Heroes Assemble

Chapter 11: Aftermath

They landed on the Helicarrier deck. Loki woke up, he was surprised to see Clint still there, with his hand resting on his.

"Yo...you stayed." stammered Loki weakly.

He coughed violently. His throat felt sore; probably as a result of screaming. Clint gently slide his arm beneath his back and sat him up. Loki leaned heavily against it, still coughing a bit. Coulson opened a twelve ounce bottle of water and handed it over to Hawkeye. The archer took it and offered it to Loki after his fit past.

"It's okay, Loki." Clint said in the soft whisper again, Loki had shrunk backwards a little. "It's just water, nothing's been done to it."

Loki looked at the bottle greedily. He was so thirsty, but his fear of it being poisoned overpowered that need. Clint saw his fear. He sipped some of the water. Nothing happened to him.

"See? It's okay." Clint assured. "It's just water. Do you want some? You can have the whole thing if you want it."

Loki nodded. The archer gently helped him drink the bottle. The whole thing was gone by the time that the thirsty immortal was finished.

"Th...thank you." Loki whispered softly.

"You're welcome." Clint replied, smiling at him gently. "We're going to take you inside, okay? S.H.I.E.L.D's got a comfortable room set up for you so you can recover. We're going to take you there."

Loki nodded. They moved him out of the plane. Steve joined them, helping to move the gurney indoors. The wounded trickster tensed a bit when the captain joined, but was eased by a gentle smile from the First Avenger.

Coulson lead the way to a room, down past the bridge, a right turn just before the lab, then down a hallway to a door, third on the left.

It was a rather large bedroom. A set of couches were on the far right, with a door leading to a half bathroom. A cabinet in the bathroom held the supplies Bruce requested. On the left, against the far wall, almost right across from the door, was a reasonable sized bed, with a comfortable mattress. The bed had navy blue blankets with a lighter blue bed spread. Four fluffy pillows were at the head end. A side table was next to the bed with a pitcher of water and a glass.

"Loki." Clint said gently, wincing at the shaking it invoked from him. "Steve's gonna help me move you onto the bed, okay?

Loki nodded, still slightly shaken. He did met Clint's eyes briefly. The archer inwardly cheered at that. It was a sign of trust. It was a small one, but it was there.

Bruce turned down the covers and fluffed the pillows up. Steve and Clint gently slid their arms under Loki and lifted him up, careful not to jostle him. They laid him on the bed, tucking him in. Making sure that his head rested comfortably against the pillows.

"There." Clint said. "That feel good?"

"Y...yes." Loki whispered.

Clint smiled again, glad that Loki was speaking. He's extremely cautious about speaking due to the Chitauri, he assumed. The only way to do undo that was for them to show him that he wasn't going to be hurt for speaking.

Loki actually grasped Bruce's arm as the scientist was making sure a blanket was straight on him.

"Easy." Bruce murmured gently.

"P....please st...stay?" Loki asked softly, afraid that the doctor would say no.

Bruce only smiled gently. He touched Loki's hand on his arm.

"I will."

Loki relaxed at the doctor's word. Steve slipped out of the room. The tired immortal fell asleep, still holding Bruce's arm.

"I'll go get some grapes and see if I can get a shirt for you, Doctor." said Clint getting ready to leave.

"Thanks, Agent Barton." replied Bruce glancing at the agent.

"No problem. I'm Clint, by the way."

"I'm Bruce, then."

"Here, doctor." Steve said as he came back in with a chair for Bruce. He placed it behind the doctor.

"Thanks, Captain." responded Bruce sitting down, not letting his arm move from Loki's grasp.

They both left. Bruce eventually dozed off, resting against the side of the chair. He still had his arm in the wounded immortal's hand.

Clint came back in with a shirt for Bruce; he decided to hold back on the grapes until Loki got some rest, but he saw the scene and smiled. He left the shirt on the back of the couch, went out, but came back with a blanket. He draped it on Bruce, then left officially, silently closing the door.

"How is he?" a soft voice asked.

It startled him a little, but he just spun around and faced the speaker. It was Natasha.

"He's exhausted." replied Clint. "Bruce stayed with him."

"Why did he stay?"

"Loki asked him to. He seemed to trust Bruce, which is a big step for him since he's still so haunted by what the Chitauri did."

"It's really bad what happened to him."

"It is, Nat, it is. He needs reassurance and support. He needs to know that we're not going to hurt him or blame him."

"No one should be. When he was controlled, he said some awful things to me, but I know it wasn't him."

"He knows what he did, but he doesn't like it. He didn't like any of it. He didn't mean any of it."

"I know, Clint."

"Hopefully Professor Xavier will be able to help him. Loki's all ready gotten help from him."

"Fury's going to call him in the morning." recalled Natasha from over hearing what he was telling Hill and Coulson. "It's been a crazy couple of days."

"It has been, Nat. We'd better get some sleep while things are quiet."

"'Night then, Clint."

"'Night, Natasha."

They left to their quarters. Everyone slept, worn out from the past days' events.

That's all for this Story, folks! Please comment if you would like me to do more Marvel Stuff. I have more planned out, but am unsure if I should do it because it seems like more people like my Pokemon one. So, let me know what  you think, but until next time, Coyote Out!