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SHE WAS FALLING. SHE COULD tell by the way the colours moved around her, but her body felt completely numb. Whenever she tried to move, her muscles ignored her, and she was forced to watch her surroundings change from bursts of colourful clouds, to kaleidoscopic shapes that looked like giant shards of glass, to complete and utter darkness.
A tiny dot of light appeared from above— or what she assumed was above, the rules of gravity didn't seem to apply here— and slowly became larger and larger as it came closer. She was able to squint her eyes slightly and her entire body tensed when she could make out the shape of a bullet racing towards her.
She tried to move it out of the way with her powers, but they weren't working— the bullet would tear straight through her brain and she would be dead.
She experienced a searing pain, and then felt as if she was being sucked into her own body.
Milenka jolted awake with a start, panting heavily. The first thing she noticed was the softness of grass underneath her, green blades tickling her skin in the late-May breeze. Above her, the morning sun was just coming into view, and the sounds of the dawn chorus echoed all around her.
This was definitely not the camp bed in which she had fallen asleep that night. Lenks stood up quickly, rubbing her forehead as she turned to try and spot the camp through the trees.
Seeing the camp not too far away, she brushed down her pyjamas and started back towards her tent. Broken twigs and spiky plants scratched at her feet, no doubt giving her cuts and scrapes she would have to explain away when she got back.
Although, this wasn't the first time Milenka Popova had found herself in this position. Every couple of nights since the Battle of Sokovia she would wake up in the woods somewhere. No one would see her leave, even the people who were awake. On one such night, someone had heard a crack! coming from where Lenks' bed was located, and she had theorised that she was jumping accidentally in her sleep.
Arriving back at the tent she was currently living in, she grabbed a set of clothes and her shower stuff and headed to the bathrooms to get ready. After a cold, five minute shower, Lenms changed into a pair of black jeans with a maroon top, and her black nike shoes.
She saw it before she heard it— the quinjet was silent in flight but rumbled slightly during landing and takeoff. It landed a short ways away, and Lenks hoped she had made the right decision, there was no going back now.
Zrinka had been right. Despite all the good she was doing here, she could help save the lives of so many more people if she joined the Avengers. She would receive more training, and maybe even find out more about the origins of her powers.
