Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 86: Melting Point?

*Clap*Tony stood up gathering everyone's attention. "So let's get started! Was there anything special about this girl?" Natasha stopped for a second as she thought of the black metal claws that came from her hands.

Nodding to the rest she walked over to Laura and began to point at her hands. "When I met her at the Park I felt a sense of danger." "Really?" Clint, Steve and Tony couldn't see anything dangerous about the thin figure before them.

Well other than the blood and dirt on her. Natasha nodded again. "Yeah, I couldn't see anything either, but when she thought she was threatened some type of metal claws came out of her hands and she looked ready to attack me. I know my fighting skills; she knew what she was doing."

"What?" Steve asked in genuine surprise as Tony walked closer and lifted up her arms. Looking at the small bits of dried blood on her knuckles he looked from them to Nat then back again. "There are no wounds in the skin or scars...are you sure?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yes I'm sure. A. The claws retracted when she fell unconscious and B. I saw her wounds heal in a few seconds..." She stopped for a second before bringing up her theory. "I think she's a mutant."

"A what?" Steve was one again clueless as Clint stepped forwards intrigued, while Tony looked even more excited. He explained before the rest could. "People with a different mutated gene in their body. They have been showing up more often lately. Each mutant gene gives a different power."

Tony tapped his chin for a second. "I have been looking into them recently, it would be great having people like them helping us in the future if we need it." Everyone looked at him weirdly for a second. "Hey! It's a valid point, we needed more people when those chitauri invaded! I was following a few stories about one that could move through solid objects at will, you got admit it's good to keep an eye on them..."

He trailed off as no one said anything to that, they did have to admit he had a point. Clint was the next to speak up. "I've been hearing about them more on the news. There has been some fanatic group recently that's been advocating to lock all mutants up, because their different and dangerous." "What!" Steve instantly frowned as he was thrown back into the old days of the war and the doctrine that Hitler promoted.

Clint held up his hands in defence. "Don't worry cap, most people think they're lunatics. Not many agree with them." Steve didn't say anything for a short while before sighing in regret. "But some people do." Clint couldn't say anything back to that.

As the rest thought over Steve's words, Jarvis's voice sprung back to life. "That would explain a few things Sir." Tony turned to look at the screen above Laura's body. Jarvis started to move it about highlighting his next points.

"I have run a facial recognition program on Jane Doe's face. No results have been found anywhere in the world." Tony didn't like the sound of that, none of them did. "Did someone erase her record?" Jarvis shook his head. "No sir, I haven't been able to find it at all. Her DNA scans, show her closest matches to be a one, Sarah Kinney." A picture of Sarah appeared on the screen.

"Recently reported deceased her Last occupation is Unknown, she was a renowned mutant geneticist." Tony rubbed his chin again and mumbled to himself. "Mutant geneticist?" Jarvis continued. "There are no records of her being pregnant or having a family or husband. Even stranger is the other match found in her DNA."

Another older picture came up on the screen, one in black and white.

"A one Logan Howlett, died over 40 years ago. Apart of the Canadian government special forces, he went missing on a mission in Japan." "Wait Jarvis." Steve spoke up as Jarvis stopped his speech. His eyes squinted as he looked at the blurry picture before him. It wasn't the best and was very outdated, but he felt like he had seen this man before, he just couldn't remember where.

"Cap?" Tony asked, Steve shook his head after a few seconds. "It was nothing, continue." Jarvis did just that. "I can confirm that this woman has claws in her body. Scans show 2 extra bones in each of her forearms and wrist as well as 1 extra bone in each of her feet." A diagram of her body showed up with her arms and feet highlighted in certain areas.

Clint showed a skeptical look as he looked at her arms. "What is most peculiar is that her whole skeletal structure is covered in an unknown substance. The closest substance comparison I could find is Adamantium." "The hardest metal in the world?" Steve commented. "That stuff costs a mint. What the hell is this stuff?" Tony put his piece in. "How is that possible?" Asked Natasha.

"The unknown metal seems to have been bonded onto her bones in a specific procedure." The diagram showed a close up of a scan of her bones and its structure. "Though her age is not know, when she reached her current height which was optimal for her body state the metal was most likely bonded on forcefully. She will no longer grow taller for the rest of her life."

"But that must have been an extensive and troublesome procedure." Tony spluttered. "It gets worse sir." A new diagram showing the nervous system and some other data showed up. "Her immune system is like nothing I have seen before, it is so complex that I can't assess it properly without a few extra hours of work. Because of its complexity she is immune to, I would calculate, any toxin, disease or antithetic."

The room stopped cold for a second as Tony sat down on the chair again shocked. Steve spoke for the group. "Jarvis, does that mean that she would have been awake for the procedure." Jarvis seemed to hesitate for a second before he confirmed.

"Yes she was. As you know Adamantium melts at 1500 degrees Fahrenheit or 815 degrees Celsius. A higher temperature would have been used to inject this unknown metal into her bone marrow and coat her bones, to replicate what my scans are indicating." Steve looked away in pain, as Clint also turned his back, feeling a few tears coming to his eyes.

He was trying to imagine his own daughter going through something like that; he couldn't imagine the pain one would go through. Natasha gripped her hand as she got a few flashbacks of the things done to her in the red room, but this was so much worse.

"How could someone do that to a child?" Clint whispered to himself. No one heard his question, but Tony had one of his own. "How is she still alive?" More date appeared on the screen to back up Jarvis's words.

"Her immune system seems to be affected by her mutation, which has also let her adapt or heal the damage done to her sir. I can't exactly explain it, but it's the only reason she is still alive with such a high amount of metal in her body." Tony's eyes moved once again to the read out he saw before and the high toxicity levels in her body, finally knowing why it was so high. He felt sick on the inside.

"Though she is poisoned, her adaptability has drastically reduced the levels of toxicity in her system from what I could tell." Tony was shocked once again. "But the levels now could already kill a normal human person!" The room was quiet turned quiet at Tony's words as they registered what that meant.

Chapter end