Jupiter [Marvel Phase I]

thirty.

Everything was so dark. It was like walking through a dream. The muted colors, the faraway sensations. Her whole perception tilted. The real, the imaginary, and the line dividing the two - none of it mattered anymore.

Someone was shouting for her, but they weren't using her name. Even "Jenn" no longer felt like hers to claim.

The only thing she could be sure of was the color green. She could sense the forcefield she'd created, recognized its signature green hue. Ionized air, magnetic pulses, and flashes of electricity all arced off her shield as it continued to expand.

Nothing stood in her path. At first, only the metal warped. It twisted and curled away from her like a million frightened snakes. Next was the glass. All it took was a single, stray bolt for an entire lab to shatter. So fragile, she couldn't help but think. She reached a hand out and watched as a streak of lightning blew through another workstation. A laugh bubbled up in her throat. To her, it felt like nothing more than a gentle tap. So, so fragile.

As she rose higher and higher away from it all, she took time to look around. It was difficult to see and even harder to make sense of. Besides the haze in her vision and the interference from her forcefield, scraps of metal had begun to get swept up by her proximity.

Through it all, she spotted a group of people lined up along the farthest catwalk. They were aiming guns her way. Whether or not they were firing didn't matter. What could bullets possibly do to her now? It was almost pitiful. She sighed, moving her arm in their direction.

A red flash leapt across her vision, and then the people were gone. Strange...she hadn't aimed at them yet. Perhaps a stray bolt had taken them out. Humans were so, so fragile.

Something above grabbed her attention and she looked up. Ah, her forcefield had reached the ceiling. That barrier was temporary, just like every other one before it. In no time, the tile was crumbling under her ever-expanding field. Pieces rained down as she watched with vague interest. It was almost pretty enough to hold her attention.

Layers and layers of concrete and stone crumbled by her hand. Yes, this was what she'd wanted from the beginning. Nothing but ashes and dust left in her wake. She would certainly have that now.

Time was passing, yes, but she couldn't quite determine if it moved fast or slow. When the ceiling above her finally broke into open air once more, she found she couldn't quite tell how long it had been since the start.

Her senses barely registered anymore. Gravity could no longer keep her prisoner and now time was washed away too. Strong and weak electromagnetic forces alike bent to her will.

All that was left was entropy and destruction. And lightning.

xxx

Everything was in chaos by the time Dev and Melinda reached the ground. They'd heard the explosion from inside the quinjet, but they were still far enough away to escape the shockwave. Before Dev could ask the obvious, all the equipment in the jet started to act up. The closer they got to the base, the stranger the readings. It didn't take long before the jet itself was affected and Melinda was forced to land a kilometer away from her original destination coordinates.

Something glowed green on the horizon. It wasn't the sun and it certainly wasn't civilization. There was a distinct grinding sound Dev couldn't quite place, but he was a little preoccupied with everything else to devote much brain power to that.

He and Melinda only needed to jog a short distance before they were square in the middle of a S.H.I.E.L.D. encampment. It was almost too much to take in at once. Loading bays of quinjets were transformed into makeshift infirmaries. Dozens of agents were carting around other men and women in handcuffs. Some of them struggled against the restraints. One tried to go for Dev and he yelped before the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents got a hold of him once more.