Chapter 7: Yautja

Virgil spent several hours on Neptune in his little sanctuary before remembering the time. After giving Cleo one last look and goodbye, Virgil flew through the planet's freezing atmosphere once again before he ended up back in space.

He then opened another wormhole and appeared in the skies above New York. Soon enough, Virgil landed in a cemetery. There were two graves in front of him that belonged to both of his parents.

"Hello, Mom and Dad. This will probably be the last time that I will be visiting you guys on your anniversary. Things up in space are a bit more hectic so it is difficult to keep track of time up there.

So many things have happened since we last got the chance to speak. But I will not bore you will the details. I'm sure that if Heaven exists, she has already explained everything to you."

Virgil then began to clean off the leaves that had fallen on their graves that day. Once everything was in order and tidy, he was about to leave when he saw someone approaching out of the corner of his eyes, Virgil lost it.

Iron Man was flying to try and speak with Virgil since things had ended badly between the pair last time they had met. While he was in the sky, Iron Man suddenly felt a large amount of weight coming over his body and sent him crashing toward the ground.

'Shit! He saw me first,'

"Jarvis! Emergency safety measures, Code Grav," Iron Man spoke through his comms.

"Not enough time, Master Stark. You will..." before the mechanical voice could finish speaking, Tony had crashed into the ground.

Iron Man's armor was severely cracked and damaged while the man inside was not much better off. Although his life was not in danger, Iron Man was helpless to whatever came next.

"Jarvis, call for help," Tony said while coughing up blood.

"I did 3 minutes after you left the mansion, Sir. I did not know what you were thinking when you were responsible for what happened last time so I made sure that you would get help soon. The nearest Avenger is 1 minute out."

"Thanks, J. That might be a little late though."

Virgil was hovering over the broken armor and body of Iron Man. Chaotic forms of the 5 elements surrounded Virgil's body as the rage inside of his mind was slowly being brought to the surface.

"You were actually stupid enough to show up in front of me? After what you did, Stark?" Virgil asked.

"Winters! Let's talk this out!" Tony tried to plead while also buying more time.

"What do we need to talk about, Stark? The fact that we agreed that me and Cleo were retired after I accepted to do that last mission you needed me to?

The fact that you requested Cleo to do another dangerous mission while I was gone? Or was it that you abandoned her to face Abomination and the Leader while you and the other Avengers retreated?

That you took my fiancee and unborn daughter from me? Which one of these things do you wanna talk about?" Virgil spat out with literal fire.

Hearing everything that Virgil said, the guilt rushed through Tony's body. Because everything Virgil said was true and he could not deny any of it. The pair made a deal, he broke it, and he ended up causing the death of the woman.

"I...I'm sorry, Winters. I truly am," Tony said in his most sincere voice.

"And I don't care. The only reason why you and every other member of the Avengers are still alive is because of Cleo. She had tamed the beast within me, but don't think she will be there to protect you forever. I suggest if you ever see me walking down the street from now on, you walk the other way," Virgil sincerely suggested.

This was something that most people forgot about Virgil. He was not originally a member of the X-Men but had been a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and one of Apocalypse's Horsemen.

It was not until Cleo had come along that Virgil had truly mellowed down and became a hero. The Beast that had been subdued by the Beauty.

But with her gone, no one could say if he would still keep the calm and composed personality he had been developing over the years. Stark was not given a chance to think about it.

Virgil opened a portal in front of himself and walked through it before he ended up in the skies above Coruscant. The moment the portal closed, several other Avengers had just managed to show up.

No one knew who had attacked Tony since he refused to say or what had happened that day, but all of them made sure to keep their guards up from that day forward.

---

Virgil made his way into the Hunters Guild where he was able to claim the bounties for both the item and the 5 fugitives. In less than a day, Virgil had earned billions of credits. This was more than what he had earned during the past 3 months that he worked as a hunter.

Before Virgil could leave the Hunters Guild, he was stopped by a female Luphomoid with purple skin. The woman wore the standard Guild employee uniform. She had a badge on her chest that represented she was the leader of this guild branch.

"One moment, Mr. Winters," the Luphomoid stopped him. "Do you mind following me back to my office?"

Virgil nodded his head before opening a small portal and throwing the two cases of credits within it and sending it back to his current base. He then followed the Guild Branch leader back up to her office where the pair sat on opposite sides of the desk.

"This was a very high profile case that you have completed perfectly. Not only were you able to track them all down with very few clues but you also were able to subdue all the targets without a single death. Minus the hunter that opened fire on you without reason.

You also made two out of the 3 clients that made the bounties very happy. The Ravagers do have some complaints about not getting either the fugitives or the item but in the eyes of the galactic law, you have done nothing wrong. The fugitives were under the custody of the Nova Corps and the item was the property of the Kree Empire.

With your results from the past 6 months and the abilities you have displayed over and over, the Guild has decided to give you the rank of Yautja. This rank means that you are one of the top Hunters in the galaxy and only 5 are currently active in the universe.

Your authority is on par with or even surpassing a guild branch leader and even leaders or planets must show you respect equivalent to high royalty on their planet or within their empire.

You will be able to have up to 50 bounties active for you to hunt instead of the usual 5. This increase in rank also gives you a weekly salary of 5,000 credits even if you sit around and do nothing.

And before you worry, you will be given no more responsibilities or declare loyalty to the guild. All the guild wants the universe to know is that we have uncovered such talent within our ranks and our ability to complete bounties should not be challenged."

Virgil thought over the benefits he would get with the increase in rank. And also due to not having to declare his loyalty to the Hunters Guild in case anything major happened like it falling out with the 3 great empires, Virgil saw no reason not to accept it.

"Fine. I will accept the rank of Yautja," Virgil told the branch leader

Hearing that he had accepted, the branch leader was ecstatic. She took one of Virgil's watches and deleted his old hunters guild app before replacing it with a new one.

This new app had a different symbol than the normal one of the hunters guild. It looked like an alien helmet with 3 dreadlocks coming out of each side.

"This new app already has all your information filled out. It will also give you access to information that normal hunters or even governments are unable to get," the branch leader quickly explained.

Virgil nodded and thanked her before getting up from his seat and making his way down to the first floor of the Hunters Guild. Before he could even reach the last step, there was already chatter.

"A new Yautja has been announced!"

"Really? Who is it?"

"'Virgil Winters'. Sounds human."

"He was the one that completed the new bounty that was just put up today."

"Just that got him the title of Yautja? Must not be anything special."

"Ha! Who are you kidding? I heard those 5 took out 3 Kree warships in just a cargo ship while he was able to deal with them effortlessly."

"Not only that, but that man is also The Sage from Tatooine. He had killed a Great Krayt Dragon in single combat."

"Shit! If that is not one of the best hunters in the guild, I don't know what is."