A Heated Twist - Anakin x Reader

• anything pt. 1 •

After the events in the conference room a few days ago, I felt strangely empowered now. Of course, this new feeling couldn't erase the emptiness and sadness inside me, but at least I didn't have to cry all night like I did the first night after the all-changing, devastating revelation of what happened to Anakin.

Unfortunately though, not only I had upped my game in our encounters. Vader had upped his, too. In the conference room he had made sure not to let the slightest hope arise that Anakin was still somewhere hidden inside of him. He had taken his acts of humiliation to a whole new level. And the sad thing was that cleaning his perfectly polished boots in front of all the other commanders was probably just the beginning of his ambitious plan to prove to me that he was just Darth Vader, and no one else.

Like everyday, Zad's office was my destination this morning, and as I entered, I found him engrossed in some technical documents. He looked up at me as I approached his desk, his expression cold as ever.

"We have a new task today. That is, you have a new task today, I don't feel like doing it... Vader has requested a detailed analysis of the new TIE fighter prototypes' performance from me. Compile the data and create a comprehensive report for him."

His instructions were clear, and I nodded in acknowledgment. Working on such a task would keep me focused, and I was determined not to let anything distract me today. So, I took a seat at the smaller desk at the side of Zad's office and began to access the relevant files on the holocomputer, quickly immersing myself in the technical details of the TIE fighters.

Hours passed as I combed through the data and compared performance metrics. It was a task that required my full attention, and it was a welcome distraction from the thoughts that would otherwise consume me.

It was late afternoon, when I was finally done. My back hurt form sitting in front of a computer the entire day and I let out a quiet sigh when I finally closed the performance data. I thought I had done a pretty good job with my work. Zad would probably earn Vader's praise for it. Or was the Lord even capable of praise..? Probably not.

When I was just about to get up from my chair and tell Zad that I was done, I noticed a file on the computer that stood out from the rest. It made me curious and so, I glanced around, making sure Zad was busy, and then clicked on it.

A list of chemical compounds and substances opened and I had no clue what they meant. Chemistry had never been an interest of mine, so I couldn't make sense of what any of it meant.

'Final product to be completed and delivered at the earliest possible date.', it said at the bottom of the file. Was this a copy of an order Zad had placed? Maybe. But what was this final product exactly? Who had he ordered it from and what for?

It looked like I had finally managed to find the first actually suspicious thing about Zad. That was the first good news- or bad news, depending on how you looked at it, in a while.

My mind raced. I needed to find a way to copy that mysterious document before Zad noticed something was off. I quickly assessed my options, my gaze falling on a stack of data carriers on a shelf across the room. I knew it was a risky move, but I needed to take the chance and steal one to transfer the suspicious file.

Pretending to stretch my arms, I called up the Force within me and when I was sure Zad was immersed enough in the documents before him, I let the small data carrier float across the room and land right in my hand.

Phew. That was surprisingly easy. Now I only needed to transfer the suspicious file.

But just as I was about to plug the data carrier into the holo computer, my heart jumped when I heard Zad's cold voice from behind me.