Chapter Text
They had barely escaped with their lives. They had barely escaped with their lives. They had barely escaped with their lives.
It was a phrase running non-stop through Mando’s head as he attempted to fix the flux capacitor.
They had barely escaped with their lives.
One more bounty hunter had found them. One more bounty hunter had gotten too close. One more bounty hunter had almost taken his child from him. He dropped the tool in his hand, his body shaking from exhaustion and adrenaline that had not yet left his blood.
Behind him, the kid was playing contentedly with a stuffed toy he had picked up a few planets back. It was almost as if he didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. He probably didn’t. He was a baby after all. It was debatable whether or not he even understood Mando half the time.
He fell to the floor, his knees hitting the cold metal hard enough that there would be bruises. How much longer could they keep doing this? How many more close calls was he going to have to endure?
He turned to look at the child. He had tried to leave him on planets. He had tried to take up any and every job that came his way. He had tried everything but each time there was always someone there to remind him of the harsh reality. His kid had the highest bounty on his head in the galaxy. There were at least three different clients all trying to get at him. One wanted him alive. One wanted him dead. And one didn’t care. How could he fight three powerful enemies at once?
It was not the Way to panic or give up. It was not the Way to feel hopeless. He was a Mandalorian. He was a proud, skilled, honorable warrior who could take on anything.
The baby stopped gnawing on the toy and looked at him, his eyes wide and innocent. He held out the toy. It was shameful his kid could sense his stress and worry. It was shameful that his kid was trying to comfort him.
He took the toy. “Thanks, kid.” He turned back to the ship. “Repairs are almost done and then we’ll get out of here.”
The baby started babbling and in a few moments, Mando felt the tiny claws pulling at his armor and a little body scrambling up his back. He smiled and used his free hand to steady the child until he was situated on his shoulder, little arms gripping the lip of his helmet.
“Interested?” Mando asked. The baby made no sounds but he could tell he was watching intently as if he were going to have to repair the ship one day.
“I’ll figure something out, kid. I promise,” Mando said. “I promise I will find some way to keep you safe.”
The words strengthened his resolve. The momentary panic that had overtaken him was gone. He was still ashamed for his emotions, for his reactions. He needed to be stronger, if not for him, for the little being who had wiggled its way into his heart.
oOoOoOo
The ship was almost ready to fly. First, Mando needed to de-ice the damn thing. Most of the heating functions had been shut off during the repairs, with only a few rooms having heat. Because of this, ice had encrusted the entire outside of the ship. So before they could take off, the ice needed to come off.
He had turned on the ship, the residual heat would eventually melt the ice. But they had been here for too long. Each minute spent on this planet was a minute a bounty hunter could be getting closer. That’s why Mando was currently out on the wing of his ship, chipping away at the ice.
“I hate this, so much,” he sighed. Anyway, he could speed up the process, he would.
The first blaster shot missed his head by a few inches, maybe even less.
Mando didn’t even stop to question. His body was already reacting, pulling out his own blaster and firing into the snow. Protect the kid running on a loop in his head. He heard a scream and jumped down, running to where the shot had been fired. There was no telling how many of them were there.
Another blaster shot and he rolled out of the way. Shots were now raining down on him and fear once more settled into his stomach.
‘It must be an entire army.’ He thought to himself, ducking behind a rock. They were probably after the kid. After all, scans had indicated there was nothing more than small settlements scattered around the planet, nothing big enough for an attack of this scale.
They were firing blindly, hoping to overpower him with the sheer force of numbers. Mando was used to being outnumbered. He was used to being outmatched. That had never stopped him before.
He peaked out from behind the rock and fired several shots, hitting at least a few of his targets. Given the trajectory, they were likely firing from a small ridge about two hundred yards from where he was currently. They probably hadn’t been on this planet for very long, so they didn’t know all of its secrets. Mando used the flamethrower on his arm to melt through the ice. In a few moments, he was falling through, throwing a few flash grenades at the army for good measure. He needed them to be distracted long enough for him to get the upper hand.
Because of the way the climate of the planet worked, the ice had frozen in such a way that there were tunnels leading all over the place. Most of the people here used them to travel without exposing themselves to the harsh winds and snow. If Mando was lucky, the army wouldn’t know they were there and therefore wouldn’t be guarding it or looking below them.
He moved quickly to the ridge. Sure enough, above him stood a group of about fifty or so individuals. They had returned to firing at the rock. Good, they didn’t know he was here. He placed some charges on the ice sheet above him and some landmines in the tunnels below him. Anyone that survived the first explosion would be blown to pieces when they landed on the mines. Anyone who survived that could be easily picked off by him later.
Backing up back to the rock he had previously hidden behind, he set off the explosives. Even though you could barely see your hand in front of your face out here, he could see the brief flashes of orange and yellow that reflected off of the snow and ice. There were screams swallowed up by the wind howling.
Now that the majority of them had been taken out, Mando pulled out his blaster and ran back towards the ridge, firing at anything and everything that moved. There were only about ten left, and he killed them easily. Almost too easily. His brow furrowed. He should get back to the ship. It was still there, but they could have had a second attack force that snuck in while he was still dealing with the assaulting army and taken the kid right from underneath his nose.
He turned to head back, only, his body wouldn’t move.
“What?” His feet were stuck to the ground. He couldn’t even look down at them. His entire body was frozen and no matter how hard he pushed he couldn’t move.
“You are as skilled as they say you are,” A voice said.
Then, he started to turn. Except, he didn’t want to turn. It wasn’t him turning.
“What’s happening?” His heart was pounding in his chest. Fear and panic once more clawing its way into his mind. How do you be calm at a moment like this? How do you fight in a moment like this?
He came face to face with a being, his face was twisted and ugly. It looked as though his jaw was missing on one side of his face, and his skin had been burned on the other side of his face.
“Do not worry, Mandalorian.” His voice was powerful. He didn’t seem like he was shouting, but Mando could hear him over the wind. “I will not remove your helmet. I have no use to see what you look like. My leader only wishes for the child.”
No! No! He couldn’t take him. Mando didn’t know what he had done to him, but he would find a way to fight. He wouldn’t let them take his kid.
“And do not worry. We want him alive. He is no use to us dead.”
Dead or alive, it didn’t matter. These people were going to hurt his kid. He pushed, struggled, forced himself to slam against the invisible wall holding him in place.
“Now, to dispose of you.”
“No!” Mando roared, finding just enough of a crack to shatter the hold on him, raising his blaster and firing at the monster in front of him.
“What?” the being said. Stopping the blaster shot in midair.
Thankfully, Mando’s fight or flight instincts had kicked in, so he wasn’t worried about what the hell was with the magic act going on in front of his eyes. He’d worry about that later. He fired another shot and the man once more stopped it.
He couldn’t stop them all. Mando would keep shooting until he found his threshold.
The man growled and jerked his arm towards him. Mando’s eyes widened when he realized that the shots he had fired were now coming back at him. He avoided one but the other got his shoulder.
“I was hoping you’d go quietly. I guess that’s not the case,” The man said.
Mando’s feet left the ground and he was flung into a nearby cliff. He felt his ribs crack and break with the impact and his head smack around in the helmet. He didn’t stop fighting. He couldn’t stop fighting. He managed to fire some more shots, not caring if they hit their mark.
The man laughed and Mando was slammed into the cliff again and again and again.
“No,” he gasped, blood leaking from his mouth and dribbling down his chin.
“Do you think you can defeat me? You are nothing. All you have is a blaster and that is no match for my powers.”
Once more he was smashed into the cliff face with enough force that his helmet cracked. Once more and the glass in the visor shattered. Once more and a piece fell off.
“No!” He couldn’t take off his helmet or have it removed. If that happened, he would no longer be a Mandalorian. He would no longer have his clan to support him. He would no longer have the Way to guide him. He held up a hand, trying to keep the pieces together, but with a jerk he was flung across the barren landscape, rolling uselessly against the rough ice. Each rock he hit, each jagged piece he smashed into, a piece of his helmet chipped away.
“You should have let me have the Child.”
He was being lifted into the air. The cold on the exposed part of his face burning and the air hurting his nose and lungs as he gasped for breath. There was something constricting around his throat. He clawed at it, trying to dislodge it, but all he could feel was his own armor and clothing.
“Let’s see how you deal with this.”
Lightning entered his body. Mando couldn’t help but scream at the pain that coursed through his veins. He was still fighting, still trying to find some way to get this man to stop. But it was no use. The pain was too much.
Finally, it stopped. He was still floating in the air, limp, unable to lift his head. Blood dripping from his mouth and making a grotesque puddle at his feet. He was moving. His vision was fading.
“You should have done your job. Then we wouldn’t have had to resort to such extreme measures.”
He was barely conscious, but he could see beneath him was nothing.
“Farwell, Mandalorian. No one will mourn your loss.”
He was falling. Faster and faster and faster. The light above him getting darker and darker. He hit the ground. More blood bubbled to his lips. His leg had been twisted at an unnatural angle. The invisible force from before was no longer holding him down, but he could still not move. He had failed.
“Ad’ika.” Mando’s eyes closed.
He had failed.