Clank looked up from the newspaper that was in front of him, turning his gaze from the story he had been reading and locked onto the building he had been staking out for the last few days; a casino that was half the size of Maktar Resort's own casino. He had been tracking Maximilian ever since he had escaped from Maktar Resort, following clues that had been given to him by his associates and other shady characters that disliked the robot. It had been quite the task to figure out what was true and what was false, because several bits of information conflicted with other pieces he had been given. Even then he wasn't one hundred percent sure that his information on where Maximilian was located was accurate, leaving him to wonder if he would ever hear from the mad robot ever again.
That was until a week ago when three robed figures approached him with some information of their own, which happened to be the critical piece he had been missing the entire time. The group's leader revealed that Maximilian would be staying at the Bolts and Gears Casino on Planet Koros for some time, where he would be meeting with someone to discuss business. Clank was able to gleam some information based on what the robed leader said, because it sounded like the person that Maximilian would be meeting with was someone that the three of them had been hunting for some time.
Clank still wondered why the three Jedi were after Maximilian's new business partner, but he decided not to ask too many questions considering that they were allowing him to confront his target while they focused on the mysterious partner.
"Any sign of your target... Agent Clank?"
Clank turned his head to the right for a moment and spotted one of the three robed figures sitting across from him, though she was currently reading the paper that he had set aside for the moment. It unnerved him that they could get the drop on him, but he would not allow them to know that and simply gathered himself before making any sort of reply.
"I have heard the security guards mention that Maximilian should be leaving sometime today," Clank replied, his eyes returning to the building across the street, though this time he was looking for the other Jedi that had been with the one sitting across from him, "His partner is supposed to be leaving with him, but they are apparently putting the finishing touches on their contract before they depart from the casino."
"Master Cross will be pleased to hear that you have found both of our targets." the robed Jedi commented, raising her right hand to her left wrist for a moment, to which she activated a small bracelet she had been wearing, "We have been searching for Maximilian's partner for some time now, but every time we got close to him he would slip away, almost as if he were a phantom of sorts. Starlene and I were starting to wonder if this was becoming a wild goose chase, but it seems that this time we might have caught him by surprise."
This was the first time that Clank had heard any names that belonged to the Jedi that had given him the information he had been looking for, though the one across from him was still unnamed. The problem was that he had no faces to assign the names to, so it left him at square one all over again and made him wonder who he was even working with. He silently wondered what would happen if he walked into the casino with the three Jedi in tow; would they be found out immediately, or would they be walking into a trap. He knew that the Jedi would fight if their lives depended on it, and he suspected that a fight was coming their way, but he decided to keep his thoughts to himself for the moment.
A brief movement behind him brought him back to reality, allowing him to notice that two more robed figures had appeared around his table and claimed the remaining chairs for themselves. Clank decided that the other two must have been waiting nearby, because there was no way that they would have replied to the mysterious Jedi's call so quickly if they were off world. He had no idea where they had been hiding the entire time he had been watching the casino, but now that they were present he knew that it was time for them to get started on their operation.
"I have received word from Grand Master M," one of the newcomers said, causing the other two to turn towards her, "He said that 'Fate has smiled upon us' and that we should 'end this as swiftly as possible'."
"Finally." the third Jedi commented, sounding pleased that they could finally enter the casino and deal with the person they had been searching for, "I was beginning to wonder if we were going to allow our target to slip through our fingers again."
"Not this time." the middle one side, the one who had mentioned the Grand Master, "Agent Clank, I do believe its time that we all head inside the casino and wrap up this little operation of ours."
Clank let out a sigh as he pulled himself out of the chair he had been sitting in for the last thirty minutes and walked across the street, briefly hearing the footsteps of the Jedi as they fell in behind him. He knew the plan, as the moment they entered the building the Jedi would separate from him and stay at a certain distance from him at all times, keeping their eyes peeled for their target. Unless their target noticed any of them before they noticed him, and Clank was sure that they would be able to catch whoever they were searching for, this would be an easy operation.
That was his thought, until two of the guards standing outside the main door stepped in their way and stopped them from entering the casino, making him wonder if Maximilian knew that they were here.
"We were warned that you might show up... Agent Clank," one of the guards said, crossing his arms in an attempt to look menacing, while the other pulled out a communicator, "Tell the boss that his 'friend' has arrived."
"This is not the robot that you were looking for." one of the Jedi said, waving their hand in front of the guards for a moment, leaving Clank to wonder if they had lost their mind.
"This is... not the robot that we were looking for." the guards replied, though they sounded like they were in a trance, which only served to confuse Clank even more.
"You will report that the coast is clear," the Jedi continued, manipulating the minds of the guards to give them the time they needed, before someone else noticed that they had slipped inside the building, "and then you will forget that you even saw us."
"The coast is clear." the guard with the communicator said, lowering his hand the moment that he delivered the message, while his partner stared into the distance with a blank expression on his face.
Once the deed was done the Jedi beckoned her head towards the door and Clank moved inside, though the instant he was inside he moved to the right while the others moved to the left. There were a fair amount of customers walking about the casino floor, either heading to turn their chips into bolts, moving to get drinks for the party they belonged to, or leaving the building in silence while thinking about the amount of bolts they lost. He didn't pay them too much attention, as this time he had a single goal in mind and needed to make sure that he kept his eyes on the prize... which was considerably easier when Maximilian was sitting out in the open.
The only problem that he noticed was that the mysterious partner that the Jedi were looking for was nowhere to be seen at the moment, which made him worry a tiny bit.
"Ah, Agent Clank," Maximilian commented from afar, turning his head to face Clank while the people around him backed up, "I was wondering when you would drop the charade and walk into the casino. I was thinking about leaving and drawing you to another building that I own, but then you decided to show up and put an end to this little game of ours. I know that you came here to arrest me, Agent Clank, but this time I have a new bodyguard that you'll have to get through before you can even touch me."
A shadow appeared next to Maximilian, almost as if whoever was under the black robe had been silently called by the robot without having to hear his name be spoken at all. The mysterious figure pulled back the hood of its robes to reveal a black faced man with what appeared to be a crown of horns around the top of his bald head. Clank knew who this man was from the various reports he had read while he had been searching for Maximilian, though he had no doubts that this was the person that the Jedi were searching for when he noticed the sheathed lightsaber on the man's belt.
"Secret Agent Clank, meet Darth Maul," Maximilian said, beckoning to the man for a moment, with what appeared to be a grin on his face, "Look upon the face of your demise and know despair."
"Not so fast," a voice behind Clank said, to which he turned and noticed that one of the Jedi was standing behind him, which meant that the other two were close at hand as well.
"I see that you have allied yourself with the Jedi," Maximilian commented, almost spitting out the word Jedi as he turned to Darth Maul, "You know what to do."
Darth Maul barely moved his head to register that Maximilian had said anything, as he was keeping his eyes on the figure that was standing behind Clank at the moment. The robed figure pulled the hood of its robe back for a moment and revealed a feline creature that closely resembled a cazar, but wasn't quite like them. Clank knew that this was a lombax, based on the orange colored fur that had a few brown stripes on the ears, though that only made him wonder what the other two Jedi were. It was funny how he thought about them and the two suddenly appeared next to the female lombax, though this allowed Clank to see that one was a female cazar while the other appeared to be a native of Rilgar.
"That's Jedi Master Angela Cross to you, Maximilian." the lombax commented, though she pulled off her robe and revealed the Jedi armor that she wore underneath, while the other two did the same, "Not that it really matters... we're here for the Sith Lord."
Darth Maul looked at the three of them for a moment, as if he was silently weighing how well he could do in a fight against the three of them, before tapping something on his wrist. That was swiftly followed by twenty robot ninjas dropping down from the floor above them and landing all around the Jedi, all while the casino patrons began to run away from where the fight would take place. Clank noted that none of the three Jedi seemed surprised to have enemies to fight, though he expected Darth Maul to run the moment his reinforcements appeared... though the only one running was Maximilian.
He knew that the Jedi could take care of themselves, especially when one of them was a master of their order, so he turned towards where Maximilian was going and followed after him.
"Sasha, Starlene," Angela said, gripping the handle of her lightsaber while she kept her eyes on Darth Maul, "I trust that the two of you can deal with these robots without my help?"
"Of course Master," the rilgarian said, extending a green beam from her lightsaber while her companion extended a blue beam, "Come on Sasha... lets show these robots what it means to fight a Jedi Knight."
Sasha sighed as the two of them separated from Angela, though at the same time the ninjas followed after their and left their respective masters alone with each other. Maul pulled off his own robes and pulled out his lightsaber, though he held it out and extended both end of it in a menacing red glow, all while keeping a neutral expression on his face. Angela let out a sigh as she unsheathed her own lightsaber, revealing that she also had a double-bladed lightsaber, though hers was purple colored, instead of the usual Jedi blue or green. They were two of a kind, as most Jedi and Sith preferred to have a single blade when they fought, but they both preferred having two blades to use whenever they were in a fight.
The two of them remained like that for a few moments, looking into each others eyes while they dared the other one to attack first, before a small smirk appeared on Maul's face. The moment that happened Maul turned around and charged up the stairs that were behind him, causing Angela to follow after him as he lead her to the place where he desired them to fight each other. While that happened she swung at him several times, intending to finish this quickly, but every time she did so Maul would turn around and parry her attacks, often cutting through whatever was around them when they clashed. Bits of metal railing fell to the ground as they raced through the casino, causing patrons to flee to avoid being hurt while the two of them were fighting.
That quickly changed as Maul turned around when he reached a certain doorway that he had been searching for, though he parried the attack that came his way and forced Angela back a bit.
Angela let a smile appear on her face as she faced Maul, who backed into the corridor that he wanted to fight in, before she realized that the area they were in was the power station for the entire casino. The corridor they were in quickly lead them to a walkway that rested above a seemingly bottomless room, which seemed odd considering that it was connected to a casino. She could tell that there were a variety of power stations that couldn't be accessed from where they were standing, though she assumed that there was a command station somewhere that allowed the employees to check up on the systems.
Once they were inside the room Maul beckoned for Angela to come at him and she mentally agreed with him, as she charged forward and slammed her weapon into his. She slowly forced him back, step by step, as each end of their weapons collided with their opponent's weapon, but despite all of that Maul didn't appear to be worried at all. At one moment an opening presented itself, to which Angela smacked her opponent in the face with he fist and knocked him backwards, though Maul rubbed his chin before continuing the fight. That continued for some time, where they parried each others attacks as they remained where they were standing, before Maul slammed his foot into Angela's chest and knocked her back just a bit.
When Angela got back into the fight she forced her opponent backwards even more, this time focusing on making Maul step backwards every time she attacked him. Maul did his best to defend himself, as well as cut a mark in Angela's right shoulder once while she was careless, though eventually he realized that he was being forced back. That was when Maul danced backward and forced Angela to follow him, though they were approaching what appeared to be the main power generator. When they approached the main generator they found that there were some energy barriers that could potentially block their way, as they found out when Maul moved past one and the barrier separated them from each other.
Angela stared at the barrier for a few seconds, waiting for the wall to fall apart, while Maul merely paced on the other side... after tapping the barrier with his lightsaber once or twice.
When the barrier went down Angela slammed her weapon into Maul's and forced him backwards, though this time he went on the defensive as she began to overpower him. At one point it seemed like he knew that he was going to lose if things continued this way, because he leapt over Angela's head, preforming a roll while he did so, and then landed behind her. Angela seemed to be expecting such a move, as the moment Maul landed on the floor behind her she spun around and cut his lightsaber in half, much to his surprise. Before Maul had a chance to understand what was going on Angela sheathed her lightsaber, gripped the Sith Lord by his shoulder, and threw him into the center of the room... right into the bottomless pit that happened to be there.
Maul fell into the bottomless pit and rapidly disappeared into the darkness, though Angela remained standing there for a few seconds as she calmed down now that the fight was over.
"That's a wrap people!" Clank's director called out, indicating that they could stop filming now that they had the scenes that they needed, "I have to admit, adding bits of this 'Star Wars' to Secret Agent Clank has been increasing the show's popularity. I am so glad that you managed to convince me to do this in the first place."
Angela sighed as she leaned close to the edge of the bottomless pit and reached into it with her spare hand, to which Maul gripped her hand and pulled himself out. They had agreed to use the set as their personal fighting stage when it came time to fight each other, and they had agreed on the route they would take through the casino, but who won was up to how well they fought. Maul had been expecting a win, considering that he had been practicing his skills ever since they finished their fight against Nefarious, but he was more than willing to accept this loss.
"Good show guys," Sasha commented, walking up to the duo and tossing them their robes, which they both caught and slipped back on, "That was some excellent fighting the two of you showed off."
"Kind of wish that I could have joined in," Starlene added, tugging her robe back on as she stopped beside Sasha, though there was a slight grin on her face the whole time, "Still, being given the opportunity to be in an action film, and not be stuck commenting on hoverboard races all day, is an experience that I will never forget."
"You could always join us full time." Angela replied, causing the race commentator to turn towards her for a moment, "Look, not even Ratchet and his sisters will be able to save the whole universe or be everywhere at once... and we all know that the Galactic Rangers need all the help they can get at the moment. That's why Sasha, Maul, and I have agreed that we need to create a real Jedi Order, so that way there will always be someone to defend the innocent when the others aren't around."
"You... want me to be a real Jedi?" Starlene asked, not sure if they were pulling her leg or not, though the thought of her doing what they did on the set, in real life, made her smile a bit.
"You have the potential for greatness, young one." a new voice said, causing the four of them to turn towards it and found an old man approaching them, one that Angela recognized as the Mystic that helped Ratchet and the others back on Tabora, "Just like the others that stand beside you."
The Mystic was wearing the standard Jedi robe over his normal clothing, though in addition to the lightsaber that was hidden from view he used a walking stick to help him get around the place. Angela had been the one who put all the pieces together; his strange warnings when he helped Ratchet and his sisters, his affinity for crystals and manipulating them, and the other strangeness that he seemed to employ whenever he was helping people out. He was like a natural Jedi, save for the fact he had been missing the weapon and robe, but he had agreed to join the new order with Angela and Maul. Sasha was reluctant to join the order as well, but after some time she decided that it might not be a bad idea to have another force of warriors around that could aid the Rangers.
"Then I would be honored to join you all," Starlene replied, bowing her head to the Mystic in respect, realizing that he was the Grand Master that Angela had mentioned on the set, "This will definitely be better than commenting on races all day."
Angela smiled and left the four of them to talk among themselves, though she walked over to where Ratchet and the others were standing and stretched her arms for a moment.
"So, any idea when our next enemy will show his or her face?" she asked, knowing that Ratchet and Starlight would have been looking for any signs of a villain that could rival Nefarious, while Sunset and Searing were likely practicing their magic together.
"No, but we're sure that they'll show themselves eventually." Starlight commented, a grin appearing on her face as they walked away from the set, "We'll be ready for whatever they have to throw at us... and so will Sunset and Searing when they finish training with their new level of magic."
Angela nodded as they walked down the street, wondering why she had a sense of dread when she mentioned the next villain, but decided that it wasn't worth worrying about and enjoyed the moment that they were all having.