Awakening Quake
By Misha
Disclaimer and Notes in Chapter One.
Chapter Forty-Five: Inner Power
"Skye!"
"Jemma!"
Skye ran into her friends arms and hugged her tightly and then as soon as Jemma released her, the others were there, waiting for their turn. Soon Skye had been hugged multiple times. It was overwhelming, but she was so happy to see everyone, and to know that she was home.
Coulson was last.
"You're safe." He said, obviously reassuring himself.
"I am." She told him. "And I promise not to get kidnapped. Again." This made three times now, but all by the same person and since Ward was dead, maybe she'd be a less desirable target. Of course her father was still out there and there was a possibility that having paid his debt to Steve, Doom might try to make her his broodmare again, but she'd worry about those things later.
He nodded and pulled her close for a tight hug and then released her quickly.
Skye smiled at him and then turned at the sound of her name.
"Skye, we should probably go downstairs." Bruce told her, a look of concern on his face. "We need to get that bracelet off of you."
She nodded, though she was a little terrified of what would happen. For two weeks, her powers had been shut off, what would happen when they flicked the switch and turned them back on?
Still, she followed Bruce to the elevator. Everyone else hung back thankfully, obviously realizing that she would want privacy. Only Tony and Steve accompanied them and Skye held onto Steve's hand during the elevator ride, though she knew that she couldn't cling to him for long. This was a situation she had to deal with all by herself.
Once they were outside the Hulk Room, Bruce put his hand on Steve's arm to stop him from following Skye inside.
"You and I should wait out here." Bruce advised him. "Tony has to go in there because we need to cut off her bracelet, but he'll be in his suit, which should minimize any fallout."
Steve looked conflicted.
"I don't want to risk hurting anyone." Skye told him. "I wish Tony didn't have to be in there."
After a moment Steve nodded and squeezed her hand. "You can do this." He told her.
"Just focus on what we've practiced," Bruce advised, "Ride the wave instead of trying to repress it."
"I'll try." Skye said, reaching for the door. A moment later she and Tony entered the room and a second later he was cutting the cuff off with some device that Fitz had designed for this purpose. Tony had called ahead and explained the problem and Fitz, with Mack's help, had gone straight to work and it had been ready by the time they landed.
As soon as the bracelet was off, Skye could feel her powers bubbling to the surface and she knew the room was shaking, Tony seemed to be struggling not get caught in the wave. It was like that first quake in San Juan, yet, Skye knew it didn't have to be. She'd come a long way since then, she understood her powers and she'd gained some control.
Skye focused on calming the waves and soon the mental pressure let up. She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Tony grinning at her.
"Nice job," he told her and she realized that there was no more shaking. Somehow she had managed to control it. A moment later Steve and Brue entered the room and she could see that they both looked impressed.
"That was great, Skye." Bruce told her. "You were able to regain control much faster than I expected."
"I guess all those lessons are paying off," Skye told him, "I just focused on staying calm and staying in control and the pressure went down." She had learnt to hone her powers over the last several months, but deep down she had still been terrified of losing control. So it was amazing to be able to face a situation where losing control would have been normal and not do it.
She knew that this didn't meant she'd never lose control, but it showed how far she had come. She no longer had to be afraid of herself.
"I knew you could do it," Steve told her, "And now you should rest."
"Rest, huh?" Tony teased. "I'm not sure that would be my first instinct after two weeks apart, but to each their own."
Skye ignored him and smiled at Steve. "That sounds nice."
In the few days between their engagement and her kidnapping, Steve had moved his stuff to her apartment, leaving his old one for Bucky. At the time, Skye had laughed, remembering Steve's disappointment when she'd moved into the apartment he'd hoped Bucky would one day occupy. It was funny how perfectly it had worked out.
But that wasn't worth more than a passing though now. At that moment, all she was thinking about was how much she wanted to go up to their apartment and see her things and be in her space with Steve and reassure herself that she was really home.