The next chapter is up!

" Fuck. Fuuuuuuck me, what did I do yesterday? "

Nick looked up from where he'd been sitting; on a plastic chair right outside the two radiation rooms. His back was hurting from sitting there for the last three and a half hour and his neck made a loud cracking noise as he moved, discreetly cracking the bones in his arms and hands without blinking even once. He inspected both rooms with a quick glance and let his eyes land on Tony. The test subject had started to move in the electric chair looking device and was yawning as he too had started stretching a bit. Well, it was more of a chair with the attribute of a stretcher that he was half sitting half lying on, but didn't look very comfortable at all. He opened his eyes and was immediately struck by how bright it was. Nick wished he could dampen the lights, but had no idea what command that was. He knew where the "open" command was on the screen, not much more. Tony had insisted on installing his own operative system into the lab's computers when beginning the experiment. Nick knew very well Tony had no desire to be watched over as he worked, which in this case suited Nick just fine as the directive counsel had no idea about this project. Or at the very least, they pretended not to know.

" Why am I feeling so sleepy? Have I... Have I been given anaesthetics? What the hell? " Tony put his hands on his face and started rubbing his eyes, peeling away eye crust.

Nick knocked on the glass.

" Oh great, Fury. Yeah, yeah, the prototype, I'll be right out! Not that you can hear me, but... "

Tony started removing all the pads and wires that were connected to his body. Nick watched him very closely, but not once did Tony seem to notice anything different about his body. Well, he did look very much like himself except for his face, but he had a lot fairer skin and thicker hair it seemed. He flexed his arms a bit while standing up, still not noticing any differences. He gestured at the door with a look that said 'why aren't you opening it right away?'. Nick hesitated for a few more seconds and then made his way over to the screen.

" Well damn, thanks for not alienating me in there. " Tony said, massaging his neck a bit as he entered the lab. " So, what's the news? How did the prototype go? Where's my green skinned science buddy? And where's my Black Sabbath sweater? "

" Stark... " Nick began.

" What? Well how did it go? I think I feel a bit stronger. Not overly you know, but I could swear my biceps- "

" Stark, " Nick said again, this time grabbing the eccentric man's shoulder. " Look in the mirror. "

" What mirror? I don't have a mirror. " Tony replied, beginning to feel a bit uneasy about Nick's seriousness. " What, what's going on? I'm not green am I?"

" Look at your reflection in the window. "

Tony gave Nick a long and questioning glance. An unwelcome knot started to tie itself in his stomach and he slowly made his way over to the window. Paranoid thoughts about the prototype causing him to get cancer, a tumour or something even worse began to cloud his mind.

Impossible. It would be like chemotherapy we said. I know radiation can cause cancer, but we were so careful with the dosage. Cancer mutates within the body about five times every day and our immune system takes care of it – piece of cake. It's when we grow older and the immune system weakens that we start to become more vulnerable and easier targets for cancer to place its' despicable claws in. No, that can't be it. If it were cancer I wouldn't be able to see it. I mean, Fury's telling me to look in the mirror. Why isn't Banner here? Why only Fury?

He hesitated a bit. One more step and he would be able to see his reflection in the window. He could see the top of his hair, at least that wasn't green. He'd always had this kind of comic book fantasy that radiation was green when he was a kid, like long green waves flowing through the air. Not that it was true, but Bruce did turn into a green man once in a while. That's a green result of radiation. Dear God, I'm not...? I'm not going to... whenever I get angry now? Am I? Damn it, Stark, get a grip. Look.

With a fast breath he took a step forward.

At first, he was very – not, not very, incredibly - relieved to see that he wasn't green anywhere, but as realisation soon struck him he could do nothing but stare at the reflection of himself. This face, this childish face... He hadn't seen it for years, for so many years. He was back to the hard times and a wave of nauseous nostalgia and anxiety washed over him, a most uncomfortably familiar feeling had no intention of becoming acquainted with again. He couldn't quite believe it, not really. Not yet. He couldn't believe it although he was staring at the picture of his former self. No hologram, no doppelganger, no nothing... It was him. It was his past, staring him right back with the same eyes. Slowly he let go of the reflection and looked at his hands and arms again. Now that he analyzed them; they did look younger. He'd lost some of the pigment he'd picked up over the years and not as many veins were visible. It was as if looking at an old photograph and holding it over his real arm, masking it with the past.

" Why... " he said slowly, " Why do I look like I'm 15? "

" You looked a bit older a few hours ago, it's getting worse. "

Tony didn't turn around as he heard the new voice from the back of the lab. He just kept looking at his hands, as if they would tell him something, tell him something vital, tell him something important... As if they would tell him why.

" I monitored you from my room; the regression is slowly decreasing its' speed, but it's still affecting your cells and it's only a matter of time before it reaches more central functions of your brain. "

Tony turned around and stared at Bruce who still stood by the door, unsure whether he should come in or not. Nick eyed the both of them, remaining silent.

" What... the hell... happened? " Tony said.

Pause. Break. Silence.

" Things... " Bruce began, then stopped himself as his gaze became fixed on Tony. It was so bizarre to look at him. He knew very well that this was Tony, he knew very well what had happened, he'd been there when the liquid prototype in combination with the gamma radiation had mixed and ended up in this disastrous result. But it was still very hard to accept, to just accept that it had actually happened and what the result of it was. He'd screwed up, he'd accidentally confirmed the gamma request from the system. They'd gone through it again and again; only small amounts, seriously small amounts, to quote Tony. But he hadn't noticed that his hand resting against the screen had heightened the amount. Damn touch screens...

" Things what? " Tony's voice was alarmingly furious and scared at the same time. The last word emphasized in a gasp and his eyes were starting get a little blank.

" I screwed up. " Bruce replied in a confirming way. Tony wasn't stupid, of course it had been Bruce's fault. " I screwed up badly, okay? It was all my fault, you could not have done anything from in there. "

" And then you gave me anaesthetics so you could buy yourself some time to explain this I suppose? You couldn't just wake me up so I could take a look at this myself? Maybe so I could fix myself? " Tony roared.

" Okay, so I screwed up twice! " Bruce shouted back to the other side of his room. His watch started beeping. " I'm so very sorry, what the hell do you want me to say? I panicked, I had no idea this would continue! I had no damn idea this would result in- "

" I don't want you to say anything! I want you do give me the laptop you've got there in your hand and show me exactly what happened so I'll know if I'm ever going to turn into a big green- "

" Stark, Banner! " Nick said. " This is neither the time nor the place to get upset or angry. You two are the only scientists we've got, the only ones we have. Now I can't fix this, agent Hill can't fix this, Rogers can't fix this- "

" Rogers! What happened to him? "

Silence.

A low knock was heard, a knock on glass. Three pairs of eyes turned to the source of the noise.

There he was, his upper body bare like Tony's and free of all pads and wires. He must've woken up as soon as Tony was out of the radiation room and had his knocks drowned in the shouts. Nick reacted quickly and pressed the commando for his door to open, ready to assist the captain in any way he needed.

Slightly sweating and with eyes half opened Steve slowly walked into the lab, supporting himself on the door frame and his upper body slightly bent forward. He looked feverish and extremely pale, his hair a complete mess and his hands slightly shaking. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath as he looked up at Nick in front of him.

" I feel nauseous. "

" I'll take you down to the infirmary captain. "

" Most unwise. " Bruce chipped in. " Total dick, I know, but I really want to have him here in the lab. As I said, the regression is still ongoing and I really want to work on finding some... solution to this. I know it's much to ask considering... the, yeah, uhm... Captain? "

Steve looked up at Bruce with such tired and indescribably sad eyes that the scientist felt a sting of pain pierce his heart.

" I'll do it. "

Tony who had remained silent could not stop staring at Steve. He'd always heard the stories of the superhuman Captain America, the country's saviour, how he'd started out with numerous rejections and then turned into a super soldier. He'd saved so many lives, fought so many bad guys, had his name and face associated with the nation and here he was now. He was no superhero, no fighter, no life saver. He looked so weak, so frail. It was as if his body had a hard time just getting through each breath he took, every moment his muscles made. It was as if existing was a physical impossibility.

" Well get him a proper damn bed, those things are not comfortable. "

Nick saw through him at once, but didn't say anything. He went up to the captain and supported him all the way over to the chair. Leaning forward with his head between his legs, Tony could see Steve's spine very clearly, as if the skin wasn't strong enough to keep it in there, as if it might just break and dislocate his entire back. Why had his muscle mass stayed and not Steve's? Why had he reacted so differently to the same prototype?

" Come in infirmary. I need a portable bed and basic medical supplies for a situation in the lab. Also, send a repairman for the door. I'm a bit busy right now. "

" Yes sir. " a voice answered on the radio.

Within a few minutes a repairman and two men from the infirmary were in the lab. Bruce removed himself from the door and awkwardly made his way over to Tony. He feared the anger of the billionaire but noticed very soon that seeing the captain had completely made his anger just fade away. He was very tense and deep in thought as Bruce showed him all the data he had from before the prototype, during its' time being unleashed and the data that had been gathered while they'd both been monitored. Tony was a smart man, but Bruce couldn't help but notice that he was barely paying attention to what he was showing him. His thoughts were somewhere completely else, and it was not hard to guess where.

" Stark. " Bruce said when Tony had not reacted to a three seconds silence. " Look, I understand that you're shocked, but if you want to help like you said; here's your chance. We might have an unknown deadline, both for you and the captain. "

Immediately Tony reacted and looked down at the screen.

" I've been listening. "

He left the sentence hanging in the air, as if he had some excuse or explanation coming right up but left it at nothing. Bruce waited for a few seconds and then resumed his explanation, but now with Tony's attention.

" So we can see here that it all started from both of your vertebrates... "

... To hell with this. Seriously to hell with this.

I got some questions about this on tumblr and I hope you guys realize that I am doing some complete bullshit science talk here. I know nothing of it, I'm not trying to say I do either. I just make up a fake terminology *wink*

But thanks to some of you science nerds out there, it was most interesting to read you rants.