Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 33 Research Panel
"I'm telling you, crystallography just isn't my field," Jane protested. "I don't recognize that structure."
"Well, I don't recognize it either," Tony retorted. "What about you, Red? Is it anything like what that girl Kole you mentioned would use?"
"I don't know," Red sighed. "I never got the chance to examine it. But neither did Kon, and he said it looked vaguely familiar."
"Can I have a look at those?" Bruce asked, and leaned over Jane's shoulder to read the results from the scans. Jane found herself unconsciously leaning away from him, ever-mindful of his condition despite herself. She caught her action and held still. She knew he wasn't really dangerous, not unless he lost control, but there was always the strange little twitch the Titans acquired whenever Bruce's name was mentioned.
"See anything?" Tony asked after a moment.
"Yeah," Bruce murmured. "These readings…I think the crystal's organic in some form."
"May I?" Red asked, looking over. "I see it, yes. I think you may be right."
"Organic crystal?" Tony said doubtfully.
"Why not?" Bruce asked. "Is it really all that improbable?"
"It's different," Red mused. "I've never seen anything comparable."
"But your friend has?" Jane clarified.
"He's seen something not completely dissimilar," Red corrected.
"Can we chip off a bit and run it through mass spec?" Tony asked"
"We can give it a go," Red said. He set the crystal on a small dish and picked up a scalpel. He knocked it against the crystal experimentally, then scraped it. "Tony, got anything tougher?"
"Sure, but in my workshop," Tony shrugged. He picked up the dish and sauntered towards the door. "Be back in a minute."
"Think he'll have any luck?" Jane asked.
"Probably," Bruce assured her. "If not, that'll tell us something as well."
"Hmm." Red sat down at his own workstation. "Any progress analysing the travel data we gathered?"
"Mm? Oh, yeah," Jane said, taken off-guard by the sudden change in topic. "There are similarities to the Einstein-Rosen bridge, Bifrost, but there are differences. Strange readings I haven't seen before. If we can work out what the difference is, maybe we can make some progress."
"Do you think we can go home?" Red asked, a tangible note of hope in his voice.
"I don't see why not, if we can work it out and build whatever equipment is needed," she answered. "But that's a big if." She sighed. "If Richards was still around, he might be able to help, but…"
"Reed Richards?" Bruce asked. "Yeah, he'd be best, if he was still around."
"Who's Reed Richards?" Red asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Dr Richards was a guy at least as smart as Tony," Bruce explained. "He was a scientist and inventor, never really specialized in one field, but dabbled in pretty much everything. He and a few others were studying cosmic radiation when the shielding on their research station failed, which had…strange effects. His girlfriend, another scientist, her brother and a friend of theirs, both pilots, formed a team known as the Fantastic Four. Their patron, Victor Von Doom went nuts and they had to take him down. They had several other well-publicized incidents, but they went missing a few years ago. Rumour is Richards was researching some sort of other dimension at the time, and they got sucked in." Bruce shrugged as he finished. "This was after I left civilization, so I wasn't exactly clued in."
"There were hundreds of theories flying around," Jane confirmed. "But most of them had something to do with extra-dimensional research. As far as I know, he and his family are still officially missing, but not presumed dead."
"Family?" Red asked, eyes narrowing at the word.
"Yeah, he married his girl, on the second attempt, the weddings kept getting crashed," Jane answered idly. "That made three of them related, and the fourth was as close as another brother."
"Fair enough," Red said slightly wistfully. "What were the effects of the radiation?"
"Richards got- what was it he called it?" she said, racking her brains to remember the phrase Richards bandied about.
"Hyper elasticity," Bruce supplied, and she inclined her head in thanks. "Sue Storm-"
"Sue Richards-"
"-became invisible at will, and the ability to project forcefields," Bruce continued. "John Storm could set himself on fire, without being harmed, and that also gave him a flight ability. And Ben Grimm, well, you've seen my…other guy?"
"Not personally," Jane muttered, thinking of the footage she'd hunted down.
"He got something like that, only…less so, permanently, and orange and rocky," Bruce finished.
"They sound fascinating; wish they were still around," Red murmured.
"Richards was widely regarded as one of the smartest people alive," Jane said. She'd longed to meet him, before his disappearance; and would have loved to have his input on pretty much any project, except for his supposed habit of getting so wrapped up in whatever took his fancy at any one moment that he would neglect anything else that didn't jump out at him (or crash his wedding).
"It's a pity," Bruce sighed. "But, as we've said, he's not around anymore."
"Does anyone on Asguard know how Bifrost works?" Red asked, and Jane blinked, confused, at his rapid change in subject.
"I think…someone named Heimdall?" she suggested. Thor had told all sorts of bits and pieces of his culture, but she hadn't got a truly comprehensive knowledge of his people.
"Do you think Thor could introduce us to him?" Red asked, and Jane bit her lip. Her heart was full of conflicting emotions, all centred on a certain thunder god.
"I…don't know," she said cagily. "You'd have to ask him." She looked up to see both Red and Bruce fixing their eyes on her.
"Okay, you clearly have a problem with Thor," Red declared. "What is it?"
"What makes you say that?" she retorted indignantly.
"You get this sort of pinched look whenever anyone mentions Thor, or Asguard, and yesterday you were very much not looking at him," he explained. "And whenever I've been around Thor and someone mentions you, he gets a bit mopey. You two have a problem. It's affecting both of you, and as a consequence, the team and the project. It needs to be resolved, so spill."
Jane stared at him, shocked at his presumption. "Not that it's any of your business," she growled, "but Thor seems incapable of treating me like an equal. It's as though I'm made of glass or something, the way he tries to wrap me in cotton wool."
"Is that all?" Red asked. "Jane, compared to him, you may as well be made of glass. Humans are incredibly fragile creatures."
"Oh, are we," she said, glaring.
"Yup. I should know, I've had enough injuries," he responded. "Look, it's just the way it is. We can't take nearly as much as an Asguardian, or Tony's armour, or Dr Banner's other guy. We compensate in other ways. Thor knows you're comparatively vulnerable, and he just wants to protect you."
"So I'm meant to just take it lying down whenever he sends me away 'for my protection'?" she asked savagely.
"Try and see it from his point of view," Red sighed. "Once, my girlfriend was beaten nearly to death; we thought she had died for a bit. Seeing her broken body…hurt so deep. Thor wants to avoid seeing your battered corpse. He cares for you too much."
"So he gets a free pass?" she asked incredulously.
"I didn't say that," he said quickly. "You'll have to talk it out with him, but just remember that he cares for you. He's just going overboard showing it."
Jane frowned. Rationally, she knew Red was right. But at the same time, she was just so tired of Thor's overprotectiveness. "What do you think, Bruce?" she asked.
"Well, Red's got a point," he admitted cagily, and the teen raised an eyebrow as though to ask if there had been any doubt. "But you do need to make Thor see your view too."
"Fine, fine," Jane yielded. "I'll talk to him."
Tony walked back in the door. "Got a bit o' dust off this," he announced. "It's running through mass spec now. Did I miss anything?"
AN: Few points of clarification. Mass spec (mass spectronomy) is a technique for determining the elements in a substance and in what quantity. About the FF: I'm honestly not sure if they'll be popping up. They might. I wanted to drop a few hints in case they do. If so, it'll be the version from the movies, Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Next week, there will be no LBV update. Shock, horror; there will be a Black and Red update instead. This week and next also see new chapters of Family Ties, where the hunt for Riddler and Cluemaster continues.
As always, I greatly appreciate reviews, and don't mind you asking questions.
See you soon,
Katara