Gates of Hell

Chapter 10 - Breakthrough

Author's Note: Vader's POV is fundamentally screwed up, okay?

Also... Sidious is crafty and clever, but he can make mistakes as well. :)

WARNING: Suicidal thoughts!

~ Amina Gila

Seething isn't even a strong enough word to encompass how Sidious feels knowing the truth. Because he knows now that he's right. Somehow, someway, Vader manages to time travel. It seems impossible, and he doesn't even know exactly what made him wonder.

Perhaps it was the fact that Vader knows of his secret hideout in the Works, one known only to Dooku and Maul, though Plagueis had known as well. Perhaps it was the strength of the other Sith's Force signature. Perhaps it was the way he was able to take Anakin and turn him with naught more than a request. Perhaps it was the way Vader killed Dooku and seized control of the Separatists with no difficult, manipulating events in a manner only he himself has. Perhaps it was the way his armor is designed, imbued with Sith magic and constructed from arcane knowledge which only Sidious knows. Perhaps it was the way Vader lashed out at the prospect of having a master, acting in much the same way Skywalker did as a boy.

He was always so prone to lashing out, so determined to protect himself and assert his freedom, so terrified of being free. Sidious sensed all that in Vader, and it was as if the puzzle pieces fell into place. Of course, a time traveler, especially one who is what Skywalker was meant to become, would be able to get the boy to join him. It's brilliant, and he might laugh at the thought that the Jedi are now facing two of their precious Fallen Chosen Ones, if not for the fact that Vader is trying to destroy him.

That, he will not allow to happen. He was so distracted in attempting to uncover the truth about Vader that he... became sloppy. He forgot to maintain awareness of his surroundings, and as a result, he was cornered. He is cornered, surrounded by clones on all sides, his two lightsabers a whirlwind of red around him as he deflects the blaster bolts meant to end his life. If he had any doubts about Vader's identity, he doesn't anymore. Only Dooku knew of the inhibitor chips and how they worked; well, the Kaminoans did as well, but Sidious highly doubts that Vader would have known to go to them much less that they existed unless he did get knowledge from the future.

He draws on the Force, using it to throw the clones backwards. They don't stop, of course, ones in the back moving forwards to take their comrades' places, never ceasing the barrage of blaster bolts for even a moment. Sidious leaps upwards to a safer place, unleashing a lightning assault on the clones. They fall by the dozens, but they keep coming. Vader wasn't playing around. He sent them to kill, but Sidious refuses to go down that easy. He means to keep his promise; he means to hunt down Vader and torture him to death, forcefully ripping the information from his mind. His death will be the final straw which will break Skywalker. It will be glorious.

Perhaps he might have been able to escape, but then, as he climbs through a window to the exterior of the building – to face even more clones – he's attacked by a squadron of fighters. The laser fire tears up the surface on which he's standing, knocking him off his feet. A Star Destroyer is overhead, dropping down towards the surface as the cannons open fire on him. Sidious throws up a Force shield, holding off the attack with naught but his mind as he reignites his lightsabers, tearing through the clones like they're nothing, bodies and limbs falling all around him.

They don't stop, even if they know that they're walking to their deaths. They keep on coming. Oh, how Sidious would have loved to see this, loved to see them turning on the Jedi. It's too late now, too late for him to go back. The Jedi can feel him, he knows, and they'll be coming to investigate. He was confident before, but as the fighters come around for another attack, destroying part of the building he's in, he's no longer so certain.