A/N:

Takes place during age of ultron final battle.

"Begone!"

I opened my eyes as the twin assault rocketed towards my downed body. I wanted to move, but exhaustion coupled with my injuries made the task difficult. By the time my back was lifted off the ground an inch it was abruptly slammed back down. The bright force bearing down on my existence was overwhelming… this was the end. Awash in an ocean of energy my sense of awareness faded as pain took over everything. Bright white turned to black.

'Trunks…'

One of Earth's greatest protectors met their untimely end in that universe. His unfinished work left to his young apprentice.

Other

Chapter 1:

An explosion tore me from unconsciousness. All senses on high alert as air rushed into my lungs. A hacking cough ran through my body. It felt as though my lungs hadn't seen use for quite some time. Another explosion sent debris flying my way, a large rock crashing into my abdomen a sign to pay attention to my surroundings. Grunting, I stood with great difficulty, body feeling strained all the while. The sudden rush of blood did not help with the already overwhelming stimulus.

'I know I was dead…how…?'

From experiencing years of darkness to suddenly be thrust back into the land of the living, I was still trying to collect myself. Loud metallic clanking and gunfire captured my attention, finally focusing on my predicament.

"No time for rest huh?" My voice was hoarse from disuse.

I gathered a small amount of ki in the palm of my hand to check everything was in working order. A bright warmth enveloped my hand before dissipating. It was unsurprising that my energy felt incredibly low given the state of my body. I didn't have to look to know I was covered in cuts, burns, abrasions and dried blood, my body felt about as good as the last time I'd used it. Willing ki through my muscles I started running towards what sounded like a large scale battle. It was a large rural area that was mostly in ruins, cries of anguish guided me down a narrow alleyway. Rounding a corner I was greeted to the sight of a humanoid looking machine blasting energy at a group of humans. Several bodies littered the ground as another fell lifeless. Rage instantly filled my bones.

"HEY!"

I rushed the machine with fury, its head turned to notice me. With a yell I slammed my fist down with intent to destroy. A dull clang rang out as the blow had minimal effect, I didn't have time to be shocked as the machine grabbed me by the throat before letting a beam lose right into my chest. I felt myself be blasted away with force. My momentary flight stopped as I crashed into a nearby building breaking down the wall. My chest was on fire, I slowly moved a hand to touch it only to retract it with a sharp intake of air, it hurt.

'What the hell is that thing?'

Looking up into the sky from within the ruined building a large group of machines identical to the one I had attacked flew past overhead. The sky also seemed very close for some reason.

'I don't have much energy, but clearly I need to use more than what I just did to take care of this thing. I didn't think I'd be this out of practice. What's more is there are a lot of these things; did the androids create an army somehow?'

My aura encased me in a white glow as I rose. The damn machine was ignoring me and already back to chasing down other humans. With a burst of speed I rammed my shoulder into the back of it. It didn't have time to realise what had happened before it exploded in a shower of scrap from the impact. Luckily it seemed they weren't too strong. I took note of the people still alive; they had stopped running and started to gather around. Seeing the bodies of the dead made my blood boil.

"So, you must be one of them then. You have my thanks." A man with a heavy accent spoke up.

I didn't know who he was referring to, however I did pick up a higher than average ki signature approaching. A blur of blue and silver appeared moments later startling most onlookers. It was a blonde haired man wearing what looked to be tight fitted running attire. Quickly garnering everybody's attention he addressed us.

"Listen up everyone, evacuation pods have touched down just north of here. Follow the path straight out of town. I made sure it was safe but that might change soon. Tell anyone else you see along the way. Go."

It was obvious this guy knew what was going on, he was however busy with the important task of evacuating everyone. I had to ask though.

"Is it the androids?" I asked. He tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"What?" The blonde man questioned.

"The cause of all of this." I clarified.

"If that's what you want to call him." He quipped, "But by the looks of that hole in your chest you should be worrying about yourself. Get moving."

He blurred out of vision before I had the chance to continue my questioning. A hand clasped itself onto my shoulder, the man from before.

"He's right you know, you've done your part. Let's get going." I noticed the majority of the group had already run ahead at full sprint. I gave the man a small smile.

"Go on ahead; I'm just going to catch my breath for a bit." I was lying, and he knew.

"Be careful."

I rushed ahead in the opposite direction of the evacuation point. I had noticed how the piece of land I was on was now above the clouds, I didn't know why or how but it was a big cause for concern. Spreading my senses out I noticed everyone looked to be heading towards the evacuation pods; the blonde haired guy luckily had gotten the word around. There were quite a few ki signatures that were higher than your average human, some a lot more so than others. Two of them were quite close, noticing the fluctuations in the energies I made a beeline in their direction. Pangs of pain made me slow my pace slightly, the momentary adrenaline of the last encounter losing its edge. I was sorely reminded of my body's pitiful state, as well as the new addition to the injury list. I was forgoing flight in an effort to conserve my energy, though true be told, my body wasn't currently handling ki augmentation so well. My muscles had felt like they were going to be torn apart from the small amount I had used previously. Growling and pushing past the pain I picked up the pace once again.

Plasma blasts and bullets rained down on a small house where I could sense the energy signatures of the two I was tracking. At least half a dozen machines floated outside in wait pinning them down. With a grunt of exertion my aura ignited into a fire of white wisps as I leapt into the unsuspecting robots. Approaching from behind them I grabbed the closest one by its leg. With a single spin I swung it around with force before letting it fly, smashing into another of its kind destroying them both. Having properly caught their attention the remaining four focused all efforts onto me. I was caught slightly off guard when one charged me, from previous encounters they seemed to favour ranged combat. Regardless, my reflexes did not fail me as I blocked a punch with ease. A second machine joined the fray with a punch also; I moved my other arm to block only for there to be no response as I was slugged with a loud crack. They all followed up with a hail of plasma blasts as I scrambled to find cover behind some ruins. I wasn't fast enough as they clipped my leg causing me to trip and take the brunt of their blasts. Blocking what I could with my singular arm, which I had apparently forgotten about, I willed all the energy I currently had to come to life. I wasn't ready for the pain that followed, nearly collapsing from the strain my power was putting on my body. After a moments reprieve I forcefully ignored it; these things were giving me far too much difficulty for what they were and it was going to end now. Disappearing in a burst of speed I gathered energy in my palm, with a roar I appeared in front of them unleashing a bright yellow light.

"MASENKO!"

I kept the blast controlled, not allowing it to expand too far, keeping the centre focal point. The intensity disintegrated all the machines caught in it, I kept the output going a few seconds longer just to be sure before relenting. Instantly I felt my body seize up in pain as my aura dissipated, falling to a knee I breathed harshly. My muscles throbbed and I could hear my brain pounding inside my skull. It was during my self-pity that the door from the nearest house was opened.

"Well I'll be damned." A masculine voice spoke. I looked up at the source; it was one of the power signatures. He was a middle aged man with short brown hair and a dark combat outfit wielding a bow. He was above the average human by a fair bit, but nothing into the realms of ki manipulation. Looking behind I noticed was the source of the other substantially stronger signature. It was a young looking brunette; she was wearing a long red coat and didn't appear to have a weapon, from the feel of it she most likely did not need one.

"You alright there? " The archer asked, bending down to offer a hand of support. "Those were quite the moves you had."

Upon closer inspection of my wounds the archer frowned, taking back his inquiry.

"Uh, stupid question I guess." He spoke and helped me to my feet. "Thanks for the hand though, we were in a bit of a bind there."

Giving a nod of acknowledgement I leaned against a wall for support, my body still on fire.

"You… you are a meta human correct?" It was the girl who addressed me this time.

"I can't say, I don't really know what one is." I gauged their reactions, "But… onto more important matters… what exactly is going on right now. What are these machines?" I asked slightly out of breathe. The brown haired man took a moment before sighing.

"It's a long story, but the short of it is, the guy who's about to drop this city back onto the earth is behind it all. Imagine a meteorite this big impacting the earth's surface, that's the damage we're talking. I take it you're willing to help out?" The archer questioned.

'It doesn't sound like it's android 17 and 18 then, it's not their style. Also he said guy, as in singular. Where the hell am I then, or when? Is this even my own world?'

A sharp glance from the lady was sent the archer's way.

"He is not coming; he would do more harm than good, look at him." She stated blandly.

At that moment the blue blur appeared again.

"Pietro." The women acknowledged

"All the civilians are packed and ready to go, where are the rest of the…" Pietro stopped as his eyes fell on me. "Hey, didn't I tell you to evacuate."

"I'm here to help, I can still fight." I stated.

"You can barely fight gravity as it is." The brunette noted.

"And you have picked up a few more injuries it seems." The speedster added.

"Look, the guy is strong, and we're kind of facing an end of the world scenario as is, it's not exactly the time to be picky." The bowman reasoned.

As I moved to give my reaffirmation a tickling feeling made itself known in my throat. I coughed and a large glob of blood landed on the ground in front of me.

"See?" The brunette's eyes glowed red and before I could respond a red haze overcame me. I was out before I hit the ground.

"Did you really just…?"

"Pietro, take him to the pods, we will be going ahead."

Nodding, Pietro took the body along to the rest of the civilians.

"Let's go then." She spoke to the archer.

"So you made up your mind then?" He asked.

"Yes, like you said, the moment I decided to fight, I'm an avenger now aren't I?"

A/N:

Critiques, reviews, etc all welcome. If I do a pairing I will make it not detract from the story. It's been a very long time since I've written anything. But I plan to do constant updates every few days until this hits 20k words as a bit of writing practice. From there we will see.

MT~