Atlas | Avatar!OC x Bucky Barnes

10 - The Avatar

Sun, May 24th, 4:35 pm

Atlas leaned on the kitchen counter as she continued to snap her fingers; creating fire, and quickly putting it out. She had been too afraid to try anything else with fire. She knew that if she couldn't control it, it would spread; at least, that always what her grandfather used to tell her: "Fire brings catastrophe and death everywhere it goes," he would say. Atlas always thought he had been a little dramatic, but now that the power was in her hands, she didn't want to take it too far in fear of losing control.

"That's new," Natasha said, coming down the stairs with Wanda.

"Apparently it's always been there," Atlas shrugged. "Just never knew it, or never had a reason to use until Tony decided to blow up his lab." Natasha smirked in amusement, and Wanda let out a small laugh.

"If you can control fire and air, can you bend the other elements as well?" Wanda asked, becoming more serious. Wanda had taken a particular interest in Atlas's powers; it was comforting to her knowing that someone else was like her, especially someone she got along with.

"Theoretically, yes. If I am what I think I am, then yes, I should be able to bend all four elements."

~

6:51 pm

She sat cross-legged on the sparring mat in the training facilities starring at a cup of water. Atlas had always wanted to be a waterbender. She admired how they were taught to turn their attacker's offence into their own, a tactic which she learned late in her combat training.

"Some waterbenders were given the gift of being able to heal. They'd push their chi into their element, and use it to heal wounds. In fact, some of the greatest healers could help heal the mind," Li Wei - Atlas's grandfather - once said to her. Her interest in waterbending had briefly surpassed her interest in the powers that she actually had when Li Wei had taught her about the waterbending culture and techniques. And when she thought of it now, being able to heal people would make this doctor gimmick that she was going for much easier; that is, if she could actually bend water and be lucky enough to be a healer.

Healing the mind was a complicated thing - at least that's what Atlas had been told. It was much more intricate than a simple open wound, and it could never be fully healed. Li Wei had told Atlas that healing the mind could help with the emotional pain that was brought from a traumatic experience, but the event itself would never fade from a person's memory.

Atlas was so focused on the water, facing away from the gym entrance, she didn't notice Bucky and Steve walk in; they weren't looking to train, they had been looking for her because she had been missing for the last two hours. They both became silent when they saw her, sitting in the middle of the sparring mats, as they looked at each other in question. They both approached her from behind, Atlas becoming fully aware of the whereabouts of the two super soldiers. Bucky nudged her from behind with his knee.

"Atlas?" Bucky asked. She responded by reaching behind her - without breaking eye contact with the cup of water - and swatted his calf lightly in return for the nudge "Atlas," he said more seriously. She liked the way he said her name.

"Mhm?" she hummed in concentration.

"What're you doing?" Steve asked. She began finding it hard to concentrate now that her friends were here, not realizing how long she had actually been in the gym.

"Testing a theory."

"And what might this theory be, exactly?" Bucky asked amused, squatting into Atlas's view, just behind the cup of water.