TWO
It's stranger than fiction
How you've decayed
It must be so lonely
Lost within your ways
You're born alone, you die alone
The rest is yours to fill the gap
The world goes on without you here
Adjust or just collapse
Is this what you wanted to be
Alone standing by yourself
Is this all you wanted to be
Or was that a cry for help
By yourself, by yourself, by yourself
- "Stranger Than Fiction," Five Finger Death Punch
Agent Alana Cooper walked down the gleaming halls of the highly classified military hospital. She could still remember the one that she had stayed in, back when she was sixteen.
Except this time, she wasn't a patient.
Whispers and murmurs from fellow agents followed her as she walked down towards the patient's room.
She was used to them.
That didn't mean she liked it. Her situation was classified, but rumors always leaked out. Even here, in a new city, with different agents, her story had been whispered.
They couldn't guess how bad it really was.
Her phone vibrated, and she picked it up. It was Natasha, one of the few friends she had made back in New York.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I'm not really sure… Coulson refused to tell me over the phone, just what hospital room I should report to," Alana replied.
"Well, make sure you give him mysterious looks. Tell me how many times he looks uncomfortable."
Alana smiled. "Will do."
She hung up, and paused for a second. She had arrived at the hospital room.
She peered into the window and saw Coulson inside, talking with a doctor. He noticed her, and, looking slightly uncomfortable, walked outside, closing the door behind him.
"Agent Cooper."
"Sir."
"Fury told me he was sending you in early. He didn't say that it would be this early."
"He told me to take the first flight out, sir, and that happened to be the 1:09 AM flight."
Coulson shifted from one foot to the other. "Look, Cooper, I have to be honest with you. I'm still not sure that you are the right person for the job. Despite your training records, you're still relatively inexperienced, and this is a really, really, really big job."
Alana looked at him calmly. "Sir, with all due respect, I don't think that Fury has any other choice. If this person is who you think he is, then I'm our best option. Either that or placing a squadron around him until Thor comes back or he breaks loose."
Coulson sighed. He knew she was right. "This way."
He led her down the hall a bit, into a room that had a two-way mirror in it. The other side was in the hospital room that Coulson had vacated. Lying on the white bed was a man who looked to be in his early twenties, just like Alana. He had long, dark hair, and pale skin. He was awake, and the stillness with which he lay made him seem like a trapped animal.
Either a trapped animal, or the predator waiting to strike.
The only thing that was moving was his cold green eyes that were flashing all over the place.
Alana asked, "How long is he expected to stay in the hospital?"
"Only for a day more, they think. His body is healing itself very quickly, but not, apparently, healing in a normal way. It's almost as if he's being influenced by an outside energy source, one that heals."
"So, magic." Alana stated.
Coulson looked at her. "Sure. For want of a better word, it's magic."
"Well. The magician and the girl with the changing eyes. Sounds like a bad movie."
She laughed a bit, and Coulson felt even more uncomfortable.