With one last adjustment, Anakin released the droid, turning in his chair to watch it slowly float in the air. He couldn’t make anything good, but a small and simple training droid was not that hard to create.
The ball of metal was the size of a droid’s head, because that was what he had first intended it to be before realizing he didn’t have enough materials. Still, it had one of the acquired blasters, a personal shield and was capable of interacting with stationary defenses.
He was also hoping to install it on a more humanoid body later, allowing it to help with Dinah’s Matukai training.
While he didn’t exactly mind going over the beginner stances with her —he even found it relaxing— it wouldn’t bring him any advantages. He hoped to advance his own training and let the droid take over the earlier parts.
He… didn’t actually need the power such training could give but, now that he had a fully functional body again, he found the more physical aspects of Matukai training very enticing. To be able to move, stretch, breathe again. It was satisfying.
TRD-1 beeped, its photoreceptor lens taking in his vision before searching for Dinah, its actual charge. The girl was taking a shower after her training, so the droid simply floated towards the nearest socket and started charging its own batteries. The wireless connection Anakin had installed, allowing it to start searching the internet for data about its goals.
In truth, the droid was ridiculously weak, its logic matrix was terrible, more akin to a smart animal than a true droid, and it would actually need training to be effective since Anakin didn’t have access to the right programs and had to use a learning matrix instead, but it would do as an emergency protector until Anakin could make something better. It could block several blaster bolts and even kinetic weapons with its shield, as well as operate the turrets he had installed around the building.
Said turrets were made with almost all that remained of the blasters he had acquired from the mercenaries and the cannibalized parts from the geological compressor, the large device having served its purpose.
He was almost out of materials to tinker with but, right now, assaulting their base was far harder even if he wasn’t here, so he considered it a good investment.
Anakin still didn’t feel safe leaving Dinah alone, but now there were some safety measures in case he had to be away for an hour or two. The bombings in the city hadn’t stopped and he had gone out in the city three times in the last 6 days.
He hadn’t faced any other parahuman, and the gang members he faced were easily subdued with mind tricks, but he had deactivated close to thirty bombs with Ionize, more than half of them in the heads of Forced conscripts.
Anakin knew he had never been a patient man and those ABB were truly testing his limits. Were it not for the risk to the youngling, he’d probably already killed the parahumans involved. The droid was actually an attempt to get around that, even if it didn’t quite have the power necessary for that.
Satisfied, he turned towards his second project, with a twist of the Force, the last piece of his saber clicked in place, leaving only the crystal chamber awaiting. Glancing towards the crystal, Anakin frowned, he wasn’t happy with it.
Since he had not had the time to meditate and guide its formation perfectly, the crystal was uneven, bigger than normal… and red. It wasn’t a surprise, without enough time, he had chosen to focus completely on making sure the formation was successful, and the process naturally formed red crystals, that didn’t mean he was happy with it.
“What’re you doing?” Dinah asked from above his shoulder. Her still wet hair falling over his shirt.
“Finishing my last preparations,” he answered, glancing down at his now wet shirt with disapproval. “Go dry your hair. I have no desire to have to heal a cold.”
“Humph, there’s only a seven percent chance of that, more or less,” Dinah snorted, but she did pick a towel and started to dry herself properly. “So, is that your weapon?”
“In a way. It can be used as a weapon, but it is a tool, an imperfect one. I will have to remake it once I acquire better materials. Regardless, it will do… for now.”
“So, what’re you waiting for? I want to see it.”
Closing his eyes for a second, he grabbed the red crystal and carefully put it into the opening, pressing down until the energy matrix locked in place. Closing up the saber, he pointed it away from anything important and activated it.
With a thrum of power, the blade sprung into place, cracking with barely contained energy as a streak of electrical energy ran along the length. Anakin frowned, it really was quite faulty.
Getting up, he swung the saber from side to side, entering into the usual instances of Form V, using Shien to familiarize himself with the blade. He actually preferred Djem So, but he was unlikely to get into a duel here, blaster bolts and kinetic weapons were the more immediate danger.
He had really missed the characteristic sound of a lightsaber. Now, to see if the energy matrix wouldn’t fail.
Focusing his mind, he used tutaminis to actually grab the blade, absorbing the energy into his skin and straining its energy matrix as much as he could. Sparks flew off the lightsaber, darkening the floor as he kept at it until he felt satisfied. It was unstable, but only slightly and wouldn’t fail on him.
“Cool, can I try?” Dinah asked with eagerness in her voice.
With a flick of his wrist, Anakin slashed at the last remaining piece of the geological compressor, a large plate of metal. The lightsaber cut through the material like a hot knife through butter, the unstable blade leaving a huge area of damage.
“I… take that’s a no?” she whispered, looking at the still melting metal as it collapsed to the floor.
“It isn’t,” Anakin said, increasing the stabilization field on the saber with only a flick of the Force and throwing the saber to the girl. She scrambled out of the way, letting it fall on the ground and giving him the evil eye. “Take it, there is a training mode.”
“You could have said that sooner!”
“Yes.”
Looking at the saber on the floor and back towards him, Dinah sighed dramatically, but hurried to grab the tool, igniting it in front of her face.
“Do not touch the blade, it will not cut you, but it can still hurt,” Anakin warned, watching her attempt to imitate him with an impassive face.
He really didn’t know what to feel right now. It was nice to see, but it brought very bad memories. Closing his eyes, he centered himself into the Force, dismissing the screams from his mind and refocusing on the now.
“So, when do I start training with this?” The girl asked, deactivating the blade after trying to cut through a wall and seeing only slight burns there.
“Not anytime soon. Using a lightsaber requires far more knowledge of the Force than you currently have,” pulling the weapon back to him with the Force, he changed his shirt for the black robe he had brought with money he acquired from the criminals. “What you’ll be using is this. TRD-1, activate.”
With a beep, the droid disconnected from the wall and floated up at eye level, a red dot indicating where its photoreceptor was focusing. Dinah stared at the small round ball with wide eyes, poking it with a finger. “What is that?”
“Training Remote Droid 1, I am building it to help train you in Matukai techniques, but it has several other functions,” he explained, watching as the droid circled the girl, taking her in. “It is capable of shooting blaster bolts of varying strength at enemies and maintaining a personal shield for an hour, hack physical computers, track your location and control the defenses in the building. Its logic matrix is still undeveloped, so you’ll have to give it orders as its own judgment may be flawed without extensive training.”
“You… built an AI?” Dinah stared at the thing with some hesitation. “Just how smart is it?”
“It should be slightly smarter than an average dog, but training on any single task will improve its capabilities. I have tasked it to protect you, so it will not go too far from your presence,” Anakin warned, putting on his boots and gloves. “But it will obey almost any other order, do try to be responsible.”
“You made it to protect me? Couldn’t you get, you know, an actual dog?”
“I considered it but, outside of your ‘Endbringers’, your planet does not possess fauna capable of matching a droid. I did briefly consider using a Tiger or Elephant, but their usefulness did not justify the amount of attention such creatures would bring while in the city.”
Beast control was an interesting ability and it had probably saved his life against a reek back in Geonosis, but it had limited usefulness without megafauna around.
“Does this mean you’re going to leave me behind?” she asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
“No, the droid will increase your safety, but it is not capable of repelling an assault alone.”
Dinah released a breath of relief, hurrying to finish drying her hair and tying it into a ponytail before putting on her protective body armor.
Even with only a week of Matukai training, exercise and large applications of Force Healing were already showing improvements in her body. She no longer got as tired while going out and could wear the armor without any visible strain.
After dressing, she adjusted the helmet and frowned. “What’s this?”
Looking down at her, he saw she had activated the targeting program and explained. “It will help you direct the droid’s weapons. The droid doesn’t have an advanced targeting system, I did not have the materials to produce it, so you’ll have to target for it.”
With time and training, the droid would be able to learn, he had made sure of that but, for now, it would require directing. The failure was actually quite fortunate, allowing Dinah to feel useful and giving her some initiative.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Sweet!” glancing aside, Dinah immediately used her new weapon.
The droid was set to non-lethal, allowing her to disable targets without actually hurting them while also saving power. A red blaster bolt shot towards the empty trashcan they had.
The first shots missed, but the third hit it and sent it flying through the floor. It didn’t damage the metal, but it was enough to stun a normal human for several minutes.
Letting her play with the droid —he had a spare battery for it— Anakin grabbed his own mask, spending a moment just staring at the metal, it too brought bad memories. Shaking his head, he put the mask on and then clasped the new cape on his shoulders. He had considered not wearing one, but Dinah had insisted and he hadn’t bothered to argue.
While he wanted to distance himself from his past, he had to confess that he did enjoy wearing the thing. “Let’s go, it’s time to test the droid.”
.
.
.
.
Following the guidance of the Force and coupled with the city’s current state, it had been easy for them to avoid another confrontation with the PRT.
They had mostly targeted the ABB in their outings, disabling their bombs while acquiring money and materials. It was a good way of getting started on the city and nobody would mind if he took some money from the criminals.
The city really was filled with acceptable targets and Anakin quickly found a group of drug addicts for Dinah to test her droid.
The girl laid into them with a little too much enthusiasm, the stun bolts flying as fast as the droid could shoot and pelting the men before they could even react. One still got a shot off, but it was high and no reason for concern.
Stepping closer, Anakin looked down at the unconscious bodies. There were three men and a woman, all of them smelt bad, wearing rags and with far too little fat in their bodies. Merchants.
The gang itself was almost insignificant, but the state of the city meant their number was extremely high, probably because of the way poverty and despair had settled in. They were also everywhere, often violating gang markings and territory without a care even if it was probably not on purpose.
Merchants never had much money with them, or anything useful really. Anakin wished to capture Squealer just so he could better study some of her tech but, otherwise, he called the police and dismissed them from his mind.
Dinah on the other hand, seemed to savor her first win, looking at the men with some guilt, but also a lot of excitement until he tousled the hair at the back of her head, almost ruining her ponytail.
Finally, what he had been waiting for happened. Pausing a block away from where Dinah had disabled the criminals, he sensed someone watching him. Sensing their focus changing to Dinah, he remotely activated her personal shield and looked up.
“Your interest betrays you,” he said, waiting until a man wearing a black top hat appeared on top of a building, his mask slightly pulled to the side and a cigarette in his mouth while he clapped at their display.
“Impressive little device,” the man almost shouted, gazing down at them and puffing out smoke. “The PRT has you pegged as a Tinker, but I confess I had my doubts. Trickster, pleasure to meet you.”
Considering the man, Anakin sensed he was a little wary, keeping his distance to try and prevent the use of mind tricks, but also mostly indifferent to his presence. This was a job, not personal.
He considered jumping up or pulling the man closer, but he sensed two other minds with him and there was no need to scare them. He did not know what their powers were and, while he was confident of dealing with anything, Dinah was far more fragile.
The distance wouldn’t prevent his mind tricks anyway, that was not how the Force worked, even if it was a common misconception. “I have no interest in lying.”
“Dangerous that, almost as dangerous as being a lone tinker,” he said, leaning forward, he finished his cigarette and adjusted his mask fully back in place. “I didn’t peg you for a hero helping stop crime, not with the way you handed little Miss Patria her ass. So, why are you targeting Merchant? Not a very good idea at the moment.”
“You are not here for the Merchants,” Anakin growled, dismissing the man’s question, his voice grew harder and colder as he stepped in front of Dinah, sensing the man’s eyes lingering a little too long on the girl. “Do not waste my time.”
“Fine, you may have noticed, but this dear city seems to be under assault,” Trickster said, making a hard appear in his hand with a flourish. “The powers that be seem to think it’s not good for business, you see, they’re organizing a little meeting later tomorrow to try and fix the problem.”
“I take this is an invitation?”
“Yep, usually, nobody would bother with a newcomer, but you kind of made a name for yourself,” Trickster played with the card, preparing to throw it and Anakin felt a warning in the Force.
Pushing the cape back, he freed his lightsaber and prepared for a fight. From behind him, he sensed some kind of large creature hidden in the alley and a second presence inside a building, staring from the window.
The tension continued to build as Trickster adjusted his position, seeming to want to get a better look at Dinah, Anakin focused on his battle precognition, ready for anything.
Suddenly, Trickster tilted his head slightly to the side as if focusing on something, his body relaxed and Anakin felt the tension dissipating. Whatever their goal had been, it had just shifted.
With a flicker of his hand, Trickster hid the card away. A moment later, Anakin looked down and saw it lying on the floor right in front of him, exactly where a small pebble had been before. Some kind of teleportation?
Narrowing his eyes, he didn’t pick up the card, still focused on the man in front of him. The Force warned him this was not the last time they’d face each other. “Impressive, you seem to have made a wise choice.”
“What?” Trickster asked, his body tensing.
“A fight between us would not have ended well for you or your allies,” Anakin said, slowly glancing towards the building where he felt the third mind. The creature on the alley seemed to be dissipating. “I do hope you do not change your mind the next time we meet, Trickster, for your sake.”
“Intimidating asshole aren’t you?” Trickster snorted. Throwing the cigarette down, he stepped on it and turned away, starting to walk out of view. “I guess we’ll see won’t we?”
Checking his surroundings once again, Anakin finally allowed Dinah’s personal shield to deactivate. The girl almost collapsed as the tension left her body. “Who were they?”
“Mercenaries,” Anakin answered, watching as the drone lowered itself and grabbed the card from the floor, handing it over with a beep. “Likely working for one of the gang leaders.”
“Were-were they after me?” She asked, one hand crossing her chest to squeeze her arm. “Is he going to try again?”
Anakin considered the girl, he recognized the fear she felt when he first met her. Still, he didn’t want to lie. “It is possible, but Tinkers ARE valuable, they could easily be after me,” he finally said, doing his best to reassure her.
He didn’t think he was the target, not with the way Trickster focused on the girl in the end, but it was possible and, even if not, it was just as likely to be another person and not the villain that had been after her.
“But you don’t think so.”
Looking down at the nervous girl, he almost sighed. “No.”
“Thanks… for not lying, I mean,” Dinah said, her hands squeezing into fists.
Anakin simply nodded before grabbing the card from the droid and reading the location. It was a local pub in the worst part of the city. For a second, he considered what to do. Finally, he asked. “Will the city improve without any gang leaders in it?”
“Eighteen point three zero four percent chance the city will improve,” she said, it was the first question he had asked today, so there was no pain. “Nine point zero seven three four percent chance you can kill them all tomorrow.”
Anakin's first thought was to be offended. Those chances seemed really wrong; he may not be the best at protecting the girl, but killing? Killing was easy. “I thought you could not predict me?”
“I can’t, it’s wrong,” she said, her voice almost offended at the fact. “I started getting some numbers yesterday, but they’re often wrong.”
That… was very interesting. Was her power actually learning about him? Anakin still didn’t have a good idea about the source of the girl’s powers. It wasn’t the Force, but many parahuman effects could be replicated with the correct tech. The capacity to learn would indicate it could be similar to a droid.
Anakin had thought powers were static and that seemed to be the common consensus on the internet, but this contradicted it. Was the power using the capabilities he had already revealed to predict the future through calculation? Or was it actually sensing the future and had just learned to pierce through his Force defenses?
“Come, we have achieved our objective.”
Together, they returned to the abandoned building. Anakin would have to find a better location, somewhere with more comfort, even if only for the girl. Living without an actual home had been fine for a few days, but the situation seemed to be weighting on her.
Putting her to bed, Anakin watched as she squirmed, unable to get a good night's sleep. Closing his eyes, he started meditating, but keeping his temper in check was growing harder every day.
Tomorrow, he'll deal with everything tomorrow, one way or another.