Flawed Minds

Chapter Eleven

Nova's P.O.V

I woke up in the middle of the night screaming.

The nightmare itself wasn't an unfamiliar one- in fact it was a lot like the bad dreams I had experienced almost every night. But this time it had seemed so real. I could see the fiery gold flecks in the almost black eyes that seemed only to hold life when their owner was torturing me, those rounded glasses hiding none of his warped delight at my pain. It wasn't enough that he hurt me for so long, he had to turn up in my dreams, too.

Steve had heard my screams and came to comfort me, patiently listening as I tried to explain my dream to him; the face of my torturer, Dr. Ekelhaft, and the haunting image of the wisps of smoke coming from his limp body refusing to leave my mind. I had kept his name from the Avengers till now- not to cause problems, but because I had convinced myself that if I never spoke his name again I would be able to cope; Now that I had voiced everything, my built up emotions reached the limit, causing me to break down crying, apologizing profusely to Steve throughout. He helped me control my breathing and calmed me down, making me realize my exhaustion and I felt my eyelids droop. I continued to murmur my apologies to him, barely noticing him tip-toe out of the room. I heard voices outside my door but I only caught; 'She's fine. Nightmares, you know how they can get pretty bad,' before I fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning I had met with Steve before everyone else, thanking him for helping me and asking him to explain everything I had told him to the others because I didn't think I could. Again he assured me it was no problem and agreed. Later on in the same day, I stood facing the target in a specialized testing room, shaking my hands out in preparation as Tony, Bruce and Steve stood to the side, waiting to see what I could do with my abilities. I had already spent the morning discussing some of the experiments I knew were being done by Hydra, almost certain that I had put a stop to them all by blowing the whole building up, and I had demonstrated my strength by managing to lift one of Tony's expensive cars much to his concern. Now, I was exhausted, nervous about trying out my electrical powers again, because even I didn't know what I could do with them, really. 'I guess I'm about to find out,' I thought to myself, letting out a calming breath.

"Don't worry about the damage you might cause, that's what this room is for," Steve reassured me. "I'd like you to hit that target with as much accuracy and power as you can, don't hold back." I nodded and shifted my feet to a more stable stance as I raised my hands and aimed at the target. It felt so natural to summon my powers and they shot out on command, hitting the target directly. The familiar buzzing and crackling noises filled the air and I was ecstatic. I pushed harder trying to reach my limit, bolts of electricity now flying everywhere as I increased the power, and as I glanced over at the team I saw them ducking in an attempt to avoid getting hit.

"Try- AHH- Try focusing the energy!" Tony yelped "Try to form it into a beam if you can!" I nodded, sweating now from the exertion, and used all of my focus on my powers; directing them, feeling them, shaping them- and with a flash they took the form of powerful white beams of energy, literally melting the metal target to the ground. I stopped immediately, holding my hands close to my chest, my heavy breathing loud in the now silent room.

"I didn't know I could do that," I spoke, my breath shaking as I turned to them in confusion and distress. "That's never happened before I swear,"

"It's ok, don't panic," Bruce walked over to me slowly, looking me in the eye and pulling my hands away from my chest, holding them palms facing upwards. "You're in control. This is nothing to worry about, in fact this is a good thing- it gives me more to study at least," He joked and I rolled my eyes, the corners of my mouth tugging upwards in an involuntary smile.

"Impressive," Came an unfamiliar voice. "Most impressive," A tall bald man in a long black leather coat sporting an eyepatch was watching the entire thing intently without anyone noticing, and was now casually walking toward me.

"Well, this is an unexpected visit," Tony announced. "How did you even get in here?"

"You didn't specify that I wasn't allowed in. I just asked to see you." The stranger turned to face me then. "Nick Fury, at your service." He reached out a hand.

"Nova," I responded cautiously, taking his hand and shaking it. "I think I've heard things about you,"

"Well I have definitely heard things about you. The team took quite a risk when it came to saving your life." I automatically reached up to touch the necklace I was wearing as he glared pointedly at Steve and Tony before continuing. "Since you essentially fell out of an exploding Hydra base and right into the Avenger's laps and your abilities seem to be somehow evolving," It was like he stared into my soul with his one eye. "I will be following your progress very closely. It's been a pleasure meeting you." With that he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving it in another uncomfortable silence, until I turned to Tony.

"Is he usually like that?" I asked. "I mean, is he just normally that ominous?"

"Yep. He's the one that came up with the whole Avengers initiative, so I'd say we can't complain but I can and I do." Tony murmured while assessing the damage I had caused before Fury introduced himself. "He's not that bad, but he can be a miserable son of a b-"

"What he means to say," Cap interjected loudly. "Is that he sometimes seems stern, but he's just got a lot on his mind all the time, especially running the initiative-."

"That's not what I meant at all,"

"You get used to it," Steve stated with a loud sigh. "Much like you get used to Tony's arrogance." He smiled at him and Tony gaped, placing a hand over his arc reactor in mock hurt.

"You wound me, Capsicle." He announced dramatically, causing Cap to roll his eyes. Bruce snickered loudly and unexpectedly, causing a chain reaction where we all ended up laughing. Eventually we left the room, and as we made our way to one of the communal rooms they theorised over my abilities and how they had changed. I just stayed quiet because I was distracted; My mind was constantly chaotic, full of thoughts and feelings that I was struggling to process and understand, but I was learning and I was starting to feel like I was finally somewhere I belonged. In my deep thoughts, I hadn't noticed that I had taken hold of the hem of Steve's shirt, subconsciously holding on to him so that I didn't get left behind, nor did I notice the small bemused smile he gave me, suggesting to Tony that now might not be the best time to talk to me about my schedule because I was far away.

...

Nat and Clint returned from their mission late that evening a few moments after Tony had handed me my daily schedule, and I was relieved that they were unharmed, even if they did reassure me that it was just an observation mission. Clint snatched my schedule off me and as soon as he noticed that he was to be training me two days of the week his eyes lit up and he grinned.

"We're going to learn some weapon and combat skills," He laughed, "I won't be going easy on you, you can count on that."

"I will beat you easy Clint," I responded, feeling competitive all of a sudden. "You won't know what hit you," I poked him hard on the arm and he shoved me in response, both of us laughing while Tony put his head in his hand wondering if he had made a scheduling mistake. After they all left to gather in another room to share the mission details and other secret things I wasn't supposed to hear, I soon found myself leaning against the railing on the balcony and watching the twinkling lights of the city, feeling the cold breeze on my skin and listening to the sounds of life going on all around. Part of me got nervous whenever I saw it all, because it reminded me that suddenly the world was a whole lot bigger than just the cell I was kept in, and almost everything was unfamiliar to me now- I didn't even know how to go out across the street and grab a coffee like I've seen Tony's employees doing so many times... But part of me longed to go out there and explore, mostly I wanted to join the team when they left on missions. At that moment as I looked up at the stars, I decided that I would work hard to become good enough to join them; I wanted to become part of their team and help them fight against Hydra.