Beyond The Stars (UNDER REVISION)

Self Blame

I peer over the rooftop, eyeing the small Lagos cafe below. Sam walks up behind me. "Anyone ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" 

I smile at the man, nodding. "Hey, Bird Man," I joke with him. He just rolls his eyes at me. 

"Eyes on target folks," Captain says. 

"Aye, aye, Captain," I snort. 

"This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in 6 months. I don't wanna lose him." 

"Huh. If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He kinda hates us." 

"I would too if I was a Big Bad." I shrug my shoulders. I pull my earpiece out because it itches. I'm taken off guard when the drone flies off from his back. 

As I put the earpiece back, I hear Cap speaking. "Go now." 

"Why?" 

"He's not hitting the police." 

I teleport to the ground, flashing between people, moving as fast as I can. I arrive at the Institute For Infectious Diseases right as the truck flies through the barricade. I grab the driver. "You're not going anywhere," I smile at him. I conjure a pair of handcuffs and apprehend the man. I teleport him to the police. "Don't let him get away," I say. 

"I didn't know you spoke Yoruba, Dri," Nat says in my ear. 

"I... I spoke English," I say, confused as I teleport back to the crime scene. I instantly start getting shot at. Cap falls in front of me, protecting me with his shield. 

We both begin fighting. "Body armor. AR-15s. I make nine hostiles." I take down one guy and use his gun to shoot the other. "Seven hostiles," he corrects. 

"I make five," Sam's voice comes through the earpiece. "Four. Rumlow's on the third floor." 

"Wanda, just like we practiced." 

"What about the gas?" She asks her accent heavy. 

I look up at the building. "Get it out." I teleport into the building. (A/N: Dri teleporting looks like a quick flash of gold and purple light, by the way. Kind of how Loki shimmers gold when he changes form.)

I focus on getting the civilians to safety while Cap takes down more attackers. I manage to save a few, but most had already breathed in the gas. "Rumlow has a biological weapon," Cap says. 

"I'm on it," Nat replies. 

"Four civilians safely removed," I report from the rooftop. I hear a lot of explosions and I see Cap fall from a window. I teleport down. "Are you alright?" I ask the stupid question. He gives me a look appropriate to the question. 

"Sam, he's in an AFB, heading North." 

I link myself with Sam's mind, using his eyes to teleport to his location. I see Cap fighting, so I decide to help him. I end up landing a punch on Rumlow, but it's futile. He punches me back, sending me flying into a nearby fruit stand. While I stop my head from spinning, Cap manages to get the drop on Rumlow. "When you gotta go, you gotta go. And you're coming with me." Rumlow triggers a bomb, but Wanda contains the blast. I Watch as she tries to throw him into the sky, but fails, blowing up the side of the building. Her face falls and she covers her mouth. Without thinking, I teleport up there. I yell out in pain while my skin burns. I try to save as many people as I can, but there's too many. 

"Sam-.... Fire-...." My earpiece cuts out, so I drop it on the floor. 

I strain, pulling two people off the floor. "Come on-... We gotta get you out of here. Come on." One person falls out of my grip. "You gotta get up. Come on. Get up!" Words flow out of my mouth as I panic. I feel my team's desperation and despair. 

 I stare at my burned hands. The screams and cries echoing through my mind. "Are you alright, Dri?" Vision's voice says from behind me. I shake my head briskly and sigh, turning my attention back to my cooking. I don't reply. "You saved as many as you could." 

"It wasn't enough." 

"It would be impossible to have saved them all." 

"We live in a time where the impossible is possible, Vision," I look up from my cutting board. "I could've saved them. If only-" 

"You couldn't." 

I close my eyes and sigh. Thanks to my Asgardian decent, my wounds are already mostly healed. Walking over to the pot on the stove, I dump the chopped carrots into the soup. "If you could tell everyone that it'd be done in 10, that'd be great." 

"Mr. Stark is arriving soon." 

I nod, stirring my soup. My phone rings so I pull it out of my pocket. "Darryl, now really isn't-" 

"Ah, Dri!" 

"Thor... When did you learn to use a phone." 

"Uh, he didn't," Darryl's voice says. 

I smile. "Hello, Darryl. What is the problem?" 

"Rent is due and I still haven't gotten a payment." 

I roll my eyes. "Thor, i told you that you have to be an adult now. I can't keep covering your rent." 

"He tried to pay me with junk." 

"Asgardian treasures are not 'junk'!" 

I grab a ladle from the drawer. "Thor, you have to pay rent with Midgardian currency." 

"I do not have such a thing." 

"Then get a job," I roll my eyes. 

"That's what i told him and he said he'd get a servant." Darryl sounds agitated. 

"I don't see how those connect." 

"That's what I said!"  

I sigh and put my hand on my forehead. "I'll send you some money into your bank account. This is the last time I'm covering your rent, Thor. You said you wanted to live a normal, Midgardian life, so do it." I hang up the phone. I turn back to the cutting board, setting my phone down. I feel anger bubble inside me. Anger not pointed towards Thor, but pointed to myself. I grab the nearest thing to me and let out a yell as I throw it across the room. 

"What did that wall ever do to you?" I hear a familiar voice. 

I look up to see Tony pointing at the knife sticking out of the wall. "I'm sorry..." 

"Nearly took my head off. Maybe you should adopt that as your weapon since you complained about not having one." 

I mockingly laugh. "Very funny. You want some soup?" I offer, grabbing a bow out of the cupboard. 

"Actually, we have a visitor." 

"Would this visitor like soup as well?" 

"It's the Secretary of State. This really isn't a soup meeting." 

I furrow my brows and close my eyes. "I saw this coming. Government stepping in," I say, pinching the bridge of my nose. "About fucking time," I say after he leaves.