Fallen Star

Chapter 10

One month later

Jane punched new coordinates into the transdimentional circuit, crossing her fingers and hoping that this time would be it.

She'd started working feverishly on her machine as soon as she'd been released from the hospital. After the shock had worn off, she'd managed to climb up the stairs and stagger down the road towards her neighbors', glancing over her shoulder the whole way in the irrational fear that Loki was going to pounce on her any second. But halfway there, she'd gotten picked up by a car, and the driver had rushed her to the hospital.

The damage hadn't been nearly as bad as she feared, though. She was right about the shoulder and the ribs—three had been cracked. But otherwise, it was just a lot of bruises and scrapes. She'd been released shortly after, picked up by Agent Coulson, who had arrived only hours after she'd been checked in for observation. He had barely left her side since, and when she was well enough to go, he'd escorted her to a high-security facility in Phoenix. It was furnished with a luxury apartment and, more important, a full laboratory. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had gone to her house and brought everything from her basement to the new lab, too.

Now, she was nearly healed, though she still had to take it easy to avoid overexerting herself, and she still had nightmares sometimes. But she was steadily improving, and the nightmares were coming less frequently.

Her work helped keep her mind off the painful memories. She'd made great breakthroughs in that short period of time, especially with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s generous funding. They backed her experiments one hundred percent. Whatever she asked for, they delivered.

The portal beamed to life, but all that shone out was a dazzling expanse of stars. Jane frowned in irritation and disappointment. One more wrong combination. But she wasn't going to give up hope. She'd come too far to give up now.

"Don't worry, Thor," she whispered. "I will find you."

She shut down the circuit, too tired to continue any more that night. Then she climbed up onto the roof, which had quickly become her favorite place to relax. Coulson didn't like her going up there, but he left it alone.

And she lay back and watched the stars.

-The end-