o8.| OPENING THIS DOOR

HOURS WENT BY AS TONY AND JASMINE WORKED ALONG WITH THE PROGRAMMING FOR PROJECT SYNTHESIS. Every few minutes, Jasmine would cough, and Tony would give her a concerning expression, something that she would wish that he wouldn't do. She knew that he was concerned for her. That he was worried about everything that she was going through, but she hated it. She hated that all of her friends were worried about her and they wanted nothing more than to figure out a way to save her. And that was the same position that she found herself in every single day of her life.

A heavy sigh left her lips as she held a tablet in her hands as Tony was moving and merging pieces of the project together. Jasmine glanced over toward the older man and she tilted her head to the side as she stared at him for a second. He wore his glasses on his face as he worked on her project and she offered him a small smile as he did. She clenched her jaw as she stared at the older man before she pulled her attention back over toward the projection in the center of the room.

Her dark hair had been pulled back into a messy bun and she shook her head for a second as she stared up at the projection. Jasmine bit down on her lower lip as she glanced over toward the chamber that had been created for the purpose of Project Synthesis and she furrowed her brows as she stared at the chamber. She knew that eventually; someone was going to have a Host created of themself. A new version that was going to jump into the world, that was still themself, and yet, wasn't entirely. It was a new being that was going to be brought into the world and Jasmine was worried.

She was worried about the sanity of the Host that was going to emerge from the chamber. She thought about nothing more than the Cradle that had birthed Vision. It was the memory that she thought about it day in and day out as she thought about Project Synthesis and she knew that something dangerous and something evil could come from it. There were so many things that could emerge from the chamber and she just hoped that everyone was going to be safe because that was all that she was ever going to hope for them.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "How are you doing over there?" Tony called out to her and she tilted her head. She didn't know how to entirely answer that question, and she wished she did.

She wanted to give Tony the answer that he wanted to hear, not something that she fabricated to make him feel better. She wanted him to not worry about her, but he was always going to worry about her. There was no stopping any of the Avengers from worrying about her and she knew that. She knew that she could never stop any of the Avengers from worrying about her.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "Oh, you know, Stark. Working on a project that I never thought was ever going to see the light of day," She answered from her tablet that she held in her hand. She glanced down to the tablet again and she glanced around the projection over toward Tony, meeting his eyes. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, before she let out a sigh. "I have a lot to think about with this project and I don't want you guys to have to worry about what's going to come out of the chamber."

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Tony stared at her for a few seconds, before he nodded his head, "I know that you're worried about that and that's a valid thing. But you should know that if something bad comes out of there, we're going to be able to fix it. We're going to be able to stop whatever comes out of there, whether it needs it or not."

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Jasmine stared at Tony before she lowered the tablet in her hand. She bit down on her lower lip, before she shook her head, "Do you think that this is a smart decision for me? Do you think . . . that I should be opening this door for myself?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "I think that it's something that needs to be done," Tony answered as he took a few steps around the projection, his eyes locked on her. "I think that you have a lot to offer the world and this way, we have you to give the world what you offer. To make the world a better place, no matter what we have to do in order to accomplish that."

Jasmine offered Tony a small smile as she stared at him before she could feel a tickle begin to creep up in her throat. She clenched her jaw for a moment before the cough began to erupt in her throat and she began to break out into an eruption of coughs. Jasmine coughed and she covered her mouth as she coughed, before Tony furrowed his brows in confusion as he stared at her. He didn't know what was going on as he stared at her, and she didn't know what was going on, either.

And that was when everything began to unravel.

Her knees weakened beneath her and she collapsed to the floor. Her breathing was heavy, and she could feel her chest was heavy beneath it as she glanced around her. Her eyes were up at the ceiling above her and Tony began to make his way over toward her. The older man stared down at Jasmine for a moment and rested a hand on her forehead, brushing it out of her hair as he stared down at her.

Her vision began to blur as she stared up at the ceiling before she could see Tony disappear from the corner of her eyes. She inhaled sharply as she laid on the floor before everything around her went black.