Liz managed a grin. "Nah, he's got too much of his own stuff to deal with, no need to make him deal with mine too," she said quietly. "Besides, he might not even get past the Extremis." She kind of doubted it.

"He might," Hillary said. "And if he does, he'd better treat you right."

"If he does," Liz agreed with a little sigh. "Anyway, no use thinking about it now, I won't know anything until I hear back from him." She shrugged. "In the meantime, I should probably check the appliances, see if they need any work."

"I haven't noticed any misbehaving," Hillary said. "The stove is always a little titchy like that, nothing unusual."

"Right." Liz sighed. "Well, I could go work on the stove, or the air conditioning. Either one. Opinions?"

"Up to you," Hillary said. She figured Liz just wanted to keep busy for a while. "Stove first, we're not exactly going to be running the AC much longer, now that summer is almost over."

"Alright. Stove it is." Liz got up and headed into the kitchen to start working. She needed the distraction right then.

Hillary left her to it, going back to what she had been doing.

Elsewhere, Bucky had started his research on Extremis. As he thought, Stark had a wealth of information on it.

Of course, Tony was curious about why someone would be researching Extremis. It wasn't exactly common, and they hadn't run across anyone with Extremis in a while.

"So, why the sudden curiosity, Terminator?"

Bucky barely quirked an eyebrow at the nickname. It was familiar by now.

"Personal interest," he said, flipping to the next page of research.

"Personal interest. Huh. New field of personal interest for you. Lots of history, not so much science before this. Who turned you on to Extremis?" Tony plopped himself in a chair, watching Bucky.

Bucky raised an eyebrow, his face going a bit blank. It still surprised him sometimes how perceptive Stark could be.

"Who said anyone pointed me at it?" he asked.

"Not exactly the kind of thing you come across on your own, not unless you're looking for something specific, and this is you we're talking about." Tony shrugged expressively. "You spend more time playing video games than reading. So, someone pointed you at Extremis, for some reason. It wasn't anyone in the tower, I know that much."

Briefly, Bucky wondered if Howard would have asked so many questions and then decided that yes, Howard would have badgered him about it as well.

"Call it background research and leave it at that," he said.

"Background research for what?" Tony leaned forward a bit. "I could help you find the more relevant information rather than, y'know, everything. Everything is a bit much to go through."

Bucky considered the question for a moment.

"How many variations on the virus are there?" he asked.

"Hard to tell exactly. There have been at least five versions of the serum used, and the serum doesn't effect everyone the same way, allowing for nearly innumerable 'versions' if you go by abilities." Tony shrugged. "The Extremis virus, in its purest form, brings you to the peak of physical fitness and keeps you there. The rest of the virus adapts you in various ways; there have been cases of telepathy from Extremis, techno-mage-types which is ridiculous and usually still isn't as good as me on a bender, some minor mind-control. Things like that."

Bucky blinked. He hadn't expected Stark to just volunteer the information.

"What do you mean by techno-mage?" he asked, homing in on that tidbit. It struck something in his mind that felt familiar, somehow.

Tony shrugged. "One case was good with computers and programming, one case was good with cars and all things mechanical. I think there was a case that took to anything electrical or mechanical, one that was good at fixing things."

That was definitely ringing bells in Bucky's head.

"What else?" he asked. "What did a typical... case... exhibit?"

"Advanced healing, superior strength and reflexes, extra stamina. Very similar to the super soldier serum." Tony shrugged. "Of course, the average case didn't have a great affinity for anything. Only about a quarter of those that survived the experiment gained an affinity for something like technology, along with the speed, strength, endurance, all that nifty crap."

Bucky just nodded, taking the information in. Then he gave Tony a wary look.

"Why are you just giving me the information?" he asked.

"It's faster than watching you dig through the archives," Tony said with a shrug. "I figure the faster you get what you want, the faster you'll be willing to tell me what this is all about." His gaze was sharp now, focused entirely on Bucky. Because Extremis was not something to be played around with.

Well. Not unless you were a genius, anyway.

Bucky looked at him for a moment.

"Not my secret to tell," he finally said.

Tony blinked. "What? The hell does that even mean?" Then he paused. "Is this about the person you keep sneaking out to see? Is it a girl? Is she pretty?" He grinned, suddenly quite interested again.