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Rex knew that the Togruta people had fangs. During his early years, he and his clone brothers had been taught all about different species of people across the galaxy, knowledge that may prove useful in the battlefield. Of course, it hadn’t been a full glossary of the species, just a brief overview. The name of Togrutas was just one name among the many other races he and his brothers had to learn about before they were equipped for combat.
But even after meeting Ahsoka, never did it occur to him that this little one had fangs too. When they first met, he had made pointed jokes about eating rodents and the myth that the Togurata had a poisonous bite, but the idea of Ahsoka’s fangs never really settled in his mind completely. Her different biology was just a background element compared to being his General’s darling apprentice and his commanding officer.
It was this mission that reminded how different she was compared to her human (and clone) peers.
Today, he and his squadron, led by both General Skywalker and Commander Tano, were to infiltrate this shady casino and smuggling ring. He didn’t know the exact details other than this operation was funding the Separatists a lot of credits and that it needed to be taken down if they were going to gain an edge in the war.
As per usual, Anakin had come up with an outrageous plan to sneak in undercover to discreetly plant bombs throughout the building at key locations, mostly near the vault and slot machines. Ahsoka, who would obviously be out of place in such a location, had taken a couple spy droids into the vents, to keep watch and deal with security. She was the only one who could since the vents were literally too small to fit anyone else but her.
The plan worked. For a while at least.
While his general was able to pull off the air of a rich gambling addict, the plan fell apart when one of the patrons noticed the bombs and had accidentally set it off.
Immediately, the casino became a hot zone, blaster shots whizzing around as hired bounty hunters and droids swarmed them. Through the chaos, Ahsoka had been found and was smoked out of the vents, taken hostage by one of the bounty hunters holed up in this maze of a building.
“Rex, find Ahsoka,” his general had ordered him while he fended off a wave of Manga Guards. There was an edge to his voice.
He didn't think twice. “Yessir.”
Rex took Jesse and Fives with him as they searched room by room, looking for where their tiny commanding officer was being held. Eventually they were able to trace Ahsoka’s commlink, which the bounty hunter somehow didn’t notice. The trio burst in, but a Twi’lek quickly grabbed the young girl by the neck, putting her in an arm lock and aimed a blaster straight for her head. He was flanked by two battle droids, who immediately trained their guns on them. Ahsoka’s hands were in binders behind her and her lightsaber was nowhere to be seen.
“Don’t take another step,” the Twi’lek mercenary hissed, pressing the gun to Ahsoka’s head.
“Let her go,” Fives seethed next to him, edging forward, ready to tap his blaster’s trigger.
Angry, the sleemo shoved the blaster further between her head tails, making Ahsoka wince at how hard he was pressing it into her head. “I said don’t.”
“Easy, Fives,” warned Rex, putting a hand out before Fives could take another step. He wanted to get Ahsoka out of danger as soon as possible too, but they couldn’t risk her getting hurt.
“Put down your weapons or the girl gets it!” the sleemo threatened. Next to him, Rex heard Jesse curse underneath his breath.
Rex and his men exchanged hidden glances from underneath their helmet, before reluctantly began lowering their weapons.
“Rex, don’t listen to him!” Ahsoka managed to shout before the man behind her cocked her neck painfully to one side to shut her up. Even without looking at them, Rex could tell that the two men next to him were getting antsy.
“Shut your mouth, girly, ” the man told her in a derogatory tone, to which Ahsoka growled audibly in reply. The bounty hunter pointed at them. “Drop your weapons. Now.”
Ahsoka wrestled in his grip, trying to get free but she suddenly stopped. The young Jedi then looked directly at Rex, a predatory glint in her eyes. Rex knew this look. She often had it when she finished cleaning up some droids or right after accomplishing a difficult task. It was a certain look of a predator that had cornered her prey. A smirk slowly appeared on her lips.
“Rex,” she mouthed, flaring her pointed teeth and fangs at him. The Togruta then winked at him.
Before Rex could really understand what she was trying to communicate to him, Ahsoka opened her mouth wide and snapped it shut, right on the man’s hand. There was an audible and sickening crunch as Ahsoka’s teeth tore through into flesh and bone.
The bounty hunter cried out in pain as he dropped the blaster in his shock, the two droids beside him just confused and shocked as he was. But despite being free of his grasp, Ahsoka's jaw was locked in place, grinding down on his hand, refusing to let go. No matter how hard he tried ripping it from Ahsoka, she only bit down harder. Blood leaked from the side of her lips, but it wasn’t hers. There was a triumphant glint in her eyes as she glared at the shocked troopers, as if to say ‘What are you waiting for?’.
Acting quickly, Rex shot the man in the shoulder, to avoid hitting Ahsoka and he fell back. Jesse and Fives made quick work of the droids too. Ahsoka finally released the deadly hold she had on his hand. Between the pain in his hand and being shot, the bounty hunter was out cold from the pain, the dead droids laying next to him in almost comical poses.
“What do you think of this ‘girly’ now, sleemo.” Ahsoka straightened herself up, spitting the blood that had accumulated in her mouth towards her unconscious victim in disgust, tongue out with all. It didn't look like sleemo blood was quite her taste.
“That was… brutal,” Jesse commented quietly as Fives rushed over to release their commander from the handcuffs. The trooper turned to Rex. Even under his bucket, Rex could tell his peer was very, very awestruck. “Did you know she could do that?”
“Now I do,” replied Rex with a surprised huff, still not quite sure what to make of the whole situation.
The whole thing was outlandish enough to fit within the whole of those ‘Skywalker Branded Plans’, but it would never be anything Anakin or he could come up with. No, this was something only their Togruta Padawan Commander could do.
While Fives was checking to see if she was alright, Rex curiously walked over to the unconscious bounty hunter to put him in binders. The Republic would probably want to interrogate him more about the operation here. As he was doing so, he looked at the mangled remains of the man’s hand. Completely crushed, exposed bone, flesh, and nerves. Rex could see the bloody indents where pointed teeth had sunk in. Some parts of the hand were only held together by threads of muscle, blood oozing through the seams. Any longer and Ahsoka might've actually ripped the chunk off. Rex had seen his fair share of gore and bloodshed on the battlefield, but he had to admit this even this was a brutal sight. It would be an actual miracle if he was able to use this hand any more.
Ahsoka didn't seem the least bothered by what she had just done. She just sniffed indignantly, leaning down to fish her lightsaber out of one of his packs and pulling her commlink from out of her boot. So that’s why it wasn’t destroyed when she got caught, clever girl.
“Maybe instead of 'Snips', the General should call you 'Crunch',” joked Fives, who gave her a clean bill of health. She grinned at him as Rex carefully put the unconscious man in binders, giving him an injector so he didn’t die before they could pick him up later.
“Nice work, skipper,” agreed Jesse with a breathy laugh.
Ahsoka looked smugly at them all, crossing her arms in a defiant pose.
There was suddenly a rush of footsteps outside and Anakin appeared, out of breath, lightsaber out and in hand, followed by what's left of their squad. “Ahsoka!” he called out, but his expression changed when he saw the scene before him.
Anakin took one look at Ahsoka’s face and saw the blood smeared near her mouth. It looked like he was about to start one of his ‘fussy master’ routines when his eyes were slowly drawn to the bounty hunter and the mangled remains of his hand. At this, Anakin gave his apprentice a funny look, not quite understanding what he was seeing.
“He was asking for it.” Ahsoka waltzed over to him as if nothing was wrong. The general was just as stunned as they had been.
“We’re…going to have to talk about this later.” Her master was trying to be stern, this whole thing didn’t seem very Jedi-like after all, but Anakin had a small smirk on his lips. He looked strangely proud. "Glad to see you're okay, Snips." He patted her gently on the shoulder.
"Aren't I always, master?" she replied innocently, wiping the blood from her mouth and flicking the droplets from her hand in one sassy movement. One final middle finger to the sleemo.
Once their Commander was freed, the rest of the mission went pretty smoothly with her support. But Ahsoka’s fanged feat was not soon forgotten. Rex had to write a report on it and the whole 501st legion were abuzz with the fact that their fourteen year old commanding officer apparently bit some sleemo’s hand off.
It wasn’t entirely accurate. The bounty hunter’s hand was able to be salvaged by the medics, but Ahsoka’s teeth had severed nerves and rendered the hand partially paralyzed as a result. It was a pity, but it wasn't like this sleemo was going to really need that much anymore in prison. But through word of mouth, the story grew and grew. Eventually, he began hearing rumors at 79’s of a Jedi eating a sepratist’s hand off, which was hilarious as it was exasperating.
“Did you know, Togrutas have a bite force almost as strong as some of the galaxy’s greatest predators?” Fives, Tup, and Echo were huddled around a datapad in the barracks.
Fives held up the datapad to everyone else, which showed a skull of a fully grown Togruta. “And our Commander isn’t even an adult yet.” He pointed to a part of the skull. “Look! Her second set of canines haven’t even grown in!”
“Lucky bastard,” Echo said, snickering slightly. “He would’ve lost his whole hand if skipper was just a few years older.”
There was a disappointed sigh. “I wish I was there to see the look on his face,” lamented Hardcase, crossing his arms from a higher bunk.
“I saw the medical reports for that sleemo,” Kix chipped in, shuddering slightly. “Trust me, you don’t want to see it.”
“Think she’ll do it again?” Hardcase asked curiously, ignoring what Kix said and side-eyeing everyone. “If so…” He glanced at Rex, an excited look in his eyes. “Can you put me on her team?”
Rex could’ve facepalmed. His men were having an absolute field day with this. “Unless you are specifically required for the mission, no.” Hardcase pouted playfully. “And we likely won’t see anything like that ever again. You all very well know that little one was chewed out for this.”
“Heh. Chewed,” Coric muttered from where he was currently relaxing.
Despite her heroics during that mission, Ahsoka had apparently been severely reprimanded by the Jedi Council for her violent behavior, though they eventually had conceded that it was all in self defense, it was something that her master insisted. Despite this, Ahsoka was still given something of a punishment and was put off duty for a while to ‘cool off’. She was put under Shaak Ti's tutelage for a week to learn more about her biology.
“I don’t see the problem,” sniffed Tup, looking at the datapad once more. “If it had been one of us, no one would’ve batted an eye.”
“Jedi things, I guess. I don’t get it either.” Echo shrugged. “I’m just glad our Jedi are the ‘cool’ ones.” His peers nodded in agreement.
“Did you see the look on the General’s face after the mission?” Fives looked to Jesse, who was slowly chewing a ration bar nearby. “Even he was proud.”
“I bet if he had a set of chompers like Ahsoka, he would’ve done the same thing,” mused Jesse. Several of the other clones said words in agreement, but Kix had an exasperated look on his face, glancing at Rex.
“No wonder the rumors are so ridiculous.” Rex shook his head in amusement, but let the boys continue. There wasn’t really any harm done other than the Jedi Council's reputation and that sleemo's hand, two things Rex didn't really care all too much about in the long run.
At the end of the day, Ahsoka still intelligently defended herself with the tools her biology gave to her. He too was proud.
Eventually, the youngling Togruta was released from Shaak Ti's custody and returned to her master; allowed finally to return to duty once more, much to the happiness of Anakin and the legion. Even though she had technically been under punishment, Ahsoka still had a bright look on her face as she boarded the Resolute, not phased once bit. She trailed after Anakin with her head held high, her master looking just as pleased.
"Commander," He greeted her as she approached, a smile underneath his helmet. "Glad to have ya back."
Instead of answering back, Ahsoka just flashed him a big ol' grin, fangs and all.