The blast threw her backwards into Wingman, who caught her as she raised her hands instinctively and used the force to stop the shards and ship fragments from flying passed her and impaling her crew.
"Everyone okay?" Spinner asked, as the wall of suspended shrapnel fell to the ground in front of them. The clones all sounded off affirmatives, nodding to Spinner.
As Wingman set Kyah down, she hissed in pain. He moved in front of her, "You good?" He asked, but his question was answered for him, as she tightly gripped her right arm and the clone's eyes went wide. "Kyah's hit!" He announced and Spinner unhooked Anakin's arm from his shoulder and left him with Dozer as the captain ran to her.
He came around in time to see her grab a long, shard of metal that had stabbed high up in her arm, and come all the way through to the other side.
"Damn it." Spinner cursed under his breath as he looked up at her pained expression. She tried to pull it out, barely moving it at all before she let go and exhaled a shaky breath.
"I can't." She said in frustration, breathing heavily, "You have to pull it out." She said and Spinner raised his hands as he shook his head.
"It will bleed more. You should leave it where it is." He instructed, but Kyah shook her head.
"Someone blew up our ship. We are under attack." She reminded him as her clones formed a circle around her and Anakin, keeping their weapons primed. "I need it out so I can fight." She insisted and Spinner looked back down at the shard, watching as her blood leaked down all around it, soaking her black sleeve and dripping from her fingertips to the ground bellow.
"Okay." He breathed and readied himself. "Does anyone have a med kit on them?" He called out and Mouse spoke up.
"I do." He nodded, "I thought Master Skywalker might need it." He pulled the small kit from his packsack. "I was waiting til we were back on the ship, but I guess that's not going to happen." He sighed as he jogged over to Kyah.
"Good call." Spinner said gratefully, "I need you to be ready with the bandages as soon as this is out." He said and Mouse nodded. Spinner took one of the cloth bandages and tied it above the wound as tightly as he could to restrict blood flow, then he braced himself and gripped the scrap metal tightly in his gloved hand.
"Are you ready? He asked, and Kyah squeezed her eyes closed, as she took in a shaky breath, then nodded. He pulled it out as straight as he could, trying to block out her scream when he felt it scrape her bone and tear her flesh further, before finally coming free.
Spinner dropped the bloodied scrap beside him and held up her arm for Mouse, who quickly sprayed the area with beccta, then placed gauze pads over the entry and exit wounds, before wrapping the area in the bandaging.
"I can't feel my hand." Kyah said as her laboured breaths came quickly, "I need this loosened." She started to pull at the knot on the bandage that was preventing blood flow.
"It'll bleed too much, Kyah, you can't." Spinner said and pulled her hand away.
"This is my dominant hand." She argued, "I need it functioning."
"I was hoping for a decent fight!" A woman's raspy voice called out from the entry way to the black fortress. "Looks like I'll be disappointed." She taunted Kyah.
Everyone turned to see Ventress walking slowly across the bridge connecting the fortress to the landing zone where they stood amongst the remains of their ship. All of her clones rushed forward and started to form a line in front of Kyah, Anakin and Dozer who still held him steady, but before they could perfect their formation, Kyah walked forward with purpose.
"Everyone stay back." She instructed, but Spinner still tried to follow her, his gun drawn and aimed for the Sith approaching. "You too." Kyah said firmly, "Your blaster won't be any help against her." She assured him, "I need you out of the way and safe so I can focus." She said as she untied the bandage on her arm and felt blood rush to the wound.
Spinner stepped back, keeping his blaster aimed on Ventress as he joined his men behind her.
Kyah looked down at her arm and watched the gauze turn red as her blood soaked through and it became pointless. She sighed heavily as she pulled the bandages away.
"What are you doing?" Anakin asked as he hobbled forwards, but Spinner grabbed his uninjured shoulder and held him back.
"No. You promised to never do that again!" Wingman shouted to her, taking a step forward before remembering her instructions.
"I'm out of time and options!" She yelled back, and ignited her lightsaber.
"What is she doing?" Anakin asked as she held her shaky arm out in front of her.
"Cauterizing the wound." Spinner said in defeat as he looked away.
She took a deep breath and raised her blade, touching it to the back of her arm and effectively sealing the exit wound as she clenched her jaw to muffle her cry.
Ventress hesitated as she watched Kyah. Nearly thirty feet still between them, but she was already starting to feel nervous.
Kyah glared at the Sith Apprentice as she once again raised her injured arm and took a trembling breath, then touched her burning blade to the larger entry wound and kept it there long enough to see the bleeding stop. She dropped her arm to her side and yelled in both agony and rage, causing cracks to form in the stone beneath her feet. The worst of the pain faded into a searing burn which she forced herself to ignore. She switched her blade to her dominant hand, and spun it around, testing her range of motion, finding it painful to move, but possible.
She exhaled and took in another breath, centering herself as she stood tall and looked Ventress in the eye as the Sith came to a stop, with only ten feet between them.
"You want a fight? Come and get it." She said, her voice far too calm considering all she had just gone through.
Ventress' smile spread as she drew her dual blades, igniting them. She leapt forward and growled in fury, as she brought her blades down over Kyah, who blocked them easily and spun inwards, taking advantage of how open she'd left herself by jabbing an elbow into her ribs, hearing a crack as she made contact.
Ventress screamed in pain as she stumbled back, but didn't miss a beat and swung her left blade towards Kyah, who ducked under it, then blocked the Sith's second lightsaber with her own.
"Where's your puppet master?" Kyah asked and Ventress snarled.
"You aren't worth his time." She hissed and Kyah scoffed.
"Right, that's why he kidnapped Anakin and lured me here with a phoney vision." Kyah said and saw Ventress' face change, confirming the theory that Kyah had been mulling over for a while now.
"I guess you're smarter than I gave you credit for." She shrugged, then rushed forward again, swinging her blade at Kyah's legs, but before she made contact, the Jedi reached backwards and leapt into a backwards handspring.
She straightened out just in time to see Ventress spin around with her blade, trying to bring it down on her head again, but Kyah blocked with lightsaber, then watched the second blade coming towards her torso. Before the attack hit it's mark, Kyah grabbed the hilt of her enemies lightsaber just above where Ventress held it, then she jumped, still holding tightly to the blade, over Asajj's head, twisting her arm so far behind her that she was forced to let go of her weapon.
Kyah deactivated the red saber in her hand and tossed it over to Anakin who used the force to draw it to him as he smiled and hooked it on his belt.
"A temporary replacement, as payment for all she put you through." Kyah shouted to Anakin as Ventress spun around and scowled at him. Kyah glanced down at her belt, seeing his weapon hanging over her skirt.
"I did enjoy our time together." Ventress said, a smile pulling at her lips, "We only really needed you as a lure, but how could I resist having a little fun while we waited?" She shrugged and Kyah found herself consumed with anger to an irrational degree.
She ran forward as Ventress turned back to face her, and Kyah pretended to aim high, but at the last moment dropped to her knees and spun in a full circle, popping up again behind Ventress and kicking the heel of her boot into her back, right between her shoulder blades.
Ventress stumbled forwards, barely recovering herself before Kyah was already after her again. Ventress spun around just in time to see Kyah's fist coming straight for her face, where it landed a solid hit, breaking her nose with a sickening crunch.
Asajj reeled back again as tears blurred her vision in reaction to the broken nose, and she struggled to focus on Kyah through her watering, blurry eyes.
"You're a sadistic hag." Kyah said, hatred dripping from her voice as she walked closer.
Ventress tried to bring her blade up in defence, but Kyah just knocked it aside with her own, and threw another punch, this time landing an uppercut on the side of her jaw, lifting her feet off the ground with the force of it, and sending her sprawling across the landing pad where the rubble of the destroyed ship bit into her arms and knees.
Ventress groaned in pain as she rolled onto her back, holding her blade out across her in a final attempt of defence. Kyah shook her head at the disoriented Sith, and cleanly sliced the hilt of her remaining lightsaber in half just above where she held it, rendering the weapon completely useless.
The two of them stared at each other in a heavy silence, Kyah standing tall over Ventress, with her saber pointed down at her as a warning.
"What now Jedi?" Ventress asked in her hate-filled, raspy voice, "What will your morals allow you to do with me?" She asked and Kyah tipped her head in consideration.
"What do you think Anakin?" She called over her shoulder without taking her eyes off Ventress.
"Stun her, and leave her." He suggested and Kyah nodded in approval.
"Works for me." She said, "Falcon, would you do the honours?"
The sharpshooter switched his riffle to stun and aimed it for the Sith, "With pleasure." He said as he pulled the trigged and hit his mark.
Kyah watched Ventress' eyes roll back as her body fell limp, then sighed in relief as she took a generous step back.
She turned around and saw the boys walking towards her, offering them a smile, when two more shots went off, and Kyah looked behind her to see Ventress' body rocking, then she whipped back around to see Falcon with his riffle still aimed at her.
"She was out." Kyah said and Falcon lowered his gun.
"Better safe than sorry." He shrugged, and she shook her head at him, but couldn't hide her smile.
She leaned down and snatched Anakin's weapon off of her belt, turning back and coming face to face with Spinner, who shook his head at Kyah as he neared her. He reached out and grabbed her injured arm, lifting it up so he could inspect it properly, "I'm alright." She insisted, "It's manageable."
"You promised." He said and Kyah nodded as she shrugged, pulling her arm out of his grasp.
"I know, but I couldn't see another option." She defended, "Besides, it worked. I was more careful this time. Didn't cut as deep." She said, looking down at the burns.
"How many times have you tried that?" Anakin asked in growing concern as he moved unsteadily towards her.
"Not many." Kyah waved him off.
"Three times." Spinner answered Anakin, ignoring her deflection.
"Three times?" Anakin's eyes grew wide.
"Now four." Wingman corrected.
"It's effective!" Kyah defended her choice, "It kills the chance for infection, stops bleeding and avoids stitches." She explained.
"And hurts like hell." Anakin added to the end of her list as he moved away from Dozer, walking on his own with a limp he fought to hide.
"Dont push yourself." Kyah scolded and went to him, intending to support him, but before she could, he pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arm around her waist and burying his face in her shoulder.
"You are in no position to tell me to go easy right now." He said and Kyah rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the back of neck, sighing contently.
"That was a pretty brutal fight." Anakin said as he pulled back until he could look at her, but kept his hand resting on her hip, "You okay?"
Kyah nodded, "I'm not proud to say, it felt really good to just sock her." She said and Anakin chuckled, then reached up and took her hand off his shoulder, holding it in front of him and looking at her bruising knuckles. He leaned down and kissed their tender surface gently, and Kyah smiled, blushing a little.
"You let her get under your skin." He said and raised his brows at her.
"She was under my skin the second I found out she'd left you in that chamber on auto-torture." She said, feeling her anger stew again, "Though I'll admit, I did let it drive me at the end there." She said, shamefully, "It's getting harder and harder to hold back my anger the longer that I'm on this planet." She said.
"I know what you mean." Anakin nodded, "I've felt darkness taking hold in me." He admitted.
"Then we should get you both out of here." Spinner interrupted, and Kyah moved to stand beside Anakin, holding his waist and supporting him. "But first, let's patch up our Jedi." He said and Mouse came forward, pulling out the med kit again. He sprayed and wrapped Kyah's arm first, then started on Anakin's while Kyah grabbed a butterfly bandage out of the kit and reached up to Anakin's cheek, pinching the cut under his eye close while she applied the bandage.
She finished at the same time as Mouse, who moved on to treating Anakin's leg and Kyah turned back to Spinner, "I agree we should get out of here, but how?" she asked as everyone turned to the pile of rubble which had been their ship, "I'm sorry Wings. I know you loved her." Kyah said to Wingman, her clone pilot, and he nodded.
"None will ever compare." He sighed and Kyah suppressed a smile at his emotional response.
"Where did they park the ship you flew here in?" Spinner asked Anakin.
"I was unconscious when we landed. Didn't wake up until I was already in that room." He said and gestured to the factory behind them.
"Right, well, I doubt Dooku would have docked his ship too far from himself when any part of these buildings and platforms could crumble into the lava at any moment." Volatile said and everyone agreed.
"If I were Dooku, and I wanted you to have to come through my imposing black fortress, I'd park around back." Anakin said and Kyah looked up at him.
"Do you feel it too? The need to go in there?" She asked and Anakin grimaced.
"I do, which is why I think it's a bad idea, and also why it makes sense for Dooku to make it our only option." He said and Kyah nodded.
"I was thinking the same thing." She admitted and looked to Spinner, who sighed.
"If we go inside, and this Sith is waiting for us; can you handle him?" Spinner asked.
Kyah thought for a moment, "I'm not going to lie. I don't know if I can beat him on my own." She confessed.
"You're not on your own." Anakin assured her, "I can fight well enough to give you the edge you'll need to overpower him."
Kyah looked up at him with heavy concern.
"Don't you dare try to tell me I can't, when not two weeks ago you fought him in worse condition than this." He reminded her.
"I was not in worse condition." Kyah shook her head, and Anakin rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Comparable condition." He corrected and Kyah sighed. "I can already feel the beccta spray working." He assured her and tested his weight on his injured leg, wincing as it still hurt, but this time didn't give out.
"At least let me try to do it on my own." She insisted, "I feel more powerful on this world than I ever have in my life." She said and saw Anakin's expression change to one of confusion as he looked down at her. "You don't?" She asked and Anakin shook his head.
"More powerful?" He repeated her words, "How do you mean?"
"Like, the life force of the very planet is surging through my veins." She said, and Anakin blinked in surprise, "You really don't feel it?" She asked, and he shook his head, "Well, maybe that's good." She shrugged, "Maybe Dooku doesn't feel it either."
"We can hope." Anakin nodded, "Though, it does make me wonder why you do." He said.
"We can wonder about that later. Right now, I want to focus on getting out of here in one piece."
"Agreed." Spinner nodded, and they all started walking toward the fortress.
They approached the bridge, and formed a single file line as they stepped out onto the narrow pathway. With no railings, and the knowledge that there was molten lava flowing a hundred feet bellow, they walked quickly, and carefully across.
Dozer fought the urge to look down, but eventually gave in, stepping towards the edge and looking over it, then quickly shuffling back into the middle as he shook his head quickly.
"I shouldn't have looked." He said and Volatile laughed, "Really, really shouldn't have looked."
Each of them made it across without any issue, and gathered around the entrance to the fortress, finally seeing the true scale of the doors now that they stood at the foot of them.
"Must be twenty feet tall." Falcon marvelled, "Who lived here and felt that they needed doors like this?" He asked.
They were intricately carved, black doors, with two steel crossbars spanning the width of them, embedded in the walls on either side.
"Can you blow them?" Kyah asked Volatile as he stepped forward to inspect the doors.
He knocked against their surface, "They're solid stone." He said as he moved across them, continuing to knock and listen, "At least two feet thick." He sighed, already feeling defeated. "I don't have enough explosives on my person to break through, and with the hinges on the inside of the doors, I cant knock 'em down either." He explained and Kyah frowned.
"Anyone have any ideas?" She asked.
"There's nothing Jedi-ish you could try, is there?" Dozer asked and looked between Kyah and Anakin.
The pair of them looked at each other, then up at the barred doors, "Worth a shot I guess." Anakin said and together they raise their hands and focused their energy.
"You get the top, I'll get the bottom." Kyah suggested and he nodded.
The higher bar started to shift slightly to the left as Anakin strained to move it. Kyah took a deep breath, and felt the bar with the force, gripping it tightly as she closed her fist and gave a strong shove to the right, then heard a loud 'crack'. She opened her eyes and saw the metal cross bar had receded completely into the right wall beside it, and everyone gasped as they watched a huge split in the wall, continue to spread downwards.
"Guess I should have been more gentle." Kyah said quietly as her eyes followed the crack. It reached the bottom of the wall and finally stopped.
"You split solid stone... accidentally." Wingman said in absolute shock as everyone turned to look at her and Kyah shrugged.
"Did I really?" She asked nervously as she looked over the huge crack.
"It definitely wasn't me. I could hardly move the blasted thing." Anakin said and gestured to the lower bar, still in place across the door. "You mind helping me out?" He asked and Kyah nodded.
"A little gentler this time." Spinner reminded her and Kyah nodded as she focused on the lower bar and casually pulled it aside until it stopped and the crack widened slightly.
Kyah made a nervous face as the wall settled again and dust showered down from within it.
"You made that look easy." Anakin said as he observed her cautiously.
"It was nothing, honestly." She said in surprise, "I'm not trying to brag, but it really was." She said and Anakin nodded.
"That's unsettling." Spinner said and looked up at the split.
"Agreed." Kyah nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her shoulders nervously. "What's wrong with me?" She asked under her breath and shuffled back a few step, but Anakin caught her hand and stood in front of her.
"There's nothing wrong with you." He offered an assuring smile, "You must be connecting with something here that we don't understand yet." He said, seeing Kyah's expression fall further.
"If that's true, maybe it has something to do with why Dooku wanted me here." She said and Anakin's expression hardened as he realized she was probably right, "There were so many other bases he could have picked. Ones that were better suited to his trap." she started to spiral.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Anakin shrugged, knowing there was no way of avoiding it.
"It'll be okay kid." Spinner assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "We've all got your back."
Kyah nodded and took a deep breath as she shook out her hands and put aside her worries.
"Okay, let's see what the old geezer's got planned for us." She said and reached up, using the force to slowly push the huge stone doors open.
They scraped against the matching stone floors making Kyah wince as she ignored the awful noise, and stepped inside the entrance of the fortress, continuing to push until the doors sounded with a 'thud' and hit the walls beside them.
The ancient interior was made of solid stone, just like the exterior. Most of the room was carved, polished stone, except for the ceiling, which resembled the roof of a cave, with spikes of rough, natural texture.
"It's like someone hollowed out the side of the mountain." Volatile marvelled.
As the clones walked inside, marvelling at the structure, Kyah felt her eyes immediately drawn to the top of a grand staircase, where a set of ornate double doors hung partly open. She started to walk towards the stairs as the clones fanned out across the space, checking all of the doors and halls branching out from the main floor.
Anakin, however stayed close to Kyah, watching as her eyes remained fixed on the door while she moved forwards in a trance-like state. He followed her line of sight, and saw the doors up ahead with an eerie orange glow leaking out of them, when a sickening feeling flooded his stomach.
"Kyah." He said her name softly and she gasped as she blinked rapidly, seeming startled, even though he'd been beside her all along, "You think he's up there?" Anakin asked and nodded to the top of the stairs.
"I don't know if it's him, but something up there is calling to me." She nodded.
"I can sense it too, but my every instinct is telling me to go no where near that room." He said and Kyah's brows pulled together.
"I feel the same, but I still just..." She trailed off and started walking towards the stairs again, "I need to know what's up there." She said quietly and Anakin exchanged uneasy looks with Spinner as they walked along behind here.
"You sure we should let her go in?" Spinner whispered.
"I don't see another option. None of the other rooms here lead to the rear of the fortress." Anakin sighed, "I think the only way out is through." He said, "Just as Dooku planned it."
Kyah reached the top of the stairs and approached the doors, placing her hands on the handles and pushing them inwards as she walked inside and her entranced haze faded away, leaving her confused as she looked around the tall room.