Rising from the Ashes

Tensions and Test Results

Ash's POV

Bruce, Tony, and I were on our way back to the lab when Tony asked out of nowhere, gesturing to my bracelet,

"So what is that... thing on her wrist, because it looks like an accident waiting to happen?"

"It's concentrated ionized radiation, it helps to keep her radiation at bay when her emotions heighten." Bruce explained.

"Well I mean obviously, but that would degenerate a human, what makes her so different?"

"Well, we'll see once the test results are done."

"Ahhhh test results..." Tony mused to himself as we approached the lab before blurting out,

"Spoiler alert, she's gonna have to wear a protective containment suit if she ever wants to leave this place." We look to Tony in question as he continued, "I've already seen her file on her accident and that much experimental gamma radiation was bound to destabilize her on a cellular level, if she was human."

"Well she's not and that's what saved her life." Bruce finished just as we got to the lab and we went in and got to work, running more tests on the scepter.

Bruce took a scanner and waved it over the scepter, Tony tapped away at the screens, and I tried to use a small-handheld screen to make some calculations.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract." Bruce reported from his position.

"Though at this rate, it's gonna take weeks to process." I noted from the information on the tablet that included a small, striped rectangle.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops." Tony input some commands and suddenly the striped bar on my screen was moving faster. Bruce chuckled before joking,

"All I packed was a toothbrush."

"I wanted to pack a book..." Ash smiled shyly as Tony smiled as well.

"You know, you two should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land." Tony recommended while walking over to Bruce.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem. And Ash doesn't handle... people very well."

It feels more like people can't handle me... Ash thought to herself.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension. No surprises."

A small zapping noise caught my attention right before an,

"OW!"

I looked up in surprise to see Tony had a small rod in his hand and was looking at Bruce as he was clutching his side. I was about to react defensively when Bruce made the 'I'm OK' signal so I calmed down.

"Hey!" Steve's voice called out and I saw that he was entering the lab as Stark asked,

"Nothing?"

"Are you nuts?" Steve came over to Tony to scold him, but he was ignored as Tony asked Bruce,

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve questioned seriously.

"Funny things only."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor and... Ash."

"No, it's alright. We wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things and Ash couldn't control her fear."

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut."