Spider-Man pressed himself firmly against the side of a building, carefully surveying his alien surroundings. He honestly had no clear idea what he was supposed to be looking for at this point, but moving around and staying active felt infinitely better than just sitting still somewhere waiting for help that might never come. Maybe if he kept exploring, he could find something or someone who might be able to assist him, though logically he had serious doubts about that possibility.
After all, this was a completely alien planet filled with beings he'd never encountered before.
"All I really need to do right now is find somewhere safe where I can figure out my next move," Spider-Man muttered to himself as he continued web-swinging between the towering structures.
His stomach chose that moment to growl loudly with hunger.
Peter looked down at his midsection and couldn't help but think wistfully about his neighborhood back in Queens, particularly his favorite deli that made the absolute best sandwiches in all of New York. The thought of a familiar meal made his homesickness even worse.
"I seriously doubt any of these aliens are going to accept human currency," Spider-Man said aloud, pondering his limited options. After his stomach growled again even more insistently, he sighed and added, "But hey, maybe they'll be willing to make an exception."
Looking around the bustling street below him, Peter spotted what appeared to be some kind of food vendor's stall that looked remarkably similar to the hot dog carts and food stands he often saw on street corners throughout New York City. Deciding this was his best opportunity to at least try to get something to eat, Spider-Man dropped down from his web line and landed directly in front of the vendor's stall, inadvertently startling numerous passersby in the process.
"Sorry, sorry about that!" he said with obvious embarrassment, holding up his hands in what he hoped was a universal gesture of apology. "I really didn't mean to scare anyone. It's just that I'm incredibly hungry and I don't know where else to go."
He turned toward the flat-headed humanoid vendor and said with obvious awkwardness, "Uh... hello there. How are you doing?"
The alien vendor just stared at him with obvious confusion and bewilderment.
"So, um, what kind of food do you have available here?" Spider-Man asked as politely as possible, trying to sound casual despite the bizarre circumstances.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Food. You know, something to eat? I've never been to this planet before, so I'm not really familiar with—"
Peter was desperately thinking to himself: "Please let this guy understand English. Please, please let him speak English."
"Can't you read the menu?" the vendor asked, gesturing toward a display board covered in alien script.
"What menu?" Peter asked in confusion before following the vendor's gesture. "Oh, that thing. No, I definitely cannot read whatever language that is."
"Young man, what remote backwater world did you possibly come from?" the vendor asked with genuine curiosity.
Peter's mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to come up with a believable answer. "I honestly don't know if you'd believe me if I told you the truth."
The vendor simply tilted his head to one side with interest. "Who exactly are you supposed to be, kid? Are you some kind of Jedi in training? You dropped down from an incredible height just now, and I've only ever seen Jedi Knights do something like that."
"Jedi? What's a Jedi?" Spider-Man asked with genuine confusion.
"Are you being serious right now, young man?"
"Uh... yeah, absolutely. I literally just arrived here today, and I have no idea what—"
"Garen, where's our weekly payment?"
When the vendor heard that threatening voice, his entire demeanor immediately changed to one of obvious nervousness and fear.
Spider-Man turned his head to see who had spoken and found himself facing a group of particularly unusual aliens that he could only describe as having the general body shape of hammerhead sharks crossed with the flattened heads of stingrays from Earth's oceans.
Peter immediately narrowed his eyes as he studied the group of beings who had just arrived. He found it somewhat amazing and depressing that protection rackets and extortion schemes were apparently popular criminal enterprises even on alien worlds.
The vendor named Garen pleaded desperately with obvious humility, "Please, Zaz, I already made my payment for this week. I've got a large family to support, and business has been really slow lately. I just don't have any extra credits today."
The intimidating hammerhead-shaped alien laughed with cruel amusement, while one of his flat-headed companions smiled with obvious malicious intent. "Zaz, why don't you let me teach old Garen here a proper lesson about the consequences of not keeping up with his advance payments?"
"Excuse me there," Peter interrupted politely but firmly, taking a deliberate step forward to position himself protectively in front of Garen. "Hi there, nice to meet you all. I'm pretty new to this area, and Garen here has been kind enough to show me around your lovely city. So, would it be possible for you guys to come back and discuss business with him at a later time?"
The four thugs standing in front of Spider-Man were clearly taken aback by his sudden and unexpected interruption. After getting a good look at the brightly colored, skin-tight costume Peter was wearing, they all began laughing with obvious amusement.
The squid-headed alien said mockingly to his companions, "Just look at this ridiculous guy! How can anyone possibly take themselves seriously while dressed like that?"
That was the moment when Spider-Man decided he'd heard enough.
"Okay, that's it."
Before any of the criminals could react, Zaz suddenly found himself completely wrapped up in sticky webbing.
His accomplices immediately noticed their leader's predicament and quickly drew various weapons, pointing them threateningly at Spider-Man. But Peter barely seemed to acknowledge their presence.
Zaz struggled against his web bonds and said in an angry, threatening tone, "Alright, boys. Looks like we're going to have to teach this little wise guy a serious lesson about how to behave properly here on Coruscant."
The remaining thugs rushed toward Spider-Man with their weapons raised, but Peter simply lifted his arms and fired several more web lines in rapid succession, efficiently trapping all of the criminals in his adhesive webbing before they could get anywhere near him.
Spider-Man looked down at the immobilized thugs with satisfaction, then turned back toward Garen. He noticed that the vendor, along with many other bystanders in the area, were all staring at him with expressions of complete shock and amazement.
"Are you—are you absolutely certain you're not some kind of Jedi Knight?" Garen asked with obvious disbelief.
Spider-Man scratched the back of his head in confusion. "What exactly is this 'Jedi' thing that everyone keeps asking me about?"
Garen spoke slowly and carefully, as if trying to process what he'd just witnessed. "Well... they possess incredible abilities and powers similar to what you just demonstrated. So if you're not a Jedi, then who exactly are you?"
"I'm Spider-Man," he said by way of introduction, "just a very lost hero who's trying to figure out where the heck he is."
Garen stared at the costumed young man for several long moments before saying, "Well... you definitely saved me from a very unpleasant situation. What can I possibly do to repay you?"
"No, you really don't need to do anything for—" Peter started to protest, but at that exact moment his stomach chose to rumble loudly with hunger, interrupting what he was about to say and making the situation somewhat awkward.
Garen blinked with understanding, then said with a warm smile, "Ah, well, I think I understand now. A good meal seems like the very least I can do to express my gratitude for what you did."
Spider-Man stammered with embarrassment, "But I don't have any money to pay you with."
"Oh, don't worry about that at all," Garen said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "After you helped me deal with those thugs, providing you with a decent meal is absolutely nothing."
While Spider-Man was enjoying his first taste of delicious alien cuisine, two young Jedi Padawans were slowly regaining consciousness in a nearby medical clinic.
Ahsoka groaned softly with pain and immediately pressed a hand to her aching head when she heard the mechanical voice of a medical droid speaking to her.
"Please remain lying down for the moment. You are still recovering from unconsciousness, and any sudden movements may cause you to lose consciousness again."
Ahsoka mumbled groggily, "Where's... where's Barriss? Is she okay?"
"Are you referring to the Mirialan female?"
Ahsoka managed a weak nod in response.
"She is resting on the medical bed directly beside you, and it appears that she is beginning to regain consciousness as well."
Ahsoka carefully turned her head to the side and opened her eyes wider. She could see her friend and fellow Padawan groaning softly as she began to stir and look around.
"Barriss," Ahsoka said with a slight groan of discomfort, "are you alright?"
"I think so," Barriss replied quietly, her voice still weak from their ordeal.
"What exactly happened to us?" Ahsoka asked as she carefully sat up on the medical bed.
"I'm fairly certain we were both taken down by some kind of electrified capture cables or nets."
Both young women were fully alert now and turned their attention toward the medical droid, which was holding several pieces of rope and cable in its mechanical appendages.
"You were both bound with these restraints and rendered unconscious," the droid explained in its clinical tone. "Several concerned citizens brought you here for medical treatment."
After expressing their sincere gratitude to the medical droid, Barriss sat up to examine her physical condition, but then suddenly froze with alarm. "My—my lightsaber is missing—"
Hearing the worried tone in Barriss's voice, Ahsoka's hand instinctively reached for the spot on her belt where her own weapon should have been, only to find empty space.
"Mine's gone too," Ahsoka said with growing horror and panic.
"We need to contact the Temple immediately," Barriss said urgently, raising her wrist to activate her communication device, only to discover that it had been completely disabled.
"Our communications have been sabotaged!" Ahsoka exclaimed with alarm. "What the hell is going on here?!"
"Someone else must be searching for that new arrival from Earth as well, and they obviously have malicious intentions toward both us and them."
The two Padawans looked at each other with grim realization and said in perfect unison: "The Sith!"
"Then we absolutely must find this person before they do!" Ahsoka said with desperate urgency.
Barriss reached out to stop Ahsoka, who had already started to jump off her medical bed. "Ahsoka, think about this logically for a moment. We're completely unarmed right now. We need to find a way to contact our masters and the Avengers for backup."
"It may already be too late for that, Barriss," Ahsoka argued passionately. "Whoever attacked and captured us is almost certainly hunting for this new person right now. We need to find them first if we're going to have any chance of recovering our lightsabers and stopping whatever the Sith are planning."
Barriss bit her lower lip with obvious hesitation before finally nodding with determination. "Alright, here's what we'll do. Let's send out an emergency distress signal first, and then we'll go search for the newcomer ourselves. That way, if we do manage to find them and end up confronting whoever attacked us, the other Jedi Knights and our Avenger allies will be able to reach us and provide support as quickly as possible."
After reaching this compromise agreement, Ahsoka and Barriss quickly sent out their emergency distress beacon, rushed out of the medical clinic, and returned to the exact location where they had originally been attacked. From there, they would continue their search from where they had been forced to leave off.
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