InsaneJournal

A hunter knows where to find game, Obi-Wan
Who: Obi, Meetra, Kitty and a bounty Hunter
What: A BH attacks Obi, and Kitty accidentally becomes Patient Zero. Oops.
When: January 1
Where: The forest where Obi and Meetra train
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13 for acts of violence and Kitty playing bad cop.



There was still some snow on the ground, but it was starting to reach that stage where it turns black by the side of the road and covers the sidewalks with dingy slush. In order to enjoy the snow while they still could, Obi-Wan had suggested to Kitty that they take their coffee with them on a bit of a hike. The forest where he and Meetra went to practice lightsaber technique was absolutely breathtaking, covered in white. Obi-Wan hadn’t seen snow like this his moving from the United Kingdom, and he assumed Kitty felt the same.

Kitty was excited. It had been a long time since she and Obi had done anything together, and she was looking forward to it. She didn’t mind the hike, and after the sentinels a few weeks ago, she was quite happy to do something quiet and easy. She had her coffee in a thermos in a satchel bag, along with some sandwiches.

“I’ll be sad when it all melts.”

Obi-Wan nodded. It wasn’t cold enough to keep the snow around forever, or even much longer. He wasn’t even a particular fan of snow. But he’d had some good experiences with it as of late and he was a little more smiley for it. “It is pretty, isn’t it?” he said. “When it’s untouched like this.”

"It's beautiful." Kitty glanced at him, his smileyness noticeable. She didn't pry though, at least not yet. He'd tell her in time, what exactly had him in such a good mood lately.

Okay, she had to pry. "If I didn't know better I'd say you got laid."

Lips pressed together, Obi-Wan puffed his cheeks a bit and shook his head. “Kitty... Kitty, Kitty, Kitty... That’s just it. You never know any better.”

“Then what? You’ve got a bounce in your step, you’re smilling so much my cheeks hurt..” She laughed, her hands in her pockets to keep warm as she walked on top of the snow. Not through it. On top of it.

Obi-Wan lifted his eyes and looked at the snow-covered path ahead of them, sensing some faint shiver in the Force, but thinking not much of it. It happened frequently. It was likely just some animal to be aware of.

“I told you I met someone,” he admitted. “So I won’t argue that.” But he really was grinning too broadly to argue anything, even if he and Faiza hadn’t taken that step just yet. In fact, it was possible he was more sexually frustrated than before meeting her, as now he had it on his mind much more often. And just when he was convinced it was time to give up, too.

Laughing, Kitty floated over and poked Obi in the ribs. “When do I get to meet her? I have to make sure she passes muster. And give her tips about your ticklish spots.” Because that was necessary information. And if she’d had slept with Obi, she would give THOSE tips too. But alas, she hadn’t.

Obi-Wan had turned bright red by the end of what Kitty had to say and frankly was grateful that Kitty knew nothing about his ticklish spots. There was no doubt in his mind that she would find some way to inform Faiza... who might have been thankful to an extent, but undoubtedly just as red as he was.

“Actually,” he said. “You already know her.”

"I do? " she tilted her head, trying to think of single women she knew. She needed to narrow it down.

“She works at Wrex’s ranch,” he said. “She took care of you when you were sick.” Obi-Wan might as well have winked.

"Holy crap! Seriously? Faiza? Obi you sneaky little bastard!" Grinning, she threw her arms around him!

“Oof!” Obi-Wan coughed. “Sneaky? I’d hardly call it sneaky.” He wrinkled his nose, noting again what he was starting to think of as a disturbance in the Force. He examined the possibilities privately. “We’ve had a few dates, I suppose you’d say. She’s... lovely. Just lovely...”

"She's gorgeous and sweet. What attracted you to her?" Kitty let go, stepping back, still using her powers to not leave footprints in the snow.

He smiled. “The fact that she is gorgeous and sweet,” said Obi-Wan. “And possibly the fact that she’s not inclined to believe it. It makes her more lovely, if you understand what I mean.” If Kitty wanted him to be more specific about the physical side of things, he could have gone on for a while about her lips, hair, and bum... but he wouldn’t have, even if she asked.

“She’s the modest type. I’d believe that. Aren’t you building a robot for her?” She recalled something about that on the Net, but her memory was a little fuzzy on the subject.

Obi-Wan nodded. “I am...” The sense of foreboding he had was getting stronger. His hand moved to his deep pants pocket and he touched the lump of his lightsaber. He’d been carrying it with him since the Sentinel incident and since he and Loras had seen the ship. “I did, actually...” His voice trailed off and his footsteps slowed.

The hackles on Kitty’s neck rose, more in response to Obi’s actions than anything she sensed. Too many years standing next to Logan when he smelled or heard something others could not had honed her own reactions. She lowered her voice, body tense. “What is it?”

He turned around slowly, silently. His face became like chiseled stone. “I have... a very bad feeling,” he said without a hint of irony.

Kitty flexed her wrist. A bone claw slid out from under her sweater. She’d brought it, thinking they could spar. For that matter, she’d taken to wearing one of her costumes under her clothing - or in the case of the leather boots, pants and jacket, she wore it as her clothing.

Obi-Wan noted the weapon Kitty had brought and was a little confused by its presence, but there was no time to think. Red blaster fire began to shoot through the trees. In the same moment, the sapphire glow of his lightsaber burst to life and lit the snow blue. Even in the cold, beads of sweat appeared on Obi-Wan’s puzzled brow as he began to deflect shots.

All he could think of was the ship he and Loras had encountered in the deserted office park. He’d had the same sickening feeling then, too. But his skills with his lightsaber had much improved over the past months, and such was his speed that it was as if the fire was aimed directly at his saber.

Kitty phased, disappearing into the snow like a ghost while Obi-Wan kept the attacker busy. The sound of the blaster fire brought memories from her childhood, and quite frankly she had to fight to keep a huge grin off of her face.

As usual, this was no laughing matter in Obi-Wan’s opinion. The blaster fire paused for a moment and his sharp eyes scanned the area. He could make out a single figure behind a tree in the distance and he knew that this was their man. No... woman.

Even with a striking bald head, in knee-high boots and a figure-hugging suit, the shape was that of a woman. A woman he knew... But it couldn’t be Ona Nobis, could it? She was dead. He’d seen her die.

Obi-Wan reminded himself fact such as those didn’t really matter here.

Kitty shot up from beneath Ona, fist with the claw outstretched in an attempt to give the woman a brutal uppercut.

The Jedi brought his lightsaber to his hip, watching what had unfolded by the tree in surprise. He’d been caught off-guard by one time too many. He began to run forward, eyes narrow and jaw set.

Ona was no stranger to physical blows. She was missing her left hand, thanks to Obi-Wan. She came back at Kitty with the speed of a viper.

“Fu-” Kitty exhaled, dodging back. The dodge turned into a backwards somersault and she disappeared into a tree and out the other side. She started scaling it like a monkey.

Ona glared at the interloper. She’d only come for one person. In fact, she’d thought Kenobi was alone, judging by the single trail left behind. “Obi-Wan,” she spat. “Judging by the entertaining look of surprise on your face, you thought you were rid of me, didn’t you?”

Obi-Wan came to a stop. His lightsaber vibrated in his palm, ready. He noted her trademark whip on the hip of her belt. “A saw you take quite a fall.”

“You saw what you wanted to see... Like you always did.” She paused and tilted her head. “I don’t care for the beard.”

“What do you want, Nobis?” he asked point blank. “How did you get here?”

Ona lifted an eyebrow, or would have, had she any hair. In every way, she had the appearance of a human, but was, in fact, Sorrusian. Her dark skin bore no trace of hair. “A hunter knows where to find game, Obi-Wan. Did you think I was done with you?” She waved her robotic hand in the air.

Kitty lept from the tree high above, foot aimed for the back of Ona's head, as she descended, her hair whipping behind her. She just hoped that Obi could keep the woman distracted.

Obi-Wan lifted his lightsaber, following exactly what Kitty was doing as she prepared to do it. “I think your crush on me has gone on quite long enough,” he said.

Ona’s eyes flashed. But she was no fool. Suddenly, her hand was around the handle of her whip and the bright laser was in the air, licking at Kitty. Obi-Wan had just enough to to Push Kitty out of the way.

Ona brought the whip hard down on Obi-Wan. It caught his shoulder, not cutting it -- apparently the power was not set for that -- but it brought him to his knee.

“You’ve gotten old, Kenobi!” she barked, walking forward. “I thought this would be more of a challenge.”

He pushed himself to his feet again, meeting her whip with his saber. Their conflicting energies sent sparks flying, but the whip was caught. He pulled back. Hard. Ona stumbled forward.

Kitty landed hard on her shoulder, and rolled, jumping to her feet. She found an oblong rock and flung it like a throwing star, before bolting forward. She had her serious face on, all traces of her earlier smile gone. Ona had hurt Obi. Kitty was pissed.

The rock struck Ona on the jaw and left a mark. Her blood was a deep purple and began to seep through her skin immediately. “That little rat,” she hissed in Kitty’s direction, only to be cut short as Obi-Wan gathered the neck of her tunic in his free hand.

“Kitty,” he called. “Do a check of the area. Make sure she’s traveling alone.”

“Got it!” Kitty came to a halt, then turned to the left, and disappeared into the trees.

Obi-Wan’s cold blue eyes stared down Ona’s honey-colored ones. She had that same sickening sweetness she always had, untrustworthy and dangerous. She was exactly as he remembered.

Ona smiled and coughed. “I take it back,” she said. “The beard suits you.”

He gave her a shake. He was in a very good position to choke her. He could still remember the child she had hunted down, which had led to their first meeting. “If you don’t tell me right now how you came to be here, I will see to it that you--”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi is no maker of threats,” she hissed, struggling against his grasp. “Empty or otherwise. You ought to have made sure I was dead.” He tightened his hold and Ona gasped for breath until he loosened his hand. She could see the fear in his eyes. Delicious fear. “I was hired and sent.”

“By who?”

“By someone who wants you dead,” she said. “Even more than I do.”

Obi-Wan glared. “That list is exceedingly long, Ona.”

She smiled an enigmatic smile. “So are the zeros on the reward...” With a sudden show of strength, One trust her head forward and cracked it against Obi-Wan’s skull. She extinguished her electric whip and leap back before igniting it again. The lash struck him on the back of the neck, forcing a show of pain.

A few hundred yards away, Kitty had found no one else, but she had found the ship. She phased inside, and quickly determined that there was no one else on board. There was the crunch of glass as she made her way to the cockpit. She sat at the console and powered it up.

"This can't be that hard...." Instead of lifting off, she blew a large tree into shrapnel. "Woops."

Meanwhile, a lightsaber flew through the air, intercepting another lash of the whip. It flewback to Meetra's hand as she dashed forward, two trails of orange light behind her. "Try to meditate in peace, and then all hell breaks loose. Is it always like this, Obi-wan?"

Obi-Wan didn’t question where Meetra had come from. It didn’t seem strange for her to be there. He wasn’t even embarrassed that he’d needed help. He was simply grateful and left it at that. “I’d say about fifty-percent of the time,” he replied, pushing himself back up.

At the cannon blast, Ona had whirled around, and her whip spinning around Meetra’s lightsaber had brought face down in the snow. She cursed everyone and everything.

"Do I want to know what that was?" Meetra asked, falling into a ready stance as she eyed the bounty hunter warily. She didn't know the woman, but the sound of the cannon was all too familiar.

The ship sailed over head, turning in the air until it's weapon was pointed down at Ona. Kitty's voice boomed through the forest. "Put down your weapon. I don't need to be accurate with this thing."

Obi-Wan grimaced as the small craft came into view. “Kitty, land that thing right this instant!” he shouted, though he knew it was unlikely she could hear. He sounded like a parent scolding a child, but that was nothing new.

Ona tried to push herself from the snow. She detested snow. She extinguished her weapon and adopted a less menacing position. Obi-Wan Pulled the handle of the whip toward him and rubbed the back of his scorched neck. She’d gotten him just above his coat.

"She's not a child," Meetra observed. She wished she'd had some rope to secure the bounty hunter, but would have just to make do with being vigilant. The starship over head landed behind the Jedi, keeping them between it and the hunter. Kitty popped out of the cockpit and floated over. "Can I keep it?"

“Absolutely not,” Obi-Wan replied, not heeding Meetra’s comment. But If she knew anything about his relationship with Kitty, then she would know that what he said mattered about as much as an ice cube on Tatooine.

Ona grumbled. “So, what will you do with me...”

Obi-Wan didn’t like the sound of the question. It was more of a taunt than a plea. Ona knew that here, in this world, their resources were limited. She was daring them to make a move.

Hopping over a fallen tree, Kitty approached the bounty hunter. Her eyes were hard, and there was a grim smile on her face. "I could show you your own heart. Would you like it? It can be a party."

Meetra narrowed her eyes trying to sense Kitty's intent. "We're not going to harm her."

Obi-Wan picked up his lightsaber from the snow and brushed it off until it was clean. He was working out solutions in his head, trying to come up with something logical. There were no authorities to consult. It was all up to them.

Ona shook her head and chuckled softly. She flexed her mechanical hand and examined it for damage.

"You never let me have any fun." There were universes where Kitty Pryde was a cruel mistress, and even here she could channel the darker parts of herself. "I could take that hand. You probably wouldn't feel a thing. Or I could poke around in your brain and see what sort of reflexes you have."

“The Jedi would never let you,” Ona hissed. She smirked at Obi-Wan.

Kitty shoved her hand into Ona's chest, her hand wrapping around the woman's heart. It had to have been an odd sensation. Meetra gasped, reigniting her saber. "What are you doing?!"

Obi-Wan had snapped back to life, while Ona gasped for her own. Sometimes Kitty had a thirst for revenge that boggled his mind. "Kitty! Let her be."

"Not until we have answers!" There was a harsh edge to her voice, and she squeezed Ona's heart. "Answer the man's questions, and know that neither of them are fast enough to save you."

Ona clawed at Kitty’s arm as the color drained from her face. The pain radiating from her chest was excruciating. She could hardly breathe, let alone speak.

It was flashes of Anakin Obi-Wan was seeing now. Too many of their missions had included moments like this, where the young Jedi had forgotten his teaching and followed a dark path instead. Obi-Wan realized he was afraid. He could push Kitty aside, but moving her might bring out Ona’s heart in her hand, and that he couldn’t bare to see.

He walked forward and placed a hand on Kitty’s shoulder. “You’ve proved the creature has a heart... please, don’t make me doubt yours.”

She glanced over at Obi-Wan, then back at Ona. She pulled back, taking her hand from Ona's chest, then swung and clocked her in the jaw. She glanced at Obi-Wan as she shook out her hand, "It's like you never played good cop bad cop before. I wasn't really going to rip her heart out."

Meetra felt a flash of anger, but suppressed it. "It was an act??"

Ona folded into a pile in the snow. Obi-Wan snorted and stood up, exchanging a look with Meetra to communicate that he was none too pleased. He rolled his bruised shoulder and was silent.

“Of course it was an act. I’m not going to kill someone like that.” She folded her arms, looking stubborn and a little annoyed. “Have more faith in me than that.”

He turned to face her. “Kitty, I honestly wasn’t sure what you were about to do.” And being a Jedi, that meant more than it did coming from another. “You were angry. Too angry to be taking risks like that.”

"She tried to kill you."

Obi-Wan’s heavy brows went up. “A lot of people have tried to do that.”

Meetra put a hand on Kitty's shoulder, only to have it shrugged off. "You let yourself get caught up in the moment."

"For god's sake, I think we have more important worries than whether or not I got too into a fight!"

Obi-Wan set his jaw. He walked to Ona and gave her a tap with the toe of his sneaker. “What are we going to do with her? What are we going to do with her ship?”

"Dibs on the starship," Kitty quipped, arms still folded. She stared at the bounty hunter. "Well we can't send her to wherever she came from, and trying to get her arrested probably won't be as effective as we'd like."

“We can’t just chain her up somewhere...” Obi-Wan sighed. “Or can we?”

"She'll try to come after you." Meetra nudged the hunter with her foot. "If she's free. Or she'll escape, I've no doubt about that. It would have been easier if she'd been killed in combat."

“Anything we could use to shackle her, just for now?” he mused aloud, walking away from the sleeping body “Kitty, go see if there’s something on the ship.”

“The ship was a mess when I got onto it earlier. Broken glass, smashed crates. It was like she had a rough landing coming in.” She nodded and started to jog back to the ship.

Obi-Wan sighed. “Well, see if you can find binders... handcuffs of some sort. Or really strong rope.” He turned back to Meetra and regarded her for a few quiet moments. “Fortunately for us, you were nearby. That might have been it for me.” Kitty could have easily gotten away, if she wanted.

He watched Ona’s chest expand with sleeping breaths. His thoughts were centered on Faiza.

Meetra looked at Obi-Wan for a long moment, as if sensing the direction his thoughts were going. She said nothing on it, just nodded her head. Kitty returned a few moments later, and tossed binders over to Obi. "That should do it."

Obi-Wan caught them with what he was starting to think of as his good arm. That whip was was still as potent as he remembered. There’d be a mark on his neck for some time to come.

Crouching down beside Ona, he did a thorough check to make sure there were no other weapons strapped to her. He felt no qualms searching every inch. For his troubles, he was awarded with a another small blaster and a sharp, steel knife.

"I'll go inspect the ship," Meetra said. "See if there's anything else that might be hidden, or there's anything that might tell us who hired her."

“That would be wise,” Obi-Wan replied and watched her go. He worked on securing the binders behind Ona’s back. He felt Kitty’s presence beside him without looking up for a few moments. The shackles clicked and locked. He sighed. “I’m sorry for losing my temper.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kitty said, quietly. “You’re right to get pissed. I just thought scaring the crap out of her might work. I don’t always think much beyond that.”

“It just...” Obi-Wan halted himself. ...Reminds me too much of Anakin. He decided against voicing it. Instead, he patted Kitty on the arm. “You’re alright? No damage done?”

“No damage done.”

He nodded and the warmness finally returned to his eyes, perhaps the hint of a smile as well. “Good. Do you think Wrex or Scott might have suitable place to keep her for now?”

“I doubt either of them considered a dungeon....” Kitty paused, then shook her head. “Actually Scott probably did.”

“Good old Scott...” Obi-Wan smirked.