No shit
I rock back, surprised. It's the first obscenity he's uttered.
"No shit," I murmur.
"So...how'd that happen?" he asks tentatively, and suddenly I want to talk about it.
"It's kind of a long story," I warn.
He stands up and walks over to the kitchen area under my treehouse. I didn't notice, but he made dinner. We eat chicken, rice, and a salad that isn't served in my current project in the gathering twilight.
"I graduated from college with a degree in materials science," I start off. "One of the places I applied was at Stark Labs. Mr Howard Stark was running the show then and he hired me. I was one of his protegees. After a little time working in the labs, he had me apply to a masters program, which I finished in eighteen months. Then he brought me back to his labs--not the weapons division, but he had me start to work on improving paints and coatings, specifically for metals, then I moved into metals. It was a plan to get me exposure on many levels of the labs, I worked in plastics and films too. He wanted me to get some experience before I started applying for a doctoral program. The company had an excellent program where they'd pay for your degree programs, if you were selected. And having Mr Stark behind your application was a pretty powerful thing. But after I started work again, had some time under my belt, Mr Stark was killed in that accident." Cap twitched.
"Sorry. I know he knew you. Mr Stark liked to hang out in the labs, it was where the innovation was happening and he was good at it too." Cap nods. "He used to tell us stories about helping on the team that transformed you. He was proud that he was in on something so groundbreaking, but the way he talked about you....he admired you a lot. He always said that the treatment made the exterior match the interior. He always said that your loyalty and integrity were second to none."
"Howard and I had our differences, but he was a good man," he said finally. I nod.
"He made me nuts sometimes. He made all of his favored employees take IQ tests. When he brought visitors into the lab, he liked to say that he had x number of geniuses working for him."
"Are you?" Cap asked. "A genius?"
"Barely. I just scraped in at 142. But whenever he found out that somebody hit that magical mark, he'd get us signed up for MENSA so we'd have proof if his visitors asked. And they did, so we'd wave our little cards at them. What a pain in the ass," I said fondly. "But after he died, things changed, of course. Obadiah Stane took over and most of the attention and money went to the weapons division. The education program ended, among other things. Then he went nuts or whatever, did that ridiculous Iron Monger thing. Then when Tony Stark took over, the weapons division was shut down. He didn't transfer employees either, when the division closed, a lot of scientists and technicians lost their jobs. A lot of them couldn't find new ones. Tony Stark started pushing the rest of us to produce more, do more research. He'd micromanage for awhile, then he focused on Iron Man and Pepper Potts, and he stopped pushing so much. Then she dumped him and he started in on us again."
I bite my lip. "So the tension is ratcheted up again. I'm working on coatings late one night because we have a deadline. To add to the tension, one of the labs is down because the fume hoods have to be repaired and they squeezed a bunch of that crew into our lab. They were working on something completely different. They're working late too, and one of them is walking some chemicals for disposal behind me when one of the scientists in my lab tries to rattle me and causes a little explosion, no damage or anything, just noise. Guy's a jerk, thinks I'm his big competition, so he was always trying to get me to mess up. I jolt to my feet and bump into the guy behind me. We collide and the chemicals splash all over me. The jerk starts to laugh, but the other scientists get us into the safety showers immediately and start flushing my eyes too. My safety glasses had come off during the collision. We're in the showers for a long time; nobody knew exactly what was in the chemicals, it was going to waste disposal. Then the medical staff that's on site examined us and determined that there was no harm done and gave us some scrubs to wear home.
"The next morning, Tony Stark and his PA are waiting for me and the other guy in the accident. He points to the company manual where it says we have to have supervisors OK us working past normal hours and says that we broke company policy because our lab manager had just given us a blanket approval a long time ago. It was more the company policy that we work late and overtime, anyway, but it wasn't in the employee manual. So he fires both of us, not at all interested in hearing our side of the story. I get a security escort to my office and in fifteen minutes I'm in the parking lot with a box of my stuff and a postage-paid envelope to send back the scrubs I'd worn home the night before.
"I immediately start sending out job applications to other labs, but nobody's interested in somebody fired from Stark labs, not even his competitors. They don't hire his former employees anyway; we all signed non-disclosure agreements and Tony Stark sues the crap out of anybody he even thinks might have violated it. I start to notice some changes over time. My skin changes and my vision starts to get better. When I have a knife slip in the kitchen that should have sliced my finger half off but doesn't even scratch my skin, I know something big's going on and I try to see the medical team at Stark Tech because I know they're doing some research into mutations in the really top secret labs, but they refuse to see me because I passed the medical exam after the chemical spill. At this point, my skin has become impervious to damage. I can't get cuts or bruises or burns on it. But it's just my skin, the tissue underneath, the bones, organs, they can still be damaged. I pray every day I never need surgery because if they can't get in through mucous membranes or the GI tract, it's not going to happen. I end up having to get a job as a waitress, and I start making plans. I get a lawyer to sue Stark Industries and it takes some time to get a generous award from the mediator, plus the attorney fees. I work my way up the restaurant ladder until I'm in one of the best places in the city and getting good tips, I'm living with other waitresses because it proved to be a bit of a hassle getting the money into my account; they waited as long as possible to pay out." I snorted.
"Meanwhile, my vision is getting better and better. It used to be really lousy, but within a couple of months it's perfect. And it continues to improve. I seem to have stabilized now; I can't quite see particles themselves, but I can see down to the atomic level, ultraviolet, visible light, of course, infrared, and heat. So I knew you were alone when you showed up because when I scanned the area, there were no additional heat signatures. I learned how to control switching among my vision options, spent my money on doctor's fees before I could get the award, did a lot of research, then after I had control over my abilities, I sold almost everything and left. I found this place by accident. I just wanted some peace and quiet where I could experiment, follow my research whims. And I found that it's not just seeing, I can somehow influence molecular composition with the force of my will." I laugh, brittle. "So when I'm staring at your salad bowl, I'm not zoning out, I'm poking atoms around, making sure molecules are perfect, substituting atoms where I have to. Where things are supposed to have amorphous structure, there's not much I have to do, but when a crystalline structure is required, for example, I have a lot of work." I look at him, spreading my hands palms up. "So that's what happened to me."