The Youngest Avenger

Chapter 2 - Rescue

As I woke up, I realised everything was still dark. Running my hands over my face, I could feel that my skin was blistered and burned. The smell of burning hair and smoke swirled around me, choking me slowly. I opened my chapped lips and screamed; a long howl of agony that lingered in the air. I was crying, tears running down my cheeks, stinging my sensitive flesh. I tried to will myself to see again, to fix myself. A warm sensation melted over my eyes, gently tingling over and under my skin. I opened my eyes. I could see again. Had I done that? It was probably just my imagination, but for a second it had felt like I'd... Changed my face?

I was in a small gap in the rubble, trapped under a large beam. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the beam became less rectangular, curves and edges appearing to reveal-

"Mum." I whispered. Her sightless eyes were fixed on me, and I could feel her dead weight on top of my legs. "Mummy?" I shook her, unable to believe that she wasn't going to ever wake up. "Help!" I screamed. "Somebody help me!" I curled up on the floor, allowing my sobs to take me over.

"Hello?" A scrabbling noise above me made the wreckage begin to dislodge, showering me in dust and gravel.

"Yes?" I scrambled back, holding my mum's hand. Her skin was cold, but I ignored it. "Over here! I'm trapped under here!" A tiny crack of light shone through the debris, burning my eyes. I recoiled, just in time to see the rescuer's head peep through the crack.

"Oh Jesus," I heard him flinching, even though I couldn't see his face clearly.

"Hello?" My eyes weren't working properly, so I willed them to work, fix themselves as they had before. The same warm feeling ran over my face, I could feel my eyes re-connecting, mending burned tissues, joining up arteries, making me whole again.

"What the- never mind, let's get you out of here." He stretched out a hand. "Hold on, I'm gonna pull you out, okay?"

"My mum's down here too!" I said, lingering just out of arm's reach. "She- she won't wake up."

"Okay, I'm going to get you out first, then we'll rescue your mum, deal?"

"Deal," I grabbed his hand.

As I squeezed out through the gap, I was instantly deafened by the wail of sirens, shouting rescuers and the babble of news teams. As soon as I stood up, I was handed a blanket by the volunteer rescuer.

"In case you go into shock." He patted me on the shoulder. "I'm going to take you to the medics, you need burns treatment." I nodded. Everything was so loud, like the whole city was yelling at the top of its lungs. My rescuer escorted me to a make-shift medical tent before explaining he had to leave, there were still people trapped like I had been. I stood in a daze, staring out at the scene of absolute destruction that lay before me.

I had never seen anything like it. Actually, I had. The city looked like the photographs I had seen of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Flat and utterly decimated, the street was strewn with bodies. Most of the people I knew, but some I couldn't recognise, their faces were so burned and mutilated. The medics checked me over, giving me tablets for the pain, shining lights in my eyes to check the damage.

"Ouch!" I turned my head away from the torch beam. "It really hurts!"

"Holy crap," The medic with the torch placed it on the damp grass next to where I was sitting. "James!" Another man jogged over. "Look around her eyes." He handed James a torch.

"Third degree burns around the eyes and forehead." He flipped the torch on and shined it into my eyes.

"Ow!" I recoiled from the torch light, as it was so bright it made my eyes burn.

"That doesn't make any sense." James flicked the torch off and continued to stare intensely at my eyes. "The burns- they." He paused. "You shouldn't be able to see." Pausing, he continued, shaking his head. "The burns around your eyes are so severe that it should have burned out your retinas, but your eyes are just super sensitive! How did you protect yourself from that?"

"I didn't." I ran my tongue over my cracked lips, wincing as my saliva burned the cuts the heat had made. More ambulances were arriving; the sirens were making my head throb.

"What?"

"I didn't protect myself, I just fixed the damage." I fiddled with the tattered hem of my dress. I noticed that the pattern was still there, despite the fact that the colour was faded out.

"I- I've got to make a call." James ran back to the fleet of ambulances and grabbed a radio. Sitting on the ground, I crossed my legs and pulled the dress down over my knees. I traced the flowers; they were roses, the deep red ones that grew in Gran's garden. My chest hurt. I spaced out, losing track of time.

"Miss?" I jumped, spinning around to see a pair of shiny black leather shoes. "Miss, I need you to step this way." His accent was American, but soft, not at all like the twangy American accents my friends and I imitated after watching bad movies.

"Who the hell are you?" I scrambled backwards, kicking dirt towards Mr Shiny Shoes.

"Agent Coulson of SHIELD," He flipped a badge at me, the metal winking in the sun.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" I stood up, brushing off my shorts.

"Not yet." He smiled softly. "This way please miss."