Happy Tuesday, my lovely readers!
Once again, thank you to all those who have followed and favourited my stories!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any Marvel storylines or arcs.
Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story past, present and future.
Recap
Lowri turned back to the cockpit and stood in the doorway, looking in on Nat. "I'm going after him." She said, she bit down on her bottom lip when she saw Nat's look in the reflection from the glass and she amended herself. "Them. I mean them."
"Do you really think that's a good idea, Ri?" Nat asked. Lowri nodded her head and leant against the wall. "You're injured. Like really badly and you're gonna jump out of a plane for the second time in one night? I know you're insane, Ri, but surely you understand and acknowledge your limits?" Nat asked.
Lowri shrugged her shoulders and straightened up. "This will be gone properly in about four days." Lowri said, gesturing to her stomach, "Scars are not a problem. And these will go hopefully soon." She added, gesturing to her neck. "Close up after me." Lowri called as she strode down to the drop down.
Lowri heard her own voice break and crack under the pressure of the call and she let out a dry cough.
"What are you gonna do?" Nat called, making Lowri stop just short of the drop down.
"Talk." Lowri replied before jumping from the jet.
The cool night air rushed past her as she freefell for a moment as she dropped beneath the engine fumes and backlash from the jet and then she summoned her to fire to her and she dove down under the cloud level. She thought that because Nat had stalled her a fair bit, she would have trouble finding Steve, Tony, Loki and the newcomer, Thor.
But, she saw trees mown down in large quantities and she simply had to follow the path of destruction.
She kept in the air until she found Steve, Tony and Thor standing in a triangle on the ground with trees knocked down around them. What had happened to the trees around them?
Lowri landed just behind Steve and strode past him and stopped in the middle of the triangle, turning to face each man.
"Now, who decided to knock down a few trees?" Lowri asked, she looked around in half a circle, her voice broke right at the end and she turned from Steve before she could catch the look of worry on his face.
"Uh, that would be him." Tony said, pointing to Thor, who was breathing heavy.
"Why are you here, Thor?" Lowri asked, turning to Thor. Her voice was still broken and he looked at her with his eyes narrowed.
"Did my brother have something to do with the bruises decorating your throat?" Thor asked, gesturing to his own neck. He looked at her intently.
Lowri nodded her head, "He also gave me a few other friendly gifts too, but let's focus on why you're here, Thor. I thought you went back to Asgard?" Lowri asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"I have come back to put an end to Loki's schemes and to bring him back to Asgard." Thor replied, he looked right at Lowri, "And I will make sure he will pay for what he has done to you."
"Then prove it." Steve said, he stepped around Lowri and stood in front of her. "Put the hammer down." He added in a firm tone. He raised one hand, as if he was calming Thor.
"Um, yeah, no." Tony said, waving one hand and shaking his head. "Bad call. He loves that hammer." Tony added, he gestured towards Thor, who was now looking angrier by the second and he stepped closer to Steve and Lowri.
Thor swung his hammer around and hit Tony square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into another tree that cracked, snapped and crumbled with the weight of the suit. Tony landed with a loud thump as Lowri jumped back with a little yelp.
"Thor!" Lowri yelped, she narrowed her eyes at him but he didn't look at her, he just completely ignored her.
Thor locked onto Steve, holding his hammer raised and ready.
"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor roared. It was as though Thor was possessed by something.
Thor took a huge running jump with his hammer raised, he gave just about enough time for Steve to turn and push Lowri backwards and out of the way and for Steve to turn back and crouch with his shield over his head.
"Wait!" Lowri cried, she stumbled but she straightened up and turned back to Steve and Thor at the last moment, she got her footing back just as Thor's hammer made contact with Steve's shield and then she was hit and thrown away from them with a violent and strong force.
She felt the wind rush past her and for a moment, panic took hold, her body was already damaged and working hard to repair itself, it can't handle another beating but then she collided with a solid tree trunk and pain exploded all over her body as multiple bones broke and then everything went black.
Steve's ears rang with the sound of two metallic objects hitting and he felt the vibrations rock his body through the shield. That had been a powerful collision and as he removed the shield from above him and looked in front of him, he knew that he didn't want to be in the way of that.
The trees he could see had been knocked back and cleared by a good fifty feet. He watched Thor stagger to his feet as if he was drunk and he braced himself, who knows what this god could do.
Steve looked around, seeing what else the collision of the shield and hammer had damaged, more trees were swept down fifty in all directions but one thing was missing, where was Elizabeth?
He looked directly behind him, where he had pushed her and his heart dropped. Lying at least thirty feet away from him, was Elizabeth, lying still.
Worry gripped at him and his breath caught in his throat. He had pushed her to safety, but did he only hurt her more?
"Elizabeth." Steve breathed. He dropped his shield and cleared the thirty feet in seconds. He ignored the god and the man, Tony Stark, and dropped to his knees beside her, he was almost too scared to lay his hands on her, as if he could do more damage just by touching her.
She was so still, it was as if she was dead, but she had said before that she cannot die. Slowly, Steve pulled her onto her back and he leant closer, hoping to catch the rise and fall of her chest, indicting life.
"And I always thought her name was Lowri." Steve heard Stark comment but he ignored him again.
Steve felt relief rush through his body as soon as he saw the first rise and fall of her chest and he leant back on the balls of his feet.
Now that it was established that she was breathing, he felt a little better. She was probably unconscious but she was breathing weakly.
"I am sorry." Thor said from just behind him, Steve looked up at Thor and nodded shortly. "I don't know what came over me. It was as though a rage consumed me."
Steve looked back down at Elizabeth.
"It's alright. It's my fault, I pushed her away, I should have held her under the shield with me." Steve said slowly.
"I did not mean for Lowri to get hurt. I know her, she is a kind woman when others are not. She was good to me when others like her were hostile." Thor continued, he paused for a few seconds. "I see the way you look at her, and I know she feels the same way about you too."
Steve kept his eyes on Elizabeth, mostly making sure that she was still breathing but also because he didn't want to take her eyes off her.
"Romanoff is landing in like a minute." Stark said, walking up to them. "Uh, where did you stash Loki?" Stark asked, looking at Thor.
Steve gently took Elizabeth into his arms and as he straightened up, he caught sight of her face and when he saw how relaxed she looked, his heart warmed. Memories flooded back to him and all he wanted to do was to go back to London 1943 and press her against the doorway of her home and kiss her with all he had again.
Agent Romanoff stood at the back of the jet with her hands on her hips.
"What the hell happened to her?" Agent Romanoff asked sharply, she snapped Steve's attention from his memories and he looked up at her but he didn't get a word in.
"Hammerhead over there got a little too excited with his magic hammer." Stark answered as he strode past Steve and headed into the jet.
Steve remained standing at the back of the jet with Elizabeth in his arms.
"She's unconscious but she's breathing weakly." Steve added. "I think she must have hit a tree. How soon can we get back in the air? She needs medical attention."
"As soon as the two gods come back." Agent Romanoff said, she stepped off the jet and stopped in front of Steve. She peered at Elizabeth. "She'll heal herself when she's like this. But, she does need to be monitored." Agent Romanoff said.
Steve nodded his head and began walking onto the jet, as he got to the top of the ramp, Agent Romanoff called up to him.
"Hey, Cap, do you want your shield back?" Agent Romanoff called as she came striding back onto the jet with his shield hanging on her arm.
Steve turned and looked at her thankfully.
"Put her down on the seats by here, they pull out." Agent Romanoff said, she propped the shield up against the seats opposite and then hurried across to pull out the seats so Steve can lay Elizabeth down.
Agent Romanoff dropped to her knees beside Lowri and began checking her airways and her breathing.
"Yeah, she's unconscious but she is definitely breathing." Agent Romanoff said, she got back up to her feet and looked up at Steve. "What actually happened?"
"Something came over the man, Thor is his name?" Steve asked. "His hammer and my shield connected and it wiped out about fifty feet of trees. Elizabeth was in the way. I tried to push her behind me, so I could get the brunt of whatever it was, but I guess I only helped in injuring her even more." Steve explained.
Thor landed with a thump just outside the jet and he had Loki in his grasp. He strode into the jet and pushed Loki hard into the seat closest to the exit and stood over him, watching carefully.
"Alright," Agent Romanoff said, "We can get into the air." She said as she strode towards the cockpit, "Just monitor her breathing and if she stops, just do CPR."
Steve looked down at Elizabeth, his eyes narrowed, what's CPR?
He got down on his knees beside her and watched her carefully as Agent Romanoff got the jet into the air.
Steve closed his eyes for a moment, letting his memories come back to him. On their last day together, during that fight with Hydra on the last base, Elizabeth had been hurt much like she had been today with Loki's sceptre, she had played it off and looked at him with those beautiful eyes.
Steve's stomach churned uncomfortably as he looked down at Elizabeth, her last words to him had been 'I love you.' Steve hadn't replied but his gormless look clearly hadn't explained how much he loved her too.
Lowri slowly came back to her senses and the first thing she felt was that she was floating on thin air, her limbs seemed way too light and it was though gravity was gone.
And then, she dropped. She felt herself fall and fall and then she woke up abruptly when she crashed onto the hard, metal floor of the jet.
She yelped when she landed and she clutched at her stomach as the pain emerged again, fast.
Lowri curled on the floor, feeling sore in her stomach and her neck and her head and her back, pretty much everywhere on her body. Her hands began prickling with pins and needles, but she ignored them.
She opened her eyes slowly and briefly, everything was out of focus and all she could see was the metal floor under her. The light was almost too bright and she closed her eyes again.
Where was she?
Lowri felt the metal grids underneath her and she picked up on the sound of the engines working hard. She opened her eyes again and looked up.
There were four sets of eyes on her, two were dressed up in Asgardian clothes, another stood in a metal suit and another in the red, white and blue outfit that she knew and loved.
Lowri closed her eyes again and pressed her cheek against the cool metal floor, exhaling gently as she did so.
She felt the soreness leave her stomach and neck but she felt aching all over.
"Is she awake?" Came a female voice. It took Lowri a few seconds to register that the voice belonged to Nat.
She felt hands on her back and shoulders, they were gentle and comforting hands.
"Elizabeth?" A deep voice asked from just behind her. Her heart warmed at the sound of his voice, awakening something deep inside her. She slowly opened her eyes and turned slightly, she narrowed her eyes at the lighting but she focused on the man in front of her, Steve.
Slowly, she tried to sit up but the muscles in her arms were weak and she struggled, Steve placed his hands on her upper arms and helped lifted her up. She leant back against the seats behind her gently and breathed out as she glanced around.
Tony quickly shifted his staring gaze away from her and he started up a conversation with Nat in the cockpit.
Thor was standing over Loki with his arms crossed, but the way he looked at her was completely sympathetic. Loki, sat as far away as he could with a sadistic look on his face.
"Elizabeth," Steve said gently, bringing her attention back to him, "Are you feeling any better?" he asked, he looked deep into her eyes and searched them when her answer was delayed.
She blinked rapidly, struggling to get focus on anything. She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Yes." She said slowly, "I'll heal, eventually." She added with a small smile. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.
Steve looked at her with surprise written in his eyes and he smiled as he chuckled.
"What are you sorry for, Elizabeth?" Steve asked.
Lowri shook her head slowly, "I don't know why I said that." She said, she looked down at her knees. "Maybe I'm trying to apologise for not being there for you and for not telling you about me in 1945."
Steve looked a little more relaxed and he looked down at his hands.
"The Red Skull was interested in anyone and anything that could enhance his chances of winning. If he had heard about you, he would have targeted you." Steve said, "You don't have to be sorry about anything. In fact, I should be saying sorry. I'm the one that pushed you away, I'm the reason why you got hurt, if I had only brought you under my shield-"
"It's alright, Steve. You didn't have to do anything." Lowri said quickly, she smiled at him weakly and he looked at her for a few moments, not saying anything.
"Hey, I've got something of yours." Steve said slowly. He smiled as he reached into his pocket and he drew out something small and he held it in his closed hand. "Here, pass me your hand."
Lowri offered him her hand and he gently placed the item in her hand. She drew her hand back and she saw that it was the tarnished old necklace that she never took off.
"The star was made up of the spare key for my home in Brooklyn." Steve said, "The chain was made from the leftovers and the guy who made it said that the necklace was clearly going to a girl I loved, so he gave it to me for free. He knew it was for someone very special to me."
Lowri kept her eyes on the necklace, she knew that it had some sentimental value behind it but she never that she actually had a piece of him with her for all this time.
"I was going to give it to you when I told you how I felt, but then I kissed that private and you were angry and upset and I just wanted to make you happy again, so I left it on your desk. I missed you, though. And I wanted you to have something of me while I was away. It was horrible being away from you for those months." Steve hurriedly said.
Lowri almost teared up, she clasped the necklace in her hands.
"I wasn't angry at you at the time. I was angry at myself for falling for you so quickly." She said quietly. Steve didn't have the chance to reply.
"We're here." Nat announced. The jet stopped flying in one direction and began its vertical descent onto the helicarrier.
Lowri looked down from Steve and then she slowly clasped the necklace around her neck. She felt happy at the familiar feeling of the star resting on her chest. Then, as the jet touched down on the deck and the engines died off, Lowri placed her hands on the cool metal floor and she tried to stand.
As she got halfway up, her knees still bent but shaking considerably, one hand pressed against the wall of the jet and the other on the bench beside her, she felt a strong wave of dizziness rush over her and it literally took her breath away, with no protests from her, she passed out and fell.
So, as a quick note: The reason why Steve calls Lowri by the name Elizabeth is because he is still struggling with this new world where she's under a new identity. Sorry if anyone gets lost.
Thank you again to my lovely readers, I hope you all enjoy and have a good week!
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