Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 9 - Lies

I woke up early the next morning so that I would have a chance to try on my suit before leaving. This suit had been years in making and meant the world to me, I would not be able to concentrate all day if I wasn't able to test it out before going to school. Not even bothering to take a shower or anything, I ran immediately into my lab, finding the suit waiting for me on the table, with only a few finishing touches necessary to complete it.

After finishing what (A/I) couldn't, I let the suit collapse back into the locket that it was stored inside. I picked the necklace up, admiring how similar it looked to a regular gold locket, then clasped it around my neck. My fingers activated the suit and it began to form around my body, enveloping me within without me having to lift a single finger. So that I could talk communicate with (A/I) within the suit, I put on little communication devices I had designed last year that fit snuggling in my ear before running into my bathroom to see how it looked.

The suit fit perfectly, clinging tightly to my body but also extremely flexible and allowing me to move freely. The hood concealed my face in a shadow, allowing for complete anonymity as I fought. But most importantly, it gave me a feeling of power and authority, making me feel as though I could take on anything.

Knowing that I had a bit more time before I had to be in the shower, I lifted the tile in my bathroom to reveal the ladder down to the empty room below mine. I dropped down into what most people in the compound considered an unused room, but what I knew as my training room for all things concerning magic. This room was the only place I could safely practice without my father finding out about it.

I began to do simple exercises, throwing balls of energy and making duplicates of myself, testing to see how the suit took to the use of magic. As I had hoped, the suit helped amplify the effects of my magic, requiring me to use less energy to produce the desired outcome.

I continued playing around for a bit before letting the suit collapse back into the locket and heading back up to my bathroom to take a shower and get ready for school. If only I didn't have to attend school, then I could begin patrolling the city in my suit right after breakfast. But I told myself that I could just use the promise of getting to go out for the first time to get me through what was no doubt going to be a long day.

After showering, I chose to wear one of my Star Wars shirts and a pair of black leggings, before tossing my hair up into a messy ponytail. I secured my new locket around my neck in case of an emergency and slipped on the silver bracelet that connected me to (A/I).

Once dressed, I grabbed my backpack and headed to the kitchen to find some breakfast. As my mom, Steve, was not making me waffles this morning, I grabbed a bowl from the cabinets and dumped the contents of oatmeal mix into it. I then added the water and stuck it into the microwave for two minutes.

Tony walked in as I was pulling it out of the microwave, placing a kiss on my temple, "good morning, princess, ready for another day at school? You might get the chance to show off again."

"To be honest, I would rather not have to fight for the same intellectual status as everyone else in my class, but I will admit I do enjoy seeing my teachers' looks of defeat when I do what they consider impossible," I replied, grabbing a spoon and mixing my oatmeal before taking a spoonful and plopping it in my mouth.

"Of course you do, Starks take pride in showing off their talents," my dad smiled, brewing some coffee. "Speaking of talents, were you making something in your lab last night?"

"Oh yeah, I had an idea for an improvement to my communications bracelet," I quickly lied, holding up my bracelet to show him. The projection showing my many additions to the functions appeared and I began to scroll through them for my father. "Here, now I can protect myself with it if I need to. It will expand into an iron fist if I do this to it, or I can warp it into a small shield. There is also an option to mold it into a gun if I need to. I know it's not much, but I'm continuously adding on to it and I figured I should have some sort of protection if I am to spend most of my day away from the compound."

"You did all of this? I thought you were really exhausted last night?"

I shrugged, "well you know, ideas never sleep and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible so that I could have some sort of protection away from home."

"But remember, no matter what you have to fight, your first step should always be to call one of us. I don't want you in any sort of combat unless it is absolutely necessary, do you understand?"

"Of course, I only added those functions for the worst case scenarios," I replied, you know, like a liar.

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(A/N): For those curious, I picture something like one of these for (Y/N)'s bracelet:

And then something like this for her new locket:

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's kind of short!