Fire and Ice, Sugar and Spice

Chapter Twenty-One~Preperations

Chapter Twenty-One

Preparations

I stare at the door after he's left, then follow him out. I go to the elevator and head up to my own floor, hitting my head against the doors until they open. When they do, I go to my room and sigh at the beautiful view. The city is lit up and looks like a starry night sky. Next, I change back into some workout clothes and walk around my floor, guessing there's probably a gym up here. I find it and duck inside, happy to find it's fully stocked. I decide to practice a little with my abilities. It's been a while since I let go. Instead of windows lining the wall there are mirrors, so I can see my reflection in them. I reach out with both of my hands and pull water from the air, only enough to fill a small bucket. I throw it in the air and let it disperse while lowering the temperature. It falls as snow and I hold out my tongue to catch the flakes. I collect all of it back up again and smooth it out over my arms, leaving out my elbows so I can move easily. Freezing the water, I elongate the parts over the knuckles to make deadly spikes. I march over to the punching bag and take a couple hits. The spikes rip the bag almost immediately. The water melts off me when I stop concentrating and instead focus on the air around me. I move my hands out then clap them together, moving them apart just after. A disk of air spins between my hands like a saw, making my hair fly away from my face. I pull back and throw it at a new punching bag. It splits in half and I laugh. Finally, I put a hand over my heart and shut my eyes. Heat radiates through me and up to my skin as I slowly catch fire, non-lethal of course. I open my eyes and look at the mirror. I'm covered head to toe in blue flames, even my hair is on fire.

"Liya!" I spin around and find Steve standing there in a fighting stance. I kill the flames in a second as he stares at me in surprise.

"Sorry if I gave you a scare, Steve. I'm just flexing a little." I explain and sit on the floor, letting the temperature drop to cool me off.

"Flexing?" He asks with a small, apprehensive smile and comes to sit down in front of me. "That isn't exactly what I'd call it." He continues. I sigh and shrug.

"Whatever. Where's Victoria?" I ask, feeling bad for taking more of his time. He chuckles.

"Grant stole her away from me to decide on a costume for tomorrow. I thought I might come see how you were doing," he looks at the destroyed punching bags and smirks. "looks like you're doing great." He gets a laugh out of me. I examine his caring face as he waits for me to speak.

"What am I going to do with him, Steve?" He laughs lightly at the question and scratches the back of his neck.

"I've asked myself that same question plenty of times. There's no easy answer." I nod along to his words, agreeing.

"Well, should I push harder or lay off? It seems like both could just make him leave forever." I lament quietly.

"I think you're doing better than you think." He assures me and stands, helping me up once he's standing. I hum, but shake my head in disagreement.

"Hey, while you're here could I ask you a favor?" My fingers fiddle with my necklace as I ask, knowing my request is a little silly. His expression turns amused as he nods. "I'm a little out of practice with dancing. I'm guessing there's going to be dancing tomorrow?" I ask. Before I formally ask him, he's taking my hand and putting my other on his shoulder.

"Yes. Slight warning, by the way. All team members dance with one another so prepare yourself for Tony and most likely a jealous Bucky." He warns as we begin to sway. I stumble over his feet a tad, but once I have the motions down my lessons as a child come back to me.

"Thanks for the warning. I can handle Tony, easy. It won't be a problem." I assure him as we dance slowly. I watch his face as we continue to sway, thinking about all the questions I could ask him. "You know, you're kind of like the brother I always wanted." I decide to compliment him instead. Gratification rushes through me when he beams down at me and squeezes my hand a little as a makeshift hug.