Elemental {Avengers}

18. lies often become Truth

I stood in the bathroom, staring at myself in the foggy mirror, my mind hauntingly blank. A blurry shape stared back, unwavering in its stillness. My wounds had bled after the fight, and had seeped through the bandages, nearly soaking my clothes. Thankfully, Doctor Helen Cho had generously given me some extras, in case of emergency. But a wound that wasn't necessarily inflicted during an emergency? I didn't feel like dragging myself back to the Medical unit of the Avengers tower anyways, neither did I feel like getting interviewed by one of the doctors how I had gotten my injuries. 

 I was guessing that dinner was in a few hours, as Steve had mentioned that he was working out for a while beforehand. There was no sign of Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce or Thor anywhere. It seemed as if they had disappeared in thin air, like most people do in the Avengers tower. Funny how they can, but I can't go anywhere. No SHIELD agents were usually on this floor at this time of day, and I wondered whether Stark had requested some quiet. Loki was in the room a few doors down, blasting his TV to full volume. It sounded like he was watching something with a lot of blood and gore, Possibly Vikings or Game of Thrones, which I enjoyed watching as well. Quality shows, although unrealistic and glorifying violence.

 He had stalked off into his room the moment I'd brought him to this floor, obviously angry that I had pulled him inside like he was a child. It wasn't my fault that I had to act like one of the Avengers. If I wanted to become integrated into their team, it meant that I had to behave like them. Unfortunately for Loki, it meant giving him a touch of iciness. And I was also still suspicious of his actions. Just because we had become... acquaintances, it didn't mean that I would trust him, in fact, I didn't have to enjoy his presence at all. 

 My mind wandered to what I would tell the Avengers and SHIELD at dinner. I was expected to tell them everything that happened today, nothing more, nothing less. That didn't sit well with my mind, I found myself wanting to keep it a secret, wanted to keep everything a secret. If I didn't tell them the truth though, SHIELD could potentially fall, as well as the Avengers. Obviously, they had ordered shawarma just because I would be interested in coming, but nonetheless, I had to tell them anyway. It was just a case of if I should tell Nick Fury. If I told him, that meant that SHIELD would know... which wasn't good. I dabbed my wounds with a spare towel, surprised that it had healed so quickly. The wound was still deep, and hurt when I moved, as well as my ribs, but it was nothing compared to a couple of days ago. The nurses had come and changed my bandages that very morning, so they wouldn't be coming that afternoon, or even for most of tomorrow, which was good. 

 After bandaging myself up, I paced my room, restless. I didn't feel like lying down anymore, I had to move. I decided to go to the training room, since my wounds were healing unnaturally fast. Even today, I could feel them healing underneath my skin. Now, the bullet wounds were just surface scratches, aggravated by the fighting today; my broken ribs and messed up face were healed too. 

 Once I got to the training room, I spotted Steve, knocking back punching bags like they were nothing. Every hit, he treated like his last, putting everything he had into them. Efficiency and Stamina were secondary, power was the most important in this training session. I wondered if he had something on his mind, something that he wanted to let out in terms of energy. 

 I knew that Steve wanted to take me under his wing, treat me like he probably treated new Avengers. He probably wanted me to be an innocent, open-minded kid, hell, he probably saw me as that. I kind of understood Steve's concerns. A young adult, not even a fifth of his age, probably not anywhere close to his maturity, had a rough childhood, a dark past, no family, merely a kid, nothing more. Maybe more complicated than that. He saw the world through rose-coloured glasses, but fought like he had been a realist all his life. Maybe, he just wanted things to be right, maybe, he just wanted to do as much good as was possible, sacrificing his life for others because his life was already affected my war and destruction, and yet he battled through it all, wanting the best for everyone.