Chapter 22

Training began in the medical suite with a series of tests. To start, it was more tubes of blood than felt strictly necessary in my opinion, though at least Bruce carefully walked me through every step before he performed it. From there it was a series of MRI, CT, and pretty much every scan that the scientists could think to run on me. That took us all the way to lunch time, which gave Steve and I a short window of alone time.

Sadly we only used it to eat.

After that, we started with a treadmill stress test with only a few grumbles of protest on my part and one short lecture from Steve about the importance of finding out what was going on.

"Come on, Steph!" Tony cried out from off to the side while I ran, "if you wanted to be done, you should have just said something. There's no reason to melt my equipment!"

"What?" I asked, looking down just in time to see the last of the wires that had been connected to the pads all over my torso swing free— no longer connected to the sensors. Pulling out the neck of my shirt, I looked down and saw that they, along with my underwear, were missing. "Sorry!"

"Alright, well," Tony said. "Accidents like that were bound to happen, I suppose. And that brings me to another point— my opportunity to prove to Pepper that I was right!"

"None of this is about you, Stark," Steve started, but I cut him off quickly.

"You were right about what?" I asked Tony.

Tony seemed willing to let Steve's statement go for whatever reason, and instead he focused on me, "about the clothes. What I gave you is uncomfortable and clearly not working out, right?"

I looked down at myself and hedged, "well, it's a bit itchy. But I'm really grateful to not be ending up naked all the time. Though undergarments are an issue."

"See!" Tony shouted triumphantly as he enthusiastically waved us to follow him into the elevator. "I had a better, more comfortable material already available, but Pepper didn't think it was appropriate!"

"And why is that?" Steve asked suspiciously.

"It might be a little bit tight," Tony conceded, holding his fingers close together. "But it works much more effectively that way! And she could wear regular clothes over it, Cap!"

Steve's jaw had tensed up, and he looked about ready for a fight, so I quickly took a few steps to be in between them and leaned my back against Steve's front so his arms came around me. I could feel him loosen up a little as the seconds passed.

To Tony, I said, "sure. Let's give it a try."

I regretted that decision five minutes later after squeezing myself into what Tony had jokingly called my "future supersuit". It fit me almost like a wetsuit and was made of a navy material. The left breast had an Avengers logo on it.

It was the kind of outfit that one too many donuts, heck one donut at all, would show on my gut. Or at least it would have before my most recent kidnapping. I couldn't deny the observations that had been made on the flight back to the States about my figure being leaner than it had been pre-kidnapping.

If there was one silver lining to all this, maybe I'd be able to eat all the donuts without repercussions.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious, and Steve looked like he was torn between being angry at Tony for creating it and throwing me over his shoulder to take me back to his room and inspecting it himself.

Before either of us could say anything though, Tony yelled "heads up!" and tossed a balled up pile of clothes at me.

"What?" I asked staring at Tony in confusion.

"You can certainly pull that look off, but assuming you don't want to walk around like that normally, you can fit clothes over it easily," Tony told me. "But this way when you...light up… unexpectedly, you won't find yourself naked. And there's enough built in support that—"

"I won't need underwear," I realized. "It actually is remarkably comfortable. It's like yoga pants but better."

"You're welcome," Tony said. "Plus it looks like you in just the underlayer is going to make Cap's head explode. Or maybe some other part of his anatomy. Not that I can blame him, it's just weird to see such a paragon of virtue gone over a hot piece of—"

"Tony," Steve growled out in warning.

Bruce clapped his hands and drew our attention to him as he said, "okay, Steph. I'm glad you're more comfortable now. The material adapts to your body, which includes things like temperature. It will become almost like athletic, moisture-wicking material that is breathable when you heat up, for example. And this blend doesn't have all the additional synthetic fibers to make it look more like regular clothes, so it should be soft. Not itchy. You can put those clothes on top obviously if you'd like, but for this next part we're going to see if you can start some fires on purpose. So…"

"They'll just be ashes if I succeed anyway," I filled in the blank. With a sigh, I set the clothes down and thought I managed to only give them the slightest wistful glance as I backed away from them. Then I glanced over at Steve apologetically as I said, "all those scans- they've basically seen me naked anyway."

Steve just waved off my concern, and Bruce cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Plus, you kept doing the whole naked thing on the jet the other day," Tony confirmed.

Given his reputation and what others had said about his lack of filter, I expected Tony to continue with some sort of commentary on my body, but he managed to reign it in.

"If you'll come over here," Tony said instead, waving his hands Vanna White style at a door in what looked like a steel box about the size of an elevator car that was sitting in the middle of the lab we were in. "We can start seeing exactly what you can do."

A door opened off to the side of the lab, and I noticed another addition to the room. Along the far from where we'd come in was a small room had been built that was made of what appeared to be some sort of safety glass. Inside were some comfortable movie-theater style seats in two stadium rows. The other Avengers currently in residence were filing in, and then Darcy dashed in at the last second before the door swung shut, giving me a little wave even as she responded to something Natasha said.

Darcy's impish grin made me think she probably wasn't supposed to be there, but she clearly intended to stay anyway. I watched, wishing I could read lips, as more words were exchanged before Darcy triumphantly flounced to a seat and settled in giving me a thumbs up.

"Steph," Steve said quietly, drawing my attention back to him, Tony, and Bruce. "Did you get that?"

I cleared my throat and said, "no, sorry. I was too busy feeling like an animal in a zoo."

Steve smiled apologetically, but I reached out to let him know it was okay before focusing on Bruce when he began talking.

"We have video cameras, speakers, and a complex set of sensors and monitoring equipment in this box. You're going to go into the box and see if you can channel that heat again. I don't want you to do so using negative emotions— trying to recall the kidnapping or anything like that. If you can't do so, I will walk you through some visualization exercises. Then we'll try again with you just working on it on your own. Our goal here, is to get you to control this thing, and I think once you learn to purposely turn it on, you'll actually be in good shape."

"After all," Tony cut in, "it is actually part of your DNA now."

"Okay," I agreed slowly. "And the box…?"

"Should contain the heat and anything else you throw at it. We built it to withstand much greater temperatures than we've measured coming off of you thus far. And JARVIS is in there with a containment system if necessary. Additionally we will all be in that box with the others, watching on monitors and through the glass if applicable. And that box is an additional layer of safety for the rest of us."

I blew out a breath, knowing that they had way more experience than me in anything approaching this kind of scenario. With a nod, I reached for the door handle on my metal box, unsurprised when Steve got to it before me. He pulled the door open for me and guided me toward it with a hand, but he stopped me in the threshold for a brief kiss before allowing me to fully enter.

The door closed with a resounding thud, and I felt a bit of panic start to creep in. It felt like an eternity had passed before there was a barely audible click and Steve's voice rang through the room, "how's it going in there, Steph."

I took a deep breath then blew it out and said, "yep. Just hanging out in this metal coffin."

"Are you claustrophobic, Steph?" Bruce asked calmly. "Your heart rate seems elevated."

"I dunno. Not really. I've just had some bad experiences in small spaces. Give me a minute," I closed my eyes and imagined myself sitting on the couch with Steve, watching basketball, with his arm slowly stroking my arm. Finally I opened my eyes again and said, "okay."

"Whatever you just did definitely worked," Steve reassured me. "And remember, we're right here. You aren't really alone."

I nodded to myself before I realized they could all see me, but then I allowed myself a small shrug. As Tony pointed out earlier, they'd all seen me naked. They could see me freaking out a bit. Except Darcy, but I was certain she wasn't the type to judge.

"Alright, Steph," Bruce spoke softly and in an even tone. "Since that did work so well, I want you to close your eyes and go back to that place or whatever you did to calm yourself."

"I imagined myself sitting on the couch in Steve's apartment, relaxing and watching basketball again," I confessed.

"That's good," Bruce agreed. "Now picture yourself there, safe and sound, but remember how your body felt when your power is going through you. Not all of it at once, maybe just focus on your hand."

I stood there with my eyes closed, trying to do as he requested. I had no idea how long it was before Darcy of all people spoke sounding excited, "Steph, open your eyes."

I did and immediately noticed that my right hand, the one I'd been trying to imagine since I'd been pretending Steve was sitting on my left, was engulfed in flame right up to the wrist. I gasped and lost my concentration, which caused the fire to go out.

"That was actual fire," I said. "Not just heat."

Even to my own ears, I sounded panicked.

"It's not surprising," Tony reassured me. "Where there's heat, there's bound to be fire."

"Isn't it 'where there's smoke, there's fire'?" I asked meekly. Happy for the reprieve offered by a little lame joking.

"Hey, I'm the genius here," Tony protested, though I could hear the smile in his voice. "How'd your suit hold up?"

I looked down at the end of the long sleeve which would have been right by the flame. "Good as new," I confirmed.

"Like I said, I'm a genius," Tony bragged.

I tuned him out and looked at my hand, trying to remember what the fire had felt like, and this time it came more easily. So thinking, I tried to imagine the sensation spreading.

"Hooooooly shit!" Darcy yelled in excitement.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Natasha asked sounding curious.

"I imagined it everywhere," I told her.

I vaguely heard JARVIS in the background, saying something about temperatures as I was distracted looking at each of my arms then down to my torso and legs fascinated by my body being completely covered in flames.

"Can you go hotter?" Tony's voice cut through my thoughts, and I paused to think about it.

I had no real explanation for how I knew I could, I just knew it with absolute certainty. I could hear clamoring of other voices in the distance, but I wasn't listening to them. Instead I could hear the whoosh of the flames around me, and feel the rightness of what was happening inside me.

Until suddenly it was gone and l felt cold and wet. I looked down and noticed that, drat, JARVIS had foamed me again.

After a couple of seconds of confusion on my end, the door whooshed open, and I peeked my head out.

"What the fuck?" I asked. "I was just doing what you said."

"Didn't you hear us yelling at you?!" Tony shouted as he rushed from the observation room into the larger laboratory space. "Of all the reckless—"

"TONY!" Darcy yelled, following hot on his heels. She got right up in his face and continued shouting, "CALM THE FUCK DOWN! And who the hell are you to call anyone reckless!"

The two continued bickering, and I stared at them, wide-eyed until a large, muscular chest that was becoming ever more recognizable to me blocked my view.

"Hey," Steve said softly. "Are you okay?"

His hands came up and wrapped around my shoulders offering me some comfort, at which point I realized that I had tears dripping down my face for some reason.

"Yeah," I looked at my toes and cleared my throat. "Sorry, I don't know why. Anyway— I guess I don't know why he's so angry? I was doing what he told me to do."

"Steph," Bruce spoke softly from a few feet behind and to the side of Steve. When I turned and looked at him, he said, "there's such a thing as too hot."

"What—" I started to ask for clarification when Tony finally calmed down enough to walk over to us.

Darcy was practically glued to his side, apparently making sure he behaved, and Tony actually cast a sideways glance at her before he said, "lots of things. First of all, you were burning oxygen faster than JARVIS could pump it in for you to breathe. Second, if JARVIS had waited a second longer, you would have completely melted that box and no longer been contained. And third!"

He started to approach yelling again and Darcy elbowed him providing Bruce the opportunity to jump back in with, "unchecked generation of extreme heat can cause thermonuclear reactions among other side effects."

"A hydrogen bomb," Tony said. "you were on your way to producing so much heat that you could have caused two molecules to get hot enough to hit and create an uncontrolled reaction like a thermonuclear weapon."

There was complete silence in the room for several beats before I nervously said, "okay. That would be bad."

"Yeah, Steph," Tony said sarcastically. "That would be bad."

"Well how was I supposed to know?" I argued, straightening my spine. "You told me to go hotter!"

"Then we told you to stop!" Tony protested.

"Well, I couldn't hear you. I was concentrating and fire can be kinda loud when you're, you know, engulfed in it!" I told him, waving my hands about.

"Okay," Steve spoke calmly, clearly trying to lower the tension and step things down a notch. "Tony and Bruce, did you get the data you need for today? Should we call for a break for the day?"

I took a deep breath and looked into Steve's eyes, allowing the confidence he seemed to project to wash over me and make me feel a little less rage toward Tony.

Tony scoffed, but when Darcy just scowled at him, he clamped his mouth shut, cutting off what would have surely been a sarcastic retort.

"Yes," Bruce quickly stepped into the silence to agree. "We have more data than we can likely process and make sense of today, so I think a break is in order. If anything else comes up, can we do some more tomorrow, Steph?"

After one more cleansing breath, I nodded my assent saying, "anything you can tell me about everything that's happening with me, I appreciate. Even if you don't need more data, can I maybe… I don't know… practice?"

I asked the last looking over at Steve and then Natasha who I could see a little ways off behind his shoulder.

"Absolutely," Steve insisted.

"Practice will be a huge part of gaining control," Natasha murmured as she stepped up fully to our group. "And that's something I think we all want, plus the sooner you're in control, the sooner you can go back to Trenton so we can get the rest sorted out."

"Control is good," I said while nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Tony cut in. "Feelings and crap. Blah. There is actually one more thing I want you to try, Steph."

"Tony," Steve cautioned.

"Oh pull the stick out of your ass, Cap," Tony said with surprisingly little heat given his words. "If everyone could just take a few steps back."

"What are you thinking?" Bruce asked while walking backwards. "Maybe we should go back into the room."

"It's fine," Tony waved off his concern. "I think you and she both have more control than either of you give yourselves credit for, but that's a whole different feelings conversation. Steph, you remember what it felt like to have the flames in a particular part of your body, like your hand, versus your whole body, right?"

"Yes," I quickly confirmed.

"Alright, then we'll start slow in terms of amount, right?" Tony asked.

"Right," I allowed a small, tentative smile to cross my face, hoping that Tony hadn't written me off as a complete loser after the previous test. "Thermonuclear, bad."

Tony returned my smile with a big one of his own and a laugh. "Exactly. Thermonuclear bad. Now. What I want you to do is put some fire just in your feet."

I looked down at my feet and felt myself squinch my eyes shut in concentration a moment later. In my mind's eye, I pictured my feet and then imagined them on fire… but not too hard.

"Okay, good," Tony said. "Now instead of your whole foot, can you just do the bottoms of your feet?"

It was an odd request, but nobody objected. I figured it was just a test of the amount of precision I could command- putting the fire on a smaller, more specific part of my body.

"Good," Tony murmured, allowing me to keep my focus instead of opening my eyes to see if I had done it. "Little hotter."

I adjusted the intensity of what I was feeling.

"Little hotter," Tony urged.

We repeated the process a couple more times before Darcy's voice cut in with a triumphant shout of, "hot damn! You can FLY!"

"Fly?!" I squeaked out in surprise, opening my eyes.

Of course that was all that it took to break my concentration, and I let out an undignified squawk as I started falling out of the sky.

I'd only raised myself a few feet in the air, but Steve still managed to move fast enough to catch me before I hit the ground.

If anyone asked, I would tell them that I was breathless from the excitement of catching myself flying. But I wasn't really sure anyone would believe me given the way that I lost myself in Steve's eyes as I said, "thanks."

Because the reality was, I was feeling affected by the display of strength and agility from Steve as well as the sensation of finding myself pressed tightly to all that muscle.

Steve's gaze dropped from my eyes down to my lips, and I watched his pupils dilate in response to my tone.

"Yeaaaaahhhh," Clint's voice cut in though neither of us looked away from the other. "We don't want to watch whatever happens next. How about we see you two crazy kids in the morning?"

"O seven hundred," Steve barked out. His commanding tone made me tingle even more, and I reflexively licked my lips. Steve's eyes followed the motion, and his arms tightened around me. I could hear everyone else moving toward the door, but they were still within earshot as Steve raised his voice and shouted to them, gaze unwavering from mine, "make that o nine hundred."

A/N: See what I did there with the title? Out of the frying pan INTO THE FIRE?! Ba Dum Tss! Carry on, nothing to see here, just a sleep deprived author enjoying her not-even-really-a-pun puns way too much. Also, she should very, very much remind you of another character...