Happy Tuesday, my lovely readers!
Big thank you to my new followers :)
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
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." Thor put in.
"You're not going alone." Steve said, he grabbed Tony's arm as Tony hurried past him, both of them ignoring Thor's words.
"You gonna stop me?" Tony asked, wheeling around to face Steve.
"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve answered.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony mocked.
Lowri breathed out and slumped against the table, why were they at each other's throats instead of working together to solve it? Her eyes settled on the metal vent in the middle of the floor.
"Put on the suit." Steve snapped.
"Oh, my God." Bruce said, his words were barely heard over the racket the others were making but Lowri heard. She sensed something bad was about to happen and then she saw a gentle glow of red in the vent on the floor.
She leant forward to have a better look and the red glow grew brighter and brighter steadily. She leant back sharpish and opened her mouth.
"Guys-" Lowri began but then the entire room exploded upwards and outwards.
Everyone was thrown backwards and away from each other. Lowri was thrown over the desk hard and her head and back connected with the window behind her, despite the strong glass, the force she had been thrown at was hard enough to crack the window.
She fell to the floor and looked up as she tried to orientate herself. Lowri's ears rang loudly from the explosion and dust was just beginning to settle into every nook and cranny, including her eyes and mouth, making it harder to breathe.
Lowri struggled to her feet and held onto the wall behind her for support as she looked around, there was a gaping hole in the floor where the desk where Bruce had worked at once was. Just across the gap, Lowri could just about make out Thor and Nick on the ground and when she looked to the left, she saw Steve and Tony near the open doorway.
Her entire body was shaking and yet all of her limbs felt frozen. It was as though she was back in the warzone with bombs dropping left, right and centre. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to breathe through the dust and she tried to centre herself, to get her wits back. It was hard, the memories were flooding back to her but she couldn't let them stop her.
As Lowri took a tentative step towards the doorway to the left of her, the floor gave away and more of the flooring crumbled away, Lowri hastily pressed herself back against the wall as her breathing quickened as the fear settled in.
"Hill!" Nick called, Lowri realised the voice was in her ear. Her ear piece must still be working. She breathed out a thankful breath and looked around trying to find Nick again.
"External detonation. Number three engine is down." Maria replied. "Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine."
"Jones, Stark. You got that?" Nick asked. Lowri spotted him just opposite her but he was still on the floor. He looked up and saw that she was opposite him and he nodded once at her.
"I'm on it." Tony said quickly, he turned in the doorway and darted away.
Steve searched the room and spied Lowri standing against the wall, he saw the large hole in the floor and his eyes widened. He took a step closer to the hole and he held out his hand over the hole. Lowri took a split second decision and jumped, she reached for his hand and he pulled her to safety. He pressed a hand to her shoulder momentarily before they both took off at a run after Tony.
"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section and then get to the armoury." Nick demanded. "Romanoff?"
"We're okay." Nat responded.
Steve and Lowri made their way down the corridor, both focused on getting to Engine three when they spied Tony ahead of them, he had stopped and he was catching his breath. Lowri's own chest was burning but that was going steadily.
"Engine three, I'll meet you there." Tony said as Steve and Lowri approached, he turned to go deeper into the hangar to grab his suit.
Steve turned back to her and looked at her urgently.
"Engine three." He said firmly, he offered her his hand and when she took it, they moved off together again.
Lowri was pretty fit and she could hold her own on a run but at Steve's pace, she had no chance. He moved faster but since he held her hand, they kept at the same pace. Lowri's chest began aching pretty quickly as she struggled to keep up the pace.
She called out the directions to engine three and they reached there in no time. The door that led to the control room beside engine three was jammed shut and two men were desperately trying to get the door open. As Steve and Lowri approached the room, it became evident that the two men on the other side of the door couldn't open it, Steve dropped Lowri's hand as they approached.
Steve gestured for the men to back away and then Steve used his strength to open the door all the way. Steve stepped back to let the two men to pass by with one of their colleagues supported between them and then Steve looked back at Lowri and gestured for her to go first.
Lowri walked through the doorway first and she surveyed the damage quickly. Steve stepped in behind her and together they stood in the room that had once been whole.
There was a gaping hole in the side of the room, opening up the wonderful, yet terrifying views of the world below them. The engine just to the left of the room was smoking heavily and clearly damaged.
"Stark! Stark, we're here!" Steve yelled over the communications.
"Good." Tony replied and then he suddenly flew over the top of the helicarrier and flew down to them. "Come on, Agent Jones. Let's see what we're working with." Tony said before shooting up over the broken engine.
"You better step to the side, Steve." Lowri said as she glanced behind her and then back away from the large drop. She pressed herself against the doorframe and looked at the sky in front of her as she breathed in deeply.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked over the whipping wind.
"Taking a running jump!" She yelled back, she grinned at him and then took her running jump towards the drop, she threw herself off the helicarrier and for a moment, she let herself fall but then she remembered Steve was probably watching her and if he was, then he would be having a heart attack at the sight of her falling.
She summoned her fire to her and let it engulf her as she shot back up into the air, towards Tony.
Lowri hovered above the huge engine and looked down.
"We've gotta get this superconducting coolant system back online before we can access the rotors. But first, we gotta dislodge the debris. You stay up top, Agent Jones, tell me what you see and get rid of any debris and I'll work my way through." Tony ordered.
Lowri smiled as she cut her fire out and landed on top of the centre of the rotor blades.
"Yes, sir." She said mockingly. She concentrated the fire in her hands and aimed a long stream of hot fire at a large piece of metal wedged between two rotor blades. "You know, I've noticed that you don't like saying my name."
"Is this really the time for this?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Rogers, I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which engine relays are in overload position." Tony added.
"This is the perfect time for this." Lowri replied as she jumped down into the actual engine and she kicked a few of the smaller pieces out of the way, they fell between the blades and dropped to the earth. "There's some big pieces in here, like twice my size. I don't particularly fancy setting the whole engine on fire."
"I'm on my way. I'll cut through." Tony replied.
Lowri cut off the end of a particularly large piece and then kicked it so it fell between the blades and fell to the earth below.
"What does it look like in there, Rogers?" Tony asked.
"It seems to run on some sort of electricity." Steve replied with a sigh. Lowri pressed her lips together. Oh, he's cute.
"Well, you're not wrong there." Tony noted. Lowri blasted the final piece of debris away. "Hey, Girl with Fire, if you don't fancy being cut up like a kebab, you might wanna get out of the way. I'm coming in." Tony added.
Lowri picked up on the sound of the lasers cutting through metal and she shot into the air, just as the laser cut through completely and Tony booted his way through.
"You still haven't said my name. It's really not that hard." Lowri noted with a smile, she hovered above the engine.
"Ignoring you." Tony replied quickly.
"Okay, the relays are intact. What's our next move?" Steve asked.
"Even if we can clear the rotor, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push." Tony said, he turned his head up to look at Lowri. "Don't bother putting yourself forward. You've got the fire but you can't reach the speed. And if the worst happens, my suit will give me some protection."
Lowri looked at him sternly, she wanted to tell him that there must be another way as he can't put his life at risk in this manner but she knew he was right. And, he had designed and built that suit, if he says it will protect him, then it will.
"If that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded." Steve said,
"That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could-" Tony began.
"Speak English!" Steve yelled.
"You see the red lever?" Tony asked, sighing as he kicked away the last of the big debris left in the engine. "It will slow down the rotors long enough for me to get out. Stand by it and wait for my word." Tony ordered. He gestured for Lowri to come down to him.
She dropped to the centre of the engine and stood on top of one of the blades.
"I need you to melt this bit here. How hot can you go?" Tony asked, gesturing to a piece of metal wedged between the wall of the engine and one of the blades.
"You're smirking under that mask of yours, aren't you?" Lowri asked as she jumped down into the engine and aimed her fire where he directed. "I thought you were ignoring me."
Suddenly, there was another loud bang, another loud explosion and the helicarrier shifted and juddered violently and then tilted to one side quickly.
Both engines on this side of the helicarrier was down and this meant the helicarrier was falling out of the sky.
Lowri fell back against the blade behind her and the impact made her falter, she fell between the two blades and dropped until she could summon her fire once more, she flew back up to the engine.
"It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?" Nick asked urgently.
Tony flew up to the engine again and powered up. "You might wanna scat. It's about to get real fast in here."
Lowri shot into the air as Nick's panicked yell sounded in her ear.
"Jones! Stark! We're losing altitude!" Nick yelled.
"Yeah, we noticed." Tony replied as he began pushing the propellers. In the corner of Lowri's eye, she saw Steve fall from the helicarrier and grapple for a hold on a piece of wire that looked just about strong enough to hold him.
"We're working on it." Lowri replied sharply as she headed over to Steve. Lowri noticed the men dressed in all black, looking for a way to sabotage the engine they were working on. She dove in on them and dodged the bullets flying her way.
There were three of them, one stood near the edge and the other two were stood further back, rifles strapped to their chests.
Lowri landed behind the guy by the edge of the drop and she kicked him out, he fell quickly with a loud yell and she ducked as bullets flew at her again.
"Cap, hit the lever." Tony ordered.
"I need a minute here!" Steve yelled as he desperately tried to climb back onto the helicarrier, which was proving to be hard because of the suction trying to pull him back out.
"Lever? Now!" Stark yelled.
Lowri dove towards the two men and swiped one of the men's feet from underneath him and he crashed to the floor as Lowri shot up, she dodged a punch and got her own in. He fell to the floor and Lowri quickly ran to get to the lever.
She pulled herself up onto the platform that led to the lever just as Steve climbed back on and tugged the lever down, giving Tony a chance to escape.
Lowri stepped closer to Steve and offered him her hand to help him to his feet and he looked up, he smiled as he reached for her hand.
"Thanks." He breathed out.
Before their hands could meet, bullets rang through the air, bouncing on metal walls and one buried itself in her stomach through her back.
Lowri cried out and stumbled away from Steve before falling to one knee, hunched over and with a hand pressed to her stomach.
She looked up at him and Steve watched with horror in his eyes as he saw the blood pour from the wound, over her hand and in between her fingers, the blood spread across her stomach far too quickly for his liking.
A spray of bullets was let loose, forcing Steve to back up against the wall but none were aimed for him. Most found their target quickly and buried themselves into her flesh.
By the time Steve had started to shoot back with the gun at his feet, her body was riddled with bullet wounds and she was weak. All it took was one more bullet to her shoulder, to jerk her body backwards with a twist and she fell.
Steve watched, horror struck as Lowri tumbled from the helicarrier and her fire went out with a soft puff. His heart dropped and then the final gunman began firing again. Steve ducked back and pressed himself closer to the walls, his rifle was out of ammo.
Stark flew in quickly and knocked the final gunman out.
Steve scrambled to peer back over the edge to look for any sign of Lowri but she had completely disappeared from sight.
"Did you see her, Stark?" Steve asked urgently. He didn't turn to look at Stark, he desperately searched the skies.
"I saw her." Stark breathed, he got to his feet and stumbled closer to the edge, a feeling of worry in his stomach. "My suit's damaged. I can't get to her." He too looked down at the world below them.
Steve was wordless. He was hoping she would come back.
"Agent Jones is down." Stark said, speaking into the radio communications. "She was hit and she fell from the helicarrier. We can't see her anymore."
"Bad news this end too. Agent Coulson is down." Fury replied.
Steve slowly rose to his feet as he understood now that Lowri had a low chance of coming back. Even with her ability to heal fast, she may not recover from this.
"A medical team is on its way to your location." Another agent replied.
Stark listened with a heavy heart and dropped his head. "They're here. They called it." Fury replied.
"Come on, Cap. There's no point moping when we've gotta plan our next move." Stark said, he felt sad about Lowri, despite all she had kept from him, but she was good for him. Stark turned back to Steve, "She didn't know about Phase 2. Fury made the decision to lock her out of it."
Stark headed for the bridge, leaving Steve behind.
*Gasp* What do you think is going to happen to our leading Lady?
More to follow next week!
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