It was the end. Dust filled her lungs, but she didn't have the energy to cough it out. Pain filled her back and her legs felt numb. Small cracks let minimal amounts of light into the small space she had under the fallen debris. The sound of her own heart pounding filled her ears.
So this is what it feels like to die, she thought weakly. Her vision was dark around the edges and was quickly fading. She half closed her eyes, waiting for the end of her life to come upon her. Then, some of the debris was lifted from her, light finally reaching her. Firemen quickly worked to clear the debris away from her, though to her they seemed to move in slow motion. As she faded from consciousness, she saw medics come to take her to the hospital.
"Am I paralyzed?" Echo Evans asked her voice rough from just waking up. One of the doctors looked at her sympathetically.
"I'm afraid so," he said softly. "You may never be able to use your legs again." She closed her eyes to keep the forming tears from falling. Just moments ago she had learned her family was killed, her father by a Chitauri and her mother and brother from a ceiling caving in on them as they tried to escape their collapsing apartment. It wasn't hard to find them since their bodies had already been discovered and their identities released. Echo looked up at the doctor with reddened eyes.
"What am I going to do?" He sighed.
"We can keep you here for another 24 hours for checkups, though it seems you'll be alright if you go around in a wheelchair. You haven't gotten any more damage than in your spine. I'd suggest you stay another night just in case you do have any more injuries that we may have missed. We don't want you hurting yourself even more." Echo stared off to the side and nodded slightly, showing she agreed to stay. Within the last twenty minutes she'd lost everything she had; her home, her family, her legs. The only thing she had left was her life and she didn't plan on losing that any time soon.
"Do I have to stay in here?" she asked, her voice slightly choked from the held back tears.
"We could let you out for an hour to an hour and a half," the doctor replied. "But even so, where do you plan on going?" She gave it a moment of thought.
"I could at least do what I can to help." The doctor glanced out the window and then back at her.
"There's a shelter for people who have been affected by the attack not too far from here. They could use some help and we could lend you a wheelchair. I'll arrange for a ride to take you and pick you up. One of the nurses will help you change." He left the room and a nurse with long dark hair came and picked her up out of her cot. She helped Echo change into a black shirt, jeans, and a plain grey sweater. She pulled on some sneakers and a wheelchair waited outside. The nurse showed her how to use it and led her to the van that waited just outside the hospital. She wheeled into the van and was secured in. The nurse gave her a comforting smile and shut the door.
The damage Echo saw on the way to the shelter was unsettling. Chunks of debris from damaged buildings littered the streets, some with cars under them. Overpasses were collapsed, buildings were destroyed, and people sat on the streets loaded with open cuts and bruises and some even with broken bones. It made Echo shudder to know she wasn't the only going through such hard times. Who knew how many people had lost family or friends and the worst of it was that some didn't know what happened to them. They waited anxiously, hoping for a call or message to come to say they were all right. Most likely, a lot of people would be intensely disappointed to know that the person they hoped was okay was dead or missing, never to be found.
The van stopped at a fairly large white tent. Echo could see shadows of people hurrying back and forth to tend to wounded civilians. The driver undid the fastenings of her wheelchair to the van and helped her out.
"I'll be back in an hour," he said. "Be ready then." She nodded and wheeled into the tent. People glanced at her, wounds pouring blood onto their faces, torsos, and limbs. Some were crying and some stared at the ground in shock. One of the medics looked up at her.
"You must be the girl who was coming to help," she said. Echo nodded. The medic thrust bandages into her arms. "Help as many people as you can and try to clean their cuts as well as you can." Echo turned and looked at a man who was gripping his shoulder tightly. Blood stained his hand and the shirt beneath. She wheeled over to him and looked at him in his eyes.
"Let me have a look," she said. He hesitated, but removed his hand. The cut was deep and wide, gushing blood nonstop. Echo took a cloth and wiped away as much blood as she could and cleaned the wound to help with stopping infection. She wondered how much it was hurting him, but he never made a sound. She wrapped a bandage tightly around his shoulder and tied it tight. She gave him a smile and moved on to another person.
As she worked on cleaning people's wounds, a woman with short red hair and a black skintight suit walked in.
"How's it going over here?" she asked.
"Good," the medic replied. "But more and more people keep coming. Thankfully we have a bit more help." She gestured to Echo who was wrapping a small girl's wrist. She gave the woman a quick smile and tied the bandage.
"How long have you been in that wheelchair?" the woman asked curiously.
"Since about a half an hour ago," Echo replied. "Some debris from a building fell on me and I got paralyzed waist down. I was allowed to come down here to help." She moved on to another person and the woman nodded.
"Alright, thank you," she said and left. Echo guessed she'd just been there to make sure everything was going okay so she could report it to whoever needed to know. She hoped other shelters were doing as good as this one.
The next morning, the doctors checked to see if Echo had any more injuries. Apparently she didn't so they allowed her to go, but she wasn't sure where she wanted to go. Her home was destroyed and there she was sitting immobilized in a wheelchair. Instead of just sitting there aimlessly, she decided to wheel around some. Maybe she could help if anyone was in need.
Officers walked around picking up stray Chitauri weapons and armor that lay here and there. Bodies of the otherworldly creatures lie dead in the streets and one of the gigantic reptile-like animals that had contained many of the Chitauri soldiers hung half suspended on the top of a building. Echo swallowed painfully, trying to hold back the nausea from the sight of the purple splotched aliens. Purple was less disgusting than red, but it she still knew what it was and it sickened her. Apparently one of the Chitauri had barged into her apartment and stabbed her father through the heart with its spear gun weapon. In a way, she was glad she hadn't seen her father die like that, but part of her wished she'd been there in his final moments. Now she'd never see him again.
The tall skyscraper that used to be StarkTower laid half in ruins. The letters had busted off and fallen, only to leave a letter A. Echo found that funny because the A seemed to stand for the Avengers, the superheroes who'd saved the world from any more destruction the alien race would have caused. The tower had also housed the famous Tony Stark who was Ironman and one of the Avengers. At one time the tower had stood tall and strong, a 'beacon of self-sustaining energy.' Now, it was in desperate need of repair.
"Hey, it's not safe to be wandering around out here." Echo turned and saw one of the Avengers standing behind her. Captain America looked down at her, his shield shining in the sun. It was like a moment from a movie.
"Uh, sorry," she apologized, "I'll move." She turned her wheelchair to leave, but he stopped her.
"Are you the girl Nat- I mean Black Widow told me about? The one in the shelter yesterday?" Echo nodded.
"Yes, why?"
"You seem lost," he replied.
"No, I'm just…" she trailed off. She didn't know where she was going or what she was supposed to do now. "…I'm just trying to find a place to call home for now. My
home's gone." The words stung the Captain. He felt sorry for her knowing she would never walk again.
"Do you have any family you can contact?" She shook her head.
"My father was killed by the Chitauri and my mom and brother were killed in our apartment building." Her last words were choked and her eyes grew red. She hadn't meant to look desperate in front of one of the 'Earth's mightiest heroes', but she could stop it and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Captain America looked around and then knelt down to her level.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly putting a hand on her shoulder. "I think I have a place for you to stay for now."