Cooking with Ruby had been fun, if not messy. With one arm to work with and Ruby's lack of deft hands it had been a chaotic environment, cutlery recklessly clattering and a fair few spills had been dealt with. Despite the mess and the chemical smell still tickling her nose from the necessarily severe clean-up, it was the most fun she had had in a long time. The meal turned out surprisingly well all things considered, it was a welcome change of pace from the D.E.O. and the bullets that had flown at her. It had only been a couple of days, but the kitchen adventure had made it seem so long ago, she had enjoyed it so much that she had lost all track of time and found herself rushing.
"When I said we'd watch her this isn't what I'd had in mind," Alex said.
"Sorry, I know, I know. But Lena said the arm is ready and I'd like to be able to do the school run tomorrow on my own," Sam said.
"Don't worry, I've done a lot in my time, I'm sure I could look after a twelve-year-old," she said. Sam nodded, knowing that Alex had underestimated how much of a handful said twelve-year-old could be. "I'll be back soon." She gave Ruby a quick hug and hurried out to the car waiting outside.
The luxurious leather of the car's back seat and fresh smell always managed to impress her. The days leading up to another new arm had dragged by. Staying out of sight and worrying about Ruby while she was at school had mostly involved sitting around at home, finding ways to occupy herself. The most productive way she spent her time was getting to grips with some of the more outlandish powers she possessed. She had gathered a little more control over her flying, though she had broken a glass or two in her early attempts. Though she had been overly cautious it was becoming apparent that she was not quite as strong or fast as she had been when Reign was in control. A point further driven home when she attempted heat vision. The small piece of wood she had set out in the garden still sat there, all she had achieved was stinging her eyes and mildly warming up the air around her. The plank had gormlessly showed off that it did not even possess a mark or slight burn from her attempts. She was largely grateful at her seeming lack of power after having seen the damage Supergirl had managed with no real effort. She could only fly at a jogging pace, the ability to shatter half a block by merely landing was off the table. She looked out the window and watched the sun start to set, green turned to grey as suburbs changed to concrete. The car's engine droned away with its surprisingly quiet hum, she barely noticed the small stops and starts as the ambience of busy traffic began to take hold. Lena's driver was always polite and never showed any hesitation, he was also never talkative. She imagined he had seen a lot of bizarre sights in his time, she could never guess whether he simply chose to ignore the oddities Lena likely threw his way or if he was extremely loyal and well paid. Coming up with theories and stories about him had been Ruby's latest line of intrigue, between asking when she would be saving people again.
While the seat was incredibly comfortable, she fidgeted. Lena's generosity seemed endless and she still had no idea how to repay such kindness. At this point it was clear Lena was not after favours or up to something, even so, it was difficult to avoid feeling like she was in her debt.
As the car slowly rumbled along the temptation to simply get out and walk the rest of the way wormed into her head. She refrained, staying as out of sight as possible had been recommended to her. She sat patiently and watched pedestrians overtake them through the tinted windows.
When they finally pulled up by the L-Corp building, there was still some waiting to do. Lena insisted on meeting her personally to take her where she needed to go. After a few minutes she emerged to escort her through. The steely expression Lena deployed when she did not want to be looked at or questioned by anyone in the building was always a sight to behold. She was grateful to have Lena's commanding presence working in her favour, it had been something she had hoped to learn when she had become C.F.O. of this place. She was certain wherever Lena went, she could convince people she owned the place and to stay back without saying a word. She followed Lena's confident stride through reception, the small maze of corridors and finally the lab. They had gotten through with barely a glance in their direction. Lena's expression rose to a friendly smile moment the lab door slid shut behind them, in a jarring moment she was once again the friendly scientist. They exchanged pleasantries while Lena kicked off her heels, donned flats and threw on her lab-coat.
"The machine's ready to go, it's exactly the same procedure as last time," Lena said. Sam looked over at the tube. The experience had been strange enough to go through once, she took a deep breath and moved forward.
She did her best to let thoughts of having two working arms again distract her from the pinching and poking of it all. She hummed to herself to try and drown out the drilling noises. She managed to stay still a little better than last time and had become slightly more adept at ignoring the pain from an arm that was not there yet. One familiar process and a few tests later, she was sitting by Lena again. She merrily flexed the new arm, everything had gone smoothly and the disorientating feeling of having the missing arm in place was far milder this time around.
"That should be good to go," Lena said as she packed away some of her tools.
"I'll do my best to keep this one," she said with a smile.
"Actually, since you mention it…" Lena rolled over to one of her workbenches in the wheeled chair she seemed to enjoy so much. She picked up a thin black bar and rolled back to her.
"I hope you aren't likely to be in the line of fire again, but I finished up a project that would be perfect for you. If anything, it can serve as peace of mind," Lena said as she measured up the bar along the prosthetic, it was a similar length to her forearm. Lena nodded to herself and pressed one end of it. A strap-like ring folded out of one end.
"Stand up, put your fingers through this, so the bar is lined up on the outside of your arm," Lena said. Sam looked at the mysterious contraption Lena was handing to her. It was only slightly thicker than a ruler. It was difficult to gather what Lena was up to as she obliged and put her hand through the ring. She was mildly startled when it clamped down onto her palm with a click and the bar sealed itself onto her forearm.
"What is this, Lena?" she said.
"See that small panel by your knuckle?" Lena said. Sam looked at her hand, the sturdy strap around her palm seemed to be entirely the same shade of black as the rest of the attachment, with a closer look she saw a slight divot at the side. "Put your arm out in front of you like this and press it." Lena had rolled back and put her arm out parallel to her chest, she was struggling to contain a grin and had an excitement comparable to Ruby's, though Lena was mildly better at containing it. With a slight hesitation she put her arm out and pressed the divot with her thumb. She let out a small yelp as the black bar violently folded itself out into a large, round shield. Her mouth dropped as she inspected this new attachment of hers. She brought the top of it just below her eye-level, the bottom edge reached to about half-way down her thigh. Lena clasped her hands and rested her thumbs beneath her chin.
"All the bullets in the world would hardly dent that material. I know CADMUS have left you and Ruby alone after the attack, but if something happens again, you'll be better prepared," Lena said.
"I… don't know what to say," Sam said, it thudded when she knocked on the front of it with her other hand. She was baffled at how such a small bar had expanded into such a large area, let alone the strength of it.
"The D.E.O. asked me to weaponize that arm of yours, I told them there wasn't a chance in hell I'd let that happen. This is a happy compromise," Lena said.
"Quite the compromise…" Sam said. She pressed the panel again, she threw her arm forward to counter the force of the shield as it frantically folded back in like releasing a tape measure. "What's it even made of?"
"The short explanation is a fair few alien alloys fused with a substance called Nth metal," Lena said, smiling at her. Sam nodded uneasily, what Lena said meant very little to her so hoped Lena would avoid giving her the long explanation. Sam deployed it again, she braced herself more strongly. Even with her strength, the shield folding out was a hell of a force.
"Well it really is quite something," she said, she admired the silver framework on the front and knocked on it with a satisfying clang a couple more times for good measure.
"Just pull the strap forward on your palm when you want to remove it, I imagine you don't want to accidentally deploy it whilst driving or something. Granted you need to press it pretty hard to get it to work but still…" Lena tailed off. Some doubts had crept into Sam's head and it looked like Lena was picking up on it.
"This shield, it must be extremely rare…" she said. Lena smiled nervously.
"Yes, I don't know how he procured such a substance, but my associate made it pretty clear that replacing it could take a while," Lena said.
"Associate?" She said. Lena seemed to catch herself. She straightened out her lab coat and seemed to reset herself, but still displayed a certain unease.
"An associate of mine clued me onto Nth metal. He mostly made it out as nothing more than a strong material, after studying it more closely I've discovered a whole wealth of applications. One is its ability to compact and reform rapidly without losing density. Its capabilities as a smart material are like nothing I've ever seen," the pace of her words quickened as she spoke.
"What's this really about Lena, why go to so much trouble? Why throw such a rare material my way?" Sam said. Lena's nervous smile slowly dropped to a concerned look. Lena rubbed the bridge of her nose and ran a hand through her hair.
"I know what the D.E.O. are like, Sam. They wouldn't have asked me to meddle with the arm without a reason. I'm not going to tell you not to work with them, you have to look after Ruby, I get that. And I'd also be a major hypocrite if I told you to take a step back or let others handle your problems for you. Just… be careful," Lena said, her eyeline dropped to the floor. Sam looked down at her new arm, it gently whirred as she rotated it. She hoped the shield would be unnecessary with what the D.E.O. had lined up for her.
"I appreciate this, what I'm doing is a necessary risk. I'll be damned if I let myself get hurt," she said.
"Well, that shield is just one more tool to prevent that from happening," Lena said, rubbing her hands. "This associate of mine also claimed it disrupts magic, though I'm pretty sure he was pulling my leg on that one."
She met Sam's gaze again. Sam gave her a small nod, she deployed and retracted the shield at consistent intervals. It took a few attempts to brace correctly, each time the pushback of it folding out so rapidly became easier to read.
"Do you ever stop?" Sam said, Lena had been watching the shield intently as she fiddled with it.
"What do you mean?" Lena said.
"You put this together in the space of a few days, on top of everything else you must have going on. I don't want to be a burden," she said. Lena rolled back and cleared up more of her workspace.
"You aren't a burden, don't ever think like that. As far as slowing down, it used to be something I never did. I was cold then, calculating…" she tailed off slightly, but promptly shook herself back into the moment. "There are people in my life that showed me the value of taking my foot off the pedal. That shield of yours was actually a break from my usual routine and something I more than enjoyed doing. Also, as much as I'd love to claim I put that together so quickly. It's research I've been tinkering with for a few weeks, you were just a good reason to move forward with it. I'm not one for the frontlines and don't have super-powers, my research is just one of my ways of helping people. It also helps that the science behind it is fascinating." Sam moved in and helped tidy things away, she saw Lena mask a flinch when she got closer. As much as she seemed to have things worked out, there were dents.
The lab was back to its pristine self. Sam folded her arms and took in the space, the bar the shield folded into pressed against her skin. It was cold and metallic despite the slight give it had when she pressed into it.
"I've got a few more things to sort out down here," Lena said, she stepped off toward where Sam knew the cleaning supplies were. The smell of disinfectant pre-emptively tingled in her nose.
"I'll leave you to it. Thanks again," she said, waving her new arm.
"Any time. Stay safe out there," Lena said. Sam made her way out, the Alex would be waiting at the D.E.O., she scratched at her new arm. The mental image of the shield bursting out gave her a more confident stride toward this unknown.