Chapter 3: Unidentified substances

"You want me to what?" Nicolette asks Pepper in disbelief.

"It will be fun. You'll get to know your boss and work with your idol." Pepper replies, trying to make it sound better to her.

"But Pepper…I doubt he would want to work with me." She points out.

"I talked to Tony. He's fine with it and could use help with his new suit. Someone's has to help throw stuff away. Last I checked you won first place in that baseball throwing game at that baseball game you dragged me to last year." Pepper states as a matter of fact. "I promise you it will be fun." Nicolette sighs in defeat.

"Fine." Pepper smiles.

"Good. Now I have to finish packing, I will check on you in a few hours."

"…You sound like my mother." Nicolette said. Pepper rolls her eyes.

"I'll see you later."

Tony, Bruce, and Nicolette stood around the metal table that held the newest Iron Man suit.

"Just to be clear, you are the lab assistant. You do want I tell you, and you speak when spoken to." Tony told her. She nods, bored and annoyed.

"Now sit and stay put." Tony says.


Nicolette sighs as she gave up trying to balance her pencil on her pointer finger. She looked up to find Bruce and Tony in a discussion on whether or not making the suit blend into the scenery with an automatic cloaking device. Tony runs a hand through his hair.

"Let's just work on your thing for now." He told Bruce.

"Nico. Follow." Tony commands, motioning for her to follow them.

"…I'm not a dog." She mutters, but follows him to the next lab over. She sat on the designated stool and began messing with her pencil again. That got boring after about twenty minutes before she gave up and began to look around the lab.

Nicolette slides off of the stool and examines the many, many test tubes that lined the tables and walls. She picks one up and studied it. It doesn't look like any chemical she had seen before, it was an almost clear red color with no smell, and relatively no texture.

"Dr. Banner, what's this?" She asks, holding up the flask to said scientists.

"Oh that's uhh… What was that?" he answered trying to recall. "Just put it down for now. I'll probably remember it later."

She nodded and set it down and both scientists returned to work. Nicolette sighs again and takes her place on the stool. She runs her fingers over the countertop, glancing curiously at the flask. She used her pencil to move it closer only to move it to close to the edge and making it fall onto the floor. It broke, the red liquid pooling around the broken glass.

"I told you to not to touch anything." Tony says, walking over.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" She apologizes, looking at the mess on the floor. "I got curious… I didn't know it would break." She gets up and bends down to help pick up the broken glass.

"Ow. God that hurt."

"What happened?" Tony asks.

"I cut myself on the glass." She answers, staring at the tiny wound.

"Okay. Well we're going to have to disinfect the wound and figure out what exactly this was incase its harmful." Tony tells the two. "Bruce, you help her get cleaned up and I will find out what this is." Bruce nods.

"Come on. There's a first aid kit up in the kitchen." He tells her. Nicolette follows him up to the kitchen and sits on the bar stool while he grabs the first aid kit.

"Well I'll probably get fired now." She says. Bruce shakes his head slightly in disagreement.

"Tony may be rough around the edges, but he won't fire you for this."

"How do you know?" she asks.

"Tony and I have been friends for a couple years now and I can say that I know him pretty well. He won't fire you for spilling an unidentified substance. He's most likely more concerned about the unidentified substance and how to handle possible dangers of it." He answers, smiling at her.

"Right…" she replies, unconvinced. Nicolette winced as he applied the disinfectant to the wound. He bandaged her hand up quickly and puts the first aid kit away.

"How about some tea?" He asks.

"Sure." She answers. Bruce turns and puts it on the teapot before moving to the cupboard. "Is your hand alright?" He asks. She replies with a swift nod.

"Its fine thank you." He sits down across from her.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asks. He gives her a questioning look, but nods for her to continue.

"Why are you trying to find a cure for….. To sedate the other guy?" She asks, just as tony walks into the kitchen.

"Great news. The unidentified liquid was just water and red food dye." Tony announces before Bruce could finish. "Nothing to be worried about, so let's all get back to work. Nico, you can help me with my suit."

"Really? No sidelining?" she asks suspiciously.

"Nah. Let's go, Bruce, stay classy." He answers, grinning. Bruce gave her a thumbs up as she follows him down to the lab.


"Miss Potts, I didn't hear you come in." Bruce said, looking up from his book.

"I was just coming to see how things were going with Nicolette and Tony." She replies, offering him a small smile. "Are they still in the lab?" she asks.

"They've been down there for at least six hours now." Pepper sighs.

"Well, Nicolette is officially off the clock now so I will go get her." She tells him, walking out of his room and towards the lab. Pepper gets onto the elevator and presses the button for the basement lab. She arrives moments later only to hear a loud bang.

"Everything alright?" she asks poking her head into Tony's lab. Tony and Nicolette look up from where they are examining his newest suit. Tony smiles at Pepper.

"Hey pretty lady." He says, walking over to her. "Nico was just helping me test the new suit."

"Ah. So that was what the loud bang was." She replies.

"Sorry. That was my fault." Nicolette apologizes. "And I should get going. I will see you in the morning Pepper, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks for your help." Tony tells her, a little more focused of Pepper than Nicolette.

"It was fun." She replies before leaving the lab.

Nicolette smiles and says a good night to Bruce as she left. She smiles the entire time until she is out of the building, today had been a pretty good day. Maybe everything would be fine after all.