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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 || 𝘋𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘈 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦
"ARE HER VITALS STABLE?" Carter asked, brushing his fingers through strands and tucking them behind the woman's ear. Now, she looked far more relaxed than he'd ever seen her. Her lips slightly parted with her skin far paler than usual. But the pain that she had felt with the chin had been evaporated with a version of the girl he wasn't sure he was gladdened or guilty to see.
While most of the team caught up on rest for the littlest amount of time allowed under certain circumstances, Carter had held himself up in the lab. No matter what Steve, Clint and Thor said to the man, he kept his mouth shut and was attentive to Nova's state. And it seemed after the dispute between him and Tony, his interaction with the team seemed to have been fully spent. A breaking point the man had reached when confronting Tony.
Now, he was left alone in the lab with the occasional visit of Helen who checked Nova's state, taking notes. And that seemed like enough for Carter in the already short list of people he could tolerate in a single day.
Helen sighed. "She's stable, for now. But her Arc Reactor is in a dormant limbo. Neither giving her enough energy to wake up and not depriving her of the energy to keep breathing," she explained, waving her hand. "Whatever Ultron has done to the Chip has caused a virus to spread throughout her system, affecting the Arc and keeping her in this state."
Carter shook his head, scowling as he looked at the woman. "Is there any way to trace it? Create some sort of Icebreaker and destroy it?"
"Not without a proper diagnostic check, which I have no liberty of having to commence with Tony and Bruce having control over those files and systems," she replied, a reasonable explanation for her limited assistance to Nova's predicament.
But it only frustrated Carter as Tony and Bruce were nowhere to be seen. Neither had entered the lab and the Chip was still in this room on one of the tables. They were doing nothing to help her.
