A/N* Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Flashes of color emerged on the dark horizon in Aubrey's mind, pain came with each flash and she wanted to writhe away from the sting. But her body was disconnected from her mind and she was forced to sit and wait. The colors merged together, creating a murky mass as she waded through it, watching as bits and pieces of memory played and swirled together. All of a sudden a streak of blue light cut the mass in half and Aubrey felt the pain sharpen for a moment before dulling to a thrum on the edges of her consciousness. She slowly became aware of a tingling in her fingers and the hot liquid that seemed to be pulsing in her veins. But most of all she felt what had been replaced in her back. When she shifted agony zinged up her spine and a gasp ripped out of her mouth. Her unconscious pulled her back under for what seemed like an endless amount of time.
October 22, 2015
She had been silent for a week before waking suddenly, eyes darting open and breathing her first breath on her own. The room was unfamiliar and the thrum she felt more so. Aubrey's back screamed in pain and she was glad that she lay on her stomach, focusing on breathing, trying to ignore the stab she felt in her ribs every time she exhaled.
"Ms. Cristo" A voice started. Aubrey felt herself jump slightly and opened her mouth to speak but it felt so dry that nothing came out. "My name is F.R.I.D.A.Y and you have just woken after extensive surgery to save your life. Do you remember?" the voice asked and slowly it all started to emerge from her mind. Instead of speaking, Aubrey nodded as the voice went on. "That is very good. I've alerted Dr. Fletcher and Mr. Stark, They will be here momentarily if you could just stay awake please." She nodded, already feeling exhausted and wanting to go back to sleep but the A.I had told her to stay awake so she made every effort to do so. Her tiredness was about to win out when a door behind her hospital bed opened and she heard footsteps, noting how their gaits differed. The two came and stood in front of her, a grin on Dr. Fletcher's face.
"How do you feel Aubrey?" she asked.
Aubrey wet her dry mouth and croaked out. "Thirsty." The Doctor smiled and moved out of Aubrey's viewpoint, returning with a glass of water and a straw. She gently let Aubrey sip from the glass in small amounts not letting her have the full glass. Her stomach grumbled for more but Dr. Fletcher shook her head.
"Not too much yet Aubrey, it's been a while since your stomach has processed food and water, just listen for a moment alright? Your recovery has come along nicely so far, it's okay to feel tired and go back to sleep for a bit. Tonight when you wake up we can try some applesauce-"
Aubrey interrupted her, a question popping out of her mouth. "When will we know?... if it's working?"
Tony flashed a rare smile "I think it already is." He moved out of her viewpoint and returned with a mirror, showing Aubrey a face she thought she would never see again. Her face had lost its sickly pallor and her eyes didn't seem so sunken in as they had. The wrinkles had lessened but were still present around her eyes, the transformation shocked Aubrey and she had to refrain from shaking her head in disbelief.
"So...that's it then? I'm...okay?"
"Yes and no" Tony sighed "As long as your body continues to accept the Nanotech we will be okay. For the next week or so you will have daily injections of Nanoparticles until your blood levels are back to normal and the metal has been counteracted. Then we can move onto the next stage of your recovery." Aubrey nodded and answered the doctor's various questions about pain level and how she felt before she was left in silence again.
The day passed quietly as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Early evening, Aubrey was struck with the urge to shift onto her side. Her back stung and her bones ached but she wanted more than anything to sit up and move around. A groan made its way out of her mouth as she shifted, carefully rolling off of her stomach and onto her side. The incision on her back screamed as the skin rippled and she grit her teeth in an effort to wait for the pain to subside. After several minutes, Aubrey felt the I.V pick line in her arm release a new wave of pain medication. It left a cloud in her consciousness but also allowed her to tip back, laying on her back. Pain crowded her vision as an exhale of breath puffed out of her lips. The dull thrum that seemed to race up and down her spine deeped into a flame that slithered up and down.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y?" she tentatively asked.
"Yes, Ms. Cristo?" came her friendly voice.
"Why does my spine feel like it's on fire?"
"That is completely normal Ms. Cristo, your body is simply adjusting to the technology that was implanted in your body."
"Oh" was her answer as she pulled her thin blanket up to her chest, feeling more comfortable now that she was on her back.
She slept fitfully that night, nightmares about her sickness plaguing her all night. The next morning she was greeted by a cheery nurse dropping off her breakfast.
When Aubrey reached to take a bite the nurse shook her head.
"You can't eat that until the Nano's are injected. They can cause some nausea among other symptoms." with that the nurse left and Aubrey was left smelling the hashbrowns and toast for a total of ten minutes before someone came. Aubrey's face lit up as Miss. M slid the door open, a needle in hand and Tony not far behind her.
"Good Morning Aubrey-" she started brightly, putting the large syringe on a near-by table and smiling warmly. "It's so good to see you so...full of life."
"Thanks, Miss. M-" She opened her mouth to say more but Tony interrupted them.
"Now if we are done with this little…-" he motioned with his hands "-reunion then we can get on with this. I need to know how your body will react to it so I can calibrate the dosage of your medication and the amount we will inject tomorrow." She nodded, nerves writhing in her stomach, surely it wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be. Miss. M helped Aubrey sit up correctly and lean forward, Tony marked a spot just beside her neck and cleaned it with an antibiotic wipe. Her loose t-shirt and one-size-too-big yoga pants were comfortable but Aubrey couldn't wait to shower, her mind wandered to all the things she could do again as they prepped the injection site.
Tony picked up the needle, explaining some of the science of the specific injection spot to Miss. M before gently positioning it on Aubrey's skin.
"It will take several minutes to get them all in, you may feel a burning sensation, and here's a bucket in case you decide to lose it," he warned before counting down.
"Three, two, one" he plunged the needle in and Aubrey knew the exact moment the Nano's started entering her body. A hot, fiery sensation started at the tips of her toes and traveled throughout her body, ending at the top of her spine. It seemed to zing back and forth through her veins and it made her vision grow dark, dizzying nausea making her stomach roll and converse. She dry-retched into the bucket, feeling Miss. M's warm hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. It seemed to last for hours but was really minutes before Aubrey felt the needle pull out of her skin and heard it put down elsewhere. Every joint hurt and her muscles were tight with pain and she had to force herself to lean back against the hospital bed, slowly exhaling and attempting to relax her muscles. Tony had stepped back and let Miss M. take over, she wiped the sweat off of Aubrey's forehead and talked to her as she swiped her limp hair aside. After several moments Aubrey had calmed down and puffed a breath out of her lips, running a hand down her face."That...was worse than expected" she groaned and Miss M. rubbed her shoulder sympathetically.
"Soo….same time tomorrow?" Tony turned on his heel and made his way towards the door but Aubrey's voice stopped him.
"Will you a smaller dose tomorrow, Tony?" she couldn't keep the hope from her voice.
"Actually...I'm going to up it slightly" he said, backing towards the door as if expecting Aubrey to blow up. He was correct with the assumption.
"What?! That was...unbearable! How is that going to help?"
"If everything goes well then tomorrow you will feel better and it will feel the same." Aubrey sighed inwardly and spent the rest of the day asking Miss. M. to bring back the knives she had started throwing at a target that she had told F.R.I.D.A.Y to have someone bring in. Tonys hope that the next day would be better turned out just as Aubrey had known. It was worse….so much worse. The day after that was no better except Aubrey's hair had started to look much healthier and the color slowly started to return. Before she knew it a month had passed and according to F.R.I.D.A.Y it was November third, which ment her birthday was within the next three months. The day had started as it had for the last month. Tony and Miss. M came early morning and administered the injection of Nano's. But today Aubrey noticed that the sting was less and the nausea had wasn't as violent. After it as finished Tony stepped back and smiled warmly at Aubrey. Over the course of her sickness and recovery, Aubrey had noticed that he seemed more comfortable talking about the science of it. He had even come by some afternoons to watch her throw the knife at the target, she taught him wrist techniques and explained how it felt to be invisible. She'd noticed one day the glazed look that had come over his eyes and his quickened breathing. Aubrey had identified with the symptoms herself more than once, he was having a panic attack. At first, she had thought about asking F.R.I.D.A.Y for help but settled on talking about her own experiences with trauma. It had taken several minutes to bring him back but since then they seemed like...friends. Aubrey hadn't experienced friendship besides Bucky's before and it was like a whole different world to her. She knew Bucky was in the area, F.R.I.D.A.Y had told her as much several days ago. He had been sneaking around the Avengers facility and the surrounding areas. Tony snapped Aubrey back to her senses as he started to speak.
"Aubrey you have about a week left before we are finished with the injections..so I thought today we would take you to our physical therapy room and see if you can start the road to walking again. Doctor Fletcher will be there too, just to make sure everything's working correctly."
A lump formed in her throat and Aubrey nodded, excitement and nervousness blooming in her stomach. Tony left so Miss. M could help her get dressed before she was moved to a wheelchair and taken to the therapy room. Supposedly, Tony, had the room installed when the facility was built but Aubrey had a sneaking suspicion that he had installed it for her, the thought warmed her heart. The room was sleeky built to serve its purpose, every kind of rehabilitation tool was housed in it. They spent the day working on getting her muscles ready for the weight of her body again. The same thing was repeated for three more days. Aubrey had started counting down the time until her injections were done and she could start the second stage of recovery. But, that day, instead of going to the muscle stretcher, Miss. M wheeled Aubrey to the parallel bars.
"What?" she gasped slightly, unsure if she was ready for it.
"You can do this" Miss. M encouraged as Aubrey breathed a deep breath, grabbing ahold of the bars with her hands. Gulping, she looked to Miss M. who stood beside her, waiting to help. In one swift, jerky move Aubrey was on her feet. Her knees wobbled and the muscles in her legs screamed from disuse but she was standing. Something she never thought she would do again. Her back ached as she attempted to stand up straight, squaring her shoulders and breathing deeply. Her foot inched forward, the other swinging into the next step.
"I'm walking." Aubrey breathed, afraid that this was a dream.
"You sure are." Miss. M beamed, her hand hovering at Aubrey's back in case she stumbled. Her steps were jerky and unorganized, threatening to trip over herself at any time. But Aubrey didn't care, even though her back ached and her muscles stretched painfully it was all worth it because she was walking. Something she never thought would have happened again.