Chapter 7
“If you could just sit here for a second, I’ll get the stuff together to draw some blood,” Bruce said, pointing her to a chair in the lab. The room was huge, filled with gleaming metal counters and high tech gadgets she didn’t even pretend to recognize. Bruce moved around the room with practiced ease, collecting syringes and test tubes from neatly organized cabinets. Celia glanced at something bubbling in a beaker to her left, letting off a puff of smoke every few seconds.
“Don’t worry about that,” Bruce laughed, rolling to a stop on a stool in front of her. “It shouldn’t blow up anytime soon.” She gave him a curious look, shrugging it off. Why not get caught up in an explosion too? That would fit in with this day.
“I want to take your blood pressure first, just to make sure it’s safe to take blood after you lost a bit earlier,” Bruce said, attaching a cuff to her bicep. He listened to her heartbeat through a stethoscope, watching the numbers with rapt concentration. This must be much more exciting for him than it was for her, trying to keep the dread she felt from skewing the results. He nodded, taking the cuff off and writing the results down on a sheet of paper.
“Did I pass?” Celia asked hopefully. Bruce nodded again, making more notes on the paper before turning back to her.
“I’m going to take 10 vials of blood, if that’s okay? I want to do a few different tests and don’t want to have to bother you to get more if I can help it,” Bruce asked, tying some rubber tubing around her arm and flicking her elbow.
“That’s fine,” she answered, watching him work. She wanted to see everything that was being done, not wanting to be in the dark about anything if she could help it. Bruce slid the needle in smoothly, only making her feel a slight pinch.
“You have good veins,” Bruce observed, attaching the first tube which filled steadily with blood. “Have you donated blood before?”
“Yeah, my clinic does a blood drive a few times a year and I usually participate,” she said, watching Bruce switch vials as they filled. “Anything for the free cookie,” she joked.
“I don’t actually have any cookies in here for you, but I’m sure we can find you something upstairs when we’re done,” Bruce laughed, continuing his collecting. “So, you mentioned patients earlier, what do you do for work?”
“I’m a physical therapist,” Celia answered, putting a cotton ball on her elbow after Bruce slid the needle back out. She was scared to take it off, not knowing if she’d rather see it healed when she pulled it away, or still there like a normal person. Bruce noticed her hesitation, patting her arm and giving her a supporting nod. She took a deep breath and ripped it away, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed by the small spot of red that welled up from the puncture wound. “That was anticlimactic.”
“Doesn’t mean anything yet. Even Steve takes longer than that to heal,” Bruce brushed off. “How long after you were shot did you heal?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” Celia said, dabbing at the blood as it reappeared on her inner elbow. “Everything is a little fuzzy. It felt like forever and like it was over in a flash, you know?”
“Oh, I know all about losing time,” Bruce laughed, writing down more notes. “I’ll ask Steve for a more concrete timeline.”
“How long will it be before he’s healed?” she asked, accepting Bruce’s offered band aid.
“He should be back to normal in about a week, give or take a few days. The tissue doesn’t take too long to heal under normal circumstances, but he’ll still be a bit sore. Nothing at all like what happened to you,” Bruce answered, turning back to face her. “What do you remember from after the shot? I know you don’t remember how fast it happened, but can you remember how it felt? Anything specific to help us figure this out?”
“The last thing I felt after I was shot was Steve pressing on the wound and then the electric shock. I must’ve passed out, but when I came to, it was like I could feel parts of my chest moving. And then it just stopped. No more pain, no more wound,” Celia recounted in a shaky voice. Bruce wrote a few more things down, giving her time to calm herself. Talking about what happened was harder than she thought it would be, but she felt better now that it was out there. Bruce went through the rest of a standard physical exam, checking all of her vitals and asking about her health history.
“I think that’s all the testing I can do right now,” he said, looking away and rubbing the back of his neck.
“What is it?” Celia asked. She could tell he was holding something back and she wanted to know what it was. She figured she had the right, since this was her body they were documenting. Bruce sighed, glancing at her sheepishly.
“There is one other test I’d like to do, more of an experiment really. But I don’t want you to feel pressured into saying yes,” Bruce said, tapping his leg nervously. Him being nervous was making her nervous and she could feel her palms getting sweaty.
“Just say it, cause you’re freaking me out,” Celia whispered, wanting to get whatever it was out in the open.
“I really want to monitor your healing ability, but the needle mark isn’t a really good test field.”
“So, you want to shoot me again?” Celia asked, not liking what she was hearing.
“No! Of course not!” Bruce burst out, looking horrified. “I was thinking more along the lines of a small cut, somewhere like your upper arm. A place easier to watch and that isn’t interacted with as much.” Celia blew out a relieved breath, laughing a little at her overreaction. Bruce didn’t seem like the type to just shoot someone for the sake of science, but Celia was so out of sorts after this morning that she couldn’t help but think in worst case scenarios.
“Just a little casual dissection,” Celia joked, trying to lighten the mood. “If it’ll help us get answers, I think I can handle a little scratch.” Bruce chuckled, looking glad that she hadn’t freaked out at his request. Maybe she should be, it wasn’t quite normal to agree to have someone cut you for science, but she left normal back in that elevator. Bruce sheepishly snagged a wrapped scalpel, tearing it from its protective plastic packaging.
“Are you sure about this?” Bruce asked, spinning the knife between his fingers. Celia nodded, bracing herself. Bruce gently gripped her upper left arm, looking into her eyes. “Breathe out slowly,” he instructed, running the blade an inch across her skin as she blew out her breath. He quickly replaced the blade with a piece of gauze, pressing down on the bleeding wound.
“Well, compared to this morning, that was practically a tickle,” Celia laughed, happy it was over. Bruce grinned at her, checking to see if the bleeding had slowed yet. He replaced the gauze with a fresh piece, wiping up a little trickle of blood.
“Is this a typical amount of bleeding for you?” he asked, adding a little more pressure.
“I think so. Why, does it look wrong?” Celia asked, looking quickly between her arm and Bruce’s face, wanting to see his eyes when he answered, in case he would try to hide something from her.
“No, no, this still looks normal,” Bruce reassured. “Some people just naturally have different levels of bleeding, so I just wanted to make a note if it seemed different for you.” He pulled the bandage away again, nodding to see the bleeding had slowed almost to a stop.
“What now?” she asked, eyeing the cut to try to see if anything was happening yet.
“Now we wait,” Bruce sighed, taking off his gloves and throwing them into the trash. “I don’t want to cover it, so we can see if anything changes. Try not to touch it to displace the scab forming. Are you able to hang around for the rest of the day? I don’t want to put any undue burden on you, but obviously it will be easier for me to monitor the healing if you stay.” Celia bit her lip, not knowing how to answer. She knew what Bruce was saying made sense, but she thought about all of the things she needed to do at home. And the thought of being studied for who knows how long gave her the creeps. Celia was about to answer when the lab doors slid open and the rest of the Avengers walked in.
“I hope we’re not interrupting,” Tony said sharply, crossing his arms and standing in front of the group that just walked in.
“What’s going on?” Bruce asked, spinning on his stool to face the new arrivals. Natasha and Clint were unreadable, standing together with blank looks on their faces. Tony looked smug, like he had just been told everything he ever thought was right. Steve looked worried and a little upset, darting glances between her and the back of Tony’s head.
“Is everything okay?” Celia asked in a whisper, knowing what she was about to hear was not going to be good.
“Is there anything you’d like to share with the class?” Tony asked her, gesturing around the room to everyone. So many things ran through her head, but she kept her face neutral. She had learned the hard way not to volunteer information that could hurt her. People were tricky.
“What are you talking about?” Celia asked calmly, putting the right amount of confused into her voice. She had to play this cool. This wasn’t the first time she had been interrogated by an angry man, so she wasn’t going to make any rookie mistakes. And the fact that she really was confused by this turn of events made her reaction more legitimate.
“I found out the strangest thing and I thought, well that’s not normal,” Tony started theatrically, really enjoying the performance he was putting on. “It turns out the woman that was in the elevator with the good captain this morning didn’t exist three years ago. Care to explain?” Celia’s breath caught in her throat. She looked down to her hands in her lap, feeling all the eyes in the room on her. Bruce rolled his stool a little bit away from her, trying to be discreet, but in the quiet room, the squeaking wheels were practically deafening.
She didn’t know how to play this. Should she admit it and try to explain herself, without giving any details? Or should she deny it and make herself look even worse in their eyes. Celia took a minute to herself, running different scenarios in her head. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Who were these people to dig around in her past? She didn’t ask to be in this situation and what right did they have to know anything about her? Sure, she understood a little digging to make sure she wasn’t involved in the plot against Steve today, but they didn’t need to know everything about her. And the fact that Tony would come in here and shove it in her face like this, like he had any authority over her, pushed her over the edge.
“How is that any of your business?” Celia asked, looking up to stare Tony in the eye. He looked back at her with a surprised look, both eyebrows raised and head cocked a little to the side. She could see Natasha and Clint in her periphery smirking a little, like they weren’t expecting any pushback either.
“Excuse me?” Tony asked, putting his hands on his hips, as if to scold her for her backtalk.
“How is that any of your business?” she repeated, getting more heated.
“Don’t you think it’s a little strange, suspicious even, that the woman that just so happens to be caught up in a kidnapping plot against Captain America, has a mysterious past? A seemingly new identity that isn’t easily traced back to the original?” Tony mused, scratching his chin.
“So I had the forethought to change my identity to kidnap a person almost three years before they were discovered on ice? Wow, who needs super blood, I’m obviously psychic,” Celia said with an angry bark of laughter. She got snarky when she was mad. She knew it wasn’t helpful right now, but she had no self control after this day.
“She has a point,” Natasha pointed out. Tony rolled his eyes, glaring back at her.
“I thought you were on my side,” Tony growled out.
“So now there are sides?” Clint asked, huffing out a laugh.
“I’m trying to look out for this team, that might I add, I didn’t want to join in the first place!” Tony ground out, whirling around to face Celia again. “I think I have the right to know who is in my tower.”
“You’re right, you do,” Celia said, standing up from her chair. “Thank you so much for your hospitality, I’ll see myself out.” She walked toward the door, her skin practically itching with the need to get away from these people and back amongst the normal people out on the street. She brushed past Tony, keeping away from him as best she could in the narrow space between counters. Celia stopped short before she got to the door, Steve standing silently in front of it. He hadn’t said anything this whole time and she had forgotten he was even there. He looked at her with sad eyes, gently holding his injured arm against his body. She felt her indignation crumble a little, remembering their emotional moment in the bathroom together earlier. Celia desperately wanted to believe Steve wasn’t siding with Tony on this, but she knew they were a team and had history and she was just a stranger. She would never want to come in between that, no matter how right she knew she was in her anger.
“Excuse me Steve,” she said quietly, pleading with him with her eyes to just let her go. He sighed mournfully, stepping to the side to let her walk past.
“Wait!” Bruce called out when she made it to the door. She paused, waiting to hear what he had to say. “Our test.” She turned a little, glancing back at him.
“I’ll let you know if anything happens,” Celia said, resuming her walk out of the lab. She quickly walked over to the elevator, happy that the car was still there from the team’s recent ride down. She looked around the inside, searching for the buttons to choose her floor, but she didn’t see any.
“I’m in elevator hell,” she muttered, pressing her hands into her eyes.
“I’ll take you down to street level Ms. Burke,” the computer man, Jarvis, said.
“Shit fuck!” Celia yelled out, putting a hand over her heart, scared out of her mind by the voice. She didn’t know how anyone could live with a computer that talked to them and seemed to know everything.
“I apologize for startling you,” Jarvis said, taking her down the floors quickly. Celia pressed her lips together, stopping herself from answering back like it was a real person. She needed to get out of this building and back into the real, normal world. Celia ran out of the elevator as soon as it opened, not stopping until she made it outside the tower doors, sucking in fresh air desperately, as if she had been strangled. She ignored the curious looks of people walking nearby, and quickly made her way in the direction of her apartment. She could regroup and figure out her next moves once she got home.