Sam Alexander, The Last Nova

Holograms (One-Shot)

It was after a particular mission (assignment perhaps?)that the team noticed something was off with Sam. There was none of his bragging about how he did most of the work, or him rambling, or just his usually happy and loud personality was practically non-existent. The mission didn't stand out to the rest of the team. It was just a normal assignment not much different from any of the others they are given. They all had their suspicions as to why Sam immediately went to his room, but they could only guess.
"Somethings wrong," Peter stated while sitting at a table with Ava, Luke, and Danny. No Sam.
"No shit Sherlock," Ava said rolling her eyes slightly annoyed.
"Well," Peter says, "I'm going to find out what's wrong!" He stood up and left the table, heading towards Sam's room. He approaches the door and knocks a couple times lightly.
"Sam?" He asks in a soft voice. "You there?" The door opens and Sam stands there with traces of faint tear tracks.
"What do you want?" He asks slightly annoyed and with a tone. Peter was slightly taken back at his tone but recovered quickly.
"I was just checking if you were alright!"
"I'm fine," he says angrily. "Why do you care...you hate me don't you?" He murmurs which Peter's hearing almost missed. Peter said nothing though, seeing that Sam obviously needs space for a bit.
"Please leave," Sam says louder. Peter huffs out a breath in annoyance. He was confused why Sam wouldn't open up.
"Fine," Peter says bitterly. "Sorry I asked!" Peter snapped and stormed off towards the others.

"Find out anything?" Luke asks. Peter shakes his head.
"No," he says as he sits down. He lets out a big sigh. "I just don't get why he won't open up? It's like I don't even know him!" Peter exclaims. Then he gasps.
"What?" They all say.
"I just realized we practically know nothing about Sam!" He yells throwing up his arms in exasperation. "Well, besides the fact that I'm pretty sure his parents are dead..."
"We'll just have to get to know him better!" Luke states shrugging his shoulders like its no big deal.
"Well, I want to know what's wrong and why he was looking so depressed so I'm not taking no for an answer!" Peter says confidently.

Peter once again knocked on on the door.
"Sam?" He called. "You have a sec?" No response. Again. Instead of calling again Peter slowly and carefully twists the door knob and opening the door. The room is painted a grey with a black ceiling with stars and constellations as well as all the other things that make up a starry sky. It truly was amazing. The lights were off and the curtains were closed so it added to the affect. The room felt huge! In one corner of the room was a bed and desk combo. It was one of those set ups where the bed was above the desk. There was a trampoline as the floor for about half of the room that was unused. Hanging on the wall was a plastic basketball hoop and a small basketball on the floor. Sam laying on his trampoline with a worn looking tie blanket that had a navy blue fabric on one side and a night sky full of shooting stars on the other. Sam was staring down. He had a wide smile on his face but tears were running down his face. In front of him was a faint blue hologram. The hologram was of a man kneeling in front of a small child who had a helmet on his head and a skateboard in his hands. The child looked sad. The man had a hand placed gently on top of the boys head in q comforting way. I could barely hear what the man was saying; but I could make out a few words.
"It's okay Sammy, you'll get it next time!" The man spoke. The boys face lit up and he smiled a toothy grin. Peter walked up to Sam and sat beside him.
"He was my father," Sam says. It surprised him he spoke but he hide my shock easily. "He left when I was about 12 years old. You could tell by Sam's tone that it was a touchy subject. "He used to be a Nova, you know..." Sam looked at  Peter sadly. "He was one of the best, and he thought his career was over after he settled down," Sam continued. "It wasn't and he was called back to the Corps..." Sam looked down. "I thought it was all a lie, the Nova Corps... I thought they were just stories... Until I saw the helmet's  true power and then it chose me to be Nova. I didn't really have a choice," he joked half-heartedly. Sam sighed. "I'm pretty sure he's dead," Sam said looking down depressingly.
"Hey," Peter said softly wrapping an arm around Sam's shoulders. "You don't know that!" Sam shook his head and was about to protest.
"Bu-" he started.
"No, you don't know and you're going to stop wallowing in sadness," Peter demanded. Peter then broke into a large smirk. "Now... You and me, one on one in trampoline basketball. 'K?"
"You're on!" Sam yelled hopping up and throwing his blanket to the side.