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."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark."

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Tony reasoned and I zoned out to focus on the calculations to be made on the "tablet".

I snapped back to reality after watching Steve walk out of the lab, a sense of indignance radiating off of him as he left.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." Tony wondered out loud.

"The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."

"If he makes a move at the right time, it could be devastating for everyone." I thought out loud, but continued to hold my silence as I listened to the rest of their conversation.

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does."

"And we'll read all about it."

"Uh-huh. Or you two'll be suiting up like the rest of us."

"Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor, neither does Ash. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare. And she's only indestructible to a certain point, her core is like her heart, one shot there and-" Bruce snapped his fingers for emphasis before trailing off, "She's done for..."

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." Tony stopped to tap the ring of glowing blue on his chest, "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."

"But you can control it."

"Because I learned how."

"It's different."

Banner tries to read the computer screen, but Tony slides the data aside with his finger so the two can see face-to-face.

"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out."

Banner and Stark get back to work at their respective computers.

"You might not like that."

"You just might."

There was a tense silence until a knock sounded at the door and they turned to see Dr. Miller with a thick folder in her hand.

"I have the results of Ash's tests and you're gonna want to follow up on requirements with Director Fury." Dr. Miller handed Bruce the packet and gave me a little wave, which I returned with a small smile. Bruce thanked her and she left, leaving him to start flipping through the packets.

"What does it say for requirements?" Tony asked knowingly.

"'Patient will need to wear a specialized containment suit', I suppose you've already seen it?" Bruce asked Tony after he had trailed off from reading the required result.

"Yep, made some modifications to it seeing as how their initial design was... poorly done."

"Ok?"

"What else does it say?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah what type of alien is she even?" Tony asked as he took one of the packets from the folder and flipped through it.

"Well, according to Thor, I'm a Chrysinthean and it sounds familiar, but I'm not sure..."

"Your muscle and bone density are way beyond what a human's should be, yet your entire body weight is less than anyone on this ship and your blood shows a new element we've never seen before." Bruce showed me the papers that showed me my skeleton and notes made after the blood extraction.

"Ooh a new element? Been there, done that" Tony looked at the papers in interest.

"Her DNA is constantly fluctuating to suit her environment I supposed it should be called..."

"Polynium?" I suggested, surprised that that name came to me so quickly.

"Sounds boring," Tony turned away to study another packet, "Huh, says here she has three hearts and stomachs, and her bones are hollow."

"That's not normal to human standards." Bruce stated and I just sat there taking this all in, trying to see if it was jogging any memories.

"Neither is my fifth finger." I blurted out and they both looked at me weirdly.

"On my planet almost everyone had four fingers, the pinky was considered useless and a disorder." I explained holding them up.

"Then how would you flip someone off?" Tony asked dubiously.

"What does-" I was about to ask when Bruce made a face saying I didn't want to know and I closed my mouth.

"Did you just remember that?" Bruce realized I had never told him that fact before.

"It just came to me, just like with the Polynium name."

"So there is some hope in you regaining your memories."

"And what if she doesn't?" Tony inquired, "What if she never figures out where she comes from."

"Then, I do not know what I'm going to do..." I whispered quietly. After a few seconds of silence, Tony walked over to me and looked me dead in the eyes,

"What's past is past, who you are now should be what matters, hm?" He went back over to his workbench as he went to work on something and Bruce continued to flip through the packets of test results, leaving me to process Tony's words.

1384 Words