Avengers Generations

Chapter 18

Tori's hand was limp as Jake pulled her along over the piles of rubble that once had been the streets of Portland. Every so often they would pass a mutilated man lying in a crevice or a crying child sitting in the street.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Tori asked him weakly.

Jake could tell Anthony's death was still tormenting his companion, and he wished he could do something for her, but he didn't know what, and he had more important things to worry about. "Help will come for them." He assured her coldly "Right now we need to get out of these uniforms - we look like we escaped from juvie."

Tori didn't say anything, but Jake saw her nod weakly behind him. "Where will we get clothes?" She asked "Do you have money?"

"No." Jake admitted with a quiet laugh "But most of the store owners are probably dead anyway." He had been trying to justify what they were doing, but Tori didn't seem comforted by the thought of death.

They kept going until the buildings weren't as demolished, found an old clothing store and stepped inside through a shattered window. Shards of glass crunched under their boots and dust from the destruction billowed into small clouds as they quietly walked through the small, dark shop.

"Try to pick plain clothes." Jake advised, pulling a black shirt off the rack.

"Ok..." Tori said, finding a pair of jeans. She changed quietly behind a curtain while Jake found a backpack and filled it with beef jerky and bottled water. Tori came out to see him prying the cash register open with a mannequin's severed hand.

"Jake!" She said, guilty enough about the stolen clothes.

"Tori-" he responded, through his teeth as he wrestled with the register "I told you, we need this way more than a dead person."

"Right..." She breathed, trying to forget the knot of emotions in her chest, she couldn't let this guilt add itself to the rest of her guilt. Anthony's death was her fault - she was cowering behind Jake while she should have been helping her brother... He would still be alive if she was stronger, or had some sort of power or - or something. She was just so helpless... But she had to put that out of her mind now.

Jake emptied the cash into his bag and handed it to Tori while he himself changed, leaving her out if his sight for a few moments.

Even with the quiet sounds of Jake changing out of his jumpsuit, Tori felt alone as she stood in the shop. She drew a quivering breath as she was confronted once again with her haunting thoughts. Every time she blinked, the sight of Anthony's body was fresh in her mind again - the pale skin under the red hair... the lifeless, gazing eyes... the opened flesh and punctured organs... and the blood... so much blood...

Tori ran outside the building and vomited in the street. She tried to pull herself together... tried to be strong... why couldn't she just be strong? Her small frame shook violently as she heaved and sobbed into the dust and debris of the city. Everything drained out if her - all the tears, all the sickness - the only things that remained were her fear, her sadness, and her guilt. Eventually, Tori felt a firm, gentle hand on her back as she sat silently.

"It'll be ok, Tori..." Jake whispered as he squatted next to her.

"It will?" She asked, her voice strained by emotion as she looked up with eyes that wanted to believe him "Can Anthony come back? Will we all go home? Will I forget S.H.I.E.L.D. and everything that happened? How can things get better?"

Jake's mouth moved as he tried to form the words she needed to hear, but he wasn't sure what to say.

"How?!"

He sighed, knowing he had to tell her - even though he wasn't sure he wanted to. "My parents were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents." He started "I didn't know that growing up, but it all makes sense now. They'd always go off on... um... 'business trips'. Most of the time only one of them would go, but sometimes they both went together."