Hello, Sophie here, I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with this fic. I've not written much of anything in over 10 years but in the last year a good friend of mine has been encouraging me to try and retry things that I've never done or things I'd given up on ever being able to do. I don't really know if I'm an ok writer or not but lately it's the only thing that makes me happy. I've started publishing another fanfic and I'm a few chapters into that one but I don't know if anyone even likes it or is reading it so I thought I'd try something totally different.

This fic is a mix of a bunch of different prompts and ideas that just kind of coagulated together to form this. It is seriously random and I'm aware of that but then I like stuff that's a bit off the beaten path.

I think this fic is going to be long. Just the outline is over twenty-five thousand words which to put that into context, the first chapter started life as an outline of 2000 words and the first paragraph of it was 108 words. When I fully fleshed out that paragraph it became 553 words and the chapter had to be split up. So I'm thinking this could be a long fic...

This story, I think, is also potentially good for some sort of sequel but we'll see if I even get through this.

Part One

Charlie Luciano cursed as he once again tripped over a fallen branch on the forest floor. He heard Meyer and Joe snicker from behind him. Charlie again questioned what the hell he was doing out here in the middle of the woods. He wasn't a hunter so why he let Meyer convince him that 'they were men and hunting comes naturally to men' was beyond him. He'd merely wanted to spend a few days in his brand new home in the country. AR was in Scotland so Charlie took a page out of his boss' book and decided to take a few days off himself. But then his Jewish friend had muscled in on his vacation and insisted another of their friends come as well.

Charlie had gotten his revenge in small ways, not the least of which banishing the interlopers to the guest house rather than letting them stay in the main house. But then Meyer had again gotten back at him when he and Joe had showed up, just as Charlie was about to step out for some golf, with three rifles and blackmail material in the form of one of Charlie's baby pictures from Sicily. How the little bastard had gotten it, Charlie would never know but here he was in the woods holding a gun and hoping he wouldn't be killed by a bear.

It was steadily getting darker and Charlie was well aware that while they had no business being out there at all, he certainly didn't want to be out here in the dark.

They came to a clearing and Charlie stopped his walking and turned back to his companions, "We should head back. It's gettin' dark and I'm not lookin' to be bear chow today."

Meyer and Joe looked like they were about to respond when they stopped dead and were looking over his head. Charlie turned around, thinking for sure there was a bear but even he was unprepared. An orange fireball was hurling from the sky straight at them. The three of them stood there for close to a minute just staring at the celestial occurrence.

Meyer was the first to shake himself off, "Guys, I believe it is now time for us to vacate this area. RUN!"

The three of them scattered trying to get away from the oncoming impact. Charlie heard a whirring before hearing the loud sounds of hundred year old birch trees snapping like twigs and the ensuing explosive noise of whatever it was hitting the ground. Dirt and debris flew past him and he let himself drop to the moist ground and he covered his head as remnants of trees and small rocks rained down on his body.

After a few minutes it seemed the worst of it had passed and Charlie carefully uncovered his head. Dust still filled the air making visibility more difficult. He waved his hand in front of his face trying to disperse the dirt from the air in his immediate vicinity. He then started dusting himself off. Charlie was sure he looked a total mess and the Sicilian was reminded of the days when he was a dirty kid not worthy of respect from anyone.

Charlie shook off the thoughts and called out for his friends, "Meyer! Joe! Where are you guys!"

A few seconds passed before he heard, "Charlie! Follow my voice! Your gonna want to see this!"

Meyer continued to yell for him until he finally found his friend. He and Joe were both standing over a crater looking down into the hole. He could only assume that whatever had fallen from the sky was in there and it must be good for the two of them to just be staring.

Meyer looked up and caught sight of him, "Charlie get over here! This guy might be dead!"

Wait. Guy?

Charlie came to the edge of the crater and looked down into the hole. Of all the things he'd been expecting, this wasn't it.

Where the meteor or what ever it was should have been there was a man laying face down in the dirt. Charlie couldn't see much besides the green cape draped over the individual and a head of dark slightly curled hair. Charlie couldn't tell if he was breathing or not but no way anyone would have survived being hit by that meteor. As it was, he slid down into the hole and came to the man's side. He turned the body over and had to stop himself from covering his mouth with his hand.

Charlie had killed plenty of people in his life. It came with the territory, so to speak, but this man was practically charred on half of his face and down part of his body. The skin was black and flaky like what Charlie would see on a roasted pig.

But beyond the partially burned face, Charlie took in the clothing. It was unlike anything he'd seen before. Silver and gold colored armor wrapped in an intricate pattern over green, brown, and grey clothing. The getup looked even harder to get on then his own evening wear.

"Hey Charlie, look at this!"

Charlie looked up and saw Joe standing at the edge of the crater, only now he was folding something in his hand. Charlie couldn't see it terribly well in the fading light, "I'll look at it later. Help me get this guy out of here."

Meyers words were soft as he took in the corpse below, "Charlie, he's dead. We'll come back for him tomorrow if the animals don't take care of it for us."

Charlie looked again at the body. Was it just him or did the man's skin look less black. Charlie had no real explanation but he wasn't about to leave the man in the woods to be torn apart by animals.

"Shut up and get your asses down here and help me carry him."

Charlie saw Meyer and Joe look at each other before they shrugged and went down into the crater themselves. Joe pulled his rucksack off his back and put whatever he found into the bag. Charlie was vaguely aware that there were still pieces of it sticking out but he ignored it and helped the guys heft the fallen man up.

Meyer's voice was exasperated, "God, how much does this fella weigh? Jesus!"

He and Joe laughed at their Jewish friend's last word. But they both were thinking the same thing. The man was also tall. Really tall. Charlie was considered one of the tallest of his friends at 5'10" but this man must have had at least four inches on him. Perhaps it was all the metal and leather his body was dressed in.

Weighed down as they were by their burden, it took the three of them over an hour to get back to the house. Charlie had them carry the man upstairs and place him in one of the guest rooms. He got his first really good look at the man in a civilized light. Charlie's eyes widened as he took in the face of the strangely dressed man.

There was definitely something going on. Where the man's face had been charred almost to the bone, milk pale skin was beginning to peek out from the slowly flaking off skin. Charlie looked up at Meyer and Joe, they looked just as confused as he did so he looked back at the man. Part of his outfit had been burned away revealing burned skin below it.

"Help me get this shit off him. He's injured under there."

The man wasn't breathing so Joe as always asked the obvious, "Isn't he dead?"

Charlie was honest, "I don't know but just in case he isn't, I want to get this stuff off him."

The others looked dubious but helped him anyway. Charlie was more than a little baffled by the outfit. It was entirely unpractical. With three of them, it took over a half hour to get it all off and the leather and metal had to be uncomfortable.

But they succeeded in striping him down until all that remained was a golden pendant and chain and his undergarment. A small stretchy black thing that clung to the pale body in all the right ways. Charlie looked away, no way he was ogling a corpse. He grabbed the clothing and took it to his room next door, Joe following him carrying the rucksack. Charlie dumped the pile of odd clothing onto his bed and Joe dropped the rucksack next to it and watched as Charlie grabbed one of his pajama sets. He grabbed his largest set and carried the pale blue clothing back into the other room.

He again entered the guest room and stopped in his tracks. The blackened skin had almost completely flaked off at this point leaving only slightly reddened skin.

Meyer's voice cut through his thoughts, "Charlie, what the hell is this guy? He just started breathing a minute ago."

Sure enough, Meyer was right, the gentle rise and fall of the healing chest was a new addition to the previously corpse-like body.

"Let's get him dressed."

Joe was quick to voice his own concern, "Christ, Charlie. The man isn't right. He was dead and half his body looked like the back end of an incinerator and now he looks fine. Seriously, What the hell."

Charlie shook his head, "You guys wait downstairs. I'm gonna get him dressed. I'll be down in a minute."

Meyer again looked towards Joe but the man was still staring at the body laying on the bed. Meyer nodded and grabbed hold of Joe and dragged the man out. Charlie didn't bother closing the door as he made his way over and began the tedious process of dressing dead weight.

He was just finishing the last button when the man took in a sharp breath. Charlie looked up and saw the most mesmerizing green eyes he'd ever seen staring at him. The man's mouth was slightly open as he looked on frozen as Charlie lifted himself away to stand.

"Who are you?" The dark haired man's voice possessed an accent that Charlie'd never heard before. It reminded him slightly of his old English girlfriend but it was also different in a way that Charlie couldn't identify.

"I'm Charlie Luciano. My friends and I found you out in the woods. You were injured so we brought you back here. How did you end up out there?"

The man sat up and looked around the room in a pensive fashion. His face scrunched in an almost adorable way as he tried to formulate his answer.

"I don't know."

Charlie's head tilted, "What's your name then?"

The man shook his head slightly, "I... I don't know that either."

Charlie blinked. Well, that, he hadn't been expecting.