When You Give a Man Power
Chapter 52

“… What are you?” Jango demanded. He was standing over the holotable giving a live feed of the battles raging across the city.

His helmet was off, sitting beside his hand, which squeezed tighter and tighter, straining the durable fabric under his armor. He looked at me, his entire body relaxed but I could see he was far from it. 

He was tense. Just hovering over an edge ready to drop a nuke on whatever he saw in the chasm. It was all directed at me. The grunts and guards had their weapons ready to shoot me should I pull any stunts. 

Many of them didn’t want to do it because of my saving them, reputation, or simply hearing about what I had done earlier, killing several Jedi and dismantling as many droids as I had. Couldn’t blame them on that last part, even I wouldn’t want to fight a guy who did what I had.

It would be like a grunt in one of those power-trip fantasy games having to fight an overpowered being that you had no chance of winning in the first place, like a Blackwatch soldier about to be face-to-face with Alex Mercer in a dark hallway.

The dread and fear that you knew that you didn’t have a prayer of surviving.

“I’m Corvo Attano. Altmer, or high elf. Father, bounty hunter, soldier.” I listed a few things I had done in life.

Jango's fist slammed against the table making the hologram flicker from the force. “Don’t play games with me, Corvo. Are you a Jedi?” He hissed the words out, his entire body screamed hatred when he spoke that word. 

I laughed. It came out as a chuckle at first before it turned into a full-on laugh. Jango's knuckles tightened. His fingers brushed against his blaster pistols just waiting for an opportunity to shoot me if I gave him a reason.

Then the laughter abruptly stopped. The anger at having been turned on so readily by someone I had saved before. It was a laugh not born from amusement but frustration, anger, sorrow. The kind of laugh you would get when you hit your funny bone or were at your wits’ end and couldn’t help but laugh.

Now the room was silent as a cemetery at night. Jango glared at me, the people around us were wary. They had their weapons in arm's reach or already in hand. Jango himself was ready and waiting for me.

“No. I am no Jedi.” I said it with no emotion. Just cold calculating calmness.

It was surreal for the people in the room to see me like this. “A Sith?” 

“I’m not force sensitive Jango.”

“Bantha poodoo! You fired lightning from your hands. I know the old stories of the ancient Sith. How they could do the same thing. You have to be force sensitive or you couldn’t have done what you did.”

“Jango, let’s hear Corvo out. He has earned that much.” Bane said being oddly enough the voice of reason amongst the tense situation we found ourselves in.

I nodded my head towards him, grateful as he reciprocated even if he looked unsure of what to make of all this.

Jango stared at me for a long moment before he let out a sigh looking towards Bane for a brief moment but I was never out of his peripheral vision. “Alright. Explain.” 

“On my homeworld, everyone could do what I can.”

A series of mutters came from everyone in the room. Bane and even Jango looked taken aback. I raised my hand but stopped when Jango was about to raise his blasters with the others around me ready to shoot.

Bane was the only one who didn’t even attempt to draw his weapon. Not that he didn’t view me as a threat. But because he knew I meant no harm.

My hand lowered as I gave an apologetic smile. “But it’s not the force. It’s magic. I am not force sensitive.”

“Could be your people called it something else and it’s the same.” Jango pointed out his hands easing off slightly from his blaster pistols.

“No, it’s not. I know for a fact it’s not the same. The Jedi I fought against would have been able to sense it if I were using the force as they call it.” 

The room was becoming even tenser as Jango’s posture all but screamed murder and it was rather impressive he was still in control enough not to let his instincts take over with how much he looked ready to throw down here and now with me.

“I have studied and looked for information on both the Jedi and what they call the force. My magic is not the same thing. It is not something gained from some higher power, it is something innate to me. Just as it was to nearly all other sentient races on my homeworld. Our emotions do not affect it, nor does it have any influence over us.”

“Why should I believe you?” Jango said testily. He wanted to believe, to try and trust me but there was something I didn’t know that was preventing him from having faith in me. “For all I know you could have been a plant from the beginning for the Jedi and Republic.”

Ignoring how deep his words cut at him even thinking I was a traitor or spy. “Because I saved your life and have watched your back every time we were together. Unless that means nothing to you.” I coolly pointed out, starting to lose my patience and not wanting to die over whatever Jango is currently going through.

Jango was torn. On one hand, he knew I was right but on the other, he showed that he questioned everything I did and wondered if it was all to get in his good graces.

“Then we test Corvo.” Bane cut in offering a solution. “We can’t have this happening for much longer when our enemies are closing in. We all need to trust one another.” 

The tension had settled down if only slightly with the solution Bane brought up. “We will test his blood. If he isn’t force sensitive then he isn’t an undercover Jedi.”

“Alright. Do it.” Jango gave the order with the people bringing in a medical droid that so happened to have the necessary programming and equipment to check force sensitivity.

How that worked was up in the air since I didn’t remember a thing about a blood test leading to someone being revealed to be force sensitive. Not that I was worried. 

Various scum of the galaxy kept their weapons ready in case I did something while Bane leaned against the wall near the doorway relaxed and not bothered by what was happening beyond annoyance that it ever happened in the first place.

The droid took a needle and extracted some of the blood from my arm. It took the blood and placed it on a tray before it was sealed off in its chest cavity. Jango was behind me, his head blaster pistol held in his hand but aimed at the floor.

“So they just have droids on hand to test blood like this normally or…” I asked, trailing off curious while everyone was tense.

Ready for me to try something. Anything at all and they would unload their blasters into me. At least they would try to. Not like it would work out for them. The only two amongst those gathered here I had any concern for were Jango and Bane. 

“Yes. They keep’em around to test for any kids that have the potential to become a Jedi. Most cities have’em.” Bane said flippantly, ready for this to be over with. He was surprisingly acting neutral while trying to get everyone focused back on the more immediate threat.

That was interesting while it also made some sense. The Jedi couldn’t be everywhere in the galaxy and having a means to test force-sensitive children in areas where they couldn’t have a Jedi posted would help in finding and bringing them to the temple.

“Scan complete. No midichlorians have been detected.” The droid broke the tension with everyone in the room looking at it in disbelief.

“Impossible,” Jango said, looking between it and me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I told you I wasn’t.”

“Not that Corvo. Even if it’s a small amount per cell, everyone has some. You don’t have any.” Bane said looking at me like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out.

Everyone stared at me. It was awkward and made me want to fidget. “So I’m cleared. Can you put your blasters away before someone does something even stupider than this entire mock court?” 

My voice got louder and angrier when everyone looked towards me wide-eyed, wincing before putting their weapons away. Save for Jango, Bane, Bossk, and the latter's father.

They had the decency to lower their weapons not directly aimed at me. “You're cleared, Corvo. I needed to be certain you weren’t a spy, that’s the last thing we need when things are dire enough.” Jango said, bolstering his pistol.

I stared at him for a long moment with a blank expression. I didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, it was a slap in my face despite all that I had done for him, and he was shown to be worthless. On the other hand, I understand that even if what he did was excessive. There was more to it than just him checking if I was a spy or saboteur.

A hand grabbing my shoulder snapped me out of those thoughts. “Come on, Corvo. We have a job to do.” Bane said walking back out of the command center with me looking back at Jango one last time. He met my gaze with a frown on his face and before I left the room he turned away from me out of shame.

“Right. Let’s get this over with.” 

The two of us quickly left the building hearing the sounds of blasters far closer than they had been before. Speeders flew above us the crews working tirelessly shooting at things in the distance, with the hum of their repulsorlifts filling the air with the thunder and lightning above joining.

The rain had gotten worse with the ground filled with half a foot of water. “The infrastructure the city had for flooding was severely damaged by this point. Otherwise, the water wouldn’t be so bad.”

Bane said this with his hat and coat keeping him mostly safe from the downpour coming down upon us. Like gods above weeping at the battle happening down here.

“What about the civilians? Any survivors?” I asked since I never learned what happened to them after the explosion where we had them held to keep them as far from the fighting as possible.

“Of course there was. A lot died from the explosives planted where we kept them.” Bane grumbled, sounding more annoyed than sad at the loss of those people's lives.

“Do we know who planted them?” 

Bane stepped onto a speeder bike with mounted blasters on it. “No. Jango seemed to believe it was you for some reason. With the revelation of what you can do, he may have gone with the assumption that you were a Jedi in deep cover. Even if it made no sense for a Jedi to kill civilians.”

Letting out a long sigh before turning to go where I was needed and to do the next stage of the plan given how far back our forces are getting pushed back. They were giving as good as they got but with what amounted to several million if not far more battle droids it didn’t matter.

“Corvo.” I turned back to look at Bane, his speeder bike already powered up pushing the water under it away and splashing my pants with it. “Don’t take what Jango did personally. I know what he did was excessive but with how things are it was a mistake any of us could have made.”

I didn’t have much to say to that. “For what it’s worth I did defend you when Bossk and Cradossk were pushing for you to be executed when the teams called in what they saw. Even if I hadn’t Jango had already ordered for you to be escorted back here and not gun you down on the spot. Make of that what you will.”

With that Bane flew off heading over to support and direct his men. Shaking my head and ridding myself of any distracting thoughts when a life and death battle was being waged all around me.

Running through the water sending far larger splashes into the air before I jumped with a quick flex in my legs. Many of the people around us looked at me in awe. All of them froze and watched as I soared through the air and landed atop one of the smaller buildings before leaping from it.

Rushing through the dark city with little light to see beyond the blasters, distant lightsabers, and lightning. 

“We need back up, we are getting flanked by Republic troo-- Jedi!” Someone under my command yelled through our communications channel with the sound of blasters before the familiar hum of a lightsaber made their voice adopt a tone filled with pure panic.

Rushing towards their position it took me little time to get there. Most of my men were already dead but a few were still alive shooting at the two Jedi and the troopers behind them.

Unfolding my bow and notching three arrows the string pulled taut before it was released just when I dropped down off the edge of the building. Three of the five troopers were struck. One had his eye impaled by the shaft of the arrow sticking out of his socket with him falling face-first the arrow was shoved further into his head.

Another had his throat where his artery was located speared by the arrow. He fell like a puppet with its strings cut grasping at the arrow. The last of them had the projectile find a gap between his armor hitting his heart as it deflated like a flat tire before falling silent. 

Dropping down near one of the Jedi who was ready for me. Their lightsaber with a simple decapitation strike was blocked by my newly acquired lightsaber. The blades crackled with each blow exchanged. I overpowered them with my greater strength shoving them back with each strike handling the weapon like a great sword. 

One last particularly powerful blow had sent them even further back before I rushed at them not planning anything, simply going for the kill while reading their body. The Jedi tried to counter with a low sweeping strike that would have taken my legs below the knee only for it to be redirected.

The blade held at an awkward angle had its strike veer off before with a quick thrust the smell of burnt flesh filled the air with me swiftly rushing past the falling form of the Jedi.

“No!” The other Jedi yelled in desperation seeing their comrade dead. 

“You and your friend here knew what you were walking into. This is on you as much as it is us.” I said calmly, already moving into a frenzy of blows that he struggled to match. 

Before he even got the chance to block a nasty blow aimed to knock his blade aside and take his head a series of blaster bolts impacted his back making him gasp with several more coming in from behind. The two remaining Republic troopers fell to the ground dead.

Pocketing the throwing knives I was about to toss at them before looking down at the Jedi who had fallen to his knees, his lightsaber extinguished and dropped into the water out of sight. 

I frowned, feeling bad for yet another Jedi having to die here. Hardening my heart with a resolute expression thrusting the hissing blade into his chest he looked up at me wide-eyed before his expression softened into a gentle embrace with death. Peace permeated him before he fell into the water with a splash.

I looked towards the remaining squad members. “Fallback to the next line, you’ve lost too many people to continue harassing them. Head down to street level after equipping yourself with the proper equipment and help hold the streets.”

They nodded at me staring in awe before I left. Our forces had been pushed back several blocks. Not that the droids or Republic forces didn’t pay a steep cost. My droids were helping hold back the lines of droids with the few remaining personal ion cannons taking out whatever tanks they got into the city.

Speaking of them, a few of said tanks lay on their sides or face down in the water with plenty of droids surrounding them piled up in the water looking like a dam built by a beaver. 

Despite the rain coming down hard and fast, smoke and fires across the city still raged on, the red of blaster fire filling the darkness of this dreary night. If it wasn’t for my days fighting in the war before the nukes were fired then this would have been something I couldn’t look away from.

Moving through the areas harassing and doing everything in my power to slow the advance of the machine army. With my powers now revealed there was no point in holding back like I once had.

One area was flash frozen with the droids and troopers turned into still statues with flakes of frost floating about like snow. Another area was turned into a boiling mess with steam, water boiling like it was fresh off the stove, molten metal from the cheap droids turned to slag, and the smell of burned bodies floating in the bubbling water.

Each time I used my magic it took a chunk out of my magicka but nothing that couldn’t be recovered while moving from point to point. A single glance below me was all I needed to know if I needed to intervene.

“Get out of the water!” I yelled. Everyone holding the choke point that was about to be overrun did as ordered after a moment of hesitation. They clambered onto crates, metal pieces used as makeshift barriers, even going inside open doorways to shops and houses.

“It’s the bounty hunter.” A droid pointed at me with many of the machines marching along aiming at me. Far too long with their simple programming to line up their guns fast enough. Hand lazily outstretched before tongues of lightning like angry vipers snapped out.

The water went from a murky black reflecting the darkness above, to a blinding neon blue that sparked and danced along the surface. The lightning didn’t act like normal lightning should but it still was lightning at the end of the day.

If it were one of the more advanced spells beyond a simple spark spell this wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. The higher tiers emphasize better control over the respective element which is why chain lightning would only hit what the caster deemed as a target or threat. On occasion when it did hit an ally, but those incidents could be chalked up to the caster losing or not having enough concentration when casting the spell. 

The magicka generated the lightning, and through that magicka, it acts like an extra arm. You have some control over it not letting it abide by the normal rules that things like electricity would.

The droids were soon spasming, smoke wafting off of them with sparks pouring off their metal bodies like sweat. For a few tense seconds with several Republic troopers who were too slow to get out of the water they simultaneously fell into the water.

What few troopers were left swiftly tried to retreat with most of them getting blasted in the back and those that weren’t shot by those below me I just gunned down with my pistol.

The group below me cheered that they were still alive. A few were smart enough to realize that they still were in the middle of a battle. “Come on, we still have more coming! Man the blaster cannons!”

They all quickly fell into line retaking their positions and bringing the makeshift turrets out of the water and ready to start blasting anything that comes down the road. 

“All light assault squads, pull back. The next phase is about to begin.” Jango's voice rang across the comms channels for each person across the city.

Pulling up my own comlink, “Jango, Bane, any word on finding out who the saboteur is?” 

“No. A little busy trying to fight off the Jedi and droids marching over what may be our last stand.” Jango said bitterly.

I understand where he is coming from but something like that not getting corrected could lead to a bad situation happening for us all at the worst time. 

“Alright, I get it, busy leading a ragtag bunch of criminals against overwhelming odds. At least have it set up where those fixing my ship have specific orders that they are not to leave one another’s sight and no one is allowed to go off on their own unless they have at least two others with them.” I listed off what I could think of on short notice.

A pause on the other end went on for a bit longer than I liked. Just when I thought they hadn’t heard me Jango spoke up, “Alright it’s something at the very least. Anything else?”

“Besides giving everyone instructions if they see someone doing something suspicious or acting shifty to immediately report it I got nothing else. It’s better than nothing and might be able to slow those down that are stabbing us in the back.”

“Alright. I’ll start giving out those orders, meet up with Bane, your light assault duties are finished.” Jango ordered.

“Corvo I’m over at the entertainment district, near the big tower,” Bane told me while I swiftly moved across the tops of the buildings like I was Tarzan swinging around through a jungle. In this case a duracrete jungle.

Occasionally taking a pot shot mid flip or swing at some troopers with the blaster bolt landing right on target and killing them with my back and retreating form being the only thing their comrades could see when they returned fire.

By the time any of them did I was long gone. I felt bad for killing them and the Jedi in this battle. Especially the Jedi. But it’s not like I had much of a choice. If I didn’t they would kill me or bring me to Coruscant where Sidious would want to cut me open and see what made me tick.

That’s not an option. So as sad as it is they have to die if this galaxy is going to have any kind of future that doesn’t involve an oppressive empire crushing anyone under its merciless authoritative boot.

My body was fully drenched in water with the rain from above just coming down harder and harder the longer this went on. With my forces pulled back seeing them scramble across rooftops with them rushing to retreat as the droids and troopers moved through the flooded streets unimpeded now.

Before they would struggle to even move down these flooded roads and corridors let alone try and hold them before taking substantial losses. Now they moved through them with impunity. Though the droids weren’t advancing as fast as they had before.

Not because the flood waters or debris were slowing them down but more like they had purposely slowed down. Rows of droids moved along the streets with several tanks backing them up hanging in the middle of each group.

Leaping off a sign that jutted out at an odd angle from one building, grabbing some pipes, and swinging off that to sail over another before landing on a building that showed the tower and street Bane and a lot of our people were at currently. 

Landing with a big splash sending water everywhere had Bane whirl around a blaster held at the ready with his eye droid hovering over his shoulder built-in blaster aimed and ready to fire.

He huffed holstering his pistol. “Next time just run down the streets Corvo. One of these days Jango or I are going to mistake you for an enemy and put a blaster right between your eyes.” Bane pointed a finger between his own eyes giving me a cocky smirk.

“Bane we both know you ain’t making that shot even if it was an off day for me.” I chuckled, shaking my head at him. “Now the droid I made for you,” I stepped over rubbing my hand along its cold metal shell, “It could potentially make the shot.”

The less-than-impressed look Bane gave me made me want to crack up laughing at the man. “Enough with the wisecracks we've gotta’ job to do,” Bane said all business and definitely not because he was getting annoyed with me.

“Alright, alright, take it easy. If this is our last fight in this life, we might as well get some laughs before the end.” I respond calmly walking forward while whipping an arm out flinging water off of me. 

The cold doesn’t bother me thanks to my vampiric heritage which was eating up this conflict. It was worse than that time I drank my first energy drink and I couldn’t hold still. Excitement poured out of me making me want to vibrate on the spot.

But none of it showed to anyone around me keeping myself in check. Didn’t want to look like a raging psycho when everyone else was looking at what would be their last moments of life.

“Forget about it, Corvo. They won’t find anything funny right now,” Bane waved dismissively towards everyone around us, “Especially when what we are about to do is important.”

Bane walked over before addressing the crowd of criminals. “Everyone listen up and listen well I won’t repeat myself. We need to hold this road as long as we can. This is the main road through the city and it leads straight towards the spaceport where our means of escape is.”

Everyone stared at Bane with the utmost attention at the mention of our current only means of escape.

“So you all understand why this is the most important job you have right now. What we are going to do is hold this point even if the droids are right on top of you. You will not flee if Jedi are swinging their lightsabers around. Am I understood?”

A chorus of agreements was given even if they were done with hesitation.

“Good enough,” Bane said not pleased with what he had to work with but accepted it all the same since he didn’t have a choice. He turned back to me, “Corvo, how exactly does your… magic work?” 

I bit back my retort at him not wanting to call it magic. “I just think of a spell I know, if I got the magicka which is the fuel for the spell I can perform it and keep it sustained if need be before I run out.”

“That simple?” Bane asked, tilting his head while grabbing some blasters off to the side near some makeshift ramps and stairs they got ready when the water began to flood the city. “How long does it take for your magicka to come back?”

“It’s that simple and it takes a couple of minutes of rest.” 

Bane fell silent at that before a big smile formed on his face. He rubbed his hands together looking rather happy now. It was… kind of off-putting since I don’t think I have ever seen him this happy before. Or at all for that matter.

“Those droids and the Republic are not going to have a good time.”