Written in the Stars: Bucky Barnes

15. Target Practice

Stella recounted every single moment of her encounter to Howard and he listened intently before walking inside, he came back out a few moments later with a pen and notepad. He sat on a lawn chair and Stella waited for instruction.

"Okay so first things first, we need to figure out your baseline, we don't know the extent of your new abilities. Even before this though, you were exhibiting some symptoms of the serum. My guess is you gained dulled effects from it after receiving Steve's blood."

Stella nodded in agreement trying to ignore the pain in her heart at the mention of her still missing best friend. "So what first then?"

"Let's run you through some standard drills, let's work on stamina first."

Stella nodded and started running the perimeter of the large yard she could she'd easily outrun any normal person after several laps Howard waved her down to stop. "So the speed is increased and you didn't seem to be tiring out."

"So speed and stamina, I also can't get drunk meaning the metabolism is the same. Should we test strength?"

Howard nodded and led Stella into his home gym she wrapped her hands and walked over to the punching bag. She landed a few solid hits, though her form could definitely use improving she took one final blow, and the bag disconnected from the chain landing with a loud thud on the floor.

"Sorry!"

"No that's perfect, just what I needed to know," Howard said writing down some more notes. "So the effects of the serum were dulled, but everything seems heightened. Now let's go back outside and see if we can figure the other thing out."

Stella nodded and after several hours of trying they couldn't seem to figure out how she managed to conjure the fire she was beyond frustrated with herself what good was the ability if she couldn't control it. Stella sat down with a huff and looked over to Howard hoping he might have some kind of suggestion.

"Go back to the moment it happened, tell me everything you felt, everything you did up until that moment."

"I don't know Howard, I was thinking about the fact that bastard was able to get in my head. It's like he could sense my weakness and desperation and used it against me," Stella said feeling her anger starting to swell in her. "He promised if I did as I was told I could bring them back, stupid me trusting a trickster God." Stella's body temperature seemed to rise with her fury and she clenched her fists at her side.

Howard watched her in amazement as small flames started to appear from her fingertips licking her skin and she didn't even seem to notice to lost in her anger. "Wait Stella, that's it! It's your anger making it happen."

Stella stopped down looking at her hands the fire that had grown up slightly past her wrist disappeared once again. "So it's tied to my emotion. What good is that going to do if I'm in the middle of a fight? Anger is a slippery slope especially when it's connected to power like that."

"It's connected right now Ella doesn't mean it always will be. You were probably going through a whole host of emotions when it happened. I have a theory, and I don't think you're going to like it."

"What are you thinking Howard?"

"What if it's not just fire and anger? What if there's more?"

Stella seemed to understood what he meant "you're right I don't like it."

"We need to try Ella, if we know exactly what all we are working with we can control it better."

Stella sighed but relented trying to think about all the emotions she was feeling at the time. "It was a combination. I felt anger that no one wanted to keep looking for them. Sadness that I had lost them in the first place. Happiness at the prospect of seeing them again. Fear that it might not work or I'd die trying. I don't want to try for happiness I'm not even sure I could muster the emotion up anyway."

"The last thing I want right now is to make you feel more sadness, we can try those later," Howard suggested, "but, that unfortunately leaves us with fear."

Stella nodded trying to figure out a way to conjure up that particular emotion when an idea came to her. "Now it's you that's not going to like my theory." Howard looked at her questioning what she meant she asked for a moment before jogging back into the house and retrieving a small handgun.  She came back out and handed it to him "try and shoot me."

"You want me to what?"

"Trust me, Howard I don't want to be shot again."

"Ella I'm not going to shoot you that's insane."

"Howard shoot me before I get pissed off and light you on fire," Stella said with a smirk willing her body to conjure small flames in her hand proud she was able to do it. Anger was not in short supply for her she just needed to be able to get a handle on it. Howard took a breath and pointed the gun directly at her. She could feel the anxiety starting to rise in her throat. She didn't enjoy the first time she had been shot, and even now guns were still scary for her. She nodded to him and took a few paces back unsure of what just might happen and she wanted to keep him as safe as possible. A thousand thoughts of how dumb this idea might be how badly this could go only made her fear even stronger. Stella's palms became sweaty and her legs felt like they weighed a million pounds.

Howard swallowed his fear and pulled the trigger within moments a large piece of the ground came up in front of Stella as she rose her arms instinctively. The bullet lodged into it and Howard's eyes widened and he set the gun down running around the shield Stella had created.

"Ella, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess it's not just fire."