"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" a loud, obnoxious voice rings out in my 'makeshift' room. It's pretty awesome, equipped with tons of high-tech speakers, computers-holy crap, I don't even know what half the stuff is!

I'm still exhausted though, sleeping in a prison cell does that to a person. "Can't I just not get up?" I groan to the voice that I assume is coming from a speaker.

"Nope. You've got five seconds or I'll have to get you up by not-so-nice means. Five..."

I growl and pull the covers over my head.

"Four..."

"Cut me some slack here-"

ACDC begins to blast through the room, and I swear the room is vibrating.

"WHAT THE HELL-"

"I play dirty, kid. Be on the base floor in forty-five minutes. If you need anything, ask Jarvis. Stark out."

Wait, that was the Tony Stark? He just woke me up with ACDC? Pretty sweet.

And what did he mean by ask Jarvis?

I look at the clock next to my bed. It's 10 AM? Crap, I slept late.

You know what, I deserve to sleep late, considering the ordeal I just went through. Especially considering that Fury expects me to start training today. What am I even going to do? Levitate books? Is there some sort of study plan for heroes in training?

Also, what am I supposed to wear? They didn't exactly say what proper 'training attire' is.

"Uh..Jarvis?" I ask tentatively.

"Yes, Miss Singer?" replies the AI. I jump a bit, having not really expected an answer.

"Where am I supposed to be training at?"

"That would be the upper basement. There's an elevator to your left."

"Thanks."

"My pleasure."

I'm not sure if I'm going to get used to the presence of Jarvis, especially if he's pretty much wired everywhere in the Tower. Regardless, it'd probably be best for me to just head to the basement level. I walk over to the elevator, press the 'UB' button (I'm fairly certain nothing else in this place would be marked 'UB'), and tap my foot impatiently as the descent begins. Black Sabbath is pounding in the speakers. Thank God Stark doesn't use elevator music. Considering how huge the Tower is, it'd be absolute torture if he used that boring crap.

"Glad to see you could make it," Stark says cheerfully as I enter the designated area. It's spacious, and surprisingly well lit. The walls are a very pristine white, providing considerable contrast from the mats covering the floor in alternating streaks of read and gold (Stark's decorative touch, I'm sure). There are some places set up with exercise equipment and high-tech screens, but otherwise it seems bare.

"Nice place," I remark. Stark beams at the compliment. Belatedly, I notice we're not alone-Hawkeye, the redheaded agent, Dr. Banner, and some other agent with dark curly hair and honey-colored eyes are there as well.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you know most everyone here, but I'll remind you just in case. That's Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye; Natasha Romanov, aka Black Widow; Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk; and Agent Cassandra Ashland, but we just call her Data."

Hawkeye and Dr. Banner wave at me, Natasha offers a half-smile. Agent Ashland-er, Data- nods at me in a way that I think is supposed to be friendly, but really looks as though she's trying to deconstruct me. How nice.

I think Tony notices, because he claps Data on the shoulder, which makes her intense stare falter so she looks normal. More normal than before, I guess.

"Don't mind Data, she's nice once you start hanging around her a bit. I promise she won't bite."

I shrug. I've seen my fair share of loner types at school, it's nothing new. Sometimes I get along with them, sometimes I don't. It's never that much of an issue.

"Right now, we really just want to get a better understanding of your telekinesis. See how far it extends," Bruce interjects. "From what we've gathered so far, you seem to have more heightened abilities when threatened, possibly due to a general adrenaline increase. We're going to set up some objects, and you can mess around with them how you'd like. As far as you can go without exhausting or hurting yourself."

At this, the walls shift, revealing various objects, from crates to test dummies to scrap metal and remnants of...something. I can guess that things get damaged a lot over here.

"Knock yourself out, kid. Just try not to smash stuff up too much, 'kay? We'll be over there. Science things." Tony waves me off.

Well. This is…awkward. I'm not really sure what to do. I stare at the assorted things scattered everywhere, puzzling over them. Grr. I've never been that good at coming up with things spontaneously.

"Any time today would be great, Alicia!" I hear Stark say. There's a giant viewing screen off to the right wall, where they can see my every move, and I can see their magnified faces. Great. Bruce shoots him a glare.

I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I mutter out an apology. My face is probably redder than a cherry right now.

Desperate to do something, I focus on the crates, bringing them toward me with a slight pulling gesture. That's more like it. My usual, more collected self begins to return. I can do this. I've been practicing this stuff. This is no big deal. I draw my wrist upward, and the crates hover inches above the ground. I allow the crates to go upward a few more inches. They still seem to be pretty stable. With more force, I thrust the wooden boxes upward and-

CRASH!

The boxes are little more than falling splinters. Chunks of split boards fall from where they collided forcefully with the ceiling. I may not have judged that verywell. Turning around to the viewing screen, I grimace as a wayward piece of wood hits it and then falls. Tony seems to be caught in between annoyance and amusement. Bruce, well, he's just scanning the room. And Data? Her eyes are furrowed, and I can hear the scritch-scratch of her pen on paper, judging my moves and my apparent lack of control. It doesn't help that the second she looks at me, it feels like there are daggers poking at me. It's not exactly that good for concentration. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she just laughed in my face the next time I mess up.

I bite my lip. This isn't going as well as I wanted it to.

A.N.: So sorry guys, I've been busy and it's been storming like crazy over here. My power went out a few days ago, which was so very fun. Not.

I'm uploading another chapter for this fic on Saturday to make up for my absence. From here on out, I will try my hardest to upload a chapter every Saturday.

Also, Guardians of the Galaxy is coming out soon! Or today. I'm not sure, but I'm super hyped.

Thanks to Extended Experience for reviewing, and thanks to all of you that favorited and followed this story! It really makes my day.