Chapter 25
Coulson? Fury raised an eyebrow when he saw the number on his phone. What was he doing calling back so soon. Against his will, his mind went to what the doctor had said about Victoria, possible brain damage and septic shock. "Coulson?"
"Sir, Agent May's mother just called and pointed something interesting out. Could I ask who wrote up Victoria's obituary and put it the newspaper without even bothering to check and make sure she was actually DEAD?! Because whoever it was, they should know that the Associated Press has picked it up, and it's in all of the major papers!"
"What?" Fury pulled up the search engine on his computer and saw a few seconds latter that Coulson was right.
"And it's trending on Twitter." Maria added as she looked up from her phone. "Apparently you impressed a whole lot of people with your writing, Jasper."
"Do you think Victoria will see that, and will decide not to kill me?" Jasper moaned. "I swear, I didn't mean to send that. I thought I clicked SAVE!" And why in the world had the Associated Press picked the thing up? Okay, after all Victoria had done for Shield, she did deserve all of the attention and praise in death she could be given, but still…. She wasn't dead, and why hadn't some celebrity been caught without underpants to keep this thing from spreading far and wide? When she found out…. He might as well go ahead and start writing his own obituary. He would probably need it soon.
"Excuse me!" Felix called from Jasper's phone. "But here's another thing we might need to worry about. Does Victoria have any family that might read this? Couldn't being notified about a death that way be more than a bit alarming, and when you consider the fact that Victoria's alive…."
"Please tell me she doesn't have parents or grandparents or elderly aunts that are going to die over this." Jasper moaned. He probably ought to know something about Victoria's family. Hadn't he written about them for her obituary? But shock was making that information skip clean out of his mind. What would she do to him if she woke up and found out that she had lost relatives thanks to his little write-up?
"I'll make some calls." May said, wincing as she thought about what could happen if the wrong people saw that article. "What about Director Carter? You know she takes losing agents badly, and even though she isn't running things…."
"I've got that." John said as he looked up from his phone for a moment before the line was picked up. "Tripplett? Yes, I know I broke out of a lock-down. I had to come to the Hub to check on Vic, that's why! Tripp… Listen, does your grandmother read the paper anymore? You might want to call and see if you can have her reading censored for awhile. And maybe blow up her TV. Why? Because Vic's obituary's in the paper, and she isn't dead. Yes, yes, I'm sure of that. And I'm sure that your grandmother worked with her so if you could just…. Right. And tell anyone who's giving you a hard time over my getting out of there that you had nothing to do with it. And did they really think you could have done something to stop me?"
"Okay, so we're going to try to avoid killing off Victoria's family, and the first head of our organization. That's good." Maria said.
"But if you can get that obituary pulled, it would be even better." Coulson said. But how could they pull it if it had gone so far? If the paper printed a retraction, it would probably be buried in the middle of the weather report where no one would see it.
"I'll see what we can do." Fury paused, remembering what the doctor had said about the likelihood that Victoria had suffered brain damage, and the possibility of septic shock. He quickly typed that into the search engine and cringed as he read the damage it could cause, and the mortality rate. "I have another concern, though. We talked to one of the doctors at medical here. I updated him about Victoria's condition, and showed him the pictures you sent. He's still highly concerned about the potential for brain damage. He also expressed a worry that she could be developing septic shock, and wanted to know if your bio-chemist has done blood tests."
"Septic…." Coulson shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. Were these doctors actually WANTING Victoria to die? "She's asleep! Simmons and Skye have been in the room with her for two days sitting at her bedside. Don't you think they would have noticed if something was wrong? I can tell Simmons to draw blood, but sir, I really think you might want to see about hiring a few new doctors."
"I hope I do need to." Although if there was one thing Fury hated, it was breaking in new people. "But with what the doctor's are saying, and with how high her fever got, I have some serious concerns. Have your people been able to run any tests beyond basic monitoring?"
"Tests would involve moving her, for anything but blood draws, and that isn't safe right now." Coulson said. He couldn't believe this. "She's fine. She's sleeping. I'll tell Simmons to draw the blood and maybe Fitz can run it if you want, but she's fine! My people have been with her for two days! There's no way they would have missed septic shock!"
"Get the blood ran, and I would like an EEG too, if they can." Brain damage. Even without the doctor telling him, he knew what a fever that high could do to the brain, and Coulson ought to know it too. "I'm going to block her access until there are some test results clearing her of impairment." He really should have done that when this thing first started.
"Block…." Coulson shook his head, and fought not to laugh. "I think you ought to go and find a place to take a nap. The stress is getting to you, Director. But I will get those results." Skye was smart. Jemma could walk her through faking results that would calm down the director, he was sure.
"Did Fury just say…." John's eyes were wide with horror when Coulson disconnected the phone call. "Phil, open this door now!" Septic shock, he had seen someone with that once, seen someone dying from it. If Vic…. "Phil!"
"She's fine! Maybe the doctors at the Triskelion have invested in the mortuary we use?" Or would that be a conflict of interest? Probably, but that didn't mean that they hadn't. "John, she's fine. She's sleeping. I've had people right there at her bedside for two days and they haven't reported a problem. She's fine. They've even been able to get her semi-conscious so they could coax ice cream down her. She's fine, and if I let you in here, you would probably pose a danger to her."
"Ice cream? She let someone spoonfeed her?" He actually smiled at that, and at how Vic would take being ill enough to need such care.
"Want more pictures? I just took another bowl up to her."
"You just tell your people to take good care of her. And promise her that I'll get whatever ice cream she wants. Just rest and get well." And he really had to start looking for a monastery that was hiring. Vic getting through this and getting well, what were a few vows of poverty, obedience and chastity in comparison to that?