Frostbite

What Isn't There

It had been months since I had started working on strengthening the control I had over my powers. With every passing day I became stronger and more confident. At first, I would only practice in isolation, but now I was comfortable using my abilities within the compound. I was also grateful I had someone to practice with.

I saw Steve walking by the window outside with Sam and I gazed after him, becoming distracted from what was currently going on. A force knocked into my abdomen, and I flew backwards, but I threw my legs over my head and rolled to my feet.

"That was easy," Wanda said in amusement. I held back a smirk and shook my head.

"That was your free pass."

Without missing another beat, I spun, using the momentum to fling a dozen shards of ice her way. She deflected them and they embedded themselves into the wall. She waved her hands to send me flying again, but I dodged out of the way just in time.

She used her hands to propel towards me and I charged towards her, dropping to the floor as she passed over me. I held my hand out and dragged water out of the pitcher located on the table across the room. It formed into a whip, and I swung it forward, lassoing her foot. I yanked and she stopped in midair, turning to face me. The lasso froze to floor, encasing her boot.

With a simple wave, she broke free and threw the contents of the table at me. Cursing, I threw my hands up in front of my face, producing two ice chunks to act as shields. The pitcher broke and the rest went tumbling to the floor in front of me.

I couldn't let her get the upper hand, so I advanced forward, aiming a bright beam of ice at her. She barely had time to put her hands up in defense, but she managed to hold her position. I dug my heels in and pushed harder, shoving her back. Wanda used on of her hands to shoot a red ball of energy at me and I sidestepped out of the way.

This broke my focus and the ice disappeared. She sent another one my way and I slipped that one as well. I charged her, now closer than I was before, but she threw her arms up and blew me backward. And unfortunately, smashing through the window. I hit the grass and rolled to a stop, scrambling to get to my feet.

Tony's gonna be pissed when he sees he has to replace another window. Wanda flew through the window and hovered in front of me. I backed up a few feet and took my stance again.

"Do you give up?" she smirked, playing lazily with a small red wisp in her palm. I smiled back and turned my hand to the river behind me.

"Not quite," I answered, a stream of water hurtling passed me. It smacked into her, and she hit the ground, stunned. She maneuvered it off of her and aimed at me, water dripping off of her.

Before she could make another move, I swirled the water around her, creating a whirling sphere. It enclosed her inside and she tried to get free, but it was too fast. A flash caught my eye from the trees across the field and I dropped my arms unintentionally.

Wanda thumped to the ground, the water splashing all around her and stared at me in confusion. Steve and Sam peeked through the broken window and took in the scene before them. Sam chuckled and Steve gave us both a scolding look.

"I thought that almost completely emptying this room would deter you two from breaking things," Steve sighed, stepping outside. I didn't say anything, my eyes still flickering back to the tree line.

"Are you alright?" Wanda asked me, giving me a concerned look. I broke my eyes away and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, shrugging. She gazed at me a moment more before nodding.

"Well, I'll take that as a forfeit, so I'm gonna go put on some dry clothes," she stated, walking in the direction of her room. I stuck my tongue out at her retreating figure and Sam snickered.

"I'll go get something to help clean this," Sam said waving at the glass before walking back out of view.

"Sorry about the window," I grimaced at Steve.

"I'm not the one who's gonna come nagging," he laughed. I pictured Tony mothering me and I frowned.

"True."

My body shivered and I looked out at the trees again, but there was no flash of light this time. Steve climbed through the broken frame again and held a hand out for me.

"I'm gonna start in here. You coming?" he asked.

"Uh- yeah, in a second. I'm just gonna cool off for a minute. It's hot in there," I told him, tugging on my shirt. He nodded and disappeared too.

As soon as he was gone, I jogged to the tree line where I had seen something. There was nothing there, but the feeling wouldn't go away. I had the feeling of being followed a few times over the last few months, but I figured I was imagining it.

I stepped into the dense trees and walked further in. My eyes searched for anything out of place, but there was nothing. A twig snapped to the left and I tensed, slowly creeping in the direction it came from. There was a large pile of rocks about ten feet ahead.

Before I could take another step, a hand rested on my shoulder and I jumped out of my skin, my shriek echoing through the trees. I whirled around with my hand flaring, only to see Steve standing there in surprise.

"Oh my god. What are you doing?" I hissed, lowering my hand.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. What are you doing in here?" he eyed me worriedly. I bit my lip and glanced behind me.

"Nothing, I thought I saw something. It was nothing," I shrugged, not wanting to tell him about the crazy feeling I had.

"Are you sure?" he pushed, his eyes scanning through the trees anyway. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the compound with me.

"Yes."

"You know you can tell me anything," Steve chirped from beside me. I couldn't help the small smile that snuck onto my face.

"I know," I replied. I was probably just being paranoid. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I glanced over my shoulder one more time. The whole walk back I couldn't help but feel that we were being watched again. Guess who's not sleeping tonight.