Hi! I know it took a while for this new chapter, but I haven't had much time to write these past two weeks. Here's a slightly short chapter to award your patience. Again, thanks for all of the reviews! And, as always, enjoy!

Chapter 10. Blood

Stephanie's ears were ringing causing her head to throb. At first, she thought her head was throbbing solely due to the explosion, but then realized that an alarm was also sounding. She critically thought it was too loud, but then realized that it had to be, it was an alarm afterall.

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, only to be met with Steve's blue ones staring back at her. He looked concerned.

"I'm fine. You?" She asked, reading his thoughts.

He nodded at her.

"You need to go somewhere safe." He told her while standing up and helping her off of the floor. Her legs were shaky and her head was still throbbing, but otherwise she was all right.

She realized that he cradled her head when the explosion occurred, and used his body to shield her.

She opened her mouth to thank him before Tony cut her off.

"Berlin. Go to your room. Now."

She looked at them, biting her lip, before nodding. She wouldn't be useful anyways.

"Be careful." She told them.

Steve hesitated, looking as if he wanted to say something. Before he had the chance to speak, Tony pulled him towards, where Stephanie assumed, the malfunctioning engine was.

She glanced around the room, only seeing destruction, before heading towards her room. She assumed that Fury had already left to go to the bridge to bark out orders at everyone.

A deep sound, almost like a roar, came from underneath the floor. A chill ran down her spine before she realized what it was. Bruce…The Hulk.

For a minute, Stephanie contemplated if she should go help Natasha. In the end, she decided against it -she would probably end up the equivalent of a chew toy for the Hulk. Besides she remembered that in the movie Natasha had made it out all right.

As she quickly walked to her room, she noticed that half of the lights were off in the hallway. She tried to think of what happened next in the movie, but her head was pounding and the scene was too chaotic for her to focus. Numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were passing her, heading to the bridge.

At that moment, she realized how lucky she had been. She could have been killed in the explosion. All of this was real. The explosion had made her realize that her life was in danger. She wasn't safe in the lab with Bruce and Tony around anymore. Clint and dozens of soldiers were now trying to seize control of the aircraft and help Loki escape. She shuddered.

She just wanted to crawl under her sheets in her room and not come out until everything was over.

Then she froze.

Agent Coulson, she thought, he's going to die.

She bit her lip, mulling over in her mind all of the pros and cons of trying to save him.

She shook her head, criticizing herself for being selfish. This was a human being. A real human being, not an actor. If she didn't at least try to save Agent Coulson…Phil…She knew that she would never forgive herself.

She turned on her heel to the direction of where Loki was being kept.

The faint sound of bullets echoed behind Stephanie as she headed towards Loki's cell.

At one point the floor shook briefly, mirroring a low magnitude earthquake. Her brain mistook it for an actual earthquake until it clicked in her mind that she was thousands of miles above the ground. She then realized what it actually was -fighting occurring on the floors beneath her. The Hulk had probably smashed something. Although the ground shook for only a few seconds, she ended up losing her footing and cut her arm on a piece of dangling metal. Stephanie hissed in pain before carrying on, leaving a small trail of blood behind her.