Elemental

1. Pilot

        Amaya Naledi had never known her mother. Or her father, for that matter. In fact, she was unlucky enough to say that in her 16 years of life she had never once met a single member of her family. Instead, she had spent the majority of her years in an orphanage.

Now, she had a real home.

****

        "Uncle Tony!"

The brunette girls face lit up in a smile as the man she had come to know appeared in front of her.

"There's my favourite girl!" Reaching his arms out, the young one wrapped her own arms around him in a warm hug.
"How was it?" He smiled at her, the lines beside his eyes showing.

"Just because you hug me doesn't mean I'll give you information on training." Rolling her brown eyes, the girl placed her hands on her hips.
"Meanie."

A voice from behind the two spoke up.
"If you're going to insult him, at least do it properly!"
There was a pause, and Natasha Romanoff made eye contact with Tony Stark, smilng.
"Prick."

****

        "She deserves her own training Tony."
Perched on the edge of his desk, The Black Widow crossed her arms.
"Without it she's going to struggle."

Murmurs came from around the room as members of the team shared their opinions on the matter. Disregarding them, the man shook his head.
"I've already got Parker to deal with. Not her too. Where is the kid anyway?"

Hiding in the doorway so as not to be seen; Amaya shoved her headphones in her ears, disappointed with what she was hearing. A tap on her shoulder startled her into whipping her earbuds out, turning to face a boy about her age. He stood there, maintaining eye contact with her as if expecting her to say something, though he was the instigator. Finally, he spoke up.

"Are you late too?"
The girl scoffed.
"Excuse me?"

Running his fingers through his hair and shifting his bag up on his shoulder, the boy tilted his head at her. Amaya noticed that he seemed to resemble a lost puppy.

"I'm not late for anything," she said, brows raised, "but it certainly seems like you are."

****

        "Parker!" Nice of you to finally join us."
Setting down his belongings, the teen's eyes widened at those before him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, there was this guy, and he stole a bike, and I wanted to return it, and then there was some random girl outside your door-do you know there's a random girl outside your door Mr. Stark? I've never seen her before, do you want me to get her? Maybe she's trying to rob you? I can stop her for you Mr. Stark, just watch!"

With that, the boy ran out of the room to find the girl, webs at the ready. Silence filled the space he had just left, before a wave of water came washing in, narrowly missing the heroes.

"Can somebody tell me why this guy just tried to shoot some sort of web at me?"

Amaya Naledi came wandering into the room, a soaking wet Peter Parker by her side. Shaking himself off-which only made him look more like a puppy in the girls opinion-he gave her a strange look.

"Can somebody tell me why this girl just tried to shoot a bunch of water at me?"
The girl in question smiled.
"Tried, and succeeded."

****

        "Why did you let me go after her Mr. Stark?"

Tony laughed, and took in the sight of the soaked teen.
"You didn't really give me a chance to tell you no, kid."

Sulking, the boy crossed his arms across his chest.
"Plus," said Stark, "I thought it would be fun to see what happened."

****

        When Amaya was two, her orphanage flooded. Set on the bank of the Hudson river, it had rained for one week straight, until the first floor had completely filled with water. While all the others had evacuated, she had been found floating on her back in the water, laughing at the water droplets that fell from the ceiling onto her freckled nose.

At the age of four, she had been out swimming with the other children of the orphanage when she had decided to play a game of tea-time on the pool floor. The orphanage carers had noticed her absence after 15 minutes or so, and had spent approximately an hour looking for her before one of them dove into the pool under the impression they needed to save her. Nobody had understood what was going on when she had been dragged from the water and had simply started laughing with the other children immediately. Not even the doctors at the hospital were able to understand how she had survived without oxygen for so long.

The same sort of incidents continued until the age of 14, when Amaya had gotten in an argument with one of the girls she shared a dorm with, who had called her a freak. At two AM the girl had dumped a bucket of water over Amaya's head, who had in turn jumped up yelling. The argument had continued on into the restroom, where the pipes had burst and water had sprayed everywhere. Amaya had somehow avoided the spray which had turned to a boiling hot temperature, leaving the other girl with burns on her body.

She had run away that night. Knowing she was going to be in deep trouble, and not wanting to be sent to a new orphanage, she took to living on the streets.

The rain had become her best friend. The dark clouds gave her shelter and drew away the crowds, giving her the chance to run around unnoticed to get what she needed to survive. Never once had she been caught, until her 16th birthday.

****

        "You gonna put that back kid?"

The newly 16 year old had snuck into the nearby grocery store in search of some food. She had managed to grab a can of cold ravioli and had just stuffed a double pack of twinkies in her pocket when the man behind her spoke up.

There was a silence, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like fighting people if it wasn't necessary, but it was her birthday, and she had just wanted to treat herself. The man looked strangely familiar, but she wasn't about to get caught up on that. She ran.

The man didn't bother to run after her, simply paying the cashier and leaving enough extra to cover what the girl had taken. She hadn't seen him again for the rest of the night, until she had woken up in a cell in his apartment.