Chapter 61

Spacebound

And Down

Disclaimer: A few changes to this chapter and as mentioned before, Craig, Virus, and Sonic Blue belong to L1. Ed is mine but feel free to use him!

Sol System

"This is ol' Ed of the Cargo Hauler 'Sunnarius', and I just wanted to give a big shout out to anybody in the system who can hear me!" Declared the Alien known as Edaker, 'Ed' to his friends and family as he piloted his Hauler through the Sol System that is home to the planet known as Earth.

Using all frequencies and translators on his communications system he secretly referred to as a CB Radio thanks to Earth culture exposure courtesy of the numerous signals sent out over the years. Now his system and the Hauler itself were of an older design that wasn't used anymore and because of that, had its issues. But he wouldn't trade either for anything in the Universe as he'd had the Sunnarius since he was a youngster. Ed also didn't have any intentions of stopping on Earth either as he was just on his way through thanks to it being a shortcut to get to where he needed to go to deliver that week's haul. "This is Buck 50 here at SWORD, good hauling, Sunnarius, let us know if you need anything. Also, be on the look out for a Meteor Storm currently inbound to pass by Earth. "

"You got it!"

Ed and his people are a grey skinned, hairless Humanoid race that no longer had a home planet of their own thanks to the World Devourer known as Galactus after he had consumed their planet roughly a century ago. Joining in on a number of other races who had been impacted by the Devourer of Worlds through out time and having something of a long burning hatred for the being. And when Edaker had reached the age considered to be Adulthood by his people, he had set out into the Universe without a look back since he had no ties keeping him around and had found a love for hauling cargo and the perfect vessel to do it in with the Sunnarius. "In Intergalactic News, the Guardians of the Galaxy were successful in preventing the Tuli System from being wiped out by an extradimensional invasion force."

"Good for them." Muttered Ed to himself as his Radio continued on with the report before returning to playing Music.

Now, while Ed liked Earth to a certain point, he, like a number of others, preferred to stay away from it as much as possible. While others wanted to outright destroy the planet and others wanted to use it for money making purposes and it was all because of the various signals Earth had been sending out over the years. Causing equal amounts of terror, amusement, and awe for one reason or another and if you happened to land there because of an incident, you'd better pray to whatever Gods you worshipped that you had the means to make contact with your people in order to get off the planet! Especially as a record number of Aliens had more often than not, ended up trapped on the planet instead of getting off for whatever reason. The fact the population was going through an Evolutionary process where the so called Mutants were concerned was another reason most preferred to stay away and it baffled quite a few that the Humans were freaking out about Aliens being real.

And mostly not in the good way of freaking out either thanks to unkind views and some had wondered why if Humanity was so eager to find out whether or not they truly were alone in the Universe, why freak out so badly when they learned they weren't? One particular theory had to do with Kid Razor and how he had introduced the Earthlings to the existence of Aliens upon his return to the planet. A theory that had quite a lot of support given how chaotic that Human tended to be! Another theory is that the Earthlings were hypocritical and given how half of them were handling their Mutant brethren, it was certainly a viable theory! A little while later would see Ed have a problem on his hands thanks to a certain Meteor Storm he'd been warned about and it was all thanks to his being in the bathroom when it happened. Namely as his Hauler had the misfortune to cross paths with it thanks to his autopilot not being the greatest! "Aww Hells, this ain't good!" Moaned the Alien as his Hauler took damage.

Damage that unfortunately saw to it that he was heading towards Earth, a fact that had his eyes widen in alarm before hurriedly switching on his CB Radio. "This is the Sunnarius, I am Earthbound and down! I repeat, I am Earthbound and down!"

Ed frantically tried to pull the Cargo Hauler away from where it was heading but it was proving to be no luck as he vaguely registered the folks at SWORD reaching out to him. Ed would soon find himself knocked out during the rough crash landing that wrecked a good portion of his Hauler.

Sometime Later

With a groan, Ed slowly woke up and vaguely could hear what sounded like argumentive voices and started to panic because of that. "Whoa, easy, its okay!" Declared a voice he couldn't really understand.

Causing him to look to the source to see a blue armored figure and feeling a good amount of fear in the process! Ed would be rather surprised when the blue armored figure suddenly started to talk in his native language! "You… You understand me!?"

"Yep! Thanks to my handy language translation program built into my helmet! Lets me understand any language and even allows me to speak in that language. Pretty handy I have to say."

And boy was it ever handy ever since he got the idea to make the program some years back! "And only after hearing a few of my words?"

"Yep!"

"Must make a lot of money from something like that." Replied a calming Ed as he laid back down on the bed with another groan while the figure chuckled.

"I've been told I could but I've never been interested in that. By the way, I'm Sonic Blue, Spencer to my friends. How about you?"

"Edaker, but I go by Ed most of the time. And can you tell whoever is yelling so loudly to stop? Its really hurtin' my head. And… How long was I out?" Grumbled the grey Alien and getting a chuckle from Spencer.

Spencer Allen Burton, a Tech Genius and a Local Hero since the 90s who largely flew under the radar for years and taught part time while also running his own Tech Company. Spencer had quickly arrived on the scene in Cincinatti after Ed's Hauler was spotted headed towards the city and started getting various residents out of the way of the ship and then being the first to see if Ed had survived the crash. Which was how he had ended up being by Ed's bed in the hospital after Brand had given him permission. "I'll see what I can do but given how much of a jerk Gyrich is, I doubt the yelling's gonna stop until he leaves. As for how long you were out, a few days actually."

Yelling that had been going on for quite some time after an arrogant Henry Peter Gyrich had shown up to take command of the crash landed Alien and his tech, only to find things weren't going his way thanks to a combination of SHIELD and SWORD. Eventually forcing Director Brand herself to show up to get the man to back off. "SWORD has ALL jurisdiction of ET matters as you well know, Gyrich, and you'd best remember that instead of thinking you have ANY kind of say." Warned Abigail Brand dead seriously to the increasingly angry man.

"I can have you removed!"

"No, only the President and the UN have that authority and even THAT has to be a unanimous decision between the two. And besides, we all know you and your friends would only use the Alien tech against the Mutants. Or who and whatever else you all deem a threat. Besides, the crashed ship is a Cargo Hauler and an older model at that so its not even remotely useful."

Gyrich scowled at Brand, not liking how this was going at all. "This isn't over!"

"Oh, I think you'll find it is, Gyrich. As I'm sure the last thing you want is to go the way of the former Senator Kelly."

"Is that a threat?" Hissed the man unhappily.

"No, that's a promise." Brand told him as she lowered her green shades so he could see her narrowed eyes.

She smirked when turned away and stomped off as Spencer came out of the room set up for Ed. "That guy's always fun to be around." He said sarcastically.

"Indeed. How's our guest?"

"Awake for now."

"Think he's up for visitors?"

"I think so, just… Give it to him easy about his ship, okay?"

As that thing was pretty much wrecked and Ed was bound to be planetside for a good long while until it was potentially fixed or replaced altogether. Plus, the cargo was effectively ruined too! "Of course, Mr. Burton."

Moving out of the way so Brand could go into the room, Spencer sat down in a nearby chair and looked at a few of the magazines on offer on the table next to him. A few minutes later would see him jumping in a startled manner after hearing Ed yell out. "MY HAULER'S BEEN WHAT!?"

Oh yeah, he's definitely not happy. At least the crash didn't cause him to be heavily injured.

Though sometime later, Spencer would get the impression that the Alien would've been happier if he had been heavily injured if it meant his Hauler hadn't ended up so wrecked! Said impression had started to form when Ed fell to his knees at the sight of the Sunnarius and started to cry. I can see where he's coming from though after how long he's had the Sunnarius in his life for.

However, a light in the dark would make itself known thanks in part to not only Spencer's own specialties, but the special talents of Forge, Trinity, Arcade, and Airtight as well. Which meant that Ed would only end up having to spend a month on Earth until the Sunnarius had been fixed and upgraded. Of course he wasn't much of a fan of the upgrades since he had preferred things the way they were but he would get adjusted to them over time! His month there would be rather peaceful and even get the opportunity to teach a class at the Cleveland School about the little he knew of his People. And as it would turn out, the cargo Ed had been carrying when he crashed would turn out to be the Outer Space equivalent of Bananas and Shrimp. Something that when discussed with the intended recipients of his original cargo, would allow for an arrangement to be made to make his delivery after all.

Even if his pay was a little less and some discussions would start up about off world shipping where Bananas and Shrimp was concerned. Unfortunately, it'd be some time before that particular idea would be able to take off for obvious reasons.

"YEAH! OL' ED AND THE SUNNARIUS IS BACK!"

Meanwhile, At the Burbank Joe Base

"Trojan said you wanted to see me, Clara?" Asked Vincent 'Virus' James as he came into Clara's bedroom after getting permission to do so.

"Yes, I did, please close the door and take a seat, sweetheart."

Concerned even more, Vincent quickly did as told. "What's goin' on?"

"There's been some… Concerning things we've been told recently where you're concerned, Vincent." Started off the woman gently.

Making the young man a bit confused. "Like what?"

"For starters, the letters, emails, and other forms of contact you've been attempting with the East Coast team leader Wavedancer."

Vincent's eyes widened. "What's to be concerned about with that!? Its just me makin' conversation is all!"

"Its concerning when its revealing to be obsessive behavior. Especially after you've been told more than once by Wavedancer herself to stop." Clara told him and gave him a disapproving look and getting a scowl in return.

"Its not obsessive behavior! I really li-no, LOVE that girl! That Tolensky's just in the way is all! Hell, he probably made her tell you some shite just like this to get me in trouble! Althea and I? We're made for each other!"

His words got him a sad look from the older woman. "Oh sweetheart, I don't know how we missed this but you have to stop what you're doing, understand? Althea and Todd are very happy together and you need to respect that." She told her young charge sternly, causing his jaw to drop in shock and anger.

"I… I can't believe this! You're takin' his side when you should be on mine! Encouragin' me to go for the woman I love!"

"Vincent, you are to leave that girl alone, is that understood?"

Glaring angrily at the woman, Vincent stood up with a scoff. "Oh, yeah, I understand perfectly." Came his reply before angrily leaving the room.

That little bastard's gonna pay! I swear!

Never seeing the worried look on Clara's face in the process. I think I need to talk with the others about Vincent. And I wish like crazy this had been handled much sooner…

For she really didn't want to think of the scenarios of where this whole situation could potentially lead…

Elsewhere On Base

"Darkstar!? What the Hell happened to you!?" Asked one of the Greenshirts as he spotted the Misfit on his way inside and limping as he did so with a bloody face and wrecked clothing.

To his surprise, Craig would smirk at him despite the pain it caused as it opened his lip again. "Let's just say me and the Warlords came to an agreement and leave it at that."

The Greenshirt watched him go in shock before finally speaking. "Must've been some agreement! Sheesh! Longstar's gonna be pissed and so will the Greys!" Sure enough, he'd be right as he'd later learn!

Author's Notes: Hope folks enjoyed the chapter, especially that last added bit with Darkstar! And yikes, Virus' behavior is definitely concerning! Up next we see Lance's time in Miami!