incrediblebanner | (no subject)

She supposes she should have been angry. Finding out that your allies (for lack of a better word) are developing a viral weapon that can be used against you should be the kind of thing that pisses you off (of course, things pissing her off are a different story entirely). Instead, she's... intrigued. The idea of something that could, theoretically, prevent the Hulk from coming out was an undeniably useful idea. Instead of feeling hurt or betrayed, she focuses her energies on obtaining a sample of the virus to experiment with on her own time.

Of course, she has her own lab (courtesy of Stark Industries), but it comes with an all-seeing artificial intelligence that likely won't let her experimentation go unnoticed. So rather than try to duck around security protocols, she packs up for a trip to an unknown destination, citing restlessness and a need to go out and do some good in the world as her reason.

(It's not a lie. Stopping the Hulk is doing good in the world.)

It takes a lot of experimentation to make it work. The virus has to be powerful enough to get past the Hulk's defenses but not so contagious that it's a danger to anyone else. Luckily, SHIELD has already thought of that; what really concerns her is sustainability. Eventually, her immune system will be able to defend itself. She'll have to figure out a way to prevent that in the long term, but for the moment, immuno-suppressants seem like the best idea.

It's not until several months later that she has a balance worked out well enough that she can risk going back to the Tower. Even now, it's still risky. Finding a strength that's enough to sap the strength she needs to turn into the Hulk but not make her a complete invalid. And while she's used to downplaying her own aches and pains, it's going to be hard to hide the unhealthy pallor her skin's taken on or the slight fever and dizziness that are almost constant on this particular strain.

She's not an idiot. No one's going to think this is a good idea. Which is why she purposefully schedules her flight in to arrive in the middle of the night, so she can wave off extended interaction until the morning and blame any off-ness on jet lag.

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The morning is really Steve's time to shine. Granted, he doesn't really need much sleep (the serum makes sure he doesn't) but he's always been more of a morning person, anyways. The night before wasn't anything special. He did manage to see Bryce for a brief second before they both turned in for the night. From the looks of it, she probably had one hell of a trip. He hadn't seen her that run down in a while, but well... maybe she just didn't handle travel as well as the others. It didn't look like it was much to be concerned with, anyways.

He's in the kitchen after a run, getting himself a glass of orange juice before he makes himself breakfast. There isn't much left over from the last few days, aside from some questionable Thai food from a month ago (seriously, he should just throw it away himself), a box of cereal (why it's in the fridge is anybody's guess) and various bottles of alcohol that are of no use to him.

He sighs and grabs a few random pieces of fruit hiding in the bottom drawer. Looks like it's going to be another smoothie morning.

Oddly, when Bryce heads for the little kitchen in her rooms, she finds that nothing's been stocked yet. JARVIS apologizes somewhat insincerely, claiming something about suppliers or a mix-up of some sort, but she suspects someone put off a restock until after her arrival to force her into being social.

Unfortunately, this meant she had to head to the communal kitchen if she wanted something to eat before her morning yoga. Even with the greatly reduced routine she'd had to switch to recently, she would not last without eating something first.

She enters the kitchen, still wearing yoga pants with an oversized sweater thrown over her shirt (which really just makes her look thinner underneath it rather than hiding anything, as she'd vaguely hoped). "I guess nobody got a food delivery while I was gone."

"Nope," Steve focuses on his task of cutting up a few bananas into the blender. "Thor offered, but last time he came back with nothing but alcohol and those boxes of toaster pastries, so I'll go tomorrow." If the world doesn't need saving again. That kind of thing tends to happen a bit. Makes basic household chores, nearly impossible sometimes.

He finally takes a glance in her direction and looked back when he noticed how...small she looked. Bryce was already on the smaller side, but there was something about her that made her seem more fragile than usual. Steve was used to seeing her run down (because honestly, they're all a bit overworked these days) but he hadn't seen her this bad in a while.

"Long trip back, or did they just work you too hard?"

She shrugged up a shoulder. She did tend to come back from her trips a touch thinner and more tired, but not to this extent. At least, not since she was actively on the run. "A little of both, I guess."

The lack of calories wasn't doing her any favors. Bryce sat down for a moment to give herself a little time to orient before digging through the kitchen for something edible. "At least this place didn't completely fall apart while I was gone."

"No, just the kitchen, mostly... and the TV in the entertainment room, but Tony already replaced it."

He paused to blend his breakfast, watching the fruit turn into pulp and finally become smooth. One of the things he loved about the 21st century was the accessibility of blenders. He couldn't afford one back when he was younger. They were too far out of his price range at the time, but now? Now they were a staple in every kitchen. It made his life much easier.

He notices her sit and takes a look at the blended drink. Well, she did just get back from her trip. Plus, he could always pick up breakfast later. Sighing, he grabs a glass and pours it in before he places the smoothie in front of her.

"Drink it. You might need it more than me."

"I doubt that's true," she says, but accepts the smoothie anyway. It's a tricky line between keeping herself too weak to heal properly but not too weak to function, and right now she's feeling too close to the wrong side of that line. "Thank you."

As she sips, she moves onto the small talk. "Did I miss anything while I was gone?"