“What do you think, Venom?” Dan poked at the mango sized device, Ultron’s mico-phantom drive. “Can you digest this thing and replicate its abilities?”
“Yeeessss…” the symbiote hissed as it spread out to wrap around the drive. “But it will take time, longer than when we ate the mechanical suit.”
“Fair enough,” Dan nodded as he called up a display of scouted worlds given by Ultron. He planned on a tour of the freed-slave colonies, capped off by a little jaunt into the unknown. “We’ll take the scout until you’ve finished digesting…”
A notice flashed on his display, a call request from Ultron. Dan tapped and the A.I.’s face appeared in front of his eyes.
“We have located one of your targets, the Togruta child,” Ultron shifted his image and a small, tail-headed girl took form. “She is already known to be force sensitive, the local gossip is that a Jedi will collect her soon.”
“Ahsoka Tano…”
Dan tapped his chin. He’d stolen Anakin from the Jedi, but that wasn’t the end of his plans. There were many force sensitives that had yet to fall into the rigid order’s clutches, Ahsoka among them. He would gather as many as he could and use Merlyn to create an Order of his own.
“I’ll grab the Wizard and be there soon,” Dan moved out the door, a bounce in his step. “If the Jedi show up, distract them until we can get there.”
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“She’s so cute!” May squinted at the picture of the three year old Ahsoka as the Gladius entered Shili’s orbit. “You said you wanted Merlyn to train her?”
Dan and May walked toward the launch bay, located at Gladius’ midline. The ship had grown in the last five years, big enough to be considered a mid-sized capital ship. Its arsenal was limited to high powered plasma weapons, improved versions of the Kryptonian originals, but a new system had begun to grow in its depths. An organ, one that Sekot claimed would manipulate gravity.
“If her parents can be convinced to let her go with us,” Dan nodded as he palmed open the launch bay door. “They might be set on sending her to the Jedi, but I’m hoping Merlyn can convince them otherwise.”
He’d sent the Wizard ahead of them, since his teleportation was the fastest travel method around. Dan wasn’t a fan. It was like squeezing yourself through a pinhole, only to come out as a noodle that wound itself back to your original shape. The Portals were better, but they had a shorter range.
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“It would be nice to have more company in our magic lessons,” May’s symbiote covered her face as she followed Dan into space, her words projected over the com. “Anakin is always so broody and you’re asleep half the time…”
“I do my best!” Dan laughed as he angled toward the planet below, headed toward a forested land mass. “Ki training and sparring take up a lot of energy, you know?” He extended his arms and a blue glow spread over his body in a wave. “I’ve made great progress on infusing my Bio-field with Ki!”
“Yah-yah, rub it in that your powers have started to manifest first,” May rolled her eyes and pulled ahead, aimed at Ultron’s signal. “You might have more superpowers than me, but I’ll be a full fledged sorceress soon!”
Dan grinned as he matched his wife’s speed. It was true, she could already teleport between distant stars on her own. May would certainly be the first graduate from their new school of magic. His own time wasn’t wasted, just focused in a different direction.
“You’d have as much as me or more, if you spent more time in the sun,” Dan poked at her nose and accelerated past her top speed. “I’d follow the thing around the planet, if you let me.”
“Wait up!” May pushed her suit to the limits, symbiote strained as she edged back into the race. “It’s not my fault that Merlyn refuses to teach anywhere but his study, it’s a windowless dungeon!”
Dan laughed as he doubled down on his speed. The world hung in stillness, the aura of his bio-field extended to still and shift the air as he pushed it aside. With the activation of the field, everything was sharper. Sight, smell, even taste, seemed to connect to the strange energy that his cells produced. His mind, already fast, processed data at an insane rate.
The clouds parted behind him, a canyon in the sky that marked his arrival. Merlyn and Utron stood next to a horrified pair of Togruta. The mother and Daughter held each other tight as May followed him in a rush of air.
“Cheater! You should limit yourself to thrusters or it’s not a fair game!” Her words loosened the tension in the locals and forced a laugh from Dan’s throat. “If I used magic, I’d beat you no problem!”
“Then use magic, no one’s stopping you,” Dan shrugged and turned to the young Ahsoka and her mother. “Greetings! I’m Dan-EL, and this is May-EL. We’re here to discuss your daughter’s acceptance into our school for force sensitive youngsters.”
The Togruta woman held her daughter’s shoulders, guarded against Dan and his group. It was understandable. For the most part, force orders that weren’t the Jedi leaned toward the darker side of the spectrum. The true neutral Orders were rarely seen outside their local areas.
“Sorry about the aggressive arrival, we were just having a friendly race,” May bowed her head to the woman and leaned in to smile at Ahsoka. “It’s very nice to meet you, I heard from Dan that you’re a sorceress like me and Merlyn?”
“I’m a WIZARD,” Merlyn snorted. He snapped his finger and Anakin popped into existence, a deep confusion on his face. “This is my current apprentice, you can question him about the nature of our order,” he turned to Dan, fingers raised for another snap. “Call me if you convince her, family matters have never been my strong suit!”
The Wizard vanished with a crack that stabbed at his kryptonian ears. It was bad enough to filter out the background noises of this planet without Merlyn’s explosive backfires. May rubbed at the sides of her head, smile fixed as she squinted against the pain.
“Sorry about Merlyn, he’s a bit eccentric,” May apologised for the Wizard and cast a simple spell. An illusion that summoned a unicorn of petals to dance through the air. “But he’s a good teacher, and he cares for his students, in his own way.”
“My ass…” Anakin snorted from behind her, face set in a look of horrored remembrance. “He’s full of knowledge, but he’s more interested in his own research than teaching!”
He clapped his hands and a sphere of water formed in orbit around him. A twitch of his fingers and it was joined by a ball of fire, then a twisted orb of wind. A frown of concentration touched Anakin’s lips as the ten year old shook his wrists. Three more orbs completed the circle, lightning, metal, and a mix of shadow and light.
“I’ve taught myself more than he ever taught me,” Anakin sighed and his magic dissipated on the wind. “But he still knows a million things I don’t…”
“How did you make all those lights?” Ahsoka poked her head from behind her mother’s leg and met Anakin’s eyes. Little face serious, she pointed a chubby finger in the air. “Do it again!”