Destroy Malevolence
A plan is only as good as those who see it through. The day the Malevolencefell bore mixed results. In the grand scheme of Darth Sidious, he would win in one area but would lose in two others he had not even anticipated. Because the Avengers (Natasha Romanov in particular) and my parents saw to it that the Sith would be dealt a serious blow that day and would not even realize it. Because this was the day that Natasha Romanov became central part in their lives.
-An excerpt from the Fight For Justice, by Luke Skywalker
The Republic warships relentlessly fired upon the Malevolence. The large vessel was covered in flames with new explosions every few seconds.
On the Resolute Kenobi, Plo, Yularen, and Steve watched all this from the bridge.
“Commander, what is the damage level to the enemy ship?” Obi Wan asked.
“She’s lost her primary shield and stabilizers, but the ship is so massive it can take all the fire our cannons can give it.”
“We must summon reinforcements,” Plo suggested.
“That's why I'm here, Master Plo.”
They turned around to see Anakin followed by Ahsoka and Rhodey.
“ Anakin, were you able to contact Master Luminara?”
“Yes, Master. She's busy with a fleet of Separatist reinforcements nearby. She won't be able to give support until she's turned them away.”
Steve shrugged.
“Looks like we'll have to work with what we've got.”
The Malevolence shook with every explosion, so Grievous was constantly holding onto something for support.
“We’ve lost our primary weapon,” a droid reported. “ Ah, the hyperdrive has been disabled.
Grievous growled.
“General? General, the forward engines are shutting down.”
“Impossible.”
Things were not looking good for the Separatist forces. For Grievous. And it brought a smile to Steve's face.
“What's the situation Yularen?” he asked.
“They’re not attempting to jump to hyperspace. Their hyperdrive must be damaged.”
“This is our chance. All Ships Target the bridge, maximum Firepower,” Kenobi ordered.
Even more Blaster books began to strike the separatist warship then before.
“It has not sustained extensive damage,” The cyborg reported to Count Dooku.
“ General, my master has arranged a trap which will give you an advantage over the Jedi.”
“I assure you, that is unnecessary,” Grievous proudly argued.
“Do not compound your failure this day by allowing our prize warship to fall,” the Count ordered sternly.
“My lord, they will never capture me or this ship.”
“Heading towards you is a very important Galactic Senator. With her as your hostage, they will call off their attack.”
“As you wish, my Lord,” Grievous bowed.
Padme's personal shuttle zoomed through hyperspace. With her we're both C3PO and Natasha Romanov. Natasha had insisted on coming with her after their recent events together. The Senator still doubted if she was indeed pregnant but she appreciated the company nonetheless.
“My lady, are you sure the information from Chancellor Palpatine is reliable?”
“Yes, it was secretly given to him by the Supreme Executive of the Banking Clan himself. If they leave the Separatist Alliance, it will go a long way to shortening this war. Maybe we'll even be able to stop Senator Lenoan’s bill from passing.”
Natasha turned to face the young woman.
“Then you can focus on the other thing.”
Padme froze.
“…Yes.”
The controls began to beep.
“We’re approaching the system now,” the Senator announced.
The ship jumped out of hyperspace to come face to face with the burning front of the Malevolence.
“Ah! My goodness!” 3PO exclaimed.
“Shit, that's the Malevolence,” Natasha stated.
Padme immediately turned to ship away from the front and moved along the side of it.
“Sir, we are scanning a small ship off our bow,” a droid reported to the general.
“Good. Our hostage has arrived.”
“Master, I'm picking up a signal near the enemy vessel. something just came out of hyperspace,” Ahsoka announced.
“Enemy vessel,” the Knight asked.
“No, it looks like a Naboo ship.”
“ Gunners, stand down. What's in blazes are they doing out here?” Obi Wan exclaimed.
“Ahsoka, contact that ship,” Anakin ordered.
“Naboo cruiser, identify yourself.”
“This is Senator Amidala and Natasha Romanov.”
“Padme/Nat?!” Anakin and the Avengers shouted at the same time. “What are you doing out here?!”
“I was sent on a special mission. The Senate was told the Banking Clan wanted to negotiate a treaty.”
“And I decided to be her escort in case things went sideways, which they just did.”
“Get out of there as fast as you can!” Anakin shouted.
The Malevolence had the Naboo ship in its sights.
“Activate the tractor beam,” Grievous ordered.
Padme's ship immediately came to an abrupt halt.
“Wave we been hit?” 3PO asked.
“I'm afraid it's much worse than that,” Padme answered grimly.
The ship was steadily pulled towards the Malevolence hangar bay.
“ Padme, what's happening,” Anakin asked fearfully.
“ We're being pulled inside the droid cruiser by a tractor beam! I will not be made a separatist bargaining chip. Continue your attack! You must destroy this monstrous ship!”
“Hang on, Padme,” Natasha cut in. “ I don't think that'll be necessary. The ship is heavily damaged meaning the crew is scattered. I think I might be able to get us out.”
There was no way that she was about to let a pregnant woman get herself killed. Besides, she herself did not want to die. If the circumstances were different, probably. But this was easily avoidable.
Anakin turned to Yularen.
“Admiral, order our ships to stop firing.”
3PO looked out the windows into the hangar.
“It does not look safe out there, my lady.”
“I see now this whole thing was a trap. and I'm afraid I walked right into it,” the Senator reprimanded herself.
“Sir, the Republic cruisers have halted their attack,” a droid said.
“Jedi are so predictable. Get the repair team up here. Continue working on the hyperdrive. I'm going down to the main hangar.”
Grievous walked through the halls to the trains used to get across the ship.
“This ship must be returned to Count Dooku intact,” he told the drugs next to him. “There is no room for failure.”
He stepped onto a train and it began to move at high speeds.
Padme pressed a few buttons on the controls.
“What did you just do?” The Avenger asked.
“I've overloaded the power system,” she answered before running.
“Oh, we're doomed,” 3PO said.
Anakin and Steve began marching out of the bridge.
“Where do you think you're going?” to be inquired, already knowing the answer.
“Somebody has to save their skin,” Anakin answered.
“ I thought you were going to say that,” he responded, following them out.
Master Plo shook his head.
“There they go again, craving adventure and excitement.”
“You get used to it,” Ahsoka said fondly.
Padme and Natasha climbed down the landing gear to get out of the ship.
“Come on 3PO, hurry!” the Nubian whisper shouted.
“Hurrying, my lady. I'm not sure this is such a good idea.”
The train carrying Grievous finally stopped at the hangar and he marched towards the Naboo craft.
“You too, come with me,” he ordered two nearby droids.
The three would be hostages watched from behind a large pile of boxes, well hidden.
Grievous and the two droids marched into the control room to find no one there. they saw how the controls were flashing over and over again, and heard what sounded like an alarm.
“Looks like the engines are set to destroy themselves,” one droid noticed, causing the general size to widen.
“Get out of my way!” he growled, running through the droids and towards the exit.
One of the droids rubbed their head.
“Hey, that's just rude.”
The ship exploded immediately afterwards. Two droids with hoses ran in and tried to put out the fire but it only resulted in the force from the water making them practically fly.
The Droid General's fist rose up from the rubble and he pushed it all off of him.
“Sound the alarm. We have stowaways on board.”
“Jesus, Steve was right. This guy really is tough,” Nat said.
“I trust you've already formulated a brilliant plan to rescue the Senator and Black Widow,” Obi Wan surmised as he watched Anakin and Steve prepare the Twilight for takeoff.
“As a matter of fact, I have,” his former Padawan answered.
“ But do we have a plan ‘B’? Every operation needs a backup, Anakin.”
Steve crossed his arms and just watched the two banter with a fond smile.
“I don't have a backup…yet. But I do have a plan for getting on that ship.”
“Go on,” the Captain encouraged.
“The enemy sensors are obviously damaged, so we'll sneak in behind them and dock at the emergency airlock.”
“That’s your plan– Just fly there, land, hope they don't spot us, and walk in the door?”
“Basically,” he smirked.
“Oh, brilliant. Let's get going.”
Anakin pulled one of the levers and brought the engine to life. The Twilight flew out of the Republic ship and towards the burning droid warship.
“Pardon me, but might I suggest we keep moving?” 3PO said. “I think I hear battle droids approaching.”
Padme and Natasha were both fiddling with a comm panel.
“But we also need to contact the fleet. If I can just get this comm panel working…” the Senator trailed off.
“I have a spike connected to FRIDAY. She can mask our presence,” the Russian added.
The droid looked behind them to see that droids were indeed approaching.
“My ladies, I’m afraid I was right.”
They quickly hid behind some rubble in the wall.
A squad of droids led by Grievous were now feet in front of them.
“Uh, General?” they all heard over his comm.
“What?”
“The damage to the hyperdrive was not as bad as we first thought. We should be able to get under way again shortly.”
The two women's’ eyes narrowed at that.
“I must inform Count Dooku.” He turned to the Commander and poked him. “Stay here. Continue the search. Find the stowaway and bring them to me.”
“Roger, Roger.”
The General and droids went in separate directions, having no idea that their stowaways had been there the whole time.
Anakin flew the Twilight right alongside the Separatist warship.
“If they spot us, we’ll be pulverized,” Kenobi warned.
“They’re too busy repairing the ship. They don’t have time to notice us,” Skywalker answered smugly.
“Subtlety has never been one of your strong points, Anakin.”
“Everything I know, I learned from you, Master,” he responded, causing Steve to laugh.
“Oh, if only that were true.”
“You’re right. I learned that from Steve too.”
“Guilty as charged.”
Anakin expertly landed their ship on the airlock. But it didn’t go unnoticed by two droids that felt the room shake.
“Ah, what was that?”
“What?”
“That noise. Didn’t you hear it? It sounded like a ship docking at one of the emergency airlocks.”
“Your circuits are loose. No one’s crazy enough to do that.”
“Anakin, you’re crazy, “Obi Wan told him as they rode in the airlock elevator. “Spinning is not flying.”
“But it’s a good trick.”
“He’s got a point there,” Steve admitted.
“Are you sure? Sam told me that the last time you flew anything it crashed into an ocean.”
Steve said nothing.
“We do not want to be spotted,” the Master said as Anakin opened the door.
They were spotted.
“Ah, I knew it! It’s them!”
“Oh no.”
Steve flung his shield and it bounced off the wall and cleaved the droids in half before returning to him.
“You stay here, R2,” Anakin ordered his droid.
The astromech wired in agreement.
“Another bold strategy by Skywalker, I presume,” the hologram of Master Luminara Unduli spoke to Plo and Ahsoka.
“That’s my Master,” the Padawan said fondly.
“Once they make it off that ship, we’ll need reinforcements to finish off the enemy,” Koon stated.
“I’m on my way, Master Plo.”
The transmission ended as Rhodey walked in.
“Hey guys. We’re getting a transmission from inside the Malevolence. We think it’s Amidala and Nat.”
“Master,” Ahsoka began. “We’ve found the Senator and Natasha. I’m patching them through.”
“Padme! Are you all right? Where are you?” Anakin asked his secret wife frantically.
“On the lower levels. We’re fine, but I don’t know for how long. Droids are everywhere.”
“Obi Wan, Steve, and I are on board, too.”
“What?!”
“Honestly, I expected as much,” The Widow said, causing Steve to snort.
“What are you doing here?!”
“We came to get you off this sinking ship, Senator,” Rogers answered. “Rhodey, how can we get to them?”
“The scans show there’s a large open area in the center of the ship. It should be halfway between each of you.”
“We’re on our way. Did you two hear that?” Skywalker asked.
“We’ll be there.”
Grievous stormed onto the Bridge.
“General, we’ve just detected an unauthorized communication coming from within the ship.”
He whirled on the droid.
“What did it say?”
“Well…we don’t know. It was encrypted.”
The General roared in frustration.
“Monitor all internal communications. I want that senator on this bridge,” he commanded, stomping his foot.
The rescuers had arrived at their destination and were looking at an open area with what Steve would describe as Space trains.
“I don’t see them,” Kenobi stated.
“They’re here, Master. I sense it.”
“How do you two know the Senator anyways?” the Captain asked.
Anakin and Obi Wan shared a look.
“It’s a long story, Steve. So, I’ll give you the short version. My Master and I were sent on a mission to her planet ten years ago. They were being blockaded by the Trade Federation and we had to take her to Coruscant to plead her case to the Senate. We stopped at Tatooine on the way and met Anakin.”
“She and I became friends almost immediately. They soon found out I was Force Sensitive and brought me with them.”
“So, it’s because of her that you two even know each other,” the Avenger surmised.
They both smiled at that.
“Yes. She also happens to be among the few genuine politicians.”
“Well, that is music to my ears.”
The two women and droid stood just below and across from them.
“This is where we’re supposed to meet them. He’s probably late again,” Padme said with a hint of fondness that did not go unnoticed by her companion.
“Oh? So, Skywalker has come to your rescue before?” she asked, amused
“A lot, yes.”
“We have company of another sort,” the droid announced, looking behind them to see battle droids.
“Blast them!”
Romanov got in front of Padme and used herself as cover. They then pulled out their blasters and fired back at the droids.
“There!” Anakin exclaimed, pointing towards the blaster fire.
The trio leaped down from the platform and across the different trains.
“Look, Jedi!” a droid shouted from above.
“Fire!”
“No, wait-!”
The two droids next to him shot at the Jedi, who lazily deflected the blast back at them.
The remaining droid shook his head.
“I knew that was a bad idea.”
Nat and Padme pushed 3PO onto one train and leaped onto another.
“Padme!” Skywalker shouted before jumping toward the train between them.
Kenobi turned to Steve.
“I did not teach him that.”
The Avenger snorted.
“You sure? Cause I know I didn’t.”
“Anakin!” she responded.
“Jump to me! I’ll use the Force.”
His secret wife smiled and Natasha shrugged before jumping and being Force pulled by the Jedi.
“I’ve got you,” he said as the Senator fell into his arms. They held each other close
The Black Widow curled a brow at the sight.
Interesting.
“Nice catch!” Obi Wan called out. “We’ll fetch the droid.”
Anakin turned to the Black Widow.
“Nice to see you again, Romanov.”
“You too, Skywalker. As much as I’d like to get out of here, we can’t leave yet.” She activated her earpiece. “Kenobi, Steve. Padme and I overheard General Grievous. Their hyperdrive is almost repared,” she informed them.
“Lucky for us, we’re both heading that way,” the Captain responded.
“We’ll make certain the hyperdrive stays offline,” the Jedi Master added.
Obi Wan and Steve marched into the hyperdrive room. There were only two droids at the terminal.
The Avenger threw his shield and it cut through them both before returning to his hand. Now they were alone.
Or so they thought.
The doors immediately closed behind them. The other doors in the room opened to reveal two squads of droids. Three Droidekas rolled out from behind the terminal. They heard a thud from behind and turned to see a sight that made Rogers’ blood boil.
“Hello there,” Grievous greeted mockingly.
“You,” the Captain growled.
“Did you two really think I would leave the hyperdrive unguarded?”
“Anything is possible. You haven’t exactly impressed me today,” Kenobi quipped.
It was at this point that Steve noticed something. He smirked.
“You look shorter than I remember. Guess you didn’t leave our fight unscathed.”
The Cyborg growled.
“Kill them!”
The droids fired at the two. The Jedi jumped in between the Droidekas and pushed two of them into the two squads. The rows of droids fell into the pit below.
Meanwhile, Rogers charged at the droid General and moved to bash him with his shield. Grievous ignited a lightsaber and blocked the strike.
It continued like this for the next few moments. Both of them trying to hit one another but facing a parry from a shield or lightsaber.
The General swung his blade with the Avenger raising his shield in defense to block it. They pushed their weapons against each other, trying to gain the upper hand. But that wasn’t the Separatist’s real plan. He then grabbed Steve’s leg with his clawed foot and did a somersault. He swung the Captain and slammed him on the floor.
The Avenger coughed.
Grievous raised his saber to strike his opponent down.
Seeing this, Kenobi hurled the remaining Droideka towards the General. It crashed into him and made him stagger.
Obi Wan used the Force to slide Steve across the floor to him. Then he grabbed his arm and hefted him up.
“Are you all right, Steve?”
“I will be when I take this son of a bitch down.”
The Jedi could see that the General was getting up.
“Not here. Come on.”
The two ran out the room as Grievous growled in frustration.
“That was impressive,” one droid commented.
It received a violent hit from the Cyborg.
“Guard the hyperdrive! I will deal with this Jedi and Avenger myself!”
On the Bridge, the droids were working on the navi-computer.
“The General is demanding a status report. Is the hyperdrive repaired yet?”
“It’s almost done,” one droid said.
The elevator door opened to reveal Abakin, Padme, and Nat.
“I’ll give him the good news. Uh…”
The Jedi smirked as he ignited his lightsaber. Romanov pulled out her electric batons. The Avenger went for the B2s. She jabbed them with her weapons, causing them to deactivate from the electric charge. Anakin cleaved through the rest.
Padme shook her head fondly.
“Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been playing with droids.”
“Is that so?” the Black Widow asked.
The Jedi nodded.
“As a kid, I used to put them together. Now I only take them apart.”
“So, where do we start?” the Nubian inquired.
“First we need to get rid of these droids so they won’t know we were here,” he said sitting down at the navi-computer. “I’m gonna hotwire the ship, give Grievous a little surprise.”
Natasha walked over to the holo-terminal in the middle of the room. She then pulled out a computer spike from her belt and plugged it in.
“What are you doing?” Amidala asked her friend.
“What I do best. Gathering intel.” She touched her earpiece. “How long will it take, FRIDAY?”
“Just a few minutes, Ms. Romanov.”
Nodding in satisfaction she turned to the Senator.
“Come on. I’ll help you clean up this mess.”
There was no way she was gonna let a pregnant lady carry all this by herself.
Steve and Obi Wan ran across a train. There was a large and long pile of boxes behind them. Grievous was on the other side, swinging his sabers rapidly cutting through them.
“We can’t beat him. Our best plan is to escape back to the Twilight,” the Jedi said.
“Then we need to get away from him fast.”
They looked to see another train on the track below them heading their way.
Sharing a nod they turned around to face Grievous, who had finally reached them.
He let out a roar and dashed toward them. Steve raised his shield to block his attempt to skewer them.
The Jedi saw a crain up ahead. He jumped to it, grabbed onto the claw, and swung around to crash into Grievous.
The Kaleesh warrior went flying behind them.
Before he could get up, the two jumped down from the train and landed on another heading the opposite direction.
The Cyborg roared loudly as they mockingly saluted him.
“That ought to do it,” Anakin said. “How’s the housecleaning going?”
“Done,” Padme answered as she and Natasha dragged the last droid into the elevator. “Let’s get out of here.”
They all got in the elevator and it closed just as the other opened.
“I guess repairs are finished. Prepare to charge up the hyperdrive.”
“Roger, Roger.”
The group finally reached the Twilight and entered the cockpit.
“I’ll contact the fleet,” Obi Wan said.
Anakin sat down and turned on the engines.
“R2, release the docking clamp.”
The astromech chirped as he plugged into the terminal.
The Twilight detached from the Separatist ship and began to fly away.
At the same time, Grievous climbed into his fighter and flew it out into Space. Five Vulture droids followed and they chased after the Republic shuttle, firing upon them.
The blasts shook the ship.
“Time for some clever tricks, Anakin,” Kenobi said.
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Do we have guns,” the Black Widow asked.
“Yes.”
She nodded and was about to get to the controls when Padme reached them first.
“I got it.”
“You sure?” Steve asked.
“I know what I’m doing, Captain.”
The Senator proved as much by shooting down two enemy fighters in one go.
“She seems to know her way around,” Kenobi smirked.
Grievous dodged the blue lasers as his holo-terminal lit up.
“General, the hyperdrive has been completely repaired. Should we retreat to friendly space?”
“Engage the hyperdrive. I’ll meet you at our secret base in Sector 4.”
The droid on the Bridge nodded.
“You heard the General. Prepare to make the jump to hyperspace.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Malevolence rumbled as it changed direction.
The Cyborg and his squadron continued to pursue their target.
The fighter next to him was gunned down by the Nubian.
“Nice work, Padme,” Natasha praised.
“Beginners luck,” Padme smiled.
R2 bleeped something.
“Pardon me, sir. But R2’s scan of the enemy ship indicates their hyperdrive is activating,” 3PO informed the group.
“Don’t worry, 3PO,” Anakin replied with a smug grin.
“What?” Obi Wan and Steve asked at the same time.
The Bridge crew of the Malevolence was just about ready to go.
“Coordinates are locked. Hyperdrive is engaging.”
Sparks began to fly out of the navi-computer.
“Uh, I think we have a problem.”
A hologram once again appeared before Grievous.
“General, there’s something wrong with the hyperdrive.”
“I thought the hyperdrive was fixed.”
“Uh, the navi-computer is heading us right into the moon!”
“Fools! Reset the navi-computer!” the General ordered.
The droids scrambled to fix the situation.
“Quick, reset the navi-computer!”
Dooku’s hologram flashed up in the Kaleesh’s fighter.
“General, we await the Malevolence at the rendezvous point. Have you made your escape yet?”
The Separatist warship sped towards the moon.
“No! Reset it! Re-”
“General?”
Grievous cut off the transmission.
Dooku stared at his communicator.
“General?”
Grievous jumped into hyperspace.
“The transmission has been cut off, sir. I think the General did it himself,” a droid informed the Count.
Dooku narrowed his eyes, realizing Grievous had failed.
“We’re gonna die! Abandon shi-” a droid screamed as the Malevolence crashed into the moon, causing a bright explosion.
All the Republic forces smiled at the sight.
Steve laughed, realizing what Anakin had done.
“I imagine you had something to do with that,” Kenobi said happily.
“All part of the plan, Master.”
The group returned to the Bridge of the Resolute with cheers from the clones around them.
Except for Padme. She had gone to a spare room to get some rest.
And to see if certain things were real.
“A job well done, sirs,” Yularen praised.
“Glad to see you guys are alright,” Rhodey said.
“We got the Senator and Natasha out and destroyed the Malevolence,” Steve smiled. “It’s definitely been a good day.”
“Just you wait.”
They turned to see Romanov holding a computer spike with a smirk.
“What’s that?” Ahsoka asked.
The former spy walked up to the holotable and pressed a few buttons. A hologram of a Galaxy map was displayed with several dots and triangles. Blue for the Republic and red for the Separatists.
“These are all the known and presumed base locations and troop placements, right?”
The Republic Generals and Admiral nodded.
Natasha plugged in the spike and new red dots and triangles appeared.
“This is every single base, army, and fleet in the entire Separatist military.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
“This…how?” Obi Wan asked, otherwise speechless.
“FRIDAY,” Yularen realized.
The Russian nodded.
The group then began to study the map closely.
“There’s a Separatist base in the Pantora system,” Plo noticed.
“Ryloth and Hypori have more forces than intelligence indicated,” Yularen observed.
“They’re planning to invade Bothawui,” Kenobi stated.
“Droids on Naboo,” Anakin pointed out.
“There’s some activity around Rodia,” Ahsoka noticed.
“Wait,” Steve began. “FRIDAY, what’s this one here?”
He pointed to a dot on the map.
“That is General Grievous’ private residence, Captain Rogers.”
The room was stunned.
“We have to act on this,” Skywalker stressed.
“Agreed,” Plo said.
“I’m going after Grievous,” Steve announced.
“I’ll contact the Council to see who to send with you,” Obi Wan responded.
“I’m afraid he will not be there for a few weeks,” the AI reported.
“Then we’ll have time to prepare.”
“Ahsoka and I will go to Bothawui,” Anaikn said.
“We can send Pietro to Pandora. And I’ll go to Rodia. Senator Amidala might wanna come as well,” Natasha offered.
“I’ll go with him,” Kenobi replied.
“I’ll go with Sam to Naboo,” Rhodey announced.
“I will inform Master Windu to change his plans for liberating Ryloth,” Plo said. “And Knight Secura must be warned that she is walking into a trap. If she hasn’t already.”
“We are about to launch the most decisive assault on the Separatists thus far,” Yularen said, gaining the attention of the group. “We must be thorough and swift before they realize what’s happening. I shall prepare the fleet for a defense of Bothawui, and inform other systems across the front lines of what is coming. Good luck to you all.”
“Distinguished members of the Senate,” Senator Onocanda Farr began. “We must not act out of fear. There were minimal casualties on Hosnian Prime. We must work towards de-escalation.”
“The Separatists and made it clear they have no interest in de-escalation,” Senator Lenoan argued. “We must pass this bill.”
“We cannot vote until Senator Amidala presents her closing arguments,” Organa stressed.
“Senator Amidal is not here,” Lott Dodd pointed out.
“We need to vote now!” exclaimed the Senator from the Techno Union.
“Chancellor, what is your opinion on this matter?” Chuchi asked.
Everyone turned to the aging man in the center of the chamber.
He hid a wicked smile as he stood up to respond.
“As we all know, the War has only escalated in recent months. Dooku’s capture would have perhaps ended the war, but any hope there has been lost. Given the most recent loss of life brought on by the Separatist traitors, it is my opinion that the future of not only the War, but the Republic itself, lies within the Kuat Shipyards.”
Padme stood in the bathroom doorway of the quarters provided for her. In one hand she held a pregnancy test that Natasha had been so kind to provide her with. The other was over her mouth and her eyes were watering as she looked down at the test.
Positive
“You okay?” Natasha asked from the bed.
“…I’m going to be a Mom,” she said barely above a whisper.
She removed her hand to reveal a radiant smile.
That smile then turned into a whimper as she buried her face in her hands.
“Why now? Of all times?”
The young senator began to cry, causing Nat to gently sit her down.
“Hey. Look at me,” she said softly. Padme turned to face her. “If there’s anything that I’ve learned in the brief time we’ve known each other, it’s that you’re strong. Stronger than you know. And you can do this. War or no war.
And just say the word and I’ll help you however I can. You need me to help keep it quiet, I’ll do it. You can count on me.”
Padme was silent. Then she pulled the Avenger into a tight hug.
“Thank you, Nat. That’s exactly what I needed to hear,” she said quietly. Then she stilled. “Uh oh.”
“What?”
“My sister will never stop teasing me about this.”
The Black Widow laughed.
Back on Earth
“Okay, everyone,” Tony said, clapping his hands. “The suggestion box that Peter thought of is full, so it;s time to read them. Remember they’re all anonymous, so it’s fine if you recommend something you’d rather not say aloud.”
Tony pulled the first paper out of the box.
“Can we let our families visit regularly? I don’t know about Parker’s aunt just yet, but the others, yes.”
Clint and Scott smiled.
“Can everyone please stop killing the ants-Damnit Scott!”
“Hey! You said it’s anonymous!”
“You and Hope are the only ones here who like the ants.”
“I like the ants,” Peter said.
“They got in the pantry,” Carol pointed out flatly.
“How about this,” Hope began. “We’ll gather them up and improve the ant farms so they can;t get out as well. Sound good?”
Bucky shrugged.
“Works for me.”
“Alright, next one. Can Carol and Peter please turn down the volume on their movie nights?”
“We don’t have it that high-” Peter and Carol started.
“Yes you do,” everyone else cut them off.
The two were silent.
“Can someone please explain to me what a hashtag is?” Tony eyed Bucky and Carol. “I’m not even gonna acknowledge that. Next one. Can someone please talk to Tony about his workaholic issues?” He looked at the group.
“You do spend too much time here, Mr. Stark,” Peter said.
“Just because Pepper moved in here doesn’t mean you’re focusing more on your personal life,” Clint added.
“You’re in that lab all the time,” Hope stressed.
“You need a break, man,” Carol finished.
Tony blinked before sighing.
“Okay. I will follow a curfew and take the weekends off. Happy?”
“We’re just looking out for you, Stark,” Hope said. “But yes. That is better than hearing your ACDC playlist at 2:00 am.”
“Hey!”