Girl At War

Show and Battle - 33

**Dedicated to adetayo_teewhy. Thank you for all the votes!**

"So, what's new?" Tony threw himself down in the grass near Eloyse. Clint protectively glared at his teammate, but was blithely ignored. "We of us saw you fighting at the base when we attacked, but obviously we were a bit busy to actually watch."

Eloyse hesitated, searching Tony. He was genuinely curious, and she could feel a touch of concern, although he would never admit it. "My powers are stronger." she offered. "If I lock on and concentrate, I can control someone's motions. Umm... I'm better near water. I can manipulate light without touching it. As you know, I'm an Empath as well. And.." she paused,  then added in an odd tone, "that's it."

Tony was impressed. "Nice! Demonstration?"

"I'd rather not."

"Aw, come on. Up! Demonstrate! It'll help the power of science. You can dem-AHH!" Tony rolled over and over, coming to a violent stop next to Steve. The latter snickered as Tony slowly propped himself up and looked dazedly around. "What was that?" he stared suspiciously at Eloyse.

She innocently shrugged. "You asked for a demonstration." She let the blue on her hand fade. She'd only used one hand. Natasha was smirking, the Maximoff twins were hard put to contain their laughter, Clint wasn't even trying. He was practically rolling on the ground laughing. Wanda stepped toward Eloyse, finally getting control of her giggles.

"Perhaps I could test you?"

Eloyse cocked her head, considering, then got to her feet. "I'm gonna regret this..." she mumbled, lighting each hand. Wanda did the same. In the next instant, they had all the Avengers running for cover. The one hand that still had a bracelet was bothersome, but at the moment it was loose and she could use both hands. Wanda started easy, but seeing how much Eloyse had improved, the battle quickly escalated.

Eloyse had gained full control of her force field, even being able to section it. When Wanda summoned a tiny army of bullet-like rocks and pelted them at her friend, Eloyse used a half-shield, only in front of her. And when the "bullets" came from two different directions, instead of using a full shield, she split hers in half, controlling it with one hand while she concentrated on Wanda with the other. One hand wasn't strong enough, though.

Eloyse ducked under the hail of little rocks, dropping the shield and throwing all her energy into control of Wanda. And it worked. A blue glow slowly started overtaking the red on Wanda's hands, then she suddenly put her hands in the air in a surrender motion. Eloyse drew her hands together, compacting her energy, and then drove down on Wanda. The older girl was forced to her knees, a shocked expression on her face. Eloyse broke concentration then, partially because of Tony laughing hysterically. He wasn't used to seeing Wanda on her knees surrendering. Pietro whipped by, giving Eloyse the fastest high-five she'd ever had. She grinned. Wanda came over, also smiling.

"That's good!" she praised. Eloyse blushed and bit her bottom lip.

"Thank you."

************************************

"Not the time, Speedy!" 

Steve shouted as Pietro zoomed away. The speedster shouted over his shoulder, but Steve didn't catch the words. He grunted with effort as something heavy slammed into his shield. Heaving back, he knocked whatever it had been back on the ground. Looked like an overweight sandbag.

"Not the time for what?" Eloyse curiously waylaid Pietro with her question. He skidded to a stop beside the brunette.

"Guess guess guess!" He chirped, starting to dash circles around her.