Valkyrie

Aftermath

~~*~~

even when I'm fine

I can't tell

If I'm happy or I'm sad

'Cause no one ever talks about the aftermath

~~*~~

Stella sat, seeped in the blood of her friends, her family, a dead stare in the direction of one of the many blood stains on the wall amongst all of the carnage.

She could see the GDA operatives rush in, the medics working on the Guardians and Omni-man. Could feel hands on her shoulders as she was asked questions. But her brain couldn't process it.

Not until Cecil's scarred face was directly in her vision, wide eyes and warm hands on her face grounding her.

"Cecil..."

"Stella, Stella are you hurt! Are you okay?! Where's the blood coming from?!" It was the only time she had ever seen the man so rattled. So panicked.

"Not mine... It's not mine. It's not mine.." Stella found herself stuck in a loop, sobs ripping from her throat as she crumpled into the man. Shoulder's shaking violently as she cried. Cecil's arms wrapping around them to try and comfort her. But how do you fix something like this?

"The medics need to check you okay?" Cecil tried to pull away but her fingers tore into his suit jacket.

"No! Don't go, please Cecil." Cecil sighed and pushed back a stained red strand of her blonde hair, crunchy with blood.

"I'm not going anywhere, kid. I'm gonna be right here, okay?" He occupied her attention, her blue eyes bloodshot and threatening to bulge out of her head in panic. Occupying her attention just long enough for her to get stuck with a needle by a medic. Stella passing out due to the sedative, falling away from Cecil and into the arms of said medic. "Be gentle with her."

Standing, Cecil joined Donald, looking over the mess with a heavy sigh. "I've never seen anything like this..." He trailed off. Coming up to a console and looking over the room, looking down at his hands, specks of blood he had picked up from Stella, "Goddammit!"

~~*~~

"Someone murdered the Guardians of the Globe last night." Cecil dropped the bomb, Debbie and Mark gasping in shock. "Tore them limb from limb. We tried like hell to bring them back. But Nolan was the only survivor."

"But, Valkyrie..." Mark trailed off, shaking his head.

"Found them. She got there after whatever happened and wasn't hurt, thank God." Cecil took a second, letting the air fill his lungs.

"How is that even possible?" Mark questioned as his mother went back to her husband's side, hands shaking as she placed one gently on Nolan's forehead.

"We don't know yet. We also don't know why your dad was at Guardians HQ. Working theory is whoever killed the Guardians lured him there with the rest of them and tried to wipe them all out at once." Cecil informed, keeping to the facts to keep himself sane. His own guilt eating away at him knowing what Stella was going through in this moment, but it had to be done. He couldn't let people think it was her.

"Why?"

"Why? That's the easy part, there isn't a supervillain alive that doesn't want Omni-man and the Guardians six feet under." Cecil paced to the other side of the hospital bed, "Now, we're keeping this all hush-hush for now, but news will break. I wanted you and Mark to know first."