On the fifth day the sounds of sirens and red lights flashing woke Althia in her room in the infirmary. The doctors and nurses rushed various trays and tools into the room across the hall. Slipping off the bed into the soft slippers and struggling to pull the mass of her hair through a hair tie she watches from her room confused and afraid to question what was going on. The two men who were guarding her were calm which helped her stay calm. She watched them stand impassively as everyone in a white coat seemed to be scrambling around. She eased up to the familiar guard Sam. Slowly she slipped her hand into his like a frightened child and he looks down at her. He smiled gently as he squeezed her hand before he turned her back into her room and closed the door. He rarely spoke around others but had been very kind to her when she woke and couldn't shake the nightmares. Sam sometimes sat with her holding her till the night terrors passed even tried teaching her to play cards at night when she couldn't sleep.
She stood watching the hall through the window as Thor, walked by carrying a smaller man with dirty blonde hair. His side was cut so deep she could see the glimmer of his ribs when he was shifted to a gurney. 'No pain no fear. We heal.' A woman's voice reached out from her memory. She jumped and rushed to sling open the door. The two guards grabbed her arms "Don't miss, let them do their jobs. You'll only get in the way out here." Sam said. She was still too weak to do much more than wiggle against the strength of their hands. They dragged her gently backwards; unaware of the soft light that emanated from her hands.
Thor looked curiously behind him the worry for his companion plain on his face. He heard her voice calling out, begging him to let her help. Her face a mask of urgency as she pleaded with anyone in hearing. Sam tried to whisper calming words in her ear to no effect. Finally Thor stepped between the guards and wrapped his arms around her. The guard's hands fell away "Dear lady, you must calm yourself. The doctors will attend his wounds." He said as he tried to keep her from seeing the gravely wounded man. With a cry of frustration she pulled out of his arms. She felt liquid on her hand and her power ached inside of her. She looked down and there were three deep wounds on his arm. Giant claw marks that slashed down deep through his skin. Grabbing his hand she pulled his arm out into the full light the panicked despair vanished from Althia's face. The desire to heal him and prove herself useful made her single minded. Panting she place her softly glowing left hand at the point where his wrist met his thick calloused hand. The dull throb of the wound echoed in her head as well as an echo of his turbulent emotions. It made her realize just how kind he was in his heart. The feelings were replaced with shock as she slid her hand flat up his arm. Looking up into his face she watched his eyes widen. One of the guards mutters a curse in the stunned silence. "Please; I can help him." she whispered as the glow faded and his skin was smooth and whole again.
In a movement to fast for her or the guards to stop Thor grabbed her up and spun carrying her to his companion's side. Roughly shouldering aside the medics crowding in the room "Stay back" he roared at them and sets her gently on her feet. "Althia, heal him if you can." He commanded. She looked at him a moment and then down at the man gasping in pain behind an oxygen mask. The clothing and weapons were gone and she could see a burn had eaten the side of his face from temple to his jaw line and halfway across the arch of his cheek bone barely missing his intense and penetrating eye. Three long gashes ran from his collar bone all the way down to just above his navel. The thick muscle tissue was red, ragged, and bloody were it was exposed to the light. The deep wounds split his flesh right down to the bone. The pressure dressing over his stomach moved as his insides found air when he tried to breathe through the pain. "I will heal you." she whispered looking into his penetrating eyes. She leaned down till she was inches from his face. He was ready to accept either healing or death though she could feel him fighting to live. She gently ran a hand down the side of his face over the burn making it vanish as the light passes over his skin. His eyes widened staring at her were suddenly filled with curiosity and confusion. Delicately her fingers trailed down his neck and collar bone to graze over the upper end of the great gashes. Fanning long thin fingers as wide as possible she push the nausea, his pain brought to her, down. She took a deep breath and focused on the man not the ghosts of his wounds as they created an echo in her chest and belly. Carefully her hands eased over the wounds and as each was smoothed back into his chiseled chest; no scar remains as proof of what he'd been through. Old scars pulled by the new wound faded beneath the light from her hands as if they never were and his sigh of relief is echoed by her own. He was perfectly smooth and no mark new or old remained under the coating of blood and grime. Her hands looked like she dipped them within his body there was so much blood on them. She smiled at him shyly and he gave her a lop-sided and confused grin back. His penetrating eyes on her face warned him in time to grab hold as her knees give out. Swinging his legs off the bed to sit up he slid an arm around her waist before pushing the mask off so he could stand.
Confused Clint Barton looked over the unconscious woman's body at the others. "Glorious!" the rumbling voice of Thor exclaims "I am thrilled that Althia has shown us the wonder of her gift by healing you." Grasping Clint's muscled shoulder in a companionable squeeze Thor smiles broadly before looking at the slip of a woman. "Let me take her so the good doctors may attend you both." When he nodded wordlessly Thor lifted her up; cradled like a bride and turns away his face filed with relief and a touch of awe. Strolling into another area he wondered at the healing not even the most talented in Asgard could hold a candle against.
"What exactly did she just do?" Clint asked the room in general as he stared after Thor's back. No one had an answer. It wasn't long before Tasha burst into the room "Hawk?" her voice laced with worry. "I'm fine, that woman Althia," he didn't quite know how to explain "you were spot on about the power in her. I can't believe how easy it was for her to just..." he trailed off as the nurses and doctors search his body for any signs of the ghastly wound he came in with. After a moment's thought Natasha smacked herself in the forehead, and mutters in Russian before she turned to find their newest acquisition.
The doctor who examines Althia told Thor and Tasha that she suffered from exhaustion and could just rest in the room assigned her until she woke naturally. Gently with near reverence Thor lifted her again and carried her sleeping form back to her room. A nurse carefully bathed the blood from her hands then with Thor's help they tuck her under the covers. "What happened out there Thor?" Tasha asked when the nurse left. Thor explained quietly how he and Hawkeye had been injured and he'd flown him back when he realized the man wouldn't survive if they took normal transport. "The rest of our team was unharmed and finishing up when I took off. They should return shortly I simple did not think he would survive the wait." His chin in his hand Thor watched the sleeping healer. Natasha Romanov shook her head and left. She spoke first with Fury then with the doctors who had seen to Hawk.
Turned out Tasha had a souvenir in her side; x-rays showed the bullet that she caught was still inside her body. Tasha shrugged at the reassignment to Althia while they prepped to remove it. She didn't have anything else to do till she was cleared for active duty. It was not dangerous but they waited to schedule the removal because her blood count was still low. Althia was told to get field medic training so they wouldn't have to cut anyone she healed open to remove debris.