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"Alright, look you two. Hera and I are going to meet with our contact, and then we're out of here. Coruscant isn't a place to mess around. It's the center of the Empire, and we definitely can't afford getting caught. So, Do. Not. Leave. This. Ship," Kanan warned, shaking his finger to the beat of each syllable; his words directed to the youngest members of the crew. "I mean it."
"Yea, yea, yea," Ezra responded dismissively. "Since when did an overwhelming number of Imperials, chasing and gunning us down, with the odds stacked against us, ever stopped us before?"
"He's got a point," Sabine shrugged.
"That is not the point," Kanan said with a huff of exasperation. "The point, is that you two stay out of sight, out of trouble, and in this ship. Do I make myself clear?"
"I still think we could outrun these Imps if we needed to," Ezra said, easily brushing of the severity of Kanan's warning as he turned back towards his room.
"Ezra!"
"Yea, I mean, seriously Kanan. Ahsoka wouldn't have sent us if she knew we couldn't pull off this mission, Imps and all...," she added, walking back towards her cabin.
"Sabine..."
Kanan just grunted and ran his hands down his face. He then turned to Zeb, who was busy playing a game of Dejarik with Chopper.
"Zeb, you're in charge here."
"Yea, yea, yea. You two go have fun," the Lasat answered flippantly, his concentration elsewhere.
Kanan grunted once more, his frustration stilled with the touch of a hand on his shoulder.
"Ready, love?" Hera asked.
"Am I ready to go? Yes. Am I ready to deal with whatever the kids manage to get themselves into while we're gone? No."
"Relax, Kanan. They may be a bit untamed, but they've proven themselves time and time again. It'll be fine. Besides, the quicker we get this mission over with, the lesser of a chance they have to screwing something up."
Kanan huffed with defeat.
"Does it not concern you that none of them ever listen to me?"
"I think that's a reflection of your leadership, dear," Hera smirked as she headed towards the rear of the ship.
"Oh, really."
"Really. Because they listen to me just fine," she boasted.
Kanan's shoulders slumped as he shook his head, then hurried after her.
Bored, the three lounged about, watching the local feed come through on the HoloNet.
"Whoa, what is that?" Ezra's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"Um...the parade?" Sabine questioned.
"Yea, but...what's will all those decorations and...why are those people dressed like that?"
"It's Halloween, kid."
"What's...Halloween?"
"It's a festival that they celebrate in some parts of the galaxy," Sabine answered. "They celebrate the dead, or something. I heard some stories from some kids at the academy. People dress up as things, and there's food, and parades and games."
"Whoa. That seems fun. We should totally check it out."
Sabine and Zeb stared at him with the thought that he was fooling around, but the mischievous gleam in his eyes suggested otherwise.
"You heard what Kanan said, right?"
"Yea, but we all know that, number one, plans fall through. All the time. Number two. Because of that, they'll need backup. Quickly. And number three, well...we know how to dance around these Imps with our eyes blindfolded."
"Hah!" Zeb chuckled. "You've barely figured out how to 'dance around' ANY of Kanan's Jedi training, WHILE blindfolded," he taunted Ezra.
The glare he received from him only made Zeb laugh harder.
"You know...I think Ezra's right. Well, besides the blindfolded part, because, really Ez, being blindfolded is NOT your thing. You remember that time when— "
"That was NOT my fault, Sabine! I was distracted!"
"Uh huh," she said, rolling her eyes.
Zeb held onto his stomach, chuckling harder than ever, at remembering that solo incident when Ezra was blindfolded while being attacked by drink cartons thrown by Chopper.
"Anyway," she continued. "I've never experienced Halloween first-hand either, and this'll probably be the last time we'll be on Coruscant for it, so...."
"Yes!"
Coming down from his fit of laugher, Zeb wiped at his eyes. "You know Kanan's gonna have our heads if he finds out."
"Since when are you afraid of Kanan?" Ezra asked, arms crossed with a flex of his brow.
"Okay, maybe not Kanan. But if you two knuckleheads get into any trouble, Hera's gonna have MY head."
"Then we won't get in trouble," he simply answered with a vote of confidence.
"You're getting too cocky for your own good, kid."
"It's cause I am good." He said; there was an arrogant smile plastered on his face, which only took a second to wipe off when Sabine smacked him upside the head.
"You can't use your Jedi powers here, remember? You do that, and we're definitely all dead meat. Come on, let's go."
"Oh. Right." Ezra's confidence levels dropped sharply. "Improvise it is."
Sabine just shook her head, then headed for the speeders, with Ezra shuffling right behind her.
"Don't forget to bring me something good!"
An hour later, Sabine and Ezra were fully enjoying the sights. They had a bag stuff with treats and fun finds, and were even able to steal some costumes that been confiscated and left in an unmanned Imperial patrol vehicle.
"Hey, guys. Ya there?"
Sabine paused to listen to Zeb over the comm channel.
"Spectre five here."
"Looks like Kanan and Hera found themselves in a bit of a jam. Their contact got picked up, got ambushed and are now in an Imperial transport headed towards the city center."
"As expected," she said, totally unphased. "We're on it. You know what to do."
"Heh, yea. Prepare for a rough take-off."
"You know it. See ya soon." She then turned to Ezra, who picked up a few more treats, "Time to go."
"Lemme guess, Kanan's in trouble?"
"Uh huh. Imperial transport, headed for the city center. I'll reach out to them. Come on. Let's get the bikes."
Ezra nodded, swiftly leading the way through the massive crowd. They felt lucky that the parade was being held near where Kanan and Hera were being brought to. Once they located their vehicles, they sped on their way, with Sabine tracking their distress beacon.
"Spectre five calling in for parental units one and two. Do you copy?" Sabine said light-heartedly, causing Ezra to chuckle.
"Parental— nevermind. We copy. We're in a transport, being held captive, and headed for the Imperial Detention Center. We need you and Ezra to come help get us out of this."
"Wasn't there a certain someone that specifically told us not to leave the ship?" she taunted.
"Har har har. Now? Now you listen to me?"
"Better late then never, right?" she continued to joke. In the meantime, she nodded to Ezra to flank the other side of the transport, while she placed a detonator on the vehicle door.
"Jokes aside. If you guys don't get us out of here before we get there, there's gonna be a very slim chance we'll get outta this one. So you better—"
"Relax, Kanan. We got this."
The interruption of Ezra's confident tone for once, was a relief.
"Hang on tight."
Hera and Kanan braced themselves, exchanging a look of concern. A few seconds later, a loud explosion went off, blowing the side of the transport open, and jolting the vehicle, causing it to sway and rock before it lost control and slammed into a nearby support structure. Managing to right himself, Kanan stood and looked over to Hera who was doing the same, then jumped back in surprise, startled by the appearance of a faceless, hooded creature with glowing red eyes, hovering beside the vehicle. It was accompanied by another, dressed in similar black robes, but its face was neon green, with demonic eyes and rabid teeth, with visible veins protruding from its skull.
"What the hell?!"
The two creatures looked at each other, then laughed.
"Oh right," Ezra chuckled. "Don't worry, it's us," he shrugged.
The familiar voice soothed Kanan's apprehension. He then helped Hera towards Sabine, where she got on the bike. He then made his way towards Ezra with a look of nonchalance.
"I don't want to know, do I?"
"Meh, probably not."
Kanan sighed then shook his head, unsurprised that he'd once again been disobeyed.