What If...

The MCU

What if they were never good?

My boot splashes through a muddy puddle, heart thrumming with adrenaline as I race through a dingy alleyway. I turn a sharp corner, clothes plastered to my sweaty form as I bolt, the resonant tenor of charging blasters ringing in my eardrums. A nearby wall is blown to smithereens, dust and rubble hanging thick in the air around me.

The moonlight is my only solstice from this twisted nightmare, bathing my cloaked head in a gentle warmth, that caresses my otherwise desperate soul. The stars glitter above—twinkling in the lucid lie of a bright future. They mock me with their safety—the weightlessness in which they hang above the world, suspended by that fleeting moment of time, that we categorize as nightfall. A reassurance of the quiet solitude and of our dependable safety.

But the night is not safe—the stars have lied.

We are the disease of this earth. We are the virus that will spread to your children; to your sisters and brothers. We are the infection that grows in your brain, snuffing out the humanity and wiping clean your slate of purpose.

We are the monsters that roam the night. We are the savage beasts that prowl your streets, searching for relief from the burden of our existence. We are the demons you wish to cast out, the fear that drives you into your homes—cowering from our rampant terror.

We are mutants.

You call upon your saviors, your hunters, your heroes—to avenge all humans threatened by our power. But one day you will realize that we are not the monsters. For now see us run, cower, hide from your bold-faced lie. But one day you will know our pain. For now you will take from us our lives, our pride, and our humanity. But one day you will be forced to reckon with the damned souls who have fled from the pursuer—only to be struck down in righteous fury. 

Without warning, a flat silver object whooshes passed my head, the vibranium shield embedding itself into a brick wall before me. I skid to a stop as I happen across the dead end, my eyes boring into the star spangled frisbee. 

"Shit!" I curse, scrambling towards a nearby fire escape. I push off with my legs, hood miraculously secured upon my ruby curls as I grab onto the last rung of the bars. My upper body strength is put to the test whilst I heave myself over the ledge, not wasting a second to sprint up the rickety fire escape.

A resounding clang sends me stumbling as the barred cage trembles from the weight of the additional life form. I don't dare look back. It will surely spell my doom. I hear him, however, crisp and clear like the ambient night around us, broken only by the bustling as he bounds after me. 

"We are here to help. Surrender. We are here to help—"

I kick a metal STARK bot as it draws close to my scrambling form, black combat boot connecting with its malformed face. The droid malfunctions as its blasters fizzle out, tumbling from the sky towards the pavement below. The man in my pursuit avoids it swiftly, but the distraction delays him enough to give me a fair chance.

Static in my brain soon follows as my ears tune into my surroundings, but more specifically, my assailants' comm links."I'm on her tail," my tuned senses pick up from the surrounding radio waves. "Bucky, cut her off at the roof. Natasha take ground floor. Tony and Sam—air strike."

I swiftly change direction, leaping off the fire escape before I reach the rooftop—where the winter soldier is bound to be waiting. I dive for a protruding laundry line, sticking out of a neighboring window. I just barely hang on for my life as the inhabitants within slumber on, oblivious to the chase outside.