The Avengers: A Change of Fate

Chapter 5

When Stella woke, Tony was gone. She sat up, disappointed by his absence. When she went down stairs, she found Captain America eating his breakfast. That meant it was early morning. Tony must of left late last night. They had talked for a few hours until Stella finally dozed off, but she had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Stella joined Cap in the training room after breakfast. They worked on another one of her exercises, team attacks, until lunch. After they ate, Stella took some coffee to Tony in his lab.

"You left me," Stella said as she entered the lab.

"I had to work on something," Tony explained.

Stella gave him a thermos of coffee, "Have you been down here all night?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S could of got that."

Stella waved it off, "You know coffee can't replace sleep."

"When I have an idea I have to get it done. I can't sleep until I do."

"So what'cha working on?"

"A dream monitoring system."

"Really?"

"Well, it's a bit more than that. I'm hoping to be able to stimulate dreams, and manipulate them."

"How would you do that?"

"Electricity. The brain is run by electric impulses. By sending out my own, I should be able to change the brain patterns."

"Wouldn't that mess up someone's head?"

Tony shrugged, "Possibly, if the current isn't right."

"Why are you making this anyway?"

"It could be a new therapy method, Stella. An effective one. Imagine if you could stop someone's nightmares. It could cure PTSD, night terrors, help people overcome traumatic events..."

"It'd help people like me," Stella concluded.

"You inspired it," Tony admitted, "In fact, I was hoping you'd be the first to try it out."

"You don't want to get inside my head," Stella objected.

Tony nodded, "I know there's some dark stuff in there, but this might take all that away."

"Or fry my brain."

"Don't you at least want to try? This could take your nightmares away. All of your pain. You could feel safe again."
Stella sighed, "Alright, but don't kill me, okay?"

Tony laughed, "I won't try to."

Stella stayed with him down in the lab and helped with his project. He had to explain a lot, and got frustrated when she didn't understand, but she reminded him that he'd promised to teach her, and that she wasn't going to let him fry her brain as long as she could help it. 

The next few days went on the same. Stella woke up early, if she had any sleep at all, and had breakfast with Steve. They'd work on her exercises until lunch, unless she had another panic attack. After lunch she'd go see Tony in his lab, and work with him on his project. They'd work late until Tony thought she should get some sleep. She would often object until she absolutely couldn't stay awake. Then they'd go to her room, and she'd crash in her bed for a few hours of troubled sleep.

Things were wrapping up again at the Avengers Mansion. T'challa returned to Wakanda. Black Widow was called back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Even Thor left to visit with his girlfriend. Tony stayed longer though, to finish up his project. Once it was ready for prototyping, Tony would take the specs to Stark Industries for board approval, patenting, and testing.