Intertwine

56 - Wrestle With That Alligator

ADITI

I sipped at my coffee, a blanket around my shoulders, watching the others. Alina was sat next to me on one side, Clint on my other. I wasn't a fan of all this attention, and I could feel their curiosity, their confusion. 

"So what you're saying is," James Rhodes said, hand on chin, "Aditi's powers were transferred into Alina."

"And Axel." Alina added. I'd been introduced to everyone know. I didn't watch the news, my parents kept me away from anything superhero related in case I got any ideas, so I wasn't very knowledgable on the Avengers.

"Right, but you don't have the same powers?" Rhodey continued, clearly speaking the thoughts of everyone else.

"No." Alina replied. "I don't quite understand that. They seem to change slightly from person to person once they get transferred. I don't know where my light manipulation comes from, and the first time I met Axel she sort of indicated that they weren't able to figure that out either, but she did tell me my test results were used for some of her powers."

"Did Cog mention anything else?" Steve Rogers asked me, his hands clasped together in his lap.

Alina nudged me slightly. "He's talking to you." She whispered.

I felt my cheeks go hot. I wasn't good at speaking in front of a lot people, I could feel it when they judged me, I knew their reaction to my words no matter how well they tried to hide it. 

I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "She said that 232, Alina, her body had been able to take," I paused, closing my eyes, trying to remember the exact words that had been said, "take the base abilities and change them to suit her needs. That they wanted mutating enhancements. It might have something to do with her genes."

Alina nodded. "That makes sense. I wanted to heal the other girls in the lab, so my body gave me that ability. I wanted to make the scientists suffer like they made us suffer, so I was able to transfer pain. I don't understand the light and dark still though." She sighed. "I think, perhaps, they can change them manually before they're transferred, but not have the person's body change them automatically to perfectly suit what they need the powers for." 

"Was it only girls in the lab?" This was Tony Stark. I'd known him before though. I remembered reading about his company in the news.

"At first there were boys, but it ended up being mostly girls. I think girls take on powers better, it's why Axel managed to have so many complicated ones." Alina wondered aloud. "It also explains why they want Roara, because she has so many, they want ones that form or change when needed and they want more than one. It's all about power."

I glanced at Peter. He hadn't looked how I'd expected him to, with wavy brown hair and a sweet face. I'd expected him to look hardened somehow. He was still being hit with waves of grief.

"When they transferred Aditi's powers to me," Alina continued, "I think I got some of her personality too, at least at first. But she can't heal people, at least not physically, and I can't use her powers of empathy."

"Axel also took powers from the other girl, Miriam." Vision noted. "Do we know what's happening with her?"

Clint shook his head.

"Ah." Vision replied. I liked Vision. He was calmer than the rest, focused, and it was easier to rest on his emotions than the others because they felt less jumbled. James, or as I now knew him to be Bucky, still felt more difficult than the others, more extreme. 

"It's all coming together." Steve said to himself, more than the rest of us. "They take the girls for testing when they're younger if they have powers, hold the abilities somehow, and place it into other people."