FALLEN ─ marvel

XII. Past Horrors

Chapter Twelve
Soroya

"Your powers are like mine, they're attached to your emotions," I tell Jade. "Whenever you get angry or scared, your powers act as a defense mechanism and that's what makes it go off."

Jade nods, staring down at her shaking hands. "So what you're saying is that I need to control my emotions and that will help me control my powers."

I smile. "Exactly. HYDRA taught us that emotions are weakness, they try to drive them out of you. But they're wrong, they're your greatest strength, but only if you don't let them control you. When I first got my powers, I was terrified. I had just been taken by HYDRA, my family was gone, and I had a power I couldn't understand. I was afraid of myself, of what I could do."

"How did you learn to control yourself?"

"HYDRA assigned a scientist named Julian Remington to me, he helped me control my powers. I also had a little help from my husband. Since fear and anger makes our powers go haywire, what we need to control our powers is to learn how to channel those emotions by embracing them."

Jade starts to look more on edge. "I don't like the sound of that."

"It's not pleasant, but the more you do it, the easier it will be."

"Could you...could you do it first, show me how to do it." She asks.

I take a few steps back in the field we have chosen to train in. It's far away from any cities and people, it's perfect for us right now. Caden is hiding behind a giant rock a few yards away, giving Jade and I both a thumbs up.

"As I said, my family was taken by HYDRA," I tell her, activating my suit. "My parents and brother were imprisoned and tortured, experimented on just like I was. My brother Alex was kept in the same base you were, used as a weapon, forced to kill and dispose of whoever HYDRA wished. My parents were kept prisoner for fourteen years and died just as we were about to save them..." I trail off, feeling a tear slip down my cheek.

Taking in a deep breath, I wipe my face and brace myself, walking her through what I'm doing. "Now that I'm angry, I feel my powers rising in me. If you focus on it, listen to it, it's like the hum of electricity, like a living thing inside you. Don't fear it, don't resist it. Accept it. Let your powers rise and fall, let it live and breathe within you. Your powers aren't a separate entity, they're apart of you."

Jade nods, taking in a deep breath and rubbing her hands together. "I'm ready to try it." She tells me, not sounding very confident.

"You'll be fine, talk through it like I did."

"You should step back, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not going anywhere. I trust you."

Jade's voice is shaky, uneven as she begins talking like I did: "I was taken by HYDRA when I was fifteen. I had been living on the streets after my parents...after my parents were killed by my powers. I-I didn't mean to, I was taking the dishes away from the dinner table and I tripped, it must have really scared me because the next thing I knew, half of the house had been blown away. They took me from Denmark, my home, and trapped me in a bunker, with-with chains and..."

A sob escapes Jade's mouth as she collapses to the ground on her knees, an explosion going off next to her, startling her.