𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 ▷ 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 [✔]

09 | THREATS & SURPRISES?

○ ○ ○
VALERIE'S P.O.V

"She's stable, but whatever seems to be triggering it... it's growing stronger," I heard someone say from above me, their voice filled with fascination. Confusion clouded my mind as I tried to decipher the owner of the voice. Although slightly alarmed about the situation, nothing had seriously concerned me until I realized there were restraints holding me stiffly against a hard plastic-like surface. Once I could finally muster enough energy to open my eyes, I easily willed them open.

"Oh look who's finally awake," I heard, just as Bruce stepped over to my side, a small smile on his face as he placed a hand over my own.

"Bruce? What the hell is going on?" I asked angrily, coming to realize how many people were curiously staring at me. I could feel their eyes, while I searched for the source.

They stood in the hall, gazing into the room. Natasha stood in front of the small crowd, her eyes enlarged as she fidgeted with her fingers, her head tilted slightly down as her eyes roamed between me and her hands. Steve, Tony, and Thor all stared at me, concern casted through their eyes, yet calm expressions covered their faces.

"We needed a way to stop you from attacking Loki, Valerie," Bruce admitted after a short while of complete silence. It was making me uncomfortable as they all stared at me. Surprisingly, Fury and Maria stood in the back of the crowd, watching on just as concerned as the others. But the way they looked at me, as if I were crazy. It made a chill creep down my spine. I'm not crazy...

"What...happened?" I begged to know as I tugged against the restraints, the constant feeling of my skin rubbing against them beginning to irritate me to no end. I wiggled my toes in my combat boots before I started to tug against the restraints on my ankles.

I sighed, trying my best to calm down just as a wave of warmth seemed to wrap itself around the top layer of my skin. I closed my eyes, awaiting its end, while I forced myself to relax against the restraints. Remarkably, I felt the warmth trail up along my spine, in an odd way. Despite being an abnormal feeling, it didn't hurt. It was more of a soothing sensation as it slid over the surface of my skin. Before long, had manifested into feeling like a never ending itch, begging to be scratched.

"Oh god," I said suddenly as the spot settled on the small of my back. It was hard to resist, but with the restraints holding me in place, I had no other option but to distract myself from it.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked confused by my outburst, stopping me from concentrating on the new and weird feeling.

"Nothing," I lied through my teeth, trying to focus on something else rather than the feeling that had started to develop in that spot on my lower back. The itch wasn't as strong as it was before, but it was still there. Taunting me.

"Do you remember anything at all?" Bruce asked, more concern lacing his voice, as he stared down at me worriedly, noticing my brief change in demeanor.

"The last thing I remember is talking with Fury," I said finally as Bruce sat down besides me, pulling up a stool. He slid his glasses off of his face before he placed them on the table besides where we were sitting. Bruce looked up at the group of people outside of the lab, before his eyes fell back to mine, their brown chocolaty depths making me a little light headed as I stared at him. He smiled, though it hadn't reached his eyes, before he started with the full story.

"You were fine at first. Talking to Fury about something, just as you remember. But then suddenly, you just weren't...from what we could see, you had fallen to the ground, shaking violently. Fury said that it was as if you were having a seizure. So he called in a medic while we all tried to wait it out like normal procedure for seizures, but something wasn't right. We figured something must've been wrong after the five minute mark. That was unusual. Very unusual," Bruce turned to glance at the crowd watching from outside, "Fury ordered us all in to help, but once we reached the containment room, none of us knew what to do. No one had ever encountered a reaction of that magnitude. Your entire body was freezing to the touch, all except your hands," I blinked a few times, not quite understand. What was wrong with me?