The Little Hero (March 1999)

Isabella was taking Serena for a checkup with her doctor. Happy was with Tony as he had to go downtown to register several patents for several of his inventions. As Isabella was about to cross the intersection though the blue jaguar, one of Tony’s sports cars was struck hard on the side by a pickup truck. The car spun into an electrical pole and the pole snapped and came down over the hood of the car. Isabella’s head hit the side window hard and was unconscious. Serena was in the backseat in her booster seat and frantically she cried and called out for her mother who did not respond to her. Intermittently sparks popped as the live electrical cable dangled dangerously near the car.

Serena was happy in the backseat. She was talking to her mother about the latest book she had read. She was reading well above her age group and excelled at math. She was spending more and more time with her father in the lab. He was starting to show her how to build things. Life in the Tower was just normal for her. Steve was her godfather and Logan and Bruce were like uncles to her. Logan would actually soften around Serena and once Isabella had even caught them taking a nap together on the couch with Serena tucked up against Logan and his arm around her.

Isabella was taking Serena for a well visit. She was driving the blue Jaguar, her favorite car, and had just started to pull through an intersection on a green light when suddenly from the corner of her eye she saw a truck. It hit the car hard and the car spun and hit an electrical pole. Isabella's head hit the window and everything went black. Slowly though her eyes began to open. She could hear popping and as her eyes focused she saw the live electrical cable danging near the car. She made sure not to touch anything metal and her heart began to beat harder as she tried to figure out how they were going to get out.

"Don't touch anything metal Serena."

Serena was already reading and writing far beyond that of a 3rd grader. And her aptitudes in math were even beyond that of her reading. She understood about things a child should not at her age and more and more her mind matured at an accelerating rate. She loved how things were in the Tower. She loved to watch her father work and besides her mother she had 3 uncles, Steve who was her godfather, Bruce and Logan. She also knew them as Captain America, The Hulk and The Wolverine though she didn’t really understand why Logan had that name. He certainly didn’t act like a wolverine around her She had seen video of The Hulk and Captain America in action though so those names made sense to her.

The jolt from the car being hit and then hitting the post hurt Serena and frightened her but after everything had settled she looked up and saw that her mother was hurt. This frightened her even more because she didn’t know much about first aid besides how to dress a bandage or add a splint. Head injuries, from what she had read could be dangerous if not treated correctly and the fact hit home when she saw that the window she it was smashed and drops of blood were there on the glass. Tears of worry and fear rolled down her cheeks as she called out to her. “Momma! Momma!” She cried. When she saw her mother’s head move a wave of great relief settled over her and she desperately tried to choke down the urge to wail or cry, anything to get her mother’s attention. But...what good what that do? “Momma...im scared,” Serena said. When she heard what Isabella said she looked out her window She could see the post, the...transformer, yes, thats what it was called and the wires. Every once in a while the wires popped and sparked and it was though she could feel...something when it did that.

“I can feel it momma...the lectric-ty,” She said. Her father had told her about electricity a few times and she recalled his explanation on grounding. She reached to the side of the booster seat and unclamped the seatbelt witch allowed her to sit up more and look out of the window.

Isabella’s head throbbed and she could tell she was bleeding. She probably had a concussion, but she wasn’t going to worry about that now. She looked back at Serena and was terrified to see that she had unbuckled her seatbelt. “Serena! What are doing?! Stay where you are!” She very rarely yelled at her daughter but she was scared that Serena was going to get herself killed.

Serena sat back wide-eyed when her mother yelled at her. Such scoldings were rare though she did get into trouble, sometimes. She was a very headstrong little girl and when she had it in her mind to do something she’d fight in order to do it. However being small, being a child, that often did not go over well with her mother and father though only her mother had ever spanked her. But she couldn’t even remember the last time that had happened. Idly she held up her hand toward the door. The tiny hairs on her forearm raised up, proof that her door was indeed charged with electricity. She could feel the energy, feel it almost like a new appendage that she had never used before but knew existed. She looked at her mother in the mirror again. Her eyes were so serious, so intense, so fearful and yet...Serena felt no fear. She didn’t understand it. This electricity...was nothing to fear. Not for her anyway. ‘How did I know that?’ She wondered to herself.

“Momma...I…” She began and reached out toward the door.

Isabella could hear the sirens in the distance and knew they just needed to wait. She continued to watch Serena in the rear view mirror and her eyes grew wide with fear when Serena began to reach out towards the door. She gasped and turned around to look at her.

“Serena! No!”

The draw to touch the unseen energy was to much for Serena to ignore. It...called to her as if it alone were eager for her to touch it. She couldn’t see the energy but she certainly knew it was there. Finally as if in a trance the first two fingers of her left hand contacted the door.

There was a jolt of pain at first like the time she had accidentally grabbed onto the electrified fence at a farm they had gone to. It kept the cows in the pasture but it had called to her to but it was far weaker than this was. Electricity shot into her through her fingers and she felt a sudden warming sensation from it. That made her smile but she also felt the sensation building and building. As if the energy from the electrical current was filling her somehow. She shifted her hand and opened up her door. “It’s ok momma...it won’t hurt me,” she said as she opened her door then dropped down into the floor. Indeed when Isabella tried to grab hold of her she felt a painful shock and had to draw her hand away as Serena got out of the car. To her horror Serena stepped around her opened door then took hold of the live cable.

Isabella didn’t understand what was happening. How was this possible?! Serena was touching a live electrical wire without getting electrocuted. Then, a thought occurred to Isabella. What if this was her mutation? Her mutation hadn’t yet shown up and they knew it would at some point. Isabella just sat in the car and could only watch her daughter in awe and fear.

Serena could feel the energy infusing her with...something. She saw where the current was coming from. A cable lead from the main power cables was still attached to the post. She looked over at her mother who was watching her in horror. She knew her mother was in grave danger. If she touched the wrong thing or someone else did they’d be electrocuted for sure. She had to cut the connection...somehow. And yet she thought that she might know how...maybe she did.

SHe looked at her free hand as she held the cable. She could still feel the jolt of energy as it continued to fill her and as she looked at her right hand again she saw a small glow appear in her palm. She smiled faintly at it because she knew now what was happening. She was making it, she knew that but hadn’t really realized it until now. It grew larger and larger until it was the size of a large orange in her hand. And then she extended her arm out straight and the glowing ord flew toward the cable.

With a bloom of red energy and bright sparks the cable was severed and the cable she held suddenly felt like just a cable. She let it go and stepped up to her mother’s driver side door. “No more lectric-ty momma,” Serena said as she tried to open the door.

Isabella watched wide eyed as a glowing ball appeared in Serena’s hand. Was she creating that? Isabella knew now that this must all be her mutation. She would need to consult with Charles Xavier about this. She held her breath as Serena extended her hand and the glowing orb shot towards the cable.

As soon as she was safely able to get out of the car she opened the door and pulled Serena into her arms as tears slipped down her cheeks. She then pulled back and took her face into her hands. “Are you alright?”

Serena looked at her mother and was worried that she would be cross with her. When her mother picked her up a wave of relief went through her and she smiled. “Again, again!” She said.

After Isabella talked to the police and filed a report with them she made a call to their insurance agent to get the car towed. After she looked at the jaguar again the damage was to the degree that it should be totaled vs. trying to repair it. Tony was alarmed when she told her all that had happened and indeed he cut his errand short so he could meet them back at the tower. They asked Steve to watch Serena while Tony and herself talked about what happened in their office.

“Ok so her body absorbed the electricity and then she was able to expel it using some kind of ball of energy? And it had some destructive force?” Tony asked but even as Isabella answered she could see Tony’s eyes. They got that way when he was thinking of designing something new.

Isabella sat with in a chair with a ice pack on her head and a glass of bourbon in her hand. She told Tony everything that had happened and could see the fears in his head starting to turn. Isabella was still quite shaken up and took a big sip from the bourbon before responding.

“Yes, but we can’t be sure if that is all she can do. I think perhaps we should consult with Charles Xavier.”

Tony moved up to examine Isabella’s head. There wasn’t a deep or long cut so she’d not need any stitches but there was a decent bruise there. “What do you think Xavier can do? Read her mind?” He said as he probed the wound gently with his fingers. “I say we just let things take their course...or you let me do some testing with her,” Tony said. He replaced the cold pack. “You could go to the bio bed and see if you have a concussion,” He said and kissed her temple. “I think you’re trying to give me gray hairs,” He said trying to bring up her spirits.

Isabella looked at Tony. “Well I think that Charles could at least give us some advice on how to properly train her.” She smiled and rolled her eyes at Tony’s comment. “This wasn’t my fault. That truck hit me.” Her smile faded a little when she thought about the car. “I loved that car.”

She was quiet a second before looking at him again. “What kind of testing?”

Tony didn’t respond about whose fault it was, he knew it wasn’t her fault. He was just thankful no one was seriously hurt. “Well, just like any other experiment we already know she can absorb radiation and no electricity. There’s heat/fire, light energy, kinetic energy though I dont think she’s immune to that and i think dark matter energy is not something I want to mess with so just fire and light,” He said as if he were thinking outloud. “We could all be apart of these experiments, all 3 of us...what do you say?” He asked. WHen it came to these kinds of things Isabella was the most conservative so he always asked her before he just tried something. He knew full well if he didn’t then she’d one, be offended and two be worried about Serena’s safety. If they all three did this than all bases could be covered.

Isabella listened to Tony's explanation of how they could test her and she was quiet for a long while after as she considered everything. She knew Tony well enough to know that he wouldn't do anything to put Serena in danger. He would be cautious and they could always call in Charles if they needed to.

"Alright, but if Serena doesn't want to do something or wants to stop then we stop."

Tony spent the next two days setting up the lab for the experiments. He was going to use a low level laser as one for light, A Bunsen burner for heat and an open electrical current for electricity. He wasn’t going to expose her to radiation as he was fairly certain she was immune to that as well. It took a good long while to configure the laser and it was able to emit all kinds of different things. Sound waves, microwaves and other types of waves. They were configured to cause irritation in the skin but nothing else and the hope was if anything bothered her physically, she’d definitely say something about them. When Isabella brought Serena down Banner was down there as well. He had helped set up the experiments.

“Hi Serena,” Bruce said and he gave her a cherry dum-dum sucker, her favorite. “Ok sweet-pea,” He said and picked her up and set her into the small chair he designed for her. It was mostly a cushioned plastic and he had an immobilizer for her arm. He velcroed her arm in while Banner set up the targeting of the beam.

“Ok, Isabella, you get to run the spectrograph and photometer which will measure the light and energy that is directed at Serena,” Tony said. He showed her how to use it, it looked like an odd video camera with a larger screen and it was plugged into the machine nearby that had several digital graphs going at the same time. Right now they were all flat lined. “Are we ready?” Tony asked and held up his thumb toward Serena. Bruce did the same.

Isabella had talked to Serena before hand about what they were going to do. Serena was a very intelligent girl and watched the news with her parents. She had heard about mutants and she now knew she was one. She was excited about testing her powers and seeing what she could do. It also meant being in her father's lab and she loved being there. She smiled when she saw Bruce with a sucker and she took it and thanked him. She smiled when her father put her up in the chair and she sat there calmly while he velcroed in her arm.

Meanwhile, Isabella stood by and watched. She was nervous, but knew they needed to do this and Tony had promised her that nothing they were going to do had the potential to hurt her. She walked over to the spectrograph and photometer and listened to the instructions Tony gave her. She nodded and got in position to watch the screen. Serena smiled when her father and Bruce gave her a thumbs up and she did one back. "Ready!"

“Ok Serena, if you feel a bee sting you let us know ok? Bruce has his finger on the shutoff,” Tony said then flipped the switch. The yellow beam was right on target for the side of her arm and he nodded toward Isabella. “Ok, we will try level 1,” Tony said and turned the knob. Serena seemed more interested in the sucker than anything else right then so tony went right to level 3. The beam seemed brighter to the naked eye and to Isabela’s photometer. Serena turned and faced them as if she did feel something but not pain.

“What is it Serena, what do you feel?” Tony asked.

Serena sat quite happily with her sucker. It was cherry, which was her favorite. Bruce always had them for her in his pocket. She didn't really notice anything when the beam was on level 1. However, when Tony turned it to level 3 she found she could feel it. It wasn't painful though. Isabella waited anxiously for Serena to answer.

"I feel...warm inside...but also like something is building up," she said trying to describe it. It was difficult for an 8 year old."

Tony smiled at what Serena said and rubbed his chin. “Well, do you see that metal disk on the stand over there,” He said and pointed. If you feel as if you need to release anything, try and hit that ok?” Tony asked but he wasn’t certain himself if he understood what ‘releasing’ would mean. He wasn’t there when she had made a ball and released it. “Ok, level 5...7...9” Tony said and the beam was so bright it was white.

Serena looked at where her father was pointing and she nodded. She continued to sit there as the beam was intensified. That building feeling in her body continued until she felt as if she might burst. She pointed her hand at the metal disk and intended to make a ball, but instead a solid blast came from her hand and hit the disk on the stand so hard that it knocked it across the room. Serena winced, thinking she might get in trouble.

"Sorry Daddy...."

Tony turned off the beam and pursed his lips as he wondered how to reinforce the target. “You did really good Serena, you hit the target,” Tony said. Bruce smiled as well. “Well it appears you are immune to light based attacks, microwaves, radiation and heat and you can use the energy and expel it in an attack,” Tony said as he moved up and unstrapped her to the chair. “Now, I know we told you that its not good to play with fire but this once, and only this once, we are going to see if fire reacts the same way. Now I’m willing to bet you can feel heat, its what makes you feel warm when your cold but we want to see if the fire actually harms you,” He said as he brought her over to the stool. Isabella put away the photometer and joined them. “Now your mother is going to be right here so if you feel pain or a bee sting you pull your hand away as fast as you can ok?” Tony said.

Serena finished her sucker and was relieved that her father wasn't angry with her. However, she felt much better now that the excess energy had been expelled. She was excited and a little nervous about the fire, but she trusted her father. She sat down on the stool and smiled at her mother as she walked over. Isabella made sure that Serena's hair was pulled back away from any flames and gently rubbed her back. Serena nodded to her father.

"Ok."

Tony turned on the burner and slid it over toward Serena. He kept the flame fairly low. “Ok Serena, pass your hand over the flame. If you feel ok about it, try to hold your hand over it. If it hurts pulled your hand back as fast as you can ok?” Tony said. He was more worried about this than the light. Fire was an element but it was essentially an exchange of energy so he hoped it would work.