DeathTalker: Chapter 4

"Yahooooo!!!!" Anakin’s speeder slid under him, allowing Obi-Wan to climb into the craft. "What took you?" "Your welcome!" "Follow that speeder!" "Huh? Which one?!!" The answer became obvious as another speeder pulled into traffic, scattering nearby craft. "Oh…" "We’ve got to catch it!" "Are you sure?" "Yes!" Anakin grinned again. The other speeder was dodging through traffic, swerving here and there and generally driving like a maniac. Anakin, by comparison, made him look positively sane. If there had been one area where the Force obviously continued to help him, it was piloting; and if anything, he had gotten better over the years. Anakin was lazily pulling barrel rolls and enjoying himself when something occurred to him. "Hey: do you want me to do anything other than follow him? Obi-Wan?" Anakin glanced over at the Jedi and noticed his ashen look. "Are you OK?" "Stop doing that?" "Doing what?" "What you’re doing!" "I thought you wanted me to follow him." "You’re driving like a madman!" "You’re beginning to sound like R2!" The other driver appeared to be taking more and more chances as it became apparent that he was not going to lose the pursuing craft. As Anakin and Obi-Wan argued, the other craft swerved out of traffic and pulled around a building. As it passed the building, it came too close and glanced off the side. "Oh no." "What?!!" "That’s really gonna mess up his paint job." When Obi-Wan did not reply Anakin looked over at him. "Whaaaaat?" Growing truly desperate now, the other driver swerved to try and make a turn, glanced off a bus heading the other way, bounced off a nearby tower and went down, trailing smoke. Anakin winced in sympathy. The other craft touched down, or rather smacked down, skidded a good 50m and smashed into a building. Anakin landed a bit farther back. The two men jumped out of the speeder and dashed towered the downed craft. As they neared it, someone got out and ran into the crowd. Obi-Wan gave pursuit, but Anakin knelt by the damaged craft. "Nuuuuuuuu!" His cries were met by a stunned crowd of onlookers. Obi-Wan struggled through the crowd as he saw his quarry dash into a nearby bar. Arriving inside, it appeared that the target had into the press of people...or alieans...or alien people. Narrowing his eyes, Obi-Wan approached the bar. Perhaps I can lure him into a making a mistake. While he appeared to be unaware, Obi-Wan was in front of the main exit, and watching the door to the kitchen. His quarry could not leave without the Jedi seeing him, and Obi-Wan’s senses were on the lookout for anything. Feeling someone coming up behind him, he whipped around, light saber in hand. The arc of blue-white light neatly severed the outstretched arm. The arm’s owner, a waiter droid, looked down forlornly. "Does this mean you don’t want a drink?" Just then, someone broke from the crowd and rushed into the kitchen. In the ensuing chaos, Obi-Wan was hampered by bar patrons and an irate droid owner as he tried to follow. Dashing through the kitchen, the elusive assassin headed for the exit. Running down a final hallway that terminated in what appeared to be an alleyway, he glanced behind him for signs of pursuit, thus completely missing Anakin’s outstretched arm. "Argh!" Anakin neatly clotheslined the assassin; who actually flipped once in the air and landed in a heap. "Oof!" His face unreadable, Anakin waltzed over and dragged the unfortunate person to their feet. "I wont talk! You’ll get nothing from me!" Anakin slammed the assassin against the wall, holding him a good 6 inches off the ground. "That was a perfectly good speeder!" "Do you realize who I was trying to kill?!" "Do you realize what it will take to fix it? Even if it’s possible? Do you?!!" The assassin’s eyes went wide as he stared at looked into Anakin’s face. "You’re crazy!" "Anakin! Put him down!" Anakin felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced behind him and saw Obi-Wan’s visage. "We need information from him!" "Not that you’ll get anything out of me!" Anakin glared at him. "Absolutely nothing!" "Put him down!" Sighing, Anakin tossed the assassin to the ground. The man scrambled to his feet and tried to get Obi-Wan between him and the angry pilot. "Help!" "Who sent you!" "No one!" "So you didn’t do anything?" "That’s right!" "Well then, I’ll be on my way…" Anakin advanced on the man, grinning insanely. "NO!" "Eh?" "Alright! I tried to kill that senator from Naboo!" "I already know that. Who sent you?!" The cornered man glanced between the two of them and decided he would be better off in Obi-Wan’s custody. "It was a bounty hunter from…" BLAM! The man slumped to the ground, a strange dart-like thingie stuck in his neck. Anakin and Obi-Wan looked back in the direction it had come from and saw a strange, armor wearing figure standing on the top of a nearby building. Activating a jet pack the lone gunman flew into the air and slammed into a passing transport. "Now that’s gotta hurt." The person fell back to the top of the building and unsteadily got to his feat. Taking a more cautious approach, he flew into the night. "Sonnofabitch." Anakin glanced back at the fallen assassin. Someone who looked remarkably like him was standing next to the corpse. He was looking in the direction that Anakin had been staring. "That creep." "Hey…" "He shot me!" "Well you did crash that speeder." The figure glared at Anakin. "Oh yeah, and you got caught, and you were about to spill the beans." "I only had two payments left." Anakin mourned along with the assassin. "He was from Cameeno." "Pardon?" "That guy, I never got his name, but he was from Cameeno." "Oh…er…thanks?" "Whatever." "Do you go to hell or something like that now?" "What for?" "Well you did try to kill someone. You probably killed other people." "Are you kidding?" "No." "I’ll have you know all the people I killed don’t count!" "Why’s that?" "They were politicians." The figure faded into nothingness, leaving Anakin to ponder this message. "Anakin?" "Eh?" "Who were you talking to?" "Oh, that assassin." "But he’s dead!" "Yeah, well, I guess he felt guilty about the speeder." Obi-Wan stared at him. "Never mind that. Did he say anything?" "Yeah, don’t become a politician." The Jedi called on ancient calming techniques and counted to 10. "Anything else?" "Oh…he said the bounty hunter who hired him came from Nemo." "No I didn’t I said Cameeno!" Anakin looked back to where the figure had been standing and saw that he was back. "I thought you had left." "Look, just tell the Jedi!" "Alright, he says Lemeeno!" "Cameeno! Jeez! And you’re a pilot?!" Glaring at the specter, Anakin repeated the system’s name. "You can see him?" "Yeah." "Has he got anything else to tell me?" "Yes, tell him you’re an idiot!" "No, that was all he wanted to say." "Jerk." Obi-Wan looked thoughtful and scratched his beard. The ghost of the assassin made a rude gesture and departed. Previous Chapter, Table of Contents, Next Chapter