Black Star: The Legend Begins

Ŧ๏υя︎𝐓︎𝓔︎𝓔︎𝓷

LEXI! Come on, Lexi, wake up!”

The voice cuts through the silence like a knife. Knife. In a daze, you look down. Everything is hazy, a faint red tint still covering the world.

“Lexi?” the voice breathes.

You blink a few times as you look up, trying to clear your vision. But somehow, the more you blink, the brighter the red becomes. It even begins to change shape, blue and black molding it into a body. A mask covers the face, but it doesn’t matter, because the shape has become clear enough for you to recognize who it is.

“Peter?” The word is slurred slightly, having been filtered through a tongue that doesn’t want to work properly.

“Lexi! You’re okay!” Peter smiles, relieved.

“I…” you look down at your chest. There isn’t a drop of red on it. You run your hand over the spot the knife touched, but there’s nothing. No blood, no torn fabric, no scars. A quick pinch to the arm confirms you’re not dreaming or dead, either.

“Hey… are you okay?”

“I– dunno,” is all you can say. Your brain is sluggish and foggy.

“Alright, well, um, we should go back to the Quinjet. You can rest there.”

You agree, because you’re in no position to argue. Your mask feels suffocating. You need air.

“Mr. Barton, Lexi’s awake,” Peter says into comms. “I’m taking her back to the jet now.”

“Great. Then you can help me with Rogers and Thor.”

“Okay,” Peter responds, standing up.

You try to stand up as well, but fall back down almost immediately.

“Here.”

Peter extends a hand to help you up. You put your hand in his, and he pulls you upright, then lifts you onto the Shooting Star.

“Um… AVIS? Can you– can you steer the Shooting Star back to the Quinjet?”

“Right away, Mr. Parker,” she replies, sounding concerned.

When you arrive at the Quinjet, Peter lifts you back onto the ground and helps you into a seat. Clint and Natasha are already there. You pull off your mask and set it on the seat next to you, gratefully gulping down the unobstructed air. AVIS parks the Shooting Star next to you. Then Clint and Peter leave to go look for Steve and Thor, leaving you and Natasha alone in your distracted and dazed silence.

★★★★★

“The news is loving you guys,” Hill says. “Nobody else is. There’s been no official call for Banner’s arrest, but it’s in the air.”

It turns out you weren’t the only one Wanda went after. The only three who walked out okay were Peter, who’s sitting with you, Tony, who’s absorbed in a call with Hill, and Clint, who’s taken over steering the jet. Natasha, Steve, and Thor got nightmare sequences like you. But then… she went after Bruce. He Hulked out and went on a rampage through a city near the salvage yard, injuring tons of people and destroying everything in his path. You don’t know if there were any deaths.

“The Stark Relief Foundation?” Tony asks.

“Already on the scene,” Hill assures him. “How’s the team?”

“Everyone’s… we took a hit. We’ll shake it off.”

“Well, for now, I’d stay in stealth mode and stay away from here.”