Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 48

Ruth's mind seemed to continuously travel into a daze, a fog. Her nightmares effected her in ways she couldn't understand. What she dreamed wasn't reality, and yet her dreams felt like memories. She had to force herself to turn away from them; but then she would see the Woman's face, the sight of the Woman standing in front of her while at Hydra, the feeling of the Woman's touch on her face, the burning of her skin, the voice that cut like a knife; Don't waste your life on a brainwashed super soldier.

The chime of the elevator doors opening to the ground floor garage awoke Ruth from her thoughts, her eyes focusing on the open, expansive concrete space in front of her, cars and motorcycles lined up in distinct order.

With her helmet hanging from her hand, Ruth strode towards the group of people, including lower level agents, forming around the car and two motorcycles along the front side of the garage. Her stride held an air of confidence Ruth had felt she had been missing for a while, knowing this change was because of the suit Tony made for her, specifically made to help her body regulate her powers, and so the electricity doesn't burn holes through her clothes.

Wearing the full body suit beneath her clothes made Ruth feel somewhat invincible, even though she knew that wasn't the case. The material felt soft, flexible, and cool, even, against her skin. It's dark patterns throughout showed that it was breathing with technology. It clung tight to her body without restricting any of her movement.

"Just wait until you try the new conductors," Ruth thought back to Tony saying as she tried on the suit for the first time. "Banner's been helping me, and hasn't stopped talking about them since we began the prototype."

Bucky greeted Ruth with a smile as he stood by the motorcycle the two of them would be taking to the Captain's airport in New York about an hour and a half away from here. "We're almost ready to take off," he told her, "Sam and Nat are still suiting up."

"Sounds good," Ruth replied, a small smile emerging on her face. Standing close to him, Ruth admired how well Bucky cleaned up in his combat gear. "Well, don't you look intimidating," she teased, smirking.

He let out a small laugh, "But not as intimidating as when I had that weird mask from Hydra, right?"

"Oh, you're much more intimidating now. Because without the mask, people will be so stunned and say, 'Wow, that is one good-looking assassin' and not even want to put up a fight."

"Yeah," Bucky laughed, his eyes lighting up as he did so, pulling Ruth close to him, "I'm sure that would happen."

"Um, Ruth?" Peter's meek voice pulled Ruth and Bucky's attention away from each other, now standing apart slightly.

Ruth looked to Peter as he held what looked to be the new conductors for her.

"Mr. Stark said these are ready for you," Peter continued, holding them out for her to take.

Ruth took them tentatively, their sleek design almost looking like armor, enough to fit from the base of her wrist to halfway down her forearm.

"As your powers seem to concentrate around the veins in your forearms, and then to your hands, Mr. Stark thought it'd be best to focus on those areas. He thought that having metal gloves would be annoying, so these concentrate just below your hands, but he said that should more than do the trick," Peter explained. He added a bunch of scientific terms that Ruth didn't completely understand, and didn't want to take the time to ask him about, but it was the longest she had seen Peter talk without fumbling over his words since she'd met him.

"Tell Stark and Banner thank you," Ruth said to him, still holding onto the conductors as if they were made of glass.

"Here," Peter encouraged Ruth, "Try them on."

Ruth handed one of the conductors back to Peter as she put them on her wrists one at a time. They secured firmly against her wrists, the coolness of the metal plates soothing on her skin. She marveled at the fabric encasing the conductors, wondering if it was the same material used in her suit. The conductors were flexible, breathable as she moved and stretched her arms to see how they felt.

Peter shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to contain his excitement and curiosity to what Ruth thought about them, "So?"

"These are great," Ruth smiled.

"I hope they work," Peter enthused. "There isn't exactly time to go through test trials."

Ruth cocked an eyebrow, "I can't test them here?"

Peter shrugged, nervousness creeping in, "Well, I mean, you can...but you probably shouldn't."

"Why not?" Bucky added.

Peter's face began to flush red, "It's just that, um, Mr. Stark said it could short out the building and, um, you should wait until you're up against Hydra where it wouldn't be a problem if you did some damage."

Ruth nodded. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Peter that Tony made him be the one to talk to her. "Thanks Spiderman."

Peter suddenly snapped his head around the room looking to everyone as if Ruth had just exclaimed profanities. "Can you not say that out loud? That's my secret identity," he whispered.

"Oh come on, Peter. Everyone here knows who you are," Ruth replied.

Bucky nodded in agreement.

Peter still glanced around as if someone heard, "Well, just, shh...please."

Ruth stood tall and took two bold steps toward Peter, her voice dangerous, "Did you just 'shh' me?"

Now Peter turned pale, stuttering.

Ruth immediately softened her expression, putting her hand on his shoulder in a friendly manner, "I'm just kidding, Peter."

Peter jumped at Ruth's touch, Bucky holding back a laugh behind her. Peter laughed nervously, backing away, "I uh, should get back to the lab."

Ruth smiled as he walked away. "I should really stop scaring him," she mused to Bucky as he walked up beside her.

"Nah," Bucky replied. "He needs to have a good scare every once and a while."

"Alright team," Steve announced loudly, Sam and Natasha standing close by, "Let's move out."