One For All

@richardrider-nova

Peter sat on the bleachers watching the rest of his gym class go through the obstacle course.   One that was not necessarily designed with a twelve year old in mind.   Being on the small side for his age combined with being much younger than most of his classmates especially made phys. ed. a special sort of challenge for him.  Everything was just a touch too big.   Too far apart, too high, a little bit too difficult.

He was not used to struggling with a class.   Academics came to him easily.   They slowly jumped him a grade here and then there while trying to keep in in the same general age range of his peers.   This last leap though while finally started to producing something of a challenge didn’t outstrip his ability.   Peter just loved learning.   So faced with a class outside of he didn’t know how to handle that.

The piece he got was a short half-pipe wall. He saw it on the Ninja Warrior show, and thought it would be a cool addition. It wasn’t high enough to where students had to use all their arm strength to pull themselves up, it was kind of like climbing over a fence. Either way, a lot of kids seemed to enjoy the new addition.

Of course, as he was watching, there were a lot of kids who were half-assing their attempts at the obstacle course. He was pacing around by the start, trying to encourage his students to try a little harder. He looked at his watch, and after everyone had gone through twice, he blew his whistle and gave everyone a few minute break.

Richard started marking down attendance and participation for the day. He got to the name “Peter Carbonell” and he looked up to the bleachers. Peter was sitting alone, staring out at all the other kids. Richard frowned and walked over to him.

He wondered where Sam was. Maybe back home? He had only been there once before, but the Milano could certainly find it. He just hoped the kid didn’t go off looking for his dad on his own…that spelled trouble for everyone. Thanos wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a kid.

“So where to first? You wanna go find your helmet, or just head straight to Xandar?” Peter asked.

“I’d like to go home first, to see my mom. My dad died while I was in prison…” Richard said, walking past Peter into the ship.

Something about the ship felt free. He went over to the controls and sat down. He was quiet punching in the coordinates. They had a chance to go anywhere in the universe, but instead he chose to stay on Earth. A couple years ago he couldn’t stay in one place, but finding his family again changed everything.

I gave the helmet to [fzzt], he said he’d take it to you. [fzzt] trust him.

“You’re…the one who brought his helmet back…” Sam’s tone dropped.

He couldn’t believe he’d actually figure out who his dad was talking about. The message was fizzing in and out, so he never actually got the name. His helmet was now pinging with varied information about Xandar, which he had never even heard of before. Or…had he?

Sam remembered his dad talking about this great empire across the galaxy, but he never really believed any of that stuff. Just becoming a Nova alone should have been proof. He was conflicted, standing before someone who his dad was telling him to…trust? But he was also the only person in the entire universe who might have a lead as to where he is.

He raised his hand again, powering up one of his blasts. He felt the back of his eyes burning as he shouted, “If you know where my dad is, why didn’t you bring him back!”

Sam was shouting now, and Richard took a step forward. He wasn’t afraid of him, but he was growing concerned. There were civilians around, and if he was in the heat of the moment someone might get hurt. Worldmind estimated about thirty people along the whole suburban block, some of whom stepped out of their houses to check what was happening. His parents were two of those people. Their house was right behind him, and the map on his visor marked them at the window.

“Look, it’s not that simple. He...I couldn’t bring him back and you need to trust me.”

The teenager wasn’t lowering his hand, and there was a bright blue light on his palm. He had good control over his powers - it took great skill and focus to hold a blast that powerful. Richard wondered briefly if someone was teaching him, or if Sam learned everything on his own.

However, the blast was still a threat. Registered or not, he wasn’t about to let him hurt innocents blindly.

His visor was spitting out some information on him, but none of it was Earth related. All from a place called Xandar, which he had never heard of before. This guy was born on Earth, but he was the ruler of another planet?

He watched as Richard fell to the ground, leaving a small crater in the pavement. He flew down quickly before the man could stand up to fight. He pointed a blaster towards his face and shouted, “I am Nova, acting on behalf of the Avengers. You are an unregistered powered being, and you are under arrest!”

Richard got up to his feet, and his visor was blinking red, telling him to be extremely cautious. He gulped, but didn’t budge from his stance.

“You have the same kinda spark as your dad, you know that?”

He wasn’t about to one-up a teenager, though.

“Yeah, I know your dad. I take it you never got his message or you’d know who I am.”

Sam hadn’t officially joined the Avengers by any means. He was on their radar, though. They knew he was interested, and they knew he was registered and ready to fight for the SRA. He didn’t want to arrest anyone, but he was legally obligated to…these people were his heroes, and some of them had already gone rogue. He didn’t have a choice.

He got a blip of an incoming hostile unit coming in from space. It wasn’t Asgardian, but something else. Gamora would have been on a ship, but this was a singular entity. His mom let him come to New York on weekends and after school until nightfall if his homework was done. There was a message on the Avengers feed calling for someone to go check it out.

So he fell the remaining mile to the surface, making a small dent on the pavement of his parents street. Worldmind was trying to pinpoint what hit him, and it appeared to be a kid, not much older than sixteen.

“What the hell is your problem?!” He shouted, brushing dust and rubble off his suit.

“Richard, I believe this is Sam Alexander, the son of Jesse.”

He smiled, only to realize his face was still concealed. Also it was extremely hot in the helmet and his breath was fogging up the mask or maybe his vision was just going blurry and ohgod he was going to puke.

A quick tap on the side of the helmet and the faceplate moved aside, allowing Scott to take in a quick gasp as he put his hands on his knees. Cool. No puking yet just weird bouts of nausea. Awesome.

“I’m okay! I’m okay…just…apparently shrinking is fine but growing bigger than normal causes stuff to be a little weird.” How the hell did that make any sense? God, some day he was going to force Hank to sit in a room and explain this bullsh-

After a second, Scott looked up at the guy in the weird helmet. “…sorry, I don’t think I recognize you. New to the area? Or, er, planet?”

First he met a spider-guy, now he’s talking with an ant-guy...was Earth just full of bug themed hereos?

The guy doubled over and Richard jumped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You okay buddy?” He sounded like he was going to throw up. Worldmind wasn’t really helpful; he didn’t have anything about the effects of growing or shrinking.

I’m okay! I’m okay…just…apparently shrinking is fine but growing bigger than normal causes stuff to be a little weird.

He backed off saying, “Alright. If you need any antacids or something, just say the word and I can go find some.”

Oh god…is this messing with my head? Did I vegetable myself?!

…also, what the hell was that thing?

He looked around quickly and spotted the guy floating about thirty feet from him. Wow. A guy in…some weird outfit. Huh. Hopefully he wasn’t pissed. His voice was a little difficult to hear but thankfully there weren’t too many other sounds this high up.

“Oh, uh, no. No, I’m fine. This is fine. Or, well, I did it on purpose so it is probably fine.”

That probably sounded weird.

“I’m Ant-Man.”

Not helpful.

“…uh, I’m an Avenger. Kinda.” That still felt weird to say. “Hold on.”

A quick twist and press of his belt and he was rapidly shrinking again. The sky rushed away and the trees returned to towering and finally he was standing in the field at a far-more-average height.

I’m Ant-Man.

“I’m not sure ants get this big but...okay.” He also mentioned he was an Avenger, which to him meant friendly. Or, at least not a terrible person.

The ‘Ant-Man’ shrunk down much faster than he grew, until he stopped at a normal person’s height. Richard flew down and landed on the ground in front of him. This guy’s brain must’ve been one hardy organ to withstand growing and shrinking like that without immediately passing out. Even if he was used to it, that much of a size difference couldn’t have been good for him - any part of him. He must have some astonishing stretch marks...

“It’s alright,” Richard assured him. “Been hit by worse.”

She thought, anyway.

“Because we don’t expect anything from you?” Gamora repeated after Richard explained himself, her lips twitching upward in involuntary amusement. “I suppose that’s one way to put it.” Her first instinct was to think that that made their team sound like they really didn’t expect to do anything or get anywhere with their teamwork. But at the same time, it could also mean that Richard appreciated how the Guardians weren’t much for appearances, as long as you could carry your own weight and deal with Peter Quill’s stupid jokes.

The pressure he had, he’d lived with for two thirds of his life. Finally getting to let loose and make mistakes again was freeing. Gamora seemed to understand, too. It may have been different, but she was Thanos’ favorite for a reason. She always got the job done - until Quill showed up. He was like a ring leader for wayward souls.

He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. His head was still foggy. Instead he just leaned into her shoulder a bit more.

The screen on his helmet lit up again. Worldmind was back.

“The team has found a tunnel that will guide them directly to you. They will be here shortly.”

Nova vs. Moonstone.

“Okay. I can do this.”

He was in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere and still he felt like a million eyes were staring at him. Maybe it was the ants.

“I can do this.”

He had grown plenty of other items before with Pym particles. Cars. Trucks. Even ants. It seemed totally fine.

“I can absolutely do this.”

Hell, he used them to grow back, right? Turn to shrink, turn to grow. Why not just grow…more?

“…god I really hope I don’t die.”

Or explode. God, could he explode?

His hand shakily went to his regulator.

One.

Two.

Three.

And suddenly he was growing, rapidly. Every cell in his body seeming to stretch and grow. And then he was rapidly approaching the tree line. He was as tall as the trees that grew around the field. He was taller. He was much taller.

Oh god, what if it was like going micro? What if he never stopped growing? What if-oh. No. It seemed to have stopped. Thank god.

Richard was back on Earth again for father’s day. He said he’d come back - didn’t say he wouldn’t go looking for trouble. He was flying about, getting a feel for the land. There was a blip on his radar, scanning the field he was flying over. Probably a person out enjoying the nice day. It looked like a nice spot to walk through, maybe have a picnic or something.

Or...do whatever that blip was doing?

He turned his head and watched as a regular sized dude very rapidly grew to like, at least 10x his size and staggered around in the field below. Taken aback, Richard stopped in his tracks, hovering in the air watching this giant man just...doing something? He didn’t grow and then immediately set the ground ablaze or anything. Was this normal?

Very cautiously, Richard flew over to the guy.

Well. Gamora didn’t really know why she’d asked Richard how he was feeling, because clearly that was the answer she should have expected. He would probably have a long recovery process once they got back onto the Milano, and might even have to go back to Xandar to recuperate there. Which meant he would be off the team for some time and…

Gamora wasn’t sure how she felt about that, actually. It would be easy to say that she felt nothing in particular; if Richard went back to Xandar for his convalescence it would make sense and likely be the right thing to do. Their slightly cramped, always messy ship was no place for someone recovering from serious injuries. But even in the relatively short time that he had spent with them, Richard was already part of the team. His presence was part of what made the Milano feel like home, and Gamora was only realizing how deep that feeling went now that she was contemplating the possibility of his leaving.

“We will contact Xandar for you,” Gamora said. And then, because it was dark and they were alone together and she was still feeling a tiny bit rattled from the fall and, more than that, rattled from being here and helping Richard deal with his injuries, she let herself say what was on her mind. “May I ask you a question?” Without waiting for a response, she bulldozed ahead. “Do you enjoy working with us?”

Richard thought for a solid minute. Originally he was sent to work with them as some sort of fake liason to the Nova Corps. At first it made sense, since he was moderately sheltered for a long time. Learning all that there was to know about Xandar and the surrounding galaxy. All the diplomatic nonsense. Every situation where he used all of his knowledge, it was where he was needed and wanted. That was part of his position.

But then he was thrown into a situation where his diplomatic skills weren’t always wanted. Where whatever he had learned wasn’t always practical or following some kind of protocol. He was learning how to be a regular person again, unlearning his rigidity.

Plus, even if the team was uneasy about his presence at first, he felt like a valued member. Everyone was an outsider. Everyone was searching for something different, or needed some kind of fulfillment that the Guardians as a team provided. They were like a family [albeit an incredibly dysfunctional one].

Getting acknowledgement still a bit of a thrill to him, even if he tried to play it cool.   Not that long ago that the police would shoot at him.  Still some of them didn’t like him.  They just knew he cleaned up some things that they couldn’t cope with so they tolerated him.  Pretty much the same for the general public.   Some thought him a menace, others a hero.  Mostly a familar enough figure for people to not bother too much.  Plus hey, its New York.   People had seen plenty of weird stuff by now.

“How long have you been at this? The whole spider thing.”

“Did you get squished or something?” He joked. “Sorry - I guess it’s good you’re okay now. Though, I’ve noticed that New York seems to be crawling with powered people. You ever step on anyone’s toes, or is there actually a ton of crime here?”

Crime was abyssmal back in the ‘80s, but things didn’t seem to be that bad. Perhaps the presence of people like Spider-man and the Avengers were keeping criminals at bay. “I remember back when I was a kid, my mom almost made me carry a gun in my backpack. She was always worried I’d get kidnapped or shot on my way to school or something.”