A/N: 500 stones completed so here's your bonus chapter!
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Reva's brain.exe has stopped responding.
I could literally see the mental blue screen of death happening behind her eyes. The poor woman's entire worldview had just been put through a blender, pureed, and served back to her in a cup labeled "Reality Check."
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish drowning in air. Her Force presence flickered between about seventeen different emotional states per second, none of them settling long enough to form a coherent thought.
Then something snapped back into place.
Her eyes refocused. The confusion evaporated, replaced by that familiar aggression. The wounded pride of someone who'd just been verbally demolished and was looking for any excuse to salvage their dignity through violence.
"I don't know who you think you are—" Reva's jaw tightened, her fingers flexing on her weapon, "but I'm Third Sister of the Inquisitorius. I answer to the Grand Inquisitor and Lord Vader. Not some helmet-wearing—"
"Who I think I am?" I stepped forward, invading her space. She actually stepped back, and I felt a savage satisfaction at that involuntary retreat. "I'm the poor bastard who had to drop everything and fly halfway across the galaxy to clean up your mess on the Emperor's personal order! That's who I am!"
The name hit her like a physical blow.
The color drained from her face so fast she looked like a corpse standing upright. Her lips parted, trembling, and the aggression in the Force vanished, instantly replaced by a cold, suffocating spike of absolute terror.
"The... The Emperor?" Her voice was barely a whisper, thin and brittle. Her eyes widened, pupils constricting as the implication hammered home. "He... He knows? He saw...?"
"He sees everything," I lied smoothly, leaning in. "And he sent me."
The terror was palpable, a frantic, caged-animal panic vibrating off her. But as I held her gaze, the fear became too much to process. Her mind rejected it, twisting the panic into the only other emotion she knew how to use.
"It... it's not a mess!" The terror cracked, unable to sustain itself, and shattered into jagged shards of defensiveness. Her voice rose to a shrill pitch, anger flooding in to fill the void. "I was conducting... it was authorized! I have... I have a plan! This is a sanctioned operation to—"
"Authorized my ass! Who are you fucking fooling!? I have checked the logs, there is not one report of this."
That made her flinch violently.
I walked over to where Leia was slumped against the wall and grabbed her chin, tilting her unconscious face up into the dim light.
"Do you know who this child is?" I demanded.
Reva's eyes narrowed, darting between me and the girl. "N-No, why should I... I just needed bait. She's just..."
"This is Leia Organa. Daughter of Bail Organa, Senator of Alderaan, member of the Imperial Senate's inner circle." I released Leia's chin and let her head loll back against the duracrete. "Kidnapping the daughter of a Core World Senator. Not just any Senator. An inner circle Senator with direct access to the Emperor's court."
"S-So what?" Reva's hand was still on her lightsaber, but her fingers were twitching against the metal. "Senators are... they're expendable! If it draws out Kenobi—"
"KENOBI ISN'T COMING, YOU STUPID BITCH!"
My roar echoed off the alley walls. Reva actually recoiled, her shoulders hunching.
"Do you think Lord Vader is sitting around waiting for wild mutts like you to catch the man who cut him in half?" I pushed off the wall, taking another step toward her. "You think a cheap stunt like this would accomplish what the entire Imperial military hasn't managed in years?"
"It's... it's not a stunt!" Her voice was wavering now, lacking the steel from before. "I had intelligence! I knew that... that Organa and Kenobi had connections. That if his family was threatened... he would come. He has to come."
"Why would Kenobi risk exposure for the daughter of someone he used to know?" I interrupted. "He has bigger problems. He's hiding from the most powerful Sith Lord in the galaxy. He's not going to blow his cover for a child he's never even met."
"You don't know that." Reva's voice sounded desperate, pleading with reality to align with her delusions. "You don't... you don't know him like I do."
"And you do?" I laughed, harsh and mocking through the helmet's speakers. "Based on what? Your deep understanding of Jedi psychology? Your years of experience hunting the most skilled warriors in the galaxy?"
"I know enough—I know how he thinks!"
"You know NOTHING!" I was in her face now, my modulated voice dropping to something cold and vicious. "The Grand Inquisitor filed a report about your obsession. Your fixation on Kenobi. I read it and thought it was exaggerated. Workplace rivalry and all."
I gestured at Leia, at the general situation.
"And yet here we are. You've created a political nightmare because you thought you were smarter than everyone else."
Reva's expression shifted, facial muscles twitching. "The Grand Inquisitor... he doesn't see. He's blind! He doesn't understand that—"
"The Grand Inquisitor understands that you're a liability!" I snapped. "The Emperor mentioned something recently. About dogs that piss in their own backyard. Do you know what happens to dogs like that, Inquisitor?"
For the first time, real fear flickered across her face again, warring with the anger.
"I don't... I don't answer to you," she stammered, her conviction crumbling. "I don't even know who you are! You could be anyone. Some... some bounty hunter with a stolen saber!"
"This bitch really thinks Emperor's Hand announces itself to every low-level operative who gets curious," I said, letting mockingness seep into my tone. "Are you really an educated? Like why would we do that. We operate outside normal command structures. We answer to one person. And that person is not you."
"Emperor's Hand?" The words felt foreign in her mouth. "I've never... there's no such thing."
"Your clearance is too low." I pulled a data chip from my belt pouch and tossed it at her feet. "Go ahead. Access that on any secure Imperial terminal. Or don't. Your Grand Inquisitor is arriving here with an Imperial Armada in two days anyway. You can explain everything to him then. Good luck catching Kenobi after that."
Reva stared at the chip, then back at me. Her breathing was getting shallow, rapid. "You're lying. You... you have to be."
But I could feel the doubt eating at her now, worms of uncertainty burrowing into her confidence.
"Am I?" I tilted my helmeted head. "Tell me, Third Sister. When you filed your operation plan, did you include 'kidnap Senator's daughter' in the official reports? Or did you keep this little gambit off the books?"
Her silence was answer enough.
"Off the books," I said softly. "Which means when this blows up, and it will blow up, you have no official authorization to point to. No paper trail showing anyone approved this disaster. Just you, acting alone, creating a galactic incident."
"I was trying to... I have to accomplish the mission!" Her voice cracked, desperate and jagged. "Kenobi is a priority target! If capturing him means—"
"Capturing him?" I laughed, harsh and cutting. "You really think you're going to be the one to bring in Obi-Wan Kenobi? You? A Third Sister who can't even manage a simple kidnapping without turning it into a diplomatic nightmare?"
"I can—I can take him!"
"You can what? Fight him?" I stepped closer, my voice dropping to something viciously contemptuous. "Let me guess. You have it all planned out. You'll draw him out, engage him in combat, and through sheer determination and the power of believing in yourself, you'll overcome one of the most skilled duelists the Jedi Order ever produced."
Reva's jaw clenched. "I've trained—I am strong enough!"
"You've trained against other Inquisitors and whatever half-dead Jedi stragglers you've managed to hunt down," I interrupted. "Kenobi fought in the Clone Wars. He survived the Purge. He defeated a Sith Lord. What exactly makes you think you're in his league?"
"I know his weaknesses! I know how to hurt him!"
"You know nothing!" I was in her face now. "You're a child playing with weapons you don't understand, creating messes that other people have to clean up. The Grand Inquisitor was right about you. You're not an asset. You're a liability waiting to explode."
The anger was still there in her eyes, but underneath it I could feel something crumbling. The certainty. The confidence. All the pillars holding up her self-image were developing cracks.
"I'm not... I've been successful! I found him when no one else could!"
"You found nothing! You guessed!" I let contempt drip from every word. "And you risked everything on that guess."
"I... I had to try," she whispered, her voice trembling. "He has to pay. For what... for what happened."
"For what? Being a better Jedi than you ever were?" I watched her flinch at that. "For surviving when others didn't?"
"NO!" She shook her head violently. "It's not... you don't know!"
"Let me tell you what this is about," I said, my voice going cold. "This is about an insecure operative trying to make a name for herself. Trying to prove she's special. Trying to be the one who accomplishes what others couldn't. And you're so focused on that personal glory that you can't see how badly you're fucking up."
I could feel her presence in the Force wavering now, the aggressive confidence replaced by uncertainty and fear.
"You're not special, Reva. You're replaceable. A Jedi Knight would kick your ass seven ways to the moon, and you're basically dime a dozen among all the Force-sensitive children kidnapped over the last decade. You're just 'another body for the line.' If you vanished tonight, your replacement would be in armor before your corpse cooled. That's your value."
That cut deeper than bone. It severed something vital holding her sanity together.
"SHUT UP!"
The scream tore out of her throat, raw and unhinged.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT!"
Her lightsaber ignited with a violent snap-hiss. The crimson blade hummed between us, shaking wildly in her grip because her hands were trembling that hard.
"I AM THE THIRD SISTER!" she screamed, spit flying, her face twisted into a rictus of pure, hate-fueled hysteria. "I EARNED THIS! I AM NOT NOTHING! FUCK YOU!"
I didn't move.
I just stood there, my Force presence bearing down on her like a physical weight, and took one step forward. Then another. Walking straight toward the plasma blade until I was close enough that the heat washed over my armor.
I tilted my helmet, looking down at her through the featureless visor.
Do you dare?
Reva's hand tightened on the hilt until I thought the metal might buckle. Her knuckles went white. The blade shook harder, casting erratic, dancing shadows across the alley walls. Her chest heaved, breathing coming in ragged, ugly gasps.
I could feel the war raging inside her—fury and fear, pride and conditioning, the desperate urge to strike versus the even more desperate knowledge of what would follow.
Years of living under power. Years of being taught that there was always someone stronger.
The blade deactivated.
Her hand fell to her side, limp, as if the strings had been cut. Her head dropped, hair obscuring her face.
"Thought so," I said quietly.
I stepped back, letting the pressure ease slightly. Giving her room to breathe again.
"Now," I said, "I'm giving you one chance to fix this. One opportunity to clean up your mess before it destroys your career. Do you want it or not?"
"...yes." The word was barely audible, mumbled into the space between us.
I tilted my helmet slightly. "What was that? I couldn't quite hear you, Inquisitor."
Of course I'd heard her perfectly fine. But watching her struggle was just too satisfying to pass up.
Her jaw clenched so hard I could hear her teeth grinding. "Yes. I want it."
"Good." I reached out and patted her head twice, the gesture deliberately patronizing through my armored gauntlet. "Good dog."
Reva's entire body went rigid. Her teeth ground together even harder, and I felt a spike of humiliated rage pulse through the Force around her—hot and bright and completely impotent. Her hand twitched toward her lightsaber.
But she didn't move. Didn't speak. Didn't dare.
She just stood there, trembling with suppressed fury, and took it.
Beautiful.
"Tell me," she said quietly. All the fight had gone out of her voice. "Please. Tell me how to fix this."
And there it was. Complete capitulation. From raging Inquisitor to broken subordinate in less than five minutes.
I should probably feel bad about this. Probably. But the adrenaline was doing things to my brain chemistry, and watching someone who'd tried to bisect me half an hour ago reduced to begging for instructions was hitting all the right dopamine receptors.
"First, you're going to track down whatever ship those bounty hunters were using. Vekt Nokru and his crew—seriously, are you being paid so little that you couldn't afford something better? You're trying to catch one of the strongest Jedi Masters alive with those cheapshots?"
She flinched but said nothing.
"That ship needs to disappear. Completely. The dumbasses got ID tagged by Alderaan security. No wreckage, no records, no evidence it ever existed. Can you handle that?"
"Yes," Reva said quickly. "Yes, I can do that."
"Second, surveillance footage. Any recording from this sector showing the girl's face needs to be erased. Pay off whoever you need to, threaten whoever you need to. Six hours."
"Understood."
"Third, grab some troopers and make them file a report claiming The Den and its associates were killed by local criminals. I already cleaned that up for you, by the way."
"You killed them?" Relief flooded her face. "All of them?"
"Couldn't have loose ends talking about Imperial involvement, could we?" I let her draw her own conclusions. "Delete any communication logs. Make this entire operation disappear like it never happened."
"I can do that." She was nodding frantically now. "I can fix this. I swear I can—"
"You'd better," I said coldly. "Because Lord Vader doesn't tolerate failure. And he especially doesn't tolerate failure that creates political complications for the Emperor. Do you want to explain to him personally why you thought this was a good idea?"
Every last bit of resistance drained from her face.
"No," she whispered. "No, I'll fix it. I'll make it disappear."
"Good." I moved past her, one hand on Leia's shoulder. "The ship, Reva. Twenty-four hours. Don't make me come looking for it."
My back was to her now.
My thumb pressed against the backpack's hidden trigger.
"And Reva?" I called back.
She looked up, broken and desperate.
"Next time you want to play hunter? Make sure you're not the prey."
I turned to face her fully. The alley was silent save for the distant hum of the city's lower levels. I stepped closer, invading her personal space once more, but this time the aggression was gone, replaced by a heavy, suffocating presence.
I placed a hand on her shoulder, the heavy armor pauldron clinking softly against her cloak. I patted her twice, the gesture slow, almost consoling.
"Alright, cheer up," I said, my modulated voice dropping to a softer, almost sympathetic register. "You aren't the worst Inquisitor I have seen. Truly. There have been others who—"
I stopped mid-sentence.
My head snapped up, eyes—or the lenses of my helmet—locking onto a point past her shoulder, into the darkness of the alley behind her.
"Lord Vader?" I asked, the voice laced with sudden, sharp alertness.
Reva froze. The blood drained from her face. She stiffened, every muscle locking up in terror as she instinctively started to turn, her neck craning to look behind her.
"Wh—?" she started to gasp.
The moment her weight shifted, the hand on her shoulder slipped down. It moved with practiced, fluid grace, hooking around her belt line. There was a slight tug, a whisper of fabric parting from leather, and the handheld communicator was free from its holster.
My other hand moved. A faint, almost inaudible click echoed from within my armor, too quiet for her panicked ears to register over the sudden rush of her own heartbeat.
I took a step back, the comm unit now concealed in my gauntlet.
Reva spun back around, eyes wide, lightsaber hilt gripped tight. "What? Where—?"
I tilted my head, the blank visor staring down at her. The silence stretched, thick and uncomfortable.
"Never mind," I said softly. "Must have been a shadow."
I gestured vaguely toward the mouth of the alley. "You have work to do, Inquisitor. The ship. The footage. Don't disappoint me."
I turned away from her, shifting my weight, preparing to leave. Reva stood there, confused, humiliated, and entirely off guard, her mind racing to process the whiplash of the last ten seconds.
But I didn't leave.
"Just one more thing before you go," I murmured, turning back to her suddenly and stepping in close. "I need to be sure we understand each other."
Reva blinked, the confusion on her face deepening. "Understand what? You said—"
"Shh," I cut her off, leaning in. "It's a simple question, really."
"Bitch, Why are you so fucking dumb?"
She hadn't realized that from the moment we walked into this alley, only one of us was getting out alive.
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A/N: hehehe this was quite fun to write. next chapter is going to go a bit dark and a tad gory so hope you guys are ready for it.
And also, see this [Image] of Ezra's armor concept. Its not the actual armor through, as generating 5'1 armor with specifications required is quite hard. By head size proportions, image armor is more like 6 ft big.
Its not bulky because Ezra himself is lean, so all the bulk is inside the armor than outside. Its not an Iron Man armour through, its just an Exo-Frame (Like Edge of Tomorrow or Oblivion) surrounded by metal chassis scavenged from droids. They are just fitted in such a way to cover full of Ezra's body while maintaining a agile movement allowance.
Now keep the powerstones coming and let us climb higher and higher!!
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Thanks for your support guys and gals(of any)!
(The advanced chapters are combined into 1 there as they are quite very continued ones)