Chapter Text
“Medical transport is HYDRA!” a woman shouted over the comms. “I repeat, medical transport is HYDRA! Anyone copy?”
I sighed in resignation, as I had no way to let the poor woman know I’d heard her warning in Cap’s ear bud. The man himself couldn’t answer either, as he was currently unconscious and strapped to a gurney on one of the ambulances pulling way in the parking garage. It also wouldn’t be easy to explain that my hearing was better than Cap’s. If that warning had been directly in my ear, I’d probably have a busted eardrum to heal.
But I could do something with the warning. So much for the day off wandering around the city I’d been planning. I reached into my powers, sending tendrils of energy towards the caravans pulling away in the parking garage. I ignored the lead SUVs and motorcycles, sending the energy into both vehicles in the back. Once I felt the cold metal of the gurneys, I latched on to them and pushed a little more to shift them gently out of the moving deathtraps. I never really understood how it worked, but it was like they phased silently out of the moving vehicles, disturbing nothing and hopefully notifying no one that their precious cargo was now missing.
When the gurneys were back on concrete, I pulled again, letting them slide gently to my sides. With more experienced hands than most hospital personnel, I checked both Cap and Stark over, noting that both had injuries that needed attention pretty soon, but neither were critical. They could wait for a non-psychotic transport. If one arrived in time. And I really needed to do something about that.
Gently, I pulled the ear bud out of Cap’s ear, turning it over in my hands until I found the minuscule volume control, even as I listened to the same woman ranting and cursing up a storm, asking for someone to please “fucking answer me, goddamn it, Cap!” I flicked it as far down as possible, so the voice eventually sounded at a reasonable volume for me, before I gently pressed it into my own ear, not really wanting to deafen myself before heading into what I assumed was going to be one hell of a fight.
“Chill out a second, woman,” I snapped into the comm as I assessed the area for the best defensible position. I wasn’t going to be able to get the two men out of the structure before the battle started, but I sure as shit was not going to just stand in the middle of the place waiting either.
“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded back.
“A friend that just pulled Cap and the idiot genius out of HYDRA’s hands before they could get away from current location,” I reported back even as I started pulling the gurneys between two concrete columns in the corner of the building. It wasn’t the best position, but it was at least better protected, with a possible escape route for Cap if he woke up. Five stories wasn’t so bad.
“You have them?” the woman again demanded.
“Wow are you demanding…” I grumbled, taking a moment to pull my long chocolate brown locks back into a hair tie. Wouldn’t do to have them get in the way. “Yes, I do believe I just said that. But I’m going to need back up here. I’m good, but not that good. I’ll be able to hold off the 30 guys with guns, but not indefinitely and it doesn’t look like either of these idiots are going to be much use for a while.” Hopefully that would get someone here sooner. I could do something about the injuries, but it would have to be as a last resort.
The screech of tires alerted me to the HYDRA goons finally paying attention and I tuned out the woman’s response to focus on how they were going to react. The caravans jerked to a stop at the other end of the mostly empty garage, pulling into lines that blocked the exit and the elevator. I watched with mild amusement as the obvious agent in charge, carting a pretty hefty assault rifle, stormed over to the doors of the ambulance I’d pulled Cap out of, only to growl in frustration when the door opened to reveal that the trembling agent hadn’t lied when he reported the missing super soldier. Repeat for the one Stark had been in and I was almost in stitches watching the agent’s face get red from across the structure.
“Where the FUCK are they?” he demanded of the poor medic. “Two men in that condition don’t just disappear! Rogers doesn’t have that power and Stark doesn’t have his stealth suit!” Each word rose in volume until I imagine even Stark would have been able to hear him if he were awake.
“Sir, I have eyes on them,” one of the henchmen reported, pointing towards my little corner.
I tensed, dropping into a defensive crouch as the men all turned towards me. Agent Pissed Off, as I decided I’d call him, made some flicks with the hand not holding the rifle. It was obvious he thought I couldn’t interpret the silent orders to flank me. I smirked and let them think they had the advantage, focusing on Agent Pissed Off as he stalked over.
The voice in my ear was getting louder as the woman became more frustrated at my silence. I shushed her urgently, but she seemed affronted instead of grasping the issue. “Shut up!” I finally hissed, trying to listen to the boots of all 30 agents as they moved, so I could most easily pinpoint them. “They’re coming and I need to focus.” That finally shut her up and I could hear her finally relaying orders to someone else. It sounded like back up may take a bit. Perfect.
“And who the fuck are you, little lady?” Agent Pissed Off purred.
His eyes obviously tracked up and down my body, taking in my tight jeans, oversized t-shirt with Cap’s shield and the Winter Soldier’s star on it, and my well-worn tennis shoes. My long hair swung from the pony I’d tied it in as I flicked a quick look around with what I knew were striking green eyes. My body was packed with coiled muscles and I didn’t exactly flaunt it, but I knew I had the figure to attract all kinds if I wanted. And even when I didn’t, apparently, going by the sudden, chilling gleam in Agent’s eyes.
“No one,” I said nonchalantly, standing out of the defensive crouch in an effort to appear non-threatening. “I just found these two and figured I’d try to help. Not every day a no one like me can help Captain America and Iron Man.” At that, Agent’s face closed off. “Yeah, one outed himself on live TV and the other has a Smithsonian exhibit. Did you really expect no one to recognize them? Really?”
“I’m going to need you to stay out of the way while the SHIELD medics take a look at them,” Agent commanded, trying to keep my focus on him. But I was still tracking the entire unit and pulled Stark’s gurney closer to myself as one agent tried to snag him, shooting a quick glare at the agent with enough venom that he took a step back.
“Yeah, see, slight problem with that,” I said, tapping my ear and turning my attention back to Agent Pissed Off. “Lady on the comm says you’re not SHIELD and while I’ve never met her, the fact of the matter is she was trying to warn Cap. And anyone trying to warn Cap of something is a little higher on my believable scale.”
Agent dropped all pretense at that, pulling his rifle up to point at me. “I said, back away, lady. We’re taking them.”
I could see his finger on the trigger, but didn’t move. I may not have know exactly what HYDRA was or why they were trying so hard to get their hands on two Avengers or even what the hell happened to warrant Cap needing medical attention, but I knew one thing. The two men on the gurneys needed protection and the guys with the guns weren’t about to provide it. And while I was enjoying my anonymity, I’d know years ago that it wouldn’t last. These agents may not know yet how the gurneys had been pulled from the ambulances, but it was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to stall any longer with talk. I sighed again, but reached for the power, smirking when it leapt eagerly to my fingers. I threw a wave of power out, smirking when it knocked all the agents off their feet and a few yards back.
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I said, pulling both gurneys to rest on either side of me until the metal bars hit my hips.
Agent Pissed Off was one of the first on his feet and, immediately, he was pointing the assault rifle at me again. “Last chance,” he snarled. I only smirked at him, dropping into a defensive stance again. “Fine! Don’t say I didn’t give you the chance to walk away. Just know I’m going to fully enjoy punishing you for this little stunt when we get where we’re going. Hopefully while they’re cutting into the super soldier over there.”
I know he wanted me to feel disgusted, to have his words send a shiver up my spine, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. When I failed to give the reaction he obviously wanted, his face went blank and he opened fire. I didn’t even blink before I threw my arms up to create a shield, the faint golden glow the only indication of where its boundaries were. Each bullet sparked off the shield, falling to the concrete as little dented bits of metal as the shield rang with a crystal note. Agent Pissed Off blinked in shock, pausing a moment to take in the sudden problem. I simply smirked again, watching his eyes track the sphere that encased both gurneys and myself. He snarled and started again, the other agents finally joining in.
“Alright, I’m under fire now. I can talk,” I hissed into the comm, letting the lady know I was paying attention to her again. The bullets weren’t going to make it through the shield, but I would eventually run out of strength to keep it up.
“How exactly… Nevermind. I’ve got Hawkeye and Black Widow en route. Can you give me specifics?” I could tell she really wanted to finish her question, but the rescue took precedent.
“Parking garage, almost exactly where transport was requested. I’ve got us in the northwest corner between two concrete supports. 30 bad guys with pretty heavy weaponry, but nothing I won’t be able to hold back for a -”
I broke off on my report when I noticed one of the men had gone to the back of an SUV. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, hissing when he fired a RPG at me. I braced, grunting as the shield protested the more powerful projectile. It held, though.
“Ok, and they have fucking RPGs,” I growled into the comm. “I’ll still be able to hold them off, but it won’t be for as long, depending on how many of those fuckers they fire.”
“Acknowledged. Back up is 10 minutes out. We were tracking Stark’s phone, but looks like they had it on a diversionary trail.”
“Sounds like a plan!” I grunted, pushing at the shield again as another RPG exploded against the thing. “Keep me updated! And be sure to send someone with medical knowledge. Both need attention eventually. Not immediately life threatening, but if back up is here any later than that 10 minutes, statuses may change.”
“Acknowledged,” the lady confirmed.
I hissed as I realized they had more RPGs than was probably necessary for a simple retrieval mission, even for a domestic military unit. Hopefully, back up was able to put on more speed than assumed. Otherwise, this was going to be a problem.
Minutes ticked by and the bad guys never seemed to run out of ammo. When one gun ran dry, they simply reached into an SUV to grab another. The man with the rocket launcher was similar, never running out of RPGs to shoot at me. I’d deflected five by the point and it was starting to wear on me. The lady in my ear was giving me minute by minute updates on the back up but they were still five minutes out. I needed to do something else or the shield was going to fall before then. And Cap, Stark, and I would be defenseless.
Groaning in frustration, I reached my right hand to Cap’s wrist. I really hoped I did this right. I hadn’t used this power in years, as no one around me really needed it, but desperate times and all that.
“What are you doing?” the lady questioned.
Must have said that last part out loud. Not good. That meant I was more tired than I thought. Oh well, here goes nothing. I pushed power into the super soldier, grunting as it started taking affect. I could feel my wrist snap as his realigned, groaned as I felt my internal organs protest taking damage that put a super soldier on his back, hissed as my side pulled apart, to leak blood on my favorite shirt so his could stitch back together. It wasn’t until the cut on his face closed that I knew he should wake up any second.
“Cap, I need you to listen to me very closely,” I whispered, making an effort not to move my mouth much. I could whisper softer than usual as well, since the man’s hearing was so much better than normal humans. “Don’t move until I tell you as I want to surprise the assholes shooting at us. I’ve got your comm right now and I’m trying to help, but I need some back up to keep Stark safe until the cavalry arrives.”
“Shield?” he whispered back.
“Shield and suit?” I questioned into the comm, even as I reached for Stark’s wrist to repeat the process with him.
“Cobalt blue car to your immediate right,” came the quick response, though I had no idea how she knew exactly where we were, unless she had eyes on the place.
“Exact location in the car of both?” I questioned. If I had more energy, I’d have been able to determine that myself, but I needed it all for the shield at this point. I gasped as another RPG exploded, dropping to a knee as my energy level dropped. “Now!”
“Trunk, left side for the suit. Middle for shield. Back up is two minutes out.”
I thanked her and groaned as I finished with Stark. He’d take a bit longer to wake up, but I hoped this was over by then.
“You ready, Cap? Back up is a minute 30 out,” I asked as I risked a glance at him.
A slight nod was all I needed. I spotted the correct car, with the stupid license plate that read IRMN3, and concentrated on the truck. I sent a tendril to it, focusing on the middle area, and instantly felt the vibranium thrum in welcome. I sighed in relief, grabbed it with the same power I’d used on the gurneys earlier, and tapped Cap’s wrist quickly to give him an idea of where it was coming from. Then I yanked hard and the shield rocketed over.
Cap sprang from the bed and instantly caught the disk, putting it in front to take some of the fire. I gave a shuddering breath as the shield finally got a break. He dashed forwards into the hail of bullets and I let the shield drop half its size, dropping to the ground in pain. Stark was starting to come around and I grasped the metal railing to pull myself up to his side. The shield was so much smaller, only a few inches away from his face as it covered him. I was only barely within it myself and even that was getting hard to maintain.
“What the hell?” he groaned and I wanted to cry in relief.
“Call your suit,” I forced out. He tried to sit up and I cried out in pain. Between holding the shield as long as I had and taking their injuries, I was seconds from losing it. “Don’t sit up! Just call your suit!”
“Done,” he snarked. “You’re gorgeous. Now, why exactly can’t I sit up?”
“Because she’s shielding you right now and you moving is making it harder, Shellhead,” I could hear a new voice order on the comms, male and mildly amused. Must be that back up finally.
“Right, well, let me up, because the suit’s coming,” he ordered.
I nodded, holding up three fingers to show him when I would drop the shield and the bullets would start becoming a problem. I knew Cap was working on that, but he could only go so fast and there were a lot of them. I realized they’d sent back up too, but theirs must have been waiting nearby, as it had already arrived. Stark nodded in acknowledgement and must have had a way to let the suit know the timing as no pieces had arrived yet, thankfully. I wasn’t sure I’d be to let them in without letting in some bullets.
I counted down and when I reached one, a few things happened almost too fast for me to process. The shield dropped, I threw myself behind one of the gurneys, Stark was encased in shining metal, and I heard the thwamp of a bow releasing an arrow. A quick glance to the side showed where that final noise had come from. A blonde was standing behind one of the supports, firing arrows in quick succession towards the bad guys. Once Stark was fully encased, he casually threw Cap’s gurney at a group of bad guys, bowling them over easily. With the break in fire that caused, he gently reached down and scooped me up, turning his back to the guns and protecting me as he marched over to the arrow guy.
“Thanks for the assist,” he said, his voice sounding mildly mechanical through the suit’s speakers. “You rest up while we finish up.” And with that, he was following after Cap to take on the minions of Agent Pissed Off.
“Agent Pissed Off?” the blonde questioned between arrows.
“Shit, speaking thoughts out loud again,” I groaned. My whole body ached, not just from the strain of holding the shield so long against that much firepower, but from the injuries I’d taken off the two Avengers.
“Hey, you ok?” Blondie questioned, pausing in firing to crouch next to me.
“Peachy,” I murmured. There was a growing fire in my left side that was starting to concern me. It wasn’t from either man, as neither had had an injury in that area, and it was really starting to hurt.
“Hey, Cap, Stark, either of you notice any injuries?” Blondie questioned, finger held to his ear as he watched me closely.
“No,” Stark barked and I could see Blondie waiting for Cap’s answer. I smirked and tapped my ear to show I had his comm. “Why?”
“Because I think the good Samaritan here somehow took your injuries,” Blondie said, looking at me closely, eyes narrowed in concern or suspicion. I couldn’t really tell which, but I smirked that he’d gotten it in one. His eyes widened in shock at the response. Must have said that out loud.
“Dammit,” I cursed. “That’s got to stop happening. I’m fine.”
“Yeah, you don’t look fine,” Blondie remarked. “Falcon, you almost here?” he demanded in his comm. A blur of motion was the only answer he received, as a man swooped through the open window, kicking a bad guy across the structure into Cap’s shield. “Good, get over here and look at her,” he ordered as he went back to firing arrows, dodging to the other column to give the new guy room, then darting off to take cover by some cars and out of my sight.
The man darted over, folding wings into a pack on his back as he moved. He slid to a stop at my side and smiled down at me.
“Name’s Sam,” he introduced as he started assessing me, his hands gentle and quick. When his hand landed on my side, I couldn’t bite back the shout of pain. “Looks like you’ve got a bullet wound there.”
“Yeah, no shit,” I groaned as his hands started moving again. “I’ve got a broken wrist, at least two broken ribs, one pushing on my right lung, internal bruising, possible internal bleeding, concussion that’s pretty bad, and quite a few lacerations, if that helps,” I listed.
He blinked at me but I could see the medic taking over. He pulled a kit from somewhere and I noticed it was not the standard first aid kit. It looked well used and stocked for some pretty hefty injuries. The Avengers must get hurt way more than people thought.
“Yeah, they do,” the man, Sam, said and I cursed again. That filter really needed to be reinstated.
“So, what’s a nice lady like you doing in a place like this?” a voice asked over the comm and I blinked a bit trying to place the voice. I knew I’d heard it not two minutes ago, but I couldn’t figure out if it was Stark or Blondie. This wasn’t good.
“Honestly, I was so waiting for two of my heroes to get kidnapped by something called HYDRA so I could show them how bad ass I am and come out of about twenty years of hiding. What brings you around?” I snarked. I could see Sam trying valiantly not to laugh, but simply smirked at him.
Then I felt the power building and knew things were about to get bad. It had only happened a few times in my life, but it was never good. And only happened when I was too close to the brink.
“Back away! Back the fuck away, right now!” I warned Sam, even as my body started arching.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him scramble away, pulling Blondie with him once he noticed the man had been making his way back. The power burst out of me, sending waves of energy through the parking structure, upending a few cars, and throwing the other gurney so hard, it imbedded into the concrete by the elevator. I sagged back when it was done, slipping boneless to the ground. I wanted to laugh when sounds went dead.
“- not breathing-“
“- the hell?”
“Come on…”
“Lady, come on,” a voice finally broke through the silence. I gasped, pushing to sit up, but firm hands held me down. “There we go,” the voice trembled with relief.
I groaned as the various injuries I had made themselves known again. I must have lost a few minutes there.
“Threat’s taken care of,” Cap’s voice reported and I sighed in relief. “We need to get her to medical.”
“Yeah, working on that,” Sam reported even as he pressed a hand to my side. My shout of pain had all the men wincing.
“You took quite the beating for people you don’t know, ma’am,” Cap commented and I wanted to laugh.
“Dude, you’re the fucking Avengers. Everyone knows you. Besides, not like I could have stood by and let you be taken by people that had that nice woman in your ear so panicked,” I grouched even as said woman was doing similar in mine. From the winces I could see on the others, she was getting pretty loud.
“Maria?” Cap asked, seeming to finally notice he didn’t have his comm in. I slowly pointed at my ear and smiled when no one made to pull the comm out, glad to have a name for the voice but unwilling to give up the comm just yet. Cap just reached into one of his pockets and pulled a new one out. “I lose them a lot,” he commented in response to my questioning gaze. Sam was still working to take care of my side and I wanted to cry at the pain he was causing.
“We need to move her, but I’m worried about the rib pressing on her lung. One wrong shift and it’s going to pierce it.”
“Already did,” I groaned, even as I started coughing. I could feel a little blood trickling down my cheek.
Sam cursed and started throwing supplies back in the kit he had. “I can fly her to a hospital.”
“No hospitals,” I begged, then grabbed his wrist as I felt the power building again.
He must have understood from the pleading in my eyes as he darted away, pulling the rest of them with him. Again, my body arched as the power released, waves of energy pulsing through the garage and upending cars. It threw a few of the HYDRA agents as well, but no one rushed to see if it did any damage. When it was done, I flopped down, gasping in agony from the shifted bones. I could feel the rib poking farther into my lung, but I also knew it wouldn’t kill me. It would just be incredibly uncomfortable until corrected.
“Ok, yeah, no hospitals,” Stark agreed as he straightened from the defensive crouch he’d fallen into.
“So, the Tower?” Cap suggested as he came out from behind his shield. “The Medbay there is built for Bruce and me. Should be able to take her, right?” He sounded unsure, but anything was better than a human only hospital, so I nodded tiredly.
“I’ll take her. Birdbrain, you fly with me so you can catch her if she does that again and I drop her. Also, you’ll need to report to the docs what’s going on,” Stark ordered. From the looks on the others’ faces, his serious tone was a rarity.
When he received nods, he bent to scoop me up again and I hissed at the movement, my arm going around his neck to help hold on. Blood was flowing more readily from my mouth and the bullet wound had reopened, but I didn’t say anything or cry out again. He moved swiftly and as steady as possible to the nearest window and rocketed out as smoothly as possible. I let my head fall to his collar and just enjoyed the wind on my suddenly overheated skin.
“Hey, beautiful, we’ll get you to the docs in a sec. Just hold on,” he said as we flew. “Jarvis, I want Palmer and Strange ready as soon as we land and notify Pepper we’ll need a cover story for this little scuffle. Prep a medical suite and work with Hill to ensure the team is picked up and brought to the Tower asap.”
Stark kept rambling into his comm, talking to someone with a soft British accent. I could hear the rest of the team talking on the comm still, but couldn’t focus on the words, so I just let the tones lull me into a semi-conscious state.
I came back to full consciousness as we flew through a retracted window in a skyscraper that was so famous the giant A on it was really unnecessary. Stark landed as gently as he could, but let’s be honest. It was a flying metal suit. There was no gentle landing. But I prided myself on the fact that I didn’t dent his suit gripping too hard in pain.
“Dr. Palmer,” Stark greeted the redhead who stood nearby with a gurney ready. “She’s a mess,” he remarked as he eased me onto the bed. “I’ve got Jarvis scanning her now.”
“Thanks, Stark. You’re pretty too,” I snarked before I bit my lip to stop crying out as I settled on my back on the gurney.
“We’ll take care of you,” she assured even as she pushed me quickly down the hall to a surgical suite.
“I’ll warn you now, sedation isn’t going to work,” I murmured, quickly losing control of my voice. She seemed unphased by the remarked.
“Cap strength, maybe?” she asked.
“Nope,” I denied. Nothing had ever worked and I’d taken far more than a lethal dose at multiple points.
“That complicates things,” she remarked even as a man strode in. His dark hair and distinct eyes were instantly familiar, though I’d never met him. I was a fan of his work, though. Both as a surgeon and as a sorcerer.
“Dr. Strange,” I acknowledged, nodding at him. I could see the various Avengers in a viewing booth above me jerk in shock.
“I’m sorry, have we met?” he asked, even as he looked over what I assumed were the scans taken when I arrived.
“Nope, but I’m a fan of the work you do,” I slurred. I’d have to stop trying soon.
“Well, always nice to meet a fan, but let’s save that for after we fix you up,” he said as his eyes roamed over my blood soaked clothing and skin. “Nice shirt.”
I smirked but didn’t try to respond. I knew it was beyond me at this point. They started discussing the best ways to go about fixing me without sedation, but I quickly realized the power was building again. Sam must have either seen something in my face or I’d said something without meaning to again because his voice came over the intercom, directing the doctors to get out of the room quickly. It said a lot that neither questioned the order. They just moved, darting into a room and slamming the door just as the power released. Instruments and tables went flying, a scalpel imbedding in the window the Avengers were watching from. From the startled expressions, I’d guess it was more than standard glass. I panted as the energy finally dissipated, glad the people around me were fast enough to get away before I hurt any of them.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Strange commented as he emerged from the room the doctors had sheltered in. “Let’s go ahead and get a shield up around you to keep that from causing issues while we work.” With a few flicks of his wrists, a glowing green sphere snapped into place around me, close to what my own shield looked like. But where mine was self-generated, I could tell his came from the object hanging around his neck. It gleamed with an ethereal light. “That should hold. Let’s get to work, Christine.”
“This is going to hurt, miss,” the redhead said as a warning before she started.
I could tell Strange wondered about the lack of sedation, but he didn’t comment and I was too focused on containing the pain to volunteer an explanation. They worked quickly and efficiently, not making an unnecessary incision or movement, but it still hurt like hell. Before long, I couldn’t contain the sounds I made and the room filled with my gasps of pain and bit off screams.
Time moved strangely after I gave up trying to be silent. My world revolved around gentle hands working quickly, grinding bones as my body tried to heal fractures not set in time, the screech of metal as my fingers bent the metal supports on the gurney, voices in my ear trying to sooth me, and pain. Pain everywhere. But no surge of power or energy. Then the world slipped away finally and I wanted to cheer.
The team piled into the observation room above the operating room, Steve panting slightly from his mad dash up the stairs. He’d managed to beat the elevator in his haste, but he’d admittedly jumped a few floors. Stark was already there, sans suit and standing at the window, arms crossed and concern plain on his face. Steve crossed the room to stand to his right, his own arms crossing.
Steve had a feeling Happy had broken a few speeding laws, but he’d managed to get them back in record time. Apparently, he’d been almost there when the call came to pick up the non-flying team members, racing to their aid despite only having a few guns. So he was able to watch as Strange and Palmer rolled the woman in from the landing area Stark had installed for the suit.
“What the hell happened?” Steve finally demanded, unable to tear his eyes away from the girl’s face as she interacted with the doctors, still awake amazingly.
“We were hoping you could tell us, Captain,” Maria Hill said from the chair she was currently slumped in towards the back of the observation room.
Steve nodded and reported what he knew, both to bring those not in the know up to speed and to figure out where it all went wrong. They’d gone on a recon mission and hadn’t expected any issues, hence why neither had been suited up. They were literally just monitoring a potential enhanced, a kid out on the town with his family. He fully admitted that having two of the most recognizable Avengers on a recon mission may not have been the best idea, but the kid had shown preference for the two and they’d figured, even if he wasn’t enhanced, they could at least make his day and not scare him by having someone like Natasha following him around.
They’d been wandering out of an ice cream parlor across the street from the parking garage when the HYDRA team had dropped in on them. Without their suits and with civilians in the way, neither had been able to really let loose to end the fight quickly and both had paid the price as they tried to get to their gear in the trunk of the car they’d taken. Steve had taken the brunt of the blows, trying to shield Tony and get them away from the civilians, but Tony had still taken a few brutal hits. Enough to worry Steve into calling an evac when the initial team had been dealt with and they were within spitting distance of their gear. It was only damn good luck that had their comms on and Maria monitoring them. He must have taken a few hits more than he thought, though, because he’d gone down not long after Hill had confirmed a medevac was on the way.
“Last I remember was calling for medevac for Stark,” he finished.
“HYDRA intercepted the call and sent their own team,” Maria explained. “I didn’t realize until Friday confirmed no Shield evacs had been dispatched. I tried warning you, but you didn’t respond. So, I had Jarvis track Stark’s phone and sent Barton and Romanov to start there. Jarvis has always been a bit better at tracking than Friday, even after you rebuilt him, Stark. They were en route and then this girl comes on the line and says she’d gotten you away from them but would need backup.”
“We redirected to her signal,” Clint pitched in.
“Docs, get out of there!” Sam suddenly shouted into the intercom. They all paused as the girl exploded energy again, the doctors just barely getting the door closed before a wave slammed against it.
“And then there’s that,” Clint commented as he joined Steve at the window, both staring in a bit of shock at the scalpel a few inches from Steve’s nose. They could both see it was millimeters from emerging through the wrong side of the five-inch thick, Hulk-tested, bulletproof glass.
“She shielded us somehow,” Tony mumbled, glaring daggers at the scalpel as if it has personally offended him. Which Steve figured may actually have been the case. Tony didn’t like his inventions being thwarted and the girl had almost broken his unbreakable glass. “How she’d do that? It looked like magic and you know how much I dislike magic. Give me science any day but magic?”
“No clue,” Clint offered. Aside from Steve and Stark, he’d been the only one to see the golden sphere the girl had put up. “But it stopped RPGs and bullets for almost fifteen minutes before we got there. I think the assholes were just trying to wear her down, hope it dropped the shield.”
Steve glanced at him but quickly looked back into the operating room. He sighed in relief when the girl finally fell into unconsciousness, going limp on the table. If the machines weren’t still reporting the steady heartbeat, he’d worry she’d died. But there it was, the slow methodic pulse of her heart, strangely calm for the amount of agony she must be in. It endeared her to him more and more, the amount of grace she was using to deal with the situation and pain. And that she’d stepped up to help them when she’d had no reason. With her obvious powers and the subtle hints at her skills, she could have stayed hidden and off everyone’s radar for her whole life. But she’d given up the anonymity she’d obviously been enjoying to save them. That said a lot.
“I counted 13 RPG explosions over the comm,” Maria offered.
“Jesus, the girl has some powerful abilities,” Stark said as he watched the doctors finish up. “Beauty, power, grace in the face of adversity, badass, stubborn. Sounds like the perfect girl for you, Cap!” Steve rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.
“Anyone notice that the cut on her face is almost gone?” Sam noted from where he was leaning against the edge of the window. “Or that she took your injuries?”
Steve remembered the lucky bullet that had sliced long his cheek, in the exact same location that now marred the woman’s. It had been deep, almost to the bone, but the one on her face was almost gone, an angry pink line all that showed the injury had existed.
“She’s healing almost as fast as me,” Steve realized.
“Faster, Captain,” Strange’s voice echoed in the room as he worked, indicating the intercom was still on. “Her bones are already healed and we’re having to re-break them to set them. You take a couple of hours. I believe the only reason the cuts haven’t healed completely is because of the sheer number of injuries she’s healing. Now that a majority have been addressed, it may pick up.”
“Shit,” Steve muttered.
“Language,” Tony snarked. “Captain America can’t curse, can he?”
“Steve Rogers definitely can and learned from the best,” a new voice joined and Steve smiled as Bucky stalked into the room.
He’d improved a lot since they’d managed to break the Winter Soldier conditioning but he still moved like a cat stalking a bird when he walked. Steve felt he kept it up to intimidate everyone around them. He maintained he kept it up because he enjoyed annoying Stark by sneaking up on him constantly, despite all the protocols the genius had instituted to be warned when Barnes entered a room he was in. Steve tried to stay as far back from the prank war between the two as possible, wary of it turning on him. He held no illusions that it would end badly for him.
When Bucky was close enough to the audience at the window, he immediately plastered himself to Steve’s back, wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist and nestling his chin in the crook of Steve’s shoulder. He pressed a soft kiss to the skin he found there in greeting and Steve wrapped his own arms around Bucky’s.
Tony grumbled at Bucky’s words, but didn’t respond, simply going back to watching the doctors work, and Steve sent a silent thanks that they’d stopped there. They could verbally spar for hours without stopping and, while it was adorable, he didn’t have the energy to deal with it right now. Strange and Palmer finally finished setting bones and were working to clean her up. They all watched in morbid fascination as the incisions closed almost faster than the doctors could clean them.
“She’s going to be starving when she wakes up,” Bucky noted. He didn’t comment on the speed of her healing, but then again, none of them had with much of what this one woman was obviously capable of. Steve truly believed they were all in too much shock to react.
Tony glanced at them and Steve could tell he was doing the math. He and Bucky both always required frankly enormous amounts of food after a lot of healing and neither of them healed as fast as she did. He must not have liked the result he’d come up with. “On it,” he murmured before he disappeared down the hall, shouting for Jarvis.
“What about the HYDRA agents we left behind?” Steve asked.
They’d done a quick clean up of the area, securing the agents. Romanov stayed behind to watch them as the rest of the team rushed to the Tower to help with the girl that had saved two of their numbers from a most likely horrible time with HYDRA.
“Coulson’s taking care of them,” Romanov answered as she joined the group watching at the window. “He didn’t want me involved. Apparently didn’t like the methods I’d employ.”
“Probably not a good idea just yet,” Steve said, trying to contain his smile. He had a feeling Nat wasn’t too happy that HYDRA had managed to seriously threaten two of her family and she was a little scary when she was pissed.
“Take away all my fun,” she pouted, even as Barton pulled her into his side.
“I’m sure we’ll make up for it,” Bucky promised and Steve could feel his smile against his throat.
Strange was finally finished and they watched as the green glow faded from around the girl. “If the energy releases happen again, I’ll put it back up,” he said as he helped Palmer transfer the girl to a fresh gurney so they could move her to recovery. “But for now, she’s stable and there hasn’t been another since she fell unconscious.”
“What do you mean, fell unconscious?” Bucky demanded, straightening and spinning Steve around to glare at him. “You telling me she was awake while they cut into her?!” Steve could tell Bucky was started to panic.
“She said the drugs wouldn’t work on her!” Steve defended.
“Doesn’t mean you don’t try!” Bucky was watching all of them with horror on his face, starting to back away. Steve could definitely understand where he was coming from and knew Bucky was flashing back to some of his own experiences. After all, Hydra hadn’t really cared if their Asset felt pain. It made him angry enough to want to punch more people.
“We did,” Palmer’s voice broke through from the other room. “We hooked her up to super soldier strength sedatives, but they did nothing. She didn’t even blink at them. I’m not even sure she could tell there were drugs in her system.” Bucky stopped dead in the middle of a retort and they all turned to look at the redhead in wonder. “From what we can tell, she heals at about double what you do, Captain. Burns through the medicine at almost triple what you do. Whatever she is, she’s incredibly strong.”
“Well, fuck me,” Barton said and Steve couldn’t agree more.
Dr. Palmer finished cleaning and Dr. Strange came back from wherever he’d stashed the girl, facing the dumfounded Avengers.
“I’m not sure what she is or how she does what she did, but I’m guessing you took quite the beating, Captain?” Strange said, the tone denoting a question.
“Yeah, we did. Tony was in pretty bad shape and I must have passed out after making the call for evac. Not a lot can do that to me.”
“Well, she definitely took your injuries, then,” Strange said. “It’s a wonder she was able to stay awake until you got her here. The concussion alone was troubling and I shudder to think what it was like initially. She had about 10 minutes to heal when you got her here and, with how quickly she seems to heal, she was not as bad as either of you would have been. And we still almost lost her. Those energy pulses must be a defense mechanism to give her time to heal enough to get away. Once we stabilized the bullet wound and spinal injury, they stopped. Where the hell did you find her?”
“She found us,” Steve was able to get out, alarmed. They were incredibly lucky she’d found them, then. He couldn’t remember any injuries that bad, but a harsh enough concussion could have contributed to that. And if she’d taken any injuries herself in the fight, they were beyond lucky she’d pulled through.
“Then all I can say is I’d find a way to get into her good graces. Sounds like she’s one we want on our side,” Strange said before he headed to the exit.
Palmer gave them a quick rundown of the rest of her injuries, what they’d had to repair, and that she was resting comfortably in one of Stark’s personal rooms before she too bowed out. Steve wanted to debrief with the team, but he also wanted to be at her side when she woke. They still didn’t even know her name and they owed her their lives. The damage she’d taken, the risk she’d taken protecting them, the time she’d bought the rest of the team to get to them. She was amazing and deserved to wake with company.
In the end, it wasn’t really a choice. He turned to find the room she was resting in and wasn’t surprised in the least when Bucky moved with him, the debrief left for another day. What did surprise him was Tony standing outside the room already, a tray of food balanced on one hand as he held the door. No one said a thing as they entered her room, settling around the bed in the comfortable chairs Tony insisted on for all the medical facilities in the Tower. As he put it, no one needed to be even more uncomfortable when visiting a beaten up teammate, especially him. The food was set on the rolling table and then they waited.