Gabie
~~~
"AH! Torturess!" Tony hisses and I roll my eyes. My hand is holding a stained red towel to his bleeding and broken nose.
"I'm not the one sewing your side up while you only have three shots in your system," I snap and side-eye Bruce. The good doctor is carefully
"Bruce is so gentle," Tony slurs and flashes doe eyes to the scientist. Tony and Bruce have become quite close as of late, 'sciencebros' they call themselves.
"As gentle as I hope you were with Allie," Natasha mutters and Bruce pulls on the medical thread.
"I didn't break her nose!" Tony whines and glares at me.
"Don't forget I also stabbed you," I remind and whip out the switchblade gifted to me by Natasha.
"Yeah and what was that about?"
"Wait!" I shout making the assassin and supersoldier go still. They were poised to just about murder Tony while Bruce and I watched. Standing up I take a moment to take a deep breath, the air does not temper my anger. "She asked, didn't she? This was her choice."
Steve and Natasha step back and allow me to move closer to Tony.
"She asked," I repeat and clench my hands.
Abruptly my left-hand swings out and lands square in Tony's face and he keels over. Quickly my right-hand sticks him with a tiny switchblade in his outer thigh.
"Oh my God!" Steve yelps and jumps forward to catch Stark.
"You lured me with a false sense of security!" Tony shouts and falls into Steve's arms, clutching his thigh. "Sonofabitch." Bending over I pull the knife from his flesh and sigh at the blood stain.
"Alright, I feel better now. Come on let's get you stitched up," I remark and offer him my hand. Tony stares at me with an expression of betrayal but takes my help. Together Steve and I shoulder the frazzled man and help him towards the elevator.
"Why'd you have to inflict corporeal punishment?" Tony asks while pouting and I roll my eyes.
"Don't be such a baby, it was a switchblade it could have been a dagger or a machete. I took it easy on you," I scoff. His eyes widen at me and I smirk. "You think I don't own a machete? Stark you fool."
"But still why?" he presses.
"Allie is my best friend and I'm protective of her," I say simply and gingerly wipe his face clean of blood. "She's always been uncomfortable in her own skin and I wanted to shield her from all the possible consequences."
"Consequences like what?" Steve prompts and I sigh.
"The things about Allie are her skin condition, her weight sensitivity, her anxiety, and so many more things that she should be the one to tell you all about. Not to mention she became paranoid when her voice gained all that power that could flare up if she wasn't paying attention, power that could hurt one of you," I elaborate carefully.
A quiet settles over us and Bruce sits up to tend to Tony's broken nose wordlessly.
"I guess I just didn't realize she had overcome all that."
Natasha, Steve, and Tony are all silent, they have nothing to say. In their head I can see frantic questions, questions I won't answer.
"I'm glad it happened when it did," Bruce declares and we all frown in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Natasha queries.
"I mean I was everything she wanted. She had a fantasy planned that she executed perfectly for a whole day beforehand and I'm sure Tony made sure the rest went to plan as well," Bruce continues and Tony smiles sheepishly. "Think about it she most likely went to Tony because he has the most experience and she knew he'd take care of her. I'm guessing she didn't feel ready to go to Natasha and probably worried Steve wouldn't want to."
It's logical and obvious, something I'm surprised I didn't realize before. Steve and Natasha seem to be swayed by this reasoning too, as they both nod in understanding.
"And the timing couldn't have been more perfect," he adds in a low voice. It's serious again suddenly, no more playful anger left. "She saved herself from one more thing Killian could have stolen from her."
~~~
Allie
~~~
"AGH!" Sif snarls and punches the wall of the beehive holding cell in a rage. Coulson stands stoic, but I wince at the show of frustration. She circles around, like a pacing animal with clenched fists, and scowls at the situation. "Lorelei's treachery remains unchanged, no matter the world."
"We'll find them. Every agent in the area is out looking," Coulson assures and I close my eyes in shame. I allowed her to escape with Ward.
"To what end, hmm? The collar-" she interrupts herself by slamming it down on the metal table and snarls. "Has been broken. Short of death we have no means to end her enchantment. The Siren can even be preyed upon by her." Sif's gaze softens at me and I smile back, trying to ignore the feeling of spiders crawling over my skin.
Phil nods to me and picks the collar up off the table, examining its damages. It was hit by a stray bullet in the shoot out.
"Let me worry about that," Phil says and runs a finger over the damage. "Stay here, and try not to punch a hole in my airplane." He exits the holding cell with the collar in hand and I hesitate to follow him.
"I should apologize to him, for his agent," I reason and turn to leave.
"The fault is not yours," Sif states. "We should have been more cautious when placing you on the battlefront. I had not considered your recent traumas, and Siren I apologize for that."
"It isn't your fault either, I insisted," I reply. "Besides I couldn't watch from the sidelines as you all fought someone that I can-that I can match with my powers." Sif stops her pacing to stay at me with a somber expression.
"I truly believe you are what Lorelei could have become if she had not been assaulted after her twentieth name day," Sif muses and I go rigid.
"Assaulted? That happened to Lorelei?" I ask in disbelief. It's hard for me to picture her having gone through that, she's so...so willing to take control of others and use her body. I suppose trauma affects us all differently.
"It is where her contempt for men and desire for power began."
"It's understandable," I rush out and nervously grab at my own hands.
"Yes, so understandable she was not prosecuted for killing the man who stole her innocence," Sif murmurs and a cold knowledge floods my mind.
I killed him, I murdered him. I made him into ashes and then I burned those ashes...just like I said I would.
"The action of killing out of vengeance made her bloodthirsty." Sif has taken a seat on the cot in the corner made for her and sighs. "If only she could have been saved."
We weren't saved, I wasn't saved. Why didn't they save me?
Wordlessly I turn on me heel and flee from Sif's wondering gaze.
I killed someone, I took a life. I was good, I was so good! A hero, I was a hero.
I murdered him...and it felt good.
"Siren?" My frantic walking halts when I come face to face with Phil Coulson. Instantly I push aside my fear and despair for the agent. "Are you alright?"
"Fine!" I insist all too quickly and then pause with a regretful smile. "I'm alright Coulson." The agent can tell I'm lying, but leaves it.
"Come on there's someone I'd like you to meet." I give a half nod and allow Phil to lead me down to the lower level on the bus. He walks me right up to a medical pod where a brunette girl lays with the two scientists hovering over her.
"Who is that?" I inquire and Phil grins at the girl.
"Her name is Skye...could you actually wait out here for a moment?" Phil requests and I nod.
Skye is sitting up in her bed with her laptop open in front of her. Simmons is on one side and Fitz on the other. They all wear concerned expressions and murmur intently to one another.
Coulson strolls in after lightly tapping the door to the medical pod. Skye straightens and the three young agents all lean in for an update.
I try not to listen as Phil explains to them what has happened and I try not to notice the worry on their faces for Ward.
"Lorelei got away and she took Ward."
"So, Ward's what? Like, a pod person?" Skye questions and runs a hand through her hair nervously.
"No, according to Lady Sif, the men Lorelei controls don't forget who they are or what they know. She just becomes the embodiment of all their desires," Phil elaborates and Fitz scoffs.
"So once we find them we can break her mojo or whatever and get Ward back, right?" Skye presses.
"Yes. Once the collar's back on Lorelei's neck the enchantment ends and or Siren breaks it herself," Phil confirms. "But there's a problem. The collar caught a shotgun blast back in the desert and Lorelei-" Phil glances back where I wait outside the door and exhales. "Lorelei got too close to Siren and she threw the hero off her game."
"Oh no, is Siren alright?" Simmons asks. Their concern is flattering but also makes anxiety churn in my stomach.
"She'll be alright, but we should have a back up plan." Phil walks further in the pod and hands the collar to Fitz. "You think you can fix it?" The young man takes the device and studied t.
"Well...the metal, the weight, it's similar to the Berserker staff," he murmurs.
"But it presents with its own set of countless unknown variables," Simmons frets and Coulson shrugs.
"Got a couple of hours."
"Yeah, for Ward," Fitz mutters and shuffles from the room, passing me without a second glance.
Skye gives Phil a look and holds out her hand waiting to be told to do something.
"What can I do?" She demands. "And don't you dare say nothing or tell me to sit down here and count ceiling tiles while Ward is missing."
"You have been doing something very important Skye," he prompts and she sighs.
"Yes, with the help of Tony Stark, amazingly, and Darcy Lewis, a girl who still very much so wants her iPod back, we have created a program with facial recognition software that has been targeting and pulling videos of Allison Hollden from the darkweb. It is by no means a perfect software, but when dealing with the internet it's the best we can do. The program runs itself unless it hits a serious firewall that needs some tlc from Stark, Darcy, or me," Skye explains at length and I smile. Tony is leading a team to hackers to help me. "It's been working almost around the clock with Stark, who doesn't appear to sleep, because there's something or someone that keeps repeatedly uploading the footage. Not to mention the major news outlets still have newscasts on their sites that I can't delete without legal backlash."
My moment of joy flees as I listen to her, Tony isn't sleeping and people are still seeing. It must be Killian's failsafe device that keeps posting the footage, maybe if I tell Skye she can stop it.
"Tony Stark is a surprisingly cool dude by the way and Darcy has some serious hacking skills," she rattles off and my eyes widen. "Don't get me wrong I understand what I am doing is important, but AC I need to do something for Ward." She waits for Coulson to give his approval, give a mission, and he does.
"Ward's got drop boxes and storage lockers all over the world. They're filled with currency, weapons, I.D.s. He's gonna use aliases, cash, anything to keep Lorelei off the radar. You're the best radar we have. Find them."
With that he leaves and Skye and Simmons share a look. Outside the med pod he gestures for me to go in. Simmons soon comes rushing out for Coulson while I slip by and into the portable hospital room.
Skye is already drawn into her work, typing rapidly on the keyboard of the computer in her lap. I watch her and wring my hands together, this is a girl who must have seen the footage, a girl who has spent her recovery time trying to help, and I'm not quite sure what to say to her.
"Thank you."
Skye jolts in shock and her eyes balloon when she sees me.
"Siren," she breathes. "How long have you been there?"
"Phil brought me down to meet you, I'd been waiting outside," I reply and Skye blushes. "I just want to say thank you. I had heard there was a team of hackers led by Tony on a mission to cleanse the internet of my face, I didn't realize one was on this plane." Skye remains quiet for a moment and then smiles at me. "You should know there's probably some sort of device that keeps posting the video, Killian had his way with computers."
"I'll look into tracking that down," Skye says.
Anxiously I look to the ground and take a deep breath.
"You want to know why don't you? Why I started doing this?" My silence answers her and she continues. "When I woke up in this hospital pod, Ward was sleeping next to me and he had an official SHIELD message playing on his computer. The message was created by Tony Stark and Gabrielle Trent, they were informing all active agents of your disappearance and the state of our condition and when that message was over there was another from Mr. Stark. His wasn't a video, it was a coded message in the mainframe that any skilled hacker could find. I found it because I was looking for more information about you."
"Why did you want to know about me?" I breathe and Skye glances down at her hands.
"Because I saw footage of you in New York and despite the grainy footage I could see pieces of your marks in the rips of your outfit. No one else would look closer or think anything of it, but I did."
It is then I become to understand the closeness between the four youngest agents of the team, they are soulmates.
"I felt a kinship to you because I am like you in that regard, so when I saw the news analyzing your marks and constantly replaying those clips...I felt empathy for you."
"Simmons, Fitz, and Ward you're a quartet," I conclude. Skye is laying there with an almost unreadable expression on her face and holds her arms close to her chest. "You realized you'd hate if anyone saw your soulmarks like that. You'd hate it like how I hate it. You'd feel vulnerable and furious that they were seen within your permission and then used to divulge the identities of your soulmates."
"Yes...so I started spreading viruses and hacking sites posting your video and when I did, I came across Tony and Darcy, and even your friend Gabrielle Trent."
"Gabie? Gabie's been helping?!" I exclaim. "You've spoken to Gabie!" I have missed my best friend so much, so much it hurts. To hear she's in this fight makes me feel so much better.
"I can tell she's just learning code for you, but she's a natural."
"That's amazing, Gabie is becoming a super spy badass," I sigh and clasp my hands together. If they are working together on this then Tony and Gabie must be keeping an eye on each other. "Thank you again, Skye."
"Believe me it is an honor to help a superhero, especially one my superior officer is a total fangirl for," Skye homes and I chuckle.
"I'm pretty sure Phil loves Steve more than he does me. I mean he has mint condition trading cards for Captain America," I return and then frown slightly. "Steve signed those by the way, maybe I can send them over discreetly once I go back. Then of course you can hold them as leverage or present them as a gift to Phil."
"That would be amazing, seriously the best thing anyone could ever do for me," Skye gushes. "Phil would have to give Leo, Jemma, Grant, and I a bed big enough for all of us." I giggle along with the girl and take a seat on the edge of her bed. I feel a friendship could form between us.
"A solid use of a 'favor'," I praise with air quotes. "If you guys already have a cohesive relationship like that you have to appreciate it. Tony, Nat, and Steve have me in this weird divorced kid schedule with Bruce acting like the awkward friend who doesn't quite understand the three houses situation."
It's too late by the time I realize my mistake, Skye has already heard and gasped.
"Wait! Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and, who I have to assume is the, Black Widow are your soulmates?"
"Yep," I confess and then give her a pointed look. "That was something I told you in fellow multi-bond girl confidence."
"My lips are sealed," Skye promises an makes a motion like she's locking her lips and throwing away the key. "But-"
"You'll tell your soulmates, yeah I know the drill," I finish and wink at her. "Speaking of soulmates, could you send Tony and Gabie a message for me?"
"Yeah sure, what do you want me to say?" Skye asks and opens a rolling screen of binary on her laptop.
"Tell then I'm safe, tell them I'm with friends." Skye types solidly for a moment before the machine chirps and she gives me a thumbs up.
"Thanks again Skye."
A moment passes where we laugh before her laptop beeps at her and the imminent situation comes to light again. Standing up I shake out my arms and then turn to her.
"I promise that when we find Ward I will break his enchantment myself."
"And I promise that one day I will have completely scrubbed the internet of that video."
With a grateful expression I nod to her and head for the door. Before I exit I glance back at the computer genius and grin to myself.
Skye has helped me understand how much I miss my family, my best friend.