Starharvester (MCUxSW AU)

Chapter 25

"Alan!" Annabeth cried out, with tears on her face

She ran over and hugged me. I could feel that she was scared and relieved. I began patting her on the back. 

"It's okay, everything is alright now," I said with a smile "It's over"

"I...hic-I could hear them...hic-I'm scared..."

I forgot about her connection to the force. Kriff

"Don't worry, I'm here" I tried calming her down as I wiped her tears with my thumb. "I'm here"

...

Annabeth quickly fell asleep. Pepper took her from my arms and went to the bedroom with her. I could feel that the events had impacted everyone quite deeply. Although Pepper didn't show it, she was deeply afraid of me. Tony on the other hand may have some severe PTSD. 

A few droids delivered 6 bottles of Dark Blue Milk, Tusken Wind, Spotchka, and even a bottle of Starshine Surpise. 

A while later, Tony sat down in front of me. "We need to talk"

I opened a bottle of Dark Blue Milk for him. "Drink"

He looked the milky clear drink in front of him skeptically. 

"It's not poisoned" I told him as I poured myself more Spotchka

Tony took a small sip and begin coughing. "What the hell is this?"

"Alcohol, though it may be a bit more...unique in taste for you" 

"What kind of alcohol is this?"

"The space kind" 

"..." Tony looked at his drink for a while in silence "Look kid, we need to talk"

"What's there to talk about?" I asked as I downed my glass "People died. That's a fact"

"And you don't feel anything?" 

"I don't know them, should I feel something for strangers I don't know?"

"That's 1 billion lives!" Tony said with gritted teeth

"Tony" I said slowly as I opened a bottle of Starshine Surprise "You need to understand that, one billion is only a number for me. I killed nearly just as many beings,  organic and inorganic."

Tony looked at me, not knowing whether or not I was bluffing or joking. 

"and honestly, I won't give a damn if Earth was gone." I chuckled. "I may seem cold, but when you look at it from the view of a galaxy or even the entire universe, it is something you will have to get used to. Adapt and survive, or so they say" 

I paused before saying "Well, if I were to put it into Earth's perspective, would a country give a damn if another country perished or collapsed? No, they wouldn't, instead they will see the benefits above all else"

Man I forgot how much of a punch this drink have

Shaking my head I put the bottle away. I saw Tony looking at the drink, lost. 

I sighed and said "Look, I don't need you to see what I see nor do I need you to think about what I think. You can be a hero and all, I won't care. I only care about Annabeth and those around us, you and Pepper..."

"Who are they?" He interrupted 

"I thought, we talked about them"

"..." He stared at me

"Fine, the Galactic Empire, formally known as the Galactic Republic. Lets say it went from democracy to corruption to dictatorship." I grunted with distaste "Sideous really played us all like a kriffing chess game"

"What's your relationship with them?" Tony asked 

"It's complicated" I frowned, thinking back about all the... shitty memories

"How complicated?" Tony pressed

"...There were hundreds of thousands of us during our peak, people with my abilities, we were called Jedi, space wizards by some.  Those that came here yesterday...we call them the Sith." I chuckled before slamming the table with a fist "There are a few of them but they played us good. We willingly joined the war for the Republic, but Sideous, the Sith lord, unknown to us at the time was the chancellor. 

I took a deep breath and explained "Like the president on earth but space. He engineered the whole galactic war, the clone wars we called it. We used clones of a famous mercenary. Then during the final year of the conflict where we pushed back the opposing party to their homes, order 66 came around and we were gunned down by our own men."

"How were you involved? You only went to space the past two years." Tony asked, bringing up an important point

"You can say... the one on Earth was a clone and I came back after some...unforeseen accidents" I lied, staring at Tony calmly. 

Hell, even I don't know. How am I supposed to know how this works? 

Tony was deep into his thoughts so he didn't even think I was lying. To the average Earthling, galactic empires have the technology to do things that are seemingly impossible.  Though, the lie I came up with is actually a viable reason. 

Seeing that Tony is lost in his thoughts, I got up and said goodnight.