"Please, somebody, anybody, just answer me," Peter muttered desperately to himself as he opened his communication link once again, cycling through every frequency and channel he could think of in another futile attempt to reach his teammates. For over two hours now, there had been nothing but cold, empty silence responding to his increasingly frantic calls.
He stood perched on the edge of a towering skyscraper, watching the endless stream of flying vehicles pass by in organized traffic lanes, feeling more helpless and alone than he'd ever felt in his life.
Gazing out across the alien cityscape, Peter's attention was drawn to several buildings that stood out distinctly against the skyline. Two of them shared similar architectural styles—one was a massive dome-shaped structure that gleamed in the artificial light, while the other was a more angular, boxy building topped with five distinctive spires that reached toward the sky like fingers.
While exploring an alien world might be exciting under normal circumstances, Peter Parker was currently stranded on one with no way home and no idea how he'd gotten here in the first place. After staring out at the city for several more minutes, he finally leaped forward and began web-swinging through the urban landscape again, though he honestly had no clue where he was supposed to be going.
Here he was, swinging helplessly around an alien planet like some kind of lost soul, surrounded by literally hundreds of different alien species that he couldn't even begin to categorize or describe. What shocked him most, though, was that scattered among all these exotic beings were humans—or at least creatures that looked remarkably similar to humans.
Of course, Loki and Thor both appeared human but were actually Asgardians, so appearances could definitely be deceiving. For all Peter knew, these human-looking beings might just have evolved to look like people from Earth while being completely different species underneath. Then again, there were plenty of clearly non-human residents too—beings with strange elongated heads, unusual tails, distinctive cranial ridges, and other features that were obviously alien in origin.
"Stranded on an alien planet. No teammates. What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Spider-Man asked himself aloud, his voice carrying a note of desperation.
He wanted to just stop and rest somewhere, but his nerves were too frayed to stay still for long. Peter let out a shaky, trembling breath and continued swinging through the cityscape on his web lines, inadvertently attracting the curious attention of many passersby below.
Numerous residents of Coruscant stopped to stare in amazement and disbelief at what they were witnessing. Even on a planet where Jedi Knights possessed incredible supernatural abilities, Spider-Man's unique method of transportation was definitely something they'd never seen before. The sight of someone swinging between buildings on what appeared to be rope was absolutely unprecedented.
However, two particular young women missed seeing this strange web-slinging figure because they had only just arrived in this section of the city moments after Spider-Man had already moved on to another area.
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for, Barriss?" Ahsoka asked, scanning the crowded streets around them as she tried to spot anything that seemed suspicious or out of place among the diverse crowd of beings.
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Barriss replied quietly, her voice thoughtful. "It's more of an intuitive feeling than anything specific. The Force is telling us about the arrival of someone with unusual abilities, and we're supposed to use our connection to the Force to track down and locate this person."
"Got it. That makes sense."
The two Jedi Padawans had spent considerable time earlier that day speaking with various Jedi Knights throughout the Temple, and every single one of them had felt the same powerful disturbance in the Force. Their respective masters, along with several of the Avengers including Steve Rogers, had held lengthy discussions trying to determine exactly what could have caused such widespread Force fluctuations.
The Jedi Council had quickly explained to their Avenger allies that the Force disturbance they'd all experienced was remarkably similar to the one that had occurred when the original nine Avengers had first arrived in their galaxy. This meant it was highly likely that another person from Earth had somehow been transported into their universe.
This development was both encouraging and potentially problematic for the Avengers. On the positive side, there was almost certainly another person from their home world somewhere on Coruscant right now, which meant they weren't alone anymore. On the concerning side, this person was probably just as confused and stranded as they had been when they'd first arrived. The Jedi had immediately organized search teams that included both Jedi and Avengers, hoping to locate this newcomer as quickly as possible before anything bad could happen to them.
Natasha and Scott Lang had remained back at the Jedi Temple, with Scott working on technical solutions to help establish communication with the new arrival once they were found.
The others had split into multiple search groups to cover more ground efficiently. Hope, Sam, and James had separated from their Jedi partners and taken to the skies to provide aerial reconnaissance, while Steve and Pietro worked alongside several Jedi Knights to conduct a systematic ground search of the city.
"How exactly are we going to find this person?" Ahsoka asked thoughtfully, her brow furrowed with concentration. "I mean... can you sense them? Through the Force?"
Barriss nodded slowly, though her expression showed some uncertainty. "The Force has been unstable ever since the disturbance occurred. Honestly, it feels like the disruption is everywhere at once now, if that makes any sense."
She paused, remembering her master's teachings. "But Master Luminara always told me that sometimes, when everything seems chaotic and overwhelming, you can find clarity by embracing the chaos rather than fighting against it."
Barriss closed her eyes and opened herself completely to the Force, allowing the swirling energies and currents of the universe to guide her perceptions and instincts.
After several moments of deep concentration, she opened her eyes and pointed confidently in a specific direction. "I believe the person we're looking for went that way. The Force signature is stronger in that direction."
Of course, she couldn't actually see anyone swinging between the buildings around the corner, but the Force was guiding her toward something significant.
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Ahsoka said with excitement, her natural enthusiasm taking over as Barriss quickly followed behind her.
In her eagerness to pursue their target, Ahsoka nearly collided with someone coming around a corner, and she quickly stopped to bow respectfully and offer an apology.
The individual she'd almost bumped into simply nodded in acknowledgment, but his keen eyes immediately focused on the distinctive silver hilt of the lightsaber hanging from her belt. Cad Bane looked up with narrowed, calculating eyes as he watched the two young Jedi hurry away from him.
Earlier that day, the notorious bounty hunter had successfully completed his mission to liberate Ziro the Hutt and had been preparing to leave Coruscant with his prize. However, those plans had changed dramatically just minutes ago when his mysterious Sith employer had contacted him with details of a new, much more lucrative assignment.
According to his contact, a being of considerable power—similar in nature to those Avengers he'd been hearing so much about lately—had just arrived on Coruscant. The Sith Lord wanted this individual captured alive and delivered for questioning.
As long as the payment was substantial enough to justify the risk, there wasn't much that the experienced bounty hunter Cad Bane wasn't willing to undertake.
And fortunately for him, opportunity had just presented itself in the form of two inexperienced Jedi Padawans who seemed to be tracking the same target he'd been hired to capture.
Cad Bane smiled with cold calculation and began following the two young women at a discreet distance, keeping to the shadows and crowds to avoid detection.
Around the corner near a bustling marketplace, Ahsoka voiced a curious thought: "I wonder what this new person is going to be like. What do you think, Barriss?"
Barriss considered the question for a moment before responding, "Well... first and foremost, I really hope this individual turns out to be friendly and reasonable."
Ahsoka laughed softly. "Yeah, that would definitely make things a lot easier for everyone involved."
"We've been incredibly fortunate so far," Barriss observed. "All of the Avengers have been genuinely kind and helpful people who've been working alongside us ever since they arrived in our galaxy."
"Hopefully our streak of good luck continues with this newcomer too."
Both young women paused in their conversation and looked around carefully to see if they could spot anything unusual or out of place in their immediate surroundings. The Force was telling them that whoever they were searching for had definitely been in this area recently and was probably still somewhere nearby.
"We're looking for someone who's obviously different from everyone else around here, right?" Barriss asked for clarification, and Ahsoka nodded in confirmation.
"Someone similar to the Avengers in terms of being from another world?"
"Exactly. So that means we need to think beyond conventional possibilities and really trust what the Force is showing us," Ahsoka murmured, her eyes scanning the crowd and surrounding buildings.
Barriss nodded in agreement, and as she thought about the various Avengers they'd encountered, she realized they had been overlooking one crucial area in their search—the sky above them.
Looking up toward the towering buildings around them, Barriss's eyes suddenly went wide with amazement. "There! Look up there, Ahsoka!"
Ahsoka followed Barriss's pointing finger and was absolutely stunned by what she saw. High above them, silhouetted against the Coruscant skyline, was a humanoid figure swinging through the air between buildings using what appeared to be some kind of rope or cable system.
"How in the galaxy is that person doing that?"
"I have absolutely no idea, but it's incredible."
"Have you ever seen anyone move like that before?"
"Never. Not even among the Jedi."
"We need to catch up with them and make contact."
As the two Padawans began sprinting forward to follow the web-slinging figure—
"I'm terribly sorry, ladies, but I'm afraid this particular bounty belongs to me."
Neither girl had time to react as they were suddenly caught in electrified capture cables and quickly shocked into unconsciousness.
As they collapsed to the ground, many civilians in the surrounding area began screaming in fear and confusion, but only one person approached the fallen Jedi without any concern for his own safety—the notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane.
"Thank you for doing the tracking work for me, young ladies," Cad Bane said with a cold, satisfied smile as he stood over their unconscious forms.
The bounty hunter efficiently removed both lightsabers from their belts and disabled their communication devices, pocketing these valuable trophies while keeping his eyes fixed on the figure still swinging through the air high above the city.
Activating a switch on his wrist gauntlet, Cad Bane's rocket boots roared to life, and he launched himself into the sky in pursuit of his real target.
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