Before we start, I have something to say to all of you. I'm here to address something about my story, no, I'm not going to unpublish this.
I just wanted to clarify that I purposely did not include Nicolette's love interest (If she happened to have one sooner in the book.) or give a small idea about how the plot is going to be.
I intended to write the book's description that way so you'll all be curious about the next thing that was going to happen and I didn't want to give a basic plot description so it'll be fun for all of you while you read this book.
I wanted you all to read and feel the progress of this story along with Nicolette's character.
You can now read ahead.
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CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT: 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄 #𝟑
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I don't think I've slept that long ever since my first power showcase last night. Or should I say, power interruption?
Tony let out a hum of satisfaction as he stared at his advanced computer, Bruce sneaked behind him and looked over his shoulder. Aw, science bros.
"Nicolette, the diagnosis says you're a hundred percent compatible to the blood, you're free to go and train, kid." Tony spun on his office seat, throwing his arms up.
"Nicolette, are you sure you are feeling fine?" Bruce asked worryingly.
"Don't worry, Uncle Bruce, I'm good as a freshly baked pizza." I waved at both of them before sprinting to the elevator, excited to train.
It's not everyday you earn superpowers and get to be part of a team that is considered as Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I don't even care if they call me a superhero, if anything, I'm glad to be around them. This is just so real yet it feels like a beautiful fever dream.
The elevator opened and I stepped out giddily, searching for Wanda immediately.
"Wanda!" I called out, passing by the other Avengers lounging around the hall, doing their own business. Thor seemed to be missing, he probably went to New Asgard.
"Nicolette! Finally, I've been waiting for you to wake up since like, 7 o' clock?" Wanda ran to me and held both of my hands.
"That's pretty damn early, but alright, let's go train!" I did a small happy dance, Wanda did the same as she did the shimmies, we laughed for a good five minutes before stopping.
Wanda led me to the training room, holding my hand. It was on the other side of the compound, leading down to sets of stairs before we arrived in a spacious room. It has mirrors for walls, punching bags are on the left side of the room, a boxing ring was on the middle, different sizes of dumbbells were on the corner of the room, yoga mats were on the right side along with several treadmills and other gym equipments. However, there was another door on the far right corner, I followed Wanda inside and saw another training room.
Unlike the first one, this was more protected, the walls were porcelain, on the right side of the room there was a window for a shooting range, a door beside it. Right by the door were all kinds of guns. On the left side were just foam walls surrounding it, I assume this is where Wanda practice her powers.
"I was just as surprised as you are when I saw this, Stark's really got the good stuff." Wanda crossed her arms while I took time to take in my surroundings.
"We're here!"
I yelped when a gust of wind went past me, Pietro stopped beside us while Loki just walked over to us with a scowl, arms crossed and his hair messed up.
"What did you do now, Pietro?" I glared at the silver haired speedster.
"Just did a bunch of whirlpools around Mr. God over here, didn't know he gets pissed off pretty easily." Pietro shrugged with a jesting smile.
"C'mon Pietro, we know you did it on purpose." Wanda rolled her eyes and keeping her brother steady.
"I did run around him on purpose, but I didn't purposely make him mad." Pietro raised both of his eyebrows, his tone defensive.
"Alright! Can we just get this over with already? I'm only doing this for Nicolette." Loki gritted his teeth, he looked like he would be exploding any time soon.
"Okay, let's do this." I huffed, rubbing my hands together.
An almost empty water bottle showed up on Loki's hands, Loki held up the bottle in front of me.
"Nicolette, can you try stealing this from my hand using your powers?"
"Yeah, of course." I nodded, breathing out, before extending my hands, waiting for my powers to do something. We stood there silently for a minute.
Nothing happened.
"This is embarrassing." I whispered to myself, rubbing my forehead.
"It's, it's alright Nicolette. You won't always achieve it the first time around." Wanda looked like she was not trying to laugh while she nudged Pietro who was cackling, holding his stomach.
"Stop laughing, Pietro or I'll rip off your hair bald." I darted my eyes as Pietro with a glare, making him stop with a cough.
"We're not moving on until you manage to remove this water bottle out of my grasps." Loki said, shaking the bottle.
"Try to feel it, Nicolette. You need to be one with your powers, you got this." Wanda nodded at me.
I closed my eyes, breathing heavily, imagining that I was one with my powers. I opened my eyes and focused the bottle in my vision, almost as if I was giving it a death glare.
I could feel my body heat up slightly, like I just passed an open stove. I squinted my eyes at the water bottle.
Move.
Move.
Move.
I let out a breath, still nothing happened.
"Again, Nicolette." Loki sighed.
Pietro let out a short yawn, before standing up and turning to me.
"An advice, sis. Try to feel it, like really feel it. Imagine that you could actually do it, manifest." Pietro patted my back before speeding out of the room.
"Pietro!" Wanda called out after his brother who was long gone.
"He didn't help with anything anyway." Loki shrugged before signalling me to start over.
I breathed again, massaging my temples and stretching my arms, standing up straight before looking at the water bottle.
"Why is this so darn difficult, where's my wand?" I whined, Wanda raised her hand and my wand flew out of my jacket and on her hand, she put it inside her pocket.
"Don't be discouraged, Nicolette. There's no way you're a hundred percent compatible with the stone yet you're unable to use it." Loki explained, giving me a small yet encouragable smile.
I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing out and praying to the Gods to guide me, well technically there's one next to me, but you know what I'm trying to point out.
I opened my eyes again and glared at the water bottle as if it was Thanos.
You're going down, bottle.
I glared at it hard, feeling my anger rising along with the heat in my body. I could feel the heat through my veins, I almost let out a cheer when I saw the small amount of water on the bottle shaking.
"Nicolette! You're doing it!" Wanda's tone raised, I could sense her wide smile.
I can see the bottle shaking a bit too, I could feel my hands on victory.
Until, everything stopped.
Wanda's smile fell and we were in a deep silence, feeling disappointed.
"Uh, we can try again later, let's let Nicolette rest for a minute." Loki cleared his throat, gently pushing me to the door but I just stood.
I felt mad and irritated at myself. And definitely disappointed.
Well, not everything could be easy.
But controlling my anger issues aren't easy, apparently. Now, I explode.
"Why can't I bloody fucking do anything!" I yelled, knowing the room was soundproof.
We were startled when the windows to the shooting range shattered, I could hear ripping of the foam walls. I stopped speaking and I looked around. The training room looked horrid. Wanda and Loki stared at me with wide eyes.
"Nicolette, your eyes." Wanda whispered.
I turned behind me on the shattered mirror, and there it is.
My eyes were glowing red.
Have I seen this before?
"You did it!" Loki cheered, Wanda clapped while I chuckled slightly, still shaken by what I did.
"Let's do it again!"
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An hour passed as we kept training, thankfully my powers were easy to use now, not how I did the first time.
We walked out of the ruined training room, sweat covering us. We immediately separated from each other as we took our showers.
I walked out of my room, combing my hair while I wore sweatpants and an oversized shirt.
"Nicolette! How's training?" Peter threw his arm over shoulders while we walked to the kitchen.
"I feel so great, I feel tired and I'm hungry." I said, drinking a glass of water as I leaned on the kitchen countertop. The other Avengers entered too, they seemed to also have just finished training too.
"I'll go buy pizza, as a celebration for Nicolette's successful operation!" Tony announced, earning tired cheers from us as we took time taking baths and changing clothes.
Almost 30 minutes later, we gathered around the dining table, eating delicious pizza.
"Reminds me of the pizza from that pizzeria my dad used to take me and my little sister to when I was probably 8 or 9 years old," Sam spoke up, taking a bite of the pizza.
"What's it called?" Scott asked curiously.
"I dunno, I forgot what it's called." Sam shrugged. "All I remember was it being closed, something about children going missing or animatronics malfunctioning, I think, such a waste."
"Chuck E Cheese?" Peter's eyes widened.
"Who even eats in Chuck E Cheese? Their pizzas are horrible. Even Cassie was horrified." Scott snorted.
"Nah, it's definitely not Chuck E Cheese, it was better." Sam shook his head, laughing.
"Speaking of pizzas, have you all watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" I spoke up.
Everyone exclaimed in a 'duh' tone except Bucky, Nat, Loki, Sif and the Guardians who were confused.
"I've watched it sometime after the war, it was good." Steve nodded.
"What about Dick Van Dyke?" Wanda spoke up, her eyes lighting up.
"Loved that show, I watch it when my parents leave me home alone." Scott blurted out a little loud.
"She won't stop watching that show, especially sitcoms. It was annoying." Pietro rolled his eyes.
"It's better than those cartoons you watched." Wanda mocked, ruffling Pietro's hair, messing it up.
"By the way, kid." Tony turned to me, I raised my eyebrow with a slice of pizza still in my mouth. "You can do physical training twice a week, it seems like your powers can drain you so we need to prioritize that."
"Got it, boss." I gave him a salute as we continued eating.