Fire & Ice

As we walked into the observation deck, I saw my father come running towards me and grab me in a tight hug. He whispered, "I was so scared something had happened to you."

I shook my head, "I helped save Nat, and then I went after Loki."

My father looked shocked, "You went after Loki? What happened?"

I thought for a moment, should I really tell him about what Loki said to me. I sat silent for a moment, then said, "Loki wanted me to go with him. He told me he was the only one who could save me. He also knew my name, even called me by it."

My father was outraged by this of course, "If that prick thinks he is coming anywhere near you, he has another thing coming."

Fury said, "He killed Coulson."

An eerie silence set over us as he said that, I knew it had happened, I had been there. Hearing it again though was horrible, it brought back the visual. I was seated next to Steve when Fury threw the cards on the table, I turned away. I stood up in anger after being reminded again, "He will pay for this. We will make him pay for this. He won't win this fight."

Dad smirked at my headstrongness. I wasn't going to let Loki get away with this, regardless if he was the one who was keeping me alive. I then remembered I had seen Clint, "Where is Hawkeye?"

My father said, "In his room, go see him."

I took off running to the room where he was, I stopped in the doorway as I saw him. He was perfectly fine, except a knot on the head from Nat. Nat was sitting with him talking and I whispered, "Hawk?"

He looked up to see me and he came to hug me. I gripped him tightly, so happy that he was okay and that he was away from Loki now. He said, "I'm okay, Tina. How are you?"

I just smiled but then he leaned close to me and whispered, "You were one of his targets to acquire."

I pulled away with a gasp but he pretended that he hadn't said anything. Loki had a serious fixation on me, and that worried me, but also made me feel better. If I could put myself in the way of things, then he would think twice about doing them.

I said, "I'm glad your back, Hawk."

He laughed, "I'm glad Nat knocked me on the head and brought me back."

We all chuckled about that, but then I excused myself. I needed to figure out what it was about Loki that was fixing me, then maybe I could recreate it. I would have just asked Thor, but he had plummeted to the Earth from the plane by Loki, so I had to rely on the internet.

I typed in Loki in the search engine on the computer in the lab. I had been reading for about ten minutes when I came across what I thought it was. Loki wasn't really an Asgardian, he was a Frost Giant. He had to be using his ice powers to combat the fire in me. That's what he had meant by him being my personal icicle.

I ran out on the deck, I knew the one thing that could help me fight in this war with Loki. I called Rogue, "Rogue!"

She yelled, "What's wrong, Tina?"

I said, "I need you and everyone here, like now."

Rogue seemed worried by my tone, "Okay, we will be there, should I just get Storm to track your cell?"

I said, "Yeah, and hurry please. I'll explain everything when you are here."

After an hour, they landed on the Helicarrier and the three came out and Storm left again. I pulled them towards the lab, "Okay look here is the thing, we are in the middle of a war right now. Like I said before, I am dying too. Every time I use my powers, I risk dying. The guy that keeps fixing me and saving my life, I finally figured out how he is doing it."

Rogue looked baffled, "Okay, I follow."

I continued, "The guy is using ice to combat the fire in my body." I turned to Bobby now, "I know I can't ask this of any of you, but I need this. I need you to help us fight, and most of all I need you, Bobby. Your power is ice, you are the only one who can temporarily fix me if I go out during the fight."

They all looked at each other before they nodded, "Of course we will help, Tina. None of us want to see you die."

I smiled sadly, "Thank you guys. Come on, we need to go see how everyone else is."

We walked onto the observation deck and everyone was there now. Nat smiled at me as I walked in with my friends. Dad looked confused as my friends walked in with me, everyone kind of did, but I was going to explain. I sighed as I began, "I found out why Loki can heal me. He is a Frost Giant, so it's the ice that is fixing me. Fire and ice and all. For those of you who don't know anything about me, I ran away when I was sixteen and ended up at a School for gifted kids. It was actually a school for what most call mutants. People born with exceptional abilities or those who had them thrusted upon them like me. That is where my friends come in, this is Rogue, no one should touch her, she can drain you of your power and could hurt you. This little guy here is a fire user just like me, but he needs a source for the fire first. The tall one is Rogue's boyfriend and he uses ice, he is the one who could possibly do the same thing that Loki has been to keep me alive. So I asked them to join us, but just like me, they are young and I don't want to see them hurt, so I ask that you do all in your power to keep them safe as well."

All of the others nodded at my statement, but my dad seemed worried. We took the jet to our home, it was where Loki had set up the Tesseract. As the plane landed and we got off onto the street, I heard his voice in my head, you think that boy can fix you in the same way I do, you are certainly in for a rude awakening. I told you, I am the only one who can save you, Valentina.