Old Republic Era
Skyriver Galaxy
Unknown Regions
Dromund Kaas
Mountain Regions
Scourge made his way through the mountains, using the Force to sense his prey and surprisingly enough it was easy to find his prey in a dark cave. He was not surprised to see that Xedrex had brought two acolytes with him, a young male and a female, both wearing light armor under dark robes. Xedreix himself was an older human male, like Nyriss had said, and unlike his apprentice he did not wear armor under his robes. Upon entering the cave Scourge made himself known and attacked Xedrix who quickly defended himself before the acolytes stepped in.
The Sith Lord and the apprentices met each other in a whirlwind of clashes that lasted a mere few seconds before the apprenticse fell back, slowly becoming overwhelmed by Scourge's strength. Scourge recognized the woman was more dangerous and after a few moments of fighting he killed her by pressing his foot down on her face. Scourge lashed out the Force and sent the apprentice into the wall and then threw his lightsaber at the fallen apprentice. In a desperate attempt to stop him the apprentice thrust out a hand, only for the lightsaber to sliced through the palm and the throat was next a second later.
"I know you." Xedrix sneered upon seeing Scourge. "Nyriss's new pet. Lord Scourge. Why do you purebloods always choose such ridiculous names for yourselves? Do you think it's intimidating?"
Scourge answered by igniting his lightsaber, choosing not to waste words on a traitor.
Xedrix laughed. "Has Nyriss actually convinced you that you have the power to stand against a member of the Dark Council? Has she promised you riches and power if you defeat me?"
"She promised me nothing. You are a traitor to the Empire." Scourge answered. "It is my honor and duty to kill you."
"Ah, now I understand. She played on your loyalty to our glorious Emperor
Scourge turned around, seeing Xedrix with his lightsaber still active and seemingly ready to fight. However Xedrix surprised him by holding up his hand and stricking Scourge with Force Lightning, bringing pureblood to his knees.
Xedrix stepped back after ending his attack. "You didn't realize that Nyriss sent you here to die, did you? She never meant for you to kill me. You were nothing more than a message. A warning."
"Is that what you call the attemps on her life?" Scourge grunted as he struggled to stand. "A warning?"
"You think I am the one who hired those inept assassins?" Xedrix pointed at Scourge. "Nyriss has you twisted in knots. She's using you for a game far greather than anything you can imagine." Xedrix watched as Scourge stood on his feet. "You feel your strength returning, do you? Think carefully before you challenge me again. I might not let you live next time."
"Why would you let me live?" Scourge questioned.
"You have potential. And thanks to you, I'm in need of a new apprentice. I could find a use for someone of your talents." Xedrix answered.
"You want me to betray Nyriss?"
"What do you owe her? She sent you here to die, just to send a message." Xedrix scoffed.
Scourge chuckled as he held up his lightsaber. "Your words are hollow, Xedrix. Like your power!"
Scourge swung his lightsaber in both hands at Xedrix who hastily blocked but the power behind the attack knocked Xedrix's lightsaber out of his hands and knocked him onto the ground.
Xedris held his hands up, now fearful for his life. "Please! Lord Scourge! I'll give you what you want. Slaves…Wealth…Power."
Scourge chuckled again and smirked as he held up his lightsaber. "Power Xedrix? You cannot give what is not yours!"
A single slash to the throat and it was done. Scourge barely glanced at the body as he picked up the head and turned away, deactivating his lightsaber, and walked back to Nyriss's stronghold, his mind now full of questions.
Did Nyriss send him here to die?
Was she only using him for personal gain?
Scourge decided it was time to speak with her right hand, Sechel and find out the truth for himself.
Coruscant
Galactic Market
Dealer's Den
Revan would have preferred Canderous contacted him instead of calling him back to the bar and speaking to him face to face while surrounded by the drunken reprobates of Coruscant.
"You couldn't have contacted me via holocomm?" Revan asked as he took a seat next to Canderous at the counter.
"I need to talk to you face to face about this." Canderous replied.
"Sounds ominous."
"You still have those nightmares?"
"Sometimes. I'm dealing with it." Revan wasn't lying about it but there were still dark circles surrounding his eyes. "Tell me what you found."
"I didn't learn anything about a planet covered in storms and eternal night or a diamond shaped ship but I learned something about a race of cybernetic humans."
"I hope you're not waiting for me to try and buy this information from you." Revan joked. "I left most of my credits at home."
"You wouldn't know about them but they are known as the Iskalloni. They are a cybernetic race that my people have had a run in on the edge of Wild Space and have conducted slaving runs in the past. They don't operate ships like the one you described but they keep to themselves and we don't know much about them aside from a few skirmishes." Canderous explained. "I also dug up something else you might find interesting."
"Well, I'm all ears now."
Canderous leaned in close. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, you being a Jedi and all, but I think you have a right to know."
"If you're worried I'll go running to the Council with your secret don't be." Revan said cynically.
"It's not just them. You can't tell the Galactic Senate either."
"Whatever you've got to say must be pretty bad." Revan commented.
"Depends on your point of view. I got in contact with some of my people, just like you asked. I found out dozens of the strongest chiefs are gathering their clans on Rekkiad."
"They're planning another invasion." Revan guessed, assuming the reason why Canderous looked so uneasy.
"No, they're not. Not yet, at least. They're searching for Mandalore's Mask. They think you hid it somewhere on Rekkiad." Canderous answered.
Revan closed his eyes as he thought back, the image of a blizzard appearing in his mind. "I think they might be right."
"You know what the Mask means to my people. Without it we are lost, vagabonds wandering the galaxy without a purpose. Recoving the Mask could be the key to restoring Mandalorian honor and power." Canderous stated. "Whoever finds it will be hailed as the new leader of the clans. Mandalore will rise again and the Mandalorians will follow."
"Do you believe the Mandalorians will attack the Republic again if the Mask is found?" Revan asked.
"Depends on who finds it. Some of the leaders want nothing more than to avenge our defeat. Others would rather try to rebuild our society. We were great warriors before we started conquering Repiblic worlds. It's possible we can restore our honor without violating the terms of the treaty." Canderous stated.
"The terms I forced you to accept." Revan reminded him.
There was no love lost between the Mandalorians and the Republic, especially after the war but Canderous never blamed Revan or the Republic for the loss of the war. Instead he became disillusioned with his own people for what they had let themselves become during and after the war. He held his own honor but in his eyes his people had lost their honor when they committed genocide and scattered themselves after the end of the war. He believe his people had allowed themselves to become weak and blamed them for their loss instead of Revan.
"I'm not going to say anything about this to the Senate or the Council." Revan said assuringly. "But whoever finds the Mandalore's Mask will shape the destiny of your people for the next thousand years. I think it might be a good idea for us to there when that happens."
Canderous grinned. "I knew I could count on you. Time to get the old gang back together for one last adventure."
"Not everyone. Juhani and Jolee are Jedi, they still answer to the Council. They might feel obligated to say something about this."
"I got no problem with leaving the cat girl and the old man behind."
"I don't want to get Mission and Zaalbar mixed up in this, either. They've worked hard to build up a nice importexport business over the past year. I don't want them to throw it all away." Revan continued.
"They would if you asked them to. Wouldn't even think about it." Canderous pointed out.
"That's why I'm not going to ask. Mission's had it rough her whole life. Now she's finally got it back on track. I'm not going to mess things up for her."
"Okay, scratch the Twi-lek kid. But what about Zaalbar? That Wookie knows how to handle himself when things get rough." Canderous noted.
"Mission and Big Z are a team. We can't break it up."
"We're getting a little short on bodies here." Canderous said.
T3 whistled and Revan patted him on the head. "Don't worry, little fella. You're too useful to leave behind."
T3 whistled again.
"Good point. HK's a little too trigger happy to bring on this mission. Things tend to get bloody when he's around." Revan agreed.
"You realize we're to a planet overrun by Mandalorions." Canderous reminded him with a small grin. "Bloody is unavoidable."
"I'm hoping at least some of the clans can be reasoned with." Revan said. "If we bring a homicidal assassin droid with us, I don't think they're going to give us much of a chance to explain why we're there."
"We're a little short on bodies." Canderous reminded him. "What about that other Jedi who help you during the war? Not Malak. The one they call the Exile."
"Meetra." Revan answered.
"I heard she and the Council had a falling out." Canderous commented.
"I don't know where she is."
"Might be worth traking her down. She proved herself during the war."
Revan suspected how much Canderous knew about Meetra, including her actions at the end of the war but he didn't feel he had the right to ask for his help. "She may have had a falling out with the Council but she's still a Jedi."
"So who's that leave, then? You, me, and this half sized bucket of bolts?" Canderous asked, giving T3 a light kick and got an angry beep in response.
"Don't forget Bastila."
"I thought you wanted to leave the Jedi out of this."
"She's my wife. I'm not going to abandon her." Revan answered.
"Hey, it's your call." Canderous held up his hands in defense. "She's welcome to come along. I mean, if you really think you can convince her that heading to the Outer Rim to explore Rekkiad's frozen wastelands is a good idea."
"Well, we never did go on our honeymoon." Revan said thoughtfully.
Revan and Bastila's Apartment
Revan quietly returned home, expecting his wife to be asleep but instead she waited up form him.
"Sorry." Revan said as he came to her on the couch and kissed her. "I didn't know I'd be so late. You shouldn't have waited up."
"That's okay." Bastila said, pulling Revan onto the couch next to her. "I couldn't sleep. I've got something to tell you."
"Me, too. Big news."
"I bet mine is bigger." Bastila said with a small smile.
"That's a bed you'd lose." Revan cautioned her.
"I'm pregnant."
Revan only looked at her in stunned silence before he finally spoke. "Okay, you win."
Revan couldn't believe he hadn't been unable to sense Bastila's pregnancy even if there were no physical changes yet. He had thought he would have sensed life growing in her.
"I must be getting senile on my old age." Revan said, lightly caressing his wife's stomach after having explained why he was gone.
"You've a lot on your mind. And you haven't been sleeping much." Bastila pointed out. "Talk about bad timing."
"I have to do this." Revan said to her softly. "It's the only way I'm ever going to find out what that vision actually means."
"What if you don't find out? Your nightmares are fading. Maybe in a few months they'll stop."
"Maybe." Revan agreed. "But I think these are more than just old memories bubbling up. They're a warning. Even if the visions stop, the threat they represent would still be out there."
"Haven't you done enough already? You saved the Republic from the Mandalorions. You saved the Republic from Malak. And in return, you had your identity desttoyed and were ostracized by the Council." Bastila pulled away from him as her voice rose with anger. "You don't owe them anything anymore. You've paid for your mistakes. You've sacrificed enough. You've earned the right to live out your life in peace!"
Revan shook his head. "If I don't do anything, nobody else will."
"So what? So nobody's does anything. Whatever evil's lurking in the Unknown Regions might not show itself for decades. We could both be old and gray by then. We have a chance to live out our entire lives in perfect happiness. Are you willing to risk throwing it all away?" Bastila asked.
"I'm not doing this for the Republic. I'm not doing it for you. I'm not even doing it for me. I'm doing it for our children." Revan explained. "And our child's children. We might never live to see the horrors that are coming, but they will. We have to protect the Republic for them. We have to risk our chance at happiness so they can have a life we might never know."
Bastila was silent as she walked forward and rested her on her shoulder. "When do we leave?"
"You can't come with me. What if I find something on Rekkiad? Some clue connected to my past? What if it leads me farther into the Outer Rim?" Revan said gently. "Or even the Unknown Regions? We could be gone for months. Maybe longer. Do you really want to give birth on some uninhabited world on the edges of the galaxy? And then what will we do? How are we going to care for an infant under those conditions? I won't risk the life of our child like that. And I know you won't either."
Bastila placed two fingers on Revan's lips. "If I say you're right will you please shut up?"
Revan nodded.
"Because I can think of better things to do on the last night before you leave then talking."
Revan absolutely agreed with her.
Coruscant Spaceport
Ebon Hawk
Revan and Bastila shared one last kiss as soon the Ebon Hawk was loaded with the necessary supplies.
"Be careful out there." Bastila whispered.
Revan held up a finger and wiped a tear away from her cheek. "I always am."
After their goodbye kiss Revan boarded the Ebon Hawk and twenty minutes later the ship rose up from the platform and shot into the sky.
Unknown Regions
Dromund System
Dromund Kaas
Darth Nyriss's Stronghold
Scourge slammed Sechel into the wall and held his lightsaber against the servant's throat keeping deactivated, for now. "When I ask a question I want a direct answer. So I will ask again. Is Nyriss using me?"
"Of course she is! She uses everybody!" Sechel said, trembling.
"Was Xedrix really working with the human separatists?"
"Yes!"
"Did Xedrix try to kill Nyriss?"
"No."
"Who hired the assassins?"
"Nyriss did. She wanted to draw suspicion away from herself."
"Suspicion of what?"
"Ask her yourself!"
The door behind them opened and Scourge quickly spun around, letting go of Sechel and igniting his lightsaber.
Darth Nyriss stood at the door, gazing calmly at Scourge. "I will answer all your questions but if you harm Sechel I will end you."
She watched as Scourge glared at her but deactivated his lightsaber and placed it back on his belt. She nodded at Sechel who quickly left.
"Are you loyal to the Empire?" She asked when Sechel was gone.
"I thought I was going to get ask the questions." Scourge retorted.
"Remember your place. Listen to me. When I've finished you'll have the chance to speak."
Scouge glared but answered. "I am loyal to the Empire."
"Loyal to the Emperor or the Empire? They are two different things."
"What do you mean?"
"The Emperor is mad. Unchecked he will destroy us all."
"For a thousand years the Empire has thrived under his rule." Scourge replied in denial.
"The Emperor has expanded our borders. He has made us stronger but he is only doing this for one purpose. He is planning an attack on the Republic. He intends to start another Jedi war." Nyriss explained.
"No…Impossible, you are lying. Attacking the Republic makes no sense. The Emperor is not a fool." Scourge said, unable to believe what he was hearing.
The Great Hyperspace War had never been forgotten by the Sith for it had ended in their near extinction. The Sith Empire under the rule of Naga Sadow had attacked the Republic, seeking to conquer it and gain control of the galaxy but the Republic and the Jedi fought back, destroying the Empire's fleets hunted them all the way to Korriban, the Sith homeworld, and bombarded it until nothing was left. It was only thanks to the Emperor that a small remnant had been saved and led on a twenty year exodus into the Unknown Regions where they rediscovered the Sith world Dromund Kaas, a place of safety from the Jedi and the Republic.
For the next thousand years the Sith had rebuilt their mighty Empire and expanded again across the new frontier. All Sith knew of the story and they believed that one day they would strike back at the Republic and the Jedi for their defeat which is why the Empire had worked to build a powerful fleet and army. However Scourge believed that if the Sith tried to exact their vengeance they would be repeating the mistakes of the Great Hyperspace War and the Republic and the Jedi would surely exterminate the Sith for good.
"Was Xedrix a part of this alliance?" Scourge asked.
"He was." Nyriss answered.
"Yet you betrayed him."
"He became a necessary sacrifice for the cause."
"If he was your ally why did he have to die?"
"If the Emperor suspected the members of the Dark Council of allying against him, he would kill us all. We had to take steps to protect ourselves. To throw off suspicion, we had to distance ourselves from the separatists who openly oppose the Emperor." Nyriss explained.
"That's why you staged the fake assassinations against yourself." Scourge realized. "If the separatists were targeting you, the Emperor would be less likely to suspect you were working with them."
"The plan was to have my own people 'investigate' the attempts on my life and place the blame accordingly. But then the Emperor sent you, and the plan had to change. Your arrival meant the Emperor suspected this was bigger than a simple separatist uprising. It wouldn't be enough to implicate a radical fringe group." Nyriss continued.
"So you framed Xedrix."
"You can't frame someone who is guilty. I just exposed him. Xedrix really was working with the separatists. Every piece of evidence uncovered was real." Nyriss replied. "It had to be. I could not afford to be caught in a lie if you or the Emperor looked deeper into the matter. Allowing Xedrix to take the blame will confirm the Emperor's suspicion that the separatists were working with someone on the Dark Council. His death will keep my involvement and that of my co-conspirators secret."
"And you get to eliminate a longtime rival." Scourge added.
"A fortuitous bonus." Nyriss grinned. "Xedrix will not be missed. He was a weak link chain. He was human, and his power was fading. If one of us had to be sacrificed he was the most logical choice."
"Why tell all this to me?"
"You already suspsected something was wrong. Why else would you have tried to interrogate Sechel? If I simply kill you, though, it might raise the Emperor's suspicions farther. He sent you to investigate the assassinations. It would be better if you were the one to tell him Darth Xedrix was responsible." Nyriss paused for a moment. "During your service you have proven your worth to me. You are strong in the Force, intelligent, perceptive. You have incredible potential. My hope is that by revealing the truth I can convince you to join our cause. I would hate to discard a valuable tool without good reason."
Scourge however didn't look like he was buying her answer. "What's the catch? How do you know I won't betray your confidence?"
Nyriss actually smiled. "Very good, I would have been disappointed if you had simply accepted my offer. Short of killing you, there is no way I can completely eliminate the risk that you will try to expose me. But what proof do you have? Accuse me and I will simply claim you are the real traitor, trying to kill me after you killed Darth Xedrix. Remember, whatever actual evidence exists will implicate you, not me.
He died by your blade. Are you certain you left no evidence behind that could implicate you for his murder? No drops of blood? No flecks of skin? No witnesses who can place you at the spaceport on Bosthirda the day Xedrix died?"
Scourge nodded. "Let me guess, the files Sechel recovered from the UDM manufacturing plant and separatist base will implicate me as well?"
"Sechel is very good at what he does. Even the experts can't tell when he's doctored a datafile. Even with all the evidence pointing in your direction, its possible the Emperor would still believe you over a member of the Dark Council but honestly he would probably kill us both just to be safe. That way the traitor is dead no matter which one of us is guilty." Nyriss explained. "And I don't think you're the type to martyr yourself out of loyalty to the Emperor."
"So where do we go from here?"
"Now I must truly persuade you to our cause. Have you heard tales of the Emperor's childhood?" Nyriss asked.
Scourge shook his head. "I don't even know what planet he's from."
"Few people do. He's hidden his past because if the truth came to light none would follow him. He was born almost a thousand years ago in the decades before the Great Hyperspace War with the Republic. He spend his childhood on Nathema, a lush and vibrant agricultural world on the far fringes of the Empire." Nyrisss said.
"Nathema? I've never heard of it."
"Its name has long been forgotten, just like the planet itself. The Emperor erased Nathema from the history books and the astrogation charts to hide all evidence of his crimes."
"Crimes?"
"Telling you what happened is not enough. You must see for yourself. Only then will you understand the price the Emperor was willing to pay. Only then will you understand why he must be done."
"And how do I to find this world?"
"I will take you there. It will take several days before we are ready to leave and the Emperor must never find out."
Present Time
Skyriver Galaxy
Outer Rim
Kessel Sector
The Maw
Former Borg Unimatrix
The situation in the Maw was not seemingly getting any better as the alien invaders kept on attacking the other portals but they were getting nowhere. The Undine were repelling them as though both were advanced in bio-technology the Undine were more advanced. Already their own planet-killer weapons had destroyed several of the large ships that had come through the portal the invaders emerged from. The surviving Borg had already been exterminated and their Unimatrix and was reduced to an atomized wreckage but the fight continued.
The invaders intended to go through the other portals while expanding through the Maw but the Undine had opened up multiple rifts that allowed them to swarm the invaders, causing more and more damage to them. The invader however refused to give up and continued fighting but it wouldn't matter for long. The Undine were masters of interdimensional travel and they were merely holding the invaders back until they were ready. The invader fleet continued to emergy, giant ships slowly coming out and planning to overwhelm the Undine and invade the galaxy in the name of their Gods.
That was when the Undine launched their own giant planet killers while at the same in the portal leading to Fluidic space the Undine fleet launched a concentrated graviton-tachyon beam at the portal, slowly closing it.
"The weak will perish!"
"You will suffer the wrath of our Gods!"
The Undine planet killers fired, beams of concentrated fluidic anti-proton energy slamming into the large ships, overloading the singularity shields and destroying them in a matter of seconds. The invaders were scattered as debris from their larger ships slammed into the smaller ones. As this happened the portal leading to Fluidic space became smaller and smaller until it vanished. If that wasn't enough the other portals began to vanish as well, leaving only the one portal they came from.
"You are weak. You will never pollute our realm!" The Undine transmitted as they began retreating back to their space.
The invaders were angry at the destruction and damage that they had suffered but they could do nothing as the Undine retreated. They couldn't even pursue the other infidels because of the invisible mine field blocking them.
They vowed this was not the end and they would have their revenge on all the infidels who dared to defy them.
And the galaxy would be theirs.
Inner Rim
Coruscant
Senate Building
Chancellor's Office
"The scans of these new ships show they operate using bio-technology like the Undine. Our scans show that their ships are in some form actually alive unlike the Undine whose ships while advanced in bio-technology don't have actual living ships. The life forms of these new ships seem to be powered by quantum singularities, possibly explaining how they are able to generate singularities as shields. The singularities show that they can absorb kinetic and energy based attacks for a time but the battle in the Maw showed that they have a limit." Commander Jarock calmly held up holo-images of the ships used by the invaders as she explained to gathered officers along with Masters Yoda and Windu. "Their ships generate a gravitic field generated by the singularity for propulsion and their weapon appears to be a plasma projectile hybrid of some sort that uses a combination of kinetic energy and heat in a manner similar to high level plasma torpedoes."
"Can they be defeated?" Tarkin asked.
"Yes. Their singularity shields can overload under constant fire but that makes them all the more dangerous as even their smaller ships have enough power to be a considerable threat in numbers. It is likely they would have the same vulnerabilities to thalaron weaponry that some ships in the Romulan Republic fleet are armed with. Starfleet R&D is conducting simulations in seeing if the singularities in these ships can be affected by modified tachyon and graviton emitions from our deflector dishes but they are still in the testing stages." Jarock answered. "All attempts to contact these beings have ended badly with the invaders stating that they will cleanse us of impurity for their Gods. Whoever they are they are obviously hostile and religious fanatics."
"What is the status of the mine field?" Palpatine asked.
"They've tried to break through the mines but since they are cloaked and self-replicating they have yet to make it through. Several of their ships were destroyed and due to the surrounding black holes their path is very narrow. For the moment they seem to be taking pot shots at the mines, possibly to guess the time it takes to replicate." Jarock held up an image of the mine field on both sides of the Maw and the invader fleet firing on them. "They are gathering though as more seem to come through the portal. Eventually they might break through if they can time it right."
"Then we must show these aliens the price of trying to invade this galaxy." Tarkin declared. "We gather our forces and be prepared for when they break through the mine field. We push them back to their portal and then close it."
"Our fleet is still stretched to mount an attack as large as you are suggesting, Admiral Tarkin. Some of our ships have to be recalled to our galaxy due to the Vaadwaur in the Delta Quadrant."
Jarock was not wrong as the Vaadwaur were becoming more aggressive, especially after it was learned that key officers in their ranks were infected with Bluegill parasites. Captain Nathanial Creed secretly infiltrated the Vaadwaur homeworld and showed the recording, causing a civil war to break out between those loyal to Gaul and the separatists who realized that they were being controlled by the Iconians. It was only a matter of time now before the Iconians decide to stop sending their servitors to weaken the Milky Way Galaxy and begin their invasion.
"What about the Separatists?" Windu asked.
Tarkin scowled. "You'd ask for their help after Grievous fled like the coward he is?"
"The droid fleet's too powerful for us not to ask for assistance. We did forge an alliance with them against the Borg." Windu pointed out.
"That alliance ended when the Separatist abandoned us in battle. They cannot be trusted." Tarkin retorted.
"Has there been any word from Count Dooku on the Separatist reaction to these invaders?" Windu looked to Palpatine, seeing he was getting nowhere with Tarkin.
"I have spoken with Count Dooku over the priority channel and he admitted that he was not pleased that Grievous lost the Separatists their new flagship and went against Captain Shon's advice. At the moment he is in debates with the Confederate Senate on what to do next but he assures me he will speak to me again on the matter." Palpatine answered.
"Our embassy on Raxus can confirm the CIS Council and Senate are in debate right now." Jarock brought up. "However they're not happy about General Grievous breaking off from the alliance in the middle of the battle either and officially condemned him for fleeing and abandoning our fleets."
"General Grievous will no doubt run and hide in a hole somewhere as he always does." Windu stated coldly. "Grievous is irrelevant. It's the invaders who are the threat and our subject should be our ability to respond."
"Perhaps research into countermeasures against bio-technology is in order." Tarkin mused.
"I know of something that might help." Palpatine answered, glancing out the window.
This was becoming too troublesome.
The Borg were supposed to be destroyed and then he could get back to running the war and weaken the Jedi to the point they would be easy to exterminate at the right time. Now the Chosen One was lost in time and a new threat was emerging from the Maw. If more threats kept appearing the Grand Plan would be in danger and his secret identity could be compromised.
He needed to take control of this situation before it got any worse.