UNKNOWN
TWO THOUSAND AND FOUR HUNDRED (MORTAL) YEARS AGO
Diane was staring at a map. She was in an unfamiliar room filled with unfamiliar faces. They kept calling her name, asking her questions, giving her suggestions, and asking for opinions. It was all very overwhelming.
"Diane."
The angel turned to see her friend, Daniel, standing in white armor. A helmet was tucked under their arm.
"W-What are you doing here?"
Daniel took her aside until they were alone in a small closet.
"Are you sure about this?"
"A-About what?"
The warrior angel sighed and pulled out a weird-looking disk. It reminded Diane of the one Saw Gerrara gave Cal to download onto BD.
"This contains all of Heaven's secret plans for 'The Plan'."
"That's a really terrible name."
"Blame Gabriel. Creativity isn't his strong suit."
"So wha-what do you want me to do."
PRESENT DAY
Diane's eyes fluttered open. She felt like someone had taken her body and smashed it against a rock wall a thousand times. The vision, thought, memory that appeared. She had no idea where it'd come from.
What she did know was that she'd woken up all alone in what was essentially a cage and her friends were missing.
"DEE?!" A familiar voice rang through.
"BD?! DEE WHERE ARE YOU?"
"CAL?!"
"DEE!"
"CAL WHERE ARE WE?!"
"I'M GONNA GET US OUT OF HERE!"
She peeked through between the bars but couldn't tell where he was coming from. Their voices overlapped and echoed through the small area. What she did see were the countless monsters they'd fought falling through a hole in the middle.
Cal came into her view and looked around.
"Dee, they took my lightsaber. But I'm gonna try to find a way to—"
Diane grabbed the bars and took off the gate in a clean, swift manner before tossing it behind her.
"—get you out."
"Beepboop!"
"BD?!" Cal yelled.
Her wings were sore but Diane took a chance and flew them to the other side where BD was being held captive.
"BD-1?! Is that you?! Are you okay?!"
"Beepwhoop."
"We're gonna get you out of here."
"Stand back."
Cal stood to the side and watched as Diane gripped the gate before throwing it in the middle where all the creatures fell. The redhead wasted no time and reunited with his friend.
"Boop boop boop!"
"I'm happy to see you too!"
Diane watched as he cradled the droid's head with his hands.
"Let's get that restraining bolt off of you."
Diane looked around. There was no sign of his lightsaber. But she did find that the room was filled with discarded droids and for some reason, felt very disturbed by this.
"Let's get out of here before the same happens to us," Cal said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Cal led to where he'd been held and saw there was a platform. Diane felt something within her bubble but chose to ignore it. So she followed Cal as they stepped on the platform allowing it to take them upwards.
"Are you okay?"
She saw he was looking at her.
"I'm fine. You?"
"I think I may have a bruise on my head, but other than that I'm okay."
But as they got higher, a sound filled their ears.
"Hey, I recognize that band!"
"I've heard this before."
When they reached the top she saw an opening and ignored Cal's surprised look.
Diane had a bad feeling about this.
"Wait, you know this song?"
"Before I left Heaven...when I was observing the mortals, I saw a boy. He had hair like yours and he was wearing something orange over his ears and listened to this song as he worked."
"Huh." Cal didn't know there was someone on Bracca that liked The Agasar. Perhaps in another world, another universe, he could've befriended the boy.
The BD unit that perched on Cal's back looked between the two and shook its head.
The trio walked together into the open arena.
A holographic image of a male mortal appeared. Cal stops and Diane realizes that he does not look like her nor Cal. There was a contraption surrounding his head and his flesh, from what Diane could tell, was probably a green or blueish color.
"Ugh, finally he arrive— What's she doing here?!"
Cal looks over at Diane, who shakes her head in response.
"Oh well, you know what they say: The more the merrier."
"I don't know what 'they' say."
Cal stifled a laugh.
"We had action on how long it would take you to get here."
"Alright, who are you?!" Cal yelled.
"HA! Who am I? I'm Sorc Tormo, baby! I'm the boss of this operation!" The hologram pointed at them. "You have Greezy Four-Arms to thank for bringing us together."
"What's he talking about?" Diane asked. Though deep down something told her she knew the answer.
"We will as soon as we get out of here," Cal said through gritted teeth.
Sorc took his attention off of the trio and gestured to the audience.
"We have a special challenger for you tonight! An enforcer from a bygone era. A Jedi! Let's see what he got!"
He made a grand gesture with his arms. Suddenly Diane found herself in a circular cage and while Cal wore a look of terror, the angel was unfazed.
"Somebody get baby his toy," Sorc said.
A lightsaber was thrown from the front and Cal used the Force to bring it toward him. The fingers on his right hand gripped the hilt and he ignited the saber.
Diane sighed and held out her hands. Sparks flew as the cage split into four parts.
People in the audience gasped.
"It seems we've got a duo on our hands."
"Beep bop."
"I know," Cal said, watching as the entrance on the right lifted. "Trio. We're a trio."
Diane watched as an Oggdo (which in Cal's mind was a massive hybrid frog) approached them. Then the floor lifted and several spider-like creatures approached them.
"Those are new," Cal muttered.
Diane looked at him.
Without a saying, he ducked and closed his eyes hearing a familiar humming sound.
"Wha-What is this?!"
Some people in the audience were smart enough to follow Cal... But the majority were not. (Needless to say, a lot of people went home blinded for the next forty-eight hours or for life.)
Then within seconds, the light disappeared and all the creatures were salt piles. Then more deadly creatures approached them and that was when they shared a second look that day.
"You take the ones on the right, I take the ones on the left?" Cal asked.
"I hate this," Diane grumbled. BD made a noise that told Diane the droid was more than ready for a fight.
"Welcome to 'the mortal world'."
She chuckled.
True to their word, no matter how big or small the creature was they took care of them on their individual sides with the occasional team-up. Cal figured it was best this way since they could take out more in less time. But unfortunately, they weren't prepared for the next round.
"The best is yet to come!" Sorc exclaimed. "I believe you know our next challengers... THE HAXION BROOD IS GUNNING FOR YA!"
"'The Haxion Brood'? The same people hunting Greez?!" Diane yelled.
"Yeah! I guess so!"
Diane could tell that Cal was done at this point.
Suddenly, something grabbed Cal and threw him across the room. It was the same hunter that knocked them both out.
Diane's nostrils flared as she watched Cal fight back.
They tag-teamed the entire way through. Diane wanted nothing more than to smite him but was afraid she'd also get Cal. So she had to hold back.
"I wanna try something!" he yelled.
"I'm not sure this is the appropriate situation to experiment Cal!"
"Come on Dee, live a little!"
The hunter's jetpack went off and Cal grabbed onto the hunter's wrists as he held his shirt.
"Catch!"
Diane flew toward the flying object and Cal winked at the hunter before purposefully throwing himself back onto the ground.
"Ow," he muttered.
Confused, the hunter stared at him, and within that split second Cal saw his blue lightsaber thrush through his chest.
Diane landed gracefully beside the lifeless body and Cal cocked his head as he watched the angel hold the ignited lightsaber at a distance.
"What're you doing?" he asked. Her face flushed.
"I-I don't know how to turn it off."
Cal chuckled and took the lightsaber. Both swore for a moment that they heard BD-1 laugh but shrugged it off.
"Fwoo be-doo."
"What?" Cal said.
"What do you mean, "Incoming"?" Sorc's voice went off in the speakers.
The trio saw a familiar yacht come into view and the angel let out a sigh of relief. But when she saw it was heading their way, she quickly grabbed Cal and flew them back as the Mantis crashed into the building.
"It's the Mantis! Blast it!"
"Run!" Diane yelled.
They took off toward the ramp and threw themselves inside.
They were safe...for now.