st_hotflashes | Do some studies (Tag Tony)

Do some studies (Tag Tony)

Liz had a small vial of her own blood she had taken from the infirmary. It reminded her of when she had to take blood from Alex to switch with Max's at the hospital. It seemed like a really long time ago now and Alex... well, Alex was dead.

She pushed the thought away as she rounded toward Mr. Stark's room. She knew he mostly used it for work and she hoped he was working today. She also hoped he would be willing to run some basic tests on her blood.

Liz paused outside his door, then knocked. She briefly wondered if Peter told him what had happened to her. She also wondered if Mr. Stark was aware of how they hadn't been kissing for practically two months and now they were again.

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She looked at the AI and considered it for a moment. Should she? She needed to know, right?

"Okay. I mean... If he's not super busy right now."

“He’ll make time.” Despite what he claimed earlier, he felt fairly certain his original was doing little else but toying with more themed robots while Thor lounged about. “Pinged him. Give it ten minutes. Shall I entertain you with a rousing game of tic-tac-toe until then?”

"Rousing?" The comment actually managed to pull a smile back to her lips. She wasn't angry so much as worried about why AI Tony wasn't explaining things to her. It felt very much like a 'we need to talk' thing. "Sure... but no pouting if I win."

The lights that composed Tony’s AI virtual manifestation had reformed into a large and interactive purple grid for the armor and the young woman to poke at while the time passed. It was the most fantastically mundane utilization of his prodigious capabilities, but Tony Stark was still Tony Stark, regardless of his form, and keeping the kids happy was never not a priority.

“You win.” The seventh round concluded with Liz’s accolades, complete with virtual confetti, right as the physical Tony entered his room. He squinted at the display, thermos in hand.

She smiled. "I'm pretty sure you're letting me win." But she didn't mind and she enjoyed the interactiveness of the game. When she saw Mr. Stark enter, she stood up and offered him a polite smile. She hadn't really been thinking about what to say all this time and now she wished she had.

"Sorry to bother you, but, um..." She glanced to the AI, then back to Mr. Stark. "I was told you weren't busy."

“Depends on you’d ask.” Tony left it at that, motioning for his suit to rejoin him. “How you doing, kiddo?”

"I'm okay... Um. Found out my DNA's changing with some alien strands?" She tried to play it off casual, but Liz had a hard time being nonchalant. She realized if she were Maria, she'd have had an easier time. Still, it was probably a good start to the conversation, right?

“Oh.” Blessedly his armor hid his expression and Tony had time to compose it once he annoyed had receded back into his chest. “Roswell...stuff?”

She gave a small nod. "Yeah... when, um. When Max healed me, he must have transferred some of his DNA into me, somehow. It's... probably why I can do some different things now."

Liz decided to take a seat and watched him carefully.

"Sounds about right." Even if he didn't know much about swapping alien DNA in the biochemical sense, there were some guesses he could make that would sound at home with the concept. With the aid of his nanite glasses, a playback of the data his suit had gathered over the last hour filtered through with the key phrases and concepts before his eyes.

"Well, if the analysis my boy in blue performed is anything to go by, your prognosis is weird but not terminal."

"That seems to be the consensus." She nodded. "Loki said I just need to let it happen." But she supposed that wasn't the real question now, was it? AI Tony had gotten Liz on a different track entirely.

"What are the Sokovia Accords?"

Tony paused for a breath before it escaped in a sigh. Having another Tony Stark was having a nonstop agent of chaos around.

"Those, huh..." Tony, now with his arc reactor firmly embedded in place, took up a seat beside Liz where his armor once sat. "A piece of superhero legislation."

Her pressed her palms together as she sat next to him. It didn't seem like superhero legislation was something an AI or anyone, really, couldn't tell her themselves.

"So.. why wouldn't you... I mean, um..." She gestured to his reactor. Liz had no idea what to call AI Stark. "Why wouldn't he talk to me about it and tell me it's better if you did?"

Coming into this particular conversation cold really wasn't something Tony thought he'd have to do today, but there Liz was, and there he was. He kept his busy mouth firmly shut and took the sight of the young woman in, her dark eyes full of expectation.

"Long story. How long you want it?"

She pressed her lips together as she considered the answer. She took a breath. "I want to know what they are and why your other self was worried about me being in your world. I mean... other than the obvious future thing."

"It's a registration act. The world's been a bit sensitive ever since an attempted global genocide." The words my fault weren't said but Tony was wound up tight enough to betray his guilt. "The world wanted accountability. I agreed. Most of the team didn't. Lead to mass detainment."

Tony wasn't look at Liz by this point, and he took a large breath to release the knots growing in what felt like every part of his body. "A girl shows up out of nowhere with no records to her name boasting unexplained powers? I can think of a few ways that could end without intervention."

She went quiet for a moment as she tried to play out all the scenarios in her head. She knew some of them weren't good outcomes. Still, she didn't feel the urge to shy away from their world.

"How would they know I have powers unless, somehow, I can't control them." Most of the time she looked normal, it was only when she lost her emotions did her new abilities appear and she didn't have control. Liz was determined to learn how to control them.

“You’d be surprised at how easy it is to draw attention. If you could get to a safe place immediately...” Tony trailed off, returning Liz’s expectant state with one of his own. She’d thought of a safe space to find, surely.

"Peter said he thought his aunt would let me stay there." She paused. Would that be safe for Peter or his Aunt May?

"He mentioned you have a place, too. For the Avengers."

“I do.” Tony bit his lip. “If I remembered you.”

She looked at him, thoughtful. "You wouldn't take me in unless I had some way to explain how I knew you."

“I’ve been getting a few things in order in case of an untimely departure.” An ache rose in the back of his neck, and Tony rubbed at it. “For Thor. For Pete. For you.”

Liz paused, looking at him, then looked down at her hands in her lap, nodding a few times. There was another pauses as she watched her fingers intertwine.

"I've thought about it, you know... about how I could end up in a world where no one I know actually remembered me. Not even Peter." She unfurled her fingers, pressing her palms on her thighs. "If Peter and I like each other here, then all we have to do is meet again and it'd feel the same way. And... even if it didn't, I know for certain I could be his friend. And Ned's. And that would be enough, if we couldn't be together like here. And I'd find a way to meet you too."

She leaned back. "I'm a fighter, Mr. Stark. So, whatever you want or need from me, I'll do."

“Stay a fighter. That’s all.” Tony brushed a bit of hair from her eye, bestowing her with a brief smile. “If you do end up in 2017-era New York through effort or some trick of fate, I know how to point you in my direction. This would have been on the tape if leaving behind, but hey, you may vanish well before any of us do.”

"I'm not going anywhere." She said that with a certainly only teenagers could possess, but she felt that way strongly. She was going back with Peter and no one was going to stop her. She'd move mountains if she had to.

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