the siren |peter parker x siren!oc|

Serenity: Part 10

Lena hated her physical therapist.

Optimism had been the word Peter used. The doctor was always looking on the brighter side of a situation. Dr. Blythe had a high pitched voice as if it always ended in exclamation points. That was another comment that Peter made, and Lena had no idea what an exclamation point was until he had shown her. The vertical line with a dot below it somehow was a perfect description of the doctor that she woke up to every morning.

Now that she was outside of her tank, Mr. Stark informed her that if she wanted to stay living in his care, she would need to follow a specific and carefully laid out schedule.

In the morning she would see Dr. Blythe. They did various exercises on large machines that, according to the doctor, strengthened her leg muscles and taught her brain how to use them. She stubbornly submitted to everything Dr. Blythe asked her to do, but not without scrunching her face and rolling her eyes. At the end of each session was an attempt to stand on her own. She stood, leaning on sets of bars to keep herself upright. The only motivation she had was hearing the number of seconds she could stand on her own gradually grow larger every day.

After a week of working with Dr. Blythe, she was able to maneuver her way around Mr. Stark's "Avenger Compound" with what everyone called "crutches." They acted as legs, hurt the undersides of her arms but still, it was better than sitting idly in her room.

In the afternoon she would see Doctor Loud, a stern woman with what she called a "Pea Ayche Dee" in speech pathology. Lena did not know the significance behind this statement, but every time she rolled her eyes, Dr. Loud reminded her of the pea ayche dee, which only made Lena want to roll her eyes again.

They spoke sentences, words, made sounds with her lips, stretched her lips, everything involving her mouth and throat she could think of was used during the hour they spent together. It took everything in her not to trance Dr. Loud into falling asleep so she could escape and find something more entertaining to do.

After Dr. Loud was Dr. Green, a biologist who practically poked at her all day. Blood sample after blood sample was extracted from her, swabs from her saliva, recordings of her singing voice, and videos and images of her tail turning into legs. It was her least favorite part of the day. Mr. Stark seemed displeased with the experimentation as well, but reminded Lena,

"Only one hour per workday, that's all I allow him. I don't want you to think you're some kind of creature we're keeping for observation. You live here now. We want you to become Peter's partner."

In between the time she spent with Dr. Green and when Peter arrived at the compound, she sat on her bed and spoke to the voice in her room. Her name was PET, and Mr. Stark had said that any question she asked, PET would have the answer to. This "Artificial Intelligence" was programmed specifically for Lena's needs, all according to Mr. Stark. So she sat, and asked questions for hours.

"What is 'cell phone?'"

A cell phone is very similar to the telephone. It is carried in pockets by most human citizens.

"What is 'telephone?'"

As we went over yesterday, the telephone is a device used by humans to communicate with each other when they are not nearby."

"What is 'partner'"

A partner is someone who is equal to you. It is a pair of people who support each other for specific needs.

Mr. Stark wanted Lena to become Peter's partner. Eventually, she was going to be his equal. Lena knew that she had no clue what the extent of this meant, that she was still in the early stages of rehabilitation, but her progress must have been good enough that she would potentially catch up to where Peter was. She smiled to herself, lying down backward on the bed.