ah,
but it takes so long, my lord.
When her eyes open, Sakura isn't sure if she blacked out for a few moments or if the smoke around her is the cause of her disorientation.
The pain in her forehead has dulled, and the buzzing in her ears can now be blamed on the explosion that has just rattled the floor, broken the glass, sent them all flying.
The smoke clears enough for Sakura to see Thor and Director Fury near her, Steve and Tony stumbling to stand near the door, and Bruce and Agent Romanoff nowhere to be found. Sakura pushes herself up to her knees, flinching a bit when a large hand wraps around her bicep.
She calms, though, when she realizes it is simply the long-haired blond man helped her to her feet. Her throat feels too dry to verbally thank him, so she can only send him a grateful nod. The serious set of the tall man's jaw stays in place as he acknowledges her gratitude with a quick jerk of his head.
"God- fuckin' hell," Fury's voice rings out through the beeping of alarms and rush of noise around them, and Sakura dully realizes that Steve and Tony have rushed out of the room, leaving the three of them left.
Fury's eye makes contact with her and Thor, and he curses again, before he sends quick commands over a device in his ear. He walks past the two with quick movements, out the door behind them. Sakura taps Thor's hand to let him know she can walk on her own, and they hasten after Fury.
His voice is levelled, but pushed through clenched teeth, as he continues to bark commands over whatever communication device he is using. Agents are rushing through the halls, clearing smoke from their vision. She hears coughing and shouting and alarms still going off, and possibly tastes blood in the back of her throat. Sakura might have a concussion, from her unobstructed collision with a wall, but there isn't really time to think of that right now.
Fury comes to a halt, muttering angrily to whomever he is talking to, and Sakura nearly bumps in to Thor when he, too, comes to a stop unexpectedly.
She takes this moment to try and reign in her breathing, to try and create a calm in her body to combat the chaos all around her. Her eyes rove around the hall they have stopped in, trying to evaluate the situation.
They pause on a man, laying, two agents pressed in tightly around his lower half.
There is a jagged piece of metal, possibly a broken wall panel, sticking out of his upper thigh. There is little blood - good, meaning the entry was clean and it hasn't been moved or pulled at and from what she can see it may have just missed the femoral artery—
"God dammnit," Fury's dark voice breaks her out of… whatever was just rushing through her mind. A voice almost-foreign, in a clinical tone and god dammit is right - there are so many things going on around her, she can deal with unidentified, medically-knowledgeable voices later.
And so Sakura pushes that to the back of her mind and focuses on what the Director is saying in front of her. He directs agents to the detention centre - to Loki - before turning to them.
"Banner is compromised. And nearly has Agent Romanoff cornered. They're in the lower hanger bay. Subdue the Hulk if possible. Understood?" Thor's response is simply a vague rumbling from his chest, and Sakura nods sharply. Fury stares at the two for one hard moment, before turning and rushing off into the main bridge area.
Thor sets off first, seeming to know where they must go.
He walks with large strides and restrained anger, and Sakura has to push a little bit of energy to her legs to keep up. She is vaguely aware of what… or who, she supposes, the Hulk is.
But as she takes in the furrow of Thor's brows and the clenching of his fists, she's not sure if she understands what the Hulk is capable of.
There is a distant rumbling that grows closer and closer with each entryway they pass through, and Sakura nearly trips over her feet when she realizes it is the roaring of the Hulk that makes the ground underneath them tremble. Agents seem to part as she and Thor head towards the source of the disturbance, sending the two looks of awe and fear that make Sakura grumble under her breath.
Now they acknowledge her. Only as she's heading off to fight some massive, indestructible alter-ego.
They weave and duck until they arrive at a considerably dimly-lit area, filled with pipes and metal walkways and flickering fluorescent lights. Thor stops abruptly, holding his hand up to signal Sakura to do the same.
He tilts his head to the side, gaze remaining forward but words directed to her, "You are committed to this fight, yes?"
Sakura doesn't hesitate as she responds, "Yes." Thor's mouth quirks up slightly, but his visage darkens again as they near their destination.
There is a path of destruction in their immediate sight, electricity jumping out of broken wires and along shattered glass. And then there is the sound of something slamming, and then a massive thump and the sound of crinkling metal.
Thor decides to give up on the stealth tactic, as he bursts forward impossibly fast and darts around a corner. Sakura pushes after him, rounding the corner just as Thor slams into a gigantic, raging, green… man? Bruce, a voice reminds her. That is Bruce.
Sakura hears heavy breathing, turns sharply, darting to the side of a shaken-up Agent Romanoff. The woman nods her head in thanks as Sakura helps her lean up against the piped wall around her, but then Romanoff waves her hand vaguely in the direction of the fallen men.
Sakura hesitates for a moment, concerned about the other woman's heavy breathing and striken appearance, but Romanoff only grunts out a sharp, "Go." She nods seriously, leaping through the large hole in the wall across from them.
Bruce- Hulk, whatever, stands there, snorting and grunting loudly as Thor slowly pushes himself to stand. The blond's eyes dart to her, and then back to the Hulk. Sakura slinks behind a nearby crate, steps unheard below the panicked running of agents around them and the noises of the man in front of them.
There is a tense silent for only a moment, before the Hulk stumbles forward slightly and lets out a deep roar that breaks the temporary pause.
He darts forward, swinging a massive fist at the blond man, who dodges the wild punch and returns with a strike that lands on the jaw of the larger man. This only seems to enrage him further, and he spins before bringing a clenched fist down on Thor.
Thor catches this with his forearm, bringing his free arm up to wrap around the wrist of his opponent. He is holding him off, but Sakura can tell it is straining him - temporary.
Sakura decides to give up on the stealth thing, too.
She flashes forward, fist coated in blue energy, as Thor's attempts at verbally reaching out to the man under the beast is rebuked. She reaches them just as Hulk begins to lift the blond man up slightly, pulling his fist back for another attack.
It shocks Sakura, herself, how far the massive green man flies when her punch lands on the side of his head. He crashes into a row of crates behind him, letting out a guttural roar of pain and anger.
Sakura swallows the sudden lump in her throat, glancing down at her hands before looking to the man beside her. Thor stares at her mutely for a moment, catching his breath with hands on bent knees, before standing up with a large, booming laugh. "Lady Sakura!" He says through breathless chuckles, "I saw your squabble with the Captain of America, but I did not think you—"
His words are cut off, and the wind is knocked out of Sakura, as the Hulk swats her away and punches Thor through a stack of crates identical to the ones he was previously knocked into. Sakura pushes energy to her fingers to halt the skidding of her body across the concrete floor, wincing as the rough surface drags only slightly at her exposed fingertips. Her clothing doesn't tear or bunch up, and she sends a silent thank you to the red-headed agent for gifting them to her.
Sakura takes only a moment to catch her breath, re-evaluating her assessment of the green man - his raw power is blatant, but the mass of his body does not slow him down at all, something she was hoping on. She isn't sure how much of Bruce's intelligence bleeds through to his… other guy, but she really hopes he is as stupid as he is big.
In this time, the Hulk stumbles through the hole he has punched Thor through, and Sakura curses when she hears another large crash - but still too small to make her think Thor has managed a hit.
She pushes herself to stand, wincing at the pain poking around near her ribs, but putting this to the back of her mind.
Sakura dashes forward, gritting her teeth at the path of destruction and Thor-shaped holes in front of her. She pushes herself to move faster, run harder when the Hulk's thunderous roar echoes through the room. She notes the sound of metal dragging across the ground, gradually getting closer, but focuses on locating where the battle has shifted to.
Sakura comes across the two men just as the Hulk leaps into the air, towards a kneeling Thor with hand outstretched. A large metal hammer shoots into his hand, bursting through a pile of boxes - Sakura's eyes dart between the angle of Thor's swing and the trajectory of the Hulk's jump before coming to a quick decision.
Thor's hammer makes sickening contact with the jaw of the green man at the same moment Sakura pushes herself into the air. She flips head over foot to build up momentum and velocity, her heel a shining blue beacon as it comes down upon the chest of the Hulk. She only cringes a little bit at the contact, simultaneously pushing herself off of his pectorals to land beside the tense blond-haired man. The Hulk lays on the broken body of a plan (that's what Steve said those flying metal machines were called), huffing through his nose.
Everyone is still for the briefest of moments - the Hulk, recovering, and Thor and Sakura, anticipating. Sakura bites her lip when she sees the darkened skin around where her foot made impact. She titls her head towards Thor, asking in a hushed voice, "I didn't hit him too hard, did I?"
The Hulk pushes himself to stand at that moment, swinging his head around roughly, spit flying out of his unclenched jaw. He looks directly at them, then, before his entire body shakes in rage and he releases his deepest, angriest roar yet.
Thor spins his hammer in his hand, answering plainly, "Not hard enough."
The altered man in front of them grabs the wing of the plane between massive green fingers, tearing it from the body of the machine and throwing it as if it is weightless. Thor and Sakura both dash forward, the former sliding under the flying wing on his knees, while the latter leapt over it, hoping to clear the head of the Hulk as well.
Sakura's calculations turned out to be incorrect, as she did not easily sail over the tall, green man - instead, she finds a painfully tight grip latching on to her calf, engulfing it completely within green fingers. She gasps, out of shock and slight pain, body jolting uncomfortably as her forward momentum comes to an abrupt halt.
Sakura curls herself inward, instinctively, panicked hands grappling at the hand clenched around her that is slowly tightening. She can almost feel the bones of her leg groaning in protest, and an undignified yelp leaves her mouth. Sakura estimates she has about seven seconds before her calf snaps.
On the sixth second, there is the distinct, metallic swoosh of Thor's hammer flying through the air, and the Hulk turns to the side expectantly, grip still tight on her leg. That grip loosens once the green man tries to catch the hammer, and Sakura falls to the ground with a swift thud as he is sent soaring.
Sakura grits her teeth, placing her hands over her to calf to check for any fractures or breaks. A breeze goes past, rustling her hair, and she watches Thor rush the Hulk, who is breaking concrete underfoot trying to lift the hammer. Thor lands a knee-kick on the side of his head, at the same time Sakura deems her leg usable - bruised, sore, but useable.
She sprints forward, just as Thor snatches his hammer from the ground - what is that thing made of - and swings around the neck of the massive man. They grapple, and Sakura halts immediately in front of them, weighing her options.
A punch to the head or torso will send them flying, but Thor will get the brunt of the impact.
Legs it is, then.
Sakura darts ahead, lowering her posture and pushing power to surround her entire left leg (ensuring she doesn't use the one with Hulk-prints on them). She weaves around the grappling duo, dodging any thrashing thumbs, before striking out quickly and making contact with the back of the Hulk's colossal green calf.
Karma, Sakura thinks with a self-indulgent smirk.
He crumples immediately, releasing another enraged roar that shakes the ground under them, makes her pulse beat faster, and wipes the smirk off of her face.
Thor leans his entire body weight backwards, hands clenched around the handle of his hammer, in what she recognizes as an attempt to incapacitate their teammate. Hulk tries to reach around and pull the blond man off, but quickly abandons this.
Instead, he jumps through the fucking ceiling.
Sakura lets out an exasperated groan, swiping her hands over her eyes before jumping up and after them. She knows her energy isn't drawn from some infinite pool, and every step she takes makes her leg scream in protest.
This needs to end, now.
She lands in the room above them, and immediately has to duck under the soaring body of her blond ally. Sakura doesn't have time to look back and ensure he is alright, as the Hulk spots her tense form and charges her. The pink-haired woman learns from her previous mistakes, rolling to the side to dodge him this time rather than attempting another flying leap.
The Hulk's fists pound the ground where she stood moments before, crumbling away another section of concrete floor.
Thor lets out a pained groan, and Sakura's eyes dart to his prone body, concerned. This little distraction costs her.
In the time it took for Sakura to locate Thor, the Hulk has jumped around the hole in the floor, swatting her away without a second thought. Sakura rushes to cushion her head with her energy, hoping it takes away some of the sting. She still hits the wall full-force, head bouncing painfully off of metal, leaving her ears ringing and skull pounding. Still in-tact, luckily.
There is the pounding of feet on concrete, and Sakura pulls her head up to watch, squinting through blurry vision to see the two men meet in the middle of the room. They grapple with each other's hands, at a stalemate for the briefest of moments.
But it is the Hulk's spectacular ability to dig his feet into the ground beneath them that gives him the upper hand. He crouches slightly, suddenly, lowering his and disrupting Thor's centre of balance. The Hulk uses this opportunity to lift the blond man off of his feet, swinging him up and above his head, to crash down on a metal table. It snaps underneath the force of Thor's landing.
Sakura pushes herself to stand, vision still swimming dangerously, trying to ground herself so she can return to the fight.
Grounding herself takes too long, she learns, as the Hulk picks Thor up with one hand, as if the large muscular blonde is completely weightless - and then tosses him purposefully in Sakura's direction. She pushes energy to her feet, planting herself, and catches her ally to the best of her ability; hoping to save him from the pounding headache and aching body she now suffers from.
His body arrives in her arms, and Sakura - luckily - only stumbles back slightly, kneeling down quickly to give Thor a chance to right himself and catch his breath. He pats her arm gratefully, but their attention soon returns to the heaving, huffing green man in front of them.
The Hulk knocks a cabinet out of his way, and stomps towards them with footsteps that leave cracks in the ground.
Before he reaches them, though, there is the sudden pounding of projectiles against the glass window behind the Hulk's form. The glass breaks soon after, and Sakura recognizes the bullets (another word learned from Steve) coming from a plane hovering in the air.
Thor grunts slightly, and is able to react quicker than she.
He pushes himself up and forward, wrapping a thick arm around her waist and launching the two of them to the side, out of the immediate range of the bullets. He places his body above hers, hands hovering near her head… in what she recognizes as an attempt to protect her.
Sakura feels her heart stutter slightly, thrown off by the sudden act of camaraderie.
Of trust.
The mighty roaring of the Hulk breaks her out of this realization - there is the pounding of feet, and then an unanticipated quiet.
Sakura gazes around Thor's arm, only to witness the Hulk leaping out of the window, and landing solidly on the plane. It swerves at the unexpected weight - she and Thor can only watch uselessly, breathlessly, as the Hulk tears the plane apart, dragging it lower and lower until it disappears from their sight.
The only sound, now, is their ragged breathing, distant gunshots, and the crackling of exposed wire.
And then there is a small, warm hand on his arm.
Thor turns his head quickly, the sudden touch surprising him slightly, and sees the pink-haired woman staring up at him in what he can only describe as amazement. She says, through heavy breaths, a rough, "Thank you."
The intensity of her words confuses him slightly, and he doesn't respond for a moment, pushing himself to stand and helping her up as well. He settles on, finally, "It is no bother. You are a worthy ally."
There is so falsities in his words. Though appearing under suspicious circumstances, and making the ignorant mistake of assisting his brother, the woman in front of him has seemingly devoted herself to gaining their trust and proving their misconceptions wrong. She fought valiantly at his side, no hesitancy or doubt entering her gaze for a moment.
She can be trusted to fight alongside them in this war.
And, for Thor, that trust is one that extends past the battlefield.
Her lip trembles slightly, the strength of her bright green gaze wavering for a brief second. It belies the youth of the woman, who has lived a mere fraction of his life. Her eyes look upon him so earnestly, bearing an uncanny similarity to a younge—
"Loki," Thor says, the calm of the moment breaking as his brother's visage crosses his mind. He vaguely remembers Fury sending Agent Coulson to ensure his brother stays within his cell. Realizes it is only humans that guard him in the first place.
It is a death wish, to send mere mortals to restrain the likes of Loki.
"My brother. He will be attempting to escape, surely. We must stop him," He offers Sakura as explanation, grabbing her arm firmly in an attempt to ground the shaken girl once more. Her eyes narrows slightly, and he can see her processing his words.
"They're not safe," She says, and Thor marches forward, nodding in agreement, "No. They are not."
The two set off immediately, Thor holding out his hand and drawing Mjolnir into it.
He follows a path he remembers travelling twice before - and twice before, has he stopped immediately outside the cell containing his brother. He could not look Loki in the face. Knowing what he had done, what he intended to do. To know he had failed Loki, allowing him to fall down such a path.
He couldn't look him in the eye, before.
Now… now, he is angry. He and Sakura weave through rushing agents, Thor's thoughts distracting him from the chaos unfolding around them. Loki courts chaos, beds it, and Thor cannot stand by and let more innocent lives suffer as a result of his brother's careless actions.
He feels a sense of resoluteness as they reach the detention centre, bursting through unlocked, damaged doors until they finally reach the area that holds Loki. Bodies lay, unmoving, and this ignites Thor's simmering anger until it is a rage he cannot smother.
Thor pauses when he reaches the doorway, stumbling slightly. He can feel his pulse hammering loudly in his veins at the sight of Loki, cell door sliding open, smirking madly. A guttural, "No!" leaves his lips, and he thrusts himself forward, intent at keeping his fellow god contained.
He realizes the mistake of his haste when he simply phases through a duplicate of his brother, landing carelessly on the cold, metal floor of his cell. The anger is still flowing through him, and his movements are clumsy as he pushes himself to stand.
Loki is still in front of him, hands crossed beside his back and head tilted mockingly. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki says snidely, only enraging him further, and Thor lashes out with his hammer, determined on breaking through the glass standing in his way.
Except - the glass merely cracks.
Large devices on the side of the cell shift up suddenly, and the whole room jolts. Thor is confounded at this, unused to the power of his hammer being rebuked so surely. Breaking out won't be so easy, then.
He glances around the cell, anger pounding in his ears but keeping up the stunned facade as he scans the area for his companion. Her footsteps have always been utterly silent, but he knows she is in the same room as he. Observing. Hopefully, devising a plan.
Loki, too, is thrown off at the action of his hammer meeting glass. He recovers quickly, though, chuckling under his breath - at Thor's misfortune, no doubt. Thor is at a loss for words, the sight of his brother's cold gaze and the mocking twitch of his lips a jagged reminder of what Loki has twisted in to.
This is not the brother he grew up with.
He can only breathe deeply, trying to reign in his scattered emotions, and watches as Loki saunters over to what Thor assumes to be the control panel for his cell. "The humans believe us immortal," The raven-haired man begins, "should we test that?"
There is a grunt, suddenly, from the man in black that has been assisting Loki. He and his brother both turn their attention towards the noise, and Thor feels a modicum of relief at seeing the agent from S.H.I.E.L.D - the Son of Coul - standing above a prone body with an intimidatingly-large weapon in his hands.
This relief is quickly squashed at the realization that Agent Coulson is simply that - an agent. A human.
The suited man steps forward, and says in a much-too-polite tone, "Move away please." Thor feels something dropping from his nose, but ignores it as he watches the confrontation in front of him. There is a raw, heavy feeling in his gut that something will go terribly wrong.
"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer," Agent Coulson says, monotony leaving his tone to let taunting take its place. "Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" The weapon in his grasp begins to whir, glowing faintly, and Coulson steps forward resolutely.
Thor mentally curses the man, who doesn't seem to truly realize who- what he is taunting. If he could get out there, face his brother, god to god, then—
The next few moments happen so very suddenly, it is only due to his abilities that he witnesses the rapid events that occur in front of him.
He wishes he didn't.
A second Loki appears at Coulson's back, sceptre raised, poised to strike with deadly accuracy. A flash of pink seemingly-materializes between the two men, back directly against that of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, blue-covered fists similarly raised to block the strike.
But his brother, as always, has thought ahead.
Sakura's punch flies through gold-tinted air, revealing it to be simply another illusioned version of the green god. The Loki in front of Coulson - the real one - darts forward, sceptre realizing into his grasp and snarl twisting his mouth into an ugly smirk.
He can only watch, utterly useless, as Loki attacks with possibly the most force Thor has ever seen come from his brother's hands.
It is a force that pushes the sceptre through the heart of Coulson, first.
And then through.
Until blood-tipped gold glints mockingly out of Sakura's chest.
Thor barely recognizes his own voice, deep and guttural, as he releases a devastated, "NO!" Unable to stop his body from darting forward and impacting the broken glass, but it is useless.
He is useless.
The glow resonating from Loki's sceptre brightens for a brief moment when it glides through Sakura. The gargled noise she makes when it appears on the other side, however, pushes this observation completely from Thor's mind.
A distraught yell rumbles in his throat as Loki, with the utmost pleasure, pushes the sceptre further into the two, twisting his wrist with particular cruelty.
Blood leaks from Coulson's lips. Sakura lets out a cry of pain. Thor feels as if he is nothing more than an observer to this vicious performance.
Loki pulls his sceptre out, the sound of it tearing through flesh once more making Thor's stomach twist. He is no newcomer to the throes of battle, but there is a deceptive calmness in the action that is decidedly chilling.
Coulson and Sakura crumple to the ground, the former landing with his back to the wall and the latter remaining curled in on herself, hands grappling at her chest in a vain attempt to halt the advancement of her injury. Thor has never felt more contempt for his brother.
Loki glares at the two for a moment, his gaze cold and guarded, before he turns and advances towards the control panel. The only noise in the room are his slow, measured footsteps and Thor's rushed, unsteady breathing.
Loki takes note of the anger and despair on his face, and relishes in this. He gestures vaguely to the blood staining the tip of his sceptre, half-smiling in a way that makes it seem like a mere inconvenience rather than an act of pure ruthlessness.
But, to his surprise, no mocking quips leave Loki's mouth.
Instead, he silently presses a button that opens up the very floor beneath him, the passing of sky and cloud and land now visible below them. The sound of rushing air fills the unnerving silence of the room. Loki's hand hovers over the switch that will undoubtedly send him careening out of the sky in this unbreakable glass cage.
Thor steps back slightly, gaze solely trained on the man he had been raised alongside. Fought alongside, bled alongside, dreamt alongside. The eyes looking back at him reflect none of this. They are not Loki's eyes.
There is a shuffling from the ground, and the sight of Sakura pushing herself up on her hands with shaky, trembling arms. Agent Coulson is unmoving from his position leant against the wall, breathing shallowly. Sakura's head lolls to the side slightly, before she lifts it and looks towards Thor. He forces himself not to look away.
Despite the weakness of her body and the literal bleeding of her heart, her gaze is still sharp. There is some conviction in it that Thor does not understand, only seeing another victim of his brother's manic actions and his own inability to stop them.
Another failure.
Thor is still looking into piercing green eyes when the world around him drops and twists and turns and he begins falling from the sky.
Sakura is dying.
Her pulse is beating incessantly in her ears, her fingers shake as they press uselessly against the tear in her chest, and black begins to creep into her vision. She lets out a whimper when Thor, and the cage surrounding him, drops out of sight. She watches him fall, useless.
She turns her head slightly, taking in the man that has suffered the same fate as she. Agent Coulson, one of the more familiar S.H.I.E.L.D. agents - he was involved in her interrogation. One of the most sympathetic ones, she remembers. His tone was always serious and blunt, yes, but there was always a kindness in his brown eyes.
And she has failed him.
She feels so utterly stupid, thinking that jumping in front of Loki's attack would prevent it. No, that man - god, her mind supplies - thinks too far ahead and acts with too much caution to allow that to happen. She has been outsmarted; and now she, and a man she could not protect, are dying.
The pain in her forehead returns the same moment Loki moves away from the stand that sent Thor tumbling out of the ship, completely ignoring the two fallen bodies nearby. This angers Sakura, but she is too focused on trying to prolong what is left of her life to retaliate.
Coulson, on the other hand, finds it within himself to say, "You're going to lose." This stops Loki in his tracks, and he turns to the agent, asking, "Am I?" Coulson remarks that it is in his nature to lose, but Sakura is having a hard time paying attention to the conversation, as the black in her vision is increasing rapidly and the blood from her chest refuses to slow down.
Coulson makes a comment that seems to prod at a soft spot for the green god, as he grits his teeth before his gaze shifts and lands on Sakura. A cruel smile spreads across his face, and he walks towards the pink-haired woman, coming to crouch directly in front of her.
"Ah, Sakura," She sneers at the light-hearted tone of his jab, her entire body shaking with the effort it takes to hold herself up and keep pressure over her injury. She lets out a grunt of pain when long, cold, fingers trap her chin and force her to look up at the raven-haired man in front of her.
He tuts slightly, before saying in a mock-sympathetic voice, "You would have been a wonderful ally, hm? Instead, you follow ignorant leaders and listen to the nonsense they spout, believing it will somehow lead you down the right path."
Sakura says nothing, staring at him venomously when he continues, "But you were wrong, my dear. You will die as you lived - purposeless." Loki releases her chin suddenly, the force of her head falling down making her skull pound and somehow intensifying the pain centred in her forehead. The green-clad god rises, pitiless stare trained on her weak self.
His next words come out as a near-hiss: "Now watch my back as I become ruler to this pitiful civilization."
White fills her vision, her forehead begins to burn, and Sakura only vaguely recognizes the sound of a weapon firing before the man in front of her is sent flying into, and through, a wall. Coulson's mild observation, "So that's what it does," is the last thing she hears before images and voices flash through her mind.
Honey-coloured hair and green robes and an all-knowing stare, the feeling of rocks pounding against skin and the sight of two silhouettes walking away from her. A well gradually being filled by raindrops, green light around pale hands, the human body deconstructing and constructing itself in front of her eyes.
And finally, a voice:
…never stop medical treatment until the lives of their members have come to an end.
Sakura's body convulses, once, twice, before she feels as if she is dropped back in to it.
Her heart is still bleeding, her pulse still racing, but Agent Coulson is dying. Sakura pulls strength from nowhere, dragging her body towards the man whose life is slowly fading. She can't let that happen.
The modicum of energy it took Coulson to fire on Loki is gone, now. In its place is shallow breath, a still-bleeding wound and eyes that are clouding over.
Sakura lets her instincts, lets whatever… vision she just witnessed take over. Her hands know where to go, her mind knows what to analyze, her energy knows where to flow.
The sound of heavy footsteps entering the room, and harsh voices ringing out, does not break her from this. A palm resting on her shoulder does not break her from this. Fingers hesitating to grab at her hands, wary of the green light surrounding them, does not break her from this.
And Sakura, somehow, knows when her job is done.
She knows when to allow her energy to fade, when to allow her hands to drop.
And then, all she knows is darkness.
Steve pushes himself to stand, breathing harshly as an equally-exhausted Tony ambles into the doorway he has just tackled a man through.
There is no sense of accomplishment that fills Steve, as there sometimes is after a battle. Whatever they have just done does not change the fact there is a hole in the ship, attackers in their halls, and the possibility of Loki breaking free.
He moves over the metal walkway that still stands, he and Tony both giving themselves a moment to recover. There is more fighting to be done, surely.
But then the comm in his ear crackles to life, and there is some sort of resignation in whoever speaks. Director Fury, he recognizes.
"…Agent Coulson and Sakura are down." Steve's heart sinks, he and Tony making brief eye contact before they both look away. Steve tries to focus on his breathing, but his breath catches when there is a brief fumbling and yelling heard over the device, before Fury says, "Agent Coulson is… he's stable."
Steve can feel Tony's gaze land on him when nothing else is said over the speaker, and he thinks his heart travels from his stomach to his knees.
He only waits a moment more, before bringing his hand up and pushing to talk. He doesn't like the defeat in his own voice when he asks, "And Sakura's status?"
But the radio only crackyles.
No one answers.
/an/
another pretty long chapter woopwoop ! i'm really nervous about writing fight scenes, but this was a lot of fun to do and i hope it turned out okay ! thank you for the support once again - all the reviews that were left for last chapter were so wonderful ! you make me all very happy ! if you enjoyed this chapter, please please leave a review!
if anyone is confused about the pain in her forehead and when she gains memories / abilities - there is a (i think) clear connection to when all these moments occur, and the two sorts of things that trigger it (ohoho). that connection will for sure be fleshed out and explained - whether that be by the end of this story, or in a possible sequel ;)
i'm beginning to write the eggsyxsaku fic (since there were some wonderful reactions to the idea), so i now have to split my time between the two fics. there will still for sure be regular updates to both, so don't worry!
thanks for reading! :)))