Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Laserfire streaks across Grievous’s vision as he navigates his wheel-bike across the battlefield. Behind him is Obi-Wan Kenobi, the damned Negotiator , atop a Veractyl, chasing after him. Damn you, Kenobi! Damn your clone army, damn your Republic, damn your Jedi Order! , Grievous screams internally. As he weaves through the city, he notices Kenobi gaining on him. Growling, he grabs his electro-staff from its holder in the wheel-bike, preparing to impale the Jedi. As Kenobi’s Veractyl pulls up next to the wheel-bike, Grievous jabs at the Jedi, attempting to knock him off of his mount.

To Grievous’s shock and anger, Kenobi had the nerve to actually hit the electro-staff to the side! The cyborg General jabs at Kenobi again, and the Jedi tries to grab the staff, but fails. Jabbing at Kenobi a third time, Grievous’s eyes widen as his opponent grabs the staff, and pulls it from his grasp. Grievous growls, and pulls his wheel-bike closer to the Veractyl, attempting to reclaim his weapon.

As he grabs at the electro-staff, his wheel-bike jolts. Grievous looks forward, and sees Kenobi trying to use the electro-staff to disable his vehicle. After a few tries, Kenobi gives up, and readjusts his grip on the weapon. Grievous narrows his eyes, which then widen in shock as the electro-staff bashes into his face. Grievous lets out a howl, and lunges, grabbing hold of the staff. He pulls on it, and Kenobi flies off of his mount, and, to Grievous’s surprise, onto the wheel-bike .

Grievous thrashes in his seat, trying to throw Kenobi off of him, barely keeping the bike in control. As Kenobi tries to wrest the staff from his control again, Grievous reaches for the other holster in his bike, grabbing the blaster within. He blindly fires at the Jedi on his back, missing two shots before Kenobi leans off the bike, throwing off Grievous’s balance. They both fly off the bike, which tumbles over the edge of the landing platform they’d arrived at.

Grievous forces himself off the ground, and sees Kenobi coming towards him, spinning the electro-staff. Growling, the cyborg fires off a shot, which goes wide as Kenobi knocks the blaster from his hand, following up with a jab to his torso. Grievous looks at Kenobi in confusion. He didn’t actually think that would work? , the cyborg thinks. As Kenobi attempts to jab him again, Grievous knocks the electro-staff out of the way. But, of course, Kenobi somehow uses that to his advantage, turning it into a swing that knocks the General over. The Jedi attempts to impale him, but Grievous’s duranium exo-skeleton protects him. He kicks Kenobi off of him, sending him flying across the platform.

Grievous stands up, ready to finish this fight. He lumbers over, and Kenobi stands in time for Grievous to throw a punch at him. Kenobi barely dodges, but Grievous follows up with a backhand, throwing Kenobi against the side of the General’s fighter. As he slides down, the cyborg stalks over, grabbing Kenobi by the front of his robes, and hoisting him up. As he throws his fist forward, Kenobi ducks, and Grievous leaves a dent in the hull of his fighter.

Kenobi grabs at his chest, slowly prying open Grievous’s chest cavity. The cyborg snarls, and backhands the Jedi, sending him flying across the platform again. As Kenobi tries to get up, Grievous kicks him in the face, sending him back down. He tries to bring his foot down on the Jedi to crush him, but Kenobi rolls out of the way. Grievous tries again, but Kenobi evades that as well. The Jedi tries to kick Grievous’s legs out from under him, but only succeeds in jostling his leg. Grievous feels a grim satisfaction as he sees Kenobi cry out in pain, grasping his leg. Grievous reaches down, grabbing the Jedi by the throat, and heaves him upward, throwing him to the edge of the platform. Kenobi rolls over the edge, but manages to hang on, not quite falling. Grievous kicks the staff up, grabbing it out of the air, and stalks towards Kenobi. Glaring at him, he notices movement out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, a blaster is in the Jedi’s hand. Grievous growls, and raises the electro-staff, ready to end Kenobi’s life.

Then he hears the blaster go off.

Grievous feels an intense heat within his chest cavity as his heart literally explodes. He drops the staff, and grasps at his chest, looking at Kenobi in horror. As he gazes at the Jedi, he sees him fire off several more shots, feeling more and more heat in his chest, rising through his skull. He feels his organs melting, burning within his exo-skeleton. He grasps desperately at his mask, trying in vain to stop his death. He sees a bright flash of light, then darkness.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After what seems like an eternity, Grievous hears a faint sound. Mechanical beeping grows louder, going off at a steady rate, echoing in his mind. What… What is that sound? , he thinks.  After a moment, he sees a blurry light. Impossible… The light grows clearer, and he can see his medical droid, EV-A4-D. He blinks slowly, and tries to speak. “How…”, he rasps. The droid lets out their equivalent of a scoff. “Master, you’re going to strain yourself. I know you have many questions, but for now, all you need to know is: yes, you are alive.”

Chapter Text

“Master, you’re going to strain yourself. I know you have many questions, but for now, all you need to know is: yes, you are alive.”, says EV-A4-D, Grievous’s personal medical droid. The cyborg General slowly looks around from his position on the room’s operation table. Around the room are a few standard medical droids, as well as four IG-100 Magnaguards. As he takes in his surroundings, he feels a sharp pain in his torso. Letting out a growl, Grievous glares at A4-D, who says, “Calm down, master, I’m just installing your new artificial ‘heart’.”

Confused, Grievous looks towards his chest, and sees a black box, which the droid was installing. He looks back at A4-D, and says raspily, “How… am I… alive…?” The medical droid lets out a chuckle, and continues installing the ‘heart’. “Well, most of your brain was made up of cybernetics, so your mind was backed up safely. Your organs were pretty damaged, so we soaked them in bacta, and they’re mostly repaired. Your heart was completely destroyed, so I’m replacing it with this power supply.”

Grievous processes this information. While he wasn’t particularly thrilled that he was even more of a droid than he was before, he was still alive. And that was more important than anything else. His train of thought is interrupted by A4-D saying, “Master, the surgery is complete. Your power supply is installed.” The droid closes Grievous’s chest cavity, and the cyborg slowly sits up. The medical droid helps him off of the table, and into a standing position. Grievous begins flexing his arms and legs, making sure everything is working properly. As he does this, one of the Magnaguards steps forward, holding a metallic cylinder. Grievous’s eyes widen in recognition. He would recognize that lightsaber anywhere.

Grievous grasps the curved hilt of the late Count Dooku’s lightsaber, and activates it, the red blade giving off an ominous glow. Grievous lets out a dark chuckle, and deactivates the weapon, gesturing to the Magnaguards. As he leads them out of the medical room, A4-D falls in step next to Grievous, no doubt to monitor him. As the group makes their way to the bridge, Grievous barks out, “What is the situation?”

The leader of the Magnaguards speaks up. “Sir, we currently are aboard the Uprising , a Lucrehulk -class Battleship. It is the flagship of a small fleet made up of three Providence -class Dreadnoughts and five Munificent -class Frigates. All are fully stocked with troops, fighters, and fuel. We are en route to Mustafar to rendezvous with the Separatist Council.” Grievous nods, and processes this new information. He would have to take control of the Council, that was obvious. He could easily do away with certain members, and have the others take control. Then the CIS would need to regroup, and prepare their next move.

Grievous and his droid posse reach the bridge, and they are met by a Neimoidian, clearly the one in charge of this vessel. The Neimoidian gives Grievous a salute, saying, “General, I am Admiral Mar Tuuk. We await your orders.” Grievous analyzes the Admiral for a moment before saying, “When we drop out of hyperspace, I want our troops ready for battle. I want the shields raised, and a shuttle ready to take me down to the surface.” The Neimoidan nods and walks away, relaying the orders to certain members of the bridge crew.

Grievous gazes out the viewport at the brightness of hyperspace. His metal hand runs over the grooves of Count Dooku’s - no, his - lightsaber, deep in thought. Somehow, Kenobi had tracked him to Utapau, despite it being one of the Separatists' most secure strongholds. On top of that, he had most likely heard the plans to move the Council to Mustafar. Grievous knew that the Republic would be quick to act on that intel, so he needed to be ready to get the Council offworld, and out of the system.

Grievous hears the alert that the fleet was going to drop out of hyperspace. He turns and stalks off of the bridge, heading to the hangar, followed by two Magnaguards and A4-D. As they walk down the corridors, they’re joined by a squad of commando droids, who fall into step behind them. They reach the hangar, and board a Sheathipede -class shuttle. In moments, the vessel lifts off, leaving the ship's hangar, and heads down to the surface of Mustafar, escorted by a pair of Vulture droids.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Sheathipede -class shuttle touches down on a landing platform, and the ramp lowers. Grievous walks down, followed by his soldiers, and walks towards the facility. A4-D stands by the shuttle ramp, calling out, “I’ll watch the ship, master.” Grievous huffs, and ignores the medical droid, entering the facility. He and his droids walk through a few halls, and enter the command center. The chatter in the room dies down as everyone looks at Grievous.

After a moment, Nute Gunray speaks up in a quavering voice, saying, “G-General Grievous! We… were under the impression that you… well, that you hadn’t s-survived…” Grievous slowly meets the Neimoidian’s eyes, and Gunray shrinks back. The cyborg General stalks forward, and looks around. “Our position has been compromised. You are to board my shuttle, and go up to my fleet. We must hurry, before the Republic finds us.”

The CIS leaders all glance around at each other, then Wat Tambor says, “But what of Lord Sidious’s new apprentice?” Grievous growls, and lightly taps his lightsaber. He looks at Tambor, saying, “I will speak with him. Now, go.” The leaders all leave the command center, heading to Grievous’s shuttle. The cyborg walks to the middle of the command center, and waits.

After a few minutes, Grievous hears an alarm go off. He stalks over to the console, and sees an alert, telling him that a ship has dropped out of hyperspace. The Apprentice… , Grievous thinks. He gestures for his guards to follow him, and they head to the other landing platform, the one on which the newcomer had landed. Grievous walks onto the platform, and his eyes widen. It can’t be…

Darth Sidious’s new apprentice was none other than Anakin Skywalker.