With that declaration, Spider-Man launched himself out of the gunship and fired a web line, swinging with all his strength and agility to get as close as possible to the massive creature that was threatening the heart of the Republic government.
"Now I have to decide which one I should be more worried about: Peter or my Master," Ahsoka muttered with obvious concern.
"Padawan, you are not responsible for taking care of everyone," Anakin's voice came through her communicator with gentle but firm guidance. "Focus on what you can control."
Ahsoka simply puffed out her cheeks in frustration, pointedly ignoring the soft chuckle that Barriss let out despite the gravity of their current situation.
As Spider-Man was swinging at maximum speed toward the Senate building, he noticed a distinctive silvery blur moving at incredible velocity through the streets below.
"Hey! Hey there, Mr. Maximoff! Up here!" Spider-Man called out, squinting at the rapidly moving figure as he waved to get his attention.
Pietro Maximoff skidded to an abrupt stop in a shower of sparks and dust, then looked up to see the newest Avenger swinging overhead and gesturing frantically at him.
"Parker? What the hell are you doing up there?" Pietro shouted back.
"Trying to get the attention of our oversized friend here," Peter replied, gesturing toward the Zillo Beast. "But wait, why are you in this area? I thought you were spending time with Senator Chuchi."
"I was on a date with Riyo, actually, but then this galactic version of Godzilla showed up and completely ruined the romantic mood," Pietro replied with obvious frustration.
"I knew I wouldn't be the only one to notice the resemblance to that particular movie monster," Peter said with grim satisfaction.
"Are you two finished with your casual conversation?" Captain America's authoritative voice suddenly came through their communication devices, immediately refocusing their attention on the crisis at hand.
"Hey there, Cap," Pietro said with forced cheerfulness. "Where's your current position?"
"We're en route to the Senate building right now. What's your status?" Steve replied.
"Same destination. I'm currently with Peter."
"I'm aware of that. I can see you both on the tactical display."
"Cap, we need to find a way to distract that creature and draw its attention away from the building," Spider-Man said urgently as he watched the Zillo Beast ramming its massive bulk against the Senate building's reinforced dome structure.
"Keep your distance and avoid direct confrontation," Steve ordered firmly. "The rest of the team will be there shortly. Your primary objective is to help evacuate civilians from the immediate area."
"We'll do our absolute best, but we can't guarantee we'll be able to clear everyone in time," Peter replied honestly.
"That's all I'm asking for right now. I don't want either of you risking your lives unnecessarily," Steve said with obvious concern for his teammates.
"Come on, Cap, this is literally what we do every single day," Pietro replied with characteristic bravado.
Spider-Man launched himself back into the air, swinging at maximum speed, while Quicksilver had already accelerated ahead and was running up the side of nearby buildings to get a better vantage point.
Meanwhile, inside the Senate building, Anakin was urgently leading Padmé, Chancellor Palpatine, R2-D2, and C-3PO toward an emergency escape vessel that was kept in the building's private hangar for exactly this type of crisis situation.
They had successfully boarded the ship and were attempting to fly clear of the building when the Zillo Beast suddenly spotted their escaping craft.
As they tried to gain altitude and distance, the massive creature moved with unexpected speed and agility, managing to intercept them in mid-air and grasp their ship in its enormous claws.
"Hold on everyone!" Anakin shouted as the ship shook violently in the beast's grip.
The Zillo Beast lifted the captured vessel up to its eye level, apparently studying the strange metallic object it had caught. At that critical moment, something struck the creature hard in its armored hide, causing it to roar in pain and surprise. This distraction allowed the ship to break free from its grasp, with the pilot quickly maneuvering them to safety.
From their position inside the rescued vessel, the passengers could see Spider-Man swinging acrobatically around the creature's massive head and neck, while Quicksilver was somehow running along the length of the beast's spine at superhuman speed. Circling overhead was another Republic gunship carrying Barriss and Ahsoka, who were coordinating the rescue efforts.
Down below on the streets, clone troopers were working frantically to secure the area while evacuating civilians either indoors or completely away from the Zillo Beast's rampage zone.
From another approaching gunship, Ant-Man, War Machine, Wasp, and Falcon deployed to join the battle.
"Holy shit, look at the size of that thing!" Scott Lang exclaimed in amazement and terror as he got his first close look at the creature.
"Language, Scott," Sam Wilson called out as he spread his wings and launched himself into the sky. "But you're right—they definitely need our help up there!"
James Rhodes activated his helmet's targeting systems and flew alongside Falcon, while Hope van Dyne shrank down to wasp size and grabbed onto Ant-Man to transport him into the battle zone.
As Spider-Man barely managed to avoid the Zillo Beast's snapping jaws, a sleek gray-and-black blur flew directly across the creature's face, releasing a blinding strobe light directly into its eyes.
The beast let out an enraged cry, its massive neck twitched violently for a moment, and then it began thrashing around wildly in pain and confusion.
"Whoa there!" Falcon shouted as he executed a sharp banking maneuver to avoid the creature's whipping tail. "Everyone watch out for that tail—it's like a massive club!"
War Machine, who had been firing repulsor beams at the creature's armored hide, had been carefully monitoring the tail's movement pattern, but he was caught off guard when the fifth appendage extending from the beast's back suddenly grabbed him.
"Hey! You oversized Godzilla wannabe, let Colonel Rhodes go right now!" Spider-Man shouted with characteristic bravado.
Surprisingly, the Zillo Beast did indeed release War Machine, but it accomplished this by hurling him with tremendous force toward the nearby buildings.
"Well, I'll be damned, it actually listened to me," Peter said with amazement.
Seeing War Machine tumbling helplessly through the air, Spider-Man immediately swung after him. He fired a web line that struck one of Rhodes' armored legs, then swung in the opposite direction and fired another web that anchored to a passing gunship. Using all his enhanced strength, Spider-Man managed to create enough tension to prevent War Machine from crashing into the Senate Building.
"Thanks, kid. I owe you one," War Machine responded gratefully, using his suit's thrusters to stabilize his flight once again.
After breaking free from the web line connecting him to the gunship, Spider-Man was pulled back into the action zone by War Machine, and they both resumed their assault on the creature.
"I've got a report that the stun gas bombs are en route," War Machine announced over the team comm channel. "The problem is, they're going to take too long to get here for our current situation."
"We need to find another way to keep that thing distracted and contained," Falcon said as he continued flying evasive patterns around the beast from above.
"I've got an idea that might buy us some time," Ant-Man announced as the Wasp carried him to optimal altitude. "But it's going to be risky."
"Well, whatever you're planning, do it quickly," Captain America's voice came through the comm system. He was positioned at a safe distance along with Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Aayla Secura, Master Yoda, and Captain Rex, all watching the unprecedented battle unfold.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Scott Lang closed his eyes and made final adjustments to the Pym Particle regulator on his wrist device.
"Are you ready for this, Scott?" Hope asked tensely as they reached the optimal drop height above the creature.
He simply nodded with determination, and she released her hold on him. As he fell toward the Zillo Beast's back, he began his mental preparation routine.
"I can do this, I can do this, I can do this," he muttered to himself repeatedly. After landing squarely on the creature's armored hide, he pressed the activation sequence to dramatically increase his size.
Everything seemed to slow down around Ant-Man as his body underwent the incredible transformation, because the sensation of growing to gigantic proportions was utterly unlike anything else in human experience.
To the observers below, they were witnessing something that defied all logic and scientific understanding.
And their reactions were appropriately dramatic...
"What the hell?!" Spider-Man yelled in amazement.
"My goodness gracious!" C-3PO exclaimed.
"Okay, so Ant-Man is big now! He's absolutely massive!" Falcon shouted over the comm system.
Ant-Man's enormously enlarged body collided with the roaring Zillo Beast, and both titans crashed to the ground with earth-shaking impact, sending shockwaves through the surrounding buildings.
The ancient creature immediately found itself on the receiving end of a massive fist to its head from this new and unexpected opponent.
"OH YEAH!" Ant-Man yelled triumphantly, letting out an exhilarated laugh. "I... am... ANT-MAN!"
From his position on the ground, Captain America blinked in surprise and said, "Well... I think this approach might actually work."
The assembled Jedi Masters and clone troopers could only stare in complete shock and disbelief at what they were witnessing—a human being who had somehow grown to the size of a building and was now engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a creature of legend.
From his position in the rescued ship, Chancellor Palpatine's calculating mind was working at maximum capacity, trying to process and analyze what he had just observed. The implications of such technology were staggering.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice the Zillo Beast's tail sweeping toward their location until it was almost too late. Fortunately, Anakin sensed the danger through the Force and quickly pulled the Chancellor to safety.
"You're safe now, Chancellor," Anakin said reassuringly.
Palpatine said nothing in response, as every aspect of his attention was focused intently on the unprecedented battle taking place before them.
"If you want to get to them, you'll have to go through me first," Ant-Man declared with heroic determination.
As if accepting this challenge directly, the Zillo Beast roared with primal fury and charged toward the enlarged Ant-Man.
As the two titans collided with tremendous force, Scott's voice came through the communication system with obvious strain. "I can only maintain this size for about four minutes, maybe five at most. Any longer than that and I'll lose consciousness, and in this particular situation, that would be catastrophic for everyone."
"Hold your position, Ant-Man," Obi-Wan called out to him. "Republic armor units are en route to your location."
"And the stun gas bombs are only a few minutes away from deployment," War Machine added.
"Understood," Scott replied through gritted teeth.
Ant-Man pulled his massive fist back and swung with all his enhanced strength, striking the beast directly in its face. The creature roared loudly in pain and anger, quickly stepped backward, then charged forward and rammed its armored head into Ant-Man's chest.
The impact sent Ant-Man stumbling backward until he crashed into some massive industrial pipes and infrastructure. Shaking his head to clear it, Scott saw the Zillo Beast charging at him again with murderous intent.
Thinking quickly, he grabbed one of the broken metal pipes and swung it like a club, striking the creature hard across its neck and shoulders.
"Guys, we need to wrap this up soon," Ant-Man said breathlessly into his comm, feeling his heart rate accelerating dangerously. "I've only got about three minutes left at this size, maybe less."
The Zillo Beast recovered almost immediately and stood up to its full height, roaring defiantly at the giant human who dared to challenge its dominance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~