Caffeine Rush (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 13: CASS Explained

It was very quiet in the Quinjet for a solid ten seconds before the questions started. I had no interest in answering any of them, distracted by a pop-up notification from CASS about my low blood sugar. The AI had been monitoring it very closely but I knew from the numbers that I would be fine and dismissed the notification.

"Glucose levels low." CASS intoned at a very high volume, startling the shit out of me. Apparently my definition of good numbers and CASS's definition of good numbers were not the same.

"Jesus, CASS, that was a dirty tactic." I received some strange looks from the Avengers as they weren't able to hear the AI. Maybe they thought I was crazy? Wouldn't that be something?

"Glucose levels low." CASS repeated, volume at a normal level this time.

I waved it off. "Yeah, yeah, I got it, you know, you're surprisingly salty for an AI," I grumbled. Turning to the Avengers again, I asked, "got any food? CASS keeps bugging me about my glucose levels."

"Didn't you just eat my whole stash?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Your stash was all sugar and no carbs, fourth place. Speedster metabolisms are borderline unmanageable on a regular day, what do you expect during and after a fight?" I made the mental note that being low on glucose would probably effect the speed of my healing, but not by much, probably an hour max, maybe less than that if I cut my speed use down and got some actual food in me.

Loki watched me warily from the other side of the Quinjet, I think my previous interaction with him had the unintended effect of both piquing his interest and his caution. I felt his eyes analyzing my every move, trying to figure me out. Good luck with that, darling, I wish you all the best.

Tony tossed me a box of dark chocolate granola bars which I started polishing off immediately. "Who's Cass?" He inquired.

"CASS, introduce yourself." I said through a mouthful of granola so I didn't have to explain myself.

From the speaker on the outside of my suit, CASS introduced herself, "Greetings Avengers, I am CASS, created by nickname 'Uncle T' to be the personal artificial intelligence of Rush. My purpose is to ensure health and wellbeing and secondarily to assist Rush in her misadventures."

"You're being salty again," I grumbled.

"What's CASS stand for?" Natasha asked, curious.

"Consult All Stark Shit." CASS said in her salty robotic voice.

Tony spit out the water he was drinking, wiped his mouth with his sleeve and asked, "s'cuse me?"

"You heard correctly." She responded. "'Uncle T' was hardly impressed at that particular decision."

"He wasn't exactly surprised either." I pointed out in a lame defense.

Tony put his hands up in a 'slow down' motion, which was ironic because slow was not a word to describe me. "Who the hell is Uncle T?"

"Uncle T is a nickname for Tony Stark." CASS explained before I could stop her.

Tony gave me a look that said 'explain this shit now'. So I did, sort of. "Not you, Tony, but the version of you from my universe that I called Uncle T."

"Say that again." Natasha demanded.

"What? The part that I'm not from this universe? Or the part about meeting multiple versions of him and all the rest of you? Terrifying thought, I know, you get used to it." I waved off nonchalantly.

The eyes of every Avenger were on me, except for Banner, who was fiddling with some equipment and . . . was that the bullet I had just pulled from my leg? It totally was! I did not know that he was so stealthy, what a sneak! I couldn't tell exactly which expressions were on everyone's faces, mostly doubt, some disturbance, a few amused (bet you can't guess who those belonged to) and even some suspicion. As if I was anything to be suspicious about. Okay, maybe I could see it just a little bit.

"Y'all are acting as if this is news or something. I haven't exactly been subtle." I pointed out, gesturing to myself, laying on the floor of their Quinjet, leg still bleeding. I snorted to myself at their looks of confusion as they undoubtedly were referencing every encounter we've had.

I started poking at my wound to see how the progress was going. It was still somewhat slow compared to my normal but the granola bars had helped enough that it shaved ten minutes off my healing and recovery time. I had maybe a half hour left, but it would be a long half hour. Maybe I could make one of these guy entertain me, I'm sure Sam would be up for the task, or maybe I could rope Loki into creating some illusion or something? That could be fun.

After a couple seconds, I was broken from my thoughts by Sam, who asked, "why are you staring at your shoes?"

"What? I'm not wearing shoes." I replied offhandedly, not quite understanding. Sam pointedly eyed my feet, where a line of extra nanomites padding could have passed for shoes. "Oh, that's nanotech, they're a lot easier to replace than shoes. Mine tend to catch fire when I run, friction and rubber don't go well together."

"Nanotech?" That had caught Tony's attention.

"Yep. Say, do you know where Gandalf lives?"

That one apparently caught Steve's attention. "Gandalf?"

"Yeah, do you know where he lives?"

"Somewhere in Middle Earth, I would think."

Tony rolled his eyes and interjected, "he lives at 177a Bleecker Street, why?"

"Oh, no reason, he owes me a pair of boots and I'm going to collect." I wanted those boots.

Loki cut in before the conversation could derail any further. "Let's return to our original discussion—"

"I would rather not," I stopped him, "people tend to get weird about learning their universe isn't the only one that exists.

"I have questions," he growled, leaning over his knees, face a perfect mix of aggression and curiosity.

I chuckled a bit, "you can certainly ask, doesn't mean that I'll be answering them, but you can ask."

Before Loki could ask anything, Wanda finally spoke up, voice quiet, "where did you get your speed?" The entire jet went quiet, even Banner stopped tinkering with whatever he was doing with that bullet.

That wasn't exactly a question I was expecting to answer. Do I tell them about my father? About what happened to him? Do I tell them about my universe? Speedsters? About what made me leave my universe in the first place? No, they wouldn't trust me to drink coffee if I did, let alone anything else. After a long pause, I gave the simplest answer I could think of. "Genetics, supercharged by lightning."

"You're a mutant?" Banner asked, seeming confused.

I snorted, not exactly the conclusion I was leading them toward. "No, I just don't like talking about my father."

Wanda gasped in a breath before quietly asking, "who's your father?"

"His speedster name was Quicksilver, but those knew him on a personal level called him Pietro, I called him otecko . . . father."

CASS interjected, "in other words, the doppleganger of Mrs. Maximoff is the aunt of Rush."

I waved at her from where I sat, "hey, Auntie, sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."