Hello, my Avenger and Venom fan-base! I apologize for the much overdue update. Yours truly has been sick and my asthma is out of control...and work is awful. But here is a new chapter that will hopefully impress everyone!
Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter and thanks for the information and insights given! They were truly appreciated!
P.S: I am no doctor, so any medical references are what Google graced me with.
Everyone enjoy!
She ignores the baffled stares when she's seen eating seven waffles.
For the moment, all that mattered was her stomach being settled. The annoying pull of Wraith's hunger was even muted by the large intake of food, making Tessa feel the fullest she's been in months.
Tony gives her a look as he spears a piece of his strawberry. "Bruce said you have a parasite. Is this some kind of mutant tapeworm?"
Tessa sips at her third glass of juice, grinning a little when she hears Wraith protest at being called a "tapeworm." Across the table, Bruce gives her a worried look and he frowns. "I gave her an antibiotic that should have killed anything in her system. Maybe it's from being so malnourished…"
"I'm not worried about her bug or whatever. I'm worried that she's going to projectile vomit everywhere," Tony grumbles. "I've never seen someone eat as much as Cap does, and this girl put him to shame!"
Bruce only frowns a little, scratching his head. Tessa loses her appetite at this, picking at her plate now and she just sips at her juice. Her eyes dance around the room, taking in the several pairs of eyes staring at her.
Next to her, she feels Steve nudge her. "If you're hungry, eat. Bruce can check over you later."
Bruce makes a sound. "I would like to get a few more blood samples. Maybe we can start out with that and I can run a few other tests."
"Just stop terrorizing the kid. Once she's finished, Bruce can take her back to the MedBay for tests and all that good stuff," Steve rumbles lowly, pushing more waffles towards Tessa. He gives her a gentle smile, his eyes warm and caring. "Ignore them. If you're hungry, you can eat more."
Tessa shakes her head, pushing the plate away. "I'm good- really. I don't think it was a good idea to eat that much anyway." She finishes her orange juice, giving the Captain a slight nod. "Thank you, Captain."
Steve shakes his head. "Don't mention it. Also- call me Steve."
"Steve," Tessa amends, smiling shyly.
Then, there's a tense silence between the lot of them. Tessa looks around the room, unsure of what to think to be amongst her biggest heroes. She can even feel Wraith moving inside her, nervous of these Avengers.
Bruce breaks the silence, pushing back his plate and standing. "Well, if you'd like, let's go back to the MedBay. We can start with some lab work and work from there."
Tessa nods after a moment, standing to her feet after profusely thanking Pepper for breakfast, smiling all the while. Then, she's trodding behind Bruce back to the elevator, the doctor standing next to her as they take the elevator downwards.
…
Tessa looks to Bruce with wide eyes as she listens to the machine hum lowly.
Tessa has been laid on a metal table, dressed in a simple hospital gown. Bruce is across the room, hidden behind a wall with a large pane of glass separating them. Joining them is Tony and Steve, both men looking between her and Bruce.
"Is this necessary?" Tessa squeaks, looking to Bruce as the man presses a series of buttons. "I'm sure there are other ways to see what's going on with me."
Bruce clicks a button, his voice filtering into the room. "The CT Scan will give me a clearer image of you. I can see if there's anything...wrong in there."
"So you're shoving me into a hole of darkness to check my insides?"
"It won't be long. Just lie back and relax- and stay still. The machine will prompt you when to breathe and everything," explains Bruce, giving Tessa a reassuring smile.
The teenager nods nervously, lying back and struggling to get comfortable. She feels the table begin to slide back, suspending her into darkness. Then, red lights come to life inside the machine and she hears a low whirring.
"Okay, kid, we're going to start the test, okay?" Bruce says, his voice filtering through a speaker. "Just relax and breathe when the machine tells you to."
Then, the machine comes to life. At first, she notices nothing off. After a few seconds, there's a ringing in her ears that's uncomfortable. Within moments, she's screaming and convulsing, pain exploding through her skull and she hears Wraith.
Stop it! Wraith's voice screeches and all Tessa can do is scream for them to stop the test. She struggles to keep her voice straight, Wraith's dark rumble escaping a few times until she's finally pulled from the machine by a worried Bruce and a terrified Steve.
Bruce quickly rights her, sitting her up on the table. He feels her pulse and listens to her breathing, looking at her with wide eyes. "Tessa? Are you okay?"
She releases a trembling breathe, trying to breathe through the pain. "I-I'm sorry. I just got scared..couldn't breathe."
"It's okay," Bruce soothes, rubbing her back. "We won't do a CT or and MRI, then. Maybe we can use the X-Ray machine or I can do an ultrasound...we'll figure it out."
Tessa feels Steve help her stand and she looks up at the Captain. "Come on, squirt. Tests are done for today. We can sit in the recreation room and watch a movie."
The teen gives a trembling nod, letting Steve walk her out of the lab and back up to the living area. When he leads her to the living room, they sit together while he gives her a vague explanation of how to use the television and introducing her to Tony's AI system, FRIDAY.
Once they settle on a movie- a movie called Tag featuring Jeremy Renner, a dead ringer for Clint Barton- they sit on the large sectional where they're soon joined by Clint and Natasha.
Tessa's mind strays from the movie and she quietly talks to Wraith, the being oddly quiet since they woke up.
Wraith? You okay?
I feel unwell. The noise decibel from that machine caused us both pain. I didn't think to tell you.
Don't worry about it. It didn't kill us, did it?
It potentially can. A noise decibel high enough can severely damage us.
Noted.
Then, the symbiote falls silent and Tessa is left to watch the movie. Wraith makes occasional comments on it- usually on how he likes Jerry and says a few horrid comments on Sable.
She smiles to herself, enjoying herself for what feels like the first time in years. She feels safe and comfortable here, what having happened just days ago.
She'll enjoy it, even if it's just for a little while.
…
~Bruce~
He stares with wide eyes at the test results from the blood samples.
How is this girl even standing?
Bruce reads each individual result over and over again, making sure he's seeing everything correctly. He checked over every single organ in her body, and Bruce struggles with himself not to go upstairs and drag Tessa down to MedBay to keep her there permanently.
Everything here says this girl should be on her deathbed. Her liver enzymes are almost next to nothing, her RBC and WBC counts are bottomed out; her GFR is low, suggesting her kidneys are beginning to fail her; her heart isn't pumping as much blood as it should, signaling early heart failure.
All of her major organs are shutting down. How is she living when everything is failing her?
The doctor pinches the bridge of his nose, wondering what to do with Tessa. Under any normal circumstances, a person in her shoes would be in the hospital going through dialysis, blood transfusions, and so many other things. Hell, they'd be written off- sent to a hospice.
So what is making Tessa Travis live and thrive? She looks happy and healthy besides a few bumps and bruises. She was exhausted, too. But it never insinuated that she was knocking on death's door. When he saw her at breakfast, her food intake rivaled his and Steve's. She laughed and talked and smiled.
What has made her so sick?
Bruce places the papers down, traveling to his computer to see about his CT Scans. Despite Tessa's panic attacks, he got one good shot of her abdomen before having to stop the scan. He pulls up the one good scan, and his brow furrows at he sees.
There's something inside her.
He sees a dark object sitting just below her stomach, hidden a little behind her intestines. It's not a blockage of any sort, but a thing. It has long tendrils and it seems to have been moving before he took the scan.
That's impossible though, isn't it?
He releases a trembling breathe, knowing he'd have to poke and prod more at Tessa in order to get more blood samples. Then, it'd take a miracle to get an ultrasound or anything without her freaking out.
The door to the lab opens, revealing an amused looking Tony. "The kid's asleep. She's hugged all up to Cap and...Bruce? What's wrong with you? Do I have to worry about the Other Guy?"
Bruce pushes over the blood test results. "Look at what we found with the blood samples. Tell me it's weird."
Tony frowns, but begins searching through the papers. Then, his dark eyes cut to Bruce. "All of her organs are shutting down. Liver failure, renal failure, heart failure… Hell, she's even anemic and has no immune system."
"That's not all of it. Come look," Bruce says, pulling Tony with him and points to the computer screen. "Look."
Tony frowns. "I don't see anything but a big dark spot where her guts are. Think she's constipated, too?"
Bruce grumbles, slapping Tony. "No! It's a thing, Tony. Something is inside of her, and it's killing her."
"I knew it! She has a mutant parasite," Tony exclaims. Then, he clucks his tongue. "She's got one hell of a tapeworm, though."
"This isn't a tapeworm," Bruce says flatly. "But whatever it is, it's killing her."
Tony huffs, rubbing his temples. "Well, why you figure out how to remove said parasite, I will be upstairs with Spangles, the Ninjas, and Little Red. Come upstairs when you're ready, Dr. Jekyll." Then, Tony flees the lab and disappears back upstairs to terrorize their little ragtag family.
Bruce, though, stays behind to figure out how to save Tessa's life