In The Blink Of An Eye
by Rhiannon
Obligatory Disclaimer
This is fan fic and only a fan fic, in the event of actually trying to do something illegal the big bad ugly lawyers would have pounced all over me and made me homeless. All recognizable Marvel Characters and concepts are thier sole property, I'm just playing in thier yard today. I make no profit from these works other than the sheer pleasure of writing. Lighten up, it won't matter a damn 100 years from now anyway.
Ayla woke because of the stabbing pain in her side, drawing breath was an agony. She blinked in the darkness surrounding her and wondered what had happened. Slowly she managed to reach into the back pack that was still wrapped around her wrist and get her keys, they had a small flashlight attached.
It revealed that she was trapped under rubble, and the agony in her side was thanks to jagged piece of metal that had gone through her ribcage and had her pinned to the ground. She was soaked in her own blood, and could feel a horrible gurgling feeling getting worse inside her chest. "Blood, I'm drowning on my own blood." She thought. Panic set her heart to beating faster, which only made the problem worse.
"Oh God, oh God.." Ayla chanted in a weak whisper as she dug into the backpack again, pulling out a cell phone. She dialed with shaking fingers.
"911, please state your emergency." The cool professional voice answered. It was probably supposed to be reassuring. It wasn't.
"Please, I'm trapped under a building that collapsed, and my lung is punctured." Ayla gasped out weakly, fighting against her body wanting to cough. That could only make things worse.
"Do you know where the building was? Is it on Market Street?" The 911 operator asked.
"Yes. Please, it hurts so bad! It's so hard to talk." Ayla whispered.
"The Fantastic Four are in the area and helping with the clean up, can you call out or make noise?"
"No, I can barely breath." Ayla fought against a shiver, she was so cold. Suddenly the low battery beep went off on the phone. " Oh no, my battery is running out!"
"Do you hear anything, like someone digging?" The operator asked.
"No." Ayla could hear the operator talking to other people, although she couldn't quite follow what was being said. A small cough escaped, sending blinding agony through her and flooding her mouth with blood. She tried to spit it out but had to settle for letting it drool out of her mouth, until she had the strength to whisper again. "Please hurry, I'm coughing blood. Please, please, I'm so scared!"
"It's okay, they are trying to find you. They'll get to you in no time honey." The low battery beeped again. "In the meantime you need to keep talking to me as much as you can. What's your name?"
"Ayla Stevens." Ayla tugged the backpack until it was under her head and rested her head against it. "What happened to the building?"
"Mutants." The operators voice replied, anger reverberating through the cell phone. "That bunch called the X-Men were fighting some other mutant, I guess he's like a tank or something, and he hit the building and collapsed it. There were a couple other people trapped, but they' ve been pulled out."
"I hear something." Ayla whispered into the mouthpiece, then cringed as the low battery beep went off again. "Digging. I don't know how much longer my phone will last."
There was a silent pause. Had the phone died? "I've told them they are near you honey, they are working as quick as they can. What do you do for a living Ayla Stevens?"
"I'm an artist." Ayla answered softly. "I paint and sculpt." Ayla listened, but there was no reply. Using her flashlight she realized the battery on the phone had died completely. She was alone in the dark.
Mutants. You heard about them in every newscast, every newspaper, they were the hot topic of the decade. Ayla knew there were anti-mutant hate groups out there, and support groups, but hadn't paid much attention to it. She was an artist, what did it all have to do with her? She smiled weakly, yeah, what did it all have to do with her, well, now she knew.
She'd never understood why mutants fought each other like they did. You didn't see that with other "minority" groups that much. The African Americans banded together, the Hispanics banded together, why did the mutants fight? Why did they wear those weird costumes and run around doing things, why weren't they accountants or teachers or construction workers?
A shift of dust shifted through the cracks of her prison and down onto her legs. "Here, I'm here!" Ayla tried to call out rather foolishly. She shuddered through a series of short wracking coughs that sent her to throwing up a stream of blood, the pain nearly rendering her unconscious again. Drifting in and out of coherency, she remembered a conversation with her mother.
Dana Stevens had graduated high school, gotten married to her high school sweetheart, had 2 children and the little house in the sub division. She sold tupperware, Avon, and was a member of the PTA. Ayla had grown up knowing her mother was probably one of the most unfulfilled women she knew. Dana didn't know what she wanted, but she knew what she wanted for her daughters. Ashley became a doctor. Ayla was to become a lawyer.
Ayla could have done it, but her first year into her studies left her unfulfilled and unhappy. She enjoyed the art class she was taking to "round out" her skills so much more. She'd always done well in high school and her art teacher had encouraged her to work a little harder, she could become a great artist. Ayla had never really done anything with it because of her mother, but after that first year in college she decided the heck with it, art was what made her feel fulfilled. It was what fed her soul and made her feel whole.
Ayla snapped into consciousness again as one of the rocks above her moved aside and a small bit of light leaked through. Something blocked the light briefly and a voice shouted "She's here!" Ayla tried to tell them to take their time, she was actually feeling a little better. Terribly cold, but the pain wasn't so bad anymore.
She thought quietly on her memory. Did the battles that mutants and super powered people fought somehow fulfill them? Was there a purpose to them that the average person didn't know about? Or was it just them acting like gangs, like they said in the newspaper all the time. More rocks shifted, and Ayla covered her face with her arm to keep the dust from making her cough.
Suddenly, large hands slid under her, lifting her out of the small prison that had held her. Medics swarmed around, checking the rebar that was still protruding from her ribs and extended out her back. Ayla wondered why there was no pain anymore, but she didn't have the energy to worry too much. She glanced up at the person who was holding her and was stunned to find it was a huge orange man shaped rock. "Oh," she thought. "The Thing. The operator said Fantastic Four." She looked more closely into his face and was startled to see beautiful blue eyes staring back at her, full of emotion. Ayla stared back into them for what seemed an endless time, seeing the soul that lay beneath the exterior. Darkness swirled in the outer edges of her vision, she blinked once, so very slowly, then it enveloped her a final time and carried her away.
*****
Benjamin Grimm stared down at the blood covered woman he had pulled from the rubble. He had a feeling before the medics even said anything that there was little hope, there was so much blood everywhere. He was startled as she suddenly lifted her head and looked up at him. Clear grey eyes stared into his, reaching deep into him. He felt as though she could see everything there was to know, that he had no secrets to her. He started to tell her "Don't worry kid, we're gonna get you patched up." when she slowly blinked. Her eyes reopened, staring at him once more, but he knew she was no longer there. Wearily, he sat down on a section of rubble and held the lifeless body close to him, hating that sometimes it was the everyday people who paid the price of good versus evil.