Chapter Two: And Courage Yet

It was a really long time before I was conscious and stable enough to remain so. I knew where I was—on the third level of the Helecarrier, in the infirmary wing—but I had no idea how long I had been here. I examined my hair—the best indicator of hygiene a woman could have after the armpits—and found it knotted and dry with the faint scent of rose hips barely clinging to it. I must have been laid up for a two or three days.

The swift opening of the semi-glass door revealed a blonde woman, both shorter and much younger looking than myself, in all white with a manilla folder in her french manicured hand. She set it down on the metal counter top and came close to me. "You're finally awake, Agent Romanoff."

"Yeah, for the most part." I dryly coughed.

"Well, now that you are awake we can do some further work on you; a blood test will definitely be in order after you took those Vibranium cased bullets to the stomach…."

"Uhh, is it really... necessary?"

The woman, who's name tag read Krystin, gave me a bewildered look. Her baby pink lips quickly closed her gaping mouth with a smile. "Of course, Agent Romanoff! You know we have to be absolutely thorough with these sort of things."

I concealed my gritted teeth behind a halfhearted grin and reluctantly nodded. There would be no use argueing at this point, it would only make the situation much worse.

Krystin's petite form strutted out of the room to fetch something she began to mutter about to herself as she opened the door. And when the door slid shut behind her, that's when I realized that that five foot two, perky barbie was on her way to fetch my fate.

And I was afraid.

The saliva in my mouth went sour as my stomach became queasy and started to flutter; agitating the wound in my right oblique more. I had no doubt that this feeling was genuine and I hadn't faced it in a very long time. It felt like stage-freight and getting caught lying mixed together with the anticipation of an enemy solider lurking just around the corner.

And sure enough Krystin, the saboteur of my secrecy, appeared on cue with a butterfly needle in hand.

"Now I know you've lost a lost of blood, Agent Romanoff, which is why I guess you were so hesitant, but I don't need too much to run my test. Just three viles is all I need, I promise." Krystin prepared the syringe, uncapping the tip.

"I guess I could spare some more…" I offered her my left arm.

She prepped the fold of my arm and stuck the first vein she found with ease. "Now just tell me if you feel faint or anything at all. I don't want to over exacerbate your current condition too much."

"I'll do my best to stick this out…"

"Ha! Look, you're making jokes all ready!" She laughed, her eyes watching the glass fill. "You know, you're not to shottie a patient with that kind of humor..."

I politely smiled back.

"Yup, you'll needle little of that in life to deal with all the pricks." She slyly raised her brows and chortled. I rolled my eyes; what exactly is the bar Director Fury has set for our staff nurses?

As I studied the quick stream of blood filling the first vile, all the colors in the room became brilliant and hazy again. Even the white gown I was wearing began to hurt my eyes; this was torture.

Never once in all the brutal beatings I had received in my time in this business had I ever wanted to just tell the truth to escape the pain. I wanted to spit it out—to save her the time and to stop this unnecessary stress. I could tell her the results, I already knew what that blood test was going to reveal. Tony definitely saw it with his enhanced eyesight. I saw it weeks ago on a test strip. I just never thought...this was possible…now...with…. "Krystin—I—no more please…."

"Umm...Let's finish vile number two, okay? You're almost there!" She rubbed my exposed shoulder.

"Krystin."

"Hang in there! You survived being shot in the waist three times and nearly bled out. I know you can handle this Agent Romanoff."

"Krystin…."

"Just keep breathing, I'll go get you some water after this."

My throat felt like it was crushing my vocal chords and my chest and upper back were so hot that, in my growing deliriousness, I imagined the blood in the vile would begin to boil and pop the glass like mercury did in cartoons. My vision blurred and I had to draw all of my strength to breathe now. "Krys…tin…"

"Done! Agent Romanoff just keep breathing! I'll be right back!" Krystin dismantled the syringe and fled from the room. My eyes were intensely sensitive to the light now, but I did my best to keep them open. It seemed like an eon had passed before Krystin returned, with a water bottle and two ice packs. She opened the bottle and nearly splashed some of it on me as she put it in my hand. The relief trickled into my sore stomach as she position the covered cold bags on both sides of my upper body. "I apologize, but I had to get just a little bit more blood more."

I huffed, limply grinning.

"I managed to get two viles full…" Krystin reported, hoping to make me feel better.

"I hope that's—good enough—?"

"I'll have to stretch it some but it's not too big of a problem."

Life was coming back into my shriveled veins and the spots I had been seeing were rapidly disappearing. Even my hearing, which momentarily felt like an awful onset of tinnitus, was returning to normal. "Okay Good."

"Do you need anything else?" She took the empty water bottle from my grasp.

I pushed my head deeper back into the lush white pillow. "Just a nap…."

Hey guys,

I'm super surprised that within a day of posting this story it's already gotten a few reviews.

To be honest, I'm just writing this story to keep up with some new skills I learned this semester in school so I hope you guys like how it's being written so far. I can't promise this being a very long story, but I can promise to make it as interesting as I humanly can. :]

Now onwards to Chapter Three!

—Berubi :3