AN- I am sososososososo sorry I haven't updated in over two months again after I said I wouldn't D:'

I was having serious writer's block when it came to this chapter since there was so much conflict I needed to figure out before getting to the ending since I don't even know what I would've chosen had I not thrown in the extra alien factor into the already complex decision of the movie. Plus college was a real creativity killer way before finals weeks and the loooong drive back home last week and now I'm going to have a full time job for the summer in a week so I'm REALLY hoping that I'll still be able to find time to write in whatever free time I have...

On that, slightly depressing, note, many time skips and important moments ahead, but also extra long to at least slightly make up for the long wait ^^;

Ash's POV

I was surrounded by darkness and, no matter how far I walked, the darkness was still there, swallowing me up and threatening to overtake me as I started to hear anger and hate-filled voices screaming at me,

You were too late to save me yet you saved one of your own!

What have you done to our home?!

Go back to where you came from!

Just as I fell to my knees with tears streaming down my face as I tried to block out all the voices, suddenly it felt like I was enveloped in thick water that made all the voices disappear, but I could still feel my own conflicted thoughts about what I'm supposed to do; choose my people or the new home I've made for myself here on Earth...?

Abruptly, I saw a light through my closed eyes and I looked up to see a collection of the multicolored lights I saw after Sokovia had been saved. I felt a familiar presence with the lights and was reaching my hand out to them when I heard a neutral voice speak,

Wake up Lumna... It's time to choose...

With that, I snapped awake and I breathed deeply to calm my speedily beating hearts as I heard a voice in front of me,

"Ash?"

I looked up to see Nat leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed and I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes,

"What time is it?"

"You've been sleeping for a while if that's what you're wondering"

After looking at the time, I realized it was almost afternoon and I had slept all of yesterday afternoon, last night, and most of this morning in probably the most peaceful sleep I had had in a long while, aside from that mysterious voice in my empty dream.

"You alright? I heard you talking in your sleep when I came to check on you last night and Wanda said you were having a nightmare before she came in here to make it stop, but she said you were still 'under a powerful influence.'"

"I just had a weird dream about lights talking and hearing the voices of everyone who ever thought I didn't belong on this planet and that I'm either too powerful to be here or not powerful enough to help... maybe they're right..."

"Hey, don't ever think like that." Nat came to sit next to me on my bed as she pulled me into a side hug, "There are always going to be people who say hateful things to people who are different, it's your choice how much power you let them take from you when you know just what you're capable of doing..."

I stayed silent as I considered her words before Nat patted my shoulder and got up to leave before turning back to tell me,

"Oh and Xay's here, he said he wanted to talk to you."

"I'll be right down." I told her and she nodded before leaving my room and letting it slide closed as I got off my bed and went to change into some clean clothes and let my wild hair out of the messy braid I had it in before.

Once I finished by tying my favorite red flannel sweater shirt around my waist, I left my room and headed downstairs where I saw a familiar bushy haired figure standing with their back to me.

"Xay..." I whispered as I stopped a few feet in front of him but he didn't turn to face me so I looked down at the floor before speaking with shame lacing my voice,

"Xay... I don't expect you to forgive me after everything I did that day... I pushed you away when I had just gotten you back and I'm so sorr-"

I was cut off when, in a split second, Xay turned around and pulled me into a hug that I froze at first before hugging back tightly.

"I should've been more sensitive to what that journey meant to you, but still keep contact with you instead of ghosting you..."

I laughed softly before pulling away and doing a double take at what I saw-

"Are you aware there's a creature nesting on your head?"

Said creature was about the size of a parrot with the tail feathers of one but also had a multitude of tiny legs like a centipede with the wings, tiny horns, and scaled skin of a dragon and a tiny glowing jewel between their scaled eyes and their scales looked more like shattered glasses colored various shades of red to match Xay's skin and hair.

"I see you met Wickity." Xay smiled as he held a hand up to the creature and let it crawl into his hand before explaining,

"He's a Josich, a species of large insect from our home planet that were very popular docile companions."

"Wow..."

"I saved him from an animal smuggler I found operating in Oregon, they thought he was some kind of 'colorless mutant dragonfly' and were planning on eating him until I saved him, then he just kinda bonded with me. ~Isn't that right Wickity?~"

Xay used the tip of his index finger to scratch Wickity's mandible and he let out a musical screech that sounded like a cross between a bird and a dinosaur called a Velociraptor from an old movie Tony once made me and the others watch.

"Hold out your hands and he'll come right to you." Xay told me and I did so and Wickity crawled to the edge of Xay's hands before opening up their shimmery wings to flap over to the edge of my hands before they folded away and he curled up in my hands like a cat to sleep.

"He is very cute." I admitted as I used my thumb to stroke his head gently as he was letting out a strange vibrating clicking noise that was vaguely similar to a cat's purring while he slept.

"I've been hoping to see more creatures from home here but Zaruk doesn't think it would be a good idea since the humans are already suspicious of us since they don't know much about us."

This made the frown return to my face as I looked down and Xay noticed so he put a hand on my shoulder and asked,

"What's wrong Starlight?"

"What if they did...?"

"Did what?"

"What if they did know about us? Our home, why we're here, everything..."

"You know what Zaruk would say..."

"I know I know 'humans are not ready to know of our existence' but they will find out sooner or later from me being an Avenger, more of our people spread out all over the planet after HYDRA fell... What if we didn't have to hide?"

"It sounds nice... why ask about it now?"

"The Secretary of State thinks the Avengers are a threat and that we need to be kept in check. He has a document that will monitor our activities and he says there are clauses within it to give our people protection and rights, as long as we provide transparency about us."

"That doesn't sound like a very fair trade..."

"So you see the issue? And they're expecting me to make a decision on all our peoples' behalf in two days in front of the whole planet. If I don't agree to it, we could all continue to be hunted by Hallaway and whatever other humans are provoked by our presence enough to want to do so but if I do agree to this it seems like we would be surrendering our freedoms like Steve says and I just don't know what to do..." I ranted while pacing in front of him and it seemed to be upsetting Wickity since he squawked annoyedly so I stopped and went to sit down on one of the couches and Xay sat next to me.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked earnestly and Xay pretended to think by taking an exaggerated Thinker position before I laughed ruefully and play shoved him before telling him,

"Xay I'm being serious!"

"I know this is my serious face..." Xay lowered his voice at the last part of his sentence to which I used a free hand to smack a pillow to his face,

"You're acting like a child."

"Because I am- we are kids, they shouldn't be expecting you to make a decision like this, Avenger or not."

"So what do I do?"

"What you do best..." Xay put a hand on my shoulder but I looked at him with uncertainty and told him,

"That's not very helpful..."

"Well it's the best I got. I'm not as good at giving advice as your friend with the red hair is."

"Nat? Yeah..." I smiled while looking down thinking about all the times she helped me.

"All seriousness aside now, can I have Wickity back, it's almost his feeding time?"

"I don't know..." I smiled mischievously as I joked, "I've become quite attached to him..."

Being careful not to jostle him too much but also moving quickly, I got up from the couch with Wickity still in my hands and ran toward the kitchen with Xay running after me protesting,

"Come on!"

Laughing, I got on one side of the kitchen island while Xay got on the other side and we each faked going to one side before switching to the other until I was startled by Vision phasing through the wall again, making me yelp in surprise and Wickity squawked in panic before darting out of my hand and flying over to land on Vision's face, who surprisingly didn't react to it.

"Am I correct to assume this creature belongs to you?" He asked turning to Xay as Wickity climbed from his face to the top of his head where he lay back down to go back to sleep.

"Yeah..." Xay smiled sheepishly as he went up to him and dug in his pocket a bit before pulling out some tiny twigs and rattled them in his hands, the noise made Wickity perk his little head up before he flew off of Vision's head to land on Xay's forearm to be fed the twigs.

"Sorry Vision, but you need to stop phasing into rooms unexpectedly." I told him

"I apologize." Vision acknowledged before starting to take pots and pans out of the cupboards and started searching through the pantry looking for something so I questioned,

"What are you doing?"

"Planning to attempt to cook for the first time."

"Oh..." I realized before asking, "Wanda?"

"Yes."

"We'll leave you to plan then. Save anything that gets burnt for me when I get back?"

"Of course."

I smiled before going to turn Xay around to push him out of the kitchen and the door closed behind me automatically and Xay questioned with confusion plainly on his face,

"Do you eat whatever gets burnt around here?"

"Yes."

"Ewwwww."

"It's actually not as bad as it sounds." I shrugged before giggling and Xay held out his free hand to me as he spoke,

"See? For a few minutes there, you forgot about your worries and just had fun being a kid. That's what you should be doing, not worrying about the fate of our people just because one, very jerky sounding, human tells you otherwise."

"Well regardless, I do still have to attend the conference to tell them my decision so I need to go pack my backpack." I told him as I started to head toward the stairs that led up to the quarters.

"And I'm going to let Wickity fly around outside for a bit. See you later?"

"Yeah..." I gave Xay a smile before heading up to my room to pack my backpack.

After a short while, I finished packing and was zipping my backpack closed when I heard a knock on my door and opened it to see Dr. Miller standing there, but she wasn't wearing her lab coat or doctor's scrubs like I normally saw her in and she was instead wearing a light pink knit sweater and light blue jeans.

"Dr. Miller?" I asked and she responded with,

"I'm technically not on the clock right now so you can just call me Shawna."

"Shawna... All these years and I never knew your first name."

"You always insisted on being so formal."

"I was always the more grown-up one between me and Xay, even when we were younger."

"I saw him outside with an amazing creature with him. From Chrysinthea I'm guessing?" I nodded and she voiced her amazement, "The flora and fauna of your planet are phenomenal, like something out of a book."

"I wish everyone could see it that way..." My smile fell and Shawna frowned ruefully before telling me,

"Hey... I heard about Ross's offer to you and your people and, I gotta say, he's an even bigger a-hole than I thought. But I didn't come here to talk politics, I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"I've been feeling... normal... no pain, but it feels weird knowing I can't use my abilities or else they could go out of control."

"Hopefully a few more days of inactivity and whatever is making them act up will be completely out of your system."

"Do we know what Hallaway's blade was made of to inflict this much damage to me for so long?"

"No, other than the traces of Platinum we detected within your wounds, we have no idea what the main metallic compound of the blade is, whatever it is, it's not on our periodic table."

"Maybe it's on ours..." I quietly pondered for a second before a thought came up and I voiced it, "Also, hypothetically if we were talking about politics, do you think I should be the one to make a decision on behalf of all my people?"

"Hmmm..." Shawna thought for a second while putting her hands in her pockets before answering, "I don't know... one side of me thinks, you're just a kid and it shouldn't be your concern, but on the other hand it is about you and your people and sometimes kids make better decisions than adults despite what they'll tell you." She jokingly whispered the last part of her sentence with her hand to her mouth in mock discreteness and I chuckled before asking,

"So you think I should make that decision?"

"I think you're mature and capable enough to, if it's absolutely necessary."

Shawna put a hand on my shoulder and I gave a half smile before her phone rang from her pocket and she checked it before telling me,

"Uhp that's my ride, I'll see you when you get back from the conference for your check-in examination." Shawna waved and left, leaving me to think about what she said.

Time Skip to Early the Next Morning

3rd Person POV with Ash

"Come on Ash, it's almost time to go." Nat hurried Ash as the Quinjet that was taking them to Vienna was being prepped to leave.

"I'm coming." Ash straightened out the collar to her blouse while brushing off the navy blue skirt she was wearing over black leggings with her favorite black and white high top sneakers and slinging her backpack over her shoulder and accessorizing with her mother's pendant and Xay's armband he had left her before her near year long journey was on her upper right arm.

"Me too!" They turned to see Xay running over to them wearing his Protector-in-training uniform with a patterned round satchel at his side.

"Xay-" Ash started to say but was cut off with Xay swiping his arms out and insisting,

"Don't try to stop me from coming, I'll just sneak aboard your plane and come along anywa-"

"I was just going to say OK."

"Really?"

Ash simply nodded before telling him while holding a hand out to him,

"Yes. I've already left you behind more times than I should have in the past. I'm not about to get burned by that flame again."

"Good..." Xay took Ash's hand before he joked motioning to his arm, "Nice armband, looks reeeaaally familiar."

Making them both giggle as they boarded the Quinjet with Nat following behind them giving Xay a not so subtle death glare.

Another Short Time Skip

"This is what a global meeting to determine the future of national security across the planet looks like?" Xay questioned as he looked at the room full of uniformed and official-looking men and women as they all were talking amongst each other in small groups bent over various papers and documents.

"Pretty much." Ash stated as she adjusted her backpack catching Xay's attention as he asked,

"What did you even bring?"

"Some books in case I get bored, a few granola bars, some water, and a self defense tool in case someone tries to kidnap me again. What about you?" She asked motioning with her eyes to the satchel at his side with patterns that were clearly not of Earth design.

"I brought Wickity." Xay lifted the flap to the satchel to reveal Wickity's little scaled head before the flap was closed over him again.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Ash questioned while looking nervously at all the humans around them to make sure none of them saw.

"Not really but, once a Josich bonds with you, you can't leave them alone or else they start to go out of control like we do during Tayen."

"We definitely don't want that happening here..." Ash shuddered at the memory of undergoing the human equivalent of puberty... if it was being fueled by pure, uncontrollable rage.

"Just make sure no one sees him." Nat hiss whispered to the two of them before she was approached by an official to sign a document on a clipboard.

"I just fed him lunch so he should be sleeping for the next few hours hopefully."

"Just don't draw attention to yourselves in the meantime." Nat reminded them before their attention was caught by a man's voice saying from behind them,

"I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight."

When they turned to see who it was, Ash's eyes widened when she saw it was T'Challa, son of King T'Chaka from Wakanda, a small country in Africa she had done some reading on despite what little was known about it, and whose people she remembered she hurt during the disaster in Lagos.

"Oh, well, it's not always so flattering. You can take it from either of us." Nat put an arm around Ash's shoulders as she nervously smiled up at him.

"You both seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill... I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company." T'Challa directed to Nat who responded,

"Well, I'm not."

"That alone makes me glad you're here, Miss Romanoff."

"Why? You don't approve of all this?"

"The Accords, yes. The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

"Unless you need to move a piano." Another voice cut in and they turned to see King T'Chaka walking over to them.

"Baba." T'Challa smiled at his father before he greeted the two other adults with polite nods,

"Son. Miss Romanoff."

"King T'Chaka. Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria. Nat insisted and Ash added,

"And me as well. I sincerely apologize for any further suffering your people have endured because of my affliction."

"Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to all this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today." T'Chaka told the both of them and Nat agreed,

"Yes, so am I."

"Are you and your friend here to sign the Accords as well?" T'Challa questioned Ash and Xay and she introduced the two of them,

"I'm Lumna, but my Earth name is Ash and this is my friend Xavion."

"You can call me Xay." He gave a polite nod to the two men before Ash answered T'Challa's question somewhat confidently,

"And I'm here to make it clear that me and my people are not to be feared."

"We have heard much about you both." T'Chaka spoke to the two kids, "I find these Accords promise much for your people yet I find it hard to believe that they are entrusting a child to make the decision."

Ash lightly grinned and nodded in understanding before explaining,

"Apparently since I'm such a... prominent... figure for my people they wanted me to be the spokesperson."

"And I'm just here to support." Xay added.

"Well regardless I am grateful that you are at least attending this event and wish you and your people the best for whatever comes next." T'Chaka told Ash earnestly and she responded with,

"Thank you, I hope to do what's best for everyone."

If everyone could please be seated. This assembly is now in session. A voice spoke over the intercom and everyone in the room began to take their seats.

"That is the future calling. Such a pleasure." T'Challa spoke mildly before Nat thanked them and the three of them went to sit down as King T'Chaka stood at the podium at the front of the room and began his speech,

"When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria, were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join."

"Uh Ash?" Xay whispered as he leaned over to her as discreetly as he could.

"What?" She whispered back out of the corner of her mouth.

"Something's wrong, Wickity's going crazy in here." Xay held up his satchel as she could see the squirming figure of the creature companion was seen from the outside and Ash could vaguely hear the barking of a dog coming from outside the building as T'Chaka continued his speech,

"I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative. Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace-"

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" T'Challa shouted before running toward his father just before Ash felt Nat harshly pull her and Xay down under the table, shielding them right before an explosion shook the building, shattering the glass windows and sending debris everywhere.

Once the dust started to settle, Ash coughed as she waved the dust out of her face and Nat asked them with some worry in her voice,

"Are you both OK?"

"I'm OK, Ash?" Xay answered before she told them,

"My ears are still ringing a bit but other than that I'm fine."

"What happened?" Xay questioned as they got up from the ground.

"I don't know yet..." Nat slightly growled as she surveyed the damage in front of them.

"Oh no..." Ash looked to where the podium had been before and saw T'Challa holding his father's still body while weeping.

Even with the distance between them, both Ash and Xay could feel T'Challa's devastated sorrow, along with an underlying tone of anger they were both very familiar with, radiating off of him.

"Everyone please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion!" Someone instructed and everyone began to hurry out of the room but Nat, Ash, and Xay stayed back to make sure everyone else got out alright.

"Xay, can you do something about these fires?" Ash asked him as she used her alien strength to help to lift one of the large desks off a woman's leg and he looked at her with slight confusion on his face before answering without hesitation,

"I'm on it."

Xay stood in front of one of the fires and held his hands out to it with his eyes closed before he inhaled and blew on the fires but instead of blowing them out or making them bigger, the fire surged into Xay's hands in a stream of flames.

"Wickity." Xay opened his satchel and let the Josich out, startling a few people who were still straggling behind to evacuate before he made a twirling motion with his finger in the air and Wickity went around the room, practically inhaling the flames to put them out with people still hurrying away with fear on their faces.

Once all the fires were taken care of and the people directed out where ambulances and paramedics awaited the people who were injured, Nat and Ash saw T'Challa sitting solemnly stone-faced with a cut on his forehead and holding an ornate silver ring in his hands.

"I'm very sorry." Nat spoke gently to him with Ash slightly behind her and he glanced at them before speaking,

"In my culture... death is not the end... It's more of a... stepping-off point... You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where you can run forever..."

"That sounds very peaceful..." Nat told him gently.

"My father thought so." T'Challa put the ring on his finger before speaking with a touch more hostility, "I am not my father."

"T'Challa. Task force will decide who brings in Barnes."

"Don't bother, Miss Romanoff. I'll kill him myself." T'Challa walked away with the hand that now wore the ring fisted tightly.

"What's this about Bucky?" Ash questioned suspiciously having caught Nat's hurried statement.

"Nothing you need to worry about. You two are going back to the Compound and you're going to wait there until we know what we're going to do next."

"Nat-"

"This isn't up for debate, now go." Nat cut her off sharply giving her a pointed look that left no room for argument.

Ash frowned, upset at being forced to the sidelines once again, before she took Xay's hand and they walked back to the open hangar where the Quinjet had been parked a block or two from the building where the conference had been in and Xay broke the silence with,

"Do you do everything she says?"

"Have you ever tried talking back to her?" Xay shook his head in response, "It's not pretty I can tell you that..."

Ash shuddered as they boarded the Quinjet before it hovered above the buildings and flying off in the direction of the Avengers Compound, the two occupants unaware that a figure on top of the hangar stood there with their phone in hand as they sent a picture of Xay and Wickity putting out the fires and Ash lifting large pieces of rubble and furniture off of people and out of the doorway to an unknown contact.

Flying Time Skip

Ash's POV

"I'm just saying maybe we should be helping to find this Bucky person if you think they're innocent." Xay was telling me as we arrived at the Compound, I had told him about my encounter with Bucky Barnes after he saved Steve from the river and how I could sense he was a good person underneath the mind control.

"We still have to deal with the fact that people saw you and Wickity there with me and how it's still up in the air whether or not I'm signing the Accords, we just need to hope that Zaruk hasn't seen it yet."

We were disembarking from the jet when we were met with a narrow-eyed Zaruk as they stood at the foot of the ramp with their arms crossed.

"Busted..." Xay winced in guilt before Zaruk shouted,

"Do you know what you two have just done?!"

"Definitely not exposing our secret?" Xay weakly tried to joke before Zaruk shouted back,

"The whole planet has seen more of what our kind are capable of and you do not consider that an exposition of our secret?!"

"They saw us helping, doesn't that mean they won't see us as a threat?" I tried to reason as I stood in front of Xay protectively.

"Humans always find a way to twist the truth, their history has proven that countless times..."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just hide forever? They were going to find out about us eventually. Only now we had a chance to prove that we aren't here as hostiles."

Zaruk seemed to realize their current position when I said 'hostiles' and took a deep breath to calm down before saying solemnly,

"Perhaps..." Before taking notice of something,

"What has happened to you?" They walked up to me and used their staff to gently tilt my head to the side to reveal that the side of my face where I had been scratched by Hallaway's blade and saw that it was mottling purplish-gray before fading again.

"I got scraped with a Platinum blade that was combined with something else, it's been messing with my powers for weeks, every time I try to use them, they go out of control."

"That's why you weren't able to help with the fires?"

I nodded in response to Xay's question before Zaruk sighed and told me,

"I recognize this kind of wound."

This caught my attention before they explained,

"This is the work of Alculan metal."

"Alcu-what?" Xay questioned with a raised eyebrow

"Alculan metal. It is a metal that originates from our homeworld."

"If it comes from Chrysinthea, why is it being harmful to me and my powers?" I asked confused.

"Because there is a side of our people that you children have not been taught yet because it wasn't your time to learn of it before our home had been invaded and destroyed."

"What side is that?"

"Much like humans, not all Chrysintheans are good and there are those, however few of us there were, who preferred to harm and destroy rather than help and create like we were meant to. When this occurred back on Chrysinthea, a Jurhir would be performed where a sliver of Alculan metal would be inserted into the offender's core, effectively severing their connection to their abilities and to the Orinix before being banished off the planet indefinitely."

"Why would there be such a thing used that way?" I was somewhat horrified at what Xay and I were learning about.

"Because we are a powerful race meant to do good, but without boundaries and restrictions we have the potential to unleash unimaginable destruction and chaos on any world we find ourselves on. This is why we implemented a harsh but sometimes necessary measure to protect others from ourselves."

The gravity of what was basically being retold to me from Tony to Zaruk seemed to shock me to my core as I stayed silent while Xay and Zaruk starting talking but I basically tuned out as I considered how if I didn't sign the Accords, it was basically the same thing as turning my back on my people and only increased the confusion I felt for the whole situation.

Luckily, Xay broke my attention away from the intensity of the previous statement when he asked,

"Is there a way to speed up the healing process?"

"I'm afraid not..." Zaruk shook their head solemnly before hovering a hand in front of my forehead to further explain, "The combination of two harmful substances, both of this and our world, are making it extremely hard for your body to heal normally, if we were to attempt to speed it up, there is no telling what kind of side effects may come from it..."

"So I'll just stick to the plan of not using my powers for the next few days... greeeaaaat..." I moaned sarcastically, making Zaruk and Xay look at me with raised eyebrows,

"Since when have you been such a downer?"

"It's been nearly a year since my adoptive father disappeared and I feel like he was the only one who could keep me grounded... without him here, I just feel... unable to do anything... first with being an Avenger and now with these Accords I just... don't know if I can... handle all of this..."

"Oh Starlight..." Xay pulled me into a hug that I gratefully returned with some tears welling in my eyes as I whispered,

"I don't expect you to understand..."

"Lu-Ash." Zaruk started to say before correcting themself to continue, "We of all people know what it is like to feel as though you have lost everything that keeps us anchored, but we have to remember that, much like a tree..." They held up their hand to make green energy flow out and form the outline of a tree in the palm of their hand, "Even when they lose everything," All the leaves of the tree were shown to fall off leaving the branches bare as small white lights mimicking snow began to overtake the image, "They still stand tall and wait for better times to return." They showed the snow melting and the tree blooming beautiful flowers before letting the image fade to say, "You must not give up hope on him returning, if you meant as much to him as he did to you, he will not want to stay away for too long."

Xay moved to my side as Zaruk had put their hand on my shoulder comfortingly and I sniffled and wiped my eyes before saying to the both of them,

"Thank you..." Letting a small grin show before we all heard footsteps coming our way and we turned to see Dr. Miller in her uniform scrubs.

"Ash, it's time for your check-in exam and- Oh I'm so sorry if I was interrupting," She waved while smiling slightly embarrassed as she greeted, "Nice to see you again Zaruk, Xay."

"It is nice to see you again as well Dr. Miller." Zaruk nodded politely to her while Xay waved before her face fell and she told the two of them,

"You both might want to leave, SecDef is here asking to see you and he doesn't look too happy..."

"Oh..." My face fell as well as I pulled away from Xay, "I guess you both should go while I'l-"

"No." Zaruk's sharp tone startled us before they continued with, "We are not going anywhere, if he wishes to speak to you regarding the decision concerning all of our kind, I refuse to hide anymore and must confront the issue at hand."

"Alright then, he's in the meeting room and I'll be in the medbay when you're done." She directed us before walking off in the opposite direction to said area while Xay, Zaruk, and I made it to the doors of the conference room before I paused in opening the door to ask the both of them,

"Are you both sure you want to be here for this?"

"Hey I'm here to support you in whatever we face next." Xay held up a fist with determination.

"And you are correct, we unfortunately cannot hide forever and it is most likely best to deal with this now rather than wait until later..." Zaruk admitted with still somewhat of a hesitant tone.

"OK then..." I put both hands on the door in front of me and pushed them open to reveal that Ross was there shouting almost incomprehensibly at another man in a lab coat before shoving some documents at him and sending him off before he finally noticed the three of them standing there looking a bit shocked.

"Ahhh the Phoenix returns..." Ross commented with sarcasm and he pretended to organize some papers on the conference table before looking to Zaruk and saying, "And I see you've finally decided to emerge from the shadows after all these years..."

"And I see you are still unnaturally demanding of your staff..." Zaruk made a motion with their head in the direction to where the man that had been screamed at had left in and me and Xay looked at each other in confusion from the way it seemed like Zaruk and Ross knew each other already, but decided not to question it yet.

"What can I say? With all sense of order going to hell I'm the one having to figure out how to put everything back together again, especially concerning Mr. Flame-io here and his pet dragon."

"Am I glad Tony's not here to hear that one..." I muttered under my breath at the uncreative nickname while Xay was more verbal about the statement,

"Wickity is not a pet, he is a companion." And said creature crawled up Xay's back to his shoulder and squawked indignantly as though agreeing with him.

"Like there's a difference... either way now I have no choice but to consider suggesting revisements to the clauses in the Accords concerning you and your people from residing any longer here on Earth."

"What?!"

"You can't do that!"

"Me alone maybe but an entire panel of representatives who've witnessed the capabilities of an alien species up close and seen what can become of that power if abused... perhaps..."

"Xay and I had nothing to do with that fire, he was the one who helped to put it out-"

"And Ash helped the people get out of harm's way."

"Still how can we be expected to trust you if wherever you go, trouble ensues, whether or not you help to clean it up afterwards. And I'm not just talking about Lagos and Vienna now, what about Mexico City, Hyderabad, Yokohama?"

"What?" Xay questioned confused until I explained,

"Those are all the places around the world where sightings of other Chrysintheans under the control of HYDRA were placed at, I'd been keeping track of them all up until the last HYDRA base fell and during my travels I'd been locating the last of the victims of their experimentation and directing them to the Haven."

"They had told me they were saved by one of our own, but they were worried that there were more who had been influenced by HYDRA's ideals and wished to stay on that path."

"Which again reaffirms why we can't seem to trust your kind."

"Only because of the acts of humans with the belief that some reign superior over others." Zaruk brought up with a hint of accusation in their voice.

"Well add to that this 'Haven,' as you call it, is harboring illegal runaways and yet you can't seem to tell us where it is."

"We are refugees we have had no desire to bring harm to your planet and until we have some assurance that you and your leaders do not plan on casting us off the planet for no valid reason, we will maintain our whereabouts a secret." Zaruk argued pointedly.

"And you don't think the ones who made you all refugees might come to our planet looking to finish the job? Have you considered that?"

Ross's question made them all pause and look down in thought.

"No? Of course not." Ross continued, "You say you have no desire to bring harm to us yet there have been other extraterrestrial encounters that have been seen around the world as I've mentioned before wherever your people have been. So it would stand to reason that they are already here to finish the job and as a former lieutenant I know that these sparse attacks are just scouts, one day very soon the rest of the fleet will come for you and who's to say they won't just see us humans as an obstacle to get to you and determine the only way to get to you is to eliminate us?"

"We wouldn't let it come to that, we've already failed to protect one planet, we won't let another one fall." I spouted out determinedly, not really having thought it through from the way Ross retorted,

"So you are planning to take the Accords deal? Which would mean that you provide us with intel on your species and you all fight on behalf of the United Nations panel when and if they deem it necessary to send someone of your... caliber to a situation."

"You cannot force that kind of decision on behalf of all our people on a child."

"I don't know, she seems perfectly capable of making such an important decision on her own if she's able to fight other aliens and androids." Ross told him in mock impression.

"How about a 'revision' as you were saying earlier? I fight on behalf of the UN panel and will provide you with whatever knowledge about us that cannot be abused for warfare and once we see that we can be mutually trusted, then we can discuss further efforts to prepare for any sort of eventuality that involves the planet."

"And how exactly is that deal any better than the previous one?"

"It gives both sides an opportunity to prove their trustworthiness with equal stakes in what you say 'will come'."

"I will still need to report this possible deal with the panel so until then you both are under house arrest here in the Compound and you will answer to the panel if Barnes comes up and we require your assistance." Ross bargained, pointing to Xay and Zaruk before motioning to me.

"Very well..."

"Alright then, I recommend not holding Dr. Miller up any further..."

I nodded as respectfully as I could before motioning with my head for Xay and Zaruk to follow me out of the room and, as we walked through the halls, Xay broke the awkward silence with,

"Well that went well."

"I would stand to disagree if somehow this bargain you made with Ross somehow backfires in the end." Zaruk commented critically.

"How exactly do you know Ross? You two seemed like you had some history and not very good history from the sounds of it." I asked now that we had some time to get into the subject.

"I had met with him years ago to attempt peaceful negotiations for our peoples' residency here on this planet and had provided him with information regarding why it is we came here, but he wanted information of what sorts of weaponry we had to offer."

"He believes that unconventional weaponry is the key to protecting this country, Bruce told me about him when I first came to this planet and he first took me in. He's the reason why Bruce was in India in the first place, a part of me hates him for making him a fugitive, another part of me thinks that if he hadn't, he wouldn't have found me and I'm not sure where I'd be then..."

"Yes and yet you're making a deal with him that would impact all of us here on Earth with no way of knowing if it will be good or bad."

"What choice do we have?" Xay spoke up suddenly before saying, "This is the only planet so far where we'd be safe anyway since we have no way of moving everyone to a different planet."

Zaruk gave him a narrow-eyed suspicious look to which Xay responded with a sheepish,

"I've overheard you and the other clan leaders discuss our progress with travel technology before."

"And even if we did, it still wouldn't change the fact that there are already other extraterrestrials attempting to hunt us down with humans getting hurt and killed in the process and we have no other means of defense other than our abilities and even they aren't strong enough to take on Hallaway and whoever supplied him with an Aluculan-laced weapon let alone a whole fleet if it were to come to that."

We had finally arrived at the medbay where I saw Dr. Miller talking to the man that Ross had been yelling at before and she caught sight of them when she called out,

"Oh hey glad to see you made it out of there alive." She attempted to joke but it fell flat as silence proceeded it before she gave an awkward smile and introduced the man,

"Anywho, this is Caleb."

"Last name?" I questioned.

"No need for formalities. I may work for Ross but I'm no stickler like him." Caleb shook my hand before doing the same to Xay and Zaruk while saying, "Hey there, it's so great to finally meet you all in person."

"You know about us?" Xay questioned motioning to the three of us.

"Yes he's been filled in about you three from whatever my friend told him."

"The one you said who also worked for Ross?" I asked and she nodded before Caleb told us,

"Yeah I work with Dylan, he's a great guy and a brilliant engineer, he's the one who did most of the brainstorming for this device that should help you with your power usage." He pulled a briefcase out from under a worktable and flipped it open only to have papers shower out and scatter all over the table and floor and when he bent down to hurriedly pick them up, the briefcase dropped flat to the floor with a few metallic sounds coming from whatever had been in it when it hit the ground.

"Oh my goshness sorry about all that."

"'Goshness'?" Zaruk questioned.

"I have a daughter so the Mrs. can be a taaaad strict when it comes to language around the house."

"I see..."

Xay and I knelt down and helped him pick up his papers before noticing that some of them were blueprints.

"This is some kind of neural link device?"

"Sort of. It basically wirelessly 'plugs' into your body's nervous system through the mind to not neutralize but essentially create a buffer between the Platinum and the other unknown metal to lessen the effects that the compounds are causing to your powers."

"Interesting..."

"It's essentially the same science behind buffers between acids and bases only it's been modified to your... ever-changing Polynium-based being."

"Dr. Miller, are you sure about this?" Zaruk asked with concern in their voice and a raised brow from their uncertainty, "We do not know what might happen if you tamper with our cellular structures with other Earth-based matter, we have already seen what Platinum can do to us..."

"I trust Dylan and he told me he trusts Caleb so if he says it's safe then I believe it. And since we're all on a first name basis you can just call me Shawna."

"Very well then..." Zaruk gave me an affirmative head nod before I asked,

"So how exactly would you 'connect to my nervous system through my brain'?"

"With this device that Dylan designed and I oversaw development on... if I could see where it landed..." Caleb went back to collecting everything that had fallen on the ground before Xay called out,

"Got it! I think?" Holding up what looked like a smooth, round gemstone about the size of his palm and was iridescent and also seemed to glow in the fading sunlight.

"No!" Caleb all but snatched the gemstone from Xay's hand leaving us stunned at his action before he cleared his throat awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand before stuttering out an explanation, "I-I'm so sorry but... this... opal was... a gift from my mother... she's no longer with me and therefore is one of my most prized possessions..."

"I'm sorry for your loss..."

"And I as well..." Zaruk told him but, for some reason, still maintained their look of uncertainty and now included slight suspicion, but no one but me seemed to notice as Caleb told us,

"It's alright and AHA here it is!" He picked up a device from the ground that looked unique in both shape and in design and was even in my suit's color scheme.

"Did Tony get to it?"

"Huh?" He looked at me questioningly before making a face of realization that I was talking about the design and saying, "Oh no Dylan figured you'd want it to match your suit so he customized it and was pretty adamant about it being called 'the Phoenix Crown' too."

"It kinda does look like a crown." Xay mused aloud as I was handed the device and I turned it over to inspect the design.

"So how do I...?"

"You just stick it to your forehead and let me and Shawna handle the rest."

A bit hesitantly I put the Crown on my forehead where, remarkably, it stuck fast and I could feel a slight vibration coming from it that seemed to spread from my head to the rest of my body while Caleb and Shawna typed away on both tablet and computer saying technical terms that I didn't know since I never really delved into neurology or mechanical engineering before.

"Alright, all systems seem to be functioning normally." Shawna reported from her station and Caleb

"Good, Ash, try to make some flames."

"But what if..."

"Don't worry Starlight, Wickity and I are right here to put out any accidental fires." Xay assured me and Wickity seemed to respond to his name being said and stuck his head out of the carrying satchel and squawked.

"Alright..." I walked away to put a little distance between me and the others before taking a deep breath and shaking my hands and legs out to loosen up before holding my hands out in front of my face with my hands arced in a half-circle with my palms facing each other and concentrated on creating a fireball in the center of their formation.

With a reassuring crackle, a small fireball appeared between my hands and I let a small smile appear on my lips before Caleb told me,

"Good, now try making it bigger and throw it at something so we can test the Crown's motor activity buffering capabilities."

"Ok..." I responded unsure as I let my powers feed into the fireball more and my core and marks lit up for a second before fading again just as I blew on the fireball in a spitting motion to launch it, making it hit a stack of papers, completely reducing it to my namesake in seconds.

"Well good to see you back to doing more than just being a brainiac, Kirby." We heard a voice behind us and we turned to see that Tony was back from wherever he had been after what happened at the UN conference.

"Yeah yeah." I smiled before Xay gave Tony a two-finger salute and Tony asked him,

"How's it goin' Hothead? How's the suit treatin' you?"

"It looks and feels amazing! I did make some tweaks to it though..." Xay smiled a bit sheepishly as he said that.

"Speaking of suit tweaks, I've made some changes to your suit, Firebird." Tony directed to me and I rolled my eyes joking while correcting him,

"It's Phoenix. Ion Phoenix."

"I still say you should've gone with something cooler like... 'Crimson Comet.'" Tony told me adding a hand flair gesture to make it more dramatic.

"Anyway what did you change on my suit?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?"

I looked to Shawna and Caleb to see if I was excused and Caleb looked like he was about to protest but Shawna put an arm out and told me,

"Go ahead, we can continue running simulations to gather more data on the Crown's limits."

"Alright." I took off the Crown, noting how my head seemed to spin a bit after removing it, before making a motion to hand it over to Shawna but she held her hand up to say,

"You can keep it for now, we can run virtual simulations based on data I've collected from previous combat practices. Go have fun now, no more data crunching for you."

I grinned a bit before carefully pocketing the Crown and following Tony out with Xay and Zaruk behind me.

We walked to the labs where there was something covered by a white sheet but I could make out the shape of a mannequin head underneath the sheet. Tony wasted no time in yanking off the tarp with a quick wrist flick to display my redesigned suit; it was still a jumpsuit but instead of the zipper being in the front it was now switched to the back to make room for what looked like my new emblem which was a flame symbol surrounded by two circling electron rings with two orange lines connecting from my shoulders to the insignia before trailing down to end at the added belt that also functioned as a utility belt with the few pouches that were on it.

"I like your symbol more than mine." Xay blurted out, breaking the movement of awed silence.

"Oh come on, yours is cool too." I protested lightly.

"It's a sun surrounded by a few rings, I think even a coreling could've been a little more creative with the details." Xay jokingly whined.

"What is this made of?" Zaruk questioned feeling one of the sleeves.

"Uh I'm not completely sure but, based on some suit designs that Bruce left behind, it's made of kevlar with a layer of nanotech infused fabric to keep track of potential rising radiation levels that had been a work in progress before his improvised MIA status." Tony bluntly explained and my face fell a bit at hearing how this design came from my still missing parental figure and only worsened when Tony added, "All I did was add a few tech toys to get you out of a jam but the suit design and symbol were all him."

I looked wistfully at the suit and placed a hand on the insignia, smiling that Bruce had thought this far ahead on my suit before I caught onto the conversation that Tony and Zaruk were having,

"You telling me you people seriously make your clothes out of germs?"

"In uninspiring terms, yes. We would germinate the bacteria found in the trees from our homeworld to create a solid cellulose material that we would use to make our clothing." Zaruk explained as they held out their poncho cloak to show him the material.

"Every movie ever made about aliens has now been rendered completely incorrect."

"Why don't you try it on and see how it fits?" Xay asked and I looked over at Tony and Zaruk who were still engaged in an active conversation about other aspects of our lives on our previous homeworld before nodding and taking the suit off the stand before pulling it on right over my clothes.

"How does it look?" I asked, turning around.

"Hmmm..." Xay put his hand on his chin in a thinking pose before he told me, "Now try it with the Crown on."

I obliged and pulled the device out of my pocket and was about to attach it to my forehead, only to have my hair drop onto my face and stick to it making me spit it out and furiously attempt to brush my hair to the side only for it to fall into my face again.

"Hair 1, Ash 0." Xay laughed and I gave him a joking deadpan look before he led me over to a desk chair and sat me down to say,

"Let me try something."

He gathered my hair up and started rearranging it, occasionally tugging at it to where I would wince while I just sat there with the device in my lap before he finished up whatever he was doing with my hair and took the Crown from my lap before fixing it on my forehead.

"As the humans say, Viola!"

"Uh actually it's 'Voila'!" Tony corrected him and he and Zaruk came over to where we were as I asked Xay,

"What did you do?"

"Something very few Earth men are able to do; braid hair." Tony answered in a joking tone as he held up a sheet of stray metal to show me my reflection and see that Xay had taken all my fringe hair and braided it into five-stranded plait that circled my head like a headband with the Crown placed in front of it so my hair wouldn't interfere with it.

"Nice job." Tony clapped a hand on Xay's shoulder and he grinned with some pride in his work before Zaruk told us,

"It is getting late, Xavion and I would normally be leaving but your Secretary of Defence has told us that we are to be 'house-arrested' here so do you have any sleeping quarters we could share?"

"Relax Elder Tree, you and the kid will each get your own room for the night." Tony put a hand on Zaruk's shoulder before they questioned,

"'Elder Tree'?"

"Well you are 157 and you carry around tree branches so it just seems to fit."

"How long of a lifespan do we have?" I questioned with surprise as I took my suit off, but kept the Crown on.

"Human centuries." Zaruk answered.

"I thought you got all your memories back from... what was her name again... Wanda?" Xay asked me and I told him,

"I got most of my memories of my family back but there are still some things about us and our homeworld I still can't remember..." I admitted while clasping onto my pendant and Zaruk seemed to notice so they told me,

"Did you know your mother Lorinia's pendant is made of Alculan metal?"

"What?!" I exclaimed as I held it away from me in a slightly scared motion.

"True it was used to sever our ties with our powers and our connection to the core of our home planet but it also could just weaken our abilities a bit. That's why it was often used to make jewelry and tools and sewn into our clothes to essentially keep our powers in check."

Feeling a bit more relief at this knowledge, I calmed down and let my pendant fall against my blouse before Tony broke the moment by clapping loudly and saying,

"Alright I'd say that's more than enough history lessons and existential crises for one day, so how 'bout you all get some rest?"

"Agreed." Zaruk spoke and we all walked out of the labs and walked all together to the quarters wing of the Compound and Tony led Zaruk and Xay to the guest quarters and I told them goodnight before going to my room.

For a while, I just laid on my bed, staring at my ceiling where I had plastered pictures of Earth constellations and with some of my own notes drawn on them mapping out where Chrysinthean would be seen if an Earth telescope had that large of a range.

Then, after I took the Crown off to lay it on the nightstand by my bed, I looked over to all the pictures of my adoptive family and smiled at the one that Clint took of me and Bruce when he was teaching me how to solder a wire on a motherboard and he had a hand on mine to guide it and he was smiling at what he called my "concentration face" where I would narrow my eyes and stick my tongue out of the corner of my mouth.

"As long as there aren't any unexpected complications, I really hope I'm making the right choice..."

I turned off my light and fell asleep with no mysterious images or hateful voices and a sense of natural peace I hadn't felt for a long while...

...

...

...

...

...

Right before I was jolted awake a few hours later, from the time on my clock, by the sound of something crashing through the floor and I rushed out with my hands glowing, and not acting up thanks to the Crown, before I saw that the something that had crashed through the floors was actually a someone that turned out to be Vision and he was lying at the bottom of the crater.

"Oh no..." I levitated down through the holes in the floors to get to him and was soon joined by Zaruk and Xay who had also awoken from the event from the way they looked slightly disheveled and tired.

"What happened?" Xay asked me as Zaruk got to work assessing Vision's condition but I was already one step ahead of him as I touched his hand to read his mind of what had just happened to him and sighed through my nose before I answered blankly,

"A complication..." 

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