On the planet Ryloth, in a desolate and barren wasteland, a dust-covered young man suddenly jerked upright, coughing violently as grit filled his lungs. After several moments of gasping for clean air, he sat up and rubbed his blurry eyes with the back of his hand. He coughed several more times until his breathing finally stabilized, then slowly opened his eyes to survey his surroundings... only to find himself in what appeared to be an endless desert landscape.
"What the hell?" Pietro Maximoff shouted in surprise and confusion. He looked in every direction and saw nothing but barren wasteland extending to the horizon, seemingly without end.
He struggled to his feet and activated his communicator, calling desperately into the device: "Hello? Anyone? Cap? Sam? Wanda? Is anybody out there? Can anyone hear me?"
He tried repeatedly for several minutes but received only static silence.
Quicksilver ran his fingers through his distinctive silver hair, feeling completely lost and disoriented. He had no idea where he was or what he should do next, though at this point he still assumed he must be somewhere on Earth—perhaps in some remote desert region.
In the past, with his naturally impatient personality, he would have immediately started running around frantically to figure out what was happening and where he was.
But after joining the Avengers, his impulsive tendencies had gradually mellowed, and he'd learned the value of thinking before acting.
Pietro tried contacting the others again, focusing particularly on reaching his twin sister, the Scarlet Witch, but once again received no response whatsoever.
He stamped his foot in frustration and sighed deeply, forcing himself to calm down and think rationally. Squinting against the harsh sunlight, he carefully scanned the horizon until he spotted what appeared to be a small settlement in the distance.
Quicksilver began stretching his muscles and preparing his body, then launched himself toward the village at maximum velocity. His superhuman speed left only a blurred silver-blue streak across the landscape, like a rocket taking off at ground level.
The dust clouds where he had been standing didn't move forward due to his incredible acceleration—instead, they rose straight up into the air and slowly settled back down. As the dust finally cleared, it revealed an orange-skinned humanoid figure standing exactly where Pietro had been moments before.
This humanoid creature was what the galaxy knew as a Twi'lek, and he had been attempting to approach Quicksilver stealthily when he witnessed something that defied all logic and experience.
Cham Syndulla was a well-traveled native of Ryloth who had journeyed throughout the Outer Rim territories during his lifetime. He had encountered Jedi Knights, various warlords, bounty hunters, and had witnessed firsthand the galactic civil war that had now reached his homeworld.
But he had never in his life seen a sentient being who could run faster than lightning itself.
"Great, absolutely nothing useful," Pietro muttered to himself as he tossed aside some small stones he'd been examining. He was now standing in the center of what appeared to be an abandoned village.
He was absolutely certain that these architectural structures were unlike anything he'd ever seen before, and he was becoming increasingly convinced that they weren't terrestrial buildings at all—especially since he could circumnavigate half the Earth in approximately ninety-two seconds and had never encountered this type of construction.
Pietro carefully investigated this strange settlement and cautiously entered one of the unusual dwellings, finding it surprisingly spacious inside despite having minimal furnishings beyond what appeared to be storage containers.
He approached a wooden door and suddenly pulled it open, discovering the interior was mostly empty except for some peculiar fruits he'd never seen before in his life.
Driven by curiosity, Pietro picked up one of the strange berries and popped it into his mouth, only to immediately spit it out in disgust—the unknown fruit had clearly spoiled long ago.
After leaving that building, Pietro systematically checked several other houses and found them all in similar condition. He walked through the village streets with growing impatience until he came across an unusual piece of equipment—it had a rectangular frame with two handle-like controls that could be steering mechanisms or possibly weapon controls. Everything about it suggested to Pietro that this was some kind of vehicle he'd never encountered before.
He turned around and settled onto the brown metallic seat, discovering that its basic design reminded him of motorcycles he'd ridden in the past, except this vehicle had no wheels and was somehow floating in mid-air. Pietro shifted his weight experimentally and watched as the hovering craft swayed with his movements.
Pietro still couldn't comprehend the technology that allowed it to float without any visible means of support. Looking at the two handles, curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed them, discovering they could actually rotate. This accidental twist somehow activated the vehicle.
After the engine produced a distinctive humming sound, Pietro realized the speeder bike was slowly rising higher. Unable to contain his curiosity and excitement, he leaned forward and twisted the handle more deliberately, causing it to emit several roaring sounds similar to a motorcycle engine.
"Now that's actually pretty cool," Pietro whispered to himself with genuine admiration.
He carefully examined the speeder bike and located what appeared to be some kind of foot pedal on the left side of the vehicle. He boldly theorized it might be an accelerator and pressed it lightly with his foot.
His hypothesis proved correct as he felt the vehicle begin moving forward through the air.
Startled by the sudden acceleration, he jumped off the strange craft. Even without a pilot, the machine continued flying forward under its own momentum. However, without anyone controlling its direction, it crashed directly into a nearby building and was instantly reduced to smoking wreckage.
After finally discovering something interesting in this desolate place, watching it become a pile of scrap metal left Pietro feeling genuinely disappointed, and he hung his head in frustration.
Suddenly, he heard distinctly mechanical sounds echoing across the village. He slowly turned toward the source of the noise and strained his ears to listen more carefully.
Pietro frowned in concentration, considered his options for a moment, then quietly moved toward the source of the sounds while taking care to avoid detection.
He stopped at the end of an alley between two buildings, carefully peered around the corner, and saw something that completely shocked him—dozens of battle droids standing in perfect military formation like a mechanized army.
These were completely unlike any robots he'd encountered before, and he was absolutely certain they weren't creations of either Ultron or Tony Stark.
There were numerous skeletal-looking droids alongside larger, more heavily built units carrying what were obviously weapon systems, all moving with military precision like infantry troops.
In the front ranks were dozens of what Pietro could only describe as some kind of heavily armored tanks, with additional support vehicles following behind them.
The entire formation continued advancing until a yellow command droid raised its hand to signal a halt.
"There's smoke rising from that direction," the yellow droid announced while gesturing toward three nearby battle droids. "You three units will investigate and report back."
Pietro used his superhuman speed to easily avoid the three droids that were heading in his direction.
The investigating droids approached the crashed speeder bike, and the center unit asked in mechanical confusion, "What could have caused this destruction?"
"Perhaps rebel activity?" suggested one of the others.
"Why would insurgents destroy a civilian speeder bike?" the third droid questioned.
"What's your assessment?" called out other droids who had arrived to join the investigation.
"We discovered the crashed vehicle," the middle droid reported. "Damage appears recent, but there are no organic remains in the immediate vicinity."
"Hmm, could this be some kind of trap or diversion?"
"Intelligence reports indicate the Twi'lek resistance movement maintains close ties with Jedi operatives."
"Initiate a fan-pattern search using this location as center point," the yellow command droid ordered. "Check all structures and concealment areas for surviving inhabitants."
"Understood, but what should we do if we locate someone?"
The yellow droid struck the questioning unit and scolded harshly, "Fool! Obviously we capture them for interrogation."
Pietro tensed up immediately and began backing away cautiously, watching with growing alarm as the battle droids separated into multiple search teams to conduct systematic sweeps of the area. Several units had already begun entering buildings to investigate.
Suddenly, Pietro heard a sound unlike anything he'd experienced before—a deep, mechanical roaring that seemed to fill the entire sky above the village. He looked up and saw a massive starship descending from orbit, which once again overwhelmed his senses because it was completely unlike any aircraft he'd ever encountered.
Could this be connected to the alien invasion that the veteran Avengers had faced three years ago during the Battle of New York?
Whatever the explanation might be, Pietro had absolutely no desire to remain and find out. He burst from the alley at maximum speed, racing past the battle droids so quickly that he appeared as nothing more than a lightning-fast streak of silver-blue energy.
"What was that phenomenon?"
"What phenomenon?"
"Some kind of strange silver-blue object just moved past our position at extreme velocity."
"I detected nothing on my sensors."
"Nor did I register anything unusual."
"What are you referring to?"
"Unknown. The object moved too rapidly for visual identification."
"Disregard the anomaly. Reinforcements have arrived, and we must prepare to launch our offensive against Republic forces."
Pietro ran at maximum velocity, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the village. He only stopped when he was far enough away from the massive starship in the distance to feel relatively safe. Looking around while catching his breath, he found himself in a forested area filled with large patches of unfamiliar vegetation.
"What am I supposed to do now?" he asked himself aloud, only to realize he had no answer to that question. He genuinely had no idea what his next move should be.
The longer he remained in this place, the less convinced he became that he was anywhere on Earth. Unable to contact any of his teammates, having just witnessed what was obviously an alien warship, the evidence was becoming impossible to ignore.
Looking back toward the massive spacecraft one more time, Pietro suddenly felt incredibly small and isolated. He understood with growing certainty that at this moment, he had no teammates to rely on and was completely alone—something that had never happened before in all his time as an Avenger.
He began walking aimlessly through the alien landscape and pulled out his cell phone, which still showed a full battery charge but no signal whatsoever. Checking his other pockets, he was pleased to discover his earbuds were still there. He plugged them in and selected some calming music, hoping it would help ease his mounting anxiety about his impossible situation.
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