Agent Staves; Avengers Assemble [BOOK 1/?]

XVIII - no pain

Regina wasn't in pain when she woke up.

Which, really, is more concerning than pain when you consider what she had been through days prior. Well, not that she could remember much of it now - but she knew it was bad, and she knew she should feel something. At least she could hear something - the eternal screeching of her extreme tinnitus may not be a good thing to hear, but at least it was an indication that she was still alive.

Unless she had ended up in hell, which was honestly extremely likely and probably not the weirdest thing that could happen to her

She tried to swallow, her throat dry, and blinked her eyes open. The lights weren't harsh - someone had dimmed them for her while she was still asleep.. She reached her arm out to the side, trying to feel around for her earpieces, but after a couple of seconds of hitting the table beside her bed she came up with nothing. She gasped and flinched when she felt someone put their hand on her arm, her head whipping around to see who it was. She saw Tony - battered and beaten, but Tony. He was talking. Well, he must have been - his lips were moving, and there was a murmuring in the back of Reginas head, but she could not hear him. She saw him sigh, and reach into his pocket, bringing out a case.

He opened it, and Regina tried not to cry. She couldn't have them - not after all this, not now. They were a sign of something she knew, something unavoidable, but so dreaded. She remembered the first conversation like a deep cut - the one about them, that they would be the best. He tried to spin it a good story, bit it only ever made Regina feel heavy when she thought about it. To him, and maybe everyone else, this meant a new start. Meant a young girl finally being able to live her life - not as an agent, not as a hero or vigilante. Just a girl.

But Regina did not want hearing aids. She did not want to give up this story just yet.

She wanted her earpieces - she wanted T.E.R.I, and conversations with Tony from halfway across the world. Hearing aids did not have S.H.I.E.L.D, or Stark Industries. It did not have the Silver Orcus anymore.

She tried not to cry as she took them, putting them on. They dulled the high-pitched screeching to near perfection, and in some ways the relief was good. In others it just made her feel worse than before. "They work?" Tony asked, looking over her stats briefly. He didn't do softness, or gentle words - but he cared. He wouldn't be there if he didn't.

"'Course they work." Regina scoffed, pushing herself into a sitting position. It hurt. She did not show that. "What happened?"

"After the arrow blast, you hit the-"

"Not with me." She cut him off. "Loki. Chitauri." She waved a hand. "Anyone else hurt? I mean, I assume we won, since we're both sat here."

Tony have a slow nod. "He's being held here. Very securely, this time. He and the big guy are going back to Asgard in two days." He assured her. "We won, kid. You recovered a lot faster than we expected, by the way, do you know what's up with that?" He asked, turning the stat screen so that she could see it.

She furrowed her eyebrows, looking over it. A lot of spikes earlier on, the day before had terrible readings, but her current ones were near enough normal. "No." She shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway. Thanks for the..." She didn't finish her sentence, giving a vague gesture to her ears as she drew her knees to her chest. "But I'd like to be alone."

"Right." He nodded, standing up. "Most people are still here, if you need anything. You're still under watch, just to make sure you're getting along nicely. They're, uh... they're going to sort out your new life when you're all better." He gave her a rather tight smile. Reginas nose twitched and she looked away from him. Really, it was somewhat sweet how he was trying so desperately to ramble so that he didn't have to leave her alone, but it simply was not the time. "Oh, hey - I had shwarma for the first time the other day. Do you want some?"

"Tony, the fact that you have never had shwarma shows your rich kid blood." She said, a small ghost of a smile twitching at her lips. "I'll pass, anyway. It gives me food poisoning nearly every time." He small smile fell, and she looked past him and into the hallway. Everything was so quiet - people recovering or rebuilding elsewhere, she supposed. But none the less it made her skin crawl. "I don't want these wires in me."

"Regina, you need-"

"I'm fine. I healed, like you said. Like the stats say." She lifted her hand to tap the screen, faltering when she realised she was doing it with her scarred hand, and settled for just pushing it away from her again. "I'll stay here, I just hate these things." She said, nodding to the IV needle residing in her hand, unconnected to a drip. "Please. Just get someone to come take them out for me." Tony couldn't help his amusement at that. Regina, who would deny that a blade in her back could hinder her fight at all, who ripped it out herself and ordered Clint to shoot an explosion at her, wouldn't dare take a needle out of her own arm.

"I'll see what I can do."