ONE WEEK LATER:
In the dark of night over the skies of Blue Valley, Courtney comes flying in on her Cosmic Staff and lands in an alley before doing several backflips and aiming the staff at a garbage can that had a raccoon eating out of it.
"All clear!" Courtney called out.
Just as she said that, all of the other heroes came out of hiding or just strolled on up wearing their uniforms.
Riri and Jessica came down from the roofs as they were making sure there wasn't any Sentinels or AIM patrols approaching their nightly meeting.
Teresa and Peter were the only ones who weren't present at this, one currently being out of state on a mission for her boss, and the other...well, he's getting things worked out.
And Robbie Reyes is...he's been talking to his brother about leaving Blue Valley after the school year ends. Which is in two days.
"You sure there aren't any AIM Agents hiding in the trash can?" Chavez asked her.
Scott suddenly then leaped on her shoulder and laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! That's a good one!"
"Sarcasm duly noted, America." Courtney tells her. "So I've got twenty-seven minutes until curfew. How about we do one more loop around the Sub Shack?"
The entire team (both teams) all looked at her with annoyed faces as this is getting a little irritating. Ever since they fought and destroyed that AIM facilities that they were holding Cindy, Jubilation, and the other mutants in, AIM has loosened their patrols and curfews on Blue Valley to the point where they're walking around once a week looking for Mutants or Inhumans.
Mostly due to the fact that every one of the mutants in Blue Valley now live upstate in a mansion protected by a witch, a speedster, and a woman who could destroy the planet if she wanted to with a single quake.
"Beth, Riri, any sign of trouble?" Courtney asks for anything to do.
Beth then reached out to her goggles. "Chuck, anything?"
"Scanning...I've found nothing." Chuck stated.
"AMI, you there?" Riri asked, waiting for something to happen, but AMI's been on the fritz since she hacked into AIM's database.
"H-Hello, Riri. What can I help you with?" AMI asks.
"Checking in...again. Any sign of danger?" Riri asks of her.
Joey then finally came in with his cape. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I thought there was trouble."
"It's not like you missed much." Scott assured him.
"No trouble alerts." Riri confirmed. "No trace of Gambler or Abomination or Cindy Burman or Solomon Grundy or Sabretooth."
"Guys." Rick finally called out. "We beat them all, okay?" He reminded them all. "Gambler's a wimp. And Cindy probably got crushed when the dish caved in with Brainwave."
"I doubt it." Courtney stated. "And the others-"
"What others?" Rick questions. "Bobbie put Sabretooth on ice. Jane defeated Grundy. Scott fought and scotched Yellowjacket."
"I can proudly agree." Scott said on MJ's shoulder.
"Why are you still small?" MJ asked him.
"I find it comforting." Scott admits.
"Get. Off." MJ demanded of him, and Scott did as she demanded and leaped off and grew back to normal size before retracting his mask.
"Icicle was shattered to a thousand pieces. Dragon King is dead. Jessica sent Abomination flying to space as far as we know. You defeated Killmonger. Tigress and Sportsmaster are locked up. Ghost Rider murdered Whiplash and Kaecilius. Daisy destroyed Jiaying. Magneto has turned over a new leaf and is actually helping. Laura Barton killed Klaue. Ultron and every trace of him was destroyed by all of us. And Dr. Doom was allegedly destroyed back on Battleworld. The ISA and DA are done. The only real threat is AIM, and they're finally learning to back the hell off."
"I mean, he's got a point, Courtney." Bobbie agreed with him. "There aren't any real dangers in this town now that all of the Mutants and Inhumans are safe with our friends. We should just call it a night."
"I agree." Riri said as she took off her helmet and put it on her waist. "I get really hot in this thing, and I'm working on the kinks for the air conditioning. And AMI's software needs to be fixed, I think she caught a bug back at AIM."
Courtney couldn't believe what she was hearing from both sides of the teams. "We're the Justice Society of America and Avengers. We can't quit."
"And we're not." Joey promises. "But until we get called for another Secret Warrior fight, or AIM comes back for another round, or Hawkeye calls and says he has another base for us-"
"Which Hawkeye?" Scott asked as he grew to regular size.
"Either of them." Joey responded. "Basically, my point is, we're basically protecting Pleasantville as of now. Until something breaks the chain, we've got nothing to do."
"And I'm only here to find out who else was chosen for the Green Lantern ring." Jessica reminded them. "So I need to look into that."
"Okay." Courtney finally sees reason. "Maybe we could cut patrol from seven nights a week to six."
So close.
"Adios." Riri said as she placed on her mask and flew off into the sky.
"What she said." Joey said before walking away and allowing the cloak to float him away back home.
Yolanda then walked off. "Good night."
"Later." Rick agreed and strolled away.
"Sayonara." Chavez said and left with them all to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Safe House she's calling home.
"Good night." Scott told everyone before he shrank down and flew home on an ant.
"Well...I'm gonna do one last loop." Courtney tells them as MJ burst into flames and took off while Bobbie went off on an ice slide and slid down the block. "So if anyone wants to join, meet me at the Sub Shack in ten minutes."
Jessica sighed and decided to take off when she noticed Beth was the only one left.
"Want a lift home?" Jessica offered.
"Ooh, yes, please!" Beth said giddily. "Can it be in a flying horse?"
"A little less imaginative, but not boring. I guess." Jessica shrugged and used her ring to create just what she asked, and Beth climbed on top of it. "Hang on." She then flew off and left Courtney.
Courtney sighed and saw she was alone on this one. "Okay. No problem. I got it, see you guys tomorrow." She then looked at the staff as it kept warbling. "You'll never quit on me, will you?"
Teresa Richards was in the back of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Cargo Jet heading towards her mission assignment.
"The criminal organization known as LAF is targeting Victoria October, one of our heads of Bio-engineering." Kaitlyn Carter reported to Teresa.
"LAF?" Teresa questioned.
"Yeah, they've been trying to make some money off of the information from the DNA of Mutants and Inhumans. They've began to appear all over the country." Kaitlyn informed her on who and why.
"I thought Mutants and Inhumans were contained in Blue Valley." Teresa stated in confusion.
"They were, but somehow, for reasons we can't explain, they've began to spread off slowly but is continuously going through the city." Kaitlyn explained to her and showed a map of a blue dot on Blue Valley, and it began slowly growing over the US. "We lost contact with her plane a while after it took off." She got back into the current situation. "We can't allow the LAF to get ahold of the information that she has on these enhanced. If they get it, they might learn how to give others without powers and make them enhanced."
"Copy that." Teresa confirmed as she marched towards the cargo bay doors.
"Victoria's plane has already entered Tunisian airspace." Kaitlin warned her. "S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot be seen operating there. Meaning you have to be subtle, got it?"
"Just fly low, drop me, and I'll intercept them." Teresa promised as she strolled over to the edge. "I'll see you out there." She then dived out of the plane and waited until she was a safe distance from the plane to then activate her wings and fly off to the other jet.
Looking down to her wrist, she has a small screen showing a blue dot showing where Victoria's jet is and a red dot for her and showing a big red circle for the jet she needs to get to.
"Let's get some work done." Teresa said and flew in and immediately took notice of it. "I've got eyes on the plane, any sign of LAF?"
"No, we've got nothing. But we'll keep tracking." Kaitlin reported in.
Teresa then flew to the jet and made her way to the front before quickly stopping her wings and using her gloves to magnetically connect herself to it.
Taking a quick peak, she noticed the co-pilot was shot and dead and there's someone in the pilot seat without a care. "They've already hijacked the plane."
"Damnit, we need to make some calls." Kaitlin sighed.
Whine that happened, Teresa notice the pilot looked and jumped at the sight of her head. Working fast, she dropped off the plane and activated her wings to catch herself.
"Okay, I'm switching to Plan B." Teresa stated. She then quickly activated her goggles' X-Ray vision and noticed two people walking around in the back, tossing around someone who appeared to be tied up.
That must be Victoria October.
Flying in close, making sure to stay out of the sight of the windows, she then took out her targeting system and used it to outline the door of the plane before a small drone flew out of her pack and stated to use a laser to drill though it.
Teresa smiled and waited for it to be finished and return to her just as the door blows off its hinges and is sent flying to who-knows-where as she flies into the plane and grabs one of the guys before boosting herself higher and dropping him, immediately rolled by her pulling out her Icers and dropping to the ground.
One man comes running at her from behind, and she immediately turned around and shot him in the chest, immediately making him collapse and his nerves turned blue.
Just then, someone began shooting at her pack from behind, causing her to turn her wings into a shield and her to run backwards and slam him against it and knocking him against the wall.
Teresa then sighed and saw that was the last of them when she saw that Victoria October was now missing.
Looking, she saw some of the men actually began bailing and had glider packs, alongside having Victoria tried to them.
Before Teresa could shoot or approach them, they opened fire on her and that caused her to use her pack as a shield again.
The took it as an opportunity to escape, whilst Teresa saw it as a challenge and leaped after them.
They all began Tsung to use the canyon they were flying over as cover, but Teresa didn't understand what they were thinking and just flew after them.
"You think you can lose me that easily?" Teresa asked just as a helicopter came out of nowhere. "Shit!" She cried as she quickly flew off as to avoid getting shot down.
"Language." Kaitlin commented.
"Shut up! I'm trying to focus here!" Teresa stated as she flew over and below a dozen rock formations.
She then kept flying as missiles were shot at her, so she did her best to not be blown up and dodge every single explosion and every missile that were locked onto her.
"Okay, robo Red Wing, I need you to help take them down." Teresa said to the named drone.
The drone then flew off of her pack again and quickly targeted their helicopter propellers and blew them whist Teresa saw the second helicopter with the others on it, and the fact she had two missiles on her back.
"We're almost free, boys!" The leader of LAF stated. "She won't follow us past the boarder."
Just then, they heard a boost pack and looked to see Teresa with her Icers in hand. "Hi."
Teresa then immediately shot at the two of them that were on board and grabbed Veronica before leaping out of the plane just before the missile found hit and blow the helicopter.
Veronica screamed for a second, not realizing what's happening, whilst Teresa just flew her down to the ground where they had a few S.H.I.E.L.D. friends waiting for them.
"Here's your scientist. And I gotta go see my brother." Teresa said as she dropped Veronica off and then walked off before she gets back to flying back to Blue Valley.
She wonders how her brother's been holding up recently.
"Dad!" Peter cried as he saw Doom electrocute his father, Mr. Fantastic, and Teresa quickly dropped down and saw the scorches on the back of her Dad's head. She also saw how it went all across his body and his entire mind looked to be scorched.
"Dad, stay with us. We're almost there." Peter begged his father, taking his hand.
"Promise...promise me..." Reed breathed out, that if it weren't for Peter's super hearing would've been blocked out by the doomsday machine. "Promise me...you'll look after each other..."
"Dad, no, please don't leave us." Peter pleaded with his father. "I'm not leaving you!"
Reed did his best to give his son a smile and confused the two kids. "That's the difference...that's why you'll be greater. Greater than us..." he breathed out and they couldn't hear his heart beating anymore.
"Dad!" Teresa cried in agonizing pain.
"Peter..?"
Peter was suddenly snapped out of his trance and looked to see he was back in the S.H.I.E.L.D. therapist office.
"Peter, I asked you a question." The therapist, Andrew Garner, said. "Are you still having those flashes?"
"No." Peter answered as he looked around the room and saw the gray walls and giant painting of a forest behind him that was the therapist office.
"We've been doing this long enough that I can tell when you're lying." Andrew stated to him. "You seem a little off lately. Something happen recently?"
"Just rescued a bunch of Mutants and Inhumans that were being experimented on by Advanced Idea Mechanics. We went in, got the job done, sent them somewhere where AIM can't touch them without getting through our friends." Peter answered with a shrug. "And I am now sharing my home with one of my old friends who has similar powers to mine."
"Peter, your friends were worried about you. They think that whole...what was it, Battle-planet?" Andrew was trying to remember what it was called.
"Battleworld." Peter corrected him.
"Right, they think Battleworld did something to you." Andrew explains. "So, tell me about your recent flash."
"I was back on Battleworld, right after Doom electrocuted my father...he was asking me to promise that I'd take care of my sister and vice versa." Peter answered him. "And I've been doing everything to live up to that promise. But I'm also trying to keep this world safe. And I can't do it with all of my friends thinking there's something wrong."
"Look...Peter, one day you're gonna have to open up and understand that some people need to help you rather than you helping them." Andrew told him. "And you can trust people."
"I trust people." Peter stated.
"Is that so? Let me see your phone." Andrew asks of him, and Peter took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to him.
Andrew looked through his contacts and sees he has MJ, Jane, Teresa, Clint, Laura, and Bobbie on speed dial. "You have six numbers out of the how many friends you have?" Peter sighed and rolled his eyes at that, no real answer for him. "And you've been ignoring recent texts from Courtney, and the only person you've called in the past week is your Uncle Clint. You are isolating yourself." He then tossed the phone back to Peter and his reflexes caught the phone with ease. "You have no hobbies since Battleworld, your friends only hear from you either in school or in costume."
"You know, it's starting to feel like you're judging me. Because that's really unprofessional, you know?" Peter commented with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'm trying, okay? I'm...I'm doing the best I can. I didn't really have a moment to deal with anything. It was all...battle, fight, death, new world, battle, fight, death, new world. Then after all of that, I was dealing with the end of the freaking metaverse."
"So, now that the battle's over, what do you want to do?" Andrew asks.
"Time." Peter whispered to himself. "I just want time to figure out who I am. Because I'm not sure anymore. I thought I knew who I was supposed to be...a hero. I thought I was Spider-Man. But now I'm not so sure anymore."
"Just remember that you don't have to do it alone, because it becomes harder to let people back in." Andrew explained to him. "I know that you've been through a lot, but you're back in control of your life. You're back on your planet, and you're being paranoid. You're free."
"To do what is my biggest question." Peter stated.
Back home, Courtney was looking over the files of all the villains from the past that weren't part of the JSA or DA in the basement when Pat found her.
"Court?" Pat asked in shock at what she's up to. "It's four in the morning. What are you doing down here?"
"Going through these files." Courtney said.
"Please don't tell me that you've been down here all night." Pat pleaded to her.
"We agreed to be honest with each other, so...yes, I've been up all night." Courtney answers honestly. "But with good reason."
"Okay, well, what about your history final?" Pat asks, not concerned about all of this in four in the morning.
"Oh, I'll Ace it." Courtney promises and picks up one of the files which had a photo of a woman wearing an all green version of Wand's outfit. "What ever happened to Enchantress?"
"The Enchantress?" Pat asked before thinking back to what happened to her. "Uh...Thor took her back to Asgard where she was tried, and he didn't bother telling us the outcome."
"Uh...okay. That's a little vague." Courtney commented before picking up another file, this one having a man wearing all armor and a strange helmet and a blue face. "What about Kang the Conqueror?"
"Actually he took care of himself, strangely the day that Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman had Peter." Pat confesses. "During the fight, he was talking about how something changed in the timeline, but he swore he'd be back one day. We haven't seen him since."
"Uh, okay." Courtney guessed and picked up another case. "Trickshot?"
"Hawkeye shot three arrows in his chest. And one in his head." Pat informed her. "For good measure."
"Yikes, that's brutal." Courtney commented before picking up another. "Baron Zemo?"
"Okay, that's enough." Pat called before she did it again.
"It's not nearly enough, Pat." Courtney stated as she stood up. "I've got a responsibility as Stargirl to stay vigilant."
"You've also got responsibilities as Courtney Whitmore to focus on normal life. Going to school, hanging with friends. Not just all of this stuff." Pat reminded her. "Okay? Living this life, it doesn't mean your normal life takes a backseat, it's about finding a balance. Taking advantages of times like this when it's quiet."
"We only think it's quiet. AIM is still collecting Mutants and Inhumans." Courtney reminded him. "And whatever that thing that came here last night."
"AIM hasn't done anything like that since you and the others rescued all of their captured people back at that facility." Pat reminded her. "All this with AIM is done. And whatever you saw down here, you might've hallucinated from lack of sleep."
"It wasn't a hallucination. It was a warning. But if that's the case, then why haven't Kate or Clint come back?" Courtney asked and Pat couldn't argue with that. "They obviously know there's something bigger at play here. If we want to help them, we're gonna have to turn over some rocks."
"We'll, I think you turned over enough rocks for one night." Pat said and gestured for her to go to bed. "Time to hit the sack."
Courtney sighed and knew he was right and decided not to argue any further and decided to do what he says and goes to bed.
But that night still haunts her.
What did that girl mean by it's because of Peter?
Why should she fear him?
And who even was she?