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I don't own Marvel or Ultimate Spiderman

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Chapter 1

The two carefully went to the hall of the ship. Sam peeked around the corner. "Alright, go to the control room and be ready to shut down the power," he told the girl. "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked nervously. "Of course it is" he responded confidently. "I'm going to the room with the artifacts to get the amulet. I'll meet up with you later." He looked back at his frightened teammate. He gave her a warm smile. "Everything's going to be ok. I promise" he reassured her. She smiled back, then proceeded around the corner. Sam went the other way so he could get to the artifact room. He kept careful watch to make sure that nobody was around. When he finally got there, he looked around until he finally found it.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" He heard a loud scream. He bolted towards the noise. He stopped in his tracks when he saw several chitauri soldiers in front of him. Worst of all, two were holding his teammate. "Nova!" she yelled out with terror in her eyes. Sam started to glow and bright blue. "Let her go!" He demanded. "Give us the amulet!" rasped the soldier in front. Sam clutched the artifact. "Give it to us or," the soldier went on, "or we we send the girl into the black hole!" "No!" Sam blurted out. "Yes, so give it here and don't make any sudden moves" the soldier demanded. Sam stopped hovering and walking over to the alien. He handed him the amulet. The soldier looked at the others. "Put her in!" he ordered. "You said you would let her go!" Sam exclaimed. "I lied," the soldier said in a voice that made Sam shudder. He started to glow again. He was about to blast them when two soldiers pinned him down. He couldn't stop them. "Nova!" the girl cried out. "Andromeda!" he yelled, trying to escape the grasp of the soldiers.

The soldiers that held her shoved her into an escape pod which they programmed to go directly into the black hole. Sam could hear her muffled screams and banging. He tried as hard as he could to escape so he get to her, but it was too late. The pod was deployed and was heading for the black hole. One soldier picked up Sam and slammed him against the large window. "Now witness the death of your precious teammate," the main soldier said loudly. Sam saw as the pod was sucked into the collapsing star. "NOOOOOO!"

Sam woke up screaming. He stopped when he realized that it was a nightmare. His heart was beating quickly and he was sweating. He looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was 2:00 AM. He thought it was strange the he got two hours of sleep. Usually, it had been just one or less. He had got back from a late night battle. He fell asleep at exactly midnight.

He got up and carefully left his room. He quietly went down the hall. He went up to the deck of the tri-carrier. From the ground, the stars were very hard to see. But since the tri-carrier was so far up, he could easily view them. He lied down on the far side of the deck. He just stared at the stars in silence, counting them. He didn't know why, but counting the balls of lights made him calmer.

From a farther distance, three figures stood. "This has been happening all week," said Ava. "First he screams, then he sneaks out of his room, then he comes to the deck and stares out into space." "There must be something wrong" Luke stated. "It seems that he has not gotten enough sleep," Danny said. "We should go talk to him" Ava suggested. "I don't think we should disturb him" Danny responded. "He probably won't tell us anyway" Luke added. "If there's something wrong, we should help him. It has to be serious if it keeping him from sleeping" Ava argued. "We should all go," Danny said, "that way we might be able to get at least a little out of him." They decided that it would work. They quietly walked over to Sam.

"Ahem" Luke tried to get Sam's attention. Sam quickly sat up and looked at his friends. "How long have you guys been out here?" he asked. "Not that long" Ava replied. "It's pretty late. Shouldn't you all be sleeping?" Sam questioned. " Shouldn't you be asleep?" Luke countered. "I'm not tired" Sam bluffed. " We heard you scream," Danny told him. Sam looked down, not wanting to tell them why he did it. "I had a nightmare, and for some reason, counting the stars helps me calm down." He wasn't lying. He just wasn't telling them everything. "It must have been some nightmare to have woken you up every night for a week," Luke said. "Is something bothering you?" Ava asked. " I'm fine" Sam replied coldly. " I know that's not true. Just tell us what's going on" Ava demanded.

Sam was standing up by now. "No! Just back off!" he warned as he pushed Ava aside and stormed off. "At least he told us part of the problem," Danny said optimistically. " I can't believe Sam was that stubborn. Clearly, something's wrong, and we were trying to help him" Ava ranted, annoyed at that, and the fact that he shoved her. "Well, we should let him cool off" Luke suggested. "Yes, he will tell us when he is ready" Danny agreed. The trio went back inside and went to bed, hoping that Sam would be in a better mood in the morning.

Kira sat on the asteroid in silence. Thanks to her suit, she could breath in space. She watched the nearby blue-green planet, thinking of what resided there. She had been staring for so long that she had forgotten how long she'd been there. "Are you alright?" She jumped a bit and turned to her teammate who suddenly appeared. "You've been looking at Earth for quite some time." Kira looked back at the life filled world. "It's nothing really. I'm from there, and I haven't seen it for a long time." The young woman sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't believe that's all you're thinking about." Kira looked out at her former home and pulled her knees to her chest. "He misses me. I can tell" Kira replied.

Her teammate thought for a moment. "How long has it been?" she asked. "Three years ago yesterday" Kira answered with sadness in her voice. "I never told him. I was lost for so long I gave up looking for him after..." Kira stopped mid sentence. She hated thinking about the incident. "It's ok. You don't have to explain" her teammate said, trying to make her feel better. " I feel guilty. I've known where he was for a while, but I chose to stay here. He thinks I'm dead, but I'm alive. He probably feels terrible about it." The woman looked at the girl in sorrow. She had to do something about this. "I think you should go," she said after a few moments. "Alright. Where's the ship?" Kira asked. Her teammate shook her head. "No, I mean you should go back to Earth." Kira looked confused. Her teammate went on. "He misses you, and you miss him. You've been a great hero to the universe, but you should be with him. I know that you're hesitant about going back, but I know that you know in your heart that he needs you more than you think."

Kira looked at the planet, then back to her teammate. "You're right, Cassie" she finally said. She gave her a hug. "Tell Percy I said bye!" she said as she flew off. Her teammate smiled, knowing she did the right thing.