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"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU wearing gloves today?" MJ asked Eleanor at lunch after a tiring Physics class. The girl being questioned tried her best to play dumb, continuing to eat her salad with a fork. She had chosen to follow Mr. Stark's advice, while she learned how to control it. She didn't know how to name her abilities, so she calls it, it. Eleanor glanced at MJ, who was still glaring at her.
"I," Eleanor pondered, trying to think of a clever and logical response. "just hate germs."
MJ squinted her eyes in disapproval. "Cut it out. Ever since you got here I have never, ever, seen you wearing gloves. Why-"
"Hey guys, can we sit here?" Michelle had been interrupted by Ned, who had a food tray in his hands and was followed by Peter.
"Hi, Ned!" Eleanor greeted, crossing her arms and covering her gloves. She mentally praised him for interrupting MJ's questioning at the best time. "Sure, sit." Ned then slid on Michelle's right side, and Peter on Eleanor's left side.
"So guys, how are-" Eleanor tried her best to avoid MJ's death glare and started a conversation, but was cut off by Michelle.
"I'm still waiting for your answer." The usually unamused teen was crossing her arms now, reclining onto the white surface of the table.
"What answer?" Ned asked, munching on a hamburger he had bought.
"Uh, she'd asked me my favorite movie-"
"She's wearing gloves." Michelle interrupted her, once again.
The two boys glanced dumbfounded at Eleanor. The girl gave up and showed her leather-covered hands in defeat, and received no reaction from them.
"What's wrong with that?" Peter questioned, taking a bite out of his sandwich. Eleanor then turned from looking to Peter to looking at the other girl with a smirk on her face, savoring her small victory. The other teen still had both of her arms crossed and continued with her argument.
"She's never worn that kind of gloves before. It's weird." Michelle then grabbed her bottled water and took a sip from it.
"Well, I think it's a great fashion statement," Ned noted.
"I think so as well." Peter then followed, which made Eleanor smile at both of them.
"See? I'm okay." Eleanor stated, staring back at Michelle, trying to sound as genuine as possible. But deep down, she knew she wasn't okay. And she knew Michelle thought that as well. The conversation took a turn, with Ned gushing about the latest horror movie that had been released, and with Michelle suggesting that there were better horror movies than that one. Eleanor wasn't paying that much attention, she stared at her salad, wondering if she had to wear those gloves forever.
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Eleanor was on the elevator with her earphones in her ears. Her foot was hitting the floor to the rhythm of an AC/DC song, something Tony rubbed off on her. The metal doors opened, and she walked forward to Mr. Stark's office. As she turned right and saw the familiar glass walls, she noticed that Tony Stark wasn't the only one inside that space. It was him, and a tall, dark-skinned guy with black clothes. His back was facing her, while Tony was in front of him. She then noticed a woman enter the office as well. She had similar clothes that Black Widow had when Eleanor got the chance to see her in the news. They were all talking but stopped when they noticed the teen waiting outside the glass door.
She was shivering, as much as she did when she ran out of the bathroom after breaking the hand dryer. Tony made a gesture that signaled her to come in, and Eleanor felt she didn't have the strength enough to open the door, but she did. She felt all eyes on her.
"Hey, kid. Sit down." Were the first words Tony said. She sat down, all eyes still on her. Her leg was bouncing up and down. Up and down. Up and down. She couldn't stand that everyone was staring at her and examining her behavior.
"You know," Tony said, going from behind his desk towards Eleanor. "We have this kind of protocol we must follow when-" He paused, processing his words. "people like you, come our way." Tony then placed his hand on the back of Eleanor's seat, while she looked up to him.
"That's Nick Fury," Tony said, nodding at him and then looked at the woman. "Maria Hill."
Eleanor gave a small, closed smile and nodded at both of them, as a small 'nice to meet you' gesture.
"El," Tony looked at her and walked next to Mr. Fury. The use of this new nickname made the teen calm down a little. "your medical tests showed extraordinary results, for a person with your background. We believe that the electricity of the arc reactor impregnated your immune system. It went through your system and expedited your cell regeneration, making you five times more strong, fast, and resistant than you were before. Kid, your energy is off the charts."
Eleanor was speechless. She literally couldn't form any reply.
"And," Now it was turn for Mr. Fury to speak. He had a deep voice, kind of the similar you'd hear narrating the beginning of a documentary. "Due to your abilities, we will be seeing each other frequently, Ms. Page. You seem to have extraordinary, and very, very powerful powers, according to the results of your tests."
Silence now reigned upon the room. Mr. Fury frightened her. Everyone was giving her pity smiles, or looks, except him. She thanked him for that, but she almost felt hated by him due to how cold he was. Eleanor now felt that it was her time to speak now, but she didn't know what to say. So she did.
"I don't know what to say. What's going to happen?" The nervousness was very present in her voice.
"Agent Hill and I will be keeping an eye on you. For any changes in your system. You must know that nobody can know about this," Mr. Fury stopped and readjusted himself since he was leaning back on Tony's desk. "condition, of yours."
Eleanor nodded. She really did not want anyone to know anything about this.
After half an hour, the team eventually left, and it became only Tony Stark and her. She was in the same seat she had been in all afternoon, while Tony spun around on his chair.
"So, what do you think, kid?"
"I-I... I-" Eleanor started, but she couldn't seem to finish. "I really don't know what to say." She felt speechless. Her eyes traveled down to her gloved hands for a second, and she closed them. She couldn't believe her life had taken this big of a turn.
"Yeah, it must be a lot to take in." He stopped spinning and grabbed his phone, projecting an image to the air. "Look at this."
Eleanor lifted her gaze from the floor to the mid-air. It was a video of a car going fast as ever towards a bus, and a guy with red and blue clothes going in between them to stop them.
"Know him?" Tony asked.
"I guess." The teen replied as the video replayed itself, her brown orbs eventually returning to the billionaire's frame. She recalled her conversation with Peter. "He's the spider guy. Saves people. Stops armed robberies. I've seen him."
"Listen, kid," Tony turned off the projection and crossed his arms on top of his desk. "With that-" he tried to point at her, but ended waving his hand away. "-thing you have, you can do awesome shit. Like that spider freak."
Eleanor considered it. She never really saw herself as a hero. Sure, she loved helping people, but she never imagined herself wearing tights while at it.
"I can help you figure out how to work that thing, so I'd suggest that if you want to go out there, you gotta have some type of Karate Kid-styled training first." Tony then coughed and continued. "Of course, only if you want to."
She kept quiet. It was a lot to take in. She just learned that she was more strong than she was before, Mr. Fury would be checking up on her now and then, and now Iron Man is offering to train her. Holy shit. But then, her thoughts went from focusing on Eleanor, the hero with electrokinesis, to Eleanor, the high school kid with dreams of entering med school, the kid with a deceased father and a mother who works late-night shifts. The girl with a few friends and the Stark Internship. She was amazed by how it can all change. But still, her future was way uncertain.
"Mr. Stark," she started when her train of thought had stopped. She didn't know at what point her eyes started watering, but they did. She turned to face the hero. "I won't be able to go to med school, right?" She asked, lifting her gloved hand for him to see.
Tony Stark looked down at his desk with a frown, trying to find an answer. He turned again to her. "We'll see in the future."
Eleanor's heart broke, since she felt that all of the efforts she made in her life to go to her dream school had shattered, thanks to a stupid accident.
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a/n: guess who has lots of free time and will publish as many chapters as she can? me.
thank you for all the reads, really, and the votes. i-i, just can't :')
let me know what you think!!
- a.