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lamaenthel · 5 months

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Tivaevae | Chapter Thirteen: Matelassé

Still struggling to emotionally recover from Master Obi-Wan's deception, Ahsoka discovers in the aftermath that twelve-year-old Boba Fett has been locked up among adults in the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center. After convincing Chancellor Palpatine to grant him a pardon, she manages to secure his release on the condition that she serve as his legal guardian. Now, with the help of Master Plo and the Wolfpack, she vows to help him track down what family he has left.

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Fandom: Star Wars Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett, Plo Koon, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Kanan Jarrus, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CC-1119 | Appo, Dexter Jettster, FLO | WA-7 (Star Wars), Shaak Ti, ARC Commander Blitz (Star Wars), CT-6922 | Dogma, Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars), CC-3636 | Wolffe, Clone Trooper Sinker (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Comet (Star Wars), CC-2224 | Cody, CT-5597 | Jesse, CT-4860 | Boost, Aurra Sing, Tobias Beckett, Null-11 | Ordo Skirata, Kal Skirata, Original Mandalorian Characters (Star Wars), Original Droid Characters (Star Wars), Original Jedi Character(s) (Star Wars) Total Word Count: 123,000 Chapter Word Count: 8,248 Chapter Summary: Anakin gets a bad feeling, Boba and Cody desperately search for an antidote, and Obi-Wan tries to keep Ahsoka alive long enough to get it.

Strongly recommended listening for this chapter

Goran CXXV was the smallest, farthest terrestrial planet from the massive star of its namesake system. It didn't have a breathable atmosphere, but it did have a surface that had been glassed by a particularly violent solar flare from the blue supergiant into pure trinitite, which was in high demand by both mercenary miners and Techno Union industrialists for use in radiation-resistant microchips. A legion of battle droids had taken the planet a month ago. If they didn't take it back now, there wouldn't be a planet left once it was stripped to the core.

Anakin drummed his fingers on his vambraces, thinking hard as he stared at the holomap of their drop zone. Something was breaking his concentration, an annoying metaphysical itch of a feeling that felt like an invisible sand flea had crawled down his back and latched onto his skin. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"You alright, Sir?" Rex asked on his left, leaning in with a low voice.

"Yeah, fine, I'm just…" Anakin knew it wasn't an actual itch, it was the Force telling him that something was wrong and he'd regret it if he kept ignoring it. "Let me get this call out of the way, first."

"As you say, Sir." Rex leaned back. Across from them, Appo popped the seal on his helmet and hooked it on his belt.

"Ridge, get Master Koon up on holo for me," Anakin ordered.

"Right away, Sir."

Plo Koon's hologram flickered into view, Commander Wolffe standing at attention beside him. "Koh-to-yah, young Skywalker."

"Koh-to-yah, Master Plo." Anakin bowed. "I hope the journey here has treated you well."

"Oh, indeed, as did the one previous." Plo chuckled. "Captain Rex, Sergeant Appo, it's good to see you both. Have you had a chance to review the simulations Wolffe prepared for you?"

Anakin rolled his shoulders again, trying not to twitch. "We have. I wanted to run an idea by you, if you don't mind."

"By all means."

Anakin brought up a topographic map of the surface. "Taking a look at what has bounced back from the scouting team, there's suspected to be a large ipsium deposit in sector eighteen. This is obviously not where we want to be staging a firefight."

"Agreed." Master Plo tucked his talons into his sleeves. "Unfortunately, that is also where there's the highest likelihood of a ground ambush. Those valleys are rife with blind spots."

"Exactly." Anakin pointed at a small canyon between two jagged, trinitite hills. "I'd like to send in a small team to see if we can get this pack of B1's away from the ipisium. I'd prefer we recapture the sector without blowing it into a crater the size of ten limmie fields, not to mention destabilizing the neighboring plateau."

"Agreed. Excellent catch, Anakin."

Anakin kept a neutral face but his back did straighten a little. "I'm thinking that we have Appo lead Akul Platoon down to these coordinates, let them lure the B1's over to the canyon to swing around behind here." Anakin pointed to a small dead end. "We'll box them in, have a LAAT/i grab Akul before they get pinned down, then you mop up with a bombing run. Hopefully we can clean up the battlefield and lower the odds of blowing the thing sky high."

"Any additions, Commander?" Plo turned to Wolffe.

"Sounds solid to me, Sir."

"Let me run some sims so we can get our timing down. I'll send them over to you as soon as I can, Master." Anakin jumped like something bit him.

"Are you alright, Anakin?" Plo's head tilted curiously.

"Just fine, Master." Anakin smiled a little too wide.

"We shall speak soon then, I hope." Master Plo disconnected the channel with a bow.

Anakin shook his arms and legs out as soon as the hologram disappeared, the glowing warmth from Plo's compliment quickly fading at the reminder that something was wrong. Kriff, he had a bad feeling about something; he had no idea what, but if he had to guess, it concerned his conspicuously absent sidekick that normally would be running the simulations for him and complaining about it the entire time.

Ahsoka was with Obi-Wan and Cody, taking Boba to go meet his mom and get his armor back. She was fine. He was being a worrywort for nothing. She was probably just… arguing with Obi-Wan. Hopefully she was letting him have it and getting it all out of her system. He couldn't message her, as all of them would be out of comm range for the day; rural Corellia wasn't exactly flush with public long-range communications that they could tap into.

"What's eating you, Sir?" Rex asked wryly, looking him up and down.

"I've got a weird feeling." Anakin swiped through the holomap. "You haven't heard from the kid, have you?"

"No," Rex said. "Cody said that they'd be off-grid for a while. Public holonet connection doesn't go past Bockrin limits." He paused. "When you say a weird feeling…"

"Yeah, one of those." Anakin brought up a bomber simulation. "Maybe it's nothing. I can worry about it later. Right now, we need to focus on the mission. Let's get our timing nailed down so Appo's boys don't get turned into falumpeset cheese."

"I appreciate that, Sir," Appo deadpanned from the other side of the table. "I'll head down and start prep, if that's alright with you."

"Absolutely, Sergeant. Dismissed." Anakin returned Appo's parting salute and turned his attention back to the holotable to start throwing numbers into his flight simulations.

Ten minutes later the feeling wasn't going away, no matter how much Anakin tried to stomp it down, and what was worse was that now his knee was throbbing. Well, not his knee, it was actually a few inches below his knee on the back of his calf, but it was so sore that he figured his knee had to be the source. Had he pushed it during his katas that morning?

"Sir?" Rex finally asked, fed up with watching him shift his weight and make annoyed noises.

"Ugh." Anakin let out a long groan and let his head droop. "Do me a favor, Rex, and–"

"Eight hours."

Anakin popped his head up. "What?"

"From here to Corellia. Eight hours in a hyperspace ring."

Anakin winced. "I hate to even ask."

"No you don't, Sir." Rex sounded amused under his helmet. "If I leave now I can be back before the fighting's completely over."

"We're not even staging for another twelve hours. Plo's still got all of our AT-TEs on his Venator for maintenance. I'll be shocked if we fire a shot within twenty hours." Anakin slung an arm around his captain's shoulder and gave him a conspiratorial squeeze. "I owe you one."

Rex laughed. "Vaughn's in charge of Jaig Platoon until I'm back. Not Jesse, I don't care what he tells you. Vaughn."

Anakin laughed loudly and patted him on the back, relief washing over him like a rainstorm. "I'll send Skirata's coordinates to your commlink. Get going, Captain. There's a ticket to a Gungan shaak roast in it for you if you make it back before Plo realizes you're gone."

"Don't worry, Sir. I'll update you as soon as I'm on the ground." Rex gave him a parting salute and left the bridge at a pace brisk enough to set his kama swishing.

Anakin turned his attention back to the holotable, feeling like a bantha had been lifted off his shoulders, and started the simulation over.

The room around Boba exploded into action. Cassus buried his face in his hands and started sobbing, clearly horrified at what he'd just done; Gotika raised her glowing palms and aimed at Kenobi, and his mother swung a knife at Cody. The trooper ducked the blow and snared her hand before she could slash again. He yanked her arm forward and cracked her elbow over his knee, forcing her to drop the knife with the strike to her nerve, then put her in a headlock, drew his carbine, and held it to Gotika's faceplate with his free hand.

"Kid, stop crying and take the droid to your room," Cody said calmly, like he didn't have a squirming, snarling Mandalorian fighting to get loose under one arm.

"Mama…" Cassus whimpered.

She wrenched herself out of Cody's grip and pushed her hair out of her face, but didn't try to attack again. "Udesii, Cas'ika. Mama ven'cabuo cuun, ner ad'ika. Ni kar'tayli darasuum."

Cassus' lip quivered. "Al–"

"Ke'cuyoli gar haav'yamika. Ke'hiibi Gotika bal beskar'ade. Tion'jate?" She whistled and Pinky appeared a few seconds later.

Cassus nodded miserably then hung his head. "Jate, Mama." He hovered to the bedroom hallway, followed by Gotika, Pinky, and Buddy quivering in a little ball on his shoulder. He turned and gave Boba a last, desperate look. "Please don't hurt her," he begged, then disappeared. His bedroom door beeped with three descending notes as he locked it behind him.

"Don't fucking move, bitch," Boba spat, pressing the WESTAR against her temple again.

"Boba, stop this," she growled in response. "Jetiise ne'baati par gar, ner ad'ika. Ni–"

"Shut. The fuck. Up." Boba hissed the words through gritted teeth and pushed the blaster harder. "You're a fucking monster. You tried to fucking kill us!"

"Nayc gar!" she barked. "Beskar'ade be'Cassus ne ru'leneda gar, bic du'cari."

"Sure, the drones were just delaying us, not shooting to kill," Boba said mockingly. He wanted to pull the trigger. Behind them, Ahsoka thrashed around in Kenobi's arms, whimpering like a beaten massiff. "Sit the fuck down."

"You does making mistake, ner ad'ika," she said softly, but didn't fight Boba as he pushed her over to one of the few chairs with armrests.

Cody yanked off her cuirass and gauntlets and ejected a length of whipcord, then began to tie her to the chair with the same inescapable knots he'd used on Ordo. "Now, Sarge, you're going to–"

"I know you," his mother interrupted, watching him. "Jetii before speak your name Cody, 'lek? You are–"

"CC-2224, Sergeant," Cody said stoically, crossing his arms. "I remember you. You specialized in close-quarters combat and knifework."

"Cody." She smiled. "Sound like kote. I before speak you what it mean, 'lek?"

"Yes." Boba saw him bite back the automatic Sir that nearly followed it. "Glory. But like I said back then, I don't care about glory. I care about ner vode." Cody leaned down until he was at eye level with her. "And you just poisoned my vod. Tell me where the antidote is."

She blinked in surprise. "Jetii not your–" she began.

"Don't you dare try to tell me who is and isn't vode to me," Cody said silkily, and Boba felt a shiver go down his spine at his tone. "Commander Tano is a vod in all but genes. She has fought at my side and my brothers' side for years. She says the Rememberance, she leads from the front, she's put her life on the line for us more times than I can count. Now tell me where the antidote is–" Cody brandished the knife he had just taken from her, " –or I start cutting things off."

She scoffed. "Do you think you scare me, ad'ika?" she growled.

"I know he does," Boba snapped. "You're not used to seeing them grown. All you can see is Jango. He scares the hell out of you, I can practically smell the piss in your pants."

Her face screwed up in anger. "You forget, Boba," she snapped. "I Mama. I raise you, I nurse you on my breast, I hold you in my heart second I see your face."

"And then you fucked off!" Boba snarled, eyes stinging. "I don't care if you loved me once. You obviously don't anymore, so tell us where the antidote fucking is."

"How you speak it?" She looked horrified. "I never, never stop, Bo'ika, you believe me. I have no choice when I leave."

"I don't care." Boba's face was wet and he didn't know how long it had been that way. "You tell me where the fucking antidote is, now."

His mother looked at him with heartbreak plain on her face. "Mama kar'tayli darasuum, ner Bo'ika."

Boba saw red. "I fucking hate you," he said venemously, then shot her in her exposed knee.

She shrieked at the top of her lungs and bent over in pain, while the rest of the room jumped a foot in the air. "I need to focus!" Kenobi barked; one hand hovered over Ahsoka's rancid blue knife wound, the other over her heart. "Do not fire that infernal thing inside again!"

"Fine." Boba grabbed the knife Cody had taken from his mother, fisted the bitch's curly black hair into a handle, then tugged her head as far back as he could without breaking her neck. He held the knife an inch away from her eye. "I'm not going to fucking ask again, you evil cunt," he spat. "Because if you don't tell me, I'm going to dig out your eyes one at a time and make Cassus fucking eat them." He dug her nails into her scalp and bared his teeth. The tilted blade caught the firelight at just the right angle; he saw the subtle rainbow sheen on the kal's edge. "This one has manax root on it too, doesn't it?" Boba whispered. "But you won't give it up for yourself, we both know you're too stubborn for that. How about I go see what Cassus is up to–"

"Boba!" She gasped. Her beskar-colored eyes were already bugged out from the angle he held her head at, but now they bulged even further from terror, or maybe horror; he could have asked Ahsoka which one if she hadn't been poisoned for no fucking reason at all.

"You don't think I'll do it?" Boba seethed. He wanted so badly to put the knife in her eye, slip it behind the globe and sever her optic nerve, scoop up to pop it right out–

"He your brother," his mother said, trembling.

"That would mean that you're my mother. And you aren't. Not anymore." He spat in her face. "Gar cuy dar'buir, shabla dalgaan."

"Boba…" his– no, Kaisa, whispered.

"I choose my family, now. I chose Ahsoka, and she chose me too. She's my ori'vod." Boba's voice cracked and he tasted bile. "I swear, I will jam this fucking knife down Cassus' throat if that's what I have to do to save my sister, so tell me where the antidote is. Fair trade, right? His safety for hers?"

Kaisa's eyes rolled desperately to Cody.

"I'd do what he says, Sergeant," Cody deadpanned. "He's a civilian and a citizen of the Republic. I have no authority to tell him not to do anything."

Her big silver eyes rolled back over to Boba, full of tears. "Go out, walk creek. Follow until see tiareke. I before bury there, over by bush." She swallowed hard. "I plant for gar vod, Bo–" She froze when the poison blade kissed her eyelashes.

"General, we're going now." Cody put his helmet back on and picked up his carbine.

"I'll stay here," Kenobi said, still concentrating with his eyes closed. "I've slowed the poison down enough to where we should have a bit of time if she stays calm and you hurry, but I need to maintain the trance."

"Roger that. Come on, kid." Cody put a hand on his shoulder.

Boba let go of Kaisa's hair and tucked the blade into his pocket. "You better hope we fucking find it in time," he spat. He looked at Ahsoka one last time, moaning and twisting like she was on fire inside, then turned and followed Cody out into the storm before he put the dagger in Kaisa's heart.

They'd only made it five meters away from the door before it made the same three-note melody as Cassus' door had when he locked it. "Fuck," Boba said faintly. If the bunker was locked, they didn't have the ordinance to get back in. Even if they found the antidote in time they wouldn't be able to give it to Ahsoka, she'd be dead and they'd be fucking useless out here and–

"Boba!" Cody barked through his vocabulator. He went to one knee in front of him. "Focus, trooper. We have a mission to complete. Commander Tano is counting on us to get her that antidote, so that's what we're going to do. We don't have time to waste panicking. General Kenobi will figure out a way to let us back in."

Boba stared at Cody, caught between laughing, crying, and punching him; he wondered if that was the speech he usually used on shinies when they were on their first drop, trying not to soil themselves. "Sure thing, Commander," he choked.

"Good man. Now let's move!"

Boba cursed Cody's long fucking legs as he hustled behind him, trying not to trip over the slick pebbles. They ran through the pouring rain until the dry – or not so dry anymore – creekbed ended. Just ahead, there was a ring of wide-leafed flower bushes that looked nothing like anything else in the forest around Bockrin.

"Right there. See those flowers?" Boba pointed at the bushes dotted with small, pale, yellow-white flowers, curled up in protective buds from the storm.

"Those are tiarek flowers, eh?" Cody held out a hand and helped Boba down the steep hillside.

"Yeah." Lightning strobed overhead, thunder crashing moments later.

"Well, the name's accurate." Cody turned on his headlamp and shined it around the flower bushes.

"No." Boba used the flashlight on his commlink to search underneath the dark-green canopy, but saw nothing. "Where the hell…" he whispered to himself. "I don't get it. I don't see anything out of place, do you?"

"She must have put the sod back," Cody said. "I'll start on this side, you go the other way. Work in a circle, we'll find it."

"We don't have anything to dig with," Boba said, trying not to shake. They didn't have time for this banthashit, they needed the antidote now. Kenobi had said she had time but they had to hurry, and if they had to dig up every single bush–

"You've still got her knife," Cody reminded him. He'd already yanked out his own vibroblade and was carefully cutting at the grassy ground, trying to see if anything was looser than normal.

"Right." Boba started poking around in the grass under the bushes, trying not to panic again. He just had to keep looking, he'd find it. Ahsoka's Force or whatever would guide them. Hopefully.

He found nothing under the first bush, nothing under the second, and by the time he had crawled on his hands and knees under the third he was shaking so badly that he could barely loosen the dirt. He was going to be too late, wasn't he? Ahsoka had almost died for him going after the armor on Geonosis, but it was his own mother who would be the one to actually finish her. The armor was cursed. He should have let it rot with whatever was left of Dad in that bughole. His soul didn't deserve to be retrieved.

Boba continued to dig, hating himself more and more every moment that went by without finding it. He was useless, nothing more than the defective clone of a murderer. All this time, he'd thought that Dad had to have had a good reason to shoot Mama and Cas down. He couldn't have imagined what it was, but there had to be some reason.

"Mama wanted you and Tiarek to come too, but Dad wouldn't let you leave. He kept telling her that he couldn't go and she wasn't allowed to either because of the clause in her contract. Ten years, that was the deal."

He was enforcing her fucking contract. She wanted to leave because Cassus had powers, obviously, and she was right when she said the longnecks would have cut him open and taken his cells for their clones. But Dad wouldn't let her leave, and when she'd tried he shot their ship out of the sky. It was something that Boba had known his whole life had happened, but he'd trusted that his dad had a reason. Nobody just shot their wife and kid out of the sky for nothing, and his father had a code of honor. He had to have a good reason.

"Listen well, Boba, and remember our code. Be polite to clients, especially to enemies. Never complain; never say more than necessary. Face your fears. Die with valor. He who hires my hand, hires my whole self." Dad looked down at him. "And remember, never tell the truth in a trade."

The only reason Jango Fett needed was his fucking name on a signature line. Whoever hired him hired his whole self, after all.

Boba crawled to the fourth bush, gulping down silent sobs and trying not to puke. He was thankful for the rain, in a way; it made digging easier, but more importantly Cody couldn't see what a little crybaby bitch he was.

Every memory was poisoned by knowing. Dad playing quetarra and singing to Cassus, helping Tiarek blow out birthday candles, falling asleep on the sofa during holofilms, taking Boba on jobs, showing him how to fly the Slave I, teaching him how to shoot, telling him he loved him–

"He told me he loved me every day. Even when he was mad at me because I'd done something stupid or messed up, he still always told me he loved me."

Was everything some sort of act? Were Jango's sons ever anything but pets to him, pets that had to be put down once they were too disobedient? He'd shot down a ship with Cas on it. He'd almost beaten Tiarek to death and had him reconditioned afterwards. What would he have done to Boba if he'd lived?

Boba crawled to the fifth bush, feeling like a dog. He was no better than Jango in the end, who was he kidding? He'd threatened to poison Cassus, he'd threatened to feed him his own mother's eyeballs. What the fuck was wrong with him? Was he rotten down to his DNA? Jango's DNA?

He wanted to say it was because he just wanted to save his sister at any cost, but he'd be a fucking liar if he did. He wanted to hurt Kaisa. He still wanted to, he wanted her to feel a fraction of what he was feeling inside now that he knew that she had been alive this whole time and had left them both there, had accepted that they were someone else's property and gotten on her ship to leave anyway.

Kal had known she had survived, had somehow been in contact with her, but she'd hidden herself and Cassus away. She hadn't tried to get them back. She probably hadn't even asked about them, just pretended that they never existed. Maybe she'd added their names to the Remembrance after her parents' names and Gavin. It was probably easier to pretend that your kids were dead instead of acknowledging that you'd abandoned them.

"Why now?"

That's what Cassus had asked. He hadn't been surprised that Boba was alive, only that he'd shown up.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

Boba had meant that he had nowhere else to go, but maybe Cassus thought that Boba knew they were alive and it was only because their father was dead that he could finally find them safely.

Ahsoka would be disgusted with him if she knew what he'd threatened to do to Cassus, and she'd be right to be. Whatever had happened to his brother, it had led to Kaisa keeping him soft. It wasn't his fault. Maybe… maybe if they made it through this, that could change. He couldn't consider Kaisa his mother anymore, not after everything she had done, but Cassus didn't deserve to be disowned. She was the one who had separated them, Cas never had a say in it.

Boba moved onto the seventh bush, then the eighth, then by the time he got to the ninth he was crying too hard to see straight in the pouring rain. He already knew he wasn't going to find it. Ahsoka was dying, but there was no larty coming to save them this time. She had a fucking Jedi Master doing everything he could for her and it still wasn't enough.

Boba couldn't pull through for her. He was a fucking failure in every way that mattered. His hand tightened on the kal. So much for a fair fucking trade.

"Never tell the truth in a trade."

Fuck.

"Fair trade, right? His safety for hers."

The world spun around him as he realized what she'd done. "It's not here." Boba looked over at Cody, shoulder deep in a tiarek bush and covered in mud, and felt panic claw at his insides like he'd swallowed a wolf. "Cody, it's not fucking here! She just wanted us out of the bunker! She's going to kill them!"

Ahsoka's lekku were twitching, curled up on themselves unnaturally. The capillaries and veins closest to the surface of her skin had turned dark blue, eerily mirroring the image that was still forever burned into Obi-Wan's brain of her curled up on herself in a crumpled heap, tainted with Dark Side corruption.

At least the manax root hadn't affected her eyes. He didn't have to stare down at his little girl and see yellow glaring back. Her pupils were so blown that he could see the reflection of firelight in them and she twitched constantly, her jaw clenched in pain.

"Bobi…" Ahsoka said weakly, still tucked against his chest like a child.

"Easy, mo nighean," he said soothingly, scratching little circles at the root of her rear lek and rocking her.

"Cràdh mo chnàmhan," she mumbled. Her brain couldn't seem to decide on a language to speak, but she didn't understand anything but Basic whenever Obi-Wan replied. He feared her brain was beginning to swell.

"All of your bones hurt, or a specific place?" He kept scratching her lek. Her chest vibrated with a weak purr.

"All."

"Hurt only worse from now on," Kaisa said quietly. Cody had tied her wrists together tight enough for her hands to turn red, and she held her wounded knee at an unnatural angle. Blood had begun to pool under her boot. "Bring Boba back, and leave. She may live if you hurry."

Obi-Wan glared at her while Ahsoka shivered in his arms. "K'uur," he said icily.

"Bic cuyi ner yaim, chakaar."

"Ni ne'baati."

Ahsoka laughed into his robes. "Thas' rude," she mumbled. "There are other ways of… altering speech. Instead of shut up."

Obi-Wan craned his head to look down at her. "What?" he asked.

"Shut up. Ndi zoipa kunena. Plo sakonda." She nuzzled deeper into his robes. "You used to call me a tick," she said through a mouthful of linen.

"Call you…" Obi-Wan laughed softly as he remembered. "Oh. Oh, that's right, I did call you that, didn't I? I'd forgotten." He smiled and hugged her tighter. "My little tick."

If only she was still as small and easy to hold as she had been back then. A remarkably portable little creature, by four Ahsoka had mastered the skill of clinging to him while bearing enough of her own weight so that he would barely even notice he was holding her until she shifted dramatically, or if he needed to change his robes. He'd walked into more than one fresher with her sneakily hanging off his back.

"Am I dying?" Ahsoka asked softly. Questing fingers danced over the back of his head, seemingly searching for a long-gone Padawan braid to tug on.

Obi-Wan's heart raced hard enough to burst from his ribcage. He forced it to calm, then refocused the healing trance he had laid upon her. "No," he answered immediately. "You are not dying, Ahsoka. I've slowed down the absorption of the poison. You are going to be fine." He kissed her sweaty forehead; she was boiling hot to the touch from a dangerously high fever. "You'll be just fine, mo nighean," he continued over her purring. "We need to keep your heart rate nice and slow until Cody returns. There we go. Take a little rest. You're safe. I've got you."

Ahsoka's breathing slowed and deepened. The room went silent except for the crackling of the firepit. "Tion'solet gar kar'tayli kaysh?" Kaisa asked after a minute.

"What makes you think I know her?" Obi-Wan asked sarcastically. "I've obviously never met this girl in my life." Ahsoka stirred and whimpered in his arms, twitching pitifully. "I'm sorry, little one. Keep resting." Ahsoka's breaths turned slow and even again. She wasn't sleeping but not quite awake, instead lingering in the twilight between the two.

Kaisa watched him with a thoughtful expression. "Gar ori'canara, ni mirdi," she said quietly.

Obi-Wan heaved a long sigh. "Yes, a long time," he whispered.

Kaisa rolled her eyes. "Boba speak you know Mando'a."

"Yes, I'm fluent."

"So speak it," Kaisa said with a resentful look on her face.

"I'm not in the mood to make anything easy on you, actually, so no." Obi-Wan gave her a brittle smile. "It seems like you could use the practice anyway."

Kaisa snorted. "My Basic enough."

"Tion'vaii Boba?" Ahsoka mumbled.

"He's outside, dear. He and Cody'll be back soon. Don't worry."

Ahsoka sniffled loudly. "I'm sorry."

Obi-Wan craned his neck down. "Whatever for?" he asked, bewildered.

"Za kale." She nuzzled further into his robes. "Bha mi eas-urramach."

"Don't you worry about that." Obi-Wan continued to rock her and closed his eyes, regretting every complaint he'd made about her attitude. He had to focus on the moment and not dwell in the past. For now, he had done everything possible. He had reached out with the Living Force to dissolve as much of the poison in her bloodstream as he could and slowed her metabolism, but she had absorbed so much already. It was ravaging her system like a rancor in a glass factory. There was nothing he could do but watch her suffer, and the one person who knew exactly where the antidote was wasn't about to share its location more specifically than over by bush.

Force suggestions wouldn't work on her, he could already see that, and trying too hard would only break her mind. There was nothing else to do except maybe beat it out of her. It was a more tempting proposition than he was comfortable admitting, sitting there with Ahsoka twitching in his arms as she faded slowly like a spider who'd been sprayed with insecticide. The urge to put his hands around the Mandalorian's throat and squeeze the answer out of her grew stronger with each passing moment.

"You hold her in your heart," Kaisa said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Obi-Wan glared at Kaisa. You love her is what she meant; holding someone in your heart was how it was stated in Mando'a. "Of course I do," he said quietly. "I've known her since she was three. I've watched her grow from a sweet, curious child into a strong, talented young woman with a heart filled with endless compassion. When her training is complete, she will be a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be."

A crash echoed from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, followed by a loud sob. Kaisa flinched in her chair and looked at her feet.

"Cassus?" Ahsoka mumbled.

"Presumably," Obi-Wan answered. "He's been crying in his room since you fell ill. I got the impression that he was terrified to use the Force in front of two Jedi."

"Not your Force," Kaisa snarled. "Cassus manda'laarii. Not jetii."

Obi-Wan paused. "Manda singer?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kaisa sighed loudly. "You know why beskar is urman'la par Mando'ade, 'lek?" she asked. "Or story not before speak to jeti'kase?"

"I don't really care," Obi-Wan said stonily.

"Copaani sulusu," Ahsoka murmured against his shoulder.

Kaisa smirked. "Long, long before memory, enemy of Manda'yaim does attacking. Manda sees suffer, pain, death of ade. Manda'laariise call out, beg for it help. Many day, many night, they sing until they voice break. Manda cry for it ade, reach into… into it haalas, squeeze heart for blood. Blood harden and change, later become beskar in ground. Manda tells manda'laariise, dig for blood, for beskar, and song will guide hammer when does forging. But only manda'laariise does forging, other ade not hear song."

"Armorers?" Obi-Wan asked. "Mandalorian armorers are Force sensitive?"

Kaisa bared her teeth. "No. You not does listening. Manda not your Force."

Obi-Wan had spent almost a year at Satine's side. While she had never spoken of this specific story, they'd had many philosophical discussions about the nature of his Force and her Manda, and they'd eventually agreed – for once – that they were almost certainly the same thing. "I've heard differently," he said blithely.

Kaisa snorted. "Who speak it?"

"An old friend."

"Satine?" Ahsoka murmured.

Obi-Wan smiled against her montral. "Indeed."

"Satine Kryze?" Kaisa's eyes suddenly blazed with disgust. She spat on the ground. "Hut'uunla chakaar. Dikut'la ad, kaysh ru'trika–"

"Yes, yes, we get it, you are not a fan of House Kryze," Obi-Wan said irritably.

Ahsoka patted his chest. "Is that why your people believe their souls live in their beskar?" she asked Kaisa.

"Our soul live in beskar because beskar is our soul, our Manda. Manda shed blood for it ade. Manda'laariise let song guide hammer, forge first beskar'gam and defeat enemy. Wear time always, our family live in beskar always." She suddenly chuckled, low and slow. "I before know one Jedi. Kiffar, brown big eyese, stripe, ah… shi'yayc, what it…"

"Yellow."

" 'Lek, yellow. He have yellow stripe on eyese."

"Wait." There was no mistaking that description. "Quinlan Vos? You know Quinlan Vos?" he asked sharply.

" 'Lek. He very good man. More good for jetiise, you not deserve him."

Obi-Wan's eyes bugged out and he made a mental note to comm his old friend the second they were back at the Temple. "How do you–"

"It is my business, jetii." Kaisa chuckled again. "He before speak about it, call it, ah, attachment. Ke'gar ne'kartayli, or it will make you evil." She snorted. "Shabla dinii'la jetiise. How it will make you evil?"

"It's a vast oversimplification, to start," Obi-Wan said flatly. "I could just as soon say that winning a duel for the Darksaber automatically endows you with the wisdom and knowledge to be a competent ruler."

Kaisa threw her head back and laughed. "Strong Mand'alor make strong kingdom. But our heart, I already speak, it beskar. We wear it on our beskar'gam, not hide it. Jetiise hide it. Mando'ade not afraid to wear our heart."

"Jedi are not afraid to love," Obi-Wan shot back. "Love and compassion are intrinsic to our very being. Following the will of the Force is impossible without love. What we forego is attachment to that love, to individuals and possessions alike. We understand that all things are temporary, and that we must be prepared to let them go at any moment for the greater good."

Kaisa scoffed. "Never let go of your child, real buir know. You have weak jetii heart. Kyber will shatter. Beskar, never. If she your child, you would not allow me live when she does dying."

Obi-Wan's heartbeat quickened. "So you believe that because I am not torturing you, I don't care about her?" he asked frostily. Ahsoka shivered.

"Revenge for your ad'ika, 'lek? Look at her. Her blood on fire. She not can breathe, her brain swell. She will die crying for you, and you do nothing."

There was a tug on Obi-Wan's robes. He startled and looked down into a pair of the biggest, bluest eyes he'd ever seen. There was a tiny orange Togruta youngling at his feet, barely coming up to his knees, with stubby blue-and-white lekku framing her face. She whimpered, eyes brimming with unshed tears, and held up two fat little arms in the universal request for up.

"Tha i a’ feuchainn ri do dhèanamh feargach, Bobi," Ahsoka murmured. A soothing warmth settled over him; even now, poisoned and fading, she was still comforting him with her Empathy.

Obi-Wan tucked his face into the crook between Ahsoka's lekku for a few moments and breathed in her warm, spicy, pollen scent while he centered himself. "You should be thankful that revenge is not the Jedi way," he said softly, pressing a kiss there. He had to trust that the Force would guide Cody and Boba and they were close to finding the buried antidote. The alternative was unacceptable.

Kaisa clicked her tongue. "Is mine. She make my son hate me, shoot me. She use her magic and change his brain. Take your revenge or no, but I have mine."

"You poisoned her long before Boba ever raised his blaster," he snapped.

"I could be… serim'shya. But not now. Not after she make him hate me."

"I didn't make him do anything," Ahsoka said quietly, but he could feel her agitation leaking through their Force bond. Being accused of manipulating emotions was the last thing Ahsoka needed with poison flooding her bloodstream; Obi-Wan rubbed a soothing circle on her back and sent the feeling of calm through their Force bond.

"Never my son does shooting at his Mama. Nu draar. Neret'yc. She hurt his mind."

"You hurt his mind when you abandoned him," Ahsoka growled, surprising Obi-Wan. "Both of them. You made them believe that you loved them, and then you left them behind and ran."

Kaisa's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She opened her mouth to reply but Ahsoka beat her to it.

"You made sure you took the son you bore, though, didn't you?" Ahsoka laughed an ugly little laugh. "So much for a heart of beskar. Gar ne buir, gar hut'uunla dalgaan."

"Ke'shab!" Kaisa snarled. "You not know. I leave because I have no choice, not if I keep Cassus safe. Kaminiise–"

"And Boba's safety? Tiarek's safety?" Ahsoka raised her voice. "Do you know what Jango did to them because you left?"

Kaisa's face crumpled and she looked away. "No," she whispered. "No, you lie. Jango know our ade. He never hurt them. Neret'yc."

"He shot down a ship with his son inside of it," Ahsoka hissed, struggling to get out of Obi-Wan's shocked arms. Her eyes were unnaturally bright. "Do you really think he wouldn't hurt Boba and Tiarek, too?"

"No," Kaisa whispered miserably. "No, he not does thinking. He hold B–"

"He hurt them." Ahsoka tried to push herself up, but Obi-Wan kept his arms firmly circled around her. "And it's your fault. You left them unprotected with a fucking psychopath!"

"Calm down, Ahsoka, please," Obi-Wan said desperately, struggling to keep his hold on her.

Kaisa's face twisted into an ugly mask of guilt and grief before she started to cry. "I have no choice!"

"You could have taken them too!" Ahsoka snarled. "First Jango nearly beat Tiarek to death–"

"No," Kaisa sobbed.

"Yes. He smashed him upside the head with a metal lockbox full of your things." Ahsoka growled like a raxshir and Obi-Wan's hair stood up. "He split his head open, and then when he was done beating him with it, he put him back into rotation and had him reconditioned!"

Kaisa turned her face away, heaving ugly, gulping sobs.

"Stop!" Obi-Wan begged her, trying not to panic at the way her veins were rapidly darkening.

"I can't stand hypocrites," Ahsoka snarled. "She wants to sit there and say she has a beskar heart, that a real parent would never give up on their child? She gave up on two of them!" Her voice escalated into a shriek that pierced his eardrums.

"You not understand," Kaisa wept. "If kaminiise know Cassus does singing, they want… want yo'baare, val ru'hokaani bal hibii par eyayade–"

"Enough!" Obi-Wan barked. "Both of you, stop!"

"B…" Ahsoka's eyes rolled back into her head and she went stiff in his arms, violently convulsing.

"No, no–" Obi-Wan sank to the ground with her stiff in his arms and carefully lowered her onto her side. "You're alright, you're alright, little one, you're alright," he said frantically, She twisted and shook on her side, her jaw clenched so tight that he feared she'd crack her teeth. He slipped his outer robe under her head as a pillow and sank back, holding his breath and helplessly waiting for it to be over.

"I not want this," Kaisa began, still crying. "You go, this not–"

"Shut up!" Obi-Wan snarled.

Her lip trembled. "I protect–"

"Shut up!" he roared, on his feet before he knew it. "I don't care who you're protecting, she's dying! She's dying for nothing!"

"I not let you take him," Kaisa said, trembling. "I will protect my ade, any price I pay. Horrible price, but I will pay."

"Who– who do you think we came here to take?" Obi-Wan asked in disbelief. "Cassus? He's nearly thirteen! The oldest human child that has ever been admitted to the Order is nine, and the Council's arm had to be twisted to allow it!"

Kaisa shook her head. "I not believe you. You take my boy, I know jetii lie."

"We're not here to take your child, we brought Boba here to be reunited with you!"

Kaisa stared at him. "Tion'meg?" she whispered.

"If she dies…" Obi-Wan turned, choking on his rage, his hands clasped on the top of his head so he didn't wrap them around her neck.

"Booo…" Ahsoka slurred, then whined like a kicked shunka.

"I'm here." Obi-Wan dropped to the ground and immediately pulled her into his lap. He pressed his face against her boiling hot lek and squeezed her tight against his chest. "I'm here, I'm here. You're alright, mo nighean, you're alright. Cody's on his way back now. He's almost back, little one, just hold on a little longer."

She shuddered and clung to him, in visible pain.

His mind raced for anything, anything to soothe her. There was nothing he could think of, but a memory returned to him. "Qui…" Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Quietly while you were asleep, the moon and I were talking…"

Ahsoka, even in her agony, stirred at the lullaby he had made up for her as a youngling. He felt her pulse race weakly in the lek pressed against his face.

"I asked that she'd always keep you protected." His voice cracked. He didn't care; not if he was in tune, or if Kaisa was watching, only that he could give Ahsoka even a tiny bit of comfort. He rested his head between her montrals. "She promised you her light, which you so gracefully carry… You bring your light, and shine like morning."

Ahsoka's breathing slowed and evened; she was asleep, or more likely unconscious. "And as you so gracefully give, her light as long as you live…" He carefully lifted her up to the padded bench and laid her on her side, just in case she began to seize again. "I'll always remember this moment."

Obi-Wan stroked her forehead for a few seconds and watched the rise and fall of her chest with paranoid eyes, afraid it would stop if he looked away. "If she dies, you will rot in a Republic prison for the rest of your life," he finally said, trembling from rage, or fear, or grief; he didn't know anymore. He could see small puffs of his breath in the air as he spoke. "Do you truly think that we'll walk away with our tails between our legs, content to leave you alone after you've murdered her?"

"Bunker has lock," Kaisa said quietly. "Only I know code. Not Cassus, not Gotika. Without code, door not unlock until after one Corella rotate. Not you does leaving unless I allow."

Obi-Wan slowly turned to look at her.

"Cassus room, different air," she continued, and gave him a watery smile. "Gotika have… command. Ret'lini. I protect my ade, any price. Even me."

Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut and turned back to his little girl. He couldn't watch her die senselessly like this right in front of him while he did nothing to stop it.

"Please, p-please Bobi, open your eyes, open your… no, no, no, please no, Bobi please–"

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and reached for his saber with a shaking hand.

"Mama!" Cassus sat at the mouth of the hall leading to his quarters, his face red and puffy from crying. Gotika lumbered ominously behind him, but the boy had a hypospray in his lap. "Tion'vaii cuun ijaat? Bic cuy ori'dushla, Mama, gar kar'tayli bic ori'dushla."

Kaisa squeezed her eyes shut and silently shook her head.

"Cassus, please," Obi-Wan begged, ripping the hand away from his saber and holding it out to the boy instead. "Please don't let her die."

The boy tossed the device to him over Kaisa's head. She dissolved into loud sobs that flew in one ear and out the other as Obi-Wan dove for Ahsoka and jammed the hypospray directly into her neck. He watched her without blinking for ten solid seconds, nearly collapsing in relief when the sickly blue in her veins finally began to recede from the injection site. "Oh, mo nighean," he murmured, tugging Ahsoka into his arms. He kissed her forehead and whispered it into her skin over and over, rocking her like she was three again.

"General, come in. You need to get out of that bunker right away, do you copy? General!"

Obi-Wan's commlink blinked at him. He slapped the channel on. "Cody," he managed.

"General, I've torn up this entire grove and there's nothing. She just wanted to separate us. You need to get out of there, now!"

Obi-Wan stared at Kaisa, feeling sick. "It was never out there, was it?" he asked softly.

"Kenobi, get the fuck out of there before that crazy bitch kills you both!"

Kaisa's lip trembled. "You before should go. Not Boba."

"And you would have shot us in the back as we left and left no witnesses as to where you were hiding." Obi-Wan closed his eyes. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no emotion there is–

"General? General, we're coming back now, just hold on. I've got a thermal detonator, I can–"

"Come back, Commander," Obi-Wan said quietly. "I've just administered the antidote. Ahsoka's going to make it. I'll explain everything when you get here." He distinctly heard a child's relieved sob before he disconnected the channel and went back down to his knees. He gently stroked Ahsoka's forehead and took his first deep breath since the ambush. "And then the wind pulls the clouds across the moon, your light fills the darkest room, and I can see the miracle that keeps us from falling…"

Notes:

MANDO'A TRANSLATIONS Udesii, Cas'ika. Mama ven'cabuo cuun, ner ad'ika. Ni kar'tayli darasuum: Easy, little Cassus. Mama will protect us. I hold you in my heart, always Ke'cuyoli gar haav'yamika. Ke'hiibi Gotika bal beskar'ade. Tion'jate?: Stay in your bedroom. Take Gotika and the droids. Okay? Beskar'ade be'Cassus ne ru'leneda gar, bic du'cari: Cassus' droids didn't lock onto you, they delayed. Tabiriise'tatugirii: lit. Marchers' litany, the repetition of names of the dead (it took me 250k to realize that it didn't have it's own proper name? Wtf Karen) Gar cuy dar'buir, shabla dalgaan: You are no longer my mother, fucking bitch. Tion'solet gar kar'tayli kaysh?: How long have you known her? Gar ori'canara, ni mirdi.: You've known her a long time, I think. Urman'la par Mando'ade: holy to Mandalorians Copaani sulusu: I want to hear Ke'gar ne'kartayli: You must not hold in your heart/you must not love Jeti'kase: Little Jedi/Padawans Hut'uunla chakaar. Dis'ne. Dikut'la ad, kaysh ru'trika: Cowardly asshole. Person who spits on their heritage. Stupid child, she will regret Serim'shya: More accurate Gar ne buir, gar hut'uunla dalgaan: You're no mother, you're a cowardly bitch Yo'baare, val ru'hokaani bal hibii par eyayade: Cells, they would cut and take for clones Ret'lini: Just in case/plan b Tion'vaii cuun ijaat? Bic'cuy ori'dushla, Mama, gar kar'tayli: Where is our honor? This is evil, Mama, you know it's evil TOYDARIAN TRANSLATIONS Ndi zoipa kunena. Plo sakonda: It's bad to say. Plo doesn't like it Za kale: For before Gwiritsani ntchito ubongo kuphulika zinthu: We use our brains to blow things up MAOR-GRASTA TRANSLATIONS Mo nighean: My girl Cràdh mo chnàmhan: My bones ache Bha mi eas-urramach: I was disrespectful OTHER NOTES Me: how do I write a conversation between two characters fluent in Mando'a in a way that readers can understand? Oh make Obi-Wan a bitch?? Okay. anyway that song has had a gorilla grip on my heart for months and I finally got to use it ayyyy Also yes I'm a Cody≠kote truther sorry lmfao

Taglist: @starwarsficnetwork, @soliloquy-of-nemo Dividers: @saradika-graphics

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multiverseforger · 3 years

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Taskmaster is a mysterious figure believed to have been born in Bronx, New York City. He has the ability to mimic the physical movements of anyone he witnesses; writers differ on whether this counts as a "super power". He claims that he has had this ability since childhood. He works as a combat instructor and trains others to become lackeys for other villains by utilizing the techniques he has learned from his observation of superheroes and participates in mercenary jobs from time to time. Initially portrayed as a villain, he has also been shown training U.S. Agent and other neophyte superheroes at the behest of the US government. As a mercenary, he has no ideology except that of his employer. Due to his ability to imitate the techniques and armory of other heroes and villains, Taskmaster has occasionally been used to impersonate other characters.

Tony Masters first demonstrated unusual abilities during childhood. After watching a cowboy show on television, he found himself able to duplicate the sophisticated rope tricks he had just watched the cowboy perform. Psychiatrists, called in at the mother's request, determined that the boy had a form of photographic memory which they called "photographic reflexes". He employed his power several times during his youth for personal gain, most notably when he became a star quarterback of his high school football team after watching one pro football game. Upon graduation, he briefly considered a career as a crime fighter, but opted instead to be a professional criminal, which he perceived to be far more lucrative.[6]

He then began a program of observing the fighting techniques of numerous costumed heroes and villains (using archival television news broadcasts). He initially used his fighting skills to execute several successful grand larcenies, but he had not properly anticipated the dangers involved. He decided to use his stolen capital to establish a center for training aspiring criminals to turn into polished professionals. His goal was to become a supplier for criminal organizations around the world.

Designing a costume with a white cowl and skull mask, he took the name "Taskmaster" and began to train many thugs at criminal academies he had located around the United States. However, his existence was eventually revealed when Pernell Solomon of the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane (a front for one of these academies) used the school's resources to create a clone of himself when the administrator required an organ donation due to possessing an extremely rare blood type; the clone (learning of this fate) managed to contact the Avengers. Taskmaster captured Yellowjacket, the Wasp and Ant-Man when the Avengers invaded the premises;[7] but the Avengers followed, exposing his front operation. Taskmaster held his own against Captain America and Iron Man, however, was subsequently forced to flee after a confrontation with Jocasta since his lack of experience with Jocasta's abilities made it impossible to predict the robot's next move.[6] Taskmaster later established a new training academy in Manhattan, where he battled Spider-Man and Ant-Man, and then escaped.[8] He later used a traveling carnival as a mobile base, where he battled Hawkeye and Ant-Man, and then escaped again.[9] He next trained henchmen for the Black Abbott. Alongside Black Abbott, he battled Spider-Man and Nomad, and escaped yet again.[10]

Deciding to further explore the use of a circus as a front for his academy, Taskmaster took over yet another small outfit, and used it for many months to great success. However, while it was playing a small town in Ohio, the Thing and Vance Astrovik (who would later take the name Justice) assisted a government agent in foiling Taskmaster's activities. While escaping, Taskmaster was captured by a group of U.S. Secret Service agents and taken into custody.[11] There is reason to believe that Red Skull was behind the Taskmaster's capture, since a group of normal men were able to capture him.[citation needed] Through Douglas Rockwell (the head of the President's Commission on Superhuman Activities), Mr. Smith arranged for Taskmaster to train John Walker in order to make him appear to be the real Captain America.[12] In order to conceal Red Skull's involvement, Rockwell had the Commission work out a deal to have years taken off Taskmaster's sentence in return for training Walker. After Taskmaster successfully trained Walker, Red Skull arranged for him to escape from the Commission's detention center so he could continue training lackeys and Red Skull himself.[volume & issue needed]

Having escaped the authorities, he set up a base in a derelict graveyard in Brooklyn, where he battled Spider-Man and then escaped.[13] Taskmaster then competed in a contest against Tombstone, where he battled Daredevil and the Punisher.[14]

Taskmaster's more skilled, successful, and notable students include such characters as Crossbones and Cutthroat (both Red Skull's henchmen), U.S. Agent, Hauptmann Deutschland, Diamondback (Captain America's one-time girlfriend), Spymaster, Spider-Woman, and Agent X. On the other hand, Taskmaster also trains many of his students to serve as low-rent henchmen and cannon fodder. In his early appearances, Taskmaster mentions putting intellect-reducing drugs in the diet of his students. He also routinely sent groups of his more disappointing students to serve as "sparring partners" for Red Skull, routinely engaging several of them at a time and killing them all (Hauptmann Deutschland infiltrated the academy and used one such session as an opportunity to kidnap Red Skull). He has also employed other supervillains, such as when he hired Anaconda as his academy's calisthenics instructor.[volume & issue needed]

On another occasion, Taskmaster was hired by the Triune Understanding—a religious group secretly masterminding a smear campaign to paint the Avengers as being religiously and racially intolerant—to stage an attack on a Triune facility. Posing as Captain America, he contacted Warbird, Ant-Man, Silverclaw and Captain Marvel, claiming that he needed their help to destroy a Triune building containing a mind-control machine. Although they saw through his deception and subsequently defeated him—thanks to Captain Marvel transforming into Rick Jones mere milliseconds away from Taskmaster, thus causing a complete change of attack before Taskmaster could react—the building was destroyed in the ensuing battle and Taskmaster escaped, leaving the heroes lacking any evidence of their story.[15]

Taskmaster continued to train numerous villains and thugs until the Avengers began to search out and shut down some of his academies across the United States. Taskmaster began to spend more time working as a mercenary in order to make up for the loss of profit. This led him to join Agency X at the behest of his love interest Sandi Brandenberg, in missions from time to time, while continuing to teach at his academies around the world. More recently, Taskmaster is once again seen as a hired mercenary, contracted by the Committee to kill Moon Knight (Marc Spector). Taskmaster was misled with information that Moon Knight was broken, friendless and desiring death. During the conflict these factors all proved to be false as Marc's ex-girlfriend and butler came to Spector's defense and found the will to fight back. Despite his superior fighting abilities, Taskmaster was defeated. Moon Knight then carved off part of Taskmaster's facemask, though left him alive.[16]

Taskmaster also worked at training henchmen to copy fighting styles of specific heroes. Taskmaster unleashed Deathshield (trained to fight like Captain America), Jagged Bow (trained to fight like Hawkeye), and Blood Spider (trained to fight like Spider-Man) to face off against Spider-Man and Solo. The three were defeated, while Taskmaster escaped yet again.[17]

When the "Civil War" broke out, Taskmaster was hired by the government and enrolled into a team of Thunderbolts and given temporary amnesty to take down the Secret Avengers.[18] He later battles the Secret Avengers in New York. He attempts to kill Susan "Sue" Storm, only for Reed Richards to take the bullet. Enraged, Sue crushes him with an invisible telekinetic field, rendering him unconscious.[19] He was sent to the Negative Zone Prison with the other "Major-League" members of the Thunderbolts army such as Lady Deathstrike,[volume & issue needed] but was apparently freed by Deadpool.[20] In order to regain his own reputation as a mercenary, Deadpool frees Taskmaster from his imprisonment to have a showdown with him while potential merc contractors watched from their captive position in a nearby prison. Taskmaster is again referred to as Tasky by Deadpool, and a fight ensues between him and the manacled Deadpool. He mentions his professional ethics, but this simply comes down to deciding to simply maim his opponent rather than kill him. In the end, he is defeated by Deadpool who, in spite of the victory, fails to impress his captive audience. After being thanked for letting him win, Taskmaster tells Deadpool that he had not let him win, "The truth is... You're that good. You've always been that good. Which won't get you a cup of coffee until you figure out how to be a professional..."[21] Taskmaster was given a full presidential pardon for his efforts in testing the security of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, in which he was able to break in and place Deputy Director Maria Hill in his sights. Though he was allowed to leave, a threatening message left in Hill's private bathroom revealed that if he ever desired, infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. would be no difficult feat.[volume & issue needed]

Taskmaster replaces Gauntlet as Camp Hammond's drill instructor and is tasked with training registered superheroes for the Fifty State Initiative. Taskmaster would also be involved in MVP's cloning process inputting (via technology) the original's move set for the Scarlet Spiders as well as the move set of Spider-Man.[22]

Taskmaster is hired by Deadpool to help his old enemy and occasional friend defeat the Thunderbolts. Being disguised as Deadpool, he gets captured and is about to be beheaded when the real Deadpool saves him. Deadpool finally pays him, but he expresses annoyance at being paid from an ATM due to his major villain status.[23]

During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Taskmaster is chosen to lead the Shadow Initiative after the Skrull invasion, with their first mission to take down Hardball's HYDRA cell in Madripoor.[24] Along with Constrictor, Bengal, Typhoid Mary and Komodo, Taskmaster stealthily leads the group into the country, but they are soon discovered by HYDRA.[25] Norman Osborn appoints Taskmaster to train criminals for the new Initiative, to behave like heroes. His first task is to retrain Penance.[26] Also, when Blastaar takes control of the Negative Zone prison 42, Taskmaster is ordered to lead a squad to take the prison back.[27] Later, he gives Night Thrasher a severe bullet wound to the head, allowing Osborn to take Night Thrasher prisoner.[28] When Emma Frost and Namor resign from the Cabal, Taskmaster is offered membership.[29] Taskmaster was present at a meeting when Osborn discusses about Asgard.[30][31] He is severely wounded at the meeting as a result of an attack by Doctor Doom. While recovering in a hospital, Taskmaster declined to join the Cabal. Osborn cut the oxygen tank next to Taskmaster's bed, reminding him that it was Osborn who plucked him from obscurity. Taskmaster then agrees to join in the siege of Asgard.[29] During the battle, he fights with both versions of Captain America (Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes).[32] As Asgard falls, Taskmaster finds Constrictor and the two beat a hasty retreat, but not before Taskmaster taunts Osborn about how Taskmaster helped Deadpool. After Osborn's defeat by Captain America and Iron Man, Taskmaster and Constrictor went back to mercenary work.[33]

A false rumor is spread that Taskmaster is leaking information about the criminal underworld to Rogers's new 'heroic' regime. A bounty of $1,000,000,000 is placed on the Taskmaster's head by the mysterious Org. The hordes of AIM, HYDRA, the Secret Empire, ULTIMATUM, the Cyber Ninjas, the Black Choppers, the Trenchcoat Mafia, the Legions of the Living Lightning, the Militiamen, the Sons of the Serpent, and the Inquisition take up the chase to claim the money. Taskmaster, ambushed in a small diner, manages to best his opponents. But the diner's waitress, Mercedes Merced, gets entangled in the saga and is included in the bounty. Taskmaster reveals to Mercedes that his powers cause him to lose his explicit memory, meaning that he cannot remember anything about his personal life, and the only way for the whole ordeal to be over is to re-discover Taskmaster's origins.[34] Taskmaster and Mercedes' quest takes them to Mexico to battle the Don of the Dead,[35] and then to Bolivia to the village where everyone is Hitler. Inside an exact replica of Himmler's Wewelsburg Castle, Taskmaster regains his memories. He remembers being S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Tony Masters that had been sent to Bolivia to terminate Horst Gorscht, the Nazi scientist responsible for a corrupted version of the super-soldier serum. Gorscht had developed a new serum that could unlock the mind's potential to absorb knowledge instantaneously. With Gorscht's serum and test notes destroyed, Masters injected the last of the serum into himself. Having regained these memories, Taskmaster recognizes Mercedes' voice as being the same as 'The Hub', a mysterious voice who works for the Org. Taskmaster shoots Mercedes in the shoulder and threatens to kill her if she doesn't start talking. Mercedes reveals that the Org is a S.H.I.E.L.D. front, and that she is not only an agent, but also Taskmaster's wife. Miles above the Wewelsburg castle in an airship, the Minions' International Liberation Front (a secret group composed of henchmen from all of the major terrorist organizations), led by Redshirt the Uber-Henchman, reveal their deception and plot to rule the criminal underground by using Taskmaster to lead them straight to the Org.[1] Redshirt leads the Minions' International Liberation Front (or the acronym MILF for short) into battle against the Taskmaster and Mercedes. Mercedes convinces the Taskmaster to trust her and work together to fend off the forces of MILF. During the battle, Taskmaster regains his memories of Mercedes and how he fell in love with her. Before they can reconcile, Taskmaster is attacked from behind by Redshirt who has genetically altered his body and mastered superior fighting skills to those of Taskmaster. Redshirt gains the upper hand as the pair push each other to the limits. Mercedes tries to intervene to protect her husband, but is quickly and effortlessly cast to one side. Enraged, Taskmaster attacks Redshirt and delivers a killing blow using Redshirt's own fighting style (which causes Taskmaster to lose his memories once more). Taskmaster, not recognizing Mercedes or his reasons for being there, flees and leaves Mercedes alone once more.[volume & issue needed]

Avengers Academy student Finesse later seeks out Taskmaster, thinking that he may be her long-lost father. When she finds Taskmaster, Finesse ends up sparring with him. After much sparring, Taskmaster finally relents to tell Finesse that he very well might be her father, but that the powers to learn so much about others’ movements and techniques have caused him to forget important things in life. Knowing he likely will not remember the conversation in a couple days, Taskmaster tells Finesse that he wanted to fight her so he might remember her.[36]

During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Taskmaster comes to the aid of Alpha Flight when it comes to forming a resistance against the Unity Party that was formed by Master of the World.[37]

In order for the Masters of Evil to obtain the Crown of Wolves for the Shadow Council, Max Fury hired Taskmaster to retrieve it only for Taskmaster to demand more money for the job and he hid in the Hole. The Secret Avengers went to the Hole in order to get the Crown of Wolves before Fury got his hands on it. This led to a fight between Taskmaster and Agent Venom.[38] However, Taskmaster escaped and returned the crown to Fury, only for Max to apparently kill Taskmaster when he asks for payment. When the crown's effects don't function for Max, Taskmaster takes the crown for himself, which saves his life by making him the Avatar for the Abyss.[39] As the Abyss spreads, the Secret Avengers members Venom and Ant-Man are able to remove the crown and stop the spread, while Taskmaster and the Masters of Evil are left behind when the Avengers leave with Max in their custody.[40]

The criminals of Bagalia imprison Taskmaster and are preparing to offer him up to the highest bidder. S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Secret Avengers come to rescue him and offer him a position. As their inside man, Taskmaster is part of the new High Council of A.I.M. as the Minister of Defense.[41] Mockingbird later goes to A.I.M. Island to assist Taskmaster in helping make contact between the Iron Patriot A.I. drones and James Rhodes.[42] After the mission goes south and Mockingbird is left stranded on AIM Island,[volume & issue needed] Taskmaster works undercover to free her.[volume & issue needed] But when he gets the chance to get her off the island, she doesn't respond to anything he says until both are captured. While being interrogated, Taskmaster is shot and seemingly killed by Mockingbird apparently under the control of Scientist Supreme (Andrew Forson).[43] However, Mentallo discovered that Mockingbird purposely missed any vitals and Taskmaster survived.[44]

At the time when Captain America was brainwashed into being a Hydra sleeper agent by Red Skull's clone using the powers of Kobik, Taskmaster later relocated to Bagalia where he became its sheriff.[45]

When Taskmaster and Black Ant (Eric O'Grady's Life Model Decoy counterpart) found out what was done to Captain America to be made into a Hydra sleeper agent, they planned to have a parley with Maria Hill to discuss this with only for the new Madame Hydra (Elisa Sinclair) to get to them first.[46] Impressed with the fighting skills of the two of them, Madame Hydra made them bodyguards.[47]

During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Taskmaster appears as a member of Hydra's Avengers.[48] During the battle in Washington DC, Taskmaster and Black Ant witness their teammate Odinson having enough of working for Hydra and striking them down. The two of them defect from Hydra and free the captive Champions. When Taskmaster and Black Ant asks for them to put in a good word for them, Spider-Man webs them up anyway.[49]

Taskmaster and Black Ant later attack Empire State University where Dr. Curt Connors was teaching a class. As the inhibitor chip prevents Connors into turning into Lizard, Peter Parker sneaks off to become Spider-Man. During his fight with Black Ant and Taskmaster, Spider-Man is exposed to the Isotope Genome Accelerator that splits him from his Peter Parker side.[50]

In a prelude to "Hunted", Taskmaster and Black Ant work with Kraven the Hunter and Arcade in capturing some animal-themed characters for his upcoming hunt.[51] Black Ant and Taskmaster are talking about the Hunt. Taskmaster betrays Black Ant saying that Black Ant is an animal-themed villain and tasers Black Ant to get more money.[52] Lizard finds Taskmaster at the Pop-Up with No Name. Lizard proceeds to poisons him by slipping a poison into her beer. Lizard offers Taskmaster the antidote if he can take Lizard to Central Park. While traveling there, Lizard and Taskmaster defeat Vermin, freeing innocent bystanders. Taskmaster helps put a taser chip in Lizard's body, and takes him to Arcade.[53] Taskmaster frees Lizard from his binds and Lizard tells Taskmaster that the poison will wear off in 24 hours.[54] Taskmaster makes off with Black Ant before Yellowjacket, Human Fly, Razorback, Toad, and White Rabbit can take revenge on him. As they leave, Taskmaster states that Black Ant would've done the same for him. When Black Ant asks "Do you mean the betrayal part or the rescue part?" All Taskmaster can say is "yeah!"[55]

During the "King in Black" storyline, Taskmaster is among the villains recruited by Mayor Wilson Fisk to be part of his Thunderbolts at the time of Knull's invasion. While having argued with Mister Fear over who was the first villain to wear a skull mask, Taskmaster becomes the de facto field leader of the group. Following the deaths of Ampere and Snakehead, Taskmaster couldn't stop Rhino from walking off and tells the remaining members not to help the Manhattan Defenders. He and the Thunderbolts arrive at Ravencroft to meet with Norman Osborn who Mayor Fisk claims can help them defeat Knull.[56]

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