Black Star: The Legend Begins

丅︎𝔀๏

THE room is smaller than you expected. There aren’t any windows, just one lamp that casts a red glow throughout the room. It’s dim, but you can still see that the walls to your left and right are covered completely by bookcases, housing a combination of books, folders, weapons, and random tools and gears. Pushed almost all the way up against the back wall is a black leather chair accompanied by a wide desk. It’s covered in papers, but you can see that it’s made of glossy black wood that has an almost blood-colored tint to it in the lamp’s light. And in the very center of the room, there’s a large circular rug with the HYDRA octopus on it. There’s just one thing missing.

“Nat, where’s the boss of the base?”

She looks around, frowning. “Shit. I bet there’s an escape hatch in here somewhere. They probably heard us coming and cleared out.”

“Not quite.”

The two of you whirl around to see a man, probably in his late 30s, standing in the doorway. He has dark brown hair, pale skin, and black eyes. Just looking into them makes you feel uneasy, so instead, you look down at his shoes. They’re dark brown and are so luxuriously made they look like loafers. Every HYDRA soldier you’ve seen today has been wearing practical combat boots. Well, you think, now we know who does the heavy lifting around here.

He continues in a voice with a German accent, “I knew some of you meddling Avengers would try to hunt me down. So, I prepared myself, and my office. You didn’t really think a grenade could just break the door down, did you?” Neither of you say anything, but that seems to be an answer in itself, because there’s a smirk in his voice as he says, “I thought so. Typical Avengers. All brawn, no brains.”

This time, you can’t stop yourself from saying something. “You do realize my– Tony Stark is on the team, right?”

“Stark is nothing more than a fraud and a fool.” He pauses, and you can feel his eyes boring into you. “Although, I suppose he was good for one thing.”

“Yeah, the Iron Man suit that’s gonna put your ass in prison. But that’s not the only thing he’s good for, it’s just the best.”

“Really? You think so?” His voice is covered in a light layer of surprise.

“I do.”

He considers this a moment before nodding curtly. “Yes, I suppose the little Stark would want to defend his worthless legacy.” He spits out the word “Stark” as if it were a slur.

Wait.

Your hand flies up to your face, meeting your mask.

“How do you know who I am?”

He laughs again with his bottomless pit of a voice. “We’ve been anxiously waiting for your arrival.”

“That doesn’t answer her question.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“It doesn’t explain how you’d know who’s under the mask. What if I’m not Lexi Stark?”

He just smiles. It sends a chill down your spine.

“Okay, you know what? We don’t have time for this,” Natasha mutters.

“She grabs her gun from her belt, aims, and shoots, all in one fluid motion. The HYDRA agent slowly looks down at the blood rapidly spreading across his white button-up, not even mildly concerned. Then his gaze travels up to you, and his eyes flicker, changing to a much stronger, much crueler emotion.

“You think you’re a hero because you weren’t the one to shoot me? Just wait. One day, you’ll be the one at the other end of the gun.”

He drops down to the ground, an utterly cliché villain with dramatic-sounding final words. Blood rapidly spreads from his body onto the metal floor like some kind of virus. You tear your eyes away from the gory sight and turn to Natasha.

“That… seemed too easy. Are you sure he was the boss?”

Natasha stares at his body. “It’s possible they used a decoy. There’s…”

You glance over at the desk, and Natasha’s voice fades away into nothing. The papers sitting on it seem to shine brighter than anything else in the dim red light, calling out to you like a beacon. Maybe you should read them, to see what HYDRA is planning?

Suddenly, you’re standing at the desk, despite not remembering walking over to it. You look back over at Natasha, and she’s looking at you oddly.

“Lexi? What are you doing?”

The reasoning behind your actions was so clear a moment ago, but now you can hardly remember. Why did you come over here?

“I, um… I wanted to– to see what HYDRA was… what they’re planning.” You gesture vaguely towards the papers on the desk.

She nods, casually stepping over the body as she joins you at the desk. She reaches for a manilla folder. You look at the black ink poisoning its surface. Russian letters glare out at you.

“What does it say?”

Natasha is squinting down at the folder as if she doesn’t understand. 

“Natasha? What does it say?”

She still has a confused expression on her face, but opens her mouth to reply. “It says–”

“Sorry to interrupt the party you two got going on,” Tony’s voice comes through the earpiece, cutting Natasha off. “But we’re gonna need to bomb the base.”

“Why?” you ask.

“We found their Weaponry, and it’s full of deadly-looking shit. We don’t even know what most of this does, but a lot of it looks like bombs. They might be trying to test something out on that town nearby, which is obviously not good.”

“I’ll go find Hulk. Be back at the jet in about 15.” Natasha glances at you. “Head straight to the jet, okay?”

You sigh, but know there’s no point in arguing. “Yeah, okay.”

She drops the folder back onto the desk. You continue to stare at the Russian lettering, curiosity gnawing away at your brain.

“Wait, Nat, what did the folder say…?”

But when you look up, she’s already gone.

★★★★★

You’re the first one back to Quinjet. Clint and Tony arrive shortly after, with Steve close behind, and Thor after all of them. Natasha and Bruce are the last ones on.

Once everyone has boarded, Clint plops into the driver seat and flies up over the base.

Tony sits down next to you. “Proud of you, kid.”

“But I didn’t even do anything. Natasha did all the work.”

He sighs. “I’m trying to compliment you. Breaking the cycle of unappreciated children, or… something. How about you just say thank you?”

You roll your eyes, but that doesn’t keep the smile off your face. “Thank you very much for appreciating me, Father. I feel so appreciated. Truly, this has been a very appreciative moment. I appreciate you for appreciating me–”

“Okay. Now you’re just being a pain in the ass.” He rolls his eyes, but that doesn’t keep the smile off his face, either.

“I hate to break up the father-daughter bonding, but can we finish the mission now?” Clint calls out.

“JARVIS, you know what to do,” Tony says.

“Yes, sir.”

You hear a rumbling beneath you, and look out the window just in time to see a bomb fall out of the bottom of the jet and the HYDRA base explode in a world of rubble and flames.