Time To Get Your Head Back
The next week was spent training as much as possible. Mornings and early afternoons with Steve and Sam, the rest of the afternoon with Barnes, and the evenings working with her powers. Her only break was a few days ago when she got lunch with Bradley. Other than that, Ren had been working herself so hard that she passed out the second her head hit the pillow every night. She didn’t dream.
Monday morning came with a surprise. Fresh out of the shower she made her way to the kitchen. Since that night the team had made a habit of having breakfast together. Luckily everyone liked waffles.
Including the new figure standing by the island. Once the curly hair and familiar face processed she squealed in excitement and ran toward their guest.
“Bruce!” She cried, throwing an arm over his shoulder.
He smiled and looked up from the file he was reading. Ren recognized those scans, it was Buckys file.
“Ren,” He replied as he took his glasses off, she stepped back to give him space, “It’s nice to see you again,”
“You too. God, where have you been? I feel like it’s been impossible to get a hold of you lately,”
“Well, I’ve been a little busy,”
“With what?” She asked, busying herself with the coffee maker.
“I uh, I was back in India for a bit,” He explained, “Then I got the offer to work with this company in South Korea. They’re called U-GIN, and they’re doing some amazing things. Their lead scientist, Dr. Helen Cho, she’s just brilliant,”
A raised eyebrow, “Oh?”
“It’s not like that,” Bruce chuckled, “The things she’s working on right now could be revolutionary,”
The coffee machine began to gurgle.
“Like what?” Ren asked as she perched on the edge of the counter.
He leaned his forearms on the granite top, “A few things. There’s something called the cradle that could be real useful after missions. It can repair external injuries in minutes. There’s another project that does essentially the same thing on the inside, with some sort of nanotech,” Nano Tech? Stark had been toying with the idea of nanotech too, but according to him that kind of technology was years away, "Steve sent me Barnes’ file while I was there, and Dr. Cho thinks it can be adapted for use on the brain,”
“Wait, seriously? Bruce that’s huge!”
“Yeah,” He smiled, “I think we’ll be able to help him,”
“That’s good,” Another voice said from the hallway behind her, it was Steve.
Ren hopped off the counter as the Captain joined them. He walked up and shook Bruce’s hand, it seemed very formal.
“It’s nice to see you again Dr. Banner,”
Oh yeah, Steve probably didn’t know Bruce as well as she did.
“You too Captain,”
“If you’re ready to get to work we can head down to the lab. Buck should be down there already,”
“Absolutely,” Banner replied and gestured toward the elevator, “Lead the way,”
…
An hour later Banner, Barnes, and Rogers were presumably still in the lab. She had a feeling they would be there all day. She’d had some breakfast and a couple cups of coffee, before working on her little project. Now in her training clothes, she was debating between the gym or the reinforced training room. Craving some more old-fashioned exercise she opted for the gym.
It wasn’t empty when she got there. Sam was working with one of the punching bags. She opened the glass door and walked over to her little locker. All it held were boxing gloves, hand wraps, a water bottle, and some extra hair ties.
“I thought you’d be in the lab with the others,”
“I don’t think I’d be much help in there,” She said, turning to Sam.
Walking over to the punching bags she sat on one of the benches and leaned against the massive window. The glass was several inches thick and could withstand hurricane-force winds. She set to work wrapping her hands.
“Still,” Sam told her, “I doubt Barnes would mind a friendly face,”
“Well, that’s what Steve’s for,”
“All right, a pretty face,”
“Again, that’s what Steve’s for,”
Wilson laughed and shook his head. Ren knew what he was trying to get at, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of bringing up their conversation from the other week. Instead, they worked at the bags in companionable silence, until he suggested they spar.
A while later the pair was covered in sweat. They talked about the sparring session and pointed out the other's weak spots to work on next time. Then Sam made a bold request - he wanted to help her train with her abilities.
Surprisingly she accepted and they spent a few hours trying different drills in the special training room. He gave her some suggestions on creative ways to use her fire in a fight. When she tried them she realized that she was seriously underutilizing her abilities. Maybe she should’ve worked with other people sooner.
…
Sam was annoyingly healthy and convinced her to have a balanced lunch. Afterward, he left to go to the VA. Since moving to the tower he had been trying to get involved with the veteran community again. Ren had a sneaking suspicion that he was also helping Steve recruit ex-military types for his new S.H.I.E.L.D..
So she was alone on the top levels of Avengers Tower. A few floors up from the usual residential level was an open-concept lounge that took up almost an entire floor, including a big outdoor area. It was furnished with plush couches and a fully stocked minibar. Grabbing a book from her room Ren took the elevator up there.
But, settled into a couch with the book open on her lap, she found herself unable to focus.
“JARVIS,” She called.
“Yes, Miss Wright,” The accented voice replied.
She hesitated, “Are Barnes and Bruce still in the lab?”
“Yes ma’am, as is Captain Rogers,”
“Is… is it going well?”
This time the AI hesitated. It might’ve been a strange question to ask any other program, but JARVIS was both intelligent and intuitive enough to understand. Sometimes, he was almost human.
“Yes,” He finally said, “I believe it is ma’am,”
“Thanks JARVIS,” She said quietly, nodding to herself,”
“Of course,” Was the ever polite reply.
Curiosity somewhat satiated she took out her bookmark and started reading. A minute or two later she moved herself from a couch by the window to one on the deck. It was near the edge and overlooked the city. Good thing Ren wasn’t afraid of heights. Although she couldn’t feel the cold breeze very well, it felt nice and helped to cool her down a little. Now she settled back into the novel and was able to make it through a few chapters.
Then her Stark phone started to buzz. Nat was calling. Accepting the call, Nat’s face popped up on the clear screen with Clint right behind her.