Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer, Stand with Ward and Queen and gussygus28 for their help with this chapter, couldn't have done it without them.

TW: Thanks for the review, glad it was fantastic. They are.

Chapter 14- The Cray Cray Job

Universe-208, Umbara

Steve walked to where Anakin and Rex were using what looked like binoculars to look ahead at something, while Dogma walked away from them and past him.

Steve went near them, Anakin handing the super soldier his macrobinoculars. "You can use these to look at the attack by my friend's batallion."

Steve used those, looking at just that, while Anakin explained to him. "Our mission is to capture the capital."

That was when they all heard blaster fire coming from behind them, and turned to see the Clones trying to fire at something.

Then, some others started firing their blasters at the Clones too, while one of them cried out. "Ambush! They're behind us!"

The Clone climbed onto his AT-RT but was struck as he went down.

"The enemy has circled behind us", Fives said, putting his helmet on as he rushed forwards.

Anakin, Steve and Rex rushed forwards as well behind him.

"Everybody, we must defend our backs!"

Steve rushed forwards at full speed, surprising the Clones and even the General at how fast he was running, as he outran them all, while he drew his gun too, then held his shield up.

The green plasma bolts met his Vibranium shield, and just like the blasts of the Hydra weapons and Loki's Scepter, the metal remained intact.

Aiming his gun, Steve returned fire, his enhanced eyesight allowing him to see through the dark of the planet to aim and pull the trigger.

Every time he fired off a shot, his target hit the ground half a second later, their domed helmets broken, and blood leaking through their foreheads.

From what he could see, the Umbarans seemed to be like humans, only encased in bodysuits with domed helmets filled with a kind of gas.

Whether that gas was needed for survival, Steve did not know, only that they seemed to shout in a language he did not understand.

As he turned, he saw Anakin holding the cylinder from before, a vibrant blue light now extending from it, looking like a concentrated beam of a star, in the shape of a sword.

Anakin tried to bring it down on what looked like a mechanical insect creature, which was spewing electrical shocks at the soldiers, but it barely avoided him.

However, it wasn't fast enough to escape both a Jedi and a Super Soldier. As soon as it skittered away from Anakin, Steve's foot planted down upon it, crushing it into bits that scattered on the ground nearby.

Steve looked at Anakin's lightsaber. "What kind of sword is that?"

"I can ask you the same thing about that shield", Anakin replied, looking at the Vibranium shield.

Steve then noticed three of the Umbarans moving closer. Rearing his arm back, Steve hurled his shield, sending it traveling with speed toward a tree, before it ricocheted off and struck and bounced off each of the three helmets, each hit sending them to the hard ground with cracks in their visors before the shield returned to its owner's hand.

Anakin let out a short laugh while Rex and Fives briefly paused in their shooting. "Good trick."

"It's all in the wrist."

As they took cover from more fire, Steve defending himself with his shield, Rex said to Anakin. "Call in an air strike on the enemy positions."

Anakin nodded. "Let's hope they're not too busy helping Obi-Wan."

Rex gestured. "There's an opening to our south. I recommend we move all platoons off the ridge in case the air strike over-shoots."

"Good thinking, Rex", Anakin complimented him before saying. "Everyone, move out, now!"

And with that, Anakin and the Clones started moving away, Anakin using his lightsaber to deflect any bolts coming at him and his men.

Steve waited until the last Clone had run past him, and then started running, covering all of them from behind with his shield. An AT-RT was running by him, when a strike caused it to explode while its driver was thrown out, falling down.

Steve lay down, suppressing some fire, and moved to the Clone, throwing him over his shoulder.

With that, he continued to run behind the Clones, until they were off the ridge, and taking cover behind the planet's vegetation.

Steve set the unconscious AT-RT driver against a tree before calling out. "I need a medic!"

"I'm here!" Steve turned his head as a trooper with unique blue markings on his white armor, like Jesse, Fives, and Rex, but with red symbols too, run over with a pack on his back. Steve could only watch as he set down the pack, pulling out what looked like a syringe as the Clone medic ripped of the unconscious one's helmet and injected his neck, making his body seize before relaxing. "That should stabilize any injuries for now."

Steve sighed in relief before watching the Umbarans continue to fire in vain at the Clones who seemed to be out of range of their weapons. Their green energy shots seemed to dissipate before it could too far. So, Steve realized, those laser guns couldn't go on indefinitely.

Then he became aware of how silent the entire platoon became, waiting for the air strike Rex promised to appear, with only the sound of the enemy militia filling the air. That's when he heard it.

From the west, Steve looked up to see two jets of Y-shaped design fly over, with bombs descending on the Umbaran ambush.

"Good old Oddball, always on target", Steve heard Jesse say as he focussed on the explosion that engulfed the ridge he and the hundreds of Clones around him formerly occupied.

The sound and the sight of the explosion captured Steve in a daze, as the foreign forest of Umbara was replaced by the fields of Germany, enemy tanks being reduced to molten metal and ash as the allies paid back what the Nazis did to London, and only the screams of burning Germans could be heard.

It was only after he felt something hard gripping his shoulder did the super soldier knock out of his daze and turned to the Jedi general, watching in concern. "You okay, Captain?"

Was he? Steve could not answer himself, but he did for the general, standing straight as his training took over. "Yes, sir."

Skywalker sensed his new "shiny" was engulfed by troubled thoughts, but the man still held a strong aura. Already, he turned to help Kix with the injured Clone, which left the Jedi to turn back focus on to the rest of his battalion. A General's job is never done.


Earth-92, Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel

Angel was working on a little crossword that had gotten his attention, when Wesley walked out of his office. "Hey Wes, what's an eight-letter word for decapitated?"

Before Wesley could speak, Fred appeared at the top of the stairs, her hair a mess, dressed only in an oversized bathrobe, about to say something, only to sneeze loudly.

"Gesundheit, Fred", Wesley responded in kind as Fred reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks", she said with a shake of the head, then glanced at Angel. "Headless."

Angel frowned. "Huh?"

"Headless", Wesley repeated. "That is your answer. You were perhaps trying to think of something in the past tense, like 'the Headless Horseman decapitated Ichabod Crane', but with the conditions given, 'headless' would be the synonym."

Angel grinned broadly. "Thanks guys." He returned to his crossword on the sofa.

"How are you, Fred?" Wesley inquired.

"Fine", she said, trying to smile and failing. "I feel much better now, guys, I promise."

"You don't look like it", Cordelia said, giving her a look. "If you want to be out of bed, fine, but Doctor Cordy will have to prescribe you a bowl of chicken soup and an industrial-sized box of tissues." Looking like she was thinking, Cordelia suddenly said. "Actually, on second thought, don't be out of bed either, come on, let's get you back up."

The women started walking up the steps, when suddenly Cordelia gasped, holding her head in pain, making Angel rush to her as he caught her in his arms.

In her visions, Cordelia saw the Grace Andersen Sanitorium's sign, and then Michael Myers was there, killing two security guards.

Then he and Laurie Strode seemed to be in battle, and Michael was dangling from a rope.

Laurie suddenly reached out to his mask, and then he grabbed her arm, the rope breaking and dropping him while he grabbed her and stabbed her in the back, and soon after, Laurie fell to her death.

As Cordelia continued to moan, Angel gently carried her over to a chair, propping her up, allowing it to pass, while the rest were in front of her soon enough.

"Cordy, are you all right?" Angel asked her first what everyone else was feeling.

She ignored the question to tell them what she'd seen. "Michael Myers….he is here, in the Grace Andersen Sanitorium. He is going to kill Laurie Strode!"

"Michael Myers? Why is he here?" Fred asked, not having caught up on what the masked serial killer had been up to ever since returning from Pylea.

"Laurie Strode faked her death and moved to Summer Glen, California to escape Michael Myers. She was the headmistress of the Hillcrest Academy, and lived with her son, John. Michael managed to track them down, and killed some people", Wesley explained. "Laurie fought him, and eventually, she managed to decapitate him. But it was not Michael, he had switched himself with a paramedic, and rendered the man mute by crushing his larynx. Since then, Laurie has been institutionalized in the Grace Andersen Sanitorium in this city."

"Michael Myers", Angel whispered as he walked to his weapons cabin. "He is the only one I'd say is as evil as Angelus. He is a monster."

The time Michael had tried to kill Laurie recently had brought him and the situation to media attention again, so except Fred, all of them knew the basics about Michael's actions starting from 1963 itself.

"What if there is more? Like demonic possession?" Wesley wondered.

"Or maybe he was something worse", Angel said as he got a faraway look in his eyes. "Complete disregard for life, no morals. Michael Myers had no soul."

Wesley realized it could be true, as he, Angel and Cordelia shared a look.

Even the Ethros Demon possessing Ryan Anderson feared him, a boy. Said boy also tried to kill his own family, like Michael.

Wesley then had a horrifying thought.

"How many others are there?"

"I don't know, Wes."

"Thanks for the nightmares, guys", Cordelia muttered lowly.

Wesley had a realization. "Angel...do you think God really created everything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Vampires, Demons, the soulless, evil itself...do you think God created it all?"

Angel was silent for a long time. The answer to that question, he did not consider it lightly.

"If God is the Creator of all good, then how could He allow for things so foul to exist?"

"Maybe He did." Wes looked at him sharply. Angel's eyes were distant as he lost himself in thought.

"With everything we've seen, if God truly is responsible for all of creation...then even He must have a dark side. Or a dark counterpart, I guess." He looked forwards. "Don't really wanna think about it though. Even I have beliefs."

"What beliefs?" Gunn asked as he suddenly appeared.

"Leave beliefs, Michael Myers is here", Cordelia said, groaning as she was still recovering from the pain, Gunn's eyes widening.

"Damn!" He said, while Angel picked out his sword.

"Yeah, I had the same reaction, didn't even know he was back, but then again, I'm just back myself", Fred rambled a bit.

"Let's go guys, we need to stop him", Angel said while walking past them.


Earth-1, Star City

"To what do I owe this, visit, Miss Michaels?" Agent Smith inquired as he looked at her.

"Floyd Lawton", Lyla told him immediately. "I want to clear the record regarding him- he was not the perpetrator behind what happened in the Republic of Kasnia. Senator Cray was responsible. He hired those mercenaries to pose as terrorists so he could diffuse the situation and look like a hero."

"Witness accounts say differently", Smith shrugged coldly.

"They were paid to stay silent", Lyla pointed out. "We need to-"

"Keep it that way", Smith cut her off, ending the conversation. "Amanda Waller survived for as long as she did because she learnt to follow my lead. I suggest you do the same."

Lyla could only look at him in disbelief, realizing not much could be done here, and walked off.


Arrow Lair

Hardison was at the computers, improving the security, when Oliver entered the bunker, seeing him hard at work. Eliot and Hunt were sparring, while Parker was watching with popcorn.

Felicity than ran towards Oliver, making him groan internally.

"I am NOT okay with this!"

"..."this" being what exactly?"

"He is touching my babies!"

"Are you sure you're not just being overly sensitive?"

"I have been behind those monitors, watching them as they grew up for four years, I know their hardware and software. It's like someone-"

"Felicity", Oliver said louder and sterner than before, getting her attention and ranting. "You don't seem to realize that whenever computers or hacking are involved, you tend to put yourself in charge-"

"I wasn't hired for my looks." The disapproving frown made her shut her mouth.

"When you were in Central City, what Hardison did to you, you did the same to Cisco. What he's doing now, you also did for the guys at STAR Labs. Are we sure that the reason you're overreacting is because your ego took a blow?"

Felicity crossed her arms and refused to meet his eyes. "Maybe."

"Felicity, you were outhacked before." The look of betrayal in her eyes did not stop his resolve. "Improved security is better than no security, don't you think?"

"...yeah." The blonde hacker admitted bitterly.

"Hardison is a friend, he thinks differently than us which can be an advantage when he run up against another powerful player."

"Yeah", Felicity said, her tone downcast.

"Good. Your attitude was becoming a liability, take this experience as a lesson in humility."

That was when Lyla walked in. "Oliver."

Oliver turned to her, as did the rest. "Hey Lyla, what's the matter?"

"Joseph Cray", Lyla said, putting a little file regarding him down on the table, Oliver narrowing his eyes as Eliot, Parker, Hardison and Hunt walked towards the table as well, looking through the file themselves.

"This guy is a piece of work", Parker noted.

"He is engineered a hostage situation in the Republic of Kasnia months ago", Lyla explained. "Our man Floyd Lawton died trying to stop his mercenaries and help us escape. But Cray made him the scapegoat, blaming the entire situation on him, and paid the hostages for their silence. Lawton was a very flawed man, he made many mistakes, but he does not deserve that."

"Considering what this guy has done, he is automatically worse than whatever Lawton was", Eliot had to say.

"I did tell Diggle he and you could try to clear Lawton's reputation now", Oliver told her.

"I tried that, but there's this man, Agent Smith, he shot me down", Lyla said with a groan. "I want to clear Lawton's name, but if I carry on with this, they'll remove me as Director of ARGUS, and can replace me with someone worse than Waller."

"So your hands are tied", Hunt noted grimly. "And you cannot do much in this situation."

"No", Lyla said. "And that is why I came to you all."

"Because we took down Waller", Hardison said in realization. "And you want us to do the same to Cray now."

"Indeed, it'd be much appreciated", Lyla told them.

Parker looked at Oliver, who gave her a nod, so she turned back to Lyla. "We're gonn start working on it."

"Thank you", Lyla smiled, before walking off.

"So, what's the plan regarding him?" Eliot inquired.

"Cray is on the List, so he'll be the first person I take down now that I'm back on it", Oliver commented, then looked at Eliot, Parker and Hardison. "And since you three inspired me to get back to it, only fitting you're there when I take down the first guy after getting back onto this."

"So, we're gonna work on another con then?" Hunt asked.

"Yes, and we need to make it up together", Parker realized.

"Well, as someone who runs a big company, I'm sure there are quite a few cons we could do on the guy", Oliver said, the rest smirking in agreement.


Universe-208, Umbara

"Take it easy, soldier." Steve eased another Clone back to his feet with Kix on the other side after dispensing more shots into the injured Clone.

"I know how to walk, shiny." The Clone named Ringo joked with the newcomer as he walked back to his position. Steve was not so sure how he felt about his new nickname. One thing was for certain: it was better than any nickname the bullies in Brooklyn and the Army gave him pre-serum.

"Clones are made of stern stuff, mostly in our heads." The Clone medic, Kix, informed his unofficial nurse.

Steve had easily learned that Kix' only care was the wellbeing of his fellow soldiers, taking great care to mend wounds, both minor and major, and making sure no soldier was overlooked. Steve liked him immediately.

Sounds from above had Steve discover three incoming aerial vehicles, two resembled jets, with wings stretching out to their side, but one was bigger, two spotlights on either side of the front, with turrets ad what Steve assumed were rockets attached.

"Hey, shiny." A voice had Steve lower his gaze to find ARC Trooper Fives passing him by and beckoning him forward. "We got a larty incoming. The General wants you with him."

"Thanks for the help", Kix said to the taller soldier as they joined the other trooper. Steve nodded back to the medic before moving with the more heavily geared soldier. While Steve was made of questions since his arrival on the planet of Umabara, he only had one in mind at the moment.

"Larty?"

"Short for Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry, "larty" for short", Fives educated the human from Earth before looking at him from behind his helmeted gaze. "Handled yourself well back there. Guess you were telling the truth."

There was a difference between being in a war, and actually fighting it. In Fives' eyes, Rogers proved he was part of the latter category. That earned his respect, as did risking his neck to help another Clone in trouble.

"I try", Steve replied honestly as the General and Captain Rex came into view.

Fives removed his helmet. "I saw what you did when we were retreating. Thanks."

"No man left behind", Steve replied. He kept his tone level, but inside he felt pained. There were many cases when he and other soldiers weren't so lucky to pull troops away to safety, even despite his best efforts.

Not knowing the other captain's inner turmoil, Fives still smirked at the man. "I'm starting to like you, shiny", the ARC trooper said genially.

Steve and Fives stood at attention as they finally made it to Anakin and Rex as the ship landed in front of them. When the doors opened, the First Avenger was not sure how to react to what he saw inside.

Two Clones, and a much larger being. The most prominent thing about the alien was it's height, estimated in Steve's eyes as seven feet and seven inches tall, green skin, a crest atop it's head, and more shockingly, four arms.

The alien walked out of the ship, letting Steve see he wore similar robes to Anakin, and what looked like similar devices as Anakin's laser sword on his waist, but two of them of a much more different design.

When he leapt out that transport, walking to the General with two of its arms behind its back, Steve felt unease from his place to Anakin's left.

"Master Krell, my thanks for the air support", Anakin said to him.

"Indeed, General Skywalker", the alien, whose name seemed to be Krell, spoke in reply. "The locals have proven to be more resourceful than we anticipated."

And then, Anakin gestured to Steve. "This is Captain Steve Rogers. I felt something in the Force, and not long after, Steve walked into our camp."

"Yes, I thought I felt it too. Quite similar to the disturbance felt not that long ago", Krell responded as he scrutinized the human.

Steve may be new to this world, or galaxy, it seemed, but he did not like the way the tall, four-armed alien was looking at him. Anakin's words broke him from his thoughts. "He hails from a planet called Earth, but I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it."

"Nor am I, or anyone else in the Order from what I know."

"I agreed to speak on his behalf to the Council to see if we can help in his case, and in the meantime, he has agreed to aid the 501st."

"A civilian helping on a campaign?" Krell narrowed his eyes, but Steve held his gaze.

"This isn't my first war." The Avenger said coolly.

Anakin smirked, clapping Steve's shoulder. "Trust me, he's no normal civilian."

Krell just nodded, then revealed. "I am not here about this though. The Council has ordered you to Coruscant, effective immediately."

"What? Why?" Anakin asked in surprise, not having expected that.

"I'm afraid a request was made by the Supreme Chancellor, and the Council obliged", Krell informed Anakin. "That is all they would tell me."

"Well, I can't just leave my men", Anakin protested with conviction.

"I'll be taking over in the interim", Krell assured.

"Don't worry about a thing, sir", Rex assured Anakin. "We'll have this city under Republic control by the time you're back."

Anakin made the introductions. "Master Krell, this is Rex, my first in command. You won't find a finer and more loyal trooper anywhere."

Steve admired the praise and confidence Anakin had for Rex. Clearly, they had been through a lot, their confidence in each other was clear.

"Good to hear that. I wish you well, Skywalker", Krell said, putting a hand to his shoulder.

Anakin turned to Steve. "You could come with me, to make your case to the Council."

Steve was never one to run from a fight. And dealing with politicians while a war was being fought? The choice was clear to the super soldier.

"I appreciate the offer, General", Steve said humbly. "But my place is here, with the other soldiers. I shall help them in any way I can."

Anakin accepted Steve's choice with a nod and promised. "When I'm back on Coruscant, I'll explain the situation to the Jedi Council. Hopefully the other masters will know something."

With that, Anakin got into the LAAT, and it flew off, Steve and Anakin sharing one last look.

"Your reputation precedes you, General", Rex complimented Krell as he walked next to the Jedi. "It is an honor to be serving you."

"I find it very interesting, Captain, that you are able to recognize the value of honor, for a clone", Krell said in a condescending tone, taking Steve aback, while Rex was surprised too. "Stand at attention when I address you."

Rex did just that, as Krell started moving off. "Your flattery is duly noted, but it will not be rewarded."

Steve noted how in the presence of Anakin, Krell seemed amiable, formal but friendly. But after Anakin had gone off in the LAAT, Krell's demeanour had changed completely, and Steve did not like it.

The hostility in Krell's tone to Rex was plain, and deliberate.

Unfortunately, while Steve volunteered to help the 501st, he was just that, a volunteer, he had no official ranking or voice in the chain of command, meaning he could say nothing against Krell.

It did not mean he would tolerate the abuse to his fellow soldiers.

"There's a reason my command is so effective, and it's because I do things by the book, and that includes protocol. Have all platoons ready to move out immediately. That is all."

Rex and Fives shared a look, the former sighing in resignation, knowing that this was not a Jedi like Anakin Skywalker.

As they started moving, Steve followed the Jedi with a narrowed gaze.


Earth-92, Los Angeles, Grace Andersen Sanitorium

The security officer Willie Haines had just discovered his fellow guard's bloody head wrapped in sheets and revolving in an institutional laundry machine, while Michael Myers lowered himself from the ceiling.

Screaming in horror, Willie stepped back, only to slip in the pool of blood of the decapitated guard's body, and then Michael grabbed him, before slicing his throat with his butcher knife.

Halloween theme plays

The dead Willie fell to the floor, while Michael moved forth through the Sanitorium, looking for his target.

He passed a room, then walked through a hall, not taking any wrong turns, and looked at the door marked 6-L in front of him, which was where Laurie was kept.

Michael was about to burst through the door when he heard someone call out to him. "Hey!"

He turned to see Angel having appeared out of nowhere, holding his sword. Before Michael could do anything, Angel decked him on the face, making him stagger away in pain and shock, the shock being because the blow had affected him this badly.

At that moment, Wesley struck at Michael with his own sword, but Michael avoided in time, then tried to slice Wesley with his knife, though Wesley avoided, then punched Michael, though this punch did not have too much effect.

As Wesley struck again, Michael side-stepped to avoid, and tried to slice at Wesley. Wesley leapt away to avoid but was sliced on the shoulder, making him gasp in pain.

Gunn then appeared, trying to hit Michael with his ax as he roared, but Michael stepped back to avoid, though the ax did slice his clothing, and gave him a cut, while Gunn followed up by kicking Michael, which barely staggered him.

Wesley gritted his teeth, and struck Michael again. Michael tried to dodge but his shoulder was sliced as well, just like Wesley's.

Gunn brought up his ax and tried to bring it down on Michael, only for Michael to grab both of Gunn's hands with just one of his own, managing to hold him back as Gunn struggled, while Wesley tried to slice at him, but Michael swung his own knife, forcing Wesley to back off.

That was when Angel leapt and kicked Michael on the face, making him fly back and fall down, while the Vampire walked forth, his sword held up.

Michael got back up and swung his knife at Angel, who dodged, and then as Michael tried to strike with the knife again, Angel grabbed his hand with his own, holding it back, shocking Michael at his strength once more.

Then, Angel head-butted Michael, sending him staggering back, before spinning and kicking his face as Michael flew and then fell down.

As he tried to get up again, Angel said. "Bye-bye, Michael."

And then, he swung his sword, decapitating Michael at last, the masked head rolling onto the floor while the headless body toppled as well.

Laurie Strode walked out of her room, where she had lain a trap for Michael, having seen what had just happened.

Running past the three Team Angel members, Laurie knelt near the head, taking off the mask, just to be sure this time.

And she saw the same face she'd seen briefly when she'd unmasked Michael back in 1978.

Seeing that face, Laurie suddenly let out a scream, and taking out a knife of her, started stabbing Michael's headless body. "Die! Die! Die!"

Angel quickly grabbed her, pulling her away as he held Laurie in his arms, the woman crying into his chest as he assured her. "Its okay, its okay. Its over."

It took quite a few minutes, and Angel didn't let Laurie go, knowing she needed some comfort and closure.

After a few more minutes, she sighed in relief, then Angel let her go, as she looked at Team Angel while wiping her eyes. "You three did it."

"He is dead, he won't go after you or anyone else again", Angel assured Laurie, who nodded.

"Thank you", she said to them all hoarsely. "I killed the wrong person. You've fixed that mistake for me."

"Do not think of it", Wesley assured her, as the three began walking off.

"Goodbye", Angel said, and she nodded.

"Goodbye."

"Well, we took down Michael Myers now", Gunn said as they came out of the Sanitorium. "That was something."

"Yes, and because of how infamous he is, news of this is going to spread soon", Wesley noted. "Which will be both a good thing and a bad thing."

"Yeah, people are gonna want to meet the ones who took down Michael Myers, people from both sides", Angel agreed.


Later, Hyperion Hotel

Angel, Wesley and Gunn stepped in, Cordelia noticing the wound on Wesley's shoulder, and quickly ran to get the first aid kit.

As they sat down, Fred asked. "Did you do it?"

"Yeah, Michael is gone", Gunn assured her, while Cordelia came out with the first aid, applying the medicine on Wesley's wound before starting to bandage it up.

"With how brutal he is from what I've heard, well, be glad this was the worst you got", Cordelia had to say to Wesley.

"We had him with us, so it was no trouble", Wesley said as he gestured to Angel.

"Good job, pretty boy", Cordelia quipped, making Angel chuckle.

"Just helping the helpless, Cordy", Angel assured her. "Though its all because you got a vision."

"A head-splittingly bad one, but yeah, credit where its due", Cordelia smirked and joked, Angel again noting how she was downplaying the pain of the visions and joking about those.

He just hoped they could help her with these visions as soon as possible.


Earth-1, Star City

In Senator Cray's office, Cray sat across from Agent Smith, who was telling him. "The new Director of ARGUS is really trying to get the truth about Lawton and you."

"We can't let that happen", Cray said, looking a bit scared, as all his dreams would be shattered in that case. "Will you deal with her?"

"I've shut her down for now, Senator", Smith assured him. "If she tries anything else, let's just say ARGUS shall have new leadership soon enough. Do not worry Senator, as long as I'm around, your reputation is safe. This country needs you."

"Thank you, Agent Smith. And I will not disappoint once I become President", Cray nodded, while Smith got up and walked off, seeing Oliver Queen walking in, alongside Eliot and Parker, not that he knew who the other two were.

He just gave them a look, then walked off, while the three saw Cray's assistant coming to him. "Sir, there was one more appointment for you. He is here now."

Cray looked up to see Oliver, Eliot and Parker standing there, and said. "Mr. Queen, I wasn't expecting you."

"Its fine Senator, this was on short notice", Oliver said, holding out his hand that Cray shook, before Oliver took his seat in front of him. "I hear you're going to run for President."

"I hear you're running for Mayor", Cray noted himself. "And that you got your company back too."

"That is correct, Senator", Oliver noted. "This is my bodyguard, Jacob Stone", Eliot simply gave a nod at that, while Oliver continued. "And this is my assistant, Beth Leach", Parker gave a little smile and wave, and then Oliver said. "Now, I want to talk to you about something, which I'm sure you'll find intriguing."

"I'm listening", Cray smirked.

"I will back your campaign financially, Senator", Oliver revealed, to the Senator's delight. "I just need your help with one thing."

"Whatever you want, Mr. Queen", Cray smiled.

"You can help me with cheap labor in China being transferred here to America, and we can pay them below minimum wage to elevate our profits", Oliver said, and noted that Cray was clearly liking it.

Eliot and Parker shared a little look, reminded of when they had to infiltrate the fashion world to take on Gloria Pan and Russell Pan, who were doing something similar.

Oliver was a good man, but he knew how to play his part quite well.

"I like this offer, Mr. Queen", Cray had to say.

"Indeed, you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours", Oliver said. "So, what do you say, Senator?"

"Glad to have you onboard, Mr. Queen", Cray said, holding out his hand that Oliver shook, before the two got up.

"I'll stay in touch", Oliver assured, then walked out with 'Jacob' and 'Beth'.


Star City, the base

Hardison was on the computers, seeing the entire meeting for himself. Parker had a recorder she'd used to record the entire meeting on video, and Hardison had gotten it all.

Now it was time for him to start doing his thing. "Age of the geek, baby."


Universe-208, Umbara

The 501st Legion's sole Earth human could only watch as the one-manned bipedal…thing, moved in tandem with the rest of Clone army on the march. Steve tried to rack his brain if there was anything comparable to it on Earth, in modern times or as part of Tony's machines, but no, he honestly could say he'd never seen something quite like it.

He felt someone move beside him in his march and found Fives following his gaze. "All Terrain Recon Transport, but everyone calls them walkers."

Steve hummed. "Fitting name."

"Nothing like that on your planet?"

"No, we have tanks, jets, but no walkers." It made Steve wonder just how advanced this Republic and the Separatists were. He had a hard enough time adapting to 21st century technology, now he was stuck in Space with things you would see in a sci-fi flick.

"Don't mean to offend, but your planet sounds pretty primitive", Fives commented.

"How's that?"

Fives gestured to the P14-45 at his waist. "That slugthrower, an actual shield, you don't see them around the galaxy."

"I'm not sure what you mean by slugthrower."

"They're guns that use a chemical reaction to shoot physical rounds rather than the laser in our blasters." Fives tapped the weapon attached to his left.

Curiosity and wanting to know more about what he was dealing with caused Steve to raise a hand toward the blaster. "May I?"

The Arc Trooper saw no problem with it, Steve proved he could be trusted so far. Drawing the blaster, he spun it on his finger before offering the handle to the 501st's new member, before Krell. "It's a DC-17, the best friend you can have in a firefight."

Steve shifted the blaster in his right hand to his left, before aiming down the sight. It felt no different than a regular pistol. "You feed a gas cartridge into it and with a power pack, converts the gas to energy, and then you have a blaster bolt."

"I know a few people who had something like this." Schmidt's own pistol, which could reduce a man to nothing with one pull of the trigger. He couldn't tell if being reduced to nothing was painful, but air was better or worse than being shot by a laser.

Disregarding the dark thoughts, Steve spun the blaster on his finger a few times like Fives, with an extra flourish, before offering it back to its owner. "Thank you."

"My pleasure. Always nice to help a shiny." Fives chuckled, and he heard the other Clones laugh with him. It made the captain deadpan.

"That's not going away any time soon, is it?"

"You catch on quick."

"Can you tell me what that shiny sword by Anakin is like?" Steve then inquired honestly. "It looked like the beam of a star concentrated to look like a sword."

"It is one of the most dangerous weapons in the Universe. All Jedi and Sith have one", Fives explained. "It can cut through flesh and steel. They work on magic crystals or something, I don't know. Been fighting with the Jedi for a while now, and I still don't understand them half the time."

"Right", Steve said with a nod and sigh.


Earth-1

Cray was on the phone with Smith. "I think this is a good deal, Smith."

"I am not so sure", Smith said from the other end. "The deal itself is sound, but I do not like who its coming from."

"Oliver Queen, what's the problem with him?" Cray inquired.

"From what I know of him, he just does not seem like the type of person who'd do this", Smith told him.

"Come on, Smith, he was stranded on an island in the North China Sea. Most likely he hates Chinese people just for that", Cray shrugged.

While he was talking, he did not notice that behind him, Parker had snuck in through the window, and was discreetly opening his drawers, taking some files out, while he wasn't looking.

Suddenly, while talking, he was about to turn back, and Parker jumped behind the drawer cabinet, when his assistant walked in.

"Sir, you need to see this."

Cray turned around, looking at his assistant holding a tablet, and both looked down at it.

Using the opportunity, Parker crawled out from her hiding place, then leapt out of the window with the files, still attached to the cord that she removed after reaching the ground.

Cray's eyes widened in horror as he saw that the payments he'd made to the mercenaries, and later the hostages, were all leaked out to the media. "What the….? NO!"

"What happened, Cray?" Smith asked from the other end.

"Someone leaked my payments to those mercenaries and the hostages to the media!" Cray cried out in horror. "There's more. The prostitutes I frequent, my pictures with them are out too."

"The prostitutes who got beaten up or died?" Smith inquired, and Cray gulped.

"Yes…those."

"Damn it Cray!" Smith snapped. "All right, you don't do anything right now, if you see any news person, just deny everything. I'll do what I can."

The call was cut, while Cray started sweating as he walked out of his office, passing various people, who gave him weird looks too, when suddenly a mic was pointed at his face.

"Senator, what do you have to say about those payments, and the photos?" The news reporter asked him.

"Its all fake! This is a conspiracy to defame me!" Cray cried out, before seeing two of his security people. "How could she get in? Get her out of here!"

The two of them grabbed her and started dragging her away, as the reporter asked. "Can you tell us who'd want to defame you?"

But she was dragged out of his sight before she could question him anymore.

Cray continued to sweat, and even shiver a bit.


Universe-208, Umbara

"Quicken that pace, battalion! This isn't some training course on Kamino."

Steve was close enough to General Krell to hear him "encourage" the troops. He'd met cranky old drill sergeants with brighter personalities. From what the super soldier had seen, Krell was standoffish at best, and downright hostile at worst. One thing was for sure, he had no respect for the Clones, for that alone, Steve did not regard this new Jedi General very highly.

They were marching at a decent pace, demanding anything more would only leave them vulnerable to more Umbaran attacks.

"Are your generals usually like this?" Steve asked Jesse. While commanding officers would be part of columns, they usually were riding jeeps or other vehicles. A General actually on foot with the troops was radically different to what Steve's known.

Jesse shook his helmeted head. "No, I mean, they can be crazy at times, especially General Skywalker, but he takes care of us, and is always in the fight with us. Other battalions though I hear aren't as lucky."

"Has no one ever made a complaint? Written up about their conduct?"

Jesse wanted to laugh but could not find the strength to do so. "A Clone can't complain about a Jedi, they're the Republic's greatest assets. We'd lose the war if it weren't for them."

"It does not give them the right to mistreat you."

Before the tattooed Clone could respond, they both heard a very familiar screech, and coming towards the column, the Avenger and Clones found a pair of banshees.

"Ah great", Steve groaned as the men readied their blasters and opened fire. The banshees however were more nimble than Steve gave them credit for, dodging the blaster bolts as one tried to snatch a Clone from the ground.

That was when Steve acted, leaving Jesse's side to throw his body up high before one banshee could take a AT-RT driver, the tackle had him roll on the ground with the alien animal, the Clones giving them a wide birth from the landing.

Coming to a halt, Steve grabbed the banshee by it's hard, thick shell-like back and forced it to the ground with one hand, his other fist reared back and smashed against the back of the animal's skull, caving the thick shell.

He turned to move for the other, only to find it dropping a Clone, with Krell catching it, forcing it to crash to the ground, keeping it down with his foot before whipping out the same weapon as Anakin, only the two devices at his waist unfolded, forming long handles with two blue and green glowing blades to come to life, and stab down into the animal's skull.

Krell looked around, briefly finding Steve standing over his dead banshee, before the Besalisk kicked the corpse. "Anyone else want to stop and play with the animals?" That harsh, ruthless tone did not sit well with Steve, and he knew it did not with Rex either, even with the helmet. "Didn't think so. Now keep moving!"

As Steve joined the march again, his eyes remained focused on the back of their leader. The more time Steve spent near him, the more unease he felt around him.


Earth-1, Star City, the lair

Hardison was doing his thing while looking at the footage of Oliver's meeting with Cray as he also listened to some music.

"Hey (hey) I Want Your Cray Cray I Want Your I Want Your…"

Eliot and Parker both gave him looks on hearing that song by Trish Walker, the music video having been released four days before Trish went into rehab, causing many venues to sue her as she'd cancelled her first tour.

"What? I like it, okay!"

They just shrugged as Oliver walked in. "Its working. Cray's reputation is already taking huge blows, and we didn't even have to lie so far, just tell the truth."

"All we need is one lie", Parker said with a smirk. "And that will be the final blow."

"Yes, the knockout punch pretty much", Eliot agreed.

"And its about to come in time", Hardison added, when Oliver's phone rang.

Seeing it was 'unknown caller', Oliver accepted it and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Queen", Agent Smith said from the other end. "I'm someone who works with Senator Cray."

"What can I do for you?" Oliver asked simply.

"I want to talk about your deal with the Senator, in the warehouse owned by Senator Cray in District 7", Smith explained. "You must come quickly, or the deal will fall through."

The call was cut as Oliver looked at the other three. "He said he is someone who works with Senator Cray. From the voice, I'm pretty sure it was Agent Smith."

"What did he say?" Eliot asked.

"He wants to meet me in a warehouse regarding the deal with Cray", Oliver revealed. "I think he is suspecting I'm involved in what's going on with Cray."

"So, it's a trap then?" Parker inquired.

"Always is", Eliot sighed.

"I'll be going, but you two will come with me, in your roles for this con", Oliver explained, the two nodding. "In the meantime, Hardison, wrap this up."

"It will take half an hour more from my end", Hardison assured them.


Same time

Cray was in his office, now biting his nails while thinking what to do, when his assistant walked in. "Sir, the press conference at which you were going to announce you're running for President to everyone, shall you still be doing it?"

"NO!" Cray snapped. "Are you stupid? The media vultures are crucifying me already. And there will be cases upon me soon. Until this is resolved, nothing can be done."

"But sir", the assistant sat down, pouring Cray a glass of beer, before sliding it over to him. "If you don't go out in the conference, it will just make you look worse."

Cray drank the beer, calming his nerves a bit, while the assistant continued. "Why don't you go out there, and speak out against these lies, show that you're not cowering due to them, but that you're brave, and you will fight for the truth? That will at least start bringing people over to your side, and even help you get into office after you're completely cleared."

"That…" Cray trailed off as he lowered the glass, having been calmed. "That actually makes sense. I'll do it. You've made a great suggestion, my friend. When I get to the White House, you'll be my Chief of Staff."

With that, he walked out. "Time to prepare myself for this." He turned back to his assistant. "And, find out who leaked this information outside. We'll deal with that person too."

"Of course sir", the assistant agreed with a nod.


Universe-208, Umbara

"So wait, you were made?"

"Yep, the Kaminoans were hired to produce an army. They hired Jango Fett to use his DNA template to create the Clones, they were the leading experts on the subject. Fett was a Mandalorian, a physically perfectly trained warrior, they figured someone with his genes would make fine soldiers", Kix explained to the confused human.

It should not have surprised Steve, they were literally called Clones, as if they were a separate race, but creating people from the DNA of another to be made as soldiers, it denied them their right to choose.

"Clones are then force grown to adolescence, where we begin our learning of tactics, history, before we reach adulthood soon after, and begin training."

"Force grown…" Steve murmured to himself in horror. "But you never had any childhoods, no normal lives."

"These are our lives", Kix said simply. "We were born, given numbers, trained, and set off to fight."

"Without a choice!" Steve spoke passionately. He chose to fight in the war, but he never wanted to impose that decision on someone else.

"Clones, we don't have many options besides the war. We're soldiers."

"Without freedom", Steve argued. "Freedom is the right of all living things."

Kix sighed. He agreed with everything Steve said, but the reality was much more disappointing. Still, it was nice to hear someone else say it besides other Clones. They weren't treated like normal people in the Republic by most, only as soldiers.

"I wish it was that easy." A new, similar but different voice joined the conversation, Jesse walking by Steve's right. "If we don't fight this war, the Republic wouldn't stand a chance."

"You are laying your lives on the line for them, stripped of any choice. They owe you that chance."

"Most might not see it that way", Kix pointed out.

"We're not droids, but we were literally made for this war", Jesse added.

It did not change Steve's resolve. "What about after this war?"

Jesse and Kix stared at Steve, his stance unwavering, before staring at each other, and back forward.

"I don't know, Steve. I don't know."


Earth-1, Star City

Oliver walked into the warehouse, flanked by Eliot and Parker, and the three saw Smith standing there along with seven more men.

Eliot looked around, and saw one sniper hiding behind a crate, though he did not make it obvious he'd seen the guy, and turned back to his front.

"CIA", Eliot whispered to the other two about the men with Smith.

"How can you tell?" Oliver asked in a whisper.

"Those are very distinctive haircuts", Eliot replied.

"Mr. Queen", Agent Smith greeted.

"Who are you?" Oliver feigned ignorance about his true identity.

"Just someone who cares about Senator Cray, and this country", Smith said with a shrug. "Now, some nasty things about the Senator have been leaked to the media."

"I noticed that", Oliver said in an even tone.

"You don't seem like the kind of person who would make such a deal", Smith had to say. "Not to mention, right after you visit the Senator, these things come out."

Pacing around, Smith said. "A normal person would think this is a coincidence. But I'd say you went there, got access to this info, and leaked it everywhere."

"How'd I know about any of the Senator's private dealings beforehand, though?" Oliver asked, making a point.

"You make a good point, but a man like me cannot ignore such things", Smith had to say, and then a man of his aimed a gun right at Oliver's face. "Goodbye, Mr. Queen."

In a split second, Eliot grabbed the man's wrist, then quickly kicked his feet before pulling him towards himself and spun him around, putting him to his and Oliver's front just as the sniper fired, and it hit the agent in the shoulder, making him cry out in pain.

Eliot grabbed his gun, disarming him, and let the agent fall before throwing the gun itself at the sniper before he could fire a second time, hitting his face and knocking him out.

The other six agents tried to take out their weapons as Eliot rushed and punched one on the face, staggering him away, then spun another's feet from underneath him, before slamming his foot on the agent's face, knocking him out.

He followed up by kicking one more agent on the face, then spun and elbowed another, taking both out.

Parker then did a flip while taking out her taser, and shocked one of the agents with it, while Eliot blocked another's blow, spinning him around and kicking his foot from behind, making him kneel before Eliot grabbed his head and slammed him to the ground, knocking him out.

The one who'd been punched tried to attack, only for Parker to tase him too.

Smith now looked at the three in horror as he started backing off, while Eliot slowly marched towards him with a growl.

Then, Parker tased him as well, making him convulse violently before he fell to the ground, knocked out.

Eliot gave her an annoyed look as she shrugged with a smirk, then tased the unconscious Smith a few more times.

"Let's go", Oliver said, walking off as the two walked with him.

"I think Hardison would be done by now", Parker noted.

"And it'd be right on time, as the Senator's conference is going to happen", Eliot realized.


Senator Cray stood in front of the media, a huge screen behind him, which also showed him while he was being recorded right now.

"I know a lot of you have a very low opinion about me right now", Cray began saying. "Due to what has come out. But I'm here to tell you- it's all lies!"

Immediately, questions started being fired at him by all the reporters, but he held up a hand to stop them, then continued. "All those payments, and the photos, they've been doctored, none of it was me. An investigation is being carried out to find the perpetrator behind this doctored evidence against me, and they will be punished. I will not bow to these lies like a coward. I will face this head-on!"

Then, he started. "And I'm here to tell you all that I'll be-"

At that moment, the screen behind him changed, it wasn't showing the current conference anymore, and the reporters looked at footage of Cray and Smith meeting back in his office.

"The new Director of ARGUS is really trying to get the truth about Lawton and you."

Cray turned around, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the footage play.

"We can't let that happen. Will you deal with her?"

"I've shut her down for now, Senator. If she tries anything else, let's just say ARGUS shall have new leadership soon enough. Do not worry Senator, as long as I'm around, your reputation is safe. This country needs you."


Oliver, Eliot and Parker saw Smith sitting across from Cray, and smirking, Parker reached towards her pocket, activating the recorder already.


Cray turned back to the reporters, who were firing off even more questions now.

Leverage The Team soundtrack plays

Cray started. "This video has clearly been-"

"Miss Na Wei, I was not expecting you."

Cray turned around in horror, and saw his meeting with Oliver Queen, but instead of Oliver, Chien Na Wei, aka China White, was the one meeting with him.

"HUH?" He cried out in horror. "This is…."

"I will back your campaign financially, Senator. I just need your help with one thing."

"Whatever you want, Miss Na Wei."

"You can help me with cheap labor in China being transferred here to America, and we can pay them below minimum wage to elevate our profits."

"I like this offer, Miss Na Wei."

"Senator, are you in league with the Triad?" One reporter asked randomly, as Cray was sweating even more now.

"NO! THESE ARE ALL LIES!" Cray screamed angrily. "ALL OF THIS IS TO DEFAME ME!"


Hardison was on the computers, digitally altering the footage of Oliver's meeting with Cray, while he looked at a photo of China White while she was being interrogated by the police after an arrest, and replacing Oliver with her, and also editing the sound a bit.

Technology on this Earth was a bit less advanced than on his own Earth, so it would be too hard for even the most advanced technology on here to detect what was real and what was doctored in the video, though it'd take Hardison a while to get fully done.

"Age of the geek, baby."


As Cray was breaking down, suddenly, a song started playing.

"Hey (hey) I Want Your Cray Cray I Want Your I Want Your"

Cray turned around to see a music video playing on the screen, a pretty blonde being the singer as she did some strange and erotic dance moves, the backup dancers copying her.

"Hey Hey (hey) I Want Your Cray Cray I Want Your I Want Your Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray Cray I Want Your I Want Your"

Some of the reporters were actually chuckling, while another reporter suddenly asked. "Senator, did you pay this woman to make this music video dedicated to you, then killed her like those other prostitutes?"

"NOOOOOOO!"


Star City, the lair

Hardison was laughing as he saw the entire thing on the news. "This is even better than what I was thinking."


At the conference, two men in suits walked up to the podium, as Cray turned to them. "WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU HERE TO PROVE THIS WRONG?"

"Senator Joseph Cray, you're under arrest for bribery, cover-up and embezzlement", the agent said, as the other then cuffed him.

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE! THEY'RE ALL FOOLING YOU! CAN'T YOU SEE?!"


Parker jumped out after stealing the files from Cray.


Later, Parker handed the files to Oliver, who looked through them.


"These files have information about Cray's deal with Waller to cover up the truth", Oliver said with a smile. "These work well, thanks Parker."


A while later, Oliver handed the files to Lyla. "Hope these can help."

"I'll go over Agent Smith's head, and get these to the right people", Lyla nodded. "Thank you, Oliver."


With that, the screaming Cray was escorted away by the two agents.

"Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray Cray Cray Cray I Want Your Cray"


Cray's assistant was seemingly asleep on his chair, when he got injected with something, and woke up with a gasp, seeing someone looking exactly like him staring at him.

"Huh?" He muttered, when his lookalike punched him out.

The lookalike then walked off with a smirk, tearing off his face, revealing it was a mask, and he was actually Ethan Hunt.


Hardison found a picture of Cray's assistant, looking at some info as Hunt noted. "His height and weight, they're close to my own."

"So, what are you thinking?" Oliver asked.

Hunt smirked. "Hardison, can we see what his schedule is like for a bit?"

"Oh yeah, that can be arranged easily", Hardison said with a chuckle.


As Cray's assistant got out of his car to go back home, Hunt injected him with something from behind, knocking him out.


The agent was kept sedated in his own house, while a mask that looked like his face was made.


Hunt wore the mask, and walked into Cray's office.


Disguised as the assistant, Hunt found the evidence of Cray's payment to the mercenaries and hostages, as well as his photos with prostitutes on the computers.

And then, he leaked all of the information out.


Hunt walked out of the building, smirking, as some agents walked in past him to arrest more people responsible for covering up Cray's crimes.


Star City

Smith woke up, and found he was surrounded by some agents too. "Huh?"

One of them cuffed him, and started leading him away. "Agent Smith, you're under arrest for coverup and obstruction of justice."

"This is outrageous!" Smith cried out as his men started being cuffed too.


Oliver, Eliot and Parker walked out of the warehouse, as Oliver was on the phone with Hardison. "Hardison, call in an anonymous tip about the gunshot at our location."


"Doing just that", Hardison nodded.


The lair

Oliver, Eliot, Parker and Hardison watched Cray's arrest on the news, one reporter saying. "This conference has taken a very unexpected turn. Senator Cray seems to have been in a conspiracy with the Triad, and this woman in the video is another victim of him."

Oliver opened the List, looking at Joseph Cray's name, and crossed it out.


Universe-208, Umbara

It had been over 6 hours since the marching had started. Long marches were not new to Steve, though he could say he was out of practice, if his mind and body did not register the action as if he done it day in and day out during the 40s, as opposed to his days of leisure after waking up from the ice.

The only way to occupy himself was to speak to the Clones. His talk with Jesse and Kix stuck with him. For people like the Jedi, who Fives told him were peacekeeping magical warriors, more or less, to lead and use these men in such a manner, creating them for the sole purpose of fighting, it seemed contradictory to their role, other than Krell.

The word that came to mind when thinking about the alien was most definitely not "peacekeeper". Every time he learned more about this galaxy, or more accurately, the Republic, Steve's opinion lowered.

General Skywalker may have believed in it, but Steve met too many politicians who used even war for their own gain for him to trust them. Then there was the reveal of Secretary Pierce's true colors. Politicians, it was one of the first things he and Tony truly agreed on.

"Captain Rex", Steve greeted as he finally made it to the front of the column of Clones and Walkers.

The Clone Captain turned his helmet to meet his fellow captain as he marched beside him.

"Captain Rogers. Getting acquainted with the men?"

"As best I can, sir." There were many Clones, many with similar armor markings, however, they all had some distinction that marked them different. Personalities, tone of voice, Steve held on to each, and tied each distinction with their name, or number in some cases, which rubbed Steve the wrong way. All people should have names.

"Good man, you can't trust a person you don't know in a battle."

"Agreed, sir."

Rex waved him off. "You can drop the formality, Rogers. You may unofficially be a part of the legion, but you're the same rank, and in my view, experience outranks everything."

"How do you know I was experienced?"

Rex turned to him. "You say you were in a war, but how you reacted to some of the Separatists' war crimes upset you. When the ambush occurred, you were already rushing in ahead of even the general, I've never seen that happen before, unless it was with another Jedi. During that firefight, you knew exactly what you were doing. One's actions in battle tells you all you need to know about a person, and it tells me you're a soldier."

Steve lowered his head, humbled by the praise. "Thank you, Rex."

"Don't mention it." Rex looked ahead, watching the new general march on with purpose, not looking back once, unless an order was to be said. It was a big change from General Skywalker, the Clone just hoped the different leadership would not affect the morale.

Their Jedi General was charismatic enough to instil faith in all of them, even if some of his methods seemed…unorthodox. Krell had none of that charm.

"I was wondering something."

Steve beckoned the Clone Captain to go ahead. "Ask away."

"Your war…what was it like?"

He thought Steve hesitated in his steps before resuming, only a brief slip that Rex caught, and the stoic mask Steve adopted made him reconsider his question. Before he could take it back, the man from Earth spoke. "It started with persecution. On Earth, there's different religions based on different regions. A man named Hitler led his country to believe that they were the "master race", and that those of the Jewish faith were lesser than them. They imprisoned the Jewish people in their own country, and spread out across the continent of Europe like a disease, capturing cities, killing any resistance, imposing their laws, their views, on other countries. The Jewish were put into camps, and they were…" Steve shut his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to separate the images of barbed wire, dead bodies, dark chambers, and barrels of gold teeth. "They were killed at best, usually by gas chambers. Others were experimented on."

No wonder Steve held such a reaction about hearing about the Separatists, Rex thought. It was eerily similar to what happened on his planet.

"The war raged for two years before my own country got involved. One of the countries allied with Hitler attacked our shores, and America wanted payback."

"Did you get it?"

"They say we did." Steve locked eyes with Rex' visor. "But after all this time, everything we fought for, doesn't seem to matter anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"There was another group working in the war called HYDRA. They were aligned with Hitler but held their own goals. They found a power source that shifted the war in their favor, made weapons we never would have thought possible, in fact, they're almost similar to your blasters, but upon contact with their energy blasts, men would be reduced to nothing. No bodies, not even clothes."

"Disintegrations?"

Steve nodded. "My unit targeted HYDRA, seeing them as a greater threat than Hitler's supremacist ideals. Once Hitler fell, HYDRA was all that's left, and would have launched an attack that brought the world to its knees if we didn't stop them."

"Sounds like you did."

"…we did." Steve said softly, Rex almost didn't hear him. "Until seventy years later when I found out HYDRA survived in our own government and all our effort was for nothing."

Rex had to stop at what he heard. Seventy years?! Steve, however, only marched on. The Clone could hear the emotion in his voice, he knew that was enough. While still reeling at the revelation their new recruit was over seventy, Rex continued to march.


Earth-1, Star City

Hunt was now back in the lair as Oliver said. "Good job with your role, Ethan."

"We all did it", Hunt simply said, as they shared looks.

"Now Lawton is finally cleared, people will know what he did", Diggle noted, a smile forming on his face.

That was when Rick Flag of all people walked into the bunker, now dressed in an Army Service Uniform, allowing them to see his many decorations on his chest, representing every medal, ribbon, and award he'd received in his career, an eagle on shoulder boards showing his rank to those who were in the military, and on his left sleeve, a "Special Forces" tab, a "Ranger" tab, an "Airbourne" tab, and a red tab shaped like an arrowhead with a black knife at the center, a tab Eliot was very familiar with, the insignia of Delta Force operators.

"You…" Hunt snarled as he aimed his gun, and Parker took out her taser as well.

"I'd love to taze you more times that I've tased everyone else combined", Parker sneered, Hardison clutching his fists as well.

"And I won't ask her to stop", he added.

"Why are you here?" Oliver asked in a growl as well.

"Guys, calm down", Diggle raised a hand, having worked with Flag on the squad before.

"Not until he tells us why he is here", Hunt said, looking at Flag's decorated uniform. "That uniform is not impressing us, considering what you did to our friend."

"I am here….to thank all of you", Flag spoke, taking all of them aback now.

Now, they were all surprised, as Hunt and Parker lowered their gun and taser respectively.

Then, Hunt snarled. "For what? Kicking you out of that window. I can do it again if you want."

"You tortured my friend", Parker sneered. "I don't want a 'thank you' from you!"

"Get out", Hardison added.

"I was following orders, and I learned that if you don't do what Amanda Waller tells you, well, you hear ghost stories on what happens. I get the job done, that's why she recruited me. Doesn't mean I like it", Flag defended himself.

"You're still human, aren't you? You can still think for yourself!" Hardison snapped.

"Things I did, can barely qualify me as human anymore", Flag said in self-loathing.

"I forgive you."

Everyone turned to Eliot in shock, because he was the one who'd said this.

"What?" Parker asked. "But he…remember what he did to you?"

"I do, and I did similar things to people, and worse", Eliot reminded her, Hardison and Hunt. "Back when I worked for Damien Moreau."

That made them pause, while Eliot turned to Flag. "Guess Waller was your Moreau."

Flag didn't say a word, not having expected Eliot to forgive him, while Eliot put a hand to his shoulder. "Now you work under Lyla Michaels, she is a good person. Work for her, do the right thing, make things right. And continue to make things right, because you got more to do, just like I got more to do."

"….." Flag could not find any words to say. Then, he simply said. "Thank you."

Oliver just gave him a slight, curt nod, not wanting to go beyond that.

"I'll start working on it soon", Flag told Eliot, and they noticed him wiping an eye, before he turned around and walked off.

"Guess you saw yourself in him", Hardison realized. "He did remind us of you when we saw his file."

"He has a chance now, just like I got one with you two, Sophie and Nate", Eliot smiled at Parker and Hardison, as they thought of Nate and Sophie too.

"I'm not usually one to have fun, but shall we all have drinks?" Oliver then asked the rest of them.

"Ooooh, I'd love those", Parker said cheerfully. "Let's go guys."


Susie Lawton and Zoe Lawton were in a café, watching the news of Cray's and Smith's arrests, and the truth of Lawton being revealed, when they heard a cough.

They looked up to see Rick Flag standing next to them.

"Yes?" Susie said, not sure why he was here.

"I worked with Floyd Lawton for sometime", Flag told them both. "He was not perfect, but…." He looked to Zoe. "Your father was a hero when it counted. For you."

With that, he walked off, Susie bursting into tears as she remembered the man Lawton was before the army, and realized he'd found that man again at the end.

"Daddy was a hero, wasn't he?" Zoe asked her mom with tears of her own, while Susie hugged her tight.

"Yes, baby", she said while kissing Zoe. "He was."


Eliot, Parker, Hardison, Hunt, Oliver, Sara, Diggle, Felicity, Thea and Laurel were all having drinks as Sara told Diggle. "I guess now you're feeling better, aren't you?"

"He wanted me and Lyla to get back home to our daughter", Diggle remembered. "I hated him for so long, for killing my brother. But he was a better man than my brother turned out to be. At least the debt to him is repaid now."

"Everyone will know what he did, and who the real perpetrator of the situation was", Thea agreed.

Eliot got up and walked to get a little more, when he felt someone trying to put their hand in his pocket.

He immediately grasped the hand, turning to face a woman. "Trying to take my wallet, huh?"

"Not much else I know", the woman sighed. "I can only steal and rob."

"There was a time I thought the same about myself", Eliot shrugged. "What's your name?"

"Lisa Snart", the woman shrugged. "Gonna turn me in?"

"Nah", Eliot let her go, seeing something in her eyes, which he recognized. "You ever think of being a good guy?"

Lisa snorted. "Do I look like a good guy to you?"

"Fair, but what about being a bad guy for the good guys?" Lisa squinted her eyes trying to understand him. "Do what you do, but be a bit more selective in your marks. People who deserve to lose their money, gold, art, whatever. There's no better feeling than seeing those big wigs scream and cry at losing, nor seeing a family with nothing get a better chance because of you. Trust me, it's worth it."

"Trust you? I only just met you."

Eliot shrugged. "I have one of those faces. Besides, see what happened with Senator Cray?"

Lisa's eyes lit up. "Did you have something to do with it?"

"You could say that." Eliot ended with a smirk before walking away, Lisa following him with her eyes, before contemplating what he just said.

A bad guy for the good guys. Sounded like fun, especially if Cray's reaction was taken into account.

She decided she'd talk to Leonard and Mick about this now.


Universe-208, Umbara

The terrain started to get more uneven, and the vegetation grew thicker. The Clones were forced to march in a thinner column, hindering the speed of their progress, but that had to be from marching nearly eleven hours straight after an ambush. It was a reckless strategy in Steve's mind. The men were getting tired, and men reaching their peak were no good until they could recuperate.

"Woah woah woah woah, wait a second, could you repeat that?" The heavy weapon specialist Steve learned was called Hardcase waved his hands about to stop him. He was quick to deduce that Hardcase was eager for action, preferring to fight than march or strategize, but was a kind soul with a wit to him. Steve had to smile at the guy, he reminded him of Dum Dum Dugan, with a shorter fuse.

"I told you, I was rejected by the Army."

Jesse piped up behind them. "Forgive us if we find that hard to believe."

"Yeah, I mean, look at you, you're the physically ideal soldier", Kix added.

"You checking out the shiny, Kix?" Hardcase teased his brother, a laughter going through their small group among the hundreds.

Steve shook his head amused. If there was one thing he missed about the Army, it was the banter and comradery with his brothers in arms, men he would die for as they would for him. He found a second chance of that with the Avengers, it was different but similar. With the Clones, it felt like he was back with the Howling Commandos.

Fives ordered them to calm down before turning back to Steve. "Alright, tell us, why did they reject you?"

"I was short, frail, and sickly."

There was a silence among the group composed of himself, Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, Kix, Tup, and he thought Dogma was close to the front of them.

Jesse marched closer to Steve. "I'm with Hardcase, can you repeat that."

"Do those words have a different meaning on your planet?" Tup was right with him.

Steve ducked his head. Huh, even among an army of force grown clones created by the DNA of one man to fight a galactic-wide conflict, Steve still felt self-conscious. "When the war broke out on my planet, only the able-bodied men were accepted. I kept on getting rejected when I tried to enlist due to my condition. I wasn't always like…this." Steve gestured to himself. "I had to keep lying just to get a chance to retry."

"That had to be illegal", Dogma piped up from ahead of them, and he thought he heard disapproval in his voice.

"Shut up, Dogma." Hardcase spat at him.

"It was, but there were men laying down their lives in the war, I didn't want to do any less than them."

Jesse muttered to himself but loud enough, "If only people in the Republic felt the same way."

"I kept trying, until one day, a scientist asked me if I wanted to kill the enemy. I told him I didn't want to kill; I just didn't like bullies." The thought of Erskine brought a sadness over Steve. He never knew his father, and when his mom died, Erskine, as briefly as he knew him, was the closest thing he had to a father figure. "Dr. Erskine recruited me into a program as a candidate for a performance enhancing super soldier serum."

"Super soldier?" Kix repeated. "Sounds like a Jedi."

"Explains how you beat the general to the fight during that ambush", Fives realized. The conversation, Steve's description of himself, it brought back thoughts of another brother.

"And how you could fight those banshees when we first met", Jesse thought aloud.

"I was one of hundreds of candidates, but Dr. Erskine picked me. The serum worked, but Erskine was killed by an undercover spy. The serum died with him." Or so we thought, Steve said to himself. He'd heard of the attempts to recreate the serum, even Bruce had tried to do so, only to turn out as the Hulk.

Fives suddenly chuckled, drawing their attention to the ARC Trooper. "The shiny remind you of anyone, boys?"

Steve was confused, before Jesse spoke, "I think you're right."

"If he really was skinny and frail", Kix added in thought.

"Who?"

Fives slowed down to march with Steve. "The Kaminoans cloning process isn't perfect. There are some defects, rejected Clones who come up…" undesirable"." Steve didn't like how Fives said that word, and the Clone wasn't happy either, clearly. "One of them was called 99. He wasn't able to fight the war, he was relegated to work in the barracks, weapons, ammo, but he still saw us as his brothers. He could have been bitter, but he never was."

"He only wanted to help", Jesse said, and Steve could hear the fondness in their voices, and the grief.

"What happened to him?"

Fives inhaled deeply, and slowly released the breath. Remembering his brothers' deaths were always hard, but he, Echo, Hevy, they all owed 99. "There was attack on our birth planet, Kamino. We responded. 99 would run across the city, delivering weapons and ammo. Rex, 99, a few other Clones, cadets and I were cut off from the rest of our forces, droids were closing in. We created an ambush, drew the droids in, blasted them apart, 99 kept us well equipped, but we needed more, and so he ran to help." Fives could still remember every bolt hitting 99's sickly body, and yet, he fought as hard as any of them to his duty. "He was a soldier, through and through, and the droids shot him down." It took three shots to put him down, not many Clones could survive one, and 99 still fought on, until the end.

An air of silence engulfed the group. Steve could feel the loss, especially from Fives, and a deep sadness filled him.

"He sounded like a good man."

"He was. He was one of us."


Earth-199999, New York City, Baxter Building

Tony Stark walked onto the 42nd floor after getting off the elevator, finding a bearded man writing some notes.

"I'm here", Tony said, making the man look up at him. "Yes, in the flesh! I know, it's a huge surprise to see my fabulous self in front of your eyes."

"Tony Stark, still the same", the man said with a chuckle as he stood up, walking past his desk towards Tony. "Yet, it is you who need my help. I guess that's you acknowledging I'm smarter."

"Uhh, no!" Tony shook his head. "You just know slightly more about this topic than I do, Reed. For now, that is."

"And until you figure out anymore, I'm still smarter than you", Reed Richards said with a shrug, the two chuckling before they shook hands. "So, Captain America has disappeared, huh?"

"Yeah, into one of those breaches", Tony said with a nod, before taking out the IDIOT. "The breach got sealed, so I tried to modify this to open a way into that world, but its just not working, I really can't tell why, since I modified it the best I could, to try and get a frequency similar to our world, as well as what was coming from the now sealed breach."

"You made this to connect your world to just one other, right?" Reed inquired as he took the IDIOT in his hands, Tony nodding. "That, my friend, was your mistake."

"How exactly would that be?" Tony asked, wanting Reed to explain why he was wrong about this.

"This little device of yours is calibrated so it only reacts to high frequencies from your world, and that other one", Reed explained, giving it back to Tony. "You might have tried to recalibrate it to find Captain Rogers, and open a breach to that other world, but without actually going to that world or meeting anyone from it, its impossible to get a lock on that world's signature fully, and Captain Rogers would be too deep in this other world for this thing to track him solely. So, because of these reasons, you were at a disadvantage from the start, because this device connected you to a world whose inhabitants you'd already met, making it easier to track their world's frequency compared to this one."

"Huh? So that's the reason", Tony realized. "Well then, what do you suggest?"

"I've made progress with my own project of this manner, the one we discussed about a few months ago", Reed revealed to Tony, before gesturing to the IDIOT. "We can add the finishing touches to my machine, calibrate this with it and-"

"It can open a portal to wherever Cap is", Tony realized, Reed nodding. "All right. Dr. Banner is on his way here as well. So, we can begin soon, the moment he gets here to help us out as well."

"Works for me", Reed nodded, when they heard a voice behind them.

"Ah, the big man found time to come here, huh?"

Tony rolled his eyes and chuckled, turning around to face a young blonde and handsome man, who was chuckling at him. "Must be feeling like Gulliver amongst us small people."

"Says the professional motorcyclist with a penchant for ridiculous stunts and the cheesiest one-liners that would make actual cheese blush", Tony quipped. "Good to see you too, Johnny."

"Your 'actual cheese blush' line managed to be cheesier than anything I've ever said", Johnny replied back in kind. "Plus at least I'm hot as a flame, can't say the same thing about you."

"I was more of a stunner at your age than you're right now", Tony simply shrugged.

"The three of you in the same room, I'm surprised its still standing", a beautiful blonde woman with similar physical features to Johnny said as she appeared. "How is the superhero life treating you, Tony?"

"Same way your acting life is treating you, Susan", Tony told her with a shrug as they shared a chuckle.

"Well, whatever is happening, I'm gonna be part of it", a tall and muscular man said as he walked into the room too, while looking at Reed. "Like I said, I'll be with you when it happens."

"And I appreciate that, Ben", Reed told him with a fond smile. "I think we're about to complete it today, and make history."

"Umm, this is about bringing Captain America back, right?" Susan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It is, and its also about making history. We will be the explorers who found a way to OPEN pathways into different worlds!" Reed said, looking very excited about that prospect.

"Don't forget, you'll accomplish because I found a way to at least connect two worlds first", Tony reminded him.

"You're gonna hold that over me, aren't you?" Reed inquired.

"Till your dying day", Tony said with a quip. "And that includes the scenario where I die before you."

"Ghosts aren't a thing, Stark", Reed rolled his eyes.

"Oh I'll prove you wrong about that, like usual", Tony argued back.

"So you prove me wrong? I recall that I told you your ways of researching these breaches are not as effective as mine!"

"That's one time! You thought the Super Soldier Serum could be recreated, but all attempts are failures!"

"I count only one time too! What are the other times, huh? Please do tell. Oh wait, you can't, because there are none!"

"How about the fact that we accessed the Multiverse 10 years before your estimate of it?"

"That doesn't count, because I'm researching the entire thing better than you!"

"Doesn't mean you were a believer from the start."

"There they go again", Susan Storm said with an eyeroll.

"I'd join, but I have no clue what they're talking about", Johnny Storm added with a groan.

"That makes two of us", Ben Grimm muttered.

"Actually, make it three, I only understand this stuff when Reed is explaining it to me directly", Susan said while giving a tired sigh.

This was going to be a very long day for all of them.


Universe-208, Umbara

The march had now reached twelve hours since Krell took command, exhaustion was beginning to take hold. Hardcase was getting louder, but he wasn't the only one, more Clones were starting to voice discontent over the orders, quietly of course.

Steve had no such issues, physically that is, he would have to run for a whole day to get winded, the serum allowed his body to produce less fatigue toxins than a normal human. The men around him weren't so lucky. Several times he had to help a soldier from stumbling, encourage them to keep going.

It did not surprise Steve to see Kix speak up for the Clones to Rex, the medic knew they were tired, so was he, but he had to stay strong for them. He overheard snippets, but Kix was right, the men needed rest. Rex clearly agreed, and heard his suggestion of where to rest, but Krell refused, no, he admonished the idea. Then the general spoke loudly enough that enhanced senses weren't needed as their march came to a halt.

"Captain, do I need to remind you of this battalion's strategic mission in conquering this planet?" he spoke as if Rex had no idea what he was doing. The Jedi pointed back at the rest of the Clones, Steve among them. "Look back. See those platoons? Their mission is to take this city and take it swiftly. Time and rest are luxuries the Republic cannot afford. We are the key to this invasion. The other battalions are counting on our support. If we fail, everyone fails!" He spoke down to Rex as if he knew the Clones better than the captain did his own brothers, it made Steve clench his fists. "Do you understand this? Do all of you understand this?!"

"I understand if you push them anymore, then we won't be helping anyone."

Krell was midway from turning back when he heard a non-Clone speak. Baring his teeth at the disobedience, the Besalisk Jedi watched as Clones parted way for the blue-clad human with a round shield on his back make his way in front of Krell and CT-7567.

"The civilian."

"The volunteer", Steve corrected the alien. If possible, his glare got deeper, it only strengthened Steve's resolve. "General Krell, whether they are trained or not, tired soldiers are ineffective in a fight."

"Let me educate you in the workings of the Clone Army, Captain Rogers. The Clones were programmed and designed to fight, and I intend to put them to good use, else this campaign is lost." The taller alien finished with a sneer.

He saw them like they weren't even human. "Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won with men. They can't win if they are overtaxed before the battle even begins."

"Captain Rogers, I do not know what kind of war you have fought, but this is a planetary invasion. The entire campaign rests on us supporting the other battalions and capturing the capital. You have no footing in this war, no rank, and most certainly no voice in the chain of command, I suggest you remember that."

"I'll remember that if the soldiers fail their mission because of poor leadership."

The planet seemed to go quiet. Rex could only watch with wide eyes at what Steve dared to say to an aggressive and proud Jedi General. Krell pushed Rex out of his way and glared down at the human.

If Steve was being honest, Schmidt looked better than this guy, and the leader of HYDRA had no face.

"Take great care in how you speak, Rogers." Steve saw how all four arms were tensed, and seemed to either be ready to slug him, or pull out a lightsaber. It was no good. Nothing would change the Avenger's mind.

"You try to take the capital with them in their current condition, they'll lose, not because of their incompetence, but because of your inability to recognize the condition of your own men", Steve spoke with reason, with a hint of an insult. This time, Krell's hand actually grabbed the lightsaber hilt.

'Maybe this would work.' Steve thought to himself. "I am sure the other battalions also allocated time for their own men to rest and recuperate before the push to the capital. An hour would be enough to regain their strength and make up for any lost time."

Steve wanted to say so many things to Krell, but he said enough as it is, he had to think of the men.

A battle of wills engaged between the human and Besalisk. Rex's heart hammered against his chest, only getting harder every moment the general's hand laid on his lightsaber. He did not know how Steve was doing it. He was told about the Jedi during the march, he knew their powers.

It did not stop him, it seemed.

What felt like several planetary rotations were merely moments in real time as the general finally released his hold on the Jedi's weapon and turned on his heel, barking over his shoulder. "Half!"

When he was far enough away, Steve released a breath he was holding. Honestly, it seemed like he had to fight the guy. Probably not the best first impression to make after only joining the 501st.

"You have nerves of Beskar." The stunned voice of Fives broke him out his stupor. Steve felt him come up to his shoulder and he was about to respond when Dogma whirled him around.

"What are you doing?! The general gave us orders! If we don't make it to the capital, then the mission failed because of us!"

"Stand down, Dogma", Rex ordered as he got between the volunteer and the taken aback trooper.

"But sir-"

"That's an order", Rex told him before addressing the rest of the 501st who had seen the stare off between Steve and Krell. That won't help morale. "Alright, you heard the General, thirty standard minutes, use them well."

The Clones immediately seemed to relax or nearly collapse at the reprieve. Rex did not like it, but keeping the men and Krell on the same side will be harder than he initially believed. Now he has Steve to deal with.

Kix laid a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Thanks, Steve."

The kid from Brooklyn just smiled. "Don't mention it." Kix left him to make good use of his breather before he faced Captain Rex. He knew this was coming.

"I appreciate what you did, but you were out of line."

"I understand, sir, and I'm ready to face any consequences as a result of my actions."

That was the last thing Rex wanted. The veteran of the 501st held his helmet as he shook his head. "I'm not going to punish you, but you need to understand that the only way things will get done is if the men and the Jedi cooperate. They may not be happy, but they need to power through it."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Rex sighed at the formality but nodded. "Granted."

"While I do understand the need for harmony between grunts and officers, and I appreciate the position you are put in, I refuse to allow anyone suffer any form of mistreatment on my watch. I don't care if I have to fight a General, King, or even a God, I will not stand for the men's needs to be dismissed for one person's ego."

He was making it harder to be mad at him. In fact, how Steve talked made Rex think he was a Jedi, how they're supposed to be from what the Clone has learned after all his time around them.

However, Steve was a soldier, he fought a war, probably more than one if he truly was over seventy years old. Jedi weren't military figures, not until they were made as such when the war broke out. The Republic needed their greatest warriors leading the charge, but just because they were warriors did not make them leaders.

Like how Clones were made as soldiers, the Jedi were made as Generals, unless they were Padawans. Rex knew many Jedi turned into good leaders, the 104th even held the highest morale in the whole Clone Army, but some, like Krell, developed a leadership style that was far different from Generals Skywalker, Kenobi, and Plo Koon.

The union between Jedi and Clones gave the Republic their strength over the Separatists and their droids. Krell did not seem to want any union, but Rex needed to keep one, for all their sake.

That being said, it felt good to watch someone put the Besalisk in his place.

"You're dismissed, Captain Rogers."

"Thank you, Captain Rex."


Tatooine

The hunger. It made and broke Vampires. Blade had studied the species nearly as long as he'd been alive, he knew the effects of the hunger on Hominis Nocturnae. What's worse, he was starting to feel them now.

Since puberty, Blade had never gone hungry like this. The craving, the only thing keeping him alive. The more he drank, the stronger the thirst would be for next time. That, along with Blade's own self-loathing over what he was caused Whistler to create the serum in the first place, as well as the fact that neither of them wanted to steal from blood banks or injure a human.

Blood. Blade did not know how long he could hold off.

It was the only reason he'd accepted Vizsla's offer. He needed to get back to Earth, find Whistler, and inject himself with the serum.

Time was up. Blade opened his eyes, the golden color inherited from his vampiric half. Rising from the lotus position, Blade thew on his armored vest, not that it would protect him from much with hole in the center.

All he had left were his shades, and his sword. Another problem he needed to deal with: guns. He needed his back.

It was why he pushed aside the flaps of his tent and marched to where the speeders were. On getting the signal from the sniper teams, they would ride out and intercept the train.

Bo-Katan was who he found first, talking amongst her fellow Mandalorians. Upon seeing the Daywalker, she dismissed them and removed her helmet.

"Blade."

"Where are my guns?"

Always straight to the point, Bo-Katan discovered that unless he had something to say, Blade kept quiet. "Figured you would ask." Instead of leading him to Vizsla's tent, where the rest of his weapons lay, Bo-Katan instead pulled out a spare blaster from behind her, holstered and ready. "You'll find this an adequate replacement."

"I prefer my own gear", Blade growled.

"It's a WESTAR-35. You won't find a better blaster on this planet."

From behind his shades, the hunter scrutinized her and the blaster. He had to admit, his time with the Death Watch revealed they had weapons and tech more advanced than what Earth had, besides what he'd seen from Stark.

Exhaling through his nose, Blade took the holster, drawing the blaster, checking the sight, feeling the weight and how it fit in his hand.

"Well?" Bo-Katan was curious to hear his reaction to the Mandalorians' favored weapon.

"I've made do with worse."

Duchess Satine's sister wondered if he was teasing her. It did not matter though, a beeping from her commlink had her snap her head down to check, before throwing her helmet on and call out. "Squad! To the Speeders!"

A group of Mandalorians rushed to Blade's position, mounting them while others got in the seats behind them, Bo-Katan among them.

Realizing he had to join them, Blade attached the holster to his leg like he would his HK USPs, and found the last available seat and reluctantly got on.

"Move out!"

Next thing he knew, Blade's back hit the chair as they went at speeds faster than the Daywalker had ever been.

This was his first time leaving the camp, and aside from imagining the ridiculous look on his face from the sudden speed, he tried to take in the planet to see if there were more than his eyes could see.

There was.

Sand. Lots, and lots of sand.

Bo-Katan was right, this was nothing but one ugly dust ball.

Even with the speed they were travelling at, it took some time to reach the train's route. It made Blade question just how big this place was if you could travel so far and still only find more oceans of sands.

"Remember the plan?" Blade turned his head to see the Kryze woman yell at him.

"Too late now if I did", he yelled back.

That was when he saw it. From a rock formation to their right, the hover train emerged, speeding as fast or faster than the speeders.

'Motherfucker.' Seeing a hologram was one thing, real life was another.

Then came the laser bolts. Red, burning blasts of energy that Blade has only seen yellow versions of among the camp.

The speeders swerved or retreated to avoid them, making it all the shakier for the driver's Daywalker passenger.

That was when the Death Watch snipers came in, yellow bolts fired from a distance that even Blade's eyes could barely make out, striking the train and the Pyke soldiers on board.

Bo-Katan made a hand signal, and the five speeders and their passengers drove up to the train.

The snipers laid good cover fire, but it did not stop the bolts entirely. He saw a few of the Mandalorians get hit, but the armor, to Blade's own surprise, held up against the blasters with only a grunt to be heard from the wearer. Maybe they have a spare set for him to use.

Blade was not so lucky, every time he saw a projectile coming for him, he had to duck his head. Then he saw another one heading for him. The reflexes granted to him from his heritage allowed Blade to act fast, his right leg switched to the left side as Blade leaned over, his arm holding onto the seat to avoid the red bolts flying over his head while his body was parallel from the ground.

When they finally reached their goal of the third carriage, the Mando passengers activated their jetpacks and flew on board the roof.

Blade needed no gadgets to help him. He pulled himself back in the seat, legs on the cushion before launching himself up beside a taken aback Bo-Katan, taking cover behind an energy shield as he himself kept low to avoid the enemy fire.

Okay, he was really gonna have to talk with these assholes about sharing some of their fancy alien gear.

"Good luck!" Bo-Katan shouted at him as she drew her WESTAR and started to move forward up the train.

"Don't need it." Blade looked back at the last three carriages, Pykes popping out of the to shoot at the invaders. Drawing his new weapon, Blade pulled the trigger as yellow energy bolts shot down any alien he pointed at while moving forward until he reached the hatch, where another Pyke tried to climb out, only for Blade's boot to kick it closed, trapping the alien between it and the train, until Blade pulled the trigger on its head.

Releasing his foothold, Blade kicked the hatch open while the body dropped back inside, firing at the remaining Pykes still on the roofs before hoping down the hole. What he was met with was the corpses of aliens, crates of the supplies Vizsla wanted, and six more Pyke soldiers.

Feeling his blood pumping for a whole other reason, Blade let a fanged grin cross his lips.

A Pyke came up behind him, arm around his neck and gun pointed at his temple.

Blade was ready.

He elbowed the Pyke, making the shot go off in a random direction, then grabbed the Pyke's wrist, making it shoot another Pyke in the front dead, and then he twirled it around as it kept trying to fire, but the blaster bolts all hit other Pykes that tried to come near them, and Blade ended that by making it headshot another Pyke.

As one tried to strike, Blade used the hand of the Pyke he'd grabbed to defend, then decked that one while elbowing his 'hostage's' abdomen, then pinned both down, headbutted his 'hostage', and then made him blast the other one's face.

He let the Pyke go but as that one tried to fire, Blade grasped his wrist, making the blast go haywire again, then snatching the blaster, struck the Pyke's neck, and then chest, taking him down too, before blasting him while he threw the blaster away.


Bo-Katan and the Mandalorians on the train were cutting their way through the Pykes on the roof, while more of their snipers shot in the carriages, trying to take out the armored warriors.

Clearly outmatched, the Pykes were no better than targets to be riddled with blaster bolts.

At the second carriage, another Pyke popped out of a hatch to shoot at Bo-Katan, but before her or her fellow Mandalorians could finish it off, it was pulled back down, followed by the sound of blaster fire.

What came out next shocked her.

"Blade?"

Lo and behold, the dark-skinned warrior was there, grinning at her, no worse for wear.

"Catch you at a bad time?" He asked before descending. Bo-Katan was trying to comprehend the fact that they were two carriages from the front of the train, Blade was dealing with the Pykes left in the back.

Did he cut through all those Pykes by himself?

Bo-Katan, and the rest all realized Blade had held back a lot in his fight against Rix Awaud, perhaps to test how skilled they were. If he'd wanted, he could have ended that fight a lot sooner.


Inside, Blade kicked a Pyke down, and as the others tried firing at him, Blade swiftly whipped out his blaster, and fired back, getting another one in the head. As the one he'd kicked down tried to get up, Blade quickly turned and head-shotted him too.

Then he fired at two more who'd tried to fire at him, killing them both, and spun to dodge a shot at him from one more, while shooting that one dead as well.

After that, he did a roll and took cover behind a small crate, and as one moved towards him, Blade shot him down too, before taking cover again, while another Pyke hid on the other side.

Aiming the blaster, the Pyke slowly started moving towards the other side, but Blade popped out from the other end, behind him, and shot him down as well.

Then moving forth, he quickly shot one in the chest, then turned and shot another one in the head. One suddenly grabbed his blaster, trying to disarm him, but Blade pushed him back, slamming him against the interior of the train, and punched his face, before elbowing him, and then spun, flipping him to the ground, and shot him dead too.

As he moved forth, one more rushed him but Blade spun while drawing his sword and thrust, stabbing him through the head and killing him. Pulling his sword out, Blade sheathed it and took the Pyke's blaster as well.

He saw one more running at him from the side and shot him down, then walked forwards, using both blasters to shoot down even more of them, killing every Pyke he could.

Then, Blade finally made it to the front, kicking down the door, WESTAR held up.

"Stop the-WHAT THE FUCK?!" Blade shouted as he finally saw the driver. It was a fucking robot! They had robots on this planet?! Later, he told himself, deal with that later, instead, he glared at the machine with his teeth bared and ordered, "Stop the train!"

However, the controls started to spark, and there was something glowing that Blade did not know was meant to glow. He was almost too transfixed on the controls he did not notice the droid make for the window.

Almost.

Before it could shatter the glass, a blaster bolt hit its head and sent the metal body crumpling. Blade stepped over the junk to make sense of what he was seeing, because at the moment, it felt like the train was picking up speed. There was an explosion overhead that had to be whatever rocket thing that had to keep this thing moving.

Vizsla really should have given him something to stop this thing.

Blade tried to make sense of all the monitors, the switches, but it was useless. Only then did he find a lever before the glowing engine, at least he thought it was the engine. Did not matter, it was all he had.

Blade grabbed the lever with both hands, his muscles flexing, and using more strength than he would have thought, pulled it back the whole way.

Already he felt the train shake and slowdown, before tilting to one side, and before he knew, the train was crashing into the sand, sending the Daywalker hurtling forward.

Groaning, he picked himself up, and heard some cheering from outside.

Looks like they'd won, and the mission was successful.


Umbara

They finally made it to the road leading straight towards the capital. Despite the all too brief respite that Steve battled the General for, the Clones made it to their destination with time to spare, all they needed to do now was take the Umbaran capital city.

The Clones made their gratitude plain to see for Steve, though many of them still called him "shiny". The captain had to admit though, the nickname was growing on him, if nothing else than the hazing the title was meant to be, Steve saw it as the Clones welcoming him to their ranks. Even Tup joined in on the teasing, and he was practically a shiny himself.

It reminded Steve so much of his days in the Army, well, the days after he officially joined the 107th and formed the Commandos. Even though his time with the 501st had been brief, he had grown fond of every one of the Clones.

Steve stayed with Fives while Rex debriefed the plan with Krell. The ARC Trooper told the Avenger the plan, and Steve had to give Anakin praise, it was a good strategy. Multiple focused attacks by small groups, the Umbarans wouldn't know what hit them, which was a key advantage considering the weaponry of the Umbaran militia shocked even the experienced troops of the 501st.

There was still so much they hadn't seen yet by the residents of Umbara, and if Steve was being honest with himself, it unnerved him more than anything HYDRA could have possibly had in the war.

"Hope you can keep up, shiny", Fives teased the captain beside him. Even if they had little time to rest during the whole campaign, the gesture made by their new member did not go unnoticed.

Already the ranks were starting to talk about Steve's and Krell's near skirmish. Fives did not care, Steve stood up for them, treated them like General Skywalker would, he may be calling the man shiny, but he was grateful to have him on the campaign.

"Can you?" Steve quipped back, making the ARC Trooper laugh briefly.

"Don't worry, Fives, I'm sure the super soldier can carry you over your shoulder if you can't keep up." Hardcase slugged the last member of Domino Squad's shoulder, a few of the Clones hiding their own amusement as best they could before they left the two.

Fives did not react besides returning the slug on the Z-6 blaster carrying Clone as he passed by.

"Super soldier." Fives shook his head at the notion. Would have been nice if the Clones were similarly enhanced.

"Better than shiny", Steve added as he looked towards the main road.

"Don't push your luck, rookie."

The main road was lit up in a similar manner as bioluminescence on the rest of the plant and animal life on the planet, lines of green lights subtly lighting up the path, not that it did much in the shadowy world of Umbara.

Steve looked further down that road and could not help but feel unsteady. It was like an invitation for them to follow the trail. It did not sit well with the Avenger.

"Eyes up, shiny, Rex is back." Fives jerked his head to the incoming officer.

Rex suggested Steve stay away from Krell so as to avoid any more "incidents" for the time being. Knowing what Rex was trying to do, Steve agreed without a fuss. Rex was responsible for both the general and the rest of the men, it was not an easy task when Krell was such a violent and careless brute, in Steve's opinion.

Still, Steve was glad that Anakin's last command would be followed.

Or so he thought, because what Rex said dashed all those hopes.

"We're gonna do what?" Steve had to ask again.

"General Krell decided that a full-frontal assault would be faster than any set of surprise attacks." Rex' reluctance was obvious. He disagreed with this plan, no, he detested Krell's strategy. There was no choice though, no matter the alternative, Krell refused to listen.

Even if a full-on attack allowed them to take the capital, the Umbarans were so far proving to be masterful when it came to guerilla tactics. An obvious target like the road, Rex couldn't even think about it.

"Rex, that's crazy."

"It's suicide." Steve backed up Fives.

"Generals Kenobi and Tiin need us to aid their assault. We can argue about this, or we can move and get the job done." Rex stressed with finality.

"We'll be wide open from all sides. If the Umbarans know we're coming, and they will, we'd be sitting ducks."

Arguing with Steve was the last thing he wanted, especially considering he agreed with him. "Those are our orders." Rex managed to keep the regret out of his voice.

However, Steve's face became stoic, standing tall as he told the Clone Captain. "Orders are only as good as the man who gives them."

Rex adopted a similar mask. "All the same, we have our mission."

Steve had seen reckless plans, Steve had seen stupid plans, but never had Steve been part of suicidal plans. What was worse, Rex and the Clones had no choice but to obey.

With many reservations, Steve stood straight and saluted. "Sir yes sir." He left the ARC Trooper and Captain to find the other Clones he had grown close to so far in the campaign.

Watching him go, Rex already knew what Fives was about to say. "Steve is right, an attack like this will only make us lose men. There will be none of us to help the other battalions."

"I may not agree with it, but General Krell is right. We can't delay, the capital is key to end this campaign."

"And where is Krell during this assault?"

This is where he'll lose him, Rex thought. "The General has elected to take control of the reserves and remaining walkers."

"He's not even fighting?!"

"Fives-"

"We both know what a Jedi can do in a battle!"

"We have our orders, Fives. It's our duty to see them through." Rex spoke with every authority he had. It was enough to quiet Fives' temper. For now.

The shiny he met on the Rishi Outpost only nodded his head and donned his helmet, leaving the Captain alone to sigh. Things were starting to unfold, all thanks to Krell's appearance.

Good soldiers follow orders, Rex had to remind himself. Good soldiers follow orders.


Earth-21, Metropolis, LexCorp

Lex read the newspaper, in which Superman and Batman were hailed as heroes by the Daily Planet, being called the World's Finest.

Sighing, he tossed the newspaper away, while looking at the speedster, who now lay in a secret experiment room Lex had in his own tower.

Lex had taken off the mask, seeing that behind the Demonic veil, was just a man. He had lost an arm as well in whatever altercation he'd been in.

From the Demonic mask and those claws, Lex could tell this was not a heroic speedster. As a machine of his treated the man's stump, Lex noted he'd be quite useful.

He looked at the readings, and saw the speedster's vitals were quite low.

"A speed drug, hmmm", Lex muttered, seeing that its wearing off was the cause of the low vitals, and there was cellular deterioration within this speedster too. "I know how that can be fixed."

He looked at the stump. "But first, let's do something about the rest of you."

Lex hated Supers. As did Zemo. But using people with powers for his own goals, that was not new to Lex, and he was sure his new ally would approve too.


Universe-208, Umbara

Umbara's capital city seemed to be the only source of light on the entire planet that did not originate from the bioluminescence of the planet's flora and fauna. From what the Avenger could make out, though even without enhanced eyesight, he could see a bright beam of light shoot upwards from tall structures in the distance, that same light radiating across the whole city and beyond, giving the capital a glowing aura. Steve had to admit, his curiosity was piqued at the thought of what the city looked like up close.

If they get to the city, Steve had to remind himself as he marched with half of the 501st on the road leading them to the city, the only sound coming from the walkers' mechanical footsteps. Surrounded on both sides by thick vegetation, where an enemy could lay in hiding anywhere, waiting.

Captain America was not the only one concerned.

"So, why aren't we sticking to the original plan and probing the city defences first?" Tup asked. Steve had to remember that he was the real latest recruit, the shiny before Steve. He had yet to realize the truth of the situation.

Of course, it was Hardcase answering him. "We can do this. Let's take 'em!"

"Yeah, leave it to Hardcase to dive in head-first", Jesse sarcastically suggested.

"The general's new plan is reckless." The legion's ARC Trooper spoke up his opinion, and it was shared by many.

"You ever think that maybe the general knows what he is doing?" Dogma snapped back. Steve pitied the Clone. He was too blindly loyal to see the truth, but it may be the only kind of life he knew, the Clones were created to fight the war.

Fives walked faster next to Rex. "I know you think this is a bad idea." Despite their words earlier, Fives knew Rex as a tactical expert. He remembers when they, and Echo, would devise strategies, and even their worst ideas were better than whatever Krell ordered.

Rex glanced at Captain Rogers, who had yet to say a word since their last conversation. The truth was that Steve did not speak to Rex, not out of anger, but due to the need to focus, keep his senses alert. There was an attack coming, he knew it.

The Clone Captain turned back to his brother before looking ahead. "I raised my objection to General Krell's plan but he didn't agree. So, this is it."

"Well, what if he's wrong? Then-"

Fives was interrupted when an arm across Rex' chest made both Clones stop. They found Steve, whose eyes were flickering over the road.

"Call a halt, now!"

"Platoon, HALT!" Rex cried out without questioning the super soldier. He understood why he followed the orders, but no, the look in Steve's eyes was something else. "What is it?"

"This is too easy. When we were pushing the Germans back, they would dig landmines to cover their escape and slow us down." There was a panic in his voice that Rex never heard before.

Flashbacks flooded Steve's mind. Men missing legs or their entire lower halves gone. So much blood, so much screaming as he held dying soldiers in his arms, screaming for their mothers, for the pain to stop, for God.

Never again.

Rex turned to the ARC Trooper. "Sweep 'em."

Steve did not focus on the device Fives took out, nor did he pay attention when his gut feeling was proven right. He listened and listened hard.

There!

In a blur of movement, the shield was thrown fast at one of the trees looming over the Clones, and they watched as it struck something that was thrown out of the tree and crashed to the ground.

A dead Umbaran with its helmet cracked and neck snapped.

"AMBUSH!"

Chaos erupted on the road as Umbarans emerged from the darkness of their planet and opened fire. Blue and green blaster bolts filled the air as an electromagnetic plasma fired upon the legion, destroying a walker, the explosion sending parts and the driver hurtling.

Steve, Rex, and Fives quickly drew their weapons and returned fire. The First Avenger was happy the Umbarans did not wear armor that could protect against his bullets. All the same, while recalling his shield with the magnet in his arm, the Vibranium heeding his call much like Thor's hammer, to protect his body and the man next to him, Steve ensured he did not miss, aiming for their heads.

"We're completely exposed!"

"Hold your ground!" Rex ordered as he went back-to-back with Steve. A frustrated grunt behind followed by a click, then metal sliding on metal before the slugthrower could fire again. The things held so little ammo compared to even blaster pistols.

Steve turned his aim upward, taking out every Umbaran he could see still in the trees. When one was dropping beside him, Steve's leg lashed out in a roundhouse kick that struck the Umbaran midair, launching the alien hard into a comrade.

"You want a piece of this?!" Hardcase' blaster cut through the Umbaran ranks, but there were so many that it barely slowed them down. Steve heard another incoming whoosh, and threw his shield at another plasma round, the contact with the Vibranium created an explosion that sent him and other Clones crashing, but not dead.

Getting to his feet, Captain Rogers rushed to the first trooper he could reach. "Come on, soldier!" Steve helped the Clone to stand.

But could only watch as his head snapped back and lifelessly dropped, had Steve not caught him.

For a moment, the blue/white armor disappeared, and a man in an olive-green uniform marred by blood and dirt was in his arms instead.

Feeling an undeniable rage, Steve panted hard before laying the Clone down gently and taking his DC-15S, unleashing the energy rounds into every Umbaran he could see. Moving as he fired, he let an Umbaran get close in an attempt to fire point blank shot, only for Steve's new blaster to push down his own alien one, allowing a clear shot for blue bolts to strike his head, then chest.

Steve then grabbed the body by the arm and over his shoulder, taking blaster bolts intended for the human as he retreated back, only to turn and hurl the corpse at high speed at a trio of incoming Umbarans intending to attack the Clones from behind. He was a blur as he was over them, pulling the trigger on each before they could scream in their language.

Another Umbaran dropped down, intending to land on him, but Steve stepped aside, letting the alien land, while the magnet activated returning the Vibranium shield to his arm, and the edge struck the enemy's face with unnatural force, caving it in and bursting from the cracked skull, mixed with gas from the destroyed helmet. Steve did not focus on that only sliding to his left to use his shield to deflect green bolts from hitting another Oz.

More plasma rounds came, and Steve hurled his shield hard to intercept, the explosion occurring harmlessly above them, but the firefight was heated as ever until the ammo in his DC-15S ran out, making him drop the gun. His shield recalled, another Umbaran rushed him, but the captain grabbed his rifle and struck with his Vibranium in one movement, taking the enemy's weapon and swinging it at its head, the helmet destroyed, and the jaw and rifle broke off.

"We're blown!" Kix yelled desperately to the commanding officer.

"The Umbarans are advancing!" Fives fired at the enemy before quickly turning before an Umbaran sneak attack, shooting point blank at the chest.

"Make 'em eat heat!" Despite everything, Hardcase lived off the fight and continued riddling the militia with his Z-6.

Steve pulled an Umbaran close, using it as a human shield from blaster fire before taking the rifle and giving them a taste of their own weapons. He turned to find his fellow captain, when the scene truly hit him.

Both sides, green blaster bolts bombarded their men. What meagre cover found in the destroyed walkers was useless, some Clones did not even have cover, needing to dodge, or else be killed. That was what was happening. So many Clones falling. Dead. Completely exposed and ripe for the picking by the Umbaran militia. They did not need to die.

A burning pain snapped Steve out of his stupor, making his body recoil to his right, dropping the rifle in his hand to clutch the wound on his shoulder. His blood felt like it was boiling, his armor and skin melting from the energy that struck him. Gritting his teeth, Steve found the culprit closing in, aiming for his head, but the soldier rolled forward, avoiding the shot before sweeping the legs from under the Umbaran, that was when Steve raised the shield in his good arm and struck down on its neck, hard.

The alien's expression was shocked, and it would remain that way, as the gas from the helmet leaked out from the new gap between the wearer's neck, and the rest of the body.

"We need to fall back!" Steve shouted over the blaster fire, pushing through the pain to start running at a close Umbaran with his shield taking the bolts before smacking the rifle to the side and push kicking the alien hard enough that the impact against a tree broke bone, at the least, before the WWII veteran spun and grabbed the heel of a dead Umbaran and threw it into more of its kind. Steve snapped to his fellow Captain's direction. "Rex!"

"Get them to follow us! If we can draw them out, we can see them!" Rex ordered as he dodged bolts while dual wielding his DC-17s.

"If we can see them, we can hit them!"

"All squads, pull back now!" Rex gave the order to retreat. Retreat they did. The Clones quickly abandoned their positions, making a run back to the reserves waiting at the other end of the road. Steve took up another blaster and waited until the last man passed him before joining him, firing as best he could with an injured arm, making sure each pull of the trigger was a kill.

Another explosion, another walker lost, Steve was quick to abandon the blaster and attached the shield to his back, moving in to pick up two of the Clones scattered by the blast. With one over his unharmed shoulder and another under his injured arm. Steve's enhanced speed would allow him to catch up with the Clones in the lead, but he refrained from pushing himself. He could help more. But the heartbreaking reality of war hit him as another Clone beside Steve was struck by a blaster bolt.

He couldn't save everyone.

Gritting his teeth, Steve pushed himself to remain with the main body of the retreat, not slowing down even as more explosives bombarded their position. Steve saw the rest of the reserves come out of their cover, and he found the energy to rush ahead to get the two men in his arms to safety, leaping over debris and rocks until he was far enough behind friendly lines to set them down. Propping the Clones against a tree, Steve quickly tore off their helmets, their identical faces and haircuts meaning little to him now as Steve checked the neck of the first for a pulse. None. Desperately he reached for the neck of the other and exhaled in relief. Faint, but there.

"KIX! MEDIC! I NEED A MEDIC!" Steve yelled for help. Another Clone rushed to Steve's side, not Kix, but he had a medkit in hand.

It was only when Steve stepped away, did he notice the blaster fire was over. The men were safe. For now. What was left of them.

Never has Steve been part of a more reckless, suicidal plan. All those men, dead. For what reason? Steve clenched his fists hard enough he heard his knuckles pop. The wound in his shoulder was forgotten as he moved forward. To where Krell was barking at Rex.

"You've pulled your forces back from taking the capital city." Krell reprimanded the Clone. "The enemy now has control of this route. This entire operation has been compromised because of your failure!" The Besalisk finished by harshly jabbing his large finger against Rex's shoulder.

Fives had enough. "General Krell, in case you haven't noticed, Captain Rex just saved this platoon. Surely you won't fail to recognize that." The ARC Trooper did not hide his contempt as he spoke up in defence of his brother.

Krell coldly turned to the Clone, one of his hands pulling out his folded lightsaber, and igniting a green blade, to the shock of Fives, and the other Clones.

Steve snapped.

Suddenly bursting with speed, he shoulder-charged Krell away from Fives, the General hitting the ground, but got back to his feet with a snarl.

"This mission was a failure the moment you changed the orders!" Steve snarled back. The Besalisk's face was murderous as the deactivated lightsaber, turned off in the fall, came back to life while he marched to Steve. "If you were so sure about your own orders, then maybe you should've led the charge, see how far your inferior tactics would go in the face of a superior enemy."

"What YOU face is a court martial, civilian!" Krell growled as he held up the lightsaber to Steve's face, but was taken aback by the hiss of the green blade meeting the face of Steve's shield. In the glow of the lightsaber, Steve and Krell's faces met with unrivalled contempt for the other.

"Volunteer, and I'll take my chances."

Those feelings of hate, so dangerous for a Jedi, were bubbling to the surface in both.

Until Rex moved between them both, Steve being pushed back, and the Clone being unphased by the lightsaber. "Sir, if I may address your accusation." Steve backed off as Rex desired, but Captain Rogers and General Krell never broke eye contact. "I followed your orders, even in the face of a plan that was, in my opinion, severely flawed, a plan that cost us men," Rex spoke with a fiery tone that only got hotter the more he spoke, unleashing his voice finally against the general, until ripping off his helmet. "Not Clones! Men!" Krell finally turned away from Steve to look at the Clone Captain. "As sure as it is my duty to remain loyal to your command, I also have another duty, to protect those men." Rex gestured to the Clones, and Steve, watching the confrontation.

Steve and Fives watched proudly. Rex was loyal to a fault, but even he could not hold his tongue anymore. He named his place, a commander, and leader, of the men around him.

Krell's bared teeth were visibly gritted in annoyance, before he closed his eyes and seemingly calmed himself, the lightsaber deactivated and sheathed at his waist again, and addressed the Clone in a tone that was…complementary? "You have a spark of tenacity, Captain. I'll give you that. I know that I don't command like the Jedi you are used to serving, certainly not like General Skywalker, but I have my way. It may be difficult, but these are difficult times. And it's proven effective. I suppose your loyalty to you men is to be commended. They seem to admire this. That's important to an effective commander."

'What would you know.' Steve thought with derision. Throw enough soldiers at a problem and expect it to be solved. It was a child's tactic more than anything. Krell was no leader. He was a butcher.

"All right, Captain Rex, your opinion has been noted. Dismissed." For the first time, Krell actually used his name, before folding his arms and walking away.

Fives approached with a surprising light-hearted quip. "I think he almost complimented you."

"INCOMING!" Steve shouted before throwing his shield for the third time another electromagnetic plasma blast. The shield saved a walker, but it didn't stop the second from destroying another. It was a precursor to more waves of Umbaran unveiling themselves, green blaster bolts filling the air as the Clones returned it with equal measure.

Drawing his pistol and calling his shield, Steve joined Rex and Fives as they moved forward to meet the enemy. "The Umbarans must've regrouped for a counterattack."

"Everyone, we must hold this position!" Rex ordered as the Clones and Avenger opened fire with energy and bullets.

"You think General Krell still intends on taking the capital using this strategy?" Fives had to ask, but Steve knew the answer, as did Rex, he knew.

"I don't know. I'll get back to you on that if we survive this battle." Rex' grim tone told Steve all he needed to know.

"We'll hold you to that." Steve said from beside him, before noting the damage done to his shield.

The Vibranium held up against the glowing green blade, but the color didn't. The red, white, and blue of the shield was burned away in a line that spread to the tip of one of the star's points. Putting that out of the way for now, Steve returned to the Umbarans.

The trio didn't speak again unless it was to bark orders. Their goal was simple, survive the attack.

With that, the trio of brothers-in-arms buried themselves into the firefight.

However, within the mind of the super soldier, the image of Krell towering over Fives and igniting his weapon that was said to cut through anything refused to leave. It made Steve's blood boil more than the bolt that hit him.

Krell was a bully who used his power to dominate. That will be a problem, because Steve refused to cow to his ways, and knew, Rex and Fives would refuse to as well.

Steve heard from the men of the powers the Jedi had over what they call the Force. Sensing thoughts and feelings were among them. There was no hiding his feelings, Steve thought, let Krell hear them. Let him know what this old soldier thought.

It was why he made a promise to himself. He would do everything in his power to save as many men as he could from suffering under Krell's command.

Even if it cost Steve his life.


And with that, this monster of a chapter is over. And I'm informing you, its not gonna get any shorter anytime soon.

So Steve is in Umbara, and has joined the campaign, and as expected, he and Krell are already close to coming to blows, because Krell is just that bad.

The Thorn Trilogy timeline of Halloween is canon on Earth-1, and the 2018 timeline is canon on Earth-199999.

While the H20 timeline ended up being canon on Earth-92 aka the Buffyverse. If we're taking only Halloween 1978, Halloween II 1981 and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later into account, the H20 timeline is the best one easily.

But then there is that horrifyingly bad movie titled 'Halloween: Resurrection' which ruins the H20 timeline completely, and I still find it the worst Halloween movie (even worse than Rob Zombie's atrocious remakes, 'Revenge' and 'Ends').

So now, due to Cordelia's vision, Angel, Wesley and Gunn fought and stopped Michael in the opening of 'Resurrection', saved Laurie, and gave the H20 timeline a better ending.

H20 Michael is the weakest one as well physically from what I've seen, with the Thorn Trilogy Michael being the strongest, followed by 2018 Michael (outside of 'Ends') and then Rob Zombie Michael.

Then, we got the Leverage crew, Oliver and Hunt conning Senator Cray. While I've written some 'Leverage' fics here and there before, including doing cons, this chapter is the first time I've done a 'Leverage' con properly, following the formula of a 'Leverage' episode.

The client (in this case, Lyla directly, and the dead Lawton and his family indirectly) have something unjust happen to them due to the Mark (in this case, Senator Cray and Agent Smith) and so they approach the crew, who go after the Mark.

The con is introduced (here, Oliver offering Cray a deal) but a complication happens (Smith being suspicious of them) and something almost derails them (Smith trying to get Oliver, Eliot and Parker killed) but they manage to get through it, and their Mark (Cray) is exposed, and even has a classic Villainous Breakdown like all the Marks in 'Leverage', and then flashbacks are shown to explain everything, and how the con succeeded, and at the end, the client (the Lawton family indirectly) get the good news, while their reputation is cleared (Lawton's in this case, and his family might even get monetary compensation now, another good thing for them) and it gives them peace.

Only thing missing is the crew taunting their Mark after the Mark is exposed, but that got done with The Waller Job.

Basically, we got a 'Leverage' episode in this chapter.

Plus since the Senator's name was Cray, and I remembered the 'Cray Cray' song by Trish Walker in Jessica Jones Season 2, decided it'd be the perfect way to just embarrass Cray.

Cray's assistant would be played by Nicholas Brendon, thank you to gussygus28 for the casting.

And then there is the implication that Leonard, Lisa and Mick will become the Leverage crew of Earth-1.

Eliot's alias 'Jacob Stone' is a reference to Christian Kane's character in 'The Librarians', while Parker's alias 'Beth Leach' is a combination of the names Beth Riesgraf (Parker's actress) and Archie Leach (Parker's mentor and father figure in the show).

Blade also has helped the Death Watch against the Pykes, but just wait and watch on that front.

'Supernatural' will come back next chapter. I know I'd said this chapter, alongside Buffyverse, but I delayed the plotline I had in mind for them to next chapter due to some reasons that will make sense next chapter.

And next 2 chapters are gonna be huge in both content and length.

Anyways, thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer, Stand with Ward and Queen and gussygus28 for the help once more, couldn't have done this without them.

Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.