He woke up lying in golden grass. The grass was soft and had a sweet smell to it. There was even a soft breeze blowing through it. The whole thing sounded like a perfect day to him.
The only problem was that he couldn't exactly remember anything. Well except for his name. Steve... Something. Well he remembered his first name but not his last. He doubted that his last name was important.
Steve felt the cool touch of metal next to him. He finally opened his eyes and looked around. It seemed like he was in a golden grassy field. A few trees were in the distance. Steve could see a small funnel of smoke rising into the air. Steve looked down at himself and saw a silver shield laying next to him. The shield had small traces of red paint on it.
Steve instinctively grabbed the shield and strapped it on his forearm. The shield had a powerful aura around it. Steve saw that he was wearing some sort of dark blue combat suit. He felt like a helmet would fit well with the suit. The suit was actually torn and dirty.
Steve glanced around him but didn't see anything or anyone. So Steve decided to head to the source of the smoke. He entered a forest full of trees with silver leaves. An animal screeched from the treetops. It looked like a winged rat with large ears. Steve felt like this animal was very new to him. Was he not from around here?
As Steve neared the source of the smoke, he could he chatter. Voices were talking in unknown languages. Steve came out of the forest to see a small village full of aliens. Yes, aliens. There were some aliens with tentacles for teeth and others large and blue. Some spaceships were landing and some were flying off to their next destination. The whole village seemed to be a small market place. Steve walked through the village, aliens here and there would come up to him, talking in their own language, trying to sell him something. Steve would just wave them away, politely as he could.
Steve eventually just stood in the shadow of a building, unsure of what to do. Suddenly a voice yelled out. Steve could hear the sound of feet running.
A gray alien was running after someone, yelling at the runner in a deep voice. The gray alien had tentacles for teeth. Steve could see the runner and stared at him. The alien who was running away looked similar to the gray alien, they both had tentacles for teeth.
Steve glanced down at his shield. As the runaway alien passed him, Steve threw the shield at his back. The shield collided with the runaway alien's back. The alien hit the ground with a thump. Steve ran over to the alien and held him down, making sure the alien couldn't get away. The runaway alien struggled furtively under Steve.
The gray alien caught up with them, along with a few more. Steve stood up and picked up his captive, he handed the alien to the gray one. The alien's thugs began to restrain Steve's captive. The gray alien grinned and spoke to Steve in an unfamiliar language.
" What? " Steve croaked, his voice was hoarse from the lack of use. The alien spoke again then frowned. The alien turned to one of his companions. The thug walked over to Steve and pulled out a small tube with a button at one end. Before Steve could react the thug pressed the tube to Steve's neck.
There was a popping noise and Steve felt a sharp sting. Steve put a hand to his neck. He felt a small bump under his skin.
The gray alien spoke, but this time Steve could understand him. " Is the translator chip working? "
Steve rubbed his neck, " Uh, yeah. "
The gray alien laughed. " That's good my friend! My name is Slick and you just caught someone that I've been going after for a few months now. He had a fourty-five thousand unit bounty on him. You a bounty hunter? "
" Um no. At least I don't think so. I don't remember that much at the moment. " Steve said uncertainly.
Slick had a thoughtful look on his face. He scratched his chin. " Hey look, just because I like ya I'll pay you the bounty. I can see that you have amnesia and I can understand that. My gang and I can help you get on your feet, just because you caught us this traitor. Deal? "
Steve thought for a moment and then shook the alien's hand. " Deal. "
(5 Terra Months Later)
Steve had greatly changed from a confused man to a rugged and feared bounty hunter. Just like Slick had promised, the alien helped Steve to understand the galaxy around him. Steve was durable, strong and fast. He was skilled in combat and he had a tactical mind. He made a perfect bounty hunter.
Steve found that getting a target was easy. It was even easier to catch the target. He helped Slick and his gang every once and a while when they needed. He was very glad that Slick had given him his own starship.
His starship was shaped like an eagle. It had long wings with thruster on it's underside and thrusters on it's back. It was smooth and sleek and had small living quarters. But if you were to complain about the size of the quarters Steve would remind you that the ship was made for one person. The starship was colored dark blue and silver. Steve's new suit were the same colors.
He named the starship the Falcon. The name just felt right. Steve thought it might've had to do something with his past but Steve never pursued the past. It wasn't worth it.
Steve rubbed his bearded chin. He didn't bother to shave anymore. There wasn't much point to it, in Steve's opinion. He was on Knowhere waiting for his next target to arrive. He looked at one of the bars. He had heard that a huge collector had gotten blown up there. Taleener Tavin had gone out of business.
" Hey you! " A man called out to Steve. Steve turned to see a man with a goatee calling out to him. The man had a store of his own. Many machines lay around the man. The man himself was wearing a red and golden suit.
Steve cautiously walked over to the man. The man looked very vaguely familiar, maybe he had heard of him. " What do you want? "
The man grinned. " You look like a down to a planet kind of guy. I actually was wondering if you were interested in one of my many amazing gadgets! This one, " The man picked up a box, " can release a sonic sound wave that can permanently turn your victim deaf! Amazing right? Perfect for a bounty hunter like you. "
Steve ignored the man's attempts to sell him the box. " Do I know you? "
The man placed the box back down. " So you've heard of me? I can understand that. Who wouldn't hear of the greatest inventor in the galaxy? " The man's chest puffed up self importantly, well at least Steve assumed that since he couldn't actually see the man's chest under the suit.
" I don't think I've ever heard of you. "
The man frowned. " Well that's okay. I've only been in business for four months now. But you've seriously never heard of Tony the great inventor? I actually don't have a last name, I don't remember it. But I've been thinking a few cool names. What do you think of Tony Galactus? Sounds cool right? "
Steve raised a brow. " No. What about Tony Stupid-Face? That sounds right. " Steve felt very comfortable talking to the man. He was surprised at how quickly they were getting used to each other.
Tony waved his hand lazily. " Nah, that wouldn't be cool sounding. But I do like Tony S. Seems right to me. " His eyes grew distant, as if he was struggling to remember something.
" What's with the suit? "
Tony looked down at his suit, as if remembering he had it on. " Oh this? It's not for sale. I've had it for as long as I remember. I named it the Pepper. The name Pepper just sounded very important to me. Of course the suit looks nothing like pepper. It originally had a helmet on but I don't wear it often. It covers my amazing face. Nice shield by the way. "
Steve looked back at his shield strapped onto his back. Steve had the shield as long as he could remember. His life story honestly sounded very similar to Tony's but of course that had to be a coincidence.
Steve saw a movement in the corner of his eye. Steve looked behind him to see his target. Peter Quill.
" Sorry Tony but I have to go. " He excused himself hastily.
Peter had just wanted to get gas without trouble. Was that so much to ask for? Apparently yes. Peter decided that he would get some gas for the Milano and get off of Knowhere. Gamora and the others had stayed on the starship.
Peter sometimes thought he had some sort of sixth sense for danger. Because for a moment he felt a tingle run down his spine. Peter ducked when a something came flying right at him. It was a shield. Crap! Peter recognized the shield, it was a very dangerous bounty hunter's signature weapon. It kinda resembled Captain America's shield, Peter remembered the war hero from his childhood. But now wasn't the time to think about that!
The shield bounced back to it's owner. Peter immediately ran for it.
Peter took out his quad blaster and shot at the bounty hunter. His pursuer deflected it with his shield. Damn it!
Peter ran as fast as he could. His assailant was quickly catching up with no problem. He heard the sound of a starship from above flying by him. It was his starship! It was the Milano.
The Milano lowered down, dangerously close to the ground. The hatch slid open to reveal Gamora reaching out her hand.
" Peter you need to jump into the ship! " Gamora yelled out as the Milano slowed down. Gamora eyed the bounty hunter chasing Peter. The bounty hunter was dangerous and after Peter for a lot of units.
Peter grimaced and jumped.
The man had almost missed if Gamora hadn't caught him. Gamora had managed to drag Peter inside of the ship. The wind whipped Gamora's hair around. The hatch closed as quickly as it could.
" Who is that guy Quill? " Rocket asked. The raccoon was currently driving the ship. Groot was still in his pot, still trying to grow back to his original size.
" Apparently I have a huge bounty on me. We need to stay low. It'll be the best for us if we don't get caught by that guy. "
Drax who was sitting by Rocket nodded. " Understood. "
Natasha sat down into the chair wearily. She didn't know how long she could hold out. She's been fighting this war for a few months now, barely hanging on. She looked at Clint sitting in across from her. He looked equally tired and extremely worn out. Clint had a small glass in his hand and took a sip.
The small lightbulb above them dimly light the room. It made the atomsphere even more depressing. Barely anyone went in the room.
" How's your family doing Clint? " Natasha asked the archer.
Clint looked up and sighed. " Fine. They're managing. The base where they are placed is safe enough, " Clint paused. " For now. " He put on a faint smile, it wasn't real.
Natasha imagined how differently things would go if Steve, Tony, and Thor weren't missing. Not to mention Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Natasha had briefly met the twins during the battle against Ultron but they soon went missing. Natasha thought the kids would've been good Avengers if they hadn't chosen the wrong side. The twins had helped Ultron all the way until Ultron's demise.
Thor was most likely still in Asgard not coming to help them fight the war. Tony went missing during the battle against Ultron and now Pepper was taking care of the company. Even Steve had gone missing with no trace.
Only Bruce, Sam, Rhodey, Natasha and Clint remained. They were the remaining Avengers and to be honest they weren't that good without the rest of their teammates. Of course they had met Antman and he helped but he just wasn't strong enough to help end the war.
Their enemy had advanced weaponry and larger numbers. Their enemy was aliens. Yes the world was under an alien invasion. Again. The whole situation sounded like a bad movie.
Before the aliens had come the world was already in a panic. Some of the Avengers were missing after they had saved world from Ultron. Things had just gotten worst when all of Earth's screens were taken over by an alien message.
Their invaders were inky black aliens who looked like walking squids. In the message an alien said in a scratchy voice that they had gotten Earth's message of attack. They claimed that Earth had sent them a message saying they were ready for a higher form of war.
The alien's attack was very vicious when it came. The whole Earth was almost overwhelmed. But SHIELD and the army had managed to hold them off. But it was obvious on who was the winning side and who was on the losing side. And the Earth was the latter.
The fruitless search for Steve, Tony and Thor was still continuing. They even were looking for Wanda and Pietro, they would help change the tide of the war by themselves. Honestly they would accept any kind of super powered help. They were that desperate. But they would never admit that out loud.
Sometimes Natasha would look at the stars. She wondered how something so beautiful could exist above such a messed up world.
