Dantooine: Jedi Enclave Dorms
Doom walked up to Force Susan's room and knocked on the door.
"Leave me, please." She called to him.
"I need to talk to you." Doom said.
"There is nothing more for us to talk about," She called again. "Now leave me."
Doom was getting frustrated. He banged on the door.
"Let me in!" He shouted.
There was no answer this time, so Doom prepared his plasma bolts, but Luke grabbed his arm and gently pushed it down.
Doom looked at his mentor and looked down in shame. He had given in to anger once again.
"She will tell you when she is ready, Victor." Luke calmly stated.
Doom breathed in heavily, trying not to break down. There was too much happening at once, and he felt like a failure for the first time in his life. He looked up at Luke.
"I want to try to build my lightsaber again.." He said, shakily.
"Of course." Luke smiled. "Come, she will let you know when she is ready. Trust me."
As they walked towards the training room, Doom couldn't help but sense Luke's weariness. It beared down on him like a weight, and it was crushing him slowly. He spoke up at last.
"Master," He said. "How do you know she will let me in again?"
Luke gave a weak chuckle. "Because, Victor, I was once married and in love too."
Doom blinked in surprise. Not at the fact that a woman had loved him, but at the fact he had been in love himself. He seemed so desensitised, but at the same time felt so alive with emotion. It was hard to describe.
"Who was she?" He asked.
"It's time for another tale." Luke said. "The tale of Mara Jade Skywalker..."
Coruscant: Several Walkways
Ghost Rider continued to plow through the streets of Coruscant, desperatley trying to escape the Jedi and Sith pursuing him. He would jump off one platform to avoid one, only to be met with another. It was getting ridiculous!
Thor and Thing had regained conciousness. When Thor saw the Jedi still pursuing, he started.
"What manner of creatures are these?" He asked.
"Their dead, that's all I know!" Ghost Rider yelled out.
He yanked the bike again, sending it falling onto another platform, but once again, the dead Jedi followed.
"We can't keep this up all day!" Thing said.
"Aye!" Thor agreed. "May Mjolnir's aim be true!"
He swirled his hammer and tossed it back at the running assailants. Several were destroyed by it, but one Sith in the back, his cape flowing wildly, and his white beard covered in soot, grabbed it with the force, charged it with force lightning and sent it flying back!
"Duck!" Thor screamed.
Thor and Thing ducked immediately. Mjolnir passed over their heads quickly. Right afterward they heard a snapping, crunching sound...they looked back at the Ghost Rider. His head was gone, and his body had fallen limp! The bike was now swerving out of control!
"Nay! Ben, grab the reigns!" Thor yelled.
Reaching over Ghost Rider's dead body, Thing grabbed the handlebars, but too late. The bike swerved too far, and the bike rolled. The cruching sound of black steel was deafening! When the Hellbike finally came to a stop, Thor and Thing got up, Thor holding several wounds on his body which oozed blood out. Thing merely got up and brushed his rocky body off. He turned around and pulled Blaze's dead body from the flaming wreck. He laid it down as gently as possible, and turned to the Sith Lord, anger burning in his blue eyes.
The Sith cackled evily. "I would never had imagined that I would have so much fun during this little debacle, even if I am being controlled."
"Who the Hell are you, you piece o' trash killer!" Thing yelled out.
"Like your friend their, you two will meet your end by the hand of Count Dooku!" He cackled!
Coruscant: Walkway 547
Beast and Spidey were becoming concerned. Many people were being killed by the crossfire from the attackers, and not even Spider-man's webs were doing much to drop the casualty ratio! Beast flipped over a Mandalorian Elite, and mule kicked him over into the line of a passing TIE Fighter, which exploded on impact!
Spidey looked over at his companion, and his spider-sense went crazy! He looked behind him just before a lightsaber cut him down the middle!
"Yikes! That was close!" He cried.
He webbed the man's hands, but the saber once again cut through them! The Jedi attacked again, and Spidey had to dodge, swing on one of his webs, and come around to kick the zombie, however, before it connected, the jedi force pushed him away, sending him flying through the window of a building, and into a young female Twi'lek's apartment.
She looked at him, obviously scared to death, and Spider-man looked back.
"It's alright, I won't hurt you, are you ok?" He asked.
She started pointing behind him and jabbering in her native language. Spidey didn't understand until his spider-sense kicked in again. He grabbed the Twi'lek girl and flipped over the attacking Sith. He then webbed the zombie's feet to the floor, and kicked him in the head on the way to his landing.
The girl wouldn't let go of him, she was scared beyond function. The Sith recovered quickly, slicing the webs off his feet and approaching Spidey and the girl. Spidey held his hands out in his traditional hand sign, but his web fluid was out! And with this girl clinging to him, he couldn't dodge!
The sith brought up his saber, and was kicked down by Morbius. The Living Vampire turned to Spidey and handed him a few new web cartridges.
"Courtesy of Amadeus Cho." He said.
"Thanks, Morbius." Spider-man said, taking them. "Where is Cho, anyway?"
Suddenly, his mask started to buzz with static before the voice of Amadeus Cho came through.
"Sorry, Spidey, but I took the liberty of installing headsets into everyone's costumes. Yours is in your mask, and Morbius has his on his wrist." He said. "Anyway, I'm in the apartment building two blocks down from where you are, and I've been calculating the battle."
Spidey looked at the Twi'lek girl who was now a little bit more relaxed, but still wouldn't let go of him.
"What's the battle analysis look like...?"He asked hopeful.
There was a small moment of silence and static. Then Cho's voice came through again. "I have calculated...we can't win."
Spider-man was shocked. "What? Why not?"
"The enemy numbers appear to be almost infinite, and if my calculations are correct, the flagship of the fleet attacking the space above the planet is empowered by the body of Galactus. Not to mention, the admiral of that vessel has the Infinity Gauntlet at his disposal." Cho said.
Spidey cringed. He knew what this ment.
"So we are going to die here?" He asked.
"No, I don't plan on it. I'm going to see if I can't get a teleporter made up that will save the people of the planet. But I don't have the necessary parts." Cho said.
Suddenly, the voice of Wolverine sounded into the headset.
"Hey, kid," He said. "I've got tons of scrap metal and energy lookin' thingy's down here in the lower part of the city. Maybe send someone to come get it!"
Spidey was overjoyed. They may make it out yet. "Cho, can you send Johnny Storm?"
"I'll try to make contact with him, but no promises." He said. "Amadeus out."
Spidey looked at Morbius. "Here take the girl and get her to Amadeus's location. I'm going out to help the others!"
"Understood." Morbius said.
The girl was reluctant to go with him, but she did, and Spider-man swung back into action.
Dantooine: Jedi Enclave Training Hall
"..she's been off on that mission for years and I haven't seen her. I fear the worst." Luke said.
"If she is as great as you describe, I think she will return ok." Doom encouraged.
Luke smiled warmly. "It looks like it. Because you've just completed your lightsaber."
Doom looked surprised. He hadn't even been really paying attention to the saber, and it was done. Now to see if it worked.
He picked it up and ignited it. The emerald green blade emminating and humming beautifly.
"Congratulations, apprentice." Luke said. "You are now one step closer to becoming a Jedi."
Doom smiled happily. "What remains master?"
"Their is one last test I must have you do." Luke said. "Do you remember the grove we talked of in training?"
"Yes I remember." Doom assured. "The one tainted by Dark Side energy."
"You must go there, and cleanse yourself of the Dark Side." Luke finished.
Doom froze. "What do you mean cleanse myself of the Dark Side?"
"You must face your past mistakes and come to grips with them." Luke told him. "I know you can do it, so do not fear."
Doom was afraid though. How would this go for him? He had done so much evil, could he possibly be forgiven so easily?
"Yes, master. I will return soon." Doom said.
Coruscant: Lower City
Wolverine and Leia piled up as much scrap and energy cells as they could find. If this machine Cho was building worked, they would be ok. Still, he wondered how they were going to teleport 6 billion beings to a place. And to where?
The warm glow of Human Torch's fire began to filter through the darkness and he appeared before them burning up the airways.
"Hey, I'm here now, so what's the deal." He said.
"We need ya to carry this junk up to the asian kid so he can build his escape plan." Wolverine said.
The Torch looked around the wreckage. "I can't carry that stuff!"
Wolverine laughed. "Then it's a good thing we found this old thing!"
Human Torch saw what Wolverine was pointing at, and a huge smile crawled across his face.
"Always wanted to drive a giant robot1"