August 24th, 2014

  In deep space, a cruise vessel was under attack. A Xandarian vessel meant to take people across the cosmos to the various pleasure planets and sights that the universe had to offer. Full of the rich and famous, the poor who had saved up for a special trip with the family, engineers and staff members, it was like any cruise ship in the universe.

  And it was a prime target for pirates. Cruise vessels had casinos, gift shops, small museums with priceless artworks, and rich guests who could serve as hostages or could be robbed.

  So right as the ship left the safety of Xandarian space, just before it could enter the patrolled ways between planets, a group of pirate ships, a full thirty vessels, rushed in on the attack, taking out the engines. A distress signal was sent out, but there was no chance anyone would come in time to save them. They were on their own.

  SMACK!

  The fist of one of the pirates crashed across a woman's cheek, sending her flying into the floor. Someone screamed, but otherwise no one spoke.

  "That's right, that's enough out of all of you," the pirate, a large Xeronian man with the plated mouth and grey skin typical of his people, glared around. They were on the pool deck, hundreds of people. Other levels of the ship were dealing with the same issue. Dead security personnel dotted the floor, a couple of them inside the pool leaking blood of various colors.

  "Time!?" One of the pirates barked.

  "We got plenty," a different one shouted. "Distress signal wasn't on long enough to get to Nova. Keep grabbing what you can!"

  While a contingent of pirates stayed on the pool deck, the rest continued to ransack the ship. The pirates worked fast, grabbing as many valuables as they could. Jewelry was ripped off their owners, dead and alive. Luggage was torn apart, clothes and memorabilia shredded in favor of electronics and other valuables. The cruise casino was emptied of cash, the onboard museum robbed of art. More people died. Some because they were too slow to give over their treasures. Others simply because.

  In the midst of the carnage, someone spoke up. "Uh… boss?"

  "What!?" A tall and ugly Xandarian man shouted, spinning around to stare at the one who spoke. "What?"

  "Someone is coming our way," the Krylorian woman who spoke answered, staring at a hologram projecting from her wrist.

  The pirate captain cursed, running over to her while the rest of the crew watched. "Damn it all, I thought we had time! Who is it, Nova Corps? Shiar? …Kree?"

  The last was said with an almost desperate swallow.

  "It's a single ship?" The woman glanced over at the captain as he looked over her shoulder. "Never seen it before."

  The captain sighed, relieved as he looked at the ship. "Okay, good. Just some idiot curious about what's happening. Send some of our ships to intercept, we could use another ship in the fleet."

  The woman nodded, tapping at the hologram quickly.

  Outside, they could see several of the pirate vessels turn and begin flying in the direction of the approaching vessel. The Krylorian woman frowned at the screen. "They… ejected two of their crew, I think?"

  The pirate captain frowned. That was unusual. Had they realized what was happening and then… threw out two of their people? What?

  "Footage," The captain snapped. Despite the reputation of pirates, most were professionals, former military. Scumbags, as their actions against the cruise proved, but soldiers at the end of the day. As the woman worked, his mind raced to figure out what was happening.

  The hologram switched to footage from one of a pirate ship's front-facing cameras. The ship that was approaching was fairly standard in design, but he didn't recognize it.

  Two figures could be seen flying in front of it. One was humanoid, wearing black and green armor. The other was-

  "A baby Starshark?" He asked, befuddled.

  "I don't think so? It has legs," his second-in-command said, befuddled. "It's cute!"

  "Yeah, kinda," the pirate captain agreed, looking at the dopely smiling creature.

  Then the humanoid figure glowed. The baby starshark shifted. A bright green flash of light was followed by both figures suddenly changing. The baby starshark was suddenly a BIG one, still young in age, but enormous. The humanoid figure became some sort of winged creature with orange scaled skin and glowing green eyes.

  Then the unknown ship started firing some kind of blue blast that tore through one of their ships! The pirate captain gaped. "What the hell!? Their weapons were targeting us? Why didn't-"

  "Their ship's computers are completely locked out to us!" The woman spat, her fingers zipping across the hologram. "I don't get it, the system keeps adapting to keep us ou-"

  The starshark roared soundlessly and took a massive bite out of another vessel, the ship exploding across the stars. The orange figure flew faster than they could track, briefly appearing to swing a sword nearly his height through the air. At the apex of the swing, the sword sent an energy wave made of green energy through the next pirate ship, while their own vessel unleashed blue blasts with an unknown energy signature at the other ships.

  "SEND MORE SHIPS!" The pirate captain shouted, horrified at the quick death of three crews in mere seconds, two of them from railgun strikes. "Fifteen vessels, kill them all!"

  The woman nodded, flipping through the hologram quickly. At her command, a full contingent of their vessels spun and began flying towards the enemy. The orange figure glowed green again, becoming something blue and black, hard to see against the darkness of space. Somehow, it entered one of their vessels without actually piercing through it, like a spirit. The ship it entered suddenly became a block of ice, the figure flying back out.

  The strange ship came closer, more of its weapons coming to life. A pair of lasers on each of its nacelles blasted into the shields of the pirate ships with red light, slicing through them, before a turret on the top unleashed those strange blue blasts across their hulls. An electromagnetic burst came from the front of the ship every few intervals, simple metal missiles smashing through the pirate hulls like blades in flesh.

  The pirates fired on the ship with blasts of purple, green, and yellow, but couldn't seem to destroy its shields, not quickly enough to take it down before it or the two flying figures could take them out. When they did pierce the shields, the ship seemed to repair itself in real time. It didn't help that the pilot was very good at avoiding fire.

  The starshark shifted forms again, becoming the terrifying visage of an abilisk, with the teeth, the tentacles, and near-invulnerable skin, wrapping those tentacles around a ship and biting into it as it spiraled in space.

  The ship and its two escorts blasted through the pirates defensive line, reaching the cruise ship. Two more figures flew out of the ship, entering the cruise vessel, followed by the black and blue shapeshifter.

  "Intercept them!" The pirate captain shouted, running as he shouted. "You, you, all of you, come with me, the rest of you stay-"

  The floor beneath him burst apart, sending him flying. The captain screamed, landing on the floor in a pile on the floor. He spun to his back, only to gape at what he saw.

  A woman. A very beautiful and voluptuous woman, wearing barely anything, flying on a wave of violet power. Her eyes glowed with the same energy, and twin violet mandala snapped to life around her fists.

  "Magi-!" The captain tried to scream, before blazing violet beams flew from the witch, her powers blasting holes through two of his men. The fear in their eyes… the captain had seen men die before. But the magic burning through them seemed to take something. When his men died, the pirate captain, hardened from decades of looting, killing, raping, felt their souls burned by purple fire, and unhinged fear filled him.

  "KILL HER!" Lasers smashed into the mandelas she used as shields. She flew over them, firing more blasts of magic fire. She twisted around to face a group of pirates rushing in to attack her. Swirls of violet surrounded her body.

  "Izvrati ikh mysli, Images of Ikonn!"

  One witch became ten. The pirates fired at a few, lasers passing harmlessly through false images of sexy witch women.

  And while they were distracted, a man of steel jumped out of the hole in the pool deck the witch had come out of. He rushed for the nearest group of pirates, holding, of all things, a chain with a large metal ball at the end. They shot at him, lasers fruitlessly bouncing off his body before he reached them, swinging the ball into one pirates chest and kicking another one meters away to land in the pool.

  One of the pirates, a large Kronan man who looked like a stone blue-gray statue, roared, approaching the metal man and punching him in the face. Stone met metal, and crumbled apart up to the elbow. The Kronan man screamed, this time in pain, before a metal fist smashed his head apart.

  "The hostages," the pirate captain squeaked. "Use the hosta-"

  Before his plan could even begin, a blur sped through the room. Black and blue filled the air. Hostages began to disappear. A family of four, a waitress, a fat man who had been shot in the legs, all of them faded in heartbeats of time. One of his men aimed at a pool cleaner, firing his gun at the woman's head.

  The blur stopped for one second. A sword that glittered with blue-green light swept through the air, parrying the blaster shot aside!

  "Rude," A voice that sounded like it was on fast forward spat out.

  Then the blur moved again, the pool cleaner disappearing with it.

  The hostages were gone in seconds. The blur came back to stand before the pirate captain. He stared at the figure before him. Tall. Muscular. Covered in black and blue fur. A green flash of light was followed by a shorter, but even more muscular man to appear, swinging his sword to land on his shoulder.

  "Sup," the bearded man said with a smirk as his allies continued to kill pirates behind him, purple light and steel fists sending light across his face. "I'll take your surrender now."

  That was when the pirate captain finally realized who he was dealing with. That broadcast, from the dirt planet… the Avengers. And Dial.

  "...I surrender," the pirate captain said, tossing his gun down. His second-in-command sighed, raising her hands up as the hologram on her arm fizzled out, replacing the image of a metal man with round blue eyes.

  "Thought you might. X?"

  The robot on his second-in-commands hologram spoke. "I broadcasted the message, pardner."

  Dial, the Everchanging Avenger, chuckled, turning to look over his shoulder as the various pirates began surrendering in droves. An abilisk rushed into the room, turning into that adorable baby starshark with legs and hopping into Dial's arms. "All right. Let's clean up the rest then."

  Scratching the top of the dopely grinning shark's head, he began arresting all of them one by one, cheerfully placing cuffs on them while chatting with his allies. By the time Nova Corp came to pick them up, the pirate captain was relieved.

  Dial was annoying.

  Abigail Brand

  In the office of Nova Prime, within the Nova Corps headquarters, a woman sat calmly waiting for her appointment to begin. She looked around the fairly spartan office, eyes trailing across the room. Outside, the beautiful planet of Xandar could be seen. They had recovered well from the attack of Ronan the Accuser, though some buildings were still under construction in the distance.

  The woman herself was tall, with short cut green hair, an athletic build, and a simple pair of green sunglasses that reflected the city before her. She wore a combat outfit colored green and black, with a pair of green heeled boots, a slick skintight black suit made of Starktech materials, and some green colored straps with empty weapon holsters. Over that was a green and black jacket displaying the symbol of SWORD, the space division of BRIDGE. She cut an imposing figure, masking her dissatisfaction with her present situation.

  Abigail Brand had been in charge of SWORD from the moment she'd left Earth with Dial. In some ways, the position was an honor. To be in charge of an entire division of BRIDGE, then sent out as a diplomatic envoy to the stars, allowed to travel the universe however she wished.

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  So far it had not been living up to her hopes.

  The door opened, interrupting Abigail's contemplation. She turned to see an older woman with twirled up hair enter the room, giving her a smile. In any other situation, Abigail would have thought her a human. According to Dial, after he transformed into one and gained some experience in the form, Xandarians felt barely different than humans, just a bit more durable.

  And with different available hair colors. His became a multi-layered one that he called 'Yugi-colored', whatever that meant.

  It was par for the course with many species. Humans, in appearance, were close to what much of the galaxy fit. Which meant Star Trek was right, something Abigail found annoying.

  "It's good to see you, Abigail," the older woman said, walking in with a soft smile.

  "Irani," Abigail smiled. Irani Rael had been one of the highlights of her work. "It's good to see you too."

  After a quick handshake, Irani circled her desk. "And thank you. Your team managed to take down a group that have been harassing our people for several years. I'll have the bounties for them sent into your account."

  "I appreciate it. I imagine it hasn't done anything to help with my request, however."

  Irani winced and sighed. "No. I'm sorry, but my people are in agreement."

  "As are the rest of the galaxy that won't be outright hostile to us," Abigail agreed. "No negotiations with a planet that isn't unified in the first place."

  "It is a tough sell," Irani said, chuckling just a bit. "As individuals, as smaller groups, Earth has shown its value to the greater galactic community. But taken as a whole-"

  Abigail waved a hand to stop Irani. It was something she had heard from other planetary leaders, with varying levels of hostility and condescension at times. She had been to more than a few planets. The ones that didn't outright ignore her just sent them away.

  They did have two things on their side. First, Peter Quill. A human who saved a whole planet from an Infinity Stone wielder alongside his team. That was worth quite a bit, as it turned out, in terms of drawing attention. Second, Strucker's broadcast both helped and hurt them. Earth had a reputation for having some very powerful individual fighters and very useful resources. Which made them both a threat and a potential ally.

  So far all they had gotten was no's, but most were politer than they could have been.

  "I hate to simply repeat what I've told you before, so I wanted to give you this," Irani said, pulling out a datapad and passing it to Abigail.

  Abigail took a look at it. "A bounty… on my team?"

  "All the Avengers, really," Irani said. "But seeing that you are the only ones off your planet, your bounties are the most significant."

  "Who put a bounty out on us?" Abigail asked, honestly befuddled. "I didn't piss anyone off, did I?"

  "As far as I can tell, no. These bounties came to effect right after the Hydra War broadcast. But once it became public knowledge that you weren't on Earth, the bounty was massively raised."

  Abigail scoffed at the sight of her bounty. 20,000 units. "This is my bounty raised?"

  "Technically, you didn't have one at first," Irani said, smiling just a bit at the offended look Abigail gave her. "No one knew who you were. Can you blame them?"

  That was-!... Fair. Looking back at the bounties, she went through them. Laura and Nezuko weren't on the list. The puppy and teen hadn't made many appearances, and what kind of idiot would put a bounty out on a puppy in the first place.

  Fantasma, on the other hand, had a bounty of two million units. Creel had a bounty for the same amount.

  "God… who even has enough money for-" Abigail stopped, her brain stuttering.

  Dial's face was grinning dumbly at her. Underneath his face, a number rested. "Thirty… million… units." Abigail stared at Irani.

  "Not the highest bounty I have ever seen, but the highest for a species that is on the technological level Earth is at." Irani said as gently as she could. "You'll want to be careful. That boy is going to draw a lot of attention to you. Your whole team will."

  "We'll be fine," Abigail said firmly. Then she hesitated. "Do we know who sent it out?"

  "Yes. The Collector."

  "...Shiiii-"

  Dial/Mahmoud Schahed

  On the floor of the Defiant, Laura sat cross legged, staring seriously forward. We were in the 'living room', a simple space in the center of the ship that had been given a carpet and two big sofas, one of which I occupied as I watched her work.

  A Hispanic teen with yellow gold eyes and dark black hair, she was wearing her preferred clothes of a black tank top and purple pants, going barefoot for comfort. Her eyes were hard as steel, her entire focus directly on those before her.

  Finally she spoke.

  "Okay… and go!"

  Jeff and Nezuko stared upwards at her. Then, in near unison, the baby shark and tiny puppy rolled over, then gave Laura a grin.

  "?Buen trabajo, buen trabajo!" She gave both a hug, getting sloppy kisses from both of them.

  I watched her interact with the two with a smile of my own, and looked around the ship.

  The Defiant had been getting a bit messy since we all started living in it. It was still very comfortable, but it showed signs of being lived in. A couple of unwashed dishes in the kitchen, some new dents and scrapes, and bite marks. Books of various kinds had been left across the main living space next to pet toys.

  I was dressed as casually as Laura, with a white muscle t-shirt and some shorts. I'd had to cut my hair recently, but my beard remained, and the Omnitrix continued to glow on my forearm as always, a massive grey and black gauntlet with a green glowing symbol at my wrist.

  "You guys are learning really well," I said to all three of them. Laura, instead of looking at me, just buried her nose in Nezuko's fur while Jeff happily kissed her.

  Laura then let the pair of animals go to watch them toddle off together, Nezuko following her big shark brother. She looked over at me, eyes more serious now.

  "...I didn't know you wanted to help," I said, rather than asking why she was mad at me.

  "You never let me," Laura pointed out. She didn't pout, but she might as well have been doing puppy dog eyes. "You don't ask."

  "You spent your entire life fighting and killing on the command of others, Laura," I scratched at my cheek. A while back, in the Savage Land, I'd ended up with several scars across my body. The one on my right cheek pulled slightly as I scratched, but felt better afterwards. I continued to speak.

  "I just… I won't ever ask you to do that. I won't stop you. But you're your own person. If you want to fight alongside us, I won't say no, but I don't want you to ever feel compelled. Now… we've been out here for a while. Do you want to start hanging out on the planets we visit?"

  Laura winced. Ever since we'd entered space, she'd avoided leaving the ship. She scratched at her right cheek as well, copying me without thinking. She did that sometimes, accidentally mimicking my body language. It made me want to pat her head every time, but I refrained.

  "It is… difícil," she said at last.

  A noise drew our attention to Fantasma walking into the room. She was wearing a simple set of violet pajamas and had a massive tome in her hands, flipping through it as she plopped onto the couch next to me.

  "Why don't you go with Fantasma?" I asked, drawing my witch friends attention.

  "Go?" Fantasma looked between us. When I explained what I meant, Fantasma brightened. "Oh! Yes, that would be good! We can go shopping!"

  "Shopping… For food?" Laura asked, genuinely befuddled.

  "No, for clothes, shoes, books."

  "I have shoes already."

  "...Oh my sweet girl," Fantasma placed her book aside and held Laura's hands, sighing. "You will learn."

  I wanted to roll my eyes, but I was honestly more touched than anything. Laura looked befuddled but she didn't seem uncomfortable with Fantasma holding her hands, and Fantasma seemed genuinely excited to take the younger girl on a trip, talking animatedly with her about it. I got up and walked off to let them talk, entering the room of the ship we'd designated for video entertainment. There, I found Creel and X fighting.

  "Come on, come on, come o- NOOOOO!" Creel screamed, the controller in his hand straining under his strength. "Damn it!"

  On the screen, TJ Combo got beat to death by Fulgore, then hit by a massive laser. X turned to look over at Creel, blue eyes unblinking.

  "Pardner… you keep expecting to beat me while using the same character, the same tactics, and the same moves."

  "He's a boxer, damnit, I know how to box," Creel scowled. "Besides, TJ wins in the lore!"

  "Lore doesn't matter for actual gameplay."

  "That is bullshit," Creel looked over at me. "Hey Dial."

  "Creel, X," I walked over and grabbed the controller from X just as the next fight started. And Fulgore started fighting without a controller.

  "YOU CHEATER!" Creel shouted, offended beyond belief as X continued to control Fulgore with his mind.

  "It's not cheating, I'm using my natural advantages. No different than if I was a human with faster reflexes," despite his calm southern accent, X sounded genuinely amused.

  "Play fair, X," I scoffed, handing the controller back to him.

  "You heard your dad, play fair," Creel grumbled.

  X let out a scoffing sound, but he gave me a wink as I walked out.

  I ended up passing the hanger doors as Abigail walked in with a datapad in her hand. She gave me a scowl, but I was starting to realize she just had resting model face. The kind of scowl look beautiful models had on runways, but always.

  "Bad news?" I asked, as the green clad woman walked up.

  "Depends on what you think of 'bad'. Congrats on having the highest bounty anyone on Earth has ever had," Abigail handed me the datapad in question.

  I took a look, then blinked. "...Holy shit, that's the same amount Luffy's first bounty had!"

  "I think it's a coincidence, but it's still fun," Abigail agreed. She was a big Anime fan, which was fun to learn about the tacturn woman. "Still, it means we need to take care of it. We can't continue our work while you're worth fighting a war over."

  "I mean, I'm always worth fighting a war over, but I see your point," I handed her back the datapad and we started walking through the ship. "I didn't notice us getting jumped by any bounty hunters."

  "It's a recent development," Abigail said, grumbling just a bit as we entered the bridge. "And one we need to deal with. Before we get attacked by every dipshit in the galaxy with a chip on their shoulder- JEFF!"

  Jeff looked over at us from the pilots seat he was currently perched in. In his mouth was a very nice looking jacket. A familiar one.

  "You little-" Abigail lost all semblance of being a tough disgruntled leader to grab at the jacket, pulling at it. Jeff grinned and pulled back happily, playing tug of war with her. After a brief 'fight' he finally let go, Abigail stumbling back. "You don't eat clothes! Got it!?"

  "...Raf!" He cheerfully barked at her, licking her hand softly.

  "...You little brat," Abigail said more softly, scratching his chin.

  "This is why he keeps acting up, you're too nice to him," I teased while taking her jacket and looking it over. "It's not even damaged. He just wanted attention, the punk."

  "Is that it?" Abigail cooed, petting Jeff a bit more. "Did my baby just want his pets?"

  "Raaaaar!" He growled, eyes closing with pleasure as he rolled over to get his belly rubbed. Hard to believe that only hours ago he had been devouring entire crews of pirates.

  "So what's the plan?" I asked, sitting down in the frontmost seat, bringing up a screen displaying the Defiant's files. "Hunt down the guy who sent out the bounty and convince him to cancel it."

  "The 'guy' is the Collector," Abigail spat out. "And he's disappeared entirely. After the museum he had on Knowhere got exploded by the Power Stone, he went to one of his more private ones while his main one gets reconstructed."

  That was troubling. "Well, the bounty hunters must know where to go."

  "I'm sure they do, but that information isn't something that a bondsman would share with us."

  "So then we just need to get captured by a bounty hunter… I've got an idea." I grabbed the controls to the Defiant and brought up a map. "Just need the right planet for this."

  "What are you thinking?" Abigail asked, holding Jeff in her arms as she walked over to me.

  I felt something land on my lap and looked down to see Nezuko curling up for a nap. I smiled, scritching her ears, then looked up at Abigail.

  "Well. I say, we do the most classic way of countering bounty hunters. We tell them where we are."

  Hope you guys like the start to things. It's a bit before Peter's Dad starts doing the blue blob thing, so that leaves me a bit to have fun with space things. Politics, pirates, bounty hunters, and planets nearly as big as your mom.