The Lost Rose

22| Courage

Third P.O.V.

Little time has gone since the passing of Agent Phil Coulson, not a single word has been spoken.

Fury walks into the briefing room, as Steve, Tony, and Rose are all sitting at the table, a numb look one of shock is shown on their devastated faces.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury says, throwing Phil's trading cards on the table towards Steve. Steve picks them up, and they are stained with blood.

"We're dead in the air up here." Fury continues. "Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that one coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson dies still believing in that idea, in heroes." With that, Tony walks off, not wanting to hear any more.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

*

*

*

After Fury finishes his speech, she walks to Sadie's room, to see how she's holding up. She knocks on the door, and someone slowly gets the door, revealing a girl with disheveled hair, and puffy, red eyes.

"Hey, how you holding up?" Rose asks gently, after Sadie lets her into the room.

"Not too hot." She replies with a hoarse voice, her throat sore from yelling for help and crying. They sit on her bed, as Rose rubs her back.

"I get it. How are April and Lucas?" Rose asks, after seeing a second bed in the room, which she assumes is April's.

"Um, April-April's just getting the, uh, arrow out of her arm in the med bay. But, Lucas, he, uh, he hasn't, sorry," She says, trying to stop the flow of tears, choking on her words as she does.

She starts to sob, as Rose pulls her in for a hug. She continues for some time, and Rose, chooses not to speak, until she has calmed down a bit.

"You know, Sadie, it took a lot of courage, just to hold a gun to your enemies. You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have. You showed that today, shooting the man who was about to kill me, and especially when your family was all unable to protect themselves, you stayed with them when you could've run off to hide."

"But I was almost sobbing the whole time. And, I've never bee that scared in my life. I thought I was going to die." She said, puzzled at the encouragement Rose was giving her.

"So did I. That didn't stop me from getting the job done, but you. You are just an intern who lives here because they have no other place to stay, and you were able to survive an attack on the Helicarrier. Have you ever shot a gun before today?" She shakes her head, the tears drying away.

"I was just starting to learn how to." She says, happiness starting to show on her face, before a thought surfaces in her mind, and her face falls again.

"Rose, how do I know that those men weren't under Loki's control?"

She sighs, "You don't. The important thing right now, is that they were trying to kill you and your family, and you stopped them. Now, why don't you go see your sister and find out how she's doing." 

Sadie smiles happily, giving Rose a quick hug. "Thank you." She mumbles into her ear, before heading off to the med bay.

Rose smiles, before getting off the bed, to go see Clint.

When she gets to his medical room, she sees Natasha in with him, and decides to give them some time, as he struggles to rid his mind of Loki's power.

"Clint," Natasha says,"You're gonna be alright."

"You know that? Is that what you know? I got...I gotta go in though. I've gotta flush him out."

"We don't have that long, it's gonna take time."

"I don't understand." Says Clint, his voice strained. "Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade." Natasha gives him a look, as if it brings memories.

"You know I do."

"Why am I back? How'd you get him out?" Clint asks.

"Cognitive Recalibration." She says simply. "I hit you really hard in the head."

"Thanks." Natasha starts to unfasten his restraints, as he asks another question.

"Tasha, how many agents?"

"Don't." Natasha says sternly."Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."

"Loki, he got away?"

Natasha nods. "Yeah, I don't suppose you know where?"

"I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today." Rose starts thinking outside of the room, wondering where Loki could be.

"We've got to stop him."

"Yeah? Who's we?" He asks.

"Whoever's left." Rose says walking into the room.

Clint smiles at her presence, giving her a nod to say hello, before scowling again.

"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eyesocket, I'd sleep better I suppose."

"Hey! Loki might be some insane, murderous, mental maniac, but he's still my brother." Rose exclaims, earning a small chuckle from both Natasha and Clint, who walks to the washroom, as Steve soon walks into the room, dressed in full uniform. Rose and Natasha look unprepared.

"Time to go." He says.

"Go where?" Natasha asks.

"I'll tell you two on the way. Can either of you fly one of those jets?" Cap asks, as Clint walks out of the washroom.

"I can." He says, as Cap gives Natasha a look, who nods.

"You got a suit?"

"Yeah."

"Then suit up. We know where Loki is heading." With that, everyone hurries to get their things, as the Battle for New York is about to begin.

And what Rose was talking to Sadie about, she realized that she'll need a lot of that herself, too.

___________________________

Hey guys!

So, the book will be over soon, but there will be a sequel. In fact, it's just going to be a series, how 'bout that?

So, Rose and the gang are heading off to New York. Yay for them. (Lol not) Also, please point out typos!!!

See you all soon!
-Rose