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"Stark! Stop messing around and helps us!" Fury yelled into his earpiece, trying get Tony back on track. The Avengers, with Loki sitting in the back of one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. jets with the watchful eye of Captain America, flew above the Atlantic Ocean trying to capture a jet that had been attacking the coast of New York. The team was separated in two different jets, along with Ironman flying on his own, chasing down and shooting at the other jet.
"Natasha, be careful," Clint said into his earpiece, trying to keep her calm when flying while watching for the line of fire.
"Clint watch out!" Natasha yelled back, seeing the enemy jet shooting at the jet Clint was flying. At the exact same time a large hole was blown into the side of Clint's jet, efficiently knocking everyone over and blowing Loki out the back of the jet. In the other jet Natasha, Thor, Dr. Banner, and Fury were trying to regain connection with the others.
"Don't worry, Fury, we've got them," a voice said over the intercom. The video screen flickered on and another team showed up. They were dressed in all black leather uniforms, four men and one woman were looking back at the remaining Avengers, in the background lay Clint and Captain America.
"Where's Loki?" Thor asked, searching for his adopted brother. The female spoke.
"Marie jumped after him. He was blown from the jet and fell into the ocean. Marie is the only one that can handle that kind of an environment. He'll be fine," she said calmly. A short boy with blonde swishy hair and pale green eyes walked up behind the woman.
"Storm, Marie has got him," he said, looking first at the woman, Storm, and then up to the screen.
"We'll get them," Fury said, motioning for Natasha to fly down to pick up the two that were now floating in the water. "Get as close as you can without hitting them," he instructed her. Natasha hit the switch that allowed the back to open and the girl, Marie, pushed Loki towards the jet, with Thor's help Loki was hoisted into the jet. Stark flew up behind Marie and helped her into the jet. Banner was looking over Loki, checking to see if he was seriously injured while Fury walked over to Stark and Marie.
"Good to see you again, Marie. When did the X-Men decide to come and help S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury asked, shaking Marie's hand.
"These guys have been enemies of the X-Men for years. We would have been here earlier but they attacked the X-Mansion also so we we're fighting off that group and we had to make sure the children were okay before we left," she replied as Banner checked over the gash on her left side and the large burn on her right side. Her suit was torn in multiple places and blood was seeping out of cuts on her face. Loki found it hard not to watch her as she talked to Fury and Stark about what was happening. There was something about her that made her insanely interesting.
"How have you been since Phil's death, Marie? I haven't seen you since the funeral," Fury asked, placing a hand on the young adults back. She sighed, wrapped her arms around her midsection, and shrugged.
"I'm doing better than before. He'll always be with me in my heart, mind, and all the choices I make. And I know that's how he would want it," she responded. "He'd want me to move past it and be the best I can be." The jet grew silent as everyone realized that this young woman had personally know Agent Coulson. She looked around the inside of the jet before she spoke again.
"Don't let a gloomy mood set in just because of Phil. Mourning his death is okay, you should always mourn for the ones you care about, but don't let it overtake you and set a sad mood, that's not how he should be thought of. He wasn't a man of many words and he took his job very seriously but he was caring and thoughtful; he was a child at heart." The corners of Fury's lips twitched before he was able to fully control them.
"For being only twenty-five, you have a wise mind," Fury responded, patting her back. She looked over at him and smirked.
"I know."
"If you don't mind me asking, how do you know Agent Coulson?" asked Dr. Banner.
"He was my godfather, actually, he was basically my dad since I was three. I moved into the X-Mansion when I was nine, which was when my abilities really took effect and I had to learn how to control them, " she answered.
"What abilities?" Thor asked, crossing his arms, trying to figure out how powerful Marie could possibly be. She smirked once again.
"You'll find out sooner or later." The jet touched down on the landing pad of the flying S.H.I.E.L.D. base and as soon as Fury was out on the pad he was bombarded with questions. Who was attacking? Who was this other team? Why didn't they know about them?
"Quiet! These are the X-Men, they are another superhero group, you could say. They're from Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning, if you know what that is," Fury answered. The larger man coughed.
"We are not superheroes," he growled.
"Logan, don't be rude, he didn't mean to insult any of us," scorned Storm.
"The X-Men? I've never heard of you," Captain asserted, rubbing his chin.
"We are a group of mutant humans, our mutations give us powers or abilities. Storm can control the weather, which is where her name comes from. Logan has the ability to regenerate his life force and has an adamantium skeleton, which is what your shield is made out of, Captain. Cody," Marie pointed to the boy with blond hair, "has the ability to generate portals to wherever he'd like." Cody demonstrated by creating a portal in the air and walking through it, resulting in him standing next to Thor.
"Schmidt," the boy with puffed up hair, "has the ability to create force fields around him and the surrounding area. Benny," the one with black hair that had a yellow-orange stripe in it, "can manipulate his body mass to what he'd like it to be."
"And you?" Clint questioned. Marie turned to look at him. She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side.
"You don't remember me?" He gave her a questioning look. Marie smiled.
"Do you remember how you got that hand print on the back of your calf? The burn scar?" Clint took a step back.
"How do yo know about that?" he asked, scanning her for why she would know. Marie smiled once again and walked up to Clint. She reached to place her hand on his cheek but he jerked back. She stopped and he realized that she wasn't going to hurt her, he let her place her hand.
"Birdie, how can you not remember?" she asked. A look of realization over took his eyes and he smiled.
"Munchkin, I haven't seen you in forever!" Clint declared, picking her up in a hug and swinging her around. Marie laughed and hugged him back, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder.
"Great, you know each other then," Tony mused. Clint put Marie down and turned towards the rest of the Avengers.
"Yeah, I use to babysit her, you could say. I treated her like my little sister. Isn't that right, Marie. Marie?"
"You should really keep better track of your partners, X-Men and Avengers. You never know when one of you will be swiped away from you." The two teams turned to see a human with bright yellow eyes walking towards the edge of the air base. Already at the edge stood a giant of a man with the same eyes holding Marie over the edge by the her throat.
"Why is she glowing?" Dr. Banner whispered to Benny.
"She's having troubles controlling her powers. It's the first one she developed, she's losing control of it. It'll over take her form soon if she doesn't calm down."
"Let her go, Sniper!" Logan growled, running towards the odd looking man. At the very same moment Marie busted out into flames. They engulfed her body and worked their way up the mans arm. He shouted out in pain and dropped her, but Marie had other ideas for him. As she fell she grabbed the man's shirt and pulled him down with her.
"No!" Logan yelled, finally catching up with Sniper. At the last moment his adamantium claws came out and he pierced them through the other mans body. He retracted his claws and Sniper fell over the edge also.
"Marie!" Schmidt shouted, running to the edge and looking over, the rest followed his lead. As they all looked over they saw Tony flying up with Marie in his arms. He flew over to the entrance and yelled at them to hurry up.
"She's burning, literally. I mean, she stopped flaming before I got to her but her skin is still scorching. I think you should look over her, Banner," Tony said, shifting Marie in his arms. She seemed to be unconscious as they walked to the hospital wing but when Tony laid her down she started to whimper.
"She's most likely in a large amount of pain, I have to take her temperature, her internal organs may have been damaged from the heat," Banner explained, grabbing the thermometer. Everyone stood around the room, watching Dr.Banner work. No one noticed Schmidt in the corner, twitching as if something was bugging him.
"This, this is her ability? She can start her own body on fire? What kind of power is that?" Captain asked, shaking his head, confused.
"No. She has the ability to control the main four elements; fire, water, air, and earth. Which is what her 'tattoos' show. Her right arm has the mark of flames, her left the mark of water, her legs have the marks for earth and air," Storm explained, standing near Maire's head, her hand hovering above as if she were going to try and comfort the younger female but knew she couldn't in fear of hurting herself.
"She lost control of her hold over her fire ability, which is her strongest ability, because she had gotten panicky," Logan added.
"Her core temperature isn't dropping which gives her a low chance of surviving. I don't know if she'll make it through the night," Dr. Banner gloomily informed the rest. Silence fell among the group as they watched the once lively girl unconsciously twitch in pain. Loki, who had been standing behind his brother, stepped into view and looked at the girl. She was young, too young to die, especially like this.
"I may be able to help," he softly offered, treading into unknown territory. Everyone looked at him, trying to figure what he was playing at.
"Like hell you will. I'm not going to let you lay one finger on her!" Clint shouted, shifting to stand between Marie and Loki. Stark followed his lead, along with Natasha and Captain.
"Do you really believe that I would try to harm someone with all of you here? Honestly, you know nothing about me," he retorted, crossing his arms in front of him.
"You did it once before," Natasha replied, jerking her head towards Clint.
"Please!" Schmidt shouted, gripping his hair and pulling it, crying out in pain. "She's in so much pain! She wishes for him to help, please let him! If you don't she's most likely going to die and none of us want that! Just please!" The Avengers stared at him, unsure of how to react to the information he had just given them.
"How does he know what she's thinking?" Thor asked, stand next to his brother, curious as to how the young Midgardian had know what Lady Marie had going on in her head. The X-Men tossed glances at each other before Benny answered.
"Marie and Schmidt have a very strong telepathic connection between them; along with the fact that Marie can invade who's ever minds she wills herself to. She normally chooses not to, though. In high areas of pain she can only reach Schmidt, she's probably transporting some of her pain over to him without knowing she's doing it, which is why he's acting like he's in pain also." This had an effect on everyone but Clint, who said in the same spot between the two, glaring at Loki, daring him to try and get past him. An uneasy feeling settled over the room, on one hand Loki could save the girl, but he could possibly hurt her more than she already was.
"Clint, please. It's not only Marie in pain anymore, Schmidt is too. I know you don't trust Loki but you're going to have to if you want either of them to live. I know you care for Marie like a younger sister, would you really want her to die?" Cody voiced, clutching onto Schmidt, trying to calm him. Clint glimpsed at Marie before turning back to Loki, he glared one more time before he moved aside. Loki slowly shuffled up to Marie, quickly observed her, figuring what way would work best to lower her body temperature. He gently placed his right hand on the spot where her neck connected with her shoulder. As soon as his hand came into contact with her skin it started to transform into a sickly blue color, his Frostgiant form.
"This won't be the fastest way to take her temperature down, but I don't want to upset any of you with touching her in any other places," he mumbled, keeping his gaze transfixed on Marie's eyes; he could see them moving underneath her lids.
"Her heart would be the fastest, wouldn't it? It would help spread the coolness around," Bruce questioned, hovering behind Loki. In return the God of Mischief nodded.
"Well, being that I was Coulson's best friend, I am basically Marie's uncle and I say that you may lay your hand on her chest to get to her heart. Even if Clint doesn't like it," Tony announced, "but I'm going to be in here watching you the whole time. If I see any funny business, you're a dead man." Loki raised his hands, as if he was saying that he'd be polite. He placed his right hand back where it had been and placed his left one about where her heart would be found, the rest was up to fate. Hours passed and slowly the group became smaller the later into the night it grew.
"Her core temperature is back down to where it should be. Thank you, Loki," Banner said, as he looked over the multiple monitors that were connected to Marie. It was only Bruce, Loki, Tony, and Thor left in the room, everyone else had grown too tired and retreated into the sleeping quarters for the night.
"So, she's going to be alright?" Tony asked, worry crossing his face. Bruce nodded, writing down her vital signs. Tony sighed, rubbing his face and walking up to Maire and kissing her forehead.
"When she wakes, let her know that Fury wants her to stay on the Helicarrier until she's fully recovered. Storm brought her a few bags of her personal items and clothes, which have been put in her new room," Tony reminded Bruce as he left the room. Bruce nodded again, turning to the two Asgardians.
"You two can leave if you would like. She has to stay in the hospital wing until I say her condition has improved enough for her to to get up and move about the Helicraft, there isn't really any point in staying. Thank you for helping." Thor and Loki both nodded towards the doctor before exiting the room. Thor escorted Loki to the room he had been staying in, S.H.I.E.L.D. still didn't fully trust Loki so his room had a triple reinforced door, and the room itself cancelled out any and all of his powers, to make sure he couldn't escape.
"That was a noble thing to do, Loki. Mother and Father would be proud of you," Thor said, slapping his brother on the back.
"I didn't do it for their approval, I couldn't let the young girl die, she has so much to live for. And I felt like I owed her for fishing me out of that damn ocean," Loki countered, moving away from Thor.
"You have feelings towards the young maiden, do you not? What you did was a form of rescue, and you wouldn't do that for someone you didn't have feelings for, it's not in your nature."
"If you're asking me if I like the girl, no, I don't. I don't like anyone, remember? Leave me be now," Loki returned, stepping into his room and closing the door. Thor smiled, knowing that his brother did, infact, have feelings for the young maiden. He could see it in his eyes, but for now, he would let Loki figure that out himself.