Tw: Violence.
"Here's the holodisk," Rex said, handing it to Anakin.
Anakin examined it for a moment before nodding and tucking it away. "Thank you. I assume everything went smoothly?"
Rex hesitated for a moment. "Do you want an honest answer, sir?"
"I suppose not," Anakin replied. He raised an eyebrow. "Reports came in of an explosion. Do you know anything about that?"
"Clankers," Rex briefly explained.
"I thought Kara did something," Anakin told him, smirking slightly.
"Hey!" Kara shouted from the hallway. "I can hear you!"
Anakin's eyebrow went up even higher. "Why is she waiting for you?"
"We're going to go train," Rex explained. "She wants to prove she's adept at fighting."
"Don't let me keep you then," Anakin said and fiddled with his metal arm. "Go have fun. Also if you lose I'm totally telling Cody."
"Great," Rex grumbled and walked out the door.
"Ready to lose?" Kara teased. She had taken her hair down from the braid with it falling past her shoulders.
"I'm ready to prove that I'm better at fighting than you," Rex retorted. He led her to the training room and pulled a mat out.
"You need to take your armour off. It softens the blow, which is an unfair advantage if we're doing hand to hand combat," Kara pointed out.
"Fine," Rex agreed and stripped it off, leaving him in his blacks. "Ready?"
"Are you?" Kara did her hair up into a ponytail and started stretching.
"I'm already at the mat," Rex said as an answer. "Hurry up."
Kara jogged over and got into a fighting stance. "Are we-"
She was cut off as he launched himself at her, narrowly sidestepping. She grabbed his arm and twisted, grinning as he kicked her legs out from under her. She fell with a grunt and quickly stood up, punching his gut.
When he doubled over, Kara wrapped an arm around his neck and used her body weight to drag him down to the mat with her. She put him in a chokehold and waited until he tapped her arm to release him.
"Nice," Rex complimented, rubbing at his throat.
"I didn't spend years training for nothing." Kara popped up to her feet. "Ready to lose again?"
Rex let Kara help him stand up and dusted himself off. "I'm ready to win."
Kara rolled her eyes and kicked, but he caught her leg with a gleeful smile. He wrenched it to the side, and she tumbled to the mat. Rex grabbed her wrists and held them behind her back until she conceded defeat, fighting a quicker match than before.
"Best out of three?" Kara proposed.
"Alright." Rex let her up and counted to three before punching, arming for her stomach.
Kara deflected the blow and backed away several steps. Rex cocked his head in confusion as she blew him a kiss before she lunged and pinched his neck.
He went limp and was glad the mat was there as his head made contact with it. Kara threw her head back and laughed.
"I studied biology for years! This is one of my favourite tricks!" Kara boasted. She couched next to his head and faked a pout. "I think I just won."
Rex groaned and pushed himself up. "Okay fine, you win."
Kara laughed again and started to massage his neck. "The effects will wear off soon. This will help."
"I-uh, had something I wanted to ask you," Rex hesitantly said.
Kara hummed, encouraging him to continue.
"I was wondering if-" Rex began, when Fives walked in.
"Kix told me about you two," Fives said, eyes glinting. "He told me how Rex warmed you up, Kara."
Kara wiped the sweat off her brow. "And? He was preventing me from dying. I nearly got hypothermia, you were there."
Fives rocked back and forth on his heels. "So I just wanted to stop by and... check to see how things were going."
Rex narrowed his eyes. "I really don't see how this is any of your business."
"You're right, my beloved brother's life is none of my business," Fives scoffed. "Come on! I have money riding on this!"
Kara handed Rex his armour piece by piece. "As great as this conversation is, I'm going to go clean up. I'll see you both later."
"Fives, do you want to go get something to eat?" Rex asked.
Fives nodded and they left together. They grabbed trays of food and found an empty seat.
"So did she win?" Anakin asked as he slid into a spot across from them.
"Yeah," Rex admitted.
"Cody's gonna love that," Anakin said.
"Cody's gonna love what?" Jesse asked, sitting down next to Anakin.
"Kara beat up Rex," Fives told him.
"She didn't beat me up!" Rex defensively said. "She just... won most of our rounds."
"She was massaging his neck," Fives gossiped.
"She pinched a nerve on my neck!" Rex said as the others all stared at him. "It hurt!"
"Kix saw her sitting on his lap," Fives shared, leaning forward.
Jesse gasped. "No!"
Rex pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can I have any privacy in my life?"
Anakin chuckled and told Jesse and Fives about something R2D2 had done, effectively distracting them.
"Can I ask you something?" Rex softly asked.
"Sure, anything," Anakin responded, a hint of concern in his voice. "What is it?"
"How do you ask someone to be your romantic partner?" Rex awkwardly asked. "Hypothetically."
"Money," Fives immediately said. "Bribe them with money."
"Make a romantic dinner. Have roses. Then ask," Anakin said.
"Just ask." Jesse shrugged. "If you overthink it you'll work yourself up."
Then Fives clutched at his chest dramatically as his mouth gaped. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
Rex shook his head. "No. I've been seeing someone on Coruscant," he lied. "I've been working up the courage to ask them out."
Anakin ran a hand through his hair. "I see. Anyone we know?"
"No," Rex lied again.
"I can't believe this," Fives grumbled, crossing his arms. "You knew about the bet, but didn't think to help me out?"
"Again," Rex reminded him, "my private life isn't any of your business."
"Did you find a place for Kara to sleep?" Anakin asked, shooing the others away.
"She joined us a month ago, so yes," Rex replied dryly. "There was an extra bunk in the barracks, so she took it."
"We're headed out to Naboo. There's a rumoured vial of the Blue Shadow Virus out in the base. Apparently the Separatists are rushing there too," Anakin said, scowling. "I doubt we missed one, but we don't want to take any chances."
"How did everyone hear about it?" Rex questioned. "There's no way both sides just heard some random gossip at the same time."
Anakin pursed his lips. "There might be a bounty out for it with evidence to prove it exists. And a bird might've been found infected with the disease in the area. But that doesn't mean anything!"
"Oh wow, yeah that really could mean anything," Rex sarcastically said before catching himself. "With all respect, sir."
"No offence taken, Captain," Anakin said and waved his hand dismissively.
"I assume we're taking a small squad?" Rex pushed his empty tray away. "A full battalion might be a bit awkward squeezing into it."
Anakin nodded. "And we'll be taking Kara with us. She's an expert on things like this, so if worst comes to worst she might be able to help."
"I'll make sure she's caught up on the Blue Shadow Virus." Rex began to stand up, but paused when Anakin held a hand out.
"I'd prefer it if Ahsoka didn't hear about this," Anakin murmured. "She still has nightmares about the first incident, and I'm not making her go on this mission. But she'll feel obligated if she hears about this."
"Why does she think we're going to Naboo then?" Rex's forehead furrowed as he said waited for Anakin's response.
"I told her some excuse about needed to return to properly fill out files. She believes someone didn't do it right the last time we were on Naboo," Anakin explained. "Can I trust you won't tell her?"
"Understood, sir." Rex promised himself Ahsoka wouldn't find out, because he knew it would break her to return to the place she saw so many clones die, and she could do nothing about it.