SOAR: An Avengers Story

Ch.3: Blow Us All Away

January 15th, 2017
(Steve)

Steve didn't really have a training program.

The suggestion—which soon became a guarantee—was just a way to diffuse the situation between Tony and the new girl, Danielle. When he said it, he only had a vague idea of what he was going to do.

But after seeing the kids and their potential, he spent all night figuring it out.

They were entirely unaware that he had seen the little race that had taken place from his window. Unaware he had seen what all three of them were capable of. And after that, his thoughts began to settle into the familiar patterns of his training camp days.

He had to admit that they weren't soldiers. Not by a longshot.

Joey was enthusiastic, but his mind definitely had one track, and it was a weakness he'd have to correct before he could even think about real combat.

Danielle was a problem for obvious reasons. But seeing her stand up to Tony in the first ten minutes of meeting him, along with Steve's knowledge of her parents, proved one thing: she was a fighter for sure. And with an explosive power like hers, it would mean bad news for anyone who crossed her. But Steve wanted to do more than just point out an enemy and have her lay him out. He wanted to make her well-rounded, someone who fought with an equal amount of wits and willpower.

And then there was Casper, who Steve still had mixed feelings about. He was a nice kid who had been nothing but respectful since his arrival. But he was still from Hydra, and that made him dangerous. And Steve had no idea how much "rehabilitation" he was put through before joining the team. Casper left him uneasy. Still, just like the others, he had potential. He reminded Steve of Wanda, in both powers and demeanor. And like Wanda, Casper lost pretty much everything, and had ties to Hydra. He, like Wanda once did, also could have skewed views of right and wrong. Wanda already figured it out with Pietro awhile ago, but how long it would take Casper was a mystery. Steve just prayed he could make it happen faster.

Despite all of the negatives he had to take into account, there were still positives that Steve could work with. All three of them were powerful, and at least two of them had a semblance of training. Steve was eager to see how much they could do.

Which led him to his "training program".

He actually didn't have all of it figured out until the next morning, when he went to wake the kids up.

He went to Casper's room first, only to see through his open door that he was already awake and sitting in the middle of his floor. A small metal top was spinning in front of him on the hardwood, showing no signs of slowing or stopping. Steve watched for a minute, mesmerized.

Finally, snapping out of his trance, he said, "Good morning."

Casper, who had been staring at the top the whole time, looked up at Steve. The top immediately began to slow down and lose its momentum.

"Good morning," he said back, standing up quickly and accidentally kicking the top over with a brush of his boot.

"What were you doing there?"

"Keeping the top spinning. I do it to focus."

Steve then understood. He was manipulating gravity to keep it moving.

"Oh," was all he could say.

"I'm ready for your training program, Captain Rogers," Casper said, now standing at attention. Still, he sounded nervous, like if he said or did the wrong thing, he'd have to do push-ups.