Jupiter [Marvel Phase I]

nine.

The hardest thing about keeping this new secret, Jenn quickly discovered, was keeping it. Now that she was learning to control her abilities better, it was becoming difficult not to just use them whenever. Like when she finally learned to whistle, Jenn wanted to keep doing it, if only to prove she could.

More than that, she was so much more aware of it now. Jenn's senses were tuned to the hum of electricity all around her. She felt the flow of currents as they passed between herself and her surroundings. It was exhilarating. She wanted to revel in it, delighted by any excuse to go over to Dev's for practice.

The wait that first day had been excruciating. Not only was it a double lecture day, but she and Dev had taken a detour to the bio labs after classes. There, he'd taken a small biopsy from her in order to prepare a cell culture - a fact the dull pain in Jenn's lower back refused to let her forget. He'd said something about wanting to study her cells in vitro, but Jenn had a hard time following him when he used words like 'cytology' and 'agglutination'.

It seemed like forever before they made it to Dev's workshop. Apparently prepping a cell culture was a lot of work, and as interested as Jenn was in the results, she was getting antsy. Her QuantMech II homework was nowhere near as interesting as what she was about to do anyway.

The first week was probably the most exciting. Each day was filled with new discoveries, new uses of her powers.

First, Jenn tried teaching herself to throw lightning. Again, the way she had the first time. She'd more or less mastered turning electronics on and off, but this was a big step up. If she wanted her lightning to arc any significant distance, she had to build up a much greater charge. That was the problem with air working as an insulator. Thirty-thousand volts to bridge the gap of just one centimeter, her mind unhelpfully supplied.

With every fiber in her body burning and the hum in her ears at a deafening volume, sometimes she felt like she couldn't contain it all. That it could all just rush out of her in an instant and into the nearest target. Sometimes it did. The increase in voltage made it so much more difficult to control.

...And that much more dangerous. It only took one close call for the pair to build Dev a personal Faraday cage. Jenn was still apologizing by the time they were done welding, despite Dev's assurances he was fine.

Regardless, they decided to switch gears for a bit. There was plenty to explore. Jenn was working towards degrees in both electrical engineering and particle physics, after all - she was fascinated by electromagnetism. Her mind spun with all kinds of ideas as to what she could do.

"What if I tried to move metal?" Jenn asked that weekend. Dev had been hard at work dropping chemicals onto a slide, but he looked off elsewhere as he considered the question. She continued, "I mean, one of the easiest ways to transmit electrical energy through air is by converting it to magnetism. Plus, running a current through a magnet can increase its strength. If I held a current strong enough, I could turn myself into a walking electromagnet. You know, theoretically."

"Theoretically," Dev shrugged in agreement. He turned back to his work, but not before calling over his shoulder, "Let me know how that goes."

At first, it didn't. The most frustrating thing was, the more Jenn tried, the more she knew she could do it. Her target, an old wrench, sat unmoving on the table. Taunting her. She could feel it pushing back, even though she was an arm's length away. It felt like trying to move a car. Sometimes, Jenn could even lean into the resistance.

Then, one day, everything gave at once. The whole table slid backwards and Jenn fell with it. She stumbled a step in surprise, regaining her balance quickly.