Whumptober 2023 ~ Marvel Edition

'It's All For Nothing.' - Phil Coulson

Day 8:

"I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier."
Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | "It's all for nothing."

~~~

Everything felt wrong.

Phil wasn't entirely sure how, but both his body and mind seemed to be at a disconnect and he had a feeling deep down, underneath his dizzying haze, that something was terribly wrong. When he finally opened his eyes, he squinted at the bright light that entered his pupils, and he licked his lips in an attempt to alleviate some of the intense dryness in his mouth. It was then that his mind finally registered the pain in his abdomen, and he groaned.

"It's all right, sir; we're almost there," he heard a voice tell him through the chaotic noise of everyone else in the room. Wait, everyone else?

His eyes finally adjusting to the light, Phil turned his head towards the side and saw that he was in an emergency room. A very packed emergency room. And he was being wheeled straight through it, everyone else's injuries on display for him to see as he moved past them.

The sight might've made Phil sick if he hadn't been so out of it. Some people only had visibly minor injuries such as a cut on their foreheads or maybe a broken arm by the way they were clutching their appendages, but others...the worst he saw in the brief chance he'd had to look around was someone who was holding their ear in their hand. For a moment he wondered why they weren't all in their own rooms, but given the amount of people that were there, he assumed there just weren't enough rooms for them all. He'd hoped that these were the worst of the injuries, but given that the ear-guy was being treated out in the hall, he felt it reasonable to assume they weren't.

What had happened? Why were all of these people here? The last thing he remembered was-

Loki had stabbed him. The same Loki who was trying to take over New York. How long had he been out? Had Loki escaped their custody? What was happening outside?

That question was soon answered when his stretcher rolled past a hanging television and Phil was able to catch a quick glance of the live footage being shown on screen. New York was under attack. The streets were flooded with aliens and the amount of destruction there was already allowed for Phil's faith to start fading. They were outnumbered - plain and simple. How was he supposed to hold out hope when so many had already fallen?

"No," he said airily, the use of his voice causing his muscles to tense up around his abdomen, and he winced.

"Shh, don't talk," the same voice from earlier said. "You'll only hurt yourself further."

As if he hadn't heard a word she'd said, his eyes glazed over, his head lulled back to the center, he looked up at the ceiling above him, and a tear entered his eye.

"...It's all for nothing."