Chapter 21
"Fitz, how's it going?" Coulson called as he came into the Hub's cafeteria. Twenty-four hours. He couldn't believe it had only been twenty-four hours since they got here. It felt more like a month. And his suit had held up better to a round with Loki than it had to a day of tending sick people. That probably meant something. Maybe instead of fighting if Loki popped up again they ought to send him something contaminated with this virus.
"It's going slowly." Fitz glared down at Edwin Tuttle, who was wrapped in a blanket and curled into a ball of misery on the floor, too miserable for Fitz to even work himself up properly over the damage the man had done. No use wasting a good rant on someone who was too sick to hear you. "We've just now got the power shut off to all of the areas that I can't fix immediately."
"How much of the building is without power now?" Coulson asked.
"Two thirds. I had to divert a lot of power to keep up the defenses and sensors in case this turns out to be something more than an accident." Fitz said with a frown.
Two thirds of her building down. Coulson was very, very glad that Jemma had Victoria under sedation so she wouldn't find out about this, until hopefully her fever broke. But better to take down two thirds than to loose the defenses and sensors. "Alright. Any idea of how long to get the most critical repairs done?"
"Like I said. At least a day, and that's if we don't run into more problems." Fitz said. "Ward's making sandwiches and then we're going to get to work. You might want to get something to eat yourself, sir. We had to shut down power to the kitchen, so that food won't last for long."
"I put together something for Simmons and Skye." Ward said as he came out with a plate of sandwiches in one hand, and a cooler bag with food for the other two agents in the other. He just hoped that Fitz wasn't expecting a sandwich on the level as the one Simmons made.
"Food?" May said as she came in. "What are we going to feed these people? Twenty-four hours without food, that isn't good."
Feeding 300 people. Coulson had no clue how they were going to manage that. What could they come up with that they could eat when they were so sick, first of all, and then how were they going to get food into them, with almost everyone curled up into little balls of flu infested misery? It looked like spoon feeding might be added to their assignment along with temperature taking and general nursing. "I'll take the food upstairs, and see if Simmons has any ideas for what to do as far as food." He said as he motioned for Ward to hand over the cooler bag. And if they had to spoon feed everyone, that was just what they would have to do.
"Food for the two of you." Coulson called as he knocked on Victoria's office door a few minutes later.
"Food." Jemma suddenly felt hunger catching up with her at the mention of food. "Sir, thank you!"
"Ward put it together. I do have a question about the other agents. They're going on twenty-four hours or longer without food. Any ideas for what we could feed them? They need something, right?"
Feeding the other agents. They definitely did need something, Coulson was right, but feeding them could be complicated, especially if the fever and pain made them as nauseous as Agent Hand had been when they were trapped. "A glucose drip might be best, at least for those who are already on IVs. That's what I'm doing with Agent Hand." She paused, thinking of that would be best to suggest for the others. "Could you make up a chicken broth, or really just any sort of broth? They need something that's light and easy to digest, and that will help with replenishing their fluids. But if they're too nauseous, you might need to start more IVs."
"Broth and more IVs. We'll handle it. How's Victoria?"
"Her fever's hovering at 101.7, and she's sleeping." Jemma said with a smile.
101.7. Coulson felt relief wash over him. After how sick Victoria had been, when he had seen her down in that basement, to have her improving that much that fast felt like a miracle. "The two of you just stay with her. I'll leave the food outside the door."
"What did they leave us?" Skye looked up as Jemma collected the bag quickly and ducked back inside.
"Sandwiches. Not as good as mine, but not bad." Jemma said as she pulled several sandwiches wrapped in wax paper out of the bag. Sandwiches, packets of cookies and….
"Ice cream!" Skye exclaimed as she pulled out the last items, two pint sized containers of ice cream. Nothing exotic just plain vanilla and chocolate, but…. "Jemma, do you think we could try and see if she could eat just a little of it? It might make her feel better to actually get something in her stomach instead of just fluids in her arm."
Jemma frowned, remembering the nausea from the lab, but then a lot of that was likely due to the high temperature. With it down so much, maybe food would be good if they could wake Agent Hand a little to swallow. "We can give it a try."
"Good. Hey, we've got some ice cream here. Think you can wake up a little to eat some?" Skye called and was rewarded with a weak flutter of eyelashes. "You don't have to open your eyes. Just try to swallow, okay? This is going to make you feel better, we promise." Her lips twitched just enough for Skye to coax a tiny spoonful of ice cream in that she slowly swallowed after a few seconds. Skye and Jemma both smiled at that and Skye scooped up another tiny bit of ice cream to feed her. This was going to work out fine.
"Rogers? Do you have something to report?" Fury saved the file he was working on, Victoria's eulogy, when he heard his phone. He listened closely for the ringing of a bell before switching it to speaker.
"Tony's working on the CEO. Apparently he's deeply in debt of the Maggia. I'm not sure how that might lead to a deliberate sabotage of the flu shots, but that's what we have so far. Doctor Banner's trying to talk to some of the medical staff here. Hopefully he'll find out something that way. Have you got an update on the sick agents?"
"Not yet." And the longer it went without an update, the more worried he became. 300 sick agents. What if they lost them all? What if Coulson or his team got infected? Losing Victoria was going to be bad enough, and he would be hard pressed to find someone to take her place. 'Keep working on it. I want to know who's responsible for this!"
"Do you think Victoria would like her picture on her tombstone?" Jasper asked when Felix answered his phone. "I was just about to place the order when I saw that they offered that as an option. Do you think it would be nice, or would it be too much?"
"I'm not sure. How do they get the pictures on the stone?" Felix asked as he saved the eulogy he was working on. He wasn't sure how many people woold be allowed to speak, but he wanted to be prepared. "And why do I hear a bell?"
"Fury told me I had to wear it until the lock-down's lifted. They have a couple of ways to get the pictures on there, but the one I like is airbrushing or sandbrushing or something like that. Maybe a black and white picture with the red in her hair for color? She would look really nice like that."
"Wait. Wait. Has Phil actually called and said that Vic's…. He hasn't confirmed it, has he?" John demanded from the second phone turned to speaker on Felix's desk.
"Fury hasn't said anything, but it's been twenty-four hours, and with how sick she was the last time we heard from anyone…." Jasper lowered his head as he thought of what had happened. Had it been quick? He hoped it had been quick and that Victoria hadn't had time to realize what was happening. He hoped she hadn't had time to be afraid.
"Maybe he's busy? He has 300 sick people on his hands. Even with five other people on his team, that's a lot of sick people. If Vic really was gone, wouldn't he have let someone know?" John asked.
"John, even if by some miracle Victoria was alive, the damage she would have suffered…." Felix couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, the idea of Victoria brain damaged and left to waste away in a hospital bed so distasteful to him that he couldn't voice it.
"I hope she didn't suffer. I just hope she didn't suffer. If they couldn't save her, I hope it was quick." Jasper said.
"But…. I just think we ought to know for sure before we plan our funeral, is all. Any chance Fury might lift the lock-down and send someone there to see what's going on?"
"Not a chance. Until medical clears up the issues with the shots, there's no way that Fury's letting anyone in or out. As much as I hate it, Phil's on his own." Jasper said.