Here is a longer chapter to make up for the fact that I most likely won't be posting a new one anytime soon. right now my schedule is pretty free, but in two weeks my college English class starts up again and I will be bogged down by the homework. Thank you for sticking with this story, and I promise lots of action from here on out! XOXO


Colors flashed before my eyes. Before I could even determine what the current color was, a new one would appear in its place. I was so overwhelmed. I couldn't get away from the flashes. I tried to cover my eyes, but nothing worked. Trapped in the violent swirl of colors, I began to scream. I immediately stopped when I realized that no sound was coming out of my mouth. I frantically looked around to find that I had no body. Suddenly, a piercing noise drilled into my skull and I almost-

I shot up in bed. Breathing heavily, I rubbed my face to find a cold sweat coating my forehead. "It was just a dream..." I said to my empty room as I calmed myself down. "What even was that?"

I shrieked and covered my ears. The ear-splitting noise was back with a vengeance. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I writhed around; the noise was complete torture. "MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE STOP! WHY?!"

I don't know how long it was until somebody burst through the door. "Beth! BETH!" I'm surprised that I can hear their shouts through what's going on in my head. Tears were quickly streaming down my face.

I couldn't tell who it was. I was still thrashing around, tangling myself in the covers and begging whatever was responsible to stop. "PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! AAAHHHHHHHH!"

The colors came back. I was blinded. "NOOOOO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MAKE IT STOP!"

I felt the physical force of somebody grabbing me from behind and pulling me to their chest. Strong arms held me tightly. I continued to scream and sob and struggle in their grasp, but after a while the noise in my brain quieted. My shaking hands were removed from my head. The colors faded from my vision, and I could now see my room. It was still dark. I tried to lift my head up to look around, but a giant headache pounded my skull. I relaxed back, and it subsided.

"Beth?" Thor asked in a whisper. He slowly moved from behind me to sit facing me on my bed. My brother was frightened. Even in the darkness I could make out his hunched shoulders and furrowed brows. "What happened?"

I sighed. My head was still fuzzy. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I...I'm not really sure. At first I was having a bad dream - there were colors flashing everywhere and I couldn't stop it, and then a shrill noise began blaring in my ears. I woke up then, but it began happening again a few seconds later..."

"I am deeply sorry, Beth. I believe it is wise to alert Bruce. Perhaps he can help discern what this was..."

Three minutes later I was hooked up to all kinds of machines in our infirmary. Some weird head strap with all kinds of wires was around my forehead and a blood pressure cuff was around my arm. My finger had already been pricked for a blood sample.

Bruce was messing around with all the devices and typing things on to his tablet while simultaneously asking me various medical questions. Thor was nervously wringing his hands in a chair next to me.

"Did you eat or drink anything out of the ordinary yesterday?" he asked.

I shook my head ever so slightly as to not disturb the sensors. "Nope."

"Did you take any medication you aren't supposed to, or stop taking your prescribed meds?" he asked, and fiddled with the buttons on my headband.

I scoffed. "No." I said with a flick of my hands. "C'mon, Bruce." My right leg bounced nervously. What is wrong with me?

He walked over to the microscope that had my blood sample under its lens. He peered at it and turned some knobs on the scope. "Could you be pregnant?" he asked without looking at me.

I slammed my fists on my thighs, and the heart rate monitor beeped rapidly. "Of course not!" I replied. Thor jumped a little at my outburst.

Bruce turned with a glint in his eye at my reaction. "Don't be offended, I just have to be thorough..."

I sighed. "You're right. Sorry. I'm just really scared. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It was awful." I explained.

Bruce smiled empathetically. "I know." He reviewed the data on his tablet once more and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can't find anything abnormal in your system. Everything looks fine, and there aren't any lasting effects."

My jaw dropped. "You're kidding right?" I put my head in my hands. "What is wrong with me?" I glumly said through my palms.

Thor put his hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you try and get some more sleep? We can have Jarvis monitor you more closely tonight, if you would like that."

I sat up. "Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks, Bruce."

My uncle smiled. "No problem, Beth."

Thor walked me to my room. I hugged him before I stepped inside. "Thanks for rescuing me." I joked into his shirt.

He chuckled. "Anytime. Goodnight, Beth."

I smiled. "Goodnight." I walked inside my bedroom and crawled under my covers. "Hey Jarvis? Thanks for watching me."

"Of course, Miss Beth. Sleep well." the AI replied.

...

The next time I opened my eyes sunlight was streaming through my curtains.


I screamed and screamed. The flashes of color and the horrible noise were back the next night. Thor came in again and I was examined in the infirmary. Still nothing could be found. We told the rest of the family. I went to sleep and woke up the next day without any problems.

This continued for over a week. We didn't tell the Guardians.


I absentmindedly stirred my spoon in my coffee. Not that it was helping much; the incidents every night were taking a huge toll on me. Luckily, nothing new was happening as far as the locket or the fate of the universe.

"What's with the dark circles, Blondie?" Rocket asked from his seat at the table. He was munching on an apple and making adjustments to a gun. Or was it a rocket launcher? I figured it was better not to ask.

What he said didn't register at first. "Huh? Sorry..." I rubbed my eyes.

"Ha. I asked why you're so tired." the raccoon replied, and threw a chunk of metal behind him.

I shrugged and tried to feign innocence. "I dunno, maybe I'm developing insomnia or something...Whacha working on?"

Rocket perked up at the mention of his weapon. "I'm increasing the firepower. More explosions, more awesome." he explained and held out his paws to show it off.

I nodded. "I see. That's cool." I replied and excused myself from the table. I found Bruce and Tony in the lab. They were talking about science-y stuff and manipulating the holograms as I walked in. My locket was still in its place.

I set down my coffee on a table. Butterfingers nodded his arm thingy in greeting. I waved. My uncles had not noticed me yet. "How tired do I look?" I suddenly asked.

They both jumped. "Jeez, Beth." Tony said. "What was the question?" he flipped the hologram away. Bruce did the same.

"I asked about how tired I looked. Because Rocket told me I had dark circles under my eyes. If Rocket of all people - er, rodents - whatever, notices them, then that means all the other Guardians surely do! And then they will start asking questions..." By this point I was pacing around and waving my arms wildly. You could say the incidents were doing a number on my stress levels.

I suddenly turned to my uncles, making them flinch again. "And what on earth am I supposed to tell them?! That I'm being possessed by the angry rainbow demon?!"

If Tony or Bruce thought my description was funny they didn't laugh. I began to cry, and Tony hugged me. "I'm so scared..." I said between breaths. "I'm not ready to fight Thanos..."

Tony stepped back, a smile on his face. "Whoa whoa whoa. What is this 'you're' not ready? In case you haven't noticed, there are eleven other crime fighters under our roof. You're not alone in this. And sure, these color vision things are scary, but you'll be fine."

"We will cross the Thanos bridge when we come to it, okay Beth?" Bruce said.

I smiled a little. My uncles were right. "Okay. Thanks guys."


The colors were back. But before I could begin screaming, I noticed something odd. There's no noise. And, the flashes are almost beautiful this time...I think as I slowly get out of bed. Instead of completely taking over my field of vision, the colors simply danced around the edges of my periphery.

I wasn't entirely sure why, but I felt the unexplainable urge to go down to the lab. I began gliding silently down the hallway. My feet are freezing...you'd think I could put some slippers on before being called down a hallway...

The colors got brighter and brighter once I stepped inside the lab. Once glance at the locket and I knew why I was here. My heart jumped when I saw it, kinda like seeing an old friend. I smiled a bit and quickly strode towards where it was being monitored.

"Miss Beth?" Jarvis suddenly asked, but I was too focused on the locket. "What are you doing here so late at night? Are you alright?" he asked.

"Perfectly fine." I replied, but I didn't have time to wonder why my voice sounded so weird. "Don't tell the others, okay?" The colors consumed more and more of my vision as I reached through the blue field around my necklace.

I ripped the locket out of its clamps and quickly pulled it over my head. A warmth spread through me and to the ground I fell, fast asleep.

"Miss Beth?" Jarvis asked, in a very distressed voice for an artificial intelligence. One check of Beth's vitals and he was assured that she was only asleep.

"I suppose it is safe not to inform the others..." Jarvis mused. He continued to monitor Beth throughout the night.


"I am going to check on Beth. She did not have another one of her episodes last night." Thor announced at the breakfast table. The Guardians were working on some minor repairs for Quill's ship. Apparently, the journey to Earth was a rough one for his Milano.

Thor silently opened Beth's door. He peered inside, expecting to find his sister fast asleep. Instead, Thor found rumpled sheets.

"Beth?!" He shouted. He ran to her bed and flung the sheets away. Thor turned and ran down the stairs.

The Avengers turned quickly at their friend's entrance to the kitchen. "Beth is gone!" He exclaimed.

Everybody gasped. "Gone?" Natasha asked.

"She was not in her bedroom!" Thor replied, running his hand through his long golden locks.

"If I may?" Jarvis interrupted. "Miss Beth asked me not to mention it...but, she is in the lab right now."

Practically colliding in the hallways and barely squeezing through the entrance, the group found Beth laying on the ground with the locket around her neck.

Clint got to her first. He held Beth's head in his hands. She didn't move. "Beth! BETH!" He shouted. Clint put his fingers on her neck. Beth's heartbeat was resting, but strong.

"She's alive!" he yelled to the others behind him. "Just sleeping. C'mon, Beth. WAKE. UP." he said while lightly shaking her.

Beth awoke with a start and Clint was promptly shocked with a spark of electricity.

He jumped back and rubbed his neck where he was hit. "Ow! What the heck?" he exclaimed.

...

I awoke to find Clint sitting next to me. And glaring at me. "Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked. I looked around, and realized that I was in the lab, not in my room. And, the locket was around my neck again. Instinctually, I grabbed it and held on. "How did I get here?"

"You tell us." Clint said. "Along with why you shocked me..."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "I...I shocked you? How did I even do that? I don't remember anything..."

"I checked on you this morning, but you were not in your room." Thor said.

"You asked me not to say anything, so your family was not aware until a few moments ago." Jarvis said.

I didn't really know what to think. Everything was so insane these days. So far, it had proven better to take things as they come, rather than to actually analyze them. "How did I shock you?" I asked Clint. "That doesn't make any sense..."

Clint shook his head. "I dunno, whenever you woke up a tendril of electricity shocked me..." Suddenly his eyes widened. "Kinda like your lightning powers...Exactly like your lightning powers!"

I scooted back on the floor. "No way! No. Way. That's impossible!" I said. "I haven't even thought about using them in so long! There's no way they still work!"

"You said it yourself; you haven't even tried using them in a long time. How are you supposed to know?" Steve commented.

...

I stretched my fingers out, nothing was happening. I felt like a total idiot, moving around the gym and probably looking like I was trying to do Tai Chi. And failing miserably.

"This is strange, even for me." Rocket muttered to Groot atop his shoulder.

"Is she attempting a courtship ritual?" Drax asked Tony. "Because it is not working, I can assure you..."

The billionaire burst out laughing. Wiping a tear from his eye, he gave the confused alien the shortened version of the story. "Once upon a time, Beth caught an alien virus and was dying, so Thor gave her some of his blood in hopes of curing it. It didn't work and she was pronounced dead for about forty-five minutes. Then, Beth comes back from the grave with new lightning powers. She hasn't used them in a while, but the locket has brought them out again. At least we think it has..."

Drax nodded slowly. "I see. Do her abilities work only when she dances like this? Quill enjoys dancing very much, but has never been able to produce electricity."

Tony chuckled. "She's not dancing. Although, I can see why you would think that."

I put my arms down in a huff. My face reddened as well and I turned around so they wouldn't see. "This is completely embarrassing!" I said. "Nothing is happening and I look absolutely stupid!"

"Look, Beth. You've only been trying for about a minute. I promise you don't look stupid..." Steve said to try and calm me down.

"Ya shouldn't make promises you can't keep..." Rocket whispered to Groot. The flora colossus sighed and gave the raccoon a look that said Can you at least try and be helpful?

I whipped back around and pointed a Rocket. "I heard that!" I angrily said, and a line of electricity shot out from my finger and hit the raccoon with enough force to knock him off Groot's shoulders.

"OW! What the heck Blondie?!" Rocket shouted. He sat up and rubbed his head. His fur stood completely on end, making him look five times fluffier than he actually was. Groot fell to the ground as well, but was laughing as hard as I thought a tree man even could. Golden tears of sap trickled down his wooden face, and he rumbled with mirth. Groot attempted to touch Rocket's newly upright fur, but Rocket swatted his hand away and dashed into the locker room.

I was in shock. While it certainly was an accident, I couldn't say that I didn't find Rocket's condition funny.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" Rocket screamed. "I LOOK LIKE A GOD-FORSAKEN TEDDY BEAR!"

Everybody burst out laughing. Clint, myself, and Peter joined Groot in laughing so hard we physically couldn't stand.

"I guess he found a mirror!" Clint said between peals of laughter.

...

I was facing the targets. Both Rocket's fur and anger had calmed down, and he was back in the gym, except he was standing alone. Groot looked a little betrayed, but I suppose Rocket was still mad at him.

I thrust my hand out, and lightning immediately shot out of my fingers and hit the first target.

"Ha!" I shouted with glee and began firing at the others. Once all the targets were sufficiently fried to a crisp, I turned around.

"I still got it..." I said with a proud puff of my chest.