Alright, so Holocron Heist is said and done a very important Arc in the grander scheme of things to come but that wasn't the only thing going on. This is after all a story taking place in a galaxy at war. As well as taking place in a series of anthology stories.
Many events taking place at the same time.
So from one crazy arc, let's move on to another that has another set of crazy ass surprises that will further change and set up the crazy shit to come in this story. Got a lot of things planned out within this chapter.
Really, can't say much else other then let's get this show on the road.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 29: Stalking a Space Slug.
"What's this about, Obi-wan?"
Having been pulled aside from an earlier conversation with the Avengers, Steve and Kenobi stood in the hallway outside the room granted to Earth's team within the temple.
"I require your assistance on a certain matter." Kenobi stated. "Do you recall the events surrounding the hostage situation regarding the senate a few weeks back?"
Steve strained his memory for a brief moment.
"Yeah, something about that blue bounty hunter taking senators hostage to release a… what was it again? Some criminal gangster named Hutt?"
"Hutt is the name of the species that Ziro belongs to." Obi-wan clarified. "He was a criminal that nearly ruined our chances of being able to ally ourselves with the Hutt cartels, having free mobility through their controlled space."
"Hutt Cartels?" Steve said with a dubious look, making Kenobi grimace.
"I do admit, I am not a fan of working with such a lucrative criminal organization myself but-"
"War calls for it." Steve cut him off. "Believe me, I know."
Back during the second World War on Earth, Steve was well aware of the working relationship the US government had with its criminal syndicate in helping with the war effort.
Like he had once stated to Fury, he and his generation compromised so that people could be free from committing the choices that they themselves had to do for the greater good.
"Yes, well the Council has assigned me along with another Jedi and his Commando squad in going after Ziro and apprehending him." Kenobi stated.
"A Commando squad?" Steve repeated, having heard a great deal of their skills and prowess from other Clone Troopers he had gotten to know. "Is it that serious?"
"Ziro has been keeping a low profile but he is no doubt going to be difficult to track." Obi-wan said firmly. "As a Hutt who doesn't have the best of relations with the rest of the clans, Ziro is open game for many other criminal organizations. We may be encountering other bounty hunters and syndicates that wish to pursue the Hutt."
"Why is catching him so important to the Republic then?" Steve inquired.
"He's a criminal that held Senator Amidala prisoner at one point and nearly caused a serious conflict between the Republic and the Hutt Cartels." Kenobi said calmly.
Steve mused to himself, thinking over Obi-wan's words on the matter.
"Just one question, Kenobi."
"Oh?"
"Why come to me exactly? This seems like a mission that could be done with this other Jedi and that Commando squad that's gonna be accompanying you. Why need more help?"
Kenobi sighed. "To be honest with you, Rogers, these past few conflicts have been getting rather maddening in terms of scale and such. The Force has been in a state of constant frantic change with everything that is happening. Master Yoda himself stated that this mission I am undertaking holds a dark new threat he has sensed and has told me to prepare accordingly. And what better way than to ask the unpredictable element outside of the Force."
Slightly humbled by this, Steve couldn't really deny Obi-wan's request agreeing to help him in his pursuit of this Ziro the Hutt. At least he knew what he was gonna be doing tomorrow.
The next day, Steve was walking towards a docking platform being accompanied by Sam with both Avengers geared up and ready for this mission.
"So~ let me get this straight." Sam spoke up. "We're gonna be helping Kenobi out in finding a literal overgrown slug who's a wanted criminal by the Republic."
"Pretty much, yeah."
"So are we gonna pull a cops type of routine here in catching them? Go Mark Fuhrman on someone's ass?"
Steve chuckled aloud. "Not quite sure but I wouldn't put it past it for this scenario."
"Steve, there you are."
Both men looked behind them to see Aayla Secura jogging to catch up to them.
"Aayla." Steve said pleasantly. "Do you need something from us?"
"Not exactly." Aayla shook her head. "Hello Sam, how are you?"
"Well enough all things considered."
Nodding at him, she turned back to Steve. "I had heard that you were going on a mission with Master Kenobi."
"Yeah, him and another Jedi with a Commando Squad." Steve confirmed for her.
"Yes, I have recently found out that this Jedi is my former master." Aayla stated.
"Really?" Steve said with intrigue. "He was your teacher?"
"Indeed, he trained me to knighthood and was the one who found and rescued me bringing me to the temple when I was very young."
At the mention of "temple" and "young", the mood between the two Avengers shifted. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Aayla.
"He rescued me." She said softly. "Him and Master Tholme and Saa are the reason I have a better life here than what I may have endured if I was left on the planet I could have been sold off to."
That made both Avengers look to her sharply with Sam's features slightly tensing up.
"You were a slave?"
Aayla nodded. "Nearly was one. There are many in the temple that could have been slaves or have been slaves at one point. The Jedi Order saved them from that life."
Steve and Sam shared a look, thinking on these words while the trio continued towards their destination.
Soon enough they saw Obi-wan waiting there with his backs turned to them, arms crossed with one hand stroking his beard as he appeared deep in thought.
"Obi-wan." Steve called out to him with the Jedi tilting his head to the side, turning a moment later to see the three of them walking towards him.
"Ah, Steve, Sam. Glad of you to join me." Kenobi greeted. "Aayla, this is a surprise. Are you joining us as well? Here to help keep your former master under control?"
"If only I could, Master Kenobi." Aayla said with a mischievous smile. "No, I'm only here to catch up with him, scold him into staying focused and not get any reckless ideas."
"Well, there goes my hopes." Kenobi said whimsically.
"You seem troubled." Steve noted with a bemused smirk.
Obi-wan released a sigh. "Quinlan Vos has that effect."
"How so?"
"He's got a certain… reputation."
A drop ship flew on by from the west and was coming in fast. Coming in close, the hangar door quickly opened with a man leaping out and diving towards them. And upon landing, the new arrival performed a recovery roll before standing up with a gleeful smirk on his face.
"Hello, Kenobi. Been some time. You look worse for wear. How's temple life? Aayla, look at you. Already looking like a better Jedi then I ever could be."
Kenobi merely gave the man a deadpanned glare whilst Aayla only chuckled silently.
"...Good to see you too."
"Yes, well, if you could tell time half as well as you could stick a landing we wouldn't be behind schedule, now would we, Vos?"
The present Avengers got a good look at the newly arrived Quinlan Vos. Having dark dreadlocked hair with tanned skin and a yellow striped tattoo running across his nose. And his armor was a mixture of yellow and black as he appeared to have a happy go lucky personality.
"Well, that's your opinion man."
Sam nearly did a double-take, startling Steve, Aayla and even Vos.
"Whoa there, you alright?" Vos inquired, quirking a brow at the aviator.
Sam held up his hand in a placating manner. "Nothing trust me. It's just… Well, the dude abides."
"Riiight~" Vos remarked. "Hang on a second, who are you two again?"
"Vos, this is Captain Steve Rogers and Lieutenant Sam Wilson." Kenobi introduced the two to the Kiffar Jedi Master. "They're of-"
"The Avengers, yeah, been hearing a lot about you guys." Vos said with a nod of approval. "Aayla mentioned you guys, same with ol' Master Tholme. It's a pleasure to be working with you guys."
Before the two could respond to the Jedi, the gunship he had arrived on landed behind him with four Clone Troopers with unique armor walking out. Clone Commando Armor.
"Sir, that was cheap and you know it." A Clone Commando with orange markings upon his armor stated as he walked off the gunship with the rest of his squad.
"Ah Boss, see, that's the benefits of having the Force on your side." Quinlan said with a roguish grin. "I can make a grand old entrance."
"Oh yeah? More like compensating if you ask me." This Commando had distinct red markings all over his armor that looked rather morbidly like blood.
Vos only chuckled, looking back at the others.
"Everyone, this is Clone Commando Delta Squad." Vos introduced with a hint of pride. "They were assigned to me at the start of the war and the five of us have been on hell raising missions since the beginning."
"More like us having to pull this jackasses hair out of the fire repeatedly." The Commando that was called 'Boss' stated.
"Ah, then it's good to know that someone is looking out for him." Aayla said in approval.
"You guys are just the worst." Vos said though his tone clearly showed he didn't mean it.
The Commando squad then faced Steve and Sam and having heard their ranks snapped to a salute.
"Delta Squad ready for action." The Lead Commando stated firmly.
Both Sam and Steve saluted back in turn.
"I'm Captain Rogers."
"Lieutenant Wilson."
"Pleasure to be working with you both, sirs. I'm Boss, leader of Delta Squad."
"No better way of distinguishing that." Sam said with amusement.
Boss went on to introduce the rest of the squad.
"This is Fixer." The green marked Commando nodded. "He's our tech expert and slicer. Can get in or out of any fortified base."
"With the proper cover." Fixer said.
"Sev here is our sniper." The red marked Commando held up his sniper rifle as a means of proving said statement. "And that's Scorch, Sev's life partner. He's our demolitions expert."
"Ok, first of all, it's not my fault Sev here can't live without me." Scorch said in a joking affronted manner. His armor was more akin to his name sake, having several scorch marks here and there though his gauntlets and leg armor had dark yellow accents.
"Come on then, let's not stand around here any longer." Obi-wan cut in through the chatter. "We have a mission to conduct and we need to see to it quickly."
With a collective agreement from the group, many went to enter the ETA-Class Shuttle that had been brought in as their transport for this mission.
Before Steve was able to enter, he felt a soft hand grasp his own making him turn back to see that it was Aayla.
"Steve, a moment if you will?" Aayla said in a soft voice.
Glancing back to the ship, he saw some of Delta squad getting acquainted with Sam a bit better leaving him a bit of time.
Nodding, the two stood a bit away from the ship to have their private conversation.
Aayla started by letting out a sigh. "Steve, I understand your reservations and judgements on how the Jedi Order recruits individuals into its ranks. It's not something many would consider moral."
"There's many other words that one would use to describe such methods of recruitment." Steve said in a sharp tone.
"I understand, Steve, believe me I do." Aayla said. "But I must ask you to understand that there are very good reasons as to why we have to do such a thing to keep our order going. One I would like to personally inform you of. I feel it is my duty to do so."
In a rather uncharacteristic move on her own part, Aayla reached out and took hold of Steve's hand with her own.
"Please Steve, just give me and the Order that chance." Aayla asked with the two locking eyes as there was a silent exchange between the two.
Seeing no deceit or dubious means in her eyes, Steve relented, squeezing Aayla's hand in return.
"Alright, alright." Steve said. "I'll hold you to that."
Aayla smiled brightly up at the old war veteran when she realized she was still grasping his hand. Letting go, she cleared her throat before patting him on his arm.
"Good luck on your mission, Steve."
"Thanks."
"Try not to get roped into my Masters crazy antics."
"Is he really that bad?" Steve was now amused.
"No, it's just he and Obi-wan really." Aayla chuckled. "Master Vos grew up alongside Kenobi and ironically enough I can say the two know each other very well. One of the few Jedi that can get under Master Kenobi's skin quite easily."
"Oh, then this should be interesting."
"It should. Until next time, Steve."
Aayla walked off, Steve gazing at her the entire time until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"What was that about?" Sam asked.
"Nothing, just… an olive branch so to speak."
"Olive branch?" Sam snorted. "Looked a hell of a lot more than that. You should be lucky Nat ain't here."
"Right. She tell you where she and Hope were off to anyway?"
"Something about helping out Senator Amidala with a mission of her own."
"Ah, politics."
"Yeah, should be a breeze for Natasha."
The two boarded the ETA ship with Obi-wan speaking up now that the entire crew was assembled.
"Let's get down to business." Obi-wan started. "Ziro the Hutt was broken out during a hostage situation."
"Yeah, I heard about that mess."
"I suspect Jabba the Hutt is behind this. Most likely still upset about Ziro kidnapping his son."
Vos nodded before adding in something else. "My information indicates that it's more than that."
"How so?" Sam inquired.
"Ziro has damaging evidence against the Hutt council." Vos revealed. "My guess is that he's currently at the Hutt home planet Nal Hutta as they're interrogating him on its location."
"Then we must locate both Ziro and this evidence and bring them to the courts." Steve stated, which Obi-wan nodded in utmost agreement.
"I trust we can keep eyes forward on this common goal?" Obi-wan asked the dreadlocked Jedi."
"No problem. I'd like to stick one up against the Hutts any day of the week." Rushing towards the dropship, Vos spoke up. "I fly and you are my co-pilot."
Obi-wan rubbed his eyes soon after. "I was afraid he'd say that?"
"What's the problem with his flying?" Sam questioned.
"Vos practically encouraged Anakin more on his flying skills instead of refining them to the standard norm during his days as a padawan."
"Oh… so is it good or bad?"
Obi-wan gave Sam a blank stare, being all the answer the Falcon really needed.
The ETA-Class shuttle soon had its wings fold out into their main positions and the ship was on its way to the space controlled by the Hutt clans.
It's destination; Nal Hutta.
-Scene Cut-
On Nal Hutta, Ziro was placed before the heads of the Hutt crime families. He would normally be there freely, but with his past action in wanting to kill Jabba and his son, Ziro was kept at arm's length with several blasters aimed at his person.
Yet this did not deter his mood.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen." Ziro greeted. "I see no need for resentment in light of this joyous occasion of my freedom."
"Right~ after you went into hiding for weeks before coming back here." Spoke one of the Hutt family heads via protocol droid, going by the name of Gardulla.
"I had to go into hiding," Ziro argued, not bothering to ask why the protocol droid was being used. "Needed to have the Republic not know where I went off to instead of coming here right away. But I do appreciate the help in my escape."
"Then you would know why we got you out of prison in the first place." Spoke another head, who went by the name Oruba.
"Oh, I have no illusions about the fact that my escape was a result of the highly sensitive knowledge that I possess." Grabbing a cup of a refreshing liquid, he gulped it all down before continuing. "A holo-diary cataloging the nefarious deeds of this council."
Upon the mention of this blackmail material, said council members voiced their displeasure. Threats were no doubt voiced among other things.
"Kill me and everything I've gathered will show up on the step of the Senate." Ziro revealed, silencing them all. "The cold, hard reality is that as long as I control this highly sensitive material, my memory will only get duller."
After some hushed discussion, the heads called off their guards who lowered their blasters from Ziro's form.
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to return to my quarters." Ziro turned away with a smirk, tossing away the cup he drank from as it rolled off to a corner of the room. "I only hope the accommodations are satisfactory."
In his arrogance, he didn't notice someone else was present in the meeting. And upon his departure from the room, the man came up to the Hutts.
"So he's the guy you all hired me for?"
Jabba and his fellow Hutt council members nodded.
"Good to know. I'll be sure to tail him and bring back this holo-diary of his."
-Scene Cut-
Upon arriving at Nal Hutta, the group was bombarded with a heavy rainfall. It if weren't for the bright lights from the complex they were heading off to, they would no doubt be lost.
Once landing, some of the assembled party went down the ramp and were met with several gamorreans, green skinned pig guards who work for the Hutt families. Delta Squad opted to stay behind, watching over the ship in case any scumbag lurking about decided that they felt lucky today.
Being escorted inside, the Jedi and Avengers were brought into a party room with disco and strobe lights going off with music blaring. Yet this all came to an abrupt halt with the DJ ending the music and most of the lights turning off before the standard ones came up.
The Hutt, Gardulla, soon used the protocol droid to speak to them. "How goes the war, gentlemen?"
Obi-wan stepped up and addressed the Hutt crime lord. "Great Gardulla, we bring unfortunate news. Ziro the Hutt had escaped custody with the aid of the bounty hunter Cad Bane."
"The great Gardulla already knows this, Jedi knights." Stated the protocol droid. "Though she's curious as to why you took so long in acting now."
"We have been… preoccupied and been searching for his whereabouts."
"A most likely story."
Vos soon stepped up with a smirk. "I'm beginning to think you folks were the ones who broke him out."
Some of the Hutts looked at each other before Gardulla spoke again which the protocol droid translated. "And why would the great Hutt families do such a thing?"
"That's what I'd like to know."
"Quinlan, the Hutts are our allies." Obi-wan stated.
As the one Hutt crime lord spoke, Vos spotted a cup lying on the ground. The Force nudged him to reach out for it, which he did as he used it to have it slowly roll up to him before floating up into his hand.
The moment it contacted his hand, he was assaulted with small fragments of visions of Ziro's visage and him speaking directly to the Hutt crime lords.
"The mighty Gardulla says you are lucky to be with a Jedi as wise as Kenobi or you might not be allowed to leave here alive."
Breaking out of his trance, Vos placed the cup onto a nearby table. "Then it seems I'll have to come by alone the next time I show up."
Obi-wan sighed a little. "We only came to deliver the message. Which we should be leaving now."
"See that you do, Jedi."
As they departed, the music and lights went back up with the invited attendees went back into their previous activity.
"Ziro was here." Vos revealed to them as they headed back to their ship. "He was holding one of those cups."
"How would you know?" Sam asked.
"I have a particular Force ability that allows me to know."
"...Alrighty then."
"So what now then?" Steve asked.
"There's a likely chance that Ziro might still be here." Kenobi mused.
"Should I call in Delta?" Vos inquired.
"No need for such extreme measures just yet." Kenobi waved down. "Let's make a sweep of the area and see if we could find him ourselves."
"I wouldn't suggest something like that." Sam cut in. "Four of us moving around like this with so many people around right now would just attract unwanted attention."
"Then what do you have in mind?" Vos asked.
Holding up his wrist pad, Sam pressed a red button and from his flight suit out popped a small drone.
"Redwing will handle that." Sam said with a grin, sending out his drone to scope out the area.
After several minutes of having Redwing stick to the shadows, avoiding guards and other unsavory figures he found an empty cell with several dead Gamorreans.
"Got something." Sam said to the others. "Empty holding cell with a lot of pig guards dead."
"Then we better find where Ziro has went off to."
"Not to mention with the dead guards, alarms will go off pretty soon. Something neither of us would want to deal with."
"Agreed."
Back in the one-party room, the hired bounty hunter walked up to the Hutts from behind as he didn't want to bother the rest of the guests.
"Seems I'd like more than what you're paying me." The man stated, drawing in some of the Hutts' attention. "With the Avengers and those Jedi you spoke of being here, I want triple the amount. Do that and I'll take care of them for ya."
The Hutts discussed things in their native tongue before Oruba addressed the bounty hunter via protocol droid.
"The mighty Oruba inquires why you would ask such a thing." The protocol translator droid inquired.
"Listen, I have my own business and vendetta with those guys." The Hunter said with a vague tone. "You want this job done or not? The more time you waste, the more that Ziro fucker gets further away with the wrong set of individuals chasing after him."
It wasn't long before the Hutt heads agreed to the bounty hunter's demands. With it all said and done, he bolted out of the room with a smile on his face.
-Scene Cut-
The group of eight men were now traversing the harrowing and swampy fields of Nal Hutta with several of them not exactly enjoying the scenery.
"I could see why those fat slugs chose a place like this to call home." Sam murmured, nose scrunching up at some of the smells in the air.
"Could be worse." Sev stated, walking alongside the Avenger. "You ever been in a Geonosian hive? Rank stench right through our helmet filters."
"Fixer nearly emptied his lunch that day." Scorch said with a chuckle.
"At least I wasn't slathered in that Queens gunk unlike you, Scorch." Fixer shot back.
Sam chuckled at the interaction between these Clones, finding their easy camaraderie endearing and all too familiar for a veteran such as himself.
"So what's it like as a Commando?" Sam asked, obviously curious about the distinct Clone Troopers. "I've been hearing a lot about you guys from some of the other Clone legions and battalions. That you Commandos and ARC troopers are the cream of the crop."
"Well, not to brag or anything." Scorch said with a brag.
"Scorch, if you're gonna brag at least be factual about it." Fixer stated.
"My God, you are no fun sometimes." Sev remarked.
"So what's the difference between you Commandos and most other Clones?" Sam asked. "The Clones always talk about you guys being the same as Jedi with your skills and all."
"That's probably due to who we are based on and those that trained us." Scorch stated. "The progenitor of the clone army was the famed Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Jango Fett. He along with Kal Skirata and the rest of the Cuy'val Dar trained every Clone Commando squad."
"Coy-vee what now?"
"Cuy'val Dar." Sev corrected. "The one hundred bounty hunters Jango Fett called upon in training the Commandos. From them we learned of our lineage so to speak."
"Our connection to the warrior culture of the Mandalorians." Scorch added with pride. "Our main teacher, Kal Skirata taught us everything. The language, the customs, the warrior ways."
"I've heard that word a lot." Sam said with furrowed brows. "Mandalorians. Who are they exactly?"
"You really have not been doing your homework, have you?"
"Apparently not."
"To simply put it, Mandalorians were one of the most well-known warrior cultures in the galaxy." Scorch said. "They're still out there, divided up into clans but there were times where they were the undisputed strongest force in the galaxy. Neither Jedi nor Sith could compare with them.
Sam hummed to himself.
"You said were."
"I did."
"So what happened to them? Got broken up or something?"
"In a manner of speaking." Sev stated.
"There was a civil war in the Mandalorian systems a while back. Many perished as most want to stay in their old ways of life while others wanted to change it in a more peaceful approach. Things got complicated from there." Scorch explained
"Current ruler, Duchess Satine Cruz, is more of the pacifist approach as she abhors violence to an utmost degree." Fixer said with a snide undertone.
"What's your deal with her?" Sam asked, bewildered by the venom in the Clones tone.
Fixer let out a sigh, walking on ahead rather than answering.
"Ah, don't mind Fixer too much." Sev waved him off, patting Sam on the shoulder. "He may be always the most by-the-books of us but he has pride in his heritage like all Commandos do."
"Must be some pride." Sam said. "So what else is so unique about the Mandalorians? You got me hooked now."
"Well, if you could believe it our armor was modeled off their own helmets and all." Scorch said, gesturing to the glowing T-visor of his helmet. "Their Beskar armor was considered the best of the best. The Republic wanted to get materials from Mandalore to improve the initial clone armor materials, but Satine Cruz put the ban on that Beskar alloy, so the Republic had to make do with other things."
"So where can they get this Beskar stuff?"
"Where else? The Mandalorian home world, Mandalore." Sev stated.
"Feels like we've been saying Mandalorian and Mandalore a lot now." Sam noted. "Take a shot for every time we say it."
The sudden and random comment caused Scorch to choke on his yawn before laughing with Sev and even Fixer joined in on the laugh.
"Where'd that come from?" Sev guffawed.
"I dunno, felt appropriate." Sam said with a wry grin.
Hearing all this was Vos, who smirked at hearing his squad mates laughing as much as they were. His senses were on alert at the moment yet he still had time for other things.
Such as conversing with Captain Rogers, someone who Aayla clearly has a relationship of some kind with. And call it old habits, protective master vibes but Quinlan was rather curious about the man who was the apparent leader of those Force-shockwave group of individuals known as the Avengers.
"How's Aayla been?" Vos asked Steve abruptly, making the super soldier blink.
"She's been doing alright." Steve answered. "Shared our own scrapes here and there on several missions we worked on."
"Good, good." Vos said absentmindedly. "A Master never stops worrying about his protege."
"Yeah, she mentioned you trained her up to knighthood." Steve recalled. "She thinks very highly of you."
Vos's expression changed slightly. "That's good to know. Glad at least someone believes in me like that."
Steve regarded the Jedi. "How is it like then? Having a student?"
"In a way, I never really saw Aayla as a student. I saw her more like a little sister or daughter."
"And here I thought you Jedi can't form attachments."
"Captain Rogers, do I look like the kind of guy to follow the rules like ol' Obi there?" Quinlan said with a roguish grin going into a calmer smile a moment later. "I know that, but it's actually the challenging aspect in our teachings. It makes it impossible. Every student and teacher cares for the other in some shape and form. More So after spending years being with each other."
"Makes me wonder about the whole no attachment rule." Steve murmured in a low tone.
Quinlan snorted aloud. "Me and several others usually think it's utter poodoo." He cautiously sneaked a glance back to Kenobi who was momentarily conversing with Boss. "And don't let Obi fool you in any way. He's had his own fair share of lovely ladies that wooed him and he in turn."
Steve's eyes widened slightly, looking back to Kenobi without being noticed. "What do you mean?"
"Ah, that's not my place to say." Vos held his hand up. "If he ever wants to tell you about it, you'll know. He and I basically grew up together much as he'd like to deny it."
Steve hummed. "Guess there's a lot I still need to learn about the Jedi order and its tenants."
The tattooed Jedi chuckled. "Now let me ask you this, you ever bother to look into the Jedi code?"
Steve tilted his head in thought. "Yes, Aayla, Kenobi and T'ra Saa told me about it. The one with No chaos and emotion and all."
"And what do you think of it?"
"Well the first line of it 'there is no emotion, there is peace' could probably be an utter lie and everyone turns a blind eye towards."
Vos let out a bitter chuckle. "Yeah, I hear that. If you bluntly told this to one of the old coots of the council, they would consider it heresy. And if you openly stated this and were a member of the Order, consider your membership revoked for good." He then looked back at Steve. "Then tell me, what more do you have to say about it?"
Steve took a moment, trying to formulate the proper words to respond. "More like question it. I mean, how much of it is a lie? Everyone has emotions, civilians, politicians, etc. No one is free from them."
"Yeah, that much is true."
"It's just… the more I think about it, the more it feels like it's incomplete or it's not right." Steve shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to come across as ignorant or rude."
"Nah, nah, no need for that." Vos said placatingly. "To tell you the truth, the code had been revised… a lot."
"Really?" Steve was now even more curious. "How much do you mean by a lot?"
"Well most groups and organizations change over time and the Jedi are no different. So going on with the times, the code gets revised to suit with their current standing or whatever. The Jedi order has been around for thousands of years, going through several revisions that most actually don't know of anymore." Vos said with his arms crossed. "I don't even know where we got our start. That knowledge has been lost to time."
"But why? Why change it?"
"Well everything changes eventually, Cap." Vos said as if it were the most obvious thing. "Took me a while, but old Master Tholme once showed me the original code.
"Emotion, yet peace." Vos began, quickly drawing the super soldier's attention even further. "Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force. It's the old code, before Odan-Urr helped rephrase it in a way that was easier for the Jedi back then to understand."
"Easier? But isn't the point of the Jedi to walk the high road? To do things that are harder than taking the easy way out, unlike others?"
"Perhaps, but that doesn't mean that we are not immune to falling." Vos admitted. "Afterall, there have been countless Jedi throughout our history who've fallen to the dark side. I could tell you many that've stood out the most, both far back to recent decades, but I'd rather sit down and chill before dwelling in all that."
"Everyone is fallible." Steve said, eyes on the ground.
"Sad reality we have to deal with." Vos said, moving ahead to kneel down to a particular spot on the ground.
"What is it?" Steve inquired.
"I got a trace of Ziro. He's been here." Vos scooped up some dirt, sifting it through his hand. "Or is still here."
"I don't doubt your tracking skills Vos, but why wouldn't Ziro leave the planet?" Obi-wan inquired, who soon came up to them. "Why not just fly away?"
"My senses tell me that he's still here."
"It's illogical."
"Something is keeping him here." Was all Vos said as he walked on ahead.
Obi-wan then voiced a little complaint. "Think having a droid around would speed things up."
"Not everything can be easy, Obi-wan."
"With you, I know that all too well."
"I'm hurt, Obi, what happened to the roaring trust the two of us used to share?"
"You know what happened back at brothel that you up and left-"
"INCOMING!" Clone Commando Boss roared aloud, wielding his
Out from the large hills and branches surrounding them came a hodge podge of individuals that appeared to be bounty hunters and pirates with some moving ahead while others ran at them, firing at the group.
Sam immediately went airborne whilst Steve, Kenobi and Vos began deflecting blaster fire with Delta squad shooting back.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Sam asked from above, shooting at the surprise enemies.
"Looks as though we're not the only ones after Ziro." Obi-wan commented, lightsaber ignited in hand.
Vos had reflected back several bolts at one of those closest to him, the bolt returning back to its sender and striking it in his head. The humanoid fell back with the helmet that he wore revealing the species underneath.
"Those are Falleen." Vos noted.
"Black Suns." Scorch growled, firing his custom DC-17M Blaster rifle with grenade launcher attachment. "Those bastards again."
"Who's the black sun?" Steve asked, grunting as he grabbed a bounty hunter by his wrist twisting it before decking him with his shield.
"A criminal organization that has their own operations and sectors of space." Obi-wan stated.
"They must be after Ziro." Fixer surmised.
"You mentioned something about Ziro having incriminating evidence against those oversized slugs." Sam said, flying in low to deliver a powerful boot to a human pirate sending him into the murky swamp.
"Looks like these bastards are after whatever it is Ziro has." Vos guess, force pushing several pirates away. "Anything that they can have over the Hutts is bad news all around, much as I hate to say it."
"Sir, if we stay here taking out these guys, we'll be stuck here all day." Boss said, elbowing a human in the jaw in order to shoot him dead a moment later. "You and General Kenobi need to go on ahead."
"I don't think we'll-"
"They're right, Obi-wan." Steve said, covering for Sev who gave the Captain an appreciative nod. "The two of you need to go on ahead. We won't be far behind."
"Clankers!" Scorch shouted, aiming his rifle at a series of droids that flew overhead and began to bombard the area with blaster bolts that were more explosive then the previous ones they had dealt with.
"Who are these guys supposed to be?" Sam asked, now having to spin and weave to avoid the droids that were harassing him in the air.
"They don't look like any Seppie droids we've taken down." Sev noticed, carefully shooting down one droid after another followed by distracted pirates and hunters who were also engaging with the droids. "Could be Bounty Hunting droids."
"Must be prototype models."
"Yeah and we're the test subjects."
"And they're on no one's side but their own it seems." Steve said, ducking slightly with his shield raised above his head to block the small barrage of explosive bolts.
Several of these new droids landed around the area, proceeding to exterminate the rest of the pirates and bounty hunters before turning their attention to the eight men still standing.
"Alright, that's not startling at all." Kenobi remarked, getting into his usual Soresu stance as they were now surrounded by at least several dozen of these new unique droids.
Steve stood with Vos and Boss, eyes moving back and forth at all the droids around taking note of their formation. While crude, it was strong enough that any blind or weak points would be covered by the droid closest to each other so it looked like they were going to have to fight their way out.
However, there was something… weirdly familiar about how they surrounded him. And it wasn't how they did per say. It was strangely enough their posture.
These droids held a weird posture and pose to them that Steve couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Without being prompted to, the droids descended upon the eight of them with the non-clones providing momentary cover for the Clones as they didn't have their own specific means of defense. While their armor provided a greater set of endurance in tanking blaster bolts, the literal wave of these rather explosive ones would be quick to overwhelm their Katarn armor.
"Droid poppers." Fixer said, tossing one to Sam before he along with Sev and Falcon threw them up into the air.
There were three spheres of miniaturized EMPs that surrounded the group taking out a sizable chunk of the droids.
"Move." Boss barked out with the team going on the offensive, splitting up into pairs of two in order to quickly deal with the remaining droids.
Boss and Quinlan moved up together, the duo in frequent motion as the Kiffar Jedi was constantly maneuvering around the Commando to block constant blaster fire whilst taking out any droid that tried to ram right at them with Boss systematically clipping one after another that he had in his sights.
Sev and Falcon were an odd pairing that clicked rather quickly, Sam having a few pursue after him in the air giving Sev the chance to snipe each droid that pursued the aviator. Sam made sure to fly by Sev several times to destroy any of the droids that tried to get the jump on the sniper.
Steve had flung his shield forward, the shield bouncing around the cluster of droids. Steve's throw had a specific purpose as it had struck several of the droids into closer clusters giving Scorch the chance to take out groups of them at a time with his Grenade launcher.
Obi-wan simply provided cover for Fix who stood behind him as he constantly fired at multiple droids that had attempted to charge the two.
Eventually, the remaining droids retreated back and formed a kind of wall against their foes. The droids held out their arms and small compartments opened up with blaster barrels popping out. They opened fire upon them all.
The Jedi were able to reflect back many of the incoming shots, yet they had to roll, flip and spin out of the way due to how dense the fire was. They were a bit thankful that the surrounding forestation was able to help give them some amounts of cover. When some flew in close, the two Jedi used the Force to help halt their movements for the briefest of moments in order to get chances in decapitating them.
"These are surprisingly more challenging than the previous droids we've dealt with." Kenobi commented.
"No kidding. Much more troublesome than commando droids." Sev noted.
"These aren't made by the Seps." Fixer stated. "Their design and models. I've never seen the like."
Boss had one right on top of him, the Commando grasping its arms and tilting them upward so as to not get blown away by it. With a quick movement, Boss snapped both the droid's arms down to his left side and with all his strength wrenched the arms off before blasting it in the head with his DC-17 rifle.
"Has to be another supplier tossing their hat into the war."
"We can look into this later. For now, survive."
"Done and done."
After another several minutes, the eight-man team had at last taken down the collection of droids taking a moment to catch their breath.
"I don't know about you, but I'd use a break now."
"Hold that till later, we still have a mission to complete."
"Yes, sir."
Obi-wan turned back to see Steve standing over one of the disassembled droids.
"Steve?"
"Hmmm?"
"Are you alright?"
"Sorry… just something about these droids…"
"You recognize them?"
Steve squinted for a second. "No… it's… it's not that."
Shaking his head, he walked up to Kenobi patting him on the shoulder. "We'll talk later, come on let's see this mission through."
Obi-wan glanced over to the droids before turning to run after his companions that had gone ahead of him.
Eventually running into a swampy lake house of some kind, the clone troopers hanged back as the two Jedi and two Avengers went on ahead. The Force users leaped quite a distance and landed not far from the building's entrance. Falcon merely unfurled his metallic wings and gave the Captain a lift over the swampy water.
"We must be cautious." Kenobi advised. "We don't know what may be lurking here."
Before Obi-wan and the two Avengers could plan anything, Vos quickly ignited his lightsaber, slashed through the front entrance and kicked it in.
"Vos!" Kenobi exclaimed. "Somebody lives here!"
It wasn't until stepping foot inside of the building did Vos and the two Avengers rear back their heads and cover their faces.
"Holy hell what is that smell?!" Sam whined out.
"Smells like somebody died here." Vos cried out.
"Smells worse than most parts of Europe back in the war." Steve commented.
When venturing further into the abode, they soon found the source of the… odor.
"Break in my house, will you, smart guy?"
The four men saw a very large and obese Hutt which reached to the top of the ceiling. And by judging some characteristics, they realized this Hutt was a woman. Yet the voice seemed to be like that of a man.
"Thousand pardons, madam." Obi-wan began. "He hasn't mastered the concept of knocking. For that, I apologize."
The female Hutt wasn't in the mood for games. "I got trouble for you too, Mr. Fancy Pants."
Throwing some sort of large insect at them, the four men avoided the projectile.
"There's no need." Steve stated. "We're not here to harm you."
The Hutt woman scoffed. "That'll be a first for tonight."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… First, my deadbeat son and his limp-lipped girlfriend come in and sponge me out of my starship."
"Wait, deadbeat son?" Sam muttered out. "You mean to tell me that's Ziro's mom?"
"Apparently." Vos responded back.
The newly identified mother of Ziro then continued her rant. "Then some slime sap with a freaky helmet and his posse charge in and force me to give up the skinny on where Ziro's headed. Had something out for blood." She then gave the four men a harsh glare. "You gonna kill my boy too?"
"Oh, no, madam." Obi-wan quickly said. "But if we don't find him before the bounty hunters do your son will not be so lucky."
Ziro's mother considered these words before giving them the location. "Teth. My boy's heading to Teth."
The men nodded with Vos turning to them. "We need to get to that jungle planet, pronto."
As they ran out of the home, they heard one final thing from Ziro's mother.
"Hey! Who's gonna pay for my door!?"
-Scene Cut-
Soaring across the jungle planet, the team eventually made their way towards a series of rocky cliffs. Instead of combing through them all, Vos used his tracking Force ability to help slim things down as they went to a small section of the area.
Landing their craft, the Jedi and Avengers leaped out with the two Earther's following Vos' lead. Sam once more helped get Steve further down in the cliffs as Vos and Kenobi jumped down from the high leveled area.
Reaching their destination, they saw a pair of dead bodies. One was apparently mummified in some sort of shrine and rotted away for some time now… and the other was Ziro.
"Who could have done this?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Obi."
A familiar sound of thrusters sounded through the air, causing the four to quickly get on guard.
"They're back~" Sam said aloud, aiming his blasters at the bounty hunter droids they faced off from back at Nal Hutta.
"And they brought friends."
The Jedi ignited their lightsabers and started reflecting back as many enemy bolts coming their way. As they did so, Sam activated his wings and soared into the air. He returned fire upon them while maneuvering through their volley of blasters.
Flying away from some of them, Falcon made a call towards the nearby clones. "We could use some help, guys."
Didn't take long for Sev to answer. "Are there any problems, Sam?"
"Yeah. Those droids we fought earlier are back."
"Coming out and assisting you right away."
With the call ending, Falcon killed his thrusters in order to have the enemy droids fly past him. He used this opportunity to reactivate his flight capabilities before open firing on their exposed backs. They soon were severely damaged and became no longer operable.
"Some down, more to go." Sam muttered before seeing the clone troopers arriving and giving their Jedi and Avenger allies some needed assistance.
Steve bashed away a droid that flew right at him when abruptly, his lower back lit up with pain with his feet no longer on solid ground. Sailing through the air, he crashed hard a nearby stone wall groaning in pain.
"There you are, you son of a bitch." Rogers heard a venomous tone.
Steve could barely get back to his feet when he felt a metallic jab to his abdomen followed by someone grabbing his neck and smacking him into the stone wall.
Grunting, Steve blearily opened his eyes before he inhaled sharply.
The eyes glaring with rage at him beneath the black helmet with bone white face paint was a visage Steve had seen many times before. There was a time where they were the eyes of a man he once considered an ally.
Now it was nothing but pure, undiluted hatred with a new look that matched the change in appearance and man.
"Rumlow." Steve whispered. "What the hel-"
"Good question, Rogers." Brock Rumlow hissed through his helmet. "I was wondering where you went and dropped off to; but lo and behold, one arms exchange gone wrong and I end up in outer fucking space."
"Arms exchange?" Steve murmured before getting his wits about him and shoving Rumlow back.
"But right now, I'd rather not talk." Rumlow held up his arms and cocked them back with gauntlets. Sparks flew as the HYDRA agent ran forward. "I've been waiting a long time for this!"
Steve had to quickly move out of the way from the incoming jabs. If the sensation he received earlier gave meaning to anything, Rumlow's gauntlets packed some serious damage. And it showed once Rogers rolled out of the way, Crossbones struck a nearby rock wall and it severely cracked before crumbling.
"Come on, Cap." Rumlow taunted, moving after the Avenger with vitriolic zeal. "I know you could do better than that."
Cap grit his teeth, holding up his shield in time to block a punch yet it held some kind of impact amplifier as a small shockwave visible to see came out of the punch with Cap stumbling back. If not for his snap reflexes, Steve would have felt the full force of Rumlow's amplified punch.
Slapping the hand to the side, his shield arm deflected the other punch yet Steve was momentarily stunned by a surprise headbutt from Rumlow.
Rumlow then began to push Steve back into a nearby rock outcrop with the dazed super soldier trying to regain his wits.
As they got in close, a blade popped out one of Rumlow's gauntlets.
"This is for dropping a damn building on my face!"
Steve swerved his head out of the way from the blade. It pierced the wall behind him with more spider web cracks following the blow.
Wanting some space, Steve delivered an elbow strike to his opponent's armored head before kicking his midsection. Rumlow stumbled back before he was sent flying through Roger's roundhouse kicks.
Crossbones stumbled across the rocky floor before using a recovery roll to get back onto his feet. Once regaining his bearings, he saw the airborne Avenger who swooped in close.
"Ah~ good ol' Wilson." Rumlow greeted, adjusting his gauntlets as blaster barrels soon popped out. "Long time."
"Not long enough." Hissed the Falcon. "How the hell are you here right now?"
"He mentioned an Arms Deal going south." Steve said with a slight huff, massaging his abdomen. "Spider-man said that's what he remembers last with that Daredevil and Panther guy before ending up here."
"Oh so you know those assholes then?" Rumlow snarled. "It's because of them that me and several others wound up in this shithole of a galaxy."
"Wait, others?"
"Now let's not go ruining the surprise boys." Rumlow stated.
Raising his arms, Rumlow's gauntlets roared to life, firing a large volley of blaster fire upon them.
"Oh shit." Sam's thrusters sent him upwards while Steve crouched down low to block out the blaster fire.
Being airborne, Sam's head snapped up at the sound of other thrusters in the air looking up in time to duck from a passing droid that made a swipe at him.
"I really have no time for you." Growled out the airborne Avenger.
Back with the Jedi and clone troopers, things weren't fairing all that well. They were barely holding their own this time around. They didn't have Sam and Steve's assistance, so some advantage was lost. The droids were changing tactics, which threw the Republic forces off.
And if that weren't enough, the bounty hunter droids stopped firing their blaster fire and started using other means in attacking them.
"Oh come on! That's not fair!"
Concentrated blasts came out of the droids' palms, surprising them all.
"What the hell is that?" Scorch yelled out, narrowly dodging several beams directed at him.
One had struck Fixer dead in the hip with the Clone flying back.
The impacts didn't really kill the trooper at all, merely sent him flying into nearby rock walls and knocking him.
"Fixer!" Vos yelled out
"It's alright, he's unconscious." Boss assured, having rolled back to his down brother and checking him over.
"Damn bastards!"
Scorch had ran forward, disregarding the calls of his brothers and Jedi while firing a volley of grenades at the droids in front of him.
Several explosions appeared before him which took out some of the droids with Scorch running right through the smoke and tackling a droid down. An elbow to its followed by a blaster bolt to the head took it out. He snapped back up to his feet, firing at every droid he could see when he had to avoid several of those beams again when several shot at him at the same time with one striking his shoulder.
Scorch sailed through the air, landing hard on the ground though he had remained conscious feeling an invisible grasp of some kind pull him away from more fire.
"Try not to do too many crazy stunts like that, Scorch." Vos said with a wry grin.
Scorch only chuckled feebly. "What's the matter, Vos? Don't like being upstaged?"
"Can it you two." Boss barked out, firing at multiple droids before ducking for cover from blaster fire only to still fire up in the air as several of the droids were flying around.
Obi-wan had pulled a droid in with the force, cutting through it having to tilt his body back a second later to dodge another beam sent at him.
Sev was constantly in motion, not allowing any of the droids to get a pin on him.
Vos and Obi-wan stood side by side with Boss and Scorch nearby as they were all fighting back against the droids in a unified front.
"Where the hell did Rogers and Wilson go?" Vos said, swatting a blaster bolt back towards its sender taking it out.
"They're over there." Boss gestured with his hand.
Obi-wan took a momentary glance to where Boss had pointed to with his eyes narrowing at the sight of Steve fighting against a very well equipped and clearly skilled foe.
"Who is that?"
"We can ask him once this crap is taken care-"
"Look out!"
Vos had pushed Obi-wan back when several droids fired consecutive beams and explosive bolts in their direction. The blast sent the two Jedi flying and falling over the edge of the cliffs.
"Crap." Boss said bitterly. "Stand fast."
One of the droids moved forward with its arm trailing on the Clones when it was struck in the head by a blast bolt.
Several more got taken out with Sev looking over to see…
"Fixer!"
"Sorry for taking a nap on you, brothers." Fixer grunted, Sev dashing over to assist him whilst Scorch and Boss used the momentary distraction to send a volley of fire on the uniquely made droids.
Sev hauled Fixer over to the other two with Scorch firing off grenades while Boss tossed out droid poppers.
Delta Squad now stood united, facing the remaining droid of hordes with their weapons trailed on the metal bastards armed and ready.
Despite being outnumbered, they had no intentions of backing down without a fight.
Yet, to their surprise, the droids ceased their assault and flew off to parts unknown.
"Where the hell are they going?"
"Probably back to whoever made or hired them."
"Don't care about that. I'm more worried about the generals."
"Poodoo, I almost forgot about them."
Hanging at the edge of a cliffside, Obi-wan looked over to the man beside him.
"I never did enjoy hanging out with you."
All Vos did was give his old friend a wryly smirk.
Over with Steve, he was starting to get tired from fending off against Rumlow's assault. The constant changing from blaster fire to powered hand to hand combat was starting to get to him. It was no doubt challenging to the super soldier, keeping him on his toes.
And no matter how many times he hit the damn bastard, Rumlow brushed it off. It's like the man didn't feel any pain at all. What happened to him?
Steve was able to get lucky through a rebounded shield throw. It knocked his opponent down and rolled towards the cliffside. Rumlow tried to get back up, but he was punched down by the Avenger.
Brock merely punched the ground, getting back up when he saw that Steve was no longer alone. With him stood his companions, Delta Squad, Obi-wan, Vos and Falcon hovered overhead with all their weapons directed at him.
"It's over, Rumlow. You're done."
Crossbones chuckled in response, subtly pressing a button on his gauntlet. "It will never be over between us. And not this soon."
Soon an engine roar startled the star-spangled Avenger, giving the Hydra agent the chance to run… well more like jumping off the cliff.
Steve ran towards where Rumlow fell and soon had to leap back when a ship's wing almost hit him as it quickly flew up. Looking back, he saw Crossbones standing on the ship's hull, waving at him before hopping through a hole on it's top. Once it closed, Rumlow's ship shot into the sky and disappeared in the clouds.
Landing beside him, Sam scowled on seeing the Hydra agent retreating.
"Wonder when we'll see him again."
"Hopefully not too soon, Sam."
-Scene Cut-
Sitting in the pilot's chair, Sy Snootles was chuckling to herself as she made her way to Tatooine with Ziro's holo-diary.
Things were simple for the Pa'lowick singer. She gets to do something she enjoys every day, having people lust after her and her fawning over her boyfriend, Ziro.
Yet things changed when the deadbeat Hutt had abandoned and broken her heart.
At its end, all she wanted was revenge and a better life. So she turned to the Hutt council and sought out a means in doing so.
She was then paid in when Ziro was brought in to play the part of her still loving her ex-boyfriend. Make him lead her to the holo-diary while the other bounty hunters and other forces distracted Ziro long enough from not noticing her deception.
Oh Ziro had wanted them to run away together, profiting off the blackmail and living the life on Solarine for the rest of their days. Too bad he will never see it as she will live there by herself with the amount of funds the Hutt council was paying her.
All she had to do now was deliver the package to Jabba personally and she will be on easy street for the rest of her life.
Coming out of hyperspace, she saw Tatooine was not far away. She was ready to descend towards the planet when her ship was blasted from behind.
"What in the-"
More and more rained upon her vessel before the singer turned bounty hunter was forced to evade the sudden enemy fire. Yet it was too much as her systems were soon shut off.
"Nonononono! This can't be happening!" She screamed. "I was so close!"
The sounds of docking were made onto the ship of Ziro's mother, causing Sy to pull out her blaster. She was gonna do everything she can to survive by any means necessary.
It wasn't long before the docking door opened up and metallic sounds beat against the ship. It then came towards her location with the doors opening up to reveal-
"A droid?" She said. "Y-You don't look like any model I've ever seen."
"Oh, hello there." This Droids voice was rather sinister, menacing and held a face that was far too expressive. "I noticed your ship in the area and couldn't help but admire it. It looked so nice on the outside I just had to see what it looked on the inside."
To say that Sy was terrified would be a severe understatement.
This Droid towered over her, easily being eight feet tall with glowing red eyes that held unnervingly human optics. Its body was humanoid in appearance and held a power to it that was off putting to say the least.
"Wh-Who are you?" Sy asked in a small voice.
The droid blinked, taking a moment to think on her words before releasing a rather menacing chuckle.
"Someone who wants to change the galaxy." Was the droid's only response. "For the betterment of everything."
"Wha-What do you want? Why'd you attack my ship?"
"You have something of interest to me." The droid said plainly. "Something I can use for the furtherment of my plans. And I think you know exactly what it is I'm after."
Sy looked to the datapad with the droids eyes going over to it, with him releasing a chuckle.
"Ah, there it is."
In a terrified state, Sy quickly snatched the datapad and held it out for the Droid with it quirking a metallic eyebrow before a malicious grin formed. It freaked the singer to her core at seeing something that is supposed to have no life display such glowing emotions.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" It said in a rhetorical manner, candidly taking the datapad out of Snootles' hand. "See, I wish half of sentient life was as smart as you. If only it wasn't you that had to be in this position."
"Wh-What?"
The palm of its hand started to glow with a sinister red light. And it was the last thing Sy will ever see before her head was burned off with a quick blast.
Seeing the dead body topple to the ground, the droid turned its attention to the holo-diary held in his other hand. Grasping it, the unique looking droid shoved a finger into the side. The screen suddenly lit up with data flowing through it and into the droid. Once done, the diary short circuited before being tossed aside.
"Time to make a call."
Reaching to the ship's console, the droid inserted it's fingers and "dialed" several numbers all at once. And it wasn't long before it saw the holo-projections of the five members of the Hutt council.
"Hello gentlemen and madam." The droid spoke in fluent Huttees. "How is it on this fine day?"
"Who the hell are you?" Oruba inquired.
"I… am no one of importance to your clans, Mr. Oruba." The Droid said with a malevolent tone. "No one that you should be worried about. But what I can tell you is this. I have need of… accommodations within your section of controlled space."
"And just who do you think you are making such a brazen call to us?" Gardulla the Hutt said with a heated glare.
"One that is perfectly aware of your spice markets within Coruscant or your plans in attempting to weasel your way into Alderaan somehow." The Droid said making the Hutts tense up in silent shock. "It's not going to work mind you. Alderaan is so generally peaceful you should quit while you're ahead."
"What are you talking about?" Oruba spoke up frantically.
"Don't play stupid with me." The Droid said in an annoyed manner. "If you're criminal masterminds, live up to that name. I already know everything. More so now through the stupid little diary Jabba's uncle kept. And I gotta say, Ziro was quite thorough on the details. Not bad for a deadbeat, washout."
"What do you want?" Gardulla inquired cautiously. "Credits?"
"What? God no… actually, that may be useful but I could get them myself if need be. Finances, so weird."
"Then what?"
"Locations, locations. Prime real estate, really and so much more." Stated the droid. "To put it plainly, don't bother me while I do my work. If you do, well, you should know what to expect."
The Hutts shifted about nervously at the implied threat, not liking this in the slightest.
"You shall have your "Real Estate" as you would call it." Jabba stated.
"Good, good. Fantastic business meeting with you all, thank you for your time and investment."
"Before you go, who are you? You are no ordinary droid." Jabba asked.
"Oh, right. You lot would want to properly address me. Silly me~" The droid smiled, unsettling the Hutts greatly. "I am Ultron and we are gonna have quite the partnership for the unforeseeable future."
As he was about to end the call, he recalled one little detail.
"One more thing. If I were to find out you let this little meeting of ours get leaked out somehow then you would all have a very bad day. Much worse than a simple blackmail release to the Senate of all places." Ultron finished in a tone that brokered no arguments.
Before either of the Hutts could argue and question, Ultron disconnected the call. Making his way back towards his ship, he disconnected the connection from the other ship and flew off. At a safe distance the sentient AI blew up the ship in order to cover his tracks.
"Now to start window shopping." Ultron said, pulling up holographic displays of planets the Hutts have full control of. "Oh where~ Oh where~ to begin."
Alright, woo another one down and it was one I've been waiting to get to for a while now.
So yeah, while Peter, Pietro and Rhodey had to deal with Bane and lost kids, Steve and Sam were busy in their own way. This was a breeze, me and Jebest walking right through this chapter in about three- or two-days max. But god damn, has it been crazy out there with the Corona Virus and all essentially putting a stop to regular life.
Jebest4781: I agree, and sure most of us are still able to go to work. But I somewhat wish we could've been told to stay at home… and be paid during that time before having to come back. Yet that's not meant to be as things aren't that bad at our respective jobs.
FMW: Yeah, we've got our jobs and all still going, the two of us braving the great outdoors and taking on the wind and virus with so few people at work cause well that's just how it is. Even in hardships, duty calls to us all.
So, with all that said and done, hope you are all doing the necessary steps in preparation, have all the toilet paper (Like that's gonna make a difference), remain calm, collected, enjoy your time at home and just be patient. Before you blink, this whole thing will be over and done with and life will go on as it usually does. J and I have a lot of cool shit planned out for these stories with many amazing events to come so stay tuned for more my comrades.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.