Bex was trying her best to bend the metal surrounding her in the vents without causing any noise. It was taking a ton of concentration, but if she was about to whip out her sniper she sure as hell wanted a secure nest to stay in.

As soon as she felt as though she had maneuvered the vent into a position she was feeling good about, she set up her sniper, aimed at the entrance of the hallway she was above. She had loaded the tranquilizers into her gun, but after 25 bullets, she would have to switch to her usual ammo.

Which meant she'd be killing SHIELD agents. Essentially proving everyone right who thought she'd turn on SHIELD agents for SCYLLA or some shit.

With a low curse Bex realized that the brainwashed agents were possibly on their comm link and switched it off.

Evidently the agents who were storming the helicarrier had not been informed of her mutation, strangely enough. If Bex was a megalomaniac god trying to take over the world she would tell all of her troops immediately all of the information she'd learned about the enemy, even if they were grunts.

But Bex was still a mental breakdown and a half away from trying to rule the world, so her opinion was irrelevant.

Time seemed to speed up and Bex forced herself into her usual mindset on missions - taking out targets with cold efficiency. But when she had to reload with normal bullets her thoughts were warring in her head. It would be much easier for her to take out targets when she could bend the trajectory of her ammo, but with each body that hit the floor she wondered if it was an agent she'd ever spoken to. As cruel as it was, she didn't linger over the possibility. If Clint came into the hallway it would be a different story, but Bex knew that it would be a tactical advantage to have him facing off with the other 'Avengers' - not storming through hallways like these grunts were.

A loud, echoing roar sounded out and the vent Bex was in seemed to slightly tremble. Banner had transformed, and Loki was still in - well, maybe still in the cell that had been the only way to contain the Hulk. Randomly, Bex's thoughts wandered and she wondered who had given the nickname to Banner's transformed state. They really could have been more creative, maybe made a pun out of the fact that the monstrous Mr. Hyde side of Banner for some reason turned fucking green but -

The entire hellicarrier tipped and Bex could hear jets just beside the hellicarrier, so everything was going to shit. Predictably. But when no more of SHIELD's turned agents entered the area she'd been scouting, Bex tore open the vent and dropped down into the hallway. She kept both hands on her Glocks after slinging her sniped back behind her shoulder and made sure she remained silent as she trailed through the empty corridors on her way to reach the main control room. To her relief and surprise, the assault by Loki's turned soldiers seemed to have stopped. Carefully stalking into the main control room, she took note that Hill was injured but saw that the action had apparently ended for the most part, so she switched her comm back on -

- just in time for her to hear Fury say in a tone more emotional than usual, "Agent Coulson is down."

Bex hadn't spoken since she'd been told that Phil was dead. She hadn't stopped trembling as she walked toward the room that had been the containment cell for Loki, where he had apparently been fatally wounded. When she entered, she saw a few SHIELD personnel in medical gear starting to lift his - oh god, his dead body - onto a stretcher. With absolutely no regard for them, Bex flicked her hand to the side and used a piece of rubble to throw them all away from him.

The agents looked at her in complete shock, their expressions quickly turning to fear. Oh. Well. Guess her mutant secret wasn't a secret anymore.

Bex couldn't give a shit.

In a flat voice, she turned to the men who were starting to pull themselves up and said, "I'll take his -" her voice cracked, and she couldn't call on any embarrassment when she continued "- his body to the medical bay. Leave."

The medical team scrambled out of the room quickly, and Bex slowly walked over to Phil, attempting to crouch beside him but instead slumping onto the floor. Her breath was coming much faster than normal and turned to heaving sobs. It wasn't at all like her panic attacks or when she lost control - this was nothing short of very-human devastation.

A high keening sound left Bex's throat and she curled in around him, gripping the lapels of his suit and burying her face in the cool skin of his neck. Her wailing echoed off the walls of the room. What was she - how was she supposed to ever be okay after this? Bex had always been careful with only caring for a handful of people in the world, but was so viciously caring when she did let someone in. Phil was - Phil was gone and she couldn't get him back and he -

After what felt like hours, Bex leaned back and roughly wiped away her tears before standing up and putting an arm underneath his back and the back of his knees, lifting him into her arms. He was heavy and it was difficult to walk while carrying him, but letting someone else - a stranger - touch him was not an option. When she was nearly at the med bay, Bex came across Stark, whose eyes widened and expression froze.

As he looked down at Phil's body, she saw an expression of sorrow cover his face before he schooled it into something more neutral. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and Bex was honestly unsure as to what it was he was working himself up to say.

Instead of letting him speak, she stared at him and blankly asked, "Were you serious about letting me stay with you?"

Rushing to cling to a new subject, Stark immediately nodded and said, "Yes."

Bex nodded curtly and shifted Phil in her arms slightly - the burning in her biceps starting to become a problem - and responded, "I'm taking you up on your offer when this is finished."

Not letting him say anything else, Bex started walking more quickly toward to med bay. She could hear Natasha and Clint speaking in one of the rooms and made sure to avoid it, not wanting them to have to see Phil's body when Clint was likely dealing with an enormous amount of distress himself. Bex vowed to help him as best she could, but right now she had a different top priority.

It only took another minute for her to reach a room with an empty stretcher and she laid him down more gently than she had ever done anything before in her life. Every agent she had walked by had widened their eyes before nearly jumping back to get out of her way, letting her know that her mutation was already widespread knowledge, and she was thankful for the space.

As soon as Phil's body was arranged on the bed, Bex sank down slowly to sit beside him. It wasn't like the movies or books, he didn't look peaceful. He looked goddamn dead, with a massive, bloody wound in the middle of his chest. She reached out to hold his hand, to cling on to something, but as soon as her fingers brushed his cold skin she recoiled and folded her hands in her lap. Bex turned away from him and instead stared at the wall, trying to quiet her mind and let herself drift somewhere that didn't make her every heartbeat hurt.

When Rogers came by and stood in the doorway, she honestly had to clench her fists to avoid killing him. She could do it easily. It would require almost no effort to send one of the bullets in her pocket through his eye socket. Bex suspected that even super soldiers couldn't come back from that. Here was Coulson's idol, standing tall and proud and unharmed while Phil - the better agent and man - was the one who died.

Before murderous rage could actually begin taking over, Rogers spoke in an authoritative voice that set her teeth on edge instinctively.

"Time to go."