Never Alone Again |N.R|

Found.

Rue woke up to someone kicking her foot. She desperately wanted to keep her eyes closed in hopes that they'd give up, but they just got more persistent. Slowly, she fluttered her eyelids open and the bright light of the morning seeped in. "You can't sleep here darling. It's private property." It was a janitor as far as Rue could tell, but she didn't waste much time getting up and gathering her things. She rose to her feet slowly, her entire body protesting. It was in agony last night, but somehow it hurt even more this morning. After apologising to the janitor she stumbled out onto the pavement and headed towards the nearby park. She'd been there a couple of times before to use the public toilet, and right now she needed to look at her injuries in a mirror.

It felt like forever before she made it there but in reality it had only been a fifteen minute walk, made longer by her slow and uneasy pace. The toilets were empty, so Rue felt comfortable looking over her injuries. First she unzipped her coat and took it off before lifting up her other layers to expose her ribs. They were black. Not green or purple, black. She carefully ran her fingers over them and she could feel where they were broken. Realising that there wasn't much she could do for them, she moved onto her forehead. Her eye was bruised badly, not quite as severely as her ribs but not far off. Despite being black, Rue could very clearly see that her beanie was soaked in blood (some of it still wet). Carefully, she peeled the fabric back, wincing as it pulled away from where it was stuck to the wound. Once it was totally off of her head, Rue stared in shock at her face. Blood covered a majority of her forehead, and some of it had managed to reach her hair. The gash itself looked disgusting. It was about two inches above her right eyebrow and ran most of the way along it, and it was still bleeding slightly despite the hours that had passed since she acquired it.

Her mind started to go foggy and her eyes fuzzy. No. She couldn't afford to pass out now, not with the possibility of a stranger finding her and calling an ambulance. If Rue was taken to hospital then they'd realise she was fifteen and child services would be called. No, she had to deal with this on her own. Gripping onto the edge of a sink she steadied herself, and a couple of minutes later she splashed her face with cold water. This washed off some of the blood, but she needed warm soapy water if she wanted to clean it totally. Also, she was worried about it opening up again and she couldn't afford to bleed anymore.

After a while she pulled her coat back on, zipping it up tight, and then went into one of the stalls and collected some tissue. She'd have to find some bandages and plasters somewhere, but for now the tissue would have to do. Folding it over a few times to make it somewhat thick Rue pushed it against her cut and then pulled her bloodied beanie back on. It did well to hold the tissue over the wound, but it would only be a matter of time before the blood soaked through and it would need changing.

Once she'd decided she was finished looking herself over, Rue stepped out of the door back into the cold. She needed to find something to cover her wound, but right now she didn't have the strength to look for long.

It had been an hour since she'd set off when her legs started wobbling. She was still in Manhattan, just outside a tall skyscraper that looked very modern in comparison to the others. Her mind had gone blank, but all she knew to do was find somewhere to sit down before she fell down. That was when the orange of a car nearby caught her attention. Drawn to its colour Rue stumbled across the street and slumped down against it on the pavement. It wasn't long before she was plunged into darkness, a darkness void of cold and pain.

Third Person POV

Tony pushed open the tall glass doors of the Avenger's building and stepped out into the freezing air. He rushed to his car, desperate to climb into the warmth, and that was when he saw her. A young girl leant up against it. She was unconscious, pale and blood was smeared down the right side of her face. He ran over to her, shaking her shoulder in hopes of waking her but she was unreachable.

With that Tony leant down and picked her up, holding her under her back and legs, and pulling her into his chest. She was freezing. What was such a young girl doing on the streets by herself, and what had happened to her? He rushed back through the glass doors and over to the elevator, pressing the buttons furiously to take him up to their floor.

"JARVIS tell Banner to meet me in the Med Bay, and tell him to hurry. This is serious." The desperation could be heard in his voice. Tony was often a jokester, but this was no time for jokes. He was scared for this young girls life.

Once the elevator doors opened, Tony quickly hopped in and pressed the floor for the Med Bay. He couldn't get there quick enough.
When he finally reached the floor he basically sprinted to find Bruce, and had a feeling of overwhelming gratitude for his friends punctuality when he found him waiting by a bed in the Bay. Tony carefully placed her on the bed and stepped away, giving Bruce some room to work.

"Tony, could you go and get Natasha for me? I need her help with this." Bruce spoke to Tony without averting his eyes from the many machines around him. Tony rushed off to find Natasha. He could've asked JARVIS to do it for him, but he knew she wouldn't be far and he didn't want to broadcast this to the whole tower.

He was right, she was wandering down a nearby hallway with her eyes fixated on a file. "Natasha, I need you to come with me. There's no time to explain." Tony stopped for a second to talk before turning on his heel and heading back to the Med Bay with Natasha following close behind. They made it back to Banner and the young girl in less than a minute, both of them having run as fast as they could.

"Ah Natasha, thank you for coming to help. I can't run the tests when she's got all of these layers on but I wouldn't feel right taking any of them off of her. Would you mind putting her in a gown? Just because her clothes are quite damp and she's freezing." He motioned to the girl laying on the bed still unconscious, wearing a thick black coat and damp and ripped jeans.

Natasha moved closer to the girl, and something instantly felt familiar.

Natasha's POV

Looking down at her pale and bloodied face I instantly recognised her. She was the girl who fended off those drunk men last night, but she'd run away not long after and disappeared into the dark of the night.

"Yes of course, but I think it's best you two leave. It'd be nice to give her some privacy." I stared at them both expectantly, waiting for them to head out.

"Yes no problem, come on Banner." Tony walked out of the room with Bruce not far behind, except he gave me one last look before he disappeared into the corridor.

Once I was sure they had gone, I turned back to the young girl and began taking off her coat. I undid the zip and carefully sat her up, resting her head against my shoulder so I could pull it off of her arms. She didn't even stir as I pulled her two jumpers over her head, she really did have a lot of layers on. It took me a while but I eventually had her changed into a clean gown with some warm and dry socks on. She was still cold, but at least she wasn't wearing damp clothes anymore.

As if on cue, Banner knocked on the door.

"Come in" I shouted, loud enough for him to hear from outside.

He stepped into the room a couple of seconds later, immediately beginning his examinations. I stayed stood next to the bed, not wanting to leave her side. Bruce seemed to pick up on this.

"You don't have to stay. I can take it from here" he said, looking up from his tablet for a second to meet my gaze.

"No it's fine, I think I should stay. If she wakes up, I'd like to be here since she might recognise me from last night." I looked down at her pale face, blood now trickling down her temple from the deep gash on her forehead since I'd taken off her hat. A thick scab covered her chin as well.
Bruce just nodded and continued on with his tests.

Hopefully she'd wake up soon. Hopefully.