“This pipsqueak?” Arc asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “She looks like she weighs maybe a hundred, a hundred twenty soaking wet.” He had seen what Cy had done just as clearly as Anna had, but he was naturally playful and liked to test the waters with new recruits. He liked to know if he could joke around with them, since it was much better to find out before he tried anything and got set on fire, smashed, frosted, or otherwise. Cy’s powers were firmly in the ‘smashed’ category. Still the way she had played back, he figured she could take a joke and would probably dish it out as well as Arc did. 

“We got wounded!” An agent yelled from an upper level, leaning over a railing to gesture for Anna’s attention. Elsewhere in the base, sirens had started to go off. The noise drew everyone’s attention, even Cy’s. She had been in the middle of gawking at the machinery and banks of computers, but Anna’s sudden brisk walk had surprised her enough that she scurried after her. They moved along a winding passage further into the base, passing in and out of the lights. At the end was a large room fitted out like a hospital, and someone was being worked on in the center of the commotion. 

The man was lean with long, lank dark hair and an incredibly pale face—which may have been due to the amount of wounds he’d suffered. He’d been beaten badly, probably more than once, and he was dripping blood all over the surgical table. His pulse beat a rapid, quiet tattoo in the background as the medics swirled around him. Cy gathered he was the Loki Anna had mentioned. How had he escaped from HYDRA? In his condition, it couldn’t have been easy. 

His eyes fluttered open. Loki tried wildly to sit up or get the medical team away; he apparently didn’t appreciate being cared for. Cy stepped forward and focused on him, gently but firmly pushing him flat on the table. “Relax, alright? You’re beat up pretty bad and you’re bleeding, so why not let them do their jobs? You might not need their help, but it’ll sure as hell make it easier to heal.”