A/N: Yo, next chapter is here, I hope you guys enjoy it and, if you can, please leave a comment, or at least a few stones to help draw attention to the fic!
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Anakin strode into the warehouse, causing every worker to momentarily freeze, most taking the time to look at him with a mixture of respect and awe, but a few just lowered their heads, doing their best to avoid meeting his eyes.
It was an old building located much closer to the Protectorate, its exposed metal skeleton showing signs of rust everywhere, but one of the boys was hard at work trying to clean it up, a long aluminium ladder letting him climb into the ceiling, and another girl was scrubbing the floor, the scent of disinfectant filling the air.
Walking along the wall, Anakin climbed to the second floor, a large balcony overlooking the storage and loading area. Marissa was already there, lying on the sofa, her face buried in her phone.
She looked up, then almost jumped, quickly getting up and putting her phone away. "Ah, I was just taking a break... Your delivery is here."
Anakin briefly glanced at the three tinkertech devices on top of a large desk, then back to her. "Our deal was to study your power. I will not force you to work."
Pushing a lock of hair behind an ear, she looked at the large file cabinet and nodded. "I know. It just feels awkward not to do anything… and I want to help."
Anakin could sense she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he was a good enough empath to guess the rest. Keeping herself busy let her avoid thinking about what happened, and he would not press her further.
Letting the girl return to dealing with papers, he spared a moment to look down, his Force senses paying special attention to those who hadn't met his eyes.
Older members, those who had followed the dragon and thrived during his rule but had not fully crossed the lines he had set after killing Lung.
They remained with the ABB for they knew nothing else, but Anakin could feel their dread; all of them terrified he'd change his mind and decide to kill or turn them over to law enforcement… A lack of trust resulting from when he changed his deal during the first meeting with the Lieutenants.
Unfortunately, back then, he had considered them unimportant, a gathering of criminals, slavers, thieves, and delinquents whose only use was providing raw materials, equipment, and a better location for the youngling.
Ultimately unnecessary, but slightly faster and more convenient than doing everything himself. So, he'd not spared a thought about changing his initial deal.
Had he decided to fully take over when he first killed Lung, he'd have done things differently; fear was an acceptable way of control, fear of the law, fear of repercussion, fear of disappointment, those were all valid tools, even if ones a Jedi would disapprove. However, terror and uncertainty weren't; those easily led to mistakes and rebellion.
As Vader, he had crushed such things by instilling absolute certainty, not that his words would be true, but that any kind of resistance would be both futile and met with a far worse fate.
But as Anakin, he wasn't willing to go that far, which created a problem, something he'd have to deal with later.
It had been a full day since he first sensed the destruction of the Bay, an incoming wave swiping the buildings away, but there had been no Endbringer attack. He had tried to search for the creatures through the Force, but they too were hidden, and even he couldn't sense them, not at such a distance at least.
Still, his Force visions hadn't faded; every moment, he felt the danger coming closer, which was why many of his equipment and materials were being gathered here to be sent away to different cities, caches of money and technology being made in all nearby towns.
Looking over the workers as they moved his equipment and raw materials, he briefly noticed an abundance of young women, most of them looking far too unused to such physical labor.
"Susanoo-sama," Aoi Sato bowed to him, the older man looking exhausted. "May I have a moment?"
"Where is Tae-Soo Park?" He asked, starting to walk towards his workstation.
"There was a small confrontation with the Teeth, nothing that needed your attention. The Korean should be here in a few minutes."
Stopping in front of the desk, Anakin took a second to stare at the new tinkertech devices there, three strange pieces of equipment delivered by Toybox, Dodge's creations. Picking the only handheld one, he turned it over and spoke. "Very well, you have my attention."
"Ah, yes," Sato said, licking his lips nervously before seeming to gather himself. "As you ordered, we restructured the way of providing… courtesans, we started providing…"
Releasing the device's frame, Anakin turned towards the man. He didn't say anything, didn't even lift an eyebrow, but the look was enough to tell him to get to the point.
"However!" Sato continued in a hurry. "While many of the girls, particularly the street workers, would prefer to stop, the Bay doesn't exactly have many available jobs. We've been using them to help reorganize the ABB, the smarter ones helping audit our finances, but that will soon be finished."
That likely explained the number of women working in the warehouse. "How long?"
"We'll be finished in another two or three days, after that, we'll either need to find them busy work or cut them off… Li Xiu thinks around half will be back to prostitution in a month or two, when the money we paid runs out."
"I-I talked with some of them," Marissa said while moving a stack of folders. "Most are desperate; they need the money to bring the rest of their families here."
Looking at all the people moving things in the warehouse, Anakin considered the situation. He despised slavery; he still remembered being a slave, and more than that, he remembered his mother being a slave; it was something he hated with a passion.
The need to obey, to bow and scrape at every free sentient that came around or be killed, hoping against hope not to draw their attention. Anakin had been lucky; he was only 3 when Watto won his family from Gardulla the Hutt, far too young to draw any interest, his mother…
For a moment, Anakin lost himself in memory. He remembered his mother as a tired woman, thin to an unhealthy amount, her skeletal face, dry skin, and uncared-for hair making her look much older, but he knew she used to be beautiful… she was forced to be by Gardulla.
After, she had let herself go, letting the desert wind and Tatooine's suns affect her body with only a minimal amount of protection in an effort not to draw attention, and Watto let her, almost uninterested in what they did.
With an effort of will, he dismissed the memories, refocusing on the present situation.
In truth, those who came back wouldn't be slaves; they'd choose to return, pressured by a choice between poverty or sex work, yes, but it would still be a choice, and with the changes he made, they'd be workers, not slaves.
And yet… Anakin felt responsible, not in the same way he had felt responsible for his clone troopers during the war, but, when he took over the ABB and assumed control of its territory, it became his responsibility.
Such responsibility should have belonged to local government; it also wasn't something he was expected to do as either Jedi or Sith. Nonetheless, he felt it, a new and unfamiliar role.
"I will consider the situation," Anakin said. "How are the comlinks?"
"What? I mean, they're basically cellphones, they work great, and they're much faster than normal phones, but they're not that different."
Anakin nodded. Maybe he could employ the women to help outfit his troops; he'd still need to make the heavy machinery himself, but using it was not that complicated, and comlinks had simple designs so as to be produced all over the galaxy, even in more primitive planets.
He had been planning to make a few droids for labor, but human workers could be almost as good and save him some time.
Adopting the shape of cellphones, it would be easy enough to integrate holoprojectors on the comlinks, and even the simplest model would be far more advanced than this planet's technology.
"You're dismissed," he said, turning back towards the tinkertech pocket dimensions.
Extending his senses through the Force, Anakin probed the smaller of the devices, a fist-sized generator connected to a beacon and surrounded by a couple of thick cables, quickly noticing that it was larger on the inside.
Closing his eyes, he probed deeper, the Force mapping every single piece in incredible detail until his senses noticed a few discrepancies, places where he could sense the materials had been changed at the particle level, generating a new substance.
It was not unlike his own use of Art of the Small.
Going even deeper, he could sense a source of power, an unknown type of energy that was slowly leaking from the device while maintaining some kind of connection, an effect working beyond the merely physical aspect of the components… Interesting.
This was why tinkertech couldn't be replicated or properly studied. Even if perfectly reproduced, the physical materials were only part of the design, a major one, to be sure, but not the entire thing and current technology wouldn't be able to detect the emanating energy.
Waving a hand in front of the equipment, he dismantled it, the pieces separating so fast it looked like the device exploded, every part floating in a perfectly controlled manner atop the table.
Another gesture, and he retrieved all five pieces containing materials he didn't recognize, a type of metal he had never seen, much less worked with before, one of which was still maintaining the odd energy connection.
Tae-Soo Park climbed the stairs to the second floor with satisfied steps, taking off his damaged suit, he threw it atop a table at the entrance, then laid his blaster rifle on top and noticed Anakin, his eyes taking in the floating equipment before he gave a small bow. "Susanoo-gun."
"Tae-Soo, I take it the conflict is over?" Lowering his hand, Anakin let the pieces rest on the desk in a controlled manner, making sure the five odd metals were kept separated.
"Yes," rotating his shoulder, Tae-Soo exposed a newly bandaged wound, but it wasn't serious. "Animos and Spree tried to attack one of the stores that paid us protection, but San-Dae and the boys managed to deal with Spree while I delayed the shapeshifter."
"Any casualties?"
"Two of the boys will need surgery… or Panacea's help," Tae-Soo grimaced, but approached him anyway. "I'd have called you, but the boys engaged before they knew those were capes. I'm already punishing those responsible."
Anakin could feel a small aura of fear radiating from the man, but it was tightly under control, coming not from cowardice but the knowledge that Anakin could crush him with a thought.
For a moment, he considered asking more about those who disobeyed commands, but his lieutenant had clearly addressed the situation before it reached him; it was… preferable to continue that way.
"And the parahumans, are they dealt with?"
Anakin had spent some time reading about the Teeth when he was informed they were in the city, a barbaric named group, composed of a few witlessly named members.
Even after so long on the planet, he couldn't understand its foolish tradition of taking on childish nicknames and clothing while somehow expecting to be taken more seriously for it.
Considering her age, he expected it from Dinah, but not adult sentients.
Of the mentioned parahumans, Animos was a 'Changer', capable of transforming into a canid and firing blasts that temporarily disabled other parahumans, while Spree was a 'Master', capable of creating very short-lived clones in large numbers.
To Anakin, the first was more interesting; inspecting, or at least experiencing his ability to deactivate other powers, could greatly improve his understanding of those creatures.
"Temporarily," Tae-Soo sighed, rolling his shoulders. "San-Dae Yang and the boys dealt with Spree, his clones are a pain, but they're no different than humans, and I managed to shoot Animos in the head before they were forced to retreat… Tsk, I saw him moving when they fled, so the bastard probably lived."
Anakin glanced at the blaster resting at the table and considered what he knew of Animos's Changer form. "That is likely. Unless you set the blaster to overload, the materials I used restrict the strength of the bolt; it shouldn't be strong enough to pierce his skull."
"Good to know," Tae-Soo sighed. "You said I'd get 5 shots in overload mode?"
"Ten at full power, but anything above five risks permanent damage to the weapon."
Blasters were more reliable and easier to produce than slugthrowers, but in practice, they weren't that much better, particularly with the material restrictions he was working under.
"Want me to prepare the boys?" Tae-Soo asked, something almost eager in his voice. "The Teeth haven't come into our territory in force yet, too busy trying to take over the remains of the Empire and dealing with the PRT, but we could take the initiative."
Anakin thought about the suggestion. He had always been an aggressive commander, so the suggestion fit his usual mode of operation. "No, preparing ourselves takes priority. I sense the attack has been delayed again, but not prevented."
Had he been able to sense the creatures, Anakin would have already attacked one of them; waiting really wasn't his strong suit.
Tae-Soo nodded, then leaned over the railing and stared down at the ground floor, lighting up a cigarette. He hesitated, then spoke. "Sir… are you sure about the Endbringer? I mean…"
"The Future is ever in motion," Anakin said, managing to avoid his first instinct. Those people didn't know about the Force; they had no understanding and, as a result, no faith in it. "I can not sense the creatures, but the Force has shown me possibilities, glimpses of what may unfold, this city being swept by waves prominent among them. I believe my presence is still holding it off, but it shall not be delayed forever."
"Shit…" the man took a drag of his cigarette, then sighed. "Well, if you say so… There's not much else I can do; everyone capable or willing has already fled when you first warned us, the others are keeping close to the shelters, and we can't really ship equipment any faster."
"The protectorate headquarters, tell me about it," Anakin said, turning back to study a larger pocket dimension, using the Force to carefully go over the hardware.
"Alright," Tae-Soo pushed away from the railing and pulled up a chair, sitting a few meters away so as not to bother him. "Lung used to have quite a few spies on the inside, so we have a complete map of the location, and we're able to make a good guess at where the girl is, but they tightened up security, by a lot."
"You have no idea where she is."
Tae-Soo shook his head. "They still leak. We know she's at the HQ; her parents have visited the place twice now, but no one has access to the inside."
For a moment, Anakin continued to study the device, making sure not to damage it, trying to find out how it truly worked and if he could reproduce the effect while he thought about the situation.
"Contact one of our lawyers, I wish to inform the PRT of the incoming attack."
"Want me to spread the word to the entire city? Since we started sending people away, there's already a lot of rumors, but I can make it official."
"No, the creature may yet change target, or such an act could trigger the attack earlier. Just inform the Protectorate and open communications with them. I know those Endbringers are beyond most parahumans, but if she's indirect, Dinah herself can predict their effects on the city."
"I'll make the call," Tae-Soo got up, then started to type into his conlink while going down the stairs.
Satisfied, Anakin turned all his attention to the device, using the Force to connect one of the cables into a battery, energy filling the backpack-sized beacon until it activated, a tremendous burst of energy was projected into the air on top of it, forming a small slit in space.
Anakin narrowed his eyes. The power he had just sensed was several times stronger than what the battery should contain. He also noticed a significant dip in the exotic energy contained in the device.
Both hands behind his back, he approached the opening with some curiosity; space itself seemed to step aside, the portal opening like a sliding door, air being violently sucked inside the newly created void.
Anakin didn't move; the pull was far too weak to affect him, but everything else immediately flew towards the opening in the air, so he flicked a finger and used Force Telekinesis to stop and put them back into place.
The pocket dimension wasn't large, nowhere close to the size of the warehouse, but it could still act as a hidden workshop. A pity it would collapse the second energy was cut off from the device, or it was damaged, but maybe he could solve that problem.
Circling the opening, he continued to probe it with the Force; the effect wasn't quite the same, but it did follow similar principles to what he had sensed from Marissa and, to a lesser extent, the youngling.
The pocket dimension created a new space separated from reality, a parahuman's source of power didn't; instead, connecting to somewhere that already existed, but some of the principles used to create the connection were marginally similar.
Using the Force to hold the pocket dimension in place, Anakin turned off the device, the space immediately attempting to violently implode, everything being sucked inward as it started becoming smaller.
He didn't try to stop it, just observing the effect as the space collapsed with a deafening 'crack', all the air inside being expelled back into the atmosphere, then flowing around the Force shield he used to protect the desk.
Could he replicate the effect? Not yet, to create another dimension, even a small one, was beyond his current understanding, but he'd learn; it was only a matter of time.
Closing another cabinet, Marissa turned towards him, making sure Anakin wasn't concentrating on anything she spoke. "Why aren't you taking over the city?"
Stepping away from the table, Anakin stared out of the window and considered her question.
When he first arrived, he was confused, lost and struggling, choosing to stay away from everything until he could find balance. That clearly hadn't worked for long, but his plan has still been to leave the city, and the planet, as soon as possible.
Now, his situation was different, he had formed a padawan bond with the girl, and he refused to separate her from her family and everything she knew… he also had more time to examine the available information about stars.
He had assumed the Force had sent him into some corner of the Unknown Regions or a forgotten system, but the star charts painted a very different picture.
With the Force guiding him, Anakin knew he could still find the way, but it would require far greater effort and preparation, not something that could be done with a makeshift ship.
"They'd never let you take over openly," Marissa continued, sitting on an empty chair. "Not without a quarantine, but, while with the Travelers, I learned how the capes operated here; you could easily get an unwritten deal like Accord has in Boston, only with much greater control."
"Ruling was never my ambition," Anakin said, stepping closer to the large window and closing his eyes, letting his muscles relax.
Taking in the sense of the city, Anakin was only mildly surprised to notice it hadn't changed much, even after the violence of the last few days. If anything, the place felt brighter, more hopeful than when he first arrived, if only marginally so.
Between Lung, Bakuda, the Empire, and himself, more than a thousand people were killed in the city, a ludicrous amount in peacetime, and yet the general mood was more hopeful.
"Regardless, it may yet come to that."
"It's… after what you did…" Marissa struggled to look at him, a mixture of guilt and fear in her mind, but she continued. "It won't stop at just the Teeth, and I don't trust the PRT to stop anyone."
"The local PRT is not wholly incompetent," during all of their confrontations, Anakin could feel they believed they were doing the right thing, more than that, they wanted to do the right thing. "I shall give them one last chance, much will depend on how they respond to my warning."
"Done," Tae-Soo informed them as he walked back into the second floor. "Our lawyer will be making contact with the PRT in an hour, anything else, Boss?"
"Take the largest device and install it on our safest location, it may still collapse once the attack happens, but it could act as a last resort for those unable to reach a shelter."
Marissa waited until the man was gone, then liked her lips and released a long breath through her nose. "If Leviathan really comes… I-I'll help."
"Your offer is appreciated, but unnecessary, I shall deal with the creature myself," with a wave of his hand, Anakin put the dismantled device back, all the pieces snapping into place in only a second, then he put it away. "Now, come, I have a new idea for how to inspect your power."
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