Frostbitten

Chapter 26

TW This chapter touches on Makayla's serious depression and has indications of SH. If your not comfortable reading about that, it's marked so you can skip it.

----------

"I need your help, Tony." I said, bursting through the door of his lab. He dropped the screwdriver he had in his hand and turned around to face me and exclaimed, "Makayla! Don't scare me like that!" I apologized and he continued, "What do you want anyway?"

I looked him dead in the eye and said, "I need you to run some tests on me. Find out what exactly Hydra did to me, what they gave to me, and what I can do. Do whatever you need to, I just want answers."

He had me sit down in a chair and went to go get Bruce, saying he couldn't do it all by himself. Tony came back with Bruce, Natasha, and Steve and I shook my head at the amount of people he had. Tony explained that Bruce came to help with the sciency stuff, Natasha came because she didn't want me alone without another girl (which I appreciated) and Steve came because he knew me better than anyone and we agreed that he should know what we would find out. Tony took some blood samples while Bruce hooked me up to multiple machines and I didn't understand half of what they told me.

"Alright." Tony said, "Lets start with your blood samples. First off it seems that you do have super soldier serum in your body consistent with those found in Steve. It enhanced your previous physical abilities much like it did to Steve. Second, there is a chemical protein in your blood that I've never seen before but it's definitely related to your ice abilities. I say that because it has microscopic ice particles bonded to the other chemicals in the protein and there is ice floating in your bloodstream itself."

My eyes widen at this news and I stare at my hand in awe. "Is there any indication of the extent of the powers this chemical gives me?" I asked with newfound curiosity. Tony shook his head and suggested I try to train my powers after we were done with the tests.

"Now about your metal arm." He continued, "It's made of titanium and obviously much stronger than a normal arm but it's connected to a cybernetic structure they created in your shoulder and it's linked with your nervous system but I don't know how exactly. All I know is it won't come off."

I looked to Bruce to see what input he had on my tests. "I don't have anything much different then what Tony told you but those are the tests we would think to run." He said. "But I think we should try some different kinds of tests." He came up to me and put a thermometer in my mouth and pulled it out a second later and stared at it in confusion. I asked what was wrong and he held up the thermometer for us to see the numbers.

"How do I have an internal temperature of 86 degrees?!" I shouted. "I should be dead!"

Steve grabbed the thermometer out of my hands and looked at it in disbelief. "I'm guessing it has to do with whatever chemical they gave you to give you ice powers. Tony, will you check her heart rate?" Steve asked. Tony grabbed a stethoscope and handed it to Bruce, stating that he didn't know what to do with it. He didn't exactly look thrilled with the idea of using the stethoscope on me and offered it to anyone else.

"I'm not liking the idea of taking off my hoodie just to check my heart. That's a little personal." I said quietly. Natasha agreed and volunteered to take me into the other room and check it herself. We left the guys and I slowly pulled off my hoodie to let Nat listen. She stared at my arms and back but didn't say a word. I felt the cold metal against my chest and heard Nat gasp in surprise.

"Your heart is beating at an incredibly slow pace!" She exclaimed. "We need to tell Bruce and Tony."

She walked out of the room and I followed close behind with my hoodie pulled down over my face. Nat told the guys about my slow heart rate and Tony added that to the list of my oddities.

"I think I'm done with all the tests today." I said loudly and began to walk out of the lab. I ducked behind another door and waited for everyone to leave and went back into the lab with Tony. I walked in to find him bent over a computer inputting my data into my health file.

"I have another request for you Tony." I said slowly. "Can you show me the blood samples you took? There's something I'm looking for." He pulled up the results and explained to me everything that was on the screen.

"Here is the chemical protein that gives you your ice powers." He pointed to a clump of cells that had crystal formations on them. He pointed to something else in my blood and said that it was the protein marker that indicated I had been injected with the super soldier serum.

"What's that?" I asked and pointed to a black, disc shaped object in the sample. He said he wasn't sure and I asked him to run some tests on that thing in particular. I was willing to give more blood if necessary and told him to let me know as soon as possible.

I left the lab and started walking to my room thinking about that thing in my blood. I figure it's probably the leftovers of whatever drug they gave me that stopped my ability to have children. I was almost inside my door when I was stopped by Natasha.

***"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about earlier." She said softly. I hung my head knowing this was coming.

Before she could continue I said, "Yes, I know I have a lot of scars. That's another reason I always wear long sleeves, I don't want people asking about them. It's a bad reminder of what Hydra did to me."

She looked at me understandingly. "I know what scars look like and while the ones on your arm and back are from Hydra, the ones on your wrist are not."

I leaned my head against the wall and sighed. "I'd really rather not talk about those. I'm fine and I don't need a therapist. I can work through my own issues."

She said she understood and promised not to tell anyone else about them. "If you ever need a friend to talk to, just know I'm here." she added.

I nodded my head and turned to go into my room shutting the door behind me. I sat down at my desk and looked at the knife handle hidden under the papers. I sighed and laid my head in my hands, wishing I was better at keeping secrets.***