Notes: Just a random disclaimer than I don't know jack crap about medical junk and 99.99% of it is made up. But hey, it's sci-fi. Anything goes.
Chapter 7: Changing the Batteries
"So, I got those files you sent me." Tony said to Hollie, checking over the arc reactor he'd built for her one last time before he and Bruce installed it. It was exactly the same as his, aside from a few extra plugs in the back that would be fitted with the connections for the neurotransmitters that Bruce and Stephen were working on getting the right voltage for. Once the transmitters were surgically implanted in her skull, and the reactor was plugged into the wireless receivers, it would create an electrical current to stimulate the nervous system throughout the body based on her own natural brain activity.
So far the tests with Lily were going smoothly and she was even able to feel when she was being touched in certain places where there were larger masses of nerve endings. Then, all it left was the recovery process – which would be kind of like recovering from a stroke as new neuro pathways would have to be built while Hollie learned how to walk and move all over again. Well, in a couple weeks once the many bones that had been fractured from the impact were sufficiently healed.
"Be very careful; they are dangerous." Hollie replied and glanced over at Bruce who was hooking up a heart monitor in case she went into cardiac arrest when they switched the reactor out for hers.
"Don't worry Darling, the Avengers are on the job." Tony told her and winked. 'Later' he mouthed to Bruce who looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"I should warn you; you are probably going to feel this, and it won't be pleasant." Stephen said and rolled up the sleeves of his lab coat once everything was hooked up.
"I have a very high tolerance for pain, Doctor Strange." Hollie said flatly.
"It really sucks." Tony insisted. "I would know." He added and tapped his own reactor lightly through his shirt. Hollie ignored him.
"Well, all right then. I'd tell you to hold still, but I guess that's not an issue." Tony said jokingly. Hollie had to admit that she liked that about Stark. He didn't sugarcoat things and dance around her condition like it didn't exist the way the others did. He made light of it instead. Hollie closed her eyes and held her breath when she felt Tony twist the arc reactor in its casing until it clicked and came loose. Well, she didn't really feel it, just a sort of pressure. She did, however, feel the sharp chest pains that began immediately and set the heart rate monitor off when he pulled the plug. Hollie winced, but otherwise made no indication that she was in pain. She'd been through worse – much worse.
"Bruce!" Tony said, holding his hand out for the other reactor that the doctor handed him. "You're going to be fine. Relax, Hollie." Tony said mostly for his own benefit, quickly adjusting the wiring before he finally plugged in the new reactor and locked it into the casing. This time she bit her lip as a sharp, tingling pain shot through her entire body.
"I've been through far worse than that, Stark. And here I thought this would be painful." She said sarcastically, panting as her heart rate slowly evened out.
"Did you feel it just in your chest or you whole body?" Bruce asked, typing rhythmically on the keyboard of his laptop.
"My whole body." Hollie replied. "What does that mean?"
"It means this set-up is going to work much more efficiently than the tests we've been running on Lily with a camera battery. If you felt that just now, you'll not only regain movement, but most of your feeling too once we install the rest of the hardware. Because the arc reactor is physically implanted in your body, and the casing is touching enough nerve endings, the electrical current it generates passes through your nervous system easily. If the power source was external... I'm not sure it would work as efficiently. It would still function, but likely with a noticeable amount of delay between your brain telling your body to move and the actual motion occurring. This is way there won't be a lapse, at least not a significant one." Stephen explained.
"Lily?" Hollie asked, frowning.
"Our, ah, test subject. We were lucky enough to find a pet shop selling feeder rats for snakes that happened to have one with paralysis in her back legs." Stephen said while Bruce recorded their notes. Hollie tried not to snicker as she imagined a couple of eccentric men asking around for disabled rodents.
"Ew guys, there's a rat in my tower? I kind of have a problem with that. Seriously, someone call an exterminator." Tony interjected sarcastically.
"We should introduce her to you two." Bruce said with a smile. "She's a very well-mannered little lady, Tony." Stephen just shook his head.
Later that night, Tony found himself in the lounge that had once been a break room for the Stark Industries employees that worked on the lower floors before the Chitauri invasion. The silence in the room was palpable as he, Clint and Natasha finished explaining what was in the files that Hollie had given them. The first to speak was Steve.
"Why would SHIELD keep us in the dark about this? This could have been stopped before it even became an issue." The super soldier tried to understand. Natasha shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest.
"SHIELD is under orders from the government and the council to keep the situation quiet. Sending us in would would blow the cover, since things tend to get messy when the Avengers are involved." Natasha told him.
"Fury and Hollie also think there are a few moles running around in SHIELD. If we made a move against the Tea Party, not only would they know before it happened and react accordingly, but they might retaliate against the Civilian population. They're terrorists funded by the Mafia and Ten Rings. Just because they're mostly US citizens doesn't mean they have American morals where terror is concerned." Clint added, as if it should have been obvious. More silence followed this statement, punctuated only by Tony fidgeting and tapping his fingers on the surface of the large round glass table they were all crowded around.
"They're probably right about the moles. Hollie said in her note that the Mafia's been up her ass since she defected to SHELD. Having inside men would make getting at her easier, never mind the rebellion. And if any of them have got half as many tricks up their sleeves as she does, than SHIELD is definitely compromised." Tony said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Pointing fingers isn't going to do shit; what we need is a plan. Instead of asking 'who' and 'why', we need to know is what we're supposed to do now."
"You're right, Stark. For once." Natasha said with a smirk.
"Knowing what exactly we're up against is kind of important, too. We can't just go in there, guns blazing." Steve insisted.
"...Considering SHIELD doesn't even know where their base is, according to these files." Bruce commented, scrolling through the documents on Tony's tablet.
"Leave that to Hollie. With Jarvis she doesn't need to be able to type to hack into secure systems. If they've got any kind of digital trail, she'll have us a location by lunchtime tomorrow. I mean, I'm disgusted to admit it, but she knows her shit when it comes to hacking... And preventing said hacking." Tony suggested with a shrug. Natasha just gave him a look that said it was a waste of time.
"If they have a digital trail, they're using some kind of code to make it appear as mundane messaging that hasn't sent up any red flags yet. Even then, Hollie was working on it non-stop for almost two weeks before Fury sent her in to disable that bomb. She went through everything from shipping and import records to personal text messaging and came up with nothing. She would have found something by now. She suspects they're communicating via private courier or by word of mouth. ..And probably getting their supplies through the same means." Natasha said flatly.
"Smart." Steve said begrudgingly. "The only way we'll find out is if we have an inside man."
"Which isn't going to happen. SHIELD tried – Hollie and Nat both. They do genetic tests on everyone who wants in to verify that aren't a government spy." Clint said miserably. "And somehow, that got access to the databases. Pretty much every covert operative in the CIA and SHIELD had their cover blown - it's a fucking nightmare."
"We barely made it out in one piece, but if it's any consolation we took at least thirty of them down when we escaped. Unfortunately sign-ups were at an abandoned warehouse and not anywhere near any kind of base. The base can't be anything large, either. They're a small group, in spite of the funding. They are very selective on who they'll accept. They only want the best – trained killers like Hollie, Clint and I." Natasha added.
"Unless they don't actually have a base and are operating out of several locations that wouldn't draw attention, like civilian homes." Bruce thought aloud.
"We... hadn't thought of that." Clint admitted and Natasha agreed.
"But it doesn't make finding them any easier, if anything it makes it worse." Steve said pessimistically.
The statement was followed by a tense silence and all the Avengers staring bitterly at Hollie's letter that was left open on Tony's tablet. None of them were sure where to start.