35 Chapter Thirty-five

You know, on second thought, snooping around might not have been the best plan I've had so far.

And we had everything ready, too, what did I have going through my mind to do this again?

I changed my body position, my mechanical arm that apparently had a taser inside going to my blaster as I was ready to shoot the stormtrooper who was aiming his own blaster at me.

"Dad?! Dad!"

I blinked and looked behind the trooper, where I saw Colt looking at me with a deadpan expression like he expected me to get into trouble. I felt like I should be offended, but at this point, I was too used to it.

The trooper glanced back and Colt's face morphed into a relieved one, way too quickly. For someone who wore a helmet, the kid could control his facial emotions very well.

Colt ran to me and after he passed the trooper, he glared at me while still acting like a relieved child had just found their parent.

"I've been looking all over for you-"

He turned to the trooper.

"Sorry, sir, my dad is kind of eccentric and he most likely wanted to see the fireworks without the noise of people ringing in his ears."

Following along, I just rubbed the back of my neck and chuckled sheepishly.

"Sorry, sir."

The trooper seemed indecisive, judging from his body language, but he finally lowered his blaster and nodded at the crowd.

"It's fine, be careful next time."

I nodded and Colt just grabbed my arm and dragged me forward, sending a thankful smile at the trooper, but knowing what he did for a pastime, might be hiding a promise of his demise later.

He dragged me off into the crowd, not letting go of my hand, suddenly, he changed direction and avoided a few people before we came face-to-face with Sabine and Zeb, along with another Mandalorian in green armor.

Like Zeb, Sabine seems to be looking at the Mandalorian while being ignored. Hera was nowhere to be found, but that was because she went to pilot the Ghost in case we needed a pickup.

The new Mandalorian was looking at Colt intently, judging by the way her helmet visor was facing.

"Alright, what were you thinking?"

-Colt POV-

"Alright, what were you thinking?"

I questioned, looking at Kanan with a deadpan, I was annoyed, mostly because they interrupted my date, and a little because I had to save his ass within four minutes of coming here.

Kanan just blinked at me and sent a glance at Dina.

"Uh, you mind introducing us?"

My eyes narrowed and I grunted in annoyance.

"Crew, Dina, Dina, the crew. Now answer the question."

Kanan just sighed at my antics, but it was Sabine who answered.

"He was scouting the surroundings, you know, for the plan we made, that you weren't there for?"

I turned to look at her and narrowed my eyes. A plan? I looked back at the crowd, or more importantly, where the crowd wasn't, looked like it had enough space to hold something large, or small if we were speaking about vehicles.

Easily, the plan was made clear to me. This was Empire Day, something would be shown to the population for a "Show of strength" and this grand "Plan" was to explode whatever the empire was trying to show off.

Not much of a plan.

"You are planning to explode whatever the empire is showing off today to increase the morale of people."

I said, looking at Kanan to confirm my theory. He, Zeb, and Sabine were quiet for a moment.

"Called it."

The brown-haired man muttered and shook his head.

"Yeah, that's about it. But still, it would be nice if you were there."

I just rolled my eyes, it would be nice if someone kept her nose in her own business, but here we were, she was glaring at me.

"Yeah, sure whatev-Duck."

I grabbed Kanan's shirt and lowered him to the ground, doing the same myself. A red bolt impacted the building behind us, leaving a scorch mark and I looked in the direction it came from.

The fuck?

"What was that?"

Zeb asked, taking out his Bo-staff and aiming it in the direction that the shot came from, or more specifically, the figure that was visible on the rooftop.

I scowled at the attempt at assassination.

Looks like my bounty grew big enough for the risk to be worth it.

"Get on with the plan, I'll take care of this clown."

The crowd was panicking, scattering, and dispersing, which meant that there was nothing in my way, on the other hand, that meant that there was no convenient meat shield that I could use.

That was unfortunate, but no matter, using civilians like that left a bad taste in my mouth.

I took out my blaster and aimed, lining up the sights with the figure, and pulled the trigger. The man jumped to the side, rolling on the roof to avoid the shot and I took the moment to run forward.

A sound of muffled explosion resounded from my left and I sent a glance in that direction, seeing that something was burning behind the stormtroopers.

The force buzzed in warning, and I tilted my head to the side, the blaster bolt singing off a few strands of my hair and leaving a side of my face slightly warm.

That was either a lucky shot, or he's insanely accurate. My eyes narrowed as my lips pulled into a scowl. Digging into the pocket of my jacket, I took out a rectangular piece of metal. Holding it up to the lower part of my face, it snapped open in two parts as more of its parts extended from the sides, encircling my head.

I made this as a replacement in case I needed a rebreather in space, but it worked rather well in concealing my face.

I felt the mask tighten around my head and I let go of the mask as it stuck to my face.

I changed my direction suddenly, avoiding another bolt that would hit my chest, and burn through my rib, lung, and the other side.

The fire rate of the weapon this guy was using was trash.

Absently noting that in my mind and throwing the note into the metaphorical trash consisting of ideas that were idiotic, I finally reach one of the smaller buildings.

With a few simple force-enhanced jumps, I was standing face to face with my assailant if you ignore the whole rooftop distance that was between us.

"So I was right."

I blinked but remained silent.

"You are not wearing your armor, but the company you keep gave you away, though, it's surprising that someone so skilled is with you."

What the fuck was this guy talking about.

"Let's do this like men, Ghost-"

he put down the sniper-looking blaster on the ground and took a stance, taking out a vibro blade.

"You wouldn't turn down a challenge, would you?"

What the fuck is happening? Is this guy serious? Aren't you a bounty hunter? Aren't you supposed to kill the target at all costs? I was so done with this.

This guy might be good at knife combat to challenge me, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

"Very well."

I said in a grave tone, and I could feel the smirk the guy had, even through his damaged helmet.

I aimed my blaster at his head and shot him dead.

I ribbed my head with the back of my blaster, tilting my head back slightly.

"What the fuck is wrong with this world?"

Taking in a deep breath, I sighed, it turns out common sense is not that common.

I walked over to the dead body and proceeded to do what someone would call a "Pro Gamer Move", and started looting him.

The first thing I took was the sniper blaster and looked it over... Meh, it would do for future reference. My communicator buzzed and I reached for it, answering the call.

[Spectre Six! Come in! We need you!]

Okay, that sounded bad.

"Spectre one, talk to me."

I stood up and looked back at the spot where I left them. Naturally, they were gone, so I reached into the force to determine their location.

[They sent a squad of purge troopers!]

What the hell was a "purge trooper"?

"Which direction did you go?"

I asked, already off the rooftop with the sniper blaster slung across my back.

[The opposite directio-Zeb! Watch out!]

I scowled and sped up using the force to propel me forward from one end of the street to the other.

"Hold on, I'm coming, But I need some kind of signal."

Landing on the other end of the street, I took off, waiting for any kind of indication of where they were. I could not feel them there were too many people to just locate them.

An explosion went off in the sky and I changed my path to head to the crew's location.

I reached a dead-end, but I only sped up, not deterred by the concrete building that was in front of me.

I got a hold of my lightsaber hilt, that I finally managed to change into a plain black one using the same materials from the previous double-ended model, and placed one foot on the wall, running up horizontally for a few steps before using the force for the rest of the way.

Grabbing the edge of the roof, I climbed up and heard the sound of combat... and was that a flame thrower? The red blade of the saber blared to life as I reached the other side of the roof.

Looking down, I noticed two troopers dressed in black shooting fire from their rifles. Noting the possible explosive potential of the bags on their back I glanced at the Ghost crew and Dina who were taking shelter inside alleyways or behind hovercars, trying to return fire.

Taking out my blaster again, I aimed it at the backpacks of the two troopers that led the squad of eight and shot. The backpacks exploded, taking out the two wearers and three others who were too close behind them.

With the five of them down in such a short time, the other three looked up at me and took aim. Not waiting for them to wise up and fire before I could do anything, I dropped from the building landing in a crouch.

One of them aimed a flamethrower at me, he was probably there in case one of the two in front ran out or was taken out. Scowling, I rolled to the side. Thankfully, that wasn't needed as the trooper's backpack exploded when a blaster bolt pierced it from my left.

Taking advantage of the disorientation, I rushed forward, licking off one of the two remaining trooper's heads. As the body fell and the head went flying, I jumped, spun, and kicked the head at the other one.

Two helmets collided and the only remaining imperial soldier staggered back, only to be shot in the neck, the bolt piercing the spinal cord and killing him instantly.

Sighing, I looked at the crew and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey! What's that look for?"

Zeb asked with a frown, unimpressed with my unimpressed look.

I just rolled my eyes and turned off my lightsaber, putting it back inside my jacket.

"Let's go, I know a place where no one will look."

Without waiting for their response, I started walking while keeping an eye on my surroundings. I have not been there at all since the day I left, but it should still be intact unless something else was built there.

"You have a lightsaber?"

I looked to the side to see Dina fall into step next to me.

"Yes, I use it to make toast, turned out pretty great, actually."

I shrugged and she snorted.

////

I have a Quiz tomorrow, seminars are going on normally and we have assessments on top of that... I am absolutely fine.

No pressure.