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seven

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏

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𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗦

Fortunately, two days after the surgery, thanks to her healing factor, she was released from the building. Unfortunately, she would be spending an extraordinary amount of time in the Stark Tower labs being poked and prodded by Banner and Cho until they figured out what was wrong with her.

'I'm fine.' She had insisted to her mother on the drive there. 'They fixed me up, nothing else is wrong.'

She was ignored. Natasha had ushered her into the lab, thanked Bruce and Cho, given her a reassuring hug and left.

'I'm fine.' She tries to tell the doctors again.

'No you're not,' Bruce says, some sort of detector in his hand as he scans her. 'I've located some sort of matter in your brain.'

'Are you sure it's not the detector being dodgy?' She asks, tiptoeing so she can see the device in his hands.

'Uh, no. It's not being 'dodgy'. Go sit on that chair over there. I need to run some tests.'

Zhenya does as she's told, heaving herself up onto the chair rather ungracefully.

'You're going to need to pull your hair up. And lean forward please.'

She tugs her braids up and wraps a hair tie around it. There's a naples yellow buzz as the detector is placed on the back of her head. From the corner of her vision, she sees an image appearing on the projector. Bruce takes the scanner away and moves towards the screen, his mouth agape.

'What is it?' She pushes herself off the chair and shakes her braids loose.

'There's a chip inside your brain.' Bruce points a hand to a rectangular like shape that sits in the photo. 'JARVIS, can you page Helen and Tony please?'

'A chip? Like to track me or...?' She lets the question trail off.

He turns to her, 'When you were with HYDRA did you have any trigger words? Did they wipe you?'

'No, they only did that to Papa. They mostly left me alone unless they needed me to train or go on a mission. They probably didn't need to, my time at the Red Room would've done a good job at making sure I was compliant.'

If they had inserted a chip inside her it would have been as a plan b. In case she went rogue and they had to bring her back. It was villainously excellent.

The door opens behind them. Cho walks in and makes a beeline for the projection. Tony takes a sip from his mug and leans against the benchtop, more relaxed than he should be.

'Nice hair kiddo.' He points towards her braids.

'Thanks, Sam took me to go get them. Said I'd fight better if my curls didn't block my peripheral vision.'

'Evgenia?' Helen's ocean blue voice interrupts the exchange and turns to beckon towards the girl. 'I need to feel the back of your head.'

She pulls her hair up again. Fingers press into her skull, prodding until they find what the owner is looking for.

'I can feel a bump.'

'Are you gonna need to cut it out?' Zhenya asks, tipping her head back. She can feel the blood rushing back uncomfortably.

'No,' Tony answers. 'I can permanently deactivate the chip without taking it out.'

'Will it hurt?' She doesn't know why she asks. Zhenya's learned to numb the pain, whether it be physical or emotional. It's a way to protect herself from everything she's endured and everything she will endure.