1 Year Later
Time had lost meaning for the young man.
He remembered nothing of Earth or his family or friends. He was nameless, as he had long since forgotten his name and Thanos was yet to think of a name for his new weapon. He could not hold the stones himself, and he had chosen this man for the job. Replacing part of his brain with a device of his own design, the young man was now totally paralyzed and had no sensation below the neck. This was no problem for Thanos however, because he had gained the ability to control all particles within a large distance of himself and even manifest new particles within a limited range.
He was held captive on the remote planet Nebu'ahalon in the dungeons beneath the surface. It was a desolate place, far from its star and alternately frozen by space and burnt by the passage of extremely dense asteroids that passed through its upper atmosphere heating it to the point of causing fusion that scorched the ground below. Sometimes these asteroids would crash into the surface of the planet, making the surface peppered with craters and holes.
That day was like any other for the young man. He woke up, was fed the gruel that had become the staple of his diet, and was led out in binds to train his powers under close supervision of Thanos.
Thanos was pleased to see his power progressing so well. He was frustrated the first few weeks when the young man could barely control his power enough to force his paralyzed legs to move in some semblance of walking. Now, it seemed he could muster the control to do most tasks set for him by Thanos. Unbeknownst to his captor, he had been training on his own and was holding back now so as to make his escape. He had progressed so far into his power he was confident he would be making his escape within the next couple days.
The next day, or what passed for a day on this dreary planet, Thanos himself came in person with news.
"Hello my little weapon." he said. The young man noticed dispassionately that he had a golden gauntlet on his left hand, "Because you have refused to help me, I have found my own way to control the power I needed you for. I give you three days to bow to my will, or be executed. I have no need for you anymore."
The young man looked into his eyes again, as he had that first day. When he could still remember his life. "I will never bow to you." he growled, "Kill me now, or kill me later. It will make no difference."
Thanos scowled, thinking. His new gauntlet should allow him to harness the power of the stones, but he had still wanted this man as a weapon. Contrary to his words, he still needed the young man.
"Very well. I shall give the orders for you to be executed tomorrow." he stated, thinking that this would force the young man to show his hand and submit.
The young man just smiled coldly, and went back to sitting in his corner.
That night, the young man made his escape. He manipulated the air around the guards' communication devices, and gave them orders to leave. Knowing where the other prisoners were kept, he gave the orders to go secure the lower level cells because a prisoner had escaped and went that direction. One guard remained, but that was no problem.
The shackles with which he was bound were unbreakable by his powers, but he had a way out of them. He had never tried before, but he figured he might as well try now. Focusing on the particles that made up his body, he dissolved his hands and feet and reformed them outside of the shackles. The guard went to raise the alarm, but the young man quickly silenced him by freezing the air in place as if it were a solid block in which the guard was encased. Running to the surface, he gathered a bubble of air about himself and used his abilities to quickly leave the atmosphere. Below, the guard was freed and raised the alarm, but it was too late.
For the next several days, the young man drifted in space, using his abilities to recycle the small amount of air he had and keep himself warm. Several times he saw ships, and he followed in the direction they went. Eventually, he caught up with one of the ships and landed on board. It was a small ship, trading in minerals. Knowing there would be questions if he were found by the crew, he dissolved his body the same way he had to get out of the shackles and reassembled himself in the cargo hold, which was not sealed the same way as the rest of the ship.
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When the ship arrived in port, the young man slipped out into the streets of the city and decided to find something to eat. There were people everywhere, all different species intermixed and it seemed inevitable that fights would break out. Finding a merchant who bought the few things he had stolen from the cargo hold, he got some money to buy food. Sitting down to eat, he thought about what to do next.
First things first he thought, I need to know where the fuck I am.
After he finished eating, he went back to the landing space, and pretended to look for a ship, while listening in on the people around him. He gathered that this planet was called Xandar, and was the center of the Nova Empire. Being a mix of so many species, he decided it would be the perfect home base for him, because it would be harder to pick out a foreigner on a planet of foreigners. That settled, he went back into the main city to find a place to sleep.
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A few days later, he decided on his first target. He stole a small single-person ship, and went out to the planet. It was a small planet, close to its star. The main value of it for Thanos and his forces was that it was full of minerals that they used for their ships and weapons. Sliding in behind a small fleet of Thanos' vessels, he landed in a remote corner of the planet.
After securing his ship, he burrowed a path through the center of the planet, using his abilities to clear the way and cool the earth around him. When he sensed the mining machines nearby, he followed their path up near the surface, and started a collapse in the tunnels. The collapse drew all of the forces on the planet, and while they were busy clearing the mine out he went up into the main base.
There were a few guards left, so he snuck around them. Finding the weapons storage, he lifted all of the explosives in the area and smashed them together. The result: A massive explosion, destroying the entire warehouse and most of the living area. This time, he went straight back to his earlier tunnel, and as he went through he heated the air behind himself, vaporizing all of the remaining people who followed him. Reaching his ship, he set the remaining explosives on the backup fuel tanks, and dropped them over the base as he flew by. Then, he turned his ship out to space and set course for Xandar.
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Back at Xandar, the young man decided he might as well get a job for in between trips.
Alright, I need a job, he thought, but how to go about getting one in a large city where I don't know the way around, and I don't even have a name?
Seeing a building that all of the local law enforcement seemed to be coming in and out of, he approached it and went inside. There was an overworked-looking man at the front desk, who was filling out paperwork for six different things at once. Approaching him, the young man waited until he looked up.
"What's your name?" Asked the older man, annoyed at being interrupted.
"Kugelblitz Astra." replied the young man, and instantly wondered where the name came from. He decided to roll with it, it was a good enough name.
"Well, Kugelblitz, what are you doing here?" Asked the man at the desk, "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Yes, sir." said the newly named Kugelblitz, "I was wondering if I could find a job here."
The man looked him up and down. "Well, you seem fit enough." He trailed off, looking at a screen on his desk. "You aren't a registered citizen of Xandar, so if you would like to sign on for a job here, go over to the capital and get yourself registered. I'll put you down as a possibility, you should be fine in about a month or so."
"Yes sir, thank you sir." Said Kugelblitz, turning around and walking out the door.
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After he left the capital, he went back to his ship. It had a decided lack of weaponry, he decided. Going over to the junkyard, he assembled the pieces of several broken heavy artillery batteries. Then, for good measure, he repaired a broken machine gun with the help of a wandering tech-crazy raccoon and his living plant sidekick he helped get out of trouble, and added a couple of shields.
After he did that, he mounted the machine gun on a swivel mount underneath the belly of the craft, where the cargo hold would be on a trader. The artillery went on the nose, for when he was landing on hostile planets.
After he had prepared his craft, he decided on his next target. There was a larger planet on which prisoners were kept, in the Terra system. It was the seventh planet from its star, and had clouds of poisonous gas obscuring the freezing surface, making it the perfect place to keep prisoners, assuming you didn't mind the poison and the cold and the acid.
As he arrived, Kugelblitz scanned the surface. Not knowing where the prisoners were kept, he reached out with his senses to feel anything that was outside the norm for the planet. Finding it, he flew overhead, smashing the guardhouse with his artillery, before strafing the craft following him with his machine gun on the way out. His right engine was clipped and down for the count, as was his communications system. Cursing under his breath, he wheeled the ship around with his abilities rather than the steering wheel, and dove towards the surface. The surface on this planet was not quite divided from the atmosphere, more like a denser layer of atmosphere than an actual solid surface. He cleared it out from in front of his craft, while freezing it totally solid behind him. Once he was deep inside, he created a pocket of air around himself, and exited the ship. He walked towards the base, freezing the ground solid beneath his feet while keeping a tunnel of breathable air maintained. Finding the cells, he slipped inside and found the prisoners. They huddled in corners, clearly afraid of him. The guards were upstairs searching for him, so he spoke quietly.
"I'm here to help. Follow me, I have a ship." There were only two prisoners at the moment, so he had room to spare.
"Who are you?" They asked.
"You can call me Ball Lightning." He said.
"What kind of name is that?" one of them asked.
"It's what my name means. I'm not telling you my full name here. At least it's not 'Taserface' or 'Ballshock'." He said.
"Fine." said the first prisoner.
He looked questioningly at the second.
"I'm in." she said.
He broke their shackles, which were less strong than his own had been, and led them out. It seemed he had wasted too much time on his name though, as one of the guards had returned. The guard raised the alarm, and started shooting, taking the first prisoner in the leg.
"Go!" shouted Kugelblitz, "I'll hold them for a minute."
"Where?" Asked the second prisoner, trembling from the strain of holding the other prisoner up.
"That way!" he shouted again, pointing down the tunnel while blocking a shot from the guard with some metal from the cells.
By now the guards had come into the room, and Kugelblitz was having a hard time keeping up with so many. Throwing caution to the wind, he heated the room to extreme temperatures, while collapsing the frozen cavern above them. The result was a cloud of fog obscuring the vision of anyone who survived the heat. One guard survived, and she kept after him. Looking back, she seemed more machinery than human, and he could tell she would take a beating before he stopped her. Looking to delay her, he unfroze the ground under her feet, and froze her waist deep in the ground.
He ran back to the ship, ignoring her synthesized-sounding voice behind him.
When he arrived, the two prisoners were waiting under his ship, shivering from the cold. Knowing they wouldn't survive out here long, he forced the door of the ship open with his powers, and ushered them in. Once they were in, he got in himself and closed the door. Revving the engine, he pointed the nose in a random direction and started his tunnelling again. As they neared the middle of the planet, the pressure and heat increased, making Kugelblitz concentrate harder as he held the ship together.
Once they left the planet behind, he set the ship to autopilot to Xandar and lay down to take a nap. He figured he deserved one, and it would do no one any good if he crashed his ship.
And there's chapter 1! I considered doing more, but I have some work to finish. Tell me in reviews what you think!