Heart Of Stone

Chapter 8

We arrive at a pool and everyone strips their clothes off, ready to dive in. I'm the first ready, of course. It's been ages since my last proper swim and I'm dying to feel the cool water revive me. Tony points out something called a diving board and dares me to use it. "Gladly," I agree at once.

I climb the ladder and stand at the top, looking down at the blue-tinted water. I've tried diving off of rocks and stuff and once I even dove out of a tall tree, so this much safer, much more easy to use board is nothing to me.

I effortlessly leap off of the board and perform a triple backflip in the air before executing the actual diving part perfectly. I enjoy the water for a brief moment before pulling back up, breaking the surface while I find the others cheering and clapping at my dive.

"Do you swim often?" Bruce asked me. "Every day, usually," I reply with a breezy smile. I know I'm like a completely different person when I'm in the water, but frankly I don't care. It brings out the best of me in many ways. Why should I prevent it from doing so?

"So are you coming in or do I have the water to myself?"

This triggers almost all the boys to either cannonball or clumsily throw themselves off the diving board. The girls just dive in from the sides, at least they're not looking like a scarpering flock of geese while doing it. The pool is quickly filled with us all, though there's still plenty of room to swim about.

"Who's up for a race?" Tony challenges, holding the edge of the pool with his legs prepared for him to push off the wall. "Lexis, you want to lose to me?"

I roll my eyes and get in position, deliberately swimming slower that I normally would to give him a false sense of security. "I am not typically one to back away from a challenge, Stark... of course you will not be one."

A chorus of 'ooh's breaks out among the others. "Bold words from a little girl," Stark tries to insult me back. "What are you, anyway? Ten years old?"

"If I am then that means you have been eying up a ten year old girl ever since we arrived," I point out. "Do not think nobody saw you. So what does this make you?"

Everyone is silent for a minute before Clint starts laughing hysterically. Everyone except for Stark and I instantly follow along, glad somebody finally broke the silence. "T'Challa got your tongue, Tony?" Steve teased Stark lightly. I don't bother asking what this means, but Stark seemed to understand because he pushed Steve's head down, putting him underwater.

When Steve came back up droplets of water were dripping out of his blonde hair and onto his face, but he was grinning. "I don't even care. Lexis was too good."

"You have not seen anything yet," I say, readjusting my position slightly. "I have accepted your challenge, Stark. Do not leave me disappointed."

He seems to snap back into what he was doing. "You're on."

Steve swam off to act as referee. "Three... two... one... go!"

We both pushed off at the same time, fighting for the lead. I decide to hang back a little and conserve my energy, though another reason for this tactic is much more prominent in my head. Tony takes the lead, wading forwards, but I keep on his tail.

We keep pushing ourselves and we're getting close to the other end of the pool when - be it through fatigue or just the assumption that I'm never going to win, I have no clue - he slows down. I take this as my opportunity to strike and swim ahead, easily overtaking him before he can do much as bat an eyelash in protest.

"Lexis wins!" Steve announces when I grab the edge of the pool with one hand and point my other straight up, making a fist of triumph. Cheers shoot up for me again.

Tony reaches my side and grabs the edge of the pool, panting. "How did you go so fast at the end?" He questioned. "I have been swimming every day for my whole life," I reply with a smirk. "When I am in the water, anything is possible."

With that, I dart gracefully off across the pool to the others, leaving him to catch his breath.

"You really like swimming, don't you?" Wanda commented when we were relaxing by the poolside. Well, she and Natasha were. I was just bobbing around near them and joining in on the conversation.

"It is a place where we are equals," I reply, floating aimlessly. "What is not to love?" "What do you mean we're equals?" Natasha questions. "Hm... it is either I tell you, show you or show you by using Stark to help me demonstrate, which would most likely shock him in the process. Which would you prefer?"

"Hey, Stark!" Natasha yells instantly. "Get over here!"

"I take it you ladies wanted to see a great man in his swim trunks?" Stark questioned once he'd arrived. "I've heard you think Lexis has the best body around here," Natasha smirked, sending Wanda and everyone who had heard into fits of laughter again. Tony scowled.

"What do you want then, Romanoff?" He demanded. "Lexis here said she had something to show us," Wanda was still chuckling as she spoke.

"Go ahead," he shrugged to me. "You especially will like this," I tell him, then reach out without hesitation.

The moment I touch his arm my hand starts tingling, but since we're completely submerged in water (well, except our heads, obviously) it's not doing anything more than that. It's like a sharp jolt, really, one that to this day I can't decide whether I like or not.

The girls (Tony being one of them) are shocked that I willingly touched someone. "Why did you...?" Tony fails to understand.

"Like I said, the water cures me," I smile. "Without the water, I would never be able to do that. But when I am in the water, I am equal to all of you. I can touch any of you so long as I stay underwater."