the sprawling maze-like system of cells.
"Yup," he answered, swinging his backpack around and pulling out a couple of the bombs, tossing one carelessly to her. She barely stopped to avoid crashing into him.
"Hey watch it! What are you trying to do, kill me?" she grumbled as the detonator almost stuck to her arm, only dodging it because of her heightened senses. "I knew it would be a bad idea to give those to you."
They arrived at a huge steel door, and both nodded in mutual understanding, ceasing their previous banter and joking. He set himself up beside the keypad whilst Ahsoka drew her lightsabers and waited in front of the entrance. Miming a countdown with his fingers, y/n then dialled the passcode and the door slid open.
Inside, the droids and personnel didn't stand a chance against their blades. One machine, however, was able to press the button to signal for aid.
"Intruders! Intruders!"
Frowning, y/n used the Force to crush it before throwing the mangled figure at one of the Human staff who was trying to escape, knocking them unconscious. Beside him, the Togruta was dispatching the last droid, two senseless personnel lying on the floor amidst the cut-up robot parts.
"What is your status?" another squeaky, tinny voice came from the controls.
y/n and Ahsoka looked at each other, sharing an uneasy look. She pushed him forwards with her shoulder, shooting him a glare that seemed to say, that droid was your problem.
Clearing his throat, he extinguished his lightsaber and walked towards where the voice came from, stepping over the cut off arm of a downed droid.
"Uh, we request help! We are overwhelmed! Bring more forces, there are a dozen Jedi! No, stay away you filth-" he picked up a blaster with the Force and shot it at the communication device, shutting off the line.
"What in the galaxy was that?" Ahsoka was doubled over, leaning on her knees as her body shook with laughter. To make it convincing, he had spoken with his imitation of a battle droid, and judging from the Togruta's reaction, it was impeccable.
"Well, I have many talents," y/n smirked, his cheeks growing hot as he grabbed Ahsoka's arm to steer her out of the control room.
"But seriously, what were you thinking?" she gasped through breaths of air, a grin still plastered her face. "Alerting the forces?"
Taking out a few thermal detonators, he began activating them and sticking them onto the walls of the room whilst Ahsoka worked to pull out the unconscious personnel, throwing them into an empty cell and then locking it.
As the red flashing lights on the bombs began to appear, the sound of mechanical footsteps also filled the corridor. Tossing a smoke bomb into the space, he waited for the fumes to fill the area before jumping up. y/n removed the cover of a vent and the two Jedi leapt into the dark confines.
"Well, Stripey, have you ever heard the quote, 'all warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near'? Well I told them there were a dozen Jedi. There you go. Deception achieved. Now, hopefully, that will draw more droid forces-"
A huge booming explosion shook the level, making y/n stop in the middle of his sentence and flatten his body against the vent. Peeking through the metal gaps of the cover, he saw a destroyed control room and around a whole squadron of smoking droids lying scattered in the corridor.
"As I was saying," he continued with a smirk, nodding at her to begin crawling through the vent shafts, "hopefully that would draw more droid forces. The more damage we inflict, the more machines we destroy. The more machines we destroy, the less we will have in our path to getting Master Uten out. That would also make it easier for Master Skywalker and Secura as Dooku may send more droids to the facility here rather than to defend his turf."
"I've got a feeling that's only part of the truth," Ahsoka rolled her eyes, already knowing the answer as she led the way.
"Yup. I like blowing stuff up."
A few minutes of crawling and chatter resulted them in reaching the turbolift shaft. Kicking the vent cover off, Ahsoka leapt skilfully across the open abyss below them, adding in a flip before latching on to a bunch of cables whilst her boots rested precariously on a ledge.
"Show off," y/n said good naturedly, though inside he was marvelling at how graceful she was. Her slim body and limbs, a smirk pulling at her lips, almost daring him to match her jump.
Sliding out of the vent, he replaced the cover, all the while aware of how deep the turbolift shaft must go. The Spike was underground and housed perhaps a hundred levels, and they were on the top. One mistake and the result could be fatal.
y/n turned his gaze back to Ahsoka, who nodded encouragingly. Fixing his eyes on the ledge beside her where he wanted to land, he grinned and jumped forwards, twisting in mid-air.
His feet hit the ledge, but his gravity was off centre. Eyes widening, he suddenly found himself falling...
And then a jerk as he was caught, the collar of his tunic tight as Ahsoka held on to him.
"Hey n/n. How's it hanging?" she smirked. "I thought you were pretty agile before this. Now come on, you look stupid down there."
Flushing a deep shade of scarlet, he scowled and guided his feet to a gap in the shaft, grabbing a bundle of cables securely like she did before taking a big breath and climbing carefully up to her level.
Turning, he suddenly realised how close they were. Shoulders basically touching, he could feel the warmth of her breath and see the outlines of her features, even in the dim light.
"What?" she turned her head and almost collided with his jaw.
For a few seconds they stood there in awkward silence, each afraid to breathe in fear of breaking the moment. y/n didn't know where to look, but found himself staring into her stormy blue eyes. It felt impossible, but somehow his cheeks grew even redder.
A sudden whoosh above them made the two look up, Ahsoka even jolting in surprise. The outline of the turbolift was steadily growing clearer, the sound echoing and vibrating through the walls of the shaft.
Without even having to communicate, they jumped up and caught on to the bottom of the turbolift, being carried down through the shaft. The energy between them felt weird now after that moment of being so close together, but Ahsoka tried to shake it off with a smirk.
At last, the turbolift came to a halt and the two Jedi wasted no time climbing to the sides so that they wouldn't be in danger of being crushed. Once it had zoomed back up, they began descending the shaft to reach the bottom level; the turbolift had only been used to speed up their journey. The lower floors housed the most dangerous criminals in the Spike, and that included Master Uten.
"Okay, I just realised a flaw in your plan," Ahsoka grumbled, breaking the silence as they opened the vent hatch of the lowest floor and began to climb inside. These systems were much safer and less booby-trapped than the corridors.
"And what is that?" y/n asked uneasily, not sure if she was teasing him or if there really could be something to hinder their progress.
"You mentioned a dozen Jedi. That probably would alert all the forces that we would be rescuing another Jedi, or Master Uten."
"Oh umm..." he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as the Togruta scrambled inside the vent, before following her. "Look, I'm sure it would be fine."
Travelling through the complicated labyrinth of ducts, they found themselves getting lost multiple times, where y/n would playfully scold Ahsoka for leading them astray. They would have to shift around and backtrack, him now at the front, before realising that in fact he was wrong as well.
"Who's a hypocrite now?" Ahsoka smirked. "Probably the big idiot in front of me."
"Shut up," he rolled his eyes, slightly embarrassed. "Wait, here's the junction."
Turning, the two Jedi spotted a row of metal covers, an even interval of distance spaced out between them. Soft yellow light lit up the vent insides, spilling up from the hallway below.
"See? I got us here, so it's not on me anymore," y/n said with a grin. "Now we just have to find the one that belongs to Master Uten."
"Got it," Ahsoka spoke up. "Come on, can't you sense him through the Force? It's like a huge beacon." Her face was lit up with strips of light.
"Yeah, I feel it too now. He's weak though."
Crawling to the vent cover that was in Master Uten's cell, y/n peered down and gulped.
"Uh Stripey?"
"Yeah?"
"You might have been right about the 'a dozen Jedi' thing..."
Below, two droids were inside the cell guarding a frail, sickly pale Human man who was in his sixties. He could see part of the hallway outside the cell, which seemed to be a mass of machines with blasters.
"I don't think we're gonna be able to fight this one through," he whispered, shaking his head, "but we can definitely try..."
"I can sneak in," Ahsoka suggested, lightly pushing him to make him move forwards and make room for her to look. "Force invisibility, toss a smoke grenade down there, I'll get Master Uten up, you can serve as a distraction."
At the mention of his name, the Jedi looked up discreetly and spotted their silhouettes in the vent. Faking the movement as scratching his chin, the man coughed and turned his gaze back to his scuffed boots, though a slight smile seemed to be pulling at his lips. Although thin and mistreated, the man still possessed some peacefulness and did not seem worried at all.
"Distraction? Oh, I can do that..." y/n grinned. "We'll meet back at the shuttle in a quarter standard hour?"
She nodded. "Good." Closing her eyes, Ahsoka began to concentrate, reaching into the Force and seeking to wrap herself in the cosmos. Relax, Obi-Wan and taught her. It was a state of comfort, hiding and blending in with the universe, almost like being dissolved.
She wasn't all that sure if it would work, after all, she had trained again and again, tried countless times and yet it had only been achieved once.
"You doubt yourself too much. Stop thinking," y/n's voice mumbled softly, placing his hand on her shoulder, his breathing tickling her nose in an oddly pleasant way. "No, don't open your eyes. Kind of just...drift away into nothingness..."
He wasn't more experienced with Ahsoka or anything, but still her discomfort could be sensed through the Force. She needed to relax, slow down, clear her head of thoughts.
Lapsing into silence, he allowed her to focus once more. Ahsoka's form suddenly flickered for a few seconds, at first y/n thought it was the light playing tricks on him, but suddenly her figure disappeared completely.
"That's right Stripey," he smiled. "You've done it. Now I can pretend that you don't exist and ignore you when you're being annoying," he joked.
"Good luck, I'll be waiting for your distraction," her voice said quietly beside him, ignoring his comment. It was laced with surprise and excitement from her own success.
Grinning, he saluted in the tight space before crawling forwards, disappearing into the darkness.
A few seconds later the sound of blaster fire, heavy metal parts falling on the ground and the hum of a lightsaber filled the air. Multiple droids squealed in confusion and terror as a red and blue blade cut them down.
Acting quickly, Ahsoka smiled as she removed the vent cover and dropped a smoke bomb into the cell. Her hands and every part of her body were indeed invisible.
Usually, she would have felt resentment or irritation for y/n helping her with something that she should well be able to do on her own, her pride being the main cause. But this time it was different. Less of the annoyance, more of the gratitude and contentment knowing that he was there for her, to help.
As soon as the fumes filled enough of the room, she dropped down and ignited her lightsabers, decapitating the guard droids with two swift strikes.
Outside, y/n was grinning as he deflected blaster bolts back at the machines and cut them down. Because the hallways weren't extremely wide, not enough droids could fill the space to make it a dangerous firing zone for him. He could easily dodge or send them back whilst having enough room to fight and flip around. She could have sworn he was showing off.
"Master Uten, I'm Padawan Ahsoka Tano, and we're here to get you out," she introduced, helping the man stand up from the bench, still invisible. As soon as he felt her hand on his shoulder the man seemed to lose all his previous peacefulness and his head dropped to his chin, falling into unconsciousness.
Suddenly, a loud scuttling noise came from above them, in the vent shaft. She looked up in surprise and was met with a dozen glowing red spots. Eyes.
"Quick, we have to leave!" she yelled loudly. y/n somehow heard or sensed her, Force throwing a droid at the cell's control panel and hitting the button to release them.
As soon as the glowing red laser door disappeared, Ahsoka charged out with Master Uten, becoming visible once more. A second later, the glowing eyes appeared, followed by an eerie screech and large, shiny black bodies. They were spider like with eight feet and armoured bodies, rushing out of the vents and chasing after them.
Spotting them, y/n lunged forwards and sliced the first one in half, throwing two droid popper grenades onto the floor in either direction. A moment later, most of the machines in the passageway had been disabled.
"Run!" he yelled, leading the way and cutting down the remaining droids.
"Seems like the vents aren't an option anymore," Ahsoka said, supporting Master Uten. The initial plan was to travel back through the sewers, and being invisible would be important so that the cameras wouldn't be able to pick up the fact that they were using the ducts. Somehow, perhaps through microphones, they had been discovered and now the vents were useless.
She risked a glance behind her shoulder, seeing a dozen of the insect creatures rapidly following them with loud shrieks.
Reaching an intersection, y/n made sure they were all in the junction before smashing the control panel. The door to the corridor they were just running in slammed shut, decapitating one of the spider creatures that made it halfway through. Its shiny black head fell to the floor and rolled across the ground, stopping against Ahsoka's boot.
"Ew. Gross," she scowled, blinking at the foul green liquid that spilled out from the wound.
More droids began to pour in from either side. Only three made it in before the doors simultaneously shut.
"Okay, why did you do that?" Ahsoka asked y/n, glancing at the half-conscious Jedi Master who she was basically carrying. The man must have been even weaker than they thought.
"That wasn't me!" he replied, finishing off the machines. Using one of the battle droids, he plugged in its scomp link to the system and quickly tapped a few buttons. "Okay, I released all the prisoners on the top floor. That should divert their attention. Don't worry," he added, seeing her expression. "I checked, they were all basically harmless civilians so we're not letting any psychopathic murderers loose or anything, and hopefully will waste enough of the Seppies time to detain for us to escape."
A loud hiss filled the closed off junction, and they all looked around to see what it was. Multiple pipes had been opened, quickly releasing a sickly-looking green gas.
"It was the camera!" Ahsoka growled, spotting the lens. She picked up a cut off droid arm and Force threw it at the black lenses in the corner of the junction. "Quick, take Master Uten, I'll get us out of here. Which way out?"
y/n took the man's weight and supported him, pointing at the left door with his chin. He was fully aware of the toxic fumes that were filling the air. Of course, they could always use Detoxify Poison or some other Force ability, but it wasn't practical and he wasn't sure how the half conscious Jedi would do it.
The Togruta had rushed towards the entrance and ignited her lightsabers once more. Plunging them deep into the metal, she began to move the blades in an arc, trying to cut open the door.
"Hurry up Stripey!"
"Shut up, I'm not the one doing nothing!"
"I'm literally carrying Master Uten!"
"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes as she completed the circle. Glancing around, the floor of the junction was now completely covered in toxic gas and slowly rising. Stepping back, Ahsoka took a deep breath and Force pushed the metal forwards. A deafening crash and screech came from the other side of the door as the droids outside were crushed.
At the same time, red flashing lights began to appear, and a computerised voice droned, "Alert. Alert. Security breach in Sector R5. Poison gas leak. Alert. Alert. Security breach..."
"The next sewer entrance is straight ahead, past two more intersections!" y/n called, dragging the man along as he sprinted after Ahsoka, though slowed down by the added weight. She stopped and waited for them to catch up before taking Master Uten's other shoulder and running together.
Everything was chaos. Alarms, red lights, droids, traps to avoid.
At last, somehow, they made it to the sewer entrance. Hastily opening it, y/n dropped down, not even climbing. He simply jumped and landed a few hundred metres down, tucked into a safety roll and stood back up, using the Force to aid him and avoid any injuries.
"Hurry!" he yelled, choking on the overwhelming scent of sewage, before Ahsoka threw the man down after him. y/n caught him and a second later the Togruta was back in the tunnels as well.
Droids were chasing them everywhere. Ahsoka rambled on about the machines that were overwhelming her and following them down from the shaft they descended through. Behind them, several squads were marching rhythmically through the tunnels behind them, blaster bolts zipping past their ears. A stream of muddy water mixed with excrement flowed beside them, occasionally lapping against their boots.
"This one's it!" Ahsoka said triumphantly, reaching the shaft and ladder that would take them back to the surface and to their shuttle. "You go, I'll stop them."
y/n raised an eyebrow. "You sure you'll be alright?"
"Come on, don't doubt me," she smirked, giving him a shove and making sure he started climbing with Master Uten before turning back to the droids.
Grabbing the last two droid popper grenades, she activated them and tossed them at the marching machines. Ahsoka then reached into the Force and propelled the robots, along with the bombs, as far back as she could.
Energy exploded through the Separatist ranks, being amplified through the water in the sewer. Others were crushed together by her powerful push. She had bought them enough time to climb safely back up.
A few minutes of silence came in between y/n and Ahsoka as they climbed, the half-conscious Jedi in tow. Adrenaline was still pulsing through their systems from their dashing escape.
"Good job Stripey, we make a good team," he said with a grin once they reached the top of the ladder.
Pushing the hatch open, he gazed around their surroundings to check if it was all clear and safe. Instead, they were surrounded by a ring of droids. An explosion rung around them, a sudden bright flare of light illuminating the night sky. Shrapnel and larger remains of their escape shuttle rained down on the ground further away.
"Oh kriff."
"What now?" Ahsoka groaned.
"We got clankers. A lotta them."
Immediately, they began firing blaster bolts at them. y/n used the sewer hatch as a sort of shield, drawing his lightsaber and deflecting as many of them as he could. They were like sitting ducks. They had to move out, now.
Spotting an opening, he jumped out of the shaft and ducked behind the hatch, feeling the metal behind his back jolting with every blaster bolt that hit it. Using the Force, he lifted a couple of droids into the air and crushed them, before dragging the broken machines around the attacking circle, knocking them into each other and damaging as many as he could.
"It's half clear, get your butt up here now!"
He helped haul Master Uten up and Ahsoka clambered out as well.
"We can't stay here! There are more forces to arrive at any second now! Where do we go?" he asked loudly to be heard over the shots and clanking.
Ahsoka's gaze landed on the dark silhouette of the mountain ranges.
"There. They won't be able to find us as easily. We'll contact forces or wait for Master Secura and Skywalker to finish their mission and pick us up from the mountains."
Nodding, y/n peeked over the rim of the hatch before ducking down again, almost getting hit by a blaster bolt.
"I'll cover you, run!"
Vaulting over the hatch, he ran at the remaining machines with a roar, flipping into the air to avoid most of the blaster bolts. Others, he deflected with his blades, sending them ricocheting back.
Landing, he let his momentum carry him forward and drove his lightsaber into the chest of a droid before slicing the two beside it in half. As the shots kept coming, y/n used them to his advantage, deflecting them to destroy more of the machines. However, if he put one down, it seemed like two more replaced it, an endless stream of droids coming from nowhere, slowly overwhelming him.
The sudden shaking of the ground made y/n look up. An entire squadron of tanks were steadily advancing, crushing through the rocks in the wasteland and rumbling loudly. A few began to fire rounds at Ahsoka and Master Uten's retreating form, but he was happy to see that they had made enough progress so that with another minute or two, they would be far enough for the blaster bolts to be ineffective.
"Hey! Over here, scrap metal!" he waved an arm around to try and grab the droids' attention whilst fighting with the other hand. Hopping onto the offensive, he rushed forwards into the Separatist ranks, but a sudden pain swarmed up his leg.
"Kriff!" y/n cursed as he fell. Around him, pit-like holes appeared in the dusty terrain and the black forms of multiple automatic blaster cannons rose, slowly pivoting to face him. He struggled to block the droids' firepower now.
Trying to stand up, he staggered to his feet, spotting dusty round disks half camouflaged in the rock surrounding it. It seemed like there were hidden traps buried all over, capable of sending powerful shock waves up to whomever stepped on one.
Dragging his numb foot, he glanced back at the distant figures of the Jedi. They were far enough now; it was time to retreat and there was no way he could survive if he stayed any longer.
Fighting off the closest droids who still posed a threat, he spun his lightsaber to deflect the shots before scrambling towards the mountain range.
As the horde of machines marched after him, blaster bolts missing by an inch, a deep, resonant hum entered his ears. The sound grew louder until the cannons fired. The blue beams barely missed him, all of them trained on his running figure. He had to leap, flip, duck and roll to avoid everything, and several times the hem of his robes were scorched.
Using a burst of Force Speed, he managed to not get hurt.
But he wasn't paying attention to the ground anymore. Once again one of the hidden stun traps caught him by surprise and he tripped once more, his lightsaber falling out of his hands and extinguishing.
The hilt spun through the air, y/n's tattooed hand reaching desperately for it but failing.
Everything else seemed to happen in slow motion, or it could have just been his Force Speed.
A bright blue beam from the blaster cannon intercepted the lightsaber in mid-air, sending it flying in the direction of the mountain ranges. It clattered to a stop a few metres away, smoking.
y/n used a boulder to help himself back up, both legs numb. Dodging the shots, he used the Force to pick up his lightsaber, then the rock and threw the latter at the droids.
Panting, he sprinted as fast as he could towards Ahsoka and Master Uten, not even turning to look behind him or deflect the blaster bolts.
He couldn't, after all. The hilt was hot and still smoking, a huge burnt gash that he could feel under his palm. He didn't want to look down and see his lightsaber destroyed and useless.
Yawns. Hope y'all enjoyed it! Next chappie y/n's getting a badass weapon upgrade >:D