Well this is a surprise
The first thing to register in Ava’s mind was, “Oh god, ow.” The second was, “Holy fucking shit I’ve been run over by a freight train.” Taking a mental check she could tell almost everything was closed up, but internally it was still healing.
Groaning Ava carefully opened one eye, thankfully the only light was from the city outside the floor to ceiling window to her right. Still in considerable pain Ava concentrated on studying the landscape.
Glass and metal skyscrapers littered the skyline. Most windows were dark save a few late night workers. The glow of the streetlights below added to the almost etherial glow of the sky. The more Ava studied the more unfamiliar the city beyond her window became. This wasn’t D.C. Her mind started to race wondering if she’d been taken somewhere to be experimented on, but, she tried to reason with herself, that the people she’d met wouldn’t do that. However, her brain wouldn’t take that for an answer, she’d only know those people for a few hours. Most of which she was unconscious for.
*The heart monitor beside her was beeping furiously. Ava knew this feeling, the clenching of her chest, her lungs refusing to work properly, and her brain spiraling down a dark path that all lead to an anxiety attack.
“Fuck,” Ava squeezed her eyes shut trying to focus on slowing her breathing, but the stupid heart monitor kept dragging her mind back to the night of the crash. The day everything went to hell, the day Ava woke in a cold metal box, her chest trying to heal the ‘Y’ shaped incision stapled together. The cold seeping into her bones, the metal sticking to her skin tearing at it.
“Hey, hey, I need you to listen to my voice.”
Ava shook her head.
"You can do this okay, kid? Just listen to my voice.”
The erratic beeping on the heart monitor was gone, helping her focus.*
“Breath with me okay? In…and out…. got it? In… and out…” The voice repeated this as Ava’s breathing slowly normalized.
“There you got this kid.”
Ava sighed, partially in relief that her anxiety attack was cut off, but also in irritation at being called, ‘kid’. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar, familiar face.
It was Tony Stark, wearing an AC/DC tee-shit and jeans not at all like the old Stark Industries ads or most of the pictures of him, decked out in a suit and tie. He let off a relaxed and carefree vibe that set Ava at ease.
“So how’s our favorite patient?”
“Favorite?” She’d been there for maybe a day, based on the rate of healing.
“Of course! Don’t have to do a thing and you heal all on your own,” Tony smiled at his own joke.
Ava laughed, it was nice to have someone willing to joke about her powers. Anyone who knew either feared her, or tried to ignore the fact that she was different at all.
Tony grew slightly more serious, “We probably freaked you out, seeing as you’re in New York now.” He nodded towards the window.
“That’s an understatement, and the medical stuff doesn’t help either.” Ava looked over to the now unplugged heart monitor, “So… Why am I here in the first place? I mean, thank you but…” Ava trailed off not knowing how to say, “Cap could of just left me in a ditch somewhere and I’d have still been fine.”
“Well, good ol’ Cap wanted to make sure you’d be okay, and be able to thank ya’ properly,” tony put air quotes over properly.
Ava took a moment to think it over, but Tony interrupted her train of thought.
“Jarvis told me your heart rate had skyrocketed, and since I’m the only one up this late I came to check on yah.” He rocked back on his heels almost sheepishly, the exact opposite of how Tony Stark was portrayed.
“Thank you,” Ava looked down at her hands, “I’ve never really been able to get out of them on my own. My dad used to help me, but I’m sure you read my file.”
“Yeah, pretty nasty way to find out you have powers.”
Ava chuckled humorlessly, “You’re telling me.”
“Anyway,” Tony clapped his hands together, “I should get Cap up here, he’s been bugging me since you got here.”
“How long was I out?”
“Like a day, it’s not been very long, but he doesn’t like other people getting hurt for him.”
“I know the feeling,” Ava smiled.
Tony returned it, “Be right back kid.”
As he slipped out the door Ava yelled after him, “I’m not a kid!”