𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐒.

𝘷𝘪. 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

steve, tony, and thor were sitting around me, as i held an ice pack to my bandaged head. i got pretty scratched up in the blast. solid concrete walls and my head do not mix well, and now i'm stuck with a concussion.

but, hell, everyone was hurt. tony had a pretty deep cut on his forehead, natasha was stabbed, pep had a few cut here and there, and steve's ankle was crushed. but he had supersoldier healing speed, so he's wasn't in too much pain. lucky bastard.

"okay, okay, okay. i'm gonna need to recap all this just for my brain. it's not working very well at this point," i started. apparently, tony had done some pretty in depth research about our attacker, and he was trying to dumb it down to my level.

"so, you guys are saying that was ravana— some hindu god that's bent on taking over the world, just because he can."

gesturing to thor, i added, "and, he started with you for his plan to kill all the other gods currently on earth— that way nothing too powerful was standing in his way. did you seriously get all of this out of him just by using some fancy memory thingie?"

tony sighed and gave me a look, "no one appreciates my genius. it's not that simple; it's a state of the art memory extraction and analysis machine, thank you very much."

i raised my head to see natasha walk into the room, followed by bruce and clint.

"one more thing," natasha said, "i saved your life, and got stabbed in the process."

i jumped up from my seat on the couch with the intention to apologize, thank, and help her. but, i couldn't carry out those intentions. the room started to spin, and black spots plagued my vision. they practically screamed for me to sit back down.

"careful, lady y/n," thor said, hopping up from the couch and stabilizing me. he sat back down after i did. i squeezed my eyes shut right, and when i opened them again, natasha was smiling sadly at me.

"i'm fine, y/n, but you obviously are not. you had a serious breakdown earlier, and now you've got a concussion."

clint nodded behind her as she moved to sit next to me.

"okay, brucey, you have more degrees than a thermometer— an explanation, please? i mean, i've never had a reaction that strong before."

clint stifled a chuckle as he plopped down on the floor, cross-legged, looking up at bruce along with everyone else.

adjusting his glasses, bruce responded, "well, it's fairly complicated."

"oh, god, could you use fairly simple terms? i'd love an explanation as much as anyone else, but my head kinda really hurts right now."

"sure," bruce smiled. "so, i believe that you have some kind of sixth sense. we all have a section of our brains that controls our reactions to things. your amygdala, and your relex arcs. for the average person, when they're in danger, it's simply a matter of fight or flight. for you, your reactions are different.

instead of having to decide between fight or flight in the moment, it appears that your neurogenic passageways and your amygdala have evolved and created a way to know if danger is in the near future. honestly, it's fascinating.

essentially, i believe the danger ravana presented was too much for your amygdala to process, and that's why you had such an intense reaction. your body shut down completely in order to keep you safe."

"yeah, makes sense to me," i said. everyone agreed, except tony— who looked confused.

"okay, can someone please translate that into english for me? jarvis?" he asked, perplexed.

the ai responded, almost immediately, "i cannot translate something that is not another language, sir. it is simply science."

"ouch," clint said, with a grin. "you just got roasted by a robot."

i don't think i'll ever get used to people talking to the ceiling and actually getting an answer.

natasha smirked, "i thought you were a genius."

"oh, i am. genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. but, the genius thing? that's when it comes to technology. not amyg-whatevers."

"he's not lying," pepper added, strolling into the room.

"oh, of course he never lies when it comes to something that would inflate his ego," steve said, grinning.

"watch it, i do make the food around here, remember that."

clint looked quite horrified that pepper could possibly poison his food, while steve just gulped. at least we know pep is still her usual self despite the attack.

thor spoke up, "stark, i believe i can translate. it means," thor said coolly, placing his hands on my shoulders. "that she is special."

i blushed at his touch. trying not to flinch away.  i just needed to relax, and keep it my nice little secret about how touch-starved i was. i scolded myself for what seemed like the 3000th time today.

okay, what the fuck! did i accidentally seduce him? you gotta stop that. another god tried to kill you today. who knows if that's a trait that all of 'em possess?

i simply smiled at him, but it quickly faded as i realized something. i shrugged his hands off as i turned to face the rest of the avengers.

"hold up. my memory is kinda fuzzy right now, but what exactly did we do with ravana? last thing i remember is tony taking him out after he stabbed nat."

facing natasha, i asked, "are you okay, by the way? my stupid concussion stopped me from asking earlier."

smiling at me, she said, "yeah, i'm fine. don't worry."

steve stood up, and his eyes fell on me, "he's in the interrogation room. wanna meet the guy who tried to kill you?"

despite the fact that his words came out in an order that made them seem like a question— it was obvious i was meeting this guy whether i liked it or not.

"uh... sure?" i hesitated. this was in no way a good idea, but steve was in charge and his orders were final.

damn you, captain.

as if he could sense my worry, he stated, "it'll be fine. besides, you're the only one he's actually had a conversation with, so you might be able to get more information out of him."

"yeah, okay. i'm not going alone, though, right? i'd like someone a little more experienced than me to be there if things start to go south," i responded.

"actually, that's probably a good idea. thor can keep watch. i'd go, but he knows gods better than i do, being one and all. you're in good hands," steve said, smiling reassuringly.

thor smiled his brilliant smile at me, "the captain is right, you know."

i nodded, and grinned back at him.

oh, i'd definitely appreciate being in his hands.

.

turning through many hallways, we finally arrived at the thick, metal door we were looking for. thor looked at me as he punched a code into an electronic keypad set into the wall.

"good luck, lady y/n. the code for keypad inside is 3000. i'll be out here if you need backup. just call for me."

taking a deep breath, i ran my fingers through my hair anxiously, "thanks, thor. see you on the other side."

with one last glance at thor's reassuring expression, i stepped through the door.