TONY'S DAUGHTER MEETS NATASHA IN A LAB ACCIDENT
FLASHBACK: 4 years earlier (Jess is 17)
It was nearing midday before Bruce Banner made an appearance in the Avengers Tower laboratory. Even Tony had beaten him there, tinkering with a circuit at his desk. He could hardly see Bruce come in with his huge welding goggles on, so it wasn't until Jessica perked up that he realized someone was there.
"Hey, Bruce!"
Dr Banner stumbled across the lab, scraps of paper dropping all over the place from the massive folder in his arms. He practically collapsed against his desk, frantically arranging his papers.
Tony lifted his goggles. "Afternoon, Banner. And what sort of time do you call this?"
"I know, I know." Bruce retraced his steps, picking all of his material off the floor. "I overslept, I'm sorry. On the bright side, Tony, I think I've got those blueprints you wanted sorted out. It took all night, hence the lateness, but I really think you'll—'
Finally looking up at his Stark companions, Bruce stopped. His gaze skipped between Jess and Tony as he spluttered incoherently for a couple seconds.
Tony arched an eyebrow. "Spit it out, doc."
"Tony! We talked about this!"
Jessica frowned. "Talked about what?"
"About Jessica in the lab! How many times have I said it — she can't be working here without the proper safety equipment. She'll get herself hurt."
Jess folded her arms. "Dad doesn't wear the proper safety equipment."
"Your dad is a lost cause," Bruce said. "But you are a teenager. What exactly are you working on?"
Suddenly Jess was eager to avoid eye contact, biting the inside of her lip. "Oh, you know, just normal…potassium cyanide type…stuff."
Bruce threw up his hands.
As if only suddenly realizing the real danger, Tony blinked. "Right. Uh. Yeah. Of course." He started to look around, under counters and up in the cupboards. "Damn, where are they…"
Thankfully, Bruce had already located the white lab coat and safety goggles to give to Jess. She slipped them both on with an audible huff of frustration. Once she was appropriately dressed for the lab, she put her hands on her hips and gave the men a meaningful look.
"Happy?"
Bruce pursed his lips. "Not quite. You should pull back your hair as well."
Jess blinked. Her hair, streaked with purple dye, was already tied up into a double bun on top of her head. Before she could argue, she noticed how many strands had fallen out around the sides of her face. Rolling her eyes, she made a big show of tucking them behind her ears.
"Happy now, Dr Banner?"
"Mm…" Bruce grumbled.
"C'mon, Banner," Tony sighed. "Surely she's good to go."
"I'm just thinking about that lip piercing. What if she got something caught in it?"
Jess scoffed. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"He's got a point, Jess," Tony said.
"For God's sake, I'm not taking out my piercing. I only got it a week ago! Can everyone just shut up so I can go back to work, please?"
Tony sucked his teeth. "Temper, temper."
Jessica sat herself back at her desk, muttering under her breath. "'Temper, temper'. I'll show you a temper…"
The men shared a look across the room, somewhere between frightened and amused. Had to love those teen hormones. Of course, growing up in the Avengers Tower, Jessica was no stranger to the overprotective tendencies of everyone around her, but she was at a stage in her life where she wanted to become her own person. One who wasn't under twenty-four hour surveillance. Besides, she'd been working in the lab for more than five years now. She could handle a couple toxic chemicals.
Distracted by all these angsty thoughts running through her brain, Jessica didn't notice one of her beakers start to overflow until the desk was sizzling. Before she had a chance to properly react, it burned a hole right through the surface and splashed the open wiring system at her feet. Jess leapt back with a cry just as her entire work area blew up, spraying acid and embers everywhere. So embarrassed by her carelessness, she hardly registered the pain.
"Woah!" Bruce yelled just as Tony cried, "What the hell?!"
"Shit!" Jess snapped. "Shit, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It was an accident."
"Over here, Jessie," Tony beckoned for her to get away from the flaming wreckage. "Over here!"
Still spluttering her apologies, Jessica hurried over to the other side of the lab where her dad worked. He put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey. Did anything get you? Where does it hurt?"
Seeing the lab coat all singed and sizzling, Tony pulled it off of his daughter and frantically examined her arms. He cursed.
"So much for your stupid safety gear, doc. She's got chemical burns everywhere!"
"Yeah, well, maybe just thank me she didn't go blind!"
Just as he said it, Jess had started to take off her goggles, but Tony snatched her hand.
"Leave them. We've gotta get out of here."
Finally, the fire alarms went off and water rained from the sprinklers overhead. Bruce, Tony and Jess put their hands over their ears. The siren was deafening.
"Out!" Tony said. "Out, out, out!"
They hadn't even reached the door before someone new stormed in, equipped with a big red fire extinguisher. Through the smoke, Jess couldn't distinguish much more than a flash of crimson hair and the click of high heels. A cloud of white burst out of the extinguisher, killing the fire within seconds. Once the smoke had finally settled enough for Jess to get a look at their saviour, her jaw dropped.
God. Damn.
Natasha Romanoff, known at this point in time as Natalie Rushman, dropped the fire extinguisher and flicked a curl of perfect red hair out of her face. "Everyone alright in here?"
Tony smiled. "Miss Rushman. Come to save the day."
"Here to help, Mr Stark."
"I'll bet you are." He gestured at Bruce, and then Jess. "These are my colleagues. Dr Banner, and Miss Stark."
Natasha's eyes flashed at Jess. "Stark?"
"Uh, yeah." Jess cleared her throat. "I'm his kid."
After a pause, Natasha smiled. "Of course. It's just no one ever told me that Mr Stark's daughter was so…radiant."
Jessica blushed. She bit her lip.
"What're you talking about?" Tony grinned. "I've said Jessie is…radiant…a hundred times. Isn't that right, Banner? Every day, I say it."
Bruce blinked. "Uh. Yeah, sure." He glanced over to Jess. "Now, if the both of you don't mind, I should probably clean up Jessica's burns. Make sure she's okay."
"Oh, Dr Banner, please," Natasha cut in. "Leave it to me. I'm sure you have a lot to do. By the time I'm done, she won't have a scratch or scar on her. I guarantee it."
"Um…" Bruce looked to Tony for permission, who just shrugged. "Okay. Yeah. If Jess doesn't mind."
"I don't," Jess said, probably too fast. She cleared her throat again. "I mean, that's fine with me."
"Wonderful." Natasha smiled. "Shall we?"
Without another moment's hesitation, Jessica left her father's side to join this gorgeous stranger as they made for the med bay, the two of them sneaking glances the entire way.
(Note: I've had a few messages asking why Jessica is always getting herself almost killed haha — in the story description I mention that these one-shots centre around Jess getting herself in dangerous situations, that's the idea! This is a very hurt/comfort fic. If that's not your thing, no worries, just don't bother reading).
