To The End [Steve Rogers]

21 - The Advanced

"I feel like you have high expectations," Tony says, looking back at Jessica as he guides her through the halls. "We're still in the first stage of alterations. Actually, I'm not even sure if it will work—"

"I have zero expectations," she assures him, cutting off his ranting.

Jessica gives him a strange look when he bypasses the laboratory and leads her to the far staircase. She has never had a reason to come down into his workshop, so now that they've crossed the threshold, she's not exactly sure what he has planned.

"Where's Bruce?" She wonders, noticing the doctor is nowhere to be found. It's rare for him to be out of the lab for more than a couple of hours.

"Uh, I don't know," Tony says before telling her to stay where she's at. "He isn't exactly on board."

She narrows her eyes, "What does that mean?"

"He just thinks that you should be healing in a more conventional way," he pushes a rolling workstation in front of her that houses a jewelry stand and a silver bracelet, "rather than this."

It doesn't look like much from what Jessica can tell. The cuff is thick and obvious, but when Tony picks it up, it looks like it weighs nothing. As if reading her thoughts, he passes it back and forth between his hands to test the weight before passing it to her.

"Same metal as my suit," he tells her.

"Is it supposed to be this—"

Her words falter as she places it on the wrist of her injured hand. It tightens instantly to fit snuggly against her skin as the outside shines like a phone screen.

"—big?" She finishes.

Tony shrugs, "I know how you are with tech, but I included a few new tricks for you to try. Coms, repulsers, GPS and..." He draws a pattern across the screen and Jessica nearly yelps at the sudden change it causes, "Here we go."

A pulse runs all the way from the metal to the edges of her fingertips. Her injured hand suddenly stills.

"Now make a fist," he instructs her.

Her fingers close against her palm. Ever since she started physical therapy, her hand has been too unstable to throw a punch, let alone keep a firm fist. The tremors prevented her from doing much of anything that requires steadiness.

But as she looks down at her hand, her fingers remain perfectly still.

"Here," he says, passing her an ink pen.

Another pulse erupts, but it's not as strange of a feeling now that she's experienced the first one. With the pen in her hand, she positions it like she's about to write something. Shivers run down her spine as she watches it remain steady.

"Oh my god." She mumbles, barely able to keep herself composed, "Tony, this is—"

"Just a prototype," he reminds her, dodging her compliments, "but it'll be done soon."

With another tap on the screen, the bracelet returns to its original hefty size. He grabs it off of her wrist the second it expands before passing it to one of the workshop robots.

"We'll have you back on the saddle soon, Jessie, I promise," he smiles, back to his normal, joking self.

"Jess?" Steve calls from above them.

"Down here!" Jessica yells at the same time that Tony says, "Haven't seen her!"

He comes down the steps anyway. His eyes flicker between Tony and Jessica for a second as he crosses the room to her.