i know it's for the better | MCU

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE (1.6)

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Helicarier, CLASSIFIED

Patrick had spent the last few minutes walking the halls of the helicarrier looking for any familiar face she could find.

There was no sign of Nat or Fury, Phil wasn't in any of his usual spots and once she'd found Maria the woman had waved her off with a 'go annoy Stark' over her shoulder.

So now she is dragging her feet along the metallic corridors as she hums a song that's been stuck in her head for the past few days, on her way to do just as Hill had told her. Annoy Tony Stark.

"Hey, Stark?"

She calls out before she gets to the lab and swings herself around the door frame, but her smile drops when there's no one there.

"Banner?"

Her first instinct is to reach for one of the tools they'd been using earlier. The one that Tony had smacked her hand away from when she had reached for it.

Her second, as she plays with the small sharp object, is to talk into her ear piece. She pushes one finger into her ear to activate the radio and looks around, "Uh, I lost the scientists."

She walks towards the sceptre next, glancing out at the agents going about their business down below her. Her pointer finger slowly traces up the handle until it gets to the glowing blue orb at the other end.

Her fingers, hidden away behind her leather skin tight gloves, stretch and crack as she resists the urge to wrap them around the orb.

"Andromeda."

Her head snaps up to the door of the room, no one is there, agents pass quickly outside but she pays them no mind as she goes back to the sceptre.

"Touch it."

She looks up again, still no one is there.

Slowly, she peels off the gloves finger by finger and stuffs them both into her belt beside her empty gun holster.

Her hand curls around the orb quickly, but nothing happens and she lets it go with one curled lip.

"Oh."

She pokes at it but still nothing.

"Andromeda." She sighs with a roll of her eyes and turns.

But she's not met with the lab behind her. It's a long stretch of dark trees, they're covered in snow which slowly trickles in from the sky landing on her skin and melting once they touch her.

"Hello?"

She rubs at her arms as a form of protection from the cold as she takes it one step at a time, "Tony?"

She presses her ear piece in but her finger tip doesn't meet the usually hidden object in her ear.

"Hello!"

She pulls on the top half of her suit and zips it up hoping it'll keep her warm as she keeps walking through the trees.

"Hey! Hey, where are we?"

She curses as the cloaked figure looks right through her before taking off, "Hey, wait!"

She picks up speed, finding it difficult to run through the thick snow without stumbling and falling on her face.

"Wait!"

Her voice struggles to fully come out and she rubs at her throat as she forces herself to go faster.

Suddenly her feet go from under her, she's tumbling down a large hill, rolling in the snow until she finally comes to a stop at the feet of two people.

"Where are we?"

"You can't leave."

"I must."

Patrick pulls herself to her feet watching a cloaked figure talk with a man who has his back turned to her.

"It is to save her."

He scoffs, "It's to save yourself."

"They know I have it," She moves forward quickly, so fast that the man and Ptarick herself both startle backwards, "They'll come for me."

"You don't have it. You gave it to our daughter, you have cursed her."

The woman's hands begin to glow, a soft purple which reflects in the flecks of snow falling in the silence between them.

The man stills, eyes glowing as she cups his cheeks and pushes her forehead to his, "I'm sorry. I tried to be better."

She keeps one hand to his cheek as she looks down at the baby clutched tightly in his arms, wrapped in blankets, scarves and the man's own green jacket.

She traces her middle finger down her nose gently smiling as the baby sneezes. The tip of her finger glows, it swirls above the baby's head until it becomes a mist that washes over her.

"What are you doing?"

For the first time the woman looks up, her gaze is heavy as she tilts her head and stares at Patrick.

She doesn't say anything, she just stares. With bright green eyes the only features she can make out.

But Patrick knows those eyes. They're the ones who stare back at her in the mirror. The ones she sees in the old worn photograph of her parents.

"Mama?"

The woman lets out an inhuman screech that has Patrick tumbling backwards and hitting her head on the soft ground.

She lays unconscious on the metal floor, no longer in the woods of snow with her mother, but back in the helicarrier, alone.

Loki tilts his head at her, the sceptre clutched in his hand as he crouches slowly. He reaches out, his pointer finger and thumb rubbing a strand of her hair as he pushes it from her face. His thumb collects the drop of blood dripping down her temple as he hums under his breath.

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