Concussion
Cassie Lang was afraid, and in the middle of what seemed to be an unending war. She had been taken prisoner by some men who put her, alone, in a dirty cell and she didn't know why, she just knew that it had something to do with her dad. She could hear explosions outside, and she was scared, very scared, crying in a corner hoping that somebody would come for her. Nobody did, but one of the explosions tore down the outer wall of her cell (she had screamed so much when it happened) and she'd been able to get out.
Only she was getting out into a war zone. There were mechanical soldiers, there was fire, and there was scary people with different coloured skin she imagined were from outer space. She didn't want any of those people to notice her, but every time something fell, or there was a big hit, she couldn't help but let out a small yelp. After one of those, an alien soldier with a mean face caught sight of her, and direct his.... space gun? at her face. Cassie closed her eyes, putting her arms in front of her face, but no harm came to her.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that the soldier's blast had been stopped by some sort of green light, that surrounded the alien's head and made him fall boneless to the floor. The green light had come from a tall man in front of him, who seemed to be wearing some.... medieval armour? Like the knights from the cartoons. He had longest hair she'd seen on a boy and half of a helmet with horns (only one horn anymore).
Cassie looked at him with huge eyes.
"What are you doing here, child?" He said, and Cassie cowered a little.
"Don't worry, I will not hurt you." At least, he had a nice voice. "What's your name?"
"Cassie. Cassie Lang." She said, in a small voice. Surely if he was one of the bad guys he wouldn't have stopped the soldier aiming a gun at her, right?
"You're Scott Lang's daughter?"
"You know my dad?"
"I do, he's a good man."
The man knelt in front of Cassie, just a blast of energy was directed towards them. Cassie's saviour deflected it with a movement of his hand.
"I AM TALKING" He said, angrily, and then wavered a little.
He blinked many times and then directed his magic hand towards her. There was some sort of glow that was warm and was covering all of her.
"Just a shield, no reason to worry."
The man knelt in front of her and looked at her in the eye.
"All right, priority number one... Do you know what is a priority, Cassandra?"
Cassie shook her head.
"It is the most important thing of all. Priority number one is getting you somewhere save. Priority number two is getting a hold of your father so he can... decide what to do with you. Priority number three..."
"You're bleeding."Cassie noted. All the side of his head was covered in blood, that went down to his shoulder. There were also bleeding wounds in his stomach and legs and one of his hands was covered in blood. It was a bit scary.
"I am. But I can still get you somewhere safe. Priority number one, ok? We must focus on that."
And so the man got up and started looking around, maybe a way in which they could get somewhere safe and not get blown by bits in the process. Well, she had the glowy shield (so cool, like wearing glitter all around her but without the stickyness. She looked awesome, like some outer space princess. Her saviour, on the other hand, looked terrible.
"Why don't you have a shield?"
"I'm too big. It would require too much energy."
Oh. That was sad, that he could help her, but not help himself.
"What's your name?"
"Loki. Now, Cassandra, can you run, or shall I take you in my arms?"
"I can run!"
"You must run faster than you've ever done it before, ok? As fast as the wind, until that Bus stop."
"Ok!"
"And I fall you pay no attention, all right? What is priority number one, the most important thing?"
"Getting somewhere safe!"
"Now, Cassandra, run"
And so Cassie run, forgetting the world, forgetting all the shooting and the men and women fighting around. The most important thing was getting to that bus stop, and she was going to show Loki that she was a big girl and that she could run faster than the wind. And so she did, but when she got there and shouted "I did it!" she was alone.
Loki was still trying to get there, but fighting someone. He was bleeding even more now, and looked bad. Cassie wanted to do something to help, but also didn't want to move. The most important thing was that she was there, and she didn't know how could she help anyways. So she watched the fight with fearful eyes, hoping for the best.
In the end, Loki did win, and went to the bus stop where she was, although he was wobbling a bit, as if he was dizzy.
"Are you sick?" Was the first thing she asked when he got there. But there was no answer, just more blinking and some loud breaths. "Loki?"
"I am not sick. I just need a moment."
"You are lying. You are too white, my mum says that is called being pale and it means that something's wrong inside of you."
Loki laughed a little.
"I am from another planet, Cassandra. Your human rules don't apply to me."
Cassie forgot al her fears from minutes ago to make him realise that she wasn't a baby.
"I don't believe you. Aliens are ugly, like those ones. You're pretty."
Loki smiled her way. This only made him prettier, further cementing her argument. He couldn't be alien, he was speaking English!
"Let's focus, this is still not a good place."
Loki wavered again, and closed his eyes for a while. He was still bleeding, and there was nothing there to make it stop. When she of her friends got hurt there was always someone there to make it stop, and tell them that it would be okay. But no one was there to clean Loki's blood.
"All right, let's got back to priority number one. Cassandra, do you that building next to the green one?"
"The supermarket?"
"It's big and empty, and I could probably lock it easily, get you some food. Maybe they will even have a phone we can use. That is where we're going ok?"
Cassie nodded.
"But there's too many ups and downs, too much open ground, I will have to carry you this time." Cassie wanted to say something, but was stopped. "I know you can run, it's just too dangerous. And remember, if I am hit, you go to the building, look for a cellar or something."
There was another explosion next to them, and Cassie just nodded and let Loki take her. She was really looking forward to getting to that place.
Loki smelt nice, like mint ice cream mixed with blood. They ran and there were some blasts thrown their way, but Cassie felt nothing thanks to her shield. Loki was determined, and they arrived to the supermarket and locked the doors fairly quickly.
Loki left her on the floor and stumbled behind a cash register, where he threw up for a while. Cassie knew she probably wasn't supposed to look but she did, anyway. She had known that he was sick, but the priority thing was more important. She went to look for some tissues or napkins on the supermarket. It was the nice thing to offer, she guessed.
"Here." Cassie said, giving Loki, who was still on the floor, the box on tissues.
"Thank you, Cassandra."
"I think... I think priority number three should be calling the doctor. You're sick."
Loki half smiled.
"That is sweet of you to say, Cassandra, but I can take care of myself. You need not worry. Now, let's see if we can find your father, shall we? It is priority number two, after all."
Loki got up, slowly and using one of the shelves for balance, and still, he moved slowly and carefully. There was blood and vomit where he'd been. It was unpleasant, her mom would throw a fit, but still Cassie liked Loki. She had helped her and trusted her to complete the priorities, their mission. He was cool.
"You're cool." She said. "Why there isn't a toy of you like of my dad and his friends?"
They all had them and played with them in recess. She had an Ant man figurine (clearly) and a Captain America and Black Widow. Her best friend had an Iron Man and a Hulk. But she'd never seen anyone with a toy that looked like him.
"I did some bad things... in the past. Your father's friend aren't too fond of me, and neither are the toy companies, it would seem. But there is a toy of my brother. Thor, the one with the hammer?"
"I KNOW WHO YOU SAY! All the girls from middle school say he is the most handsome. But you are prettier, I think."
They went to a small office, and Loki told her to get up on the wheelie chair and mark the number of his dad's number. He had asked to memorise it with a song in case there was an emergency and she needed to contact him. Fortunately, after some rings, he picked up.
"He says somebody is tracking the signal and not to move, that he's coming."
"Well, that's good news." Loki said from where he was sitting on the floor, eye closed, his hands over his eyes.
Cassie sat next to him.
There was another explosion and she screamed a little.
"Not to worry, little Cassandra. We're safe. Nothing will happen to you while you're with me."
"Thank you."
"Hey, since we're in a place with food, why don't you choose something delicious, so that we can eat it here, huh?"
"Ok!"
Distracted by the prospect of food (she hadn't had a proper meal in so long, Cassie forgot her fear and chose the most delicious things of the supermarket (chocolate cookies, half melted ice cream, bread and peanut butter...) and then went back to the Loki were Loki was slumped. She was afraid that he'd gone to sleep, but he smiled at her when she came.
They talked about the food and about their friends (it turned out that Loki didn't have many friends, which was sad, so she decided that she would be his friend) and about school and things like that.
"And what job did you have?"
"I was... I was a prince."
"REALLY?"
Loki nodded again. He was getting even whiter, which was not good, but surely the cookies would help.
"Thor was the other. It's not as great as it sounds."
"Do you think I could be a princess?"
"Oh, Cassandra, you would be a queen."
Her dad got like twenty minutes later.
"Daddy!"
And she jumped into his arms, where they embraced for a while.
"Cassie, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm eating cookies in an office with my new friend, he got he me here. Come!"
Scott was a bit overwhelmed. After nearly ten days without knowing anything about Cassie except for threats and people telling him that she was going to killed, suddenly out of nowhere she called him, told him she was in a supermarket. And she seemed unscathed, too, which was nothing short of a miracle taking into account the war situation they had out there.
Whoever this friend of Cassie's was, he owed them his life for taking care of his little girl like that. Probably Wilson, or Barton maybe....
"Ah,Lang. Good to see you."
Loki. Cassie's new friend was Loki, and he looked like shit.
"Loki! On my, I didn't expect... Anyways, thank you for this, man, I owe you big time."
"Do you have a safehouse? Some way to transport her?" Loki said, slightly slurring his words. He was all covered in blood and so pale he seemed like a halloween ghost costume. He seemed to be fairly badly injured, and that blow to the head had probably caused a concussion, seeing how unfocused his eyes were, and how he was slumped.
"Yeah, don't worry."
"You take her."
"But you come with us too, right? Daddy, he has to come with us, he's sick! Priority number three!" Cassie said. They couldn't leave him there, he was sick! And she didn't want to say goodbye so soon.
"I can manage."
"No! You have to come with us!"
"There's enough space for you, and Cassie really wants you to come." Scott said. He didn't know if Loki would be able to simply walk all the way, but he needed to come with them and get some medical attention. Soon.
Scott offered a hand, and Loki shakily got up and they started making their way.
"You know, dad, that Loki is a prince? And he says that I could be a queen and he calls me Cassandra."
"Queen Cassandra."
They got Cassie in Stark's car and Loki passed out just right after, but Scott and Natasha where there to pick him.
He had indeed a concussion, apart from some internal bleeding and a dislocated shoulder. But even like that, he took the time to take Cassie out of danger, and make sure he was safe. Loki had never been much of a child-loving person, but he'd seen how afraid she had been and knew he had to do something, that the girl couldn't fend for herself in the middle of a war zone.
When he woke up, a whole two days later in Stark's medbay, there was a a lovely get well soon card, with a handwritten message:
"Prioretee n 4: Get better soon
your friend always,
CASSANDRA"