Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 25

"Do you really think a contained room is necessary?" Ruth asked, standing inside a practical barricade of bulletproof glass with rubber trim. She looked to Tony as he stood at a distance from her, behind some kind of control panel. Ruth still wasn't sure of half of the things he rambled about before telling her to walk into this blocked off room.

"I don't know what kind of power you have, and until I know, you're staying in the cage with those things," Tony called back, typing away something on his laptop.

Ruth looked down at both of her wrists, the cool metal of the conductors pressing against her skin. It stretched from the base of her wrist to just before the crook of her arm, all of the machinery along the front of her arm, straps securing the device tightly stretched along the back. She looked down at the colorful wires and circuits with a knot in her throat, suddenly thinking this was a horrible idea.

"Alright, I think I'm all set back here," Tony started. He looked over at Ruth, "Since this is still a prototype, I'm going to control the electricity input from back here, so you should see the conductors light up, and then hopefully your abilities will...kick in, or something. If the shocks start to hurt, let me know."

Ruth let out a deep breath and nodded.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bucky shouted as he stormed in the lab. A towel sat on his shoulder, his shirt lined with sweat. Obviously someone went to the gym to tell Bucky what was going on here. Bucky walked straight to Tony, standing next to him and glancing at Ruth. "What is she doing in a cage...thing?"

"Ok, first off, give me some space or take a shower," Tony started. "We're about to test the prototypes for the conductors I made."

"And you're using Ruth as your guinea pig?" Bucky scolded.

"She's fine, she wanted to try them out."

"Bucky, please. I'll be fine. I'm immune to electricity, remember?" Ruth called from the cage, trying to calm him down.

"We don't know that for sure Ruth, especially to what extent," Bucky shot back.

"She has to have some kind of threshold. That electric charge I hit her with the first day she came here was enough to knock someone out cold," Natasha spoke loud as she walked beside Tony and Bucky.

"So you're the one who ratted out what we were doing in here?" Tony asked Natasha, turning to her.

"I wanted to see his reaction," Natasha replied, ignoring Tony's glance and looking to Ruth.

"Let's just get this going, please," Ruth called from inside the tank, feeling like a caged animal.

Tony sighed and turned back to the control board, Bucky scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief that this was happening now.

"Turning the dial to one," Tony shouted.

With a click, Ruth looked to the conductors, sparks of light flowing and lighting the metal. A steady, tapping pressure traveled beneath her skin. Her fingertips danced with sparks increasing in magnitude. A wide smile emerged on her face, "Do you see this?" She marveled, holding up her arms so they could see. "Dial up the power."

Tony turned the dial, "Going to three," He announced.

Sparks flew from Ruth's hands, she could feel the rush of the electricity begin to flow through the rest of her body. It was as if something inside of her began to move, began to dance. Bright light lit up her face as the bolts moved across her arms. Ruth watched the lightning form and bounce between the walls, the crackling amplifying, growing louder as the electricity seemed to amplify. Was Tony turning up the dial?