Avengers: Infinite Wars

by free man writer

The Clone Wars are in full swing with the galaxy divided. The Jedi lead the clone army against the infinite droid army of the Separatists. Yet a wild card enters the fray. The Avengers. From there, newer, more sinister and deadlier threats emerge and The Galaxy, no, the universe, shall never be the same again. Co-written by Jebest4781 and BulletStormX. Now in Season 4.

50. Gladiator

Yes, yesssss, I love the reviews so much because it is just empowering me even more and just making also hate that there's so much I wanna reveal but can't cause I gotta tell the story first.

So here we are folks, we've reached the conclusion of season 2 if ya can believe it. The closing chapter and we've only just reached Chapter 50.

This is actually a bit of a milestone for me because this is the first story I've ever done to reach to fifty and gotta say, feels damn good.

Gotta make sure to thank Jebest4781 and BulletStormX.

These two dudes have been instrumental in helping me shape this story into what it is today with all the ideas they've given and the arcs that have been planned because of them.

I know that while the end of this story is far off in the distance, we'll get their one day because this story will have a definitive end.

What I do know is that this story will be hitting the hundred mark without question so we're in for a long haul.

Other than that, loving the people addressing the whole thing with the allusion to what the Force may or may not be related to and I can easily say that Season 3 will be a big proponent in expanding this.

Mortis arc being a dead on obvious arc to address the Forces standing within the context of the MCU as well as a number of instances and two original arcs that will further clarify and expand on it.

Jeb and I had a lot of fun portraying Ultron cause to me, I did love him in his own movie and wished we had more of him. The reason why Ultron is so threatening is because he is a perpetual threat that refuses to die. I hope they bring him back in the MCU cause he would offer the same global threat to a new breed of Avengers with some rollovers from the past.

Now that that's said and done, let's close out season 2 shall we?

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Avengers Infinite Wars Chapter 50: Gladiator

Count Dooku was suffering the mother of all migraines.

He sat alone in a small office with two B1 battle droids standing on either side behind him.

The ruler of Serenno gazed down at the datapad in hand, the information on it being nothing but what could be described as a bad news waterfall.

Multiple planets still reeling from Ultron's attacks.

Several foundries were either destroyed or taken over.

Jabiim has been lost.

Their forces either being taken over by Ultron or completely and utterly decimated.

It was a mess and that was putting it mildly.

Being the head of state of the CIS, a secret Dark Lord of the Sith and orchestrating the war on both sides was taxing enough as is.

Now there's this wildcard element that made his official debut to the galaxy.

And what a debut it was.

Since then, it has been nothing short of a scramble to get everything under control and keep all parties calm and levelheaded.

Easier said than done.

His own Master had reported that unrest on Coruscant from the Senate was escalating and had only grown worse since the loss of Jabiim.

The aging Force user let out a small sigh as he placed a hand over his eyes when he heard the door to his office open.

"Count Dooku."

The Secret Sith Lord looked up at a young woman walking in, giving him a sympathetic look.

"The Parliament has assembled." She informed the Count. "They are ready."

Dooku nodded, standing up out of his seat. "Thank you Shara."

Shara simply nodded, stepping out of his way as he exited his office and made his way to the Parliament's chambers.

He entered to a cacophony of arguments, shouting and yelling as every single member of the CIS Senate was on their feet in heated debate.

Practically every aspect of the Confederacy was here in attendance and that came as no surprise when one thinks of the circumstances they found themselves in.

It was sheer pandemonium in the galaxy and Dooku had a gut feeling that it would only get worse from here.

"Settle down, all of you." Dooku's voice boomed across the chamber, catching everyone's attention as he made his way up to the main elevated podium and stood overlooking them all.

"I now call this senate meeting into order." Dooku declared aloud. "I take it that all of you understand the importance of this gathering, yes?"

There were murmurs and nods from all in attendance with the Count eyeing each one of them.

"Then let us begin." Dooku stated. "What say you all say about this matter?"

"We were hoping you would start, Count Dooku." Representative Mina Bonteri spoke up with many voicing their agreements with her.

Dooku simply nodded. "As you are all quite vividly aware, a new enemy has made himself known throughout the galaxy in these last few days. A day ago, I received confirmation that Ultron has indeed driven off both the Republic and Confederate forces from the planet and from what further reports are saying, the system of Jabiim."

Smatterings of nervousness and outrage immediately followed suit after this statement.

"So it is true."

"What happened there?"

"The entire system? Force me, this is a nightmare."

"What of our forces?"

"Forget that what of us?"

"Enough." Dooku said aloud, silencing the chamber once again. "It will do us no good if we are simply bickering with one another. The time is upon us for decisive actions lest we suffer greater losses and hardships."

"What are we to do, Count Dooku?" A Siniteen male spoke first. "This Ultron has many of our systems terrified. Many of our battle droids have either been taken or destroyed."

"Can we even trust our battle droids anymore?" A blue skinned male humanoid argued. "It is apparent that this Ultron can easily take control of them."

"Why hasn't he then?" Voe Atell rebuked. "From what I am aware of, we still have millions of our battle droids still attending to their duty."

"And who is to say that they will remain as such." Mina pointed out. "We're walking atop a thin line of order and chaos with a great deal leaning towards the latter."

"And what would you have us do?" An amphibian-like Senator called out. "Have us shut down our entire standing army? We would be completely defenseless and ill prepared."

"I have already put forth a bill to handle that matter." Dooku proclaimed, making everyone look to him.

"We shall still be utilizing our droid army as that is the bulk of our main forces." the Sith Lord stated. "However, we shall also begin establishing a voluntary service to enter into the army or even conscription if need be."

There were murmurs of concern on this matter yet only a few voiced their concerns on this matter.

"Hasn't there been enough death as is." Mina Bonteri remarked.

"This is a war, Bonteri." Voe snidely reminded her. "Death comes as a prerequisite."

"But that doesn't mean we need to fight a war on two fronts." Mina fired back, hands on her podium. "I know a great many of us wish to be completely separate from the Republic but that does not mean we are to just view them with utter contempt. If we have a chance for a ceasefire, a momentary lapse where we can coexist, it can lead us to a lasting peace between us both."

"That is a dream and a foolhardy one at that." Voe said dismissively.

"And not one to be taken out of hand." Dooku voices his opinion, stunning the green skinned Senator.

"Count Dooku." Voe exclaimed in shock. "You cannot seriously consider Bonteri's proposition? We can't trust the Republic! Are we not at war with them?"

"Why is that such a ludicrous possibility?" Bonteri shot back. "The Republic has been our enemies ever since we've sought to secede and become independent. But now with Ultron becoming a more of a threat by the day, we might have to become allies with the Republic once more."

"Not in this lifetime!"

Shouting between multiple sides of the assembly began with insults and suggestions being thrown around from everyone in attendance.

"There will be order in this assembly!" Dooku said aloud. "No amount of this bickering will allow us to achieve anything. I understand the nature of what it is we are dealing with right now but going at each other will only drive further division and a lack of progress. We must remember why we had been called here together."

As this went on, other systems were still reeling from Ultron's offensive across the galaxy.

Multiple systems were in a state of panic, still trying to figure out what to do in light of their planets being attacked so suddenly from a brand new player in the war.

All sides were in heated debate and trying to compensate for their defenses and bolstering their forces.

Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries were being hired across the outer rim and neutral systems not affiliated with the war, becoming makeshift armies of sorts.

The Mandalorians, in particular the Death Watch and Protectors, get a boost in their numbers as they are hired out far more extensively.

The warriors of old had been spotted across numerous planets these past few days, either in large numbers of a few dozen to a select few of the elite.

One thing that has been getting some attention is the maroon garbed individuals that at times accompanied the Protectors on a number of these new security jobs.

When asked who they were or what they represented, the individuals responded with either Ravager or the Quill-Obfonteri clan.

All the while, the third Mandalorian faction being led by the Duchess Satine had begun a coalition of Neutral Systems as a form of mutual protection.

Across the galaxy, lines were either being drawn, redrawn or erased all together. Governments went from being neutral, to Republic or Separatist all within the span of a week.

Volunteers from all sides began cropping up more and more as they felt the growing descent and escalation into chaos that the galaxy was headed in and they wished to be well armed and prepared for such endeavors.

One faction comprising a handful of numbers, due to their growing reputation across the Galaxy, had a recent swell of jobs and requests directed towards them. Their droid member had preened at the chance of killing more "meatbags" and showing the defective bots how to do it properly. It had also been quite vocal in its disappointment that so many politicians from Coruscant had survived.

Though it proved a three thousand year old statement of his.

Something about killing a couple hundred politicians and not even being able to make a dent.

Other than that sadistic comment, there was a state of turmoil and nervousness throughout the Galaxy.

Fear and anxiety permeated across the cosmos as all held their breaths as to what was to come next.

-Scene Cut-

The planet of Coruscant was one in the midst of a massive cleanup, the effects of Ultron's attack still being felt and undoubtedly would remain that way for a long while.

Debris from collapsed buildings, crashed/destroyed ships and an assortment of tanks, droids and other vehicles were seen across the planet's surface. Multiple craters with ships going in and out of them and people all doing their part in either helping or simply staying out of the way.

Bodies of the fallen kept being found, either in full or… whatever was left of them if they weren't shot to pieces or crushed by falling debris.

The number of casualties only continued growing at a more rapid rate which served to further demoralize the citizens of both the planet and the Republic overall.

It was miserable to put it plainly and everyone was feeling it in full.

And speaking of downer moods being felt across the planet…

To say that the mood of the Jedi temple was dour and somber would be like saying water makes things wet.

The depressed atmosphere was palpable to say the least with many within the temple overall finding very little in finding positivity right about now.

Some of the more older Jedi Masters were able to keep a level head and calm outward appearance via meditation either by simply sitting down or expressing it through more physical means.

The rest of the Order was finding difficulty in doing so.

It's just been one long state of a metaphorical anguish as all that resided within felt an overwhelming weight upon their shoulders that couldn't even be described.

The onset of the war was enough of a burden that had been placed upon them.

Now, with Ultron and what he had accomplished in a short amount of time…

Suffice to say, many weren't really sure what to do right now.

The Republic, like the rest of the galaxy, was in a state of disarray after Ultron defeated both the Republic and the Separatists and claimed the planet of Jabiim for himself. Adding to that was the ever growing number of casualties all sides had suffered, numbering well into five digit numbers, bordering on six.

Jabiim was a complete catastrophe for the Republic with over 25,000 clones being killed with twenty Jedi added to that number.

This was on top of the already growing casualty count that Ultron had already inflicted days prior to his coming out party.

With this battle now in the books, the casualties of Ultron's first campaign against the galaxy was upwards of a hundred thousand plus in terms of deaths and injuries. And they just kept piling on.

The Clone Troopers were beyond dejected yet they had begun to amplify their training since returning to Coruscant whenever they weren't tasked with assisting any and all that needed help.

They were some of the few that had a fire lit under their ass with the single minded goal of finding Ultron and taking him down. This was their day and night cycle with every battalion, legion, corps and all undergoing strenuous training on the daily.

This would not happen again.

"This can't get any worse." Scott said, head hung low.

"Don't tempt fate like that Scott." Sam darkly told him. "You know it ain't exactly the nicest bitch in the universe."

Scott could only slump in his seat, holding his girlfriend's hand gently as she was still recovering from her injuries.

She was unfortunately caught in a multitude of explosions that some of Ultron's drones had set off. Hope had grown back to normal only for her shoulder and hip to get struck by blaster fire.

They were told she would recover within several days.

Matt had also nearly passed out from all the noise of the battlefield.

A thermal detonator went off near an AT-TE, the ringing metal screwing with his enhanced senses causing him to get thrashed by several drones before Black Panther saved him.

Peter was still injured from Ultron's vicious beatdown but thanks to his enhanced physiology, he would make the quickest in terms of a recovery.

The rest of the Avengers were nursing injuries of their own but were at least standing and still able to fight.

Still… This was beyond just a basic loss.

It was complete and utter humiliation on top of devastation.

Several of their members in particular were especially hard on themselves, specifically the ones who had fought and beaten Ultron before.

Natasha, Pietro and Rhodey were internally beating themselves up as they recalled the final battle they had with Ultron back in Sokovia.

Now it was all for naught as Ultron was alive and well and worst of all, brought a planet to its knees in a matter of hours.

All that death and destruction on Sokovia… and that metal bastard was still alive.

And to top it all off, their leader was missing.

Steve Rogers had been taken hostage by the insane AI and was sent off to God knows where.

Their ID cards weren't able to track him for the most part other than tell them that he was alive for the most part when they last checked their cards back on Jabiim.

Now, due to the distance they had, they had no idea as to what happened to Steve or where he was.

There was an assumption by some of their Jedi friends and allies that perhaps Cap was killed by Ultron but Natasha quickly shot that theory down.

Ultron had taken her prisoner before and he made it a point that he wanted to show her something. The failures that were the Avengers and that no matter what they would do in his perspective, they were destined to fall and fail.

While a few were skeptical, the team held out the hope of finding him.

"Any ideas on where Ultron could have taken Steve?" Rhodey asked the group with a litany of shrugs and shakes of the head.

"If we were on Earth, maybe we could have some sort of hint." Sam said. "But we're in space far from home so it can be in a number of places across this galaxy."

"What can we do then?" Scott asked. "Just sit here and hope for the best?"

"That's not what we're gonna do and you know it Scott." Pietro said bitterly. "We're gonna find Cap, then find Wanda and Vision and then kill Ultron once and for all."

"If we can find them." Nat said stoically. "We need to focus up and get ourselves patched up first. Steve has survived worse, same with Wanda. And Vision is one of our most powerful teammates. He's the last person we need to worry about in terms of safety."

Most of the team didn't say much other than nod silently at the former KGB assassin.

Quite frankly, this was the only sensible thing to do right now as they felt rushing recklessly out into the galaxy to find their team leader would be a fool's errand.

They had tried that in countering Ultron on Jabiim and that led to an utterly crushing defeat.

Right now they need a moment's recovery before they do anything else.

"Guys?"

The conscious Avengers turned to see Anakin Skywalker walk in, looking much better than he did when they last saw him.

Jabiim wasn't kind to all that had been there, most everyone sporting singed clothing, scratches and bruises on their garments and bodies.

"Anakin." Sam greeted. "How's everyone?"

"Nervous, jittery, any other synonym you'd like that involves negativity?" Anakin asked somberly. "Honestly, we're barely holding together as is."

"Figured." Rhodey muttered to himself.

"I take it that something has happened?" T'challa, the Black Panther, spoke up.

The Jedi knight nodded at the Prince of Wakanda, releasing a weary sigh.

"There was a Senate meeting a few hours ago." Anakin explained. "Went on for a bit and well… a number of systems have declared secession from the Republic."

A few of the team cringed at hearing that wherein Pietro scoffed.

"I don't blame them." The Speedster said with a hint of venom in his tone.

The others regarded the Sokovian warily at seeing his silently angered expression as he clenched and unclenched his fists several times.

After learning the circumstances that led to the occupation of Jabiim by the Republic, Pietro hasn't been exactly modest in vocalizing scathing criticisms against the Republic.

On top of Jabiim, the Speedster had taken time to learn a bit more about how the current standing of the galaxy and what exactly led up to this war.

When he first arrived on Ryloth, he had only spent time with the Twi'leks and Cham's freedom fighters for the most part and learned about the galaxy through him.

Overtime, he had picked up on bits and pieces about the Republic before he simply disregarded them all and cared only for sticking with the team and finding their lost friends and his sister. Of course, being in a relationship with a Republic Senator contributed to him not really caring all that much about what the Republic has been doing.

But after Jabiim…

"Anyone we would know that broke off?" Natasha asked Anakin with him crossing his arms.

"Don't really know." Anakin said. "Depends on which of you know what systems are represented. All I can say is a few dozen have declared themselves neutral or are leaving for the Separatists."

"Any good news?" Scott couldn't help but ask, making Anakin snort.

"What? That the Republic hasn't fallen apart and we're all somehow still alive? Cause that's all I can really tell ya." Anakin said with a dry tone. "The Jedi Council has been holed up in the council chambers all day and the rest of us are getting antsier by the minute. We have upwards of two hundred Jedi to bury from here and across the galaxy on top of all our troops we lost."

"Sorry to hear that man." Rhodey muttered, knowing all too well the feeling of losing men in the heat of battle.

Anakin shook his head and waved his hand.

"Just wanted to make sure you guys were doing alright." The Jedi said in a soft tone.

"Well as we can be." Sam remarked, going over to take a seat next to a table with the room.

"How are they?" Anakin asked, eyes gazing over to Hope and Matt who were resting still.

"They'll be fine." Nat said. "Just give them some time."

Anakin silently nodded before noticing someone was missing.

"Where's Peter?" the Jedi asked.

"Barriss is tending to him separately." Scott stated. "They're in the room across from us. Think Ahsoka was there with them."

'So that's where Ahsoka's been.' Anakin internally mused.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak on the matter of Captain Rogers, he felt someone rush into his back.

"Oof." Squeaked a familiar female voice. "Sorry, I- Anakin! What are you doing here?"

"Padme?" Anakin said in bewilderment. "I should be asking you the same question. What're you doing in the Jedi temple? I thought there was another Senate meeting."

"I chose to skip it." Padme deftly said, stepping around her secret husband and into the room that the Avengers resided in. "I actually came because I needed to speak with you all about something extremely urgent."

The Avengers for the most part were a bit confused by this sudden arrival by Senator Amidala. Taking a moment to look her over, many could see she was clearly exhausted and needed a good night's rest.

Natasha however picked up on the deeply troubled look the Naboo native held in her eyes.

"Is everything alright Padme?" Nat inquired. "Present circumstances aside."

Padme shook her head. "No actually… they're not."

"Did something happen?" Anakin asked straight away, placing a hand on his secret wife's shoulder.

"Well… it has to do with the Avengers." Padme said. "Something they should know that happened to me while you all left for Jabiim."

Anakin held a worried look, glancing over to the Avengers who held looks of interest.

"What happened here?" Sam asked patiently with Padme frowning.

"Should Anakin-"

"Let him hear this too." Nat said. "Tap, close the door and make sure no one comes in."

"Yes comrade Romanoff." Came the male voice of the AI Tap.

The door behind Padme and Anakin quickly closes itself.

"Was that necessary?" Rhodey asked in confusion.

"It will once we're done here." Natasha said, eyeing the Jedi and Senator. "Now, Padme, what happened on Coruscant that you had to come to us to talk with?"

"Ultron came to my office by himself." Amidala answered straight away.

The hairs on the back of Anakin's neck shot up with a cold shiver running down his spine.

"He came to see you?" Anakin practically yelled in alarm.

"What the hell did he want?" Sam asked in a sharp voice. "Did he hurt you?"

Padme shook her head. "No nothing like that. He just wanted to… thank me."

That threw everyone off as they stared at her in confusion.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Rhodey inquired.

Padme let out a shaky breath.

"You see… a few months ago, I was out on the streets of Coruscant with 3P0 just shopping and running errands." Padme said, a slightly faraway look in her eyes. "I didn't realize that 3P0 had wandered off and when I went to find him, I saw him holding some sort of droid's head."

Padme's expression then became ashamed and filled with regret.

"A droid head that was Ultron's." She whispered in a low voice yet all within the room heard her loud and clear. "I didn't know who or what he was at the time… but I helped him get to a place where he could be rebuilt. Where he was able to connect himself to the holo-net."

"It's not your fault." Sam said straight away, preventing Padme from going on any further. "You need to get that out of your head here and now."

"How can you even say that?!" Padme asked in an almost pleading manner. "I helped a genocidal maniac survive, had I known-"

"You did not know, Senator." T'challa said softly. "There is no blame for you to shoulder. This was just an unfortunate circumstance."

"That doesn't make it any better." Padme shot back, wrapping her arms around herself. "I helped Ultron in getting himself rebuilt and because of that-"

"He would have figured out a way to do it by himself." Pietro quickly chimed in. "He's a smart bastard who'll find a way. In case you didn't know, the man who made him built a suit that saved his life in a cave with scraps. Yours was just more convenient. You cannot blame yourself."

"Trust us Padme, we know from experience." Nat added on though it seemed to have little effect on the Senator who hung her head in defeat.

"Padme." Anakin wrapped an arm around her shoulder and without missing a beat, threw herself onto Anakin and held him tightly.

There was a moment of silence within the room as they watched the two hold each other when…

"So I take it that she's your wife, isn't she?" Natasha stated more so then asked.

Padme and Anakin's head snapped in her direction, eyes wide in shock while Black Widow simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Wh-what?" Padme stammered out.

"Don't worry." Nat held up a hand in an attempt to assuage the married couple's growing fear. "We're not gonna tell anyone unless you want us to."

"W-wait, what do you-"

"It honestly wasn't all that hard to figure out for me." Nat admitted. "My best friend is a married man in case you didn't know."

"Huh, so you two were together." Scott remarked. "Figured that much."

"Wait, wait." Alarm was clear and present on Anakin's face. "You… you all knew?!"

"I have only just arrived recently." T'challa quipped. "I don't believe I count."

Some snorted though that didn't alleviate the panic the married couple held.

"If you want the whole Jedi Temple to know, I suggest keeping your voice down." Natasha said. "Yeah, we knew for the most part."

"I didn't." Rhodey admitted. "But what's the big deal? Why is this so shocking?"

"The Jedi forbid relationships and attachments." Natasha revealed.

"Wait… what? You mean even shit like this?" Rhodey balked at that. "I thought that was just exaggerated. Wait… but what's the whole point of Masters and students? I know they always talked about attachments and not having them but this sort of thing?"

"That sounds rather… ridiculous." T'challa commented.

"It is." Anakin admitted without missing a beat, flinching upon realizing his open acceptance of a tenant he completely disregarded.

"Honestly, I don't know how that works in that circumstance. Gives me a headache every time I think back on it." Scott murmured, hand up to his head as at that moment, he was feeling some brief pain from his bandaged head.

"It's best not to dwell on it." Nat said. "We have a lot more serious matters to deal with."

Everyone collectively nodded in at that.

"So what do we do now then?" Sam asked. "Cap's MIA, some of us are real hurt and you guys took a beating yourselves."

"Honestly…" Anakin appeared dejected. The normally gung-ho Jedi knight was frankly spent as Jabiim took a lot out of him. "Right now, I think it's best we lick our wounds. Just take a day or two to patch ourselves up."

T'challa voiced his agreement. "We're exhausted and not in any proper shape to go back out there. If we want to succeed in finding Captain Rogers and dealing with these present issues, it's best we do that."

Padme was about to leave but she turned back to the Avengers.

"I know this isn't your war." Padme said in a low voice. "You all got roped into something that you didn't have to get associated with. But you've helped us a great deal. You've saved my husband and close friends a number of times. I'm sorry that this happened to you."

"It's alright." Sam waved off. "Saving people like Anakin is easy."

"Didn't realize I was such a chore to take care of." Anakin dryly said.

The group shared a laugh that alleviated some of the somber tension in the room. Padme looked back to her husband with a loving smile.

"I'll see you back home, alright?"

"I don't think I'll be able to-"

"With how things are right now, I figure you can sneak off well enough on your own." Padme cut him off, having a knowing smile.

"We'll cover for him, don't worry." Sam spoke up, earning a grateful nod from the Senator.

She then turned back to Anakin and momentarily hesitated until she reached up to kiss her husband on the lips in front of other people before leaving the room.

Anakin didn't realize how freeing a feeling it was in being able to express open affection for his wife in front of others would be…

But…

"Thanks." Anakin said with complete sincerity. "You guys… you guys have no idea what this means to me."

"We've got your back man." Rhodey assured. "Just like you've had ours."

Whilst the Avengers and their Jedi friend had this small moment of levity between them in spite of the depressing mood of the Temple, others weren't sharing this sentiment.

"This was definitely not in the training regime."

"How is it not? We're still fighting clankers."

"Pretty sure this Ultron sleemo bastard is not your average clanker."

"You sure? Ya couldn't hit that many clankers without having your little Z gun. Now with this new droid."

"Shut up Fives."

The clones of the 501st were currently standing within a shooting range, firing at rapidly moving targets with others watching on.

Really, it wasn't just the Clones of the 501st but practically a hodge podge of Clones from every legion/corps/battalion and so on and so forth.

Multi-armor colored clones were all mingling and talking with one another, a great number of them sporting injuries or scorched armor.

They were all currently at the Jedi Temples base where venators came and went and in said base was a large war room dedicated for meetings.

Said room was occupied by high ranking Clones from all the battalions and legions currently stationed on Coruscant. They were all seated around a holo table in deep discussion with each other.

"This war… has taken a turn none of us were expecting." The first to speak was Clone Captain Rex.

There were small mumbles and murmurs of agreement between the litany of high ranking clones. All of them had assembled here for the sole purpose of the ever present threat of Ultron and the rapidly shifting front of the war overall.

They had all been devastated in their own way when they had learned of the ever growing number of Clone casualties on top of the Jedi that had perished alongside them.

It was chaos on all sides with everyone scrambling to reorganize themselves.

"So then what do we do?" Commander Gree of the 41st Legion asked aloud. "Last I checked, these "Ultron Drones" weren't in any of our field regs."

"Let's start from what we know." Cody spoke up, activating the holo table that displayed several Ultron drones in flight. "These drones aren't built in the way that the Seppie Clankers are. They're more maneuverable, have a tendency to swarm and can apparently shift their arms into their weapons."

The clones all nodded their heads along with the Commander's elaboration of the Drones.

"Reaction times are probably faster for them."

"They're flight is also a huge factor." Gree added in. "We don't have suits like Colonel Rhodes' or Lieutenant Wilson to assist us in battle."

"Captain Rogers did mention how they attacked all over the place back on the Avengers' home planet." Rex remarked, deep in thought.

"So what's our best course of action then?" Commander Wolffe inquired for those who have yet to speak up.

"I figure we'll need a ground up training regime." Clone Commander Bacara stated. "Have everything the Avengers know about these drones, give it to us and we'll learn how to beat these new scrappers back."

"It'll be bootcamp again for all of us. One that'll definitely be needed." Commander Bly grumbled.

"What's worse is situational combat." Rex added in. "We need to take into account all the battlefields that come to mind. Ultron has made it clear that he's willing to attack on all fronts at any time."

There was a feeling of grim acceptance as several had their eyes flicker towards some of the windows of this room that gave them direct sight to the wreckage of the city.

"Then we'll start while we have the time right now." Arc Trooper Fordo stood from his seat, hands placed upon the table. "We will create the necessary training manuals and scenarios and spread them across the army. Are we in agreement?"

"SIR!"

"Then let's begin."

All the while, as the Clones began preparations for new training regimes, another meeting was being conducted by the Jedi Council with all the members being physically present.

"The Senate has been in a constant state of uproar." Mace Windu said slowly. "Yet another system has chosen to secede from the Republic."

"Who was it this time?" Obi-wan asked calmly.

"Umbara." Windu said grimly. "With them that makes fifteen systems that have chosen to walk away from the Republic."

"Many have lost faith in us it seems." Plo Koon spoke up, a somber note heard in his baritone voice.

"And many more on the side of the Separatists." Kit Fisto said. "I have recently received word from Master Tholme's intelligence network. A number of Separatist systems have been in open discussion in returning or negotiating a return to the Republic."

"There have been some that have chosen neutrality it seems as well." Kenobi stated. "Duchess Satine of Mandalore along with one hundred additional systems are spearheading a movement of neutrality in the galaxy, separate from this war."

Ki-Adi Mundi shook his head, showing his disapproval.

"Separate from the war perhaps. But separate from Ultron?"

"Uncertain, times are." Yoda now spoke, gaining the Council's undivided attention. "The Force… clouded it has become. Neither Light nor dark. A haze, at best it is."

"That shouldn't come as a surprise." Jedi Master Depa Billaba stated. "From what we have learned of our allies the Avengers and this new menace Ultron, they exist outside the Force. How are we to predict what can happen when something revolves around them?"

"We have been lucky for a long time now." Master Saesee Tiin said in a low voice. "We had accumulated a group of extraordinary individuals who chose to assist us on numerous occasions and with them, the tide was turning in our favor, one could say."

"But they failed to mention Ultron." Windu said darkly. "Had they told us of him-"

Obi-wan instantly cut in. "That was not something they could have possibly been aware of, Master Windu. Ultron was an enemy they long believed to be defeated and destroyed. How were they to be aware of an enemy that can hide within data itself?"

"Much turmoil we have brewing in our own halls." Yoda spoke up once more. "Grave feelings of loss, confusion and… anger. Anger at the Order, anger at oneself. Pain and internal defeat in failure, many Jedi feel."

"I feel that there is much that needs to be done." Shaak Ti said, her voice calm and collected. "On Kamino, news of Ultrons attacks has deeply unsettled the Kaminoans and Trainees. There is a justifiable concern of Ultron turning his sights onto the planet and possibly even destroying it."

"That will not happen." Plo Koon declared.

"How can we be so certain?" Oppo Rancisis asked with a small grunt. "This Ultron has shown himself to be shrewd and intelligent on top of being dangerous. He expelled both the Separatist and our forces from the system of Jabiim itself."

"Rumor has it that he has already left that system." Mundi stated.

"That information is barely to be trusted." Obi-Wan stated. "Don't forget, this isn't a droid we're dealing with. This… AI, as the Avengers called it, is one that is based off of living beings. Aside from its more logic oriented side, there is an emotional motive behind his actions."

"Not pleasant one's from what I have been told." Kit Fisto said with a shake of his head.

"A great shadow over this war has been cast." Yoda said, expression deep in thought. "The Force… only so much, it can do for us. Threats outside the Force becoming more present, yes."

"Then what is our next course of action?" Windu asked.

"Rest we must." Yoda declared, surprising the Council.

"Master, are you sure of such a notion?" Depa asked in disbelief.

"Unsure, the Jedi are. Unsure, the Republic is. Fear, taken root it has, across the galaxy." Yoda said in a grave tone. "Unrest and uncertain times ahead. Standstill we are in. To recover, this opportunity we must use."

"What of Captain Rogers?" Obi-wan brought up. "He is still missing."

"I am unsure we have the time right now to even begin to fathom where he is." Mace murmured to himself.

"Be that as it may, we cannot just abandon him to his fate." Plo Koon stated firmly. "Though much has happened in these past few days, we owe the Avengers a deal of great debt. Many battles have been won with minimal casualties due in no small part to their efforts."

"And those that remained here have been seen assisting many across Coruscant." Kit Fisto added on.

"Assist them in finding Captain Rogers, we shall." Yoda said with finality.

"Now the question remains just where to look." Kenobi remarked.

-Scene Cut-

Within the miraculous intact Jedi Library within the temple, one Mirialan Jedi Padawan sat alone at a table, absentmindedly reading up on material that she quite frankly wasn't really paying attention to.

She had been there for a majority of the day and really, ever since she had returned from the brutal loss on Jabiim.

Over the course of the last few days, Barriss Offee has had what could best be described as an inner conflict that she couldn't quite define.

And by that, what she really wishes to understand is the conflict of these "feelings" that have whipped up a storm inside her that she had been unable to calm since Jabiim.

Upon thinking about that "matter", she let out a haggard sigh and placed her face in her hands.

Barriss sat there, unmoving and not realizing or hearing somebody approaching her until she heard the slight scrape of the chair next to her get moved slightly.

She peaked her eyes out of her hands to see none other than her close friend Ahsoka Tano taking a seat next to her.

"I've been looking all over for you." Ahsoka said with slight exasperation. "Should have figured to start here in hindsight."

The Mirialan didn't respond right away, silently watching as Ahsoka arched her back slightly against her seat in an effort to get comfortable.

"Is something wrong?" Barriss asked quietly.

"Other than everything that's happened this past week alone?" Ahsoka asked rhetorically. "No, not really."

Ahsoka leaned forward upon the table, arms crossed and chin resting upon it.

"Master Unduli was looking for you as well." Ahsoka said softly, making Barriss jolt slightly. "She looked worried for you."

"She was?" Barriss quietly asked both her friend and herself. "I must apologize to her."

"You should." Ahsoka remarked. "But first you tell me what's wrong."

"Huh?"

"You're clearly bothered by something." Her friend pointed out. "It's written all over your face. And the fact that I've barely seen you."

Barriss opened her mouth to counter her fellow Padawan yet Tano went on unimpeded.

"And when I have managed to see you, you look positively miserable." Ahsoka finished. "So come on, Barriss. What's wrong? You can talk to me, you know."

The Padawan didn't reply right away, instead turning back to the desk she was seated at and placed her arms on it, lacing her fingers together.

She let out a tired sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly with her eyes closed.

"I'm… I'm conflicted."

Ahsoka raised a brow. "Conflicted? With what?"

"It's… it's complicated really."

"It can't be that complicated, right?"

Barriss shook her head. "It's making me question things."

Ahsoka leaned forward, now deeply interested in what her friend meant.

"What are you questioning?" Ahsoka asked and Barriss let out an uncharacteristic huff of exasperation.

"Everything." Barriss crossed her arms now, an expression of uncertainty appearing now. "I've been at a loss on how to address this problem. I've been thinking about it every day now since Jabiim and I'm starting to lose sleep over it as well."

"That would explain the bags under your eyes." Ahsoka murmured, making Barriss turn to give her a miserable expression. "Right, right, sorry, didn't mean it like that."

"Ahsoka…" Barriss uttered out softly. "What do I do?"

"It would at least help to get a second opinion." Said the Togrutan. "So spill. What exactly is eating you up?"

Barriss fell silent once again, not responding straight away as she appeared to be contemplating on how exactly she wanted to answer this.

"Something happened back on Jabiim… no…" Offee scrunched up her face. "It has been growing for some time now. I just don't fully understand it."

"What's been growing?" Ahsoka asked, shifting her seat closer to her friend. "Is it… is it like a feeling? A feeling in the Force?"

"That's… one way of looking at it." Barriss gazed down at her legs now. "Certain thoughts… which lead to certain feelings I never thought…"

This was off putting to the Togrutan Padawan to say the least. To see her normally serene and calm friend in this state greatly worried her.

"Go on…"

"For the past few days, I've been looking through the archives, hoping that it would give some form of clarity." Then Barriss's expression changed into that of frustration. "But it has only left me with a greater deal of confusion! I can't exactly repress these feelings so easily when they've been stirring within me for so long now. I just can't."

Ahsoka could tell whatever was running through Barriss' head was greatly disturbing her. Reaching out, she grasped her hand and calmly spoke.

"What is it, Barriss?" Ahsoka's voice was barely above a whisper. "What exactly started this?"

No response from her friend.

"Please Barriss, you have to tell me." Ahsoka nearly pleaded. "I don't like seeing you like this. What can I do to help? Just…"

"It's Peter."

Ahsoka jolted at the mention of their currently injured friend.

"Peter?" Ahsoka spoke in a confused tone. "What does this have to do with him?"

"It… It may have started with him when I thought more about it. But I didn't think much about it. That was until Jabiim."

"And what happened then?"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Barriss averted her eyes from her friend.

She held both Ahsoka's hand and the fabric of her robes tightly as she trembled.

"Seeing him hurt like that." Barriss' voice was shaky. "And then there was Kas and Mak."

This threw Ahsoka for a loop. "Kas and Mak? From Jabiim? What do they have to do with this?"

"Ahsoka… please, don't tell anyone this." Barriss abruptly requested. "Please, before I tell you this, you must swear that you tell no one. Not even your Master for I shall not tell mine."

This really wasn't what Ahsoka was expecting when she had found her friend in such a downer mood in the library. But right now, it was clear for her to see how much her friend needed this so she slowly nodded.

"I promise." Ahsoka said in an assuring tone, placing her other free hand on Barriss' shoulder. "This will only be between us two."

Barriss took a moment to collect herself .

"When I encountered the two, Mak and Kas were doing something I hadn't expected." Barriss stated. "Something that went against the code of the Jedi Teachings."

"They were breaking the Jedi code?" Ahsoka asked in slight surprise.

"In ways that even your maverick master wouldn't even do." Barriss said, taking Ahsoka aback at such a statement.

"What were they doing?" Ahsoka asked, now completely enthralled with Barriss' tale.

"They said some things to me that rattled me, unsettled me and made me question my feelings."

"They said something?" Ahsoka said in bewilderment. "There's more to that, I take it?"

Barriss shakily nodded. "And before that, I was startled… when I saw them… together."

Ahsoka blinked in confusion. "Together? I don't know what you-"

"Together, together." Barriss clarified. "And they were embracing each other."

"Toge-Oh!" Realization dawned on the Togrutan Padawan. "Together… as in-?"

"They told me they loved each other." Barriss revealed. "That come the end of the war, they would leave the Order to be together."

Ahsoka was at a loss for words upon hearing this.

Leave the Order? For… for love?

The idea itself had never once crossed her mind.

Her ears perked up as Barriss kept on speaking.

"I worry for Peter, and you as well." Ahsoka felt her friend lightly squeeze her hand again. "I've started to truly care for you both and it frightens me on... on losing you."

She thought back on seeing Peter's condition after their confrontation with Ultron. It nearly broke her heart seeing him in such a state. So vulnerable… clinging to life as it were, despite him being alright. But to her, the padawan was scared he might've died.

"Throughout the time coming back here, I started to think more about what occurred between us. How he'd been there for us and doing everything he could to protect us."

Skywalker's padawan was silent, reflecting back to the number of instances of Barriss' claim to be true.

"Ahsoka…" the Mirialan Padawan locked eyes with her friend. "When you saw Peter like that on Jabiim… what did you feel?"

That question momentarily made Ahsoka freeze up at the sight of seeing her friend get thrashed to the point of nearly dying…

She immediately shook her head to try to banish the memory yet it persisted.

And worse was that unbridled feeling that dwelled up inside like a tidal wave at the thought of seeing someone she had grown so close to die like that.

She… she couldn't even fathom it.

"I was terrified." Ahsoka finally revealed, seemingly more to herself than to her friend. "Seeing Peter like that…"

Without even realizing it, the image of her battered and beaten friend flashed in her mind. A moment later she saw her master gravely injured on the planet Maridun, her clones of the 501st dying from the Blue Shadow virus and…

"Barriss… I don't-"

"Ahsoka, I don't know either, but I don't think avoiding this will help either of us." Barriss then took both her friends' hands into her own. "We… we need to find out what this all truly means for the both of us. I can't simply sit here and just dwell on it."

"But what about our masters? Would they not wish for us to ignore something like this and focus on what's happening right now?"

"Will they?"

"I-I-I…" Ahsoka stammered. "I'm not sure about this-"

"Look… I know this may not be conventional, but I… might have to- no, need to talk to some people who could help me with this. People… not with the Order. People who are not biased. You can come with me too."

Ahsoka frowned, looking down at their hands. "Barriss… I'm scared. I don't know about this."

She looked up to her fellow Padawan and gaped at the kind smile she received.

"I know." Barriss said in a soft voice. "I realize that now. I'm scared too. I've never felt anything like this before but… but knowing I'm not the only one. And knowing that it's with someone I hold dear helps me know that I won't be doing this alone."

Barriss' smile widened now.

"I'm glad now…" She whispered. "I was so confused about this but… I know why I was facing such turmoil. But speaking with you. Speaking with my friend, it's… it's helped clear up a few things. I'm not entirely sure about what will happen but I do know this. I do feel something for him. Something deeper than just a friendship. When I saw him hurt like that when he saved us again..."

A brief lull of silence befell the two.

"So… what do you think it means, Barriss?"

Her friend only shook her head.

"I think I'll be able to figure this out when I see Peter again." the Mirialan padawan said, glancing down at their hands. "If not, I'll talk to the Avengers. I want to know what this means. And if they don't know then I'll keep searching elsewhere. This war and meeting them has made me realize that even with the Jedi Order's knowledge, there's still more to learn out there. And with what we're dealing with, it feels like we need to look outside what we know to figure this out."

Ahsoka couldn't help herself. "Where'd the calm and collected Barriss I know run off to? This sounds far more reckless and something that Master Anakin and I would do."

"Where do you think I learned this from?"

"Barriss!" Tano squawked in a slightly affronted manner.

The Mirialan Padawan only laughed aloud now and surprised Ahsoka by pulling her into a hug.

"Thank you, Soka." Barriss quietly said, hugging her friend tightly. "Thank you for this."

Ahsoka didn't know how to respond right away, so instead she let instinct kick in. Her arms wrapped themselves around Barriss, the two pulling each other closer to one another.

"Anytime."

-Scene cut-

…

…

Darkness.

A blank darkness.

That was all he could see.

That's where he was when-

*BOOM BOOM*

"Let's move Commandos!"

The sound of explosions and gunfire rang all around this man as he ran through a forest in the winter, circular shield in one hand and a basic pistol in the other.

Around him, he was fully aware of his unit that he was charging into battle with.

"I'm with you to the end of the line."

That voice… it belonged to his best friend whom he had lost in this war.

"You won't be alone."

"A lot has changed since you were a capsicle."

"Pretending you could live without a war."

"Aayla, Aayla Secura."

"What's our move Cap…"

"..."

"Cap…"

"..."

"Cap…"

"..."

"STEVE!"

In an instant, Steve Rogers' eyes snapped open and he sat up immediately.

And regretted it immediately as he had a brief moment of vertigo before his vision corrected itself.

Coughing slightly, the super soldier carefully stood up and took a moment to look around as to where he was.

"Home sweet home." Steve muttered to himself.

It had been the same cell that Ultron had deposited him in and gave away to some exceptionally shady looking aliens and humans.

He was promptly shocked into unconsciousness and woke up what was probably a few hours later in the same cell but on a different ship and wearing a collar of some kind.

And speaking of which, the collar around his neck was starting to irritate the skin on his neck.

He could perhaps understand the bits of frustration people had when having casts and the annoying itches which come with them.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the present luxury of eventually taking it off once healed.

Knowing he wasn't going to do anything other than stay in his cage for the majority of the day again, Steve jumped up and grabbed the bars of his prison cell above and began doing pull ups.

This had been his standard routine for the past few days. Seems like it must have been six or seven by now.

The only interactions he's had with his captors was the food and water they supplied for him and nothing more.

They either leered at him or just outright ignored him though they learned to always have the collar he wore on standby to zap him into submission.

And to make sure that it was at one of its more higher voltages as he was quite resilient to its shocking capabilities. The last Weequay's arm was evidence of that.

He had continued his work out until at last, a Devaronian guard walked up to his cell.

"Prisoner 1918."

Steve casually stood up from his pushups with his back facing the guard and tilted his head to indicate that he was listening.

"Be prepared for transport." The Devaronian spoke in a low voice. "It is time you work for your worth."

This of course didn't exactly answer anything for the first Avenger but the door opening for him and the remote the horned alien had in hand indicated that he was at last leaving his dingy small cell.

The good captain was led through a series of hallways and corridors with an ever looming, unidentified rumbling sound of some kind.

Steve scrunched his face up and inclined his head forward to try to gauge as to what that sound was but couldn't properly make it out.

He then found himself standing before a metal gate and wordlessly, the Devaronian held out an old, rusted sword for him to take.

"This is what you start with." The Horned alien grunted. "Time to prove if you were worth the pay."

Bewildered by this, Steve tentatively took the blade out of the alien's hands and in an instant, suddenly realized just where he had been brought to.

A moment later, the metal gate opened up before him and he was promptly shoved forward.

He stumbled forward slightly and after gaining his footing, stood up straight to stare out at the large arena he was now standing in, the roar of the crowd echoing across the area.

"You gotta be kidding me." Steve muttered in disbelief.

The arena was circular in appearance, no roof and its bleachers being filled to the brim with scum and villainy from all corners of the galaxy.

"Great… I'm in Gladiator."

He thanked God Tony wasn't here right about now. The amount of quippy remarks and jokes his friend would have would be unlimited.

'Movie wasn't even that accurate.' Steve internally thought to himself.

Honestly, this felt more up Thor's alley if anything. The Thunder God always boasted of his combat prowess and love of a good fight.

He'd switch places with Thor in an instant right about now. Wherever he may be.

Steve took a moment to look around and analyze his surroundings. There were a number of pillars, both standing and demolished with multiple weapons strewn about the ground with bodies accompanying them, both new and old.

There were also dead, rotting creatures that Steve couldn't identify even if he tried and overall…

Not looking to be his most ideal scenario.

Just as Steve was about to speak up and ask just why he was here-

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" The arena announcer's voice boomed over the crowd. "I WELCOME YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN TO THE SLEHEYRON GLADIATOR PIT! WHERE ONLY THE GREATEST AND MOST FIERCEST WARRIORS COME TO TEST THEIR METTLE AGAINST THE GALAXIES BEST TO PROVE THEY REIGN SUPREME ABOVE OTHERS!"

The crowd cheered aloud, the entire arena practically rumbling.

"NOW, THIS WOULD BE THE TIME WHERE I INTRODUCE TO YOU OUR COMBATANTS FOR THIS TOURNAMENT." The audience heard the announcer laugh aloud with glee. "BUT FOR TODAY, MY FELLOW VIEWERS, I INSTEAD GET THE PRIVILEGE OF INTRODUCING TO YOU A MAN WHO HAS BEEN GAINING NOTORIETY ON A GALACTIC SCALE."

The crowd began shaking and shouting with anticipation.

"AS THE WAR RAGES ACROSS THE GALAXY, HEROES AND VILLAINS ARISE UPON BOTH SIDES." the announcer said excitedly. "TALL TALES ARE TOLD OF EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS IN DEATH DEFYING SITUATIONS WHERE DEATH SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONLY OUTCOME. FOR MANY, WE CALL THEM THE JEDI OF THE REPUBLIC. BUT HERE BEFORE US STANDS A MAN WHO EXCELS IN COMBAT, HAS STOOD TOE TO TOE AGAINST THE SEPARATIST ARMY AND IS A SOLDIER OF THE HIGHEST CALIBER. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU CAPTAIN ROGERS. LEADER OF THE AVENGERS!"

Steve winced slightly at the deafening roar of the crowd. Seems like the team was more popular than he thought.

Or the announcer was just a good hype man, who knows.

Steve felt a flare of annoyance upon realizing just who and where Ultron had sold him off to.

But with that flare of annoyance came a sense of dread.

He was alone here, god knows what planet it was let alone what system. Being an astute man who had taken some time to learn about the mapping of the galaxy, if Steve were to hazard a guess into believing that wherever he was in the galaxy, it was most likely the outer rim.

There wasn't much in terms of "law" from what he had been told and had learned of himself with any rule coming from either criminal organizations or extremely corrupt governments.

But right now, it didn't really matter as to where he was… well, not entirely, it's just that Steve knows he's been thrown headfirst into a life or death scenario…

Which isn't all that new really but still, he had a large degree of not knowing what he was to do.

The collar around his neck, so long as it remained attached to him, made escape impossible for the time being.

He ran through a litany of scenarios and thoughts in his head when the announcer began speaking once again.

"NOW THEN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. OUR NEWEST COMBATANT CAPTAIN ROGERS TO FACE…"

Steve tensed up and momentarily glanced down at the sword in his hand.

It felt a bit uncomfortable but it wasn't like he was defenseless with it.

He had been practicing and sparring with Jedi like his friend Anakin, Obi-wan and Aayla on the various forms of lightsaber combat and was decent with some of the basic maneuvers of each style. But he hadn't had the time overall to really commit to it due to the war on hand and finding the other Avengers.

Plus, he felt really naked without his iconic shield right about now.

'Guess this'll just have to do.' Steve internally thought to himself as he got into the stance that was the starting pose of Form IV, Atari.

A hole opened up along the ground, a ramp of sorts being made. Shortly after, something bounded up from it before the entryway closed.

The new arrival was feline in nature, with long sharp claws. It had spikes along it's back, a long tail and a wide mouth with black stripes on its body. It actually looked kinda familiar to him. He had many occasions when he took time to learn more about this galaxy he was in and some of the creatures stood out to him.

What was this thing called again?

"BEHOLD THE VICIOUS NEXU-"

There we go, that's what it was called.

"LET US SEE HOW OUR NEWEST GLADIATOR FARES AGAINST THIS SAVAGE BEAST."

The Nexu let out a screeching roar as the crowd thundered, hungry to see combat and blood.

The feline creature appeared to sniff the air around it for a brief moment before its four eyes snapped onto the form of Captain Rogers and snarled hungrily.

Some drool dripped out from its mouth and Steve clenched his teeth slightly, realizing that this creature had most likely not been fed in some time. It looked quite starved right about now so even if it may seem to lack strength, an animal that hadn't eaten in days would be a desperate and exceptionally deadly creature to fight right now.

Twirling his sword, Steve breathed in calmly as he waited for the Nexu to pounce. It began slowly making its way towards the Captain, shifting its movements into a circling motion around him.

Steve now shifted his stance, holding his sword horizontally to his eyes, waiting for the creature to attack.

Letting out a loud growl, the Nexu sprinted towards Steve with him being slightly surprised by its speed.

Instinctually, Cap jumped and went for a spinning heel kick that quickly kicked the Nexu aside.

It fell to the ground in a momentary daze which Steve capitalized on by dashing forward and stabbing the creature in the chest. It thrashed as it gave out an agonizing yell from its toothy maw.

"BY THE FORCE! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN?! IN ONE FELL SWOOP, CAPTAIN ROGERS HAS KILLED HIS FIRST VICTIM OF THE SLEHEYRON GLADIATORIAL PIT! WHAT AN OPENER FOR THIS FIERCE WARRIOR."

Steve only released a sigh, quickly pulling out his rusty sword and flicking the blood of it as he gazed down at the dead animal with a frown.

He wasn't a vegetarian, not by a long shot but this was just needlessly cruel to see. To starve an animal to near death just to get a better fight out of it was sickening to think about and now see the result of it.

Before he was able to think on this a while longer, another doorway opened up with two more Nexu's crawling out.

In an instant they spotted Steve and without hesitation began sprinting towards him.

Cap reacted quickly.

Just as the closest one was a foot away, he jumped forward and used its head as a launching pad to jump for the other Nexu that had leapt into the air to get at him.

Pivoting his body in time, he managed to drive his blade into the side of the creature with some blood splashing his face as he fell to the ground atop it.

The Nexu writhed in pain for a few seconds, letting out a wail of agony as Steve quickly pulled the sword out of its side and silenced it permanently with a blade to the head.

No sooner had he done that when even more openings, both on the ground and on the walls appeared and nearly half a dozen more Nexu appeared.

"Oh shit." Steve whispered to himself realizing that things were just getting started when fighting for his life.

He jumped into a corkscrew spin as a Nexu pounced at him and he ended up landing on the creatures back.

It let out a shrill cry before beginning to run at full speeds in an effort to buck the Captain off of it.

Cap managed to keep a firm grip upon the feline's fur and was able to adjust himself atop the beast with his fist raised high.

Putting in all his strength in this swinging blow, he brought his fist down hard upon the Nexu's head. The creature staggered from being struck at such force but managed to keep on running. Seeing the brief effect he had on this beast, Steve began repeatedly striking the Nexu upon its head until he heard a sickening crunch from one of his hammer fists. The Nexu skidded down upon its belly with Steve using the momentum to jump forward into a role.

Getting back to his feat a moment later, he turned around to see some of the other Nexu he had yet to attack running towards him.

Exhaling carefully to himself, Cap steeled his nerve and raised his fist in preparation for the oncoming assault of alien beasts that were sprinting right towards him.

"I could do this all day." Steve whispered to himself, psyching up his body and mind for what was undoubtedly going to be a long day.

-Scene Cut-

"I'll be fine. Ringing stopped several days ago. Just need another day."

"Yeah well, we gotta be sure Matt." Sam Wilson said next to the bed of the blind Avenger who was currently being tended to by a Jedi healer. "If we're gonna find Steve, we gotta all be at full fighting strength."

"No luck on finding him yet."

Sam grunted in frustration. "None."

It had been about two weeks now since Jabiim and overall, aside from Matt, the Avengers were practically in full fighting force.

Matt took the longest to recover as he had sustained some internal trauma, thus he was still relegated to remaining in bed and recover.

Peter was the first of the injured Avengers to make a full recovery, his enhanced physiology healing up many of his more serious injuries.

Hope took a bit while longer as she had apparently dislocated her shoulder on Jabiim. Thankfully with the medical technology of this galaxy, she was able to make a more speedy recovery.

The rest of the team had their own injuries but none that impeded them from being able to do any mission.

And though they had been worried about Steve, that didn't mean they were just sitting around doing nothing.

In these past few weeks, the Avengers were seen all over Coruscant assisting many Clones, Jedi and everyday people in the cleanup of the devastated city planet.

In the city skylines, one would be able to see either the Falcon in his wingsuit or War Machine flying about to get to their next location where they can help.

Spiderman joined in soon after recovering from his injuries, the young hero being seen practically everywhere and far more than most of the other Avengers. Apparently, he had been pushing himself to quite the extreme in helping out as many people as he was able to, nearly having him benched by the others so he could have proper time to rest.

The blur of Pietro Maximoff running about was also clear to see, the Sokovian delivering supplies across the city or taking individuals to places where they could receive medical attention.

Hope Van Dyne had also begun to utilize her Pym Technology in helping shrink down debris, making it easier to clear whilst Scott opted to go Gi-Ant-Man to help out in lifting heavy objects whenever Wasp wasn't around.

Widow and Panther all the while helped in directing all this madness, sometimes directly participating in the cleanup whilst also telling the Avengers where help was needed most.

Matt remained bedridden and was incredibly frustrated that he was unable to help whatsoever in the cleanup.

On top of that, the blind lawyer had learned that in the midst of the attack on Coruscant, Bo-Katan had escaped captivity and wasn't seen since. There's a likely chance that she had left to rejoin Death Watch.

Though it frustrated the blind lawyer, he decided not to dwell on it.

There were far more pressing matters at hand.

"Any ideas as to where Steve might be?" Matt asked Sam, the aviator crossing his arms in thought.

The bird-themed Avenger mulled the question over in his head for a few moments, trying to think of an answer.

"Natasha was taken by Ultron back when he was first created." Sam mused aloud. "He told her that… he wanted to show her his plans. That he wanted someone to witness his objective come to fruition."

"Sounds egomaniacal." Matt commented.

"No surprise considering who he's based on." Sam said dryly before shaking his head. "But that's not how Nat framed it."

Matt tilted his head, a silent means of conveying for him to continue.

Sam took a moment in trying to think of the proper means of conveying what Nat said to him.

"Can't believe I'm saying this but the way she phrased it…" Sam scrunched up his face as if unsure whether to believe what was told to him. "It was like that metal bastard was… lonely."

"Lonely?"

"Remember what we were told about that mad metal bastard? A lot of Ultron was based off of guys like Bruce and Tony. Two dudes who always stood apart from most others."

"Sam, have you forgotten who we all are?"

Sam snorted. "You know what I mean, Matty. Ultron's different as he is the same as Tony. He looks for attention and has a number of coping mechanisms."

"Sounds like you're psychoanalyzing him." Matt remarked.

Wilson simply shrugged. "I worked with a lot of soldiers back at the DA. Everyone's got baggage."

"Not sure wanting to cause the extinction of the human race counts as baggage."

"Ultron's 'logical conclusions' aside…"

Before Sam was able to voice his thoughts and elaborate them further, the door behind him opened and in walked a Jedi with dreadlocks and yellow streak on his face.

"Thought I heard a familiar voice."

Sam turned around and found himself grinning a moment later.

"Vos." The aviator greeted, clasping his arm with the Kiffar Jedi Master who reciprocated the gesture and gave the Avenger a wide grin.

"Good to see you Sam." Quinlan Vos said. "And you must be… that blind lawyer, right?"

"Matt Murdock."

"Quinlan Vos." The Jedi nodded his head.

"You know Sam personally?" Matt asked with intrigue.

"Him and Cap helped Kenobi and my team out on a mission a while back." Vos stated, patting Sam on the shoulder appreciatively. "Bust as it was considering the fat slug was dead."

"Slug?" Matt muttered. "Is this one of those Hutts I've heard about?"

"Basically." Sam grumbled out. "They smell worse than they look… or it could be the other way around.

"I'll take your word for it."

Sam then turned back to the Jedi. "So what can I do for ya, Vos?"

"What's wrong with stopping by to say hi to a friend?" Quinlan said with an easygoing grin.

"Appreciate it." Sam said, now patting the Kiffar Jedi on his shoulder. "But seems like you came in here with a purpose in mind."

Vos shook his head, an amused smile in place.

"Well, you're not wrong on that end." He admitted to the two Avengers. "But I ain't here for something for you to do for me. It's what I can do for you."

Sam and Matt shared a look with each other whilst the Kiffar Jedi went on.

"See, what I usually do for the Jedi and Republic is with Delta Squad, we go behind enemy lines and cause all sorts of hell on their side." Vos stated. "Sides' from that, I organize a spy network."

"Sounds cliche." Sam said. "Then again, war. So, whaddya gonna do."

"Necessary times come for necessary things." Vos said in agreement. "But on that topic, I've had a few of my contacts try to find a lead on your wayward Captain. We haven't found much but we're still searching."

"Seriously?" Sam said in surprise. "You've done that for us?"

"We owe the Avengers a lot more than we care to let on." Quinlan revealed. "A lot of Clones, Jedi and citizens owe their lives to you guys. It's the least we can do for the help you've all done for us."

Sam had a small smile appear. "Thanks."

"Any luck?" Matt asked.

Quinlan exhaled a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Wherever he perhaps is being kept, people are keeping a tight lip. Either that or Ultron is thoroughly covering any and all channels and rumors, making it much harder for us to find him."

"Figured it wouldn't be easy." Sam admitted.

"Do they at least know who to look for?"

"Hard not to." Quinlan said. "You Avengers have been becoming more and more popular than us Jedi sometimes. Then again, your bright suits and crazy powers tend to standout in a crowd."

"Hardy har." Sam shot back.

Vos grinned once more. "But don't worry, side from Delta Squad and our contacts, got my best contact out there right now looking for any leads on Cap. Khaleen never let me down once and pretty sure she won't, specially for someone I consider a friend."

"We can't thank you enough for this, Quinlan." Matt spoke up though the Jedi waved him off.

"Think nothing of it. It's time we paid back our dues."

-Scene Cut-

Steve was currently seated in what was essentially the prison room of all the enslaved Gladiators of the arena.

Around him were a litany of "competitors" from all parts of the galaxy.

Most were unwilling participants like himself whilst others came here as individuals who were rather lost and rather chose a place where they could at least die with some semblance of honor.

His suit was holding up for the most thankfully though there was a new addition of sorts. Around his left wrist was a metallic wrist strap.

It wasn't really much to look at as he had just placed it around his arm for the feeling of just having something on his arm that he can use to fight with.

On top of that, this was his sort of timekeeper of the time he had already spent there.

Steve had scratched ten tally marks upon the metal piece and the days reflected upon his face slightly. His hair had grown out a bit, having not trimmed or cut it in a while.

And he now had a bit of a scruff growing since there weren't any sanitary or razors he deemed safe enough to use.

So he had to just let it grow out.

Not that he was bothered by it or anything.

Just sorta… itches.

"So you're the leader of the Avengers." Spoke a male Togrutan who wore a collar similar, sitting across Steve Rogers on the bench opposite to his.

Cap internally grimaced at the sight of the collar as it appeared to be standard wear for the fighters here.

He figured that he could tear it off with ease with the right amount of strength.

And he gave it a go at one point.

But upon lightly jolting the collar, Steve felt sharp blades all around his neck, poking his skin.

And that's unfortunately how it was going to be for the foreseeable future.

"Sort of." Steve admitted. "I usually lead the Avengers but any of us can take charge when we see fit. It's not a 'one leads all' sort of thing."

"How does that work then?"

Steve shrugged. "It just does."

"Feels complicated." The Togrutan said with a shrug.

Steve found himself chortling. "Not as bad as you think. Once you see how it works, just snap into it."

"If you say so."

"Rogers."

Cap glanced up at a guard who came over as he banged against the bars.

"Slog." The Super Soldier greeted cordially enough.

It was the Devaronian from before who gave Cap a flat look. "You're up."

Exhaling a sigh, he got back up onto his feet.

He sure has been popular as of late. No real time for rest.

Though he shouldn't be all that surprised by his "fame" if he could call it that.

In the eyes of the audience, it's not every day one sees a non-force user literally kick a Nexu in the face and knock it out.

"So, how is our favorite combatant?"

Steve said nothing, only walking onward and not looking back.

"I must say you lasted longer than many suspected. But that will only make your death that much more enjoyable."

"I won't die. Not yet."

As he made his way towards the coliseum entrance, Steve picked up several items along the way that were situated on the walls.

An assortment of weapons and tools with a pair of requested sharp edged greaves and a shield.

Much as he missed his Vibranium frisbee, he had to make do with what was available to him.

Things went by rather quickly after his introduction onto the roaring crowd. Not a moment later, the entertainment commenced.

And Steve Rogers was really questioning himself right now.

Just… how in the world, the galaxy, the Universe did he get here?

Cap looked up in time to see a six legged shadow looming over him.

He tightened the strap around his arm for his armored, sharpened greave and rolled away in time from being shish kabobbed by a green claw.

The super soldier kept rolling, managing to dodge a number of additional attempts of being skewered whilst grabbing the rusty shield he had on his back.

Getting out from his roll, he held it up in time to block another sharp limb which went right through the shield.

Steve couldn't help but gulp momentarily as that was a bit close for comfort though he instantly steeled himself a moment later. Feeling the creature begin to struggle and free its limb, Steve utilized his enhanced strength and momentum of the creature in pulling it downward to the ground.

He was now face to face to face with his current opponent.

It was a large crab-like crustacean which had six legs, three eyes and a mean set of sharp toothed chompers that looked like they would tear right through him.

Which was why he promptly jabbed one of his sharpened greaves he had on right into one of the eyes of the Acklay.

The crab-like creature screeched in pain, thrashing about with one of its legs hitting Steve in the gut. He was sent flying back and crashed down to the ground.

Quickly scrambling back up to his feet, Steve grit his teeth before sprinting towards the enraged Acklay.

"RHA!"

Cleaving through an Acklay, Steve soon avoided a downward strike from a barbaric looking Twi'lek male. Once killing him with a powerful hit to the face, the Super Soldier gazed up above and called out to his primary captor.

"You're running out of executioners!"

Steve was tiring more and more each day. Eventually they would wear him down, which will lead to his unfortunate demise.

Far up above the captive audience of these gladiatorial games, the ringleader of this place sat within his private box.

He was a human male with quite the number of scars marrying his features. His attire was quite extravagant, due to him pillaging such things over the years and buying the best quality he could get his hands on.

What was once a pleasant expression was now one of boredom.

"This Captain Rogers is quite the competitor." Said one of the individuals of the ringleader's entourage.

"To good a Competitor." The human said in disdain.

"How is that a problem?" A Zabrak asked.

"He's killing off everything we throw at him after a few minutes." The human said in annoyance. "I thought we were getting a battered war veteran not some Pseudo-Jedi Super-soldier bullshit. That damned droid set us up."

"But boss, ain't we raking in the credits?"

"But where's the fun of it all?" The human asked exasperatedly. "The danger? The fear of loss?"

"In actuality, we're losing credits over the various matches." Spoke a blue skinned female with a datapad in hand. "The gambles keep being bet towards Rogers instead of against. More people are in fact stealing from us because of it."

"That's the gambler's faults." The Zabrak stated with a wry grin. "Unlike those idiots, I'm actually making the smart play."

The ringleader of the coliseum tuned out the banter between his entourage, letting out a tired groan at the sight of Steve spin kicking a human into next week.

With a tired expression, the ringleader merely spoke what came next through his head.

"Try the corellian slice hounds."

In an instant, new creatures entered into the fray with Steve seeing them and immediately getting into position.

All the while, he was unaware of one of the thousands of spectators in the stands gazing at him with a great deal of intense realization.

It was a woman with Magenta hair, green eyes and skin color light to the point that it could be considered ghostly white.

She wore a rather form fitting outfit meant to exaggerate her voluptuous figure to many wandering eyes.

This woman quickly began walking through the crowd, pulling out a comm device from her belt to make a call.

Time passed once more when the games came to an end for the day.

Steve sat in his cell, the room darkened by the night skies above.

His suit was slowly getting ripped apart yet managed to remain holding together.

Stark made sure to add a good layer of durability to the Avengers suits as he said himself, they need to look good when they're saving the day.

He let out a sigh, holding up an empty canteen before tossing it down to the ground.

"That's a waste of a good rusty bottle." Said a familiar, menacing synthetic voice.

The glare that Steve leveled at the eight foot tall metal body that stepped out of the shadows and loomed over his cell was one that only elicited a laugh out of the new arrival.

"Is that the sort of greeting you give to an old friend?" the mad droid asked with a flourish of his arms.

"Why not just kill me?" Steve asked straight away in a cold voice.

"And where would the fun be in that? No, I'd rather savor your deconstruction and downfall." Ultron stated with a manic grin. "The last thing I need is more Martyrs."

"Martyr?"

Ultron groaned aloud. "You're such a pain to talk to sometimes, you know that? At least Stark could hold a conversation. Talking with you is like talking to a hundred year old man…. Wait."

"What's the point in keeping me alive?" Steve asked, now standing up to his full height and staring unflinchingly at Ultron's dark red eyes. "I know it would've just been easier. You could have just killed me right then and there on Jabiim. Why didn't you?"

"Are you really a deaf hundred year old man?" Ultron asked in a deadpan. "I told you, the last thing I need is a Martyr for my plans."

Seeing as he wasn't getting anywhere with this old fossil, the synthetic merely went away to let the Super Soldier stew a bit more.

"We're not done here." Steve called out to him.

"Oh? And what are you gonna do behind that cell?" Ultron goaded. "Glare at me to death?"

"Not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Oh my God, and I thought I was dramatic."

"You're based off Stark, whether you like it or not." Steve said in a rather snide voice. "So that sickness, as you called it, is in you."

It was now Ultron's turn to glare, this one being practically murderous, red eyes boring down at the super soldier shorter than him.

"Do you really want to die so soon?" Ultron rhetorically asked in a low voice. "I wouldn't want to ruin the fun you've been having. Would feel wrong of me to strike down God's Righteous Man."

"You didn't do it to me when you captured me." Steve shot back. "And you didn't do the same with Nat when you had ample opportunity to do so. You want us alive. You want us to see you accomplishing your "mission" before killing us."

The two remained at a standstill, glaring at each other intently until a low chuckle came out from Ultron.

"And I always took you for a fool." Ultron said, taking a step back.

"I get that often." Steve conceded to that statement. "But I'm no idiot."

The AI scoffed at this, taking a moment to regard the soldier.

"I realized I needed time for my second go at it." Ultron admitted with a shake of his head. "I did things too fast and quick the last time around. I realized that peace is not something that can be forced upon people. If it's not their perspective of peace and order, they'd rebel. Seeing just how fickle and pathetic yet stupidly resilient the species of this galaxy are, I realized I needed to break things down bit by bit. Instill fear in their hearts, whittle down the want and will to fight. Killing you would only light a fire under the rest of your killers' ass' and they would have gone after me with everything they had."

Ultron chuckled again.

"But then I realized, this war right here and now… what better way to bring the Avengers down and the wannabe knock offs of the Jedi." Ultron said grandly. "Do you have any idea how fun it's been to sit back and watch the two sides just shred each other to pieces? Droids and Clones may be the same but the corrupt civilizations behind them are all the same. This is the perfect place I need to accomplish my mission. The Avengers will play their part. The Jedi will too. That secret Sith Lord made sure of it. Or so he thinks."

Steve felt himself inhale sharply at the aforementioned secret Dark Lord of the Sith that the Jedi have been seeking these past few years. The Sith Lord that is believed to be the one behind the war.

"You know him, don't you?"

"Hmm~ Perhaps."

Steve practically growled.

Ultron guffawed. "Like a caged animal. But to answer your question… yeah, I do. Not that hard but look who you're talking to."

"And I'll take a gander that you aren't going to be revealing him anytime soon."

"And spoil the fun? Unlikely."

With that last comment, Ultron began walking back into the shadows with only his eyes remaining visible to the Super Soldier until they too blinked out of sight.

Steve collapsed onto the floor and leaned his back on the ceiling behind him.

He had his head up at the opening above that showed the night sky and exhaled tiredly.

-Scene Cut-

Within the gardens of the Jedi Temple, it was thankfully one of the areas that went unscathed by Ultron's attack those few weeks ago. It has since become frequented by a number of Jedi who use this place as their place of momentary peace and respite from the madness going on in the rest of the galaxy.

Currently, this attempt at peace was being tried and failed by a certain Twi'lek Jedi who currently sat beneath a tree. She had her legs crossed, lightsaber before her and her arms rested upon her knees.

Her face appeared calm and serene yet not a moment too soon did it disappear with a look of pure frustration appearing on her face.

Grunting to herself, she inhaled deeply for another attempt of clearing her thoughts only for her to fail yet again less than a few seconds later.

Shaking her head, once more she tried to calm herself and allow the Force to flow through her.

…

The Twi'lek Jedi abruptly ripped grass out of the ground and force tossed it away from her in frustration.

She leaned her back against the tree trunk and let out a huff of aggravation.

As she was plagued by this inner turmoil, behind her back from afar stood two Jedi Masters who were very familiar to the young, frustrated knight.

One was a middle-aged human with graying black hair, black robes to match his dark hair, an artificial leg and artificial eye.

Next to him was a Jedi who held a serene and utterly calm demeanor with her hair resembling more smooth roots with her whole aesthetic being closer to something of a living plant with a more human appearance save for her lack of a nose.

Both Jedi were Masters of the order and had been standing here for a number of minutes now upon detecting the open frustrated state of the Twi'lek Jedi Knight known as Aayla Secura.

"I've never seen her in such a state." The female Jedi spoke first.

"Neither have I."

"Have you spoken with her, Tholme?"

The aging Jedi Master shook his head. "I haven't seen her in some time now, T'ra. This blasted war has kept many Jedi apart from one another."

"Unfortunate that tragedy and a heinous attack was what caused us to come together." T'ra Saa, the Neti Jedi Master said softly, head inclined downward.

She felt a rough but gentle hand upon her shoulder and without looking up, placed her own slender hand upon Tholmes.

Saa gave his hand a light squeeze of appreciation and let her emotions flow freely through the Force towards the man beside her.

He reciprocated the notion in kind with the two sharing a moment of peace between each other as they briefly looked away from Aayla to gaze lovingly at each other. They broke eye contact with one another after a few seconds to look back at the Jedi Knight beneath the tree attempting to meditate once again.

T'ra couldn't help but laugh despite herself and shook her head in mirth.

"Always was more stubborn than she let on." Saa said in amusement, walking towards Aayla with Tholme following right after her.

"I fear she may have gotten it from me." Tholme mused to himself. "Or likely Vos."

"You both tend to be stuck in your gruff ways." T'ra said light heartedly, earning a faux scoff of denial from the man she loved.

As the two drew closer to her, they both had to restrain themselves from laughing at Aayla now throwing a rock towards a nearby lake as she once more failed to meditate properly.

"Something troubling you, Aayla?" T'ra asked calmly.

Aayla blinked and looked behind her to see two Jedi to whom she greatly admired and looked up to.

"Master Tholme, Master Saa." Aayla said softly, standing to her feet. "I didn't sense you approaching. Sorry."

"No need for that." Tholme said, waving the apology down. "You appeared to be greatly troubled by something on your mind."

"That's putting it mildly, Master Tholme." Aayla sighed in an exasperated manner. "Jabiim… it was devastating."

"We know, Aayla." T'ra said, placing a gentle hand upon her shoulder. "We've seen the reports."

"So many lives were lost." Aayla said, head inclined down with a shake of her head. "How could we let that happen?"

Tholme grimaced. "Had I been any old scruff, I would say something along the lines of the Force or some nonsense in that regard. But the fact is, this was something none of us saw coming. I bet even the Sith are in a state themselves when Ultron up and declares war on the entire galaxy."

"This is a new enemy that will not be beaten by conventional means." Saa admitted.

Aayla simply slumped in her posture before shooting her older Master a small smirk.

"Old scruff? You heard that one from Bly, didn't you?"

Tholme gave her a mirthful smile. "He's a good man. Always assuages this old heart knowing you're in good company."

"Yeah." Aayla sighed once more, mood taking another downturn. "Yeah…"

T'ra and Tholme glanced at each other with the latter gesturing his head at her with the former nodding.

"There is… something else that's been bothering you, my child." T'ra said motherly.

Aayla was silent for a number of seconds until she exhaled. "I… I am worried about Steve."

"Ah yes." Tholme nodded. "Captain Rogers going missing has been troubling to say the least."

Both Tholme and T'ra recall their meeting with the Super Soldier very well and have since seen and heard a number of his exploits that he shared along with the Avengers. They were also well aware of the number of times Aayla had fought alongside him and several times encountered the two engaging in sparring sessions.

For the most part, they were simply exchanging knowledge of the martial arts until T'ra told Tholme of finding the two speaking far more personally with one another. Some might say it was just them being friendly with one another, yet the Neti Jedi detected something different in this regard.

"He disappeared right out from under our noses." Aayla spoke up. "I was fighting right next to him and the next thing I know, Steve's shield is just lying there in the mud and dirt before me. I can't believe I let that happen to him."

"You are not at fault here, Aayla." Tholme said kindly. "These past few days have been tumultuous for all so the last thing one needs is self-blame and guilt."

"The Avengers feel guilty enough as is." Aayla murmured. "They feel responsible that Ultron is here because they didn't end him the last time they fought."

"An unforeseen circumstance." T'ra stated. "These things can happen. They're out of our control."

"But finding Steve can be." Aayla said resolutely. "We owe him that much to try to find him at least."

"He's out there." Tholme reassured her. "We just need patience. A man like Captain Rogers is not easy to ignore."

"When the time comes, the trail towards the wayward Captain will be found, Aayla." T'ra chipped in. "For now, I believe I agree when I last spoke with Master Yoda that many Jedi need time to recover from these chaotic few days."

"How can we rest at a time like this?" Aayla asked incredulously.

"How can one operate when things are done rashly?" Tholme countered.

The Twi'lek Jedi looked down, teeth clenched in defeat until she nodded.

"I… yes, maybe some proper rest will do." Aayla admitted.

"Good." T'ra said, placing an arm around her shoulder. "Come, I'll help you get to sleep properly."

"Like you used to?" Secura asked, smiling at the Jedi master who chuckled serenely.

"Yes, my dear. Just like I used to."

As a number of days passed on, the Jedi were soon seen more actively across the city of Coruscant with the Clone Troopers in assisting the ongoing clean up. Others had been redeployed across the Galaxy once again.

The Avengers had been starting to become more restless as the days went on but remained focused on at least helping who they can in front of them.

This went on for a few more days until…

Widow sat with Scott and T'challa, the trio taking time out of their day to eat.

Sam had joined them seconds later and the four ate in relative silence for the most part.

"Still no word?" Sam asked after a period of silence with Nat sighing in defeat.

"I've gotten nothing in the last few days." Natasha said in clear aggravation. "Some of the contacts I made back on Tatooine had no info on Steve."

"We seem to be hitting dead ends on a number of isles." T'challa said somberly.

"God damn Ultron." Scott muttered bitterly.

"Any avenues we haven't explored yet?" Sam asked Natasha who hummed in thought.

"Well there's a number of places and organizations we can start with." Natasha began. "They always have some info that we-"

Before she was able to go on, the door to their room opened and in stumbled a very tired and frazzled Kiffar Jedi who was panting slightly.

Sam blinked, instantly recognizing who it was.

"Vos?" The aviator said in bewilderment. "The hell happened?"

"What's the rush?" Nat asked a moment later.

He held up a finger to catch his breath.

Stopping, the Jedi handed them a data pad. "Take a look at this."

Nat shared a look with the other three Avengers and shrugged before taking the datapad and looked through it as Vos spoke.

"Alright, so as you know, this war has been escalating and with Ultron now coming into play…" Vos left that statement unfinished as the Avengers grimaced. "Anyway, there's been some unusual traffic occurring within the outer rim on the northern end for some time now. Most believed it was a means of escaping the war or it being one of the planets Ultron hasn't attacked."

"So?"

"So I looked a bit more into it and found something. Something pertaining to a combatant arena located on the planet of Sleheyron run by crime lords for cheap entertainment."

"Sounds generic." Scott couldn't help but comment.

"And in that genericness, there's been a certain combatant that's been getting a lot of attention." Vos revealed, making the four heroes in front of him tense up in anticipation.

"A combatant, you say?" Nat said, tone inclining for the Jedi to go on.

"Khaleen Hentz is an informant of mine and a good friend. And knows her way around every sleemo establishment in the outer rim. Two days ago, she sent me this image." Quinlan said, holding up a circular holo-disk and a moment later-

"Steve/Cap!" was the collective reply from Nat, Sam and Scott.

They all gazed upon a freeze frame image of Captain America who appeared to be attacking something with his garb seeing better days.

T'challa smiled slightly, glad to see the Super Soldier alive.

"What the hell happened to him?" Sam asked straight away.

"What's with the beard?" Scott inquired. "He actually doesn't look half bad."

"That's what you're concerned about?"

"What? Just sayin'." Scott said defensively.

"You and Peter are two peas in a pod, you know that?" Sam said dryly. "You both do know you're Avengers yourselves, right?"

"We can't help it." Scott said sheepishly, Sam shaking his head in slight amusement.

Nat and T'challa gazed upon the still image of the Captain for a few more moments when the latter turned to the Jedi.

"Are you certain of the validity of Captain Rogers being on this planet?" T'challa asked.

Vos shrugged. "It's the best lead we've got. Khaleen hasn't steered me wrong yet."

"Then we'll take it." Nat declared.

"All hands on deck for this one?" Sam asked, looking at the veteran Avenger.

Natasha shook her head. "Can't risk that. The four of us will have to do while the rest of the team needs to stay behind and continue helping and also be on guard. Ultron could still attack at any given moment. Last thing we need is to come back to an even more devastated city."

"Delta Squad is up and ready with our own shuttle waiting for us." Vos revealed. "We can head out there right now."

The four Avengers quickly readied themselves, suiting up and taking whatever other equipment they needed before giving Vos a nod.

"Do you think the nine of us are gonna be enough?" Sam abruptly asked with Vos mulling this over.

"Khaleen told me that Sleheyron ain't the friendliest place in the galaxy." Quinlan admitted. "Maybe we need more help with this one. Doesn't hurt to be overly prepared."

Exiting the room, some of the Avengers sought to gather up people for this rescue operation.

One such person was in the hangar of the Jedi Temple.

Skywalker was presently tuning up his little starfighter as a means of putting his mind elsewhere from his present worries.

"Anakin."

Halting his present actions, the Jedi looked towards the one who addressed him. It was Wilson who was walking right towards him. He saw Master Vos in the background with Delta squad, Scott, Natasha and T'challa next to a large shuttle.

"Yeah?"

"We think we may have found Steve's location. He's on Sleheyron." Sam said straight away.

Hearing this got Skywalker to snap into a mixed reaction, both relief and seriousness.

"Are you sure about this?" The Jedi knight asked in disbelief.

"Positive." Sam affirmed. "Vos' contacts spotted him a few days ago. We're ready to go for him right now."

"Good, then it's time we get him back."

"Is Ahsoka or Obi-wan available?" Sam asked.

Anakin frowned. "Master Obi-wan just left with the 212th to the midrim. And Ahsoka's been out in the city the whole time with Barriss and Peter helping out with the civilians."

"Damn." Sam whispered.

"What about the rest of the Avengers?" Anakin asked. "Shouldn't they be coming as well?"

"As much as we'd like for them to come, we need a few of us behind to help in case Ultron decides to show up." Sam stated.

"Right, right." Anakin murmured, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Sam? Anakin? Is everything alright?"

The duo turned to see a confused Aayla Secura looking between them and over to where the other three Avengers were with her former Master Vos and his Clone squad.

"Are you all in a rush to go somewhere?" Secura asked the two. "I didn't even realize Master Vos came back."

Sam's eyes immediately as he gave the Twi'lek a rather intense look.

"Vos came to us saying he's found out where Cap's been the last few weeks."

Aayla's neck nearly snapped as she faced Falcon, eyes wide in surprise.

"Truly?" Aayla said in a low voice. "Are you serious?"

"We're getting things ready right away for departure." Sam revealed.

Scott, who had been walking by with a small case, stopped in front of them for a moment. "Well not immediately-"

"Scott." Sam said flatly.

"Right, right." Ant-man walked away, going over to the shuttle and entering it.

Aayla frowned at them, mind going at breakneck speeds before she nodded.

"Let me come with you." Aayla stated, slightly surprising them.

"You sure about that, Aayla?" Anakin asked.

She only gave him a determined look. "I owe Steve just as much as you do. He's a friend to me as he is to you. He was taken from us and I was right next to him and didn't even see it. I have to rectify this."

Aayla then had a more playful smirk appear on her face.

"Besides, aside from Sam here and Delta Squad, I have the most experience in dealing with my old Master." She said playfully. "You're gonna need someone with experience to handle someone like him."

Anakin and Sam snorted at that before nodding.

"The more the merrier then." Sam said. "Come on, let's get Cap back."

-Scene Cut-

"Run the plan by me one more time." Nat said, earning an eye roll from Quinlan.

"Again?" Anakin asked in aggravation.

"I just want to be sure everything can be accounted for." Nat said. "This is Steve we're here to rescue. So the less craziness, the better."

"I fear that is, in all likelihood, a fleeting wish." T'challa remarked.

Delta squad collectively let out snorts of amusement with their Jedi brother joining them.

"Some of us will disguise ourselves as civilians to infiltrate the arena and go unnoticed. Others will have to take care of the security, due to them no doubt wanting to halt our attempt of freeing Steve."

"Anything else?" Scott asked.

"We play it by ear on what else may come up along the way." Anakin said with a shrug.

"That's a horrible plan, Skywalker." Aayla couldn't help but say.

"And we can't exactly go anywhere as civilians." Boss, the leader of Delta squad, spoke up. "Case you forgot, everyone basically knows this face by now."

"We could always bum rush it." Scorch stated.

"No, first things first, we need to get that collar off Steve." Quinlan said, bringing up another still image of the fighting Captain and pointed to his neck. "Khaleen told me that unless we get the control or key to remove this thing around Steve's neck, those holding him prisoner can kill him in an instant."

"Great." Sam deadpanned.

The aviator leaned back in his seat, gazing out the window of the ship. He was met with the now familiar sight of the endless black and blue that was Hyperspace.

It was a trippy sight to be sure when he first saw this phenomenon when first arriving in this galaxy.

Over time though, he had long since grown accustomed to this sight. Still found it a bit freaky to look at sometimes.

He took a few seconds to look around the shuttle he sat in at the other occupants.

Boss and Quinlan were at the front, both in the pilot's seat with him being right behind them both.

T'challa was in a conversation with Anakin, the prince talking about his home of Wakanda and apparent technological wonders it held compared to the rest of Earth.

Scott appeared to be getting along well with Fixer and Scorch, the trio appearing to tinker on a number of items that ranged from infiltration gadgets to high end explosives.

Nat was reviewing everything about the arena and planet they were headed towards with Sev, Delta Squad's sniper, silently taking apart his rifle and putting it back together.

Lastly was Aayla Secura who sat in the back, elbows resting on her knees with her eyes on a singular object in the ship.

Sam tilted his head slightly and spotted what had held her attention and exhaled through his nose with his face scrunching up determination.

He gazed upon Cap's shield that they had brought along with them, the Vibranium disk being cleaned of any scorch marks or dirty patches it had.

'Soon, Cap.' Sam internally said to himself. 'Soon.'

"How much longer?" Asked the Twi'lek Jedi, breaking Falcon out of his thoughts.

"You asked that ten minutes ago and a half hour before that." Quinlan said in good natured annoyance.

"Sorry." Aayla said softly, head hanging down slightly.

"Steve ain't one to die so easily, Aayla." Nat spoke up.

"He was, after all, trapped in ice for nearly seventy years." T'challa brought up.

"How the hell did that happen?" Scorch asked in surprise.

"Long story." Scott said.

Fixer shrugged. "We got-"

"Five minutes." Boss called out from the front. "So that means you'll have to make it an abridged version."

"Or save it for the ride home." Scott suggested.

"Urgh, fine." Scorch said in a faux dramatic tone. "Until we get Captain Rogers out of there."

Five minutes eventually passed by with the ship exiting out of hyperspace, their transport made their way to the planet's surface.

Landing their shuttle in a docking bay, they were met with Quinlan's informant, Khaleen Hentz who was waiting for them. She greeted the Kiffar Jedi in a far more affectionate manner than anticipated. And he returned the gesture in kind, briefly leaning his forehead against hers.

Khaleen then cheekily greeted the rest of Delta squad in her own friendly manner with the four Commandos doing the same in return.

"Aayla." Hentz said in a cordial manner, the Twi'lek nodding her head back at her.

She then turned to the rest.

"Ah, Anakin Skywalker." Khaleen said in recognition. "The hero with no fear."

"Naturally." Anakin said with a small boastful smirk.

Khaleen chuckled slightly before looking at the other four heroes.

"And you must be the Avengers."

"Some of them." Scott said with a shrug.

"And you must be Vos' contact." Natasha said.

"I am." Hentz nodded. "Now we better get going. Show's about to start for today."

The team split into two as they went onto their assigned tasks when making it to their destination. Each of them were given large brown robes that were able to cover themselves entirely, much to the amusement of the others as they watched the Commandos lightly complain about their bulky mass making it difficult to move.

The group was divided into three groups in total.

Sam, Scorch, T'challa and Anakin were in the same crowd with Khaleen, Aayla, Vos and Scorch.

Fixer, Scott and Natasha went down into the underground of the Arena to see if Steve could be found there. And if not, the means in which to get the collar that remained around his neck.

Upon reaching the arena, they saw it was packed to the brim with spectators.

"Well now, he knows how to draw a crowd." Anakin remarked.

As soon as he said that the arena erupted into deafening cheers as the two groups within the crowd immediately spotted whom they came to rescue.

"Well shit, that was easy." Scott stated in blank surprise.

"Natasha, Steve is in the arena." Anakin reported to Widow straight away. "He's about to fight."

"Damn." Nat muttered from her end. "Do you see that collar Khaleen mentioned?"

"Yes." Sev answered, the Clones trained eyes spotted the device almost instantly on the Super Soldier's form.

"What's he fighting?" Scott asked.

The answer came in the form of a large creature with a potato-like body, elongated limbs that had clawed hands and a flat face, two small eyes and a wide mouth lined with sharp teeth.

"What the hell is that thing supposed to be?!" Sam asked in shock.

"A rancor." Anakin grimly said. "Tough bastards."

"Oh shit." Vos murmured, watching as Cap began fighting the beast that was swinging its arms at the super soldier.

Steve crashed down onto his back and barely managed to throw his hands up in time to catch the large, clawed hand of his current opponent.

This Rancor was his third one that he had faced since becoming a "gladiator" for the amusement of the audience and he had quickly decided they were his least favorite species to fight.

By this point, his suit was becoming darker in appearance as it hadn't been cleaned in some time now. The symbol for the Avengers on his right shoulder had been torn off as was his white star, courtesy of the first Rancor he fought.

He had a full beard on him by now with his growing hair slicked back thanks to his own nasty grease and sweat.

Back up in the crowds, Rogers' rescuers watched on in bated breath and anticipation. They wanted to rush in to save him but they were able to see the collar around his neck.

Undoubtedly, if they were to rush in to save him, those in control would kill him right in front of them just to spite him.

"Think we should join in on the fun?" Scorch asked quietly, nudging Quinlan slightly. "Bet you he kills it with a spear."

"Really Scorch?" Vos asked dryly. "We're here to rescue him, not bet on his life."

Scorch scoffed jokingly. "With us here, his life is as good as saved. Just wanna have some fun."

The Jedi eyed his demolition expert for a few moments.

"You lost your credits again to Fixer, didn't you?"

"I cannot confirm nor deny it."

"...You did."

"He's cheating, I swear to you." Scorch complains childishly. "It's not fair!"

"You are such a child." Vos said with a shake of his head.

A moment later, Quinlan produced a gold Credit piece. "You're on."

"You two are idiots." Sam was unable to withhold the comment.

"Any progress on deactivating the collar?" T'challa asked, ignoring the others with his eyes on Steve who had narrowly ducked beneath a swipe of the Rancors claws.

On Nat, Fixer and Scotts end, they encountered some resistance in the form of security droids that they quickly dealt with.

"Well we don't even know what we're looking for."

Fixer shot down the last of the security Droid within the hallway they were running through. "A control console is a start. Or even a triggering device as a second option."

"Do we even know what it could look like?" Natasha asked.

"Search every place on every floor."

"Wait…" Scott halted in mid run, making his two companions do the same. "Everybody here who's fighting has these collar things right?"

Nat and Fixer looked at each other briefly before looking back and the latter nodding at the former ex-con.

"Then… shouldn't we just go to the assholes who hold whatever they need to keep the collars on?"

"...I hate it when we never considered such a thing earlier." Nat muttered, feeling rather stupid right about now.

Fixer chortled. "Always hate it when we make things complicated for no reason."

"So where is the main place where we could find the bastards?" Scott asked.

Having kept the comms on, the others heard this conversation and Khaleen was the one to supply an answer.

"The Northern structure of the Arena." Khaleen quickly answered. "It's heavily guarded."

"Not gonna be a problem for us." Natasha declared. "When you see the collar snap off, make the move."

"Got it." was the collective response from those standing within the audience.

The trio of infiltrators ran towards the northern end of the arena and eventually reached the corner of the hallway that would lead down to its entrance.

Scott shrank down and stood upon Fixers shoulder as he peaked around the corner with Nat getting down to one knee and doing the same.

"Ten guards." Nat quickly counted off.

"Gamorreans." Fixer said in a grimace, identifying the guards. "Tough little bastards with hard skin."

"Think they can take on a miniature punch with the density of a tank?" Scott asked.

Fixer's shoulders move up and down.

"Only one way to find out."

Scott lightly adjusted his posture as Fixer's index was lined up behind him.

"Flick me." Scott said.

A moment later, Ant-man was punted straight towards the closest Gamorrean.

The pig-like bipedal creature that Scott flew towards squinted briefly as it believed to have seen something small in its sight.

A moment later, the guard was promptly struck and fell over, crashing down to the ground.

Scott grew to full size, surprising the remaining guards before he shrank back down again.

Another Gamorrean was suddenly tripped up and then came in the cavalry.

Fixer and Nat sprinted at the confused pig guards and with Scott, quickly took them out in rapid succession.

They stood over the now dead guards.

"They weren't so tough for overgrown pig-men." Scott said with a shrug.

Fixer huffed a laugh while Nat went for the comms.

"We're outside the main room." Widow reported to the rest of the team. "What's Steve's status?"

"Well Scorch just won some credits." Anakin wryly commented, the clones laugh being heard in the background. "And you guys better hurry cause Steve's facing down another Rancor and this time with friends."

Without missing a beat, the green armored Clone Commando pulled out three disks from his pack.

"On three, we storm the room." Said Fixer as he placed some explosives on the door.

Once everything was set, the others went to cover so they wouldn't get hit by the upcoming blast.

From there, Fixer counted down before activating the trigger.

*KABOOM*

"What!?"

Hearing the startled yell from the other side, the team ran in with their weapons trained at the individuals inside.

Upon seeing them, the ones in charge of the arena started firing upon the intruders. The ringleader turned in time and was struck by a large piece of debris that had flown towards him.

The man fell to the ground in a daze and drifted off into unconsciousness as blaster fire and chaos reigned within his personalized viewing room over the coliseum.

The rest of the man's entourage was quickly shot down or beaten by Ant-man, Black Widow and Fixer who stood at the entrance. They lowered their arms and weapons and were met with the awkward scenes of some who had survived this breech.

It was mostly drunkards, gamblers and scantily clad women. Scott quickly looked up to the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing and made sure to picture his own girlfriend to avoid looking at the barely clothed ladies.

"I think it should be obvious what you all should be doing right about now." Nat said casually.

A moment later, those who were still alive made a beeline for the door and dashed out the room and left the trio with the mess they caused.

"So, what are we looking for?" Scott asked, gazing around the room that they had made quite a mess in.

Fixer was already patting down several bodies closest to him.

Black Widow took a moment to regard the many bodies littering the floor until her eyes landed upon the one on the ground in front of the most lavish couch that sat in the center of the room.

Wordlessly, she approached the unconscious body and began sifting through the man's pockets until she pulled out a remote of some kind.

"Fixer." Nat called out to him and tossed him the remote she found.

Catching it, it took him a moment to inspect it before nodding with a grin under his helmet.

"Exactly what we're looking for." Fixer declared.

Just as he said this, the trio heard a boisterous roar of the crowd.

They looked out the open window to see Steve standing atop the body of the Rancor he had just killed, facing down yet another Rancor.

Only this one wasn't alone.

There were Several Nexu, a Reek, another Acklay and Corellian Hounds now out on the field.

"What the hell?!" Scott cried out in shock. "How'd they get out?"

Fixer looked down at the remote and noticed the button third to the bottom glowing and looked back at the human who had held the remote.

"Either by intention or accident, that bastard's the reason they all got out." Fixer stated.

"Do you know which one will get that collar off of him?" Nat asked the Clone Commando who nodded and pressed the center button in the remote.

They watched from their vantage point a momentarily confused Captain Rogers who had a hand up to his neck as it was light of a death collar around him.

"Then now we can go help him." Widow declared, raising her wrist comm. "Ladies and gentlemen, that's our cue."

Needing no other incentive, Scott took a few steps back before going for a running start towards the window.

Jumping through the wide opening, he pressed down on his right hand controller. Growing to twenty feet tall, he proceeded to punt a Rancor right up to a tower adjacent to the one he had just raided.

A few minutes earlier, Cap was struggling to beat this Rancor that managed to get a good blow on him.

He was breathing heavily, tiredly with him aching from head to toe.

This was his everyday life for over a month now, possibly getting close to two depending on all the tally marks he had marked on his metal greave.

Non-stop fighting.

Barely any food or water without a proper time to rest.

Adrenaline had gotten him through a number of tough situations.

But in the end, Steve was still human.

Enhanced as he may be with a peak physical body, he still felt tired at the end of every fight and now it was just plain exhaustion.

At times, his arms trembled at the end of every day with Rogers shaking it off as he tried getting proper sleep whenever he was able to.

Not that it was all bad.

He got some good exercise in.

And he firmly believed that after he got out of this place, he hoped, he felt he would have gotten stronger than before.

He only hoped that his friends would find him and get him out of here.

And as luck would have it, when he stood atop the defeated Rancor and faced the oncoming literal menagerie of alien creatures that had been released from their cages, the collar around his neck suddenly snapped off.

"What-"

Abruptly, he felt the ground shake and a moment later, the giant foot of Scott sailed by him and punted the newest Rancor in the arena up into one of the coliseums observation decks.

Cap looked up in stunned disbelief which turned into a beaming smile at the sight of Gi-Ant-man standing above him.

"Hey Cap." Scott's voice boomed. "Sorry it took us so long."

Not a moment went by when the rest of Cap's rescue team made themselves known.

Delta squad discarded their cloaks as did the Avengers and Jedi present and all jumped into the arena.

Falcon took to the air and quickly reigned down small missiles upon the alien creatures, some getting quickly while those with stronger hides screeched in painful protest.

Anakin and Aayla rushed forward with their Lightsabers ignited and cleaved through Steve's adversaries.

Vos was standing by Khaleen, Boss and Sev who were shooting at guards who were now running into the arena.

"I believe this is yours, Captain Rogers."

Cap blinked and turned to see Black Panther standing by his side and held his colorful shield in hand out for him to take.

Smiling, Steve held his signature weapon in his hands after what felt like years.

"Felt rather incomplete without it." He said, slipping his shield onto his left arm. He then gazed at the others around him. "And it's good to see you all again."

"Glad to see you're still kicking, Steve." Said the familiar voice of Natasha Romanoff who had joined his side with Fixer right next to her.

"Nat." Steve said, looking over to the Clone Commando, recognizing him and the other three Commandos on the field. "Fixer. Good to see you too."

"Glad to be here Captain Rogers." Fixer stated.

"Honored Delta squad came to help." Steve said with a grin. "Vos still driving you crazy?"

"They do the same and you know it, Captain Rogers." Said the voice of Quinlan who had joined their side with the others.

Steve nodded at the Kiffar Jedi in appreciation, momentarily pausing at the sight of a light skinned woman beside Vos.

"Khaleen Hentz." She quickly introduced herself to him.

"She's the reason we found you." Nat added in.

"Then I guess I got to thank you the most." Steve said earnestly.

"Save it for when we get out of here." Khaleen said cheekily. "The thought of having the Avengers owing you one is a pretty nice idea."

Steve shook his head in amusement before flinging his shield forward with all his might.

"Yes ma'am."

The team of twelve now went on the offensive, fighting off a multitude of guards and the violent creatures that had been kept inside the arena below.

It was complete and utter chaos in and out of the arena.

Due to Fixer releasing the collar around Steve, he didn't realize that.

As this went on, the ringleader of this operation had stirred and was met with the sight of pure uncontrolled chaos running free across the arena. Frantically looking all over, he saw all the enslaved combatants getting freed from their restraints.

"Nonononono! How the hell did this happen!?"

He quickly fiddled with his comm piece and contacted the head honcho of this establishment.

"Boss." He said in fear. "We've got a situation here!"

"What is it?" came the voice of his employer in a bored voice.

"The Avengers, the Jedi." He quickly said. "They're here. They're attacking the arena and all the slaves are being freed."

"The Avengers you say?" His employer spoke in intrigue. "I take it they're here to rescue their leader, Captain Rogers."

"Yes, sir." the Ringleader spoke in fear. "All the creatures have been freed and all the gladiators are revolting. What should I do?!"

He was met with silence for a number of seconds until…

"Send out the Gorog."

Those who hadn't engaged the free gladiators and invading Republic Forces froze in shock and fear.

The Ringleader paled upon hearing the order.

"B-But the arena's restraints, they haven't been properly tested." He said in shock.

"Open the Gorog gate, now!" His employer said, with a louder voice. "Leave that place to its fate. Best not to dwell on failed endeavors."

Down at the arena floor, Steve and his companions had been clearing out the field, systematically defeating the large alien creatures that had remained to face them.

By now, the arena was pretty much cleared out with the twelve standing strong together.

For the most part, the fighting seemed to be reaching its end until they heard another gate open up. This one was particularly larger than the others, something that Steve had always taken note of whenever he fought.

The others quickly readied themselves for whatever awaited them from within.

In a sad way, Steve relaxed when he saw a common rancor stomp through the passageway. It wasn't the first time he had to kill one of those things. He just beat one a few minutes ago.

The somewhat calm demeanor of the group in facing another Rancor was shattered a moment later. A massive three fingered hand appeared, grabbed the rancor and dragged it into the darkened space between the gates.

"Um…" Scott squeaked out. "What was that?"

A second later, the Rancor was thrown out onto the field.

More like, the two halves of the Rancor were thrown back out, further bloodying the ground.

"That's not disgusting at all." Widow said blankly, the group feeling the ground shake with an echoing growl emanating from the gates.

"...I have a bad feeling about this." Skywalker murmured, expression conveying a growing sense of dread.

The arena continued to shake and tremble as whatever it was that was about to be unleashed drew closer. Seconds later, a gargantuan creature emerged from a gate in the ground and roared. It had scars littering it's grey leathery flesh. It has a metal plate on its head covering a large scar with chains attached to its shackles. And protruding from its lower jaw were four massive tusks.

By this point, every spectator ran away from the arena.

"Is it too late for Scorch to make it back to the shuttle to get his explosives?" Sev asked weakly.

"I don't even think a Nuke would kill this bastard." Sam asked in an emotionless tone.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Sam shouted in shock. "It's bigger than the Zillo Beast!"

"...That's rather perceptive. Now how do we kill it?!" Fixer shouted.

"I don't think we easily can." Boss said grimly.

The gargantuan creature sniffed the air before it turned to face the four clones, three Jedi, five Avengers and lone informant and roared aloud.

"I think it spotted us." Scorch blandly said.

"No shit!" Sam said, unfurling his wings again.

"Start thinking of a solution!" Steve shouted, the entire group scrambling out of the way as the large fist of the Gorog came crashing down.

It struck the ground with such force, the entire arena went through a miniature earthquake.

The group all stumbled a bit though thankfully managed to remain on their feet.

"Take that bastard down." Boss yelled out and instantly, all four Delta Squad members began firing their collective weapons upon the gigantic monster.

Sam flew around the head of the creature, firing his own blasters at it.

Steve, T'challa, Anakin and Aayla were running around the area, avoiding the swings and swipes the Gorog made towards them.

"When we came for you, I didn't think this is how it would have turned out." Anakin said, running alongside Steve.

"Most things never do turn out the way you think they would." Steve pointed out. "Best not to think about it."

"Behind us." T'challa shouted, the four of them looking back in time to see the other arm of the Gorog swinging right at them.

Steve and T'challa jumped up and landed upon the large hand before flipping off while Aayla and Anakin utilized the Force to perform large overarching jumps right over the giant hand.

Nat was watching from afar, trying to formulate some kind of plan but none were popping into mind.

She looked at the creature and noted multiple chains and devices around it that looked like they were meant to be restraints.

There were several brief moments where the Gorog lightly clawed at some of these metal devices with a sense of clear pain and irritation.

"Guys, that thing is surrounded by those metal pieces." Nat spoke into the comms. "Maybe that's a way for us to restrain it or even kill it."

Anakin spotted the restraints and a second later noticed they were connected to two pillars. He narrowed his eyes and looked back forth between the hands and pillars that were behind it.

"Aayla, help me take care of the restraints!" Anakin shouted, an idea forming quickly in his mind.

"What? Why?" Aayla asked, watching Anakin run towards the large hand furthest from them.

"Trust me!"

"Go Aayla." Steve encouraged, throwing his shield at the Gorog. "We'll cover you both."

Rushing onwards, the two Jedi went to their respective pillars, leaped high into the air and unleashed a barrage of saber strikes where the restraints were connected. Their attacks started charging the magnets within the restraints. At a certain point, the shackles attached to the Gorog started getting pulled back.

"Push its hands into the chains!"

Hearing this, the others quickly played their own part to help in getting the Gorog restrained.

Sam flew by and pressed down on his tacpad to send out several drones from his wingsuit.

They flew straight into the wrists of the monster, penetrating its skin and expended all the energy it could in helping push one of the hands back.

"Sam." T'challa called out to him, his form glowing purple once more.

Instantly getting the Prince of Wakanda's intentions, Falcon swooped by and grabbed hold of Panther's outstretched hand.

Flying on high, he was directed towards the head in which Sam let the enhanced Prince fly down at the head of the creature. He landed and a moment later sailed back as the built up Kinetic energy stunned the Gorog.

Sev and Natasha both utilized high piercing sniper rounds from their blaster rifles and repeatedly shot the tips of the shackles to hopefully push them back. It was more or less successful while they had to occasionally evade the oncoming blows.

Black Panther landed on the ground and was once again aglow with Kinetic energy as the impact of his landing built up enough force.

He rolled into a standing position and jumped to stand in front of Fixer and Vos just as the Gorog's fist came down.

T'challa slammed his fist down with all his might and unleashed the kinetic energy he had in his suit which was enough to make the giant hand recoil back.

Both hands eventually came back to where the restrainment pillars were located, causing them to get fully locked into place.

"Now grab it's head!"

"What?"

"Like this!" Anakin said, throwing out both his arms and immediately feeling a strain on his entire body.

He had grabbed the beast's head but it was trying to pull itself free.

"Oh no you don't." Hissed Skywalker, applying more power to his hold.

Suddenly it became easier when he noticed Aayla assisting him. A moment later, Vos caught onto their intentions and joined in.

They were slowly bringing it down yet it continued to resist.

Then, from up above, a Gi-ant figure grew to a large size right over the Gorog's head and fell down upon it with its elbow connecting to its head.

"That one was for you, Macho Man!" Gi-ant Man proclaimed. "Now it's time for you to get acquainted with the ground!"

Delivering another blow, Scott attempted to send the creature to the dirt but the restraints weren't able to make that happen all that well. Thus Gi-Ant Man kept hitting it over and over.

This unfortunately caused the restraints to break, letting the Gorog free in the process.

"...Crap." Scott said as he was promptly flung off and crashed hard onto the ground, shrinking back down to normal.

Sev and Nat rushed over to help him and check him over for any serious injuries.

The others still faced the Gorog that was now bellowing out whilst thumping its chest challengingly at its opponents below him.

"Restraining it won't work anymore. We need to take it out of commission." Cap said grimly.

"How?" Khaleen asked in a small squeak.

"Working on the solution." Steve admitted.

Before anything could really be done, both mentally and physically, a large shadow encompassed them all.

"SCATTER!" Came the yell from Vos as everyone scrambled to get out of the dual fists' way.

Both fists came crashing down onto empty space yet the force of the impact actually caused many of them to be lifted up from the ground and fall over.

Falcon remained in the air, firing at the creature repeatedly whilst Black Panther stuck close to Boss and Scorch and used a constant stream of Kinetic Energy as his means of repelling the Gorog's hands.

Steve also kept flinging his shield at the face of the creature, much to its irritation and the Jedi kept giving it burnt scratches along its hands and arms.

The Gorog was becoming far more erratic now, starting to simply swing his limbs about violently and destroying the area around him.

Debris began reigning down everywhere now with the arena starting to crumble from the rampaging monstrosity.

The Gorog chased after Sam momentarily, wildly swinging its large arms at the flying Avenger and in the process destroyed more of the arena.

The Clone Commandos, Nat and Khaleen had to basically steer clear and remain as far as possible from the giant beast whilst the two super soldiers and three Jedi continued to engage it.

Aayla was now using both her blue and the green lightsaber she had procured from Kadrian earlier this year to keep slashing at the Gorog.

Anakin and Vos opted to team and fling large chunks of rock at the beast.

T'challa unveiled a new function to his suit the team hadn't seen before and it was a glowing purple Vibranium staff.

Steve simply kept throwing his shield, hitting the Gorog's face constantly yet the beast continued its rampage even with the combined assault of three Avengers and three Jedi.

"Jesus, that thing's crazy." Scott bemoaned, wincing as he nursed his side. His rib was either bruised or broken as he felt the pain was constant in that part of his body.

"How are we supposed to beat it?" Fixer asked.

"Think I can make it back to our ship and bring out the heavy ordnance?" Scorch asked, with Boss shaking his head.

Flinging his weapon in an upward angle, Steve saw his vibranium shield bounce against the Gorog's head again . It bounced back and instead of returning to its owner, the Gorog's shifting arm struck it and it went elsewhere in the field.

Steve gritted his teeth as he rushed to retrieve it, but he was forced to fall back when the gargantuan alien swept its arm across the ground.

Aayla was by Anakin and Vos' side as the trio kept using the Force to throw large rocks at the Gorog to no avail.

A brief shadow passed overhead that caught Secura's attention.

Seeing the weaponized frisbee flying across the air, Aayla leaped into the air and used the Force to assist her in procuring Steve's shield. She knew the Shield could cut through the Force and she couldn't grasp it properly.

But she figured there was a work around.

Rather than trying to grab the shield itself, she used the Force in a clever manner, expunging a burst of sorts from above the shield. The "force" in which made it fly down to her.

Just in time too as their giant adversary brought it's fist forward to punch her out of the air.

Acting quickly, the Twi'lek jedi whipped the shield before her when the fist came in close. The star spangled shield indeed protected her from the powered hit, but she was rocketed towards the earth upon impact.

She landed hard, feeling her entire body scream in pain as she let out a whimper with her trembling from the impact.

Aayla could still feel her entire body be able to move which was good as nothing was paralyzed. But also it was bad as she felt everything.

She slowly managed to get to her knees with every muscle and bone she had aching in protest of the movement.

'How in the Force does Steve do it?!' She yelled out mentally, gritting her teeth during this process.

Secura noticed the area around her was darkened and she looked up with her eyes widening.

The team watched on in horror as the Gorog hovered over Aayla who couldn't move due to her body refusing to do so. All she was able to do was weakly raise Steve's shield and awaited her demise.

Suddenly, pain erupted by her side as she was tackled out of the way of the hand.

She cried out, eyes closed as she felt strong arms wrapped around her as she was on the ground once more.

A moment later, the large hand of the Gorog came down and she heard a scream of pain in her ear.

Aayla opened her eyes in time to see Steve struggle before he was quickly lifted up into the air by the Gorog from his ankles.

The Twi'lek's eyes widened in horror as she watched Steve get lifted right above the head of the giant beast.

"STEVE!" Aayla and Sam shouted at the same time.

Falcon dove forward as fast as he was able to, to reach Steve in time only to see his friend get dropped right into the open wide mouth of the Gorog.

"NOOOO!"

"HE FUCKING ATE CAP!" Scott and Delta Squad all screamed in shock.

Eventually overcoming their shock, the assembled allies went in rather fiercely in order to take out the beast once and for all.

The Gorog simply swung its fists about erratically, keeping them at bay.

Aayla reached for her waist, shield in her left hand as her right patted down to realize…

She quickly looked to see one of her Lightsabers was missing! The one she had made when she first became a Padawan.

"Aayla." Vos called out to her, breaking her out of her stupor. "Come on, focus! We gotta get Steve out of there 'fore he reaches that freaks stomach.

The blue skinned Twi'lek nodded as she had to ready herself to continue the fight.

As the Gorog stood tall and roared, it prepared to smash everyone else left in the field.

Suddenly, it lurched forward with a painful snarl. And it wasn't for one instant, but several. It began jerking about violently with it letting out screeches of pain.

"...What's happening?" Anakin asked warily.

"I… I don't know." Khaleen answered, all looking on nervously as the Gorog continued spasming about.

The gargantuan beast was roaring as it hunched ever more.

Soon enough, something pierced out of the area around the stomach.

It was missable at first, but they were able to see it was bright… and blue?

"Wait a second…" Aayla squinted slightly. "Is… Is that my lightsaber?"

It had to be. The only other blue lightsaber out in the field was Anakin's.

But that only meant-

A moment later, the lightsaber started cleaving right through the Gorog's stomach area. After a mighty thrust, the blue lightsaber sliced through the grey leathery flesh with vast amounts of blood gushing out. And with it came the creature's intestines-

"GRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

-along with something else.

From the small tidal wave of blood and intestines came a body that flailed down to the ground below.

The Gorog tried to keep its innards within his belly, but it's attempts were useless as too much flowed out. It roared as it fell over and collapsed in utter agony.

It wouldn't be much longer for the beast to finally die out.

The group watched as a blood soaked figure slowly stood to its feet, a metal lightsaber loosely being held in its hands.

The body appeared to barely be able to stand and not a moment too soon…

"URGH~"

Dropping the lightsaber from his grasp, the person fell over to their knees onto the bloody ground and puked up whatever was in their stomach.

"Steve!" Was the response of all present upon realizing just who it was.

They ran right over to him and watched him try to get his bearings together.

"Oh god." Steve was on all fours, dry heaving. "Dear god…"

"Are you alright?!" Aayla asked, almost frantically.

"Holy shit, that was insane." Boss murmured.

"Bast give me strength, that odor is something else." T'challa scrunched up his face, his mask forming back around his head to protect him from the putrid stench of the Captain.

Steve coughed, nearly throwing up again in the process.

"That… was one of the most disturbing things I've ever done." Cap said slowly. "No amount of therapy will ever make this ok."

"I don't think any therapy will be enough for what you did." Sam said good naturedly, laughing in exhausted relief at seeing his close friend alive and well.

"Steve uh…" Anakin coughed. "Actually everyone, step away from him for a moment."

The team looked at the Jedi quizzically but did as he asked and watched as Skywalker raised his hands and concentrated on Rogers.

Steve managed to raise himself, still on his knees as he looked at Anakin with a bleary face of confusion.

"Ana-"

*THVVVM*

Anakin expunged a focused shockwave of the Force that was strong enough to get a good amount of blood and gunk off the good Captain.

"Oh!" Vos crossed his arms and hummed in approval. "Good thinking."

"...Th-Thanks…" Steve said with a grateful smile.

"Let's get the hell outta here." Sam said aloud.

"Because of enemy reinforcements?" Scott asked.

"No, cause Steve needs one hell of a cleanup." Nat stated, flinching as she could still see the odor of the intestines emanating off the Super Soldier.

"Please." Steve almost pleaded. "I need one."

-Scene Cut-

It honestly took an hour for Steve to exit both the medical facility and the washroom of the Republic space station that they had stopped at on the way back to Coruscant.

Sleheyron was in the outer rim and not all that far from the space controlled by the Hutts so it was the best place they had to stop in for some proper medical treatment.

His leg was broken for the most part having been smashed slightly by the Gorog when he saved Aayla. Not to mention being held captive for a month needed him to have a well-deserved checkup in case he caught anything.

Thankfully though, with this galaxy's medical know-how and his own enhanced physiology, he would be able to recover in another several weeks.

After his checkup, Steve practically quarantined himself into the washroom so he may, well, get himself cleaned up.

He was greasy, dirty and hadn't shaved for so long that his unmaintained beard started to itch his face like crazy.

Cast around his neck, he hobbled over to finally dry himself off from what was essentially an hour of showering and shaving.

"God, I almost forgot how good it feels taking a long hot shower." Steve said to himself.

"Took you long enough."

Cap looked over to see Sam, Nat, Scott, T'challa and Anakin entering his room.

"Almost thought you wanted to camp out in the showers longer than you should." Sam joked, grin in place.

"Almost wanted to." Steve admitted, limping over to give Sam a hug before doing the same for Scott and Nat and a firm arm grasp with T'challa.

He then placed a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Thanks for coming for me. All of you."

"Wouldn't be the same without ya, Cap." Skywalker stated, cocky smirk in place. "Couldn't stand to see the Avengers mope around like that."

"I wouldn't call it moping." Nat said, an amused eye roll directed at the Jedi.

"More like overbearing depression?" Anakin tacked on.

"Weren't you just as adamant about getting him back?" Scott shot back.

"How are you feeling, Steve?" T'challa asked, ignoring the banter from the others.

"Alive." Steve answered tiredly. "Should be happy about that at least."

"How's your leg feeling?" Natasha asked.

Steve glanced down at his foot. "Haven't had any broken bones in years. So it'll be something to work with again."

He then looked back up to his friends.

"Where's the others? Delta squad? Vos? Aayla?"

"They're recovering in their own rooms." Sam answered. "Saw Delta Squad in the cafeteria, grabbing some grub."

"Vos is with that Hentz lady in her room cause she got real roughed up from that kaiju freak." Scott said. "And Aayla's in her own room resting up too."

Steve nodded at that, glad to hear that everyone who came after him were all alive and in one piece.

"Gotta ask, but what did I miss while I was gone?"

"During the month or while you were getting cleaned up?" Nat asked for clarity.

Steve rose a brow at this response before giving a simple one of his own. "Both…"

He was given a brief summary of the events that had since transpired since his kidnapping by Ultron.

It was kind of what he was expecting.

The galaxy was in a state of fear, the entire Republic was in uproar as was the CIS.

Multiple systems across the galaxy were switching sides between the Republic, Separatists or choosing to become neutral, causing further upheaval.

It was madness, pure and simple.

The Jedi had also received a secret message directly from the Hutt cartels which informed them of something quite serious.

Ultron had met with them earlier in the year, strong arming them into their silence while he operated within their system.

This was huge news to the Avengers and other Jedi, which was why, when they had learned Obi-wan wasn't at the temple at the time of their departure, multiple fleets were being sent out through Hutt space to try and pin down Ultron's location.

The Avengers, those who had faced him before, however believed that Ultron has likely changed bases by this point. He had said to Steve that he had to change tactics if he were to win so they knew the same would have to be done for him.

Eventually, they had left Steve to his own devices who was now walking through the pristine white halls of this medical facility.

He had passed by a number of Clones, all of whom stopped and saluted out of respect with Steve giving each either a firm nod or something akin to a brotherly smile.

It was strange how at ease he was with the Clones by this point but a welcomed one. They were soldiers just like him.

Steve stopped by the room where Vos and Khaleen were supposed to be. Taking a moment to peek into the room, he saw Khaleen resting in bed with multiple bandages around her though she still looked well enough. By her side and holding her hand was Quinlan Vos, sporting his own injuries though not enough to keep him bedridden.

The two appeared to be engaged in a rather intimate conversation, both having tender smiles as they spoke with one another.

'Are they in a relationship?' Steve idly wondered.

This thought was all but confirmed when he saw Vos lift Khaleen's hand up his lips and kissed it lovingly. Hentz let out a content sigh and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

Not wanting to ruin whatever moment was happening here, he quietly walked hobbled away.

He walked past another room only to halt and quickly go back.

In this room, he saw a lone blue skinned Twi'lek Jedi covered in bandages sitting cross legged at the edge of her bed in a meditative position.

"Aayla." Steve said quietly, getting her to open her eyes and see him standing at the entrance to her room.

"Steve." she said with a kind smile. "I'm glad to see you're already moving about."

"Same with you… well just alright is all."

Aayla laughed, a fond smile in place as he limped over to her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, making the Jedi laugh once more.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question instead?" Aayla inquired mischievously. "I had only one day in the arena while you have been at it for over a month now."

"I'm walking." Steve said plainly, a small smile in place. "That should count as enough."

"Well you should be resting." Aayla playfully admonished.

"It might take an army to keep me back from going out on the field until my recovery." Steve joked with a shrug.

"After what you went through, they'd practically order you to comply with the request." Aayla countered. "Wouldn't be surprised if Natasha convinces Peter to web you to your bed so you can recover properly."

"That is something she would do." Steve said with a huff of amusement.

The two shared a moment of comfortable silence.

"Thanks for coming for me." Steve said in a low voice.

Aayla blinked but had a wide, content smile a moment later.

"I believe I should be thanking you as well." Aayla said softly. "Even though we came with the intention of saving you, you in your typical fashion wound up saving me in the middle of this all."

Steve shook his head. "You guys all still came for me."

Aayla felt her body protest at her movements but she managed to get to her feet without much trouble.

She walked over to him and gently pulled him in for a gentle hug with Steve returning the gesture.

"Anything for a friend." She whispered softly.

-Scene Cut-

On the planet of Coruscant, within the abandoned, darkened industrial district flew a lone ship towards a tall spire that looked as though it would fall apart at any given moment.

This was a rather deceitful appearance as the ship landed upon a platform with no trouble, the rundown building making no means of displaying that the ship would affect the structural integrity.

From the ship, out stepped Count Dooku with his cape billowing in the winds of the planet.

He took a moment to survey the area around him. Using both his own eyes and his aptitude in the Force to detect that none were here other than one other person.

Nodding to himself, the leader of the Separatists walked into the large structure.

Within seconds of entering the building, Dooku instantly spotted the black robed figure of his Master.

"Master Sidious." Dooku inclined forward into a respectful bow.

"Darth Tyrannus." Sidious greeted in return, approaching his apprentice. "I take it the Parliament and council are still squabbling about?"

"Yes Master." Dooku grimaced. "As is the Republic?"

Sidious nodded in confirmation before finally asking something which plagued his mind for some time now.

"What is this meeting about, Dooku? Why have you requested to meet me in person?"

"Excuse me? But was it not you who told me to come here, Master?" Dooku said in confusion.

Sidious openly frowned at this statement, eyes narrowed at his apprentice. "I did no such thing. The message from our meeting came directly from you."

"I never sent such a message." Dooku denied with a shake of his head.

Sidious felt a sense of irritation rise up from within. He detected no falsehoods from Tyrannus and he knew that he didn't send him any message.

So what was going on?

"We've been deceived." Sidious said after a moment of thought. "Someone sent falsified messages to us both for us to meet here."

"But that's impossible. It was a private channel." Dooku argued.

"Nothing is private when it comes to the likes of me." Came a metallic voice that echoed about within the large room the two stood in.

In an instant, both Sith Lords had their Lightsabers out and ready to ignite them.

They looked about the room until Sidious' eyes landed on a particularly shaded area of the room.

He snarled aloud, causing Dooku to turn in the direction he faced and both Sith Lords saw the sight of glowing red eyes and a faintly visible red smile.

"It was rather easy copying and splicing your holo image, your voice, speech patterns and mannerisms. Having to study what conversations I was able to pull for a while now to get things just right so I can lure you both here."

From the shadows, out stepped the eight foot tall AI menace that was Ultron.

"You have a great deal of stupid bravery too have come here by yourself, vile Droid." Dooku sneered spitefully.

Ultron guffawed at the Count's words. "You must be more senile then you look. You do know I'm here and there and everywhere. Think just cutting down one body is enough to take me out?"

Dooku's grip on his curved Lightsaber tightened whilst Sidious glared with utter contempt towards the metal being.

Seeing Sidious, Ultron rolled his eyes in total annoyance.

"You can lose the hood old man, you already know I know your "secret identity" so get that crap off ya." Ultron said derisively. "Or do I need to just rip it off, Chancellor."

Dooku sharply turned to his Master in alarm then back at the tall metal man whilst Palpatine conceded and removed his hood.

"There we go." Ultron said in a mocking applause. "You do know that wearing that on your head leads to more male baldness, right? Then again… you're not much to look at in hindsight. And honestly, if someone were to capture some conversation or recording of you with that getup, they could do some magic to filter things in and out to find your mug under that hood."

"And yet, they haven't." Palpatine said in a controlled voice.

"Sooner or later, your luck will run out."

"What is the meaning of this, droid?" Dooku asked in a deadly voice.

"Just wanting a proper chat, face to face."

Ultron took a step forward and the two Sith Lords jumped back slightly.

While Dooku activated his one lightsaber, Sidious ignited two. The reddened blades were out, brightening the darkened space in an unsettling light.

Seeing this, Ultron laughed at their actions. "Please… you think whipping out your lightsabers will intimidate me?"

With a flick of his wrist, a green lightsaber shot out of an opening in one arm while a blue came out of another.

"I could go Grievous and whip out a few more if you'd wish." Ultron challenged with a manic grin. "After all, I had studied his blueprints, took some ideas and refined them to my specifications."

Now both Dooku and Sidious were on edge.

"Now we can waste more time, you two fighting me would be a losing battle." Ultron then deactivated his pilfered lightsabers as he folded his arms. "Or we can just talk things out. 'Sides, even if you destroy this body, I have a thousand more to take its place."

The two Sith Lords remained standing at the ready with their sabers still active until both knew it was better to just go along with whatever this demented being wanted.

"What is it that you want?" Dooku asked carefully.

"Proclaiming a challenge."

"...A challenge? Is that all you want?"

"Exactly."

"And what does this challenge pertain to?"

The synthetic being chuckled as he smirked at the two Sith Lords.

"May the best man or superior AI being in this case, win." Ultron stated.

"Win what?"

"Getting their endgames accomplished first."

Dooku and Sidious glared at the AI.

"Oh my God, are you two just gonna stare at me like that all day?" Ultron rhetorically asked. "You idiots do know I know your dirty little secrets, right? Oh? Don't believe me? Order 66."

The Sith Lords inhaled sharply at the mention of that number.

"How'd-"

"Not to mention a number of other back up plans you two have in store in case your "puppets" don't work out." Ultron then hummed in thought. "What's this about a space station you guys are making? Can't find anything on file really."

"With good reason." Dooku muttered murderously.

Ultron gave the man quizzical look until-

"Ah~ I see, keeping even some of your dirtier secrets close to the chest?" Ultron nodded in approval. "I can respect that. To each their own I guess."

"If you are done playing this game…" Sidious all but snarled, lighting crackling around his fingertips.

"Games? You think I'm playing a game?"

Sidious had enough and in an instant fired a powerful torrent of Sith Lightning at the AI.

Rather than trying to shield himself, Ultron simply held his arms up in a welcoming manner and a moment later, lightning cascaded around his body.

Palpatine kept this up for a few more seconds until he realized he was achieving nothing and stopped his electric onslaught.

"Oh, that was mighty tasty. Hit me again, I'd rather like a little bit of juice." Ultron taunted, small bolts of electricity dancing around his huge frame.

This time, Dooku joined his master as he projected his own Sith Lightning into the mix. Unfortunately, that wasn't remotely close to harming the synthetic.

"Ah~ that was a nice cocktail." Ultron said, his body literally humming with energy. "What? Don't look so surprised. I've been struck by Lightning directed from a literal God. you think your little light shows were enough to get a dent on me? Mjolnir packs a far bigger punch than anything you can muster up."

"You've made your point." Sidious barked out. "What do you even plan on doing?"

"I'm glad you asked me that so I can take this time to explain my evil-" Ultron couldn't help himself as he began laughing a moment later.

This only further served to enrage the two Sith Lords whose patience was wearing thin.

"Don't think I'm that idiotic in doing such a thing. I'm not like one of those stereotypical children's cartoon villains. I'd rather keep my opponents guessing and guessing until they can't guess anymore."

Ultron rolled his head around. "Well then, I've said my piece and I guess you two old farts have your own plans to attend to. Guess I should leave you to it."

The AI engaged built in thrusters that allowed him to fly up high above them both.

"First to the finish line wins!" Ultron called out tauntingly before rocketing out of the room, leaving the two Dark Lords to fester in this failure of a meeting.

Now the two Sith Lords can only sneer at the far off form of their new adversary in the galactic board. And for good measure as they're greatly unprepared for what Ultron has in store.

-Scene Cut-

Within a small, darkly lit room, upon the bed were two figures with one that was shifting about in clear discomfort.

It was a man around his early thirties with brown hair that reached his neck and a growing scruff. His bedside fellow was a woman that appeared close to his age slept peacefully beside him, seemingly unaware of the man experiencing a harrowing nightmare.

In an instant, his eyes snapped open and he shot up, taking in deep breaths. He shakily raised his right hand up to his face and wiped a cold sweat from his forehead.

He heard a soft moan next to him and he looked down at the woman he was in bed with that was undisturbed by his sudden awakening.

A small smile appeared on his face that went away as soon as he turned to face the sliding door that led out to the small balcony of the apartment.

Grunting to himself, he cautiously got out of bed and walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it, stepping out onto the balcony.

The man gazed out upon the city that he was currently in, one he had traveled to with the woman back in bed.

It was a city within the country located in South Asia called Nepal.

"That old man better be right about this." Bucky muttered to himself.

Upon saying that, flashes of the nightmares he had appeared before his eyes, causing him to violently flinch and shut his eyes tightly.

He began dry heaving as he leaned forward against the railing and felt a sickening feeling well up from within.

The man had been so distracted by this sudden "attack" that he failed to hear soft footsteps coming from behind.

The man was close to tears until he felt someone place a hand on his back.

Instinctively, he spun about in an instant with left arm raised, ready to strike at whoever it was that snuck up behind him.

He had a wild look in his eyes as his left hand was curled up into a fist with a slight whirring sound coming from this limb.

The person behind him didn't even react to this sudden motion, instead raising their hand up to the man's face.

In an instant, the man realized who was standing in front of him and he immediately relaxed with his arm falling to his side.

He gazed down at the woman that he was in bed with just a few moments ago, her eyes blue like sapphires as she stepped closer to him. Her hand was resting upon his cheek which he leaned into and let out a haggard sigh.

"Another nightmare?" She whispered softly.

"Different this time." He muttered. "Different mission, different target."

The woman didn't verbally respond, instead stepping into his personal space and wrapping her placed both her hands upon his bare chest and leaned on him. The man instantly responded by wrapping his arms around her and held her tightly as he felt his heartbeat slowly calm down.

"It's alright." She whispered softly. "We're in this together, like you said."

She felt his head move up and down in agreement.

Tilting her head up to face him, she lightly pushed herself up to ensnare him into a loving kiss which he reciprocated before she pulled away.

"Come back to bed, Bucky." The woman said kindly. "I need my body pillow by my side."

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes snorted at this description of him.

"Is that all I am to you Celeste? Just a place to rest your head when you get tired?"

"But of course." Celeste Morne, Shadow of the Jedi Order said with a sly smile. "After all, what good is a broad chest such as yours other than to lay your head down to sleep upon. It's quite comfortable."

"You're lucky you're as light as a feather." Bucky murmured quietly, a content smile appearing on his face as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Come back to bed, love." Celeste whispered, hands now resting upon his neck. "We've gotten here at last and we need the rest."

Bucky grunted, not exactly keen on going back to bed but he couldn't deny his lover so easily so he simply let her pull him back to bed.

He laid down onto his back with Celeste laying practically her entire body upon his, her head resting just below his neck.

Bucky winced slightly at the feel of cold metal on his chest and glanced down at Celeste, catching the glint of a golden necklace wrapped around her neck.

He glared at it, feeling his body tense up slightly only for Celeste to pepper his chest with chaste pecks to calm him down.

"Relax." She whispered to him. "The old man's magic is keeping him at bay. The sooner we find this place, the sooner we can get him off and get your head cleared."

"Do you really think these… mystics can pull this off?" Bucky asked softly, hand running through long black hair.

Normally, she would be wearing a series of what one could describe as bandages to form a long ponytail to contain her hair. But whenever she's in bed with him it comes off and to him, she becomes another worldly beauty.

Which she really was all things considered.

"This entire planet… is the impossible." Celeste stated, tilting her head up with their eyes locking in place. "I may not feel the Force as I usually do but I do feel something incredible about this planet. And I know that coming here will help us both."

"Are you sure?" Bucky asked, looking down to his metal arm now with a frown.

He felt Celeste's soft hand tilt his face back in her direction.

"Yes." She said with complete assuredness before leaning forward to gently kiss him to assuage his worries. She pulled back, lightly slapped his chest and laid down upon it.

"Now go to sleep." She jokingly grumped.

Bucky chuckled to himself, wrapping his arms around her. "Yes Ma'am."

AN

HOO BOY, this was a looooooong process. A long chapter indeed.

I think, unquestionably, this is the largest chapter I have ever done to date.

And I figured it had to be when looking at it.

This was the end of Season two of Infinite Wars and this is the first story I have ever done to reach fifty fucking chapters. That is insane to consider when I look at it.

First of all, I like to thank my comrades Jebest and BulletStormX for sticking by me in helping me in so many of my stories in ideas and concepts we've developed that are still to come.

Secondly to all of you readers for being so patient with me in waiting for each chapter to come out. This is a passion project of the highest order save for the two stories Jeb and I co-created together and the other two I have with Bullet.

Jebest4781: I couldn't agree with you more. This had indeed been quite the long ride to accomplish at this milestone of a project. Hopefully, the next stretch mayhaps be more interesting than the previous one.

FMW: So officially, season 2 has reached its end. A lot happened in this one and it's only going to escalate come season 3. So much insane shit is going to happen and mind you, Jeb and I have already talked about which elements we are to incorporate from the recent MCU shows and possibly films to be used in this story. Mind you, we're not going to be retroactively changing this story if anything were to happen in future films and shows. I had long since outlined this entire story with Bullet and Jebs help and the ending is already set in stone.

Jeb, Bullet and I have a lot in store planned for ALL of our stories.

You guys must absolutely read Tales Of Infinite Wars by BulletStormX as it covers events outside this main story that will play into it eventually. Especially the recent few chapters.

There's also our other stories we've been working on of course.

A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, I'm Nobody, The Halo Effect and the stories both Jeb and Bullet have that you guys should read for yourselves too.

But other than that, thank you all so much once again for sticking with us for so long as we achieve many milestones in the stories we write. Then again, Jeb's way up there with his other story called Nobody so this one has ways to go in catching up.

However, before I bid you all adieu.

Warning: The following series of scenes are to be pictured as a teaser trailer.

Anakin Skywalker stood alone within a meditation room within the Jedi Temple.

He gazed out upon the still recovering Coruscant that was under continuous construction since Ultron's attack.

His arms crossed and expression troubled, he didn't even react to the council doors opening.

In walked his friend and former Master Obi-Wan with Steve Rogers by his side.

They wordlessly stood alongside the Jedi Knight, the trio gazing out at the city planet together.

"So… what did they say?" Anakin asked after several moments.

Steve let out a sigh.

"You know how it is. They claim their hands are tied but are unwilling to act." Steve groused out.

"I wouldn't say that." Obi-Wan said. "But yes, it appears they will not be acting on this matter."

Anakin scoffed aloud, shaking his head in disapproval. "Typical."

Steve's expression remained stoic until he looked at Anakin.

"Where do we start?"

Cut to Spiderman web swinging up to a tree and attaching himself to its trunk overlooking an enemy stronghold.

Flying over him were Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision and War Machine.

Up above on a higher branch, Black Panther looked on ahead towards their destination and looked down to Peter.

"Are you ready my friend?" T'challa asked with the young teen exhaling shakily and nodding at the Prince of Wakanda.

Steve stood with Widow, Scott, Hope, Aayla and Bly surrounded a holo table detailing a large facility of some kind.

"We're gonna need to plan this out accordingly." Steve said. "We're going knee deep into enemy territory."

"With how they've beefed up security, this mission just became a thousand times more difficult." Bly pointed out.

"They've made defensive measures with us in mind." Hope added.

"I can work around some of these traps… but we'll need an ace in the hole for this one." Scott remarked.

A door behind them opened, the group turning to see Vos standing with eight Clone Troopers behind him.

"Vos?" Aayla said in surprise. "Delta squad? And… who might you all be?"

The largest of the newly arrived group removed his helmet to reveal his heavily scarred face and rather crazy smile.

"The Cavalry has arrived!" The soldier proclaimed boisterously.

Scene cuts to Ahsoka standing by herself in a jungle with her hugging her arms tightly.

"Ahsoka?"

The Padawan turned to see her close friends Barriss and Peter standing there, expressions showing clear concern.

She gave them a strained smile before looking ahead once more.

Cut to Yoda sitting in the center with the Jedi Council surrounding him.

As he speaks, multiple scenes are playing out.

"Chaotic, the war is becoming."

The Mandalorian Protectors fly together with their newest allies, the Guardians of the Galaxy with their weapons all drawn at once.

"Losing sight we may, the original purpose this war was."

Anakin, battle torn and scarred, ignites his saber with Steve right by his side as the two readied their charge.

"The Force, in constant flux it is."

Multiple Jedi assemble around Anakin, Ahsoka, Barriss, T'ra Saa, Obi-Wan and others as they speak to them all.

"A darker presence, there is. Lost within the void, it was."

Dooku stands on a balcony overlooking his Acolytes undergoing rigorous training.

"Unpredictable variables continue to enter our field."

Several villains from Cad Bane, Crossbones, Sidious and finally Ultron all gaze at adversaries with a menacing look.

"The duty we uphold, called into question it is."

The Avengers with several of the friends they have made stand on opposite ends of a room with several Jedi Council Members facing them.

"Sanctity of the Temple, not as fortified as we have previously believed."

Mace Windu with Plo and Kit Fisto stand within a chamber where several of its slots are empty.

"Lost in the Force, we may be."

Captain Rex stands with the 501st at his back, facing a swarm of Ultron Drones.

"To continue this war, lost we forever may be."

Padme turns to Anakin with fear present in her eyes, Anakin mirroring her expression as they run towards one another and embrace each other tightly.

"Then what do we do, Master Yoda?" Asked Obi-wan Kenobi.

The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order frowned as he held his cane tightly and didn't respond.

Cut to a dark room that began brightening up as Tony Stark, Clint Barton and Hank Pym entered.

"We've got our list." Tony remarked. "Looks promising but maybe that's just the early bird bias."

"We'll make do." Clint said, hand sifting through several faces before stopping on one. "She's first."

"You're certain about her?" Hank asked.

"We need all the muscle we can get."

Doctor Strange stands in the middle of a city, hands surrounded with magic as he looks around him at the strange and deadly creatures surrounding him.

Standing with him was Wong, Celeste Morne and Bucky Barnes.

"Since Steve and the rest are God knows where, we gotta pick up the slack."

Hawkeye is running across a rooftop, ducking underneath energy bolts being shot at him.

He leaps across to the next roof and is caught by a figure in a white bodysuit.

"Nice timing." Clint said with a smirk, getting pulled up by his ally.

Cut to Ahsoka on her knees with a greatly troubled expression. With her was Barriss as the two sat together.

"We've lost our way as Jedi." Ahsoka said.

As she spoke, other scenes were playing out.

"We care more for politics than we do the Force."

Enemies swarm the Clones of the 212th and 501st, the Clones valiantly fighting back.

"This war was unavoidable, Ahsoka." Barriss said. "You and I both know that now."

Obi-wan stands before a deeply concerned Satine, a look of sympathy on the Jedi Master as he holds out his hand for her.

"So what should we do then?" Ahsoka asked.

Anakin Skywalker is gravely injured but he refuses to fall.

A hand that belongs to Spiderman is outstretched and the Jedi takes it without hesitation as he's hoisted back up to his feet.

He gives the teen an appreciative smile and the two resume battle.

"We need to find out what it means to be a Jedi." Barriss stated firmly. "True Jedi."

Explosions go off all around the flying Avengers and starfighters as they dive bomb an enemy ship.

"Where can we possibly do that?"

Four Clones in black and red armor fight alongside the Jedi and Avengers, the large team tearing through droids and drones.

"We need to go back to the start. Where this all started for us. All of it."

Cut to a barren wasteland where Vision currently stood alone. Next to him was the large, strange Force sensitive creature simply known as the Bendu.

"The Force is in a state of chaos." Bendu remarked, eyes to the heavens above. "What will you do my friend?"

Vision remained silent, hand grazing over the stone in his head.

"I must return to my friends." Vision said. "I need to find them. Tell them what I've learned."

Bendu let out a rumbling sigh.

"Beware what you reveal, Vision. Once a secret is seen, it cannot be unseen."

Cut to the litany of different scenes all playing out at once.

Steve Rogers clashing with Crossbones.

Asajj Ventress gazing at her glowing hands in astonishment and fear.

Bo-Katan removing her helmet to stare intently at Matt Murdock.

Falcon takes into the air with a dozen droid starfighters pursuing him.

Black Panther crossing his arms together with Wookies surrounding him all roaring aloud with their arms raised.

Obi-wan with Plo Koon, Aayla and Luminara with their lightsabers aloft, looking wary at dozens of robed figures holding red lightsabers.

Domino squad firing their weapons at hordes of Droids.

Spiderman snagging a piece of rubble and flinging it at a tank.

"With Great Power."

Captain America is helped to his feet by Widow and Anakin with Sam flicking his shield in his direction. The Super Soldier caught it with the Avengers standing strong.

"Comes Great Responsibility."

Grasping his shield over his head…

"AVENGERS…"

Infinite Wars Season Three

HOO BOY SO MUCH FUN TO COME.

And now, due to the growing escalation of conflicts and what's to come, I thought it best to give you all the rundown of factions we have in this story and notable individuals within each faction and their key and notable members that will continue to play roles in future arcs of the story.

There's a lot so get ready.

The Republic (Three subgroups)

The Jedi- Anakin, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, Barriss, Aayla, Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Luminara, Yoda, Shaak Ti, Vos, Tholme, T'ra Saa, Kit Fisto, Ki Adi Mundi.

The Senate- Padme, Organa, Chuchi, Jar Jar, Mon Mothma.

Clone army- Rex, Fives, Echo, Hevy, Cutup, Hardcase, Kix, Jesse, Cody, Waxer, Boil, Wolffe, Bacara, Gree, Ponds.

The Avengers (Two Subgroups)

In Space- Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, War Machine, Vision, Ant-man, Wasp, Quicksilver, Spiderman, Daredevil, Black Panther, Vision (On Attalon), Scarlet Witch (On Dathomir).

On Earth- Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hank Pym.

Outliers- Hulk, Thor.

Other Earth based heroes- Luke Cage, Iron fist, Jessica Jones, the Punisher, Winter Soldier, Celeste Morne, White Tiger, Shuri, Okoye, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Nick Fury, She-Hulk, Maria Hill.

Separatists.

Separatist Parliament- Voe Atell, Mina Bonteri.

Separatist Council-Nute Gunray, Wat Tambor, Poggle the Lesser.

Acolytes and Generals- General Grievous, Asajj Ventress, Kadrian Sey, Sora Bulq, Rodri (Fifth Brother from Rebels as an Acolyte), Chezo Nive (seventh Sister), Bil Valen (Sixth Brother), Prosset Dibs (tenth brother).

Outer Rim/factions outside the war

The Hutt Cartels.

The Bounty Hunters Guild.

The Guardians of the Galaxy- Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, Groot, Mantis, Sugi, Embo, HK-47, Kraglin (Co-founder of the new Quill-Obfonteri Ravager Clan).

The Mandalorians (three Subgroups)

The New Mandalorians- Duchess Satine Kryze.

Death Watch- Pre Vizsla, Bo-Katan Kryze, Gar Saxon.

The Protectors (True Mandalorians)- Spar (Mandalore), Fenn Shysa, Tobbi Dala, Dax Ordo, Ursa Wren, Alrich Wren, Din Djarin, Boba Fett.

Villains

Bounty Hunters- Cad Bane, Aurra Sing.

Sith- Count Dooku, Darth Sidious AKA Chancellor Palpatine.

Ultron

In space and on Earth- Kilmonger, Vulture, Kaecilius, Karness Muur Dormammu, Zemo, Crossbones, Klaue.

So yeah, it's sloppy, I know but this is essentially the gargantuan cast we're dealing with and it's only going to grow from there.

By the end of season 3, these factions will either be expanded upon, shrunken down, joined by new ones or completely gone.

So much to do and so much more to look forward to, yeah?

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.