Let's keep this ball rolling and get down planet side.
Been having a blast with this one and we're only a short distance away from the tail end of season 1 as well as the gap in between.
Got a lot laid out within the upcoming seasons with so many insane things in store but in all honesty, let's just keep this show on the road and get down to nitty gritty of this war.
Also, keep up reviews in regards to the lightsaber forms that the Avengers, even Defenders could have. I love seeing how diverse the answers are and the few I have seen have been pretty awesome. So please, more reviews on lightsaber forms for the Avengers and other heroes soon to come(Within the MCU both movies, shows, Netflix ETC.)
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 16: Battle of Ryloth.
Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver was known to be a rash, hot-headed and impulsive man.
After gaining his powers via the Mind Stone, this only doubled down on his reckless tendencies making him a headache to deal with at times back at Avengers HQ.
However, where he was a headache to his friends, Pietro was a nightmare to his enemies.
"What was that?!"
"It's that blur again!"
"Quick, call in reinforc-GAH"
"Oh no, not-CRACK"
"Clones!"
Pietro skidded to a halt, overlooking the small droid base that he had just cleared out with the help of the surviving members of the 71st clone battalion.
Grinning at their latest victory, Pietro casually walked over to a droid head and picked it up to make funny noises out of them.
"Roger, roger." Pietro mocked, bouncing the head up and down. "How is it that these guys make up an army? All they do is complain and say the same thing over and over again."
"Easy for you to say, speedy." Sergeant Grit dryly stated. "How can they be a threat if they can't even touch you?"
Pietro only shrugged his shoulders, cocky smirk clear to see while casually tossing away the droid head.
"That takes care of this base then." Pietro said, hands on his shoulders. "But there wasn't that many to begin with."
"It was almost too easy." Grit said, walking over to terminal finding easy access to it. "What is a Separatist base even doing out here?"
"What do you mean?" Pietro asked, strolling over to the Clone sergeant and resting his arm on his shoulder.
Grit would normally shrug off the speedsters arm but he was currently looking over some of the data that didn't exactly make sense to him.
When he was looking over the purpose as to why the Seps invaded Ryloth. There were a plethora of reasons why this planet held such importance. It's strategic value being one point, with it being directly near the hyperspace lane that led directly to the core worlds of the Republic. And let's not forget the countless millennia where the Twi'leks of Ryloth has had the unfortunate reputation as being one of the most enslaved species across the galaxy.
Easy, disposable workforce labor for the Seps and slavers.
So that begs the questions right now, what were the Seps doing out here a village surrounded by dead trees. The place itself was abandoned with only several Twi'lek prisoners being a few families that fled to this location.
Apparently until up to a year ago, this abandoned village was very much populated with a sizeable population of Twi'leks.
But that's just it. It was populated.
And now it wasn't. Which in turn begged the question, why exactly are the Separatists here?
Looking over the many sectors, this location had no great significance to it. No strategic vantage point to launch an attack on an operating base. No distinct cover, be as it may be from having a forest surrounding the village. Too much open area in between the trees to begin with.
"Are we missing something here?" Sixer asked aloud. "I'm getting no data that can help us here with the clankers."
Pietro hummed in thought, taking a moment to look out the window of the makeshift base. There was nothing in front of them of note or significance other than the Twi'lek village.
However…
Squinting his eyes slightly, Pietro leaned forward to get a better look at…
"Hey guys." Pietro called out to the Clones in the base. "You see that?"
"See what?" Grit asked, standing beside Pietro.
"That." Pietro pointed above the roofs of the Twi'lek home and towards the forest. "There's something in those trees there. Something… I dunno, it looks blue."
Grit turned to the closest trooper. "Sixer."
Sixer wordlessly handed the sergeant a pair of scopes and Grit looked through them with Pietro giving him the exact spot to look.
"There, you see it now?"
"Yeah." Grit murmured, zooming in on the object. "What the heck is that supposed to be?"
"Wanna go check it out?" Pietro asked.
"Wouldn't that take to-WAAAAH!"
The Clones in the base only saw a blur of silver, blue and white run past them all.
"Huh." Sixer remarked. "Didn't know the Sarge could scream that loud."
"Doesn't that mean technically we all can?" A nearby clone asked.
"Don't tempt the idea, Royce." Sixer said. "Otherwise speedy will just go through with it for the laugh."
Said speedster stopped in the forest with Sergeant Grit immediately walking over to a tree and removing his helmet for some air.
"You alright there, Sergeant?" Pietro asked with teasing grin.
"Don't *COUGH* do that." Grit dry heaved, feeling the contents of his rations about to spill out.
Chortling to himself, Pietro looked up to their destination and frowned upon seeing just what it was.
Cautiously approaching the thing while leaving Grit to recover, Pietro walked over to what he could only describe to be some sort of organic mass.
"What the hell is this supposed to be?" Pietro asked himself finding the blue coloring of this mass a bit strange.
It almost looked like it should be alive.
"What the heck is this?"
Pietro looked back to Grit was more or less steady on his feet, giving a confused look at the mass before them.
"I don't know." Pietro said with a shrug. "Thought maybe you'd have an idea."
Grit only shook his head as he looked up, noticing how distinctly large this mass was.
"Never seen anything like this before." Grit said.
"Any idea on what it is?" Pietro asked, getting closer to it.
"Can't say I do I- Pietro, wait! Don't touch it, we don't even know what it is!"
Grit called out in vain as Pietro carefully placed his hand against the mass. It was a bit soft and malleable as he pressed his hand with a pit more strength against… whatever this was.
Pietro's face scrunched up in concentration as he focused on an unusual thumping noise. Almost like… no! It was a heartbeat. This thing was a living organism.
"So…"
Pietro looked back to Grit who was waiting on him with anticipation. "What is it?"
Pietro rolled his eyes. "Grit, all I did was put my hand on the damn thing. That doesn't answer… any…"
Grit was silent as Maximoffs face went from relaxed to intense suddenly before it flinched as he looked to his hand on the mass that slowly began to be sucked into the mass.
"I-I can't let go." Pietro said in a slightly higher tone, tugging his hand back only to be unable to do so. "My hand."
Grit was a bit privy to Pietro's knack for trouble making and fooling around, but…
"Hey, now's not the time to fool around."
"I can't let go." Pietro said with gritted teeth, now trying to pull his hand away.
Grit didn't hesitate in grabbing the Pietro's arm and began to pull along with the enhanced only to find his hand not budging.
"What the hell?!" Both Grit and Pietro were now trying to pull back with all their might as the speedsters arm was starting to sink deeper into the blue mass.
"Hang on Grit, let go." Pietro said, trying to shove the Clone sergeant off of him.
"What?"
"Just let go, I don't want you to feel this." Pietro stated more firmly this time when his arm began to vibrate at an intense frequency.
Grit felt the vibrations through his own body and started to feel numb as this was different then the usual whiplash of Pietro carrying him via sonic speeds.
Reluctantly stepping back, Grit watched as Pietro glared and concentrated on his powers. His arm began to become a complete blur and after a literal second, the Avenger burst his arm free and flew back landing on his backside.
"OWOWOWOWOWOW!" Pietro bellowed, massaging his blaring red appendage. "The fuck is that made of?!"
"You okay, speedy?"
"What does it look like?" Hissed the Avenger. "God it stings like a mother…"
Grit only warily looked back at the blue mass and noticed that Pietro's handprint was visible and glowing with blue veins pulsing and spreading from the handprint until it eventually died down.
"Yeah~ Let's step away from this and stay that way with a fifty mile pole."
"I hear that." Pietro said, giving an appreciative nod at the Sergeant's offered hand of help and was hefted back up. "And it's fifty foot pole, Grit."
"I think fifty miles is better suited for this situation, Maximoff." Grit said. "Probably should report this to the others."
"Let's get back then." Pietro said, shaking his numb arm.
"Once this place is returned to Twi'lek hands, don't want them to stumble upon this place on accident and something bad happens as a result."
"Think you should bomb this place to hell?
"Honestly? Wouldn't discard the idea." Grit admitted.
"Right." Pietro clenched and unclenched his hand several times, regaining proper feeling with the pain slowly fading.
Wrapping his arm around Grit, Pietro zipped off away from the pulsating blue mass until it subsided from activity entirely, being motionless and silent.
-Scene Cut-
The Republic fleet flew high and mighty over the skies of Ryloth with their forces preparing for their ground assault on the planet.
Landing would've been easier had it not been for the many stationed Anti-Aircraft guns scattered across strategic locations preventing them from landing their Acclamators. It didn't help that the Separatist also had a heavy contingent of Starfighters that harried their ships constantly.
So they had to devise a new plan.
During their brief meeting, their assignments were simple but undoubtedly difficult.
Aayla Secura would lead her 327th corps being supported by Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Wilson in taking out the Anti-aircraft guns of the city of Kritka while also rescuing the Twi'leks being used as a slave labor force to manage the makeshift base they had constructed.
For Master Kenobi, his current task is for him and his squadron -consisting Ghost Company and both Ant-man and the Wasp- to retake the city of Nabat. It would be only then will Republic forces have a good landing zone for their ground assault. Anywhere else at the current time has very low chances of that happening.
Mace Windu remained with the fleet with Anakin, Ahsoka and Rhodey leading the Starfighter squadrons in keeping the Confederate fighters from striking crippling blows to the fleets.
It would only be then once a lot of ground has been taken will Mace join them on the planet's surface.
Mace currently stood within the bridge of his ship at the holo table, addressing the two strike teams gathered to take down their targeted cities.
"Those guns are just gonna keep shredding through our ships." Mace said grimly as he had already seen several Acclamators get shot down. "Until then, we can't land any of our troops."
"We'll get it done, Master Windu." Aayla assured on her end. "We're approaching our landing zone now."
"Same on our end." Kenobi informed.
"Then I'll leave you all to it." Windu said with a nod. "The force be with you."
The transmission was cut off and Obi-wan looked to address his soldiers.
"Remember people, we're here to liberate the Twi'leks home; not destroy it." Reminded the Jedi General.
"Would not be great that once freed, their homes are totaled." Scott muttered out, checking his equipment for their current mission.
Obi-wan nodded before gesturing Cody to speak up.
"With this all happening, we'll be doing this the hard way." Spoke the clone commander. "Minimalist destruction with blasters and droid poppers only. Which means no rockets or bombs of any kind. And while out there, be careful if you come across any of the locals."
"Sir, Yes Sir!" The Clones said in response.
Several of the Clones of Ghost Company had distinct markings on their armor, sporting the orange accents that is now popular amongst the 212th battalion.
Two clones on the opposite end from Cody and Obi-wan had a brief conversation about the mission.
"Eh, we're here to rescue the Tail-heads." Boil, a clone with a bit of a scruff said to Waxer in irritation. "The least they could is to stay out of our way."
A dozen LAAT gunships flew through the air at full speed towards their designated city.
As they drew closer, Ghost Company heard a massive series of explosions filling the air. Peeking through the cracks, Scott and Hope saw many Republic ships being shot down from the sky.
From his wrist comm, Kenobi quickly answered it. "Kenobi, here."
"We're taking heavy fire up here." Came Windu's voice over the line. "Those guns have greater range than anticipated. We need you to take out them out now. We can't make any landings with them operational."
"Pull back the fleet, Windu." Obi-wan said, looking to his men. "You hear that? We're not getting any reinforcements until we take out those guns."
Scott gulped to himself, giving an appreciative glance at Hope who had noticed his nervousness and reached out to hold his hand. She too was just as nervous but right now, she needed to concentrate. The Avengers were here in force to liberate an oppressed planet and by god, they will get the job done.
With their transport speeding up on their decent, both Shrinking Avengers quickly equipped their helmets and readied themselves to bolt out in the open.
Obi-wan steeled his nerves, looking at the two Avengers out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you two ready for this?" Obi-wan asked softly, noticing the two holding hands.
"We'll get this done." Hope assured determinedly.
"Yeah." Scott played off his nervousness with a smile portraying bravado. "Cap trusted us with you so we got this."
The Jedi general nodded in understanding as he soon felt their transport shake upon their landing.
With the doors opening, each and every squadron member ran out and entered the forest for cover; proceeding forward with the next step of their mission.
Sadly, half of the Gunships were shot down so already they were at half their numbers but that didn't deter the Clone forces that made it to ground side.
Running through the forests, red blaster bolts began to rain down on them from up ahead with the droid battalion firing upon them.
"Really wish this forest was thicker." Ant-man spoke out to some nearby clones.
"Why's that?"
"Oh, I don't know." Scott then dodged incoming blaster fire. "Just a small thought for better cover, that's all I'm asking."
The various clones quickly ducked behind the tree trunks and returned fire.
In the meantime, Hope pulled out her blaster and assisted them in this current debacle of theirs. Her normal wrist blaster only had a short range. So her borrowed blaster had to make due for now.
Obi-wan ignited his lightsabers and quickly deflected a wave of bolts that were fired right at him.
Ant-man had already shrank down, jumping from tree branch to tree branch as he made his way towards the wall where the Droids stationed themselves upon.
Waxer and Boil managed to get in the closest at the edge of the forests exit, firing at the droids though finding it difficult as they were targeted by an MG nest.
"That bunker's gonna be a problem, general." Cody said, rushing up behind his two Clone troopers with Kenobi coming in from the side.
"Leave that to me." Obi-wan responded. "Bring in your men on my signal. Scott, where are you?"
Ant-man had by this point landed at the front of the bunker and with a well-timed explosion from a grenade thrown by the droids, rode upon a piece of rubble up to the top of the base.
The minute he jumped off the pebble, Ant-man fell and kicked a Droids neck bending it in sharp angle.
"Just entering the bunker, clearing up a way for you and the others." Scott said, leaping to the next droid and punching it right in the face.
"I appreciate that, Scott."
"No prob." Ant-man punched another droid before grabbing and battering it around at the other enemies. "Do hurry though. Getting a little cramped in here."
"We'll need to move in." Obi-wan said, looking over to Waxer and Boil. "You two wanted action? Follow me."
Waxer and Boil followed after their Jedi general on the left side while over on the right, Hope had shrunken down and flew up to the bunker in order to assist her boyfriend.
She had told the Clone nearby her to go in on her signal.
Flying up to one of the droids, the B1 noticed her.
"Hey look, a small humanoid life form."
"What are you talking about?"
"There." the droid pointed to Wasp. "This little flying-GURK."
Wasp delivered a flying kick to the droids head, denting and disabling it.
"Huh?" The other B1's panicked momentarily, what was that.
No sooner had the question been asked had they been taken out by the combined assault of Wasp and the Clone troopers using her distraction, shooting down a cluster of droids.
"Don't see what you're stressing over, Scott." Hope weaved through the B1's as she started damaging them at a fast rate. "I'm doing fine here."
"First off, you joined the little party late as I took most of the fun." Scott began, performing a judo throw on a Sep droid to collide against another. "And second, there were more droids in here in the confined space than I would've liked."
Meanwhile, Obi-wan led Waxer and Boil closer to the left wall of the bunker.
"Let's take them out." Kenobi said, the three utilizing a large crop of rocks as cover.
Waxer tossed a droid popper only for it to just miss the mark.
"I can't reach it from here."
"Try again." Kenobi instructed. "I'll give you some help."
Waxer pulled out another popper and threw it at the wall.
Obi-wan held out his hand and with the force gave the popper the needed boost to get over the wall and into the small MG nest of the droids, taking them out with an EMP burst.
A moment later, the other MG nest suffered the same fate.
Cody -seeing that both flanks were greatly weakened- was about to call on his troops to push their assault when suddenly, the defensive wall exploded violently. Many of the clones remained behind the cover of the tree as the debris and dust flew forward.
After a moment, they peaked out to see an AAT tank coming out of the hole made in the bunker wall with a large infantry of B1's and Super Battle droids.
"Supers!" A Clone yelled out.
"Watch those wrist rockets!" Cody shouted, diving down in time as several wrist rockets sailed over his head.
The Droid infantry began to fire upon the clones who tried to desperately regroup.
Obi-wan ignited his lightsaber and dashed forward with Waxer and boil running from behind to support him.
Deflecting several bolts back at their senders, Obi-wan slashed through two B1's at once before spinning his blade around to diagonally impale a Super that had ran past behind him.
The super stumbled until it was shot down by Waxer and Boil, the two now firing at the droid infantry.
"Cody." Kenobi called out to the Commander. "Fall back and regroup. We can't risk anymore casualties."
The AAT tank however whirled its cannon directly at Cody, the sound of a charging round getting ready to annihilate the Commander being heard.
Kenobi's eyes widened in fear, moving to save his first-in-command only for the droid to concentrate their fire on the Jedi.
Then, without warning, the AAT tank vanished.
The shooting stopped for the moment, with all the droids and clones looking to where the tank once was.
"Uh… where did the tank go?" One of the battle droids asked.
"Oh, right here."
The droids looked over and saw Ant-man tossing up and down something small at the palm of his hand.
"Want it back?"
"We already have one." Wasp added, revealing from her belt several shrunken vehicles one of them being an AAT tank.
"Uh." the droids looked at one another. "Yes."
"Then here ya go!"
Tossing the shrunk tank towards the droids, Scott then threw one of his size disks at it. The results were instant, enlarging the captured tank and having it crash onto the enemy forces. And with the Separatist tank flipped upside down upon landing, it was basically inoperable, especially with the tank barrel all bent out of shape from said landing.
The Clones were slack-jawed and bug-eyed beneath their helmets as they tried to wrap their minds around what they had just seen. Sure they witnessed the two's capabilities in shrinking and growing, using those powers to sow chaos and discord amongst small groups of droids.
But many had not seen anything like that.
"That's… something you don't see every day." Boil commented, trying to process what occurred.
"I had almost forgotten they could do that." Obi-wan murmured, just as surprised as his men were.
"Are you alright, Cody?" Wasp asked, going over to the Clone who simply sat on the ground staring at the tank.
"Uh… yes, I think I am." Cody said, a rare case of his professional stoicism being broken.
"Right." Wasp offered a hand which he accepted and was hefted up to his feet.
"Whelp, seems the wall's secure, Obi-wan." Scott spoke out as he surveyed the area.
"Indeed." Kenobi said airily, crossing his arms with one of his hands brushing his beard.
"What's our next course of action, sir?" Cody inquired. "Are we going for the guns?"
"That tank shows we need to know what they are planning and what the droids have in store for us." Kenobi mused. "Send your best men to scout ahead while the rest of the men recuperate."
"Will do sir." Cody said, looking to his soldiers. "Waxer, Boil, come with me."
"I guess we're the best." Boil said in slight surprise.
"What of us?" Hope inquired, gesturing towards herself and Scott.
"Given what I read on the reports on the Lurmen colony, you two would do well to scout further ahead."
"You go with them, Hope." Scott said. "I'll stay behind with Obi-wan in case we get any surprises."
-Scene Cut-
Concurrently while Obi-wan and Ghost Company began their assault on the city of Nabat, Aayla along with Steve and Sam flew down to the much more spacious plains surrounding their city of Kritka.
Due to the more open terrain, the LAAT gunships were subjected to being sitting ducks as they landed the troops onto the ground. Several were destroyed in an instant.
However, the plains also gave the Republic the advantage of landing AT-TE's along with their soldiers and AT-RT's for fast action mobility.
As they descended down to the battlefield, Sam and Steve were quiet and focused with their eyes conveying nothing.
Aayla had stood in front of them with Commander Bly by her side.
Around them was Jack-knife squadron composed of a few dozen Clones in their gunship as well as others flying down to the ground.
Among the Clones were three familiar ones Steve had worked with back on Maridun with Domino squad.
Flash, Cameron and Lucky.
The three Clones were no longer shinnies like he had met them just a few short days ago. Their armors were now colored the sandy-yellow accents of the 327th corps, with the trio sporting them proudly.
There was one thing however Cap noticed though he wasn't sure what it was.
On the right pauldron of Lucky, there was a star scratched on with a circle surrounding it. As a matter of fact, Cameron and Flash had the same star.
Passing it off as just them adding their own flare to their armor, Steve saw Aayla look back at him and the two locked eyes briefly.
It was short, but it was enough to convey between the two that they were both ready with Cap slightly nodding which Aayla returned.
Their silent exchange ended when their LAAT reached the ground.
Igniting her lightsaber, the gunship doors opened and she jumped out with Bly, Cap and the rest Jack-knife squadron with Falcon taking to the skies.
Immediately, Aayla had already deflected nearly a dozen blaster bolts as she saw the entrenched enemy ahead.
There were AAT tanks and spider-walkers that supported the ground defenses for the droids and STAPs zooming about in the air.
All around, many Clones stuck by the AT-TE's for cover as they were also their best firepower on the field.
Steve ran ahead and ducked beneath some rocks for cover with Bly, Aayla and a few clones of Jack-knife crouching down with him.
"We need to find a way to punch through one of their flanks." Cap said straight away. "Soften up one side and sweep through the rest."
"Those spider land tanks aren't gonna be easy to get around, Captain Rogers." Said Commander Bly, peeking out of cover to return fire to some droids that were encroaching upon their position.
"That's what we have these for." Cap pulled out some cylindrical grenades. "Smoke grenades. Sam will drop a few and we'll charge in on the right flank. That looks to be the most unguarded."
"Sounds like a plan." Aayla said, impressed with how quick of an idea Steve formed.
"We'll need covering fire, throw them off."
"I'll take care of that." Aayla said, holding up her wrist comms. "Bulk, you and your men concentrate fire on the right flank until you see smoke."
"Yes General."
A moment later, a few dozen clones along with two AT-TE's and several running AT-RT's all were firing upon the right side of the droids defenses. The Droids naturally returned fire but with such a concentrated wave of fire on their least reinforced side, they were quickly beginning to get shot down bit by bit.
More droids began filtering out of the city walls, moving to reinforce the right flank.
This was when Cap signaled Sam to drop the smoke cover while using his own.
A large cloud of hazy smoke burst out and covered a large portion of the empty gap between the Republic forces and Separatists.
"Jack-knife, move in." Commander Bly ordered with him running out of cover towards the smoke, Aayla and Steve leading the charge, at least thirty or so clones right behind them.
With his enhanced strength, Captain America began to sprint further ahead of Aayla through the hazy smoke until running out right in front of several B1 droids.
Moving on instinct, Steve raised his shield and put more strength into his run while tensing up his arms. Plowing through the droids with ease, Steve kept his shield up while Droids fired at him with their shots ricocheting off his shield.
There was a brief lull of droids not firing at him which Cap seized, rearing his arm back and flinging at full force at the droids in his path. It curved downward into the trenches that the droids were using as cover and soon began bouncing in between them, cutting through every droid.
The shield eventually hit an angled beam which made it bounce back toward Cap, just in time to as an AAT tank turned its cannon in his direction.
Just as it locked onto him, it was struck by several missiles from the side with on hitting the rotary axle of the cannon. The AAT tank slumped down and went up in a blaze of fire.
Steve looked back to see Aayla Secura sprinting towards the droids. She sung her blade horizontally several times to clear the first row of droids that stood before her and her corps rushing in to fire at the clankers, finishing off a Super with a graceful flip and downward saber strike.
Bly stood still and raised his rifle to fire upon the droids that were clearly taken off guard by such a vicious forward attack, directing his men to take the trenches to clean out and use as cover.
Up above, Falcon was flying with practiced ease but obvious concentration.
He was doing double duty in taking care of the STAPs the droids used while occasionally swooping down to the ground to assist the Clones that were about to get shot down.
Flying head on at an oncoming STAP, Falcon pivoted his body to spin rapidly in the air as the droid flying the STAP fired at him in hopes of shooting him down. Once he got close enough, Sam simply held his right wing out horizontally and let momentum and physical force do the rest of the work.
Thus far, their blitz upon Kritka was going well.
-Scene Cut-
It was an unpleasant feeling for Cody's group walking through the deserted city. Once blooming with life, only withering with nothing left to spare.
"Buildings are just buildings." Commander Cody began, remaining vigilant of his surroundings. "What really makes a city are the inhabitants living in it."
"Question is: where are they?" Questioned the Wasp.
Stopping at a crossroad-like intersection, Cody gave a command. "Alright, we'll need to split up." The Clone commander pointed towards himself and the clone beside him. "We'll go to the Courtyard." He then pointed towards Hope, Waxer and Boil. "You three check the South Sector. And be back by 0620."
"You got it." Came Hope's response as she followed her temporary partners.
Heading towards their destination, the Wasp kept her eyes out for anything out of the ordinary… from the ruined buildings and empty streets. Even picking up any sounds that'll warn them for enemy troops coming near.
Yet this was a little hard to do so with the two clones talking.
"This is quite unsettling, Boil." Waxer whispered. "You think they… killed all of them?"
"We would've seen their bodies if they did." Boil responded.
"Sadly true." Hope added in agreement. "They'll most likely kept somewhere else."
"Like where?"
"Labor camps, most likely." Hope kept looking around with her blaster ready. "If not, hiding."
"Driven out of their homes, they'd most likely-"
Suddenly, sliding of rocks echoed throughout the area. The small team went on alert, quickly holding up their weapons.
"You think it's the clankers?"
"Would've heard them a mile away with how they walk."
Being on guard now, the three kept moving forward, but at a more guarded formation.
Venturing further and further into the South Sector, the rustle of rocks became louder for them to hear. The group silently agreed to locate the source of it as they had no luck finding anything else on their recent task.
Coming across one alleyway, they hugged the outer walls. Hope was the one who held up her hand, signaling a countdown when they'll jump in and strike. The moment the last finger went down, the three quickly ran in with their blasters raised right at-
"A little girl?" Wasp said in surprise.
"What's she doing out here?" The source of the noise they were searching for was a small, Twi'lek child. The turquoise colored girl could not be older than six, seven at most; wearing rags and looked malnourished and frightened.
"What are we gonna do with her?" Waxer questioned, pulling back his blaster.
Boil waved his hands at this. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Who said we had to do anything?"
"Us and it's common courtesy in the current circumstances." Hope quickly answered, kneeling down towards the child's level. "Hey, we're not gonna hurt ya."
In response, the child quickly ducked behind a canister; still spooked from moments ago.
"We need to get going." Boil said, heading out of the alley. "We've got a mission to finish."
"We can't just leave her here." Waxer said, still with Hope.
"We can take her with us."
The two Clones whirled towards the Wasp with mixed reactions. Waxer seemed happy on hearing the suggestion while Boil felt peeved.
"You can't be serious, Ms. Van Dyne. She'll only slow us down."
"It's a price I'm willing to take, Boil."
Before any further response could be made, a particular sound filled the air. Whirling around, the three adults saw something float through the sector; which they realized was an enemy drone.
"Get to cover." Waxer whispered as they quickly ducked behind something for each of them. From a broken pillar, a wall to even a container.
They waited for several moments for the drone to pass on by before they peaked out and saw it was gone.
"That was a recon droid." Boil noted. "We gotta get moving, now."
"And we will." Hope said, still crouched down near the Twi'lek child in order to protect her. "But not without her."
As the Wasp came back around to get closer, the child backed away from her.
"She's scared of us."
"Probably because we look like droids to her."
Hope nodded, her helmet retracting to reveal her face to the girl.
"Hey there." Hope said, kneeling down to her level.
"We can't leave her here." Waxer said to his Clone brother. "Not with that Droid flying around. She'll get found and thrown in prison. Or worse."
Hope in the meantime had turned to the little girl, giving her a soft smile in order to convey to her that she didn't mean any harm.
"It's going to be ok, little one." Hope said kindly.
"Look the more time we spend here, the more time we lose on the mission." Boil argued pragmatically. "We're here to take the city and save the tail heads, right?
"Exactly." Hope said with a knowing grin, giving the Clone an expectant look as he soon realized what he had just said.
"Ugh, fine, she can come with us." Boil went right up to the Twi'lek child and crouched down to her.
"Hey, be careful."
"Relax, Waxer." Boil said lazily. "I don't think she's armed."
CHOMP
"Ow." Boil said, shaking his finger more in shock than in pain. "Little tail-head bit me!"
The "little tail-head" only went closer to Wasp.
"Stop, stop, you're scaring her Boil." Waxer admonished his brother whilst Hope chortled at the scene she had just seen.
"She probably thinks we're droids." Now Waxer kneeled down to eye level with the Twi'lek, removing his helmet. "See. Flesh and blood, just like you."
The young Twi'lek only looked between Hope, Waxer and Boil in trepidation moving away from them.
"She looks like she hasn't eaten in days." Hope said sadly.
"Yeah, those rags aren't that pretty to look at either." Waxer said.
Boil instead reached into his belt and pulled out a rations stick. "Uh, here."
Giving a thankful nod at his brother, Waxer held out the food for the girl who sniffed it tentatively before taking it and biting out a huge chunk of the stick.
Hope and Waxer smiled at her while Boil removed his own helmet, staring down at her with mixed emotions.
Finishing off the ration stick, the young Twi'lek eyed the three before pointing towards them.
"Nerra, Nerra, Numa."
"No, no, I'm Waxer. This is Boil and that's Hope… or Wasp."
"Nerra, Nerra, Numa." The young girl said with more finality, smiling at them.
"Ah, you made a friend, mission accomplished." Boil said sarcastically, placing his helmet back on. "Can we go now?"
Placing his own helmet back on, Waxer rose up and held out his hand for the girl.
She stared at him and then at Hope who gave her an encouraging nod.
"Come on kid." Waxer said.
"Look, she doesn't even want to go with us." Boil said somewhat impatiently. "The little monster was fine before we found her."
"Seriously Boil?" Wasp said dryly, standing up while patting down some dust from herself.
After some moments of hesitation, the young Twi'lek slowly held out her hand and grasped onto Waxers hand while also taking Wasps.
"Better keep handing more of those rations to her," Hope suggested. "Don't want her to fall over and pass out."
Boil didn't say anything as he kept pulling out his rations and handed them to the little girl as they kept moving forward.
-Scene Cut-
Zooming across the area, a recon droid picked up on some audio nearby. Searching for the source, the droid landed on a nearby roof and crawled towards the opening. Peering inside, it saw several clones conversing with Obi-wan Kenobi and the Ant-man along with a holo-communication towards Mace Windu. And between them all was a holographic layout of a particular area.
Seeing this, the droid started transmitting a live feed towards the droid commander where the cannons were being stationed.
"-which the cannons are stationed at these particular spots." Cody pointed out on the holo-map. "But there are complications. The captured Twi'leks are being kept there as living shields."
Obi-wan narrowed his eyes, not liking the variable presented to them. "The prisoners will make this difficult, but not impossible. I might have a plan to get them out of there."
The holographic form of Mace added in his thoughts. "Getting those villagers out of there needs to be our first priority."
It was at this moment did the recon drone adjusted it's lenses to zoom in closer and focused all of its audio towards the conversation down below. Any and all planning the Republic forces are about to make will become their undoing.
Yet before anything could proceed, a force knocked it out from its perch on the rooftop.
The noise startled the Jedi General and the few clones down below. Looking up, they saw Scott quickly grow to his normal size before snagging onto a Separatist recon droid.
"Thought you could ease in on us, huh?" Scott struggled out, holding onto the flying droid. "Well you thought wrong."
Seeing the Ant-man needing some help, Commander Cody quickly drew his blaster and carefully shot at the droid which tried to escape. After a few well-placed shots, the droid ceased moving within Scott's embrace.
"...Be glad you had a good shot or else I'd be haunting your ass."
Tossing the droid away, the Republic forces became weary as they decided they need to act on whatever Obi-wan has planned immediately.
-Scene Cut-
Waxer and Hope continued to walk through the abandoned city with Boil lagging behind. Between the two was the Twi'lek child who held Waxer and Hopes hands tightly as she kept looking around nervously.
"What do you think happened to her family?' Waxer asked, looking down at her.
"Probably dead." Boil said plainly. "Though, hopeful she'll survive this mess."
"Then what happens to her?" Waxer asked in concern. "After we leave?"
"I don't know. I- wait, don't get any ideas Waxer." Boil said blithely. "We're not taking her with us if that's what you think will happen."
"Ah, you hear that little one." Hope said in a joking tone. "If anything happens, you'll at least have uncle Waxer here to take care of you."
Boil rolled his eyes, staring blandly up at the sky trying to figure out how he had gotten into this situation.
Suddenly, the young girl perked up. Letting go of Waxer and Hopes hands, she stepped forward to look around before turning to Waxer and grabbing his hand again.
"Nera! Nera!" She exclaimed, tugging on his hand while pointing ahead.
She then let go and ran forward, stopping for a moment to turn back to them and waited for them to follow after.
"Don't wander off." Wasp said when the little girl ran ahead. "Hey wait!"
"Don't go there." Waxer called out to her. "That's where the Recon droid went."
"Waxer, Hope, just let her go." Boil said.
"Boil, we can't just let the droids get her." Wasp admonished with a small glare with her and Waxer running after her.
"I'm just trying to keep the two of you alive." Boil said in annoyance, quickly jogging to keep up. "Don't know why though."
The young Twi'lek girl sprinted ahead of the three adults.
"She's fast." Waxer remarked.
"Where is she even going?"
Passing through small canyon passage way, they saw her run around a corner and disappear.
"No, wait!" Waxer said in concern.
Running around the corner, Waxer and Hope saw the young girl standing alone in the center of a courtyard.
"Hey." Waxer said, a bit out of breath. He patted her head in relief. "There you are."
"Don't go running off like that." Hope criticized, concern etched on her face. The little Twi'lek only looked down to the ground in sorrow.
Boil caught up with the two.
"Good, you found her. You know I have binders if ya need 'em."
Waxer and Hope stared at Boil for his comment.
"What?"
Sniffling, the Twi'lek child reached out to grab Waxers hand again and gestured for him to come in to the house ahead of them.
"What are we even doing here?" Boil asked irritably. "We're way off our course."
"Boil, have some consideration for her." Hope said, hands on her hips in a disapproving manner. "We're here to help the Twi'leks."
"Yeah, all of them, not just this one girl."
"But she counts as them." Hope countered. "So she's part of the mission."
Boil grumbled under his breath as he did have to concede that Hope did have a point there.
The little Twi'lek opened the doors to the house, walking slowly with slumped shoulders.
Following inside, the three adults got a good look of the place. Seeing the expression on the child's face spoke a thousand words; especially with tears starting to form.
"This was her home." Waxer realized.
"She thought her family might've been here." Boil added in.
"Poor little thing. She lost it all."
Hope soon noticed something not far away from her. Crouching down, the Wasp saw it was a little toy. It was a little roughed up, but was in decent condition.
"Not everything." Hope muttered out, picking up the toy and handing it towards the Twi'lek child.
Seeing the doll, the girl grabbed it with a cry and held it close.
Waxers face fell with Hope wrapping an arm around the young ones shoulders.
"There there. Everything's gonna get better. You'll see."
"We're here to help." Waxer assured.
She surprised him when she then hugged him. Hope gave the Clone a sad smile while he simply hugged her back, gently patting her head.
At this point, even Boil couldn't help but walk over.
"Don't cry kid." Boil said softly. "We'll… We'll keep you safe. I-I promise."
The tender moment soon came to an abrupt end when their wrist comms started beeping in rapid succession.
"It's the commander." Boil spoke up.
"How do we explain this one?" Waxer murmured.
"We'll just tell them the truth." Wasp said plainly. "Really no way around it."
"And how will we make it back towards the others in time?" Boil inquired. "In case you haven't noticed, we're nowhere remotely close towards the rendezvous point. We're gonna be polishing R2 units for this."
"Come on, we can easily explain this."
"Oh really? How?"
"Droids are nearby. So they're just jamming our signals."
Boil only shook his head. "Fine it'll be worth a-
Before they could respond to the comms however, there was a soft thumping heard outside making all present tense up. Wasp stood up, her helmet quickly snapping on with Waxer and Boil silently moving over to their discarded helmets and putting them back on.
As this happened, the little Twi'lek was the first to move to inspect the source. Upon laying her eyes on it, she froze in her place.
"Gutkurr." She said in fear. "Gutkurr."
"Er…" Boil looked to Wasp and Waxer. "What's a Gutkurr?"
They soon heard a loud hissing noise and the trio of adults ran to the Twi'lek and saw what was outside. And seeing a large bipedal heavily armored insectoid certainly wasn't what they had expected.
"Oh… that's a Gutkurr…"
"I think I know why the kid never came back home." Boil griped. "This is why we never disobey orders."
"Boil, can you stop complaining for a few seconds?"
-Scene Cut-
Obi-wan and Commander Cody walked through the abandoned city with Scott shrunken down, flying above them on his Ant steed he's named Ullysus Gr-Ant the fifth.
"Where are they?" Cody said, looking around.
"It isn't like Waxer and Boil to not respond for so long." Obi-wan said in clear concern, looking up. "Scott, any word from Hope?"
"Nothing, Obi." Scott said a bit worriedly.
He knew that Hope was more than capable of taking care of herself; but right now they were on an alien planet swarming with robots that want to kill them.
Scott's train of thought came to an abrupt halt when he heard loud noises coming their way. It wasn't the normal clanking sounds of a droid battalion. This sounded more… organic… and in large numbers.
Obi-wan froze, holding up his hand to signal the rest of the men to do the same.
Narrowing his eyes, Obi-wan felt a warning coming from the force followed by light tremors which only grew in scale and noise.
"What is that?" Sergeant Wooly asked as the rest of the company began to notice the tremors.
"Whatever it is." Another Clone said, raising his gun up. "It doesn't sound friendly."
"Guys!" Scott bellowed out from above. "Something's coming!"
"Get against the walls and in the alleyways." Cody ordered. "Stay low and don't scatter."
The company quickly got into position as the trembling ground got closer until they all felt their own armor rattle.
This went on for what felt a lot longer than it seemed in the small amount of time it took for the source of the rumbling ground to arrive.
The creatures were large and bipedal looking between a mix of reptilian and insectoid features. Their legs were similar to that of jointed reptiles yet their hard shells, spiny carapace and sharp-mandible heads were distinctly insectoid in nature.
Their eyes were red and pissed off beyond imagination.
And they were apparently working as they spotted a few clones that were leaning against the wall in order to avoid their running rampage.
The new arrivals roared and hissed at Ghost Company, charging at them and started their assault. Blaster fire went towards the creatures in hopes of fending them off. Yet a good number of troopers were heavily hurt in the process.
Obi-wan grit his teeth and threw his hands up, calling upon the Force, the Jedi Master reached out to their rather instinctive based minds and took control of the beasts and guided them away from his company.
Once ensnaring them, Kenobi slowly backed away and headed towards a closed off alleyway.
One of the clones quickly drew up his blaster and was about to fire when Cody halted his action.
"Don't." Warned the clone commander. "Let him do his thing."
Walking deeper and deeper into the alleyway, Obi-wan saw the last of these bi-pedal creatures enter the space. Looking up, a thought quickly crossed his mind.
Once his back hit the wall, he called out to Cody.
"SHOOT THE BRIDGE!"
"You heard him, boys!"
Ghost company quickly aimed their blasters high and released a volley of blaster fire onto the rock bridge up above. The structure started to crumble, causing Obi-wan to release his hold on the rampaging beasts.
In an instant, they went nuts, trying to attack Obi-wan for what he did to them. Yet he evaded them as he jumped onto one of them and started leaping onto others before diving out of the way out of the alleyway; which quickly closed off.
As soon as he landed next to Cody, the two shared a nod when they heard another noise with Kenobi lighting up his lightsaber.
The company aimed their guns at a pothole that rattled about.
The manhole cover quickly moved out of the way, making way for familiar faces to Ghost company.
"Waxer, Boil, where have you two slackers been?" Cody said slightly admonishing.
"We've got a reasonable excuse."
"We were… sidetracked, sir."
Behind the two came Hope and with her, a young Twi-lek child she pulled out with her from the pothole.
"I didn't know we were adopting, Hope." Scott said faux seriousness, making Hope give him a slightly withering look. "Too soon?"
"We have Cassie, Scott." Hope stated. "Let's wait until getting home for that."
"Ah~ I can see you three have been busy." Obi-wan said, kneeling down and gently spoke to the child in her native language. And by the looks of things, the Twi'lek child soon relaxed as communication barriers were broken down.
"This little one knew her way around the tunnels, sir." Waxer reported to his clone commander.
Ending the conversation with the young Twi'lek, Obi-wan addressed the rest of Ghost company. "She can help lead us through the tunnels to where the rest of her people are located." The Jedi master then looked at his clones. "We will need a distraction, though, as a blockade of droids is along the way."
"Getting past the Droid garrison won't be easy, sir." Cody reminded. "They have several tanks stationed at the entrance to the village."
"Oh." Scott perked up excitedly. "I've got a distraction. We both do actually, right Hope?"
"You can leave that to us." Hope said confidently. "We've been wanting to test out our work from Earth that my father taught us."
"If you don't mind, sir." Waxer spoke, getting Obi-wan and Cody's attention. "But I'd like to volunteer in helping Hope and Scott out in this."
"Me too." Boil jumped in.
"Well, the thing is it's not really a sneak around distraction." Scott stated.
"Wait-What?" Waxer said.
"Yeah, if anything, you two will stick with me, Waxer." Hope added. "Scott's gonna be the one providing the distraction. Most likely, you two will be our support if anything happens."
"Alright then." Obi-wan said. "What is it you have in mind?"
-Scene cut-
Within a corridor of empty prison cells, a lone droid was kneeling down on the ground with a sponge in hand as he diligently scrubbed the floors of the Gutkurr's holding cells.
"Yeup… this is about the worst job in the droid army."
The droid then heard a humming sound which was followed by burning slashes. The droid looked over to see Obi-wan Kenobi standing there with a Twi'lek child in his arm and a woman in an odd uniform. Behind them were two clone troopers that jogged by.
"And it just went into overtime." It said depressed.
Obi-wan used the Force to trigger a switch on a nearby panel, closing and trapping the droid who soon began slumping his shoulder dejectedly.
Holding up his wrist communicator, he spoke. "Obi-wan here. Is everyone in position?"
After a few moments, Commander Cody was the first to respond. "My party's ready, general."
"So is mine." Scott called in next.
"Let's get this started, then. On your signal, Scott."
Scott rubbed his hands together excitedly before pressing down on a command on his wrist piece.
In front of Scott and his assigned group from Ghost Company, a full-sized AT-TE grew before them making a few clones jump back in surprise.
"So who wants shotgun and who wants the turret?"
"Unbelievable." Sergeant Wooly murmured in disbelief, running to get into the main cockpit.
"Oh and don't worry." Ant-Man then placed three TX-130 tanks on the ground and quickly grew them back to normal size. "I've got another spare and one of those scout walker thingies."
With great enthusiasm, various clones quickly got to the tanks, getting things ready for the upcoming assault on the droid battalion.
Everyone was in position now and with Scott overhead with a swarm of ants in the sky, he overlooked the area.
"Alright, boys. Fire when ready."
The moment passed with tank rounds were heard across the canyon. Droids in the surrounding area were startled with what just occurred. Especially with several Sepratist driven tanks were starting to get demolished leading up to the prisoner encampment.
"Sir!" A B1 droid ran over to the tactician droid in charge of this battalion. "Republic Clones attacking with tanks!"
"What?" The tactical droid responded. "How is that possible? The chance of the Republic having tanks here are 3,004,890 to 1.
"I-I don't know!"
Before the tactical droid could start processing and accessing the given information, sounds of fighting were heard behind him. Turning around, he saw clone troopers starting their assault at their location.
"Get the prisoners out here." The Tactical Droid commanded. "Get the scout garrison back here, immediately."
"We're trying, but they're either not responding or too busy with what's happening at their location."
The droids began to fire back at the Clones yet they were getting shot down rapidly as the surprise appearance of tanks and Clones rushing at them caught them off guard.
With the Jedi Master, Obi-wan quickly decapitated the last of the droids guarding the prisoners with Hope, Waxer and Boil quickly checking their surroundings for any enemy reinforcements coming their way. And it wasn't all that long for droids falling back to stop the Republic forces in freeing the prisoners. This caused Hope and the two clone troopers to open fire upon them.
With their native language, Obi-wan guided the Twi'leks to safety using the underground tunnel they had come from as their passage way.
As he looked on to see them safely entering the tunnels, Kenobi saw one male Twi'lek quickly embracing the younger child who helped lead them to this location. As it turned out, the child has finally reunited with her father while the whereabouts of her mother is presently unknown.
Cody fired at a B1, getting it in the head when he ducked to avoid a blaster bolts in time. With a spinning swing, Cody knocked aside the droid to the ground and finish it off with a shot to the chest. Looking up, Cody saw the Anti-aircraft guns that originally hindered the Republic ships from landing.
"Sergeant Wooly, concentrate your fire on those guns." Cody ordered the Sergeant who was guiding the AT-TE.
"Copy that sir."
Positioning the tank around, Wooly got the main gun in the sights of the AA guns.
"Open fire." Wooly ordered the trooper manning the main cannon.
The Clone fired and got a direct hit on one of the droids AA guns.
Suddenly, one of the TX tanks beside the AT-TE exploded in a large fire with some of the nearby clones getting caught in the fire.
"What the Kriff was that?!" One of the clones yelled aloud.
"Droid Reinforcements!" Wooly shouted, spotting a large contingent of droids coming in being backed by an AAT from the right hand side.
"Droidekas!"
A small group of Droidekas rolled forwards before unfurling out from their ball forms and stood up, shields expanding out.
"Get to cover!" Cody ordered, getting behind one of the AT-TE legs.
Kenobi saw what was happening and wished to go and help yet when he saw the AA guns beginning to change their positioning to take aim at the remaining tanks, he knew that he needed to act fast.
"Waxer, Boil, come with me." Obi-wan ordered with his lightsaber ignited. "We need to take care of those cannons."
"We're with you, sir." Boil responded before looking at the Wasp.
"Go, I'll cover you." Hope called out, quickly shrinking and zooming across the area to attack incoming B1's and Super droids.
Coming in close, the Wasp landed on a Super's arm and grabbed hold onto it's arm. Using her strength, she was able to flip it over and harshly land onto one of its robotic companions. Quickly growing to normal size, Hope used her wrist blasters to shoot into the close opposition before shrinking once more to avoid enemy fire.
From overhead, Scott was quickly giving out warnings on where various droids were moving about in order to avoid surprise attacks from the clones' blind sides. Hovering over the area where the AA guns were located, Ant-man saw the number of droids Hope was facing and decided to go down there and assist her.
Flying down, he radioed in the clone sergeant and commander. "Hey, I'm bailing out. Our friends at the AA guns need more help."
"We can handle it here, Scott." Cody spoke out, avoiding droid blaster fire from a rocky ledge.
"You've given us all the help we can ask for." Wooly chimed in next.
Scott nodded, leaping down from his Ant steed, landing on a B1 droid. The droid jolted from the small human landing on it when its arm angled sharply from a barely visible force followed by its head being punted off.
Wasp flew around several droids, constantly zapping them with her stingers.
After getting in a good few hits that immobilized them, she systematically kicked and punched the droids apart until they were scrap metal.
Growing to full height she turned to shoot down a droid behind her when Scott grew to full size, kicking its head off.
"I had that." Hope said good naturedly.
"I know." Scott said. "But what's wrong with a boyfriend being chivalrous to his girlfriend."
Hope only shook her head, amused by her lovers antics.
"Hope." Scott said, looking past her to see Supers running at them.
Grasping her hand, Scott heaved and gave Hope an extra boost in the throw, zooming her straight to a few Supers. With her new momentum, the Wasp swung around and delivered spinning roundhouse kick, knocking the heavy built droid back quite a distance with part of its body caved in.
With Kenobi, he and the two clone troopers were starting to relieve a few AA guns of their assigned droids. Slicing and blasting through them before any of the weapons started firing at the Republic forces. Once that was done, Obi-wan quickly jumped onto the recently taken gun and started fiddling with the controls. Seeing this, Waxer and Boil heaved and lifted up a big cannon shell before loading it into the confiscated weapon.
Seeing AA gun primed and ready, Obi-wan fired at the farthest occupied weapon. The results were instant with the enemy force destroyed in a blaze of scrap heap. With one of the AA guns destroyed, Waxer and Boil did their best to quickly load up the weapon so Obi-wan can quickly fire upon the last of them.
Cody was fighting on two different fronts as the droids from the right side were much more numerous than anticipated while the droids that held the city and Twi'leks were reduced by half.
His company had suffered a dozen dead with the numbers growing as the droids pressed on.
The Commander was thankful for Scott and Hope in providing them the tanks for extra firepower and cover. How they accomplished this astonishing feat of shrinking tanks down was nothing short of amazing but he hated the fact that already two of the TX tanks were destroyed with only their AT-TE left and one more TX-130.
Moving out from his cover, Cody quickly shot down several B1s before going back behind the walker leg he was using as cover. The other Clones utilized the downed tanks, AT-TE's legs and rocky outcroppings as cover from the droids that kept marching towards them.
Pulling out a pair of droid poppers, Cody primed them and tossed them in between the front two rows of the closest droids.
After several seconds of charging, the EMP burst disabled a large group of droids.
"Press forward." Cody commanded. "Pick your shots."
Ghost Company ran out from their cover positions, quickly going on the offensive as they gained some ground on the Droid reinforcements when suddenly a very peculiar sight from the far back of the droid line caught their attention.
B1's were being flung high into the air with many of them in parts and then they saw the centerpiece of a Super being thrown towards the canyon walls.
"...What was that?"
"I don't know-"
"What the-"
"AAAAH!"
"FOR THE REPUBLIC!"
From above came a humanoid weilding a blue lightsaber as he jumped down and began slashing at the droids left and right.
"Is that… General Di?" Wooley muttered out with widened eyes.
"Go, Go, GO!"
Cody looked up and saw the welcoming sight of Clone Troopers and armed Twi'leks using ropes to rappel down the cliffside on both ends and fire at the droids.
"Now we're talkin!"
Whatever action the newly invigorated Ghost company was about to deploy was quickly halted in their tracks at a bluish silver blur which ran past them, leaving a wake of destroyed droids in its path.
"..."
"What the hell was that?"
Their answer came in the form of a young man who skidded to a halt in front of them while slamming down a Droideka hard. Wiping a bead sweat from his brow, the silver haired newcomer looked up to the 212th battalion and grinned wryly.
"Heh~ Sorry we're late folks." Spoke the new arrival. "Not easy running through enemy occupied territory. Well… not for everyone else really. I mean I can quite eas-"
"PIETRO?! IS THAT YOU?!"
Whirling around, Quicksilver was met with a humanoid missile that quickly grew in a span of a second. Once coming into contact, Pietro was met with a strong, embracing hug that almost knocked the enhanced human off his feet. Realizing who assaulted him, the Sakovian let out a bark of laughter.
"Scott? Scott!" Pietro cried out in elation, hugging the ex-con tightly back. "I can't believe it. You're here too?!"
"Pietro!"
Pietro looked up to see Hope appear before him with his already wide grinning nearly splitting his face.
"Hope!" She joined in on the group hug. "Holy shit, you're here too?!"
"Oh man Pietro, you have no idea what's been going on." Scott said, stepping back from the speedster with a beaming smile.
"Uhhhh~ I hate to spoil this… reunion of yours." Cody spoke out, making the three Avengers to look at him. "But we're still in a firefight right now."
"Well not for much longer."
Quicksilver grinned, cracking his neck and dashing off at full speed.
Commander Cody stared at the trail of blue energy before looking back to Scott and Hope.
"Is there any power or ability your team can't do?" Cody couldn't help but ask. "Be honest cause you guys shrinking and growing was enough."
Both insect themed Avengers merely chuckled as they watched Pietro zoom across the battlefield, assisting both the 71st legion, Cham's freedom fighters and Ghost Company with what was left of the Sepratist forces.
"Wait till we find Wanda and Vision." Scott said. "Those two are probably the strongest on our team."
Cody only shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around what he had just witnessed. The Jedi's capabilities were crazy enough as it is and then came the Avengers and they just reminded him that this wasn't the strength of the full team at the present time.
"I feel a growing headache coming along..."
"Come on Cody, let's get this mission done so we can get you some Motrin."
"What's Motrin?"
"...Never mind."
The battle went on for less than five minutes up to that point.
With the combined forces of all the Jedi, Clones, Avengers and Freedom Fighters the droids were all destroyed and scrapped. Things were starting to settle down with many being treated for both their wounds and hunger for clones and Twi'leks respectively.
And not far from the main group lied the now freed prisoners as they held up the dismembered pieces of the tactical droid which held them all in captivity. This went on as Republic ships soared overhead, making their descent towards the newly made landing zone.
"Di." Obi-wan said in relief. "I can barely describe how good it is to see you and your men alive and well."
"The feeling is mutual, Kenobi." Di said graciously as both Jedi Masters clasped the other's arms. "When we heard and then saw the Republic fleet in the air, we at long last knew the time was right for an all out offensive."
"Apologies, my friend, that it took so long." Kenobi said humbly, breaking the connection. "Aside from the war, the Republic has been quite busy with other more serious matters."
Obi-wan finished the statement by looking over to an ecstatic trio of Wasp, Ant-Man and Quicksilver all conversing with one another.
"Those are other Avengers, yes?" Di inquired, earning a surprised look from Kenobi. "Pietro has told me about this team that he's a part of."
"Indeed they are." Kenobi confirmed. "Captain Rogers is certainly going to be thrilled to see another of his comrades alive and well. And apparently he has been just as busy as they have, helping the Republic in our time of need."
"If they are all anything like Maximoff, I am certain we will get along grandly."
-Scene Cut-
As to what Kenobi expected, he looked on to see Steve embracing Pietro with Anakin and Ahsoka looking on. And it wasn't long after Rogers broke the hug did Sam and Rhodey greet their wayward companion after so long.
They had returned with their missions accomplished, accompanied by Anakin and Aayla.
"So." His former Padawan stood with him along with Mace Windu who had at long last joined them on the planets' surface. "That's Quicksilver?"
"I am surprised you memorized all the missing Avengers."
Anakin shrugged. "I've talked with Steve sometimes. He's told me about most of his team."
Tilting his head over, Pietro whispered to Sam's ear. "How the hell is Fury here? And with both eyes?"
"Doppelgangers." Came the simple response.
The Sakovian nodded in quick realization, knowing the concept before Fury's doppelganger approached them.
"Good to see that another one of your team has returned to you."
"Indeed it has, Mace." Said the Avenger leader.
"Sooo~ you're not Nick Fury." Pietro mused aloud, squinting at the Jedi Master.
Quirking a brow, he looked to Steve who only shrugged. "When I tell you you look astonishingly like someone we know, we're not lying."
"Right~" Mace nodded slowly. "Tell me, where is Cham Syndulla? I would like to speak with him on how to proceed with Ryloth's liberation."
"He's back at the resistance stronghold." Came Pietro's response. "Even though he wanted to help lead this recent assault, he was more needed back there."
"Can you contact him?" Windu asked. "I believe his help is needed if we are to finally free this planet and retake Lessu."
"Ask Didi." Pietro said, nodding his head at said General who was approaching them with Captain Keeli by his side.
"Didi?"
"His nickname for me." Di said with a small smirk. "Master Windu, it's good to see once more."
"He has some bits of humor to throw around." Keeli commented with a wry grin.
Off to the side, Hope, Waxer and Boil were bidding their farewells to little Numa -which was the little Twi'lek's name- who gave Hope a hug before looking to Waxer who kneeled down to her.
"See you later little one." Waxer said happily, rubbing her head affectionately.
She smiled up at him when Boil cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Hey Numa." He said softly. "Stay out of trouble."
Numa responded by hugging his leg, which in turn he patted her on the back goodbye.
"Don't worry, kid." Boil said. "If anything happens, we'll be back."
Leaving Numa to rejoin the rest of the Republic forces, Numa stayed with her father while waving goodbye.
"Nerra! Nerra! Numa!" she called out to them repeatedly.
"Sir, what is it that she keeps calling us?" Boil asked Kenobi who was walking with the rest of the men.
"Brother and sister." Obi-wan said fondly
Both clones and Hope blinked before looking back towards the young Twi'lek. Smiling underneath their helmets, they soon waved back which made Numa wave with even more glee in her actions.
Steve Rogers walked with the 327th corps, speaking with Aayla.
"So that makes six out of the nine." Aayla recounted, remembering Steve telling her about the current roster of Avengers. "Who is left to be found?"
"Wanda, Nat and Viz."
"It seems that they crop up when they're needed." Aayla noted.
Steve only hummed in thought, glancing around to keep track of his comrades who were spread out amongst the legions and battalions of Clone troopers.
"We'll find them, Steve. I don't know when and where, but we'll find them." Aayla said, subconsciously placing a comforting hand upon his arm.
The good Captain gave the Twi'lek Jedi an appreciative smile.
"I know, Aayla." Looking ahead, Captain Rogers could only hang onto hope for the safety of his wayward teammates. "I know."
Huzzah, another one done and ready. Was honestly hoping me and J were able to finish this one sooner but as you know life can be a bit of a hindrance. From work to personal issues.
Regardless though we got it done even with the Mandalorian out now taking up our time.
Show so far is pretty damn good and thankfully first season will be done soon and by that time, the first season of the Clone Wars and the seasonal gap will have been completed by that point.
So whatever happens in that show may eventually influence or make its way over to this story.
I also wanna remind people that I have been helping out my good comrade J on his new story A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts for the past few weeks as well, so go check it out. It's a Kingdom Hearts and Game Of Thrones crossover something that we both have our own spins on. He got his out and mine is still in development. I of course have my other stories I will be returning to after the completion of this season and the gap in between.
Jebest4781: Which I'm gladfully able to still help out my buddy as we've been exchanging and supporting ideas for a good number of years by now. And yes certain story ideas have been collecting dust, but hopefully they'll be cleaned up and presented at a reasonable time when the opportunity presents itself.
RWBY volume 7 is out so Avenging Remnant is gonna be getting new content to work with and Noble Justice is also making a comeback soon enough as well; due to recent content with respective media crossover contents originate from.
There's other new stories in the works as well, like J said up top, many ideas exchanged and my god they never seem to end. They just keep on coming but it's fun and it's awesome cause we're geeks and we love writing this stuff.
So other than that, thanks again for reading my comrades as per usual.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.