On the Ghost, it had been a few days since the fiasco with the Disruptors and returning the droids to their master. It had been an Earth week since he traveled to this world, yet...Peter was still unable to get a good night's sleep.
He was able to sleep the first time around after the huge battle on Titan and against those Troopers because that was mentally exhausting for him. The nightmares were always the same. He was at school, just on a normal day, but then he was on the bus. The ship came to Earth, he wound up on Titan, and Thanos wins. He dies in the hands of his mentor.
Titan. That was the source of his nightmares. He often wondered, what if he never went to Titan? Would they have stood a chance against him? More than one chance? Maybe if he was on Earth, he could have stopped Thanos from getting the mind stone from Vision.
Now that time passed, he still couldn't sleep through the night and always stayed awake and worked on something. Either taking apart something and figuring it out before putting it back together, trying to hack the Iron Spider suit, or even getting lessons from Chopper about the language. Both droid and writing.
He can't say he's exactly fluent in this new language, but he can read a few keywords: or, as, and, but.
Great, he has the same reading potential as someone in kindergarten. Who is he kidding? Kindergartners must be laughing at him somewhere in the cosmos.
As the rest of the crew started to wake up, Hera was the first to visit him in the kitchen and noticed the tired bags under his eyes. She was starting to worry about him and looked at Chopper.
"How long have you been awake?" Hera wonders.
"Oh, an hour?" Peter decided to lie. "Don't know. Time works differently in every world we go."
"Chopper?" Hera looked at the droid.
Chopper looked to the captain and bleeped and grunted in response.
"All night?" Hera asked in shock.
"Sellout," Peter called out to the droid.
"Peter, this can't be healthy," Hera stated. "You need to sleep."
"I can't sleep." Peter sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "Every time that I close my eyes, I see nothing but Titan. Losing the battle."
Hera sighed and saw he was feeling guilty. "From what you told us, there was nothing you could have done to stop Thanos."
"Aren't you the one who's skeptical about the whole story about Thanos?" Peter questioned her.
"Skeptical, but you seem to be haunted by it." Hera shrugged. "It doesn't matter if I think it's true. You think it's true."
"Fair." Peter shrugged and placed his hands on his lap. "I just feel like I should have done something. I almost had the gauntlet. If I had fought a bit harder..."
"You fought as hard as you could," Hera said as she sat next to him. "You can't win every battle."
"I should have won this one," Peter replies. "Thousands of people across the galaxy died."
"We all make mistakes. You can't keep blaming yourself." Hera tells the poor boy. "You're not to blame for that Mad Titan's actions."
"But the ending is my fault." Peter still blamed himself.
Hera saw the boy carried a lot more weight on him than he liked to let on. "You need to give yourself a break."
Peter rubbed his eyes and saw she had a point. "Yeah, I might need some time off."
"How about taking some time to learn more about that armor of yours?" Hera offered up a pass time that didn't involve running/shooting/or escaping death.
Peter saw that was something that could help him get out of his head. "Yeah, sure. I'll wait a while for Sabine."
"And we're gonna be here for a few days until we get some parts fixed sound here. So, you have enough time." Hera promised him.
Across the galaxy, Bucky was sitting outside a hut with Ahsoka sitting across from him. There was a fire that separated the two of them as they were talking. Bucky was just finishing up giving his history to Ahsoka and she was amazed to hear of his world.
"You have suffered a lot," Ahsoka said in sorrow.
"Yeah. Lost half of my life to wars." Bucky agreed with her. "How about you?"
"Honestly, kind of the same." Ahsoka had to admit. "I grew up in the middle of the Clone Wars. Even fought in them."
"You look a little young for that," Bucky commented. "But...I can't exactly talk. Not like I look my age."
"How old are you?" Ahsoka was curious to know. "Somewhere around 107. I lost track after being put on and off ice for over seventy years."
"You say you were sent here with others...any idea where they are?" Ahsoka asks him.
"I have no idea. We were close when we arrived, but they could be anywhere in the galaxy." Bucky sighed as he remembered what Madame Web warned them. "That Madame Web character said that she couldn't keep us close without ripping a hole in reality."
"So, you looking for some help tracking them down?" Ahsoka asks him. "I have a few friends in high places who would be more than happy to help you find your friends."
Bucky looked surprised to see her willingness to help. "You'd help me? A complete stranger?"
"You're someone who was sent here to make a difference." Ahsoka corrected him. "You willingly came here to a war you never knew about on another world. A whole galaxy, that needs your help. And...I can sense your pain. Even after everything you've been through, I can still feel the light inside of you."
"The light?" Bucky asks with a chuckle. "I don't see much of a light in myself in recent years."
"Not according to the Force," Ahsoka commented as she could easily sense the goodness inside Bucky.
"The Force?" Bucky asks, not sure he heard her correctly. "What's that?"
Ahsoka saw he was indeed from another universe if he didn't know what the Force was. Most people across the galaxy have at least heard of the Force before.
"A friend of mine used to say that the Force surrounds us. It penetrates us and binds the galaxy together." Ahsoka said as she recalled what her Master's friend Obi-Wan would say. "It's an energy field that is created by all living things."
"Sounds nice." Bucky wasn't sure how to feel or comprehend it. "Who are these friends of yours?"
"Oh, they've wanted to meet you," Ahsoka said as a ship came into the orbit of their site.
Bucky looked up and saw that it was a Hammerhead Cruiser that came in for a landing. He was starting to see she was right and knew that these must be her powerful friends.
"You know, there was a time when seeing a giant spaceship would have been strange for me," Bucky informed Ahsoka.
Back on the Ghost on Lothal, Ezra was practicing using the Force on a bowl in front of him as he sat at the table. When he closed his eyes and started to try and repeat what he did for Zeb, he thought he was succeeding. The bowl was seemingly floating off the ground only to reveal that Chopper was messing with him as he lifted the bowl.
Ezra groaned in anger, actually thinking he was making process. "Very funny. But I don't need your help."
That was when Chopper was then getting a bit rough as he threw the bowl at the boy. Ezra immediately got annoyed and angry as the droid raced off down the ship.
"Get back here, you rolling junk pile!" Ezra cried as he chased after him.
As he was running down the ship, he ran past Sabine's room where he found Peter and her talking and he had his suit over his body. Sabine had gained a connection to the suit with her devices and they were trying to gain complete access to the suit.
Ezra stopped and skidded to a halt as he comes back to the two. "Hey, Sabine. What are you working on?"
"Peter's suit. Trying to get these other features unlocked." Sabine explains. "Security is tight on this ounce of armor."
"I think Stark took it personally when I had my friend unlock it." Peter joked, seeing Stark take his time buffing security on the suit. "And he did it with a laptop he got at GoodWill."
"You're doing it again," Sabine warned Peter that she didn't understand him.
"God, I need new material for these puns." Peter knew he needed to find a way out for a while.
Chopper then came back and mocked Ezra, getting his attention and causing him to chase after him again. This time heading into Ezra and Zeb's shared room where they could only hear the banging and screaming.
"Never a dull moment around here, is there?" Peter joked.
"Nope," Sabine confirmed.
Just then, there was a long thud from the room behind them. "It's not my fault!"
Ezra then came running out of the room as the Lasat chased after him. "TELL THAT TO MY FIST!"
Both armored tech geniuses turned to see what had happened in the shared room. They saw that Ezra's bunk had landed on top of Zeb's and it wasn't hard to figure out what happened. The only question was how it happened. Chopper rolled up to the two holding up two bolts.
"What are those...?" Peter wonders
"The bolts from Ezra's bunk?" Sabine confirmed before inspiration seemed to strike her. She turned to Ezra's and Zeb's room before humming to herself. "Needs a little something..."
"Right..." Peter nodded before gesturing to their two crewmates. "I'm going to make sure Ezra and Zeb don't kill each other."
"Don't get yourself killed," Sabine said as she pulled out a can of spray paint from her belt. "I'm gonna have some fun."
Peter rushed after the Lasat and Padawan. Unaware of that, the Mandalorian was smiling as she watched him off before getting to her work.
By the time, Peter caught up to them, Hera and Kanan also took notice of their disagreement crashing onto the cargo hold. As the three looked down at them, they each pointed accusing fingers at each other as they declared, "It's his fault!"
As Peter walked outside after they landed to get some needed fresh air, he could hear both Ezra and Zeb pleading to Hera about what happened. But it seemed Hera wasn't listening to anything he was saying, and Peter had to admit when she's like this she reminds him of May.
"Enough! This is my ship you're wrecking, and I want you off it!" Hera scolded the two of them.
"Hera, be reasonable," The Lasat continued to plead.
All while Ezra countered, "Come on! You know what he's like!"
She then handed a list to the youngest member and took it as he wondered what it was. "What's this?"
"A market list," Hera answered before gesturing in Peter's direction, "The town of Kothal's two clicks to the south, and I'm sending you both on a supply run."
Both of their eyes widened in horror as they gestured to each other, "With him?!"
"With each other," Hera stated,
"Oh, don't even think about coming back without at least one meiloorun fruit. Clear?" Hera tells them.
"Clear." They complied and started to walk off.
"Hey." Peter quickly got their attention. "Mind if I join? I need to get some fresh air, and maybe get out of the ship for a while." He then turned to Hera. "That okay?"
"Sure." Hera didn't see the harm of it.
The two continued shoving each other as Peter followed them to the town. As they walked off, Kanan walked up to Hera while pondering something important.
"How do you expect them to find meiloorun on Lothal?" Kanan asks her.
Hera smiled as she looked out into the distance and knew the answer was gonna be something he was going to like. They were going to learn to get along, or they weren't going to be able to come back anytime soon.
The three of them made their way to the city of Kothal, Peter was looking around and getting his look at what he had to guess was the suburbs of the galaxy. The places weren't as grand or extravert as the other places that he has seen. Deciding to split the list into thirds, the three split up to quickly find their stuff faster.
As Peter was looking over the list of things that he was supposed to find, he looked and noticed a familiar symbol on the wall. Walking over to the graffiti, he couldn't help but feel that it looked like something he recognized.
Feeling the wall, he felt that insignia should mean something to him. On Earth, it looked like it was something that resembled a panther.
"T'Challa?" Peter was starting to wonder if this could mean that the Black Panther was nearby. But that was when he watched Zeb and Ezra run past him, running away from a group of Troopers. "What happened?"
"Meilooruns!" Zeb and Ezra proclaimed as they ran past him.
Peter stood back and allowed them to run off, still being chased by the Troopers. He couldn't reveal his identity and needed to find a place to change into his suit. Luckily he decided to grab it from Sabine before they left just in case. He knew the peace and quiet wouldn't last for long and he would need to be prepared.
Back in the Ghost, Hera was strolling through the halls when she heard paint fumes coming from Ezra and Zeb's bunk. Wondering what was going on, she made her way to the doorway. But that's when Sabine came out and quickly stopped her.
"Sorry, Hera. No entry." Sabine informed her.
"You are aware this isn't your bunk, right?" Hera reminded her.
"I know. I was inspired." Sabine shrugged as she shut the door.
Hera decided to shrug it off and leave her be and kept walking. "Could be worse. It could be my room."
By the time Peter was able to get into his suit, he somehow found the Zeb flying around in a TIE Fighter and was wondering how this happened.
Ezra tried to continue running when a TIE fighter came flying in. He groaned to himself, "Great. Just what I need." However, instead of shooting at him, the TIE fighter flew close enough for Ezra to see who was actually flying the ship. Ezra's eyes widened in shock as Zeb gave him a wave. "Zeb?!"
The Lasat gave him a smirk and a thumbs-up as Ezra pleaded as he still ran from the Stormtroopers. "Zeb! Hey, Zeb, let me in!"
Noticing Ezra's predicament, Zeb's voice went through the speakers. "So now, I'd be saving your life, right?"
"What?" Ezra turned to him in confusion before finally realizing what he was doing, "Yeah, sure. Yes! Whatever!"
"If I let you in...we're even?" Zeb asked with a smirk on his face.
"Fine!" Ezra nodded as the Troopers gained on him.
"You have to say it!"
"All right, all right! We're even," Ezra exclaimed before Zeb lowered the TIE close enough as the boy continued to beg. "Now let me in!"
With that, Zeb opened the hatch allowing the Force User to enter the stolen ship. He took a chance and leaped inside landing head-first on Zeb's lap until the Lasat threw him off.
"Now, where's Peter?" Zeb wonders.
Then there was a sudden knock on the roof as they watched Peter open it with his lenses snarling. "I left you two for two minutes!"
"It was his fault!" Zeb and Ezra proclaimed as they pointed at one another.
"Gah!" Peter was getting sick of their fighting. "Just move over." He then dropped into the TIE and sighed. "Did you guys lose all of the supplies?"
"He made me lose them," Zeb said as he pointed to Ezra. "Tried to use the Force to steal a Meiloorun."
"The empire had a whole crate of it. I doubt they'd notice if one was missing." Ezra defended. "What about you? What were you looking at?"
Peter thought back to the graffiti and shrugged. "Nothing." Then he looked at the fruit on the windshield. "Should we clean that off?"
"Got anything to help do that?" Zeb wonders.
Peter sighed and in and shrugged. "I've got it."
Peter then opened the hatch again and climbed out the door before making his way to the front. Using his shooters, he started to wipe it down using his webbing.
As he climbed back in, Zeb nodded and was thankful for his help. "Thanks, Pete."
Peter retracted his mask. "No problem. You know, we should probably let Hera know we lost the supplies...and we stole a TIE Fighter."
Zeb and Ezra sighed knowing he was right as the Lassat started to make the call. "Oh, she's not going to like this..." He then contacted the Ghost through his comlink, he cleared his throat before he started. "Specter-4 to Ghost."
"Go ahead Specter-4," Hera's voice replied through the comlink almost as if she was expecting them.
"Right," Zeb hesitated to tell them the news. "Well, we've had a bit of a problem."
"I thought you might," Hera's voice replied thinking she knew what the problem was Although Peter knew it wasn't the reason she was thinking of. "Look, don't worry about the meilooruns."
Peter then spoke up from the back of the group. "Hey, Her...er...Specter-2. It's not that... you see the thing is we had them then..."
"We smashed them..." Ezra added on, "Then... well..."
Zeb sighed just wanting to get it over with. "Just cut to the chase, you two."
Just then, Kanan's voice spoke through the coms as they made a turn in the TIE. "Wait! What am I hearing? It sounds like..."
"Oh, you're there too, Specter-1," Peter rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, you see, the thing is... we stole a TIE fighter."
"YOU WHAT?!" Kanan exclaimed in anger.
All three of them winded at the anger in his voice.
"He's taking it better than I thought," Zeb tells them.
"Get rid of it!" Kanan ordered them.
None of them seemed to want to as they liked the vehicle. "Do we have to?"
Kanan groaned as he laid back on the other end. "At least tell me you at least disabled the locator beacon?"
All three of them froze as Zeb gestured to where it was located as he lied to them. "Of course. We're not fools." Ezra quickly went to work trying to disable the locator beacon. "Under there. The red wire. No, wait, the blue."
"Well, which is it?" Peter wonders, not wanting to crash and die in a ball with boxes for wings.
"It's the red and blue," Kanan answered, overhearing the three.
"Right. Got it." Ezra did as instructed before quickly adding, "I mean, I got it a long time ago. You know, back when we first boarded. Right away. Immediately."
"Stealing a TIE attracts unwanted attention. Rendezvous at Shadow Site 2," Kanan instructed the three. "Fly straight there. Do not stop. And don't do anything."
"On our way," Zeb nodded and reached to turn it off. "Specter-4 out."
"That went well." Ezra joked.
Zeb nodded in agreement, "Yeah."
Peter then wondered as he laid back against the wall. "Do you guys know which way we're supposed to go?"
"No idea," Zeb admitted.
A while later, Peter was figuring out the navigation computer on the ship. Ironically it wasn't much different from those on earth, which confused him a little bit. But yet again, they don't even have cameras with color, so it was like their technology was advancing and not as advanced.
"Okay. Navigation is online. The course should be set for the rendezvous point."
"Nice work, Pete," Zeb nodded at Peter.
Just then, Ezra noticed something in the distance, "Wait. What's that?"
Both Peter and Zeb then noticed the smoke far from their location and the latter admitted, "Looks like smoke."
"Yeah," Peter nodded, "It could be trouble."
"Only, I think I know where it's coming from," Ezra stated in concern, "Go check it out. Please."
Zeb sighed as Peter stated, "They might need our help."
The Lasat nodded before they headed over to the smoke where they noticed the Empire was arresting farmers now.
"That doesn't look good," Peter commented.
Ezra's eyes widened in horror, "Sumar..."
"Friends of yours?" Peter wonders.
"Of my parents," Ezra explains.
Zeb then noticed something on the scanners. "There's a convoy of troop transports heading northwest."
Peter saw the gears turning in Ezra's head and was starting to take guess what he was thinking. "So... you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Ezra smirked as he nodded. Zeb then began to realize what the two were planning, "Karabast! I know what you're both thinking of doing?!"
Peter turned to the Lasat, "C'mon. This is exactly what we do. Besides, what's the worse that can happen?"
The Lasat dryly answered, "We all wind up dead."
"Like we don't face that every day." Peter scoffed.
Zeb couldn't think of any other excuse as he decided to agree, "Oh, boy. Here goes nothing." He then activated the ship's Imperial communications before speaking through it. "Attention, transports. This is Imperial Commander Meiloorun."
Both young men turned to the Lasat as Ezra gave him a look, "Meiloorun? Seriously?"
Zeb shushed him before continuing, "There's a report of rebel activity in your sector. Reduce speed."
Thankfully, the Empire seemed to buy the lie. "Acknowledged, Commander."
With that, the transport ships reduced speed, and Peter turned to Ezra. "So, I guess we just jump aboard and free the prisoners?"
"Basically." Ezra guessed.
As they were starting to get close, they then got on top and allowed Zeb to get them close. As he did, Ezra and Peter leaped off of the TIE and landed on top of the transport. As he did, Peter sensed something coming and looked ahead.
"What was that?" Peter wonders.
"What?" Ezra asks.
Just then, there was an explosion and they all looked ahead and saw that it was one of the transports. The two remaining modes of transport slowed down to a halt as the prisoners smiled, already knowing who it was.
He became a quick legend within Lothal. A hero who actually stood up to the tyrant of the Empire. They never believed in such a story as they never saw one man be a threat to their people. But that was all it took. One man to stop a transport.
The TIE and heroes on the transport stopped what they were doing as they saw a figure March above the wreckage of the transport. What they saw was a man who wore a completely black full-body suit that includes details made of a metallic material. He sports feline details, like the ears on his mask, and the clawed gloves.
None of them knew who he was, all but one.
"It's him," Peter said in awe.
"You know this guy?" Ezra asks his friend.
"Oh, I know him alright," Peter confirmed in amazement.
T'Challa, King of Wakanda, the Black Panther, leaped off of the rubble and marched towards the other transports. "Your reign of terror across these innocent people ends here!"
"All transports, full speed, and shoot him down!" The officer demanded the Troopers in the transports.
The transport starts to speed off and tries to go around the Black Panther. But T'Challa wasn't going to allow them to get away and fed after them, shocking all of them with his incredible speed. When he reached the transport with the prisoners, he leaped on the roof where Ezra was readying to shoot him.
"No! Wait! Stop!" Peter grabbed Ezra's hand and stopped him from firing. "He's on our side."
"Is he?" Ezra asks.
"He's one of my friends," Peter explains and looked toward T'Challa. "Kinda." He then raised his hands. "You remember me, Your Majesty?"
"Majesty?" Ezra asks. "He's royalty?"
"Back where we're from," Peter confirmed.
"Spider-Man," T'Challa remembered their encounter in Germany. "It is great to see we're not the only ones."
"We?" Peter asked.
"My sister and I arrived on this planet a few days ago," T'Challa confirmed when a blaster fire almost hit them.
"This is a riveting conversation, but can we worry about this later when we're not being shot at?" Ezra asked the two of them.
"Your friend is correct," T'Challa said as he looked to the Troopers on the opposite transport. "Spider-Man and I will handle these men. Boy, you free the prisoners!"
T'Challa then leaped across the field and claws at the other transport.
Peter got up and shot webbing on the top of their transport and looked at Ezra. "You got this."
Ezra then looked down at the prisoners. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out."
"How? You can't reach the controls." Sumar warned Ezra.
Ezra then came up with an idea and started to try and use the Force to unlock the three of them. It took a moment, but luckily Peter was able to keep the Troopers back with his speed and agility, as well as some help with T'Challa across the way.
"Knew I'd get the hang of that," Ezra said before looking down. "You have to jump! Jump and scatter."
"We're moving too fast." Sumar noticed.
"So you'd rather stay prisoners?" Ezra asked them.
That seemed to convince them as they all then jumped and rolled to slow down. As they did, the officer demanded they open fire. But that was quickly stopped when T'Challa landed in front of the gun and took the blast head-on. That shocked the Rebels as they watched him shake it off, grab the turret, and rip it out of the transport. After that, he threw it at the other troopers and knocked them all off.
With all of the built-up momentum, T'Challa was able to then use the kinetic energy in his suit. With that in mind, he releases it and causes the transport to explode and send the pieces scattering. In the process, T'Challa was sent flying and landed on the TIE.
"Hi." Zeb finally got his first look at the Panther.
"Greetings." T'Challa greeted back and decided to stick around.
In the process of blowing the transport, a bunch of the Meilooruns was sent flying around. Peter worked fast and shot several webs to catch a few of them.
"Sweet!" Ezra was happy to see they got what they came from.
That's when the last of the Troopers aimed a blaster at their back. "Got ya!" But then he realized what Peter and Ezra were carrying. "Wait. You're doing all of this for fruit?"
"No!" Ezra stated.
"Well, maybe a little." Peter shrugged.
Ezra then threw the Meiloorun in his hands and gave Peter an opening to leap and kick him off of the top of the transport. Zeb then came in low so Peter can shoot a web, followed by grabbing onto Ezra.
"Wait, are you-" Ezra didn't get to finish his worry when he was suddenly pulled and the two were hanging off the TIE as Ezra screamed.
They flew off while the Transport couldn't keep up with them and didn't have any defenses left. It was best not to try their luck, even though they knew they were going to have to answer for everything that happened.
When they finally all climbed inside, Peter then removed his mask and held up the fruit, "Mission accomplished."
"So..." Zeb looked to the Black Panther. "You two know each other?"
"T'Challa is the king of Wakanda as well as an honorary Avenger," Peter explained his relationship to Zeb.
"The Avengers?" Zeb realized that maybe Peter isn't as crazy as he thought. "You didn't happen to have come here because of a guy named Thanos involving six Infinity Stones?"
"Of course," T'Challa confirmed.
Zeb nodded as he saw Peter was telling the truth before letting it go and holding an Imperial pilot helmet to Ezra, "You collect these, right?"
"Already have that one," Ezra answered making Zeb frown before he had a change of heart. "But this is a nice one. Besides, maybe I can get Sabine to paint it for me. So thanks."
Peter had to smile as he sees the two get along. "Nice to see you two finally getting along."
"Yeah, well," Zeb nodded, "Kid's not so bad."
"Yeah," Ezra returned the nod, "You're not so bad yourself."
"So, where can we drop you off, T'Challa?" Peter asks his fellow Avenger, knowing he wasn't going to leave his sister.
"Drop me anywhere near any civilizations." T'Challa decided. "I can get into contact with Shuri and she can get me transport. I have a sense you all have somewhere to be."
"Got it." Ezra shrugged and looked around the ship. "So, what do we do about the TIE?"
"Well, we could do what Kanan and Hera said and destroy it," Peter stated making them all frown before he lifted a finger and pointed to T'Challa. "Or... we can keep it and say we destroy it and leave it with T'Challa to keep in case he needs it. Besides we might need this ship again. If anything, we'd be doing them a favor by not destroying it."
Seems everyone was okay with that idea as they found an area to drop off T'Challa.
When they did so, Peter walked up to T'Challa and he retracted his entire suit to keep Black Panther and T'Challa separate identities. The two Avengers just stood there and looked up to the stars as the star began to set on Lothal. They stood there and watched the planets in the system begin to be spotted.
"A long way from Germany, aren't we?" Peter asked him jokingly.
"Far." T'Challa agreed. "This galaxy...they need us. Truly."
"There are so many worlds out there," Peter commented with a sigh. "And there's only two of us. Three."
"The others are out there." T'Challa kept up hope as he looked to the stars. "We just have to find them."
Peter sighed as he remembered their lives on Earth. "Do you miss them? The ones who survived with us and died?"
"Every day," T'Challa confessed as he looked over to Peter. "But in my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a... stepping-off point. They are still with us, as long as we don't forget them."
Peter nodded and looked back to his team. "Yeah. You're right. I've gotta go. We know where to find each other now, but..." he then handed off a small comm for T'Challa to contact them. "In case you need us."
T'Challa gladly took it and nodded and gave his Wakandan salute. "Good luck, Spider-Man."
"Same for you, Black Panther," Peter said as he mimicked the gesture before walking off. "And..it's Peter. My name. Just for future reference, you don't need to call me Spider-Man."
T'Challa smiled and nodded his head. "Then I insist you call me T'Challa."
Peter nodded in confirmation. "Deal."
Later on, Kanan and Hera waited for the three Rebels to return. He was starting to get worried about what could have happened to them.
"They should have been back by now." Kanan worried.
Hera frowned as she continued to look before spotting Peter, Zeb, and Ezra returning to the ship, "Over there!"
The three heroes of the day walked up to the two as the Lasat handed over the fruit to Hera, "One fresh meiloorun, as ordered."
Hera smiled as she accepted it, "Thank you, good sir."
Zeb brought both Peter and Ezra closer to him, "It was a team effort."
"Forget about the fruit," Kanan glared at the trio, "Where's the TIE fighter?"
"I crashed it!" Zeb made up an excuse, not wanting to get into how they gave it to a friend.
"On purpose," Ezra quickly added.
"Yeah," Peter nodded, "We didn't want it to fall back into the hands of the Empire."
The Jedi stared at them a bit longer, before nodding, "That's what I like to hear."
The trio smiled to themselves as Kanan and Hera seemed to buy the lie. They made their way inside while Peter's look became serious.
"Hey, Kanan." Peter quickly got his attention. "We ran into some trouble while trying to get the fruit..."
The Jedi raised an eyebrow in worry. "What kind of trouble?"
"Nothing we couldn't handle, but..." Peter smiled as he recalled what he discovered. "I found one of my people."
"Your people?" Hera suddenly became curious.
"A member of the Avengers. The Black Panther." Peter explains to them. "He's going to stick around Lothal and wants to protect it. If we need him, he has my comm. I might need a new one."
"Not to worry," Kanan assured him it was okay. "You found an Avenger. That's exactly what you've been trying to do."
"Still have a lot of others out there." Peter reminded them, looking up to the stars.
"We'll find them. One at a time if necessary for as long as it takes." Hera assured him as they walked aboard. "Come on, time to take off before the Empire looks for their TIE."
As they made their way aboard, Peter was making his way to the couch for a minute to rest. As he did, Sabine stepped out of the guys' room.
"Finished." Sabine proclaimed.
Ezra was confused by what she meant and followed her. "Finished with what, Sabine?"
Sabine then gestured to her artwork allowing the boys to observe. Zeb and Ezra instantly frown as Peter began snickering quietly to himself. She painted Chopper stealing the bolts this morning causing Ezra to fall on Zeb.
"Thought it was a moment that needed to be immortalized," Sabine explains.
that makes me look like a fool."
"Makes me look like a bigger fool," Zeb commented about the painting of himself getting crushed by the falling painting of Ezra.
Sabine crossed her arms with pride, "I paint what I see."
Peter snickered to himself before forcing a cough after he saw them face the Avenger. "Remind me not to do anything embarrassing enough to get immortalized in front of you."
Just then, Chopper snicked out loud at the two. Both Zeb and Ezra glared at the droid, as they exclaimed angrily. "Chopper!"
It was then they realized, they didn't actually hate each other. They hated that droid.
"This is all your fault!" Zeb growled.
With that, the two chased after the droid as Peter stepped out of the way and let them pass. Sabine walked up to him and the two laughed.
"Well, at least, they not trying to kill each other anymore." Peter shrugged and took it as a win.
"What got you so happy?" Sabine was wondering.
"Well...I found one of my friends from Earth," Peter informed her why he was happy. "The Black Panther."
"That's great!" Sabine said as she punched his shoulder in a friendly manner. "One down, a dozen to go."
"A lot more than that," Peter commented and sighed, wondering where all the other Avengers are in the galaxy.
DIMENSION-199999: HOURS BEFORE THE SNAP
Vormir, where Thanos and Gamora have just appeared outside a mountain. Gamora had just given up the location of the Soul Stone to save her sister Nebula from Thanos' wrath.
"The stone had better be up there…For your sister's sake." Thanos warned her.
As they made their way up to the top of the mountain where Thanos and Gamora stand before a cloaked, faceless figure there to guard the way.
"Welcome, Thanos, son of Eros. Gamora, daughter of Thanos." The Stonekeeper greeted them.
"You know us?" Thanos was curious to notice.
"It is my curse to know all who journey here." The Stonekeeper informed them.
"Where's the Soul Stone?" Thanos asks him.
"You should know…It extracts a terrible price." The Stonekeeper warns them.
Thanos wasn't ready to stop his quest here. "I am prepared."
"We all think that at first." The figure glides farther out of the shadows and reveals the face of who we know to be Red Skull from WWII. "We are all wrong."
Then Red Skull leads them upward to the hill where the stone is. Thanos led the way and kept Gamora close but behind him to block Red Skull from her.
Thanos was then curious about something. "How is it you know this place so well?"
Red Skull sighed as he gave his backstory. "A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the stones. I even held one in my hand. But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess." They come to the edge of the mountaintop and stop at the precipice. "What you seek lies before you. As does what you fear."
Gamora didn't seem to understand that and looked to Skull. "What's this?
"The price," Skull explains. "Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain wisdom."
Thanos didn't have time for riddles. 'Tell me what it needs."
Red Skull decided to cut to the chase. "To ensure that whoever possesses it… Understands its power… The stone demands a sacrifice."
"Of what?" Thanos wants to know.
"In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love. A soul…For a soul." Red Skull cut to the purpose of this place.
Thanos looked down in sadness as Gamora begins to laugh at the irony of the situation.
"All my life, I dreamed of a day…A moment when you would get what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed. But now…You kill and torture…And you call it mercy." Gamora was relishing in this victory, knowing he didn't love anyone. "The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize, and it told you no. You failed. And do you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one."
Thanos turned to face Gamora with tears in his eyes. "No."
Gamora scoffed when she saw how he was taking his failure. "Really? Tears?"
Red Skull sighed as he seemed to know the truth. "They are not for him."
Gamora looks at Red Skull and seems to realize what is about to happen. She looked at Thanos as he took a few steps forwards and she took a few steps back.
Gamora started to panic. "No. This isn't love."
Thanos looked down at her in sadness. "I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do that again. Even for you."
Gamora reached and grabbed the knife off of his belt so she can kill herself. Even if she died, she wasn't going to die and allow Thanos to get the stone. But the moment she did, Thanos turned the knife into bubbles using the Reality Stone.
"I'm sorry, little one," Thanos said in sadness as he grabs Gamora by the arm and takes her to the ledge.
Gamora cried as she started to try and rip her arm free. "No!"
She tries in vain to break from his grasp but he soon throws her over the side and watches sorrowfully as she falls to her death.
But then Gamora opened her eyes.
She stood up and looked down and saw how the entire world was orange, with the floor looking like it was made of water.
"Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben." A familiar voice called, getting Gamora to jump and turn to face Madame Web. "We have a lot to discuss..."
"What?" Gamora asked as she looked around. "Where am I?"
"Welcome to the Soul Stone." Madame Web says, getting ready to offer her the same choice she's soon to offer the rest of the Avengers. "But...I might have a way to help you reunite with the people you love."
