Disconcerting Data

You ate breakfast alone the next morning, insofar as you didn’t have any human company, super or otherwise. The Guardian robot responsible for feeding you was efficient, shovelling the nutrients you needed into your mouth with speed and precision.

When you arrived at the lab the doctor was already deep into her work, pouring over data that filled up the screens around her. She saw you and smiled, which brightened your morning considerably.

“It’s incredible,” she told you, before you could even utter a customary greeting. “Your numbers are... They’ve gotten even better. Your loads are bigger. The active proteins and effect markers are in higher concentrations. Look!” Tina pointed to some charts and a running feed of indicators. It took you a second to place yourself and wrap your head around the variables but you could see why the doctor was so excited.

“That’s really amazing,” you said, almost feeling detached from the data even though it was your spunk being analysed.

“And… a little disconcerting,” McGee added then, which leveled the mood in the room a little bit. “I’m not sure if this is some sort of cycle your body is naturally going through… or if something is changing.”

You nodded, crossing your arms. You had monitored your own samples for as long as you had been a donor, but you knew these readings were beyond out of the ordinary.

“I’ve never been this ...um… potent before. It could be the diet. The resources here are even better than what I managed for myself back on Earth.”

The doctor nodded.

“It could also be an effect of being in space,” posited McGee, rubbing her chin. You hadn’t considered that, and the jury was still out on whether what was happening to you was definitely a good thing or not in the long run. “We’ll need more tests. Other tests,” she went on. “Blood tests. ECG’s. Maybe even an eyesight and hearing test.”

Your thoughts wandered back to what you overheard before bed last night and you swallowed. You only took a good look at the doctor now and noticed… she was done up a little more than usual. Only subtly... But you noticed she changed her eyeshadow. Maybe applied more lipstick. She had her hair tied back into a Serious Ponytail though. “We’ve got all the facilities,” she went on getting up from her desk. “Come on we should get started.”

And once it started it kind of kept going up until lunch. Blood tests. Running on a treadmill with readers stuck to your skin. Getting pushed though full body scanners. More blood tests. You were run through a gamut of decidedly not-so-sexy but necessary examinations, sometimes with Doctor McGee supervising or administering, others with just a well programmed Guardian bot pricking your skin. Even lunch was barely a respite. You were able to be fed a sandwich and a juice box before the Doctor had your blood pressure measured while you walked up a step machine. At one point there was another break, but only to change the bandages on your hands and apply more soothing healing goo to your burns. You also kept an eye out on the screen that tracked Wonder Woman’s vitals, but her numbers seemed to be quite steady throughout the day. Your last dose was doing wonders for the woman.

When the clock indicated that it was night time somewhere on Earth you were exhausted, and only half of the results were in. Even with the supermainframes of the Watchtower, some tests took time to process. At least everything seemed positive so far.

“And blood pressure isn’t elevated unusually,” McGee noted, reading off a chart on tablet in one hand, an emptying juice box in her other with the straw suck into your mouth. You finished the last sip and thanked her for her hand and she shook the empty box absently.

“Did you want another one?” she asked, knowing what a long day you had.

“Maybe would could go grab that coffee now instead,” you tried, glancing over to the digital clock on the wall.

“Hm? Oh,” said the Doctor as she took in the time and realised it was well past the usual ‘office hours’ if there were such a thing on a superhero space station. “Sorry John I didn’t realise it was so late…” she started then put her things down onto a table nearby. “You sure you still want to? I mean we just spent all day running these tests. We were together all day.”

You hoped McGee wasn’t changing her mind about the planned date.

“We talked about work all day,” you noted. “I wouldn’t mind talking about… other things?” You offered her a shrug, your bandaged hands out. McGee’s downcast expression seemed to lighten and she smiled at you.

“Alright fine,” she conceded, then stretched her arms behind her back and cracked her neck. There was a sigh and she literally let her hair down, your breath catching at the sight of those dark locks tumbling down to her shoulders. “You had some place in mind?” she asked, now apparently ready for her coffee date.

You did.