The smell of reheated pizza wafted through the air of the dining room as, one by one, members of the team found their appetites returning after the not-so-friendly message left by HYDRA the night before. Elysia pulled her plate out of the microwave, taking a seat between Steve and Sam, the latter detailing an old story from a flight mission back in the military.
Elysia tried her hardest to pay attention to Sam's story, but her mind kept flashing back to the training center the night before, and the missing figure in the room. The feeling of the electricity turning to static in the air as she and Bucky fought, her ability to disarm him with her powers, yet also knowing her electricity couldn't hurt him. Not to mention his own ability to disarm her, letting her guard down around him if only for a second at the feeling of his hands on her waist, and his mouth against hers.
"What about you, Voltage?" Sam asked, pulling Elysia's gaze back up from the leftover slices of pepperoni to look back at him. "You must've seen some crazy stuff back in the day working with him and Rhodey." he gestured to where Tony sat on the other side of the table.
"Well, there was one of my last missions," Elysia recounted with a sly smirk, glancing over at Tony, who shook his head.
"Austria?" he scoffed. "Child's play."
"J.A.R.V.I.S. got word of some weapons dealers selling stolen old Stark Industries tech, back when we still lived at Stark Tower." Elysia explained. "So we infiltrated their warehouse to get it back."
"Sparky over here pulled a rookie move and got herself captured." Tony continued. "Unfortunately for the bad guys, their only means of getting answers out of anybody is also by using electricity."
"So what happened?" Steve asked.
"I made the shockers switch directions." Elysia said with a shrug. "Just sent the electricity back the other way. They realized pretty quickly they captured the wrong member of the team. By the time Tony and Rhodey found me, they were all unconscious."
"Man, that's crazy." Sam smirked, shaking his head. "Your abilities seem so cool, especially once they're trained up. You went from these crazy missions as a superhero to a normal college student so fast, why? Why would you ever want to hide the things you can do?"
Elysia's smile shifted as an uneasy feeling took over the pit of her stomach, but to her relief, Tony spoke up, changing the subject. "Anyways," he said. "Speaking of hiding, I think we need to all talk about remaining inconspicuous, in case we need to leave the compound for a bit."
Even if his subject material was less than comfortable to discuss, Elysia couldn't help but feel grateful that he'd pulled the spotlight from Sam's question about her leaving, if only for a little bit. She knew her conversation with Sam was likely far from over, but for the moment, she relished in the change.
"Inconspicuous how?" Wanda asked.
"Little things to draw attention." Tony explained. "Making sure your clothes won't stand out, hats, glasses..." Tony trailed off, his eyes falling on Elysia's pink strands. "Sparky, I think you should change your hair."
"No," she said adamantly, shaking her head.
"I know you've had the pink as long as I've known you." he assured her. "If I'm being honest I don't think I even know what your actual hair color is. But if the Avengers need to go into hiding, lay low for a while, you don't want to stand out."
"Sorry, Tony," Elysia insisted, feeling everyone's eyes on her as she fought the panic rising in her chest. "I can't do it."
"Why not?" he asked.
Elysia finished her first slice of pepperoni, picking up her paper plate holding the untouched piece. "Well, on that note, I just remembered I have some prep work to do before I meet with the Valentes later." she said, rising from her seat. "Good talk, guys."
Elysia left the room without another glance at Tony, making her escape as she rounded the corner to head back up to the living quarters. However, before she could clear the landing and hurry back to her room, she nearly collided with the figure coming the opposite direction, and she jumped back, saving the slice of pizza from being squished between the two of them.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was-" Elysia started, but her voice cut off in her throat as she noticed Bucky standing across from her, a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite discern.
"Hi," Bucky said uneasily.
"Hi. There's pizza downstairs, if you're hungry." she said awkwardly, holding up the slice still sitting on her plate in an attempt to dissolve the tension.
"Thanks," he said. "Listen, I wanted to apologize for last night. I was out of line, and-"
"No," she said, a flush heating her cheeks as she shook her head. "No, no, no, it's not you. You have nothing to apologize for."
"I don't?" Bucky asked. "But what about-"
"I did it too." she reminded him. "I just... I can't do that. Not right now, anyways. I'm sorry."
Without another word, she moved around Bucky, heading back to her apartment and shutting the door behind her without another word. Once she was finally alone, she took a deep breath, setting the paper plate down at her desk and returning to her lunch before she needed to meet the rest of them in the lab for testing with the final piece of equipment needed to crack the code in Bucky's head.
Elysia was the first one in the lab that afternoon, logging onto the computer and powering up the various devices as the room began to fill with the familiar hum of the machines. She ran her hands over the surface of the computer, relishing in the familiar way the keys felt under her fingertips, the home she'd built for herself out of computer codes the last few years tempting her back.
By the time the others had arrived, all of the tech was ready for testing, the computers on and waiting. Carlos and Fernanda arrived first, the former putting on a pair of eyeglasses as he looked down to see the screens already prepared and ready for their session. Shortly after their arrival came Bucky, with Tony not far behind.
Bucky greeted the others with a curt hello, taking his usual space in the chair next to the monitor while Fernanda began to hook him up to the wires. Elysia briefly glanced in his direction, noticing that he seemed to be looking everywhere but at her, and she turned back to the screen in front of her.
"Wow," Tony murmured, glancing between the two of them. "Did somebody order the elephant in the room?"
Elysia rolled her eyes, ignoring Tony's words as her gaze stayed on the screen. Similarly to the scans from the tech already in the Avengers Compound, the waves seemed to stop over the area housing the chip in Bucky's brain. However, while the old tech seemed to stop, the new tech instead prompted a passcode, a firewall now the only thing between Elysia and a hopeful solution to save the man sitting in front of her.
It was a way in, and that was a start.
"What do you see, Sparks?" Carlos asked, peering over her shoulder to the screen.
"This is our way in," Elysia explained. "I just need to crack their firewall, and once we're on the other side of that, I can really get to work."
"How much time would you need to crack it?" Tony asked.
"Depends on what's waiting for us on the other side." she said uneasily. "Few hours, maybe?"
"First thing tomorrow, we'll get it out, then." Tony instructed. "We get Tin Man sedated as a precaution, and we deactivate that chip. Hopefully before HYDRA comes and kills us all." he muttered the last part under his breath, though Elysia felt the chill at his words all the same.
Elysia nodded in agreement. "I can do it." she said, though she wasn't quite sure if she was trying to reassure herself or those around her, and she looked up at the others, her gaze moving from Carlos and Fernanda to Tony, glancing quickly over Bucky who still avoided her eyes.
"Well, if that's settled," Tony began as the scan came to an end, and Fernanda began to unhook the wires connected to Bucky's head. "Everyone down here at nine, sharp."
Without another word, Tony left the room, and as soon as Bucky was free from the wires, he followed suit. Elysia's eyes stayed trained on the computer until he was out of the room, and only once he was gone did she dare look back up to begin packing away the equipment. As she moved to pack away supplies into a drawer, she caught sight of a framed photo Fernanda had placed on her desk, one of her and Carlos with a young girl, the three of them smiling for the camera with a beach in the background.
"That's our daughter," Carlos spoke up, following Elysia's gaze. "Juliana."
"She's beautiful," Elysia said, a small smile forming as she studied the photograph. "Is she back in Queens?"
"Yes, she's staying with a friend." Fernanda explained. "That picture was taken on an old family trip years ago. She's a freshman now at Midtown Tech."
"Smart school," Elysia said, impressed. "Although, with the two of you as her parents, I can't say I'm surprised."
Carlos and Fernanda beamed proudly, and Elysia couldn't help but smile at the love she could feel emanating from the two about their daughter. It had been a long time since she'd witnessed that kind of love, the self-sacrificing one that you'd do anything for, no matter the consequences. Although, while she knew she'd never quite reach that same level with the friends waiting for her downstairs, she knew they weren't off to a bad start.