Hey, hey, hey, guys! Okay, I know, I know; it has been FOREVER since I last posted a story on this account! I greatly apologize for that! But I do have a perfectly good excuse. Well, it's perfectly good to myself. ;) Feel free to rant to me all day about how long it's been. I'm actually a tiny bit disappointed that no one actually voted on my poll, but I'll give you guys the name of my other account anyway, ;): TheEliteLabRatsLover.
Yep. That's it. I write for Lab rats and Flash now, so if you're into either one of those, you should totally check it out! ;D Okay, so I can't believe that it's been, like, eighty days since I last posted a story here. *jaw drops* That's a long time! It was last year, for crying out loud! And I just wanted to say; happy New Year and belated merry Christmas! Hope you had a great Christmas and are having a great New Year! ;)
I'd like to dedicate this story to some of my best friends in this fandom; JesusLovesMarina-you have been an AMAZING friend to me, and I hope you know how much I appreciate our friendship. Your stories are so amazing, and I love being able to call you my friend. You rock ;) -, RizGriz-it has been an honor to watch you grow as a writer, and I look forward to more stories form you. You've been a great friend. :) -, Silver Blazen-let me just say, your writing will ALWAYS blow me away. It's so incredible. And I've seriously had so much fun being your friend :) -, And SolarRose29-you've seriously been such a great friend. It's been an honor to know you, and I cherish being your friend. You're an awesome writer, and I hope you know that you're awesome and how much I appreciate our friendship. ;) -.
And just a shout-out to all of my reviewers (including all of you awesome Guests ;)): you guys are AWESOME! I'd especially like a shout-out to go to: lovetowrite3 - LittleMermade - The-Fishy-Fangirl301 - APUFAN007 -SLYNNR - Freedom To Rarity - Sonia The Master Shipper - Kit - pinksakura271 -and- Renegade Hero -! Thank you all, so much! Love ya' all. ;)
Disclaimer: After all of this time, you still seriously think that I own this? No. I do not. *sighs in exasperation*
"I don't know why S.H.I.E.L.D always send us out on missions on days like today." Tony began as he flew under the lightning filled clouds and through the pouring rain. "I could be in Miami, basking in the nice, warm sun; tanning." Tony said through the comms, and Natasha scoffed.
"You sound like such a girl." Natasha stated as she ran under the low balcony of a hotel along the empty streets of a small town in Oklahoma; save for the robots running around trying to kill everything.
"I resent that, Natalie," Tony bit out as he fired a repulsor at a lone robot; a shrill whine could be heard under all the thunder filling the air, stopping with a satisfying metallic sound. "In order to look so dashing, I need a tan. A real one."
"Yeah. My statement still stands," She mumbled as she ran back out into the pouring rain and jumped onto one of the robots coming after her; disabling it with her Widow's Bites.
"Yeah, and besides, what are you complaining about? You're in a stinkin' suit." Clint said as he fired off one of his explosive arrows, blowing up a small group of robots in one of the streets from his position on top of a tall building.
"So? All this thunder creeps me out. No offense, Thor." Tony replied back with.
"None taken, Man of Iron. I must say I agree with your opinion on this rain; it's quite troubling to battle in." Thor said as another round of thunder took place after a strike of lighting embedded itself in a tree not far from the town.
"What? I thought you liked lightning." Clint said as he shot another arrow into the head of a distant robot that was trying to sneak up in Steve who was currently battling with three other robots.
"Thanks," Steve said breathlessly through the comms, before the others resumed their conversation.
"I do, the Eye of Hawk," Thor began, and Clint rolled his eyes. "But only when I am the one causing it." He finished as he swung his Hammer. Thunder sounded off almost right overhead as lightning crashed somewhere nearby again.
"Guys, less talking and more fighting," Steve bit out as he threw his Shield; knocking down three robots who made the naive mistake of running in a line. He ran towards the fallen robots and jumped off the side of the building, catching his Shield and throwing it just in time to knock out a robot from behind.
"Sorry," Clint muttered.
"I apologize, Captain." Thor replied with, voice barely audible as the crack of lightning crashed through the air.
"Widow, I'm through here, need any help?" He questioned as he tried to catch his breath and stay out of the rain.
"I think I'm almost through here, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have some back up, Cap." She said as he made his way over there. It didn't take long to meet up with her, since they had decided on the strategy of staying close in case anything would happen and they'd need help.
As soon as he was there, he was throwing his Shield and kicking down robots. Lightning danced across the sky and dove into the ground about a half a mile out of town and thunder erupted throughout the sky right above them, making Steve's eardrums throb from the unbearable intensity of sound.
"Hey, you know, I've got a question," Tony started saying through the comms, and Steve bit back a sigh as he punched in the face of one of the robots. He glanced over at Natasha to find her jumping back up from the ground, over a robots body, and glancing back behind him.
"Cap, behind you," She warned, before she ran towards him, and just like they had practiced in the gym, his arms went around her waist as she jumped and kicked both her legs out beside him, knocking the robot down.
He immediately set her back down and kicked to the side to knock out the robots to his right. Their training had obviously paid off, he thought, as he shot a quick glance behind him at the robot on the ground. He looked around him to find that none of the robots were there anymore.
"So, as I was saying, before you guys interrupted with your semi-impressive fighting skills," Tony began once again, earning an eye roll from Natasha, "Why aren't these robots dying from the rain? I mean, I didn't think rain and robots mixed together too well." Tony contemplated, and Steve shook his head, ignoring him as he told Natasha his plan.
"Why don't you head over towards Tony, and I'll head towards Thor?" He questioned and she nodded her head.
"Sounds like a plan, Cap." She said before taking off towards Tony's direction, Steve doing the same with Thor.
"Oh, so now I've got a Russian assassin helping me take down these Matrix wannabe's? Fun. Anyways, Cap, will you let me speak so I can actually get an answer to my question?" He asked, voice sounding slightly annoyed.
"No, Tony, I will not. If we want to defeat these robots, we're going to have to focu-" Steve's voice was drowned out by a sudden eruption of the ground beneath him; sending him flying a good twenty feet away. His Shield got blown away from it's place in his hand and landed somewhere off in the distance.
Electricity coursed through his veins as he hit the ground with a painful thud, being no comparison to the fire burning up the inside of his body. Steve tried to say something, anything, he tried to call for help, but found that nothing could come over the deafening roar sounding overhead and the crackle in his ears.
His limbs shook uncontrollably as white hot pain filled him from the inside out. The mixture of the pain and electricity racing from his chest throughout the rest of his body blurred his vision as his back arched, all movements being out of his control.
Suddenly, his whole body went limp, and the last thing he remembered, was a flash of a white fury of fire and crackling electricity igniting inside his chest, before everything went black.
Natasha had just left Steve to find Tony and was listening to their conversation bordering on the fine line of an argument.
"Oh, so now I've got a Russian assassin helping me take down these Matrix wannabe's? Fun." Tony said and she rolled her eyes again, as he continued speaking. "Anyways, Cap, will you let me speak so I can actually get an answer to my question?" Tony asked, annoyance obvious in his voice.
"No, Tony, I will not." Steve declared. "If we want to defeat these robots, we're going to have to focu-" Suddenly, Steve's voice was drowned out by an earsplitting crack as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and tingle.
The ground beneath her shook slightly and she was thrown off balance and fell to the ground. Then an eruption of thunder followed the strike with an ear throbbing rumble. She glanced up and horror filled her insides at the sight.
"Steve!" She cried out in terror as she immediately got up and ran toward the seizuring Captain. "Rogers is down! Call in Bruce and S.H.I.E.L.D! Now!" She was shouting, only half coherent of her shouts through the comms.
She ran to his side and dropped down onto her knees just as his body went limp; uniform singed and burns on the visible parts of his skin through the suit. She immediately checked for a pulse and cursed in Russian when she felt none.
"No, no, no, you can't go out this way, Steve!" She cried out, voice cracking in agony at the sight. She immediately starting doing CPR, counting in her head as she went. "Did anybody hear me!?" She yelled through the comms. She didn't even care what the others thought of how she was acting, this was one of her closest friends.
And if the others dare say a word, then they haven't seen just how awful Steve looked at the moment. She let out a sound from her throat from frustration as she started the pumps over.
"Bruce is on his way, and so am I." Tony spoke through the comms, voice sounding unusually panicked, and Natasha ignored the tears rolling down her cheeks as she tilted Steve's head up and started blowing breaths into his slack mouth.
She was a little startled when Clint was, surprisingly, the first one to show up by her side. She only glanced up to see him, but the look of shock and horror on his face was easily visible. She blew even more breaths, another sound of desperation ripping out from her throat.
"Please God, do something!" She prayed before blowing a few more breaths into Steve. She pulled back and watched with anticipation pounding in her chest, as Steve took in a choked breath.
She visibly slumped with relief, into Clint's side. "Thank You, Lord," She murmured, and watched as Clint leaned forward with his ear over Steve's mouth. He pressed two fingers into Steve's darkened neck, and she watched him as he counted in his head.
Steve was still unconscious, but Natasha was just thankful that he was at least alive for now, even though the dread of finding out his injuries and the thought of him suddenly going back into cardiac arrest again lurked somewhere in the front of her mind. After about a minute, Clint pulled back, and glanced at Natasha.
"His heartbeat is fluctuating quite a bit, and his breathing is extremely uneven. We need medical attention now, Tony." Clint directed the last sentence to Tony through the comms.
"Five minutes out, Clint." Came Tony's reply through the comms. "I'll try to be there soon, if it weren't for these fricken' robots." Tony ground out.
"I shall help you, Man of Iron," Thor said, but Clint and Natasha weren't paying any attention to them.
"Clint, there must be something with his lungs...the lightning had to have damaged his lungs." Clint nodded grimly, and pressed his fingers back into Steve's neck, wanting to keep a close eye on him until the medical team got here. Natasha felt so helpless. This wasn't something they've dealt with before.
Lightning? Someone getting struck with lightning?
That was Thor's enemies' problem.
And with Steve's suit having that metal star embedded in the chest of his uniform, and the guns on his sides, and he was holding his Shield...Natasha pried her eyes away from the burnt skin on Steve's hand, where a glove used to be, and looked up to see Steve's Shield about fifty feet away.
She immediately got up onto her feet, ignoring Clint's confused questions, and jogged over to the Shield. She bent down and slowly picked it up. She flipped it over, so the painted part would be facing her, and her breath hitched in her throat at the sight.
Almost all the paint was gone, and in it's place was a black mark stretching out from the middle and webbing out across the entire front. So that's what did it. Steve's Shield must have drawn in the lightning.
How is he even still alive?
She wondered, and then jerked her head up to make sure that he still was Even though she knew that Clint would have called out after her if he was. She started walking back over to Steve's other side, and knelt down, ignoring the rain that still poured down on top of them, and the wind that whistled next to their ears. "Clint," She said, and Clint looked away from Steve to the Shield, and she could practically see his heart drop from his chest.
"Is that what..." He paused and swallowed hard, "I think it is?" He questioned slowly and she nodded solemnly.
"The lightning must have been drawn towards it, and instead of hitting something tall, like a tree or the top of a building or something, it must have went to the metal. And those stupid magnets he was wearing on his arm," She choked out, voice on the edge of cracking.
Clint just nodded quietly, never taking his fingers off of Steve's neck, almost like that he figured by keeping his pulse within his touch, he could keep it from stopping.
They both heard the footsteps, and the rain was lessening, but with the wind blowing so hard they still just barely heard it. They both looked up to see Bruce kneel down next to Clint and gently shove Clint's hand out of the way so he could check his pulse for himself.
Clint was bothered by the sudden loss of basically the only thing telling him that the kid in front of him was alive, but swallowed down the words in his throat because he knew Bruce needed to do this.
Clint glanced up at Natasha and noticed how her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, a common thing she did when she upset and trying to hide it. It was almost as if when she did that, she could keep all the secrets from being spilled out and keep them locked up inside of her.
He didn't blame her for being upset, the whole team was pretty close to Steve, they all treated him like he was the younger, albeit more mature and responsible sometimes, well, practically all the time, brother of the squad.
And Clint wasn't the one who had seen Steve right after the bolt, like Natasha was.
Clint had been going back and forth with watching Steve and Natasha until they had gotten safely to Thor and Tony, and had been currently watching Steve, up until the bold of lightning had struck.
It had been so blindingly bright, he hadn't even been entirely aware of what was happening until afterwards, and then afterwards, Steve had been out of his range of sight. He glanced up at Bruce as he frowned.
And before Clint could ask him what was wrong, about seven S.H.I.E.L.D paramedics and doctors came rushing towards them. Clint and Natasha, were not so gently shoved out of the way as they placed Steve's limp body onto the gurney.
Natasha looked like she really wanted to go along, but knew it would be best if she didn't. Bruce did go along, and that made Clint a little bit happier with the situation, at least somebody would be with Steve.
Tony and Thor landed just as Steve was being wheeled into the back of a waiting Quinjet, looking slightly upset that they weren't able to get there sooner and be with Steve. For just a minute, they just stood their in silence, watching as the Quinjet flew away with their severely injured Leader. It was Clint who broke the silence first.
"He'll be alright guys. I know he will. He won't give up," He paused as he stared out at the horizon where the Quinjet was flying, feeling everyone's attention on him. He quietly sighed and prayed his next sentence was truthful. "He'll be all right."
Clint tapped his foot anxiously from the hallway of the hospital in S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters. It had been two hours already, and there was no indication of what was going on with Steve. Clint sighed as he ran a hand over his face. He then glanced around at the other occupants that the hallway held.
Natasha was quietly sitting on her chair, deep in thought, Tony was pacing a short area of the hallway, only pausing to check the time on his watch, Thor was sitting on the floor against the wall, every once in a while he would twist his Hammer around and sigh, but nothing other than that, Bruce was in the room with Steve, while Clint himself was just sitting on a chair, getting up every once in a while to stretch his legs.
He sighed again.
How was it that the team always managed to end up in a situation like this?
Their leader badly injured, in the hospital, with the rest of them fretting around the hallway? It was wrong.
Just plain and simple wrong.
He was about to stand up to go get some coffee, when the door suddenly opened, and everybody practically jumped up; all focused on Bruce and the doctor along side him.
"Is he okay?" Natasha was the first one to speak up, and Bruce smiled with a nod.
"He'll be fine. It was tough and go for a little while, but we managed to get him stable." Bruce answered, and the other doctor spoke up.
"He had third degree burns on the majority of his body, but with his Super-Serum, he should be healed completely before we even realize it. And the lightning must have ruptured his left lung, but we were able to fix that. He just has an oxygen mask right now. But he will be fine." Everyone let out a collective breath of relief. The doctor smiled.
"You can all visit him when you'd like; just keep it quiet so he doesn't wake up yet." Everyone nodded, and once the doctor and Bruce had left, they all slowly made their way into the room. Clint's jaw clenched at the sight of Steve on the bed with an IV hooked up to his arm and an oxygen mask covering the majority of his face.
It never got any easier seeing his leader like this.
He could see by the looks on the other's faces, that they felt the same. Clint wasn't sure where exactly Tony had gotten it, or even when, but he was holding onto Steve's shield; black streaks etched across the front of the once silver, Shield.
"Hey, Cap." Tony said as he walked over next to the unconscious form. "Brought you something. It's a lot heavier than it looks without my suit," Tony joked as he set the Shield down next to the bed.
"You always know how to surprise use, don't you?" Clint asked, not expecting a reply from the young man. "I mean, you're always finding yourself in new predicaments that always make us worried over you. How do you do that? You always find the most harrowing of experiences." Clint sighed and shook his head.
"We're just glad that you're okay." Clint said. And he meant it. Because the team wouldn't be the same without their fearless, and somehow highly unlucky Captain.
So, as everyone spoke a little more, before eventually settling down in the room for the night; Clint knew. He knew that the team needed each other. Without one of them, they just wouldn't be a team. They needed each other, and that's what made them a real team.
They were teammates, but they were also friends; no, family. Their bonds were all strong, and not meant to be broken. And that's what made them a team.
It was just something that coursed through their veins.
Ta-da! I apologize for any OOCness, (this is my first story for the fandom in a while) and also, for the extremely long AN at the beginning of the story. But hey; it is my return speech. ;) I'll continue to try to post stories and update stuff as much ad I can, but I don't make any promises or anything. Sorry, you guys. :/ But I hope that you enjoyed and please review! :) Until next time, my lovelies!