The Avengers

“Are you okay?”

The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. My head hurt. Like, it really hurt. I tried to tell him that, the person who was talking to me, still, but I couldn’t make my mouth moved. It was like my brain was filled with cotton, like my entire body was, for all the good it did me.

I my eyes open with a lot of effort, seeing the pavement I was lying on. My hand was out in front of my face, covered in cuts and bruises. I stared at it, trying to figure out how it had become like that.

“Miss? Hello? Are-are you okay?” the same voice asked. He sounded young. “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead,” he mumbled under his breath.

I found that I could finally move my jaw, although only minimally. “I’m not dead — at least, I don’t think I am,” I told him, my voice coming out barely above a whisper.

He sighed deeply. “Oh, thank god. Okay, look, um. Can you move?”

My head was even worse now, throbbing painfully against the ground, but at least I could feel my arms and legs now. I was lying in a very awkward position, not something that would’ve been very comfortable anyways, even without the pain I was in.

I closed my eyes, wincing in pain as I slowly dragged one of my legs over so that it stuck out straight from my hips, allowing me to roll over onto my back. My left side seemed to be less damaged than my right, so that was good, at least.

“Okay, okay, that’s good,” the voice encouraged. Why on Earth was it so familiar? I had a feeling like it shouldn’t have been, and yet it was. Quite obviously, too. Why couldn’t I place it?

Two strong hands lifted me off the ground, pulling me close to… a chest. I leaned up against it, my head feeling much too heavy for me to hold it up on my own.

“You’re not bleeding,” the voice informed me, the sound vibrating through the chest I was leaning against. So, the chest belonged to the man. “At least, you’re not bleeding, yknow, a lot. You have cuts and bruises all over your body, but none of them are that bad, I don’t think.”

“Okay,” I responded, feeling really tired. I started to relax against his chest, deciding that a little nap couldn’t hurt, especially for how tired I was…

“Hey!” the person gasped, jerking me awake. “You can’t sleep, okay? If you hit your head, then you can’t sleep. I don’t know much, but I do know that.” His voice trailed off, muttering something about doctors in a tower, I wasn’t paying attention.

He was right, of course, I couldn’t fall asleep. I knew that. I had to stay awake, no matter how heavy my head felt, or how good of an idea it seemed. It did seem like a very good idea, though. Maybe just for a few minutes? That couldn’t hurt, right?

Just then, the man shifted me in his arms, pulling my good arm around his waist to support me as he stood up. The pain of the movement brought me back, and I winced against him.

“I’m sorry, I know it hurts. But we’ve got to get you to Stark Tower; they can help you there,” he told me, wrapping his arm around my waist

That caught my attention. “Stark Tower?” I repeated slowly.

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s not too far from here, so it’s probably your best bet.”

But Stark Tower was fake, it didn’t exist. I opened my eyes, finally looking the man in the face, making sure that I wasn’t being carried away by one of the crazy hobos that practically lined the streets in New York. But what I saw made me realize that it was much, much better.