Secrets in the Stars

Charles and the X-Men raced out of the building, trying to find Star by looking all over the grounds. By the time they found their way to the front of the school, her little red VW Bug was gone.

Charles demanded, “Get to the jet, everyone. She could have gone anywhere.” But he was sure he knew where.

*
I drove as fast as I could back to the city, anger welling inside of me and tears stinging my eyes. I was blaring music on the stereo as loud as I could, trying to drown out my own thoughts. My head was screaming at me—devastated that Charles had finally confirmed my suspicions, enraged that I had run away… Again. Like I was still fifteen.

“That’s it,” I whispered to myself. “I know where to go.”

I took an exit leading into New Jersey, knowing full well that Xavier would come after me at some point and hoping that placing the car in a parking garage in Newark might keep him off my trail just long enough for me to get where I needed to go.

About an hour later, I found the right place and locked up the Bug, put on my headphones and ran to catch the next train into Manhattan. When it arrived, I took a seat in the very back next to a large window and pulled my journal out of my bag to pass the time. The ride into the city would take anywhere between twenty to forty-five minutes. I wrote a quick entry and as soon as I finished, we had arrived.

Just like I had done when I was a kid, I ran as fast as I could through the streets, but this time I knew exactly where my Chuck Taylor’s were taking me.

Eventually, I was standing before it… The same building I had spent the night in before, only drastically different…

Avengers Tower.

I wondered if the key even still worked for this building.

I walked right up to the door, protestors nowhere in site. There wasn’t a doorman like before, and I didn’t see Happy Hogan anywhere. But of course Tony wouldn’t need Happy anymore. And now that Pepper Potts was running Stark Industries—and a couple with Tony—Happy was probably guarding her twenty-four seven.

But getting in even without all that, how hard would that be? It wouldn’t be easy, especially after aliens had shot out of a hole in the sky not too far from the balcony. And with the God of Thunder frequently visiting the Tower… No, this really wouldn’t be easy.

I reached for the large, silver handle on the door and tugged, and a voice (surprisingly, not Jarvis) emerged from nowhere. It was female and had an accent—Scottish, I think.

“This is Friday.” She said. “How may I help you?”

I was unsure of what to say, but I looked around and tried to find where the voice was coming from. My lips moved, “Umm… I need to speak with—“

“State your name, please.” This voice was very no-nonsense.

“…Star…”

The voice took a moment to respond. “…Enter please, m’am.” And the door opened.

I walked inside, the hallway looking much different than it had before. There was only one elevator, and it was already waiting in front of me with its doors open. Normally, I would feel nervous, but something inside of me had snapped. When I stepped inside the elevator, the doors immediately shut behind me. There were no buttons to push, and the elevator began to move up quickly. Something about this situation didn’t sit right with me.

“It can’t be this easy,” I said out loud. And suddenly, the elevator stopped, but the doors didn’t open.

Not sure of how long I was supposed to stand there for, I hit the emergency button—the only button in the elevator. Nothing happened. My voice called out, “Hello?” I said it several more times and became extremely flustered.

My back ran down the wall behind me and I found myself sitting on the floor, leaning my head onto my knees. “Damn it…”

For what like ages I sat that way, the lights flickering on and off in the little box I was trapped in. I began to say to myself, “What was I thinking? I can’t believe I came back here. What was I trying to do?” And it wasn’t just about coming to the Tower, it was about coming back to New York, seeing Uncle X—things in Seattle hadn’t been bad, I was just lonely. I missed my family. Coming back here had only led to chaos in less than twenty-four hours. Now, I was just further distancing myself from Uncle X again. What was the matter with me?

“Shh… Nothing is wrong with you,” whispered a voice. But this voice was not Friday. It was something different… Something stronger, more real.

“Huh?” I wondered. “Who said that?” I looked around, the lights still flickering.

“I know you’re scared.” It spoke again, and the atmosphere grew much colder. The dark room echoed with that voice. Her voice. Whose voice? “Don’t worry. It’s coming.”

I suddenly felt like something slithering like a snake around me, although nothing was there. “What’s coming?” I cried out. “Who are you?”

“Your time.” It replied.

“What?” I stood up, shaking violently. I turned around and caught my reflection—which was smiling at me.

“Shhh…” My reflection said, raising a finger to her lips and winking at me.

And then the lights went out completely, but the elevator began to climb up again. Once it came to a stop, the doors opened, and there was absolutely no light except for what coming from the massive windows, illuminating certain corners and stretches of the area. There were many shadows creeping around, many places to hide.

I was covered in complete darkness as I stepped forward, still shaking from the cold I was feeling. Yet, I was dripping with sweat. What had I just seen in there? I opened my mouth to speak, but heard something like footsteps heading for me.

Who could be in here besides the Avengers? Considering the history of this building, it was likely to be someone dangerous.

I ran, somehow silently, into another shadow. Voices began to quietly debate.

“Someone’s here—“ said one.

“No shit,” said the other.

Another one, “Be careful with that language or—“

“Are we seriously still on that?”

“This isn’t a funny situation, guys—“

“The elevator closed—“

“Search the perimeter.”

Something about my senses seemed more heightened than ever before, and I couldn’t figure out why, thinking that maybe my other senses might have been making up for the lack of sight. But even before when caught in a storm, I didn’t feel as connected to the surroundings as I did now. It was puzzling. And I couldn’t shake off what I had seen in the elevator.

I looked to the window and found that the city was now being flooded with rainfall. It had to be Storm causing this sudden, well, storm—right?

As I moved through the shadows, I knew I was becoming surrounded. I was terrified, and all I could do was keep moving into places to hide.

“What is going on with the Tower, Stark?” asked the female voice, only a few feet away from where I was hiding. I held my breath.

I could hear Tony’s voice on the persons’ earphone, “I… I actually have no idea.”

That was truly terrifying; Tony Stark didn’t know what was wrong with his own creation? Yeah, the last time that happened a freaking city was turned into basically a HOMEMADE meteor to wipe out the ENTIRE human race!

The person in front of me moved into the window light and disappeared among the shadows across the room. But before I could move along, a hand reached out for me. Someone knew where I was.

I ducked and rolled to the left, but the massive figure somehow knew where I was going. Grand hands reached out and grabbed my shoulders, moving me in one swift motion against a window and into the light. As I had been revealed, so had who grabbed me.

He had stunning blue eyes and short blonde hair. The man had some of the largest muscles I had ever seen, next to Logan, but his height was extraordinary—I knew because he had me pressed against the window high enough off of the ground to be eye level with him.

I was face to face with Captain America.

At first when he looked at me, his gaze was completely intense. But something made his intensity soften. He carefully lowered me to the floor, his eyes never moving from mine, nor mine from his. I couldn’t place my emotions at that moment—

Then, lights from outside began to blind the Captain, and he backed away from me quite suddenly. Every other body came into view much clearer for me, but I didn’t have time to make them all out before I turned around and saw what had everyone else so stricken.

The X-Jet was hovering over the balcony, the platform lowering just long enough for everyone except for the jet’s pilot, Scott, to exit.

“Oh no—“ I said.

That was when Tony appeared by my side. “Hey kid,” He said nonchalantly.

I stared up at him, awe-struck like I was still a teenager. “Hey…”

“I see your godfather found the place without much trouble.” He sniffed and folded his arms across his chest. “Is my Tower shutting down somehow his handy-work?” I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or even possibly angry with me. But if he was, why wasn’t he dealing with me in a much more aggressive way now?

“I’m… I’m sorry…” They were the only words I could spit out.

Tony looked at me and grinned, “No sweat. Something told me you would come back some day, Star.”

He… Remembered… My name.

“You know that Xavier is my godfather?” I asked him quite suddenly.

“Of course I do,” He said. “I always have. Right after you went to sleep that night five years ago I dug up as much on you as I possibly could. It wasn’t easy—Xavier did a damn good job keep you a secret.”

Tony and I watched with the others in silence as the X-Men followed the Professor into the Tower.

“Mr. Stark,” He said, breaking the silence. The lights came back up once Jean entered the room.

Tony was firm in his stance as well as his tone. “Professor Xavier.”

“I believe this isn’t the kind of place I want my goddaughter spending time in.” Xavier said sharply.

“Well, what did you do to make her run away again?” Tony smirked.

“Be careful with what you say to me, Stark,” Charles snapped. “This is not a situation in which you want to upset me—“

“Are you actually saying that I don’t want to make you angry? Really?”

Oh no.

“Well Mr. Stark, I may not turn into a green, monstrous creature, but I can assure you—you won’t like it.”

The Avengers came to Tony’s side and the X-Men lined up with Xavier. I stood in the middle of the feuding sides, shaking uncontrollably and feeling as though I was about to collapse from exhaustion.

“What the Hell is going on, Stark?” asked Captain America.

“You know this girl?” asked the beautiful female.

“Yeah, I do.” Tony didn’t explain on that any further. “And I think she may be safer here than in the care of our current company.”

“DON’T test me, Stark!” Xavier snapped.

“What did you do to my security system, Charles? Kind of brilliant, really. I can’t figure out at all how you managed it.”

Xavier said nothing, but looked over at me and could see how much pain I was in. My knees were buckling and my head was spinning, as well as my emotions running rampant. The groups began to shout at each other, threats flying across the room. I turned to look at the Captain, who was still watching me very closely.

All of the sudden, I felt my eyes rolling back and my body fall back—I no longer had any control of myself; everything was shutting down. As I was falling, I saw Captain America lunge toward me. The world went black as I felt myself fall into his arms.

Notes