Help
Chapter I
Nick gripped his side hard.
Blood ran through his fingers.
Nick swayed and pressed himself against the wall of the building next to him. He looked up at the raining sky and winced when the movement pulled at his wound. He needed to get to a phone. He needed to get to the Triskelion.
He knew that he wouldn't make it.
Nick stumbled another few steps, his vision failing him. He looked around with his failing sight; he knew this part of town. Knew it and hated it. Of all the places where he shouldn't stop it was here. But he couldn't go any farther, his body wouldn't let him. He sagged against another wall, his bloodstained hand hard against his side; his body slumped against the wall of the ally where he had stopped.
He needed to get to the Triskelion.
They had the best doctors that money could by there.
Doctors that could help him there.
He would be safe once he got there.
As it was, he couldn't believe he had been so stupid in the first place. He should have known that leaving his guards hadn't been a good idea. He just hadn't expected the Mutant's in the area to be so mad at him. He hadn't done anything to harm them, at least not to his knowledge. He hadn't expected them to attack him, and he especially hadn't expected one of them to pull a gun on him and shoot him in the side. He had dealt with them and run away, back towards his guards.
But he saw now that it was useless.
He wouldn't be able to get to help.
He wouldn't be able to get to help in time.
He almost groaned as he looked up. He could even see the lights of the Triskelion in the distance. He could see the lights that would have given him safety, the lights that he had been heading towards.
He knew that he couldn't get there.
It'd be impossible.
A sound greeted him suddenly, different from the pitter-patter of the rain that drenched everything and the familiar sounds of New York City. Light, hurried, and quiet. The sound was at least at the corner of the street he was on, but getting closer.
Footsteps.
Nick blearily looked up. His good eye latched onto something coming forward, towards him through the downpour, he tried to move towards it, to ask for a phone, but as he leaned forward he fell to the ground. His body finally stopping. The world swam and everything went black.
***
Nick sat up fast, his hand reaching towards his side, where his holster should be. It wasn't there. He looked around. He was in a room, a bedroom, it was small but clean and the furniture was well cared for.
He saw a flicker of motion to his left, near the door of the room, and his eyes flew to that spot. Someone hurried into the small room, a young beautiful woman.
The woman's skin was a rich, dark, bronze colour, almost the same colour as Storm's skin, but a hint lighter. Nick had never seen a more beautiful shade before. Her skin was dark enough to be exotic, foreign, and, because of that, intoxicatingly gorgeous. Every exposed inch of her skin seemed to glow, not with reflected light, but with light that she cast. The entire image of her was bathed in a light that made Nick's breath catch and his eyes widen.
Her hair was a gorgeous red. Her short red hair seemed to be on fire, the colour of her hair reminding Nick immediately of the multi-hue of flames. Her hair framed her face in large spikes in the front; the back was cut short and spiked as well. The unseen energy that was all around her in her hair making the flaming expanse form into spikes and wild strands giving her a dazzling air. Her red hair was a halo of spikes around her head, each piece seeming to glow faintly, making her appearance ethereal in a way that he couldn't put his finger on.
Her face was astounding as well. Her nose was small, petite even, a cute button. Black kohl fanned away from her eyes, making them pop. Her lips were full and a shade of dark, seductive, lush red. She had beautiful, high, angular cheekbones that were beautifully chiselled and strikingly prominent. Her cheekbones accentuated her large eyes, and her large red lips. Although her cheekbones were prominent, they still managed not to take away from the feminine curve of her face.
Her face was undoubtedly gorgeous, but her frame was just as beautiful. Her body was an hourglass; her hips were wide enough that they made Nick want to look at them some more, and her bust was large enough that Nick's cheeks flamed. Her waist, conversely, was narrow and gorgeous. She had long, dizzying legs, a slender neck, pianists fingers, and lengthy well-defined arms. The combination of her long features, as well as her small waist and tall stature, made her look sylphlike, but in such a way that made her body look strong and sinuous, instead of sickly and wraith-like.
All of the woman's clothing, and her lack of clothing, showed off the strong muscle that permeated her incredible body. There didn't seem to be an ounce of extra fat anywhere on her body, and Nick could see lean but gorgeous muscle rippling under her taught bronze skin. Her arms and legs were beautifully defined, and the plane of her stomach was magnificently distinct, her abs rippled slightly as she took a breath, allowing Nick to see the ridge of her abs. Her long neck drew anyone's gaze down towards her ample amount of chest; her long arms made Nick wonder how it would look if she were to stretch up, and her dizzying legs made Nick's head spin as he gazed at them.
Nick was awestruck by the body that the woman possessed. He knew that women would kill to have a body like this woman had and that men would go crazy trying to find a woman as beautiful as her. Nick could see her perfect muscle rippling as she moved. Her body flexed as she took a step forward, towards him, it was, by far, the most gorgeous movement Nick had ever seen.
Every muscle clenching.
Tightening perfectly.
It was amazing.
Her beauty and features were exciting. However, her clothing was the most provocative thing about her. Her upper body was clothed in a tank top that hugged her body like a second skin, the shirt more painted on than worn. The cut of the tank top was also a little lower than normal, the bowl cut of the front of the shirt showing a large amount of the woman's chest. The tank top was covered up slightly, however, by a red button down shirt, which was unbuttoned, covering up her arms and her back. However, the tank top wasn't plain; it was a Rolling Stone's shirt, complete with the Rolling Stone's logo and all. The base of the shirt was as black, and it had the Rolling Stone's logo on it, so across the woman's ample, and gorgeous, chest was a large red mouth with it's tongue sticking out of it. As the woman took a breath, her chest stretched the mouth out into a wicked grin before she let her breath back out, making the mouth merely a smile again.
Her lower body was covered by a pair of jeans. The jeans were tight and beautiful, dark navy that bordered on black in colour, and held her body perfectly. The jeans were tight all the way down her legs to her calves where the jean turned into a perfect boot-leg.
Her feet were covered in a pair of black boots that came up to her mid-calf. The boots, like the jeans and shirt, were hardly normal as well, although they were less provocative. They were fixed with silver buckles, which Nick assumed fastened them, all the way up the outsides and stitched through with red. The heel on the boot was more of a stiletto than a boot heel, coming up a few inches, and tapering off to a small point that would have made any woman envious. The boot, especially the stiletto heel, accentuated the length of her already dizzying legs, drawing the gaze down her perfectly muscled legs.
The low cut of her tank top allowed Nick to see that she wore a necklace. It was a small silver chain with a small charm. The necklace rode high on her neck, just below the hollow of her throat. The charm appeared to be a small replica of Captain America's shield, the shield in silver instead of in colour.
The woman also had on a belt. The belt was slung low over her left hip and it rode high against her right hip, obviously proving to be more decorative than functional. The large buckle resting in a very interesting position.
Nick tried not to stare at her.
It was an almost impossible task.
Nick found himself liking the look.
However, that wasn't the most impressive part of her.
Nick was lost in the woman's gaze.
Her entire body was gorgeous; Nick wouldn't hesitate to consider her perfect, she was every boy's dream girl, and beautiful enough that Nick wished he could just touch the woman's skin with an ache he'd never felt before. But her eyes were the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. The colours of her eyes were amazing. Her eyes were emerald; however, overlaying the beautiful green seemed to be a light blue that made it look like she had rays of blue coming from her pupil to her green eyes. The look in her eyes was just as startling as her eye colours. Her eyes were slightly cloudy, emotions undulated through them, two emotions she noticed immediately, and it made Nick almost sway.
Playfulness.
Lust.
The contradiction, between the bronze skin, the red hair, the black kohl, the dark red lips, and the startling green and blue eyes, made her even more exotic, and that much more attractive.
It wasn't merely her startling eyes; it wasn't even that lust and playfulness shone in her gaze. It was the look that she pinned Nick with. She seemed to drink him in with her gaze, and as she glanced at him, her look was something between seductive and playful, the emotions in her eyes growing as she looked at Nick. The look in her eyes complimented her full lips as she looked upon him, which held an impossibly sexy smirk.
She fixed him with her eyes and Nick couldn't move.
All Nick knew was that there was just something about the woman standing in front of him, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on, that made the woman even more beautiful to him than any other woman he had ever seen. She was gorgeous, yes, but she wasn't beautiful in a classic sense, not beautiful like an actress or a model. Yet she was striking, there was something that made her even more beautiful than all of the actresses and models put together. It took long seconds for Jan to put her finger on what she was.
It wasn't her odd eyes or her odd dress that made her different. It was her entire look. The air around her seemed to hum with the feeling that she was different. That was what drew Nick the most. He could almost feel that she wasn't normal, that she wasn't like a normal Human. She was new, she was exciting, and she was foreign.
She was exotic.
Nick loved the look and feel of her, her exotic flare.
The thing that made her her.
Nick found himself experiencing the oddest experience that he had ever had. He had been hit by lust countless times before, but there was something about this woman in front of him that brought out his most primal instincts. He wanted to have her all to himself, Nick didn't want anyone to see the woman in front of him besides him.
Nick wanted her with a passion he had never felt before.
And Nick loved feeling that way towards her.
The young woman in front of him couldn't have been over 25, but she seemed to hold herself in a way that made him believe that she was the single smartest person in the world. A way that made the outfit that she was wearing look as if it was worth a million dollars, and her body was one of the most gorgeous things Nick had ever seen.
The woman tossed her head slightly, her face splitting in a gorgeous smile, pearl white teeth standing out against dark red lips and dark honey skin.
"You shouldn't be moving so much." The woman said, her voice was very quiet, soft, and accented slightly with a tone from a different country, although Nick couldn't tell which one, it sounded almost like something between Eastern European, English maybe, and Middle Eastern, and tinged with worry. The woman rushed forward and gently placed a hand on his arm, pressing him lightly down to the bed, her warm hands soft against his body, and the motion the gentlest Nick had ever encountered. She looked at his side, her fingers running over the skin.
Nick, for the first time, realized that he had no shirt on. He also noticed that the large wound that had been on his side wasn't there anymore. "Wh…" Nick barely said.
"Oh… I'm sorry… it's just… you were hurt and… I couldn't get you to the hospital in time, so I healed you here." The young woman said as she looked up at him slightly.
"You… healed me?" Nick asked.
"Yes, I did." She said. She seemed to steel herself. Nick looked at her, confused, for a few seconds before he realized what she was worried about. People didn't always take kindly to Mutants, in fact most of the time they didn't, this girl had gone out of her way to heal him, to take care of him for God only knows how long, and she was actually afraid that he'd harm her in return.
"Thank you." Nick said quietly. She looked up at him and gave a small smile. "You didn't have to."
"I'm a healer at heart; I couldn't let you stay hurt."
"Healer's right…" Nick commented. He looked over at the young woman and nearly hit his forehead. "I'm sorry, sometimes I don't think. Steve would have my head if he found out about this, my name's Nick." Nick said as he held out his hand.
"Grace." The young woman responded.
"Thank you, Grace." Nick said, his voice ringing with sincerity.
"It was my pleasure." Grace said with a smile as she stood. Nick watched her rise. "I have soup ready, you shouldn't eat anything much heavier than that for at least twenty-four hours, I'll bring you some water, do you need anything else?" Grace asked.
"Where are my things?" Nick asked. Grace nodded to the bedside table, Nick's things sat there, including his gun. "Thank you." Nick said as he looked back up, Grace was gone.
Nick picked up his things and looked through them after a second. He was shocked that he wasn't surprised that nothing was missing. Grace, for some reason, seemed to be a genuine Good Samaritan, it practically flowed off of her, out of her, that she wanted to help, that she was a good person. Nevertheless, Nick was usually wary, warier than to just accept that a person, any person, no matter how good they seemed, was really just a good person, and he was surprised at himself for actually allowing himself to just trust someone like that.
Grace walked back into the room; she had soup, soft bread, and water for him. She handed it to him and then disappeared again. She came back five minutes later with Nick's clothes and a second bowl of soup for him. He ate half of it before he pushed it away. She took it and walked from the room. Nick changed his clothes, slipping his things back into their respective pockets. "Uh, Grace, I know it's not really any of my business but… didn't you have to go to work today?" Nick asked. Grace looked back into the room.
"No, my boss is out today."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a secretary at a firm in town. What about you?"
"I run a company." Nick said with a shrug. He picked up his phone and flicked it open. He looked at it in shock for a few seconds.
"Is something wrong? Did I miss something?" Grace asked as she saw Nick's look.
"No, it's just… no one called me. Most of the time they do." Nick said as he saw that he had absolutely no messages.
"Well, I didn't find you until late, and it's only about eight. Maybe they haven't needed you yet." Grace said with a shrug.
"Maybe…" Nick said with a shrug. As if on cue Nick's phone rang. He answered it as Grace tactfully left the room. "Hello, Ni…" Nick started only to be cut off mid-sentence by the other person. It was his secretary. "Yes, Janice… yes, I know that I had… yes, I rem… the meeting, yes… Jani…" Nick tried to fit in a full sentence around Janice's yammering. Janice was the secretary that had been appointed to him by Tony Stark. She not only stopped him from talking, but she was bad at her job as well. Nick could never get any work done with her, and he could never talk on the phone, or ask questions, because of her. It was horrible, but Nick endured it because not many people were able to handle such sensitive work. Grace appeared back in the room. Nick put his hand over the mouthpiece.
"Who is that?" Grace asked.
"My secretary."
"What's she doing?"
"Complaining about me. She'll be on this rant all day long." Grace cocked an eyebrow but didn't comment. Nick grimaced as Janice's voice screeched again. "Sorry about this… um… could you tell me where exactly we are?"
"Less than a block from where I found you." Grace said. Nick looked out the window and saw that the Triskelion hadn't shifted from the last time he saw it. He couldn't believe that Grace lived in this part of town alone. He had never been one to try and separate people into groups because of their gender, in his mind, and in his experience, women could do as much as men could if they were given the same opportunities, and if they couldn't do it the exact same they could at least achieve the same results, but he didn't think that a young woman should live in this part of town alone. Nick also realized something else as he looked out the window; he wasn't a light man, being six feet tall and some change and full of muscle. He wasn't a lightweight; he wondered how Grace had managed to get him all the way here, even if it was less than a block. "Do you need me to drive you somewhere?"
"No, I'll be fine, but thanks for the offer." Nick said. He removed his hand from the mouthpiece. "Janice, will you please stop, I know I'm a little late, but I was doing things, alright. Now, I'm going to need a car… No, I don't need the entire team; just a car will be fine, I'm sure they'll be able to find me." Nick said. Janice started complaining again. "Janice, just send a car, alright? Thank you." Nick hung up the phone and looked up at Grace.
"You have to leave?"
"Sometime soon." Nick said with a shrug. He looked over at Grace. "I know it's not really my place but… tell me a little more about yourself. It's a special kind of person that will take someone off of the streets with a gunshot wound to the side." A very useful special kind of person, especially in my line of work. Nick added to himself.
"Nothing much to tell. My work's my life, and when it's not running my life my volunteer hours at the hospital are."
"You work at the hospital too?"
"I volunteer at the hospital. They don't know that I have powers; they just think that I'm good at helping people, at making them feel better. They stick me with the terminally ill patients, and they never question why they get better, and if they do they blabber on about how I must have a healing Angel looking over me and my people." Grace said with a shrug.
"It's pretty sad that people will accept a healing Angel over a Mutant with healing abilities." Nick said with a sigh as he scratched the back of his head. Grace didn't comment.
"What about you?"
"I'm a workaholic, have been for years. I'm alright with my job; I don't love it but… I'd like it a lot more if my secretary wasn't so mad at me all the time, or if everyone else that I knew didn't freak out that I wasn't at a meeting that didn't have anything to do with me in the first place. She triple books me all day long, and when she does things like that someone always gets to yell at me. But enough about me; you work at the hospital and as a secretary?"
"It's not really work at the hospital; it's using my powers to help people, like I helped you. That's what's important. I don't like seeing people hurting, so I help them." Grace said with a shrug. Nick's pager rang. He looked down; it was his secretary, most likely telling him that she had sent someone.
"I-"
"Have to go, I know the drill." Grace said. Nick gave a small smile and walked with Grace to the door of the apartment that she lived in. It was small, but it was well cared for, like the room that he had stayed in.
Nick turned to Grace as he moved through the door. She smiled at him and gave him a piece of paper. On it was a phone number. "You can reach me there if you need my help. I can heal just about anything you can put me too." Grace said.
Nick took the card out of his pocket and handed it to Grace. "On the front are my business numbers, on the back's my home phone number and my cell. Call me if you need me, for anything. You saved my life, Grace, if you need anything, no matter how small I want to help." Nick said.
"Thank you."
"No, thank you." Nick said. He walked out of the apartment building and down to the corner, a smile on his face. A black car pulled up beside him. He slipped into the rear seat of the car. The driver looked back at him.
"Where to, General Fury?" The elderly man asked.
"To the Triskelion, Jarvis. I have some work to do."
***
"I heard that you're firing your secretary." Tony Stark said as he walked into Nick's office late in the evening. Nick looked up at him but didn't comment. "Do tell, Nick."
"She deserves it. She always has me triple booked with things that I don't need to do and she won't shut up." Nick said with a shrug.
"If you say so. Do you need me to find another secretary for you? One that I trust not to leak everything to the media?" Tony asked. Nick looked back down at the piece of paper in his hand.
"No, I have an idea about who I want… how are talks with the X-Men coming?" Nick asked.
"Pretty well, it turns out that Wolverine and Steve have some kind of past together, they don't like each other, but even so Logan put in his support for the Coalition, mostly because he likes you, at least that's what we assume it's because of.
"Most of the team is following him like a puppy dog, which is nice, although kind of scary, and Xavier's agreed to think about it. Drake doesn't like it but, to tell you the truth, I think that Logan hold a hell of a lot more sway there than Bobby does, and if Charles wants to go for it and he has Logan's support no one's going to be able to stop him. But that's beside the point; tell me about who you're thinking of getting for the new secretary job. Is she pretty?" Tony asked with a smirk. Nick glared at him. "Possessive, Nick? I like her already."
"Fo-" Nick started. Right then a guard rushed into Nick's office, his eyes wide, panting lightly. "What is it?"
"It's Wasp, sir, they're bringing her in now. She's hurt." The soldier said.
***