Unexpected

Readjusting

I was kept in that hospital bed in the Triskelion through the night. The doctors wanted to keep an eye on me as my internal systems were so weak. While I would usually get a boost from absorbing energy, the power levels had gotten too high during the experiment, the energy actually destroying my body systems and burning me out like a low watt bulb being screwed in to a high-power lamp. My body had tried to protect itself and had tried to fix the damage with the excess energy that was ripping me apart. Then my body just gave up and now was so worn down and depleted that doing anything besides merely keeping me alive was too much. Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and even Tony visited me. Stark told me that he couldn't find anything wrong with the instruments themselves, but something had tampered with the system itself making it so that the controls wouldn't work when they tried to stop it. I told him that he shouldn't worry about it, but he didn't seem quite sure. Being him, however he soon put on his shroud of charisma and wit.

"Anyways, now that these experiments are over you're that much closer to being a full-fledged super spy. Have you chosen a code name yet?"

"What?" I asked as I raised a glass of water to my lips to help swallow some pills the doctor had given me.

"Yeah, you know. Romanoff is the Black Widow, Barton's Hawkeye, and everyone knows that I'm Iron Man obviously. You're supposed to go on missions right? Then you need an alias like..." he trailed off into thought before snapping his fingers and pointing at me, "Electra!"

I laughed and shook my head, "I don't think I need a super name, Tony. As far as I'm concerned, being called Agent Copper is enough."

"I don't know." Barton mused, "What about Electro Girl?"

Nat and I made scoffing sounds at this suggestion.

"The Shock!" Tony bantered back, "Nah, sounds too masculine for Blondie."

"The Absorber." Bruce timidly offered.

I was shocked that Bruce of all people was going along with Tony's idea, "Absorber? What am I? A sponge?"

He gave me a timorous smile, "Well, yeah, you kind of are."

I was going to refute him, but my mouth just hung open because, yeah, I did absorb energy like a sponge. I crossed my arms and shot him a playful grin while rolling my eyes before Clint clapped his hands, "That's it then, we'll call you the Sponge!"

I whirled my head around to look at him, horrified, "Heck no!"

"Too late." Nat teased, "It's been decided."

"No! You're all terrible!" I laughed though, seriously, I did not want to be labeled as The Sponge! How embarrassing would that be? It would be the perfect opportunity for people to call me Spongebob Squarepants or some other horrible nickname! The lot of them went on trying to think of a super name for me before Stark asked Natasha how she got her code name, to which she only gave a mysterious smile in answer. We then went off on a different topic for a short while before Bruce and Tony had to leave. I managed to drape a weak hug around each of the scientists before they left, promising that I forgave them and that next time we met would not include high power electrocution. Tony promised that he'd figure out an alias for me as he walked out the door, trailed by Bruce who bid me farewell with a final wave.

By noon the next day I was allowed to go home, set on bed rest. I didn't mind though. My weekend consisted of lying in bed with my books, only getting up to make myself something to drink or to use the rest room, and sitting on my balcony watching the sun dip down and trying to enjoy some of the last warmth of summer that September offered. When Monday rolled around again, I was feeling back to normal, my body and energy restored to usual. It was hard to believe as I approached the island the Triskelion rested on to believe that I had been so close to death only a few days previously. Natasha, bless her soul, went easy on me that day. I had to insist that I truly was alright. By the end of that week, however I seriously regretted being so adamant that I was ready to get back into high gear because she pushed me to the limit again, working me body and mind as I improved my Russian, learning new vocabulary and grammar, as I worked my strengthening muscles.