The doors slid open with a soft hydraulic hum, and Anakin Skywalker, guided by Sam, stepped into the main chamber of the Avengers Compound.
He wore his brown tunic, his boots striking a steady rhythm against the polished floor. The belt at his waist held his lightsaber, visible, unconcealed.
In front of them, arranged in a semicircle, stood Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, and Vision. All on their feet.
Anakin stopped a few meters away. He did not appear intimidated. His eyes scanned the room, each face, each posture. He had learned to read bodies and expressions from a very young age.
Steve was the first to step forward. Not aggressively, but firmly. His tone was clear.
"Welcome, Anakin Skywalker…"
The young Padawan held his gaze. He did not bow. He simply nodded once, respectfully, but without submission.
"Thank you for receiving me," he said, voice steady. "I understand you have questions. So do I."
His tone was direct and measured. Diplomatic, though none of them missed the spark of arrogance beneath it.
Natasha crossed her arms, studying him from head to toe, as if already analyzing his combat posture.
Wanda didn't take her eyes off him. He felt different. As if a stable, unfamiliar energy surrounded him, though it wasn't magic. It was something else.
Vision, for his part, observed him as if trying to solve a living equation.
Steve nodded slowly. "You claim to be a Jedi. Or a Padawan?"
"Padawan. Future Jedi," Anakin confirmed with a single nod.
"What is that?" Steve asked plainly.
Anakin blinked. His gaze moved across each of them, waiting for a reaction. A gesture. A flicker of recognition.
There was none.
Only silence. And looks that, while not hostile, were clearly blank.
"You don't know what a Jedi is…" he said quietly, not as a question, but as a realization.
He had assumed people who appeared to hold ranks beyond ordinary civilians would know.
"None of you?"
They all shook their heads. Natasha directly. Wanda almost apologetically. Steve with simple honesty. Even Vision, despite processing countless data banks, had nothing concrete.
Anakin exhaled briefly. He didn't dramatize it, but irritation crossed his face like a passing cloud.
"What planet did I end up on…?" he muttered under his breath.
He meant it for himself, but everyone heard it.
Wanda tilted her head, intrigued. Steve remained calm. Natasha continued observing, measuring. No one mocked him. No one dismissed him. They simply listened.
It was Vision who stepped forward next. His tone was inquisitive, yet filled with genuine curiosity.
"Then, what is a Jedi?"
Anakin looked at him.
But not just looked, studied him.
His eyes inevitably fixed on the center of Vision's forehead.
A gem.
The presence he sensed there was not living Force. Not energy as he understood it. It was something dense. Cold. But not malevolent. As if the very fabric of existence were contained within that stone.
It was not Force-sensitive.
And yet it was not separate from it either.
Anakin remained silent for a few seconds, studying him. Everyone noticed.
But when he spoke, he answered the question directly.
"A Jedi is a member of the Jedi Order. We fight for peace and justice in the Galactic Republic."
Steve held his gaze calmly. "So you're saying Jedi are peacekeepers. But what exactly are they? A religious order? A military force?"
"We are a millennia-old Order. We study, serve, and use the energies of the Force on the Light side. We are diplomats, mediators, explorers. But we are also warriors when necessary," Anakin said, making an effort to sound as diplomatic as possible.
Vision intervened, tone measured yet laced with curiosity. "And this training… does it require renunciation?"
He was curious for two reasons: Anakin's austere clothing, and the fact that he hadn't had money to pay for a Big Mac, though naturally that would be difficult if he didn't possess Earth currency.
"Yes," Anakin replied. "To become a Jedi, you must renounce attachments and possessions. The idea of a normal life. From a very young age, we leave our families, if we have them. We are trained in self-discipline, compassion, and detachment. We are taught not to fear. Not to hate. Not to love in a selfish way. Strong emotions… can lead to the Dark Side."
As he said that, his voice did not waver, but his expression hardened slightly. A faint crease formed between his brows, a shadow crossing his gaze for just a moment.
In that room, nothing went unnoticed.
Wanda saw it first. Steve did too. Natasha registered it just as clearly, she was a spy, after all.
They didn't comment at first. But it was Steve who spoke, calmly.
"Dark Side? Light Side?"
Anakin blinked and refocused.
"Yes. The Force has two sides. One Light. One Dark. The Light Side is balance, clarity, compassion. The Dark is anger, fear, hatred, the desire for power. It's tempting. Seductive. It grants power quickly. But it destroys you from within."
"I assume this Force you're talking about is what allowed you to crush the Lizard, Is it energy? Magic?" Wanda asked.
Anakin shook his head.
"It's neither. The Force is everything. It connects all living beings. It binds the galaxy together. It exists in all things and flows through all things. Few can feel it. Fewer can use it."
"Peace, discipline and a lethal weapon on your belt," Sam commented, one eyebrow raised, without malice.
Anakin tilted his head slightly, not taking it as an insult.
"A lightsaber is not a weapon of aggression. It's a tool of defense. It's symbolic. It represents who we are. But, yes, it is lethal. And if we draw it, it means we've exhausted every other option."
Then Anakin stepped forward.
"All right. My turn."
The Avengers exchanged glances. No one objected.
"What planet am I on?" Anakin asked.
"Earth," Vision replied precisely. "Third planet of the solar system. A stellar system located in the Orion Arm."
Anakin frowned. "Which part of the Outer Rim is this? What sector of Wild Space? What hyperspace routes pass through this region?"
Vision paused, if such a thing could be said of him, processing the terms.
"I'm afraid, we do not possess a galactic cartography that aligns with yours. This civilization," he gestured lightly around them, "has only recently left its atmosphere. We have reached our Moon. We are developing planetary exploration, but interstellar travel remains theoretical."
Anakin stared at him as if he had just said they still cooked over open fires.
"Moon…?" Anakin repeated, more to himself.
"Correct," Vision confirmed calmly. "Our technology has not yet achieved travel beyond our own solar system. Only automated probes."
Anakin exhaled. His brow remained furrowed. There was discomfort in his expression, but also calculation. An effort to understand.
"Do you have a star map? Something… something that shows your galactic position?" Anakin asked.
Vision nodded and walked to the nearest console. With a gesture, he projected a hologram. A spiral of stars and gaseous arms appeared, rotating slowly in the air.
"This is the Milky Way," Vision explained. "Our galaxy. Located within the Local Group of Virgo. We are here, in the solar system," he indicated a small point.
Anakin stepped closer, studying the hologram as if trying to force meaning into something that refused to make sense. His gaze scanned the map. He stepped back slightly. His frown deepened.
Then he went still.
He exhaled slowly, brought both hands to his head, and muttered,
"That's not possible…"
His fingers slid through his hair in growing frustration.
"This isn't my galaxy…" he murmured in disbelief.
"I'm not in the Outer Rim… not in Wild Space… not on any known route…" Anakin began speaking aloud to himself. "I don't recognize the stellar formations. The arms. The core. Nothing matches."
Then he looked up at Vision with a tired expression.
"And you haven't even left your solar system?"
No one answered.
Natasha watched him, half amused and half perplexed. Wanda pressed her lips together to avoid smiling. Sam turned slightly, hiding a grin. Steve remained composed.
Of course, the Jedi knew other galaxies existed. The universe was vast. In ancient records Anakin had studied in the Jedi Temple, there were mentions of satellite galaxies like the Rishi Maze, and of unknown species that had once come from beyond.
There were even theoretical discussions of extragalactic travel.
But those were legends.
Crossing between galaxies was not normal.
And now he was here.
In the middle of an unknown galaxy. No coordinates. No hyperspace routes. No shared history.
And worst of all, on a planet that still considered setting foot on its own Moon a monumental achievement.
How the kriff was he supposed to get back?
The technology he would need was extraordinarily difficult to obtain, and here they could barely manage ships capable of traveling within their own solar system.
"Do you know how much distance there is to the nearest galaxy?" Anakin asked.
Vision interlaced his hands behind his back.
"Based on our most recent measurements, estimates vary, but we are speaking of millions of light-years between galactic clusters. We have no method of calculating the distance to your point of origin without shared reference markers."
"Fantastic…" Anakin muttered.
For the first time since entering the room, his expression lost its firmness.
"We have a guest suite with full accommodations. You can go there and think," Steve offered, a trace of sympathy in his voice for the young man.
Anakin looked at him. He didn't question it. He didn't feign pride or respond with sarcasm.
"Thank you," Anakin said with a nod. "I suppose I need… a few minutes to organize all of this in my head."
"Follow me. I'll show you," Sam offered, already moving with easy familiarity.