Starchild

One by One

From afar, we see the entire team standing next to what looks like a market. It's a big one, maybe too big for such an underpopulated town. Some of them are looking through its windows, and some others notice us arriving.

—Star, why am I seeing a cat? —Strange is quick to question me.

Well, there's no way we can get distracted with this, is there? I smile, innocently. —I found him and decided to adopt him. You can't stop me. —he tries to say something, but he doesn't find words, so my smile gets bigger. —Cry about it. —

He rolls his eyes. —It's your responsibility. Anyways, come on, look into the store. Tell me what you see. —

I walk closer to the window, and at the other side of the building, is the door to Hell. It's smaller than the Vatican one, but it might be more active. —I see the door... —looking around, I notice something else. Oh. That's people. Many humans are in the different halls, eating the most food they can. Some have shiny eyes. That's demons. —Was the whole town possessed? —

—Yeah. What do you think we should do? —he asks,

I frown at him. —I thought I had my decision-making right revoked. —

—Not yet. —

I look at the demons again. There are too many of them. Like Barney mentioned, about seventy. They are all distracted eating, and some are even attacking their own. They have taken over all kinds of humans; children, adults, and elderly. We cannot let them die this time, but we cannot let them win over us.

The teams look at me. —If they don't listen to me, I can try to exorcise some, mainly the children. Do we have your kit here? —Strange shakes his head. I conjure it in my free hand, and give it to him. —Exorcise the others. Since there are so many of them, there are more chances they will attack with no hesitation. So, —I gesture at everyone, —Immobilize them. Try not to hurt them too badly, there's still people under the bodies. —

They all nod. Some of them start warming up for what is to come. Xavier is still here, and he will very obviously not go in and try to fight demons, so I walk up to him,

—Take care of him. —I hand him Django, and he nods, putting him on his lap. I crack my knuckles and head for the door. —I will go in first. They might like me better. —

Better is a very relative word. It could mean the demons love me, but it could also mean they hate me less. Or maybe they like me better as a target - they could see I mean no harm and use it to their advantage, since it makes me an easier target than the others. There is only one way to find out.

I enter the store, with my hands in the air. —Sorry for interrupting! I want us to make a deal! —

I am immediately blasted with a ball of energy.

Deserved, honestly. But I missed being thrown around. There is something familiar in fights - real fights, unlike the one in the Mirror Dimension; something fun and exciting about engaging in physical combat with other beings. These demons are more about attacking, hand to hand and from afar, so I will have to play around with them.

When I finally hit the wall, and fall to the ground in a not very painful position, I place my hands against my chest, and cast multiple illusions of myself. It should be enough to confuse them. The demons start attacking the illusions, and I run at the person closest to me.

They are a child. They try to punch me but I easily grab them and pin them against the floor - the child is so small that just one leg is enough to keep their lower half still. When I press my hands in a fist against their chest, they start trying to scratch my face. —Come on, don't be like that. —I whisper. The demon leaves the body, and I am left with a scared little boy, who I put to sleep and give good thoughts. —Let's get you out of here... —

I did not think this through. There is no place to leave the humans after getting rid of the demons. Even worse; I can see how Strange has already taken care of at least three possessions.

Carrying the boy, I look around. Someone has to take the humans to their home. There is one option. —Maximoff! —the speedster appears in front of me, —Take him to the blue house at the end of the street. And move anyone who isn't possessed to a safe place, please. —

He nods, and runs away with the boy.

Okay, next target.

The next demon, an adult, gives a little more of a fight. I need to use my powers to keep them from moving too much, or hitting me, or trying to use their own magic against me. After the spell, the demon does not go straight to Hell - instead, it flies away. Damn it. Peter is quick to take the now sleeping man away.

Another one, then another one, and one more. There are too many demons in this building, and no matter how many I exorcise, it feels like they keep multiplying.

I need a break. With a sigh, I sit in a corner of the store. There has got to be at least forty demons left, all focused on Strange, Wong, the agents and the X-Men. From my place, I can see how most of my illusions keep fading in and out of existence, barely able to interact with the real world. They are weakened. I am weakened.

Am I tired?

This has never happened before. Then again, I had never done such a spell so many consecutive times. I didn't know it was this exhausting. I make the illusions disappear, but I still feel low on energy. I close my eyes. A pause, that's all I need.