Coordinates Who: Tony & Illyana. What: Questions & Answers. Where: A small recovery room off the Medical Unit. When: A few days after she arrived at the Avengers Tower. Warnings: Illyana is too tired and drugged to be foul-mouthed or violent and she wouldn't want to direct her anger at Tony anyway.If she ever encounters Sinister again, there will be warnings. Status: Complete!
The log will be posted as soon as I am not trying to do this on my phone. It has reached the limit of its ability. Done, finally! :)
Tony didn't waste any time. He headed down to the medical floor immediately, walking into the area where patients recovered. Once he was pointed in the right direction, he rapped on the door of the small patient room and waited for a response before entering.
"Hi, it's Tony. If I'm interrupting or it's a bad time, tell me to get lost and I'll come back later."
At the sound of a male voice, Illyana straightened in her bed. She was wearing the clothes provided by Dr. Palmer: a plain blue t-shirt, some black leggings, socks with a rainbow of polka dots on them. She had pushed the covers down around the bottom third of the bed with her feet; using her hands was tricky with one arm immobilized by a sling to let her upper arm heal. On the bed beside her was the laptop and the welcome package wrapping with the remaining items was sitting beside it. Her long blonde hair was back in a messy ponytail - one-handed elastic wrangling was awkward - and her bangs were too long to be bangs and too short to fit in the elastic. They hung limply on either side of her face.
She was too thin. She was too pale beneath her fair complexion. Her large blue eyes were tired. It was all too much and not enough. Illyana sighed.
“It is fine. Come in,” she said, hoping she was loud enough to be heard.
***
The door opened and Tony peeked in around it, looking around before entering and leaving the door open behind him. He didn't come too far into the room, not wanting to intrude too far. After having spent a night doing a crash course in do's and don'ts, he knew better than to overstep any boundaries with those who had suffered enough already.
"Hi, nice to meet you face to face, Illyana." She was thin but he didn't stare. No one looked their best when they were in a place like this. They were here to get better, physically. If possible. There was only so much any of them could do in a situation like this.
"You probably feel like crud, so I don't want to take up a lot of time," he said, folding his arms over himself. "I'm compiling information on whoever's behind this, or trying to. Confirming our sources. Did you ever hear a name of the person that did this to you? A doctor or any organizations that you might have heard mentioned?"
“Nice to meet you, too,” she said in her heavily accented English. One corner of her mouth twitched in a brief smile. “Crud, yes, that translates.”
Illyana regarded the man before her. He was keeping his distance and left the door open, all indications he was making certain he didn’t cross any lines that could make her uncomfortable or feel threatened. It was appropriate, but awkward. She had to turn her head and look up to see his face. Deciding that would quickly become a pain in the neck, she shifted so her legs swung over the edge of the bed. She still had to look up, but at least she could face him.
“So,” she said, “you are Tony Stark. All this…” She gestured around her. “This is yours?” It didn’t answer his questions, but as nicely as he was asking, she didn’t want to feel like she was being interrogated.
***
Tony let out a little snerk at that. It seemed like 'crud' was an all purpose word that everyone knew about. It transcended borders.
He noted her not answering the questions but, figuring it was a comfort zone thing, he didn't press. He wasn't about to do that either, given what the escapees had gone through already.
"Sure am, alive and kicking," he said with only a little hint of mild sarcasm there. Aimed at himself, naturally. He watched her for a long moment, tilting his head a little and studying her too. "This is mine and Pepper's, the business part. She's the CEO, so she runs the business part. The rest is for the Avengers. And she's made it clear this is my thing, so I have to deal with any P.R. fall out if I mess up."
“Hmm,” she said. “I never heard of you before now, before here, but I have been out.” She waved her good hand. “Away. No television or Internet.” No technology at all, really. Limbo didn’t lend itself to that sort of thing. Illyana tapped her laptop. “No computer. I do not know typing well. I do not know Avengers.” She frowned slightly. “You have nothing to do with Genosha.” It was a question, formed as a statement she hoped he wouldn't contradict. “And Pepper is a person? I thought it was spice.”
Was he wondering if she was going to cooperate? She intended to, but thought talking with him a bit might make her feel more relaxed, more comfortable with sharing information.
“I will tell you what I know, but first, may I have water?” She was thirsty and as she shifted on the bed again, she winced. “And pain killers…”
***
"Wow, that's a bruise to the old ego," Tony said, not appearing to be at all slighted. Over the course of his life, he was used to far worse things being said about him anyway. "Pepper's her nickname. She's a lil' bit hot headed at me."
He looked around as though he was lost doing these things himself. Usually Pepper pushed things at him and reminded him to hydrate, but she was in a meeting downstairs. He pushed the curtain aside to peek out to ask one of the nursing staff for the water and painkillers.
As he waited, he leaned a shoulder against the doorway.
"She said to give her a minute. So where were you that there was no television or internet?" he asked, unable to apply the brakes to his own curiosity. "Even Siberia is hooked up now. Not because you don't know me, but because I'm genuinely wondering. And what do you mean about having nothing to do with Genosha?"
Illyana followed most of that, though he did speak very quickly and some of the nuances may have been lost to her. She couldn’t help but smile when he mentioned Siberia and it briefly transformed her face into one less weary, less burdened. “I was born there. Siberia. On a farm. We had a radio, but only few stations.” Her smile faded and she regarded him solemnly.
“You. You and them.” She nodded slightly toward the door. “Have nothing to do with Genosha, da? But for a few days, that place all I know since returning. I want to be sure you are not with him.” She didn’t know how he would prove it, one way or the other, so it wasn’t really a fair question. They had rescued her, but it could be a game, made to think she was free.
***
He was staring back at her when the nurse came in with bottled water and medication, prodding him with the tray to get out of her way before taking it in to Illyana. The woman set it down within reach and turned on her heel, giving Tony a look like he had better not be wearing out any of their patients with his excessive questioning.
Tony didn't even glance over. He waited until the nurse was gone before responding.
"Sorry if I dredged up something you miss," he said, and he meant it. "But you're wrong. We have something to do with Genosha now. It's impacted two of our people, and it's hurt you and others. That's what the Avengers are here for, to try to stop these big threats. I'm trying to find info on this, but every turn is a big brick wall. If you can't help, or don't know anything, it's ok to say no."
Right now, he considered that Rogue was one of those that didn't know much, other than the pain she obviously suffered. Illyana might be the same, too.
“I mean that you are not with him,” she said, a little impatient with herself for not being able to communicate properly. “I have no problem with you trying to help. And I can help you, I want to help you.” She reached for the little paper cup and looked at the two pills inside, trusting they were as advertised. Then she looked at the bottle of water. Which needed opening. By someone with two functioning hands.
Illyana sighed and looked at Tony. “Please could you open for me?” Sometimes she wondered if people paid attention, but then, the medical staff were quite busy right now.
***
"Oh yeah, I think the nurse was busy giving me a day-glow death glare, so lemme..."
He darted forward without hesitation, taking the bottle and opening it, even holding it for her so she could take the meds and the water was ready to go.
"Anyway, yeah, I got what you meant now," he confirmed, finally addressing what she said before. "Wires might get crossed but no big. They'll get uncrossed. If you can tell me anything about the guy behind it, that would help. Don't need to get detailed about traumatic experiences, and if it's too much to ask for now...I can ask again later. It's on your terms. Not mine."
She swallowed the pills with a sip of water and then took another sip for good measure. She nodded and smiled a little as thanks.
“I will tell you what I can,” she said. “But please sit? My neck will hurt.” Illyana adjusted her position on the bed and began, as clearly as she could, to describe her interactions and observations regarding the man behind Genosha.
“I know him by the name Essex,” she said. “He calls himself doctor, experiments on people. I have seen them in the halls, eyes blank, some faces and shapes I might not know as human. He tested me, took many blood samples. I can…” She hesitated then decided to trust Tony with some of her secrets. “Teleport, using stepping circles… disks... I was tested under what conditions I could call them. He wanted to know how it worked, so he could… learn it? Share it? Make more who could do it or maybe… himself?” She sighed. “I could do this before, but to some people, the things they could do were new… to them. The guards talked to one another, like we were… furniture. He could…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to word things properly.
***
Tony sat down as he listened to her, on the edge of a bed that was across from her. It was easy to see there was some hesitation there, and he didn't push at it, which would have been his natural inclination. Instead, he listened like he was taking mental notes of everything Illyana was telling him.
"That's not good," Tony said, with his gut feeling about this situation shifting gears from bad to worse. "I mean, not that you could do this before, that's great. But him trying to share it or do it to himself? That's....messed up."
He cut himself off before he dropped an F bomb, and asked like he was talking to one of his own daughters, "If it's too hard to finish that, it's ok not to push it. If it's a word you're not sure how to translate into English, just say it and Friday can translate for you. Friday?"
"Ready if needed," the woman's voice said from overhead.
The AI. Of course. It had translated for her before, when the doctors were checking her condition upon arrival from Genosha, and for the doctors, so she would know she was safe. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Illyana took a few minutes to explain, in Russian, what she was trying to say. It felt like Friday was listening, which was silly because it wasn’t a person, was it? When she was done, she looked at Tony while Friday shared the information.
“Doctor Essex is able to read minds,” Friday relayed. “He couldn’t read Illyana’s, which intrigued him. He can also possess people. When she was making her escape, the doctor took over the body of one of the guards and spoke through him. He is very powerful and rules by fear and the control of the collars, of course.” Friday sighed, which surprised Illyana. Did computers sigh? “She says he feels… old. She can’t describe why she thinks that. Old and uncaring for human life, for any life. Is there anything else you would like to add, Illyana?”
She nodded and said, “I had to kill the guards who stayed when I told them to run, but the ones who ran… I am sure they are dead. Probably before I reached water. He can do that, with his mind.”
***
Tony let that sink in, staring at her as though he was trying to work out how she killed the guards, and the sort of genetic gymnastics necessary to manipulate the victims. That he had powers himself put a whole new spin on this, and made it imperative that they found out information, fast.
Feeling old was probably from going through so much in such a short time. He couldn't say he blamed her, since she had seen things that could only be described as a nightmare.
"Hey, you did what you had to do," Tony said, knowing that they tried to save lives, but there wasn't always an opportunity to do that. "You were trying to escape a shitty situation. If you need someone to talk to about those old and uncaring feelings, there's people here that can help you. The Professor. But I can tell you right now, that this is useful info. Every little bit helps paint a bigger picture."
She nodded. “I did and I would do it again to regain my freedom from that man.” She frowned slightly. “Monster, not man. Doctor Xavier has typed to me and offered to feed me English words. I do not know how, but I want another there when he does. Could that be you?”
Illyana had given some thought to who she would want to be present when Dr. Xavier attempted this and it made sense to have the one who had provided a haven for those escaping Genosha. People listened to him and he was speaking with her in a non-condescending manner, not questioning that what she was telling him was the truth. She appreciated that.
She looked at Tony, had another sip of water, swallowed, said, “You have questions. Ask.”
***
Tony looked a little floored by that but he nodded, standing up. He did have to make a report, but he wanted to let her know all she had to do was ask, and he'd blast his way there if she wanted. Maybe it was the whole being a dad part, and he was projecting a little bit.
"Sure, I can do that. If you need to, there's a few other people you can trust here too. Pro tip. Doctor Palmer, Doctor Banner, or Natasha. All good people. But since I'm first choice, I'm gonna say claimsies, and do my best to be here for you."
The most he could do is try. He gave her a big smile and pointed at her, like she tried to get him with that. He did have questions. So many questions. But one thing at a time. With this, he wasn't about to go barreling in. People would get pissed off, and he'd get pissed off at himself. For once, Tony was trying to do baby steps.
"Later. I am going to have so many questions for later," he said, heading toward the door. He was walking backwards as he spoke, his smile widening. "I want you healed up more, so you can go back to a real room. Then we'll meet up for lunch, ok? Don't say no. I know good places to eat. If you haven't had shawarma yet, you've gotta try it."
He was listening, which was good. It was her observation that some people didn’t seem to know how or they just weren’t interested in taking the time.
Illyana gave him a small smile as he walked backwards toward the door. She recognized the names he provided and had to agree with at least two of them. She hadn’t met Dr. Banner yet. Focusing on healing wouldn’t be too difficult, especially now that the pain killers were kicking in and putting her head down in a controlled manner would be much better than passing out on the floor.
She hadn’t tried shawarma, so she would consider it, check it on this amazing thing called the Internet. Not now, though. To Tony, she said, “Lunch… later…” He was gone before she murmured in a light sing-song voice, “Bye-bye,” before her head hit the pillow and she was out.