My Cuts Don't Bleed

“Whose wise idea was it to give that guy the lighter fluid?” Xander huffed as he ran from the bonfire.

“Son of a bitch nearly burned us all to death! Programmers are fucking stupid, who even invited them?” His friends followed him to their tent as he continued his rant against the initiate who accidentally squeezed a little too much fluid on the fire. Xander unzipped the entrance and fell inside. The world was spinning. He was drunk.

“Where is Eliza?” he growled.

His friends looked at each other nervously. Xander did this every time he drank. He sought Eliza out and slammed the door behind him. They knew what he was doing, but they couldn’t stop him. What happened in Eliza’s room was her problem. And they would never say it to Xander’s face but she was a better fighter than he was. If he was forcing himself on her she was more than capable of beating him away, but she didn’t, and so his friends assumed Xander and Eliza had a kinky and weird friends-with-benefits relationship.
“Find her. Tell her to come here,” he slurred.

“She’s not here,” a buddy spoke up. “She broke her ankle on the stairs this morning.”

“She broke her ankle… that’s a good one,” Xander laughed. He was face first in the pillows and blankets so his friends could barely understand him. “I’d like to be at her 24 hour checkup.”
She is an idiot. If she fractured her ankle on Saturday how is she going to fight in the final drill on Wednesday? His thoughts were cloudy and he was minutes away from blacking out. “She must really hate my guts if she is going to break her bones to avoid seeing me a week before Commencement,” he laughed to himself.

It was late. All the initiates who spent the day drinking were crawling into their tents to pass out and the rest were preparing for their final drill. Every program had a final drill the Wednesday before Commencement. The medical initiates had to fix someone up. The programmers had to create an elaborate application. The engineers had to build a new machine. The administrators had to analyze complicated policy. And the Elites had to fight each other.

Xander could hear a group of administrative initiates quizzing each over the new Superhuman Registration Act legislature outside of his tent.

“Technically it’s not mandatory to register. At least not yet,” one of them said.

“Forget technicalities! The enforcement agency doesn’t care about what’s technical and what’s not. If you have a power and you don’t register, they’re coming for you,” someone argued.

“Oh yeah? Then what about Hydra? Is the enforcement agency chasing them down? I don’t think so,” the first guy countered.

“Half of the Avengers haven’t even registered,” a third person chimed in.

These losers were making Xander’s head pound. He didn’t pay much attention to Nick Fury during his policy lectures. He didn’t join Shield to sit at a round table and negotiate world peace, he joined to fight. All he knew about the Superhuman Registration Act was that it was the perfect amount of leverage to use against Eliza and it gave him a job. By the time he graduated and got into the field it the SRA would be mandatory.

“Eliza…” he whined. He could feel her kissing along his jaw as she worked her way down his body relaxing every muscle her lips touched. She would position herself on top and lower herself onto him slowly, and with each movement an ailment would go away. From the scratches on his legs to his alarming blood-alcohol level, Eliza’s magic would erase them all.

She’s so sensitive and weak. She doesn’t deserve that power. Xander wanted desperately to shut his mind down and fall asleep, but this was the first time in months he would have to sleep off his intoxication. The thought of Eliza having the gym to herself to prepare for the final drill while he was curled up in a ball fighting nausea from the booze made his skin crawl.

She didn’t think her plan through very well. How is she going to explain how her ankle healed in time to fight in the final drill? He didn’t have an answer, but he couldn’t convince himself that she was just going to sit the drill out. He worried that she would expose her secret, what if he pushed her too far and she was giving up? But he knew Eliza. He hated to admit it but she was smart – she could hold her own.

“Did you hear what Tony Stark said at the last press conference?” the voices of the administrative initiates interrupted Xander’s thoughts.

“Yeah, anyone who helps hide a superhuman faces jail time, too.”

Xander realized that he would have to change his tactics after commencement. He would be traveling the world with his platoon, Eliza included, as they found everyone who refused to register. He didn’t want to turn her in. She was a good battle buddy and he needed her close to him at all times.

“Fuck the Superhuman Registration Act,” he yelled before finally losing consciousness.

*****

The lights were on in Bruce’s laboratory. Steve took a breath of relief and stepped up to the eye scanner. Once Jarvis confirmed his identity the doorbell rang.

“Hello Bruce,” Steve said when he opened the door, “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
Bruce shook his head and motioned for him to come in.

“What can I do for you, Steve?” he asked as they sat across from each other on the couches in front of his desk.

“It’s about Eliza,” Steve said after scanning the room to make sure they were alone. Bruce could read the concern in Steve’s eye. He pressed a few buttons on his remote and all the computers and monitors shut down. The familiar electrical hum of Dr. Banner’s lab went silent.
“I’m listening,” he said and leaned towards Steve.

“Is anyone else?” Steve trusted Bruce but he could never keep up with all his technology. He struggled to tell the difference between a camera and everything else Bruce had hooked up in his lab.

“No,” Bruce said sternly. He had his suspicions about Miss Lilly and when he found out the truth he wanted to keep it within a small circle of trusted people.

“I went to the initiate training room a few hours ago. They were all supposed to be camping and I just needed a change of scenery. She was there,” Steve was almost whispering.

“What was she doing?”

“She was going nuts on the punching bag.”

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut and leaned against the back of the couch. He was tired and had a million things on his mind. He was curious about Eliza but he didn’t really have the emotional energy to spend on her right now.

“I assume she wasn’t kicking anything?” he shrugged. No way could she have been kicking anything. Her ankle was severely fractured, he had spent most of the afternoon mixing a serum that would speed up the healing process for her.

“Her ankle isn’t fractured,” Steve said.

“What are you talking about? I could tell it was fractured before I even took the x-rays,” he groaned. He was more irritated that she disobeyed his doctor orders to stay in bed. Now he was going to have to make the serum stronger.

“I know. I was shocked to see her moving like that. I thought she was crazy to put any weight on her ankle, but the more I watched her I realized her ankle was fine. So I confronted her and I asked her how she manipulated your x-rays.”

“She couldn’t have done that…” Bruce mumbled. But maybe she could have, with a new person registering each day per the SRA he was learning about powers he never thought were possible.

“She healed herself,” a wave of anxiety pulsed through Steve. If anyone else was listening to the conversation, they were already on their way to take Eliza away.

“Well, that’s a new one,” was all Bruce could say. It was too much for him to take in right away. If Steve was right then he was impressed by Eliza. Scientists and doctors had been trying to develop a way for humans to heal themselves since Steve Rogers was a skinny kid in Brooklyn.

“But that’s not all,” Steve took a long breath, “she can heal other people, too.”

Now Steve had Bruce’s attention. All the other serums, projects, and assignments left his brain.
“Go on…” Bruce was eager to know every detail Steve uncovered from Eliza.

“We were right. That night Xander kicked her door in, she didn’t trick him into doing it,” Steve was talking fast. Weeks before that incident the two Avengers had met and talked about Eliza. They were concerned that Xander was harassing and hurting her and they were desperate to help her.

“Xander went to her room because if he slept with her she could heal him of the injuries sustained in his prior brawl and sober him up. He was going to make her…” Steve was interrupted when Bruce put a hand up telling him to stop.

“Just give me a sec, okay?” Bruce said after a couple deep breaths. He knew where Steve was going and it made his blood start to boil. He had to get his emotions in check before the Hulk came alive.

“Tell me that he didn’t…” Bruce wanted Steve to tell him that he was mistaken, that one of his initiates wasn’t the victim of such awful abuse.

“No, he didn’t. Not that night. Eliza knocked him out. But he forced himself on her other times, he still does,” Steve said blankly. He was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and wake up and find out all of this was a nightmare.

“So when Miss Lilly sleeps with him he is healed?” It didn’t make sense to Bruce. He knew it was impossible for him to understand the ins and outs of every superhuman, but Eliza was making his brain hurt.

“Something like that. She told me about her other partners, she never healed any of them. But she loved Xander. She thinks that when she’s passionate – when she wants to heal someone else – then she can heal them.”

“I don’t know Steve, this one is really weird,” Bruce buried his face in his hands. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Steve or Eliza, but it was just impossible for him to wrap his mind around.

“I know it’s weird! But we have to help her before she goes before the Council! I’m sure she will be more than happy to let you examine her after she gets through Commencement,” Steve slammed his fist on the table. How could Bruce be so concerned with the science of her power when she was one week away from losing her freedom?

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Bruce nodded slowly. He would have plenty of time to ask her questions and run tests when she escaped from Shield. Steve didn’t confide in him because he wanted an explanation how she does what she does, he came to him because Bruce cared for Eliza too and they had to work together to keep her safe.

“Who else knows about this?” Bruce asked.

“Just you, me, and Xander,” Steve said.

“I’ve never liked that kid…” Bruce muttered. He had treated too many bones broken by Xander and he didn’t like his attitude in class. All he ever wanted to do was fight. Bruce didn’t think he was Agent material.

“You and me both. But we have to focus on Eliza now, how are we going to help her?” Steve was quick to get him back on topic.

“Where is she now?” Bruce asked.

“In bed. I walked with her back to her room and told her to stay put.”

“Good, she has her 24 hour check up on that ankle in the morning. Meet me here at 8:00. I have to turn this stuff back on before Stark gets suspicious,” Bruce motioned to the sleeping machines around them.

Steve nodded and headed towards the door.

“8:00 am. Don’t be late, Captain,” Bruce reminded him when he exited the lab.

Notes