GOOD HEALTH AND PIONEERING
.

If it weren't for Steve waking her up and driving her to the hospital the next morning, Sadie would have slept right through her alarm and missed visiting hours. He'd slept on the couch again, which made her feel impossibly guilty, but if Sadie was honest with herself, even that had been a bad idea.

The morning as it was, was far too blissful. She couldn't imagine what would've been like if Steve had taken up her offer to sleep beside her, and build a wall of pillows between them. Sadie thought he probably understood that the wall wouldn't prove as much of a barrier, and she knew it too. She was glad at least one of them was sensible.

Now, they sat together, Sadie leaning against him, Steve sketching the sunflowers that rested on her mother's table. The movements of his hands were feather light, the strokes of the pencil even softer. Sadie couldn't take her eyes off it.

"You'd think you would be watching me more closely, Doctor Moore." Shan's voice caused both Sadie and Steve to jump- but her momentary shock made way for immense relief. Shan Moore was finally awake, twenty-six hours after her first surgery.

"Ma," Sadie said, with a gasp as she rushed to her mother's side, and kissed her on both cheeks. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, if anything, my head hurts a little but... Strange did crack open my skull," Shan smiled. "Now, Shelly-girl, did I not teach you good manners? We never leave a guest unintroduced."

"Oh," Sadie grinned. "Mom, this is Steve, the one I was telling you about."

"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Steve smiled, politely.

He went to shake Shan's hand, but Sadie already knew that was a bad choice. She smiled fondly at the two of them as Shan took Steve's hand in her own, turned over his palm, and stared at them.

"Do you want to know your future, boy?" Shan said, a grin on her face.

"I wouldn't want to tire you," Steve said, but Shan's contagious smile had already spread, and he was mirroring the expression.

"Mom, let's at least get you a doctor, first," Sadie said, pressing the call button. "Wyatt's the neuro on call, he'll do a good enough job."

"Tsk, Shell, you're no fun- she's no fun, is she?"

"I'm plenty fun!" Sadie laughed. "Aren't I, Steve?"

"Hey," Steve chuckled, putting up his hands and taking a step back. "Not my place— this seems like a family feud."

"You're a traitor," Sadie told him, before handing her mother some new headwraps. "And I'm guessing you don't want these, ma'am?"

"Oh, I never said that," Shan said, inspecting the vibrant materials. "Well, Shell if you won't let me do a reading, then you gotta go to Josephine." Shan then turned to Steve. "Now, Steve. I consider myself a good, Christian woman-"

"Yeah, that's what she puts on her dating profiles," Sadie snorted.

"I took you to church, didn't I?" Shan said, and Sadie couldn't argue with that. "As I was saying- I'm a good, Christian woman, but sometimes you gotta indulge a little. You just take it all with a pinch of salt. Shell, take him to Josephine."

"What, Josephine all the way in the Heights?" Sadie asked, with a laugh.

She'd never been to visit the notorious New York fortune teller, but she'd heard tales of eerily accurate predictions. Rosa Arnold from eighth grade would be the first to marry, and she was. Harry McKenzie from legal would suffer a tremendous loss, and he was fired that same week- even Adrianne had been told she would discover a miracle, the same year young Jacob was conceived.

"We can't leave you here alone, Mom," Sadie said, honestly.

"Call that sister of yours, she flew across the ocean to keep me company," Shan laughed. "And if you stay, all I'll do is sleep, and all you'll do is read those files of yours 'till your eyes fall out."

"Mom, I-"

"Steve, this woman needs dragging out of here," Shan said, matter-of-factly. "Take her to one-seventy second street. You're looking for Josephine's, on top of that old Louisiana kitchen. Tell her Shan sent you."

And that was that, it seemed. Sadie spent part of the car journey to the Heights making calls- to Savannah, to tell her their mom was awake, and Adrianne to confirm that yes, 'I don't mind taking the kids on Friday."

When Sadie had called Strange to say thank you, he'd responded that it didn't make up for the fact that she doubted his abilities to begin with. She'd argued that her distress the previous day wasn't a professional criticism, but a human worry. Strange, of course, took that with some skepticism.

The knowledge that her mother was getting healthier calmed Sadie in a way that was indescribable. To see Shan laughing and smiling, trying on the many different head wraps she'd requested Sadie bring her to keep her shaved head warm, and to see the progress of her condition confirmed- it was glory at its finest. And what was almost as glorious, was to have Steve Rogers in the driver's seat of her car, as they sang badly to radio tunes they didn't know the lyrics to.

When they reached Josephine's shop- or practise, Sadie felt was more the word- it was an adventure of itself, up rickety staircases and through bead curtains. Josephine was an interesting lady, who looked nothing at all like Sadie would expect.

She was pale skinned, with neat red hair and blue eyes, and she was quite young for the legends Sadie had heard. Her frame was large and voluminous, and her voice held a thick Scottish accent that stuck out in the sea of New York tones. It turned out that Shan's name pulled them no strings whatsoever, and they had to haggle for the price of even a five minute consultation. But Steve ended up striking them an impressive deal.

"Where did you learn those tricks?" Sadie asked him, quietly, as they followed Josephine through the shop. She caught sight of her reflection in a crystal ball and pulled a tongue at it.

"German occupied France," he shrugged. "Trying to get market stalls to take American dollars. Dernier, he was in the Commandos, used to translate- I could hardly speak a word of it then."

"And now?"

"Je suis un expert, ma chérie," Steve said, lowly, and her heart skipped a beat.

"That sounds pretty simple simple to me," she grinned. "Did being flirtatious work back then, too?"

"It's France, everyone's flirtatious," Steve said, but his smile didn't last long as he glanced around them. "I'll be honest, Sadie, I'm not sure about all this. She's leading us deeper and deeper into this place."

"Sit," Josephine said suddenly, as she sat herself down on a low stool in front of a table of reclaimed wood, and poured them two cups of tea.

"We're here now," Sadie said to Steve, settling herself down. He sat beside her.

"Give me your hand," the woman said, and Sadie complied. Steve was a little slower to. "Yours as well sir!"

Sadie grinned over at him as he reluctantly put his left hand forwards beside her right, palm up.

"If you're going to tell me I'll live a long life, I know that much already," Steve said, and Sadie held back her chuckle.

The palm reader smiled, with a certain twinkle in her eye. "Palm reading isn't to tell you how long you will live, sir. It's to tell you how you will live."

"So, what's what?" Sadie said, trying to compensate.

"These are your heart lines," Josephine said, tracing their palms. "Both strangely similar, yet they couldn't be more different. Yours, young man, is criss-crossed, whereas your lady's is broken. But both mean emotional trauma. You have seen war, and betrayal, sickness and death."

"What a great place to start," Sadie said. She knew the palm reader was telling them general information, and emotional trauma wasn't a hard thing to guess.

"Both are straight, but not short," Josephine turned to Steve. "Do you notice the big difference?"

"Sadie's is longer," he answered, as Sadie sipped her tea with her free hand.

"Yes, it ends just under the index finger," Josephine nodded, before turning back to Sadie. "How long have you been single, ma'am?"

Sadie almost choked. She set down her cup. "Excuse me?"

"You were once engaged, you loved the man deeply," Josephine said. "How long have you been single?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sadie asked, but the palm reader remained quiet. "Alright... four years."

"Ha!" Josephine laughed, and she couldn't pretend it didn't sting. "Makes sense. If the line ends below the finger, it means you're picky with lovers! But you are bonny, aren't you? If a man has your attention he's very lucky indeed."

Sadie made a point not to look at Steve.

"Sir, your head line is short, and straight," Josephine said. "It means that you think very clearly. You're set in your morals and that's your greatest strength. But it's a double edged sword. That stubbornness is your greatest flaw. Be careful of it in the coming year."

"Oh, you don't even know," Sadie laughed, revelling in Steve's offended expression. "He definitely always thinks he's right."

"What's interesting is your life line too, sir, " Josephine continued, and Steve flexed his palm. "It's broken. Indicates an abrupt change in your life but... something tells me that has already passed. You can't return to how things were, and it troubles you deeply."

This was something that everybody knew about Steve, Sadie understood that. If Josephine recognised him then she recognised his accomplishments, the world he was born into and the one he found himself in. But he seemed to have let go of his reservations, as Steve listened intensely to Josephine's words.

"It used to," Steve said. "Not anymore."

"Not anymore," Josephine repeated, curiously. "Your fate line is joined to it. Tells me you are self made, and individualistic."

"Captain America," Sadie whispered to him, quiet only for him to hear and he nudged her with a laugh.

"Your life line, Doctor Moore," Josephine said, ignoring their banter. Sadie didn't remember ever telling her her name. "Is curved but runs close to your thumb. It's a contradiction. You tire easily, and yet are full of vitality."

"So, she's lazy," Steve said, looking extremely satisfied to repay her teasing. Sadie rolled her eyes, holding back a smile. She failed to hide it.

"Your fate line is incredibly faint," Josephine told her. "Destiny doesn't control you, rather it's vice versa. And your head line- sloped and curved, makes you creative but careful with your line of thinking."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means you need to let go a little," Josephine said with a small smile. "In fact, that goes for both of you. Embrace your emotions. There's something gnawing on your hearts, and you're running short on time. Now, is the time to act. Before external forces obstruct your goals."

"What forces?" Sadie asked, with a frown. "Obstructing what?"

"Only your deepest desire at this time," Josephine said, looking between the two of them. "Surely, you both know what that is? And that it's the same, for the two of you?"

"No, we don't know what that is," Sadie said, somewhat annoyed, but Steve was quiet. "Why can't you just tell us?"

"You only paid for five minutes," Josephine smiled mischievously, closing their palms. That was when Steve snatched his hand away from her, and stood.

"Seriously?" Sadie said. "My goals are life changing shit. My job is to try and cure as many people as possible, and if something's going to get in the way of that, I need to know!"

"C'mon Sadie, it's a sales tactic," Steve said, pulling her up, but she still couldn't shake the chills that ran down her spine. "They always end this sort of thing on a cliffhanger so you'll open your wallet again. And I'm guessing it usually works?"

"Take a look around you, Captain Rogers," Josephine said, calmly. "We are clearly not in profit."

"Regardless," Steve snapped. "The only one who knows my fate is God. And if He's written it in my palms, it's certainly not in a language you, or anyone else can understand."

Sadie believed it too. But for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that she would have to uncover the truth of Josephine's words. And soon.

~

Sadie never thought she would undergo psychiatric therapy, let alone family therapy. She never thought she would have the chance to rebuild those bridges.

And yet, she felt a weight off her chest, after having spent the past hour in a psychiatrist's office with her sister. Their mother cleverly requested she and Savannah book in for therapy right before her surgery, telling them that they couldn't deny her 'potential dying wish'.

"What do the two of you want to achieve?" the psychiatrist asked them. She was a kind woman, who clearly loved her job.

"For us to be sisters again," Savannah had said and Sadie almost broke down hearing it. "To heal."

It was strange, how much her mindset had changed in the past two days- no longer was Sadie wallowing in self pity, she finally felt like herself again, although not any less tired. And having finally finished deciphering each of the inventions in Cho's files, she was ready to shed this weight too.

"I can't take those off you, Sadie," Helen said, raining on her parade. It had taken a lot of work to catch Helen Cho, and now that she had finally managed to find the geneticist, the answer was no?

"There's nothing more I can possibly do with them," Sadie explained, tapping her fingers against the glass desk. Everything seemed to be glass in the Stark Lab. "I've been through them all and it's all amazing stuff-"

"Don't tell me," Helen said, and there was a fear in her eyes. "Don't tell me any of it. Not until you're sure they can't be weaponised."

"I'm a doctor," Sadie reminded her. "Not a weapons specialist. I've done my best, but this isn't my area of expertise. They all look pretty innocent to me."

"Innocent?" Helen repeated, and Sadie nodded. The woman stood, turning her back. "Those ideas, they all came from the sceptre. They're all a product of Ultron's control over me. I cannot accept that every single one of those is innocent."

Sadie stood too, walking over to her colleague and friend, even when she wouldn't look at her. But Helen didn't have to look at Sadie for her to know- the fear of being controlled, was precisely what was controlling her.

"Helen," Sadie said, slowly. "Ultron is gone. He's been completely wiped out, you have nothing to fear. Every trace of him is gone."

"Not every trace of him," Cho said. She raised a finger to her temple. "He's still in here. He's still in the ruins of Sokovia. We still haven't replaced all of the staff he killed- my team, that he annihilated. So, don't tell me he's gone just because you, and the Avengers have moved on."

Sadie was stunned at that. It was all true, of course. How often did the team talk about the chaos they'd left behind? Perhaps it was a coping mechanism- if you don't talk about it, you don't have to deal with the trauma. But that was still wrong.

"I'm sorry," Sadie sighed, despite knowing her apologies would hold no weight. She brought the conversation back to work. "Can you get me a panel?"

"My top staff posts are empty," Helen said, and she felt stupid. Her top staff were dead. "There's just me, and I can't trust myself."

"I can't do this on my own, Helen," Sadie said. "I have no clue what out of this-" she gestured to the two high piles of papers on the desk. "-is weaponisable. I have no clue."

Helen only held her gaze, before speaking slowly. "Then you know who to ask."

Sadie sighed, again. She did know. And she'd have to swallow her pride to do it.

~

"A machine that gives you the perfect genetic testing in fifteen minutes," Sadie proposed, unable to contain her grin. "We could identify predispositions to diseases, therefore preventing symptoms or development with a ninety percent success rate. Crohn's Disease? Never heard of it. Cancer? Not on my watch."

Tony Stark only hummed in response, eyeing the papers from where he sat back in his seat, twirling the sleek metal pen he held in his hand, ever nonchalant. Sadie wondered how he had ever run a business with this attitude. But then again, she supposed he probably never had many employees knocking on the door of his compound demanding an instant meeting.

"Bold claims," he said. "How's it work?"

"By analysing genomes."

"I mean, what's your initial apparatus?" Tony pushed. The look on his face told her he expected something larger than what she had.

Sadie frowned. "A needle?"

"A needle," he repeated, with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't be like that," she warned.

"Okay, okay," Tony said, sitting up at last. "So, a needle. You, uh, what- draw blood? Put it in some kind of scanner?"

"Exactly," Sadie nodded, glad he was understanding.

"Sounds good. But also not very innovative for the Chief of Medical Innovations," he shrugged, standing up. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, pull up the digital blueprints of this plan."

"Already done," the digital assistant answered, and a projection of the equipment emerged from the glass table.

"Sheesh," Tony said, cringing as he stared at it. "This is what happens when a doctor tries to be an engineer."

"Hey, these are Cho's ideas, not mine," Sadie argued. "Besides, we're not supposed to be making these into a reality right now. That's for U-Gin to do."

"What about... nanotech?" Tony continued, ignoring her. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, replace this with something logical."

"I've merged your invisible shield algorithm with the one the prints propose," F.R.I.D.A.Y answered. "The result is impressive."

"What is it?" Sadie asked.

Tony took a moment to scan over the coding, and the projection of the new machine. "Non-invasive. Spray it on like an aerosol- nanoparticles will be able to capture an image of the genomes."

"Then what? Broadcast them to some software that would be able to decipher the coding?" Sadie asked, and Tony nodded, encouraging her to continue. She stood, taking a closer look. "So, that would give you the full data of the patient's DNA. So you'd be able to get a multi-faceted view, see what alleles they carry, not only what's expressed."

"But, we have a key question. Is this weaponisable?" Tony said. "What are you thinking, Intern?"

"I don't know," Sadie said. "That's why I'm here."

"Of course you don't know," Tony said, somewhat amused. "But, what do you think? Can this be used for... evil purposes?"

"Yes," Sadie said. "This technology could tell us exactly what the target's immune system is vulnerable to. It could analyse behavioural patterns, it could be used to add to genes, and even eradicate or mutate them. So, it is weaponisable..."

Sadie thought back to what she'd heard Josephine, their palm reader, tell her that week. That something would obstruct her goals if she didn't act. Perhaps this was the time. Perhaps this was what she had meant, all along.

"I feel like there's a 'but' about to follow that statement," Tony said.

"But, there is so much good it could do!" Sadie's mind was being pulled two ways. "We could save so many lives with this technology, cure so many diseases! And yeah, it's weaponisable but, so what?"

"So what?" Tony repeated, with a wide grin.

"Everything is!"

"You could weaponise a pen," he said, simply.

"A table!"

"A goddamn tree," Tony said. He extended his arms. "Look who you're talking to, Moore-"

"You weaponised an outfit!" Sadie laughed, suddenly unable to stand still.

"Not exactly how it works, but sure," he said. "The point is- you can weaponise anything. You want the short answer that you came here for? All of this is weaponisable. But are you gonna scrap the whole thing because of it?"

"No. And am I going to ignore all the good it could do because of a few bad guys?" Sadie asked, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with excitement. "Hell, no!"

"Hell, no!"

"We're gonna make this shit foolproof, Tony," Sadie said, aware of how fast her speech was. She couldn't slow down if she tried. "You're gonna help me, and we're gonna make this work. Nobody is using any of this for bad, 'cause we're going to make sure they can't. You're gonna help me.''

"You know, I got my own projects going on..." Tony teased, and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. But Stark Industries has gotta own at least fifty percent of this."

"We own seventy," Sadie grinned, and it was beyond satisfying to see she had caught him off-guard. "You may call me an intern, Tony, but I'm not working for free."

"Remind me to thank Steve," he said, out of nowhere, making his way over to a shelf and pouring two glasses of scotch.

"For what?" Sadie smirked, although she already knew the answer. She just wanted to hear him say it.

"For getting you fired all those years ago, so you could come and work for me," Tony said, handing her a glass. "Don't let me forget."

"He really did get me fired, huh?" she laughed, swirling the cup in her hand.

"Mmm," Tony hummed. "I mean, if I were you, I would've just dumped him there and then. You don't need a man dragging you down, sister."

"Shut up, you know it's not like that." Sadie said.

"Oh, it is," Tony shrugged. "You're all he talks about."

"Shut up," she repeated, but the look on Tony's face didn't change. She was silent for a moment, considering if she should ask. In the end she supposed there was no harm. "What's he say?"

"Can't tell you. What sort of friend do you think I am?" he gasped, in mock offence.

"God, I hate you!"

"Let's make a toast," Tony grinned, raising his glass. "To good health, and pioneering."

"That's so pretentious, Stark," she said, but clinked her glass against his any. "Good health and pioneering."

...
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.

Hi all! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I very much enjoyed writing it- it is of course the biggest relief that Shan pulled through, she's a tough one and even nearly sent Stadie on a date there, but I had to fill it with some angst because we all know the horror show that is to come

Also, had to include some Tinkering Tony™️ in here because I miss him literally SO much and Sadie highkey needs an engineer for these projects Cho gave her because although our girl is smart, she cant do what he can without studying first

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and how you are all doing!

Made this chapter quite long for you guys since the next few weeks could be a little chaotic for me as I'm moving to university, I'm going to try to prewrite some chapters like I did for exam season but I'll keep you updated on my message board.

As usual, please vote and interact in the comments it means the absolute world to me!!

-Amber.