Some of the doctors at Keystone City Hospital hadn't been confident that Poole, Gwendolyn would pull through. They'd done all they could, but her condition was still touch-and-go even after all the time she'd spent in the operating room. "It's in God's hands," Andi had heard one of the doctors grimly remark.
Andi had looked down at Gwen's broken body and watched her take shallow, painful looking breaths with the life support she was on. She was bruised, battered, broken. Not many humans would've survived trauma like that, let alone recovered from it.
The doctors were wrong. It wasn't in God's hands. Andi wasn't even sure if "God" existed- Mephisto certainly did, but these days great evil was easier to believe in than equally great good. No, not in God's hands.
Andi's hands. And she'd already made her choice.
Gwen Poole's recovery had been nothing short of a miracle. She'd woken up in hours after the nurses had left the recovery room. Her worst injuries healed in days. Her recovery had been so rapid that a couple of officials from the Mutant Response Division had come to collect blood samples. They'd claimed it was for the safety of all of the normal people in the hospital to make sure they weren't harboring an undocumented Mutant. The tests came back negative, much to the chagrin of the uniformed MRDs, and Andi got to angrily glare at them as they packed up their stuff and left Gwen's hospital room.
Gwen had spent about a week total in the recovery room. She'd been as chatty as ever the entire time but… there was something strange that Andi couldn't quite place immediately. Gwen was always talkative, and that hadn't changed much throughout her stay, but…
It wasn't until Andi was helping Gwen into her Mighty Thor covered bunk that she realized what was wrong. Gwen hadn't mentioned a word about comics or heroes or even the attack in the entire week! Gwen never shut up about heroes. Something was definitely wrong.
"Gwen? Is… everything alright?" Andi had been sitting at the edge of Gwen's bunk for a few hours, hoping that her presence there would help her friend feel more comfortable. More at ease. Everything was okay, and they were safe now. The black sweater she was wearing even shifted to reveal white eye patterns on her chest- even Mania was a little worried about Gwen's uncharacteristic change.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Gwen said with a shrug before wincing at the sharp pain in her shoulder. Andi couldn't have Mania heal her up entirely- just for the sake of appearances, she'd left Gwen with more than a few moderate injuries that Mania could help her heal at home. Still, it hurt watching Gwen in so much pain.
"Gwen, I… I know when something's wrong… You haven't talked about a comic book in days," Andi pushed, hoping her friend would be able to be open with her. She leaned a little closer, the fabric of the sheets beneath her rumpling as she rested her hand on Gwen's thigh. Gwen Poole was not someone that lied. That pretended. That was anything other than one hundred percent herself. Andi couldn't stand being on the outside like this.
"I guess I do usually do that, don't I," Gwen said with a sigh. "Look… if you um… if you don't wanna do this anymore… I'd understand." She sounded small. Defeated. Like it was the obvious answer to the predicament they were in. "We-"
"Stop." Andi's voice was stern and unwavering.
"Andi, you're not even really invested in this, are you? I did some thinking, you're… your arc is over, Andi. You got back at Jack for killing your dad. You got Mania back. Lee Price is still on the Raft. You have everything you want and-"
"And I want to be a hero. I like being a hero. And right now, being with you… makes it easier. You know what you're doing. I don't-"
"I don't know what we're doing," Gwen countered. "We have a supervillain team after us now. Five- or is it six people! That's a full roster! I mean… I know Spider-Man normally fights six on his own but… we're not Spider-Man," Gwen said with a groan. Somehow those words had a weight to them, like they hurt Gwen to say. Andi leaned in closer, desperate to get her friend to hear her out.
"What, you're giving up? When have you ever-"
"You didn't see yourself." Gwen's voice was small. Cold. Scared. For the first time Andi could remember, Gwen was having a normal reaction to the state of the world around them. Her blue eyes were sunken and glassy. She was looking at Andi, but she wasn't seeing her. She was seeing how she was just a few days ago. "You didn't see how broken you looked on the pavement. You crunched when you hit the ground," she mumbled, hugging her knees to her chest as she turned her head to look out their window. The rolling clouds that'd blocked out the sun all week were as oppressive as ever, threatening to pour their contents on the students who'd opted for classes this late in the afternoon.
"You're worried about me? You were in the hospital for a week-"
"Andi, you almost died!" Gwen was clutching her sheets so hard her knuckles had grown white. She couldn't turn to face her roommate. She'd been positive this whole time they were safe- it was a comic book after all. She'd only gotten a scare once that it might turn out differently, but that'd been with Jack! Now… what if Marvel had been planning to kill one of them off all along? Would she even know?
"Gwen. I'm not going to die-"
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Her voice went from small and meek to loud as thunder. Her eyes narrowed as she finally turned to glare at Andi, her fists shaking. "You don't know that. Heroes die all the time. And I have no idea if you'd come back- or what version of you would come back! There're too many risks being tied to me. I should just go. Leave Philadelphia and end this crossover. You're probably safe as long as I'm not around- you hadn't even been in a comic since you beat Maniac before you met me. Hell, you'd probably be safer as a solo title than attached to me…"
Andi was so frustrated hearing Gwen speak like this. As if she hadn't been the one on death's door just a few days ago. As if she hadn't held her friend's life in her hands. As if she hadn't potentially put them right on track to a bleak future. If it were up to Andi, Gwen Poole would never know how much danger she'd put the world in by saving her.
"Gwen-" Andi's voice wavered as her Hell-Mark flickered on her chest. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Gwen… I know I'm not good at this hero stuff. I need your help. I… I can't do this without you. And I want to do this," Andi mumbled, gently resting a hand on Gwen's as she spoke.
"Mania and I want to do this." The symbiote responded by running down Andi's arm, sleeves forming a fingerless glove on her hand to help Andi hold Gwen's. "What would we do without you? Get our asses kicked for real next time?"
"So if you get hurt it's my fault for helping you," Gwen mumbled, rolling her eyes as she spoke. But there was the slightest hint of understanding in her tone. Being a hero… it wasn't something people just stopped doing. Even when the government was bearing down on them, and the only options were to stop or get arrested, it was an easier choice to fight than to give it up. Gwen knew all about it, and now that she'd experienced it herself, she knew what it was like.
"I'd never blame you for anything that happened to me. Plus… isn't it like, part of the plot to get our asses kicked once in a while? What, we get beat one time and we give up? What would the readers think?" Andi was doing her best to plead her case in a way Gwen would understand. They'd been through so much in just a couple of months since the semester started. She didn't want this partnership to end. She didn't want to be away from Gwen.
"God, I really do sound like a crazy person all the time don't I," Gwen sighed, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her forehead on them for a few moments.
"Yeah, kinda," Andi said with a loving smirk. "Gwen… I don't want to do this without you. I mean it. I… I want to be a hero. I want to be Mania. And I wanna do it with you. I wanna be… what're those two heroes that don't actually exist here? Eagle and pigeon?"
"It's Hawk and Dove, and I think we can still get sued for that," Gwen mumbled with a small chuckle. Even now she was trying to break the tension. As if she were falling into her role of comic relief.
"No, Gwen! No jokes! I- I need to tell you. I- I-" A loud creak from the door opening behind her snapped Andi out of her confession, her eyes wide as Himawari walked into the room.
"You should be letting Gwen get her rest," Himawari mumbled, hands on her hips as she glared at Andi. Her brown eyes projected as much frustration and anger as they could without her outright shouting at her roommate.
"Getting interrupted means it's not the right time. Tell me when you're actually ready."
It felt like a lifetime ago Gwen had told her she wasn't ready. But how many more times would she have to get interrupted before she was finally ready to tell her? How many more times will the opportunity be taken away from her before she'd never have another chance again? She grit her teeth, holding back a hiss before she took a breath.
"Come on, Himawari. Let's get Gwen something to eat," Andi grunted, grabbing the smaller woman by the collar and dragging her out of the room. Andi felt like she was being closed in on from a million directions. Himawari and Star threatening to arrest them, those six villains threatening to kill them, and their future selves constantly threatening to-
"Hey! Andi!" Andi's blood ran cold as Gwen called to her. Had Gwen figured out what she'd meant to say? She'd never been particularly subtle about it. Had she-
"You're gonna need help to finish that new project… If… you still want me as your partner-"
"Of course I do. Idiot," Andi interrupted, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Himawari, does that count as tsundere," Gwen asked with a playful chuckle.
"Only if she actually loves you back, Gwen," Himawari said pointedly, the grin on her face disguising the bite in those words.
"Then I guess she's got nothing to worry about." Andi almost spat the retort as she pulled her roommate out of their dorm. That'd have to be enough of a confession for now, even if it was only to Himawari. Andi sighed and closed the door behind them, leaving Gwen to rest and heal on her own.
"I need to talk to Star." If what the dragon had told her was true, Himawari wasn't Star, and Star wasn't Himawari. Andi needed to talk to the hero directly. Maybe she'd listen if she sounded sincere enough?
"What? Zettai chigau! I am not turning on campus, and I promise the second we catch you off campus Star will-"
"Himawari, I need you to be reasonable for five seconds-"
"I tried that! Remember? And all you said was I'll do what I have to do." Himawari did her best impression of her and it almost made Andi chuckle. How had things gone so wrong between them? No way this could've just been up to "the writers" or whatever Gwen might say. This was just… incredibly bad luck. "Just tell me what you want, and I'll see if it's something worth talking to her about."
"I need your help," Andi admitted, shoulders slumped as she spoke. She hated doing this. She hated asking for help, she hated needing help. But if they were gonna go after those villains again, they'd need help. The team seemed almost tailor made for the three of them, even though individually they'd barely felt like much of a threat. Shocker and Pyro could kill Mania, and Redfield was strong enough to challenge Andi's Hell-Mark enhanced strength. Joystick and that assassin seemed to counter everything Gwen could do. But maybe with Star they could turn the tables. "You're a hero, and I've got at least five supervillains ready for a one-way ticket to the Raft. Star would be a hero, you'd make Philadelphia safer, and-"
"We're not interested in shifting power dynamics in you guys' favor," Himawari said, arms crossed over her chest. Short, simple, no room for an argument. It pissed Andi off even more.
"You can't be serious! Star, Gwenpool and I aren't villains! You think-"
"Andi, all I care about right now is my roommate's safety. If you can't protect her, then you should stop this vigilante stuff. S.H.I.E.L.D. can help protect her if you just turn yourself in! We could even work together if you just-"
"Never mind, this was clearly a stupid idea," Andi hissed, covering her chest with her arm to block Himawari from seeing the faintly glowing edges of her Hell-Mark before walking away. Fine. She didn't need Himawari or Star's help. She could handle this with Gwen and Maina, the way she'd handled everything for the past couple of months. Even that one officer was offering a hand. Andi was so lost in thought she almost swatted out at Himawari as the woman grabbed her arm. One thing she hadn't gotten a handle on was adjusting her own strength to match "normal" people levels.
"We're getting Gwen something to eat, remember. It's not a very good lie if we don't come back with food. You're lucky Gwen's so trusting or she might've already figured out you've been lying to her all this time." Himawari's words stung, but not for the lie she thought Andi had been telling. The memory of what Other Gwen had warned her about was still ringing in her ear.
"But I don't think I understand. Wouldn't the chair have crumbled to dust? I've seen you fly through a tree without so much as a splinter." Himawari chuckled, gently carding her fingers through Carol's long, blonde hair. The older woman was using Himawari's lap as a pillow, looking utterly serene as she gazed up into Himawari's soft, brown eyes. Carol had suggested a date and Himawari had been excited to accept, but they'd been worried about the venue. Carol could fly Himawari to and from NYC, but that'd alert MonStar to the fact the hero was in the city. Instead, Himawari suggested a Philadelphia rooftop where Carol could relax without worrying about being seen.
Himawari had prepared a small picnic for their date, and Carol had enjoyed her fair share of onigiri and sake for the past hour. Now, after losing a game of rock, paper, scissors, Captain Marvel was being forced to recount one of the most embarrassing things that'd happened to her.
"It's different when someone that strong hits you with something. Plus, it'd caught me off guard," Carol explained, a slight huff to her voice as Himawari questioned her. That day played in her mind often- it was the day everyone says she should've realized what she'd been doing was wrong. The day Captain Marvel committed to taking things "too far." So many people had seen her as a monster after that. But Himawari… she still seemed to only see Carol.
"I'm not sure. I still think spilling hot coffee on my boss's shirt on my first day is a more embarrassing story," Himawari teased, pulling her hand out of Carol's hair to stifle a chuckle.
"Okay, okay, I guess you do win that round," Carol chuckled before reaching for Himawari's hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. The sun was setting behind the Philadelphian horizon, and casting beautiful shadows across the skyline. The waning sunlight playing on Carol's face was making her hair look like molten gold, while Himawari's dark hair contrasted against the gentle pinks in the sky above her.
"So easily? I thought you warned me you were more competitive than that?" Himawari hid her flushed cheeks with some more teasing, but Carol could easily see through this facade of her girlfriend. That was why Himawari was perfect for this mission. The cover Himawari was using was so enticing and nearly irresistible to Carol Danvers even down to the heavier Japanese accent and her slightly broken English. Carol would never suspect there was something sinister or deceitful beneath it all. S.H.I.E.L.D. had gotten every bit of information they could to make sure this would work. The only wrench in their plan was Himawari's age- only nineteen to Carol's thirty-two. Fortunately, Carol didn't seem to mind much.
"I win in my own ways," Carol responded, a small smirk on her lips as she reached up to cup Himawari's cheek, relishing the soft blush that colored it. "I win every night I get to see you."
"So romantic! And extra points for the cheek touch. You know I'm in love with your hands," she chuckled. Himawari placed her own hand on Carol's, threading her own fingers between Carol's larger, rougher ones. "Have you been practicing flirting with others? Should I be jealous?"
"There's not a person alive you'd have to worry about taking my attention away from you," Carol sighed, sitting up and gently pressing her forehead to Himawari's. The older, taller woman was so close. Himawari's heart was hammering in her chest- that much, at least, wasn't an act. She had a soft spot for romance, and an even softer spot for the way Carol was looking at her. But she knew what was coming next… was she ready? She'd never kissed anyone before! She kinda really wanted to kiss Carol, even if this was all "just a mission."
Yes their relationship this entire time had been a cover- a farce! Just a tool S.H.I.E.L.D. was using to try to get some control over one of earth's most powerful heroes. From what Himawari had learned, this wasn't the first or last time S.H.I.E.L.D. had done something like this to control a Marvel. But that didn't mean Himawari was any more prepared for this sort of deep cover spywork. It didn't mean that she hadn't become some tiny bit invested in this relationship. Or in Carol herself…
But didn't that make this so much worse? Wasn't that some kind of conflict of interest? Wouldn't that-
Carol was close, bright blue eyes almost entirely closed as she leaned in, just a couple of inches from Himawari. The younger woman knew what this was. Knew what came next. She'd spent the better part of her life locked in a S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker with nothing to do but watch their entire catalog of hundreds of romance movies. All she had to do was lean forward herself and-
KABOOM!
The explosion wasn't particularly close, but it was powerful enough to rumble the building beneath them. Car alarms started blaring, dogs were barking, and a pillar of fire and smoke swirled high into the sky, beginning to rotate like a tornado.
"Goddammit," Carol hissed, peeling herself out of her jacket while wiping off the ube flavored lipgloss Himawari had bought her as a gift a few weeks ago. "I need to get you to safety," Carol said, already reaching for the smaller woman.
"No!" Himawari quickly grabbed Carol's wrist, her accent almost slipping in her insistence. "You need to go stop whatever is happening! I can help anyone injured-"
"Himawari, it's too dangerous-"
"Which is exactly why you need to go now! We do not have time to argue!" Himwari quickly pulled on her own sweater and started walking towards the fire escape. "I told you I wish to help you! I can help you now more than ever by letting you do your job. Go!" Himawari didn't cast a glance over her shoulder. She needed to help- but not just as herself. Star needed to-
"Hima-chan!" The hand on her shoulder was rough but gentle. Himawari turned only for a moment, before Carol swept her off her feet. Himawari melted into the kiss as if it were the only thing in the world to do. She wrapped her arms around Carol Danvers' shoulders and let the older woman capture every moment of her attention. The moment seemed to hang for hours, Himawari caught in the mildly sweet taste of ube still lingering on Carol's lips. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she could hardly feel it. Her face felt hot, her hands a little clammy. None of that mattered as long as she was with Carol…
Then they were on the ground, Carol having flown them down without needing the fire escape. She'd carried her like it was effortless, bringing Himawari down to the ground without the wind so much as disturbing her hair. Something about the power and control necessary to do something like the last ounce of blood in Himawari's body rush straight to her cheeks.
"Thank you." Carol was already in costume. No longer just Carol, but Captain Marvel. There was something about the way the alien flight suit hugged her body without putting her on display. Something about the red gloves that exuded some aura of power. Something about her sea blue eyes that seemed to capture everything into themselves. Himawari hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath. "Thank you," Captain Marvel repeated, a gloved hand gently caressing Himawari's cheek.
Himawari's heart fluttered, and she was positive that if it weren't for the part she was playing, she'd beg Carol to stay. Just a few moments longer. But Himawari had to be perfect for the older woman, and for Carol, that meant supporting her heroics. She leaned in, pressing her lips to the taller woman's palm. "Go," she whispered.
Captain Marvel had taken off without so much as a breeze, becoming nothing more than a streak of light in the sky, quickly heading towards the inferno in the middle of Philadelphia. Himawari watched as the woman flew, looking up in awe. Then an overwhelming force knocked her forward, as if a speeding truck had slammed into her from behind.
"Ow!" Himawari, rubbed her temples, shrugging off the familiar sensation. "Star-"
"We need to go NOW! I can't let Captain Marvel fight my bad guys for me! Please!"
"I know, I know!" Himawari was already running, quickly hitting her S.H.I.E.L.D. training stride. She was going as fast as she could down the busy Philidelphian street, avoiding throngs of people that were desperate to run away from the growing fire tornado as quickly as they could. Not fast enough!
"Himawari, PLEASE, I need to-"
"I know," she responded, quickly tapping the screen of her watch. MonStar's costume wasn't one that could hide easily under civilian clothes. It was a high tech piece of armor, filled with liquid nitrogen that needed to constantly be replaced if it were going to serve her properly. When it wasn't in use, it was stored in a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier rocket pod. With a code, fingerprint, and retinal scan, the pod would lock onto her watch's location and fire the rocket pod to within a meter of her location.
The pod looked hardly more than a streak of light in the dusk sky. It landed just a foot in front of her.
No time to stop!
Himawari barreled into the pod, the flimsy sheet metal walls designed to crumple away under her weight. Thanks to some assistance from Tony Stark, the armor quickly engaged, wrapping itself around her body without Himawari missing a step in her stride. It covered her body, fitting her like a bit of a bulky romper. The final touch was the black domino mask MonStar had handpicked. Himawari gripped it tight as she crashed into a storefront window. The glass slashed at her exposed thighs and stung like itchy ice, but she didn't have a choice. She had to hide! Thankfully the store was already empty. Himawari made sure the coast was clear and tucked the sleeves of her sweater into the armor. Thankfully it already covered her shorts. She took a deep breath and reached into her mind for that too-familiar force.
Some people likened her transformation to that of the Hulk. Star hated the comparison. Instead, she preferred the analogy to a magical girl transformation. Like Ryuko Matoi or Sailor Moon! Himawari's skin glowed for the briefest of moments while her body warped and cracked and shrunk into Star's. Her muscles felt like they were braiding like ropes, growing stronger and stronger. Her skin itched as it split and thickened into thousands of dull blue scales. Her gums felt like they were on fire as her teeth sharpened and lengthened. In less than a second she'd been squeezed and stretched and compressed into Star.
"Now we can move!" Star was much, much faster. The last few blocks towards the explosion whizzed past her as she galloped on all fours. Normally she'd start by trying to find whoever was starting this chaos, but civilians were in trouble! She was just in time to stop a building's facade from falling onto a screaming couple. She slid under the crumbling masonry before using her tail to knock the two people down, under herself. Her arms locked above her head, she caught the multi-ton building facade and groaned as the weight bared down on her. Hardly any time for a warmup, but she'd managed it!
"Run," she shouted, arms shaking as she struggled against the weight she was lifting. The couple crawled out of the way of the sheet of rock bearing down on them, only getting to their feet once they'd cleared it and quickly running away without even casting a glance over their shoulder at their savior.
"You always just rush in! You never think!" That was Himawari in her head, desperately shouting advice that wasn't very helpful at the moment. To be fair, she was right. Star usually didn't think. If she hadn't been so rash and impulsive, she might not have used all that fire with the Mania symbiote in the elevator. She might not have let Mania and Gwenpool escape. She might not have… Well, Himawari was right. Including now.
"Some help please," Star shouted through grit teeth.
"Up and through! They're just bricks!"
Star was almost positive she wouldn't be able to understand Himawari as easily as she did if it weren't for their mental link. She tended to get a little excited during times like these. But as it stood, Star understood exactly what Himawari was asking of her. Unable to lift the facade back up into place, Star growled, bending her knees and getting as much weight under her legs as she could before quickly shoving upwards, the facade lifting just a couple of inches higher than her hands. It was all she needed. A quick uppercut punched a hole large enough for herself to squeeze through as the facade fell around her.
Up and through.
They really were two parts of a whole hero. Star was powerful and getting stronger every day. The more she pushed herself, the more she seemed able to handle. She was confident that if she could redo her previous run-in with Mania and Gwenpool, she'd have been able to bring them both in! But Himawari was smart. So, so smart. She was able to think up a plan on the fly as if it were nothing! She was usually using that talent to get Star out of trouble, but with just a few minutes to plan, she was quickly becoming the fulcrum by which Star could claim victory in fights against people stronger or more experienced than herself. If there was a fight out there they could lose, they hadn't found it yet!
Star was also confident she wouldn't have been able to react to the falling Captain Marvel even if she hadn't been lost in thought.
The taller woman barreled into MonStar, having been blasted out of the sky just a moment earlier. MonStar barely managed to slam her tail into the ground, using it as a third leg to brace herself against the enormous force of the taller woman hitting her like a brick. She was still pushed back about a dozen feet, claws digging into the asphalt to stop herself from toppling over.
"Nice of you to drop in," MonStar said with a smirk. At the very least she currently had the upper hand. She'd saved a couple of civilians, and caught Captain Marvel.
"Where were you? How did this happen," Captain Marvel spat, wiping some blood from the side of her mouth. It wasn't often Captain Marvel bled, and the fact something had managed to sneak up on her like that only served to piss her off even more.
"Saving lives. And I can find out how this happened after I stop it from happening. Now g-"
"Ask her to help!" The request was like nails against a chalkboard. Ask Captain Marvel for help!? No way Himawari could honestly- "Ask her for help now and she can't say you were being belligerent later!"
"Get… get ready for a fight. Whoever's doing this is confident enough to do this in the middle of the city." Star hated asking for help, but dammit if Himawari didn't make a good point.
"Sounds like your vigilante friends-"
"It's not Gwenpool or Mania, and they're not my friends. This isn't their MO. Plus, that fire isn't just happening, it's being controlled. Mania can't do that." MonStar was very familiar with what Gwenpool and Mania could do- she'd read dozens of briefings and watched hundreds of hours of footage, just to observe the two as much as she could, even going as far as to include briefings on the other symbiotes and Mania's previous incarnation as the Maniac just to cover her bases.
Mania was easy- between the Mania symbiote and her Hell-Mark, she was incredibly powerful, but there were understandable and exploitable limitations. Magical Hellfire, easily countered by Holy Water. Low level demonic summoning, but she seemed to not like doing that. Some level of demonic shapeshifting, but she seemed to not do that either. The Mania symbiote still had its usual symbiote weaknesses to fire and sonics, and seemed to use its host as a shield against such attacks. The Mania symbiote specifically had also shown the ability to create tiny mind controlling clones, but it didn't do that with Andi. It did use most of its other symbiote abilities though.
Gwenpool was… harder to understand. She'd worked with the West Coast Avengers for a bit, but both Hawkeyes had been clear that the woman hadn't possessed a single ability worth noting throughout her tenure with them. Her swordwork wasn't particularly amazing, her marksman skills were lacking, her hand-to-hand was abysmal… Yet somehow she always seemed capable of holding her own alongside an Omega Level telepath, a Multiversal level battering ram, and two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most decorated operatives. Now she was doing things like teleporting, curving bullets, and a whole host of other abilities, on top of her far more impressive martial arts skills.
None of that added up to these powerful, rumbling explosions or the giant inferno reaching into the sky.
"I need to find out what's going on in there! Can you make sure no civilians get hurt in the meantime?" MonStar needed to get a handle on the situation fast. And as long as Captain Marvel was here, she could focus on stopping the disaster without needing to worry about civilians.
"What happened to not needing any help on your turf," Captain Marvel responded, eyes narrowed as she looked down at the smaller hero.
"Well I'm asking now! Don't make me regret it! Now throw me at that fire!" MonStar didn't give the older woman any time to react, instead throwing herself into Captain Marvel's arms. The experienced hero had performed her fair share of Fastball Specials, and she wasn't exactly against throwing MonStar directly at a dangerous situation. One moment, MonStar was in the taller woman's arms, and the next, she was soaring through the sky, aimed directly at the inferno. Ears pulled back against her skull, arms tucked against her sides, she couldn't exactly direct herself, but she could make the flight last as long as possible.
"You cannot just throw yourself into Carol's arms like that," Himawari grumbled at the back of Star's mind.
"Jealous?" That was all MonStar could choke out before she pierced the swirling vortex of flames. She barely had enough time to realize what she was seeing before the fire started to fight back. First a gunshot slammed into her chest. It crumpled against her armor, but still knocked the wind out of her. Then the air around her seemed to explode, the powerful rumbling shaking her bones was all too familiar. Another gunshot, this one aimed at the shoulder joint between the slats in her armor. It thankfully missed any liquid nitrogen channels, but the bullet managed to pierce some of her scales, causing her to roar in pain. The bullet was followed by a strike from above, an enormous dragon swirling around the inside wall of flame. It slammed into her from behind, spiking her into the ground so hard the concrete crumbled and created a crater around her.
"I told you to stop jumping in like that," Himawari grumbled, her thoughts coming across jumbled and sluggish after that barrage of attacks rattled MonStar's brain.
MonStar only needed a moment to recover, shaking the daze away and quickly climbing to her feet. Nothing broken, and only a bit of blood from that second bullet? Not bad, all things considered.
"This wasn't the one we were expecting!" A new barrage of strikes came down as fast as rain, dozens of hits in less than a second that wore her down and brought MonStar to her knees. They were followed up with a haymaker that launched MonStar into the side of a truck, the thin metal crumpling under her weight like tin foil.
That hurt.
MonStar finally managed to open her eyes through the fire and smoke and see who was attacking her. Five figures stood between her and the still swirling wall of flame, casting their faces in shadow. Still, she knew most of them.
Yellow and red quilted jumpsuit. Giant tech gauntlets. Brown leather jacket. Full face mask. The Shocker.
Thin gold and black jumpsuit. Golden gauntlets. Black facemask. Long, honey brown hair that always seemed to trail behind her. Joystick.
Orange and red costume. Clear tubes hanging from his back leading into his own orange gauntlets. Blonde hair whipping around in the vortex he was creating. Pyro.
A pale woman with long, dark hair complete with a fiery red streak. Relatively simple outfit, black bodysuit, purple leather jacket, black combat boots. Her blue eyes were dark and sunken, full of malice and hunger. MonStar had heard about a vampire in Philadelphia, but it was still impossible to believe.
Finally, black and green outfit. Open mouth. Some sort of HYDRA uniform. Handguns on his hips, swords and a sniper rifle in his hands. She'd seen this guy before, but she'd never gotten his name.
"Doesn't matter. She's a hero. Probably works with the other two." The vampire had a look in her eyes that betrayed how bloodthirsty she was. It sent a chill down MonStar's spine. She could tell she was nothing but food to this woman, and the green blood dripping down her costume must've smelled like dinner.
"One chance, hero. We're not here for you. Stay down or we put you down permanently." That was the mercenary, saying the word hero like a slur. Clearly he was the brains of the operation. Not like Pyro or Joystick qualified.
"I… don't like sneak attacks." MonStar pulled herself out of the wreckage of the truck, spitting up a glob of green blood before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She really didn't want to fight five people at once, but she also really wanted to test herself. She'd never had the chance to do something like this. Every drop of her irradiated blood was desperate for a chance to prove herself. She took a deep breath, her body churning as it began to metabolize more of the radioactive material in her stomach. Her core temperature rose a couple dozen degrees, and her suit began to hum as the liquid nitrogen flowed through the channels, cooling down the leather against her scales.
"Any of you guys gonna fight honorably?" MonStar raised her fists, eyes trained on those of the mercenary. The man whistled, and his four compatriots quickly moved towards MonStar. "Figures. At least it's fair now," MonStar said with a smirk.
The HYDRA merc was the first to attack. He shot at MonStar, aiming for a different gap in her armor.
"Joystick's faster-" That was all of the warning MonStar needed. Avoiding the bullet was already impossible, but the bullet was just a distraction. Joystick was faster? MonStar moved as much as she could, letting her armor catch the bullet while her leg swept out, catching Joystick and sending her tumbling into the wreck of the truck behind her. She wouldn't be down for long at all but-
Another gunshot, and MonStar was met with a wall of fire and sound. The fire didn't hurt- one of the perks of being a dragon- but she couldn't afford to let her body heat rise too high. The liquid nitrogen in her suit worked to keep her core temperature stable so she could metabolize more and more radiation, but once her body temperature rose high enough, she'd catch heatstroke the same as anyone else. Fireproof. Not heat proof.
The concussive blast of Shocker's weapons was another story. It hurt but MonStar had gone through far worse. A third gunshot crumpled against her armor as she took a step forward, fighting for every inch against the continuous concussive blast aimed at her. The vampire was eager to be next.
"You know you're not surviving this," she hissed, fangs drawn as she eyed up a spot on MonStar's neck her fangs might pierce. Something about her was just so eerie.
"Goad her! Can't attack at range if you're too close-"
"You think I'm scared of someone with a garlic allergy," MonStar laughed, pausing for only a moment to kick a rock at Shocker that forced him to duck out of the way. That moment of reprieve from Shocker's blasts gave her all the chance she needed to lunge at Redfield. The two clawed and bit and punched at each other, rolling around on the ground and tearing at each other's flesh. MonStar was stronger, but Redfield was bloodthirsty, aiming swipes and punches at MonStar's throat, groin and eyes. The hero could feel the churning in her body- she was quickly pushing herself to metabolize around 35% of the radiation within herself, and the vampire was still making her fight for every inch. Redfield was close enough she could smell the blood on her breath. She'd clearly just eaten, and wasn't planning to only have one meal tonight.
An elbow to the jaw, a punch to the gut, a twisted arm and headbutt. MonStar managed to find her way on top, pinning the taller woman's arms to the asphalt beneath them. She growled and opened her mouth, taking a deep breath before calling forth a wave of green fire.
Unfortunately, it hit an invisible dome just before striking Redfield and was blasted back into her own face. It wrapped around her head, threatening to choke her of oxygen before she managed to shake it away. That gave Redfield enough time to ready an elbow to the face that knocked MonStar off of her.
"This cunt really thought bringing fire to a firefight was a good idea," Pyro laughed sadistically, reaching his arms out wide while the flamethrowers attached to his wrists let loose another incredible volley of fire into the tornado surrounding them.
MonStar moved to grab Redfield again, but another impossibly fast volley of strikes blinded her and cut open her cheek before she could even reach out to grab Joystick. The next bullet from the mercenary was aimed at her ankle, making her trip as she tried to brace herself against the following concussive blast.
This wasn't looking good.
"Too many! And they're working together-"
Another punch from Redfield, rattling even the voice in MonStar's head.
Another concussive blast, pushing her forward into a volley of gunshots that kept her from being able to draw breath.
MonStar knew what was next. She forced her eyes open, waiting for the next volley of strikes from Joystick.
The blue energy batons came faster than she could track, but she didn't have to. MonStar lunged for Joystick, tackling her and bringing her to the ground. Pyro aimed his hands at the two, but was forced to stop the moment MonStar threw Joystick at him. Their teamwork was a problem for MonStar, but it was also quickly becoming a problem for them too.
"Wooden stake, four o'clock!"
MonStar didn't have enough time to dodge the next strike, but Himawari's advice was just too tempting. MonStar used her tail to reach for the thick wooden pole- probably a support to a crumbled storefront. Redfield's punch to the back of her head sent her reeling, but she was already thrusting the sharp end of the pole behind herself, catching the vampire in the shoulder and piercing her clean through.
Redfield roared in agony, and MonStar drove the pole through her body and into the ground below them, pinning the taller woman where she should.
"Quick! Ask her if she's got a pair of pliers for that splinter!"
"That quip is way too cringe," MonStar grumbled, dodging as quickly as she could as Shocker's next blast missed her head by a hair. She galloped on all fours, avoiding Shocker and the mercenary's attacks as well as she could before quickly clearing the distance to Joystick and Pyro. One quick swipe of her claws tore through the tubing to Pyro's flamethrowers, but she wasn't dumb enough to think he was out of the fight yet with all of the fire currently around them. She had to stick close to the rest of his friends or she'd be too hot to fight for long.
Joystick was already rising to her feet, but a flying kick caught Joystick square in the chest, knocking the wind out of her before MonStar followed up with a backflip and slammed the woman on her back as hard as she could.
Mania had taught her one cool move, at least.
Shocker finally hit her with his next blast, and it hit hard enough to force blood from her ears. The merc's bullets crumbled against her stomach, putting new chips and dents in the armor and nearly making her double over in pain. But these two? They were just humans. MonStar easily powered through the concussive blasts and bullets, quickly grabbing Shocker's left hand and the merc's right in her own. She squeezed feeling a couple of bones shatter under her hold. The merc was in too much pain to even pull the trigger on his spare gunhand, but Shocker was pouring on the pressure with his spare gauntlet.
"You two really should be looking for a better job," she said with a toothy smirk. MonStar had been told that during a fight, she tended to look feral. She embraced that as much as she could, forcing the two taller men to their knees with strength that far outpaced their own.
She was winning!
Even five on one, even with a couple incredibly experienced super-villains in the mix, MonStar was proving herself! No way Captain Marvel or S.H.I.E.L.D. could possibly threaten to pull her from the field now-
Then she heard the beeping.
She'd been pushing herself to 38% since the beginning of the fight! She hadn't had a chance to refuel before the fight, and she'd started with around 50% of her usual reserves. That gave her only about a dozen or so minutes at this efficiency, and she was quickly running low on energy. Her armor's alarm was sounding to warn her, and the fastest glance at her watch told her that she was running out of liquid nitrogen in her armor as well.
Not enough time!
"$#!+!"
"We need evac! Now!" That tiny moment of hesitation was all the mercenary needed to touch his earpiece. He hadn't been in too much pain to pull the trigger of his gun. He'd been waiting for her guard to fall just so he could do this!
"NO!" MonStar shouted, trying to knock the merc's hand away from his head. It was too late.
There was a flash of light, and suddenly they weren't out on the street anymore. Some kind of teleportation field?
The transporter Mania had stolen-
There was another concussive blast. Another volley of bullets. A kick to the back of her knee that brought her down to all fours. Punch! Kick! Blast! Bang!
The attacks were too fast, too hard, too overwhelming. Every time MonStar tried to lash out, another fist or foot or slug of metal took its place. It took less than a minute before she was in too much pain to fight back. Blood poured from cuts above her eyes, blinding her to the next attack. Several teeth were knocked out of her mouth. Someone broke her tail. Her right arm was bent back and yanked out of its socket. A concussive blast so loud it ruptured her eardrums, deafening her to the world around her. A pair of fangs sunk themselves into her throat.
She wasn't going to make it.
"YOU HAVE TO RUN! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THERE!" Himawari was desperately trying to give direction, but it was already too late. There was nowhere to run to. No chance of escape as long as her attackers were piling on her like this. And she was running out of radioactive material to burn. She could feel herself growing weaker, and the bullets were beginning to penetrate her scales. She was barely metabolizing at 20%. All she could do was huddle in a ball and-
"Leave the creature."
A sixth voice? It was warped by her burst eardrums, but MonStar could just barely make it out. She was positive she wouldn't have been able to recognize it even if she'd really been able to hear it. She was dizzy enough to puke, her head was spinning, ears were ringing, blood pouring from them down her face.
She just needed a moment to catch her breath and she could take all six of these-
"But-"
"It fights our true enemy. It still might be useful."
"Roger. Come on team. We're getting out of here." The merc holstered his weapons, not even bothering to give MonStar a parting glance. If he was leaving her, it certainly wasn't of his own decision.
"One sec." Redfield hissed. MonStar tried to crawl to her feet, but the same wooden pole she'd used to spear the vampire was forced through her own shoulder, and into the floor beneath her. MonStar roared in agony, but that only made the vampire twist the wood inside her.
"Enough, Redfield. Come on, before Captain Marvel gets here."
MonStar's eyes were too covered in green blood for her to register the flash of light as the six villains escaped. She was in more pain than she could ever remember experiencing in her life. The pole in her shoulder made it impossible for her to move. Each breath came out as a wheeze. It rattled her ribs and hurt. Still… she couldn't compromise her mission.
Or Himawari's.
Captain Marvel would be on her way. That meant she couldn't find MonStar here. Not like this. But she couldn't exactly ask Himawari to take on this sort of pain. She hadn't been the one to-
"Do it. It's okay. Just get the costume off, I'll handle the rest."
Star felt horrible. It was her fault they were in this situation at all. The amount of pain she was asking Himawari to take on… No way a normal human could-
"If you can take it, I can. Get the costume off. She'll be here any moment!"
Star huffed and tapped on her watch. Its screen was cracked, but it still worked. The fingerprint. The code. The retinal scan. Her armor hissed as it came off of her, folding in on itself like living origami. It folded itself into a solid rectangle that could easily be stored in a suitcase. It'd run out of liquid nitrogen some time during the fight, and the leather that lined the metal was hot enough to burn skin. She wiped the blood from her eyes, trying to find somewhere she could hide it. They'd ended up in an office building near where the vortex of fire had begun. Probably where they'd planned all of this to begin with. Star used every ounce of strength she had left to shove her costume across the ground, letting it skitter across the room and under a work desk.
Good enough.
"Gomen nasai, Himawari," Star mumbled, desperately trying to reach for the wooden pole in her shoulder. If she could just get it out-
"She's coming."
Star felt herself slip away, down, down into her own mind. A dim flash of light, and she wasn't herself anymore, her body growing and stretching and shifting into that of Himawari's. Her friend. Her sister!
Himwari was in so much pain. She tried to bite her tongue, but she couldn't help but to scream. A comet of golden light that'd been streaking across the sky stopped and turned before quickly making its way across the nascent night sky.
Captain Marvel pushed her way through the office building's glass wall, eyes darting around to see who'd made the noise. Instead of a desperate civilian or guilty villain, she locked eyes with those of Himawari.
"Hima-chan…"
"Building's clear… No casualties..." A tiny chuckle was all she managed to choke out before her own cold, dark dive into unconsciousness.