Someone was shaking her. Britta grumbled, telling them to stop but unable to form words, and turned away. The shaking became more insistent though and Britta forced her eyes open. She saw Tony's face hanging over hers and confusion danced across her features. Slowly, extremely slowly, her mind reminded her of what had happened. When she remembered Loki slamming Grid's head, her head, on the floor her mind went blank. How had she ended up...wherever she was. She couldn't move her head. When she did a small whimper escaped her lips and tears appeared in her eyes.
"Hey Alien, try not to move too quickly." Tony told her. Britta slowly nodded and found that he was right to suggest it. She could move her head if she wasn't quick about it. So she did, looking at her surroundings. She seemed to be in some sort of medical room. There were tons of agents getting patched up around her, some giving her not so nice looks and she knew why. They were starting to really dislike Asgardians, all thanks to Loki. "Fury found you in Loki's cage room. You were unconscious and there was blood all around your head." Tony told her,
"They didn't try to stitch me up did they?" Britta asked groggily.
Tony shook his head. "No, by the time they got you in here your head had healed itself." He told her.
Britta looked at him in shock. If that was true she would have had to been asleep for at least a day. She hadn't had enough energy to perform a quick heal when Loki bashed her head against the ground. "How long have I been out?" She asked.
"An hour or so." Tony told her.
Britta shook her head slowly. "No, that's not right." She told him. Tony raised an eyebrow at her but she was too confused to explain. She had not had the energy to heal herself that quickly. She wouldn't have woken up so quickly after losing so much blood either. Her magic couldn't heal her that quickly either and she had to be awake to use her magic to speed up the process. Someone had to have healed her, someone who knew magic. Definitely not Thor and no way could any of these mortals know magic. There was only one possibility but it seemed damn impossible. Loki. He hadn't killed her when he knocked her out, why? He was the only one who could heal her too. Why though? If it had been him, why? Britta shook her head, planning on asking her old friend if she ever got the chance. "What happened to Phil?" She asked, changing the subject. Tony's face sudden darkened with pain and Britta stared at him, concerned horror on her face. "Tony? What happened to Phil?" She asked again.
Tony looked at his hands, his eyes swimming with emotion he was trying to keep in check. "He's gone Britta." He said quietly, mournfully.
"No." Britta said, shaking her head defiantly. "No, Phil can't be dead. He's one of the best guys here, he can't be dead." She said.
"He is." Tony practically whispered.
Tears poured down Britta's cheeks and she shook as she tried to hold back her sobs. Phil had been such a great guy. He had actually gave a crap and had understood how hard everything was on her. He'd taken care of her while she was here, making sure she got somewhere safe when Grid came out. He'd provided some much needed TLC afterwards, joking to cheer her up and getting her to a place she could sleep peacefully. He was the one and only S.H.I.E.L.D agent she had trusted immediately. Britta hoped he had one of the highest places of honor in Valhalla cause he deserved it, more than most.
"I tried to heal him. I did, I tried, but Loki pulled me away." Britta admitted, not even trying to wipe away her tears. "I didn't save him though. I should have saved him. The gods know I should have saved him." She said mournfully.
Tony shook his head. "It wasn't your fault Alien, don't beat yourself up over it." He told her. Britta didn't answer though and he grabbed her hand, squeezing it almost painfully to get her attention. "Britta, it wasn't your fault. Loki's the biggest asshole in the universe and it's his fault Phil's gone. Okay? Blame him." Tony said sternly.
Britta let out a sad chuckle. "Yeah, got to agree with you there." She said though there was a small hint of uncertainty in her voice. Why the hell did Loki let her live? Why the hell was she healed? "So what else did I miss?" Britta asked, trying to pull the conversation away from Phil and Loki.
"Well Spangles is currently helping out with medical." Tony said, pointing over to the super soldier. Steve noticed and smiled a little at Britta, nodding. Britta smiled back before turning back to Tony. "He's checked in on you when he's come by. I'm starting to think he either has a crush on you or Nanna. He mentioned talking to her." Tony told her.
"Nanna, more than likely. She's a little more Steve's type." Britta admitted.
"Yeah, meaning she's not guilt ridden about ruining his life." Grid said, rolling her eyes.
Britta frowned slightly but it didn't last long as Nanna let out a tiny happy squeal. "You think he has a crush on me?" She asked excitedly.
Britta and Grid rolled their eyes at the same time. "Yes Nan, we think he has a crush on you." She told the cheerful girl. Nanna squealed and started doing a happy dance. "Nanna is so pleased to hear that." She told Tony who laughed. "So what about Thor? And how's our dearest doctor?" Britta asked.
"No one knows where either one's at." Tony admitted, sounding regretful. Britta frowned in worry but he shook his head. "Don't look so concerned Alien. Thor's a god and Bruce was in Hulk form when he fell out of the sky. I'm sure they're both fine." He told her.
Britta nodded absently, wondering if either one was hurt. She hoped they were okay. "So why did you wake me up? Aren't you usually supposed to leave injured people alone when they're asleep?" She asked. Tentatively she touched the recently healed parts of her head. The areas were still tender but other than that they felt completely healed. She would be suffering from blood loss for an hour or so though.
Tony looked at her apologetically and helped her get into a sitting position. "Fury said to meet him in the control room in an hour. I figured you'd want to be fully awake and able to walk on your own before you got there." He explained. He waited till he thought she could sit up on her own before walking over to a nearby table. When he returned he had a juice box and a cookie. Tony held them out to her, a smile on his face.
Britta laughed, taking the juice and the cookie from him. "Really Metal Man? Do I look like a five year old?" She asked him before taking a very big bite out of the cookie. She moaned in delight at the taste, it was a pretty good cookie. Chocolate chip too, her favorite.
"Sometimes." Tony told her, smiling slightly. Britta stuck her tongue out at him before finishing off her cookie. Tony then started telling her random stories about what he did as a billionaire while she drank her juice box and regained her strength. She knew why he was doing it but she didn't mention it. So what if he wanted to distract himself from thoughts about Phil? So what if he wanted to distract her too? Who was she to point that out and make him think about it? Britta didn't want him to be in pain so she didn't say anything, letting him ignore his pain.
Eventually though Britta got sore from sitting in the bed and started getting up. Tony helped her and for ten minutes or so he helped her walk around, regaining feeling in her legs and the rest of her strength. By the time that was done though it was time to head to the control room. They pulled Steve away from nurse duty and the three of them walked towards the control room. Britta walked between them and she could just feel the tension still between them. She tried to make conversation with them but it was so freaking awkward. Luckily though they made it to the control room quickly. Unfortunately that meant they were in the control room. With Fury. Angry as hell Fury. Britta placed herself at Bruce's usual haunt while the two men sat down. She noticed Tony looking around and saw the pain in his eyes when he took in the absence of the one S.H.I.E.L.D agent both of them liked and trusted. Britta hugged herself and tried to keep herself from crying as the pain of losing Phil washed back over her.
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them" Fury said, tossing Phil's Captain America trading cards onto the table. Britta winced, of course Fury would hit them where it hurts the second he got a chance. He was angry about it too, furious. Phil had been a great guy and obviously even asshole Fury had liked him. Steve lifted up one of the cards. There was blood on it. Phil's blood. Britta felt a lump form in her throat and she looked away, her heart beating painfully in her chest. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor." Fury looked over at Britta then and she looked back, silently telling him to not use her affection for the two men to hurt her. "I got nothing for you." Fury continued, looking away from her. "Lost my one good eye." Fury looked at the table and Britta took a few quick steps back as he remembered how he lost it. "Maybe I had that coming." He said sadly. He shook off the memories and looked back up at the three. None of them were looking at him but that didn't matter. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though because I was playing something even riskier." Fury looked over at Tony, looking for a sign of recognition, but Tony refused to look at him. "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more." Fury was now between the two men, leaning against a seat. Fury glanced at Britta who was pressed against the wall, looking at the floor. She knew about the Initiative. Phil had thought about it a few times, had gotten excited about it. "See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." Tony turned slightly to look at Fury but the second the one eyed man turned back he turned away. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."
Tony shot to his feet, unable to listen to another second of Fury's speech. He walked out of the room and no one tried to stop him. Britta placed a hand over her eyes and tried to hide the tears that started to roll down her cheeks.
Fury watched Tony go, not saying a word as he did. "Well," he said as Tony left, "it's an old fashioned notion." He said.
"Dammit Fury!" Britta snapped, looking up at Fury who seemed unsurprised by her outburst. "Stop! We're hurting like hell and you're just making it worse!" She shouted at him. He didn't react though and that just made her mad. She shook her head, wiping away tears, and stormed out of the room. Where she was going she had no clue but she had to get out of the control room. Had to get away from Fury.
Britta wasn't all that surprised when her feet led her to the lab. It was charred as hell, the big window behind the main work desk was shattered, and all the furniture was practically destroyed. Britta stared at the room sadly, leaning against the doorframe. The Hulk had been in here, that was horribly obvious. There was a hole in the floor where no doubt the big green guy and her darling golden haired brother had crashed through. Britta looked around the room sadly until she spotted Bruce's jacket trapped beneath one half of the desk that had once held Loki's stupid scepter. She walked across the room and used the strength she usually kept hidden to lift the desk up off the jacket. She slipped it out with her foot and once she had it out she put the desk back down. Britta picked it up and dusted it off, smiling lightly at how it still smelled like Bruce even after being in an explosion. Britta sat down and hugged the jacket to her chest, looking around. All of this, this gigantic stupid mess, was her fault. She knew it was. Loki was using the Tesseract magic in his scepter to drive them all mad. He wouldn't have been able to use that magic if the Tesseract had never come to earth. If she had never picked up that damn cube. Not all of it was her fault, she knew that most of it was Loki's, but the fight? Them getting scattered? The Hydra weapons? The people those damn weapons killed? Yeah, that was on her. And if the feeling in her chest, the surging of Tesseract energy, was any indication she was about to be responsible for a whole hell of a lot more.
When Steve came running into the room Britta had basically decided that she was a threat to all mankind and should be locked up. She wasn't crying anymore but she was shaking, a clear indication that at any moment she could break. "Hey, we're moving out. Come on." Steve told her, standing a few feet in the room but looking ready to leave.
"I can't Steve." Britta said, looking at the ground. Steve gave her a confused look and slowly started walking over, careful to avoid getting hurt by the many broken things in the room. "I'm a threat. A walking disaster. At any moment I could snap and kill a ton of people. I'm the reason so many people have died already and if I go a lot more people are going to die." Britta said quietly. Steve kneeled down beside her, looking her dead in the eye. Britta stared back at him, the biggest example of how badly she had screwed up. "I screwed up. I made a mistake and now a lot of people are going to suffer because of it. I can't help because I'll just mess up again." She told him.
Steve was silent for a moment but when he did speak his voice was harder than rock. "You did mess up but, then again, everyone messes up. Your mistake was just a tad bit bigger than a normal person's." He told her. Britta let out a humorless chuckle and looked at her hands, unable to meet his gaze. "But it doesn't matter. Britta it doesn't. What matters is how you fix the mess you made."
Britta looked up at him again, a tiny bit of hope in her eyes. "You actually think I can fix this? That I can make up for all the crap I've done?" She asked, her voice a little louder than before.
"Yes, I do." Steve told her sincerely.
Britta suddenly smiled. "Well I guess I better suit up huh?" She said, getting up. Steve smiled and stood up too, brushing dirt off his uniform as he did. Britta watched him and remembered something from when this whole thing started. "After all, I did vow to protect you and, knowing you, you'll need me watching over you during the fight." She told him.
Steve chuckled and shook his head. "Sure Britta, whatever you say." He told her. He started walking towards the door but stopped about halfway, turning back to her. "Meet me at Loki's cage room in ten minutes. We'll head out from there." He told her.
Britta nodded and the Steve was gone, heading to get the remainder of his uniform. Britta smiled down at Bruce's jacket and with a snap of her fingers it was gone, safe inside her apartment. She swore to give it back to Bruce the second she saw him again. She would see him again too. Bruce wouldn't run, not this time. "Girls, we're gonna have to do something very stupid." Britta told the voices in her head. The blood loss thing was over and she felt great but her magic was still a little weak. She needed to power it up.
"Stupid sounds fun." Nanna said, grinning.
"If I'm correct this is gonna hurt some." Grid said, sounding a little regretful but mostly excited. "We haven't pulled this little stunt in a very long time. Who knows if we'll survive it?" Grid said. She didn't sound worried about it though, not in the least.
"I doubt we'll die from this. Though today might just be out day girls." Britta admitted, a smile slowly stretching across her face. It actually wouldn't be that bad, dying trying to fix her mess.
"Loki is so going to notice." Nana commented.
"Loki can kiss my boot." Britta said. The voices in her head chuckled at that. "Ready?" She asked them, a tad uncertain.
"As we'll ever be." The two girls said simultaneously.
Britta nodded, closed her eyes, and focused on the Tesseract energy inside her. She'd accidentally found out that she could draw power from the stupid cube years ago when she was about five inches from death after getting hit by a plane (long story). She'd tested it a few times when she really needed it and each time she'd felt awesome. More powerful than she ever had. Of course it also made controlling the voices in her head next to impossible sometimes and it also made her practically delusional. Unstable too, viciously unstable. Still, she needed her magic right now. She would be fine for the first day and when she crashed she would make sure she was somewhere safe. Somewhere her delusions wouldn't hurt anybody. So Britta latched onto the Tesseract energy and forced it to lace with her magic. Forced it to make her more powerful. For a second it hurt, Britta felt like she had exploded, but then power was practically humming inside her. Loki hadn't been completely wrong when he said the Tesseract was power. It was but that much unlimited power caused insanity. Already Britta could feel her old crazy, the crazy that took two hundred years to get rid of, coming back.
"Oh gods that feels awesome." Grid said, flexing her fingers.
Nanna squealed happily and clapped her hands. "This is going to be fun as heck!" She said excitedly.
Britta rolled her eyes and grabbed a fistful of her hair. "Yeah, I know, shut up. It's time to fight and we don't have time to get excited about it." She told them. Both rolled their eyes at her but didn't protest. Britta barely had to focus her magic to change her clothing. Within seconds she was dressed in her old Asgardian armor. A gold breastplate, golden vambraces, golden leg guards over her black boots. Easy to move in black pants and a tight fitting black shirt. Her silver teardrop necklace was tucked beneath her breastplate and shirt, lying against her skin as a reminder that someone would know if she got into anymore trouble. Britta quickly reinforced her armor with spells, making it a bit stronger so she wouldn't get hurt as easily. When she was done she grinned almost crazily. "I might actually enjoy this fight." She said, walking out of the room.
"Oh you will. We'll all be fighting together for once." Nanna said, mentally hugging the other two girls.
Grid smiled evilly. "You know, I can do plenty of damage on my own but this might actually be kind of nice." She admitted.
Britta smiled a little. "Aw is Grid being a team player for once?" She asked jokingly. Grid chuckled and Nanna smiled but neither one replied. They were all just a little too pumped for the approaching fight.
I apologize greatly for my lack of writing. School started up again and today I received five assignments in four different classes, three of those are essay papers. I will try, try, try to write more and get it up on here but I won't promise anything.