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"DOES THE EYEPATCH get annoying?" Mal asked curiously, looking up at Nick Fury, who simply scowled back. Maria Hill held back a smile, shaking her head. "Maybe I'll get an eyepatch, too, for looks. We can match. Although, mine would definitely be more of a dark purple." Mal continued, walking around the bridge of the Helicarrier, peaking over the shoulders of those working.
"Good to see you, too, Owens." Fury said, his voice lacking any real hint of amusement, but anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that he had a certain fondness for the young girl. It was hard not to like her. Fury turned to address Bruce, the two talking amongst themselves while Mal looked out the glass front of the bridge, staring out at the sky. It was a clear day, pristine white clouds floating by. Mal was drawn back out of her thoughts by someone calling for her attention.
"Owens, please accompany Doctor Banner down to his lab. I'd like him to run a basic checkup on you, nothing major." Fury said, and Mal nodded. She was used to checkups whenever she was in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base; always checking to make sure their ticking time bomb wasn't about to go off.
–•–•–
"Blood pressure is normal, heart rate is steady, blood tests show nothing unusual. You seem to be in perfectly good health, Mal," Bruce said, looking at some screens. He paused a moment, furrowing his eyebrows together. "Wait," He swiped at something, another screen enlarging. "You're emitting very low levels of gamma radiation." He said slowly, turning to look at her. Mal shrugged, unbothered at the information.
"Yeah, it's been like that. Sometimes it spikes a little higher when I overexert my powers but it's always pretty low. Nothing to worry about." She explained, swinging her legs back and forth as they hung off of the metal table she was sitting on.
"About your, uh, your powers," Bruce paused, as if trying to find the right words to say. "How did they come about?" He finally asked, speaking gently as if he would startle Mal into some kind of panicked rampage.
"I was a sick kid, in and out of the hospital all the time. Someone offered to help, my parents took the opportunity." Mal tucked a stray piece of blonde hair back behind her ear before continuing. "Intermittent exposure to high levels of gamma radiation, coupled with a Frankenstein version of the super soldier serum. No one can ever seem to replicate it just right." Bruce wrung his hands together, a frown etching its way onto his face. He couldn't imagine a kid having to go through that. "But it's okay, it didn't hurt much and now I'm here, so," Mal shrugged, a smile spreading across her lips. But that was a lie — the experiments themselves were more like torture, searing pain and pleas for them to stop. They never did. Suddenly, they were cut off by Natasha poking her head in through the labs doorway.
"Mal, we're up."
–•–•–
"Why does he have antlers?" Mal asked, watching Captain America block a blast from Loki's scepter. Natasha raised an eyebrow at the question, but said nothing. Watching the rogue Asgardian throw Steve away from him, and then knock his shield away like it was nothing, Mal narrowed her eyes. Her eyes and hands began to glow a bright, vibrant green before the shield began to get the same glow around it. With a quick movement of her hand, the shield went flying at Loki, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him back. This time, Natasha raised both her eyebrows, looking back at Mal, who grinned wildly. Loki stood up, clenching his scepter angrily.
