Tony flicked a hand negligently. "Jarvis can register the actual amount of coverage without you having to do anything extra," he said.

"That's... kind of creepy, actually, but kind of cool," Paige said. "Alright." Standing up, she picked up the gauntlet and laid it along one forearm. Immediately, the alloy spread across her skin, moving quickly at first and slowing down as it got farther away from the point of origin. Once it had covered her entire top half, it stopped entirely, transitioning back to regular skin right about her navel.

Tony pulled up the scan and looked it over, nodding. Yeah, that would work for a quick deflection. "Was that as fast as you could do it?"

"That was intentional, so it was relaxed," Paige said. "It happens faster if it's a reaction to something."

Tony nodded. "Go ahead and let it go," he instructed. Because clearly now it was Science Time, and Science Time meant Testing.

Paige nodded and released the alloy structure. It raced back across her skin, back towards the point of origin, and she put the gauntlet down. She did watch Tony a bit warily, though; he had that eager look on his face that she recognized from when she was a child going to different doctors.

Tony watched her for a moment and, making sure she hadn't let go of the gauntlet completely, threw a bolt at her without warning.

Paige yelped and raised an arm to shield her face, gold alloy streaming across her skin from her other side. The bolt bounced off of her arm with a loud 'clink'.

"What was that for?" she asked, cautiously lowering her arm. She didn't let go of the alloy structure yet.

"To test how fast you could do that," Tony said with a manic little grin. "But I only needed to do it once, don't worry, I won't make a habit of throwing things at you."

"Yeah, thanks," Paige said, hesitantly putting the gauntlet down. "No more, alright? I'm done being tested on. I had more than my share as a kid, no more."

"No more," Tony agreed, having gotten all the data he needed. "But if it makes you feel better, keep hold of that. Actually, keep hold of it anyway, it's on my list for tonight."

Paige set the gauntlet down on the work table and didn't touch it again, now keeping her hands to herself.

Tony noticed and turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "What? I said you could keep hold of it. Honest, I'm not going to throw anything at you, see, nothing throwable around me, already on to the next project."

"I don't like being tested on," Paige said quietly. "Not even like that. Because once it starts, it doesn't stop."

Tony looked at her, for once all the mirth and animation gone from his face.

"Yes, it does," he said quietly. "It stops right now. No more testing, I swear."

Paige hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

"Alright," she said. She would trust him on it for now, until she could see whether or not he meant it.

Tony looked at her for a few more moments before he went back to working. He didn't do anything else, didn't flick anything at her, hardly even looked at her while he worked. But he did make sure she could watch again if she wanted.

After a few moments, Paige cautiously moved closer again to watch him work, although she didn't play with any metal scraps this time.

Tony swore when it zapped him and glowered at it, tapping it. "Bad," he muttered. "Stupid Roombas. I knew they were a bad idea since Clint adopted one."

"The Roombas were Clint's idea?" Paige asked. She grinned a bit. "You like them, though, or else you wouldn't keep fixing them."

"No, the Roombas were one of my sleep-deprived inventions. Clint just adopted one." Tony grinned. "Coulson hates the things."

Paige grinned.

"So the Roombas are your fault, and you're pinning them on Clint because he loves them to death," she clarified, teasing him a bit.

"Sounds about right." Tony grinned. "He can hardly protest, he's one of the main reasons they weren't scrapped."

"That sounds like it has an interesting story behind it," Paige said, grinning.

"Roombas were invented in a sleep-deprived daze. Roombas took over. Roombas started vanishing. Clint and I found out they were getting sucked into an alternate universe type thing. Long story short, we all got back, I improved them so they'd actually clean. Coulson threatened to shoot them all, especially the pack in the Helicarrier. Clint saved them all by giving Coulson the best puppy eyes ever." Tony grinned.