The door to the medbay room opened and Rebecca entered to find the Dragon seated in a chair at the end of the cot. Christine thrashed against the restraints holding her down onto the bed, but her fight was slipping away the more she gained control.
"You should take a break," Rebecca said in greeting.
The Dragon shook her head and leaned forward, her light eyes carefully watching Christine's pained expression. "I'm not leaving her again."
Rebecca joined her and took a seat in the other chair. She leaned back against the hard plastic and sighed.
"He was the first person to look at me other than a weapon," the Dragon murmured. "He took me to a baseball game of all things. It was so American. So…so Phil."
"He was a good man," Rebecca agreed. "He helped me out of a million tough spots. I still remember the day he and Nick came to recruit me. They asked me if I wanted to make a difference. To change the world. I asked them, how? By killing people? And Phil…he looked at me and told me that I would have the chance to save people like me."
"And then you went and picked up a stray assassin and got her a playmate," the Dragon snorted. Christine's breathing became shallow, but she stopped fighting against the restraints. Rebecca reached out and clasped her hand over Chris' ankle.
The Dragon watched as Christine's face smoothed over and her breathing dropped back down to deep, even breaths. Chris' eyes slowly blinked open and looked at the two women seated before her.
"What happened?" she whispered. "Am I dreaming? You're supposed to be wallowing in self-pity."
"Glad to know you're back," the Dragon scoffed. "I'm back. They called me in to help stop Loki."
Christine nodded slowly, her head lolling to the side in exhaustion. The Dragon released her hands from the restraints and carefully sat next to her friend on the cot.
"How are you feeling?"
"Did I hurt anyone?" It came out in such a small, broken voice. The Dragon offered her a sad smile and shook her head.
"You tried to kill me, but I've got a few years of experience on you," she teased. "But you didn't hurt anyone else."
"Then why do you two look like someone kicked your puppy?"
Rebecca and the Dragon shared a look. "Coulson…he didn't make it."
Christine swallowed against the lump in her throat and shut her eyes against the burning tears that threatened to rise to the surface. "This is all my fault."
"Absolutely not. It's Loki's. And I'll be damned if we let him get away with it. Even if I'm the only one out there, I won't stop until he's gone. I swear to you."
Christine reached out and grabbed the Dragon's hand. She squeezed it tightly and blinked up at her with tear-filled eyes. "Are you ready for this?"
"I have to be, don't I? It's time I stop hiding. To save people like me. Like us."
The door slid open once more and Captain Rogers stood in the doorway clad in his star spangled suit again. He looked directly at the Dragon, his blue eyes boring into her.
"Loki is making a play. We're going to stop him. You in?"
A wolfish grin crossed her lips and she stood, adjusting the gauntlets on her wrists. "Captain, I would like nothing more."
They strode out into the hall, side by side. Agents moved out of their way as they passed, but it was less out of fear and more out of respect. "Must be rough," she commented. "Leaving war only to wake up in the midst of another. You lost a lot and now you're back, sacrificing more."
"You ever been in war?" His voice was casual, but she could hear a hint of something more underlying his tone.
"Not that I can remember," came her reply.
"Dragon." He paused and looked down at her. His jaw shifted and then he shook his head and continued to walk towards the jet hangar.
Whatever he wanted to say was better left unsaid.
They rode in silence towards the city and the air became stifling with tension as they got closer. The Dragon leaned down, seeing a giant beam of light shining off the Stark tower. Aliens were flying out of the hole and people below were getting obliterated.
"Stark we're on your three, headed northeast!" Natasha reported.
"What, did you stop for drive thru? Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay them out for you."
The Quinjet rocked back and forth as Chitauri flew past them but Clint kept a steady hand on the controls. Soon enough, Loki and Thor came into view before them as the brothers fought on the top of Stark towers.
"Nat…"
"Yeah, I see him." Before she could fire their gun, Loki blasted them with some energy from the Tesseract and the plane started to buckle. The Dragon stumbled as she attempted to grab a strap from above her but an arm wrapped around her waist. She grabbed onto Rogers' shoulders to steady herself, knocking into him as they crash landed.
The back hatch opened and they sprinted out, intent on getting back upstairs when the scene around them made them freeze.
"Holy shit," she breathed at the sight of the massive alien flying out of the wormhole towards them. Aliens were emerging from its side and grabbing onto buildings. More exited through the wormhole, wave after wave coming towards them.
This was nothing she had ever trained for.
"Stark, you seeing this?"
"Seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?"
"Just keep me posted."
The Dragon yanked her gun out of her thigh holster and fired twice at an alien, sighing in relief when she saw it drop. Guns can kill them which was good news for the time being. Clint grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a taxi to give them some cover as Chitauri rained fire around them. New Yorkers screamed as they were shot at and their cars were destroyed. Buildings above them were being ripped apart.
"They're fish in a barrel down there." Steve was looking over the bridge and she could see the line of Chitauri firing onto the people below. This was like nothing she had ever seen before.
"We've got this. Go," she spoke up, glancing at Natasha and Clint.
"Think you can hold them off?"
"Captain." Clint recharged his arrows with a smirk. "It would be my genuine pleasure."
Steve leapt over the bridge and rushed to join the fray. She sucked in a deep breath and started to check the battlefield around her. People were trapped in cars and buses so that was the first priority. Second was destroying Chitauri.
The three teammates looked at one another and Natasha smirked, glancing up at the hell raining down upon them. "Well, this certainly wasn't the welcome back I had in mind for you, but…"
"Now would be a good time for me to launch into a murder spree?" the Dragon commented lightly.
"You said it, not me."
The dark haired agent pulled out her second pistol from her other holster and checked her bullets before nodding. She bumped her elbows against their knees and then stood.
"Just in case…it's been fun."
The Dragon stalked towards the line of Chitauri, her back straightening with every step. They screeched at the sight of her slow, casual stroll towards them and raised their guns. She merely flashed them a wolfish grin and raised both of her own.
It was constant. It felt like the second she killed one, a second one appeared right behind it. Clint was clearing out civilians and Natasha was keeping the Chitauri away from the fleeing people, so that left the Dragon to her usual brutality. When her gun clicked with an empty barrel, she shoved it in her holster and grabbed one of the fallen alien's guns.
A flash of red, white, and blue in the corner of her eye startled her and an alien got a lucky hit in with a burst of energy. It hit her right in the stomach and she flew back onto the dust and debris filled street. The Dragon rolled for a second and then settled on her stomach.
She twitched slightly, her foot shifting to the side as she slowly gathered her bearings. The earth shook around her and the screams and screeches of humans facing off with aliens faded in and out of her ears. Frantic voices filled her mind from her comms, but she couldn't focus.
"-agon, come in. Are you hurt?" Captain Rogers shouted over the comms.
She ignored it. She ignored them all. Instead, she focused on the burning that consumed her chest. It wrapped around her ribs and curled along her skin until it grasped her jaw and she snarled and snapped and growled against its hold.
Don't fight it. You'll know when you're ready. Coulson's words echoed in her mind as she pushed off of the ground into a kneeling position. Two Chitauri approached her, guns lowered and ready to strike as she watched them carefully.
Slowly but surely, the Dragon pulled one leg up and planted her foot on the ground before doing the same for the other. Adrenaline coursed through her veins alongside something much stronger, more potent. She gnashed her teeth and growled low in her chest, her eyes flickering in the light once, twice, three times before taking on a steady golden glow.
"That the best you can do?" she snarled. The alien sneered at her and she raised her empty hand with her palm facing out at it. One second the Chitauri was standing there and the next, its charred body went flying over the railing of the bridge.
Smoke drifted off of her fingertips. The Dragon clenched her fists and then opened them again, fire leaping out from her skin and licking up her arms. It consumed her flesh, biting and snapping at her as she stalked towards the second alien. It raised its gun and quickly found a rope of fire tied around its neck. She spun it quickly, the alien's head snapping off, charred and burned.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins along with fire and she huffed out a puff of smoke, adjusting her jaw, and let out a low growl. She then stared down at her flame covered skin and then looked to the sky. For the first time in eight months, she released her mutation.
And it felt like heaven.