When reaching the sweet, sweet safety that was her bunk, Tesla placed the bottle on a side table nearby and collapsing into it, wanting to just rest for all eternity. Needless to say she was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

Another communication signal from her holo screen awoke the teenager from the painless peace that was for once was devoid of nightmares. Really if it didn't turn out that the one that had contacted her at this time was Coulson, Tesla would have been ready and ripped to attack the person who dared to take her away from that.

Agent Coulson has left a message.

"Play," She said with the best enthusiasm that the teen could manage with her combination of having just been woken up and her muscles all aching at the exact same time. Her eyes spied the Vita bottle sitting exactly where she had left it before drifting off happily before looking back to the screen.

As before, there was a SHIELD logo that took up the holo screen before Phil managed to get the visual feed working, on his side anyway. The teen couldn't help but smile at the recording as he tapped at the screen again, an annoyed scowl crossing his face before he decided to eventually just deal with it and get on with what he was messaging her about.

"Hi Tessa, I know I messaged you a little sooner than even I thought. But that's because the mission in the Alps is being shut down. Everybody's packing up and moving out back to their headquarters. So I guess we'll be seeing each other soon," Tesla's eyebrows rose at the sudden drop of this news, and while she was happy to know that she would be seeing her S.O sooner than she previously thought, the teen couldn't help but wonder what would have caused the expedition to be packed up at this time.

Generally a mission isn't abandoned so freely and suddenly, especially when it was apparent that they were close to completion. Really this is only could have been done on the order of higher grounds than SHIELD, since Fury surely wouldn't have wanted this to stop.

What would they find more important than looking for a super soldier?

Coulson's message continued over her musings.

"Oh, and make sure that you still do everything the medical teams tell you to, that includes taking the medicine Tessa," The teenager wanted to roll her eyes, but she still knew that he was right, and sighed as she looked back to the Vita bottle on her bedside table, understandably not looking forward to sampling it whatsoever, much less drinking one every day.

"Tessa," The young agent looked back to the holo screen, slightly amused as the recorded message of Coulson as he gave her a serious look. He knew her too well.

"Alright, I have to go now. I'll see you soon,"

After that brief and quick goodbye from her S.O, the holo screen shut off again, leaving Tesla with the rest of the day of ordered rest on Professor Cho's orders. And while that meant no training, no added exhaustion or strained limbs, it also meant mind crushing boredom and no chance of trying to actually sleep since nine time out of ten that didn't work out.

And so with an expression that clearly displayed her repulsion at the action, Tesla reached over and plucked the Vita bottle from the bed side table, feeling the weight of the clear liquid as it tipped to one side as she inspected it. The bottle was nearly completely full, which only called to mind the fact that the young agent was meant to drink one of these bottles per day.

So, a quick slam back swig, or a taste test?

After a moment of consideration, Tesla went with the latter as a beginner thought on what it really tasted like. And not seconds later, she regretted that decision in its entirety.

Now, the teen had certainly never drunk acid before. But if she ever did have that unfortunate experience, Tesla guessed that it would taste and feel something like this. The taste of this clear liquid was the bitter and rancid kind of burn that stung at the back of her throat and tongue in a way that only medicine could supply. It was ten minutes after that first small taste test that the sting finally eased though the coughing continued for another two.

As Tesla harshly ran her teeth over her tongue in an attempt to quicken the retreating burn, she noted to herself that from now on, she was going to have to swig this back with as much consideration that an alcoholic would give in a bar that barely passes Health and Safety checks.

Unhappy with this development but not really able to argue against it, Tesla did her best to down half of the Vita bottle at that moment, just to spare herself some pain later, though of course it didn't help that it was burning her throat at that moment.

It was apparent that sleep was really going to be hard at this moment, so Tesla messed with the control on her holo screen, trying to find the civilian network channels that were usually carefully screened into the SHIELD headquarters for Agents to enjoy.

But of course that didn't end up with too much to enjoy. Because unbeknownst to the teenager, since it was also the middle of the day, it meant the channels were filled with a lot of prime time drama soaps and commercials for blenders and cleaning products.

And while listening to a rather poorly acted monologue about the suburbs or wondering if the VacAce can really clean an oiled floor would usually be just fine to the teen, the continuing biting pain of the Vita drink made her less impressed and looking for something better. So she continued to flick through channels until she found something more appealing.

Eventually though Tesla managed to stumble and sift through the terrible prime time and found a news report that she found very interesting.

"My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America,"

Well that was certainly something that would catch someone's attention. And since Tesla was expecting the owner of the Iron Man suit, Anthony Stark, to be a part of some kind of hero team with her in the future, it would be interesting to know whether or not that would be just as Mr. Stark, or Iron Man.

The face of the revolutionary inventor himself graced her holo screen as it appeared that this was a news report. And considering the amount of suits and military medals, Tesla figured that this was some kind of court hearing on the government level. So did the US government want to take the Iron Man sit away from Stark?

Perhaps it was something connected to her young naiveté, Tesla was confused as to why they would want to do that in the first place. Because even though she was not that caught up with the ways of politicians, she did know from the news and comments traded in between young agents that Tony Stark's influence had held back outside attacks on America for the past six months.

If that was true, then Tesla was even more lost on the reasoning of taking that power away from someone who clearly was doing a good job with it. But still, perhaps that was still something connected to her ignorance on the ways of civilian life outside SHIELD HQ. Even so it seemed that Anthony Stark shared this sentiment with her, along with the fact that this invention was, well his.

"Well you can forget it, I am Iron Man, the suit and I are one,"

The government replied to this with a speech from someone that Tesla recognized by the last name as one of Starks many company competitors, but not one of the better successful ones.

"I would now like to call on Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor,"

The CEO of Hammer industries took the mic and attempted to wrangle the attention of the room as he made a speech to the credit of the government. Tesla wasn't much of a people person and therefore was not that great at reading a person, but even an amateur such as herself could tell that Hammer seemed very… well diet substitute Stark seemed to be a good description.

However if she were to go into more detail, Tesla felt that it was like watching a lower standard Tony Stark on his worst day, worst form and with nearly all of his charm sucked out until there was only enough in his little finger. And so because of that his confidence and ego was more fragile than a wine glass in a hurricane.

Watching him talk was probably the first time that the teenager had ever seen someone literally portray a weasel. He seemed to be taking turns kissing the behinds of both Mr. Stark and the government that he was actually a contractor for. His actual opinion didn't ever seem to come into play here, so either he was really uncaring about this situation, or there was a chance that he was playing them both for something.

Justin Hammer eventually finished his speech exactly as the teen expected, as cliched as possible.

"God bless Iron Man and God bless America,"

Finally the rival businessman sat down and as he did so, Tesla wondered if the other civilians watching this, felt as robbed of those five minutes of precious life as she did. Since it was apparent that it was spent to unwisely give attention to a man who had absolutely no objective or end goal to show he had deserved it.

Though perhaps, that was to be expected from someone who needed a Stark-built podium to be heard by anyone in the first place. What with Hammer Industries being so unsuccessful in media attention and meaningless in its technology and end goals.

Creations are truly cut from the same cloth as their creator.

But, Tesla thought to herself as she chugged a bit of her Vita, that was none of her business.

With a burning taste that she hoped was shared in some way in the depths of Hammer's confidence, Tesla continued to watch the rest of the senate hearing, which was more of a Tony Stark defending his property from the hands of others.

"The Council would now like to invite Colonel James Rhodes into the chamber…"

There was more talk and evidence given by the new comer and other officials as to why the Iron Man suit should be handed over to the Government, most of this being missed by the teen as she was half bored and half way too tired to hold onto a point of opinion when it was presented to her. However nothing made her back straighten tighter than the words that followed from the Colonel reading a certain part of his report that.

"Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are in fact attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground. Indicating that these suits are at the moment, operational,"

Several very large birds' eye view shots were provided, red circles showing exactly where these second hand suits were being built in other countries. Tesla could feel herself biting on her bottom lip in worry at the thought of there being more than one of the Iron Man suits that was anywhere but in the hands of Mr. Stark and his company, clearly the only people who would actually use that technology responsibly.

Mr. Stark himself seemed a little bothered to see these images, in fact in that moment he was the most worried that the teenager had ever seen him for as long as she had been watching this whole trial unfold. But as quickly as that worry had been on his expression, it was gone even faster and instead was masked by a face of confidence and the smallest of smirks, leading Tesla to wonder exactly what he was going to do next.

It didn't take long though to find out the answer, as with a few button clicks of the little device in his pocket, the bird's eye images were replaced with first a window filled with streaming data lines, to then actual up close videos.

Videos of the supposed fully functional suits, though to Tesla they certainly looked anything but.

Perhaps she had been spoiled by the spectacle that was the Stark Iron Man suite of armor, but she wasn't very impressed by the great hulking metal figures that trundled out of small dented warehouses, before sparking from overload and falling to the ground or shooting wildly at innocent bystanders. Most of them seemed intentionally designed so that the viewer wasn't sure whether or not there was an actual person in there, or if it was just the poorly designed metal behemoth and nothing more.

There was one metal creation however that seemed somewhat closer to resemblance to the Iron Man suit, or at least one could tell whether or not there was actually a person in there.

And it was being coached in the video, by Justin Hammer.

As this was being presented, the government officials were rushing to try and turn off the video, most probably because of the violence that was being shown there and other because they were being proved once again, as being incorrect.

Tesla winced as the pilot of the Justin Hammer suit was twisted so suddenly and violently to the right, a bone chilling snap and horrified scream from the inside of the suit causing her to grip her hands into fists in her bedding.

Thankfully the screen was shut off not a mili second afterward, Justin Hammer looking suddenly very agitated, as his secret feather s seemed to be finally ruffled. Tesla nodded to herself as it seemed that her earlier wondering if there was something more he was looking for at this senate other than doing his job for the government. He was looking for a chance to improve his own tech in building a suit. God bless Iron Man indeed.

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived,"

Tesla doubted that but still, she tried not to think about that a moment longer as Mr. Stark seemed to mercifully divert her attention.

"The point is you're welcome. Because I am your new nuclear deterrent, it's working, we're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it, but I did you a big favor!"

He stood from his seat and turned back to face the crowd and press at large, his one hand held up in his now famous peace sign as he ended this situation in just the way the teenager felt he would.

"I have successfully privatized world peace,"

For some reason the thought that the Iron Man suit, and therefore her possible future Avengers team mate was now in the clear at that moment, relaxed Tesla enough that without really realizing it, she had leaned back onto her SHIELD issue cot and felt right into an unexpected sleep.


It seemed ever since Tesla had finally managed to leave the plastic room, not only had her energy levels seemed erratic to the point of just praying that she could stand up tomorrow, but also whenever she went to bed to try and claim that energy back, she would slip in and out of consciousness, and came back more tired than before.

When she came to after unexpectedly slipping into sleep after the rather entertaining senate broadcast, the teen of course felt no better than any other morning, and so was in no good mood when she received notification to be in the training gym within the next twenty minutes.

Now if a normally physically and emotionally well adjusted Tesla was not in the mood for dealing with Romanoff, than a tired and rather grumpy version of the teenager seemed only more ticked off at even the thought of having to deal with her.

But still orders were orders despite where they came from, and that meant she needed to get moving.

After a quick change into fresher clothes and the ever reliable can of dry shampoo for when she was in a rush, (a brand of which thankfully didn't explode in her hands), Tesla felt somewhat close to refreshed and made her way to the training room with another bottle of the horrifying Vita drink in her hand. The whole trip was spent stumbling a little and glaring through sleep filled eyes at anyone who came to close as she stuck to her side of the hallway.

It was not her morning, and it certainly didn't feel as though her day was going to get better.

As she pressed her access codes into the keypad lock of the training room, possibly a little too forcefully, the young agent was expecting that when she opened the gym doors, she would be greeted by her trainer. And that the red headed agent would have quite the grueling and muscle destroying training for her despite how sluggish she was feeling.

But of course that was not the case, as when the large training room bulkhead doors opened and slid apart, the person that was waiting for her was not her regular red headed mortal enemy, but someone she didn't know or at least remember on first sight.

"Well hey there Sparky, how's it feel to be outside the box?"

The man that stood in the place of the teen's usual trainer looked to be in his mid thirties to late forties, hair slicked back and muscles looked tough and aged. He had been through some tough missions; it was easy to tell from how sun bleached his skin was, and not in the vacation way. It was more in the sense that it seemed like he had been stuck and forced to survive in the Mojave Desert several times whilst waiting for a pick up that seemed unlikely to come with every passing hour.

There was something about how confident and at ease he looked that put the teen off a bit, after all he was completely relaxed despite the fact that he was in the same room as someone who could stop his heart by simply poking him. Even Fury had a little tightness in his shoulder muscles when first meeting her, and Coulson, despite how caring he was in trying to make it look that he wasn't bothered, would sometimes take a smallest of steps to the side when he thought she wasn't looking and he felt was too close.

How was it that this man in front of her was completely ice cool about this situation? The answer was something Tesla felt would be stuck in between brain damage from a previous mission that damaged his natural ability to tell that he was in some kind of danger, or he was playing the part of being not bothered, that he somehow managed to control his muscles to look open and friendly.

Either way she was worried about him, thought whether it was of him, or for him depended on what the answer was.

Tesla shook it off to the back of her mind replied back to the man's attempt at a conversation starter.

"Erm it's pretty great, do I… Sorry have we met?"

He chuckled, and stepped forward a bit, but not close enough for her to feel worries about him again. He didn't hold his hand out, not that she expected him to, but for some reason the teen felt like she wanted him to. It was odd that despite the fact that she found his over relaxed attitude at that moment, she had already found his confidence and smile somewhat likable and it certainly drew her in.

"Agent John Garret. We talked once over the communication unit in the plastic room, Christmas Eve,"

A moment of thinking later clicked the voice in her head to a quick introduction that was in the last vestiges of her memory, and remembered that even back then she had found his voice somewhat inexplicably likable. Especially what with the numerous stories of missions-gone-wrong that he told had the teen, though at the time truthfully Tesla was a little more interested in the ones that also included her S.O.

That was probably the first time that Tesla had realized how much of a bad ass Coulson really was.

"Oh right, well it's nice to actually meet you. Erm… Why have I been called to the training room, and where is my trainer?"

"Agent Romanoff was sent off two days ago to Stark Industries to babysit Mr. Stark, so I've been set up as your trainer for today,"

Tesla figured that SHIELD would probably talk to the billionaire after his performance at the senate, well mostly she expected that they would give him a slap on the wrist and tried once again to tell him to remain as covert as possible (not that that would work). Having an agent that was as high a level as Romanoff to stick around him, long enough for it to be described as babysitting, was something that was considered a bit of overkill to the teenager for the way Stark had acted to the government.

Still, Tesla guessed that she probably didn't know the full story of what was going on because of her level in the agency and such, so she decided to shrug it off and start on training with Agent Garret.

"Alright, should we get started?"

"Cut right to the chase huh? I might just like you Sparky. Let's get started. Lift those weights,"


Tesla fell from the metal bar, once again feeling the ache in her arms that protested any chance of being able to lift her own body up more than the thirty times she had previously managed it.

Any previous hatred of the way that Romanoff trained her was siphoned straight from her mind as she once again heard the authoritarian voice of John Garret in her ear.

"Come on Sparky, I asked for twenty more,"

"I think I'm going to throw up," Was the best reply she could articulate at the time to her current trainer, but for some reason the teen got a good feeling that this wasn't going to faze him in the slightest.

"Go ahead, but that next twenty lifts is happening either way kiddo, right after you clean it up," Of course the man didn't disappoint, as he stood not to far away and waited for the teen to get back on her feet. Knowing that it was a choice between actually going through with vomiting and having to clean that up, or just getting back to her feet and doing her best before falling down once again, Tesla tried her best to try and lift herself on her feet.

It took a little longer than expected, but thankfully it seemed that Garret was going to be patient and wait for her to get back on her feet instead of pushing her in that regard as well. Perhaps it was because he could tell that she was doing her best to get up, or possibly because he actually was aware of the physical issues she was having at the moment and so would only push her in certain moments instead of pushing her all the way.

Her hands grabbed onto the high bar again, the familiar feel of the metal in her hands now being something of a cutting pain than the cool sensation it was in the beginning. Her shoulder muscles tensed and burned at the thought of having to be used to lift her off the ground again, but still she tried to do the action again.

One more, just one more.

She repeated this mantra in her mind as she craned her neck forward a bit and lifted herself up so her chin would meet her hands on the metal bar. Teeth needed to be gritted tight together as she finally managed it, her back muscles screaming in reply but she did her best to ignore them as she stayed there for the five seconds that was necessary to count it.

"Okay that's one kid, let's have nineteen more,"

She could feel her legs shaking at the idea of having to catch herself once again, but still it was better than remaining up on the bar, so she let go and felt herself fall flat on the mat once again.

This time she had managed to get up somewhat faster, at least quick enough that Garret didn't comment on it and she tried once again to lift herself up.

This continued on until she had managed the next eighteen lifts. Thankfully it seemed that her stamina for that day was good enough to last her through this training session and she managed not to embarrass herself once again by fainting or anything like that.

"Okay Sparky you can rest up now,"

Tesla let her muscles mercifully relax, her body slumping even more into the training mat that at that moment despite its hard rubber and foam making, felt like the softest of clouds.

Garret once again acted nothing like either of her trainers before him as while Romanoff or even Barton would leave almost immediately after they had declared that the training time was over, as unlike them the older agent sat nearby on one of the many benches used to weight lifting, and watched her for a time.

The teen couldn't think of anything to say to start a conversation, which didn't really bother Tesla all that much since she didn't want to talk at that moment anyway, what little of her concentration that was left was focused instead on relaxing whilst also ignoring the pain in her muscles. However her temporary trainer seemed to want differently as he started up a conversation with her.

"So, any chance of seeing your famous firework show Sparky?" The teen turned her head in the direction of her trainer as he asked for this strange request. Her eyebrows were certainly raised as nice again how close he had been when they first met settling back into her mind, and all at once she felt the overwhelming urge to decline.

After all she was supposed to look out for the people that were around her, and this guy was always standing a little too close when she wasn't lighting up, who knows what could happen whilst she was a completely exposed live wire.

"No, I don't think I could manage that right now,"

"Too bad, Barton told me how you decimated those shooting range dummy heads before he left for the Philippians. Was hoping to see it for myself while I was still here,"

"You're leaving too?" Honestly Tesla was a little relieved to hear that she was not going through that hell that was described as a training session, but it was certainly a peak in her interest to hear that another one of her high level trainers was going to be sent away from headquarters.

"Yeah sorry kiddo but eventually I'm also getting shipped out of headquarters. I'm going out to Rio and the surrounding towns. Apparently the Big, Green and Mean has finally been spotted but was chased out by General Ross,"

Tesla's eyebrows rose as well at the information that the Hulk, and as a result, Bruce Banner, had finally been found by the military. Apparently after the situation that created the green giant, Dr Banner had managed to drop off the radar of the general military. The leader of this dog hunt being General Ross, a name that Tesla's eyes had skimmed over when she was reading the scientist's and his large green problem's file, and considering what the file said he had done, she still treated it with the same disregard as she felt he deserved.

Of course Banner had never left the ever watching sight of SHIELD, as they had always known of his position in Rio, and had for the past few months, apparently approved of just letting him stay where he was and work at the bottle factory.

Bruce being found and the Hulk being unleashed in Rio because of the general US military was a problem, a problem that Director Fury certainly was not going to like.

"Seems like everyone is scrambling to be there right now, mostly to just to grab whatever evidence they can, especially anything genetic relating to the Big Guy. Anything we find that we can keep from General Ross, we're going to take it.

"Is that what you're going to Rio to do? A clean up and clear out mission?" A clean up and clear out was something of a favorite to hear about for Tesla when she was in the plastic room, as it was usually finished with someone having to take down a civilian who was getting a little too agitated at the questioning. Really it was the parts of the story where they would walk in all bad-ass and take control of the situation that Tesla really enjoyed.

"Well that and we might need to have a quick chat and medical check with the workers at the bottle factory and people that lived in the same building as Banner, and that's just for starters. Any chance they could be infected is a bad one, and something we will also need to clear up as soon as possible,"

"I thought Gamma poisoning could only pass on through the blood?"

Garret looked a little impressed that she knew that small tidbit information, though really anyone could have known that if they read Dr Banner's file. He acknowledged this before continuing on with his explanation of what he needed to do in Rio.

"You've done your reading. But yes, the gamma sickness can only be delivered to another poor sucker through blood contact, which would have to be having the blood enter your veins or digestive system. Now that can be done in plenty of interesting ways, which is why we need to swipe the areas as clean as we can. Besides, there are plenty of people on the planet that won't change into Hulks like Banner can after being poisoned so heavily,"

"No, they'll just die won't they?" Tesla bit her bottom lip at the thought of it, of just being perfectly healthy one day, then be suddenly dying the next. The thought of it was something of a nightmare in itself, much less having to actually live it.

"Correct kiddo, painful way to go, Gamma poisoning. Still, at least it isn't anything like what Stark has going on in his gut at the moment,"

His words had Tesla surprisingly sitting up from her position on the training mat despite her muscle pain, the widening of the whites of her eyes being news enough to the trainer that she had no idea what she was talking about. He seemed to straighten up a little more as well, his own expression giving away the fact that perhaps he already knew he wasn't supposed to let that bit of information slip out to the teen.

For a moment too long there was no follow up, so Tesla pushed the issue.

"What's happened to Mr. Stark?"

"Aw jeez I knew there was a reason Fury told me not to blab too much while I was here… I guess since I've already said quite a bit I might as well tell you everything else,"

There wasn't really an edge of a seat for Tesla to literally be sitting on, but she definitely felt as though she was sitting on one as she awaited the rest of the older agent's explanation of what was going on in relation to poisoning and Mr. Stark.

"Mr. Stark was confirmed this morning to have some kind of palladium positioning, a mineral that was in relation to the Arc reactor in his chest that has been keeping him alive so far. That's why Romanoff has been sent off to watch Stark, he's a bit of a loose cannon when he's healthy, lord knows what will happen now that he's…"

"Dying," Tesla finished rather lamely as she looked down at her hands in her lap, the previous though of the nightmare of being healthy one day and dead the next springing to mind with a vengeance.

The teenager had been worried before about the thought of the Iron Man suit being taken away from the healthy living Stark, now she was downright freaking out at the thought of him dying and what that could mean as a result.

Would the government and Justin Hammer continue on with their barrage of attacks and subpoenas until they got their hands on the Stark technology, without the shield of Tony himself to stop them? The thought of them getting their trigger happy hands on the Iron Man suit was definitely something to be concerned about, and perhaps that was the first thing that occurred to Director Fury when he heard that Stark was dying.

A possible Gamma poisoning and the possible death of a blockade of destruction.

What a big week Fury, and SHIELD as a whole, must be having.

For a moment there was nothing but silence as Tesla's mind digested this information. Suddenly it was interrupted as the watch on Garret's wrist lit up and buzzed a warning at him, causing him to look down at the piece of tech before quickly standing on his feet and collecting up his already packed gym bag.

"Well, I better start to make my way to dispatch for my flight to Rio. Thanks for the workout Sparky, hopefully next time we meet you'll be up for a light show," Garret made his way to the large bulk head door that would lead out to the corridor, and left through it as soon as it opened without another word.

Tesla watched him go as she remained lying on the training mat, her worry over current events still not being enough to get her to sit up completely. So for a few more moments the teen allowed herself to just lay there and drink some of the hideous medicine in the meantime.

Perhaps it wasn't going to be her week either.


Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.