A/N: Hello faithful leaders! Finally an explanation for my vague ramblings last chapter. It's all for a purpose, trust me. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, FOX, ABC or the Avengers.
The transitioning period from parents of two-year-old teenagers to parents of an infant, went about as smoothly as a train wreck. The guys basically forgot everything about the first time around, so there was a lot of hand holding and coaching. As I was healed from my pregnancy, I was back to training, with no build up of intensity. When Ollie was sleeping, I was dancing. When he was fed, I was out running. And when Steve needed a break from paperwork, I was handing certain things off to Darcy and sparing with everyone. May in particular, as she wouldn't pull her punches.
Still, I was re-learning my powers and how to use them with my new suit. Most of our team was paired off. Someone powered with someone who wasn't, to ensure protection for our non-powered members. Most of the team had been paired off already, and worked flawlessly with their partners. But I was on my own. I was a trained agent before the Terrigen mist, so I did well on my own. But Loki stepped up, saying he would watch my back. Our powers were well matched, ice and fire. He couldn't be burned by me, and I couldn't be frostbitten.
But my worry for myself didn't stem from not having a partner. It was how I felt myself absorbing things. If I concentrated, I drew energy from light bulbs, electronics, beyond what I already knew I could do with fire.
So, under the guise of seeing the X-Men, I flew to Xavier's with Ollie in a car seat. He was passed out, looking like a three month old already at two weeks, but dead to the world asleep.
"Sera," Jean said, meeting me as I walked down the ramp of the Quinjet.
"Hey. Is the Professor here?" I asked, hugging her.
"Of course. Eric is visiting, so we have a couple new students. He is recruiting for us now," She explained, bending down to peek under Ollie's winter cover.
"Oh precious. I need to show him off to the girls," She gushed.
"Be my guest. He sleeps like a rock, so he shouldn't wake up," I said, handing over his car seat.
She and I parted ways with the promise to meet up in the cafeteria. She would send my a telepathic message if he woke up earlier. So, as I went to knock on the door to Xavier's office, I paused.
"Come in Sera," a friendly voice said.
"How are you today Professor?" I asked, walking in the door and shutting it behind me.
"You didn't come all the way here to ask me about my health Sera. Your thoughts are loud and worried. Please," He asked, gesturing to a seat as he brought his chair closer.
"Professor, I don't know who to talk to about this. I think my abilities are mutating," I said, not trying to hide the emotion in my voice.
"However do you mean?" He asked inquisitively.
"I mean… Along with flight, absorbing and creating fire… I seem to be absorbing energy," I explained plainly.
"Energy?" He asked, looking to be thinking.
"Like, I just breathe and the lights flicker. I have been feeling more energized than I should. The fire absorning usually gives me an energy boost, but this is really freakign me out. I haven't been able to do this before and I don't want to burden anyone with this. But you are the expert on mutation. What could this be?"
"Well, for starters, I think there is one person that can understand this better than I."
"Who?"
"Come in Erik," He said, making my head snap over to the door.
"Sera! How nice to see you," Erik smiled at me.
"How are you Erik?" I smiled at the once villain.
"I am well, but Charles here, tells me you have a new ability."
"Yes," I whispered. He approached me slowly, sitting down and regarding me quietly.
"Don't be scared child. I have seen something like this before," He said softly.
"Who?"
"His name was Sebastian Shaw. He had me separated from my mother in Auschwitz, for experimentation. He was a mutant himself, with the ability to harness energy. He was able to absorb energy from nuclear weapons, from moving objects, from most things. And then took it and reverted it back into something destructive."
"How? How did he control it? I breathe and lights flicker. I'm scared I'm going to hurt someone. Now I know how Rogue feels," I said, putting my head in my hands.
"Sera, while Rogue's ability was activated by her fear, from your memories of its occurrences, it seems to be based around your calm," Professor Xavier said.
"Explain."
"You are breathing deeply, and subconsciously pulling energy from small places. A light bulb, your phone. I believe that it will not hurt anyone whom you do not wish it to hurt. Please, demonstrate it for us," He said, pulling the shade off the lamp on his desk.
"I don't know how I control it though," I said, unsure.
"Breathe," He said, motioning with his hand up his chest and then down again. I pivoted on my seat to face the lamp, and focused my thoughts on the energy it drew. Breathing in once, I watched it flicker. Once more, I saw it dim for a second. Once more and holding it, it stayed off. The lights on the ceiling however, also were off.
"Release it slowly," He said softly. As I breathed out, the light didn't come back on, but I realized my hands were glowing. I screamed in shock, holding them away from my body, before Xavier made the breathing motion again with his hand. Doing as I was asked, I felt it dissipate into my body. It was the only sound in the office, making me very uncomfortable with how the men were talking telepathically.
"Well?" I asked.
"Not only did you stop the energy, but Jean says the power is out all over campus. Logan has gone to start the generator."
"So, not only am I a defective InHuman, I'm also dangerous," I concluded on my own.
"You power, unchecked, could harm you."
"Why me?"
"For instance, if you were to absorb the energy from a radioactive isotope, it may linger in your blood before it's half-life decay began. You could die from radiation before you even knew why you were sick. Unless you expelled the energy of course," Xavier said.
"Did Shaw ever have that problem?"
"No, the last we saw him, he had been absorbing nuclear power. It kept him young. I don't believe that is the case with you. Sera, you have been given a gift-"
"I was already given a gift. So why has it changed suddenly?"
"Perhaps we can look to evolution for the answer. When species were threatened with extinction, they mutated to survive. Perhaps the threat of Thanos has woken a dormant part of your power, to help protect you."
"Lincoln always says that our gifts were never duplicated, never random," I agreed, thinking about it.
"So perhaps there is a reason behind why your new gift appeared so suddenly," Erik concluded. I was quiet a moment before saying, "Please don't tell anyone about this. It's confusing for me, and I don't want my team to have any more worry than they already do."
"Of course Sera. As long as you promise to keep us informed of how it grows," Erik said, "It can be a dangerous ability if left unchecked."
"Of course," I agreed, "I would feel better using our Hulk Room for testing it, so it's best I do it at home."
"I believe Jean is looking for you, it seems Oliver is awake," Xavier said, as I stood up.
"Of course. Tell her I will meet her at the front entrance. I should say hi to everyone while I'm here," I said, as Erik stood up as well.
"Thank you for your counsel," I said softly, "Both of you. This has been a terrifying two weeks for me."
"We are here for you Sera. You are not alone," Erik said, bowing his head in farewell.
"We will talk soon," I promised them both. Professor Xavier nodded and said, "We are here when you need us."
As I left the office, I felt a partial weight off my chest. The sense of dread I remembered from holding onto my time travelling children's knowledge of the future was worse by far, but I was purposefully keeping information about my own fate from my team. Now I had two more people to entrust my troubles to. Yet, I felt like this still meant something big for me. But I couldn't decipher if it meant I was meant to use these powers against Thanos, or if they would be our downfall.
Later that night, after I had left Xavier's and tucked Oliver in to bed, I told the guys I as going to go dance to clear my head. I had recorded a loop of myself dancing, trying out new songs and rigged the security camera to play it, but keep the door locked down. Most everyone was asleep, or settling their young ones into bed, so the labs and training rooms were deserted.
Grabbing a lamp, and sneaking a piece of a radioactive isotope from Bruce's lab, I stole away into the Hulk room. Asking ARSNEAL to lock the door and tell everyone I was in the studio, I set up my experiment. A training dummy against the wall would serve as my target, if I could push the energy out that was.
First, pulling the energy from the lamp, I breathed as it formed in my hand. Moving it from one hand to another, I said, "A, record these levels for my notes. Private server."
"Yes Ma'am, recording levels."
I pushed it towards the dummy like I would normally, but it left as a wave of energy instead. It pushed the dummy back, charring it. I quickly put out the fire by absorbing it back into me, and waited for my body to mellow out again.
"Experiment one: Success. Electrical energy felt… off, almost unnatural. But then again, this isn't natural for me."
"Okay, let's see if Professor Xavier is right," I sighed to myself, unsheathing the isotope from it's protective casing.
"Ma'am, there seems to be minute traces of radiation affecting your vitals."
"Monitor it A, tell me when it gets bad," I snapped at the AI, setting the isotope on the table and holding a hand over it. Breathing in, I felt an intense rush, a high of sorts as my body recognized the energy of the uranium and formed it in my hand.
"Okay, this is sort of cool and sort of terrifying," I breathed, pulling my hand back to play with the ball of energy. Moving it from one hand to another, I said, "A, record these levels for my notes. Private server."
"Yes Ma'am, recording levels."
Focusing on keeping it in a ball, I pushed my hand towards the target. It didn't leave my hand right away, but seemed to charge up along with my natural fire, eradicating the dummy as it struck its target.
"Wow," I said, breathlessly.
"Ma'am the radiation levels I observed are subsiding. I estimate that the effects will disappear from your body within two hours."
"Okay, so not horrible. Long term effects?"
"Unknown," She responded.
"Okay A. Monitor me over the next couple days. I won't do this again until I know what it does to me," I said, putting the isotope back in its protective casing.
"Yes Ma'am."
