Odette Parker: My True Self

Chapter 42: Depleted

Why is it so dry and so hot?

Dets: "Baby turn the AC down."

I roll over and fall off the cot I was laying on. Oxygen tube moving up my face into my hair, a slight tug where an IV is. NO! NO! I don't do doctors. I sit up on the floor in the brown room. Sun streaming in through a window. It's just me, with an IV and oxygen tube. What in the fuck is going on?

I pull out the IV with a hiss and untangle the oxygen tube from my hair. I see the door on the far side of the room. I look down at myself and realize I am not in my leather outfit. I woke up in clothes that weren't mine again. It's a gown of some kind, made of wool, and really itchy. UGH! I snap my fingers hoping to bring myself some cheer shorts and a t-shirt. Nothing happens. What the fuck. I breathe deep and search for the power I always feel. I can barely feel it, like a small ember buried deep within my soul.

OK, I will figure that out later. I make my way towards the door. I'm still a master of three forms of martial arts, plus all the extra training I did on Asgard and the fight training with Bucky. Bucky! Oh God is he safe? I need to find him now. The door opens as I approach and a women walks in with a tray of berries and nuts.

Woman: "You eat."

Dets: "Where is Bucky?"

The woman looks at me questioningly.

Dets: "How did I get here?"

Woman: "Man brought you."

Dets: "Where is that man?"

Woman: "Outside."

Time to see if that man is Bucky. I scream as loud as I can, projecting my voice to the window.

Dets: "James Barnes, get your ass in here now!"

I turn back towards the door and it isn't Bucky who walks in but Fury. His hands are up in surrender. He is wearing sunglasses.

Fury: "Barnes will be right back. He is packing up your things from the hotel and bringing them here. "

I see the woman bow her head and take her leave. I walk up and catch her hand.

Dets: "Thank you, for the food. I am sorry I was rude."

She nods again and takes her leave. I walk back to the cot and sit turning to Fury.

Dets: "What the fuck are you doing here Fury?"

Fury: "Hello to you to Princess."

Dets: "Don't give me that. Seriously, what are you doing here? How are you here?"

Fury: "Funny story that. See Natasha has a discreet way to contact me if there is an emergency. She got an encrypted email from someone claiming to be me saying that your family and friends were in danger because Hydra was targeting all your old associates, they figured out who you were. I of course told her that it was me to save your ass. I was able to piggy back the satellites that Hydra was using only to discover that someone else was piggy backing as well. I followed the trace you ran and discovered you were here. I made my way here and found Barnes carrying your unconscious body from the desert. We brought you to this clinic where you have been in a coma ever since. It's been a week since the event at the base Odette."

Dets: "A week?"

Fury: "A week. Whatever you did out there caused your entire system to shut down. Barnes told me about the last time you wore yourself out so we waited a day. When you didn't rise I brought in a friend to set you up on an IV and oxygen. Barnes has been in a constant state of worry. If you hadn't woken up soon I was going to call in Thor and have you sent up to Asgard for treatment."