The dream started the same way it always did. She was standing in darkness, with only the light radiating from her body to light her way. Thunder rolled in the distance... Or maybe they were explosions. She was completely alone.
It would go on like that for a while, and after some time of walking alone in the dark, she would come to her childhood home blossoming out of the inky blackness. She knew it was deserted, but she still went inside. Anxiety pooled in her stomach in anticipation of what she knew she'd find.
She walked through the simple sitting room, up the stairs, down the long hallway past her parent's rooms... past her room and the bathroom... to the nursery.
Her hand settled on the knob, and it slowly turned. She looked at the destruction on the nursery floor, and then the screaming began.
"Tandy!" I was being shaken roughly. Two large hands were holding her by the shoulders. Thor was sitting on my bunk, good eye fixed on my face. He looked worried. I looked around the room, which looked like a fire had been set to it. The towels on the counter were smoking as if they'd just been extinguished, and the blankets beneath me were little more than ash. I couldn't believe I'd caused so much damage.
"You had a nightmare." Thor said. "It can't harm you now." He didn't release his grounding grip on my shoulders, watching as I began to come back from the dream and become more aware.
"The sun is going down." He said as he noticed the tears glimmering in my eyes. I nodded and pushed them away.
"What in all of Asgard happened here?" Loki's voice came from the doorway. He was holding a tray from the commissary.
"Loki, not now." Thor rumbled.
"Bad dream." I said, scrubbing at my face with my palms.
Loki looked hesitant, then he stepped over the threshold and handed the tray of food to Thor, who nodded and put it down on my lap. I reached out for some grapes, chewing slowly.
"Director Fury is working on bringing in a specialist to help you with your powers." Thor said. "You'll be back to normal soon."
"Normal?" I looked up at him. I don't think I'd ever been normal.
"What I think my brother means is that you'll be able to control your powers and proceed with training." Loki said smoothly, covering up Thor's error. I continued chewing.
The two Asgardians watched me eat, Loki migrating to the slightly singed office chair near the door.
"Why am I getting special treatment?" I finally asked.
"I remember when I was drafted into the Avengers, there wasn't an option to have someone help you, guide you to being a superhero..." Thor began.
"Brother, you're so dense, I doubt a mentor could have done anything to help." Loki interjected. Thor threw the water mug I'd just emptied at him, Loki caught it one handed and began turning it over in his pale hands.
"Keep in mind what side you served at that point." Thor replied. I couldn't tell if that was still a point of contention for the brothers. It sounded like there was something unresolved there.
"Teammates stick together." Thor said, patting her shoulder. "Let's get you out of here so that maintenance can make the necessary repairs. Then you can rest easier tonight."
"What time is it?" I said, standing up and brushing the charred remains of my blanket off me.
"1800 hours. You slept a long time."
I looked around the room. My shopping bags has survived the heat. I grabbed a shirt and pants, then nodded at the others. The maintenance crew was walking up right as we exited my charred room. Thor nodded at them and steered me down the hall, presumably to his room.
Thor's quarters were surprisingly homey. There were tapestries on the walls and a large TV dominated the desk top.
"You like watching movies?" I asked him.
"I enjoy keeping up with the Kardashians." Thor said wolfishly. Loki followed us in and threw himself into a basket chair in the corner before conjuring a book out of thin air and beginning to turn the pages.
"Loki has made himself comfortable in my rooms, though why does, I can't follow. He has his own apartment." Thor growled.
"I, too, enjoy keeping up with the Kardashians." Loki replied nonchalantly.
I couldn't hide my smile as I went to Thor's bathroom to change. My new clothes were clammy from sweating and it felt nice to change into another shirt for once. I washed my face and ran my fingers through my hair to erase the signs of sleep. My ribs creaked as I reached up, still sore from that morning, but healing quickly as usual. I unwrapped the splint on my hand, pleased to see the signs of breakage were erased. I could move my wrist just as well as before.
The loss of the brace was the first thing Thor noticed when I emerged from the bathroom.
"I heal quickly." I offered as means of explanation. I held up my arm, demonstrating movement with my wrist. "It's good as new."
I noticed Loki had left. Thor followed my gaze with his good eye.
"He went to go get some more food. He thought you might be hungry still."
My stomach burned at the thought of more food. I was starving.
"I'll have to thank him when he returns." I replied.
Thor threw himself down on his bunk, fishing a remote out of the covers and turning on the large TV. I hadn't watched television in so long, it was nice to let my brain go on autopilot as the opening sequence of some Disney show rolled. I sat in Thor's vacant office chair, swiveling around as I watched TV.
"Thor?" I asked, something nagging at my mind. He looked over at me.
"I... have a lot of questions about this whole Avengers thing. But I don't know who to ask." I said, flushing a little.
"You can start with me, Tandy. What do you need to know?"
I cleared my throat. "I'm not sure you know the answers."
Thor sat up. "Try me."
"Well... Why me? Why am I here with the Avengers? I mean, THE Avengers. Why aren't I in with some new recruits?" I asked.
Thor chuckled. "I guess you are right. I'm not the person to ask that. But I would think it's because your power could be a game-changer in this war. The magnitude of your powers, if controlled, could help us win."
"I overheard Tony and Director Fury in the hospital..." I found myself saying. "They would use me like a remote-controlled grenade."
Thor frowned.
"Tandy, using anyone that way is monstrous. I would never let the metal man lead a decision like that in the field. None of us would. Your powers are more than that."
We sat in silence again until the door whooshed open. Loki appeared, this time with two trays. He set one down in front of me with more bread and grapes, gave Thor a pop-tart off his tray, and settled back in his chair to pick at the rest of the fruit assembled on his plate. For a while the only sounds were us chewing and the tv.
I had almost finished eating when a klaxon went off in the building. Thor and Loki jumped up immediately, heading for the door.
"What's going on?" I asked, following.
"Fury's called Avengers assemble." Thor said over his shoulder. "It means suit up and get ready to be deployed."
"What do I do?" I had to jog to keep up with the long-legged men.
"Come with us for now, maybe Fury will send you." Thor replied.
We ran to the locker room, where Loki and Thor disappeared into the men's side. I went into the women's side, uncertain. I had no clue if I was supposed to change clothes or not. I didn't see anything that looked laid out for me, so I continued on through. The locker rooms dumped out into a main briefing room. I sat and waited, feeling awkward.
A moment later, Thor clattered in, adjusting his chest plate as he did. He nodded and sat down next to me on the bench. A second later, Loki swept in, followed by Captain America, who had swapped bandages for his iconic suit. My heart beat a little faster with all the energy in the room.
Director Fury turned in the doorway, closely followed by Agent Coulson.
"All right, people. Standard Sentinel eradication. X-men found a live one in South America. You get in, destroy it, get out." The assembled men nodded like they'd done it before. They were up and filing out the door before I could really connect the dots. I wasn't sure what a sentinel was, but I was fairly sure I wouldn't be riding along. I stayed put.
"Agent Coulson, nice to meet you." The shorter man said. I instantly liked the sound of his voice. He extended a hand for me to shake and I did. "Director Fury says we have a lot of work to do."
I laughed in spite of myself, feeling my anxiety ease a little. "I have a lot of questions..."
"Come with me to the training and mapping room, we'll see if I can't get some of those answered.
I followed Agent Coulson out the door and in the opposite direction the Avengers had left by. We went through yet another maze of hallways until we reached yet another door that looked like every other one in SHIELD HQ. Coulson scanned his retina at the door panel and the door whooshed open.
Inside the training and mapping room were rows of huge computer terminals. Coulson directed me to one and sat me in the chair.
"Fire away." He said, gesturing to the huge glass touchscreen.
"Do I just ask it my questions?" The technology was overwhelming.
"Stark designed it like his JARVIS software. It'll connect to to all sources to get your questions answered." Coulson sounded like a kid at Christmas.
"But..." I swiveled to him. "What if my questions are ones that I need answered by a real person?"
Coulson sighed, taking a seat. He fixed me in what I assumed was a bit of a fatherly gaze.
"You're wondering "why you?" why we chose you out of all the superheroes out there." He said gently. I nodded.
"Because we saw what losing your friend did to you. With nowhere else to go, we thought that you needed us just as much as we needed you."
For the first time since I'd been picked up by SHIELD, a tear or two tracked its way down my cheek. Coulson took my hand and patted it reassuringly, letting me cry it out.
"You're right. You're right." I finally got myself together enough to say. "I just don't know how to help. My powers are so unpredictable."
"That's where I come in. And I have someone to help me." Coulson said. "Let's save the questions for another day, we'll go down to the simulator." I followed him out of the room and down the hall. It was a short flight of stairs, then we were walking down a familiar hallway near the training arena. I scrubbed at my cheeks and hurried to keep up with Agent Coulson.
The simulator was a huge metal room. I assumed it did what the title suggested, simulating combat situations for training purposes. The room looked less damageable than the training arena.
I noticed another person was already occupying the room. A bald man in a wheelchair.
"May I introduce Professor Xavier, he runs a school for mutants in upstate New York. Professor, this is-"
"Hello Tandy." A soft voice said in my head. "I'm here to help you."
"I loaned him the use of the Avengers for a mission in return for helping you balance your powers out." Coulson said, looking between us.
"I have had the honor of helping many a gifted student with the same problems." The Professor said out loud, in the same voice I'd heard in my head. He was a telepath then. I was honored.
"Let us start with what you can control." Professor Xavier said, gesturing me to the center of the room. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and willed the light into my hands. I looked down. They were glowing faintly, not as bright as when I was stressed.
"Good. Now let's see if you can let it get brighter." The Professor's voice was soothing. I didn't feel as shaky as when Thor and The Captain had tried to test my powers. My hands got brighter, heating the space around me.
"Now, I want you to see if you can project that light out and away from you. Like throwing a ball." Professor continued. I looked at him warily. I'd never tried that before. I closed my eyes, raised my right hand, and imagined the light arcing away from me. I felt a surge of heat and opened my eyes, nearly yelping in surprise.
A ray of white light was shooting out of my outstretched palm, carving into the (thankfully fireproof) wall in front of me like a laser.
"Now try and toss it, like a ball!" The professor shouted. I lobbed my arm like I was pitching a baseball, and to my delight the white light condensed into a hot ball and arced through the air, shattering in a shower of sparks against the wall. It was hot. I turned to the professor, grinning.
"Do it again." He said with a smile.
By the time I had shot beams out of both of my hands and tossed light balls in separate directions a dozen times, I was beginning to feel a little winded. But the control over my powers gave me confidence.
"Good." The Professor said after I did it again. "Now we'll try something else." Agent Coulson offered me a bottle of water, which I drank eagerly.
"I want you to let the light travel up your body, and I want to see if you can project it, the same way you did with your hands." I stopped drinking to eye the Professor warily.
"Don't worry." He said. "We'll watch from the observation room this time." He turned and wheeled away, Coulson scuttling after him. I looked at the empty bottle in my hand, then heated my fingers with white light, watching the plastic melt and burn away. It was satisfying.
"Okay, when you're ready, Tandy." The Professor's voice came from the intercom. I steeled myself and closed my eyes.
As before, I started with my fingers, then heated my hands. I imagined the light travelling up my arms and throughout my body. I felt the heat and knew it was working. I kept tight control on the feeling.
"Good, Tandy. When you're ready, push it out and let it go." The Professor said. I took a few stabilizing breaths, and then did as he said.
At first, it seemed to be fine. I could feel the white light pulsing around my body. I gave an experimental push, feeling the field grow a little. I pushed again, and it moved a bit further. I chanced opening my eyes.
A sphere of white light circled me, a few feet all around. It was like a shield.
"Good. Good." Came The Professor's voice. "You're doing fine."
I pushed again, watching the sphere flex and grow even bigger.
"Now push, and let it go." The Professor said. I envisioned a small-scale explosion in my mind, one that would defend me but not knock me to pieces like the last one I'd caused. I took a deep breath and pushed.
All at once, the power slipped out of my control. The explosion that happened was much, much larger than I'd anticipated. I was thrown to the ground, momentarily unconscious. Smoke drifted around the room.
"That was... Incredible." When I came to, The Professor was wheeling himself toward me. I groaned, trying to peel myself off the floor. Coulson took my arm and helped me up. I felt sick to my stomach.
"That's it, nice and easy." Coulson steadied me on my feet. I felt like I'd been hit by a train.
"Too much too quickly, I think." The Professor said, sizing me up and down. "But it is good to test your limits. I think with some practice, the ability to create small-scale pyrotechnics will be yours to do at will."
"Wow." Was all I could say.
"Let's get you to medical," Coulson said, still supporting me pretty heavily. "just to check." I didn't protest, just let him help me limp to the door. I let my head loll as we hiked the short way to the medical facilities.
"What in the HELL happened!" A familiar voice boomed as we entered the med bay. Thor and the others were already back.
"She's a little concussed from training, she'll be all right." Coulson said. I cracked my eyes open to see Thor shouldering orderlies off him and limping over to me. He had blood on his face and chest.
"Tandy?" He asked. He was pushed back on the bed by the orderlies, and another orderly took me from Coulson, laying me down on a vacant bed.
"Thor..." I rasped. "Are you hurt badly?"
"He's just got a couple scratches." The Captain said from his own bed. "He's pissy that the X-men took down the Sentinel, not us."
"I, for one, would like to interject that I took the most fire during our escapade." Loki's very irritated voice intruded on my consciousness. I let my eyes drift shut and listened to The Avengers bitch at each other and the orderlies trying to shout over them. Before long, I'd lapsed back into unconsciousness.