VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[14]

The smell of reheated pizza wafted through the air of the dining room as, one by one, members of the team found their appetites returning after the not-so-friendly message left by HYDRA the night before. Elysia pulled her plate out of the microwave, taking a seat between Steve and Sam, the latter detailing an old story from a flight mission back in the military.

Elysia tried her hardest to pay attention to Sam's story, but her mind kept flashing back to the training center the night before, and the missing figure in the room. The feeling of the electricity turning to static in the air as she and Bucky fought, her ability to disarm him with her powers, yet also knowing her electricity couldn't hurt him. Not to mention his own ability to disarm her, letting her guard down around him if only for a second at the feeling of his hands on her waist, and his mouth against hers.

"What about you, Voltage?" Sam asked, pulling Elysia's gaze back up from the leftover slices of pepperoni to look back at him. "You must've seen some crazy stuff back in the day working with him and Rhodey." he gestured to where Tony sat on the other side of the table.

"Well, there was one of my last missions," Elysia recounted with a sly smirk, glancing over at Tony, who shook his head.

"Austria?" he scoffed. "Child's play."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. got word of some weapons dealers selling stolen old Stark Industries tech, back when we still lived at Stark Tower." Elysia explained. "So we infiltrated their warehouse to get it back."

"Sparky over here pulled a rookie move and got herself captured." Tony continued. "Unfortunately for the bad guys, their only means of getting answers out of anybody is also by using electricity."

"So what happened?" Steve asked.

"I made the shockers switch directions." Elysia said with a shrug. "Just sent the electricity back the other way. They realized pretty quickly they captured the wrong member of the team. By the time Tony and Rhodey found me, they were all unconscious."

"Man, that's crazy." Sam smirked, shaking his head. "Your abilities seem so cool, especially once they're trained up. You went from these crazy missions as a superhero to a normal college student so fast, why? Why would you ever want to hide the things you can do?"

Elysia's smile shifted as an uneasy feeling took over the pit of her stomach, but to her relief, Tony spoke up, changing the subject. "Anyways," he said. "Speaking of hiding, I think we need to all talk about remaining inconspicuous, in case we need to leave the compound for a bit."

Even if his subject material was less than comfortable to discuss, Elysia couldn't help but feel grateful that he'd pulled the spotlight from Sam's question about her leaving, if only for a little bit. She knew her conversation with Sam was likely far from over, but for the moment, she relished in the change.

"Inconspicuous how?" Wanda asked.

"Little things to draw attention." Tony explained. "Making sure your clothes won't stand out, hats, glasses..." Tony trailed off, his eyes falling on Elysia's pink strands. "Sparky, I think you should change your hair."

"No," she said adamantly, shaking her head.

"I know you've had the pink as long as I've known you." he assured her. "If I'm being honest I don't think I even know what your actual hair color is. But if the Avengers need to go into hiding, lay low for a while, you don't want to stand out."

"Sorry, Tony," Elysia insisted, feeling everyone's eyes on her as she fought the panic rising in her chest. "I can't do it."

"Why not?" he asked.

Elysia finished her first slice of pepperoni, picking up her paper plate holding the untouched piece. "Well, on that note, I just remembered I have some prep work to do before I meet with the Valentes later." she said, rising from her seat. "Good talk, guys."