'And now, please welcome Alya Fitz-Simmons to the stage present her science fair project.'

Jemma and Fitz clapped loudly as Alya took to the stage, a travelling microphone clipped to her collar and laser pointer remote in her hand. They were both brimming with pride at their pre-teen daughter, looking quite professional with her wavy blonde hair swept back from her face and dressed in a smart blouse and blazer. Fitz thought she looked quite like a mini-Jemma.

'Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming.' Alya began with this simple introduction, then dove right into it. 'Tonight I will be presenting my synthetic genome designs for two novel fish species. I call them the 'Fun fish' and the 'Hero fish'. Let's start with the 'Fun fish.'

Alya was an excellent presenter. Her fellow twelve-year-olds were in the audience, so she was careful to use vocabulary that was accessible to them all. In addition to technical terms like 'transcription factor' and 'codon optimisation', Alya interspersed her explanation with analogies.

'So these letters are written in a special language that contains the instruction to building the 'Fun fish',' she announced. 'Now, the Fun fish has several special features. For instance, I added in genes encoding for a spectrum of fluorescent proteins, whose expression are regulated by voluntary nerve impulses. Basically, this means that the fish can control the colours that it glows.'

Alya clicked her laser pointer, and the powerpoint screen darkened. A faint outline of a fish appeared and began to shift through different colours.

A collective 'wow' emanated through the audience. Someone's baby sibling gurgled in pleasure and clapped in delight, prompting a soft 'awww' from all the parents.

Alya continued. 'I also incorporated genetic instructions for the development of special bone structures to generate and detect vibrations of various sonic frequencies. So basically, this fish can hear and made sounds that are too low or too high for most animals.'

Another gasp of appreciation rippled through the crowd. The parents were all nodding appreciatively or exchanging looks of wonder with each other.

'Inspired by Daisy,' Jemma whispered as she leaned over the Fitz, who turned to her with a knowing smile. Aunt Daisy was Alya's favourite.

Alya continued to introduce the various features of her Fun fish: super-speed (inspired by Yo-yo, no doubt), exceptional agility and reflexes (May), self-defence mechanisms involving a pouch design to hold and eject small rocks at high speeds combined with a sharp, knife-like edge (Mack's shotgun-axe), and remarkable regenerative powers that made it virtually immortal (Coulson). All in all, the 'Fun fish' was basically inspired by Alya's very special aunts and uncles.

Alya concluded the first part of her presentation to much applause. Somewhere in the audience, someone's younger sibling piped up: 'It's a superhero fish!'

There was a murmur of agreement in the audience, but Alya was shaking her head. 'No, this next fish is the 'Hero fish'. Let me explain why.'