This was a freaking breeze.
No need to talk.
Let's just get to it.
Be sure to check out my collaborative works with Jebest4781 and BulletStormX, A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts and my newest crossover, Spirit unto Dawn.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 34: Terrors beneath.
Rhodey munched on a ration meal that he was happy to say was an MRE meal he had with Hope, Scott and Peter's help. Tap was able to supply the ingredients, comparing it to the chemicals found within the galaxy and pairing them up to those known on Earth. With the AI's help, the smartest of the three Avengers within the current nine were able to recreate MRE's and had made several dozen now.
"This is delicious." A Clone Trooper in Green tinted armor of the 41st legion nearby was eating from an MRE packet Rhodey shared. "What'd you call this again?"
"Mashed Potatoes." Rhodey said, taking a drink of water.
"And these MRE packets?" Another Clone from 41st inquired. "What are they called again?"
"Meals Ready to Eat." Rhodey answered, finishing up his pack and crumpling it up. "After Geonosis is done, we're gonna start mass producing these little bags. May be small but with Tap's help and our team eggheads, you troops will be eating better than the crap sticks they usually pawn off on you all."
One clone ate with gusto, nodding in the process. "Beats eating the ration bars any day when the fighting dies down."
"No less than you boys deserve." Rhodey stated, wiping his mouth. "The troops from where I come from may not get the best meals but these are gonna be way better than those plastic sticks I've seen."
"No arguments here."
"Second."
Whilst Rhodey and the group of 41st Legion Clone ate and simply chatted, off to the side was Peter Parker, Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano still roughed up from their recent mission and currently entering a gunship to get off world and too rest up.
"Sorry to leave you here, Rex. There's still a lot to do." Ashoka said apologetically to the Clone Captain of the 501st who had come to see the trio off personally.
Rex waved them off. "You three have done enough destroying that factory. Go get some rest. We'll let the others take it from here."
Barriss nodded with Peter giving a small salute goodbye while other clones were brought in on stretchers into the drop ship. "We'll be back before you know it, Captain Rex."
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi stood upon an elevated hilltop with Clone Commanders Gree and Cody, standing with Luminara Unduli, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. Gunship flew past them; most being filled with wounded soldiers who were being carried back to the Republic fleet for proper medical attention
"A hard-won victory." Simply said Kenobi.
"Indeed." Luminara responded. "And a costly one. We suffer a great many losses in these battles." She released a built-up sigh welling in her chest. "Too many…"
"The battles do appear to be coming with growing frequency."
"How much longer do you figure we'll be on this planet?" Sam asked, crossing his arms. He was honestly getting tired of the arid land before him.
"With the main factory taken care of, we need to start cleaning up this rock. And the main portion to sweep up is nabbing that Poggle character.." Steve informed.
"No signs of him, I take it?" Luminara inquired.
Kenobi shook his head 'no'. "We have clone squadrons spread out all over the area but no hits yet."
Luminara slowly nodded and walked towards the parked speeder bike nearby. "I'll go out and find some clue as to where he went."
"We do need to find him quick before the trail goes cold." Steve commented. "Poggle has too much information about the Separatists to let him get away."
"Agreed." Hopping on her hoverbike, Luminara started up the engine. "Just make sure to leave a bit of strategic planning for me when I come back. I'd hate to feel left out. Commander Gree, care to join me?"
"Of course, General." The Clone Commander seated himself in another hoverbike nearby.
Steve gave her an amused grin. "No promises."
She responded back with a similar grin before taking off, Commander Gree joining after her.
"Hey guys."
The group turned around to see Rhodey approaching.
"Rhodey." Sam said, the two bumping fists with Steve nodding.
"How was your mission?" Kenobi asked.
"The Clones and I finished sweeping up our area in the southwest quadrant." Rhodey said, looking around for a moment. "Where'd Luminara and Gree run off to?"
"Reconnaissance, so to speak." Kenobi stated. "The two have gone off in search of Poggle the Lesser in hopes of finding him."
"By themselves?" Rhodey asked, clearly not liking the idea. "You sure you should have let them go out there? It's a madhouse of bugs out there, you've seen how they just pop up and surprise us in the middle of battle."
"He does have a point." Cody conceded, grimacing at the mention of the Geonosians. They're serious hellraisers, causing annoying amounts of pandemonium on the battlefield.
"If you're willing to join her, you're more than welcome to." Obi-wan said. "You will, however, need to catch up to her."
"No problem." Rhodey said, heading out to get into his War Machine suit. "I'll just need to trace her signal and will be with her in no time flat."
Steve nodded as Rhodey jogged off over to where he left his armor, turning his gaze back towards the smoldering wreckage of the destroyed Droid foundry.
Ever since coming to this planet after Operation: Point Rain, there's been a foreboding feeling that has followed him everywhere for the past few days.
That droid… it said a specific set of words that are all too familiar to him.
Frowning, he could vaguely hear it. Hear him. That sinister, taunting laugh.
Then there was what Peter had told him. About a strange tactical droid that only watched while he and the two Padawans fought inside the factory. It didn't exactly fill him with joy to say the least.
Steve blinked a moment later at the sound of thrusters being heard overhead.
Glancing up, he saw Rhodey in his War Machine suit rocketing forward after General Luminara and Commander Gree at full speed.
Sighing, Steve knew he'd have to speak with the other Avengers about this. He didn't want to startle them but better to be safer than sorry after all.
-Scene Cut-
In a region farther to the west where the Republic ships were stationed, Luminara and Gree were speeding along the terrain. Coming across a slope, the pair parked their hoverbikes and surveyed the area in finding any clue towards Poggle's whereabouts.
With her binoculars, Master Unduli spotted something. Zooming in, she saw a wayward crate. "150 klicks southeast."
Gree looked over towards Luminara's directions and saw an object fairly out of place. He was about to help get a report in towards the others when the pair heard thrusters in the air. Looking towards the source, Gree and Luminara saw the War Machine diving towards them. Both instinctively stepped back to give the Colonel some room for his landing. The Earther slowed his descent and softened his landing a few feet from them.
"Well hello there." Rhodey said, helmet retracting back to reveal his small smirk. "Mind if I join you two?"
"Colonel Rhodes." Gree said in a respectful manner.
"Hey Gree."
"Rhodey." Luminara raised a brow. "What brought this on? Is something amiss?"
Rhodey waved his hand in a downward manner. "Nah, none of that sort. Just figured it'd be better the two of you weren't entirely alone out here. This place hasn't been exactly friendly to us to say the least."
Gree huffed in agreement on that little fact.
"I appreciate the notion, Colonel." Luminara said kindly. "Are you sure, though? I'd rather not having you waste your energy on a simple scouting mission."
"Scouting for a priority targeted Seppie leader ain't exactly a simple scouting mission." Rhodey pointed out. "And you could use some help. I spotted a sandstorm while up in the air and it's coming our way."
This slightly unsettled the Jedi and Clone. "You're certain?"
"Positive." Rhodey pointed up ahead. "Look there."
Gree and Luminara stared ahead and indeed, there was a large cloud of smoke and sand far off in the distance yet it was visibly getting closer by the second.
"Then we'd better make this quick." Luminara said, getting back on her speeder bike. "There's something Gree and I had found earlier that we wish to inspect."
Rhodey nodded, helmet snapping back on as Gree got on his own speeder bike. The trio descended down the cliffside down to a lone crate sitting there in the middle of the desert.
Rhodey was able to get to the crate first, opening the lid and inspecting the contents. "Food and… whatever that crud is."
Gree took a moment to get in his own inspection while Luminara contacted Kenobi and Captain Rogers.
"General Kenobi, Captain Rogers, Ah, Master Mundi, it is good to see you as well."
"Luminara." Mundi greeted, his holo form bowing in greeting. "How goes your search for Poggle?"
"We haven't gotten anything on him personally but we found something that appeared rather out of place." Luminara showed them the lone crate that sat within the sand. "It appears to be some sort of munitions crate. There was no battle in this area so it being debris of some kind seems unlikely."
"And whatever the hell this crap is." Rhodey muttered aloud.
"It looks like Poggle was on a direct course." Gree spoke up. "11 mark, 72. That way."
"Straight into the coming desert storm." Rhodey said with half-lidded eyes. "Of course he'd go there." he turned to Luminara. "What's over in that direction?"
"The Progate Temple, if I'm not mistaken."
"But why would Poggle go over there of all places?" Mundi asked aloud. "That area was heavily bombarded by our munitions, there should be nothing left for Poggle to go back to."
"Praying to whatever deity he worships to for good luck or whatever." Dryly said the colonel. "If not, then something else could be happening nearby that location that we are in the dark about."
"That place looks exposed, from what we're looking at." Steve said, a holo-display of the temple being brought up on his end. "Maybe there's something there that we don't know about."
"Whatever the case may be, we need to keep onto Poggle's trail and not lose him again."
"But what about the sandstorm coming your way?" Kenobi inquired.
"If you can get in touch with my Avenger ID signature, then you can keep track of our location." Rhodey informed.
"Good to know. I'd hate it if we'd have to find both you three and Poggle."
"I'd rather take the minimalist amount of risks right now."
"Then good luck."
With the transmission ending, the three soon took off and headed straight towards the sandstorm.
Coming towards the sandstorm, the War Machine flew right above it so he could at least try to keep a visual of the intended path the three are taking. And to be sure he wasn't going to lose track of Master Unduli and Commander Gree, he used his suit's sensors to see their forms through the storm.
"You sure about this, Lumi?"
"Yes, I- What?"
"Lumi. You know, Luminara for short."
Gree was certainly lucky that the billowing winds masked his snort and his helmet covered his grin that had now grin on his face.
Luminara gaped slightly, before closing her mouth at the risk of getting sand in her mouth.
"The temple is not far." Luminara quickly answered. "Come on."
Accelerating her speeder, she moved ahead with Gree doing the same to keep up with her.
At this point, Rhodey was forced to dive into the sandstorm in order to get close to his allies as they started to get closer to the Geonosian temple. Once the War Machine landed by the temple's front entrance, he saw the droid tank with several droids no longer functioning; left abandoned by Poggle no doubt.
Coming inside, he saw many odd statues surrounding the temple's interior. And with the billowing storm outside, it left this foreboding feeling in the vicinity.
"Well… this isn't creepy at all." Rhodey commented, throwing his hands up. "Let's just wait for whatever creepy thing is around here to just get the jump on us."
Gree shifted about uncomfortably, holding his rifle close.
Luminara gave the Colonel a slightly exasperated smile before pulling out her transceiver.
"Master Kenobi, we tracked Poggle to the Progate Temple," Luminara informed, "but there's no sign of him."
"Go no further until we can send support." Kenobi ordered. "We can barely read your transmission as it is. It's only thanks with Rhodey's ID signature that we can actually know you're all still in one piece."
"Are you sure he went into the temple?"
"Yes, we saw the droid tank parked outside." Luminara looked over and saw the lid of an entrance on the floor opened ajar. "By the looks of it, he might've gone into the catacombs below."
"Those can go for miles." Obi-wan said with a shake of his head. "I fear we may have lost him. Get yourself out of there and return to the ships."
Rhodey and Gree were standing before the entryway to the catacombs beneath the temple.
"Looks like we've got two ways in. Straight and down." Rhodey noted, gazing back and forth at the entrances.
"What do you reckon is down there?" Gree asked, finger trailing over his blaster's trigger.
"Nightmares." Rhodey said plainly. "Cause this tunnel sure as hell looks like one."
"How bad can it be?"
The sound of flapping wings were followed by the hissing and screams of Geonosians that burst from both entrances of the catacombs and from the open holes of the temple walls.
"...You just had to say it, didn't you?" Said the colonel, flipping his visor back into place.
Luminara ignited her lightsaber while Gree began firing upon the Geonosians. Rhodey was in the air, striking at the Geonosians directly whilst his shoulder mounted machine gun covered his blind spots.
It was a brief skirmish. Though there were about two dozen Geonosians that attacked, the three fighters dispatched them with ease even though they surprised them.
"Huddle up." Rhodey stated, landing next to Gree with the trio now standing in a triangle formation.
The area was silent with nothing but the ominous desert winds buffeting this barely standing structure outside. They were all tense to say the least.
Luminara held her Lightsaber in front of her with Gree trailing his blaster back and forth between the holes of the walls and the catacombs entrances.
Rhodey held out both arms, hands open with his minigun making constant rotation.
"HISSSS"
"Here they come!" Gree said aloud.
More Geonosians burst forth from the catacombs. Only this time, the group that came through upon the ground entrance had knocked the lid up and sent it at Gree.
The Clone Commander barely rolled out of the way in time as Rhodey and Luminara fought off the new Geonosians. Only these were rather different. Rhodey found that they took a lot more punishment and were only fully halted by Luminara's lightsaber.
He didn't have much time to think on the matter as he heard the desperate fighting grunts of Commander Gree.
Turning his head around, he was alarmed at the sight of the Clone fighting tooth and nail against these strange Geonosians that appeared to be intent on grabbing him.
"Commander." Luminara said in worry, moving to aid her soldier with Rhodey rocketing forward to knock away several of those Geonosians.
Luminara slashed through several when her wrist holding her lightsaber was grabbed by another Geonosian.
She momentarily struggled against its grasp only to find that it appeared stronger than her with it squeezing her wrist. She grunt in pain, lightsaber deactivating and falling from her grasp.
Luminara was grabbed by several more Geonosians that came out from the catacombs and began to drag her inside.
"General!" Gree cried out.
"Oh no you don't you alien bug knockoffs." Rhodey pounced forward yet a contingent of Geonosians from the cave below had grabbed onto his legs and pulled him down.
"Oh no you don't." Rhodey had his thrusters on at full power with both his hands and feet being used to burn through the flesh of the Geonosians that held him. Quickly escaping their clutches, Rhodey flew over to help Gree out with the last Geonosians that he was still struggling with.
Both men then turned to see…
"Son of a bitch." Rhodey stomped his foot on the ground.
Luminara was gone. Taken by those bugs with nothing but her lightsaber left. Gritting his teeth, Rhodey moved to go in after her only for Gree to stop him.
"Sirs wait, that's not a good idea." Gree argued.
"And why would you say that?" Rhodey countered. "She needs our help."
"I know sir, I know. But General Kenobi said that these catacombs go on for miles." Gree stated. "And we just saw that those catacombs are still full to the brim with those damn buggers. It's better if we go in there with more help than just rushing blindly in."
Rhodey grit his teeth in frustration.
"I don't like it any more than you do, Colonel." Gree said apologetically. "She's my general. But right now, she was taken captive in a Geonosian catacomb. Us rushing in guns blazing might do more harm than good."
Rhodey had his head tilted down in slight self-berating. Gree was right.
"I'll send out a distress beacon." Rhodey said, pulling out his Avengers ID card. "Hopefully the storm settles down sooner than later."
-Scene Cut-
A Republic gunship flew in and landed right outside of the temple. The bay doors sprung open with a contingent of clones filing out with Steve, Anakin and Kenobi coming in from the rear.
"Are you still sure Rhodey sent out that SOS signal here?" Asked the Skywalker.
"Positive." Steve said, ID card in hand.
Upon getting inside, they saw the temple's interior was wrecked even further. And sitting on a rock not far away from the catacomb entrance was Rhodey.
"What took you guys so long?" Rhodey said with Gree stood not far from the entrance, blaster trailed upon the main gateway.
"Sorry, Rhodey. We tried to reach here sooner, but the storm was hard to navigate through." Skywalker stated.
"What happened to Luminara?" Kenobi asked, pointing out her lack of presence.
Rhodey held up her lightsaber and gave it to Kenobi. "Taken by those bugs. Would've gone after her, but…"
"Tunnels were swarming, sir." Gree stated, somewhat relaxing but still eyed the catacomb entrance.
Anakin was standing before the main entrance to the catacombs below, gazing up at a particularly unusual statue.
"That is one ugly bug." Cody commented.
"What is it?" Steve asked, going up to Anakin.
"I haven't seen one that looks like that before." Anakin stated, not exactly liking the look of it.
"I don't believe anyone has." Kenobi said. "It could be the Geonosian queen."
"There's a queen?" Anakin asked in bewilderment.
"Queen? You can't be serious. Like from Aliens?" Rhodey brought up.
"Oh, don't even with that movie." Anakin said aloud squeamishly. "After Peter showed that movie to me, Ahsoka and the 501st we've been wanting to get off of Geonosis faster."
Kenobi only rolled his eyes at the banter. "The queen is rumored, but there has been no evidence of her existence."
"Not until today, unfortunately." Rogers said, grabbing his shield from his back.
"Well what are we waiting for, let's dive right in." Kenobi gestured, igniting his lightsaber along with Anakin. The two Jedi lead the group straight into the dark catacombs, beginning their long trek into the seemingly endless caverns.
The Clones had their guns up and helmet light cams on.
Things were quite suspenseful in the narrowing corridors. The dark was intensifying, the smell seemed to grow little by little, and the tracking beacon from Luminara's wrist communicator kept on beeping.
"This leads to a dead end." Cody informed.
"You sure about that?"
"Positive." Turning to an adjacent pathway, the clone commander gave further details. "This one goes further. I'd say it's our best bet."
"I'll head in first." Obi-wan ducked into the narrow tunnel way, the others following closely after him.
"God this even reminds me of the hive from the movie." Rhodey muttered.
"Rhodey… please don't."
While the group continued down the catacombs, deeper within the caves, one Mirialan Jedi Master had regained consciousness. She blearily opened her eyes to find both her hands being held up, her body being dragged through the dirt as the two Geonosians that held her carried her through the tunnels.
In a snap moment, Luminara kicked up and was free of her captors yet noticed her wrists were cuffed.
She resorted to kicking the surrounding Geonosians away with all the athleticism and force enhancements she could pull off in her limited space.
All the while, the Jedi, Avengers and Clones were walking in deeper and deeper when…
"Master Kenobi!" Out of nowhere, they received a transmission from the wayward Jedi Master. Fully activating his wrist coms, Obi-wan let the others hear in on this. "If you're following me, you must leave this place. Just get out. I repeat fall-" The transmission soon abruptly ended.
"She must be close by. Come on."
The group hurried their pace, hoping to catch up to their ally in time before anything happened to her. Yet their task was put to a halt upon hearing a series of clicking and groaning in the darkness. Shining their light towards the source, they saw a good number of Geonosians coming towards them… in an unusual manner.
Soon the group heard more of the same sounds coming from all over, prompting everyone to face a different tunnel and saw the exact same mannerisms from the natives of this planet.
"I don't like the looks of this."
"No one does, Kenobi."
The clones opened fire upon the incoming threat as they landed their hits on joints and torso. But no matter how much damage they took, they seemed still mobile. Even with lightsaber cuts, nothing seemed to faze them.
When one got in close, the air force colonel saw something slither in and out of the Geonosian noses. He quickly put two and two together, paling in the process.
"Oh great, something worse than the Xenomorphs. Alien zombies!" Rhodey started firing on the undead's head and necks.
"Not helping Rhodey!" Anakin said exasperatedly, slicing through the bugs. "Not helping at all!"
Rhodey stepped forward from his end and proceeded to riddle one of the Geonosians with lead, completely shredding through its head.
"You need to destroy their brain or lop off the head. Only way to take them down effectively."
"You heard the colonel." Cody yelled out, pinning a Geonosian by the neck with one arm while firing several shots into the head until at long last it slumped over and didn't move again.
The group started to get overwhelmed by the enemy numbers, prompting Obi-wan to order a retreat. He then ordered for the tunnel supports to be taken out, so they could have a means of distancing themselves from the undead. The clones followed their orders and blasted the support beams as the debris soon fell and closed off the tunnel before them. As the dust settled with hardly a sound being heard from the other side, the group tried their best to collect themselves.
"Well that wasn't terrifying, at all." Rhodey said aloud, letting out a breath of relief at getting away from those zombie bugs.
"What happened back there?" Steve asked in complete seriousness. "Most of our attacks barely slowed them down."
"Those weren't ordinary Geonosians." Anakin said, slightly disturbed by what had just transpired. "We could barely kill them."
Obi-Wan walked over to a nearby wall, leaning against it as he thought on the enemies they had just faced.
"I've heard stories of a Geonosian hive mind so powerful, so strong, that it can maintain its connection with its warriors even after they have died."
"So we couldn't kill them because-"
Kenobi finished Anakin's statement. "They're already dead, yes."
"Might also help with whatever was slithering of their noses." Rhodey added in.
"What did you see?" Kenobi asked.
"Some kind of worm thing." Rhodey said, pointing to where his nose was beneath his helmet. "Saw it going in and out of a Geonosian."
"Hmm, direct entry towards the brain then." Kenobi muttered to himself. "So if those worms can do the control from there, who controls the worms?"
"This is getting out of hand." Steve muttered.
"Sounds impossible."
"Impossible or not, these creatures keep moving even when we cut them up or shoot them down. Only through Rhodey's quick detail was he able to give us the upper hand."
"So what's our next play then?" Rhodey asked. "Cause talking about all this mind control zombie crap ain't exactly helping Luminara's case right about now. They took her alive."
"Then we must make haste." Kenobi said. "But not alone."
"Right." Anakin held up his wrist comms and pressed upon the transmitter only to get a red mark. "Nothing, no signal down here."
"Avengers ID cards also have some spotty signals as well." Rhodey informed the group. "We're too deep underground."
Obi-wan looked to Steve. "Captain Rogers, can you take two men with you and get back to the surface to call in for reinforcements?"
"Consider it done." Steve said.
"Gearshift, Rotor." Cody pointed to two clones. "Go with Captain Rogers."
They moved through the small tunnel they had used to enter deeper into the catacombs while the others kept moving further underground.
With the trio, they slowly made their way back where they came from. It would be quite difficult in their current pace, but they were in an unfamiliar, enemy territory. The Geonosians have a great advantage here and Captain Rogers did not want to take any risks.
"Can't wait to get back to the surface." Gearshift muttered out, checking his 6 at every other moment.
"Likewise." Responded Rotor. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Just stay close, you two." Steve instructed. "And heads down. Bugs may come from above or all around us for all we know."
"Yes sir." Both Clones said in unison.
It wasn't long before Gearshift saw movement the moment his helmet lights shined down the tunnel. He quickly fired a shot with the all too familiar, disturbing sounds soon following.
"Contact." Gearshift shouted out with several dead Geonosians appearing around them.
"Get down." Cap ordered, the two clones ducking as Steve threw his shield at a downward angle.
The shield bounced against the walls, flying from one to the other all while slicing through the dead bugs with their bodies being cut to pieces.
Gearshift and Rotor recalled Colonel Rhodeys advice, both focusing on one Geonosian at a time with both shooting them down at the head.
However, they could only do it one at a time with the zombies closing on them.
"There's too man-AH"
"Gearshift." Rotor shot his hand out and grabbed onto his brother, pulling him back from the grasp of the Geonosians.
Steve suddenly vaulted over, shield grasped in his hand and swung his arm horizontally. His Vibranium shield easily cut through the Geonosians, spinning around to bash back several more dead bugs. Gearshift and Rotor recovered a moment later, joining Caps side and blasting the bugs dead more permanently this time.
"You both alright?" Cap asked.
"Yes sir, green."
"Thanks."
"Captain Rogers, are you alright?" Kenobi asked through Steve's Avenger ID. "We heard blaster fire."
"We're alright." Steve responded back. "Some of the undead tried sneaking up on us, but we were able to make it through. We'll keep you informed on our progress back to the catacomb entrance."
"Please do. I'd rather not tell the others of your demise in such a place."
"I've dealt with worse, Obi-wan."
"I won't debate that matter." Kenobi said, walking further down. "Steve, Gearshift and Rotor are in the clear."
"So reinforcements are on the way." Gree said in relief.
"Now we just need to find Luminara." Rhodey stated.
Traversing further down and deeper, the search party was starting to feel quite uncomfortable.
"We must be getting close." Obi-wan noted. "The air is rather warm."
"Oh, forget the heat." Anakin started to cough before covering his nose. "It's utterly rank down here."
"Luckily for the troopers and I, our filters are keeping the smell out." Rhodey said with a hidden smirk.
"Yeah, lucky you."
"Keep your voice down, both of you."
"I'm just saying, this planet is rotten from the inside out."
"You might not be wrong on that one."
Reaching the tunnel's end, Anakin, Obi-wan and Rhodey soon gazed upon a rather large bug reaching towards the chamber's ceiling. It wore a unique headdress and by the looks of it, they quickly realized they had found the Geonosian queen.
…
…
…
"Jesus H, Ridley Scott, eat your damn heart out."
"Oh for the love of- Enough with Alien!" Anakin hissed at the present Avenger. "I had nightmares for a week after seeing those movies. How Peter ever convinced me in seeing those films, I'll never understand it."
"Can you both just stop for a moment." Kenobi said exasperatedly. "These "Alien" films are just getting annoying now."
The rest of the Clones stepped forward, blasters up in case the Geonosians spotted them.
"Any sign of Luminara?" Anakin asked.
Rhodey activated his scanners and was quickly able to detect her. "She's alive, for starters, and is suspended near the throne."
"What about Poggle?"
"Speaking with the queen, apparently." Gree said, pointing to said Geonosian.
"Good." Obi-wan then requested an order. "Rhodey, I want you, Gree and Cody to take the men and when I give the signal, use whatever lights you have to blind them. No doubt these undead Geonosians are extremely sensitive to bright lights."
"You got it." Responded the colonel before silently directing the clones to certain points of the chamber.
"And what will we be doing?" Anakin asked. Upon seeing his former master looking towards the queen, he quickly realized where this was going. "Oh, no. You don't actually want to talk to it, do you?"
"Matter of fact, I do." Kenobi then looked upon his former Padawan. "Anakin, don't you wonder why they took Luminara captive? Why not just kill her?"
"She's leverage. She's a hostage."
"Leverage for what? No, there's something else going on here and these zombies are connected to it."
"Obi-Wan, do we really need to have this discussion right now?" Rhodey said from his position, now him being exasperated.
"Obi-wan, please."
"Where's your sense of adventure, Anakin?" Obi-wan said, walking out of his hiding spot.
"Some adventures are better left untraveled." Anakin argued back.
"Sir." Cody spoke through the comms. "Are you sure about this? We can't kill them by conventional means."
"We'll do what we did earlier." Rhodey said. "Blaster the support beams and bury the buggers."
Obi-wan and Anakin walked forward with the two still debating on the matter of Luminara being taken.
"Come now, Anakin. The queen took Luminara hostage. She wanted a Jedi. Now she has two more. I merely want to know what she's after."
"Well, when this doesn't go as planned, which it won't, I'll be ready."
"That is so reassuring."
Walking past the zombie Geonosians, who groaned and hissed at them, the two Jedi soon stood before the queen of the alien race.
Gazing upon her fellow Jedi, Luminara fought back a groan. "I thought I told you not to follow me, Master Kenobi."
"Yes well I decided to take a page out of Anakin's book and not follow orders." Kenobi said plainly.
Anakin nodded before realizing what was just said. "Hey!"
"Yoooou." The Jedi looked up and saw the queen was speaking to them. "Yoooooooouuuuu are the creatures that attacked Geonosia!"
"Holy shit, she speaks." Rhodey said, Gree right by him as the Clones and Colonel were now in position surrounding the queen and her thralls.
"Whhhhyyyy have yooouu come befooore ME!"
"Your majesty, it's a pleasure to meet you at long last." Kenobi said cordially. "I am Obi-wan Kenobi, and this is Anakin Skywalker. It is our sad duty to inform you that your rule is at an end."
The Geonosian Queen didn't take too kindly to that statement.
"Yoooooouuu nooot dictate to me, Jeeediii." Said the queen. "My empire iissss fooooreveeeer."
"I'm afraid it does not appear that way, your grace. You shall release the Jedi Luminara and submit to Republic law."
The Geonosian queen merely growled and screeched in response. "I noooo submiiiit to yoooou!"
Anakin quickly ignited his lightsaber when the zombie bugs turned towards them. Obi-wan was quick to hold him back with his hand. "No, patience, Anakin. Wait." Anakin eventually complied, deactivating his lightsaber before his and Obi-wans were ripped away from their persons and taken back to the queen. "Majesty, destroying us shall only make the Republic's judgement on you harsher."
The queen merely groaned. "Noooo, Jeediii. Nooooo! I nooo destroooy yoooou. I devooour yooouu. I controool yooouu. I had but ooone Jeediii before yooung Poggle bring meee. But nooow I haaave threeee." Poggle soon came forward and retrieved an egg from one of the undead and came right towards their bound captive. "Nooow, watch as my chiiild enters yooour Jeeediii friend. Aaannd ooonce insiiide, her miiind becomes my miiind. Her thoooughts, myyyy thoooughts."
"It's a sort of mind control, a hive mind." Kenobi whispered in open fascination. "She thinks she can possess us."
"Great." Anakin said in a mocking, annoyed tone. "Find out everything you wanted to know?"
"No wait, I want to see how it works." Kenobi waved him down.
"I don't think Luminara wants to see how it works." Anakin said a bit irritated now.
Luminara gave Kenobi a pleading look as Poggle drew near. "No, I really don't."
"I'm curious, the more we know the better." Kenobi admitted.
"Didn't we already know the worms work through going through one's nose?"
"No, we saw it simply move about within the nose. We're unsure of how it truly works."
"I disagree." Luminara said a bit more forcefully now with Poggle holding the brain worm before her.
"So do I." Anakin said.
"Come now, the nose or the ears? Which one do you think it'll enter?" Kenobi asked.
Anakin sighed aloud, giving his former master an unimpressed look. "I think it's the nose."
"I hope this is part of the plan." Luminara said in slight defeat as the brain worm began slithering about her head.
"Isn't it always." Kenobi said knowingly. "Cody, Rhodey, now!"
Commanders Cody and Gree rushed out with the other Clones, War Machine flying into the center of the Queen's chamber with all flashing their lights directly into the direction of the queen. The Queen flailed about, shielding her eyes. Her distressed screams made the rest of the brain controlled Geonosians all jerk about as they couldn't be properly controlled.
"Perfect time to say this." Rhodey declared, flying aloft in the air with his arms out and missile compartments open. "Get away from her, you bitch!"
Rhodey opened up his wrist turrets and opened fire upon the undead bugs alongside the other clone troopers. They all groaned and hissed with the volley hitting them all. Even a good number was soon directed right towards the Geonosian queen, courtesy of War Machine.
In response to the assault on her person, the alien queen screeched as green goo poured out from her wounds as she was soon slaughtered by the Avenger.
During the assault on the enemy forces, Anakin used the Force to retrieve their lightsabers before quickly tackling Poggle to the ground and secured him in a pair of handcuffs. Obi-wan, however, eyed the dropped egg with another worm trying to crawl out. He reached out for it with the Force when-
*Thump*
"Ow! Rhodey, why would you do that?!" Kenobi asked, rubbing the side of his head after being flicked by a metal covered finger from War Machine.
"For being a curious idiot." Rhodey then snatched the brain worm out from Obi-wan's hand despite the Jedi's protest and threw it on the ground. It would have gotten away had Rhodey not scorched it to death and dust with his foot thruster. He made sure to get the egg as well for added measure.
"Rhodey! I was going to study that!"
"Well study the ashes! I am not going to risk having you bring that with us alive and in one piece and cause a potential outbreak."
"For once, I agree with the Alien reference." Anakin said. "Besides, you can study the bottom of our boots. Plenty of Geonosian brain sludge there."
"And for all the zombie films out there."
"...How many are there-"
"Anakin!"
"Oh, right. Let's get a move on!"
The entire group began running out of the catacombs at full speeds as the caverns started to come down around them.
Geonosians that were still alive and inside either fled or tried attacking the Republic forces in retaliation.
In response, Rhodey lagged behind slightly while dropping explosives and fending off their pursuing Geonosians.
"Keep moving." Rhodey ordered.
Up ahead, they saw a light shining down from a hole in the ceiling.
"There's our way out." Luminara pointed ahead.
"Go, go, I'll hold them off." War Machine had multiple compartments pop out from his armor as he began to fire off all the remaining Geonosians that were still pursuing them.
Reaching the hole in the ceiling, the group stared up to see the sunlight of the nearby Geonosian star shining down from on high.
They began scaling up the walls to escape with Rhodey backing up as the Geonosians began swarming.
He looked up for a brief moment and saw the rest of the clones were now climbing up as well.
"Right, time to go." Rhodey muttered.
From the surface, Steve, Gearshift and Rotor heard of the firefight coming from the catacombs. They were about to go through the main entrance when Steve noticed the sound wasn't coming from where they came in, but from the lid nearby. Rushing over, Captain Rogers lifted up the metal slab and started pulling it further away. The two clone troopers saw the act and rushed over to give the Avenger the assistance.
It was at this point they spotted the search party, with Poggle, starting climbing up from the hole below. Dropping the metal slab, the three leaned down and started pulling people out one by one. And they had to hurry due to the continuous hisses and groans coming from below the group. Once the last of them were out, they heard thruster going off from below. Retreating back, they soon avoided getting hit by the War Machine.
"We gotta move!" Said the colonel. "Place is gonna come down on top of us!"
Rhodey flew off ahead with everyone else running behind as the temple started collapsing. With the last of them out of the vicinity, they were safe from the creatures lurking beneath them.
"Well, all things considered." Anakin coughed out. "That went better than I expected.
"I just wish we could have gotten one of those wo-OW!" Kenobi rubbed the back of his head, giving an incredulous stare at Rhodey who had removed his helmet to deadpan at the Jedi Master.
"Obi, just… don't even finish that statement." Rhodey said in a dry tone. "There are rules to these kinds of situations. And I am not going to risk having you breaking one of them for the sake of your curiosity."
Luminara suddenly began chuckling at the display with Anakin unable to contain his own laughter at his master for being scolded so thoroughly.
Steve had starred in between Kenobi, Rhodey and Anakin.
"I have a feeling I missed something down there."
"Yeah, when we get outta here remind me to show Obi-wan the reason why his curiosity can be a dangerous option."
"I'll be sure to do so once in friendly space."
A total breeze this one. All it took was one sitting!
Jeb: And this was a pretty decent chapter, if I do say so myself. One more and the Geonosian arc is pretty much said and done. From there, the other arcs we have in store.
FMW: Huzzah. Seriously, we breezed right through this one. Just another chapter of Alien and body snatcher references and we're on to the other arcs! Clone Wars tragically… is nearing its end. With only two episodes left.
Jeb: We all knew this was coming, but at least it was going to end on a high note… despite the tragedy that befalls upon the Star Wars galaxy.
FMW: After everything we the fans had endured; it was thanks to us sending those notes out to Filoni and Favreau and we got our final season. The season where we know how it will end.
Jeb: Do wish the season could've been longer than the 12 episodes we were given. There were episodes planned out, after all. Yet Disney could only let us have those three arcs.
FMW: Still, Siege of Mandalore has been amazing and will probably continue to be so to the end.
Thanks again for reading comrades.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.