Bounty Hunter Anon III

by Sunny Solaire

Saviors

No. Not like this.

Pinkie is hurting badly right now. More than you were when Mandalore died and you took his place. You were on the way towards an emotional spiral of pity and self-doubt, but Pinkie, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash saved you. She was the first one to offer condolences and help to you in your time of need.

Now she needs you. More than ever.

As Pinkie yells and brings her blades down onto Sombra, you quickly move in front of her and grab her wrists to stop her before she can kill him.

She glares at you with her fiery yellow eyes and flares her nostrils as she tries to pull herself out of your grip, but you don't budge. After a few moments, she stops fighting against you and stares into your visor.

"It's over, Pinkie. He's beaten." You say calmly. "Killing him like this now won't change anything."

The rage in her gaze softens a little as you stay firm. She blinks a few times and her eyes turn from yellow-red back to the bright blue that you're used to. Her anger fades and is quickly replaced with sadness. Then, she deactivates both sabers and drops them behind you.

Her lip quivers and she starts crying; sobbing openly as she drops to her knees. You drop as well as you keep holding her wrists before bringing her in for a hug. You are not a hugger, but she's hugged you in your times of need before. She needs this.

She sobs and weeps into your shoulder as you hug her tight. She isn't fighting or making any physical effort to do anything else other than cry now. That fierce fighting and rage took all the energy out of her. She's done.

"Pink...ie..."

Pinkie gasps and looks beyond your shoulder over to Maud laying on the ground. She releases you and scrambles over to her on her hands and knees.

"Maud!" She says with a sniff as she reaches her side. "Maud, it's okay! You're going to be okay, just hold on!"

Maud wheezes and softly shakes her head. "No, Pinkie... I'm not..."

Pinkie wipes away a tear and holds Maud's head, raising it up a little and grabbing her limp hand. "No, Maud! Don't say that! You'll be okay, you'll see!"

"Pinkie... It's alright..." She breathes. "In the Force, there is no death."

You remove your helmet and look down at the Pie sisters as they speak to each other one last time. You take a step back to give them some space.

Maud gives a shaky breath and smiles softly. "I'm... I'm so proud of you... You're the best sister...anyone could have asked for... Stay on the path of Light... Promise me..."

Pinkie's fake smile fades and she starts breathing hard again as she cries some more. She knows she can't stop what's about to happen. "I w-will, Maud... I p-promise..."

Maud smiles wider and shuts her eyes. "Trust in the Force.... and I'll always be with you..."

She takes another breath and exhales. She doesn't take another one.

She's gone...

Pinkie sobs some more and kisses Maud's hand over and over again. "I love you, Maud..."

Pinkie cradles Maud's head in her arms, and rocks back and forth. As she does, Gilda comes up to you. She looks at what's happening and gives a soft sigh. You can tell it's one of contempt, but you don't care. Pinkie needs this right now, and you think Gilda knows that, even though she doesn't want to wait.

"Weak..."

You hear an angry growl. Sombra is rising to his feet with his teeth clenched tight, glaring at Pinkie.

"...Just like your pathetic sister..." He growls. "I will rid the galaxy of you!"

He's going to do something. He's got no hands, but he still has the Dark Side of the Force.

Thinking quickly, you pull out a syringe full of the ysalamiri DNA. While he's focused on Pinkie, you quickly run over to him and plunge the needle into his neck. His eyes widen immediately and he tenses up as the Force-dampening mixture spreads through his veins.

He collapses onto the ground and convulses like he's having a seizure. He stares up at you and shoves his handless arm at you weakly before exhaling and collapsing again. His eyes are like pinpricks. He wasn't expecting that not to work.

"What... What did you... do to me?" He stammers

"I cut off your connection to the Force, Sombra. You're powerless." You reply.

He shakes more looks around like he's on the verge of panic. His eyes are wide open and for the first time, he shows no sign of cockiness or arrogance. He has been cut off from the thing he has depended on his entire life. He knows he's powerless. He can feel it.

"What's wrong?" You ask. "You scared?"

You grin softly under your helmet for a moment when you hear a faint explosion from somewhere, followed by a few soft alarms. Sunset's bombs have gone off.

"Uh oh..."

Gilda looks over at Pinkie. "We need to move. Now."

Pinkie looks over to you both. Tears are still flowing down her cheeks.

You walk over to her. "She's right, Pinkie. Come on." You hold out your hand to her.

Pinkie sniffs hard again and takes a shaky breath. "B-but... Wh-what about..." She looks at Maud.

"We're not going to leave her here." You reassure. "I promise."

Pinkie sniffs again and you help her to her feet. Once she's standing, you quickly and carefully pick Maud up in your arms. Pinkie grabs her fallen saber and holds it tightly in her hands.

From behind you, Sombra yells in pain as Gilda picks him up and slings him over her shoulder like a sack of rocks and makes for the door to the room. "Hurry up, Anon. I don't want to find out what infinite gravity feels like."

You nod and usher Pinkie to follow you. "Let's hurry."

Pinkie sadly nods and the two of you quickly follow Gilda out of the room and towards the elevator.

---

The station rumbles and alarms start blaring as the twenty minute timer runs out. The bombs have exploded and the station is crippled. You should still have time to reach the hangar, but you're still cutting it closer than you'd like. The ten of you are on the railspeeder almost at Droid Storage. The hangar is on the other side.

You look back to your party. "The bombs have detonated!"

Everyone shifts slightly. If there wasn't a sense of urgency before, there sure is now. You all aren't safe yet.

"Sunset, is Anon okay?" Rainbow asks.

"I'll check." You reply as you turn on your comms. "Anon, it's Sunset. Where are you? Is Sombra dead?"

Anon replies a few seconds later. "He's alive, but he can't use the Force anymore. He's with us and we're making our way to the hangar now."

You look to everyone. "We won!"

Everyone cheers and applauds.

"Nice work, Anon!" Rainbow says.

"Yeehaw!" Applejack cheers. "They did it!"

You sigh in relief. He's okay.

"That's amazing, Anon! Congratulations. Did everyone make it out alright?" You ask.

Anon pauses before answering. "No... We lost Maud."

You gasp softly. Maud.

"I... What happened?" You say, turning away from everyone and speaking softly.

"Sombra happened." Anon replies. "He tried to turn Pinkie to the Dark Side. Maud begged me to stop her from killing him in her anger. It would've destroyed her."

"So... You saved Sombra?"

"I saved Pinkie." Anon clarifies quietly. "You didn't see it. She was ballistic. The Dark Side got to her and, for the slightest moment, she embraced it. It almost ruined her. If I hadn't stopped her from killing Sombra, the Pinkie we know would've been gone."

"Damn..." You breathe. "Sounds like you made the right call."

"Thanks to Maud." Anon replies. "Her final act was begging me to save Pinkie from herself."

You turn around to look at Master Luna. She's looking down at the ground with a somber expression on her face. She already knows about Maud. She could probably sense it when it happened.

"Dank farrik..." You sigh softly. "Okay. We're, uh, we're almost back at the hangar as well. I'll contact black group and tell them we're on our way."

"Copy that." Anon says.

You cut comms and stare ahead as the railspeeder continues forward, saying nothing. It hasn't sunk in yet that Maud is dead and one with the Force. Poor Pinkie must be devastated.

'What's wrong?"

You turn around and see Limestone looking at you. There's a hint of concern on her angry face. She knows something is up.

"Sunset, what's wrong?" She repeats. "Is Pinkie okay?"

You nod softly. "Yes, Pinkie is okay."

She pauses. "...And Maud?"

You pause as well. Master Luna steps beside Limestone and places a hand on her back. You don't say anything as Limestone looks at you with hope, but you can see that a part of her already knows. She wants you to prove her wrong.

"I'm sorry..." You whisper as you shake your head.

Limestone's eyes widen a bit and start to well up a little. Tears want to form, you can tell. From behind, you can see Applejack look at the ground sadly as well. She removes her hat after a moment and holds it against her chest.

Limestone closes her eyes and pushes the tears away. She looks to the side and takes a shaky breath, saying nothing. It's hard to believe that a few weeks ago, she was fighting Maud over Kessel and was hell-bent on killing her at the time. Luna must sense her pain, because she doesn't leave her side. She just comforts her as best she can. Despite Limestone's expression, you know she's hurting because she isn't pushing the Jedi Master away.

You turn around again and contact black team to inform them that you're on your way. The rest of the trip is silent and uneventful, otherwise.

---

The ground rumbles again as you step into the hangar. Gilda takes the lead towards the Sonic Rainboom with Sombra still slung over her shoulder. The Jedi and Mandalorians standing guard ready themselves when they see the depowered Sith Lord, but quickly realize that he's harmless. Gilda practically throws him on the ground at their feet, making him yell in pain and glare up at her.

One of the Jedi you don't know activates his green lightsaber and points the tip of it at Sombra's neck. "Get something to hold him." He orders.

Two of your Mandalorians approach him and hoist him to his feet. They bind his arms together behind his back and drag him aboard Rainbow's ship.

Meanwhile, you and Pinkie slowly approach with Maud Pie still in your arms. The Jedi looks at you and gasps as he sees her. Pinkie sniffles alongside you, still gripping Maud's lightsaber like a security blanket. The two of you follow the Mandalorians and Sombra aboard and fork off to head into the crew quarters.

You gently lay Maud's body on the bed and Pinkie starts crying again, much softer this time.

"Pinkie..." You place a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

She doesn't look at you, but her lip quivers as you speak. "I know..." She sniffs once again. "C-Can I just...be alone with her for a while? P-Please?"

You remove your hand from her shoulder. "Of course. We'll be right here if you need us."

She nods and approaches Maud's side, sitting on the floor beside her and holds her lifeless hand. You leave the room and close the door behind you, sighing.

You're legitimately sad. You never thought you would be this sad when a Jedi died. Maud was different though. She was your friend. You've been through thick and thin with her, and she's been a source of sage advice and wisdom to you and your friends. You're going to miss her.

Organizing your thoughts and emotions will have to wait though. The hard part is finally over, but you still have to escape this doomed station. That should be relatively easy, once Sunset and Rainbow's teams arrive.

You head back to the hangar and wait for Sunset. The ground continues to rumble periodically as the station deteriorates. Hopefully they don't take too long.

After a few minutes, the large door opens and all ten of them come inside. Limestone is in front. She immediately heads towards the second ship. Master Luna follows behind her. Limestone looks angry, as usual, but also very distraught. She must have heard about Maud.

Applejack and Big Mac follow Luna with Coco. Sunset quickly leads Rainbow, Thunderlane, Lyra and Bon Bon towards you. It's such a relief to see her again.

You contact the Jedi and Mandalorians that make up black team and tell them to get back to their ships. As they all disperse, you meet Sunset and everyone in front of the Rainboom.

"Are you all okay?"

Sunset nods. "We're okay."

You smile a little. "Good. Let's get out of here."

Rainbow nods and leads Thunderlane into the ship. Lyra and Bon Bon follow as well, leaving you and Sunset alone.

She looks at you. "How is Pinkie?"

You shake your head. "Not good. She's inside, but wants to be left alone."

She sighs understandingly, saying nothing. You step towards her and wrap her in a hug. She returns it and you both stay there for a few moments. It's so good to see her alive and well.

She releases and looks up at you. "Come on, love."

You nod and head into the Sonic Rainboom just as it whirs to life. You look behind you at the Sith station one last time before the ramp closes. Rainbow and Luna take off together and you all fly back out into space. Within a few minutes, this station will be reduced to literal atoms. The Sith have been stopped and Sombra is in custody.

It's finished.

---

Commander Tempest stands with her arms behind her back, gazing out into space and observing the aftermath of the battle. The Sith losses were extreme. The few that survived fled into the Unknowns. If she did not have a job to do, she would have pursued them. However, Mandalore's orders were clear. The perimeter of Mandalorian cruisers was strong and established. Now they were just waiting for the attack party to return.

Spike appears on the console in front of Tempest after a few moments. "Friendly contact, coming from the gas cloud!"

Tempest looks at him, then directs her attention back outside. Finally.

Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity quickly approach the viewport window.

"They're back?" Twilight asks.

"Oh, I hope they're okay." Fluttershy says

All of them watch the scanners and screens for any sign of the contact from Anon, Sunset, and everyone else. No one sees anything yet.

Tempest activates her comms. "This is Commander Tempest. Mandalore, do you copy?"

The comms reply with only static and occasional popping.

"Come on, darling." Rarity says quietly.

After a few moments, the comms activate. "Attention all channels. This is Mandalore." Anon says. "Mission accomplished. The Sith are finished."

At that, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy cheer and shout for joy, alongside every other Mandalorian aboard Tempest's cruiser.

"They did it!" Fluttershy shouts.

Rarity and Twilight laugh and the three of them all hug each other as they continue cheering.

Tempest smiles and claps her hands together a few times. Mandalore absolutely made the right call. Anonymous is the most suited person in the galaxy to lead their people. She never doubted for a second.

She activates her comms. "This shall be a day long remembered, Mandalore. Well done. We're all ready to go home when you are."

"Copy that, commander. Good work out here." Anon replies.

Rainbow and Luna's ships zip around in space for a while before they approach Tempest's cruiser. She issues commands to the rest of the fleet, and they all prepare to leave this part of space behind forever.

Author's Note: