Black Star: HYDRA War

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SOMETHING is different. And it's not just the pain in your left shoulder, although that is brand-new.

    The missing tooth feeling, you realize. It's gone.

    Well... gone isn't really the right word for it. Replaced, maybe. Because there's a new feeling, the kind you get when an adult tooth is growing in.

    Suddenly, a door slams open, prompting your eyes to follow. Unsurprisingly, you're back in the hospital bay. Tony and Dr. Cho have just walked in, so engrossed in their conversation they don't even notice you're awake.

    "You said she was fine!" Tony shouts.

    "Because her cells showed no sign of damage!" Dr. Cho replies. "In fact, her body looked even healthier than it did before she was exposed to the vibranium energy."

    "Well you obviously missed something, because phasing through the Shooting Star like she's a goddamn android doesn't seem healthy to me!"

    Dr. Cho sighs. "I'll show you the scans I took of her cells, and you can draw your own conclusions, Stark."

    She hands Tony her tablet, and he scrolls back and forth between two images.

    "As you can see, it's exactly as I've been telling you," Dr. Cho explains. "Of course she was healthy before her exposure to the vibranium energy, but after, her body has improved. Much the same way Rogers's body reacted to the Super Soldier Serum. But research has shown human bodies shouldn't react that way to large amounts of vibranium energy."

    "So, what, I'm an alien?"

    Tony and Dr. Cho both jump and look over at you.

    "Of course you're not an alien," Dr. Cho says. "Your body, for whatever reason, just reacted differently to the vibranium energy."

    "But you did all those tests on me, and you didn't find anything!"

    "Because there was no outlying damage." Dr. Cho hands you the tablet. She scrolls between two photos of your cells. The first one is a dark blue color, and, judging from the stats on the side, looks perfectly healthy. There's nothing wrong with it. But then she scrolls to the second one. It's a brighter shade of blue, the color of the standard Crayola blue, and the stats show that it's even healthier than the first one.

    "The first image is your cells before your exposure to the vibranium energy, and the second image is after. As you can see, you became even healthier after the exposure."

    "That– that doesn't make sense," you say slowly. "The energy was supposed to kill me, not make me stronger."

    Dr. Cho shakes her head. "I don't know why this is happening. Research seems to suggest the energy was strong enough to deteriorate your cells, but... I suppose it's possible your body absorbed the energy as a self-defense mechanism instead. And as a result... something in your cells changed, giving you a new set of abilities.

    "Vibranium and its effects are a mystery to most of the world, Miss Stark. Even with that research — and, honestly, there isn't much of it — we don't understand its full power. I don't doubt that it's frustrating not knowing, but you know you're alive. Be thankful for that, however it happened. And... you should learn how to control that new ability. I would suggest speaking with the Vision as soon as possible. As you can see" — she waves a hand in your direction — "something like this could become dangerous if left unchecked."

    "How do we know this is the only one?" Tony asks. "What if there's more?"

    "I know you're desperate for answers, Tony, but I've never studied vibranium or... magic powers. We're out of my field as well here. However, I suspect Lexi is an expert on this, whether she knows it or not. Her body absorbed that vibranium energy, which means it must know what it's doing, even if we don't."