Experiments
Chapter 13: Blair’s POV
“So every time she goes deeper into someone’s mind she has to pull more telepathic power?” Steve asked Tony as they bent over the monitor studying the pattern of energy waves in front of them.
“Yeah basically,” Tony responded “but there’s a power spike before she hit the button every time so it’s more like a concentration of power…”
“So what does this all mean then…?” Natasha asked stepping back from the large holographic screen covering the wall.
“I can’t be sure until we do a couple more trial runs to confirm it’s the same pattern every time but if I had to guess I would say that Blair’s visions probably cause energy spikes even more powerful than the largest one we measured today.” Bruce said. He paced back and forth in the lab, his hand thoughtly on his mouth.
“So much power that it could cause her physical pain?” Steve asked
“Maybe.” Bruce nodded looking at Blair grimly
“So what do we do now?” Blair finally spoke from where she was leaning on the wall near the doorway.
“Keep experimenting.” Tony said walking past her into the hall.
****
Over the next few days Tony kept up a rigorous experiment schedule. Blair kept up her routine, teaching her teammates how to defend against her powers. She figured not only would it come in handy for training later but she couldn’t be the only enhanced telepath in the world. Hopefully they would never need the skills she was teaching them but they could, a possibility that scared her considering how powerful her own abilities were. The next volunteer for the mind scan experiments was Steve, who was probably her favorite partner thus far. Even though she was closer with some of the other Avengers, entering Steve’s mind was pretty much as close she could get to time traveling. After the session she felt like they were closer, she trusted him more than before. His moral compass was strong and Blair knew that he would not hurt her, at least not unprovoked. In return she showed him her faint memories of what had occurred at the Hydra compound. She knew he was curious about anything anyone knew about Hyrda and his lost friend and fellow supersolider Bucky Barnes. Unfortunately, Blair doubted her memories would be helpful in his quest.
Next, Blair did a mind scan with Sam which was also interesting. She found his life as a counselor to veterans fascinating and she wondered if her powers would be useful in a field like that.
Today, Blair’s partner was Wanda, the final Avenger who seemed willing to volunteer for these experiments. Tony and Clint avoid being subjects at all costs. Tony had insisted that only he could monitor the experiments but Blair had a feeling that he had no desire for her to dig around in his subconscious. But to be fair who would…? Blair was actually fairly impressed that four of her teammates had volunteered themselves to be subjects in Tony’s experiment.
Blair’s session with Wanda went fairly normally but when she descended into Wanda’s subconscious she could feel Wanda’s own power rush back at her, the depths of it were enormous and it seemed attracted to her own, igniting it to a level she had not experienced. Blair had to harness and focus the power to get any clear images in Wanda’s head but it was intensely draining. What Blair did learn were of her friend’s growing feelings for Vision, which surprised her. Apparently for an empathic mind reader, Blair wasn’t terribly in touch with the romantic lives of her teammates. Withdrawing from Wanda’s mind Blair felt each of their powers snap violently back into their own bodies and when she opened her eyes she saw that Wanda had felt it as well.
“Are you okay?” she asked wearily
“What was that?” Wanda looked startled
“I have no idea, maybe Tony will have answers.” Blair said standing and heading towards the control room.
****
“These energy spikes are massive.” Bruce muttered leaning over the monitor. “At least triple the average from everyone else’s sessions.”
“Any idea why?” Natasha asked from her seat at the control panel
“… so far eight ideas actually.” Tony said scrolling quickly through his holographic tabs
“Well whatever it was was exhausting.” Blair said through a yawn. “I’m going to go take a nap.”
“Yeah, you should. Besides we have to be up late for Tony’s gala tonight.” Natasha said spinning around to face her.
“Gala?” Blair asked wearily
“Yeah, The Stark Foundation hosts an annual charity gala. I need all members of the team to be there it’s good for press and for the local government officials to see that we will indulge in their politics.” Tony turned to glance at her.
Blair raised one eyebrow at him. Bruce chuckled sympathetically from the other side of the room.
“Uhhh...which I may have forgotten to mention. Sorry, I forget that you’re fairly new here.” Tony half apologized turning back to study the screens.
Blair turned her glare on Natasha who just smirked.
“Come to my room around 6 and I’ll help you get ready? Don’t worry you can borrow something from my closet.” she said.