The training room was large, Adria was impressed as the room was bigger than the one she grew up training in. It had a mile track running around the edge of the room with large windows lining one side of the room showing the beautiful forest outside.
The walls were a thick, dark gray padding with small electronic pads inside that probably opened to training weapons. Thick, light gray padding also covered the floor inside the track, which looked to be made of soft rubber to resemble concrete.
In the middle of the room stood a large, white circle, and Adria walked towards it.
Adria took off her jacket and threw it to the ground before rolling the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows. She then entered the sparring ring to a waiting Loki.
"Don't hold back, sweetheart, I may be a woman, but I'm also a soldier." Adria teased with a wink, and Loki chuckled. "Wouldn't dream of going easy on you."
Everyone else stood at the edges of the room, watching the two talk with smirks. Then things got serious, the talking stopped, and everyone watched who would make the first move. Loki stepped forward first, then followed Adria.
They met each other in the middle, and Loki went out for a punch but was surprised as Adria dodged it. She swung out at Loki's chest, but he jumped back and grabbed her arm, meaning to turn her and trap it at her shoulder blades, but she used it to propel herself forward.
Loki didn't realize and he spun her as if he had her. Adria swung her leg to Loki's side with the help of his momentum caused her to kick his side hard, causing him to stumble to the side.
Ignoring the pain, Loki rushed Adria and unexpectedly grabbed her left wrist. Adria went to kick Loki's knee out from under him but he sidestepped it and grabbed her other wrist, trapping them together.
Adria, not wanting to lose, used quick thinking and kicked at Loki's lower region. Loki grunted before loosening his grip and falling to his knees. "That was not fair." Loki gasped, rolling onto to his back. "No one said it had to be fair, nor did you say so in our deal." Adria stated with a chuckle, "I'm sorry, I don't like losing."
"You're not sorry." Loki gasped, and Adria smirked, "you're right, I'm not."
Everyone laughed while walking out, except Adria and Thor, who walked over to his brother. "Are you okay, brother?" Thor smirked, looking like he was enjoying himself. "Do I look okay?" Loki growled back, and Adria stifled a laugh.
"Okay, Loki, I'm really sorry, I didn't think I'd hurt you that bad." Adria apologized sincerely, but Loki only glanced at Adria and grunted.
Adria rolled her eyes as she picked up her jacket and bag, "fine, be that way, once your ego is back up I'll be willing to-do another spar," Adria stated before she smiled, "I'll be fair that time." she giggled before jogging out, almost running into Vision. "Oh, hi, Vision."
"Hello, Adria, it occurred to me you don't know where your room is, and so I decided to show you."
"Oh, thanks, lead the way." Adria smiled, which earned a smile from Vision before he started to lead the way.
They walked quietly down the halls, but Vision soon cut the silence, "so, you came from Nevada?"
"Uh, yea, a place to definitely skip if possible, nothing much but sand, unless you want to go see charcoal ovens, and I think there is a casino there somewhere."
"Well," Vision chuckled, "I guess what I really wanted to ask is how are you feeling? About your newly returned memories?"
"Oh, that," Adria grumbled with a sigh, "I wanted my memories back so bad, but now that I have them back, I wonder why I even wanted them," Adria replied softly, and Vision nodded with understanding.
They were quiet for another moment, but then Vision offered, "If you ever need to speak to anyone, then I'll listen, and I know Thor or even Loki would."
"Loki? You really think so?"
"He seems fond of you, so, I'd like to believe so." Vision replied, and Adria hummed. "Well, I might want to wait for a little though, I kinda damaged his ego back there." Adria hummed, and Vision chuckled. "I think you did, oh, and this is your room." Vision replied, and then suddenly stopped in front of a door.
"Thanks, I appreciate you thinking of me and showing me the way."
"Of course...and if you want a tour around I can do that too."
"Thanks, Vision, see you around."
"Good-bye, rest soundly." Vision replied as Adria opened her door, then he walked off.
Adria looked in and immediately thought her hotel room was more lively. The walls of the square room were white and the carpet was a beige color.
At the back was a large sealed window with a seat on the sill, a queen sized bed sat pressed against the wall to the left with dark oak side tables on either side, and a simple mahogany desk with two large drawers on either side, also a black desk chair sat with the desk on the other side of the room.
A large, dark oak dresser with worn down, fake gold handles sat next to the desk. A white door with a golden handle and white trim sat at the corner of the room between the side table and the window which lead to another room.
Adria closed the door behind her and threw her bag down with her jacket on the red bed sheets. She then flopped down on the bed next to her bag and took a deep breath.
This definitely changes everything. Adria thought while letting out a deep breath of air. She was deep in thought when a faint sound of a phone ringing brought Adria out of it.
Adria turned to her bag and opened one of the smaller pockets, taking out her burner phone.
"Hey, Adria." A sing-song voice casually greeted, and Adria smiled. "Hey, Laurel, what's up?"
"Nothing really, finally have the kids settling down to do their own thing, what about you?"
"Ah, this is going to be a story..." Adria trailed before jumping into the story and tumbling of events after that night of dropping off Alice.
"Well, crap," Laurel stated, and Adria chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding, so, what do you say, call the others and stop running? Do you think it's time to take a stand?" Adria questioned with interest, and Laurel became silent.
"Laureline?"
"Sorry, it's just...this will be a big step."
"I know, but now is our chance, it's about time we take a stand," Adria whispered as if someone was listening. Laurel became quiet again. And Adria sighed, "well, think about it, and I'll think about it, but I'm going to be in New York for a while," then Adria smiled, "to change the subject, how's Alice?"
"She seems to be fitting in ok...oh, who am I kidding, you never told me that she can mimic powers."
"What? I never noticed that, are you sure she can do that?"
"Pretty sure, one moment she is wielding fire, then the next she is accidentally pushing a kid back with water because they used theirabilites to dump water on her," Laurel stated with a serious voice, but Adria snorted. "I don't know Laurel, I have multiple powers too, remember?"
"True, I guess, but Alice is...different, I just know it, and speaking of children, I should probably start trying to move them to bed. Goodnight Adria."
"Ah, I see, goodnight Laurel." Adria sighed, noticing now that the sun had fallen and the night had taken over the world. The two hung up and Adria used her telekinesis to toss the phone onto the side table.
After a few moments and a dramatic sigh, Adria got up from the bed. She padded over to the window, sitting down on its sill. She pulled her full body up to sit on the sill as Adria hugged her knees close to herself, looking out at the calm night.
With a lift of Adria's hand, her clothes turned into a mass of stars that glowed softly and colorful nebulas. Adria then quietly snapped her fingers and the stars flashed. Now the stars were gone and had changed into a loose, plain dark green shirt with black yoga pants. Adria then turned slightly to kick off her boots before turning back to look out the window.
Adria smiled pleasantly as she leaned her head back, but then the smile faded and she huffed, as she also realized while looking at the white ceiling, only a modern-chic, black iron chandelier hung from it. There was no fan in sight.
Wanting air, she took the matter into her own hands, Adria raised her hand and twisted it, causing the glass window to ripple before breaking off into pieces.
A knock slightly interrupted Adria's concentration, causing the glass to drop a bit, but quickly float back up, creating a pile on the desk. "Come in," Adria called out in a sing-song voice, and without looking she heard the door open. "Hello, Adria, I wanted to-" the voice of Thor started, then came to a sudden halt.
Adria snorted, "I wanted to feel the night air, not run away, I'm not exactly in attire to do that." The last of the glass floated to the desk, and Thor looked between the large pile of glass and Adria. Thor shook his head slightly, "I wasn't about to accuse you of that, because of the fact that you don't look like someone about to run away." Thor replied back, then moved into the room slightly closing the door behind himself.
"What brings you here at this time of night, Thor?" Adria questioned, and Thor sighed as he pulled out the desk chair and sat down. "I just wanted to check on you before going to my room, today has been...eventful."
"I'm not sure 'eventful' describes today, I'm thinking more of 'interesting' is the word you're looking for." Adria chuckled, and so did Thor.
"Really, how are you feeling, Adria?" Thor asked sincerely, and Adria looked down for a moment without answering. "I'm trying to figure that out myself, it feels like too much happened today to wrap my brain around at the moment."
"I can believe that, how long have you gone without your memories?"
"Two years, give or take, not that long, but still, two years of not knowing who I really am."
"And who are you really?" Thor questioned, and Adria looked at him with a soft gaze for a moment. "A daughter of a psychopath," Adria replied bluntly, then returned to look out the window.
"Let me rephrase what I asked then, who do you think you really are?"
"Someone who was pushed into hell and was left to crawl herself out, and someone who would like for the topic of conversation to change," Adria replied softly, and Thor nodded in response before a slow smile grew on his face.
"Loki is still mad that he lost against you, he keeps grumbling that if it was fair he would've won." Thor smiled, and Adria laughed. "Oh, probably, Loki is much faster than I am, he had me on the defensive the whole time."
"You didn't show that you were worried, maybe with a little bit of training, you can be as good as a Valkyrie."
"Awe, you're too kind, though I like fighting dirty, that's just how I work." Adria smiled with a shrug, and Thor chuckled. "You know what a Valkyrie is?"
"Of course, I read a lot, the Valkyries are an elite force of women warriors, I liked reading about them," Adria stated, and Thor hummed in thought. She then looked up at the ceiling, "what kind of room doesn't have a fan? I'm going to have to change this room up, 'cause I'm guessing I'm going to be here awhile." She stated before jumping up to her feet.
"Are you really going to start redecorating now?"
"Why not? I'm probably going to be here for awhile and I'm not tired, maybe this will make me tired since it takes energy." Adria stated with a light-hearted tone, and Thor gave a lopsided smirk.
"And so I get to be the first to see your powers fully?"
"Huh, I guess so, or at least, pull it into reality." Adria hummed as her eyes cracked with gold lines, letting stars form around her hand and colorful clouds surround it.
The stars fell from Adria's hands, they traveled over to the corner near the bed. It formed into the shape of a bookshelf with two shelves. The nebula covered the stars and compressed them, pressing them into a formation.
When the colors fell away, it revealed a dark oak bookshelf with three different levels. The two shelves were placed equally apart and were thick. The height of the bookshelf was also perfect for Adria's height of five feet and eight inches.
More stars floated above the bed into the shape of a fan, when the stars solidified into a ceiling fan. The white metal rod held the white metal housing of the fan. White brackets held five black wooden blades with a white and black center that held a light. Two golden linked chains, one longer than the other, hung off the light with circular golden coins hanging off the chains.
"Hmph, I think of anything else at the moment," Adria sighed as she dropped her hands to her sides and moved to her bag. "I'm in awe, but I don't think I'll ever understand magic." Thor chuckled, looking at the bookshelf and fan.
Adria chuckled, "I don't know, it just feels natural, like breathing air, I was the fastest out of my age group to fully learn my magic, I was done learning it at the age of nine, so most of my focus went to combat after that." She pulled out her sketchbooks from her bag and plopped them on the desk.
"Do you even carry clothes in there?"
"No, I never, I used the Stone in the past to create all my clothes," Adria shrugged at Thor's question, "why buy clothes when you can create them?"
"True enough," Thor chuckled, and Adria smiled as she pulled books out of her bag. It was only three books, as she only had enough room to carry three in her bag with the thick one of Infinity and her sketchbooks with art supplies.
Two she stole from the compound library, one was a complete book of Shakespeare stories and the other was the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes. Though her favorite story she bought while in a little bookshop in Toronto, Texas called The Tale of Two Cities.
"Only three? I'd thought you would be carrying more." Thor commented with a smirk, standing up from the bed, slowly making his way to the stacked sketchbooks.
Adria chuckled, "yeah, the bag may look big, but the only thing I carried in here was the Book of Infinity, these three books, art supplies, and my three sketchbooks, sometimes food that could last for a long time in the other smaller pouches."
"So, for two years you went around reading the same thing?"
"Kinda? I was always busy, I mean, sure I read these books more times than a normal person would, but I always spent more time with the Book of Infinity than these, but they are my favorite." Adria smiled, looking at the books fondly before putting them neatly on the shelf.
Adria looked over to Thor, who was slowing opening one of her sketchbooks. "You can look through them if you want," Adria chuckled, and Thor jumped as he turned to look at her, "I'm not hiding anything."
Thor turned back to the sketchbook and picked it up before opening it. Adria went back to her bag before taking out of her bag, causing it to slump over. She went over to the desk and opened the large drawer and placed the book inside. Adria then hovered her hand over it and the book disappeared from sight before she closed the drawer.
"These are remarkable drawings, Adria, who taught you to draw like this?" Thor inquired, slowly flipping to the next page. "No one did, I guess I taught myself, everyone thought my drawings were remarkable when I first started." Adria shrugged as she responded humbly.
Thor looked at Adria for a moment before looking back down to a particular drawing. "What made you think of these creatures?"
"I...don't know, the ideas just come to me, and so I draw them down, the smallest one is all of my doodles, eventually becoming some creature in my bigger ones," Adria responded to Thor's question, picking up the smaller one on the desk and handing it over to him.
Thor closed the one he was holding and switched with Adria, opening the smaller one in his hands.
In the smaller one, the pages were indeed covered in small drawings of different kinds of wings without bodies, body shapes, tails, and eyes. There were also small drawings of dragons and exotic flowers.
Thor had flipped through many pages before hitting a blank one, at least a hundred pages were filled with small, rough sketches.
"You draw a lot, don't you?" Thor questioned, and Adria chuckled. "Oh, yes, more so than I read." She smiled, taking the sketchpad from Thor before closing it and putting it on top of the others.
"Drawing is an outlet for me, it helps me get over things," Adria spoke softly, turning to Thor with a soft smile. Thor smiled back with a nod, "well, it's late, I will leave you to rest if you wish, goodnight Lady Adria."
"Oh, you don't have to call me that, just call me Adria."
"Very well, though I do have one more question..." Thor trailed, rubbing his arm. "Shoot."
"Are you not cold?" Thor inquired, pointing to the window letting in the cold air of New York. "Nah, I never felt cold in my life, I just wear jackets so that people won't give me weird looks." Adria smiled, and Thor smiled back, but he also looked at her curiously. "Huh, well then, goodnight Adria."
"Goodnight Thor," Adria spoke softly, closing the door after Thor when he exited the room.
Adria walked over to the window and swung her legs over to sit on the frame, letting her legs dangle over the edge. She breathed in the cold, crisp air and breathed out in puffs of wispy, white smoke. Adria closed her eyes, deep in thought, and after a few heartbeats, she opened her eyes again with resolve.
It's time for war, and these broken up Avengers have no idea what's coming.
Adria swung her legs over, climbing back inside and waving her hand to let the broken glass on her desk float up and back to their places at the window. She walked over to the bed and sat down, scooting over to sit cross-legged at the center of the bed.
With a sigh, Adria looked at the digital clock sitting on the nightstand. 9:56 PM and Adria sighed deeply, then she flicked her wrist. The larger sketchbook floated a bit, sliding off the other two books off before going into Adria's waiting hands, and then the graphite pencils came over next.
Adria flipped to the creature she has been working on for a little while, as the idea came to her the night she met Loki. She couldn't help but smirk as she looked at it, no doubt in her mind that inspiration of the creature came from Loki, as it was a horned fox.
Though it was still in progress, anything could change, but Adria highly doubted it, once set, she was going to stick with it.
And so she started to draw well into the night with the only light source being the two lamps near the bed before sending everything back and finally going to bed.
