Picking Up The Pieces

Epilogue

   "What reason can you have for taking this long?" An old man paced the golden floors angrily, glaring with his single eye at the bald sentry who was struggling to hold the Bifrost's key in place. "She could be dead at this point!"

"My apologies, Allfather," the other man grunted, glistening with sweat. It was obvious how ill-suited he was in his position. "Perhaps the giant oaf got lost."

"I have full faith in Hugonyn," the elder disagreed before his face contorted into annoyance, struggling to return to the calmer demeanor he had an hour prior. While the former gatekeeper to the Bifrost had become a 'security risk,' his successor made the man sometimes question his decision. "You on the other hand at this moment..." The comment was never finished as a blue halfblooded Kree stumbled out of the quickly appearing bridge, clutching a frail-looking girl against his bare chest. There were a few nicks along his shoulders, but he seemed relatively well. The young teenager in his arms, however, was not.

"Lo... look here, Odin," the alien gasped, but no sound came out of his mouth. The sentry winced as the message played in his mind, but Odin stood still. The old man had grown visibly pale at the sight, his eye landing on the power inhibitor the girl wore on her left ankle. "Her heartbeat is dull. She needs a medic immediately."

"Why does a Midgardian need Asgardian care?" the sentry questioned, and the giant bared his teeth at him. "I mean no harm by it... the last time we had a Midgardian here, it ended in bloodshed-"

"I don't require a history lesson, Skurge," Odin cut the warrior off stiffly, who bowed his head immediately. The old man returned his attention to Hugonyn and the wounded girl, giving a shaky sigh. "Let us find the healers." The alien nodded curtly, adjusting the teen in his arms before following after the man across the Rainbow Bridge. Upon passing one of the raised support beams, there was a green flash of energy, and in Odin's place walked an Asgardian soldier.

"Your emotions threaten to betray you, Laufeyson," Hugonyn commented, the mental message relayed only to the man beside him. The soldier grit his teeth, keeping his gaze forward.

"Considering your poor cover back there, I'd say there isn't much room for the remark." The voice that came from the soldier seemed ill-fitting, as if it belonged to someone else. He glanced up to the alien nervously, not allowing his eyes to flit down to the person being carried. Limiting the view of her was the only thing keeping his act from breaking. "Was she alone?"

"Not from her enemies," Hugonyn said grimly, and the soldier faced forward once more. He could sense the girl's pain radiating from her, and it pained him to not teleport her to the castle with his powers. There was no doubt in her surviving her current injuries, but her agony had to last just a while longer. "You care deeply for her."

"I've known Isabel for most of her lifetime now," the soldier answered. "Earth has not been kind to her."

"I don't believe that will change any time soon." Hugonyn paused in his tracks, his eyes widening as his powers picked up on the girl's brain activity. The alien's shoulders seemed to sag as he finally understood why his friend had truly come to Asgard. "No... she's so young."

"I know." The soldier finally allowed himself to approach the teenager, resting a hand on her forearm. Her memories of fleeing the Avengers Compound flashed in his head, and the man flinched as he watched the girl painfully crash into the hard snow. "I have to save her, Hugonyn. If there is one good thing I can do in my life, it will be that." He meant every word in that statement. As he pulled his hand away, Isabel Stark shifted in the alien's hold, her unconscious face contorting as pain washed over her. "I swear on my mother's soul."