There is nothing better than having a true friend and comrade like Jebest to help you out in a pinch when you need it.

I am nowadays only able to work on chapters in large bursts now due to my scheduling and thanks in no small part to Jebest, this chapter was finished in a literal day considering the time frame.

A day was all it took and I couldn't be happier for it.

Now, I really cannot lie that I badly wanna get to the end of this season cause seasons 2 and 3 are where things really start to pick up so forgive me if any of you find this chapter lacking but right now I really REALLY wanna get to the bigger things I have planned cause the bigger events are galaxy shaking.

So on with the show

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 12: A Reason To Fight

"What are we looking at here, Hope?"

Kneeling down in the cover of the tall grass, Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne Pym, Aayla Secura and Commander Bly observed a Separatist base from afar, stationed on the now identified planet of Maridun.

From afar, they watched as droid patrols went about their programmed duties while staying close to the base.

Dawn was breaking upon Maridun. The rest of their comrades had been left behind at the Lurmen village allowing time for Anakin to heal up properly and the Clones to rest while they scouted out the CIS base nearby.

"This is the base that's been stationed here, apparently before I was found by the Lurmen." Hope quickly explained.

"And it's just been here all this time?" Aayla inquired.

"Afraid so."

"Don't know about you," Scott began, rubbing his chin while scrutinizing the base. "But this place must've had been built for over a month ago; given how fast construction is compared to back home."

"And asides from making a base here, what have they been doing?" Inquired Commander Bly. "I don't see any signs of them making a droid factory around the vicinity." He turned over to Hope. "Could there be one inside?"

"Not one that I know of. But they are making something." Hope kept eyeing the enemy base as she continued. "Been seeing ships flying in and out of this place with various parts. Haven't been able to get a good look on what they're making; so sorry in advance. And I haven't been able to know the local written language here, so I haven't been able to know what exactly are on their servers."

Steve pondered on the details and gave his thoughts. "Asides from this being a CIS base, this could be a testing vicinity."

Scott hummed. "Makes sense. Far off location in Neutral Space, where no one would suspect the enemy to be stationed. And with the privacy, they could have all the time needed with whatever nefarious plans being cooked up."

This got certain stares coming from others.

"What?" Scott said in a low tone. "This is practically screaming it… And… I've been rewatching a few old shows on my phone again… so there's that…"

"...G.I. Joe?" Came Hope's guess, earning a bewildered look from her boyfriend. She groaned soon after. "God, sometimes I forget how childish you are."

"Um… what are you guys talking about?" The Twi'lek Jedi asked aloud.

"Let's just say that when you're in a relationship with this man child, you know all his tendencies."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Scott crossed his arms in a playful, pouty mood.

"Can we focus here?" Steve said, getting back to the matter at hand. "We can discuss more on Scott's preferences at another time-"

"Hey!"

"-But we've got some investigating to do."

"And if we're lucky," Bly began, "We can snag one of the Sep ships and eventually get off planet."

"If there currently is one behind those walls." Aayla added in, getting 'obvious' and 'affirmative' like responses from the others beside her.

And it wasn't long before Hope and Scott shrunk down with Wasp flying into the air for a better look of things as she carried her boyfriend.

"So what is the point of this base way out in the middle of neutral space?" Steve asked as they started creeping along the tall grass. "Hope, do you see anything?"

"First off, there aren't any ships here. Second, they are definitely working on something in there." Hope stated as a spot light momentarily hit them, but was thankful that her presence didn't set off any alarms due to their size. "Since we're in a war, easy to guess that it's a weapon of some kind. But… whatever it is I can only guess."

"What do you see right now?" Steve asked.

"Just the standard stuff that they've been doing. There's a circle of those droids in the middle all looking over a cannon."

"A Cannon?" Bly repeated. "What, like artillery?"

"Possibly." Wasp said, flying down to get a closer look.

"Hey Cap." Scott spoke up over the comms. "Do you mind if I try something?"

"What is it?" Cap asked.

"Just wait a sec."

Scott rode an any down to a nearby droid, landing on its radio backpack attachment.

"Remember when I told you of me wanting to hack the droids back on the Malevolence?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's give it a try here." Scott said, rubbing his hands together.

"Woah! What the-" Spoke a droid before it suddenly went silent and leaned forward slightly.

Nearby, several droids noticed the momentary yelp of the droid.

"Hey, X-29, what's going on?"

X-29 remained silent until it jolted up, raising its arm to rub its head.

"W-W-What?" It swerved its head side to side and looked at it's fellow droids. "Why are you crowding me?"

"You seemed to have malfunctioned and shut off all of a sudden."

"O-Oh!" X-29 waved it off. "I-I didn't know that."

"Do you need to get checked into maintenance?"

"Uh... maybe?"

"Go on X-29, we have you covered."

Nodding, the commandeered droid began walking in a random direction.

Wasp floated above, looking down curiously as to what exactly was going on below her.

"Scott?"

"Don't know about you guys, but I feel weird being the puppeteer here." Spoke the droid in an odd tone all too familiar to the Avengers. "Wonder if this is how that Ultron guy was like doing his thing."

"...What did you do?" Steve asked

"Let's say I'm somewhat experiencing what it's like being inside Tony's Hulkbuster suit." Came Antman's response in the B-1 battledroid's voice. "Given my shrunken size and all."

"When did you learn that?" Bly couldn't help but ask in slight awe.

"Actually, Anakin helped me sometime after the Malevolence mission." Scott remarked. "He told me about Droids having a central command usually that allows them all to function. So I figured I could cut off the transmission of whatever is keeping this bot going and input my own commands."

Aayla seemed very impressed in hearing this. "Very well done, Mr. Lang. I have no doubt Skywalker will enjoy hearing your success in your little project."

"Just call me Scott, general." Scott said cheerfully.

"You guys have been busier than I thought." Hope stated, giving Scott a fond look below.

"Honey, you have no idea." Her boyfriend jokingly said before dread filled his voice. "And all the reading…" The B-1 battledroid suddenly clasped its head and massaged it like having a migraine. "Oh all that reading and studying."

"I thought you had a Masters degree in engineering?" Hope asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, and I thought I was done with that." Scott countered as he maneuvered his puppet to point at his girlfriend as they crossed into the inner workings of the Sep base. "Besides, Engineering has always been a hands on learning experience for me. But since coming to this neck of the universe, I've been given more college classes to go through."

"Alright you two, focus up." Steve said in amusement. "What do you both see?"

"Just the usual still." Hope replied. "Scott, take a left up ahead. That's the armory up ahead."

The puppeted B-1 droid nodded as it walked along the hallway with Hope absentmindedly sitting on its shoulder. She looked around and was at the ready in case she needed to duck into the commandeered droid's paneling to hide. But luckily for her, any and practically all enemy droids didn't pay attention in their direction.

Entering the armory, it was rather underwhelmingly small. Akin to a walk in closet that's really doubled in size.

"See anything useful?" Aayla asked through the comms.

"Aside from all these guns, there's this weird dome thingy here on the ground." Scott said, looking down on it.

"Dome thingy?"

Ant-Man groaned. "Sorry~ an energy barrier… Happy?"

"...You could've just said that in the first place." Spoke the Twi'lek.

"What is it?" Hope inquired.

"A deflector shield generator." Bly quickly answered from outside the base. "We could use that for later if the droids here get a little suspicious." A groan escaped his lips. "Too bad we can't take them with us now. Very awkward to even move them over a long distance without a ship.

"How do we get it out of the base though?" Aayla mused aloud. "It's small enough to be carried but it may be detrimental."

"That's what we're here for." Wasp said, growing to full size. Pulling out a small disk from her belt, she adjusted its setting and threw the disk forward.

"...What are you talking about?" Aayla, who did not have a visual as to what they were doing did not see the shield generator shrink down.

Scott couldn't help but release a chuckle upon seeing what is in his girlfriend's grasp. "Oh you guys are in for one hell of a treat when we're back in friendly territory." The ex-con looked up and voiced the obvious question. "You wanna start back up the collection?"

The Van Dyne-Pym formed a smirk underneath her helmet. "Did you even need to remind me?"

"What?" Bly and Aayla shared a look and even Steve was somewhat confused.

"Guys?" Steve spoke. "What are you doing?"

"You're gonna love this Cap." Scott said excitedly. "I actually can't believe I didn't do it sooner. It would have been real useful on the Malevolence to some of the Republic ships and bases we were previously on."

Steve only shook his head. "Okay you two, get out of there and see what else is here at the base." Steve ordered. "I wanna know the layout for later when it's time to raise this place to the ground."

"Ya got it."

"Of course."

"Let's pull back everyone. No need to press our luck."

Scene Cut

"Oh you gotta be fracking kidding me!"

"And why would we joke about that, Anakin." Scott spoke with the biggest grin he could ever muster.

"Cause I hate that I missed that." Anakin said in a joking childish tone upon hearing the droid puppeteering moment before gazing at the objects situated on his friend's palm. "So you guys shrunk these down and took it with you? What else can you shrink down? As a matter of fact, does it still work?"

"Everything so far." Scott shrugged. "Actually, I don't know what it doesn't work on. Pym particles can be applied everywhere really."

Anakin gave the ex-con a hard stare. "Next time, you're taking me with you."

"I promise."

"Ok, now that that's settled." Steve dryly said. "How are you feeling, Anakin?"

"Better." Anakin grunted, rotating his shoulder. "But I am too sore. Give me a few more days and I'll be right as rain."

"Try not to move too much." Wag Too said on the side, coating the Jedi's next set of bandages with the healing salve of the pods. "You'll need to remain relaxed for the remainder of the day to fully recover."

Anakin obliged the Lurmen healer, laying back down. "Say, where's Ahsoka? And Rex?"

"Helping out the villagers with the clones go about their daily tasks." Aayla answered. "Rex is on the outskirts with Domino Squad and Bly. Keeping an eye on anything that may sneak up on us."

Anakin nodded at the information as he is out of commission for the time being, he very much appreciated being in the loop.

"Ahem."

Aayla turned behind her to see the Chief of the Lurmen and Steve Rogers standing at the entrance of Anakin's tent.

"I wish to speak with you and this shield fellow here in my personal tent, if you wouldn't mind a moment of your time."

Aayla quirked her brow, looking up at Steve for a brief moment who only shrugged his shoulders and simply gestured that they go along with this request.

Looking back down at the small biped, Aayla nodded and with Cap followed the chief towards the center of the village where the largest tent pod stood.

Entering the tent, The Chief held his hand up towards two spots with blankets as a place for them to seat themselves.

"So what did you want to discuss, sir?" Steve inquired sitting down next to Aayla.

The Chief waved his question down, first going about grabbing two cups and filling it with liquid and offering them both to drink.

Accepting the drinks graciously, the Jedi and Avenger exchanged looks whilst the Chief sat down on the opposite end of the fire that was lit in his hut.

"Your people have come at a very difficult time, both for my village and the galaxy." The chief began, looking tired. "For the past few weeks, those blasted droids have been coming through our village. No harm had come to us nor any damage but their presence disturbs our very way of life."

Both of his guests remained silent as he went on. "But now with your arrival here, I can only assume it'd be a matter of time until conflict breaks out. It is inevitable when two opposing forces are in such close proximity to one another."

"We did not mean to bring conflict to your home, Chieftain." Aayla said respectfully. "This was not what we intended."

"Be that as it may, you are here." The Chief said sharply, eyeing the blue twi'lek. "And with it, your war. Something my people and I came to this planet to avoid."

"These things happen, Chieftain." Steve spoke up. "Back on my homeworld, global war broke out affecting many innocent civilians that wanted nothing to do with the conflict. It was unavoidable in most cases."

"A fanciful excuse for you, maybe." The Chief shot back. "But we are a people of peace. We do not engage in violence for that only breeds more violence. The Jedi and the Republic claimed to have been champions of such conflict and yet here we all are. A galaxy embroiled in war with every planet getting caught in its crossfire."

"War is sometimes inevitable." Steve said firmly, eyes now locked with the Chiefs. "There are those in the galaxy who wish for the loss of lives to only further their own goals. That is an ideal that can't be dissuaded no matter how hard you try."

"And you would know this?"

"I speak from experience. I have known a great many deal of individuals that would rather prefer to resolve things with their power then with words."

"Chieftain, I understand your resolve but the Jedi share in this belief of peace." Aayla interjected. "Our duty is to the force and the galaxy."

"Peacekeepers?" The Chief said with slight disgust. "How can you call yourselves such things when engaging in battle and leading legions to their deaths?"

"The Separatists threatened the galaxies stability." Aayla said.

"So rather than coming to an agreement with these former senators, you instead resolved to settle this in War?" The chieftain shot back. "That seems rather simple minded of you and your order, Miss Jedi."

"War is never as simple as that, Chieftain." Steve gave the Chief a fierce look. "I learned this the hard way after discovering the horrors being conducted before the start of my war back on Earth. I learned that the Republic tried desperately to settle and avoid this war but as I've told an old friend of mine, every time you try to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."

"And yet, here we are." The Chieftain remained resolute. "The innocence of the galaxy being the true victims in this war."

"What about the Separatists outside your base?" Aayla pointed out. "They threaten your way of life as is by simply being here. What if they came in with the intent of abusing your hospitality?"

"We would not be offering any resistance."

"And that is something they'd take advantage of and greatly abuse." Steve said straight away

"We have done nothing to provoke them."

"And I know this will sound stereotypical, but I'm afraid you all will be slaughtered if you do nothing; even at this time with the droid army at your doorstep. You should at least make an effort to either find someplace else to hide until this all blows over or defend yourselves."

"Mounting our defenses and engaging them in battle will make us no better than they are." Responded the Lurmen chief. "Our philosophies have kept us alive for generations and it will not stop. Not now or ever."

"Even at the cost of your very lives?" Aayla questioned, shocked at what she was hearing.

"...We will rather die than taking the lives of others."

Before their discussion could continue, the Lurmen chief's son entered the tent with a distressed look on his face.

"Wag Too, what's the matter?"

"The Separatists are here?"

Aayla and Steve looked at each other before the human Super Soldier spoke. "Where and how far?"

"Outside of the village and possibly minutes upon arrival."

"That's no good." Steve muttered out before making his way out of the tent with his Jedi companion. "We need to get the others out of here and hiding elsewhere. We aren't prepared for a fight just yet."

"And if they find any sign of us being here, then the Separatists will raze this village to the ground." Grimly spoke the Twi'lek.

Following right behind them was the village chief as he spoke up to them. "And it is your presence that endangers us all."

"We know that, sir, and neither of us want any of you in the crossfire."

"Which is why you all must leave at once." Said the chieftain as he broke away from the taller people. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must attend to our new guests."

Both Aayla and Steve momentarily looked on before looking at each other. With nothing much to say, the pair ran off towards the others in hopes of getting the injured Anakin out in time.

As they made their way, they both knew they couldn't force the Lurmen into a war; no matter how bad it is.

Scene Cut

Rex, Fives and Echo used the tall grass as cover, observing a large separatist dropship high above slowly make its way down to the surface.

"What do you see, Captain Rex?" Commander Bly's voice inquired through the comms.

"Droid Dropship." Rex responded. "Nothing to big but since it's a dropship, no doubt a Separtist Cruiser is up above in orbit."

"Get out of there quickly." Bly instructed. "We're moving General Skywalker to safety."

"Copy that, Commander." Rex stood up with Fives and Echo and the trio ran back to the village.

Eventually, the droid ship touched down at the village outskirts.

With the soft clanking of wood against the earth, the Lurmen chieftain made his way closer and closer to the CIS droid shiop. He kept his gaze forward and held himself high -despite his hunched back- as a means of showing how strong of a character he was.

With the droids coming down the ramp, comprised of a contingent of B-1 and B-2 battle droids, they momentarily stopped before parting ways to reveal a pleasantly plump, male Neimoidian with several other individuals.

Undeterred, the Lurmen Chieftain drew closer while the Male Neimoidian stepped off his ship.

"Ah, so this is the planet then?" The Neimoidian held an air of smug arrogance as he asked one of the droids beside him.

"Affirmative, General." A green accented battle droid confirmed.

"Hmmm." The Separatist general mused until seeing the Lurmen Chief approach. "Hello there, I am General Lok Durk of the Sepratist Alliance."

"And I am Te Wa Kaa, leader of this colony. What do you-"

"I believe you are aware that you are under the protection of the Separatists, no?" The General cut him off.

"Your droid base is known here."

"Then you should consider yourselves fortunate in your luck by being under the umbrella of such an illustrious collection of free systems." Lok Durd arrogantly declared, walking away from the Chieftain who only glared slightly at the rotund form of the general.

Quickly catching up to him, Te Wa Kaa walked beside Durd in hopes of talking some sense to him as he was surrounded by a couple dozen sepratist droids.

"We are a peaceful people, General. We do not condone violence."

The Trade Federation general ignored the Lurmen chieftain by waving him off. "If you'd be so kind and stand aside. I'd like to inspect my new colony."

Te Wa Kaa could only look on as Lok Durd gave his droids the order to inspect his village…

Well inspect was a strong word… it was more like ransacking his peaceful village.

Many Lurmen cowered and ran in fear with the droids breaking apart various homes and held the citizens at gunpoint in case if any of them were to do anything stupid. But it was really hard for them to do such things, given their peaceful nature and upbringing.

Wag Too stood off in the far back with Ahsoka Tano beside him.

"What are they doing?" Wag asked in complete shock. "We haven't even done anything to them."

"Those droids were programmed to do this." Ahsoka said bitterly, glaring at the clearly amused Lok Durd. "Programmed to follow whatever that fat shlob wants."

The present Avengers were feeling sick to their stomachs as neither of them could do anything to help these peaceful villagers.

"Are we really just gonna sit around here like this Cap?" Scott asked, clearly hating that all they could do was hide.

Ahsoka looked back as her eyes pleaded with the master Jedi and the Super Soldier on at least doing something for the Lurmen.

Unfortunately, Steve shook his head.

"As much as I hate to do this, we need to fall back."

"Agreed." Anakin looked over at the village's natural barrier. "All we can do now is hide in the tall grass and wait things out."

Ahsoka clenched her fists in frustration before acquiescing and following the Clones, Jedi Masters and Avengers out of sight for the moment.

Soon enough, the Droids continued their "inspection" of the village and returned to the Sep General.

"There is no evidence of any Republic contraband within the village." the lead Droid reported.

"This is not the first time your droids have done this to my people, General." Chief Wa Kaa stated.

"Then expect to have more of our inspections in the future, chieftain."

"Because we represent such a threat to your battle droids." The Chieftain sarcastically remarked before sagging his shoulders. "We will offer no resistance."

Lok Durd only laughed. "Your species is smarter than you look."

The Separatist forces departed a moment later leaving a clearly disgruntled Chieftain.

Wag Too, seeing his father return to the village, quickly ran up to his side.

"Father, are you hurt?"

Te Wa-Kaa only shook his head, though held a solemn expression.

"The Jedi and their allies are safe though." Wag too said.

"And yet, they nearly brought harm upon our people."

"Father, you can't go blaming them for something that's beyond their control." Wag Too defied his Father's words. "But now we have to deal with this new tyrant who won't be lenient now that he has control."

"I've just insured our peace." The Chief said affronted.

"By bowing to that demagogue?" Wag Too said challengingly. "Are we to do nothing while they harass us even more now."

"You would discard our very way of life?"

"If it means to ensure the safety of the village, yes." Wag Too firmly stated.

Wag Too could only look on with his father walking away. Clicking his tongue, the chieftain's son turned towards his friend.

"Mind going out there and finding the Jedi and their friends?"

"Of course, Wag Too." Was all the villager said as he jogged away and started his search.

In the tall grass over a vast distance away from the village, the Republic forces and Avengers waited about with each bearing a visible emotion to what they witnessed earlier.

Pacing in his spot, Rex released a frustrated sigh. "I just can't figure out why the Lurmen couldn't stand up and fight back. Lack of pride, I guess."

"More like lack of courage." Came Ahsoka's dry remark.

"Sometimes it takes courage to stick to one's beliefs, young padawan." Aayla sadly lectured. "As any Jedi well knows…"

Ahsoka could only look away, pulling out a small ration bar and bitterly eating it.

Before she could even take a bite out of it, she felt Hope place a hand on her shoulder.

"I know it peeves me too, Ahsoka, but we just can't force them out of something they've been practicing for years. It takes time to adjust."

"But what if they'll be too late?" Ahsoka asked.

"Good question, Snips." Anakin grunted. "But right now, our primary concern should be getting a ship off this planet."

"How would we do that, sir?" Hevy asked.

"Easy." Anakin held a mischievous grin. "A brand new craft just landed here, ripe for the taking."

"Stealing from the Separatists?" Rex said in the all too obvious happy tone. "Count me in."

"And we already know where the base is stationed." Scott pointed out, earning nods from the group. "So no need to go that far."

"And depending what is there, I'll be needing your help hijacking them Scott."

"Definitely."

"So what now?"

Hope was about to suggest something when she saw something at the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she most definitely spotted a red light amongst the tall grass.

"CAP!" Hope shouted, pointing at a grayish black droid that raised itself out from the cover of grass and moved to flee.

The group rounded about with the Clones quickly raising their basters and opened fired.

Steve quickly grabbed his shield from his back and flung it forward.

The shield dented the domed droid allowing the Clones to gun it down a moment later.

"...Damn, nice throw." Bly whistled out.

Steve walked up to his shield and picked it up while giving a brief 'thanks'. "Seems the Separatists wanted to be more thorough in their inspection than just within the village borders.

"We'll need to move fast." Aayla stated. "We don't know if the droid broadcasted what we said already."

"Flash, Cameron, Lucky, the three of you go back to the village but stay out of sight." Bly ordered his troops. "If the Droids come back, let us know how much are we dealing with."

"Domino squad, you do the same." Rex added. "Better to be safe than sorry."

The respective troops gave their confirmations before running back towards the Lurmen village to carry out their assignment.

"Where are we going?" Ahsoka inquired.

"Overlooking their base, of course." Steve answered. "And if memory serves, there's a tree big enough to survey the valley."

"There." Aayla pointed up and off in the distance was the large tree.

"Gonna be quite the climb."

"For you guys." Scott said cheekily, shrinking down onto his miniature size.

"...That is so unfair." Ahsoka said with puffed cheeks, already knowing what's bound to happen next.

"He can be such a child." Hope said until she herself grinned, shrinking down with her wings popping out. "And in this case, I agree with him."

Steve and Anakin could only roll their eyes as they trekked towards the large tree in the distance.

It had taken the regular sized people to climb the massive trunk, given what equipment they had on hand… or lack thereof. And with them high above the ground, the group stood atop of the large tree branches with the large separatist base off in the distance.

The lone Separatist Dropship stood in the center of the base with a reinforced Droid battalion now patrolling the areas.

"They really buffed themselves up." Scott murmured.

Steve eyed the base and from the side of eyesight he saw Anakin shudder and held a hand over his bandages.

"And here comes the welcome wagons." Skywalker commented, seeing the train of Droid tanks rolling out of the parked enemy ship.

"You sure you're recovered enough for this, Anakin?" Steve asked.

"... With all that? I think I could take on one… at a time."

"Hey look." Rex pointed forward at the front of the base. "What's that they're dragging out of the base?"

The droids and General Durd came out with one of the AAT tanks equipped with a particularly larger cannon.

"Looks like that artillery cannon you two mentioned is all ready to go." Anakin said to the couple in the group.

"Yeah, but we still don't know what it does." Scott pointed out.

Anakin in the meantime went back to looking through his scopes at the base and spotted what he was hoping to find.

"They've got a shuttle behind the dropship." Anakin said. "That's gonna be our ticket outta here."

"Not gonna be easy, General." Bly said. "They've really got all their blind spots and formations in check. And there's still that new cannon of theirs."

"Then we'll need to slip into their base tonight, take the ship and blow up the base along with that weapon of theirs."

"What does that thing even do?" Ahsoka asked.

"Only one way to find out." Wasp once again shrunk down and flew forward.

"Hope, wait up." Scott followed after her.

"Good luck out there, Hope. Scott."

"Roger that."

Over by the Separatist base, the plump Neimoidian surveyed his weapon being rolled out and stationed at a safe distance. With it mounted in place, Lok Durd pulled out his holo-communication device and made a call.

After several moments, the holographic image of Count Dooku appeared before the Trade Federation general.

"Count Dooku. My- oh, pardon me- Our new weapon is finally finished and ready for testing."

"It had better be worth the time and expense, Lok Durd."

"It will be, My lord." Lok Durd turned to speak to the assembled droid army down below at the ground.

"Then you may proceed."

"Of course." Waving his hand towards the cannon stationed down below, Lok Durd addressed to both the Sith Lord and the droid army. "Today, is a great day in the separatist alliance. This new weapon will bring about swift and decisive victories across all battlefields for the Confederacy. It is a tool that has the power to destroy organic matter down to a molecular level while droids shall be left unscathed."

What followed were all the B1 Battle droids cheerfully exclaiming victory and 'roger rogers' until...

"Now… I'll need several volunteers."

Suddenly, a large number of droids stepped back with two B-1 droids standing in place, unaware that they were chosen.

"Good, now I want you two to go into the field and stand there until further instructions."

"Wait, us?" the two droids looked behind them to see the rest of the B1's had stepped aside to make a path for them.

"Now go." Lok Durd encouraged. "For the glory of the Confederacy of Independent Systems."

The droid pair gave a hesitant 'Roger, Roger' before doing as they were commanded.

Close to the cannon, both Ant-Man and Wasp hovered nearby.

"Okay, front row seat to the action." Scott said as he eyed Hope's form, who seemed rather nervous. "Something wrong?"

"Hmmm?"

"You look a bit tense there, Hope."

"O-Oh, it's nothing to worry about Scotty." Hope reassured. "I'm fine."

Unsure of what to say, Scott had no choice but to drop this for the time being.

The Separatist cannon started whirling to life as orders were being barked out. The B-1 droids following their commands as everything was primed and ready.

"Is the Defoliator ready?" Lok Durd asked his ally who confirmed it. "Then fire!"

*KABOOM*

A large payload fired into the air and screeched across the vast distance. It eventually plummeted towards the earth as it eventually neared the center of the vast tall grass.

Both droids stood by and watched as the shell grew closer.

"Uh, should we take cover?"

"No, idiot. That's not even gonna hit us."

Upon impact, a blast soon went off with a napalm-like flame quickly spreading across the field. And it wasn't long before the impact struck the two battle droids as neither of them were remotely harmed at all.

The only thing that was-was the tall grass… and some unsuspecting animals as their ashes lied amongst the ground nearby the sentient machines.

Smiling towards himself, Lok Durd turned his attention back towards Dooku. "As you see, the weapon meets its designs. The landscaped is harmed, but not the droids."

"Impressive." Dooku admitted. "But I believe it would be better tested against living organisms."

Lok Durd chuckled. "That is exactly why this was the planet I had chosen to conduct its first official test. The inhabitants of this world are harmless and will serve as the perfect test subjects."

From their placements, Ant-man and the Wasps heads shot up in alarm at what they had just seen. The tanks devastation was terrifying. And they no doubt shared the same thoughts with their companions at the massive tree a safe distance away from the napalm-like blast.

Taking off into the air, the two insect-themed heroes went back to regroup to plan their upcoming attack on the Separatist base.

Off to the far end of the scorched earth, the Lurmen Wag Too had sent conveyed a message to be sent to his friend via the azure blue bird that accompanied him to the base.

Scene Cut

Night has fallen with only a handful of light sources being seen in the valley. And amongst the tall grass outside of the Separatist base, the Republic forces and present Avengers hid themselves away from the moving lights.

Their plan tonight was very simple: take out the Separatist's communications, procure the enemy shuttle and anything else they can get their hands on. And if they can even snag the CIS' new weapon, then it will be all the more sweater upon dismantling it.

Anakin, Steve, Bly and Rex remained crouched on the far left end of the base with Ahsoka and Aayla on the far right.

Up above, Wasp and Ant-man were their eyes in the sky keeping watch on the inside of the base. As much as they'd like to go there immediately and do some damage, they were needed in their current task as it was essential for things to run smoothly.

Though the only time they'll actually enter the base was if they were asked to shrink down anything for them to use later.

Soon enough, Aayla and Ahsoka began their approach to the base running around the lights used by the Droid base and making it to the wall of the base.

Anakin in the meantime used the Force to have a rock near one of the droids begin to move about erratically.

"Huh?" The droid looked down in time to see the rock zip away from him. "What's that?"

The other droids around him noticed their fellow clanker go after the rock that was zig zagging deeper into the tall grass where no light could be shined on.

Entering the grass, Steve quickly tripped the droid with Anakin igniting his lightsaber through the head.

Aayla and Ahsoka took the chance to scale up the wall, using their natural athleticism and Force enhanced jumps to get over and into the base.

Wasp and Ant-Man also descended on down and in rapid succession, smacked multiple droids off the upper levels of the base down to the ground.

Some of the droids took notice though it was too late as the entirety of the small strike force leapt into action.

The two shrunken Avengers knocked out the security lights while Steve popped out from his cover and threw his shield at the remaining droids on the ground.

The shield bashed in between multiple droids, knocking each and every one in rapid succession.

Bly and Rex each tackled droids and systematically tugged and ripped their heads off while Anakin simply sliced through them with his lightsaber.

Wasp, Ant-Man, Aayla and Ahsoka made quick work dispatching the remaining droids in the base with the other four joining them as Ahsoka had managed to get the door open.

"Guys… I'm not seeing the cannon or its ammo." Ahsoka reported.

"The separatists must've moved them onto another ship." Rex guessed as he clicked his tongue. "Now things will be much harder…"

"I know, but we'll need to do what we can now to hamper for what's to come." Steve spoke out before addressing the others. "Now we need to take the shuttle and whatever else that may be of use."

"And then blow up this joint?" Hope rhetorically questioned, pulling out several charges from her belt.

Seeing the nod from Captain America, the team quickly spread out and made their way across various points in the Separatist base and planted the bombs.

Even though the base was cleared of droids, they couldn't take the chance of any CIS forces arriving at a moment's notice. So neither of them took their time in their current task.

Aboard the shuttle, Anakin hotwired the ship with some assistance with Scott.

"Say… Anakin." Scott innocently said "After this is all said and done, is it alright if we get this ship for ourselves?"

Pausing momentarily, Anakin continued his work. "Why would you want a Sep ship? You know the Republic could just give you one."

"Yeah, but that would make use look like we're greedy." Scott stated. "But spoils of war?"

Skywalker was able to start up the engine before turning to his shrinking friend. "What's this about a collection you and Hope were talking about anyways? Neither of you actually gave any specifics."

Scott smiled and explained as they heard their group piling in with armfuls worth of shrunken boxes worth of enemy provisions and ammo.

As the explanation went on, Anakin's smile threatened to break his face in half before he released a hearty chuckle.

"Oh boy~ I can't wait to see how that'll look." He said, clearly loving the idea his friend had in store. "That'll no doubt help out down the line."

With everyone now onboard, Anakin got the ship off the ground and took off into the night sky.

As they were at a safe distance away, Hope was given the signal in flipping the switch-

*KABOOOOOOOM*

-causing a massive amounts of explosions being heard outside of the ship coming from what now remained of the enemy base.

"Make contact with Domino Squad." Anakin ordered Rex. "Tell them to get ready. We've got a battle to win."

Scene Cut

The Lurmen village were up and about this morning, though there was a clear tension in the air.

Wag Too had received word of the coming Separatist forces and was going about telling the rest of the villagers.

A task that was noticed by both his father and the other Clones stationed in secret around the village which made them reveal themselves much to the relief of Wag and the bitterness of the Chief.

To make matters worse for the leader of the Lurmen, a Separatist shuttle was seen coming straight for them with the Clones taking up positions around the ship as it landed.

Though they quickly lowered their guns upon seeing their Jedi commanders, Clone leaders, and The Avengers stepping out from the ship.

"Why have you returned?" The Chief angrily exclaimed. "I thought I made it clear that we do not want you hear in the village."

"Father…" Wag Too wanted to argue against his father but Aayla beat him to it.

"I'm sorry Chieftain, but we must be here." Aayla said straight away before raising her voice for the rest of the Lurmen to hear. "Everyone, please listen to us. We must get you all to safety now. The Separatists are coming to raze this village to the ground and your lives with it. You must all go immediately."

"We will not abandon our homes." Te Wa-Kaa stubbornly refused.

"But if you stay here, then you'll just fall."

"If it's to be our destiny to fall in your war, then so be it."

Nothing could be said with the chieftain's stubborn attitude now as he walked away.

Looking at each other, the Republic and Avenger entourage immediately mobilized to get the village properly defended with the upcoming assault.

Scene Cut

General Lok Durd was not in any way shape or form happy this morning.

He was having a pleasant sleep on board his ship when he got quite the rude awakening from his assistant; whom informed him of his base being blown up into smithereens. And this wasn't reported earlier due to communications being cut off in the middle of the night.

Because of this, the Neimoidian had to scramble his forces and make his way towards the Lurmen village.

In his mind, Lok Durd rationalized the peaceful colony was harboring something that was connecting to his base's demise.

With his new weapon aimed at the village, it was being rolled out beside him as he rode inside of the droid tank. Once it was within firing range, the Neimoidian will have it primed and ready before finishing off the test as a means of not only completing his mission but also having his revenge against the Lurmen.

"Ah, General."

"What is it?" Snapped Lok Durd.

"The villagers are making some sort of barrier with the pods."

Pulling out his binoculars, Lok Durd zoomed in and saw what was happening over yonder. "Oh please~ like those pods will do any proper defense against my weapon, less alone with you droids and my tanks."

His mood soured even further when he ended up seeing the pods being moved… on their own… without anyone remotely touching them.

Zooming closer, the Neimoidian saw the source of this odd mystery.

"JEDI! What are they doing here!?" Lok Durd then barked out an order. "Halt!"

Back at the village, Te Wa-Kaa was clearly upset upon seeing the larger people making a barricade with the giant seed pods.

"Stop what you are doing!" Yelled the chieftain. "I didn't ask you to defend us!"

"You don't need to." Steve plainly said, pushing a large pod with the aid of Hevy and Echo. "Echo, Hevy, do we have any mines?"

"Yes sir." Hevy nodded. "Managed to grab several from the ship before we left."

"Then you know what to do."

Nodding, Hevy looked to Echo and gestured his head in the direction of the front barrier of the village. Calling upon Fives and Cutup, Domino Squad ran out to quickly plant the mines.

Meanwhile, Aayla and Anakin were dealing with a still angry Chieftain.

"Sad to say, but this battle is inevitable." Anakin said apologetically.

"I can respect that you want to stay and rely on your just beliefs, but let us do the same with ours." Aayla simply stated, returning to moving more pods forward for the village defenses.

Te Wa-Kaa didn't say anything, only walking away once more with a grumble under his breath.

His son looked on in sadness as he spoke up. "I greatly appreciate what you're doing." He then sighed. "And as much as I want to help, I'm afraid I can't do much."

Curious, Ahsoka questioned the chieftain's son. "How so?"

"My father… is strong willed and set in tradition." Wa Too looked over at the Tortuga as he continued. "My people are split down the middle, most share the same beliefs as I do and the rest follow my father. I mean, we've been raised under a strict code and only recently have the majority of us started questioning it."

Anakin, who overheard these words, couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "You have no idea how much I know exactly what you're going through."

Ahsoka looked to her master in confusion whilst Aayla herself retained a stoic visage.

"Sad to say, but we've got to respect our beliefs… even if we don't really agree with it."

Steve had shoved one final pod into place and turned to see Bly and Rex beside him.

"Sir, what exactly is our plan here?" Bly spoke up. "The clankers have at least half a dozen tanks with one of them being that scorcher. Their numbers aren't exactly comforting either."

"Our main priority is defense of the village." Steve firmly stated. "The tanks will be dealt with when they get in range. For now, we should get into positions and get ready."

"Yes sir." Bly and Rex said, both moving to where they could get the best vantage point.

Bly spread out his three clone corps members with Domino Squad that had returned from their quick run out to prep the village defenses.

Situated on one of the giant seed pods, Rex spoke up. "The clankers are holding their positions."

"They're not going to hit us directly, not if they can fire from long range." Anakin stated as he and his fellow companions started getting ready. "But if we can stand both their weapons and their tanks, then we'll be able to draw them in."

*KABOOM*

"And not a moment too soon." Lucky muttered out as the group saw a streak soaring through the air. "Missile incoming!"

"Power the shields!" Yelled out the Skywalker.

And not a moment too soon as the Clones and Avengers finished setting up the shield generators. With a final button stroke, pillars of energy shot out from the devices and started forming a giant barrier around the village's vicinity.

Wasp and Ant-man stood with Aayla as the energy shield descended on down in front of them. As soon as the barriers edge hit the ground, the Defoliator round struck the dirt and unleashed its scorching capabilities.

It spread like wildfire that it was until coming to a stop at the energy shields that protected the village.

"Glad to see that works." Scott said in relief.

"But if they get close enough, the droids can easily bypass and stepped through the shields." Aayla grimly stated making Hope look at the Twi'lek Jedi.

"Wait, what?" Hope said in bewilderment. "How does that work?"

"Energy rounds are deflected against the barrier, but anything else is sadly fair game to move on through."

Scott contemplated this piece of info for a brief moment. "That…. Feels really counterproductive."

"You have no idea how much I agree with you, sir." Said Commander Bly who walked up next to his Jedi general.

"All preparations to the village are ready, general Secura." Bly announced.

"Okay, when the droids start coming through that barrier -which we no doubt will happen- we need to protect not just the generators but the Lurmen as well." Steve stated as he eyed his companions. "If the generators go down, then the Separatists will fire their weapon again and we'll be wiped out." The Super Soldier eyed Ant-Man and the Wasp. "Scott, Hope, I need you two to go sabotage their weapon as they'll least suspect you two."

"Ya got it, Cap."

"Of course, Steve."

The insect themed Avengers quickly shrunk down and made their way towards their target with a faint zooming hitting everyone's hearing.

"Everyone else, hold the line and protect both the generators and villagers."

"Sir, yes Sir!" Barked out various Clones while the Jedi nodded.

"They're starting their march." Rex said aloud.

"Get ready." Anakin ordered, igniting his lightsaber with Ahsoka and Aayla doing the same.

The Clones all had their weapons up with Steve standing alongside them with his signature shield in hand.

Stepping out of the protective shield barrier, Steve moved first and begun the battle with his trademark throw of his shield.

The nearest droids were struck hard by the Vibranium shield, heavily denting and decapitating many as it ricocheted off in rapid succession. Not wanting to lose track of it, Captain America charged forward, leapt into the air and used various droid heads as stepping stones in order to retrieve his trusty shield as it fell down towards the earth.

The Jedi and Clones were right behind him as they rushed forward.

Anakin utilized a Force pull, drawing in an unfortunate B1 into his saber that sliced it like a hot knife through butter.

Ahsoka instead opted to sprint forward, jumping into a spinning slash that took down two droids before deflecting several blaster bolts. Shifting her saber into a specific angle, Ahsoka sent the next shot sent her back to the sender, which in turn blasted the poor droids head off.

Aayla had worked in tandem with Bly and her Clone Troopers, being primarily their defense whilst they delivered the fire power.

It didn't take long until the first wave was clear out with relative ease as there was very little sent.

"That wasn't so tough." Breathed out the Tortuga Padawan.

"That was only the first wave." Anakin commented as the sounds of mechanical feet grew louder and louder with each passing moment.

"Be ready for the next one, people." Steve said as he picked up a droid blaster off the ground.

"Domino Squad." Anakin said aloud. "Front and center, right behind me."

"What of us, sir?" Asked Bly's subordinates.

"You three are gonna behind me." Steve said, holding up his shield and had the blaster poking out from its edge. "Whatever gets past us, you take care of."

"With pleasure."

"Rex, Bly, you two stay behind with us." Aayla ordered.

Getting into position, Steve looked over at Anakin and the Domino Squad.

"Hey, Hevy." Steve called out to him.

"Sir?"

"Ready with those planted charges?"

Hevy smirked underneath his helmet, pulling out the trigger from his belt. "Bomb's away."

Pressing the switch, a series of explosions went off in the middle of the droid battalion, causing quite the amount of chaos within the B-1's.

"WHAAAAA! What is happening?!"

"My head is on fire!"

Lok Durd who had witnessed all this growled in frustration and anger at the complete lack of progress made by his battalion.

Gritting his teeth, Durd looked to the rest of his remaining forces.

"Tanks! Open fire!" Durd shouted out.

Blast rounds shot out of the hovering tanks and soared through the air in hopes of defeating the opposing forces.

Steve was fighting through the next set of droids with Flash, Cameron and Lucky behind him gunning down any Droid that got too close to his blind spots.

Anakin was off to the side doing the same as the two units worked as a well-oiled machine.

Suddenly, Flash looked up to the sky at the sound of a strange whirring sound that was getting closer and closer from above.

"INCOMING SHELLS." Flash shouted out.

"GET BACK." Anakin yelled.

The two groups broke into a retreat and were getting closer to the barrier when Steve saw that one of the tank rounds were falling directly in the direction the clones in front of him.

Without hesitation, Steve felt his muscles tighten as sprinted forward in a burst of speed and with his shield shoved the three clones with enough force to get them back into the safety of the barrier.

Aayla and Ahsoka saw this and both their eyes widened at the tank shell falling straight down at Rogers.

"CAP!" both cried out in horror just as the Super Soldier raised his shield above his head.

The tank shell impacted the shield, a loud ringing explosion going off.

Smoke was thrown up for a brief few seconds until it cleared to reveal a relatively unscathed Captain America with mostly scorch and dirt marks overall on his form.

Both the Jedi and the Clone officers could only stare blankly at Cap casually wiping off some the marks on his shield.

"Whoa." Was all Rex said, echoing the sentiment shared between the four of them. "I did not know his shield could withstand that."

"You don't know the half of it." Steve commented as he briefly remembered Thor's mighty hammer bouncing off of this on several occasions.

"Gotta get me one of those." Bly murmured

"Good luck finding one." Steve said in good humor.

Zooming across the air, Wasp and Ant-man soon landed onto the Separatist's new weapon.

"Heh~ they don't suspect a thing." Scott muttered out as he and Hope slipped their way through the console's main paneling.

Once inside, the shrunk pair started pulling out wires and denting what they believed were major components to properly operate the cannon.

On the outside, Lok Durd's assistant started noticing the console's lights were starting to go out. Curious, he tried pressing some buttons for some sort of response, only for nothing to really happen. As he investigated further, he ended up getting electrocuted upon prying the console's panel out of its place; falling back and landing in an unconscious heap.

"What is going on?!" Lok Durd demanded, briefly seeing his assistant down on the ground with smoke coming off his body.

"And I believe that is our cue." Hope said, getting a nod from Scott before taking him out into the air. "Got the bomb set in place?"

"Just need to get a good distance before we can say bye-bye to it."

Hope pushed herself to go faster through the air in response.

Looking back, Scott counted down the seconds as he fingered the trigger to his planted bomb. And what felt like forever to him, he finally pressed down.

"And… boom~"

The tank next to Durds exploded spectacularly, rocking the general greatly.

"What was that?" Durd exclaimed panickingly.

"One of our tanks blew up." A Droid plainly stated.

"I know that." Durd said in anger. "What I'm asking is how?!"

It wasn't long before he saw something that quickly drained the blood from the general's face: his weapon sparking and erupting in flames.

"Oh poodoo-"

*KABOOM*

Durd was flung back, falling out from his tank and landing hard onto the ground.

And to add more injury to what just happened -quite literally- some of the napalm-like flames caught onto his arm; causing him to cry it utmost agony.

Shrieking about like a wounded child, Durd smacked his arm into the ground repeatedly in hopes of dousing the flames.

One of the surviving droids quickly ran over and started stomping on the flames to protect his master. As a result, the Neimoidians arm quickly fell and crumbled apart into ashes.

Lok Durd whimpered, clutching his new stump when….

"Ahem."

Opening his eyes carefully, Lok Durd saw Captain Rogers, Anakin Skywalker, Ant-man, Wasp, Aayla Secura, Ahsoka Tano, Bly and Rex standing over him.

"M-M-May I ask for m-mercy?"

All he got in response was a punch in the face, rendering him unconscious.

"Mercy given." Spat out one of Bly's subordinates.

Scene cut

The Clones were busy with Bly and Rex sending out messages to any Republic ships capable of picking up their signal whilst the rest simply stood to the side.

Hope and Scott had remained close together with the latter holding the former in an embrace as the two watched the endless plains of Maridun together.

Cap, Aayla, Anakin and Ahsoka in the meantime spoke on their current situation.

"All things considered." Anakin mused aloud. "This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"I'll say~" Spoke Rex as he eyed the villagers. "Practically no casualties. And to me, that is a good mark in my book."

"We all kept a calm and level head when it was most needed." Aayla said, giving a certain Padawan an appraising look making her giving the older Jedi a bashful smile.

"Wish all missions could be like this." Bly said, looking over to the clones that had thankfully not been killed in this whole ordeal.

"I share the sentiment, Bly." Aayla said, placing a hand upon her trusted Commanders shoulder.

"But we know that would be asking for too much." Bly somberly said.

"Hey, cheer up guys." Anakin said with a grin. "This is a rare moment where we didn't lose anyone. Let's enjoy it."

Their conversation was interrupted by Wag Too's approach to them, sporting a happy smile.

"Once again, we are utmost thankful for your help." Wag Too said to the nearby Jedi. "Many of my fellow villagers were ready to step in and assist you. Neither of us would be standing if it weren't for you." He then noticed his father walking towards them. "Oh, father. I was just giving the Jedi and their friends our thanks."

Releasing a small sigh under his breath, Te Wa-Kaa addressed them. "Perhaps it was good to have your help." He then heard sounds echoing in the air, prompting him and the others to look up. "But at what cost?"

"Well, looks like the cavalry finally here." Rex remarked, looking up to the skies.

High in the air, Three Venators were clear to see with Gunships already coming on down.

"Time to pile onboard the Quin-shuttle!" Ant-Man called out.

"Quin-shuttle?"

"We have Quinjets back home and this baby ain't no jet… so…"

"What's a Quinjet?" One of the clones asked.

"That's how we got around back home." Scott answered.

"Alright sweetie." Hope said, walking up the ramp. "And let's save twenty questions for later."

Bidding their goodbyes to the Lurmen, the Avengers, Jedi and Clones departed from the planet with higher spirits then when they had arrived.

Scene Cut

"HOPE!"

Hope Van Dyne, upon stepping onto the Hangar Bay of the Venator that belonged to Skywalker was met with the wonderful sight of Sam Wilson and James Rhodes rushing over with both men getting the chance to hug her.

"Damn, it's good to see another pair of friendly faces." Hope beamed, seeing Sam and Rhodey. "How've you been?"

"That's a question we should be asking you." Sam stated, looking up to his grinning friend. "Geez Cap, we get separated for two minutes and you go and find another one of us."

"You gotta learn how to keep up." Steve casually remarked.

"Don't you say it." Sam warned, though his joking smirk was easy to see.

In the midst of all this, Admiral Yularen had approached the newly rescued Republic forces and their Avenger allies.

"It is good to see you all in such high spirits." Yularen commented before addressing the bandages. "Hope you weren't too roughed up down there."

"Not entirely." Anakin walked alongside the admiral. "Anything we missed while we were gone?"

"Quite a few, actually." Yularen stated as he eyed both the present Jedi and Avengers. "I believe you lot should hear it for yourselves."

Curious, the newly returned and rescued group, primarily being the commanding officers and the Avengers followed Yularen up to the bridge of the ship where a holo-projection of Obi-wan, Yoda, Windu, Plo Koon, Palpatine, Padme and Jar Jar Binks awaited them.

"Ah, Master Jedi. Captain Rogers, it is truly a relief to see you are all back with us alive and well." Palpatine said with a pleasant smile.

"I see you've been busy Anakin." Obi-wan said, looking slightly frazzled along with Master Plo.

"Not as much as you, Obi-wan." Anakin shot back, quirking his brow. "What exactly happened to you? And Plo for that matter."

For the first time in a long time, Obi-wan actually looked a bit sheepish.

"Well… to make a long story short, Master Plo and I had to deal with a certain set of pirates who… somehow captured Dooku."

"WHAT?!" Was the response of the Jedi who were unaware of this.

"Indeed and unfortunately they had managed to subdue us with underhanded means as well." Plo added, though not as ashamedly as Kenobi did.

Anakin then saw his old masters face and… well he just couldn't help himself.

"At least Obi-wan is now a master… at getting caught."

The flat look that he had gotten from Obi-wan was all Anakin needed to burst out laughing.

"...What happened?" Seeing the look on Obi-wan's face, made him realize something… embarrassing occurred and he wasn't there to see it in person.

From the corner of her gaze, Padme noticed an odd person amongst the group over on Anakin's ship. "Oh~ And who might you be?"

Seeing all focus was placed on her, Hope stepped forward and addressed the holograms. "Hello, my name is Hope Van Dyne; codename the Wasp of the Avengers."

"Hmm~ another lost has been found." Yoda said with a pleased smile.

Hope only gave the green master a simple smile until she leaned back to the other Avengers.

"Why does she look like Jane Foster?" Hope asked in a low voice.

"We don't know." Rhodey deadpanned.

"And why does he look like Nick Fury?"

"Once again, we don't know."

"Doppelgangers, most likely." Scott simply said. "People say there's bound to be ones out there for each person. Just odd chances of running into them… Not counting the Clones, of course."

"But on a side note." Jane… I mean Padme spoke up with a triumphant smile. "Thanks to the efforts of Jedi Luminara, Commander Gree and Senator Binks, we've captured Viceroy Nute Gunray."

"Truly?" Palpatine displayed an expression of surprise as he shifted his gaze away from the newly retrieved Avenger. "Why this is wonderful news, senator Amidala!"

"With his capture, we could make further means of putting an end to this war." Windu said determinedly.

"You guys have certainly been busy." Anakin quipped.

"Which is why we would like your assistance in the prisoner transfer."

Ahsoka however, did not exactly want to see her master immediately go on yet another mission. "Masters, with all due respect, my master had just endured a great deal of physical stress. He still needs time to recover."

Padme took a better look at her secret husband and saw Ahsoka was right.

"Master Skywalker does look like he needs time to recover."

Kenobi nodded in agreement. "Indeed, you've done enough fighting for the time being, Anakin. I think you and the Avengers deserve a much needed respite after this whole ordeal."

"But what about Viceroy Gunray?" Windu brought up. "We need some assistance in transferring him to a secure location."

Unable to stop himself, Anakin placed a confident hand upon his pupils shoulder. "Ahsoka is more than ready to take my place."

That garnered surprised from the other Jedi.

"Anakin, are you certain of this?" Kenobi asked. Even Ahsoka was surprised.

"More than sure of it." Anakin declared. "If it weren't for her, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be alive right now."

Ahsoka gaped for a second before looking down at the ground with a shy smile at the praise she had gotten from her master.

"And if it isn't too much trouble." Steve began, "Maybe one of us could help out with this prison transfer."

And from her spot, Hope thought of possibly helping out before feeling Scott's hand slip into her grasp. Looking back, she could tell in his eyes that he didn't want to separate anytime soon. Getting the message of wanting to catch up, Hope kept down her voice.

Seeing as none of the others were willing to step up, Rhodey spoke. "I'm willing to help."

"Then it is decided." Palpatine said with his patented smile. "Ahsoka Tano and the Avenger, War Machine, will rendezvous with the prisoner transport."

And that's another one.

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