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ASTRID PULLS AT THE RESTRAINTS ON HER HANDS IN THE HOPE THAT IT LOOSENS. The cell was bare of any light and furniture, the door was completely solid too with three tiny slits–it was just Astrid with her hands restrained above her head with magnetic cuffs. She had a pin in her boot for situations like this, inspired by Padme at the battle of Geonosis, but she needed a distraction so the droids would open the cell door.
"Better watch out," the battle droid outside of her cell said, "there's a Jedi on the loose."
The girl looks up with a grimace, she needed to get out of this cell before Anakin found her, just so some of her pride could stay intact. But she couldn't help the feeling of relief flooding through her body. Anakin was here for her, although he probably was just as furious with her as she was with him. She needed a plan now, and she might have just gotten one.
Astrid decides to play with the droid's circuits, "you know, I heard the Jedi that has come here is a bit obsessed with me. If he sees me like this, you'll surely be destroyed."
The droids stand in silence for a moment, clearly scared of the information Astrid had just spewed at them. One of the droids begins commanding the others to form a perimeter around the tower. Astrid smirks, now that they were spread out, they would be much easier to take down.
Using her core strength and her restraints, she raises both her legs so they are in reach of her hands. A cool metal pin slips into her hands, and she gently lowers her feet to the ground. With a satisfied grin, Astrid unlocks the cuffs, rubbing her raw and red wrists. Anakin would surely see that and rain hell on the droids and the Viceroy.
"You made it!" Astrid creeps into a corner hidden from view of the door, her hand slipping to the blaster tied to the holster on her thigh. She pulls it off and quietly takes the safety off–at least the droids were stupid enough to let her keep her weapons. "I'm rescued at last. Hurry before the battle droids figure out what's happening. Let's get out of her, Master Jedi."
Just as Astrid suspected, the door opened quickly and a droid walked in. Blasting the droid, Astrid does the same to the two other ones in the room. She quickly presses the button to extend the bridge again and takes off running.
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"I AM A PROTOCOL DROID, FLUENT IN OVER SIX MILLION FORMS OF–" Astrid heard the robotic voice of C-3PO as she finally left the towers and entered the main building. Making her way to the sound, she peeks over the corner to see two droids escorting C-3PO to god knows where.
Using her palm as a gun stand, Astrid aims for the droids, shooting both of them within seconds. C-3PO turns around hands up, but relaxes when he sees who it is, "Mistress Astrid! Oh, thank the Maker, you're safe. Have you–"
Astrid puts her hands on his mouth and shoves him towards a wall hidden from the open doors. Three droids walk by, all armed heavily. News of her escape must have gone out.
After a few moments, she pulls her hand away from the golden droid's mouth, "where's the Jedi?"
"Master Anakin has gone to the tower to save you, I'm afraid," C-3PO informs.
"Then I guess we'll meet him there," Astrid sighs, running her hands through her hair, "alright, this is what you'll do, go to the ship and call for help. I need you to stay calm."
"Yes, milady," the droid nods, waddling away.
Astrid sighs, now it's time to face Anakin after all.
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THE SOUNDS OF HEAVY GUNFIRE TAKE ASTRID'S ATTENTION AS SHE RUNS TOWARDS THE TOWER. Her feet haul her faster as she gets closer to all the commotion. It was Anakin, no doubt, only he could have such a dramatic entrance. When she arrives at the small balcony that looks out to the bridge to the tower and the ground below, Astrid sees Anakin in all his glory.
His gloved hands grip his black and silver hilt, as his built arms move to deflect the blaster shots from the droids on the bridge. His face was slick with a sheen of sweat and face hard as if worried.
Astrid aims her blaster at the droids on the bridge, taking down three of the four. Anakin deflects a shot that hits the last one. His bright blue eyes meet Astrid's sheepish face, she waves innocently as he glares at her. If only he knew who was angrier.
Another wave of droids rushed towards the balcony Astrid was on, a quiet huff of annoyance leaving her lips. Seeing this, Anakin quickly spots any way to the top of the tower. He spots a large vine leading to the balcony she was on. Using the Force, he jumped up and grabbed the vine, swiftly climbing up. The sounds of blaster shots only urged him to go faster.
As he hopped onto the balcony, he saw Astrid take down the last droid of that wave. She turns around, eyes just as fierce as when they were arguing over the hologram, "this is our chance to capture the Viceroy, we can't miss this opportunity."
The girl goes to walk away from the balcony but Anakin's large hand closes around her toned bicep. He could feel the muscles in her biceps flex as she tried tugging her arm away from him, however, his years of training had clearly won when it came to strength.
He spins her around, pressing her body against the arch of the balcony. His metal arm pinned hers to the wall above her. With clenched teeth, his face dips closer, his long bangs tickling her forehead as his lips hover over hers, "I don't give a flying fuck about that asshole. My mission is to get your stubborn ass back to Coruscant safely."
Astrid was getting hot–from the heat and humidity of Rodia and from her overwhelming urge to break Anakin's perfect nose. Sweat began to bead at the back of her neck, the hairs that had fallen from her ponytail sticking to the skin of her forehead and neck. Her eyes narrowed at Anakin, jaw tight, "let go of me before I make you."
"Make me? I'd like to see you try, princess," Anakin scoffs, his metal arm gripping her wrists tighter. This was what Astrid would use to her advantage right now–he was too cocky. The second he had her in this position, she could've gotten out, but she decided to be civil.
Tired of her position right now, Astrid's knee shoots up towards the man's crotch. His hands immediately leave her and crouch on the ground in pain. She looks at him unapologetically and when their eyes meet she shrugs, "I warned you. Now you can either help me or feel free to go back to your ship."
She doesn't glance back as she walks away because she knew that he'd join her eventually when he recovered.
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𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐦 𝐢?
𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞! 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞.
𝐢'𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! 𝐢'𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 (:
𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!
𝐢 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨.
𝐢 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭.
𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫!
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