Samples from Comm Part 2

[foster_j]

It had been a long morning, then an even longer afternoon, and Jane knew she was going to be playing fake girlfriend the whole day so that lingered in the back of her mind even as she tried to help Pepper vent her frustrations, her fears. Of all the things to happen before she went undercover, this was really high on the 'oh shit' list, and Jane had a new, pretty big list for that sort of thing after nearly watching their universe destroyed. So, slipping out of the tower felt a little like a betrayal, but Pepper had said she was going to want some 'alone time', which Jane took to mean she was escaping the tower for a while. She couldn't blame her. Jane had felt like disappearing for an eternity after the Aether was sucked out of her body, after watching that Dark Elf pull it out of her and guide it through the Convergence, to watch what had been inside her start unraveling the very fabric of time and space. So, yeah, Jane knew all about how Pepper might be feeling just a little bit. If Pepper wanted to take 'five', she was damned well going to be the friend that defended her right and need to go take a powder and collect herself.

She was dressed in light summer dress, something she would normally reserve for a date, but this was, actually a date, just not a real one. Still, Jane was being herself, and learning a damned lot of stuff about herself in the process. It was easy enough to fall back on what she'd done with Donald, so she was carrying a 6-pack of beer of expensive German beer - hey, if they were going to play house, why not go in style - in one hand as she got into the taxi to head over to Clint's 'place'. It was a surprisingly longer ride than she had anticipated, but she had a burner phone for security reasons, not her own, so Jane was limited to reading the news and playing solitaire. She played a lot of solitaire. When she arrived, Clint was waiting by the front door and he crossed to make a show of paying the taxi, then escorting her into the foyer with a casual arm slung over her shoulder. They had a good laugh once they were behind closed doors, and settled in to pick a movie for the night.

~

As apartments went, it wasn't much to look at, but it beat the heck out of an old RV in the middle of the New Mexico desert, that's for sure. Clint had warned her, also, which made it a lot easier to just walk through the door and not hesitate when he opened it. He'd staged visits before, but this was the real deal, and Jane couldn't act like it was something new to her, not if the neighbors were watching. After their loud laughter in the hall, she would bet that at least a few non-HYDRA types were watching. If they were, they'd have seen Jane laughing at one of Clint's jokes, playful enough, touching his arm and leaning into his shoulder as they walked. Jane wasn't big on public displays of affection, so her signature move was the arm touch according to Darcy.

Putting the beer in the fridge - which was otherwise empty - Jane came into the living room area and leaned over the back of the sofa to take the menus. She threw the first one on the floor, then the second followed, fluttering down in a spiral to land a few feet away while Jane paused over the third. Fishing the burner phone out of her pocket, she called up the GrubHub reviews and skimmed through them for a moment before the third menu followed the first and second. Four, five, six, and seven followed before she paused again. Yes, that would do.

"Great reviews for this one," Jane told him, handing back the menu. "Two crab ragoons, duck sauce, and an order of crispy duck."

Circling around the couch, she flopped down a decent distance beside him and put her feet up on the coffee table/ottoman. Yes, this bit definitely reminded her of dating Donald. His apartment had been nicer, but just as sparely furnished, and his fridge normally only held beer and week old Indian. The man had a positive obsession with curry. Jane once remarked that he knew more about Indian food than herself. "So, what's looking good for movies? Action? Horror? Animation?" she teased.

~

Despite the fact that they were putting on a show for HYDRA agents, Jane had been looking forward to a night out, just being herself, not worrying about the data relay or the Orion emitter or JARVIS giving her random odds of her coming out of the undercover mission alive or worse. Just a fun, easy evening with Clint doing nothing more than relaxing. At least, that's how she had told herself it would work.

"ThunderCats? Why did I think you would say something like Ghost in the Machine?" Jane teased happily, nudging her elbow against his. A whole evening without her phone pinging with someone checking in on her, or needing to think about how to answer friends with platitudes.

While Clint called in the order, she grabbed the remote and began skimming through his Netflix queue. "You know, there's potential blackmail material in a person's Netflix listing," she smirked after he was off the phone. "What's your guilty secret movie?"

~

"And here I was beginning to think nothing could surprise me. Well played," she laughed easily. Yup, this was nothing Jane had to think about. Just an evening with a crazy friend, though it was still slow for her to release the thoughts in her head about what was going on back in the tower.

Talk about bad timing. The only way this whole tower thing could get any more complicated is if Thor decided to return from Asgard. Thor. Damn it, why did she have to think of that now.

Her eyebrow arched and then Jane sputtered with laughter. "For a minute there, I thought you were going to say Vampire Diaries. I'd have had to find a new fake boyfriend and that's just more work than its worth."

~

"I might have to keep you around after this for that reason alone. I've been trying to think of a practical joke to play on Steve, but that's one hard nut to crack. I'm taking suggestions," she shot back with a devilish smirk.

Short sheeting Captain America just didn't have the same kind of 'umph' it might have on other people. Plus, she wanted to make him laugh, not piss him off, which Jane was certain would be a bad thing.

Jane tossed the remote into her other hand and held it out of reach, giggling. "Teen wolf? Bleah, American Werewolf in London, now that's a classic, she pointed out, finally handing over the remote. It was his place, after all. "Want a beer?"

~

"Now that sounds like Darcy's influence, and I'm not sure 'artistic' is the word he's going to use, but hey, you get the 'dad' face, not me," she giggled, pausing a moment later as she tried to stop, only to burst out laughing at the mental picture of Steve opening his door to find red, white, and blue glitter everywhere.

Easing up off the sofa, Jane went straight for the kitchen area, not bothering with glasses since she doubted Clint had anything in his cupboards beyond old plastic Taco Bell cups and maybe a stack of paper plates. Not that she was judging. The only reason the RV had plates was due to Erik putting them in the cabinets. Then he'd grouse at her for leaving dirty dishes everywhere although Jane did feel he had a slight point about leaving silverware, particularly butter knives, on the shower floor.

"Twilight? Sparkly vampires? No thank you. The closest I've come to watching that train wreck was watching the parody on Youtube," Jane retorted, returning with the beers. She handed Clint one as she sat, then proceeded to twist the cap off hers. "So, when do I get shooting lessons?"

~

"In vents. In Stark tower. Are you planning for something I should know about?" Jane asked in surprise, clearly thrown for a loop as to why he would be hoarding food around the tower when it was pretty much Fort Knox as far as Jane was concerned. The thought of having to hide in the tower, that was something completely foreign to Jane's thoughts, but now that he spoke of the hoarding, she couldn't help but think of it. Think of the private back elevator, the stairs that no one seemed to use, the little places around the rooms. Add in there the fact that Clint actually told her about these stashes - she'd clearly crossed into a different level of trust for the spy.

"Tomorrow? I'd like to learn the basics so I can practice a bit before we go in. Natasha says its possible to kill someone with a phone book, but I'd really like to have some knowledge in the common areas," she told Clint, twisting off her cap and took a swig. Jane was surprised at how good the beer was and made a mental note to get it again. "I don't expect to need any of it, but I don't have any convenient gravity wells tearing up the fabric of space time to teleport the baddies through to another dimension now, so a back up plan is good."

Clint stopped on Clerks, and Jane snuggled back into the cushions, happy with the choice. A comedy was always a good pick. Plus, Jane loved the Silent Bob character. "Did you pick out a t-shirt for me?" she asked.

~

"I suppose I can understand a little bit of that," Jane acknowledged, tilting her head slightly. She could, too, just for different reasons. Her reasons, however, couldn't be planned for - being taken off to Asgard in a split second. The decision hadn't been asked of her, nor was the option to say no present. Asgard. That had gone to hell in a hand basket fast. No way she could have known that Thor's people would look down on her the way they had, well, expect for his mother.

And look how that had turned out.

"Fantastic!" Jane declared happily. She wasn't afraid of guns, just unfamiliar with them. Having Clint instruct her on them, well, that really was a trust building exercise, at least on her part. Talk about breaking down the last bits of discomfort she might have with him in a big way. "You know I never really gave them much thought before meeting you and Natasha. I suppose I'm letting you both corrupt me a little," she teased. It was more than a little, but they were expanding her horizons and Jane took their advice seriously.

"Yes, but I think maybe no to that," she replied with a light blush rising on her cheeks. She liked Clint, she didn't like Clint, but scents were a big thing for women, triggering sexual responses that she didn't want to have for him. Her head and heart were firmly on one opinion, they didn't need her body reacting differently. "You know, I've never done this with Thor. Just relax to watch a movie. I think the closest we got to that was having breakfast at a diner."

~

"Good, good," she replied quickly, smiling at his touch. Jane was grateful for that, for the tone he had. While she would have happily rattled off all the physiological, rationale reasons for her decision, it was nice not to have to get into that. "I'm not worried about indecency. I was thinking one of your t-shirts and underwear, with my hair down, a little ruffled, right? I mean, I wear less going swimming, and I'm comfortable with you," Jane continued, reasoning it out. "I'd say a button down but you don't strike me as the button down shirt kinda guy."

Jane took another drink from the bottle. Definitely a good choice. "Sounds a bit like my RV in New Mexico. No TV, just an AM radio. It was great for focusing on work, but not much else. Gives you a different perspective on life when you live out there, under the stars, with nothing else for miles," she said wistfully. A moment later, Jane nudged Clint playfully. "Not that this isn't great. It's a nice break from the tower. A really nice break with good company."

'I've been practicing,' she signed. 'You miss her. I miss her too, just differently. I get it. I miss Thor. Erik's off doing his thing. Darcy's working for Pepper now. I'm... I'm really glad you gave me a chance to do this, to help like this. I'm going to have your back in there, Clint.' She nudged him again, smiling, hoping she had gotten all the signs right. It was coming easier to her since she'd started practicing again. ASL was a powerful tool in their arsenal inside HYDRA. Even the simplest of signs could convey a lot. "We should have a signal, don't you think? If one of us suspects trouble? A word, like apple or something," Jane asked.

~

There was no hurry to get changed. Jane wasn't a prissy woman to begin with, and she'd already considered leaving her hair ruffled after undressing and putting on his t-shirt, due to the simple fact that it would leave her hair looking unkempt. In this scenario, unkempt would be very good. She was also a blusher even though she wasn't a prude, which would also give the right impression. Tonight was all about impressions.

She didn't mind. It was fun, outside of the 'putting on a show for HYDRA peeping toms' aspect of it. Welcome to life in a fishbowl, she told herself. Going undercover wasn't just about getting information or planting a computer virus, it was also about letting those people watch her every move for as long as they were there. Jane did not like being watched.

It was natural to flash a smile and perk up a little just then. Clint wasn't someone who handed out compliments for no reason. Jane wasn't doing this to impress him, either, but to make it easier for them to communicate. "Makes sense. How about Lily? It's my favorite flower," she asked, switching back to signing. It would get my attention quick because it's my favorite, but also a name - so anyone watching would be thrown off.

~

Lily her fingers flexed, signing it back to him as she nodded. The ASL was tightening up nicely now that she used it regularly with Clint. It was nice to have, and it gave her a sense of a deeper friendship with the enigmatic agent. Cue. Quick and easy. What if we can't sign? "I mean, what if we have to leave a message for the other, something that might be seen by someone else? What about a triangle? We could make one out of anything. Pens, paper folded, a paperclip bent. I had a lab partner who would leave paperclip triangles on the edge of our lab table when he was going to take a long lunch and wanted me to cover for him to the professor."

"Okay," she agreed, glancing in the direction he'd gestured in. Jane took another sip of her beer, a long one, before setting the bottle on the table and rising. Going into his bedroom brought only a slight hesitation at the doorstep, but she went in and found the dresser. It felt strange opening the drawers, but after opening two, she found his t-shirts. Her first instinct was to close the door, but she left it open. Jane wasn't shy, and there might come a situation when they might have to be undressed around each other.

She slipped her dress off, and then her bra, leaving both draped over the dresser. Jane wasn't wearing pantyhose so that left her in black lace undies as she selected a simple heather grey t-shirt and pulled it on. Just as she'd thought, it reached about mid-thigh and the collar dipped just enough off her shoulder to show no bra straps. Bending forward, she swept her hair over her head and gave it a shake before straightening, making her hair spill very naturally onto her shoulders with a 'just woken' or 'just had sex' look. There were no mirrors in the room so Jane ditched her shoes and padded barefoot out into the living room, pressing her teeth against her lips to darken them. A trick her mom had taught her because she didn't like wearing makeup. "Well, what do you think?" she asked.





Strangeness had enveloped Jane’s attempts to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. directly, from unanswered lines to abrupt disconnections as soon as she asked for her S.H.I.E.L.D. contact person. After the fourth ‘click’, she chose a different route. Her S.H.I.E.L.D. petty cash account card still worked, so she purchased tickets, arranged for taxis, and oversaw the pack-up for shipment of all her equipment. Heathrow was the normal barely-organized chaos she was accustomed to, and getting through security was a breeze after showing her ID. The flight was, thankfully, uneventful, and Jane found herself drifting off into a restful sleep soon after take-off. Somewhere over the mid-Atlantic, the news feed repeated the photos from D.C. and it roused Jane long enough for her to realize that S.H.I.E.L.D. and something called HYDRA were basically one in the same. As the broadcast was a replay, Jane felt a twinge of apprehension – she’d used the S.H.I.E.L.D. card to pay for her expenses and now she had an inkling of why she couldn’t reach her contact person. The knowledge that her equipment was already safely enroute was the soothing balm she needed to return to sleep. There was really nothing else she could do, after all, not at 30,000 feet.

Jane roused again just before the landing, shooting a dirty look at her seating companion when she caught him trying to look down her blouse as she gathered up her notebooks. Stuffing everything back into her carry-bag whilst still in her seat was an adventure in juggling, brute strength, and creative ‘organizing’. So much for traveling light, she mused to herself as the plane door finally cracked open, much to the delight of the passengers already standing in the aisle impatiently waiting to depart. There was jostling and some minor injuries incurred when the overhead bins were opened, but Jane had checked all her bags but one, and that had been her foot rest for most of the flight. The dirty sneaker prints attested to that fact.

The car and driver she'd arranged for was waiting outside JFK International Airport, a long black limousine with the driver holding a sign that said "Foster, J." on it. He loaded her bags into the trunk and held the door for her, leaving Jane to submerse herself in her notes as the car pulled smoothly away from the curb. It was only when the vehicle stopped and the engine's purr disappeared that Jane looked up, blinking in surprise.

"Driver, this isn't my hotel," she said, pushing the little glass door barrier aside. The man ignored her and got out. Suddenly her door was opened again, and Jane wondered if what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA/whatever they were had gotten wind of her use of the expense card. Just as she was about to begin shouting at the man, Jane caught a sparkle out of the corner of her eye, bringing her gaze upward. STARK. Stark Tower. She blinked and glanced at her driver, then back up at the sign. "You work for Tony Stark?" she asked, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded.

Jogging after him as the doors opened and several other men emerged with a luggage carrier, Jane was rescued when one of the men continued onto hold out a hand to her in greeting. "Dr. Foster, it's good to have you join us. I trust your flight was restful? A suite has been prepared for you on the quarter's level. If you'll just follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."

"Who, exactly, is 'us' and…" Jane asked, jogging after the man as he continued walking back toward the entrance. Gripping her carryon, she followed him into the foyer, glancing around with both curiosity and caution. "Look, you just hijacked me and I demand to know who is behind this. And why!"

"Why, the Avengers, ma'am. Your flight arrangements were picked up on the security relay and our driver was dispatched to intercept you before HYDRA could detain you. Since the events in D.C., they've been tracking your movements closely. Ah, here we are, quarter's level. Your bags will be brought up and your equipment shipment has already been re-routed through Miami. It should arrive later this week," the man opened a door to what appeared to be the nicest hotel suite she'd ever seen.

Turning back, he was gone before she could ask anything else, and Jane went out into the corridor – noting her room number – to chase after him, but there was no trace of the man. She glanced in both directions, seeing an area past her room that seemed to open up to something. Leaving her jacket in the room, Jane strode confidently down to what appeared to be an open lounging area seeking answers.





The Newtonian Reflector, four telescopes, Jane's modified Dobsonian Mount, and the equipment shelter were now in place on the roof of Stark Tower, with a glorious view of the stars just as Jane wanted, although she had really been under the impression that the ambient ground light would be more of an impedance. It seemed that altering the refraction layer rate quadrupled the dampening equation variance. Also, it was clear that Tony Stark enjoyed a little star gazing himself, as the perimeter of the roof was lined with light vacuum emitters. Jane admitted to herself that if she had to be hijacked - for her own safety - she could have done a lot worse than Stark Tower as a refuge from horrible-sounding bad guys.

Jane had had her fair share of horrible-sounding bad guys in her life and, frankly, had been hoping that part of it was over, but if wishes were horses as her mother would say. Had said. Stabbing the level number on the elevator control pad, Jane pushed thoughts of her mother, Tony Stark, Thor, and her lovely Schmidt-Cassegrain out of her head, and tried to consider what this Natasha Romanoff had texted her about 'zombie' armies. Tony Stark's artificial intelligence named Jarvis had easily referenced its files for Jane when asked and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by the image that had appeared on her phone.

The elevator gave a soft 'ding' just before the doors opened and Jane pulled off her windbreaker before existing the compartment. Reanimated tissue, she'd said. Theoretically, that wasn't a big surprise. Research into stopping the death spiral on the molecular level had been going on for decades. Reanimation efforts had been successful for brief periods, although no research had been published that showed progress in the efforts to permanently sustain of reanimation. Still, from what Jarvis had told her, this woman was not one to exaggerate. She crossed into the kitchen, pausing only to get a fresh coffee before continuing to the seating area to wait.

~

As was habit when she had a free moment, Jane had her tablet out typing in notes and impressions of the rooftop setup. Several items were added to her 'to do' list, but that was an ever-growing list whose priorities shifted on any given day. Jane blew at the steam wafting off her mug, before tentatively taking a sip of it, while one-handedly typing on the screen. Unlike the other tower occupants who seemed to constantly be in a state of motion toward somewhere, Jane's world comprised of the tower itself these days.

She didn't hear the other woman enter the room, nearly startling when movement out of the corner of her eye alerted her to company and Jane put her tablet to the side to rise. Switching hands, she shook Natasha's, but her gaze was taking in the dried blood on her shirt. Maybe it was paint, she tried to convince herself unsuccessfully. "Thank you, I think," Jane replied cautiously.

Her eyes widened and she nodded slowly. "Right. Yeah. So, you mentioned tissue reanimation samples. I don't suppose they've been kept in stabilized containment? Biologics don't do well at room temperature especially genetically modified samples."

~

Before she'd witnessed the Einstein-Rosen bridge in action, before meeting Thor, before New York, before being infected by the Aether, there had been a time when Jane would have had a bigger reaction to the blood on Natasha's shirt. As unnerving as it was, she had to believe that the woman was trusted by Stark to be here, and, well, Captain Rogers. It was hard to question a legend like that.

Grabbing her table first, Jane followed the gorgeous agent, listening intently as she did. "I'll do what I can, but I can't make any promises. Tissue samples are very sensitive to temperature differentials."

Her interest peeked at the locked door. Jane waved a tablet carrying hand back toward the door as she passed through it. "I'll need access, of course, to properly assess samples." Catching up to Natasha, she glanced around eagerly, taking in the high-quality equipment and pristine lab environment. "Pictures will help. Will I be able to interview Mr. Barton as well? I understand he is recuperating. Do you know if he was exposed to these samples?"

~

"Yes, yes, I do," Jane said, hurrying over to the first microscope station, absently setting her coffee mug to the side as she switched it on. "I understand the conditions were less than ideal and I'll do my best to extrapolate what progress was made. These HYDRA... can I assume that there were no testing restrictions? If they bypassed ethical limitations, then there's no telling how advanced their progress might be. On the flip side, this might be a spectular disaster."

Tugging on sterile gloves, a breathing mask, and protective glasses, she opened the cooler next to the microscope, using tongs to lift out the container. Setting in on the counter gently, Jane glanced over her shoulder as she paused to view the pictures on the monitor. The photos were concerning. "Jarvis, can you holo project and enlarge these?" She crossed to Natasha, holding out a mask and glasses. "We don't know what they put in these samples. If you are going to stay, you'll need to put these on."

"Yes, Dr. Foster," Jarvis' voice came from somewhere above as the air space beside the microscope filled with the projection. The detail was easier to see now, and Jane pinched the air at one point then released, making that area blow up in even greater detail. "Mr. Barton was quarantined when he returned? See these here? This was a sterile room. Quarantine happened upon entry and exit." Jane wasn't worried about Clint being exposed, as he would already have presented if he had at this point. Distracted by the pictures, Jane swiped the air, examing them closely.

"Mr. Barton really delivered. These are really good, lots of detail. Jarvis, reconstruct a panoramic view, please." The pictures disappeared and reappeared in a large circle around both women. "Extrapolate the files and contruct a 3D hologram, Jarvis," Jane instructed, frowning as she surveyed the panoramic view. "Wow, this, oh, this here - they're doing several things here. Everything should be compartmentalized at this level, but they've got organ cloning here, nanites tech..." she hesitated when the 3D hologram appeared with tiny human test subject installed. Jane gasped. "Have you seen something like this before?"

~

The fact that she'd been practically kidnapped was still in the back of Jane's mind, but she'd seen a lot and Darcy was here - clearly she trusted these people plus the opportunity to see Thor again was more likely here than anywhere else. So she had made an uneasy peace with it all, though she still planned to have some very loud, very angry words with Tony Stark at some point. Having something to focus on, being able to do something productive, was the way she dealt with all of this.

While the 3D projection floated up, Jane's understanding of Jarvis' capabilities expanded greatly. She hadn't been certain it could do that, now she was wondering just what the AI's limitations were. Circling the hologram, Jane said. "Jarvis, can you overlay the 3D projection to scale on this room?"

"Right away, Dr. Foster," the AI called out. Jane watched as the hologram overlaid itself on the room, then added. "Using the workstations and the information we have from Mr. Barton, can you project which areas were being actively used?" "Yes, Dr. Foster." Again, the image shimmered and then ghostly people in lab coats were added to the hologram moving between the work areas.

"Nygard? Yes, he made amazing progress splicing starfish DNA into mice. They were able to regenerate toes to some extent. The formations were not fully fleshed out, but they were functional," Jane walked through a projected lab worker back toward Natasha. "This... this data is way beyond that. These people were experimenting on humans and it looks like they were having successes." It was horrifying and the ethics - or lack thereof - of the situation made her stomach clench uncomfortably. She could see the science, could appreciate the advances, but the way they were won were unconscionable.

"No, no, this isn't an experiment at all. These are advances. See this here," Jane pointed behind Natasha, to where the hologram station had large samples laid out. "It looks like they were using nanites to jump start the reanimation progress using protein strings. Actually, these nanites are programmed protein strings - very commonplace in research these days. They're using them in surgery's now. What you do is, you take a chromosome strand from an animal whose traits you want, then you split that strand into a protein string. Now, the protein string will do the traits of that animal. Except here, they're basically just turning off a cellular switch - the switch that causes molecular acceleration leading to cellular decay."

~

"Well, reanimation suggests these subjects were dead to start with. From what I can decipher, they are starting with live subjects, then bringing on clinical death, then reviving them. By having control over the actual time period that the subject is deceased, they were able to better manipulate the chromosome sequencing to allow for the switch to be suppressed. Technically, these subjects won't remain reanimated for longer than..." Jane paused as she checked her notes on her tablet, nodding absently. "Yes, here it is, given the information Mr. Barton retrieved, they were able to sustain reanimation for 74 hours before the progression of cellular decay advanced past their fail-safes."

She wandered past Natasha, looking over each area of the hologram closely while she spoke. "Gene therapy is a good way of putting it. There's data here that shows they've very successfully implanted cybernetic replacements for arms, legs, ears, and even eyes, but they don't seem to be able to reproduce the correct gait of a human, so they are limited. By that I mean, they don't have data corresponding to replacing both legs or the lower body cybernetically. Walking upright is a very human ability and extremely hard to duplicate. I would guess that they're working on reanimation for that reason alone."

Jane laughed sardonically. "You and me both. This is not, I'm afraid, my field of study. I'm doing what I can, but a molecular biologist would be doing this a lot faster. No offense, Jarvis."

"None taken, Dr. Foster," came the disembodied voice.

"One thing I am finding curious. There's no cryogenic storage in this room. They must have frozen the subjects close-by though. Cellular degradation happens very fast once the cell temperature rises above freezing."

~

Not for a minute had Jane considered herself talking over Natasha's level of understanding. The woman appeared intelligent and well-spoken, with an air of studied patience that bespoke academia, though Jane knew that was not the case here. When Natasha spoke, one was inclined to listen. "You're talking about full, physical reanimation multiple times? That's incredible. The technology alone to bring a human brain out of statis is mind-boggling. To do it repeatedly, with out brain damage, well that's just... wow. I mean, if they have the technology to do that, then they wouldn't a big facility."

"It's quite possible they could have streamlined the process down to needing just a pod that correctly regulates temperatures for the body and a laptop. Yeah, once they got the kinks worked out, it'd be a simple matter to scale things down. Technology outpaces itself by over a 100 years with every advancement, so it wouldn't be out of the question," Jane replied, feeling very uneasy at the thought of a HYDRA assassin being put through this procedure and even more uneasy at the thought that Steve Rogers and Natasha were actively looking for this guy. "When you say tracking down, what exactly do you intend to do with him if you find him?"

~

"I'm sorry, the 'comedown process'?" Jane asked reflexively, although she regretted it almost as soon as the words left her mouth. "I mean, I don't have context for what that could mean - I wasn't trying to be noisy," she added quickly, wondering just how Steve Rogers and this assassin could know each other at all. She didn't question how Natasha could know him, though that was very much in context for her as opposed to the clean-cut guy Captain America was reputed to be.

"It's just Jane," she told Natasha softly, taking a deep breath then sighing heavily. "I didn't think either of you would do anything to put the tower in danger. I'm sure Jarvis has more fail-safes than I'd know what to do with, frankly, and the whole no man left behind is great to a point. I don't object to rescuing this guy, but I should point out that I'm an Astrophysicist, not a doctor. I just dated one a few years ago. If this guy needs that kind of help... let's just say, that my range of experience is firmly in the band-aids and warm milk category."

~

It was an automatic response to tense slightly, then relax gradually when Natasha so concisely responded to her statements. The brevity, the very neutral tone, told Jane she'd stepped across a line at some point and the dynamics of this 'relationship' had shifted slightly in the process. But Jane was a scientist. She operated in a world of questions and research, living and breathing it. Inquiry and truth. These people would have to learn to deal with it, since Tony Stark really hadn't given her any options, and Jane wasn't foolish enough to leave the tower, not with HYDRA looking for her.

"I see," she said finally, trying very hard to not think about just how someone who was Captain America's best friend ended up being an assassin for HYDRA. Jane wanted to say something reassuring, but nothing came to mind quickly. "If I find anything in my research here that can help, I'll let you know. I should, um, get back to work. There's a lot of information to sift through," she offered weakly, feeling a coward for changing the subject, but this was a world - the super spy world - that was utterly foreign to her so she retreated to what she could do. "Should I send my findings to both you and Steve Rogers?"





Between her equipment monitoring on the rooftop and her new access to the labs, Jane was keeping very busy. She was pretty sure she was wearing a trail in the hall between the elevator and the lab, but she was happy. Sure, she wasn't a biologist, and she was reading research at an incredible rate, trying to fill in the blanks in her 'spare' time. Even that was a joke. She read in bed, she read on the toilet, she read over coffee, and over dinner, and even when walking. Jarvis had arranged for a steady stream of information to her tablet and phone, although he had archived every last one of her Kindle books.

"Thank you, Jarvis," she said, leaning back from her microscope to refer to her tablet. Through Jarvis, Jane had the best references in the world, and she tracked the processes easily enough, although she still had some doubts that HYDRA could actually reanimate a full sized human being. The tech was there, in their notes and the samples Mr. Barton brought back from his mission. She was adjusting the focus on a new slide when a tap came at the door.

Since lab access was restricted, Jane set her goggles to the side and pulled off her gloves before crossing to the door. It slid open at her touch and her eyes widening in surprise. Captain America aka Steve Rogers had messaged her that they should talk about the samples given his knowledge of the mission, but Jane hadn't expected him to show up on her lab doorstep. "Hello! I, um, come in, please. Can I offer you a cup of coffee?"

~

Oh, nothing could stop Jane from flashing a huge, giddy smile when her guest smiled. He was a handsome man and a legend. It would be hard not to. Stepping aside to let him enter, she laughed. "No explosions here, though I can't guarantee that on the roof. I'm not keeping this as a sterile lab, so the lock-out is just for security reasons I'm given to understand. That's above my pay grade - if I have a pay grade - still not sure how that works," she rambled happily as she crossed to the coffee bar. One of the nicer perks of working and living in Stark tower - the best coffee money could buy was at every coffee station. It was decadent and Jane enjoyed every minute of it. Right this moment, it certainly didn't hurt that she was in the company of one of the most iconic American heroes of all time. Carrying the coffee over to him, Jane retrieved her own, glancing curiously at the cooler. Not knowing the contents, she wasn't going to open it willy-nilly.

"Well, I'm here. All my stuff is here, my intern is here, so I guess I'm settling in all right. I spend most of my time here with Jarvis trying to work out what these HYDRA clowns were up to. You said you had more information on HYDRA. It would help to have a better understanding of what they want and what they are capable of," Jane stated, gesturing toward the small sitting area in the center of the room, leading the way. She relaxed onto one of the sofa's, her mug curled in her hand, and moving to face Steve as he took a seat. Making a small motion with her left hand, a holographic tablet face appeared under her fingers for easy note taking. When it came time to leave Stark tower, Jane was really, really going to miss Jarvis.

~

"I was kidding! Sorry, I have a generous grant through MIT, so, outside of equipment," Jane chuckled while blushing. "yeah, I was kidding, sorry." She felt guilty for making Steve think she was a poor academic. Jane held a professorship in Astrophysics there and hadn't actually thought about her salary concerns in many years. The fact that a hero like Steve Rogers didn't have that security was unnerving and disquieting. He was a veteran and a living legend who had saved so many people.

Taking the thumb drive, Jane slipped it into the side slot on her tablet and the screen filled with flickering boxes and pictures as JARVIS sorted through the information for her using the algorithm she'd written to organize these finds. "JARVIS is collating this for me. I gave him a program that filters for specific words and phrases that I recognized in the data that Mr. Barton brought back. These HYDRA clowns have very distinct code words for their pet projects," she told Steve, her expression sobering.

When Steve paused, Jane took a deep breath. He had painted a very clear picture of what he thought of HYDRA. She didn't doubt his observations or the legitimacy though as a scientist she recognized that his value system played a part in how he formed his opinions. "They played the long game and they're close to their goal now. They aren't going to rush. What I've seen in their research backs that up. I'm afraid sentient squid is small change compared to some of the data I've seen so far. They're not bound by ethics or morals like we are. That's why they are making such progress - there's nothing to slow them down. JARVIS extrapolated the information Mr. Barton brought back. Rough estimates predict HYDRA has at least nine other installations like that one."

"What do you remember of the super soldier serum used on you? Is this other individual a member of their organization or ours?" Jane asked tentatively, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn't think that these people wanted her to replicate any of this data, but she wasn't sure if they are hoping she could create some kind of 'antidote' to another person like Steve. The risks of that were unthinkable. She suddenly had a sickening thought. What if HYDRA had already begun reverse engineering the serum to use on Steve? She was just now coming into this world, seeing this data, and it wasn't even her field and that thought had occurred to her. She was just one woman.

~

It wasn't a huge surprise when Steve Rogers confirmed that this HYDRA was the same Nazi organization she'd read about in college. It was still chilling, however, to consider the motives of those maniacs were continuing on to this day, and even more to the point, that the world's social consciousness had progressed toward universal peace, leaving most of them as lambs to the slaughter. Thankfully, there were people like Steve and Natasha and Thor and even Sif who felt compelled to protect the innocent and naive masses.

"Knowing what their main focus is helps a great deal, actually, even if its as horrid as this. That puts the data I've seen into perspective and gives me a good platform to work from. It was hard to understand the desired end result without this formula of... well, Übermensch. No offense, of course. I know you aren't like them but that leads me to another question," Jane pointed out thoughtfully, scribbling several notes as she spoke, a bullet list appeared on the screen organizing her thoughts and ideas.

Tapping two icons, she nodded, acknowledging Steve's request to send him the information as she did it. It would be waiting for him when he left her lab. Jane paused to sip her coffee as Steve continued, listening intently. Her concentration was side-winded by his reassurances. "One thing at a time. If HYDRA had controlled the processed they used on this individual, they would have the data they needed to reproduce it at will, and there's nothing stopping them from doing that. So, we can make the assumption that they don't have all that information or we'd be in a very different situation right now. It stands to reason that both you and this other individual have had bloodwork done, testing done, to try and reverse engineer this serum."

"Secondly, they are working at many different projects simultaneously. The serum, reanimation, mind control, social engineering, political influences, and basic education," she told him, a frown creasing her forehead. All of these things were disturbing, but no one was worse than the others. "They have no moral or ethic restraints, and they have a very focused end-goal that is very appealing to a huge range of people. Scientists frustrated by governmental oversights and limitations, well-meaning people who think safety is tied to controlling others, even law enforcement minded people would be easy targets of influence for HYDRA ideals. If we're going to get ahead of them, I need to know what you want from me, Steve."





When she'd been infected with the Aether, Jane had wavered between feeling invincible and feeling exhausted, which made sense given that the Aether had been feeding off her life force to bolster itself. Even for days after it had been pulled from her body, Jane had had surges of energy that kept her awake for days on end and tossing in her bed when she did finally seek some kind of rest. She had eventually felt more like herself, but the feeling of great wakefulness clung to her at odd times, as it did now, or as when she'd spoken with Sif. The Asgardian connection could not be underestimated or discounted, but Jane still had very little understanding of the Aether itself so solutions were elusive at best.

One day, however, she would figure it out, figure it all out, and no one was going to stop her. Until then, well, Jane continued to do what she did best.

Gathering her tablet, Jane turned first for the door, then back, crossing slowly to the windows that looked out over New York city. The lights glinted like stars, but her gaze did not remain on the horizon, lifting to the heavens. Heimdall was watching and she lifted her free hand in a wave. When Jane exited her lab two minutes later, she headed to the elevator, her thoughts returning to the task at hand. She'd done a little reading on Clint Barton, provided by Jarvis, over dinner, and felt just as uninformed afterward as she had been before. At his door, she knocked and waited patiently to be buzzed in.

~

Jane's stylus moved on her tablet as she waited, tweaking out her redesign on the particle refractory emitters that had been lost in the Dark Elven attack on Earth. The originals had taken a year to design and build only to be recalibrated in under thirty minutes to use against the alien destroyers. It had been a small price to pay for winning, but Jane had had a lot of time since then to rework the design and correct for the variable she know knew existed. While it was true that her time was spent more in the lab then on the roof, Jane hoped that this team could track down Dr. Banner and elicit his help so she could return to her own research. Still, it wasn't that big of a hardship when she had access to JARVIS who was going to synthesize the new emitters as soon as she was done making her changes.

"Dr. Foster, Mr. Barton has granted you entry," JARVIS' told her, while popping up a small box on her tablet with the relevant information about her interviewee's injuries. A quick glance made her eyes widen, both in surprise and concern since she knew that Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were both going out on a mission.

The door slid open and Jane stepped inside, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Good evening, Mr. Barton, I'm Jane Foster. I've been helping with the data you acquired from the HYDRA facility." He looked tired or bored, she couldn't tell which, and there was a tiny forest of medicine bottles on his nightstand. She wondered silently at how a super spy dealt with recuperation with so little stimuli.

"Can I get you something to drink before we start? Water? Juice?" Jane offered as she crossed the room to stand by the chair beside his bed. He was a rugged looking man, his features holding that strange neutrality that Natasha had perfected, giving one no indication of what they were thinking or feeling.

~

Jane's main focus with SHIELD had been and afterward continued to be Agent Coulson. To her, the rest were faceless minions who were carting off her gear and ruining her life's work or showing up on her doorstep with unexpected offers to consult at the far reaches of the planet while her... what did you call it when you were kinda crazy about someone but saw them once every couple of years anyway? while Thor had been fighting aliens in New York.

"Jane, it's just Jane," she countered to his 'doc'. She wasn't that kind of doctor so it felt weird to her that any of these people would use that title, although she doubted this man would stop calling her 'doc'. Where Steve Rogers exuded polite respect, this man exuded nothing but that gleam in his eye - the one that said she was being weighed for worthiness.

Reclining in the chair, she crossed her legs as was habit, resting the tablet on her lap. "The files and pictures you brought back paint a pretty good picture of that room, but what I want to know is, what did you see before that? Did you notice any large cylinders or freezers close-by? Were there any rooms that had people-sized containers?" Jane asked, her curiosity bubbling up into her tone.

~

"Yes, cryogenics," she agreed, not surprised that he short-cutted through her verbal blathering to find the main question. Tapping her tablet, it came to life and she made notes as Clint spoke, his graveled toned voice held a thoughtful edge. Jane scribbled quickly with the stylus, pausing only when Clint stopped speaking to glance up at him, gauging the size of the object.

"Incubators? You mean like baby chicks?" she asked, her mind reeling with all the possibilities of that and a part of her hoped, hoped beyond reason and logic, that he would say yes and that she would be disabused of the images of cloned babies that now danced in her thoughts. Jane felt sick to her stomach.

"Can you describe it to me? I mean, what you saw on your way to the room where you took the photos?" Jane stated cautiously, needing to know more, needing to understand as much as she could. That was a primal part of her very soul, a part that didn't shy away from the horrors that her ears might hear or her heart might ache over.

~

If her skin lightened, it was a side reaction from the nausea she pushed down at the idea that HYDRA was growing babies, but Jane couldn't deny that the information Mr. Barton had brought back had had many disturbing aspects including cloning through genetic engineering experiments. She was sketching with the stylus when he winced, drawing her attention to his considerable injuries. Jane glanced up apologetically, tempted to put an end to the interview now, but she was torn - he had information that could help her write a program for JARVIS that might give them the advantage in finding these facilities.

"Distillery? Hmm," she mused, tapping the stylus on the side of the tablet. Everything he described used the same basic ingredients to mass produce and could also be used in their real work, providing both a convenient cover and a steady source of funding. "Can you back up a little, to the room with bodies. You said they weren't hooked up to anything. How did they look? Were they decomposing? Did their skin have a pale shin to it?" Jane asked, scribbling more notes. JARVIS was already popping up boxes with questions for her.

He shrugged like fighting zombies was something he did every day. Jane wasn't sure what part of that disturbed her more. His gaze was firm and she shifted slightly in her seat. Clint Barton had a stare that went straight to a person's soul. "The sample is... well, it's confusing at best. The base components are fairly common, but the way they are combined, well, we - JARVIS and I - think it's the component they are using to stabilize the decay process. It would leave the skin with a light sheen, almost as if the person were sweating a little." Was it too early for a drink? Jane wondered grimly.

~

"That would make sense if they were trying to stabilize the formula, but every human is different. I mean, we're all essentially the same, made up of the same components, but in different quantities. So, it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Wrong levels of their formula would result in the epidermis lifting from the dermis. Err, the outer layer of skin from the denser layer of skin beneath, I mean," she stated, more or less musing aloud.

"GH-324 was the designation on the sample that Mr. Barton returned with. It correlates as a potential candidate for the compound postulated for reanimation, Dr. Foster," JARVIS spoke suddenly.

Jane nodded thoughtfully, trying to put it all in context, but she had no answers. "The designation - if they were following standard scientific procedures - would indicate an abbreviation of the two main ingredients and then their corresponding attempt numbers. So, they were on their three hundred and twenty-fourth variation." She sighed deeply. "I'm afraid I don't know what all this means. I can take wild guesses on their intentions, but I really don't have any answers, Mr. Barton. Is there anything else, anything at all that you saw that might help?"

~

"Look deeper. There's more than two facilities out there and they need the same basic components, I'd bet my gravitational accelerator on it," Jane stated firmly. All the data she had so far, data this man had gotten, spoke to multiple overlapping operations. HYDRA seemed to be consistent in that manner, the trick would be to find them.

Her eyebrow arched and the protest came off her lips before she could think about it. "You're in no condition to take another field trip, Mr. Barton, so if you think I'm going to stress any importance on this, you should think again. Frankly, I don't want any of you near these things again, not before we can figure out how to reverse the effects of the reanimation," Jane declared sternly, frowning. The thought of actually being the one to make the call on whether or not to send Barton or Steve or Natasha out into these dangerous environments made her sick to her stomach.

"Is there anything I can get you? Something to read or well, do you play chess?" she asked, not thinking of anything more to question him on the data he'd brought back, but also remembering how bored he'd looked when she'd arrived.

~

"Clint," she repeated, nodding in acknowledgement. Jane wasn't daunted by his status as a super spy. To her, he was a man who had been injured in the line of duty and she wasn't going to quite literally toss him under another bus if she had anything to do with it. These HYDRA nutjobs were clearly capable of things even she had never considered in her life so Jane wasn't going to take any chances with people who were essentially protecting her.

Jane chuckled at the clear joke, although it wasn't the funniest, it still made her relax. Nice to know that even dangerous super spies had a sense of humor that didn't make her blood curl.

"JARVIS?" she called out, not the least bit surprised when a moment later the AI answered. A drawer opened by the door with a click at the same time. "Yes, Dr. Foster. There are several entertainment options available."

Jane rose and went to the drawer, glancing back with a soft laugh on her lips. "Chess, checkers, monopoly, and UNO. Take your pick," she told Clint. If he was up for a game, Jane would make the time but she didn't want to be the cause of any discomfort to the man.

~

"I'm not a genuis," Jane shot back quickly, wanting very much to disabuse him and anyone else who thought such things. Tony Stark, he was a genius. She was just an Astrophysicist with very good instincts who worked hard to find answers. That was all, and Jane never considered herself in the same category as the man who had created JARVIS. She almost laughed at the very idea, but stopped herself lest her companion thought she was laughing at him.

Chosing the deck of cards nonetheless, she brought them back to his bedside and adjusted the sliding table so it would be at a comfortable level for Clint. "I haven't played UNO since I was a kid. My dad used to pull out the cards every Sunday night, after dinner. It was his version of family time. I used to think he just did it to get us all talking. It worked, although we mainly argued," she told Clint, bemused by the memory as she shuffled the cards and dealt them out evenly.

"Are you comfortable? I can get you another pillow," she offered, fanning out her cards to glance them over before setting them down to drag her chair closer to the side of the bed. Flipping one card over from the main deck, Jane nodded to Clint. "You go first."

~

"Well, we're all smart in different ways, that's all," she replied quickly and with a light blush rising on her cheeks. Jane wasn't used to being around people who weren't spewing information on black holes or quantum mechanics, but she firmly believed that most people were far more intelligent than they gave themselves credit for being. "You know things I don't, and visa versa. That's how we compliment each other. It'd be pretty boring if we were all the same, knowing all the same things. Trust me, I've worked in academics for a long time. There's nothing more boring then spending an evening with a bunch of physicists."

"I've never been shot. Infected by an energy powerful enough to destroy the universe, but never shot," she quipped sardonically. It wasn't a one-up statement, though. Jane tugged out a blue six and laid it on top of the red one, musing over her hand. Glancing up at Clint didn't help, the man probably had a poker face ordering coffee.

"It's hard to imagine that you dropped out in elementary school, you know," Jane added. "Maybe when you're healed up, you could teach me about pistols. My dad used to have a rifle for hunting, but he never taught me how to use it. I'm not really comfortable around them and I think if I knew more, that would change."

~

"I'll take your word for that," she said cautiously, her mental images weren't doing her any favors, especially factoring in Clint's smile such as it was. There was a melancholy in his tone that she felt to her core. Scientists were solitary in nature, and without Darcy in her life, Jane would very easily have become a hermit.

It was hard to laugh at what had happened to her, but Jane managed a soft chuckle while she nodded in agreement, though she didn't rehash that statement. While she was haunted by the Aether, Jane knew it couldn't hurt her any longer. Blue eight. She reviewed her cards again while listening, in no rush to make her play.

"I had just the opposite. I lived in my folks home until college, but after that, I can't remember staying in one place more than four years. I've spent a lot of time in Hawaii at the Mauna Kea Observatory, but I kept moving on the island. Rentals are pretty brutal - lots of college kids, so you're looking at a lot of noise which doesn't help when you're on a night schedule and have to sleep all day," she explained, selecting a blue four and laying it on the cards.

She'd seen his quiver and bow in the corner. "You like the bow, though. I mean, over a pistol. Why?"

~

"Sharon? She's a spy, too? Wow, I knew she worked with the group - she showed me around when I first arrived," Jane declared in surprise. Sharon was a spy? That woman was so pretty and sweet, Jane was shocked. Natasha was one of those drop dead gorgeous women who looked like she could handle anything that came her way, but Jane had also only seen her as a capable leader and spy. Sharon just seemed so sweet. Hmm. That was definitely a surprise and a learning moment for Jane. You couldn't take anything at face-value in the Tower.

Blue nine. Jane glanced at her cards, although she already knew she had nothing that could work. She paused, however, before finally reaching out to take a card. Damn. Still no match. She sighed and gestured that it was his turn.

"Its quieter, " she remarked, thinking about the weapon. Anyone could pick up a gun, point and pull the trigger. It was dangerous to leave a gun just laying around because it could easily be used against you. A bow, however, took a special skill set. It was less likely to be used against you, and it had the benefit of being underestimated. It couldn't hurt to learn more about them. Still, for a scientist, the amount of time needed to learn something like that was going to cause conflicts in her schedule. "I'm just a lab geek, Clint. I think just learning the basics will be great. Maybe if things calm down in the future, you could teach me more?"

~

It was going to take some time for Jane to think of Sharon in the same context as Natasha and Clint. She put that information away to consider at another time when she could wrap her head around it.

That would be in a couple of years, if the pace of this place was anything to go on.

Blue four. Jane tugged a card out of her hand and set it down. Yellow four. "I'll make time - when you are feeling better, of course," she assured him quickly. "So, what do you like to do in your downtime? Besides recuperating. I can't quite picture you as a couch potato sort."

~

Another yellow! Jane slipped another card from her hand and set it on top of the seven. A yellow three. She tilted her chin up just a little, peeking over the top of her cards to see how many he was holding in his hand. Clint was still slightly ahead, but Uno was a game of pure chance, so she wasn't worried just yet.

"No, I like to get outdoors without carting around equipment when I can. Mountain biking, hiking, skydiving when I get a chance, which isn't often," Jane replied with a quick smile. "I like to stay active. So much of my work is stationary, I just get itchy feet if I don't move around. The year before last, I vacationed in Australia and learned how to dive."

Tilting her head, Jane added. "And once a year, after Thanksgiving, I'm dragged off on the family hunt. My cousins have land up in Alaska. The whole lot of us get together and spend a week stocking up for the winter."

~

There was a tiny surge of anticipation when Clint's hand reached for the deck. Yes! Ha! They were even again, she mused delightfully.

Her smile wavered when he tossed down the five. Jane pursed her lips, but also reached for the deck, her expression shifting from frustrated to devilish as she set that card down right away. A wild card. She pointed to the red section with a sly grin.

"Cliff diving? I've never done it, but it sounds like fun. I love the water," Jane agreed with a small nod, arching her eyebrows expressively. There was a reason why Jane never gambled. She couldn't do a poker face to save her life. "Ha, I wouldn't say action, as much as just being out in the world. I hate being crammed into a lab all day. Fluorescent lights just suck the life out of me."

Jane laughed easily, shaking her head. "I was a very shy child and I didn't want to hurt 'bambi'. So Dad had to make due with my cousins. I couldn't attend during my thesis defenses', so I was put on 'entertainment' duty after that. Last year, I did a Tesla coil show for the little ones. I'm the 'cool' aunt," she added proudly.

~

As an Astrophysicist, Jane didn't understand people who were afraid of heights. The most amazing thing she'd ever done was to travel through the Bifrost, seeing the Earth fall away below her with excitement, not fear. While Clint was comfortable watching from a height, Jane was a tiny explosion of motion on the rooftops, checking sensors, adjusting emitters, aiming telescopes. "Why don't we shelve the adventure plans until after you're healed up, mister," she laughed easily.

His hand moved for the deck and Jane fought back a little chair dance, though her muted smirk spoke volumes. Jane wasn't a gloater. She didn't rub in victories. There was, however, the internal glee that burst forth when she won. She wasn't quite there just yet, but she laid down a Red Two happily.

"Only to my annoying cousins. The ones who tell me that I'm not getting any younger, that I should just find a man to take care of me, that science isn't for girls. Those, well, let's just say their kids get the loudest, most annoying toys and lots, lots, of sugar," Jane replied wryly, rolling her eyes. "My oldest cousin has six kids. One year, I gave them all ant farms." She giggled at the memory.

~

Three cards left in her hand. Three cards left in his hand. It was still an open game, but Jane was feeling good about her odds. Blue again. Laying down a Blue Seven, she folded her cards together for a moment, resting them against the palm of her hand. It was a simple game, but fun. Just the right level of competitiveness without any real way to cheat, no need to bluff, and allowed for friendly discussion.

"Not any kind of award I know of or would want. The only award I want is the Nobel," Jane retorted dryly. She enjoyed being around kids briefly, and typically in an atmosphere where she was teaching them something. Otherwise, Jane was more likely to give them sugar donuts and point them at their equally annoying parents.

"Don't look at me like that. That side of the family is odd. Larry has six kids. Keith joined a Tibetan monastery, and Susan works on an oil rig. Their parents are what my mom calls 'hippies'," she declared with a shrug. It was amusing to think of them in an antecodial manner, but Jane was always glad when she had a value excuse to avoid the yearly family reunions.

~

Two, two. Clint had gone first, theoretically giving him an advantage, but this was UNO and it was all about chance. Luck. Since it didn't matter if she bluffed - tried to - or not, Jane tugged a green six and set it down. "Uno," she stated, her finger lightly tapping the solitary card remaining in her hand as a warning although she doubted he'd missed the number of cards she held either. It was easy to talk about her 'family' since they were 99% cousins that she only saw once a year, sometimes not even that. Her father had been a respected Astrophysicist with little time for family. Jane had grown up with planetary replicas and telescopes as her 'toys'.

"Are we making a sight-seeing list now? I visited a monastery in Bavaria once. German monks are fun. They make their own beer. Pretty good food if you like pork, too. They do a dish, Jaeger schnitzel, that is pure decadence. Hard fried thin slice of breaded pork positively lathered in this heavy, rich cream with thick slices of mushrooms. Let me just say, a week's stay was all I could do without worrying about snug jeans. Lovely, lovely chubby monks," Jane regaled Clint with a bright smile. The memory of sitting in the beer garden, her feet up, no tech for miles, the sound of a small creek bubbling by, the Alps overlooking her - she felt a pang just then. That had been another life. "If you are a foodie - you can't beat it. They make these apple pastries... my mouth is watering just remembering them."