Marvelous: Reincarnation

Chapter Three

Fireball after fireball flew from her hands, sweat beading up on her forehead as she threw the flaming orbs at target after target, all with increasing speed and strength.

Come on, Hope. Eric taunted in her mind. You can do better than that!

Hope grimaced, already annoyed by the intense training routine and having little patience for her brother. The burst of emotion caused the fireballs to turn white hot, completely incinerating every target that was thrown into the air. How's that for better?

The three beep tone sounded, signaling the end of the training session. She threw another fireball half-heartedly at the last target before dropping her arms, breathing heavily. Even though the training room was kept at a cool 65 degrees and she was wearing a tank top, sweat had built up on her skin, giving it a nice sheen as the lights brightened and Hank walked into the room.

"Very, very good, Hope!" He grinned, bringing a clip board in with him. "Over the past two weeks, your accuracy has improved to only a 15 percent miss rate. That's very good for someone who's had as little training as you."

"Yeah, training." Hope snorted, hands on her hips. "I still had to use my powers out in the real world, though. That counts as training, too."

Hank nodded, a small smile on his face. "Well, that as well. But you were registering higher temperatures than your previous times. Any particular reason?"

Because she gets annoyed easily by her little brother. Eric offered cheerily in her head, a mocking smile on his face. Or because she has literally one of the worst tempers in the whole world.

"Just felt extra motivated." She shrugged, fingers drumming impatiently against her pants line. The training pants were tight and light weight, looking a lot like the leggings Sue had worn on her days when she wasn't working. They caused less air resistance, were resistant to heat, water, ice, and magnetic energy. Still, she thought, the suit from the Fantastic Four was much better, even if the extra exposure to heat had caused it to turn into a faded grey-blue color.

"Keep up that energy level." Hank pointed at her, then looked to his clipboard. "Do you mind if I have you go over your earth abilities? There's a couple readings I want to make on your body levels as you do them."

"Yeah, sure." She shrugged again, settling back into a ready stance. It was a Wednesday, so it wasn't like she had anything better to do. Besides, most of the other kids had gone up to dinner or to hang out in the common areas by now, so she and Hank had the training simulator to themselves to try things out.

Her training had continued as normal in the past two weeks, but it was soon discovered that the basic fighting and manipulative techniques that so many elementals were working on came easily to her. Xavier moved her up to harder classes, but the basic four elements weren't enough to challenge her. That's when Hank had proposed a new training regime. 

Warren had mentioned that she was able to bend steel, Xavier confirming it, recalling his encounter with Idril. The Light Elf had told them that her abilities would only continue to grow, and Hank had a theory he wanted to pursue. So he and Hope had set up a session three times a week where he was going to work with her and help further the finer points in her abilities, such as steel, ice, and the kinetic motion of the rocks she could make.

It was going fantastic, especially after this past Monday when she and Hank had figured out that with enough concentration, she could create lava ("It's more of a plasma type substance, however," Hank had told her.) instead of fire. Today, however, they were working on her fine motor skills.

Hank nodded and returned to the control room, the beeping as he changed the settings bringing Hope out of her memories. She placed her feet shoulder width apart, still feeling the energy thrumming through her veins.