Chapter 7

Noctus had asked Jemma to have a large basin of water brought into the training room and Skye was currently sitting in front, listening to Noctus who was sitting on the other side of the basin, exactly like Raina's vision.

"To start Skye, I would like to know how you think your power works."

Skye hesitated. "I… make things shake?"

Noctus smiled slightly and corrected her. "Not exactly. Every object, every human being, every particle of matter already vibrates at its own frequency. What you're doing when you make something 'shake', you are just increasing the strength and amplitude of that vibration."

"And I make earthquakes, right?"

"You can, and you have already done it. However, I think that it is not the limit of your power. I think you might be able to feel the frequency of what is around you and resonate in tune, to not shake everything around you but only what you choose."

"Feel the frequency of objects? How do I do that ?" Skye asked slightly curious if that was possible.

"I don't know exactly, each power is different and only you can know how to use your gift. But I have some ideas to help you, don't worry. To start, try to put your hand in the water and close your eyes."

Skye obeyed and put her hand in the water. She tried to concentrate on feeling anything. But apart from the coldness of the water, she felt nothing.

"I feel nothing." She said with a frown. In response, Noctus raised his arm and lightly patted the water, creating small ripples on the surface.

"And now ?"

Skye's eyes widened when she felt the ripples of water touch her hand. She understood immediately what Noctus had done when she heard a splash, but nothing had prepared her for the sensation she felt from a simple vibration in the water. She could feel each wave crash and rebound against her fingers and the sides of the basin and she felt that she...

"So ? You feel it ?" Noctus asked with a smile. Skye nodded speechless at how she felt.

"Now keep that feeling and try to resonate with it, feel everything and push in rhythm."

Skye looked down to watch the small ripples on the surface of the water begin to disappear. She concentrated and tried to resonate with them as Noctus had asked her.

Slowly, new ripples formed from her fingers and spread through the water to her delight. She looked at Noctus who was still smiling at her and a big smile creeped her face in return.

"It's amazing, I can really control it!"

"It's your learning speed that's amazing. It has only taken you five minutes to get a feeling of your power and fifteen more to use it. Honestly, I know I'm a good teacher, but you are an even better student." Noctus replied softly and decided to make things a bit more difficult. "Now try to keep vibrating the water on that frequency and slowly take your hand out of the water."

Skye glanced at Noctus and began to pull her hand out of the water. However, despite the movement and new vibrations her hand should have caused as it emerged from the water, no new waves appeared and the water quickly settled in a constant vibration that Skye maintained even as she stood up.

"You are impressive." Noctus said watching the young Inhuman master her power in literally minutes. Watching her use her power with such ease made him want to push her even harder. He stood up as well, catching Skye's attention and swinging his arm looking into her eyes.

"Now try to keep the water in this state." Noctus grinned and sent his own energy into the water to try and disrupt the ripples. Skye quickly noticed that she was having more and more trouble keeping the specific frequency of the water but despite her struggles, she managed to maintain it, making Noctus smile all the more.

"I wondered why in Raina's vision I changed to my feminine form but now I know !" Noctus looked at Skye with predatory eyes even as he began to glow. When he spoke again, his clearly feminine voice left no doubt of the changes.

"It only took you a moment to figure out how to consciously use your power. With this learning speed, I will need to ascertain your other skills now so I can help you incorporate your power in it." Artemis looked at the young woman with a big smile.

"You can stop, we will do something else."

Skye stopped quickly and looked at Artemis proudly. "I never thought it would be so easy, what's next ?"

"I read your file just before. In addition to being a genius hacker, which seems to be really useful in those times, you were trained as a field specialist which involves unarmed combat."

"So what ? You want us to fight? I don't think I can give you even a good fight given your abilities." If she could avoid fighting a monster like Artemis, Skye would be relieved but Artemis only smirked.

"Don't worry, I'll stay at your strength level. I'm not trying to kill you but I need an idea of your abilities if you want me to be able to guide you.

Skye sighed. She had a feeling that it was just an excuse from Artemis to be able to fight. She glanced at Jemma, who had been watching them all along, which gave her an encouraging smile.

"Okay, but I'm putting on pads, I don't want Coulson using an injury as an excuse to stop me from going on a mission."

After putting on her protections with the help of Jemma, who had already launched a three-dimensional recording of the room for their records, Skye walked over to Artemis who was already on the practice mats.

Artemis smirked as she watched Skye get into a fighting stance, her arms raised in front of her face. "Your posture is correct, even if it is a bit tense."

"I'm about to do battle with a goddess, even though I recently gained powers that I don't even fully understand yet. Excuse me for being stiff." Skye replied, observing her opponent's relaxed posture.

"You have got a point." Artemis smiled even more and stepped forward, her posture still nonchalant. "Now come and show me what you can do !"

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"Huf, Huf, Huf." Skye was breathing hard as she laid on the floor, her head against the carpet with Artemis sitting on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

The "fight", if it could be called that, it sounded more like a demonstration of power to Skye, had been eye-opening, to say the least, about their new ally's melee abilities.

Artemis had started by dodging every punch Skye threw at her by a few millimeters while circling around her. She hadn't returned a single shot for the first two minutes, instead commenting on what to improve in her movements, frustrating Skye endlessly, even though she had already expected a similar result.

She had been trained by May, the best fighter of the agency, Bobbi would probably argue on this point but it was Skye's firm belief, and yet she was unable to land a punch even as her opponent's movements seemed slow.

Despite her frustration at this though, Skye hadn't gotten carried away. She placed each of her punches with precision and focus, earning her an impressed look and several compliments from Artemis. However, after the two minutes, Skye had suddenly realized that the gap was even bigger than she thought when the raven-haired woman had casually flicked her forehead between two side-step.

Skye had disengaged from the fight and stared in disbelief at the young goddess which had a big smile, her silver eyes seeming to shine when she spoke. "Good, I saw how you attack, now I want to see how you defend!" She had announced before jumping on her.

And after ? The current situation. Skye didn't last three moves before Artemis had her pinned on the ground.

"You will have to work on your dodges and counter-attacks dear." Artemis whispered in her ear before standing up and reaching out to help Skye to get up.

Skye took the hand gratefully and chuckled softly, her face still flushed from the fight.

"My counterattacks? I would have to be able to react to your attacks to be able to counter them." She replied, making Artemis laugh and wink at her as she pulled her to her feet.

"We will also work on that. Your basics are good in any case, you have been well trained to be able to quickly overcome several enemies slower and heavier than you. You're just unlucky that I'm the exact opposite of your privileged enemy type."

"Skye was trained by Agent May, the agency's top instructor, and one of our best fighters along with Agent Morse." Informed Jemma approaching. "However from what I just saw, neither would last much longer."

"It's like you predicted my moves." Skye bent down to support herself on her knees and sighed before straightening up, meeting the gaze of Artemis who seemed to be watching her closely. "And when you attacked me, it was like every move I made left me open to more attacks than it blocked."

Artemis' gaze trailed over her combat partner's body before settling on her eyes as she straightened up. She smirked as she answered. "It is not just an impression. When you reach a certain level of experience and you know what to look for, it becomes instinctive to predict the next blow of the opponent according to the contraction of its muscles. This makes dodging and feints absolutely impossible without reaching a similar level. I'll teach you what I can on this subject when we have time. For now, I discovered the shower last night and I'm dying to experience this feeling with this body.

Artemis started to walk away towards the locker room but stopped just before entering, turning back to the two friends who were looking at her a little surprised at the abrupt end of the training.

"I wouldn't mind company, if you feel like it." She said with a lascivious smile before disappearing behind the door, leaving the other two frozen.

Skye turned to look at Jemma who did the same and asked, uncertain. "Is she teasing us or did we just get hit on?"

Jemma shook her head. "I think she was teasing us." She paused for a second and continued. "Although I don't think she would really mind." Seeing Skye's eyes widen, she quickly added. "I mean, she proposed!"

The two friends looked at each other in silence before Skye asked. "But isn't Artemis supposed to be one of the three virgin goddesses in Greek mythology?"

Jemma nodded but began to blush slightly as she seemed to have thought of something.

"What ?" Skye asked, seeing her reaction.

"Well, it is also said that Artemis had a group of immortal huntresses who accompanied her on her hunt after they too took vows of eternal virginity." Jemma gave Skye a second to understand what she meant and continued, almost whispering. "I wouldn't really be surprised if The Hunt of the myth was actually just her personal little harem who swore to never sleep with a man." Skye's eyes widened once more at the idea.

She glanced at the door Artemis had just exited through, her brain couldn't help but drift. "It almost makes you want to see what she is capable of." She breathed softly and Jemma nodded without thinking before blushing even more.

"You should go change, I'll go study the results in my lab." Jemma quickly escaped to the exit leaving Skye shaking her head with a smile. 'So innocent.'

A/N: Really hard to write without my laptop but I won't let this setback stop me.