“Five years has come and gone,” Jango tapped a fist into his palm, seated across from Dan in one of the fortresses' many courtyards. “You’ve helped rebuild the Mandalorians, but the deal between us is done…” The Mandalorian turned to face a decorative sculpture, the design of a long dead artist of Old Krypton. “It’s time I retired, maybe took on some low effort work and hunted bounties for pleasure.”
“You’ve earned a break, the Mandalorians can handle themselves,” Dan nodded to the reluctant Mandalore. If Dan hadn’t killed Pre Visla, Jango wouldn’t have stayed this long. “I hear the cloners on Kamino will have high paying, easy work, for someone like you.” Dan tossed Jango a data pad. “Before you run off to hunt easy money, make sure you collect your bonus.”
The Mandalorian scanned the list of materials, before his eyes settled onto the last object on the list. He raised an eyebrow under his helm and raised the manifest up.
“You finally finished her…” Jango’s body vibrated, a thrum of excitement that loosened a snort from Dan’s nose.
“That we have,” Dan laughed as the Mandalorian jumped to his feet, half-way to the door. “The first phantom-drive equipped star ship to leave Kryptonian hands…”
The Mandalor was already gone, headed for the landing bay that held his vessel. Dan had repaired and upgraded the Slave One, refitted with a few advances from Krypton. Touched by the All-Spark, the ship was now alive. It would serve the Mandalorian, while guarding the secrets of its construction.
“I can finally take a breath…” Dan let himself sink into his cushioned seat in the centre of the courtyard. He needed time to decompress. “Next on the list will be the newborn Kryptonians… I need to get Doom to choose a few Mandalorians for long term employment.”
Jango had run off, and Dan was too lazy to catch him. Doom would com the man to learn the best candidates for the training of Krypton's next generation. He planned for every genesis born Kryptonian to study under both Mandalorian teachers, and members of Merlyn’s school.
Both groups had valuable techniques for mental defence. Combined together, they would make the general population almost immune to mind magic. Important, since Palpatine was free in the galaxy. Dan tapped his foot on the crystalline floor.
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“I might wait to call Doom…” the man was busy on Coruscant. The disappearance of the Chancellor had left a zoid, one the industrious Senator was eager to exploit. “For now, I think I’ll go take a nap around the sun.”
His body was fine, but his brain needed room to think. The battle with Sidious had exposed his inexperience. Omniman’s memories helped, but he lacked the on hand effort needed to control his power. Dan leapt into the sky, headed for the bright blue of Garnib’s star.
“When the gates connect me back to Invincible’s universe, I’m going to practise against the Viltrumites until I can move without thought…” Besides Goku and Etrigan, they were the only beings he could fight conventionally. Everyone else was either a force entity, or too squishy for him to bother. “I wonder how Goku is doing…”
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“IDIOTS!!!” Thaedus chased after Allen and Goku, a direct line toward Conquest's advance. The pair raced to be the first to engage, plans forgotten as the Saiyan youth roared out a challenge.
The scarred Viltrumite ignored the provocation, his single eye cautious as he took in the three warriors. As soon as his gaze touched Thaedus, the skin of Conquest’s neck and face burned red. The muscled soldier of Viltrum clenched his fists as he doubled his speed, a blurr that passed both Allen and Goku by.
The bearded leader of the coalition forgot his anger with the younger generation, world narrowed to just him and his fellow Viltrumite. Fists raised, they clashed in a storm of blows. Conquest grappled close and delivered a crazed headbutt. Thaedus reeled back, stars in his eyes, unable to escape the larger man’s grasp.
Before the Viltrumite landed another strike, Goku’s fist crashed into the back of his head. Allen slid in from the opposite side, leg extended to slam Conquest’s back. Freed from the villain’s grasp, Theadus rallied.
He drove a left hook under the surrounded Viltrumite’s guard, enough to let Allen drive another kick home. Goku slipped his arms under Conquest’s chin and pulled, feet set into the huge man’s back. He flashed a sheepish grin to Theadus, while Allen laid down a maelstrom of blows onto Conquest’s exposed chest.
“Sorry! He slipped right past us…” Goku laughed, even as his muscles strained to keep Conquest in check. “I didn’t expect him to be so fast, since you guys are so slow!”
Theadus snorted. The Saiyan was too honest for his own good, but he’d also never exposed his own strength in full. Thoughts of his impudent teammate were shoved aside, buried behind a focus of will. Long unused power tumbled from within him, magnified by the unusual symbiote clone.
“Just shut up and hold him still…”
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“There you are, my arrogant little friend…” Ultron zoomed in his field of vision, locked in on a bundle of fragmented cells. The area around him was restricted, filled with too much radiation for the repair crews to access easily. Only droids had been sent this deep, all now under his command.
“You took so much effort to kill,” the A.I. encased the fragile cells inside a stasis field, then stored them away within a containment vessel. “I can’t wait to see what secrets your DNA holds!”
It had taken him days to locate the final remains of the short lived Lord of the Sith. It would have been a supreme waste, if all of the material was lost. The experiments he’d done with Maul’s genetic code had raised more questions than answers. Perhaps the Master’s genes would prove more forthcoming.
“Let’s get you home and into the oven, little emperor,” Ultron laughed to himself as he sank into the floor, containment unit in hand. “We have so many things to do!”