Clap-clap-clap-clap…
A singular round of applause echoed around the study and cut through Lord Sidious’ self realisation. The Sith spun, lightning already on his fingertips as he zeroed in on the intruder. The room was empty, save for the dead body of his former master, door sealed tight.
“A merciless victory, Lord Sidous,” A mechanical laugh chimed from all around him, a vibration that sourced from the walls themselves. “Brutal and efficient, worthy of a machine…” A mechanical face formed on the floor, as if a humanoid pushed their features through from below. “But I’m afraid celebrations will have to wait!”
A sheet of force-lightning shattered the robotic creation, flung from Sidious’ hands without comment. His connection to the force had reached near unity, a vortex of the dark side that wrapped around the singularity of his soul. It screamed, ragged at him to act, to flee. Never before had the shadowed voice in his heart asked this of him, yet now the words thundered through him in a tide.
‘RUN AND SURVIVE… LIVE AND SEEK THE SUN KING'S HEART… ONLY THEN CAN YOU RULE AS DESTINY DEMANDS!’
“NEVER!” An ocean of rage exploded from SIdious’ core. He had infinite power, limitless as the depth of space. His strength came from malice and rage, not fear… fear was for the mindless and weak.
“I’m afraid that sort of thing won’t work against me,” The machine face was remade from the wall, door converted into a smug grin. “And soon you’ll be unable to do even that much.”
The mouth opened and two dozen thick-bodied droids stomped into the room. They brought with them a terrible nausea, a wrench that twisted at the source of his power. The black hole inside him irised open, a vicious maw that expanded beyond his body. Shadowed teeth clamped onto the metal men and vanished within.
“Interesting…” The mechanical face raised an eyebrow. “You still retain some of your magic, enough to kill some of my poor lizards!”
The force returned in full as Sidious ripped the contents of the doids apart. A deep frown touched his craggy lips. In the brief moments when his power was disrupted, the entire room had somehow moved. They were almost one-hundred kilometres down and fell deeper still.
“Too bad for you, I’ve got far more than a few dozen prepared,” The machine laughed as it spat out an endless line of warriors. Each one held the same abominable creature, some kind of natural anti-force bubble. “And they’re only the start of the show!”
He ignored the droid and extended his senses as best he could, hand on his lightsaber. He could still fight, though the force was dim and sluggish. Whatever these animals were, they couldn’t suppress him completely.
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A flick of his thumb activated his crimson blade, body launched in an impossible spin. Sidious opened his mouth as he closed with the droids, a howl that shredded the life under its frame. His blade found another’s chest, only to skip off the metal like a stone.
“Beskar…” Sidious cursed under his breath as he crushed the chestplate with his mind. A slight adjustment of his body placed him into a different stance, lightsaber held to thrust instead of slash.
Tipped back under a lance of plasma - ejected from the palm of a nearby drone - Sidious speared the machine through the eyes. A wrench of his sabre directed it into the guarded compartment and fried the hateful lizard within.
“Really, you’re quite amazing,” A second, smaller face formed at Sidious’ side, brows raised in interest. “I can’t wait to run your genetic code and compare it to other magi I’ve encountered…”
The singularity at the Sith’s core rippled and the wall buckled under a wave of force. The droids around him scattered like ten-pins, life drained from the lizards at their core. The floor trembled, the end of their descent. Sidious calculated for a half-second, they should be BELOW the bedrock of the planet, a layer of the undercity that shouldn’t exist.
“Welcome,” The machine’s voice drifted from the walls, filled with mirth. “It’s time to begin!”
The study unfurled around him to expose a vast chamber beyond. The ceiling was lost, kilometres above, with only bare metal to mark the floor. Line after line of droids, each filled with a curse against the force, stood silent. Sidious drew a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The more of these creatures there were, the stronger the suppression of the force. This would be his single greatest test, a challenge beyond all others before it. The opportunity to prove his power stood above all others.
Sidious launched into the ranks in an explosion of fury. Spirit pushed to the limits, he summoned a storm in the force and wrapped it around himself like a shield. Thick lances of unstable energy, purple lightning backed by a corona of blue. Each bolt finished a chain of droids as they leapt from one to another without end.
“UNLIMITED POWER!” The Lord of the Sith roared, the first words he’d spoken directly to his attackers.
Row after row fell, charred and molten, onto the smooth surface of this arena of death. With each dead lizard, more of his strength returned. A scowl twisted the Sith’s face. Despite his success, the force still called for him to flee. Unacceptable. He would not run, not so soon after he’d achieved the beginnings of his dreams.
“That’s enough, Ultron,” a familiar voice echoed over the chaos of battle and the droids began an ordered retreat. “It’s time for the second phase…”
As the anti-force bubble withdrew, the space was lit by a bright flash. A wizened old man, face pinched into a frown, stepped from the light and turned his gaze to the Sith Lord. He wasted no time with words and summoned a vast number of silvered runes at his back.
Two men walked from the shadows and stood at the Wizard’s side. One owned the voice that called off the droids, the cursed senator from Garnib. The other was encased in armour of mandalorian design, a lightsaber held inactive in his hand.
“Greetings, Palpitine,” Victor Von Doom let a smile touch his face as he made a short bow. “Congratulations, on both your election as Chancellor, and your rise to the position of Lord of the Sith!”
----------------------------------------
“That should do it…” Dan squinted at the vaguely stargate doorway that represented one side of the two universal gates. “Alright system, time to send me home!”
[Warning, you still have a summon present in this universe, he will spend two weeks out of contact before the universes are synchronised by the gateways. Are you sure you wish to return home now?]
“Goku will be fine,” Dan laughed. The Saiyan was a battle junky, like himself. Even if he was wounded terribly, his symbiote could teleport him away and heal him. “Every time he almost dies he comes back stronger, now let’s go!”
A pillar of light rose up from his feet, and Dan blanked out.