Why me?

The Technology

"All the tech is available, I've already done it with Rhodey's, I just need you to come down to the lab so I can get it to fit. You ready to come now?" Jess nodded wildly, and looked to me, silently asking me to help. I picked her up and turned to get into the elevator with her. "Just put her in the elevator Steve, I'll help her at the bottom, this is a private project."

"OK. You alright with that Jess?" She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck as she nearly fell from my grip. I placed her in the floor of the elevator, leaning against the wall, then pressed the button for the 'lab' floor.

JESS'S POV.

The lab looked very different to how I had seen it nearly a year ago when Steve and Bucky had brought me down here. I watched it all come into view as the elevator landed and opened. My wheelchair, that I'd brought back from Annie's just in case, was positioned just outside the door, but Tony was nowhere to be seen. I could hear footsteps above me, but no-one came near to me.

I did the best I could to pull myself across the floor, then push up into the wheelchair. I was panting heavily by the time I was sat in it but felt incredibly proud of myself. "Nice work kid. Not bad for a first attempt." Tony appeared from behind one of the counters. He had been watching me the whole time.

'First attempt?' he knew nothing. I'd spent nearly four years in a wheelchair after the accident. "Come on, we have some work to do. JARVIS, I need a virtual model of Jess please, all measurements correct and to scale." He looked back to me, "Don't move for a moment, these need to fit."

I held myself still and closed my eyes as I saw the blue lights of JARVIS's scanner approach me. 'Scan complete sir' I opened my eyes and saw a perfect model of me, floating mid-air, made of blue lines.

Tony spent the afternoon with me, building the tech that would help me walk again, and by the evening, the main hardware was ready to go and fit perfectly, all that was left was the bit I'd been dreading. To make it work, I needed to have a chip placed in my body, so it would pick up the electrical signals the nerves no longer did. The chip itself would take a few days to manufacture, but thankfully, the compound was fully wheelchair friendly; I was glad I'd thought to bring my old chair from Annie's place.

Steve fussed unnecessarily over me all the time I was awake, making sure I was OK transferring from my bed to the chair and soon, but what he, and everyone else, seemed to forget, was that I'd been in a wheelchair for a good few years, only getting out of it two years ago.