《A Glitch In The Matrix》34: The Siege of Mandalore
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Evie followed Rex, upset that she was pulled away from her previous task. She didn't understand what was more important than preparing for battle. She was in the middle of making sure all her armor was secure and that she was stocked up on ammunition, when he pulled her aside. Now she had no idea where he was leading her.
"Rex, where are we going?" Evie asked for a millionth time. Rex merely glanced back at her, a smirk on his face.
"You'll see", he said vaguely. "Now close your eyes."
Evie huffed, but did as he said. She felt Rex's hand touch hers and she subtly flinched from the sudden contact. She held her breath as he fully grasped it and started pulling her along.
A few doors hissed as the opened and shut, and Evie had no idea where on the cruiser they were. Rex stopped moving, and Evie followed suit.
"Rex, where are we?" she asked, a certain fierceness to her tone.
Rex pulled his hand away from her own. "I need to go grab something. Keep your eyes closed and don't move."
Evie grumbled quietly, but did as he said. It didn't take long for him to return, thought Evie didn't know it.
"You can open your eyes now", the clone commander said, startling Evie. She scowled as she opened her eyes.
"Don't scare me like... that..." she trailed off when she saw the helmet in Rex's hands. She couldn't take her eyes off of it.
It was her helmet. But there was something different about it. Evie reached out and grabbed hold of it, studying the new design. She traced the edges of the blue color, making note of every curve and corner.
Starting from the center point of her visor, there were differing lengths of blue spikes. It almost looked like a blue star. But as usual, the blue painted lines were missing spots, almost as if it were glitching.
"It's beautiful", she whispered. "But why'd you change it?"
Rex chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're the star in my night sky, Evie. My life was so dark when you were gone..."
Evie snorted. "Pfft. That's so cheesy, Rex."
Rex blushed, and looked away, trying to hide his embarrassed face. Evie giggled, and gently rested it on his cheek, bringing his face back toward her.
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"I loved it though", she said. "I'll be your glitching star throughout the night."
Rex smiled, before his face lit up. Evie tilted her head to the side, silently questioning his reaction.
"The other reason why I changed your helmet design is because Echo asked me to. He wanted his to be unique. He did appreciate that you had decided to honor him like that though."
Evie frowned, and she pulled her hand away from Rex. "Echo's dead, Rex. We saw him die at the Citadel."
Rex grabbed Evie's hand, and held it tightly. "He's not dead, Evie. Trust me. I saw him. He's not quite the same anymore, but he's alive."
Evie hesitated. "You're absolutely certain?"
Rex nodded and the female clone squeezed her eyes shut, pulling her arms close to her chest. Her hands rested where her heart would be and they clenched tightly into fists.
"We left him there", she whispered, her chest tight. "He was alive, and we left him."
Evie felt Rex reach out to her and she let him pull her into a hug. "We can go find him when this is all over, okay? We'll go talk to him."
Evie nodded into the captain's shoulder, tears leaking from her eyes. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."
As the two stood there, relishing the comforting feeling of each other's arms, Evie suddenly thought about Fives. She pulled away slightly and looked into Rex's face, her eyes searching his with worry. "How did Fives react when he found out that Echo was alive?"
Rex squeezed his eyes shut. "Fives is dead, Evie. He died in my arms."
Evie's breath caught in her throat, and she started trembling. She stared blankly at Rex's chestplate as her vision blurred from the water gathering in them. She slowly sank to the ground, and the newly made commander followed her, pulling her into another hug. Evie tried to bite back a sob, but it came out regardless. The female clone winced at how broken she sounded, but didn't bother to stop the sobs.
"I'm sorry, Evie", Rex whispered. "There wasn't anything I could do to stop it. If I could, I would've stopped Commander Fox from killing Fives."
Evie pulled away, her gaze hardened as tears dripped down her face. "Who did you say killed Fives?" she growled.
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Rex hesitated. "Commander Fox."
Evie stood up, and turned toward the door. "When this is over, I am going to find him, and kill him myself."
Evie waited for Rex to argue but he didn't say a word, instead grabbing her hand and spinning her around to face him. He cupped her face with his hands, and looked her dead in the eye.
"I don't blame you for wanting revenge. I want revenge too. But we can't do that. If we kill Fox, we'll be put on trial for treason against the Republic."
Evie scoffed. "I've already stood trial, remember? For desertion. And don't you dare say anything about how revenge is not the Jedi way. I'm not a Jedi. I may wield the force and I may brandish a lightsaber, but I am clone through and through. And Fives was my brother. So were Droidbait, Cutup, Hevy, and Echo! I've lost all of them. Echo may be alive, but we don't know if we'll make it out of here with our lives. That's the risk of every mission."
Rex rested his forehead against Evie's, closing his eyes. The female clone automatically did the same, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I miss them, too, Evie. I miss them too."
~~~~~~
As they approached the city of Sundari, Evie got ready, knowing that an attack was imminent. The mandalorians knew they were there, and they weren't going to go down without a fight. As long as Maul was involved anyway. The female clone watched as Bo-Katan contacted another mandalorian, but she wasn't close enough to hear the conversation.
The ship shook about, causing the holographic mandalorian to disappear. Evie pulled on her helmet as the doors opened, allowing her to see another gunship falling through the air, billows of smoke rising above it.
"You know what this reminds me of, Rex?" Evie yelled through the wind. At his questioning glance, she grinned. "When we went to help General Secura and General Skywalker got severely injured!"
Rex chuckled and shook his head. "You got pretty beat up too!"
Evie's grin widened. "I'm stronger and faster now! It won't happen again!"
The three mandalorians with them leaped out of the ship as the back hatch opened, with Bo-Katan giving them some parting words that Evie lost in the wind. She looked to Rex, who shouted at her and Ahsoka as the clones followed the mandalorians lead, taking to the air.
"Sorry! I didn't think to bring you a jetpack!"
Evie and Ahsoka shared a glance, their lips turned upwards in a smirk. "Don't need one!" Ahsoka said. Rex gave her a curious smile, and Evie only gave him a smirk in return.
"Race you to the surface!" she yelled, and jumped out the window, Ahsoka following. The duo landed on a gunship that was lower down, and Evie watched as the togruta instantly drew her lightsabers and slashed through an enemy mandalorian's jetpack. Evie nodded to her friend, before making her way closer to the surface, taking out any red armored mandalorians she came across with her lightsaber. She ended up on the same ship Ahsoka was on. The ship finally reached the city, and just before it crashed into the surface, Evie leapt off, rolling along the ground, her lightsaber still drawn. An explosion sounded behind her as she, and the togruta next to her, got into a defensive position, having been greeted by several of Maul's mandalorians.
They were forced to retreat at first, the many blaster fires overwhelming them. Evie felt her heel touch the edge of the platform, and she glanced back. That was a mistake on her part, as a bolt hit her in the arm, making her stumble back. Evie's eyes widened as she started free falling, and she quickly turned off her lightsaber, hooking to her belt as she prepared to hit the ground at full force.
That didn't happen, and instead she crashed into a familiar clone commander. She smiled at the familiar markings on Rex's helmet as he lifted her back up to the platform.
"Still falling for me, I see", he said. Evie rolled her eyes, knowing that there was a smirk on his face. They reached the platform and Rex set the female clone down beside Ahsoka, before stepping between them.
"Beat you", Ahsoka said, glancing over at the two.
"Some things never change", Rex conceded, and Evie smiled. She followed the duo as they took off running, ready to do some more fighting. She had missed this.
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