𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝟔

—♜—

𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏 her sleeves as she entered her usual training room in the Avengers Compound before taking her bag off and gently placing it against the wall.

Steve, Wanda, and Sam were waiting for her. Wanda and Sam were speaking to each other in low voices while Steve focused his attention on the tablet he was holding.

That tablet was an accessory that Steve usually was accompanied with during their training sessions since it contained all the information that Helen downloaded on it; mainly of what Kara needed to learn. Sometimes it was creating things with her energy, sometimes it was shooting things with her energy, and other times it was just how to slap a bitch.

They all looked up at the sound of the door opening, the conversation coming to an end as they greeted her with hellos.

"So . . ." Kara sighed as she walked up to them, putting her hands on her hips. "What's the plan for today, Uncle Steve?"

"Uh . . ." Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he swiped the screen. "Psychic bombs and energy missiles."

Kara blinked, pausing halfway through shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Come again?"

"Psychic bombs and energy miss—"

"Bombs and missiles?" she exclaimed. "You want me to blow stuff up? Like my poor Draco poster?"

"Your Draco poster?" Sam repeated with a somewhat disgusted expression, his nose slightly crinkled and his eyebrows raised in an unimpressed fashion.

"Yes, Uncle Sam, my Draco poster," she sighed, rubbing her eyes. "When I first got my powers, I had energy blasting out of me whenever I pointed my hands somewhere, and they pointed at my wall, where my poster was . . ."

"I'm sure he's out there, grieving, somewhere," Wanda said plainly as she patted the girl on the back. "Don't worry about it, you'll do fine."

"Okay," Kara exhaled, putting her hands on her hips once again. "Let's do it then."

"Great." Steve shut the tablet off, lowering it to his side as he shifted his gaze to her. "We're going to have to go outside for this one, though."

With a nod, the group left the training room and headed outside towards a large, empty field that would be completely perfect for bombs and missiles.

Road met tall grass only a few metres away from them, and the cloudy sky made it easier to see rather than the blinding sunlight they had the last time that they trained outside.

As they walked over to stand in the middle of the long stretch of road, Sam jogged up to Kara's side and slightly crouched down to reach her level.

"If I get one single scratch on my beautiful face because of you," he whispered threateningly, his eyes narrowed, "nuh-uh, it's game over for you."

Kara gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll try."

"Try—you mean try to not scratch my beautiful face or try to scratch it?" he questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

"What's that? I can't hear you!" Kara began to quicken her pace towards Steve, who was leading the group. She threw a grin at the glaring Sam behind her before turning to the side. "Hey, Uncle Steve. What's up?"

"I've been thinking," he said as he looked down towards her, his hands clutching the tablet tightly before he sighed. "The other day, Wanda showed me a video of this guy—Spider-Man, I think he calls himself. Have you heard of him?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. Ned had (very excitedly) shown her and Peter a video entitled: 'AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SAVES OLD WOMAN!!!!! *SHOCKING*' from Youtube a couple of weeks before.

Spider-Man—who seemed to be growing more and more popular by the day—was some sort of superhero who could climb up walls and shoot webs like a spider (hence the name), though she had no clue where he had gotten his powers from. She had even texted Tony to see if he had any connection to Spider-Man, though he had just replied with a 'Who?'

"It seems that he's been going on patrols in Queens to take care of crime every night," Steve continued, "and that got me thinking . . ."

Kara waited for a moment for Steve to proceed, but upon hearing only the sound of footsteps and the wind blowing, she sighed. "Are you going to tell me your thoughts or did you just want me to know that you had the ability to think?"

"Right." Steve gave her a humoured smile before explaining, "It's good that you're getting training here at the Compound, but I don't want to throw you straight into battle without some real-world experience first."

Kara raised her eyebrows. "So you want me to . . . prevent old ladies getting robbed and catch bike thieves like Spider-Man?"

"Exactly." Steve nodded. "It won't be the best preparation for fighting aliens and robots, but I figure it's a whole lot better than cardboard cutouts and mannequins."

"I guess," Kara agreed. "When would I start?"

Steve shrugged. "Today."

"Today?!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. "But I . . . I need to prepare mentally!"

"You'll be fine," he laughed, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Besides, you'll be fresh out of training, and I'll make sure one of us will be on the comms with you."

"All right," she nervously agreed, "but if I die out there, Uncle Steve, the blame is on you."

"I'll agree to those terms—only because I know it won't happen." He nodded with a smile as they came to a stop. "Now, let's get started."

Steve had already prepped this area of the field for training, having scattered a few mannequins around in a twenty-foot radius. There was another pile of mannequins that were stacked in the corner, which Kara assumed was going to be saved for later.

"You'll be fine, Kara," Steve reassured her as he noticed the anxious expression that had settled on her face. "The energy missile is first. I suppose it's the same as forming a bolt in your hands, just . . . explosive. Got it?"

She squinted her eyes before sighing. "I guess."

"It is all about your will, Kara," Wanda called from next to Sam. "Imagine what you want."

"Yeah." Kara nodded as she took a deep breath. "Got it."

"Right," he sighed. "So, I want you to shoot a missile at each mannequin, all right? I know you worked on intensity with Amelia, so make these the highest intensity you can. They should be far enough apart that they won't blow each other up."

Kara's eyes roamed over the mannequins, all of which were at least ten feet apart from each other, and nodded. "Okay."

Steve gave a curt nod. "Whenever you're ready."

After he had backed up so that he was next to the other two and far enough to not be impacted by the blast, Kara took a deep breath and brought her hands in front of her.

All about will, she reminded herself. What she wanted.

She shut her eyes, doing the same as she would do with any energy bolt or spike, but instead imagining it to be in the shape of a missile—and just as explosive.

Once she felt the solidified energy form in her hands that were now shrouded in blue energy, she opened her eyes and fixated them on the mannequin that was furthest to the left before throwing the missile straight at it.

The missile headed in the direction she had been hoping for, and as soon as it made contact with the white plastic, an explosion of cyan and white erupted, which left the mannequin in fragments.

Kara looked back to see Steve typing into the tablet with a small smile, Wanda giving her a thumbs-up and nod, and Sam taking a step backward with wide eyes.

Now feeling a little more confident in herself, Kara exhaled as she faced the front and looked towards the next mannequin, which seemed completely unharmed—for now.

She felt her fingertips tingle as she formed the next missile, and it wasn't long until another explosion destroyed the mannequin.

She did the same for the rest of the mannequins—there had been four left—and once the last one had burst into smithereens, she put her hands on her hips and turned to face the others as they walked up towards her.

Kara took a moment to catch her breath, now a little tired from all the energy she had used up.

"You okay to continue?" Steve asked. His eyebrows furrowed as he watched her wipe a little sweat off of her forehead.

"I'm fine." Kara smiled as she straightened up, giving them a nod.

"All right, just let me know if you get too tired," he reminded her, eliciting a nod. "Moving on, we'll be continuing with missiles, but with moving targets. Wanda will use her powers to lift the mannequins through the air, and you'll have to aim your missiles so that they hit them. Understood?"

Kara nodded. "Understood."

This time, only Steve and Sam walked back to their viewing spot, and Wanda walked over to the pile of mannequins, which was only a few feet to the right of Kara.

Once Wanda was settled, she looked over toward Kara, an encouraging smile on her face. "Are you ready?"

Kara took a deep breath before answering, "Yep."

Wanda gave a curt nod before looking down at the mannequins and raising her hands. A glow of red cloaked Wanda's hands as she used her telekinesis to lift the mannequin, which was enveloped in the same mystical red.

She raised it to fly several feet in front of Kara, moving it slightly from side to side as she waited for Kara to attack.

Kara, now much more practiced in developing the missiles, created one in her hands within seconds before she launched it in the direction of the mannequin, now having to throw it upwards rather than straight forward.

The mannequin exploded upon contact, and Wanda grinned as she lifted the next one. "Nice job."

"Thanks." Kara smiled.

"Let's bring it up a notch," Sam called from behind them. "More range when you move it, Wanda."

Wanda nodded as she brought the mannequin in front of Kara, but rather than moving it slightly from side to side, she began to cover a distance of around ten feet as she directed the mannequin.

Kara, who now had a fully-formed missile in her hand, pressed her lips together as her eyes followed the mannequin that was going a little too fast for her liking.

Squinting her eyes, she threw the missile, but too late. The missile soared past the left of the mannequin and hit the ground about thirty feet away before exploding.

"I think you were a little off," Sam remarked.

Kara turned around to send him a glare. "Thanks, Uncle Sam. Really helpful."

He only grinned and gave her two thumbs-ups in return.

"Try again," Steve called.

Wanda raised another mannequin and began to move it in the same fashion as she had done with the last one, her eyes flickering between Kara and the mannequin as the missile was being created.

Kara licked her lips, her eyes narrowed as she waited for the perfect moment. A few seconds later, she threw the missile, and let out a small sigh of relief as it hit the plastic chest and detonated.

"Beginner's luck?" Sam questioned.

Kara turned to him again, her eyebrows raised. "Aren't you supposed to be . . . I don't know, encouraging?"

Sam wrinkled his nose. "But making fun of you makes me happy."

Kara rolled her eyes in amusement before turning back to face the front and nodding to Wanda to tell her that she was ready for the next mannequin.

By the time the rest of the mannequins had been destroyed by Kara's missiles, she was sweating profusely and panting heavily. Not only was the fact that she wasn't used to these new attacks exhausting her, but the amount of energy it took to make each missile was more than she was used to.

Nonetheless, she wiped her sweat away with her sleeve and gave Steve a smile and nod when he asked if she was ready to move on to the next attack.

Steve looked down at his tablet and nodded. "We'll be going onto psychic bombs now."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Kara questioned, her eyebrows furrowing. "But, like, a different shape?"

"Not quite." Steve smiled as he looked up at her. "Once this bomb explodes, there will be a wave of energy that will surge out, and rather than have a physical effect, there will be a mental effect."

"What do you mean 'mental effect'?" Wanda asked, her head tilting slightly.

"It'll daze them for a few moments, maybe do a little reset so they forget where they are and what they're doing for a couple of seconds," Steve explained as he glanced down at the tablet. "I guess we'll really see when we test it out."

"Wait, you mean I'm testing this out on someone?" Kara asked in horror as she whipped her head around to face Steve, who nodded. "I don't want to accidentally damage someone's brain!"

Steve gave her a small smile. "We'll try it out on Sam."

"Oh, okay." Kara shrugged.

"What?!" Sam exclaimed, his eyes wide as he shook his head. "Nuh-uh, she ain't doing shit to my brain!"

"First of all" —Steve raised his eyebrows— "watch your language; we have a child here—"

"I'm fifteen!"

"—and, second, your brain will be just fine," Steve reassured him. "Don't worry. Besides, you want to help Kara, don't you?"

Sam pressed his lips together for a moment as he narrowed his eyes at Steve before sighing and muttering, "Yeah."

"Great. So, head over there," Steve instructed as he pointed ahead of him, "and just . . . stand there and wait."

Grumbling to himself, Sam headed over to where Steve had pointed and waited for them.

"Just like last time, Kara," Wanda advised. "Will."

"Gotcha." Kara nodded with a small sigh.

"Don't hurt him too much," Steve chuckled, patting Kara on the back before ushering her to head over to Sam.

Kara grinned and walked over, rubbing her hands together in preparation.

"Remember what I said before?" Sam raised his eyebrows as he gestured to his face. "Not a single scratch."

"Again," she said as she raised her hands in defence, "I'll try my best."

Sam narrowed his eyes at her and slowly asked, "Try your best to scratch me?"

"Anytime now!" Steve called from about twenty feet behind them, the exasperation clear in his voice as he raised his eyebrows at the pair.

"Sorry, can't answer the question, no time," Kara said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Sam grumbled, "just do your thing."

Kara nodded before backing up so that Sam was a good distance away. She lifted her hands, and a glow of cyan surrounded them as she focused on creating the bomb, using Wanda's advice and willing for what she wanted.

Taking a deep breath and praying that this wouldn't kill or maim her beloved uncle, Kara threw the bomb in his direction.

It landed about a foot away from him, and exploded immediately, sending a wave of cyan over a ten-foot radius. It faded away just before Kara, so she wasn't affected, but the same couldn't be said for Sam.

Sam, although clearly not physically harmed, stumbled back, his eyes widening as he lifted a hand to his head. He looked around for a moment, his face scrunched up as he floundered around.

After a few moments, he straightened up, his eyebrows furrowing as he came back to his senses. He looked over at Steve and shrugged. "I guess it worked."

"It did," Steve murmured as he typed into the tablet. He looked up and gave Kara a smile. "Well done."

After a few more practice rounds, and a few times of Sam falling onto his butt and complaining that he had broken several bones (he hadn't), the four of them headed inside, quite satisfied with the training that had been finished.

"Are you still up for patrolling?" Steve asked as they walked back into the Compound, the air conditioning relieving Kara of the heat that had been encasing her body.

She sighed, running her hand through her hair and combing through the tangles that had been formed. "I guess."

"All right." Steve nodded curtly. "I'll get some stuff ready, you just wait."

"Mhm."

Watching as Steve headed towards the right, Kara slowly backed off towards the other direction before turning around and sprinting towards the room she loved most.

Quietly, she looked around her to make sure no one could see her, and slipped inside, grinning to herself as she flicked the lights on and shut the door behind her.

Her beautiful, magnificent, incredible, amazing, gorgeous, stunning, breath-taking Harry Potter room.

The room was quite large, giving her the perfect amount of space that she needed. The wall opposite her was covered in bookshelves, three sections dedicated to the Harry Potter series, the various limited edition Harry Potter books, along with all the spin-offs.

On the wall to their left were quite a few floating shelves that carried Harry Potter merchandise: figurines, wand replicas, plushies, replica props, and such. Accompanying those on the wall, there were many posters and banners, all relating to, you guessed it, Harry Potter.

On the other side were a few comfy sofa chairs, all of them covered in Harry Potter pillows and blankets to maximize comfort. The walls were all painted in stripes, each wall representing one of the Houses.

Amelia and Maximoff had helped her create this room when she was thirteen. And, as the only two other people that were aware of the existence of this room, they often playfully threatened to either destroy the room or rat her out to Tony whenever they wanted something from her.

Tony didn't exactly . . . know about the existence of this room. In fact, he had kinda, sorta, maybe denied her permission to make the room in the first place, but hey . . . who cared? Not Kara. And anything to defy Tony's orders was a win in Maximoff's book.

And with the millions of rooms that the Compound carried, it was nearly impossible for anyone to randomly walk in, or to notice that Kara would slip off into the same room almost every time she visited the large building.

Kara sighed as she sat down on one of the sofa chairs, grabbing one of the pillows and clutching it for comfort. She was getting more and more nervous as each second passed, and she feared that her nerves would get the best of her when she had to face a criminal in battle.

She bit her lip, her fingers curling around the edges of her pillow as she thought of all the disastrous outcomes that could result from the patrol. Sure, it seemed pretty harmless, but what if there was a serious crime? Like murder? Kara wouldn't be able to handle that! She could hardly handle mannequins!

"Kara!"

Kara straightened up, the pillow being released from her fingers as panic shot through her. Someone was coming.

"Kara! Where are you?"

She quietly stepped towards the door, reaching over to the light switch and flicking it off to encase her in darkness and hopefully fool whoever wanted her—Nat, by the sound of the voice—into thinking that the room was empty.

Kara's breathing slowed as she pressed her back against the wall, and she closed her eyes and prayed to every god in existence that the door wouldn't open.

Then, the door opened.

"Steve wanted me to bring you—oh. My. God."

Though she had been half-expecting this to happen, Kara jumped and gave a loud squeal in fright.

Nat's eyes, which were already wide from her scream, widened even further as she took in the room. She walked in slowly, her head swivelling as she looked around. "Uh, Kara . . ."

"Oh, hey, Auntie Nat!" Kara said brightly, trying to lighten the mood by leaning against the wall and almost slipping in the process. "How funny, you found me in this room that I just discovered. I've never been in here before, but it looks super cool, doesn't it?"

Nat raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, okay, yeah, I made it, whatever," Kara gave in with a long sigh. "Just don't tell Uncle Tony, okay?"

"Don't tell Uncle Tony what?" Steve then walked in, coming to a stop as he looked around the room. His stare focused back onto Kara. "Kara . . . What. Is. This?"

"Funny story, actually." Kara slowly crept away from the two, giving them an awkward smile and then letting out a small groan as the others came into the room—it seemed her scream had drawn them in—their eyes widening just as the other two's had. "So, like, when we were moving from the Tower to the Compound, I had asked Uncle Tony a bunch of times if I could make a Harry Potter room, and, in conclusion, here we are."

"I was there for one of those times. I remember 'cause I was laughing at the stupid idea," Sam said slowly as he folded his arms, "and I specifically remember him saying no."

Kara licked her lips before shrugging and letting out a small sigh. "Okay, fine, he said no every time. And then, basically, after Ultron tried to kill everyone and my mom and stuff, I was like 'Who cares what Uncle Tony says, I'm gonna do it' and then I found an empty room that no one ever used, and then I turned it into this. And Amelia and Maximoff helped me do it too, so if I'm in trouble, they should also be in trouble."

Rhodey gave a small shrug. "I mean, there are a lot of rooms that we don't use anyway. Wait . . ." He narrowed his eyes before pointing a finger at her in an accusatory fashion. "Is this where you kept sneaking off to every time I tried to tell you about me taking the tank to the General's palace?"

"Yeah." Kara nodded. "And it's because I've already heard you say that story about a million times. Get a new story."

"This is great. I can use this place as leverage." Nat rubbed her hands together, looking around the room as her lips curved into a malicious smile that made Kara uneasy. "You better listen to me or this place is getting demolished."

"Oh, God," Kara sighed as she put her head into her hands. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she soon looked up at Nat with a puzzled expression. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Ah, right." Nat nodded as she lifted a black material that Kara quickly recognized. "Your suit."

Kara caught the suit as Nat tossed it to her, and murmured a small thanks.

"Hey, you'll do great, kiddo." Nat smiled, leaning over and ruffling her hair. "You're a big girl now, right?"

"I guess," Kara mumbled, clutching the fabric of her suit tightly.

"Hey," Sam said seriously as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't die."

She smiled. "I'll try my best."

—♜—

Kara sighed as she looked down at the peaceful street, taking in the rare moment of hardly any noise in the city of New York.

There were a few shops and restaurants that occupied the street, with families and friends roaming around, all chatting and laughing as they weaved in and out. It didn't seem like there was anything too dangerous going on at the moment, which was a great relief for Kara.

Suddenly, Nat's voice came through the earpiece as she asked, "Everything going okay?"

"Yep," Kara answered as she leaned forward on the ledge of the rooftop she was waiting on, peering down. "Looks fine to me."

Normally, Nat wouldn't be on comms; that's what Kara's A.I.—who she had named Hermione—was for, but as it was her first day, the others thought it would be safer and smarter to have a real person on the other end for the day.

"That's good," Nat responded. "You nervous?"

"Wha—me, nervous?" Kara scoffed, and a half-hearted chuckle followed. "Never. I can't believe you would think—"

"Kara."

"Yeah, I'm pretty nervous," she sighed as she rubbed her eyes. "What if I . . . die, or something?"

Nat let out a light laugh before she responded, "You won't die, Kara. I trained you, you can't get any better than that."

Kara giggled, "You did a pretty good job."

"Besides, I can't have you die. If you die, Steve will never let me hear the end of it. 'Oh, Nat, you were supposed to take care of her'. Okay, and? Where were you, Steve? I don't see you helping out!"

"Thanks for the sentiment, Auntie Nat," Kara laughed as she turned around, leaning her back against the edge of the ledge as she looked out towards the clear sky. "I'm sure that—"

Suddenly, the shrill sound of an alarm interrupted her, and Kara whipped around to see people begin rushing out of one of the shops. Leaning forward, she squinted down to see the images of rings and necklaces displayed on the windows. The jewelry store.

"What's happening?"

"There's a robbery happening at a jewelry store."

"I'm right here if you need me. Good luck, don't die."

Kara hooked her mask onto her ears before she teleported down to the front of the shop, making sure that everyone had gotten out safely as she headed inside.

The room was empty of people, save for two men who had classic black ski masks hiding their identities. They were at either side of the room, smashing glass cases and shoving glittering jewelry into the black bags that they had in their hands.

"Stop!" Kara shouted at the two robbers, hoping that her voice was sounding more intimidating to them than it was to her.

They looked up to her, then to each other, seeming to have a silent conversation between them. Both of them reached into their coat pocket and pulled out a gun, pointing them at her.

"What are you gonna do? Some Tai Chi?" the one on the left teased, while the other gave a loud snort of laughter.

Kara crinkled her nose. "Uh . . . okay."

Before either of them could pull the trigger, Kara pushed her hands in either direction of the guns. A blue glow wrapped around her hands as she used her telekinesis to lift the guns, and flung them to the sides.

One of the men looked up at her, his eyes widened. "What the fu—"

"Put your hands up!" she warned, advancing towards them slowly.

Rather than doing that, they both threw their bags aside to the ground and ran towards Kara, deciding to try and fight her.

The man on the left swung his right fist towards her, which she avoided by ducking.

She got up and roundhouse kicked him as best as she could, sending him flying to the side. Kara made a note to thank Nat for all the combat training she had given her before turning to the other guy.

He put his hands up into a fighting position, his eyes wild. He started to bounce back and forth on his toes as if he were in some kind of boxing ring.

He threw a punch at her, which she blocked with her left arm, and she ignored the pain that came along with it. She then punched him square in the jaw, knocking him back as he groaned.

He grunted as he advanced towards Kara once again, and his eyes flitted nervously from one of her hands to the other, knowing what she could do. Taking his anxiousness to her advantage, she raised her hands towards him and sent an energy blast his way.

He was pushed down by the force, yelping in surprise as he fell. Kara quickly walked over to the guy, who was groaning in pain.

Steve had brought up the idea of fashioning a rope out of energy a few training sessions before when they were trying to think of ideas on how to keep the criminals in their spot if the situation ever came to be.

However, Nat had disagreed with it, thinking that perhaps the rope would disappear once Kara had left it. After testing this idea, they found that the rope wouldn't disappear, instead remaining as a glowing blue rope forever.

And after Sam mindlessly picked it up without thinking that it could be harmful, they discovered that it only felt like a light, tingling sensation when touched by anyone (except for Kara, as it didn't feel like anything to her).

So, doing as she had trained to, Kara created a rope out of her energy, and tied the guy's hands together, tying the other end of the rope to a column that wasn't too far away.

After making sure that he wouldn't be able to escape, Kara walked over to the other guy, who was still moaning on the ground. He was clutching his head, so she assumed that he had hit it when he had fallen down. Kara did the same to him, resulting in him trying to wriggle his wrists out of the glowing blue rope, but to no avail.

Kara then heard the sound of cheering and turned back to the door and noticed a large group of people peering through the window, many of them filming with their phones.

Cool. They had been filming. Okay. Great. No pressure or anything. Kara hoped that she didn't look ugly, that would've really sucked. Although, most of her face was covered, so it didn't even matter.

Kara gave a small wave before teleporting back to the rooftop.

Making sure that no one was looking up at her, Kara unhooked her face mask. "Hey, Auntie Nat?"

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." Kara grinned. "Thanks for the combat training."