Jane pulled at the thin gown as she lay still for the body scanning machine, the hum of it surrounding her. She did this scan every month, this being the third one, but it always seemed to give her a bit of apprehension.
"Please hold still Miss Smith." A voice echoed over the speakers.
"Sorry." Jane replied, letting her hands fall still at her side. They told her the first time she had one of these scans that the machine worked like an MRI machine except that it didn't use magnets, which was why they could use it on her. Whereas an MRI magnet would have created a huge problem with the hardware in her back. Jane had no idea what either of the machines were but nodded along pretending to understand. All she knew was that it gave the scientists the best picture of what was going on inside her.
However, it wasn't like they ever found anything extraordinarily helpful. They told her the mechanism on her back was incredibly complex and that they had no idea how to safely remove it, but that they also did not know what its purpose or function was. Regardless they deemed it necessary to repeat the same scans and tests countless times, confident that somehow something would magically change.
Rather than questioning or arguing with the scientists Jane found it easier to just let them do what they wanted. And it wasn't like the tests they did were that bad anyway, at least not most of the time. The only days she didn't like were the ones where they tried different methods of shock therapy, in an effort to both power up the mechanism on her back as well as to hopefully bring some of her missing memories back. Those days were always the worst because not only were the shock sessions physically painful, but they also left her exhausted for hours afterwards and her brain hazy.
Other than that the only days she absolutely didn't look forward to were the days they quizzed her memory. Once a week, every week she had to sit across a table from one of S.H.E.I.L.D.'s psychoanalysts while they asked her a long list of questions and instructed her on a million different mind exercises. Although despite all their greatest efforts Jane never could remember anything of her past.
Jane could feel the coldness of the concrete floors seeping into the bottoms of her bare feet as she followed the scientists from the scanning room back to the testing lab. She had become relatively familiar with the two scientists, though not necessarily to the point of being considered friends, rather more of fond acquaintances.
"You can have a seat over there for now." One of the men wearing a white lab coat stated.
Silently Jane nodded and padded her way across the room and climbed onto the exam table. She could see the two men gathered around their monitor screen inspecting the images from the scan. They were talking quietly to each other and she strained to hear their conversation.
"It's too risky, we might be able to remove some of the lumbar junctions, but the cranial junction is too unstable to disconnect without risking severe damage." She could faintly make out as she watched the taller of the two men pointing to different areas of her scan.
"How much damage can we really do?" The other man whispered back. "We both know she's never going to get her memories back if we just keep doing the same thing. This is our only shot, we're out of options Scott."
Jane watched as the man rubbed his chin with his hand thoughtfully for a few moments before replying. "Maybe it's not our only option, perhaps there's another way."
The shorter man pulled off his glasses in frustration and said, "There aren't any more options. We've tried everything else, don't you see that?"
"No I don't mean another type of removal, necessarily." The taller man leaned closer to the other man and said very quietly. "What if we called Stark in on this? You know if anyone can figure this out it's him, and you've said it yourself this looks like it could easily be a version of one of his."
The other man looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed and sighed. "Do you know how hard it would be to get approval for that? And even if we did, there's no guarantee he will even agree, and you can bet we aren't going to be given the clearance to—"
"Who is Stark?" Jane interjected from the other side of the room. The name sounded somewhat familiar but she couldn't place where she had heard it. "I said, who is he?" She repeated, more sternly when the scientists only stared at her wordlessly. "I know you don't know how to remove this, but if you think this Stark may have an answer, I deserve to know about it."
The two scientists looked at each other nervously and fumbled for an answer. "U-uh, we're not really supposed to disclose any information."
"Hang on a minute." Jane said, hopping off the table and walking towards the two scientists. "Stark…I know where I heard that name, he was on the news a while back, Iron Man right?"
"Look really, we shouldn't be talking about this." The shorter man said with a nervous laugh. "I'm uh, going to go make a call I'll be right back." With that the man shuffled out of the room, leaving Jane alone with the other man.
"Sorry about him." The man said. "He gets a bit uptight about procedure and rules. Now don't go telling everyone you meet about this, but I agree you have a right to know. S.H.I.E.L.D. has a contract with Tony Stark as an advisor and we—well I— believe he may be able to remove your biomechanical spine."
Jane relaxed her face, hearing the man's words. "So when do we meet him, how soon can we start?"
"You sure seem eager to move things along, what's changed?" The man asked.
Jane paused a moment and then answered, "I guess I've just gotten a bit tired of being cooped up in here. I'm just anxious to move on I suppose. But anyway, back to what I was saying, how long until he can come in?"
"Well it's not quite that simple you see, only a select people have the clearance to contact him and even then it still depends on if he agrees to assist on this. It will take some time to get approval on this, there's paperwork and lots of phone calls just to get to the right people to make it happen."
"Do you really think this man can do what you say he can?" Jane asked after pondering his words.
The man looked at Jane, his eyes sincere, "Yes, I think he can."
"Then I know just who to call." Jane said as she set her shoulders back and walked out of the exam room, brushing past the other scientist who was entering the room just as she was leaving; who then looked up to his partner with a look of confusion that was only met with a shrug.