The Tower
Bruce enters the lab soon after Clint informed the plane that they would be landing at the Tower in an hour. He is not at all surprised to find May and Coulson in the same positions they were in when he left, though they both have fresh tear tracks on their faces. Neither of them have made any indication that they heard him come in so he clears his throat.
“We will be landing in an hour.” Nothing, not even a head nod. Bruce presses on.
“Dr. Cho will be waiting for Skye when we land. She is a brilliant doctor and researcher. She has some new technology that I hope should help Skye’s healing. She and a team of medical professionals will be taking Skye into Tony’s medical bay and treating her injuries.” That seemed to get more of a response from the two. May inclined her head toward Bruce to show she was listening while Coulson straightened up a bit. Encouraged, Bruce continues.
“Maria will also be waiting for us, along with Pepper and-” Bruce hesitates, he’s not sure how this news will land. After a moment, Coulson turns to look at him.
“And who?” He asks.
“Thor will also be there. Apparently, he landed at the tower a few hours ago.” Bruce concludes. As much as Coulson tries to suppress it, Bruce hears him sigh from across the room.
“I will be back in a half hour or so to get Skye ready to be moved.” Bruce says, then he leaves the room. May looks over to see Coulson clearly having an internal discussion. He had been expecting Pepper, he was ready for Pepper. They had talked on the phone since she learned of his resurrection, but he knew she was still pissed and would want to talk when they finally were face to face again, he could handle that. What he wasn’t expecting was the boisterous Asgardian. The Asgardian who didn’t even know he was still alive. Hopefully, Maria and Pepper would have the foresight to tell Thor before he sees Coulson’s face or else things might get messy quick, like they almost had with Lady Sif.
“You ok?” May asks from across Skye.
“Yeah, just don’t know how this is gonna go. I would so much rather be focused on getting Skye better than worrying about how the God of Thunder is going to take the news of my resurrection.” Coulson says with another sigh. May smirks lightly at him. She understood what he meant, though the rational part of her knew that it might be better if they both had a bit of a distraction right now, the rest of her was just as intent as Coulson to not let her mind stray from Skye at all costs.
They fell back into silence for the next half hour until Bruce reappeared, this time with Simmons and Tripp in tow. Tripp had come along hoping to put his Med Tech training to use and help with getting Skye moved.
When they saw Simmons both May and Coulson felt their hearts break just a bit more. Her eyes were red and puffy and she had tear tracks dried on her face. When Simmons approached the bed and moved to grab one of the wires connected to Skye May took her hand instead. Simmons stopped and looked up to find May giving her an encouraging, supportive smile, the kind of emotion that May doesn’t show often. Simmons turned to see the same affection on Coulson’s face. She returned their smiles as much as she could without being overcome with more sobs before gently extracting her hand from May’s and setting about her task.
It took a good 15-20 minutes for the three to detach all of the wires and tubes connected to Skye and reattach them to machines and poles that could be moved. By the time they were done Clint’s voice was once again coming over the speakers, letting everyone know that he had begun his descent and they needed to strap in. Since there are no jump seats in the lab the three moved out to the cargo bay to take seats there, none of them surprised when Coulson and May remained where they were, forgoing seatbelts to stay with Skye.
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Landing took a bit longer than usual since Clint had to carefully maneuver the Bus to land on the landing pad of the tower which was designed for the Avengers quinjet, but after about 5 minutes he managed it without incident. As soon as the Bus touched down Clint lowered the ramp and the group upstairs began to make their way down to the cargo bay. By the time everyone had gathered in the bay the ramp had fully lowered and Dr. Cho and her team had begun to board and head to the med bay, followed closely by Maria Hill, Pepper Potts, and Thor.
While the rest of the group stands around the cargo bay, Dr. Cho and her team slowly maneuver Skye’s bed out of the plane with Bruce and Jemma following along, relaying medical information. May and Coulson tamp down their desire to follow, knowing that they won’t be allowed inside the medical suite while they are working on her. They come out and join the rest of the group.
“Son of Coul… I was most pleased to learn that you had not perished at the hands of my brother. Please accept my most sincere apologies for his actions. I owe you a great debt for trying to save my life, even at the cost of your own. If there is anything I can do to aid in your current fight, please allow me to assist you.” Thor says before anyone can speak, leaving Coulson in a stunned silence.
“There is nothing to apologize for Thor. Thank you, for your offer. Right now we just need to focus on getting Skye back on her feet.” Coulson says after he has found his words.
“Well you are all welcome here as long as that takes. Why don’t you all go inside, Maria knows which rooms you have all been assigned and the Avengers can show you around.” Pepper says. As the rest of the group starts to leave the plane she moves toward Phil who opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything, she wraps her arms around him.
“I’m so glad you’re alive Phil, and I’m so sorry about your agent. Is there anything I can do?” She asks, pulling back to look him in the eyes. Coulson has tears glistening in his eyes as a smile fights its way to his face.
“You just did, thank you Pepper.” Coulson says as he lets the tears roll down his face, all the emotion of the last 24 hours spilling out. Coulson feels May press her body up against his side to ground him as she takes the attention off of him, extending her hand to Pepper.
“Agent Melinda May.” She says.
“Of course, Tony has told me so much about you. Welcome. Why don’t you guys come inside. I will show you where Skye is and where to wait for news.” Pepper says as she leads the two out of the plane, Coulson regaining his composure as they walk.
Line Break
The first hour at the tower, everyone had scattered. Maria had shown each of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents where their rooms were, since Tony had decided a while ago that they should have rooms in case they ever visited the tower. She had also shown the twins to a guest room, asking Jarvis to let her know if they left the room and to keep her apprised of their locations. The Avengers had all retreated to their own rooms as well, to freshen up as much as they could. After a little while though, everyone congregated back in the common area. No one wanted to be alone right now. They all wanted to stay together and wait for news on Skye.
Tony had been about to order food when Steve decided that he wanted to cook so he had headed to the kitchen and was joined almost immediately by Clint. Soon after, Fitz, Simmons, and Tripp had all offered to help too, which Steve had happily accepted. Within the hour there was an immense feast prepared, of all sorts of foods. The teams filtered through and grabbed what they wanted, each finding spots around the room to sit and eat where they could also keep an eye on the hallway leading to the medical suite. Bruce was still in there with Dr. Cho and her team and he had promised to update them once he had news.
The only ones not out here with the group were May, Coulson, and the twins. May and Coulson were staying firmly planted on the bench in the hallway facing the medical suite doors while the twins hadn’t left their room since arriving. Once the group had helped themselves to as much food as they could stomach it was decided that someone should bring food to May and Coulson since they were clearly not going to move until they got news. Clint and Nat volunteered. They piled up some stuff that they knew the pair liked and took them some plates. As expected, they found May and Coulson sitting impossibly close to each other, eyes locked on the doors. They didn’t even look away when they heard Nat and Clint approaching.
“Brought you guys some food.” Clint says as he places the plates down beside them on the bench. Neither of them made a move to take anything.
“Look, we get that you need to know what is going on in there, but you also need to eat something. It’s been 12 hours since we found Skye and neither of you have eaten anything.” Nat tries. Still nothing.
“Will you at least have some water? We brought you each a bottle.” Clint says after a few minutes have passed, holding out two water bottles to the pair. Silently Phil reaches out and takes the bottles from him, handing one to Melinda, and they both begin to sip.
Clint gives Nat a look and she shakes her head. She knows there is nothing more they can do until someone comes out of that room and tells the two that their girl is going to be ok. Wordlessly Clint moves the plates of food to the floor and Natasha and Clint join Melinda and Phil sitting on the bench, staring at the doors, waiting for news.
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While Nat and Clint try and fail to get May and Coulson to eat something, Steve decides to try to coax the twins out of their room. He knows that the spies in the group don’t trust the two but as someone who also volunteered himself for experimentation once upon a time, he knows why they did it. He gets how strongly you must feel about something to be willing to go through something like that. They were certain they knew who had killed their parents and nearly killed them, and it was that conviction that drove them to volunteer with Hydra. Now, that belief has been taken from them. The rug has been swept out from under them and they don’t know which way is up. Steve doesn’t see them as a threat, he sees them as two people who need help. He can give them that.
So, with a deep breath, he knocks on the door. He waits for a minute, but there is no answer, just the sound of muffled voices and movement from behind it. Steve decides to try to get them to open up.
“Wanda, Pietro, it’s Steve. I thought you guys might be hungry. We have dinner out in the kitchen if you guys want to come eat something.” He tries. After another moment, the door creaks open, just enough to see someone’s eye peering out at him.
“No thank you. We are not hungry.” Wanda’s voice is a near whisper.
“Are you sure. I mean, you don’t have to come out if you don’t want to. I could bring some food to you if you just tell me what you like. We have all kinds of stuff.” Steve keeps trying. Wanda looks away from him to peer behind the door. Steve hears whispering which he assumes is coming from Pietro. He lets them discuss for a moment. He hears Wanda’s voice take on a more insistent tone before she turns back to face him.
“No, that’s ok. We will come to get our own food.” Wanda says, Steve hears what sounds like protesting coming from behind the door and he suppresses the urge to smirk at the siblings’ behavior.
“Great, do you remember the way to the common room or would you like me to show you?” Steve asks. Wanda throws the door open, revealing Pietro with a deer in the headlights look on his face.
“We will follow you.” Wanda says with a subtle smirk at her brother’s expense. Steve turns and begins to walk away from the twins, hearing them shuffle out of the room and close the door behind them. It does not go unnoticed by either of them that he has turned his back to them. It would be so easy for them to attack him with his back turned like this. It is a sign of trust. As they reach the elevator, the twins step in with a bit more confidence than they felt when opening the door.
Line Break
When Steve enters the room with the twins behind him, no one reacts. A few of them smile at the three or toss a nod their way, but no one freezes, there is no shock or tension at their appearance as the twins had expected, instead the group acts as though they are welcome. Wanda looks at Pietro to see her surprise reflected in his eyes. Everything that they had always assumed about this group is being proven wrong the more they interact with them. The way that the Avengers cared about saving Skye, someone who isn’t even a part of their team, the way that they allowed Wanda and Pietro to speak their minds back on the plane instead of shooting them or locking them up, the fact that they provided them with a room instead of a cell. All of it is unexpected and yet so very welcome.
Steve has made it to the mountain of food on the table by the time the twins snap themselves out of their thoughts and he is beckoning them over so they follow. They try, and fail, not to let their mouths gape open at the amount of food before them. Wanda snaps her mouth shut when she realizes that it may come across as rude to openly gawk at their customs. Instead of being offended however, Steve blushes and a hand comes up to rub the back of his neck.
“Yeah, Clint and I cook when stressed or we need to take our minds off of things, apparently a few of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are the same way, so we ended up with way too much. Please, take as much as you want, everyone else has already had their fill.” Steve says, then he walks away so the twins don’t feel pressured.
That was all the permission Pietro needed, waiting just long enough for Steve to be out of earshot before diving in. He takes a little bit of everything, eager to try as much as he can. Most of the stuff he has never seen before and has no idea what it is but after the crap that Hydra fed them he doesn’t care what it is, the fact is it all smells amazing and he can’t wait to eat it.
Wanda is much more reserved as she fills her plate. She puts thought into what she chooses, picking up and smelling or taking small samples of several things before adding them to her plate, but nevertheless she ends up with an equally impressive pile of food by the end.
Once they are satisfied with their picks the pair turn and realize they have no idea where they are expected to eat. There is a large table to their right which would be good but none of the others are sitting there, they all seem to have eaten where they are seated on the various couches and armchairs scattered throughout the room. Is that what they are expected to do too? After a moment of hesitation the pair decide to just head to the table as it is the safest option.
Once seated the pair quickly begin to devour their meals, wasting no time in cleaning as much off their plates as their stomachs can take. Hydra fed them when they felt like it which meant they didn’t get to eat very much or often. When they did eat the food was terrible and not filling. This is the first time in at least two years that they are actually enjoying their food and they actually feel full when they finish. The satisfaction of a full stomach is something that the two have missed more than they realize. They smile at each other as they sit back in their chairs. They may not know what the future holds, but they are together and together they can overcome anything.
The twins are interrupted from their silent conversation by commotion from the rest of the room. They turn and see that several doctors have entered from the hallway on the other side of the room and all the Avengers and agents have stood up to stand around the doctors. Wanda and Pietro stay in their seats to listen to what is said.
Dr. Cho and Bruce are at the front of the group with a couple other doctors standing behind them. Natasha and Clint followed the group out of the corridor and come around to stand with the rest of the Avengers. Bruce steps up to begin speaking first.
“Skye is stable. I will let Dr. Cho and the other doctors explain what they found but she is going to be ok.” Bruce says to the anxious faces assembled before him.
“Where are May and Coulson?” Fitz asks.
“We already explained everything to them, they are sitting with Skye now.” Bruce says before indicating to Dr. Cho.
“I was able to use the cradle to repair much of the damaged tissue on Skye’s torso, replacing the scarred tissue around her organs with new, healthy tissue. This should allow her to heal much faster and with less pain. Dr. Gao is my general surgeon I will let him explain what we found internally.” Dr. Cho indicates to a doctor on Bruce’s right who steps forward.
“Skye has had her liver and one of her kidneys biopsied. The biopsies were not done properly or given ample time to heal and as a result she was developing an infection at both points. I resected more tissue from each organ and created a clean suture line so she can heal properly. Also she had her gallbladder, appendix, and an ovary removed. The healing tissue at these sites had ruptured, I am given to understand that was likely a result of Skye’s powers. Drs. Banner and Simmons had done an excellent job repairing those sites so all I had to do was inspect and clean the wounds to prevent future problems. Skye also had several incisions across her body where lymph nodes had been removed in her neck, armpit, and groin. These incisions were repaired and the cradle was used to heal the tissue.” Dr. Gao concludes with a look back to Dr. Cho who indicates to the final doctor in the group who steps forward to speak.
“I am Dr. Nguyen, I am an orthopedic surgeon. I examined Skye’s arms and collarbones. She has countless microfractures in each arm from the fingers to the collarbone as well as capillary ruptures that are causing the intense bruising. I have molded splints to support her bones as they heal and supplied medication to aid in bone healing. She will not be able to bear any weight on her arms for at least a month, perhaps more. I also examined her broken ribs and have wrapped them as tightly as her other injuries would allow to keep them stable but the only thing to do is give them ample time to heal. The same can be said of her fractured cheekbone, it simply needs time.” Dr. Nguyen concludes with a nod.
The room was silent for a long moment, everyone once again digesting the enormity of what Skye had been through. Bruce nods at Dr. Cho who indicates to her doctors and the three of them leave the room to allow the team time alone.
“How are Phil and Melinda?” Pepper asks after a while.
“Not good. They still haven’t eaten anything, but at least they both drank some water while we waited. They didn’t react at all when the doctors explained Skye’s state, they just waited until they had finished then went into her room. I don’t think they will be ok until she wakes up.” Clint responds.
“Bruce, do you know when that will be?” Steve asks.
“Not for sure. We had to keep her under sedation for the surgery so she is still under the effects of that. That will be out of her system in about four hours. After that it’s up to her.” Bruce says.
The room has once again fallen silent. All of them thinking of their fallen friend, some of whom have never even properly met her, all desperate for her to come back to them.