Little Star // a Steve Rogers, Captain America, Avengers story

She Would Not Die

The craft cruising on autopilot, Ellie joined Thor at a table in the cabin, where they read the details of their mission. 

A vicious battle had broken out between two factions on a newly colonized planet, and most of the team was already there attempting to deescalate the hostilities. Ellie was needed to help with treaty negotiations. Her gifts allowed her to know if the parties involved actually planned to uphold terms, as well as probe for any hidden agendas on either side.

It could be exhausting work, especially when alien minds were involved, but she loved it. Knowing that she could ease people's suffering and save lives, sometimes tens of thousands of lives, fulfilled her only slightly less than being JB's mother.

A few hours later Ellie was on the ground of another planet, bathed in sunset pink light from a star unseen from Earth, being briefed of the situation. It wasn't good. The next three days were spent shuttling from one camp to another, meeting with leaders, avoiding the worst of the fighting, and stretching her gifts to their limits. On the fourth day she gave her report.

"This will not, cannot, end peaceably. There is no room on either side for concession or compromise. Frankly, I don't think their brains are capable of either. It's physiological, not psychological. I can't even calm them. This is a fight we can't end."

She turned to Stephen Strange as she continued, "The only way we can save lives is by evacuating the noncombatants, and combatants if they agree, from the planet. Both groups, so neither is seen as forfeiting or as winning the planet. There are relatively few, under ten thousand, and I wondered, Stephen, if you could help with portals?" He nodded. "We'll have to find two planets."

They got to work and by the next day the evacuation was underway. A small group of fighters on both sides chose to stay and battle it out to the end. A need for all or nothing seemed to be hardwired in them. Five days after she left home Ellie, finding herself completely sapped of strength, both physical and mental, retreated to the relative comfort of the ship to rest while the others tied up loose ends.

She was woken by the sound of something metal falling with a clang to the cabin floor. Hidden as she lay in the recessed bunk, she peered out to see an alien battle axe a few feet away and an alien concentrating on a control panel before him. She opened her mind to his and had to suppress a gasp as she saw his plans to place a bomb in the jet, set to explode as they flew over the enemy camp on their way off planet.

This was not in Ellie's purview, but she knew she had to act. Sliding soundlessly from the bunk, she kept low as she made her way aft to her suit. She had very little weaponry, only tranquilizer darts and rubber bullets that packed an electrically charged wallop. She had been very clear that she did not want to kill, only disable, and because she usually worked at a safe distance from active fighting no one had pressured her.

Her hand was inches away from the door to her locker when a noise from outside made the alien look around the cabin. He saw her and was instantly over the table between them, the claws of his top arms slashing. Ellie's cheek seared as it was sliced open, blood flowing over her jaw and down her neck. The creature wrapped one talon-like hand around her neck and began to squeeze as the other prepared to strike again.

As her vision grew dim, she called up the images in her locket. She would not leave JB without a mother, she would not allow Steve to come home and find her gone. They needed her. She would not die. Calling on all the psychic energy in her body and mind, she focused on the alien's axe and what she wanted it to do. Then the world went dark.

~

"Ellie? Ellie? Can you hear me? Come on Ellie..."

She heard Bucky's voice as if it were miles away. There was a searing pain in her cheek and a deep ache in her throat. Slowly moving her fingers, she felt the cold metal grill of the cabin floor, and as she opened her eyes a crack she saw the soft glowing lights of the ceiling. All around her were worried looking team members.

"Where is it? she croaked.

"The alien?" Bucky asked. "We removed it."

"No... the bomb." She lifted a shaking hand and pointed towards the panel that hid the device.

Thor lifted her quickly from the floor and out of the jet as the others went into action. On the ground nearby she saw the alien, its skin no longer a deep lavender but a watery grey. The battle axe was buried to the hilt in its back. She had done it. She had harnessed her telekinesis, to a frightening extent. She groaned inwardly as she foresaw hours and hours with Dr. Liszt, and then she groaned outwardly before losing consciousness again.

They kept her sedated until they were back at the compound, where the medical team repaired the gaping wound on her cheek and ascertained that there was no permanent damage to her throat. When Ellie awoke, she was in the room on home floor that she sometimes used, Bucky by her side.

"Hey pretty lady," he said with a smile, "it's awfully good to see those eyes wide open. How do you feel?"

"Tired," she whispered, testing out her voice, which was stronger than she expected. "My throat's not too sore. Oh, but my cheek!" Her hand flew up to feel the tiny butterfly bandages that marched in a line from her temple, across her cheek, to her chin.

"Is it terrible?" she asked, grimacing.

"No," was Bucky's reply, and she knew it was honest. "The doctors did an amazing job. You'll have a scar, but it should be pencil thin. Would you like to get up and look in the mirror?"

She stood, steady on her feet, and turned to the mirror over the dresser. It was long and dramatic, but she wasn't disfigured. Hopefully it wouldn't frighten JB.

"Bucky, how long were we away? How long have we been home? Do my parents know?"

"Eight days, thirty-six hours, yes. We wanted to wait until you were put back together before you had visitors. Actually, I think the doctors have cleared you to go home. How does that sound?"

"So good." She looked down and realized that she was in scrubs. "Um... I've been out for a while. Who's been taking care of me? Changing my clothes... and stuff? You?"

He chuckled, "No, the nurses from the medical wing have taken turns. Your dignity has been preserved. Although Thor might have volunteered for bathing duty."

"I would have been offended if he hadn't," she laughed, "Let's get out of here; I want to see my boy."