the strongest avenger

three

Talia James follows the same schedule everyday for the next week. She wakes up, goes to school, goes to her room and does homework, then trains, eats dinner and then goes to sleep. The same routine day after day.

As she walks through the hallways next to Peter and Ned who are deep in conversation, Tal rolls out her shoulder, sore from training the previous night.

The girl's training consists of mastering her abilities. Wanda helps as she has a similar form. Tony calls his daughter an elemental and an absorber. Something that Talia rolls her eyes at every time he says it.

As far back as she can remember, Tal has been able to control the elements. Air, fire, earth, and water. That was simple enough, enough on her plate to try and control.

But then, when she met Thor, so far back that the memory is blurry. She had touched him, skin to skin, and had absorbed his ability to control lightning. This was a shock to everyone as no one knew she could do that, Tal didn't even know she was capable of that. It was an accident that wasn't supposed to happen.

So she had worked with Thor in the short time he was on Earth to try and control it. Her lightning was sporadic and random, in times of heightened emotions it would just come out and she struggled to contain it.

Talia doesn't remember when she first met Wanda. It was sometime around the Sokovia attack from Ultron. She can remember that at least. Right after Sokovia, there was a moment where Tal and Wanda had touched and then all of a sudden the girl was a Wanda 2.0.

The girl replicated Wanda's powers unknowingly and now she was stuck with them. It was a burden that Tal didn't want. She didn't want all of these amazing powers, it was too much for a young girl.

So after Sokovia, her fellow Avengers came up with a plan to help her control her newfound abilities. Wanda and Tal worked together, to learn the limits of their identical abilities. Natasha has worked with her to teach her martial arts, how to shoot a gun and how to work with knives.

The knives were Tal's favorite, but as a person with 'powers', as some would say, she had to focus on controlling that.

So now, Tal rolls her shoulder out because Natasha was trying to teach the girl a new trick involving acrobatics, which Talia was not the best at.

"What are you thinking about over there?"

Talia's jarred from her thoughts as Ned calls out to her. The three are at Peter and Tal's chemistry class, Ned has history this period.

"Nothing." She flashes them a small smile.

Ned leaves them at the door with a wave and the duo head inside Mr. Cobbwell's class. Before Talia had come to Midtown High, Peter was sat alone at the back of the class.

Now, Tal is sat to Peter's right, filling the once empty seat. She wears a pair of jeans and a loose grey long sleeve shirt. Her backpack rests against the leg of the table.

It's late February now, almost March, meaning the weather is slowly getting nicer.

Mr Cobbwell starts his lecture and Tal and Peter start taking notes. The girl's eyes start to close and she tries her best to stay awake.

She jerks up when Peter pokes her arm. She furrows her brows when she looks over at him as he shakes his finger.

"You shocked me."

Tal inwardly curses but laughs it off. "Did I doze off?"

"Yeah," Peter gives her a small smile. "It was only for a minute though so you're fine."

Tal lets out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding and sits back. Her attention goes up to the front of the class as Mr Cobwell starts talking again.

"So, it's that time of the year..." He gestures with his hands, clearly waiting for someone to speak up. His grin falters when no one says anything. "Research project time!" A couple of the other students groan at this. "For those who don't know, each class here requires a research project which is due at the end of April. I choose to introduce the project now so that those who want a head start can get it done early. You will be working with your table partner to study one of the topics that we have discussed in class. You have to write a five page essay on explaining your topic and why you and your partner chose this topic. You will then have to create a presentation, which will be shown or demonstrated to the class after the due date and finally, you must perform and record an experiment relating to your topic. This project is worth a fourth of your grade, so I'll give you the last ten minutes of class to discuss."

Immediately after Cobwell is done talking, hands shoot up around the classroom.

"Do we get class time to work on this?" Flash asks from the third row.

"No, it's an outside of school assignment. Part of the reason its worth a lot of points and why I'm giving you all a lot of time."

Talia turns so that she faces Peter who's trying to seem busy putting his notebook away.

"I think we should try to get a head start on the project so we don't have to rush." She says.

"That would be best. Are you, uh, free today after school. W-We could go to my place, or—or your place. Whatever is fine."

Tal holds in a laugh at Peters rushed words. She has training today, but if they go right after school then she would have enough time for both.

"Yeah that works, can we do your place today?"

"Sure."

Tal's eyes widen as she realizes that they're eventually going to have to go to her place...at Avengers Tower. She swallows the anxiety in her gut and forces a smile at Peter.

"What topic were you thinking?" She forces out.

Peter tilts his head, thinking. "What if we did acids. We could do a cool experiment with that I think."

"Acid composition, properties. That sounds good. We should also include the Acid-Base Neutralization Process so we have a little more to talk about."

"Okay that sounds good."

Talia pulls out her phone and sends a quick text to Natasha: Working on a project after school, you don't need to pick me up :)

As Tal walks to her next class her phone buzzes:

Tash: Okay, have fun ;)

Talia rolls her eyes and pockets her phone, sneaking a glance at the boy walking next to her. She blushes and averts her gaze as she realizes that he was already looking at her.