Loopholes

2

9 years later...

Ella hummed to herself as she stared at the night sky. She had been in isolation for seven months, and it wasn't proving helpful at all. Her powers were still rogue as ever.

See, after Ella was taken, her family was killed. At least, that's what the scientists told her.

The first surgery was one of many. That one in particular was to insert a large plate into her leg, for tracking, they said.

She was used as a guinea pig for eight years. They tested all kinds of things on her. Cures, viruses, more cures, and universal elemental experiments.

That was a fancy way to say superpowers.

And the most she was ever hurt was the bruises she'd get from walking too much with the plate in.

Ella never wanted to stay with the scientists. She hated them. But after two years of trying to escape, she gave up. She realized that there was nothing she could do about it. She'd get out when she could.

But the superpowers they so kindly gifted her, were almost impossible to track. They were spontaneous, and they really had a mind of their own. Ella didn't know if she'd get a gun or a kitten when she tried to conjure something.

The only thing she could control was mind reading. And she hated that one. Not because it wasn't nice to know that the people doing her surgery were thinking about that one time their dog threw up in the pool, or how snakes are actually a really beautiful species, or some other sciencey shit. It was knowing that the geniuses who came up with her powers only ever thought about her boobs, or the way her clothes fit her.

But she was able to block it all out in isolation. She just couldn't go beyond the isolation borders or she'd get shocked and have to crawl her way back to her hut. That was the only rule. She could use her powers freely, she could eat whatever, smoke whatever (which she did), and do whatever. But she still hated it. She hadn't been with people who actually knew how to interact with her in years. And she was lonely.

Ella hummed herself to sleep, on the roof of her hut. She dreamt of Oscar. Just Oscar.

She woke up to the sound of birds chirping, dew surrounding her. But along with the birds around her, there was a high-pitched noise. Almost like the Sound Amelia used to make when she opened her mouth. Ella chuckled at herself, then got serious remembering where Amelia was.

Well, where she wasn't.

The noise was getting louder as Ella's sleepy haze faded. She slid off her roof and decided to try and fly down instead of climbing, which was a very bad idea. The second her butt was off the roof, Ella was thrown around in the air like a deflating balloon. She shut her eyes hard, trying to ignore the gurgly feeling in her stomach. Finally, after about five minutes of flying around, Ella dropped out of the sky, landing on her arm.

Ella inhaled sharply, the pain instantly hitting in her arm. "Ahhh shit."

"Wow- That looked... Unpleasant," A deep voice said, startling Ella and sending her into defense mode.

"Who are you?" Ella asked, looking into a tall man's eyes, not five feet away.

"My name is Steve Rogers. But you can call me Cap." He said, smiling.

Ella made a face at him and said, "I will not call, you anything. I don't give a damn who you are and why."

"I'm here with S.H.I.E.L.D." Steve Rogers ignored her, "We were told that you may want out of the situation you're in. And that you're enhanced-"

"That looked less like enhancement and more like torture." Another voice said from behind him. "Tony Stark." He nodded in greeting.

"Who said that?" Ella asked, clutching her arm. "Who said I need out?"