Abduction

Chapter 15

Valda's head still throbbed several days after Loki's attack... and Sybil's betrayal. She still couldn't believe her friend would do that, especially not to her, not after everything they'd been through! Loki had to still be controlling her. She didn't see any other reason for her best friend to turn against her like that... they'd never even had a fight before and now... now Sybil had attacked her and thrown their history out the window. Valda just didn't understand. She couldn't wrap her head around why.

The Avengers knew of Sybil's betray and were planning on taking her out if needed. There would be no second chances for her after she knowingly and willingly attacked them. Valda couldn't lie to them about that part, not with proof on the cameras that Sybil was in her own mind. It didn't help the situation that Steve Rogers had been severely wounded in the fight. The super soldier had lost a lot of blood in a brawl with Loki and the wound had gone deep into his abdomen; it was a miracle he was still alive at this point. Probably due to the serum that turned him into a super soldier to begin with.

"Hey, he's waking up." Tony poked his head into the room Valda was sitting in, clearly expecting her to follow him to the medical bay.

She nodded, not feeling like speaking to the man who'd given the order to attack Sybil on sight. Still, she couldn't just not go see Steve considering everyone would expect her to be there; she wasn't an Avenger but this still involved her. Besides, with the real leader waking up perhaps Sybil would be a little safer until Valda was able to determine what had gotten into her friend.

Everyone else was standing around the small section of the med bay. Plenty of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were still lying in makeshift beds that were separated by thins sheets. They had more privacy than just that but not much. They made room as Valda and Tony joined them and she made a point to stand near the entrance near Thor; away from the billionaire. Steve struggled, fumbling with the buttons on the arm of the hospital bed, before managing to raise it up so he could look at all of them. She had to admire the man, he looked so commanding and powerful despite his nearly fatal wound.

"What's the situation?" Steve's voice had an undertone of discomfort and she saw on hand gingerly brush his abdomen to feel the bandages.

Tony glanced around at everyone, pausing on Valda, before speaking. "Loki got away... and Sybil went with him, willingly. We've spoken with Fury about it, she's going to receive the same treatment as Reindeer Games."

Valda held her breath, pleading internally that Steve would say something, anything, to lessen the punishment for Sybil. She didn't want to completely believe her friend would return to normal again but that didn't mean she'd deserve the same punishment as the god who destroyed New York!

Steve merely nodded however and Tony continued with a gesture at Thor. "Thor went back home for a visit for anything to help-"

"Can Sybil be saved?" Her outburst was so sudden she hadn't even been able to try stopping it. "What if she's only doing this because of what Loki did in his experiment or something? Can she be completely human again? Or can we at least fix whatever happened to her?"

Thor's face was grim, not a good sign. "I do not know if anything can be done to save your friend. Loki's pawns are usually expendable, it is likely to only get worse if her actions are due to his experiments."

"Do we know where they are to stop them?" Steve asked

The Asgardian's face brightened slightly. "He is hiding with magic but Heimdall managed to track the pair down. The good news is Loki and Sybil are still here on Earth; it seems they might plan another attack soon considering he has not ran off yet."

"How much time do we have?"

Banner cut into the conversation. "We don't know exactly... Fury is still working on repairs as we fly there but you need to recover before we initiate the fight."

Valda could see Steve wanted to argue but the soldier seemed to see reason, even winced as he moved again, and spoke practically. "You'll need a plan then. Tony, I trust you can work that out with everyone?"

"You got it Cap." Tony nodded, fully aware he'd been in charge since Steve's injury.

Valda was sure he already had a plan too... and was worried over what it was. As a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. she'd have to obey his orders- if she was even part of the plan- especially being a new agent. Nothing about the situation was making her feel better or encouraged that her friend could be saved in one form or another.

"Oh, how I miss the simpler days... So hard to remember they weren't even that long ago... I wish we'd never gone to the park that day. Sybil shouldn't have even been there. If I hadn't convinced her to go..." She shook her head. Nothing could change that now. Their old life was too changed to fix or go back to now. This was reality and she had to face it.