S H A M R O C K

Elena groaned when the white lights hit her eyes. She shifted in her spot, burying her face deeper in her arms only to have a hand shake her awake. Groggily blinking open her eyes, Elena stifled a yawn. "What time is it?"

"Ten in the morning," Bruce replied. "You missed breakfast."

Elena sat up and startled when her eyes adjusted. This wasn't her suite, she realized. It was the lab. Giving her head a shake, Elena cursed. She must have fallen asleep in the middle of working. What was she working on again?

Bruce frowned at the many tools that were scattered in front of her, narrowing his eyes. He carefully picked up one of the syringes. "What were you doing last night?" he asked, squinting at the label. "Did you drug yourself?"

"No!" Elena said. "Well, yes. Kind of? Look, I needed to extract stem cells."

"Stem cells?"

Elena could see the gears turning in his head, and she couldn't help but grin when the realization struck him. She chuckled at his reaction.

"Stem cells! Of course!" Bruce moved to a screen, pulling up holograms. "Unspecialized cells that can develop into anything given the right conditions." He suddenly paused, his head snapping to face Elena. "But they take days to harvest. You'd have to take that drug for several days before—did you overdose?"

"I know what I'm doing."

"How in the world did you become a doctor?"

"I'm not a doctor anymore, Doctor," Elena sighed. "I don't have to play by the rules."

"You could have killed yourself. Or worse."

"But I didn't," Elena insisted. "I can see my cells. I know when it'll be too much."

"You're spending way too much time with Tony."

She snorted. "Heard that before."

"Y'all talking 'bout me? Good things, right?"

Bruce crossed his arms as Tony strolled in. "You tell me."

Tony made a face, offering a fist bump to Elena only to be declined. He huffed and rolled his eyes, stopping midway when he noticed the syringes on the table. His eyebrows raised when he looked to the holograms that Bruce had pulled up. "What in the world are stem cells?" he muttered. "Jarvis?"

Jarvis didn't even get through the first sentence of the Wikipedia page he had begun reciting before Tony shut him down. "No, that's enough of that." He pursed his lip at the silence that came next. "Now, it's too quiet. Jarvis, play Shoot to Thrill."

Elena groaned at the beat that began playing. She hated hard rock. It was too loud for her tastes. She glanced over at Bruce who didn't even bat an eye. He just turned and began cleaning up the mess she had made last night as if he was used to the music.

Sighing, Elena rummaged through the cabinets for a catheter, or a plastic tube. Closing her fingers around one, she took a deep breath. It had been too long since she held one in her hands.

"You good there, Dumpling?" Tony yelled over the loud music.

"Fantastic." She turned. "You don't happen to have an apheresis, do you?"

"I have everything you've ever dreamed of," he said, nodding to one of the machines against the wall. "Come on. I'll get you hooked up."

Elena nodded and followed Tony, grabbing a chair on the way. Sitting, she let her head roll back and rest on the chair. She watched Tony set up the apheresis, so that it would separate her stem cells.

There were two ways things could go once they had the cells. Either her whole body had been affected during the experiment which would have affected how her cells were made, and would therefore affect the new stem cells or her stem cells were normal and they could replace the cells that were in her eyes.

Of course, there was another path but Elena preferred not to think about it. Unfortunately, it was the very thing Tony had decided to bring up. What if something went wrong with her stem cells because she had overdosed? She didn't know the effects.

"What?" Elena asked over the music when she realized Tony had been talking. He tried again, but Elena just shook her head. "No, stop. Jarvis, stop it."

Tony glared at her, but he didn't make a move. "I said I didn't see you as the type of person who takes risks. Overdosing to get your cells to do their things take guts. I like it."

"I've been told I've been spending way too much time around you."

Tony snorted, mocking anger. "There's no such thing as too much time with me. I mean, have you seen me? I'm like a flashlight."

"I'm not sure having a beacon as a body is such a good thing," Elena said. "It puts a target on your back."

"Gimme your arm."

Tony took the catheter from her hand and easily found the vein in her arm. Elena gritted her teeth, bracing for the sharp jolt. She kept her eyes on Tony's steady hands and clenched her own fists. The pain never came, and Elena looked up in surprise. "What are you waiting for?"

Tony frowned. "I'm no doctor, but aren't we supposed to put you under anesthesia?"

"Don't need it," she replied. "Come on. You're wasting time. We don't have all day."

"Actually, we do."

"Shut up."

Tony laughed. He carefully inserted the catheter, and Elena gasped. With all the talking, she had lowered her guard. She bit down on her tongue and shut her eyes. She tasted blood.

"Regretting everything?"

Elena opened her eyes. "I could kill you right now," she said, voice tight.

"Dumpling, I'm basically doing surgery on you right now. Try to keep the threats to a minimum."

Her stomach growled at the name, and Tony blinked. "Good grief, you're hungry too? I hate to break it to you, but cannibalism is illegal."

Elena groaned. "That target on your back is looking real appealing."

"The bigger the better." Tony chuckled, messing with the catheter. He squinted at it. "This is right, right?"

"I thought the great Tony Stark was too great to ask help from poor peasants."

"This is a privilege, Dumpling. Would you rather me call for Banner?"

"Don't you dare." Elena scowled at him over her glasses. She glanced down at her arm. "It's fine. Hook me up."

"Are you scared of him?"

"Of course not. I just don't think he'd appreciate us risk takers."

Blood began cycling out of Elena's vein and into the apheresis, where the stem cells would separate from the rest of the stream that would eventually end up back in Elena's body. Elena watched the cells as Tony continued to talk.

"You sure?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "I don't know about you, but I don't particularly like being reprimanded about my health."

"No," Tony hummed. "You just don't want to anger him. What do you have against big green beings?"

"Bruce has more control than that."

"How do you know?"

She didn't. She just hoped. "I just do," she lied, cursing. "Shit, Tony. Are you trying to get a target?"

The sincerity in his answer surprised her. Elena blinked.

"Everyone has a target on their back," he said. "Even that person in pajamas at Target. The difference is in size. I just so happen to have a big one that isn't getting smaller any time soon, so—why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry," she said. "Just didn't expect you to have any profound wisdom."

"Excuse you," he scoffed. "I'm the wisest man you've ever met."

"No. I believe the wisest man I've had the privilege of knowing was my biology college professor."

Tony crossed his arms. "That's where you're wrong," he retorted.

"No, I—" Elena lurched forward. The room spun in circles, and she rubbed her temples at the sight of her three feet.

"Dumpling?" Tony yelped in alarm.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Elena groaned.

Tony's hand hovered over the apheresis. "You sure?"

Her stomach growled. "I'm just hungry."

Tony's phone was out in a second. "What do you want? I'll order."

"Dumplings," she whispered.

The word took a second to sink in, and Tony looked up. Elena imagined his smirk. "What?" he said.

"Dumplings, damn it."

"Cannibalism is—"

"Just order the food."

Tony chuckled, dialing a number. He turned as he spoke into his phone.

Sitting up, Elena turned to her arm. She sighed. Overdosing to get her stem cells was a risk, and it seemed to have no effect. At least, none that was noticeable. It was the first of many risks that she would have to take in the coming days. And she couldn't help but wonder when her luck would run out.

She could only go so far without something going wrong.

...

Is it cheating if I add the word count of another story to my Camp NaNo word count? There's only a week left and I don't know if I can handle Elena anymore lol. 

That's a lie. I just don't want to handle chapter fifteen. Just lemme get to the fun stuff that happens afterwards please. 

Earlier today, a friend commented on how productive I am everyday and I was like "hold up, we're talking about the same person right? Because the me I know ain't productive." 

And then she said I managed to practice piano, violin, and ukulele everyday along with writing and school work. Plus, I have time to procrastinate on YouTube and other random crap. 

This has nothing to do with the fanfiction, but I found that shocking. It's my life summed up. Productive but procrastinating at the same time. 

Oh. I didn't edit this chapter either.