Dar'solus [Captain Rex x reader]

Chapter 37 - Dar'yaim II

The metal walls that were around us were thick and seemed almost daunting the way they formed a square hallway, winding throughout the complex citadel. I instinctively made sure not to get too close to them, solid though they were, I did not trust them to keep their claws from grabbing me. Dragging me into a grave that knows no sound. As I listened to Cody and Rex divide us according to plan, a shiver went through me. One I saw Echo got as well. He was next to me, making it easy for me to reach out and carefully grab his hand. Like a child afraid to leave for his first day of school, he clung onto mine with his own gloved one. I gave it a squeeze of reassurance and he, after a moment's hesitation, reciprocated it back. Echo was never one to hesitate, he was always headstrong and faced everything with a courage stronger than a mountain. But now, he was uncertain. Like he knew something was amiss before any of us did. I gave him a glance, yet his face was stoic. Not leaving any trace of what he was thinking.

"(Y/N), me, General Skywalker, Commander Tano, Echo and Fives are headed to find Master Peill's second in command. They should be somewhere near the torture cambers."

"That's right. Now, remember the plan, stick to it and we will all be out of here before we know it."

Rex and Anakin's voices brought me back and I let go of Echo's hand, instead placing it on my blaster. Like Echo, it brought me comfort to know it was there, always would be. As the two groups went separate ways I went next to Ahsoka again. Anakin hadn't asked me to, but I felt the need to stay close to her. I had spent a fair amount of time in preparation for the mission studying the layout of the citadel to memorise the hallways and where they went. Of course, the holomap was old and very much incomplete, it even had whole missing sections. Not to mention, we had no clue whatsoever on when there would be patrols heading our way, or how many droids that would be in them.

"You okay, (Y/N)?"Ahsoka's gentle voice made my head snap to her direction. I raised my brow at her, to which she gave a sly nod down to my hand. I had been fidgeting with the handle on my blade.

"Yeah, yeah I am." It looked as though she wanted to interject when I saw a shadow from behind me. I flung around and the vibro-blade flew out of my hand and into the metal alloy skull of a droid. It dropped to the ground with a heavy clank and some faint virring sounds faded out as it shut down for good. The rest had stopped and whipped around too when they heard the impact of my blade upon the droid. Surprisingly it was a single droid, no more was seen in the long hallway we had come down.

"Quick thinking, (Y/N)." Anakin came up to us from between the boys as I yanked the blade from the metal.

"It was more instinct if anything," stretching my back out again. I looked around as I was very uncomfortable with the idea of it being alone. "Anyone seen any more droids?" a collective shake of helmets went around the troopers.

"Did it have time to send out a warning?" Anakin eyed me warily as I calculated the hit. It had clearly seen us, but whether it had informed the control centre I did not know. Or if it even could do that. This was a new model of droid I had never seen before.

"I don't know. It's better to assume it did." I felt very uncomfortable and vulnerable to say that I had no clue. I was usually the one who knew every single droid, ship and mechanically built thing that had ever been made. But this droid was foreign beyond my wildest dreams. It was the size of a regular man, longer arms that showed the hydraulics within them and normal sized legs with skinny claw looking feet. But it was the hands that scared me the most. It had long fingers, about as long as my forearm, that was the reasoning behind the hydraulics placed within the arms. The long fingers were designed so that it could grab and cover an entire head, silencing the victim and squeezing them to death. The head –that was now adorned with an open gash from my blade– was humanoid shaped and only had two small dark eyes. No mouth shape, no ear shapes and no nose shapes. This was built to come across as a humanoid experiment gone wrong.