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Cody knew this was a trap, somehow.
He had been given his armor back, though no weapons. The armor looked unaltered, though he couldn't be certain without a closer inspection than he'd been allowed. The droids had ordered him to put his armor on and come with them.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"You are being allowed to visit Padawan Kenobi," one of the droids answered. "Provided you behave well."
Cody did not want to cooperate with anything that Dooku wanted him to do, especially not whatever Dooku thought "behaving well" meant, but he did want to see Obi-Wan. He had to make sure Obi-Wan was okay. He had to make sure that Dooku had not hurt him.
So he'd put on the armor, and he'd let them put handcuffs on him, and he'd followed the droids. It didn't hurt to walk nearly as much as it had, and Cody was beginning to understand why the bacta shots had been included with breakfast the last two days.
Everything that Dooku did was about appearances.
Cody gritted his teeth, and resolved to get Obi-Wan off this miserable rock.
He was taken to some sort of meeting room—it didn't have the large table and many chairs that he was used to, but there were several chairs and low couches around the room, and it was brightly lit, bright enough that Cody's helmet automatically adjusted its filters. The decor was still in theme with what Cody had seen so far, but this room seemed to be a reprieve from the misery and darkness of the rest of the building. There was a large mirror set into one of the walls, and a door at the other end of the room, and Cody didn't really care about the fancy decorations because he spotted—
Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan looked small and tired in the fitted black suit and cape that he wore, so obviously styled after Dooku, but he lit up when their eyes met.
"Cody!" Obi-Wan said brightly, and Cody was at his side without ever deciding for his feet to move.
"Sir, are you alright?" Cody asked, grabbing his forearms, his shoulders, putting a hand on his cheek and tilting Obi-Wan's face to check his vision. Cody didn't see any visible injuries, no signs of pain, though Obi-Wan slumped slightly into Cody's touch with something like relief.
"I'm alright, Cody," Obi-Wan said, with just enough amusement that Cody realized what he was doing and immediately dropped his hands back to his sides. "Are you?"
"I'll survive, sir," Cody said. Obi-Wan's smile dropped into a worried frown, and he started looking Cody over for injuries. He wouldn't find any; the armor hid everything, protected Cody's soft body from blasters and piercing gazes alike.
That was a clever move on Dooku's part, disguised poorly as a kindness. Now Cody knew why he'd done it.
"Master Dooku said you haven't been feeling well," Obi-Wan said. "I'm glad you're doing better."
Cody...didn't know exactly what to say to that.
"What has he been doing to you?" Cody asked. Last time they'd encountered him, on Sevarcos, Dooku had mind-tricked Obi-Wan. Cody wasn't sure how long he'd been imprisoned here, but he thought it had been longer than a week. That was...a lot of potential time to get Obi-Wan under his control.
"He's been busy," Obi-Wan said. "I haven't seen him often, but we have meals together. I don't...he said I've been sick recently, that I've been sleepwalking. Bones said that too, back on the ship—that I've been sleepwalking. My head's been kind of foggy; I think I've mostly been sleeping."
That was raising all sorts of alarms in Cody's mind.
"Obi-Wan," Cody said, voice low, getting into Obi-Wan's space, gripping his arms. "You do remember that Count Dooku is a Sith, right?"
"You've said that before," Obi-Wan said dismissively. "It's still a ridiculous accusation."
"Obi-Wan!" Cody hissed, shaking him slightly.
Cody didn't know how to undo Sith brainwashing. He especially didn't know how to undo it when he knew that it was something Obi-Wan wanted to believe. Obi-Wan was twenty-five, at this point. From when he was from, Dooku was a good guy. He'd been furious to find out that Dooku was a Sith, hadn't wanted to believe it. Heck, Cody wasn't sure Obi-Wan had believed it until they were in the Spire.
Had Obi-Wan believed it once they were in the Spire? Had it finally sunk in, when Dooku had threatened him and Cody and everyone else on the team?
The rest of the team.
"Was it ridiculous when he threatened to track down and kill every one of our comrades in the Spire and kill them slowly in front of us if we didn't cooperate?" Cody hissed.
"That didn't happen," Obi-Wan said, voice confident but...
Slowly, his expression turned confused.
"Oh?" Cody said. "What about the droids he sent to track and kill us after we escaped Sevarcos?"
"He was protecting me!" Obi-Wan said. "You...you tried to shoot me!"
Obi-Wan pulled away from him, and Cody let him go.
"He was mind-tricking you then, and he's still mind-tricking you now," Cody said. "Come on, Obi-Wan, you know it's true. We have to get out of here."
"No," Obi-Wan said, though he looked distressed. "We can't—"
"What about Anakin?" Cody asked. "We left him in the middle of a battle! You're going to stay here with the Count? You don't want to go after Anakin at all?"
"That's not true!" Obi-Wan said, but Cody was winning him over, he could tell.
"What if he isn't dead?" Cody asked, pressing his advantage. "What if he and Waxer and Boil and Bones are still out there, pinned down somewhere, waiting for us to rescue them? Are we just supposed to leave them there? Because the Count said you're sleepwalking? Listen to yourself, Obi-Wan!"
"That's..."
Obi-Wan looked deeply distressed. He looked like he was in actual pain, trying to think.
"I don't...I don't understand," Obi-Wan said softly. "Anakin wasn't supposed to be in danger. I left him on the ship."
"He came after you because he knew the Count was dangerous," Cody said. "We need to go after him, now, and make sure the Count didn't hurt him after he captured us."
"But—"
Cody lost what Obi-Wan said next, because his audio receptors filled with static as someone came on the line.
And a voice, something familiar and unfamiliar at the same time said,
"Commander Cody, Execute Order Sixty-Six."
It felt like his head was shoved underwater. Everything seemed distant and quiet. He felt like he was floating, like nothing was quite real.
CC-2224 saw the Jedi in front of him, and recognized it as a traitor.
The traitor stilled as it noticed that he'd recognized them, taking half a step back, face falling into a wary frown.
"Cody?" the traitor said, a meaningless word. "What's going on?"
CC-2224 had no weapon, but that would not stop him.
He threw himself at the traitor.
The traitor crumpled underneath him, landing hard on its back. It had its hands around his wrists, preventing him from moving them from its tunic, but it was panicked and wild-eyed.
It made no move to attack, but CC-2224 knew it was dangerous. Knew it had to be stopped sooner than later, through any force necessary.
"Cody, whatever's wrong, we can talk about this!"
CC-2224 grabbed the traitor's tunic and pulled, then slammed the traitor back onto the ground. The traitor made a pained noise as its head made contact with the floor.
"Stop!" the traitor yelled, and CC-2224 halted for a moment, the order echoing inside his head. He wanted to follow the order.
But the traitor's orders were subordinate to Order Sixty-Six.
"This isn't you, Cody!" the traitor said, and twisted sharply, throwing CC-2224 into a couch.
The traitor had attacked him. The traitor was dangerous. The traitor had to be stopped. Execute Order Sixty-Six.
CC-2224 staggered to his feet. He had been injured recently, and his injuries were making themselves known now. His head ached. Orders bounced around inside of them, conflicting, making it difficult to determine his next steps.
Stop.
Execute Order Sixty-Six.
This isn't you.
Execute Order Sixty-Six.
Stop.
Execute Order Sixty-Six. This isn't you. Execute Order Sixty-Six. Stop Order Sixty-Six. Execute you. Order Sixty-Six. This isn't you. This isn't you. Order Sixty-Six. Stop. Stop. Stop.
The traitor approached, getting into grappling range. The traitor looked worried, and reached out as though it wanted to touch him.
Execute.
Cody lunged. His hands were around the traitor's throat, stopping it from giving him orders, stopping it from stopping him.
The traitor tried to choke out words, tried to struggle. Stop. Stop. Stop. CC-2224 could fill in the words that the traitor couldn't say. He slammed the traitor against the wall, next to the mirror.
He pressed down until the traitor stopped struggling.
He held the traitor until it went limp in his hands.
"Commander, abort Order Sixty-Six."
He gasped as though he'd been pulled out of water, as though he'd been drowning. The traitor dropped from his hands.
Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan.
"Obi-Wan!" Cody said, softly, horrified. He dropped to his knees, checking for a pulse.
He didn't find one before droids burst in from everywhere, dragging him away from Obi-Wan. He shrieked, kicking and fighting, but there were too many of them.
Dooku swept in with a cold, closed look. "What have you done, Commander?" he asked, in a tone that wormed its way under Cody's ribs.
Cody was forced out the door by droids as Dooku knelt by Obi-Wan's crumpled body, and again, Cody had no idea if Obi-Wan was dead or alive, and his last sight of his General was in the arms of that Sith.
But this time, it was his fault.
This time, Cody had done this.
What have you done, Commander?
He didn't know why. He didn't know what had happened. It was difficult to remember, scattery. It had to have been, what? Thirty seconds? A minute, at most? Why couldn't he remember. What the kriff had happened to him?
He spent hours in his cell, alone, with only his spiraling thoughts. Dooku hadn't been in there with them. He couldn't have been mind-tricked, could he? Had he? Had his body been forced to move without his consent, like on Sevarcos? He was pretty sure he remembered his actions, he'd...he'd knocked Obi-Wan to the ground, and he'd choked him—but he'd been standing when he'd choked him.
Why had he done that?
What had happened?
What had he done?
Cody was left alone, after that. Mostly. He thought.
His head felt fuzzy, and most of the time it was hard to think. He was even less sure of how long he'd been in here. Long stretches of time seemed to disappear with no idea of where it had gone.
This must be what Suture called "a depressed state." Or maybe "shell-shock"?
His armor disappeared at one point, and he knew he should be worried about that, but...it was hard. It was difficult to think, difficult to care. Really, the only thing his thoughts circled back to was Obi-Wan. Whether he was okay. What had happened. If he was alive.
And then, at some point, he heard the distant door open.
Cody shot up, more alert than he'd been in what felt like forever. The click-click-click of heeled boots approached him. The cadence was familiar.
He didn't dare hope.
He had to see, though.
When he spotted familiar copper hair, he leapt toward the door.
"Obi-Wan!"
Obi-Wan startled backwards.
And Cody froze.
Obi-Wan looked small and exhausted in his tailored black suit and cape, and dark bruises stood out on his neck. He was clearly frightened, though he was trying to hide it.
That was Cody's fault.
"Obi-Wan..." Cody whispered.
Obi-Wan looked up at him, and his mouth pressed into a thin, worried line.
"It's alright, Cody," Obi-Wan said.
"Obi-Wan, you have to get out of here," Cody said. "I don't know what happened. I don't know what Dooku's doing to me. It might happen again, you aren't safe here—"
"It's alright, Cody," Obi-Wan repeated, like he was soothing a wild animal. "Master Dooku told me what's going on. He said that this has happened before in some clones, and that the Kaminoans are aware of it."
"How the kriff would Dooku know any of that?" Cody asked. "Obi-Wan, please, he's lying to you!"
"He and Master Sifo-Dyas were the point of contact for the clone project," Obi-Wan said. "It was a secret mission for years, and Master Dooku had to pretend to quit the Jedi over it. But he's seen this before, he knows what happened. You're an unstable clone, Cody."
"I am not an unstable clone—"
"It's because you're Force-sensitive," Obi-Wan said.
"I'm also not Force-sensitive!"
It was lies, it was so stupidly ridiculous, how could Obi-Wan believe it?
"You are, though," Obi-Wan said. "So is Bones. It's really obvious, actually. But it's okay! The instability is treatable, and Master Dooku said he'd get an expert here to help you!"
"Obi-Wan, any 'expert' he brings is going to kill me! I've seen what happens to unstable clones, they get disappeared!"
"Cody, trust me," Obi-Wan said, and Cody...Cody wanted to follow that order.
His head hurt.
"Obi-Wan," Cody whined. "Please, get out of here. Find Anakin and the 212th. They'll tell you the truth."
"I will," Obi-Wan promised. "But I'm going to make sure you're coming with me."
"Absolutely not," Cody said. "Leave the moment you get a chance! Do not wait for me."
"You saved me," Obi-Wan said. "You've saved me over and over again. Cody, let me save you."
Cody wanted to follow the order.
Good soldiers followed orders.
His head hurt.
"Obi-Wan—"
"I've got you, Cody," Obi-Wan said, and he approached the door.
This time, Cody backed away. He couldn't hurt Obi-Wan. Not again.
"I've got you, Cody," Obi-Wan repeated. "I won't let you disappear."
Cody only wished he could believe him.