Disclaimer: Don't own, never will :)
"So what is wrong with her?" Steve asked urgently.
"Well, they have basically placed a repulsor in the palm of both of her hands, as well as the jets in her feet. There is a crudely designed version of the arc reactor that has been placed in her chest as well. It seems that they thought that they would need it to power the jets and repulsors, but had not worked it out yet so all of these items are basically useless." Bruce stated.
"So they can be removed?" Tony asked.
"They could, but they have been in her hands, etc for a long time. The skin has healed around them, and they have been accepted as part of her body. It would be up to her." Bruce replied.
"Ok, but how is she physically?" Steve inquired.
"Not good, but she will survive it. Her hands and feet are heavily scarred around the surgery areas, it is obvious that they were not worrying about the aesthetics. There is also heavy scarring around her replacement reactor, plus signs of malnutrition and moderate starvation. Bruises from her restraints when she was on the table can be seen, which leads me to suspect that she was awake for the surgeries." Bruce replied, his voice wavering as he listed her injuries. They all stood there in stunned silence, looking at the girl in question. Her dark brown hair was tangled and unevenly cut, making it obvious that it hadn't been tended to in a long time.
"What are we going to do with her?" Bruce asked, breaking the silence.
"Well, we are not just going to ditch her when she wakes up, that would be too harsh." Clint simply said.
"Easy solution then, she'll live here with us. She can stay on the same floor as Ms Romanoff here, I'll get a room organised for her. Simple." Everyone was shocked that Tony was so easy going about this, and was further surprised when Natasha nodded in agreement.
"That sounds like the best plan." She said, not elaborating.
"Ok then that might work. Stark, what have you gotten from the logs of the scientists?" Steve quickly asked.
"Well, apparently these idiots did not have the funds to properly plagiarise my creations, and needed a cheaper solution that would get them more funding. Records say that they wanted someone no one would miss much, to lessen any complications or backlash. Says here that this girl is subject 1, original name Tanaya Swift, no mention of parents, perfect candidate. Apparently, 'subject was resistant to goals… doubtful whether she would perform for us if needed'" Tony replied.
"They also explain the fact that they did not put her to sleep when operating. They were trying to save money wherever they could." JARVIS piped in. Natasha could not believe it. These people had laid it out so logically and clinically, completely ignoring the fact that Tanaya was a human being. Even Tony looked disturbed, and was crushed at the thought of his invention inspiring this treatment of a teenage girl.
"How old is she?" Steve asked stonily. When Tony did not reply, JARVIS supplied her age for him.
"She was 16 Mr Rogers." Even he sounded regretful as he said it.
After the rundown of her injuries, everyone agreed on Tanaya staying in Stark Tower, as long as she wanted to. If she was completely against the idea, they would figure out a safe way to relocate her. Bruce had explained that it should only be a short amount of time until she finally woke up, and they all wanted to be there when she did.
So there they sat/stood, in various positions around Tanaya's bed, occupying the time in different ways. Tony was tinkering with a hastily put together signalling device in the far corner, looking more settles now that he was performing a familiar task. Bruce was flitting between the medication cabinet and the various beeping machines, keeping a keen eye on everything whilst Steve, Clint and Natasha just stood in absolute silence, watching everything warily. They were all scared of what was going to be said when the girl woke up, or if she would be speaking to them at all. Steve was still concerned about SHIELD and what would happen when they found out, and decided to talk to both Natasha and Clint a bit later to see if they would be happy to keep quiet about it. It was a dangerous situation after all.
His thoughts were interrupted when the girl groaned a bit, and started opening her eyes. They all looked up, alert instantly and prepared for what was to come.
