Well, it's time to begin the next chapter. To Recap important events: Snoke meets Lex Luthor and the Brain, who sell them samples of Separatist technology. Meanwhile, Vestara meets up with Maul and Atriox and offers her aid in killing the Supreme Leader of the First Order.
Plus a bunch of other stuff happens that will certainly play a very critical role shortly. But enough talk, let's dive right in to the next chapter, shall we?
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Halo, Mass Effect, Bionicle, Young Justice or anything else that appears in this story.
"We have a location."
"Where?"
"Vardos. It's a planet that was under the protection of the First Order before the Tidal Wave, and it suffered heavily during the Flood attack. There are barely any survivors there now, though."
"Meaning it's the perfect place to make unseen deals."
"And we're sure that that's where they are?"
"Positive. But we need to move quickly. We don't know how much the First Order already has."
"Then let's not waste any more time."
...
"Here. This is where they'll be."
"Excellent. I'll lead the strike team personally."
...
As Vestara flew the shuttle through the clouds, she found the view of Vardos' capital city to be a rather stunning sight, especially in the sunset. For a brief instant, the memories of Tahv surfaced and she found herself missing home.
Then the moment passed and she was focused once more. Following the landing beacon, she set the shuttle down in the courtyard right next to the administrative building. Two lines of First Order troopers were in formation, leading straight to the entry of the capital building.
She didn't look back as muffled screams and blasterfire erupted behind her, didn't bother turning when the conflict abruptly ceased, and didn't even glance at Darth Maul and Atriox as they took up position just behind her and to each side.
The Banished and Shadow Collective soldiers had taken the First Order troopers current position, scanning the area and watching for threats from any other Stormtroopers, while the two leaders followed Vestara inside.
"Wait here." The young Sith requested, just as they were standing near the stairs to the atrium balcony. "Get upstairs and wait for my signal."
"Don't disappoint us, Miss Khai." Maul growled as he stalked off to do what had been requested of him.
With the Brute and Zabrak gone, Vestara entered the atrium, finding Snoke looking at the crest of the Empire that had been emblazoned on the far wall. He turned his head slightly as she approached.
"Ah Vestara," He turned fully, his arms clasped behind his back."why is that you summoned me here?"
"To what I need to to survive." She punctuated that statement with the hiss of an igniting lightsaber, causing the Supreme Leader to smirk.
"How very Sith of you." He looked up to the upper balcony. "Are you two going to come out now, or are you going to wait as Vestara does all the work?"
He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Maul leapt to the ground floor, with both the Darksaber and his own lightsaber ignited in his hands. Seconds later, Atriox did the same, with Chainbreaker ignited in his left hand.
"So, you've decided to make your move, have you?"
"It is time for our little alliance to come to an end." Atriox said.
"Too true." Snoke's hands appeared in front of him, with a lightsaber hilt in each one. "Our partnership is no longer needed."
"It's over, Supreme Leader." Maul said. "Our forces can be here before you could even call for reinforcements."
"Can they really?" Snoke chuckled. "Shall we test that theory?"
Suddenly, a hundred Stormtroopers appeared on the balcony above, all armed with older model Separatist weapons. All of which were pointed at the two Sith and the Banished warmaster on the atrium below. Maul and Atriox both turned their gazes to Vestara.
"You lured us into a trap." Atriox snarled.
"Oh she did, one she didn't even know of." The new voice drew their gaze to a bald man in a business suit and a brain in jar like robot emerging from behind the Imperial crest. "How could she, after all?
"This is your doing?" Vestara asked, looking at both Snoke and the new arrival.
"Indeed." Snoke said. "You really shouldn't have betrayed me, Vestara. Still, given time, I can certainly fix your... attitude problems."
"You've upgraded then." Atriox snorted.
"Quite an impressive arsenal, isn't it?" The new man said, his own attention on Maul and Atriox. "All of it Separatist technology."
"Your friends outside are learning zat, ze hard way." The cyborg brain added.
"I know you." Maul's eyes narrowed.
"I would hope so." Lex Luthor said calmly, before turning to Snoke. "I believe this should be more than adequate?"
"Very much so." Snoke smirked. "Payment has been provided as promised." He turned to Maul, Atriox and Vestara, who were now back to back in a vague triangle. "Now, you three are going to drop your weapons, or this is going to get ugly, very, very quickly.
"You're not going anywhere, Luthor!" The unexpected voice emerged from the shadows, with Arsenal pointing a crossbow at the businessman. Multiple guns pointed in his direction as Lex's smile disappeared.
"Well, well, well, Mr. Harper." Lex's voice was no longer smug. "I guess it was only a matter of time before you found us."
"You could say that again." Superboy suddenly dropped down behind him, with Wolf right beside him and growling angrily. "This ends now."
"I wouldn't say that." A turret emerged from the Brain and immediately fired, sending Superboy and Wolf flying. Arsenal fired at Luthor, only for the explosive arrow to abruptly reverse direction and fly back toward him. The explosion knocked him back again.
In the next instant, the room exploded into chaos. One of the Stormtroopers turned into Miss Martian, who immediately tossed the Stormtroopers nearest to her aside, before telekinetically tossing chunks of debris.
A streak entered the building and in less than five seconds, all the Stormtroopers were disarmed of their advanced weaponry, which Impulse threw in a pile in the middle of the room. Blue Beetle appeared took the opportunity to melt the pile into slag.
"Surrender now." Nightwing emerged, standing on top of the Imperial crest. "And I promise we'll go easy on you."
He never got a chance to say anything else, as the son of Batman began choking, alongside most of the other heroes. In the center of the room stood Snoke, his eyes ablaze with fury as he held his hand aloft.
"I will not be denied!" With a gesture, he sent all the heroes flying back, landing amidst the Stormtroopers and beginning a rather chaotic brawl.
Snoke didn't have time to celebrate, instead he stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding Vestara's thrown Parang. The curved blade began turning, but an off hand gesture from Snoke shattered it into fragments.
In the distraction, Atriox used Chainbreaker to hurl a massive chunk of debris, but Snoke simply sliced through it with a lightsaber. This gave Maul time to move up and attempt to strike Snoke from behind, but he casually blocked Maul's blow with his other lightsaber, before flicking two fingers and sending the Zabrak flying back.
Vestara hurled a blast of Force Lightning as she closed the gap, with the Supreme Leader casually blocking it with his lightsabers. She tried to swing at his legs, but he blocked with one lightsaber and tried to decapitate her, forcing the Keshiri-born Sith to break off her attack.
While backflipping away, she hurled a Force Push at him, sending him into close quarters with Atriox. The Brute swung his gravity mace at the floor, sending Snoke into the air. Simultaneously, he tried to grab him with his gauntlet, but Snoke managed to kick it away before unleashing a Force push of his own to blast the Banished leader back.
...
While the duel was continuing below, Luthor and the Brain were attempting to make their escape. They knew that the weaponless Stormtroopers would only be able to hold off the heroes for so long before they were dealt with and resolved not to be present when they were done.
Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.
"You're done, Luthor." Aqualad swung down from the balcony, slicing through the Brain's laser turret as they tried to flee. "This little crime spree of yours is over." He pointed his water sword at the LexCorp CEO. Meanwhile, Superboy and Wolf jumped up behind them.
"I don't think so." Suddenly, Luthor's usual suit was replaced with plates of green and purple. He grabbed Aqualad before he could react and threw him through the wall, before raising his hands and firing green energy blasts at Wolf and Superboy.
"We're just getting started."
...
Meanwhile, the duel between Snoke, Vestara, Maul and Atriox continued, and despite the 3 to 1 advantage, Snoke almost effortlessly held his own, parrying blows and hurling Force attacks of his own.
Atriox was rather quick for someone of his size, he had to be to actually get into a fist fight with SPARTAN-IIs and win, but Snoke was moving rather quickly, even for him, and soon Atriox found himself on the defensive.
His energy shields were barely blocking Snoke's lightsaber strikes, and he was almost effortlessly dealing with Maul and Vestara at the same time. When Vestara had said he had grown more powerful, she had really undersold just how powerful he was now. And she soon found out the hard way.
With a blast of Force lightning, Vestara was out of the fight, and he casually hurled Atriox into the roof, leaving an imprint of the Brute in the ceiling. Finally, he turned to Maul, a cruel smirk on his face.
"Now, it's just you and me." A vicious blow was parried by Maul, who grimaced as he held it off with the Darksaber.
"Who are you?" The Sith Lord spat, his blade slowly getting pushed back. He broke the blade lock and struck with his red lightsaber, but it was immediately batted away by Snoke's other lightsaber. "I know you're not Snoke."
"You really don't remember me?" Snoke viciously kicked Maul back, a grin on his face as the Sith struggled to rise. "Perhaps this will give you a good reminder."
"Far above, far above, we don't know where we'll fall. Far above, far above, what once was great is rendered small." Snoke's grin turned vicious. "Does that jog your memory, my former apprentice?" Maul's eyes widened in shock and terror.
"Master?!"
Dun, dun, DUN! Well that's certainly an evil cliffhanger to leave you guys on. I apologize for the abrupt ending there, but this chapter was kinda getting too long, so I decided to split it into two parts. Rest assured, the rest of this will be out soon.
With that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.