Echo [11] (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 11

"Somewhat. You excited to sit down, shut up, and read?" I asked, and she sighed through her nose. 

"If you don't have any work to do, the teachers don't really care what you do. I've left dozens of times and no one's ever stopped me," She said lowly. 

"Are you going to be in the enhanced class, Tanya?" I asked.

"Yep," She said. 

"I keep meaning to ask--how are you enhanced? I know Steve, Bucky, Inola, and Becca are Super Soldiers, and Val, Kyrie, Thor, and Loki are all Asgardian," I said. 

"Oh. I'm Half-Aesir. My mom was an Aesir. My dad was human, and also MIA," She said. Asya let out a huff at the mention of fathers. 

"Something wrong?" Tanya asked.

"I don't have the best relationship with the little shit I have to call a father. He sold me to an academy," She said bitterly.

 "This is the table of father issues, apparently," I observed, and Asya raised a brow.

 "My Vater is a coward. He lets my mother order me around as much as she wants, and never says anything. The only thing he has going for him is his company," I admitted.

 "Vater?" Tanya asked.

 "It means father," Asya said.

"You speak German?" I asked, surprised. 

"And Russian and English and French and Chinese and Italian and Vietnamese and Latin," She said, counting them off on her fingers. 

"Damn, Asya," I said. 

"All in all, the apprentice group knows about 14 languages spread out among them," She said. Before I could say anything, the bell went off, signifying the start of class. We all went to the gym, the 23 of us milling around waiting for the teacher to show up.

"Today will be a little different than past Enhanced days. Follow me," Coulson led us outside, where Fury was waiting with a dodgeball.

 "We're going to be playing a round of good old dodgeball. Powers are allowed, so suits will be needed," Fury said.

 "Tessa, come with me," Coulson said. I followed him a bit away, and he held out a suit.

"This is your suit to use during missions and when we specify, like now. Since your powers are simply contact-based, this is just meant to protect you," He explained, handing the suit to me. It was a leather bodysuit, black with blue detailing, and a mask with blue-tinted goggles. I went into the bathroom, pulling on the suit. It was comfortable, with half-gloves on my hands and a turtleneck. I kept my boots on, and the mask off.

I stepped out into the field, where a few others were waiting. Carol had a red and blue suit with gold detailing, and a star in the middle of the chest. Steve and Inola had suits that mirrored the American flag and matching shields. The Barnes siblings had leather uniforms, Asano and Stephen had weird blue robes, Peter had on a red and blue suit with web detailing, and Misha had on a black suit with green details, gloves on and a barrette in her hair.

Yo-Yo and Daisy had black clothes and vests on, Daisy with silver gauntlets that glittered in the sun. Lincoln, Gordon, and Joey were in normal clothes, Kamala in a red and blue shalwar kameez, and Val and Kyrie had on grey and white uniforms, swords on their backs with long cyan capes. Tanya had on a black bodysuit and a long black coat with a hood. The Odinson brothers had on silver armor and black armor respectively, one with a red cape and the other with green detailing, and there was a red and gold suit, and a grey suit, both made of metal.

"Since we have an odd number of people, someone is going to have to resign from playing," Fury said. "I'll do it. SHE shouldn't come out anyway," N'Yaki said, moving to the side. "Steve and Tony are team captains," He said, then we all shuffled into a semi-straight line. "Peter," Tony said. "Gordon," Steve called.

After a while, the teams had been decided. Tony had Rhodey, Nat, Peter, Stephen, Joey, Becca, Thor, Kamala, Val, Bucky, Yo-Yo, and Misha on his team. Steve had Daisy, Lincoln, Loki, Gordon, Ellie, Carol, Kyrie, Inola, Asano, Tanya, and I on his team.

 "Okay. Inola and I will be upfront since we can cover with our shields, Ellie and Carol, you're in the air. Asano, try and protect the team with your shields, Gordon, try and move people out of the way before they get hit, and Loki, try and use your mind-reading to predict their moves. The rest of us will try and take the other team out," Steve said, then turned back around. N'Yaki was in charge of music since she had nothing better to do.

"Powers are allowed. Try not to hurt each other or the building. Especially you, Thor," Fury said.

 The ball was tossed into the middle, and it was quickly claimed by the other team. Ellie and Carol shot into the air, Tony and Rhodey doing the same on the other side. The ball soared towards me, but I moved just in time. I scooped it up, lobbing it as hard as I could at the other team.

The ball soared towards us again.

 "Achtung!" I called, Gordon slipping in and moving Tanya just in time. The match went for a long time. Eventually, only Gordon, Ellie, Tanya, and I were left. On the other side, Stephen, Tony, Yo-Yo, Peter, Thor, and Misha were left.

"Gordon, you're in charge of getting the balls to Ellie and Tanya," I said, bracing myself for the next barrage of balls. I grabbed Gordon's wrist, flicking over to Tanya and moving her away from the barrage. I flicked back to try and get a hit in when a ball connected with my nose.

 "Headshots don't count!" Fury called. I picked up a ball, tossing it up to Ellie, who threw it at the other team.

It landed square in Tony's chest with a satisfying thud. Thor decided the game wasn't hard enough, so he supercharged the ball with lightning, lobbing at us. Since I was able to hone other powers, I grabbed the ball out of the air, feeling electricity crackle through my veins. I tossed it at the other side, knocking out Stephen. The two shuffled off the court, leaving Yo-Yo, Peter, and Misha.

There was a thud above me, and Ellie floated to the sidelines, settling next to Nat. There was a flash on the other side, and suddenly Peter and Misha both had two balls in their hands. They grinned, lobbing them at us. I felt it collide with my forehead and bounce off. Touching Gordon's arm, I flicked as close as I dared to the line, lobbed two balls at the pair, and flicked back.

The surprise attack caught them off guard, and they were both out. Now it was just us three against Yo-Yo. Unfortunately, she was quite the player, so we had quite the challenge ahead of us. She threw two balls in quick succession, hitting Tanya. I was really tired, because we had been going all morning, and running around and throwing balls wasn't helping my energy levels.

I tossed another ball, which she easily avoided. She tossed another ball towards us, and another, creating a line of balls. I dropped to the ground, grabbing Gordon's wrist in an attempt to pull him down with me. But, he got hit and shuffled to the sidelines. Another ball connected with my nose, pain flaring from the spot.

 "Um Gottes Willen!" I exclaimed. Another ball headed towards me, and I blinked out of the way, scooping up a ball. Another line soared towards me, but I blinked around enough to avoid the barrage and flung the ball as hard as I could towards Yo-Yo. It hit her in the leg. Excitement swelled up inside of me, and suddenly I was in my dorm room. Then I was in the middle of a busy road.

Scenes flickered past me, and I ended up in some strange places. Panic started to overwhelm me, and I went even faster. I ended up blinking back to the field, in the air. I fell to the ground, my back connecting with the Earth with a thud. 

"What the heck just happened?" Bucky asked.

"I have no idea," I admitted, getting to my feet. 

"Where did you go?" Peter asked. 

"Uh...a lot of places. I think I went underwater a few times, I think I also ended up in space once," I admitted. My hair had frozen in a sort of windswept position, coated in ice. 

"Go get cleaned up, all of you," Fury said, then walked away, obviously thinking about the match.

Then I ended up in the showers in the dorms, way ahead of everyone.

a/n This chapter was partially written on Halloween 2020, and I had my costume on (Army Plague Doctor) without my glasses. I couldn't see for shit.