Chapter 3:
"At our best estimates we assume she was drained of 30-40% of blood...daily. She is very lucky to be alive." Dr. Fox's diagnosis came like a punch to Thor which he somehow managed to keep hidden as Steve watched him with one eye. The other eye was on Orla as she lay in the hospital bed looking unbelievably tiny and frail against the white sheets. The sheets and her skin even matched color.
The doctor continued, "Regular human bodies can't compensate for much longer on its own in a blood loss over 40%. At this stage, the heart can't properly maintain blood pressure, pumping, or circulation. Organs will be begin to fail without adequate blood and fluid and you'll likely pass out and slip into a coma, which is why we are keeping her sedated."
"What about a blood transfusion?" Steve asked as he already began to suspect the answer before Dr. Fox could say it.
"Unfortunately we are out of O-, it is the known as the universal donor blood type in the world with less than 5% in worldwide population so it gets used up fast." Dr. Fox studied Thor and Steve hopeful. "You wouldn't happen to know what type you are?"
As Thor shook his head no Steve butted in, "I'm O-." One look of barely concealed hope and sadness on Thor's face furthered Steve's benevolence. "Hook me up doc."
After the surge of nurses came and went Steve sat silently while an IV hooked in his left arm dripped a constant flow of blood into a tube that led to Orla's arm while Thor sat in a chair closer to Orla's bed. They hadn't directly spoken about what had happened when Steve had walked in on Thor losing to his rage at the gym immediately after the briefing where Misty, Orla's previous supervisor, informed them of her kidnapping and no leads. Thor had burst out of the briefing directly after listening to Orla's phone call to the police and Misty explaining to everyone in the room of her abduction. Steve had followed him to check on him and had been stunned by Thor's outburst at personal emotion. He had been surprised by what he thought was Thor's feeling for this seemingly unknown woman but the urge to save and protect her was there because she had been a member of the team once. Steve didn't personally know Orla Glenn but there was something in his memory that was nagging at him.
"Do you remember her?" Thor's voice cut into Steve's mind wandering. He looked over perplexed at his question and Thor scoffed slightly. "Of course you don't. It was two years ago, after Ultron and Sokovia." Thor paused and watched Steve's face to see if he would remember, but he didn't and Thor was left to explain. "Misty didn't tell everyone this because it's a need to know only but Orla can heal people by touching them. That's why she was taken."
Steve blinked as he remembered with a flash of recognition, the warm sensation after shaking someone's hand and all his injuries and exhaustion disappearing. "She…"
"Yes." Thor cut him off as he looked over at the drug induced coma Orla. They had to leave her this way so she could heal without her body trying to shut down even more. In silence they both watched the blood drip from Steve's arm into the tube and over to Orla's arm in a direct blood transfusion.
"She's in a bad way Thor." Steve said quietly as he surveyed the beat up, burned, and tortured Orla. She had been washed upon arrival to the hospital and with his blood slowly dripping into her veins Steve thought she looked slightly better from when he saw her on the Quinjet. Upon really seeing her for the first time on the flight to the hospital Steve was surprised at the stamina she had when he had burst into the room to rescue her only to see her flying out a window. If he had only been quicker he could have prevented her from smacking into the balcony and escaping them but he understood that she probably thought he was her captor.
"I know…" Thor mumbled as his eyes travelled over her bandaged arm and unbandaged burn as she was titled to the side. The wound had been cleaned and lathered in ointment to help it but it didn't look good. Everyone could tell that this spot had been burned over and over again. The nurses were shocked when they discovered that her captors had been cutting it and draining it and then reburning her all over again and the staff was horrified by the type of people who had captured her. Thor's fists clenched as he remembered the nurses and doctors reports as they cleaned her and ran the preliminary tests. Along with all her external injuries and visible blood draining Orla had a few fractures from what everyone assumed was her daredevil zip line escape attempt and the regular beatings she received. Rage burned inside of him at the Hydra cell and the one who escaped.
Steve could see the muscles bulge in Thor's arms as he tensed and guessed where his thoughts were going. "We'll find him Thor. We'll find him and he won't be hurting anyone else."
Thor ignored Steve's attempt at relieving his rage and had to focus on the rise and fall of Orla's chest. Waiting and patience were things Thor was not good at but that was what Orla needed at the moment, patience and rest.
Steve walked straight out onto a limb and very bluntly asked, "Why are you so protective of her?"
Thor jumped at the question, it taking him by surprise. His first instinct was to bark back because she had been a member of the team and he would do this for anyone but he didn't. Instead he bit back a grumble and sigh combo, "Because I owe her. She did me a favor two years back so I'm returning it."
Steve didn't say anything but could very easily sense Thor's protectiveness of her, he could see that back on the Quinjet. Returning a favor from two years back, that sounded a little bit far-fetched but Steve didn't want to press it anymore and have Thor blow up at him. He already looked like he was ready to strangle him if he asked any more prying questions or the next person who showed up with any health news concerning Orla.
The tension was not broken when Misty entered Orla's hospital room with a stack of folders tucked into her arms. She paused when she first entered, surprised at the seemingly hostile air surrounding Thor sitting nearest Orla's bed. He had frightened her when she gave her report on Orla's kidnapping and she felt a mixture of guilt and responsibility for not knowing of the threat to Orla.
Misty cleared her throat softly, "The investigation team has some reports from the Hyrda cell members they captured. Dr. Fox will be need to be informed of this report and I believe it will piece together what happened to Orla."
"You mean what they did to Orla," Thor growled. "There was no 'what happened' it was what they did to her." Thor's growl grew menacing the more he spoke.
"Thor." Steve's voice was stern as he stood quickly to prevent Thor from any more true but hurtful word twisting verbal attacks on Misty.
Thor shot daggers with his eyes at Steve but didn't say anything else as Steve watched him sternly from near the door. He looked away after a while and turned back to watching Orla.
Steve turned slightly to Misty who stood slightly behind him, having taken a few steps backward at Thor's deep growling. "What is it?" He gestured toward the folders but Misty shook her head side to side as Steve reached for the folders.
"This one's for you." Misty pulled out one folder for Steve leaving another four in her arms. "I brought these for Thor."
Steve's eyebrows shot upwards as Thor's head snapped up in surprise. Misty edged around Steve and Orla's bed toward Thor before handing him two thick folders, the medium one that Steve received as well and one more medium folder with plenty of loose papers tucked in.
Misty purposefully tapped the last one with importance. "Start with this one first," before walking away. At Steve's questioning look she smiled meekly and whispered, "Homework."
Steve nodded slowly as she passed him and a nurse entered stopping him from asking her any more questions. The nurse disconnected the blood flow from Steve and Orla before leading Steve away for checkups and snacks.
Thor was left alone in Orla's quiet room and for the first time in a while he had a moment to just sit and do nothing but listen to the quietness. He had been on constant missions before imprisoned by the fire demon Surtur on Muspelheim before returning to Asgard to find Loki impersonating their father Odin leading the two of them on a mission to find and return Odin. That did not turn out the way that Thor had thought it would; Odin's passing and Hela's return. Subsequently leading to the fight in the Bifrost Bridge in which they were thrown out and landed in Sakaar. That was a whole detour that Thor didn't need but eventually they made it back to Asgard to eventually aid in the destruction of their home in order to kill Hela.
Thor grumbled as he leaned back in his chair and fought the urge to reach up and run his hand down the scar running from his hairline past his eye socket to his cheek. He had lost his right eye in the fight against Hela but Rocket the Raccoon gave him a mechanical one. Thinking of his replacement eye Thor skipped past his memories of Thanos attacking his ship of Asgardian refugees headed for earth, killing his brother, obliterating his ship from space, being saved by Guardians of the Galaxy, travelling to Nidavellir to forge a new battle axe capable of killing Thanos, and then the fight in which he failed to kill Thanos on Earth leading to Thanos's finger snap of doom. It had been a giant mess after that with the Avengers scattered across Wakanda and missing along with the world freaking out.
Immediately after that SHIELD swopped in with its remaining members and they had been trying to stabilize governments in the aftermath when Misty had received a tagged report with Orla's name on it from her civilian contacts leading her to the discovery of Orla's abduction. SHIELD took over the investigation since she was a special case and Misty briefed the team with what information she had. Actually it had been quite easy for Misty, with her resources, to piece together where Orla had been taken once she had gotten the second report. The report in which an anonymous person sent a video of a woman being captured in an apartment hallway and screaming out her name and that she was no slave. The person in the email said they felt compelled to report it even though it could have cost them their safety and wished to remain unidentified.
After that Misty had organized the strike team and they went out to take down the Hydra cell. Thor knew that Misty felt guilty about not knowing about the cell when they had targeted Orla through a fellow member of her nursing program when they figured out she had a special ability. But she had made it right by finding Orla leading to her escape and rescue.
Now in the quiet and awkward peace that only hospitals had Thor had all the time to wait and think. He finally had time to slow down and do nothing, now that he had that time he didn't know what he wanted to do. Everything he had was gone, everything familiar to him was gone all except what was left of the Avengers...that and Orla. Somehow she was brought back into his life so very suddenly and when he was at that first briefing when they had no leads he had been surprised by the uncontrollable rage he felt. Was it an accumulation of all the loss he had suffered, the amount of pain he had been dealt, and self-hatred for failing the universe? Was that why he had so desperately leapt to Orla's cause and lashed out to anyone who questioned his protectiveness of her? What was it about her that calmed him?
Thor pulled himself from his memories and turned to the folders that Misty had left for him. Maybe the answer he was looking for was in here. He opened the binder that Misty had suggested he start with, the first pages were reports on Orla's application, background checks, and immediate testing done to join SHIELD. The rest were a mix of reports from her teachers and supervisors including Misty and a very interesting report from Nick Fury himself.
Thor had leaned forward into the folder, his eyebrows crunching together as he reread the words in Fury's report thinking he had read that wrong. This file had been added separately and had no real place in the binder so Thor knew that this file was not meant to be seen by just anyone. Misty had included it for a reason and reading it over for a third time it hit Thor hard as he realized the connection.
Orla was half Asgardian! Skimming over the little information in the report Thor connected the dots. Her father was an Asgardian who chose to stay on Earth after a battle centuries ago and had been living here since, masquerading as a human. The only alias he was known as was Elliot Randolph and was a professor of Norse mythology who had helped SHIELD on a few occasions. One of them being an advisor on Mjolnir in the desert of New Mexico when Thor was banished to this planet by Odin. Agent Coulson consulted Randolph after than a few more times and discovered his true ancestry. When Randolph learned of one of his fellow professor's passing, Cliodhna Glenn, he discovered that she had left behind daughter.
Randolph didn't think too much about it before he received a letter from Cliodhna through her lawyers. Cliodhna wrote the letter when she discovered she was sick but kept it hidden from everyone including her daughter. Even if Orla had the ability to heal others with a touch Cliodhna worried that one day she would push herself too far, be stretched too thin and she would be the one to suffer. Cliodhna wanted Randolph to take care of their daughter and keep her safe.
Not knowing what to do with an adult daughter he never knew he had, one that had special abilities, Randolph turned to Agent Coulson and SHIELD. After that Orla was approached by them and recruited for her safety. She stayed with them for two years going through physical and academic training before Sokovia and her realization of usefulness before resigning.
As far as Thor could tell from the report this Elliot Randolph had never personally made contact with Orla, his own daughter. Thor laid the binder down and shut the report, his eyes slid over to Orla. Drugged up and still looking battered and bruised Thor was flabbergasted from what he had learned so far by the reports of her history. A regular American teenager's world changed the instant she learned of her abilities to heal others. Upon graduating high school she had travelled to Ireland to take care of her failing grandparents for four years before they passed away. Orla's mother Cliodhna had kept her sickness from her daughter till the very end and had passed away within six months of her own parents passing leaving Orla alone in the world with an unknown father who wanted nothing to do with her once he was informed of her existence. Her time at SHIELD, meeting him, her resignation, and then two years at college striving to do her very best to help others. Even volunteering at an elderly facility to help ease the aches and pains of people who had no family ties to her.
Only just learning about her, Thor realized with a start, that he wanted to know more. It seemed she struggled through all the hardships she encountered with a smile on her face and willingness to go above and beyond what was expected of her or anyone. Her strength to take care of complete strangers just because she could even as everything else was falling apart around her spoke of her spirit and dedication.
Thor leaned forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands elbows resting on the edge of Orla's bed as he watched her. Her breaths were even and steady, same as her heart beat that beeped quietly in the corner. His one brown and one blue eye watched her as she lay in a drugged oblivion as his desire to know more about her grew with every passing second. He wanted to know her.
A dangerous game was in play that was hidden and played in the shadows. The cat and mouse game that Misty and Steve were playing with the escaped Hydra cell member and the unknown member of the hospital staff was continuing without the knowledge of their peers.
Dr. Fox had been analyzing the samples that SHIELD had brought back from the apartment where Orla had been kept, but large amounts of the samples had gone missing within days of him getting them. Someone on the staff was taking them and Misty and Steve were on the hunt. Thor was purposefully left out of this covert mission as his protectiveness of Orla was distracting him from focusing on other missions but because he was a constant fixture in her room and it was keeping her safe for the time being.
Twelve days after Orla's rescue a nurse on the hospital staff snuck the wanted Hydra cell member past the security of the hospital. It had already been a mundane day filled with watching and late at night when they were wishing for a few cups of coffee they failed when the Hydra member made it past them. To be fair he had been given a pair of scrubs and a stolen and altered id badge so he looked like he belonged. He made his way to Orla's room where he slipped in, locked the door behind him, and closed the curtains slowly. He didn't want to risk waking Thor but the noise the curtains made didn't wake the sleeping god so he didn't worry. After all it was past two o'clock and Thor was sound asleep.
Due to Steve's daily blood donations and half god heritage Orla was almost healed and definitely looked it even though she was still kept in an induced coma. He laughed silently to himself, this was going to be easier than he thought. Taking an extra pillow from the extra chair in the room he stepped up to the bed and leaned over Orla where he placed the pillow over her face and began to press down.
In the process of being smothered Orla's body twitched at the lack of air as the perpetrator leaned on the bed to leverage more strength for his smothering. Thor had his head on the end of the bed near Orla's legs, but as Orla's body twitched from lack of air Thor felt it and he came awake in an instant.
His head flew up as his hand reached out and gently gripped Orla's leg through the blanket draped across her. He was wide awake the instant he felt her body move but when he registered what was happening the hope drained from his eyes. Rage replaced the hope there as in one quick motion Thor stood, grabbed the man by the throat, and flung him away from Orla. Smashing into the glass window and door the man crashed through and landed on the floor outside near the nurses' station as the sound of breaking glass broke the silence of the early morning.
Thor was in rage mode and headed towards the man in a second but before he had a chance to strangle the man Steve and Misty where there beside the man and cuffing him before Thor had a chance to lay hands on him again.
"Thor!" Steve braced as Thor rammed into him in his haste to reach the man who was starting to be dragged away by security. "Stop, he is detained." Steve pushed Thor back off of him as the two began sliding across the floor.
Misty quickly directed the guards away with the cuffed up man. "We need him alive for information." She could see the rage in Thor's face and very easily could guess his intention toward the man who had tortured and come back to kill Orla so she wouldn't talk when she awoke.
From the hallway where the security agents were struggling to control the man he yelled out, "She is too valuable, her blood holds the key to immortal life, and we will get it! If we can't have her then no one will and we will never stop hunting her!"
Thor's roar of rage cut off the rest of the man's words as he was finally dragged down the hallway and through a set of double doors that clicked with a lock in their departure.
Dr. Fox had come running at the commotion and was beside Orla's bed checking on her when Thor's roar caused her to flinch. He turned around to inform the group of his prognosis when the radio on Misty's hip buzzed.
"Nurse accomplice escaped." Misty grabbed the radio and turned away to answer the call as Steve stood in front of Thor to keep him from running off after the Hyrda agent.
"How did this happen?" Thor demanded. He spun away from Steve and began to pace in front of Orla's bed. Without thinking he had placed himself between Orla and everybody else.
Steve glanced to Misty who still had her back turned and was talking into the radio she held in her hand. "We didn't know which of the staff was helping Hydra."
"So you let them bring him here. He was smothering her! You heard him, they will never stop hunting her and if they can't have her then they will try to kill her again. You've let the accomplice escape, they are still out there."
Steve and Misty had nothing to say, they hadn't expected the accomplice to get away nor had they expected the Hydra agent to try and kill Orla. They thought that he would try to kidnap her again but if she was dead then she wouldn't talk.
Dr. Fox spoke up from the corner, "The preliminary testing I ran on Miss Glenn's blood turned out with some unexpected results. Actually all of the samples I ran from the apartment turned up some interesting results. Miss Glenn's blood is indeed extraordinary. It will heal anyone who uses it of whatever ailments they have. What I wouldn't do to get some more samples…for research purposes..."
Steve jumped in front of Dr. Fox as Thor roared again and moved toward the doctor with murderous intent. "Not helping Dr. Fox."
"We didn't know which nurse took the samples we gave Dr. Fox!" Misty's raised voice was barely heard over Thor's roar. "We had to screen and follow all the staff but Hydra moved before we knew."
"You put her in danger! How does this make you any better than them? She was tortured by them and now this fool here will do the same in the name of science!" Thor was reaching his limit of tolerance as his protectiveness of Orla grew.
While Thor, Steve, Misty, and Dr. Fox argued Orla pushed through the fog of the induced coma and slowly came awake. The two main causes of her awaking were the smothering and Thor's yelling voice. She could barely make out the body shape of a very large man through the haze in her eyes and the light shining from around him. She was not worried as she recognized Thor's voice, it had been the last thing she heard before passing out and now it was the first thing she heard when she awoke.
"...Thor…" Orla forced her voice out and it was nothing more than the tiniest of whispers.
Thor spun the instant Orla's small voice reached him. Half his rage disappeared as he leaned over her in the bed as her small and weak voice echoed his name in his ears. His eyes greedily took in the sight of her eyes struggling to open and for a quick instant he wished that he could cup her face in his hands. Thor pushed that thought down surprised by it as Orla's eyes met his before sliding shut but not before he felt the sense of comfort and peace of safety she felt by his presence.
"Orla…" Misty's breath was light as she approached Orla's bedside and Thor stiffened at the sound.
Thor spun around them and stood protectively in front of Orla's bed and Misty stopped short. Thor was still very angry with Misty and Steve, how could they put Orla through this? After everything she had been through they had let the person responsible get to her once again leaving him to stop it. Thor could see that Orla was not safe with them and resolution tightened in his stomach.
"I am taking her," Thor spoke with a calm steel in his voice. "I am taking her away from here, somewhere where she will be safe."
Thor's words pounding in Orla's head as she tried to force her eyes open again. Her eyes only obeyed the slightest amount as she saw Thor's back against the light in the room. He would keep her safe and she knew it. Comforted by those words Orla stopped fighting the oncoming comatose and lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Author's Notes: Copy and paste Thor Ragnarok and Avengers Infinity War plot line in as few words as possible…
To those who are hardcore fans of the Agent's of Shield and know the history of the show I apologize for the quickest rundown of who Elliot Randolph is but I didn't want to inundate you with irrelevant information. I hope I didn't bog you down too much with all the information on Orla's past but there was some interesting things and circumstances in her past that put her where she is today.
Woooo Thor is taking Orla away! Use your imagination to full the blanks till the next chapter. Rate and Review if you'd like to say something. Thank you for reading.