STARMADAMELADY*. johnny storm.
[WC; 2.8k] [PAIRING] Post-FF!Johnny Storm x Quill!Reader.
[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.
"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.
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.
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.
Great. Now they’d left her with a robot.
"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."
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.
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.
"Oh, you talk." she crouched down to get a closer look. "Where do you come from?"
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.
"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.
"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."
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[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
