With the midterm exams of her second year well under way, Rosalina was really feeling the pressure. With Spock out in deep space, she had nobody to confide in. Revealing her struggles to her other Vulcan friends seemed like a confession of inferiority, and she didn't want to worry her parents. Lady Amanda had worked out that she was stressed, sending her some more vanilla ice cream from the market. Although the replicator could make her any food she wanted, the real thing still tasted much nicer. While she was sat on her sofa with a bowl, a video call came through from Spock. These were very few and far between these days, so she answered immediately. He was sat in a white room, still in his science blues. After raising their hands in the Ta'al, she spoke.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Lieutenant?"
"I am aware that you are having exam troubles?"
He'd obviously been talking to his mother. "Nothing to really worry about, it's just the usual stress. At least I'm used to how you Vulcans do things now. Last year was a nightmare."
"Indeed. I remember you saying you were 'this close to having a meltdown.'" he held his index finger and thumb a few millimetres apart in front of his face, then dropped his hand again. "I remember having a similar feeling at Starfleet."
They discussed exams briefly, the conversation quickly turning to Spock's adventures aboard the USS Aldrin. Midway through his recollection of a drama surrounding the collection of rock samples, his face suddenly changed. His expression went from jovial to serious, seemingly staring at something behind her.
"I do not mean to alarm you, Rosalina, but it appears that there is someone in your kitchen."
Turning around she signalled for the lights to come on. Her suit was standing at the sink washing up, turning to face her when the lights came on.
"Ah, your suit; my apologies if you were worried, but I was unaware that its primary function was that of housemaid."
"That's fine," she laughed. "JARVIS does most of my cooking and cleaning now. It leaves me more time to revise."
A look of amusement crossed his face. "Ah yes, your motivations for enlisting the help of your AI friend is completely logical. How is JARVIS?"
"I am very well, Mr S'chn T'gai. Thank you for asking."
There were discussions on computing, Spock asking her advice on a new scenario for the Kobayashi Maru test. They were discussing the merits of using binary over CSS coding for the graphics when a buzzer sounded, signalling the end of their conversation. The signal was cut after brief goodbyes and Rosalina went to finish off a paper for her Genetics Professor.
Rosalina's second holiday of the year had arrived, and she was on her way back to Earth for a week's visit. Her father had warned her the night before to expect a lot of press on her arrival. This was the first time she had gone back to Earth since she left to attend the Vulcan Science Academy, though her parents had made a visit during the longer 'summer' break. As Rosalina walked to the communal area of the ship, she spotted a familiar face on one of the viewing screens. They were only a few hours from Earth, so the ship could now pick up the signals from TV stations on the planet. This screen was displaying a news program. There were interviews with various people, avidly awaiting her arrival. The news reporter was on the screen again, trying to engage a disgruntled Happy who was standing behind a barrier, pointedly ignoring the crowd behind him. She smiled, noting his position in the crowd so she could find him easily when they landed. As she continued to watch, a small Vulcan child walked up to her.
"That human lady is talking about you." He said, indicating the screen.
"Indeed she is young man." She responded, an image of her face popping up on the screen.
"She says you live on Vulcan now. Why is that?"
"I attend the Vulcan Science Academy. It was logical for me to move, as the journey from Earth to Vulcan is far too long to warrant my staying."
Nodding, the boy turned to his mother. "Her logic is very good, mother. She must be highly intelligent for a human."
The woman had a hint of embarrassment when she called for her son to return to her side. "Stop bothering the lady, Vanik. That is impolite." Turning to Rosalina, her face remained blank. "I apologise for my son's enquiries."
"His inquisitive nature is commendable. He shall make a brilliant scientist one day with a mind as sharp as his. It has been a pleasure meeting you, Vanik. Your pronunciation of Standard is impeccable."
"As is your Vulcan, Miss."
There was an announcement informing the passengers that they were entering Earth's atmosphere and should return to their cabins. Rosalina gave a bow of farewell, collecting her bags and sitting patiently on the bed of her cabin for a steward to direct her off the ship. When the ship landed and the door opened, she could hear a dull roar. A few minutes later, a steward escorted her from the cabin, her one small suitcase in hand. As she walked down the corridor, the roaring intensified; discernable now as the chatter of reporters she had grown unused to during her time on Vulcan. They were a very private race, so there were no paparazzi following her around. Stepping out of the craft, Rosalina nodded her thanks to the stewards and descended the stairs, the noise reaching a crescendo as she did. Ignoring the reporters' attempts to get her attention, she made a beeline for Happy, stood just inside the barrier keeping the crowd at bay. He created a path through with his body, pushing people and equipment aside that she might pass through. When they reached the car, the door slammed behind her, leaving near silence in its wake. Another burst of screaming was cut short by Happy closing the driver's door firmly.
"Where to now, Miss Stark?"
"Home please, Happy. And may I say what a pleasure it is to see you again."
"Likewise, Miss Stark. The whole team is waiting for you at Stark Tower; you can get a hover-copter home from there."
"Thank you, Happy."
With that, the car purred into life, pulling away from the station and its throng of reporters, speeding to the motorway and New York beyond.
Her week with the Avengers was drawing to a close. Training with Natasha and Clint had taken on a jovial tone since her return, exchanging banter as well as blows. Rosalina had joined Bruce and Tony in the workshop to help with their latest project, and meals were spent recalling notable events over the past few months of their lives. After the rigidity of Vulcan society, it was nice to unwind with her close friends and family. On her last day, Rosalina spent all her time with Pepper, who had been working for most of her trip. Walking through the glass doors of Stark HQ, she was greeted by the senior board members and department heads, all asking about her studies and plans for after her graduation. Her Vulcan mask worked well to avoid intrusive questions; it also allowed for answers of one syllable to be acceptable. Upon reaching her mother's office, Rosalina looked around. The only noticeable change to the decorations was a large portrait of the family hanging on the wall. Seating herself on the guest side of the desk, she awaited her mother's instruction.
"Why don't you go and have a bit of a look round, sweetheart? I've got meetings all morning, so we can meet up for lunch then do something this afternoon. Is that okay?"
"That is perfect, mother. It has been quite a while since I last went on a tour of the business; I am sure I shall find the experience quite agreeable."
Seeing the mild sadness in her mother's eyes, she stood up and left before she did anything else to upset her. She knew her mother was unused to her cold, calculated speech pattern and had tried to sound less Vulcan, but after nearly two years of living amongst them it was rather difficult. After the onslaught of questions in the lobby, she decided the best course of action would be to visit the different departments. Walking to the private CEO's lift, she selected the Research and Development department. The car hurtled downwards, and then jolted in what she assumed to be a westerly direction. As soon as the new technology was available, Tony had installed this high-speed route between all the buildings in the Stark complex. If he wanted to get from one end of the business park to the other, it now only took five minutes. Arriving at the building, she walked out of the quiet of the lift car and straight into a bustling corridor.
"Lab room seven is in lockdown. Please make you way to the decontamination rooms." FRIDAY's voice came over the PA system.
'Just my luck' she thought. As she heard the decontamination process begin, the lift doors closed, beginning a deep cleanse itself for whatever it was leaking out of lab seven. Instinct took her against the crowd, walking towards the danger. Everyone was too busy getting themselves to safety to notice her, except one.
"Miss Stark, I recommend you turn back. The situation cannot be contained much longer."
"What situation would that be, FRIDAY?"
As the words left her mouth, she saw it. A technician was running around, lab coat ablaze. She calmly grabbed a fire extinguisher, firing it at him as she passed. The flames dying down, she turned her attention to the source. A new phaser design attached to a robotic arm, writhing out of control. It fired an incendiary round periodically. Crouching behind a workbench, she shouted to the technician.
"Is it meant to be shooting fire?"
A weak voice replied. "Yes. Well, not quite like that. I don't know what's wrong!"
Spotting the control panel for the robotic element, she decided to make a dash for it. Leaping across the gap between desks, she felt the searing hot flame graze her thigh. Reaching the control panel, she opened the diagnostics records, her eyes blurring as they scanned the lines of code for errors. The last command had been entered not five minutes ago, and was drastically wrong. A rookie mistake, and easily fixed. The same could not be said for the damage done to the lab itself. Ignoring the pain in her leg, she got to work, shouting back to the lab tech on the floor.
"Have you had an apprentice in here?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"I assume they were allowed access to this control panel?"
"Yes, they were in charge of programming the arm."
After a few more taps of the keys, the arm stopped firing, allowing Rosalina to limp over and tentatively pluck the phaser from its grip. Disarming the weapon, she placed it on a desk and went to help the technician. She pulled him upright, quickly checking the extent of his injuries. A few surface burns and heavy damage to his lab coat, but otherwise alright. He seemed to be doing the same for her, his face screwing into a wince when his gaze fell on her leg.
"Thank you for the help," he said, steadying himself on a desk as he shook debris from his hair.
"You would not have required assistance if you would have followed company protocol regarding apprentices and expensive equipment."
A confused look crossed the man's face. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door to the lab burst open to reveal a greying man before he was able to.
"Dear god, Jenkins, what happened here? This is a fine mess!" seeing Rosalina at his side, the man's eyebrows shot up. "What is this young lady doing here without a lab coat on? I assume you are the culprit?"
Shocked at his tone, the technician called Jenkins began to splutter, attempting to speak. Rosalina raised her hand, quieting him. She squared up to the intruder before speaking.
"May I enquire as to why you believe I am to blame for this?"
Laughing, the man turned to Jenkins. "Can you believe this girl? As if it wasn't bad enough that we have one running the company, now they're in the labs!"
Anger boiled under the surface, but she didn't allow it to show. "You blame my gender for my perceived incompetence?" she calmly challenged, the quiet assistant wincing slightly.
"Perceived? I hardly think I'm the only one thinking this! I'll have you know this department is my department. If you want to get a job here, it's my recommendation to on high that'll get it for you! Who do you think you are, challenging a senior staff member like that?"
The man had been on the verge of shouting in her face, his own reddening with every word. 'No doubt my calm demeanour is a source of his anger' she thought, allowing a silence to fall over the room. Staring him dead in the eyes, a smirk spread on her lips.
"I might ask you the same, sir. What is your name?"
He laughed in disbelief, turning to look at both his assistant and Jenkins. "The audacity of this one! Doctor Shoredich. And you?"
"I recognise that name- Richard Shoredich? I remember father complaining about you. One of the old guard; they won't get rid of you because you'd kick up too much of a fuss."
The force of the slap combined with her unpreparedness and injured leg meant she flew backwards. Her mask of calm gone, she openly glared at him. Wiping the trickle of blood from her now split lip as she stood, she fought to hide her slight limp as she walked back to him, (speaking) in Klingon.
"I do not recommend violence against the only daughter of your employer."
Confusion mixed with the anger already on his face. "You're a linguist- what the hell was she just saying?"
He span to his assistant, his face falling when he saw Pepper standing in the doorway, a stern look on her face. Rosalina recognised it as her 'CEO mode'; even the great Tony Stark didn't dare mess with her when she had that look on her face. She walked calmly into the room, her signature heels clicking on the tiled floor as she surveyed the burnt walls and equipment in the lab.
"Would you care to explain how this lab managed to sustain so much damage, Doctor Shoredich?"
He visibly straightened before launching into a speech about how he had gotten the situation under control and was now confronting the "foolish intern" responsible for the damage. As he ranted and raved, Pepper's gaze flicked up and down her daughter's body, hovering momentarily over her injuries before she turned back to the red-faced Shoredich.
"So you believe this young lady is to blame for the programming error?"
"Yes, Mrs Stark. And as you can see from her attire, she obviously has a blatant disregard for safety protocol too."
Pepper now turned to face Rosalina. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"I came down to the labs on my tour, when FRIDAY started announcing a lockdown. I decided to see what was going on." Ignoring her mother's chastising look, she motioned towards the lab tech beside her. "Mr Jenkins here was hiding behind a desk when I arrived, and told me that an apprentice had been placed in charge of programming the firing arm. I went to the control panel and fixed the programming, disabled the arm and placed the phaser on that desk before tending to Jenkins' wounds."
Pepper's gaze followed her daughter's hand as she pointed to the weapon in question. Nodding, she turned to face Jenkins, who corroborated Rosalina's report of the incident.
"And how did you get that split lip, dear?"
Rosalina avoided her mother's gaze. Pepper then looked at each of the others in the room in turn, silently asking them the same question. Seeing that no one was going to tell her, she huffed out a breath and pulled up the footage on her Padd. Anger flashed across her face when she got to the part where Shoredich had slapped Rosalina across the room. Crossing her hands behind her back, Pepper looked to the door and called into the corridor.
"Gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to escort Doctor Shoredich off the premises." She turned to face her daughter again. "Your father will be happy when we tell him that we finally fired Richard, don't you think sweetheart?"
A horrified look of recognition fell over his face as two security officers entered the room, swiftly fastening handcuffs around his wrists. With a nod from Rosalina, one of the men kicked the backs of Shoredich's knees, bringing his head down to her shoulder height. She looked down at him, a smile spreading on her face.
"To answer your earlier question, my name is Rosalina Stark. The next time you raise a hand to me, Doctor Shoredich, will be the last time you have hands."
With that, she directed a curt nod at the security officers who pulled him roughly to his feet, dragging him from the room as Pepper began to fuss over her daughter's injuries.
