Response to SoraNoWoto's challenge, this takes place way before the trio lands on Earth, and kind of shows my take on Solomon and Steel's rivalry... enjoy
"Solomon, come on man!" a burly man with short brown hair shouted as he ran towards the front building of the Illinois military division office.
"I'm coming!" the second man, Solomon, joked, jogging at a steady pace after his friend. His hair was short blonde, and he was slim, but fit. The two men entered the building and took in the heated waiting room, despite it being winter they still wore their training clothes, tan short sleeved shirts and dark green shorts.
"Jules, what are we doing here?" Solomon asked, sitting down on one of the chairs in the waiting room outside of the offices.
"Staff Sergeant called, we might have a mission… well, a test deployment… border altercation, section seven three A four." The man answered. "It's probably nothing, but something happened outside of Stratford and our unit is being tasked to investigate… we'll be fully geared and everything!"
"Great, we're just checking out an altercation… will we even be firing off any shots?" Solomon asked.
"Well, we'll be caring live ammunition, but in order to fire off any rounds we'd have to have confirmed hostility."
"So, no?" The blonde asked with a laugh.
"Probably not…" Jules said slowly. "But, Solomon… this could be our shot, our first deployment… we've been training for months since you and me, joined the corps… I wanna fight. We've learned so much, I mean… Serge said it himself; we're some of his best shooters…"
"I know… we'll get our chance. Let's see how this goes, if we do a good job, we can finally prove ourselves… maybe they'll even send us overseas?"
"Yeah, imagine that… flying into battle, you and me… America, hurrah, right?"
"Yeah, hurrah…" Solomon said lightly, faking enthusiasm. It didn't feel right, what he was doing… training to kill; kill other soldiers, other people. He'd take down terrorists, or murderers… but fighting soldiers over sea, they were just like him… defending their country, their home. If his country was under attack, he'd die protecting it… so it didn't seem right to kill men serving their own people, doing exactly what he would do.
"Private Julius Steel, Private Solomon Ward. Staff Sergeant Rodriguez will see you now." A man with a stern expression approached, the duo arose and followed him into a small office. The walls were decorated with trophies and cabinets that contained symbolic weapons for bravery, metals hung everywhere.
"Staff Sergeant Rodriguez…" Julius said saluting, Solomon followed.
"At ease." Rodriguez said. "I'm sure you boys are aware of why you're here… in the woods just North, civilians have reported a strange assortment of lights and sounds of an explosion… now our more seasoned boys are out with some other business, and you and your squad are the only team far enough in their training to carry out a mission. No drastic precautions have been advised, but you will be mobilized with standard weaponry. You have been authorized to use lethal force, but only when necessary. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir!" the soldiers said.
"Very good, the rest of your men are waiting in the arms vault, Corporal Stanton here will escort you over and get you geared up."
. . .
"Black Hawk chopper, seventy fourth battalion…" Julius whispered to Solomon as they and five other men approached a shiny, black helicopter on the landing pad. It was fully equipped with weapon systems, it had a custom painting of a dragon's mouth on lower nose, Steel examined the light machine guns mounted to the sides. "This is one bad mother…" his eyes wide, admiring the tool of destruction.
"Jules, we're moving." Solomon called, boarding into the gunship. Like the chopper, the soldiers were fully equipped. M4 assault rifles, m9 pistol side arms, bullet proof plated vests… the men double checked they had everything as the helicopter left the pad. They flew over the cities and farm land for fifteen minutes or so until they hovered above a forest of white birch trees.
"This is where we have reports of the explosion… we'll drop you here, and be back for an extraction. Mission is to get in and out once the possible threat is contained or neutralized… " The copilot instructed, he had to shout in order to be heard over the deafening noise of the helicopter blades. The men secured themselves to cables by their vests and jumped out.
Solomon's boots hit the soft, grass covered dirt. "Alright, let's split up… I want a full perimeter search, split up." The team leader ordered, Solomon tagged along with Julius. They wondered through the woods, searching under bushes and behind trees.
"So, first mission right? Think we'll have to send any rounds downrange." Solomon asked, trying to spark a conversation.
"Don't know, what do you think it is? Terrorist attack?" Steel asked examining a large shrub.
"Nah, too far away from the cities."
"Maybe a personal attack, private crime… murder… but that'd be a job for S.W.A.T. right?"
"I think that'd be in our jurisdiction to handle… it's pretty far out from the towns folk, and if we're fired upon…"
"True…" Steel walked ahead, outside of the tree covering. He looked into a small meadow where everything was cleared, a small wooden shack rested in the middle. "Hey man, come check this out… hermit home."
Solomon observed the house. "Think it's worth checking out?"
"Yeah… heck, if I just set out a bomb and found a little house like this, I'd stay there… look for supplies, maybe whoever did it got injured, right?" Julius asked, motioning to advance forward.
"I guess it's worth searching…" The duo advanced forward, guns ready. Steel looked inside through a small glass window.
"One roomer, it's a work shed…." Solomon waited as his comrade examined through the window. "Hey, hey there's a guy in there!"
Steel ducked down, out of view from the window. "What, is he armed?"
"I don't think so… but if I were living out here, I'd want a gun… let's check him out…" Steel said approaching the door.
"Wait, we need a warrant to investigate property…" Solomon cautioned.
"Man, you read too much…" Steel rolled his eyes and stood up, he casually knocked on the door. No answer, he knocked again.
"We just want to talk, come on out… this is the U.S. Marines."
The door opened slightly. "I am very busy, now is not a good time." The door closed before they could get a glimpse of the man.
"Could you spare a moment, sir? Your land here could be in danger, there was an explosion not far… the culprit could be in these woods…" Julius offered.
"No, today has been a quiet day…"
"I suggest you get your ears examined, friend…" Solomon threw in.
"Please, we only want to talk… your safety could be at stake, let us help…"
"I am fine." The man said. Steel sighed in frustration, then, he kicked the door lightly. It rolled open.
"Oops." He said sarcastically, the man inside was wearing a tattered white jacket, and had long, curly brown hair and mustache. He had a red undershirt and a peculiar purple wrist watch.
"I don't wish to speak to you!" He exclaimed.
"Too late, you already are." Steel said stepping inside. He examined him further, his pants were torn and his legs bloody. "You're injured, let us take you to our base… we can get your wounds looked at."
"No, I am fine here." He said walking past Steel and outside the door.
"Sir, if you have important matters, we will let you attend to them. Please let us ask you a couple questions first…" Solomon said, the man stopped.
"What do you want to know?" He asked quietly.
"What are you doing living in a shack in the middle of nowhere?" Steel asked.
"… I don't live there, I was traveling… and got lost, I found this here and took shelter…"
"Do you know anything of the recent… explosion?"
"…No"
"How did you get those cuts?"
"I was piloting my vehicle… and I crashed, I got lost in the wilderness…"
"What kind of vehicle?" Solomon asked, the man had a very particular accent. It was normal, but it didn't feel natural.
"Standard." The man said quickly.
"How so?"
"Just a regular transport, like everyone has… the normal type, I don't remember the particular name…"
"What does it look like?" Julius asked, noting that the man was getting very nervous.
"Well, it's… normal, like everyone's vehicle… like…" He paused for a moment, the Black Hawk helicopter that dropped them off flew past them. "Like that one, just a regular transport that everyone has."
"Brother, that's a helicopter…" Steel said slowly.
"Yes, I have a helicopter…" The man said nervously.
"Who manufactures it?" Solomon asked.
"… I… don't remember…"
"Where'd you get your flight license?"
"Um… I, really don't…"
"Lying to government soldiers is frowned upon…" Jules gritted through his teeth. He stepped forward.
"Not another step!" The man shouted, pulling out a small, silver firearm with a very peculiar shape, like something from Star Wars. Steel raised his gun without hesitation.
"Sir, drop the weapon…" Solomon had his gun raised too.
"Do not make me destroy you… I will exceed any limits to survive amongst you savages…" He said moving the gun's aim between both men.
"Sir, this is your last warning…" The man did not drop the weapon. "We will be forced to use lethal force…"
The man dropped the weapon, "You're coming with us…" Steel ordered, approaching. The man stepped back and grabbed his watch. With the press of a button, a huge flash of light appeared. The soldiers looked away as the ground shook around them.
Relieved to find themselves alive, their vision blurred from the flash. Slowly regaining sight, Solomon looked ahead and saw a giant shape of purple. When he looked further, he saw what looked like a giant metal man. It had piercing yellow eyes and a broad structure. It towered above them, Solomon stepped back in absolute fear.
"What the…" He gasped, he found his friend in a similar state. After a moment of absolute horror, the soldiers stood motionless at the mechanical man. Breaking the silence, the robot ran off into the woods. Steel snapped out of his trance first.
"We have to contact Staff Sergeant Rodriquez…" he said.
"More like the president! What in tarnation was that?" Solomon blurted out.
"Come on, we're following it…" Steel ordered, picking up the man's silver gun and running off in the direction the robot left in.
"What? Jules, get back here!" Solomon was left alone, watching his comrade continue. "Uhg. Wait for me!"
The two sprinted through the woods, the robots massive footprints stopped after a while in the woods.
"Where do you think it went?" Solomon asked, examining the end of the path.
"Where he went… "Steel pointed to a path of regular sized footprints heading off further. "it's that man… let's go."
They followed ahead and wondered through the trees, the surroundings were quiet like nothing had happened, birds chirped, animals rustled. The two boys from Illinois found themselves aimed and ready to fire at the slightest snap of a twig.
They felt another shake, the ground rumbled. Then, out of nowhere, a giant tree trunk came flying at them. Solomon hit the floor on instinct and dodged the attack, Steel flew back as he was hit. He lay on the ground, out cold.
"Jules!" Solomon shouted. He scanned the area, the purple robot stood in the distance.. The soldier raised his rifle and open fired, letting loose his entire magazine on fully automatic mode. When his clip emptied, he quickly checked on his fallen friend. Once confirming he was still alive, he reloaded his weapon and advanced. The robot had disappeared again, Solomon cautiously approached his last general area.
He heard a series of rustling leaves, quickly turning around he saw the brown haired man right in front of him. He grabbed the barrel of his assault rifle and threw it on the floor, within a second the man had thrown a fist to his jaw and had him on the floor. Solomon watched in terror, this was it… the man was going to kill him…
"Who are you?" He asked, horrified.
"My name is Edward…"
"Don't kill me… Edward." Solomon said, feeling quiet ashamed of his pathetic request, but that wasn't important.
"Don't worry… I have further use for you… you will meet me by the Shack tonight and moon rise… you will come alone, with food, water, and a fresh pair of clothes suited for a commoner." He said picking up the soldier's M4.
"What?"
"If you do not comply, the radio wave frequency I've traced to your brain will kill you." Edward said with simple, calm eyes, pointing to his watch that could possibly kill him.
"You can do that?"
"Of course, foolish humanoid… now, you will be found by the rest of your pack, and are taken to your homes… and you will come back here, secretly. Say nothing… or I will kill you and your friend." He said and walked to Steel, retrieving his silver gun, adjusting a few switches, and shooting Solomon.
A jolt of energy surged through his body, his entire being jerked. Then, Solomon's vision dimmed, and he passed out.
. . .
"Hang in there, buddy. We're almost back!" A soldier said as Solomon drifted back into consciousness.
"Wh- what happened?" He groaned, looking around he saw they were in the hold of the Black Hawk helicopter.
"We looked around, seems like you two stepped on some sort of landmine… trees destroyed everywhere, big craters… lucky for you, no shrapnel damage…" Solomon knew to full extent what really had happened, but he stayed quiet, remembering the man's threat.
"Where's Steel?" He asked.
"Separate chopper, radioed in not long ago… he's still unconscious…" the soldier said. "You should rest until we get back, doc 'll fix you up real good."
"Alright."
"Hang in there, brother…"
. . .
Solomon paced the corridors of the infirmary; he'd been passed off after a proper examination, and after a few bandages, he was fine. Julius, on the other hand, was hit by a tree trunk thrown by a giant robot. The other soldiers believed he'd been hit by a large chunk of wood propelled from an explosion from a landmine they must have set off.
He knew that he had to be the first one to talk to Steel, or he'd tell everyone about robot, and Solomon's brains would be fried for sure. It was nerve racking, feeling like his mind could be destroyed instantaneously, without notice… he didn't dare doubt the man's capabilities, seeing his robotic armor appear from thin air.
"Private Solomon Ward, he's up." An assistant noted, Solomon walked inside to see his friend sitting upright in a small hospital bed. He had bandages wrapped on his forehead, and a cast on his left arm.
"Hey… can you give us a minute?" Ward asked the medical crew. The doctors and nurses exited the room, and Solomon approached his friend. "Jules…"
"Solomon… man, what happened?"
"The man, we fought… he spared me… but he had demands…" Solomon said in a hushed tone.
"What?"
"We can't tell anyone about him… or he'll kill us… with these brain waves."
"That's… seriously messed up…"
"Agreed…"
"What else?"
"I have to meet with him; he wanted a few things…"
"Great well go together, and take him out when he's not suspecting it…"
"No, I have to go alone…" Solomon looked concerned at his friend.
"What? How can you trust this guy?"
"I can't, but I think he must need me for something… if he didn't kill me then, I don't think he'll do it now... besides, I think he needs help… and I need to help him… violence won't solve anything here…"
"Man, don't go all hippie on me…" Steel joked. "Hey, I won't tell anyone… you do what you need to do."
"Thank you." Solomon said putting his hand on Julius' shoulder before leaving the room.
. . .
The sun had just set, and the starts were coming out, Solomon paced the flat earth by the old shack as instructed. He had a bag of street clothes, two gallon jugs of water, a large bag of chips and a takeout cheese burger.
"Good, you're here…" Edward said slowly, appearing from behind.
"Yeah… here's your stuff." Solomon said handing him the goods.
"Great… please, come inside…" He hesitated at the offer, but followed Edward in. "I see you probably have many questions for me… as I to you, I need answers. So talk to me…" Edward said, unwrapping the cheese burger and taking a bite. "What is this?"
"A cheese burger…"
"It's most delectable… "Edward said, taking another bite.
"You're not from around here, are you?" Solomon asked.
"No, so… where is… here."
"Illinois…"
"Is that a planet, or a system?" Edward asked puzzled.
"What? It's a state."
"Of matter?"
"No, of a country…"
"Which country?"
"The United States of America."
"What planet is this on?" Edward drank some water.
"Earth…"
"What galaxy?"
"The Milky Way, I think."
"Thank you… of course that doesn't mean anything to me, since my planet has different names for these things. But now I know I am on planet Earth."
"Your planet? So… you must be… an alien?" Solomon asked, taking a step back. Edward simply took another bite of his cheese burger.
"Well, to me, you are the alien. But yes." Edward was clearly amused.
"Where are you from?"
"Galaluna… the planet of three moons." Solomon was breathless, trying to comprehend what was happening. He didn't want to believe the man, but it made sense.
"What is it like there?"
"Where? Oh, Galaluna? Yes, it's marvelous… we have a very good King named Fredrick, we are good friends…" Edward trailed off.
"I was a scientist back there… I ended up on Earth while testing an invention about three days ago… the explosion you were speaking of… that was a failed attempt to return home…" Solomon didn't say anything. "I was a fool, I was so confident my invention would work… the rift gate, it bends the fabric of space and time, allowing you to travel through a hole to another destination. I was the first to test it, my plan was to walk through, end up somewhere else on Galaluna, and then walk back through the rift… it closed behind me before I could return."
"Is there a way you can get back?"
"Not that I know of… I'm stuck here, millions of light years away from home… and Earth's technology is not sufficient enough to create another rift. It seems I'm marooned here. I feel terrible… I had a son back home, Lance… he's nine now. I don't know what will happen to him when I am gone, his mother passed and he has no other family." Edward sat down on the ground stared at his hands. "I left him… I left my son… my little boy, to fend for himself. All alone."
Solomon watched the man as he started to weep, he could tell he was a strong man, but he couldn't comprehend what he must have been going through. "Maybe… I can help…"
"I doubt it… I couldn't crack the secrets of the rift gate back on Galaluna, even with all of my equipment… and here, all I have is cheeseburgers…" Edward took another bite. "They're so good! Lance would love them!" He exclaimed. Solomon awkwardly sat next to the man and patted him on the back.
"Well, you have to at least try, Edward… I mean, if you can get here… with enough work, maybe you can make it back…"
"Really?"
"Yeah, you at least give it a shot…"
"… You are right, flimsy carbon based humanoid… say, what is your name?"
"I'm Solomon…"
"Well, Solomon… with your knowledge of this planet, and my mind… we can get me back home… in exchange, I can offer you valuable Galalunian knowledge… what do you say, would you like to help me?" Solomon pondered on the question; he didn't want to upset the man with the ability to turn himself into a giant robot.
"Sure… what can I do?"
"We must go into the city and find a suitable workplace… then we'll have to figure out where we can obtain proper supplies…" Edward said thinking. "You can help me with one very important thing."
"What's that?"
"Obtain me another cheese burger."
This was really difficult to write, considering all of the characters are pretty much OC, because it's before the show. So technically timeline wise, this would take place at the same time as "Shadows of Youth" if the show was still being made (COUGHS REALLY LOUDLY) this first part will be focused on younger solomon, so before he was serious and dark... yeah, i'll write more soon, tell me what you think, please please please comment, this took a LONG time. thanks