"You ok?" Skye whispered into Ward's ear as they sat eating their breakfast. Her hand was placed lightly on his knee.
"I'm fine." He replied, taking a bite out of his toast.
"You sure?" She asked, not convinced.
"I feel fine." Ward repeated, noting the concern in Skye's eyes. "Why do you ask?"
"Your knee feels like it's on fire."
"Really? I guess it has been feeling a little weird this last couple of days."
"So we have a list of rare or mythical elements and compounds that may or may not cause the hyper excitement of water molecules" Tilly said putting it on the holotable where she and Fitz-Simmons were working.
Tilly looked up as Skye came into the room, an air or pre-occupation around her.
"What's up?" Tilly asked.
"What would cause a specific area of the body to heat up?" Skye asked the room in general.
"A number of things: injury, inflammation, exposure to heat." Simmons told her.
"An unidentified compound that causes spontaneous human combustion" Fitz quipped, earning a sharp slap on the arm from Simmons. Skye was clearly agitated and comments like that would just make it worse.
"Why do you ask?" Tilly prodded to distract Skye, while glaring at Fitz.
"I had my hand on Ward's knee earlier and it felt like it was on fire. Apparently it's been feeling strange since we were in that room."
"Which knee?" Tilly asked, a theory forming. She had got used to people calling her brother by his surname by now.
"Erm... I think it was his left."
Tilly looked at Skye like all of her Christmases had come at once. She jumped out of her seat and grabbed her phone. She dialled her professor, putting the phone on loudspeaker as she did. He answered on the first ring.
"Matilda. Have you made any progress?"
"Not yet professor. I was just wondering, have you ever heard of a metal called Vibranium?" She asked.
"Yes I have. There are rumours that it doesn't exist, however most of the scientific community believe it does, but in quantities so small the world's supply has been exhausted for decades."
"What, if anything would cause it to heat up and then retain the heat for a few days?"
"Now that my dear is another rumour I'm afraid. Like with Vibranium it is believed not to exist, but some in the scientific community believes it exists in minute quantities. It's called Eridine. It's part of the Eridium family. Its primary action is as an exothermic energy source."
"So it's a rare firestarter?" Fitz asked, not sure where the conversation was headed and why it was relevant.
"Yes. Small exposure to the compound would cause Vibranium to heat. Continued or prolonged exposure to it would cause the Vibranium to heat to flash point, burning or if the item were combustable, set fire to anything it came into contact with."
"Is Eridine a compound that could cause the hyper activity of water molecules?" Simmons asked, not quite understanding where the Vibranium came into it but, realising that this molecule caused a heat reaction was starting to piece things together.
"Yes." The professor replied, pausing before continuing, "It could. It wouldn't take a lot of the compound to do it either. A micron would be sufficient to cover approximately a 100 metre radius."
"Thankyou for your help professor." Tilly said to him, before hanging up.
She, Fitz, Simmons and Skye simply looked at each other.
"So what the hell did that have to do with Ward's knee?" Fitz asked, still slightly confused.
"Because my left knee is entirely made out of Vibranium. Its vibration absorbent, shatterproof and usually heat proof." Ward said from behind them, making them all jump.
A/N: I did try to upload this last night but for some reason my computer wouldn't find the site...