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Now, on to the chapter!

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“The point…” Chancellor Valorum halted, head turned to the man who whispered at his side. His face cramped, but he nodded and turned back to the floor.  “The point is conceded. Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?”

 

Doom snorted. The two beside the Chancellor were agents of Plagueis, planted through the influence of the galactic banks. They hampered Valorum’s every move to bring stability with the power of bureaucracy. His eyes moved to the young Queen, her expression set with firm resolve.

 

“I will not defer,” Padme stood firm against the murmurs that rushed through the chamber, voice filled with passion. “I have come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now, I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die!” 

 

She pleaded her case to the senate floor, a speech that drew shouts of both agreement and dissent from the many representatives. Doom glanced at the mob. The division was almost equal, but the calls for her support rang slightly higher.

 

“I move for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum’s leadership…” 

 

The juvenile Queen’s face fell at her own words, as if she wished they were not necessary. Palpitine leaned into her ear as Valorum’s assistant called for order. Doom smiled and placed his hand on the podium before him, an answer to the call for a motion to second.

 

“The representative from Garnib seconds,” Doom bowed to Padme and the wretched Palpatine. “We would not have such injustices stand, just to please the bureaucracy.”

 

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BEEEEEEEEP-BEEEEEEEEEP-BEEEEEEEEEP

 

“Hmmmm…” Dan rolled over in his cot and covered his head with a pillow. The drone continued, a high pitched tone that edged well below human hearing. A sigh pressed from his lips. ”Fine… I’m up-I’m up!”

 

A twist of his limbs tossed aside the covers and summoned Venom around him once more. He spent so much time - wrapped in the symbiote - all so he could pass as an adult. The drone came from the depths of the base.

 

“Venom, can you figure out what that sound is?” Dan rubbed his temples. It wasn’t unbearable, but it added to the strain as he filtered out unwanted noise.

 

“It is an emergency signal, a summons for the Guardians to return to this base,” Venom snarled, also disturbed by the sound. “We can disable it…”

 

“No,” Dan shook his head and moved to the door. He opened the metal hatch and slunk into the hall. “We’ll keep to the shadows and see what’s going on.”

 

He wasn’t going to interfere with the Guardian’s business, just because their alarm annoyed him. Better to learn what the emergency was. Perhaps it could offer him a chance to charge the system.

 

Dan glided through the hallways, soundless and tight to the ceilings. The call originated in a large central hall, steeped in shadow. He glanced at the far side of the ceiling, before he slipped down the wall and settled behind an outcrop of reinforced concrete. He wasn’t the first to arrive.

 

Hidden in the shadows above, a well muscled form held an unnatural stillness. Dan only detected him through the sound of the blood in the man’s veins, combined with the murky glow of his lifeforce.

 

‘I wonder what Omniman’s got planned…’

 

Immortal sailed into the room, followed closely by War woman and the blur that was Red Rush. Green Ghost flew through the walls and landed beside them. Aquarius and Martian Man walked in from a separate direction.

 

“So why did you call us? Red Rush tilted his head at Immortal. “I was in the middle of a date.”

 

“It wasn’t me,” Immortal looked at Martian Man, who shook his head. “It must have been Darkwing…”

 

“It’s always the slowest one who sends out the signal early…” Red Rush complained, face pinched. “I bet he…”

 

Darkwing fell from an overhang and landed beside the group. He turned a silent gaze to Immortal that drew on until the big man broke it with a question.

 

“Darkwing, why did you call us here?”

 

“Me?” Darkwing’s eyes widened as he glanced around the room.

 

“So none of us signalled the alert?” War Woman raised her mace in a practised guard as she joined in scanning the room. 

 

“Oh god…” Green ghost faltered back a step. “What’s going on? Is it bad?”

 

Dan raised an eyebrow as Omniman launched from the shadows above. Only Red Rush responded to the man’s hgh speed movements as he raced to beat the man to his target. The speedster won by a hair, enough to push Immortal from the path of Omniman’s fist.

 

‘Looks like this Superman look-alike is out for blood…’ Dan tensed his muscles, ready to step in. He waited, slightly interested in how well this group of heroes would fare.

 

“Omniman?” Immortal questioned, voice uncertain.

 

War Woman had no such concerns. She stepped forward with a battle cry, weapon aimed for the Viltumite’s head. Omniman’s face held no expression as he dodged, a killing blow aimed for her chest. Red Rush deflected the blow, while Darkwing tossed some kuni into the fray as distractions.

 

‘He’s playing with them,’ Dan frowned as Aquarius aimed a high pressure stream of water into the man’s face. The Viltrumte had moved faster the first time they’d met. ‘It’s like he wants to get hurt…’

 

Red Rush saved the day once more and pulled Aquarius from the path of a deadly blow. Omniman’s fist slipped past the Rush’s back and cleaved a crater into the floor. Red Rush dropped off his teammate and began an assault of his own.

 

Omniman took one punch, then another, before he caught the speedster’s wrist on the rebound. He gripped the man’s face and began to squeeze, even as Rush layered hundreds of blows to his chest.

 

‘Time to go!’ 

 

Dan accelerated forward and angled his wrists. Both the Rush and Omniman stood, almost frozen in time, as he blitzed for the Viltrumite at top speed. His fists hammered Omniman’s forearms and opened his grasp, followed by a light jab to the face.

 

Air fractured as the Viltumite streaked backward, driven by the sound of a bell. He drove through the walls of the base, into open sky. Dan glanced from the hole above to his hand. The bones tingled, blowback from his punch. He ignored the heroes’ questions and followed Omniman into the sky.

 

‘This one won’t go down so easily…’