Revamped!

[I was about to stop the daily updates for the summer with the last chapter, but I got super bored one day so I just typed this up. Besides, ending on chapter 70 sounds so much better than 69]. [2020: … mood].


Chapter 70: Now He Returns

SHIELD Recovery Room - 4:36 AM

The ride back from New Mexico had the most uncomfortable silence between the group. If asked how they would react when Apollo came back, they would be over-the-moon excited after all this time. But now they're all sitting apart in a quinjet, looking at an unconscious and amnesiac Apollo who lies on the floor. They took him back to SHIELD since that was a more familiar setting for them than a hospital in New Mexico. As Angela, Xavier, Merida, and James would deal with the Council and their inevitable slew of questions about the unknown Asgardian 0-8-4 and Apollo's timely arrival, Emily and Daniel would bring Apollo to the recovery room.

Emily and Daniel place Apollo on a hospital bed and take off his shirt to attach electrodes to his chest which will provide his vital scans. Emily is wowed by Apollo's abs because he became the textbook demigod buff over the course of seven years.

Emily pokes Apollo's pecs and gasps. "I think I broke a nail."

Daniel doesn't comment.

"His beard also looks nice," Emily says, gently feeling how soft it is by brushing her fingers along his cheek.

Daniel stares at her. He's not jealous or anything like that, he's only bothered by Emily at the moment. They were supposed to be medically examining him and she was ogling him.

Emily puts her hands up defensively. "What? He looks great and I'm not a real doctor so what did you expect? Maybe you should try growing a beard."

"No," Daniel states.

Emily crosses her arms. "Why are you so tense?"

"The same reason why you're so relaxed."

Emily looks at Daniel as he checks Apollo's vitals. He's tense and she's not because they're both scared. He wanted to get through an examination to find the root of Apollo's apparent amnesia and Emily was focusing on an obvious positive, his beyond handsome looks. Emily rubs her hands on her jeans and Daniel looks up for a moment and sees Emily remaining quiet. He'd rather have a talkative Emily than a scared one, even if her words were masking her fright and all about how much more beautiful Apollo got in seven years.

"These scans show that Apollo is fine physically -" Daniel starts, looking up for a moment to see Emily raising her eyebrows to that statement. He smirks a little and rolls his eyes. "Something happened mentally, 'that's a given. If only he came under better circumstances with a full functioning memory. He didn't even recognize us … at least he didn't kill Xavier."

Emily perks up. "I got it! Maybe there was some crazy wicked party on Asgard and Apollo has a hangover."

They both know that isn't it, but that doesn't stop them from laughing at the little light humour to help them get through this medical examination.

-o-

"Daniel, I think he's waking up!"

"Hey, Apollo, how are you? Emily, check his vitals."

Apollo's eyes open and adjust to the room he's in. Apollo looks at the two people with him, non-responsive. He does recognize them as the two brunettes from when he beat up Xavier back in the desert which he doesn't understand why he's no longer there. Where is he? How did he get here?

The woman, Emily (whom he only knows because of the man, Daniel, who said her name), runs over to the other side of his bed to look at the machines next to him. Apollo glances over and sees that the machines are connected to him. His heart rate spikes and he looks at Daniel only to see him leaning over restraints that are keeping him in place.

"Apollo, calm down," Daniel tells him.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Apollo screams back.

Apollo doesn't have to flex to break his arms free from the restraints. When his arm flies out, it hits Emily and she falls over with medical supplies toppling on top of her. Apollo leaps out of the bed and looms over Daniel who's now shaking. Apollo grabs Daniel by the neck and slams him against the wall. Emily screams and he's not sure if she's about to cry because there was a crack in her voice. Daniel wraps his hands around Apollo's wrist as his feet are being lifted from the floor. Apollo tightens his grip on Daniel's neck and Daniel winces which doesn't even faze Apollo. It's like he has no idea what he's doing.

"Please, Apollo," Daniel gasps out, "don't do this."

"What reason do you have for me to spare your life?" Apollo asks, menacingly.

"A pretty good one."

To Apollo's surprise, when his grip tightens, Daniel's eyes turn bright green. Apollo's mind suddenly flashes with a memory containing -

"Help them," the sorceress whispered into his ear. "They need you."

Apollo ran over to where he sees his faceless friends being attacked by a raging green monster. As the beast raises his arms to attack his friends, Apollo dives onto his knees and slides across the floor. He raises his arm above his head and feels the wind being knocked out of him as the monster's forearm hits his own.

"C'mon, Daniel!" He screamed at the green beast with the matching glowing eyes. "Snap out of this!"

Daniel. The man he's holding against the wall is the same Daniel who's the green beast in that flashback. They have the same eyes.

Apollo suddenly drops Daniel to the floor. Daniel squirms on all fours before falling into a fetal position, coughing for air. Emily rises from behind with a syringe in her hands. She climbs on top of the hospital bed and administers a sedative in Apollo's neck. Apollo quickly turns around and is about to hit her but she holds a hand out trying to stop him. Apollo gets distracted by a ring on her finger. He gently takes her hand and Emily doesn't stop him.

Emily takes this moment of his slowly calming down and sits him back on the bed. He keeps looking at her engagement ring and she grabs a flashlight with her free hand by stretch over to grab it. She shines the light in one eye and Apollo locks eyes with her for a second. He sees her scared face as she clicks the light off but then he looks back at the hand he's still holding, staring at the ring. The longer he looks at that gem, he remembers -

Getting a good view of her hand the first time the ring was placed on it. The girls already squealed so much already and it was now the boys' turn to see what all the fuss was about. Looking at the ring made them understand why although they don't care much for jewelry. The emerald glowed just as much of Emily who was more than overjoyed to be engaged to Daniel.

"Christ, Daniel," Apollo said to him, "that's a ring. Did you rob a bank or something?"

Emily is engaged to Daniel. That fact is now remembered. He choked Emily's fiancé and now he's on the floor, crying for air, and she has tears streaming down her face because she's scared.

"I'm sorry, Emily…" Apollo mutters.

Emily nods. "It's alright."

Apollo shakes his head. "It's not. I'm not alright. You have to help -"

Emily shushes him consolingly as he blacks out again. His grip on her hand loosens as he falls back.

-o-

As Apollo rests and stabilizes again, Emily throws the used syringe she used on the ground as she circles the hospital bed to check up on Daniel. He's hunched over on the floor, still shaking. He looks up at her and his eyes are still green. Emily's on her toes, hoping that he won't transform since now would be a bad time for a surprise Hulk, but she has to admit that at least Apollo could fight it.

"Babe…" Emily mutters cautiously.

"Don't worry," he tells her. His voice is scratchy from when Apollo was crushing his neck. "I'm just startled from what happened."

"Good," Emily responds softly, also shaken. "He remembered my name."

"What?"

"He looked at my engagement ring and apologized. I think he remembered you too after that."

Emily pulls Daniel up to his feet with both her hands. Once he's steady, she wipes her wet cheeks with her sleeves as she begins tidying the mess they caused. Daniel reaches for a glass of water and drinks the whole glass as his eyes turn back to brown. They both look at Apollo who looks like he'll be out for a few more hours which is what they hope for.

"He looked like he was about to kill me," Daniel mumbles to her.

"I think you triggered a memory the moment your eyes turned green," Emily says.

"I'd hate to ask which one…"

"It had to be one he was present in, right? That's graduation."

"That doesn't make it better."

"It's progress."


[That Hulk memory was from the graduation arc in Emily's and Britney's stories. Come to think of it, this was a better place to end the daily updates (I'm laughing evilly to myself now). I'm returning to school tomorrow and, although I hate it, I have to update this story slower to study]. [2020: *is doing summer school, has three things due for the end of the week and another course starting* *has revamped 70 chapters of this so far instead*]