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if i look back, i am lost
Peter Solarz
cherry valley forever
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
RMH
Game of Thrones Daily
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
pixel skylines
Cosimo Galluzzi
hello vonnie
Discoholic 🪩
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
styofa doing anything
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noise dept.
ojovivo
Love Begins
blake kathryn
seen from India
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@latehourletters
MY WORKS. juliet, latehourletters.
୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
currents:
BUCKY BARNES .ᐟ
𓍼 RISING ECHOES. series.
𓍼 I ONLY HAVE EYES, FOR YOU. one shot(s) / series.
JOHNNY STORM .ᐟ
𓍼 STARMADAMELADY*. series.
finished:
BOBBY SKEETZ .ᐟ
𓍼 HE PLAYS BASS. / NOW YOU GOT ME. one shots.
୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
requests are closed!
okay everyone’s had enough time, where’s the off campus fics ?
just thinking about painter!reader who is INCREDIBLY good and has a collection of "mystical creatures" and ofc aerion sees a splendid dragon paint and becomes obsessed with this artist..... i might elaborate later in a few months....
if there's a fic like this DROP IT IN THE COMMENTS.
just thinking about painter!reader who is INCREDIBLY good and has a collection of "mystical creatures" and ofc aerion sees a splendid dragon paint and becomes obsessed with this artist..... i might elaborate later in a few months....
having fics ideas and being busy with uni should be a crime. PLUS having another fics to finish LORD HELP ME.
//File_003; [6h00stw1r3].archive | RISING ECHOES. bucky barnes.
[WC; 2.9k] [PAIRING] Thunderbolts!Bucky Barnes x Mutant!Reader.
FILE 002 | FILE 003 | FILE 004
[SUMMARY]Mutants were never seen as people by society. For years, with their heads down, they resigned themselves to their place: living in the shadows, hidden, adapting to fear. Charles Xavier was one of the first to create security and research programs dedicated to mutants. Now, though somewhat tolerated in the world, the Mutant Protection & Integration Act (MPI) law presented before Congress, has once again put a spotlight on the marginalized. Not in a good way. Things got worse when classified information about mutant individuals was leaked through the well-known Thunderbolts’ black box, an organization closely tied to the government. And it doesn’t help when they’re the ones sent to handle the situation.
[CHECK MASTERLIST FOR SETTING AND WARNING]
Her head throbbed, overloaded from being so deeply tangled in a situation that seemed to have no way out. The first thing she thought about when she woke up, and the last thing she imagined before falling asleep, was them. The mutants who had lost their lives. The people whose dreams had been ripped away.
And she couldn’t shake the thought that maybe one of her students would be next.
Maybe even herself.
Her foot bounced anxiously against the floor as she waited outside Charles’s office. She had woken up early to finish organizing the class she was supposed to teach that day; she had eaten breakfast with Peter, trying to pretend everything was normal, and shortly after, a message from Charles had arrived on her desk through one of her students. She felt like she was back in high school. Like she’d gotten herself into trouble and was now waiting to be expelled.
The door opened with an almost enviable calm. Charles came out of the room in his chair, moving toward her with steady serenity. He offered her a paternal smile and, without waiting for her to join him, turned and began making his way down the hallway.
“Pro-profesor,” she jumped up from the small bench where she’d been sitting and hurried after him.
“I’m glad you were able to find some time to speak with me, my dear.”
“Of course,” she replied once she reached his side, glancing at him from the corner of her eye “I don’t mean to sound rude, Charles, but did you need something? I’m behind on some grading and I really should-”
“I was under the impression that this afternoon you’ll be meeting with Congressman Barn-”
“James, yes.” she let out a huff, a bitter laugh almost slipping free “I think that’s a little bit your fau-”
Charles said her name firmly, stopping in his tracks.
“They want to help.”
“Help themselves, or help us?”
The silence that followed was brief, but heavy.
“Since when have you been carrying so much hatred inside you?”
Her stomach sank, heavy as lead.
Since when had she been carrying so much hatred inside her?
Maybe since the day she was born. Since she discovered she was different from the rest of the world. That the simple act of existing already complicated her existence. She hated a world that had hated her first.
“Walk with me to the garden.”
It wasn’t a question. Charles resumed moving, while she remained there for a few seconds, feet rooted to the floor as if something were holding her in place. When he was already turning the corner at the end of the hallway, she finally forced herself to move.
Since when have you been carrying so much hatred inside you?
Her steps quickened so she wouldn’t lose sight of him. When she reached the spot where she had seen him just a second before, she found the garden door open. A soft breeze drifted into the main hall, carrying with it the scent of damp earth.
Charles stood a few steps away, in front of a cluster of large flowers that formed a small violet wall.
“Hydrangeas,” he said, brushing one lightly with his fingers. The petals trembled faintly, as if responding to the touch “You used to cut one and keep it in your room when you first arrived.”
She studied the halo of the purple bloom. She almost smiled.
“The gardener hated me.”
Charles chuckled softly, remembering the many times the poor man had come to his office to complain about a certain young lady who broke his flowers without the slightest shame.
The distant sound of students laughing somewhere in the garden clashed with the weight pressing against her chest. Innocent laughter.
Charles kept his gaze on the hydrangeas for a few more seconds before speaking.
“The world doesn’t always know what to do with what it doesn’t understand.”
She looked at him, unsure whether he was being naïve or simply kind.
“The world understands perfectly well, Charles,” she crossed her arms, nose wrinkling slightly “It just doesn’t like what we are.”
Charles turned his chair slightly so he was facing her fully.
“Fear is rarely rational, my dear.”
“And since when does that make it an excuse?” she shot back, faster than she’d meant to “People are dying, Charles. Children, sons, workers, mothers. It’s not a headline. They’re people.”
They’re dying for being mutants.
The wind stirred the flowers again, and for a moment the garden felt far too peaceful for the conversation they were having.
“I know,” he replied gently “I know better than you imagine.”
She held Charles’s gaze for a few seconds longer, but this time something else colored her voice.
“Sometimes I feel like we’re so busy believing the world can be better that we forget to notice that it isn’t.”
Charles let her speak.
“We hold meetings. We negotiate. We argue about not standing by and doing nothing. We fight inside a room while the world burns outside,” her breathing felt uneven now “Every day it’s a different name. They announce hate crimes and then move on to the weather like it’s just another fucking number on a long list of unimportant things.”
The garden suddenly felt colder.
“I don’t want my students growing up thinking the only thing we can do is wait to be accepted.”
Charles folded his hands in his lap.
“And what do you propose?”
She was one of the strongest pillars of Charles’s team. She had stood beside him in past mobilizations, in decision-making rooms thick with tension. They had been through too much together to ignore the fact that many of their policies had walked hand in hand. They had fought on the same side of the war.
“We need to act,” she said at last “Society needs to understand there are consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?”
She held his gaze steadily.
“Real ones.”
The silence between them tightened, heavy with everything left unsaid.
For a brief instant, Charles saw Erik reflected in her.
“I have devoted my life to ensuring the next generation does not grow up believing violence is the only path,” he said with measured calm. His face, however, remained tense “I believe you know that very well.”
“I’ve devoted mine to teaching them that their lives matter. That there’s a world worth fighting for,” she replied, unwavering “And right now, we’re failing them.”
“Do you believe I have failed?”
She swallowed. The question lingered in the air.
“I think- I think we’re losing. And I don’t believe that following the rules imposed on us by the people who hate us is how we win.”
“Win?” Charles frowned “Are we at war?”
She sighed. It certainly felt like they were. She looked away, escaping the weight of his searching gaze.
“Leadership…” she exhaled, already knowing how it would sound “Leadership sometimes has to be firm, decisive.”
Charles understood exactly what that word implied.
“Justice and revenge are not the same-”
“I know.”
She lowered her eyes to the hydrangeas.
“I know.”
And she did. That was the part that tormented her most. The potential of that idea. What it could become. What it could mean.
“But when you see bodies-” she whispered, her mind dragging her back in time “I was in the street when they gave the order to fire. I saw people die beside me. I know- I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t want anyone walking out there afraid. It’s hard-” she glanced at her hands resting near her lap, unsettled by what they might be capable of “It becomes hard to tell the difference.”
Charles let out a deep breath.
“The desire for revenge is understandable. It is human. But if we allow it to guide our decisions, we will lose more than this war.”
“What?”
“Ourselves.”
She closed her eyes for a brief moment. Deep inside, there was a part of her that wanted someone to pay. To make someone feel the same fear. The same loss. She wanted the world to wake up, even if it had to be forced.
And that terrified her. Deeply.
“I don’t want to become what they think we are,” she said at last “But I also don’t want to keep waiting for everything to fix itself like magic.”
Charles looked at her with conflicted emotions. He was worried.
Worried and proud.
“That anger is love. Love for our students. Love for our people. Love for the world. You must decide, wisely, what you will do with it. Because anger-” the man gave a brief shake of his head as he began to move away “You know who lives by anger, my dear. And I do not want you to become him.”
Charles wheeled away, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She wasn’t him. She wasn’t Erik. She didn’t want the kind of purity humanity had so wrongly constructed. She only wanted peace. But in today’s society, peace felt like a dead language. And with each passing day, it became harder to believe there was any method left other than forcing them to listen.
She didn’t want to go to that meeting. She didn’t want to sit across from people she knew weren’t truly invested in the social crisis. It was all a façade. Just a way to save Congressman Barnes’s own skin.
She remained in the garden a few moments longer, staring at the hydrangeas as if they might offer advice. Then she turned around, the intense violet of the flowers still lingering behind her eyes. Noise wrapped around her the moment she stepped back inside the mansion, distant laughter, hurried footsteps racing to avoid being late to class.
She wished she could seal the school inside a giant bubble and keep everything exactly as it was. That nothing could ever touch this place.
A few hours later, after the surprisingly impressive lunch Peter had prepared, an armored van sent from the Thunderbolts Tower arrived to pick them up. Beast, Peter, and she settled into the wide back seat like a trio of oversized children. The driver and the man in the passenger seat remained silent for the hour-and-a-half ride.
She watched through the window as the landscape shifted gradually. Residential neighborhoods gave way to the busiest highway. Then, rising beyond the clouds, the skyline of the city that never sleeps came into view.
An hour into the trip, she shifted against the soft leather seat. Henry kept his nose buried in a notebook, writing quickly, pausing to think for a few minutes before forcefully crossing out an entire page. Peter snored lightly against her shoulder. When the wheel hit a pothole, he startled awake. Now he wasn’t sleeping, just leaning against her, probably lost in thought.
“Do you think-?” she cleared her throat “Do you think we’ll find anything?”
“I’ve been reading about the new black box technology,” Beast began in response “We might find something. I certainly hope so.”
Peter nodded.
“Do you think they’ll listen to us?” They both knew what he meant. Maybe the real question was: were they going to be anything more than a convenient façade, something to keep the government satisfied and ease the pressure from mutant society demanding real action with the involvement of actual mutants?
“I suppose,” Henry lifted and dropped his shoulders in mild indifference “I don’t think they will.”
“I think we should’ve just stayed home.”
The Thunderbolts Tower rose among steel and glass in the heart of the city, imposing, immaculate. Its façade reflected the sky as if nothing could touch it. As if nothing could stain it.
The building wasn’t just a tower. It was a symbol. Institutional power.
“Well-” Peter muttered as he stepped out of the car. “This is your future home, you know.”
He nudged her playfully, trying to be funny.
“Don’t even joke about that.”
The drivers who had brought them stepped out as well and handed them visitor passes so they could enter without issue. They escorted them to the entrance, guarded by large men in black suits who stared straight ahead without blinking.
“Identification.”
The three mutants exchanged a look. Weren’t the passes enough? Beast spoke first.
“We have our visi-”
“Visitor passes,” the guard cut in “Those aren’t corporate credentials. Identification,” he repeated, more firmly.
The air shifted instantly. The way the guard’s gaze lingered on Beast a second too long. Appraising. Judging. She couldn’t quite explain the humiliation that flooded her chest. They weren’t even capable of treating them as representatives of an educational institution. Not as activists. Not even as political interlocutors.
She pulled out her ID with slow, controlled movements, swallowing her anger and the knot tightening in her chest. Her friends followed reluctantly. The guard took the IDs without thanks, without comment. He scanned them with a handheld device and returned each one with the same coldness with which he had received them.
“Step through the arch.”
Peter let out a barely audible exhale.
“Such hospitality.”
Beast went first, walking toward the security gate. The metal beneath his feet echoed faintly. The guard watched the monitor as the scanner moved over him from head to toe. A thin beam of light descended with deliberate slowness, as though making certain it missed nothing.
Peter raised his hands in exaggerated surrender before stepping through.
She was the last.
She paused for a second before crossing. She felt every eye on her. The scanner’s hum began vibrating in the air as she took her first step. The light climbed from her feet upward, traveling over her body with clinical coldness.
“That’s enough.”
The hum stopped halfway through its path.
The inner lobby doors opened with a soft hydraulic whisper, and he appeared, descending the few steps that connected to the main entrance.
James Buchanan Barnes.
She almost laughed at the irony. Wow. Her Prince Charming.
He wore a dark suit, immaculate. Back straight, expression unreadable. His face carried the same composure he showed the cameras. The guards tensed slightly.
“Congressman-” one of them began.
“They’re with me,” Bucky said, not taking his eyes off the group. Not taking his eyes off her.
The agent hesitated for a fraction of a second.
“We’re following protocol.”
Bucky took another step forward.
“I don’t believe that’ll be necessary.”
The guard exchanged a quick glance with his partner and finally stepped back, deactivating the scanner.
The light that had been traveling over her body disappeared.
Bucky approached until there was barely any distance left between them.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, his eyes lingering on her a second longer than strictly professional “I apologize for the… reception.”
She didn’t let anything show.
“We’re used to it.”
For a brief instant, something shifted across Bucky’s face.
“This way.”
The doors opened fully, revealing the polished, silent interior of the tower. Peter leaned slightly toward his friend as they walked.
“Well… that was dramatic.”
She kept her eyes forward.
“We haven’t even started.”
Five hours had passed since they’d entered the massive conference room. Three hours since they’d made their third trip to the coffee machine. Jackets now hung carelessly over the backs of chairs. Formality had long since dissolved.
They had talked about security protocols, interagency cooperation, “shared transparency.” Too many words for something that, at its core, boiled down to a single question:
Who had leaked the information?
“We are not accusing the school-” one of the advisors said, his tone carefully calibrated to sound neutral.
“Well, that’s not how it sounds.”
“The most obvious point of access is still internal.”
“Our servers are isolated. We do not store that kind of information on external networks.” She shook her head and, for what felt like the hundredth time, repeated “In any case, it’s illegal for even an institutional authority to access them.”
“The information came from somewhere,” another voice interjected.
Peter let out a dry laugh.
“Yes, well… that’s usually how leaks work.”
Beast, who until that moment had remained focused on a tablet with almost surgical concentration, didn’t look up.
“The access logs you sent us,” he said at last “do not match a conventional intrusion.”
Across the table, Bucky laced his fingers together.
“Explain.”
Beast slid the device toward the center of the table and adjusted his glasses.
“If this had been an external hack, we would find recognizable patterns: broken code, altered entries. There’s none of that here.”
She frowned.
“Then could it have been someone with authorized access?”
“I don’t know,” Beast replied.
Fatigue had begun to seep into the conversation. The voices no longer carried the same firmness as at the beginning. They had repeated arguments. Indirectly accused one another. Defended positions. And nothing had moved forward. Until now.
“This cannot turn into an internal witch hunt,” she said, more tired than angry now “We cannot allow this to become a narrative that it’s somehow our own fault people are dying.”
Bucky held her gaze.
“No one is building that narrative.”
“Wait-”
Beast’s fingers began moving more quickly across the screen. He zoomed in on a section of the logs.
“This wasn’t in the summarized report.”
Peter leaned forward.
“What is it?”
“There’s a… signature? I don’t know, I’m not entirely certain. It’s a code. It repeats on every page.”
On the screen, among lines of code and timestamps, there was a sequence that didn’t match any official identifier.
6h00stw1r3.
“This is like-” Beast began, pointing to a string of numbers, symbols, and letters “An action, a command. It amends something in the regulations. This other one is… it’s nothing.”
She inhaled deeply.
6h00stw1r3.
“Give me a piece of paper.”
6 was G. H. 0: O. O. S and T. 1 was I. 3 was E.
“Is that a code?”
“It’s a person.” Ghostwire. Ghostwire. “Derek.”
│rising echoes taglist's; @imaginecrushes @torntaltos @officerfierce @seventeen-x
│notes: hello fucking hell. sooo sorry for being MIA.... uni fucked me up and now im resting. slow updates bc im also working on this cutie. xx juliet
working on rising echoes!!! so excited <3 more news soon
ALSO I didn't forget about starmadamelady* 👀👀
working on rising echoes!!! so excited <3 more news soon
Whispers of the Sea │Chapter 9.
│Chapter 8・Chapter 9・Chapter 10
│Masterlist of "Whispers of the Sea" (Not finished)
│rafe cameron・Social Media AU / IRL
│summary・"Whispers of the Sea" breathes life into forgotten memories through wistful poems and hidden truths. Drawn to it's words, Rafe finds himself chasing echoes of a past he can’t fully recall. The anonymous blogger is the childhood friend forgotten in time. Rafe searches for the pieces of a forgotten puzzle, trying to make sense of the storm brewing in his mind, while his heart fills with the poems of the girl he once adored.
│pairing・Ex-childhoodfriend!Rafe Cameron x Poet/Blogger!Female oc/reader
Talking to Aaliyah always felt like a hug to the heart. She knew exactly what words to use to quiet her mind. Whenever the topic of Rafe and the past found its way into their conversations, Aaliyah handled it with care. She understood her friend, and she understood why letting go wasn’t always easy. Why "Rafe" and everything he include wasn't easy.
She still remembered the first time she saw Juliet in Central Park. So invisible, so out of place in that vast city. Even as she sat there with her nose buried in a book, she looked restless, as if she could feel hundreds of invisible eyes on her. It was almost like something put each other on their way.
Aaliyah had been a ray of clarity in her storm, a grounding presence in the middle of all that chaos. With her, Juliet had always felt safe. And it was at times like this that she needed comfort and understanding.
jo's notes: hope yall like this one. i put my heart into the journal writing (not relatable at all) if u wanna be added to the taglist just lmk!! xoxo
│whispers of the sea has a taglist! if you want to be added, let me know and keep interacting with the posts to stay on it!
taglist: @pinkyqily @frankoceanluvr11 @urbrunettebombshell @angelicameron @amidvalas
@littlefreak-liz @rafeswhoooreee
i have SOO much ideas for fics GIRL CALM DOWN UNI IS NOT EVEN OVER AND I HAVE LIKE 3821 FICS LEFT.
ANNOUNCEMENT 💌 it’s been suuuuper long weeks :( uni has me completely swamped, and since writing is just a little hobby for me, i haven’t found a single moment to sit down and write the way i’d love to. i did start most of the projects that were living rent-free in my head though, so maybe in a few weeks i’ll finally post an update! fingers crossed. hope you guys understand and that you’re as excited for the stories as i am! <3 thank you for all the love on StarMadameLady* and Rising Echoes, it seriously means so much to me. lots of love, juliet xx
Me thinking that I'm funny was probably the first problem
"Star-Lady, LYRA" | STARMADAMELADY*. johnny storm.
[WC; 2.8k] [PAIRING] Post-FF!Johnny Storm x Quill!Reader.
CHAPTER 01 | CHAPTER 02
[SUMMARY] Growing up in space was cool. What wasn’t so cool was being the shadow sister of Peter Quill. Star-Lord. Maybe it was luck, or maybe fate, but stumbling upon the Thunderbolts felt like a breath of air for her head. When a strange anomaly began to consume her Celestial essence, she felt it in the cosmos. And apparently, beings from another universe did too. Once again, the universe collided with itself. Maybe this time, it carried a spark (of fire). Literally.
[CHECK MASTERLIST FOR SETTING AND WARNING]
The silence of space was different from that of Earth.
She never thought she’d get to experience it, that muffled pressure that sometimes made her believe she had gone completely deaf. But when a blue alien kidnapped her along with her brother, well, she learned what it truly felt like.
It felt strange to be there without Peter. But he had his group now, and she had hers. Dysfunctional, yes. But a group, nonetheless.
Valentina had launched them to infinity and beyond over a few small pieces of data that hinted at an anomaly in Earth’s orbit. Being the new Avengers, it was their duty to protect humans from any strange being that might threaten them.
Now she lay sprawled out, bored. She had already annoyed John, chatted with Bob, and run out of energy to socialize, so she chose to distract herself on the couch. Hidden from Bucky, she had managed to sneak along the Walkman that had been with her for years. She had begged Peter to let her keep one of the cassettes their mother had once gifted her, and, barely, he had relented.
It was strange to think she should have been an old woman by now, arguing with her husband about how he always left dirty clothes on the bed. Instead, she was still trapped in a body that rarely ever felt like hers.
A sharp beep cut through the music in her ears. Now the trip was finally getting interesting. She noticed Bucky staring at the central console, brow furrowed. He didn’t exactly look worried, more like he didn’t quite understand what was happening. She took it upon herself to check the temperature readings, wondering if it could actually get hot in space. Space, of all places.
"Did one of the engines blow or somethin’?” she muttered mostly to herself.
"Pretty sure we’d have heard it, madame."
She shot John a look without blinking. Fair enough, she’d been pestering him a couple hours earlier. She bit back any snarky comment about his face and turned back to the console. The sensors were dead, like someone had just thrown a sheet over space itself.
"Something’s messing with the data feed…” she said, leaning closer to the screen and resting her arms on it, like she could somehow force the numbers to change. “Or straight-up rewriting them.”
Bucky’s shoulders tightened.
"Maybe this is why Valentina sent us out here?"
She glanced at him, grinning. It was way too easy to get under his skin.
"Wow, look at that, Sherlock freakin’ Holmes is on board with us-"
She started to say something, but her words died as her eyes drifted to the window behind Bucky. Out there, like it had been hiding in plain sight the whole time, a massive glowing blue shadow shot past at high speed. It looked like it was about to cut right over them. Big. Strange. She hadn’t seen anything like that in any corner of the galaxy, which, honestly, freaked her out a bit. Maybe she’d missed a few updates.
Yelena came rushing in, Ava right on her heels. Looked like they’d been sneaking a drink in the galley of their ship. Alexei stumbled in after them, somehow moving faster than his daughter, a glass of whiskey in hand. A whiskey?
“What is that?” the blonde asked, pressing almost against the ship’s window.
“How is it possible the ship didn’t detect it?” Bob spoke up from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to stare at him, startled. She hadn’t even noticed him there- and that alone was unsettling.
“I have no idea…” her eyes went back to the massive bluish shape that kept on its course.
Quickly, she sent out a radio signal, one that requested permission to sync frequencies, though it barely seemed to have been emitted. She tried again. And again. And again. Until the machine let out a beep signaling too many attempts.
"It’s not responding to any frequency," she turned to Bucky. "Let me go out there. I can track its source if I get closer."
She hated having to practically beg Bucky for permission to act in the mission’s best interest. But if she didn’t want Valentina breathing down her neck, she’d have to lower her guard. The soldier shot her a cold look, one of those that was enough to end any argument.
"No way."
"It’s the only option. If that ship is here, it’s for a reason. Maybe it’s the anomaly we’re looking for. Maybe it came for the same reason we did. And we won’t know unless I go check it out."
A heavy silence settled between them. Space itself didn’t feel silent anymore; there was a low hum in the air. The team exchanged glances, until Bucky spoke again.
"You’re not going," he said, her name ringing sharply through the room. "And I’m not gonna say it again."
She shot him an annoyed look and ground her teeth. Getting up, flustered, she grabbed her long-forgotten Walkman from the couch. She slipped past Alexei and Ava, earning curious glances from her teammates.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
"To save the mission," she said without even turning around.
She approached the hatch leading to the ship’s emergency exit and put on her helmet. A gift from her brother. It was exactly the same as his, only he hadn’t made hers as cool as his. Hers didn’t have red lights. They were yellow. The color she hated most. Very funny.
"I swear to God, if you step out-"
"It’s my ship," she said sharply. That was the last straw. On top of giving her team half of her transport, they were trying to boss her around. "And while we’re up here, we’ll listen to the one who actually lived in space, alright?"
And with that, she opened the door. She paused in the narrow corridor that doubled as an airlock. Pressing play on her Walkman, her favorite song from the mix filled her headphones. Once the chamber cycled and was ready, she opened the hatch and felt her body grow light. She had missed that feeling.
With a small kick from her heels, she activated her boots, and once stabilized, she flew. Warm air filled her mask, but she didn’t care. She felt peace. She felt silence. She felt a sense of home. This was her home. The void itself. And everything at once.
She looked up and saw the alien ship passing by, now slower. Its engines were off. Curious. With a bit more thrust, she shot upward. A harsh light hit her eyes, and there it was- the sun, welcoming her. And also distracting her. When she turned back to the ship, it was gone. Vanished, as if by magic. She scanned her surroundings. Oh oh.
"The ship’s gone."
She could already picture Bucky’s face and hear his reproachful tone.
"What do you mean it’s gone?"
Well, that wasn’t Bucky. Yelena’s voice was flat.
"I turned around… and it wasn’t there," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I’ll find it. Keep the radio open, please."
"Sure thing, boss." she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Shut up."
She flew even higher. She could see the roof of her own ship, and figured that would be roughly the height where the other one should be. She glanced to the side where she had last seen it. Squinting, she focused.
There it was, a faint rainbow-colored shimmer. Minimal, but noticeable. The sun made it glint in certain spots. It was like it was helping her now. Always flirting with her.
She zipped forward until her gloves brushed against metal so cold it went right through the material covering her hands. With barely any effort, she managed to break through the thin layer of energy that had been hiding the ship from her eyes.
She searched for a hatch, but it was a huge tube with legs that had no visible exit. She almost considered phasing through a wall, but that would be risky for her human molecules.
"Found it… but there’s no visible entrance. Send me a scan and an interior assessment," she spoke into the radio.
She just hoped Bob wasn’t in the chair.
She kept scanning along the legs, not understanding the structure or the material of this ship. She’d never seen anything like it. Not in her long twenty years.
"Scan not performed."
Great. Now they’d left her with a robot.
"Why? Try again."
"Scan not performed, Star-Madame."
"Star-Lady, LYRA. Star-Lady."
"Sorry, Star-Lady. The last configuration was edited by your brother, Peter. Would you like to customize the new 'nicknames' for your crew?"
"No, LYRA. Why couldn’t the scan be performed?"
"The infrastructure of Ship-04 doesn’t match any scanning configuration in my software. Adding to that, given the last battle, the Bowie’s scanner is malfunctioning, Star-Lady."
"So… basically, the way this ship is built-" she tapped the metal "-it’s unknown to our universe."
"Exactly, Star-Lady, since I have all existing data on every ship in our universe. Thanks to your father."
"Don’t thank my dad, LYRA."
"Sorry, Star-Lady. Do you require my assistance in any other way?"
*"No. Thanks…" she said, flying back to where she had been, beside one of the legs. "Oh, and remind me to fix the scanner. And anything else that’s broken."
"Will do."
She stared at the ship for a few seconds, trying to figure it out. Where had it come from? She glimpsed the tip of the ship itself and considered peeking through the windows, but she had no idea what awaited inside. Maybe they were ready to blow her up as soon as she got in, but she needed to understand how they had gotten there.
She sighed and flew a little ways away from it. It looked adrift. If she hadn’t seen it fly before, with its thrusters blazing, she might have thought it was an abandoned ship, but she knew something was inside.
As if the ship itself could read her mind, a puff of compressed air shot out from somewhere. She approached where the little cloud had appeared, and there it was. Right before her eyes. A circular opening between the ship’s supports had appeared. The air chamber was even bigger than the one on her ship. Cautiously, she ventured inside, gripping the edges of the hatch. A beep sounded in her ear; someone was on the radio.
"Don’t go in,"
Bucky’s voice came through, serious.
"I swear, if you go in there, I’ll make sure you get kicked off the team."
She laughed through her teeth, already planting her feet on the floor. She powered down her boots and held onto the interior walls so she wouldn’t start floating.
"Maybe I’ll die, so don’t worry."
"No, no- don’t say that," he almost whispered. "Don’t do anything stupid."
"You’re the stupid one… over and out."
"Someday you’re gonna k—"
The radio cut out just as the door behind her shut. She frowned and searched for a button to open the one in front of her eyes. Not much searching was needed, the door opened on its own. The interior of what appeared to be a storage area was dark. She could barely make out some metal boxes in one corner and a solitary round table in the center of the room.
She stepped in cautiously, one hand resting on her thigh, readying her weapon in case she needed it. Another gift from Peter. She had barely taken two steps when a loud crash startled her to one side. She drew her weapon and raised it in front of her eyes. There was nothing. No one. Her heart was pounding in her ears.
She didn’t lower her guard as she continued scanning the room. It didn’t look abandoned, it was as if it had been set up this way. The song in her headphones had ended, and the next one started immediately. She tapped her foot to the rhythm of The Jackson 5 as she approached one of the boxes covered by a blanket. She poked it with the tip of her weapon, and once again something startled her from behind.
She spun around quickly, on guard, ready to fire. But what she saw was unusual. Or… something. A robot? It made a noise when it saw her turn. It seemed to scream, then spun around and tried to run.
"Wait, no!" she trotted toward the object and grabbed what looked like its head.
When she stood in front of it, she could see that it had cylinders spinning continuously. It was like a tape recorder. She let the mask over her face detach in pieces and smiled faintly and smiled faintly. She examined it thoroughly.
"What kind species are you?" she said, circling it. It was human-made, but from seventy years in the past. And yet, it looked futuristic.
"H.E.R.B.I.E."
"Oh, you talk." she crouched down to get a closer look. "Where do you come from?"
"WEP. WUP?"
Well, that left her speechless.
"Earth. What is your purpose here?"
The very polite robot, H.E.R.B.I.E., extended its arm near her face, and she recoiled, startled. The metal arm seemed to disassemble, and an even thinner silver rod slid out, like a second arm. On it was what looked like an antenna with a USB port, slightly outdated. The robot moved it in front of her face.
"For me?"
"WEP."
"Thanks." she pulled it off with a bit of force and tucked it into her jacket pocket.
She noticed another door behind the robot, a light blinking above it. She turned back to the robot, squinting her eyes.
"You’re not alone here, are you?"
H.E.R.B.I.E. didn’t make a sound this time. Nor did it try to move.
"WOO. WUT WUP WAY WAY WEP."
She blinked. Glanced back at the door, then at H.E.R.B.I.E.
"I’m trusting you, you know that?" she said, pointing at it with the same antenna it had given her. "Tell your crew not to even think about trying anything,"
She put her helmet back on, giving one last look around the rest of the room. There was something there. Something she couldn’t figure out. She needed information. She needed to know who was here and why.
Since Thanos, any being from another remote world that wasn’t in communication with Earth was a threat. And she wasn’t going to let something like what happened a few years ago happen again.
"And open this door." she walked toward the exit, expecting the machine to come by her side or do something. She glanced back, but it hadn’t moved. Its “eyes” spun quickly. "Please."
H.E.R.B.I.E. moved toward her. It made a noise, like a little laugh. And without pressing anything, the hatch opened. She eyed it warily and stepped slowly into the chamber. The door closed behind her and vented the air. The outer hatch opened, and giving one last look inside the ship, she let herself be pushed out into space.
Half-floating, she powered on her boots and gently pushed off, resuming flight toward her ship.
Once she took one last look at the infinity of the universe, she commanded LYRA to open the Bowie’s outer hatch. Inside, she deactivated her helmet, powered down her boots, and found herself facing the expectant gazes of her teammates. Bucky stood with his arms crossed and quickly walked toward her.
"Let this be the last time you do something like that."
"I’ll make sure you never come on a space mission again."
She pulled the small antenna/USB from her pocket and ran to the console to check that it worked. The Bowie powered its lights off and on. Panicked, she tried to pull the device from the port, but a sound boomed out.
"WIP. WAY. WOP-"
"What the hell is that?" John asked gruffly, arriving at her side.
"That’s H.E.R.B.I.E," she said, frowning at him. "Be nice."
"Miss Star-Lady, do you wish me to execute the unknown source?"
"No, LYRA, it’s fine," she sighed, barely tolerating the AI they forced her to have. "H.E.R.B.I.E, hello. I’m the woman who went to your ship. The antenna works."
"WEP. WOP. WIW… H.E.R.B.I.E-H.E.R.B.I.E… enough, hello?"
Everyone went silent. She looked at Bucky with wide eyes, unsure. The man returned the same expression. With a slight nod, she turned her gaze back to the console and pressed the Bowie’s audio recorder button.
"Hello. This is Bowie, who am I speaking to?"
A silence stretched across the line.
"This is Excelsior-Multiversal."
[TAGLIST] You can follow me here and turn on notifications to know when I post a new part. You can also be added to the tag list, but you’ll need to interact with the posts to stay on it!
@ynnlvrs @lynnlikesfilm00 @lafrone @void-enchanter @justyourneighborhoodbisexual
[NOTE] hiii so so so happy for all the love this fic is getting. first chapter woo but... slow uploading. #uni... lots of love! xx
LOVE LOVE LOVEEEE I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER
WOOOOOOO THANK YOU!!! <333
helloo so i have some exams next week, and they happen to be really important for my university life… so I’ll be a little missing. i might update I only have eyes (...) and drop new chapters of Rising Echoes and StarMadameLady* the week after. thanks for all the love on my fics I LOVE YOU GUYS sm. - juliet, xx
This is where I post from btw if you even care
working on the singer!reader x bucky part 2!!! part 1 HERE <3
Star-Lady, LYRA
STARMADAMELADY*. johnny storm.
[WC; 2.8k] [PAIRING] Post-FF!Johnny Storm x Quill!Reader.
CHAPTER 01 | CHAPTER 02
[SUMMARY] Growing up in space was cool. What wasn’t so cool was being the shadow sister of Peter Quill. Star-Lord. Maybe it was luck, or maybe fate, but stumbling upon the Thunderbolts felt like a breath of air for her head. When a strange anomaly began to consume her Celestial essence, she felt it in the cosmos. And apparently, beings from another universe did too. Once again, the universe collided with itself. Maybe this time, it carried a spark (of fire). Literally.
[CHECK MASTERLIST FOR SETTING AND WARNING]
The silence of space was different from that of Earth.
She never thought she’d get to experience it, that muffled pressure that sometimes made her believe she had gone completely deaf. But when a blue alien kidnapped her along with her brother, well, she learned what it truly felt like.
It felt strange to be there without Peter. But he had his group now, and she had hers. Dysfunctional, yes. But a group, nonetheless.
Valentina had launched them to infinity and beyond over a few small pieces of data that hinted at an anomaly in Earth’s orbit. Being the new Avengers, it was their duty to protect humans from any strange being that might threaten them.
Now she lay sprawled out, bored. She had already annoyed John, chatted with Bob, and run out of energy to socialize, so she chose to distract herself on the couch. Hidden from Bucky, she had managed to sneak along the Walkman that had been with her for years. She had begged Peter to let her keep one of the cassettes their mother had once gifted her, and, barely, he had relented.
It was strange to think she should have been an old woman by now, arguing with her husband about how he always left dirty clothes on the bed. Instead, she was still trapped in a body that rarely ever felt like hers.
A sharp beep cut through the music in her ears. Now the trip was finally getting interesting. She noticed Bucky staring at the central console, brow furrowed. He didn’t exactly look worried, more like he didn’t quite understand what was happening. She took it upon herself to check the temperature readings, wondering if it could actually get hot in space. Space, of all places.
"Did one of the engines blow or somethin’?” she muttered mostly to herself.
"Pretty sure we’d have heard it, madame."
She shot John a look without blinking. Fair enough, she’d been pestering him a couple hours earlier. She bit back any snarky comment about his face and turned back to the console. The sensors were dead, like someone had just thrown a sheet over space itself.
"Something’s messing with the data feed…” she said, leaning closer to the screen and resting her arms on it, like she could somehow force the numbers to change. “Or straight-up rewriting them.”
Bucky’s shoulders tightened.
"Maybe this is why Valentina sent us out here?"
She glanced at him, grinning. It was way too easy to get under his skin.
"Wow, look at that, Sherlock freakin’ Holmes is on board with us-"
She started to say something, but her words died as her eyes drifted to the window behind Bucky. Out there, like it had been hiding in plain sight the whole time, a massive glowing blue shadow shot past at high speed. It looked like it was about to cut right over them. Big. Strange. She hadn’t seen anything like that in any corner of the galaxy, which, honestly, freaked her out a bit. Maybe she’d missed a few updates.
Yelena came rushing in, Ava right on her heels. Looked like they’d been sneaking a drink in the galley of their ship. Alexei stumbled in after them, somehow moving faster than his daughter, a glass of whiskey in hand. A whiskey?
“What is that?” the blonde asked, pressing almost against the ship’s window.
“How is it possible the ship didn’t detect it?” Bob spoke up from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to stare at him, startled. She hadn’t even noticed him there- and that alone was unsettling.
“I have no idea…” her eyes went back to the massive bluish shape that kept on its course.
Quickly, she sent out a radio signal, one that requested permission to sync frequencies, though it barely seemed to have been emitted. She tried again. And again. And again. Until the machine let out a beep signaling too many attempts.
"It’s not responding to any frequency," she turned to Bucky. "Let me go out there. I can track its source if I get closer."
She hated having to practically beg Bucky for permission to act in the mission’s best interest. But if she didn’t want Valentina breathing down her neck, she’d have to lower her guard. The soldier shot her a cold look, one of those that was enough to end any argument.
"No way."
"It’s the only option. If that ship is here, it’s for a reason. Maybe it’s the anomaly we’re looking for. Maybe it came for the same reason we did. And we won’t know unless I go check it out."
A heavy silence settled between them. Space itself didn’t feel silent anymore; there was a low hum in the air. The team exchanged glances, until Bucky spoke again.
"You’re not going," he said, her name ringing sharply through the room. "And I’m not gonna say it again."
She shot him an annoyed look and ground her teeth. Getting up, flustered, she grabbed her long-forgotten Walkman from the couch. She slipped past Alexei and Ava, earning curious glances from her teammates.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
"To save the mission," she said without even turning around.
She approached the hatch leading to the ship’s emergency exit and put on her helmet. A gift from her brother. It was exactly the same as his, only he hadn’t made hers as cool as his. Hers didn’t have red lights. They were yellow. The color she hated most. Very funny.
"I swear to God, if you step out-"
"It’s my ship," she said sharply. That was the last straw. On top of giving her team half of her transport, they were trying to boss her around. "And while we’re up here, we’ll listen to the one who actually lived in space, alright?"
And with that, she opened the door. She paused in the narrow corridor that doubled as an airlock. Pressing play on her Walkman, her favorite song from the mix filled her headphones. Once the chamber cycled and was ready, she opened the hatch and felt her body grow light. She had missed that feeling.
With a small kick from her heels, she activated her boots, and once stabilized, she flew. Warm air filled her mask, but she didn’t care. She felt peace. She felt silence. She felt a sense of home. This was her home. The void itself. And everything at once.
She looked up and saw the alien ship passing by, now slower. Its engines were off. Curious. With a bit more thrust, she shot upward. A harsh light hit her eyes, and there it was- the sun, welcoming her. And also distracting her. When she turned back to the ship, it was gone. Vanished, as if by magic. She scanned her surroundings. Oh oh.
"The ship’s gone."
She could already picture Bucky’s face and hear his reproachful tone.
"What do you mean it’s gone?"
Well, that wasn’t Bucky. Yelena’s voice was flat.
"I turned around… and it wasn’t there," she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I’ll find it. Keep the radio open, please."
"Sure thing, boss." she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Shut up."
She flew even higher. She could see the roof of her own ship, and figured that would be roughly the height where the other one should be. She glanced to the side where she had last seen it. Squinting, she focused.
There it was, a faint rainbow-colored shimmer. Minimal, but noticeable. The sun made it glint in certain spots. It was like it was helping her now. Always flirting with her.
She zipped forward until her gloves brushed against metal so cold it went right through the material covering her hands. With barely any effort, she managed to break through the thin layer of energy that had been hiding the ship from her eyes.
She searched for a hatch, but it was a huge tube with legs that had no visible exit. She almost considered phasing through a wall, but that would be risky for her human molecules.
"Found it… but there’s no visible entrance. Send me a scan and an interior assessment," she spoke into the radio.
She just hoped Bob wasn’t in the chair.
She kept scanning along the legs, not understanding the structure or the material of this ship. She’d never seen anything like it. Not in her long twenty years.
"Scan not performed."
Great. Now they’d left her with a robot.
"Why? Try again."
"Scan not performed, Star-Madame."
"Star-Lady, LYRA. Star-Lady."
"Sorry, Star-Lady. The last configuration was edited by your brother, Peter. Would you like to customize the new 'nicknames' for your crew?"
"No, LYRA. Why couldn’t the scan be performed?"
"The infrastructure of Ship-04 doesn’t match any scanning configuration in my software. Adding to that, given the last battle, the Bowie’s scanner is malfunctioning, Star-Lady."
"So… basically, the way this ship is built-" she tapped the metal "-it’s unknown to our universe."
"Exactly, Star-Lady, since I have all existing data on every ship in our universe. Thanks to your father."
"Don’t thank my dad, LYRA."
"Sorry, Star-Lady. Do you require my assistance in any other way?"
*"No. Thanks…" she said, flying back to where she had been, beside one of the legs. "Oh, and remind me to fix the scanner. And anything else that’s broken."
"Will do."
She stared at the ship for a few seconds, trying to figure it out. Where had it come from? She glimpsed the tip of the ship itself and considered peeking through the windows, but she had no idea what awaited inside. Maybe they were ready to blow her up as soon as she got in, but she needed to understand how they had gotten there.
She sighed and flew a little ways away from it. It looked adrift. If she hadn’t seen it fly before, with its thrusters blazing, she might have thought it was an abandoned ship, but she knew something was inside.
As if the ship itself could read her mind, a puff of compressed air shot out from somewhere. She approached where the little cloud had appeared, and there it was. Right before her eyes. A circular opening between the ship’s supports had appeared. The air chamber was even bigger than the one on her ship. Cautiously, she ventured inside, gripping the edges of the hatch. A beep sounded in her ear; someone was on the radio.
"Don’t go in,"
Bucky’s voice came through, serious.
"I swear, if you go in there, I’ll make sure you get kicked off the team."
She laughed through her teeth, already planting her feet on the floor. She powered down her boots and held onto the interior walls so she wouldn’t start floating.
"Maybe I’ll die, so don’t worry."
"No, no- don’t say that," he almost whispered. "Don’t do anything stupid."
"You’re the stupid one… over and out."
"Someday you’re gonna k—"
The radio cut out just as the door behind her shut. She frowned and searched for a button to open the one in front of her eyes. Not much searching was needed, the door opened on its own. The interior of what appeared to be a storage area was dark. She could barely make out some metal boxes in one corner and a solitary round table in the center of the room.
She stepped in cautiously, one hand resting on her thigh, readying her weapon in case she needed it. Another gift from Peter. She had barely taken two steps when a loud crash startled her to one side. She drew her weapon and raised it in front of her eyes. There was nothing. No one. Her heart was pounding in her ears.
She didn’t lower her guard as she continued scanning the room. It didn’t look abandoned, it was as if it had been set up this way. The song in her headphones had ended, and the next one started immediately. She tapped her foot to the rhythm of The Jackson 5 as she approached one of the boxes covered by a blanket. She poked it with the tip of her weapon, and once again something startled her from behind.
She spun around quickly, on guard, ready to fire. But what she saw was unusual. Or… something. A robot? It made a noise when it saw her turn. It seemed to scream, then spun around and tried to run.
"Wait, no!" she trotted toward the object and grabbed what looked like its head.
When she stood in front of it, she could see that it had cylinders spinning continuously. It was like a tape recorder. She let the mask over her face detach in pieces and smiled faintly and smiled faintly. She examined it thoroughly.
"What kind species are you?" she said, circling it. It was human-made, but from seventy years in the past. And yet, it looked futuristic.
"H.E.R.B.I.E."
"Oh, you talk." she crouched down to get a closer look. "Where do you come from?"
"WEP. WUP?"
Well, that left her speechless.
"Earth. What is your purpose here?"
The very polite robot, H.E.R.B.I.E., extended its arm near her face, and she recoiled, startled. The metal arm seemed to disassemble, and an even thinner silver rod slid out, like a second arm. On it was what looked like an antenna with a USB port, slightly outdated. The robot moved it in front of her face.
"For me?"
"WEP."
"Thanks." she pulled it off with a bit of force and tucked it into her jacket pocket.
She noticed another door behind the robot, a light blinking above it. She turned back to the robot, squinting her eyes.
"You’re not alone here, are you?"
H.E.R.B.I.E. didn’t make a sound this time. Nor did it try to move.
"WOO. WUT WUP WAY WAY WEP."
She blinked. Glanced back at the door, then at H.E.R.B.I.E.
"I’m trusting you, you know that?" she said, pointing at it with the same antenna it had given her. "Tell your crew not to even think about trying anything,"
She put her helmet back on, giving one last look around the rest of the room. There was something there. Something she couldn’t figure out. She needed information. She needed to know who was here and why.
Since Thanos, any being from another remote world that wasn’t in communication with Earth was a threat. And she wasn’t going to let something like what happened a few years ago happen again.
"And open this door." she walked toward the exit, expecting the machine to come by her side or do something. She glanced back, but it hadn’t moved. Its “eyes” spun quickly. "Please."
H.E.R.B.I.E. moved toward her. It made a noise, like a little laugh. And without pressing anything, the hatch opened. She eyed it warily and stepped slowly into the chamber. The door closed behind her and vented the air. The outer hatch opened, and giving one last look inside the ship, she let herself be pushed out into space.
Half-floating, she powered on her boots and gently pushed off, resuming flight toward her ship.
Once she took one last look at the infinity of the universe, she commanded LYRA to open the Bowie’s outer hatch. Inside, she deactivated her helmet, powered down her boots, and found herself facing the expectant gazes of her teammates. Bucky stood with his arms crossed and quickly walked toward her.
"Let this be the last time you do something like that."
"I’ll make sure you never come on a space mission again."
She pulled the small antenna/USB from her pocket and ran to the console to check that it worked. The Bowie powered its lights off and on. Panicked, she tried to pull the device from the port, but a sound boomed out.
"WIP. WAY. WOP-"
"What the hell is that?" John asked gruffly, arriving at her side.
"That’s H.E.R.B.I.E," she said, frowning at him. "Be nice."
"Miss Star-Lady, do you wish me to execute the unknown source?"
"No, LYRA, it’s fine," she sighed, barely tolerating the AI they forced her to have. "H.E.R.B.I.E, hello. I’m the woman who went to your ship. The antenna works."
"WEP. WOP. WIW… H.E.R.B.I.E-H.E.R.B.I.E… enough, hello?"
Everyone went silent. She looked at Bucky with wide eyes, unsure. The man returned the same expression. With a slight nod, she turned her gaze back to the console and pressed the Bowie’s audio recorder button.
"Hello. This is Bowie, who am I speaking to?"
A silence stretched across the line.
"This is Excelsior-Multiversal."
[TAGLIST] You can follow me here and turn on notifications to know when I post a new part. You can also be added to the tag list, but you’ll need to interact with the posts to stay on it!
@ynnlvrs @lynnlikesfilm00 @lafrone @void-enchanter @justyourneighborhoodbisexual
[NOTE] hiii so so so happy for all the love this fic is getting. first chapter woo but... slow uploading. #uni... lots of love! xx
