Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. Stella and the plot are mine.
The Third Hour.
Stella wandered the streets of Staten Island by herself. There was not a soul in sight and that worried her deeply. Where were all the people? Where had they gone? She had begun to fear the worst.
Every noise startled her. The sighing and setting of a building, the flicker of a street lamp. Everything was infinitely more terrifying when she was alone than if Thor had been with her. Her fear only intensified her feeling of inferiority, that she wasn't a hero, that she would fail.
After walking for what felt like hours, she saw a splash of red in the distance. The fabric billowed out from behind an overturned car and a familiar object rested not far from it.
"Thor!" Stella yelled out as she broke out into a run and rushed over to the fallen god. She fell to her knees and cradled his head in her hands. "Thor! Thor, please wake up."
"Ugggghhh," the god groaned out. "I am awake. I am...by Odin's beard my head is in great pain."
"What happened?" Stella asked, her eyes shifting around constantly as her heart rate sped up. She did not like staying in one place for too long.
Thor sat up with Stella's help. "That fiend," he began. "I had the upper hand and then he used Mjolnir against me. Gods," he rubbed his head, "is this what my foes feel like when they are met with my mighty hammer?"
Stella eyed the enchanted object laying by them, "I do not doubt it."
"Stella," Thor grabbed her arm, "you must listen to me now. Fury contacted me and gave me an address."
Stella's eyes lit up, "Fury called?!"
"Yes," Thor nodded. "He wanted me to take you to-"
"FOUND YOU!" A voice screamed out as something swooped down and knocked Stella over and across the street. She skidded along the asphalt and the skin along her forearm and elbow tore open. She yelled out in pain as she rolled and slammed into the door of a car. The alarm started blaring out at her and she held her hands to her ears as silver blood trickled down her arm and onto the ground.
"Stella? Stella?!"
Stella held her head in pain still and mumbled, "T-tony?"
"Yeah, it's me, Supernova. Listen, you can beat him. We need you to get to this address. Can you do that for me? For us?" He told her the address and directions.
Molecule Man appeared on the sidewalk and started walking towards her. She backed up into the car even further. From the corner of her eye she could see the hood hanging off due to the force of her impact. She smiled at the memory of a car hood and brought her non injured hand up to reach for it.
"Supernova? Are you there?"
"Your friends can't save you now," Owen called to her as he took slow, deliberate steps towards her. A wave of clear energy bubbled around his hand, waiting to be released.
"No," Stella called out in her tiny voice, "but I can."
Quickly, she thrust the hood of the car from over her shoulder and hurled it at Molecule Man. He raised his hands up and disintegrated the hood but Stella had already climbed to her feet, staggering to regain her footing before taking off in a run. Her pink hair whipped behind her as she ran in the direction Tony had told her to go.
"Do you know where I am?!" Stella yelled into her uniform's comm. as she ran faster, blindly navigating her way.
"Maria is tracking your coordinates," Tony's voice was soothing on her ears. "We got you, Supernova."
She could hear someone advancing behind her through the dark streets and her breathing started to come out in rasps. Fearful gasps escaped her throat as she held her hands out in front of her, trying to see through the faint glow of the forcefield overhead.
"I'm right behind you," Owen's voice was low, terrifying, and dangerously close.
"Not anymore!" Thor's voice boomed out and the sound of Mjolnir smashing onto the ground met Stella's ears. The ground came up from underneath her as the hammer sent out a wave of enchanted energy. She stumbled as the ground rose up, fell into a roll, and swiftly righted herself back onto her feet. Stella didn't look back as she continued to run, Tony's voice guiding her the entire way.
"Bruce," Steve warned, "the ceiling doesn't look like it's going to hold for two more hours. Do you think we can move this thing?"
Bruce stopped working and looked up. Steve was right. The ceiling was cracked beyond belief. No doubt it was all of the heavy equipment from the research lab above them that was adding weight to the already crumbling floor. Even without the crushing force of the barrier, Stark Tower would sooner collapse in on itself than be slowly dissolved into microscopic particles every hour.
Bruce shook his head frantically, "I can't move it. It's too heavy. And at this point it's too unstable. I'll just have to work faster."
Steve looked up again, his eyes panicked, "Much faster."
Natasha patted a now calm woman on the shoulder before walking away and back into the crowd.
"When are we getting out of here?" A man asked her. He was huddled up by the receptionist's table, a woman by his side.
"As soon as we can get the forcefield down, sir," Natasha told him in what she hoped was a soothing voice. She was on edge at the moment, and her professionalism could only be tested so much.
"And how long is that going to take?"
Natasha narrowed her eyes, "Well, when the barrier comes down, you'll have your answer."
The man rolled his eyes and mumbled to the woman he was with, "Great, our lives are riding on a bunch of freaks."
Natasha rounded on him and opened her mouth to angrily retort but a warm hand on her wrist stopped her.
"He's not worth it. You know that," Clint's voice calmed her down.
The female assassin took a deep breath, "You're right. He's not." She gave the man the stink eye before walking away with Clint.
"I don't like being helpless, Clint," Natasha said to him as they ascended the entryway stairs. They had a better vantage point from this angle - Clint's idea, obviously.
"We're not helpless."
"We're not fighting," she pointed out with a sigh.
The archer threw her a smirk, "You almost were."
Natasha couldn't help but smile as she shrugged, "He had it coming."
"We're not freaks, you know," Clint said after a while. "You do know that, right?"
Natasha licked her lips before nodding slowly, "Stella has made it a point to tell us that we're all normal."
Clint chuckled, "She doesn't even know what 'normal' is."
Natasha smiled slightly, "To her, we are normal."
Clint shrugged, "Maybe she's right."
"She is," Natasha said with finality in her voice. "We're all human. We're all normal."
"You-" Clint began but was cut off by a loud shaking.
Natasha's eyes went wide, "That's not supposed to happen yet." She looked down at her watch, "It hasn't been an hour!"
The forcefield flickered and dulled before becoming solid again.
Clint blinked, "What the..."
"What just happened?" Natasha wondered.
Clint shook his head, "I have no idea."
Stella ran faster than she had ever run in any training exercise Tony and Steve had put her through. Her heart was pounding and tears were leaking steadily from her eyes because she was just so afraid, so terrified of being alone - of being alone and failing everyone.
"Don't cry, Supernova," Tony's voice soothed. "We're gonna get you out of there."
"Stella!" Bruce's voice crackled over the wavelength.
"Bruce!" Stella said happily, her eyes lighting up, "You are alright!"
Bruce marveled at the fact that Stella was in danger and yet she was worried about him, about Bruce.
"Yeah, Stell, I'm fine."
Stella stopped in front of what she hoped was the building Fury wanted her to find.
"Masters' Sculpting Company?" She asked.
"That's it, Supernova. That's good, you're there. It's where I ordered your ice sculpture, by the way," Tony sounded proud of that still.
"Can you get in, Stella?" Fury's voice asked.
Looking around for any signs of life, Stella quickly and quietly ran up to the door. She tried the handle, but it wouldn't budge.
"I am unable to enter. What should I do?"
"Blast the hell out of that door," Fury commanded. "We don't have time to worry about damages."
"O-okay," Stella's voice was shaky as she held her hands out. A brilliant silver glow encompassed her hands and she shot the bolts out towards the door. Blue streaks flickered along the metal as the orbs crashed into the building. The door blew clear off and a huge hole in the wall was left in its place.
"Stella?!" Bruce's voice was worried. "Are you okay? Stella?!"
"I am unharmed, Bruce," she said warmly. "I am safe."
A crashing sounded from behind her and she whipped her head around in time to see a flash of green followed by a streak of red.
"Thor and The Molecule Man are here!" She whisper-screamed into her intercom, voice shrill and panicked.
"Get inside!" Tony, Fury, and Bruce all said.
Stella's eyes went wide as she rushed into the huge factory warehouse. Inside was dark and smelled of paint and something else that Stella couldn't quite place. Catwalks covered the ceiling and metal hooks and pulleys hung from them. Huge vats were loosely covered with tarps and ceramic throwing wheels were set up all over the warehouse floor. Boxes upon boxes labelled 'FRAGILE' were stacked by a loading bay which had its metal door pulled down and padlocked.
Stella stepped forward and stopped short. Her eyes looked down her nose as she breathed. Her breath was visible. But it wasn't cold outside...
"Where will you run now, Starlight?" Owen's voice echoed off the walls. "You will freeze before you escape."
Stella ducked out of fear and scrambled to hide behind one of the covered vats.
"Is he there?" Tony asked.
"Yes," Stella whispered, fear evident in her voice as she peeked her head over the vat.
"Stella, you listen to me," Fury said. "I need you to get in one of the vats."
"What?!" She exclaimed a little too loudly.
Owen turned at the sound of her voice and smirked. He held out his hand and blasted the vat she was behind into tiny little pieces. Stella screamed out and ran further into the darkened factory. Her uniform snagged on a hanging hook and she struggled to release herself. She panicked as she desperately wriggled around. Using all of her strength, she tore herself free from the hook, her superhuman abilities pulling the hook and its supporting beam from the ceiling. She barely dodged out of the way before the giant metal slab came crashing down.
"Stella, Stella, Stella," Owen chided. "When are you going to learn that all you do is destroy? You're not one of the good guys."
Stella turned in circles, frantically searching for Owen in he darkness, "That is not true! I am one of the good guys!" She ducked behind another vat, "And you could be too!"
"Stella, get in the vat!" Fury commanded again.
"Friend Stella? Where are you?" Thor's voice called from the front of the factory.
Owen turned his head towards Thor and Stella threw out a starbolt in his general direction, and then another, and then another. Molecule Man flew across the factory and slammed into the 'FRAGILE' marked boxes. They toppled over onto him and the ceramics tumbled out, crashing and breaking into shards on the floor.
"Woah," Tony's voice cracked to life over the frequency, "Whatever you did, keep it up. The forcefield just weakened over here."
Stella's entire body was shaking as Thor rushed over to her.
"We are in darkness," Thor told her, "We have the advantage. Our enemy will not be able to dissolve our blasts as quickly if we surprise him with them."
"But I must get in one of these strange bathtubs. Fury ordered me to do so!"
Thor nodded at his friend, "Very well. Then I shall distract him whilst you find a suitable bathtub."
Tony rolled his eyes from his end, "Oy."
Thor powered up Mjolnir and set a wave of electric energy hurtling towards Molecule Man. The blast hit him square in the chest and more ceramics came crashing down. The villain staggered to his feet, blindly shooting out a forcefield which Thor managed to jump over by grabbing onto another hanging hook. The god shot out a blast again and it sailed into its target once more.
Back at Stark Tower, everyone watched the forcefield continue to weaken.
"Enough!" Owen shouted out just as Stella was climbing into one of the vats. She quickly threw her other leg over and hugged her knees to her chest as she crouched inside. Owen did not see this.
"I will crush your precious Tower, you pathetic fools! How can you possibly sit there and act like you must take orders from humans. YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM! Surely even you are aware of this, God of Thunder. Huh? Well, aren't you?"
"Man of Molecules," Thor held out a hand, "it does not have to be this way. You do not have to resort to a world of evil."
"Yes, I do," Owen gritted his teeth and destroyed another vat. Stella was not inside that one.
"You do not," Thor shook his head. "What happened to your mother, it was not your fault. You should avenge her death by doing good, should you not? A loved one should never be mourned in the company of evil deeds. What glory will that bring her? What remembrance except that of a son who showed no mercy to a peaceful people."
"Spoken like a true outsider," Owen snarled. Yet, his voice held less force than before. His head began to hurt immensely, his thoughts jumbling up inside of him.
"You need help, Owen Reece," Thor used his real name. "We can help you."
"No one can help me," he destroyed another vat. Stella covered her head as the one next to her exploded.
"Yes we can!" Thor walked forward, attempting to obstruct Owen's view of the vat that Stella was inside of. "You are not alone. I myself came to this planet, hurt and scarred by my own father. I was shunned by my family for being so ignorant, so stupid. I did not turn to a life of crime, Owen. There are people here who can help you."
Owen's migraine increased tenfold and he gritted his teeth together, screaming out in agony, "NOOOO!"
He sent out a blast and Thor dove out of the way as it tore through the air and spiraled towards the vat Stella was in.
"NO!" Thor called out, reaching a hand towards the vat and knowing he could do nothing to stop the blast.
"Stella!" Tony and Bruce called as Stark Tower shook and the next floor collapsed and dissolved. The ceiling above Bruce began to give way as he fell to the floor, his body turning green and growing larger. Steve rushed forward and grabbed him around the shoulders, trying to calm him as the entire building rumbled around them. Clint grabbed Natasha's hand as she lost her footing and he held her as the two of them watched the forcefield around them shrink up to the windows, shattering the glass and raining the shards down on the guests below.
Fury's chin trembled as he shut his eyes, waiting for the seconds to pass. He hoped his plan would work. He hoped he would not fail.
The third hour was over.
...woo? I just love cliffhangers, in case y'all didn't notice...hehe. Um, yeah. So, that happened. I want to say that it's all uphill from here but...you know me...it's not going to be that way. Do not fret, I promise not to break your hearts too much. I don't want to drive you guys away from the sequel, haha.
Anywho, there's another update for you. And for all you comic book fans like me out there, I put in a little homage paid to Alicia Masters who is part of the Fantastic Four series. She's the one who helps them defeat Molecule Man in the comics. She's a blind sculptor :]
I hope you guys enjoyed to the best of your ability these new chapters! The next one should be out hopefully tomorrow and if not then Saturday for sure!
Your reviews keep me going and they are all wonderful, fantastic, and heart warming. I love you all very dearly!
Stay tuned! xx Nikki