Disclaimer: Star Wars is property of George Lucas and Lucasfilms. The Avengers belong to Marvel and Disney.
Avenging the Future
Chapter One: A Hopeful Transmission
New York City, Earth
Tony lay there in bed for possibly another hour before giving up on sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he saw parts of the dream. To hope for sleep now would be pointless so he left his room and made his way down to the living room.
He wasn't shocked to see Natasha sitting on the couch watching some old movie with the sound too low to hear anything but a low whisper. Usually one Avenger was woken up or wakes up earlier than the others.
"Hey Stark," she said, not taking her eyes off of the TV. He wasn't even sure she was even watching it. "Having nightmares too?"
He sat down in the chair next to the couch. "Is that why you're down here at…four a clock in the morning?"
Natasha shrugged, "I would have been up in an hour anyway."
It's really weird seeing a person that was dead in a dream a minute ago now live and functioning and without a care in the world. That last part wasn't really true considering they were Avengers and every damn thing they did could get them killed.
Tony wondered if Natasha was having the same problem he was. She has always been the best at hiding things out the entire team. He thought about asking but it was really pointless. The only person who could really get anything out of her was Clint.
"So…what was yours about?" He figured he'd try anyway.
Natasha's answer was just what he expected to hear, "I'm not even sure honestly. I couldn't understand it." Tony suddenly grew more interested. When she saw that he wasn't to going to back down, she sighed…
High above the ground below, there sat a sniper in a window with his gun pointed at some poor target a mile away. He silently worked with his gun, loading the ammo he'd need to make his final kill of the day. Looking through the scope, the sniper searched for his target.
"I've got him sir," the sniper reported once he got a clean shot.
"Good," his employer sneered. "Make the shot and end the life of that Jedi scum Anakin Skywalker."
The sniper pulled the trigger but the shot wasn't fired. He looked up in surprise. That couldn't be possible. He double checked everything twice. How could something go wrong?
"Having trouble?" a voice behind him said. The sniper stood up and spun around. He took out his blaster and pointed it at the intruder. A red head female with a fierce glare stared back at him. Her arms were crossed and she made no more of reaching for a weapon.
"Don't do this Clint," she said. "You're better than them. Don't let them trick you. The Jedi aren't the enemy."
His arm lurched back as he fired the blaster but the shot never reached its target. She raised her arm and the shot bounced off a deflector shield. "You remember this don't you? Tony Stark made it." The glare got fiercer – if that was possible. "You killed him last week."
"You're a fool if you believe the Jedi have your best interest in mind. They don't care about your personal well fare. All they care about is getting the job done. Doesn't matter who they lose on the way. I learned that the hard way. Surely you remember Banner and how they let him die."
"Sounds more like a Sith to me," Natasha replied calmly. "Banner agreed to go in there. He knew the cost. He knew that there was a chance he might not walk out. Anakin tried to stop him but he insisted. He was trying to protect the rest of us."
"He insisted!" the sniper laughed. "Natasha they've got you brainwashed! They forced him into that factory! They tricked us all!"
Natasha took out her gun but Clint shot faster. She didn't have time to deflect it. She fell, a blaster mark seared through her uniform, right where her heart would be.
"Job completed."
"What do you think these mean?" Tony asked. "I mean, I've had one like that too. Well…not exactly like that but same context – filled with things I've never heard of before. It can't be a coincidence that this happened to both of us."
"I don't think we should bring this up to the other Avengers," Natasha said. "No point in scaring them. If they had a dream like this, let them be the one to tell us. They'll be more open to sharing it that way."
"There's one thing that connects these, you know," Tony said softly. Natasha nodded. "That name – Anakin. It's important. I wouldn't forget it if I was you."
She looked up at Tony, knowing that name wasn't all. "Don't worry. I won't."
There were really two things that connected them; that name and the fact that Natasha is killed in both of them. Tony felt like that these weren't two different dreams but one split in half and had been dreamt by two different people. At least he's found out what happen to the rest of the Avengers.
"Let's keep this between us," Tony suggested. "If something comes up that relates to this then we'll tell the others. Not all of it, maybe just what seems important at that time."
"Agreed."
Tony hated the feeling of being helpless but that's exactly how he's been feeling. It's been a week since he's talk with Natasha. They're decision of not telling anyone else was killing him. Of course they haven't talked about it much either. There really wasn't anything to talk about honestly.
The Avengers have been busy doing Fury's dirty work and cleaning up messes that HYDRA left them. There was something odd going on, that's for certain. Seeing HYDRA in New York was no surprise. Ever since Loki's attack they've been popping up everywhere, trying to find a weak spot in the Avengers.
But recently, they've been leaving messes all over New York. The Avengers would be sent out to deal with the threat but when they got to the location there would be no sign of HYDRA – leaving the Avengers to clean up the mess they made.
The people at SHIELD started to believe that it was all a ruse to keep the Avengers distracted. They thought that there was something bigger being planned. If HYDRA was trying to keep them in the dark, Fury didn't want to know what they were really planning.
That was when SHIELD found something interesting and Fury pulled the Avengers from the HYDRA mission, rather quickly and abruptly too.
"I hope you know HDYRA is still out there, Fury," Tony said voicing what the other Avengers have thought but were too confused to say. "They're sitting out there waiting for another chance to strike and you've just given them it."
"Well HYDRA will just have to wait then," Fury said looking menacing as always with that one eye of his. "We've received something bigger. A threat, actually, to Earth."
"Don't tell me," Tony said, dread evident in his voice. "The Asgardians let Loki go and know he's come back for his revenge." The last thing they needed now was Loki. Of course the chances of it being him were slim to none as Asgardian prisons were assumed to be hard to break out of and he'd obviously – hopefully – be heavily guarded.
"I highly doubt its Loki who we're dealing with," Fury assured everyone. "What we received was a hint of a threat to Earth. Our source didn't seem too sure about what was going on himself. A week ago we received a transmission from outer space. Our team just got finished decoding it to get the gist of what we're dealing with."
At first all you could hear was static before you slowly began to hear the person speaking.
My name is Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi from the Galactic Republic. I know people in your galaxy don't know what that is. Unfortunally, I don't have the time to explain it. I speak to you now on the behalf of the Jedi Council. We have gained knowledge of the team of heroes known as The Avengers.
We, however, aren't the people you should be afraid of. We have reason to believe that the Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatists, want to turn The Avengers in weapons in the war against the Republic. If what they want isn't delivered to them, they will come to your planet and forcibly take them. I have been ordered by the Jedi Council to bring the Avengers into our galaxy and to the Jedi Temple for protection to avoid an intergalactic war.
"That's where it cuts off," Fury said as the transmission ended. Tony and Natasha shared a nervous look. Too many things were coming true at once.
"Are we really going to go along with this?" Clint asked.
"I think we have too," Fury said, a hint of humor in his voice. "There's no way to contact this guy and tell him to turn around."
"He can't be the bad guy," Tony interrupted, "I mean he said himself that he's trying to avoid bringing their war to us."
"Yeah," the Captain disagreed, "by bringing us into theirs."
"For protection," Natasha cut in, helping Tony. She – as he did – that it was important that they went along with this. There was something about this Anakin that was important – obviously – and they needed to be there when it came to light. Perhaps their dreams were warnings of something that's going to happen.
1 Month Earlier
Jedi Temple, Coruscant
"Do you know what this is about?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan on their way to the Council Room. Both men were nearly exhausted from the mission they returned from two days ago. To be receiving another one so soon was shocking and almost unheard of.
Obi-Wan shook his head, "Not a clue."
"I hope they aren't planning on sending us on another mission already and expecting us to be successful," Anakin huffed.
"Oh I don't think so," Anakin caught the hint of humor in his master's voice. "They already don't expect that."
Maybe not from me but you on the other hand… Anakin couldn't help the despairing thoughts from entering his mind. Obi-Wan sensed something wrong from his former Padawan but it wasn't strong enough to tell exactly what.
"Gentlemen," Master Mace Windu greeted as they entered the Council Chambers.
"Arose, a new threat has." Master Yoda began. "Be swift, we must. Swift to stop the Separatist, we must be."
Master Windu beckoned them to the middle of the room where a hologram played. "They're called the Avengers. They're a response unit made up of superhumans on a planet just out of our galaxy. After they're battle with the Chitauri, they caught the eye of the Separatists. Now they and their planet are their new targets."
"The Chitauri…" Anakin whispered. "You mean they're real?"
"You've heard of them?" Windu didn't sound surprised. There was a lot about Anakin people didn't understand.
"They were an old story back on Tatooine made to scare children into behaving. They said if you disobeyed your parents, the Chitauri would come and steal you away. I never did believe it. So what are do you want us to do?"
"We're hoping to avoid an intergalactic war. We believe the Avengers to be the Separatists' prime targets. If they're off the planet then the Separatists will leave it alone. Bring them here to the Temple. They'll be safe here.
Obi-Wan asked, "And if you're wrong?"
"Then we risk war."
Knowing they won't get anything else out of Windu, Anakin and Obi-Wan turned to leave. When they were nearly out of the room, Obi-Wan stopped like somebody had frozen him.
Anakin turned around to see Obi-Wan standing stock still as if the Council Chambers suddenly disappeared. "Master?"
The younger Jedi walked toward him intending to see what happened but as soon as he tried Master Windu shouted,
"No Anakin!"
Too late, Anakin's outstretched arm hit a force field that held his Master in stasis. As soon as he touched it, an electrical current was released, raving its way through Obi-Wan's body. It wasn't that strong, Anakin felt it through his robotic arm, but it was enough to hurt.
Anakin then saw a silhouette of a man appear behind Obi-Wan. The man looked at Anakin and put a finger to his lips, as if he was quietly telling a young child to be quiet. There was a blinding flash and the man – and Obi-Wan – was gone.
"No!" Anakin exclaimed. "What…what just happened?"
The look on Windu's face was grave. "I've seen his done before. It's a Jedi Trap. Anakin could you sense Obi-Wan in this room?"
"Yes, I could…well, no…I could but then it was like he was gone."
Windu nodded, "That's because the Trap cuts off all connections to the Force. I've seen too many good men get taken by one of these."
Anakin felt his anger for whatever the thing that took Obi-Wan grow. "But he's not dead, right? It just took him. He's still alive. Where did it take him?"
"No," Windu said sternly. "Right now you're main priority is the Avengers and getting them safely to Coruscant before the Separatists attack their planet. We'll search for Obi-Wan and report back to you if we find anything. I'm afraid you'll have to go alone." He continued when he saw Anakin's look of confusion. "I don't think they've seen anyone that wasn't human that wasn't trying to attack their planet. Any non-human visitors would be taken as hostile.
"Understood." Anakin bowed and swiftly left the room, still angry about what happened to Obi-Wan.
After thee young Jedi left, Yoda bowed his head and walk toward the window. "Tell the truth, you did. The Incomplete truth, however."
Mace sighed, "Anakin doesn't have to know that the's no chance we'll find Obi-Wan.
A/N: And thus our great adventure begins! So Tony's not the only one getting these weird dreams. But the question is; what's the meaning behind all of them? And what happened to Obi-Wan? Who was that man Anakin saw? (Points if you can guess that last one.)
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