Next Avengers: The Flight of the Hawk

Chicago

Watching someone I feel like I know getting beat up by a Transformer is one of the hardest things I've ever had to experience. Bee stopped nearby to watch and see if they needed help. I stayed; Kier went with Reptil back to base. We wanted to intervene and help, but Bee and I agreed it was more helpful to stay out of it and keep both of us safe. It was painful to watch. The holes in my chest kept burning. They still are, even as Starscream is webbed to the Field Museum and the spider guy is running with the defused human rocket.
"We gotta help," I say to Bee.
"No," Bee replied. "We're going back."
"Then why haven't we?" I reply, looking at the dashboard. Bee sighed.
"Fine," he said. "But I can't help."
"You're gonna play ambulance," I reply. "Move." Bee drove out, stopping beside them.
"Hey," I said, sticking my torso out his window. "Need some help?" The spider looked at me in slight surprise.
"Yeah," he replied gratefully. "That'd be nice."
"Okay," I said, pulling myself entirely out of Bee. "Set him down, I'll see what I can do now." The spider sets down the rocket in the rubble, his helmet beside him. I look down at him, and...I feel something. Emotions for me had just been vague memories, like secondhand smoke you walk through, cough out, and ignore. But now...it feels real. I'm not sure what emotion it is, but it sort of hurts. Suddenly a memory hits me like a gunshot, vivid and bright in my mind. It's the blue streak of light that knocks over the tree I was sitting in, crashing into the ground nearby. It's Sam, lying on the ground in a crater, bloody, dying, his helmet on one side and Ultron's head clutched in his hand. It's Nova. I open my eyes and I'm lying limp in Bee's hand.
"He's back," Peter said, looking at me. "Are you?"
"Yeah," I reply, using Bee's hand as a support to help me stand. "That was weird."
"Yeah," Peter says, walking back over to Sam.
"What happened?" Bee asked worriedly, keeping his hand up just in case.
"I remembered something," I replied, looking up at him. "And I think it brought a part of me back."

"Okay," Kier says, rubbing his forehead. "So you looked at Nova, had a flashback, and passed out."
"Pretty much," I reply. "And now my head feels hot."
"That's because there's blood flowing into it," Kier replies. "It hasn't happened in a while."
"That explains a lot," I mumble, rubbing the hot part of my head.
"Francis!" Kier hisses, exasperated.
"What, you're suddenly concerned about my brain because I stared at Sam and passed out?" I reply, running my fingers through my hair.
"Was that sarcasm?" Kier asks, looking up at me.
"Uh..." I reply, suddenly confused. "I think so?"
"You're unlocking your brain," Kier whispers, looking me right in the eyes.
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," I reply, staring back at him.
"It's probably not," he replies. "Let's keep it to ourselves for now."
"Okay," I say, nodding and standing up, walking over to Bee, who's in car mode, and sitting cross-legged on his roof. "Hi, Bee."
"Hey," Bee replies. "You okay?"
"I guess," I say, looking down at him. "I'm really confused."
"I am too," Bee says. "I mean, I've already lost one home and almost died trying to save another. I've lost my friends, my family, my species. All I have left are my memories."
"I don't even have those," I reply.
"I can't imagine that," Bee says. "A whole chunk of your life, just gone."
"You sort of ignore it," I say.
"Was that a joke?" Bee asks.
"I have no idea," I sigh, rubbing my forehead. "Nothing makes sense."
"I know," Bee sighs back. Sam inhaled loudly nearby, making us both jump. I almost fall off.
"Sorry," Bee says quickly.
"That was fun," I laugh, smiling wide. "Let's do that again."
"You laughed," Bee says. "I've never heard you do that!" I'm laughing really hard now for no reason except that I'm laughing, and I fall off of Bee and onto the floor, laughing like I'd never laughed before. Bee was laughing too, and he transforms into his robot mode and watches me, as happy for me as I am.
"What is going on?" Sam mumbles.
"We're remembering how to live," Peter replies, smiling down at him.
"Took us long enough," Sam mumbles, smiling.
"You guys are crazy," Reptil said, walking in with a dead rabbit. "I actually found something."
"Oh, that's really smart, killing possibly the last rabbit on the planet," Kier replies sarcastically.
"Nah, this one's been dead for weeks," Reptil says, dropping it in the pot over the fire.
"And we have to eat it?" I ask, recovering and sitting on Bee's foot. "Do you remember the last time you made me eat? Now I don't eat sausage because of you!"
"I don't want to hear that story," Sam says, sitting up.
"I forgot you guys need to eat," Bee says.
"The germs'll boil out," Reptil calls, watching the rabbit. "And the parasites."
"Nope, not happening," I say, climbing up onto Bee's shoulder. "You guys can have it."
"I'm good," Peter and Sam agree simultaneously.
"Agreed," Kier says, wrinkling his nose up. "I don't feel like dying tonight."
"Suit yourselves," Reptil replies.
"Wait," Bee says, holding up a hand. "Did anyone else hear that?"
"What?" Sam asks.
"Ssh," I hiss, listening. The roar of a jet plane echoes through the air a half second too late.
"Starscream," Bee mumbles, picking me up and setting me on the ground, transforming and driving off.
"Bee, wait!" I yell, running after him and grabbing my bow and quiver.
"This is my fight," Bee replies, slowing down. "I can't drag you into this." He revs his engine and drives off again, leaving me behind. I sigh, walking back in and throwing my stuff on the ground angrily.
"Don't take it so hard," Peter says, walking over. "Bee's had a lot of bad experiences with Starscream."
"I know," I sigh. "No one lets me help out." I fall into my hammock, looking up through the roof. "They don't give me a chance to prove myself."
"You don't need to prove it to me," Peter says, sounding slightly sad. "You already have." I look over at him, a bit confused, but he's already walked away. I huff and look back up at the roof. I probably knew him in the missing block of my life. I hate not being able to understand myself.