A figure in distinctive red and blue suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, dropping down behind the falling Ahsoka at the last possible moment. Just as she was about to hit the unforgiving pavement below, the mysterious rescuer caught her securely in his arms, then immediately fired a web line upward and swung them both to safety. He landed gracefully on the platform directly in front of Barriss and quickly began removing the restraining cables from Ahsoka's body.
"Are you alright?" he asked with genuine concern, his hands working efficiently to free her from Cad Bane's bonds.
Ahsoka felt somewhat dizzy and disoriented from the rough, high-speed rescue maneuver she'd just experienced.
"Sorry about that," Spider-Man said with obvious embarrassment. "I know that was probably pretty jarring, but it was the only way I could reach you in time."
"Thank you so much," Barriss said with heartfelt gratitude, relief evident in her voice. "If it hadn't been for your intervention, Ahsoka would have certainly been killed by that fall."
Ahsoka recovered her composure and turned to face the young man who had just saved her life. She blinked with some confusion and said somewhat awkwardly, "I... thank you. I really don't know how to properly express my gratitude."
"Hey, don't worry about it. That's what heroes do, right?"
"Wait a minute," Ahsoka said, suddenly looking around the platform with concern. "Where did Cad Bane go?"
"I'm really sorry," the costumed teenager replied apologetically, "but he managed to escape while I was focused on catching you. I couldn't do both things at once."
Ahsoka sighed with obvious exhaustion and frustration as she realized that the notorious bounty hunter had gotten away once again.
"I'm truly sorry I couldn't prevent him from escaping," Spider-Man said, clearly feeling bad about letting the criminal get away.
"No, please don't apologize," Ahsoka said firmly. "If it hadn't been for your quick thinking and incredible abilities, I would have been killed by that fall. Stopping Cad Bane wasn't worth my life."
"Well, falling to your death definitely wouldn't have been cool," Spider-Man muttered with characteristic understatement.
Despite everything that had just happened, Ahsoka couldn't help but smile slightly at his casual, almost flippant response to such a serious situation.
Barriss walked over to join them and gave Spider-Man a warm, appreciative smile. "We really cannot thank you enough for what you just did. You saved my friend's life."
BeepBeepBeep
The distinctive sound of their communication devices suddenly began ringing, and both young Jedi immediately answered the incoming call.
"Ahsoka, are you there? Please respond!"
"Barriss, can you hear me? Are you both safe?"
"Master!" both Ahsoka and Barriss called out simultaneously with obvious relief.
"Thank the Force, I can finally hear both of your voices," Master Luminara's voice came through with palpable relief. "We've been trying to reach you for quite some time."
"What happened to you two? We attempted to contact you multiple times but couldn't get through to your communication systems."
"I'm sorry, Master," Barriss explained apologetically. "Our communication devices were sabotaged and disabled during an attack."
"But everything seems to be functioning normally now," she continued. "We encountered some serious trouble during our search. We had a confrontation with the bounty hunter Cad Bane."
"Cad Bane?" Luminara asked with obvious alarm and concern. "Why would you encounter that particular criminal? What was he doing in your area?"
"Apparently, he was engaged in the same mission we were—tracking down the unusual individual who arrived on Coruscant earlier today."
"Speaking of which, we actually managed to locate—"
"Wait, are you talking about me?" Spider-Man interrupted Barriss with curiosity. "Am I the 'unusual individual' you were looking for?"
"Oh, so he's with you right now," came Anakin's familiar voice from the other end of the communication link.
"Yes, Master Skywalker," Barriss confirmed. "He's standing right here with us."
"That's fantastic news!" Anakin said with obvious enthusiasm. "Steve is going to be absolutely thrilled to hear that we've found him."
"Send us your current coordinates immediately," Luminara instructed urgently. "We'll be there as soon as possible."
After ending their communication, both Barriss and Ahsoka turned their attention back to Spider-Man, who was standing there looking somewhat awkward and uncertain about the situation.
"So... you were actually looking for me specifically?" Peter asked with growing realization.
The two Padawans could sense the distinctive change in the Force around him—they felt the familiar fluctuations and disturbances that had occurred with the other Avengers, but this one felt somehow different. It was similar to the others but seemed like a connected branch or extension of the same phenomenon.
Barriss nodded in confirmation. "Yes, exactly. When we detected your arrival on this planet through the Force, the Jedi Council immediately organized search teams. We're also working with another group of people that you might be very familiar with."
"Are you acquainted with a team called the Avengers?" Ahsoka asked with barely contained excitement.
Spider-Man's eyes went wide with shock and disbelief, his breathing became rapid and shallow, and he asked with barely restrained excitement, "The Avengers? You mean the missing Avenger are here?!"
Both Jedi nodded enthusiastically in confirmation.
"Yes, they're all here on Coruscant with us," Barriss explained. "In fact, they're on their way to this location right now to meet you."
"Really? The Avengers are actually here? They're really, truly here on this planet?"
"Absolutely."
Spider-Man suddenly dropped to his knees on the platform, tears of relief and joy streaming down his face beneath his mask. "Oh thank God! Oh my God, the Avengers are here?! Where exactly is this place?! What happened to bring us all here?! How did they manage to get to this world?!"
Ahsoka quickly moved to comfort the young man, who appeared to be having an emotional breakdown from the overwhelming relief and excitement.
It took Spider-Man several long minutes to recover from his emotional outburst. When he finally calmed down, he said with obvious embarrassment, "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to lose it like that."
"There's absolutely nothing to apologize for," Barriss said with understanding. "From what we've observed and heard from the other Avengers, it must be incredibly disorienting and frightening to suddenly be transported away from your home planet and find yourself on a completely alien world."
Spider-Man took several deep breaths to compose himself and think clearly about his current situation.
"Well," he said, trying to sound more lighthearted, "I literally just arrived here earlier today. But knowing that the missing Avengers have been here for a while is definitely good news. At least now I finally know where they ended up." His expression then grew more concerned. "The bad news is that I have no way to contact Mr. Stark back on Earth to let him know that I've found them."
"Mr. Stark?" Ahsoka repeated with interest. "Are you referring to Tony Stark? The Iron Man that Captain Rogers has told us so much about?"
"That's right, Tony Stark."
"He's also one of the Avengers?"
Spider-Man straightened up with obvious pride and said, "The person standing before you is actually the newest member of that team. I was personally recruited by Tony Stark himself."
His expression then became more dejected as he continued, "Not too long ago, all the other Avengers mysteriously disappeared from Earth. And now it looks like I've somehow ended up on the same planet where they've been stranded."
"Do you think they'll be happy to discover they have a new teammate here with them?" Ahsoka asked with genuine curiosity.
"I really hope so," Spider-Man said nervously. "Tony and Clint have been working incredibly hard back on Earth, recruiting and training new members to form a replacement team. They've been holding down the fort with Dr. Pym and several other, including people like Matt and—Oh God! Matt! I need to find Matt Murdock! And T'Challa too!"
"So there were other people with you when you were transported here?" Ahsoka asked with growing interest.
"Well," Spider-Man said, his voice filled with hope as he looked at both Padawans, "you didn't happen to find them already, did you?"
"I'm truly sorry," Barriss said with sincere regret. "What we can tell you is that seven of the nine original Avengers who went missing have been located, and they're all currently here on Coruscant with us. The two who haven't been found yet are Vision and Wanda Maximoff."
Spider-Man's expression fell as he processed this information. "Oh... okay. So that means there are now four missing total."
"Please don't worry too much about it," Ahsoka said in a comforting tone. "We're working closely with the Avengers every single day in our efforts to locate all of your missing companions. We'll find them eventually. The other two you mentioned were Matt and T'Challa, correct? We'll locate them too, I promise."
Spider-Man managed a grateful smile. "Thanks... uh... I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name. Did you say Sokka?"
Both Padawans suddenly realized they had been so focused on the crisis that they'd never properly introduced themselves.
"I am Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee," the Mirialan said with a polite bow.
"And I am Ahsoka Tano, also a Jedi Padawan," the Togruta added with her own respectful bow.
"I'm Spider-Man," Peter replied, then paused. "Actually, wait. Spider-Man obviously isn't my real name."
"I don't think anyone would assume Spider-Man was your birth name," Ahsoka said with gentle teasing.
Spider-Man chuckled softly at her comment before reaching up and pulling his mask off his head, revealing his young, earnest face. "My real name is Peter Parker. It's really nice to meet you both."
Meanwhile, Cad Bane was currently holed up in one of his secure safe houses scattered throughout Coruscant's underworld, speaking with his mysterious employer via encrypted holocommunication.
"Bounty hunter, what's your status report?"
"We encountered some unexpected complications, and the target has now successfully reunited with the Jedi," Cad reported matter-of-factly.
Darth Sidious stared at the bounty hunter with an expression of barely controlled displeasure, then said slowly and deliberately, "This is indeed most unfortunate news."
"Then I suppose I should apologize for failing to complete the assignment you gave me," Cad Bane replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Sidious made a dismissive sound. "I didn't necessarily expect you to succeed on the first attempt."
"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear you have such confidence in my abilities."
"Bounty hunter, I want you to provide me with a detailed report about your target. Include every observation you made, no matter how seemingly insignificant."
"As long as I receive appropriate compensation for this additional intelligence work—"
"Your payment will be included with the fee for your next assignment."
Cad's expression shifted to one of knowing amusement. "I assume you're referring to that job you originally hired me for—stealing the Jedi Holocron?"
Sidious remained silent for several long moments before responding, "That is correct."
After receiving the confirmation he'd been seeking, the Duros bounty hunter began his detailed report. "First of all, this individual uses the codename 'Spider-Man' for his superhero identity..."