Chapter Text
.·:*¨¨*:·A Trade of Knowledge·:*¨¨*:·.
“This element has some very interesting properties. What did you call it?”
Tony grinned as Shuri poked and prodded at the small sample of the reactor element, and her question reminded him that he really needed to register a proper name for it.
“Right now it's just registered as Synthetic element TR-10530 from the artefact it's based on and the date I first synthesized it. I tried to get it patented as Badassium though.”
“Of course you did...”
Shuri snorted in amusement at his choice of name.
“Unfortunately that turned out to be a major PR and legal SNAFU. Other than that there's been some not so subtle pushes for Starkium, but I really don't feel it...”
“You should call it Arcanium.”
Yasha's suggestion made Tony turn and raise a questioning eyebrow at him while simultaneously trying to get a suspicious glare across.
“That sounds suspiciously close to some magic mumbo jumbo, and you know how I feel about magic.”
“Yeah yeah, you hate magic. But our source for all things magic has made it perfectly clear that it has a lot of arcane properties and applications. But more importantly, without it the miniature Arc-Reactor technology wouldn't be anywhere near what it is now.“
“That might actually make some sense...”
Tony grumbles and tries to maintain a glare while picking at Yasha's arguments, but he can't find anything wrong with them, the palladium core miniature reactor was a huge leap, but it was still vastly inferior to the new type with the synthetic core element.
Comparing the two was like comparing a Voltaic pile to a modern Lithium-air battery.
“Aw crap, why the hell did you have to go and make sense? And with a fucking solid argument to back it up? Now I actually have to consider sending in Arcanium as a serious name suggestion...”
“It does have a nice sound to it.”
Turning to look at Shuri he managed to maintain a somewhat flat look for all but a couple of seconds before rolling his eyes with a theatrical sigh.
“I swear, it's a conspiracy...”
“Just imagine how confused everyone will be by it.”
“Damn you Frosty, you're way too good at that...”
Yasha had a knack for what to say, what buttons to push to nudge Tony to do what he wanted him to and Tony couldn't help thinking about how different it was to how Romanoff tried to manipulate him, she had found two buttons and kept mashing them without finesse.
Of course she had somehow interpreted his desire to prove himself and be included as ego, something that had left Yasha very disappointed when Tony told him about it and he had mentioned having a hard time reconciling the Natalia he remembered with the Romanoff of today.
There were a lot of mixed emotions involved, Yasha was clearly relieved that she had gotten away from the Red Room, happy that she had made a life for herself, but he would also sigh in disappointment about her forgetting what she had been taught.
Yasha had occasionally sneered at the downright concerning level of complacency that Romanoff was displaying, pointing out that compared to his Natalia she was weak and sloppy.
“How did you even come up with the idea to try to make something like this?”
Shuri's question brings Tony's attention back to what they were doing, and makes him sigh deeply.
“As much as I hate to admit it, the theoretical possibility to create the element was discovered by Howard sometime before the '74 Expo. He didn't have the tech to synthesize it so he hid the information hoping that it would become useful in the future.”
“Ah, sorry. Guess you were too young to know where he got the idea then...”
She sounded so disappointed at the thought of not figuring out where the arc element came from it made Tony smile.
“Oh, I know where he got it from, it wasn't explicitly stated, but there were enough hints in his notes. Tell me Bright-eyes, have you ever heard of something called the Tesseract?”
For a moment Shuri looked confused, then her eyes widened and she looked back and forth between Tony and the sample she was studying, her expression making it obvious she had at least heard about it.
“Well, go on, how much have you heard about it and from where?”
She hummed to herself while walking over to the sitting area and dropping into her ridiculously huge bean bag seat, then spent a good minute fighting the thing off to keep from being swallowed whole, earning her a few snickers.
“I found mentions of it in the HYDRA files I have been studying. A powerful artefact of unknown origin in the form of a glowing blue cube, it doesn't match anything on Earth so it's likely to be extra terrestrial or extra dimensional. HYDRA got their hands on it during the second world war and used the seemingly infinite energy it generates to power weapons. Then they lost it at the end of the war and it vanished for years before reappearing in SHIELD's hands.”
When she paused for a moment after reciting the base information of the first chapter of the Tesseract Tony gave her a slight nod, but held his hand up for her to pause.
“That's right, they also used that energy in other experiments, one of which is of particular importance to us. They experimented with substituting Vita-Rays with the energy from the Tesseract.”
He paused for a moment to see if Shuri would make the connection on her own, he didn't know exactly how much she knew about the Super Soldier Serum and the process used to activate the different versions.
Yasha hadn't mentioned much of the details about the serum in the video for safety reasons, he had mentioned being injected with it, but nothing about the massive amounts of energy required in the form of radiation.
They had already agreed to tell Shuri everything since she was one of the brightest minds in the world, like Tony she was geared more toward engineering and technology, but she also shared his penchant for picking up and applying cross discipline knowledge.
If she knew about the details about the various serum variations and the methods used to create enhanced individuals using them she might come up with an insight about what makes them work or fail that they hadn't considered.
Even if she might not figure out the solution, at least not anytime soon, she would at least offer a new perspective, and they both knew that it was the kind of thing that could bring about a breakthrough when everything seems lost.
She was also one of the few people in the world they knew for sure would have no interest in trying to replicate or use the serum.
“Vita-Rays, wasn't that what they used to activate the serum to turn Rogers into Captain America?”
“It was, Erskine's serum required a lot of energy to activate and stabilize, that energy was provided in the form of Vita-Ray radiation. Zola's version was based on Erskine's but he didn't have the Vita-Ray machine so he tested other forms of radiation, including that generated by the Tesseract.”
Shuri instantly turned to look at Yasha who just gave her a tense nod, despite still being fully dissociated, the memories of Sergeant Barnes' time at the hands of Zola were a bit of a sore subject, not that there were many of them to begin with...
“I really don't have all that many memories from those events, there was just too much trauma involved. Chances are I'll never remember more than I do right now...”
“The memories never had a chance to set into long term memory so there's nothing to recover...”
“Exactly. There's also the fact that it took time for the serum to fully activate, anything prior to it going fully active will always be spotty. Not just from trauma but also the normal fickleness of memory in a baseline human.”
“I thought you had near perfect recall?”
“The Winter Soldier has, James Barnes didn't. He had excellent memory, but nowhere near as good as mine. The serum enhanced it, and then it was further refined through training. They didn't want to have to repeat the lessons in whatever skills they wanted me to have, or spend more time than absolutely necessary on briefings for the missions.”
“Oh, I see...”
Shuri's expression was caught between avid curiosity and pained compassion as she picked apart what Yasha had told her, then bled over into something that looked a lot like hesitant hope.
“This memory training, any of it that could be useful for normal people?”
“No, I wouldn't subject anyone to the kind of methods they used.”
She nodded in understanding, but couldn't hide the flicker of disappointment, but it didn't last very long before she turned on Tony with an expectant look, clearly expecting him to continue filling in the blanks in her knowledge of the Tesseract.
“The Tesseract was lost en route to New York when Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull, attempted to use it when fighting Rogers onboard the Valkyrie. According to Rogers' report Schmidt was killed and the Tesseract burned through the fuselage and fell into the ocean. Shortly after he scuttled the Valkyrie into the ice field to prevent its payload from reaching New York...”
It wasn't until he felt Yasha's hands on his shoulders that Tony realized he had stopped talking, mentally shying away from the next part of the Tesseract's history.
“Sorry, got some issues connected to this part of the story.”
Leaning back slightly he allowed Yasha's firm touch to ground him.
“It wasn't lost for long though, a few months after the Valkyrie went down Howard's expedition to locate Rogers found it at the bottom of the sea and retrieved it.”
He hated how much even such a small mention of Howard's obsession with finding Rogers affected him.
“It was brought to what would become SHIELD at Camp Lehigh for study and was kept there for some 40 years before being transferred over to a joint venture with NASA and the Air Force called Project PEGASUS where it remained until Loki attacked the facility where it was held. After the Chitauri invasion Thor took it to Asgard where it, to the best of our knowledge, remains.””
He forced the old pains down and focused on continuing telling the story of the Tesseract's time on Earth, and how it related to the Arc reactor technology and the new element.
“Howard studied it extensively while it was kept at Camp Lehigh, studies that lead to him and Anton Vanko creating the first Arc Reactor in an attempt to replicate the Tesseract's energy. Sometime during this he also came up with a new, theoretical element based on the Tesseract that would greatly increase the power potential of the Arc reactor. But since the technology to actually create the element didn't exist yet he hid the information away.”
“And you found it and completed the work.”
“In a way, SHIELD took it, kept it away, then when I was almost dead from Palladium poisoning Fury decided to hand everything over as a piece in his play to get me to back the Avengers initiative. It was a close call, but I managed to figure out the secret and synthesize the element before the Palladium core reactor killed me.”
“Fury knew about the cure?”
There was a cold edge in Shuri's voice that was eerily familiar, he had heard it in Yasha's voice, his own voice, so many times.
“I'm not sure exactly how much he knew, but he definitely knew that Howard's stuff held the key to saving my life.”
“And he kept it from you until it was almost too late, to manipulate you.”
“Mhm, him and Romanoff.”
Tony's knowledge of Xhosa covered less than half of the furious rant that followed, but it didn't really matter, he wasn't really hearing it anyway, he was too preoccupied with the realization that he might actually pity Fury if she ever got her hands on him...
“I'm glad you killed that honourless cur, White Wolf.”
“Actually, Fury survived. Used it to fake his death, slunk away to lick his wounds, helped Coulson keep SHIELD alive. Now he works with his own little team, playing around in the shadows, playing the same old games.”
The way Shuri glared made it quite obvious that she was definitely considering the option of making the tales of Fury's demise come true, or at least make him wish they were.
“For now Fury is... Useful... Say what you want about his methods, but he does get results.”
Yasha wasn't too happy about Fury's behaviour either, the blatant displays of distrust, the manipulations, the withholding of vital, life or death, information on more than one occasion.
“Fury knows there are bigger fish out there, threats we are not ready for, and he's preparing for that in his own way.”
Tony had told Fury about what he had seen, and felt in the wormhole, told him about the indomitable will he had sensed behind the Chitauri fleet.
Told him about his theory that Loki's attack was little more than a scouting party, a test to see if Earth was a threat, he had even mentioned his suspicion that it might have been a test of Loki's loyalties as well.
There was no doubt in Tony's mind that Fury knew the truth about the Tesseract and the sceptre as well, knew at least something about the Infinity stones, though he was pretty sure that he didn't know as much as what Loki had shared with them.
“As much as I resent him for how he handled things with me and the Avengers I can still respect his conviction, and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. And as much as I hate to admit it, he is useful doing his thing right now.”
“You're letting them off too easy.”
“Oh, I haven't let 'em off yet. I haven't forgiven, haven't forgotten. In fact, I have a pretty damn good memory. Thing is, right now we're fighting a war, and we have this somewhat tentative enemy of my enemy thing going on.”
“We can't afford the risk of doing something that would shift the balance and cause them to rearrange their priorities, that would put us above HYDRA on their target list. Right now they are mostly off our backs, and they are hitting HYDRA targets.”
“Nothing but broken, soft hearted white boys the both of you.”
They both objected to being called soft, and Shuri teased them both without mercy while running more tests on the sample Tony had given her.
.·:*¨¨*:·A Trade of Knowledge·:*¨¨*:·.
Tony couldn't help smiling when one of the children they had freed from HYDRA grabbed Yasha by the metal hand and dragged him toward the edge of the water where the others were trying to catch bait-fish with handheld nets.
“They look like they are doing pretty good.”
“Children are resilient, and keeping them together like this was good thinking.”
T'Challa carefully shifted the infant girl in his arms so he could take her twin from their mother who had finished feeding her.
“It's good to see that they are healing well...”
Tony couldn't help poking at T'Challa's somewhat wistful tone.
“Sounds to me like there might be little royal cubs running around the palace soon.”
“Bast have mercy...”
The way T'Challa outright groaned at that prospect wasn't something Tony was about to let pass without some ribbing.
“How about you, when will you take on an heir?”
Tony grumbled, but it didn't seem like the younger man was about to let the question drop completely.
“We've made arrangements if something happens to me. A couple of kids with the brains and heart to take SI where it needs to go and won't hesitate to make sure Yasha has everything needed to complete the mission...”
T'Challa's eyes narrowed for a moment at the mention of making arrangements for Yasha, no doubt picking up on the wording, then he shook his head with a forlorn smile.
“I had a feeling that would be the case with the two of you, that if one of you were to fall the other wouldn't be long for this world...”
“We'd complete the mission at any cost, but yeah, I doubt either of us would be able to keep going, not with the way we are now at least. We might have an idea for a way of getting past that though...”
Tony wanted to squirm under the calculating look T'Challa gave him but he managed not to, despite his tendency to act rashly the man was far too perceptive for comfort when he actually stopped to look and think.
“You're considering a third to balance you. Someone who can anchor the survivor should one of you fall...”
Too perceptive indeed, he wanted to deny, deflect, a part of him was objecting to someone having even the slightest hint of awareness of what they were trying to build with Loki, of his hopes that it would develop into more than just an alliance.
The part that refused to do anything that could be seen as rejection was stronger though, keeping him from speaking despite knowing that silence was an answer in its own, thankfully T'Challa didn't push, instead he changed the topic back to the children and their progress and Tony did his best to pay attention.
It wasn't easy though as his mind kept drifting to Shuri's promise to show them a bit more of the Wakandan nano-technology when they got back, a promise that included teaching him how the receptacle for the Black Panther habit worked.
After a very chaotic lunch with the kids it was time to return to the city and after promising to visit again before leaving Wakanda they were finally released so they could head back to where they had left their rides.
T'Challa, Shuri and a group of Dora had taken one of the smaller Wakandan transports, the cross between a hovercraft and a Quad rotor-craft that reminded Tony a bit of a miniature Helicarrier offered fast and comfortable low altitude transport.
Tony and Yasha had taken the opportunity to have some fun with the Wakandan hover-bikes though, the small vehicles were fast and agile and had quickly become Tony's favourites, while not as exhilarating as flying in the suit they were a damn close second.
“Come on white boys, race you back!”
At some point during their little outing Shuri had acquired a third hover-bike and was now challenging them to race back to the palace with a wide grin, a challenge that neither of them intended to back down from.
Tony doubted they would stand much of a chance though, ignoring the paintjob the hover-bike that Shuri was sitting on looked the same as theirs but it felt different to the technopathy Phoenix had given him, he had no doubt it was a far more advanced model.
“Challenge accepted.”
“You're on Shrimp.”
They were all left in the proverbial dust though when Friday decided to join them, abandoning the Eidolon's usual biomimetic configuration in favour for the fixed wing, high speed flight configuration, engaging the small repulsors at full power.
Tony couldn't help the swell of pride when she tore past them like a bolt of silver and arc-blue, she had been growing so much lately and things like this, being playful and competitive while physically engaging with people, was very promising.
In many ways Friday felt more organic, more human, than Vision did despite him having pieces of Jarvis with him, but the synthezoid had declined help with finding himself which Tony respected, and part of him was relieved as well.
His feelings about Vision were complicated at best, the way he was Jarvis, and yet wasn't, the easy way he had accepted Maximoff despite what she had done, Tony couldn't help feeling a sting of betrayal at that even though Vision had refused to take sides.
Though, perhaps that was what made it sting all the more, the fact that Vision, the last remnant of Jarvis, had refused to choose, had refused to choose him.
He knew that Phoenix was part of the reason why Friday had become so much more now, being connected to him on such a deep level had altered her code, added to it, enhanced her capacity for emotion.
He also knew that a large part of it was her interactions with Yasha since he joined them, they had been so much alike back then, alive but not really human, learning how to be more than machines.
“I didn't know the Eidolon could do that...”
Shuri's half impressed, half annoyed voice over the helmet intercom brought Tony back to the now very lost race.
“She doesn't use the fixed wing mode much. Sure, it's a lot faster but it's not suitable for precision moves and it can't hover. Still seriously agile and manoeuvrable though.”
“That configuration is fast and agile, but it severely diminishes her combat capabilities.”
Tony and Shuri both snort at Yasha's focus on how the fixed wing configuration affects the Eidolon's combat abilities.
“He does have a point though. With the repulsor system redirected fully to propulsion and most of the other weapons systems unable to keep up with the speed it leaves her with nothing but the point-defence laser system.”
“That's still some pretty impressive offensive power if you know how to use it.”
“True.”
As Shuri pointed out the high power laser that could take out an incoming missile and deform bullets, could do some serious damage if used as an offensive weapon, it might not be the most effective against flesh, but effective enough to kill.
“This competitive streak of hers seems new.”
“Not really, but she's getting a lot better at expressing it.”
“It suits her.”
“You're only saying that 'cause you know how much trouble she'll be causing us.”
“Aww, White Wolf, you really believe I could do something like that?”
“Definitely.”
Tony just shakes his head as he begins the descent toward one of the landing zones in the private wing of the palace, Shuri had a knack for pulling out Yasha's inner troll, even Loki wasn't quite as good at it, probably because he still registered a bit too much as a threat.
It was good to see a less severe side of him though, a side that showed hope that Yasha was starting to truly heal from his trauma, good to see him interacting with others in a more normal manner, even if it was just a handful of rather unique people.
Though, his own circle of friends was every bit as limited...
“Come on, let me have a look at how those wings work.”
Shuri was trying her best to cajole Friday into bringing the Eidolon to her so she could have a closer look.
“It's okay Fri, you can let her look if you want to.”
“Alright Boss.”
Shuri spent the entire walk to her labs running her fingers along the plating of the wings, occasionally diverting down one of the metal feathers, gently testing their range of motion while making comments to herself and asking questions.
“This is a very interesting adaptation of the technology of that arm.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, that HYDRA arm is one amazing piece of engineering, shoddy execution but an amazing design. Among other things they used way too heavy materials making that butcher's job of a mooring structure the only way to attach it. But that could just be to make sure the arm would be a viable weapon.”
Tony couldn't help the slight shudder at the memory of Yasha's surgery to remove the old mooring structure.
“I've got so many ideas for cybernetic prosthetics from looking at that thing, unfortunately there's still a lot of work needed on the brain interface and neural clamps. It's simply too invasive for a baseline human, without serum enhanced healing it would cause permanent brain damage.”
“It's really that bad? You didn't include anything about that in the documents you sent for our consideration when petitioning for the vibranium to build the new arm. Only a brief mention of the clamps.”
“The neural interface that lets him feel and move the arm is made up of two parts, the neural clamps and a Direct Brain Interface. The clamps are doable on a baseline human but would take a long time to fully heal and the pain would be excruciating, especially in the later stages of the healing.”
Tony had spoken at length about adapting the neural interface with Dr Strange and Dr Sho and they had both agreed that the clamps were doable, but the convalescence period for a baseline human would probably be in excess of a year just for the grafting of the clamps.
Then once sufficiently healed the patient would need additional time to learn to correctly interpret and manage the signals from the clamps, something that would probably amount to years of Physical Therapy, and until fully integrated they would hurt like hell.
The direct brain interface part had, as Tony knew it would be, been vehemently nixed by both due to being far too invasive, there was no way a baseline human would be able to recover from the kind of brain trauma the implants would cause.
“The second part of the interface is the big issue, it consists of a number of needles that are inserted directly into the brain, but with the size of the needles it might just as well be spikes driven into the brain. The amount of trauma would be catastrophic if not fatal to a baseline.”
Several aspects of how the hell HYDRA had managed to create the arm and integrate it to allow Yasha to use it like an actual limb had bugged Tony from the beginning, constantly nagging at him like an annoying itch in the back of his head.
It simply didn't make sense, such a feat should have been impossible, the mechanics he could accept, the art of automatons was old, and some of them were pretty advanced, created with techniques that a skilled mechanical engineer could adapt.
The power system for the arm was an obviously alien aspect as it amplified bioelectric currents using a trace amount of Tesseract energy and the way the neural interface allowed Yasha to move the arm just shouldn't have been possible back in the 40's.
Heck, it was beyond cutting edge now, 70 years into the future.
“The fact that they got it working back in the fucking 40's, even with the serum keeping him alive, makes me think that at least some aspects of the neural interface might be of alien origin. Don't want to risk a too invasive examination of it though in case there's something there to prevent tampering.”
There had been several countermeasures and booby-traps installed in the old arm, mainly focused on the power system which had required a bit of work to get past, fortunately Yasha had remembered enough about them to safely maintain, then remove, the arm.
The entire replacement process had mostly bypassed the neural interface, removing the rest of the hardware without touching the interface, then just connecting the new arm to the existing clamps, with the way they worked the extra sensors hadn't been an issue.
There was plenty of bandwidth open for use in the neural interface so they could add even more sensors and control points if they wanted to.
“It's an odd feeling when Aliens did it becomes the most probable explanation.”
“At least it's not magic...”
Shuri and Yasha both huffed in amusement at that and followed up with a few teasing quips before Shuri continued to ask about the way the plates in the arm could be locked.
“It serves a dual purpose, the primary purpose is to distribute load away from the internal mechanics, with certain motions and actions, like any force application with a bent elbow, there is a lot of strain placed on the internal components, locking the plates transfers the load to the plates.”
“The plates are more durable, and easier to repair. They can take quite a bit of damage without impairing arm function, while even light damage to interior structures can disable the arm.”
“And the second function is immobilisation for maintenance I assume?”
“Yep.”
HYDRA had a few other uses for the maintenance lock function, but Tony didn't see any point in mentioning how they had used it as yet another means of abuse against Yasha, how they would activate it as a means to weaken him.
The arm was a source of a lot of Yasha's mixed feelings, especially the old one, it was an integral part of what set him apart from others, it made him stronger, but it also marked him as a weapon, a tool, something not human.
To make matters worse most of the handlers feared the power of the weapon they had grafted to their asset, many of them would either force him to wear a restraining harness or put it in maintenance lock to immobilise it, and he wasn't allowed to use it unless told to.
Several of the handlers also took great joy in making him fight with it disabled, most didn't even bother pretending it was to make sure he could handle things if something disabled it during a mission.
“Alright boys, lesson time.”
Shuri tossed the Eidolon into the air as she stepped into her workshop, freeing her arms to make a sweeping gesture toward the sitting area which had been set up with snacks and drinks as well as sand tables and screens, turning it into a small classroom.
“I'm all yours Sensei.”
She just huffs at the teasing quip before turning to poke Yasha in the ribs to keep him from sneaking off toward his own little corner.
.·:*¨¨*:·A Trade of Knowledge·:*¨¨*:·.
Tony quickly finds himself struggling to tamper down on his amusement as Shuri dives into teaching them about Wakandan nano-technology with abandon, her eager energy every bit as contagious as when inventing and creating.
She quickly proves to be a thorough teacher, starting with the history of development which includes things like the vibranium sand tables and the Black Panther habit, giving them an understanding of how the technology developed in Wakanda.
By the time they are called for dinner she is giving them an in-depth lesson on Wakandan nanite coding.
“Fri baby, while we're at dinner, could you cross reference this section of code against the bio-code influence from Extremis on my nanites please?”
“What am I looking for Boss?”
“Immune response, biological compatibility, and tissue integration.”
“Will do Boss. Shuri, may I have permission to contact Dr Helen Sho for consultation? Since the passing of Dr Maya Hansen she is one of the foremost experts on the effects of Extremis.”
“You would have to share at least some pieces of the coding...”
Shuri did not look too happy about that idea.
“She is very sympathetic to Boss and his work. She has also signed some pretty impressive NDAs surrounding Boss, Yasha, and anything related to their health.”
“You think she can be trusted?”
“We trust her enough to give her the data on Zola's serum, and my work on Phoenix. She is trying to adapt it for medical use, disabling any permanent effects apart from resistance to viral and bacterial diseases.
“White Wolf?”
“I trust her professionalism and ambition to help as many as possible. She knows this would be too dangerous to try to use.”
With a quick nod she turned her focus to Tony.
“Dr Sho is ambitious, and willing to take chances and face risks, but she understands that stuff like Extremis, Phoenix, or the Super Soldier Serums is too dangerous to be viable for any form of general use. She knows that there's just too many ways that something that leaves the subject enhanced can be abused.”
Tony elaborated on why they had chosen to trust Helen with his work on Phoenix, she already knew about Extremis since she helped him stabilize it to save Pepper, for them the toughest call had been to include the data they had on Zola's serum.
They had found quite a bit of information on it in the HYDRA files liberated from the facility in Mumbai, but a lot of it came from studying samples taken from Yasha as well.
“So you think I should trust her enough to allow this...”
Tony didn't answer her right away, taking his time to consider his answer, and his reasons for it.
“It's your call. Soldier boy here and I both have selfish reasons for wanting to pick her brains on this, and I might wanna deny it, but I'm not above being influenced by stuff like that. ”
Once again Shuri turned to look at Yasha, silently asking his opinion on the matter.
“He's got a point. A suit based on this nano-tech would be a significant improvement of his safety, and his protection is one of my mission parameters.”
“Making you want to encourage anything that improves the chances of making it happen...”
“Unfortunately, yes. But I do think that Sho's awareness of the dangers something like this represents is enough for her to keep it tightly under wraps.”
“Sho is well aware of how many out there are looking for ways to create and control enhanced individuals. Groups like HYDRA, AIM, Red Room, or Department K come and go. People like Thaddeus Ross, Aldrich Killian, and William Stryker may have been taken out, but there are plenty like them out there.”
“I see... I need to think about this, and consult with my brother.”
“Of course, Fri baby, do what you can while they decide, okay?”
“Of course Boss, Princess.”
Following Shuri's and her guard they soon found themselves in a small roof garden where a meal had been set out a quick scan of the terrace-like area revealed T'Challa and Nakia off to the side, waiting for their arrival.
“Dr Stark, White Wolf.”
With a quick exchange of pleasantries they took their seats and started eating, sharing a light conversation with Nakia about what they had been up to in Wakanda, while Shuri took the opportunity to discuss the matter of Dr Sho with T'Challa.
There were a few interruptions where he asked about their opinion on the doctor and how far they trusted her, questions that were provided with thorough answers and by the time dessert was brought out the king had agreed to Friday's request.
“Boss, Yasha! We have an emergency flag on Project Medusa.”
Friday's sudden interruption half way through dessert had everyone on alert, Tony and Yasha because they knew what it meant, and the others for the simple fact that Friday had interrupted, and sounded worried.
“Talk to us baby girl.”
“What is Project Medusa?”
T'Challa was equal parts curiosity and concern, while Nakia had an edge of suspicion to her.
“Frosty, brief them please.”
Project Medusa had been created after saving the kids, with its name inspired by Gorgon it was a cooperation between various enhanced groups to protect enhanced children, and an emergency flag meant that a child was in danger.
The fact that Friday brought it up meant that for some reason they were the best choice to go in and try to save the kid.
“Selene just called in to relay information from Euryphaessa, they are requesting a combat extraction outside of Juba, South Sudan. Single subject, female mutant, approximate age 15, excellent physical condition, mutation does not appear to be combat oriented and is recently activated. Medium threat level defences, no enhanced combatants detected.”
Friday rattled off the pertinent information that she had received from Selene, one of the mutants on Euryphaessa's team.
Euryphaessa was a mutant with abilities that connected her to other mutants, giving her visions of them, especially if they were in danger, that ability was not listed with the Accords though.
As far as the Accords were concerned her only ability was a limited form of far-sight and precognition that allowed her to see through the eyes of her team and predict threats, giving her team a slight edge while on missions.
“Sorry but we need to go. Fri, prep the Mirage for immediate launch and send the Wraith here, switch to Eidolon Alpha for the mission and leave Delta here to keep kitty in the loop.”
“On it Boss.”
“Meet you at the Mirage.”
Yasha didn't wait for an answer, and didn't bother with the door as he took off over the roof, going for the fastest route back to their rooms, and his gear.
“If we get this girl out, is it okay to bring her back here?”
“Of course, I'll clear you for transit and have a medical team stand by just in case.”
“Thanks.”
“Would you like me to send out a jet to pick you up as well? That Mirage of yours only seats two, right?”
“Yeah, but there's no need for a pickup, the location is close enough that we can put her in the Mirage with Yasha while I just fly the suit back.”
“As you wish.”
Shortly after the Wraith arrived and Tony allowed it wrap around him, but before he had a chance to turn around to leave he was offered the Wakandan salute which he returned before bringing down the faceplate and blasting off.
“See ya on the flip side.”
The teasing call was relayed through the Eidolon and moments later he got a Wakandan version of Godspeed in return, which Yasha replied to with the proper response, telling them that he had his gear on and the sound of his breath as he spoke told Tony he was on the move.
With a simple thought Tony activated the target tracking on the HUD and made a beeline for the snowflake indicator telling him where Yasha was.
“Damn Frosty, I think you're getting faster.”
Yasha was moving at an impressive speed even for him, but it was still nothing compared to the suit and Tony quickly caught up, swooping down low he shot past the running man before circling around and picking him up on the second pass.
A quick roll allows Yasha to turn around and get a good grip and the moment Tony picks up on the tap against the suit telling him that Yasha has locked his grip he blasts off toward the airfield where the Mirage is waiting.
.·:*¨¨*:·A Trade of Knowledge·:*¨¨*:·.
It was a very short flight to the target location and before they knew it they were dropping into a small compound sprawling in the low vegetation, the entrance to the underground complex hidden by low, half-buried huts.
They quickly came to blows with the soldiers guarding the place, but apart from numbers they didn't have much resistance to offer, they were poorly trained and what weapons they had consisted mostly of relics from the former Soviet Union.
Yasha seemed more than happy to use the opportunity to blow off some steam and Tony was just as happy to hang back and let him tear through the facility.
“I found the girl.”
Friday's call is accompanied by an update to the map displayed on Tony's HUD and he quickly starts directing Yasha toward the cell where she was being kept.
“Keep an eye out.”
Tony didn't wait for an answer as he slowly stepped up to the cell with his hands spread low and silently praying she spoke English since he didn't speak the Juba Arabic pidgin nor any of the many tribal languages of South Sudan very well.
“Miss, I'm Wraith, this is Ghost and Eidolon, we're here to get you out.”
“Hurry! The men, they spoke about reinforcements, they could be here any moment.”
Tony found himself impressed when the girl didn't hesitate to speak up while grabbing the thin blanket of her cot and wrapping the water bottles and food package on her table.
“What should I call you?”
“I am Rose.”
“Alright Rose, let's get out of here, step back from the door.”
The lock was no match for the strength of the gauntlets and moments later they were moving toward the exit.
“Incoming! 4 man group, ETA 30 seconds.”
They were almost at the exit when Friday alerted them that they had more company on the way.
“Where the fuck did those come from?”
“There are tunnels all over the place, mineral composition is throwing off the sensors.”
Yasha just slid away like the Ghost he was named after and Tony gently nudged Rose to get behind him and hummed in approval when she placed her hands on the back of the suit and ducked her head for maximum cover.
Moments later he cursed, and thanked whatever powers might be for her clearly having some smarts, as he heard the telltale thud of something being tossed down the entrance and the HUD lit up in warning, a grenade.
“Grenade!”
Friday's warning cut through the air, and over the comms.
“Fuck!”
He reacts without thought as he spins around and pushes Rose down and curls around her while forcing the plates of the suit to shift out and forward to wrap around as much as possible of her body in anticipation of the blast wave and shrapnel.
They were roughly 10 meters from the grenade so they were out of the kill zone, but they were still within the casualty radius, and the tunnel would focus and direct the blast wave toward them, there was also a very real risk of it bringing the structure down.
It quickly becomes obvious that Rose must have grown up in an active conflict zone, or even had some military training as she instantly covers her ears and eyes and opens her mouth, actions that help the body withstand a pressure wave.
The shock absorbing padding of the suit would protect him from it, and Yasha's enhanced physiology could handle some serious concussive force, his ears would be ringing like crazy for a while though, downside of enhanced hearing.
When the blast hits the HUD flickers for a moment before data starts coming in detailing the impact on the suit but Tony ignores it and focuses on bringing the suit's external medical sensors online to check Rose while doing a quick visual inspection.
He barely notices the sound of gunfire and Yasha's confirmation that the hostiles have been taken down as he checks the incoming data and breathes a sigh of relief when the scan comes up clear, he'd still insist on a proper check-up though.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
Just as Tony pulls her out of the entrance there's a crash and startled curse from Yasha that damn near has Tony's heart stopping as he turns to the sound and sees nothing but a small cloud of dust where his soldier should be.
Before he can move toward where Yasha disappeared Friday calls out a warning that the explosion has destabilised one of the tunnels, causing it to collapse under Yasha's weight.
“Ouch...”
The pained groan over the comm brings equal parts relief and concern as Yasha rarely expresses any pain or discomfort.
“Ghost, what's your status?”
“Got up close and personal with some rebar. I'm stable but could use a hand with getting out of here.”
“Eidolon, get me a visual on Ghost.”
The moment the video feed came up Tony wanted to throw up, Yasha was halfway kneeling, back against the tunnel wall and three lengths of rebar sticking out of his body, one at his right shoulder, one about waist high, and one through his thigh.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Eidolon, get the big trauma kit, we're gonna need it...”
“On it.”
Tony cursed as he carefully navigated the area to avoid the tunnels before lowering himself into the hole, mindful not to make it collapse any further.
“Damn, you're stuck in there pretty good...”
The pieces in Yasha's shoulder and stomach were both in pretty bad spots and while there wasn't much bleeding at the moment that would no doubt change quickly if they tried to remove the rebar that was currently acting as tamponades.
“Cut and pull the one in my leg, it won't bleed too bad.”
Tony grabbed one of Yasha's knives and cut the pant leg to get a better look.
“Eidolon, you second that assessment?”
“It's in a good spot, a few minutes of pressure and it should be healed enough to move.”
Friday quickly agreed with Yasha's assessment of the placement of the rebar in his thigh.
“I can help. Keep pressure while you work on the other ones.”
Tony looked up at Rose who was on her stomach, peeking over the edge of the hole, then at Yasha who gave a short nod, it would save time if she applied the pressure so Tony could keep working.
“Alright, but be careful, the tunnel is unstable.”
Tony didn't wait for her to make it down, instead he moved to Yasha's side and used the hand laser to cut the rebar, then released a small amount of coolant over it so it wouldn't sear the wound as that would delay the healing process.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
“I am ready.”
Rose was kneeling next to them and a quick glance showed that she had grabbed a pair of gloves from the kit.
“3... 2... 1...”
There was a hiss of sympathy pain from the girl as Tony pulled the rebar out but she didn't hesitate to move in and press the heels of her hands against the wounds the moment the rebar was out, she was definitely one tough kid.
“The other two are in bad spots, shoulder one is dangerously close to major blood vessels and the abdominal one may have pieced the intestines.”
Both were injuries Yasha's enhanced healing could deal with, but together they could put him out for a while, on their own neither blood loss nor infections were much of an issue, but both at the same time were not fun to deal with.
“Let's just start with cutting you away from this fucking wall.”
“Agreed.”
Tony starts cutting away the rebar that's piercing Yasha's abdomen, careful not to jostle it while listening to Rose carefully engaging Yasha in conversation, most likely to distract him.
“You are very good with pain.”
“Spend enough time being tortured and pain stops being something that matters.”
“I am sorry...”
“Don't be. They've caused enough pain already, don't let 'em cause more.”
Tony gave Yasha's shoulder a gentle tap to warn him that the final rebar was about to get cut through to make sure there wouldn't be any unexpected shift in weight when it broke.
“Alright, options?”
“Just cut them, as close as you can on the back, and wrap it all up so I can get in the Mirage then let the docs sort it out when we get back.”
“I agree with Ghost, we have hostiles on the way so that's our best option.”
“Okay, Eidolon you call ahead and give them a heads up that Casper here is coming in with a pair of brand new, less than stylish piercings.”
T'Challa's royal physician and a few of his staff had been briefed on the basics of both Yasha's and Tony's unique medical issues and needs pretty early on, just in case, making them part of just a handful of people that knew.
“On it.”
“Make sure you let 'em know I'm fine too or they'll be all over us.”
“Will do.”
Tony makes short work of wrapping Yasha up so he can move around a bit without the rebar shifting around and before long he's flanking the Mirage as they head back to Wakanda.
The moment the Mirage touched down they were rushed by a small group of paramedics who tried to get Yasha into one of the wheelchairs they had brought which only led to them being on the receiving end of a very flat glare.
At least they didn't try bringing a gurney any more, they had quickly learned that the sight of one would trigger all kinds of negative associations with Yasha and was a sure way to get him to pull away and refuse any kind of medical attention.
They still scolded him every time he managed to get wounded when sparring with the Dora, War Dogs, or Black Panther though, but Yasha was adamant about his opponents not holding back too much which the Wakandan warriors respected.
“Come on Rose, you need to get those cuts and bruises looked at, and proper check-up is probably a good idea too, I'm no medical doctor so I might have missed something on the scans.”
One of the paramedics quickly came forward with a wheelchair while the rest continued trying to get Yasha to have a seat but he pointedly ignored them and started walking toward the private medical wing with the medics in tow.
Rose however was a far more cooperative patient and sat down in the offered chair without complaint and they quickly caught up to Yasha and the complaining medics, at least he was taking it easy, moving gingerly to avoid aggravating his wounds.
A short walk later the group was split with Rose being brought into a simpler examination room while Yasha was more or less bullied into the hybrid operating room to get the rebar removed.
They quickly agreed that the safest option was to have Tony pull the rebar out as Yasha was likely to lash out if one of the Wakandan doctors tried to do it and they had outright refused Yasha's suggestion that he do it himself.
“If you pull it like this we should be able to avoid excessive bleeding.”
Tony watched the projection of how the doctor wanted him to pull the rebar while the nurses prepared Yasha for the procedure, unwrapping the bandages before cleaning both the skin around the wound and the rebar to reduce infection risk.
Off to the side a nurse prepared several syringes with a super soldier approved analgesic, the fast acting drug was strong enough to overcome the serum but would only last a few minutes for Yasha so they needed to move fast once injected.
“Alright, I can do that.”
“The skin around the edges has healed quite a lot, we will need to cut it open to minimize tearing.”
“Think you can handle that Frosty?”
“Yeah, I'm good for now.”
“Just let me know if you need me to bring you down.”
“Acknowledged.”
It wasn't unusual for Yasha to need to be pushed down into the compliant aspect of the Asset mindset for more invasive medical treatments, like for instance cutting wounds open for debridement, especially if anyone other than Tony was doing it.
With the procedure planned out they moved quickly once the analgesic had been injected, a few quick cuts with a scalpel then the staff backed away while Tony grabbed the rebar and pulled it out as instructed and once it was out the wound-tract was flushed and pressure applied.
“It looks like it's healing nicely. Let's move on to the other one.”
The final piece of rebar was a bit more trouble as it had pierced the intestines, fortunately only at one spot though, but that still meant the doctor and surgeon insisted they needed to go in and do what they could to prevent leakage.
Yasha had plenty of memories of abdominal wounds and the nasty infections they could give even him, though unlike a baseline human he recovered pretty fast, but that didn't mean he didn't feel like crap for a few days while it cleared up.
“I would suggest we go in using laparoscopy to clamp the intestine on each side of the perforation and flush it before removing the rebar.”
Tony could tell from the way Yasha was tensing that they would probably need to take advantage of the compulsions this time so he asked for a moment of privacy to talk about it.
“You think you can handle this without the triggers?”
“Probably, but I don't want to hurt anyone so better safe than sorry.”
“And you're sure it's worth using the triggers to dodge feeling like crap for a few days?”
Yasha hated the triggers even with how they had altered the effects, and his trust in Tony, so it was always a balancing act, was the reward, in this case significantly reducing the risk of being sick for a few days due to infection, worth the cost.
At first glance it wasn't worth it, but there was a second aspect to consider, if he did get a bad enough infection to actually get sick Tony would be too concerned with him to be able to appreciate the lessons in Wakandan nano-technology.
He knew from experience that pulling the rebar without taking the preventative measures would almost certainly result in an infection bad enough to put him out of it for 2-3 days, which was their remaining time in Wakanda.
“Normally I'd say no, but this time, yeah.”
“It's your call.”
“We use the triggers.”
The medical staff was called back in and they went over the specifics for what they would be doing while the equipment was being prepared, then the others left the room again while Tony activated the triggers.
Yasha couldn't help noticing that the sensation of the triggers taking hold had changed, it used to be harsh, jarring, a sharp sense of disconnect that left him somewhat disoriented the moment the compulsion activated.
Now he barely noticed and there was no disconnect, no sharp line between before and after, Ready to comply fell easy over his lips and there was no urge to move into a submissive position as he remained perfectly aware of the situation.
He could feel the compulsions, every bit as strong as ever, and yet there was a sense of absolute clarity, no trace of that muddled confusion that had been suppressing any thought beyond obedience and mission.
He listens to his mission, a carefully crafted weave of parameters to protect the staff while also making sure he remained as comfortable as possible during the procedure, ensuring that he had as much discretion as possible.
“Mission parameters confirmed.”
He didn't move as Tony leaned in and brushed a quick kiss against his lips before leaning back and ordering him to initiate the mission.
“Complying.”
Once everything was ready Tony took a seat next to Yasha and grabbed the cybernetic hand, both to ground him and keep the arm contained, they couldn't risk using restraints since that only increased the risk of Yasha struggling or lashing out.
Once started the team moved swiftly and it didn't take them long to place the incisions and do what they needed to before removing the rebar, less than an hour had passed when Yasha was moved into a small recovery room.
Tony had him give his mission report to clear the triggers, then joined him in the shower before they both changed into the clean clothes that had been left for them, loose fitting drawstring pants and mid-thigh dashiki shirts in unbleached cotton.
Yasha's grumbling complaints about how unsuitable the clothes were for concealing weapons had Tony smiling and shaking his head before reminding the assassin that he didn't really need to conceal his weapons in Wakanda.
He understood the urge to have a few proverbial aces up the sleeve though, and for Yasha that urge was more of a compulsion, leaving him highly unsettled if he didn't have any concealed weapons no matter how many he carried openly.
“Here, take this.”
The relief was obvious as Tony removed the simple backup gauntlet from his left wrist and wrapped it around Yasha's right, leaving him with the slightly more advanced watch model himself.
“Thanks.”
.·:*¨¨*:·A Trade of Knowledge·:*¨¨*:·.
When Tony and Yasha stepped out into the small sitting room of the medical wing they found themselves faced by a rather upset looking Shuri, and behind her T'Challa, Okoye, Nakia and Rose were all seated at a low table.
The look Shuri gave them held a veritable storm of emotions, dominated by concern giving way to relief, but they both saw the lingering mixture of fear and anger beneath it, and a hesitant question obvious in both expression and stance.
When Yasha opened his arms slightly and gave her a short nod she pounced at him and threw her arms around his neck.
“Don't you dare scare me like that again White Wolf!”
“It takes more than a few pieces of rebar to kill me Princess, but I will try to make sure it doesn't happen again.”
Yasha's light, teasing tone earned him a knock on the forehead as Shuri let go of him and dropped back to the floor where she began pacing in front of them, jabbing a sharp finger at his chest each pass as she collected herself enough to speak again.
Jab...
Jab...
Jab...
“That doesn't make me worry any less you idiot!”
A glance to the side revealed Tony taking a step back with his hands up in a gesture of surrender and teasing sympathy, abandoning Yasha to his fate.
Jab...
“You had metal rods sticking out of you!”
He slipped into the comforting familiarity of parade rest and decided not to mention that the damage wasn't all that different from being shot.
Jab...
“You needed surgery!”
Yasha almost interrupted her to point out that while he would probably have been out of it for a few days he would have been fine without the surgery but the look on her face made him think better of it.
Jab...
Her furious motion halted and Yasha remained motionless and silent as she pushed the fabric of the shirt up just enough to reveal the unmarred skin where metal had been embedded an hour prior.
“You need to be more careful White Wolf, that one...”
She jabs her finger in Tony's direction.
“That fool of a genius needs you to keep him safe.”
With a huffing sigh the tension bleeds away from her stance and she looks up into the ceiling while shaking her head.
“Bast have mercy, but the world needs you, both of you.”
Having spoken her mind Shuri pulls straight and wraps herself in the mantle that is Wakandan royalty, giving her presence an edge as sharp as his vibranium blades as she offers Yasha the Wakandan salute which he returns with a gentle bow.
He silently goes over his observations of the Wakandan princess, she's young and needs to learn to control her emotions, but she is as brilliant as can be with near limitless potential and Yasha just knows that she will one day make a powerful support to stand at her brothers back.
There's more to her though, he can feel it behind that youthful innocence, feel the lurking shadow of the strong Black Panther she could become, feel the looming echo of the capable Queen she would rise to become to protect Wakanda should it ever become necessary.
Perhaps he should offer to teach her the observation and manipulation skills of the Red Room, they could prove very valuable with Wakanda entering the global arena, if only to help her spot those who would try to manipulate her.
“Pretty much anyone can become a soldier, minds like yours on the other hand are few and far apart, making you far more important for the future.”
She rolls her eyes at him, then breaks into a wide grin and turns to her brother and starts up a playful banter about how at least someone appreciates her genius.