The war room's holographic display divided the galaxy into two highlighted zones—one pulsing red near the Outer Rim, the other a faint, ancient signal from the galactic edge.
After heated debate, the plan crystallized.
Team One would investigate the signal. Anakin Skywalker would lead, taking Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Vision. The 501st and 212th Legions would provide support—Captain Rex and Commander Cody's battalions, battle-tested and ready for whatever waited in that dark corner of space.
Team Two would strike Ultron's facility. Captain America and Aayla Secura would spearhead the assault, supported by Black Widow, Ant-Man, Wasp, Quinlan Vos, and Barriss Offee. Commander Bly's 327th, Delta Squad, and Captain Fordo's newly minted ARC troopers would handle the tactical breach.
The mission briefing had revealed something that made the Ultron operation even more urgent: Even Piell's encoded message indicated Ultron wasn't just holding Republic forces. Separatist prisoners were there too. Neutrals. Civilians. The AI had been gathering test subjects from every faction, treating sentient life as raw material for his experiments.
This wasn't just about stopping a weapons facility. It was about preventing whatever horrific research Ultron was conducting.
The 327th, 104th, and 41st Legions remained on standby, ready to deploy as reinforcements the moment either team called for backup.
Everything had been planned with military precision.
The journey to Clarisium would take time—enough for Team One to strategize, to prepare for Separatist traps or Ultron ambushes.
What they didn't prepare for was nothing.
"Rex, we're at the coordinates." Anakin's voice carried an edge of frustration as he stared at the empty viewport. "Where are you?"
Static crackled before Rex's confused voice responded. "General, we're at the coordinates. Scanners show nothing—no ship, no debris, no energy signature. Where are you?"
Anakin's jaw tightened. "That's impossible. We're exactly where we're supposed to be."
"Have you tried looking out the window?" Peter suggested, then immediately backpedaled at Ahsoka's look. "Sorry, sorry, I know that sounds obvious—"
"We're staring at empty space," Ahsoka said, her montrals twitching with agitation. "There's literally nothing out there."
Vision moved to the viewport, his hand hovering near the transparisteel. "Perhaps we're examining the wrong axis. Space operates in three dimensions. They could be above us, below us, or—"
"I could use the Mind Stone," he continued, his forehead gem beginning to pulse with golden light. "A directed beam might help them triangulate our position."
"Or we go old school," Peter said, already moving toward the flare locker. "Light something up, see if they spot it."
Anakin nodded. "Do it."
The flare launched from their cruiser in a bright arc, its chemical burn creating a brilliant point of light against the void. It would last a full minute in the vacuum—plenty of time for Rex's scanners to detect it.
They waited.
"Anything?" Anakin demanded.
"Negative, sir." Rex's voice carried equal parts confusion and concern. "Still no contacts on our scopes."
T'Challa's fingers flew across the navigation console, double-checking their coordinates, cross-referencing stellar positions. "We're precisely where the distress signal originated. The math is correct. But there's nothing here—no planetary bodies, no stations, no ships."
"This is getting stranger by the minute," Obi-Wan murmured, stroking his beard in that particular way that meant his mind was working through impossible scenarios.
"We're in the right place," Anakin insisted, checking their instruments again. "The signal came from these exact coordinates. Rex and Cody are supposed to be here. But we can't see each other, can't detect each other—"
The holographic communicator flickered.
"General, we—" Rex's voice broke up, distorted. "—can't locate—where—"
Then silence.
"Rex?" Anakin slammed his hand on the comm panel. "Rex, respond!"
Nothing.
"Something's interfering with the signal," T'Challa said, his tone shifting to combat-ready alertness. "Active jamming or—"
Every light on the ship died.
The sudden darkness was absolute, disorienting. Emergency systems should have kicked in immediately. Instead, there was only the faint starlight from the viewport and the soft glow of Vision's Mind Stone.
"Console's dead." Anakin's hands moved across unresponsive controls. "Navigation, weapons, shields—everything's offline."
Peter's voice pitched higher with barely controlled panic. "Okay, so that's bad, right? That's definitely bad. Please tell me life support is still working because I really like breathing and—"
"Life support's down too," Obi-Wan said quietly. His calmness was somehow more frightening than Peter's rambling. "We have whatever air is currently in the ship. Nothing more."
"How long?" Peter demanded. "How long can we last?"
"Depends on how much we panic," Ahsoka said, though her own breathing had quickened. "So maybe everyone should stop talking so much."
"There's something here."
Vision's voice cut through the rising tension like a blade.
Everyone turned to him. The Mind Stone blazed brighter now, casting eerie yellow light across his synthetic features. His expression—usually so controlled—had shifted to something approaching alarm.
"What do you mean 'something'?" Ahsoka demanded.
"I didn't sense it before. It was... hidden. Deliberately concealed." Vision's head tilted, his sensors reaching out. "But now it's revealing itself. Vast. Ancient. Aware."
As if responding to his words, the lights flickered back on.
Systems hummed to life. Consoles lit up in sequence, status indicators returning to normal operations as if nothing had happened.
Peter looked around wildly. "Uh, okay, so... did someone find the cosmic reset button or—"
"I didn't touch anything," Anakin said immediately.
T'Challa was already running diagnostics. "All systems report normal. Full functionality restored." His voice carried the uncertainty of someone who didn't trust what his instruments were telling him. "As if they were never offline."
"Then what just—" Ahsoka started to ask, then saw Peter's face. He'd gone completely still, staring at something past her shoulder, his masked eyes wide with shock.
"Peter?"
He didn't respond, just slowly raised one hand to point.
Ahsoka turned—and froze.
"By the Force," Obi-Wan breathed.
Where there had been empty space moments ago, there was now a structure.
It hung in the void like a monument to geometry itself: an octahedral form, massive beyond comprehension, its surface a deep, light-absorbing black. But along its edges and vertices, crimson lines pulsed with slow, deliberate rhythm—like veins carrying blood, or circuitry carrying power from some unknowable source.
"How did we not see that before?" Anakin demanded.
"Because it didn't want us to," Vision said simply. "Or we weren't ready to perceive it."
The structure's scale became clear as they drifted closer—not through their own propulsion, but through some invisible force drawing them forward. It wasn't asteroid-sized. It was moon-sized, possibly larger, its geometry perfect in a way that screamed artificial construction.
"General Skywalker!" Rex's voice burst through the comm, sudden and urgent. "Sir, is that you? We've got you on scanners now! What is that thing you're approaching?"
Anakin glanced at his radar display. The 501st and 212th fleets had appeared on his scopes as if they'd always been there, positioned exactly where they should be.
"Rex, we—" Anakin grabbed the controls, trying to alter their course, to pull away from the massive structure. Nothing responded. The ship continued its inexorable drift forward. "We've lost maneuvering control. Something's pulling us in."
"Commander Cody here," another voice cut in. "General Kenobi, we've been trying to reach you for the past five minutes. Your ship disappeared from our sensors, then reappeared heading toward that... structure. What's your status?"
"Apparently, we're sightseeing," Obi-Wan said dryly, though his knuckles were white where he gripped his seat's armrest.
"Oh good, we're making jokes now," Peter said, his voice climbing toward hysteria. "That's definitely a sign everything's fine and we're not about to die horribly in some ancient space nightmare—" The metal frame of his seat groaned as his enhanced strength crushed it. "Sorry! Sorry, that's expensive Republic equipment, I'll pay for it—"
At the octahedron's center, where eight triangular faces met, something opened.
Not like a door or hatch—the geometry simply unfolded, revealing a portal of brilliant white light that seemed to contain all colors at once while remaining fundamentally colorless.
"Everyone, secure yourselves," Obi-Wan announced, his Jedi calm cracking just slightly. "I believe we're about to experience involuntary hyperspace travel. Or something worse."
Anakin, Obi-Wan, and T'Challa were already strapped into their seats, magnetic locks engaging with decisive clicks. Peter shot webbing to anchor himself to the bulkhead. Ahsoka grabbed the nearest support beam. Vision simply stood, perfectly balanced, his density already increasing to make him immovable.
The white light expanded, reaching for them with fingers of pure radiance.
Rex's voice crackled through one last time: "General, we're losing your signal again—"
Then the light consumed everything.
Consciousness returned in fragments.
Ahsoka became aware of warmth first. Solid warmth beneath her cheek, rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Her brain, still foggy, cataloged the sensation: heartbeat.
Her eyes snapped open.
She was lying on top of Peter Parker.
Both teenagers registered this fact simultaneously. Peter's mask had retracted, revealing his very red face. Ahsoka could feel her own face heating, her blue skin probably darkening several shades.
"I—" Peter started.
"You—" Ahsoka scrambled back so fast she nearly kicked him. "Sorry! I didn't mean to—you were just there and I was unconscious and—"
"No, no, it's cool, totally cool, I mean not cool but fine, it's fine—" Peter pushed himself up, looking anywhere except at Ahsoka. "We just, uh, fell weird, probably. After the thing. With the light."
They both found fascinating details to study on opposite sides of the cabin.
Nearby, Anakin groaned from his seat, one hand pressed to his temple. "Did I pass out?"
"We all did," T'Challa said, unstrapping himself with careful precision. His movements were controlled, but Ahsoka noticed the slight tremor in his hands—the only sign that the unflappable prince had been unsettled. "Question is: who landed the ship?"
"Not me." Anakin blinked hard, trying to clear the spots from his vision. "I was unconscious. Obviously."
Vision pulled himself upright from where he'd apparently collapsed on the deck, his usually impeccable posture briefly compromised. "I... lost consciousness?" His tone suggested this was deeply troubling. "I shouldn't be capable of losing consciousness. My systems—"
"Where are we?" Obi-Wan interrupted, already on his feet and scanning their surroundings through the viewport.
T'Challa checked the ship's instruments. "Breathable atmosphere. Gravity approximately point-nine standard. Temperature comfortable. We're either on a very large asteroid or a small planetoid." He frowned at his readings. "But the composition is... unusual. The structure appears partly artificial."
"Wonderful," Obi-Wan muttered. "This situation becomes more improbable every minute. I can't even determine if we're still in our galaxy."
Peter's head jerked up, his eyes widening. "Wait, what? No. Nope. We can't be in a different galaxy. That's—that's too far. I promised Aunt May I'd—" He caught himself, forced his breathing to steady. "We're still in the same galaxy. We have to be."
Anakin ran diagnostics on the ship's systems. "Everything's intact, but nothing's responding. It's like the ship's in standby mode."
"Rex and Cody were shouting before we entered the portal," Vision recalled, his processors working through fragmented memories. "They saw us being pulled in. They know we entered the structure."
"Can we contact them?" Ahsoka asked hopefully.
Anakin tried the comm. Static answered. He cycled through frequencies, attempted emergency channels, even activated the distress beacon.
Nothing.
"Perfect," he said flatly. "We're stranded in an unknown location with no communications. What do we do now?"
T'Challa's answer was immediate. "We find out where 'here' is." His vibranium necklace activated, nanite technology flowing across his body like liquid mercury, forming the Black Panther suit in seconds. Only his face remained exposed. "Then we find a way home."
The loading ramp began lowering on its own, hydraulics hissing despite no one touching the controls.
The six of them exchanged glances—part resignation, part determination.
Whatever had brought them here wanted them to explore.
Refusing seemed... unwise.
They walked down the ramp together, emerging into—
"Whoa," Peter breathed.
The space beyond defied easy description. They stood in a massive chamber, but calling it a chamber felt inadequate. The walls curved away into impossible distances, surfaces reflecting light in ways that suggested multiple dimensions folded into one. The air was fresh, almost spring-like, carrying scents of growing things despite no visible vegetation.
But what captured their attention were the floating islands.
Massive chunks of rock and crystal hung suspended in the air at various heights, connected by nothing visible, defying gravity as if it were merely a suggestion. Some supported vegetation—actual trees with silver leaves that chimed softly in the gentle air currents. Others held structures: geometric buildings that grew from the stone like crystals, their architecture beautiful and completely alien.
Waterfalls flowed upward on some islands. Mist coalesced into impossible shapes before dispersing. The entire space pulsed with faint luminescence, as if the walls themselves were alive.
"Is this Pandora?" Peter asked, awe overriding his anxiety.
Ahsoka looked at him, confused. "What?"
T'Challa chuckled, his tension easing slightly. "An Earth film. Bioluminescent alien world, floating mountains—quite similar to this, actually."
"What film?" Ahsoka's montrals twitched with curiosity and slight irritation. "What are you two talking about?"
"Avatar," they answered in unison.
"Later," Peter added. "I'll show you later. If we survive."
"It's magnificent," Vision whispered, his synthetic voice carrying genuine wonder. The Mind Stone glowed brighter, resonating with something in this place. "Whatever this is... it's connected to something vast. Something old."
Obi-Wan produced macrobinoculars from his utility belt, scanning the distant floating islands methodically. "If we're meant to be somewhere specific, there should be—"
"I see something!" Ahsoka pointed at one of the larger islands, perhaps half a kilometer away. Sunlight—or whatever passed for sunlight here—glinted off something metallic or crystalline on its surface.
Obi-Wan adjusted his binoculars, focusing where she indicated. "I don't see anything. Are you certain?"
"There," Ahsoka insisted, her young eyes sharp. "Something's reflecting light. Like glass or—"
The structure she'd spotted suddenly moved.
Not the slow drift of something floating, but a purposeful shift—like something massive and previously still had just turned its attention toward them.
And in that moment, they all felt it: the unmistakable sensation of being watched.
"Everyone," Anakin said quietly, his hand drifting to his lightsaber, "I think we're not alone here."
The floating islands seemed to hold their breath.
And somewhere in the impossible geometry of this ancient place, something stirred.