In the vast majority of the multiverse, it looked like a gigantic web that was always connecting to other strands. When these strands continue to interconnect, they form into worlds and realities.
"Time." A mysterious voice called out amongst the many realities out there.
"Space." There is a world where the Avengers landed in the republic era and Peter met Padme when the Trade Federation attacked her world.
"Reality." Then a world where the Avengers landed in the Old Republic and were fighting to defend the galaxy from the threat of the Sith Lords plaguing the galaxy.
One world where the Avengers landed in the clone wars, and Peter settled down with Ahsoka after order 66 happened. "It's more than a linear path."
"It's a prism of endless possibilities." Then an even darker world where Peter Parker was captured by the Empire and trained as a weapon of the Sith in the Clone Wars. "Where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities."
Speeding past infinite different bundles and webbing showing off the thousands of different realities. They were created by either small unnoticeable choices or gigantic moments that were altered. "Creating alternate worlds from the ones you already know."
Then we are met with a giant figure who stared at the vast universe, looking down at the extended universe of the What If Universe. "I am the Watcher. I am your guide throughout all of these vast new realities. Follow me, and we'll journey into the unknown and ponder the question..."
"What if...?"
"It was just another ordinary day in the Jedi Temple. At least, that's what it seemed like at the time." The Watcher narrated as he looked down at the new forming universe. "But...let's just say this day held a very important moment in history."
Kate Bishop was one of the few Avengers present at the time. The other Avengers were elsewhere in the galaxy, dealing with their own issues. Some were out fighting Count Dooku to end the war, while others were engaged in various tasks related to the Separatist droid army.
Kate grabbed her quiver and bow from her room as she made her way outside. She wandered through the halls and saw everyone going about their business as usual. They were mostly waiting to hear back from Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was on a mission to finish off General Grevious so that they could finally bring an end to the Clone Wars. It had been a long road since they first appeared in this world.
"When the Avengers were sent to this world, Peter Parker was discovered by Master Yoda on a mission with Clones on the strategic system of Toydaria." The Watcher was explaining. "Since then, the Avengers have slowly been brought back together over the years. Some battles went better than others, but even they couldn't stop what was already set into motion years ago."
"Heard that the war might be ending soon." One of the clones muttered.
"Could you imagine?" Another asked.
"Not really. What would happen to us if that day ever came?" The first question.
Kate sighed as she walked down the stairs and passed a group of Younglings being escorted to their lessons. She was more concerned about what would become of the Avengers after the war was over. There was likely still going to be a crime somewhere across the galaxy, but she doubted that the Jedi would continue to house them once they had served their time as allies in the war.
"Commander Bishop," one of the clones nodded to her as she passed by.
"Clint, how many times do I need to say that you can call me Kate?" Kate asks him with a laugh. She named this clone who's been at her side for many missions after the original Hawkeye as she thought it was a fitting name.
"Sorry, Commander. It still doesn't sound right to me," said Clint.
"Well, maybe after the war finally ends," Kate joked as she continued.
"Hey, Kate," Scott Lang greeted as he walked by.
"Scott." Kate greeted Scott. "Hope, great to see you."
"Hey, Kate," Hope greeted Hope Van Dyne.
Kate sighed as she walked over and ran into the person she was looking for. "Yelena."
Yelena smiled at Kate Bishop. "Wondering when you would wake up, sleepy head," she said with a grin. "You missed all the excitement."
"What excitement? The droid factories everywhere are all but destroyed. Dooku is gone, and Grievous is the last remaining threat to the galaxy." Kate replied. She sighed as she looked out and saw some Jedi younglings training in the quad. "I mean, did you wonder what we were supposed to be doing after the war?"
I would like to imagine we would be swept off our feet and brought back home," Yelena half-joked as she sighed and leaned against the wall. "But it's a fool's idea. We are going to have to get used to the idea that we are going to be living here."
"Could work out," said Kate. "Maybe we could hijack a ship if they don't lend us one and set up our own self-defense operation somewhere to make some money."
"Always thinking of others, aren't you, Kate Bishop?" Yelena scoffed at the Younglings.
"You have got to say my full name every time?" Kate questioned. "I feel like you should be over that."
Yelena asked, "Does it still make you uncomfortable?"
"Yes, a little," Kate admitted.
"Then it is necessary." Yelena joked.
Kate scoffed as she returned to watching the children being taught how to move with their Lightsabers. As she continued to stare, Yelena looked over and noticed a few of the Clones were reaching for their helmets, indicating they were receiving a message. But as far as she knew, these were the Temple Clones meant only for guarding the palace. Why would they be receiving orders?
Then she began to notice a few other things, such as the fact that a few clones were whispering among themselves. She didn't like where this was going. Then she watched a few of them turn off the safeties on their blasters.
Yelena turned to her friend. "Kate Bishop? Get ready to run."
"What?" Kate didn't follow at all what she was saying. "What are you talking about?"
Then Yelena saw a few of the clones begin to raise their blasters. "Run!"
Out of nowhere, the clones began firing on their own commanders or other members of the Jedi and their friends. Scott was the first to get shot; he didn't even expect anything was going on. By the time Hope figured it out, she reached for her shrinking button on the suit but was already shot by the time she did so. Yelena reacted quickly, reaching for her blaster and managing to get off a few shots before she backed away to hide behind one of the statues.
Kate jumped and hid as she was mainly confused as to what just happened. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, but I want to live to get some answers," Yelena stated as she readied her Widow Bites. "We gotta get the hell out of here."
Kate looked over and saw the Jedi Master training the younglings was defending them. But she wasn't fast enough, and there were too many Clones. Kate sighed and knew she couldn't let these kids die. She reached up and grabbed her bow and arrows before taking aim and shooting the Clones down. A few Clones got a few hits on the kids, but Kate wasn't going to give up on saving who she could.
Yelena decided to jump into the fray and helped shoot several of the clones herself. Kate grabbed another one of her trick arrows and shot an explosive arrow that flew across the temple and hit a balcony. When the balcony exploded, it took a squad of the clones with it. Grabbing another arrow, she aimed her bow at another clone when she was shot in the left arm. Crying in agony, she dropped her bow and looked around, seeing that the clone who shot her was Clint.
"Clint?!" Kate exclaimed in surprise upon seeing her friend had been affected by the same phenomenon. "Why?"
Clint said, "Good soldiers follow orders."
Yelena then entered as she shot another Widow Bite and killed Clint. Kate looked at her and watched as Yelena ran over and helped her stand up. "Don't go dying on me now, Kate Bishop."
"The kids..." Kate winced in pain. "We have to help them."
Yelena looked back and saw that the Master was killed, and most of the Younglings were already slaughtered in the after-effect of that moment. Yelena was unhappy with herself that she could not manage to save them. But then she noticed that there was one lightsaber still swinging around on the upper levels. Yelena knew that there must be a Jedi left that she could help and had an idea. Grabbing Kate's bow, she wrapped Kate and herself with her grapple hook from the gauntlets. Then she used a grapple arrow to drag them up to the higher levels where they saw a squad of clones closing in on a young girl.
"Not on my watch," Yelena muttered as she disconnected from Kate. Kate groaned and leaned against the elevator doors. "Stay here. I need to take care of some aggression."
Yelena approached the clones, who seemed to have not even taken notice of her. It was like they were filled with one purpose to focus and kill the Jedi. Even if they were just children. Yelena attacked the clones, shooting one in the back with her blaster before shooting another with a Widow Bite, causing him to spritz out in pain and fall to the ground. Then, with the last clone, she aimed her blaster at him, and he aimed his blaster at her, and she grabbed it from the hilt and smacked it out of his hands before kicking him over the balcony.
The little girl shuddered in fear as she backed away from Yelena and kept her green saber in front of her. Yelena raised her hands and lowered her gun. "Easy, kid. We don't know what's going on, but we want to help. What's your name?"
The young Jedi wasn't sure what to do or who to trust. She thought that she could trust the Clones and they shot down her Master. "Amber." She saw that they hadn't tried to kill her and had actually saved her, meaning that they must want to help. "Amber Morgan."
"Alright, Amber, let's get out of here," Yelena said and led Amber toward Kate. But then she looked and noticed dozens of Clones coming up the stairway. "О Боже."
Yelena shot a few more Widow Bites as she pushed the button to summon down the elevator. Kate managed to pick up one of the Clone's blasters while leaning against the wall and used her right hand to open fire on the clones to protect Yelena and the kid.
Amber helped out wherever she could by deflecting the stray shots to keep them from hitting her teammates. When the elevator arrived, Kate was the first one in, quickly followed by Amber.
Kate cried out, "Yelena, come on!" as she struggled to keep the doors open.
Yelena saw if she didn't hold these clones back, they would just swarm the elevator. She knew what she had to do and turned to Kate. "Kate...keep the kid safe."
"What?" Kate didn't follow what she was saying. "Yelena!"
Yelena pushed Kate out of the door and offered a friendly smile. "Don't worry," she said. Then she shot another clone before it could advance on her. "This will be a cool way to die!"
"Don't!" Kate cried, but it was too late; the doors had already closed.
Kate and Amber were left alone in the elevator, neither of them sure what to do next. They needed to get out of the temple and try to regroup with some others, but were there any others left?
When the elevator opened, Kate let out a sigh of relief as she recognized the Jedi. "Kelleran!"
Kelleran Beq looked over and noticed Kate and recognized she was injured. "Bishop! Morgan!" He ran over to their side, and they recognized he had a carrier that was holding Grogu inside of it. A small youngling that was the same species as Master Yoda. "Are there any others with you?"
"No, we're the only ones left," Kate said sadly.
Kelleran's face fell as he slowly processed the news of losing everything he held dear in the Temple. His heart felt heavy with grief and despair, but he knew there was no time to waste. They were surrounded by dozens of clones, all of them advancing toward them menacingly. Without hesitation, Kelleran drew his two lightsabers and ignited them, their hum filling the air around them. He deftly deflected the blaster fire with skill and precision, the blades of his lightsabers forming a deadly shield around him. As he fought, Amber watched his back, taking care of any enemies that tried to attack him from behind. Kate, on the other hand, stumbled towards the ComfortRide passenger airspeeder, her legs feeling weak and unsteady. When she saw the droid that was driving it, she didn't even bother explaining herself. Instead, she raised her blaster and shot it in the face, the sound of the blaster echoing through the air.
"Sorry, had one of those days," Kate sighed as she climbed into the vehicle. The carrier holding Grogu quickly flew in and placed itself safely inside. Kelleran leaped and skidded into the passenger seat, while Amber then jumped into the vehicle and continued deflecting the blaster fire.
One of the Clone ships flew into their vicinity and began to fire upon them. Once again, Amber was trying her best to deflect the shots and stay on board the ship as they flew around to try and escape. Grogu hit a button that ended up closing his capsule, and that was probably for the best.
Kelleran looked and noticed the wound on Kate's arm was only getting worse. "That doesn't look good."
"It doesn't exactly feel great either," Kate stated.
Before Kelleran could respond, the engine to their pod was shot out. "They took out the engine!"
Kate looked around for an escape and noticed the train tunnel. "There!"
Kelleran seemed to follow what she was thinking and made a sharp turn to get them into the tunnel. Amber dropped down into her seat to avoid getting hit when they saw a train approaching. They managed to avoid the train and escape while the ship was destroyed by ramming the front of the train.
"Where do we go now?" Kate asks.
"Hang on, we're gonna meet up with some friends of mine," Kelleran assured them. "But hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."
And a bumpy ride that it was. They crash-landed onto a small platform, which ended with them being flung from their transport and rolling around. When they stopped, they got a look and saw they were right outside of a Naboo cruiser.
"Kelleran Beq!" One of the crew ran over to help him and Kate up.
"They're right behind us!" Kelleran warned them.
"Where are the others?"
Kelleran sighed as he looked at the four of them. "There are no others."
Then before they even had a chance to breathe, a new transport carrier came flying down and a squad of troops opened fire on the four of them.
"Take the ship! It's fueled and ready to go!" The crew member assured them as they held off the clones.
As they fled from the planet, Kelleran led the group onto the ship, not wasting a moment to hesitate. The others followed his lead, and as soon as they boarded, the ship took off, leaving the planet behind. Kate, still clutching onto her injured arm, watched as the planet grew smaller and smaller in the distance. She tried to catch her breath as the adrenaline rush from their escape began to subside.
Suddenly, the ship was under attack, and Clone ships began to chase after them. Kelleran expertly maneuvered the ship, dodging the enemy's blasts as they struggled to keep up. The ship shook violently as they passed through the planet's atmosphere, but finally, they made it to safety. They jumped into Hyperspace, and the Clone ships were left far behind.
Kate finally had a moment to catch her breath and relax, leaning against the wall of the ship. She wasn't sure what they were going to do next or what her role was now. As the last surviving Avenger, she felt lost and alone. But then, she noticed that her bow had begun to emit a distress signal that only another Avenger could access. Her heart skipped a beat with hope as she realized that there might be other survivors out there. Kate quickly accessed the signal and discovered that there was indeed a chance that other Avengers had survived the attack.
"Order 66." The Watcher continued to narrate as he watched the entire Avengers and Jedi order fall across the galaxy. If they had only more time...if they had arrived sooner...they might have stood a chance. But as is...the majority of heroes across the galaxy fell. All but a few."
Kelleran and Kate after landing thought it would be best if they split off into two groups so that they wouldn't be discovered. Kate and Amber followed the tracker until they made it to Umbara. It was a strategically hidden planet and had millions of places to hide if anyone would follow or sneak around for a quick escape. Kate also had to get her arm looked at before she followed the tracker, but by that point, it was too late to save it. Her arm was amputated due to the bacteria that she picked up from everything that went down. She managed to get a replacement for it. If that's what you can call a robotic replacement for what was once a part of you.
"Hello?" Kate wasn't sure if calling out was the best idea. Yet again, there was no real way to locate or pinpoint where the other Avengers were. "Anyone here?"
"Are we sure that's the best idea?" asked Amber.
"I don't really have a better one." Kate shrugged. "You?"
Amber shrugged as she walked over to a part of the plants and placed her hand against it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She began to sense the presence of other people that come through the area earlier.
"They were here," Amber stated. "They are watching over us."
"Can't really blame us, can you?" A voice called out.
Kate quickly reacted to the sound of voices and grabbed one of her arrows from the quiver. She swiftly aimed it into the air, trying to catch a glimpse of who was speaking. As she focused on the direction of the noise, Kate saw two figures jumping down from the top of the surrounding plants. Her heart raced as she kept her bow raised, ready to defend herself if necessary. However, as the two figures approached, Kate recognized them immediately. It was Peter Parker, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and Captain Rex, the renowned leader of the clone army.
"Hey, Kate." Peter was relieved to see another friend survived. "It's okay, you can lower your bow."
"Commander." Rex nodded with a sigh, seeing she kept the bow aimed at him. "It's okay."
"The clones turned on us!" Kate proclaimed as she refused to lower the bow. "They killed everyone."
"We know." Rex sighed as he remembered what happened. "But I didn't."
"Kate, Rex helped us escape." Peter tried to explain to her.
"Us?" Kate was slightly relieved to hear that others had escaped as well.
Peter explained to her, "Ahsoka is alive."
Kate gasped in relief and smiled. "She is? Where is she?"
"She left," Rex answered. "She was done fighting."
Kate sighed as she slowly placed her bow down. "So, this is it?"
"Yeah..." Peter was sorry to say. "This is all of us."
"So, what do we do now?" Amber wonders.
Peter and Rex looked at one another and nodded. They already had a talk about this, and they decided that they were going to keep fighting. "We are going to lay low for a while. We understand if you guys don't want to."
"You got a ship?" Kate asks.
"We got a ship," Rex confirmed. He then tapped his earpiece and contacted someone. "Cheep. Bring it over."
Kate's attention was drawn towards the sky as a spaceship approached at an impressive speed. The vessel was once called Bowie by the Guardians, but since their tragic end, it was renamed by Peter and Rex to Stellar Sentinel. Kate noticed that there were only two individuals left, herself and her companion, which meant that they were the last surviving heroes in the galaxy. The ship descended and landed, and as soon as the doors opened, CH-33P, the faithful droid, rolled out while emitting a series of grunts and bleeps.
"Hey, cool it. We were gone for like an hour." Peter replied to the droid as he got on the ship. "We've got some new recruits."
"Cheep?" Kate was surprised to see him. "You survived?"
"We found his body in the wreck and spent the last few weeks repairing him," Rex explained as he came aboard.
"Yeah, with a ship this big, we figured that we could use some help with everything." Peter shrugged.
"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying," Rex said as he walked down the hallways and Kate followed with Amber. "This is your room. Make yourself at home."
Kate sighed as the door closed and she took a seat on the bed. She placed her bag down and finally had a moment to think about everything that had happened recently. Everything started flooding her mind as all the emotions she had been holding back poured out. She lost her friends, and the clones she thought she could trust turned against her... and now they were considered nothing more than common criminals. The Avengers were associated with the Jedi, and now the Jedi were deemed the number one criminal organization in the galaxy.
"There's a lot to take in," Peter said as he saw Kate moping. "I know, I've been there too."
"Where are we headed now?" Kate wondered.
Peter explained, "We've been able to hide on Mandalore for a while. We're heading there to regroup. Figuring out what we're doing next is the hard part."
"What are we going to do next?" Kate asked him. "The Jedi Order is gone. The Republic has already begun to crumble and turn into the Empire. We have been declared outlaws by that same Order. We're on our own out here."
"Hey, we still have some friends," Peter assured her. "Bo-Katan has given us refuge on Mandalore thanks to our help in helping her reclaim Mandalore from Maul." He then sighed as he got up. "I've gotta let her know we're coming in so that she doesn't shoot us down."
"Go. I'm a big girl. I'll be fine." Kate promised.
Peter nodded as he left the room and closed the door. Kate then gave herself a moment to finally break down. She watched her best friend get murdered before her eyes; the people she thought she could trust were responsible. She just needed to finally let herself break down as she curled up on the bed and cried.
Peter was walking down the ship when he found Amber in the middle of the hallway doing her own smaller version of a Jedi funeral. Since there was no body to burn or bury, Amber was just giving a small eulogy to her fallen brethren and fallen Jedi masters. It seemed she actually had a holocron with her lightsaber in front of her as she knelt down and gave her respects.
"You are all one with the Force, and our job is to remember...that which we will also pass on. We are the Luminous beings, but our bodies are merely temporary vessels. And in time we shall all find...ourselves here. As one with the Force." Amber was trying to get out as she was tearing up. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. So...as I trust the Force, you will always be with me."
Peter left Amber alone to mourn and walked toward the front of the ship. When he reached the bridge, he looked to his left and right, which connected two smaller ships. The ship they were currently in was more suited for living conditions than the smaller ships, which were for flying into ports and transporting the team to planets or for quick battle maneuvers. Looking down, he saw the pilot seat, which Rex was sitting in while Cheep was plotting their course through hyperspace. Peter walked on down to where he sat on the seat that was on the other end of where Rex was. There were also two other seats behind both of them for passengers.
"How are they doing?" Rex wonders.
"Taking it hard. Just like we did," Peter commented as he sent the message. "Bo should be there to meet us when we arrive. As long as we aren't shot down at arrival."
"Perfect timing. We're about to arrive." Rex reported.
Peter watched the ship exit Hyperspace and he began to think back to the last time that he left Mandalore. The war was just about to end, it was all finally going to be over.
"This world...there are going to be new challenges. New people. New relationships. Things will never be the same as they were supposed to be. Two Avengers and a Padawan whose fate was to die and a Captain without a fight left. What adventure are in store for them? As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpired here. But I can not. Do not. Will not intervene for I am...the Watcher."
