He could say that he'd seen worse scenes then what he was currently observing. Hell, he'd cleaned up remains of aliens and small wars longer than most of the agents swarming around him have been alive.
But what he hadn't seen too many times in his life, thankfully, was the broken forms of children; this one seemed the absolute worst and that was saying something because he's seem a lot of disturbing things in his lifetime. He wasn't expecting to find an abuse case amidst the charred remains of the small British neighborhood due to his resident superheroes battling the newest threat of an old foe nor was he expecting to find survivors: but that was exactly what he found. Somehow, there were a dozen or so surviving members of Privet Drive that were pulled from the rubble of their homes, including the teenage girl wrapped in a shock blanket sitting in front of him. He could see the neighbors side eyeing the girl, disgust filled looks not compatible to their soot and dirt covered faces; he could hear their whispered conversations as they passed, the words 'delinquent' and 'trouble maker' the most common.
Appearances weren't anything to go by, if Natasha was any example, but he couldn't see it and refused to judge the shivering girl before knowing everything first; she looked as if a single touch would shatter her bruised and broken frame. He moved to kneel in front of the girl, frowning when she instantly flinched and moved back from him, hitting the wall of the ambulance with a soft thud and a whispered "I'm sorry."
"You're alright sweetheart, you're not in trouble. My name is Director Phil Coulson. I represent Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division or S.H.E.I.L.D for short; we're here to help with everything that's happened. It's partially our fault, what with our guys fighting near her-" He paused when the girl's wide green eyes watched him with fear and confusion. "Alright let's try this, what's your name? Only fair-I gave you mine."
He could see her breathing pick up, eyes widening at his request. Her shaking was more prominent and was causing her whole form to move in the seat she was occupying. But, Phil could see her trying to respond, gripping the soft cloth of the blankets before moving back towards him. "It-it's…my name is…" Her eyes dart around, as if looking for a threat, which he no doubt knew she had, before drawing a small breath. "O-Olivia Po-Potter." Her voice cracked and he could tell she was in a great amount of pain from injuries that were not from the massive explosion that had rocked her neighborhood along with the five surrounding ones.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms Potter. I'm going to get you some help, alright? Get the medics over to get you to a local hosp-"
"No!" Panicked is the only word Phil could use to describe Olivia at that moment, suddenly & fearfully clutching his sleeve, her bruised and battered arms now revealed to him. "Please no hospitals, please." Tears filled her emerald eyes, twisting his stomach.
"Alright, it's okay. No hospitals, but you still need to be looked over. Will you let my medic look you over? She's one of the best." He kept his voice calm and level, never losing eye contact with her. "Her name is Jemma, you'll like her."
Her fingers gripped his jacket tighter. "No hospitals?" Again her voice cracked, causing Phil to want to cover her in bubble wrap and stash her away from any further harm. When he nodded, she relaxed a little before nodding slowly, letting him stand up and turn, just in time to see his second in command approach him.
"Ah, Agent May. Meet Olivia Potter, our guest for however long it takes Simmons to look her over & patch her up. Can you let her know we're bringing her a patient?" Phil ignored Melinda's raised brow, waiting patiently for a reply.
Eventually the woman sighed, nodding before turning back towards the van, currently holding three members of his team. He turned to the phone in his hand, going over random specks briefly, long enough to see the teenager's anxiety level settle enough for her to move safely. "Right, let's get you to Simmons."
Not for the first time, she flinched back when he reached out to help her stand. He would have backed off and not touched her, but when she stood and stumbled on her clearly broken ankle, his arms wrapped around her shoulders, ignoring her jolt backwards. "Breath sweetheart, you're okay, I swear I won't hurt you." His voice was whispered, trying to calm her. "You cannot and will not walk on that ankle without help. If I thought you'd let me, I'd carry you to the van, but I'm betting you're too proud." He smiled a little when she gave a small nod, relaxing enough for him to move them to the waiting doctor; Phil could see Jemma fidgeting in place watching them approach. He could also see her dark eyes taking in the teen, anger sparking within in them; Phil could see the bio-chemist becoming attached quickly to Olivia-not that he would fault the older woman.
"Ah finally sir, let's get her in here." Simmons' soft accent caused Olivia's head to snap towards the older Brit, eyes wide. "Hi there, I'm Jemma. I'm going to help patch your wounds up and see if we can get that ankle set."
Phil watched the teen carefully go over Jemma's words in her mind- he could almost see the wheels turning- before she nodded, pain flashing in her emerald eyes, allowing herself moved from his grasp to Jemma's and to be moved into the van, Phil following the pair after a brief look around the surrounding area, noting the contentment the teen's neighbors still sent her way with concern for Olivia and irritation at the sheepness of the neighborhood.
Terror filled screams quickly encompassed the hidden base, pulling almost everyone out of their beds to the medical ward, finding the teenager in the corner of her bed, arched up off of it, her face a map of torment as the shrieks tear through her lips. The sounds twists Phil's stomach from the sheer amount of pain that emanates from Olivia, something he had only heard a few times in his life; if he had any doubt left that taking her away from Surrey was ill advised, this erased it.
"Someone hold her down, she's ripped open her sutures and she's bleeding out." Jemma's voice cut through his thoughts as he watched May and Fitz rush forward, only to freeze when their touches sent the teen into further panic, pushing herself off the bed with enough force to tear out her IVs, more blood pooling around her.
"NO, please….no I'm sorry, don't…I….please…" Olivia's voice cracked, her eyes now wide open, staring at the group with distress while pushing her back up against the bedframe. "I didn't mean to…please don't…" She was shaking again, emerald eyes constantly going between each person standing near or over her.
Phil looked over at the small group, seeing Daisy and Bobbi watching the girl with pity, Mack with concern, and Fitz with anger-not at the girl but for her. May's face was stoic and blank, but he knew she was just as upset at the teen's state; she had personally pulled the girl's remaining relative, her uncle, from the remains of his house and into the quinjet, fingers digging into his massive arms enough to leave bruises. The whale of a man was currently housed in one of the interrogation rooms, yelling about how 'decent folks like himself don't deserve this kind of treatment, only freaks'. The last bit had put Daisy on edge, her dark eyes hardening with anger and instant distrust of the man.
"Olivia, it's alright. You're not in trouble, but you are bleeding too much for comfort. Come on love, let's get you up." Jemma kneeled down, hands extended with palms up, leaving the entire decision up to the trembling teen.
"My fault….my fault…my fault…" The teen's soft accented voice repeated this mantra, hugging her knees to her chest, the air around her quickly charging with static energy, setting everyone on edge & causing the machines to start sparking.
"Everyone get back." Daisy said, moving forward to pull Jemma back to where Fitz was standing before moving back to the girl. "Olivia, listen to me, you're okay and you're safe. Nothing, and I repeat, nothing is going to hurt you. Nothing is your fault, alright?" She moved to sit near Olivia's knees despite May's protests, holding her hands low to the ground, near the teen's feet. "We only want to help you and we can't do that with you bleeding all over the floor. Will you let us fix you up again?" The whole time, Daisy kept her voice even and calm, not moving a muscle.
Olivia slowly stopped trembling, carefully pulling her head up to look Daisy in the eyes, red rimmed orbs watching her carefully, looking for any and all lies. Phil could see her calming down, her mind catching up with her anxiety; she had been at the base a week and they had talked a little in that time, okay he talked she listened, so she knew where she was and that she was safe-that is when she wasn't in the middle of a panic attack. When her knees relaxed down and away from her chest, he knew the worst was over, motioning to everyone but Jemma and Daisy to leave the medical ward.
"I'm sorry I ruined your work Dr. Simmons." Olivia's soft voice drew his gaze, seeing her tensely slid her hand into Daisy's before the pair moved her into a kneeling position, letting Jemma look at the open wounds on her back sides.
"It's Jemma love and it's quite alright, I know you were scared. Luckily, you didn't pull them all out. Once we get you back onto the bed, I'll fix you up." Simmons gave the teen a soft smile before nodding to Daisy, quickly but as painlessly as possible moving the girl back onto the bed before quickly resealing the wounds. "There, all set. I'll get you some pain killers then you will get some rest. I'm going to monitor your labs closely, considering you lost a fair amount of blood, but you should be alright in a few days."
Phil knew one thing: Olivia appreciated Jemma actually explaining things to her instead of just expecting her to be complacent and go along with everything. He could see it in the teen's eyes as his scientist went over her plans and it made him appreciate the older Brit further.
"Sir, a word." Daisy whispered, moving to his side with a tablet in her hands. "It's about Olivia's blood work. Something came up." She passed the electronic over, several pages of blood work appearing.
"What am I looking at?" He asked, moving into the hallway, Daisy following after him, the door clicking closed behind her. He looked over the documents with mild confusion.
"Jemma ran Olivia's blood through a whole series of tests, wanting to make sure she caught everything. Don't know why she ran a DNA test, but it came up with a match…to an Avenger."
Phil almost dropped the tablet when his head shot up. "Who?"
Looking through the glass at Olivia, Daisy didn't respond, moving back into the room to assist Jemma with bandaging the teen, gaining a grateful smile from the elder Brit and a cautious glance from the younger. He knew the teen had gained huge support from everyone in the base, despite her barely talking to anyone outside of himself, Daisy, & Jemma; almost everyone knew what he knew, which was the basics of her name, her brief edited history with her uncle and her home life. Phil knew there was more if the way both Olivia and her uncle acted was any indication and he intended to get the truth out of them both; although the man would fine the way the questions directed at him very different from the questioning Olivia would get.
Looking back down at the screen, Phil's eyes widened when he reached the results page. "Well, this should be interesting. Need to make a call or two."
How do you tell the world's best marksman he had a secret daughter that was the victim of both severe abuse and the battle he had been in very recently? Without allowing the archer to violate several laws set by the Geneva Convention? This is something Director Coulson would have to figure out and quick; knowing how often Stark hacked S.H.E.I.L.D., no doubt the archer would be told soon about his wayward child.
"Time to make an appearance I guess. I wonder who'll punch me first? I'd go with Romanoff." Phil wandered to his office, quietly muttering to himself.
A/N: So...i'm putting off updating RH with this story, because I've hit a wall. It's my first marvel cross over and while I'm not an expert on all things marvel, I do adore it and HP. I just hope this is received well; it took me two weeks of writing, stopping, staring at the screen, consulting, avoiding it, writing a huge chunk while on a caffeine high then rewriting it once I got sleep, then finally sat down and wrote the last 1000 words in a single sitting. Reviews and comments are appreciated.