The group soon arrived at the planet Teth, and with Quinlan Vos's exceptional tracking abilities, they quickly located Ziro's trail.
When they reached their destination, they discovered two bodies. One had clearly been dead for some time, while the other was Ziro himself—freshly killed.
"Who could have done this?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Kenobi."
A familiar sound of repulsors echoed through the air, causing all four to immediately go on high alert.
"Here they come again!" Sam exclaimed, raising his weapon toward the bounty hunter droids they'd encountered on Nal Hutta.
The Jedi ignited their lightsabers and began deflecting the barrage of enemy fire directed at them. Sam activated his wings and took to the air, firing at the droids while searching for tactical advantages.
Sam contacted the nearby commandos. "Delta Squad, we need backup!"
Sev's voice crackled through the comm. "What's the situation, Sam?"
"Those droids we fought earlier are back—with reinforcements."
"We're en route."
As the transmission ended, Sam suddenly cut his thrusters and allowed the droids to overshoot his position. He used this opportunity to reactivate his flight systems and opened fire on the mechanicals from behind, severely damaging several units and rendering them combat ineffective.
Steve punched a droid that dove straight at him, but suddenly he was struck hard from behind and sent flying uncontrollably through the air. He crashed into a nearby stone wall with bone-jarring force, groaning in pain.
"Well, well, look what we have here!"
Cap heard the familiar voice and tried to stand, but felt a metallic gauntlet slam into his abdomen. Someone grabbed him by the throat and slammed him back against the stone wall.
With a pained grunt, Steve opened his eyes and drew a sharp breath.
Those cold, hate-filled eyes beneath a black tactical helmet, that face painted with bone-white skull markings—it was a face Cap had seen too many times before. Once, the owner of those eyes had been a man he'd considered an ally.
Now, those eyes burned with pure malice.
"Crossbones," Steve said grimly.
"Rogers," Brock Rumlow hissed through his helmet. "I was wondering where you'd disappeared to. Didn't expect to find you here. A weapons deal went sideways and I ended up in this godforsaken galaxy."
"Weapons deal?" Steve managed, then shoved Rumlow backward.
HYDRA agent Brock Rumlow charged forward, snarling, "I've been looking forward to this day for a long time!"
Cap barely managed to dodge the incoming strike, as Rumlow's power-enhancing gauntlets had already inflicted significant damage.
"Come on, Captain," Rumlow taunted. "I know you can do better than that."
Cap gritted his teeth and raised his shield just in time to block the blow, but Rumlow's enhanced gauntlets still sent him staggering backward. If not for his enhanced reflexes, Cap would have taken the full force of Rumlow's amplified punch.
Cap deflected another strike with his shield, but Rumlow's follow-up caught him across the head, leaving him momentarily dazed.
Rumlow pressed his advantage, pinning the disoriented super soldier as Cap tried to regain his focus.
A retractable blade emerged from one of Rumlow's gauntlets.
"This is for dropping that damn helicarrier on my head!"
Cap jerked his head aside as the blade stabbed down. It pierced the wall behind him, sending spiderweb cracks radiating outward from the impact point.
Steve used the opening to drive his elbow into Rumlow's armored head. Rumlow stumbled backward and was then sent flying by Cap's spinning kick.
Crossbones tumbled across the rocky ground but rolled back to his feet with practiced ease. When he looked up, he saw the airborne Avenger diving toward him.
"Well, hello there, Wilson," Rumlow said, adjusting his gauntlets as blaster barrels extended from his weapons. He grinned malevolently. "Long time no see."
"Not long enough," Sam replied. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"He mentioned a weapons deal," Steve said, wincing as he rubbed his injured abdomen. "Peter told us that was his last memory with Matt and T'Challa before ending up here."
"Oh, you know those bastards?" Crossbones snarled. "It's because of them that I and several others are stuck in this galactic hellhole."
"Wait—others?"
"We'll deal with that damn spider and the blind man eventually," Rumlow promised darkly.
Raising both arms, Rumlow's gauntlets roared to life, unleashing a devastating barrage of energy blasts.
"Shit!" Sam activated his thrusters to evade while Steve crouched behind his shield to deflect the incoming fire.
In the air, Sam's head snapped up as he heard additional thruster sounds. He looked up just in time to avoid a diving droid that opened fire on him.
"I really don't have time for this!" the airborne Avenger shouted.
Meanwhile, the situation wasn't going well for the Jedi and clone troopers. Without Cap and Sam's support, they were barely holding their ground. The droids had adapted their tactics, making things increasingly difficult for the Republic forces.
The bounty hunter droids ceased their blaster fire and began employing different attack methods.
"Oh, come on! That's not fair!" Scorch complained.
Concentrated energy beams erupted from the droids' palms, catching everyone off guard.
"What the hell are those?" Scorch yelled, barely dodging several deadly beams.
One blast struck Fixer in the back, sending him crashing into a nearby rock wall.
"Fixer!" Vos shouted.
"He's alive, just unconscious," Boss reported after quickly checking on his teammate.
"Sons of bitches!"
Scorch charged forward, ignoring the calls from his brothers and the Jedi, while unleashing a sustained barrage of blaster fire at the droids.
Several explosions erupted ahead of him, destroying multiple units. He burst through the smoke and tackled another droid, rising quickly to fire at every mechanical target he could see. When he had to dodge another volley of energy beams, several struck simultaneously—one catching him in the shoulder.
Scorch was sent flying, hitting the ground hard. Though he remained conscious, he suddenly felt an invisible force pulling him away from additional incoming fire.
"Try not to do anything that reckless again, Scorch," Vos said with a strained smile.
Scorch managed a weak grin in response.
"Are you two alright?" Boss called out while engaging multiple droids.
Obi-Wan used the Force to yank one droid closer and bisected it with his lightsaber, then immediately had to lean back to avoid another energy beam.
Vos and Obi-Wan fought back-to-back, with Boss and Sev nearby, presenting a united front against the mechanical assault.
"Where the hell are Rogers and Wilson?" Vos demanded, deflecting a blaster bolt back into its source.
"Over there," Boss pointed.
Obi-Wan glanced in the indicated direction and squinted to see Cap engaged in combat with a heavily armed and skilled opponent.
"Who is that?"
"Once we deal with these droids, we can ask—"
"Look out!"
Vos shoved Obi-Wan aside as several droids unleashed a concentrated barrage of beams and blaster fire in their direction. The blast sent both Jedi flying over the edge of a nearby cliff.
Delta Squad, now fighting as one unit, faced the remaining swarm of droids, pouring weapons fire into the mechanical enemies. Despite being outnumbered, none of them gave ground.
However, to everyone's surprise, the droids suddenly ceased their attack and flew off toward parts unknown.
"Where are they going?"
"Probably returning to whoever manufactured or hired them."
"Forget about that. I'm more worried about the Generals."
"Right, I almost forgot about them."
Obi-Wan hung from the cliff edge, looking at his companion beside him.
"I really hate going on missions with you."
Vos just gave his old friend a wry smile in response.
Steve was now exhausted from constantly fending off Rumlow's relentless attacks. From energy blasts to hand-to-hand combat, it was proving to be a significant challenge even for the super soldier.
No matter how many times he struck the bastard, Rumlow seemed to recover quickly. It was as if the man couldn't feel pain anymore. What had happened to him?
Steve finally knocked his opponent down with a perfectly timed shield ricochet, sending him rolling toward a cliff edge. Rumlow tried to stand, but Cap knocked him down again.
Crossbones simply punched the ground in frustration, struggling to his feet when he saw that Cap was no longer alone. Delta Squad, Obi-Wan, Vos, and Sam circling overhead—all had their weapons trained on him.
"It's over, Rumlow."
Crossbones smiled coldly and smoothly pressed a button on his gauntlet. "It's never going to be over between us, Rogers. Not by a long shot."
The roar of engines suddenly filled the air, and Cap watched as the HYDRA agent leaped off the cliff.
Cap raced to where Rumlow had fallen, but had to dive backward as the wing of a spacecraft nearly clipped him during its rapid ascent. Looking up, he saw Crossbones standing on the hull, mockingly waving at him before jumping through an opening in the ship's roof. Rumlow's vessel shot into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.
Sam landed beside him, frowning as he watched the HYDRA agent escape.
"Wonder when we'll see him again."
"Hopefully not anytime soon, Sam."
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