Her whole body was aching like it had been water-skiing for eight solid hours. Then she moved, and the ache sky-rocketed into agony. Gasping in air to release the pain, she moved again and her muscles whined in protest. The pounding in her head felt like beating drums, and her mouth felt like cotton.
"Nnnnnuuuhhhhh."
Opening her eyes, she stared up to a metallic ceiling, and vaguely wondered just how the hell….where she was. Her sluggish senses slowly took in the smells and sounds; the beeping of a nearby machine sounded a steady pace, while the different scents clicked into her brain that her body rested in a hospital…or something. Pausing to look about, she registered tubes in her mouth and nose. Ick. The disgusted shiver at having something jammed clear into throat from her nasal cavity flared her achiness again.
"UIuuggghhhhh."
Reaching up weakly to remove the tube, and failing; Jiru moved her sight about to see just what the heck was going on. The room was small, and part of it was curtained off by a blue sheet of curtain. Lack of windows didn't help to show her where the room was located; but it definitely had an inside feel. The lights, although dimmed, showed the room to be a pale blue color: a painted finish.
To her right, nearest the wall of blue painted-ness, were medical machines, none of which she could name. But one thing was an I.V. drip, another, a pulse reader-beeper, a third was oxygen pump with tubes going into her nose and mouth and the fourth was a big tan machine humming with cooler fans, containing buttons and a computer screen. Facing straight, another large screen was on the wall; giving read-outs of she didn't know what.
"Whu?" She felt confusion rearing its massive, ugly head. Just how in the hell did she end up in a hospital bed, her body feeling like a wasted bag of atrophied muscles?
"Whu?" Moving her lagoon-green eyes down to herself, frowning upon finding her body wearing nothing but a hideous hospital gown, Jiru started to panic, sending her pulse-reader sounding off louder and faster. "No…whu?…"
The blue curtain rustled as a brown-eyed, brown-haired man lunged into the room, his barely-concealed frantic eyes consuming her visually.
"No…who?" She whined, not wanting to deal with the man's frantic energy.
"Ssshhh, it's ok, calm down and relax." The baritone voice soothed her as the stocky man checked himself, stood up straighter and relaxed his nervousness. "Jiru, it's ok. Nobody here is going to hurt you."
"Bu-…Bruce?" Jiru's fogged mind struggled to make sense of things. "What…what, where's the party? What am I doing here?"
"Well, it's about damned time you woke up, Superstar, I was about to have you cloned." Another masculine voice snarked as Tony Stark threw back the blue curtain and paraded in.
"To-ny?"
"The one and only, Sparkles." The dark-haired billionaire gave a thin smile.
"Whu?" She sputtered again, trying to sit up.
"Ssshhh, it's ok, Jiru; you don't have to move." Bruce Banner moved in closer.
"I know you…Bruce Banner…the Incredible Hulk." Her mouth spouted; eyes not catching the minute wince Banner gave her comment.
"Give the woman a prize, Banner, it's a miracle!" Tony's thin smile turned into a gigantic beam. "Her memories are back!"
"What?"
"Tony, this is not helping things at all." Banner growled lightly over his shoulder. "She can't help it."
"Help what? What's going on?" Muzzy panic reared its head again. "What can't I help!?"
"Sshhhh, it's nothing, Jiru. Trust me, when you wake up again, everything will be fine."
"What?" Her mouth was stuck on repeat as Banner moved over to her…whatever it was and injected something into the tube. Drowsiness came upon her fast, making her head swoon.
XXXX
Voices angrily sounded in her ears as her consciousness returned to her.
"She's been through too much already, Stark…we can't expect her to be the same when she figures it out."
"Screw you One-Eye; I'm taking her with me and that's the end of that!"
Jiru heard Tony Stark's rather pissed off voice; arguing with another, more furious voice.
"Not happening, Stark. She's gonna need to…"
"Na…Nami?" Jiru's head had to be wrapped in cotton; the way things made sense. The best choice possible was to get her best girlfriend, Nami Tranko, to make it better. Only… "No, wrong dimension…"
"Hey, look who's up; Sleeping Beauty." Tony's voice pierced her fugue. "So nice of you to join us."
"Tony?" Her mind finally woke to a point of coherency, and the things she felt and saw started pure panic. Somebody rushed to her side, and caught her focus. Brown eyes locked onto hers and a beaming smile made her feel safe, secure. It was Banner.
"Bruce?"
"Yes, I'm right here, ok?" The Gamma-radiated man sat down – presumably on a chair – and reached over to grasp her right hand in his two. "How are you feeling, Jiru?"
"Con…..fonfused…" She answered, struggling with an overly dry mouth. "Water…"
"Yes, right. Let me help you sit up, first." He leaned forward to help her do just that: sit up. Then Banner proffered a plastic cup of water, tilting it into her mouth. The water felt divine. Leaning back onto the bed's pillows Jiru sighed, feeling the coolness of the water pour into her system. Then, opening her eyes, her senses took stock of just what was what.
First off, she was in a different room from what she first woke up in. Secondly, there were windows; it was sunny out, so it had to be daytime. Third, Bruce was petting her hand like….she didn't know why. Tony Stark and Director Fury were also present, and looking at her with flat expressions.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce pulled back her attention.
"Honestly…confused as heck."
"Well you've been in a coma for four months, Superstar." Tony blurted.
"What?"
"Tony…just shut up for once." Banner actually growled.
"Ok, Ok. I get it." Stark stepped back with his hands up, in the surrender motion.
"A coma?" Jiru repeated, giving a failed glare to Bruce; making him sigh with resignation.
"Yes, a coma." Bruce answered. Tony didn't meet her eyes and Fury just stared at her. Jiru moaned, closing her eyes and going limp against the bed's pillows.
"Oh god…OH GOD! What happened to Phil!?" she freaked out after a moment. "Was there an accident?! Is he ok!?"
"Easy kid…your mind may be still rebooting; but Agent Coulson was killed in action during the Alien invasion. You remember the invasion, right? Well, your boyfriend Loki killed him." Fury's face was placid when he spoke, but he might as well have been screaming in her face.
"Coulson….dead?" Her heart turned cold. "Impossible…no."