PURPOSE | The Mandalorian

XXXIII

Satisfaction speared through my veins when her eyes widened even farther, her Adam's apple bobbing up and down as she swallowed. Then she turned around and nervously sprinted after Mayfeld.

I turned back to face the oncoming droid, and even through it was closing in fast, I still heard Din suck in a nervous breath just before he yelled, "Duck!"

I did as he instructed, diving out of the way just as the droid closed the distance. I tucked and rolled, and once I got to my feet again I saw that Din had used the tether in his vambrace to pull the droid against the cell wall. I used the droid's distraction to charge, pointing the tip of my blaster under its chin and blowing it's central processing unit into a thousand tiny little pieces.

Behind the door, I heard Din grunt as he released the tether. Then his helmet peered around the bars as he asked, "Are you okay?"

I scoffed. "I've never been better," I cheered facetiously, rolling my eyes as I ripped off the droid's arm and used it to unlock the cell door.

As soon as the door opened, Din shot forward, and our armor clinked together when he pulled me into a tight embrace. I immediately flung my arm around him to keep myself from losing my balance, but quickly melted into the embrace, burrowing my visor into the crook of his neck.

"You scare me sometimes," He said quietly after a short moment, and despite the blaring alarms, I heard him perfectly. I chuckled as I released my hold on him, motioning for him to follow me back to the control room.

"C'mon," I said smugly before taking off into a run, "Let's make this interesting."

Din sprinted right behind me as we approached control room. I slowed to a predatory prowl, leaning up against the wall once we made to the entrance. Din pressed himself to the wall beside me, checking to make sure none of the crew or the droids that were stalking the halls were following us.

I peered inside, giving Din the all clear when the only body in the room I saw was Davan's. The poor guard was still laying on his back, his blood staining the entire front of his uniform. It was even smeared across all the pristine white tiles.

"Poor kid," I whispered to myself as Din passed me to stand in front of the control panels. But I quickly stepped over the body, staring down at the buttons on the control panels before me, wondering in slight amusement how I wanted to make this hunt more fun.

But Din had already begun pressing buttons, switching off all the main lights and closing all the main doors. I let myself glance at the security footage that was playing on the screens to my right, smiling to myself as a door closed between the crew, splitting their group in half. Qin and Mayfeld on one side of the door and Xi'an and Burg on the other. Both Twi'leks banged on the door, obviously upset that they had been split up. But I could only laugh as the emergency lights began to flash between white and red, causing all four of them to descend into a panic.

"You go after Qin and Mayfeld," I said to Din, still staring at the footage on the wall as both groups began running again, desperately trying to find their way out of the maze of cell blocks without Zero's help. I felt a smirk cross my lips as I continued with the promise of violence in my voice, "Xi'an and Burg are mine."

————————————————————————

Din had stalked out of the control room about ten seconds ago, but before I began my own hunt, my hands were plunged into the cool river of the Force. I froze completely, letting the Force overcome me and guide me to my next move.

Wait.

Obeying its command, I glanced back at the security footage and noticed that Burg was closing in on the control room. My tongue flicked over my bottom lip in anticipation, and I nonchalantly leaned my hip against the control panel, crossing my arms over my cuirass.