[ hiatus ] 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 ━━ 𝐏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑

𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞

༻ ❁ ༺

April, 2015

          CHARLOTTE WAS KEEPING a secret from everyone; she hated it. She hoped that if she kept it to herself, then she would be less likely it would be that someone would get hurt. Or worse.

Her Extremis had returned, but, to put it mildly, she had been self-training in controlling it. It was like the virus had returned passively, and the aggression that it carried before had vanished and become more submissive towards her.

In other words: she was in control.

She started by attempting to make little fireballs in her palm. It was difficult for her to be alone, and she couldn't do anything because JARVIS would warn her father or Dr. Banner if another Extremis episode occurred.

But there was a place where she could have some privacy. Some nights, when Happy was working late at the tower, the roof of his and Ezra's apartment building proved to be an ideal location. It was hard telling the truth to her, but Ezra was her best friend; Charlotte knew that she could trust Ezra with her life, let alone this secret.

Ezra took it well enough, she was more concerned about Charlotte's mental health as opposed to her physical well being. The two teenagers used these nights to talk about anything and everything, and Ezra told her that if Killian was still alive she'd hunt him down and hurt him for what he did to Charlotte.

After the fiery teen had calmed down, Charlotte explained that her Extremis had returned, and to prove that she had regained control, she created a small flame on the tip of her finger. It startled Ezra, but ever since the attack on New York three years ago, seeing her best friend controlling fire was the least weird thing she needed to worry about.

For four months now, Ezra has been inviting Charlotte to "sleepovers", when truly, after her uncle had fallen asleep, they would sneak to the roof for Charlotte to test her new abilities.

She felt bad for keeping it a secret, especially from her own parents and Dr. Banner.

But if they knew, they would just create another vaccine and frankly, Charlotte liked having Extremis. Not only did it increase her general health, but it also healed scratches and bruises that she'd get whenever she tripped and fell during her solo training sessions .

Besides, she was much stronger as well and with the help of the Extremis and her bionic limb, she could run faster and jump long or high distances with little struggle. The two girls had been testing Charlotte's new found abilities and they once snuck out to the park in the middle of the night, no one was around and they went to an area covered by trees. There, Ezra watched in awe as Charlotte jumped tree to tree while laughing, clearly enjoying the new found freedom.