As everyone knew, Pietro Maximoff was inherently reckless, hot-headed, and impulsive by nature. After being enhanced by the Mind Stone's power, these characteristics had become even more pronounced, which frequently caused headaches for his allies and created nightmares for his enemies.
"What was that?!"
"That blurred figure again!"
"Quickly, contact the commander immediately."
Pietro paused in his reconnaissance, looking down at the small droid outpost he had just systematically destroyed with assistance from the surviving members of the 327th Clone Battalion. He casually approached a destroyed battle droid and picked up its severed head, noting with amusement that it was still producing mechanical noises.
Pietro scoffed with obvious disdain: "How do these things even function as a military force? All they do is follow orders mindlessly and repeat the same programmed responses over and over."
Sergeant Keed rolled his eyes and replied: "That's easy for you to say, Pietro. They can't even track your movements, let alone engage you effectively, so naturally they pose no threat from your perspective. We regular soldiers face a completely different tactical situation."
Pietro simply shrugged and casually discarded the droid head: "Fair enough. Let's search this installation thoroughly."
As they investigated the Separatists' strategic objectives for invading Ryloth, they discovered that the planet held critical importance for multiple reasons, but the most significant was its proximity to a major hyperspace route that provided direct access to the Republic's Core Worlds.
However, their current location was merely an abandoned Twi'lek village, which raised an important tactical question: what exactly were the Separatists accomplishing here?
Overall, this particular location held no apparent strategic value for Separatist operations and offered no obvious tactical advantages, being surrounded entirely by open terrain.
"Are we missing something critical?" Clone Trooper Six wondered aloud.
Pietro considered the question carefully, then gazed out through the outpost's observation window. Before them stretched nothing but the abandoned Twi'lek settlement.
However...
Pietro narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned forward, attempting to focus more clearly on something in the distance.
"Hey, everyone," Pietro called to the clone troopers inside the base. "Did you notice that?"
"What are you referring to?" Sergeant Keed asked, moving to stand beside Pietro.
"That object over there," Pietro pointed toward the roof of a Twi'lek dwelling. "There's something positioned on that structure. I can't identify what it is exactly, but it appears to be blue."
Sergeant Keed turned to the nearest soldier: "Six, hand me those macrobinoculars."
Clone Trooper Six wordlessly provided the optical equipment, and Keed examined the location Pietro had indicated.
"Can you see it now?"
"Hmm," Keed muttered thoughtfully. "What could that possibly be?"
"Want to investigate it directly?" Pietro asked with characteristic impatience.
"That would mean—"
The clone troopers in the outpost only perceived blurs of silver, blue, and white streaking past their positions at superhuman velocity.
The speeding figure came to an abrupt halt in the forest area. Pietro approached the mysterious object cautiously and discovered that the blue entity was indeed quite unusual. He spoke to himself: "What exactly is this thing?"
It definitely appeared to be some form of living organism.
"What's your assessment?"
"I honestly don't know," Pietro shrugged and replied. "I was hoping you might have some insight."
Keed looked up and shook his head definitively: "I've never encountered anything resembling this before in my experience."
"Do you have any idea what this could be?" Pietro asked.
"Wait—Pietro, don't touch it! We have absolutely no knowledge of what this thing might be!"
Pietro carefully extended his hand toward the entity. It felt somewhat soft to the touch. Pietro frowned and examined it more closely through tactile investigation. He detected a strong, rhythmic pulsing sensation. No, it was definitely a heartbeat—this thing was definitely alive.
"So... what exactly is this organism?"
Pietro rolled his eyes with exasperation: "Keed, I just placed my hand on this thing. It doesn't magically give me knowledge of its species or origin."
Pietro's expression suddenly became tense as he observed his hand slowly being absorbed into the unknown creature's mass.
"I—I can't pull out my hand," Pietro said with rising alarm, attempting to pull his hand back with increasing force, but achieving no results.
Keed, who was familiar with Pietro's tendency toward practical jokes, responded nonchalantly: "Now's not the time for your usual pranks, Pietro."
Pietro's concern was clearly genuine as he replied: "I'm completely serious—I cannot remove my hand."
Without hesitation, Keed grasped Pietro's arm and began pulling with considerable force, only to discover that their combined efforts had no effect whatsoever.
"What in the galaxy is happening?!" Both Keed and Pietro now exerted maximum effort to retreat as Pietro's entire forearm began sinking deeper into the blue substance.
"Keed, release me," Pietro said with determination.
"What are you planning?"
"Let go—I'm going to try something," Pietro said firmly, and his trapped arm began vibrating at an extremely high frequency.
Keed stepped back and watched as Pietro's arm became a complete blur of motion, and within moments, the Avenger successfully broke free from the creature's grasp.
Pietro grimaced while massaging his bloodied arm, cursing vehemently: "What kind of creature is this thing?!"
"Are you injured? Can you function?"
"What is that thing? The pain is absolutely excruciating."
Keed cautiously examined the blue organism again and noticed that the impression left by Pietro's arm was clearly visible within its mass, then slowly spread throughout the creature before finally disappearing completely.
Sergeant Keed was visibly disturbed and said: "Perhaps we should report this encounter to command immediately."
"Then let's return to base," Pietro said, flexing his numbed arm repeatedly. He clenched and unclenched his fist multiple times as the pain gradually subsided and sensation slowly returned to his limb.
Meanwhile, the Republic fleet was preparing to launch ground assault operations against droid installations on Ryloth's surface, but the Separatists also maintained a substantial starfighter force that continuously harassed their vessels, making planetary landing operations significantly more challenging.
Aayla Secura would lead her 327th Star Corps with support from Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson to eliminate the anti-aircraft gun emplacements in Kiros City while simultaneously rescuing enslaved Twi'lek civilians.
Master Kenobi and his Ghost Company, accompanied by Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, would recapture Nabat City. Only by securing both urban centers could the Republic Army establish safe landing zones for major ground operations.
Mace Windu remained with the fleet to coordinate overall strategy, while Anakin, Ahsoka, and James Rhodes led starfighter squadrons to engage and contain the Separatist aerospace forces.
Only after successfully retaking both cities would Mace Windu deploy all available clone forces to the surface and implement the next phase of their battle plan.
Aayla flew alongside Steve and Sam toward their primary objective: the strategic city of Kiros.
Due to the open terrain characteristics, the LAAT/i gunships were particularly vulnerable to droid anti-aircraft fire during landing operations. However, the plains also provided the Republic with tactical advantages for deploying All Terrain Tactical Enforcers and AT-RT reconnaissance walkers for rapid battlefield mobility.
Steve and Sam maintained focused concentration as their transport approached the landing zone, with Aayla positioned at the front of their passenger compartment and Commander Bly beside her.
Surrounding them was an entire squadron of clone troopers, along with additional Republic forces that had already deployed to the planetary surface.
Among the clone forces, there were three familiar faces that Steve had worked alongside during the Battle of Maridun: Flash, Cameron, and Lucky.
When all gunships reached the surface, Aayla immediately disembarked with lightsaber ignited, accompanied by Bly and Steve, while Sam took to the skies with his flight capabilities.
The AAT hover tanks and battle droid formations ahead began launching intensive attacks. Many clone troopers could only use the AT-TE walkers as mobile cover against the concentrated enemy fire.
Steve advanced to the front lines, taking defensive positions behind rocky outcroppings, with Bly, Aayla, and several clone troopers crouched in cover behind him.
"We need to identify a method to penetrate one of their flanks," Steve immediately assessed after observing the tactical situation.
"Those spider droids won't be easy to outmaneuver, Captain Rogers," Commander Bly observed while returning fire at the droid formations.
Several minutes later, dozens of clone troopers, two AT-TE walkers, and multiple AT-RT scouts concentrated their firepower on the right flank of the droid positions, targeting what appeared to be their weakest defensive sector. The droids naturally returned fire, but under such concentrated assault on their vulnerable position, the mechanical forces began sustaining significant casualties.
Additional battle droids began deploying from the base to reinforce the compromised right flank.
At this critical moment, Steve signaled Sam to deploy smoke cover from his aerial position.
A massive cloud of concealing smoke erupted across the battlefield, obscuring much of the space between Republic forces and Separatist positions.
Aayla and Steve led the assault charge, followed by at least thirty clone troopers advancing through the smoke screen's concealment.
Acting on pure combat instinct, Steve raised his vibranium shield and struck down several battle droids with devastating efficiency, then launched his shield with maximum force at the droid formations ahead. The shield ricocheted rapidly through the mechanical ranks, systematically destroying multiple targets before returning to his grasp.
Steve looked back to observe Aayla Secura charging toward the droid positions with elegant lethality. She wielded her blue lightsaber with graceful precision, dismantling a B2 super battle droid within moments.
Bly maintained his defensive position and directed clone fire at the droid forces, who were clearly caught off-guard by the coordinated assault and desperately sought cover.
High above the battlefield, Sam engaged droid forces operating single trooper aerial platforms while providing air support for clone forces on the ground.
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