Chapter 24: Fight on the bridge.

"Prepare to die!"

General Grievous announced, so certain of his victory it was almost funny. I struggled to hold back a chuckle.

It looked ridiculous on tv and even more so in real life.

Sure, he didn't get sidetracked by my derailment of the train system.

Sure, he found us out due to my stupidity.

But a thought occurs. Once that moment of panic had settled of course.

Grievous was an android, with prosthetic limbs. Machine limbs. You know, the things that I can literally bend to my will with a thought.

If they had a wireless connection that I could abuse, he wouldn't even have been a moderate threat. I could have shut him down from a mile away. Many millions of miles away even, given a good signal strength.

But, much like droids, Grievous's limbs were connected to his body via a completely isolated system.

Which meant I couldn't force a signal onto their system to control them. Yet. I wasn't as proficient in my use of technokinesis as I would have liked.

I had touch them or be within touching range for that to happen.

Taking a step back, my face recognition algorithm noted the faintest sliver of a presence in a corner above us. And even then for just a fleeting moment.

But that was enough to set me off.

Grievous took a step forward, menacingly, gauging Skywalker, while I pulled up the video feed.

Backing it up, I once more found the one frame of oddity, and zoomed in.

The face was well hidden, almost wreathed in the shadows of the support pillars, but there was one detail they had failed to hide.

A gold chain slung across their shoulders, flowing into a dark cloak that melted into the greyish maroon of the pillar.

Count Dooku. Hiding in the corridor above.

But why?

Why not join Grievous and end this fight?

Wouldn't that be easier?

I racked my brains trying to figure out the situation, when the familiar buzz of lightsabers sounded out.

Welp. Here comes a fight.

I thought, indecisive.

Figure out Dooku's motives or end the fight quick and escape?

Grievous's legs bucked, prepping to jump, and I made my decision.

Fuck it. I'll deal with Dooku later. Cross that bridge when it comes.

Instantly, I bolted low at Grievous, my forcefield ringing, as his lightsabers crashed into it, pushing me back, my hands mere inches from his wrists.

"Ugh!" I strained, getting back on good footing, annoyed.

His eyes widened as he registered my existence for the first time.

"You....Who are you?!"

"Jay Walker. Field researcher. Amateur biologist. Nice to meet you!" I said, extending him a handshake.

Grievous though didn't take the bait, changing his stance, having noticed my attempt earlier.

The killer instincts of a seasoned warrior, egging at him to keep me away.

"Come on." I said, flailing my arm, taunting him, "Is the mighty General Grievous afraid of a handshake from a puny little pencil pusher?"

"Don't push him! You're not his match!" Ahsoka warned, trying to come between me and Grievous, when Anakin put a hand on her shoulder, a sly smile breaking on his lips.

"Now now, Snips, there's nothing to worry about. Grievous doesn't even have the guts to return a greating. There is no way he will have the courage to kill our friend here."

"What do you-" Ahsoka protested only to be interrupted by a bellowing Grievous.

"Let me show you exactly what I can and cannot do, Skywalker!"

He crouched preparing to rush Anakin, putting him on alert, when instead, he changed directions, kicking at me, throwing me across the bridge.

I crashed into Ahsoka, losing consciousness for a second while, Grevious leapt at Anakin, all four sabers bearing down on him like rain.

Anakin parried his blows, but was pushed back a couple of steps, stumbling to regain balance, as Grevious took full advantage of the opportunity, pressing on in an unrelenting flurry of blows, dominating the now narrow ledge of a battlefield, railings clipped off in the clash of lightsabers.

"Kwakh!" I gasped, ramming into the rails on the far end of the bridge, bent out of shape, concussed but otherwise unharmed.

I clutched my head, massaging it gently, and grabbed onto the grated mesh of the bridge, pushing myself off of Ahsoka, and almost came to my feet when a sharp pain ripped through my stomach, putting me down.

A herniated disc. This fucking ogre of a man.....tsss!

I hissed with pain, turning to Ahsoka, who was knocked out cold, one of her head appendages bruised blue.

My forcefield had protected me, but the result of that was Ahsoka bearing the brunt of the collision for me.

Her shoulder bled from tiny cuts where the poorly made railing had dug into her back, and she coughed weakly, a single line of blood leaking from her mouth.

Dammit!

I had one job. One fucking job.

Touch Grievous. And I failed.

I slammed a fist into the grate in anger, and the railing creaked, drawing Grevious's attention.

A low chuckle escaped the general's mouth, upon noticing this, causing Anakin to furrow his brows in worry.

Deflecting one of Grevious's blows, he jumped back, making distance between him and the general, lending him to a further bellow of laughter.

"As much as I would have liked to gut you myself, Skywalker, I think I will settle for your death for today!" Grievous boasted, crouching low, and pushed hard onto the bridge, summersaulting off of it onto the gunner station behind him, sending a shockwave across the structure.

Snap! Clang! Clatter!

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The bridge's supports snapped off one by one, caving to the force of Grievous's kickoff, turning it into what was basically a giant metal pool noodle.

That's another thing I'd have to deal with when I remodel this flea market, bargain bin construction of a battleship.

Shitty support structures.

It's a miracle the Separatists managed to stay even mildly competent against the republic if this was their best battleship!

The grates beneath out feet gave way, sending us all tumbling into the dark mechanical abyss below.

I tried using my power to remotely activate the controls for my jet thrusters  to no avail, as the pain seared through my mind, breaking my concentration.

Dammit!

I bit my tongue, slamming into my stomach in rage, and held onto my breath, tuning out the pain with all my willpower.

"Hrnngh!" I pushed off the grate, just as it fell, twisting back into shape, my nerves racing on acid, and plucked at the controls on my glove.

Instantly, my thrusters burst into action, lifting me off the cascading bridge, giving me a moment of relief, the weightlessnes easing my pain.

Then I remembered.

Right!

Anakin and Snips!

They were my mission here.

Sweating profusely, I scanned the bridge below and found Anakin hanging onto grates for dear life with one hand, Ahsoka hanging in his other, balanced by R2's thrusters, as further and further supports collapsed.

"Hold on!" I cried, zipping through the air towards them, "I'm coming."

"I don't think that would be wise." A curt voice appeared above me, as Count Dooku finally chose to reveal himself, his hand clawing in my direction.

They just keep coming and they don't stop coming, do they? I sighed.

Suddenly an invisible claw grabbed at me stopping me in my tracks, and threw me away like a ragdoll into the shaft below.

The force!

Another damn obstacle I have to deal with in this fight now.

Great. Just great.

I burst back up from the shaft, raising an arm at Dooku and fired off a laser bolt, only for him to snidely deflect it back at me, crashing into my forcefield.

"Tch!" I intoned. If one won't do, I'll throw two! You can't stop them all!

And just as a bonus....

I raised both my arms this time, strafing Dooku with laser fire from my right.

Just as he raised his lightsaber to delfect the bolts, sidestepping to the left, I hit him with my freeze ray.

Count Dooku expecting another laser bolt, brought forth his lightsaber to delfect it, out of sheer muscle memory, something I was banking on.

The moment my freeze ray hit his lightsaber, the emitter wave keeping it in check broke.

It was meant for sub 6000 degree celsius temperatures and banked on the delicate thermal balance between the saber's output and the surrounding medium's heat capacity.

And when that balance broke, the saber fizzled out, like an erect dick under cold water, only much worse for the wielder this time.

It was the same reason lightsabers didn't work on water worlds. Not without a modification that I knew no one here had bothered with.

With his lightsaber burnt out, my next volley hit the surprised Count right through the chest, throwing him back into the corridor he had come from, while I dove down once more trying to save Anakin and his padawan.

"No!" Grevious screamed, running across the ramparts, trying to cross over to the other side keeping the bridge intact, intent on cutting the supports off himself.

"Oh no no. No you don't!" I wagged my finger at him, freezing his feet from behind, causing him to stumble.

His hulking frame, and his stance mid sprint made it hard for him to maintain balance, and he slipped, rolling off the edge of the narrow byway, into the shaft below.

Instinctively, he stabbed one of his lightsabers into the metal wall, slowing his fall, lighting up the shadows in a pretty neon green.

Then another, he stabbed, his foot slamming onto the wall for grip.

He wasn't seriously thinking of climbing back up with his lightsabers was he?

That shit cuts right through stuff. It won't even act as proper leverage for more than a fraction of a second.

It was why most jedi only used lightsabers to slow their fall, and not climb up stuff.

They knew full well they could fall off and die with just a small delay in their action, even by just fraction of a second.

Actually scratch that. Of course he was.

He was just that sort of overly prideful monster, who would rather risk death over a loss in his battles. Especially when victory was so close at hand.

I pointed my freeze ray at his lightsabers, and shot out three of them before he cut his losses and dove into an exhaust, shooting me a death glare.

Anakin in the meanwhile had used the force to jumped up, slowly climbing up the grates with one hand, carefully making sure to split his attention into not using too much force, so as to not collapse what little kept them hanging and safe.

Grabbing him, I lifted us all up to the gunner post, and fell into a heap, tired, and herniated.

It fucking hurt like a bitch.

Fuck!

"I need ..." I wheezed, muttering "I need some healing..."

And exercise, a voice snarked within me.

Heh. I snorted.

Yes. I need to exercise too. Both my body and my powers.

I need to increase my range. I can't afford to fail like today. I won't be as lucky next time.

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