天才斯塔克的第16次失败（上）Chapter17【纯英】（一周五更）

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CHAPTER 17: NATASHA 

Part 1

S.H.I.E.L.D. TRISKELEON BASE 

THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK— 

EAST RIVER 

“You know what they say. The fifteenth time’s the charm,” Tony said cheerfully. 

“They don’t say that.” Natasha glared. “Ever.” 

“Actually, I think the fifteenth time is when they say to give up,” Alex offered. 

“They don’t say it to me,” Tony said, waving him off. 

Tony’s fourteenth attempt to sever the mental connection between Ava and Natasha had nearly incinerated half her head, and she was still resentful. She looked doubtfully at Ava, who sat on a metal stool in the center of the room, just as she did. 

Like two sitting ducks. 

“Is he always like this?” Ava asked her. 

“Always,” Natasha said. 

“Come on. Haven’t you seen the documentary?” Alex piped up from where he stood behind them. “Tony Stark— Iron Will? He’s the original American optimist.” 

“Yeah. What he said.” Tony smiled, holding up a blowtorch. 

“Actually, he’s not the original,” Natasha said. “That would be Rogers. By about fifty years.” 

“I’m just getting started,” Tony said, lowering a welding mask over his face. “Reverse dog years. What are those, cat years?” 

“Super-Soldier Steve Rogers?” Alex swallowed. 

“I like this kid,” Tony said as sparks flew. “The kid stays.” 

Just as he said it, the sparks exploded around all four of them. 

Natasha’s vision blacked out, and she flashed on a split second of imagery—a blurry figure of a dancing girl, maybe? It was too quick to see who it was. She only knew it wasn’t her. 

But she’d also heard something. 

A song. 

Is that—Tchaikovsky? 

It was too quick to understand, though, and Natasha’s vision returned to normal just as Tony dropped the mass of burning wires on the tiled floor. Two dutiful lab technicians sprayed the smoking heap with white foam. 

“I saw something that time,” Natasha said. “I might have.” 

“Let me guess, you saw stars?” Alex eyed the ruined remains of trial fifteen. 

Natasha thought about it. 

What did I see? 

Were those Ava’s memories? Was I seeing into her mind? 

She could feel her own pulse beginning to race. 

It had been one thing to logically understand quantum entanglement. But to see it for herself? For the first time, Natasha realized Ava could really see into her mind. Could actually access her memories. 

The thought was more than terrifying. 

The idea of anyone seeing her past made her almost physically sick. 

“I don’t care. I’m not putting these things anywhere near my head,” Ava said, ripping off her own smoking electrodes. “I don’t have a death wish.” 

Natasha looked at the other fourteen charred piles on the floor. Though the Triskeleon’s lab facilities were state of the art—at least they had been, before today—Tony didn’t seem to be making much progress. In fact, he seemed to be making everything but progress. 

Come on, Tony. Get her out of my head. 

I don’t know how much more of this I can take. 

It was slow going. Tony had started the evening off with his improvised Stark Quantum Detangler—quickly followed by a Stark Quantum Retangler—soon detouring into a little Stark Quantum Hypnotic Regulator, a Stark Quantum Rapid Eye Movement Stimulator, and a Stark Quantum Ultrasound Scanner. Basically, if Tony could put the words Stark or Quantum in front of it, he was game. 

He was now holding two sparking electrical wires in front of Ava and Natasha—along with a handful of electrodes. “Round sixteen. New idea. The Stark Hypothalamus Buffer.” He attached a new electrode to each of Ava’s temples. “Or, if you think it’s catchier, the Stark Hypothalami Sandwich. Just put it on—” 

Ava yanked the electrodes off. “And subject myself to more Stark Quantum Electrical Shock? Forget it. This isn’t helping anything.” 

Alex nodded. “Yeah, no offense or anything, but you might as well just tell them to each stick a fork in an electrical socket.” 

“Well, actually...” Tony said, staring up at the ceiling. But then he shook his head. “No, never mind. That was basically what we did on number seven. Let’s try this instead.” He held out the sparking wires again. 

Ava looked at him like he was crazy—which at this point was a pretty fair assessment, Natasha had to admit. “Pass. How about you call me after you build the Stark Quantum Burn Unit. Until then, I can’t take any more of this crap.” 

“My tech,” Tony said, “is never crap. Almost never.” 

Alex looked at the fourteen abandoned prototypes around them and raised an eyebrow. 

Tony shrugged. “Well, it’s rare. Let’s leave it at that.” 

“Ava, if there were any other way, we wouldn’t be here,” Natasha said. “Trust me.” 

“Why? Why should I?” Ava slid off the stool and backed away, knocking over half a lab table full of circuit diagrams, wire coils, electrical switches, even soldering irons—as well as tools of all sizes. Ava didn’t look like she was about to let any of it near her head again. 

“Why? How about national security? Or even international peacekeeping?” 

Natasha stood up. She had no idea how to talk to the girl—to someone who was so like her in so many ways, yet so different. 

At only seventeen. 

Natasha watched her now, surveying her options. Another scared rabbit in a winter trap, she thought. It was a familiar sight. 

How much I was like her, at that age. 

And yet, how much she hates me now.