𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘
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"All right, we're on the clock." Mayfeld ordered. "The second we engage those droids, they're gonna be all over us."
Maybe Din worked well with being ordered around, but I didn't. I've never liked working with a group. Especially one as dimwitted as this one.
"I know the drill." Din spoke calmly.
"Bio trackers activated. I've got eyes." Zero interrupted through the comms.
"All right, let's go."Mayfeld grabbed his blasters and led us through the halls. It was a maze of bright white. Each turn looked exactly the same as the other.
The prisoners stared at us intensely as we ran by with weapons drawn. I still couldn't believe that we were attacking a New Republic prison ship. Their friend couldn't possibly be that important.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." I mumbled, sticking close to Din despite my resonating anger with him.
He nodded in agreement and watched as the people peered at us through their bars. "I don't like this either."
"You always were paranoid." Xi'an purred.
"Is that true, Mando?" Mayfeld mocked. "Were you always paranoid?"
An irritated prisoner slammed against their door and screamed out. Of course, they all wanted set free.
This was a mistake.
"Approaching control room." Zero's voice broke through again. "Make a left at the next juncture."
We followed his instructions, staying cautious and wary of any guards that may be lurking. A small mouse droid beeped as it entered the hall, chattering away. We all froze, not wanting to alert it of our presence.
"What?" Burg asked with his loud, gruff voice. "It's just a little mousey." He grabbed his blaster from his belt and held it behind his back as he spoke to the little droid. "Come here, little mousey."
"Burg." Mayfeld warned.
"Mousey, come here." He continued. "Come here."
"Burg, stop. You're gonna get us in trouble." I hissed through my teeth.
It started to drive away, ignoring Burg's request to come closer. I watched as the anger grew on his scrunched face. He pulled his blaster out and before we could react, he shot the droid, blowing it in two.
"No! Burg, what are you doin'?" Mayfeld scowled as he moved towards the red, angry man.
"What?" He asked nonchalantly.
A series of tall security droids entered the hall, their blasters held high. "Intruder alert. Open fire."
We all hid behind the protruding walls in the corridor, trying to fire back at the droids that did, indeed, open fire on us. I grabbed the hilt at my hip, snapping it into a staff with the quick click of a button.
"We're too exposed here." Xi'an shouted.
Mayfeld fired, missing the droid entirely. "If they get a signal out, it's not gonna matter."
We would be dead if the Republic sent any of their fighters out here. We had to do something and we had to do something fast if we wanted to save our skins.
"Mando, let's go!" Mayfeld yelled. "You're supposed to be somethin' special." We all turned to find Din nowhere in sight. The corners of my mouth quirked into a small grin as I turned back towards the threat.
"I knew it. I knew it!" Mayfeld exclaimed as he realized Din was no longer around.
I snickered to myself and watched as Din snuck behind the security droids, his footsteps light, not to be heard at all despite his heavy boots. With a flick of his wrist, the blade of his knife flipped out of its socket seamlessly.
He slid forward and sliced off a droid's leg in one easy swipe. After jumping back up to his feet, he kicked back a second droid while firing a shot to the chest of another.
My jaw fell slightly as I watched him, slowly stepping out from my hiding spot. Sure, I could have helped him. In all honesty, I probably should have helped him, but I knew he could handle it.
A stumbling, weak droid fired a blast, ricocheting off of Din's beskar. He spun and shot the droid down, but was then pinned to the wall by the other. After struggling to maneuver out of its grasp, he grabbed hold of one of its central units and tossed it into the head of another, sparks flying from its body as it crashed against the wall.
Mayfeld held us back while Din fell to the ground. He shot out his grapple, wrapping it around the droid's neck and swiftly pulling its head off in a small tug. The head crashed and rolled to my feet, staring up at me. I was thankful that all he was fighting was droids because if it were a person, I think I may have thrown up.
Two more security droids entered, aiming their guns at Din's head. One fired a shot, but again, it only bounced off. These droids clearly didn't understand the concept of beskar.
Din quickly recovered and ignited the flamethrower in his vambrace, burning one of them to a crisp. Using their gun, he brought the other to its knees and fired a shot through its head, creating a wide circle in the middle.
He tossed the gun to the side and looked over at us, surrounded by the lifeless droid bodies that he had single handedly taken down. The others scoffed while I stood, completely in awe and amazement by his defeats.
I knew Din was a good fighter, I had seen him take down his fair share of droids and aliens, but this? This was something else. I felt my chest fill with warmth and my stomach flutter, watching him with a concentrated stare.
"Make sure you clean up your mess." Mayfeld spat and pushed past him with the others.
I took my time walking towards him, taking note of the way his helmet followed me the entire way until I stood in front of him. His head tilted in silent questioning while my hand rested delicately on his shoulder, trailing down his arm with a ghostly touch.
I could feel him tense and shiver, the rise and fall of his chest increasing as my hand reached his.
"Huh." I huffed quietly and pulled my hand away, eyeing him up and down briefly before walking past him. I could feel his eyes follow me as I disappeared down the hall after the others.
"It seems your presence has been detected. Redirecting security alert away from your position." Zero spoke up after we had all left the desolate scene.
"Z, open the door!" Mayfeld demanded.
"But I'm detecting an organic signature."
"Yeah, okay. Alright. Just open the door!" Mayfeld tried to rush him.
"Wait a second." I stopped, my eyebrows furrowing together. "What did he just say is behind that door?"
"Don't worry about it, Sweetheart." He snapped as we all ran into the room.
Just as I expected.
A man sat in the security room, eyes wide and hands shaky. He stood with a blaster drawn, his nerves clearly getting to him.
"Stop! J-Just stop right there." He stuttered. "You put down the blasters right now." I could hear his breathing become heavy as he ordered us around.
I lowered my staff, shrinking it back into its hilt and placing it in my holster. I tried to make it obvious that we had no intention of harming him. At least, that's what we were told.
The others chuckled and circled around him like a group of predators.
"Nice shoes." Mayfeld laughed.
"Put down your blasters." He repeated.
Mayfeld continued. "Matches his belt."
"There were only supposed to be droids on this ship." Din turned to the others, vocalizing my concerns.
"Hang on, hang on." Mayfeld snickered. "Let's see here. Uh... Cell two-two-one. Alright, now for our well-dressed friend."
The guard whipped a distress signal from his belt, holding his thumb over the button. I inhaled a sharp breath and moved closer to Din who continued to hold up his gun.
"Whoa" Mayfeld repeated. "Hey, hey. Easy. Easy, egghead... Put that down. Come on."
"Mayfeld." I spoke with a warning tone.
"Put it down now!" Mayfeld ordered, pulling his blaster from his holster and pointing it at the innocent guard.
"Easy. Nobody has to get hurt here." Din snapped. "Just calm down."
"What is that thing?" Burg wondered out loud.
"It's a tracking beacon."
"He presses that thing, we're all done." Mayfeld explained. "A New Republic attack team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Put it down!"
"Are you serious?" Xi'an hissed.
"Yes, I'm serious."
"You didn't think we needed to know that tiny little detail?"
"I didn't think we'd get to this point."
I scoffed. "What? You thought we would just kill him without a second thought? Or did you think we would all just fail?"
"Are you questioning my managerial style, Sweetheart?" Mayfeld growled and stomped over to me.
"Damn right I am. You've led us straight to a death trap!" I spat in his face.
"Hey." Din spoke to the guard. "Listen to me. Listen to me, okay? Look." His voice was calm and he peacefully placed his blaster back in its holster. "Hey, put it down." He spoke to Mayfeld.
"Are you crazy?"
"Put it down." He spoke again, his voice more affirmative. "What's your name?" He turned back to the guard, his hand held out in a sign of peace.
"It-It's Davan." He stumbled on his words.
"Davan. We're not here for you. We're here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life."
Mayfeld scoffed. "No, he won't." He pulled his gun out again, pointing it to the guard.
Din pointed his blaster to Mayfeld, resulting in his other blaster being pointed back at Din. I grabbed my gun and pointed it to the back of Mayfeld's head, daring him to take a shot.
"You realize what you're gonna bring down on us?" Din asked.
"You're going to be the reason we fail this." I snarled.
Mayfeld chuckled. "You think I care about that?"
No. I didn't think he cared. But now I realized his true intentions. He didn't care what happened to Din and I. He would leave us here to die if he could.
"We're not killing anybody, you understand?" Din's voice went lower, more menacing and daring.
"Get that blaster out of my face, Mando."
"I can't do that."
"Get that blaster out of my face, Mando!" Mayfeld shouted, repeating himself.
Soon, everyone had a gun pointed at each other, daring to pull the trigger. Xi'an tossed a knife into the guard's side and knocked him to the ground, not even giving us the chance to reason with him.
"Would you all just shut up?" She complained and walked towards the blue-clad man.
Mayfeld scoffed. "Crazy Twi. I had it under control."
"Yeah." She chuckled and pulled her knife from the man's body. "Looked like it."
I heard a soft beeping, a warning beeping, coming from somewhere around the room. I looked to Din, who must have noticed the familiar sound as well.
There it was.
On the ground was where the tracking beacon laid, activated and taunting us with the threat of imminent death.
"Was that thing blinking before?" Mayfeld glanced up at all of us. "Was it?"
"Zero to Mayfeld. Zero to Mayfeld."
"What?" He scowled into the comms.
"I've detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately twenty minutes."
Xi'an shrugged. "You only need five."
The others ran out the door and down the hall. Din and I lingered in the room a few moments longer, our heads fallen at the sight of the dead, innocent man on the floor. This was never part of the agreement.
Being a bounty hunter was one thing. Those people were guilty. Taking innocent lives was something else.
We ran down the halls, cautious of any remaining droids that may be lurking until we reached the cell. We were finally about to figure out who could possibly be so important to break into a New Republic prison ship and almost get ourselves killed for.
"Z, open it up." Mayfeld's voice had gone shaky and anxious with the new threat of death.
"You have fifteen minutes remaining."
"Come on, come on. Open it up!"
Within seconds, the door rose to reveal a purple Twi'lek, similar to Xi'an, but male.
"Qin." Din sighed.
"Funny, the man who left me behind is now my savior." The Twi'lek, Qin, I guess, stood and stalked towards us. "Mando."
I inched closer to Din, feeling my heart drop to my stomach. Something wasn't right here.
As I suspected, Burg pushed Din into the cell, tossing me in not long after. The door shut before we could even stand, locking us in the cell. At first, I thought it must have been a joke, but then I heard Xi'an.
"You deserve this!"
Shit.