Jedi 144 (Interlude 16)

The lower levels of Coruscant-already choked by centuries of neglect-now burned with the ruin of war. A once bustling undercity was now filled with the sounds of screams, blaster-fire, and the hum of a single lightsaber. Its violet blade hissed in the darkness, and cast light over mountains of white armor and the stilled faces of men who had died in shock. 

Mace Windu, Master of the Jedi Order stood at the center of the carnage. His robes were in tatters, blackened by blaster fire, and the muck of Coruscant. One arm ended in a cauterized stump, his left eye was clouded white yet saw more than it ever had before. His previous baldness was no more, as over the course of the last five months, long-white dreadlocks had begun to grow. Windu's presence in the Force was a maelstrom. A beacon of Light in this dimly lit Hell that billions called home. 

For most of those five months, he had lived the life of a nameless vagabond. Memories fragmented, he had clung to the lightsaber that had fallen with him like it was a family heirloom. There were inklings, and moments where he remembered the past. But they were scattered, and without substance. It wasn't until that dark wave had spread throughout the galaxy an hour ago, that he recalled who he was. What he had failed to accomplish. 

And it hadn't happened too soon either. 

A million clone troopers had been sent to finish him off shortly after he had regained his clarity. They had come with tanks and dropships, flametroopers, walkers, snipers, invisible assassins, an entire Legion had been sent to subdue the mightiest warrior the Order had seen in a generation. 

Windu had torn through them all. 

He moved like light itself, each stroke of his blade was a whisper of inevitability. When the last trooper fell, a dark presence had locked onto him. Windu knew he should flee, knew that what was about to happen might become his loss. 

Yet Shatterpoint allowed him to see the ebb, & flow of the Force. To see where he might cause a ‘break’ in the so-called destiny of the universe, and alter it to a verging path. And what he saw ahead of him was difficult…but not impossible. 

As he readied himself for this inevitable conclusion, they had arrived, just as he had foreseen. 

Two shadows emerged from the haze of smoke and ruin. Cloaked in black, they moved with deliberate calm, or perhaps arrogance. It was as if the mountain of corpses, broken transports, and flaming wreck of the walkers meant nothing to the pair. The air seemed to bow around them as they approached.

A respirator's squeal broke through the cold lower level, igniting Windu’s curiosity. Glancing at the large armored man, he sensed something peculiar. ‘Skywalker?’

Darth Vader. The Force whispered to him. 

Sidious shuffled forth, his face was hidden beneath the deep hood of his robe, though the yellow fire of his eyes burned beneath it. Behind him loomed Darth Vader, silent and implacable, the rasp of his breathing cut through the still air like a saw. 

Sidious smiled as he surveyed the destruction, his gnarled fingers clasped before him. “So.” He said, voice dripping with equal parts amusement and menace. “We meet again, Master Windu.”

“The Jedi survived, your Majesty.” Windu mocked. “Knight Skywalker isn't what you imagined him to be, is he?” 

Vader took a menacing step forward, only to be waved off by the diminutive old man. 

Palpatine’s smile widened, and he revealed a row of rotten teeth as he spoke: “You survived my lightning. You’ve survived my army. But you will not survive the true powar of the Sith.”

Upon finishing his statement, an epic clash of wills emerged, and the air became supercharged. The Force coiled between them, electric and alive.

Sidious moved first, his cloak bursting outward as he launched himself forward, purple-blue lightning flickering from his fingertips. Windu’s violet blade caught it, sending jagged bursts of light arcing off the walls and into the corpses that still smoked around them. The sheer power of it burned through the air, and the metal floor trembled beneath their feet.

Then came Vader, his movements were silent, sudden, and monstrous. His crimson saber ignited with a scream, slamming into Windu’s guard from the opposite side. Sparks exploded where thier blades met, the clash of red and violet filled the dark chasm of the undercity with violent illumination.

Windu’s jaw clenched as he pivoted, his body a blur of speed and fury. Vaapad burned through his veins, channeling a dangerous, intoxicating current. He felt the darkness, tasted it, used it. The fury of his enemies became his weapon, their hate fed the storm that swirled inside him. His mind sharpened to a razor’s edge, and the world slowed around him until all he could see were fault lines. 

Every movement of his saber struck not just flesh and metal, but the weak threads of the Force that held his foes’ defenses together.

Sidious attacked with serpentine grace, spinning, and striking from impossible angles. His saber blurred like a crimson wheel of death. His laughter echoed between strikes as he unleashed a flurry of attacks. “You fight for nothing, Windu! Still you deny the power that could save everything you ever cared for! I can feel the darkness welling up inside you! Give in to your anger, give in to your hate!”

Vader said nothing as Palpatine worked to undermine Windu psychologically. Instead, he focused on dealing out as many attacks as he could. Every blow he delivered cracked durasteel plating underneath, and sent shockwaves up Windu’s arm. His mastery of Mechu-Deru made him more than a simple man in armor-like the Jedi Knights of old-he was alive in a way that was the perfect harmony of man & machine. Motors hummed with enhanced speed, and servos reacted in time with his thoughts. His strikes came like hammers from all directions, faster, more fluid, and so unerringly accurate, it was as if the most advanced machine-brain in the universe was piloting his suit! 

But despite all of this ferocity, Windu matched them both.

The floor erupted as they fought. Metal decking underneath twisted under the weight of the Force. Lightning scorched the walls, and chunks of ferrocrete flew liberally blanketed the battlefield like flechettes from a grenade. When Sidious unleashed another volley of lightning, Windu redirected it with his blade into Vader, whose armor absorbed the energy and spat it back out in a surge of electromagnetic backlash. The resulting explosion sent all three combatants flying apart, tearing a gaping hole in the substructure and revealing the cavernous depths below.

They rose almost in unison. Windu, breathing heavily but unbroken, stretched out his hand. He felt for the shatterpoints again. The thin, luminous cracks in the Force urged him on, and he felt what he had been searching for; Sidious’s footing, Vader’s rhythm, and the precarious super structure that they fought on. Their weak points were all readily apparent! 

Squeezing his hand into a fist, he struck all three.

Sidious staggered back, his boot sliding into nothing. Vader’s next swing came a heartbeat too slow, his timing fractured. The beams below them holding the durasteel floor in place snapped loose and came crashing down between them, sending everyone into a freefall into the next sublayer. The mega city of Coruscant came whooshing by, and the trio engaged in combat whilst falling to the next level. 

Clashing blades with Vader, he flipped mid-air, dodging a swipe, and delivered a brutal Force-enhanced kick/push to the Dark Lord's chest, punting him into a nearby wall, creating a massive crater. 

Seeing this, Sidious snarled and thrust out both hands. The Force screamed in answer. A skyscraper from above-its base already weakened by Windu-tore free from the skyline, and collapsed. 

Windu’s good eye widened in disbelief. The shadow of the descending monolith swallowed him whole. Meanwhile, Palpatine’s laughter echoed as the tower plummeted like a comet from heaven. Its speed was deceptively immense, and a twirl of Palpatine’s finger sent it into a corkscrew spin. 

Caught in mid air, Windu had nowhere to go. 

But Mace Windu-Master of the Order-did not attempt to dodge, or evade in any way. 

He closed his good eye, and stared at it with his milky white one. To him, the building glowed. Every molecular seam, every fracture of energy holding it together. In the Force, it was a mosaic of breaking points, each glimmering with unsung potential. He reached into the current of Vaapad-into the rage, the darkness, the promise of infinite violence-and let it flow through him unlike he ever had before. 

Then he struck.

Punching out his fist just as it came near, he applied everything he knew into that one attack. 

Palpatine’s cackling voice suddenly cut short, as if a frog had run into his throat. 

The skyscraper shattered. 

It didn’t explode, or any such thing. No, it cracked and splintered into a thousand pieces. Like a cracker breaking apart in soup, the immense structure simply came undone, raining down in harmless fragments that clattered around Windu’s feet as he landed. As for all the innocent people caught up in the catastrophe, the building had broken in just the right way, that they had all been gently dumped to the side, away from the ongoing fight. 

Windu stood amid the falling debris, his saber humming. Violet light cut through the smoke, and promised violence. His voice was low, but steady, resonating with the Force itself:

“What will break first, do you think? Your body? Or your spirit?” 

Sidious bared his teeth, face twisted in fury. 

Vader reignited his saber, and emerged from the rubble with dented armor. With a thought, his plates pushed themselves out, and the light on his front panel glimmered murderously. 

The air crackled with power as all three prepared themselves once more. Vader was breathing heavily, Windu was aching, and Palpatine's expression was hidden beneath his hood. 

For the next three hours, they clashed.

The air itself screamed, alive with lightning, debris, and the roar of the Force made manifest. The subterranean vaults of Coruscant trembled as these three titans of power collided. Their clashing wills echoed through every twisted girder and broken durasteel column that they broke during this hardcore grudgematch.  

After some time had passed, Vader had found an opening. His crimson saber came low, feinting for the shins, yet in reality, it was a killing stroke meant to bisect Windu in one clean sweep. Meanwhile, Palpatine was drawing his attention from an alternate angle, poised to strike. 

Windu felt the convergence of doom behind and before him. This path…it seemed to be…inescapable. 

Lightning arced from Palpatine’s fingers, seared through the air, and Windu raised his saber to block. The torrent struck the violet blade, detonating around him in a storm of cackling energy. Bright red plasma poured into his extremities, as he couldn't 100% block this latest burst of power due to his ever mounting fatigue. Numbing flesh and bone, his muscles locked, he couldn’t move.

Palpatine’s laughter echoed. “You are finished, Master Windu!”

Behind him, Vader closed in, his crimson blade hummed with danger as it came in for the kill.

But Mace Windu was no ordinary Jedi. He had lived too long with pain, with scars, with loss. Forcibly shattering various muscles, nerves, etc, he experienced astronomical damage as he purged the lightning from his body. Yet he wasn't finished! The Force flowed through the wound of his missing hand. He focused, channeling the living current until his stump shimmered with unseen power. It was: pure, and more solid than any flesh ever could be. His fists had once torn apart droids with the same ease that a grown man could smash a Lego set. That same power now coated his nub of a hand! 

At the last second-just as Vader was going to finish the mission-Windu turned his torso and struck backward. Although his saber was occupied by Palpatine, forced to block the lightning, the nub where his hand used to be was free! 

The Force-imbued blow landed squarely against Vader’s chestplate. The impact sent a shockwave through the Sith Lord’s armor, short-circuiting servos and staggering the giant backward with a guttural electronic snarl. Countless wires snapped, and gears pierced Vader’s lungs, forcing the big man to his knees as he vomited blood all inside his respirator. 

Seizing the opening, Windu pivoted-his eyes blazing with the fury of Vaapad-and grabbed Vader with the Force, dragging him bodily into the oncoming storm. Palpatine’s lightning struck his apprentice full-on, electricity dancing across black armor and synthetic limbs, illuminating his skeleton underneath with arcane brilliance. 

“Fool!” Sidious snarled in surprise.

Windu’s reply was a wordless roar. He thrust both hands forward, summoning the Force in a violent wave. The push hurled Vader forward, sending his massive frame crashing into Sidious. As a result, both Sith sprawled to the ground in a pile of limbs. 

Without hesitation, Windu charged.

He crossed the ruined ground in an instant, his violet blade screaming through the air toward Sidious’s throat. Palpatine recovered just in time, igniting his saber mid-roll. Red met purple in a blinding clash, their sabers locking, vibrating, grinding as their faces came inches apart.

“You should have stayed dead!” Sidious spat.

“A Jedi never surrenders to evil.” Windu growled, pressing forward, pushing the old man back. 

They moved in a furious dance of light and death. Sidious was weaving, twisting, and countering with impossible agility, whilst Windu was hammering him with raw power and brutal strikes. Palpatine no longer laughed at this point, and his cowl had been blown back, revealing a sweat stained face. 

Vader rose again in the distance, servos whining, and smoke vented from his armor. Using Mechu-Deru, he repaired most of his armor, and willed his lungs to maintain shape. Like on Mustafar when the fires should have killed him instantly, he now used his iron will to persist. Weakened, and barely able to walk, his hatred for Windu cloaked him like a smothering blanket. Reigniting his saber he began his advance, and breathed deep, ragged, mechanical snarls. 

Sidious felt Vader coming, and gave ground intentionally, drawing Windu’s attention forward.

But Windu saw through such petty tricks. He saw everything. The threads of causality, the cracks in fate, the shatterpoints of the universe spoke to him. 

As Vader closed in, Windu shifted. He parried Sidious’s next stroke with a sidelong deflection, twisted his hips, and-using the nub of his missing hand-punched the Sith Lord square across the jaw.

The impact resounded like thunder. Sidious stumbled back, and gripped a nearby, jagged, broken building for support. He was standing in a puddle of some black fluid, staining his robes, and blood trickled down his face in a torrent. That brief collision with Windu's wrist had shattered his cranium, and burst countless blood vessels, leaving him weak, and on the verge of death. Even so, he still found time to taunt the Jedi Master. Like the spider trapping the fly in the web, he patiently waited. 

“Yessss…good, Windu! Rage! Hate! Let it feed you!”

Windu then drew near, and swiped down to finish it all. However, the Sith Lord was waiting for such an opportunity this entire time! Weakened, overdrawn, and locked into such a close ranged melee attack, the Jedi Master's ability to resist Force powers was severely reduced! 

Palpatine’s eyes burned gold, and the light of madness glowed across his face. From within his robes, black storm clouds poured forth. Burning with vaporized darkness, they surged outward, swallowing Windu whole.

Lightning howled within the cloud. Bolts tore through the air, striking the Jedi from every direction. His lightsaber flew from his grasp, spinning into the gloom. His body arched in pain, muscles locking, his voice echoing in a raw, defiant scream.

An omnidirectional Force Push blasted the clouds away, and while any lesser man would have been vaporized, Windu stood tall. His skin was oozing burnt blood, and black-char, like the kind one might find on barbecue, coated his flesh. Yet for all this, damage and destruction, his will was not broken. 

Palpatine, in his fear, found himself once more on his back, shoving both hands forward, and unleashing a torrent of lightning. 

Through the ceaseless agony, through the dark depths of Coruscant, through the burning of every nerve, Windu called upon the Force again. His roar cut through the storm, and his will ignored through the pain to deliver justice to his foe. He strode forward with long, steady steps. Hand blazing with light, he pushed through the maelstrom like a man wading through deep water. 

Palpatine’s grin faltered, and his eyes went wide as Vader-who had been approaching for the kill-suddenly collapsed, as Windu’s lightsaber ignited from the ground, and cut his mechanical leg off. 

Windu lunged, and raised his fist. “Your reign ends here!”

But Sidious was faster.

The Emperor’s gnarled hands suddenly regained their youth, and his elderly form melted away like an ice cube on a hot summer's day. Reaching forward, he gripped Windu’s wrists with terrible strength. The result was instant, as Force Drain began to take effect. 

Windu gasped as his strength began to bleed away, his connection to the Force began to be siphoned by Palpatine’s mastery of the Dark Side. His vision blurred; the world tilted and dimmed, and he collapsed to his knees. This once vibrant champion of the Light began to wither, like a plant that had been exposed to too much heat. 

Sidious’s face-which was inches from death-was now bathed in the victorious glow of ecstasy. 

“What shall we do with him, my Master?” Vader slowly asked between wheezes as he stumbled to Palpatine’s side. His saber was lit, and ready for violence. 

Sidious concealed a scowl at his failure of an apprentice, and ran a hand through the fallen Jedi's dreads. 

“The Jedi are like shadows nipping at our heels. You are well aware of their weaknesses, Lord Vader. Their over reliance on one another shall be their undoing. He is more valuable to us alive.” Palpatine said with a self-satisfied smirk. 

Vader, battered and broken, looked at the perfect skin, and clean appearance of his Master-observing that his condition was so good it almost was like he didn't even fight-then bowed his head in silence. 

As for Mace Windu, the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the Emperor’s low, satisfied laughter.

Then, darkness claimed him.

~~~~~

AN: We were robbed of a real Windu vs Palpatine fight because Lucas last minute swapped out the stunt double with Ian McDermott. This is my ode to what could have been.