"Sometimes, we find companionship in unexpected places" - Carenna Zhagel, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Frank Iero, better known to the galaxy as Fun Ghoul, had heard the news about the Jedi. He knew that they had turned against the Republic. He knew that the traitors were dead now, killed by the clone troopers they'd once commanded. He knew that there had been a raid on the Jedi Temple. He knew that Chancellor Palpatine had responded to the Jedi Order's betrayal by reorganizing the Republic into the Empire. He knew that Palpatine had made himself the Emperor, but Frank couldn't care less about any of it. For him, there was no difference between a corrupt Republic and a tyrannical Empire. What mattered to him were the diamonds.

There were dozens of sparkling jewels tucked away in a government vault on Coruscant, worth thousands of credits on the black market. For hundreds of years, they'd been hidden away, but Frank was sure that he could be the first person in the galaxy's history to break into the vault. He'd been planning this heist for months. Who cared if the vault belonged to the Empire now? The new regime was nothing more than a continuation of the old, and Frank was more than happy to lighten their wallets.

Frank pushed a lever forward, and his ship glided to the ground, landing in a small shipyard in a back alley next to the vault. Already, he loved the handling on his new TIE fighter. The Black Mariah was a small, light ship with incredible speed, and since the Imperial Army was buying up the TIE line starships like crazy, it blended in perfectly with the Imperial fleet.

Of course, he'd felt the need to customize his ship, and as he stepped outside, he admired the graffiti sprayed across the two vertical wings. There was a spider, a scorpion, a cowboy, a jack o'lantern, a gigantic dog. If he was going to fly a stolen Imperial ship, he might as well make it his own.

He pulled a bandana over his face, adjusted his bright yellow jacket, and walked down the street, where a motley crew of thugs and thieves had assembled outside of the vault, ranging from a green Rodian to a human girl around Frank's age to a huge, hulking Wookiee. All of them owed him a favor, and they were repaying him by helping him with the robbery.

"Fun Ghoul," the girl said. "You're late to your own party again."

The Wookiee growled, and Frank suddenly took his blaster out of his holster and pointed it at him. "Call me short again, and I won't be afraid to use this," he said. It was an empty threat, but the Wookiee went silent. "That's much better," Frank said. "Now, why don't we go over the plan?"

The others nodded, and Frank reminded them of the details of the heist. It was a simple plan, really. Frank and a few of his associates would bust open the front doors and intimidate the guards, while the others unlocked the back door. While the guards were distracted, Frank would sneak through the vault, find the diamonds, escape through the back door, and unload them into the Black Mariah. Frank was sure that there was no way that the break-in could possibly go wrong. Soon, he'd have those diamonds, and once he sold them, he'd be living in luxury for years.

The girl and the Rodian headed toward the back, while Frank and the rest of his crew went toward the main entrance. Frank took out his blaster, aimed, and fired a hole through the door. He fired a few more times, and the door crumbled to pieces.

So far, so good.

The robbers ran into the vault, and there were only a few human guards and a dozen or so droids blocking their way. Now, Frank was even more sure that he could pull this off. He could fight off bigger groups in his sleep. There was no reason why he couldn't take on a handful of lightly armed Imperial guards with a heavy-duty blaster. "Let us in to the vault, and we might let you live," one of his associates growled as Frank fired into the air.

The guards, to Frank's surprise, didn't look particularly concerned. One of them took out a radio and said, "Calling for reinforcements."

The Wookiee held up his blaster and took out the guard who had radioed for help, while Frank fired at the droids, knocking them over like dominoes. Another one of Frank's associates shot another one of the guards, leaving only one guard left. Frank smiled, knowing that he could do this. He was so close to the diamonds he could taste it.

Then, the reinforcements showed up.

Frank had never seen anything like them. He'd heard that the Empire was phasing out the clone troopers, but these soldiers, with their white armor and the permanent grimaces on their helmet, were completely new. "I've heard about these guys," one of Frank's associates said. "They're stormtroopers."

Thankfully, they weren't very good shots. One of them aimed toward Frank, narrowing missing his head. He ducked down and fired into the crowd, easily taking out two stormtroopers. Another one aimed at Frank and missed again, but he shot the Wookiee right in the heart.

Frank gasped as his companion fell to the ground. Then, he turned back to the stormtroopers, screaming as he fired his blaster in their direction. He had to get those diamonds now. He couldn't let his colleague die in vain.

He would show these stormtroopers why they called him the Most Dangerous Man in the Galaxy.

Frank shot down a few stormtroopers, and his fellow robbers took out most of the rest. Soon, there was nothing but white-armored corpses and blood spattered across the floor. While his associates fought off the last few stormtroopers, Frank sprinted down the hallway toward the diamonds.

He came to a locked door with a keypad next to it. "There's a code," he grumbled. He typed in some random numbers, but the door didn't open. Then, he aimed his blaster at the door and fired, but even on the highest setting, it only made a small dent. He tried typing in some random numbers again, but all he got was an error telling him that he only had one more try before he was locked out. He groaned in frustration. He'd defeated all those stormtroopers. He wasn't about to let something as simple as a keypad keep him from stealing the diamonds.

"Try something obvious," one of his associates suggested from the other room. "Like the day the Empire was founded or something."

Frank typed that in, and all of a sudden, the door opened. He smiled as he ran into the vault, the glittering diamonds now in sight.

He picked one up, admiring the way it sparkled in the light. It was beautiful, but he knew that he wouldn't keep it for long. He imagined selling it at a market in the Outer Rim, how much money he could get for a precious gem like this. With this diamond, he could get a new tattoo, upgrade the Black Mariah, adopt a puppy, and still have enough money to send to his parents on Chadhillit-5. He'd be rich, and he'd finally have the respect he deserved. He'd be a true criminal mastermind.

Frank packed the diamonds into boxes and handed them to his associates, who loaded them into the cargo hold of the Black Mariah. They worked quickly, hoping to get all of the diamonds stowed away before anyone noticed that they were gone. Soon, every diamond was in the ship. Frank closed up the cargo hold, still amazed that he'd pulled off the heist. More than anything, he was ready to leave Coruscant and sell the diamonds off-world.

Frank pulled off his bandana, and he was about to step back on to the Black Mariah when two young men approached him. The younger one appeared to be in his mid-teens, and he had light brown hair and glasses. It was the older one that caught Frank's eye though. He was in his late teens or early twenties, and he had dyed black hair and stunning hazel eyes. Frank wished that he could get to know this impossibly beautiful man a little bit better, but he had to leave before anyone discovered that he'd stolen the diamonds, so he settled for staring into those gorgeous eyes.

"Excuse me?" the older boy said. Frank could hear the faint traces of a Coruscanti accent in his voice. "Is...is that your ship?"

"Yeah, why?" Frank said.

"My brother and I need to travel to Ilum," the older boy said.

"Don't listen to him," the younger boy said to Frank. He then turned to his brother. "Let's just go home."

"We can't go back there," the older boy said.

"You're just being paranoid."

"I'm not!"

Frank interrupted the brothers' bickering by asking, "Why don't you just take a passenger ship?"

"The next ship to Ilum doesn't leave until next week," the older boy said. "We need to leave now, and we can't let anyone find us."

"You two running away from home or something?" Frank asked.

"I guess...I guess you could say that," the older boy said.

Frank knew that he should just leave now, that these two would bring him nothing but trouble. On the other hand, he wanted to help them, and getting one more second of the older brother's undivided attention wouldn't hurt.

"Ten thousand credits," the older boy said. "I'll pay you ten thousand credits if you can take us to Ilum."

Frank smiled. If he was going to get paid ten thousand credits to stare at the prettiest boy he'd ever seen, he had to accept the deal. Then again, if the boy had that much money on him, Frank wondered if he could get even more. "Twenty thousand," he said.

The older boy thought about it for a while, while the younger one rolled his eyes. "He's ripping you off, Gee," the younger boy said. "Let's just go home."

"Twenty thousand it is," the older boy said. "But I can only pay you five thousand up front."

"I want at least ten up front," Frank said.

Again, the older boy considered the offer. "Okay," he said as he handed Frank a stack of credit chips. "Ten thousand up front, and ten thousand when we get there."

Frank couldn't believe his luck. Not only had he stolen the Imperial diamonds, but now this gorgeous man was paying him more than the diamonds were worth for a simple trip into the Unknown Regions. He wondered who this boy was and where he'd gotten all of those credits, but he was smart enough not to ask. He stuffed the credit chips into his pocket as the older boy shook his hand.

"I'm Gerard Way, and this is my younger brother, Mikey," the older boy said as his brother gave him a surly look. "What's your name?"

"Frank Iero," he said, and then immediately wished that he could take it back. He never told people his real name, but the cute boy had made him let down his guard. Now, he'd told two strangers one of his deepest secrets.

"Thank you so much, Frank," Gerard said. "This means a lot to Mikey and I."

"Stop including me in this," Mikey said. "This was your idea."

"I'm doing this for you!"

Frank climbed aboard the Black Mariah, and Gerard and Mikey followed him. It was a tight fit with three people in the cockpit plus all of the diamonds in the cargo hold, but they managed to squeeze in.

"I really love your ship, by the way," Gerard said. "The art on the outside is absolutely incredible. Did you paint all of it yourself?"

"Most of it, yeah," Frank said.

"That's so cool."

"Thank you," Frank said. He smiled as he started up the ship. The TIE fighter roared to life, and as Frank quickly pressed a few buttons, it launched into the air. Gerard reached over and clung onto Frank's arm. "Never been in space before?" Frank asked.

"Not since I was a kid," Gerard said.

"It's going to be okay," Frank said as he took one hand off of the control panel and held Gerard's hand. He carefully navigated the Black Mariah out of Coruscant's atmosphere, passing by a group of Imperial warships and a few merchant vessels. He thought he spotted a Jedi escape pod, but he figured that his eyes were deceiving him. The Jedi were gone now. He sped up as he left the atmosphere, the Black Mariah racing past the other ships as it went straight into outer space.

"Hang on," Frank said to his newfound companions. "We're going to Ilum."