When Jessica finally reaches the equipment room, she finds it in complete disarray from both the explosion and the Hulk. She walks cautiously, stepping on large chunks of broken glass as she goes.

A giant hole in the wall leads straight through to the aircraft bay on the other side. Maybe if she didn't have the super soldier abilities coursing through her, she would be trembling at the sight, but instead she peeks through, spotting Thor and Hulk battling it out.

"Jess," a shallow voice calls from behind her.

Turning around, she sees Natasha sitting in the corner. She's shaking, but other than that, she seems okay.

"Get out of here, Nat," she whispers. "Someone's gotta go get Barton."

With hearing her friend's name, Natasha finally meets Jessica's eyes. She nods once, rising to her feet and disappears behind the pipes.

There's another roar, this one obviously much closer. Her entire body shakes with the walls around her, but she steps through the hole anyways.

"Thor!" She yells, catching both of their attention.

Upon seeing her, Thor loses his grip against the Hulk and is basically thrown at her feet.

"Lady Jess," he greets her before turning serious. "It is not safe here."

She holds back her sarcastic, 'no duh'. Hulk charges towards them and throws his hand out wildly as if to smack her off her feet, but Thor grabs his arm. With a single twist, he uses it as a booster to jump onto his back.

Thor presses the handle of his hammer into Hulk's throat, shouting, "Go! I have this under control."

She ignores him because frankly, he's incorrect. With Hulk struggling to rip him off his back, she's able to stand out of his eyesight and place a shaking hand below his ribcage.

Instead of the usual picture that appears when she touches someone, all she gets from Hulk is red. She blinks rapidly, and the longer she holds onto him, the easier it is to make it fade from view.

Jessica has never held onto someone this long, but she's also never encountered someone as powerful as the Hulk before. His body rocks as his strength is weakened, but her powers are not strong enough to completely subdue him in such a short amount of time.

It does, however, give her the advantage. When Hulk finally knocks Thor off of him, she becomes his next target. The small woman, almost an ant compared to him, looks up suddenly as he notices her.

Another mighty roar shakes the building. Jessica winces, though the sound doesn't hurt her. It's the furious look in his eyes that makes her shake.

"Dr. Banner," she tries, holding up a calming hand.

Thor is nowhere to be found, but she's not completely helpless. With his own power, Jessica catches Hulk's thrown fist with an equal amount of force. He retaliates by trying to kick her, but she twists her own leg to sweep him off his feet.

Thor emerges from behind a shredded jet. He summons his hammer back into his hand and comes to stand beside her, "Oh, this is going to be fun."

Hulk gets up and charges them again. In his current state, there's no way to make sense of how he's weaker than her, but the thought only makes him angrier. She dodges his punches and touches him whenever she can to fuel the effects. Thor knocks him in the head with his hammer but is still caught by his arm in the process and thrown into a nearby wall.

There's another roar as Hulk attempts to claim his victory over the god. Before Jessica can counter him, bullets rain on them from outside.

Hulk turns, looking out the window at the fighter jet that is targeting them. Jessica sees it too, holding up her once injured arm to shield her eyes. While she does feel the bullets bouncing off of her, she really isn't too bothered by them. Hulk, on the other hand, is clearly annoyed by the intrusion. He leaps through the window and soars across the sky to attack the jet.

"Thor?" she calls out, not seeing him anymore.

He had thrown himself out of the way. Rising, he states, "Come, Lady Jess. I could use your help in confronting my brother."

⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟

Jessica and Thor rush down several hallways to reach the detention center. Unlike before, they aren't met with a mass of scrambling people. It seems that everyone has dispersed, and she could not be more thankful.

A patch of debris from the floor above them blocks the path to the next corridor. After too many minutes spent away from Hulk, Jessica uses the last of her stollen strength to punch through it. Thor glances at her, impressed.

"I'm not a germaphobe," she admits.

He nods, "I like this better."

She doesn't say anything to that. They continue at the same pace as before.

There's nothing suspicious about the detention center from the outside. As soon as they enter though, they see Loki being released by a mind-controlled SHIELD agent.

"NO!" Thor bellows, running forward to grab his brother, but Loki disappears and materializes a few feet away.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki mocks him.

Thor runs straight into the glass cell. Jessica doesn't get to take a step forward to help him when a gun is placed to the back of her head.

"What did I say, Agent Torres?" Loki smirks. "We gods create our own destinies. Such a shame that my brother has led himself here."

Thor falls as the containment cell shifts from him throwing his hammer at it. He cracks the glass, but only slightly.

"Don't pretend like you care," she hisses.

"You're right," he hovers over the control panel now, his finger wiggling around mockingly. "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"

There's a thud and the gun being held against Jessica is no longer there. She turns around, watching the soldier fall after being hit by Phil Coulson and his large blaster.

"Move away, please," he orders Loki, and the god hesitantly obeys, "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?"

Since she's standing at an angle in front of him, Jessica sees Loki materialize behind Phil before he does. In one motion, he impales him from the back with his scepter.

"NOOOO!" Jessica screams.

Loki pushes Phil against the wall as he moves past him. He slumps down, his breath coming out shaky and ragged. Jessica falls to the floor beside him. If there is something she can do to help him, it doesn't matter. She can't touch him.

While she's preoccupied, Loki opens the hatch and drops Thor from the ship. He stares at the place his brother had just been. A flicker of emotion passes over his face, but Jessica doesn't see it.

"You're gonna lose," Phil tells him, his voice weaker than she's ever heard it. Her eyes stay lowered during the exchange—looking at anything other than the floor makes it real.

Loki turns, "Am I?"

"It's in your nature."

The god scoffs, obviously offended, "Your heroes are scattered; your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction," Phil says.

"I don't think I-"

Jessica jumps when Phil pulls the trigger. He blasts Loki through the wall, but she only feels a tiny bit satisfied at the sight of it.

"So that's what it does," he says, allowing his hand to fall limply from the device.

A pained smile breaks through Jessica's tearful face, "You're making jokes right now?"

He shifts slightly like he's trying to shrug, but it comes off half-balanced. Jessica shakes her head and looks down to suppress her laugh. Blotches of tears drip from her eyes onto the floor as she struggles to breathe.

"You're gonna be okay, Jess," he whispers.

"Phil—"

"It's okay, kiddo," he says.

"Agent Torres," Fury's voice comes from behind her after he enters the containment unit, "I need you to back away."

For the first time in her life, Jessica hesitates when she receives an order. She looks to her friend for the last time. He lifts his fist as high as he can above the ground and she meets it, imitating an explosion in a sad, pitiful way.

A final goodbye.

"Sorry, boss. The god rabbited," Phil tells Fury when she leaves his side.

Jessica leans against the railing, looking out at the giant circle that Thor just fell through. She knows they're talking, but it's slowly becoming more difficult to pay attention.

Turning around, she watches as Fury kneels over his favorite agent, taking in every last word. Then, with a final breath, Phil doesn't say any more.

A sob escapes Jessica as the paramedics move past her. It's too late, he's already gone.

"Agent Coulson is down," she hears Fury confirm, both from beside her and through the coms.

"Paramedics are on their way," Someone says.

"They're here. They called it."

⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Natasha asks, her voice low and sensitive.

Jessica just shakes her head.

Clint Barton is strapped down on the bed before them. He tugs against the bindings, obviously fighting something they can't see.

"Clint, you're gonna be alright," Natasha says, using the same voice she had given Jessica.

"You know that?" he chuckles, "Is that what you know? I got... I've got no window. I gotta flush him out."

Natasha rises from her chair to pour him a glass of water, "You got to level out. It's gonna take time."

"I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"

"You know that I do."

Jessica doesn't look up at them. She is leaning against the far wall out of the way, her eyes glued to a spot on the bed.

"Why am I back? How did you get him out?" Clint asks, his breath still too ragged for Natasha's liking.

"Cognitive recalibration," she smirks, "I hit you really hard in the head."

"Thanks," he releases a breathy laugh as she unfastens his restraints before growing serious again, "Natasha, how many agents did I—"

"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."

"Loki," he repeats. "He got away?"

"After making us look like children, yes." Jessica interjects, speaking for the first time.

"He's probably going to try to do it again. He's gonna make his play today," Clint says.

Natasha looks between them, "We gotta stop him."

Jessica sighs, "I doubt there's anyone left."

Clint looks at Jessica. The woman who, for as long as he's known her, has been able to make a joke out of everything. Now, she stands before him as a gloomy, shadow of a person.

"What happened?" he asks.

She ignores him. Out of her eyesight, Natasha shakes her head, warning him not to pry.

Clint decides to change the subject instead, "He got me to tell him everything. If I knew something related to SHIELD, I told him."

"That's still not your fault," Natasha reminds him.

He nods, only partially agreeing, before continuing, "But, for whatever reason, I could only remember certain things about you, Jess. He would ask, but I just had no answers."

Clint looks at Jessica. She shifts uncomfortably in her spot. There are no reasons that she can think of that would prevent him from compromising her. When they spoke, Loki knew a lot; her name, her alias... the things that aren't kept hidden from SHIELD's records. Natasha's interrogation was the opposite.

But that's not anything she wants to delve into now.

"I should go," Jessica says. She turns towards the door.

"Jess?" Clint calls to her right before she leaves. Her eyebrows raise in question. "It was nice to keep something to myself. So, thanks to you too, I guess."

With a forced smile and a respectful nod, she states, "Anytime."

⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟ ⍟

Rosie sighs, unfolding a new set of sheets for one of the medical beds. "I'm sorry you had to see that, mija."

"Let's not talk about it," Jessica mumbles.

She sits on one of the infirmary's rolling stools as the nurses clean around her. Her body aches, but not because she is in any pain. She just craves time alone.

Rosie doesn't get the hint, "Somehow, we stayed clear. This place locks down pretty securely. To think, they almost succeeded in bringing us down, but not quite."

Jessica doesn't know what to say to that. If she is being honest, Loki and his minions succeeded in many ways today. It's not like they had to try very hard; their so-called 'team' did most of the damage before the fight even started.

She should have spoken to Loki sooner. Maybe even subdued him as soon as he got onto the jet. Seeing his thoughts would have prepared them. It would have saved Phil.

"Jessica," Rosie says, appearing in front of her as she escapes her thoughts, "You didn't do anything wrong. Stop blaming yourself for what happened to him."

"I'm not—"

"You are," she disagrees. "The ifs were never meant to be, mija. Tú sabes."

She had been saying that since Jessica was much younger than she is now. Hearing the reminder provides her a bit of comfort, but the grieving is far from over.

"I think I'm going to go lay down, Rosie," she announces, already headed toward the door.

The old nurse calls her goodbyes after her, urging her to stop by again when she feels up to it. Though her powers are effective, Rosie still worries over Jessica like any mother would. Having both grown up alone, neither of them will ever understand their bond, but it's familial and strong.

Sleep calls to Jessica like she's never experienced. Just yesterday, she was in Boston and the lack of rest is slowly catching up to her.

But it's not on the agenda. Or it was until she pushed through the last set of double doors to find Steve Rogers waiting on the other side.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chapter 5 - Power and Despair

Completed on 04-25-21 at 1:32 am

Question: What is your opinion of Clint Barton (Hawkeye)?

Like and comment please <3

Mae