17600/Paging Mutant Foley To The Medical Center, Code Blue

Paging Mutant Foley To The Medical Center, Code Blue
Date of Scene:	08 April 2024
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Medical
Synopsis:	Josh is invited to Avengers mansion to heal Pepper, who took shrapnel from a grenade at the attack at the UN. After he healed her to a much better condition, he was offered a chance to join the team.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts, Joshua Foley

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Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve and two of the doctors from the Avengers' medical staff are conversing over in a far corner of the room. Their voices are soft enough that Pepper probably can't hear much of what is said. Except for a few rare moments when a voice raises slightly, like when Steve tells the two doctors, "Well you saw the x-ray of my arm after."

The conversation continues for a good dozen minutes before the two of them look over at Pepper, and then nod to Steve. Steve nods back to them and they wait there out of the way while Steve comes over to where Pepper lies in one of the beds.

"I heard you saved a few people at the UN. That was very brave of you," Steve tells her.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is lying in bed, the blood transfusions ceased and cleaned up, though the IV bags of fluids and medications that help regulate her heart, give her an easier time breathing, all are still flowing. The heart monitor is still there, though the crash cart has been moved to the corner, out of the way. //That// fear is gone, and the prognosis is still slowly inching up.

She's looking a little frail, though; she's not a large person on a good day, and the bed looks almost oversized for her. Pale, and scratched up, opens her eyes and offers a weak but absolutely //there// smile. "Hey," she says in greeting, the word not much more than a hoarse whisper.

Her brows rise a little, the green eyes clear and still so very 'Pepper'. "I did, huh? I just remember trying to get out with them."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers's gentle smile touches his blue eyes as he nods. "You did. I can imagine the last few seconds of it might not have stuck in your memory very well," he says, having had some experience with taking a blast like Pepper did.

Pulling up a chair, Steve takes a seat. He has a folder with him that he rests on the side of the bed while he talks to Pepper. "I've been talking with the doctors about a way to possibly get you better quickly, Pepper. Do you remember the young man from the diner with the golden skin? Sara's boyfriend, Joshua Foley?" Steve asks her. "He is a mutant, and has healing powers. I had a broken arm and he was able to heal it just by touching my hand," Steve says.

He pulls out two x-rays from the folder. "This was my forearm before the diner. And this is it after. Not even a spot you can tell it was healed," he says, holding the x-rays so Pepper can see them, or giving them to her if she wants to take them herself.

"If you want to, we could ask Josh to come in and see if he can help you. The doctors are a little hesitant, but have given their ok. It's up to you though if you wish try it," Steve says softly.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper shakes her head ever so slightly; more a thought than an actual gesture as she follows it up with, "Not very well, no." At least she's got the grace to keep the humor attached, even if it's just a little.

Being strong.

After a long consideration, a battle of bringing up memories, she finally acknowledges, "I do remember, vaguely." News that Steve had a broken arm, however, has her looking at him a little more closely, a little more carefully. Even in a hospital bed, in a virtual ICU, there is written concern on a pale visage. "How?"

The pictures are fine, though.. it's more the fact that Steve is standing by and vouching rather than the actual proof before her.

The doctors' hesitation does count for something, and she does ask, "Did you talk to Tony? Is he okay with it?" The quick nod, however, pretty much determines that her mind is mostly made up.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"I haven't specifically, though I've let some of the team know that we were already considering the possibility of him joining the medical team. Possibly the Avengers as a whole. I'm not sure if he does much field work," Steve replies to Pepper.

"But it's your call. If you want to give it a try, I'll call him and see if he can come in. It would all be with the doctors on hand. If you'd rather wait, we can do that too," Steve says, keeping his tone gentle so there's no pressure on Pepper at all.

Pepper Potts has posed:
She's quiet for a long moment, her gaze shifting from Steve to the ceiling as the final decision is made. Wordlessly, she nods her head in agreement. She hasn't yet heard all the news in terms of the extent of injuries, but the fact that the doctors and nurses aren't hovering //that// closely that things are probably a little better.

Where's the harm, then?

"I hate hospital beds," Pepper offers softly, her tone wry. She's been in many of them over the years for Tony, and even times when he //should// have been at a hospital but not. Then, there was the medical flight to Wakanda for a refitting of the arc reactor's housing...

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers gives Pepper a smile and a nod of his head. "I'll go and give him a call. With any luck he can come over today, but we'll see what he says," Steve tells her. He reaches down to touch Pepper's shoulder gently as he gives her that smile that reassures that everything will be ok.

Then he turns and nods to the doctor, heading out of the room with one of them while the other comes over to talk to Pepper, go over more on her injuries. And also probably ask her to try to note how she feels if Josh agrees to try to heal her. Things they will want to document about the process after.

Joshua Foley has posed:
'Dress nicely!' That was Sara's only warning to Joshua after she learned that Steve had reached out to him about coming to help Pepper. After all, she had been using some of her clothing allowance to make him dress in something other than his usual hoodies and jeans he wore.

So he's wearing a 'nicer' hoodie and jeans that don't have holes in them. Functionality over form, when it's all said and done. Arriving at the mansion to find Steve waiting on him, he immediately wishes he'd asked Sara to come with him - because despite all his time at Xavier's, it's still overwhelming.

After passing through the security checks and all, he made his way down to the medical center, all the while, looking over the medical charts that Steve had handed him. There's a thin pull of his lips into a line. He's fairly confident he can handle it, as he arrives at Pepper's room.

Pausing to knock, because polite, he the realizes that Steve is with him and clears his throat. "After you." he manages, before following the first Avenger within. Immediately, he's lifting his head to look at the redhead, getting a bioscan of her from distance before he approaches. "Hello... I... I'm Joshua Foley. It's nice to meet you, Miss Potts. Sara's told me a bit about you. But I'm sure you have more questions for me than I do for you."

The golden-skinned mutant starts with the easiest one he assumes. "I'm a mutant. That much is obvs. But I heal via tactile touch. I don't need to touch the injury, I can just hold your hand, it'll take longer but is less obtrusive. I've had my powers since I was fifteen. I've been able to revive myself from death, and revive someone else from the same state. I do field work, mainly with an offshoot of the Justice League that was under the care of my adopted mother, Nettie Crowe." A pause there, as he waits to see if there was anything that he missed - and giving himself time to parse the biofeedback he's getting.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The pale Pepper watches as Steve departs, and she's given a chance to take stock, once again. She's scared, hurting, and some of the things the doctors are saying aren't helping matters, no matter how optimistically they're couching it. The news is taken as well as it can be, given the circumstances, and as Steve returns with the golden Joshua she's back to looking up at the ceiling, working out the ramifications of everything of the last 48 hours.

Joshua is given a polite smile, an expression more to put the uneasy man a little more at ease than for herself. She's trying. This doesn't happen to her! "Nice to meet you too," is whispered. "I.. I don't know what to ask, so.." Pepper turns her head, her attention to Steve, a man whom she trusts, one of Tony's best friends, if that was at all possible. She moves an arm out slowly from under the blankets; more insult and injury with the shrapnel having broken pale skin, leaving behind red and angry stripes. "Just a hand?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers follows Joshua in, but lets him approach Pepper. If Josh looks back, he'll find Steve giving him a look that expresses his confidence that Joshua will be up to the task of helping Pepper.

While they converse, Steve moves over to be nearer at hand, but leans back against the wall to stay out of the way. The two doctors come in as well. They also flick a few switches and tap some commands on some scanners in the room, as well as making sure it is videotaped. Doctors are like any scientist, they need their data.

When Pepper looks to him, Steve gives her back a reassuring look and a nod, his eyes soft with his concern for her.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"One other thing to note. Whatever happens here - does not leave this mansion. I know what type of fevor will rise from normal people if they find out that there is a golden 'idol' that heals with a touch." With that out of the way, he moves over to Pepper's bedside.

"Just a hand." Joshua offers with a smile as he gets a chair and moves to take a seat next to Pepper as she offers her hand. "So. The shrapnel that's embedded in you? I could remove, but it'd probably kill you and I'd end up having to revive you and I'm not one hundred percent confident in that yet. So, I apologize for that in advance."

With that said, as he settles down, his hands cover hers. And the minute that he touches her, her hand feels warm. Not uncomfortable, just a tingly warmth, the opposite of someone injecting fluids through an IV.

Closing his eyes to concentrate, the golden hue of his skin brightens, a soft glow eminating from him as he goes to work. As he works, the glow spreads over Pepper's skin, the visible marks and cuts on her arm starting to knit up and disappear as the glow continues to envelop her. A small bite of his lip, as he takes note of the many, many injuries she suffered. "It's like a jigsaw puzzle." he admits. "You just have to remember what the picture looked like on the box and put it back together again." As those angry stripes start to fade, disappearing in a matter of minutes.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The nod from Steve is given the bravest expression Pepper can possibly give at the moment before looking back at Joshua as finishes uncovering her hand for his ministrations. The doctors and their notes, some of the eyes on the monitor, another is powering up the EKG machine for a look at heart function as he begins to prepare.

"Please don't do that, then," is murmured. "They got most of it, anyway." She did, at least, get //that// message from the doctors. If she's totally //understood// what it means? That's something completely different.

De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt.

The warmth, as it begins, is something of a suprise, even though she'd been forewarned. (After a fashion.) It's not uncomfortable, but it's strange. The nerve endings tingle, and not just on the surface, her skin, but deeper. But it's warm, but it.. a very, very strange sensation. As the nerves heal, first the pain pushes through the painkillers, and then.. nothing. Pain free. Pale skin, but blemishless from the explosion of the grenade is left in the healing wake.

"Please don't make a new appendix. I don't want a new one," she murmurs. "And can you do something about the freckles?" If there was any question that she's spent a great deal of time with Tony, it is easily answered.

Once she starts getting used to it, the warmth begins to cross to her chest, and she pauses in her breathing, the air caught in her lungs, albeit briefly. On the monitor, it's a blip, nothing more. Releasing it, she does look a little uncomfortable, but not in a pained way. Just..

Steve Rogers has posed:
The doctors both lean forward with anticipation so far, that one could probably topple either of them with the gentlest push. Steve, for his part, stays leaning back against the wall, arms crossed as he watches.

His mind casts back to how it felt when Josh healed his arm, and the bruises that were left from the same encounter that fractured the bone. Eyes flitting between Pepper and Joshua, but mostly on Pepper as those visible starts to close before their eyes.

The two doctors are excitedly whispering to each other. "... imagine if she were bleeding, seeing the hemostasis happening in seconds..." "... will the rapid anglogenesis cause any..." "... how rapidly the fibronectin must be forming..."

Steve doesn't follow any of that, but he does smile as he sees the healing seem to be working. He gives a soft grin at Pepper's comments. "I imagine Tony probably likes the freckles, Pepper," he ventures.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Some people suggest that freckles are a mutation." Joshua comments as he works. "In a way, they are, so my answer to that is - I cannot remove those, even if you were teasing." he points out. "I can enhance some mutations - that's a new thing I'm learning, like the whole reviving people thing." He feels that pause and opens his blue eyes to lift them for a moments. "It's okay to be uncomfortable. I was when it happened to me." And now he does it all the time.

"And no. No new appendix - that much I can control." he admits with a small chuckle.

The healing flow continues across Pepper's body, spreading across and downwards, that knitting of injuries and soothing of injuries continuing. As he comes across the shrapnel, he doesn't disturb it, however, he does make sure the area around is at least stabalized for future doctors to deal with.

He hears the doctors' words and he grasps some of it. "As far as I can tell, the first thing my powers activate is an angelesic to soothe the nerves and prevent pain before going to work, I've sealed cuts within a matter of moments." A brief frown. "I get a lot of practice. But I'm still not perfect yet. Sooner or later, I'll be there."

Pepper Potts has posed:
The medical jargon floats above Pepper's head; all she knows is that it's warm, it feels funny, and that it's all emanating from the center of her body. The pain, the bulk of the pain felt is dissipating, leaving behind that 'floaty' feeling as, once again, the body is being tasked to do something in quick order that it's not fully equipped to do. Soon enough, it'll find its level, but now?

Floaty. Like, with lots of good morphine.

So, then, Pepper's tones turn to something that sounds a little 'high'. "Probably," she agrees readily with Steve. But? "Freckles are mutations?"

Heh.

Is that a laugh from the redhead? Probably. She's happy with not having a new appendix regrown, moreso with the humor of it. Remembering what it was that Steve had told her about Joshua and the possibility of being a part of the team, she squeezes his hand gently. "You might get a new job offer from this."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers pushes off the wall, moving over to get a better look at how Pepper has healed, though still back just far enough to give Joshua all the space he needs. Nodding agreement to Pepper's comment about jobs, he says, "I think there's likely a good possibility of that."

The super soldier's blue eyes swing over to the doctors, who take a few moments in their enthusiasm for observing to realize he's looking their way. "Oh, I think," one says, looking to the other to get a nod before continuing, "I think this is definitely something, that is, he is definitely someone, who could add a lot to the team here," the doctor says.

"My thoughts exactly," Steve confirms.

Joshua Foley has posed:
There's a small chuckle as Pepper squeezes his hand. "My rates are pretty reasonable." he says with a small smirk. If Steve did his research, and he knows he did, most of what he does is pro bono, because if he charged for it - again - he'd have to share what he could do with the world, and he's shy about that. He's only here because Sara encouraged it, after all.

Finally, after several minutes, Joshua's hand loosens in Pepper's to cue her that it's time to let go. His attention turns to the doctors. "I took care of everything that I could handle well enough. The only think I didn't bother with was the shrapnel. I stabalized it as best I could, but any rushed movements are still going to aggrevate the injuries, and I'll be back in here to stabalize it again. She's going to need advanced medical care for that." An apologetic look to Pepper. "Sorry about that."

And now that he's done with one, he asks quietly. "May I have a bottle of water? Takes a little out of me to do a heavy healing like this one." comes the quiet admission.

Pepper Potts has posed:
With the healing comes the fatigue, for both the healer and the healed. At least for the healed. While the heavy hitting is done by Joshua, now it's up to Pepper and her own body to do what it must in order to deal with and in some cases, compensate for everything it has gone through for the last 48 hours.

Pepper relinquishes his hand, allowing him to draw it back, and she exhales again, this time a little more audibly. "If you don't, we will," is whispered. You and we? So even then, there'd be logical access!

Shaking her head as it lies on the pillow, there's a little pink but she's still pale. At least it'll be accelerated from here on. "I will not to aggrevate anything," and a glance is given towards her doctors. Undoubtedly she's going to be subjected to numerous tests, again; CT, XRays, MRIs to see what was done, what wasn't done.. looking for the science in what is, to most people, a miracle. "You're fired," is given in the face of his apology, tempered with a tired smile. She absolutely echoes Tony's humor at times.

Not too long after, the doctors do begin to approach once more, "We'd like to run some more tests..." Repeat more tests.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers rests his hand gently on Joshua's shoulder, but only once he's sure the healing is done, not wanting to cause something to mess it up. "An excellent job, Joshua. Thank you." The doctors are moving forward, eager to take Pepper's vitals and to run this scanner and that scanner on her, the Avengers facility having some advanced equipment that most hospitals don't. Though some things like an MRI are definitely in her future indeed.

They talk back and forth excitedly. "Amazing, Mr. Foley," one of them says. "Even if you couldn't remove the shrapnel she's in much better shape. Vitals are higher. High enough that Mr. Stark's idea might be more feasible," he says.

Steve pats Josh's shoulder then and says, "I'll get you the water. Can grab an energy bar too or... did I mention we have a kitchen with a dedicated chef? Can order you up a nice meal to help you recover," Steve offers before stepping out to get the bottled water, returning just a moment later.

"Josh if you'd be interested in joining the Avengers, as a member of the medical staff certainly, and possibly as a member if that is something that your power makes feasible, I'd definitely like to have us have that conversation," Steve says.

Joshua Foley has posed:
As the doctors move forward to do their work, Joshua moves back, a wry grin towards Pepper. "You never offered me a job in the first place." he repsonds with a teasing smirk, before he feels that hand on his shoulder. As he listens to Steve's words and looks towards Pepper and then back up to Steve, he considers it. "Energy bar would be great. I replenish quick - I feed on my own power, so I need fast and easy energy - Sara throws a fit at how much ice cream I tear through."

Cracking open the water to drink from it, he nearly spits it out when Steve actually presents the offer. He's so used to just being needed in that moment, then set aside, to be called back when he's needed again. But a chance to help? To actually do more. "I... I would like that." Joshua admits. "Thank you."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Now that the extra healing work is done, the doctors are more than ready to *shoo* everyone from the room with admonitions, 'Ms Potts needs to rest now..'. Of course more CTs and XRays. Time to call their //other// other specialists like pulmonary and vascular, neurology to do their own checks.

"Uh oh," Pepper murmurs. "Now we did it." Guinea pig time! "Send help."

Still, it's fair. The patient has been through a lot and now Joshua gets to consider the ramifications of now joining what is probably one of the more (most?) public of superheroes. From anonymity to People Magazine!

Before the men are forced out, however, Pepper does have a final word, "Thank you. Both of you." Then, doors are closed.