VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[11]

Elysia suppressed a yawn as she listened to a story Vision recounted to her, Sam, and Wanda of some sitcom the Sokovian woman had talked him into watching over the past few days, and she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open, as a result of the few hours of sleep she'd gotten the night before.

"Are you okay?" Wanda finally asked her, taking the last couple bites of her ham sandwich.

"Yeah," Elysia reassured her, finishing her own lunch, even though she hadn't had much of an appetite to begin with. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't sleep much last night."

"Here," Wanda offered, reaching a hand out and resting it on Elysia's shoulder.

The witch shut her eyes and instantly, Elysia was hit with a wave of energy, as if a bright red light was chasing away the exhaustion of the night before. Elysia's eyes widened, and she could feel the electricity threaten to spark across her palms before she clenched them into fists, taking a deep breath before they could manage to gain control.

"Better?" Wanda asked with a knowing smirk as she eyed Elysia's newfound expression.

"Wow," she said, nodding. "Much better. Thank you,"

Wanda nodded, but Elysia watched as her friend's eyes left her to instead look up at something behind where the pink-haired woman sat, and she swiveled around in her seat to see Bucky approaching the dining room, his eyes already on her. He greeted the others in the room briefly before looking back at Elysia, a nervous expression written on his disheveled features.

"Can I borrow you for a minute?" Bucky asked, and Elysia glanced back at the others once more before nodding. "Only if you don't mind, of course," he added.

"Sure," she said, depositing her empty plate in the dishwasher before following Bucky into the living room. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say thank you," he said as soon as they were out of earshot, taking a seat on one of the couches in the team's den, and Elysia took a seat next to him. "For helping me last night. I'm sorry again, about almost hitting you, and for everything else that happened afterward. I'm sorry if anything I did or said made you uncomfortable."

"You have absolutely nothing to apologize for." she assured him. "I'm happy to help. You would've done the same for me, if the roles were reversed."

Bucky nodded, and she offered him a small smile. Although she could tell from his expression that he didn't quite believe she'd ever find herself in a similar situation to his from the night before to reverse the roles, she didn't feel the need to correct him in just how close she had been to the same exact thing before he woke her up.

"Are you settling into the compound okay?" she asked, in a quick attempt to change the subject.

Bucky nodded. "Yeah, Steve's been a great tour guide." he assured her. "The neighbors are okay too, even if they break into your room in the middle of the night."

Elysia's eyebrows pinched together as she looked back at him with an incredulous expression. "Bucky Barnes, was that a joke I just heard?"

A faint smile tugged up the corners of his mouth as she chuckled in response. However, the moment was broken up by a figure coming down the stairs behind Bucky, and Elysia looked over as Steve came into view.

"Hey, Buck," Steve greeted before turning to the woman sitting next to him. "Sparks, you ready for our training session?"

"Yeah," Elysia nodded. "I just need to go suit up, I'll be right down." she glanced back down at Bucky. "See you later, Buck."

"To be continued," Bucky said with a nod, and Elysia left the two men as she headed back up the stairs towards her apartment.

Elysia pulled open the closet as she walked into her bedroom, pulling out another jumpsuit that was identical to the ones she'd worn in the team's training sessions as well as the HYDRA extraction mission. She quickly changed into the suit before heading down to the training center to see Steve in the center of the room, stretching as he waited for her arrival. At the sound of the glass door sliding open to announce her arrival, he leapt up to his feet, studying her intently.

"Alright, Sparks," Steve announced. "Let's see what you're made of."

"Don't worry, Stars and Stripes," she said nonchalantly. "I'll go easy on you."

As Elysia approached the circle, she and Steve began to circle each other hesitantly, watching for any sign of their opponent making the first move. While she knew she had nothing on Steve in terms of his hulking stature, if she could only manage to send out her electricity at a longer range, as she used to be able to do back in Manhattan, then it might have been more of a fair fight. She held up her hands in front of her, almost in a warning for the super soldier across from her, though she knew all too well that she was merely bluffing if he chose to advance.

Steve took a step closer, thinning the gap between them, and Elysia seized the opportunity, aiming a punch that the super soldier narrowly missed, ducking out of the way. She backed up a bit as he continued to advance towards her, dodging hits of his own as she rolled past him in a somersault, shooting up onto her feet behind him.

"Come on, Lyss," Steve encouraged as he began to circle her again, the girl ducking out of his way again as he began to seize the advantage once again. "Don't be afraid. Shock me."

"I'm trying," she said through gritted teeth, willing the sparks to move forward towards where Steve hovered only a few feet away, though the weak tendrils continued to fizzle at the end of her fingertips, unable to be away from their source for more than a moment. "I can't control it yet like I used to."

"Well then, we'll just have to keep pushing it out of you." Steve concluded, sending a punch of his own in Elysia's direction, the woman nearly missing being hit square in the jaw as she ducked, aiming a swift kick that connected with his ribcage.

Elysia had hardly realized that she was nearing the boundary line of the sparring circle, of which once she passed through would mean Cap's victory amongst her own defeat, and she planted her feet firmly, unwilling to go any farther and be pushed out of the circle. When Steve came at her again, she raised her hands instinctively to block his punch, the pent up energy gathered from the match now being sent out in a shockwave.

It wasn't much more than what she had already been willing and able to use, and hadn't done any more damage to Steve than simply forcing him to back up a bit, but it was a much more visible spark, the shockwave tethering Steve and Elysia together in a white hot blaze, if only for that moment. Elysia waited with bated breath, watching as Steve began to clap, and she finally looked back down at her hands, a small surprised grin crossing her face at the realization that her abilities had listened to her again, if only just a bit.

There was a long way to go, but she knew she was finally on the right track.

"There you go," Steve said encouragingly. "That's what I'm talking about. Now do that again."

Steve held a hand out towards her from the short distance he still stood, the same as he had done on her first day training with the rest of the team, and Elysia held hers back out to him, still standing a few feet back rather than having to touch his hands directly. She reached inside herself to where the electricity still crackled, and she forced it forward towards Steve's outstretched hand. With a surprised gasp, she watched as the white tendrils of electricity emitted from her fingertips, connecting with Steve's hand and causing the super soldier to back up again in surprise.

Steve began to shake his hand out, in an attempt to get rid of the shock as Elysia pulled back, the electricity retreating back into her hands as she stepped closer to Steve again, inspecting his hand for any damage. In the center of his palm was a small mark from the shock, though it slowly faded away as she watched.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking back up at her friend to see the proud smile on his face.

"You're getting it," he assured her. "Yeah, I'm okay. Great job, Sparks."

"Thanks, Cap," she said with a smile, though his expression turned into something she couldn't quite discern. "What?"

"It seems like our plans might just actually be starting to work, after all." Steve explained. "Your powers, and everything with Bucky's coding. It's like we're one step closer to..." he trailed off.

"We're one step closer to you meeting James." Elysia finished for him, and he nodded, looking around briefly to make sure no one was around to overhear their conversation. "We're going to get that code out of his head, Steve. Once it's out, and he's safe, we're getting you on the first flight to go meet your son."