CHAPTER THREE: First Glance
Four year earlier...
Star-Gazer was a menace… After seeing the man in action on his local news broadcast. It was clear that the bronze skinned woman he attack was his foil. With her incredible healing ability and her skilled combat with her katana swords.
Izuku watched the heroine dodge him and landed an encounter attack on the villain. They were equal, magnets. Positives and negatives to each other. Their exchanges of blows were interrupted by a truffle brown skinned lady flying in assistance to the bronze skinned woman. The truffle skinned woman was a force to wreckin with. The ability of flight and shooting lazer beams(?) out of the palm of her hand. She was strong. Really strong.
Star-Gazer had a God-like abilities of speed and strength. The cloak of the man wore mirrored the sky color scheme above him. He wore a blank white face mask. His body was hardly visible through the cloak he wore. And his voice...it was haunting. It was taunting even.
"Destiny awaits everyone. And your destiny,Burnetta Elson Alaunus is death. Stop fighting. Become one with me. It's your destiny. Our destiny", his booming voice preached with a gloved hand held out to her. The pretty deep bronze skinned woman scowled at him in disdain and spat out a,"Never". She gave him a deadly glare. Clearly dismissing his offer as a possibility. Star-Gazer's shoulders dropped a bit. He slowly lowered his hand with narrowed brown eyes.
"Very well,Lady Burnetta. I'll be seeing you around. Soon", he disappeared in mid air. "Burnetta",Izuku whispered looking at the deep bronzed skinned woman on the broadcast. Burnetta put away her katana swords back in their sheaths. Before,passing out in the middle of the slightly damaged street. The truffle skinned woman rushed to her. The broadcast cut back to a pretty blonde reporter,"No bystanders were injured in the recent events-"
"That was intense",Izuku said looking over at Iida and Ochako. Who looked at the T.V in front of them.
"They're strong. It's amazing",Ochako's voice was filled with awe. "Burnetta Elson Alaunus...Burnetta Alaunus",Iida snapped his fingers as his eyes widen in realization. "She's an American Hero,Ursa Major. She was one of the heroes that fought in the alien invasion in New York",Iida informed his friends.
"N-no way! That's so cool. I saw some footage of invasion! It was insane! I saw the footage of her helping take down some aliens with Black Widow!",Ochako's brown eyes brighten in excitement with her words.
Izuku did some independent research on Burnetta Alaunus for himself. He found little inform on her. The only information he could find with pictures,her current age and theories of her powerfully quirk: Regeneration and high pain tolerance. The deep bronze skinned woman was attractive. Not by "traditional" standards. Her black wild coily hair framed her oval face. She was pretty. Really pretty. The ebony woman's skin was...pretty...Beautiful even. The way her skin shone and glittered in the sun. Her bow shaped lips made him think of chocolate coated peaches. Her body was curvy. She had well defined muscles. Izuku was scrolling through images of the well developed woman's body. His cheeks combusted into flame with an image focused on Burnetta more than a tempting behind. She has a nice butt.
The greenet quickly shut his laptop at the sound of his mother voice,"Izuku,dinner ready"
Next day…
Izuku was walking from his lunch break. He was heading back to his post.
"Ah,Deku. Did you see the coverage on the news broadcast. That shit was crazy", Bakugo bumped his shoulder any the greenet's. Izuku nodded his head,"Yea, it was pretty intense. Ursa Major was pretty cool. She was able stand on her own like that",Izuku's emerald eyes shone in an admired way. Katsuki scoffed,"She's alright I guess",the ashe blond shrugged blonde shoulders. Izuku hummed and gave him a nod of acknowledgement. Kacchan had a right to his own views on things. "High pain tolerance and regeneration. I wonder what type of shit a person had to go through. Just to find out they had a regenerate quirk",Katsuki wrinkled his nose in slight disgust.
Now…
"What you want,Glover?",Burnetta grumbled in a slightly tired tone. She watched the waves wash over the sore with mild interest. The artist rolled his brown eyes. He was use to Burnetta being Burnetta by now. He knew the girl for eight years,"Nice shirt"
"Of course you do. You egocentric ass"
"Watch your mouth"
"Or what? You'll sing at me? Rap?",Burnette smirked at the annoyed look he shoot at her. "What took you so long to get back this time?",He looked over the deep bronze woman. She still had that Berserk's sacrifice mark on her ankle.
"Classified information, Glover. If I told you I'd have to kill you" "Got information on the human trafficking,again",he gave her a displeased look. "Yup,what's it to ya? How's the kid?"
Troy gave Burnetta a sour look,"He's doing well". He hate when she did that. Swiftly changing the subject like that. "Good",Burnetta took a sip of her can of ice cold sprite,"Wife?"
"Partner",he corrected the ebony woman. Who rolled her eyes,"She's doing fine as well"
"Why are you in town? Want something?"
"Can't just check up on you? See who's my favorite Honey Bear doing?" Burnetta narrowed her eyes at the nickname he gave her in college,"I'm not going to fuck you. I don't care if Michelle is okay with it . It's a no. I told you"
" Oh,so you assume I came to have sexual relates with you?"
"Assume, you only called me, Honey Bear. When you wanted some honey"
"All we did was make out in college. Maybe I just want a kiss"
"Save it,sugar lips. Just tell me why you're here"
"Sugar lips?" Burnetta looked him over and smirked,"Yup,Sugar lips. Don't like it?"
"Don't call me when people are around"
"Sure thing,sweetie"
Troy was quite use to their reactions by now. Burnetta had a habit of striking people as a socially awkward person. She missed social cues and the 'proper' way to interact with people.
Maybe that's the way she caught his attention at a house party. She was in the middle of finish high school and preparing for college at the age of sixteen at the time. She looked so young. The only thing that made her seemed older than her age was her eyes.
Honestly at first sight she looked,fourteen. Sitting on livingroom couch. Looking down at her drink with her nose wrinkled in disgust. She offered her drink to a guy that plopped down beside her. Who gladly took it in his drunken state. Gulped it down as she got off the couch and headed towards the snack table. She made her way through the ocean of bodies easily and got a plate full of chips and a brownie. She watched the ocean of bodies move the blaring music in the house hold. Troy remembered watching her for sometime. Before,his girlfriend at the time interrupted his thought process.
"She's a mutant",was all she said with a look of pity in her eyes. "Mutant? She's has superpowers kind a mutant?" "Yes,poor girl's been through hell and back"
"How you know?"
"Grapevine. Everyone in town is talking about her. She's pretty odd" They both watched a brown- burgundy haired girl with a wide smile approach her and whisper in her ear. Whatever she told her caused her to spit off her food and laugh.
'She has dipples...cute'
"That's her older sister,Zuri. She's a mutant too. But,nobody has a clue what power she has",his girlfriend said with her eyes fixed on the two sisters. "Sisters? They look so different. Who adopted who"
"They're blood related. Same dad, different moms",his girlfriend answered absentmindedly as her eyes stayed glue on the smiling sisters. The world was becoming a more strange place. Troy don't know it he liked or not. His then girlfriend filled him in on the girls. Rumors of their backstories and mutant abilities. Which ,made him want to go up and talk to Burnetta. She seemed...interesting. Which,he didn't that night. They bumped into each other a month later in the midst of a urban neighborhood.
Things were odd on the up most part. He felt the young girl was trying to size him up. Looking at him as if he was the prey and she was a hunter. She kept leaning into him and...studying him. He still doesn't know how to feel about their first encounter. He could see her eyes sadden a bit at the mention of his girlfriend.
After that day,they bumped into each other every once in a while. He remember worrying about her.
After, she went missing for three months. In that period of time he broke up with his then girlfriend in a particular nasty argument. Two weeks after his break up. She literally appeared on his front door. Her usual bright playful brown eyes were dull. She looked like crap. She threw herself on him. Wrapping her arms around him.
"I've seen the infinite void of nothingness. And it saw me. My hopes,my dream, aspirations. It's nothing to it. Death had a grip on me. The infinite void of nothing it's not dark .Non light. It's everything and nothing at the same time. Flashing of colors, close and distant memories. It's chaos and order. I have no fear of it. It comforts me and that scares me",the words that spilled out her mouth was a confession of a young lady that seen something. Felt something. Lived through things that was threatening to break her. Challenge her sanity.
Troy felt a twinge of fear from her confession. Was she in danger? She crashed at his place for a while. Glued to his couch. Her eyes tilted up to the ceiling. Studying the popcorn interior of it. The bumps and lumps of it. Humbling a calming tune. He asked questions about her whereabouts for the past four months. "Vampires",she turned her full attention to him with a look of dread in her eyes,"Almost died from blood loss. Lucky for me. My blood kills vampires"
"Vampires! As in has fangs, suck you dry and can turn into a bat, type of vampires",Troy questioned in wide eyed fascination.
Burnetta popped her lips,"Yup. But, they don't turn into bat. But, they can grow huge bat wings though. It's gross" Question filled his head in amazement,"What's in your blood? Garlic?"
"Nah, I have extra stardust minerals in my blood that happens to be basically acid to the vamps. Blade took a sample of my blood",Burnetta stated causally.
"Makes it a bitch to find a blood donor",she chuckled at her own joke. He noticed her clean cut clothes made her look even sicker. Bags under her eyes. The pungent taste of regret surrounded her being.
She didn't tell him until a month later at her failure to save a six year old girl from a pack of disgusting, cold hearted pack of vampires. How she can still hear screams of horror and the sounds of ripping flesh and splashing of thick crimson fluid. Disgusting. He got close to her and her to him. He doesn't know why he bothers to get any closer. As much as he knows Burnetta. He still feels as if he knows nothing about her as well. She's so close. Yet so far. Blah blah blah.
"Ah! You okay,Sugar lips?" Troy blinked and looked into her eyes. A flash of fear passed them,"Troy?...",She breathed his name with a hint of worry and cautious,"Are you still Troy ?"
"Ofcourse, I am. Why...would you ask that?"
"No reason. Just checking ",a breathe of relief left her.Odd. "Okay?",Troy gave her a questioning facial expression.
"Okay",her voice stating she wasn't going to answer any of his questions.
Annoying.
The rest of day with spent catching up with each other with light touches of flirting. A nice day over all. He knows Zuri from past eventful moments. Meets her father,Logan and her oldest sister, Laura for the first time. He could see were Burnetta got her charming demeanor from and her sister was… um sister was abit similar with a hint of her own thing going on.
Nice.
"It's been nice to see you,Troy. Take care of yourself. Kiss the kiddie for me okay?",Burnetta left him at the beach. A brief feeling of grief washed over him. He kept having these dreams Burnetta cries over. As his consciousness drifted in and out. He felt like he was wrestling with something inside of him. He felt as if he was submerged in water. Burnetta's cries echoed in the body of water around him. The smell of rubbing alcohol and soap hit his nostrils. They weren't alone. A man that sounded of elder age spoke words of comfort and assured Burnetta that he would be okay. Fine.
"So, you're saying he won't remember any of this . He'll go back to normal"
"He'll have flashes of memories. Star-Gazer will always be apart of him"
"But...I love him. I can't just"
"You will trigger his memories. These memories"
A sigh of defeat left her,"Okay...do it. I'm sorry,Troy. I hope you find some way to forgive me"
"Burnetta. This is not your fault"
"Do it...Please. For my sake and his"
A tired sigh left the elder man,"Very well"
Star-Gazer? But, that thing tried to kill her. He never do that?...Right?
"Troy just kill me alright. You know I'm the only one who can take it. I'll fine in three hours tops-"
No, he doesn't want to think about that. He promised himself he wouldn't.
Fuck.
"So you and him have history",Logan fixed his eyes on the rear view mirror at his youngest daughter.
"Don't wanna talk about it",Burnetta wasn't really in the mood for chit-chat.
"Oh! I do",Zuri quickly volunteered to spill about the history of them.
Burnetta shrugged her shoulders,"Go ahead. Knock ya self out". She stared,out the window watching the sunset.
"I wish I was strong enough. Less selfish. That I wasn't so scare to hear what think of me. The fact that I spend my days slowly fading back into the earth. Makes me weak. I wish I was strong. But, I am weak and I am so sorry I hurt you",those words tossed,twisted,curled,flipped and flopped in her gut. She wanted to tell him that. But, she was a coward. She knew she was.
The Next Day…
"Ding-dong!" Burnetta's brow shot up in interest and sniffed the air as she got up from the couch. "What up,Deku?",she greeted the green haired man.
"Hey,Ursa-chan. How's it going?"
"I was just chilling with my hounds. What ya want?"
"Are you alone?",Deku asked the woman carefully.
"Yup...why?",Burnetta gave Deku a questioning look.
"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you alone"
"For what?"
Deku chewed on his bottom lip nervously,"I want to talk to you about something"
Burnetta blinked two times at her stared at him. "You have pretty eyelashes",Deku said in daze of sorts.
"I use to tell Troy the same thing"
"Troy?"
Burnetta snorted,"A friend. Come on in. Feel free to make yourself comfort"
To be continued...