G.E.M.I.N.I
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A 'stab' is a puncture wound, one that if executed with the right timing, force and velocity, can cause immediate hemorrhage in the human body...
The wound of a double edged blade- one inflicted with a weapon such as household scissors for example- tapers at the end, and can cause many more complications (see Figure D). If this is the case, the foreign object should be removed under no circumstances, until after scans had been taken and a surgeon has presented their plan of removal.
"Why are you torturing yourself?" the voice behind Sadie caused her to jump in her seat- it was Jamie Valentina, watching disapprovingly from where he stood in the doorway, holding a platter of chocolate truffles.
"I'm catching up on the recent literature," Sadie said, slamming the book shut. It was a hefty volume: Trials of Surgical Procedures for Trauma by Dr A Valentina.
Jamie sighed, putting down the platter- Sadie wolfed down four truffles in the time he took to sit beside her. As the door slowly shut, away faded the sound of children laughing, of music and magicians and barbeques sizzling. It was Sophia Valentina's ninth birthday party, and Sadie was hidden away reading textbooks. She felt like the worst godmother in the world- it was Sophia's ninth birthday and she was hidden away.
The look on Jamie's face was infuriatingly sympathetic, and in that moment, Sadie regretted ever telling him, or Adrianne, a single thing- it was probably her who'd sent the veterinarian in to speak with Sadie after all.
But she'd had to tell someone, anyone who wouldn't make excuses for her, or forgive her straight away, like Steve had. She understood, she supposed, that he was only saying what he thought she wanted to hear. But Steve Rogers was a soldier, and despite his caring heart, she knew that fighting- and sometimes killing- was part of his job description. But it wasn't part of hers.
So the Valentinas didn't make excuses, and they didn't forgive her when she didn't need it, instead only reminding her that she needed to forgive herself. Whatever that meant.
"The recent literature," Jamie repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't realise you wanted to change your specialism from diagnostics to... 'surgery for traumas of the cervical spine'."
"Well, I haven't been a diagnostician in years," Sadie shrugged, helping herself to more of the truffles. "Maybe it's for good reason, but I don't treat real patients anymore- real people."
"Don't you undermine your work that way," Jamie told her. "Your patients are real."
"My patients at Stark aren't sick. They're volunteers," she sighed. "And my patients on the field are victims. And most of the time it's our fault they're hurt."
Jamie didn't say a word then, no doubt he was fully aware of the debates that had started ever since Sokovia. She wondered what his opinion on it all was, what Adrianne thought to. She couldn't bring herself to ask. The Valentinas and their children grounded her when she needed a new perspective on most things, but she didn't want a new perspective on that. Didn't know if she could bear it.
"You know little Gracie's grandad?" Sadie asked, suddenly, still wanting him to understand.
"Gracie, Sophia's best friend?"
"Yes," she nodded. "He's wearing Vermis' jacket. The exact same one- Burberry or Armani or whatever the fuck. It's maroon."
"That doesn't mean anything," Jamie said, gently.
"No, it does," Sadie said. "It means no matter his life choices, that man was a human being. Maybe he had children, maybe he had grandchildren, people in his life who are mourning. He should have stood for trial. I shouldn't have been the one to decide if he should die."
"Aunt Sadie, Daddy, what are you doing in here?" Sophia Valentina stood at the door, hands on her hips, moments after bursting into the room. "We're about to start with the piñata!"
Jamie stood, holding out his hand to help Sadie stand, because he'd been raised a gentleman, it seemed. He smiled at her, squeezed her shoulder lovingly and she leaned into him.
"C'mon, Sadie," he said, gently. "Duty calls."
The day was a beautiful one in spring, the sort where Sadie's eyes needed to readjust after only fifteen minutes indoors. When they did, candy and confetti spun in the air instead of blossom, and there was a chorus of children's laughter instead of wind. Sophia pirouetted around to the music, arm in arm with her younger brother and Sadie's heart could've burst with love towards her two godchildren. It took a lot for her to tear her eyes away.
But soon, her bliss was interrupted as she felt eyes on her, too many eyes. Little Gracie's grandad in Vermis's jacket. Mrs Nichols from down the street. Multiple little girls across the party. They all looked like they wanted to figure her out. She was sure they already had- they could probably see through her for what she was.
A murde-
"-An Avenger!" Sophia's voice rang out, and Sadie noticed that a group of small were huddled around a small toy. Sophia held it up, comparing it to Sadie, and that's when she realised it was a doll- action figure. Not of Natasha, or Wanda, or Steve, or Sam. But of her, in her Aceso uniform. "I told you all my Aunt's an Avenger. The toy's missing the hat. She usually has a hat, Aunt Sadie can we see the hat?"
"I don't... have it with me," Sadie said, her stunned expression matching those of the children before her.
"I'm sure Aunt Sadie will let you see the whole suit one day," Adrianne said, slowly maneuvering her away as the children went back to their excited chatter.
"They know me?" Sadie asked, stupidly, and Adrianne laughed.
"Of course they know you," Adrianne replied. "You're even in the cartoon. You know, the one Jake can't keep his eyes off, where in the pilot Captain America gets kidnapped in the first two minutes and Iron Man has to hold back his emotional break down long enough to assemble the team back together?"
"You know an awful lot about that show," Sadie said, simply.
"You try raising a five and nine year old without knowing every show on children's television," her best friend responded, as they sat down in two sunchairs.
"Whatever," Sadie responded, with a shrug.
"People are always asking if I can set them up with you," Adrianne said, and Sadie rolled her eyes.
"You're a liar."
"I tell them all the same thing."
"And what's that?
"Aceso's going out with Captain America, sorry 'bout it," she laughed, and Sadie couldn't say she was surprised.
"Why would you say that?" Sadie sighed, despite knowing precisely why. What else was a best friend for, if not to drive her up the wall? "It's going to be a real rumour now."
"What- you're still not official?" Adrianne asked, sipping on her cocktail, her dark hair reflecting the sun. "He still hasn't made it official?"
"Wouldn't I call you if that was the case?" Sadie asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. There was no use denying it to her anymore- Adrianne could always see right through her. "It's all business as usual."
"I worry for you, Sadie," Adrianne sighed, and Sadie sucked her teeth, turning away. "This just isn't like you. At all. You used to flirt and date and initiate. Now, you tiptoe. You never used to hesitate if there was a guy you liked."
"Well, Steve isn't just a guy I like," Sadie admitted, and she realised it was the first time she'd truly said it out loud. "He actually means a lot to me. So if I'm taking this anywhere then I'm going to do it right."
"Okay," Adrianne nodded. "But if I were you I would consider how long I'm willing to wait."
Sadie was glad for the silence after that, as she sunbathed beside her best friend. Regardless of how she teased, Adrianne always knew when to stop, when their best bet was for Sadie to gather her thoughts and pluck up her own courage... One day soon.
~
"You're kidding."
"I'm not."
"You said it was an emergency!"
"It is."
"You said all our work could become irrelevant," Sadie sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You said this could be the end of the project."
"Did I lie?" Tony asked, throwing his hands up as he rolled back in his chair. Sadie couldn't take her eyes off the machine in front of her. "It is the end of the project because we finished the project. I got F.R.I.D.A.Y to do some trials, tweaked some of the formula, and bang! Your new method for the DNA probes worked."
Sadie was stunned. The scanner was more compact than she could have imagined, no bigger than a portable printer. Lines on sleek black metal and transparent glass, both polished enough for a reflection, an indentation of a handprint, ergonomically sized to the average American.
"It... works?" Sadie said again, crouching to get a better look. She couldn't believe it. "This isn't a, um..."
"A prototype?" Tony laughed, shaking his head. The lights in the lab were too bright. "No. We did it, Moore. We're a dream team."
She still couldn't speak, only straightened again, leaning against the worksurface, taking a breath. And another. Her mind was in another place, on the other side of New York.
"Of course every team I'm on is a dream team. I wonder what the common denominator is there?" Tony continued. "C'mon, Intern. You wanna liven up? What's gotten into you?"
"Tony, I have a sick mother," Sadie said honestly, curling her fingers as she looked at him. She hated to complain, but it was all she could think about. "Tonight, we were celebrating- she recovered from neural surgery in record time."
"Congratulations," Tony said, a look of confusion on his face. "You heal her?"
"No. It's cancer. I heal it, it grows back. No shortcuts, she's gotta beat it," Sadie said, with a sigh. "And she's on that road. Tonight we were celebrating, but she still had no appetite. I snuck her champagne but she says it doesn't taste the same. She needs company. And then you call me here, and you tell me there's an emergency-"
"Shoot me. It was supposed to be a surprise," Tony said, and she nodded. "If I knew you'd get all-"
"I understand that," Sadie said, before he could finish whatever joke would make her laugh. "But you could've told me all of this on the phone."
"What, so you could go back to exerting yourself right after? You had to see this, Moore," he said, striding over to the machine and it seemed to power up automatically, white lights lining the metal. "Put your hand in."
Sadie followed his instruction, her large hand filling the indentation. She didn't feel a thing, but she knew the nanoparticles would be working across her skin cells to produce the scan of her hand that was projected in front of them.
"Voice automated?" she asked, and Tony nodded.
"Naturally."
"Okay. Conduct biometric scan of merkel cell nuclei," Sadie ordered, and the projection zoomed further into her skin, revealing a microscopic image of her cells. "Show me a DNA strand," again, it showed an image of an alpha helix. "Alright, I wanna focus on the KITLG mutation three-oh-five?"
For the first time, the machine's response was slow. Tony stepped forward, an outraged look on his face.
"It worked on all levels earlier," he said, checking over his papers. "We had the complete map of genomes?"
"I made that map myself Tony, of course I'm sure," Sadie said, patiently. "Just give it a minute."
"It's not supposed to take a minute, that's the whole point," he continued. "Maybe if Banner hadn't taken off we'd have been able to-"
"KITLG mutation not found," the automated voice sounded, and Sadie felt a grin creep up on her face.
"Tell me why," she prompted.
"Patients with mutation three-oh-five are likely to present with blonde pigmentation in their hair," the voice clarified. "Patient Y does not carry any genomes for blonde hair."
"I thought I'd test for any errors," Sadie said, as Tony pursed his lips, but he looked impressed nonetheless. "If it told me I carried that mutation, there would be a problem since it's only found in Northern Europeans. But if Patient Y was Steve then we'd expect to see it."
"He's got beautiful blond locks, I get it," Tony said, bluntly. Sadie tried not to laugh. "You do your homework and think of a name? It's gotta be on brand."
"I did, but I need a drumroll before I tell you," she replied, and so he played along, tapping his hands against the table until she spoke, announcing the name as if to a crowd. "G.E.M.I.N.I! Genomes, Exons, and Mutations In Nanotech Interfacing."
"I thought I said make it witty," he said, tapping the name into the system, as she slapped his arm.
"Better than your old thingy. What was it?" Sadie asked.
"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System," Tony said, a little too proudly. "You can't diss it, that has sentimental value for me. It'd be bullying."
"Don't dish it out if you can't take it," Sadie shrugged, before turning back to the machine. "G.E.M.I.N.I, scan for significant abnormal mutations."
Sadie was expecting to hear a negative result again, thought that was the only natural response from G.E.M.I.N.I. But instead, one of the bonds on the alpha helix was highlighted yellow, and the voice sounded:
"Patient Y has a major mutation-"
"Cancer?" Sadie blurted. Tony was abnormally silent beside her. She corrected herself. "Could the mutation lead to cancer?"
"Negative," G.E.M.I.N.I informed her, and she could breathe again. "It is a frameshift mutation, constantly transforming with each dividing cell."
"Run a live image," Sadie ordered, before letting her hands glow.
Sure enough, the bond of the alpha helix shifted, rotating in a way she'd never seen before- the change was happening on a molecular level. She let her powers fade, and the shifting stopped.
"Holy shit," Tony sounded before her, as he tapped down even more notes.
But Sadie couldn't take her eyes off the scan as she let her hands glow, then dim again and again, each time, the genes shifting on the image.
So it was in her genes. This power that seemed to have a mind of it's own, it was in her DNA. But she still wondered- had it been there since birth, or was the mutation developed in Afghanistan, in 2010?
Her mind was spinning. Isadora Moore may have completed one project, but her questions were far from complete.
...
..
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Hi guys!
I just want to say thank you guys for being so patient with me for missing last weeks update, starting university has been hectic and draining for me, so thank you all for your empathy!
This chapter is quite short, especially in comparison to the last, but I didn't want to put it off for you guys any longer, so I hope you enjoyed! But don't worry- I spent my break quite productively I have so many exciting things planned from now until pre-Infinity War, so there's a lot to look forward to!
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Love yous!
-Amber.