Chapter Text
I came to with a groggy groan, my head was spinning and my body was on fire. The last I remembered I had been in a insane duel with my former friend and ally Boba Fett and his employer Darth Vader, who had been Anakin Skywalker, my former master. I remembered various stages of the duel being force choked by Vader, I managing to throw a rock with the Force at him to get him to stop choking me and somehow managing to slice part of his helmet off. I got shot a few times in the side by Fett, but I remember clearly stabbing him in my chest.
I felt the sands of Tatooine beneath me, and winced as I felt my sides flare in pain. My fur armor that I had been given by the Valkyries was pretty much shredded. I looked across to see Boba Fett’s prone form laying face down across from me. A bunch of the rocks from the nearby canyon lay around in a pile of rubble.
The only sign Vader had even been here was I saw his mask nearby, but in pieces. I could steel feel the power of the dark side emenating from his mask remains. My guess is that he survived. Vader was very powerful and crafty and I knew that I could not fell Darth Vader on my own. I had managed to slice a portion of his mask off his face by sheer luck. How I had managed to hold my own against Darth Vader was anybody’s guess and I could barely remember it.
I felt bad for what I was about to do, but my armor was no longer providing me the protection I needed to survive in this harsh environment. I stripped Boba Fett of his clothes and armor and changed into it, and put my former Valkyrie given armor on Boba Fett. Given that Vader never saw Boba’s face, he may very well think that he killed me instead. But then again he may sense the deception.
I looked around and we had apparently dueled way out on the far edges of the Dune Sea. There were no landmarks for miles around. I put on my new helmet and looked around. The HUD was still working, including its navigation functionality. It told me that Anchorhead was due south about 30-40 miles or so.
I checked my belt, I still had a canteen of water. I took it out and it felt still full. Boba must have just arrived. I took off my helmet and drank a sip of the water, before screwing the lid back on and then clipping it back to my belt night to my lightsaber. Then it came to me, Boba didn’t walk here. His Firespray starship must be somewhere near by. But where would he have landed?
I was also quite sweaty. Even though it was early morning, it was surprisingly warm. Tatooine was a very harsh environment and a very unforgiving one for those who were caught without planning accordingly.
My first priority was to get off world and find a place of refuge and get medical treatment. I knew that Tatooine would soon be full of Imperials. I ran through the list of planets in my mind. “Naboo, but there’s a strong Imperial presence there? I think my best bet may perhaps be Dantooine. The ruins of the old Jedi temple there should be safe enough to hide in.”
I tapped my helmet to see if I could get the location of the ship. The helmet’s operating system seemed to be malfunctioning as menus in all sorts of different languages popped up. I cursed. When I dropped Fett for the final time with that saber blow, he must have hit the helmet hard enough to disturb the electronics.
Just then a glowing portal opened up. I blinked. I had gotten here from Valhalla through a glowing portal. Were the Valkyries requiring my assistance once again? This portal had suspiciously opportune timing. I was wary though. This could be a trap. However my helmet systems were still malfunctioning, so I could not locate Slave I. I could stay here for a while and risk running into some Tusken Raiders, or I could step through this Portal and see there it takes me.
I sighed, and fingered the lightsaber on my belt, whose hilt had once belonged to Qui Gon Jinn one of my most favorite Jedi Masters of all time. I then thought of Obi Wan Kenobi’s wise words of springing the trap. I might as well do it. It sure beat being stuck on this awful desert planet. Although I had been eager to get back to the galaxy, with the grim reality of Darth Vader and the Empire being in control, it had tempered my spirits substantially.
I sighed and decided to walk through the portal. I had nothing to lose, it was better than wandering around in the Dune Sea looking for Slave I aimlessly. Perhaps wherever this portal led to, I could find new allies
I hesitantly stepped forward and with each step I felt more brave. I took the final step and was whisked away. For a while it felt like I was traveling on the Bifrost
Finally after what seemed like forever, I was deposited onto a city street in.. “New York?” I muttered. It was bustling with activity, tons of pedestrians on the streets. I had not been back on my home planet Earth for sometime. It was a culture shock coming from the advanced world that Coruscant and even Tatooine was, to see still gas powered cars and no landspeeders, no X-Wings or any orbital starships like the Millennium Falcon. It was a jarring sensation.
To my astonishment though, New York was not as peaceful as I remembered. There were these all too familiar robots walking and flying around and attacking the citizenry. “Ultron bots? Did Tony Stark’s creation decide to attack New York instead of Sokovia? What the heck? Where are the Avengers?” I muttered.
Just then one of the many Ultron bots spotted me. I threw on my helmet and assumed a defensive position. As the Ultron bots locked onto me, I fired my wrist rockets at them, which were surprisingly effective. No time to be a sitting duck I thought, as I leapt into the air and activated my jet pack. I led the Ultron bots away from the civilians to an aerial dogfight over the harbor.
I then pulled out my EE-3 blaster and fired a salvo at the Ultron bots. I kept an eye in my HUD on my jetpack fuel. I only had fuel for about a half an hour engagement at the most, then I needed to find a place to land.
I felt myself grabbed from behind and turned to face another Ultron sentry bot. I responded with kicking the bot in the face. “A little help would be nice!” I thought. Perhaps this was an invasion launched simultaneously with the attack on Sokovia, in which case I was New York’s best hope at this point. I continued to lead them out over the harbor, towards the open ocean to get them out of the city.
I then heard a beeping. “I have a fuel leak in the jetpack? Darn it.” I growled. I looked around and the nearest high building to me was Stark Tower.
I fought off as many of the Ultron bot’s I could before I got another beep in my headset and a message that I needed to land in 5 minutes or I would be completely out of fuel. I used my knee rockets in flight, which was a first before doing a barrell roll, unleashing the last of my wrist rockets and beelining towards the landing pad at Stark Tower.
As I looked behind, the Ultron bots suddenly deactivated and fell out of the sky. I sighed with relief. The Avengers must have beaten Ultron. I came across the Stark Tower and I gulped. I had never landed in a jetpack before, so here’s hoping this landing would be a good one. I flew and hovered until I was mere inches above the pad and cut the power. I landed gracefully, thankfully.
I walked towards the door to the tower and it was locked. No doubt it was security guarded by Jarvis and coded only to let Stark and his merry boy band of superheroes in. However coming here was my only chance for safety (I didn’t know the Ultron bots were about to be deactivated and plus I was dangerously low on fuel)
I sat down on the landing pad and removed my helmet. I could feel the sweat drenching off the face. I don’t think the air conditioning was working right in the helmet. Perhaps I should have Stark look at it.
Just then, stirring me out of my thoughts, I heard the whine of an approaching Quinjet. I scrambled back and put my helmet on. “They’re back already?” I said aloud to myself. Then I reminded myself the Quinjet was super fast and no doubt took them far less time to travel than a regular jetliner. I felt my mouth go dry. How on Earth was I going to explain myself to the Avengers.
Just then before I could even blink, I was looking up at the red and gold armor of Iron Man who was staring down at me. With his visor down, it was hard to see what Tony was thinking. “That’s a sweet Boba Fett cosplay you have there. Now, how did you get onto my tower?” Tony went from sarcastic to demanding in an instant.
I stood up and Tony held out his repulsor glove. “Hold it right there Fett.” He instructed “How did you get here?” I coughed. “I arrived here in New York City to find it under attack by those robots. I fought off a bunch of them and then I came here as I was running low on my jetpack fuel. There’s a leak in my pack. My guess is one of the bots punctured it when they grabbed me. And, I am not Boba Fett.”
I took off my helmet to look Tony in the face. He lowered his visor so I could see his famous mustached face.
“I am Arjan Masan. I was a friend of Boba Fett’s from a long time ago. I am from Tatooine.” I introduced myself. I saw the small and lean form of Bruce Banner walk up next to Tony. “Tony, who is this?” Bruce asked, and I saw the gorgeous and beautiful slim figure of Natasha (with what appeared to me to be her hairstyle from Winter Soldier, long and straight), following up the rear, with the famous Captain America and Hawkeye and the auburn haired Wanda Maximoff to round off the Avengers.
Tony was explaining when I cut him off “I forgot to explain, I am a Jedi Knight, one of the last of my order and I am on the run from Darth Vader. I defeated Boba Fett in a duel and injured Vader somewhat.” I explained. “I know this all sounds crazy but I am telling the truth. Let your mind reader there, (I pointed to Wanda” look into my mind. I will let her know everything I have been through.”
Tony looked surprised then his facial expression changed. “Alright Not Boba Fett, let us go inside and we will let Wanda look into your mind. Does that sound good to you Capsicle?” He said turning to Captain America, otherwise known as Steve Rogers.
Steve looked at me “That sounds good. I highly doubt he is a foe, given that he fought against Ultron’s forces and did not attack us, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Thank you Arjan though for protecting New York while we were away.”
And with that I was led inside by Tony and Cap. I was worried about Wanda’s mindreading but I knew it was the best way to proclaim my innocence and also at the same time let them know of my honest and true intentions.