I felt dampness on my skin when waking up.

I didn't move too much, because I still felt the after effects of the dizzy spell that had washed over me. I was in a lab of some sort, judging by what view I had. There was technology around me, and I was lying on a metal table. Cold, damp cloths were pressed on my exposed skin, from my arms to my forehead, to one wrapped around my neck.

At least I wasn't stripped naked and put under a massive cloth pile.

As I raised an arm, some of the cloths slipped down, leaving a thin sheen of wet against my skin. I still felt a little warm, like there was the potential for me to burn inside again, but the cloths and the cold were keeping it at bay.

"Good, you're up," said Bruce. I smiled weakly at him as he adjusted the glasses on his face. "We were hoping you would."

"Mind filling in the blanks for me, Bruce?" I asked as I sat up slowly.

"Keep those on you." He gestured to the cloths. I tried my best to keep the exposed skin covered. "Tony and I were working on something when J.A.R.V.I.S. told us what was going on. It wasn't easy, but we got you cooled off." His brown eyes cast down to his hands.

"I'm so sorry, Bruce," I whimpered. His hands were proof enough that he, along with Steve no doubt, tried to help me. "There weren't any severe burns?"

"No. Apparently, only your skin is the thing that runs hot. Your clothes were starting to get destroyed. Thankfully, Pepper was around, so we had her change you into something different. Your other clothes aren't good anymore."

"Damn." I closed my eyes. "Where's everyone else?"

"We took a blood sample from you, we're trying to see if there's any clues hidden in there. Tony's got the sample in another lab, I wanted to stay behind to keep an eye on you."

"You said you guys had hoped I would wake."

Bruce looked at me gravely. "With how your temperature was growing, we thought it would somehow send you into a coma. Fortunately, we were wrong on that."

"Mm. So, we have no idea what caused this?"

"Well, what happened?"

"Nothing unusual." I shrugged. "Steve and I went to dinner, he drove me back here. I was about to walk back inside the tower when the pain started. It's never happened before, Bruce." My heart galloped at the thought of another episode happening. "I have no idea how this is happening, or why."

"That's what we can hopefully manage to figure out."

Bruce watched me carefully as I stepped away from the cold table, draping the semi-damp cloths on my skin. I looked like a half-wrapped mummy. I felt a little woozy still, but it wasn't going to be enough to render me unconscious again. "How long have I been out?"

"About half the day. I will say you got a lot of sleep."

That seemed to be about the only good thing that came out of this new episode I'd had last night.

Steve. I looked around the laboratory for my phone.

"Tony took that too, so he could keep Steve updated on you," Bruce said, noticing my slight panic.

"Stark has his own phone." I smoothed my skin down with one of the cloths on my arms. "I'm going to go find him, see what progress he's made if any." And possibly murder him if he's touched my phone and hacked into it again.

"Don't expect much, we've only just started," Bruce reminded me as I headed gingerly out of the laboratory.

"Hey, J, where's our beloved billionaire playboy hiding at?" I asked the AI.

"He's on one of the lower levels of the tower, Miss Rivers," said J.A.R.V.I.S. as I opened the elevator up.

Instead of me finding the floor level, J.A.R.V.I.S. selected it for me. Sometimes this AI was very useful. In a way, I was almost interacting with a human, even if he had no physical body. With how sophisticated his speech was, he was very convincing in making me believe he wasn't an AI.

Once the floor was found, the elevator doors opened, and I stepped out, keeping one cloth on hand just in case. Stark had some rather loud music playing in this laboratory.

"How can you think in here?" I yelled over the noise. Of course, Stark didn't hear me.

Pursing my lips, I snuck towards him, tapping him on the shoulder. He jumped a foot in the air and spun around, attempting to do some form of threatening martial arts which only looked foolish to me.

"Oh, hey, Girl on Fire," Stark yelled. With a tap of a remote, the music volume lowered considerably, but the ringing in my ears didn't. "How you feeling?"

"Like I'm not going to burn from the inside," I deadpanned. "So, uh, Bruce sort of filled me in on everything." My blue eyes narrowed at him. "Wherever you have my phone hostage, I'd like it back now."

Stark handed me the phone back, surprisingly.

"What? No teasing?"

"You've been through enough in the recent hours," said Stark, shrugging. "You get a free pass for now."

I quickly scanned through my phone, seeing that Stark had in fact been using my device to talk to Steve. I still didn't understand why Stark didn't use his own bloody phone. I would never understand his mind.

I've regained control of my phone.

"I didn't tamper with anything," Stark said.

I picked my head up, waiting for Steve's response. "Bruce said you took a blood sample from me?"

Stark nodded. "I'm working on getting intel from S.H.I.E.L.D. and what they've found so far with their tests."

"How's that coming along?"

"Not well. Apparently, saving the world is more important than saving you right now."

"I can't take it too personally. I'm not the world." Subconsciously, I patted down my neck with the cloth. "I'm assuming Steve left?"

"Once Banner and I convinced him you weren't going to blow the place up, yeah, he left. As you've probably read by now, I've been keeping in touch with him."

I nodded. "Does Todd know?"

"Who, Fanboy? No, I haven't mentioned this to him yet. Figured that would be your news to tell."

I bit my lip. If I could get in contact with Todd...As much as I didn't want to worry him, I would be scolded if I kept this from him. "I'll find a way."

"Sir," came J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice. "Maria Hill is on the line for you."

"Put her on," said Stark. One of the screens in the laboratory bore Agent Maria Hill's clear picture.

"Stark," Agent Hill greeted him. "Rivers."

"Hill," I greeted. "And what do we owe this pleasure?"

"I contacted her beforehand," Stark told me. "Figured she could pull a few strings to give me your information, Kia."

"Oh, and how's that working out?" I looked to Agent Hill.

"It's a process, but we'll get you what you need," Agent Hill assured me. "Things have been a little...frazzled lately."

"What now? Did the coffee machine break or something?" Stark commented. I shot him a dirty look.

Agent Hill ignored Stark's quip. "We had a little issue on one of the Helicarriers. Someone got through our security and broke in."

"Is anyone hurt?" I asked.

"Not severely, no. Whoever this was knew what they were doing."

"What did they take? They don't honestly believe they'd be equipped enough to take over a Helicarrier." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"We're not sure, that's what we're currently trying to work out."

"Anyway, getting back to the real life or death situation here," Stark cut in. "Kiara's files. How soon can you give me the info?"

"What, you haven't hacked into our database to grab what you need?"

"I kind of need to be there to do any sort of hacking."

I rolled my eyes. "Hopefully the intruder gets identified and caught."

Agent Hill looked grave. "I'm not sure what you're trying to find, you guys. If we can't find something to cure Kiara's condition..."

"We'll figure something out," Stark said. "Just keep us posted in case you stumble upon the miracle cure for her."

With a nod, Agent Hill's picture winked out, and her words got stuck in my head. If we can't find something to cure Kiara's condition...

I started at my phone buzzing in my hand. Steve.

How are you feeling?

Not sure, really.

Is the pain gone?

For now, yes.

Good to hear. Whenever you're feeling better, I'll drop by, or we can try and go out and do something.

I smiled faintly. Even though it was easy to misinterpret a text message, I knew Steve was sincere in his words. He had a very caring soul, a strong loyalty. He'd help a friend at the drop of a hat.

Stark snapped his fingers in front of my face, startling me.

"Do you mind?" I snapped.

"I wanted to stop you from drooling," he teased. "That Rogers?"

"Yes."

"You nearly fried him last night."

"It was because he was idiotic enough to carry me into the tower."

"You got to give the guy credit, though. He'd sooner die to help save a friend than stand by and watch that friend die."

I had to give Stark credit for that one. That fit Steve to a tee. "Yeah..."

"So...how'd your night out go?"

I blinked. "Didn't you ask Steve this?"

"Nah, I figured it'd be better if I got it straight from your mouth. So...how was it? Did he woo you?" Stark batted his eyes.

"Calm down, you're acting like a fourteen-year-old girl." I waved at him dismissively. "We had a nice time. Thank you, for setting that up, by the way."

"You needed the push. See, you can have a nice time and not risk anything!" Stark nudged me in the ribs. "Did you guys kiss?"

I wrinkled my nose. "We're not together like that."

"I don't know, Kia. He seems to want to spend a lot more time with you lately."

"He's worried for my health." I snorted.

"That may be, but there's more to it."

"Don't overanalyze it, Stark. Steve and I, we're friends." I cleared my throat. "I need to stop distracting you from your...work. I'll leave you to it and your obnoxious noise in here."

"Anything I figure out, you'll get the news first."

I started to walk out of the laboratory. "Good to know."